iStock/Thinkstock(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) -- Women in Arkansas will now only have one place in the state to get an abortion after the Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal by two Planned Parenthood-backed clinics regarding a law that essentially bans medication-based procedures.



Arkansans used to have three locations to choose from to receive two types of abortions -- either medication-based or surgical -- but now only surgical abortions will be allowed. And there is only one location in the state that provides such procedures.



Medication abortions involve a pregnant woman taking a pill to induce an abortion during the first nine weeks of a pregnancy.



There were three abortion providers in the state -- two Planned Parenthood-backed clinics that provided medication abortions, and one private clinic that provided medication abortions and surgical abortions. Now neither of the Planned Parenthood facilities will be able to provide abortions, if the law stands, leaving the only facility in the state that provides abortions in Little Rock.



"Arkansas is now shamefully responsible for being the first state to ban medication abortion," said Planned Parenthood Federation of America executive vice president Dawn Laguens.



"This dangerous law immediately ends access to safe, legal abortion at all but one health center in the state. If thats not an undue burden, what is? This law cannot and must not stand. We will not stop fighting for every persons right to access safe, legal abortion," she said in a statement.



Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge has defended the law, arguing that it is needed because there are more complications with medication abortions than surgical ones.



As attorney general, I have fully defended this law at every turn and applaud the Supreme Courts decision against Planned Parenthood today, Rutledge said. Protecting the health and well-being of women and the unborn will always be a priority. We are a pro-life state and always will be as long as I am attorney general.



The law in Arkansas requires the medication abortion providers to have a contract with a doctor who has admitting privileges at a hospital in the state in order to address any complications, should they arise.



A similar law in Texas, which required abortion providers to have hospital-admitting privileges, was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2016.



Planned Parenthood is reportedly planning to seek emergency relief in the case from the district court, but for the time being the state is now allowed to enforce the law.



This change comes on the heels of several other restrictive state-level abortion law changes.



Earlier this month, the Iowa governor signed a so-called heartbeat bill into law, making it illegal to seek an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected, which could be as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.



And not long after, a bill to ban abortion after 15 weeks into a pregnancy made steps in the legislative process in Louisiana, with the governor has publicly said that he would be in support of such a bill.



The Louisiana bill is similar to a 15-week abortion ban that was passed in Mississippi in March. Prior to the passage of the Iowa heartbeat abortion ban law, Mississippis 15-week limit was among the most restrictive in the country.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Alex Wong/Getty Images(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump on Tuesday ramped up his attacks on special counsel Robert Muellers team in a series of tweets, accusing them of meddling with the upcoming midterm election.



On Tuesday, Trump tweeted: The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!



Mueller is leading the probe into potential collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.



Trump repeatedly refers to Muellers team as 13 angry Democrats."



Federal Elections Commission (FEC) records show that some on Mueller's team have donated money to Democratic causes. Justice Department guidelines do not allow consideration of party affiliation to affect personnel decisions.



Special counsel Mueller himself has been a registered Republican in the past and was first appointed FBI director by President George W. Bush.



Trump tweeted that Muellers team should instead investigate his former rival Hillary Clinton.



Trump has repeatedly attacked the 13 Angry Democrats in recent weeks, and hes also accused the Department of Justice of placing a spy inside his campaign.



A top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee said the presidents repeated claims that the FBI spied on his presidential campaign are a piece of propaganda the president wants to put out and repeat.



California Rep. Adam Schiff told ABC News chief global affairs correspondent and This Week Co-Anchor Martha Raddatz on Sunday that the president's assertions that the FBI infiltrated his campaign are an attempt to undermine the Mueller investigation of Russia's interference in the 2016 election and possible ties to Trump associates.



"There's no evidence to support that spy theory," Schiff said.



"You have a president peddling these falsehoods and you have essentially people putting out propaganda" to promote that "fiction," the California Democrat said. "This is part of the propaganda machine. 'Lets spread a completely fallacious story and then lets say that it needs to be investigated and give it a life of its own.'"



Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said he sees "no evidence" to support President Trump's claims that the FBI used an informant to gather information on his campaign, but that instead the federal probe was focused on "individuals with a history of links to Russia that were concerning."



"What I have seen is evidence that they were investigating individuals with a history of links to Russia that were concerning," Rubio, a Florida senator who sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee told Raddatz on Sunday.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Siddhant Mohan, TwoCircles.net

Before swearing in as the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Yogi Adityanath aka Ajay Singh Bisht used to visit Varanasi almost every month with a convoy of SUVs and sedans. Yogi, who was then a member of parliament from Gorakhpur constituency, used to pray at Kashi Vishwanath Temple, and the vehicles labeled with saffron flags of Hindu Yuva Vahini used to stand on the busy road of Chowk and Bulanala waiting for Yogi to come back.

But as soon as the first few phases of assembly election in 2017 passed, district units of Hindu Yuva Vahini in almost every region of the state were disbanded after the nod of Yogi Adityanath.

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Soon, Yogi took oath as the chief minister of the state and he went on to disband the central committee of the Vahini as well and told the workers to be more involved in creative work. Since that day, no vehicle labelled Hindu Yuva Vahini has stopped on the busy road outside of the Kashi Vishwanath Temple of Varanasi.

Even in the Gorakhpur Bypoll of 2018, one was expecting that the campaign on the ground would be managed by the workers of Hindu Yuva Vahini  the power through which Yogi reigned the Gorakhpur  but Vahini was overshadowed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghs ground workers. This reflected in the results of the Bypoll where Gorakhpur not only slipped away from the hands of BJP but also from the hands of Gorakshanath Temple, whose chief priest Mahant Avaidyanath followed by Yogi Adityanath used to lead the socio-political diaspora of the district.

However, the absence of Vahini from the scene partially ended on May 13 when a new organisation named Hindu Yuva Vahini Bharat was born in Lucknow under the leadership of Sunil Singh, ex-state president of Hindu Yuva Vahini.

The meeting was held in the VVIP guest house of Lucknow and Singh was elected as National President of the new outfit, clearing any doubt that Yogi Adityanath will be associated with the Hindu Yuva Vahini Bharat.

Sunil Singh told TwoCircles.net, It was Bharatiya Janata Party and the power of the chair on which Yogi (Adityanath) Maharaj Ji is sitting that he did not understand the need of an organisation which had been a dream of Hindu youth in the country.

But now we are regrouping afresh and we hope to stand with a full-fledged campaign of Hindutva for which Vahini is popularly known, Singh added.

Sunil Singh and others were fired from the organisation in March 2017. They were trying for the tickets from BJP to fight assembly elections, but BJP refused to listen to their request. In retaliation, the Vahini leadership tried to field candidates from Hindu Yuva Vahini itself, but this step was enough for Yogi Adityanath to fire them from the organisation. The rebel leaders of Hindu Yuva Vahini successfully fielded 12 candidates from Shiv Sena but couldnt win any. If sources to be believed, the same leaders had been waiting until now to be taken back in the Yogi Adityanaths patronage. It (Hindu Yuva Vahini) has been a disappointment for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party, under the pressure of which Yogi Adityanath has to disband the outfit, said Manoj Kumar Singh, a journalist from Gorakhpur. Moreover, the activism of Hindu Yuva Vahini has already been part of RSS curriculum, so there is no need of Vahini to exist. If it existed, it would pose the same tough challenge to BJP as Shiv Sena does in Maharashtra, he added.

The BJP-led state government in UP did not even like the reorganisation of Hindu Yuva Vahini Bharat, which is why the government suspended RP Singh, the in-charge at the VVIP guest house, Lucknow for giving space to Sunil Singh and other members for the May 13 event.

It is evident that the BJP does not want us to survive, and I do not know exactly if it is under pressure or if Maharaj Ji (Yogi) is allowing all this action against us, said Sunil Singh.

However, the newly formed Hindu Yuva Vahini Bharat  which has no visible association with Yogi Adityanath as of yet  is gaining support from the old leaders and placeholders of the party. Also, Sunil Singh has been busy in holding meetings in wards in Gorakhpur as well as in several other districts of the eastern part of the Uttar Pradesh.

Sunil Singh was the face of Hindu Yuva Vahini who did all the groundwork necessary for the establishment of brand Hindu Yuva Vahini. But he is not willing to own the organisation right now, rather he is continuously trying to attract the attention of Yogi Adityanath, says one ex-member of the outfit.

The ex-member further said, I do not think that the organisation will become as big as it was during Yogi Adityanath. It will do small-level activism, but nothing big against the will of Adityanath as he can fully stop it anytime.

One position holder in older outfit also believes that the new development in Vahini may upset Yogi Adityanath but it is necessary to hear the people. He said, These are the people who have given their time to the politics of Hindutva, they did their best to made Yogi Adityanath a chief minister. They indeed deserve a reward, but they got expelled.

He further argued, It is a pressure tactic over Maharaj Ji but he must know that he is going to lose the power which made him the king of Gorakhpur. And he must know that BJP will throw him out someday if he does not deliver on the state level.

The new leadership emerging from the revamped organization does not agree on this claim. Ram Laxman, a 48-year-old lecturer in Inter College, Gorakhpur, was a devoted worker of Vahini since the outfits foundation. Laxman was in Samajwadi Party before that but was happier after joining the Vahini until his expulsion along with Sunil Singh and others. Laxman, a Dalit face of Vahini who served as General Secretary of the organisation, rose to fame recently for organising Ghar Wapsi campaign in Gorakhpur which targeted Christians and Muslims in the suburban and rural areas of the Gorakhpur.

To expel a general secretary and state president, you need to have votes of at least one-third members of the committee, but Yogi Ji just verbally expelled us from the party. I do not consider that as expulsion, argues Laxman, who has been given the post of General Secretary in the HYV-Bharat as well.

The new team does not have anything good to say about Yogi Adityanath. Laxman said, We made Yogi Ji what he is today. We made him the Chief Minister. But he pushed the Vahini and us beyond the boundaries soon after becoming chief minister. Why? Just because we asked for tickets to fight the election, claiming that he could be MLA ten years back if Yogi would not have held back Vahini leaders to fight elections. Yogi committed a crime. He did not let us do anything during Bypoll this year which is why he lost the election so badly.

Laxman said, There is no question about whether Yogi Ji needs us. We have named it Bharat because we have planned to take it outside of Uttar Pradesh this time, and we do not think Yogi Ji can help us in this.

The newly formed HYV-B still searching for the answer if Yogi Adityanath will stand with the organisation or not. Many believe that to regain the hold on Gorakhpur, Yogi Adityanath will come back to the Hindu Yuva Vahini and Bharat team is the brainchild of Yogi Adityanath. But Dhirendra K Jha, senior journalist and author of the book Shadow Armies: Fringe Organizations and Foot Soldiers of Hindutva, does not think so. Jha said, Whoever the members of Hindu Yuva Vahini members are, they basically belong to Sangh Parivar. And Yogi will not do anything, even covertly, to help such an organisation again especially at a time when the debate on radicalism is rising.
By Ram Puniyani

The coming to power of Modi in 2014 gave a signal to the so called fringe groups that now it is their Government and they can get away with their hate speeches and action with ease. It was a total uninhibited show by the RSS Combine as for as spreading hatred, the foundation of violence, is concerned. While even during previous UPA regime, RSS combines leader lead in Hate speech, now it is a total dominance of theirs in matters of spreading hate. The NDTV report is very revealing on the matter.

90% of hateful comments made during the NDAs current terms are by BJP politicians. During the NDA period, a total of 44 political leaders made hateful comments. Of them, 34 politicians, or 77%, are from the BJP. 10 leaders, or 23% of the offenders, are from other political parties, including the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and Lalu Yadavs Rashtriya Janata Dal. The communal issues were regularly thrown up. Vinay Katiyar of BJP said temple has to be built up in Ayodhya. He said this at a time when the matters are lying in the court. On similar lines RSS Supremo Mohan Bhagwat has been declaring that the temple will be built in his life time.

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The incidents of mob lynching in the name of Cow, beef have been skyrocketing. While Mohammad Ikhlaq and Junaid are few names stuck in the memory; there are many, who have been attacked by hysterical mobs on the pretexts of skinning, killing, trading cows. The statistics of [email protected] shows these acts of violence have gone up with Modi sarkar. According to the data collected by IndiaSpend, based on the content analysis of media reporting, Muslims were the target of 51% of violence centered on bovine issues over nearly eight years (2010 to 2017) and comprised 86% of 28 Indians killed in 63 incidents. As many of 97 per cent of these attacks were reported after Prime Minister Narendra Modis government came to power in May 2014, and about half the cow-related violence  32 of 63 cases were from states governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), recorded until June 25, 2017.

The emotive issues related to Nationalism have been dominating the scene. Mohan Bhagwat of RSS said early March 2016 that Now the time has come when we have to tell the new generation to chant Bharat Mata Ki Jai (Hail Mother India). There is no such slogan in our Constitution, while some prefer to follow the slogan, Jai Hind, without any reservation.

The issue of love jihad has been taking horrible turn. On December 6, 2017; gruesome murder of a poor Muslim laborer Ifrazul Khan, shook the nation. His killer Shambhulal Regar not only hacked him to death, burnt him, got the whole incident videotaped and uploaded it. Killing of Afrazul by Shambhulal Regar has been inspired by the social media propaganda about love jihad by divisive forces and shows the brutality to which hate created by this ideology can penetrate the vitals of society. Regar has support from sections of society and funds were raised for his family which shows that the degree of hate is not superficial. It is making deeper inroads with the all pervading Hindu nationalism. PUCL report on the incident says that Shambhulal was a clone of the RSS hate factory and indulged in the gruesome hate crime. Frightened by the crime many Bengali immigrants have left for their state.

In the case of conversions to Hinduism in Agra (10 December 2014) nearly 350 pavement dwellers-rag pickers and other destitute sections were promised that if they participate in the religious function they will be given the ration card and BPL cards. This was done by the Bajrang Dal activist and the Hindu Janjagriti Samiti both outfits affiliated to RSS. The process is part of Ghar Vapasi campaign.

In a subtle encouragement to the criminals the Prime Minster has been generally keeping quiet for a long time on hate crimes and then blurts bland statement which in a way does not reprimand the criminals, who are inspired by his own ideology. On completion of six months in power, Yogi Government brought out a brochure related to the tourism development. The booklet omits to mention the biggest tourist spot of UP Taj Mahal. Some leaders of BJP went on to label Taj Mahal as a symbol of foreign rule and a shame on Nation.

The issue of film Padmavati was very curious. Even before the film was released there were protests, even without seeing the film. It was said that film is an insult to Rajput honor. As such the film is based on a novel, a fiction, Padmavat. Padmavati is not a historical character she is creation of fiction. Fact is; the film distorts is the presentation of Khilji, who is shown to be a barbarian, running after women and devoid of culture, while historical accounts tell us he was a cultured king, who not only built Hauz Khas but also streamlined the market mechanism of trade in Delhi.

As hate speech and statements related to history, which demonize Muslims, is on the rise, the communal violence also went up, showing this in year 2017, which saw a rise of 17%, (from 703 incidences in 2016 to 822 in 2017). Kasganj violence came as a new pattern of instigating violence. A group of ABVP-VHP workers entered the Muslim locality armed with weapons, shouting Bharat Mata ki Jai and giving anti Pakistan slogans. They wanted the Muslims, who were celebrating Republic Day to make way for their rally to pass through that narrow lane and violence followed. Similarly the Kathua rape and murder will remain a matter of deep shame. Here in addition to the patriarchal notion, communalism was the factor.

The assertiveness of so called fringe groups, the increasing hate speech, is leading to an atmosphere where the sense of insecurity among the religious minorities has gone up. The appeal of Archbishop of Delhi Couto to observe fast is just a small reflection of the sense of helpless, which the minorities are perceiving with Modi Sarkar, which is pursuing its agenda of Hindu Rashtra.
By Jaspal Singh

May 24th, 2018 was the 122nd birth anniversary of Kartar Singh Sarabha. He was born in Sarabha village in Ludhiana district of Punjab. When he was 9 years old his father passed away. He was brought up by his grandparents. After finishing elementary education in Punjab , he was sent to Odisha, where his uncle worked. He finished his high school there and came to the US at a very young age in 1912 and became active with Ghadar Party after its founding in 1913.

He became editor of Punjabi edition of its organ Ghadar and has been called the rider of storms. When the party decided that its members and supporters should go back to India, taking advantage of the First World War, people and soldiers should be organized to throw the British out of India. Sarabha was one of its leaders in India. He travelled all across to organize soldiers to revolt against the British. He became very close to Bhagat Singhs family and was a big source of inspiration to Bhagat Singh.

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There were two views about the war in India at that time. Tata,Birla, maharajas and big landlords were supporting the war effort of the British as they had been given big contracts by the British and they had amassed a great deal of wealth by collaborating with the British for almost 100 years. Leaders of Congress and Muslim league,who came from these collaborators were going around the country to recruit soldiers for the British.

Ghadar Party and other revolutionaries were of the view that the British are caught in a war, this is a good time to hit them and throw them out of the country. So they were calling on soldiers to revolt and fight the British. They had fixed a date for uprising. The British got the wind of it, and they arrested and hanged hundreds of Ghadarites and revolutionaries. Sarabha was only 19 when he was hanged with his friend who was also a member of Nalanda Club at University of California Berkeley, Jaiwanda Singh, was also not 20 yet. Sarabha used to recite a Punjabi couplet:

Seva Desh Di Jindardiye Bahut Aukhi, Gallan Karniyan Bahut Sokhaliyan Ne

Jinhan Desh Seva Wich Payr Paya, Unhan Lakh Musibtan Jhalaniyan Ne

(To serve our country is very difficult, talk is easy. Those who have taken this path, have to bear many difficulties)

Sarabha at a very young age had analysed that those who are petitioning the British and recruiting soldiers for them, they only want a greater share in the loot of the country. If they come into power somehow, they will carry on the same colonial rule, plunder, pillage and rape of India.Sarabhas words have proven to be prophetic. Last seventy years have proven it to the letter of Sarabhas prophecy.

Although young in age, Sarabha was respected by older leaders such as Baba Jawala Singh, Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna and others. They had given him a nick name Baba Gernal , as he was a very good shooter and he had learnt to fly airplane. His insight, instinct and spirit were thoroughly revolutionary. The British claimed that he was the most dangerous rebel during his trial.

As I was thinking about Sarabha and Jaiwanda, I saw news flash that many journalists in India are being threatened by hooligans who claim to be protectors of cow and Hindu religion and who are being protected by the ministers and leaders of the ruling party. Many journalists have also been killed. Some of these hooligans are being followed by the Prime Minister on Twitter.

Questions kept coming to my mind that , Is this the country they had given their lives for? A recent report pointed out that India is 138 on the ranking of press freedom out of 180 countries. A climate of fear, insecurity and anxiety is being created by hooligans with full protection of the state. Disinformation, deception and fraud has been the official ideology of the ruling elite and their political parties. According to a sting done by a news portal, 25 out of 27 big media houses owners and management were ready to spread communal propaganda in exchange for cash, spread fake news and polarize polity before the elections. They are also threatening this portal with all their force and connections with the ruling party and government.

Just like Sarabhas time, the ruling elite is living in a parallel universe. At that time people wanted to throw the British out, but the ruling elite was recruiting soldiers for them, similarly people have hard time keeping their body and soul together, but the ruling elite and their henchmen are claiming that Development has become a mass movement and India is marching towards prosperity.

An example of this prosperity is that according to government figures more than 500,000 schools in the country do not have electricity, clean drinking water has become a luxury in large part of the country. Yet on the 4th anniversary of BJP government, Prime Minister and others are repeating lies and deception repeatedly. Chief minister of UP has come up with a gem, that India has entered  Exellence. Sarabha had pointed out at his time that those who are saying that if we help the British in the war and recruit soldiers, then we will get independence, are lying and deceiving the people. Same is true today. They are lying to the people now a days as well.
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Chinese and Russian state-backed companies are maneuvering to profit from European firms leaving Iran, threatening the Trump administrations bid to raise economic pressure on Tehran. As The Wall Street Journal writes in an article "China and Russia Push Into Iran, Exploiting Europes Caution", their efforts show how Irans business landscape has shifted since the Trump administration withdrew from the nuclear pact, which lifted crippling sanctions on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program, following 17 months of rising pressure.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has threatened the strongest set of sanctions in history if Iran doesnt rein in its military activities across the Middle East and stop testing long-range missiles. European executives who tried to make inroads in Iran since the Obama administration struck the nuclear deal in 2015 are now concerned Beijing and Moscow will seize an insurmountable advantage in a large, growing market. What would be not good neither for the U.S., nor for Europe, is if that at the end only Russia and China can do business in Iran, said Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive of French energy company Total SA, in a speech in Washington after the policy shift this month.

China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. , or Sinopec, a giant Chinese-state oil company, sent a delegation to Tehran this month to complete a $3 billion deal to further develop a giant Iranian oil field that Royal Dutch Shell PLC was negotiating for until it decided in March the sanctions risk was too great, say Iranian and Western oil executives. That deal, to develop the Yadavaran oil field, would be potentially the biggest foreign investment in a decade.

China National Petroleum Corp., another state-owned giant, has an option for the $1 billion investment pledged by Total for a natural-gas development in Iran that the French company is considering leaving because of U.S. sanctions, CNPC and Iran officials say. CNPC is Totals partner in the project. Chinese companies have also joined with Iranian peers to renovate railways, build metro lines and manufacture cars. Cheap clothing, cookware, consumer electronics and sunflower seeds imported from China have become popular in Tehrans street markets.

Russia has viewed Iran more cautiously as a business partner, but its companies have worked to build ties there. Russia is selling oil-drilling equipment to Iranian energy companies that dont have access to Western technology. Russias biggest state oil company, PAO Rosneft, last year agreed to work on strategic deals worth $30 billion in Iran, though their status is unclear. A Russian state-owned oil company, Zarubezhneft, remains the only foreign company to sign a new type of Iranian contract offered to investors to develop crude petroleum in Iran. In March, Zarubezhneft signed a $700 million contract to develop two small fields, part of investment opportunities that European oil companies such as the U.K.s BP PLC and Germanys Wintershall AG had hoped to be a part of but are now unlikely to join due to U.S. sanctions.

The initiatives by Russia and China signal risks to the Trump administrations plan to pressure Iran. Many Russian and Chinese companies dont have as extensive connections with the U.S. financial system as do European firms, allowing many of them able to work there with less fear of retribution. The EU is working with Iran to find ways for European businesses to keep working there, though the U.S. has threatened sanctions against them. Russia and China had supported the United Nations sanctions imposed on Iran in 2010 through the U.S., the U.K. and France. Their participation is partially credited with helping to bring Iran to the bargaining table to enact a nuclear deal that Russia and China also signed. This time, Russia and China say they dont support U.S. efforts to squeeze Tehran harder and are analyzing at how to do business there.

Iran had already been shifting its economic and political focus toward Russia and China since President Donald Trumps election. Beijing was the first destination of Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif after Mr. Trump said he was exiting the nuclear pact. The U.S. has shrugged off Russian and Chinese business help for Iran. Mr. Pompeo told reporters on Tuesday that Russia and China see [Irans interference in the Middle East] as a threat as well. But the impact of U.S. sanctions is significant enough that even Chinese and Russian companies cant ignore them, a U.S. official said. If they had to choose between doing business in Iran and in the U.S., they would prefer the latter, he said. The U.S. has made it clear it will pursue Chinese companies with U.S. connections if they violate its restrictions on Iran. The Justice Department is investigating whether Huawei Technologies Co. breached the Iran policy. A CNPC manager said the company is worried about how Chinese banks will react to taking on more investment in Iran and about procuring oil equipment for work in Iran. Russia is advising companies against doing business with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an Iranian paramilitary group with business interests that is under strict U.S. sanctions. In siding with Iran over the U.S., Russia and China risk opening another front in a burgeoning series of disputes with Mr. Trump over disputes spanning the Ukrainian conflict to steel tariffs.

But the lack of European competition is an enticing prospect. Russia sees Iran as another platform for the expansion of its oil industry into the Middle East and as a natural if sometimes awkward ally against the West. The two countries militaries have both helped bolster President Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian civil war. Russian trade with Iran doubled to more than $2 billion in 2016, the year that nuclear sanctions ended, much of it wheat and industrial equipment.

China is by far Irans largest business partner, buying about a third of its oil exports, bringing bilateral trade to a record $37 billion in 2017, up 19% from a year earlier. China sees Iran as a trade corridor for its One Belt, One Road initiativea revival of the Silk Road route that exported its goods westward. Roozbeh Aliabadi, partner at New York-based Global Growth Advisors, which advises Chinese and other foreign companies entering Iran, called U.S. sanctions on Iran a huge gift to China.
Kyrgyzstan's President Sooronbai Jeenbekov will visit China in early June. The first state visit of the Kyrgyz leader will take place against the backdrop of the scandal surrounding the Bishkek CHP power station and the Jogorku Kenesh's intention (parliament) to revise the credit agreements with the Middle Kingdom - today Kyrgyzstan's debt to China reached $1.7 billion.

The first six months of Sooronbai Jeenbekov's presidency were devoted to the process of building relations with neighbors. At first, he made visits to Moscow and Minsk, where he held important talks with Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev on the settlement of the conflict on the Kyrgyz-Kazakh border. Later, the president paid a first official visit to Uzbekistan, with which the country also had serious problems. Kyrgyz politician Ravshan Jeenbekov, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, said that the elimination of difficulties with Tashkent was more Uzbek leader Shavkat Mirziyoyev's doing, who decided to build partnership with Kyrgyzstan and develop trade and economic cooperation, than President Jeenbekov's.

"It was more in the interest of Uzbekistan. A similar situation concerns Kazakhstan. The first conciliatory gesture was made by President Nazrabayev. During the CIS summit in Moscow he engaged in talks with the Kyrgyz delegation and invited Jeenbekov to pay an official visit to Astana. Therefore, I wouldn't say that Jeenbekov ruled out the situation with both Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, and give all the credit to him, "Jenbekov said.

In February, an attempt was made to improve relations with Tajikistan. At the talks with Tajik leader Emomali Rahmon in Dushanbe, Sooronbai Jeenbekov touched on extremely painful and conflict-related issues related to the interstate border. But apart from the declared intention to "continue working together," no results are known.

Jeenbekov's visit to Turkey was more productive. He later called the "Turkish direction" a priority of Kyrgyzstan's foreign policy, since the main issue of social security for migrants was resolved. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was also pleased with the results of the meeting with his Kyrgyz counterpart. He received confirmation that under Sooronbai Jeenbekov there will be no unfriendly attacks on Ankara, which happened under previous president Almazbek Atambayev.

Sooronbai Jeenbekov's visit to Brussels completed the foreign policy activity of the first half of the year. The European Union expects Bishkek to carry out reforms and actions to strengthen democracy, increase the transparency of governmental departments, and effectively manage and develop new economic opportunities. According to Director General of the analytical centre 'Strategy East-West' (Bishkek), Dmitry Orlov, Jeenbekov's visits to the EU and Turkey have confirmed the external legitimacy of Kyrgyzstan's new authorities, and the rest is less important.

"The most noticeable change that took place under Jeenbekov was the disintegration of the opposition to the current Kyrgyz government. Kyrgyzstan is the only country in the world now where the opposition opposes ... the former president Atambaev. Zheenbekov himself has done nothing yet to be praised or criticized. Don't you think that the information war which inflamed between his entourage and Almazbek Atambayev's team is an achievement or reform? Putting bureaucratic officials and "cutters" in jail is not a reform as well, but an everyday duty of the government," Dmitry Orlov told Vestnik Kavkaza.

In particular, it's about the scandal surrounding Bishkek CHP power station (Atambayev may face trial in Bishkek TPP case). Kyrgyz MPs are ready to review all credit agreements with China. There are many of such agreements, including such large ones as the construction of the Datka-Kemin transmission line, as well as the North-South alternative road. The deputies believe that violations can be revealed in other projects as well. It is worth noting that China is the biggest creditor and investor of Kyrgyzstan. Bishkek should pay $1 billion 711 million to the Export-Import Bank of China, which is 41.3% of Bishkek's total foreign debt. Moreover, member of the Iran-East (Iran) Central Asian and Afghan Studies Institute's Scientific Council, political scientist Igor Pankratenko, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, said that the volume of Kyrgyzstan's debt is only 1.3% of 124 billion dollars promised by President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping last May to implement the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), of which Bishkek is an active participant. Most of its debts to Beijing arose precisely during the "conjugation" of the Kyrgyz economy with this Chinese mega-project. It is possible that the parliamentary proceedings will lead to an outflow of Chinese investments from Kyrgyzstan.

"The Kyrgyz parliament members can review anything they want, even regardless of President Jeenbekov's visit to China. Loans are not a question of relations with China. At the highest level, Chinese president Xi Jinping can smile at Jeenbekov as much as he likes - it's protocol. However, Kyrgyz parliamentarians suffer from a disease, which Lenin called "parliamentary idiocy." The parliament of Kyrgyzstan thinks that everything will be better immediately after they review something. But that's not how it works. There are only two ways to escape from the credit trap into which they were driven. The first one is raising taxes, or tariffs with excise taxes. They are already preparing citizens psychologically: there has been a wave of publications has gone straight, which calculate how much each Kyrgyz owes, they counted $600 per each, including newborn babies. But there is no guarantee that there will not be another coup after that, which will lead to nothing, because they still have to repay the debts, while Lenin-like leaders who will risk refusing to repay the debts of the previous regimes are not yet observed in Kyrgyzstan," Orlov believes.

The second way, according to the expert, is the confiscation of property of everyone somehow involved in signing loan agreements with China. But there will not be much use from this - Chinese loans were initially tied, that is, all the work was done by the Chinese with the use of their own technique. Money were returned back to those who gave them - the Chinese, and Kyrgyzstan only has commissioned objects, with a lot of claims to which, and money "sawn" by officials. Dmitry Orlov noted that the Chinese do not care how much and by whom was "bitten off" from their loans in Kyrgyzstan. They have many ways to get what they need, and they will do it, whatever it costs. Kyrgyzstan can keep pleading poverty - it does not bother anyone in Beijing, the money was not forced into the Kyrgyz authorities' hands. On the other hand, past experience shows that the loans that have been given to Bishkek all these years were allocated in such a way to ensure that they can never be payed back. Loans are always a short leash for long goals, and it seems that Kyrgyzstan will find out China's goals very soon.
Oil in New York headed for its longest run of losses in almost four months as Saudi Arabia and Russia said they are discussing raising output to ease consumer anxiety after prices jumped to levels last seen in 2014. West Texas Intermediate dropped as much as 3.1 percent, while Brent crude futures traded above $80 a barrel last week slumped near $75 in London on Monday. Saudi Arabia and Russia signaled theyll restore some of the output they cut as part of a deal between OPEC and its allies that took effect in January last year. Potential opposition from several producers could complicate the groups effort to reach a consensus when it meets next month in Vienna.

As Bloomberg writes in an article "Oil Extends Slump as Saudi Arabia, Russia Signal Output Increase", oil rose earlier in May to a 3 1/2-year high after U.S. President Donald Trump decided to renew sanctions on Iran and as plunging Venezuelan output fueled concerns over disruptions. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and its partners are said to have cleared a market surplus despite record American production, a possible step toward relaxing cuts that have exceeded the groups targets.

High Prices

West Texas Intermediate for July delivery fell as much as $2.08 to $65.80 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange and traded at $66.75 at 1:50 p.m. in Dubai. It was heading for a fifth consecutive daily decline, the longest streak since Feb. 9. There is no settlement Monday because of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday. Trades will be booked Tuesday for settlement purposes. Prices dropped $2.83 to $67.88 on Friday, the biggest loss since July 5. Total volume traded was about 45 percent above the 100-day average. Brent futures for July settlement dropped as much as $1.95 to $74.49 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange and traded at $75.34 a barrel. Prices on Friday lost $2.35 to $76.44. The global benchmark crude traded at a $8.63 premium to WTI for the same month, on course for the widest close since March 2015. Futures for September delivery fell 3.4 percent to 464.3 yuan a barrel on the Shanghai International Energy Exchange.

Demand Worries

Higher crude prices are starting to affect demand, Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of consultant IHS Markit Ltd., said on Friday. He was echoing concerns voiced a week earlier by the International Energy Agency, which advises major oil-consuming nations. U.S. President Trump last month criticized OPEC for contributing to higher crude.

OPEC and its allies are likely to gradually raise oil output in the second half, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said last week at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia. He and his Russian counterpart Alexander Novak said earlier that while scaling back the supply caps was on the table, no decision had been made.

The group has to decide unanimously whether to adjust output, said Suhail Al Mazrouei, energy minister of the United Arab Emirates and holder of OPECs rotating presidency. No decisions made by two countries or three countries are going to be taken, he said Friday in an interview in St. Petersburg. We respect all the member countries.

Declining output from some producers gives countries like Russia a very good opportunity to increase production without hurting the market too much, said Ole Sloth Hansen, head of commodities research at Saxo Bank A/S in Copenhagen. . As long as producers dont cut by more than they promised, the Saudi-Russian proposal should be an easy sell both within and outside OPEC, Saxo Banks Hansen said.

President Vladimir Putin said last week that oil prices at $60 fully suit Russia and the country doesnt want them to spiral higher. Anything above that level can lead to certain problems for consumers, which also isnt good for producers, he said. OPEC and his nation dont plan to stick to existing output cuts, he said.
Some 100 years ago, on May 28, Azerbaijan declared the first democratic republic in the Muslim East. Not only was it the first declaration, but also the first historic decision to establish a parliament, university and opera. It granted voting rights to women ahead of many European democracies of the time. Azerbaijani ambassador to Turkey Hazar Ibrahim wrote this in an article "The first century of Azerbaijan", published by Hurriyet Daliy News.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) tried to survive and therefore, began building its armed forces and bureaucracy. Many young Azerbaijanis were sent to Turkey to pursue education and Turkish officers started training and equipping Azerbaijani ones. The republic engaged with leading powers, sending emissaries to the major capitals and the Paris conference. The ADR wanted recognition, its place among nations and the strongest ties with the Ottoman Empire.

Turkey was also in search and survival mode then. The difference was that the Ottoman Empire was rather defending its vast lands and contemplating a new form of existence. Despite the hardships, both Azerbaijan and Turkey extended a brotherly hand to each other. Volunteers fought shoulder to shoulder. The last piece of bread was shared and no other effort was spared. The fallen Turkish soldiers were laid to rest on the hilltop of Baku, the most visible and sacred place, next to the fallen Azerbaijanis in different times of our history. So is true for Canakkale, which was the first place I visited after my appointment as Ambassador in Turkey, where Azerbaijanis are resting in peace together with their Turkish brothers. The ADR lasted only 23 months but the goals it set were never forgotten.

Fast forward exactly 100 years. Global and regional affairs might be less violent but definitely not less complex or tense. Again, as in 1918, a big power game stretches through the similar geographies, but now, overwhelmed with widespread terrorism, weapons of mass destruction, cyber and other modern and much deadlier technologies. The big difference though is the very different place of Azerbaijan and Turkey in global and regional affairs. Today, Azerbaijan is in 100th place in terms of size and has the 35th most competitive economy, the 53rd strongest army, and the 11th most literate population. Turkey is a G20 country with mighty armed forces and is a growing soft power in the region.

Moreover, the Turkey-Azerbaijan link is turning into an energy, transportation and security belt. Caspian energy resources flow to Europe via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipelines. The Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railroad, inaugurated late in 2017, is a major piece in a chain, reviving the ancient Silk Road, which brought peace and prosperity to Eurasia centuries ago. Most trilateral and quadrilateral regional cooperation formats include both Ankara and Baku and the scope of their activities is growing every year. On June 4, 1918, the ADR signed the Treaty of Batum with Turkey on friendship, cooperation and mutual military assistance, which was the first recognition of the newly established republic. Now, on June 12, 2018, the 1,850-kilometer long Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) will be inaugurated to become the recognition of the unbending determination, unmatched progress and strong alliance, which that friendship turned into.

That is why the decision by Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev to declare 2018 the ADR year was met with such high praise. It is not only history the ADR represents but also the future it has helped to forge.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev's order declared 2018 as a Year of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). The first democratic republic in the East was created exactly 100 years ago. In this connection, jubilee events are held in Azerbaijan and other countries. Russian cultural figures, members of the public and senators congratulated Azerbaijanis on the jubilee at a reception in the Moscow embassy of Azerbaijan, dedicated to the Republic Day.

"I congratulate very warmly our hospitable hosts and all Azerbaijanis on the Republic Day and wish peace and prosperity to friendly Azerbaijanis," Deputy chairman of the Federation Council of Russia Ilyas Umakhanov said. He recalled that Russia and Azerbaijan has strategic partnership relations, based on the principles of equality and good-neighborliness, centuries-old traditions of friendship, common history and culture, intertwined destinies of millions of people. "This is equally applicable to my father's fate and the fate of our family. The great son of the Azerbaijani people, the outstanding statesman of our once common country, Heydar Alievich Aliyev, is the inspirational symbol of friendship and unity of our countries and peoples, the inseparability of the historical destinies of entire generations. He has a historical role in the formation of independent Azerbaijan and the strengthening of the foundations of friendship and strategic partnership with Russia. On May 10, we marked Heydar Aliyevich's 95th birthday anniversary together with our Azerbaijani friends in Baku and opened a unique historical documentary exhibition dedicated to the fate and historical role of the national leader of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev. Russia was an integral part of his life, and the closest, reliable and priority partner in political terms. This baton, based on a clear understanding of Azerbaijan's national interests, is worthily continued by his son, respected Ilham Aliyev," Umakhanov said.

According to him, intensive political dialogue at the highest level is supplemented by the parliaments, which make a significant contribution to the development of bilateral relations by actively interacting at international parliamentary platforms: "This year the bilateral trade turnover is growing rapidly. There is a serious mutual interest in implementing a number of large strategic projects in the fields of energy, transport, innovative technologies, agriculture. An exclusively dense fabric of regional cooperation was formed - the subjects of the Russian Federation act in accordance with the agreement on trade, economic, scientific, technical and cultural cooperation with Azerbaijan."

The senator also drew attention to the development of cooperation in the humanitarian sphere: "About 15,000 students from Azerbaijan are studying in Russia. Azerbaijani branches of leading Russian universities are successfully operating. Our joint project, which has become widely accepted and recognized in the world - the Baku International Humanitarian Forum, which is held under patronage of the presidents of Russia and Azerbaijan, has become the site for discussing urgent problems of the development of modern society. Currently, together with Azerbaijani colleagues we are actively preparing the next, the sixth meeting."

Ilyas Umakhanov also noted that Heydar Aliyev always paid attention to the positive influence of Russian language and Russian culture on the socio-cultural development of Azerbaijan. "Today, hundreds of teachers, scientists, cultural workers of our countries, including the staff of more than 300 Azerbaijani schools with Russian as the language of instruction, work to preserve the legacy of the common spiritual and educational space. We will never forget Heydar Aliyev's prophetic saying: 'Russian language will always be in Azerbaijan'," Umakhanov said.

The senator mentioned the strengthening of inter-confessional dialogue and accord as extremely important: "In this context, we should note the success of the conference on this subject, which was held with the active participation of the Moscow Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in November 2017 in St. Petersburg, which was attended by the authoritative public, political and religious figures of our countries. We have big and concrete plans for the future. In September, the 9th Interregional Russian-Azerbaijani Forum will be held in Ganja and the 17th meeting of the commission will be held in Moscow. We are optimistic and confident about the future of Russian-Azerbaijani relations."

Completing his speech, Umakhanov raise his glass "for the well-being and prosperity of friendly, fraternal Azerbaijan, for the strong friendship between the Russian and Azerbaijani peoples, for the health of the heads of our states."
North Korea has dispatched top officials to the United States and Singapore, media reported on Tuesday, the latest indication that an on-again-off-again summit with U.S. President Donald Trump may go ahead, Reuters reported.

North Koreas Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers Partys Central Committee, was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency said, citing an unidentified source.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing late on Monday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

At the same time, a pre-advance U.S. team was traveling to Singapore to meet North Koreans, the White House said.
US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to closely cooperate in the runup to an "expected summit" between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Deutsche Welle reported.

During a phone conversation, Trump and Abe said they agreed on the importance of "complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs," according a White House statement.

Without giving details, the statement said the two leaders had also pledged to meet before the US-North Korea summit. Trump and Abe could meet on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit both are expected to attend in Quebec, Canada, in early June.
Armenia must liberate occupied Azerbaijani lands, member of the Platform for Peace between Armenia and Azerbaijan, retired colonel Eduard Bagiryan, said today in an interview with Vestnik Kavkaza, speaking about ways of settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

He stressed that both Armenian and Azerbaijani people want the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict to end. "Only Mikhail Gorbachev needed this conflict in order to destroy the Soviet Union. Everything was done in order to create nationalistic sentiments in society, which is why this conflict began. When the USSR collapsed, no one needed the Karabakh conflict, but the war machine continued to work by inertia," Eduard Bagiryan said.

"Armenians think that since they fought for 30 years, occupied many regions of Azerbaijan, so how can they abandon everything? I believe that yes, they should liberate these lands! Even America left other countries when it saw that there's nothing to gain from war. It left Korea, Vietnam, Iraq. Armenia must also leave Azerbaijani lands, because there's no military solution to the conflict in its favor. A new war will only bring more grief, tears and blood, and there will be no solution," he noted.

He stressed that Armenian authorities deliberately cultivate hatred for Turkic peoples. "When we studied in Azerbaijan, nobody told us that Armenians are bad, but you can read are a lot of bad things about Muslims, Turks and Azerbaijanis in Armenian press," he said.

"All regional global projects involve Azerbaijan, and Armenia can't get access to them. Due to blocked borders, Armenia can't transport its goods to Russia through Azerbaijani roads, so situation with logistics is very difficult in Armenia, and this affects prices of Armenian goods. All of this could have been avoided if the conflict was resolved," Eduard Bagiryan concluded.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has filed a criminal complaint against Muharrem Ince, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP), over his allegation that Erdogan visited U.S.-based Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen before forming the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), Hurriyet Daliy News reported.

Erdogans lawyer, Huseyin Aydn, filed a lawsuit against Ince for insulting the president, demanding non-pecuniary damages worth 100,000 Turkish Liras on May 29.

The allegations of the accused are amount to a serious violation of the presidents personal rights and are completely baseless, the complaint letter read.

It is out of the question that there was any permission from any individual or organization, including the individual [Gulen] that the accused alleged, the letter added.
The European Commission plans to shift more than 30 billion euro in EU funding away from central and eastern Europe, the Financial Times reported with reference to draft documents.

Draft documents show the commission is revising its criteria for allocating funds, leaving central and eastern Europe facing a far bigger squeeze than the 10% real-term cut envisaged for the overall cohesion programme.

The model presented to EU commissioners proposes reducing Polands funding by 23% (19.5 billion euro). Hungary, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Lithuania face 24% reductions. While Portugal, Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus will receive a 3.7billion euro increase in 2018 prices.

Polands development minister Jerzy Kwiecinski has warned such cuts would be "completely unfair"  a sign of how the budget proposals may further inflame east-west tensions within the EU.

The senior research fellow at the European Research Centre of the International Relations Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Olenchenko, speaking with a correspondent of Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that the period of adaptation of Poland, the Baltic countries, Hungary and the Czech Republic, as well as Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia to the EU standards is coming to an end, after which additional financing from the EU should be canceled. "All these countries joined the European Union in 2004, their period of adaptation will be over by the beginning of the implementation of the 2020-2027 financial plan. Therefore, their increased funding will be canceled. In addition, by December 31, 2020, the UK will completely withdraw from the EU, its contributions to the European budget amounted to about 15%, so starting from 2021 there will be less money," he said.

"It is also important that since 2009 the European Union has demonstrated very low rates of economic growth after the crisis. Together with the previous two circumstances, this greatly narrows the space for Europe's financial maneuvers and compels the European Commission to carry out the budget's sequestration. The Baltic countries would catch the worst of it. It will be easier for the Eastern European countries, but it is still quite difficult," Vladimir Olenchenko stressed.

"Poland will have to moderate its political appetites. Poland claims to be the leader of the Eastern European and Baltic countries, but after cuts, it will have to deal more with domestic affairs. In addition, Poland is assuming additional obligations of the "Euro-Atlantic country," which seek to be the main US partner in Eastern Europe and encourages the US to increase its presence on its territory. It requires additional expenditures, but Warsaw does not have a clear idea of the prospects. Therefore, it will be very difficult for Poland in 2020," the senior research fellow at the European Research Centre of the International Relations Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences predicts.

Director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting, Professor Alexander Gusev, pointed to systemic problems with the EU budget. "They do not have enough money. In fact, only Germany consistently transfers money to the EU - the UK has ceased to do it in connection with Brexit and France constantly delays payments. Hence the budget sequestering, the target of which is Eastern Europe and the Baltic countries, because they are poorest," he said.

According to the expert, the situation was aggravated by anti-Russian sanctions. "Initially, these countries believed that a consolidated voting on sanctions would free their financial system from Russia's influence. On the contrary, the EU and the Council of Europe promised that they will fill the budget losses of these countries from imposing sanctions against Russia, but no one gave them any money. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the Europeans are extremely unhappy with these countries of Eastern Europe, because they block many European laws because of their grudge against the EU authorities for funding fraud, especially the Czechs. They plan to completely abolish the sanctions against Russia, the Hungarians support them," Alexander Gusev said.

At the same time, the EU can approach the Eastern European funding cuts issue more gently. "Probably, the necessary billions of euros will be found, instead of taking harsh measures against the Eastern European countries, we should rather expect a half-way decision. Otherwise these countries will be broke, there is already a huge outflow of population from Latvia, million of citizens already left Latvia, because living in the country is impossible. Slightly less number left Estonia, a quarter of the population left Lithuania. They are heading to Poland, while the Poles themselves are leaving for Germany and the UK. But still at some point Eastern Europe will be sacrificed," the director of the Institute of Strategic Planning and Forecasting summed up.
The European Commission proposed on Tuesday increased spending of EU money on Italy and other southern member states hit by the economic and migrant crisis, while reducing funds for poorer regions in eastern countries of the bloc, Reuters reported.

The proposal, which details plans announced a month ago, comes as Italy is facing the prospect of snap elections after the summer, which polls show could further strengthen eurosceptic parties.

The EU executive proposed to cut funds to poorer regions of the bloc in the 2021-2027 budget, in a move expected to trigger fresh criticism from Poland, Hungary and other eastern European states that have relied on EU funds in recent years to fuel strong economic growth.

The budget, the first after Britain leaves the bloc, would increase to 1.1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion) from 1 trillion euros in the current seven-year period. The Commissions proposal envisages dedicating more resources to research, security and the digital economy, but capping funds for poorer regions and farmers.
Billionaire investor George Soros is worried that another "major financial crisis" could be lurking around the corner.

Soros, speaking at the annual meeting of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris Tuesday, said that rising anti-European Union sentiment, the disruption to the Iran deal, a soaring dollar and investors taking money out of emerging markets are adding up to bad news for the global economy.

"We may be heading for another major financial crisis," he said, CNN reported.

Soros said that the rise of populism in Europe is a significant problem. "The European Union is in an existential crisis. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong," Soros said in his prepared remarks.
Georgian filmmaker Ana Urushadze was included in a number of ten European women filmmakers which will attend the Sydney Film Festival this year.

Emily Atef will bring her award-winning 3 Days In Quiberon to Sydney, while Dutch director Nanouk Leopold will present her latest feature Cobain, about a boy trying to help his mother quit her self-destructive lifestyle.

Amongst the films in the section having their Australian premiere are The Heart, directed by and starring Fanni Metelius from Sweden. Also included is love triangle story The Marriage from Kosovan writer-director Blerta Zeqiri, and Georgian director Ana Urushadzes Scary Mother about a woman searching for self-fulfillment, Screen Daily reported.

The 65th Sydney Film Festival runs from June 6-17.
Armenian soldiers' shooting at a combine harvester and its driver, who was carrying out agricultural work in the sowing area, from the positions in the direction of the occupied Gorgan village of Azerbaijans Fuzuli District, once again shows the inadmissibility of keeping the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev said, Trend reported.

Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry sharply condemns this shooting and regards it as another provocation from Armenia.

It is very easy to spot a combine harvester because of its size and appearance, Hajiyev said. However, it is obvious that the goal of the Armenian Armed Forces is to attack the civilian facilities.

He noted that Armenia intentionally targets civilians, including children, and civilian facilities, and this is of systematic nature.

This latest incident once again shows that the status quo, based on the continuation of the illegal presence of the Armenian Armed Forces in Azerbaijans occupied territories and the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories are inadmissible and continue to be a serious threat to regional peace and security, Hajiyev added. In order to change the status quo, Armenia must withdraw its troops from the occupied territories of Azerbaijan.
Israel has attacked militant sites in Gaza after coming under the heaviest barrage of mortar and rocket fire from the Palestinian enclave in years, BBC reported.

The Israeli army said air strikes hit 35 targets, including a cross-border tunnel, belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad - Gaza's main militant groups.

In Israel, an empty kindergarten was hit when militants fired more than 30 mortars earlier in the day.

The flare-up follows weeks of deadly violence on the Gaza-Israel border.

More than 100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli snipers amid protests which saw thousands of Palestinians mass on the border in support of the declared right of Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral homes in what is now Israel.

Israel said its snipers had opened fire on attackers or people attempting to infiltrate under cover of protests, but UN and human right officials have accused Israel of using disproportionate force.
The expected vote on recognizing the 'Armenian Genocide' was not on the Israeli Knessets agenda for this week as of Monday.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein pulled the item from the agenda to avoid an embarrassment to the Knesset, because it was unclear there would be a majority in favor. Edelstein has repeatedly voiced his support for recognition over the years, including last week.

The vote on recognizing the Armenian Genocide was set for Tuesday, after a motion to do so by Meretz chairwoman MK Tamar Zandberg was approved 16-0.

Zandberg accused Edelstein of putting politics ahead of morality, dismissing the Knesset Speakers words in favor of her motion.

"Holding this debate, with a historic vote to recognize, is the right thing to do. Some preferred politics to doing the right thing," Zandberg said. "The Knesset should do what it promised. This is a matter of historic justice."

Zandberg, however, said that should not be taken into consideration, the Jerusalem Post reported.
The European Union, which is experiencing complex internal processes, is not allowed to display independence for the time being, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said while addressing an audience at the Belarussian presidential public administration academy in Minsk.

According to the minister, Moscow was interested to see the European Union as a strong, predictable and independent partner. "However, it is not allowed to display such independence for the time being," Lavrov said.

"Inside the European Union rather controversial and complex processes are underway. Opinions clash over how it should develop further on. Either to create the United States of Europe the classics of Marxism dreamed in their day and which todays France would like to emerge, which is seen in its idea of creating a common budget, appointing a common minister of finance and doing many other things that are unmistakable features of a centralized state," TASS cited Lavrov as saying.

"On the other hand, many countries are reluctant to lose their ethnic identity, their own face, their history and their traditions," he believes.

"In any case we keep a close watch on this, because the European Union, as before, remains Russias largest trading partner despite all sorts of restrictions," the top diplomat added.
Turkish security forces killed the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant who was among the attackers of a convoy carrying main opposition Republican Peoples Party (PKK) leader Kemal Klcdaroglu in August 2016, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

According to the ministry, the PKK militant named Velat Behcet Avras was killed in an operation on May 22 along with unspecified number of militants.

The operation took in the Kagzman district of the eastern province of Kars. Avras was the PKKs member responsible for the eastern Black Sea province of Artvin, the ministry added.

He took part in an attack on a CHP convoy of vehicles, including one carrying Klcdaroglu, in Artvin on Aug. 25, 2016. The attack killed one soldier and injured two others, and Klcdaroglu was later flown out of the area by helicopter, Hurriyet Daily reported.
The official opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor project at Sangachal terminal is being held in Baku. The project implies the supply of Azerbaijans gas to Europe.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev is taking part in the event. Marking this day as historic, he stressed that opening the Southern Gas Corridor was a significant step taken timely.

"Azerbaijans successful oil and gas policy shows that the Azerbaijani people are able to use their natural resources only in conditions of independence," the head of state explained.

Ilham Aliyev recalled that the history of oil in the world started from Azerbaijan. In 1846, for the first time ever, oil was extracted through an industrial method in Baku.

"The monument in honor of this historic event was erected several years ago in the center of our city. Azerbaijan ensured most of the world's oil production during that period in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century. However, the people were poor. Azerbaijan was just a source of resource. Azerbaijans oil did not serve our people. Absheron peninsula had faced an ecological disaster," the head of state said.

"But in the period of independence, the people can use their resources. Today, we are implementing such large projects with our partners and recompiling Europes energy map," Ilham Aliyev said.

Speaking at the commissioning ceremony, OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo stressed that it's an honor for him to be at the Sangachal terminal on the Caspian Sea to not only witness the opening ceremony of the 25th Centenary Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference, but also opening of the Southern Gas Corridor project.

Barkindo said that Shah Deniz is a clear evidence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs visionary leadership. "This project envisages a huge multi-billion dollar capital investment and is one of the largest energy projects in the world. This is a significant added value to Azerbaijans economy," OPEC Secretary General noted.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a letter sent to the opening ceremony, read out by Turkish Ambassador to Azerbaijan Ercan Ozoral, that TANAP is a historic project, our cooperation played a great role in completion of this project.

Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum Yury Sentyurin recalled that Azerbaijan has obtained the status of the international gas hub thanks to the wise and rational policy pursued by President Ilham Aliyev.

"Natural gas will play a key role in meeting our future energy needs. The Southern Gas Corridor, as one of the largest gas projects in the world, is aimed at ensuring gas supplies from the Caspian Sea to Europe. It involves extensive cooperation between the public and private sector, and today, 7 states and 11 independent companies are working together to complete this major project. The Southern Gas Corridor is designed to change the energy map of the entire region, delivering Caspian gas directly to European markets for the first time in history," he explained.

Sentyurin noted that, the EU needs further diversification of import opportunities to meet its future demands for energy. "The financial and political commitment of Azerbaijan to the implementation of the project emphasizes the important role that the country plays and will continue to play in the direction of ensuring energy sustainability," the Secretary General said.

Energy expert Rovshan Ibragimov, speaking with Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that Azerbaijan is opening a new page in its history. "Today, one of the parts of the Southern Gas Corridor has been launched, which has a continuation in Turkey (TAP, TANAP) and in Southern and Eastern Europe (TAP, TANAP). The commissioning of this pipeline will allow the export of large volumes of natural gas to the markets of Turkey, which will happen on June 12, the markets of Bulgaria, Greece, Italy after 2020, and, possibly, the market of Albania. Thus, in addition to the status of the oil exporter, Azerbaijan also becomes a major gas supplier. Even if over time, oil production will be reduced, it will be offset by gas," he said.

"Thus, Azerbaijan is becoming an even more active participant in ensuring the energy security of the countries along the Southern Gas Corridor and an important hydrocarbon exporter in the European region. In time, Azerbaijan may turn into a hub for delivering gas to European consumers, first of all, from Turkmenistan. Azerbaijan is also one of the sources of diversification of natural gas supplies to European countries, which further increases its macro-regional importance," Rovshan Ibrahimov stressed.

Head of the 'Caspian Barrel' Center for Oil Research Ilham Shaban, in turn, called the day the day of the discovery of Azerbaijani gas to Europe. "Of course, gas export from Azerbaijan started in 2007, but all these years we had only limited opportunities to supply gas to regional markets in Georgia and Turkey, but now our country will be able to export gas to large consumers on the European market for many decades. This will ensure the transition from the traditional status of the oil exporter to the status of a gas power," he explained.

"In fact, Azerbaijan's current smooth connection to the European markets is the opening of confirmed reserves of 2.6 trillion cubic meters of gas to foreign consumers. By opening the Southern Gas Corridor, we are strengthening the soil of the European and global market for us, attracting further investments for our development and ensuring long-term revenues of the republic," Shahban concluded.
President of Israel Reuven Rivlin has sent a congratulatory letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, APA reports.

The congratulatory letter says: "Your Excellency. It is an honor for me to congratulate you and your people on the 100th anniversary of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR). The creation of ADR in 1918 was a turning point in the history of this region, and the restoration of Azerbaijan's independence in 1991 created conditions for the continuation of the tradition of democracy. We wish you and the Azerbaijani people peace and prosperity. I hope for further expansion of bilateral relations. "
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan discussed developments in Syria and economic relations especially in the energy sector over the phone today, a source in Turkish president's office said.

The source said that two leaders expressed content over the progress in Akkuyu nuclear plant and Turkish Stream pipeline projects. They also emphasized the importance of using local currencies in bilateral trade, Reuters reported.
An aircraft of Qatar Airways made an emergency landing at Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport due to an engine failure, the airport's press service said.

The plane made a successful landing at 12:16 (GMT + 4). There were no casualties, APA reported.

The Airbus A330 aircraft, with 137 people on board, was flying from Doha to Tunisia.
Russia has signed a new contract with Kazakhstan on the delivery of four Mil Mi-35 transport and attack helicopters, Deputy Head of Russias Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Vladimir Drozhzhov said.

"A new contract for four Mi-35 helicopters has been signed. This year," TASS cited him as saying.

In 2016, Russia also signed a delivery contract with Kazakhstan on four Mi-35 helicopters. The gunships are expected to be delivered this year.
The scale of State-owned enterprises controlled by the State Capital Management Committee is less than the initial plan, according to the latest draft of the decree on the functions, tasks and organisational structure of the committee.  Photo vietstock.vn

HA NOI  The scale of State-owned enterprises controlled by the State Capital Management Committee is less than the initial plan, according to the latest draft of the decree on the functions, tasks and organisational structure of the committee.

Under the draft, the committee would manage State-owned capital at 20 corporations, instead of 21 as initially proposed a few months ago.

The Central Institute for Economic Management (CIEM) - the agency that has directly compiled the draft of the decree - said this committee would be the State representative at 20 State-owned corporations. Those corporations have a total State-owned capital of VN821 trillion (US$36 billion) and a total value of assets at over VN1.5 quadrillion.

Those figures are equal to 50 per cent of the State-owned capital and the total value of assets at the wholly State-owned enterprise sector.

The corporation removed from the list of those managed by the committee is the Cuu Long Corporation of Investment Development and Management for Infrastructure Project, reported vov.vn. Therefore, the total asset value of the 20 enterprises is about VN1.5 quadrillion, much lower than the previous estimated figure.

If the decree is approved, the deadline for transferring the enterprises to the committee would be completed by the end of this year.

However, there are still some concerns about the overlap in management between the committee and the ministries and ministerial-level agencies which are managing these corporations.

Phan uc Hieu, deputy head of CIEM and the representative of the team compiling the draft, said the draft of the decree was designed based on the principle that the committee would implement duties and rights of a representative agency for the owners under the Law on Management and Use of State Capital Invested in Production and Business at Enterprises (Law 67/2014/QH13). Meanwhile, ministries managing the sectors would continue their management tasks for these corporations.

That means the ministries and State offices would manage them through enacting policies, while the committee would implement ownership functions for them, Hieu said.

He said the committee would have a chairman and at most four vice chairmen who are appointed or dismissed by the Prime Minister, in accordance with the law.

This committee has nine departments, less than the 11 departments as initially planned. They include the Department of Agriculture; Department of Industry; Department of Energy; Department of Technology and Infrastructure; Department of General Affairs; Department of Legislation and Internal Control; Department of Staff Organisation; Administration Office; and the Information Centre.  VNS
Vietnamese delegates attend the Australia  Viet Nam Forum, which was co-organised by the Western Sydney University, the HCM City Economics University and the Australia-ASEAN Council in Sydney, Australia.  VNA/VNS Photo Dieu Linh

SYDNEY  Being creative to improve corporate management and approach international quality standards is one of the important factors that can help Vietnamese female entrepreneurs enhance their performance in selling farm produce.

According to the Vietnamese Consul General in Sydney Trinh uc Hai, Vietnamese women have proven themselves to be creative and proactive  these characteristics are often shown by women in the agriculture and food sectors.

The female entrepreneur community is getting stronger, with 30 per cent of Vietnamese firms being led by women, Hai said at a forum on Monday.

The Vietnamese Government always provides the best support for female entrepreneurs as it eyes 50 per cent of all Vietnamese firms being owned by women by 2020, he added.

Truong Ly Hoang Phi, chairwoman of the HCM City Young Businessman Association, told the forum that many Vietnamese women have chosen the agriculture sector as the place to launch new businesses, and they need better access to the international community for improved experience, lessons and partnerships.

The comments were delivered at the Australia  Viet Nam Forum, which was co-organised by the Western Sydney University, the HCM City Economics University and the Australia-ASEAN Council in Sydney, Australia.

The five-day forum, which will end on Friday, is expected to help Vietnamese agriculture business leaders explore new methods of development to create new products that are competitive enough to enter overseas markets, especially those with strict requirements like Australia.

Business owners are also able to explore the Australian market and get an overview of requirements for their products. In addition, the forum will launch a special seminar on how businesswomen perform and manage their firms and balance between their professional and personal lives.

Barney Glover, vice chairman of the Western Sydney University, said that Australia is widely known as one of the highest-quality agriculture produce suppliers in the world.

With two-thirds of its agricultural exports being shipped to Asian markets, it is essential for the country to develop a selling network among them, Barney said.

As Viet Nam has risen as a potential market and there are plenty of similarities between Vietnamese and Australian agricultural products, improving the two sides trade relations is necessary, he added.  VNS
HA NOI  Local steel makers should follow laws and requirements on origin when exporting their products to the US.

Thats the message from Ho Nghia Dung, chairman of Viet Nam Steel Association (VSA) after the US Department of Commerce (DoC) decided to levy import tax on steel produced in Viet Nam using Chinese-origin substrate.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will continue to collect anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) cash deposits on imports of corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) produced in Viet Nam using Chinese-origin substrate at the rate of 199.43 per cent and 39.05 per cent, respectively.

CBP will also collect AD and CVD cash deposits on imports of cold-rolled steel produced in Viet Nam using Chinese-origin substrate at the rate of 199.76 per cent and 256.44 per cent, respectively. Dung said the Viet Nams steel exports to the US would be sharply reduced with the decision.

Statistics showed that the Viet Nams steel exports to the US were reduced from more than 900,000 tonnes in 2016 to 500,000 tonnes in 2017.

After the DoCs decision, VSAs members have been quick to seek material for steel production from other countries or local ones instead of importing from China.

He said a big amount of hot rolled steel  the material for colour coated steel and galvanised steel production - was provided into the market after Formosa came into operation.

The amount of imported steel from China in the first quarter of the year was 1.1 million tonnes, half as much from the same period last year and a 29 per cent decrease in term of value.

The US, however, is still the third largest steel importer of Viet Nam despite of the tax levy. In the first three months of the year, the amount of steel exports to the US reached 217,000 tonnes, accounting for 15 per cent of Viet Nams total steel exports.

The chairman said the countrys steel sector has seen strong growth of construction steel and flat steel. Viet Nam has been able to produce construction steel products, from ore, steel scrap to hot rolled steel. Previously, Viet Nam had to import hot rolled steel from foreign countries including China, South Korea and Japan.

VSA said they co-operated with ministries, sector and businesses to clarify two issues relating to DoCs investigation on steel produced in Viet Nam using Chinese-origin substrate.

They would clarify that not all Vietnamese steel originates from China. In addition, Viet Nam has been investing in large and modern scales of final production stages to produce galvanised and cold rolled steel.

The latest information from the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) revealed that the DoC would remove the tax levy on Vietnamese steel exporters if they prove that their products were not used material from China.

The ministry would continue to co-operate with relevant steel producers to resolve the requirements from the DoC.

Chu Thang Trung, deputy director of the ministrys Department of Trade Defence, said they suggested producers study and meet conditions from the DoC to be exempted from the tax levy.

The ministry has closely co-operated with VSA and businesses to follow the case from the initiating of the investigation in June 2016.

MoIT asked the DoC to implement investigations objectively and in line with WTOs regulations as well as the USs norms. They also asked the DoC not to impose the tax on Vietnamese steel exporters.

VSA and Vietnamese steel producers have also closely co-operated with the US to clarify the material origin for steel production in Viet Nam.  VNS
HA NOI  Vietnamese shares kept falling on Monday, weighed down by large-cap stocks as investors remained quiet amidst the lack of supporting news among all businesses.

The benchmark VN-Index on the HCM Stock Exchange dropped 3.34 per cent, or more than 32 points, to close at 931.75 points, hitting its lowest level since December 15, 2017.

The VN-Index had kept rising substantially since December 15, 2017 to hit its all-time high of 1,204.33 points on April 9, 2018. But since that historical landmark, the benchmark index has lost total 22.6 per cent.

Last week, the VN-Index decreased by total 7.37 per cent.

The minor HNX Index on the Ha Noi Stock Exchange tumbled 6.21 per cent, or 7.11 points, to end at 107.37 points, totalling a three-day decline of 9.1 per cent.

The northern market index was down 5.6 per cent in the previous trading week.

Nearly 288 million shares were traded on the two local exchanges, worth VN7 trillion (US$314.8 million).

Mondays trading liquidity figures were up 48 per cent in volume and 35 per cent in value compared to the previous weeks daily average numbers.

Large-cap stocks were still the most important factor weighing the markets down, with the large-cap VN30 Index dropping 4.09 per cent to 898.00 points at the end of the day.

The two stock exchanges were covered with declining stocks, which outnumbered gainers by a 5:1 ratio (408 declining stocks versus 81 gaining ones). That included 28 losers in the VN30 basket.

Eighteen of the 20 sectors in the stock market saw share prices fall, with the worst performing including banking, energy, securities and retail. Those sector indices lost at least 6.2 per cent, data on vietstock.vn showed.

According to Nguyen Ngoc Lan, head of the brokerage division at Agribank Securities Company (Agriseco), the markets will likely continue their current downtrend as one of the driving forces is investors weak sentiment, which has been affected by rising tensions around the globe, foreign investors net sell value and bad news about local firms business activities.

In addition, investors have chosen to step aside after having failed several times to pick the markets up from their short-term bottom fishing, even though they have enough cash, because the markets are showing little signals of recovery, Lan said.

Bao Viet Securities Co (BVSC) said in its daily report that despite an improvement of trading liquidity, bottom-fishing demand was too weak to support the overall market and local stocks are likely to stay on downtrend in the short-term.

Investors have turned pessimistic and panicked after the market continuously broke down major supports. Selling pressure may continue to rise dramatically in the next sessions, it said.

However, BVSC expected bottom-fishing demand will be activated when the market drops to the support zone around 900.  VNS
SEOUL  The central province of Binh inh introduced its potential to South Korean businesses on Monday, aiming to lure investment from the Northeast Asian nation.

The conference to promote Korean investment in Binh inh was held at the headquarters of the Korea Industrial Technology Association in Seoul, drawing representatives of about 100 Korean businesses.

Chairman of the provincial Peoples Committee Ho Quoc Dung said the advantages of his province match South Korean investors investment and business demand. It also shares cultural similarities with Korea. Therefore, Binh inh has chosen Korea, a dynamic and developed economy, to be the next step in its investment attraction plan.

He called on South Korean firms to invest in fields his province has demand for such as electronic component production, seaport and industrial park infrastructure, energy, tourism and fisheries.

He affirmed that all economic sectors are treated equally, and every enterprise is provided with favourable conditions in accessing information about policies, mechanisms, planning and investment and business opportunities in Binh inh.

On this occasion, the official also asked participants to help his province popularise its potential to their friends, colleagues and other Korean investors.

At the conference, Vietnamese Ambassador to South Korea Nguyen Vu Tu said the Viet Nam-South Korea partnership is flourishing in all spheres.

South Korea is currently the biggest investor in Viet Nam with total investment capital of more than US$58 billion through last April. Bilateral trade surpassed $60 billion in 2017, making Korea the second largest trade partner of Viet Nam and Viet Nam the fourth largest trade partner of the Northeast Asian nation.

He noted that the fine political relationship and close people-to-people ties are factors helping ensure bilateral economic co-operation.

In 2017, Viet Nam welcomed 2.5 million South Korean tourists while the number of Vietnamese visitors to this country grew by over 70 per cent. Each country has more than 150,000 citizens living in the other nation at present, Tu added.  VNS
HA NOI  Tens of millions of 11-digit subscribers will be switched to a 10-digit format, starting from September 15.

The Ministry of Information and Communications and Vietnamese mobile operators have created a mobile phone prefix division, online newspaper ICTnews reported.

Specifically, the 11-digit mobile phone numbers of VinaPhone will be converted to a 10-digit mobile number with the prefix 08, while the 11-digit numbers of MobiFone and Viettel will use the prefix 03 and 07, respectively.

Mobile service providers are required to send notifications through mass media to their subscribers 60 days ahead of the transition, allowing calls on both the old and new numbers for 60 days.

During the transition period, the network operator must ensure that the customers communications are not affected.

Currently, Viettel has the largest number of 11-digit subscribers, at 70 million subscribers. VinaPhone and MobiFone have some 50 million subscribers of 11-digit mobile phone numbers.

When the Ministry of Posts and Telematics (now the Ministry of Information and Communications) officially issued the 11-digit number for mobile networks in 2007, the market did not show much interest in it.

Many 10-digit subscribers have shared that they do not want to answer calls from 11-digit numbers because these tend to be marketing and advertising calls. In addition, 11-digit subscribers are often used for spreading spam.

Reports from the mobile operators indicate that the number of 10-digit mobile numbers leaving their networks is lower than that of 11-digit mobile numbers.

The Ministry of Information and Communications issued a new plan for mobile phone numbers in 2014. One of the ministrys primary goals is to meet the need of the mobile development boom in the coming years.  VNS

All 11-digit mobile phone numbers of Viettel network beginning with 0162, 0162, 0163, 0164, 0165, 0166, 0167, 0168, and 0169 will be converted to 032, 033, 034, 035, 036, 037, 038, and 039.

11-digit mobile phone numbers of MobiFone network, beginning with 0120, 0121, 0122, 0126, and 0128 will be changed to 070, 071, 072, 076, and 078.

11-digit mobile phone numbers of VinaPhone network, beginning with 0123, 0124, 0125, 0127, and 0129 will be changed to 083, 084, 085, 087, and 089.

11-digit mobile phone numbers of Vietnamobile network, beginning with 0186 and 0188 will be changed to 056 and 058.

11-digit mobile phone numbers of Gmobile network, beginning with 0199 will be changed to 059.
HA NOI  Siam Cement Public Company Limited (SCG) signed an agreement with Viet Nam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) to acquire the latters equity stake in Long Son Petrochemical Co Ltd.

Under the agreement, SCG will acquire 29 per cent stake for more than VN2.05 trillion (US$90 million).

The transaction, made through SCGs wholly owned subsidiary in the chemicals business, Vina SCG Chemicals Co Ltd, is expected to be completed by the end of June 2018, the Thailand-based cement group said in a press release on May 28.

Upon completion of the deal, SCGs indirect stake in Long Son petrochemical project will increase from 71 per cent to 100 per cent, of which Vina SCG Chemicals holds 82 per cent and Thai Plastic and Chemicals Public Co. Ltd holds 18 per cent, SCG said.

Long Son petrochemical project, located in Long Son Petrochemical Industrial Park in Vung Tau City, is a key petrol and oil project of the Vietnamese government. Long Son is the third petrochemical complex in Viet Nam after Dung Quat oil refinery and Nghi Son oil refinery and petrochemical complex.

Licensed in 2008 with an initial investment capital of $3.7 billion, the project has raised up to $5.4 billion in investment. It is designed to produce up to 1.6 million tonnes of olefin per year.

After the withdrawal of Vinachem, Qatar Petroleum International and now PetroVietnam, SCG is the sole investor of the project with a 100 per cent equity stake.

The Thai group said the commencement of engineering, procurement and construction activities for the project would begin in the third quarter of 2018, with targeted commercial operations in the first half of 2023.  VNS
QUANG BINH  Authorities at the Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in central province of Quang Binh released five wild animals in the park on Monday.

With their release, the animals now have a chance to live in their natural habitat.

They include two Asian palm civets (Paradoxurus hermaphrodites) and two rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta), all of which are recognised as least concern species by IUCN.

The fifth is a stump-tailed macaque (Macaca arctoides), listed as a vulnerable species in the IUCNs red list.

According to the park authorities, the animals were handed over to park rangers after being rescued from nearby residents who had trapped or caged them illegally.

The authorities believe the animals will soon adapt to the natural environment in the park, thanks to a process of rehabilitation before their release.

In May, the authorities released 22 animals in the wild. However, they did not mention if they had attached chips on the animals for monitoring.

Laws prohibit the hunting, caging, transporting and killing of wild animals in the country.  VNS
HCM CITY  Award-winning film director Huy Thanh passed away while visiting his daughter in France on May 22, at the age of 90.

Director Thanh is from the first generation of directors of Vietnamese revolutionary cinema. He is one of two directors to win the Golden Lotus Award three times. He won the award at the 1st Viet Nam National Film Festival in 1970; and again in 1983 and 1985.

"Director Thanh was calm and thoughtful. He always respected the creativity of his artistes," said actor and director Tran Vinh. He expressed his sorrow to hear about the death of director Thanh, whom he regarded as a mentor, and the one who helped him to achieve what he has become today.

Director Thanh encouraged Vinh, who stared out as a theatre actor, to star in films, and later to direct them. Vinh starred in three award-winning films directed by Thanh.

Born in a Nang in 1928, Thanh joined the military in 1945 and moved north after 1954. He studied film directing at the Ha Noi Academy of Theatre and Cinema. His debut was Lang Noi (Floating Village) in 1965, which he co-directed with Tran Vu. Later he made two more films and became prominent with the movie Noi Gio (The Wind Rises).

The movie earned him the Golden Lotus Award for best motion picture at the 1st Viet Nam National Film Festival held in Ha Noi in 1970. The script was written by the director, based on a drama with the same name by author ao Hong Cam. The movie focused on the families who had children fighting in the American war.

Noi Gio was the first movie of Vietnamese revolutionary cinema to be shot in the south of the country. It tells of the relationship between two sisters and their younger brother. One sister is a member of the National Liberation Front of South Viet Nam, while her brother is in the Republic of Viet Nam Military Forces.

Theatre actor The Anh was chosen for the role of the brother, making him a popular name in Viet Nam at the time. The film is considered a classic of Vietnamese cinema.

Like Noi Gio, the movie Ve Noi Gio Cat was also about relationships between family members who were on the two frontlines. The movie won the Golden Lotus Award at the 6th film festival in 1983 in HCM City.

The movie Xa va Gan was about Sai Gon after liberation day on April 30, 1975. It featured a society moving into a new era, drawing focus on the two conflicting ideologies.

Director Thanh was a master when featuring the psychology of a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. The mother-in-law is a representative of the Saigonese middle-class, while the daughter-in-law is an engineer from Ha Noi. The movie appeared in a society where war no longer existed, but also a society filled with contradictions and division.

The movie won the Golden Lotus Award at the 7th film festival in 1985 in Ha Noi.

"He is a master of cinema, and made a great contribution to Vietnamese revolutionary cinema," said actor The Anh who starred in Noi Gio. "He is always in my heart".

In honour of his contribution to cinematography, Thanh was named a Peoples Artist in 1997, and he was given the State Award for Literature and Arts in 2006.

The HCM City Film Association is preparing a memorial ceremony and a funeral, which will be held in HCM City.  VNS
Lit up: Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan illuminated at night.  Photo courtesy of the embassy

On the occasion of the National Day of Azerbaijan, Ambassador Anar Imanov sends a message to Viet Nam News readers.

Millions of Azerbaijanis living in Azerbaijan and across the world celebrated May 28 as the establishment of the first independent and secular democratic state in the Islamic world  the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR).

The ADR was established on May 28, 1918 with the goal of building an independent, free and democratic republic. It went down in the chronicles of the Azerbaijani nation as a great and historic event and marked a glorious page in Azerbaijans history.

The ADR was a pioneer that combined both European democratic values and the abundant cultural heritage of the East in one entity. All citizens of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, regardless of their ethnic and religious affiliation, were granted the right to vote. In 1919 women gained suffrage for the first time in the Islamic world and much earlier than women of several Western countries.

In difficult circumstances, the founders of the ADR chose the most advanced and democratic form of government of their time. The Declaration of Independence  the policy document of the new republic  expressed commitment to principles of democracy and a secular and parliamentary state, and these principles were followed to the very end.

This document envisaged Azerbaijans independence, declared the people of Azerbaijan as the source of the government and ensured political rights and citizenship to all its residents regardless of their nationality, faith, class and gender.

The state was governed on the basis of laws and regulations adopted by the Parliament. During the 17 months of its uninterrupted activities, the Parliament of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan had left an indelible imprint in the history of Azerbaijani statehood in general, and the parliamentary culture in particular, by its valuable experience of building an independent state and adopting a number of highly professional legislative documents.

From the earliest days of the existence of the Republic, fundamental measures were taken in state building  from the adoption of state attributes to addressing complex state problems. Moreover, the establishment of Baku State University, the first modern university on the territory of Azerbaijan, was a demonstration of the value the fledgling republic placed on education. These values  equality, tolerance, and an early focus on education, marked the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic as a fundamentally progressive state with its face turned squarely to the future.

The main aim of the foreign policy of the ADR was the promoting of the newly established state. The new government, therefore, conducted an active foreign policy from its inception. Information was sent to a number of European countries about the establishment of the new state. Following active diplomatic work by the ADR in January 11, 1920 the independence of Azerbaijan was recognized de-facto in the assembly of the Supreme Council of the Paris Peace Conference. Following this, some countries opened their representative offices in Baku and some established diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan.

The beautiful architecture of Baku City.

In April 1920, due to foreign invasion, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic ceased to exist.

The creation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and its activities for two years was a historic event, Azerbaijan is a country that not only declared high democratic values 100 years ago, but also applied them. Todays independent Azerbaijan is the legal successor of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic. We are loyal to all democratic traditions of ADR and we are putting them into practice.

Since the restoration of independence in 1991, the Republic of Azerbaijan has achieved numerous successes in different fields such as energy and industry, information technologies, agriculture, healthcare, education, and culture.

Huge energy, transport and infrastructure projects have been implemented. As a result of successful foreign and domestic policy pursued under the leadership of President Ilham Aliyev, the Republic of Azerbaijan has become a leading state of the South Caucasus region.

The relationship between Azerbaijan and Viet Nam has a historical background. We used to have very active cooperation and people-to-people contacts. A lot of Vietnamese students received their higher education in Azerbaijan in the 70s and 80s. Many of our specialists, mostly in oil and gas sectors, used to work here in Viet Nam helping Vietnamese friends to develop the country after long years of war.

At present, relations between Azerbaijan and Viet Nam are actively developing, and mutually beneficial co-operation within the framework of various formats is expanding.

Close co-operation has been established between the New Azerbaijan Party and the Viet Nam Communist Party. Interparliamentary cooperation is actively developing. The Azerbaijan  Viet Nam Intergovernmental Commission on Economic, Commercial, Scientific and Technical Co-operation, established between the two countries, gave wide opportunities for a detailed discussion of the prospects for future mutually beneficial cooperation. Thus, the activity of the Commission contributes to the expansion of co-operation between the two countries in various fields.

Also, historically existing co-operation between Azerbaijan and Viet Nam in the humanitarian field is developing successfully. Implementing mutual visits of officials and holding a series of events in both countries have contributed to our cooperation in the humanitarian field.

I am confident that in the future we will witness even more strengthening and deepening of relations between Azerbaijan and Viet Nam.  VNS
HA NOI  A national competition to create photos, writing, videos and screenplays to raise awareness of food safety and hygiene has kicked off.

The competition is open for Vietnamese people at home and abroad as well as foreigners living in Viet Nam.

The contest was organised by Viet Nam Womens Union (VWU). Entrants can send their work to the organising board from now to July 26.

Nguyen Thi Tuyet, vice chairwoman of the VWU, said the contest looks for ideas to communicate food safety and hygiene to the public. She expects that the contest will help people produce and sell safe food, and instruct consumers to identify safe and unsafe food.

Its a part of a campaign on promoting the production and trade of safe food and agricultural products, which was held in Ha Noi on Sunday. Deputy Prime Minister Vu uc am attended the event and stressed that the Government appreciates co-ordination in ensuring food hygiene and safety.

He noted with pleasure that over the past two years, co-ordination among the Government, ministries, sectors, localities and social organisations has brought positive developments for food safety.

He stressed that in addition to strengthening State management of food safety, it is necessary to raise public awareness and knowledge regarding the harms of unsafe food, which threaten peoples health.

With improved knowledge, customers can distinguish between safe and unsafe food while producers can apply and develop safe production chain models and food supply chains, he explained.

Every producer and business must be made aware of their legal and ethical responsibilities in ensuring food safety, he said. He also asked for the strict inspection and handling of violations in cases related to food safety.  VNS
Freedom fighters: A photo shows President Ho Chi Minh (fourth left) with delegates from the heroes of the Southern Liberation Peoples Armed Forces on November 15,1965.  VNA Photo Vu inh Hong

HA NOI  A photo exhibition opened yesterday on Ha Nois Trang Tien Street to mark the 70th anniversary celebration of President Ho Chi Minhs June 11, 1948 appeal for patriotic emulation.

The event, organised by the Vietnam News Agency (VNA) in co-ordination with the Central Commission for Emulation and Reward (CCER), will run through June 3. On display are more than 100 art works including black and white photographs taken by artists from across the country, with particular emphasis on those in the past.

Vice President ang Thi Ngoc Thinh attended yesterdays opening ceremony and cut the ribbon at the launch.

VNA Director General Nguyen uc Loi opened the event by saying that as an important and reliable news agency of the State and the Party, the VNA has made contributions to nation-building and protection, as well as the countrys industrialisation and modernisation.

Bigwig: Vice President ang Thi Ngoc Thinh (centre) attends the launching of the exhibition yesterday.

VNA journalists have captured numerous photos showing the fervent atmosphere of patriotic emulation among Vietnamese soldiers and people during the anti-French and anti-US wars, as well as when the country began moving towards international integration and development, he said.

Many of the photographs remind people of large-scale movements during the national struggle for independence against the French and the Americans, including Hu gao khang chien (Rice jar for the Resistance), Diet giac oi, Diet giac dot, Diet giac ngoai xam (Eliminate the hunger, Eliminate illiteracy, Eliminate invaders), Thanh nien Ba san sang (The youth are ready for three tasks), and Phu nu Ba am ang (Women with three responsibilities), among others.

The photos also tell stories about other patriotic movements during the renewal period. Some photos, for example, show people building new-style rural areas or paying tribute to those who served the nation.

Next generation: A teacher and her students from Ha Nois Trung Vuong Primary School admire photos at the exhibition on Monday. The event marks the 70th anniversary celebration of President Ho Chi Minhs June 11, 1948 appeal for patriotic emulation.  VNA/VNS Photos

Tran Thi Ha, head of the CCER, said that in the past 70 years, the movements of patriotic emulation have encouraged Vietnamese people to overcome challenges and fulfill their tasks towards socio-economic development.

Ha, who is also a member of the Party Committee and Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, stressed that emulation had helped recognise many individuals and groups of people as exemplary models in overcoming difficulties to gain outstanding achievement in their labour and study, and to contribute to the common benefit of the community as well as the peace and prosperity of the country.

Linh an, an 8th grade student at the Trung Vuong Primary School in Ha Noi, said she was moved when admiring the photos at the exhibition as they reflected a hard but very glorious time in the nations history.

"I feel proud watching the photos about different times of my country and the people who have overcome hardship in the revolution against foreign invaders," she said.

As a very young citizen of the country, an vowed to be more active in participating in the movements.

Nurturing the youth: President Ho Chi Minh with outstanding students from the Trung Vuong Primary School on May 19, 1958.  VNA File Photo

In the spring of 1948, the country was struggling as it waged its resistance war against the French.

To encourage the nation to contribute to the revolution, President Ho Chi Minh made an appeal for patriotic work emulation on June 11, 1948.

Opening the appeal, he wrote, The purpose of patriotic work emulation is to eliminate poverty, hunger, illiteracy, and foreign aggressors. It means our entire people have enough rice to eat and clothing to wear. The entire population will know how to read and write. Soldiers will have enough food and weapons to defeat the foreign aggressors. These are aimed to unite the entire nation. Thus we will have an independent nation, free civil rights and happy welfare of the people."

The people, united: President Ho Chi Minh speaks at the fourth meeting of the heroes during the resistance war against the United States, held in Ha Noi in December 1966.  VNA File Photo

An emulation movement was launched almost 70 years ago in response to President Ho Chi Minhs appeal for patriotism to spur the national revolution against foreign invaders.

Seventy years have passed, but the appeal he made in June 1948 as the country fought to defeat the French while building a stable future has remained successful in promoting patriotism in all Vietnamese people.

Today, the movements effectiveness has been confirmed as it has helped improve the pioneering and vital role of encouraging the youth in the countrys path towards socio-economic development.  VNS
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (r) receives Ambassador Bruno Angelet, head of the EU Delegation to Viet Nam in Ha Noi on May 28.  VNA/VNS Photo Thong Nhat

HA NOI  Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc has said Viet Nam treasures its cooperation with the European Union (EU) and expressed his hope that the EU-Viet Nam Free Trade Agreement (EVFTA) will be signed soon.

At a reception in Ha Noi on May 28 for Ambassador Bruno Angelet, head of the EU Delegation to Viet Nam, the PM spoke highly of the EU delegations coordination in successfully organising the Meet Europe 2018 conference. He expressed his belief that after the conference, co-operation between Vietnamese localities and European partners and businesses will be strongly promoted, contributing to deepening the relations between Viet Nam and the EU and its member countries.

Angelet proposed several measures to foster bilateral ties, including moves towards the signing of the EVFTA, the implementation of the Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA), and the European Commission (EC)s withdrawal of yellow card warning to Viet Nam related to the fight against illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

He said he wishes that the two sides will exert every effort to sign the EVFTA later this year. An EU delegation had a ten-day working trip to Viet Nam and spoke highly of Viet Nams recent efforts to deal with IUU fishing, the ambassador said, adding that the EU is ready to support Viet Nam on this issue.

PM Phuc said Viet Nams relevant agencies have made every effort to respond to the ECs yellow card warning. On the basis of the EU delegations assessments, the Vietnamese side will continue taking positive and strong measures including closely controlling fishing vessels, ensuring the location of any boats fishing position, providing modern equipment for fishing vessels, enhancing communication work and raising fishermens awareness, and strictly punishing any violations, he affirmed.

He voiced his belief that stronger changes will be seen in this field in the near future. Regarding the PCA, the Government leader stated that Viet Nam will strengthen collaboration with the EU to realise this agreement.  VNS
President Tran ai Quang (r) receives Senator Cory Gardner, Chairman of the US Senates Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy in Ha Noi on May 28.  VNA/VNS Photo Nhan Sang

HA NOI  Viet Nam attaches great importance to its comprehensive partnership with the US and always considers the US an important partner, affirmed President Tran ai Quang.

The President made the statement while receiving Senator Cory Gardner, Chairman of the US Senates Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy in Ha Noi on May 28.

Quang expressed delight at the development of ties between the two countries over the years and proposed the US implement measures to tackle trade barriers and create conditions for Vietnamese goods to enter the US market.

He also suggested the two sides expand consultancy and information sharing at regional and international forums.

He hailed the development of ties between the legislative bodies of the two countries and stressed that Viet Nam welcomed more US parliamentarians to visit Viet Nam.

The President welcomed Senator Gardner to visit Viet Nam and hoped he would continue contributing to the development of Viet Nam-US relations.

Senator Gardner reported to the host the outcomes of his visit, including working sessions with ministries and agencies of Viet Nam to exchange measures to enhance relations between the two countries.

He affirmed his support for free trade and hastened co-operation with Viet Nam in dealing with some issues such as mitigating the consequences of Agent Orange and clearance of bombs and mines left from war.  VNS
Vietnamese President Tran ai Quang will pay a state visit to Japan from May 29 to June 2 at the invitation of Japan.  VNA/VNS Photo Lam Khanh

HA NOI  Vietnamese President Tran ai Quang will pay a state visit to Japan from May 29 to June 2 at the invitation of Japan.

Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko are scheduled to hold a state banquet in honour of President Tran ai Quang and his spouse.



During the visit, President Quang will meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.



Viet Nam and Japan established diplomatic relations in 1973, and upgraded their ties to an Extensive Strategic Partnership in 2014.



The two nations have held high-level meetings, with the highlights being visits to Viet Nam in 2017 by Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, and PM Shinzo Abe. The year also marked a new development step in bilateral relations as the two countries issued a joint statement on deepening the Extensive Strategic Partnership during the visit to Japan by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc.



Viet Nam and Japan have co-ordinated in multilateral forums such as the UN, ASEAN and APEC.



In 2017, Japan became the largest foreign investor in Viet Nam, with total registered capital of US$9.11 billion, equivalent to 25.4 per cent of the total inflow of foreign direct investment in the country.



Japan was the largest official development assistance provider for Viet Nam, and the fourth biggest trade partner of the country, with bilateral trade hitting $33.4 billion last year.  VNS
TOKYO  President Tran ai Quang kicked off his State visit to Japan on Tuesday afternoon with a visit to Gunma prefecture, where about 7,000 Vietnamese people are living.

At a reception for Gunma prefectures Governor Masaaki Osawa, Quang said he appreciated that Osawas selected Viet Nam as the first country to visit after he was re-elected Governor of Gunma in 2015.

He called on Gunma to enhance co-operation with Vietnamese localities in order to effectively utilise the potential of both sides by increasing people-to-people exchanges and stepping up collaboration in tourism and investment, especially in high-tech agriculture, farm produce processing and preserving industry, and manufacturing and supporting industries.

The President also suggested Gunma prefecture receive more Vietnamese trainees and workers in the fields of agriculture and construction.

Osawa briefed President Quang on the results of co-operation between Gunma and Viet Nam over the recent past, saying that 12 businesses from the prefecture have invested in Viet Nam . Gunma is also assisting nearly 40 enterprises which plan to invest in the country in the time to come, according to the governor.

Gunma prefecture wants to receive more highly-skilled Vietnamese workers and trainees.

At the reception, many local firms expressed their wish to increase educational co-operation with Viet Nam , particularly with Vietnamese universities, to create qualified human resources, thus meeting cooperation needs in economy, trade and investment between Vietnamese and Japanese localities.

Later on the same day, Quang visited Koganei Seiki Co, which specialises in manufacturing aircraft and formula one cars. There are 39 Vietnamese out of 240 engineers working in the company.

Quang and his spouse are on a State visit to Japan until June 2, at the invitation of the State of Japan.

An official welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese leader is scheduled to take place on Wednesday morning at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo under the chair of Emperor Akihito.

Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko are scheduled to meet with and hold a state banquet in honour of President Quang and his spouse.

During the visit, President Quang will also hold talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.  VNS
BINH THUAN  The Peoples Committee of Binh Thuan Province has asked local authorities to monitor and detect violations of illegal sand mining.

If the authorities do not handle or prevent such acts, they will be severely punished, according to the committee.

A report from the provincial police found that illegal sand mining occurs frequently in Tuy Phong, Ham Tan, Bac Binh, uc Linh, Tanh Linh, Ham Thuan Nam and Ham Thuan Tan districts.

Sand is being illegally exploited in all 10 communes in Ham Tan District.

Recently, Deputy Prime Minister Truong Hoa Binh ordered the people committees of provinces and cities, including Binh Thuan Province, to strictly handle violations committed by organisations and individuals.

In addition, the deputy prime minister has required authorities of provinces and cities to develop solutions to prevent illegal sand mining and submit a report to the Prime Minister before May 31.  VNS
HCM CITY  The Peoples Committee of Ninh Thuan Province, a typically hot and dry area, has urged investors to focus on solar and wind energy projects.

The province is less affected by storms than other areas in the country, and has become known as the renewable energy centre in Viet Nam.

Ninh Thuan Province has approved nine wind power projects and total investment of VN26.5 trillion. It has also approved 22 solar energy projects, with total capacity of 1,259 MW.

However, the development of those projects have been implemented at a snails pace.

Among the nine approved wind power projects, only four are under construction including Cong Trung Nam, Phuoc Dinh and am Nai, according to Ninh Thuan Industry and Trade Department.

On January 23, construction began on the first solar energy plant by BIM Group (Vietnam) and AC Energy (Philippines), with total investment of VN800 billion (US$35 million) and 90,000 solar panels in Phuoc Minh Commune in Thuan Nam District.

The second, Bau Ngu project, has begun construction since March 31, with a combined capacity of 50MW and total investment of VN1 trillion.

Two other solar projects are due to be built in June this year.

The 18 remaining solar energy projects are still on paper.

The Ninh Phuoc District have the most with 9 solar projects with total capacity of 308MW and total investment of VN 9.2 trillion.

The chairman of Ninh Thuan Peoples Committee, Luu Xuan Vinh, said the high cost and land clearance for construction of wind and solar power plants were the main reasons that have deterred many investors.

However, if investors dont have enough capacity and experience, we will withdraw their investment licences, he said.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, investment in wind and solar power costs more than traditional electricity. Additionally, mobilising capital from banks is also difficult for investors.  VNS
QUANG NGHAI  Two years ago, Troi did not attend the new school year ceremony of Son Thuong Secondary School in central Quang Ngai Provinces Son Ha mountainous District.

inh Van Troi, 13, from a poverty-stricken family in Go Ren Hamlet, had to play truant on that day to travel tens of kilometres to Son Tay District to earn money to support his family.

His house was seriously deteriorated and the whole family had to live temporarily in the kitchen for fear of collapse. They find it hard to afford three meals a day, so sending the children to school is a luxury that his family cannot afford.

Acknowledging the problem, his teacher ang Trung Thang decided to help cover all tuition fees for Troi, as well as learning materials to help Troi come back to school.

Thang mobilised local people to help rebuild the Trois familys house.

He (Thang) also bought a bike for me to help me get to school easier, as well as clothes and food, Troi told Tuoi tre (Youth) newspaper.

Thang is among 640 teachers in the provinces Son Ha District who voluntarily sponsor 643 disadvantaged pupils at different levels of education in the district, from kindergartens to high school students. The teachers have not only provided the kids with material support, but also moral and spiritual support, becoming what the families see as godparents.

As an exam is approaching, teacher Tu Phuong Thao of Son Bao Secondary School goes to inh Van Nus house after school to help him study.

Nus family is among the poorest in Son Bao Commune, and his parents have to leave home to work in other localities. The 13-year-old pupil has had to live alone for many years. Without his parents care, Nu has failed to study well, and often missed school.

Since 2016, teacher Thao decided to stay at Nus house to help him study as well as take care of him. With Thaos assistance, Nu gradually acknowledged the importance of education and came back to school.

Living with teacher Thao, I no longer feel lonely, Nu told the newspaper.

Overcoming challenges

In this mountainous district, poverty and low awareness of local people have deprived education opportunities of many children. These teachers often have to come to each village to mobilise children and their families to let the kids go to school. They have had to overcome many difficulties in the process.

Teacher inh Van To remembers two years ago when he rode a motorbike to Chai Village in Son Ba Commune to encourage two pupils to come back to school.

The village is deep in the mountains. My motorbike was swept away by strong water when crossing a spring. My bag and teaching documents were also swept away. I held a tree tightly and was lucky enough to survive, he told the newspaper.

However, it was worth it. I managed to get both pupils back to school, he said.

Teacher Tran Thi Trang from Son Thuy Primary School could not hold back her tears when recalling the days she went to the house of inh Thi Cha, now a fifth grade student, to convince the family to send Cha back to school.

Chas grandparents were determined not to allow Cha to go to school, and cursed Trang to leave. Nonetheless she spared no efforts to persuade them.

Her grandparents said Cha had to work to earn money to support the family. There is no need to study, they said, the most important thing is to earn money to buy food, Trang recalled.

After many visits, her grandparents agreed for Cha to go to school on the condition that Trang had to supply food to Chas family.

The 25-year-old teacher has since had to use part of her monthly salary of VN3 million (US$133) to buy food for Chas family for the past two years.

I will continue accompanying her, even when she moves to secondary school. It can be hard for me but I just need Cha to study well at school, Trang said.

Deputy head of the Education and Training Office of Son Ha District Nguyen Thi Thanh told the newspaper that she started the campaign in 2016 to mobilise each local teacher to sponsor one poor pupil after seeing how many poor pupils were dropping out of school.

At that time, I only hoped to keep the children at school. But beyond my expectations, the teachers have helped the children to develop as adults, and helped them to study better, she said.

I was unable to count how many clothes, books, learning materials, bikes and other things that these teachers provided for the poor children," Thanh said. "Either they bought these items with their own money, or they rallied the community together to help. All of this they did out of love and responsibility for these children."

These teachers are so amazing and I am so lucky to have them. Thank you all, she said.  VNS
HA NOI  Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The said on Monday he apologised to the families of the victims in recent railway accident and would take responsibility for what had happened.

Minister The also said he would take responsibility for the entire transport sector, and confirmed he would not cover up for individuals who fail to fulfill their responsibilities, which has led to a string of unwanted consequences.

He made the statements at a meeting held late on Monday to investigate four accidents reported between May 24-27, which left two people dead and the operation of the north-south tracks badly disrupted.

Vu Anh Minh, chairman of Viet Nam Railways (VNR), said the accidents were mainly due to human error.

Vu Quang Khoi, director of the railway department under the Ministry of Transport, said an average of 45 inspections are conducted yearly, with focus on traffic safety. In 2017, the department handed out fines for 1,040 acts, while 259 fines were imposed in the first five months of this year.

The railway sector needs to frequently test skill and knowledge of train drivers and operators of railway crossing barriers or gatekeepers, Khoi said. The capability of railway rescue teams must also be strengthened.

Asked about weaknesses of the railway department, Khoi blamed it on the lack of necessary equipment at railway stations, as well as on human resources issues. The department only had 60 railway inspectors scattered along the entire countrys railway line, he said.

Khuat Viet Hung, deputy chairman of the National Traffic Safety Committee, said individuals in charge of the railway sector should be held responsible for the recent accidents, and not just the barrier keepers who had been prosecuted.

"If we do not insist on holding people in charge of the railway sector and local authorities responsible for letting violations happen, traffic accidents will continue to occur, Hung said.

He also said that railway inspectors should be independent from the railway corporation to ensure fairness and transparency.

Deputy Minister of Transport Nguyen Ngoc ong said the main cause of accidents was a failure to comply with the disciplinary requirements of the railway sector.

Meanwhile, ongs fellow deputy minister, Le inh Tho, mentioned the weakness of the rescue units of the railway industry.

After the accidents, there was no quick rescue response, leading to ineffective cooperation for rescue work, Tho said.

He also said the recent problems of the railway industry were an offshoot of the monopoly held by VNR.

"These accidents were definitely due to human errors, Tho said.

Minister The acknowledged the views given by experts and officials and asked railway sector leaders to seriously review and verify the causes of recent accidents.

He also assigned ong to set up a team to review inappropriate regulations regarding railway management. The team was also tasked with identifying the responsibilities of the transport ministry and local authorities regarding the matter.

He mentioned the need to consider improving the salaries and working conditions for barrier keepers because their incomes had been rather low in comparison to their tasks in ensuring traffic safety. He also said the VNR needed to look after its employees after such accidents, and encourage all staff to work more responsibly.

A report from the VNR showed that from September 16, 2017 to April 15, 2018, there were 199 rail accidents, killing 91 people and injuring 122 others.

In 2010, the Japan International Co-operation Agency provided more than VN9.20 trillion (US$404 million) to help Viet Nam repair the North-South railway and upgrade level crossings. Nguyen Huu uc from the JICA said the railway sector had to depend on the State budget and did not have enough money to upgrade the safety system at level crossings.  VNS
HCM CITY  Students of Le Van Sy Primary School in HCM Citys Tan Binh District have won the first prize in this years Food Safety and Hygiene Contest for students.

The month-long contest also included another category - for cooks  and attracted more than 250 primary schools in the city that make lunch for their students.

It was aimed at improving knowledge of food safety and hygiene and reducing the danger of food poisoning.

Contestants had to take online tests, fill questionnaires on food safety and hygiene and cook.

In the category for cooks, Nguyen An Ninh Primary School in Hoc Mon District won the first prize.

The contest was organised by the city Department of Education and Training in co-operation with FrieslandCampina Viet Nams Dutch Lady brand.

The rate of obesity among children aged below five in HCM City has increased by three times over the last 10 years while in the case of high school students it has doubled, according to a press release from FrieslandCampina. VNS
HAVANA  Cuba will seek to amend its constitution to further open up the economy but without modifying the "irrevocable character of socialism", authorities there said on Monday.

Former president Raul Castro, who stepped down last month, introduced reforms in 2011 to open the centralised economy to small private businesses and foreign investment.

The changes resulted in a burst of activity in the first years, as Cubans opened restaurants and other small service-oriented businesses.

But the changes did not unleash the hoped-for economic takeoff.

A special commission will be formed during an extraordinary session of parliament on Saturday to present the constitutional changes, which deputies will discuss before putting them to a referendum.

The details of the proposed changes were not revealed, but they are expected to continue the reforms launched by Raul Castro, who transformed the Cuba he inherited from brother Fidel in 2006.

The changes will also provide a legal underpinning for those already made.

When Raul Castro handed over the presidency on April 19 to Miguel Diaz-Canel, a 58-year-old civilian, he underlined that his reforms "are not intended to modify the irrevocable character of socialism" in Cuba.

Castro is slated to remain as secretary general of the islands Communist Party until 2021.

Cubas constitution has been updated three times since it was promulgated in 1976.  AFP
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Coca-Cola Co.s Japan unit plans to introduce a fizzy alcoholic drink in the country, in what the company describes as the first alcoholic product it has ever developed. Jorge Garduno, president of Coca-Colas Japan unit, said in an article posted on the companys website that it is going to experiment with a canned drink that contains alcohola product category known as chu-hai in Japan.

Source: Somethings Brewing: Coca-Cola Plans Its First Alcoholic Drink  WSJ

But then originally Coke had cocaine in it (extract of coca leaves and kola nuts) made for that good buzzand another but.Coke sold Kvass in Russia and it had alcohol in it?

I wonder about the Polar Bears in that Coca-Cola ad? Will they be even happier now?

WtR
Region I  Southern Tasmania (GI) with Puget Sound (AVA) and numerous Willamette Valley sub-AVAs

Region II  Coonawarra (GI) with Red Mountain (AVA); Upper Goulburn (GI) with the Sonoma Coast (AVA)

Region III  Bendigo (GI) with Alexander Valley (AVA) and the Dry Creek Valley (AVA); Margaret River (GI) with the Napa Valley (AVA)

Region IV  Adelaide Plains (GI) with Lodi (AVA)

Region V  Swan District (GI) with Madera (AVA).

Finally, it is worth noting (as Jones et al. do) that viticultural areas with similar grape varieties and wine-making reputations do not always have the same GDD values. For example, Burgundy (France), the Willamette Valley (USA), and the Yarra Valley (Australia) each excel with Pinot noir and Chardonnay, but the Yarra Valley (median 1558 degree-days) is significantly warmer than is either Burgundy (1118) or the Willamette Valley (1081). Similarly, Bordeaux (France), the Napa Valley (USA), and Coonawarra (Australia) are often compared based on the quality of their Bordeaux-mix of red grapes, but the Napa Valley (1883) is substantially warmer than is either Bordeaux (1410) or Coonawarra (1457). Intriguingly, Margaret River, a GI with a rapidly rising reputation for producing Australia's best Bordeaux-mix wines, is remarkably similar to the Napa Valley (ie. median 1844 degree-days).

PS

In a previous post ( Wine is sunlight held together by water ) I discussed the use of both the Winkler Index and the Koppen-Geiger Climate Classification for determining suitable locations for high-quality wine-making vineyards. At the global scale the Climate Classification is probably the most suitable tool, but at more local scales the Winkler Index comes into its own, which is what I will discuss here.This Index is based on Maynard Amerine and Albert Winkler's idea of Growing Degree-Days (GDD)  the sum of the daily temperatures above 10 C (50 F) during the grapes' growing season. There are several ways that the data necessary for the calculations could be collected for any one spot on Earth, but a standardized version was developed some time ago by Gregory V. Jones and his colleagues. They have published several papers about various regions of the world:The basic idea is to take digital maps (latitude, longitude, and altitude) and digital weather records (monthly maximum and minimum temperatures, plus precipitation), and combine the two using a computerized climate model. The output is a grid map, with an estimation of the GDD value for each cell in the grid. The cells can be of any chosen size, but a common choice is 1 km square (100 hectares or 250 acres). Obviously, this is not a fine enough scale to tell anyone where to plant their vines, but it is good enough to tell them whether they are looking in the right area or not.Of interest to us here is the fact that the above publications each contains a gridded map showing the Winkler Index zones for a different part of the globe. I have reproduced here a version of the maps for the western USA (California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho) and for Australia.The map of the western USA is based on 400x400 m cells = 16 ha = 40 acres. The colors refer to the five Winkler Index zones (I-V with increasing heat summation). Most of the northern areas of the map are unsuitable for viticulture because the heat summation is too low (<850 degree-days), while the south-eastern parts have a heat summation that is too high (>2700 degree-days). The Central Valley of California is clearly indicated in red, being the hottest place with grapevines in the western USA.This map can be compared to the boundaries of the American Viticultural Areas (AVA), which would indicate which grape varieties might be most suitable for each AVA. However, the spatial variability of the GDD values within any one AVA can be large. For example, the best-known AVA, Napa Valley, mostly lies within Region III, but it actually ranges from Region I to the lower part of Region V. The most important cause of this effect throughout the western USA is variation in altitudethe AVAs. Consequently, parts of most AVAs have never been planted with grapes, and probably never will be.The grid cells of the Australian map are 25 sq.km each, since the map covers the whole continent. Note, however, that very little of Australia is actually suitable for viticulture, unlike North America or Europe, because the heat summation is way too high. Only in the south-eastern part are vines absent because the heat summation is too low.Most of the suitable vine-land area of Australia already has formal Geographic Indication (GI) viticultural areas, which are outlined in red on the map. Those areas with suitable GDD values but that do not (yet) have vines are, in fact, almost all too dry for viticulture.For Australia, the biggest influences on the differences in GDD values between GIs are latitude and continentality. For example, note that the GDD values generally decrease from north to south down the east coast, with the coolest climates being on the island of Tasmania. Furthermore, the inland GIs are more likely to have greater index values than are GIs closer to the ocean. However, the latter effect is interrupted by the Great Dividing Range, which runs all the way down the east side of Australia. The upland areas are much cooler than are the coastal areas. Indeed, the northern GI areas are all at high altitude.As noted above for the western USA, even within each of the GI areas, parts have never had grapes and probably never will have, due to variation in altitude. This is particularly important in those GIs located in the Great Dividing Range.Both Australia and the western USA have areas within all of the Winkler Index zones. For example, Jones et al. list some comparable Australian GIs and western US AVAs, based on their median GDD values:There are a lot of limitations of using Growing Degree-Days to assess areas for their climatic suitability for growing high-quality wine grapes, but nevertheless they can be very informative, especially for indicating unsuitable locations.. This week marks the second anniversary of this blog.
iStock/Thinkstock(PARIS) -- The father of a 4-year-old boy who was rescued from a Paris balcony this weekend had been out grocery shopping and playing Pokemon Go instead of watching his child, according to a French official.



Authorities charged the father with "failure to meet parental obligations" after his son was seen in videos dangling from the fourth floor of a Paris building, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told the BFM television network on Monday.



A migrant from Mali was hailed as a hero after scaling the building and pulling the young boy to safety. Videos of 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama's climb went viral and French President Emmanuel Macron said he would put Gassama on a fast track to citizenship.



The boy's mother was not home either, Molins said, because she was visiting France's Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean, with family members.



The father, though, had gone grocery shopping, Molins said.



"He took a long time to return home because he had decided to play the smartphone game Pokemon Go when he left the store," Mollins said. "He is devastated because he realizes what he did, and the tragic consequences that it could have led to."



The charge against the father, whom Molins did not name, carries a sentence of up to two years in prison. He was released after questioning, pending a trial scheduled for September, Molins said.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
May 29, 2018 | By Thomas

Wipro3D, the additive manufacturing (AM) business unit of Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, has signed an MoU with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay racing team to 3D print parts for Formula Student electric race car, the company announced on Monday.

The four-day Formula Students (FS) will be held at the Silverstone Circuit in Great Britain from July 11 to 15. It is one of Europes older educational motorsport competitions, run by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (ImechE) wherein teams from 110 European universities, 8,000 students and 2,000 professors from different universities come from across the globe.

The IIT-B Racing team is Indias Formula Student Electric team which aims to revolutionize electric mobility in India like that of Tesla in USA. The team unveiled its sixth-generation electric race car, called EvoX on May 26, 2018. The single seater electric race car is powered with a pair of 40KQ motors, featuring self-developed Battery Management System, Titanium Uprithts, Aerodynamic Wings and Powertrain. It is designed to run at 100 kmph in just 2.88 seconds.

According to MoU, Wipro 3D will contribute technical expertise on additive manufacturing for the electric race car, as well as the equipment and material for the fabrication of parts, while IIT Bombay Racing will provide the designs for the parts to be manufactured.

"The critical components of the racing car will be manufactured and printed on our 3D unit," Wipro 3D vice president Ajay Parikh said in the statement.

Conventional machining can only design a part in a particular shape, explained Kanishka Panda, Chief Mechanical Officer, IIT Bombay Racing. With additive manufacturing and with the use of Titanium, 40 per cent weight reduction has been achieved in the component, in addition to improvement in the ergonomics of the part.

The IIT Bombay Racing team has been winning the Formula Student Award by IMechE for being the best non-UK team for the last three years. It hopes to win this years event with help of using 3D printing technology.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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If fluffy, home-baked breads, Middle Eastern flavors, and the heartwarming vibes that come with sharing communal meals are your thing, boy have we got a new spot for you.

Freshly opened in Jack London Square, chef Reem Assil's Dyafa celebrates diversity and welcomes everyone for a taste of Palestinian-Syrian hospitality ("hospitality" is literally the definition of Dyafa).

In partnership with Daniel Patterson's Alta Restaurant Group, Oakland's James Beard Award semifinalist has opened the follow-up to her popular bakery, Reem's California, and this new spot is proof that the La Cocina alumna is meant to be taken seriously.

The personable crew is all excited to be there, ushering you into their new establishment layered with colors, tiles, and textures, all lit by floor-to-ceiling windows and hanging basket lanterns. The look is your first indication that a good time is soon to be had.

But, on to the food! Already well known for her breads, Assil is carrying her signature dish over to Dyafa where she's serving plump mana'eesh and chewy fresh pita alongside a mix of small bites, hot and cold mezze, and a handful of entrees. (Feel free to share them all.)

For lunch, dip into a fattoush salad; mujadarra; a blistered asparagus grain bowl; and flatbread wraps such as the Steph Curry, stuffed with turmeric-spiced cauliflower, eggplant, and feta. At dinner, you'll find many of same tasty spreads, plus more. Look for labneh with fava salad and flowering coriander; charred eggplant; muhammara; stuffed squid; and mains including braised lamb shank with garlic yogurt and a whole roasted fish served with tahini, lemon, and cucumber.

(Sarah Chorey) All those excellent dips require delicious breads. Go all in on Assil's mana'eesh flatbread seasoned with za'atar and olive oil. Other options include freshly baked pita and a special gluten-free chickpea pancake, all of which are baked on the saj, a traditional Arab convex griddle.



// Dyafa, 44 Webster Street (Oakland), dyafaoakland.com.
Balkanium, as the name suggests is the new cryptocurrency for the Balkan region that comprises of countries like Albania, Croatia, Romania, Serbia, some part of Turkey, Greece and more. This digital currency is created with an aim to bring fluidity of ethnic groups in the region and to create a network of shops and entrepreneurs wholl use Balkanium as a payment method and offer a discount to the users. Majority of the Balkan region attracts a number of tourists around the year and they often face inconvenience in currency exchange due to different types of currencies used in different countries of the Balkan region. Balkanium will resolve this issue and allow the tourists as well as locals to use only one currency for all of the Balkan regions.

Every country in the Balkan region have their own currency and the tourists visiting more than one countries often have to exchange their native currency multiple times as they move from one country to another. Even the locals traveling between countries for shopping, family visits or business face the same difficulty. Additionally, it is stated that people in this region dont use the credit card much and prefer to pay in cash which is why they need to visit the exchange center in every country. On the other hand, there are a number of smartphone users in the Balkan region, so if there was a way the users could simply make payments through their mobile wallet, it would save a lot of hassle.

Thankfully, Balkanium realized this opportunity and utilized the power of blockchain technology to develop a cryptocurrency that would serve as a common payment mode for all of the Balkan region. Using a single currency in the whole region would bring harmony to the region and bring a number of advantages for the tourists, business class and the people living in the area. In addition, the exchange rates will be eliminated which will benefit the traders and everyone else. A single currency may encourage greater competition as there is great transparency in prices which eventually increases efficiency in firms. Converting between currencies has a cost for individuals and firms, a single currency will remove these costs.

Using Balkanium as a single currency will also eliminate the hassle of comparing and calculating the price of a good or service among the countries. Balkanium believes that using a single currency in the Balkan region will increase inward investment as Euro is one of the most significant world currency and used in more than 12 countries.

More information about Balkanium can be found on balkanium.io.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Balkanium-437154613376200/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/balkaniumm/

Media Contact

Company Name: Balkanium

Contact Person: Press Execuctive

Email: Send Email

Country: Estonia

Website: balkanium.io
REDDING, Calif. - Three men were caught buying alcohol to minors after Redding authorities conducted a Shoulder Tap Operation at 13 local businesses on Thursday, said the Redding Police Department.

According to the Redding Police Department, the operation began at 5 p.m. and lasted until 9 p.m.

During the operation, a man named Tre Andrew Smith who worked for Sure Stop Gas and Food, was cited for sales or furnishing of alcohol to a minor.

Two other men were contacted by police after they also agreed to purchase alcohol for the minor.

Brian Wather Bower, 49, of Redding was cited for furnishing alcohol for a minor.

Kyle James York, 36, of Redding was taken into custody and booked into the Shasta County Jail on warrants, violation of probation and furnishing alcohol to a minor.
CHICO, Calif. - The Big Chico Creek Ecological Reserve will conduct its Annual Butterfly Count on Friday, June 1st from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.



It's part of the North American Butterfly Association (NABA)s Butterfly Count, a citizen science event that celebrates the butterfly diversity of the continent.

Volunteers will gather local data by counting the number of butterflies and species within the count circle, centered on the Reserve ... at the far end of upper Bidwell Park.

The information will become part of a database that allows scientists to answer important questions about butterfly populations and biology in North America.

You can spend a day with the experts, learn about the butterflies and contribute to science at the same time. But organizers warn that some moderately strenuous walking may be involved.

If you go you should plan to wear sturdy hiking shoes, long-pants, bring food and water, and consider mosquito repellent, a hat, and sun-screen. Poison oak is prevalent.

A butterfly guide (the laminated fold out pocket guide Butterflies of Northern and Central California by Jim Brock is great for this area) and binoculars will also be helpful.

For more information, or to reserve a spot, contact Jon Aull at jaull@csuchico.edu

There is a $3 NABA participation fee.

For more information about the Reserve, visit the website here, and there is also information about the Butterfly Count on facebook at this link.
OROVILLE, Calif.  Two people escaped an early Monday morning house fire in Oroville, but half of their home was badly damaged, said the Oroville Fire Department.

The Oroville Fire Department said firefighters got a call about 4:30 a.m. about a single-story duplex fire on the 1200 block of Pomona Ave.

Crews knocked the fire down within 30 minutes, but the attic, garage and living room were completely destroyed.

Authorities were able to save half of the home and nobody was injured, said the Oroville Fire Department.

The two people were a husband and wife, whose children were not home at the time of the blaze.

The cause is still under investigation.
ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) - President Donald Trump paid a Memorial Day tribute at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, saying he came to sacred soil to honor the lives and deeds of Americas greatest heroes.

The commander in chief, speaking before an audience of Cabinet members, military leaders, veterans and families assembled in the marble amphitheater near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, said, We mourn alongside their families and we strive to be worthy of their sacrifice.

Trumps somber tone contrasted with a self-promotional tweet earlier Monday in which he said fallen soldiers would be very proud and happy at how well our country is doing today, citing the economy and low unemployment.

During his second Memorial Day trip to Arlington as president, Trump laid a wreath at the tomb before making his remarks. He recognized military figures, including Bob Dole, the former senator and 1996 Republican presidential nominee, who served in World War II. And he spoke warmly about a number of military families in attendance, including a young boy named Christian Jacobs, whose father is buried at Arlington.

Trump said the boy showed him his fathers grave last year, calling it a moment I will always remember.

Before heading to the hallowed grounds across the Potomac River from the nations capital, Trump tweeted that those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today.

But the president then veered from the somber to the self-congratulatory in the tweet, citing what he said was the Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!

The president also posted quotes in line with his criticism of the Justice Department and investigations into ties between his winning campaign and Russia.

He was criticized for his tone by a number of people, including a former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Obama administration, retired Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, who wrote, This day, of all days of the year, should not be about any one of us.

Memorial Day messages from first lady Melania Trump and Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter, struck to a theme of remembrance and thanks.

As we remember our fallen servicemen and women, our hearts are filled with gratitude for their sacrifice and awe of their courage, Ivanka Trump tweeted.

And Melania Trump thanked service members and their families for helping safeguard the country. We honor the many Americans who laid down their lives for our great country. As one nation under God, we come together to remember that freedom isnt free, she tweeted.

At Arlington, Trump said the heroes who died for America rest in these hallowed fields, in cemeteries, battlefields and burial grounds near and far, and are drawn from the full tapestry of American life.

He said they came from every generation, from towering cities and wind-swept prairies, from privilege and from poverty. They were generals and privates, captains and corporals of every race, color and of every creed, but they were all brothers and sisters in arms. And they were all united then, as they are united now, forever, by their undying love of our great country.

Gen. Joseph Dunford, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, honored the more than a million Americans he said gave their last full measure so we could live in freedom and raise our children in peace.

He also honored the families they left behind and for whom every day is Memorial Day.

Those who fought and died for America, he said, shared a commitment to something greater than themselves and they were people who understand what we have in this country is worth fighting for.

Those who attended the Memorial Day tribute included Trumps chief of staff, John Kelly, whose son, Marine 2nd Lt. Robert M. Kelly, was killed in November 2010 after he stepped on a land mine while on patrol in southern Afghanistan. He is buried at Arlington.
These situations come about through a combination of travellers not reading the small print and those looking to profit from tourists unaware of the medical options when falling ill abroad, when such issues are the last thing on their mind.



Any hospital, private or public, is duty bound to provide emergency treatment without charge, yet tourists can be asked for payment upfront. Hospitals even refuse to speak to insurers, in hopes of getting money from a patient first. Hotels also deliberately send guests to private hospitals because they receive a commission for doing so. Insurers can be unhappy about paying for something available for free, which can look like they do anything to avoid a payout, when it is not quite that simple.



This is one of those times both insurer and policy holder can find themselves in a difficult position through no fault of their own, said Aquarium Software Director, Mark Colonnese. Most insurers dont fund private treatment when public care is available, but if ill abroad, paying for treatment is the last thing on our minds. However, making your own arrangements then expecting a payout after the fact can lead to a refusal and both sides feeling hard done by. This is easily remedied by contacting your insurer first if you fall ill.



A good insurer will identify the best place to receive treatment and in cases where the hospital prove difficult, can arrange for local agents to step in to deal with the hospital direct and offer practical support, leaving the patient to focus on recovery. Contrary to popular belief, this can also include private medical care if needed.



Insurers covering private medical care receive less publicity, but reputable providers take a common-sense approach and do cover such treatment, if informed in advance and if no other options are available, added Colonnese. No one likes being charged for work they were unaware of, and insurers are no different in this regard. Communication is key and apps that can help travellers get medical guidance whilst on holiday certainly form part of the answer, Mark concluded.


In 2017 Russia delivered to China ten multirole Su-35 fighter jets and will supply another ten this year, Rostec State Corporation said at St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

PLAAF Su-35S fighter jets patrolling in South East China Sea

(Credit: Xinhua)

"Four Su-35 were built and transferred to China in 2016. Ten Su-35S aircraft were built and delivered to China in 2017 and ten Su-35S planes will be built and transferred to China in 2018," according to information on the companys stand.



Russia signed the first export contract with China on Su-35S supermaneuverable multirole fighter jets in 2015. The contract stipulates the delivery of 24 aircraft worth about $2.5 billion.



The Su-35 is a highly upgraded 4++-generation super-maneuverable multipurpose fighter jet incorporating fifth-generation technologies.



The jet incorporates a reinforced airframe, improved avionics and radar, thrust-vectoring engines, and a reduced frontal radar signature. Its maximum speed is 2,390 km/h (1,490mph), range is 3,600 km (1,940 miles), and combat radius - around 1,600 km (995 miles). The jet is armed with 30 mm GSh-301 internal cannon with 150 rounds and 12 hardpoints capable of carrying rockets, missiles and bombs.
Since March 22, 2018, the Afghan Air Force has both introduced and increased the use of precision guided munitions in southern Afghanistan, the NATO's Train Advise Assist Command  East Press Office said on May 21, 2018.

An A-29 Super Tucano flies over Afghanistan during a training mission April 6, 2016

(Credit: U.S. Air Force/Capt. Eydie Sakura)



The recent addition of laser-guided bomb strike capability is huge for the Afghan Air Force, said Lt. Col. Justin Williams, 438th Air Expeditionary Advisor Squadron commander. Afghanistan did not have it last fighting season, and we are already seeing the crippling psychological effect it is having on the enemies of Afghanistan this season.



Since the implementation of Laser Guided Bombs, nearly 96 percent of strikes have been successful and have led to a 30 percent increase in ground force commander desired effects on the battlefield and a greater overall mission success.



The capability, which consists of conventional bombs enabled with laser guidance kits, is almost entirely Afghan.



The bombs are built by Afghan ammunitions specialists and loaded onto Afghan planes by Afghan maintainers, Williams said. This is one example of how the Afghan Air Force is assuming ownership across the board.



As of May 11, 2018, A-29 Super Tucano pilots have supported approximately 30 Afghan ground missions with this technology, successfully dropping over 50 laser guided bombs on enemy targets.



The Taliban like to hide in towns and places where civilians are, said an Afghan Air Force A-29 pilot. The Laser Guided Bomb lets me strike those places without hurting the local people.



Williams echoed the Afghan pilots comments.



Using laser-guided technology, the Afghan Air Force pilots are able to strike with extreme precision, limiting civilian casualties while still having a greater, more profound effect on the battlefield, Williams said.



Afghan Air Force members are constantly working with their train, advise and assist coalition partners to develop new capabilities that create a more professional, capable and sustainable Afghan Air Force.



The implementation of laser-guided bombs comes just two years after the Afghan Air Force gained air strike capabilities in the A-29 and is part of an overall effort to modernize the Afghan Air Force and give it a lethal advantage over the enemy.
The Lebanese Air Force (LAF) received on May 28 morning in Hamat Air base the second batch of four Super Tucano light attack aircraft offered as a donation from the US authorities, the Lebanese Army announced on its website.

Lebanese Air Force received four new A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft

(Credit: LAF)

The planes flew over Beirut and other areas in Lebanon, following their departure from Cyprus, the LAF said.



Lebanon received the two first A-29 aircraft in November 2017. "The two A-29 Super Tucanos are the first of six that will be delivered over the next several months. The A-29's advanced technology provides the LAF with precision guided munitions and advanced precision strike capability," U.S. ambassador to Lebanon Elizabeth Richard then said.



The ambassador stressed the LAF will be able to conduct joint combined arms maneuvers with A-29 aircraft in all conditions, day and night, in a way that greatly reduces the risk of collateral damage and the danger to non-combatants.



The A-29 Super Tucano is a turboprop light attack aircraft designed for counter-insurgency, close air support, and aerial reconnaissance missions in low-threat environments, as well as providing pilot training.



The aircraft features two .50" machine guns (200 rounds each) in the wings. Five hard points under the wing and fuselage allow up to 1,500 kg of weapons for most configurations. The aircraft's inboard stations, as well as its ventral one, are "wet" for external fuel tanks. Outboard stations allow the loading and firing of short-range air-air missiles of the AIM-9 class.



All stations can be loaded with the Mk 81 or Mk 82 (conventional or equipped with guidance kits) bombs, SBAT-70/19 or LAU-68 rocket launchers.



It is powered by a sole 1,600 SHP Pratt & Whitney PT6A-68/3 turboprop engine that incorporates FADEC (Full Authority Digital Engine Control) and EICAS (Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System) powers the aircraft.
The Ukrainian government on Tuesday signed an agreement to purchase 55 helicopters from France, said the Ukrainian Interior Ministry in a statement. A preliminary deal was inked in late March, 2018.

Airbus Helicopters' H225M Caracal helicopter

(Credit: A. Pecchi/Airbus Helicopters)

The contract worth about 551 million euros (635 million U.S. dollars) states that Ukraine will buy choppers of H145, H125 and H225 types produced by Airbus Helicopters.



"Today we have signed an agreement between the French and Ukrainian sides worth about EUR 551 million. Under the terms of the agreement, the French side will first supply 37 Airbus helicopters to Ukraine, and later another 18 helicopters, including twenty-one H225 helicopters able to carry loads over 10 tonnes. Such equipment is not manufactured in Ukraine, and we find it very necessary to have them. This year we will get the first four helicopters," Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsene Avakov said.



The choppers will be employed in Ukraine's rescue and anti-terror operations, as well as in border security, traffic control and evacuation missions.



After finalizing the deal, Avakov said on Twitter that the helicopters will significantly strengthen rescue services in Ukraine.



Avakov signed the contract in Paris with Delphine Geny-Stephann, State Secretary of the French Economy and Finance Ministry.




https://www.aish.com/jw/me/As-Gazans-Attack-Border-Crossing-Its-Israel-Not-Hamas-Coming-to-Their-Aid.html

Israel is working around the clock to keep the crossing open and functional, despite Hamas own attacks on it.

Despite Hamas repeated assault on the Kerem Shalom border crossing, the only lifeline that supplies basic goods to civilians in Gaza, Israel has been battling intensively to keep it open.

The episode underlines a much wider phenomenon in which Hamas seeks to create a crisis in order to bring in outside funding for Gazas needs, so it can ensure the stability of its regime and keep supporting its military wing.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority seeks to choke off Gazas economy to punish Hamas for refusing to disarm its military wing and force it to pay a price for splitting off from the PA.

However, those paying the price for this are the residents of the Gaza Strip.

Three times this month, Kerem Shalom was attacked by mobs acting under Hamas instructions. Rioters destroyed fuel pipes that carry critical energy supplies and looted the Palestinian side of the crossing terminal.

A truck parks next to a security barrier inside the Kerem Shalom border crossing terminal between Israel and Gaza Strip, January 16, 2018. Photo: Reuters / Amir Cohen / File.

According to Israeli intelligence assessments, these actions are part of a wider effort by Hamas to ramp up the pressure on Israel and the international community in order to obtain fresh funds for the collapsing Palestinian economy. The deadly border incidents orchestrated by Hamas this month are part of the same effort. Hamas wants someone else to foot the bill for the civilian economy so it can rescue its regime from collapse.

Gazas power plant, for example, runs on gas, and can supply 150 megawatts of electricity per month. Yet on April 12, Hamas shut the power plant down completely, cutting off energy supplies to two million Gazans. Throughout this time, gas was flowing freely into Gaza from Israel. Despite the daily power cuts to Gazas civilians, Hamas tunnels continued to receive power. It is safe to assume that Hamas rocket factories also continued to work.

Israel is, in fact, the only country that has been fighting to keep Gaza supplied with electricity. Egyptian power lines can deliver 30 megawatts, but have been shut down by Egyptian authorities for the past four months.

As part of its conflict with Hamas, the PA reduced payments for electricity. Israel quietly pressured it to reverse this decision, and the PA did so.

Similarly, at Kerem Shalom, Israel is working around the clock to keep the crossing open and functional, despite Hamas own attacks on it.

Thanks to these efforts, diesel fuel and gas tankers have recently resumed the transfer of critical energy supplies to the Gaza Strip, averting a certain fuel crisis.

The most important thing to know is that these people who came to Kerem Shalom and demolished the crossing point did not go there by themselves. We know that Hamas sent them, a senior Israeli security source said earlier this month.

Brig.-Gen. (Res.) Alon Eviatar, an expert on the Palestinian issue and a former adviser to Israels office for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories, said that Israel has been left on its own to deal with Gazas economic and humanitarian needs. Even though the Jewish state wanted to disconnect from Gaza after leaving it in 2005, It learned over the years that it is becoming the central player, against its interests. Not Egypt and not the Palestinian Authority, he said.

The PA, for its part, is deliberately abandoning its responsibility for Gaza, added Eviatar.

This created a very problematic result for Israel in the short  and long-term future, he said. As the door of reconciliation between Fatah and Hamas closes shut, the ball falls in our court.

At the same time, Israel understands that Hamas is going to remain in power for many years to come. As bitter a pill as this is to swallow for Israel, it is preferable to a power vacuum with no one ruling Gaza at all, resulting in armed anarchy.

As a result, explained Eviatar, Israels steps have been to not topple Hamas, to not push it into the corner, not to conquer Gaza. Israel is stopping itself from going all the way. The Israeli rationale is to balance all of the time.

Israel has sensors in place warning it ahead of time before Gaza reaches a real humanitarian crisis. While conditions in Gaza are bad, they have not reached the extreme, red-alert level, he said.

Meanwhile, Hamas has realized that if it wants to avoid going back to being an underground armed movement, it must find a solution to civilian needs or risk losing its power over the Strip.

The way out of this dead end, according to Eviatar, might well be in the form of a tactical, temporary arrangement [between Israel and] Hamas that would protect Israels security control on the one hand, but allow for sufficient economic assistance on the other, thereby preventing a future explosion.

Hamas ideology will remain unchanged. Their vision is unchanged. But in the intermediate stage, the tactics have changed. There is also religious approval [in Gaza] for this. Therefore, Israel can seek unwritten understandings; a ladder that will suit both them and us, he said. I think this might be feasible.

Until such a development occurs, Israel has attempted to take some of the pressure off Gaza. In recent months, Israel significantly increased the number of permits it granted to Palestinian businesspeople and merchants, allowing them to enter the country via the Erez pedestrian border crossing. The first quarter of 2018 saw an increase of 80 percent of such traffic, according to the senior Israeli security officer, with 10,000 movements recorded in the past three months alone.

Yet Hamas, as part of its campaign to ramp up the pressure to find a bigger solution, disrupted this economic progress, setting up a checkpoint on the Gazan side of the crossing and stopping some of the businesspeople from entering Israel.

In addition, Hamas routinely forces such pedestrians to try to smuggle terror-financing cash and explosive material into Israel, though these efforts are usually intercepted by the Israeli Defense Ministrys personnel who run the crossings.

Similarly, on the humanitarian front, the PA froze the transfer of medical goods into Gaza, leaving Gazans dependent on Israeli medical supplies entering via Kerem Shalom.

In the first quarter of 2018, Israels efforts enabled Gazans to export 37 million shekels of agricultural goods, 2 million shekels in furniture exports, and 8 million shekels of textiles.

Nevertheless, these efforts have not been adequate to forestall a crisis in the Gazan economy  a crisis created by Hamas, but which Israel now has no option but to address.
As Florida continues to recover from Hurricane Irma, a new hurricane season approaches June 1.

The City of Gainesville will soon release AlertGNV, an emergency alert system that will enhance communication with residents, said Chip Skinner, the public information officer for the City of Gainesville.

AlertGNV will launch by the end of June or July, Skinner said. The alert system will provide text and email updates on severe weather events, traffic impacts and other emergency situations.

Skinner advised students to monitor storms and have enough food and water to last three days in case of power outages. Students with vehicles should fill their gas tanks as well.

As soon as its (the hurricanes) forecast to hit the state of Florida, they (students) have to start thinking progressively, he said.

If students are concerned about where to go during a hurricane, they should contact their resident advisors, said Hal Grieb, the assistant director of UF Emergency Management.

On-campus students should stay in their residence halls unless otherwise advised, he said.

Shelters are really not where you want to default to go. Its minimal comfort. Theres no bedding provided, Grieb said. Theres food and water, but its basically designed for a place of last resort to seek shelter during the high winds.

Brooke Fletcher, a 20-year-old Kingsland, Georgia, native, who is transferring to UF in the Fall, said the hurricane season is not nearly as intense in Georgia as it is in Florida.

Im not really used to leaving for storms, she said. So, Id probably stick around up until theres a mandatory evacuation.

Follow Samantha Leon on Twitter @_samleon and contact her at samanthaleon@ufl.edu.

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Mike Shreve has lived at his home in Polk County for 29 years. Throughout the hardships that come with home ownership, he said one problem has been consistent.

Air potato vines pose a threat to native plant life by growing around other plants and absorbing sunlight directed toward them. In 1999, air potato vines were added to the Florida Noxious Weed List by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

Part of Shreve's property, located between wetlands and hills, is ripe with plant life where he says the vines "really go crazy." The vines damage magnolias, oaks and red maple trees.

At first we tried to pull out the potatoes and vines, but that was sort of a losing battle, Shreve said.

The vines name comes from its ability to quickly produce hundreds of pounds of large growths that resemble potatoes, said Shannon Carnevale, the natural resources agent for UFs Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences extension in Polk County.

The resilient potatoes from the vines dont need water or soil to grow.

We forgot a bag in a car and they grew right out of the bag, Carnevale said.

To combat the invasive vines, the Polk County UF IFAS office is making air potato vine beetles available to Polk County residents to protect their properties.

Carnevale said the beetles will come in a container complete with a road snack of air potato leaves and an information sheet on how to properly release them at residences.

The idea was brought to her team when a Polk County resident called IFAS and requested that the air potato leaf beetles be facilitated by IFAS instead of being delivered by the UF-associated Hayslip Biological Control Research and Containment Laboratory.

This is because he couldnt guarantee he would be home when the beetles were delivered, Carnevale said. They might perish if they are left out on the porch all day.

Carnevale said the Hayslip laboratory plans to expand this service to other extension offices in the future.

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Shreve has received the beetles for a few years now and usually gets about 50 to 100 at a time. He hasnt noticed the beetles eating any of the other plants on his property.

So far they havent eaten anything but air potatoes, Shreve said. We have some stuff that looks just like air potatoes or (has a) very similar leaf structure, but they wont touch it.

Carnevale said the beetles have been tested to ensure they only consume the air potato vine.

Even though the vine has been an ongoing problem across the state, it does not stop people from having fun with them.

Carnevale described air potato roundups that the IFAS office would hold in places like Alachua as outreach events. They were similar to Easter egg hunts with prizes for biggest, smallest and most unusually shaped air potatoes.

Within two years of the beetles being offered to residents and land managers in Polk County, the air potato vine was no longer one of the top problem species in the area, Carnevale said.

The site we did this at a couple of times didnt have any air potatoes left, Carnevale said. We couldnt do (air potato roundups) because the beetles were so successful.

To request beetles, Polk County residents may visit the Hayslip Biological Control Research and Containment Laboratorys website. A few forms must be authorized and then residents may pick up their own army of potato leaf beetles. The next delivery to the IFAS extension in Bartow will be June 6.

Shreve said he was glad UF could help local governments to take strides in eradicating the invasive plant.

This is a great example of academic institutions providing meaningful and actionable information, Shreve said. This a much-needed success story.
During Americas Great Depression, the Information Division of the U.S. Farm Security Administration sent out an army of photographers to document the hard years, the poor and their poverty, their shattered homes and their fractured morals. Over 160,000 images were captured, but less than half made it to print.

Heading the photography program was Roy Stryker, a highly educated economist and a photographer himself. Stryker made sure that the photographers were well briefed on what was wanted from them before being sent out. When they returned with their negatives, Roy Stryker and his team of editors went through them ruthlessly. Any photograph failing to meet his high standard was physically defaced by punching holes through them, so that the discarded images could not be reused. This heavy-handed editing methodology earned Roy Stryker fair amount of infamy.

Roy was a little bit dictatorial in his editing and he ruined quite a number of my pictures, which he stopped doing later. He used to punch a hole through a negative. Some of them were incredibly valuable, said photographer Ben Shahn who was among those hired for the photographic mission.

Punching of holes through negatives was barbaric to me... Im sure that some very significant pictures have in that way been killed off, because there is no way of telling, no way, what photograph would come alive when, said another photographer, Edwin Rosskam.

Stryker did not explicitly state his criteria for selection or his methodology to determine which photos to be killed. It seems that a lot of images were killed because of poor photography techniques such as the failure to use a tripod and not focusing on the subject. Stryker also killed a great number of photos for being redundant. Others were censored for failing to convey the socioeconomic truth or not conforming to the social code of the time, such as showing black people looking too successful for their social class, or people suffering too badly from the recession.

Thousands of killed FSA photos have since been digitized and archived at the Library of Congress. A selection of these so-called killed negatives are now on display at Londons Whitechapel gallery. The exhibition will run till August 26, 2018.
The Anglican Communions Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Jack Palmer-White, and the Programme Assistant in the Anglican Communion Office at the United Nations in New York, Ashley Lopez Olijnyk, consider the role of Churches in global health provision.

The role that churches play globally in providing healthcare is well known. Even the quickest scan of the Anglican Communion News Service website over recent weeks shows just how involved the church is  whether it is through the Anglican-run hospital in Gaza City, the churchs role in containing the latest outbreak of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo, or one of the countless church-run health clinics around the world providing life-saving and life-giving medical care to local communities.

This week feels like a particularly good moment to reflect on how churches around the world meet the health needs of so many people. As the World Health Assembly meets in Geneva, 70 years after the World Health Organization (WHO) was founded, an ambitious new agenda for global health is being set out:

to ensure that by 2023, one billion more people benefit from universal health coverage; one billion more people are better protected from health emergencies; and one billion more people enjoy better health and wellbeing. WHO estimates that achieving this triple billion target could save 29 million lives.

If the countries of the world are going to achieve the third Sustainable Development Goal  to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages  then churches need to be part of the response. Closer working between states, UN agencies, private sector partners and civil society is essential. The WHO and national governments need to recognise that churches are key partners in this work.

It was encouraging to hear the Director General of the WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, say at an event during the Assembly that nobody can question the benefits of partnership between WHO and CSOs. WHO has a broad mandate but it cannot cover everything by itself. We must believe in the power of partnerships

You can have your say on how WHO and churches work together in partnership by completing this WHO survey.

The churchs unique role and experience in healthcare is needed right around the UN system and beyond. At a recent conference on Peacebuilding and Sustaining Peace in New York, participants recognised that the importance of reliable access to healthcare services is often overlooked in the peace-building processes. In times of war, health outcomes are altered significantly, and solutions for this problem are often delayed. Many organisations (often faith-based themselves) mobilise very effectively to provide immediate relief, but long-term solutions for rebuilding health systems are often not on the agenda.

Healthcare is a primary building block for any nation, and without guaranteed health services, the risk of a return to conflict is much more likely, no matter how much effort is being put toward reaching a political resolution. Conflict can cause the healthcare system to collapse, and it is important to build a lasting infrastructure that will be self-sufficient once peacekeeping operations withdraw from the country.

In conflict situations, the church is often the only functioning institution. Working with UN agencies  whether WHO, UNDP, UNAIDS or peacekeeping missions  the churchs role as a durable, sustainable and locally committed partner is something that the UN should not underestimate.
Posted on: May 29, 2018 2:55 PM

The Australian social care charity Samaritans is staging an art exhibition at Christ Church Cathedral in Newcastle to promote Reconciliation Week. The Sea of Hands exhibition features 400 colourful hands to symbolise the charitys commitment to reconciliation and to acknowledge that much work still needs to be done. National Reconciliation Week runs from 27 May to 3 June and is designed to provide an opportunity for all Australians to learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories, to share that knowledge and help us grow as a nation,according to its organisers, Reconciliation Australia.

The Sea of Hands exhibition is an act of recognition  of identities, cultures and history, Samaritans acting chief executive Brad Webb told the Newcastle Herald newspaper. I hope that the Sea of Hands inspires our community this week to reach out, listen, and learn from the wisdom of the oldest living culture on Earth.

The Bishop of Newcastle, Peter Stuart, is the president of the Samaritans Foundation. In a Facebook post he said: It is vital that we listen deeply to the story of the aboriginal nations in the areas we serve. We will grow together as partners: hand in hand. This work is of particular importance for Anglicans. Our story is entwined with the story of the Crown and colonisers. We have much to learn and reflect on.
(ANSA) - Rome, May 28 - American director Abel Ferrara will present his documentary film Piazza Vittorio, which was screened at the 74th Venice Film Festival last September as an out-of-competition selection, in Rome on May 31 at the Apollo 11 cultural centre.

The film shows a Rome full of heart, where emigration, whether hated, tolerated, or understood, in the end takes on the capital city's spirit and becomes fully Roman.

The film takes its title from the eponymous Roman square that has become known as a sort of cultural melting pot.

Many of the subjects interviewed in the film reflect this reality, such as an Egyptian butcher who says he feels like a Roman and is proud of it.

The opening scene shows an elderly Roman woman speaking in local dialect, shouting to the migrants "you all have to go!", adding "you've ruined Italy".

But rising above all are the many voices of the migrants themselves, from Africa, China, South America and various Slavic countries, some of whom have complaints, some of whom wish to stay in Italy, and almost all of whom heap praise on Italian cuisine.

The documentary splices in archival film footage from the Luce Institute featuring the square's market when it was an open-air market, as well as appearances from several of the square's residents, including some well-known names such as Italian director Matteo Garrone and American actor Willem Dafoe.

Garrone said he has lived there for just over 20 years because "it's a way to live abroad", while Dafoe came to the neighbourhood after marrying Italian director and actress Giada Colagrande.

The film's director, Ferrara, said there are "thousands of aspects of Italians and of Rome." "I tell the story of the city that I experience, in the Esquilino neighbourhood, which is at the same time both multicultural and full of contradictions," he said.

Piazza Vittorio is produced by Andrea De Liberato's Enjoy Movies and will hit Italian theatres in the fall, distributed by Mariposa Cinematografica. Mariposa will also distribute Ferrara's next work, Alive in France, which tells the story of the director's tour of France.


ISTANBUL - Several demonstrations have been organized on Tuesday in Istanbul to commemorate the 565th anniversary of the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman army led by Sultan Mohammed II, called 'the conqueror' (Fatih in Turkish). The most anticipated event , to be attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is organized by the city of Istanbul starting at 8:34 pm local time, when sunset prayers are scheduled to end daytime fasting during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

The event is scheduled to include a concert of traditional Turkish music at 7:30 om, followed by a 3D video mapping with images reproducing the historic battle. The event will take place on a 50-meter-long platform in front of the historic site of Constantinople.

Ever since taking power, Erdogan has worked to recuperate Turkey's Ottoman heritage, increasing the profile of commemorations of the takeover of Constantinople on May 29, 1453. In a message on Twitter on Tuesday morning, his spokesman Ibrahim Kalin celebrated the event that ''changed the course of history'', claiming that ''Europeans have never forgiven the Ottomans for reconquering Istanbul''.


GAZA - A small fishing vessel with 10 Palestinians on board who were wounded in recent clashes with Israel left Gaza on Tuesday with the aim of ''breaking the naval blockade'' of Israel. Four university students are also on board.

Hundreds of people went to the small port of Gaza to wave them off, including one of the leaders of Islamic Jihad, Khaled el-Batsh. He warned that Israel will be ''responsible for the safety of those passengers''. Al-Batsh added that the initiative is part of Palestinian efforts over the past few weeks to end the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Local sources said that the initiative is symbolic and that the fishing vessel is expected to return to Gaza after sailing for a few miles.


Mideast: 28 mortars fired from Gaza to Israel - military Israeli jets respond against Palestinian targets - local media

(ANSAmed) - TEL AVIV, MAY 29 - A barrage of 28 mortar shells was fired from the Gaza Strip to Israel on Tuesday morning, an Israeli military spokesman said.



Most of the mortars were reportedly intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system but one hit the courtyard of an Israeli nursery school, without causing victims. Israel's air force responded firing a dozen missiles against unspecified Palestinian targets in the district of Zaitun and Sajaya in Gaza City, according to local media reports which have not been officially confirmed by Israel so far.



No victims have been reported.



Air raid sirens were heard by Israeli communities near the Strip later on Tuesday.



Later on Tuesday morning mortar fire struck Israeli territory without causing damage in the third consecutive attack in the morning, the military spokesman said.



Israeli military radio said the offensive was probably launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.



On Monday, residents in the Israeli city of Sderot rushed to bomb shelters after heavy gunfire from Gaza set off rocket sirens.



The machine gun fire caused damage but no injuries.



Meanwhile, Israeli Premier Benyamin Netanyahu summoned a security meeting on Tuesday morning, local media report.



(ANSAmed)
Libyan parties did not sign Paris accord, 'informal' French president calls decision pragmatic

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, MAY 29 - The road map on Libya discussed on Tuesday in Paris was not signed by the summit participants and only approved informally, French president Emmanuel Macron said in responding to a reporter's questions afterwards.



Macron noted two reasons why it was not signed officially: ''first, some participants asked to be able to share the joint declaration first with some of those they are representing in Libya.'' The second is even more important, he said, stressing that ''representatives of institutions that do not recognize each other took part in this meeting. For months this has been the problem in the situation in Libya. Thus, rather than being stubborn about a statement that cannot be signed, it is better to have a statement'' involving the various parties involved, even if it is not officially signed.



Macron praised the pragmatic nature of the decision.



(ANSAmed).




Macron hails Italy Libya commitment Major migratory crisis

(ANSAmed) - PARIS, MAY 29 - French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday hailed Italy's "exemplary" commitment to Libya. Speaking after an international summit on Libya in Paris, Macron hailed the work done with Rome and recalled the "major migratory crisis" hitting Italy.



Italy has borne the brunt of migrants crossing the Mediterranean from the North African country, although flows are sharply down this year compared to last. (ANSAmed).




Turkey: Erdogan commemorates Constantinople's capture President's spokesman, 'Europeans never forgave us'

(ANSAmed) - ISTANBUL, MAY 29 - Several demonstrations have been organized on Tuesday in Istanbul to commemorate the 565th anniversary of the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman army led by Sultan Mohammed II, called 'the conqueror' (Fatih in Turkish). The most anticipated event , to be attended by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is organized by the city of Istanbul starting at 8:34 pm local time, when sunset prayers are scheduled to end daytime fasting during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.



The event is scheduled to include a concert of traditional Turkish music at 7:30 om, followed by a 3D video mapping with images reproducing the historic battle. The event will take place on a 50-meter-long platform in front of the historic site of Constantinople.



Ever since taking power, Erdogan has worked to recuperate Turkey's Ottoman heritage, increasing the profile of commemorations of the takeover of Constantinople on May 29, 1453. In a message on Twitter on Tuesday morning, his spokesman Ibrahim Kalin celebrated the event that ''changed the course of history'', claiming that ''Europeans have never forgiven the Ottomans for reconquering Istanbul''. (ANSAmed).




Falcon Aviation has highlighted its new business jet MRO facility at its Dubai South, DWC, Al Maktoum International Airport, during EBACE in Geneva.

Falcon Aviations new facility is built on a total 24,000 sqm plot size capable of accommodating up to four Boeing BBJ / Airbus ACJ sized narrow bodied aircraft for base maintenance. It includes workshops, interior solutions, a wash bay, and landside office space, plus 13,000 sqm of apron.



Falcon Aviation supports its own and managed fleet of business jets and helicopters at its Al Bateen Executive Abu Dhabi Airport facilities. But its new Dubai base has been built primarily for third party customers. Falcon Aviation is already talking with existing and prospective customers to grow its MRO business.



Our goal at EBACE is to meet with the OEMs to see how we can support them and their operators by adding other aircraft types to our capabilities, said Falcon Aviation COO Captain Raman Oberoi.



Falcon Aviations new facility, which has been in construction for 12 months, is pivotal to its overall long-term strategy to bring a one stop MRO shop to the region.



It has committed to build the necessary infrastructure to support the regions growing business aviation market  with a FBO, Heliport (running under Falcons AOC), Line maintenance - and now Base Maintenance and Technical services. Additional engineers have been employed and with the growing business we will be adding more jobs into year 2019 to ramp, its dedicated MRO team.The new DWC facility will also offer 24/7 AOG support and aircraft parking.
Honeywell has been selected by Istanbul-based MNG Jet to supply its GoDirectTM Datalink and Cabin services to the companys growing fleet.

The agreement will see MNG Jet upgrade its aircraft by including connected services that improve cockpit communication, enhance flight efficiency and provide reliable high-speed Wi-Fi to the cabin.

"MNG Jet is the leading business jet operator and maintenance organization in Turkey and Central Asia, and we take pride in ensuring our fleet of aircraft operates at optimum levels of efficiency and safety with an enhanced flight experience for our clients and customers," said Can Sasmaz, general manager, MNG Jet. "Honeywells GoDirect Datalink and Cabin services will support us in improving our aircraft through cost-efficient connected aircraft services, which have the further benefit of flexible terms of use."

Honeywells GoDirect Datalink helps reduce a pilots workload by enabling seamless cockpit communications, like text messaging with air traffic control, using the robust two-way Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System, which is compatible with all Very High Frequency and satellite networks across the globe. In addition, GoDirect Cabin offers a comprehensive suite of satellite communication services, including dedicated access to GoDirect apps and all the benefits brought by reliable high-speed internet, thanks to its next-generation routers and routing software.

Weve worked closely with MNG Jet for several years as an authorised Honeywell Service Center, Channel Partner and Fleet Operator to provide a modernized aircraft experience; the latest selection of Honeywells GoDirect Datalink and Cabin services further enhance its fleet by keeping them better connected, said John Peterson, senior director, Connectivity Services, Honeywell Aerospace. Honeywells GoDirect Cabin provides the tools needed by operators to expand the in-flight experience for their passengers, while GoDirect Datalink offers pilots a dependable connected communication tool.
Piaggio Aerospace has unveiled a suite of new customer service solutions for its P.180 Avanti aircraft fleet at EBACE in Geneva.

Customer service is of paramount importance to Piaggio Aerospace, and in line with our long-term growth plans, our primary goal is continuing to put our global existing and future customers first, said Renato Vaghi, Chief Executive Officer of Piaggio Aerospace, With super-fast changing standard of excellence, we offer to our clients an ever-increasing level of support throughout the in-service life of their P.180 Avanti, completing the benefits of owning one of the top aircraft on the market.



Magnaghi landing gear retrofit installation for P.180 Avanti I and sales update for Avanti II



For private, commercial and government operators of the Avanti I that wish to upgrade their aircraft to the next-generation landing gear technology offered as a retrofit on the Avanti II and in baseline on factory-new EVO, Piaggio Aerospace has partnered with Lowcountry Aviation Company, of Walterboro, SC (USA), for the development of a Supplemental Type Certificate (STC). The new Magnaghi Aeronautica main and nose landing gears feature a state-of-the-art digital steering system with an enhanced rack and pinion actuation mechanism and provide improved reliability, extended TBO up to 15 years or 15.000 landings and lower overhaul costs compared to the current gear arrangement



"We are thrilled to do our part to provide Avanti customers with a next-generation landing gear system at a competitive price. The new Magnaghi landing gear system complements the Avanti's superior flight performance in the market place and ensures that Avanti assets worldwide can continue to add value for customers for years to come", said Marco Cavazzoni, Lowcountry Aviation.



The STC, planned for year's end, will approve the installation of the new Magnaghi landing gear under the authority of the FAA first and then EASA and government agencies. Lowcountry Aviation Company, a one-stop service provider having access to skilled and experienced engineering resources, provides FAA-regulated Part 145 maintenance, Part 135 charters and aircraft manufacturing. The company also has an established relationship with Magnaghi Aeronautica.
Etihad Cargo has launched its first humanitarian freighter missions. The initiatives are part of the groups extensive Year of Zayed programme, which will take place throughout 2018.

The specially branded Year of Zayed Boeing 777 freighter aircraft departed Abu Dhabi  first to Almaty in Kazakhstan and then to Hyderabad in India  carrying special provisions to be distributed to those in need during the Holy Month of Ramadan.



The humanitarian missions are taking place throughout the year in collaboration with the Khalifa Foundation, the Red Crescent, and His Highness Sheikh Sultan Bin Khalifa Al Nahyan Humanitarian & Scientific Foundation. These missions represent the Year of Zayed theme of respect, one of the four key themes of Etihads Year of Zayed activation plan.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways Chief Executive Officer, said: We are pleased to have commenced our first Year of Zayed humanitarian operations with our cargo aircraft which is crossing the globe to deliver vital items to help people most in need.



The humanitarian missions embody the spirit and values of the UAEs founding father, HH Sheikh Zayed, and we are proud to play a small role in carrying forward his legacy and supporting people in need from around the globe.



Faris Saif Al Mazrouei, General Manager of The Founder's Office, said: The Founders Office is proud to support Etihad Airways humanitarian efforts, which will bring relief to thousands during the holy month of Ramadan.



The late Sheikh Zayed initiated countless philanthropic and charitable endeavors throughout his lifetime. His spirit of altruism and generosity transcended borders, and laid the foundations for the UAEs ongoing role as a leading provider of international aid.



This worthy initiative upholds his legacy, reflecting one of the central themes of our Year of Zayed campaign which is to reinforce the spirit of solidarity amongst community members through selfless giving, and globally extending a helping hand to all those in need.



In addition to its freighter humanitarian missions focusing on the theme of respect, Etihad has an extensive programme to commemorate the Year of Zayed themes of wisdom, sustainability and human development.
PODCAST 38: How one African airline is preparing for return of tourism

PODCAST 39: Optimism as Africa and Middle East sees positive growth for 2021

PODCAST 37: How Qatar rode the storm and Dassaults new Falcon

PODCAST 35: Change abounds at IATA and new cargo boost while ATM has a new approach

PODCAST 34 : Why India is vital to Middle East aviation recovery
Till now HPCL had two government nominee directors - Rath and Sandeep Poundrik.

Prior to the stake sale, the government made it clear that HPCL would continue to be a central public sector enterprise.

New Delhi: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has replaced a government nominee director on board of Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL) with its nominee as it consolidates control over the company it had recently acquired.

ONGC, which had in January completed the acquisition of the government's 51.11 per cent stake in HPCL for Rs 36,915 crore, has appointed its Director (Finance) Subhash Kumar on the company board, sources said. He has replaced Sushma Taishete Rath, Joint Secretary in Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas.

Till now HPCL had two government nominee directors - Rath and Sandeep Poundrik, Joint Secretary (Refineries) of the oil ministry. After the appointment of Kumar, there remains only one government nominee director on HPCL.

The sources said ONGC wants the one government nominee director on HPCL board to be the same person as on its board. ONGC Board has two government directors - Amar Nath, Joint Secretary - Exploration in the Oil Ministry, and Rajiv Bansal, Additional Secretary & Financial Adviser in the ministry. It wants Bansal to be appointed on HPCL board in place of Poundrik to have a common link between the two boards, they said. After acquiring government's stake, HPCL is now a subsidiary of ONGC.

Like its other major subsidiaries -- Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (MRPL) and ONGC Videsh Ltd, ONGC decided to nominate just one director on the board of HPCL, sources said.

HPCL board currently has four functional directors besides the Chairman and Managing Director. It also has two government nominee directors and six independent directors. Sources said the Articles of Association of HPCL provide for the board to be made up of a maximum of 20 directors, including independent ones.

ONGC could theoretically speaking, nominate more than one director but such nomination would have to be matched by an appointment of an equal number of independent directors.

So, while ONGC can nominate 3 directors, it decided to name only one, they added. MRPL and OVL both have just the ONGC Chairman and Managing Director on their board. Both MRPL and OVL have Managing Director and functional directors.

Since HPCL by virtue of 51 per cent shareholding of ONGC, continues to be a central public sector enterprise (CPSE), its board members would continue to be appointed by the government. Sources said the only question that remains is of the status of HPCL Chairman and Managing Director.

While ONGC's present subsidiaries MRPL and OVL are headed by Managing Directors with ONGC Chairman being the company chairman, there is a thought that HPCL Chairman and Managing Director Mukesh Kumar Surana may be allowed to hold his designation and the Coal India Ltd (CIL) model for governance of subsidiaries is followed.

CIL, the world's largest coal producer, is the holding company whose board is headed by a Chairman and Managing Director. It has eight subsidiaries like Eastern Coalfields Ltd and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd, all of which have a board headed by Chairman and Managing Director.

The CMDs of the subsidiaries report to CIL head. Sources said if this model is followed, Surana will continue as Chairman and Managing Director of HPCL who would report to ONGC head Shashi Shanker.

Prior to the stake sale, the government made it clear that HPCL would continue to be a central public sector enterprise (CPSE), retaining its separate identity and brand and will be independently run by its board.

The alternate governance model has been thrown up as a large section in ONGC feels that HPCL should be governed on lines of the company's other subsidiaries like ONGC Videsh Ltd, which have an independent board and a Managing Director or CEO as heads.

These heads of subsidiaries report to ONGC Chairman and Managing Director. Sources said following the CIL-model of governance will save Surana, who is senior to Shanker, from a designation downgrade.
According to ANI, 12 people have died and 28 are injured due to thunderstorm in different parts of Jharkhand.

Respective district magistrates have been directed to undertake rescue works and ensure distribution of relief in 24 hours. (Photo: File | Representational)

Lucknow: Nine persons were killed and six others injured in incidents of thunderstorm and lightning in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

As many as five persons were killed and four others injured as lightning struck some parts of Unnao district on Monday night, Principal Secretary, Information, Avinish Awasthi said.

There are also reports of two persons each being killed in thunderstorm in Kanpur and Rae Bareli, he said.

Respective district magistrates have been directed to undertake rescue works and ensure distribution of relief in 24 hours, Awasthi added.

According to ANI, 12 people have died and 28 are injured due to thunderstorm in different parts of Jharkhand.
Students can check their result on the official websites of the board: www.cbse.nic.in and www.cbseresults.nic.in

Around 28 lakh students registered to appear for the CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 examinations this year. (Photo: File)

Mumbai: CBSE declared Class 10 results on Tuesday.

Students can check their result on the official websites of the board: www.cbse.nic.in and www.cbseresults.nic.in

Students will also be able to check their result on Google by searching for CBSE Class 10 result. They will have to fill in the required details to login and check their results.

Prakhar Mittal from Gurugram, Rimzhim Agrawal from Bijnor, Nandni Garg from Shamli and Sreelakshmi G from Cochin, all scored 499 marks out of 500 to top CBSE Class 10th examination.

The overall pass percentage for Class 10 Board exams is 86.70 per cent. Girls did better than boys with pass percentage of 88.67 as opposed to 85.32.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "Congratulations to those who have succeeded. Those students who've got compartment should prepare again and I am sure they will do well."

Around 28 lakh students registered to appear for the CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 examinations this year.

More than 16,38,420 candidates registered for the Class 10 exam conducted at 4,453 centres across India and 78 centres abroad.

Steps to check CBSE Class 10 exam results 2018:

1. Visit the official websites of CBSE - cbse.nic.in or cbseresults.nic.in

2. Click on the link for result 2018

3. Enter the required details correctly

4. Click on submit

5. Result will be displayed on screen

6. Take a printout of the result
The BJP's attack on H D Kumaraswamy came after his comments that he was at the mercy of the Congress and not the people of Karnataka.

The BJP's attack on the JD(S) leader came after the latter's comments in Bengaluru on Sunday that he was at the mercy of the Congress and not the people of Karnataka as his government had not received the full mandate. (Photo: File/PTI)

Bengaluru: The BJP took a swipe at Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday, saying he was the "chief manager (CM)" of the Congress's ATM in the state and that he was lying prostrate at the feet of the Gandhi family.

The BJP's attack on the JD(S) leader came after the latter's comments in Bengaluru on Sunday that he was at the mercy of the Congress and not the people of Karnataka as his government had not received the full mandate, which his party had sought in the recently held Assembly election in the state.

"Nothing can be sadder than this. This is absolutely demeaning to the democratic fabric of the country and akin to an abuse of India's democracy," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters.

He described the current situation as a fallout of the Congress-JD(S) alliance's mockery of the popular mandate in the southern state for petty political interests.

The BJP had emerged as the single-largest party in the Karnataka Assembly election by bagging 104 of the 222 seats that went to the polls, but fell short of a majority, allowing the Congress and the JD(S) to join hands and form government in the state.

Patra alleged that for the Congress, Karnataka was its ATM and it had found a chief manager in Kumaraswamy, while the government in the southern state would be run from Janpath -- a reference to the residential address of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

"The Congress has found a new manager for its ATM in Karnataka. We can say this after his (Kumaraswamy's) statement. People are asking who is their chief minister," the BJP spokesperson said.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's words, he said for the BJP, the country was family, while for the Congress, the "first family" of the party was the country.

"Kumaraswamy is lying prostrate at the feet of a family," Patra said.

He added that former prime minister Manmohan Singh used to blame the compulsions of coalition politics in the face of allegations of corruption in his government and said there was a feeling of deja vu in Karnataka.

Patra also claimed that various opposition parties were not accepting Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the leader of an anti-BJP coalition.

To a question, the BJP leader claimed that the BJP would form the next government in Odisha, where Assembly polls will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha election in 2019.
According to prosecution sources, the charge sheet has mentioned that Pushkar was allegedly subjected to mental as well as physical cruelty.

New Delhi: I have no desire to live all I pray for is death, wrote Sunanda Pushkar in an e-mail to her husband Shashi Tharoor nine days before she was found dead in a luxury hotel room, Delhi police told a city court on Monday.

The police also told the court that her death was due to poisoning and 27 tablets of Alprax were found in her room but it was not clear how many pills she had consumed.

Sunandas mail and messages on social media have been taken as a dying declaration, Delhi Police told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, who on Monday reserved for June 5 its order on whether to summon Tharoor as an accused in the case.

The Delhi police had on May 14 accused MP from Thiruvananthapuram, of abetting Pushkars suicide and urged the court that he should be summoned as an accused in the four-and-half year-old case, claiming there was sufficient evidence against him. In a nearly 3,000-page charge sheet, the police has named Mr Tharoor as the only accused while alleging that he had subjected his wife to cruelty.

The couples domestic servant, Narayan Singh, has been named one of the key witnesses in the case. Pushkar was found dead in the suite of a luxury hotel in south Delhi 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.

Under section 498A, the maximum punishment is up to three years of imprisonment, while jail term up to 10 years is prescribed under section 306.

The charge sheet, which includes several annexures including medical reports, said that Pushkar died within four years of her marriage with Tharoor. The couple had entered the wedlock on August 22, 2010.

The suite of the South Delhi hotel, where Pushkar had died, was sealed by the police on the night of her death for investigation. An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).

According to prosecution sources, the charge sheet has mentioned that Pushkar was allegedly subjected to mental as well as physical cruelty. Tharoor has not been arrested in the case.

The special investigation team (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 MPs wife. The Delhi high court had last year dismissed BJP leader Subramanian Swamys plea seeking court-monitored SIT probe into the death of Pushkar, terming his PIL as a textbook example of a political interest litigation, instead of public interest litigation or a PIL.

Later, Swamy had moved the Supreme Court against the High Court order. The top court had then asked him to satisfy it on the question of maintainability of his plea.
Army officers and their families have expressed strong objections to the move, flagging security concerns in reopening roads to civilians.

The army said the opening of cantonment roads is a 'deliberate, calibrated and monitored exercise'aimed at streamlining the process of assessing whether the roads should be shut to traffic when needed. (Photo: Indian Army | Twitter | @adgpi)

New Delhi: Any decision on opening up cantonment roads across the country to the public will be taken based on feedback from local military authorities, the army said on Monday, amid concerns raised by officers and their families.

In a statement that indicated that the move was open to review, the army said the opening of cantonment roads is a "deliberate, calibrated and monitored exercise" aimed at streamlining the process of assessing whether the roads should be shut to traffic when needed.

"After giving due thought to the likely implications on the opening of roads, a considered decision was taken to open roads in military areas for one month and thereafter review the nature of traffic passing through these areas. The decision on opening or closure of roads will be taken after a feedback from Local Military Authorities (LMA) on whether roads can be opened for civil traffic, completely, selectively or as in the past," said the statement.

On Sunday, Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had also indicated the government's readiness to review its recent decision to allow civilian access to all roads in military cantonments across the country.

Army officers and their families have reportedly expressed strong objections to the move, flagging security concerns in reopening roads in military cantonments to civilians.

A countrywide signature campaign has been launched by army wives against the government decision. They say they will meet the Defence Minister to urge her to cancel the move.

The army's statement said, "There seems to be some apprehension in the minds of military personnel and their families that the opening of roads may lead to a security situation or traffic congestion. A free hand has been given to the LMA (local military authorities) to close and control access to the cantonments when there is actionable intelligence input or in case of emergencies."

It promised a simpler procedure to address the needs of the public as well as the military establishment.
Swearing-in of HD Kumaraswamys full team likely soon; Congress cedes finance to JD-S.

Bengaluru: After almost a week of bitter wrangling over portfolios which saw the two sides hit an impasse and chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy threatening to walk out of the coalition, the Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress government has finally laid all differences aside and will, in all probability, swear in a full-fledged Cabinet as early as Wednesday or Thursday.

The JD(S) pulled off a major coup after the Congress was persuaded into giving up the prized portfolio of finance and agreed to settle for home, water resources and the biggie, Bengaluru development, instead. This despite pressure from old Congressmen clamouring for ministerial rank after being kept out of the inner circle by former chief minister Siddaramaiah, who largely inducted colleagues from his old Janata Parivar days.

Clinching the deal between the partners were the negotiations between AICC general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad on one side and Mr Kumaraswamy and his New Delhi representative Danish Ali on the other, said sources, who added that at one stage with the talks going nowhere, the CM had even threatened to step down and offer only outside support to a Congress government if his party did not get the finance portfolio.

Finally, the JD(S) got what it wanted  finance  and also public works and revenue, but had to give up the Bengaluru development and water resources ministries.

Insiders said that if all goes well and if the minor hiccups are overcome, the new ministers will take the oath of office in a couple of days, but it will be a Cabinet in instalments with about 10 ministers from both parties likely to be sworn in first.

Initially, the Congress was willing to offer the JD(S) only horticulture, sericulture, forest, science and technology and statistics, following which a miffed JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda is said to have

instructed his son, Mr Kumaraswamy, to stick to his guns and insist on the finance portfolio. The Congress opposed this, citing precedents in 2004 and 2006, when the deputy CM in the coalition government  in this case Dr G. Parameshwar of the Congress  had handled finance. In 2004, it was Siddaramaiah as deputy CM in the Dharam Singh government who handled the states finances, followed by B.S. Yeddyurappa, in 2006-07, as deputy CM in the BJP-JD(S) coalition government.

Mr Azad and Mr Ashok Gehlot also argued that it made sense for the Congress to retain Bengaluru development after winning a large number of seats in the city.

But on seeing that Mr Kumaraswamy was set on the finance portfolio, Mr Azad changed tack and offered to give up the PWD and revenue portfolios to the JD(S), besides finance, in exchange for Bengaluru development and water resources. A reluctant Mr Kumaraswamy accepted the offer, but according to sources has warned against any more pressure from the Congress, saying it would force him to quit office, and end the coalition experiment.
Amit Shah, along with 6 cabinet ministers on Monday met top functionaries of RSS on completion of 4 years of Modi government.

Arun Kumar said the various RSS organisations working in the same field occasionally come together to share their experiments, experiences and observations. (Photo: RSS website)

New Delhi: The RSS has said that its ongoing meeting with the BJP and union ministers is not a coordination meeting but an exercise to interchange the ideas.

"These are not Samanvay (coordination) meetings neither these are decision-making meetings," RSS all-India prachar pramukh Arun Kumar said in a statement.

On completion of four years of the Narendra Modi government, BJP chief Amit Shah along with six cabinet ministers on Monday met top functionaries of the RSS to deliberate on government programmes and policies, including the much-awaited education policy. The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh or RSS is the ideological mentor of the BJP.

The statement comes amid speculation that the disinvestment of the debt-ridden state-run carrier Air India and runaway fuel price rise were likely to be discussed during meeting between the RSS, the BJP and the centre on Tuesday.

Kumar said the various RSS organisations working in the same field occasionally come together to share their experiments, experiences and observations.

To enable detailed discussions, these organisations are grouped in various groups working in the same field, he said.

They are grouped as "Seva" (Service activities) "Vaicharik" (Intellectual arena), "Arthik" ( Economy), "Shiksha" (Education) , "Samajik" (social activities) etc.

He also said such group meetings are taking place every year since 2007.

This year, the RSS organisations have planned their meetings from May 28-31 in Delhi.

The meeting of the Sangh, its affiliates, the BJP, and the government was chaired by RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal.

The BJP was represented by Shah, party vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, general secretary Ram Madhav and secretary (organisation) Ram Lal.

The government was represented by the six ministers -- Rajyavardhan Rathore, JP Nadda, Maneka Gandhi, Mahesh Sharma, Prakash Javadekar and Thawarchand Gehlot.
The comments highlight India's unhappiness at what it perceives are unjust obstacles in its efforts to extradite Mallya.

New Delhi: In the context of India's efforts for the extradition of fugitive Vijay Mallya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told his British counterpart Theresa May on the sidelines of the recent Commonwealth Summit that British courts should not comment on the conditions of Indian jails as these were the same jails where the British had imprisoned leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and J.L Nehru before independence, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj revealed on Monday. The comments were made in the context of reports that the British Courts are keen to send a team to inspect the conditions of Indian jails before deciding if Mr. Mallya can be extradited to India or not. An unhappy Mr Modi also told his British counterpart that whenever Indian fugitives take shelter in Britain, it takes a lot of time to extradite them to India.

When fugitives from India arrive here (in Britain), it takes a lot of time to send them back to India. But your courts have raised this issue in the Mallya case that they want to inspect Indian jails, so I want to tell you that these are the same jails where you had imprisoned Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other top leaders, it is not right on the part of your courts now to raise questions about these same jails, PM Modi was quoted as telling the British PM.

The comments highlight India's unhappiness at what it perceives are unjust obstacles in its efforts to extradite Mallya.
Prime Minister will begin his visit to Indonesia where he will be holding detailed discussions with President Joko Widodo in Jakarta.

Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the India-Singapore enterprise and innovation exhibition. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to discussing a range of regional issues during his upcoming three-nation visit to Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia that begins on Tuesday, and boost the Act East Policy.

He took to his Facebook account to inform that the visit is aimed at enhancing India's relations and engagements with all the three countries, which forms Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Prime Minister will begin his visit to Indonesia where he will be holding detailed discussions with President Joko Widodo in Jakarta. He will also interact with Chief Executive Officers and the Indian community in Indonesia.

It will be followed by a brief stopover at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur, where Prime Minister will congratulate the newly elected Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohammad.

While in Singapore, Prime Minister Modi plans to focus on developing a bilateral partnership in several areas including financial technology, skill development, urban planning and artificial intelligence.

Further leaders of both countries will hold discussions on possible business and investment opportunities.

Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the India-Singapore enterprise and innovation exhibition. Later he will address a business and community event followed by a round-table meeting with select top CEOs of Singapore to discuss business and investment opportunities.

On Friday, he will call on his Singaporean President Halimah Yacob. Further, he is scheduled to hold delegation-level talks with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong followed by a visit to Nanyang Technological University where he shall hold an interactive session with students.

Later in evening, Prime Minister Modi will deliver a keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue and will also be the first Indian leader to do so.

"It would be an opportunity to articulate India's point of view on regional security issues and maintenance of peace and stability in the region" the post read.

The next day, Prime Minister Modi will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Gandhiji's ashes were immersed in the sea on 27 March 1948.

He is also expected to visit some specific places which share the features of Indus civilisation.

Prime Minister would conclude his visit by going to Changi Naval Base in Singapore where he shall visit Indian Naval Ship INS Satpura and interact with officers and sailors of the Indian Navy and Royal Singapore Navy.
However, there will be no change in date on which results will be declared. Counting of votes will be done on May 31.

Repolling will also be held at 49 booths in BhandaraGondiya Lok Sabha seat of Maharashtra on May 30. (Photo: File/ANI)

Mumbai: Election Commission on Tuesday ordered repolling in 73 polling station in Uttar Pradeshs Kairana and 49 booths in BhandaraGondiya Lok Sabha seat of Maharashtra on May 30 following widespread technical snags in voting machines during Mondays bypolls.

The poll panel has also ordered fresh poll at one polling station in Nagaland.

However, there will be no change in the date on which results will be declared.

Counting of votes will be done on May 31.

Both the Opposition and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had alleged that the electronic voting machines and VVPATs at these polling booths were faulty and that it could impact the outcome of the elections.

In Kairana, the highest of 45 booths would go to repolls in Gangoh, followed by 23 in Nakur, four in Shamli and one in Thana Bhawan, and around 80,000 voters will exercise their franchise, reports said.

Over 11 per cent of the 10,300 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT), machines across 10 states had developed faults and had to be replaced on Monday.

A total of 54 per cent polling was recorded in Kairana seat on Monday, which fell vacant due to the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh.

In Bhandara-Gondiya, voter turnout was recorded at 42 per cent.
However, somewhere along the line, New Delhi seems to have realised that some recalibration was needed.

New Delhi: Is India doing a course correction of sorts by strengthening ties with the time-tested friend Russia and giant neighbour China and moving away from the United States under the unpredictable Trump Presidency?

This seems so, given the events of the past few weeks. Till two months ago, India seemed to be on the course of further continuing with its proximity to the United States. Ties with Russia appeared somewhat shaky with a peeved Moscow softening its stance towards Pakistan. Relations with China were not warm either following the Doklam stand-off last year.

However, somewhere along the line, New Delhi seems to have realised that some recalibration was needed. The US under a mercurial President Donald Trump was publicly voicing its discontent against India on alleged trade barriers. The review of the H1B and H4 visas by the Trump Presidency was also being seen to adversely hit Indian techies and their spouses. The US had also resumed its hostility towards Iran where India has strategic interests in the Chabahar Port development. On the other hand, China was standing rock-solid behind all-weather friend Pakistan, with Russia too showering words of praise on Islamabad.

The perceived re-positioning started with the informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan. The two leaders looked set to foster bonhomie and put the unpleasantness of the Doklam episode behind them. By all accounts, there will be increased trust and understanding on border issues and aggressive patrolling on the border will cease by both the armies. External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had stated on Monday that both the leaders had decided that they would speak to each other directly on the phone in case either sought the views of the other on any issue. The message was clearIndia and China would do all they could to increase trust. It is a win-win situation for China too which fears emergence of a quadrilateral comprising India, the US, Japan and Australia.

The next bold Indian initiative was the informal summit at Sochi between PM Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin last week which was a huge success. A crucial part was the re-emphasis on the decades-long strategic bilateral defence ties and Indias move to acquire the S-400 missiles from Moscow despite US sanctions on Russian military exports. Just ahead of the Sochi summit, sources had made it clear that New Delhi is not going to allow our defence requirements to be dictated by any other country, a veiled reference to US pressure. Indias firm resolve to go ahead with the S-400 missile deal with Russia even if it means inviting American ire is being seen as a clear signal to Washington.

Also, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj had stated on Monday that India recognised only the UN sanctions on any country, thereby making it clear that New Delhi did not recognise or abide by American sanctions on either Iran or Venezuela.

Further, if there was any doubt left, PM Modi and Russian President Putin agreed at Sochi on the importance of building a multipolar world order and deciding to strengthen co-ordination in the Indo-Pacific region. This was seen by foreign policy watchers as a clear signal that New Delhi may be trying to distance itself from Washington in the current scenario.
The Istiqlal Mosque has been described as one of the largest Mosques in south-east Asia.

New Delhi: In what is being seen as both a powerful symbol of Indian Hindu cultural influence in Indonesia the country with the worlds largest Muslim population  as well as an acknowledgement of both Indonesias Islamic identity and pluralist culture, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the Arjunas Chariot statue in central Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon followed by a visit to the majestic Istiqlal Mosque there accompanied by Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

The Arjuna Wijaya Chariot (or chariot of the victorious Arjuna) statue stands testimony to the cultural reach and influence of the great ancient Indian epic Mahabharata in Indonesia where the other famous ancient Indian epic, the Ramayana, is also equally popular. This has been due to the ancient soft cultural power of India through the ages when the Hindu cultural influences of ancient India reached Indonesia through trade ties. The Istiqlal Mosque has been described as one of the largest Mosques in south-east Asia.

During the medieval historical period, Islamic influences too travelled from India through traders to Indonesia which now has the worlds largest Muslim population.

But with its island of Bali which retains a Hindu demographic majority, Indonesia showcases the rich pluralist tradition of south-east Asia. This is no doubt something that both PM Modi and Indonesian President Joko Widodo will be keen to emphasise, given that India too stands proud with its own pluralist heritage and respect for all faiths.

Foreign policy watchers feel the visit will send a strong signal to the entire Muslim world and especially to countries like Pakistan, that Indias links with the Islamic world stand strong and robust despite Pakistani propaganda on Kashmir.
The murder of Kevin P Joseph rocked the state with hartal hitting normal life in Kottayam; Cong targets CM over lapse by police in the case.

Joseph, a Dalit Christian, was abducted on Sunday and killed by a gang of criminals allegedly engaged by his fiancee's family. (Photo: File)

Kottayam/Thiruvananthapuram: A day after a man was found dead in a case of alleged honour killing in Kerala, his fiancee's father and brother, the prime accused, were taken into custody on Tuesday, police said.

Chacko John (50) and his 26-year old son Syanu Chacko were detained as the killing of Kevin P Joseph rocked the state with a hartal hitting normal life in Kottayam and the Congress targeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for alleged lapse by police in the handling of a complaint by the victim's fiancee.

The two, who had gone underground after the incident, surrendered at a police station in northern Kannur district and were taken into custody, police said adding they were among 14 accused in the case.

Joseph, a Dalit Christian, was abducted on Sunday and killed by a gang of criminals allegedly engaged by his fiancee's family. His body was found in a river in Kollam district on Monday.

His relatives have alleged he was tortured and killed by the gang two days after Joseph and the woman filed a joint application for marriage registration at a sub-registrar office near Kottayam.

Three persons allegedly involved in the crime were taken into custody hours after the recovery of the body while a search was on for nine others.

Earlier on Tuesday, the father and son moved an anticipatory bail plea in the Kerala High Court claiming that they had not committed any offence.

In their plea, likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday, the two said they were willing to cooperate in the investigation.

Ernakulam Range IG Vijay Sakhare said the woman's father had a role in the crime.

The body of Joseph was buried in the cemetery of Good Shepherd Church in Kottayam this afternoon in the presence of a large number of locals.

Earlier, the body was brought to his native Kumaranellore village amid poignant scenes. After locals paid their homage, it was taken for burial.

Meanwhile, normal life was affected in Kottayam district by the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by various political parties, including Congress and BJP, and Dalit organisations to protest the "honour killing".

Former chief minister and Congress working committee member A K Antony said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should take responsibility for the alleged lapse on the part of police in dealing with the case.

Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded resignation of Vijayan.

Joseph's fiancee, whose father is a Christian and mother a Muslim, alleged laxity on the part of police when she approached the Gandhinagar police station near Kottayam with a missing complaint earlier.

The police did not move even after she appealed to the Sub Inspector that Joseph's life was in danger and he should be rescued, she told reporters in Kottayam.

Bursting into tears, the woman said she was "Kevin's wife and will stay in his residence."

Kerala Human Rights Commission has said it was suspected to be a case of honour killing and ordered the state police chief to submit a report in three weeks.

Sub-Inspector M S Shibu and Grade ASI Sunnymon of the Gandhinagar police station were yesterday suspended for laxity while Kottayam District Superintendent of Police V M Mohammed Rafique transferred following the incident.

The chief minister has described the incident as "unfortunate" and said it should not have happened.

Antony said there was a grave lapse on the part of the police in dealing with the case and it cannot be justified.

"The government and Chief Minister has to take the responsibility for this', he said.

Noting that a girl was killed in a similar 'honour killing' by her father a month ago in Malappuram, he said it was not proper for the Kerala society to remain silent over such incidents.

These honour killings actually point to the degradation of cultural and social values, he said in New Delhi.

"Casteism and primitive rituals which the state had driven away through social reforms have started to come back...Kerala is virtually turning as lunatic asylum as described by Swami Vivekananda," he said.

The general public, political leadership and social outfits also should perform their responsibilities, he added.

Chennithala demanded the resignation of Vijayan, claiming that the state police force under him had crumbled.

Suspension of a few police personnel in connection with the incident was an eye wash, he charged.
The administration also fears that money from the ivory trade ends up funding extremism through criminal and terrorist gangs.

British Army personnel have been working with rangers in Gabon and Malawi to put an end to gangs selling ivory for funding terrorist activities in the continent (Photo: AFP)

Nature has a lot of beauty to offer in form of spectacular creatures as part of a diverse wildlife. But several species have been extinct or are endangered because of poaching and illegal trade of their body parts.

The black rhinos of Africa are also at risk of being wiped out and this is what governments and organisations across the globe are trying hard to prevent. Britain seems to have declared war on the blood ivory trade as it is set to send troops to Malawi for keeping poachers at bay.

Counter-insurgency tactics developed in Afghanistan and Iraq will be used as they train rangers to hunt down poachers. The trade posing a threat to this mammal is worth around 17 billion pounds.

The administration also fears that money from the ivory trade ends up funding extremism through criminal and terrorist gangs. This move comes after the Duke of Cambridge called the destruction of animal life an almost unthinkable travesty.

Several British Army personnel have been working with rangers in Gabon and Malawi to put an end to gangs selling ivory for funding terrorist activities in the continent.
The accused, Archana Jain, was going to catch the flight of a private ariline on Monday morning.

The accused, Archana Jain, was going to catch the flight of a private ariline on Monday morning. (Representational image)

Kolkata: The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested a woman with around 12 kg of Ganja, which she was allegedly trying to smuggle to Andaman & Nicobar Islands in a flight from Kolkata airport.

The accused, Archana Jain, was going to catch the flight of a private ariline on Monday morning. When she checked in Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel grew suspicious about her handbag while conducting security check on her.

They detained her and opened her bag only to find the consignment of Ganja, wrapped in a large black packet. Coming to know from the CISF the NCB arrested Archana.

During her interrogation she told the NCB officers that the consignment was procured from Krishnagar in Nadia, a district along the Indo-Bangla border, where illegal cultivation has been rampant.

Archana, further, revealed that the consignment was to be delivered in Ranghat in Andaman and was to be sold at a price three times higher than the average price, according to sources.
Rescue operations had been stalled on Sunday due to the same reason.

Mumbai: The salvage operation for the Ark Deck Bar floatel, which sank on Friday, was stalled on Monday due to choppy weather conditions over the sea.

Rescue operations had been stalled on Sunday due to the same reason. The Singapore-based salvage company, Smit Salver, is holding a meeting with Maharashtra Maritime Board (MMB) to figure out the assets needed for the operation and the procedure to carry the operation.

The firm was hired to salvage the floatel and around `1 crore is estimated to be the cost of the salvaging operation. Since the last two days, the weather over the sea has been rough due to which the divers have not been able to enter the waters. They have carried out a recce of the site, said Kookie Singh, partner of Ark Deck Bar. The firm has suggested the re-floating of the vessel by plugging the leak or by inserting huge air balloons below it rise it back onto the seas surface.

The MMB is pushing the owners of the floatel to salvage it sooner. The salvage firm is in the process of identifying the assets needed for the operation, essentially the ocean tugs and barges required for carrying out operation in this kind of weather, said captain Sanjay Sharma, chief port officer, MMB.
The deceased, who has been identified as Leela Gokuldas Sukhee, was out on her evening walk when the incident happened.

Mumbai: A 91-year-old woman lost her life on Monday night after an old Ashoka trees branch fell on her at Walkeshwar Road, opposite Banganga in south Mumbai. The deceased, who has been identified as Leela Gokuldas Sukhee, was out on her evening walk when the incident happened.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) last year in October asked a trust, under whose premises the tree was, to trim it along with the other 10-odd trees but it had allegedly not taken any action. The tree was located inside the premises of the trust, and the branch fell from a height close to 20 feet.

According to the civic disaster management cell, the incident took place at around 6 pm on Monday, after which the senior citizen was rushed to the St Elizabeths Hospital on Malabar Hill. She was then transferred to the state-run G.T. hospital at around 7:30 pm. The woman was in a critical condition when she was brought to the hospital. She had suffered multiple fractures in her arms and there was heavy bleeding in her brain. She passed away at 10.55 pm, said Dr. Mukund Tayade, medical superintendent at G.T. hospital.

Responding to the incident, a civic official from the ward said, In October last year, we had permitted the Saraswat Brahman Trust, which looks after the Banganga area, to perform tree trimming. We had told them to trim the branches once in six months. The BMC reveals that it had done an inspection of the site last year and had intimated the trust authorities to trim all the trees. The Asian Age tried contacting the manager of the trust, but he remained unavailable for a comment.
Abdullah Kattineh, used a four-inch mobile phone to teach himself chemistry as his family in Damascus were unable to afford books.

It is believed Kattineh, from Damascus, is the only Syrian to be admitted to the prestigious institution this year. (Photo: Pixabay)

A teenager from war-torn Syria who used a mobile phone to teach himself chemistry received a full scholarship of 48,000 to study at Cambridge University

The 19-year-old , who studied by torchlight as his war-torn home was battered with bombs, has been awarded a place at Cambridge University.

Abdullah Kattineh, used a four-inch mobile phone to teach himself chemistry as his family in Damascus were unable to afford books.

Luckily for him, he has now been accepted to read natural sciences in the UK after an online fundraising campaign was backed by hundreds of people who read about him.

Cambridge University's Corpus Christi College have also offered the teenager a full scholarship - covering his fees and living costs of more than 48,000.

According to a story published in MailOnline, Kattineh said that it was the ultimate honour to be the only Syrian student who got admitted to Cambridge University this year.

He further added that most Syrian people were paralysed by the outcomes of the Syrian crisis.

Self-taught Kattineh realised his talents when he took part in the Syrian Chemistry Olympiad Competition in 2015 and made it to the international level.

The youngster graduated in 2017 and immediately applied for the Cambridge Trust Scholarship, which provides funding for gifted students in financial need.

However, after being unsuccessful, he refused to give up on his dream and set up a fundraising website asking for help.

Kattinehs problem soon touched the hearts of many and within hours, he had received 800 from Cambridge University students and 450 people signed an open letter calling on the University to support him.

It is believed Kattineh, from Damascus, is the only Syrian to be admitted to the prestigious institution this year.
Relations with Pakistan represent a major policy failure.

As the BJP-led NDA government celebrates its four years in power, its track record in diplomacy, to which Prime Minister Narendra Modi devotes considerable time and energy, is, like the curates egg, good only in parts.

Foreign policy is a process in continuum and thus the transition from one government to the next is often more continuity than change. However, Mr Modis vitriolic 2014 election campaign, targeting the Manmohan Singh governments weak policy towards Pakistan and terrorism, indicated that a more muscular neighbourhood policy was in the offing. As Gujarat chief minister, Mr Modi had visited nations like China, Japan and Israel. Many Western nations had, on the other hand, denied him visas due to his human rights record. He assumed office in May 2014 with this peculiar legacy.

Inviting all the heads of government of the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (Saarc) for his swearing-in was a theatrical flourish, that was to become his trademark. Two things stood out. One, Pakistans Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took a huge gamble by accepting the invite. His meeting with Mr Modi drew all the attention. Two, the presence of the elected head of the Tibetan government-in-exile based in Dharamshala couldnt be explained as a slip-up, but rather as a sign of a more assertive approach towards China.

The challenges before the government in 2014 were many, but principally relations with neighbours, particularly Pakistan and a rising China, displacing historical Indian influence in its periphery. Past governments had acted with resolve whenever the immediate neighbourhood had needed intervention. India put King Tribhuvan on Nepalese throne in 1951; liberated Goa from Portugal in 1960; defeated the Pakistan Army in the east and helped to create Bangladesh; annexed Sikkim in 1974; and thwarted a coup by mercenaries in the Maldives in 1988.

The Modi governments record is, on the other hand, quite patchy. It has best handled Bangladesh. Although China overtook India as its largest trading partner in 2005, India has kept good relations with Sheikh Hasina. The 2015 Land Boundary Agreement buried an outstanding issue involving enclaves. The rising Chinese presence in Bangladesh and its acceptance of Chinas Belt and Road Initiative is an irritant. India too withheld support for the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) transit corridor.

Sri Lanka rebalanced ties with India after President Maithripala Sirisenas government assumed power in 2015. China had slowly increased its footprint after the civil war since 2009. He has balanced the earlier grant of port projects at Hambantota and Colombo to China by assigning India the oil storage complex at Trincomalee. But Sri Lanka had to concede long land and port leases when it was unable to repay the Chinese loans. Thus, China is now there to stay in the island nation.

Relations with Pakistan represent a major policy failure. To break the old cycle of talks and terror, the Modi government tried dramatic moves but without the will to stay the course. Immediately after twin electoral defeats in Delhi in February and then Bihar in November 2015, Mr Modi decided whimsically to visit Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif in Lahore at Christmas time to wish him on his birthday. Having done so, it was truly naive to expect that Pakistan would turn off the terror tap. In fact, due to Nawaz Sharifs testy relationship with the Army, a reaction by the Army-jihadi combine was inevitable after, as one Pakistani newspaper put it, seeing Mr Modi and Mr Sharif walking hand-in-hand like two Pindi boys. When an attack on Pathankot came within days, there was an immediate pullback by India. Perhaps Mr Modi went to Lahore to show his good intentions, fully aware that it would result in a Pathankot. Then came the surgical strikes, more to satisfy aroused Indian public opinion, after the beheading of our soldiers. Clearly, free-fire ended a decade-old ceasefire. If Pakistan is willing to trade fire, then the endgame to fatigue them into submission is obviously based on a misreading of the Pakistani Armys mentality. With Pakistans parliamentary elections due in July and thereafter India preparing for the crucial Assembly elections in states run by the BJP, there seems little stomach for talks.

The other areas of focus include the old Look East policy, renamed Act East, and rebalancing relations with the United States, Europe, Russia and China. India-US relations have progressively improved since the 1998 nuclear tests. Mr Modis predecessors, Atal Behari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh, guided that process through three US presidencies. In particular, after 9/11 in 2001 and as Chinas rise and assertiveness became apparent, the US determined that a powerful India was in Americas interest. US President Donald Trump has dissipated that certainty. That explains Mr Modis belated attempts to rebalance relations with Russia and engage China after Doklam at summit level. The new informal summit coinage is merely a less formal meeting format for the old annual summits.

Mr Modi appears to have belatedly realised that theatrical sharing of swings or serial bearhugs do not alter geopolitics. Russia has reinvented its role in West Asia as oil and gas producer, and its 2016 deal with the Saudis and Opec to cut production has escalated oil prices to over $80 per barrel. Although India must diversify its defence arms purchases to obtain the best price and technology, Russia cannot be ignored.

Thus, the last year of the Modi governments current term sees it reverting to a more nuanced position between Russia and China on one side and the US on the other. India-Iran relations will again be tested as the US imposes what secretary of state Mike Pompeo calls the strongest set of sanctions in history. As EU steps back, Chinese and Russian companies are stepping into the breach. China is busy cornering new oilfields and Russia is selling drilling equipment. India has the Chabahar port investment and its access to Afghanistan and Central Asia at stake. Indian diplomacy will again be tested in this regard.

New Delhis anodyne reaction to Washingtons withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal may satisfy the Saudis, Emiratis, Israelis and the US. But a muscular policy cant be just over Pakistan and sometimes China. It has hopefully reverted to neo-nonalignment, allowing India to hug selectively but shake hands warmly with one and all.
After the incident, over 3,000 members of community gathered outside Chatsworth police station demanding swift action.

Tributes for the little girl have poured in on social media as news of her shooting went viral. (Representational Image)

Johannesburg: A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl was killed after being shot during a botched carjacking in South Africa, outraging the community members and sparking angry protests in Durban.

Sadia Sukhraj, a grade four student from Chatsworth, was on her way to school with her father on Monday when three armed men allegedly accosted their car. They allegedly forced her father out of the car and sped away with her.

In an ensuing chase, the carjackers and community members shot at each other.

The suspects later crashed the car near a park.

The girl was found shot and critically injured while one of the suspects tumbled out of the car dead.

Sadia was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

A second carjacker was arrested by an off-duty policeman. A third suspect remains at large.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed that one of the hijackers was killed.

Following the incident, more than 3,000 members of the community gathered outside Chatsworth police station demanding swift police action.

As the small contingent of officers at the police station allegedly came under severe verbal abuse and threats of physical action from protestors, they resorted to firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, which included scores of children.

Chatsworth is an Indian township in Durban.

Mahendra Lillkan, chairperson of the local Crime Forum, said there had been a spike in crime in the area despite community patrols at night.

"It seems that the criminals have now resorted to striking at soft targets, such as parents taking their children to school, as we have seen with this tragic incident." Police and community leaders have appealed for calm amid fears that the protests would escalate as the distraught family prepared for the funeral.

Tributes for the little girl have poured in on social media as news of her shooting went viral.
Kim Chang Son, Kim's de facto chief of staff, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, the report said.

Kim Chang Son (left), North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's de facto chief of staff, going into a car as he leaves a hotel in Singapore, on May 29, 2018. (Photo: AFP)

Tokyo: A top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Singapore on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said Tuesday, the latest indication that the on-again-off-again summit with US President Donald Trump is going ahead.

Kim Chang Son, Kim's de facto chief of staff, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, the report said.

At the same time, a team of US government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left US Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The White House said a "pre-advance" team was travelling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans.

The reports indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week. A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

In a flurry of diplomacy over the weekend, Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-US summit must be held.

Moon said Monday there could be more impromptu talks between the two Koreas in the lead-up to the summit.

And on Sunday, the US State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom.

North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programmes as a deterrent against perceived aggression by the United States, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

It has long said it is open to eventually giving up its nuclear arsenal if the United States withdraws its troops from South Korea and ends its "nuclear umbrella" alliance with Seoul.
PM Modi tweeted in both Indonesian and English soon after his arrival.

Jakarta: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday arrived here in the Indonesian capital on the first leg of his three-nation tour to East Asia to cement the political, economic and strategic interest of the two friendly maritime neighbours.

Landed in Jakarta. India and Indonesia are friendly maritime neighbours with deep civilisational links. This visit will further the convergence of our political, economic and strategic interests, PM Modi tweeted in both Indonesian and English soon after his arrival.

Mr Modi, who is here on his first-ever official visit to Indonesia, will meet President Joko Widodo tomorrow and discuss bilateral cooperation in a broad range of areas, including maritime, trade and investment.

The two leaders would attend some events, including a CEO Business Forum organised by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and the Industry, and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

This is my first visit to Indonesia as Prime Minister. I am looking forward to my discussions with President Widodo on 30 May, as also to our joint interaction with the India-Indonesia CEOs Forum, Mr Modi said after landing in the nation.
The German chancellor met with Li Wenzu, wife of Wang Quanzhang, and with Xu Yan, wife of Yu Wensheng, during her two-day visit to China. During her meeting with Prime Minister Li Keqiang, she also spoke about Liu Xia, the widow of Liu Xiaobo, who has been invited to Germany for treatment.

Beijing (AsiaNews/Agencies)  German Chancellor Angela Merkel met the wives of two detained Chinese human rights lawyers, the women said on Monday showing the pictures taken at the time.

Such meetings are rare in China. Heads of state or government who visit the country often avoid making major public statements about human rights or holding meetings with activists or relatives. Merkel was in Beijing on 24 and 25 May.

Merkel did not mention the meeting with the two women during her two-day stay but said she raised the issue of human rights during her talks with Prime Minister Li Keqiang.

On 24 May, the German leader met with Li Wenzu, wife of Wang Quanzhang. Last month, Li attempted to march 100 kilometres to a detention facility to highlight her husbands plight before she was thwarted by police and forced to go home. Her husband is in prison charged with subversion of state power.

I thanked Merkel for her attention and support to 709 lawyers, Li said referring to a group of lawyers rounded up in a crackdown on 9 July 2015.

709 refers to a group of more than 200 lawyers who were taken into custody, interrogated, formally charged and sentenced on 9 July 2015.

Several of them were released after making widely publicised video confessions. Wang is the only one who has not yet been tried and still remains in prison in an unknown place (thought to be in Tianjin). Li Wenzu asked Merkel to find out if her husband was still alive.

Merkel also met Xu Yan (pictured). Her husband Yu Wensheng was also accused of "inciting subversion of state power".

Activists and human rights advocates were hoping that the German chancellor would also meet Liu Xia, the wife of the late Nobel laureate and great dissident Liu Xiaobo, but she is still under house arrest and in isolation.

Liu Xia, who suffers from deep depression, has asked many times that she be allowed to leave China for proper treatment, but the authorities have been very reluctant to let her go.

During the meeting with Li Keqiang, Merkel spoke about Liu Xias situation, who has been invited many times to Germany.
by Kamran Chaudhry

The volume is edited by the Christian activist Samuel Payara and will be available from next month. The text aims to publicize a 2014 ruling by former Supreme Court President Tassaduq Hussain Jillani.

Lahore (AsiaNews) - A new book to promote awareness of a ruling by the Pakistani Supreme Court of 2014, which describes the rights of minorities and how to protect them was presented May 26 in the Lahore headquarters of the National Council of Churches in Pakistan. The volume - titled "Landmark Judgment June 19 2014" - is edited by the Christian activist Samuel Payara and will be on the shelves of all the bookstores in the country from next month.

More than 30 activists took part in the launch, including some survivors of the kamikaze attack against the Bethel Memorial Methodist Church in Quetta, in the province of Balochistan, which took place in December 2017. Sajeel Gulzar lost his father Gulzar Bhatti, 45 years old , killed while trying to close the church door to prevent the bomber from making more victims. " We received government compensation but families of 9 other victims are still awaiting. Similarly four families of injured are awaiting government help to treat their loved ones, he said.The financial aid can help in the treatment but those who died will not return. We demand necessary steps to stop terror attacks on Churches.

The book wants to promote awareness among the general public of the 2014 sentence pronounced by Tassaduq Hussain Jillani, former president of the highest judicial body of the country. In it the judge ordered asked the federal government to constitute a National Council for the rights of minorities, discourage hate speech and develop, appropriate curricula at school and college levels to promote a culture of religious and social tolerance among other measures.

The Supreme Court took Suo Moto action following 2013 suicide attack on a Peshawar church. More than 100 Christians died and 144 people were injured

Unable to attend the presentation ceremony, yesterday Msgr Sebastian Francis Shaw, archbishop of Lahore presented a copy of the publication to retired Justice Jillani at his residence. (see photo 3). Catholics have long called on the Pakistani government to apply the judgement and underline the climate of increasing insecurity and persecution of religious minorities. Msgr. Shaw declares: "At the end of this month (31 May) the government [led] by the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (Pml-N) will be dissolved but the court verdict was not properly implemented in these five years. We are prayerful that the next government provides relief to religious minorities and all those who are awaiting justice".

The author Samuel Payara, who is also the founder and president of the Implementation Minority Rights Forum (Imrf), accompanied the archbishop. He reports: "The judge told us to keep fighting. His son has also compiled a writ petition [document that activates the legal proceedings in common law, ed] in the Supreme Court on minority rights. The secretary of the Supreme Court Bar Association also assured us of full cooperation ". Then he adds: "The General public and even government officials are not aware of these orders. The Court itself was surprised when the Additional Advocate General of Sindh province, on Court query submitted that the desecration of places of worship of minorities was not blasphemous and not an offence. The book is a soft reminder of our rights.
by Lawrence Jangma Gam

Since last April, armed clashes between the army and the rebels of the Kachin Independence Army (Kia) have reignited. Internally displaced people in the region have increased by 5 thousand. 1,500 displaced persons remained trapped in the conflict area, with only 150 allowed to go to refugee camps. For nearly two months, more than 1,300 refugees have been held hostage by the army and used as human shields. The UN: "In Kachin a forgotten humanitarian crisis". Christians accuse: "There is a real genocide underway".

Myitkyina (AsiaNews) - Thousands of Catholics marched yesterday through the streets of Myitkyina, the capital of the State of Kachin, in the name of peace in Myanmar. Last May 24, the diocese published a letter inviting all citizens to the prayer march. The document made it clear that it was not a political manifestation. Yesterday, Msgr. Francis Daw Tang, bishop of the city, led the procession and prayed with the demonstrators, among whom there were also many Protestants and non-Christians. This is the first public demonstration by Kachin Catholics for peace: he urged them to march through the streets of Myitkyina raising the alarm about their situation.

Starting last April, in the north and east of Myitkyina, the armed clashes between the Tatmadaw [the Burmese army] and the rebels of the Kachin Independence Army (Kia) were reignited. It is the ethnic army of the Kachin minority, which has a large Christian component of 40% Catholics and 60% Baptists. Usually, villagers in areas affected by the conflict are allowed to flee and escape. However, this time the government army did not allow displaced civilians (IDPs) to save themselves. The Naypyidaw Armed Forces detained the Idp hostage near military bases, using them as human shields, so that the rebel army Kachin will not attack them.

Exponents and civil society organizations have made several attempts to rescue the people, but the commander-in-chief of the Northern troops has even prevented the intervention of the Kachin State chief minister. The only successful intervention was made by the minister for social welfare of Naypyidaw. Out of 1,500 displaced persons trapped in armed clashes, around 150 were allowed to go to refugee camps. For almost two months, more than 1,300 refugees have been held hostage by the army, under the tropical rain and the icy mountain climate. A report released by the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCA) published last month reveals that during the last phase of the conflict in Kachin, internationally displaced people in the region increased by 5,000 between April and May.

In recent weeks, various demonstrations have taken place across the country to demand the release of displaced persons. The Kachin Youth Movement has now been founded and in Myitkyina, numerous young Christians protest day and night for the release of trapped IDPs. On 9 May, the authorities brought the youth movement leaders to trial and sentenced them to pay a fine of 30 thousand kyats (about 30 US dollars). On May 16, civil rights activists met peacefully in Yangon, but government security forces arrested about 20, thanks to the intervention of violent thugs. Many of the activists are now being tried.

Representatives of the European Union in Myanmar, the United Nations and the international community have expressed concern over the arrests of peaceful demonstrators. Rallies have also been organized in other states and ethnic regions, such as the Kayah State and the Bago region. In the third week of April, the Northern military command sued three members of the Kachin Youth Movement. The trial is still ongoing and the defendants risk serious charges. Many civil rights organizations such as the Karen Women Association (Kwa), based in Thailand, are demanding that the Myanmar government intervene and stop civilian trials.

On April 8, following a six-day mission to Myanmar, the UN Deputy Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Vice-Chancellor for Emergencies, Ursula Mueller, defined the conflict in Kachin as "a forgotten humanitarian crisis". In May, international media such as the British newspaper The Guardian defined what was taking place as "a slow genocide". In Washington, many Burmese exiles have carried out a hunger strike for the displaced trapped, reporting to the US government that a real "genocide of Christians" is taking place in Myanmar.

During the military operations under way since April, government troops have bombed Kachin rebel cities such as Laiza and Maija Yang. Furthermore, the Myanmar government continues to impose severe restrictions on humanitarian aid for the population. Despite the tensions, in the first week of May the Burmese bishops went to the Vatican on an ad limina visit. The Kachin prelates expressed their concern for the displaced and the peace in Myanmar also in a meeting with the Vatican secretary of state and the French government, during the subsequent visit to the Marian shrine of Lourdes.

The bishops of Northern Myanmar issue a declaration every year to ask for peace in the country. However, the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Episcopal Conference (CBCM) does not usually make official statements on the Kachin question. For this reason, Card. Charles Maung Bo, Archbishop of Yangon and the first cardinal of Myanmar, is often criticized by Kachin Catholic communities around the world. They accuse him of being more interested in the humanitarian emergency affecting the Rohingya Muslims, compared to the suffering of the persecuted and displaced Kachin Christians.

Bordering China and India, the Kachin State was shaken by a resumption of the conflict between army and rebels in 2011, when a bilateral ceasefire agreement lasting 17 years broke down. The clashes have caused hundreds of deaths about 150 thousand displaced, most of them Christians, who still live in desperate conditions in the refugee camps of the region. The Burmese population and that of the Shan ethnic group are instead spared from the actions of the army. For this reason, many international personalities believe that behind this conflict there is an ethnic-religious motive against the Christian minority Kachin.
Israel is building a three-layered sea barrier, with one level below water. A new six-metre barrier with sensors is also being built on land. Tensions are rising with rocket fire and airstrikes.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews/Agencies)  Israel has started to build a new barrier around the Gaza Strip.

The new structure will block the passage by sea and will be built along with a new wall along the land border, the Israeli Defence Ministry announced on Sunday.

Building began at the northern Gaza border, on Zikim beach. The construction is expected to continue through the end of the year.

The barrier will consist of three layers. The first will be below the water; the second will be made of stone; the third will be made of barbed wire. An additional fence will surround the sea fence.

Israel decided to erect a sea barrier in 2014, when several Hamas gunmen entered the country by sea.

The barrier is being built simultaneously with an inland underground barrier around the Gaza border, which includes a concrete wall fitted with sensors standing six metres high from ground level.

The construction is taking place amid renewed tensions. As Palestinians continue their weekly protests  albeit on a smaller scale after the death of 60 people on 14 May  Israel and Hamas are again at loggerheads.

Today Israel carried out an airstrike in central Gaza against Islamic Jihad in response to a barrage of 28 mortar shells fired by Hamas toward Israel, most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

The mortar attack was in retaliation to the death of three members of Islamic Jihad, killed in a raid two days ago.

No Israeli casualties were reported, but a rocket slightly damaged the courtyard of a kindergarten (picture 3).

The new barriers will intensify the blockade already imposed on the almost 2 million residents of the Gaza Strip, whose only points out are the Rafah crossing with Egypt and Erez with Israel.

Many define Gaza as an open-air prison, whose humanitarian crisis is going from bad to worse and from where it is almost impossible to leave.
He no longer recognises any of his friends, not even the closest. He had been sentenced to five years after three in pretrial detention. His home is under tight surveillance. "He didn't talk like a young person any more, he sounded dull, and his reactions were very slow," a friend said.

Beijing (AsiaNews/RFA)  Huang Wenxun, a young civil rights activist, can no longer recognise any of his old friends, perhaps because of torture in prison, his activist friends told Radio Free Asia (RFA).

Huang Wenxun (pictured in the middle), 29, was released on 13 May. He had been sentenced to five years in prison in 2016 by a court in Chibi, a city in the central province of Hubei.

Huang had been arrested in June 2013 for participating in protests in favour of press freedom in the south of the country.

The young pro-democracy activist spent three years in a pretrial custody in Guandong, where he endured torture.

"I saw Huang Wenxun yesterday afternoon (23 May)," said his friend and fellow activist Ye Xiaozheng. "He said he didn't know who I was. He didn't recognise any of his old friends from Huizhou or his lawyer Sui Muqing."

According to Ye, Huang was severely sleep-deprived during his entire incarceration, managing to sleep only four or five hours a night.

"We didn't stay long, and left early, because there are surveillance cameras installed all around Huang Wenxun's home, and there are people watching him," he said. "Some of them came over to warn us [not to visit]."

However, the surveillance of the activists did not stop when they left the house. "We hadn't driven very far before we were stopped by a police car," Ye said. "The police officer just targeted me. I have taken care of Huang Wenxun's father all these years, and I think the police just wanted to get their own back on me."

Chen Xiaorong, one of the five who visited Huang, is worried that he did not recognise Ye, one of his dearest friends. It was because of him that he devoted himself to fighting for democracy," she said.

"He didn't talk like a young person any more, he sounded dull, and his reactions were very slow," Chen said. "I'm not sure but I thought it was maybe due to medications he had been terrorised into taking."

Huang Wenxun is one of the " Chibi Three". Two others, members of the "New Citizens Movement" were arrested along with him: Yuan Fengchu, also known as Yuan Bing, and Yuan Xiaohua, who were sentenced to three-and-a-half and four years respectively last month.

They too were held in prolonged pretrial incarceration in the southern province of Guangdong.
Four Catholics among the deceased. The fake news of the death of a priest who is only wounded goes viral on social media. The protests took place on May 22 in front of the District Executor's office. The company Sterlite Copper is owned by the mining giant Vedanta Resources. The plant extracts 400 thousand tons of copper every year; it is accused of causing pollution and increasing deadly diseases like cancer.

Tuticorin (AsiaNews) - The government of Tamil Nadu, in southern India, has today ordered the closure of a copper smelting plant in the city of Tuticorin (or Thoothukudi in Hindi). The decision comes after 100 days of protests by the local population due to pollution caused by the company. The demonstrations ended on May 22 in a peaceful march of about 20 thousand people, which on which the police opened fire. The toll from what has been called a "mass murder" was 13 killed demonstrators, including four Catholics, and the wounding of many others, including a priest, Fr. Leo Jayaseelan (see photo 2).

The violence last week occurred in front of the District Executor's office. The inhabitants of the town, located about 600 km from the capital Chennai, were protesting against the company Sterlite Copper owned by the mining giant Vedanta Resources, led by the Anglo-Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal. The area is mainly Christian and there are 19 parishes around the establishment, which have about 100 thousand faithful.

The protests were sparked by, the companys seeking a renewal of its license, and double the annual production of 400 thousand tons. Ever since it opened its doors 25 years ago in 1994, the company has been the subject of the criticism of the local population for the contamination of groundwater and air, due to the dispersion of toxic fumes. According to experts and environmentalists, the spill of harmful substances has increased the incidence of fatal diseases such as cancer, respiratory and heart problems.

Meanwhile, the conditions of Fr. Jayaseelan, 70, parish priest of the village of Thailapuram, are improving, following the fake announcement of his death on social media yesterday (see photo 3). On May 22, he was at the demonstration along with thousands of others, when he was hit by bullets fired by police. One of the bullets pierced his right side. Operated at the American Mission Hospital, he is in recovery. A journalist from the Deccan Chronicle, who visited him in the hospital, said that he would never have expected such a reaction from the police against peaceful demonstrators.
Unconfirmed reports claim he was wounded or even killed in an attempted coup on 21 April. The only certainty is that he has been absent from official events, including the meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. An exiled Saudi prince calls for an uprising against Saudi Arabias current rulers. Saudi lobby is behind Trumps cancellation of the Iran nuclear agreement.

Riyadh (AsiaNews)  Speculation abounds in Western and social media over the fate of Mohammad bin Salman (MBS), Saudi Arabias 32-year-old crown prince who has not been seen in public since 21 April.

According to some sources, the kingdoms powerful number two might have been wounded in an attempted coup. Some even suggest he might be dead.

MBS, as he is often referred to, is behind the kingdoms economic and social reform programme Vision2030, and was the first to back the Yemen war and the anti-corruption campaign (against possible rivals).

Given the flurry of rumours, Saudi media have rejected reports about gunfire at the royal palace or military coups. The official version is that the gunshots heard at the palace were semi-automatic fire used to send away a drone that appeared near the palace wall.

The Saudi royal family last week released an undated photo of bin Salman at a cabinet meeting. However, speculation continues, especially since the media-savvy crown prince has played on his public visibility to boost his power.

For this reason, his absence during the official visit of the new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Saudi Arabia at the end of April was that more remarkable.

His last known appearance was on 12 April during a meeting with the royal family of Spain.

According to the al-Ahd al-Jadeed Twitter account, which describes itself as close to the decision-making circles in Saudi Arabia, MBS has not entered the royal court since the incident at the royal palace in April.

Unconfirmed reports claim that King Salman was evacuated during the attack to a bunker at a nearby military base (under US command).

Last week, Irans Kayhan newspaper reported, citing a secret intelligence information from an unnamed Arab country, that the crown prince was shot twice during the attack and may have already died.

Official sources in Riyadh are instead saying that the crown prince now plans to appear shortly before the media.

Meanwhile, more and more people outside the country are calling for regime change. The latest is exiled Saudi Prince Khalid bin Farhan who called on two of his relatives in particular  Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz and Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz  to launch a coup against King Salman and his son.

According to Prince Khalid, who was granted political asylum by Germany in 2013, 99 per cent of the members of the royal family, the security services and the army would stand behind them, were they to challenge the countrys current rulers.

Parenthetically, more and more reports suggest that the Saudis backed US President Donald Trump's decision to cancel the Iranian nuclear agreement and impose new sanctions against Tehran.

Therefore, not only Israel, but Saudi Arabia too put influence on Washington to sink a deal backed by the international community.

One of the most active players in the anti-Iranian "propaganda" in the United States is the MSLGroup, which has spent millions of dollars on promoting press material and documents against the agreement.
By Andrew Maynard, Director, Risk Innovation Lab, Arizona State University

from www.shutterstock.com

In case you missed it, Elon Musk called BS on the field of nanotechnology last week. The ensuing Twitter spat was admittedly rather small on the grand scale of things.

But it did throw up an important question: just what is nanotech, and where does the BS end and the science begin?

I have a sneaky suspicion that Musk was trolling with his initial nano-comment. After all, much of the tech in his cars, solar cells and rockets relies on nanoscale science and engineering. But having worked in nanoscale science for nearly 30 years, I must confess that my BS monitor also gets a little twitchy sometimes around talk of nanotechnology.





Read more:

Eager to dye your hair with 'nontoxic' graphene nanoparticles? Not so fast!





The next industrial revolution

Mainstream nanotechnology came of age around 20 years ago, as the United States government began cross-agency efforts to invest in what it initially tagged as the next industrial revolution.

Scientists at the time were excited by how they might exploit some of the more unusual properties of materials that emerge when they are precisely designed and constructed at a really small scale, such as abrupt changes in electronic behaviour, or the emergence of super-strong structures. And because its always easier to sell an idea to funders and policymakers if you have a clear brand and a compelling message, the term nanotechnology became the rallying call for this new industrial revolution.

To keep things simple, early definitions of nanotechnology focused on exploiting the novel properties that some materials begin to exhibit when theyre engineered at a scale of between 1  100 nanometres (a nanometre is one billionth of a metre). These days, definitions tend to be more fluid. But there are still widespread assumptions among nano-researchers that theres something utterly different about the nanoscale. And this is where my BS monitor gets a little uneasy.

Without a doubt, the rallying cry of nanotechnology has transformed science and engineering over the past two decades. It has stimulated vast amounts of research and development investment; it has led to new ideas and breakthroughs, often involving interdisciplinary research; and it has enthused and inspired a whole new generation of scientists and engineers.

But no science suggests there is something generically unique and special about the size range between 1 nanometer and 100 nanometers. And this is where brand-nano risks becoming unstuck from scientific reality.





Read more:

A guide to the nanotechnology used in the average home





Marketing science

The trouble is, the way nanotechnology was initially pitched fudged the science to sell the idea. It spun a tale of small scales and unique properties that most experts at the time realised was more marketing than science. Yet they went along with it because of the promise of funding.

Almost overnight, material scientists became nanotechnologists; as did colloidal chemists, heterogeneous catalyst experts, electron microscopists, molecular biologists; even toxicologists. Suddenly the work that scientists and engineers had been doing for decades was rebranded as spanking new nanotechnology; much to the consternation of engineers like Eric Drexler, who popularised a very different view of nanotechnology in the 1980s, and was subsequently marginalised by the new nano gold rush.

With this history, its not surprising that nano is sometimes called out as BS. Yet this is not the end of the story, because underneath the hype and the spin, there is some truly amazing science and engineering that occurs at this small scale. And this begins to make much more sense when we ditch brand-nano and start talking about nanoscale science and engineering.

Working at the nanoscale

Nanoscale science has its roots in the early 1900s, as scientists began to develop instruments and theories that illuminated how the nanoscale positioning of atoms in materials affects their properties. From the 1930s, techniques like electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction allowed scientists to begin mapping out the nanoscale structure of materials. And from around this time they began to intentionally manufacture and exploit the properties of nanoscale particles (engineered nanoparticles of silicon dioxide for instance were available from the 1940s as Aerosil).

Through the 1970s and 80s, the burgeoning field of materials science continued to transform our understanding of how to design and engineer materials to make them stronger, lighter, more chemically reactive, and more conducting. Semiconductors, integrated circuits and microprocessors emerged from this wave of innovation, including giant magnetoresistance  the technology behind massive capacity hard disk drives.

Its this trend in science, technology and engineering that was rebranded and relaunched as nanotechnology in the 1990s. It wasnt the dawn of a new industrial revolution. Neither was it the emergence of a new technology. Rather, it was a rebranding of work researchers had been labouring over for decades.

And yet, for all my cynicism, brand-nano did bring about something special: it broke down the barriers between previously stove-piped disciplines, and stimulated a new wave of interdisciplinary research in a way that has led to some incredible advances that range from cheap DNA sequencing and novel cancer treatments, to high efficiency solar cells and revolution in battery technologies.

Challenging assumptions

Now, nanotechnology is embedded in mainstream science and technology, and a new generation of nanotechnologists are passionately breaking new nano-ground. Many of these are amazing scientists, who are doing incredible work.

Yet it worries me that some of the history of how we got here has been lost as brand-nano has become institutionalised. And because of this, its not necessarily a bad thing that, once in a while, its underlying nano-assumptions are challenged.

At the end of the day, not everything thats done in the name of nano is special, unique, or interesting. And scientifically, theres nothing particularly special about that bright line between the worlds below and above 100 nanometres.

Despite this though, the more we learn to understand, design and engineer the world around us from the atoms its made of upward, the better well get at creating technologies that improve our lives.

This is the true power of nanoscale science and engineering. And trust me, thats not BS.

Andrew Maynard has previously received funding from NIH and the Pew Charitable Trusts for his nanotechnology-related work. He is affiliated with the World Economic Forum Global Future Councils, and was previously co-chair of the US Government interagency working group on Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications.

Originally published in The Conversation.
Such a nice thing to hear. I'd love to marry my fiance, but must wait now we've submitted the pmv application! We lived together for just on 12 months but our agent recommended the pmv and I'm glad now after seeing what's involved in the partner visa process!



While I'm here... I have a few general queries about the pmv evidence. We got engaged almost a year ago, he has the ring he'd bought me that was too big and when I returned home I chose and purchased a new ring in Australia. I have a photo of just my hand with the original ring on it while we were still overseas but nothing else so should we bother to submit this? Also should we submit the ring receipt for the one I purchased? We saw each other recently and have incidental photos of us that also show the new ring. Should we submit these also? I'm rambling sorry just wondering how important this is. Also for 888s, we have one from a family member and one from a mutual friend. We could get more from non-aussie citizens but we were advised that we should both be in contact regularly with the witnesses and in these other cases only one of us maintains the regular contact although the witness knows us both as individuals and as a couple from when we lived together overseas. How important is having regular contact with the witnesses? Sorry for such a long post, tired after a long day. Thanks in advance!
World leader in entrepreneurship education to bring top-ranked Babson MBA to the Dubai International Finance Centre (DIFC)

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U.S.-based Babson College, the recognized world leader in entrepreneurship education, is expanding to Dubai, U.A.E., to offer executive education programs for working professionals across the region.

Babson Executive Education will be working with organizations in the region to develop custom programs in addition to offering specialized open enrollment programs as part of the Academy at DIFC. The first open enrollment program  Global Symposia for Entrepreneurship Educators-Dubaiwill launch February 18, 2019. Additional programs, including one on family entrepreneurship, will be announced.

At Babson, we believe that the success of entrepreneurs is critical to economic growth and sustainability around the world, said Babson College President Kerry Healey. By bringing Babsons recognized leadership in entrepreneurship education to Dubai, we will support the U.A.E.s long-term economic development goals, make Entrepreneurial Thought & Action accessible to more people and places, and educate global leaders who will create great economic and social value everywhere.

Babsons in-person programs will be held at Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), the leading financial hub for the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. DIFC, which spans 272 acres (110 hectares), is an internationally recognized business district with an independent regulator, independent judicial system with a common law framework, and a global financial exchange. DIFC houses hundreds of leading financial and nonfinancial institutions, including some of the worlds largest banks and corporations, emerging FinTech startups, professional service providers, wealth management firms, retailers, and more. Among the leading institutions found in the DIFC are A.T. Kearney Middle East LLC, Accenture Middle East B.V., Cigna Insurance Management Services (DIFC) Limited, Goldman Sachs International, HSBC Bank Middle East Limited, JPMorgan Chase Bank, National Association, and McKinsey & Company LME Limited. Babson will be housed in The Academy at DIFC, the districts educational hub built to support a knowledge-based economy, attract the regions brightest graduates, and provide access to Dubais innovative business community.

Babson holds accreditation from: EQUIS, a global organization of business schools and corporations that awards institutions for overall quality and a high degree of internationalization; AACSB International, an internationally recognized specialized accreditation for business programs that ensures quality and continuous improvement; and NECHE, a commission recognized by the U.S. Department of Education as a reliable authority on the quality of education.

The Colleges expansion into Dubai will extend its reach and impact around the world, adding to its existing hubs in Wellesley and Boston, Massachusetts, San Francisco, California, and Miami, Florida.

Babson and Entrepreneurship in Dubai

According to the latest Babson-sponsored Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), 88 percent of people in the U.A.E. see entrepreneurs as having a high status in their society, and 65 percent are confident in their ability to start a business. This percentage drops, however, when it comes to actually pursuing entrepreneurship, as only 35 percent see good entrepreneurial opportunity around them, and 61 percent would not start a business out of fear of failure.

Additionally, according to KPMGs recent GCC Family Business Survey, 30 percent of family business leaders from the six GCC countries (U.A.E., Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia) are seeking opportunities to become more innovative, and 38 percent want to diversify into new products and services. Declining profitability is of considerable concern to 40 percent of these respondents.

These findings demonstrate a clear need for Babsona global institution known for its transformative entrepreneurship education, and one built on a mission that was and is, now more than ever, focused on strengthening entrepreneurial families across generations.

Dubai is the center of the Babson community in the Middle East, home to Babsons largest alumni and parent population in the region and a growing destination for Babson graduates after completing their degrees. The MENASA (Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia) region maintains a powerful network of nearly 800 Babson alumni, many of whom are active in the Babson Middle East Alumni Club.

In March 2016, Babson held its second annual Babson Connect: Worldwide Entrepreneurship Summit in Dubai. Attendees enjoyed three days of engaging discussions and impactful presentations around emerging trends in entrepreneurship and business in the region.

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.
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Californias farm labor shortage is getting tougher, according to results of a new survey that says the situation worsened this year for most 
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For Immediate Release, May 29, 2018 Contact: Brett Hartl, (202) 817-8121, bhartl@biologicaldiversity.org Legal Motion Seeks to Depose EPA Administrator Pruitt Request Follows Agency's Efforts to Hide Pruitt's Emails From Public WASHINGTON Following inconsistent and contradictory testimony from EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt at two congressional hearings, the Center for Biological Diversity filed a motion Friday with a federal judge seeking to depose Pruitt on how his office creates and maintains official records to comply with transparency and open-records laws. The Centers motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is part of ongoing Center lawsuit against the EPA. In 2017 the Center filed Freedom of Information Act requests for Pruitts emails. The EPA refused to hand over records for months, until after the Center sued. Although the agency then released emails sent to Administrator Pruitt, it did not disclose any emails sent by him. Unless Pruitts hauled before a judge, its pretty obvious hell just keep lying, said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. Even Congress cant get a straight answer out of him. Putting Pruitt on the witness stand could finally reveal how hes colluding with polluters to sabotage protections for our air and water. Recent reports have revealed that Pruitt potentially has four official EPA email accounts. The Centers motion to depose him seeks to learn whether he is properly preserving emails as required under federal law and whether the agency is properly searching all of his accounts in response to public-records requests. Although EPAs Office of Inspector General has plans to probe Pruitts use of multiple email accounts at the agency, the OIG has numerous other pending matters and cannot say when review of Pruitts email accounts would begin. Prior to being confirmed as EPA administrator, Pruitt drew national attention for his time as the Oklahoma attorney general and his use of personal email to conduct official state business, about which he was not forthright in his congressional confirmation hearings and other testimony to Congress. The Center filed a bar association complaint challenging Pruitts repeated misrepresentations to Congress. Pruitts penchant for secrecy violates the federal laws he has sworn to uphold, said Hartl. The man now leading the EPA may feel most comfortable in the dark cozying up to special-interest polluters, but its time for his dirty dealings to be made public.
The recent ethics and reputation study conducted by Reputation Matters on behalf of the African Public Relations Association (APRA), has highlighted many opportunities for the continent to take charge of its narrative.

Figure 1: Countries participating in the APRA | Reputation Matters Do ethics matter on the African continent survey.

Lessons from Botswana

There are massive opportunities for our continent to rebuild, reposition and represent itself to the world, says Regine le Roux, managing director of Reputation Matters.Why is a reputation so important, especially for a continent?Lets take a step back; what exactly is a reputation? It is something that is built on consistency, you are either going to be consistently good or consistently bad at something and that behaviour will impact how you are perceived by others.So, why is a reputation important? As a company your reputation impacts the people you attract to work for you, which in turn impacts your outputs, be it a product or service. The quality and perceived value impacts the willingness for people to part with their hard earned cash to buy your offering, which ultimately impacts your bottom line.The same goes for a country or continent; countries with a positive image generally have a much stronger economy, which makes foreign direct investment a lot more appealing, this can also positively impact tourism further stimulating the economy, allowing for investments in social upflitment and education programs, all taking the country and continents wellbeing to the next level, explains Le Roux.Reputations are built on perceptions, it is not necessarily the truth, it is however someones reality, and it is that reality that becomes that persons worldview and what they communicate to others, adds Le Roux.For too long weve allowed the narrative of Africa to be determined from those outside the continent, looking in. It is time that we start changing perceptions and start rebuilding the reputation of Africa; we can only do that if every single person takes responsibility for what they do and communicate on a daily basis, said Yomi Badejo-Okusanya, President of African Public Relations Association (APRA), at the recent annual conference held in Gaborone, Botswana.A reputation is driven by consistent behaviour. Behaviour is driven by following a set of core values that guides the decisions that you make and actions you take. This was confirmed in the research, says Le Roux. Ethics is a key driver for reputation management on an individual, company and continent level.Botswana was identified as the most ethical and reputable country in Africa. What made this result very interesting, was that there were no respondents identified from Botswana who answered the questionnaire, says Le Roux. Both the Botswanan flag and national anthem reflect a peaceful nation, and you can truly see and feel it when you arrive in Gaborone. There is a great sense of dignity amongst the people who embrace the countrys core values of peace and harmony, and live out these values on a daily basis. It is no wonder they have such a strong and stable economy.There were 119 respondents; of which 53% were women, 28% were between the ages of 41 and 50; 43% work in the field of communication (including marketing and PR) and 39% hold an executive position.Twelve counties were represented in the survey: 71% of respondents reside in South Africa with Ghana, Nigeria, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Namibia and Angola also being represented (as per illustration below).On an individual and company level, ethics and reputation scored a very high average of 86.5%. In contrast, at a country level the score was an average of 34.5% for both ethics and reputation. The research confirms that it is at this level where works need to be done. These results do however indicate a huge opportunity for growth. Now we have a base line in place from which we can measure and track annually, adds Badejo-Okusanya.Vice President of APRA, and CEO of Burson Cohn & Wolfe Africa, Robyn de Villiers, who facilitated an interactive workshop at the conference on ethics indicated, It is no longer just about walking the talk, we need to be talking the walk too; our behaviour impacts what we say, and what we say impacts what we do.The question we are left with is, what can we do to re-write the African narrative?The first step is to go back to the basics and get the internal messaging right. We need to make sure that core values are in place and reflected in our daily behaviour. This will help to make our communication initiatives more authentic. As communication professionals, we should strive for a code of ethics which resonates with the real and positive story were here to tell about Africa to the world, said Badejo-Okusanya.With a population of 1216 billion people spread across 55 countries, imagine if each person chooses to share one positive story about their country or Africa every day; there will be 365 stories per person, per year! Imagine what that will do for the narrative on the continent! We can change the African narrative, one individual, organisation and country at a time, concludes Le Roux.
The Committee to Protect Journalists has welcomed the ruling by Lesotho's Constitutional Court that criminal defamation is unconstitutional, calling it a significant step toward safeguarding press freedom in the country.

 Paul Stringer via 123RF

The Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) supported an application by Lesotho Times owner and publisher Basildon Peta to have Section 104 of the penal code declared unconstitutional, the centre said in a statement yesterday. Peta had been charged with criminal defamation on July 6, 2016, according to CPJ research."Journalists should never face criminal charges for doing their job and yesterday's ruling by Lesotho's Constitutional Court is the latest victory in the fight to abolish criminal defamation throughout the African continent," said CPJ Africa program coordinator Angela Quintal. "Criminal defamation is too often used to target critical journalists and we welcome Lesotho joining a growing group of countries that have found that criminal defamation is incompatible with constitutional guarantees for a free press."In Peta's application before the court, he argued that the offense of criminal defamation violated the right to freedom of expression. He further argued that the use of criminal sanctions was a disproportionate response to protect individuals' reputations because, among other reasons, a less-restrictive mechanism - civil defamation - was available, the SALC said.The court agreed, and declared criminal defamation unconstitutional with retrospective effect, the SALC said. The three judges held that criminalising defamation had a chilling effect of journalistic freedom of expression, resulting in self-censorship by journalists and a less-informed public.The ruling was in keeping with a 2010 resolution from the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights calling on member states to repeal criminal libel laws, referring to them as "a serious interference with freedom of expression". African countries where criminal defamation has been ruled unconstitutional since 2010, include Kenya Zimbabwe , and Gambia
There are many moments which remain in our memories but, for a petrolhead like me, it will always be the moment I first had control of a car...when I managed to get it moving forward in first gear without stalling and then, because we had a long driveway, a quick change into second gear and braking to a stop.

Screengrabs from the ad.

I guess I have always been fascinated by cars, even before I got behind the wheel of one and the way you can tell I am a true petrolhead is that I will drive anything with wheels  and enjoy it. In my time, I have piloted everything from a Ferrari and a Lamborghini to a Morris Minor and driving has never lost is fascination for me.In the past few years, the debate about autonomous driving has been gathering steam. This envisages a future where electronics, robotics and computers will guide vehicles to their destinations without any human input.That, to my mind anyway, is like intravenously injecting bags of plastic nutrients into your body when you could be dining on the finest French food.In this country, thank goodness, autonomous driving is some way off  although some cynics might say a version of it has already arrived because so many vehicles on our roads are not under the control of human beingsInterestingly, despite the move towards robotic transport, many motor manufacturers are making more interesting, faster, and more powerful cars aimed at people who love to drive.Thats why I was drawn to the TV ad for Kias new Stinger high-performance sedan.The car is a radical departure for a brand which has always pitched itself as different  The Power to Surprise is its most well-known slogan  because it has been targeted directly at the sporting products from the high-end German manufacturers. And, the motoring journos whove tried the car have been astounded at how good it is.Kia needs to throw a lot of marketing muscle behind the Stinger, though, because the brand is not normally associated with performance. Quality and reliability, yes but, up to now, sportiness  well, not so much.The challenge has been to convince loyal brand followers to give the Stinger a try.Around the world, Kia campaigns for the car have focused on its driveability, but, here in South Africa, the brand and its agency, OFYT (Old Friends Young Talent) have managed to put a different, but effective spin on the driving enjoyment aspect.With theshots of the car blasting around a race-track, the ad simply asks one question: What is the future of driving? Then it answers it: Maybe the future of driving is actually driving.Its a great line, and it sums up the car. I think it will help Kia sell the car in this country, where many of us are not quite prepared to surrender our increasingly guilty pleasures to robots. Not only that, but the ad could have a halo effect for the rest of Kias products, which share the same automotive DNA as the Stinger.So, to Kia South Africa and to OFYT, Orchids for good marketing and for reminding us (not that some of us needed it) that cars are more than just means of transport.The second biggest criminal enterprise on the planet at the moment  after drugs  is digital advertising. As much as half of all interactions in cyberspace come from some form of bot  a piece of computer programme which replicates a human. And then there are the click farms which, for a modest fee, will drive your products, or sites, all-important numbers into the stratosphere.You can buy shares, likes, users with a few clicks of a mouse. And then you can go and hoodwink the people who are paying you money to use your allegedly enormous numbers as a medium to promote their products.And thats without even talking about CTRs (Click Through Rates  or the actual number of times an ad is clicked on), which are generally half a percent or less. In other words, your wonderful digital ad will only be seen by one in every 200 people (or bots).For me, though, the absurdity of an industry which is doing flick-flacks to convince everyone it is effective, and honest, is the voodoo science around interactions.Excuse me, but I call bulls#!t on all of it.Last week, we had experts telling us that the social media and cyberspace debate around the Ashwin Willemse TV walk-off had a reach of 3.8 billion.Stupid, uneducated person that I am I asked an expert, Tonya Khoury, how it was possible that around one in two people on the planet were debating something about which, frankly, even the majority of South Africans dont give a damn.She explained  as one has to do to an old-fashioned person who still believes the oppressive lie that one and one equals two  that Reach is the number of outlets & their readership or the number of followers of any tweeter /intagrammer. It doesnt mean that many people read it  its the reach of the story. For example #Trump 1 tweet on #Gaza garnered reach of 52M.She went on that some people call it #ImpressionData  I dont like the term because it gives the impression that the post made an impression :)Exactly.If I assessed our newspaper in the same way, I would say that because we distribute in Gauteng, and Gauteng has a population of 12 million, our reach is 12 million. But then each of those 12 million knows another ten people, so our reach is 120 million. I cannot believe any marketer doesnt question this.In the end, Tonya revealed that there were around 150 000 people involved in the conversation about Willemse. In others words, one in every 300 people in South Africa.Thats the reality, not the fanciful dreams of reach.Anyone putting out that garbage gets an Onion from me and any marketer paying the slightest bit of attention to it should explain to his or her companys shareholders why hes wasting their cash on listening to bullshit
The twenty-three-year-old medical student from Paarl, Tamaryn Green was crowned the 60th Miss South Africa at the Sun Arena at Times Square Casino in Pretoria on 27 May 2018. She will receive R3m in prizes and will represent South Africa at the Miss Universe pageant at the end of the year.

Thulisa Keyi - Miss World South Africa, Tamaryn Green - Miss South Africa 2018

We've watched the crowning a few times already, and we still get emotional! Relive the moment and the feel the magic when @TamarynGreen was crowned #MissSA2018  pic.twitter.com/7h0WRXezKv  Miss South Africa (@Official_MissSA) May 28, 2018

The runner-up, 26-year-old BComm graduate Thulisa Keyi from East London took the title of Miss World South Africa and will represent South Africa on the global stage in the competition later this year. She will receive nearly R600,000 in prizes.An excited and overwhelmed Green said she was determined to make a difference during her reign. I promise to build on the legacy of all former Miss South Africa title holders and to represent my country with elegance, style, beauty, and unwavering commitment. Miss South Africa is so much more than just a competition. It is a calling, an opportunity to give back to the country that has richly provided so much to me so far, she said in her acceptance speech.As Miss South Africa, I will be in a strong position to assist with the reconstruction of a better South Africa. I have always been passionate about making a positive and progressive difference in the lives of others. I grew up being exposed to two very different worlds: That of the fortunate and less fortunate. I want to assist in bringing those worlds together. I believe this can be done by providing equal education to all. Actions speak louder than words. I want to be a voice to those who cannot be heard, a servant and role model to South Africans and to the people of the world at large, she continued.The event was attended by nearly 40 former Miss South Africa titleholders including Miss Worlds Penny Rey Coelen (1958), Anneline Kriel Bacon (1974), and Rolene Strauss (2014). Also in attendance were former Miss Universe Margaret Gardiner (1978) and the reigning Miss Universe Demi-Leigh Nel-Peters. There was also Basetsana Makgalamele Kumalo (1994), Kerishnie Naiker (1997), and Bokang Montjane Tshabalala (2010).On behalf of the Miss South Africa Organisation, Gareth Flusk from Sun International said: Tamaryn joins an exceptional group of women, many of whom have remained household names since they won the competition, and who continue to play an important role in South African society.Suzette van der Merwe (Miss SA 1990) from Cell C and the Miss South Africa Organisation was delighted: The competition this year was exceptionally tough with 12 very strong contenders competing for the title. I believe Tamaryn will be a fantastic ambassador and on behalf of Cell C, we wish her great success during her reign. We also want to congratulate runner-up Thulisa who is Miss World South Africa.The Miss South Africa 2018 selection panel consisted of queen of SA talk and radio jock Anele Mdoda; entrepreneur and television presenter Janez Vermeiren; businesswoman and media mogul Khanyi Dhlomo; marketing personality Khaya Dlanga; award-winning magazine editor Michelle van Breda; Miss World 2014 Dr Rolene Strauss, and celebrity chef and TV personality Siba Mtongana.
You might be asking, why should I be looking at including influencers in my marketing budget?

 Carlos Muza via Unsplash.com

Agents of change

Fake followers

Well, just like any media platform, influencers have put in the time and effort in building a network of people who value and follow what they have to say quite closely. Unlike a TV ad, influencers can connect with their fans and followers on a more personal and relatable level  I could see myself wearing Reebok again now since AKA has been the ambassador, it somehow looks cooler.Most of the time the boardroom overlooks influencers because the decision makers cannot relate to them, forgetting about the 1.6-million Instagram followers a Somizi Mhlongo has. Not only are these influence machines agents of change, but theyre also human, and humans relate to other humans.Do influencers really have decision making influence? Im sure you might have the answer to that, taking into consideration the massive brand appeal Ciroc Vodka saw since their partnership with South African award-winning, hip-hop artist Cassper Nyovest, Walt Disneys #BlackPantherChallengeSA influencer campaign creating massive excitement for the movie launch, or maybe Bonang Mathebas reality showflooding social media trends list with every episode. Its evident that South Africans care and they are willing to share their opinion if it relates to them.To some degree, numbers dont mean everything, especially when your numbers are not connecting with your brand. One thing that brand managers need to be cognisant of, is fake followers. A threat to the influencer industry, but I believe that its one that can be monitored and controlled.Could someone buy followers and automatically be on the list as a social media influencer? Id say a decent acceptable amount of fake follower should be anything less than 15%.In essence, South Africans dont want to be bored. Some of the content created in campaigns somewhat leans over to that side of the fence. Involve your audience and connect with them in a meaningful way, put a brand in the hands of their role models, the relationship between you and them will begin to flourish much more effectively.
We Sell Books The Old Fashioned Way, We Read Them
This job expired on 31 May 2018.
by Kristina Knight

Data breaches are costing businesses, whether the business is a large enterprise or a mom-and-pop shop. According to the latest Kaspersky report, On the Money: Growing IT Security Budgets to Protect Digital Transformation Initiatives, businesses around the globe are pushing more budget dollars into security and IT, hoping to protect against breaches.

IT/security spending is up about 3% YoY, or 23% of the total IT budget for enterprises. Breaking the IT spend down from there, about one-third of IT budgets are going to infrastructure, improving the level of expertise, and improving IT defenses respectively.

"To support dynamic business changes and increase efficiency, companies are embracing cloud and business mobility," said Maxim Frolov, vice president of global sales at Kaspersky Lab. "Cybersecurity has become not just a line item in IT bills, but a boardroom issue and a business priority for companies of all sizes, as evidenced by companies raising their IT security budgets. Businesses expect a strong payoff as the stakes continue to get higher: besides traditional cybersecurity risks, many companies now have to deal with growing regulatory pressures, for example."

On average, enterprises are spending about $8.9 million on security/IT initiatives with small businesses pushing nearly $250,000 into security/IT concerns.

Tags: advertising, data breach, data breach costs, data security, ecommerce, Kaspersky Lab, security breach
KOCHI (PTI): A delegation from the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) arrived in the city on Monday on a two-day visit to the naval base here.



It is headed by Commodore Fiona Therese Freeman, Director General of Hydrography, Meteorology and Oceanography (DGHM) and accompanied by Captain Simon John Bateman, Resident Defence Attach of Australia, a Defence release said here.



The visit is aimed at understanding Indian Naval Meteorology and Oceanography (IN METOC) operational/ training facilities and discussing avenues for mutual cooperation in the field of METOC, it said.



The delegation visited the Indian Naval Meteorological and Analysis Center, School of Naval Oceanology and Meteorology and INS Garuda, the Naval Air Station.



Commodore M K Singh, Principal Director, Directorate of Naval Oceanology and Meteorology at Naval Headquarters, New Delhi, was present to interact with the delegation on professional matters.



Apart from METOC facilities, the delegation also visited other training facilities such as the Navigation and Direction School and Anti-Submarine Warfare School.



The delegation called on Rear Admiral R J Nadkarni, Chief of Staff, Southern Naval Command on Monday and held discussions on Hydrography, Oceanography and areas of cooperation



Naval crests were exchanged during the interaction. They also visited INS Sutlej, a hydrographic survey ship of the Indian Navy.



India and Australia have close relations as members of the Commonwealth. There has been significant progress in Indo-Australian relations with improving economic and cultural ties.



Exchange of high-level military delegation visits and interaction between the navies is expected to further boost the defence cooperation.


UB launches online blockchain course series, available to public

We need to educate people at all levels  developers, researchers, users and decision makers  to enable them to innovate and be informed users of the technology. 

Blockchain technology is expected to revolutionize the world and is advancing at an unprecedented pace. Thats why, as University at Buffalo computer science and engineering research associate professor Bina Ramamurthy says, there is urgency in supporting those who will propel it forward.

We need to educate people at all levels  developers, researchers, users and decision makers  to enable them to innovate and be informed users of the technology, she says.

Ramamurthy is the instructor of a set of four new online courses about blockchain offered on the Coursera platform, which features 25 million registered users and courses from 150 universities.

The first three courses of the blockchain specialization are now available. The fourth will launch June 25. Courses were developed by UBs Center for Industrial Effectiveness (TCIE), the business outreach center of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

The blockchain enables peer-to-peer transfer of digital assets without any intermediaries. The UB courses introduce foundational concepts, preparing learners to program on the Ethereum blockchain, design and implement smart contracts, and develop decentralized applications.

They are ideal for the beginning developer who is comfortable programming in a high-level language and desires to advance his/her career in the blockchain field. Courses may also appeal to those who are curious about the Internet-like technology and its vast possibilities.

Courses include:

Blockchain Basics: provides a broad overview of the essential concepts of blockchain technology  by initially exploring the Bitcoin protocol followed by the Ethereum protocol  to lay the foundation necessary for developing applications and programming.

Smart Contracts: focuses on the computational element of blockchain technology, which allows for implementing user-defined operations of arbitrary complexity that are not possible through plain cryptocurrency protocols. Learners design and program smart contracts in Solidity language, test and deploy them in the Remix development environment, and invoke them from a simple web interface that Remix provides.



Decentralized Applications: concentrates on decentralized applications (Dapps), which provide anyone with access to blockchain features and services. Upon completion, learners are equipped to design and develop end-to-end Dapps.

Blockchain Platforms: provides an overview of the broader blockchain ecosystem. Upon completion, learners are equipped to discuss permissioned blockchain architectures of Hyperledger and Microsoft Azure's blockchain as a service model, and analyze the Augur and Grid+ decentralized application platforms.

Course content consists of video lectures complemented by reading materials, assessments, project work and peer interaction.

Learners may sign up for individual courses or the complete series. There is no charge to access videos and readings. The fee for gaining access to all content  which includes assignments  and the opportunity to earn a certificate in blockchain is $49 per month.

For more information, visit: https://www.coursera.org/specializations/blockchain/.
Interior lining system manufacturer British Gypsum has appointed Stacey Temprell as Marketing Director and Paul Lake as Sales Director.

Prior to this role, Temprell supported the development of Saint-Gobains Habitat strategy in the UK and Ireland, and was Residential Market Manager at British Gypsum. Her new role will involve developing and rolling out plans for the companys range of products and services. She will also be responsible for the development of the British Gypsum portfolio and brand.

Temprell said: I am looking forward to this new challenge and working with the team at British Gypsum. I admire the companys customer first approach and am dedicated to further delivering on its commitment to system and new product development, and training and skills.

Lake has experience in both sales and general management at Ecophon and as Business Units Director for Saint-Gobain Ceilings for the UK, Ireland, South Africa and Benelux countries. In his new role, Lake will lead the companys national sales team, working on customer plans, the achievement of sales targets, and developing products based on customer requirements.

Lake said: With a century of technical expertise and experience, British Gypsum has established itself as a reliable manufacturer supporting the industry to build better. I am looking forward to working with Stacey to drive the companys commercial strategy and to continue to raise standards in the construction industry.
IKO has played a major part in the 1 million restoration of a castle built by Henry VIII.

Hurst Castle was built in Milford-on-Sea in 1544, as one of a chain of coastal fortresses. It was modernised during the Napoleonic wars and again in the 1870s. The current renovation is part of a 1 million project by English Heritage, which began last year.

IKO PLC supplied the mastic asphalt -used to repair the castles roof. Significant asphalt repairs were made -to the roof on the West Wing, while the roof on the East Wing was stripped and laid with 150 tonnes of sand and cement screed under 300 tonnes of IKOs Permaphalt, a polymer-modified mastic asphalt.

IKO also provided technical support throughout the lying of the castles new roof to field questions from the roofing team, offer progress reports to Heritage Building and Conservation (a construction company who specialise in the restoration and conversation of historic buildings and monuments) and English Heritage, and check that the work was to specification. Heritage Building and Conservation (South), Infallible Systems and IKO had to work closely together to ensure like-for-like replacements of the original materials.

Most of the work was carried out on a steep 20% slope, and the numerous alterations made to the castle over time meant plans had to be continually adjusted, as variations in the details and materials were uncovered. Workers also had to contest with difficult weather conditions as the site was exposed and only accessible via ferry or a 1.5 mile gravel spit. Materials and waste had to be transported by tractor along the spit and then lifted on and off the roof by telehandler  including three two-tonne asphalt cookers that were used to prepare the IKO Permaphalt.

Despite these challenges, the project was finished on schedule and Hurst Castle is back to its former glory.
Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



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Japanese automaker Nissans twin brands strategy in India, where it sells cars under the Nissan and Datsun brands, is struggling to grow. The combined volume of the two brands dropped by 8 per cent in FY18, when the market clocked an 8 per cent growth. In its attempt to establish and grow, the flagship brand Nissan appears to have been clearly left behind.

The last volume product under Nissan brand, the Terrano, was launched in 2013. Both Nissan and Datsun saw sales decline during FY18. The Datsun brand, which has been the focus of the carmaker in the past four years, now ...
Healthcare on Tuesday said that its subsidiary Escort Heart Institute & Research Centre has been directed to deposit Rs 5 billion to Director General of Health Services within a month on account of unwarranted profit.

said that Escort Heart Institute & Research Centre (EHIRCL) had received an order dated June 9, 2016, from Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) for the recovery of Rs 5 billion on account of unwarranted profit allegedly made by it by not complying with the conditions of allotment letter/lease deed.



Delhi Development Authority (DDA) had granted the land to the hospital on the condition that it would provide free treatment to 25 per cent of its patients. However, in 2005, the company contested that just 10 per cent of the seven acres of land was granted with this condition.

"A writ petition was filed by EHIRCL before Hon'ble High Court of Delhi challenging the order...subsequently set aside the demand of Rs 5 billion and the matter was remanded to the Special Committee for hearing," said in a regulatory filing.

It further said, "EHIRCL has informed that the Office of the Special Committee vide order dated May 28, 2018, has directed it to deposit an amount of Rs 5 billion in the account of the in favour of Director General of Health Services within a month of receiving this order".

Fortis said EHIRCL is in the process of evaluating available legal recourse as may be advised in this regard.

At present, Fortis is in the process of inducting new investor to the company. There were five suitors in the race for out of which only four made binding bids.

Besides Munjals-Burmans, Manipal-TPG and IHH Healthcare, KKR-backed Radiant Life Care had also put in a binding offer.

China's Fosun Healthcare made a bid but did not make a binding offer for the Fortis.
In New Delhi to strengthen that narrative, UK India Business Council (UKIBC) COO Kevin McCole tells Subhayan Chakraborty in an interview that Britain continues to have among the largest investment presence in India but taxation and regulatory hurdles need to come down further to enable more FDI. Edited Excerpts: What is the opinion of British companies who are already operating in India with regards to ...

Dear Reader,

Business Standard has always strived hard to provide up-to-date information and commentary on developments that are of interest to you and have wider political and economic implications for the country and the world. Your encouragement and constant feedback on how to improve our offering have only made our resolve and commitment to these ideals stronger. Even during these difficult times arising out of Covid-19, we continue to remain committed to keeping you informed and updated with credible news, authoritative views and incisive commentary on topical issues of relevance.

We, however, have a request.



As we battle the economic impact of the pandemic, we need your support even more, so that we can continue to offer you more quality content. Our subscription model has seen an encouraging response from many of you, who have subscribed to our online content. More subscription to our online content can only help us achieve the goals of offering you even better and more relevant content. We believe in free, fair and credible journalism. Your support through more subscriptions can help us practise the journalism to which we are committed.



Support quality journalism and subscribe to Business Standard.



Digital Editor
Chief Minister H D today said he is committed to waive farm loans or else he will retire from politics, and asked people not to fall prey to the "BJP's conspiracy".

The JD-S leader, who was sworn-in Chief Minister last week after the extended unconditional support to his party, said he is ready with the guidelines on farm loan waiver, details of which will be disclosed on Wednesday.

was talking to reporters here today after meeting Prime Minister

"I have clearly said that I will waive farm loans. I had promised during election that I will do it in 24 hours. That is true. At least you should give time to breathe. Today, I have limitations.

"If I don't do it, have clearly said that I will retire from politics and I will resign as chief minister. Why cannot you wait for some time?," told reporters.

He said he has heard statements by BJP leaders including BS Yeddyurappa on the issue of farm loan waiver. "I am not sitting quiet. I am not Yeddyurappa to sit quiet."



"The guidelines to waive farm loans have been kept ready. They will be shared before the public on Wednesday in Bengaluru," he told reporters.

The chief minister accused the BJP of conspiring against him and urged the people not to fall prey to it. The JD-S leader said his government is for the people and he will serve the people till the time he is the chief minister.

"Don't panic and get confused (by BJP statements). Not only on farm loan issue, I will work on other matters related to people. There will be a difference when I work as CM," he claimed.

Before his meeting with the prime minister, Kumaraswamy also met top leaders in the capital to work out power-sharing arrangement with the ally.

(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.)
Despite exporters still waiting for a massive Rs. 20,000 crore of refunds under the (GST) regime and labour intensive sectors showing contraction, the apex exporters body in the country has pegged India's exports at $ 350 Billion in the current financial year up from last year's $ 300 billion.

"We expect a growth of 15-20 per cent over last year. The upward movement in petroleum and commodity prices could also add to export growth. The recent depreciation in the Indian Rupee is also helping exports, although its impact varies from sector to sector." Federation of Indian Exports Organizations (FIEO) Ganesh Kumar Gupta said on Tuesday.

India's exports managed to cross the $300-billion target for the first time in two years in 2017-18. But major labour-intensive sectors such as sectors gems and jewellery, leather, apparel and handicrafts has continued to see decline till April. As a result, job creation has been dented. According to a rough estimate, every $ 1 million worth of exports creates 100 jobs. Therefore, additional exports of $ 2.7 billion should have created 2.7 million jobs in exports.

GS refunds still out of reach

A severe lack of liquidity rising from the introduction of the now 10-month of regime has now is behind the slowdown in these sectors. "As per our estimate, refund over Rs.20,000 crore are pending on account of Integrated and Input Credit (ITC). Also, many exporters have not been able to file the refund of ITC due to technical glitches as input tax credit and exports happened in different months." Gupta said.

He pointed out that refunds had flown smoothly till March 31, after which the pace has considerably slackened. While claims over Rs.7000 crore were cleared during March, the amount in April has fell to a little over Rs.1000 crore.

FIEO Director General Ajay Sahai pointed out that of the total figure, ITCs constituted about Rs.13,000 crore while the rest was IGST. Refunds for exports made through non EDI ports, which constitutes about 15 per cent of India's outbound trade, are yet to start, Sahai added.

Getting states to pay up their share of the levy has also remained difficult. States such as Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhatisgarh have said they are out of funds to pay exporters, Fieo said.

Procedural issues galore

The majority of the problems relates to ITC refund which have to be done by the States as well, Fieo has pointed out. The manual intervention in the refund process has added to the transaction time & cost of exporters.

Also, much stricter lending norms by banks in the wake of the Nirav Modi diamond scam has also reduced access to credit for exporters. Withdrawal of letter of offer and letter of comfort has added to the cost of the exporters raising it from 1 to 3 per cent. While the government had told the banks that 12 per cent of banking finance should go to exporters, no major public sector bank is currently providing more than 3 per cent, Gupta said.

The government has also been slow to move on the e-wallet mechanism, Fieo said, after it had been cleared by the council back in October, 2017.
Silicon Valley is booming, and longtime residents are being driven out everywhere. But only in Shoreline Park are the newcomers eating the natives. A handful of burrowing owls live in this 750-acre wildlife and recreation area, deep in the grass. As the breeding season begins, they are among perhaps 50 left in Silicon Valley. A California species of special concern, burrowing owls nest in the ground. That makes them especially vulnerable. Death strikes hard at Shoreline. The remains of an owl  a leg, a wing, a few scattered feathers  were found here ...
At least eleven militants affiliated with the terror outfit Islamic State (IS) have been killed during the United States' drone strike in Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province.

According to Afghan's news agency Khaama Press, the provincial government media office, in a statement, confirmed the number of casualties.

The militants have been killed in Ghulam Dak area of Chaparhar district.

The airstrike also left two IS militants wounded and three vehicles were destroyed, the statement added.

Meanwhile, the report makes note of the fact that at least two heroin labs belonging to the militants were destroyed in a separate airstrike conducted by the Afghan Air Force.

The Afghan forces have also launched operations in Bati Kot district and several areas have been cleared of the militants by far.

This comes in tandem with various ongoing counter-terrorism operations in certain provinces as the militant and terrorist groups are attempting to expand their insurgency activities.

The US military based in Afghanistan also conducts regular airstrikes against the IS, Taliban, and other militant and terrorist groups.

The US forces conduct airstrikes by using unmanned aerial vehicles in the province to clamp down the militants, according to the reports.

No comments have been received from the anti-government armed militant groups including the IS militants in connection with this report by far.

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Pakistan's Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has summoned a meeting of the National Security Committee (NSC) on Tuesday to discuss security and border issues.

The top civilian and military leadership, apart from discussing aforementioned issues, will review the implementation of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) reforms, regional situation and matters pertaining to eastern and western borders of the country, Geo TV, reported citing sources, as saying.

The report, also quotes the sources, as saying that the NSC is likely to discuss the issue of the book 'Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' co-authored by former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General (retired) Asad Durrani.

Durrani, whose, name was placed on the country's Exit Control List (ECL) on Monday met with the senior officers of the Pakistan Army at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi to give an explanation for co-authoring a book with former Indian external intelligence chief A S Dulat.

His placement in the ECL comes hours after he was after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the former spy chief would be probed by a Court of Inquiry for views attributed to him in the book 'Spy Chronicles.'

Durrani and Dulat co-authored a book named 'Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' which has recently been published.

In the book, Lt. Gen. Durrani made certain observations, including a claim that then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani was aware of the US Navy Seals operation against Osama Bin Ladin in Abbottabad and that a special deal was struck between the US and Pakistani governments in this regard.

Post the book release, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Durrani was asked to clarify his position in the context of the military code of conduct that bars any serving or retired military official from making remarks that compromise the country's national security.

The Spy Chronicles which has been a maiden effort by two former chiefs of rival agencies had been all over the news even before the book was published.

Earlier, Lt. Gen. Durrani defended himself saying the literary collaboration was simply a case of two people with experience in Indo-Pak affairs joining hands to discuss their respective perspectives.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Kazakhstan's Ambassador to India Bulat Sarsenbayev, on Tuesday, emphasized the importance of activating bilateral parliamentary diplomacy between the two countries and suggested organising a visit of Indian parliamentarians to Kazakhstan in the near future.

Ambassador Sarsenbayev made this suggestion when he called on the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sumitra Mahajan, along with his delegation today.

During the meeting, topical issues of bilateral cooperation in political, economic, cultural and humanitarian spheres, as well as interactions within the multilateral framework were discussed.

The Kazakh envoy, according to an Embassy of Kazakhstan release, noted that Astana attaches great importance to the development of comprehensive and mutually beneficial cooperation with India, which Kazakhstan sees as one of its key partners in South Asia.

Both sides expressed satisfaction with the intensification of bilateral cooperation, the basis of which are regular meetings between leaders of both countries.

Ambassador Sarsenbayev, according to the embassy release, invited the Indian side to take active part in events related to the 20th anniversary of the establishment of Astana as Kazakhstan's capital.

He also informed that in comparison with indicators of 2016, the bilateral turnover between Kazakhstan and India for 2017 grew by almost 35 percent, amounting to 945.7 million US dollars.

At the end of the meeting, Ambassador Sarsenbayev thanked the Lok Sabha Speaker and expressed his confidence in the further expansion and strengthening of friendly relations between the two countries.

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An Air India air hostess has accused a senior executive officer of the carrier of sexual harassment over the last few years.

The women wrote a complaint to Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu and Prime Minister Narendra Modi regarding the same and demanded justice.

In the letter, the victims said that despite complaining about the incident the management of Air India refused to deal with the matter.

She said the senior officer of the airlines 'sexually harassed and tortured her over the last 6 years'.

She even claimed that the accused denied her position and privileges after she rejected his advances.

"This senior executive is a predator and has sexually propositioned me, abused me, used abusive language on other women in my presence in the office premises and he has tried to compel women in his office (including me) to come and drink with him at various bars, and many of us have been forced to do so. There are many people who can bear witness to these things," she said.

The victims said that the officer was protected by his "Old Boy's Club".

She claimed that she even complain about the incident with the Air India women cell, but they did nothing in the matter.

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Balochistan National Congress (BNC), a U.S based Baloch body, strongly condemned Pakistan's nuclear tests that were conducted on May 28, 1998, in Balochistan.

"On May 28, 1998, Pakistan conducted five simultaneous underground nuclear test at Ras Koh Hills in the Chagai District of Balochistan against the Baloch citizen's will and mandate, a crime against humanity and against all international laws," the statement read.

Due to the after effects of those nuclear tests, thousands of local Balochs suffered due to diseases, such as blood cancer and birth defects, caused by the spread of radiations in the air.

The underground water resources were disappeared and thousand Baloch citizens lost their livestocks and livelihood, and were forced to leave their homes and were displaced without any compensation.

"Pakistan should be held accountable for that crime against the Baloch people and those who were affected by the effects of those nuclear tests must be compensated", said Dr. Baloch, the President of BNC.

"Balochistan, an independent state was forcefully occupied and annexed into Pakistan by Pakistan's army on March 28, 1948 and since then the Baloch people are fighting the Pakistan's illegal and unjust occupation of their homeland to re-gain their lost and stolen freedom from Pakistan," the statement maintained.

"Pakistan, a terrorist state, created out of India in 1947, is the home of more than 35 terrorist organizations. It is a serious threat to regional peace and stability and peace," the statement added.

"It is duty of United States and the civilized community to peacefully denuclearize and dismantle Pakistan through the UNO so that everyone in the region can live in peace", said Dr Baloch.

BNC have urged the community to come forward and help the Baloch people in their fight for freedom and justice against the illegal occupation of their homeland Balochistan and exploitation of their natural resources by Pakistan and Iran.

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'The X Factor' star, Cher Lloyd welcomed her first child, a baby girl with husband Craig Monk.

Cher took to Instagram to announce her daughter named 'Delilah-Rae's arrival on Monday along with her baby girl's first photo.

She wrote, "Our baby girl is here!

We are so in love....

Delilah-Rae

25.05.18."

The British pop star had four month ago surprised her fans by announcing that she was expecting her first child with husband Craig.

Lloyd and Monk tied the knot in November 2013 in a surprise ceremony.

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Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said the security situation in the country has improved to a large extent.

"According to a multi-pronged study by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the security situation in the country has improved to a large extent," he said.

"Killing of security forces personnel and civilians has reduced by 96 per cent in 2017, in comparison to 1997," he added.

The Union home minister clarified that the government's order to suspend the security operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir was in the wake of Ramzan.

"It wasn't ceasefire, but suspension of operation in view of Ramzan. But it was clearly said that we will resume operation if any terror activity takes place," he said.

"We have not tied hands of our security forces. Our forces killed five terrorists when an attack had taken place," he added.

Earlier this month, the Home Ministry announced that the security personnel would halt operations against terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir during the holy month of Ramzan.

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Former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Asad Durrani's name has been placed on the Exit Control List, as reported by Geo News on Monday.

The Exit Control List refers to those people who are prohibited from leaving Pakistan.

The decision comes hours after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the former spy chief would be probed by a Court of Inquiry for views attributed to him in the book Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace.

The book was co-authored by Durrani and former Indian Intelligence officer AS Dulat.

Earlier in the day, Durrani arrived at the Pakistan Army's General Headquarters after being summoned to explain his position on the book.

Further, it has been reported that formal court inquiry headed by a serving lieutenant general had been ordered to probe the matter in detail.

"Lt Gen Asad Durrani, being called in GHQ on 28th May 18. Will be asked to explain his position on views attributed to him in book 'Spy Chronicles'. Attribution is taken as a violation of Military Code of Conduct applicable to all serving and retired military personnel," Major General Asif Ghafoor had posted.

Earlier on May 25, Pakistani politician Raza Rabbani criticised Durrani and Dulat for jointly penning a book at a time when Indo-Pakistan bilateral relations are experiencing an all-time low.

On May 24, the book was released jointly by former prime minister Manmohan Singh, former vice president Hamid Ansari, and former Union minister Yashwant Sinha.

While Dulat was present at the event but his co-author Durrani failed to come as he reportedly could not get the Indian visa.

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Owing to a bank fraud case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday attached assets worth Rs. 177 Crore owned by Rotomac Global and its directors under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Previously on February 27, Income Tax (IT) Department filed 12 prosecution cases against Rotomac Global under various sections of the IT Act, 1961 in connection with the alleged loan default of Rs 3,695 crore.

A special CBI court on February 24 handed over the custody of Rotomac pens owner Vikram Kothari and his son Rahul Kothari to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly cheating a consortium of seven nationalised banks.

The CBI had earlier registered an FIR against Kotharis who allegedly owe Rs 754.77 crore to the Bank of India, Rs 456.63 crore to the Bank of Baroda, Rs 771.07 crore to the Indian Overseas Bank, Rs 458.95 crore to the Union Bank of India, Rs 330.68 crore to the Allahabad Bank, Rs 49.82 crore to the Bank of Maharashtra and Rs 97.47 crore to the Oriental Bank of Commerce.

The father-son duo was arrested by the CBI in Delhi after the agency alleged that they were not cooperating with the probe.

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The bloc's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini on Monday said, the European Union (EU) wants to preserve the landmark Iran nuclear deal for security interests.

"For us, this is not about economic interest; this is about security interests for the EU," Xinhua quoted Mogherini as saying.

The remark was made at a press conference following the EU's monthly Foreign Affairs Council.

Since the day the United States (US) pulled out of the deal, Mogherini, on different occasions, assured Iran saying, as long as Iran abides by all its nuclear-related commitments, the EU will stick to the deal.

Last week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the US will "crush" Iran with military pressure and by imposing sanctions till the time it changes its behaviour in the Middle East.

Pompeo also said the US will monitor Tehran's regional activities, restrict its influence in the Middle East and ensure that it never acquires a nuclear weapon.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced the Washington withdrawal from the JCPOA or the Iran nuclear deal which limited the country's uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions relief.

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.

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Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief AS Dulat on Tuesday defended former chief of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General (retired) Asad Durrani, saying, "There are no new things in the book."

"His views are well-known. There are no new things in the book ('Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace'). This is very unfortunate that such things are being done to Asad Durrani," Former Raw Chief Dulat told ANI on his co-author and former ISI Chief Asad Durrani who has been placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) by Pakistan.

"Things written in book are his (Durrani's) memories. Even former Pakistan's Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan said that 26/11 Mumbai attacks destroyed Pakistan's credibility in Kashmir. If a former foreign secretary can get away with it, why not ISI chief?" Dulat added.

Durrani, whose, name was placed on the country's Exit Control List (ECL) on Monday met with the senior officers of the Pakistan Army at the General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi to give an explanation for co-authoring a book with Dulat.

His placement in the ECL comes hours after he was after the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) said the former spy chief would be probed by a Court of Inquiry for views attributed to him in the book 'Spy Chronicles.'

Durrani and Dulat co-authored a book named 'Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' which has recently been published.

In the book, Lt. Gen. Durrani made certain observations, including a claim that then prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani was aware of the US Navy Seals operation against Osama Bin Ladin in Abbottabad and that a special deal was struck between the US and Pakistani governments in this regard.

Post the book release, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Durrani was asked to clarify his position in the context of the military code of conduct that bars any serving or retired military official from making remarks that compromise the country's security.

The Spy Chronicles which has been a maiden effort by two former chiefs of rival agencies had been all over the news even before the book was published.

Earlier, Lt. Gen. Durrani defended himself saying the literary collaboration was simply a case of two people with experience in Indo-Pak affairs joining hands to discuss their respective perspectives.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bollywood star Yami Gautam has started prepping up for her next film 'Batti Gul Meter Chalu'.

The 29-year-old, who will be seen playing the role of a lawyer, on Tuesday headed to the Bombay High Court to take a feel of the court session.

The film is about bringing the social issue of electricity shortage to the notice of people and to encourage authorities to investigate the inaccuracies of the electricity bills.

It also stars Shahid Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor in the lead roles.

The Shree Narayan Singh-directorial is slated to release on August 31.

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Jakarta is set to organize kite exhibition on the theme of Ramayana and Mahabharta.

While the Ramayana theme is designed by Indonesian organisers, the Mahabharta theme is crafted by Indians.

It is to be noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on his five-day, a three-nation visit to Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia to boost the Act East Policy today.

The Prime Minister took to his Facebook to inform that the visit is aimed at enhancing India's relations and engagements with all the three countries, which forms Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

While it will be Prime Minister Modi's first visit to Indonesia, it will be his third to Singapore.

The Prime Minister had previously visited Singapore on two occasions - in March 2015 to attend the state funeral of the city state's first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and then again in November the same year for his first official visit.

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Queen of Bollywood Kangana Ranaut has heaped praises on Alia Bhatt for her performance in 'Raazi'.

"I really liked 'Raazi'. Meghna Gulzar has done a splendid job. And I have no words to express how much I liked Alia's performance. She is so good," said the 'Rangoon' star.

She further said, "I think Alia is most definitely the undisputed queen. Its Alia's world and we are just living in it."

The political thriller has become the 'Dear Zindagi' star's third film to enter the 100 cr-club, after '2 States' and 'Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya'.

The film's story is set against the backdrop of the Indo-Pak war in 1971, where an Indian girl (played by Alia) marries a Pakistani Army officer (Vicky Kaushal) to spy for her country.

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Two criminals with a bounty of Rs 25,000 each on their heads were gunned down in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut city on Tuesday.

The criminals were gunned down in an encounter with Meerut Special Task Force (STF) in a jungle area at Meerut's Kanker Khera area.

"These criminals were previously accused of killing a bride travelling on Meerut Highway," said Senior Superintendent of Police, Abhishek Singh.

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Andhra Pradesh IT Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary Nara Lokesh said on Tuesday that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah should not speak on anything related to governance and rather Prime Minister Narendra Modi should speak on it.

"Seems like some extra-constitutional forces are working in BJP. On anything related to politics, I think it's right if BJP President speaks, but on anything related to governance, it's high time that PM speaks about it," he said.

Yesterday, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said Shah's allegation about the construction of Amaravati capital city is totally untrue.

While speaking during Mahanadu forum, the chief minister said, "Amit Shah's statement 'no works have started in Amaravati' is totally false. Shah making such a statement is not correct."

"Though we have sent Utility Certificates (UCs), Amit Shah's allegations that they are not real ones is baseless," he added.

He further questioned what is the need for a political party's president to speak about UCs.

The UC is a matter of administration and the Prime Minister can speak on that but who is Amit Shah to interfere in such administrative issue, he asked.

Raking the special status issue, Naidu asked Shah to explain what kind of UCs are needed for giving special status to Andhra Pradesh or to refill the revenue deficit of the state.

Talking about the next year's assembly elections in the state, Naidu said the BJP cannot get even 1 per cent of votes in Andhra Pradesh. He called on the party cadre to strive for winning all 175 seats in the state in the forthcoming elections.

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Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan-led Madhya Pradesh government on Tuesday decided to regularise jobs of over 2 lakh temporary teachers, thus making them eligible for the Seventh Pay Commission's benefits.

The decision comes just six months ahead of assembly polls in the state.

Announcing this decision, he also launched a scathing attack on previous Congress governments for meting out injustice to them.

"Today is a historic day. The system of Madhya Pradesh got ruined during Congress' Digvijay Singh government. It was injustice not only with the teachers, but students too," said Chouhan at an event.

"How will a teacher make the future of any child if their future is uncertain? This is the biggest sin committed by the Digvijay government. He hired them at a nominal wage as low as Rs 500; I am glad that we put a stop to this injustice," he added.

Stating that the teachers will now be considered as state government employees, he said, "They will get financial benefits and various allowances as per the seventh pay commission; not only this, they will receive respect in the society. This decision will improve the quality of in government schools.

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Now that the controversial Pahlaj Nihalani is done and dusted being the chief of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), he is back to making films. And, this time he is likely to raise many eyebrows with his movie based on the life of infamous business tycoon Vijay Mallya.

The movie is reportedly titled 'Rangeela Raja' and actor Govinda has been roped in to essay the lead role. The venture will reunite Govinda and Nihalani after 35 years.

"Audiences will be surprised to see his (Govinda's) new avatar," Nihalani said while revealing that the film will go on the floors in August.

During his term as CBFC chief, Nihalani's decisions were not welcomed by cinema lovers. So, it is yet to be seen if he impresses the audiences with his movie this time.

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya is absconding and currently living in the United Kingdom.

His assets in India have been seized by the Indian authorities as he faces money laundering charges to the tune of more than Rs 9,000 crores.

Apart from this case, the High Court of London on February 12 ordered Mallya to pay an estimated USD 90 million to a Singapore-based aircraft leasing company in claims.

The case involves a number of aircraft leased by Vijay Mallya's now-defunct Kingfisher Airlines from BOC Aviation in 2014.

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Chairman of South Asia Minorities Alliance Foundation Nadeem Nusrat has fully endorsed the statement of Gilgit-Baltistan human rights activist Senge H. Sering over the imposition of Gligit-Baltistan Order, 2018 in the disputed territory and has asked Pakistan to allow the local population to decide their region's future.

He said Sering, who is also a leading member of South Asia Minorities Alliance Foundation, has drawn attention to the occupation of Gilgit-Baltistan land and marginalization of the indigenous population and SAMAF fully stands by the people of disputed Gilgit-Baltistan region.

Condemning the Gligit-Baltistan Order 2018, Nusrat said that this latest act of suppression places absolute power in the hands of Pakistani Prime Minister, even though citizens of Gilgit Baltistan have no right to elect or vote for him.

According to him, the indigenous population of the region is calling the order worse than the notorious Frontier Crimes Regulation (FCR), as the order grants absolute (yet unconstitutional) power to the Pakistani prime minister over local land and resources and is a potent tool to help change local demography.

The orders have been passed by people who lack legitimacy to govern Gilgit Baltistan. Just like the notorious 2009 governance order, the local representatives did not approve the latest order too, and currently, there is a shutter-down strike in Gilgit-Baltistan against this decision.

There was a curfew-like situation in Gilgit when Pakistani prime minister name arrived at the airport.

Thousands of locals protested on roadsides raising shoes towards the assembly building where Pakistani Prime Minister was addressing the lawmakers.

Further, opposition members of the assembly ripped copies of the order in protest and staged a walkout against the decision. Locals held banners calling Pakistani prime minister a "viceroy" and asked Pakistan to honor the UN resolution on Kashmir and withdraw from the region.

Nusrat said South Asia Minorities Alliance Foundation urged Pakistan to play a positive role to resolve this dispute by withdrawing from these disputed territories and allow natives to have direct conversation and negotiation with the United Nations.

South Asia Minorities Alliance Foundation is a US-based advocacy group raising voice for the rights of ethnic and religious minorities in South Asia region.

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The Appointment Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) on Tuesday appointed current Indian envoy to Russia, Pankaj Saran, as deputy Security Advisor (NSA) for a period of two years.

Saran was appointed as India's ambassador to Russia in November 2015.

The 1982 batch officer of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) has also served as country's High Commissioner to Bangladesh.

He was the joint secretary in the Prime Minister's office between 2007 and 2012.

Former director of the Intelligence Bureau, Ajit Doval, is the current Security Advisor.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday interacted with the beneficiaries of the Mudra Yojana (PMMY), saying that the scheme has been acting as a job multiplier, opening up new opportunities for the youth, women and those who want to start or expand their businesses.

"We trusted our small entrepreneurs. Under the money scheme, they were given a loan so that they could do their business. Money planning not only creates self-employment opportunities but is also working as a job-multiplier in itself," said Prime Minister Modi while speaking to the scheme's beneficiaries via NaMo app.

Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) is one of Prime Minister Modi's flagship programmes, which was launched in April 2015 with the aim of providing loans up to Rs. 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small and micro enterprises.

The credit money under the project is classified as MUDRA loan and is given by commercial, co-operative and small finance banks as well as financial institutions like RRBs, MFIs, and NBFCs.

In his Tuesday's interaction, the prime minister hailed PMMY as a game-changer. "We have been facing the problem of license Raj in our country since independence. Also, there was a time when the finance minister had to personally make calls to pass the loans of businessmen, resulting in the small-sized businessmen being left behind. We have broken this vicious cycle," said Prime Minister Modi.

Prime Minister informed that so far 12 crore loans have been approved by the government over the last three years, out of which 75 percent were given to youth and women, 28 percent to first-time entrepreneurs and 55 percent to those belonging to the SC/ST and OBC category.

The Prime Minister also underlined how the initiative has played a vital role in social empowerment, adding that, by aiding small and micro businesses, people have been strengthened economically and socially.

For instance, a tea seller from Assam said the scheme has helped him expand his business, while another man from Jammu claimed that the PMMY led him to create jobs for others as well.

Prime Miniter Modi encouraged them to promote digital payments through the BHIM, a mobile app developed by Payments Corporation of India, based on the Unified Payment Interface.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to discussing a range of regional issues during his upcoming three-nation visit to Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia that begins on Tuesday, and boost the Act East Policy.

He took to his Facebook account to inform that the visit is aimed at enhancing India's relations and engagements with all the three countries, which forms Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Prime Minister will begin his visit to Indonesia where he will be holding detailed discussions with President Joko Widodo in Jakarta. He will also interact with Chief Executive Officers and the Indian community in Indonesia.

It will be followed by a brief stopover at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur, where Prime Minister will congratulate the newly elected Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr. Mahathir Mohammad.

While in Singapore, Prime Minister Modi plans to focus on developing a bilateral partnership in several areas including financial technology, skill development, urban planning and artificial intelligence.

Further leaders of both countries will hold discussions on possible business and investment opportunities.

Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the India-Singapore enterprise and innovation exhibition. Later he will address a business and community event followed by a roundtable meeting with select top CEOs of Singapore to discuss business and investment opportunities.

On Friday, he will call on his Singaporean President Halimah Yacob. Further, he is scheduled to hold delegation-level talks with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong followed by a visit to Nanyang Technological University where he shall hold an interactive session with students.

Later in evening, Prime Minister Modi will deliver a keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue and will also be the first Indian leader to do so.

"It would be an opportunity to articulate India's point of view on regional security issues and maintenance of peace and stability in the region" the post read.

The next day, Prime Minister Modi will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Gandhiji's ashes were immersed in the sea on 27 March 1948.

He is also expected to visit some specific places which share the features of Indus civilisation.

Prime Minister would conclude his visit by going to Changi Naval Base in Singapore where he shall visit Indian Naval Ship INS Satpura and interact with officers and sailors of the Indian Navy and Royal Singapore Navy.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi will on Wednesday visit Arjuna Wijaya Monument, Indonesia on the first leg of his three-nation tour.

Prime Minister Modi will be accompanied by Indonesia President Joko Widodo.

The Prime Minister on Tuesday embarked on his five-day, a three-nation visit to Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia to boost the Act East Policy.

The Arjuna Wijaya Monument is one of the iconic monuments in Jakarta. It is just next to Monas, which is the National Monument of Indonesia.

This enormous Monument depicts the scene of Indian epic Mahabharata where Arjuna and Lord Krishna are in a chariot, which is pulled by eight horses symbolizing eight philosophies of leadership called Asta Brata, namely, Kisma (Earth), Surya (Sun), Agni (fire), Kartika (stars), Baruna (ocean), Samirana (wind), Tirta (rain) and Candra (month).

The story depicted revolves around Arjuna Wijaya meaning Victory of Arjuna. The monument portrays the strong connection between India and Indonesia through the epic Mahabharata, and its central character Arjuna, which is a household name is Indonesia.

The sculpture of Arjuna Wijaya Monument consists of 8 horses, a royal cart and 2 human figures of Lord Krishna and Arjuna made of polyester-resin with the size of 2.4 x 1 meter.

The Monument was commissioned in the year 1987 in the heart of Jakarta.

The Arjuna Wijaya cost around IDR 300 million in 1987 and was removed in early 2014. It was re-opened by Jakarta Governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama on 11 January 2015.

Arjuna Wijaya Monument is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Jakarta, particularly for visitors coming emanating from India.

Prime Minister is also scheduled to hold detailed discussions with President Joko Widodo in Jakarta. He will also interact with Chief Executive Officers and the Indian community in Indonesia.

Prime Minister Modi will also address the Indian diaspora in Jakarta tomorrow at 4 pm (local time).

This is Prime Minister Modi's first visit to Indonesia.

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The priest, Sanjeev Thakur, who had alleged that Chinese authorities had denied the permission to him and his delegation to take a dip in Mansarovar lake, on Tuesday thanked External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj after being allotted a designated place for taking the dip in the holy water body.

"We were allotted a designated place to take a holy dip in the Mansarovar lake, today. I would like to thank the government of India and EAM Sushma Swaraj," Sanjiv Krishan Thakur said.

In a video posted on Twitter, he had claimed that China has barred the devotees from taking the dip in the lake.

"There are around 50-80 devotees accompanying me. Over 3,000 people from across the world are undertaking this pilgrimage. But, according to an order by China, we are not being allowed to take a holy dip in the Mansarovar lake," Thakur had claimed in the video.

Thakur had also threatened not to leave the place if they are not allowed to take the dip.

However, External Affairs Minister (EAM) Sushma Swaraj refuted the claim on Monday.

"This isn't the situation. There is always a designated place where you can take a bath, you cannot take a dip just anywhere in the river," Swaraj said while addressing a press conference in Delhi.

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Actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth's upcoming gangster movie 'Kaala' may not hit theaters in Karnataka after the Confederation of Pro-Kannada Organisations pleaded so in the wake of superstar's demand to release Cauvery river water for Tamil Nadu.

Reportedly, Rajinikanth had asked the new government in Karnataka to release Tamil Nadu's share of Cauvery river water to the state as mandated by the Supreme Court verdict.

The superstar was invited by the Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy to discuss the conditions of reservoirs, where water is not sufficient.

Directed by Pa Ranjith and produced by Rajnikanth's son-in-law, Dhanush, the movie is slated to release on June 7.

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The committee of creditors of Ruchi Soya Industries Limited (RSIL) will meet on May 30 to hold deliberations on bids placed by Patanjali and Adani Wilmer.

Committee of Creditors (CoC) met in Mumbai on Monday to discuss the bids of these two companies.

Representatives of Patanjali and Adani Wilmer also attended the meeting.

A source close to the development said that "CoC meeting on May 30 will take up Patanjali and Adani bid for Ruchi Soya and decide on voting".

Patanjali is the highest bidder of Ruchi Soya, as in the May 15 meeting, Baba Ramdev appeared before CoC and increased the bid amount by around 25 percent, sources revealed.

"Voting will be conducted soon as the process has to be over by June 12," the source added.

On December 15 2017, Ruchi Soya entered into the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).

Financial Creditors Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank Limited have initiated Insolvency proceedings against Ruchi Soya.

Ruchi Soya's wide range of food products include healthy cooking oils, nutritional soya foods, top grade vanaspati and bakery fats.

Ruchi is the market leader in the edible oils, as well as soya foods categories.

The edible oil range includes many top brands like Mahakosh Soyabean oil, Ruchi Gold Palmolein and Sunrich sunflower oil.

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Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said, Russian-Chinese relations are seeing the best stage in their history.

During the international conference "China and Russia: Cooperation in a New Epoch", Morgulov quoted TASS as saying, "Russian-Chinese partnership is an island of stability in a raging ocean. Russian-Chinese relations are seeing the best stage in their history."

Moscow and Beijing have managed to bring bilateral relations to a new level, he added.

Morgulov believes that the task of increasing the trade turnover between the two countries to $200 billion by 2020 is achievable.

He concluded by saying, bilateral work is crucial for the execution of these plans.

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A human rights activist and Sikh community leader Charanjeet Singh was shot dead by bike-borne assailants in Peshawar in broad daylight on Tuesday.

Singh, who had shifted to Peshawar with his family nearly two decades ago, was a highly respectable figure in the region. He was known for promoting religious harmony and discouraging violence.

Although the exact motive behind the incident is still unknown, community and local political leaders suspect the hand of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) hand in the attack.

In the run-up to the upcoming general election, which is scheduled for July 25, the political atmosphere of the country is getting increasingly turbulent. While the Pakistan Army and the ISI have been covertly supporting the extremism, a few players are contesting to bring a more liberal government in Islamabad.

Various religious representatives in the past have accused Pakistan government of turning a blind eye to the discrimination and atrocities being meted out to the minorities in the country.

Despite having a separate ministry for the minorities, Islamabad establishment has failed to alleviate minorities' pain and sufferings.

It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan's internal affairs policies, by and large, are decided by influential army generals, who mainly work for the welfare of the Muslims of Punjab province.

About 60,000 Sikhs live in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, including 15,000 in Peshawar alone, who have time and again raised the issue of discrimination.

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The southwest monsoon arrived in Kerala on Tuesday, three days ahead of its normal date, informed the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

The monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, Comorin - Maldives area, entire Lakshadweep, most parts of Kerala, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of the southwest, central and northeast Bay of Bengal.

M Mohapatra, IMD department official said, "There has been a good amount of rainfall during the past 24 hours. There has been widespread rainfall with the maximum rainfall of 16 cm recorded at some places."

Heavy rainfall lashed in Kerala, during the past three to four days. The 14 rainfall monitoring stations for Monsoon onset over Kerala have reported more than 60 percent rainfall since May 25.

Conditions are favorable for further advance of southwest monsoon into some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, coastal and south interior Karnataka, east central and northeast Bay of Bengal, and northeastern states during next 48 hours.

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At least six passengers were injured when unidentified men pelted stones at Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express in Bihar's Gaya district late on Monday night.

The miscreants hurled stones at 12313 Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express when it was crossing Manpur station.

The police said that the passengers of a train bound for Gaya in Bihar were furious as it was halted at the Manpur Junction in order to give way for Rajdhani to pass through. It is here that the infuriated passengers pelted stones at the train managing to break the panes.

A wounded passenger, Rakhishand Gupta said, "A stone fell on my back while I was sleeping."

Few families de-boarded the train fearing another onslaught.

Railway authorities sprung into action and replaced broken panes at Gaya Junction railway and Mughal Sarai junction stations.

"As per Control Room's instruction we repaired the broken glasses," said Senior Section Engineer, Carriage and Wagons, Mughalsarai, M. Shukla.

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Known as Neville Longbottom from the Harry Potter film franchise, Mathew Lewis tied the knot with lifestyle blogger Angela Jones.

Taking to his Twitter handle, the 28-year-old actor shared the big news, along with a picture from the D-Day.

"Not only did I miss @ArticMonkeys in LA but they were performing in Italy at the same time we were there and my wife made me get married instead. Fuming," he tweeted.

The couple got engaged in November 2016 in Paris.

According to Page Six, the two reportedly met in January 2016 during a Wizarding World of Harry Potter event at Universal Studios, Orlando, where Jones worked.

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Days after 13 people were killed in the alleged police firing in Thoothukudi during the anti-Sterlite protests, Tamil Nadu Director General of Police (DGP) TK Rajendran on Tuesday transferred the case to the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID).

This comes after the Tamil Nadu government on Monday ordered the closure of Sterlite plant following the protests in Thoothukudi.

Endorsing the closure direction of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, the state government directed the board to seal the unit and close the plant permanently.

"It is brought to the notice of the Government that Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board did not renew the Consent to Operate to M/s. Vedanta Limited, Copper Smelter Plant, SIPCOT Industrial Complex, Thoothukudi District in its order dated 09. 04.2018. Subsequently, on 23.05. 2018, Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board has also issued directions for closure and disconnection of power supply to the Unit. The power supply has been disconnected on 24.05.2018," read a statement from the state government.

"Under Article 48-A of the Constitution, the state shall endeavour to protect and improve the environment and to safeguard the forests and wildlife of the country," the state government stated.

The people of Thoothukudi were up in arms and protesting against the construction of the copper plant by the Sterlite Copper Minning Industries, claiming that it was polluting groundwater, and was hazardous for the environment.

The protests took a violent turn on May 22 when police opened fire on the protesters, killing 13 and injuring many.

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The United States observed the Memorial Day, also known as Deceleration Day, when the country remembers those who died while serving in the armed forces.

US President Donald Trump delivered an poweful message at the White House to commemorate the occasion.

He took to his Twitter account to give honour to the US freedom fighters.

"Thank you for joining us on this solemn day of remembrance. We are gathered here on the sacred soil of @ArlingtonNatl Cemetery to honor the lives and deeds of America's greatest heroes, the men, and women who laid down their lives for our freedom. #MemorialDay" Trump tweeted.

Trump further said that these heroes came from various economic backgrounds as some were rich and others were poor.

"The heroes who rest in these hallowed fields, in cemeteries, battlefields, and burial grounds near and far are drawn the full tapestry of American life. They came from every generation from towering cities and wind-swept prairies, from privilege and from poverty", Trump added.

The Memorial Day in the US unofficially starts the summer vacation period in the country.

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United States President Donald Trump and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe called North Korea's denuclearisation as an imperative step.

As per a White House release on Monday (local time), the two leaders discussed the recent developments in North Korea as the latter hinted at abandoning denuclearisation process due to the military drills with the United States.

"The President and Prime Minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs," the release said.

The two countries then confirmed to meet again to work towards the US-North Korea summit.

The United States, Japan, South Korea, and China had together called for denuclearisation of North Korea. Following that, North Korea dismantled its nuclear site Pyyungg-ri.

Trump and Kim were scheduled to meet on June 12 as part of a "historic summit".

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Fuel prices continue to touch another peak for the 16th consecutive day, with petrol being sold at Rs 78.43 per litre in Delhi and Rs 86.24 per litre in Mumbai.

The cost of diesel per litre has also been increased to Rs 69.31 per litre in Delhi and Rs 73.79 a litre in Mumbai.

Meanwhile, the Indraprastha Gas Limited (IGL) on Monday announced an increase in the prices of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) in Delhi and nearby areas, comprising Noida, Greater Noida and Ghaziabad as a result of the recent appreciation of dollar and revision in proportions of domestic gas allocation.

CNG has increased by Rs 1.36 per kg in Delhi and Rs 1.55 per kg in in Noida, Greater Noida, and Ghaziabad.

All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Abhishek Banerjee is expected to protest against the fuel price hike at noon at Gandhi Murti in Kolkata.

As the Centre has come under fire over fuel price hike, Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan earlier assured the public that the government will soon take out a solution to tackle the situation.

He further pointed out that less production of oil in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and hike in crude oil price in the international market are some of the factors affecting the fuel price.

In April, Pradhan had said the Centre and the state governments have been considering bringing the petroleum products under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax.

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Key benchmark indices hit fresh intraday high in mid-morning trade soon after reversing intraday losses in volatile trade. At 11:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was up 54.26 points or 0.15% at 35,219.74. The Nifty 50 index was up 21.75 points or 0.2% at 10,710.40. Most capital goods stocks rose. Auto stocks were in demand on renewed buying.

Domestic stocks nudged lower in early trade on negative Asian stocks. A bout of volatility was seen in morning trade as the key benchmark indices gyrated in positive and negative zone.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.28%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.42%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1,279 shares rose and 1,033 shares fell. A total of 113 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading lower as the political crisis in Italy worsened as a fresh election appeared likely in the eurozone's third-largest economy. US markets remained closed yesterday, 28 May 2018 for Memorial Day. UK markets were also closed yesterday, 28 May 2018 for the spring bank holiday.

The leader of Italy's Five Star Movement party reportedly called for the country's president, Sergio Mattarella, to be impeached after the latter chose to veto a pick for economy minister. Mattarella on Monday appointed a former International Monetary Fund economist to the role of interim prime minister, with snap elections expected.

Back home, Tata Steel (up 1.88%), ITC (up 0.75%) and RIL (up 0.65%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Most capital goods stocks rose. ABB India (up 1.33%), BEML (up 0.21%), Punj Lloyd (up 1.89%) rose. Bharat Electronics (down 0.24%), Siemens (down 0.23%) and Thermax (down 0.27%) fell.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) advanced 3.22% ahead of its Q4 result today, 29 May 2018.

Larsen & Toubro rose 1.32% after consolidated net profit rose 4.95% to Rs 3337.95 crore on 11.09% rise in net sales to Rs 40678.10 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017. The result was announced after market hours yesterday, 28 May 2018.

The order intake for the quarter ended 31 March 2018 at Rs 49557 crore, grew by 5% year-on-year. International order inflow during the quarter at Rs 8678 crore, constituted 18% of the order inflow for the quarter.

Consolidated order book of the group stood at Rs 263107 crore as at 31 March 2018, with international order book constituting 24% of the total order book.

L&T said it expects to continue its planned trajectory of profitable and steady growth which, along with its many value enhancing measures, is aimed at improving shareholder returns on a sustainable basis.

Auto stocks were in demand on renewed buying. TVS Motor Company (up 2.43%), Tata Motors (up 1.1%), Maruti Suzuki India (up 1.28%), Eicher Motors (up 0.34%), Ashok Leyland (up 1.88%), Escorts (up 1.09%), Bajaj Auto (up 0.87%) and Hero MotoCorp (up 0.32%) gained.

Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) rose 0.66% ahead of its Q4 result today, 29 May 2018.

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Bharat Heavy Electricals rose 5.68% to Rs 83.70 at 14:27 IST on BSE after net profit surged 112.09% to Rs 457.17 crore on 1.29% decline in total income to Rs 10341.58 crore in Q4 March 2018 over Q4 March 2017.

The result was announced during trading hours today, 29 May 2018.

Meanwhile, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 159.78 points, or 0.45% to 35,005.70.

On the BSE, 43.46 lakh shares were traded in the counter so far compared with average daily volumes of 4.99 lakh shares in the past two weeks. The stock had hit a high of Rs 86.80 and a low of Rs 79.55 so far during the day. The stock hit a 52-week high of Rs 108 on 23 January 2018. The stock hit a 52-week low of Rs 73.95 on 24 May 2018.

Bharat Heavy Electricals (Bhel) said in a statement that prudent strategies of garnering higher market share in a shrunken and highly competitive business environment enabled Bhel to book orders worth Rs 40932 crore in FY 2017-2018. Significantly, this is a quantum jump of 74% over FY 2016-2017. The orders comprise of Rs 33342 crore in the power segment and Rs 7590 crore in the industry and overseas segments combined. Significantly, Bhel has maintained its leadership position with 100% market share in the conventional thermal power equipment business. With this, Bhel has ended the year with a total order book of over Rs 118000 crore-highest in last five years.

Bhel is an integrated power plant equipment manufacturer and one of the largest engineering and manufacturing companies of its kind in India.

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The stock is quoting at Rs 316.6, up 1.12% on the day as on 12:59 IST on the NSE. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is down 14.29% in last one year as compared to a 10.94% gain in NIFTY and a 12.63% gain in the Nifty Energy index.

Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd rose for a third straight session today. The stock is quoting at Rs 316.6, up 1.12% on the day as on 12:59 IST on the NSE. The benchmark NIFTY is down around 0.11% on the day, quoting at 10677.35. The Sensex is at 35099.37, down 0.19%. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd has added around 3.97% in last one month.

Meanwhile, Nifty Energy index of which Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is a constituent, has added around 2.22% in last one month and is currently quoting at 13446.1, up 0.13% on the day. The volume in the stock stood at 38.19 lakh shares today, compared to the daily average of 71.38 lakh shares in last one month.

The benchmark May futures contract for the stock is quoting at Rs 316.05, up 1.04% on the day. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd is down 14.29% in last one year as compared to a 10.94% gain in NIFTY and a 12.63% gain in the Nifty Energy index.

The PE of the stock is 7.5 based on TTM earnings ending March 18.

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An Agreement for IBRD Credit of USD 21.7 Million from World Bank for the Strengthening of Public Financial Management in Rajasthan Project was signed. The Implementing Entity Agreement was signed by the Secretary, Finance (Budget) on behalf of the Government of Rajasthan, and the Acting Country Director (India) on behalf of the World Bank.

The Project size is approximately USD 31 million, of which USD 21.7 million will be financed by the World Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded-out of the State Budget.

The Project duration is 5 years.

The Project objective is to contribute to improved Budget execution, enhanced accountability and greater efficiency in Revenue Administration in Rajasthan. The Project involves Strengthening of the Public Financial Management Framework; Strengthening of Expenditure and Revenue Systems; and Project Management and Capacity Building among others.

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National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), a Navratna PSU under Ministry of Mines, Government of India, have registered high in terms of both physical and financial performances after achieving the global benchmark of low cost producer in Bauxite Mining and Alumina making.

According to the audited financial results for 2017-18, NALCO has registered more than 100% growth i.e., Rs. 1342.19 crore against Rs. 669crore in previous year. In 4th quarter the Company has earned a net profit of Rs.257.06crore. During the year, NALCO was the third highest net Foreign Exchange Earning CPSE in the Country. The Net sales turnover for the year is Rs. 9,377 crore (highest ever since inception) registering a growth of 26 % over last year. Export earning of Rs. 4,076 crore also highest ever since inception registering a growth of 12 % over last year.

Speaking on this achievement of the company, Dr. Tapan Kumar Chand, CMD, NALCO, said, Year 2017-18 has been a very rewarding year for NALCO on all fronts. We are looking beyond earning just profits. We have improved on all parameters - record production, highest sales and turnover. While focusing on the present, we are ensuring we don't lose sight of what the future holds. We are introducing a Game Changing Business Model that will bring additional Rs.935 crore net profit to the Company. The model provides for focusing operation of Utkal-D, end of 2nd Qtr 2019, commissioning of 1 million tonne of Alumina Refinery, setting up of Wire Rod Mill 3, bringing into stream Caustic Soda Plant, CT Pitch Plant, etc.

Dr. Chand pitched for support to Mother Plant like NALCO for achieving global competitiveness and Mother Plant in turn to promote employment and employability eco system. He cited Angul Aluminium Park as a concrete step for setting up employment ecosystem. He also informed that NALCO is making tie up with ALMEX of USA to set up high end value products. NALCO will also be promoting micro & small industries in downstream through a cash less model of providing aluminium ingot and taking back finished products for marketing by NALCO. Such hand holding by NALCO is bound to make these micro & small industries viable and thereby creating substantial number of employment and warming up business environment in Odisha. While congratulating NALCO Collective for the stellar performance, Dr. Chand also informed about the new projects in pipeline and the company's growth plans.

Highlights

Production:

NALCO has been rated as the lowest cost producer of alumina in the World consecutively for the 2 years i.e. 2016 & 2017 as per report of Wood Mackenzie.

Panchpatmali Bauxite mines of NALCO rated as the 2nd lowest cost producer in the World in 2017 as per report of Wood Mackenzie; aiming to become the lowest in FY 2018-19.

Bauxite Mines (North-Central block of Panchpatmali Mines) achieved 100% capacity utilization with transportation (production) of 68.25 lakh MT for second successive year.

Bauxite transportation (production) from new mine i.e.

South block of Panchpatmali Mines started in 4th quarter of FY 2017-18. Transportation from South block is 2 lakh MT and combined transportation of both the Mines is 70.25 lakh MT, highest ever since inception.

Alumina Refinery achieved 100% normative capacity (i.e. 21 lakh MT) in successive years with production of 21.06 Lakh MT Alumina Hydrate. 5th Turbo Generator of Steam Generation Plant commissioned.

Aluminium Smelter production consistently increasing over the last 5 years and achieved highest cast metal production of 4.26 lakh MT (in last 5 years), registering a growth of 9.8 % over last year.

CPP achieved 'Net Power Generation' of 6,547 MU, registering a growth of 7.9 % over previous year.

Wind Power: 4 wind power units at different location of the Country generated 252 MU against 206 MU last year, registering a growth of 22 %.

Five Star Rating for Panchpatmali Bauxite Mines by Ministry of Mines for 2nd consecutive year.

SCOPE Award of Excellence in Institutional category (Navratna/Maharatna) & SCOPE Meritorious Award for CSR from Hon'ble President of India.

National Energy Conservation Award in Aluminium Sector for the year 2017 from Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE).

Financial:

In FY 2017-18, NALCO achieved highest net profit in last 10 years of Rs. 1342crore against Rs. 669crore in previous year.

Third highest Net Foreign Exchange Earning CPSE in the Country.

The Net sales turnover for the year is Rs. 9,377 crore (highest ever since inception) registering a growth of 26 % over last year. Export earning of Rs. 4,076 crore also highest ever since inception registering a growth of 12 % over last year.

For 2017-18 an interim dividend of 94% amounting to Rs. 908 crore paid, out of which Rs. 547 crore paid to Govt. of India. This is the highest ever dividend declared by the Company.

Contribution to Public exchequers: Till FY 2016-17, Rs. 27,468 crore towards taxes, duties, royalties, dividend etc. out of which Rs. 21,552 crore paid to Central Govt. and Rs. 5,916 crore paid to State Govt.

CAPEX: Continuous increase in CAPEX expenditure in last 3 years. In FY 2017-18 there is 23.5% increase in CAPEX over last year.

Growth Plan:

Projects under Execution:

1 MTPA capacity 5th Stream Alumina Refinery brownfield project at existing Alumina Refinery at Damanjodi Estimated project cost: Rs. 5,540 cr, Expected Completion: April, 2021

Development of Pottangi bauxite mines at Koraput, Odisha. Project cost included in 5th stream Refinery, Expected Completion: April,2022

Development ofUtkal D&E coal mines at Angul, Odisha. Estimated project cost: Rs. 534 cr, Expected Completion:Utkal-D: FY 2019-20, Utkal-E: FY 2022-23

Upstream Integration: 2.7 Lakh TPA Caustic soda plant in JV with Gujarat Alkalies & Chemicals Limited (GACL) at Dahej, Gujarat. Estimated project cost: Rs. 1,999 cr, Expected Completion: 2020

Downstream Integration: Angul Aluminium Park in JV with IDCO at Angul, Odisha to promote downstream & ancillary industries. Estimated project cost: Rs. 100 cr, Expected Starting: FY 2019-20

60,000 MTPA capacity Alloy wire rod plant at its Smelter in Angul to produce more value added products. Estimated project cost: Rs. 131 cr, Expected Completion: September, 2019

Renewable Energy Projects:Two wind power plant of 25 MW capacity each in Tamilnadu. Estimated project cost: Rs.310cr, Expected Completion: Plant 1: FY 2018-19, Plant 2: FY 2019-20.

Efficiency Improvement Project: HRD- DCW in place of existing settler- washer at stream- 1,2,3 of Alumina Refinery to improve productivity and efficiency. Estimated project cost: Rs. 355 cr, Expected Completion: FY 2020-21.

Envisaged Projects:

Establishment 6 lakh TPA brownfield Smelters in Odisha

Establishment 6 lakh TPA greenfield Smelters in Odisha

1320 MW Thermal power plant at Angul Odisha

Cluster of downstream units of Rolled Products / Foil / Wheel / Extrusion

KABIL (KhanijBidesh India Limited): JV Company with HCL and MECL to identify, acquire, develop, process and make commercial use of strategic minerals in overseas locations for supply in India.

JV Company with MIDHANI for establishment of high end aluminium alloy manufacturing plant for meeting the requirement of defence, aerospace, automotive and transport sector.

Upstream Integration: CT Pitch plant in JV with NINL in Odisha

Corporate Plan:

To face the challenges of ever evolving market and position the Company in a sustainable growth path, a new Corporate plan with a new vision has been developed and rolled out in Jan'18 with well-defined 3 year action plan, 7 year strategy & 15 years vision of being a Premier and Integrated company in the Aluminium value chain with strategic presence in Mining both domestic & global, Metals and Energy sectors.

It provides a roadmap for multi-fold growth in revenue to the sum of Rs.18, 171 cr and Rs.31,248cr by the year 2024 & 2032 respectively.

Research & Development:

During FY 2017-18, four (4) patents have been granted in the name of NALCO. Till date, total patent filed are 35 out of which fifteen (15) patent granted and five (5) patent commercialized.

The first of its kind in the world, nano based Emrion technology Defluoridation Plant for treating effluent water of smelter plant and making it potable achieved success at commercial scale.

Waste to wealth creation: Gallium from spent liquor, iron from red mud are some of the frontline projects the company is spearheading in this direction for commercial success.

Corporate Social Responsibility: Wealth to Welfare

The CSR Expenditure for the year 2017-18 is Rs. 29 cr against the target of Rs. 27.88 cr.

Health Care: 2 full-fledged Hospitals and 8 Mobile Health Units accessible to people of periphery villages benefiting more than one lakh patients every year. Construction of modern Eye Hospital at Angul is in progress. Construction of Night Shelter in AIIMS, Bhubaneswar for attendant of indoor patients and OPD patients availing long term treatment.

New Horizons:

Indradhanush: Till date 855 poor & tribal children from Maoist-infested Villages of Koraput sponsored for free residential education in reputed schools.

'BetiBachao, BetiPadhao': 'NALCO kiLadli': Total 277 meritorious girl students of BPL category benefitted till date under the scheme, with financial assistance. Plans underway to take this initiative to Pan-India level.

ODF Village: 2 villages completed in Koraput district. Another 9 villages of Angul and Koraputdistricts taken up for make it ODF.

Mobile Medical Unit :5 in Angul & 4 in Damanjodi footfall morethan one lakh

PM's Iconic Shrine Development Programme:

13 projects have been taken up at Shri Jagannath Temple, Puri & surrounding to upgrade the infrastructure & maintain cleanliness.

Complete LED illumination of the Jagannath temple done. Both side walls of VIP road, Puri beautified with thematic painting based on Jagannath culture.

Renovation and beautification of Gandhi Park taken up to encourage eco-tourism.

Installation of clean water posts at different strategic location of Puri and renovation of museum inside Jagannath Temple is taken up.

Launch of battery-operated vehicle service free of cost for senior citizens, differently-abled passengers and sick people at Puri railway station.

Skill India initiatives of GoI:

428 local youth have been placed in various job roles by skilling them.

A Centre of Excellence for Skill Development with simulator facility is being established at Bhubaneswar.

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Southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala, today, the 29th May 2018

Today, the southwest monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, Comorin - Maldives area, entire Lakshadweep, most parts of Kerala, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of southwest, central and northeast Bay of Bengal.

Thus the southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala, today, the 29th May 2018, 3 days ahead of its normal date.

The Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) passes through Lat. 120N/ Long 600E, Lat 120N/ Long 650E, Lat.120N/ Long 700E, Kannur, Coimbatore, Kodaikanal, Tuticorin, Lat. 090N/ Long 800E, Lat. 130N/ Long 850E, Lat.180N/ Long 900E, Lat. 210N/ Long 930E. Figure-1 shows the Northern Limit of Monsoon (NLM) as on today.

Prevailing meteorological conditions leading to onset of monsoon over Kerala.

Widespread rainfall occurred over Kerala, during the past 3-4 days.

The 14 rainfall monitoring stations for Monsoon onset over Kerala have reported more than 60% rainfall from 25th May. (Fig-2).

Westerly winds have strengthened in the lower levels (more than 30 knots) and deepened with Westerly/ West-southwesterly winds upto 600 hPa (approximately upto 4.5km) over the south Arabian Sea (equator to Lat. 10oN and Long. 55oE to 80oE) from today morning.

There is persistent convection (cloudiness indicated by Outgoing Long-wave Radiation values <200 Wm-1) from 23rd May. The Satellite (INSAT-3D) derived Outgoing Long wave Radiation value in the box confined by Lat. 5-10oN, Long. 70-80oE is 187 W/m2. (Fig-2).

In addition to the above features, the following developments are also noticed:

An east-west shear zone runs roughly along latitude 120N (across south peninsula) at 3.1 km above mean sea level.

A well marked low pressure area lies over southeast and adjoining eastcentral Arabian Sea off north Kerala- Karnataka coasts.

Another well marked low pressure area lies over eastcentral and adjoining northeast Bay of Bengal. It is likely to concentrate into a Depression during next 12 hours.

Further advance during next 48 hours

Conditions are favorable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, some parts of coastal and south interior Karnataka, some more parts of eastcentral and northeast Bay of Bengal, and some parts of northeastern states during next 48 hours.

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Sanghvi Brands has signed a Letter of Intent to enter into an agreement for a merger /acquisition/ strategic partnership with US based organization WT Global LLC subject to further discussion. The Company shall further discuss the same with the Board of Directors in the Board meeting to be held on 30 May 2018.

WT Global LLC owns the brand Warren Tricomi.

Warren Tricomi Salons are present in prime locations in the United States including the Plaza Hotel, Madison Avenue, Flatiron district in New York City and also in the Hamptons and Greenwich, Connecticut.

This deal represents a significant synergy to the Company's growing operations in the United States. In addition to the Salons, the Company will also look to develop a product line under the Warren Tricomi brand.

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A bout of volatility was seen in morning trade as the key benchmark indices gyrated in positive and negative zone. At 10:28 IST, the barometer index, the S&P BSE Sensex, was down 12.47 points or 0.04% at 35,153.01. The Nifty 50 index was down 0.50 points at 10,688.15. Telecom stocks gained. Cement stocks fell.

Domestic stocks nudged lower in early trade on negative Asian stocks.

The S&P BSE Mid-Cap index was up 0.19%. The S&P BSE Small-Cap index was up 0.39%. Both these indices outperformed the Sensex.

The market breadth, indicating the overall health of the market, was positive. On the BSE, 1179 shares rose and 860 shares fell. A total of 90 shares were unchanged.

Overseas, Asian stocks were trading lower as the political crisis in Italy worsened as a fresh election appeared likely in the eurozone's third-largest economy. US markets remained closed yesterday, 28 May 2018 for Memorial Day. UK markets were also closed yesterday, 28 May 2018 for the spring bank holiday.

The leader of Italy's Five Star Movement party reportedly called for the country's president, Sergio Mattarella, to be impeached after the latter chose to veto a pick for economy minister. Mattarella on Monday appointed a former International Monetary Fund economist to the role of interim prime minister, with snap elections expected.

Back home, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries (up 1.66%), Tata Steel (up 1.36%) and Maruti Suzuki India (up 0.97%) edged higher from the Sensex pack.

Telecom stocks gained. Bharti Airtel (up 1.02%), Idea Cellular (up 2.86%), Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) (up 0.37%) and Reliance Communications (up 4.58%) rose. MTNL (down 0.3%) fell.

Shares of Bharti Infratel fell 1.05%. Bharti Infratel is a provider of tower and related infrastructure and is a unit of Bharti Airtel.

Cement stocks fell. Ambuja Cements (down 0.12%), ACC (down 0.39%) and UltraTech Cement (down 0.14%) declined. Shree Cement (up 3.67%) gained.

Grasim Industries was up 0.59%. Grasim has exposure to the cement sector through its holding in UltraTech Cement.

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A man shot dead two police officers and a civilian before being gunned down by security officials in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Philippe Dulieu said the assailant followed and attacked police officers with a knife, before taking a gun from them and opening fire. He then got into a vehicle parked nearby and killed a 22-year-old passenger, the BBC reported.

The gunman then fled to the nearby Waha secondary school and took a woman hostage, who was rescued unharmed. Police killed the assailant in a shoot-out that left two other officers injured, officials said.

Regional Governor Herve Jamar said no students at the school were injured during the attack.

The man's motive was not clear but the incident was being treated as terrorism. Police sources quoted in the local media said the man was heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest" in Arabic).

Belgian broadcaster RTBF said the gunman had only been released from prison on Monday. It said that he may have been radicalised while in jail.

Footage on the social media showed people running to safety as several gunshots rang out.

Belgium remains on alert after attacks in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group left 32 people dead.

Later that year a man attacked two police officers with machetes while shouting "Allahu Akbar" before being shot dead.

--IANS

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AirAsia India (AAIL) on Tuesday refuted any "wrong-doing" after the CBI registered a case against its Group CEO Tony Fernandes on alleged attempt to tweak rules to get an international flying licence for the airline.

According to the airline, it is co-operating with all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts.

"In November 2016, AAIL had initiated criminal charges against its ex-CEO and had also commenced civil proceedings in Bangalore for such irregularities," AirAsia India's Director Shuva Mandal said in a statement.

"We hope to bring early resolution to all such issues."

The airline's defence comes after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday registered a case against the Malaysian billionaire.

The investigation agency on Tuesday conducted searches at five locations in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru in connection with the case.

"A case has been registered against Fernandes and some other unidentified persons linked to the firm (AirAsia India)," CBI spokesperson R.K. Gaur said.

Gaur said Fernandes had lobbied and was trying to violate rule 5/20 that requires an airline to have a minimum of five years of flying experience and 20 aircraft to apply for international licences.

Interestingly, in 2016, the 5/20 norm was amended. Currently, a domestic airline requires 20 aircraft to apply for international flight rights.

The CBI has named Fernandes and others in a criminal case for violating FDI norms in giving effective management to a foreign entity through FIPB clearance in 2013 and attempt to bribe for tweaking rules to get a licence for its joint venture to operate international flights.

The CBI FIR also names "unknown public servants" of the Civil Aviation Ministry, the then Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), R. Venkataramanan, Director AirAsia, and AirAsia Group Deputy CEO T. Kanagalingam alias Bo Lingam.

The FIR also alleges that in December 2014, Sunil Kapoor, who runs an in-flight catering company, along with Bo Lingam handed over a packet containing Rs 50 lakh to facilitate removal of the rule that required five years' domestic flying experience and 20 aircraft to get a licence to fly internationally.

The CBI said it had received information that AirAsia India was indirectly controlled and operated by the AirAsia Group and particularly AirAsia Berhad, violating the norms of the then FIPB.

This structure was directly formalised through a "Brand Licence Agreement" signed by AirAsia represented by Fernandes and AirAsia Berhad represented by Bo Lingam on April 17, 2013, which indirectly made AirAsia India a de facto subsidiary rather than a joint venture.

As per the then FDI policy, foreign airlines were allowed to own up to 49 per cent of share in domestic airlines but effective management control must remain with the Indian partner.

Bharatiya Janata Party Rajya Sabha member and former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy tweeted: "Finally the CBI is presently raiding AirAsia offices including of the CEO's. It is arising from my PIL in Delhi HC."

Currently, the Delhi High Court is hearing a case filed by Swamy against the grant of a flying licence to AirAsia India.

AirAsia (India) is a joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia Berhad, with AirAsia Investment.

The budget carrier commenced operations on June 12, 2014 and currently flies to 20 destinations across India with a fleet size of 18 A320 aircraft.

--IANS

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Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President Amit Shah on Tuesday launched a massive 'Sampark se Samarthan' (contact for support) personal outreach programme to highlight the achievements of the Narendra Modi-led government in the last four years.

Shah met former Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag at his residence here in Mandir Marg and kicked off the programme. He handed Suhag a few booklets on the achievements of the Modi government.

The BJP chief tweeted: "Launched the nationwide campaign 'Sampark for Samarthan', a door-to-door initiative aimed at making people aware of the transformative initiatives undertaken by Prime Minister Narendra Modiji's government in the last four year."

He was earlier scheduled to launch the contact programme from Suhag's residence in Haryana's Gurugram, but that was cancelled at the last minute, a party official said.

Shah would personally meet at least 50 eminent personalities to enlighten them about the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government's achievements.

It is part of the party's effort to reach out to maximum number of people ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party launched the contact programme after completing four years of the NDA rule at the Centre.

About 4,000 senior party workers, including Union Ministers, Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief Ministers of states, would carry out the campaign to meet more than one lakh well-known personalities to discuss the Modi government's achievements.

Besides, Parliamentarians, legislators, District Panchayat members and senior office bearers will also pitch in.

Modi, also as part of the campaign, addressed beneficiaries of the Ujjwala Yojana and Mudra Yojana on Monday and Tuesday respectively, through the NaMo app.

--IANS

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Dubai, May 29 (IANS/WAM) Citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be able to travel to Canada without procuring a visa from June.

The announcement came during a meeting between UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen in the Canadian capital Ottawa on Monday, the news agency reported on Tuesday.

Abdullah bin Zayed said the move affirmed the "distinguished ties" between the UAE and Canada.

According to the decision taken by the Canadian government, UAE citizens will no longer need a visa from June 5 to travel to Canada for short stays up to six months.

However, UAE citizens will still need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) to fly to, or transit through a Canadian airport. The eTA allows Canadian officials to screen travellers for admissibility before they board their flight to Canada.

Around 40,000 Canadians live and work in the UAE, with some 150 Canadian companies operating in the country. On Monday, the UAE said its citizens will be allowed to travel visa-free to Guyana, located on the northeast coast of South America.

--IANS/WAM

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Hospital staff who helped treat the former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, for exposure to the military nerve agent novichok, did not expect the two to survive the lethal poisoning, a media report said.

The Skripals had been found slumped on a bench in Salisbury on March 4, but staff treating them at Salisbury District Hospital did not initially know the reason why.

Nursing director Lorna Wilkinson said a key moment came when policeman Nick Bailey was admitted with similar symptoms.

"There was a real concern as to how big this could get," she told the BBC on Monday night.

"Have we just gone from having two index patients having something that actually could become all-consuming and involve many casualties? Because we really didn't know at that point."

Ward sister Sarah Clark, who was on duty that night, added that there were fears that the hospital's staff might end up being affected.

When the nature of what they were facing became clear, hospital staff said they did not have high hopes of ever seeing their two patients recover.

But after weeks of treatment - involving expert advice from the nearby Porton Down research facility - Yulia and then Sergei were eventually discharged to continue their recovery at an undisclosed address.

When the Skripals were found, an opioid overdose was suspected. But when the police became aware of Sergei Skripal's former career as a Russian spy, they told the hospital and discussed the possibility that he may have been the victim of a targeted attack.

"I spoke to the nurse in charge," Duncan Murray, the hospital's senior intensive care consultant, told the BBC.

"It was this conversation I really could never have imagined in my wildest imagination as having with anyone...

"Essentially the story of a known Russian spy having been admitted to hospital in pretty unusual circumstances."

Yulia was eventually discharged on April 9. Her father's departure from the hospital was announced on May 18.

Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility for the attack.

--IANS

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Tuesday said it has attached Vikram Kothari owned Kanpur-based Rotomac Global's properties worth Rs 177 crore in connection with a money laundering case involving an alleged bank fraud amounting to Rs 3,695 crore.

The attached properties of the company and those of its directors are located in Uttar Pradesh's Kanpur, Gujarat's Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, Uttarakhand's Dehradun and Maharashtra's Mumbai, an official of the financial probe agency said.

The ED's action comes under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, on the basis of a Central Bureau of Investigation's First Information Report.

The probe had revealed that the accused persons in the guise of merchants, without having any genuine business transactions, defaulted in meeting its payments obligation to the bank by diverting and siphoning off the funds.

"The investigations have revealed that Rotomac Global Pvt. Ltd. has indulged in merchanting trade with limited number of buyers and seller, wherein it used to receive back the discounted LC (letters of credit) amount from the overseas beneficiary after deduction of 1.5 to two per cent commission by them either directly into the accounts of Rotomac group companies or into the accounts of overseas companies controlled by Vikram Kothari," the agency said in a statement.

"Their discounted LC amount thereafter have been used by Rotomac Global Pvt. Ltd. for other business activities such as FDR, iron ore purchase and investment in real estate," it said.

The ED and the CBI had filed a case in February after the Bank of Baroda filed a complaint against Kothari, his wife Sadhana, his son Rahul and some unidentified bank officials and private persons.

Kothari is the Chairman and Managing Director of the Rotomac group while his wife and son are directors.

According to the CBI FIR, Kothari had obtained Rs 2,919 crore from various banks, including from the Bank of India (Rs 754.77 crore), Bank of Baroda (Rs 456.63 crore), Indian Overseas Bank (Rs 771.07 crore), Union Bank of India (Rs 458.95 crore), Allahabad Bank (Rs 330.68 crore), Bank of Maharashtra (Rs 49.82 crore), and Oriental Bank of Commerce (Rs 97.47 crore).

--IANS

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An undertrial criminal was injured on Tuesday when a man opened fire at him in Delhi's crowded Tis Hazari courts, police said.

The accused, who had not been identified at the time of filing of the report, was arrested soon after.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Vinit Kumar told IANS that the accused fired one shot at the undertrial sitting in a Haryana Police bus near Gate Number 2 around 1.15 p.m.

"He had earlier been produced in a court here by the Haryana Police. He did not suffer any serious injury," the officer said.

"The accused appears to be quite young -- could be a juvenile. We are trying to get more information on him," Kumar added.

--IANS

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Fortis Healthcare's (FHL) Board has decided to initiate a fresh round of bidding after the consortium of Hero Enterprise Investment Office-Burman Family Office gave its consent to reopen the bidding process.

According to a BSE filing made on Tuesday, the Board in its meeting on Tuesday "has decided to initiate a fresh, time-bound process to optimise the company's and shareholders' short and long term interests".

"Further, based on the suitability of the offers evaluated earlier, the Board has decided to invite 3 of the bidders namely Munjal-Burman Consortium, TPG-Manipal Consortium, and IHH Healthcare Berhad to participate in the process, subject to their confirming adherence to the process... no later than 5 p.m. IST on 31st May 2018," the filing said.

As per the filing, other interested parties will be able to submit their Expression of Interest (EOI) till this time.

The development comes a day after the Hero Enterprise Investment Office-Burman Family Office consortium gave its consent "to reopen the bidding process to enable the company to move ahead with the fund-raising transaction".

The offer made by the consortium was selected for the sale of the healthcare major's business on May 10.

On Monday, FHL said that it has received the consortium's consent letter stating: "While we continue to be of the firm view that our offer is the best offer received by the company till date, we believe that this situation may have arisen largely on account of the lack of information available to the stakeholders."

"... and keeping in mind the dilemma of the company, if any, we provide our consent for the company to reopen a bidding process in order to facilitate the company to expeditiously finalise and close its fund-raising so that the company's business does not suffer any further, thus ensuring that the larger interest of the company are served," said Sunil Kant Munjal and Anand C. Burman in a joint letter sent to the company.

Fortis' board had received offers from suitors such as Hero Enterprise Investment Office-Burman Family Office, Fosun Health Holdings, Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad, Manipal Hospital Enterprises and Radiant Life Care for infusion of funds.

However, the company's Board on May 10 decided to recommend the offer of the Munjal-Burman consortium for sale of its business to the shareholders for their approval.

The deal envisaged an infusion of Rs 800 crore via a "Preferential Allotment of Equity Shares at Rs 167 per share or as per SEBI ICDR guidelines whichever is higher...".

It also encapsulates a "Preferential Issue of Warrants of Rs 1,000 crore at Rs 176 per share or as per SEBI ICDR guidelines whichever is higher."

Since then, three of the company's board members resigned and another one was ousted by the shareholders during a recently held Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

Following the EGM, new independent directors joined the company's Board.

Besides, the consortium of Manipal Health Enterprises (MHEPL) and private equity (PE) firm TPG made a "modified" new offer which values the company at Rs 9,403 crore at a share price of Rs 180 per share.

In addition, Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad made an "Enhanced Revised Offer" to invest directly into the company at Rs 175 per share cost.

--IANS

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Suspected gangsters opened fire outside Delhi's crowded Tis Hazari Court on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Details of the incident were being collected.

A police officer, who was at the spot, told IANS some "gun shots were fired".

"We are trying to ascertain what happened. But firing incident has taken place," the police officer said.

--IANS

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The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed media organisations to remove news items disclosing the identity of an eight-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

The direction by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar came after it was told that despite the court's order to not identify the girl, some of the news organisations are still naming the child in news items.

The court sought the names of such media organisations.

Observing that notice has not been served to one of the newspapers till now, the court said it was shocking that a newspaper is not aware of pending litigation despite the wide publicity of the news related to the matter.

The court noted that none from that media organisation had turned up for appearance before it and listed the matter for July 16 for further hearing.

It had observed that several internet platforms and social networking sites are extensively displaying the photographs and the name of the victim.

The court last month directed 12 media organisations to pay Rs 10 lakh each as compensation for disclosing the identity of the girl, saying that there were long term repercussions for the victim's family, especially for the women members, due to such kind of reporting.

The court said they had violated the law and could be punished under Section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code.

Under Section 23 (Procedure for media) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, any person who discloses the identity of a child victim could be sentenced to a minimum six months' imprisonment, it said.

The minor in Kathua was held captive inside a temple and sedated before being repeatedly raped and murdered.

--IANS

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Top India and Pakistan army commanders on Tuesday spoke over a special hotline contact and committed to peace on the borders in Jammu and Kashmir amid persistent crackling of gunfire and mounting casualties on both sides.

"The hotline mechanism was initiated by Pakistan Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Maj. Gen. Sahir Shamshad Mirza at 6 p.m. with his Indian counterpart Lt.Gen. Anil Chauhan.

"Both the DGMOs reviewed the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and International Border in Jammu and Kashmir," an army spokesperson said.

Lt.Gen. Chauhan, the spokesperson said, "agreed with the proposal (from his Pakistani counterpart) to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation to ensure peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders".

They agreed to "fully implement" the 2003 ceasefire agreement "in letter and spirit" and ensure the truce was not violated.

"It was also mutually agreed that in case of any issue, restraint will be exercised and the matter will be resolved through utilisation of existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and border flag meetings at local commanders' level."

The Pakistan Army in an identical statement said a special hotline contact was established with the Indian DGMO "to ensure the ceasefire will not be violated by both sides".

The latest DGMO level talks came after repeated ceasefire violations on the borders in Jammu and Kashmir that caused many civilian casualties earlier this month.

Similar talks were held between the two countries on April 27.

The External Affairs Ministry on May 23 said Pakistan had carried out more than 1,088 ceasefire violations along the LoC and International Border in the first five months of 2018. The border shooting has claimed 36 lives on the Indian side and left more than 120 injured.

Pakistan's foreign office on May 25 said during 2018, Indian committed over 1,050 ceasefire violations resulting in the killing of 28 innocent civilians, while injuring 117.

--IANS

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A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl has died after being shot during an apparent botched car hijacking in South Africa, sparking protests by the community members in Durban.

Sadia Sukhraj, a grade four student from the Indian township of Chatsworth, was leaving her grandparents' house in Shallcross along with her father Shailendra when three armed men accosted their car on Monday, Times Live reported.

They allegedly threw the girl's father out of the car before driving off with the child. The hijacked vehicle was pursued by the child's father during which he and the hijackers shot at each other. The men then hit a truck and lost control of the vehicle.

The girl was found shot and critically injured while one of the hijackers was arrested by an off-duty police officer' another one died near the vehicle.

The girl was rushed to a hospital where succumbed to her injuries. The third hijacker remains at large.

"The hijacked vehicle was pursued by the child's father' and then there was a shooting' so we don't know exactly how the child got shot and by whom'" Chatsworth community policing forum chairperson Jakes Singh said.

Following the incident, hundreds of angry community members gathered outside the Chatsworth Police Station demanding urgent action from authorities. Police had to use stun grenades and tear gas to disperse them.

Residents said that there had been a spike in hijackings and robberies in the area, despite community patrols at night.

"All we want is for the police to do their job effectively. The little girl lost her life and we feel that enough is enough. We want to be heard. We want our concerns addressed and we want answers as to what is going to be done to curb the escalating crime rate," said one Ashley Pillay.

Tributes for the little girl and outrage over her death gained momentum on social media as news of her shooting went viral.

"The community is shocked and saddened by this incident... General housebreakings have been continuing but hijackings seemed to be under control. We are surprised by what happened'" said Shallcross community police forum chairman Mahendra Lillkan.

--IANS

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Iran's cybersecurity authority has issued a warning about an imminent malware attack, the media reported on Monday.

The spread of a malware, named VPNFilter is likely, can affect hundreds of thousands of home and office routers, and collect users' information or shut down network traffic, Iran's Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre said, Xinhua reported.

The attack is not limited to Iran and has impacted many computer users across the world, the centre warned.

It said it has advised the owners of many brands of routers to turn them off and on again, and download updates from the manufacturer to protect themselves.

The malware was initially detected by Cisco Systems Inc., which said that the hacking campaign targeted devices from Belkin International's Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear Inc, TP-Link and QNAP.

--IANS

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Paris, 29 May (IANS/AKI) Libya's rival political forces have agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in the turmoil-wracked North African country on December 10, United Nations backed Premier Fayez al-Sarraj's advisor tweeted on Tuesday.

Libya's rival governments in the east and west have also agreed to "finalise the constitutional basis for the elections" by September 16, added the tweet from Taher al-Sonni.

The accords were reached during a UN-backed conference in Paris at the Elysee - the French presidential palace - on Tuesday, according to Sonni.

Besides Sarraj, the powerful eastern military commander Khalifa Haftar, the speaker of the Tobruk parliament, Aqila Saleh, and Khalid al-Mishri, head of Libya's High Council of State advisory body, attended the meeting.

Representatives of Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, which have backed Haftar and the rival administration in Tobruk in the east, are also taking part in the conference, as well UN special envoy Ghassan Salame.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been a leading figure in the global efforts to pull Libya back from the brink of being a "failed state", hosted rival leaders to come to an agreement.

Top officials from the EU, including foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and representatives from the African Union and the Arab League, were also at the meet.

--IANS/AKI

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Kerala Police on Tuesday said the absconding father and brother of 20-year-old Neenu Chacko were arrested for the brutal murder of her 24-year-old husband Kevin Joseph.

Neenu's father Chacko John and her brother Shanu Chacko, the alleged masterminds of the crime, were arrested in Kannur and would be taken to Kottayam by police. Three persons were arrested late Monday night.

Kevin's body bearing torture marks was found on Monday at a dam site near Kollam and the preliminary autopsy report suggested he could have been forcibly drowned.

Since Kevin belonged to a family of converted Christians whereas Neenu's father is a Christian and her mother a Muslim, Neenu's family was strongly opposed to the marriage which was registered on May 24.

Fearing violence by her family, Kevin had dropped Neenu at a women's hostel in Kottayam and himself went to a relative's house.

A group of persons forcibly whisked away Kevin early on Sunday. After Neenu failed to get his response to her repeated calls, she approached police at Kottayam but was shooed away on the pretext of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's visit that was to end late Sunday night.

A huge crowd gathered at the funeral of Kevin on Tuesday evening in his parish here, where Neenu paid her last respects to her husband of just five days.

Tempers ran high at the sombre event as people expressed anger against Vijayan and the police for its inaction.

Leader of opposition Ramesh Chennithala told the media in the state capital on Tuesday that police was the main culprit in the murder case.

"It has now come to light that the killers of Kevin had good relations with police. Vijayan has turned out to be an abject failure as police functioning has gone haywire. Vijayan cannot wash his hands of the matter as he is equally responsible too," the Congress leader said.

--IANS

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Rome, May 29 (IANS/AKI) Italy's President Sergio Mattarella will on Wednesday continue talks with pro-austerity Premier-designate Carlo Cottarelli on a technocrat government, as the gap in Italian and German 10-year bond yields reached a five-year high amid investor fears of a snap election.

Cottarelli, whom Mattarella asked on Monday to try and form a caretaker government, is close to giving up his bid and did not submit a cabinet line-up to Mattarella, parliamentary sources told AKI.

Italy's grassroots Five-Star Movement and the far-right League party are demanding new elections in July and have said their lawmakers will not vote confidence in Cottarelli - a former International Monetary Fund director known as 'Mr Scissors' in Italy for his enthusiasm for spending cuts.

A nascent Five-Star-League government collapsed on Sunday after its Premier-designate Giuseppe Conte, a law professor, resigned when Mattarella vetoed the populists' choice of Finance Minister - the prominent eurosceptic economist Paolo Savona.

Italy has been in political limbo since the inconclusive March 4 national polls in which populist parties made strong gains but no single political force won an outright parliamentary majority. Several rounds of post-election talks with part leaders collapsed amid a mesh of seemingly irreconcilable demands.

Five-Star and the League may form an electoral alliance ahead of fresh elections and a survey for left-leaning daily La Repubblica on Monday predicted they could win 90 percent of seats in Italy's parliament in a re-vote.

--IANS/AKI

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived here to a ceremonial welcome on the first leg of three-nation tour of Southeast Asia that will also see him visiting Malaysia and Singapore.

Styating that reinvigorating ties with a maritime neighbour, External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted that Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome on his first ever visit to Indonesia.

"India and Indonesia share millennia old contacts driven by merchants and religious figures sailing across the Indian Ocean during monsoon," Raveesh Kumar said.

In a pre-departure statement in New Delhi on Monday, Modi said he was "confident that my visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore will provide a further boost to our Act East Policy and enhance our relations and engagements with all the three countries".

Modi will hold a bilateral summit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on May 30. He will also address members of the Indian community in Indonesia.

On May 31, Modi will make a brief stopover in Malaysia on his way from Indonesia to Singapore to meet newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, who governed for more than two decades became, at the age of 92, the world's oldest elected leader earlier thius month.

On June 1, Modi will call on Singapore President Halimah Yacob and then hold a summit with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Later in the evening, he will deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to do so in the Track I annual inter-governmental security forum.

--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 left on Tuesday for Indonesia on a five-day three-nation tour of Southeast Asia that will take him to Malaysia and Singapore.

"PM @narendramodi emplanes for Jakarta. He will be visiting Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the next few days," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tweeted.

"During these visits, he will be attending a wide range of programmes including talks with world leaders, interactions with students and top CEOs," it said.

In a pre-departure statement here on Monday Modi said he was "confident that my visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore will provide a further boost to our Act East Policy and enhance our relations and engagements with all the three countries".

Modi will hold a bilateral summit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on May 30. He will also address members of the Indian community in Indonesia.

On May 31, Modi will make a brief stopover in Malaysia on his way from Indonesia to Singapore to meet newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, who governed for more than two decades became, at the age of 92, the world's oldest elected leader earlier thius month.

On June 1, Modi will call on Singapore President Halimah Yacob and then hold a summit with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Later in the evening, he will deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to do so in the Track I annual inter-governmental security forum.

--IANS

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The rainy season arrived in India almost three days ahead of the forecast with Kerala coasts receiving the first showers of the Southwest monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday.

"Widespread rainfall occurred over Kerala during the past three-four days. The 14 rainfall monitoring stations for Monsoon onset over Kerala have reported more than 60 per cent rainfall since May 25," the IMD said.

The Southwest monsoon has advanced into remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, Comorin -- Maldives area, entire Lakshadweep, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of southwest, central and northeast Bay of Bengal.

The monsoon marks the beginning of the rainy season as it advances northward.

India is set to get a normal monsoon in 2018, with average rainfall likely to be around 97 per cent -- essential for its economy.

--IANS

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A senior North Korean official arrived in Beijing on Tuesday en route to the US to hold preparatory talks over a possible summit between the leaders of the two countries, media reported.

After arriving in Beijing earlier in the morning, Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of North Korea's Workers' Party, reserved a flight to New York, reports Yonhap news agency.

The trip comes as Washington and Pyongyang are holding working-level talks on the summit agenda and issues related to security and protocol.

It was widely expected that Kim would travel to the US to reciprocate recent visits by the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The two may meet to put final touches on the preparations for the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

The summit is expected to take place in Singapore on June 12.

On May 24, Trump had called off the summit citing "open hostility" from the North.

But following Pyongyang's conciliatory gesture and Seoul's mediation, Trump suggested that the summit could go ahead as planned.

A major sticking point at the summit is expected to be how to denuclearise the North.

--IANS

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Nepal on Tuesday said that a statement made by Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Janakpur was "unfortunate".

Addressing a press briefing in New Delhi on Monday, Sushma Swaraj said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed lakhs of "Indians" in Janakpur during his visit there earlier this month. She said no Prime Minister before Modi had tried to reach out to the Indian diaspora on such a large scale.

However, later she apologized after it was pointed out that Modi addressed Nepali people in Janakpur and not Indians.

Reacting to Sushma Swaraj's statement, Nepal's Foreign Ministry said: "Attention of the government of Nepal was drawn to the statement... The reference made about the public participation at the Civic Felicitation programme held in honour of the Prime Minister of India in Janakpur on 11 May 2018 was unfortunate.

"It has come to the notice of the government of Nepal that she has publicly admitted her mistake and apologized for the same. The government of Nepal sincerely thanks all those who raised concerns over this issue," it said.

Sushma Swaraj had said that no Prime Minister before Modi had tried to reach out to the Indian diaspora on such a large scale. "Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister of the country who has from America's Madison Square to Janakpur (in Nepal) addressed lakhs of Indians and reached out to them."

She was then criticised by the Nepali leaders for her remark. "Regrettable that India's External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj described Janakpur's population that Narendra Modi greeted as Indians. One wonders what the confusion was, or if this was a casual undermining of Nepal's sovereignty," Nepali Congress leader Gagan Thapa tweeted.

Hours later, she rolled back her statement and apologized to people on Twitter, saying: "This was a mistake on my part."

--IANS

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Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Tuesday granted amnesty to 816 prisoners, a presidential spokesman said here.

Chhabindra Parajuli, the spokesman at the President's Office, said that the 816 inmates were granted amnesty on the occasion of the 11th Republic Day in line with the Article 276 of the constitution, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Monday, a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli had recommended the President grant amnesty to the prisoners.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The new Malaysian government has unblocked several media sites, years after they were blocked by the previous Najib Razak government.

In a Facebook post, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission announced that sites including Sarawak Report, an investigative journalism site, and Medium were unblocked, reports Efe news.

The Malaysian Insider (TMI) and its mirror site The Malaysian Outsider were also unblocked last week after being off the web and blocked for more than two years.

In its post, the commission said there was no longer any need to block those sites since the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) report had been made public.

Former Prime Minister Najib Razak has been accused of diverting almost $700 million into his personal accounts from 1MDB, a government strategic development company.

Sarawak Report, launched in early 2010 by a British journalist, focused on environmental and corruption scandals in Malaysia.

In August 2015, it published a story related to the alleged transfer of 42 million ringgit ($10.5 million) from a 1MDB subsidiary into Najib's account, and the site was blocked.

The outlet circumvented the ban by posting content on mirror sites and on Medium, but after Medium refused government orders to stop hosting Sarawak Report it too was blocked.

TMI came under government scrutiny around July 2015 also for its coverage of the 1MDB scandal, which led to a suspension of its publishing permits, financial difficulties, and TMI editor Jahabar Sadiq shutting down the site on March 15, 2016.

After the ban was lifted, Sadiq told Efe: "For the first time since independence we have an environment in which people can speak their minds, publish and be damned."

--IANS

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A new shelter home for widows, with capacity for 1,000 people, has been constructed in Uttar Pradesh's Vrindavan by the Union Women and Child Development Ministry, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The ministry signed an MoU on Tuesday with Uttar Pradesh's Women and Child Development Department, which has been assigned to look after the functioning of the shelter home.

"The MoU shall be in force for a period of two years which may be renewed for further period on satisfactory running of the home," said the statement.

According to the MoU, the state will be responsible for activities including setting up mechanism for identifying beneficiaries, providing residential care to the widows, and deploying staff as per norms with prescribed qualification and experience.

The MoU further stated that senior officials of the state will visit and check the staff periodically to monitor their performance.

--IANS

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The family of a four-year-old boy who was dramatically rescued after dangling from a balcony in Paris have expressed their gratitude to the Malian man who saved him.

"He's truly a hero," the boy's grandmother said of migrant Mamoudou Gassama, who scaled four floors to rescue the child from danger. Gassama will be given French citizenship, the BBC reported on Tuesday.

The boy's father, who had left him in the fourth-floor flat and gone shopping, faces charges of failing to look after his child.

On Monday, French President Emmanuel Macron personally thanked Gassama, gave him a medal for courage and said he would also be offered a role in the fire service.

The child had left Reunion Island, where his mother and grandmother live, about three weeks ago and moved to Paris to join his father, who was working there. His mother and the couple's second child were due to join them in June.

His mother said that the boy's father was not used to looking after him on his own and had left him alone before.

"I can't justify what my husband did. People will say it could have happened to anyone and it has happened to other people. My son was just lucky," she said.

After shopping, the boy's father had delayed going home to play Pokemon Go, prosecutors said. The father is reported to have been left devastated by what happened, BBC reported.

The boy's grandmother described her shock on seeing the video of her grandson hanging off the balcony, reports the BBC.

"Thankfully Gassama knew how to climb because there were a lot of people below but he didn't just fold his arms. He raced up to the fourth floor. That was truly incredible. He was very brave," she said.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Civil Aviation Minister Suresh Prabhu on Tuesday took cognisance of a sexual harassment complaint made by a female employee of the national passenger carrier Air India and directed the senior management to "immediately address" the issue.

"Asked @airindiain CMD to immediately address this issue. If necessary, will appoint another committee," Prabhu tweeted.

The minister's direction came after a female employee of the national carrier took to Twitter and complained about the way her case was dealt with by a committee, which was earlier appointed by the airline.

The AI employee -- a senior crew member -- wrote a letter to Prabhu and marked copies of the same to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha on May 25.

In the letter, which was made public by the employee via Twitter on Monday, she said: "I am forced to bring my serious complaint of sexual harassment and gross and deliberate discrimination by a senior officer of Air India over the last few years to your kind self."

"... Since the management of Air India has refused to deal with the matter seriously and in fact are now considering rewarding him for sexual harassment against us."

The letter detailed that the employee had approached the airline's management in September 2017.

The employee had tweeted: "@sureshpprabhu @jayantsinha My complaint against Senior AI Executive of #sexualharassment #discrimination at the Workplace #AirIndia Internal Committee is Farce & Coverup. HELP @narendramodi @PMOIndia @BDUTT @fayedsouza @sagarikaghose @AUThackeray #MeToomvmt."

After Prabhu, the Union Minister for Women and Child Development Maneka Gandhi tweeted to the employee sand said: "Dear @flyingpari, I have seen your complaint and have requested my colleague Shri @sureshpprabhu ji to have it examined immediately."

Even the Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Women and Child Development tweeted that: "We have contacted @flyingpari and requested for details."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A man disguised as a devotee attacked a priest of a Brahma temple in Rajasthan's Pushkar district for allegedly not allowing President Ram Nath Kovind to enter the sanctum sanctorum, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Ashok Meghwal, stood in a queue and attacked the priest Mahadevpuri as soon as his turn came to offer prayers

According to Pushkar station incharge Mahaveer Sharma, Meghwal who claims to be a doctor, was mentally unstable.

The President, who was on a recent trip to Pushkar, offered prayers on the temple's doorstep since his wife had a knee problem.

However, a few miscreants circulated messages on WhatsApp that Kovind was not being permitted to enter the temple premises.

The attack was caught on camera and the footage went viral where the accused is seen waving his sharp-edged weapon for a few minutes scaring other devotees.

This attack has raised several questions on the security arrangements of the temple where each and every devotee needs to go through a metal detector test to enter the premises.

--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 Tuesday stayed a Madhya Pradesh High Court order sentencing to death two men convicted of kidnapping, gang-raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl.

A vacation bench of Justice L. Nagaswara Rao and Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar sought the state government's response on the plea by the accused challenging the high court order upholding their conviction and death sentence by a trial court.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court by its May 9 judgment said: "The only punishment which the accused persons deserve for having committed the reprehensible and gruesome murder of innocent child to satisfy their lust is nothing but death."

On April 15, 2017, the accused -- Baghwani and Satish -- kidnapped the girl and throttled her to death after raping her.

The high court noted that a helpless child of 11 years, who had gone to keep her belongings in the house of Satish, was kidnapped and raped. She was also subjected to carnal intercourse and made to suffer untold pain and agony.

The accused, it said, did not stop there but strangulated her and threw her half naked body near a road, in total disregard of decency and respect for a dead body.

The court said the accused showed "lack of any remorse", as after committing the crime they acted "normal" and asked for liquor.

Recalling the sequence of crime, the court had said: "In our considered view, the capital punishment to the accused persons is the only proper punishment and we see no reason to take a different view than the one taken by the trial court."

Observing its anguish over the increasing incidents of rapes of minors, it said: "We are immensely appalled by the alarming increase in the recent incidents of child rapes and also being aware of the rising anger of society over rape of minor across the country, therefore, consider death sentence as a measure of social necessity and also a means of deterring other potential offenders."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An Additional Superintendent of Uttar Pradesh Police's Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) shot and killed himself inside his office on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Rajesh Sahini of the Provincial Police Service (PPS) posted at the ATS Headquarters in the posh Gomtinagar area here, shot himself in the head, said an officer.

Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Law and Order, Anand Kumar confirmed the incident to IANS and said the entire department was shocked by his action. "He was one of our finest...its a great loss."

Kumar, however, said the department was still not sure what exactly triggered such an extreme step. No suicide note has been recovered so far.

Sahini was instrumental in the arrest of a suspected Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operative of Pakistan's intelligence agency from Uttarakhand only last week.

He asked his driver to bring his service revolver. Minutes later he shot himself, an officer at the Headquarters said.

The police has seized the revolver used in the suicide and launched a probe.

Sahini was a 1992 batch PPS officer and had been behind many successful operations of the state police.

Born in 1969 in Patna, Sahini had "zero error monitoring and professionalism", a senior officer said.

--IANS

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Budget passenger carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday said that it will launch flight operations from Delhi to Kanpur under the air regional connectivity scheme UDAN from July 3.

"Tickets for the RCS seats on this flight will be available at Rs 2,313 (all in)," the company said in a statement.

"With the introduction of the daily direct flight services on the Delhi-Kanpur-Delhi route, passengers from Kanpur can now conveniently travel to a host of other cities both on SpiceJet's domestic as well as international network via multiple onward connections from Delhi."

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three illegal Bangladeshi migrants were arrested in Ghaziabad, the police said on Tuesday.

The police arrested the Bangladeshi nationals on Monday night from a hutment near the Regional Transport Office in Kavi Nagar Industrial Area.

During interrogation, they told the police that they had been living there by hiding their real identity. During their stay in India, they had also managed various identity proofs.

Later, the local intelligence unit (LIU) also joined their interrogation.

They identified themselves as Mohammad Alam Sheikh, son of Abdul Rauf; Nazrul alias Islam alias Hazare, son of Usuf Ali; and Imam Hussain, son of Abdul Hussain.

The police recovered a PAN card, three Aadhaar cards, two Voter ID cards, a passport photocopy, a birth certificate of Bangladesh and three mobile phones from their possession.

"We will keep conducting such drives to flush out illegal migrants who are putting extra burden on our resources," said Pradeep Kumar Tripathi, the Kavi Nagar Police Station incharge.

--IANS

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Three cow smugglers were arrested from Haryana's Rewari following a gunfight that left two policemen injured, a police spokesman said here on Tuesday.

"The Haryana Police has arrested three persons in connection with cow smuggling, including a most wanted cow smuggler of Rajasthan from district Rewari. The most wanted criminal, identified as Suba alias Sabudin, a native of village Palla in Mewat, is kingpin of cow smuggling gang. Delhi Police has also announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest," the spokesman said.

He said that all three accused were arrested following a gunfight in the Sodawas-Padmada area in Rewari.

"Two police personnel - ASI Ranbir and Head Constable Ravi Dutt - also received bullet injuries," the spokesman said.

He said that police had received information that cow smugglers in a Tata 407 canter carrying cows were heading towards Rewari and a team blocked the road. The cow smugglers them changed their route, after firing several rounds at police.

"They again opened fire at the police team after breaking barricades near village Majri, leading bullet injuries to two police personnel. Showing exemplary courage, the police team nabbed all the three accused alongwith Tata 407 vehicle near village Sodawas-Padmada," the spokesman added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Haryana Police has arrested three cow smugglers following a gunfight in the state's Rewari district, a police spokesman said here on Tuesday.

"The Haryana Police has arrested three persons in connection with cow smuggling, including a most wanted cow smuggler of Rajasthan from district Rewari. The most wanted criminal, identified as Suba alias Sabudin, a native of village Palla in Mewat, is kingpin of cow smuggling gang. Delhi Police has also announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest," the spokesman said.

He said that all three accused were arrested following a gunfight in the Sodawas-Padmada area in Rewari.

"Two police personnel - ASI Ranbir and Head Constable Ravi Dutt - also received bullet injuries," the spokesman said.

He said that police had received information that cow smugglers in a Tata 407 canter carrying cows were heading towards Rewari and a team blocked the road. The cow smugglers them changed their route, after firing several rounds at police.

"They again opened fire at the police team after breaking barricades near village Majri, leading bullet injuries to two police personnel. Showing exemplary courage, the police team nabbed all the three accused alongwith Tata 407 vehicle near village Sodawas-Padmada," the spokesman added.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
An attacker shot dead two police officers and a civilian in Belgium's Liege city on Tuesday.

The police told the BBC that the attacker was also killed and "neutralised" and the situation was now under control.

Two other police officers were injured and the man also took a woman hostage, according to Belgian media reports.

The motive behind the attack remains unclear.

Interior Minister Jan Jambon said the country's anti-terrorist crisis centre was monitoring the situation.

Belgium remains on high alert after attacks in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State terror group left 32 people dead.

--IANS

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(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
In a second successive blow to Vedanta Ltd, the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT) on Tuesday cancelled in "larger public interest" the land allotted in Thoothukudi for the expansion of Sterlite Copper's smelting plant.

In its letter to Vedanta, the SIPCOT cited the public protests against the plant's expansion on grounds of increased pollution and expressed concerns over pollution caused by the first smelter plant.

The government agency said the price of 342.22 acres deposited will be refunded as per the norms.

On Monday, the government issued orders to close Vedanta's first copper smelter unit, whose capacity is 400,000 tonnes per annum.

The closure order came after a total of 13 persons were killed in police firing on May 22 and the next day in protests in Thoothukudi against the continued functioning of the unit.

In November 2017, Vedanta said its board approved the expansion of its copper smelter to 800,000 TPA with a capex of $717 million, of which $141 million had already been spent.

The company claimed that after completion the project will make Thoothukudi as one of the world's largest single-location copper smelting complexes.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Tripura government has ordered a CID probe into the alleged suicide of a 17-year-old tribal girl student of a private school, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Debbarma said on Tuesday.

The Class 12 student took the extreme step after she was allegedly humiliated by some shopping mall staff and her school authorities after she was accused of stealing. The school authorities had even rusticated her.

"We have asked the CID (Criminal Investigation Department) to probe the suicide of Lahari Debbarma. We instructed the CID to take suitable legal steps to ensure stern action against the guilty," Debbarma told the media here.

The Deputy Chief Minister along with Revenue Minister Narendra Chandra Debbarma and Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath visited her house at Sidhai and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh.

Lahari went to a shopping mall on May 24 to purchase a gift but was harassed due to false accusations against her about stealing some items, which her mother Dipali Debbarma strongly denied.

Police said the girl committed suicide on Friday at her house, following which her mother lodged an FIR and blamed the school authorities and mall staff for the death.

Shopping mall Manager Samiran Nag refused to talk to the media. The mall authorities could not produce any CCTV footage to prove her guilt. The school authorities also refused to comment.

The opposition Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Congress separately demanded a judicial probe.

The student and youth bodies of both parties started an agitation from Monday to demand exemplary action against the guilty persons.

--IANS

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Two armed Maoist guerrillas were arrested in Jharkhand's Simdega district on Tuesday, police said.

According to police, the members of the banned People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) were arrested during a search operation, undertaken on information that the Maoists were going to hand over a looted bike and cash to the PLFI area commander.

Police launched search operation at Jeraikela of Simdega and caught the duo, who were on a motorbike, despite their attempt to escape. One of the arrested insurgents was identified as Ghurghur Singh, resident of Odisha's Sundargarh district.

Police seized one home-ade pistol, two mobile phones, live cartridges and the looted bike.

--IANS

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The US Supreme Court on Tuesday in an 8-1 ruling limited the scope of police searches, ruling that police officers must have a warrant to go through a vehicle parked at a home or on its surrounding property.

The final decision reversed a Virginia Supreme Court ruling that found the Fourth Amendment's automobile exception allows for warrantless searches of vehicles anytime, anywhere, including at a home or on its surrounding property, which is known as curtilage, Xinhua reported.

Citing court precedent in her majority opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment has occurred when a law enforcement officer physically intrudes on the curtilage to gather evidence.

"Such conduct as this is presumptively unreasonable absent a warrant," she said.

She said the lower court ruling would grant constitutional rights to people with the financial means to afford residences with garages in which to store their vehicles, but deprive people without such resources any individualized consideration as to whether the areas in which they store their vehicles qualify as curtilage.

The Virginia case centers on Ryan Collins, who argued police had violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure when they trespassed on the property of his girlfriend's house, lifted the tarp that covered a black and orange motorcycle, ran its plates and confirmed it was stolen, said the report.

Police had suspected the motorcycle was stolen after Collins twice eluded officers who had tried to pull him over for a traffic infraction and found pictures of the bike parked at the top of a driveway on Collins's Facebook page.

--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's Goa unit on Tuesday said that it will petition President Ram Nath Kovind to appoint a "full-fledged Chief Minister" in the absence of Manohar Parrikar, who is in the US for treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the Congress legislative party, state Congress President Girish Chodankar said that law and order and the state administration had come to a standstill in the absence of a fully functional Chief Minister.

He said Parrikar had completed a "century" of days he has been absent from Goa.

"We have repeatedly petitioned the government and the Governor that Goa needs a functioning Chief Minister. There has been no response. We have no option now but to meet the President of India and brief him about the unconstitutionality of the Goa government without the CM," Chodankar told reporters here.

"Parrikar has completed a century as far as his absenteeism is concerned. And now the ruling BJP has the audacity to tell us that a state is functioning well without the Chief Minister. Even when a regular government officer goes on leave, he delegates his charge to another officer. Parrikar should have delegated responsibility before leaving for treatment," the Congress leader said.

Before leaving for the US, Parrikar appointed a Cabinet Advisory Committee comprising of three ministers, which the Congress claimed is "unconstitutional".

--IANS

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India on Tuesday signed a $21.7 million loan agreement with the World Bank for strengthening public financial management in Rajasthan.

The project will contribute towards improving budget execution, enhancing accountability and greater efficiency in revenue administration in the state, an official statement said.

"The project size is approximately $31 million, of which $21.7 million will be financed by the World Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded-out of the state budget," it added.

The project involves strengthening the public financial management framework, and boosting expenditure and revenue systems. It will also include project management and capacity building.

The duration of the project is five years.

--IANS

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(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
St. Xavier's College of Kolkata has decided to open up its central research facility for researchers and faculty of other institutions and start a faculty development programme for teachers of other colleges and universities, a top official said here on Tuesday.

The college will also open a counselling cell for parents, which will be an extension of similar facilities now provided to students who require it regularly, college principal Reverend Father Dominic Savio told mediapersons.

The college is also coming up with an E-attendance system, own faculty development programme and other expansions related to teaching, learning, research and consultancy, said Savio.

"Such academic expansion will create new goals and drive the college in new directions and will attract talents that otherwise tend to migrate out of state," he said.

Teachers will be provided Tabs through which they will manage attendance, communicate with students and share content.

"Our college is introducing a mobile application for attendance management of students in a secure, paperless environment by making use of the e-resources of the college," he said.

On the faculty development programme, he said: "This will be a collaboration between the college and the St. Xavier's University. A teacher-learning research centre is also being planned."

As per the recommendations of the University Grants Commission, the college has decided to extend the choice-based credit system (CBCS) to the Science and Arts Department from the current academic year.

The system was introduced in the Commerce and Business Administration Department last year.

"Advantage of CBCS is that if a student wants to shift to St. Xavier's Mumbai or somewhere else, he can easily do it from the next semester," he added.

The college will start post-graduate courses in English, Political Science or International in its old campus on the city's Park Street and Bengali in the new facility at Raghavpur in South 24 Parganas district where the medium of instruction is Bengali.

Over the next two years, the college will also have Ph.D programmes in almost all subjects.

"The fees in the new campus in the rural area is less but there is no compromise in teaching, learning and the facilities," the principal said.

The college now spends around Rs 70 lakh each year on scholarships for needy students.

The sole purpose of building the rural campus is to attract students from the interiors of West Bengal.

"We believe in educating people, especially the first generation learners, those who are coming to study from a family for the first time," he said.

The college alumni association plans to start a new chapter in South Africa, which would take its number of international chapters to ten. "The purpose of having so many chapters is to spread the Xaverian spirit," he said.

Besides, there were also plans to set up a community radio in collaboration with the alumni association.

--IANS

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Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru (pictured) were not always imprisoned in regular jails but most often in salubrious environments in places like Allahabad, Naini, Ahmednagar etc, and mainly under house arrest. The British knew who the real freedom fighters were and they were either hounded or imprisoned abroad or virtually beaten to death like Lala Lajpat Rai. Other freedom fighters were taken to the Cellular Jail in the ...

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Former president Pranab Mukherjee will be the chief guest at the valedictory function at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh headquarters in Nagpur on June 7. As President of India, Mukherjee had hosted RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in 2017. According to sources, he continues to meet people, including RSS activists, at his new residence at Rajaji Marg in Lutyens Delhi.

The Congress, however, finds itself in a tricky situation. Party chief Rahul Gandhi has been attacking the RSS, even as many within the party have advised him not to. Some in the RSS have also reached out ...
The 15th Finance Commission today said it was not against any state and would come out with a "fair, rational and reasonable" decision on devolution of funds.

The assertion comes amid apprehensions raised by some non-BJP ruled states that the Terms Of Reference (ToR) of the commission would adversely affect them.

The commission was committed to providing "a fair, rational and reasonable decision on the process of devolution of funds between the Centre and the states," its Chairman N K Singh told reporters here.

Singh earlier held a meeting with Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, his ministerial colleagues and officials besides leaders of other political parties and representatives from trade and industry.

Kerala had last month convened a meeting of the Finance Ministers of southern states to jointly take up the issue related to ToR with the Centre.

Ministers from Karnataka, Telegana and Puducherry attended the meeting where Kerala alleged that some of the ToR ran against the spirit of federal structure and the country's Constitution.

Besides, a conclave of Chief Ministers and Finance Ministers of various states, including Kerala, held in Amaravati in Andhra Pradesh on May 7 had noted that the ToR "posed a threat to the economic independence of the states".

It made a strong pitch for assured devolution rather than discretionary devolution while suggesting at least 13 amendments to the ToR.

Referring to the objection raised by Kerala and other states over ToR, Singh said 'We are in no way responsible for ToR. We are the recipient of the ToR and not the creators."



But, having this ToR, the commission was committed to certainly addressing it, but not necessarily accepting all of the terms, Singh said.

On the concerns of Kerala, Singh said 'We have taken note of them and we will address."



He said the commission had already held its sitting in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Haryana.

Singh lauded the performance of Kerala government in the fields of education, health, social development in areas like human index and high per capital income.

"The state government is committed to providing a high quality governance," Singh added.

However, he said Kerala's economy had been affected as it had to spend a major portion of its revenue toward salary and pension of the government employees and stressed the need to improve the functioning of the public sector undertakings.

On the ToR recommendation of using the 2011 census to calculate population for allocation of central tax revenue in place of the 1971 census, Singh said there was a provision to provide incentives (Funds) to those states that had performed well when 2011 census was taken as the baseline.

Speaking after submitting a memorandum to the commission, Vijayan said the Centre's share to Kerala has to be increased as the state has made huge investments for development of infrastructure.

"With respect to the devolution of resources, we therefore request that vertical devolution be raised to 50 per cent from the 42 per cent awarded by the 14th Finance Commission," he said.

Vijayan wanted the Commission to unify the grants sanctioned by the Centre to states.

The fiscal rebalancing efforts should not be asymmetric and adverse in their impact on the fiscal space of states, especially when the major responsibilities regarding social and economic development were the responsibility of the states, he said.

"I am sure that you will agree that real fairness and equity in the matter of devolution of resources to the states is essential to the unity of our nation," the memorandum said.

The recommendations regarding the devolution of resources by the Commission assumes significance in the current environment, in which the finances of States have seriously been affected by demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST), Vijayan said.

Further, the rising share of surcharges and cess in central revenues had resulted in shrinking the divisible pool of revenues to states, he said.

A memorandum submitted by the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee submitted that some items in the ToR were against the spirit of the Constitution and fiscal autonomy of the state and Central-State financial relations.

This would adversely affect the harmonious relationship between the Union and the states, it said.

"This is an unhealthy change aiming at centralisation of fiscal powers in the hands of union government and rejecting fiscal autonomy and independence of States guaranteed by the Constitution," it charged.

The commission would visit Kochi Metro and some civic body institutions in Kochi and Thrissur tomorrow.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Farmers would now decide the of the country and the 2019 Lok Sabha election will be fought on issues concerning them, a farmers' body said today.

The leaders of the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee (AIKSCC), an umbrella body of farmer groups, said they have a collective agenda to make the issues of farmers as the core issue in Indian

The AIKSCC leaders had requested President Ram Nath Kovind yesterday to convene a special session of Parliament immediately to discuss the ongoing agrarian crisis in the country.

A 17-member delegation had met the president and submitted a memorandum urging him to address the immediate crisis of farm debts and guaranteed remunerative minimum support prices of farm products.

"Whether it is Gujarat (assembly) elections or Karnataka elections, it has now been very clear that farmers would now decide the of the country. The AIKSCC is not a political body, but we have a collective agenda that the politics of the country and the coming Lok Sabha polls in 2019 would be fought on the issue of farmers. Because it is the biggest challenge for the country," Yogendra Yadav, leader of Swaraj Abhiyan and a member of the AIKSCC, told reporters today.

Accusing the Narendra Modi-led government of being anti-farmers, the leader said that in the last four years, the government had always promised a lot for the farming community, but did nothing.

It is the reality that in the history of independent India, it is this government which is the most anti-farmer government till now, Yadav said.

The AIKSCC, which has 193 farmers' organisations associated with it, has in the recent past secured the support of 21 political parties for the two bills it created to secure legal rights for farmers for freedom from indebtedness and for guaranteed remunerative prices.

In continuation with its drive to rally farmers all over the country for securing their basic rights, the AIKSCC today gave a call for marking the first anniversary of the "killing" of six farmers in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh in 2017 as 'Mandsaur Shaheed Kisan Smriti Diwas'.

The committee also announced a three-day programme to mark the occasion which includes a torch light rally in Bhopal on June 4, a commemorative meeting with villagers of Buda village at Mandsaur on June 5, and a day-long fast in Takravat village on June 6.

Madhya Pradesh goes to polls later this year.

The day would be marked with different protest events in 0ther parts of the country against police atrocities on farmers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Three children were killed and another was injured after a tree uprooted by a storm fell over their hut in the Mori area of Uttarkashi district today, a government official said.

The tree fell on the hut inBhankwad village around 6 pm today killing the three children who were inside it -- aged five, three and one year -- on the spot, and leaving another badly injured, SDM Purola Puran Singh Rana said.

The seven-year-old child who received serious injuries in the incident has been rushed to a hospital, the official said.

A team of state disaster response force, police and forest department has been rushed to the spot, the SDM said on his way to the village.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A gunman today shot dead two police officers with their own weapons before killing a bystander in a brazen suspected terror attack in Belgium, briefly taking a hostage at a school before being killed by police.

The carnage in the gritty eastern industrial city of Liege began around 10:30 am (0830 GMT) when the attacker armed with a knife stabbed two police officers repeatedly before using their own firearms to kill them, prosecutors said.

Federal prosecutors said they had launched a terrorist investigation into the incident, which comes with Belgium on high alert after a string of attacks including twin suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State group.

"Armed with a knife, the suspect followed and attacked two police officers, and used their own firearms to kill them," prosecutor Philippe Dulieu told a conference.

"He continued on foot, attacking a parked vehicle where he opened fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat. The young man died.

"He then continued and entered the Leonie de Waha school. He took a woman working there as hostage. Police intervened, he came out firing on the police officers, wounding several before he was killed."



Eric Van Der Sypt, spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutor's office, told AFP there were "elements that point in the direction that this is a terrorist act".

According to Belgian broadcaster RTBF, the shooter was released from prison yesterday and was only known for minor infractions with no known links to extremism.

Prime Minister Charles Michel condemned what he called "cowardly and blind violence".

"All our support for the victims and their loved ones. We are following the situation with the security services and the crisis centre," Michel tweeted.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Belgium's Federal Crisis Centre was monitoring the situation.

"Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of establishing an overview of exactly what happened," Jambon wrote on Twitter. A major security cordon was set up around the area, while panicked parents came to collect their children from the school complex.

The governor of Liege province said all the children and staff were safe and unhurt.

"All the children are fine, those of the primary and kindergarten saw nothing, they were evacuated through the back of the school," Julie Fernandez, mother of a 7-year-old child at the school, told AFP.

"They were cared for by staff and psychologists and high school students were cared for in a nearby park," added Fernandez, who is also an MP.

Belgium has been on high alert since the smashing of a terror cell in the town of Verviers in January 2015 that was planning an attack on police.

The cell also had links to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the November 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris that killed 130 people.

Belgium further raised its terror alert level after the Paris attack and placed the capital Brussels on lockdown for a week.

The country was then hit by its own IS suicide attacks on Brussels airport and a metro station, which killed 32 people in 2016.

In August 2016, a machete-wielding man attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi before being shot dead.

The country's law enforcement agencies and intelligence services came under intense scrutiny for apparently missing a series of leads after the Paris attacks that could have led to the Brussels bombers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 91-year-old woman died after the branch of a tree fell on her at a residential complex in Walkeshwar Road in south Mumbai, police said today.

The incident happened yesterday night in a residential complex near Banganga Lake in Walkeshwar area, an official said.

Sukhi Lalji (91), who sustained serious injuries, was trapped under the branch and the fire brigade had to be called to rescue her, the official informed.

The elderly woman was rushed to the state-run Gokuldas Tejpal Hospital where she succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment, the official added.

He said that an Accidental Death Report (ADR) has been registered and further investigations were underway.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today urged his Karnataka counterpart H D Kumaraswamy to ensure a thorough inquiry and stern action against the culprits involved in the alleged attack on a Sikh man in Gulbarga over "fake WhatsApp news".

Taking serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Singh in a tweet asked Kumaraswamy to direct police officials to book the accused under the most stringent provisions of the Indian Penal Code and launch a detailed probe into the incident.

"Just heard about mob attack on a Sikh in Gulbarga on suspicion of being child lifter following fake Whatsapp Request you Shri @hd_kumaraswamy ji to ensure stringent action against culprits, and full protection for Sikh community and their religious rights in your state(sic)," Amarinder Singh said.

In a statement issued later, the Punjab chief minister expressed concern over the incident and urged Kumaraswamy to ensure protection for the community and steps to create awareness among the locals about the religious rights of the Sikhs.

He also urged Kumaraswamy to identify and take action against the perpetrators of the fake WhatsApp

Avtar Singh was reportedly thrashed by a mob on suspicion of being a child lifter following fake "WhatsApp forwards" about people from certain states coming to Karnataka and abducting children, and also harvesting their organs.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The National Human Rights Commission today decided to send its fact-finding team to probe the deaths of 13 people in police firing during the protests against Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit in Tamil Nadu's Tuticorin district.

The move comes days after the Delhi High Court had left it to the NHRC to decide on a lawyer's representation for an independent probe into it.

The rights panel had earlier issued notices to Tamil Nadu's chief secretary and the director general of police seeking detailed reports in two weeks, along with the status of those who were being treated for injuries.

"The NHRC today decided to send its own team of officers for making a fact-finding inquiry/investigation into the incident of police firing in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu on May 22, causing the death of more than 11 protesters demanding closure of Sterlite Copper plant," the NHRC said in a statement.

The Commission has asked its director general (investigation) to depute a team headed by an officer not below the rank of senior superintendent of police (SSP) assisted by three more officers of the rank of deputy SP and inspectors from its investigation division, the rights panel said.

"The NHRC team would leave forthwith and examine all the concerned, including family members of the victims and independent witnesses as it deems appropriate and submit a report to the Commission within two weeks," the statement said.

The Commission, in the statement, said it had given this direction after considering the representation made by A Rajarajan, through advocate Sabarish Subramanian, before the Delhi High Court.

The NHRC has observed that its instant direction in the matter was "independent of the directions already given by it to the chief secretary and the director general of police, after taking suo motu cognisance of the incident on the basis of media reports".

The Tamil Nadu government yesterday ordered the State Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Vedanta Group's copper plant in Tuticorin following last week's violent protests over pollution concerns during which 13 people were killed in police firing.

On May 25, advocate Subramanian said in the court that his client had sought a probe which was independent of the control of the DGP or the chief secretary as they were allegedly responsible for the orders to the police to open fire on the protesters.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Army today paid tribute to Sepoy Vikram Singh killed in a militant attack in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on May 27.

In a solemn ceremony at Badamibagh cantonment here, Corps Commander Lt Gen A K Bhatt and all ranks paid homage to the martyr on behalf of a proud nation, a defence spokesman said.

In a show of solidarity, representatives from other security agencies also joined in paying their last respects to the martyr, he said.

Sepoy Vikram Singh (25) belonged to Ladpur village in Mathura district of Uttar Pradesh. He had joined the forces in 2013. He is survived by his wife.

He sustained bullet injury during a "cowardly and provocative standoff attack" by the militants on Kakapore Army camp in Pulwama district, the spokesman said.

The soldier was provided immediate first aid and evacuated to 92 Base Hospital, but succumbed to his injuries.

"The mortal remains of the martyr were flown for last rites to his native place, where he would be laid to rest with full military honours," the spokesman said, adding the Army stands in solidarity with the bereaved family and remains committed to their dignity and well being.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The plan for construction of 1320 individual and 688 community bunkers along the Line of Control (LoC) for the safety of border residents in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir were finalised today, an official said.

District Development Commissioner, Poonch, Mohammad Aijaz Asad finalised the plan at an official meeting, directing revenue officers to identify suitable land, hand over the same to executing agencies and complete the process within a week's time, an official spokesman said.

A team headed by Assistant Commissioner, Revenue, with Sub-divisional Police Officers concerned, tehsildars and other officials was constituted to complete the exercise of hand over of land in shortest possible time, he said.

The project is targeted to be completed during the current financial year, the spokesman said.

Addressing the meeting, Asad said 688 community bunkers and 1320 individual bunkers would be constructed in villages located in 0-3 KM distance from LoC for accommodation of people during ceasefire violation induced migration and emergency evacuation.

The bunkers will be constructed at various border locations in Balakote, Mankote, Haveli, Mandi and Mendhar, he said.

He said the individual bunkers would be constructed for population residing in 0-3 KM range from LoC while community bunkers would be constructed in safer zones near schools, hospitals, police posts and places of religious gatherings to accommodate public during the ceasefire violations by Pakistan.

There have been several instances of heavy shelling and ceasefire violations along the LoC and international border in recent times.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Azerbaijan inaugurated today a pipeline that will eventually create the first direct route to transport gas from one of the world's largest fields to Europe bypassing Russia.

"With this project we are creating a new energy map of Europe," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a nationally televised ceremony where he turned on the taps at Sangachal Terminal, located some 55 kilometres (35 miles) southwest of the capital Baku.

The Southern Gas Project aims to transport gas 3,500 kilometres from the Caspian Sea to Europe just as the West is looking to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

The USD 40-billion (35-billion-euro) project consists of three linked pipelines that will bring gas from the vast Azerbaijani Shah Deniz 2 field across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

By 2020, the Southern Gas Corridor is expected to bring around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe a year. Another 6 billion cubic metres of gas will go to Turkey.

The South Caucasus Pipeline from Azerbaijan will transport gas to Turkey, where it will feed into Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, or TANAP.

From Turkey, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline will take the gas on to Italy.

The total investment in Shah Deniz 2 and pipeline infrastructure is more than $40 billion.

Aliyev praised support from the United States, Britain and the European Union and noted "strong regional cooperation between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia" in building the pipeline.

"This project takes into account the interests of everyone -- suppliers of gas, transit countries and consumers," Aliyev said.

"If it were not for the balance of interests then the project would not exist," he said at the ceremony attended by Western dignitaries.

But many activists have slammed the project, saying Western governments have turned a blind eye to rights violations in Azerbaijan and charging that it would serve to enrich Aliyev's family.

Last month Aliyev, 56, secured a fourth consecutive presidential term, in elections that international observers said were marred by "serious irregularities" and lack of competition.

He came to power after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist.

Supporters have praised the Aliyevs for turning a republic once thought of as an ex-Soviet backwater into a flourishing energy supplier to Europe.

But critics say they have crushed the opposition and used their power to fund a lavish lifestyle for the president and his family.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A Bangladesh Coast Guard Ship arrived at the Visakhapatnam Port today.

The aim of the visit is to develop working level operation between Coast Guards of maritime nations and enhance inter-operability in the fields of maritime search and rescue, anti-piracy operations and other maritime law enforcement tasks, a coast guard release said today.

The ship, Tajuddin, has participated during the 10th Regional Co-operation Agreement (ReCAP) for safe and secure sea in February 2017,the release said.

During the period of stay at Vishakhapatnam, the Bangladesh delegation would be calling on senior Indian Coast Guard officials, it said.

Also, joint exercises between the coast guard of the respective countries would be scheduled subsequently, which emphasises on search and rescue operations and pollution control exercises at sea.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The Election Commission (EC) today ordered re-polling at 49 booths in five of the six assembly segments in the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency tomorrow, after alleged malfunctioning of EVMs and VVPATs were reported.

Polling in the Lok Sabha by-elections for Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya seats in Maharashtra was yesterday marred by instances of malfunctioning of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and voter-verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs).

However, no re-polling has been ordered in the Palghar (ST) Lok Sabha constituency.

In a release issued today, the EC ordered transfer of Gondiya district collector and election returning officer (ERO) Abhimanyu Kale.

Nagpur Zilla Parishad Chief Executive Officer Kadambari Bhagat-Balkavde has been directed to take over the charge of ERO from Kale and conduct the by-poll process.

"After taking all material circumstances into account, the Election Commission of India, hereby, declares under Sub-section (2) of Section 58 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, that the poll taken on May 28, 2018, at polling stations mentioned against the assembly constituency as per details to be void and appoints May 30 as the date for taking a fresh poll at the said polling stations," the ECI stated.

The re-polling will be held between 7 AM and 6 PM.

The polling time for the Arjuni Morgaon (SC) assembly segment will be between 7 AM and 3 PM, it said.

Barring Arjuni-Morgaon (SC) where polling will be held in just two polling booths between 7 am and 3 pm, the fresh polling will be held in four assembly segments between 7 am and 6 pm, the poll panel said.

As per the EC order, the ring finger of the left hand of voters will be used for marking "indelible ink".

The commission has also directed the returning officer and poll machinery officials to give widespread publicity on the re-polling by beating of drums in areas where the polling is being held.

While 53.22 per cent polling was recorded in Palghar (ST) seat, Bhandara-Gondiya constituency had recorded 53.15 per cent polling.

Except Tumsar assembly segment in Gondiya-Bhandara, EVM malfunctioning was reported in Bhandara (SC), Sakoli, Arjuni-Morgaon (SC), Tirora and Gondiya segments.

Re-polling has been ordered in 14 polling booths in Bhandara (SC) segment, 4 in Sakoli, 2 in Arjuni-Morgaon (SC), 8 in Tirora and 21 in Gondiya.

In Bhandara-Gondiya, the BJP and the NCP were the main rivals in the bypoll, held after the resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole.

Patole, a leader of the powerful OBC Kunbi community, had switched sides from the Congress to the BJP and was elected as an MP from the constituency, located in Vidarbha region, in 2014 by defeating Praful Patel.

The NCP, which allied with the Congress for the bypoll, fielded ex-BJP MLA Madhukar Kukde against BJP's Hemant Patle, a former legislator who belongs to the Powar community.

In Palghar, the bypoll was necessitated following the death of sitting BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga. The bickering BJP ally Shiv Sena has fielded the late MP's son Srinivas in a bid to garner sympathy vote.

The counting of votes will be taken up on May 31 along with Palghar (ST) constituency.

Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan said senior leaders of the party met today to discuss the malfunctioning of EVMs and VVPAT machines.

"The chief minister (Devendra Fadnavis) has clearly used all possible means to win the elections that caused malfunction of EVMs. We will go to Delhi and meet officials of the EC," Chavan said.

He demanded that upcoming polls be held through paper ballot.

"Why re-poll is not ordered in Palghar seat? Why separate yardsticks for Palghar and Bhandara?" he asked.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bharti Foundation today said it has joined hands with the Meghalaya government to support 50 state-run schools.

The Bharti Foundation also signed an MoU with the Assam government to support 45 government-run schools.

"Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, announced the launch of Satya Bharti Quality Support Programme to support 50 government schools in East and West Jaintia Hills, reaching out to 6,500 children and 136 teachers," the organisation said in a statement.

As part of the MoU, Bharti Foundation will partner with the Department to strengthen initiatives in holistic improvement of school quality through joint discussions with the school leaders and officials, it said.

Speaking on the partnership, Bharti Foundation Chief Executive Officer Vijay Chadda said, "Satya Bharti Quality Support Programme works on the performance of government schools and enhances the overall schooling experience for children. It is being implemented for the first time in North East India.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A 27-year-old research scholar of the Banaras Hindu University allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from the ceiling fan of her rented accommodation here today, police said.

The deceased identified as Khyati Singh, a native of Betul in Madhya Pradesh. She was a research scholar at the BHU's Institute of Sustainable and Environment Development.

Khyati tried to hang herself early this morning. Her landlord saw her and immediately rushed her to the BHU trauma centre where she breathed her last, the police said.

Her family was informed and the body sent for post-mortem, they said, adding further investigation was on.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Bihar Cabinet today gave its nod to set up a Fisheries College at Kishanganj at a cost of Rs 40.31 crore.

The cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar okayed creation of academic and administrative posts apart from development of infrastructure of the College at a cost of Rs 40.31 crore in 2018-19 financial year, Cabinet Secretariat Department's Principal Secretary Arun Kumar Singh told reporters here.

It also approved creation of 88 new posts in Transplant and Nephralogy departments of Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) for starting the kidney transplant facility at the hospital, Singh said.

The cabinet also sanctioned creation of 25 new academic and non academic posts for carrying out Post Graduate course at Patna Dental College and Hospital, he said.

It also took a decision that the faculty of Nursing College of Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) would get salary at par with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Principal Secretary said adding that the decision would put an additional annual burden of Rs 45.21 lakh on state's exchequer.

It also sanctioned creation of 64 academic posts and 51 non teaching posts each for three newly set up government engineering colleges at Bhojpur, Vaishali and Banka, Singh said adding that a total of 192 and 153 posts of teaching and non teaching has been sanctioned.

A total of 20 proposals of different departments were discussed and given clearance at today's cabinet meeting.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Rajasthan Congress Chief Sachin Pilot today alleged that the tall claims under the Prime Minister's crop insurance scheme have fallen flat, and said the BJP government should stop looting farmers.

"Crop insurance companies withdrew premium several times more than the compensation provided by the companies to the farmers for losses in Kharif and Rabi crop recently," he claimed.

The BJP governments both at the state and the Centre should stop looting farmers in the name of crop insurance, Pilot said.

He alleged that the BJP government in Rajasthan was turning a blind eye to the rampant corruption in the name of crop and life insurance meant to provide relief to farmers.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Brazil's deeply unpopular President Michel Temer insisted today that a truck strike crippling the country will end within hours, even as drivers paralysed fuel, goods and food deliveries.

Temer said he had "absolute conviction that between today and tomorrow" the crisis, which stretched into its eighth day, would finally end.

In a tweet, Temer gave a slightly longer horizon of "one to two days." Despite Temer's confidence, significant numbers of truck drivers stood firm and some appeared to be radicalised, calling for the government to step down.

A key Temer minister, Eliseu Padilha, spoke of unidentified groups "infiltrating the movement with different, essentially political goals." Late Sunday, Temer caved in to their main demand for lower diesel costs, but Monday saw renewed disruption across Latin America's biggest economy, which is already suffering from the aftermath of a deep recession and political instability ahead of October general elections.

More than 550 road blockages by truckers were mounted across 24 of the country's 27 states, the federal highway police said.

Shortages of aviation fuel shuttered eight airports. Traffic to the huge Santos seaport near Sao Paulo, which usually receives 10,000 trucks a day, shrank to a trickle.

Although there has been some improvement since the army was ordered to intervene on Friday, with armed soldiers escorting fuel trucks on priority routes, enormous lines of cars were still forming at gas stations.

Many supermarkets around the country struggled to source fresh food. Producers reported having to slaughter stocks of chickens because they had no access to the feed, while others threw out thousands of litres of spoiled milk.

Hospitals in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo had to cancel non-urgent surgeries and at least 13 states reported scrapping university classes.

Adding to the disruption in Rio, the key BRT commuter system operated at only 22 per cent capacity, while in Sao Paulo the bus system ran at 70 per cent capacity.

The truckers are angry over the rise in diesel costs from 3.36 reais (92 US cents) a litre in January to 3.6 reais before the strike. On May 26, it hit 3.8 reais per litre. After urgent negotiations with representatives of the truckers, Temer agreed to cut the diesel price by 0.46 reais a litre for 60 days.

That concession hammered the value in state-controlled oil major Petrobras, one of Brazil's most dominant companies, which is due to face a strike by its own workers on Wednesday. Shares dropped 14 per cent today and another 14 per cent last Thursday, while the Ibovespa index in Sao Paulo closed 4.5 per cent lower.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
A case was registered after a woman filed a complaint that she was gang-raped by twelve persons nearly two months ago, police said today.

The 35-year-old victim, hailing from Gadh village in Palanpur taluka of Gujarat's Banaskantha district, filed a complaint at Gadh police station yesterday night, sub inspector V R Patel said.

The woman, in her complaint, has said that four of these 12 persons were known to her.

"The victim, who is a mother of three and whose husband works in Mumbai, was kidnapped from her house at around 10 pm by four persons known to her and taken to Katar village in Patan district on knife-point," Patel said.

"In the FIR, she said Kiranbhai Kapdi, who is the son of her father-in-laws sister, along with three others from Gadh village, took her on a motorcycle to Katar where she was raped by 12 persons," Patel said.

She has alleged that the 12 persons had also snatched a gold chain, weighing 2.5 tola, from her, he said.

Patel said that a case had been lodged against 12 persons, eight of them unknown, for rape, robbery, kidnapping and criminal intimidation under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

"We are investigating the case. Nobody has been arrested so far," the official said.

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The CBI case of alleged efforts by AirAsia India and its senior officials to manipulate government policies might trigger calls from established carriers for cancellation of Tatas' majority-owned budget airline's licence and sharpen the divide in the domestic aviation space, according to industry experts.

With the CBI registering a case against AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes and other officials for allegedly trying to manipulate government policies through corrupt means to get international licence brings the spot light on the erstwhile '5/20 norm'.

The norm -- which required local airlines to be in operation for at least five years and a minimum fleet of 20 planes in order to start overseas operations -- was done away with in 2016. Now, only the fleet requirement of 20 aircraft is in force, making it easier for new players such as AirAsia India and Vistara to commence international flights, experts said.

Against this backdrop, experts also opined that the CBI case would make things difficult for AirAsia India to start overseas operations. At present, the airline -- a joint venture between Tatas and Malaysia's AirAsia Berhad -- has 18 aircraft and is in the process of firming up international plans.

A senior aviation industry analyst told PTI that the CBI case is definitely a set back for AirAsia India and would have an impact on its proposed international operations also.

"There could be a demand for suspension or cancellations of the airline's licence as well from the Federation of Indian Airlines. which had been opposed to any tinkering in the now amended 5/20 norm," the expert said on condition of anonymity.

The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) is a grouping of four established airlines -- Jet Airways, SpiceJet, GoAir and IndiGo. It had opposed amending the 5/20 rule.

FIA could not be immediately contacted for comments on the AirAsia case.

Besides Fernandes, the CBI has named AirAsia India director R Venkataramanan and AirAsia Berhad's former deputy CEO Tharumalingam Kanagalingam, among others, as accused in the case.

Venkataramanan is also the managing trustee of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust and is responsible for management and oversight of all the Tata Trusts, as per Tata Trusts website.

The CBI has alleged that Venkataramanan was lobbying in the government to secure mandatory approvals, some of them through "non-transparent means", including the then Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance, no-objection certificate and the attempt for removal or modification of 5/20 rule.

"The case has been registered under 120-B (criminal conspiracy) under the IPC and sections 13(2) read with 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The searches took place at five locations in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru," CBI spokesperson R K Gaur said today.

In a statement today, Air Asia India refutes any wrong-doing and is co-operating with all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts.

"In November, 2016 AirAsia India Ltd had initiated criminal charges against its ex-CEO and had also commenced civil proceedings in Bengaluru for such irregularities. We hope to bring early resolution to all such issues,"Air Asia India Director Shuva Mandal said.

AirAsia India, where Tatas have 51 per cent stake, began operations in 2014.

"Air Asia scam will expose the fraud of the UPA Govt. I am happy Namo did not allow anyone to block CBI and the CBI Director Alok Verma's steady hand as well as Jt Director A K Sharma diligence that this scam has been exposed," senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said in a tweet.

In 2013, Swamy has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) against approvals for AirAsia India venture.

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Delhi Congress chief Ajay Maken today claimed that the CBSE class 10 results of Delhi schools was the "worst" in past one decade despite "tall claims" of reforms by the AAP government.

"With only 78.62 percent students passing the exam in Delhi, the result is the worst in the last 10 years. While the national pass percentage stands at 86.70, Delhi's performance falls below it by 8.08 per cent," he said.

The results declared today "puncture" the AAP government's "tall claims" that it has substantially improved the standard of in Delhi government schools, Maken said.

He alleged that performance of Delhi students in CBSE class 10 and class 12 exams are "falling steadily" since the Aam Aadmi Party came to power.

"The AAP government in Delhi is not only shunning its responsibility to provide quality to children, but also deliberately misleading people through a false narrative," the Delhi Congress chief alleged.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, however, lauded Delhi government schools for putting up an improved performance in the CBSE class 10 exams than the pre-boards.

"Many congratulations to all students who have passed the Class 10 CBSE Board exams. It was a tough year for all students as Board exams were happening for the first time after 10 years," he tweeted.

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Film megastar Amitabh Bachchan has been roped in by Central Railway to appeal to passengers to follow railway safety rules, a senior official said today.

"He shot sequences for a short film asking passengers to follow safety rules, to not cross tracks and to use foot overbridges," said D K Sharma, general manager, CR.

"In the short film, the film legend tells passengers not to cross tracks as someone is waiting for them at home," said Sharma.

He informed that a few short films, featuring actor Naseeruddin Shah and directors Sisir Mishra and Nishikant Kamat, have already been screened on social media platforms.

Sharma also said that Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today chaired a meeting in which the Railways as well as other agencies discussed their monsoon preparedness.

He said that CR was "fully prepared" for the monsoon and 60 pumps had been provided, including two with a capacity of 1000 cubic meter per hour.

These two pumps have been installed at Kurla and Sion, he said.

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Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today said that the Centre is planning to lay optical fiber cable in all the border areas to mitigate connectivity problems being faced by both defence personnel and the civilian population.

The minister, who was speaking of the achievements of the four-year-old Narendra Modi government, responding to media questions said, We will soon start work on extension of optical fibre cable in the border areas. The union cabinet had discussed the issue and sanctioned the additional fund only ten days before.

Soon all the border areas along the Indo-China border will be connected with OFC which will greatly improve the mobile and telephone connectivity besides improvement in radio frequency," she said.

Sitharaman during her recent visit to Kibithoo, the last border village in Anjaw district of Arunachal Pradesh, was told that the people of the area cannot access All India Radio due to poor frequency but only Chinese radio frequency and had poor mobile network.

Replying to another question on empowerment of women in border areas by recruiting them in defence forces, the minister said that women in the country are working as fighter plane pilots and the government was trying to recruit them in other areas too.

"Those women who have not got permanent commission has approached the court for their rights and the matter is now sub-judice. However, I am considering how to give permanent commission to women in defence forces, she added.

When asked about the government stand on media reports about mining activities by China near Arunachal territory, Sitharaman said, "I have to get the details of it. I too saw the report in media but I cannot comment based on that at this point of time.

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The government announced today that a Brahmaputra Study Centre would be set up at Gauhati University at a cost of Rs 28 crore to conduct research on the causes of and how to prevent frequent floods in the river.

Union Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh said the Brahmaputra was one of the largest rivers in the world and the study centre would offer an opportunity for research in different aspects of the river in hydrology, waterways, environment, disaster, flood management, hydro-power production, etc.

The government has approved setting up of an exclusive Brahmaputra Study Centre at Gauhati University in Guwahati for which a fund of about Rs 28 crore will be provided by the DoNER Ministry, Singh said.

Vice-Chancellor of the university, Mridul Hazarika, who called on the minister, said the university had decided to provide land within the campus for a separate block for the study centre.

Singh said Gauhati University was one of the oldest universities in the country and it needed to cultivate a unique identity for itself which could attract scholars from far and wide by setting up the study centre.

Describing it as a "one stop destination" for all issues and problems that might emerge from time to time with respect to the Brahmaputra river system, Singh said the first major study at the centre had already been initiated.

He said it was devoted to the research on the causes and prevention of frequent floods in the river and included some of the internationally renowned scholars from across the world.

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China today refrained from making any direct comment on Pakistan's latest move on exercising administrative authority on Gilgit-Baltistan, but said the CPEC, which traverses through the disputed region, will not affect its stand that the Kashmir issue should be resolved between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan's Cabinet on May 21 approved Gilgit-Baltistan Order 2018 which was also endorsed by the region's assembly. The order is being seen as Pakistan's efforts towards incorporating the disputed region as its fifth province.

The move sparked anger in the region and drew strong reaction from New Delhi which said the entire state of Jammu and Kashmir, which also includes the so-called 'Gilgit-Baltistan' areas, is an integral part of India by virtue of its accession in 1947.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing that "Kashmir issue is a historical baggage between India and Pakistan and therefore shall be resolved between the two sides through dialogue and consultation".

Asked to comment on the Pakistan government's Gilgit-Baltistan Order, Hua reiterated Beijing's stand that the USD 50 billion China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which goes through Gilgit and Baltistan, will not affect its stand that the Kashmir issue should be resolved between India and Pakistan.

"We have stressed many times that the CPEC is an initiative for economic cooperation. This is a cooperation framework which serves the purpose of economic development and the people's livelihood. This initiative does not affect our position on the Kashmir issue," she said.

Pakistan has bifurcated occupied Kashmir into two administrative parts - Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Gilgit-Baltistan was treated as a separate geographical entity by Pakistan till now.

It is believed that China's concerns about the unsettled status of Gilgit-Baltistan prompted Pakistan to change the region's status.

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About 60,000 suspects were prosecuted in China for harming minors from January last year to April this year, including several high-profile abuse cases, the Supreme People's Procuratorate (SPP) said today.

Since last year, a total of 231 suspects have been prosecuted for offences in kindergartens, said Zheng Xinjian, a senior prosecutor in charge of underage cases at a press conference.

Zheng said that the suspect of a high-profile child abuse case in Beijing, who was accused of using sewing needles to "discipline" children at RYB Education New World Kindergarten, was being prosecuted.

The suspects of child abuse cases at a day care centre under contract to a leading travel agency in Shanghai and a nursery in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing are also being taken to the court, Zheng said.

Chinese prosecuting agencies have stepped up efforts against offenses involving minors, state-run Xinhua agency reported.

Since 2015, all cases involving underage victims have been handled by specialised departments, Zheng said.

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China's industrial policies like 'Made in China 2025' plan harm companies in the US and around the world, the White House said today and asserted that US President Donald Trump is confronting the Communist giant's "unfair trade policies".

For many years, China has pursued industrial policies and unfair trade practicesincluding dumping, discriminatory non-tariff barriers, forced technology transfer, over capacity, and industrial subsidiesthat champion Chinese firms and make it impossible for many US firms to compete on a level playing field, the White House said.

China's industrial policies, such as its 'Made in China 2025' plan, harm companies in the US and around the world, the White House said and alleged that China imposes much higher tariffs on US exports than America imposes on China.

Noting that China's average tariff rate is nearly three times higher than the average US rate, the White House said certain products are even more imbalanced, for instance the US charges a 2.5 per cent tariff on Chinese cars, while China currently maintains a 25 per cent tariff on cars from the US.

Observing that China has banned imports of the US' agricultural products such as poultry, cutting off America's ranchers and farmers from a major market for their goods, the White House accused China with dumping and unfairly subsidised a range of goods for the US market, undermining America's domestic industry.

In 2018 alone, the Trump administration has found dumping or unfair subsidies on 13 different products, including steel wheels, cold-drawn mechanical tubing, tool chests and cabinets, forged steel fittings, aluminum foil, rubber bands, cast iron soil pipe and fittings, and large diameter welded pipe, it said.

Further in January 2018, the Trump administration found that China's overproduction of steel and aluminum, and the resulting impact on global markets, is a circumstance that threatens to impair America's national security.

The US has run a trade in goods deficit with China for years, including a USD375 billion deficit in 2017 alone, it said.

Alleging that China has aggressively sought to obtain technology from American companies and undermine American innovation and creativity, the White House said the cost of China's intellectual property theft costs United States innovators billions of dollars a year, and China accounts for 87 per cent of counterfeit goods seized coming into the US.

United States Trade Representative's (USTR) Section 301 investigation identified four of China's aggressive technology policies that put 44 million American technology jobs at risk. These are forced technology transfer; requiring licensing at less than economic value; Chinese state-directed acquisition of sensitive United States technology for strategic purposes; and outright cyber theft.

China uses foreign ownership restrictions, administrative review, and licensing processes to force or pressure technology transfers from American companies, the White House said. At the same time, China requires foreign companies that access their New Energy Vehicles market to transfer core technologies and disclose development and manufacturing technology.

The White House said China imposes contractual restrictions on the licensing of intellectual property and technology by foreign firms into China, but does not put the same restrictions on contracts between two Chinese enterprises.

"China directs and facilitates investments in and acquisitions of United States companies to generate large-scale technology transfer. China conducts and supports cyber intrusions into United States computer networks to gain access to valuable business information, so Chinese companies can copy products," it said.

As such, under Trump's leadership the US will impose a 25 per cent tariff on USD 50 billion of goods imported from China containing industrially significant technology, including those related to the "Made in China 2025" program. The final list of covered imports will be announced by June 15.

In January 2018, the President announced his decision to provide safeguard relief to US manufacturers injured by surging imports of washing machines and solar products. This was the first use of Section 201 of the Trade Act of 1974 to impose tariffs in 16 years.

"These actions responded to injurious trade practices by China and other countries, including attempts to avoid legally imposed anti-dumping and countervailing duties," the White House said adding that following the decision, Whirlpool announced 200 new jobs in Ohio.

USTR and the Department of Commerce are working together to defend the right of the United States to continue treating China as a non-market economy in antidumping investigations until China makes the reforms it agreed to when it joined the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"Trump's administration has successfully litigated WTO disputes targeting unfair trade practices and upholding our right to enforce United States trade laws," it said, adding that in February this year, USTR won a WTO compliance challenge against China's unfair anti-dumping and countervailing duties on United States poultry exports and China announced the termination of those duties.

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Rajasthan Agriculture Minister Prabhulal Saini today held the Congress responsible for the deteriorating condition of people in the state and said the opposition party should repent for its past "misdeeds" than holding protests.

Yesterday, the Congress had held a demonstration over scarcity of drinking water in Jaipur and broke earthen pots as a mark of protest.

Saini said it would have been better if Congress leaders installed water pots for birds and set up water huts instead.

"It is unfortunate that the Congress is creating a drama by breaking earthen pots. The party is behind the deteriorating condition of the people. They should repent for their past misdeeds than holding protests," he said at a press conference.

The minister said the state government was making all efforts to provide drinking water to people.

Accusing the Congress of doing in the name of water, Saini said Rajasthan is largest state in the country with only 1.16 per cent surface water availability.

He said the BJP government in the state spent Rs 20,000 crore in over four years on drinking water projects compared to Rs 12,225 crore spent by Congress between 2008 and 2013.

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A day after Lok Sabha MP Baijayant Panda resigned from Biju Janata Dal (BJD) headed by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, two national parties - the Congress and the BJP -- today said their doors are open for him.

Amid speculation that Panda may join the BJP, Union Tribal Affairs Minister Jual Oram said, "Panda is a good human being, a good politician and a leader. Unfortunately, the BJD could not recognise Panda's qualities. If he joins the BJP, it will be good for our party."



Union Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan had yesterday said any good person who reposed faith in the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and party president Amit Shah, may join the BJP.

Shortly after Panda announced his resignation from the BJD following a year-long acrimonious relationship with the chief minister, Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) was understood to have held a strategic meeting at the state party headquarters here, sources said.

OPCC president Niranjan Patnaik and other senior leaders deliberated on political situation in the rival BJD after Panda's resignation.

"Both Congress and BJP are more than interested in inducting Panda as he will be a major tool to grind Naveen Patnaik. Panda and Patnaik were close for decades and, therefore, the industrialist-turned-politician became MP four times, twice each in Rajya Sabha and Lok sabha," said a senior Congress leader.

Panda was elected to the Rajya Sabha twice between 2000 to 2009 and later to Lok Sabha from Kendrapara in 2009 and 2014.

Panda's family owns Odisha Television, the state's most popular and widely viewed television channel.

The political party which Panda joins, will certainly look to derive immense benefit from the state's number 1 channel, the Congress leader pointed out.

Earlier this year, Chief Minister Patnaik inducted J B Patnaik's son-in-law Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, who heads the state's widely circulated Odia daily as well as the Kanaka channel, into the BJD.

He has also inducted education entrepreneur Achyuta Samanta, who runs Asia's biggest tribal school and also owns the Kalinga Television channel.

Naveen Patnaik gave both Soumya Ranjan and Samanta Rajya Sabha seats just a few hours after their induction into the BJD.

As media, particularly the television channel, is likely to play important role in next year's state elections, the two national parties are keen to take Panda into their fold, at least for getting advantage from his channel, if not for anything else, political observers say.

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A Delhi court today allowed the joint application moved by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari and senior Congress leader Digvijay Singh to withdraw the criminal defamation complaint filed by the former against the latter.

Singh and Gadkari, who holds the porfolios of Road Transport and Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, filed a joint application before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal seeking legal quietus of Gadkari's private complaint.

"In the recent past, the respondent (Singh) and the complainant (Gadkari) met and in a private discussion, they have agreed that sometimes in the heat of political campaign, the statements are made which may not always be substantiated and, therefore, in the larger public interest, they have agreed to put an end to the present ongoing litigation," the joint plea by both the politicians said.

The court allowed Gadkari to withdraw the complaint, noting that the matter has been amicably settled and both the leaders do not want to pursue it further.

The court had in December 2012 granted bail to the Congress leader in the case where he had allegedly accused the BJP leader of having business links with his party MP Ajay Sancheti.

The court, after finding "prima facie" evidence against Singh, had directed him to appear before it as an accused in the complaint, which was filed under sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the IPC.

Gadkari, in his statement recorded in the court, had denied having any business ties with Sancheti and said that Singh had levelled totally false and defamatory allegations against him to give the impression that I have been responsible for allocation of the coal mines to Sancheti.

In his petition, Gadkari had said that Singh had levelled defamatory allegations against him to lower his dignity in the public at large and with the wrongful intent to malign and tarnish his image.

The Congress leader had denied charges that he had defamed the BJP leader.

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People with any of the 21 disabilities recognised under law should be covered under the Centre's ambitious National Health Protection Mission, the Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry has suggested.

The centrally-sponsored scheme, likely to be rolled out in August, aims at providing a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually and it will benefit more than 10 crore families belonging to the poor and vulnerable sections of the society.

"We have suggested that all 21 disabilities be covered under the Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission (NHPM) so that patients can avail the benefits. This will make them self-reliant," a senior official in the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD) said at an event organised by the Multiple Sclerosis Society of India (MSSI) yesterday.

The Rights of the Persons with Disabilities Act of 2016 recognises 21 disabilities as against seven recognised by the 1995 Act. The disabilities include multiple sclerosis, locomotor disability, thalassemia, mental illness and acid attack victims.

The department is also planning to introduce a centralised data management system which would help in keeping a track on the number of the disabled people, type of disability they suffer from and work effectively to provide facilities to the beneficiaries. The authorities will be able to access this centralise data from anywhere, he said.

Speaking at the event, Head of the Department of Neurology at AIIMS Dr Kameshwar Prasad said that a lot of research needed to be done on multiple sclerosis.

Earlier when MRI was not there it was hard to detect multiple sclerosis and used to be considered as a rare disease, but MRI helped doctors to diagnose such patients more effectively.

People suffering from multiple sclerosis and their families need to be psychologically strong because it also affects a patient's mind, will-power, employment and it disturbs his family and friends as well.

"It's high time that organisations like MSSI, private institutions and government should come together to research on this so that lot of measures can be taken towards providing affordable MS generic drugs to the patients," he said.

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Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani today said Dalits would take a pledge to not vote for the BJP in upcoming Rajasthan elections under a campaign which will be later extended to Maharashtra.

Addressing a gathering here, the first-time MLA and Dalit leader said the saffron party would "long" for Dalit votes in all upcoming polls but would never get them.

"We will ensure that Dalit votes don't go to the BJP. We will make dalits take a pledge not to vote for the BJP. At least, one lakh dalits will take the oath in name of B R Ambedkar. This campaign will also be conducted in all districts of Maharashtra," he said while addressing 'Manavadhikar Parishad' (Human rights conference) organised by the Republican Youth Federation.

BJP-ruled Rajasthan is going to polls later this year.

Attacking the BJP, Mewani said the saffron party is anti-Constitution, fascist, and believes in "Manusmriti" (an ancient book of Hindu law which liberals dub as casteist).

Mewani also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming him the "biggest liar" of Century.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the biggest liar of the century. He had promised creation of 2 crore jobs every year before coming to power. However, even after completing four years in office, not even 8 lakh jobs were created," he said.

In a dig, Mewani said, "...At least give jobs to unemployed workers of ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad), RSS, and BJP".

"If the prime minister really wants to work for people he can create 25 lakh jobs in government sector overnight. At least 15 lakh teachers can be appointed in primary and higher primary schools in the country and two lakh more people can be appointed in railways. Similarly, if Modi wants five lakh doctors can be appointed in primary health centres, district hospitals and community health centres in the country," he said.

However, instead of creating jobs in government, Modi will sell Air India, the legislator said.

Replying a query on former President Pranab Mukherjee accepting an invitation to attend an RSS event here next month, Mewani said, "I think he should bring a lock and lock the RSS here".

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An MoU has been signed between the Women and Child and Development Ministry and the Uttar Pradesh government for managing a shelter home for widows built by the former at Sunrakh Bangar in Vrindavan.

The shelter home for widows has a capacity of 1,000 inmates.

The memorandum of understanding shall be in force for a period of two years which may be renewed for a further period on satisfactory running of the home, a release by the WCD ministry said.

The shelter home shall be run either by the state government or any of its institution, any civil society or by any reputed non-government organization. The decision in this regard will be taken by the state government, it stated.

According to the MoU, the state government shall be responsible for activities including setting up mechanism for identifying beneficiaries, providing residential care to the widows, deploying staff according to norms.

It further states that senior officials of the Uttar Pradesh government will visit and check the security staff periodically and monitor their performance. It also includes provisions for facilitating Aadhaar cards for all inmates and medical, and geriatric care for them.

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The death toll from a firefight in an English-speaking region of Cameroon shaken by an armed separatist campaign stands at 32, including five "hostages," the government said.

The clash erupted at a motel last Friday in Menka, in the Northwest Region -- one of two regions gripped by fighting over the last eight months.

"Twenty-seven terrorists (were) neutralised" by a 30-member special unit of police and troops, government spokesman Tchiroma Bakary, who is also communications minister, said late Monday.

The group, which were attacked at a hotel, was an "armed gang" that for months had been "sowing terror and desolation" in the region, killing gendarmes and carrying out kidnappings, rape and extortion, he charged.

Out of "15 hostages" taken by the group, five died, all of them at the hands of the attackers, he said.

About a fifth of French-speaking Cameroon's population of 22 million is anglophone.

For years, resentment built among anglophones, fostered by perceived marginalisation in education, the judiciary and the economy at the hands of the French-speaking majority.

Demands for greater autonomy were rejected by 85-year-old President Paul Biya, in power for more than 35 years.

The crisis escalated last October after the declaration of the self-described "Republic of Ambazonia" in the Northwest and Southwest Regions, causing scores of deaths and prompting tens of thousands to flee their homes.

Human-rights watchdogs point to a range of abuses, including abductions and targeted killings.

Security forces found five pump-action shotguns, of a type only used by special forces, as well as 17 combat guns and 10 hunting rifles, about 30 military uniforms as well as five berets "which belonged to police and gendarmes who were shot dead in cold blood by the same terrorists," Tchiroma said.

He denied "allegations that the Cameroonian army carried out a massacre on the civilian population".

Tchiroma said images of the dead at Menka have been widely distributed on social media, prompting human-rights watchdogs and opposition politicians to voice outrage.

Nji Tumasang, an MP with the English-speaking opposition Social Democratic Front (SDF), speaking after a party delegation visited Menka on Saturday, said 22 people had been killed.

Their identity was unclear, but villagers said they were criminals, not "terrorists" as the army had said, Tumasang said.

Cameroon's linguistic division dates back to the colonial period.

It was once a German colony and was divided between Britain and France after World War I.

In 1960, the French part gained independence, becoming Cameroon, and the following year, the British-ruled Southern Cameroons was amalgamated into it, becoming the Northwest and Southwest Regions.

According to the International Crisis Group (ICG) think tank, "at least 120" civilians and "at least 43" security forces have been killed since the end of 2016.

The UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says around 160,000 people have been internally displaced and 20,000 have sought refuge in neighbouring Nigeria as a result of the violence.

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Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman today made her maiden visit to Armys Spear Corps Zone at Rangpahar, Dimapur where she was briefed about counter terrorist as well as border management operations on Indo-Myanmar border.

She would go to forward areas along the Indo-Myanmar border in Nagaland sector tomorrow, Public Relations Officer of Defence C Konwer said.

The minister arrived today in Nagaland on a two-day visit.

General Officer Commanding of Spear Corps, Lt Gen Gopal R, briefed the Minister on the progress of operations of the corps which include counter terrorist as well as border management operations on Indo-Myanmar border in the North Eastern states.

During visit to forward areas, she would undertake a detailed assessment of the border guarding operations undertaken by Spear Corps and also interact with officers and troops of the Assam Rifles operating along the border areas so as to make a firsthand review of the security situation along the international border, the PRO said.

The Defence Minister before departing for Delhi the same evening would also meet and interact with the local people at those locations, the PRO defence added.

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Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik today launched a 'Street Safe' campaign of cab aggregator Ola, and said such initiatives should be emulated by other companies.

It is a unique initiative with regard to women safety and other cab aggregators should also adopt it, he said.

"I commend Ola for the unique initiative and it can be emulated by other such companies."



He said Delhi Police has taken several initiatives towards women safety. Citing figures, he said that crimes against women came down last year.

Patnaik also flagged off Ola cabs with child lock disablement stickers designed to remind passengers to ensure disabling of the locks before the trip starts.

Ola has become the first ride-sharing company to comply with the recent notification issued by the State Transport Authority (STA) that mandates drivers to paste a minimum of four such stickers in their cabs, said a company spokesperson.

The 'Street Safe' campaign will focus on creating partnership to strengthen road and ride safety. It also aims at creating awareness on three key causes of road fatalities in India -- drinking and driving, texting and driving, and speeding



Ola will conduct workshops and training for its driver partners across the country. The drivers will also attend gender sensitisation workshops.

During the event, the Delhi Police Commissioner also felicitated Ola driver partners and policemen for helping commuters while doing their duty.

"As a safety-first organisation, Ola, through its Street Safe programme is delighted to collaborate with all stakeholders involved in public safety including the Delhi Police," said Pranav Mehta, Ola City Head (Delhi-NCR).

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The government is undertaking projects worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in the North East and J&K as part of efforts to create vibrant infrastructure across the country which has seen "unmatched work" in this space in the last four years, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said today.

This, he said, is in addition to several big-ticket projects which are already underway such as the Rs 5 lakh crore Bharatmala for highways and Rs 14 lakh crore Sagarmala for ports.

"When I took over as a Minister at the Centre, I had seen a dream of India having a vibrant infrastructure. Slowly and gradually I see this dream taking shape," Gadkari told PTI in an interview.

"Foundation has been laid with unmatched work done in the space in the last four years. We have done so much that it surpasses the work done during the Congress regime in over 50 years," he claimed.

He said the connectivity projects for Chardham and Mansarovar Yatra will be a priority this year.

"We are making all-weather road for Chardham which is very important for the country. The project is worth Rs 12,000 crore. As for Manasarovar, 70 per cent work has happened. Only much difficult 30 per cent part has been left as work is done there in difficult circumstances at - 3 degree temperature," he added.

Gadkari holds portfolios such as road transport, shipping, water resources and Ganga rejuvenation.

He said plans are afoot to lay a network of green alignments, which includes Rs 1 lakh crore Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and the work on the Rs 44,000 crore first phase -- Vadodara-Mumbai stretch -- will begin shortly.

The travel distance between the two metros will be shorter by 125 km as new alignment is from Ring Road of Delhi to Jaipur to Alwar from where it will reach Sawai Madhopur to Mumbai via Vadodara.

The government plans to build Chambal expressway that would be linked to the Delhi-Mumbai expressway benefiting Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, he said.

Besides, work is likely to begin soon on about Rs 7,000 crore Dwarka Expressway project and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lay its foundation within a fortnight, he said.

On J&K and the North East, Gadkari said: "We have undertaken work worth Rs 60,000 crore in Jammu & Kashmir alone. We are building tunnels, roads there. We are doing work worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the North East. We are working in backward areas for people who used to think that nobody pays attention to their problems."



On the Ganga project, he said about 80 per cent of the work is likely to be completed by next March.

"I want to complete the projects on Ganga that include four multimodal hubs and 60 river ports. We have decided to start dredging work from Varanasi to Allahabad This is a major work. I want to make Ganga nirmal' and 'aviral'."



He said out of 210 projects for Ganga, 47 have been completed while tenders for 35-40 projects are out.

Another area of focus is electric vehicles and alternative fuels, Gadkari said.

"My focus is to bring public transport on electricity. For metrino project from Dhaulakuan to Manesar, financial bids have already come. This work is very important for us. When this will begin a new revolution will start. I think we will be in a position to issue workorder in three months," he added.

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The National Green Tribunal has directed the Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB) to hand over a piece of land in Lajpat Nagar to a traders' body for parking purposes.

The land, which measures around 5,000 square metres at Kasturba Niketan in Lajpat Nagar area of South Delhi, was allotted to the traders' body by the tribunal in 2015 to minimise traffic congestion in the busy marketplace.

A bench headed by acting NGT Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim asked the traders' body and the DUSIB to visit the spot and said that the possession of the property be handed over if not done already.

During the hearing, advocate Gautam Singh, appearing for the traders' body, said the Board has again locked the gate after opening it for a month.

The counsel for the Board, however, told the tribunal that the applicant was already in possession of the land and they were being harassed unnecessarily.

"In the circumstances, we direct that there should be joint visit to the spot by the applicant and the officers of the Board and the possession of the property be handed over if already not handed over to the applicant.

"If the possession is found to be with the applicant, then it may be recorded in the form of panchnama (record of observation ) and submitted to the tribunal. This shall be done within two weeks from now. We permit the Board to take necessary photographs for the tribunal," the bench said.

The NGT had earlier issued a show-cause notice to the DUSIB over why action should not be taken against its erring officials for not handing over the land.

The tribunal was hearing a plea seeking execution of the NGT order directing DUSIB to allot the land as a temporary parking site for parking of vehicles till a multi-level parking is constructed by South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) in that area.

The plea contended that despite filing an affidavit in the tribunal, the board has not handed over the land till date and sought action against the officers concerned.

The tribunal had disposed the matter in pursuance to the DUSIB's affidavit stating that it would hand over the land to the traders' body.

The traders' body had earlier said that despite the order of the NGT, DUSIB issued a show cause notice to it after inspection in September 2016 and later denied permission to the applicant to utilise the space for parking.

Despite numerous letters and representations, DUSIB has not taken any action in this regard which led the traders to file the petition, seeking directions to the board to earmark the plot and comply with the NGT's 2015 direction, the plea had said.

The petition had said that vehicles were being parked on both sides of the metalled road in total violation of the orders of the tribunal and it was difficult to move on the footpath which also have been encroached upon.

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President Ram Nath Kovind today said the objective of should be to nurture freedom of thought and innovation within the students, besides building capacities for a professional career.

Addressing the 49th convocation ceremony of the Veer Narmad South Gujarat University (VNSGU) here, he said students should also be taught "to respect sentiments of others as well as work for the welfare of society."



Praising girl students for bagging more medals and awards than boys, Kovind said it is "a good sign for the country" that women are moving forward in all spheres.

"Higher and innovation have a special place in preparing the country's youth in nation building. The objective of should be to nurture freedom of thought and innovation within the student community, besides building capacities for a professional career and to teach them to respect the sentiments of others and to work for the welfare of the society," the president said.

"We should prepare such students. They would take the country forward," he said.

"I am especially happy to learn that out of 1.41 lakh students (in the university), the number of girl students is 82,000, which is much higher than boys.

"A good number of daughters have bagged medals and awards . The university and parents of these girls should be praised for this feat. Daughters are moving ahead in all spheres, which is a good sign for the country," Kovind said.

Girl students bagged 62 out of 82 medals and 54 out of 71 awards presented on the occasion.

Kovind said he was happy to learn that a large number of tribal youths are students of VNSGU.

The university has a crucial responsibility, as it is located in a city where people from all over the country come to "get job and they work to improve the future of India," he said.

The president noted that the VNSGU is named after renowned Gujarati literary figure Narmadashankar Dave or Veer Narmad, who was not only a poet and writer but also a social reformer.

"Veer Narmad was a nation builder who shaped Gujarati and Indian identity and worked for female empowerment, widow remarriage and similar causes," he said.

Praising Surat, which he termed "mini India," Kovind said the city was earlier known as "Suryapuri" and Chinese traveller Hiuen Tsang had mentioned it as a "trade city" in his travel account.

The president also praised Gujarat, which he said has given India personalities such as Maharshi Dayanand Saraswati, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel.

"This state has also given us industrious prime ministers like Morarji Desai and Narendra Modi. They all have guided the country in difficult times. In true sense, India's development story is incomplete without Gujarat," he said.

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Seven powerline workers of the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and a contractor were today injured, two of them seriously, in a transformer explosion in Nallasopara area in Palghar district, an official said.

The incident occurred at Dhaniv sub-station when the powerline workers were repairing a feeder cable, said Vasai Superintending Engineer Arun Phapadkar.

He said the cause of the incident is being probed.

The injured workers were admitted at private hospitals in Vasai and Nallasopara.

"The incident occurred when the workers were testing the feeder cable," Phapadkar added.

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Eminem threw the question of him dating Nicki Minaj out in the open as he gave a shout-out to fellow rapper at a show in Boston.

The 45-year-old recording artiste asked the audience if they wanted him to date Minaj, CNN reported.

He asked, "Boston, how many of you want me to date Nicki Minaj?" as they cheered.

Eminem replied, "Well, god dammit, me too. Nicki, if you get this message, just text me later, we'll talk about it."



After the video got viral on social media, Minaj tweeted, "LMFAO. The fact that he's silly and a goof just like me. Love him so much."



The "Anaconda" hitmaker also requested Eminem to feature in her upcoming album 'Queen' which will mark their first date.

"We need you on the #Queen album. That's where our first date will be; at the studio while I gaze into your beautiful eyes as you write your verse," she said.

Few days ago, Minaj had said she and Eminem are dating, to which he replied saying, "Girl you know it's true".

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The EU's top trade official said today it was unrealistic to hope that the Trump administration could permanently exempt the EU from steel and aluminium tariffs before they kick in on June 1.

EU countries have tried to woo the US away from punishing steel and aluminium tariffs and win Europe a similar break as handed to China.

Europe was hit by the shock tariffs in March, part of the protectionist US president's threat of an "America First" trade war with Washington's closest partners, including Canada, Mexico and Japan.

Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom told European Parliament deputies that even if the US refrained at the last minute from applying duties, "I expect them nonetheless to want to impose some sort of caps on EU exports".

A "hard cap" allowing no further exports beyond a quota would be worse for the EU than a "soft cap", under which exports would still be possible beyond the limit but subject to duties, she said.

Malmstrom said ideally there would be no tariffs or quotas at all "but realistically I don't think we can hope for that".

The European Union has said it refuses all trade talks with the United States unless Washington grants a permanent exemption from the painful tariffs.

Europe has threatened to retaliate with European tariffs on American imports, including iconic items such as Harley-Davidson motorbikes and bourbon whiskey.

These counter-measures will officially become enforceable on June 20, but Europeans have committed to not use them as long as talks with the US are ongoing.

Malmstrom is to meet with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross in Paris on Wednesday on the margins of a meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris, the European Commission said.

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Abhimanyu Kale, the district collector of Gondiya in Maharashtra, was shunted out today, a day after the Lok Sabha bye-election there was marred by large scale complaints of malfunctioning of the EVMs.

Kale was the returning officer for Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha constituency where complaints of malfunctioning of the EVMs were received from more than 40 polling stations.

His transfer coincided with the Election Commission's announcement of re-polling tomorrow at 49 polling booths in five of the six assembly segments of the constituency in view of EVM-related complaints.

Kale, who has not been given any new assignment yet, will be replaced by Kadambari Bhagat-Balkawade, the CEO of Nagpur zilla parishad, an official said.

Bhagat-Balkawade will function as the returning officer for the re-polling tomorrow.

The decision comes against the backdrop of a large number of voters and political parties complaining about malfunctioning of EVMs during the polling yesterday.

Kale had initially denied any problems with the EVMs but had to change his stand as voting was suspended at some 40 polling booths by the election commission.

The bypoll in the constituency was necessitated because Nana Patole of the BJP had resigned while attacking the Narendra Modi government over the farmers' issue.

Patole, a leader of the powerful OBC Kunbi community, had earlier switched sides from the Congress to the BJP and was elected as an MP from the constituency, located in Vidarbha region, in 2014 by defeating NCP leader Praful Patel.

In this bypoll, the BJP and the NCP are the main rivals.

The NCP, which allied with the Congress for the bypoll, has fielded former BJP MLA Madhukar Kukde against BJP's Hemant Patle, who belongs to the Powar community and is also a former legislator.

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Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Ajit Jogi was being shifted to a private hospital in Delhi NCR in an air ambulance from Raipur airport tonight.

Jogi, who heads Janata Congress Chhattisgarh (J), was admitted at Ramkrishna Care Hospital here after he was diagnosed with pneumonia last week, hospital director Dr Sandip Dave said.

"His condition was improving gradually. However, this evening, Jogi complained of breathing problem following which he was kept on a ventilator support. However, his condition is stable and he was being sent on an air ambulance to Medanta Hospital," Dr Dave said.

According to JCC (J) spokesperson Subrat Dey, Jogi was shifted in an ambulance by road from the hospital to Raipur airport late this evening.

The air ambulance took off for Delhi at around 10:45 PM.

Earlier this evening, Jogi had complained of chest pain due to acute pulmonary edema in which lungs fill with fluid.

Subsequently, he was given a ventilator support and it was decided to shift him to Medanata Hospital in Gurugram for better medication, he said.

Jogi's wife and Congress MLA Renu Jogi was accompanying him in the air ambulance while his son Amit Jogi, an MLA, and daughter-in-law Richa Jogi had already left for Delhi on a regular flight, Dey said.

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North Carolina's governor is urging his state's residents to exercise caution as rains from a subtropical depression spread into his and other Southern states, noting the deaths of two broadcast journalists killed by a falling tree as they reported on the severe weather associated with Alberto.

The television anchor and a photojournalist colleague were killed yesterday in North Carolina while covering the very fringes of the large system whose core made landfall hundreds of miles (kilometers) away on the northern Gulf Coast. Authorities said a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked soil and toppled on the team's SUV, killing the two instantly.

"Two journalists working to keep the public informed about this storm have tragically lost their lives, and we mourn with their families, friends and colleagues," Cooper said in a statement.

"North Carolina needs to take Alberto seriously. I urge everyone to keep a close eye on forecasts, warnings and road conditions, especially in western North Carolina where even heavier rain is predicted." The dead were identified as working for a station based in Greenville, South Carolina.

WYFF-TV Anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer both had worked in the Greenville market for more than a decade, anchor Carol Goldsmith said on air, breaking the of their deaths yesterday.

"Mike and Aaron were beloved members of our team our family," Goldsmith said.

The men were driving on US Highway 176 near Tryon when the large tree fell on their vehicle, North Carolina Highway Patrol Master Trooper Murico Stephens said.

McCormick and Smeltzer had just interviewed Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant. They told Tennant to be careful with Alberto's remnants expected to bring more heavy rains and mudslides to North Carolina. He told them to be careful too.

"Ten minutes later we get the call and it was them," Tennant said at a news conference, his voice cracking.

A woman died in a mudslide on May 19 not far from the area and officials in one especially hard-hit county were asking people living in vulnerable areas to voluntary leave before the weather got worse.

Neither Stephens nor Tennant directly blamed the up to 2 inches of rain that fell yesterday for the deaths. The fire chief said the roots of a large tree were loosened in ground saturated by a week of rain. The TV vehicle engine's was still running and the transmission was in drive when crews found it. The men died instantly, said Tennant.

McCormick was a weekend anchor for the Greenville station and covered Spartanburg and surrounding areas. He came to the station in April 2007. Smeltzer worked in Greenville for more than a decade, coming to WYFF-TV from a different station in the market. He touted on his Twitter biography of winning four Emmys.

WHNS-TV reporter Derek Dellinger competed with McCormick and Smeltzer, but also considered them friends. He called Smeltzer a perfectionist and McCormick a hard worker and a nice guy.

"Despite being the competition, I had interactions with (McCormick) both in and out of work, and we would talk about work issues, talk about life everything," Dellinger said, calling him "a good guy" with a warm heart.

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Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao today said farmers' coordination committees put in place by the government should play a key role in various initiatives.

The committees (comprising farmers) should play an active role in the initiatives, including distribution of cheques under the investment support scheme for farmers, distribution of 'pattadar' (title holder) passbooks and also a proposed life insurance scheme for farmers, he said.

"To make all these programmes a great success, the Rythu Samanvaya Samithis (farmers coordination committees) must play a key role," a release from his office quoted Rao as saying.

Observing that the government would help at every stage, right from ploughing, Rao said it is the responsibility of the committees to coordinate with the farmers.

"In Israel, agriculture is profitable. There production and productivity is more than anywhere (else). There, the returns (are) more because they adopt modern agriculture techniques," he said.

The Chief Minister said district coordinators of Rythu Samanvaya Samithis should visit Israel and learn techniques adopted there in agriculture and farming. The government would bear expenes for travel and stay of the coordinators, he said.

Rao gave certain suggestions to the coordinators,including educating farmers on cropping patterns, determining cropping "in accordance with demand and needs of Telangana people."



He flayed leaders of the main opposition party the Congress, on their promise that if elected to power, they would waiver farmers loans to the tune of Rs two lakh.

"It is an impossible task for the party to do so, Rao said, according to the release.

A separate release from the CMO said distribution of new pattadar passbooks and cheques would be conducted by June 20 by checking the records again.

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Thousands of farmers today drove down to the office of the local authorities in Samrala, Ludhiana to hand over the keys of their tractors as part of a unique protest against the rising diesel prices.

Organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal), the protesters alleged apathy on the part of the central government claiming that the incessant fuel price hikes were only adding to the woes of the debt-ridden farmers.

"The price of diesel, which is an important input cost of cultivation, has risen so sharply that it has gone out of the reach of the farmers," BKU (Rajewal) chief Balbir Singh Rajewal said.

The increase in the diesel prices has come at a time when paddy sowing is going to start next month. As per rough estimates, the rise in the fuel rates will put an additional burden of Rs 400-600 per hour for ploughing operations," he claimed.

The livid farmers blamed the high fuel prices for agricultural activities getting severely affected.

"It has become unviable to carry out farming activities because of the fuel price hikes. We have come here on our tractors to hand over the keys to the district administration as we cannot afford to use them," a farmer lamented.

As hundreds of tractors converged on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana road in Samrala, the commuters had a harrowing time, while the administration scrambled to manage the massive traffic snarl.

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The first court case brought by a Tunisian commission probing human rights violations stretching back six decades opened today, with 14 former officials, including the ousted president, on trial.

The Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) was set up in 2014 following the 2011 revolt that toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.

It has a mandate to investigate human rights violations between 1957, when Habib Bourguiba became president, and the date of its creation, with the aim of holding perpetrators to account and rehabilitating their victims.

Today's first court case concerns the forced disappearance of Kamel Matmati, a member of the Islamist movement Ennahdha, who was arrested in 1991 during Ben Ali's rule, and tortured to death.

The courtroom in the southern coastal town of Gabes was packed with family members and activists who called for justice, an end to impunity and closure.

"We want those who killed him, tortured him, to be tried" and convicted, Matmati's wife Latifa told AFP.

"We have spent terrible years. The hardest of all is" that his body has not been returned to the family, she said.

"But today we are happy because the truth will be finally unveiled," she added.

On trial are Ben Ali, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia, his interior minister Abdallah Kallel and 12 other former officials, accused of voluntary homicide. All are being tried in absentia.

"It is an exceptional day," defence lawyer Habib Kheder said.

"It is rare for results to emerge from a case of forced disappearance... we know part of the truth but the rest must come to light," he added.

Since the IVD began work, it has received more than 62,000 allegations of human rights violations and interviewed close to 50,000 people.

The commission has referred at least 32 cases of "serious violations" of human rights to Tunisian courts.

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A former colonial prison and police station in Hong Kong welcomed the public into sunny courtyards and art spaces today as the city tries to undo its reputation for prioritising development over heritage.

The multi-million renovation project saw the overhaul of the complex built by the British between the mid-19th and 20th centuries which housed the city's first jail -- Victoria Prison -- as well as its central police station and court buildings.

Colloquially known as Tai Kwun, or "big station", former Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh was among those jailed there in the 1930s.

Opening its doors to the public for the first time since the renovation, visitors roamed through former prison cells which have been preserved and converted into an interactive museum.

Other parts of the 16-building complex have been transformed into outdoor squares, restaurants and sleek new exhibition spaces by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, which designed London's Tate Modern art gallery.

"There are modern buildings surrounding this but conserved elements in here. It's like the past and present are assembled together," said Annie Leung, a homemaker in her early 40s.

"I live nearby, so I really wanted a leisurely and tranquil place like this," she added.

High school student Smith Yip thought the museums could "really show the old days of Hong Kong" at a time when there is less space in the city for learning about local culture and history, compared with the city's ubiquitous shopping malls.

One of Hong Kong's oldest surviving collection of buildings and declared monuments, the compound was officially decommissioned in 2006.

It sits on a slope in the buzzing downtown Soho district, now surrounded by the densely packed city's tower blocks and skyscrapers.

The revitalisation process took over a decade, complicated by the collapse of a wall and the discovery of a secret mural in a chapel.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club led the project in partnership with the government, pumping in HK$3.8 billion ($484 million) and describing it as the club's largest heritage project in the city.

It comes as concern grows that China wants to erase Hong Kong's colonial heritage -- some Beijing officials have called for the city to shake off its colonial past. But there has been public resistance to the airbrushing of history.

Protesters chained themselves to the Queen's Pier -- the former landing place for British dignitaries -- in an unsuccessful attempt to stop its demolition in 2007.

Conservationists have also campaigned against commercial and luxury redevelopment plans led by developers targeting characterful old areas of the city.

Some buildings have survived -- the 106-year-old domed former legislative council building reopened as the Court of Final Appeal in 2015.

Police barracks in central Hong Kong have also been converted into a shopping hub featuring local designers.

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Fortis Healthcare today initiated a fresh time-bound bidding process for its sale after terminating the offer made by the Munjal-Burman combine, in yet another twist in the race for the cash-strapped healthcare chain.

The deadline for submitting fresh binding bids has been set at June 14, Fortis Healthcare said today, a day after the Munjal-Burman combine had given their consent to re-open the bidding process.

After it started the process to seek buyers for its business in late March, Fortis Healthcare elicited good response from potential bidders, with some of them making competing offers, before the board accepted the offer by the Munjal-Burman combine.

In a regulatory filing today, Fortis Healthcare said its board has decided to initiate a fresh, time-bound process to optimise the short and long term interests of the company as well as its shareholders.

After its tw0-day meeting that began yesterday, Fortis board decided to invite three entities that had put in binding offers -- Munjal-Burman combine, TPG-Manipal consortium, and Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad -- to participate in the fresh bidding process subject to certain conditions.

This decision has been taken based on the suitability of the offers evaluated earlier. The three entities would have to confirm adherence to the new bidding process by May 31 while other interested parties are required to submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) by the same date.

As per the latest timeline, binding bids should be submitted on June 14 between 8.30 am to 9.30 am.

"Munjal-Burman consortium's offer accepted by the board (of Fortis) on May 10, 2018 stands mutually terminated," the filing said.

Under the offer that was earlier accepted by the Fortis board, Munjal-Burman combine was to invest Rs 1,800 crore.

Fortis Healthcare said EoIs submitted by new bidders would be evaluated on the basis of various factors, including their financing capability, ability to consummate the transaction in a timely manner as well as requisite internal and external approvals.

Shortlisting of new bidders would be completed by June 1 and there would be a 10-day due diligence period before the deadline for binding offers ends on June 14.

As per the fresh criteria, the buyers have to make a minimum investment of Rs 1,500 crore into Fortis Healthcare by way of preferential allotment apart from having a plan for funding the acquisition of RHT Health Trust (RHT) and a plan for providing exit to private equity investors of diagnostic arm SRL.

Among others, the bids should be unconditional as well as mention about the source of funds for the transaction and elaborate on the plans for retention of current management and employees.

Last week, Fortis board was reconstituted after shareholders had voted out its director Brian Tempest, who was among the four directors whose removal was sought by two institutional investors.

Three other directors -- Harpal Singh, Sabina Vaisoha and Tejinder Singh Shergill -- had resigned ahead of an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on May 22. During the meeting, shareholders voted out Tempest.

Interestingly, these four directors were among those who had favoured the binding offer made by Munjal-Burman combine.

Earlier this month, both Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhard and Manipal-TPG



combine extended the deadline for the Fortis Healthcare board to accept their revised offers.

The shortlisted bidders would have 10 days for financial and legal due diligence. They would also have an opportunity to interact with the management and advisors who have conducted vendor due diligence (VDD) for the company. This would be subject to the bidders entering into a non-disclosure agreement with the company.

The bidders would also have access to Fortis Healthcare's unaudited balance sheet details with schedules as on March 31, 2018 and an update on the status of major litigations and ongoing investigations.

Following the board revamp, Suvalaxmi Chakraborty, Ravi Rajagopal and Indrajit Banerjee have joined as independent directors.

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Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of mortar shells at southern Israel today, the army said, causing no injuries but raising tensions in the border area.

A statement from the Israeli army said that "25 mortar shells were launched towards several sites in Israeli territory."



"Most of the launches were intercepted by the IDF's (Israel Defence Forces) Iron Dome aerial defence system," the army said.

Police said that "a number of the mortars landed in open areas inside Israel," with no injuries reported.

Two further mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza after the initial barrage, the army said.

One mortar shell exploded near a kindergarten building, a military spokesman said. No children were believed to be there at the time.

It appeared to be the largest projectile barrage from Gaza targeting Israel since a 2014 war.

Palestinian security sources said Israeli tanks struck observation points belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad near the border. An Israeli military spokesman said he was not aware.

The mortar fire follows deadly mass protests and clashes that began along the Gaza border on March 30.

The protests have called for Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation to be allowed to return to their former homes now inside Israel. They peaked on May 14, when at least 61 Palestinians were killed as tens of thousands of Gazans protested and clashes erupted on the same day of the US transfer of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Demonstrations and clashes have continued at a low level since then. At least 121 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the unrest.

Israel says its actions are necessary to defend its borders and accuses Hamas of encouraging thousands of Palestinians to break through the border and attack Israelis.

Yesterday, Gaza's health ministry said one Palestinian was killed by tank fire at an observation point. Israel said it had fired at it after two Palestinians attempted to infiltrate the border fence with the "intention of carrying out an attack."



The two were arrested.

There was also machine gun fire from the Gaza Strip toward Israel later Monday, the military said.

A day earlier, a tank targeted an Islamic Jihad observation point in response to an explosive device being placed on the border fence.

Three members of the militant group were killed, and there was speculation that the Tuesday mortar fire may have been Islamic Jihad's response.

Later today, a group of Palestinian activists were due to launch at least one boat to protest and perhaps try to breach Israel's naval blockade.

The destination of the boat, which organisers said would carry patients needing medical care, students and job-seeking university graduates, was not announced.

The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade for more than a decade, with Israel saying it is necessary to prevent the Palestinian enclave's militant Hamas rulers from obtaining means to attack the Jewish state.

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A 17-year-old tribal girl student has committed suicide in Tripura after being allegedly harangued by employees of a hypermarket in the city and her school principal.

The state government today ordered a CID probe into it as the incident sparked anger among the people.

The girl had hanged herself from the ceiling in her residence at Bir Mohan Chowdhury Para in West Tripura district, about 23 km from here on May 24, the police said.

Tragically, the girl stood first in the state in the commerce stream of the Class twelve CBSE Examination. The results were declared on May 26, two days after her death.

Several ministers of Tripura have expressed shock over the suicide and visited her home today.

According to the FIR lodged by the girl's mother at Sidhai police station of West Tripura district she was allegedly harangued by the manager of a hypermarket here and the principal of her school.

Tripura Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Deb Burman said he had visited the girl's home today and came to know that the employees of the hypermarket had allegedly scolded her claiming she had stolen clothes worth Rs 4000 from it during her visit on May 23.

The girl had called up her school principal, who sent the money as demanded by the retail store. When the girl went to meet the principal she was subjected to verbal lashing by the principal. She returned home and the next day after her mother left for work, took the extreme step, he said.

Deb Burman asked the Director General of Police A K Sukla to hand over the case to the CID for an impartial inquiry.

"Those who are involved in the tragic incident will not be spared," he added.

Deb Burman told reporters that during his visit to the girl's home he had found that her father had died two years ago and her mother, who runs the family with a meagre monthly income of Rs 4000 working in a private school, is suffering from brain tumour. The girl's brother is a minor.

"The government will provide Rs five lakh to the victim's family on humanitarian grounds and will do more as and when necessary," the deputy chief minister said.

Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath described the incident as "very tragic and unfortunate" and said the guilty must be punished.

Revenue Minister N C Debbarma expressing his shock over the incident said "I hope the CID will ensure stringent punishment against those who are involved in the tragic end of a bright student under provisions of the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act."



West Tripura district superintendent of police Ajit Pratap Singh said that a case under section 306 IPC (abetment to suicide) was lodged accusing the hypermarket and the school authorities for the suicide.

The police have interrogated the hypermart authority and seized the CCTV footage of the day when the girl was allegedly humiliated.

The girl entered the large retail store at 11 AM and exited it at 1 PM on May 23. We have seized CCTV footage of the day. We have also seized the mobile phone of the girl," he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Some of the still grieving family members of the 239 people on the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, including Indians, have urged the new Malaysian government to renew the search for the plane after the latest, privately funded search ended today.

The Malaysian Airlines flight disappeared on March 23, 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, in what has become one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries.

The initial search, carried out by Malaysia, China, and Australia, was called off in January last year after failing to find any trace of the Boeing 777 aircraft within a 710,000- plus square kilometre area of the Indian Ocean.

Malaysia had agreed to a request by the US company operating the search, Ocean Infinity, to extend the hunt until May 29. It was given 90 days to find MH370 on a "no-find, no-fee" basis.

The Texas-based company also failed to find anything from the Indian Ocean floor and the Malaysian government had indicated that it has no plans to begin any new searches.

"Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected. It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim," Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said in a statement.

He also acknowledged that the outcome of the search so far was "extremely disappointing".

"We sincerely hope that we will be able to again offer our services in the search for MH370 in future," Plunkett said in the statement.

But family members of those on board the ill-fated plane said the search would cost the Malaysian Government very little money, if only they "stepped up to the plate".

K S Narendran, whose wife Chandrika Sharma was on MH370, said, "I am barely able to contain my deep sense of betrayal.

"It is barely possible to conceal anger at a decision taken without the courtesy of a meeting and consultation with affected families," he was quoted as saying by the Guardian newspaper.

Grace Nathan, whose mother Anne Daisy was on MH370, said the government had broken an election promise and failed to give a clear reason why the search should be abandoned.

Nathan, now a corporate and human rights lawyer, said the "no-find, no-fee" condition meant Malaysia was not spending any money unless the plane was found.

She said Ocean Infinity had already offered to continue the search next year under the same conditions.

"Are they now cutting off offers from private companies who are willing to conduct the search at their own expense, and only be paid if the plane is found? They've already put the money aside. My question is why can't they keep that money there?



"People say that it's expensive, but the search up to now has not cost more than a brand new Boeing. If Malaysia thinks the money has to be utilised somewhere else, they need to step up to the plate and ask if other countries are willing to contribute."



The flight was carrying 152 Chinese nationals, 50 Malaysian nationals and five passengers from India. There were also passengers from Australia, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Russia, Taiwan, Ukraine and the US when it vanished over the Indian Ocean.

Malaysian military radar and satellite data suggested the plane suddenly turned around and flew south towards the Indian Ocean, crashing and claiming the lives of all 239 crew and passengers on board.

Nathan and Narendran said China and India should contribute to a new search for the plane.

"This is an incident that if unresolved, could happen again," Nathan said.

The search is estimated to have cost some USD 151 million, according to Australia's minister for infrastructure and transport, Darren Chester. Most of the funds were provided by the Malaysian government. It has been the most expensive search for a missing plane in history.

The only physical sign of the plane has been debris that washed up in eastern Africa and nearby islands, far from where experts believed the flight disappeared.

A wing fragment and part of the plane's flaperon are among the remnants that have turned up.

Several theories on what might have happened to the flight have been put forward, including pilot suicide.

Australian investigators who led the joint search for the flight over four years dismissed that theory and have defended their belief that the plane's disappearance was due to an accident, CNN reported.

Two senior officials from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau told a recent parliamentary hearing that the plane had likely crashed into the Indian Ocean after running out of fuel.

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"Harry Potter" actor Matthew Lewis has tied the knot with girlfriend Angela Jones in Italy.

The actor shared the on Twitter and joked that the nuptials kept him away from seeing one of his favourite bands live.

"Not only did I miss @ArcticMonkeys in LA but they were performing in Italy at the same time we were there and my wife made me get married instead. Fuming," Lewis wrote alongside a photo of the two from their wedding. He later posted the same picture on Instagram with the American and UK flag emojis as the caption.

The two first met in January 2016 at a celebration at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where Jones worked. They started dating in July 2016.

Lewis, who made his big screen acting debut with "Harry Potter" franchise as Neville Longbottom when he was just 12 years old, has gone on to land roles in "Me Before You" and Amazon's newest series, "Ripper Street".

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Haryana Chief Minister



Manohar Lal Khattar has approved the maize procurement plan 2018-19 and it will now be submitted for the approval before the Centre.

About 10,000 tonnes of maize is likely to be purchased on minimum support price (MSP) fixed by the Government of India, said an official spokesman.

The plan to procure maize on MSP will be submitted to the Central Government as per their coarse grain policy.

He said the agriculture and farmers welfare department had initiated the sowing period of maize from June 25 to July 20 and harvesting is after three months.

As per the policy of the government of India, for any commodity the period should not extend beyond three months and it should also not go beyond one month from the end of normal period of harvesting of the concerned crop in the state.

Therefore, the Government of India has been requested to fix the period of procurement of maize from October 1 to November 15, 2018.

He said that as per the plan, the procurement of maize would be made by the state government and its agencies as per their specifications fixed and policy guidelines of Government of India for the procurement of coarse grains.

The spokesman said the area under cultivation and production of maize in the state is 0.06 lakh hectares and 0.19 lakh tonnes, respectively.

About 80 per cent to 90 per cent of the total production would be market surplus, he added.

The spokesman said maize would be procured in six mandis of the state where maize has been sow or cultivated.

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Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij, who is known for making controversial statements, today compared Congress President Rahul Gandhi to the deadly Nipah virus, saying he would "destroy whosoever comes in contact with him".

"Rahul Gandhi is like the Nipah virus which will devastate the party and destroy whosoever comes in contact with him," Vij said in an official statement issued by Haryana government here.

The Haryana minister has often made controversial statements in the past.

He had once described the Taj Mahal as a "beautiful graveyard".

The outspoken minister had in the past said that those who were supporting Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur for her campaign against the ABVP, were pro-Pakistan and should be thrown out of the country.

Vij also courted controversy with his remarks that Mahatma Gandhi's image did not help 'Khadi' and caused devaluation of the currency, triggering widespread outrage.

Meanwhile today, Vij also took a dig at Haryana Congress leaders, saying all of them were in a hurry to get themselves declared as the party's chief ministerial candidate for the next assembly polls.

"All leaders, including CLP leader Kiran Choudhry, Ashok Tanwar, Captain Ajay Yadav, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja were in a tearing hurry to get themselves declared as CM choice. But these self declared CMs may not even become MLAs," Vij said in the release.

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The Delhi High Court today approved the guidelines framed to prevent defacement of property during polls in Delhi University (DU) and directed all public bodies and authorities to take stringent action, including prosecution, for such activity.

A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar, however, did not approve one of the guidelines which provided for cancellation of a candidate's nomination if his or her name or photographs are publicised by pasting posters and spraying paint on walls and public property.

The bench said this guideline had potential for misuse by opponents of a candidate.

The approved norms include having walls of democracy in every college to put up posters and pamphlets, contesting students to give undertakings along with their nomination to not deface property during university and college elections, holding workshops to sensitise candidates about penal provisions for defacement and encouraging alternate modes of campaigning, like social media and emails.

Apart from that, the guidelines also provide for setting up permanent committees in every college and in DU to ensure prevention of defacement of property during polls in the varsity.

All the authorities, including those of Delhi Metro, and the varsity were directed by the bench to ensure the guidelines were prominently notified and widely publicised to ensure the public at large is aware about the penal consequences of defacement.

The varsity was also directed to ensure that all the students and political parties are aware about the guidelines, the court said.

Directions were also issued to the Centre and the Delhi government to consider formulating a uniform law for dealing with defacement.

The court was hearing a plea by advocate Prashant Manchanda, who has sought a complete ban on defacement of public properties by the Delhi University Students Union (DUSU) poll candidates.

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The Delhi High Court today sought the response of the Centre and Press Council of India on a plea by the Indian Newspapers Society (INS) seeking to set aside a notification renominating Justice C K Prasad as the press body's chairman.

Justice Rajiv Shakdher asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Press Council of India (PCI) and its chairman to file their responses on the petition.

The court listed the matter for July 30, along with two pending petitions, including one filed by the INS against rejection of the nomination of Hormusji N Cama, owner of Mumbai Samachar weekly and a member of the INS, in the category of medium newspapers.

The other plea was filed by a journalist seeking direction to the government to notify the newly selected members of the PCI in terms of 13th committee and publish the gazette notification in this regard.

In the fresh petition, the INS today told the court that the council shall consist of a Chairman and 28 other members -- 20 nominees who represent working journalists and eight non-press nominees -- who are required to be notified by the central government.

Senior advocate Ramji Srinivasan, appearing for the INS, said the 20 members for the Press were nominated in March but the Centre has not nominated them even after two months.

However, the eight non-press nominees were nominated in March itself and now, the Ministry of I&B has issued a notification on May 22 that Justice Prasad has been re-nominated as the PCI chairman, the counsel said.

"They don't notify press people, they go and re-elect the chairman. If I (press nominees) would have been notified earlier, I would have been able to participate in the re-election of the Chairman," Srinivasan and advocates Rakesh Sinha and Pawan Kumar Bansal said.

The petition also sought direction to prohibit the government and PCI from taking any steps in furtherance of the May 22 notification.

They sought direction to the Centre to certify and place before the court all the records relating to the May 22 notification so that it may be quashed.

The plea said the council comprised of 28 members and therefore, the May 22 order re-nominating the chairman was faulty.

Prasad, reitred judge of the Supreme Court, headed the media watchdog for three years from November 2014. He had succeeded Justice Markanday Katju.

A three-member committee headed by Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu had given its nod for appointing Prasad as the PCI chief for a second term.

When the court asked the central government standing counsel Aseem Sood, appearing for the Ministry of I&B, as to "what was happening on notification of press people", he said he would find out and seek instructions on it.

The court noted that on May 21 while hearing journalist Anil Kumar Sharma's similar plea, it had clarified that there was no impediment on the ministry to notify the names of newly selected members of the council.

The court had earlier too sought response of the Centre and PCI on the journalist's plea seeking that the government be directed to permit the functioning of outgoing PCI committee, which was constituted for the period of 2014-17, as the new committee has not been notified owing to the stay granted by the high court in a related matter last month.

It had in April stayed the decision of the PCI insofar as it related to rejecting the nomination of Cama.

In the earlier petition, the INS had alleged that the PCI chairman had misread the provisions of the Press Council Act and "wrongly exercised" its power in rejecting the nomination.

Claiming that the decision was "perverse", the INS had said the council's decision should be set aside as it was "bad, illegal and void".

According to the Press Council Act, the council shall consist of a Chairman and 28 other members. The chairman had said that the nomination of the editors among working journalist categories did not contain twice the number of members to be nominated.

INS has said in the petition that Cama was a member of the PCI in its 12th term and was seeking nomination to the council in the 13th term.

The INS, which comprises owners of big, medium and small newspapers in India, has sought a direction to the PCI chairman to recall and set aside the March 20 decision and forbear from taking any steps in furtherance of the decision.

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Under mounting pressure for honouring his pre-poll promise of waiving farm loans of Rs 53,000 crore, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has called a meeting of farmers' organisations tomorrow to discuss the issue, officials said today.

Kumaraswamy will hold a meeting with representatives of farmers' groups and agriculturists to discuss loan waiver, farmer suicides, and other problems faced by them, officials at the Chief Minister's Office said.

Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara will also attend the meeting, they said, adding Leader of Opposition in the Assembly B S Yeddyurappa has also been invited.

Kumaraswamy today chaired a meeting of senior officers on the issue that was attended by Chief Secretary K RatnaPrabha, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) ISN Prasad, Development Commissioner D V Prasad, and Additional ChiefSecretary to the Chief Minister M Lakshminarayana.

The chief miniser had recently said he was committed to waiving farm loans or else would retire from politics, and asked people not to fall prey to the "BJP's conspiracy".

He had also said he was ready with the guidelines onloan waiver details of which will be disclosed tomorrow.

Seeking to turn the heat on Kumaraswamy, the BJP had appealed to farmers and the public to "voluntarily observe a bandh" across Karnataka yesterday to protest the "failure" of the chief minister to honour his farm loan waiver promise within 24 hours of coming to power, but it had evoked a tepid response.

Kumaraswamy, who had made the promise in the run up to the elections, later sought time, saying since he was heading acoalition government with the Congress he would have to consultthe alliance partner before taking a decision.

He had also said he would have to take into account the financial condition of the state before taking the decision.

Putting the new government on notice, Yeddyurappa has threatened to take the next course of action if Kumaraswamy failed to deliver on his promise within a week.

According to experts and senior governmentofficials, the promise, if met, will have a huge impact on the state's financial health.

Kumaraswamy has called the meeting with peasant groups at a time when there is still no clarity over the cabinet expansion,amid reports of lack of consensus in the ruling coalition over allocation of key portfolios, especially Finance.

The JD(S) is reportedly insisting on keeping the Finance portfolio, which the Congress also wants.

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Normal life was affected today in Kottayam district following a dawn-to-dusk hartal called by various political parties and Dalit organisations to protest the alleged honour killing of a 23-year-old man.

Shops, markets, and business establishments remained closed in several parts of the district while private bus terminus in various towns wore a deserted look in view of the hartal called by parties including the Congress and BJP.

Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) operated its long-distance services from the district.

Kevin P Joseph, a Dalit Christian, was abducted and killed by a gang of criminals allegedly engaged by his fiancees' relatives.

His body was found in a river in Kollam district yesterday.

Joseph's fiancee, whose father is a Christian and mother a Muslim, alleged laxity on the part of police when she approached the Gandhinagar police station near here with a missing complaint.

Former chief minister and Congress working committee member A K Antony said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should take responsibility for the alleged lapse on the part of police in dealing with the case.

Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded resignation of Vijayan.

Meanwhile, the body of the man was brought to his native Kumaranellore village amid poignant scenes. After locals paid their homage, it was taken for burial.

Earlier, Joseph's fiancee told reporters in Kottayam that she did not get justice from the police.

The police did not move even after she appealed to the Sub Inspector that Joseph's life was in danger and he should be rescued, she claimed.

Bursting into tears, she said she was Joseph's wife and would stay in his residence.

Relatives of the deceased man have alleged he was tortured and killed by the gang engaged by his fiancee's brother, two days after they filed a joint application for marriage registration at a sub-registrar office near here.

Meanwhile, autopsy of Joseph was conducted at the Government Medical College Hospital here.

A case has been registered against 10 persons, including the fiancee's brother in connection with the incident.

Kerala Human Rights Commission has said it was suspected to be a case of honour killing and ordered the state police chief to submit a report in three weeks.

Sub-Inspector M S Shibu and Grade ASI Sunnymon of the Gandhinagar police station were yesterday suspended for laxity while Kottayam District Superintendent of Police V M Mohammed Rafique transferred following the incident.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has described the incident as "unfortunate" and said it should not have happened.

Antony said there was a grave lapse on the part of the police in dealing with the case and it cannot be justified.

"The government and Chief Minister has to take the responsibility for this', he said.

He also said it was not proper for the Kerala society to remain silent over the honour killing.

In a similar incident, a girl was killed allegedly by her father in Malappuram a month ago, Anotny said adding "now another honour killing has happened" in the state.

These honour killings actually point to the degradation of cultural and social values, he said.

"Casteism and primitive rituals which the state had driven away through social reforms have started to come back...Kerala is virtually turning as lunatic asylum as described by Swami Vivekananda," he said.

The general public, political leadership and social organisations also should perform their responsibilities, he added.

Chennithala demanded the resignation of Vijayan, claiming that the state police force under him had crumbled.

Suspension of a few police personnel in connection with the incident was an eye wash, he added.

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Union Textiles Minister Smriti Irani today urged the fashion technology students to hone their skills to become more competent as there is huge potential in the fashion industry.

Irani said, So today we have a whole generation of new designers...with a grand future. But what are the key ingredients in your success, what is the one thing that will differentiate you from others, that is absolute and absolute competence. Hone that skill as competence is very rare.

The minister said that time has come to stand out as different from others.

"The value of fashion industry is huge in today's world. In 2016 it was Rs 20,000 crore and that of the individual economic growth of Indian designers was Rs 1,000 crore," Irani said while addressing the convocation of the National Institute of Fashion Technology.

Praising the performance of the students of NIFT in this field, the minister said that the efficiency of this institution can be imagined by the fact that 80 per cent of designers in India pass out of NIFT.

She said when one is committed to his skills everyday and competence comes when one is honest with himself. She appealed to the students to contribute to make a new world for themselves and a new India.

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Independent MLA S K Sunn today announced that he would be an associate member of the United Democratic Party (UDP), an ally of the ruling Meghalaya Democratic Alliance (MDA).

Sunn told reporters that he hoped to be able to contribute to the state by associating himself with the regional party in the state.

UDP president and Speaker Donkupar Roy welcomed Sunn at a small function in his residence.

Sunn's association with the UDP has increased the tally of the ruling MDA to 39 MLAs in the 60-member house.

The MDA has 20 National People's Party (NPP) MLAs, 7 UDP legislators, four Peoples Democratic Front MLAs and two each of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Hill State Peoples Democratic Party.

The NCP having one MLA and two Independents are also supporting the ruling coalition.

Sunn was neither supporting the Alliance nor the opposition since government formation in February this year.

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India and China have agreed to start formal negotiations on a bilateral social security agreement aimed at protecting Indian professionals and skilled workers abroad.

The understanding was reached between the two sides during the two-day talks held in Beijing on May 28-29, a press release from Indian Embassy here said.

During the talks, the Indian delegation led by Vinod K Jacob, Joint Secretary (economic diplomacy and states division) of the Ministry of External Affairs, and a Chinese delegation led by Ma Hezu, Deputy Director General, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security exchanged views on the social security systems in India and China and their experiences with finalising and signing bilateral social security agreements with other countries.

The two sides carried out detailed and extensive discussions on the next steps which would make up the formal negotiation phase on the social security agreement that is expected to begin next year, it said.

So far, India has signed social security agreements with 18 countries from different parts of the world and is currently engaged in discussions with a number of other countries including Brazil, Russia, South Africa, Mexico, Peru and Thailand, the release said.

The bilateral social security agreements are aimed at protecting the interests of Indian professionals, skilled workers working abroad by providing them benefits like avoidance of double social security contributions and facilitating remittances of accumulated social security contribution.

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India may face copper supply disruptions following the Tamil Nadu government's decision to shut down Vedanta Sterlite's copper plant at Tuticorin, a closure that would force the industry to spend USD 2 billion in imports, a senior company official said.

The shutting down of the 400,000 tonnes a year copper smelter in Tuticorin will reduce India's copper production by about half, forcing imports.

"The sudden and arbitrary decision of Tamil Nadu government to close down our copper smelter in Tuticorin will have far-reaching ramifications for the economy of not only the town and its adjoining villages but also the country," said Vedanta Sterlite Copper CEO P Ramnath.

The closure followed the death of 13 people in police firing on locals protesting against alleged pollution by the plant.

"While an estimated 30,000 direct and indirect jobs are now on the line, a large number of small to medium enterprises that are dependent on our smelter for copper are also likely to suffer due to supply disruptions," he said.

Vedanta produced about 48 per cent of India's total copper output of 842,961 tonnes in 2017-18.

"Since Vedanta Sterlite is one of the largest copper producers in the country, manufacturers in sectors ranging from electrical to defence will have to turn to imports and that will push up the nation's annual import bill by an estimated USD 2 billion based on the current price," he said.

Earlier in the day, Vedanta in a regulatory filing said it is "studying" the order of the Tamil Nadu government directing the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to seal and permanently close the company's Copper Smelter Plant 1.

"State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd vide its letter dated May 29, 2018, has informed the company regarding the cancellation of 342.22 acres of land allotted to the company for the proposed expansion of 'Copper Smelter Plant 2 Project' at Thoothukkudi District, Tamil Nadu. The land price for the same shall be refunded by SIPCOT as per their norms," it said in a separate filing.

The copper smelter serves over 800 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the downstream industry for the critical electrical sector. The bulk of supplies to the electrical sector are to units in northern and western regions.

It is also the major supplier of copper to the country's defence sector and other key sectors like infrastructure, cement and fertilisers.

The Tuticorin facilities include a custom smelter, a refinery, a phosphoric acid plant, sulphuric acid plants and a copper rod plant. In addition, there is a captive power plant located in Tuticorin and a refinery and two copper rod plants operating in Silvassa, western India.

The company's copper smelter in India recorded the highest ever production and the best-in-class operational efficiencies during FY17. The full year copper cathode production at Tuticorin was a record at 402,000 tonnes.

The official said with 400,000 tonnes of production capacity going out of circulation, India will be forced to import copper.

The move to shut down the Tuticorin facility will also push up global copper prices.

The shutdown will also hurt India's copper exports, as 160,000 tonnes of the production is sold internationally.

At the current price of USD 6,865 per tonne, the import of 240,000 tonnes of copper (net of export) will cost the nation around additional USD 2 billion per annum, he said.

Industry sources said the state government's decision to shut down the smelter is likely to result in a loss of 30,000 direct and indirect jobs.

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Senior diplomat Pankaj Saran has been appointed as Deputy National Security Advisor, the government said today.

Saran is currently India's Ambassador to Russia.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Saran's appointment as the deputy NSA for a period of two years, on deputation basis initially till the date of his superannuation, i.e., November 30, 2018, then on re-employment on contract basis, an order issued by Personnel Ministry said.

The 1982 batch officer of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) was in November 2015 appointed as the India's envoy to Russia. He had held various positions in India and abroad including the country's High Commissioner to Bangladesh. He also served as the joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office between 2007 and 2012.

Former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, Ajit Doval is the National Security Adviser.

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India's exports are expected to record a growth of about 15-20 per cent and touch USD 350 billion in the current fiscal on account of a host of factors including rise in commodity prices, exporters body FIEO said today.

Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) President Ganesh Gupta said despite increasing global protectionism, the country's exports would continue to register healthy growth rates.

"Growth is looking promising this fiscal. Indian exports, which are hovering at around USD 300 billion, should show 15-20 per cent growth so as to reach USD 350 billion in this fiscal," he told reporters here.

He said the northward movement in petroleum and commodity prices and the recent depreciation of Indian rupee are supporting exports.

He also urged the government to provide fiscal and non-fiscal incentives to boost the shipments in both advanced and emerging markets.

Gupta also said that although exports have recorded growth in 2017-18, labour intensive sectors such as carpet and handicrafts have definitely dented the job creation opportunities.

"On a rough estimate, over USD 1 million exports create 100 jobs. Therefore, additional exports of USD 27 billion in 2017-18 should have created 2.7 million jobs in exports," he added. In 2017-18, exports stood at about USD 303 billion.

Talking about the issues being faced by exports at insurance front, Gupta said that Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India (ECGC) delay the process of claims, which impact exporters.

"ECGC is creating problems for exporters. They try to find how to reject the claims of exporters. We have raised the issue with the commerce ministry," he added.

Further, Gupta expressed hope that the government will pro-actively engage with trading partners particularly with the US so that the trade interest of the country is safeguarded.

Commenting on the US decision to impose economic sanctions on Iran, Gupta said it would create an opportunity for domestic exporters to increase their shipments to that country.

He said that when the sanctions were imposed during 2013-14, the country's exports to Iran increased to USD 5 billion and it was only USD 2.56 billion last year.

"The crucial issue is that what kind of sanctions are being imposed by the US. This time Europe is not there. If sanctions will be imposed on the financial system, it may create a challenge for us but otherwise it will help boost rupee exports to Iran," he said.

In such situation, Indian banks should help exporters by providing affordable credit.

"I do not feel that India's exports will be impacted due to the US sanctions," he said.

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A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl was killed after being shot during a botched carjacking in South Africa, outraging the community members and sparking angry protests in Durban.

Sadia Sukhraj, a grade four student from Chatsworth, was on her way to school with her father yesterday when three armed men allegedly accosted their car. They allegedly forced her father out of the car and sped away with her.

In an ensuing chase, the carjackers and community members shot at each other. The suspects later crashed the car near a park. The girl was found shot and critically injured while one of the suspects tumbled out of the car dead.

Sadia was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

A second carjacker was arrested by an off-duty policeman. A third suspect remains at large.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed that one of the hijackers was killed.

Following the incident, more than 3,000 members of the community gathered outside Chatsworth police station demanding swift police action.

As the small contingent of officers at the police station allegedly came under severe verbal abuse and threats of physical action from protestors, they resorted to firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, which included scores of children.

Chatsworth is an Indian township in Durban.

Mahendra Lillkan, chairperson of the local Crime Forum, said there had been a spike in crime in the area despite community patrols at night.

"It seems that the criminals have now resorted to striking at soft targets, such as parents taking their children to school, as we have seen with this tragic incident."



Police and community leaders have appealed for calm amid fears that the protests would escalate as the distraught family prepared for the funeral.

Tributes for the little girl have poured in on social media as of her shooting went viral.

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Indians continued to account for the maximum number of tourists who last year visited Nepal, which recorded the arrival of nearly one million foreigners, almost 29 per cent up from 2016, according to government data.

A total of 9,40,217 foreign tourists arrived in Nepal last year and five countries -- India, China, United States, United Kingdom and Sri Lanka -- accounted for as much as 47 per cent of the visitors, the Economic Survey stated.

"Among these five nations, the number of tourists from India and China are increasing every year," the Himalayan Times newspaper reported.

As many as 7,29,550 foreign tourists had visited Nepal in 2016 against 5,54,747 in 2015. Indians had topped the list of tourists visiting the Himalayan nation in 2016.

In 2017, Indians accounted for 17.1 per cent of the total tourist arrival figures in Nepal, while Chinese and Americans accounted for 11.1 per cent and 8.44 per cent, respectively.

Visitors from the UK and Sri Lanka accounted for 5.4 per cent and 4.8 per cent, respectively, it said.

The recently-unveiled Economic Survey stated that 81 per cent of total foreign tourists arrived in Nepal in 2017 via air-routes, while the remaining 19 per cent (mainly Indian tourists) from land routes.

The survey said the average stay of tourists went down in 2017 to 12.6 days compared to an average of 13.4 days in 2016.

"But the per day expenditure of foreign tourists in Nepal increased to USD 54 in 2017 compared to per day spending of USD 53 in 2016," it said.

In 2016-17, the foreign currency earnings from tourism sector was recorded at 58.5 billion Nepalese rupee, while the country earned almost 43.5 billion Nepalese rupee in foreign currency from the sector in the first eight months of the ongoing fiscal year.

Lumbini, the birthplace of Lord Buddha and a UNESCO world heritage site, was the most visited tourist destination in Nepal in 2017, the survey stated.

"Altogether 1.5 million tourists (domestic and foreign) had visited Lumbini in 2017, which was an increase of 21 per cent compared to 2016. In 2016, 1.28 million tourists had visited the site," it added.

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Pakistan's Interior Ministry today banned the spy agency ISI's former chief Lt Gen (retd.) Asad Durrani from leaving the country, a day after the powerful army ordered a Court of Inquiry over a controversial book he recently co-authored with India's former intelligence head.

Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency from August 1990 till March 1992, along with former RAW chief A S Dulat has recently published the book titled 'The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' in India.

A notification issued by the ministry read that the name of Asad Durrani was added to the Exil Control List (ECL) on the "recommendation of Military Intelligence Directorate Rawalpindi due to his involvement in an ongoing inquiry".

The decision was taken a day after the army asked the government that Durrani should be put on the ECL.

Those persons on the ECL are prohibited from leaving Pakistan.

Durrani was yesterday summoned to the General Headquarters (GHQ) to explain his position on the book 'Spy Chronicles'.

Apparently he failed to satisfy the military as it was announced that a "formal Court of Inquiry headed by a serving Lieutenant General has been ordered to probe the matter in detail."



Durrani was apparently summoned after ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demanded an urgent meeting of the high-powered National Security Committee (NSC) to discuss a recent book co-authored by a former spy chiefs of Pakistan and India.

Also, former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani and prominent leader of Pakistan Peoples Party criticised the joint book by rival spy chiefs and said if it was written by a civilian, he would have been branded as traitor.

The two former spy chiefs have touched upon in the book some thorny issues including terrorism, particularly Mumbai attack, Kashmir and the influence of intelligence agencies.

In the book, Durrani has revealed that track-II diplomacy was in place since long aimed at averting war between the two nuclear-armed neigbours.

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Islamic Jihad announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel today, after the worst flare-up since a 2014 war.

In a statement the group's spokesman said after Egyptian mediation a "ceasefire agreement was reached with Israel to return to calm." He told AFP that Gaza's rulers Hamas were also committed to it, though there was no immediate confirmation from Hamas or Israel.

"All factions, including Hamas and Jihad, are committed to understandings for calm," Jihad spokesman Dawoud Shihab told AFP.

Islamic Jihad and Hamas had earlier claimed responsibility for dozens of mortars and rockets fired from Gaza early yesterday.

In response, the Jewish state hit dozens of "military targets" in Gaza, with strikes continuing till last evening.

Three Israeli soldiers were wounded by projectiles fired from Gaza, one moderately and two lightly, said the army. There were no immediate reports of any casualties in the strip.

The clashes raised fears of another round of conflict in Gaza.

An Islamic Jihad source told AFP the ceasefire would go into effect within hours.

Israel has fought three wars with Hamas since 2008.

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Actor Bryce Dallas Howard has praised his father Ron Howard for directing the "awesome" film "Solo: A Star Wars Story".

Ron, who has films such as "A Beautiful Mind", "Apollo 13" and "Rush" to his credit, shared a video message from Bryce on Twitter.

"My dad was so privileged to be a part of this project, and I was so lucky because I got to actually go and watch him on the set and shadow him and learn from him. I can't remember the last time I saw him having this much fun, and this is a dude who has a lot of fun on a movie set," Bryce said in the video.

"The crew, the cast, the story, I mean, this is an awesome movie. I've seen it many times, so I definitely can vouch for it. Not like anyone needs me to vouch for it. I'm just saying, it's a hell of a movie. It's so good," she added.

Bryce, 37, who was recently in London to promote her film "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom", urged people to go and see "Solo" before her own movie opens in theatres.

"Check it now because when 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' comes out, I want you to check that out. So, quick! Run!" she added.

"Solo: A Star Wars Story" was released on May 25, and features Alden Ehrenreich as the titular hero along with Donald Glover, Emilia Clarke, Thandie Newton and Woody Harrelson.

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Japan's Foreign Ministry says a Japanese navy surveillance aircraft has spotted a suspected Chinese-flagged ship apparently transferring fuel to a North Korean tanker on the open seas.

Today's ministry statement said the two vessels were suspected of engaging in offshore ship-to-ship transfers banned under UN Security Council resolutions.

It said Japan has informed the UN Security Council of the May 19 sighting of the North Korean-flagged tanker, Ji Song 6, moored alongside the ship carrying a flag believed to be Chinese.

Four photos taken by the Maritime Self-Defense Force show the ships alongside each other, connected by a hose.

The UN has blacklisted the North Korean tanker.

UN sanctions on North Korea limit energy trade and ban offshore transfers of goods to North Korean ships.

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A Mexican journalist was found beaten to death today in the northern state of Tamaulipas, on the US border, prosecutors said, at least the fifth journalist murdered in the country this year.

Hector Gonzalez Antonio, a correspondent for national daily Excelsior and local media outlets, was found bludgeoned to death in a street in the state capital, Ciudad Victoria, the state prosecutor's office said in a statement.

"An investigation has been opened so that those responsible for this homicide can be identified and located," it said.

Gonzalez had gone missing two days ago, according to an AFP correspondent in the region who was friends with him.

A married father of two, he covered politics and general news, including stories on the wave of violence that has engulfed Mexico in recent years.

Tamaulipas, the scene of bloody turf wars between rival drug cartels, has been hit particularly hard.

Racked by violent crime linked to the multi-billion-dollar narcotics trade, Mexico posted a record number of homicides last year: 25,339.

That included at least 11 murdered journalists, making the country the deadliest in the world for the profession after Syria, according to watchdog group Reporters Without Borders.

Including Gonzalez, at least five have been murdered so far this year.

The vast majority of the cases have gone unpunished -- as do more than 90 percent of violent crimes in Mexico.

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The Supreme Court today refused to grant bail to Yug Tuli, the co-owner of Mumbai's Mojo's Bistro restaurant and an accused in the December 2017 fire incident there which had claimed 14 lives.

The top court, however, granted liberty to the 28-year-old businessman to file a fresh bail petition before the trial court after three months.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and M M Shantanagoudar heard Tuli's petition challenging the order of Bombay High Court denying him bail on merit and disposed it of.

On the fateful night, a massive fire had swept through two resto-pubs at the Kamala Mills compound in central Mumbai, resulting in the death of 14 people.

At the outset, senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi appearing for Tuli, said no case of criminal negligence has been made out against him as the tragedy occurred due to the "mistake" of the staff at "1 Above", the other restaurant that was gutted in the blaze on the intervening night of December 28-29 last year.

He said that as per the inquiry reports of the police as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the fire was caused by the flying embers emanating from a 'hookah' being served illegally at Mojo's Bistro.

"None of the customers or guests at the restaurant had died in the incident," Rohatgi said, adding that the manager of the restaurant and the hookah supplier have got bail in the case.

Standing counsel Nishant Katneshwar, appearing for Maharashtra government, opposed the bail plea of Tuli and said if he was enlarged on bail, he may try to influence the witnesses. He said there was gross negligence on the part of Tuli and all the other accused.

On May 1, the apex court had refused to grant interim bail to Tuli, till his regular bail application before the Bombay High Court was decided.

The high court had on April 27 rejected his bail plea saying it will pass a detailed order later.

Tuli, who was arrested in mid-January, had approached the high court after his bail plea was rejected by the sessions court on April 11. Tuli had claimed that he had no role in the day-to-day operations of the hookah parlour.

A total of 14 persons were arrested in the case and booked under various sections of the IPC, including those related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence.

The accused include the owners of the Kamala Mills compound, Mojo Bistro and '1 Above', besides two BMC officials.

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Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia visited the city's CBSE Class 12 examination toppers today.

The chief minister later told reporters that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was "investing" in the children for the "country's future".

His government had doubled the budget for the sector in its first year, the AAP supremo said, adding that it was an "investment, not an expenditure".

Kejriwal and Sisodia, who is also the minister of Delhi, paid a visit to the CBSE Class 12 toppers -- Bharti Raghav, Prince Kumar, the son of a DTC bus driver, Prachi Prakash and Chitra Kaushik -- at their respective residences.

They also visited an orphanage in Daryaganj to meet Shahnaz, who has topped the exam in the vocational stream.

"In the last few years, there has been a makeover of the government schools...the same is being imparted in private and government schools now...we had increased the education budget from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore after our government was formed.

"It is like an investment, not an expenditure. We are investing in our children. We are investing for the country's future and we are getting to see the results," Kejriwal told reporters, adding that the AAP government was committed to supporting students.

In the CBSE Class 12 examination, Delhi's pass percentage was 89. Girls, with a pass percentage of 93.19, outperformed the boys (84.93) in the Delhi region.

Last year, the city's pass percentage was 88.37.

According to a government official, Kumar topped the science stream with a 97-per cent score, while Kaushik, with 95.6 per cent marks, was the topper in the humanities stream and Raghav and Prakash jointly topped the commerce stream.

The pass percentage of the government-aided schools in Delhi was 82.79 this year as against the 80.32 in 2017.

The pass percentage of the private schools was 88.35 this year as compared to last year's 84.20.

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Miffed with Tamil megastar Rajinikanth's comments on the Cauvery row, the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce today decided not to allow screening of his movie Kaala, due for release on June 7.

The film industry is upset with Rajinikanth's reportedstatement that whichever government comes to power inKarnataka should implement the Supreme Court order on Cauverywater sharing in toto.

KFCC president Sa Ra Govindu told PTI that a decision has been taken that Rajinikanth's film will not be screened inKarnataka.

"A decision has been taken that Rajinikanth's movie willneither be distributed nor screened anywhere in Karnataka,"said Govindu admitting that the actor's statement on Cauvery issuemade them take such a decision.

The KFCC president said the ban on distribution and screening of Rajinikanth movies will continue.

"The ban will remain because neither will he apologise for his statement nor are we going to pardon him,"



Govindu said.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had recently asked the actor to visit the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam to see the status of water level before passing any comments.

The film star has often faced the wrath of pro-Kannada organisations for his comments on Cauvery issue.

The actor has a great fan following in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru and Kolar where there is a sizable Tamil population.

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The Tamil Nadu government today cancelled land allotment for planned expansion of Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin "in larger public interest" and ordered a CB-CID probe into the violence during the anti-Sterlite protest and police firing that left 13 dead.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami told the state assembly that the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT) has issued the order cancelling the land allotment.

The move comes a day after the state government ordered its Pollution Control Board to seal and 'permanently' close the Sterlite Copper plant following last week's protests, over pollution concerns.

The probe into the violence during the last week's protest and police firing was today transferred from local police to the Crime Branch-CID police, a senior official told PTI.

In a related development, state Governor Banwarilal Purohit visited the kin of some of those killed in the police firings on May 22 and 23 and also met the injured at a goverment hospital at Tuticorin.

Officials said Purohit asked the doctors to ensure best treatment to the injured.

He was briefed by officials on the violent incidents and the present situation as well, officials said.

The prolonged agitation by the locals demanding closure of the Sterlite factory turned violent on its 100th day on May 22 and 13 people were killed in police action over two days. At least 50 persons were injured.

Speaking in the assembly, Palaniswami said the land for expansion was allocated during the previous DMK regime and SIPCOT has now cancelled it.

Earlier, SIPCOT in its communication to the Vedanta group said: "As the allotment of land for the proposed expansion has been made by SIPCOT, in larger public interest, the land allotment made by SIPCOT for proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled."



"The land price collected for the said land allotment will be refunded as per the norms of SIPCOT," it said.

There have been a series of agitations against the establishment of a copper plant at the SIPCOT industrial complex in Tuticorin, about 600 km from here, expressing concerns about the pollution caused, it added.

An official release here said, "The cancellation of allotment of 342.22 acres of land has been made in larger public interest and this has been communicated to the company."



In a BSE filing, the Vedanta group apprised the exchange of the cancellation of land allocation.

Palaniswami had yesterday said the state government had issued the directive to seal and 'permanently' close the copper unit, in deference to the 'sentiments' of the people.

"In deference to the opinion and sentiments of the general public, it was decided to close down the Sterlite plant and a Government Order has been issued today," he had said.

Vedanta Ltd has termed the closure "unfortunate" and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.

The Madras High Court had on May 23 stayed the expansion of the copper plant on a petition by environmental activist Fathima Babu.

The petitioner submitted that Vedanta Limited should be restrained from carrying out activities in the lands on which the proposed copper smelter-unit II was being constructed.

The court had also directed the Centre to submit within four months a report after holding a public hearing in the district to invite public opinion on the plan for expansion.

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The allotment of land for the proposed expansion of Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin was today cancelled "in larger public interest" by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT), an official release said.

The move comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Sterlite Copper plant following last week's protests, over pollution concerns, during which 13 people were killed in police firing.

"As the allotment of land for the proposed expansion has been made by SIPCOT, in larger public interest, the land allotment made by SIPCOT for proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled," SIPCOT said in its communication to the Vedanta group.

"The land price collected for the said land allotment will be refunded as per the norms of SIPCOT," it said.

There have been a series of agitations against the establishment of a copper plant at the SIPCOT industrial complex in Tuticorin, about 600 km from here, expressing concerns about the pollution caused, it added.

An official release here said, "The cancellation of allotment of 342.22 acres of land has been made in larger public interest and this has been communicated to the company."



Chief Minister K Palaniswami had yesterday said the state government had issued the directive to seal and 'permanently' close the copper unit, in deference to the 'sentiments' of the people.

"In deference to the opinion and sentiments of the general public, it was decided to close down the Sterlite plant and a Government Order has been issued today," he had said.

Vedanta Ltd termed the closure "unfortunate" and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.

The Madras High Court had on May 23 stayed the expansion of the Vedanta's copper smelter plant in Tuticorin district on a petition filed by environmental activist Fathima Babu.

The petitioner submitted that Vedanta Limited should be restrained from carrying out activities in the lands on which the proposed copper smelter-unit II was being constructed.

The court had also directed the Centre to submit within four months a report after holding a public hearing in the district to invite public opinion on the plan for expansion.

The locals were protesting for the closure of the factory for 99 days.

Protesters turned violent on May 22, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police action against them last Tuesday and Wednesday.

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Four senior Libyan leaders committed at a Paris peace conference today to holding elections in the fractured and war-wracked country on December 10, a joint statement said.

"The parties have committed to set the constitutional basis for elections and adopt the necessary electoral laws by September 16, 2018, and hold parliamentary and presidential elections on December 10, 2018," it said.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who hosted the conference, has been pushing the rival Libyans and other representatives from regional powers to agree a political roadmap to stabilise the oil-rich north African state.

The Libyan signatories were Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, and 75-year-old military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose rival Libyan National Army dominates the country's east.

Aguila Saleh Issa, the parliament speaker based in the eastern city of Tobruk who opposes the UN-backed administration, as well as Khalid Al-Mishri, the newly-elected head of the High Council of State, also signed the statement after around four hours of talks in Paris.

Posing for a group photo, Macron asked his guests to verbally commit to the agreement -- which they did.

"So we are all working on this common basis, bravo!" he said.

Some diplomats and analysts have voiced doubt whether the country, which is swamped by weapons and controlled by a patchwork of political groups and armed militias, will be able to hold elections.

Some countries, such as former colonial power Italy, had previously argued that Libya needed to agree on a new constitution before holding elections.

"Libyan leaders commit to accept the results of elections, and ensure appropriate funds and strong security arrangements are in place," the joint statement said.

They also agreed "to improve the atmosphere for national elections" by measures such as "phasing out parallel government and institutions" and working to unify the Libyan Central Bank.

Years of mediation by the United Nations, as well as Italy, have failed to bring stability to the north African nation after it descended into chaos following the ousting of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

"It went well. Afterwards, it depends on the implementation," one diplomat said on the sidelines of the talks on condition of anonymity.

Representatives from 20 countries including Egypt, Russia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey attended, as well as neighbours Algeria and Tunisia.

Militias from the Libyan city of Misrata boycotted the proceedings in Paris, however, leaving western Libya under-represented at the talks.

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The Maharashtra government today issued an advisory asking farmers in the state to delay sowing till there is sufficient rainfall.

The government said even though monsoon has arrived in Kerala, it is yet to reach Maharashtra.

"Even after rains do arrive, farmers should not hurry to start the sowing process," it stated.

As per the advisory, pre-monsoon showers are expected to hit Vidarbha, Marathwada and Central Maharashtra after June 1, but temperatures will remain high.

During this period, Mumbai and the Konkan region will experience cloudy with a scattered rainfall.

"At the same time, people in Vidarbha, Marathwada and Central Maharashtra should remain cautious about the cloudy and lightning and take precautionary measures," the advisory stated.

The government has further warned people to not take shelter under trees, in empty spaces, under tin sheds and near electricity poles during cloudy weather, when there are increased chances of lightning.

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Exactly a year after their historic agitation across Maharashtra, farmers in the state will once again hold protests from June 1 over their various "unresolved" demands like higher milk purchase prices and complete loan waiver.

The decision was announced today after a day-long meeting held at Lakhganga village in Vaijapur tehsil in Aurangabad district.

As part of the protest on June 1, farmers will take their cattle to the tehsil offices to draw the BJP-led state government's attention to their issues.

"We will take our cattle to every tehsil office in the state and tie them up to the gates of these offices. We hope this way we will get the attention of the government towards farmers issues," Dr Ajit Navale, general secretary of Maharashtra State Kisan Sabha said.

"The milk producers have been seeking Rs 27 per litre purchase rate, but the state government has so far not paid heed to the demand. The state has also failed to implement complete loan waiver scheme for the farmers. We have, therefore, decided to protest across the state," he said.

Today's meeting was also attended by two lawmakers- independent MLA from Amravati Bacchu Kadu and CPM MLA Jiva Pandu Gavit from Nashik district.

Last year, farmers had launched an agitation from June 1 to press for their different demands, including that of loan waiver. The stir had disrupted supply of vegetables and other essentials to cities, including Mumbai for some days.

The protest was called off on June 11 after the state government gave a firm assurance of bringing a comprehensive scheme to help the debt-pressed farmers. The government later unveiled a mega Rs 34,022-crore farm loan waiver scheme.

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Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today approved the state's Disaster Management Plan for the year 2018 during a meeting on monsoon preparedness.

"The CM has approved the State Disaster Management Plan 2018, the Drought Management Plan and Disaster Management Plans in this meeting," a statement from the Chief Minister's Office informed.

Senior ministers Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar along with senior officials from the Army, Navy, Air Force, the State Disaster Management Authority, the Indian Meteorological Department and state and civic bodies were present at the meeting.

Fadnavis emphasised on proper coordination among agencies, proper dissemination of information to citizens and issuing alerts in time.

The statement from the CMO said detailed presentations were given by the IMD on sector-wise predictions, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on monsoon preparedness and beach safety and the defence forces on harbour assistance and deployment.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) also gave a presentation at the meeting, the statement said.

The Divisional Commissioners of Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati and Aurangabad regions also presented their monsoon preparedness plans, the statement added.

It added that the World Congress on Disaster Risk Management would be organised in Mumbai soon.

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An employee of a company, engaged in road construction in the area, was shot dead allegedly by naxals at Kita village in Latehar district, police said.

The victim has been identified as 'munshi' Sanjay Sao, a resident of Kita village.

Sao was supervising road construction work when a group of motorcycle-borne miscreants opened fire at him yesterday, the police said.

Sao took shelter in an under-construction toilet even after he was shot at, but the naxals fired at him again killing him on the spot, the police said.

The victim received five bullet injuries while another person accompanying him managed to escape, the police said.

Superintendent of Police, Prasant Anand, who rushed to the spot said prima facie, the incident seemed to be the handiwork of a naxal group, for the want of levy.

The company was engaged in building a road between Brahmani to Soans at a estimated cost of Rs 3.98 crore.

A hunt was launched to apprehend the culprits involved in the incident, he added.

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Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ram Vilas Paswan today said the Narendra Modi government ought to be "more communicative" about its efforts for betterment of minorities and Dalits in order to counter the criticisms of the opposition.

The Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Minister said the Modi government has taken a number of concrete steps that would benefit the minorities and Dalits.

"I can bet that no government in the history of the country has taken so many concrete steps that would benefit the most backward segments of the society, including Dalits and minorities. Hence, I keep telling our BJP friends, boliye (be more communicative", the LJP chief told reporters here.

Paswan rubbished allegations that minorities felt "insecure" under the rule of BJP-led NDA, saying "in the last four years, has anybody heard Prime Minister utter a single word on Article 376 or Ayodhya. The misgivings are unfounded and those making such assertions often do so out of mischief"



The LJP chief said a hue and cry was made by the Congress in the aftermath of assault of some Dalits at Una in Gujarat two years ago.

"The party, which did little for seven decades except paying lip-service to its vote-bank of Dalits, Muslims and Brahmins, made it an election issue when the state went to polls more than a year after the incident took place", he said.

Replying to a query, Paswan claimed that his party has always been in favour of the grant of special category status to Bihar.

"With the creation of Jharkhand, Bihar was ravished of its rich mineral resources. So Bihar definitely deserves special assistance, much more than relatively developed states like Andhra do. The 14th Finance Commission may have done away with the special status category, but the Centre will not let Bihar down. The state will get as much extra help as it requires", Paswan added.

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The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) today adopted a new political resolution that lambasted the Modi government for its "dictatorial" attitude towards states and vowed to unite regional parties to take on the BJP government in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The resolution read: "The Centre weakening the financial condition of states... The unilateral style of functioning of the Modi government has led to loss of trust of states in the central government. The states feel that the concept of federalism is only on paper."



The "dictatorial" attitude of the Narendra Modi government, its "unilateral and anti-people decisions, misuse of central intelligence agencies and regulatory agencies to suppress the political opponents have become a matter of grave concern in the Indian polity", it read.

The resolution was adopted at "Mahanadu", the three-day annual conclave of the TDP here that began on Sunday.

"On the occasion of the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy, leaders of various political parties had assembled in Bangalore as a token of solidarity of regional political parties.

"N Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh chief minister) was a tall leader in this meet and it was a clear indication that regional political parties are going to be a power to reckon with in the 2019 elections as an alternative to national parties to form a government in Delhi," the TDP resolution said.

Andhra Pradesh Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said the Modi government was taking "dangerous steps" against constitutional values and that it would be "dethroned by united regional parties" in the 2019 general elections.

He also said that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP veteran L K Advani respected the Constitution, but Modi and party chief Amit Shah were "destroying the democratic system" in the country.

"The Modi government's policies are against secularism. The ruling party uses RSS cadres, who have a fascist mentality. It is also spoiling fiscal and political values," he alleged.

"There's no democratic system under the Modi government. We respected Vajpayee and Advani who revered and protected the Constitution. But then came the Modi-Shah duo. They destroyed the entire democratic system," the minister alleged.

The Centre is interfering in the working of the 15th Finance Commission, he told reporters on the sidelines of the conclave.

The Modi government is taking "dangerous steps against constitutional values and the TDP will unite all regional parties to stop it in 2019", Ramakrishnudu alleged.

The BJP government would be "dethroned" by an amalgamation of regional parties, he said, but parried a query on who would be the prime ministerial face if a united front comes into being.

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The body of a man, missing since Sunday's fire in a commercial complex in suburban Goregaon, was found today, police said.

With this, the death toll in the fire that swept through the seventh and eighth floors of the Technic Plus One building in Goregaon on Sunday evening rose to five, an official added.

He said the body of the victim, identified as Abdul Rakib (23), was found inside an electric panel on the seventh floor of the building.

It seems that Rakib, in order to save himself, had gone into the panel and closed it from inside, the official added.

At the time of the fire, Pratham Enterprises was removing a private telecom firm's assets on the seventh and eighth floors as part of a High Court order.

About 100 labourers, who were working alongside at the time of the incident, were rescued.

Four, however, died during the course of medical treatment.

Prima facie investigations have revealed that a short circuit in an electric duct might have caused the fire that resulted in smoke enveloping several floors of the nine storey building, the official said.

Goregaon police have arrested Nitin Kothari, an employee of Pratham Enterprises, and two labour contractors, identified as Ramzan Ali Khan and Salim Maniyar, in connection with the fire, an official said.

The three have been booked under section 304 (culpable homicide) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, he added.

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Declared a member of the Jaish-e-Mohammed by the NIA last week, Syed Munir-ul-Hassan Qadiri had walked the tentative path to peace and a better life when he opted out of terrorism and returned to Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir via Nepal with his family seven years ago.

Qadiri, now under arrest and alleged to be involved in a 2016 militant attack on an Army camp in Nagrota, was among the 450 former militants who came back to Kashmir through the Nepal route as part of the former Omar Abdullah government's surrender policy, officials here said.

But the promise of a better life and rehabilitation remained unfulfilled with the continuous struggle to make ends meet, especially after the PDP-BJP government took over in 2015.

Qadiri, who headed the 'Nepal Returnee Forum', the organisation formed by the former militants who returned to the Valley, had been running from the proverbial pillar to post looking for help for their rehabilitation after the formation of the new government under the late Mufti Mohammed Sayeed as chief minister.

An active member of the People's League who had crossed over to PoK in the early 1990s, Qadiri returned with his wife and three children in 2011. He was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir police earlier this month after his name cropped up during an investigation of two youths held in downtown Srinagar.

During his questioning, Qadiri, who is now 45, is alleged to have spoken about his involvement in the 2016 terror attack on an army camp in Nagrota in Jammu in which seven army men, including two officers, were killed.

After this, the National Investigation Agency was given his custody on May 26.

Officials have helped join the dots from 2011, when Qadiri returned under the Omar Abdullah government's flagship programme, to now.

Qadiri was given a soft loan from Jammu and Kashmir Bank to start life afresh. He used the money to begin a small business of readymade garments but the massive floods of 2014 washed it all away.

"I will be left with no option but to return to militancy to run my household," a tearful Qadiri had told PTI in an interview in October 2015 as highlighted the plight of those who had returned from Nepal.

The words proved prophetic.

According to an official, Qadiri started working with the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group from September 2016 and facilitated the transportation of three terrorists to the army camp in Nagrota in Jammu region in November that year.

"Tall promises were made to us but we don't even not have proper clothes to wear. We have been left to beg in order to make our ends meet," Qadiri had said, pointing to the patches on his clothes.

After 2014, Qadiri, who belonged to Lolab in north Kashmir, was thrown out of his parental home and was forced to live in a rented home on the outskirts of Srinagar. His son, a Class 12 student, was working as a daily wager and his children were finding it impossible to get admission in schools because every institution asked for a transfer certificate.

"Now do you expect me to travel back to Muzaffarabad (in PoK) and get the certificate. Is this the surrender policy?" he had asked.

There were obstacles at every corner, Qadiri had said.

Their names, he added, were registered in revenue records but the state government was not issuing ration cards.

Central security agencies have long said that there must be a solution for those who returned from Nepal. If not, they would be ready fodder for militant groups in the Valley.

The Mehbooba Mufti government, an official recounted, had taken up the matter with the Centre but found no takers.

The surrender policy of 2010 came to an abrupt end and no one was allowed to cross over from Nepal.

Officials said they have been trying to convince the Centre to formulate a policy for those who had returned from Nepal but to no avail.

"After all, this route was started by the previous state government with the concurrence of the Centre," said an official.

According to state government records, 4,587 youth crossed the Line of Control (LoC) for arms training in the early 1990s.

Of these, 489 youth, including 15 during the present PDP-BJP tenure till 2016, returned through the Nepal border.

However, the policy was discontinued as the Centre felt that it could be misused by militants to sneak into the hinterland of the country, an official said.

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Various welfare schemes related to the Naval community were discussed at the annual general meeting of Naval Group Insurance Fund (NGIF) and Indian Naval Benevolent Association (INBA) here today.

Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Sunil Lanba presided over the meeting, a Navy release said.

Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command, Vice Admiral Karambir Singh,Controller of Logistics and Controller of Personnel Services of Integrated Headquarters (IHQ), Ministry of Defence (Navy), Vice-Admiral Sunil Anand and Vice Admiral R Hari Kumar respectively and delegates from other commands of the Navy and Indian Coast Guard were among those who attended the meeting.

They discussed various welfare schemes related to Naval community, the release said.

NGIFwas introduced to provide meaningful social security to serving Navaland Coast Guard personnel, their family members and retired personnel by way of providing life insurance cover in keeping with the socio economic conditions prevailing in society, it said.

INBA was a charitable organisation rendering financial assistance to relieve hardship, distress of serving as well as released/ retired Naval personnel and their families and provides loans for education, marriage, house repair and merit scholarships, the release added.

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A 25-year-old villager was abducted and beaten to death by Naxals after the rebels accused him of being a police informer, an official said today.

Budhram Podiyam, along with some other villagers, was kidnapped last week from Budarikarka village under Kuakonda police station area in Chhattisgarhs Dantewada district, an official said.

He was beaten to death on May 27 after Naxals held a "jan adalat" in a nearby forest, an official said.

The other villagers, who were assaulted and then set free, told police that Podiyam was killed as Naxals had accused him of being a police informer, the official said.

The incident came to light yesterday following which security personnel were rushed to the spot, the official said.

His body was brought to Kuakonda for post mortem today, he added.

A case had been registered and further investigations were underway.

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Mayor of cash-strapped North Delhi Municipal Corporation Adesh Gupta has written to the Lt Governor seeking release of funds due to the civic body as per the recommendations of the fourth Delhi Finance Commission (DFC), the NDMC today said.

The mayor, in a statement, also alleged that funds due as per the third DFC have also "not been released fully".

"The North Delhi Mayor in a letter to Lt Governor (L-G) Anil Baijal has sought release of funds due to the NDMC as per recommendations of the fourth Delhi Finance Commission which amounts to Rs 1,493.51 crore," the statement said.

The shortfall is affecting the functioning of the corporation which in turn affects the well-being of citizens, he said.

Gupta said monsoon is approaching and de-silting of drains and preventive measures against vector-borne diseases -- dengue, chikungunya -- are of utmost importance, but lack of funds is creating a major financial constraint.

The mayor requested the L-G that directions be issued to the Delhi government at the earliest for release of funds.

Gupta claimed that he had sought time to discuss these issues with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, "but so far no response has been received from his office".

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Nepal today termed as "unfortunate" the remarks of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj that Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed lakhs of "Indians" during a civic reception in his honour in Nepal's Janakpur recently.

Addressing a press conference on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the NDA government in New Delhi, Swaraj yesterday said Modi is the first prime minister of the country who has from America's Madison Square to Janakpur (in Nepal) addressed lakhs of Indians and reached out to them.

Hours later, she apologised for her remarks.

In a statement today, Nepal's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the reference made about the public participation at the civic felicitation programme held in honour of Prime Minister Modi in Janakpur on May 11 was "unfortunate."



"It has come to the notice of the Government of Nepal that she has publicly admitted her mistake and apologised for the same. The Government of Nepal sincerely thanks all those who raised concerns over this issue," the spokesperson said.

Social cohesion and harmony characterise the Nepali way of life that is reflective of national unity among people living in all regions, which should be respected by all, the official added.

Janakpur is known as the birth place of Sita, the wife of Lord Rama.

During his visit, Modi offered prayers at Janaki temple which was built in memory of Sita in 1910.

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Nine persons were killed and six others injured in incidents of thunderstorm and lightning in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, a senior government official said today.

Asmany as five persons were killed and four others injured as lightning struck some parts of Unnao district last night, Principal Secretary, Information, Avinish Awasthi said.

There are also reports of two persons each being killed in thunderstorm in Kanpur and Rae Bareli, he said.

Respective district magistrates have been directed to undertake rescue works and ensure distribution of relief in 24 hours, Awasthi added.

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United Arab Emirates (UAE) today banned import of fresh fruits and vegetables from Kerala in the wake of outbreak of Nipah virus (NiV) in the state.

The UAE's Ministry of Climate Change and (MOCCAE) said in a statement that it has banned the imports of fresh vegetables and fruits from Kerala.

The ministry said a circular has been issued to the concerned local authorities including the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and the municipalities of Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Fujairah to prevent the entry of all kinds of fresh vegetables and fruits from Kerala.

It further said the decision is based on the information received and published on the World Health Organisation (WHO) website regarding the outbreak of NiV infection in Kerala.

Preliminary information, it added indicates that the main host of the disease is the fruit bat, where the virus is transmitted through secretions from the bat to the fruit that it feeds on or touches.

Mangoes, dates and bananas are the bat's most preferred fruit. There have been cases of transmission of the disease among humans and between humans and animals as well.

Brain damaging Nipah virus has lead to death of over 10 people so far in the southern state.

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Northern Army Commander Lt. General Devraj Anbu, who has been appointed as the next Vice Chief of Army Staff, today called on Governor N N Vohra and Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti separately and briefed them about the security situation in the state.

"The Governor had extensive discussions with Lt. Gen Anbu regarding the security situation; the losses and serious difficulties arising from the recurring violations of the ceasefire agreement from across the IB and LoC and security arrangements for the forthcoming Amarnathji Yatra," an official spokesman said.

The Governor also discussed with Lt. Gen Anbu issues relating to the ceasefire in security operations which was announced by the Centre on the eve of Ramzan and how it could form the basis of sustaining arrangements in the future, the spokesman said.

Vohra wished Lt. Gen Anbu high success in his next crucial assignment at the Army Headquarters.

During his meeting with the Chief Minister, the Army Commander briefed her about the overall security scenario in the state, particularly after the announcement of Ramzan ceasefire.

The Chief Minister advised the Army Commander to work in synergy with other security agencies and ensure that the relief and hope generated by the ceasefire among common masses is sustained and carried forward.

She also asked the Army to help people during the holy month in whatever means possible. Lt. Gen Anbu also briefed the Chief Minister about the situation along borders in the state, particularly the International Border, and measures being taken for the safety and security of people living in these areas.

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Peeved over Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan's remark allegedly against a senior state bureaucrat, at least eight service unions including the Odisha IAS Officer Association today appealed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

The Opposition BJP, however, alleged that the employees associations' complaint against Pradhan was part of a "big conspiracy" against the Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister.

"It is a false allegation against the Union Minister. The employees unions are being instructed and pressurised to make such complaint against Pradhan," state BJP general secretary Prithiwraj Harichandan told reporters here.

At least eight employees unions have lodged complaint against a specific Union Minister who allegedly behaved in a rude manner to officers, an official statement issued by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) said.

The Odisha IAS Officer Association was the first to make the complain against Pradhan.

The incident happened yesterday when Pradhan attended the inauguration of the National Data Centre here, along with Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Odisha IT Secretary and senior IAS officer Ashok Meena were also present at the same meeting.

"The incident took place on 28.05.18 at the inauguration of the National Data Centre of NIC, Bhubaneswar, wherein Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister personally targeted a senior IAS officer of the state government, who was attending the function on invitation," the association said in the memorandum submitted to the chief minister.

Claiming that Pradhan took the name of the IAS officer at least thrice during the meeting, IAS association secretary Vishal Dev said, "The remark is uncalled for and not welcome. We have registered a protest to such remark."



Pradhan allegedly made the "objectionable" remarks while he was speaking on the proposed electronics manufacturing hub here.

The IAS Officers Association was specially annoyed over Pradhan's remark that, "No work can be done without the state government. But that does not mean the name of a person will be replaced by the name of another person in the digital media. Meena Sahib, don't do this."



Pradhan took Ashok Meena's name on another issue and suggested him to take up the matter with "higher ups" on the Digital India and referred to the CMO.

The state BJP leaders often make allegations against a particular officer in the CMO, who allegedly takes all decision in the government.

"We are also requesting him (Pradhan) to support so that more number of investors come in manufacturing sector," Meena told reporters.

The memorandum said harmonious relationship between the political executives and the permanent executives has existed since Independence and is one of the greatest strength of democracy.

"However, recent episodes in Odisha and other parts of the country wherein officers, while discharging their professional duties, have been personally attacked by senior members of political executive which is a direct attempt to defy the Constitutional values.

"The IAS Association of Odisha strongly condemns such incidents and stand by all the state government employees facing such situation ... We appeal to the Hon'ble Chief Minister to take up the matter at the appropriate level so that such incidents are not repeated in future," it said.

The ruling BJD too has strongly criticised Pradhan's remark. "Giving such remarks against officers is condemnable," said BJD spokesman Susmit Patra.

In February this year, a group of BJP activists had attacked the residence of an IAS officer, who is the chief minister's private secretary.

OPCC vice-president Naba Das said "It is unfortunate that objectionable remarks are being made against officers."



The employees unions which lodged the complaint against Pradhan are: Odisha Administrative Service, Odisha Financial Service, Odisha Police Service, Odisha Revenue Service, Odisha Information Service, Odisha Employees, Odisha Secretariat Service and Odisha Driver Service.

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Peeved over Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan's remark allegedly against a senior bureaucrat in the state, the Odisha IAS Officer Association today appealed to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to ensure that such incidents do not recur.

The incident took place yesterday when Pradhan attended the inauguration of the National Data Centre here along with Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad. Odisha's IT Secretary and senior IAS officer Ashok Meena was also present at the same meeting.

The incident took place on 28.05.18 at the inauguration of the National Data Centre of NIC, Bhubaneswar, wherein Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister personally targeted a senior IAS officer of the state government, who was attending the function on invitation," the association said in the memorandum submitted to the chief minister.

Stating that Pradhan took the name of the IAS officer at least thrice at the meeting, IAS association secretary Vishal Dev said, "The remark is uncalled for and not welcome. We have registered a protest to such remark."



Pradhan allegedly made the "objectionable" remarks while he was speaking on the proposed electronics manufacturing hub here.

The IAS Officers Association was specially annoyed over Pradhan's remark that No work can be done without the state government. But that does not mean the name of a person will be replaced by the name of another person in the digital media. Meena Sahib, dont do this.

Pradhan took Ashok Meena's name on another issue and suggested him to take up the matter with "higher ups" on the Digital India and referred to the CMO.

The state BJP leaders often make allegations against a particular officer in the CMO, who allegedly takes all decision in the government.

"We are also requesting him (Pradhan) to support so that more number of investors come in manufacturing sector," Meena told reporters.

The memorandum said harmonious relationship between the political executives and the permanent executives has existed since Independence and is one of the greatest strength of democracy.

"However, recent episodes in Odisha and other parts of the country wherein officers, while discharging their professional duties, have been personally attacked by senior members of political executive which is a direct attempt to defy the Constitutional values.

"The IAS Association of Odisha strongly condemns such incidents and stand by all the state government employees facing such situation ... We appeal to the Hon'ble Chief Minister to take up the matter at the appropriate level so that such incidents are not repeated in future," it said.

The ruling BJD too has strongly criticised Pradhan's remark. "Giving such remarks against officers is condemnable," said BJD spokesman Susmit Patra.

In February this year, a group of BJP activists had attacked the residence of an IAS officer, who is the chief minister's private secretary.

OPCC vice-president Naba Das said "It is unfortunate that objectionable remarks are being made against officers.

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A cadre of the banned militant outfit United National Liberation Front (UNLF) was arrested from Moreh in Manipur's Tengnoupal district, the police said.

The militant was arrested while the police was conducting a search operation in the area yesterday, Superintendent of Police S Ibomcha Singh said.

A case has been registered at the Moreh police station, the SP said.

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Twelve more alleged drug dealers were killed in overnight raids carried out by the Bangladesh's law enforcement agencies, police said today, taking the tally of those killed in the "war on drugs" to 105 since the launch of the nation-wide crackdown on narcotics trade about a fortnight ago.

The deaths of alleged drug dealers by the elite anti-crime unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the police has invited criticism from the rights group and foreign diplomats expressed concerns over the "extrajudicial killings".

Twelve people were killed last night by the RAB and police during their clampdown, between last night and this morning, in nine administrative districts, including the Bangladeshi capital, a police official said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had on May 15 announced the launch of an aggressive war on drugs to smash the surging trade of Yaba, a cheap pill combining methamphetamine and caffeine.

In most of the cases, bodies of alleged drug traders were found lying on the street or roadside ditches following the raids, with law enforcement agencies claiming that some of the casualties were the result of "internal clashes" of drug peddlers.

Yesterday, the international affairs sub-committee of the ruling Awami League (AL) briefed about the drive to foreign diplomats, who expressed deep concern over the "extrajudicial killings".

But AL leaders said that the law enforcement agencies were forced to retaliate after being attacked by the alleged drug peddlers.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said that security forces have launched an 'all-out war' on drugs and the clampdown would continue until the drug trafficking was eliminated.

Bangladesh does not produce drugs, but in the recent years it had become the destination of "Yaba", a narcotic substance often referred to as "horse drug". The drug smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar is popular among young people. Doctors say, in the long-term it causes decline of cognitive functions.

The Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) strongly condemned the extrajudicial killings, with its chairman Kazi Rezaul Hoque saying that he plans to formally write to the government expressing grave concerns.

"We want to say unequivocally that the criminals, whoever she or he is, must face actions through due legal procedure," he said, echoing demands from other rights watchdogs.

The media has also questioned the sudden launch of a violent anti-drug clampdown after newspaper reports wrote about "Yaba villages" in frontier Teknaf that bordered Myanmar for so many years.

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Over 60,000 participants will perform different asanas in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the International Yoga Day on June 21 here, a government official said today.

At a meeting to review preparations for the event, Chief Secretary Utpal Kumar Singh,said the state government has moved a proposal to make the Forest Research Institute (FRI) the venue for the event.

The programme will start at 7 AM in the morning and go on till 7.45 AM with over 60,000 participants collectively performing different asanas in the presence of the prime minister, he said.

There will be two rehearsals for the event on June 18 and 19, he said.

The Uttarakhand Police, the Army, para-military personnel, NCC, NSS, Scout guide, yog sansthan, school and college students, and representatives of different organisations will participate in the event, an official release quoting the chief secretary said.

Apart from the national event being held in Dehradun, programmes will also be held at every district headquarters, blocks and gram panchayats to mark the occasion, it said.

A run for yoga will also be held here next month.

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Rebati Phukan, who has been working as a mediator between the Centre and separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) since 1991 to facilitate a peace dialogue, has gone missing since April 22, the Supreme Court was informed today.

Phukan's son Kaushik Phukan has approached the top court saying his father has been missing since April 22 and quoted ULFA chief Paresh Baruah as saying that he may be in the custody of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) or the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) or Military Intelligence or the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as they "have a rivalry amongst them".

His son has filed a habeas corpus (a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a court) petition before the Supreme Court.

The plea which sought direction to the authorities, including Assam government, to produce Phukan before the court was mentioned before a bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Mohan M Shantanagoudar, which agreed to hear the matter on June 1.

Senior advocate Geeta Luthra, who appeared for Kaushik, mentioned the matter before the bench and said that Rebati Phukan was a "peace negotiator" between the Centre and ULFA in Assam.

The petitioner also urged the court that the case be transferred to CBI or any other independent agency or a special investigating team as there was "a loss of faith in the local police" due to its alleged lethargic conduct.

Kaushik has said in his plea that despite the registration of an FIR, no proactive steps have been taken till date by the police to trace his father, who was appointed as a member of the erstwhile People's Consultative Group (PCG) formed by the ULFA in 2005 to mediate between the outfit and the Centre.

"The petitioner's father has also been working directly with the Prime Minister's Office since 1991 for various peace missions between the Centre and ULFA to bring peace in Assam," the plea said, adding that Rebati Phukan had also "worked in association and cooperated" with the IB till 2016 on various missions in India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and China.

The plea said that after he went missing, Kaushik got to know from a high-ranking official of the IB that his father was closely associated with the intelligence body.

It claimed they have come to know that on April 20, Rebati Phukan had attended a "secret meeting" with a retired bureaucrat and an advocate practising in the Assam High Court, during which a "proposal memorandum to negotiate with Paresh Baruah, ULFA chief, was being discussed and the same was to be presented before Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi soon".

The petitioner has said that his father went for morning walk on April 22 but did not return to his rented house, after which the landlord called Kaushik about it and a complaint was filed at a police station in Guwahati.

The plea said that on April 25, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal had directed the Director General of Police to immediately conduct an inquiry in the matter and a special team was formed.

The petitioner also claimed that on May 4, a CRPF doctor had messaged a journalist that Rebati Phukan was treated by him at a CRPF camp in Shillong and he was safe and sound.

It referred to recent media reports in which ULFA chief Paresh Baruah had said that Rebati Phukan was negotiating a "fresh proposal for Baruah's faction with the Centre with help from the interlocutor with the Naga outfit National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), R N Ravi".

"Baruah further made a statement stating that the petitioner's father might be in custody of either Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, Military Intelligence or National Investigating Agency as they have a rivalry amongst them," the plea said.

It also said that Director General of Police of Assam should be directed to file a status report giving details of the result of investigation till date.

The plea also sought security to the petitioner, his family members and the journalist, who informed Kaushik about his father's whereabouts in Shillong.

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A total of 422 players will go under the hammer during a two-day-auction for the sixth season of the Pro Kabaddi League, which begins here tomorrow.

Of the 422 players, 87 players are from the Future Kabaddi Heroes (FKH) programme while there are 58 foreign players from 14 countries including Iran, Bangladesh, Japan, Kenya, Republic of Korea, Malaysia and Sri Lanka, a media release issued here said.

Out of the 12 franchises, nine have already picked 21 players as Elite Retained Players. The remaining three franchises UP Yodha, U Mumba and Jaipur Pink Panthers will build their team from the scratch.

The total salary purse available for each franchise is Rs four crore and a franchise may choose between 18-25 players to form a team, the release stated.

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Police stations across Himachal Pradesh won't be bound by jurisdiction anymore and will register complaints irrespective of where a particular incident took place, the state's police chief S R Mardi said today.

To further improve policing, Himachal Pradesh's director general of police (DGP) said the gap between lower and higher officers must be bridged and officers' meetings must be held once every three to four months.

Any person in Himachal can now register a complaint at any police station and the scanned copy of the same will be sent immediately to the concerned SHO, Mardi said at a media interaction during the police officers meet of the North Range here.

The role of the police is very sensitive and difficult in society, he said.

The working conditions for police are tough but we still need to improve our behaviour, he added.

Mardi acknowledged that crime in the state has risen but said the rate of successfully solving cases has also improved.

From January till now, 84 proclaimed offenders were apprehended from Himachal, These included some from other states, Mardi said.

During this period, 1,687 persons indulging in illegal mining were fined and Rs 70 lakh was recovered from them deposited in the state's coffers.

Properties worth Rs 13 crore were seized under the Forest Act and 104 cases were registered against culprits.

An additional Rs 4.7 crore was collected as fine from those breaking traffic laws.

According to Mardi, the state police would soon set up a cyber cell with a laboratory in Shimla under the guidance of the director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Mandi. The Centre has already released Rs 1.50 crore for the project, the state's top cop said.

As part of ongoing efforts to help people, Mardi said apps like Gudiya, Hoshiar and Shakti have been launched while lost and missing reports can now be lodged using Whatsapp.

We have installed CCTV's at interstate borders and important inter sections, introduced e-challans for traffic violations and started self-defence training programme for school girls in the state, Mardi said.

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Over 40,000 classrooms are set to go hi-tech across the state by June this year with the Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for developing a portal and its mobile app for the purpose.

The state government has issued an order directing educational directors to ensure proper use of the Samagra Resource Portal in 45,000 classrooms.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan would inaugurate the portal and the mobile app on May 31 at a functionpresided over by minister C Raveendranath, a government release said.

Samagra is different from conventional educational portals with its design structured to ensure all learning objectives in subjects in classrooms are transacted properly by using lesson plans as envisaged by the curriculum.

In addition to lesson planning, Samagra also features digital textbooks, question banks and e-resources which are accessible to everyone without the need of logging in.

It also contains over 19,000 digital resources in the form of videos, audios, pictures, interactive simulations, which can be sorted class and subject wise.

Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for (KITE) has already provided specific training in Samagra to 74,000 teachers during this summer vacation.

Under a state government initiative- IT@School Project-- that aims to impart IT education to schools, it was decided to digitise 45,000 classrooms in Kerala and make them hi-tech.

The project envisages a comprehensive upgradation of various elements of classroom learning such as infrastructure, textbooks, learning materials, teacher training, handbooks, monitoring and evaluation, and e-governance using ICT.

According to K Anvar Sadath, Vice Chairman and Executive Director, KITE, 34,500 schools have been made hi-tech and the rest are expected to be upgraded by June end.

The first phase would cover classes 8 to 12 and the second phase from 1 to 7.

"Samagra would soon include a self/peer assessment features for students and teachers, to evaluate their learning in different phases.

We would also incorporate various new features in Samagra including regular updation of contents, providing special log-ins for students for monitoring the academic excellence, providing a dedicated forum for teachers for subject wise discussions etc," Sadath said.

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US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with a top North Korean general in New York this week, as preparations for a historic summit meeting in Singapore between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is in full swing, the White House said today.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders, however, did not confirm if the Singapore summit would be on June 12, as was scheduled earlier.

She gave an insight into the preparations that the Trump Administration is having with the North Koreans and the other countries in the region, Japan, Singapore and South Korea in particular.

"Since the President's May 24th letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the North Koreans have been engaging. The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore," Sanders said in an update on the "expected" Singapore summit.

On Thursday, Trump abruptly cancelled the proposed summit meeting with the North Korean leader on June 12 in Singapore and blamed Pyongyang's "tremendous anger" and "open hostility" for his dramatic decision.

His move resulted in flurry of activities by the North Koreans, who then said that Pyongyang was willing to hold the meeting anytime in any form.

But within 24 hours, Trump said the meeting could still go ahead after productive talks were held with North Korean officials.

A day later, Kim had an unscheduled meeting with North Korean president Moon Jae-in. A team of US officials had a meeting with the North Koreans in the demilitarized zone, while another team travelled to Singapore for preparations.

Sanders today said President Trump will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June 7 at the White House.

She said North Korean Vice Chairman of the Central Committee, General Kim Yong Chol, is traveling to New York and will meet with Secretary of State Pompeo later this week.

Kim Yong Chol was expected to arrive tomorrow in New York.

"We also have a US delegation meeting with a North Korean delegation in the DMZ," she said.

The United States delegation consists of Sung Kim, US Ambassador to the Philippines; Allison Hooker, Director for Korea for the National Security Council; and Randy Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the Department of Defense.

"They plan to have additional meetings this week," Sanders said.

"Separately, Joe Hagin, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and the US pre-advance team are in Singapore coordinating the logistics of the expected summit," she said.

Lastly, the National Security Advisor John Bolton is in touch with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Sanders said.

Washington has made it clear it wants to see the "complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation" of the North. But Pyongyang has vowed it will never give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression.

In April, Trump had stunned the world by accepting an invitation to meet Kim in an unprecedented sit-down.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
President Ram Nath Kovind today said he decided to break the protocol in order to attend a private function to felicitate "good people" like Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi and former ISRO chairman A S Kiran Kumar.

"As per the protocol of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the president does not attend functions organised by private parties," Kovind said, while addressing the gathering at the "Santokbaa Humanitarian Award" function here.

The function was organised by Surat-based SRK Foundation, which is run by Govind Dholakia, the owner of diamond firm Shree Ramakrishna (SRK) Exports.

"When I learnt that Satyarthi and Kiran Kumar were to be felicitated, I said these two are good men. But I decided to check the credentials of the award-givers. I learnt that they are also fine.

"So, I decided to break the tradition a little bit to felicitate two good people," the president said.

Satyarthi and Kiran Kumar were presented with mementos and a cash award of Rs 1 crore each by Kovind.

Satyarthi said he was honoured to receive the award and declared that he would donate the money for the welfare of children.

Kiran Kumar said he received the award not as an individual, but as a representative of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

Kovind said he was happy that Surat's business community was supportive of philanthropic and social welfare efforts.

He also praised the organisers for instituting the awards.

On the occasion, Kovind remembered acclaimed Gujarati poet Veer Narmad and said it was the latter's writing that had motivated people to take part in the country's Independence struggle.

"After the mutiny of 1857, a time had come when most people of the country had started believing that the British rule was good for them. In such a scenario, it was Veer Narmad, a son of this soil, who had opened the eyes of the people and motivated them to fight against the British," he said.

The president told the gathering that he used to visit Surat frequently in the 1970s and stay at former chief minister Hitendra Desai's residence.

Gujarat Governor O P Kohli and Chief Minister Vijay Rupani were also present on the occasion.

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A day after a man was found dead in a case of alleged honour killing in Kerala, his fiancee's father and brother, the prime accused, were taken into custody today, police said.

Chacko John (50) and his 26-year old son Syanu Chacko were detained as the killing of Kevin P Joseph rocked the state with a hartal hitting normal life in Kottayam and the Congress targeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for alleged lapse by police in the handling of a complaint by the victim's fiancee.

The two, who had gone underground after the incident, surrendered at a police station in northern Kannur district and were taken into custody, police said adding they were among 14 accused in the case. Joseph, a Dalit Christian, was abducted on Sunday and killed by a gang of criminals allegedly engaged by his fiancee's family. His body was found in a river in Kollam district yesterday.

His relatives have alleged he was tortured and killed by the gang two days after Joseph and the woman filed a joint application for marriage registration at a sub-registrar office near here.

Three persons allegedly involved in the crime were taken into custody hours after the recovery of the body while a search was on for nine others.

Earlier today, the father and son moved an anticipatory bail plea in the Kerala High Court claiming that they had not committed any offence.

In their plea, likely to come up for hearing tomorrow, the two said they were willing to cooperate in the investigation.

Ernakulam Range IG Vijay Sakhare said the woman's father had a role in the crime.

The body of Joseph was buried in the cemetery of Good Shepherd Church in Kottayam this afternoon in the presence of a large number of locals.

Earlier, the body was brought to his native Kumaranellore village amid poignant scenes. After locals paid their homage, it was taken for burial.

Meanwhile, normal life was affected in Kottayam district by the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by various political parties, including Congress and BJP, and Dalit organisations to protest the "honour killing".

Former chief minister and Congress working committee member A K Antony said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should take responsibility for the alleged lapse on the part of police in dealing with the case.

Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded resignation of Vijayan.

Jopseph's fiancee, whose father is a Christian and mother a Muslim, alleged laxity on the part of police when she approached the Gandhinagar police station near Kottayam with a missing complaint earlier.

The police did not move even after she appealed to the Sub Inspector that Joseph's life was in danger and he should be rescued, she told reporters in Kottayam.

Bursting into tears, the woman said she was "Kevin's wife and will stay in his residence."



Kerala Human Rights Commission has said it was suspected to be a case of honour killing and ordered the state police chief to submit a report in three weeks.

Sub-Inspector M S Shibu and Grade ASI Sunnymon of the Gandhinagar police station were yesterday suspended for laxity while Kottayam District Superintendent of Police V M Mohammed Rafique transferred following the incident.

The chief minister has described the incident as "unfortunate" and said it should not have happened.

Antony said there was a grave lapse on the part of the police in dealing with the case and it cannot be justified.

"The government and Chief Minister has to take the responsibility for this', he said.

Noting that a girl was killed in a similar 'honour killing' by her father a month ago in Malappuram, he said it was not proper for the Kerala society to remain silent over such incidents.

These honour killings actually point to the degradation of cultural and social values, he said in New Delhi.

"Casteism and primitive rituals which the state had driven away through social reforms have started to come back...Kerala is virtually turning as lunatic asylum as described by Swami Vivekananda," he said.

The general public, political leadership and social outfits also should perform their responsibilities, he added.

Chennithala demanded the resignation of Vijayan, claiming that the state police force under him had crumbled.

Suspension of a few police personnel in connection with the incident was an eye wash, he charged.

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Actor Rajinikanth today approached the Madras High Court for quashing proceedings in a lower court against him following a criminal complaint lodged by a film financier.

Rajinikanth submitted that financier Mukunchand Bothra had already filed a civil suit against him.

The matter relates to a loan reportedly given by Bothra to Kasturi Raja, father-in-law of the actor's daughter.

The financier alleged in the civil suit that Raja in a letter dated July 13, 2012 had said in case of failure to pay the amount, Rajinikanth would pay it.

Rajinikanth had filed an application in the civil suit, saying the financier had an intention to "extort money."



Following this, the financier filed a criminal complaint before a magistrate court alleging that the word 'extort' brought disrepute to him.

Rajinikanth submitted in the high court that the complaint was not maintainable and "an abuse of process of law."



"... It is settled law that an averment made in a pleading in civil suit cannot be termed to be a defamatory statement unless the same is struck off by the civil court," the actor said.

He sought quashing of proceedings and summons issued to him by the magistrate court which stated that a prima facie case had been out against him.

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Reliance Infratel has reached an agreement with its minority shareholder HSBC Daisy Investments (Mauritius) to settle a dispute over non-payment of dues, paving the way for sale of the firm's telecom tower business to clear bank loans.

Following the development, the Anil Ambani led firm today withdrew its petition from the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) seeking permission to sell its tower and fibre assets.

The move will allow debt ridden Reliance Communications to proceed with asset monetisation by selling tower and fibre assets of Reliance Infratel Ltd (RITL).

During the proceedings of NCLAT, the counsel appearing for the RCom subsidiary informed the appellate tribunal that it has reached a settlement with HSBC Daisy Investments (Mauritius), which holds 4.26 per cent share holding in the company.

"Parties have reached settlement. The moment company exits IBC process, they would sign the terms of consent," the RITL counsel said.

Following this, a NCLAT bench headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya allowed the company to withdraw its plea.

"In view of consent terms, parties are allowed to withdraw their appeal. Both appeals are accordingly disposed of," the bench said.

The RCom group firm's petition was also backed by state-owned lender SBI at NCLAT.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal had stayed the sale of tower and fibre assets of the company, a move which was challenged by RITL before NCLAT.

The sale of these businesses forms an important part of the overall Rs 25,000 crore asset monetisation blueprint of the troubled company.

In December 2017, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio had struck a mega deal to acquire mobile business assets including spectrum, towers and optical fibre network of RCom, owned by his younger brother Anil.

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Former president Pranab Mukherjee accepting an invite from the RSS to be the chief guest at a function at the Sangh headquarters on June 7 snowballed into a row with a former union minister urging him to reconsider his decision in the interest of secularism.

While the Congress refrained from making a comment on the issue, a party leader asked if the RSS accepted what the former president said as a minister and Congress leader about the Sangh being the "worst" outfit which was "communal", "anti-national" and "unpatriotic".

While a union minister defended Mukherjee's decision saying the RSS is not Pakistan's ISI and an "untouchable" and it was a "good beginning".

The RSS, on its part, claimed even Mahatma Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan attended their functions and former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had invited its workers for the Republic Day parade in 1963 after being impressed with its work.

Former union minister CK Jaffer Shareif, in a letter to Mukherjee, expressed surprise over the move and said he like other secular people was "stunned" to hear about his attending the RSS function.

"I personally think that a person of your stature, being secular and in for decades, having served in various capacity including the highest position of Rashtrapati, visiting Sangh Parivar at this point in time before Parliament elections is not proper.

"Congressmen besides secular people are stunned to hear the and are agitated on the situation and are hopeful that yourself will reconsider the idea.

"I once again request you to reconsider and avoid visiting Sangh Parivar in the interest of secularism and the country," Shareif said in his letter which was also signed by former MP H Hanumanthappa.

"No comments", was Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan's response when asked about Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters.

He said since the event is yet to happen he would not comment on it and the Congress will formulate its thoughts once the event takes place.

"The event has not happened. I have come to know about it from media reports and am collecting further details. At present I have no comments to offer till the event takes place," he told reporters at the AICC office.

Former MP and Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said as a Congress leader and minister, Mukherjee has spoken about the RSS and the BJP many times on various issues and dubbed it as "bad" and "worst" outfit, which is "communal" and "anti-national".

"Pranab Mukherjee used to say that the RSS is the worst organisation in the country. Its leaders have no morals and RSS is corrupt and spreads lies. He (Mukherjee) has also said that the RSS is anti-national, unpatriotic and communal.

"If the RSS has invited a person with such views, does this mean that the RSS admits that his (Pranab's) views about the organisation were correct," Dikshit asked.

Dikshit is the son of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Earlier, at a press conference in Mumbai, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said, "The RSS is not Pakistan's ISI. The RSS is an organisation of nationalists."



"Mukherjee's acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good," he said.

Amid the raging debate over Mukherjee's address at the RSS event, the RSS said the likes of Mahatama Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan have attended its functions in the past.

RSS joint spokesperson Narinder Thakur in a statement said that even former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had also invited its workers for the republic day parade in 1963, as he was impressed by their work.

Vadakkan said there is a lot of difference between their ideology and that of the RSS and never shall there be any compromise on that.

Asked about the RSS statement that even Mahatma Gandhi has attended the Sangh headquarters, the Congress leader said "everyone knows about the specialisation of the RSS and the BJP on history. I would not comment on it".

Mukherjee, who has been a Congress veteran, has been invited to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of Sangh Shiksha Varg -- a training camp for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers -- at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, scheduled on June 7.

The former president has accepted the invitation, an RSS functionary said yesterday.

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Union minister and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari today welcomed former President Pranab Mukherjee's decision to accept an invitation to attend an RSS event, saying it is a "good start" and "political untouchability" is not good.

Gadkari, the Lok Sabha MP from Nagpur, also said the RSS was not Pakistan's ISI but an organisation of nationalists.

Mukherjee has been invited to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of Sangh Shiksha Varg -- a training camp for Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers -- at its headquarters in Nagpur.

The event is to be held on June 7 and a senior RSS functionary had said yesterday that Mukherjee has accepted the invitation.

"Mukherjee's acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good," Gadkari told reporters here when asked about reported reservations in the Congress over the former President accepting the RSS invite.

Even though there has been no official reaction from the Congress on Mukherjee's decision, several party leaders have expressed surprise over the development.

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Rival Libyan leaders vying for influence in the fractured and war-scarred country meet in Paris today for a major peace conference seen as a risky French-backed push for a political settlement in the country.

Many analysts are sceptical that the initiative to invite four senior figures representing Libya's factions, as well as neighbouring countries and regional powers, can lead to significant progress.

Years of mediation by the United Nations, as well as former colonial power Italy, have failed to bring stability to the north African nation which descended into chaos after the ousting of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

The main focus of the meeting will be on trying to agree a political roadmap committing all parties to hold parliamentary and presidential elections before the end of the year -- an approach not favoured by everyone.

"I believe that elections are a big risk in a country armed like Libya," Federica Saini Fasanotti, an analyst with the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told AFP.

There are also disagreements over whether a vote on a new constitution, or elections for the presidency and parliament, should come first.

"While the Italians, Turkish, Qataris and to a large extent the Americans believe the constitution comes before elections, on the other side, the French, Egyptians and Emiratis want elections first," Mohamed Eljarh, from the Libya Outlook consulting firm told AFP.

Also, despite French efforts to convene all of the leading players in the oil-rich country, militias in and around the city of Misrata have boycotted proceedings, leaving western Libya under-represented at the talks.

The Libyan invitees include Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, and 75-year-old military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose rival Libyan National Army dominates the country's east.

Aguila Saleh Issa, the parliament speaker based in the eastern town of Tobruk who opposes the UN-backed administration, is also expected, as is Khalid Al-Mishri, the newly elected head of the High Council of State.

Representatives from around 20 countries involved in the Libya crisis have been invited -- an acknowledgement that the problems can only be resolved if regional powers agree on a common roadmap.

These include Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates which have backed Haftar and the rival administration in Tobruk in the east, not the UN-recognised government based in the capital Tripoli.

Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as neighbours Algeria and Tunisia and west African leaders from Niger and Congo will also attend, the French presidency has announced.

European leaders see stabilising Libya as key to tackling jihadist threats and migration from the country which has become a departure point for hundreds of thousands of Africans trying to reach Europe.

Macron threw himself into finding a solution shortly after his election in May last year.

The 40-year-old French leader brought Sarraj and Haftar together in Paris in July where they agreed a ceasefire and to hold elections in 2018 -- a move that irked the Italian government at the time which was blindsided by Macron's diplomacy.

The task of stabilising Libya is complicated by diverging interests among Middle Eastern countries, which have sometimes backed opposing sides in the fighting, as well as competition between European powers.

Macron is suspected by some in Italy of organising the conference at a time when France's southern European neighbour, which has major oil interests in Libya, is facing a serious political crisis.

"It's as if Macron wanted to make the most of the this moment of absence by Italy on the Libyan dossier," Italian newspaper La Repubblica wrote last week, citing diplomatic sources.

France is also suspected by some rivals within Libya of favouring Haftar, a military strongman who has fought Islamist militias and who was recently treated in Paris for an undisclosed ailment.

"There is clear apprehension among many in western Libya that the French initiative is an attempt to reinforce the position of Khalifa Haftar as the key power broker in Libya," Eljarh from Libya Outlook added.

The Crisis Group, an NGO that studies conflict zones, also voiced caution about the French conference.

"Much more work remains to be done for a peace-building effort in Libya to succeed," it said yesterday. "For this reason, Crisis Group believes that France should not request that its four Libyan guests sign an accord.

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BJP chief Amit Shah and five Union ministers today met top functionaries of the RSS to deliberate on the economic policies of the NDA government, which is celebrating its fourth anniversary.

The meeting, which the Sangh termed an annual exercise for exchanging ideas between its affiliates working in the same field, was chaired by RSS' Joint General Secretary Krishna Gopal.

The BJP was represented by Shah, party general secretary Bhupender Yadav, while the government was represented by the five ministers -- Piyush Goyal, Radha Mohan Singh, Giriraj Singh, Suresh Prabhu and Santosh Gangwar. Both Shah and Gopal were present during all rounds of the meetings.

The RSS' economic group (arthik samooh), which includes Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh, Bhartiya Kisan Sangh, Laghu Udyog Bharti and Swadeshi Jagran Manch, participated in the meeting.

The Sangh affiliates presented their reports and feedback on various economic policies of the government.

The discussions mostly revolved around the BJP government's policies related to farmers and labourers. Issues such as rising fuel prices and Air India disinvestment were discussed in the meeting, sources said.

During the deliberations, all Sangh affiliates presented their reports about the performance of various ministries. The ministers also shared details of work done by the government and the projects or schemes that have been undertaken or were in pipeline, they said.

A meeting between the RSS and the government on national security issues to be held tomorrow is likely to be attended by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.

"These are not Samanvay (coordination) meetings neither these are decision-making meetings," RSS all-India Prachar Pramukh Arun Kumar said in a statement.

This exercise is being organised to bring various RSS organisations working in the same field. They occasionally come together to share their experiments, experiences and observations, he said, adding such group meetings have been taking place every year since 2007.

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Kajal Sharma, a witness in the Sheena Bora murder case, cheated Indrani Mukerjea by forging the latter's signature and withdrawing money from her account, defence lawyers claimed in court today.

Sharma, a former personal secretary of Mukerjea, was being cross-examined by defence lawyers before special judge J C Jagdale.

Earlier, Sharma told the CBI that Mukerjea had forced her to forge Sheena Bora's signature on a resignation letter and on a letter seeking cancellation of Sheena's leave and licence agreement with her employer. This purportedly happened after Sheena's death.

However, today, the defence claimed that Sharma did not forge Sheena's signature.

Instead, she had cheated Mukerjea by forging the latter's signature on cheques and withdrawing money from her bank account, the defence lawyers claimed.

Denying these allegations, Sharma said she had only copied Sheena's signature at the instruction of Indrani Mukerjea.

Replying to a question, Sharma said that she had deleted a few e-mails of Mukerjea in which the latter had asked Sharma to practise Sheena's signature and send a scanned copy for her approval.

"I deleted a few e-mails on Indrani's instruction. I haven't done anything wrong. I didn't know that Sheena was not alive. I blindly followed my boss's instruction. It's not correct that I tried to destroy evidence," she said.

Sharma claimed that she did not know that copying someone's signature was wrong except with respect to property papers.

The defence questioned her, that if she did not think it was wrong, then why did she initially refuse to forge Sheena's signature.

"I had initially refused to copy because I didn't know where Sheena was and why should I copy her signature. I was not aware that Sheena was not alive. I signed it later as I was told (by Indrani) that Sheena was in the US and she did not have internet facility there," she said.

She further said, the second document was a leave and licence agreement.

It was not a proper property document as it was not on stamp paper.

Sheena (24), Indrani's daughter from an earlier relationship, was killed in April 2012, but the killing came to light in August 2015 after Mukerjea's driver Shyamvar Rai, arrested in another case, revealed it.

The Mumbai Police arrested Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and Rai for allegedly killing Sheena.

Later, Indrani's husband and media baron Peter Mukerjea was also arrested for allegedly being part of the conspiracy.

The CBI, which took over the case, claimed that a financial dispute was the reason for the murder.

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Construction of the much-awaited Signature Bridge on the Yamuna river will be completed by October this year, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said today.

Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia inspected the bridge in the morning and witnessed the installation of final pylon at the site.

The chief minister said that the residents of Delhi have been eagerly waiting for the opening of the city's iconic Signature Bridge.

The bridge, once completed, will share the burden of vehicular traffic, currently being borne by the Wazirabad bridge, used to commute to and from Delhi and Ghaziabad.

The bridge will connect the Outer Ring Road on the western bank with the Wazirabad Road on the eastern side of the Yamuna river.

"The construction work on the bridge, which started in 2010, was supposed to be completed in 2013, but it was delayed by five years. But, we hope that it (construction work) will be completed by October this year," Kejriwal told reporters here.

He said that Delhi government would release the remaining amount of around Rs 100-125 crore either this month or next month for the project.

"Now, there is no 'if and but' left (for non-completion of project)," the chief minister also said.

"A morning filled with pride as the #SignatureBridge rises with the rising sun today. CM @ArvindKejriwal & I witnessed the installation of final pylon at the site, which is at 154m height. Within 4 months the people of Delhi & the tourists will be able to stand where we do (sic)," Sisodia tweeted along with some photos of site inspection.

Announced in 2004, the project received a nod from the Delhi cabinet in 2007 and it was initially expected to be completed at a modified estimate of Rs 1,131 crore before the Commonwealth Games, which were held here in October, 2010.

The bridge had obtained environmental clearance in 2011 and was set to be completed by December 2013.

The date of completing project was pushed to June 2016 and then to July 2017, which was further pushed to December 2017.

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A US-based Sikh body today said it would plant a million trees to mark the 550th birth-anniversary of Guru Nanak, the founder of Sikhism.

"Guru Nanak was a nature-lover, and in his writings and pronouncements, he always inspired people to look at nature as the divine presence of the Creator and to form a loving relationship with nature," said Dr Rajwant Singh, president of Washington DC-based EcoSikh.

The organisation's goal is to reach out to Sikhs all across the globe to plant 550 trees at 1,820 locations in different parts of the world or in Punjab, as a gift to the entire planet, EcoSikh said in a statement.

It will initiate this plantation drive at a select location related to Guru Nanak in Punjab, India and in Punjab, Pakistan.

"Planting trees to celebrate the 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak will be the best way to celebrate this visionary. We appeal to all Sikh institutions, gurdwaras, and colleges and Punjabi organisations all across the world to take on this initiative to plant trees in their respective locations between now and the end of 2019," Dr Singh said.

EcoSikh plans to launch a special website for people to register all over the world for this task and it would encourage Sikhs to work with their respective governments and local administrations to work out a plan, the statement said.

It will also collaborate with other international environmental organizations and the United Nations.

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A six-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a man in Tharet village, around 40 kms from the district headquarters, in the wee hours today, police said.

The accused, Motilal Ahirwar (25), was arrested for the alleged sexual assault, police said.

"The victim was in the village to attend a marriage function, where she stayed overnight with her parents," Tharet police station inspector Sanjay Kirar said.

"In the wee hours, Ahirwar, who was also invited to the wedding, took the girl to a government school located near the marriage venue. When her parents and relatives failed to find her, they launched a search," Kirar said.

During their search, they came to the school and finally found that she was being sexually assaulted by the accused inside the toilet.

The accused, who hails from Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh, was caught by the girl's parents and kin on the spot. They severely thrashed him and later handed him over to the police.

The accused has been booked under section 376 (rape) of the IPC and relevant sections of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO), the inspector said.

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US-Hungarian billionaire George Soros warned today that Britain's exit from the European Union would likely take up to five years of wrangling over the country's future relationship with the continent.

"Brexit is an immensely damaging process, harmful to both sides," the businessman and philanthropist said in a speech at a meeting of the European Council on Foreign Relations, a think-tank he helped found.

"This divorce will be a long process, probably five years, which is an eternity in politics," he predicted.

Britain has vowed to leave the EU's single market and customs union after Brexit, which officially takes place on March 29, 2019, though a transition period is currently set to last until December 31, 2020.

"Ultimately it's up to the British people to decide what they want to do, but it would be better if they came to a decision sooner rather than later," Soros said.

"The economic case for remaining a member of Europe remains strong, but it will take time for that to sink in," he added.

"In the meantime, the EU needs to transform itself into an association which nations like Britain would want to join." But Soros, who has long been an outspoken proponent of greater EU integration, warned the project was facing "an existential crisis -- everything that could go wrong has gone wrong".

Besides Brexit, he said the financial crisis of 2008 followed by the chaotic response to the huge influx of refugees in 2015 had led many young people to "regard the EU as an enemy that has deprived them of jobs and a secure and promising future."



He also said Europe had yet to confront the fallout from US President Donald Trump's decision to quit the Iran nuclear deal, which was "effectively destroying the trans-Atlantic alliance."



"This development will put additional pressure of unpredictable force on an already beleaguered Europe -- It's no longer a figure of speech to say Europe is in existential danger." This month Soros pulled his Open Society Foundations out of Hungary in response to the "repressive" policies of Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government, which accuses Soros of plotting against it.

"Viktor Orban based his entire re-election campaign on falsely accusing me of planning to flood Europe, Hungary included, with Muslim refugees," Soros said Tuesday.

"He is now posing as the defender of his version of a Christian Europe, that is challenging the values on which the European Union was founded.

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External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today held a meeting with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands during which the two leaders discussed growing financial inclusion in India.

Queen Maxima, who is the wife of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, is visiting India in her capacity as the UN Secretary-General's special advocate for inclusive finance for development.

Yesterday, Queen Maxima met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed financial inclusion and global development finance.

EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands who is also a Special Advocate of the UN Secretary General for Inclusive Finance for Development. Leaders talked about growing financial inclusion in India, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

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The US ambassador to the UN in Geneva said today it was "a travesty" that Syria would head the Conference on Disarmament, leaving briefly when the Syrian representative took the floor.

"Syria's presence here is a travesty. This regime has committed countless crimes against its own people through the use of chemical weapons, and it is just unacceptable for them to be leading this body," Robert Wood told AFP just before the session began.

"They don't have the moral authority or the credibility to preside over this body, and we are going to make very clear during their four-week presidency that we find it abhorrent," he added.

Syria yesterday took over the rotating presidency of Conference on Disarmament (CD), according to a decades-old practice among the body's 65 members following the alphabetical order of country names in English.

During the first open session of Syria's presidency today, the United States led a number of diplomats in protest.

Wood briefly left the room when Syria's ambassador Hussam Edin Aala opened the session, before returning to voice Washington's displeasure from the floor.

"Today marks a sad and shameful day in the history of this body," he told the assembly.

"Let me be clear: we cannot permit 'business as usual' in the CD while Syria presides over this body," he said.

"During the next four weeks, we will be present in this hall to ensure that Syria is not able to advance initiatives that run counter to the interests of the United States, but we will fundamentally alter the nature of our presence in the plenaries," he said.

Following his statement, Wood moved in protest to a seat usually reserved for assistants.

Wood's words were echoed by a number of ambassadors from other countries, including Britain, Australia.

The French representative also said Syria "does not have the moral authority to lead this body.

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Private steel major Tata Steel bagged the prestigious Dun & Bradstreet Corporate Award 2018 in the Iron and Steel category for the fourth consecutive year, a company release said.

Dipali Talwar, Group General Counsel, Tata Steel received the award on behalf of the organisation from the Union Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla at a ceremony in Mumbai on May 25 last, the release said yesterday.

The award is given by the Dun & Bradstreet to outstanding performers among top 500 Indian corporates featured in its publication since 2006, it said.

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The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) today adopted a new resolution in which it lambasted the NDA government for its "dictatorial" attitude towards states, as its leaders vowed to unite regional parties to dethrone the "anti-people" BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The resolution passed at the TDP's three-day annual conclave "Mahanadu", that began here on Sunday, alleges that the Centre was weakening the financial condition of states.

"The unilateral style of functioning of the Modi government has led to a loss of trust of states in the central government. The states feel that the concept of federalism is only on paper," the resolution reads.

The "dictatorial" attitude of the Modi government, its "unilateral and anti-people decisions, misuse of central agencies to suppress political opponents have become a matter of grave concern in the Indian polity", it reads.

In March, the TDP pulled out of the NDA government over the Centre's refusal to grant special status to Andhra Pradesh.

The party claimed it played a "pivotal role" in forming five out of the six non-Congress governments in Delhi, except the Janata Party government, and that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu played an important role in the national

As the convenor of the United Front, Naidu was responsible for uniting non-Congress parties and made HD Deve Gowda and I K Gujral prime ministers. Thus, he proved it was possible for regional parties to form a government at the Centre, the TDP document says.

At the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy as the Karnataka CM last week, Naidu shared the stage with Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, BSP supremo Mayawati, SP president Akhilesh Yadav, TMC chief Mamata Banerjee, CPI(M)'s Sitaram Yechury among others, sending a clear message of opposition unity to the BJP.

"N Chandrababu Naidu was a tall leader in this meet and it was a clear indication that regional political parties are going to be a power to reckon with in the 2019 elections as an alternative to national parties to form a government in Delhi," the TDP resolution reads.

In his concluding address at the conclave, Naidu said, "We ended the alliance with the NDA only in the interests of the states"



He alleged the BJP was "resorting to conspiracy to destabilize us". "We are not afraid of anyone and are ready to sacrifice everything. We will not stop until Andhra is given special status and the Polavaram project completed," he said.

He alleged the Centre had not been releasing funds for Amaravati as it "did not want" a world-class capital city to come up in Andhra. "Then why should we pay taxes to the Centre at all?"



He also rubbished criticism that his government was spending all the money at its disposal on developing Amaravati, the proposed ultra-modern capital, at the cost of other developmental works.

Ratcheting up his attack on the Centre, he said, "In 2014, the unemployment rate was 3.4 per cent and now it is 6.23 per cent. Where is the 'sabka sath sabka vikas' that Modi promised to the people?"



He also denounced the Congress for "not doing justice to the people of Andhra and Telangana" at the time of the state's bifurcation.

"We asked the Congress to do justice to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, but they did not do it. They lost in both the states."



He said the TDP will win all 25 LS seats in the state in 2019 and bring drastic changes in national "The NDA won't come to power," he announced.

State Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said the Modi government was taking "dangerous steps" against constitutional values and that it would be "dethroned by united regional parties" in 2019.

He also said former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP veteran L K Advani respected the Constitution, but Modi and party chief Amit Shah were "destroying the democratic system".

"We respected Vajpayee and Advani who revered and protected the Constitution. But then came the Modi-Shah duo. They destroyed the entire democratic system."



"The Modi government's policies are against secularism," he alleged. "The ruling party uses RSS cadres, who have a fascist mentality. It is also spoiling fiscal and political values."



The BJP government would be "dethroned" by an amalgamation of regional parties, he said, but parried a query on who would be the prime ministerial face if a united front comes into being.

Preaching against corruption after declaring BS Yeddyurappa, implicated in corruption cases, as the chief minister of Karnataka and supporting people such as "mining mafia" Janardhan Reddy and Y S Jaganmohan Reddy looks like a joke by the BJP government, he said.

Approaching the NGT on "flimsy" grounds, filing false cases against the Polavaram project and delays in the release of funds by the Centre are examples of collusion between the BJP and the YSRCP, Naidu's party alleged.

The "political manipulations" in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra are examples of the BJP's conspiracy to weaken efficient state leaders, the TDP alleged.

By using the Finance Commission, the Modi government started "causing losses" to the progressive states. "The Finance Commission is a Constitutional body which independently distributed the resources to states and the Centre as per Schedule 7 of the Constitution.

"However, the recent guidelines of the 15th Finance Commission reveal that the terms of reference prescribed by the Centre hit the financial capabilities of the states, the TDP resolution alleges.

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The Haryana Police today claimed to have arrested three people in connection with a cow smuggling case after an encounter in the Sodawas-Padmada area in Rewari.

Suba alias Sabudin, Shokeen alias Kala and Umar were arrested following an encounter in which Assistant Sub-Inspector Ranbir and Head Constable Ravidutt suffered bullet injuries, a police spokesman said.

Suba, a native of Palla village in Mewat, was the kingpin of the cow smuggling gang. The Delhi Police had also announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on him, police said.

The spokesman said that the police had received information that a group of people were carrying cows in a canter-truck and that they were heading towards Rewari via Karauli More from Bhiwani.

Based on the information, a police team blocked the road near Dahina. The cow smugglers went towards Kanina after firing several rounds on the team, he said.

They again opened fire at a police team after breaking barricades near Majri village, injuring the officers, the spokesman said.

The police team nabbed all the three accused, he said.

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A man killed three people including two policemen today in the eastern Belgian city of Liege before being shot by other members of the police, prosecutors said.

The shooting occurred around 10:30 am local time on a major artery in the city, close to a high school.

"We don't know anything yet," Catherine Collignon, spokeswoman for the Liege prosecutors office, told AFP when asked about the shooter's motives.

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Three persons from Delhi who allegedly cheated over 15,000 job aspirants in Telangana after creating a fake website claiming it to be of a Government Organisation have been arrested, police said today.

Vikas Kumar, Subash and Vikas Khandelwal, all working in an IT firm, were arrested on May 27 in Delhi by Hyderabad police and brought here today, a police release said.

According to police, the accused created a website http://telangana.gred.co.in/ and posted a recruitment notification calling for applications to various posts purportedly issued by Telangana Agro Development Corporation, and job seekers filled the application forms and paid money in different bank accounts.

Job aspirants initially paid Rs 98 each and after the payment they received letters and were again asked to pay Rs 499 for the application forms, the release said.

Initial investigation revealed that about 15,000 to 20,000 youths from Telangana were cheated and approximately Rs 20 lakh was paid by the candidates in the case, it said.

Police said the accused had publishedfake notifications for appointments in Gujarat, Maharastra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu in the name of Agriculture Gramodhyog and Rural Engineering Development in November 2017 and January, February, March and April this year, the release added.

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The Trinamool Congress today slammed the Centre for its "failure" to control rising fuel prices, and demanded an immediate roll-back of the hike.

Alleging that the sharp increase in prices of petroleum products was a "result of the Centre's anti-people policy", All India Trinamool Youth Congress president Abhishek Banerjee said the government must monitor and regulate the prices.

"Our protest will continue till the hike in prices is rolled back," Banerjee said, leading a sit-in demonstration at the base of Mahatma Gandhi's statue near Maidan area here.

"We will lay down our lives but will not allow the BJP to promulgate anti-people policies," he said, adding, that the NDA government at the Centre is nearing its end in the 2019 general election.

The AITYC had organised a protest march in the city as well as in districts last week, pushing for the roll back.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, in a recent tweet, had expressed concern over the spiralling prices of petrol and diesel.

"We are very concerned about the rising prices of petrol and diesel. This will certainly affect prices all around. Common people, farmers and many will suffer," the CM had said on May 20.

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The Tamil Nadu government today cancelled the land allotment to the Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin, while the killing of 13 people in police firing there resonated in the state assembly, with opposition DMK deciding to boycott the proceedings until the unit was "permanently shut".

The police department, meanwhile, transferred the case involving last week's police firing that led to the deaths to the CB-CID, a senior official told PTI.

The cancellation of land allotment for the proposed expansion of the Sterlite Copper plant came a day after the government ordered the state Pollution Control Board to "seal and permanently close" the existing unit.

"As the allotment of land for the proposed expansion has been made by SIPCOT, in larger public interest, the land allotment made by SIPCOT for proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled," SIPCOT said in its communication to the Vedanta group.

In its filing to the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Vedanta group apprised it of the development.

An official release here said, "The cancellation of allotment of 342.22 acres of land has been made in larger public interest and this has been communicated to the company."



The killing of 13 people in police action against Sterlite protesters on May 22-23 rocked the state Assembly, which met after a gap of over two months to pass the budgetary demands of different departments, with members of the main opposition DMK staging a demonstration and saying they would boycott the proceedings until the unit was shut permanently.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami, meanwhile, put up a strong defence of his government and police, insisting the action by men in uniform had become "unavoidable".

Attired in black shirts as a mark of protest against the killings, and shouting anti-government slogans, DMK members demonstrated in the legislature complex.

DMK working president M K Stalin targeted the government for issuing a government order for the closure of the polluting copper plant instead of convening a meeting of the Cabinet and taking a policy decision to shut it for good.

Claiming that the government order was an "eyewash and a drama", Stalin said it was done to enable the Sterlite management to approach the court and seek relief, like it did when the plant was ordered closed in 2013.

Stalin then walked out of the House along with other DMK lawmakers, shouting slogans demanding the chief minister's resignation.

After the DMK members had walked out, Palaniswami said, "In unavoidable circumstances, police personnel were forced to take action."



He said a Commission of Inquiry has been constituted under retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan to go into the incidents in Tuticorin, and "appropriate action will be taken against those who had committed wrong, whoever they may be."The chief minister also tabled a report in the House on incidents that occurred in the port city on May 22, and said police burst teargas shells and baton-charged the violent protesters to control the situation but it vain.

He said vehicles parked in the residential quarters at Sterlite Copper plant were set on fire. The protesters also damaged Tuticorin South Police Station and the industries department office.

All efforts were made to rein in the protesters and safeguard lives and property, but "due to unavoidable circumstances, police personnel were forced to take action".

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, meanwhile, visited the families of those killed in police firing and met the injured at a goverment hospital at Tuticorin.

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US President Donald Trump today alleged that the probe by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian interference in the 2016 general elections is "rigged".

He also asked his Republican party colleagues to be on alert in the months ahead of the November general elections. as he feels that the Democrats would be meddling into the mid-term elections later this year.

"The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked eight years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!" Trump tweeted.

Trump has repeatedly referred to Mueller's team as "13 angry Democrats". Mueller is a Republican appointed by Trump's own deputy attorney general, Rod Rosenstein, who is himself a Republican.

According to the Washington Post, 13 of Mueller's investigators have registered as Democrats in the past and nine have donated to Democrats. The biggest donor on the team, the report said, also donated to Republicans.

Trump also quoted conservative commentator Mollie Hemingway in another tweet in reference to his allegations that the FBI spied on his presidential campaign in 2016.

"'This investigation involved far more surveillance than we ever had any idea about. It wasn't just a wiretap against a campaign aide...it was secretly gathering information on the Trump Campaign...people call that spying...this is unprecedented and scandalous,' Mollie Hemingway said," in Trump's tweet.

In another tweet on Tuesday, Trump said he needed to focus more of his attention on issues important to Americans and less on the Russia investigation.

"Sorry," he wrote. "I've got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc."



"The Fake Mainstream Media has, from the time I announced I was running for President, run the most highly sophisticated & dishonest Disinformation Campaign in the history of No matter how well WE do, they find fault. But the forgotten men & women WON, I'm President!" Trump said in another tweet.

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The Tamil Nadu Assembly was today rocked by the Tuticorin violence which claimed 13 lives, with the opposition DMK staging a walkout from the House as the party demanded "permanent closure" of the Vedanta group's copper plant in that district.

Soon after the question hour, Leader of the Opposition, MK Stalin, attired in black, targeted the state government for issuing a government order (GO) for the closure of the copper unit in Tuticorin rather than convening the cabinet and taking a policy decision in this regard.

Calling the issuance of GO an "eye wash," tantamount to signalling the Sterlite management to approach the court on the matter, the DMK leader said the move was similar to what was done in 2013 in the issue.

Stalin had yesterday said that following a similar closure notice in 2013, the plant was reopened later.

The Tamil Nadu government had yesterday ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Sterlite Copper plant following last week's protests, over pollution concerns, during which 13 people were killed in police firing.

Blaming the government for not holding talks with the people and seeking the resignation of Chief Minister



K Palaniswami, the DMK working president said his party will boycott the House proceedings till the plant was "permanently closed."



Later, he led his party colleagues in staging a walkout who shouted slogans in support of the resignation of the chief minister.

The DMK members were dressed in black, which they said, was to signify their protest and grief over the firings.

The opposition party has refused to toe the government line that the unit was closed permanently.

Meanwhile, the chief minister condoled the deaths of 13 people and tabled a five-page report detailing the violence and steps taken by the government in this regard.

Congress legislature party leader K Ramasamy said the probe into the issue should be done properly or transferred to the CBI. He also wanted unconditional withdrawal of all cases in this regard.

Asking the government to own up responsibility over the loss of 13 lives, he said the government should resign.

Large-scale violence on May 22 against the Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin and police firing led to the death of 12 persons. The next day saw one more youth succumbing to injuries sustained in police firing.

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Two alleged bovine smugglers were arresred and 16 animals were rescued from being illegally transported in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir today, a police official said here.

Based on reliable information, a police party of intercepted two trucks in Majalta belt in the district, a police officer said. During a search, 16 bovines were found illegally loaded in these vehicle, he said.

All the animals were rescued and the vehicles seized, the officer said adding that the two alleged bovine smugglers Abdul Khamid and Mohd Irfan of Samba and Ramban districts were arrested.

A case was registered at Majalta Police Station and investigation is going on, he said.

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The UN Security Council will meet on Wednesday at the request of the United States to discuss Palestinian rocket and mortar attacks on Israel, diplomats said.

The United States circulated a draft statement today calling on the council to condemn "in the strongest terms the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants in Gaza" toward Israel, according to a copy of the text seen by AFP.

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An undertrial sitting in a police van was shot at by a rival gang member outside the Tis Hazari court here today, police said.

The undertrial has been admitted to a hospital.

Dinesh, suspected to be a member of the Gogi gang operating in Delhi-NCR, was brought to the court from Rohtak Jail by the Haryana Police for appearance during the hearing of a case.

The incident happened near the gate number 2 of the court premises when he was siting in the Haryana Police vehicle, they added.

Police said that the assailant, a minor, has been apprehended after a brief chase.

Police suspect that the minor is a member of the Tillu gang.

A probe has begun.

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University of Hyderabad, also known as Hyderabad Central University, will mentor the Central University of Andhra Pradesh which is proposed to be set up in Jantharalu village of Anantpur district.

"The Ministry of Human Resource Development has communicated the setting up of a Central University of Andhra Pradesh and has also decided that the University of Hyderabad will mentor the activities of the proposed university till the amendment to the Central Universities Act of 2009 is effected," a press release said here today.

The role of mentor includes formation of society under the Societies Act to ensure the start of academic activities from this year, identify courses that can be introduced and estimation of cost for running the university for the first year among others, it said.

The Andhra Pradesh government has identified a temporary campus for the university.

Registrar of University of Hyderabad P Sardar Singh would liaise with the Andhra Pradesh government for the institutional mechanism while Vice-Chancellor of University of Hyderabad professor Appa Rao Podile would consult academic units and determine logistics and feasibility of launching a few academic programmes and the human and financial resources needed, the release added.

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The chairman of militant outfit the United People's Revolutionary Front (UPRF) was apprehended from Manja in East Karbi Anglong district of Assam, defence sources said.

Acting on an information, a unit of the Red Horns division launched a search operation with the police in Manja on Sunday and the UPRF chairman was caught, the sources said yesterday.

A .75 mm pistol, ammunition and a rubber stamp of the UPRF were recovered from him.

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The US will impose a hefty 25 per cent tariff on the USD 50 billion worth of Chinese goods containing "industrially significant" technology, the White House said today, days after the two sides reached an agreement and vowed not to launch a trade war against each other.

China and the US averted a trade war by reaching an agreement on May 20 under which Beijing agreed to "significantly increase" its purchases of American goods and services to reduce USD 375 billion trade deficit with Washington.

After lengthy second round of talks in Washington, the two sides issued a joint statement vowing not to launch a trade war against each other.

"The United States will impose a 25 per cent tariff on USD 50 billion of goods imported from China containing industrially significant technology, including those related to the 'Made in China 2025' programme," the White House said in a statement.

The final list of covered imports will be announced by June 15, and tariffs will be imposed on those imports shortly thereafter, it said.

The new tariff is part of one of the three major steps that the US is taking based on the March 22, memorandum signed by President Donald Trump.

It announced that the US would take multiple steps to protect domestic technology and intellectual property from certain discriminatory and burdensome trade practices by China.

These actions were announced following a report of the Office of the US Trade Representative regarding China's practices with respect to technology transfer, intellectual property and innovation.

In accordance with the March 22 memorandum, Trump has been updated on the progress of the announced actions.

According to the White House, to protect its national security, the US will implement specific investment restrictions and enhanced export controls for Chinese persons and entities related to the acquisition of industrially significant technology.

The proposed investment restrictions and enhanced export controls will be announced by June 30 and they will be implemented shortly thereafter, it said.

The US will also continue to pursue litigation at the World Trade Organisation for violations of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights based on China's discriminatory practices for licensing intellectual property, the statement said.

The US filed the case regarding these violations on March 23.

In addition, the US will continue efforts to protect domestic technology and intellectual property, stop noneconomic transfers of industrially significant technology and intellectual property to China, and enhance access to the Chinese market, the White House said.

Likewise, the US will request that China remove all of its many trade barriers, including non-monetary trade barriers, which make it both difficult and unfair to do business there, it said.

The US will request that tariffs and taxes between the two countries be reciprocal in nature and value.

"Discussions with China will continue on these topics and the US looks forward to resolving long-standing structural issues and expanding our exports by eliminating China's severe import restrictions," the statement said.

The trade spat between the top two economies of the world began last month with Trump imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports into US.

China retaliated by imposing additional tariffs worth about USD three billion on 128 US products.

Trump, while demanding China to reduce the USD 375 billion by USD 100 billion retaliated with USD 50 billion tariffs on Chinese products.

In retaliation, China announced plans to impose new tariffs of 25 per cent worth USD 50 billion on 106 American products including items like soybeans which could hurt American farmers.

The two countries have not yet implemented their tariff increases.

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The US today asked Bayer AG to divest businesses and assets worth USD 9 billion ahead of its proposed USD 66 billion acquisition of Monsanto Company.

Bayer, based in Leverkusen, Germany, and Monsanto, headquartered in St Louis, Missouri, are two of the largest agricultural companies in the world. They compete to provide farmers with a broad range of seed and crop protection products.

Describing the move as an effort to protect American farmers and consumers, the Department of Justice said that the proposed divestiture to Bayer AG, an experienced chemical company with a substantial crop protection business, will fully resolve all horizontal and vertical competition concerns.

"This comprehensive structural solution to significant horizontal and vertical competition concernsthe largest merger divestiture ever required by the United Statespreserves competition in the sale of these critical agricultural products and protects American farmers and consumers," said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division.

"We commend the parties for working with the Antitrust Division to resolve our concerns on behalf of American consumers," he said.

The Justice Department's Antitrust Division filed a civil antitrust lawsuit in the US District Court for the District of Columbia to block the proposed transaction while simultaneously filing a proposed settlement that, if approved by the court, would resolve the Department's competitive concerns.

Bayer and Monsanto have been leaders in developing technologies that have allowed farmers to increase significantly crop yields and improve efficiency.

Without the agreed-to divestitures, the proposed merger would likely result in higher prices, lower quality, and fewer choices across a wide array of seed and crop protection products, the Justice Department said.

The merger also threatened to stifle the innovation in agricultural technologies that has delivered significant benefits to American farmers and consumers.

Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Bayer must divest those Bayer businesses that compete with Monsanto today.

These include Bayer's cotton, canola, soybean, and vegetable seed businesses, as well as Bayer's Liberty herbicide business, a key competitor of Monsanto's well-known Roundup herbicide.

The settlement also requires structural divestitures to remedy the competitive harm that would result from the vertical integration of certain significant Bayer seed treatment businesses with Monsanto's leading seed businesses.

Additionally, because Bayer and Monsanto currently compete to develop new products and services, the settlement requires the divestiture of certain intellectual property and research capabilities, including "pipeline" R&D projects.

Finally, in order to fully prevent competitive harm from the merger, the settlement requires the divestiture of additional complementary assets that are needed to ensure that BASF has the same innovation incentives, capabilities and scale that Bayer would have as an independent competitor including, most notably, Bayer's nascent "digital agriculture" business, it said.

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The US today expressed concern over the lack of religious freedom in Pakistan where some 50 individuals are serving life sentence for blasphemy and 17 are awaiting execution.

According to the data provided by civil society organisations (CSOs), police registered at least ten new blasphemy cases against 17 individuals. The CSOs reported lower courts often failed to adhere to basic evidentiary standards in blasphemy cases.

Throughout the year, the report said visiting US government officials met with madrassa board leaders and members of the National Counterterrorism Authority to discuss plans for curriculum reform in the public and madrassa education systems.

"We remain very concerned about religious freedom, or the lack thereof, in Pakistan, where some 50 individuals are serving life sentences for blasphemy, according to Civil Society reports; 17 are awaiting execution," said Sam Brownback, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom.

Brownback said this in a briefing with reporters after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released the annual report of the State Department on International Religious Freedom.

Pompeo and Brownback also met with minority community representatives, parliamentarians, human rights activists, and members of the Office of the Prime Minister to highlight concerns regarding the treatment of the Shia, Ahmadiyya, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, and other minority communities, the application of blasphemy laws, and other forms of discrimination on the basis of religion.

According to the 2014 government registration documents cited by the press, there are approximately 1.4 million Hindus, 1.3 million Christians, 126,000 Ahmadis, 34,000 Bahais, 6,000 Sikhs, and 4,000 Parsis.

Taking account of the Ahmadi boycott of the official census, however, community sources put the number of Ahmadiyya Muslims at approximately 500,000-600,000.

Estimates of the Zikri Muslim community, located in Balochistan, range between 500,000 and 800,000 individuals. Most of the historic Jewish community has emigrated.

The report noted that in March the government enacted legislation codifying the legal mechanisms to register Hindu marriages and to prove the legitimacy of Hindu marriages under the law, a move which proponents state could help reduce the frequency of forced marriages and conversions of Hindus.

The law allows for the termination of the marriage upon the conversion of one party to a religion other than Hinduism, it said.

"Members of religious minority communities stated the government was inconsistent in safeguarding minority rights, and official discrimination against Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Ahmadiyya Muslims persisted," the report said.

A bill passed by the Sindh Assembly in November 2016 criminalising forced conversions stalled when the governor declined to ratify it, disappointing religious minority activists, it added.

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Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar today ordered a vigilance inquiry against the then chief engineer of Municipal Corporation, Gurugram, in a case concerning purchase of Ductile Iron (DI) pipes worth Rs 30 crore, a minister said.

Urban Local Bodies Minister Kavita Jain in an official release said the then senior Deputy Mayor of the Corporation Yashpal Batra had demanded an inquiry into the alleged irregularities committed in the purchase of pipes in the Municipal Corporation.

Jain, in the release, said "a report submitted by the department revealed that the then chief engineer B S Singroha allegedly committed large scale irregularities in the purchase process which resulted in loss to the corporation".

Keeping in view the seriousness of the matter, a proposal was sent to the chief minister to get the case investigated from the state vigilance bureau, she said.

The official release quoting Jain said that after the complaint made by the senior deputy mayor, a report was prepared under which it was found that during the year from 2010-14, Ductile Iron (DI) pipes worth Rs 30 crore were purchased without rules being followed.

Taking strict note of case of "gross negligence on part of the chief engineer", the Director General, Urban Local Bodies Department had made a proposal for getting the matter investigated through an independent agency, she added.

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The BJP and the Shiv Sena may have some differences, but they can't do without each other, Union minister Nitin Gadkari today suggested and wanted the alliance of the two parties to continue.

Against the backdrop of acrimony between the two parties during the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll campaign, Gadkari maintained the saffron alliance does not have any ideological differences, adding there are no permanent friends or enemies in

"It is an alliance done by (Sena supremo) late Bal Thackeray and (late BJP leader) Pramod Mahajan on the issue of Hindutva and both parties have no ideological differences. I want the alliance to continue," he said.

He was addressing a press conference here to highlight the Narendra Modi government's achievements in the last four years.

Quoting a Marathi proverb "Tujha majha zame na, tujha vachun karme na" (we have lot of differences, but still can't live without each other), he said the situation between the saffron allies was similar to it.

To a query if he would mediate between the two parties ahead of the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra polls next year, Gadkari said he was too busy with his ministerial work in Delhi and that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve were capable of handling the situation.

Asked further whether he would intervene if the BJP asks him, he said, "Yes I would do so. Anything can happen in There are no permanent friends or enemies."



On the opposition criticising former president Pranab Mukherjee for accepting the RSS invitation to speak at its function in Nagpur, Gadkari said, "The RSS is not Pakistan's ISI. The RSS is an organisation of nationalists."



"Mukherjee's acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good," he said.

Mukherjee, who has been a Congress veteran, has been invited to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of Sangh Shiksha Varg -- a training camp for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers -- at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, scheduled on June 7.

The former president has accepted the invitation, an RSS functionary said yesterday.

To a question on if he would return to state politics, Gadkari said, "I wasn't interested when I was shifted to Delhi as the BJP's national president. Now, I like Delhi and don't want to come back."



The Union minister also said that during the 48 months of the Modi government a lot of work was done as compared to the "48 years of the Nehru-Gandhi family rule".

"(These) 48 months have seen a qualitative performance in socio-economic transformation of the country," he said.

"We don't say we have fulfilled all the promises. But the work is in progress. There is a lot to be done in the agriculture field and also to reduce the petrol and diesel prices," he noted.

"No one is satisfied 100 per cent. 'Acche din' (good days) depends on one's belief," Gadkari said, when asked about the BJP's "Acche Din" slogan in 2014 and the present tagline of "Saaf Niyat Sahi Vikas".

Replying to queries on the opposition's demand for reverting to ballot boxes in polls, he said malfunctioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines was a serious thing and the Election Commission should deal with it.

"If the Congress wins Punjab and forms the government in Karnataka, the EVMs are good and if we win, there is EVM problem. This is immature," he quipped.

"The Election Commission is an independent and impartial body to conduct polls. The decision whether to shift to ballot boxes from EVMs is to be taken by the EC," the senior BJP leader said.

Downplaying the row over a controversial audio clip of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis exhorting party workers to win the Palghar bypoll at any cost and using any means, he said the CM's intention behind making the statement was different.

"I know Fadnavis since his childhood. He is very cultured and sophisticated. His intentions of making the particular statement were different," Gadkari said.

On the BJP's promise of separate statehood to Vidarbha region, he said the party was in favour of smaller states.

"For creation of a separate state, there is a constitutional provision of two-third majority in Parliament. Without Congress' support, Vidarbha can't be created. Whenever we get adequate support, Vidarbha will happen," he said.

Meanwhile, Gadkari said Maharashtra's irrigation potential is 18 per cent at present.

With the Centre's support to complete 108 pending irrigation projects in the state, the potential will go up to 40 per cent, he said.

The transport minister said that work on the Mumbai-Vadodara stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project will begin in a fortnight. The total project is estimated at Rs 1 lakh crore and the Mumbai-Vadodara stretch would cost Rs 44,000 crore.

The Expressway will pass through the backward regions of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, he added.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
The World Bank will provide a USD 21.7 million loan for strengthening the public financial management in Rajasthan to improve budget execution and greater revenue efficiency.

An agreement for IBRD credit of USD 21.7 million was signed here, the finance ministry said in a statement.

"The project size is approximately USD 31 million, of which USD 21.7 million will be financed by the World Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded-out of the state budget," it said, adding that the Project duration is 5 years.

As per the statement, the objective of the project is to contribute to improved budget execution, enhanced accountability and greater efficiency in revenue administration in Rajasthan.

It involves strengthening of the Public Financial Management Framework; strengthening of expenditure and revenue systems; and project management and capacity building among others.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Steel wheels manufacturer Wheels India Ltd has registered a 12.7 per cent rise in the fourth quarter net profits ending March 31, 2018 to Rs 19.5 crore.

The city-based TVS Group company recorded net profits of Rs 17.3 crore in the corresponding quarter last year.

Net profits for FY17-18 went upto Rs 71.8 crore, up by 23 per cent from Rs 58.4 crore registered a year ago.

Revenue for the quarter under review went up by 26.6 per cent to Rs 705 crore from Rs 557.7 crore recorded during the previous quarter, including net excise duty.

For FY2017-18, revenue grew to Rs 2,469.5 crore, up by 13.4 per cent from Rs 2,176.1 crore registered a year ago.

Declaring the annual performance, company Managing Director Srivats Ram said the company expects to clock double digit growth this year.

"There has been strong signs of growth in the commercial vehicle industry. Mining (industry) is showing some signs of life. Actually, we are seeing double digit growth in the segments we are present in", he told reporters here.

On capital expenditure plan, he said, the Board has approved capital expenditure of Rs 122 crore for taking up expansion at its facilities in the current financial year.

"After 2011-12, this is the first year we are seeing capacity expansion in all the segments that we are present in. The capacity addition should be on stream in the second half of this year", he said.

The company has manufacturing facilities in Chennai, Pune, Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and Pant Nagar in Uttarakhand with a combined overall annual capacity of 10 million wheels.

On the exports front, Ram said it contributed 16 per cent to the overall group revenue.

On the outlook for FY18-19, he said "we expect strong growth in domestic sales to continue. Exports are likely to grow at a faster pace".

The domestic demand is driven by the replacement demand in the commercial vehicle market, government infrastructural initiatives and pro-agriculture policies, he said.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - A nationwide protest by Brazilian truckers was slow to unwind on Monday, even after the week-long demonstrations against diesel price hikes got the government to cave to their demands, causing stocks and the currency to slide.Brazilian truckers association Abcam, which says it represents at least 600,000 independent truck drivers, called on members to stand down, but warned that unwinding protests would take time."We are working to spread the word of a deal to all the drivers," Abcam said in a written statement. "It is worth remembering that even though we are calling ...
By Aditi ShahNEW DELHI (Reuters) - The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Tuesday they have filed a case against AirAsia Group Bhd, the airline's CEO Tony Fernandes and its domestic entity AirAsia India, over allegations of corruption and breaking rules in obtaining a flying licence.CBI accused the airline, some of its employees and third parties of violating India's foreign direct investment rules while obtaining the licence, and of bribing government officials in an attempt to get regulations relaxed to allow AirAsia India to fly international routes.AirAsia India said in a ...
By Alexander Cornwell and Subrat PatnaikDUBAI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has banned imports of fresh vegetables and fruits from Kerala where 13 people have died due to an outbreak of the rare brain-damaging Nipah virus, the Gulf state said on Tuesday. The UAE's Ministry of Climate Change and Environment also notified other local authorities, including the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and the municipalities of its emirates, to prevent the entry of any fresh produce from Kerala, it said in a statement.The ministry suspects that fruit bats are the source of the virus. ...
By Tom MilesGENEVA (Reuters) - The World Trade Organization is being slowly strangled to death, a retiring trade judge whose replacement has been blocked by the United States said in his farewell speech, delivering a thinly-veiled rebuke to the Donald Trump administration.Ricardo Ramirez-Hernandez served two terms as a judge on the WTO's Appellate Body, which acts as the final court for trade disputes between countries. Since his departure last year, the United States has been blocking the process to replace him and other judges, throwing the WTO into crisis. [nL5N1SP3UJ]"This institution ...
Jordan Peele, the comedian turned horror-movie director, recently made a video meant to give American voters shivers of dread. It showed President Barack Obama giving a speech he never gave, and uttering sentences that he didnt actually say. The video demonstrated how easy it is to use current technology to create powerful and persuasive lies, now also known as fake news. When this video magic is coupled with the ability of companies like Facebook to micro-target each of us and select the news we see, the implications for the future of our democracy seem dire. Fake news ...
On March 26-27, 2018, the unprecedented international conference on Afghanistan, Peace process, security cooperation and regional interactions, took place in Uzbekistans capital Tashkent. Diplomatic representatives of 21 states, the UN and the EU participated in the conference and signed its final Tashkent Declaration. The event signaled a transformation of Tashkents previous positions on Afghanistan, from past initiatives in the form of narrow formula-like approaches to a system-oriented strategy. However, the Tashkent Declaration and speeches given at the conference reveal that the approach contains too much diplomacy and too little solution, especially given the growing terrorism threat in the country.

BACKGROUND: The war in Afghanistan has deep historical roots and the country has never seen a fully-fledged statehood and nationhood. The backdrop of a constant deficit of state control and national consolidation has constantly reproduced the conflict environment. Internecine conflicts between Afghans inside the country and geopolitical interference of world and regional powers around it have prevented steps towards independence and sovereignty. Therefore, the primary precondition for a successful resolution of the Afghan problem is the creation and strengthening of a centralized state. The second precondition is active participation of the international community in the reconstruction of this country.

Uzbekistan has been an active supporter of the peace process and proposed a number of international initiatives directed at the peaceful resolution of the Afghan crisis.

At the 48th Session of the UNGA in 1993, Uzbekistans then President Islam Karimov highlighted the dangerous situation in Afghanistan and proposed to establish a permanent conference on regional security in Central Asia under the UN umbrella. In 1998, Tashkent proposed to establish the so-called 6+2 format of diplomatic negotiations, involving six countries neighboring Afghanistan and two great powers  the U.S. and Russia. This forum existed until 2001, however, the 9/11 events unfortunately thwarted all efforts.

In 2008, President Karimov proposed a new 6+3 format, adding NATO to the previous concept. The proposal gained no support, however, supposedly because its initiation came at the peak of the NATO operation in Afghanistan. It also suffered from the conceptual deficiency of ignoring key countries, such as India, as indispensable participants. In sum, the current situation in Afghanistan demonstrates that all previous diplomatic peace-making efforts in this country have been almost in vain.

Nevertheless, despite all vicissitudes of history, Uzbekistan has not ceased its search for new approaches and initiatives concerning the situation in war torn Afghanistan and its reconstruction. Among other things, the recent Tashkent conference on Afghanistan reflected the evolution of Uzbekistans position on the problems reflected in the conference topic.

IMPLICATIONS: Uzbekistans President Shavkat Mirziyoyevs speech was the key address of the conference. He emphasized that it was a joint initiative of two states  the Republic of Uzbekistan and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, which belong to one cultural and civilizational space. Pointing to the principle of indivisible security, Mirziyoyev underscored the need for a resolute address by all interested external forces to Afghanistans armed opposition, calling on them to begin negotiations with the Afghan government and to stop confrontation and violence. Mirziyoyev expressed Uzbekistans position that the peace process should be promoted on three interrelated levels: the domestic intra-Afghan level, the regional level, and the global level.

On the domestic level, it is necessary to launch a direct dialogue between the government and the armed opposition, including the Taliban. On the regional level, regional states including Pakistan, India, Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar and the Central Asian countries must reach a firm consensus on conflict resolution. On the global level, leading world powers and donor organizations need to offer principal political support for the peace process and financial assistance for Afghanistans socio-economic reconstruction. The overall endeavors must correlate with the continuous global struggle against terrorism and religious extremism. Thereby, Tashkent has significantly modified its position from a formula-like approach to a systemic vision.

At the same time, the international conference and the Tashkent Declaration displayed what can be described as too much diplomacy and too little solution. Regarding the peace-process and settlement, the declaration repeats phrases like Afghan-led and Afghan-owned three times; the idea of direct talks with the Taliban three times, and contains two clauses addressed to Taliban by urging them to move towards peaceful settlement. The document also uses the dubious term moderate Taliban and treats this movement as a legitimate political force in Afghanistan.

Such diplomatic wishful thinking has manifested itself throughout the period that has passed since the Talibans advent to power in Afghanistan. However, to date the Taliban have displayed no willingness to compromise. Over 20 years, the UN, the U.S., the EU, the Afghan government and other states have regularly addressed the Taliban leadership with calls for peace and reconciliation, yet all efforts have been fruitless. One major reason is that the Taliban enjoys comprehensive support on the territory of neighboring Pakistan and curbing this support is a major precondition for peace enforcement in Afghanistan.

To the extent that diplomacy permits, it was visible in the speeches of the conference participants that the positions and interests of the states involved differ on some principal matters. For instance, the Russian delegation expressed a rather alarming view of the situation in Afghanistan, pointing to the resurgence of the Taliban and their control of half the countrys territory; and that a solution based on political negotiations is the only option. Tajikistans representatives stated that they never recognized the Taliban and that it is a terrorist organization. The speech of the U.S. representative highlighted that while the idea of talking to the Taliban should be welcomed, the fight will continue if talks fail. Representatives of Saudi Arabia and Iran, in turn, engaged in a verbal skirmish blaming each other for their proxy wars in the Middle East, which had nothing to do with the topic of the conference.

Just like a number of other international forums on Afghanistan, the Tashkent conference revealed once again explicit and implicit controversies, complexities, antagonisms, anxieties, hopes, good will, idealism and realism regarding peacemaking in Afghanistan. Yet the Tashkent conference took at least one significant step: it sent a strong and clear signal to the Taliban that the international community will not tolerate terrorism and religious extremism and expects a prudent response. Whether this represents a silver lining remains to be seen.

CONCLUSIONS: Diplomacy is important but not enough. Diplomacy per se cannot be the ultimate means of conflict resolution, especially taking into account that the international community has so far repeatedly resorted to standard means and numerous multilateral forums related to Afghanistan. As put by Clausewitz, to achieve success in war one has to comprehend the nature of the war waged. Diplomacy is likely to succeed in conditions of either a convincing advantage of the stronger party or a relative parity of fighting forces, bringing about a situation of strategic stalemate, and neither is the case in Afghanistan.

After two decades of international and domestic efforts to promote peace in Afghanistan, including the Tashkent conference, another question arises: if the same conceptual approach to a certain problem has not produced results in all this time, is this not a strong reason for modifying the approach? Ongoing events in Afghanistan demonstrate persuasively that despite multi-year diplomatic efforts to bring peace in Afghanistan, terrorism should be addressed not only by means of diplomacy and conciliation, but primarily through strategic supremacy.

Mirziyoyev emphasized in his speech that the Afghan problem has a global dimension alongside domestic and regional dimensions and that it should be managed in parallel with the global fight against terrorism. This will perhaps require that all peacekeeping and peace-building efforts are supplemented with peace enforcement actions. The president also promoted a view of Afghanistan not as the origin of security threats originate but as a friendly country with which we should cooperate. This is indeed a great proposal that signifies a shift from alienating and isolating Afghanistan towards engaging it. Yet it also demands dealing with both sides of the dilemma of fighting terrorism and pursuing economic cooperation in one strategic agenda.

AUTHORS BIO: Dr. Farkhod Tolipov holds a PhD in Political Science and is Director of the Research Institution Knowledge Caravan, Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Image source: By: mfa.gov.af/en, accessed on 5.29. 2018
| BY Ricki Green |

By Inez Zimakowski, media director, Edge, Sydney

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

Things are a bit of a mess right now for Facebook and, because of your platforms incredible, pervasive reach, for marketers across the globe. Its the data disaster we all knew was coming, but flatly refused to plan for.

Those of us who have been using your data, your audience tools, analysis, and advertising have always known the scale of whats available, what users have signed away, and just how much you really know about us all. We used it to our advantage to personalise the ads we sent out and hit the right person with the right message at the exact right time, so that content was genuinely relevant to them. We did this to sell product, drive awareness, disseminate news and information and, yes, to influence those who saw our content into doing something.

When you purchased Instagram it was a great moment for us marketers  finally wed get to advertise on that amazingly creative platform, connect with a new and growing set of users, and get even more data about brand preferences, interests, and demographics.

And when Messenger ads became available? Hell yeah, we finally had the ability to start one-to-one conversations with potential customers. Perfect.

In March it all started to unravel when full details of the Cambridge Analytica scandal emerged. Then you appeared in front of Congress and things got worse. You were asked questions by experts who didnt know that Facebook made its money from ads, and that no, you cant email in WhatsApp. Just last week you were in Europe to face the EU representatives and their barrage of questions, though luckily this time it was behind closed doors.

When the data scandal happened, we knew there would be a response. But we werent prepared for an API change on this scale. Hundreds of apps lost access, including ads reporting tools, live streaming plug-ins, games, and scheduling tools. Im sure our data analysts werent the only ones affected, but boy did we feel it.

Just when we thought the worst was over and things were getting back to normal, it was announced that Facebook was ditching its Partner Categories, and kissing third-party data goodbye. No longer will we be able to talk to mortgage holders, or credit card holders, renters, or those who regularly donate to charity, about the products, brands, or dying rhinos they are likely to be interested in.

To a non-marketer, it makes sense to get rid of them. The fact that we can target people based on their purchase behaviour could be concerning. I get it. But the data is secure and most importantly, anonymous. We cannot see who the ad is going to, I dont know if my ad has been served to Betty down the road, or Chris Hemsworth, heck maybe youve even seen one of them. But I wouldnt know it unless you told me yourself. Its that anonymity that protects your users  I couldnt decide to target any single person no matter what criteria I pop into Ads Manager. The platform just doesnt work that way. I guess I could try to get Facebook Support to send me John Kennedys file but the reality is that it would never happen and, as a Facebook user myself, I wouldnt want it to.

What no one is talking about and what no agency wants to admit, is that weve all been affected  the media agencies perhaps worst of all  with the loss of Partner Categories, a new blow that will soon hit as the categories are removed over the next six months. For the brands who use this data, many perhaps unknowingly, Id be having a chat with your social or media agency about their plans for the next year.

For us, weve just gotten a lot more creative in the way we target audiences and the channels we use. Facebook might be the biggest platform out there, but it isnt the only one.

At the end of the day, theres so much data out there it really isnt funny. All our bank details, medical records, credit cards, emails, employment info, photos, and life stories are online. And we cant just pull a Vision and destroy it all. Unless youve never opened an email account, shared a photo, done a Google search, applied for a job, or opened a bank account, data about you exists online. So we have to find a way to accept that its going to be used and sometimes shared, because we said it could be. As one of the biggest tech companies in the world all Facebook can do is anonymise it and keep it safe. If people choose not to read the terms and conditions thats on them.

A quick note to Congress, if youre worried about Facebook you should definitely go bother Google next, and Snapchat (they have a LOT more ahem, personal pictures than Facebook ever will). Actually, lets just shut down the internet. Thatll solve it.

Sincerely,
| BY Ricki Green |

Eleven Melbourne has picked up three new accounts  TCL Electronics, San Churro and Cool Ridge.

The new wins will see Eleven provide creative PR services across owned and earned channels, while also adding value by working with co-located sister agency, TBWA, on integrated solutions.

Says Kiefer Casamore, group account director, Eleven: Its been a fast first half of the year with lots of brands eager to learn how culture can create impact to their bottom line.

This years WARC 100 report of the worlds most effective campaigns had PR and earned media central to their channel strategies. So, its not surprising local clients are increasingly looking for creative ideas that generate media coverage.

As part of the agencys growth plan, two new appointments have also been added to the fold. Jessica Cheney joins as senior account manager from TBWA Sydney sister agency FleishmanHillard, where she has spent the past two years working on Johnson & Johnson, Carnival Australia, Philips and Bose.

Emily Perry has joined the agency as an account executive. Holding prior agency and in-house experience, Perry joins most recently from the Australian School of Performing Arts.
| BY Ricki Green |

Initiative has become the first media agency in Australia to partner with the national Pride in Diversity program.

Pride in Diversity is the national not-for-profit employer support program for LGBTI workplace inclusion specialising in HR, organisational change and workplace diversity. The organisation publishes the Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI), Australias national benchmarking instrument for LGBTI workplace inclusion from which Top Employers for LGBTI people is determined.

Says Mark Latchford (above left), associate director, Pride in Diversity: We truly welcome Initiative as our first media agency member. Initiatives commitment to LGBTI diversity and inclusion within the organisation is a true example of a confident and progressive business. Being a member of Pride in Diversity will assist Initiative in attracting and retaining the most diverse, creative and productive talent possible.

Says Scott Laird (above right), director of people and culture, Initiative Australia: Its very important that everyone working in our network, as well as our clients and people we work with, are clear that Initiative welcomes all people who can contribute to our poise and progress as a business. People coming to work every day should know they are valued, accepted, and fully supported by programs like Pride in Diversity and others that are very active in the agency.

Melissa Fein, CEO of Initiative Australia, said the agencys senior leadership team regarded diversity as a primary attribute for the business.
| BY Lynchy |

IPG Mediabrands the global media arm of Interpublic Group has appointed Ben Poole as Managing Director for Reprise Asia-Pacific. Reprise is IPG Mediabrands full-service digital-first performance marketing agency.

With 18 years digital media experience, Poole (pictured) joins from MEC UK (GroupM/WPP) in London, where he held the position of Chief Digital Officer for the last 2.5 years. Prior to that he was Head of Digital MEC Asia Pacific where he was responsible for agency digital marketing growth in: Australia; India; China; Hong Kong; Taiwan; South Korea; Japan; Singapore; Malaysia; Thailand; Indonesia; Vietnam; and the Philippines.

In his new appointment Poole will lead the operational growth and development of Reprise in APAC as well as driving digital strategy and innovation across the region.

Leigh Terry, CEO IPG Mediabrands APAC commented, Reprise utilises industry-leading capabilities across digital media, content creation, product and web development, along with eRetail and commerce capabilities for a holistic and digital-first approach. Ben has a proven background delivering impressively scalable digital transformation that fuels business growth, client retention and satisfaction. We are excited that we were able to entice him back to Asia and introduce him to the Reprise business at this critical growth juncture.

Poole said, I am both delighted and excited to be joining Reprise at such a pivotal moment for the company. The end-to-end digital capability and coverage is unique. The offer is holistic and simple  this is increasingly what clients want. I look forward to helping make Reprise the best full service digital agency in Asia-Pacific
| BY Lynchy |

Following a highly successful first quarter of 2018, which has seen the Greater China offices of Jack Morton secure multiple new client contracts, the agency has announced a number of key senior-level promotions. The new contracts include work with Marriott International, Rolls-Royce, Scania and Harley-Davidson.

Natalie Ackerman, who heads up the agencys Greater China operations, which encompass the Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing offices, has been promoted to executive vice president and as such joins the agencys Executive Team. The promotion recognises the role Ackerman (pictured) has played in the growth of Jack Mortons operations in Asia, through her exemplary leadership and partnership with clients.

Ackerman has been with with Jack Morton for 15 years, working across the New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong offices. Beginning her career at Jack Morton as a producer, she went on to become managing director of the Hong Kong office, from which she remains based today in heading up the Greater China operation.

Julian Pullan, Vice Chairman & President International, Jack Morton said, I would like to congratulate Natalie on joining the executive team and the success she has brought to our Greater China operations. This success is reflective of a truly talented team, which I have no doubt will go from strength to strength through their growing client partnerships and the extraordinary experiences they create together.

Five other senior-level promotions from amongst long-standing members of staff have also been announced.

Eugene Ng (pictured left) is promoted to head of creative, based in the Shanghai office. Ng has been with Jack Morton for seven years, working across the Shanghai and Beijing offices. Helen Mok is promoted from director of operations in Hong Kong to general manager in Shanghai. A Jack Morton team member for 11 years, Mok began her journey with the agency as a producer. Helen is succeeded by Chris MacDonald as director of operations in Hong Kong. MdDonald was previously production director in Hong Kong and has almost 20 years industry experience, seven of which are with Jack Morton.

Also in Hong Kong, Becca Ratcliffe is promoted from group account director to client services director. Previously based in London for Wasserman Media Group and Frukt, Ratcliffe has been at Jack Morton Hong Kong for more than three years. And Shirley Lee is promoted from director of operations in Shanghai to client service director in Beijing. Lee has been with Jack Morton for 12 years and has risen from her original role as executive producer to client services director.
Bank of the Islands will showcase the photography of Buck Ward from June 4-18 on Sanibel.

Mr. Wards photographs of Floridas Gulf Coast, particularly those captured on Sanibel, are truly breathtaking, Sanibel-Captiva Office Vice President and Manager Willy Ocasio, said. We invite our customers and neighbors to stop by our Sanibel office to see some examples of his work.

In his artists statement, Ward shared that:

Along the south Gulf coast of Florida where I live, there are few grand vistas or scenic overlooks. This rapidly urbanizing area has been one of the fastest growing in the country. There are some beautiful natural places here but every year it gets harder and harder to find a scene that hasnt been spoiled by the hand of man. I try to find the bits of beauty, the natural interstices in the urban coastal landscape. To find art among the myriad signs, poles, wires and parking lots, to find a beach not crowded with people, a horizon with no cell tower  that is my challenge. I try to use the light, the sky and clouds, the water, to enhance the built environment, to reveal the art of nature in the mundane works of humans. I make pictures of our local landmarks. How many ways can I photograph the Sanibel lighthouse?

Between the Everglades and the Gulf of Mexico, among the housing tracts, condos, shopping malls and tourist resorts, there are natural habitats that have been spared, where wildlife thrives. The J.N. Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, Estero Lagoon, Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Venice Rookery and other such places attract bird photographers from all over. I am lucky enough to live here. I love to photograph the birds. I cant resist the dance of the reddish egret.

Visitors are invited to enjoy a cup of coffee and baked cookie while viewing the photography.

The Sanibel branch is at 1699 Periwinkle Way.

For more information, visit www.buckward.net or call 239-823-8401.
Photo: Harry Weatherill

The Okanagan Rail Trail has received its single biggest donation so far boosting the campaign to near completion.

The donation of $1.45 million from the Edna, Stella and Harry Weatherill Foundation will help finish the rail trail from Coldstream to Kelowna.

The money comes from the estate of Harry Weatherill, an Okanagan pioneer who almost 100 years ago watched the Canadian National Railway being constructed.

He recalled that the decision of the CN Railway to bring a rail line into Kelowna was one of the major events of the early 1920s and now his name is connected to the rail line once again.

The task of executing Uncle Harrys last request seemed daunting," says Bob Weatherill, executor of Harry's estate. "Although the concept of a rail trail was interesting, it also seemed very unlikely that the corridor would be purchased, and that funds could be raised to build the trail."

Harrys nephews, who have watched the progress of the Okanagan Rail Trail campaign, felt that contributing to this legacy would be the perfect answer to their uncles request.

"We were pleasantly surprised by the project progress, and we were especially impressed by the community support, from the major champions, like George Galbraith, to the Trail Ambassadors, like Laurie Postill.

Harry was born in Kelowna in 1911 as the eldest of four children at a time when the city had a population of 1,700 people and Bernard Avenue was a gravel road.

Harry and his family moved to Vernon in 1920 to take over the management of Bulmans Cannery.

After growing up, Harry eventually became the senior lending officer for the Royal Bank for the province of B.C.

He oversaw loans to many business clients in the interior of B.C., particularly in the forest industry and agricultural sectors.

Harry eventually chose to spend his retirement in Osooyos where his first wife Edna died in 1982. Harry passed away in 1998 and Harrys second wife Stella died in 2017.

The contribution by the estate of Harry Weatherill will help conclude fundraising for the first phase of the Okanagan Rail Trail and will also provide additional funding for other projects to enhance the trail experience.

Donations to the rail trail can be made by credit card, paypal or debit online.
Photo: Contributed

Swimming against the current is an understatement. Two of the most powerful and influential publicly funded organizations (the CBC and RCMP) are working against me.

In my last column, I shared my renewed passion for a pet road safety topic after attending a TEDx event with my son. The day after publication, I caught a CBC Daybreak South call-in segment hosted by Chris Walker. I believe its called Mind Benders.

The trivia question was to name, with correct pronunciation, the RCMP training facility in Regina.

The caller, providing his first name as Brian, answered correctly: Depot  pronounced with a soft e. How did he know? He is an RCMP officer.

I love the CBC, by the way. It hurts my heart when I hear about cuts to funding this important Canadian institution. And Chris Walker seems like a really fine chap.

I also love the RCMP. Sure, every huge organization will have its issues, but I am proud as heck that we have such an incredible force looking after law and order. And Brians probably an excellent police officer.

There must be a punch line coming. What heinous road safety crime did Chris and Brian commit?

Chris immediately identified, perhaps from background noise, that Brian might be driving. Intending to be safety conscious, he asked if that was so.

Brian confirmed the suspicion, but clarified that he was talking hands free.

And the trivia game continued.

Chris and Brian, representatives of two of the most powerful and influential publicly funded organizations in Canada, gave the message that cellphone use while driving is safe as long as its hands free.

Perhaps most of you agree with that message. If so, and you were listening to Mind Benders, your ignorance would have been re-inforced.

If you did not think that hands free cellphone use was safe, or had any doubt, that message might have influenced you to think that it was.

And as a safety conscious person, you would have incurred the expense of acquiring hands free technology if you didnt already have it. And felt an increased confidence in engaging in cellphone discussions while driving, as long as you were using that technology.

Thats the worst aspect of that pervasive ignorance: confidence.

If blithely unaware of the dangers of an activity, there is no reason to curb that behaviour. And no extra care is taken to try to counteract those dangers.

Consider texting. Everyone knows that its dangerous. Risk-taking drivers who choose to text presumably do it less than they would if they thought it was safe.

They are likely to wait until stoppages in traffic or very calm traffic situations and to compensate for the danger by being super-aware of their surroundings.

Nobody seems to know about evidence that hands-free texting (voice to text) can be even more dangerous because of the cognitive distraction of getting the device to understand what you are saying and the corrections required when the device gets it wrong.

Safety conscious drivers, unaware of the danger, dont restrict their use of voice to text, dont limit the behaviour to calm or stopped traffic situations and do nothing to compensate for the danger they dont know exists.

That doesnt just increase the problem, it exponentially multiplies it.

The same applies to hands-free cellphone use. Unaware of the danger, safety conscious drivers dont restrict their cellphone discussions behind the wheel, dont limit the behaviour to less risky traffic situations and do nothing to compensate for the danger they know exists.

We are in desperate need of mass advertising to replace the widely, and honestly held belief that hands-free cellphone use and texting are safe.

I say honestly held because our public institutions are giving us the exact opposite messaging. We pass laws prohibiting hand-held use, implying that hands-free use is safe. And we have public displays like the Mind Benders segment that reinforce that message.

I request  nay, I demand  that the upper echelons of the CBC and RCMP immediately and publicly issue statements alerting drivers that hands-free cellphone use and texting while driving are just as dangerous (if not more so in the case of voice to text) than doing so hand held.

Do you share the image of me futilely whacking a pool noodle against a brick wall?

Doubt anything that Ive written about the dangers of hand-held cellphone use while driving? Please e-mail me and Ill send you the science.

Interested in joining me with a pool noodle of your own? Please let me know. Perhaps enough pool noodles will make a difference.
Photo: Vernon North Okanagan RCMP

Vernon's boating public can expect to see police out on the waters starting now.

RCMP are reminding boaters to be prepared while on Okanagan lakes.

"Our officers will be out on the vessels conducting routine patrols and engaging with boaters conducting safety checks," said Const. Kelly Brett. "Every power-driven boat requires the operator to hold a valid pleasure craft operators license."

"Failing to provide a valid license could result in the operator being directed to shore and ticketed under the Small Vessel Regulations (SVR)."

It's important to remember that impaired boating will also be on the officers top priority list this summer.

Drinking and boating is the cause of about 40 per cent of boating-related deaths on Canadian waters.

"Whether or not your craft is motorized, you can be charged with impaired operation of a vessel under the Criminal Code of Canada if your blood alcohol level exceeds the .08 threshold," said Const. Brett. "In the eyes of the law, impaired boating, like impaired operation of a motor vehicle, is a criminal offence that can have repercussions far beyond the loss of your boating privileges."

Below are safety tips remember:

If you cannot swim, stay out of the water and seek the shade instead.

Wear a personal flotation device. Tragedy can strike in an instant.

Watch your speed. Dont race to the lake and dont race on the lake. Speed is a major contributor to incidents on the roadways and on the water.

Do not put your feet in fast moving water that is deeper than the length of your arm. If a foot becomes entrapped by rocky bottom in deep water, the current will eventually push the swimmer over face first into the water.

If you are going to a less-traveled area, let someone know where you are going and when you expect to return.

For more information on safe boating visit the Canadian Safe Boating Council website.
Photo: Denise E Paddle boarder pushes through current on Okanagan Lake May 16.

As the rise of Okanagan Lake slows down, authorities are urging continued caution.

The lake rose 0.7 centimetres Monday to 342.68 metres above sea level, 57 cm below the high water mark of 2017. It should crest within a week, depending on weather.

A severe wind and or rain event could push the water levels much higher, and this could lead to flooding and erosion, the Central Okanagan Emergency Operations Centre says.

Kalamalka and Okanangan are both above full pool, and flood protection measures are being deployed as needed.

Log booms are expected to be deployed to prevent wave erosion on public beaches and foreshore areas in Kelowna.

We would like to issue a big thank you to Tolko for offering to supply the logs needed to build 1.7 kilometres worth of booms, said EOC director Jim Zaffino.

Debris washed on beaches should be left in place until the flood risk has passed.

Property owners should only pump water into nearby creeks, ditches or lawns and not into storm drains of sanitary sewer system.

Boaters should use caution on the lake and low-wake activities are encouraged.
Photo: Contributed

A knife-wielding man stabbed two police officers Tuesday in the Belgian city of Liege, stole their weapons and shot them and a bystander dead in an attack that prosecutors fear could be terror-related.

The man, who was later killed by police, approached two police officers from behind carrying a knife and stabbed them several times, said Philippe Dulieu, spokesman for the Liege prosecutor's office.

"He then took their weapons. He used the weapons on the officers, who died," Dulieu told reporters.

Dulieu said the attacker then shot dead a 22-year-old man in a vehicle parked nearby, and took a woman hostage in a school close to where the shooting took place outside a city cafe.

"Liege police intervened. He came out firing at police, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs. He was shot dead," the spokesman said.

A senior official at the federal prosecutor's office told The Associated Press that "there are indications it could be a terror attack."

Despite this, Belgium's crisis centre said it saw no reason to raise the country's terror threat alert for now.

When asked about the report that the attack was terror-related, Liege city hall Michel Firket told the AP: "I know nothing formal about that. The police is doing its investigation. There are no formal conclusions."

A spokeswoman for the city mayor's office, Laurence Comminette, told the AP that the children at the school were all safe.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said only that "there was a serious incident." He was rushing to the crisis centre to get more information.
Photo: Contributed

UPDATE 6:10 a.m.

The federal Liberal government plans to spend $4.5 billion to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline and all of Kinder Morgan Canada's core assets.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau says that in return, Kinder Morgan will go ahead with its original plan to twin the pipeline this summer while the sale is finalized, which likely won't happen until August.

Morneau says once the sale is complete, Canada will continue the construction on its own, with a view to eventually selling the whole thing down the road, once market conditions would allow it to get the best price.

Morneau presented the options during an early-morning cabinet meeting today before ministers made a decision on how to proceed.

Export Development Canada will finance the purchase, which includes the pipeline, pumping stations and rights of way along the route between Edmonton and Vancouver, as well as the marine terminal in Burnaby, B.C., where oil is loaded onto tankers for export.

Morneau says the federal government does not plan to be a long-term owner and is in negotiations with interested investors, including Indigenous communities, pension funds and the Alberta government.

ORIGINAL 5:48 a.m.

Kinder Morgan is holding a Canada wide conference call at 6:10 a.m. Pacific Time.

The Federal government is meeting in Ottawa in a last-minute attempt to save the Trans Mountain pipeline which runs from Alberta to the coast through Burnaby B.C.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau is expected to announce as early as Tuesday morning where the government plans to go with Kinder Morgan to ensure the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will be built.

There are three options on the table, which include the government buying and building the expansion, then selling it once it's complete; and buying it on an interim basis, then selling it to investors and leaving them to handle the construction.

Morneau has already unveiled the third option: leaving original project architect Kinder Morgan to handle construction, but covering any cost overruns incurred as a result of political interference.

The federal cabinet has been summoned to meet Tuesday morning, two hours earlier than usual, after which Morneau will discuss which of the three options the government has decided on.

Kinder Morgan gave Ottawa until Thursday to convince it to proceed by settling down jittery investors who fear a court challenge from the B.C. government would make the project too great a liability.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has put a lot of political capital on the project, pledging over and over again that the pipeline expansion is in national interest and will be built one way or another.

Since the government has declared the project to be in the national interest, it has financial tools available to it to buy into the project, similar to when the former government bailed out General Motors and Chrysler during the financial crisis in 2008 and 2009.

Trudeau said Canada loses $15 billion a year because oil cannot be exported anywhere but the United States, adding that the pipeline expansion opens up the option of exporting to Asian markets.

-with files from CP
Photo: The Canadian Press

A Senate committee passed 40 amendments Monday to the federal government's cannabis legalization bill, including one that would allow provinces and territories to ban home-grown marijuana.

But the social affairs committee refused to accept a Conservative amendment that would have prohibited home cultivation outright.

And it defeated another that would have indefinitely delayed implementation of the legislation until the government reports to both houses of Parliament on the measures it's taking to deal with the concerns of Indigenous communities.

The vast majority of the amendments approved were largely technical in nature and would have little affect on the substance of Bill C-45. Indeed, 29 of them were proposed by the sponsor of the bill in the Senate, independent Sen. Tony Dean, which suggests they have the blessing of the government.

The committee's amended version of the bill will now go back to the Senate as a whole, where senators will decide whether to accept or reject the amendments or propose additional changes.

The various factions in the Senate have agreed to hold a final vote on the bill by June 7, which would allow the Trudeau government to deliver on its promise to have the legal recreational cannabis regime up and running by late summer.

Under C-45, individuals would be allowed to grow up to five plants in a single dwelling.

But Quebec and Manitoba have decided to prohibit home cultivation, setting up future legal challenges in which Justice Minister Jody Wilson-Raybould has said the federal legislation would prevail.

The Senate committee, which conducted a clause-by-clause examination of the bill Monday, unanimously supported an amendment specifying that provincial and territorial governments have the authority to prohibit home-grown pot if they so choose. Dean was among those supporting the amendment, again suggesting the government is willing to go along with the change.

However, the committee rejected, by a vote of 7-5, another amendment proposed by Conservative Sen. Judith Seidman that would have imposed a blanket prohibition on home growing across the country.

It similarly rejected an amendment proposed by Conservative Sen. Dennis Patterson, which would have delayed implementation of the bill until the government reports to the House of Commons and the Senate on what it's doing to address the concerns of Indigenous communities.
Photo: CTV

Police in Stratford, Ont., say all buildings at the Stratford Festival have been turned back over to staff following a bomb threat that cancelled the official opening night of the 2018 season.

Police had said on Monday evening that they received a call that explosives had been placed at the theatre festival.

Festival officials were alerted and both the Avon and Festival theatres were evacuated as a precaution.

Police officers swept the scene for suspicious items or packages and announced early Tuesday morning that areas around the theatres "have been opened up and police are clear from the area."

The police tweet, however, did not indicate if anything suspicious had been found during the search.

Ann Swerdfager, the publicity director at Stratford Festival, said in a statement Monday night that all ticket purchases would be honoured and ticket holders for Monday's performance will be contacted by festival staff.

She said Tuesday's performances, including the opening of "The Music Man," would proceed as scheduled with increased security.
Photo: Contributed

The federal auditor general says Canadian diplomats are taking too long to report cases where they believe Canadians are being tortured or mistreated while imprisoned abroad.

The assessment comes in a new report released today, in which Michael Ferguson examines 15 such cases from last year in which a Canadian was detained in another country and allegedly abused or tortured.

Ferguson says consular officials moved quickly to make contact in such cases, but that it took between one and six months to formally assess whether the allegations of torture or mistreatment were credible.

It then took another 47 days on average to notify the foreign affairs minister about the five cases involving torture, and 29 days on average to report the other 10 involving other mistreatment to top officials at Global Affairs Canada.

Ferguson is questioning why it takes at least three months to advise the minister and senior officials of such cases, adding that of the 15 cases reviewed, six of the Canadians remained detained abroad as of March.

The auditor general is also flagging a lack of up-to-date training for consular officials, particularly when it comes to detecting torture, abuse or mistreatment.
Photo: The Canadian Press This photomicrograph reveals McCoy cell monolayers with Chlamydia trachomatis inclusion bodies; Magnified 200X.

Rates of sexually transmitted infections are continuing to rise across Canada, say public health experts, who point to a number of possible reasons for the uptick in cases of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis.

"In general, all the sexually transmitted infections have been increasing in the last 20 years," said Dr. Jason Wong, a physician epidemiologist at the BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), who tracks cases of sexually transmitted infections, or STIs.

The growth of dating apps is one suspected culprit, though no studies have been conducted to prove a link between online hookups and the spread of STIs, said Wong.

"But logically, it's easier to find sex and easier to find anonymous sex than it was before, which makes it harder for public health to track outbreaks when you don't know who's the contact for people that may have been exposed," he said.

"The technology certainly serves to be a quicker interface to connecting with sexual partners."

Wong also said more people appear to be having condomless sex, including those in the gay community, who once were at the vanguard of safe-sex campaigns in response to the HIV-AIDS epidemic.

"But with HIV treatment being really so effective now that it's essentially a chronic disease, the concern around contracting HIV has really decreased a lot and that potentially is diving the reduction in condom use," he said.

Last year, the province recorded 3,295 cases of gonorrhea, a dip from the roughly 3,700 a year earlier, but a major jump from 2012, when only 1,400 cases were reported.

On the other side of the country, Nova Scotia has also noticed a steady rise in gonorrhea and chlamydia cases since 2016, primarily in the Halifax area, said Dr. Trevor Arnason, regional medical officer of health for the central zone, which includes the provincial capital.

"In 2018, we are seeing slightly more than double the number of case reports than we'd expect based on the three previous years of data for the province," he said. "Normally we would expect around 50 cases reported by the end of April, and there were over 100 reported cases across the province."

About 85 per cent of those were recorded in and around Halifax.

There's been a slow increase in cases of chlamydia in Nova Scotia since 2007, though no rapid jump in the number of infections as seen with gonorrhea, said Arnason, noting that syphilis cases have been declining since 2013, following an outbreak among men who have sex with men in 2009.

Along with reduced condom use, Arnason said there's a concern about the growing number of people engaging in sex with multiple partners, possibly facilitated by social networking sites and dating apps.

"We know the vast majority of our cases are diagnosed in the under-30 age group and many of them are diagnosed at university or college sexual health clinics," he said Monday from Halifax, which is home to several post-secondary institutions.

With young girls and many boys in Canada being vaccinated against human papillomavirus  a major cause of cervical cancer  and changes to guidelines advising that lower-risk women be tested less often for that malignancy than previously recommended, there is likely less screening for gonorrhea and chlamydia, Arnason said. Such STI testing was often performed at the same time as a Pap smear.

"Again, we don't have any certainty, but there is concern that people are not getting tested as frequently and that is driving a long-term trend of increased transmission."

Nationally, statistics confirm bacterial STIs are on an upward trajectory in jurisdictions across the country. Alberta, for example, recorded 4,763 cases of gonorrhea in 2017, up from about 3,700 the previous year.

In 2015, the latest year for which national figures are available, there were almost 116,500 cases of chlamydia, the most commonly reported STI in Canada, with females accounting for two-thirds of infections, says the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). Between 2010 and 2015, chlamydia rates increased by almost 17 per cent.

Gonorrhea is the second most commonly reported STI in the country. About 19,845 cases were recorded in 2015, a jump of more than 65 per cent from 2010. Males had higher rates than females, with the highest number of cases among those aged 15 to 29, PHAC says.

From 2010 to 2015, the rate of infectious syphilis in Canada increased by almost 86 per cent. In 2015, a total of 3,321 cases were reported, with nearly 94 per cent occurring among males; those aged 20 to 39 had the highest rates and men who have sex with men were among those at most risk.

While the three STIs can be successfully cured with antibiotics, untreated chlamydia and gonorrhea can lead to pelvic inflammatory disease in females, affecting fertility. Untreated, syphilis can cause damage to the brain, nerves, eyes, cardiovascular system, bones and joints. In extreme cases, it can be fatal.

And when it comes to gonorrhea, Wong of the BCCDC said doctors are keeping an eye out for a rare strain of the bacterium that's become resistant to one of the standard antibiotics long used to treat the disease, which turned up in a Quebec woman last year  the first such case in North America. About a half-dozen cases have been reported worldwide, notably in Japan and elsewhere in Asia.

The Quebec woman had not travelled to Asia, but her boyfriend had been in Thailand and China and had unprotected sex in both countries, researchers reported.

As a result, Wong said public health officials are closely monitoring gonorrhea cases "because we do have some concerns that our treatments are not going to be effective anymore."

Prevention is key, he said, stressing that condom use is among the best ways to protect against infection.

"It's not just the bugs we have to think about, it's networks of people and how they connect with one another and thinking about what we can do to prevent people from getting these infections or getting complications," he said.

"But we're also looking at what we can do on a population level that might suppress the potential that you would be exposed to these infections in the first place."
Photo: Contributed

The federal government's problem-plagued Phoenix pay system was mismanaged from the very beginning, says a new report that lays blame for the bungled project squarely at the feet of bureaucrats.

The findings were contained in the auditor general's latest report to Parliament, which also found flaws in Canada's military justice system; how government surplus assets are disposed of; and how Ottawa has failed to close socio-economic gaps between on-reserve First Nations people and other Canadians.

"The building and implementation of Phoenix was an incomprehensible failure of project management and oversight," auditor general Michael Ferguson said in his second report on the pay system in six months.

The pay system was never properly tested before its initial launch in February 2016, and Phoenix executives either didn't understand or ignored warnings of problems, choosing to place potential savings targets ahead of system readiness, said Ferguson's spring report.

"Phoenix executives were more focused on meeting the project budget and timeline than on what the system needed to do," the report concluded.

Initially conceived in 2009, the former Conservative government had projected Phoenix would save taxpayers about $70 million annually by requiring fewer people to work on pay files.

So far, however, it's estimated that the system could cost $1.2 billion by the time it is stabilized, which could take years.

More than half of the federal government's 290,000 employees have reported being affected by Phoenix over the past two years. Some have been overpaid, some underpaid and others not paid at all  in some cases for months at a time.

How a system with such glaring shortcomings could be fully launched without raising alarms at the highest levels came down to who was minding the store, said the report.

"Overall, we found that there was no oversight of the Phoenix project, which allowed Phoenix executives to implement the system even though they knew it had significant problems."

It meant the deputy minister in charge of the project didn't receive independent information showing that Phoenix was not ready, auditors concluded.

The report recommended that an oversight mechanism be put in place before any new IT projects are launched.

In its response, the Treasury Board Secretariat said it will ensure independent reviews are conducted on all such government-wide projects in future, and that the deputy ministers and senior executives responsible for them are made aware of the findings.
Photo: Contributed

A Saskatchewan couple has been sentenced after admitting to their roles in a human smuggling operation involving a group of Nigerian asylum-seekers.

In a ruling brought down on Monday, a provincial court judge in Estevan ordered Victor Omoruyi of Regina to spend nine months in jail and pay a $20,000 fine.

His wife, Michelle Strawford-Omoruyi, was given a 12-month conditional sentence and a fine of $10,000.

Both had pleaded guilty in March to counts of human smuggling and possession of the proceeds of crime.

Three other charges were stayed in return for their guilty pleas.

The pair was accused of helping five adults and four children who were intercepted while crossing into Canada from North Dakota in April 2017.

As part of their sentence the couple must pay a $200 surcharge.

Strawford-Omoruyi must also abide by a curfew during the first two months of her conditional sentence and complete 40 hours of community service within the first six months.

She apologized in court and said she wants to move on and start her life over.

Victor Omoruyi was previously deported from the U.S. where he pleaded guilty in a North Dakota district court to transporting an illegal alien and was sentenced to six months in jail.

All nine people who were detained later made refugee claims. (CJSL, The Canadian Press)
Alanna Kelly

Condolences for a pregnant Kelowna kindergarten teacher who was killed during a collision on Highway 1 are pouring in on social media.

Tayah Lloyd was a passenger in a vehicle struck head-on east of Bridal Falls on Saturday.

Anne McClymont Elementary School parents describe Lloyd as the epitome of what a kindergarten teacher should be.

"My last conversation with Tayah was about how excited she was to become a mom, I know she would have been amazing at it, said one parent.

Another said the school lost "an incredible teacher, the world has lost an amazing person and heaven has gained the perfect angel."

One of her students made a beautiful life size flower using skills taught by Lloyd and placed it on her desk.

Many parents said she will be missed.

Both drivers involved in the collision were airlifted to Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.

School District 23 Supt. Kevin Kaardal told CTV: "Our heart goes out to the family.

"We work with the teachers, the people they have the relationship with, so that they can bring normalcy as quickly as possible to the school community, and to provide support where needed."

A critical response team has been brought in to meet with students, parents and staff at the school.
Photo: The Canadian Press

A Canadian scientist is calling for action to protect significant geological and historical features on the moon, Mars, and other planets.

Jack Matthews, of Memorial University of Newfoundland, says as nations and private companies increasingly explore and develop outer space, there's a growing threat to extraterrestrial environments.

He says a global agreement to protect the most important sites is needed before it's too late.

Matthews, a post-doctoral fellow in Memorial's Department of Earth Sciences, and Sean McMahon of the U.K. Centre for Astrobiology have just published a paper on the topic.

Matthews says their proposal wouldn't stand in the way of exploration or resource development, but would protect places like Valles Marineris  known as the Mars version of the Grand Canyon  and the Apollo 11 moon landing site, where humans first stepped on another celestial body.

He says it could take years to produce an agreement, so discussion and debate needs to start now.
Photo: City of Kelowna

Kelowna city council has given initial approval for a 31-unit rental development on a single-family lot on Pacific Avenue.

However, one councillor put the developer on notice concerning a parking variance that will be requested down the road.

Coun. Luke Stack says he is currently living in a rental building that meets parking requirements but can't find places for visitors to park.

"When I get a heads up this is going to be a parking variance, there will have to be very good justification, in my mind, for me to support that, because if it's multi-family housing ... if there is not adequate parking, I will have huge concerns," said Stack.

A variance for a 20 per cent parking reduction will be brought forward at the same time as the development permit application. This would work out to one stall per unit, with five stalls for visitor parking.

Variances for height and setbacks will also be sought.

If constructed as proposed, the five-storey apartment would include five one-bedroom units, 21 two-bedroom units and five three-bedroom units.

Parking would be provided under the structure.

Planner Dean Strachan says the developer, Anagram Properties, has made several changes to the design since the initial application was made, to increase the street presentation of the building.

"There was some initial concern with how it presented to Pacific Avenue, but they have come forward with some modifications before it came to council to include some additional opening and additional windows," said Strachan.
Photo: RCMP Clothing with Independent Soldiers' logos, found in connection with the arrest of Donahugh McWhirter and Brittany Stinn.

UPDATE: 5 p.m.

Donahugh McWhirter told the court he had never thought about the possibility of missing his daughter's graduation or not being around to teach her to drive when he made what he calls some really bad choices more than three years ago.

The Crown and defence wrapped up their sentencing submissions Tuesday after McWhirter pleaded guilty in February to two counts of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and unlawfully possessing guns while he was prohibited.

While the Crown is seeking an eight-year sentence for the man police called a veteran Independent Soldier gang member, McWhirter's defence argued a sentence between two and four years would be appropriate.

McWhirter told Justice Davies he has made a lot of changes in the past three years, including moving away from Kelowna to start fresh.

As far as my family goes, they're the most important thing to me. I started spending every Sunday with my sister and nephew and my girlfriend and my daughter, he told the court.

His voice began to crack when he talked about a conversation he had with his daughter.

My daughter, what she said to me was heartbreaking, he said. She goes, she wants me to be there for her, for me to teach her how to drive. And I said, I didn't think about that when I made these bad decisions, or the fact that I may not be there for her grad.

McWhirter said all this started with his incarceration in 2012 for a domestic assault conviction from a 2010 incident.

Going to jail and getting out of jail and having nothing to do and knowing all the people that I met in jail and then being out on the street with no employment, he said. I grew up (in Kelowna), I know everybody, and that was probably the best decision I made was to leave Kelowna.

While McWhirter expected to be sentenced this week, Justice Davies reserved his judgement until June 29. McWhirter remains out of custody on bail.

ORIGINAL: 2:20 p.m.

Despite pleading guilty to several drug and weapons charges in February, a man police have described as a veteran gang member says he was no longer a gang member when he was dealing the drugs, and the boxes of Independent Soldiers clothing in his house were simply memorabilia.

Police pulled over Donahugh McWhirter and his girlfriend Brittany Stinn near Merritt Nov. 4, 2014, after surveilling them for a year. They found MDMA and cocaine in the trunk. Three months later, police raided their Lake Country home and found several firearms and boxes of clothes with the gang logo.

At the time of the raid, the RCMP's Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit said the Independent Soldiers were recruiting new members in the Okanagan for a planned resurgence.

During the second day of McWhirter's three-day sentencing hearing on Tuesday, defence lawyer Chandra Corriveau admitted McWhirter was "historically associated" with the gang, but that he no longer was at the time of the charges.

The Crown is not alleging McWhirter was dealing drugs for the Independent Soldiers, gang affiliation can be an aggravating factor in sentencing.

In 2014, an informant told police McWhirter was taking over the Independent Soldiers gang.

On Oct. 20, 2014, police witnessed McWhirter meet with 10 to 14 Independent Soldiers or associates at Rusty's Pub in Kelowna. After leaving, two of the people he had met with were pulled over and found with five ounces of methamphetamine.

The Crown says McWhirter was travelling to the Lower Mainland from the Okanagan several times a month, supplying street-level dealers in Kelowna with drugs.

Corriveau said McWhirter was planning on getting rid of the IS clothes and firearms found in his home.

Turning the guns over to police may have had legal consequences because of his alleged gang ties, and throwing the clothing in the garbage could have had it end up in the wrong hands.

You certainly can't donate them, what do you do with them? Corriveau said.

The Crown is seeking an eight-year sentence for the two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and unlawful possession of a shotgun and rifle while he was prohibited.

Charges against Stinn are expected to be dropped by the Crown at the conclusion of McWhirter's sentencing.

Justice Davies is expected to sentence McWhirter Wednesday.
Photo: Google Maps

Police are investigating a second incident involving a vehicle and cyclist just two days into Bike to Work and School Week.

A young girl was injured as she attempted to walk her bike across the intersection of Gordon Drive and Springfield Road shortly before 8:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Police say the girl had stepped off the curb to begin walking across Springfield toward A.S. Matheson Elementary when a vehicle struck her bike as it turned right off Gordon.

The force of the impact destroyed the bike and caused the girl to fall to the ground.

The young girl, who was shaken from the incident, also sustained some injuries as a result of her fall, says RCMP Cpl. Jesse ODonaghey.

We are told that the driver of the vehicle involved pulled around the injured child, stopped momentarily without exiting their vehicle, and drove away seconds later.

O'Donaghey says police are urging anyone who witnessed the event to come forward.

Bystanders, who were understandably focused on rushing to the aid of the youth, were unfortunately unable to obtain a licence plate for the suspect vehicle, says ODonaghey.

The vehicle has been described to police as a white sedan, possibly with a female driver. The vehicle could have markings or damage to its right front passenger side.
Senator Lamar Alexander today encouraged participants at Tennessee Girls State to follow the advice of his railroad engineer grandfather, who told him, Aim for the top. Theres more room there.



We have in America all the same problems everyone else does, Senator Alexander said. What we have that is different is the capacity to do more about those problems than any other country in the world. And, we have you.



You are here because you have already demonstrated more capacity than most Americans to make something of your life and of what this country has to offer. I hope one of you young women will grow up to be the real governor, the real school board member, the real mayor  someone who does her best to bring out the best in our country, state and community.



The guitarist Chet Atkins used to say, In this life you have to be mighty careful where you aim because you are likely to get there. And my grandfather used to tell me, Aim for the top. Theres more room there.



So ignore the angry voices on cable news, talk radio and the Internet and instead remember and live by what you learned this week at Girls State.



Senator Alexander today also spoke at the opening ceremony of the American Legion Auxiliarys Girls State 2018 program in Nashville. Girls State brings 550 high school juniors from across Tennessee together to spend a week learning about local, county and state government by electing officials including a governor, working on legislation and holding legislative sessions and running court proceedings.



Senator Alexander participated in Boys State in 1957 and was elected Boys State governor that year. His platform included:



 Pass a resolution that the right to work should not be discriminated against  referring to union affairs;



 Civil Rights resolutions:

o (Persons of color) should have equal rights in schools and living conditions without discrimination;

o The Klu Klux Klan should be outlawed in Tennessee; and

o A resolution charging the other forty-seven states of the union to investigate civil rights within their own state before criticizing Tennessee.
After completing her mechanical engineering studies at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) Katharina Kreitz was virtually flooded with job offers from renowned companies. But instead of accepting one she decided to found her own company for developing precise and individual flow probes, which are used among other things in Formula 1 racing.

Katharina Kreitz came up with the idea of founding her own company as the result of dissatisfaction: During her studies, which focused on aeronautics and space technologies, she frequently worked with flow measurements. "I was constantly irritated by the technology of the conventional flow sensors available in the market," she recalls, adding that it "simply wasn't good enough". Kreitz decided to solve this problem: She wanted to develop small, stable and individually adaptable flow sensors and to market them with her own company.



Demand for these products is high. For example, automobile manufacturers install the probes and investigate the aerodynamics of their prototypes in the wind tunnel. Measuring flows is also necessary when making air conditioners, exhaust hoods and drones. And it's not always air that's flowing in all the applications  gas, water and oil flows can be measured as well.



However, if the sensors are too large, they develop their own resistance properties and distort the measurement results. And in the past there were no sensors that could withstand extreme temperature conditions. Kreitz saw the solution in 3D print: This technology can be used to individually adapt sensors to meet the specific needs of each customer.

Supplementary Business Economics studies in Paris

The young entrepreneur founded Vectoflow GmbH in April 2015, together with Dr. Christian Haigermoser, also a TUM graduate. She turned down plenty of job opportunities at various leading companies in the market and rigorously pursued her own objective.



Kreitz and Haigermoser applied for an EXIST start-up grant from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy  and were successful. However, the decision-makers on the EXIST program side wanted to see a business economist on board the team. Kreitz then quickly completed a one-year supplementary curriculum at the College des Ingenieurs in Paris. This is where the third partner joined the team: Florian Wehner.

Probes are used in Formula 1 racing

Prof. Christian Breitsamter of the TUM Chair of Aerodynamics and Fluid Mechanics took on the role of mentor in the context of the EXIST start-up grant, and the Chair of Turbomachinery and Flight Propulsion provided the start-up founders with an office. The team also received assistance from the UnternehmerTUM Center for Innovation and Business Creation: The "XPRENEURS" program prepared them for market entry, and "Techfounders" put them into contact with potential investors and customers. They also received 25,000 Euros in seed funding and were able to use the high-tech workshop "MakerSpace".



In the meantime Vectoflow has seven permanent employees and customers located around the world  including in China, India, Saudi Arabia and the USA. Among other things the start-up immediately supplied its probes to several racing series, including Formula 1. Kreitz: "We already turned a profit last year, after only two years in business."
Chesterfield signs no-cost deal to add solar panels to 17 facilities The Chesterfield County Board of Supervisors recently approved the first-ever rooftop solar power program for government facilities and school buildings throughout the county. Included in the first wave of the...

Yes, experts say expectant mothers should get vaccinated Misinformation surrounding COVID-19 vaccines and womens reproductive health quickly spread after the first shots became available last December. Since then, common myths that COVID-19 vaccines cause infertility, miscarriages and birthing...
An American Airlines passenger disrupted a flight from St. Croix after he was refused a beer. (Bill Bolduc / YouTube)
A: If you look back, at about 2013, (Miller Lite was) declining at about 7 percent year over year. It was a pretty dire situation for the brand. It was in free fall. We made a couple of key decisions. One was to relaunch the iconic Miller Lite packaging. Then we really focused on talking about the beer and what made the beer distinct, which is the duality of lightness and taste.  And last, the competitive work that weve done, using Bud Light as a competitive foil, has really worked. We feel encouraged by the momentum and hopefully with some good weather, well start to see better trends throughout the summer.
Pret has 530 locations, known largely for sandwiches and salads. Its biggest presence is the United Kingdom, where it is based, but it also runs restaurants overseas, including in the U.S.
Yes, sounds crazy, but you could ask for a pay cut in exchange for your company covering the out-of-pocket expenses it currently does not. You will come out ahead, because income is taxable but expenses are not, as long as they are structured correctly. (More below.) "There is little downside for employers to do so," Davidoff said. "They also get the benefit of lower payroll taxes."
The two-hour training, conducted by Krafts team, includes examples of internal initiatives to counter the negative effects of bias. For example, there is a push within the technology team to interview candidates for a culture add versus a culture fit  that is, valuing people based on their different viewpoints rather than their similarities, Kraft said. Another example given is the recruiting process in the software engineering department, which requires hiring managers to conduct interviews without seeing candidates resumes so that theyre not influenced by factors like the pedigree of their school, she said.
Sellers David and Jodi Morton, who have had a hobby of buying and fixing up homes, bought the mansion in 2005 for $1.415 million and initiated a full renovation. The couple first listed the mansion last fall for $2.699 million, and in January cut their asking price to $2.55 million.
Instead, Butler, whom the Bulls traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves last summer, recently bought the second of two $1 million-plus loft condominium units that he has purchased in a 41-unit, recently built River North building. And now, Butler has listed one of the two units, a three-bedroom unit on the fifth floor, for $1.45 million.
We thought it was kind of funny how seriously Chicago takes its pop-ups but also how pop-ups have become curated, in-depth, unofficial Michelin-star experiences, said Carruthers, so we thought it would be fun to just poke a hole in that and do this in the stupidest way we could. We like pirate jokes, and we thought it would be fun to sell corndogs for a buck or two and have a good time.
Our friend Memorial Day is a good excuse to up the Sunday Funday ante. Picture drinking fish bowls poolside, downing a funky-fresh dose of soul jams, gobbling up crawfish by the handful. Find all of the above and more at these eight Memorial Day weekend events. Turn off your Monday alarm and go have another.



Memorial Day Weekend Jam

The Promontory (5311 S. Lake Park Avenue West, 312-801-2100)

Get your soul fix at the Hyde Park bar with We Love Soul's DJ party, featuring The Twilite Tone, DJ and producer who has previously worked with Kanye West. Other DJs include Sean Alvarez, Joe Kollege and Kwest_on. 411 p.m. Sunday. $10. Tickets: promontorychicago.com
Thats my guy. In college, my friends and I would watch all of his shows on YouTube and wherever we could find clips, said Momin, 25. We all had our own version of the accent, and wed just yell at each other in our apartment.
Now, BTS, the seven-member group also known as the Bangtan Boys, has made history again as the first K-pop band to have an album debut at No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Top 200 chart. "Love Yourself: Tear," the group's third album, was released May 18 and in its first week had the equivalent of 135,000 sales in the United States, of which 100,000 were traditional album sales, according to Nielsen Music. The rest were made up of streams and individual track downloads, Billboard reported. "Love Yourself: Tear," sung mostly in Korean, is also the first primarily foreign-language album to take the top spot since a classical crossover vocal quartet released "Ancora" in 2006, according to the music site.
And as part of its 30th anniversary, the company is rebranding its annual comedy festival  which has run for the past four years with the comically confusing title The 26th Annual Comedy Festival  to the much more straightforward Onion Comedy and Arts Festival. I dont think we did ourselves any favors with the original name of the festival, says Kyle Ryan, editor at large for The A.V. Club (a subsidiary of Onion Inc.) and a producer of the fest. It just made way more sense to rebrand it and emphasize the Onions presence in Chicago.
WASHINGTON  Roseanne Barr has apologized for targeting one of President Barack Obama's senior advisers as the offspring of the "Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes," as she responded to a social media conspiracy theory about President Trump's predecessor.
While more answers are still many years away, the search for support is unrelenting for families dealing with an Alzheimers diagnosis, including Martha Campos. The Camposes have been married for 45 years, and since Salvador Campos first stroke, Martha Campos has been his primary caregiver. The role has forced her to give up working outside their home in the West Elsdon neighborhood. Among other duties, she cooks, cleans and pushes his red wheelchair from appointment to appointment, to swimming classes and to the adult day care they go to daily. Salvador Campos, nicknamed Chava, can be stubborn, she says. He regularly loses his teeth, wallet and other items. He doesnt drive. Hes often tired.
It is because I am an identical twin that I will always believe that my sister saved my life. Had Rollie and her doctors known about our genetic mutation and our family's subsequent reproductive cancers, how different her life -- and mine -- might have been. It was my twin's bravery in facing her tragic illness that helped me take proactive steps to minimize my risks. I still think about my twin sister every day, knowing that only one of us could live to see all of our children grow to adulthood.
In the report, a 16-year-old boy said an agent threw him down and smashed his head into the ground with his boot. Another complaint described a child run over by a Border Protection truck, noting crushing damage and significant trauma to the childs leg. And a 16-year-old girl said that during a search, officials forcefully spread her legs and touched her private parts so hard that she screamed.
Each of our contacts in the unaccompanied child advocacy world has assured us that the vast majority of these children are not in fact lost, Doyle wrote in Tuesdays letter. Sometimes the kids or sponsors move and dont notify the government. Sometimes the kids are in a situation that isnt supportive and they leave. Tragically, sometimes the kids are in terrible situations or trafficked  forced to work instead of go to school, while their cases are pending. After much research and outreach, it is clear that the communities most profoundly affected are NOT in favor of increased governmental authority (through ICE) over the childrens mobility post-detention. Instead, the best approach is to ensure that unaccompanied children have legal advocates from the start of their detention  which is, as you will read about below, our goal today.
Suffice it to say, we had no problem filling our time  and bellies. We kicked it off at Coral Gables, a century-old building housing multiple restaurants and bars (with both a comedy club and karaoke options) and, most important, a deck that overlooks the river. This would have been more pleasant the week prior, when temperatures were in the 70s. As I sipped on a strong margarita on this 93-degree afternoon, sweat dribbled into my eyes, obscuring the boats passing by on the water below. It felt as though we really were in Coral Gables  Florida. It turned out this was one of the few places all weekend that we didnt have to wait in line.
Were balancing the officers that I need on the lakefront, and Ive got my gang teams and my (saturation) teams and those guys that are working in the districts targeting not only the individuals that are driving the violence but the gangs that are creating the culture thats allowing this violence to occur, said Nagode, who oversees street patrol operations on the North, Northwest and West Sides.
Macomb Police Chief Curt Barker said Tuesday that police received a complaint on Saturday about Macomb Pet Land, where officers faced an overwhelming smell of dead animals and ammonia. The dead animals included several rabbits, hamsters, snakes and mice. No dogs or cats died.
About half an hour earlier, a 49-year-old man told police he was standing on a corner in the 7100 block of South Lafayette Avenue when he heard shots and realized he was shot in the arm around 12:30 a.m. The shooting was one of three shooting incidents reported to be in the South Sides Park Manor neighborhood in about seven hours between Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
Lopez did not know how to swim and the men were not wearing life jackets, Ponce said. The two grew up together in Mexico and shared an apartment in West Lawn, he said. On Monday they had come home from eating seafood when another friend offered to take them on a boat ride. Ponce said Lopez looked happy as they did a loop along the Chicago River. A video taken by Ponce shows the men looking at the downtown buildings as music plays in the background.
Clemency said people can take photos of the bee and submit them to the phone application Bumble Bee Watch or the website BeeSpotter, which is run by faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Both sites work with scientists to confirm the type of bee pictured and forward the information to Fish and Wildlife if the species is endangered, she said.
The organization offers pills to end pregnancies at clinics in Fayetteville and Little Rock but says it cannot find any Arkansas obstetrician willing to handle hospital admissions. Preventing women from obtaining medication abortions would create an undue burden on their right to an abortion, Planned Parenthood says. Undue burden is the standard set by the Supreme Court to measure whether restrictions go too far in limiting women who want an abortion.
Gassama said he has authorization to stay legally in Italy, which is where he landed in Europe in 2014 after a more than a year in Libya and a trip across the Mediterranean Sea. He came to France in September to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades.
When he ran for president, Trump not only proposed a set of policies to make America less welcoming of immigrants - a wall on the Southern border, a ban on Muslims coming to the United States - he also used rhetoric far harsher than other Republicans had been willing to in the past or even at that time. Others would say that they only opposed illegal immigration but not legal immigration, and would pay lip service to the idea that we're a nation of immigrants. In contrast, Trump began his campaign calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, propagated racial stereotypes and essentially told Republican voters that they no longer needed to pretend to believe that immigration is a good thing for America.
Before you envision a shoebox habitat for an injured bird, heres what the experts tell us: The boxes are clean, strong and sturdy. Theyre roomy. Theyre tested. New moms around the world use them. Perhaps most important, the boxes are portable, enabling parents to carry the baby from room to room. A box can be placed near a sleeping parent but will keep the two apart. And the boxes largely are funded by private donations.
Wed quibble with that assessment. Many ordinary people theoretically can do what Shaw  and Seaman and Gassama  did if they possess the selfless instinct, the courage and physical skills. But such exploits are rare for those who arent first-responders or soldiers or otherwise trained to run toward danger. Nor, thankfully, are most of us tested by events as were these three men.
Chicagoans are proud that we sent President Barack Obama to Washington. We are proud to have his (not) library located in the city that launched him. It is incomprehensible that President Obama, who ran as a man of the people on a promise of change we can believe in, is now comfortable with hitting the taxpayers with an estimated $175 million bill, the projected cost of road changes in and around Jackson Park deemed necessary for the Obama Presidential Center.
We need a leader who reminds us why we love living here. We need a leader to tell the rest of the world that we are not crazy for loving it here. I hope the next mayor of Chicago has the charisma, intellect, and winsomeness to show the watching world that something historic and monumental is happening here. We are the Land of Lincoln and the land of Obama. We are the soil from which hope and belief in a better day grows. Where is the candidate who embodies our historic identity?
Since Illinois adoption of a new funding model, dollars have been flowing to schools equitably, and we have started to discuss how to begin reinvesting in our students and classrooms. For example, beginning next school year, our 6,000 middle school students across eight schools will have access to guidance counselors for the first time in a decade. Also, we have purchased Chromebooks so that each of our 12,000 high school students next year will have a device to take home.
Leading that pack are revelations by the Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for refugee resettlement, that the government has lost track of almost 1,500 immigrant children. It turns out that most of them were processed during a sudden surge in unaccompanied minors at the southwestern border in 2014 and placed with family members and other sponsors who already were residents the United States. Most of the children came from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala and were fleeing drug cartels, gang violence and domestic abuse, according to government data.
It's a really immersive experience, from the soundtrack to the smells to the touches of Happy Place, said founder Jared Paul. We take what we're doing very seriously, and what we're doing is over the course of about an hour trying to deliver nothing but joy and spontaneous happiness to people.
720 Ardsley Road, Winnetka: $6,999,000 | Listed: Sept. 13, 2021



This six-bedroom English Tudor home has four full bathrooms, two half baths, built-in features, period millwork and sits on 1.5 acres of rolling landscaped grounds on a private road. The kitchen has hardwood floors, an island, a butlers pantry, custom cabinets, a double oven and space for a table. The home has an office, a library, a Great Room, a Family Room, a Living Room and a Dining Room. Four fireplaces, a wet bar, and a finished basement complete this home, which was designed by the renowned architect Benjamin Marshall. The property also has an in-ground pool, a patio, a hot tub and an attached four-car garage.



Agent: Sarah Elder Lyons, Compass, 847-436-4351



*Some listing photos are virtually staged, meaning they have been digitally altered to represent different furnishing or decorating options.



To feature your luxury listing of $800,000 or more in Chicago Tribunes Dream Homes, send listing information and high-res photos to ctc-realestate@chicagotribune.com.



Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news.
"One of our veterans pointed out to us that when they were on the battle fields they suffered far worse than this heat. That was really in our decision to continue with the parade. I know some neighboring cities cancelled," said Clayton Muhammad, city of Aurora Director of Communications.
An investigation began in March of Michael A. Malpede, of the 400 block of Grapevine Trail, after it was reported that Malpede had sexual contact with a minor during the month of August or September of 2016, police said in a news release.
Theres a significant gap when youre a low-income kid and a lot of times, those meals arent being made up, Morello said. What we thought was lets put summer meal programs at these sites where kids will be at anyway. Where are kids going to be hanging out during the summer? Libraries are one of those places. We want to make sure its a place people know, they feel safe with and theyre comfortable there.
Day in and day out, she lives with the loss of her son that paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms, he said. We get wrapped up in our busy lives, but for that mother, theres always going to be an empty spot at her table.
A: I applied to be a young naturalist in August of 2017 for the September through May school year, which was my junior year of high school. I got the opportunity when I first applied. However, I did not get into the High School Marine Biology program my first try when I applied as a sophomore. Instead, I was invited to participate in their summer program called High School Lake Ecology during the summer of 2017.
Binnys representatives reached out to Wynne in November about moving into the empty storefront at 1111 Chicago Ave., she said at that time. The lot currently is zoned commercial, a designation that fits Binny's needs.
The developer right now is effectively asking the City Council to approve its plan while those living and working in this neighborhood are left to hope for the best, said Philip Crihfield. Two of his daughters, one with special medical needs, live at the nearby Sienna Court condos.
He first enlisted in the Army in 1996, immediately after graduating from Palatine High School, he said. After he left the Army in 1999, he remained in the Reserve and can be called up any time his skills are needed.
Our community would not be the same if not for the many men and women of this community who lived among us, and continue to live among us, who serve our country ... many who have been recognized today [for] giving their lives to protect our freedom, Lowenstein said.
Memorial Day is about gratitude, said Post Commander John Wowk. Whether you celebrate the holiday from the standpoint of a veteran, a parent, sibling, child or friend, the veteran wore the cloth of the nation to defend the principles of our country, and now they are no longer here, we cant shake their hand, or talk with them, or enjoy a family meal together.
Libertyville High School students currently start their day at 7:30 a.m. with a zero hour at 6:30 a.m. and early bird period at 7:05 a.m. Vernon Hills High School currently starts its day at 7:55 a.m. with an early bird gym option at 6:55 a.m. and early bird science at 7:25 a.m.
This meant that those of us who, for example, made a run down to Grant Park and back on Saturday barely had to touch our brakes. While this had a lot to do with timing  late Saturday morning on a holiday weekend has nothing in common with Friday or Monday evening on a holiday weekend  it also had to do with a temporary suspension of the Tri-State roadwork between Russell Road and the Edens Spur that has pestered non-holiday weekend travel most of this spring.
Florip said Lay is due to report again early this week. If he does, he will be taken into custody by Waukegan police on the nationwide warrant for his arrest. If he does not appear as scheduled this week, the Waukegan Police Department will notify the Lake County States Attorneys Office and an additional arrest warrant could be issued locally for Lay.
On behalf of the city of Lake Forest, I would like to thank James Derwinski ... and his senior staff for their forthright and honest appraisal of Metras operation and funding priorities superseding the third track proposal, and proposing community-respectful and cost-effective ways to extend railroad safety and efficiency, Lansings statement said. The city also wishes to thank the many parties who expressed concerns regarding the third track proposal. Be assured that the city of Lake Forest will continue to be engaged in monitoring the service and safety of regional rail transportation.
They handled such a topic so maturely, he said. To have the audience respect it and follow it without getting giggly was important. They handled it more in a high school or collegiate way, where they were very thoughtful about it. We wanted to make sure it was a movie that didnt tell people how to think, but just showed what it would be like to experience that kind of situation.
The day began with a ceremony, led by the Park Ridge American Legion, at the Civil War monument at Town of Maine Cemetery. A second ceremony followed at South Park where 47 Park Ridge men killed during World War II were remembered at the parks memorial, which was restored in 2015.
In her previous private-sector career focused on customer service and having distinguished herself at a large and dynamic school system, she has shown that she is an outstanding servant leader in a demanding, high-touch environment where children are at the center of our work, Heinz said in a statement.
The centerpiece of the small park is a covered bridge that serves as a pedestrian walkway to Riverview Park. It was built in 2002 with more than $400,000 from the county and with the citys share of gaming revenue. The bridge is meant to be a tribute to veterans and its become the site of the citys patriotic commemorations.
The state police laboratory has been able to link DNA samples to new and old investigations across the state as part of the new practice passed by the Indiana legislature during the 2017 session, Capt. David Bursten in a news release last month.
We extend our deepest sympathy to his family, loved ones, patients, and hospital and clinic staff who knew him well and worked closely with him. Dr. Kparkers patients have received exceptional, compassionate care from him over the years, and we are keeping everyone in our thoughts during this difficult time.
At Starbucks we are proud to be a third place  a place between home and work where everyone is welcome. A place where everyone feels that they belong, the note read, adding the store would close so our team can reconnect with our mission and share ideas about how to make Starbucks even more welcoming.
I work with children on literacy issues, Briggs said. I was talking with one particular class and I told them about what I have and what I want to do and I said, Heres my dilemma. I have all these responses, and I still dont know who to talk to. What do you think?
Colorado's love for SUVs is stronger than ever, even as climate warms
Since 2015, oil painter Wang Lei has traveled along the Silk Road - an ancient network of trade routes that extended across Europe and Asia - to paint portraits of people from various cultures, a journey that the artist sees as a search for his own identity.

Over the past three years, monks, women in hijab, young men of Persepolis, the descendants of soldiers of the Roman legion, craftsmen, vendors and tourists have all been depicted by Wang during his trips to cities in China, Iran, Uzbekistan and Turkey.

The artist, who has just returned home to Beijing from his latest trip to Turkey, held a solo exhibition on Saturday at Beijing's Yishu 8, featuring faces painted along the Silk Road.

"My model can be anyone I encounter," explains the 41-year-old. "It's more than a portrait. It's a record of a person in the context of a certain culture."

It's the enrichment of culture, religion and art of the many cities in different nations along the Silk Road - and the frequent cultural exchanges - that inspired Wang's plan to travel and paint.

He started in Datong in Shanxi province, a cradle of Buddhist art where more than 5,000 sculptures of the sage reside in the Yungang Grottoes and the memory of these Buddha statues has influenced Wang's portraits. No matter whether he depicts men or women, each subject is given prominent ears, painted on purpose by the artist, to resemble those of the Buddha sculptures.

In the village of Liqian in Gansu province, Wang met a man whose appearance was identical to almost every other Chinese person with the exception of his striking green eyes. They reveal his identity to be that of a descendant of the Roman legionnaires that came to the region more than 2,000 years ago.

"We learn about the world, its history and its cultures mainly from books," Wang observes, "but there is a lot that books don't tell us, and we must find that out in person."

This is why he is impelled forward on his journey of discovery and believes that traveling is an important way to learn more about the world.
A fashion collection featuring elements from costumes worn by China's Miao ethnic group stunned audiences on the closing night of Fiji Fashion Week on Saturday. The event drew some of the world's most talented designers and models to the South Pacific archipelago state.



"The show has been amazing, unbelievable," said one audience member amid the thunderous applause for the models showcasing the range.

"We love the wonderful Miao elements, with their bright colors, beautiful embroidery and motifs," two middle-aged women said. A Fijian girl aged 15 was quick to agree. "I like these clothes. They are really beautiful and special."

While the Miao-inspired collection has drawn wide-ranging praise, the reception the range received in Fiji was unrivaled - even the photographers were impressed by it as they took shots of the models in their unique costumes.

Resort wear was the theme of the two-day Fiji Fashion Week, which was held at the FMF Gymnasium in the country's capital, Suva.

And the specially-decorated performance hall was packed out with fashion lovers, designers and models from Fiji and other countries including China, India, Vietnam and Australia.

The 12-piece collection was designed by Chen Bin, a professor at the fashion institute of the Shanghai-based Donghua University, along with several of his students.

He was not surprised by the positive feedback from the audience because he believes the range has a unique quality, thanks to its design which incorporated typical elements of Miao costume.

"This is the first time we have taken part in Fiji Fashion Week and it's been a success. I think the foreign models have enjoyed wearing our Miao-inspired collection. This is a place where fashion meets tradition, and East and West also meet and mingle harmoniously," Chen said proudly.

In his eyes, Miao costumes are like history books that are worn by people, and is one of the rare and beautiful treasures of Chinese history and culture.

"It's not only about beautiful clothes, but also about China's long history and culture," he said.

"There are 56 ethnic groups in China, and the costumes of the Miao ethnic group in southern China are an important component of Chinese history. As designers, we should also be prepared to go out and showcase our fashion design and learn from our foreign peers," he said.

Yang Hui, director of the Confucius Institute at the University of the South Pacific, said she was glad that Chen's team could be involved in the fashion show.

"I am happy for their success and I am glad that the Confucius Institute could assist Chen's team's participation in the fashion show. We would like to be a bridge for language and culture and help boost cultural exchanges between China and the South Pacific Island states," she said.

This was the 11th annual Fiji Fashion Week, which is the biggest fashion show held in the South Pacific Island states.
Chinese Tibetologists hold a meeting with Latvian representatives in Riga, Latvia, May 28, 2018. A delegation of Chinese Tibetologists, currently visiting Latvian capital Riga, had a meeting Monday with Latvian lawmakers, officials, academics and representatives of the public during which they provided a comprehensive insight into Tibetan history, culture and religion.(Xinhua/Janis)

A delegation of Chinese Tibetologists, currently visiting Latvian capital Riga, had a meeting Monday with Latvian lawmakers, officials, academics and representatives of the public during which they provided a comprehensive insight into Tibetan history, culture and religion.

Zhang Yun, head of the delegation and director of the institute of history studies at China Tibetology Research Center, used photographic images to introduce the audience to Tibet's history, language, religion, culture and social development.

Later, other members of the delegation took over, telling how the Tibetan language is being studied, used and developed in China in four aspects: the legislative aspect, research, extensive use and comprehensive development.

They also told about Tibet's cultural diversity and interethnic unity, as well as the government's efforts and achievements to that effect.

Representatives of the Latvian side noted that the event represented a good opportunity for Latvia to learn about Tibet and expressed hope that there will be more opportunities for communication in the future.

Earlier in the day, the delegation met with Dace Balode, head of the institute for religious studies at the University of Latvia.

During the meeting, Zhang told Balode about the China Tibetology Research Center and its latest achievements in Tibetan studies.

Balode informed that the institute is still in the process of development and that interest in Tibetan Buddhist is very strong among its teaching staff and students.

Both sides expressed hope for active cooperation in the future and academic exchange through sharing resources and exchanging visits of teaching staff and students to jointly promote studies in Tibetology.

The delegation arrived in Riga on Sunday for a three-day visit.
A play promoting basic knowledge on finance for construction workers along the Belt and Road was staged at Beijing's Tongzhou District Culture Center on May 28. [Photo courtesy of Jiandi Social Organizational Ability Promotion Center of Beijing]

A play promoting basic knowledge on finance for construction workers along the Belt and Road was staged at Beijing's Tongzhou District Culture Center on May 28.

The play, "Utopia Cafe," was performed by six artists from the Central Academy of Drama, with vivid and humorous acts on financial fraud prevention. About 500 local college students and construction workers in Tongzhou district attended the show.

The Belt and Road Initiative was first introduced in September 2013 during a visit by President Xi Jinping to Kazakhstan. In recent years, countries along the Belt and Road route have deepened people-to-people exchanges, while seeing an increasing number of construction workers contributing to the massive initiative.

In response, the China Social Welfare Foundation and the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) joined hands to launch a project promoting basic knowledge and policies on finance for construction workers participating in the initiative, in a bid to strengthen ties between people and the linking up of cultures.

According to the officials from the China Social Welfare Foundation, in the future, the play will travel to Tianjin, Chongqing, Hong Kong and other Chinese cities, as well as the countries along the Belt and Road route, such as Thailand and Vietnam.
Chinese Ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Zhang Xiangchen on Monday rejected the U.S. accusation that China has abused joint venture requirements to achieve technology transfer, saying the United States is one of the main beneficiaries of technology transfer.

Zhang was speaking at a session of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB), in response to the U.S. claims that China's policies create legal conditions for Chinese economic actors to effectively coerce foreign companies to transfer technology to Chinese firms.

"The transfer of technology from the U.S. companies to China is a normal business. It is done based on mutually agreed terms between the businesses, and such transactions represent the companies' own will," said Zhang, underlining that "the principles of commercial considerations, contractual freedom and market competition are fully observed in these transactions."

The Chinese diplomat noted that the United States is the largest beneficiary of technology transfer, while China, as a developing country, is one of the main export destinations of U.S. technology.

"The U.S. accusation that China has abused the joint venture requirements, foreign ownership restrictions and administrative discretion to achieve forced technology transfer, is neither based on evidence nor convincing." he said.

He explained that the U.S. "Section 301" investigations provided no evidence that China's law stipulated that foreign companies should transfer technology to Chinese partners, nor did it provide evidence on the alleged violation of China's WTO commitment not to use the transfer of technology as a prerequisite for foreign investment to access its market.

In April, the Trump administration proposed tariffs on a list of Chinese goods worth 50 billion U.S. dollars based on the Section 301 investigation into alleged Chinese intellectual property and technology transfer practices.

China has filed a request for consultation within the WTO dispute settlement framework over the U.S. tariff hike proposals based on the Section 301 investigation.
China's leading electric vehicle manufacturer BYD won "Award of Year" presented by the Select LA Investment Summit, an annual meeting held at the World Trade Center Los Angeles (WTCLA).

"We are proud that WTCLA recognized BYD's positive impact on the LA economy, especially our ability to improve the workforce through higher wages and job growth," said Stella Li, President of BYD Motors, in a press release sent to Xinhua Monday.

BYD was chosen for making significant contributions to the local economy, attracting new investment to the region, creating good paying permanent jobs, and improving the environment.

Bringing approximately 300 million U.S. dollars in investment capital into the United States since 1999, BYD has created over 800 good-paying jobs for local community and sold more than 700 buses and trucks.

Established in 2015 in collaboration with the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC), the Select LA Investment Summit is the first of its kind to solely promote foreign direct investment in Southern California.

"Through environmentally sustainable innovation, BYD is increasing the flow of foreign capital to our local economy. Their contracts around the nation will help create more jobs here in Los Angeles," WTCLA President Stephen Cheung was quoted as saying.

BYD, meaning "Build Your Dreams", is the world's largest electric vehicle manufacturer, as well as the largest electric bus maker in North America.
Short videos are seeing explosive growth in China and are gradually becoming one of the major ways Chinese netizens are recording and sharing information.

Amid such videos' rising popularity, China's internet regulator has ramped up oversight of the platforms they appear on, after some were found to be sharing harmful and vulgar content.

Kuaishou, a photo and video-sharing app popular among rural communities and migrant workers, allows users to upload short videos with a duration from 10 seconds to a few minutes each. The content ranges from cooking, physical exercise, dancing and family gatherings.

"We are devoted to recording the daily lives of ordinary people, and giving them a stage to express themselves," said Su Hua, founder and CEO of Kuaishou, adding that the app is looking to improve its user experience and attract more new users.

Su said 87 percent of Kuaishou's users are of the post-90s generation. The app recommends personalized content to users based on their browsing history and preferences with the help of artificial intelligence technology and sophisticated algorithms.

In March 2017, Kuaishou attracted a US$350 million investment from tech behemoth Tencent Holdings Ltd. It also received funding from internet search giant Baidu Inc and Sequoia Capital in 2016. Their investments valued Kuaishou at over US$3 billion.

Statistics from data research firm QuestMobile show short video platforms witnessed surging growth in China last year with users exceeding 410 million, up 116.5 percent on the previous year. Total time spent on short video apps accounted for 5.5 percent of all time spent on mobile apps in 2017. That number stood at only 1.3 percent in 2016.

Kuaishou's rival Douyin has also joined the frenzy. The short video app is owned by Beijing Bytedance Technology Co Ltd, which also owns news aggregator app Toutiao.

Zhang Yiming, CEO of Toutiao, said the company invested more than 1 billion yuan (US$157 million) to support producers of high-quality original short videos last year. In addition to Douyin, Toutiao also has other short video platforms such as Huoshan and Xigua.

Figures from mobile big data company QuestMobile show that by the end of January Kuaishou had 120 million daily active users, while Douyin had 62 million and Huoshan had 53 million.

According to consultancy iiMedia, short video platforms completed a total of 48 venture capital deals in 2017, compared with 41 deals in 2016. Both Alibaba Group Holding Ltd and Tencent have invested in video content or livestreaming startups.

The sector's rapid growth since the second half of 2016 is attributed to fourth-generation communications and mobile internet technologies. The plethora of platforms that have sprung up are closely watched by investors that are eager to back potential success stories with hundreds of millions of dollars.

However, this lightning-quick surge has led to a regulatory gap that prompted concerns about the risk of vulgar online content, intellectual property violations and inadequate supervision.

For example, Kuaishou and Huoshan have been criticized for featuring video hosts who publicize and distribute counterfeit products on their videos.

The Cyberspace Administration of China ordered Kuaishou and Huoshan on April 4 to remove harmful and vulgar content so as to create a clean online environment. The two apps were later removed from Android app stores and updates are no longer available for versions that run on Apple's iPhones, media reported.

The two platforms have made public apologies, promising to overhaul their services and increase manpower in content review. This will include removing vulgar, pornographic or violent content, blacklisting publishers of inappropriate content, and prohibiting users under the age of 18 from registering as livestreaming hosts.

Su of Kuaishou said it is necessary for video-sharing platforms to strengthen uploaded video content monitoring in accordance with the law and regulations, before recommending them to users. Douyin has also promised to increase manpower in content review and to post more appropriate content.

"Short video platforms should formulate relevant rules and strengthen the monitoring of livestreaming and uploaded videos in accordance with State regulations," said Ma Shicong, an analyst at Beijing-based internet consultancy Analysys.

Ma said young mobile users are generating growing demand for short videos, as their free time tends to be fragmented and short.

It seems Kuaishou is favored by people living in third and fourth-tier cities, while Douyin is popular among youths in first and second-tier cities, according to Ma.

"However, most of the apps will not make profits in the short term, as the early investment is huge. They generate income through advertisement revenue, membership fees and other value-added services," she added.
The China National Brand Influence Forum opened in Beijing on May 28, with experts from government agencies, research facilities and media in attendance.



Among the research released at the forum were results from a survey on national brand influence in the tourism sector, including a China tourism influence index as well as top 10 lists of macrocosm tourism destinations, tourism sites and travel agencies in China.

Research for the forum was conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in conjunction with Peoples Daily Online and Renmin University of China, and covered more than 1,000 brands in 22 sectors ranging from tourism, home goods, building materials and consumer products to real estate, automobiles, and information technology.

According to experts attending the forum, tourism has become an increasingly major part of Chinese life after more than three decades of rapid growth, and local governments across the country who see its strategic value have prioritized the development of the tourism industry.

For this reason, the brand influence research team focused their efforts on the tourism sector. Launched in the first half of 2018, the survey on national brand influence in the tourism sector encompasses more than 1,600 tourism sites, destinations and enterprises, and offers useful data for improving marketing and brand building strategies.

The forum also announced the launch of a customer experience management system (CEM), which helps tourism sites monitor customer feedback in real time, provides visual information for management teams, and handles tourist complaints. All these measures are aimed at enhancing brand perception by improving customer experience.

The list of most influential macrocosm tourism destinations comprises Tongxiang city in Zhejiang, Yixian county in Anhui, Jinshan district of Shanghai municipality, Dujiangyan city in Sichuan, Hancheng city in Shaanxi, Wuyuan county in Jiangxi, Yangshuo county in Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Wuyishan city in Fujian, Pingyao county in Shanxi, and Hengqin New Area of Zhuhai city in Guangdong.

The list of most influential tourism sites includes Qiyun Mountain scenic area in Anhui, Taierzhuang ancient town scenic area in Shandong, Huangbai Mountain scenic area in Henan, Xidi scenic area in Anhui and Mianshan Mountain scenic area in Shanxi.

Finally, the list of most influential travel agencies names Ctrip, China National Travel Service Group, CYTS, Uzai.com, Fliggy, Caissa, Spring Tour, Lvmama.com, China Comfort Travel Group, and the amalgamation recently formed between LY.com and eLong.com. Representatives from the winning tourism sites receive certificates at the forum.
China announced Monday that all member states of the United Nations are welcome to cooperate with China to jointly utilize its future China Space Station (CSS).

"CSS belongs not only to China, but also to the world," said Shi Zhongjun, China's ambassador to UN and other international organizations in Vienna.

"All countries, regardless of their size and level of development, can participate in the cooperation on an equal footing," he said.

Interested public and private organizations, including institutes, academies, universities and private enterprises with scientific orientations, can identify their appropriate models of cooperation on board CSS, may it be the growth of a space plant, or even the accommodation of an astronaut, said the ambassador.

HOME OF COOPERATION FOR MUTUAL BENEFIT

CSS, expected to be launched by 2019, and complete and brought into operation by 2022, will be the world's first space station that is developed by a developing country and open for cooperation with all UN member states.

Consisting of one core module and two experiment modules, CSS will have the capacity to accommodate up to three astronauts at the same time and maximum six during rotation.

Operating in low-Earth orbit about 400 kilometers above the Earth's surface, CSS will be used in a wide range of research fields, including space medicine, life science, biotechnology, microgravity science, Earth science and space technology.

"Through the vehicle of CSS, we would like to build up a model of sincere mutual beneficial cooperation among countries in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space," said the Chinese ambassador.

As a developing country itself, China stands ready to help other developing countries in their development of space technology and space capacity building in particular, he said.

Guided by the idea of a shared future for mankind, CSS will be a home that is inclusive and open, a home of peace and goodwill, and a home of cooperation for mutual benefit, he added.

Priyani Wijesekera, ambassador of Sri lanka to the UN in Vienna, believes that CSS would benefit developing states like Sri lanka which lacks financial means and expertise to launch such a project.

"It's very interesting and we are looking forward to cooperating with China," she told Xinhua.

CHINA'S MOVE TO SHARE WELCOMED

Simonetta Di Pippo, director of the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) welcomed China's move to share its "state of the art space program" which is "one of the most holistic and technologically advanced in the world."

"With the global challenges we all face here on Earth, it is therefore important to foster collaboration and cooperation in the field of space activities," she said.

The director said technical advances in space have broader benefits to all humankind, as space is a driver and a tool for socio-economic sustainable development.

In 2016, the United Nations, represented by UNOOSA, confirmed its partnership with the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) by signing a Memorandum of Understanding to allow "Access to Space" to all UN member states, developing countries in particular, to address all 17 Sustainable Development Goals by jointly utilizing CSS.

Following Monday's announcement, the UNOOSA has extended official letters to all Permanent Missions in Vienna and New York as well as offices of the United Nations Development Program, kicking off a three-month application period for public organizations, industries and private sector organizations with scientific orientation.

"By working together, the sky is no longer the limit," said Di Pippo.

"I believe that all the efforts that we are making together will be highly beneficial to our cooperation, to all Member States of the United Nations, and to the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals," she said.

China's exploration into outer space has been at the core of global attention since the launch of the first Chinese satellite in 1970. The planned launch of CSS next year follows the launch of space laboratory, Tiangong-1, in 2011.

China has been consistent in its peaceful commitment to the outer space. Yang Liwei, China's first "taikonaut", exhibited the UN flag to the whole world on China's first space safari in 2003, followed by 10 more Chinese in his footsteps making trips into the outer space.

The core module of CSS is named Tianhe, or "Harmony of the Heavens" in the Chinese language, which conveys China's hope to promote mutual trust and peace through cooperation aboard CSS.

Maria Assunta Accili Sabbatini, Italy's ambassador to the UN in Vienna, said the project offers a great opportunity for Italy as the two countries' space agencies have maintained close ties.

"We believe this opens a lot of room for cooperation," she said.
You are here: China

A French woman has won a challenge in Central China's Hunan province that required contestants to cross a slackline 1,300 meters above the ground while wearing heels.

Mimi Guesdon, 32, finished in just nine minutes and 24 seconds to win the 2018 Tianmen Mountain Female High-heeled Highline Challenge on Monday.

The contest, held close to Zhangjiajie's Tianmen Cave, required entrants to wear 5-centimeter heels and walk at least 55 meters, without falling, as quickly as possible.

Canada's Mia Noblet was the first to attempt the task, taking 22 minutes and 36 seconds. The only other competitor, Faith Dickey of the United States, failed to go the distance on three attempts.
Guizhou Province, one of the least developed regions in China, has become a leading hub for China's big data industry, gathering Tencent and other global tech giants as the country's digital economy prospers.

During the China International Big Data Industry Expo 2018 held in the provincial capital of Guiyang from Saturday to Tuesday, 199 projects were signed, attracting total investment volume of 35.28 billion yuan (5.5 billion U.S. dollars), according to the organizing committee.

As China's first big data pilot zone, the mountainous province is a top choice for big data facilities due to its moderate climate, sufficient power supply and good network infrastructure. It has attracted heavyweight players, including Apple, Qualcomm, Huawei, Tencent, Alibaba and Foxconn, to establish cloud computing and big data centers as well as regional headquarters.

Tencent's Qixing data center in Guizhou started trial operation on Monday. With about 50,000 servers stored inside karst caves tucked away in mountains in Gui'an New District, the center is designed as a green, efficient backup for disaster recovery.

The center, covering an area of about 513,000 square meters, will store the company's most important data in the future, according to Tencent CEO Pony Ma.

E-commerce giant Alibaba announced Monday that Guiyang would become the technical support center and Internet Content Provider filing center for Alibaba Cloud, the company's cloud service.

Alibaba Cloud will also provide cloud storage service for the research data of China's Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope, the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, in Guizhou Province.

So far, the number of big data enterprises in Guizhou has grown to 8,548 from less than 1,000 in 2013, with the size of big data industry exceeding 110 billion yuan.

Guizhou's digital economy expanded by 37.2 percent in 2017, the fastest in the country, official data showed. The added value of the digital economy will account for 30 percent of Guizhou's GDP by 2020, according to a provincial government plan.

More efforts have been made to further activate the value of data. The Global Big Data Exchange in Guiyang, the first of its kind in the country, has attracted over 2,000 members since its opening three years ago, with tradable data capacity exceeding 150 petabytes.

Chen Zhaoxiong, vice minister of Industry and Information Technology, said that Guizhou had set out on an innovative route by developing big data, "which offers the 'Guizhou model' for digital economic growth."

Driven by the big data boom, Guiyang, also known as China's "big data valley," saw its GDP growth rate ranking first among provincial capitals for the fourth consecutive year in 2017, and it is becoming an important destination for tech talent.

Guiyang has enjoyed a net inflow of university graduates from all over the country since 2015. Some 142,000 professionals in the big data industry have moved there .

As an environment-friendly industry, life-changing big data is driving growth and upgrading in both traditional and emerging sectors in Guizhou, with the rapid growth of data services, cloud computing, intelligent manufacturing and e-commerce.












Following the formation of Germany's new government, again composed of the conservative Christian Democratic Union party and the center-left Social Democratic Party, Chancellor Angela Merkel is now engaged in important foreign policy initiatives. Her visit to China from Thursday to Friday last week highlights the attention she intends to pay to Sino-German relations  and economic ties in particular  during her fourth term.

The website of the Germany Embassy in China demonstrates the nature of the countries' bilateral trade partnership. In 2017, trade volume reached 186.6 billion euros (US$230 billion), making China the biggest trading partner of Germany. Specifically, China was the third biggest destination for German goods, worth 86.2 billion euros in total. It also was the most important supplier of goods to Germany, exporting products worth 100.5 billion euros.

A significant upward tendency is evident. Trade volume was 16.4 billion euros lower in 2016. On the whole, "China, in particular, has become increasingly important as a trading partner for Germany" since 2000, according to a publication by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy from August 2017.

The ministry's publication continued: "Between 2000 (1.6 percent) and 2016 (6.3 percent), German exports to China nearly quadrupled. This means that in 2016 China was the second most important market for German exporters outside Europe, behind the USA (8.9 percent). China's share of German imports also rose significantly in the same period: from 3.5 percent (2000) to 9.9 percent (2016)."

The Sino-German relationship is described by the Chinese government as an "all round strategic partnership," meaning that the two sides are continuously looking for additional fields of cooperation.

Merkel is currently attempting to secure deeper access to the Chinese market for her country's companies, and create better conditions for them to invest and operate in. With China's "reform and opening-up" policy ongoing, her will and determination find Chinese authorities in accord.

Media outlets  including German ones  are regularly criticizing China for delaying the removal of restrictions, despite some progress already made. But in a letter published on May 11, 2018, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China expressed its encouragement "by recent, public reform pronouncements, such as the State Council's documents No. 5 and No. 39." Moreover, it said it believes that "Further rounds of reforms will happen before the end of 2018," and sees examples of already-realized reforms "in the financial services sector, but also the industrial sector." Some German industries share similar positions to that of the EU Chamber of Commerce.

As far as China's presence in Europe is concerned, Merkel is the pioneer of a new, critical European approach aimed at monitoring Chinese investments in the context of the country's Belt and Road Initiative. In essence, the EU is designing protectionist measures to prevent investment in key infrastructure works by Chinese state-owned enterprises as well as takeovers of European companies producing sensitive technologies. Although the European legal framework is expected to be strengthened, China's advantage remains its ability to offer liquidity and create jobs in desperate nations suffering from unemployment.

Despite their differences and disagreements, China and Germany have much more to gain by looking for common solutions. Both President Xi and Chancellor Merkel are in favor of dialogue and negotiations in spite of the toughness of some themes. This philosophy is making it possible to have more bilateral synergies, as well as multilateral ones under the EU framework.

George N. Tzogopoulos is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit:

http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/GeorgeNTzogopoulos.htm

Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday he will urge German and French leaders next week to back Israel's position that Iran should have no military presence in Syria, according to a statement released by the PM's Office.





Netanyahu is scheduled to head to Europe on Monday for a three-day trip, during which he will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron.





He said he might also meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May.





Addressing a meeting of his Likud party at the parliament on Monday, Netanyahu, a staunch opponent of the Iran nuclear deal, said his talks will focus on the U.S. withdrawal from the nuclear deal and the Iranian presence in Syria.





"We believe that there is no room for any Iranian military presence anywhere in Syria," he said.





"Of course, this reflects not only our position; I can say with certainty that it also reflects the positions of others in the Middle East and outside it. This will be the main focus of discussions," he added.





Over the past year, Israel has been pledging Russia and the U.S. to prevent Iran from establishing a military presence in Syria, where Iranian forces are fighting alongside Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's army.





In the past weeks, Israel has struck what it said were Iranian targets in Syria, raising fears of a large-scale confrontation.
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A Slovenian-Chinese virtual laboratory for high-performance computing was launched on Monday at the Ljubljana Faculty of Computer and Information Science, the first project of a memorandum on multi-year cooperation between the two countries' scientists.





This memorandum was signed in Beijing last April by the faculty, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese supercomputer manufacturer Sugon and Slovenia's Arctur as part of an achievement of the Slovenian-Chinese economic cooperation commission.





The cooperation will among other things focus on additional support for the Orange program, developed by the bioinformatics laboratory at the Ljubljana faculty, according to the Slovenian Press Agency STA.





Orange is a tool for data analytics with a user-friendly interface, which is intended to be additionally supported by data analytics with supercomputer performance.





One of the main goals is to develop new methods and a program system for the detection of patterns in large quantities of biomedical data and climate data from computer simulations.





Citing the Slovenian Public Administration Minister Boris Koprivnikar, the STA report said the results of research will be used to eliminate concrete issues faced by science, industry and modern society as a whole.





A part of the Orange program is already being developed for Slovenian drug maker Lek to enable it to develop biopharmaceuticals faster.





Arctur is the leading service provider of supercomputing in Central Eastern Europe, striving to bring innovative and user-friendly IT solutions to businesses, state and public institutions, research institutions and NGOs.





According to Arctur director Tomi Ilijas, the STA said, the importance of the cooperation with Sugon is huge.





While it is very demanding to maintain the exascale-class computers developed by Sugon due to high electricity consumption, this technology is very useful as it takes research and development to another level, Ilijas said.





Sugon vice-president Ying Guo said the project made Arctur the European centre for Sugon, from which all Europe-related activities would be coordinated.
You are here: World

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At least 10 people including four policemen were injured as a bomb went off in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, local media reported.





A police vehicle, which was on its routine patrolling across the city, was targeted by a roadside planted bomb on the outskirts of Naseerabad district, Dunya News said late Monday.





The injured people were shifted to a nearby hospital where at least two of them were said to be in critical condition.





No individual or group has claimed the attack yet.





The security forces cordoned off the area for investigations.
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Thousands of Florida residents have been evacuated homes as Subtropical Storm Alberto picked up strength on Sunday as it headed north through the Gulf of Mexico, with forecasters saying it could bring life-threatening inundation to southern coastal states.





The storm was expected to make landfall along the Florida Panhandle on Monday, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.





Alberto, the first named Atlantic storm of 2018, which spun up days before the formal June 1 start of the hurricane season, was packing maximum sustained winds near 105 km/h and was expected to drop as much as 30 centimeters of rain, slamming an area from Mississippi to western Georgia, the Miami-based hurricane center said.





After that, it will bring powerful winds and heavy rains as it moves into the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday, the hurricane center said. The storm comes during the Memorial Day weekend and was expected to scramble transportation on Monday as many people return from holiday travel.





Isolated tornadoes were possible across the central and northern Florida Peninsula on Sunday night, according to the hurricane center, while Alberto was also forecast to bring storm swells of about 60-120 cm to low-lying areas that were "likely to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions".





There were a number of deadly hurricanes in the United States and Caribbean last year that walloped places including Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage, massive power outages and devastation to hundreds of thousands of structures.





Franklin County, in the Florida Panhandle, has issued a mandatory evacuation for its barrier islands in the Gulf of Mexico affecting some 4,200 housing units, while Taylor County, to the east, has a voluntary evacuation order in place for its coastal areas.





Florida Governor Rick Scott, who issued a state of emergency on Saturday in all of the state's 67 counties, said on Sunday that the Florida National Guard had 5,500 guard members ready to be deployed if needed.





"If evacuations have been ordered in your community, do not ignore them," Scott said on his Twitter feed.





The National Weather Service has issued a flash flood watch for an area stretching from Mississippi to North Carolina that is home to millions of people.





Alberto's projected storm track has shifted eastward since Friday, lessening its threat to the active oil production areas in the Gulf of Mexico. Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Exxon Mobil Corp and Chevron Corp have evacuated some personnel from offshore Gulf oil facilities.





A separate storm system on Sunday caused flash flooding in the Baltimore suburb of Ellicott City, Maryland, turning its historic Main Street into a raging river with water reaching past the first floor of buildings and sweeping cars down the road, local news video showed.





Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency for the area rebuilding from a devastating flood about two years ago that killed two people and damaged dozens of buildings.




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Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Monday met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on bilateral ties and regional cooperation.





Wang conveyed to Lukashenko Chinese President Xi Jinping's sincere greetings and best wishes, saying that Xi looks forward to his attendance at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China and meeting him again, which will give a new big boost to the development of China-Belarus relations.





Xi attaches great importance to the relationship between China and Belarus, said Wang, adding that guided by the two heads of state, bilateral relations have been running at high levels over recent years.





Wang noted that the two countries have forged a comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual trust and win-win cooperation, which has opened broad prospects for bilateral cooperation in various areas.





China and Belarus, he said, enjoy continuously strengthening political mutual trust, hold the same or similar stances on major global and regional affairs, and steadfastly support each other on issues related to their respective core interests and major concerns.





Beijing respects the development path Belarus has chosen in accordance with its national conditions, and is glad to witness the remarkable achievements Minsk has made in maintaining political stability and boosting socio-economic development under Lukashenko's wise leadership, he said, adding that China supports Belarus playing an important role in promoting regional security and stability.





Thanks to the two countries' joint efforts, bilateral win-win cooperation is growing steadily both in breadth and in depth, covering such areas as economy, security and people-to-people exchanges and expanding at both national and local levels, said Wang, adding that the rich fruit of bilateral collaboration has further enriched the China-Belarus partnership.





The two sides, he suggested, should continue to strengthen political mutual trust and join hands to build a community with a shared future, and should also integrate their interests more tightly and dovetail their economic development plans more closely, so as to achieve common development and prosperity.





The China-Belarus industrial park, a special economic zone jointly developed by the two countries in the Minsk Region, is a key project personally promoted by the two presidents, and has so far made encouraging progress, he said, calling for concerted efforts to build it into a landmark cooperation project within the framework of the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative.





China, he added, welcomes Belarus' participation in the China International Import Expo to be held later this year in Shanghai.





On the SCO mechanism, Wang said China appreciates Belarus' involvement as an SCO observer and will continue to support Minsk playing a constructive role in pushing forward the organization's development.





For his part, Lukashenko asked Wang to convey his sincere greetings and best wishes to Xi, saying he looks forward to attending the SCO summit and meeting the Chinese president once again.





The two countries enjoy a time-honored friendship, trust each other and treat each other equally, said the president, adding that Belarus is a strategic partner China can fully trust.





The Belarusian side, he said, highly appreciates and supports Xi's vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind as well as the Xi-proposed B&R Initiative, and stands ready to join hands with China to align their development strategies and turn the China-Belarus industrial park into a pearl on the Silk Road Economic Belt, the overland part of the initiative.





Belarus is actively preparing for its participation in the upcoming import expo in China and is willing to step up cooperation with China within the SCO framework, he said.




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The Azerbaijan embassy in China celebrated the 100th anniversary of its Republic Day in Beijing on May 28.





Kong Xuanyou, deputy foreign minister of China, and Akram Zeynalli, Azerbaijan ambassador to China, attended the celebration reception.





The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic became independent in 1918 and proclaimed the establishment of the modern republic in 1991.





The ambassador said Azerbaijan has always attached special importance to its relations with China. He noted a visit by Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev to China in 2015, when the president witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the joint promotion of the Silk Road Economic Belt between Azerbaijan and China.





"It was the beginning of a new stage in the development of the relations between our countries and defined new targets for the future development of bilateral relations," he said.





The ambassador also revealed that Azerbaijani Parliamentary speaker Ogtay Asadov will pay an official visit to China in three weeks. He said that "will open a new stage in the inter-parliamentary cooperation between Azerbaijan and China."





Kong Xuanyou, deputy foreign minister of China, noted that since the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Azerbaijan and China in 1992, the two countries have maintained sound and steady relations, with fruitful cooperation in energy, trade and economy, investment, and infrastructure building.





China is the fourth largest trading partner and third largest source of import for Azerbaijan, according to Kong. He added that China is willing to strengthen the friendly relations with Azerbaijan, which will benefit the two countries and their people.
The FBI just issued a warning over the holiday weekend that you need to reboot your router now, and heres why. Their public service announcement states that foreign hackers have created and spread malware to hundreds of thousands of peoples routers in the United States.

The Department of Justice is committed to disrupting, not just watching, national security cyber threats using every tool at our disposal, and todays effort is another example of our commitment to do that, Assistant Attorney General Demers said in their announcement.

This operation is the first step in the disruption of a botnet that provides the Sofacy actors with an array of capabilities that could be used for a variety of malicious purposes, including intelligence gathering, theft of valuable information, destructive or disruptive attacks, and the misattribution of such activities.

Its a highly sophisticated attack, but its easy to help combat with a simple trick. Simply turn your router off and back on. Thats it. Additionally, the FBI is recommending that you completely reset your router when you do have the time.

Linksys,TP-Link, MikroTik, Netgear, and QNAP are the top router brands known to have been infected, but regardless of whether or not you own one of them you should reboot your router now.

The FBI will not allow malicious cyber actors, regardless of whether they are state-sponsored, to operate freely, FBI Special Agent in Charge Bob Johnson mentioned in their announcement.

These hackers are exploiting vulnerabilities and putting every Americans privacy and network security at risk. Although there is still much to be learned about how this particular threat initially compromises infected routers and other devices, we encourage citizens and businesses to keep their network equipment updated and to change default passwords.

So, make sure when you get home today you follow the steps the FBI has outlined so you can prevent this malware attack from happening to you!
We're always interested in hearing about news in our community. Let us know what's going on!

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ABC./Randy HolmesAs part of his continued work in the fight against HIV and AIDS, Elton John will be delivering the Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on HIV next month.

The lecture was established by the United Kingdoms National AIDS Trust in 1999 as a tribute to Princess Diana, who was a patron of the organization before her death in 1997. This year, the lecture is being given in partnership with the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Elton will deliver the speech in front of an audience of politicians, health workers, journalists, civil society leaders, celebrities, and people living with HIV. In it, hell lay out a vision for an AIDS free future as well as reflect on his friendship with Princess Diana.

I am delighted to be able to deliver this lecture and to remember the enormous contribution Diana, Princess of Wales made to this cause, Elton says in a statement.

He adds, In the quarter century since the Elton John AIDS Foundation was established, the global AIDS fight has changed beyond recognition. Yet tolerance and courage has never been more important in the fight to create an AIDS-free generation and make the world a more accepting place for those living with HIV.

The lecture will take place on June 8 in London.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
For millions of Britons, the past decade has been defined by the greed and amorality of our banks. When their reckless bets on the markets turned sour in 2008, it brought the financial world to a shuddering halt  and weve been paying the price ever since.

Years of painfully low savings rates have wrecked the dreams of pensioners who counted on their nest eggs to see them through retirement.

Hard-working families, desperate to get on the housing ladder, have been hit by pay freezes and a lending drought. Not a single banker has been held properly accountable  and now they probably never will be.

But just as it started to feel as if wed finally muddled through the worst of the chaos caused by the banks, customers have been hit by a new betrayal thats now turning into a major scandal.

Last year, 43,875 people lost an average of 2,784 each to sophisticated new scams that have been made possible only by the relentless pressure on customers to run their accounts online. This year, the figure is likely to be far higher

By obsessively closing branches in their hundreds, especially in rural areas where pensioners rely on them, and pushing us all online  to save money and boost profits  banks are leaving loyal savers vulnerable to fraudsters.

Growing numbers are losing their life savings, and the banks they trusted to look after their money are turning their backs on them.

The big four  Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and RBS-NatWest  have shut more than four in ten of their branches in the past decade and ploughed millions into advertising their websites and banking apps.

Scams

But last year, 43,875 people lost an average of 2,784 each to sophisticated new scams that have been made possible only by the relentless pressure on customers to run their accounts online. This year, the figure is likely to be far higher.

In some cases, victims have lost more than 100,000. Even more alarmingly, the vast majority never get the stolen money back. According to the first detailed figures on bank fraud, published in March, just 1 in every 4 is being returned to customers.

Fraudsters stole the entire 1,600 in Tracey Best's TSB current account

In other words, the unspoken agreement that underpins our relationship with banks  that we deposit our salary and savings and they keep the money safe  has been unceremoniously torn up.

The banks claim that customers are to blame because, in most cases, they have unwittingly helped the crooks by handing over some vital piece of information.

But the scams they fall for are so plausible and sophisticated that even the smartest, most alert customers are finding them impossible to detect.

As editor of Money Mail, Ive heard countless stories from doctors, lawyers, accountants and other top professionals whove all lost a fortune. For many elderly and vulnerable customers, the scams are almost impossible to resist.

Typically, it begins with an unexpected call on your landline, or a message sent by text to your mobile from a fraudster. Chillingly, the crooks are so technically smart they can spoof the number so it appears the text or call is from the usual number your bank uses.

Once they have you on the phone, they pretend to be working for the banks fraud department. In other variations, they will claim to be the police or even a reputable telecoms or energy company.

Fraud has been committed on your account, youre told, and we need to run some security checks.

In the background, you hear the noise of a busy office. Its almost identical to the sounds you get when calling the genuine bank helpline.

Their patter is so convincing that some of the crooks have almost certainly worked in bank call centres before. Many seem to have obtained the call scripts used by real customer service staff.

These criminals are intelligent, too. Typically, they use psychological tricks to lure you into their trap. Often that means targeting your worst fears  for example, claiming your savings are being plundered right now! and you need to work with them to stop it happening.

Other times, they might reel you in by suggesting youre helping with an official investigation and you will be thanked and rewarded for co-operating with vital police work.

Keith Jones from Brandon, County Durham, had his current account blocked by the bank after a crook stole 826 at the weekend

Professor Stephen Lea, an economic psychologist at the University of Exeter, says the fraudster will quickly work out what type of person you are  and adapt their pitch accordingly.

Take the case of Catherine Downey, who wrote in the Mail last week about losing 4,000 to one of these scams. Four years previously, the middle-aged mother-of-three discovered that fraudsters had opened accounts in her name.

So she was grateful when someone claiming to work for NatWests fraud investigation team called her about a new spate of suspicious activity.

Catherine could find no reason to suspect she was being duped, especially as the well-spoken lady apparently had access to her account, and correctly identified a string of recent payments.

Bungling

She agreed, as so many victims before her have done, to send her money to a safe holding account. From which, of course, the cash promptly disappeared.

Scandalously, NatWest refused to cover Catherines losses because she had authorised the payment herself.

Scores of TSB customers know the agony Catherine feels now that she knows she may never see her 4,000 again.

As Money Mail revealed last Wednesday, a fraud epidemic has broken out at the bungling bank weeks after it suffered an IT meltdown that locked hundreds of thousands out of their online accounts.

Fraudsters, preying on concerns among customers that their data was vulnerable amid the IT chaos, are carrying out near-identical scams to the one that duped Catherine. TSB shamefully refused to cover the losses  of up to 60,000 per person  relenting only when Money Mail intervened.

What upset many victims at TSB, and elsewhere, is discovering that when they call their bank for reassurance or help, they are left hanging on the phone for up to five hours.

Some customers say that when they finally get through, they are told the fraud team has gone home for the day.

Vulnerable

In one of the worst cases Ive seen, Tracey Best, a 42-year-old mother-of-three from Woodbridge in Suffolk, lost 1,600 to fraudsters, and was left without access to cash for a week.

She said she had been feeding her children on tins from the cupboard, and feared the supplies would soon run out.

Stories like hers are becoming more common as banks find any way they can to wriggle out of paying fraud claims.

Its time the giant companies remembered that the onus is on them to protect the money they hold on our behalf. Its blatantly clear now that the online security theyve set up to safeguard our money is too easily exploited by fraudsters.

Given that branch closures are forcing us to use online accounts which leave us vulnerable to fraud, its no exaggeration to say our banks are guilty of an outrageous dereliction of their moral responsibilities.

If they cant keep our cash safe, it should be the case that genuine victims of fraud get every penny back automatically. And if banks cant recover the missing cash by hunting down the crooks, theyll just have to dip into their vast profits to cover our losses.

That should concentrate their greedy, complacent minds.
Given the disdain for democracy that is regularly displayed by Europe's political class, the deepening political crisis in Italy is all too predictable.

Yet again, we are seeing the pro-Brussels establishment showing that it will not tolerate any challenge to its project of political integration.

In the mindset of the governing elite, the European orthodoxy must prevail, even when it means riding roughshod over the wishes of voters.

That domineering mentality lies at the heart of the drama in Italy, the Eurozone's third- largest economy, where a coalition with widespread public support has effectively been barred from office because of Eurosceptic views.

Italian Prime Minister Carlo Cottarelli (L) and Italian President Sergio Mattarella (R) at the Quirinale Palace in Rome on Tuesday

Thwarted

In the recent Italian election, the two most successful parties were the hard-Right League and the maverick Left-leaning Five Star movement.

One might not like all their policies  I don't  but they undoubtedly won the election. Both campaigned strongly against Brussels diktats on immigration and budgets.

But their attempt to form a Government was thwarted this week when the country's President, arch-Europhile Sergio Mattarella, vetoed the proposed appointment of the distinguished economist Paolo Savona as finance minister.

The justification was Mr Savona's record of doubts about the euro which, it was claimed, 'could provoke Italy's exit from the EU'.

Denied presidential backing for a crucial position, the Five Star/League alliance had to abandon its plans for office.

An interim administration has been proposed under Carlo Cottarelli, a pro-EU economist and former IMF official, who is, of course, far more acceptable to Brussels.

This turn of events perfectly illustrates the disturbing reality of European politics, where adherence to the ruling dogma counts for far more than any mandate from the people.

In the mindset of the Eurocrats, democracy is acceptable as long as it produces the 'correct' result. The German EU Commissioner, Gunther Oettinger, yesterday suggested that the markets would soon be sending Italy a message about the consequences of voting for 'populists'.

Police clash with demonstrators during an anti-fascist and anti-racist march to protest against a Lega Nord far right party general election campaign rally in Milan on February 24 ahead of Italy's general election

We have seen such statements and attitudes time and again in the history of the EU.

Progressive opinion might be celebrating the outcome of last weekend's abortion referendum in Ireland, but it was a different story in the previous decade.

Then the Irish people twice voted against EU treaties: in 2001 against the Nice Treaty (which allowed the expansion of the EU to the east) and in 2008 against the Lisbon Treaty (which gave stronger powers to the European parliament).

The pro-EU establishment refused to accept these results, forcing the Irish people to vote again so they would come up with the right answers.

That process was at work in Greece during their debt crisis in 2015, when the Athens government was forced to backtrack on economic plans that had the strong support of the electorate, which had rejected the savage austerity proposed by the EU.

Similarly in Britain, the pro-EU brigade has continually agitated against Brexit, urging that the result of the EU referendum should be ignored, or reversed in a second vote.

The conflict between democracy and the EU is inevitable because the European project is based on the erosion of national sovereignty. Lacking popular support, the work of building the desired political union can proceed only by bullying and deception.

Pro-EU ideologues continually taint their opponents with the word 'populism'  a term they use as a form of abuse meaning ignorance.

I have been sceptical about European political integration all my political career. I believe in democratic national independence rather than governance by an unaccountable bureaucracy.

Leader of the Italy's 5 Star Movement Luigi Di Maio attends a rally on Tuesday in Naples, Italy. Political uncertainty continues in Italy after its President Sergio Mattarella vetoed the appointment of eurosceptic Paolo Savona as economy minister

In the early Nineties, as Chancellor, I spent almost a year helping secure Britain's opt-out from the single currency during the Maastricht negotiations, because I recognised that the euro was not an economic initiative but a political vehicle to drive European integration.

My belief in self-rule rather than political union also led me to vote Leave in 2016.

During that referendum, pro-EU campaigners regularly dismissed Brexiteers as alarmists for claiming that Brussels was becoming ever more authoritarian and interventionist.

If there is one good thing to come out of the Italian crisis, it is that Brexiteers' charges have been justified and, once more, the EU has been exposed as being in conflict with democracy.

Anything that threatens the creed of political union must be crushed. Again, that is something that the pro-EU lobby brazenly ignores.

As they persist in peddling Project Fear, they continue to indulge in endless scare stories about job losses and trade problems, while becoming hysterically indignant about the supposed 'lies' of Leavers.

But the Europhiles are guilty of a far bigger lie. They consistently refuse to admit that 'ever closer union', the guiding principle of Brussels, entails the destruction of nationhood and self-determination.

Disastrous

They talk grandly of the 'national interest' but ultimately, under EU rule, there will be no nations, only a new country called Europe.

Italy was a founder member of the Common Market and used to be one of the most pro-Brussels countries in Europe. It is the only place where I ever witnessed a public demonstration in favour of the single currency, long before the euro was created.

But voters have become disillusioned with Brussels, especially over the insistence on open borders  Italy having had to bear the brunt of migrant traffic across the Mediterranean  and the disastrous impact of the euro, which has brought falling living standards, soaring unemployment and mountainous debt.

This has been a tragedy for a country for which I have great affection. It has talented politicians and a host of brilliant civil servants, their expertise epitomised by figures such as Mario Draghi, now head of the European Central Bank.

But I recognise that sometimes in Italy too much faith is put in technocrats. This is partly a reaction against political failure  Italy has had 65 governments since World War II  but it can be excessive.

Lega party leader Matteo Salvini (C) speaks during a rally of the right-wing party in Siena, Italy

Mockery

During the Brexit referendum I heard Mario Monti, an economist who served as prime minister of Italy from 2011 to 2013 despite never having been an elected politician, ask: 'Surely people prefer to be ruled by experts?' I could hardly believe my ears.

It was the same devotion to technocrats that led to this week's appointment of Carlo Cottarelli and to the eager embrace of the euro in 1999.

The 81 year old Eurosceptic, Paolo Savona, seems to have been refused office because he once described Italy's decision to join the single currency as 'a historic error'. He was absolutely right and his is a phrase I have used myself.

Brussels refuses to accept that the euro has been a disaster, not just for Italy but for much of Europe, creating division, debt and dole queues, as well as obliterating democracy.

What makes it even worse is that Italy should not have been allowed to join the single currency in the first place. Under EU rules, national debt should be no more than 60 per cent of GDP in any member state, yet in Italy the figure passed 100 per cent, and is now around 130 per cent.

Driven by its obsession with political unification, the EU flouted its own rules in another episode of the long, unedifying tale of 'Brussels creep'.

This alone makes a mockery of the EU's shrill demands during the Brexit negotiations for Britain to abide by every letter of every regulation.

Brussels is happy to tear up the rule book when it suits  just as it is willing to push democracy aside. Ultimately, I do not believe it will win.
Any parent will know that changing diapers can be a challenge when you've got a wriggling toddler on your hands.

But one mother has devised a pioneering design that she claims can be put on your baby 'in any body position'.

Sangeeta Muthu, from Manhattan Beach, California, has filed a patent for a two-part, reusable design that 'gives parents ultimate freedom to sneak in a quick change anywhere, any time'.

Slick Diapers are currently the subject of an ambitious crowdfunding project on Kicks tarter to raise $75,000 (56,258) for manufacturing and distribution.

Sangeeta Muthu has filed a patent for a two-part, reusable design that 'gives parents ultimate freedom to sneak in a quick change anywhere, any time' (pictured: a baby models the design)

The clever design is made from two main parts (pictured) and features a reusable waist band, adhesive edges, stretchy leg cuffs and a disposable bottom

They are described as virtually impervious to leaks' and can be taken off and put on with ease.

Indeed, the mompreneur is so confident in her design she says it can even be changed using just one free hands - and its reusability means it cuts diaper waste in half.

Slick Diapers were inspired by Sangeeta's daughter, on those 'dreaded days when she would not cooperate with anything, including changing diapers'.

New invention: The mompreneur is so confident in her design she says it can even be changed using just one free hands - and its reusability means it cuts diaper waste in half

Slick Diapers are currently the subject of an ambitious crowdfunding project on Kickstarter to raise $75,000 (56,258) for manufacturing and distribution

She said: 'Thats when the idea struck me for a simpler version of a diaper design that would not require any cooperation from the baby for changing it.

'The baby can be blissfully doing what they please and parents can easily sneak in a diaper change even if they had just one free hand. That was the intention behind this snap-on diaper.'

Sangeeta has until June 22 to reach her crowdfunding goal and make Slick Diapers a reality.
Fans will do nearly anything to get noticed by their favorite celebrities, but one young woman outdid herself when she recreated one of Tom Holland's photoshoots.

Tori Bernal, 19, from Phoenix, Arizona, decided to put her own spin on the 21-year-old Spider-Man actor's 2017 British GQ spread in hopes of meeting him someday, according to Teen Vogue.

To pull off the shoot, the teen enlisted the help of her mother and sister and used retailers such as Poshmark and Wal-Mart for clothes when she didn't already have them in her closet.

Identical: Tori Bernal, 19, of Phoenix, Arizona, decided to recreate Tom Holland's summer 2017 British GQ photoshoot

Stylish: Because Tori is a photographer, she was able to use her creative eye to scope out the best areas for her 'Californian poolside chic' photoshoot recreation

And because she's a photographer, she was able to use her creative eye to scope out the best areas for her 'Californian poolside chic' photoshoot recreation.

'It took a lot of careful planning,' she told Teen Vogue. 'I ordered a lot of the clothing off of Poshmark secondhand, and the blue suit was actually men's pajamas. My mom helped me set up and took one of the photos.'

'My sister helped me choose locations and take the other photos. Then she edited them to make sure they were perfect. It was a ton of teamwork!'

Tori shared her photos alongside Tom's on both Instagram and Twitter with the caption: 'My version of fan art, I recreated @TomHolland1996s GQ photoshoot. Please retweet and tag him so he can see them.'

Since she posted the pictures on May 25, she has gotten more than 33,000 likes and retweets with other Tom fans taking to the comments to share their support for the creative idea.

Family effort: Tori added that her sister helped her choose locations and then edited them to make sure they were perfect

Viral: Since she posted the pictures, she has gotten more than 33,000 likes and retweets

Appreciation: Tori said she was mostly happy that 'the other Tom fans approved'

One person wrote on Twitter: 'How are you so talented!!! I am in love with these' while another person said: 'This is my favorite photoshoot of him!!! And is perfectly recreated!! You are gorgeous btw, I hope he sees this!!!'

Tori was thrilled to receive such positive feedback especially because she knows how cruel people can sometimes be on the internet.

'Mostly, I was happy that the other Tom fans approved,' she said. 'I know sometimes strangers can be really harsh, but the feedback was pretty nice!'

But the best feedback came from Tom himself who Tori met while at Comicpalooza in Houston, Texas, this past weekend.

Dream come true: Tori met Tom while at Comicpalooza in Houston Texas, this past weekend

Calling all fans: Tori shared her photos alongside Tom's on Instagram and Twitter with a caption asking other fans to retweet and tag him

She even shared a photo of herself posed with the actor holding up a photo from her shoot, writing: 'This happened. And YES, he has seen my photos. "This was you?! These were viral yesterday!"'

This isn't the first time a fan has gone above and beyond to get the attention of their favorite celeb.

Earlier this month Aili Adalia, five, of Detroit, Michigan, recreated Cardi B's Met Gala attire, a beaded Moschino dress with a matching headdress, and shared her version of the look in a adorable post to her Instagram account, which is run by her mom Kanaya Monet.

Cardi B took notice of the the fashionable child and posted the picture of Aili to her Instagram account alongside the caption: '@aili_in_town soooo bute I want mines already.'
Whether you're an amateur cook or a pro in the kitchen, we've all whipped up disappointing dishes.

From cooking meat straight from the fridge to using the wrong salt for seasoning, these are the common mistakes thousands are making everyday.

Speaking to My Domaine Australia, professional chefs have shared their culinary secrets by revealing the kitchen errors they would never make when preparing food.

Scroll down for video

Whether you're an amateur cook or a pro in the kitchen, we've all whipped up disappointing dishes (stock image)

Andrew Kirschner, chef and owner of Tar & Roses in Santa Monica, said home chefs always forget to rest their meat before slicing or serving.

He said it was important all meat rest for anywhere from five to 30 minutes - depending on the size and cut.

'Resting meat allows all the juices to remain in the meat rather than being left on the cutting board or plate,' he said.

Professional chefs have shared their culinary secrets by revealing the kitchen errors they would never make when preparing food (stock image)

Chef Ray Garcia of Los Angeles's Broken Spanish and BS Taqueria said he never cooks meat straight from the fridge.

Cooking meat straight away after it's just come out of the fridge causes the meat to cook unevenly and could leave some parts undercooked.

Mr Garcia advised bringing meat to room temperature for at least 15 minutes if you're cooking steaks, fish fillets or pieces of chicken.

'Larger items like whole chickens, turkeys, or roasts should temper for much longer,' he said.

From cooking meat straight from the fridge to using the wrong salt for seasoning, these are the common mistakes thousands are making everyday (stock image)

BEST SIMPLE COOKING TIPS Clean up as you go

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Chef Neal Fraser, who owns Redbird in Los Angeles, said a cooking mistake he sees is home cooks not using right salt.

He suggested using kosher salt as the 'crystals are bigger and easier to handle'.

'This makes it easier to season dishes, as you can really see what you're working with,' he added.

Pastry chef Marge Manzke, who's co-owner of Los Angeles's Republique and Sari Sari Store, said he always put hard-boiled eggs in cold water after boiling them.

He said this cooking technique prevents the cooked eggs from turning grey around the yolk.
A mother has revealed how she called the police on her cheeky three-year-old son for misbehaving after he ran away from home.

Mother Sandy Gribble, from New Zealand's Auckland, said she decided to send her toddler son Lachie to his bedroom for being naughty.

But when she returned to his room to check up on him, the horrified mother realised he was missing after he climbed out of the window.

When little Lachie ran away from home, his horrified mother found him down the street. She wanted to teach him a lesson, so she called her local police station for help

'Our lovely firstborn woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning and decided to test every. single. boundary known to mankind,' the mother said on Facebook.

'Punishment was no swimming lesson and time out to reset himself. Before you go ahead and judge me as you'll be thinking that's a bit harsh he's only three.

'Yes he is only three, but the kid is gifted, he's an out of the box character and he can't be underestimated. Ever.'

When the mother noticed her toddler had escaped, she raced out of the home in just a shirt and underwear.

'Running down the road (can't believe I can actually run), the sheer relief that he is unhurt and not been mowed down by a car,' she said.

'Not the walk of shame I'd ever imagine doing in my life cause I just realise only wearing my t-shirt and underwear.'

When she found her little boy, he started screaming at his mother as their nearby neighbours watched on.

Wanting to teach her son a lesson, she called her local police station for help in an effort to prevent her child from running away from home again. A police officer at the scene taught little Lachie about the dangers of running away from home

The adorable boy was daughter about road safety when his family paid a visit to the station

'Naturally he's still peeved off at the whole situation so starts to berating me with screams and toddler obscenities: "YOU POO MUM YOU GIANT POO I'M NOT YOUR FRIEEEEEEND ANYMORE",' she said.

'Awesome thanks kid, now all the neighbors have come out to view the s*** show and I love it how you have kept the performance up while everyone judges me for being the worst mum ever.'

Wanting to teach her son a lesson, she called her local police station for help in an effort to prevent her child from running away from home again.

'I called the police station. I spoke to Lisa, who laughed and told me it was quiet and to bring him in,' she said.

And so the family paid a visit to the station where police officers explained to little Lachie about road safety and why he should never run away again.

'After all this, he bloody got it! It has actually sunk into his 1216 day old brain that roads are not built for toddlers and half naked mum and that he should have listened,' the mother added.

She said she will be installing locks to her son's bedroom window as advised by police.
The two best friends who launched a coffee scrub with a 30,000 person waiting list are back with a new product which promises to alter your lips - for the better.

Melbourne duo behind Frank Body, Bree Johnson and Jess Hatzis, have launched a Shimmer Lip Gloss ($12.95) and Shimmer Lip Balm ($14.95), which will compliment their best-selling skincare coffee scrub that sells every 40 seconds around the world.

The scrubs contain coffee oil, mica, and sugar to buff and soften lips, while the gloss adds a layer of delicious (it tastes like lemonade) sheen to plump your pout.

The two best friends who launched a coffee scrub with a 30,000 person waiting list are back with a new product which promises to alter your lips - for the better

When the pair shared a Shimmer Body Scrub with their loyal fans more than 30,000 people were on the waiting list - before it promptly sold out after three weeks.

The scrub's popularity, and cheaper price point at $19.95, made it a winner - hence the need for a lip-friendly alternative.

Frank Body's original coffee-based scrub captured the world's imagination when it was first launched several years ago by Bree and Jess.

The scrub's popularity, and cheaper price point at $19.95, made it a winner - hence the need for a lip-friendly alternative (pictured)

The girls (pictured) had no formal beauty training before launching Frank Body but had spent a decade of their adult lives trying different products out

When they first came up with it, they said they thought their idea was brilliant

Thanks to a clever marketing campaign featuring models and influencers covered in coffee granules, and a pithy hashtag - #TheFrankEffect - before they knew it, women around the world were sharing snaps of their own experiences with the product.

'The idea seemed brilliant,' Jess and Bree previously told FEMAIL of their idea to create a scrub after they heard that coffee was a great exfoliator.

'We wanted to have complete creative control of a brand. This was our chance!'.

The girls had no formal beauty training before launching Frank Body but had spent a decade of their adult lives trying different products out.

They liked the idea of using natural ingredients on their skin and they loved the brightening effect beans had on their bodies.

'We always say that one of our weaknesses became our strengths,' Bree explained.

'Rub me into dry skin for a quick, intense scrub or on damp skin for a gentle exfoliation that leaves you with the smoothest, glowiest of skin,' Frank Body posted about the product

'So while we didn't start in the beauty space, we have evolved into it.

'There are some eye creams that use caffeine as a main ingredient but we're the only brand that sources all of their products from coffee.'

The friends' homegrown scrub swiftly grew in popularity on the Internet, and now they have launched all sorts of different scents and styles of scrubs - including peppermint, shimmer, coconut and cacao - as well as lip scrubs, balms, shimmer oil, face masks and more.

Frank Body's original coffee scrub captured the world's imagination when it was first launched several years ago by Bree and Jess when people started posting on Instagram (pictured)

The friends' (pictured) homegrown scrub swiftly grew in popularity on the Internet, and now they have launched all sorts of different scents and styles of scrubs

'Moving into retail was really intimidating. We weren't sure exactly how our consumers would react to us being in store,' Jess told Daily Mail Australia.

'I think our biggest pinch me moment came when we partnered with Mecca. We often go into stores and can't find Frank because it's been sold out! It's really humbling.'
A savvy single mother has revealed how she has won 10,000 worth of prizes - by entering up to 500 online competitions a day.

Hayley Kinnaird, 36, from Colchester, Essex, has managed to bag herself an array of prizes, including free holidays, a 400 laptop and a meet-and-greet with Peter Andre.

The mother-of-two explained how she sets aside two to three hours every night to trawl the web for giveaways.

She said she enters most competitions that she finds on Facebook and Twitter, adding that her children Rhys, 11, and Abbie, nine, 'love it'.

Hayley Kinnaird, 36, from Colchester, Essex, has revealed how she has won 10,000 worth of prizes - by entering up to 500 online competitions a day

The mother-of-two explained how she sets aside two to three hours every night to trawl the web for giveaways

Explaining how she has managed to win her impressive selection of prizes, Hayley said: 'It really is like a full-time job. I've won that amount over a number of years.

'Most of the competitions I enter are on Twitter or Facebook. All you have to do is like or share a post, and you're in.

'It takes less than a second, so by setting aside a few hours every day, I can get through about 500.

'The more you enter, the better  you've got to be in it to win it.'

The prizes that Hayley has managed to secure include a meet-and-greet with Peter Andre

Other prizes the single mother has managed to win include a 400 laptop and festival tickets

Hayley, whose day job is running beauty pageants, explained how she first got into the world of 'comping'  entering giveaways as a hobby  when eldest child Rhys was still a baby.

Having read about somebody who'd won thousands in a magazine, she decided to give it a go herself, entering hundreds of online contests one afternoon while at work.

'I didn't think about it much afterwards. I literally entered everything I could find in that one day, then didn't try again after that,' she said.

'About a month passed, and I assumed I hadn't won. But then, there was a knock at the door. The postman was delivering this enormous baby bouncer worth about 100.

Hayley said she enters most competitions that she finds on Facebook and Twitter

She says that her children Rhys, 11, and Abbie, nine, 'love' the prizes she manages to secure

Top tips for winning online competitions 1. Enter more than 100 competitions a day 2. Be patient  it can take months before you bag a win 3. Make sure your Twitter and Instagram names and pictures stand out 4. Fridays are often the best day for comping 5. Look out for competitions that ask you to do something, rather than just share or like a post, as fewer people will bother to enter so you're in with a better chance Advertisement

'I thought they'd got the wrong house, but then he explained I'd won it. It was perfect timing, with Rhys still being a baby.'

Spurred on by her success, Hayley then began entering competitions every single day.

She described how she would scour social media, as well as sites like Prize Finder, which lists all giveaways found on the internet that day.

Hayley said she would also enter radio competitions - winning about 15 times with Heart FM.

At her peak, Hayley entered 500 competitions every day  and estimates she could take home up to 500 a month.

Her impressive haul includes a 200 Asda clothing voucher, a 400 laptop, festival tickets, cash, a weekend family break at a caravan park, jewellery and toys.

Hayley has won an array of prizes, including a family outing to the Tropical Wings Zoo

She has also managed to bag a selection of Nickledon merchandise for her children

She has also scored a meet and greet with Peter Andre, as well as London Fashion Week passes.

'The kids absolutely love it. They've asked if they can be compers too, but they're too young,' said Hayley.

'Being a single mum, I've found it really helpful. I win all sorts for them, which I can then give as presents.

'It helps makes things like Christmas and birthdays more affordable for my family. I've got a huge cupboard at home absolutely stacked with prizes I can give as gifts.'

Hayley said she will enter most competitions, apart from food giveaways because she is a fussy eater, and events she can't attend as she doesn't want to take the prize from someone who'd use it.

Hayley explained how she first got into the world of 'comping'  entering giveaways as a hobby  when eldest child Rhys was still a baby

She said she wins a lot of toys that she can give her two children as presents, including these world-cup themed balls

She took a break from her comping for a few years, after she began studying social work at university in 2013.

But then, last year, she began to dabble once more  and since April 2018, she has been entering every day again.

Hayley's top prizes 1. A meet and greet with Peter Andre 2. A 250 Casio watch 3. A mini fridge 4. A 400 laptop 5. A weekend break Advertisement

Having seen how much success she has had, her family and friends are now all converts too.

'Loads of my mates have gotten into it, and my mum Jean loves it,' she said. 'I showed her how to do it, and now she enters more than me.

'Every day, she'll tag me in something on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. She doesn't always read them properly  once she tagged me in a competition to win a sex toy because she didn't realise what it was.

'I couldn't stop laughing. I told her she has to start reading properly before she enters competitions.'

Keen to pass on her pearls of wisdom, Hayley has now set up a Facebook group called Competition Checkers, which has almost 4,000 members.

Hayley said she will enter most competitions, apart from food giveaways because she is a fussy eater

There, the comping community will share giveaways, look out for one another being tagged as winners, and warn others of scams.

Hayley said: 'Thankfully, I haven't been scammed so far, but I avoid anything that asks you to join mailing lists or fill out surveys, as you can end up getting loads of nuisance calls. Anything that asks you to pay money is one to avoid too.

'The community is great, and really supportive. Where we all enter so many, it can be easy to miss an announcement that you've won.

'It's happened to every comper  I used to Google my name and the word "winner" or "congratulations" every day just to check.

'But in the group, we'll post if we see one of us has won to make sure they've seen it.

'I don't think I'll ever stop comping. You have to be patient, but it's possible to win amazing things. I've seen comping friends bag cars, luxury holidays and thousands of pounds of cash.

'As a single mum, every little helps too.'
Clare Balding has blamed the gender pay gap at the BBC and other media organisations on a culture of rewarding the people who shout the loudest and slam the most doors.

The presenter, 47, told The Times: 'Im not sure that helps women or gentle men. Why are they worth more? Why would you encourage bad behaviour?

'The only reason Anne Robinson was paid as much as the men is because she scared the s*** out of them, and we shouldnt have to do that.'

During her heyday at the BBC presenting The Weakest Link the veteran broadcaster, 73, was on a salary of 4M a year - over and above its current highest paid star Chris Evans who was on more than 2.2M when last year's pay figures were published.

Clare Balding has opened up about the gender pay gay, saying that it's often those who 'shout the loudest' who get paid the most

Last summer the corporation published a list of 96 stars paid over 150,000.

Men accounted for two-thirds of the names, including the highest-paid seven.

Figures reveal that Balding who is known for presenting high profile sporting events such as the Olympics and Wimbledon is paid significantly less than Gary Lineker.

However, she insisted that she doesn't expect the BBC to correct the years of inequality in her pay packet, saying she's been 'lucky and well rewarded'.

Balding claims that the former Weakest Link presenter Anne Robinson was only paid millions because she 'scared the s*** out of BBC bosses

However, she is a member of the campaign group BBC Women which has demanded that the BBC go far beyond the salary cuts for male stars in the drive for fair pay.

The long-running debate about salary inequality at the BBC has dogged the broadcaster since last summer.

Unveiling a pay system with 'transparency at its heart', the broadcaster announced 'substantial pay cuts' for some men and increases for some female (and male) presenters.

The BBC has proposed a 320,000 cap on its news presenters' salaries after an outcry over gender pay inequality, according to BBC News.
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A close-knit 'sisterhood' of women with long, intricately decorated nails - some as long as 19in - have dubbed themselves the Long Nail Goddesses.

At Maria Ortiz's nail salon in Newark, New Jersey, the group of women meet regularly to swap tips about the trials and tribulations of what they call the 'long nail lifestyle'.

The group was founded when Maria began specialising as a nail technician for women who preferred to have elaborately designed, nine-inch talons than to sport traditional French manicures.

As her client list (and her eight inch nails) grew, so did the Long Nail Goddesses group. Now, the Goddesses meet monthly and Maria charges $100 (75) for a manicure, which can take her up to seven hours to do.

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The 'sisterhood': At Maria Ortiz's nail salon in Newark, New Jersey, this group of women meet regularly to share stories about the pleasures, trials and tribulations of the 'long nail lifestyle

Speaking about the 'long nail lifestyle', salon owner Maria (pictured) said: 'They don't even know you and they wanna ask you 'how do you wipe your heinie' and stuff like that. Tissue, with tissue, I'm tired of saying "with tissue"'

Maria, who is a transgender woman, struggled to find her place in the world, but she has found a close group of friends through her work - and, as her client list grew, so did the sisterhood.

The 42-year-old beautician explained: 'We're not aiming for a group with the longest nails, it's just small community, it's a sisterhood.

'Some girls like short nails, some girls like the real nails, some girls like the artificial nails - there's no competition.

'This is like family to me. When it was rough out there and I need someone to talk to, one of y'all was there. and vice versa, there's stuff that's so intimate between us that you don't even share with your partners. We're here to stay, whether you like it or not, we're taking over the world. One day at a time.'

Maria began growing her nails over 15 years ago after being inspired by her clients' obsession with them.

Nailed it: The group was founded when Maria began specialising as a nail technician for women who preferred to have elaborately designed nine-inch nails, than trim French-manicures

Firm friends: As Maria's client list (and her eight inch nails) grew, so did the Long Nail Goddesses group. Now, the Goddesses meet monthly and Maria charges $100 (75) for a manicure, which can take her up to seven hours to do

Maria, who is a transgender woman, struggled to find her place in the world, but now she has found a sisterhood that truly love and accept her (pictured: a woman getting an intricate crystal-adorned manicure at Maria's salon)

Proud owner of the group's longest nails, La Rue Drummond (right) said: 'I started growing them at the age 13. It's been well over 30, 40 years - probably more - I don't wanna tell you my age. If you don't like it, you will learn to, or it's bye bye'

The ladies draw attention wherever they go with their sparkly talons and it increases tenfold when they're out together - but while they usually love the attention, there are always a few onlookers who overstep the mark.

Maria explained: 'These are my nails and they're not bothering me - why should it bother you? Long nails are sexy, of course, look at me.

'They don't even know you and they wanna ask you 'how do you wipe your heinie' and stuff like that. Tissue, with tissue, I'm tired of saying "with tissue."'

Fellow nail enthusiast Vanessa Scott, whose thumb nails alone are an impressive nine and half inches, added: 'How do you clean yourself? How do you cook? How do you drive? How do you put your clothes on? Do you tie your shoes? Those are the questions they ask you.

'You have to learn how to work with them, it's just like anything else, you just have to learn how to function.

Show stealers: The ladies draw attention wherever they go with their sparkly talons and it increases tenfold when they're out together - but while they usually love the attention, there are always a few onlookers who overstep the mark

Worth every penny: Woman come to Zeyne Beauty Salon from all over to get the very best care for their nails, but maintaining such long nails comes at a price

Maria with some of her clients. She said of the sisterhood: 'This is like family to me. When it was rough out there and I need someone to talk to, one of y'all was there and vice versa, there's stuff that's so intimate between us that you don't even share with your partners. We're here to stay, whether you like it or not, we're taking over the world. One day at a time'

'Until they put me in the ground, I will continue to have long nails. Whoever doesn't like them, get at the end of the line, cause I'm gonna keep my long nails.'

The nails in the group vary in length from a few inches long all the way up to 19 inches.

Proud owner of the group's longest nails, La Rue Drummond said: 'I started growing them at the age 13. It's been well over 30, 40 years - probably more - I don't wanna tell you my age. If you don't like it, you will learn to, or it's bye bye.'

Woman come to Zeyne Beauty Salon from all over to get the very best care for their nails, but maintaining such long nails comes at a price.

Typing into your touch screen phone can be a difficulty for the 'goddesses'. Although some people are turned off by the long nails, salon owner Maria - who charges around $100 (75) for a manicure, says she's met plenty of men who love her talons

Speaking about their love for long nails, one woman said: 'It is a fetish for some people and those fetish guys, they love them. They love everything from the drumming of the nails to just me holding a cigar or a pen, playing with something, anything'

Vanessa Scott (bottom right) whose thumb nails alone are over nine inches, added: 'How do you clean yourself? How do you cook? How do you drive? How do you put your clothes on? Do you tie your shoes? Those are the questions they ask you'

Vanessa, who has been growing her nails for 27 years, said: 'I can't even give you a figure. If I come every two weeks, that's a $100, so multiply $100 for 12 months. I spend a good piece - that's a mortgage!

'Is it an obsession? Of course. If I break this nail, I'd probably cry! I will cry!'

Although some people are turned off by the long nails, Maria says she's met plenty of men who love everything about long talons.

She said: 'It is a fetish for some people and those fetish guys, they love them. They love everything from the drumming of the nails to just me holding a cigar or a pen, playing with something, anything.

'Long nails have affected my love life a bit because there are some guys who don't like it, but it comes with me, it's part of my personality.

'If you can't accept me with long nails then I don't want ya!'
A mother who lost her 16-year-old son from a lethal dose of MDMA has warned parents that drugs are now 'very easily accessible' on social media - after two people died at Mutiny Festival at the weekend.

Speaking on This Morning, Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, from south London, said that seeing young people losing their lives to drugs was 'absolutely heartbreaking'.

She lost her son Daniel, who would have turned 21 on Sunday, after he took a lethal amount of MDMA at a warehouse party back in 2014 - with his last words to her being 'I love you mum, I promise I won't die.'

The campaigner was speaking after the deaths of two young people at Mutiny Festival in Portsmouth at the weekend.

Georgia Jones, 18, and Tommy Cowan, 20, both died after reportedly taking a 'bad batch' of ecstasy at the event.

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Fiona Spargo-Mabbs, from south London, warned parents that drugs are now 'very easily accessible' on social media after her 16-year-old son died of an overdose

Daniel, who would have turned 21 on Sunday, took a lethal amount of MDMA at a party

Speaking on This Morning today about the Mutiny Festival deaths, Fiona said: 'It should have been Dan's 21st birthday on Sunday, so it was particularly difficult.

'Every time you see another ecstasy death in particular - but any young person losing their life to drugs - is absolutely heartbreaking.

'We've got a fairly good idea of what their parents will be going through, it's awful.'

She added: '[Drugs are] very easily accessible, particularly increasingly through social media. It's very important that parents know as much as they can.'

Her comments come after two people died at Mutiny Festival in Portsmouth at the weekend, including 18-year-old Georgia Jones (above)

Tommy Cowan, 20, also fell ill after reportedly taking a 'bad batch of ecstasy' at the event

Floral tributes were left at the site of the Mutiny Festival following the two deaths

The campaigner described how Daniel, who would now be 21, had taken drugs just a handful of times before his death in 2014.

Recalling his final words to her, she said: 'I love you mum, I promise won't die, which was just a silly joke.'

Giving her advice to other parents, Fiona said: 'I did so many things, we even did a six-week course about how to drug-proof your kids. 'We had conversations, we had conversations about ecstasy. I didn't know then what i do know. I had no idea how close it was to her door.'

'For parents, don't make any assumptions that it's something that's for other kids - kids like out there.

Fiona said seeing any young person losing their life to drugs was 'absolutely heartbreaking'

The campaigner described how Daniel had taken drugs just a handful of times before his death

'Also know that it's something that's quite normal - and not stigmatized in the way we'd like to think it is.'

Fiona added that drugs are now 'accessible' to kids, particularly due to the rise of social media.

Her comments come after two people died and 15 people were hospitalised at Mutiny Festival at the weekend.

Georgia Jones, 18, and Tommy Cowan, 20, fell ill 20 minutes apart from each other and were both at the centre of dramatic rescue bids by on-site paramedics, in front of horrified festival goers.

Three men have been arrested on suspicion of supplying drugs, police confirmed.
They're the it-shoes beloved by the fashion crowd, with everyone from Mary-Kate Olsen to blogger Leandra Medine extolling their virtues.

But if shoppers don't want to part with 605 for a pair of Balenciaga's famous 'knife' pumps, they'll be pleased to hear that the high street is finally catching up.

Spanish high street chain Stradivarius has rolled out a pair of 19.99 hot pink mules that are a dead ringer for the designer heels - and they're so similar, shoppers may struggle to tell them apart.

Better yet, at 19.99 they cost just 3 per cent of the cult Balenciaga shoes.

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Spot the difference! Balenciaga's 605 knife pump (pictured), which also comes in purple, blue and green, was released last summer and become a favourite among the style crowd

High street counterpart: Stradivarius' 19.99 version is a flat pump made from polyester, available in pink and blue and has been hailed by the likes of Trendencias

The knife pump, which also comes in purple, blue and green, was released last summer and quickly become a favourite among the style crowd.

It proved so popular, it was re-released this year in hot pink satin, with a new slingback strap, a delicate bow and a stylish kitten heel.

Leandra Medine, who writes the fashion blog Man Repeller, called them 'unlike any of the other shoes out there' - despite looking 'exactly like the hideously marvelous mules that [her] mother used to wear'.

By contrast, Stradivarius' 19.99 version is a flat pump made from polyester, available in pink and blue and has been hailed by the likes of Trendencias.

Earlier this year, Stradivarius' 'sister store' Zara - also owned by the Inditex group - delighted shoppers by releasing a trendy high-top sneaker inspired by luxury label Balenciaga.

Similarly, Zara's laceless, sock-style sneakers (pictured) are available in both men's and women's sizes, and come at a purse-friendly 49.99 - around 10 per cent of the price

Designer dupe! Zara's latest copycat piece bears such an uncanny resemblance to its catwalk counterpart from Balenciaga (495, pictured), it is expected to spark a shopping frenzy

The high street giant's laceless, sock-style sneakers, which are available in both men's and women's sizes, first hit stores earlier this year but their latest reincarnation are almost indistinguishable from Balenciaga's.

What's more, they come at a purse-friendly 49.99 - around 10 per cent of the price of the designer offering.

The pricey designer version, however, costs considerably more at 495.

Balenciaga's shoes - coincidentally, also a Spanish brand - are made from a trendy knit material and feature a white texture sole and memory sole technology.

Catwalk copycat: In 2017, fashion fans rushed to snap up a pair of 29.99 feather sandals (pictured) which were strikingly similar to a pair of Prada shoes

The high street giant has form when it comes to releasing runway-worthy pieces at a fraction of the price; in 2017, fashion fans rushed to snap up a pair of 29.99 feather sandals which were strikingly similar to a pair of Prada shoes.

First spotted at Milan Fashion Week SS17, Prada's trendy Forma sandals have now sold out on many online stores but are still available from the designer's website for 650 (550).

That same month, Zara rolled out near-identical versions of high-end Manolo Blahnik heels costing 49.99, which fashion fans noted was 14 times cheaper than the originals.
It was certainly a gloomier day in Spain on Tuesday with temperatures dropping and many areas receiving rain.

But Queen Letizia certainly brightened up Millan de la Cogolla in La Rioja this morning.

The Queen of Spain looked typically chic in a raspberry coloured trench as she attended a journalism seminar.

Queen Letizia of Spain brightened up a gloomy Tuesday as she stepped out in a raspberry coloured trench coat

Making a bold statement with her coat the 45-year-old royal kept the rest of her outfit simple, opting for a pair of skinny leather leggings, and a chic black top.

She expertly negotiated the Spanish cobbles in a pair of patent leather stilettos as she arrived at the Inauguration of the 13 edition International Seminar on Language and Journalism.

The mother-of-two looked engaged as she spoke with other officials outside the monastery where the event was held before taking part in the seminar.

The former new anchor looked engaged as she spoke with officials ahead of the journalism seminar in Millan de la Cogolla in La Rioja

Letizia was met by a group of school children also set to attend today's seminar, and the cheerful group posed for a photo

She showcased her maternal instincts, shaking hands with the youngsters outside the monastery where the seminar was held

She was met by a group of school children also set to attend today's seminar, and the cheerful group posed for a photo.

The royal hosted the seminar this afternoon with Spanish journalist Soledad Gallego- Diaz delivering the inaugural lecture.

The annual event is one that Letizia regularly attends having a history in the field of journalism herself.

Those taking part in the seminar posed for a commemorative photo to mark 13 years of the event

The royal hosted the seminar this afternoon with Spanish journalist Soledad Gallego- Diaz delivering the inaugural lecture

Queen Letizia reported on international news events during her journalism career, including reporting from New York in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

She also worked for broadcasters including Bloomberg and TVE.

Letizia, who is mother to Princess Leonor, 12 and Princess Sofia, ten, swapped her journalism career for royal duties when she wed King Felipe VI in 2004.

She was previously married to Alonso Guerrero Perez, a writer, but the pair divorced after just a year.
At just 18 she boasts an impressive resume having appeared on hit shows Black-ish and Grown-ish, and is heading to Harvard university this year with a personal recommendation letter from Michelle Obama.

But despite her impressive success and intellect, actress Yara Sharadi admits that she has to battle with self-criticism.

The star whose father is Iranian and mother is African-American, is the latest cover girl for Harper's Bazaar Arabia.

And in an interview with the glossy magazine, she revealed she continually makes an effort to educate herself about her dual heritage, as well as ensuring she keeps striving for more.

'I'm learning and constantly reminding myself that while there are so many barriers connected to our identity, I have to be really cognizant to realise I'm not one of my own barriers,' she said.

Actress Yara Sharadi admitted she battles self-critique and is careful not to put up her own barriers, as she posed on the cover of Harper's Bazaar Arabia's June issue

Yara comes from a family of high achievers - her cousin Anousheh Ansari is the first Iranian-American astronaut and the first female private space explorer.

Praising her female role models, she said: 'I've been learning more and more about what the women in my family have accomplished and it's extraordinary.

'Their dedication to people, to science, to community, to politics

'But my mama, she's my first role model. She's really shown me how to be a woman of colour.'

The actress, whose father is Iranian and mother is African-American, revealed she continually makes an effort to educate herself about her dual heritage

At just 18 she boasts an impressive resume having appeared on hit show Black-ish and Grown-ish, and is heading to Harvard university this year with a personal recommendation letter from Michelle Obama

'My mama, she's my first role model. She's really shown me how to be a woman of colour,' she said

Yara admits that being multicultural means she has an extra regard from people around the globe

An avid campaigner of further education, she added that entering adulthood taught her education can come from many avenues, crediting her parents for their life lessons

An activist and passionate charity campaigner, she recently founded an Eighteenx18 initiative to promote the importance of voting.

Starting this past January, Shahidi became the star of ABC's family sitcom, Grown-ish.

The show's first season received immediate critical acclaimed, and was renewed for a second after only four episodes.

Fans can catch more of the Minneapolis-born millennial as Zoey Johnson in her very own spin-off Grown-ish - airing Wednesdays on Freeform - which has already been renewed for a second season.

For the full interview buy the June issue of Harper's Bazaar Arabia, out now.

Her continued thirst for knowledge meant her ambition as a young girl was to be a history teacher, and saw her taking as many as ten books to bed.
Lady Kitty Spencer has just been announced as an ambassador for luxury jewellery brand Bvlgari - cementing her status as fashion's new IT girl.

In fact, experts say Kitty, 27, could be set to make up to 2million a year if she continues to secure lucrative contracts with fashion brands.

Princess Diana's niece is already an ambassador for Dolce & Gabbana, starring in her first print campaign for the brand earlier this year.

She has also appeared on the catwalk for the Italian fashion brand, as well as being dressed by the brand for Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding.

Branding experts say that Lady Kitty's social media profile, along with her link to royalty, mean that she could be set to make millions a year.

Lady Kitty Spencer has been unveiled as an ambassador for luxury jewellery brand Bvlgari

Princess Diana's niece, 28, is already an ambassador for D&G - making her catwalk debut for the brand last autumn

Lady Kitty was dressed by Dolce & Gabbana for Prince Harry and Meghan's wedding

Chris Ogle, who advises on brand strategy for Flow Digital, said: 'Lady Kitty Spencer's partnership with Bvlgari highlights the value of personal brand preservation rather than selling to the highest bidder at the earliest opportunity.

'Her value lies in a rare combination of having a large and engaged social media following, her royal title, her close association with fashion houses and her charitable work.

'Much is still to be revealed about her official role for Bvlgari but it would be comfortable to say her partnership will be worth in the region 500,000 to 1m per year in salary and benefits.'

He added: 'Her catwalk debut for D&G will have shot her profile right to the top of elite end endorsements for fashion brands and will no doubt received numerous offers for partnerships in the time since.

Lady Kitty's new campaign for Bvlgari cements her place as fashion's new 'It girl'

Experts say Lady Kitty's social media profile, along with her link to royalty, make her very valuable to fashion brands

In fact, experts say that the socialite could make up to 2m a year if she continues to secure lucrative contracts

'Should she maintain her personal brand and remain elusive to partner with, she may be able to leverage her royal background to as much as 1.5-2million per year should she look for the ideal opportunities.'

Meanwhile, Emma Usher, from RunRagged - a leading celebrity consultancy that books VIPs for red carpet events, endorsements and campaigns - agreed Lady Kitty's campaigns to date could lead to more partnerships with fashion brands.

'Already one of the faces of the Dolce and Gabbana Spring Summer campaign, becoming part of the Bvlgari family is just another milestone in Lady Kitty Spencers career,' Emma said.

'This is great exposure for her and will lead to more high-profile opportunities in future.'

Lady Kitty took part in D&G's 'Secret and Diamond' show during Milan Fashion Week in February

She stunned in a dazzling silver dress while appearing on the catwalk for the brand

Lady Kitty also appeared in her first print campaign for D&G, shot in Italy, in the spring

Lady Kitty appeared in her first ad campaign for D&G in the spring, alongside Sabrina Percy and Frankie Herbert.

She also took part in the Italian fashion house's 'Secret and Diamond' show during Milan Fashion Week in February, donning a tiara for the occasion.

Last year, Kitty made her catwalk debut for D&G in Milan as part of their 'Millennials' campaign, and has starred in various magazine shoots - including for Vogue Japan and Elle Russia.

She's not the only one with royal connections to feature in campaigns for D&G, with Lady Amelia Windsor also previously modelling for the brand.
The Danish palace has released a new set of family portraits in celebration of Crown Prince Frederik's 50th birthday.

The first in-line to the Danish throne poses alongside his wife, Princess Mary, and four children at their home in Copenhagen.

Australian-born Mary looks her typically glamorous self in a sky blue chiffon blouse and a belted cream maxi skirt.

Crown Prince Frederik and Princess Mary of Denmark have posed with their four children - Christian, Isabella, Josephine and Vincent - in a new portrait to celebrate Frederik's 50th

Meanwhile Frederik looks dapper in a casual cotton blazer, paired with a crisp white shirt and black trousers.

Meanwhile their brood appear to be growing up fast with Prince Christian, 12, and Princess Isabella, 11 placing a protective arm over their twin siblings Josephine and Vincent both seven.

The family-of-six appear to be posing in the living room of the their home at the royal palace Amalienborg, resting against the back of their cream sofa.

In a second portrait, 50-year-old Frederik poses alone on the steps of the palace.

The relaxed photos were taken by Danish royal photographer Franne Voigt, and were released on the official Instagram account of the royal family earlier this week.

In a second portrait, 50-year-old Frederik poses alone on the steps of the palace

The image was captioned: It is a pleasure for the Crown Prince couple to share a new picture of the whole family on the occasion of the Royal Highness Crown Prince's 50th birthday.'

The photos were shared two hours before the family and Queen Margarethe took the palace balcony to greet the public.

On Sunday night, Princess Mary made a poignant speech at a dinner celebrating her husband's 50th birthday party.

Standing tall in an incredible golden gown, the mother-of-four addressed 'her man' with ease - before sharing some hilarious jokes with his friends and family.

Standing tall in an incredible golden gown, the mother-of-four addressed 'her man' with ease - before sharing some hilarious jokes with his friends and family

Her speech began with a detailed list of his most admirable personality traits: with an ability to put other people at ease, be a successful leader and promote equality while being a kind of considerate father

Her speech began with a detailed list of his most admirable personality traits: with an ability to put other people at ease, be a successful leader and promote equality while being a kind of considerate father.

'I am so happy you swept me off my feet and that we dared to fall for each other not just for a moment but for life,' she said lovingly.

Before long though she forayed into witty banter, suggesting he laughs loudly and often at his own jokes and was a chronic 'Mamil.'

Before long though she forayed into witty banter, suggesting he laughs loudly and often at his own jokes and was a chronic 'Mamil'

The 46-year-old royal made mention that the first time she saw him change from shorts and a t-shirt to his gala uniform she thought 'I've really scored above my league'

'Mamil stands for a middle-aged man in lycra who rides expensive racing bicycles wearing professional style body-hugging jerseys and shorts,' she said.

'Opinions vary over whether lycra and men in their 40s go together. But darling, you still look rather sharp in lycra.'

The 46-year-old royal made mention that the first time she saw him change from shorts and a t-shirt to his gala uniform she thought 'I've really scored above my league.'

As the Crown Princess made mention of his children's love for him, Frederik wiped a tear from his eye.

Alongside the Danish royals (pictured) and other friends and family, Patricia, 50, enjoyed a live broadcast of the TV show 'All of Denmark celebrates the Crown Prince'

For the occasion, Princess Mary (pictured with her family) wore an elegant kimono-inspired dress, while her children were perfectly turned out on the red carpet

The Danish royals were all smiles on the red carpet (pictured), before they were treated to a live performance with music celebrating Prince Frederik

There have been countless celebrations in Denmark for Crown Prince Frederik, who turned 50 last week

For the momentous occasion, Princess Mary opted for a brightly-coloured patterned kimono-style dress, which she wore with strappy heels and loose curls.

The Danish royals' children were also neatly dressed and wore huge smiles on the red carpet.

Princess Josephine, in particular, drew attentions for her adorable pink ballet skirt and slippers.

On Saturday night, the Danish royal enjoyed an evening with other European royals at Christiansborg Palace dressed in full military regalia (pictured)

Frederik's impressive uniform included gold epaulets, a red-and-gold collar, and a chest full of medals, while Mary topped her heavily-sequined light pink dress with a tiara and Queen Margrethe's sister Princess Benedikte wore a regal light blue gown and a more elaborate tiara

For more than a week, the Crown Prince has been celebrated by the Danes, with a number of occasions and significant events taking place, from glittering galas to the release of several commemorative portraits.

On Saturday night, the Danish royal enjoyed an evening with other European royals at Christiansborg Palace.

Dressed in his full military regalia, the Prince was flanked by the Crown Princess, who wore a sparkling floor-length gown and turquoise sash.

Guests were treated to a banquet and speeches for a party hosted by Prince Frederik's mother Queen Margrethe, who attended with her sister Princess Benedikte.

Elsewhere, the royal family have also released a new set of commemorative portraits in honour of Prince Frederik's birthday.

Celebrations for the Crown Prince are expected to wrap up this week, with the publication of a book from Princess Mary.

The Princess, together with four different photographers, has found and collected many of their family memories in honour of his birthday, some of which are from their private collection.
Bernie, 33, from Birmingham, has two children by a sperm donor she met online

A woman desperate to become a mother has revealed how she turned to an unlicensed sperm donor she met on Facebook.

Bernie, 33, from Birmingham, now has two children by the anonymous donor, who is married with a family who know nothing about his secret life.

In the UK sperm donors must be licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, but there is a large number of unlicensed donors offering their sperm on social media.

Bernie's donor, who has fathered over 60 children, came over to her house and produced a sample in her bathroom before she inseminated it herself.

She now has Emilie, two, and Riley, four months, and told New! magazine that her donor is her 'guardian angel'.

Bernie, 33, from Birmingham, has two children (one of which is pictured) by a sperm donor she met on Facebook whom she says keeps his secret life from his family

Bernie began looking trawling through Facebook groups in search of a donor before she stumbled on her own, who has been donating in secret for several years.

He told her that he wanted to 'give back' and help someone else have a family like he did.

Bernie said: 'I have a beautiful family, but unlicensed sperm donation isn't for everyone. It's not something you do on a whim and it can be dangerous. You need to be safe and do your research.

'But he is my guardian angel and I wouldn't change a thing.'

While Bernie understood the health risks of finding donors on the internet, she decided it was no more dangerous than meeting a sexual partner in a nightclub, who could carry STIs and risky genetic characteristics.

The donor came over to Bernie's house when she was most fertile and she conceived daughter Emilie straight away.

Two years later Bernie met her partner Sharon and they wanted more children together.

They decided to use her first donor again and she fell pregnant with their son within weeks.

What is the law on sperm donation? The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is the UK Government's independent regulator overseeing fertility treatment and research. Sperm donors should normally be aged between 18 and 41-years-old. A donor does not have any legal rights and responsibilities for children born from the donation, provided they donate through a licensed UK fertility clinic. They will have no say over their upbringing and won't be required to pay anything towards their care. However, if the donation is not done at clinic licensed by the HFEA, it is possible that they could be considered the legal father of any children conceived from a donation. If a donation results in the birth of a child or children, the donor can apply for information only on the number of children born, their gender, their year of birth. If a donor donated after April 1 2005, a child born from the donation can find out certain details about them. If they are aged 16, details they can be told include a physical description, where you were born, ethnicity, and marital status. If they are aged 18, they can get the donors full name, date and town of birth, and a recent address. However, a child born by private donor may be denied the chance to find their biological father. Source: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Advertisement

Clive, from Burton in Staffordshire, has fathered 66 babies after her placed an advert on Facebook offering his sperm to women who wanted children

He was inundated with responses from female recipients after a registered clinic said he was too old to donate

Bernie and her family appear in Channel 4's documentary 175 Babies: Britain's Super Sperm Donors.

Also on the show is Clive, from Burton in Staffordshire, who has fathered 66 babies

Clive visited a registered clinic but they refused his sperm on the grounds he was too old to donate.

At 62, Clive is well above the suggested age of 35 (when sperm count often begins to drop).

His response was to place an advert of Facebook in which he was clear about his lifestyle - he enjoys mountain biking - and revealed that he had no long term medical conditions.

Mitch Kennedy has currently fathered 20 children and traveled the length of the country helping women

He appeared on This Morning to talk about how he is providing a service to women by donating his sperm

In response to his social media ad Clive was inundated with responses from female recipients.

The documentary also features Mitch Kennedy, 35, from Aberdeen, who has travelled the length and breadth of the UK to hand over his sperm to couples who have sent requests to him on Facebook, and has currently fathered 20 children.

Speaking on This Morning earlier this week, Mitch said: 'It's in us to want to help people in the world and make a positive impact on people.

'There's nothing like getting positive feedback after donating sperm.'
Vogue Turkey has put Kendall Jenner on the cover of its hundredth issue ever this month, while also shining a spotlight on someone who would normally be behind the camera.

In honor of the anniversary  and the fact that the publication has now planned to slow down  the magazine put Kendall, 22, on the back of a motorcycle, holding tight to photographer Mert Alas.

While Mert is typically the person shooting the stars for covers such as this, the Turkish-born star made an exception on this special occasion and joined one of his go-to subjects in the photos.

Happy anniversary! Kendall Jenner poses with Turkish photographer Mert Alas on the cover of Vogue Turkey's 100th issue

Fronting the June issue, Kendall wears a little black crop top by Dolce & Gabbana and glitzy choker necklace as she sits with her legs astride the bike.

Her hair flies back behind her as she holds onto Mert, who wears a ripped white T-shirt and jeans as he rides, giving the camera his best James Dean impression.

'Vogue Turkey cover with this sexy guy!' Kendall wrote on Instagram on Tuesday, posting the image.

Mert had previously shot Kendall for US Vogue's April 2018 issue, and as also shot Kendall's older sister Kim Kardashian on several occasions.

Friends: Kendall, 22, and Mert, 47, have been friends for years, having collaborated on a number of projects together

Trio: Mert and his photography partner Marcus Piggott, pictured with Kendall in 2016, have snapped the model on a few occasions. The duo are known professionally as Mert and Marcus

This time, he got in front of the camera, while his partner Marcus Piggot shot the images.

Vogue Turkey wrote about what an honor it was to have 'Turkey's biggest star,' Mert, on the anniversary cover.

Hair for the shoot was done by Soichi Inagaki, make-up by Erin Parsons, nails by Eda Levenson, and styling by Michael Philouze.

In another shot, the pair are pictured from the side, with Kendall leaning in to Mert and showing off her high-waisted denim Levi's shorts and YSL stiletto heels.

Loungin'! Over the weekend, she hung out poolside in a patriotic bikini

Crew: She spent Memorial Day with her sister Kourtney Kardashian (far left) and pal Jordyn Woods (far right)

SPF, please! The two got some sun in the pool during the long weekend

The cover comes after Kendall spent Memorial Day weekend hanging out poolside with her sister Kourtney Kardashian.

Photos posted on social media show Kendall lounging in a red and blue bikini while spending the day at Kourtney's house, while Kourtney herself wore a pink two-piece.

Another image captures Kourtney, Kendall, model Jordyn Woods, and another friend brandishing water guns as they pose for the camera.

And taking a break from motorbikes, Kendall and her sister were also pictured posing in the pool on top of brightly-colored $99 jet ski-shaped pool floats from FunBoy while soaking up the bright sunshine.
People in high-stress jobs have a greater chance of suffering from depression or anxiety by the time they reach middle age, a study has found.

A 60-year analysis of nearly 7,000 British adults found those with highly demanding careers, low job control and a high level of strain at work are at higher risk of mental illness.

The data looked at whether people's job strain at age 45 affected their risk of developing a common mental disorder  such as depression or anxiety  by age 50.

When compared with a control group, those with high job demands were 70 per cent more likely to develop mental health issues, and people with low job control were 89 per cent more likely.

People whose job was classed as 'high strain' faced more than double the risk of developing mental illness in their middle age.

The researchers suggest that it is important for employers to try to improve working environments to reduce rates of mental illness.

People with high strain jobs  judged as those in which they do not have much decision-making power and there are conflicting demands  are more likely to develop depression in their middle age

The research was led by Australian mental health research unit the Black Dog Institute, which says mental illness costs Australian businesses $11bn a year (6bn).

Lead author, associate professor Samuel Harvey, said the findings are 'a wake-up call'.

To judge how strenuous someone's the researchers asked people about their ability to make decisions at work, the opportunity to use their skills, and about the pace, intensity and conflicting demands they experience at work.

Professor Harvey said: 'The results indicate that if we were able to eliminate job strain situations in the workplace, up to 14 per cent of cases of common mental illness could be avoided.

'Workplaces can adopt a range of measures to reduce job strain, and finding ways to increase workers' perceived control of their work is often a good practical first step.

'This can be achieved through initiatives that involve workers in as many decisions as possible.'

How the research was carried out

The Black Dog Institute examined records of 6,870 people from the UK National Child Development Study, all of whom were born in the same week in 1958.

HOW TO MANAGE STRESS Breathe: The hormone noradrenaline is released during stressful situations. It makes people sweat, breathe heavily and increases our heart rate, according to experts at Harvard Medical School. Stand up: Standing up straight allows lungs to fill up with air, improving the body's oxygen supply and significantly reducing the production of the stress hormone cortisol, Dr. Sheela Raja, clinical psychologist and assistant professor at The University of Illinois at Chicago, told Naperville Magazine. Avoid coffee: This caffeinated drink can cause insomnia, nervousness and a faster heart rate  which can worsen the feelings of stress, Dr Mark Hyman wrote. Get active: Exercise releases 'feel good' hormones called endorphins which can help counterbalance anxiety during stressful situations, according to the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.

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People completed questionnaires about their level of job strain at age 45 then, at age 50, a questionnaire commonly used to indicate signs of common mental illness.

Researchers also accounted for other stress-inducing factors including divorce, financial problems, housing instability, and bereavement or illness.

Results were then adjusted to rule out the effects of factors such as people's personalities, their IQ, level of education, previous mental health problems.

Double the risk if your job is 'high strain'

When compared with a control group, those with high job demands are 70 per cent more likely, and people with low job control are 89 per cent more likely.

People whose job is classed as 'high strain' have more than double the risk  a 122 per cent increase  of developing mental illness in their middle age.

The final results show people with higher job demands, lower job control and higher job strain are more likely to develop mental illness by age 50, regardless of their gender or type of job.

Mental illness the leading cause of time off work

Professor Harvey added: 'Mental illness is the leading cause of sickness absence and long-term work incapacity in Australia, equating to $11 billion lost to Australian businesses each year.

'Our modelling used detailed data collected over 50 years to examine the various ways in which particular work conditions may impact an employee's mental health.

'These findings serve as a wake-up call for the role workplace initiatives should play in our efforts to curb the rising costs of mental disorders.'

Past research shows stress linked to physical illness

Previous research has also shown that high levels of stress at work can increase the risk of heart attacks, and make people more likely to eat unhealthily and sleep and exercise less.

Stress can make people physically ill because it can stimulate white blood cells to react in the same way that illness does and cause the body to react as though it is fighting an infection when it is not.


Babies face deadly side effects from teething remedies that contain a popular numbing ingredient, federal health officials warn.

The Food and Drug Administration said on Wednesday that various gels and creams containing the drug benzocaine can cause rare but deadly side effects in children, especially those two years and younger.

Teething products with benzocaine include Baby Orajel. The packaging states: 'Instant relief for teething pain.'

The agency has been warning about the products for a decade but said reports of illnesses and deaths have continued.

Now, it wants teething products off the market, noting there is little evidence they actually work.

The agency has been warning about the products for a decade but said reports of illnesses and deaths continue

'We urge parents, caregivers and retailers who sell them to heed our warnings and not use over-the-counter products containing benzocaine for teething pain,' said FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, in a statement.

The FDA said it will take legal action against companies that don't voluntarily remove their products for young children. Manufacturers are expected to comply as soon as possible.

Benzocaine is also used in popular over-the-counter products for toothaches and cold sores in adults, including Orajel and Anbesol and generic drugstore brands.

Products for adults can remain on the market but the FDA wants companies to add new warnings.

Benzocaine can cause a rare blood condition linked to potentially deadly breathing problems.

The pain-relieving ingredient can interfere with an oxygen-carrying protein in the blood. Symptoms include shortness of breath, headache and rapid heart rate.

New Jersey-based manufacturer of Orajel, Church and Dwight Co Inc, said Wednesday it would discontinue four Orajel teething brands, including Orajel Medicated Teething Swabs.

'We are not discontinuing other Orajel products, which represent the majority of our Orajel offering,' the company said in an emailed statement.

The American Academy of Pediatrics does not recommend teething creams because they usually wash out of the baby's mouth within minutes. Instead, the group recommends giving babies teething rings or simply massaging their gums to relieve pain.

The FDA issued warnings about the teething products in 2006, 2011 and 2014, but it did not call for their removal from the market.

Officials reviewed 119 cases of the blood disorder linked to benzocaine between 2009 and 2017, including four deaths, according to the FDA.
The NHS has paid for a five-year-old girl to receive proton beam therapy to treat an inoperable fist-sized tumour in Florida.

Skye Brierley, from Blackpool, was sent to the 'Sunshine State' for 31 rounds of the pioneering treatment to zap her cancerous growth.

She is battling rhabdomyosarcoma - a cancer that develops in soft tissue cells and strikes fewer than 60 children in the UK each year.

Health bosses agreed to send her to the US for proton beam therapy, which is approved in the UK. There is currently only one centre offering the treatment, in Newport, Wales. Two others are being built.

Skye's mother, Ruth, claims her daughter's strength, bravery and unrelenting smile has given her hope that she can beat her diagnosis.

The family await the results of an MRI scan in three weeks that could either tell them Skye's cancer has gone or it has spread further and could leave them running scarce on further treatment options.

Speaking for the first time, Mrs Brierley, 43, a full-time carer for husband Michael, said: 'Skye is putting up the biggest fight ever. We are so proud of her.

Skye Brierley, from Blackpool, was sent to the 'Sunshine State' for 31 rounds of the pioneering treatment to zap her cancerous growth

'She is incredibly brave and she does not stop smiling no matter what you throw at her. She is my superhero.

'I used to ask myself "why my child?" and I even found myself wishing it had happened to one of my other kids because they were all so much stronger than Skye.

'But she has proven to be the strongest of all of us. And now I see maybe it happened to my child because another child would not have been able to cope like she has. She is amazing.'

Proton beam therapy: The facts

Proton beam therapy made headlines in 2014, when Brett and Naghemeh King fled Southampton General Hospital to Spain with their son Ashya.

The couple sold their house to fund the treatment privately in Prague because they didn't want him to undergo conventional radiotherapy.

The benefit of proton beam therapy lies in its ability to eradicate the cancer cells while leaving the healthy surrounding tissues unaffected.

Whereas traditional radiation blasts the area where the tumour is growing, proton beams stop once they hit the cancerous cells, reducing the damage.

Is it offered in the UK?

Proton beam therapy is funded by the NHS in England and Scotland. But patients in Wales and Northern Ireland have to seek funding from local health chiefs.

Two centres offering the treatment are currently being built in the UK, including one in Manchester and one in London. Both are yet to be finished. One already exists in Newport.

As a result, patients - such as those battling cancer - can be sent abroad for proton beam therapy, if approved by the UK Proton Clinical Reference Panel.

She is battling rhabdomyosarcoma - a cancer that develops in soft tissue cells and strikes fewer than 60 children in the UK each year (pictured with mother, Ruth)

Did Skye have any symptoms of cancer?

Skye's only symptom of her cancer in the lead-up to her diagnosis was tiredness, but her parents assumed it was down to her school nativity.

Mrs Brierley said: 'The school was doing a nativity and there were four performances and all the dress rehearsals, so all the kids were completely worn out.'

She only became concerned when her daughter's left eye had turned completely inwards, when they woke up on December 23.

Mrs Brierley added: 'The first thing I did was ask her "what have you done to your eye?" because I thought she might have hurt herself but she didnt know what I was talking about.'

What is Proton Beam Therapy, what is it used for and how does it work? Proton beam therapy is a type of radiotherapy that aims proton beams at cancers. While conventional radiotherapy uses high energy beams of radiation to destroy cancerous cells, often damaging surrounding tissue, proton beam therapy aims radiation directly at the tumour. Because it is so highly targeted it means it can avoid healthy tissue, particularly tissues and organs behind the tumour. Radiotherapy can lead to side effects such as nausea and can sometimes disrupt how some organs function, but proton beam therapy has a lower risk of side effects. This means it is effective for treating cancer that affects critical areas, such as brain cancer. Ashya King, whose case sparked an international manhunt in 2014, underwent proton beam therapy. Brett and Naghmeh King were arrested after they took their son, then five, for brain tumour treatment abroad as the NHS initially refused to offer proton beam therapy, which his parents felt was less harmful than conventional radiotherapy. They took him from Southampton Hospital and travelled to the Czech Republic for treatment at the Proton Therapy Center. Ashya was finally allowed to undergo treatment a Prague hospital after a long legal battle fought by his parents. Eventually, he was declared cancer-free in March 2016. Source: NHS Advertisement

Chiefs agreed to send her to the US for proton beam therapy, which is approved in the UK but unable to be performed because there are currently no centres built

Skye's mother, Ruth, claims her daughter's strength, bravery and unrelenting smile has given her hope as they await an MRI scan in three weeks that could leave them scarce on options

A doctor's appointment four days later saw Skye referred to a hospital for a CT scan. It revealed a 6cm x 5cm x 4cm mass between her nose and the back of her skull.

Further tests and a biopsy at Manchester Childrens Hospital confirmed that Skye was suffering from rhabdomyosarcoma.

Mrs Brierley admitted she 'collapsed onto the floor' and 'cried for 10 minutes' when a specialist told her that Skye had a tumour.

She even asked the female doctor if they were seriously telling the couple that their child has cancer.

Mrs Brierley added: 'When she said "yes" Michael started to cry and I just said "weve lost her, she isnt going to survive this".

'Michael is still stuck on that, he cant get past that day at all.'

Unable to operate

Doctors allegedly told Mrs Brierley weeks later they would be unable to operate on her daughter without 'mutilating' her face.

Instead of surgery, Skye has endured nine rounds of chemotherapy, three rounds of radiotherapy and been sent to Florida in March for proton beam therapy.

Skye's only symptom of her cancer in the lead-up to her diagnosis was tiredness, but her parents assumed it was down to her school nativity

Instead of surgery, Skye has endured nine rounds of chemotherapy, three rounds of radiotherapy and been sent to Florida in March for proton beam therapy (pictured: Skye with her doctors at the proton beam therapy clinic in Florida)

Losing her hair

Despite her ordeal, the only thing Skye has 'really struggled with' is losing her hair, according to Mrs Brierley.

She said: 'She loves Disney and the princesses and she asks me sometimes "will I be pretty again when my hair grows back?".

'How do you explain to a five year old that she is and always will be beautiful with or without her hair? It has been really heartbreaking seeing her struggle with it.

'But she takes everything else in her stride and her bravery has given me so much hope. It has completely changed my mindset.

She added: 'I had a moment where I had gone home to get a bag of clothes to take to hospital. It was late at night and I was alone on the motorway and I got so angry.

'I was screaming and shouting and hitting the steering wheel. In that moment I decided cancer was not going to take my child. We are going to beat it.'

Mrs Brierleys first night of dozens by her daughters hospital bedside were eased by the words of Sarah Pogson, whose son Samuel was in the bed next to Skye.

She said: 'We got to Skyes bed and we were both sat there in bits. Sarah came to me and said "its your first night but it does get easier. Just let your tears come out, stay calm and when you get a diagnosis it will get easier".

Despite her ordeal, the only thing Skye has 'really struggled with' is losing her hair, according to Mrs Brierley (pictured with radiation burns)

Doctors allegedly told Mrs Brierley weeks later they would be unable to operate on her daughter without 'mutilating' her face

'Sarah has been a very close friend ever since and about a month later I was saying those same words to other mums. You do learn how to cope and get on with it.

'Skye was a twin and her twin died at 10 weeks so at first it felt like the one I had managed to hold onto was suddenly being threatened by something I cant fight.

'Skye has got to fight it herself. All I can do is hold her hand and be there for her. We never expected to hear she had cancer. Cancer is something that happens to other people.

Love and support of siblings

Since her diagnosis, Skye has had the love and support of her siblings Jordan, 23, Taylor, 20, Kira, 13, and Damien, nine.

She has had to have a feeding tube, which goes straight into her stomach as the location of her tumour means her treatments can burn inside her throat and mouth.

As well as support from their family, family friends held fundraisers for Skye so they would have enough money for their eight-week stay in the US.

Since her diagnosis, Skye has had the love and support of her siblings Jordan, 23, Taylor, 20, Kira (right), 13, and Damien (left), nine (her mother Ruth and father Michael, 32, are pictured)

She has had to have a feeding tube, which goes straight into her stomach as the location of her tumour means her treatments can burn inside her throat and mouth (pictured: her eye, which turned inwards last December)

WHAT IS RHABDOMYOSARCOMA? Rhabdomyosarcoma is a tumour of the soft tissues. It affects less than 60 children in the UK every year, most of which are under 10 years old. The most commonly affected areas are the head and neck, bladder, testes, uterus or vagina. Its cause is unknown. The most common symptom is swelling with other signs of the condition depending on where the tumour develops. If in the head or neck, it can cause eyes to swell and nasal discharge. In the abdomen can result in pain and constipation, while tumours in the bladder can lead to blood in the urine or difficulty urinating. Treatment depends on the tumour's size and location, as well as whether it has spread. It may involve chemo or radiotherapy and surgery. Source: MacMillan Cancer Support Advertisement

Another close friend of the Brierley's arranged for three passes to Disney World in Orlando to grant one of Skye's life-long wishes.

Family friends chipping in

Mrs Brierley said: 'Without the help and support we have had from our family and friends we would never have got this far.

'When your child has cancer you really find out who your true friends are.

'We wouldnt have been able to afford to live in Florida for eight weeks while still paying bills here but the fundraising covered everything.

'The NHS paid for our flights and the treatment, so anyone who says anything negative about the NHS doesnt have a leg to stand on.

She added: 'Skyes specialist here has been absolutely brilliant and the nurses have been so supportive and caring,

'And while we were out there, there was Brian the technician who did the therapy and Skye refused to speak to him for three weeks. She can be very shy.

'But he saw her playing this game with her dad where she pretends to saw his arm off with her hand. Its her favourite game to play.

'The next time Brian saw her, he walked straight up to her and pretended to saw her arm off and they were suddenly best friends.'

The support of other families

Mrs Brierley continued: 'Not to mention all the other families we have met along the way, without them we would have been lost.

'Thats why were so determined to raise awareness of what Skye has been through so other families know they are not alone.

'Its such a rare cancer that it can be very isolating but were happy to help anyone who needs it even if its just to talk.'
Online dating makes millions of love interests available to us at the touch of our fingertips.

With a simple swipe or message, you can set yourself up on a date with someone within 24 hours.

These websites and apps can make happiness seem so accessible when potential dates are available at the click of a button.

But it turns out that such convenience can actually make us be sadder.

Studies suggest that online dating and dating apps can make people feel more insecure about their appearance and bodies - and even become depressed.

Studies suggest that online dating and dating apps can make people feel more insecure and depressed

Tinder, the most-used dating app in the US, generates 1.6 billion swipes per day, resulting in one million dates per week.

Veteran dating site Match.com, started in 1995, has more than 7.4 million paid subscribers, an increase from 3.4 million in 2014, according to data research website Statista.com.

And OKCupid, which started up in 2004, has an estimated one million active users today and is the third-most popular dating app on the market.

Online dating has lost much of its stigma with 59 percent of Americans thinking it's a good way to meet people, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center.

Additionally, 15 percent of American adults report that they have used online dating sites and/or mobile dating apps, up from 11 percent in 2013.

But along with all the excitement that comes with agreeing to meet up with someone for a date can come some heartbreak too.

Think about swiping 'like' on someone's profile, but they don't reciprocate, or sending a message to someone that goes unanswered. You can easily end up feeling rejected.

Rejection hurts and not just emotionally. Studies have shown that the same areas of the brain that become activated when we experience physical pain are also activated when we experience rejection.

The anterior insula is the region of the brain that interprets distress, which is also experiences activity when we feel rejected.

Rejection can also cause surges of aggression and anger. In 2001, the Surgeon General of the US issued a report stating that rejection was a greater risk for adolescent violence than poverty, drugs or gang membership.

'Of course, emotional pain is only one of the ways rejections impact our well-being,' psychologist Dr Guy Winch said during his December 2015 TED Talk.

'Indeed, our natural response to being dumped by a dating partner or getting picked last for a team is not just to lick our wounds but to become intensely self-critical. We call ourselves names, lament our shortcomings, and feel disgusted with ourselves.

'In other words, just when our self-esteem is hurting most, we go and damage it even further. Doing so is emotionally unhealthy and psychologically self-destructive yet every single one of us has done it at one time or another.'

A 2016 study at the University of North Texas compared 100 users of Tinder with more than 1,000 non-users - all college-age students - to examine the dating app's effect on psychosocial well-being.

The men were asked to rate their body satisfaction, in categories such as 'muscularity of arms', 'leanness of stomach' and overall body build. Women rated seven parts of their body, including their hips and thighs, and four categories for their face, including complexion.

The researchers found that Tinder users were less satisfied with their face and body, felt more shame about their body and were more likely to compare their appearance to others, when compared with non-users.

Yet the process can feel addicting. According to a Match.com survey, one in six singles say they feel addicted to the process of looking for a date.

'Dating apps are basically slot machines - there's the promise that you're going to find something good, and every once in a while you get a little positive reinforcement to keep going,' David Greenfield, founder of the Center for Internet and Technology Addiction, told Vice.
A vaccine may keep patients alive for up to seven years longer with the same brain cancer that killed Dame Tessa Jowell, trial results suggest.

Scientists tested the DCVax-L injection, a form of immunotherapy, on more than 300 patients diagnosed with a glioblastoma.

They discovered, on average, the vaccine kept them alive for just under two years  around six months longer than expected.

The longest survivors have lived for more than seven years, according to the results published in the Journal of Translational Medicine.

Brain cancer charities have branded the results 'remarkably promising' in the wake of Dame Jowell's death two weeks ago, aged 70.

The former Labour cabinet minister died in her family's arms after a year-long battle with glioblastoma, which strikes 4,000 people in the UK each year.

Brain cancer charities have branded the results 'remarkably promising' in the wake of Dame Tessa Jowell's death two weeks ago, aged 70

Standard treatment for the most aggressive adult brain tumour involves surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Patients who follow this path live for 15-17 months, on average - a figure that has improved very little in recent years.

What did the trial find?

But the average survival of patients who took part in the DCVax-L trial was 23 months  a 35 to 53 per cent boost.

Nearly of third of those who took part in the experiment survived for at least 40.5 months. This is two years longer than expected.

Unlike chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the DCVax-L vaccine caused no reported side effects for the majority of patients.

Just seven of the 331 patients reported any significant adverse effects which may have been related to their treatment.

Hope to thousands of patients

Dr David Jenkinson, chief scientific officer for The Brain Tumour Charity, said: 'These results appear remarkably promising for a community of patients who have been given little hope for decades.

In 2014, Kat Charles (pictured with husband Jason) was given three months to live after NHS doctors ran out of options to treat her brain cancer. Three and a half years on, her most recent MRI scan showed no trace of the tumour after being given the vaccine DCVax-L

'THEY SAID THERE WAS NOTHING MORE THEY COULD DO FOR ME' In 2014, Kat Charles was given three months to live after NHS doctors ran out of options to treat her brain cancer. 'They said there was nothing more they could do for me,' said Mrs Charles, now 36. 'I was distraught.' Three-and-a-half-years on, the bank analyst's most recent MRI scan showed no trace of the tumour. Mrs Charles and her husband Jason, who live in Milton Keynes with their five-year-old son Jacob, credit the immunotherapy vaccine DCVax-L for her survival. Mrs Charles and her husband Jason live in Milton Keynes with their son Jacob, five 'DCVax has done what everyone said was impossible,' Mr Charles said. 'If not for this treatment, I would be without my wife and without a mother for our child.' Mrs Charles was initially diagnosed with a slow-growing brain tumour in 2011 during a trip to Costa Rica with Jason, when she suffered a major seizure out of the blue. Then 29, she was told back in the UK that doctors would monitor the tumour for signs of growth but there was no need for immediate treatment. But within two months of giving birth to Jacob in 2013, further seizures led to a scan which revealed the tumour had developed into a glioblastoma - the most aggressive type of brain cancer in adults. In the three years following her diagnosis, Mrs Charles underwent three operations along with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. She also joined a clinical trial to test the impact of blocking a protein involved in the spread of cells, which appeared initially to keep her tumour at bay. After 12 months, however, it began to progress once again and Mrs Charles was given the devastating news that the NHS could do no more. 'I would have felt like giving up but I had my son. I couldn't give up,' she said. The couple launched a fundraising drive to meet the cost of funding DCVax-L privately, enabling Kat to access the treatment. Mrs Charles continues to have regular injections of the vaccine, which was developed by isolating immune cells from her blood and combining them with markers from a sample of her tumour. 'I go to London on the train, I have a shot in each arm and then I'm free to go home,' she said. 'It doesn't give me any side effects. It's fantastic.' Advertisement

'We need further analysis of the data from this trial and more research in this area to ascertain the role that immunotherapy can play in the battle against brain cancer.

'If there is clear evidence that this type of treatment can extend survival with a very low risk of adverse effects, we will work on behalf of everyone affected by brain cancer to ensure it becomes widely available.'

HOW DOES THE VACCINE WORK? DCVax-L has been developed by Northwest Biotherapeutics, a pharmaceutical firm based in Maryland, US. It is created for each patient individually by isolating specific immune cells, known as dendritic cells, from his or her blood. These cells are then primed with biomarkers or 'antigens' from a sample of the patient's tumour. When the vaccine containing the cells is injected back into the patient, they 'share' that information with the body's immune system. This allows the body to recognise the target, which it begins to attack. Advertisement

DCVax-L has been developed by Northwest Biotherapeutics, a pharmaceutical firm based in Maryland, US.

It is created for each patient individually by isolating specific immune cells, known as dendritic cells, from his or her blood.

These cells are then primed with biomarkers or 'antigens' from a sample of the patient's tumour.

When the vaccine containing the cells is injected back into the patient, they 'share' that information with the body's immune system.

This allows the body to recognise the target, which it begins to attack.

How was the study carried out?

The early findings from the study are from an 11-year trial involving patients in the UK, the US, Canada and Germany.

All of the participants in the trial underwent the standard treatment for glioblastoma of surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Two thirds, 232 patients, were then injected regularly with DCVax-L along with further chemotherapy with temozolomide.

The remaining third were given a placebo - an indistinguishable and harmless substitute for the vaccine - along with temozolomide.

WHAT IS A GLIOBLASTOMA AND JUST HOW DEADLY IS IT? THE AGGRESSIVE BRAIN TUMOR SUFFERED BY JOHN MCCAIN Senator John McCain was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in July 2017 Glioblastoma is considered the most aggressive tumor that can form in the brain. Senator John McCain was diagnosed with one in July 2017. Patients have a 10 percent chance of surviving five years after their diagnosis, according to figures. The average lifespan is between 14 and 16 months. Three adults per every 100,000 will be struck down with a glioblastoma, says The American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS). It is most commonly found in men aged 50 to 60, and there is no link between developing glioblastoma and having a previous history with other cancers. WHAT IS THE TUMOR MADE OF? The tumor is made up of a mass of cells growing quickly in the brain, and in most cases patients have no family history of the disease. It won't spread to other organs, however, once it is diagnosed, it is nearly impossible to target, surgeons claim. Unlike other types of brain cancer which are more specifically located, glioblastoma can occur in any part of the brain. WHAT TREATMENT IS AVAILABLE? Because the tumor likely already spread deep into the brain by the time it is diagnosed, the cancerous tissue is incredibly difficult to remove. Surgeon will only ever remove the tumor, or part of the tumor, if it won't do any damage to the surrounding brain tissue. Dr Babcar Cisse, a neurosurgeon at the Weill Cornell Brain and Spine Center, told Daily Mail Online in July 2017: 'By the time a glioblastoma is diagnosed, microfibers can spread to the rest of the brain which an MRI would not spot. 'So even if the main tumor is removed and the patient receives radiation and chemotherapy, it will come back.' GRADING A GLIOBLASTOMA Brain tumors are graded from between one to four, depending on how fast they grow and how aggressive they are. Malignant tumors are either given a high-grade three or four, while benign ones are given a lower grade one or two. Glioblastoma is often referred to as a grade four astrocytoma - another form of brain tumor, says the AANS. SYMPTOMS Patients typically complain of symptoms such as confused vision, trouble with memory, dizziness and headaches. The symptoms are somewhat nonspecific, and vary from person to person, and may not persist. The disease is therefore impossible to diagnose based on symptoms alone. Advertisement

The trial was 'blinded', so neither patients nor the researchers knew who were being given the vaccine or the placebo.

However, every patient whose tumour recurred during the trial was automatically offered DCVax-L.

By the end of the experiment, almost nine out of ten of the volunteers had been given the vaccine at some point.

'Significant' findings

Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, at King's College Hospital, one of 69 co-authors of the study, welcomed the findings.

He said: 'The interim results of this phase 3 trial give new hope to the patients and clinicians battling with this terrible disease.

'Although definitive judgment needs to be reserved until the final data is available, the paper published today hints at a major breakthrough in the treatment of patients with glioblastoma.

'This is significant and much-needed, given that the last widely accepted major advancement in the field occurred over a decade ago.

'Cautious optimism is welcome in an area where for so long the disease and suffering have had the upper hand.'
Last December, Amy Meyerott received a Christmas gift she didn't want: an Ancestry DNA test.

The 32-year-old had been put up for adoption as a baby and, although she knew who her biological mother was, she could not say the same for her biological father.

Her family had been telling her that his was a way that she could finally find out.

However, Meyerott was worried that she wouldn't be able to find him and that - worse yet - if she did, that he would not want a relationship with her.

Finally, the photographer from St Louis, Missouri sent a sample of her saliva in to Ancestry DNA to see what family connections she could dig up.

Within weeks, Meyerott found her biological father living 500 miles away in Tennessee - who had no idea he had a daughter.

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Amy Meyerott, 32 (center), from St Louis, Missouri, met her father, Tim Berrigan (right), from Kingsport, Tennessee, who never knew he had a daughter, after she did a mail-order DNA test

Meyerott took the AncestryDNA test, which takes a saliva sample and looks at more than 700,000 different 'markers' in the DNA to create a profile for each user (Pictured, Amy, third from the right, with her children, half-siblings and step-siblings)

The results revealed that Amy (pictured, left, with her husband Andrew, and right, with her daughter) was Irish and that she had a close relative, a woman named Maureen, who turned out to be her father's sister

Meyerott was spending Christmas last year with her husband, Andrew, her daughter, Madeleine, and she was just a month away from giving birth to her second daughter, Myla.

After receiving the DNA test as a Christmas gift from her sister-in-law, Meyerott and her husband both decided to take it.

AncestryDNA takes a saliva sample and looks at more than 700,000 different 'markers' in the DNA to create a profile for each user.

To find your ethnicity, your genetic profile is compared to profiles from 26 regions around the world. Once similarities are drawn between your genetic profile and the regional profile, the company can estimate where your ancestors most likely lived.

After conferring with his sister, Berrigan (left) sent a message telling Meyerott (right) that he believed she was his daughter and that he wanted to meet her

To find people you are related to, your profile is compared to profiles of other people who have taken the test and similarities are studied in the DNA.

'When I got the results back, I found that I was significantly Irish, which I hadn't known,' Meyerott told Daily Mail Online.

'And it also showed that the only close relative I had was a woman named Maureen, who had a different last name than anyone I had known from my mother's side.'

Meyerott said she was certain Maureen was her biological father's sister but, after some debating, decided not to reach out.

'I didn't want to stir up any trouble and reach out to someone who maybe didn't want to be found,' she said.

However, Maureen had noticed that Meyerott was listed as a close family member and called her brother, Tim Berrigan. They concluded that the only way Meyerott would have been flagged was if she either her daughter or Berrigan's.

Berrigan was shocked. He had recently married his wife Jenne he had three children, and had never been told by Meyerott's biological mother that she was pregnant.

In March, Berrigan directly reached out to Meyerott and told her that he had reason to believe she was his biological daughter.

When Meyerott received the message, she was stunned.

'I was pretty shocked. I was holding my newborn daughter and after I read the message I yelled for my mom and husband,' Meyerott said.

'I read the message out loud to them and then my husband held our daughter as I wrote back to him.'

Berrigan asked Meyerott to confirm that she had received the message and invited her to call him. Meyerott estimates that she replied about 20 minutes after he sent the initial message.

'It was surreal, but I imagine it was stranger for him because I knew I had a father for 32 years but he didn't know he had a daughter for 32 years,' she said.

One week after their phone call, Berrigan took time off time from his job as a radiologist to visit Meyerott in St Louis.

Berrigan (left and right, with his wife) flew out a week later to visit Meyerott in St Louis and she has since returned the favor, visiting him in Tennessee

'It was surreal but I imagine it was stranger for him because I knew I had a father for 32 years but he didn't know he had a daughter for 32 years,' Meyerott (pictured, with her husband) said

Meyerott (pictured, right, with her adoptive dad) said she had been scared to do the test because she didn't know if her biological father would want a relationship with her, but said she's glad she did it

Meyerott learned about her father's wife and her half-siblings: an 11-year-old brother, an eight-year-old sister and a seven-year-old brother.

'It was really comfortable. It was like we had known each other for a long time,' Meyerott said.

She has since visited Berrigan and his family in Tennessee and was even visiting further extensions of her newfound family in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, at the time of this interview.

She said she never expected what would result from that one DNA test.

'What really kept me from wanting to do the test was that I just didn't think that he would want to have a relationship,' Meyerott said.

'So I was completely surprised when he said: "I want to meet you". And even if we didn't have a close relationship, there would be potential to have a good relationship with my siblings and to have a good relationship with my stepmom.

'So I'm glad I did it.'

DNA testing kids made headlines recently after one was use to arrest a serial killer.

Authorities in California identified Joseph James DeAngelo as the Golden State Killer - who murdered 12 and raped as many as 50 women - after a distant relative submitted their DNA to the genetic testing company, GEDmatch.

It has raised several question about whether or not law enforcement should be able to use a consumer genetic database to aid in a criminal case.
Thousands of Currys PC World customers have complained about sneaky monthly payments leaving their bank accounts.

Customers say they have been charged between 1.99 and 22 a month for product support after buying a TV or computer. This is insurance that promises to repair or replace a faulty item.

But some say they turned down the offer of cover - or were never told about it.

Thousands of Currys PC World customers have complained about sneaky monthly payments leaving their bank accounts

One says he was told the insurance was free when he bought a 400 laptop. But it, in fact, cost 5.99 a month after an introductory period.

In some cases, these fees have gone unnoticed for years, costing one customer almost 1,500. Another says Currys has continued to take money even after they asked for the cover to be cancelled.

Almost 2,300 complaints have now been posted on the consumer website aspokesmansaid.com.

Currys PC World was forced to apologise in March after customers said they had been pressured into paying 40 more than the ticket price for laptops.

Meanwhile, last year, Money Mail found customers were refused refunds for damaged goods unless they were returned within 48 hours. A spokesman says: We are disappointed by these complaints and are taking them seriously.

Our colleagues are trained to provide accurate and useful information about Care Plan.

Has Currys taken money out of your account for product support without telling you? Write to us at moneymail@dailymail.co.uk or Money Mail, Northcliffe House, 2 Derry Street, London W8 5TT.
Hundreds of thousands of people are investing pensions without legal protection against falling ill, and exposing loved ones to a costly ordeal to take control of their funds.

Without a 'lasting power of attorney' document created in advance, families can find themselves locked out of an ailing loved one's finances and facing a complicated court process with fees running into many thousands of pounds.

Four out of five retirees who have put their pensions in income drawdown schemes, which require ongoing management of investments, don't have this failsafe in place, according to new research by financial giant Zurich.

No legal failsafe: Hundreds of thousands of people are investing pensions without getting legal protection against falling ill

It estimates nearly 350,000 people were already in this situation by April this year, and if numbers entering drawdown continue to grow at the same rate there will be going on 1.4million of them by 2025.

You can protect your finances if you become too ill to handle them by appointing someone you trust - usually a family member or friend - to take over by creating an LPA, either independently or by paying a solicitor.

Find out how much this typically costs below, versus the expensive process of your family seeking control when you don't have an LPA.

Zurich warns the failure of many retirees to arrange this legal protection is creating a 'ticking time bomb' that could leave them facing a financial crisis in later life.

It cites figures from the Alzheimers Society, which says there are currently 850,000 people in the UK living with dementia, and estimates this could rise to more than one million by 2025 and then double to two million by 2051.

Alistair Wilson, a savings expert at Zurich, said: 'Registering an LPA has become even more important since the pension reforms.

What is income drawdown? Drawdown schemes allow you to take sums out of your pension pot while the rest remains invested. But this involves risk and requires ongoing management to maximise returns, avoid spending your savings too quickly, and limit taxes on your income. Pension freedom reforms have led to growing numbers of people entering drawdown and shunning annuities, which are unpopular because they are poor value and restrictive. However, annuities provide a guaranteed income for life with no monitoring or intervention needed during retirement, which makes having an LPA a less pressing matter although still important.

'Thousands of people are now making complex decisions on their pension into old age, when the risk of developing a sudden illness or condition such as dementia increases.

'Despite this, many are unprepared for a sudden health shock or a decline in their mental abilities. The time to set up an LPA is well before you need it, and pension providers should be highlighting this to their customers.'

How do LPAs work and what do they cost?

There are two types of LPA, one covering health and welfare and the other finances and property, which allow people to appoint someone else to make decisions for them if they can no longer do so.

You can sort them out by yourself through the Office of the Public Guardian, at a cost of 82 for each one in England and Wales and 77 for each in Scotland.

However, many people use a solicitor to ensure LPAs are set up properly and their wishes carried out if they are incapacitated.

'The Government does want people to do LPAs online. In my opinion that works well for some people but not everybody. The form is deceptively simple,' said Fiona Heald, partner on the Court of Protection team at law firm Moore Blatch.

'If someone does it and it's done badly, the fees for putting it right are more than if we did it in the first place. Like homemade wills, homemade LPAs are not necessarily a good thing. It looks such a simple form but it is easy to get it wrong and for people not to do what they wanted to do.'

When it comes to solicitor costs, Heald says her firm charges 650 plus VAT for either a health and welfare or a property and finance LPA on their own, or 975 for both.

Lasting power of attorney helps families keep control if illness or accident strikes Why you need this now and how to set it up. Read more here.

For couples, it charges 1,350 plus VAT for one or the other, or 1,950 for both. People must also pay 82 per LPA to the Office of the Public Guardian on top.

Zurich says: 'When you have completed an LPA, you should register it by sending it to the Office of the Public Guardian (for England and Wales), which can take up to 10 weeks.

'You can make changes to your lasting power of attorney even if its been registered, or cancel it, as long as you still have mental capacity to make decisions. Charges and processes are different for people living in Scotland and Northern Ireland.'

What happens if you fall ill without an LPA?

Without this vital legal document, families won't be able to deal with finances like investments in an income drawdown scheme if the holder becomes too ill to do it, warns Zurich.

Instead, you must apply to the Court of Protection, which aims to take 16 weeks but might take up to six months, for the power to step in and help a loved one.

'Once mental capacity is lost, its too late. Then courts will be involved in deciding on deputies to manage the persons affairs  this may not be who the person wanted it to be,' says the firm.

'A deputy is usually a family member or someone who knows the person well. A deputy can make decisions about someone's persons personal welfare, property and financial affairs.

Alistair Wilson: 'Many are unprepared for a sudden health shock or a decline in their mental abilities'

'If there's no friend or family member who is suitable or willing to act as a deputy, the Court of Protection can appoint a professional like an accountant or solicitor from a panel. Sometimes, two or more deputies are appointed. They can be asked to act together in all matters.'

You can apply to the Court of Protection without a solicitor, but Zurich says it is a complex and costly process if you are not sure what you are doing.

The court fees are 400 for each deputyship - health and welfare, and property and finance. You also need a medical certificate, which can cost up to 300.

If the court wants to hold a hearing before making the decision it costs a further 500, although these are rare.

After that, if you are appointed a deputy you need to pay a 100 assessment fee if youre new to the job. And you must pay an annual supervision fee depending on what level of supervision your deputyship needs.

It's 320 a year for general supervision and 35 a year for minimal supervision - the latter applies if you are managing less than 21,000.

If you make an application to become a deputy on behalf of someone you know via a solicitor, the basic fixed cost is meant to be 950 plus VAT, but Heald says in her experience it can work out at 1,250-2000.

The annual fixed cost of a professional deputy if one is appointed is set at 1,670 for the first year and 1,320 for each year after that, but again Heald says it can be higher.

If a professional deputy is taken on, they would also have to consult a financial adviser to make investment decisions about a pension drawdown scheme, such as how much income to take and the tax implications, which would involve further cost.

Heald says the court fee of 400 and cost of the medical certificate is payable upfront, but other solicitor costs are only taken out of someone's funds after their deputies are appointed.
World War II veterans who fought in what is now known as 'the forgotten battle' recall how the Japanese attacked them in the middle of the night more than seven decades ago.

The Battle of Attu, fought 75 years ago this month on Attu Island in Alaska's Aleutian chain, claimed the lives of more than 500 American troops.

WWII veterans William Roy Dover, Joseph Sasser and Allan Seroll were awakened around 2am on May 11, 1943, when word came the Japanese were attacking and had maybe even gotten behind the American front line.

While many have forgotten the battle, Dover recalled his first sergeant shouting: ''Get up! Get out!'

World War II veteran William Roy Dover (pictured on May 19, 2018), of Alabama, fought in the May 1943 effort to reclaim Alaska's Attu Island from the Japanese. He recalled being awakened in the middle of the night as Japanese soldiers closed in on them

Dover (right) and Allan Seroll (left), of Massachusetts, attend a 75th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Attu in Anchorage, Alaska on May 19, 2018. Seroll, 102, worked in communications including Morse code for the Army Signal Corps

WWII veteran Joseph Sasser, of Mississippi, was 20 years old when he fought in the battle

Dover and most of the American soldiers rushed to an embankment on what became known as Engineer Hill, the last gasp of the Japanese during the Battle of Attu.

'I had two friends that were too slow to get out,' the 95-year-old Alabama farmer recalled. 'They both got bayonetted in their pup tents.'

Sasser, then a skinny 20-year-old from Cartharge, Mississippi, also found himself perched against the berm on Engineer Hill when a captain with a rifle took up a position about 10 feet away.

'I noticed about after 30 minutes or so, he was awfully quiet,' Sasser said. 'We checked to see if he had a pulse and if he was alive, and he was not.

'We didn't even know he had been shot,' said Sasser, also 95.

Allan Seroll, 102, of Massachusetts, who worked in communications including Morse code for the Army Signal Corps, still carries the burden of the Battle of Attu.

'I wake up in the middle of the night, and I can't go back to sleep,' Seroll said. 'That's what this has done to me. That's how much it affected me and still does.'

American forces reclaimed remote Attu Island on May 30, 1943, after a 19-day campaign that is known as World War II's forgotten battle. Much of the fighting was hand-to-hand, waged in dense fog and winds of up to 120 mph. Pictured are graves of fallen soldiers

The battle for the Aleutian island was one of the deadliest in the Pacific in terms of the percentage of troops killed

Nearly all the Japanese forces, estimated at about 2,500 soldiers, died with only 28 survivors. About 550 or so US soldiers were killed

American forces reclaimed remote Attu Island on May 30, 1943, after a 19-day campaign that is known as World War II's forgotten battle.

Much of the fighting was hand-to-hand, waged in dense fog and winds of up to 120 mph.

The battle for the Aleutian island was one of the deadliest in the Pacific in terms of the percentage of troops killed.

Nearly all the Japanese forces, estimated at about 2,500 soldiers, died with only 28 survivors. About 550 or so US soldiers were killed.

American forces, many poorly outfitted for Alaska weather and trained in California for desert combat, recaptured Attu 11 months after the Japanese took it and a nearby island, Kiska. It was the only WWII battle fought on North American soil.

The Japanese staged a last-ditch, desperate offensive May 29 at Engineer Hill.

'Japanese soldiers surprised American forces on Attu with a fanatical charge out of the mountains,' recounts an Associated Press chronology of WWII events in 1943.

'Savage fighting rages throughout the day and into the following night.

American forces, many poorly outfitted for Alaska weather and trained in California for desert combat, recaptured Attu 11 months after the Japanese took it and a nearby island, Kiska. It was the only WWII battle fought on North American soil

In this May 28, 1943, from l-r Pvt John E. Terknett, of Texas, whose wallet was ripped by a shell which wounded him across the chest, Pvt Joseph E. Kenski, of Detroit, with a finger through a knitted cap and Sgt Forrest Wright Johnson, of Missouri, showing a bullet-creased boot

About 200 Japanese soldiers died in the assault, and the remaining 500 or so held grenades to their bellies and pulled the pins.

It was the first official case of 'gyokusai,' a Japanese euphemism for annihilation or mass suicide in the name of Emperor Hirohito, which increasingly occurred in other Japanese battlefields.

Tomimatsu Takahashi told Japanese public television network NHK in 2010 he was being treated for a bullet wound when the order for the final charge came. 'I was going to die, I thought,' he said.

But as he headed out to fight, he collapsed, likely because he hadn't eaten in days.

He was captured and sent to several mainland POW camps - including in Seattle, San Francisco and Chicago - before he returned home to Japan's Iwate prefecture in 1947.

His family already had a funeral and grave for him.

'I felt so relieved to be home,' he said. 'But I never thought I was lucky to be alive. I thought I survived because I was not lucky. I felt I was not supposed to come back, because those who went to war were not supposed to come back, and that's what we were taught.'

After the battle, Dover said things went back to normal for the American soldiers - except one thing: 'Somebody had to bury those Japanese.'

During the war, the US Army buried the Japanese soldiers' bodies with care, built a memorial, set up a grave post and paid respects to the spirits, said Nobuyuki Yamazaki, whose grandfather died on Attu.

Yamazaki was among a delegation of Japanese soldiers' descendants who attended a 75th anniversary celebration this month in Anchorage. The families have formally petitioned the Japanese government to have the remains returned, KTVA reported.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service now owns Attu Island, which is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. An artillery monument sits above Massacre Bay on Attu Island, Alaska

A titanium Peace Memorial at the crest of Engineer Hill on Attu Island

This 2017 photo provided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service shows a remnant of World War II remains on Attu Island

'Japanese people find great comfort when the remains of the Japanese are buried in our homeland,' Yamazaki said.

The Aleut people living on Attu Island also suffered losses, becoming the only North American community to be imprisoned in Japan during the war, according to the book 'Attu: The Forgotten Battle,' by John Haile Cloe.

While Kiska was unpopulated, about 45 Aleuts lived on Attu Island. When Japanese forces invaded, the Aleuts were captured and sent to Japan's Hokkaido Island, where about half died, most from malnutrition or starvation.

The survivors never returned to Attu. The Army said it would be too expensive to rebuild their village, and they were relocated after the war.

The battle over Attu proved to be unimportant to the rest of the war, possibly why it's forgotten today.

However, American planes did use the island to bomb the northernmost reaches of Japan.

And author and historian Cloe, who died in 2016, told the AP in 1993 that the Army learned much about amphibious landings and Japanese tactics from the battle.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service now owns Attu Island, which is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge.
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Two television journalists have been killed after a tree fell on their news vehicle in North Carolina as they reported on the flooding and severe weather associated with Subtropical Storm Alberto.

News anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer, who both worked for South Carolina's WYFF-TV, died on Monday while on assignment.

The men were driving on US Highway 176 near Tryon, west of Charlotte, when the large, 3-foot diameter tree fell on their vehicle.

They were killed just 10 minutes after interviewing Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant about the storm. The news crew had told Tennant to be careful given Alberto's remnant is expected to bring more heavy rains and mudslides this week.

'Ten minutes later we get the call and it was them,' Tennant said, his voice cracking.

News anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer, who both worked for South Carolina's WYFF-TV, died on Monday while on assignment in North Carolina covering Subtropical Storm Alberto

The TV vehicle engine's was still running and the transmission was in drive when rescue crews found it. Tennant said the men died instantly and called the deaths a 'freak of nature'.

The fire chief said he believed the roots of the tree were loosened in the ground that had been saturated by a week's worth of torrential rain.

The deaths came as the storm lumbered ashore on Monday on the US Gulf Coast, pelting white sand beaches with blustery winds and stinging rain that kept the usual Memorial Day crowds away.

Forecasters warned heavy rain, flash flooding and dangerous surf posed the biggest threats as Alberto's ragged core made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida Panhandle.

A few brief tornadoes also were possible in much of Florida and parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama.

The National Hurricane Center in Miami said at 5pm EDT Monday that Alberto was centered about 15 miles west-northwest of Panama City, Florida.

Forecasters warned heavy rain, flash flooding and dangerous surf posed the biggest threats as Alberto's ragged core made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida Panhandle

Beachgoers walk on Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach, Florida on Monday as Subtropical Storm Alberto approaches

Okaloosa Beach Safety lifeguard Doug Brown instructs beachgoers on Okaloosa Island on Monday

Emily Muller, left, and her father Bob walk through the rain as Subtropical Storm Alberto makes landfall on Monday

Rough conditions were whipping up big waves off the eastern and northern Gulf Coast

With maximum sustained winds of 45 mph, Alberto was moving north at 9 mph.

Rough conditions were whipping up big waves off the eastern and northern Gulf Coast, and authorities warned swimmers to stay out of the surf because of life-threatening swells and rip currents.

Between four and eight inches of rain could pummel Florida Panhandle, eastern and central Alabama, and western Georgia before the storm moves on.

Isolated deluges of 12 inches also were possible as the storm heads inland, threatening heavy rains around the Southeast in the coming hours and days.

As Alberto's center heads inland - deprived of the warm waters that fuel tropical weather systems - the storm was expected to steadily weaken.

Nathan Keller walks the beach as Subtropical Storm Alberto makes landfall on Monday

Rangers with the the National Park Service close off the Highway 399 through Gulf Islands National Seashore

Forecasters warned heavy rain, flash flooding and dangerous surf posed the biggest threats as Alberto's ragged core made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida Panhandle

A surfer makes his way out into the water as a subtropical approaches on Monday in Pensacola, Florida

A subtropical storm like Alberto has a less defined and cooler center than a tropical storm, and its strongest winds are found farther from its center.

A tropical storm warning is in effect for a stretch of coastline between Aucilla River in Florida's Big Bend and the Alabama-Florida border.

Lifeguards posted red flags along the white sands of Pensacola Beach, where swimming and wading were banned.

Meanwhile, the storm forced some Memorial Day tributes to be cancelled across Florida's Panhandle.

Safety was the priority, but the decision was still a 'heartbreaker,' said Tom Rice, a 29-year-old Army veteran who leads the organizations that planned a ceremony Monday at Beal Memorial Cemetery in Fort Walton Beach.

Some stragglers still made their way through the rain to pay tribute at the cemetery's Veterans Tribute Tower, however.

Rice said American flags had been placed Saturday on the graves of all 1,700 veterans buried in the cemetery.

'We got the flags out,' Rice told the Northwest Florida Daily News as wind whipped a massive U.S. flag flying at half-staff.

'That's what's important.'

A tropical storm warning is in effect for a stretch of coastline between Aucilla River in Florida's Big Bend and the Alabama-Florida border

Rough conditions were whipping up big waves off the eastern and northern Gulf Coast, and authorities warned swimmers to stay out of the surf because of life-threatening swells and rip currents

A surfer rides waves as a subtropical approaches on Monday in Pensacola

Along the Florida Panhandle coast known for its pristine beaches, tourists vowed Alberto wouldn't dampen their vacations.

Jason Powell said he was seeking to keep his children entertained until Alberto blows past his Panhandle vacation spot.

'So far we've seen a lot of wind and the ocean is really high, covering up the entire beach,' Powell said.

'We're not letting it ruin our vacation ... we're going to watch some movies inside and a little TV, and hopefully maybe even get into the pool' despite the rain.

Janet Rhumes said her group of friends from Kansas had been planning their Memorial Day weekend on Navarre Beach since October.

They stocked up on groceries and planned to play card games. No storm could deter them.

'We've never seen one before and we're here celebrating a friend's 20th birthday,' Rhumes told the Daily News.

'So how often can you say you rode a storm out?'

The mayor of Orange Beach, on Alabama's Gulf Coast, said Alberto brought rain and aggravation - and dashed hopes for record Memorial Day crowds.

Instead, red flags flew on Alabama beaches and officers patrolled, making sure no one entered the water.

The latest radar shows the storm's epicenter making landfall at Laguna Beach, Florida on Monday evening

Wind gusts appears to have weakened somewhat as the Gulf Coast of Florida experiences winds ranging from 20 to 29 miles per hour

So far, Florida, Alabama, and Georgia have been hit with rainfall since the storm made landfall on Monday

Storm surge alerts have been issued for the coastal area stretching from Panama City to near Perry, Florida

Flash flood warnings and flood watches are in effect for large swathes of the Southeast, stretching up to Tennessee and the southern tip of Indiana

Tropical storm warnings were in effect for the coastal areas of Florida and some parts of Alabama

Forecasts for the next few days call for a few inches of rain, with the Montgomery area expected to be hit with the most precipitation

Meteorologists are also warning of possible tornadoes and other extreme weather conditions throughout northern Florida extending into Georgia and South Carolina

Elsewhere, Florida's Division of Emergency Management said, about 2,600 customers were without power in northwestern Florida on Monday morning.

Scarlett Rustemeyer, a barista at the Fosko Coffee Barre in Pensacola Beach, said she always frets about power outages whenever storms bluster through.

'My boyfriend and I usually try to go to the store and stock up on lots of bottled water, and get like canned goods and things that won't go bad if our power goes out,' she said.

Alberto, the first named storm of 2018, got an early jump on the Atlantic hurricane season.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released the annual hurricane season forecast Thursday in which they call for 10 to 16 named storms, with five to nine hurricanes.

One to four hurricanes could be 'major' with sustained winds of at least 111 mph.

If that forecast holds, it would make for a near-normal or above-normal season.

An average hurricane season produces 12 named storms, of which six become hurricanes, including three major hurricanes.
A major tobacco company is spending millions of dollars on a campaign to persuade voters to reject a ban on selling flavored tobacco products.

The ban, if implemented in San Francisco, would stop the sale of products including menthol cigarettes, certain chewing tobaccos and vaping liquids with flavors like cotton candy, mango and cool cucumber.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. has spent nearly $12 million to the 'No on Proposition E' campaign, filling television and radio airwaves and mailboxes with ads urging voters to reject a law supervisors approved last year and that is now on the June 5 ballot.

By comparison, ban supporters have raised $2.8 million, including more than $2 million from billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In this May 17 photo, Miriam Zouzounis looks through a selection of tobacco products while interviewed at Ted's Market, her family's store, in San Francisco

Supporters say a ban would help stop another generation from getting hooked on nicotine.

However, critics point out that California has already raised the smoking age to 21 and they say that a ban would only drive sales underground.

San Francisco supervisors last year unanimously approved the ban on sales of flavored tobacco, saying the nicotine masked in flavors like mango, caramel and mint serve as starter products enticing kids to become smokers.

Smoke juices that taste like tobacco would still be allowed under the plans.

The law was set to take effect in April but was put on hold after R.J. Reynolds collected enough signatures to force it to ballot.

Other cities have passed laws reducing access to flavored tobacco and flavored vaping liquids, but San Francisco was the first in the United States to approve an outright sales ban.

It also was one of the first to ban indoor smoking in workplaces, bars and restaurants.

Packs of Kool menthol cigarettes displayed with other tobacco products at Ted's Market in San Francisco

Matthew Myers, of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, say that the spending by shows the industry fears that a flavored nicotine ban in San Francisco could become a national trend.

The maker of Newport, the top-selling menthol brand in the country, also sells e-cigarettes.

Some health experts say the mint in cigarettes helps to coat the throat and eases the harshness of tobacco smoke, making it easier to become addicted.

R.J. Reynolds did not reply to requests for comment from The Associated Press, and the 'No on Proposition E' campaign also declined to comment.

Its ads, running in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese, say San Francisco's ban on flavored tobacco is akin to prohibition and would lead to a black market for vape products.

Small-business owners also oppose the ban, which they say will hurt them because people can still buy flavored 'e-liquid' and tobacco products in neighboring cities or online.

Businesses that violate the planned law could have their tobacco sales permits suspended.

Blu menthol electronic cigarettes on sale and displayed with other tobacco products at Ted's Market in San Francisco

Miriam Zouzounis, a board member of the Arab American Grocers Association, which represents 400 small-business owners in the San Francisco Bay Area, said the ban would remove an anchor product that attracts customers, many of which are immigrant-owned.

'If we don't have our customer's winter green chewing tobacco, he won't come in and buy the food or drink or other products that keep our doors open,' Zouzounis said.

Dr. Pamela Ling, a professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco studies how tobacco is marketed to young people.

She said that while smoking has decreased among teenagers, e-cigarette use is increasing, in part because of flavored nicotine products and novel vaping devices, including one made by San Francisco-based JUUL that looks like a thumb drive.

'A lot of kids wouldn't necessarily smoke a cigarette, but if you hand them a little JUUL or a vape and you tell them it tastes like cookies-and-cream or creme brulee, they will try it out of curiosity,' Ling said.

Miriam Zouzounis holds a Black & Mild Wine cigarillo. She is a board member of the Arab American Grocers Association and said the ban would remove an anchor product that attracts customers

JUUL did not respond to a request for comment from the AP.

Ling said there are thousands of nicotine-laced liquid flavors that are attractive to kids and teenagers who often don't know they are inhaling the stimulant, which is considered harmful to the developing teenage brain.

'You can buy the flavored tobacco product at any corner store, and it's just so easy and so accessible,' Ling said. 'At least banning the products that are most appealing to kids would give parents a fighting chance.'

Zouzounis, whose family has owned a small store in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood for three generations, said vaping stores and Hookah lounges will have to close their doors if the ban is upheld.

She said: 'San Francisco politicians are talking about having safe injection sites for drug users, they legalized marijuana, but they want to take away an already heavily regulated product out of the market?

'It just doesn't make sense.'
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Britain was hit with another round of storms yesterday - with potentially more misery today. Flash floods saw half-term getaway plans trashed as dozens of flights were cancelled, rail services were disrupted, roads submerged and properties flooded.

The worst hit area in the country was the market village of Lenham, in Kent, where 34.2mm of rain fell within a few hours - usually half a months rainfall for May.

Yellow be aware warnings were issued by the Met Office across the East Midlands, East of England, London and South East England, South West England and Wales.

Thunderstorms in London airspace meant 27 Ryanair, three easyJet and two Eurowings outbound flights were cancelled from Stansted airport yesterday, while Gatwick had 39 inbound and outbound flights, including 22 easyJet, cancelled. Meanwhile 54 outbound flights were cancelled at Heathrow.

People dodge puddles and shield themselves from the wet weather with umbrellas near Southbank Centre during a downpour in London

People caught in the rain on Oxford Street, central London on Tuesday as forecasters have warned of the risk of more flooding, travel disruption and power cuts with thunderstorms set to rumble on

In Sittingbourne, Kent, fire crews rescued several motorists left stranded after breaking down due to flooding.

The Kent Fire and Rescue Service tweeted warning motorists not to drive through floods, saying: Crews are currently assisting people stranded in their vehicles after breaking down in flood water.

It later said it received more than 280 weather-related 999 calls yesterday, issuing a further warning: More heavy rain is expected overnight, so please take care on the roads and dont enter flood water. Only drive if you have to.

Kent County Council said some rounds had been left virtually impassable with sections of highway drainage system overwhelmed by torrential downpours.

On the M2 drivers faced severe delays after heavy rain left the carriageway flooded, with Highways England warning the westbound carriageway was closed between Junction 5 and Junction 4. There were also problems on the A249.

Meanwhile train travellers were handed plastic bags to wear over their feet and legs at Herne Bay station after the tunnel joining platforms 1 and 2 and the surrounding areas were submerged.

Southeastern rail said there was major disruption to services in the region due to flooding and a lightning strike.

Met Office forecasters last night said weather warnings were only in place until 6am today, but that further thundery showers with up to 20mm of rain were possible across southern counties, Wales and the midlands overnight and throughout the morning today. More warnings may be issued later in the week, forecaster Greg Dewhurst said.

It comes after a man in his 80s died on Monday after he became submerged in flood waters amid a deluge of rain across the West Midlands over the Bank Holiday weekend.

A man inspects the flood water at his mother's house following flash flooding on Pembrooke Road in Erith, Kent after heavy rain on Tuesday. Back gardens and basements were left under two feet of water

A man walks across Westminster Bridge just as London is hit by thunderstorms and heavy rain on Tuesday

Cars plough through flooded roads in Dartford Kent after a recent rain storm on Tuesday

Parts of Birmingham were hit by a months rainfall in just one hour on Sunday before almost a dozen people had to be rescued from flood-swamped cars in Milton Keynes, while emergency services received 200 calls from those caught in flash floods.

Winterbourne in Edgbaston recorded 58mm (2.25ins) of rainfall in just one hour. The average rainfall in the West Midlands for the entire month of May is 55mm (2.16 ins).

Yesterday a Kent County Council spokesman said: Todays thunderstorms have brought intense rainfall which has overwhelmed significant sections of the highway drainage system and caused widespread flooding.

The county council has received two weeks worth of enquiries in a matter of hours and seen roads that are usually unaffected by heavy rain become virtually impassable.

Staff have been working tirelessly throughout the day and are currently prioritising the main road network and internal property flooding.

We have received over 275 enquiries today with Gravesham, Maidstone and Swale appearing to be the works affected districts. Ham Hill, in Kent, had 28.33mm of rain yesterday and third highest was Bexley, south east London, with 26.9mm.

Last night a month's worth of rain fell within an hour, leaving cars submerged and railway lines blocked as Britain's rollercoaster weather continues.

Heavy thunderstorms caused devastation over the three-day weekend, with flash floods seeing roads submerged and firefighters called to rescue those trapped in cars and houses, as the rain continued throughout Tuesday

Also, Britons are facing travel chaos as thousands of commuters were left stranded due to severe delays on trains and the Eurostar, which were caused by lightening strikes and heavy rain.

Torrential rain and thunder storms brought flash flooding to Hatters Way in Dunstable, England. An HGV driver splashes buckets of rain water at taxi, as they drive past

Streets in Gravesend, Kent, have been left submerged in water on Tuesday after a storm resulted in a deluge in less than an hour

Cars make their way through a flooded road today in Gravesend, Kent, after a deluge of rain on Tuesday

In Sittingbourne, Kent, the fire service is dealing with a number of people stranded in broken down vehicles after flooding. Kent County Council said some roads had become 'virtually impassable' with sections of the highway drainage system 'overwhelmed' by the torrential rain.

Meanwhile, in Herne Bay, Kent, commuters have reportedly been handed plastic bags to wear on their legs as they move through the flooded station.

Stuart Blagden, one of the passengers caught up in the flooding, told Kent Live: 'I was there at 10:15, the bags work if you walk slowly. If you try to rush your feet will go through them and your feet will get wet.

'I was dropping someone off so I had to come back through again and my feet both got wet as the bags began to get holes in them.

'I've heard this isn't the first time it's flooded down there I would imagine it would be pretty simple to fit a pump with a float device that once activated would automatically pump water out of there. But I guess bags are cheaper.'

The flooding comes as parts of Britain continue a clean-up mission after lightning damaged homes in the Midlands - with a kitchen destroyed in one incident in Staffordshire, and a bolt blowing a hole through a house in Walsall.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms will continue in southern England tonight, with the Met Office warning area in yellow

Pictured: Map of lightening strikes (highlighted in red) in the London area around 4pm on Tuesday afternoon

Thunderstorms and showers will hit southern areas this evening, with temperatures up to 70F (21C) in the South West

A kitchen was destroyed in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, after lightning struck a house and sparked a major blaze that saw firefighters rescue two dogs, a cat and four kittens.

The homeowner, who found out about the blaze as she travelled home from London, said: 'My neighbour called me to tell me what had happened and I didn't know what to think. I have not got a lot of kitchen left.

'The kitchen is completely destroyed. But all the pets are OK. The fire brigade gave them oxygen and the RSPCA came and took them to the vets. I've just had a phone call to tell me that they are fine.'

The lightning strike hit the semi-detached property just after 8pm on Sunday - and also blew out telephone lines and power at neighbouring homes.

Meanwhile in Walsall, a lightning bolt destroyed the roof of a house in Bloxwich, with surprised neighbours reporting seeing smoke billowing over homes in the residential street.

Firefighters made the area secure by pulling down some loose sections of the rood around the original hole.

Just down the road, a separate strike punched a hole was through the roof of another home, smashing light switches and leaving the home without power this morning.

Those off for half-term this week have been warned of potential flash floods and sudden worsening of visibility amid heavy rain and balmy temperatures.

Forecasters say there is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded or struck by lightning, causing damage to some buildings, and where flooding does occur there is a slight chance of delays to trains.

People dodge puddles and shield themselves from the wet weather with umbrellas near Southbank Centre during a downpour in London today

A woman wades through puddles in Southbank Centre in London (left) and a firefighter empties water from his boot after flash flooding on Pembrooke Road in Erith, Kent

Women take shelter from the heavy rain under umbrellas as they hurriedly walk through Oxford Street in central London

Pedestrians and tourists are caught in heavy downpours at Trafalgar Square in London today

Meanwhile Capybaras were treated to a frozen ice lolly this afternoon at Knowsley Safari Park, as temperatures soared in the North West

Commuters use newspapers and umbrellas to avoid getting wet as they cross Westminster Bridge in London today

Cars plough through flooded roads in Dartford, Kent, following a rainstorm today

Cars and busses travel on the M25 in Surrey this afternoon in dangerous conditions as heavy rain pours down

Spray and flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures, while flooding or lightning strikes could cause power cuts in some areas.

A Met Office spokesman said: 'It's fairly normal weather for us to see thunderstorms through the summer months as temperatures warm up. Thunderstorms are caused by the warmer air.'

She said most summer rain comes in short, sharp, heavy showers, adding that what is unusual is the longevity of this period - with the risk of thundery showers lasting through the week.

Tomorrow, while some places will escape the worst of the rain, or even manage to stay largely dry, some rain will be heavy and up to 1.2in (30mm) could fall in an hour or less and 2in (50mm) could fall in a couple of hours.

Over the weekend, temperatures peaked at 82F (27.6C) at St James's Park in London on Sunday, while yesterday's high was 81F (27.3C) in Cavendish, Suffolk - while other areas of the country basked in sunshine.

Heavy thunderstorms and torrential downpours affected the West Midlands, with a lightning strike hitting a roof in Walsall

A kitchen in Meir, Stoke-on-Trent, was 'completely destroyed' after lightning struck a house and sparked a major blaze

A lightning bolt destroyed the roof of a house in Walsall during the storm that struck across Britain over the weekend

Heavy thunderstorms lashed the South and East yesterday, as well as West Wales. Weather agency Meteo Group said 100 lightning strikes were recorded between 1pm and 5pm in West Sussex and Hampshire alone yesterday.

Torrential rain and multiple lightning strikes also created mayhem in Milton Keynes yesterday. Almost a dozen people had to be rescued from flood-swamped cars in the Buckinghamshire town.

Emergency services received 200 calls from those caught in flash floods. Meanwhile a month's rainfall hit parts of Birmingham in just one hour on Sunday afternoon, leaving a major route into the city impassable with 5ft of water.

Winterbourne in Edgbaston recorded 2.25in (58mm) of rainfall in just one hour. The average rainfall in the West Midlands for the entire month of May is 2.16in (55mm).

A man in his 80s died in the flooding after his van in Rushall, Birmingham, became submerged in floodwater in the early hours of yesterday.

Mother of two Kirinna Johnson, 26, said a neighbour had dived into the water to try to help, adding 'he was a real hero'. Attempts to break a window with a hammer failed before firefighters arrived.

Sunseekers headed to Lyme Regis beach in Dorset yesterday to make the most of the Bank Holiday Monday weather

Women enjoy the hot weather in Victoria Park, East London, yesterday as temperatures soared across the country

A man and woman cool off in the sea off Blackpool beach in Lancashire yesterday as they play with a ball

A woman takes cover under a jacket as London is hit by sudden heavy rain yesterday at Potter Fields Park, near Tower Bridge

Residents in Selly Oak, Birmingham, had to be rescued by firefighters following flooding on Sunday in the West Midlands

They cut the man free from the van but he had been in the water for five minutes. He was taken to hospital but later pronounced dead.

Residents had to be rescued from their homes in parts of Birmingham when the downpour caused flash flooding, including some in Selly Oak who were rescued by fire crews in boats.

Flood defences costing 2.7million are planned for the area but not yet completed.

Support worker Thomas Mellett, 39, of Selly Park, who lives with his disabled brother Patrick Mellett, said: 'My brother couldn't get out and the fire brigade came with a boat to get him out.'

He said the incomplete flood defences 'were no good to anyone.'

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all enjoyed their hottest days of 2018 yesterday, with Dunstaffnage in Argyll reaching 27.1C (80.8F), Hawarden Airport in Clwyd reaching 24.9C (76.8F), and Castlederg in County Tyrone reaching 25.1C (77.2F).

However the 2018 UK record so far stands at 84.4F (29.1C) which was recorded in Central London in April.

Britain is facing a flying ant INVASION with numbers of the pest set to increase by 20% on last year after an unseasonably warm May Britain is facing a flying ant invasion with numbers of the pest set to shoot up. Pictured: Flying ants at Wimbledon last year on July 5 Britain is facing a flying ant invasion with numbers of the pest set to increase by 20 per cent on last year after an unseasonably warm May. Pest control bosses say they are taking record numbers of calls with a 148 per cent increase in the past two months. Experts warned that the UK's ant population is normally 150billion but has risen to 200billion this year thanks to the recent bout of hot weather. It comes after April 19 saw Britain bask in 84F (29C) heat, the hottest April day since 1949, and May is set to be one of the warmest on record. Because of the surge in the number of ants, the number of flying ants - when ants sprout wings and go on 'nuptial flights' in search of a mate - is expected to take place earlier this year than normal. The event, often called Flying Ant Day - despite it normally lasting around a fortnight - normally takes place in July, but this year is expected to take place as early as June. A spokesman for Rentokil said: 'There has been a significant increase in ant activity across the UK. Ant-related call outs increased 148 per cent from March to April. 'Experts believe the rise could be attributed to the unseasonably warm start to the spring - after Brits experienced record-breaking warm weather in April. 'Last month's period of clear skies and the hottest April day since 1949 may explain the surge in activity, as ants are typically more active in higher temperatures and colonies use sunlight to navigate. 'If the weather remains mild, Rentokil expects higher levels of ant activity throughout the summer period. Ant life-cycles depend on temperature, and the amount of food available to them. 'Provided the Queen is healthy, and enough food is being brought back to the nest, ant eggs have a greater chance of survival. Ants can hatch after just three weeks, leading to increased breeding and larger colonies during prolonged warm periods.' David Cross, head of the technical training academy at Rentokil Pest Control, said: 'Last month we saw reported ant infestations rise to levels we wouldn't usually expect until June or July. 'It's rare to see ant infestations in cold or overcast weather, and while the 'Beast from the East' may have caused them to remain dormant in March, the sudden change in temperature has since brought them out in their droves. This trend could be set to continue throughout the rest of the summer.' Bosses at Rentokil said that the main food source for ant was sugary secretions from insects like aphids - although many will sneak into homes to feast on sugary deposits from fruit and any food left out. When one any finds a good food source it leaves a 'pheromone trail', which tips off ant pals about a good food source, which can see hundreds and thousands march into homes, often through cracks in doors, windows and through pipes. Advertisement

#BacktoWork! Britons deal with returning to the office after the three-day weekend with funny Twitter memes

Britons told of their dismay at heading #BacktoWork after the three-day weekend today, with many Twitter accounts posting a series of tongue-in-cheek memes.

One compared their email inbox to the scene in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone when dozens of letters from Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry fly in through the fireplace.

Others used memes from film The Boss Baby, and TV shows The Great British Bake Off and Keeping Up With The Kardashians to help illustrate their unhappy feelings as they returned to the office.

Meanwhile one Twitter user posted a screengrab of her work computer asking for a password, with the hint: 'You know it, hun.' She said: 'Thought I was really clever at the time, now... I'm not feeling so clever.'

And Clare Elizabeth from Wolverhampton tweeted: 'When you get in the shower still half asleep and wash your hair with conditioner... you can only hope your day is going to get better #backtowork.'
Were courtiers making a cruel joke at Meghan Markles expense before the Royal Wedding?

A motoring buff points out that the Rolls-Royce Phantom IV the Royal Mews sent to deliver Meghan and her mother, Doria Ragland, to St Georges Chapel, was the same vehicle they used to convey Wallis Simpson to the funeral of her husband, the Duke of Windsor, in 1972. Like Meghan, Mrs Simpson was an American divorcee. Her marriage to Edward VIII caused the 1936 abdication crisis.

If it was a joke, it wouldnt be the first time Meghan, whose mother is descended from slaves, has faced such poor taste since becoming engaged to Prince Harry. At the Queens Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace, Princess Michael of Kent chose to wear a blackamoor brooch.

She later apologised for the accessory, which depicted a black servant. However, Aatish Taseer, the former boyfriend of her daughter, Lady Gabriella Windsor, claimed Princess Michael had a desire to shock.

Does poor Meghan know what shes let herself in for?

The Rolls-Royce Phantom IV the sent to deliver Meghan and her mother to St Georges Chapel

The Duchess of Windsor at her husband's funeral with the Queen and Prince Philip in 1972

Wallis Simpson, wife of the former King Edward VIII, in the Rolls-Royce at Buckingham Palace

Designer grovels in Meghan dress debacle

Who would dare utter a word of criticism against the new Duchess of Sussex?

Top fashion designer Emilia Wickstead has felt the need to issue a grovelling apology after mentioning to me at a party last week that Meghan Markles wedding dress was identical to one she had created.

Comparing the 200,000 Givenchy gown designed by Clare Waight Keller (far right) to her own 7,000 off-the-shoulder Helene dress (near right), the 34-year-old favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge told me: Her dress is identical to one of our dresses. Apparently a lot of commentators were saying: Its an Emilia Wickstead dress.

Now, after facing extraordinary online criticism, she has backtracked. In a statement posted on her Instagram page on Sunday, she cooed: Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of Sussex looked absolutely beautiful on her wedding day and I have the utmost admiration and respect for her.

Emilia Wickstead (left) has felt the need to issue a grovelling apology after claiming last week that Meghan Markles wedding dress (right) was identical to one she had created

I do not think that her wedding dress was a copy of any of our designs. I have the greatest respect for Clare Waight Keller and the House of Givenchy  a huge source of inspiration to me.

It is not the first time she has found herself entangled in a PR debacle. Two years ago, having designed a sumptuous dress for the marriage of the Duke of Wellingtons daughter, Charlotte Wellesley, to billionaire financier Alejandro Santo Domingo, Wickstead arrived at the nuptials wearing a floor-length ivory frock with her trademark fold-down, off-the-shoulder neckline, which, several observers noted, was uncannily similar to the bridal gown.

Proud mum Zeta-Jones's prom boast

As the son of Hollywood stars Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, he is used to grand occasions. So 17-year-old Dylan Douglas looked very much the part as he donned his dinner suit for his school prom in Los Angeles.

Prom Proud! gushed his 48-year-old mother as she shared this picture with her fans online. Graduation around the corner! So proud of you Dylan, college bound! Love you so.

Awkwardly, his father, the Fatal Attraction star, 73, is sometimes mistaken for Dylans grandpa.

Prom Proud! gushed his 48-year-old mother as she shared this picture with her fans online. Graduation around the corner! So proud of you Dylan, college bound! Love you so'

Best known for his bodice-ripping adaptations of classic novels such as Pride And Prejudice, Bleak House and War And Peace, screenwriter Andrew Davies is now turning Victor Hugos Les Miserables into a BBC drama series. But I have to admit I had never read the book before I started or even been to see the musical, he confesses at the Hay Festival. I am just vaguely aware of a few of the tunes.
A depressed mother-of-three claims a controversial electro shock to the brain saved her life.

Helen Elliott was admitted to hospital after suffering months of depression but when concoctions of medications failed to work, the 'lost' mother's psychiatrist advised her to try electro-convulsive therapy (ECT).

'The thought of handing my brain over, under general anesthesia numerous times over a short space of time was terrifying,' Ms Elliott wrote online.

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Helen Elliott (pictured) was admitted to hospital after suffering months of depression but when concoctions of medications failed to work she turned to electro-convulsive therapy

Ms Elliott, a clinical psychologist, had six treatments of ECT - a process which electronically reboots the brain - over two weeks about four years ago and said it saved her life

Ms Elliott, a clinical psychologist, had six treatments of ECT - a process which electronically reboots the brain - over two weeks.

'My mood had shifted consistently and the binds of the depression began to loosen their grip,' she wrote.

'As though my brain had been re-booted, the agitation dissolved and my interest and confidence in engaging in life returned.'

The mother, who has three primary school aged children, said she was battling between caring for her youngsters and being therw as a therapist for her patients.

'I felt completely lost and just wasn't getting any better,' she told The Project.

'I feel I had no other option so I feel lucky I responded so well.'

Experts describe the brain as being like a sophisticated computer where ECT is able to bring on a seizure to rewire the brain however memory loss is a side effect (Kitty Dukakis pictured undergoing ECT in America)

Experts describe the brain as being like a sophisticated computer where ECT is able to bring on a seizure to rewire it.

'I don't think I could have kept going ... there was a very dark path in my head if I didn't get better,' Ms Elliott told the program.

'It saved my life.'

While the lifesaving treatment was successful in saving the mother's life four years ago, Ms Elliott said she suffered from minor memory loss.

'My ability to retain information has possibly been impaired by ECT but the impact is minimal on my life,' she wrote online.

If you or someone you know needs support phone Lifeline on 13 11 14 or the Kids Helpline on 1800 55 1800 (for people aged 5 to 25).
A criminal who prostituted a 12-year-old girl to more than 100 men has been released back into the community before the end of his jail sentence.

For the past two years Gary John Devine has been permitted to leave jail on day release and is now free for good following a decision made by Tasmania's Parole Board.

The now-59-year-old was not made to serve out his 10-year sentence and instead granted parole despite the acknowledgement that he was unable to 'remain offence-free for any sustained period of time'.

Gary John Devine (pictured) forced the young girl to have sex with more than 100 men

In 2010, Devine was convicted of prostituting a girl in h is home and at a hotel in Glenorchy, 10 kilometres from Hobart's centre, with help from her mother who he split proceeds with.

At his sentencing when Justice Peter Evans ordered him 10 years' jail, Devine was told his actions had caused irreparable damage to the girl's life, the ABC reported.

'The stark and straightforward reality is that the defendant caused a child of 12 years of age to be subjected to sexual intercourse with in excess of 100 men,' he said at the time.

At the parole hearing the girl's victim impact statement from sentencing was read to the board.

The now-59-year-old was not made to serve out his 10-year sentence and instead granted parole (stock picture)

'It caused her estrangement from key members of her family and adversely affected her social relationships,' it was noted.

'She has experienced what appear to be trauma-related symptoms as a consequence of the offending.'

However it was found that his good behaviour while inside and upholding the boundaries of his 're-integration leave' over two years was enough to release him under strict conditions.

He is not allowed to consume alcohol or drugs or enter licensed premises while on probation for the next two years.

Devine will not be allowed to associate with his co-offender - the victim's mother, who was released in September last year - and must abide by a curfew.
Philip Hammond was accused last night of failing to prepare for the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal

Philip Hammond was accused last night of failing to prepare for the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal and of wanting to keep the City too closely tied to Brussels.

Tory MPs demanded yesterday that ministers step up preparations for a 'no deal' Brexit to give Theresa May the ability to walk out of negotiations if Brussels refuses to agree satisfactory terms.

Eurosceptics raised fears that contingency planning had ground to a halt in Whitehall, making it almost impossible for the Prime Minister to follow through on her threat to walk away if necessary.

Meanwhile, the Treasury was forced to deny the Bank of England was at loggerheads with Mr Hammond over his reluctance to allow a clear divide with the EU in financial regulation after Brexit.

Sources told the Financial Times that relations were 'very, very bad' because the Chancellor wanted to keep Britain close to EU rules to ensure maximum access for the City to the European market, while the Bank was opposed to any compromise that would leave it as 'a rule taker'.

But the Treasury claimed the two sides were 'united'.

Meanwhile, former civil servants warned that contingency planning for Brexit was far from where it should be for Mrs May to say realistically that Britain could exit the EU without a deal in March 2019.

Tory MP James Duddridge said last night: 'Preparations for no deal are essential. Without no deal as a credible option we have little negotiating power.'

Fellow Tory Andrew Bridgen added: 'Not preparing for no deal undermines our position and makes no deal more likely.'

Tory MPs have demanded ministers step up preparations for a 'no deal' Brexit to give Theresa May the ability to walk out of negotiations if Brussels refuses to agree satisfactory terms

Jacob Rees-Mogg told the Sun: 'Planning for no deal ought to be an essential part of the negotiations strategy.

'To show we could easily walk away would worry the EU, strengthening our position and failing to do so would be both incompetent and weak.'

Sir Ivan Rogers, the UK's former ambassador to the EU, claimed last week that Brussels believed Mrs May was bluffing because of Whitehall's lack of preparation.

A No10 spokesman insisted last night that preparations were under way for the possibility of a 'no deal' Brexit, adding: 'The Government is committing extensive resources as part of our preparations for leaving the EU  whether in the event of a deal or not.'

The Treasury denied a rift between Mr Hammond and the Bank of England, claiming they were united to ensure the stability and prosperity of the economy'.

A spokesman said: 'The United Kingdom cannot be an automatic 'rule taker'.

'We will start our first day outside the EU from a unique position, with full alignment.'
A dramatic video has emerged appearing to show a 13-year-old boy being punched in the ribs by a police officer.

Footage shows two policemen desperately trying to arrest the teenager, who had allegedly been threatening to fight other kids in the Auckland park.

The boy appears to be thrown from his bike by one officer and brought to the ground as the two policemen attempt to place handcuffs on the struggling teenager.

As the boy continues to resist, one officer can be seen appearing to throw a punch before grabbing his arm and handcuffing him.

A dramatic video has emerged showing a 13-year-old boy being punched in the ribs by a police officer. The officer (pictured) is seen raising his fist

The boy's father, Geoff Garnett, published the video to Facebook on Monday and expressed his anger in an interview with the NZ Herald.

'What is New Zealand Police coming to?' he told the publication.

'They put him in a cop car and they brought him home. He was cuffed and put in the back of the car.'

New Zealand Police said the police officer was 'carrying out a tactic' to help officers release the boy's arm in a statement provided to Daily Mail Australia.

'Police were trying to handcuff the teenager who was resisting arrest,' Manukau East Inspector Wendy Spiller said.

Inspector Spiller said the boys were allegedly aggressive and trying to fight other kids in the area.

Father Geoff Garnett published the video on social media and described the police as 'pigs'

NZ Police said the police officer was 'carrying out a tactic' to help police release the boy's arm

'Police staff quickly attended and tried to speak with the teenagers however the main aggressor, who was 13-years-old, quickly tried to get away from police on a pushbike and was biking into traffic and ran through a red light,' she claimed.

'The officer is shown carrying out a tactic that can be used to get an offender to release their arm so that we can put handcuffs on them.'

Police said the teenager will be charged with disorderly behaviour, failing to stop, dangerous driving and resisting police.
Taxpayers have been left outraged after prisoners are caught splurging their cash on takeouts as they order McDonalds, Subway and KFC to their cells.

The inmates are asking guards to dial in the food for them as a reward for their good behaviour.

Despite the outrage, the Queensland government released a statement that the purchase of treat food is used as part of a centre's reward and incentive scheme, according to Nine news

Taxpayers are outraged with a revelation of footing the bill for rewarding inmates with fast food ( Prison Stock Image)

It is also a standard request from inmates, and sometimes staff would purchase convenient and quick takeaway for juvenile inmates during long drives.

Other purchases relate to significant events such as when community Elders visit the centre, the government statement read.

Queensland taxpayers are paying for fast food to sent to prison cells as a reward for good behaviour for juvenile criminals according to Nine news.

Queensland taxpayers shared their anger online that inmates are in prison for a reason and shouldn't be rewarded

Queensland taxpayers shared their anger online that inmates are in prison for a reason and shouldn't be rewarded.

One comment read 'outrageous.....wonder how many pensioners out there can afford to splurge even once on dial out delivery'.

Another comment read, 'some criminals get looked after behind bars..corrupt government corruption rife in jail makes sense.'

And another taxpayer said, 'how about rewards for the victims of these filth?'.

Nine news reported that Queensland taxpayers are paying for fast food to sent to prison cells as a reward for good behaviour for juvenile criminals

Taxpayers money is used for purchases of fast food including McDonald's, Subway, fish and chips and confectioneries for inmates behind bars.

Shadow Police Minister Tim Mander shared the same sentiment. He told Nine that prisoners shouldn't be allowed to have fast food when many families in Queensland struggle to treat their children.

'When you're in prison, you shouldn't be getting room services....as taxpayers money shouldn't be used for detainees or staff members,' said Mr Mander.

During the 2016 Cleveland Youth Detention Centre riot in Townsville, one of the demands from the inmates was fast food.
A surge in the number of African migrants trying to reach Spain has overwhelmed the countrys rescue and humanitarian organisations, the UN refugee agency warned yesterday.

It called for urgent measures to tackle the flood of those risking their lives by crossing the Mediterranean in often unseaworthy boats.

Spanish officials rescued over 500 migrants from 17 vessels trying to cross the Mediterranean over the weekend.

Rescue crews plucked 293 people from nine boats on Saturday and a further 250 from eight boats on Sunday, three of which were in poor condition and later sank.

A surge in the number of African migrants trying to reach Spain has overwhelmed the countrys rescue and humanitarian organisations, the UN refugee agency warned yesterday

There have been growing concerns that the country may be unable to cope with the crisis as rising numbers cross from north-Western Africa to Spain.

The busy refugee route is replacing the usual way into Europe  by travelling to Italy and Greece from Libya. Almost as many people have died trying to cross the Mediterranean to Spain so far this year as perished in the whole of 2017.

It is thought the rise in the number of those attempting the route may have been fuelled by an EU policy of helping Libya intercept migrants and return them, forcing those intent on reaching Europe to seek alternative ways in.

In August 2017 Italy and the EU put in place a deal in which they train the Libyan coastguard to intercept boats and return migrants to Libya, a large transit hub.

It called for urgent measures to tackle the flood of those risking their lives by crossing the Mediterranean in often unseaworthy boats

Maria Jesus Vega, a spokesman for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees in Spain, said: This situation requires urgent measures from central government, which needs to coordinate with the relevant ministries as well as the Guardia Civil border police, the maritime rescue service, the police and non-governmental organisations.

Government action is more urgently needed than ever and we need to see proper infrastructure for welcoming, registering and identifying these people.

All the organisations working on this situation are overwhelmed. The number of people crossing into Spain by sea from North Africa has increased significantly in recent years, while arrivals to Italy and Greece from Libya have dropped.

There have been growing concerns that Spain may be unable to cope with the crisis as rising numbers cross from north-Western Africa

According to the International Organisation for Migration, 21,468 migrants and refugees arrived in Spain by sea in 2017, with 224 people dying on the journey.

This represents more than a threefold increase on 2016, when 6,046 people reached Spain and 128 people died trying. In the five months of 2018 so far, 4,409 people have reached Spain and 217 died trying. Meanwhile, arrivals for Italy alone have fallen by around 85 per cent this year.

Despite this, an Italian coastguard official confirmed that more than 1,800 migrants were rescued over the past three days trying to reach the country, probably thanks to an improvement in the weather.

A baby boy named Miracle was born aboard an Italian ship after his mother was rescued during a crossing.
Tens of thousands of new school places are to be created to cope with Englands population boom.

Ministers have set aside 680million to fund 40,000 places in primary and secondary schools across the country by 2021.

They are needed in part because of a baby boom fuelled by high migration under the Labour government.

Earlier this year, the Government said an extra 600,000 secondary school places would be needed in England by 2023, plus almost 80,000 new primary places.

Tens of thousands of new school places are to be created to cope with Englands population boom (stock image)

That means the extra money announced last night will only begin to fund the shortfall.

There will also be fears that hundreds of schools will be blighted by temporary classrooms until permanent ones can be built.

Ministers said 50million of the funding will go on places for children with special educational needs.

Childrens minister Nadhim Zahawi said: All parents want to send their child to a good local school, one that meets their individual needs and supports them to achieve their full potential, regardless of the challenges they may face.

This funding will help to create thousands more school places across the country, with a clear focus on transforming the experience of education for children with special educational needs or disabilities.

The places shortage has led to many pupils being taught in classes of more than 30, and has made it more difficult for parents to get their children into their first choice of school.

The funding comes after a Government projection found that, over the next five years, the number of secondary pupils will rise by more than 600,000.

Earlier this year, the Government said an extra 600,000 secondary school places would be needed in England by 2023, plus almost 80,000 new primary places (stock image)

This originates from a surge in births that began in the 2000s following a period of sustained high immigration as figures show foreign-born women have a higher birth rate. The population bulge has already created problems for primary schools, with many having to expand.

Now that issue is set to transfer to secondary schools. In 2016/17, there were 3.14million pupils of secondary school age in England. This is predicted to hit 3.8million by 2023/24.

Data also showed the number of secondary schools that are full is already rising, with 548  about one in six  full or in excess of capacity.

In primaries, pupil numbers may start to plateau beyond 2020/21. However an estimated 79,000 places still need to be created since 23 per cent are full or running beyond capacity.

Last week forecasts said Englands population will soar by more than 3 million over the next decade to almost 60 million.

Childrens minister Nadhim Zahawi said 'all parents want to send their child to a good local school, one that meets their individual needs and supports them to achieve their full potential'

The Office for National Statistics expects most of the growth will come from migration, rather than births exceeding deaths. And it is forecasting the boom despite a fall in the expected number of EU migrants after Brexit.

The Department for Education said the 40,000 extra places come on top of 825,000 created since 2010. Ministers say they want to ensure only the best schools are expanded, so the increase does not simply lumber more children with the worst-performing teachers.

Of the 680million, 50million will be targeted on free schools. A separate 50million pot for special educational needs schools will fund about 740 places as well as state-of-the-art facilities that will give families more choice and help meet increasing demand.

The National Network of Parent Carer Forums said: Specialist provision continues to be under great pressure across the country and it is vital this money makes the greatest impact. Gail Walshe of Contact, a charity for families of disabled youngsters, said: We welcome any increase in funding that will help inclusion of children with additional needs in mainstream schools.

Earlier this month ministers announced a 50million fund to create up to 2,000 grammar school places.
The tax burden faced by British families is the highest for more than 20 years, according to a report last night.

The Adam Smith Institute said today is Tax Freedom Day  the latest it has been since its records began in 1995 and three days later than last year.

Tax Freedom Day is the first day of the year that a typical worker keeps the money they earn rather than hands it over to the taxman.

'British taxpayers have worked a gruelling 148 days for the Chancellor this year more than in any year under New Labour, and three days longer than last year,' the report said.

The tax burden faced by British families is the highest for more than 20 years, according to a report last night. File photo

Figures from the Office for Budget Responsibility show HM Revenue and Customs will collect 724.9billion this year. That is the equivalent to 34.3 per cent of national income, or gross domestic product.

The last time the tax burden was higher as a proportion of GDP was in 1969-70 when Harold Wilson was in power.

The Adam Smith Institute warned taxes would rise even further under a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn.

'Tax Freedom Day is a stark illustration of the UK's tax burden,' said Sam Dumitriu, head of research at the think tank.

'It is a reminder that public services such as education, welfare, and the NHS must be paid for, either through taxes or borrowing  taxes on the next generation.

'The Chancellor must resist the pressure to declare austerity over and turn on the spending taps. Labour too, must be honest with the public.

'Their proposed 50billion increase in public spending will inevitably lead to even higher tax burdens.'

The tax burden fell below 30 per cent of national income in the early 1990s but has been rising ever since to pay for the ever expanding state.

Although the Tories like to see themselves as a low tax party, the burden has continued to rise as the Government battles to balance the books following Labour's borrowing binge.

The Tories have frozen fuel duty, slashed corporation tax and raised the personal allowance, the point at which income tax kicks in.

But VAT has gone up from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent and more than 4.5million now pay either 40p or 45p income tax.

That compares with three million higher rate taxpayers in 2001-02.
Meghan McCain has revealed how she once got into a shouting match with her father Senator John McCain just after his brain surgery.

The Arizona Republican McCain, 81, decided to fly to Washington DC shortly after the July 2017 surgery to block a repeal of Obamacare, over his doctor's and daughter's strenuous protests.

The family drama is revealed in a new HBO documentary, John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls, which airs on Monday night.

'He said, "I have to get back for the healthcare bill" and I said, "What could possibly happen if he gets on a plane?"' Meghan, 33, recalled in the film, according to People.

Meghan McCain (right) has revealed how she once got into a shouting match with her father John McCain (left) just after his brain surgery, begging him not to fly after the procedure

McCain wanted to get to DC to make his shock vote (above) against the Obamacare repeal

'The doctor said he would like hemorrhage and it can be dangerous if he still has air in his brain, and all this crazy stuff,' Meghan said.

'So I freaked out and I screamed at everyone that he couldnt get on the plane and that I didnt agree with it,' she continued. 'And my dad snapped at me and said, "Its my life and its my choice."'

McCain did make the trip to DC, where he shocked his colleagues by voting no on the repeal, blocking something the Republicans had loudly promised for years.

Filmmaker Peter Kunhardt and his sons George and Teddy conceived of the new biographical film on the same day that McCain's diagnosis with with glioblastoma, a very aggressive form of brain tumor, was made public last year.

The project moved extremely quickly and McCain agreed to sit with the Kunhardt team for six hours of interview.

The details about Meghan and her father's disagreement come in a new HBO documentary

This image released by HBO shows Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who is the subject of the documentary "John McCain: From Whom the Bell Tolls," debuting on Memorial Day on HBO

McCain left Washington in December and has yet to return, though he continues to weigh in on an array of issues.

Earlier this month, he urged his fellow senators to reject President Donald Trump's nominee to lead the CIA.

A White House aide subsequently dismissed his opposition, saying it 'doesn't matter' because 'he's dying anyway,' setting off a firestorm of criticism and calls for a public apology.

Following an advance viewing of the HBO film on Capitol Hill, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said she will always remember McCain interrupting a supporter in her home state to stick up for Barack Obama, his Democratic opponent in the 2008 presidential race.

The supporter had said she couldn't trust Obama and called him an 'Arab.'

McCain replied: 'No, ma'am, no, ma'am. He's a decent family man, a citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues, and that's what this campaign is all about.'

One moment featured heavily in the film is when McCain interrupted a woman during his presidential campaign against Barack Obama when she called him 'an Arab'

That scene made it into the movie, which was followed by praise from Obama, who said he admired McCain's civility in an uphill battle.

'For John, in the middle of that to say, 'Hold on a second. We don't demonize each other. We're all Americans. We're all on the same team,' I thought was an indication of who John fundamentally was,' Obama said.

Indeed, praise from Democrats was featured prominently in the film, including from former Vice President Joe Biden, previously a colleague of McCain's in the Senate, and former Sen. Joe Lieberman.

Fewer appearances were made by Republican lawmakers. Trump, with whom he has feuded, is not interviewed, though Trump's 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton, was.

In another tidbit released prior to the film's airing, McCain expresses regret for not picking Lieberman as his 2008 presidential running mate in place of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. He said advisers talked him out of it.

'That was another mistake that I made,' McCain said.

In another tidbit released prior to the film's airing, McCain expresses regret for not picking Lieberman as his 2008 presidential running mate in place of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (above)

The film's closing moments include McCain's deciding vote against the GOP's health care bill and his Senate speech before departing for Arizona.

As bells begin to toll, McCain gives a quick take on Washington: 'We need to make sure we give the American people what they deserve, and right now they're not getting it.'

And on his current circumstances: 'I'm confident, I'm happy and I'm very grateful for the life I've been able to lead and I greet the future with great joy.'

The final scene includes McCain's October address after receiving the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal.

In the speech, he blasted a 'half-baked, spurious nationalism' in the United States 'cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems.'

John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls airs on HBO at 8pm ET on Monday.
Britain's cutting-edge new stealth fighter jets are expected to touch down on UK soil from as early as next week, it emerged yesterday.

The supersonic F-35 Lightning aircraft  which are reported to cost almost 100million each  have been stationed in America since their manufacture, being tested and used for training by RAF and Royal Navy pilots.

Four of the jets are due to cross the Atlantic in the first trip, which could happen any time from June 5, it is understood. Five more will follow by the beginning of August.

The jets, based at US Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort in South Carolina, are now being prepared for the trip to RAF Marham in Norfolk where they will join 617 Squadron  the wartime Dambusters.

An RAF F35 B Variant takes off from Beaufort US Marines Air Base in Beaufort Savannah, USA.

RAF Mechanical Engineer Corporal 'Ads' stands next to an RAF F35 B Variant at Beaufort US Marines Air Base in Beaufort Savannah, USA

RAF F35 B Variant takes off from Beaufort US Marines Air Base in Beaufort Savannah, USA

The stealth fighter jet takes to the sky in America before it crosses the Atlantic to Britain next month

Wing Commander Scott Williams, Britains senior representative in Beaufort, said: We are going to be sad to see our colleagues leave, but we know that a year from now everyone is going to be back together at RAF Marham and building the UK Lightning Force.

The wing commander is also the officer commanding 207 Squadron, which will become the UKs F-35 training unit from July 2019. Britain currently has 15 F-35Bs  the short take-off and vertical landing variant of the jets  based in the US, and has pledged to purchase 138 in total.

British Navy Pilot Royal Navy pilot Lieutenant "Hux", RAF Mechanical Engineer Corporal "Ads" and RAF Wing Commander Scott Williams stand next to an RAF F35 B in the USA

The stealth fighter jet is one of four complete and ready to fly home to RAF Marham early next month

Royal Navy pilot Lieutenant Hux, who can be identified only by his nickname, has been learning to fly the F-35B.

The 26-year-old said: This is the first time the UK has operated something like this. We are constantly looking forward to new revisions of the software that are going to enable us to do more and more. It isnt just another iteration of the previous aeroplane, it is totally new from the ground up. It is going to be a game-changing capability.
The UK could end up paying into EU coffers for years, Brexiteers warned last night, after it emerged Britain will join negotiations on the bloc's future budget.

Britain will help to determine the EU's 1 trillion budget up to 2027 after European countries defied Brussels and said UK officials could take part in negotiations.

The invitation was made because EU officials believe Britain will keep paying billions of euros to Brussels for years after Brexit.

The UK could end up paying into EU coffers for years, Brexiteers warned last night, after it emerged Britain will join negotiations on the bloc's future budget (stock image)

The European Commission is opposed to the plan, which was devised by the EU Council, which represents member states.

The commission says Britain will use budget discussions to change the rules to make it easier for the country to join science, research and other spending programmes after leaving the EU.

Pro-Leave Tories are also unimpressed as they fear that it raises the chance of Britain continuing to pay big sums to the EU.

'This is the type of trickery that the EU gets up to,' Bill Cash said. 'We have agreed to pay 39 billion to get out of the EU's treaty structure.

'Taking part in these budget talks risks ensnaring us again.'

Fellow Tory Jacob Rees-Mogg said: 'While we might be comfortable supporting a small number of limited projects that were in our common interest, I think it very strange that we would want to participate in the whole multi-annual framework.'
British soldiers will deploy to Africa to help save endangered rhinos from poachers for the first time, the Defence Secretary will announce today.

The Army is sending around two dozen troops to Malawi next month as Britain steps up its fight against the blood ivory trade, it can be revealed.

The soldiers will use counter-insurgency tactics learnt from fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq while training rangers in the African country to hunt down the poachers.

Mr Williamson said: Our Armed Forces are a force for good around the world and are at the forefront of protecting the worlds most endangered species such as elephants and rhinos from criminal gangs.

A black rhino calf with her mother at a park in Canterbury. The Army is sending around two dozen troops to Malawi next month to combat the 'blood ivory' trade

This evil trade is worth 17 billion and poses an existential threat to the planets most majestic mammals - it is our duty to preserve them for future generations.

He added: Britain is leading the way in putting an end to the barbaric illegal wildlife poaching, and Im proud of the immense contribution our Armed Forces are making in stopping criminals profiteering from the slaughter of rhinos and elephants.

The Government is also introducing one of the worlds toughest bans on ivory, showing how seriously we take this issue.

International wildlife crime is worth 17billion to organised crime gangs.

Elephants and Rhinos are targeted for their valuable ivory tusks and horns.

The Government fears profits from ivory sales and the illegal wildlife trade are funnelled into criminal and terrorist gangs across Africa, which is in turn funding extremism.

The troops, drawn from a number of British Army units, will spend weeks working alongside park rangers passing on expertise in areas such as tracking, built up in previous operational tours in war-ravaged nations.

Major James Cowen, who will lead the deployment to Malawi, said: Were enthusiastic about this mission because it represents a real opportunity to pass on our expertise and build partnerships with counterparts who are working night and day to help protect these animals.

It shows that the British Army is flexible and committed to an international outlook.

The deployment comes after the Duke of Cambridge, who has made wildlife campaigning one of his key charity focuses, said earlier this year that the destruction of animal populations was an almost unthinkable travesty.

The troops, drawn from a number of British Army units, will spend weeks working alongside park rangers passing on expertise in areas such as tracking, built up in Iraq and Afghanistan

He said if it continued at its current rates there would be no wild rhinos left in the planet by the time Prince George and Princess Charlotte were grown up.

Over the past year several British Army teams have worked in Gabon in the west of Africa and Malawi in east Africa to help park rangers hunt down armed poachers who are selling the ivory to fund jihad.

The training has allowed the locals to cover far larger distances as they attempt to find criminals who shoot the elephants for their ivory.

Previous operations have focused on elephants - but for the first time next month it will be extended to rhinos as the UK government widens its mission.

Earlier this month Prime Minister Theresa May confirmed that Britain would bring in a ban on ivory sales, as part of a plan to protect elephants for future generations.

The ban will cover ivory items of all ages - not just those produced after a certain date.

The maximum penalty for breaching the ban will be an unlimited ban or up to five years in jail.
A shocking photo which appears to show a small child sitting in front of a pokie machine with an adult has emerged on social media.

Shared to a Sydney Facebook page, a woman posted the picture with the caption: 'Spotted by someone out and about...'.

The description also stated: '(Not me, and this person and child isn't someone I know)'.

The photo appears to show a child sitting in front of a pokie machine with an adult was shared

A woman posted the image along with a caption (pictured) to a Sydney Facebook page stating the scene was spotted by someone out and about

'High illegal and the venue can be fined,' wrote one woman

Comments flowed beneath the photo, with many noticing the hazards of bringing a child so young into that environment.

'High illegal and the venue can be fined,' wrote one woman.

'FFS, why can't parents just send kids to school so they can get educated, get a job and win every week with a pay packet,' said another.

One person said: 'lol... The guard in the control room is obviously sleeping'.

The photo follows revelations that a hotel in New Zealand's north will remove all pokies machines after a young mother left her baby alone at the entrance of the venue while she gambled inside.

Hotel owner Glen Dick told Daily Mail Australia, 'I could not believe what had happen and was stunned. I mentioned it to my partner Lana and it was from there our decision was made to turn off the pokies.'

One person said: 'lol... The guard in the control room is obviously sleeping'

'FFS, why can't parents just send kids to school so they can get educated, get a job and win every week with a pay packet,' said another

Rawene Masonic Hotel (pictured) will no longer a a gaming venue after a young gambling-addicted mother abandoned her child while she played pokies

Glen Dick wrote on social media on Saturday and explained the confronting moment he found the abandoned baby outside the Rawene Masonic Hotel.

'This is a true story that has been a major influence on our decision which occurred at our hotel that I had to deal with,' Mr Dick said.

He said a young woman walked into the hotel in the early afternoon and asked to get $20 out by eftpos before going into the gaming room.

Glen Dick took to social media (pictured) saying 'Effective immediately we will no longer be a gaming venue'

Two minutes later, the hotel owner said he heard a baby crying and was shocked to find the toddler in its carrier just outside the venue's entrance.

Pokie statistics in NZ Gaming machine proceeds in the country rose 2.5 per cent from $866.1 million to $888.1 million in the last year

15,490 gaming machines in NZ

Pokies machines in venues have decreased by 523 over the last year

Number of gaming venues also dropped in the last year by 50 to 1146 Source: Department of Internal Affairs Advertisement

Mr Dick said he then approached the young mother who was playing pokies and asked her to leave.

He proceeded to push the 'collect' button and told her to get out after she said 'Oh but I still have money in the machine.'

Mr Dick told Daily Mail Australia the woman had returned since but left after finding out the gaming machines have been turned off.

He hopes that removing the machines can help fix the wider problem of gambling addiction especially among low-income earners in the region.

'If these gaming machines can influence people to this kind of behaviour, then we want nothing to do with it,' Mr Dick said.
Miss Kearney said her experience left her with a distaste for macho posturing in journalism

BBC broadcaster Martha Kearney has revealed she was the victim of humiliating sexual assault early in her career.

Miss Kearney, 60, was a Westminster correspondent at LBC radio in the 1980s, where she said she had to put up with mens wandering hands.

The journalist, who recently joined Radio 4s Today programme, said she regretted that she had never confronted her powerful bosses over the behaviour because she felt intimidated.

It was horrible and humiliating, she said. I didnt complain. It was the world of work, the rough and tumble of the newsroom.

'The young women I work with at Today have zero tolerance. I hope #MeToo will make a difference.

Asked if she ever snapped in response, she told Radio Times: No, and I regret that.

'I wish Id felt stronger, less intimidated, but in my 20s bosses were powerful people.

Miss Kearney, who said she did not think the harassment she was subjected to was character forming at all, said the experience left her with a distaste for macho posturing in journalism.

A bullying culture at work stifles creativity, she said.

People know when theyve made mistakes and feel very bad about it. They dont need to be bawled out in a newsroom. If somebody has made a mistake, in my brief I dont need to shout, You idiot because they know that themselves and feel dreadful about it. Bullying just doesnt work. Its dying out.

The broadcaster, who is married to ITN editorial director Chris Shaw, was revealed to be earning between 200,000 and 249,999 a year when the corporation published the salaries of its highest-earning stars last year. At the time she was working for World At One, which she had hosted for 11 years.

Meanwhile her Today colleague, presenter John Humphrys, was revealed to take home between 600,000 and 649,000.

Miss Kearney, who started on Today last month, dismissed suggestions there was a best-jobs-for-the-boys policy on the programme. She said: Its not happening. And if it was I would be concerned.

Addressing the gender pay gap, Miss Kearney, who has worked at the BBC for 28 years, said she believes there is an unconscious bias at all large organisations.

She said: There was anger and shock when the pay figures came out. Now the BBC is moving in the right direction, but the pace may not be as fast as wed like.

Ive done enough stories about equal pay over the years for Womans Hour to know about the structural problems there are, and the need to make workplaces more family-friendly and so on, but theres something else going on, I think its unconscious bias at all large organisations.

The full interview is in Radio Times, out now.
A former Bandidos bikie who bashed his girlfriend to death has laughed in court alongside his brother before pleading guilty to another murder.

Lionel John Patea admitted beating Gold Coast father-of-two Greg Dufty to death in July 2015 over a $32,000 marijuana debt.

His brother Nelson Andrae Patea and Aaron James Crawford pleaded guilty to manslaughter, and Crawford also pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse.

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A former Bandidos bikie who bashed his girlfriend (pictured) to death has laughed in court alongside his brother before pleading guilty to another murder

Lionel John Patea (pictured with his murdered girlfriend Tara Brown) admitted beating Gold Coast father-of-two Greg Dufty to death in July 2015 over a marijuana debt

Nelson Patea (pictured) pleaded guilty to manslaughter with Aaron James Crawford, who also pleaded guilty to interfering with a corpse

Mr Dufty, 37, was picked up in a Mack truck and taken to a remote part of the Gold Coast hinterland where he was bashed unconscious, Gold Coast Bulletin reported.

Liam Rawhiti Bliss and Clinton Lee Earl Stockman also pleaded guilty in February to manslaughter over Mr Dufty's death.

Bliss was given a five year jail sentence, suspended immediately, while Stockman was sentenced to six years, with immediate eligibility for parole.

The Brisbane Supreme Court heard Mr Dufty was beaten to death with a shifting spanner and a tyre iron over an alleged cannabis theft.

Lionel John Patea (pictured) and his brother Nelson laughed in the Brisbane court on Monday

The court heard Greg Dufty (pictured), 37, was bashed into unconsciousness with a shifting spanner and tyre iron after he stole cannabis

The body, which has never been found, was then burned by Crawford and Stockman while they were high on ice at a property near Casino, in northern New South Wales.

Mr Dufty was targeted after $32,000 worth of marijuana allegedly grown by him and Crawford went missing, and Crawford enlisted Patea and Stockman to question him.

Patea, who was unaware Mr Dufty had died, called a co-accused the next day to ask whether the father-of-two had admitted stealing the drugs.

The Patea brothers were seen laughing in the courtroom, and Lionel Patea smiled as he gave his guilty plea.

Patea (pictured with Ms Brown), who was unaware Mr Dufty had died, called a co-accused the next day to ask whether the father-of-two had admitted stealing the drugs

Lionel Patea is already serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his girlfriend Tara Brown just two months after Mr Dufty was killed (pictured are Patea and Brown)

Sentencing was set for Tuesday morning to allow a relative of Mr Dufty to attend court.

Lionel Patea is already serving a life sentence for the brutal murder of his girlfriend Tara Brown just two months after Mr Dufty was killed.

The former bikie enforcer bashed Mr Brown, 24, to death with a fire hydrant cover as she lay trapped is her car which Patea has rammed off the road with his vehicle.

Ms Brown suffered 'non-survivable' brain injuries after being bludgeoned repeatedly with the 7.8kg metal slab Patea took from the side of the road.
A 12-year-old girl has been killed in a police chase less than five years after her brother lost his life in eerily similar circumstances.

Meadow James was riding in the front seat of a stolen blue Subaru when it hit a pole and crashed into a roadside ditch in Palmerston North, New Zealand on Monday.

Her older brother, Leif James, was also a passenger in a stolen blue Subaru when it slid out of control and crashed into a ute in north Sydney on October 31, 2013.

Both accidents resulted from high-speed police pursuits, Stuff.co.nz reports.

Meadow James was tragically killed in a high-speed police chase, less than five years after her brother Leif (pictured) lost his life in eerily similar circumstances

Both siblings were riding as passengers in stolen blue Subarus when the crashes occurred - Meadow's in Palmerston North on Monday night, and Leif's in Sydney on October 31 2013

'They were going very very fast. When the car hit the power pole the power pole actually shot up in the air quite high,' said eyewitness Dean Sandbrook, who heard the screech of tyres and saw the car fly past in a blue flash.

'The car ended up in the drain and when the power pole came down, it came down on the car. The wires here were all hanging down... I saw them sparking.'

Police chased the vehicle on Monday after the driver - a 15-year-old boy who was on bail for several previous serious driving offences and had a warrant out for his arrest - failed to stop.

The pursuit reportedly lasted about 90 seconds before the fatal crash, with the driver dying in Palmerston North Hospital shortly thereafter.

Meadow James also lost her life in the accident.

Police pursued the vehicle (pictured) on Monday after the 15-year-old male driver failed to stop - the pursuit reportedly lasted about 90 seconds before the fatal crash

Brother Leif James was 18 years of age when the Subaru he was riding in raced through a red light and was chased by police.

That pursuit lasted 80 seconds before the car - doing 135kmh in an 80kmh zone - lost control and careened into the path of an oncoming vehicle.

He died in hospital from a head injury.

There is no evidence to suggest that Leif - who was living with his mother and step dad in Queensland at the time of the incident - knew the car was stolen.

Friends and family have taken to social media to send out tributes to Meadow - among them, a post from sister Peysha.

'Always you sista,' the post reads.

'Say hi to bruv for me.'

A second passenger - 15-year-old girl - was sitting in the backseat of the vehicle at the time of Monday's accident.

She remains in Palmerston North Hospital in a stable condition.
This is the distressing moment a woman who witnessed a vehicle burst into flames in Florida repeatedly alerted the driver about the dangerous matter.

The woman driving a white 2012 Kia Sorento that caught fire, Susan King, said Meridith Olinger, who was driving nearby on Interstate 4 in Orlando, saved her life on Friday.

'I'm incredibly grateful... she was my angel that day. It was surreal, King said in a statement to WESH.

Shocking video taken by Olinger in her car shows flames bursting from underneath the SUV.

This is the horrifying moment an SUV burst into flames on a Florida interstate

A woman driving a white 2012 Kia Sorento that caught fire, Susan King, said Meridith Olinger, who was driving nearby on Interstate 4 in Orlando, saved her life on Friday when she repeatedly warned her about the incident

'You've got to pull over... you've got to get over!' Olinger is heard yelling out in her car, while attempting to motion to King.

Olinger goes on: 'Get over! Get over!' before King is seen finally pulling off to the side of the road.

'Get away! Get away from it!' Olinger tells the woman, who is standing next to the vehicle.

According to the news station, King had been driver the SUV that belonged to her friend, Tyla Kennedy.

Shortly after King pulled over, rhe vehicle was totaled. She was not injured.

The Kia, that belonged to King's friend, reportedly had engine defect and was under a safety recall

Kennedy later discovered the KIA had an engine defect and was under a safety recall.

She told the news station: 'What would be nice is a car to replace my vehicle that burnt while my best friend was driving it and nearly killed her.'

The friend added: 'There is no compensation until I can prove that it was the recall that blew up the engine.'

The vehicle was totaled shortly after King pulled over. She was not injured.
Childcare centres are offering a 'date night' service so parents can have a kid-free Friday night.

Bonny Babes Childcare Centre on the Gold Coast, Queensland is offering the after dark night-care monthly from this week.

Parents will be charged $20 for the privilege of enjoying quality time together while their children enjoy popcorn, and movies.

Owner Bonnie Fraser told Daily Mail Australia she started the service because she noticed a lot of families on the Gold Coast didn't have support.

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Childcare Centres are offering a 'date night' service so parents can have a child-free Friday night (stock image)

Bonny Babes Childcare Centre on the Gold Coast, Queensland is offering the night-care monthly from this week. A flyer for the service is pictured.

'I think it's really important for parents to be able to enjoy some time together,' she said.

Kids will be offered popcorn and movies at the first event this Friday night.

'We've had people walk in off the street, it's just about full,' Ms Fraser said.

Parent Karen Fraser told 7 News she was looking forward to a night out with her husband without the children.

'I think being able to go out for dinner with my husband without someone clinging on me would be great,' she said.

Kids will be offered popcorn and movies at the first event this Friday night

Meanwhile, mother Melita Herman welcomed the opportunity to 'reconnect' with her partner on a night out.

'Me and my partner don't have any family here, my parents live away, so it gives us the opportunity to reconnect as a couple,' she said.

Another woman was not so positive about the night-care, telling the network 'I don't actually like it'.

'I think as a parent you've only get to look after your children for a very short amount of years and it can wait until they are old enough,' she said.

The centre said they would not be making any profit from the service and staff will be paid $25 per hour or more.

Little Scholars is also offering night-care once a quarter in Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
The cold cases of three people murdered over a 13-year period are forensically linked and the work of a serial killer, detectives have revealed.

Major Crime detectives said they are now certain the killings, which took place between 1998 and 2011 in South Australia, were committed by the same man.

Grandmothers Phyllis Harrison, 71, and Beverley Hanley, 64, were murdered in 1998 and 2010 respectively, and their Adelaide homes were ransacked.

The cold cases of three people murdered over a 13 year period are forensically linked and the work of a serial killer, detectives have revealed (pictured is Phyllis Harrison)

Major Crime detectives said they are certain the killings, which took place between 1998 and 2011 in South Australia, were committed by the same man (pictured is Beverley Hanley)

Stephen Newton, 55, was found almost two months after being attacked in his unit in 2011, and items were stolen from his home.

'We now have proof that the same offender is responsible for all three deaths,' Detective Superintendent Des Bray said.

'There has been speculation in the past that the same offender was involved, but now I can say we have proof and we believe theft was the motive in all three matters.'

Police are now urging those with information related to the three deaths to come forward and speak with police.

Grandmothers Phyllis Harrison, 71, and Beverly Hanley, 64, were murdered in 1998 and 2010 respectively, and their Adelaide homes were ransacked (pictured is Stephen Newton)

'We know that there are people who have provided incorrect or incomplete statements and I would urge them to come forward and speak with us,' he said.

'We know that they may be feeling vulnerable, but we can help them.'

Police noted a man was arrested and charged over the theft of property from Mr Newton.

He was sentenced to jail in 2012 in relation to the matter.
A woman has been charged with murder along with two men over the gruesome death of a butcher whose body was allegedly found in a woodchipper.

Bruce Saunders, 54, was killed when he was allegedly put through the industrial machine at a property near Gympie in Queensland's east on November 12 last year.

Sharon Graham, 57, was on Tuesday charged with murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Peter Koenig, 61, and Greg Roser, 58, were arrested and charged with the same offences at 6.30am on Tuesday.

Police will be investigating several possible motives, including a love triangle gone wrong.

Sharon Graham (left) was on Tuesday charged with murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice over the death of Bruce Saunders (right)

Peter Koenig (left), Greg Roser (centre) and Sharon Graham (right) have been charged over the death of Mr Saunders

Mr Saunders, 54, (pictured) died when he was allegedly put through an industrial woodchipper at a Goomboorian property in November

Mr Saunders was working on a property on Tanana Road clearing vegetation with the two men when he was allegedly murdered.

When police were called to the property on November 12, they described the scene as 'horrific'.

Gympie Police acting inspector Paul Algie said at the time it was 'one of the worst incident scenes I've ever seen'.

'It was actually quite horrific. His friends discovered him as he became entangled and attempted to extract him from the shredder and were unable to do so.

'They're obviously quite traumatised now.'

The death was originally treated as an accident, but police opened a murder investigation when new details came to light.

Police will allege the three people charged were known associates and 'conspired together to commit this offence'.

Mr Saunders was working on a property on Tanana Road clearing vegetation with the two men when he was allegedly fed through the woodchipper

Police officers are pictured taking one of the three people arrested into custody this week

The three workers were lending a hand to a recently widowed woman who lived at the Gympie property.

When officers returned to the homestead to investigate, they discovered fragments of human remains.

They also allegedly discovered clothing and parts of a mobile phone they believe also went through the machine.

Mr Saunders owned and operated a family butcher shop in Bundaberg, north of Gympie, before moving to Nambour in 2016.

He reportedly moved from Bundaberg after the break down of a relationship, before starting another relationship in Nambour.

Mr Saunders' friends and family were left devastated by the suspected murder of a man they said was always willing to help others.

Gympie Police acting inspector Paul Algie said at the time it was 'one of the worst incident scenes I've ever seen' (victim Bruce Saunders left and right)

Detectives are seen at the Gympie property where they discovered human remains last year

Maryborough Detective Inspector Gary Pettiford said on Tuesday Mr Saunders' family was devastated but relieved after murder charges were laid.

'The family is very relieved. They've been excellent throughout the whole process. They've been patient and very trusting of the police to do our job,' he said.

'They have been briefed and are very thankful.'

Det Insp Pettiford said the family was dealing well with a very difficult situation.

'They're obviously very upset today but obviously very thankful that this stage of the operation is complete,' he said.

The trio will face the Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

Queensland police officers have charged three people over the alleged murder of Mr Saunders
President Donald Trump thanked North Korea for the 'solid' response to his letter that briefly threw a planned upcoming summit into turmoil, as negotiators arrived in New York to continue talks.

Trump acknowledged the North Korean negotiator by name in a Tuesday morning tweet, praising them and noting that meetings are ongoing, after North Korea's negotiator was spotted in Beijing en route to New York.

'We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!' the president wrote.

Kim Yong-chol, a vice chairman of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party and former head of his nation's spy agency, was spotted arriving in Beijing on Tuesday and has reportedly booked a flight to New York.

A camera crew captured this image of Kim Yong-chol (front) arriving at the Beijing airport on Tuesday. He has reportedly booked a flight on to New York City

Kim is the most senior official from the hermetic nation to visit the U.S. since 2000, CNN reported.

The high-level emissary is close to Kim Jong-un and was seated next to the strongman at summit last month.

WHO IS KIM YONG-CHOL? Kim Yong-chol is a vice chairman of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party and former head of his nation's spy agency. The high-level emissary is close to North Korean President Kim Jong-un and was seated next to the strongman at summit last month. He came under U.S. sanctions in 2015, which would require a special waiver for him to come here. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper identified him as having approved the 2014 Sony hack. North Korea executed the hack in response to the release of the comedy 'The Interview,' which dealt mockingly with an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-un. He is also thought to be behind North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean navy ship, the Cheonan in 2010. The attack resulted in the deaths of 46 sailors. Advertisement

He came under U.S. sanctions in 2015, which would require a special waiver for him to come here. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper identified him as having approved the 2014 Sony hack. He is also thought to be behind North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean navy ship, the Cheonan in 2010.

Trump's message followed days of quiet diplomacy, after the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea traveled to the DMZ for preparation talks.

The White House said Monday a planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un is 'expected' to happen  in the latest iteration of the on-again, off-again high stakes meeting.

The qualifier came in the form of a statement where the White House said Trump would meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in advance of the highly anticipated one-on-one meeting.

Trump was referring to his letter to North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, where the president chided the 'anger and open hostility' in a statement that labeled Vice President Mike Pence a 'political dummy.'

Senior-level talks are proceeding between the US and North Korea, signaling that the proposed summit between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un will proceed.

Kim Yong Chol is seen in Beijing on Tuesday. He is a former military intelligence chief who is now Kim Jong Un's top official on inter-Korean relations

Trump canceled the June 12 summit on Thursday, but then a day later suggested it could be back on track, and the latest White House statement says the meeting is 'expected'.

Kim is expected to take part in senior-level talks to reciprocate recent visits by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported, citing diplomatic sources.

The outlet said that Kim Yong-chol had changed his reservations from a Tuesday flight to Washington DC to one going to New York on Wednesday, but it wasn't clear why.

Kim Yong-chol is banned from entering the US under sanctions against North Korea, indicating that he has been granted a special exemption for the trip.

Choe Kang-il, the North Korean foreign ministry's director-general for North American affairs, walks through Beijing's international airport in Beijing on Tuesday. He is believed to be accompanying Kim Yong-chol to the US for senior-level talks on arranging a summit

Kim Yong Chol (left) is seen alongside Kim Jong Un at a meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday at the northern side of Panmunjom in the DMZ

North Korea has a permanent mission to the UN in New York, located on the 13th floor of this nondescript Manhattan office building above a Hallmark Cards store

North Korea does not maintain an embassy or consulates in the US, but does have a permanent mission to the UN in New York, located on the 13th floor of a nondescript Manhattan office building above a Hallmark Cards store.

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and is considered Kim Jong Un's right-hand man on inter-Korean affairs, attending recent top-level meetings between the North Korean leader and his counterpart from the South.

Choe Kang-il, the North Korean foreign ministry's director-general for North American affairs, was also spotted in the Beijing airport on Tuesday and is believed to be accompanying Kim Yong Chol to the US.

Meanwhile, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Joe Hagin arrived in Singapore on Monday, and is leading the 'pre-advance' team that will discuss security and protocol issues with the North. An advance team precedes any presidential trip.

A US air convoy consisting of an executive plane and a military C-17 Globemaster III believed to be carrying Hagin's team stopped over at Yokota Air Base in Japan on Monday.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders had said on Saturday that the 'pre-advance team for Singapore will leave as scheduled in order to prepare should the summit take place.'

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Joe Hagin (seen in 2008) arrived in Singapore on Monday, and is leading the 'pre-advance' team for a potential summit

A US air convoy (above) of an executive plane and military C-17 Globemaster III believed to be carrying Hagin's team stopped over at Yokota Air Base in Japan on Monday

Hagin's counterpart for the logistics discussion, Kim Chang-son, is seen on the far left walking near Kim Jong Un (front) and the North Korean leader's sister (third from left) last month

Kim Chang-son, a senior official at the State Affairs Commission, will represent North Korea in the preparatory discussions, Yonhap reported citing a diplomatic source.

Kim Chang-son is Kim Jong Un's chief aide, responsible for scheduling, itineraries, protocol and the flow of reports, policy documents and communications to and from the leader.

The high-ranking North Korean official arrived in Singapore fresh off a trip to Beijing to meet with top officials there, according to the Japan Times.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at the Beijing airport on Monday night if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was 'going there to play,' according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Hagin's team is one of three groups conducting parallel discussions with North Korean representatives in the lead-up to the summit.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tapped veteran American diplomat Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines, to handle the main pre-summit negotiations in the DMZ border village of Panmunjom.

Those discussions have reportedly focused on denuclearization timelines and security guarantees for the North.

Kim Yong-chol's visit to the US would be the next step of those working-level talks.

US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim is seen in a file photo. He has been tapped to handle the main pre-summit negotiations in the DMZ border village of Panmunjom

Sung Kim (left), US ambassador to the Philippines, and Randall Schriver, assistant secretary of defense for East Asia, leave from a hotel in downtown Seoul on Monday for Panmunjom

Choe Son-jui (left), North Korea's vice foreign minister, and Choe Kang-il, a senior official with the North's foreign ministry, are said to be working-level negotiators for talks with Sung Kim

In this file photo taken on April 17, 2018, US President Donald Trump greets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida

The third team on a separate but complementary track to the other discussions was a CIA team Pompeo set up last year when he headed the spy agency.

On Monday, Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the phone and the White House confirmed that the two will meet ahead of the summit.

'The two leaders discussed recent developments in North Korea and confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea,' the White House said in a statement out the call.

'The President and Prime Minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs,' the statement said.

Trump and Abe are scheduled to attend the G7 meeting of major industrialized nations June 8 in Canada, giving them a possible venue to meet.

Timeline for denuclearization is expected to be a major sticking point in any negotiations between Trump and Kim.

The North will push for a gradual drawdown, while the US wants a quick and decisive nuclear de-armament.
The Instagram-famous girlfriend of a former Hells Angels bikie has been granted bail after an alleged road-rage incident where she is accused of biting, punching and kicking a woman in the head.

Allaina Jones, 27, who posts revealing photographs of herself on Instagram under the name of Allaina Vader, was granted bail in Queensland's Supreme Court.

Jones is the long-time girlfriend of former Hells Angel and Finks bikie Ben 'Notorious' Geppert, 26, who has been refused bail on separate charges.

Allaina Jones, 27, was granted bail in Queensland's Supreme Court after being charged over an alleged road rage attack

Jones is the long-time girlfriend of former Hells Angel and Finks bikie Ben 'Notorious' Geppert, 26, who has been refused bail on separate charges

She is accused of biting, punching and kicking a woman in the head

The alleged road rage attack happened in Robina on May 17 - Jones was last week refused bail but that decision was overturned on Tuesday.

Defence lawyer Ashkan Tai, of Ashkan Tai Lawyers, claims the incident was not just a simple road rage, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.

Geppert, 26, has been accused of harassment, drug offences and domestic violence.

He is accused of threatening to kill a woman and her dog, during a telephone conversation.

The couple were arrested and charged over their separate charges last week - when police raided their home.

The alleged road rage attack happened in Robina on May 17 - Jones was last week refused bail but that decision was overturned on Tuesday

Geppert, 26, has been accused of harassment, drug offences and domestic violence

Geppert, right, is accused of threatening to kill a woman and her dog, during a telephone conversation

The couple's solicitor, Mr Tai, said when Queensland Police arrived at the couple's unit they found Jones naked, but that the male officers afforded her the opportunity to get dressed.

The court also heard that during the raid Geppert obstructed police who tried to arrest Jones, by tackling them off her.

'My client saw his naked partner being wrestled to the ground by a male police officer,' Mr Tai told the court.

The couple's solicitor, Mr Tai, said when Queensland Police arrived at the couple's unit they found Jones naked, but that the male officers afforded her the opportunity to get dressed.

The court also heard that during the raid Geppert obstructed police who tried to arrest Jones, by tackling them off her

Geppert's lawyer also claimed he'd been taunted by officers about being on steroids and had said in response: 'Take my handcuffs off if you are going to be tough guys'.

Police last raided the couple's home in April after he brandished what appeared to be a gun in a brazen social media post.

The couple have previously made headlines over their feud with former Bandido Brett Pechey and his girlfriend Rikki Sutton.

Ms Sutton and Ms Jones are cousins and were close before their boyfriends began feuding.

The couple have previously made headlines over their feud with former Bandido Brett Pechey and his girlfriend Rikki Sutton
This nail-biting footage shows a quick-thinking diver saving his friend's life after his oxygen tank failed at 100ft underwater.

Body cam footage shows Nick Burke, 37, rushing to the aid of pal Matt Henderson, 39, in murky waters off the coast of Hillarys Boat Harbour in Perth, Western Australia, last Sunday.

The friends were finishing up their 30-minute fishing dive when they realized they were in deep trouble  Matt's gear was inexplicably failing and he was losing oxygen fast from a busted tank.

Nick Burke (left) and Matt Henderson (right) in hospital recovering from the decompression sickness

Dad-of-two Nick's instincts kicked in when his pulled out his spare oxygen mask and propelled Matt to the surface in a potentially-deadly emergency ascent.

The pair suffered symptoms of 'the bends', which can be fatal, and were rushed to hospital where they spent five hours recovering in a decompression chamber.

Perth mining manager Nick, who has been diving for one year, said: 'As soon as I saw Matt rip his mask off, I knew we were in trouble.

'The air was coming out of his pressure gauge fast.

'There's not a lot of room for error at those depths. I was fearing for both of our lives.

'My instincts kicked in. I gave him my spare oxygen regulator then rocketed him to the surface.

'This is pretty dangerous because of decompression sickness.'

Army veteran Matt, who has eight years diving experience, has survived tours of Afghanistan and Iraq but said he feared for his life during the underwater drama.

The operations manager and dad-of-one, who is also from Perth, added: 'When I started taking in water I was blacking out. I thought: 'this is it, I'm going to die'.

'I ripped off my mask to get the emergency regulator.

The divers were rushed to hospital after they suffered the fatal symptoms of 'the bends' which includes disorientation, loss of balance and severe joint pain

The divers were placed in a decompression chamber for five hours for recovery and the following day the pair spent another three hours in the hospital to shrink the gas bubbles that were formed in the body tissues.

'I remember seeing shooting stars on the way up, But I don't remember much after that.

'I wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Nick's quick thinking.'

Nick said a safe ascent would have taken approximately 10 minutes, but the divers were forced to rise in less than one.

Miraculously, Matt's equipment failed when he was close to Nick in the low-visibility waters.

Just moments before the emergency, the friends were swimming separately  meaning Matt narrowly avoided being left without his friend's life-saving oxygen.

A safe ascent for the divers would have taken ten minutes, but they both were forced to rise in less than one. (Pictured) Matt Henderson after the emergency ordeal.

Both pals suffered symptoms of decompression sickness  also known as 'the bends'  which includes disorientation, loss of balance and severe joint pain.

As well as spending five hours in a decompression chamber the day of the accident, they spent another three hours there the following day to shrink the gas bubbles which had formed in their bodies' tissues.

But after both making a full recovery, Nick now wants to promote an important safety message.

He said: 'The adrenaline was pumping when we came up, I was pretty out of it.

'I was very confused and fell over a few times in the boat. By the time I got to hospital I was pretty ill.

Mr Burke quickly pulled out his spare breathing regulator and rocketed his friend to the surface. The ordeal was dangerous as it causes decompression sickness

'I think it's important to remember you need to stick close to your partner.

'When you're diving, it's easy to get carried away with how unbelievable everything is.

'But there was low visibility down there, and if this happened a minute earlier when we were pulled apart, Matt wouldn't have made it.'

Matt added: 'I've served in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor.

'I've had a lot of near death situations, but nothing came close to being as scary as this.'
Hillary Clinton attended a Memorial Day parade in upstate New York on Monday wearing yet another over-sized coat and scarf - adding to speculation that she is possibly hiding a back brace.

The 70-year-old has been spotted multiple times of late wearing jackets and scarves that are draped down over her shoulders ever since eagle-eyed social media users spotted a strange protrusion coming out of her back earlier this month.

Her Memorial Day appearance in Chappaqua on Monday was no exception.

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Hillary Clinton attended a Memorial Day parade in upstate New York on Monday wearing yet another over-sized coat and scarf - adding to speculation she is possibly hiding a back brace

Hillary donned a light blue trench coat and a US flag patterned scarf when she marched alongside her husband Bill Clinton and Governor Andrew Cuomo in the mild 60 degree temperatures.

She tweeted a photo of herself standing beside a group of Girls Scouts after the parade and some Twitter users were quick to mention what appeared to be a bulge coming from underneath her jacket.

'Just returned from marching in the annual Chappaqua Memorial Day Parade with everyone from Governors to Girls Scouts. Today we honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country to keep us safe here at home,' Clinton tweeted.

The Clintons were spotted walking through the streets with Gov Cuomo as they shook hands and chatted with locals during the Memorial Day parade.

Hillary donned a light blue trench coat and a US flag patterned scarf when she marched alongside her husband Bill Clinton and Governor Andrew Cuomo in the mild 60 degree temperatures

The 70-year-old has been spotted multiple times of late wearing jackets and scarves that are draped down over her shoulders

The supposed back brace speculation started early this month when Clinton was photographed coming out of her daughter Chelsea's apartment in New York with a strange protrusion coming from underneath her jacket.

Some on social media were also quick to point out her upright posture and bundled up clothing despite the warmer temperatures in New York.

'(Hillary) looks to be wearing some sort of back brace - weird protrusion and scarf (80 degrees in NYC) up to her chin,' one Twitter user wrote.

'Is Hillary wearing a back brace now? Something was not natural about her posture and bundled up clothing. Weird!' another person tweeted.

Hillary then gave several on stage appearances in New Zealand and Australia the following week as part of a speaking tour where she draped a $1,100 patterned Hermes cashmere blend shawl around her shoulders.

Just last week, the former Democratic presidential candidate took to the stage at Harvard in 84 degree temperatures wearing a long coat and bulky scarf as she accepted the university's Radcliffe Medal for her leadership.

The supposed back brace speculation started early this month when Clinton was photographed coming out of her daughter Chelsea's apartment in New York with a strange protrusion coming from underneath her jacket (above)
Crime scene photos have emerged of the hotel room where a DJ bled to death after being shot at the end of a 30-hour strip club bender.

The body of Donovan Milehouse, 44, lay on the floor of a Fraser Suites hotel room in the heart of Sydney for 38 hours before being found.

A New South Wales Supreme Court jury on Tuesday found Hasan Fazlilar, 32, guilty of Mr Donovan's November 2015 murder.

The body of Donovan Milehouse, 44, lay on the floor of a Fraser Suites hotel room in the heart of Sydney for 38 hours before being found (pictured is a crime scene photo)

A New South Wales Supreme Court jury on Tuesday found Hasan Fazlilar, 32, guilty of Mr Donovan's November 2015 murder (pictured is a crime scene photo)

Mr Donovan arrived at the infamous Love Machine strip club and brothel in the party precinct of Kings Cross shortly before midnight on Thursday November 11 (pictured is a crime scene photo)

The court heard Fazlilar shot Mr Donovan in the thigh after wrongly concluding he was a police informant, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Eerie images of the hotel room where Mr Donovan was killed show a pill on the carpet and a do not disturb sign lying on the floor.

Also pictured is a bedside table where the room phone is conspicuously missing from its cradle, and a breakfast menu sits next to the remote control.

Mr Donovan arrived at the infamous Love Machine strip club and brothel in the party precinct of Kings Cross shortly before midnight on Thursday November 11.

The court heard Fazlilar shot Mr Donovan in the thigh after wrongly concluding he was a police informant(pictured is the Love Machine)

His group booked the Fraser Suites room for the following night, but did not check in until 6am on Saturday morning.

By that time the DJ, who was visiting Sydney from the Central Coast, was partying with Fazlilar and Love Machine co-owner Elias Dimarelis and his girlfriend Rebel King.

Demarelis, who witnessed Fazlilar fire a bullet into the back of Mr Donovan's left thigh, later told his business partner he left two seconds after the shooting.

'Huss shot Donovan ... they were partying for the last two days  and went crazy and shot him in the leg,' Dimarelis said.

Demarelis, who witnessed Fazlilar fire a bullet into the back of Mr Donovan's left thigh, later told his business partner he left two seconds after the shooting (pictured is the Love Machine)

'He might be dead, he might have bled out,' Dimarelis claimed he said next.

Dimarelis told the court Fazlilar saw what he believed was the police Crime Stoppers number on Mr Donovan's phone and confronted him before opening fire.

The court heard Mr Donovan screamed 'You shot me!' shortly before he died.

The body then went undiscovered for another 38 hours as cleaners who opened the door three times thought a person was sleeping inside.

Dimarelis called Triple-Zero on the Monday after the shooting, the court heard, after his girlfriend had earlier called the hotel requesting a late check-out.

Fazlilar is due to face a sentencing hearing on September 14.
Just days after accepting a $150,000 cheque for a tell-all interview, Barnaby Joyce has pointed the finger of blame at partner Vikki Campion and claimed it was her idea to sell the story.

The former deputy prime minister says the decision was made after weeks of relentless media pressure that showed no signs of 'burning out', as the mother of his newborn realised she may as well benefit from the ordeal, News.com.au reports.

'We tried for privacy,' said Mr Joyce. 'In the last fortnight we've had drones over our house. We've had paparazzi waiting for us outside Armidale airport... we've tried just burning this out and that didn't work.'

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Just days after accepting a $150,000 cheque for a tell-all interview, Barnaby Joyce has pointed the finger of blame at partner Vikki Campion and claimed it was her idea to sell the story

The former deputy prime minister said his former staffer and the mother of his newborn Vikki Campion realised she may as well benefit from the ordeal after weeks of relentless media pressure

Joyce refused to accept sole responsibility for the revealing tell-all - which many are calling hypocritical given the politician's previous demands for privacy - due to the fact that Vikki will be interviewed as well.

The former Nationals leader claimed that if it were an interview with just him as a politician he wouldn't charge.

'But that is not what they wanted,' he said. 'They wanted an interview... to get Vikki's side of the story and like most mothers she said, 'Seeing as I am being screwed over... if everybody else is making money then [I am] going to make money out of it'.'

Joyce refused to accept sole responsibility for the revealing tell-all - which many are calling hypocritical given the politician's previous demands for privacy - due to the fact that Vikki will be interviewed as well

The interview, which is set to air on Channel Seven's Sunday Night program this weekend, has stoked controversy with the public and politicians alike.

Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer said that while she didn't go so far as to talk Joyce out of doing the interview, she could see that it didn't sit right with the majority of Australians.

'Ultimately it's a matter for him and his judgment,' she said in an interview with ABC radio. '[But] I don't think it's right, and I think most Australians are pretty disgusted by it.'

The storm of controversy surrounding the interview has prompted calls for a ban on serving politicians being paid for media comment.
The 'last search' for missing Malaysian airlines flight MH370 has come to an end in the remote Indian Ocean - leaving the families of victims with nothing but hope.

Malaysia said the search by Texas-based firm Ocean Infinity, which has used a deep-sea vessel to scour the seabed, would end today after two extensions of the original 90-day time limit.

Australia said a four-year search for the missing aircraft had been the largest in aviation history and tested the limits of technology and the capacity of experts and people at sea.

But Transport Minister Michael McCormack added there would always be hope of finding the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8, 2014 with 239 on board while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing.

The 'last search' for MH370 has come to an end in the remote Indian Ocean - leaving the families of victims with nothing but hope. The plane is pictured over Poland a month before it vanished

Malaysia said the search by Texas-based firm Ocean Infinity, which has used a deep-sea vessel to scour the seabed, would end today after two extensions of the original 90-day time limit. Pictured: A girl has her face painted during a Day of Remembrance for MH370 in Kuala Lumpur

'Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the 239 people on board MH370,' Mr McCormack's office said in a statement. 'We will always remain hopeful that one day the aircraft will be located.'

Malaysia signed a 'no cure, no fee' deal with Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean by Australia, Malaysia and China was called off. No other search is scheduled.

Ocean Infinity chef executive Oliver Plunkett said the search would soon end after covering more than 112,000 square kilometers (43,000 square miles) of remote ocean floor - an area more than four times larger than the zone targeted by experts as the most likely crash site.

'I would firstly like to extend the thoughts of everyone at Ocean Infinity to the families of those who have lost loved ones on MH370. Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected,' Plunkett said in a statement.

'It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim,' he added.

Plunkett said he was pleased to hear the new Malaysian government had made finding the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 people aboard a priority.

'Whilst clearly the outcome so far is extremely disappointing, as a company, we are truly proud of what we have achieved both in terms of the quality of data we've produced and the speed with which we covered such a vast area,' Plunkett said.

Pieces of debris have been found as far away as La Reunion (pictured), but the main body of the plane has still not been located

'We sincerely hope that we will be able to again offer our services in the search for MH370 in the future,' he added.

Australia, Malaysia and China agreed in 2016 that an official search would only resume if the three countries had credible evidence that identified a specific location for the wreckage.

The search area deemed by experts to be the most likely crash site was 9,650 square miles, an area roughly 25% larger than Wales.

Meanwhile, Malaysia's transport minister, Anthony Loke, said a full report into MH370's disappearance would be published in the near future, but he did not give a date.

'I can assure you the final report will be published with full disclosure. There will not be any edits, or anything hidden,' he told reporters late on Monday.

Asked whether the report would refer to controversial elements of the MH370 case, he said: 'To me, whatever elements, we will just publish it'.

The Boeing 777 vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing.

The original search focused on the South China Sea before analysis revealed the plane had made an unexpected turn west and then south

The original search focused on the South China Sea before analysis revealed the plane had made an unexpected turn west and then south.

Australia co-ordinated an official search on Malaysia's behalf that scoured 46,000 square miles and cost 200 million Australian dollars (113m) before it ended in 2017.

Last year, Australian authorities said the MH370 captain had flown a route on his home simulator six weeks before the disappearance that was 'initially similar' to the course actually taken by the aircraft.

Peter Foley, who led the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's search efforts, told an Australian Senate hearing 'control inputs' had been made to fly the airliner off course, but he could not say if one of the pilots had done so.

Malaysian investigators said in 2015 they had found nothing suspicious in the financial, medical or personal histories of the pilots or crew.

Danica Weeks, an Australian resident who lost her husband on Flight 370, urged Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to call on the new Malaysian government to be more transparent about what they knew about the mysterious disappearance.

'There've been so many theories and rumours and we don't know what is true and what isn't,' Ms Weeks told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

'I want Julie Bishop to say to the Malaysian counterparts now: 'what do you have? Where is the investigation at'?'

Foley, told an Australian Senate committee hearing last week that he still hoped that Ocean Infinity would be successful.

'If they're not, of course, that would be a great sadness for all of us,' Foley said.
The grieving friend of murdered woman Cecilia Haddad has issued a plea to her ex-boyfriend: 'Please speak to police and help us understand what happened to her'.

A day after Marcelo Santoro's family claimed he would return to Australia 'to clear his name', one of Ms Haddad's closest friends Ebony has begged him to follow through.

Mr Santoro, 40, reportedly flew to Rio de Janeiro in the hours between Ms Haddad, 38, going missing and her body washing up - with weights in her pant pockets - on the banks of a Sydney river on April 29.

The pair had previously been in a relationship, but had separated in the weeks before her death.

There is no suggestion Mr Santoro was involved in Ms Haddad's death and police only want to speak to him to gain an insight into her life prior to the alleged murder.

His family this week told media Mr Santoro would return to Sydney at some stage to answer questions from detectives.

But speaking to Daily Mail Australia exactly a month on from her death, Ms Haddad's friend told of her desperation for police to arrest the person responsible - and how she hopes Mr Santoro will follow through and speak to detectives.

Ebony (right), a close friend of murdered Brazilian woman Cecilia Haddad (left), has called on her ex-boyfriend Marcelo Santoro to return to Australia to answer police questions

Mr Santoro (right), who has been named as a person of interest but not a suspect in the murder investigation into Ms Haddad (left), flew home to Rio de Janeiro just hours after she is believed to have died. He claims he will return to Australia to answer questions from police

'I know he has stated that he (Mr Santoro) was making himself available to police, but to my knowledge that hasn't happened,' Ebony said.

'We do hope he will come to talk to police and help us understand what happened... because obviously he plays a big part in explaining some of her last movements.

'As someone who has known her for over 20 years... you would hope he would invest his time and effort into helping police with their investigation.

'(But) from our experiences with Marcelo, it is not unlike him to say one thing and do another.'

Ms Haddad and Mr Santoro had first met in 1995, studying together at a university in Brazil.

Almost two decades later she moved to Australia with her husband Felipe Torres and took up a role with mining giant BHP. She lived in Western Australia for close to a decade before moving to Sydney in 2016.

On Sunday, friends, family and homicide detectives gathered on the banks of the Lane Cove River in Woolwich on Sunday, for a final memorial to Ms Haddad.

At the exact spot where her body was found they told stories and threw flower petals into the water. They also hope to one day have a plaque remembering her 'legendary smile and love'.

But just hours later her ex-boyfriend's aunt went on the attack, accusing Ms Haddad of being involved romantically with other men and never actually dating her nephew.

Speaking to The Australian through an interpreter, Jaisa Ferreira dos Santos claimed Ms Haddad 'was like family' to him and that he had helped her amid mounting debts.

Ms Haddad's fully clothed body was found washed up on the banks of the Lane Cove River at Woolwich, in Sydney, on April 29. Weights were found in the pockets of her pants

On Sunday, Ms Haddad's friends gathered at the exact spot where her body was found for a memorial service

Dozens gathered by the water at Woolwich to share stories and throw flower petals into the river

Just hours after the service Mr Santoro's aunt went on the attack, accusing Ms Haddad (right, with her ex-husband Felipe) of being involved romantically with other men and never actually dating her nephew.

'(She was having) affectionate involvement with other men and it was common for her to disappear from home at times and spend days away without warning Mr Santoro,' Ms Fereira dos Santos said.

Mr Santoro's relative also said he had been forced to fly home to Brazil with little warning to visit his sick father, who they claim died last week.

Ms Fereira dos Santos also claimed Ms Haddad had debts of close to $1 million when she died, but Daily Mail Australia understands this was due largely to the purchasing of a new apartment in Sydney's inner-west.

The claims by the family of Ms Haddad's ex-boyfriend has angered Ebony and their other friends, who say it is a simple attempt to slander her name.

'Every week from Monday to Thursday she would go to Newcastle to work which is probably what Marcelo's aunt was referring to,' Ebony said.

'The situation has been very hurtful for the people that care for her, it's disappointing but what can you say? Of course they're going to say those things, they're his family.'

'The situation has been very hurtful': Ebony (right) said the claims from Mr Santoro's aunt about Ms Haddad (centre) were taking a toll on her friends and family

Ms Haddad (left) moved to Western Australia in 2007 with her ex-husband Felipe Torres

Ebony, who met Ms Haddad when working at freight giant Pacific National, said it was still a shock to think of just how her much-loved friend had died.

And while a month has now past since her death, she admitted it will be hard for all Ms Haddad's loved ones to get on with their lives while her killer continues to walk free.

'It's probably going to be hard for us to move on until we know what happened and until an arrest is made,' Ebony said.

'It's not like she died accidentally or anything, she was murdered. It was up close and personal, someone watched her die.

'It's going to haunt us, knowing that her last moments were spent like that and that she was discarded into a river like a piece of rubbish.

'I know I have trouble sleeping at night, I know other people do as well.'
Temperatures in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide and Canberra are set to drop into single-digit figures as a southerly cold front from Antarctica heralds the start of winter.

Adelaide has already been battered with hailstones and strong winds while snow has fallen in parts of Tasmania and Victoria's Alpine region, where temperatures have fallen below zero.

Melbourne is forecast to freeze on Saturday with temperatures of just 6C while the mercury in Sydney is tipped to fall to 9C on Thursday as cold front sweeps southern Australia.

Minimum temperatures in Brisbane are forecast to fall to 8C on Saturday, with Perth set to freeze on just 6C as Canberra experiences morning frost and minus one on the temperature scale.

Temperatures in Sydney and Melbourne are set to drop into single-digit figures as a southerly cold front heralds the start of winter

Melbourne is forecast to be hit with rain today and tomorrow but will be spared strong winds, which have hit western Victoria

Weatherzone meteorologist Graeme Brittain predicted rain would hit Sydney on Tuesday night, as a cold front caused temperatures to plunge from 24C to 11C.

'There's one arriving today,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'We're going to see rainfall from about sunset, maybe a bit later over Sydney.

'Behind this, we'll see much cooler air pushing in.'

The final days of autumn are also set to be cool in Melbourne with minimum temperatures of between 7C and 9C from Wednesday to Sunday as part of a cold front bringing snow to Victoria's Alpine region.

'We'll get some snowfall in the wake of this front,' Mr Brittain said.

Minimum temperatures in Canberra are forecast to drop to minus 1 on Saturday.

Melbourne is forecast to be hit with rain today and tomorrow but will be spared strong winds, which have hit western Victoria.

'Melbourne will see increasing winds but again the strongest of the winds is confined to south-west Victoria, south-eastern South Australia and Tasmania,' Mr Brittain said.

'We've seen some quite blistery conditions over South Australia, Victoria and it's heading towards Tasmania now.'

The ski fields are already covered in snow, with temperatures at Mount Buller in Victoria forecast to fall to minus four degrees on Thursday.

The final days of autumn are also set to be cool in Melbourne with minimum temperatures of between 7C and 9C from Wednesday to Sunday as part of a cold front bringing snow to Victoria's Alpine region (pictured)
She was soon told that she would not be able to proceed with an application

Ms Mansell talked to a Revive employee who started to ask a lot questions

Penelopy Mansell was denied joining to Revive Gym on Willis St in Wellington

A transgender woman was refused entry to a female-only gym in New Zealand

A transgender woman who was refused entry to a female-only gym is demanding a personal apology.

Penelopy Mansell went to Revive Gym on Willis St in Wellington, New Zealand, to look at membership options and pricing when she was told she would be unable to join the facility.

Ms Mansell talked to a Revive employee who started to ask a lot questions before eventually saying: 'I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to ask you if you are transgender?'.

Penelopy Mansell (pictured) was denied joining to Revive Gym on Willis St in Wellington

Ms Mansell talked to a Revive Fitness (pictured) employee who started to ask a lot questions

'I thought that was inappropriate. She said it was the company's policy that transgender people are medically authenticated,' Mansell told NZME.

The fitness centre required medical proof that she had undertaken sex reassignment surgery.

Despite having completed court procedures to legally change her gender to female on her birth certificate and all other legal documents, Ms Mansell has not had sex reassignment surgery as the waiting list is too long.

She took out the birth certificate as proof that she is legally a woman but the gym employee wouldn't let her enter the facility.

'I don't have Caitlyn Jenner's money to look like the female I'm supposed to,' she told Stuff.

In a statement provided to Daily Mail Australia, Revive Fitness area manager Cherie Cooper said that they will review their policy following the incident.

Eventually Ms Mansell (pictured) was told that she would not be able to proceed with an application

'We would firstly like to apologise for any harm our current policy has caused.

'The policy has been in place for a long time, but we acknowledge that this is no defence, and however unintentional it may have been we accept that it may be hurtful to those who are excluded by it,' she said.

'We know that this is a sensitive matter, and to that end as a business we are urgently reaching out to organisations within the Wellington GLBTI community for guidance and advice to review our policy and ensure that our gyms are a safe and comfortable environment, and an inclusive and understanding community for all.'

The New Zealand Human Rights Commission said they were unable to comment on the case.

Ms Mansell said she had no further comment to make on the matter.
A manhunt is underway after a teenage girl was grabbed from behind in a Melbourne park by an predator with a limp and raspy voice who told her he would kill her.

The 17-year-old girl was walking home from school along a bike path when she walked past the man at about 4.30pm on Friday 23 March.

The man grabbed her from behind when she reached parklands, covering her mouth and telling her she would be killed if she made any noise.

The girl continued to struggle and yell despite the man's threats, forcing him to run off in a northerly direction under nearby railway lines.

A manhunt is underway after a teenage girl has been grabbed from behind in a park in Melbourne by a man with a limp and raspy voice who told her he would kill her

Investigators have released a composite digital image of a man, believed to be in his 50s, who they want to talk to in relation to the disturbing incident.

The male is said to have a limp and a raspy voice.

Mernda Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation team detectives are appealing for public assistance following the assault that occurred in parklands along Border Drive at Mill Park in Melbourne's northern suburbs.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or submit a confidential report online at www.crimestoppersvic.com.au

Mernda Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation team detectives are appealing for public assistance following the assault that occurred in parklands along Border Drive at Mill Park in Melbourne's northern suburbs




A man in his 30s has been seriously injured after being shot in the head with a nail gun.

The building contractor was working on the grounds of Woodleigh Primary school on New Zealand's North Island when the nail hit, Stuff reported.

WorkSafe confirmed to Daily Mail Australia they are investigating the incident that took place on May 16.

'An investigation is underway and it could take up to a year,' she said.

A man in his 30's has been seriously injured after being shot in the head with a nail gun (stock photo).

Taranaki District Health Board confirmed to Daily Mail Australia a man in his 30s was seriously injured.

The spokeswoman said he was transferred from Taranaki Base Hospital to Wellington Hospital for specialist treatment.

Social media users expressed confusion as to how the incident could have happened.

The building contractor was working on the grounds of Woodleigh Primary school (pictured) the time

'You have to push the gun up against an object before it will fire,' one person commented.

'Hopefully just a case of a unfortunate ricochet,' another person said.

New Zealand Education Ministry Head of Infrastructure Service spokesperson Kim Shannon said the Department had offered support to the school.

'We are aware of the incident and have offered support to the school,' she said.

'As the incident is being investigated by WorkSafe, it would be inappropriate to comment further.'
Israel has struck 30 'military targets' in the Gaza Strip in response to a wave of mortar attacks from the Palestinian enclave.

Palestinian militants had launched their heaviest barrages against Israel since the 2014 Gaza war before Israeli aircraft struck back in a surge of fighting after weeks of border violence.

There were no immediate reports of casualties from either side after the Israeli military said more than 25 mortar bombs and rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip in several salvoes in the morning and afternoon.

Israeli planes attacked at least seven facilities belonging to armed group Islamic Jihad and the territory's dominant Hamas movement after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a 'powerful' response.

Israel has struck 30 'military targets' in the Gaza Strip in response to a wave of mortar attacks from the Palestinian enclave. Pictured: Smoke rises after an Israeli strike in Gaza City (left) and rockets fired from the enclave are intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system (right)

Palestinian militants had launched their heaviest barrages against Israel since the 2014 Gaza war before Israeli aircraft struck back (pictured) in a surge of fighting after weeks of border violence

Israeli planes attacked at least seven facilities belonging to armed group Islamic Jihad and the territory's dominant Hamas movement after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a 'powerful' response

The Israeli military said several of the projectiles fired from Gaza were shot down by its Iron Dome rocket interceptor and others landed in empty lots and farmland.

One exploded in the yard of a kindergarten, damaging its walls and scattering the playground with debris and shrapnel, about an hour before it was scheduled to open for the day.

There was no claim of responsibility from any of the militant groups in Gaza, but the attack comes after Islamic Jihad vowed to take revenge after three of its members were killed by Israeli tank shelling.

Violence has soared along the Gaza frontier in recent weeks during which 116 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at mass demonstrations for a right of return to ancestral lands now in Israel.

A Hamas spokesman defended Tuesday's attacks as a 'natural response to Israeli crimes'. In similarly phrased remarks, an Islamic Jihad spokesman said 'the blood of our people is not cheap'.

Violence has soared along the Gaza frontier in recent weeks during which 116 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at mass demonstrations for a right of return to ancestral lands now in Israel. Pictured: An Israeli strike in the Gaza Strip today

Gaza residents said at least seven training or security facilities belonging to Islamic Jihad and Hamas were hit in the Israeli air strikes

Gaza residents said at least seven training or security facilities belonging to Islamic Jihad and Hamas were hit in the Israeli air strikes.

Plumes of smoke and dust rose from the target sites. The powerful explosions shook buildings nearby, causing panic among rush hour crowds on streets and in markets. The Gazan Ministry of Education said shrapnel from one missile flew into a school.

The Israeli military said it was 'carrying out activities in the Gaza Strip', without elaborating.

Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N.'s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he was deeply concerned by 'the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards communities in southern Israel'.

Calling for restraint by all parties, he said at least one of the mortar bombs 'hit in the immediate vicinity of a kindergarten and could have killed or injured children'.

A barrage of 25 mortar shells were fired into southern Israel overnight, its army has claimed - hours after soldiers killed a Palestinian with tankfire. Israeli media reported that one of shells landed near a kindergarten (pictured) shortly before it opened

The attack came hours after a Palestinian who approached the border fence with what the Israeli army said an 'intention of carrying out an attack' was killed by tankfire. Grieving relatives held a funeral (pictured) for the Palestinian, Mohammed al-Radeia, 30, in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip yesterday

Most of the mortars were intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome aerial defence system but some landed in open areas with no injuries reported, officials said. A man holds shrapnel from mortar shells that landed near a kindergarten in Kibbutz

Israeli troops fire tear gas as they clash with Palestinian youth in the Amari refugee camp near Ramallah in West Bank after they stormed the camp yesterday

At least 121 Palestinians have been killed during weeks of unrest since March 30, when Palestinians began calling to be allowed to return to their historic homelands inside Israel. Pictured: Clashes near Ramallah yesterday

Amid international condemnation for its use of lethal force at the mass demonstrations, Israel said many of the dead were militants and that the army was repelling attacks on the border fence. Palestinians and their supporters say most of the protesters were unarmed civilians and Israel was using excessive force against them.

Organisers of the Palestinian border protests launched a boat from Gaza on Tuesday in a challenge to Israel's maritime blockade of the enclave.

'I want to make a future for myself, I want to live,' said Ehab Abu Armana, 28, before he and 14 other protesters boarded the boat. The Israeli navy was widely expected to stop the vessel, which the organisers said would be accompanied for a short distance by several other boats.

More than two million Palestinians are packed into the narrow coastal enclave. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but, citing security concerns, maintains tight control of its land and sea borders, which has reduced its economy to a state of collapse.

Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza on its border.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014 and Israeli settlements built on occupied territory which Palestinians seek for a state have expanded.
A Chicago Fire Department diver looking for a man who fell off a boat into the Chicago River on Monday night was separated from his partner underwater and was killed.

The city agency said that its 'prayers go out to the family of Firefighter Juan Bucio.' It said on Twitter that Bucio 'tragically passed away answering a call of a person in the water.'

Alberto Lopez, 28, fell off the boat near the 2600 block of South Ashland Avenue at around 8pm on Memorial Day, police said.

Fallen hero: Chicago Fire Department diver Juan Bucio, 46 (left and right), was killed in the line of duty on Monday while searching for a missing boater

Bucio was killed and two other divers were injured while searching for the boater in the river, which flows through downtown Chicago.

Bucio, 46, was in the water with a dive partner when the partner lost contact with him, fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said.

'During the search, one of our divers became separated,' he said. 'Immediate search started with the backup divers.'

Bucio was pulled from the water at around 8.45pm and rushed to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly after 10pm.

Lopez had not been located as of early Tuesday. The two other divers were hospitalized briefly.

Bucio joined the Chicago Fire Department in 2003 and became a member of its dive team in 2007. He had a wife and two children, sons ages seven and nine years old.

Still missing: Bucio and other divers were out looking for 28-year-old Alberto Lopez, who fell off a boat into the Chicago River on Memorial Day

He is also survived by nine siblings, including a brother at the fire department and a sister at the police department, Santiago said.

'Please,' Santiago said, 'keep this family in your prayers.'

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel released a statement on Tuesday, hailing Bucio as a 'special type of person' willing to risk his life to help others.

'Our hearts are heavy tonight,' Emanuel said. 'When the call came for help, Juan Bucio was that special type of person who answered. He was dedicated to Chicago and committed to keeping us all safe. He will be missed, but his service and his selflessness will be remembered.'

Bucio is the 13th Chicago firefighter to die in the line of duty since 2000, according to data from the Illinois Fire Service Institute cited by the Chicago Tribune.
Emma Tustin (left), 32, referred to Arthur Labinjo-Hughes (right) as a 'little t**t', 'little p***k', 'little f**k' and 'little c**t' in messages to her boyfriend Thomas Hughes, 29, in the weeks before the boy suffered fatal injuries, Coventry Crown Court heard. Arthur had tried to tell family members 'no-one loves me' and 'I won't be fed today' before he died, jurors were told. Tustin and Hughes are accused of 'poisoning' the child with salt and making him endure months of abuse before killing him by 'banging his head against a hard surface'. Both deny murdering Arthur, who collapsed at Miss Tustin's home in Shirley, Solihull, West Midlands, on June 16 last year. He died at Birmingham Children's Hospital the following day having suffered a traumatic brain injury. The court was told Miss Tustin sent numerous texts claiming Arthur was 'screaming', refusing to eat his food, demanding to go to his grandmother as well as attacking her. The couple also spoke of separating and in one row the jury was told that Miss Tustin sent a text saying: 'I want you but not him. I'm not being treated like that by him.' Mr Hughes replied: 'It can't be one and not the other. Unfortunately, it's got to be both or none.' In response, the court was told, Miss Tustin messaged: 'Cya.'
Detectives have arrested a murder suspect over the death of a man who was killed after a car ploughed into a crowd of people outside a social club.

Nathan Marshall died in hospital following the collision outside The Salisbury Club, in Brinnington, Stockport, on Sunday night.

In a statement, his family said: 'Nathan was our much loved son, he was kind and loving and a wonderful friend to the many people who knew and cared about him.

'Nathan was our first born. He lit up the room when he was alive. Living without him will be the hardest thing we will do as a family and we are devastated by our loss.'

Nathan Marshall, pictured, died in hospital after a car ploughed into a crowd of people outside The Salisbury Club in Brinnington, Stockport, on Sunday. Detectives say the driver of the car is still at large

The black Audi A4 that hit Mr Marshall was found dumped in the middle lane of the M60 near the town centre, not far from the Stockport Pyramid (pictured: the scene at The Salisbury Club yesterday)

A 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after he presented himself at Central Park police station shortly before 10pm on Monday. He remains in custody.

The black Audi A4 involved was found dumped in the middle lane of the M60 near the town centre, not far from the Stockport Pyramid, after the collision.

Police have said two men aged 31 and 33 also suffered minor injuries.

Detective Inspector Andy Butterworth, from Greater Manchester Police, said: 'Our investigation does not stop here and we are continuing to question the man in custody.

'We are still gathering information from witnesses and will continue to recover any details which can help explain this man's last moments and provide his family with the answers they deserve.

'He and his family continue to be at the forefront of everyone's minds at this heart-breaking time.

'I would still urge anyone with any information about this tragic incident to please contact us.'

Desperate onlookers have described how people tried to help Mr Marshall, from Reddish, as he lay injured in the road.

One resident, who did not wish to be named, said: 'We were nearby and heard lots of banging and shouting and saw a car drive past really fast. We went to have a look and the police began taping off the scene so we were stuck in the middle of it.

'We had driven right into it and we saw a lad on the floor who looked in a really bad way and was getting CPR. Police were asking people nearby questions.'

A resident reported seeing a fight outside the club before the car hit a number of people.

Sharon Mills, 44, who witnessed the incident and called police, said that they had come out of the club fighting and that a few people had subsequently been run over by a car.

She added: 'A man was on the floor with ambulance staff working on him, it was horrible.'

Touching tributes have been left at the scene following the tragic incident.

One note, left on a bunch of flowers, said: 'From the landlady and family and customers of The Salisbury Club, so very sorry we tried our hardest.

'We'd only met you for the first time but we'll never forget your pleasant smile. Rest in Peace.'

Cars outside the social club have been scraped and a lamppost is also damaged

'Goodnight - sleep well with the angels, love Tracy, Andrew and family', said another.

Another read: 'RIP Nathan, We had some great times back in cruise days. Taken too soon. Sleep tight mate, Nige XXX.'

A third said: 'Rest in peace Nathan, You'll be missed by so many. I promise I'll look after your baby sister for you, always in my heart, Liv XXXX.'

Brinnington councillor Chris Murphy expressed his shock and asked anyone who could help police with their enquiries to come forward.

'I am horrified this has happened,' he said. 'Brinnington is a decent place where the vast, vast majority of people are decent.

'But this gives it a bad name. If anyone knows anything about this then please come forward.'

The clockwise stretch of the M60 was closed for more than five hours on Sunday into the early hours of Monday morning.

The motorway was closed between junction 25 and junction 1 from 11.30pm until 4.45am after the car used in the attack was abandoned on the second lane.

Police believe the driver jumped over a fence at the side of the motorway after dumping the car in the middle of the carriageway.

Detective Inspector Kris Williams of GMP's Stockport Borough, said: 'My thoughts go out to the man's family who sadly have to deal with the tragic news that their loved one has died.

'We've already spoken to a number of witnesses in the area and will continue to do so to build a fuller picture of what has exactly happened but from what we know so far, we believe the driver of the car scaled the fence next to the M60 and ran away.

'Whatever information people have, I'd encourage them to contact us as a matter of urgency.'

Anyone with information should contact police on 0161 856 9790 quoting reference number 2575 of 27/05/18 or the independent charity Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
A boy left hanging off a Paris balcony before being rescued by a hero immigrant climber dubbed 'Spider-Man' had already fallen from the floor above, it emerged today.

The four-year-old clambered over the front of the first balcony and then dropped some 15ft on to another ledge below, an investigating source said.

He somehow ended up dangling off the second balcony before being saved by hero Mamoudou Gassama who was filmed scaling the side of the building to reach the child.

The twist in the saga came as the unnamed child's father was threatened with two years in prison. He was out shopping and then playing video games on Saturday evening - so leaving his son alone on a balcony in the French capital's 18th arrondissement.

It comes as members of the boy's family hailed 'hero' Gassama for his bravery - but the child's mother did not blame her husband for what happened.

Hero Mamoudou Gassama (centre), who was filmed scaling the side of a Paris building to reach a four-year-old child dangling from a balcony, is pictured today holding a temporary residence permit after visiting the Prefecture of Bobigny, northeast of Paris

On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron invited Mr Gassama (centre) to the Elysee Palace, where he announced that the immigrant to France was to be made a citizen, and to get a job in the Paris fire service

A boy left hanging off a Paris balcony before being rescued by a hero immigrant climber dubbed 'Spider-Man' had already fallen from the floor above, it emerged today

Malian immigrant Mamoudou Gassama (right), dubbed Spider-Man for scaling four storeys to save a child dangling from a balcony in Paris, met French President Emmanuel Macron (left)on Monday

Mamoudou Gassama (pictured today), 22, was hailed a hero for single-handedly scaling the facade of an apartment block in the capital's 18th arrondissement, and hauling the four-year-old to safety. He is pictured this morning displaying a certificate of courage and dedication signed by Paris Police Prefect Michel Delpuech

It was soon after 8pm that the child, who was wearing Spider-Man flip-flops, climbed over the front of the balcony and then dropped on to the front ledge of the balcony below.

'How he didn't keep falling at this point is beyond belief,' said an investigating source. 'Instead he seemed to stick to the side of the building, like another little Spider-Man'.

It was at this point that a crowd began gathering below, and hero climber Mamoudou Gassama scaled the building in under 30 seconds.

An astonishing video shows the Malian getting up to the boy, grabbing him by the left arm, and then pulling him to safety while another man on a balcony next door desperately tried to reach the youngster.

Today, the mystery neighbour confirmed the little boy had fallen from the fifth to the fourth floor of the building. The man, who has not been named, can be seen in the video grabbing the boy just before Gassama arrived.

The little lad was bleeding from the toes, and had lost a nail, the neighbour told Le Parisien newspaper.

He added: 'The boy was very brave as he had fallen from the floor above, before catching the balcony just below!'

Asked why he had not simply climbed over the partitions between the two balconies, and lifted the boy to safety himself, the man said: 'Given the configuration of the balcony, I couldnt lift him. I didn't want to risk letting go of his hand, I preferred to move slowly.'

Referring to Mr Gassama, the neighbour said: 'When I arrived on my balcony, he was already climbing, he was so fast.'

After the drama, all involved  Mr Gassama, the neighbour, and the boy  had a drink and ate something before emergency workers arrived.

'Mamoudou was very tired and didnt say much, he was still in shock,' said the neighbour. 'I hope to see Mamoudou again so as to congratulate him on his feat, which we accomplished together.'

On Monday, President Emmanuel Macron invited Mr Gassama to the Elysee Palace, where he announced that the immigrant to France was to be made a citizen, and to get a job in the Paris fire service.

The four-year-old was filmed hanging on for his life outside an apartment on Rue Marx-Dormoy on Saturday afternoon, having been apparently left home alone while his father was out shopping

Gassama, 22, took less than 30 seconds to reach the child, and has since been compared to the Marvel superhero Spider-Man

Meanwhile, Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said the boy's 36-year-old father was on bail, and facing a charged of 'failing in the legal obligations of a parent' - an offense punishable by up to two years in prison.

He will next appear in court on September 25, while the boy remains in the custody of his mother on Reunion island, the French overseas territory in the Indian Ocean. None of the family can be named for legal reasons.

Mr Molins said: 'The father left the flat just as the incident was unfolding. He went shopping and then decided to play Pokemon Go in the street which took a little time before he returned home.'

Asked why he took such a risk to save the boy, Gassama (above) told Le Parisien: 'I did it because it's a child'

The prosecutor said the window in the family flat had been left open, and that there was no safety grille on the balcony.

Mr Molins said: 'The father is very upset because he realises what he did and what could have happened.'

Mr Gassama, who has been compared to the Marvel comic superhero Spider-Man, arrived in France at the end of last year 'dreaming of building his life' in France.

He said: 'I'm pleased because it's the first time I've received a prize like this'.

The boy's mother, who was 6,000 miles away at the time of the incident, today said she did not blame her husband for what happened.

'It could have been worse,' said told Antenne TV in Reunion Island, where she is staying with her parents.

'I'm relieved, and in a hurry to get back with my husband and my son. The judicial police called me and told me the news.

After effortlessly making his ascent, encouraged by a crowd of onlookers, Gassama, originally from Mali, grabbed the boy and took him to safety

'I was discussing it with people on Facebook and I saw that there was a video circulating. And it might have been better if I hadn't seen it.'

Responding to accusations that her husband had been out playing video games, the woman said: 'For the moment I don't know anything, I'm not going to boil my husband, I think he's been put in a bad position [by prosecution evidence]

'He went to bring my son home, so my son was back with his father. My husband has now been put under social surveillance, this is normal after what happened.

'I'm not justifying my husband's behaviour. We can say that what happened could have happened to anyone, and it has happened to other people. My son was just lucky.'

The mother said she was en route to Paris, where she was set to be questioned by social services on Tuesday.

Thanking Mamoudou Gassama, the mother said: 'He's been rewarded for his act.

'I can assure you that knowing that that [my husband's] child could have died in terrible circumstances without anyone being able to react..yes, we can only thank this person. I'll wait to find him, to see if we can meet him.'
The wife whose Army sergeant husband twice tried to kill her said today she is not angry with him and insists he was a 'kind and loving' man.

Victoria Cilliers, 42, said she still loves the Emile Cilliers she knew before he tried to gas her at home with their young children inside before he tampered with her parachute sending her crashing to earth from 4,000ft.

Cilliers was described as 'cold, calculating and controlling' and was a habitual cheat and degenerate who wanted his wife's 120,000 life insurance to pay off his rising debts.

He was also sleeping with two other women including his first wife and a skydiver he met on Tinder while also organising unprotected sex with escorts and signing up to a sex club and swingers' site to find a 'f*** buddy'.

Victoria Cilliers said she still loves the Emile Cilliers she knew when he tried to kill her and says he was 'kind' to her

Victoria Cilliers said she cannot bring herself to believe he would do it and said jury who convicted him did not see his kinder side

Emile Cilliers (pictured with Victoria) was described as 'cold, calculating and controlling' and was a habitual cheat and degenerate who wanted his wife's 120,000 life insurance to pay off his rising debts.

A jury at Winchester Crown Court unanimously agreed he was bent on killing his wife.

Vicky, a 42-year-old physiotherapist, who fell 4,000ft to earth, accepts her husband was a serial philanderer but cannot bring herself to believe he was willing to kill her

But Mrs Cilliers said today his wife, who was extremely lucky to survive the attempts on her life over Easter 2015, says she still 'struggles to accept' he wanted to murder her.

In an extraordinary interview she even appeared to defend him, suggesting the jurors failed to see his 'kind and loving side'.

She told Good Morning Britain: 'Its such a massive thing to get your head around and Im still pretty stunned. Im struggling to accept he tried to kill me. Its such a massive thing to accept.

'Its hard to conceive someone so close to you would want to cause you some kind of harm.

'I never had any indication that there was another side to him. I hope he didnt hate me. I really dont know. I love the husband I had and Im grieving for that marriage. Weve had no contact for the last three years.

'Hes a very confident individual. The side that they dont see is that he was a kind and loving husband'.

She added: 'Ive been through every emotion under the sun  Ive had plenty of time to think about things. Which is why Im not overtly angry. Ive got children  I cant be angry or bitter. I need to keep going for them'.

Emile Cilliers tried to kill his wife Victoria twice - first with a gas leak and then in a parachute jump - to get his hands on her money and start a new life. His wife, who gave evidence in court, has not told their children

Emile and Vicky Cilliers pictured skydiving together over Wiltshire in 2011. A court found he tried to kill her by cutting the cords of her parachute

Mrs Cilliers has not told their children he could face life in jail for attempting to murder her - even though they were in the house when he tried to blow her up

Mrs Cilliers has acknowledged that she will have to tell her two young children that their father has done a bad thing, but cannot bring herself to reveal that he tried to kill her twice.

'Cold, calculating and callous' Emile Cilliers will be kicked out of the military 'within seven days' and could face life in jail for trying to kill his wife, twice

In a startling exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, during which she lost the composure which has seen her through two dramatic trials, the 42-year-old physiotherapist also insisted that she does not believe her husbands guilt.

Yes Im hurt and angry. But can I see Emile as capable of murder? No, she told the paper, adding: My family, friends, everyone seems to think they know more than I do. They see different evidence to me.

Mrs Cilliers, who is originally from Haddington, East Lothian, also suggested she has no immediate plans to divorce her husband, who had been conducting an affair behind her back, although she has vowed to confront him in prison to ask: What the hell? Why? Why is this all happening?

She admitted she had spent the past three years since her husbands arrest telling the couples son and daughter that their daddy has gone away for work.

Her priority now was to ensure they have a happy, well-adjusted life, adding: I want boring and normal for us now, for them to grow up untainted.

One of the hardest things to deal with has been our daughters questions and her hurt. She still asks regularly, Wheres daddy? When am I going to see him? Why cant I speak to him on FaceTime?

The tearful wife of the Lothario army sergeant who tried to murder her by sabotaging her parachute says it was the thought of her children that made her battle to survive as she plummeted to the ground below

Cilliers married Carly Taylor (left) and cheated on her with skydiver Stephanie Goller (right) while chasing sex with prostitutes

Cilliers, who had out of control debts racked up by taking his lover on expensive holidays, first attempted to kill his wife by tampering with a gas valve at their home in Amesbury, Wiltshire, at the end of March 2015.

Their young daughter and son were both in the house with their mother at the time.

Cilliers, who was also in contact with prostitutes and having sex with one of his ex-wives, made a second attempt on her life by sabotaging both her main and reserve parachutes, causing her to fall 4,000ft to the ground.

Mrs Cilliers, a highly experienced parachuting instructor, suffered near-fatal injuries in the failed jump at the Army Parachute Association at Netheravon, Wiltshire, on Easter Sunday, April 5, 2015, but miraculously survived.

She told the MoS that she does not believe her husband tried to kill her: He was my husband. Yes, things might have been breaking down. Hed been unfaithful, hed had issues with money, but that is not attempted murder.

She said she accepted her husband was a serial philanderer and a skilled liar, that he had a sordid appetite for sex with swingers and prostitutes and that he had pressing debts.

Vicky, a 42-year-old physiotherapist, who fell 4,000ft to earth, accepts her husband was a serial philanderer but cannot bring herself to believe he was willing to kill her

Emile and Vicky Cilliers pictured skydiving together over Wiltshire in 2011. A court found he tried to kill her by cutting the cords of her parachute

Vicky about to do a jump from a plane. She is a veteran of an astounding 2,600 jumps

She knows he wanted to leave her to start a new life with his blonde mistress and that a life insurance pay-out would have helped fund it.

But she still cannot bring herself to believe he was willing to kill her in such a cold-hearted, premeditated way and leave their daughter, now six, and son, now three, motherless.

She has not spoken to Cilliers since he was charged three years ago and says she does not love him any more but wants to visit him in prison adding: Perhaps Ill parachute in.

She said she dreads the day that their son discovers Cilliers lied to his mistress and said he was not his biological father. I can live with his lies, its the betrayal of my children which is the hardest to bear, she added.

Physically, Mrs Cilliers has made a full recovery, although her pelvis is held together with metal pins. Bones heal, but hearts, probably not, she told the paper.

Cilliers, 38, of the Royal Army Physical Training Corps, is awaiting sentence for two charges of attempted murder and a third of recklessly endangering life.

He was convicted following a retrial at Winchester Crown Court and has been remanded in custody until sentencing on June 15.
A power outage at an amusement park in Ohio left dozens of riders stranded on a roller coaster and other rides for about two hours.

A spokesman for Cedar Point in Sandusky says the park lost power Monday afternoon when a car hit a utility pole.

Photos and video shared on social media by people at the park along Lake Erie show riders stuck on a train going up the 300-foot-tall Millennium Force roller coaster.

Visitors to the Cedar Point amusement park's Millennium Force roller coaster found themselves stranded by the power cut

Dozens of riders were stuck in the 80F heat for around two hours until crews restored power to part of the park, allowing them to be rescued

Crews worked to restore power to a portion of the park to get riders back down to safety.

Cedar Point spokesman Tony Clark told the Toledo Blade that a section of the park lost power at roughly 1:45 pm, affecting roughly one-third of the park's rides, and was restored at 3.50pm.

'The outage was caused by a vehicle accident in which a car struck a power pole,' he said.

He explained that all of the rides that were affected safely came to a stop and all guests were escorted off.
The United Nations knew of charity workers offering refugees food in exchange for sexual favours for more than a decade, it has been revealed.

An 84-page report on 'food-for-sex' practices in West African refugee camps was compiled and handed over to the UN in 2002, but was never published.

It claims that workers at more than 40 aid organisations, of which 15 are major international charities including Save the Children and Medecins Sans Frontieres, sexually exploited young refugees.

Allegations: A report filed to the UN in 2002 claims that workers at more than 40 aid organisations, of which 15 are major international charities, sexually exploited young refugees in camps in West Africa. Pictured is a refugee camp in Liberia

The 2002 research document allege that 'food, oil, access to education and plastic sheeting for shelters' were exchanged for sex, according to The Times.

The newspaper, which has been given access to the report, reveal that families living in refugee camps in Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia allegedly offered charity workers their teenage daughter for sex 'to make ends meet'.

According to The Sun, charity workers in a camp in Guinea would tell women 'a kilo of flour for sex'.

'In this community no one can get corn soy blend [a fortified pre-cooked flour] without having sex first.'

Despite the report resulting in a list of 67 charity workers accused of sexually exploiting refugee children begin handed over to senior officials at United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), none were prosecuted.

The UNHCR logo is seen at the entrance of a refugee camp in southeastern Guinea near the border with Liberia

The Times reports that ten people were dismissed, but the findings remained confidential.

A Save the Children spokesperson said the organisation had been 'shocked' to uncover sexual abuse by aid workers in the early noughties.

At the time Save the Children took immediate action against three individuals. We have since made sweeping changes. Every member of staff is now given mandatory child safeguarding training within a week of joining the organisation. We have established a dedicated global safeguarding team and 445 focal points for reporting concerns.

The spokesperson added that Save the Children has 'a culture of zero tolerance for misconduct of any kind'.



It comes after revelations that Oxfam covered up that several of its senior aid workers had been paying survivors of the devastating 2010 Haiti earthquake for sex.

Three Oxfam employees were allowed to resign and four were sacked for gross misconduct after an internal investigation found some workers had used prostitutes in the war-torn region. Questions had been raised whether the women may have been underage, but this could not be ascertained.

In early August 2011, it was reported a small number of employees were being investigated over allegations of gross misconduct, however there was no mention of potential sexual crimes involving minors.
Zurich is the most expensive city in the world, costing US$4,260 a month without even considering the sky-high rent.

The Swiss financial hub again topped a UBS study of the cost of living in 77 major cities, just ahead of Geneva, New York, and Oslo.

A notoriously pricey place to shop, it had the most expensive services and appliances, and ranked second highest for groceries.

Zurich is the most expensive city in the world, costing US$4,260 a month without even considering the sky-high rent

Surprisingly, Los Angeles residents had the best purchasing power on Earth with their high wages compensating for its 20th place price ranking

Many times cheaper was bottom-ranked Cairo and Lagos at just US$12,000-1,5000 a month, with Kiev the cheapest European city.

Most expensive places to live (excluding rent) 1. Zurich - US$4,260 a month 2. Geneva - $4,165 3. Oslo - $3,958 4. Copenhagen - $3,897 5. New York - $3,673 6. Tokyo - 3,654 7. Milan - $3,505 8. London - $3,411 9. Chicago - $3,405 10. Helsinki - $3,370 Advertisement

Surprisingly, Los Angeles residents had the best purchasing power on Earth with their high wages compensating for its 20th place price ranking.

The average Angeleno was able to afford almost a quarter more than New Yorkers, who had the 10th most disposable income.

Zurich, despite being the most expensive city, ranked second thanks to high salaries and lower taxes compared to similar cities.

London was the eighth most expensive city and with only the 24th-highest wages its purchasing power languished at 23rd.

Sydney fared better at 11th for prices and 16th for earning giving its residents the 13th most purchasing power - despite its notoriously pricey real estate.

Hong Kong unsurprisingly had the highest rent at almost US$4,000 a month, with New York on $US3,833 then a US$1,000 drop down to Paris in third.

Cairo (pictured) and Lagos were the cheapest at just US$12,000-1,5000 a month, with Kiev the cheapest European city

Gulf cities were the biggest climbers on the purchasing power list with oil money and an influx of expats driving up prices but also wages.

Doha jumped from 37th to 19th and Dubai from 27th to 14th, the second-highest in the Middle East, behind Manama in Bahrain in eighth.

The expats who live in Dubai, however, were paying a premium as it ranked as the third most expensive place to uproot your family to.

Geneva was the most expensive expat city with costs for a furnished apartment, language courses, international schools for children, and a cleaner piling up.

London was the eighth most expensive city and with only the 24th-highest wages its purchasing power languished at 23rd

A couple looking for a Friday night out with a meal, bottle of wine and a movie pay the most in Tokyo, New York and Stockholm, while the best values were in Prague, Mexico City and Rio de Janeiro.

The price of coffee varied wildly around the world costing the most in Doha at US$6.40 and Copenhagen at US$6.24, and least in Lagos and Lisbon for less than 80c.

The study compared the prices of 128 goods and services and based its pricing calculations on the needs of an average three-person family.

To measure earning it took a weighted average of 15 jobs from doctors to teachers and builders and adjusted for average working hours in each city.
Noel performed at an event at the palace

Once home to the Stone of Destiny, Scone Palace was the crowning place of ancient Scots kings for nearly a thousand years.

But one famous guest at the weekend was far from impressed by the sites history  and scoffed at its regal heritage.

Noel Gallagher, performing in the Perth venue for the BBCs The Biggest Weekend event, signed off from the tourist attraction by writing in the official visitors book: A palace? My gaffs bigger than this.

He added two kisses to emphasise the joke.

However, the former Oasis guitarists own home became something of a millstone around his neck after he struggled to sell it.

Noel Gallagher was less than impressed with the ancient crowning place of Scottish kings

The former Oasis star said his home was bigger than the palace in its official visitor's book

Gallagher, 51 today, tried to sell his six-bedroom home in Little Venice, West London, in 2016 for 11.5million before knocking almost 2million off the asking price after it sat on the market for a year.

He even issued a tongue-in-cheek plea to Russian oligarchs to snap up the stucco-fronted period property last year.

He had bought the home, which features a basement gym, in 2010, but wanted to upgrade.

Gallaghers 90-minute headlining set on Saturday featured hits from his career with both Oasis and Noel Gallaghers High Flying Birds. It drew a mass sing-along from the crowd who made up some of the 20,000 who attended the live music event over two days.
Ron Medich's former right hand has penned an emotional letter pleading for an early release from jail.

Fortunato 'Lucky' Gattellari wrote the letter to the State Parole Authority, begging them to let him go saying he will follow all his obligations.

His letter read: 'Your honour let me go home to be with my family, I am no danger or thret [sic] to anyone and I will live up to all my obligations,' Nine News reported.

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Fortunato 'Lucky' Gattellari (pictured) wrote the letter to State Parole Authority, begging them to let him go saying he will follow all his obligations

His letter read: 'Your honour let me go home to be with my family, I am no danger or thret [sic] to anyone and I will live up to all my obligations'

However, his plea fell on deaf ears as the Commissioner decided to leave Gattellari behind bars due to alleged extortion.

Gattellari, who's already served seven-and-a-half years for being an accessory before the murder of Michael McGurk in 2009, received a 60 per cent discount after agreeing to give evidence against his former 'big boss', Medich.

He reminded the panel today he had also turned against co-accused Haissam Safetli and agreed to testify at various ICAC hearings against Medich and disgraced Labor MP Ian Macdonald at 'great personal cost', Nine News reported.

'I went to hell and back, spending months on the stand for the Crown and on cross examination. Your honour in these cases I was portrayed by the Crown as a honest, credible and reliable witness,' he told the court through his letter.

His lawyer Peter Godkin suggested Corrective Services were coming up with reasons not to release him, and his client will fight for his release.

Medich will face a hearing later in the week.
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This is the moment Belgian special forces took down a gunman who shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as he shot and killed two policewomen and a 22-year-old trainee teacher.

After carrying out three brutal murders this morning, the attacker took a female cleaner hostage in a nearby high school.

The footage shows him running out of the school with two guns blazing before he was shot dead in the street. Several officers were injured in the gun battle.

The man, who is understood to have been on a day release from a nearby prison, had approached the female officers at around 10.30am, slashed their throats and stabbed them several times from behind, before disarming them.

He has been named as 36-year-old Benjamin Herman. His victims have been named as police officers Lucile Garcia, 45, and Soraya Belkacemi, 53, and 22-year-old Cyril Vangriecken, who was shot dead sitting in a parked car with his mother.

Tonight Liege police paid tribute to their two fallen colleagues on Facebook, calling them 'wonderful' mothers and officers.

A lawmaker revealed Belgian national Herman was on an anti-terror police watchlist after being radicalised in jail. He appeared indirectly in security reports on radicalised people and was a multiple repeat offender incarcerated since 2003 who was on day release when he attacked.

Soraya Belkacemi, left, and Lucile Garcia, right, were hailed as wonderful mothers and police officers by their colleagues after being killed in today's attack

A white car is towed away away from the scene of the shooting today in Belgium as a police officer stands at the scene in Liege

Mr Vangriecken's father told French-based BFM TV his son thought only of his studies, adding: 'My son was a perfect child. When I say perfect, it was perfect.'

He expressed anger that the killer was on day release when he committed the attack.

'How many times must it happen that there are people, young people who do nothing, get killed by people who are radicalized in prison?' he said.

Four other officers were wounded in the attack, one of them seriously with a severed femoral artery.

A white car is taken by a tow truck at the scene of a shooting at the boulevard d'Avroy in Liege ater a gunman shot dead three people, two of them policemen

This is the moment Belgian special forces shoots and kills the suspected terrorist in Liege, Belgium on Tuesday

Victims: The two female police officers were stabbed and then shot dead with their own weapons in the attack on Tuesday

Federal prosecutors said they had launched a terror investigation into the incident, which comes as Belgium remains on high alert after a string of attacks including twin suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State group.

The police chief in Liege, Christian Beaupere, has since said the motive of the attacker was to target the police, although it is not clear how police had come to this conclusion.

According to Belgian broadcaster RTBF, Herman was a violent drug dealer with additional convictions for both robbery and assault, who had been let out on day-release from a local prison on Monday.

RTBF claimed investigators are looking into whether he had converted to Islam, with sources within the prison service saying he had been close to radicalised inmates and had wanted to 'carry out attacks when released'.

The national crisis centre, on high alert since Islamic State attacks said it had not raised its alert level - an indication the man was acting alone and so follow-up attacks are not expected. A source close to the investigation telling AFP that he was on a watchlist earlier today.

'He is suspected of having been radicalised (in prison)... He has been reported or presumed to be belonging to the entourage of an Islamist recruiter,' the source said on condition of anonymity.

Paris-Match magazine revealed a Koran and prayer rug were found during a search of his cell and tonight a Belgian lawmaker said the attacker was on an anti-terrorist police watchlist after being radicalised in jail.

Earlier today reports claimed Herman had been granted several hours of leave from prison to seek work. But Justice Minister Koen Geens has revealed Herman was on two-day leave from prison as of Monday. Geens described him as a multiple repeat offender who had been incarcerated since 2003.

He told the National Security Council the perpetrator was was on his 14th two-day release break after a successful 13.

He said it was difficult to predict the violence because of previous leaves that had gone well. The bout of two-day breaks follow 11 one-day release permits, according to news site DH.

Murdered: Police officer Lucile Garcia has been named as one of the two policewomen killed in Liege, Belgium today

Killed: The civilian shot dead by the attacker has been named as Cyril Vangriecken, 22, from the nearby town of Vottem

Down: Police special forces are seen next to the body of what is believed to be the attacker, outside the high school

Attacker: This image published by Belgian news website HLN allegedly shows the male attacker brandishing two firearms which he reportedly stole from the policewomen he gunned down in Liege, Belgium

Murdered: A graphic video uploaded on social media shows the two police officers shot down in the street on Tuesday in what is now considered a terror attack

Herman, a Belgian national, had been meant to be heading to his home town of Rochefort, 40 miles from Liege, despite prison officers saying he was still 'extremely violent'.

Following his release on Monday afternoon, he is thought to have robbed a jewellery shop in his home town of Rochefort.

Herman is also currently the prime suspect for the murder of a drug dealer in the town of Marche-en-Famenne, in Luxemburg, which was committed on Monday night, just a few hours later.

Today, he is alleged to have 'hunted down' police officers Garcia and Belkacemi while they were on routine road traffic duties, 'checking parking meters' in the town of Liege. Garcia had recently become a grandmother and was newly married to a local police chief, and Belkacemi was a mother of 13-year-old twins.

Initial reports suggested he shot them after being stopped for a document check, however prosecutors now say he crept up behind them, cut their throats with a 'box cutter' knife, and stabbed them numerous times.

Herman then took the officers' side arms and shot them both in the head, making sure they were dead.

Local news website DHnet.be reported that he had shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as he fired on on Liege's central Boulevard d'Avroy, citing police sources, but this has not yet been confirmed by officials.

Videos posted on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Liege's central boulevard d'Avroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background.

One video show emergency services and police officers in body armour moving into position, another sees the two police officers shot dead in the street.

Emotions: A male police officer is seen breaking down at the scene where two colleagues were shot by an attacker who had allegedly been released from prison the day before

Forensic police officers appear to be removing a red body bad from the scene in Liege this afternoon

Scene: A witness' photo show emergency services in central Liege after the unnamed man shot two police officers and a bystander, and then took a woman hostage inside a high school

Several police and emergency vehicles block the view of a white tent set up to shield the scene of the shooting

Investigating: Forensics experts are seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege

Terror: The gunman killed three people in the attack which is now considered by prosecutors to have been an act of terrorism

Shock: A man is seen crying on the street behind the police cordons as officers stand by him

Hearses are parked near a police tent at the scene where a gunman shot dead two police officers and a bystander on the Boulevard d'Avroy in Liege

Potential terror: The man reportedly opened fire at around 10.30am local time, after allegedly attacking police officers

The Liege victims: 22-year-old man was shot dead as he sat next to his mother, one officer was newly married to a police chief and the other was mother of twins The victims of the suspected terror attack in Belgium have been revealed as a 22-year-old trainee teacher killed in front of his mother, a newly married police officer and a mother of twins. This afternoon the two police officers were named as Lucile Garcia, 45, from Herve in Belgium's Verviers region, and her 53-year-old colleague Soraya Belkacemi. Garcia had only married a month ago to a local police commissioner Patrick Hagelstein and had recently become a grandmother - something she was 'very proud of'. Murdered: Police officer Lucile Garcia has been named as one of the two policewomen killed in Liege, Belgium today Colleagues described her as a 'fantastic woman'. She had been touched by tragedy ten years ago when a 21-year-old family member had lost his life in a road accident. Belkacemi, a mother of 13-year-old twins, started her career with the police as an assistant agent but climbed the ranks of the police force after completing her exams. The third victim was named as Cyril Vangriecken, 22, from Vottem, near Liege, who was killed in front of his mother. Mr Vangriecken was sat in the passenger seat next to her in their Ford Fiesta, when he was shot at close range. Witnesses said she was sobbing and covered in her son's blood after the attack. His Facebook profile revealed him to be popular young man, who was passionate about the game, petanque, a form of boule. Advertisement

HOW THE LIEGE ATTACK PLAYED OUT At around 10:30 am (0830 GMT), a man followed two female police officers, stabbed them several times, then grabbed their firearms and shot both dead.

He then travelled on foot before opening fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat of a parked car, killing him.

The suspect then entered the Leonie de Waha high school in the French-speaking city where he took an employee hostage.

Police officers arrived on the scene, with the assailant opening fire on the officers, wounding several of them in the legs before they killed him.

The high school pupils were evacuated from the rear of the building and none was injured.

The school is closed through Wednesday and students will be given psychological counselling.

The case has been classified as a suspected 'terrorist offence' and transferred to the Belgian federal prosecutor's office, which investigates terror cases.

Officials have still to confirm media accounts that the assailant shouted 'Allahu Akbar' (God is greatest in Arabic) several times before stabbing one of the police officers in the throat.

Unconfirmed reports have named the man as Benjamin Herman, 36, a career criminal described as 'violent' by fellow inmates Advertisement

Minutes later, anti-terrorist special forces police could be seen surrounding the area, which went into lock down.

Philippe Dulieu, spokesman for the Liege prosecutor's office, told reporters the man had come out firing from the high school, before he was 'neutralised'.

'Armed with a knife, the suspect followed and attacked two police officers, and used their own firearms to kill them,' Mr Dulieu told a news conference.

'He continued on foot, attacking a parked vehicle where he opened fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat. The young man died.

'He then continued and entered the Leonie de Waha school. He took a woman working there as hostage. Police intervened, he came out firing on the police officers, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs, before he was killed.'

All students in the school were successfully evacuated, and the female hostage released without being caused any harm.

Officials say they are now considering the attack on Tuesday morning to have been an act of terrorism.

Catherine Collignon, a spokesman for Liege prosecutors, confirmed 'four deaths in total', with two other police officers seriously wounded.

She confirmed that 'terrorism' was currently considered the principal motivation for the attack by those leading the judicial enquiry.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Belgium's Federal Crisis Centre was monitoring the situation.

'Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of establishing an overview of exactly what happened,' Jambon wrote on Twitter.

The crisis centre said a security cordon had been set up around the area and urged people to stay away.

French President Emmanuel Macron has condemned the 'terrible' suspected terror attack and expressed the 'solidarity of the French people with the Belgian people' after hosting an international peace conference on Libya.

British Prime Minister Theresa May also expressed her sympathies in a tweet posted on Tuesday afternoon, saying: 'My thoughts are with the victims of today's cowardly attack in Belgium and their grieving families. The UK stands resolute with our Belgian allies against terror.'

Elite unit: Belgian Special Police are pictured at the scene of the alleged terror attack in Liege

Guns blazing: The attacker had come out of the high school while firing at police, and while he injured several other officers, they soon shot him dead in the street

Lockdown: Anti-terrorist special forces police could be seen surrounding the area within minutes of the shooting at 10.30am

Police officers are seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, in this picture posted on social media by a witness

Protection: A large white tent has been erected over the scene where two police officers and a witness were shot in the eastern Belgian city of Liege

Victims: The two female police officers were reportedly attacked from behind by the man

Taken down: The kidnapper was 'neutralised' at 11am, effectively ending the siege

Emergency: Bystanders, police and emergency staff stand in a street close to the high school where the attackers kidnapped a cleaner

Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region, was also the scene of a shooting in 2011.

A gunman killed four people and wounded over 100 before turning the gun on himself.

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based ISIS terror cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people, and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.

The UK Foreign Office advises British citizens that 'terrorists are very likely to try to carry out attacks in Belgium.'

The Foreign Office's travel advice website adds that 'attacks could happen anywhere, including on public transport and transport hubs and in other places visited by foreigners'.

Condolences: Liege police chief C. Beaupierre speak to Belgiums' King Philippe, who arrived in Liege this afternoon

Shooting: The unnamed attacker killed two police officer and a witness in the city in eastern Belgoum on Tuesday morning

Condolences: British Prime Minister Theresa May expressed her sympathies in a tweet posted on Tuesday afternoon
A group of Labour members disrupted a minute's silence for the late Tessa Jowell - and called for one for the victims of Gaza instead.

The former Culture Secretary died surrounded by her family two weeks ago on May 12 after a battle with brain cancer.

Members of the Hampstead and Kilburn party constituency had planned to hold a minute's tribute for the late baroness, who went from being a local councillor to being one of Britain's most prominent politicians.

But some members refused to take part in the tribute and muttered all the way through it, it has been reported.

They complained that they should not honour a politician who was a close ally of Tony Blair and served in his Cabinet.

While others called for a minute's silence to be held for the Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli forces earlier this month instead.

The former Culture Secretary Lady Jowell (pictured in January) died surrounded by her family earlier this month after a battle with brain cancer. Party members were holding a minute's silence in her honour in Hampstead & Kilburn - but some refused to take part

Tessa Jowell (pictured in the House of Lords in January where peers applauded her after she spoke movingly about her battle with brain cancer) rose from being a Labour councillor to one of Britain's best known and respected politicians

John Woodcock, a leading Blairite MP, told MailOnline: 'As much as anything else, the Labour Party was supposed to represent kindness and compassion to fellow human beings, so it is very sad that people apparently were unable to show the decency that Tessa radiated to everyone around her throughout her life.'

Camden New Journal reporter Richard Osley wrote in his blog: 'Sources said they were distressed to hear muttering and mumbling as the peace was broken during this time for reflection.

'Some with unwilling to take part at all in marking the passing of a politician who had worked closely with Tony Blair.

'Members, by several accounts, then asked for another's minute of silence, after a call of 'what about the people of Gaza' rang out; the meeting was a couple of days after the border shootings by Israeli forces.'

Israeli forces killed at least 41 Palestinians during mass protests along the Gaza border on May 14 - the 70th anniversary of the foundation of Israel.

The bloody clashes came as the US unveiled its new embassy in Jerusalem after controversially moving it from Tel Aviv despite warnings it would inflame tensions and spark violence.

A source told MailOnline the disruption was caused by a small group of 'idiots' sat at the back of the meeting.

The local party is deeply divided between Corbynistas and a group of more moderate members.

And according to the local report, Labour members in the branch are at war over who is being sent to the party's conference in Liverpool in autumn, where crucial rule changes are being discussed.

Hampstead and Kilburn has resolved to send ten if it can raise the 7,000 needed to send them.

Lady Jowell, who as Culture Secretary under Tony Blair helped bring the 2012 Olympics to London, died 'in the arms' of her family after she had battled brain cancer.

She used her final months to fight for better funding and care for patients - and succeeded in convincing the Government to set up a new cancer fund.

Lady Jowell is pictured with her daughter Jessie, right, and her daughter-in-law Ella Mills, shown left, holding her own child in January this year

Her daughter-in-law, Ella Mills, revealed Lady Jowell's death on Instagram earlier this month.

She said: 'She was lying in Matt, his sister Jess, and their Dad's arms, as they told her that she would live forever in the centre of their souls.

'I've never seen love like I have since becoming part of this family. Tessa was the warmest and kindest soul, she welcomed me so generously into their family, and no matter what she has achieved in her life - and she achieved an extraordinary amount - I know her family are the thing that made her most proud.'

MPs across the political divide paid tribute to her in a special debate in the House of Commons

Theresa May led the tributes in Parliament to the late politician, describing her as a 'most extraordinary politician, colleague and campaigner'.

Lady Jowell's funeral is being held today. It is a private funeral with only friends and family invited.
Ten people including children were beheaded by suspected Muslim extremists in a Mozambique village.

One of the victims was the chief of Monjane, a village near Palma in the country's north, in revenge for him telling police the location of their forest hideout.

The Islamists were believed to be from al-Shabaab, an armed group believed responsible for several attacks in the area since October.

'They targeted the chief as he had been providing information to the police about the location of al-Shabaab in forests,' a witness said.

One of the victims was the chief of Monjane, a village near Palma in the country's north (pictured), in revenge for him telling police the location of their forest hideout

The jihadists in October attacked a police station and military post in the town of Mocimboa da Praia, about an hour south of Palma.

Two officers and 14 attackers were killed in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack in Mozambique.

In the following weeks, at least 300 Muslims were arrested and several mosques forced to close.

The group has no known link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name.
Two female police officers and a male passerby have been killed in a shooting outside a high school in east Belgium.

The attacker approached the two officers, named as Lucile Garcia and Soraya Belkacemi, from behind in the city of Liege at around 10.30am local time (9.30 BST). He then stabbed the pair before taking their guns and shooting them dead.

After killing the two officers, he then shot Cyril Vangriecken before making his way on foot to a nearby school. The 22-year-old was reportedly in the passenger seat of his mother's car when he was shot.

Four officers were injured as police and the attacker engaged in a shoot-out near the L'athenee Leonie de Waha, a secondary school in the city centre.

The attacker, named locally as Benjamin Herman, reportedly shouted 'Allahu Akbar' as he opened fire, local news website DHnet.be claimed.

The kidnapper was 'neutralised' at 11am local time (10am BST).

MailOnline brings you the latest updates.

To read this in the app, please click here.
A man has claimed he was left unattended, doubled over and screaming in agony on a hospital floor for three hours.

Tim Hawkins says his wife, Georgia, drove him to Nepean Hospital, in Sydney's west, on Sunday night after he began to feel excruciating pain throughout his body, which led to him having his appendix removed.

'Something within my body was telling me I was in trouble and I needed urgent help,' he told Nine News on Tuesday.

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Tim Hawkins (pictured) was left doubled over, screaming in agony on the hospital floor unattended for three hours

Mr Hawkins (pictured) was left in pain on the hospital floor, and was shocked when the cleaner ignored him and just mopped around him

The couple said they arrived at the hospital at 12.10am and Mr Hawkins was taken into triage to determine the urgency of his illness at 12.20am.

At the time, Mr Hawkins says he was 'moaning, groaning and crying.'

Despite his symptoms, he said he was told 4.20am he had to continue to wait for a surgeon who would need to take a look at him.

At 6am, Mr Hawkins said he was horrified after losing his triage bed to other patients.

'I said to the nurse that there's no way I can sit and that I will have to sit on the floor,' Mr Hawkins said.

'She said, "well this is what you've got. I can give you a blanket as a pillow".'

Mr Hawkins says he was left to lay in pain on the hospital floor and was shocked when the cleaner ignored him and mopped around him.

At 9am a surgeon found Mr Hawkins and he was eventually taken into surgery at 4pm to have his appendix removed.

Nepean Hospital Director of Emergency, Dr Claire Helm, apologised to Mr Hawkins saying it was a bad night for the hospital

Pictured is Nepean Hospital Emergency Department in west Sydney

Ms Hawkins said she was angry the hospital would allow her husband, who was in severe pain, to lie down on the unhygienic floor.

Nepean Hospital Director of Emergency, Dr Claire Helm told Daily Mail Australia that they have apologised to Mr Hawkins for his experience, and will continue to work

'We sincerely apologise for Mr Hawkins experience in our emergency department.

'Mr Hawkins was triaged and given pain relief after presenting to the emergency department and was continually monitored by staff while tests were conducted.

'When Mr Hawkins presented to the emergency department, it was in the middle of renovations to improve the space. Those works are now finished.

'A $1 billion redevelopment of Nepean Hospital is currently underway and this will deliver us a bigger emergency department which will help us to meet future demand for services.

'Our staff work very hard to deliver the best possible care to every patient that comes through our doors.

'We have tried to contact Mr Hawkins to discuss his experience and will continue to do so.'
A photo posted to Facebook of a police officer using her phone while driving has outraged social media users.

The picture of the female NSW officer driving while holding a phone to her ear quickly drew attention after it was posted to Facebook on Tuesday afternoon.

'Umm yeah just going to leave this one. One rule for them, one rule for everyone else,' the caption read.

However, a NSW police spokesperson has claimed the officer did nothing wrong.

A picture of a female NSW police officer driving while holding a phone to her ear quickly drew attention after it was posted to Facebook on Tuesday afternoon (pictured)

'It's legal,' the spokesperson said.

'Police and all emergency services are exempt from that road rule.'

'The driver of a vehicle must not use a mobile phone while the vehicle is moving, or is stationary but not parked,' according to the Road Rules 2014 Legislation by the NSW Government.

Drivers are exempt if the phone was being used 'to make or receive an audio phone call or to perform an audio playing function' while inside a fixed mount for the phone.

The legislation states emergency vehicles 'or police' vehicles are allowed to use a mobile phone at any time.

The legislation states emergency vehicles 'or police' vehicles are allowed to use a mobile phone at any time

Despite this rule, many Facebook users hit out at the photo stating it was unfair.

'Yeah official police business!' one user wrote.

'You cant really tell if the vehicle is moving,' another added.

However, some users were already aware of the exemption and jumped to the defence of the officer.

'Legally police are allowed to talk on phones why driving,' one user wrote.

'Pretty sure you will find this is a NSW Police Officer. FYI, police are exempt from mobile phone legislation in any case,' another added.
Today Show and The Voice host Sonia Kruger has failed to have a racism complaint against her dismissed.

Kruger sparked outrage after saying Australian borders should be closed to Muslims.

The Civil and Administrative Tribunal rejected Channel Nine's application to have the complaint dismissed without hearing, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Sam Ekermawi made the complaint saying Channel Nine had vilified 'ethnic Muslim Australians'.

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Today Show and The Voice host Sonia Kruger has failed to have a racism complaint against her dismissed

Kruger said Australian borders should be closed to Muslims while discussing a column written by Andrew Bolt on the Today Show in July 2016.

'I mean, personally, I think Andrew Bolt has a point here, that there is a correlation between the number of people who are Muslim in a country and the number of terrorist attacks,' she said.

'Now I have a lot of very good friends who are Muslim, who are peace-loving who are beautiful people, but there are fanatics.

'Personally I would like to see it stopped now for Australia. Because I want to feel safe, as all of our citizens do, when they go out to celebrate Australia Day.'

Mr Ekermawi wrote an email to the Anti-Discrimination Board of New South Wales saying Kruger had dehumanised Muslims.

Sam Ekermawi made the complaint saying Channel Nine had vilified 'ethnic Muslim Australians' (Pictured: Members of Sydney's Muslim community celebrate Eid with morning prayers at Lakemba Mosque)

The Nine Network applied to have Mr Ekermawi's complaint dismissed, saying the segment discussed religion and not race.

They also said Mr Ekermawi's history of making vilification complaints meant it would be an abuse of the tribunal's processes to allow the complaint to proceed.

NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal deputy president Nancy Hennessy refused Channel Nine's application.

The matter has now been listed for directions on June 19.
Joshua Miller, 27, pictured, was jailed for eight months for burning his wife's beloved 18,000 Nissan when she criticised his driving

A husband who flew into a rage when his wife criticised his driving of her 18,000 car has been jailed after he threw out of the vehicle and burned it.

Joshua Miller, 27, destroyed his wife's white Nissan Qashqai after a day shopping together in Cardiff turned into a blazing row.

Miller was driving home in wife's Sarah beloved vehicle when she hit out at the speed at which he was going.

A court heard she was then kicked out of the car without her phone or purse and Miller was later seen torching the Nissan after dousing it with petrol.

Prosecutor Joanne James said a passing dog walker heard a 'big bang' from the seaside footpath - and a handbag and driving licence were found nearby.

Mother-of-two Mrs Miller, 28, said the pair had since split after two years of marriage.

She said: 'I have two young children and rely heavily on my car to take them to and from school, to go shopping, and mostly to visit my family who are supporting me daily through this difficult time.

'The impact of what happened is also far greater than losing my car.

'I now fear if Joshua is drunk and has come to do something stupid or dangerous.

'I have woken from nightmares where Joshua has been suffocating my dad.'

Mrs Miller added: 'I have gone from a bubbly, happy individual to one alienated from family and friends.'

Ros Rutter, defending, said 'He is a man who realises he needs help for underlying emotional problems.'

'He has been described as hardworking and at only 27 years old a valued and revered member of any team he has worked in.

Miller pleaded guilty to one charge of arson and driving without a full licence or insurance.

Miller destroyed an 18,000 Nissan Qashqai similar to this one pictured

Judge Richard Williams described the arson as a deliberate act at Cardiff Crown Court.

He said: 'You were driving with your wife in her motor vehicle she became concerned about the manner of your driving.

'You left her without any means of transport or money to pay for a taxi or bus home.

'You punished her for criticising your driving by setting fire to the motor vehicle you had been driving.'

Miller, of Barry, South Wales, was given an eight-month jail sentence and was disqualified from driving for 10 months.

A restraining order was also issued preventing Miller from contacting his wife.
A young motorist miraculously survived being crushed by a 25-tonne container when a drunk truck driver took a corner too fast.

Voravut was driving home on Sunday afternoon when the 18-wheel truck lost control at a junction on the other side of the road in Bangkok.

The truck spun out of control and toppled sideways on top of his Toyota Fortuner with its 40ft load of soya beans flattening the car with him inside.

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A young motorist miraculously survived being crushed by a 25-tonne container when a drunk truck driver took a corner too fast

The 30-year-old was cut free from the wreckage after three hours and rushed to hospital where he laughed off the crash.

Giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed, Voravut said he survived because he saw the tumbling truck and lay sideways in a brace position on the driver's arm rest.

'When I saw the trailer coming towards me, I braked, but the truck just turned so quickly,' he said.

'The container was falling in front of my car. I turned myself to the left and put my head on an armrest.

Giving a thumbs up from his hospital bed, Voravut, 30, said he survived because he saw the tumbling truck and lay sideways in a brace position on the driver's arm rest

The car was almost completely flattened by the container, now lifted up after Voravut was rescused

Voravut was driving home on Sunday afternoon when the 18-wheel truck lost control at a junction on the other side of the road in Bangkok

The truck spun out of control and toppled sideways on top of his Toyota Fortuner with its 40ft load of soya beans flattening the car with him inside

'I just saw how my car looked this morning. Everybody said I shouldn't have survived

'I think I made it because I've received training on how to protect myself while being in an accident and because I didn't lose control. If I hadn't turned to the other side I would've gotten hurt more.'

Truck driver Narong Wongpen, 33, told police he braked sharply to avoid an overtaking motorcycle but the truck 'locked' and fell onto its side.

He later pleaded guilty to drink driving and a court fined him 6,000 baht (140) and suspended his driving license for six months.

Truck driver Narong Wongpen, 33, told police he braked sharply to avoid an overtaking motorcycle but the truck 'locked' and fell onto its side
Tearful parents have pleaded with the Australian government to deport their son after he racked up $47,000 (27,000) of debt in their name.

Jill and Tony Lewis said they did not want to want to see their son Russell ever again after he betrayed their trust, broke into their home, stole their credit card information, and drained all bank accounts.

'Please deport my son, because I've had enough I never want to see him again,' Mr Lewis pleaded on A Current Affair on Tuesday.

'Please deport my son, because I've had enough I never want to see him again,' Mr Lewis pleaded on air

Ms Lewis broke down pleading for the government to deport her son saying she could not believe he would do something like that

Ms Lewis broke down as she recalled the moment the couple realised Russell had left them penniless and also stolen televisions, a four-wheeler, and a portable air conditioner from their house.

'Please deport Russell because I don't want to see him again.'

Tony and Jill Lewis moved to Australia from England in 1985 with their 10-year-old-son Russell, Nine News reported.

Mr and Ms Lewis, who expected to be retired by now, are now borrowing money to pay their rent while looking after Russell's six-year-old daughter.

Russell was convicted of fraud and firearms were also found in his house when police investigated the break in and account draining.

He was sentenced to 3.5 years' jail in Sydney's Long Bay prison, and will remain behind bars until 2020.

Mr and Ms Lewis said they were forced to sell their home and their business after the theft five years ago.

The couple told A Current Affair in 2013 they were headed back to their native Britain for a holiday and had informed the Commonwealth Bank their accounts would remain idle.

Before they had even reached the UK, the pair said Russell broke into and robbed their home.

Russell (pictured) robbed his parents's home and drained their bank accounts while they were away

Mr and Ms Lewis did not know they had been robbed by their son until they came back from their holiday and a bank teller alerted them.

The couple claim the Commonwealth Bank initially accused Mr Lewis of being a part of the scam in collusion with Russell.

Pete Steel, executive general manger of digital at the Commonwealth Bank, told Daily Mail Australia they were sorry for the situation and they have commenced a review to fully understand the problem.

'We are very sorry for the situation involving Mr and Mrs Lewis. We know that events involving fraud can be complex and very difficult for customers,' he said.

'CBA has commenced an extensive review and will work directly with Mr and Mrs Lewis and their representative to get a full understanding of their matter with the view to making a goodwill payment to them.

'We want to remind all our customers to never keep a record of a PIN, password or other code in a location where, if a thief finds a card or code, they will also find the record of the PIN or password.'
A former head gamekeeper has denied deliberately poisoning crops on a millionaire banker's estate by spraying them with a mystery substance.

David Campbell, 69, is alleged to have carried out the sabotage at the Edradynate Estate in Perthshire, which is owned by Michael Campbell.

Campbell, from Strathtay in Perthshire, denies that between 14 and 16 April 2017 he maliciously damaged game crops by spraying them with an unknown substance which caused them to rot and perish.

The retired gamekeeper pled not guilty to the charge at Perth Sheriff Court, and a trial has been scheduled for later this year.

The court was told that the Crown were seeking to rely on CCTV footage to prove the case against Campbell.

David Campbell, 69, is alleged to have deliberately poisoned crops at the Edradynate Estate (pictured) in Perthshire, which is owned by Michael Campbell

However, his solicitor David Holmes told the court that despite repeated attempts they had been unable to obtain the relevant DVD from prosecutors.

He said: 'The critical point seems to be identification from the DVD so it would be nice to see it. We have been looking for it for about a year.

'We are still waiting for the DVD which I think is referred to in the police summary. It seems to form a critical part of the Crown case.'

Campbell was due to stand trial on 11 June but Sheriff Pino di Emidio agreed to the joint motion to adjourn the case and the trial was put back until August.

The 4,000-acre estate is owned by City financier Michael Campbell, and Campbell was a gamekeeper on the estate for more than 30 years.
President Donald Trump accused Special Counsel Robert Mueller of 'meddling' in the congressional elections  a term the U.S. intelligence community has applied to Russia's efforts to boost his own candidacy in 2016.

Trump leveled the charge in a Tuesday morning tweet where he labeled Mueller's probe of Russian election interference a 'rigged Russia Witch Hunt.'

'The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!' Trump wrote.

President Trump wrote that Special Counsel Robert Mueller and his investigators 'will be MEDDLING' in the November elections

His tweet followed his lawyer Rudy Giuliani's admission that he is engaging in a 'public relations' campaign in part because the American people are the 'jury' of any impeachment proceeding.

Democrats have a 4-point edge in the 'generic' ballot, down from a high of 13 points, according to a Real Clear Politics average.

Trump also went after Mueller's team of investigators, which involves many registered Democrats, though Mueller himself is a Republican and FBI rules prohibit making assignments based on party affiliation.

'Why arent the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton. Its a Rigged Witch Hunt, thats why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration!' Trump wrote.

'Why arent the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign?' Trump asked, renewing calls for investigating his political opponent

Trump said Robert Mueller's investigators 'will be MEDDLING' in the elections, using a term used to describe Russian election interference

Trump quoted a conservative commentator regarding surveillance of his campaign

Trump renewed calls to investigate Hillary Clinton

Trump tweeted a rare apology, and said he had to 'start focusing' on major national issues rather than the 'Rigged Russia Witch Hunt'

The FBI investigated Clinton for her email scandal during the campaign, something former FBI Director James Comey confirmed during the campaign, then essentially closed it, reopened it, and closed it shortly before Election Day.

Trump also tweeted a quote from conservative commentator Mollie Hemingway, who has blasted the Justice Department in her writings in the Federalist for leaks.

Her comment related to the FBI's use of a confidential informant who made contacts with the Trump campaign.

This investigation involved far more surveillance than we ever had any idea about. It wasnt just a wiretap against a campaign aide...it was secretly gathering information on the Trump Campaign...people call that Spying...this is unprecedented and scandalous. Mollie Hemingway' Trump wrote.

After the series of Tweets, Trump wrote that he was 'sorry' and had to 'start focusing' on a slew of national challenges including North Korea, 'bad Trade Deals,' and 'the Economy.'

'Sorry, Ive got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc,' he wrote.
Incredible footage shows the moment a buffalo saves a lizard from being eaten by lions, sending one flying through the air with a head butt.

The fascinatingly heroic scene unfolded at Kruger National Park in south Africa in front of an enthralled audience of tourists.

The video starts off as a group of young lions grapple over a monitor lizard on the dry plain.

We see one lion cub getting a hold of the lizard in its mouth before parting from the rest of the pack, setting it to down seemingly to eat it beside the long grass, shortly followed by another cub.

We then see a buffalo come into view and charge at the lion holding the lizard before stamping on its back and headbutting it, sending it somersaulting through the air and forcing it to release its wounded prey.

The buffalo then stands over the bleeding lizard, seemingly to protect it from the rest of the pack.

The footage shows the buffalo come into view after the pack of lions caught the monitor lizard

The buffalo, in a seemingly heroic act, tackles the lion cub in an effort to save the lizard from being eaten by the pack

Sune Eloff, 32, was one of the lucky onlookers who witnessed the extraordinary scene.

The business system manager told Latestsightings.com: 'We spent some time at Sunset dam watching impala coming down for a drink. We decided to move on and saw some lions sleeping in the riverbed.

'They were so calm and peaceful and then suddenly we saw all of them get up and move into the reeds. At this point I took out my camera as they were watching something that we could not see.

'Suddenly a young lion came out of the reeds with a water monitor lizard that he had just caught.

'Some buffalo in the vicinity had noticed that the lion had captured a lizard and one of them came storming in as if he knew this lizard needed protecting.

To our absolute astonishment, the buffalo proceeded to get his head right under the puzzled lion and somersault him through the air. It was crazy!

The buffalo stamps on the lions back before head butting it, sending him somersaulting through the air

The excitement of everything happening was overwhelming. I felt bad for the young lion, but luckily he had enough brains to know that he needed to get out of there, and fast, so off he ran.

'The three dagga boys (male buffaloes) still charged into the reeds every now and again but the lions scampered off.'

I have never seen anything like this in my life and I've been a Kruger visitor since the age of 2, definitely a first for me!'
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Hawaii County officials are knocking on doors on several streets in the Leilani Estates subdivision alerting residents to flee fast-moving lava from Kilauea volcano.

Evacuation orders were issued Monday evening for anyone in the area east of Pomaikai Street to avoid being isolated by the flow.

'Kind of disturbingly, some people just refused to leave,' said Hawaii County Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno. 'We had one gentleman that had to be kind of rescued. His only way out was through his back door and through the forest.'

Lava flowing onto Kaupili Street in the Leilani Estates area

Lava from Kilauea Volcano's current Leilani Estates Flow on the Big Island of Hawaii poured into lower Leilani Estates overnight

Nearly all the activity, and it is enormous, is now concentrated within, and just below Leilani Estates

An aerial view of fissure 22 looking toward the south, as Kilauea Volcano continues its eruption cycle near Pahoa on the island of Kilauea, Hawaii

Lava sends up clouds of steam and toxic gases as it enters the Pacific Ocean as Kilauea Volcano continues its eruption cycle near Pahoa on the island of Kilauea, Hawaii

Residents, the media and national guard flock to what is now the end of Leilani Avenue to take in the fiery show at fissures 2, 7 and 8 of the Kilauea volcano near Pahoa

Kilauea has now covered well over 2500 acres of the Big Island in just the past three weeks

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Oahu reports that a 4.4 magnitude earthquake shook the Hilina region of Kilauea volcano, southwest of the estates. Officials said it wasn't strong enough to generate a tsunami.

Lava has oozed over two wells at the Puna geothermal power plant, but county officials said the flow stopped. Officials said there was no release of any dangerous hydrogen sulfide gas after lava crept over the plugged wells.

Lava continues to devastate the community more than three weeks after the crisis began. Newly reactivated fissures were spewing molten rock and toxic gas, destroying buildings as the lava moves at a rate of some 90 feet every hour.

The eruption has so far destroyed 82 buildings, including 41 homes.

Unlike previous unpredictable eruptions, very few people have been injured and no one has been killed

Fissure seven is actually 5 fissures, jetting red hot liquid rock from 100-300 feet high at an unbelievable rate

Lava coming out of fissures caused by Kilauea volcano, near Puna Geothermal Venture, a geothermal energy plant, in Pahoa, Hawaii. Wendy Stovall, a scientists with the U.S. Geological Stovall said lava spatter from one of the vents was forming a wall that was helping protect the geothermal plant. (Satellite Image 2018 DigitalGlobe, a Maxar company via AP)

A news reporter takes pictures of the Kilauea lava flow that crossed Pohoiki Road near Highway 132, near Pahoa, Hawaii

Volcanic gases rise from the Kilauea lava flow that crossed Pohoiki Road near Highway 132

Homes and infrastructure have been destroyed, new fissures have been created, the air has become dangerous to breathe, volcanic ash has fallen, and thousands have been evacuated

Leilani Estates residents told CBS News a fissure had become active again. It was starting to fountain, launching lava 50 feet in the air.

Tam Hunter told Evans the active lava was two blocks away from his house, but he's packing up and getting out after a 20-foot-deep crack opened up on his property and destroyed his neighbor's home.

'Last Monday, I just walked back here,' Hunter said. 'I was like, oh, there's a damn crack in my backyard.

Pohoiki Road and Highway 137 have both been covered with lava, but Highways 130 and 132 are still open, at least temporarily

Numerous fingers of lava have stretched toward the sea over the past several days, covering many properties, and destroying dozens of homes... sliding past other homes, leaving their owners wondering what's next

Lava approaches Puna Geothermal Venture, bottom left, in the Leilani Estates

Lava shoots out of a fissure in the Leilani Estates near Pahoa, Hawaii

Lava encircles several homes in the Leilani Estates near Pahoa, Hawaii

The Big Island, one of eight main islands that make up Hawaii state, is struggling with tourist bookings following the Kilauea volcano eruptions, with summer bookings at the island down 50 percent

Lava flows from the Kilauea volcano lights up the sky within Leilani Estates. More homes have been consumed as the eruptions progress

An aerial view of a new fissure eruption within Leilani Estates sending a fast moving flow of lava that begins to consume homes and property, near Pahoa, Hawaii. Mandatory evacuations were ordered for the immediate area

The neighborhood was already under evacuation orders, but emergency officials said they had to go door to door to more than 20 homes to get holdouts to leave. Pictured, Leilani Avenue

A noticeable increase in volume of lava being produced by this eruption on Kilauea's lower east rift zone, has huge rivers of lava snaking its way toward the sea, and a massive flow headed toward the Puna Geothermal Venture facility

There are no new evacuation orders as a result of the compromised air quality, just the ongoing warning to people with respiratory issues to stay indoors

There continue to be frequent explosive eruptions at the summit of Kilauea, including one early Monday morning that sent plumes of ash 12,000 to 13,000 feet into the air
Company boss Christopher Kerrell appeared in Cardiff Crown Court over the death today

A husband today denied killing his wife after she was found dead less than ten miles away from their home.

Company boss Christopher Kerrell, 35, was arrested by police after his wife Hollie, 28, disappeared in April.

A huge police search was launched for mother-of-three Mrs Kerrell and she was discovered dead four days later.

Her body was found at a countryside spot nine miles away from her family home in Knighton, Powys.

Kerrell appeared in Cardiff Crown Court over the death but denied murder and manslaughter. He must return to court in August and was remanded in custody.

When Hollie went missing she was described as being 5ft 5in, and of medium build with dark brown hair and blue eyes.

Kerrell, 35, was arrested by police after his wife Hollie (pictured together), 28, disappeared

Kerrell was in court over his wife's death (above, together), denying murder and manslaughter

A huge police search was launched for mother-of-three Mrs Kerrell after she went missing

Police search a farmhouse in relation to Mrs Kerrell's disappearance in Knighton on April 28

After her death, her family said: 'Our beautiful Hollie loved life and lit up every room she was in. There was never a dull moment with our quirky, funny Hollie around.

'She was the glue that held our family together and she will be missed terribly.'

Knighton is a market town in Powys, on the River Teme and the English-Welsh border, between Shrewsbury and Hereford.
Paulos Tekle, whose son Isaac Paulos died in the fire, says he wishes he had ignored the firefighters and saved his son

A father of a five-year-old who died in the Grenfell Tower fire has said his son would probably be alive had he not followed the advice of emergency services who advised him to stay put.

Paulos Tekle, whose son Isaac Paulos died, said he was plagued with guilt over listening to the authorities instead of fleeing the building as his neighbours begged him to get out.

Revealing how the pain of his loss had left him feeling dead, the distraught father sobbed as he told of how only truth and justice would be able to make him whole again.

Mr Tekle said: 'I want the truth. I will not have peace until I have the truth. I want to know why I was physically stopped from leaving the flat at about 2am.

'Why we were kept inside for so long? I want answers. If I had not listened to the fire brigade my son would have likely been alive today.'

He added: 'I will have to live with the guilt of not protecting my son every day. I am broken, and now the only thing that can make me whole again is to fight for truth and justice in Isaac's name and for my living son and for their mother.'

Mr Tekle said he kept ringing the fire brigade, who repeatedly told the family to stay put even as neighbours were calling them, telling them to get out.

At around 2am a firefighter at the door told them again to stay in the 18th-floor flat, and 45 minutes went by before they were advised to leave.

Mr Tekle went on: 'But every day I ask myself the same question: what if I had not listened and we had left right then and there? My Isaac would be here today? I will not be sitting here telling you about my boy and our pain?

'I should not be sitting here telling you this testimony, we could have escaped and I am living with the trauma of asking myself this question over and over again.'

Ahmed Elgwahry was given a standing ovation at the Grenfell Tower inquiry as he described his final phone call with his mother and sister who died in the tragedy

Isaac - the eldest of his two little boys - was a 'beautiful little boy, with so much potential'.

Mr Tekle said he would never forget the 'big beautiful eyes' of his little man, who he said he had 'so many plans' for.

The youngster loved school, Taekwondo and swimming, he recalled, while teachers spoke of how the outdoor park was his favourite place.

He went on: 'But we will never know what was in store for Isaac. Just as in the Bible, God tested Abraham's faith by ordering him to sacrifice his son Isaac, but an angel prevented the act in the last minute. For us, there was no last minute. There was no last-minute angel.

'Isaac, my little boy, was sacrificed? Why?'

Describing the pain, he said: 'I feel as if my head has been cut off, I feel as if I am dead.'

Meanwhile, a man whose mother and sister died in the Grenfell Tower fire was given a standing ovation today as he described helplessly waiting on the phone as they were swamped by the flames.

Mr Elgwahry, said he was on the phone to his younger sister, Mariem Elgwahry, 27, (left and right) and mother Eslah, 64, who died on the top floor of the high-rise block

Ahmed Elgwahry, said he spoke to his younger sister, Mariem Elgwahry, 27, when she and their mother Eslah Elgwahry, 64, took refuge on the top floor of the high-rise block in North Kensington, west London.

He stayed on the phone for an hour after his sister and mother's voices ceased and all he could hear was the crackle of flames.

Their remains were later recovered from the 23rd floor - but they were only fragments because of the ferocity of the fire.

Speaking slowly and calmly, Mr Elgwahry described how he stood at the bottom of the tower and realised that running in to try to save them would have been an act of suicide.

He told the inquiry on its sixth day of commemorative hearings: 'On my final call with Mariem, despite her suffering, despite her gradual deterioration, despite her gradual loss of consciousness, she persisted in letting me know that she was still there.

Mariem Elgwahry insisted on telling her brother she was 'still there' until she perished in the smoke and flames

'She started fading away from me rather rapidly, but she kept going all the way until she was no longer audible. She started to mumble, started banging the floor, and then finally no longer responsive.

'It was at this point I presumed I lost my mum at the same time. But then about 20 seconds later, for the first time that early morning, I heard my mum's voice.

'She was struggling for breath, and said her last words: 'I can't breathe, I can't breathe'. That was the last time I heard her voice. She was so frightened that she had not spoken prior to this.'

He disconnected the call more than an hour after their final moments, he said, when all he could hear was the crackle of fire.

As he finished his tribute, applause filled the room and he was given a standing ovation.

Months later, only fragments of their bodies were recovered by the coroner and her team, who attempted to piece them back together 'bone for bone, as if they were dinosaurs'.

'Before that, I was hoping, just maybe, I would be able to hold them for one last time,' Mr Elgwahry said.

Ahmed Elgwahry stood at the base of the tower but said he knew he would also die if he tried to enter

Mr Elgwahry's father died years ago from an aggressive form of cancer, he said.

But on the night of the fire, he said he 'felt like my father died again and a large part of our life, important memories were wiped out, erased in a matter of minutes'.

The commemorations are being heard at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in South Kensington.

Eleven other victims will also be remembered on Tuesday, including five-year-old Isaac Paulos.

72 people died inside Grenfell Tower - the worst fire in Britain for a generation

'Life has stopped since I lost my wife and daughters', says father of two who bought his children chocolate believing they were alive

A father whose young daughters and wife died in Grenfell Tower said his life has 'fully stopped', as an inquiry heard details of victims' final moments.

Hassan Awadh Hassan had been in Egypt when his wife Rania Ibrahim, 31, and daughters Fethia, four, and Hania, three, became trapped in the west London inferno.

He told the public inquiry into the disaster that his 'only mistake' was moving the family into the flat, having been assured there was no danger in the event of a blaze.

During an emotional morning of commemorations, the probe, which is holding seven days of tributes to the dead, also heard the parting words of several victims.

Hassan Awadh Hassan had been in Egypt when his wife Rania Ibrahim, 31, and daughters Fethia, four, and Hania, three, became trapped in the west London inferno

Hassan struggled for composure as he spoke about his family, supported by two loved ones at his side.

A video tribute was then played, which showed him sitting with a framed picture of his wife and daughters at his side.

He said: 'What happened in Grenfell Tower is not normal. For me, life has fully stopped. I know if I keep talking I'm not going to get Rania, Fethia and Hania back.'

Remembering the day of the fire, he described rushing to the airport in Egypt after seeing chaos unfolding on television.

'When I'm inside the airport, I go to duty free to buy chocolate for my two daughters. I think, 'How can I go back empty-handed?'.

Hassan has begged the inquiry to make sure the tragedy of Grenfell is never repeated

'I arrive here on the same day, I never had in my mind that my wife and my daughter is going to be lost.

'Why do I say that? Because we're in London, in London, in London.'

He had sought to reassure his trapped wife over the phone before leaving, a sorry experience shared by many that night.

A video of the Hassan family was played at the inquiry, showing the couple at their wedding, along with pictures of their daughters growing up.

Addressing the judge afterwards, he said: 'We need to make sure this doesn't happen again in London, in all of UK.'

A neighbour of Ms Ibrahim, Munira Mahmud, spoke of the cruel moment her hopes were raised that the mother and daughters were alive.

She was searching for her friend early in the morning when she was contacted on Facebook and told one of the daughters had been found.

She said: 'Later we went to the neighbour's house, I left the kids and started looking for the kids and Rania. And Rania was nowhere to be seen.

'And some bad people out there were playing with our emotions - 'We have seen Rania's first daughter in the ambulance' - and we start praising the Lord, Rania's alive, the kids are alive.

'Then someone calls me on Facebook - 'I have Rania's daughter' - and we ran like mad people on the street.'

She kept searching and refused to give up on her friend, even when she was shown a Snapchat message from her friend asking for forgiveness and saying her last prayers.

A few days later she asked God for a sign that they were alive or dead.

'I went to sleep and I see Rania, all in white, and the kids. She was smiling like, 'I'm no more here, Munira'.

'She told me Hania went first, and then Fethia followed, and then Rania went.

'I woke up, I said thank you God.'

Italian architect's parents fly into the UK to remember their 'beautiful' daughter who died in her boyfriend's arms

An Italian architect who died in the Grenfell Tower fire has been remembered by her mother and father.

Gloria Trevisan's parents travelled to the UK to commemorate their daughter, 26, who lived with her fiance Marco Gottardi in the tower block.

A voiceover in a video tribute package said Gloria was a 'beautiful girl' whose kindness and big heart 'didn't go unnoticed for anyone who met her'.

Marco, it was said, 'held her in his arms until the last breath, to protect her'.

'Beautiful' Italian architect Gloria Trevisan (pictured) died on the 23rd floor of Grenfell Tower alongside her boyfriend Marco Gottardi, who held her to his dying breath

Loris Trevisan and Emmanuela Disaro, parents of Gloria, outside the commemoration hearings at the Grenfell Tower Inquiry

Her employer Peregrine Bryant, an architect specialising in restoration, said: 'Unfortunately she was only with us for a very short time, but even in that short time she demonstrated what she could do and demonstrated what talent she had.'

Gloria's mother, Emmanuella, said she had asked her daughter to come home to Italy for a wedding anniversary on the same day as the fire, but Gloria decided to travel later.

Gloria was an outgoing and loving person who 'didn't go unnoticed for anyone who met her', her parents said

She condemned the failings that had led to her daughter's death, while calling for 'positive anger' to triumph over hate so justice could be won for the victims.

Speaking through an interpreter, she said: 'The 14th of June was my and my husband's 37th anniversary, so I did ask Gloria to come back to Italy for the anniversary.

'But she said she was going to come a week later because it was (a) brother's birthday, so I can't blame anyone for this, it was meant to be this way.'

She added: 'I really wish that the person or the persons who took the decision to put that cladding on that tower, that caused the death of so many people for no reason, that died in vain, I really hope that that person or these persons will really feel it in their conscience, the pain and the grief caused to all of us.

'I hope that what happened here in Grenfell can be used as an example for those who are responsible in charge of people's lives when they make decisions generally speaking, they understand they have to have respect for everyone's lives and not their own and that would be an example for future generations to understand how life should be respected in all contexts.'

Urging survivors and bereaved families not to be guided by hate, she said positive anger could instead be 'the catalyst for finding the truth, because that is what everybody really wants'.
A man accused of smuggling 59kg of cocaine in a shipment of frozen fish has been found dead in his jail cell.

Dimitrios Mavris, from east of Sydney, was arrested on May 23 by Australian Federal Police officers upon arrival at Sydney International Airport, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

NSW Police and Corrective Services NSW confirmed Mr Mavris was found dead in his jail cell in Surry Hills on Friday.

Dimitrios Mavris, allegedly imported 59kg of cocaine concealed in two shipping containers

Police were going to allege Mr Mavris imported three shipping containers of frozen fish, with cocaine concealed within the container's walls

Police reportedly believe Mr Mavris committed suicide and are not treating his death as suspicious.

'Corrective services officers located the 48-year-old man deceased in his cell about 6.20pm on Friday May 26,' police said in a statement.

'Surry Hills police area command officers have commenced enquiries, however the man's death is not being treated as suspicious.'

Police alleged Mr Mavris imported three shipping containers of frozen fish with cocaine concealed within the container's walls.

The shipment travelled from Peru into Australia.

The cocaine's street value was estimated at $20.6 million.

Last week, AFP Commander Krissy Barrett said investigators had worked 'tirelessly' on the case, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

'They pursued the investigation and were able to stop 59 kilograms of cocaine at the border,' she said.

If you or anyone need someone to talk to, contact Lifeline Australia 13 11 14.

The shipment was coming from Peru into Australia, and revealed the drugs wrapped in taped packages
Britain is set to agree an 'open skies' agreement with the US to keep planes flying between the two countries after Brexit.

There had been warnings that flights could be grounded unless a deal is swiftly done after the UK quits the EU.

But in a boost for Theresa May, American and Britain are on the cusp of signing a deal to keep flights running, it has been reported.

And under proposals being thrashed out between the two countries, the open skies deal would be extended to UK overseas territories for the first time.

Negotiators have agreed that major transatlantic airlines that are foreign owned must also be covered by the deal in a break with the normal rules, The Daily Telegraph reported.

There had been warnings that flights could be grounded unless a deal is swiftly done after the UK quits the EU (file pic)

The US and Britain believe the deal can be unveiled before Brexit comes into force in March next year, although it ay be implemented later.

The deal would be a major boost for Mrs May, who is struggling to get her deeply divided Cabinet to sign up to her Brexit vision.

Open skies agreements allow airlines to set the prices for flights in and out of countries rather than governments.

The UK will fall out of the EU-US open skies deal the day after Brexit - prompting warnings from some that flights could be grounded.

Britain also needs to negotiate a separate deal with the EU to ensure flights carry on as normal after Brexit.

This is particularly important as many Americans who fly into the UK go on to travel to the continent afterwards.

Sean Kennedy is the senior vice president of global government affairs at Airlines For America  a trade association which represents the country's largest airlines and has contributed to talks.

He told the newspaper: 'Seamless air travel between the U.S. and the UK needs to be a Brexit priority.

The deal would be a boost for Theresa May (pictured on Sunday going to church with her husband Philip in her Maidenhead constituency). It comes as her Cabinet remains locked in a bitter row over Brexit and the future customs relationship the UK should have with the EU.

'There has been ongoing engagement between both governments to come to a quick resolution, and we are confident that a deal is within reach.'

It comes as Mrs May's Cabinet remains locked in a bitter row over Brexit and the future customs relationship the UK should have with the EU.

The PM had backed a new customs partnership with Brussels which would see the UK collect import tariffs on behalf of the bloc.

But leading Brexiteers have poured scorn on the plan fearing that it would effectively stop the UK from striking trade deals around the world and the UK varying its tariff rates.

Boris Johnson publicly branded the proposal 'crazy' and has called for a clean break with Brussels.

Instead they back the maximum facilitation option - dubbed max fac - which would see the UK use technology and a new 'trusted trader' designation for businesses to facilitate free trade and avoid a hard Irish border.
A New York woman who gave a Manhattan gynecologist a one-star review on Yelp and ZocDoc has been forced to spend nearly $20,000 defending herself against a defamation suit filed by the physician.

Michelle Levine said she found Dr. Joon Song of New York Robotic Gynecology & Women's Health online and went to him for a checkup in July 2017.

However, one week later he ended up billing her insurance company $1,300 for a 'new-patient visit and ultrasound' but the bill included $427 that wasn't covered by her plan.

Michelle Levine says she gave an 'honest review' of her doctor online after she was 'disgusted' by her visit - but now her doctor is suing her

Levine left a review of Dr. Joon Song of New York on websites like Yelp after a gynecology visit

Levine alleges Doctor Joon Song, right, charged her $427 extra for services not covered

'I gave an honest review of my experience to warn others, and he is trying to silence me. It's a nightmare,' Michelle Levine told The New York Post. 'The annual was supposed to be free!'

Levine has since alleged in court filings that Joon never bothered to give her a manual pelvic exam and instead asked her about menstrual cramps before performing an ultrasound.

She also claimed that Joon lied when he said he gave her pelvic and breast examinations.

'When I called his office to gripe, they were immediately aggressive and said I had come in complaining of pelvic pain,' which required the ultrasound, Levine said.

'I was so disgusted, I wrote a review on several sites, including Yelp, ZocDoc and Health Grades,' she said.

'Very poor and crooked business practice,' Levine wrote in the review. 'I suspect that this doctor gives unnecessary procedure [sic] to a lot of people and then charges the insurance sky high prices and no one knows the difference.

Levine says that the court battle has so far cost her close to $20,000 and has set up a GoFundMe account to raise funds

'Everything about my one and only visit here has caused me emotional distress and panic, and now they want me to cough up an extra $500 for services I didn't even need?'

Two weeks after posting the review she received an email from the doctor's lawyers informing her she was being sued.

The $1 million suit accuses Levine of false postings and online harassment.

The $1 million suit touts Joons Yale University training and accuses Levine of false postings and online harassment

'No reasonable person would believe that the statements made therein were opinion,' court papers say.

Levine says that the court battle has so far cost her close to $20,000 and she has set up a GoFundMe account to raise funds.

'They tried to drag my start-up wine-and-spirits technology business into it  They posted my entire medical record, including notes about my mental health, my bills, my insurance info, my driver's license, birth date and home address,' she said.

'I just wrote a review. We live in a country where someone can sue you for anything and the victim is forced to pay for their defense. There is no way out. I have been Joon Song's victim for almost one year.

'I have dealt with this in silence. Going public is not ideal for me, but I feel it is my only choice. Coming forward is hard for me to do. I never thought I would post this Go Fund Me, but I simply can not afford the cost of defense.'

Messages for Dr Joon and the clinic have been left.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has defended closing 8,000 stores across the country for 'race training', saying it is 'just the beginning' after staff called the cops on two black customers.

Schultz appeared on CBS This Morning ahead of the training afternoon, to defend the move amid claims that it was simply a publicity stunt.

'We could have spent marketing dollars different from this,' he said in response to claims it was a 'marketing ploy.'

'It's just the beginning,' he said of the four-hour training session. 'What we've said to our board, our shareholders, we are deeply committed to making this part of everything we do. This is something that we're going to stay with.'

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz appeared on CBS This Morning to defend closing 8,000 stores across the country for 'race training'

"I think we're living in a time in America where there is a fracturing of humanity... This is probably one of the most important transformational moments in the history of our company" -- @Starbucks' Howard Schultz ahead of today's racial-bias training pic.twitter.com/PTQk8yNoSh  CBS Mornings (@CBSMornings) May 29, 2018

The training will take place weeks after two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia store after one asked to use the bathroom before he had made a purchase.

Donte Robinson and his friend Rashon Nelson, both 23, had been waiting for a potential business partner to discuss real estate development when one of the men asked to use the bathroom and was knocked back. Minutes after the pair had sat down at the coffee shop, the manager called the police and had Robinson and Nelson arrested.

'It was a reprehensible situation that we took complete ownership of,' Shultz said of the incident, that he called 'embarrassing' and 'horrifying.'

The CEO said that the company had decided to use the experience as an opportunity to improve their training.

'I think we're living in a time in America where there is a fracturing of humanity,' he continued.

Starbucks will close 8,000 stores for training after the incident at this Center City Starbucks, in Philadelphia (pictured early Tuesday morning) where staff called the cops on two black men who were waiting for their friend

The Starbucks website shows that stores across New York City will all shut down at 2.30pm for training

'We have an opportunity given the fact that we have stores in every community in America to begin a very important conversation. We've been in business for almost 50 years. This is probably one of the most important transformational moments in the history of our company.'

Schultz explained that the training would aim to teach people about unconscious bias against race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, or class, and would train staff to address customers with empathy and compassion.

'We want to be a welcoming environment to everybody regardless of their position in life,' he said.

The company says their training afternoon will cost them $12million in lost revenue, according to USA Today.

But many have questioned how much can be achieved within just four hours, with several branding it a 'publicity stunt'.

However, not everyone was against the move, with some praising it as a step in the right direction.

The plan has brought attention to the little-known world of 'unconscious bias training' used by corporations, police departments and other organizations.

Reaction to the training has been mixed, with some branding it a PR stunt, and others praising it as a step in the right direction

It's designed to get people to open up about implicit biases and stereotypes in encountering people of color, gender or other identities.

A video previewing the training says it will include recorded remarks from Starbucks executives, including CEO Kevin Johnson and Executive Chairman Howard Schultz, as well as rapper and activist Common.

From there, the company says, its 175,000 employees in the U.S. will 'move into a real and honest exploration of bias.'

Starbucks will also be opening stores in areas of poverty, and had hired 100,000 staff members from Opportunity Youth - a scheme which works to improve the lives of impoverished, abused and neglected youth.

The training session may help to restore Starbucks' tarnished image after video of the the two black customers being arrested went viral and caused a huge backlash towards the company, prompting CEO Kevin Johnson to fly to Philadelphia to personally apologize to both men.

The manager who called police was also fired.

Nelson and Robinson settled with Starbucks this month for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free education.

They also reached a deal with the city of Philadelphia for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to establish a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.

Donte Robinson (right) and his friend Rashon Nelson (left), both 23, had been waiting for a potential business partner to discuss real estate development when one of the men asked to use the bathroom and was knocked back

Video of their arrests went viral and caused a huge backlash towards the company, prompting CEO Kevin Johnson to fly to Philadelphia to personally apologize to both men

The incident also led Starbucks to introduce a new policy whereby the chain will allow people to sit in its cafes and use its bathrooms - even if they don't buy anything.

Starbucks executives have said its previous policies were loose and ambiguous, leaving decisions on whether people could sit in its stores or use the restroom up to store managers.

But after that policy was announced, customers and employees complained that it would invite homeless people and drug users into its facilities while also taking up seats that should be filled by paying customers.

The company has told its managers that they will have the right to remove anyone who sleeps or uses drugs in their chains, according to The Wall Street Journal.

'We want our stores to be the third place, a warm and welcoming environment where customers can gather and connect,' the company said in a statement.

'When using a Starbucks space, we respectfully request that customers behave in a manner that maintains a warm and welcoming environment by: using spaces as intended, being considerate of others, communicating with respect [and] acting responsibly.'

Starbucks chain managers will have discretion to call the police if they sense that there is 'immediate danger'.

The viral video sparked angry protests and calls for a boycott of Starbucks last month. (Protesters are seen outside a Philadelphia Starbucks where two black men were arrested)

Starbucks worked with the Perception Institute, a consortium of researchers, to create their training to tackle implicit bias.

It defines implicit bias as attitudes - positive or negative - or stereotypes someone has toward a person or group without being conscious of it. A common example, according to some of its studies, is a tendency for white people to unknowingly associate black people with criminal behavior.

Many retailers including Walmart and Target said they already offer some racial bias training. Target says it plans to expand that training.

Nordstrom has said it plans to enhance its training after issuing an apology to three black teenagers in Missouri who employees falsely accused of shoplifting.

According to a video previewing the Starbucks training, there will be recorded remarks from Starbucks executives and rapper/activist Common.

From there, employees will 'move into a real and honest exploration of bias' where, in small groups, they can share how the issue comes up in their daily work life.

Starbucks has described it as a 'collaborative and engaging experience for store partners to learn together.'

Developed with feedback from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Perception Institute and other social advocacy groups, Tuesday's four-hour session will give workers a primer on the history of civil rights from the 1960s to present day.

Workers will also view a short documentary film.

Alexis McGill Johnson, Perception's co-founder and executive director, says anti-bias training is about awareness.

'The work that we want to do is not say you're a bad person because you have a stereotype about a group, but say this is why your brain may have these stereotypes,' she said.

Johnson declined to elaborate on the details of the Starbucks training.

But she said Perception's workshops typically include mental exercises to show participants how bias creeps into situations.

A session can include personal reflections, she said, such as, 'I was socialized to think about a group this way.'

Johnson said the real work is for employees to apply what they learn in their everyday lives.

She likened it to exercising a muscle.

Some ways to practice counter-stereotyping, she said, are to look for something unique about a person that is beyond their social identity.

'It could be having a question that elicits something more interesting than, say, the weather or the traffic,' Johnson said, stressing the need to 'go well beyond the superficial.'

Starbucks said the arrests never should have occurred and announced the mass closures of its stores for the afternoon of training.

Calvin Lai, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, said people should not place high expectations on this one day.

According to a video previewing the Starbucks training, there will be recorded remarks from Starbucks executives and rapper/activist Common

Johnson, the company's president and CEO, is also featured on the training video

Howard Schultz, the company's founder and chairman, also appears in the video

'We find that oftentimes diversity training has mixed effects, and in some cases it can even backfire and lead people who are kind of already reactive to these issues to become even more polarized,' Lai said.

One afternoon wouldn't really be 'moving the needle on the biases,' especially when it's a company with as many employees as Starbucks, he said.

'A lot of those employees won't be here next year or two years or three years down the line.'

Starbucks has said Tuesday's sessions serve as 'a step in a long-term journey to make Starbucks even more welcoming and safe for all.'

It is working with volunteer advisers including Heather McGhee, president of social advocacy organization Demos, and Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

'One of the things Starbucks has to wrestle with is how to incorporate this kind of training into the onboarding of every employee,' Ifill said.

That takes a sustained effort, McGhee added.

'We have really made it clear that one training is not enough, and this needs to be part of an ongoing review of their policies,' McGhee said.

'They really need to commit.'
A new war of words over Brexit broke out today as Theresa May (pictured on Sunday) accused Brussels of negotiating on 'soundbites and negative anonymous briefings'

A new war of words over Brexit broke out today as Downing Street accused Brussels of negotiating on 'soundbites and negative anonymous briefings'.

Theresa May's official spokesman demanded 'constructive talks inside the negotiation room' after EU chief Michel Barnier again called the British vision a 'fantasy'.

Britain believes good progress has been made so far but warned today 'nothing is agreed until everything is agreed'.

The UK wants agreement on a UK-EU trade deal as part of the exit deal due to be agreed by October.

Mrs May's spokesman said: 'As the Brexit secretary said last week, we need to approach these discussions with the interests of our citizens at heart.

'That means focusing on holding constructive talks inside the negotiation room.

'We also need to be constructive outside of the room, which means looking beyond soundbites and negative anonymous briefings.

'We have made good progress so far, achieving sufficient progress in December and reaching agreement on the financial settlement for example.

'However, it is also important to remember that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

'It is imperative that we keep these talks constructive and continue to make more progress towards the deep and special future partnership that is in the interests of both the UK and the European Union.'

May's official spokesman demanded 'constructive talks inside the negotiation room' after EU chief Michel Barnier (pictured earlier this month in Dublin) again called the British vision a 'fantasy'

EU frustration over Britain's failure to come up with a preferred proposal for customs relations bubbled to the surface last week, as one senior official accused the UK of 'chasing a fantasy', while chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier compared the process to a game of hide-and-seek.

Both of the options being considered by the Government - a customs partnership under which the UK collects tariffs on behalf of the EU or a 'maximum facilitation' arrangement using new technology to avoid delays on the Irish border - have been anonymously branded 'unworkable' in Brussels.

The Treasury sought to play down the scale of reported differences between the Chancellor (file image) and the Bank of England over post-Brexit regulations

Meanwhile, the Treasury sought to play down the scale of reported differences with the Bank of England over post-Brexit regulations.

The Financial Times reported that tensions have been sparked by the EU's rejection of a 'mutual recognition plan' which would have given the Bank autonomous control of regulations in the City of London.

The Bank reportedly opposed a Treasury compromise which would keep UK controls closely aligned to Brussels, but leave Threadneedle Street a 'rule taker'.

A Treasury spokesman said: 'HM Treasury and the Bank of England are united in our aim to ensure the stability and prosperity of our economy, and we are working together to ensure that the UK continues to remain the pre-eminent financial services centre of the world.

'We agree the United Kingdom cannot be an automatic ''rule taker''.

'We will start our first day outside the European Union from a unique position with full alignment.'
Andrea Constand is speaking out and sharing her thoughts about the man who sexually assaulted her 14 years ago in her first ever television interview.

The woman who successfully brought down Bill Cosby will be interviewed by Kate Snow in a Dateline special airing on Friday, where she will be joined by her mother and the other accusers who testified during the disgraced actor's recent retrial.

'For the verdict she told she had come to peace with this and was sitting in the courtroom thinking, whatever way this goes I am going to be OK with it,' explained Snow while previewing the special on Today.

'She didn't react much when the verdict was read, she describes to me hearing those words "guilty, guilty, guilty' on three counts and feeling stunned and feeling some level of redemption.'

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Speaking out: Andrea Constand will be interviewed by Kate Snow in a special episode of Dateline set to air on Friday night

Snow appeared on Today to preview the special, and said Constand felt 'redemption' after the verdict but had been prepared for both outcomes

An @NBCNews exclusive: Andrea Constand, the first woman to accuse Bill Cosby of sexual assault in court, will break her silence after more than a decade and share her story with @tvkatesnow on @DatelineNBC. pic.twitter.com/xJBnXjxH1f  TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 29, 2018

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The special will also feature interviews with Janice Baker-Kinney, Lise-Lotte Lublin, Heidi Thomas and Chelan Lasha.

Those four women, along with Janice Dickinson, testified at the trial last month after the court ruled that five accusers could give testimony in the case.

They consider Constand a 'hero,' as do the over 50 women who also publicly accused the once-beloved Hollywood star.

Constand's mother Gianna will also be interviewed, having been a key part of the case from the beginning when she herself spoke to Cosby after the 2004 assault.

'I honestly didn't know what to expect when we met in New York after the verdict. I knew Andrea was into wellness and holistic medicine. She works as a massage therapist in Toronto,' said Snow in a reporter's notebook piece about her interview.

'When I watched her testify, Andrea was calm and centered. I saw her close her eyes at moments and take deep cleansing breaths. I wondered whether she would be quiet and subdued in our interview. As it turned out, she was thoughtful, frank, resolute and unflinching.'

Snow goes on to say that Constand told her 'she has found peace.'

The interview also delves into Constand's decision to help prosecute Cosby 12 years after the incident.

'I asked Andrea whether it was difficult to decide to cooperate, to testify. She told me that she didn't do it just for herself,' said Snow.

'She said she did it because so many women had come out in public and accused Cosby at that point. She told me she believed all those women and felt she needed to be their voice.'

Earlier this month, Judge Steven T. O'Neill ordered Cosby to return to the Montgomery County Courthouse in Pennsylvania on September 24 for the sentencing hearing in his criminal case.

The court order also informed Cosby and his defense team that two days had been set aside for the hearing, which suggests that Judge O'Neill might allow some of the 62 women who have publicly accused Cosby of sexual assault to come forward and speak.

At least one of those women, plaintiff Andrea Constand, is expected to deliver her victim impact statement at that time.

Cosby is facing 30 years in prison after he was found guilty on three counts of aggravated incident assault.

He has been under house arrest at his estate in nearby Elkins Park ever since a jury found him guilty of drugging and molesting Constand in 2004, while she was an employee at Temple University at the time.

He has also been outfitted with an electronic monitoring bracleet and may only leave his home to vicitim his lawyer or doctor.

Ahead of his sentencing, Cosby will also undergo a Sexually Violent Predator Test, the results of which will be examined by the Sexual Offenders Assessment Board, who will pass along their recommendations to the court.

In addition to Constand, it is likely that the five other women who testified at Cosby's trial will be able to deliver victim impact statements at the sentencing hearing in September.

Baker-Kinney, Dickinson, Lasha, Lublin and Thomas all testified on behalf of the prosecution, who had hoped to have 13 witnesses take the stand during Cosby's retrial.

Cosby will be sentenced on September 25 on three counts of aggravated incident assault

He was found guilty on three counts of aggravated incident assault after a jury determined he drugged and molested Constand

Constand testified in court that Cosby gave her wine and pills and then sexually assaulted her while she was unconscious.

'I got scared,' Constand told police of the alleged assault. 'I had no strength in my legs. They felt rubbery and like jelly. I felt spacey. Everything was blurry or dizzy. I had no thought to call 911.'

She later told police: 'I told him, "I can't even talk, Mr. Cosby." I started to panic.'

Constand claims she arrived at Cosby's home on the night in question and was greeted by the actor, who was wearing a sweatsuit.

The two spoke about Constand's future, and she told Cosby she was feeling 'drained' and 'emotionally occupied.'

That is when Cosby allegedly went upstairs and returned with three blue pills. telling Constand: 'These will make you feel good. The blue things will take the edge off.'

Constand claims she then asked if the pills were herbal, to which Cosby replied: 'Yes. Down them. Put 'em down. Put them in your mouth.'

According to the affidavit of probable cause, Cosby then told Constand to have some wine, and soon after she began to have trouble speaking and seeing.

Cosby then allegedly told her to lie down on the couch, and soon after, according to the affidavit of probable hearing, was 'fondling her breasts, put his hands into her pants, and penetrated her vagina with his fingers'.

He also allegedly took her hand and placed it on his erect penis.

Constand claims she woke up hours later around 4am and realized her bra was undone and above her breasts and that her sweater was bunched up.

As she made her way to the door she claims Cosby was standing there in a robe and holding a muffin, which he handed to her as she left while saying: 'Alright.'

Constand, the former director of operations for Temple's women's basketball team and a one time college basketball star herself, launched a legal suit against Cosby, a man she called her 'mentor', in March 2005.

She said she first met Cosby, a Temple alum, in November 2002 and the pair became friends and she was a frequent guest at dinner parties at his home.

The case against him emerged just days before Pennsylvania's 12-year statute of limitation deadline for pressing charges was about to run out and despite a previous DA declining to charge Cosby a decade ago.

Cosby previously said under oath that he had consensual sexual contact with Constand.

The criminal complaint alleges that on the night in question Cosby told Constand to take three blue pills that left her feeling weak and then led her to a sofa where the assault took place.

When she woke up the next morning he gave her the muffin and sent her home.
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The city of Chicago is where Al Capone made his name as probably the most infamous mobster in American history.

This rare map, which goes on sale in London next month, details the gangs of the Windy City of the 1920s, when Capone and his criminal enterprise known as The Outfit fought bloody turf wars with their rivals.

It depicts some of the most infamous events that took place in the Chicago of the era, including the St Valentine's Day Massacre, the murder of Capone rival Joseph Aiello and that of 'Big Jim' Colosimo, whose killing Capone was reputedly directly involved in.

The map also shows the other brutal wars that went on at the time, such as the murder of Dean O'Banion, the leader of the North Side Gang, on the orders of Angelo Genna, who was himself killed in revenge.

The Gennas were a notorious family who were initially rivals of The Outfit and a shootout with police in which one of their number was killed is also illustrated in the map.

The map was produced in 1931 and is tapped into the growing fascination with gangsters who sprung up in the Prohibition era. It was on general sale but the authorities destroyed large numbers believing it would tarnish Chicago's reputation ahead of the World's Fair. Among the infamous incidents portrayed are the St Valentine's Day Massacre, the murder of Capone rival Joseph Aiello and the murder of Dean O'Banion, the leader of the North Side Gang

The map is dotted with depictions of infamous shootings in Capone's fight to take control of the city. In the attack on the Hawthorne Hotel in 1926, right, rival gangsters from the Northsiders riddled the building with bullets form their machine guns. It was a reprisal attack on a hit Capone ordered on Northside gang leader Dean o'Banion, in 1924

The map contains many references to the illegal alcohol industry in Chicago, such as these trucks. Mobsters fought their bloody turf wars for control of the industry as well as for gambling and other illicit businesses

Capone was born in Brooklyn in 1899 to immigrants from southern Italy and began his criminal career in his late teens, when he came under the influence of Johnny Torrio.

He became active in the Five Points gang, made up of mostly younger Italian-Americans in Manhattan and in a fight in a brothel, sustained the distinctive facial wound that earned him the nickname 'Scarface.'

Torrio moved to Chicago in 1909 to work for syndicate boss 'Big Jim' Colosimo, and in 1920 invited Capone to join their organization in the Windy City.

Chicago's lawlessness was an object of media fascination, receiving copious coverage in national newspapers and serving as dramatic fodder for Hollywood.

Al Capone became America's most high profile gangster, carefully cultivating a media profile. He was eventually imprisoned for tax evasion

The map seems targeted at fans of these mobster stories, marking spots of famous killings, sites of clashes between police and bootleggers, and the homes and headquarters of notable gangsters.

Fearing the map would leave a negative impression on prospective visitors to the upcoming World's Fair, vast majority of these maps were destroyed before the fair took place making this one a collectors item.

In the map, Capone's crowned and winged head can be seen in the top right with crossed handguns to the bottom along with some words detailing its purpose.

'Designed to Inculculate the Most Important Principles of Piety and Virtue In Young Persons and Graphically Portray the Evils and Sin of Large Cities.'

Though the map is meant to be lighthearted with puffs of smoke, sometimes with accompanying witticisms, showing the numerous crime scenes.

It shows the areas where infamous murders such as the St Valentine's Day massacre took place.

On February 14, 1929 members or associates of the Bugs Moran gang were lined up against the wall of a garage by men posing as police and machine-gunned to death.

The map also shows the clearly delineated territories including Capone's in the South Side and that of the O'Donnell gang in the neighboring West Side.

The map also shows where one of the Genna brothers, part of a crime family that was initially a rival to The Outfit but later absorbed by it, was shot.

Among the numerous crime scenes is this the infamous St Valentines's Day massacre, widely believed to have been ordered by Capone. On February 14 1929, seven associates of Capone's rival George 'Bugs' Moran were gunned down by mobsters dressed as police officers

Little Sicily was an area controlled by the Genna family of mobsters. After Angelo Genna ordered the murder of Dean O'Banion, the family and his North Side Gang fought a five year war. Also depicted is 'Dead Man's Tree', where the names of future victims of the battle between rival gangsters for political control of the city's 19th district, would be posted

The Gennas were Sicilian brothers who occupied the Taylor Street section of Chicago, known as Little Sicily, which is also shown on the map.

From 1925, Capone was probably the most high profile gangster in America, with a carefully cultivated media profile.

He made his fortune from the bootlegging and the map makes numerous references to the industry that emerged after the prohibition of alcohol.

Capone's wealth and high profile inevitably attracted the attention of law enforcement.

Unable to link him to various killings he ordered, instead U.S. Treasury's Special Intelligence Unit began a tax evasion case against him.

The slang of the era, much of which has remained in our everyday language, sits alongside and altogether darker side to Chicago

The map shows where Capone made his base in the city, after moving there from his native New York in 1920

Among the many violent episodes depicted, was a shoot out between the Genna family and the police in which Mike Genna was killed. Three of the brothers were killed while the remaining three fled Chicago

On October 18, 1931, Capone was convicted of tax evasion and sentenced to 11 years in prison, serving part of his sentence on the notorious Alcatraz jail

Capone was infected with the sexually transmitted disease syphilis and by the time he left Alcatraz in 1939 it has taken its toll on his mental as well as physical health.

Doctors reported he had the cognitive ability of a 12-year-old child and retired with his family to his Florida mansion, where he died in 1947 at age 48.

The map is on sale for 20,000 from Daniel Crouch Rare Books at the London Map Fair, which takes place on June 9 and 10.
A Louisiana TV evangelist is asking members of his congregation to donate $54million to pay for a new private jet which he claims God told him he needed in order to spread the gospel.

Jesse Duplantis, the founder of the Jesse Duplantis Ministries, made his plea in a five-minute long video posted online last week.

In it, the 68-year-old explains that despite already owning three planes which were paid for in cash with donations, he 'needs' the Dassault Falcon 7X, hailed as the 'benchmark of the 21st Century business jet', so that he doesn't have to stop to refuel during missions.

'You know I have owned three different jets in my life and I use them and just burning them up for the Lord, Jesus Christ.

Jesse Duplantis, 68, asked for donations to buy a new $54million jet - despite already having three - in a video last week so that he could fly anywhere in the world with 'one stop'

'Some people believe that preachers shouldn't have jets. I really believe that preachers ought to be able to go on every available voice, every available outlet to get this gospel preached to the world,' Duplantis said.

He went on to claim that he had been told by God to 'believe for' the plane and that others should too because, as he put it, 'Jesus wouldn't be traveling on a donkey' if he were still alive.

'Hed be in an airplane preaching the gospel all over the world. Let me just say this. We're believing God for a brand new Falcon 7X, so we can go anywhere in the world in one stop.

'Now people say, "My lord, can't you go with this one?". "Yes, but I can't go in one stop".

'If I can do it for one stop, I can fly it for a lot cheaper because I have my own fuel farm. And that's wha's a blessing of the lord.

Duplantis already has three jets (pictured above in the far left images). He joked that he wants the Star Trek enterprise (which he is shown pointing to)

Duplantis claimed God told him to 'believe for' a Dassault Falcon 7X (shown above) which is hailed as the 'benchmark of the 21st Century business jet'

'This one here I have to stop and then you pay those exorbitant prices for jet fuel all over the world,' he said.

Duplantis is not alone in his belief that God wants him to spread his good word in the luxury of a private jet.

He and fellow preacher Kenneth Copeland have previously defended their use of the planes.

In 2016, Copeland even said that flying in commercial planes was 'getting into a long tube with a bunch of demons.'

Duplantis is pictured with his wife Kathy. He insisted that he does not ask followers to give anything that they wouldn't

Duplantis, 68, is shown above outside his 25-room Louisiana home in Destrehan

Copeland bought a $34million plane earlier this year with his congregation's money and celebrated it with a video where he told followers: 'Do you see this? I hope you do. You bought it. You and Jesus.'

After sharing his pleas for the new plane on his website and on social media, Duplantis was slammed by critics who labeled him a 'fraud' and a 'prosperity preacher'.

It is not clear if anyone has yet contributed to his plane fund. Attempts to reach Duplantis on Tuesday morning were unsuccessful.
Kim Jong-un's right-hand man will fly to New York on Wednesday to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as part of preparations for the meeting between the North Korean leader and Donald Trump in Singapore next month.

President Trump confirmed on Tuesday that General Kim Yong Chol is en route to New York via China to discuss arrangements for the historic accord.

'Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!' Trump wrote in a tweet.

General Kim Yong Chol landed at Beijing airport on Tuesday and will journey on to New York on Wednesday, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

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Kim Yong Chol, Kim Jong Un's top official on inter-Korean relations, arrives at Beijing airport on Tuesday

Kim Jong Un in talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-in (center) during a meeting with Kim Yong Chol (left)

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy before the on-again, off-again summit originally scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

Trump cancelled the talks last week, citing 'open hostility' from the North, but since then both sides have dialled down the rhetoric and the process appears to be back on track.

US negotiators, headed by Washington's current ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, met North Korean counterparts in the truce village of Panmunjom that divides the two Koreas on Sunday.

The State Department said a separate team of White House officials has headed to Singapore to sort out logistics.

Chung Sung-yoon, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim Yong Chol would be the most senior North Korean official to step onto US soil since Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok met President Bill Clinton in 2000.

The general has long been a right-hand man to North Korea's leader, playing a front-seat role during recent rounds of diplomacy aimed at ending the nuclear stalemate on the Korean peninsula.

He sat next to Trump's daughter Ivanka, who is also a White House aide, during February's closing ceremony for the Winter Olympics in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang which was a turning point in the nuclear crisis.

Kim Yong-Chol walks through Beijing airport on Tuesday flanked by a phalanx of armed security guards

Kim Yong-Chol (left) walking in front of gathered crowds with Kim Jong-un (right) at a military parade in North Korea

He also accompanied Kim Jong Un on both of his recent trips to China to meet President Xi Jinping, and held talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he travelled to Pyongyang.

'Kim's official counterpart is Pompeo but he may also push for meetings with (National Security Advisor John) Bolton and even Trump if possible,' Chung told AFP.

General Kim is a deeply controversial figure in South Korea, where he is blamed for masterminding the 2010 sinking of the navy corvette the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, an attack for which North Korea denies responsibility.

From 2009 to 2016 he was also director of North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau, the unit tasked with cyber warfare and intelligence gathering.

During that period North Korea ramped up its hacking programmes, including a hugely costly penetration of Sony Pictures.

His journey to the US caps a frenetic few days of meetings between North Korean and American officials.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that Kim Chang Son, Kim Jong Un's de facto chief of staff, arrived in Singapore on Monday, showing footage of him at the airport escorted by three bodyguards.

Kim Yong-Chol is due to touch down in New York on Wednesday having arrived in Beijing for talks today

Donald Trump tweeted that Kim Yong-Chol would be flying into New York for the discussions

China's state Xinhua news agency also said one of its photographers saw Kim Chang Son leave a hotel in the city-state.

Also on Monday, a US government aircraft carrying a delegation including Joe Hagin, the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, departed from Yokota air base in Japan en route for Singapore, NHK added.

The Washington Post reported that talks inside the Demilitarised Zone would continue this week between US and North Korean officials.

South Korean media broadcast footage of US embassy vehicles, including one carrying Sung Kim, leaving a Seoul hotel on Tuesday but there were no details on whether the convoy was heading back to the DMZ.

If the original date stands, officials have only a fortnight to finalise thorny protocol details such as where in Singapore the talks will take place and how internationally sanctioned North Korean officials will travel there.

The key task is to settle the agenda. The main stumbling block is likely to be the concept of "denuclearisation" - both sides say they want it, but there is a yawning gap between their definitions.

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.

But analysts believe North Korea will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given security guarantees that the US will not try to topple the regime.
A little girl in China has been saved by quick-thinking passersby after falling into a sewer through an open manhole.

Surveillance camera captured the moment the six-year-old vanished from sight as she was playing by herself on a street.

A team of policemen as well as pedestrians formed a human chain to pull the child from the sewer pipe.

Dangerous: The six-year-old girl falls into an uncovered manhole while playing alone in China

In the blink of an eye: The child disappears from sight after falling into the sewer in Suqian

The accident occurred on May 22 in the city of Suqian, eastern China's Jiangsu Province, according to local news site Modern Express.

Passersby were notified of the accident after hearing a scream from a girl.

Zhang Yong'an, a passing policeman, told Modern Express that he and his colleagues quickly turned around, but they couldn't see the girl; instead they saw a pedestrian who was yelling 'a child has fallen'.

It remains unclear where the girl's parents were at the time of the accident.

Officer Zhang and his colleagues happened to be patrolling the street at the time, said the report. They dashed towards the open manhole to save the girl.

Where are her parents? A passerby bends down to check on the girl after noticing the accident

Team effort: A team of passing policemen rush over to help after hearing the girl screaming

Officer Zhang said the sewer was about two metres (6.5 feet) deep and the girl was soaked when they arrived.

Pedestrians and the police officers formed a human chain to send officer Zhang down the shaft to rescue the girl.

The child was saved with no apparent injuries.

Investigation shows that the manhole was left open by maintenance workers who forgot to put the cover back, said the report.

The team of police officers have put barricades around the manhole.
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The two reporters who were killed by subtropical storm Alberto on Monday spoke to a local fire chief moments before they died and told him to 'be careful'.

WYFF News 4 anchor Mike McCormick and WYFF News 4 photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were both killed when a felled tree crushed their truck in Tryon, North Carolina, on Monday as a result of the storm.

Moments earlier, they had been on the phone to the town's fire chief, Geoffrey Tennant. Tennant broke down on Tuesday as he recalled their final words.

WYFF News 4 anchor Mike McCormick (left) and WYFF News 4 photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer (right) died on Monday after being crushed by a felled tree. Before they were killed, they spoke to a local fire chief about the storm and told him to 'be careful'

Theirs are the only reported deaths since the storm hit the southeast coast last week.

On Tuesday, the storm fizzled into a subtropical depression as it rolled into Alabama but forecasters warned of potentially dangerous flash floods even as winds dropped to 30 miles per hour (48 km per hour).

20,000 people remain without power, according to Alabama Power, the state's largest supplier.

Most of the outages (11,000) are in the state's most populous area, Birmingham.

Tyron fire chief Geoffrey Tennant became emotional on Tuesday as he recalled speaking to the journalists before their deaths

This was the scene in Hollywood, Florida, on Tuesday as a resident walked through a sea of washed up seaweed after the storm had passed

The coast was clear in Dania Beach, Florida, on Tuesday after days of heavy rain from the storm

The storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression but it is still threatening to bring rain over much of Alabama. This was the view of it on Tuesday afternoon

Some 6,000 people are without power in Montgomery. The storm's remnants doused the Deep South with waves of rain Tuesday as the vast, soggy system pushed northward toward the Tennessee Valley.

Forecasters said the subtropical depression swirling near Birmingham could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain on central Alabama.

At its height, Alberto, the first storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, blasted sustained winds of 65 mph (105 kph) with gusts that packed full hurricane punches of 75 mph (121 kph), said meteorologist David Roth of the National Weather Service.

'It's slowly weakening and it's not regaining any strength,' Roth said. 'The chances of it spinning off tornadoes now has dropped to virtually zero.'

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) canceled coastal warnings and watches for the storm, which spun up days before the formal start of the hurricane season on June 1. Minor power outages were reported in north Florida, and the state's emergency response team started closing shelters on Monday, citing a lack of need.

Some areas on Gulf Coast barrier islands remained under evacuation orders due to flood risks, officials said.

Forecasters warned heavy rain, flash flooding and dangerous surf posed the biggest threats as Alberto's ragged core made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida Panhandle

Alberto will probably weaken through Tuesday as it moves northward into the Tennessee Valley and then to the Ohio Valley, finally withering into a 'remnant low pressure storm' by Tuesday evening, with winds at around 25 mph (40 kph), Roth said.

The NHC warned it would still deliver heavy, potentially damaging rains of 2-6 inches (6-15 cm), with as much as 12 inches (30 cm) in some areas in north Florida and Alabama through Tuesday night.

It could dump up to 6 inches (15 cm) of rain as it moves north toward lower Michigan by Wednesday evening, officials said.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc was sending workers back to the eastern Gulf of Mexico and Chevron Corp restored some production on Monday after the storm's passage.

Shell plans to restore production at its Ram Powell Hub in the Viosca Knoll area of the Gulf as it soon as the platform can operate safely, the company said.

Authorities in Florida's Franklin and Taylor counties issued mandatory evacuation orders for thousands of coastal residents.

Four deadly hurricanes struck the United States last year, killing at least 144 people and causing billions of dollars in damage, massive power outages and devastating hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses, according to the NHC.

Beachgoers walk on Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach, Florida on Monday as Subtropical Storm Alberto approaches
A female carjacking victim has spoken about the terrifying moment she turned around to see a man swinging a pickaxe at her head.

The women, who wishes to remain nameless, said she had stopped at a service station in Braeside, Melbourne, when a man came rushing at her from the bushes as she walked back to her car.

'Then I heard yelling from behind me, I looked up and by the time I looked up the man was at me with an axe in my face,' she told 7 News.

A female carjacking victim has spoken about the terrifying moment she turned around to see a man swinging a pickaxe at her head

The woman said the man started to swing the butt end of the axe at her head, filling her with terror and adrenaline as she tried her best to fight the carjacker off.

As blood poured from her wounds and bruises began to well up, she said she lost hold of her keys and the man quickly scooped them up off the ground.

She said it was at that moment when she knew it was either 'her or the car'.

The women, who wishes to remain nameless, said she had stopped at a service station in Braeside, Melbourne, when a man came rushing at her from the bushes as she walked back to her car

Police released up a composite image of the alleged attacker

The woman was driving a white Mercedes Benz, which contained a number of sensitive documents and personal information.

Detective Senior Constable Gordon McSephney told 7 News the incident had all the hallmarks of a calculated attack.

'It's obviously very calculated and very violent, and the kind of offending we're very serious about targeting and stopping,' he said.

The women was driving a white Mercedes Benz, which contained a number of sensitive documents and personal information

The attack has left the women in fear and she said she doesn't even feel safe in her own home.

'I'm a sitting duck waiting for this to happen again,' she said.

Police released up a composite image of the alleged attacker.

Anyone with information that could help police with their investigation is encouraged to contact Crime Stoppers.
A missing 15-year-old girl who disappeared earlier this month alongside a registered sex offender has been spotted in Washington state.

Lilieana 'Lily' Christopherson, of Bonney Lake, has been missing since May 9.

Authorities said on Sunday that they believe the teen may be in Tacoma.

Missing teen, Lilieana 'Lily' Christopherson, 15, who disappeared earlier this month alongside a registered sex offender, has been spotted in Tacoma, Washington, within the last three days

Authorities said she 'was seen wearing a black midriff shirt with tan capris pants'. A police report also noted that she may be in the company of another female 'with a dark complexion' Police said they are still concerned about the teen's welfare

According to a police report, Lily has been seen in Tacoma within the last two or three days.

'Lily was seen wearing a black midriff shirt with tan capris pants,' the report noted, adding that she may be in the company of another female 'with a dark complexion'.

Authorities said Lily may not be there of her own free will and they are still concerned about her welfare.

Lily was confirmed to be with 39-year-old Christopher Fitzpatrick (pictured)

Police are urging anyone with information on her whereabouts to call 911.

Lily hadn't been seen since she went missing on May 9 in Buckley.

She was confirmed to be with Christopher Fitzpatrick, 39, traveling from motel to motel.

But Fitzpatrick was arrested by US Marshals Saturday night at a home in Lakewood. Officers were acting on an anonymous tip.

Lily was not with him.

Fitzpatrick had warrants from the Washington Department of Corrections for violating his probation and failure to register as a sex offender, according to KOMO News. He has a record including assault with sexual motivation.

Since Lily went missing, her mother, Lena Winters, has been desperately trying to locate her.

Winters has been handing out with her daughter's photo at numerous locations in the state.

But Fitzpatrick (pictured) was arrested by US Marshals Saturday night at a home in Lakewood. Officers were acting on an anonymous tip. Lily was not with him

Since Lily went missing, her mother, Lena Winters, has been desperately trying to locate her. 'I guess the police are confirming a sighting which I'm so glad. At least I know she was out a few days ago and okay,' Winters said

She told the station that news of her daughter being spotted in Tacoma has encouraged her, but she's still worried.

'I guess the police are confirming a sighting which I'm so glad. At least I know she was out a few days ago and okay,' Winters said.

Winters said earlier this month that her daughter's disappearance had left her feeling 'completely heartbroken'.

'She's my heart and it's missing. It's indescribable how I feel right now,' Winters said.

A $2,000 reward is being offered to help find Lily. A GoFundMe account was also set up to raise money toward finding the teen.
Four female NYPD officers could face disciplinary action after they posed for a picture with a male stripper wearing only a G-string at a Mother's Day event.

In the photo the four women all smile with the stripper as one of them enthusiastically points at his G-string.

Another stripper, wearing just a thong and a sailor hat, can be seen dancing in the background of the event.

These four NYPD officers could potentially face disciplinary action after they posed for a picture with a male stripper wearing a G-string during a Mother's Day event in Manhattan

The photo was taken at the ARC Senior Center in Manhattan.

Two of the cops have been identified as Neighborhood Coordination Officers Amber Guzman and Nathalie Lebron, according to the New York Daily News.

All four female officers are from the 33rd Precinct. An NYPD recruit reportedly took the photo.

An NYPD spokesman said cops traditionally attend the annual event and were not aware that strippers would be there.

'The senior center participants encouraged the officers to pose for the picture,' Sgt Jessica McRorie told DailyMail.com.

'The commanding officer is aware and will address the incident at the precinct level.'

At least one cop at the precinct rose to the women's defense, saying it only made them more 'endearing' to the community.

'Everyone's having a good time there,' he told the Daily News. 'It's not like the cops are the ones stripping. They're there having a good time with the people there.'

In 2011 an investigation was launched after two NYPD officers were filmed gyrating with women in bikinis at the West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.
One in five Met Police officers have second jobs or businesses on the side with many moonlighting as taxi drivers, figures have revealed.

More than 300 serving officers have declared business interests as drivers and chauffeurs - including six who work for Uber - and 5,395 officers have another business alongside their day job.

Those declaring such interests range from constables, who make up around 70 per cent, to chief superintendents, one of the highest ranks in the force.

It had led to questions being raised over whether officers are being paid enough to make ends meet.

Figures revealed more than 300 Met Police officers work second jobs as drivers or chauffeurs (file picture)

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Metropolitan Police Federation chairman Ken Marsh said it was 'not right' that officers should need a second job.

He added: 'Our job is a professional job and it clearly shows you we aren't paid a professional salary. You have to ask the question, why does someone need a second job when they're a police officer?'

Meanwhile a spokesman for the Police Federation said some officers had 'no alternative' but to look for other jobs.

Former Met Police officer Claire Hearn told the Standard she balanced a job at the force with a tea party business before opting to continue with the latter.

She said: 'It was never a problem. But it's not the sort of job you can do without giving 100 per cent. As the business grew, I realised the passion was with that really.

POLICE PAY SCALES Constable: 19,773 to 38,001 Sergeant: 39,300 to 42,708 Inspector: 50,823 to 54,963 Chief Inspector: 56,040 to 58,251 Superintendent: 64,830 to 76,575 Chief Superintendent: 80,352 to 84,765 Commander: 97,563 to 110,148 *All London ranks get an extra 2,373 Advertisement

'It's not something that the Met stop you doing  they decide whether it's something suitable you can do alongside the police.'

In a statement, the Met Police said a secondary job is permitted as long as it is 'compatible' with working in the service.

The statement said: 'Police Regulations and MPS policy permit officers and staff to have a business interests providing that it is compatible with being a member of the police service.

'An officer/staff's role in the Met will always be considered as a priority over any business interest.

'The police service, the regulations and procedures that govern external business interests recognise that there is a need to ensure that where officers/staff have secondary employment or business interests that these are compatible with their role and do not create any conflict of interest.

'This is true even when they are not intended to provide personal financial gain.

'The public rightly expect their police service to be as effective as possible and to uphold the law without fear or favour while always working towards, keeping London safe.'
Fatima Khan (pictured), 20, is accused of encouraging Raza Khan, 19, to attack 18 year-old Khalid Safi in North Acton, west London, on the evening of December 1 last year

A woman allegedly set up the murder of her boyfriend and posted a video of the dying teenager on Snapchat with the caption: 'That's what happens when you f**k with me'.

Fatima Khan, 20, is accused of encouraging Raza Khan, 19, to attack 18 year-old Khalid Safi in North Acton, west London, on the evening of December 1 last year.

The couple visited the Costa Coffee close to the Tube station shortly after 5pm, with onlookers describing Mr Safi seeming 'happy and smiley'.

But other witnesses later told police there was a 'weird' atmosphere between Khan and Mr Safi, who had argued in the days leading up to the murder, the Old Bailey heard.

'[Mr Safi] was the on-off boyfriend of the defendant, Fatima Khan, and the prosecution case is that he was killed by a rival for her affections,' said prosecutor Kate Bex QC.

'The prosecution case is that she willingly and knowingly entered into a joint enterprise with Raza Khan to cause serious injury to Khalid Safi and that her role was essential to the success of the plan.

'She told Raza Khan where to find Khalid Safi and she ensured that Mr Safi was still there by the time Mr Khan travelled to the scene.

'There is direct evidence of both of these facts and Ms Khan's behaviour after the murder confirms, the prosecution say, that her intention was to enable Raza Khan to seriously injure Khalid Safi.'

When Raza Khan arrived at the cafe shortly after 6pm, he seemed to 'know exactly where he was going' and confronted Mr Safi after a brief exchange with one of them.

The pair fought for around 15 seconds after which Mr Safi collapsed with a number of stab wounds to his chest.

Jurors heard his girlfriend made no efforts to help her partner either during or after the attack.

'Instead, she returned to the scene after Raza Khan had inflicted the fatal wound and videoed Khalid Safi as he lay dying in a pool of his blood on the pavement,' said Ms Bex.

'She then posted it on Snapchat with a caption 'That's what happens when you f**k with me'.

'Fatima Khan's reaction to seeing Khalid Safi seriously hurt may be an indication of her knowledge of what Raza Khan was going to do and her intention in that regard.'

She denies murder and conspiracy to cause GBH.

Jurors heard Fatima Khan had been in a relationship with Mr Safi for around two years before he died, having also gone out briefly in 2012 to 2013

A warrant was issued for Raza Khan's arrest but he has never been found.

Jurors heard Fatima Khan had been in a relationship with Mr Safi for around two years before he died, having also gone out briefly in 2012 to 2013.

A friend of the couple later told police the two men had previously fought a few years earlier and Khan had stabbed Mr Safi in the shoulder.

'Five days before the murder, things between Fatima Khan and Khalid Safi were clearly coming to a head,' said Ms Bex.

'He had bought her a watch as a present but when he visited her at her home address she threw it at him from an upstairs window as he stood outside because she was very angry he had turned up at her house, her family home, because her family did not know she was seeing him and she did not want them to see him outside.'

On the day he died, Mr Safi spent the early evening from about 5pm with Khan sitting on benches outside the Costa Coffee close to North Acton tube station.

'It is clear from the CCTV that they were not getting on very well,' said Ms Bex.

'The images show Ms Khan constantly on her phone with Mr Safi standing a few feet away from her, effectively being ignored.'

When Raza Khan arrived at the cafe shortly after 6pm, he seemed to 'know exactly where he was going' and confronted Mr Safi after a brief exchange with one of them

A witness later described it appearing obvious they were together but that there was a 'weird atmosphere' between the couple.

At one stage a cafe employee noticed Fatima Khan taking 'an abnormally long time' in the branch's toilet.

She claimed to have been 'tying her headscarf' but was also spotted on her phone.

Records later confirmed she had made a call lasting more than seven minutes.

'The prosecution suggests that Ms Khan took an abnormally long time in the lavatory in order to delay Khalid Safi so as to ensure that Raza Khan had enough time to travel in his minicab from Arnos Grove.'

He arrived at around 6.30pm and 'walked straight over' to the pair with 'a large object seen glinting' from his left hand.

After exchanging a few words with one of them, Ms Bex said he turned to Mr Safi at which point 'the knife on his left-hand side would have been in plain view of Mr Safi'.

'Mr Safi then produced a screwdriver and the two men began to fight,' she continued.

Jurors heard the brawl only lasted for around 15 seconds, during which Raza Khan put his hand on Mr Safi's back to bend him over whilst using his left to plunge the blade into his foe's abdomen.

Raza Khan quickly left the area walking back the way he came, discarding his coat in an alleyway which had been ripped by Mr Safi's screwdriver during the fight.

'Khalid Safi died at the scene having received a number of stab wounds to his chest,' said the prosecutor.

During the brawl Fatima Khan was seen running back into the coffee shop where she called a friend asking: 'Where the f**k are you? You need to hurry the f**k up. Everything's got f**ked.'

Ms Bex told jurors the call confirms she 'had a prior arrangement' for the pal to come and collect her from the scene and was so urgent because Safi had also been armed.

Police are still trying to trace Raza Khan and a 5,000 reward for information is being offered by the independent charity Crimestoppers.

Khan, from Ilford, denies murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm.

Her trial continues.
Porn star Stormy Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti is frustrating prosecutors by demanding to review documents related to the 'hush' agreement his client reached with Donald Trump and his longtime lawyer Michael Cohen.

Cohen is under criminal investigation for bank fraud, potential campaign finance violations, and other financial matters.

Prosecutors, who oversaw a raid of Cohen's home and office in New York, are eager to look through communications from the time when Cohen helped negotiate a nondisclosure agreement with Daniels.

The agreement, whereby Daniels got a $130,000 payment, also included Donald Trump, although he didn't sign the final deal. Trump revealed on his latest financial disclosure that he 'reimbursed' Cohen for funds of up to $250,000.

Avenatti pushed back at the paper by releasing a 2016 email, and claiming the WSJ 'sat on' the the original Stormy Daniels story in the final days of the election.

Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Porn star Stormy Daniels lawyers, is reportedly frustrating prosecutors who want speedy access to documents and people who helped broker a 'hush' agreement

People familiar with the request for information told the Wall Street Journal that Avenatti, who has been a vocal defender of his client and fashioned himself into the televised nemesis of President Trump, has been slow-walking requests, 'frustrating' prosecutors.

Of particular interest are communications involving Keith Davidson, Daniels' former lawyer. He has been involved in negotiations over other 'hush' agreements.

Prosecutors also want to review materials from Daniels' former manager, Gina Rodriguez.

According to the Journal, Avenatti has yet to act on requests that Daniels waive attorney client privilege to allow Davidson to discuss his communications.

Avenati denied the report and said he was being cooperative

Stormy Daniels Fan Meet And Greet at Chi Chi LaRue's on May 23, 2018 in West Hollywood, California

Michael Cohen is under criminal investigation for possible bank fraud

Daniels' real name is Stephanie Clifford, though in the NDA she went by 'Peggy Peterson.'

Avenatti also hit Davidson with a cease-and-desist letter ordering him not to reveal her communications.

The requests have come from federal prosecutors in the South District of New York.

Avenatti denied he was being uncooperative, and hit back at the report on Twitter.

'Any media report citing unnamed sources (and not a single document) suggesting we are delaying the investigation into Mr. Cohen and DJT is completely false and without basis. We have already waived the privilege as to a host of docs and communications to ensure justice is done,' he wrote.

KEY INFORMATION: Stormy Daniels recieves a key to the city, Chi Chi LaRue's, Los Angeles

Actress Gina Rodriguez also engaged in communications about the hush deal that prosecutors want to review

Keith Davidson's communications with Daniels are privileged, absent a waiver

On Monday evening, he wrote: 'We continue to communicate with the fine attys of the SDNY on a regular basis as part of our cooperation with the govt investigation. It has been delayed by the refusal of people to promptly turn over docs for our review. If necessary, we will file suit against them. #Basta'

'We have already started producing documents to the government so any suggestion we are not cooperating is meritless,' he told the paper.

Avenatti hit back at the Journal, which broke the original Stormy Daniels 'hush' money story after the campaign.

He released a November, 2016 email exchange between a Journal reporter and Davidson.

Avenatti claimed the Wall Street Journal 'sat on' the original Stormy Daniels story

He released an email from lawyer Keith Davidson claiming he had 'never sought, nor obtained' a settlement from Trump

Avenatti pushed back at the report on Twitter

Avenatti pushed back at the report on Twitter

The Journal 'had the story in the closing days of the campaign but sat on it,' Avenatti wrote.

He added that 'Mr. Davidson lied to them and conspired with Mr. Cohen in 2016. This is why we have demanded to see all of Davidson's docs for [months] and will sue if need be.

In the Nov. 2 email, Avenatti denies representing 'women from Donald Trump's past,' and stated that 'I have never sought, nor obtained a settlement from him.' He also implied he would sue, writing any claims to the contrary were 'actionable.'

A reporter had written him with questions October 22. When the paper ultimately broke the story, it revealed Cohen had wired Daniels $130,000 through an LLC he set up in Delaware days before the election.

Meanwhile, the Cohen camp maintains that many of the documents seized in an FBI raid are privileged, and teams of lawyers are in the process of vetting them.
Nigel Farage has lashed billionaire anti-Brexit campaigner George Soros for vowing to launch a campaign for a second EU referendum 'within days'.

The ex-Ukip leader demanded Mr Soros explain what he thought the June 2016 referendum was actually about given it was the biggest single vote in UK history.

And responding to Mr Soros' claim a new poll would allow the country to decide, Mr Farage blasted: 'We made our mind up, we did it.'

The veteran Brexiteer launched his attack against Mr Soros on his nightly LBC radio show.

Mr Soros funds the Best for Britain anti-Brexit campaign. It plans to publish a manifesto next week on its mission to secure a new vote.

It wants to secure a large mandate to reverse the 2016 referendum on the grounds the negotiation has not secured a good deal for Britain.

Mr Soros revealed the plans yesterday in a speech which admitted the EU faced an 'existential crisis' after a decade of crisis for the Brussels bloc.

Billionaire anti Brexit campaigner George Soros yesterday admitted that the EU is in 'existential crisis' because of its failure to reform (file pic)

Nigel Farage (pictured on his LBC show last night) lashed Mr George Soros for vowing to launch a campaign for a second EU referendum 'within days'.

The business magnate, 87, also warned it could take five years for Britain to fully quit the Brussels bloc because of legal wrangling.

Papers leaked to the Daily Mail last week hinted at the scale of Best for Britain's plans, revealing the group will contradict whatever final agreement Theresa May strikes with Brussels  arguing it is 'not what we voted for'.

The financier suggested the Brexit vote could be reversed and the UK could decide o stay in the EU after all.

In a speech at the European Council on Foreign Relations think-tank event in Paris he said: 'Ultimately, it's up to the British people to decide what they want to do.

'It would be better however if they came to a decision sooner rather than later. That's the goal of an initiative called the 'Best for Britain', which I support.

'Best for Britain fought for, and helped to win, a meaningful parliamentary vote which includes the option of not leaving at all.

'This would be good for Britain but would also render Europe a great service by rescinding Brexit and not creating a hard-to-fill hole in the European budget.

'But the British public must express its support by a convincing margin in order to be taken seriously by Europe.

Who is George Soros and why is he known as the man who broke the Bank of England? George Soros had already made a fortune and a formidable reputation by 1992. But that was when he secured his tag as the 'man who broke the Bank of England'. Short selling US$10billion worth of Sterling during the Black Wednesday crisis made him a reported profit of 1.5billion. The 87-year-old Hungarian-born financier is now one of the world's richest men. His wealth was estimated by Forbes magazine last year at 25billion. Mr Soros has previously warned that Brexit will be a disaster for the economy, and suggested the UK could immediately apply to rejoin the EU. One of Mr Soros's foundations gave the money to Best for Britain, a Remain group that wants to force a second EU referendum. Over the past 40 years he is said to have donated 11billion to philanthropic causes. Advertisement

'That's what the Best for Britain is aiming for by engaging the electorate. It will publish its manifesto in the next few days.'

He added: 'In the meantime, the EU needs to transform itself into an association which nations like Britain would want to join.'

And Mr Soros warned: 'It is no longer a figure of speech to say that Europe is in existential danger; it is the harsh reality.'

Mr Soros' speech came as the EU is facing a fresh crisis as political disarray in Italy casts doubt over its future in the bloc.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella is facing impeachment calls after he defied voters and refused to appoint a fiercely eurosceptic finance minister.

Mr Soros said the EU project has taken a series of blows over the past decade which threaten to derail it altogether.

But he warned of the dangers of Brexit, telling the audience: 'Brexit is an immensely damaging process, harmful to both sides.

'This divorce will be a long process, probably five years, which is an eternity in politics.'

Mr Soros - dubbed the man who broke the Bank of England after he bet against the pound on Black Wednesday - said the EU's reputation has taken a battering in recent years.

He said the financial crisis of 2008 followed by the chaotic response to the huge influx of refugees in 2015 had led many young people to 'regard the EU as an enemy that has deprived them of jobs and a secure and promising future.'

He also said the EU's role in foreign affairs and diplomacy has taken battering after Donald Trump pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal which Brussels had championed.

He said the move by the American President was 'effectively destroying the trans-Atlantic alliance.'

Brexit Secretary David Davis (pictured with EU negotiator Michel Barnier at the March summit in Brussels) is negotiating Britain's departure from the bloc. But George Soros warned that it could take many years of wrangling before Britain fully quits

He added: 'This development will put additional pressure of unpredictable force on an already beleaguered Europe - It's no longer a figure of speech to say Europe is in existential danger.'

Mr Soros also warned that the election of right-wing populist Viktor Orban in Hungary is challenging the very principals the EU was funded on.

He said: 'Viktor Orban based his entire re-election campaign on falsely accusing me of planning to flood Europe, Hungary included, with Muslim refugees.

'He is now posing as the defender of his version of a Christian Europe, that is challenging the values on which the European Union was founded.'

Mr Soros said the EU should try to salvage its project by abandoning the euro and funding a 30 billion euro Marshall Plan for Africa to ease the flow of migrants to the continent.

He said: 'The euro has many unresolved problems and they must not be allowed to destroy the European Union.'
President Donald Trump accused Democrats of trying to make him 'look bad' when they tweeted a photo of immigrant children in cages that turned out to be from 2014 - when Barack Obama was president.

'They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires,' the president charged in a tweet Tuesday morning.

The picture, published by the Arizona Republic, shows two children lying on green mats behind a chain-link fence.

President Trump criticized Democrats for tweeting this photo over the weekend, accusing them of trying to make him 'look bad' on immigration. The picture was taken in 2014, when Barack Obama was president.

President Trump slammed Democrats on immigration in an early morning tweet Tuesday but White House counselor Kellyanne Conway would not answer the DailyMail.com's question on whether the president was trying to restart DACA talks.

The picture circulated on social media this weekend and was tweeted by former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau and other liberal activists.

Several people deleted their tweets when the photo was revealed to be four years old.

Democrats have been outraged since a new policy was announced by the administration earlier this month that separates parents and children who enter the U.S. illegally.

Over the weekend, Trump blamed Democrats for the origins of that policy, asking them to change a 'horrible law' he claimed required children to be separated from parents who enter the country illegally. There is no law specifically requiring that action by the government.

Favreau defended the Obama administration, saying children were held because they were unaccompanied minors who tried to cross the border illegally.

He tweeted: 'These awful pictures are from 2014, when the government's challenge was reconnecting unaccompanied minors who showed up at the border with family or a safe sponsor.'

Trump supports compromise legislation that include a pathway for citizenship for the so-called 'Dreamers,' children brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents. However, he also wants any proposal to include funding for his border wall, which experts say could cost up to $25 billion. Democrats oppose the building of the wall.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway did not answer a question from the DailyMail.com Tuesday morning when asked if the president's tweet was his way of making a new push for a DACA deal.

Conway did follow Trump's line of attack and asked a CNN reporter, who was also asking questions on immigration: 'why did a CNN reporter retweet that false fake tweet about the migrant children being in cages?'

CNN reporter Hadas Gold posted and then deleted the photo. She later wrote on Twitter: 'Deleted previous tweet because gave impression of recent photos (they're from 2014).'

Conway asked if the tweet was deleted 'because it didn't fit the narrative.'

Democrats are outraged over a Trump administration policy that would separate children from their parents when they come into the U.S. illegally.

The president was reportedly furious when the number of illegal border crossings doubled in April when compared to the same month in the previous year.

The president was reportedly furious when the number of illegal border crossings doubled in April when compared to the same month in the previous year.

He was said to give Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen a 30-minute tongue lashing when the numbers were reported. Nielsen was reportedly considering resignation after the verbal whipping from the president, which she later denied was the case.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions warned earlier this month that parents who cross the border illegally with their children will have them taken away.

'If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you -- it's that simple. If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, we will prosecute you,' he said during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border.

The administration is working with Southern states to dispatch more National Guard troops along the border and is also looking at housing children separated from their parents in military bases.

Additionally, Nielsen has ordered federal prosecution against any person caught crossing the border illegally.

Between May 6 and May 19, 638 adults were referred for prosecution for illegally crossing the border. They brought with them a total of 658 children, all of whom were separated from those adults.

Nielsen defended the Trump administration's practice of separating children and parents when the family is being prosecuted for entering the U.S. illegally.

She told a Senate committee earlier in May that removing children from parents facing criminal charges happens 'in the United States every day.'

If a person crosses the border illegally, she said: 'We will refer you for prosecution. You've broken U.S. law.'

A conviction for illegal entry carries a maximum penalty of six months in custody for first-time crossers - though they usually do far less time - and two years for repeat offenses.

During a surge in children from Central America in 2014, under the Obama presidency, Health and Human Services temporarily used military bases in California, Oklahoma and Texas to house the kids.

Nearly 1 in 4 Border Patrol arrests on the Mexican border from October through April was someone who came in a family. That means any large increase in prosecutions will likely cause parents to be separated from their children while they face charges and do time in jail.
Connor Brayley, 24, stood before a jury today facing allegations that he dragged a young mum down an alleyway and raped her

A cocaine-fuelled Coldstream Guards soldier allegedly raped a young mother in the shadows of Windsor Castle after offering to walk her home because 'she was not feeling well.'

Connor Brayley, 24, stood before a jury today facing allegations that he dragged his victim down an alleyway less than 200 yards from the famous royal residence, before allegedly raping her close to a park.

The assault was said to have taken place in the early hours of December 14 last year, following a night out involving Brayley and other soldiers based at Windsor's famous Victoria Barracks.

The jury had heard how the defendant had drunk eight or nine pints and had also taken cocaine that night.

Brayley met the alleged victim near a McDonalds fastfood restaurant in central Windsor and offered her his coat before saying he would escort her home as she was not feeling well.

The route Brayley took went down two alleyways to an area known as Batchelor's Acre, just 50 yards from the Royal Wedding procession route.

Brayley frequently used this route as it was the quickest way back to his barracks, the court heard.

The Coldstream Guards soldier allegedly raped his victim in the shadows of Windsor Castle after offering to walk her home because 'she was not feeling well'

Brayley allegedly took his victim down two alleyways to an area known as Batchelor's Acre, just 50 yards from the Royal Wedding procession route (pictured Harry and Meghan in that area)

A jury heard how Brayley had drunk eight or nine pints and had also taken cocaine that night in December when he went out with other soldiers based at Windsor's Victoria Barracks

Alan Blake, prosecuting, told the jury that Brayley dragged the alleged victim down a dark alleyway close to a branch of Shakeaway where he then became more aggressive.

'In her account, she said someone held her and said 'stop pulling or I will kill you,' said Mr Blake.

Turning towards the defendant he went on: 'She also said that you were dragging her, saying 'if you scream I will f**king kill you, you will not make it out of here alive.'

Mr Blake also told the jury that in his police interview, Brayley told detectives he would not do something like this as he had a partner of over six years who he wanted to marry.

'He said he has had a girlfriend for six years who he intends to marry. He said he felt like he has been stitched up.'

Brayley said he has had a girlfriend for six years who he intends to marry but in the month before the rape, Brayley searched on Google for brothels and prostitutes local to the Windsor, Slough and Maidenhead areas and had been talking to other girls on the dating app, Tinder

Mixed DNA of a male and female were found heavily on the bra and knickers and on the vaginal area of the alleged victim

However, the jury was later told that in the month before the rape, Brayley had searched on Google for brothels and prostitutes local to the Windsor, Slough and Maidenhead areas and had been talking to other girls on the dating app, Tinder.

Brayley, of Victoria Barracks, Windsor, Berks., told the jury that searches online for brothels and his usage of the Tinder app was 'just for banter with the lads.'

Brayley, of Victoria Barracks, Windsor, Berks., denies two counts of rape and the trial continues

As part of the prosecution case, a pair of jeans that belonged to the defendant were shown to the jury with a considerable rip in the crotch region.

Also shown to the jury, sitting at Reading Crown Court, was a pair of green knickers that belonged to the alleged victim, which were ripped completely down one side.

Both of the exhibits were seized on the day the rape was said to have taken place.

DNA tests were also carried out by forensic scientists and Mr Blake read the results to the jury.

He said: 'Mixed DNA of a male and female were found heavily on the bra and knickers of the complainant, as well as on the vaginal area of the victim.'

Giving evidence about the alleged rape, Brayley denied all allegations of rape and sexual assault.

He told the jury that he had consensual sex with the alleged victim for two minutes before he stopped and said he could not continue as he had a girlfriend.

He was asked by his defence barrister, Giuseppina Silvioas, why he did not tell police officers he had had consensual sex during the first two interviews at the police station.

The soldier said he has a girlfriend and he only uses Tinder for 'banter with the lads'

Brayley told the jury that he had consensual sex with the alleged victim for two minutes before he stopped and said he could not continue as he had a girlfriend

Wearing a blue shirt and tie, the soldier who had served for three years, said: 'I could not say, I was ashamed. I realise I should have said it, but I didn't.

'I didn't have anything else in my head apart from that I had cheated on my girlfriend. I was panicking and shocked at what I was being accused of. I knew it was wrong, cheating on my missus'.'

Ms Silvio asked the defendant about his Google searches for brothels and prostitutes in the Windsor area and also why he used Tinder if he had a girlfriend.

He replied: 'I don't use it for that purpose. I just use it for a bit of banter with the lads. A lot of them at the barracks have a missus.'

The soldier denies two counts of rape and the trial continues.
These pictures show the inside of a fentanyl factory where three men ran a Dark Web business selling the lethal drug which is 100 times stronger than morphine.

Jake Lavene, 22, Lee Childs, 45, and Mandy Christopher Lowther, 21, set up a business titled 'UKBargins' importing and exporting the substance.

The class A drug, which is prescribed for severe pain relief, can be fatal in doses as small as 0.002g.

The brazen trio operated their business from an industrial unit in Leeds, West Yorkshire, where they mixed the drugs with bulking agents and packaged them for posting.

Officers discovered 677g of pure carfentanyl - which equates to millions of lethal doses.

These pictures show the inside of a fentanyl factory operated from an industrial unit in Leeds, West Yorkshire

Officers discovered 677g of pure carfentanyl - which equates to millions of lethal doses - inside the factory

Lavene controlled the premises along with Lowther while Childs was responsible for posting packages of drugs to customers.

The drugs were posted to customers throughout the UK as well as the US, Germany, Norway, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Canada, France, Singapore, Holland and Spain.

The organised crime group sold 2,853 items to 443 customers worldwide, with 172 in the UK.

The men were arrested in April 2017 after National Crime Agency officers and West Midlands Police raided the unit.

Officers also discovered they had turned over 163,474 during the indictment period between December 1, 2016 and April 30, 2017.

Lowther was admitted unconscious to Leeds Accident and Emergency on 20 February 2017 and transferred to the intensive care unit.

Jake Lavene (left), 22, Lee Childs (centre), 45, and Mandy Christopher Lowther, 21, set up the business titled 'UKBargins' and began importing and exporting the substance

The organised crime group sold 2,853 items to 443 customers worldwide, with 172 in the UK

He was in a coma and diagnosed with a hypoxic brain injury. His illness was linked to exposure to fentanyl and carfentanyl.

He later recovered, but despite his near-death experience continued to supply the deadly drugs until the unit was raided.

The trio pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to evade the prohibition on the exportation of a controlled Class A drug and two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of class A.

They will return to Leeds Crown Court for sentencing on September 7.

Greg McKenna, regional head of investigations at the NCA, said: 'This operation has resulted in the closure of an organised crime group sending horrifically dangerous drugs across the world, and the jailing of the men behind it.

'They knew exactly how lethal the drugs were but continued to sell them.

The men were arrested in April 2017 after National Crime Agency officers and West Midlands Police raided the unit

Left: Lavene, who controlled the premises, and Childs together on CCTV, and right: Childs posting packages of the drug

The trio pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to evade the prohibition on the exportation of a controlled Class A drug and two counts of conspiracy to supply a controlled drug of class A

'There have been more than 120 UK deaths relating to fentanyl or carfentanyl since December 2016.

What is fentanyl? Fentanyl was originally developed in Belgium in the 1950s to aid cancer patients with their pain management. Given its extreme potency it has become popular among recreational drug users. Fentanyl is dangerous because opioids slow down the respiratory system making users losing consciousness or stop breathing. Between late 2013 and early 2015, more than 700 deaths were attributed to fentanyl and related substances. It is often added to heroin because it creates the same high as the drug, with the effects biologically identical. But it can be up to 50 times more potent than heroin, according to the Drugs Enforcement Agency. US singer Prince died from an accidental prescriptions drugs overdose on fentanyl in May 2016. Michael Jackson also died of a prescription drugs overdose, but took demerol instead of fentanyl. Advertisement

'We have taken out a main supplier but the threat from synthetic opioids remains and we will continue to respond to this UK-wide threat with our law enforcement partners.'

Detective Superintendent Pat Twiggs of West Yorkshire Police, said: 'We worked closely with the NCA to investigate and then dismantle this operation.

'Following this investigation significant work has been done between partners to increase understanding of the issue and to mitigate further harm to drug users.

'That work coupled with a variety of law enforcement activity has greatly reduced the fatalities we are seeing linked to these drugs.

'But the problem is still very real and we need the community to come forward with information to help us. If we know about it we will take action.'

Post-mortem results indicate that 125 drug-related deaths in the UK are known to be linked to fentanyl or one of its analogues, including carfentanyl.

The majority of these deaths occurred before mid-2017, though cases have continued into 2018.

Seventy-one occurred in Yorkshire and the Humber.
Roseanne Barr apologized after coming under fire for a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett during an unhinged rant on Tuesday morning.

The television star attacked everyone from Chelsea and Hillary Clinton to CNNs Chris Cillizza, but it was her tweet about Jarrett that truly sent shock waves.

Barr was was responding to a Twitter thread with an article from SGTreports, a site known for publishing conspiracy theories, in which a commenter mentioned Jarrett.

'muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj', Roseanne then wrote about Jarret, who served as Barack Obama's senior adviser during his presidency.

Roseanne Barr apologized after coming under fire for a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett during an unhinged rant on Tuesday morning

Many on Twitter were appalled by Barr's tweet, which was in response to an article from a conspiracy website

Roseanne's mention of the 'Muslim brotherhood' seems to be due to the long-running conspiracy theory that Jarrett is Muslim.

Jarrett was born in Iran to American parents and lived in Shiraz for six years.

The family had moved to Iran because her father was part of a program that sent American physicians to help developing countries. He ran a children's hospital.

There has never been any indication that Jarrett or her parents are Muslim.

Barr later claimed the comment was a 'joke' when she was called out on Twitter by CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski.

Roseanne's mention of the 'Muslim brotherhood' seems to be due to the long-running conspiracy theory that Jarrett is Muslim, despite there being no supporting evidence

Barr later claimed the comment was a 'joke' when she was called out on Twitter by CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski

When one user called Barr's tweet racist, she proclaimed that 'Muslims r NOT a race'

Roseanne later tweeted, in an attempt to defend her controversial joke, that 'Islam is not a race'

She also retweeted an article with the headline: 'Valerie Jarrett...was her mommy a Commie?'

'ABC is doing their best to ignore some of these statements from Roseanne and she is making it really hard for them by taking it to the next level here,' he wrote.

After Roseanne responds, Kaczynski replied: 'understand it's a joke, but can you see why some people think comparing a black woman to Planet of the Apes might be racist and find the Muslim Brotherhood reference to be conspiratorial and Islamophobic?'

Many Twitter users agreed, with some asking ABC how they could continue to order episodes of Barr's eponymous show.

Others called the comedian 'quite literally a racist'.

'It wasn't a joke, it was a slur,' one user wrote.

Many Twitter users called out Barr and asked ABC how they could continue to order episodes of her eponymous show (pictured)

About an hour later, Roseanne apologized to Jarrett and said she was leaving Twitter

'You're a racist pig & ABC should be ashamed that they give you a platform,' another added.

Roseanne later tweeted, in an attempt to defend herself, that 'Islam is not a race'.

'Islam includes EVERY RACE of people,' she added, still without acknowledging the fact that there is no evidence Jarrett has ties to the Islamic faith.

She also retweeted an article whose headline read: 'Valerie Jarrett...was her mommy a Commie?'

About an hour later, Roseanne apologized and said she was leaving Twitter.

'I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans,' she wrote in a separate tweet.

'I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste.'

Jarrett's faith wasn't the only conspiracy theory Barr tried to push on Tuesday. She also claimed that Chelsea Clinton was married to the nephew of George Soros. Clinton is married to Mark Mevisnky (pictured)

Chelsea Clinton herself was quick to shoot down the rumor, which was first propagated by actor and Trump supporter Scott Baio in 2016

Jarrett's faith wasn't the only conspiracy theory Barr tried to push on Tuesday.

The comedian also claimed that Chelsea Clinton was married to the nephew of George Soros, a rumor that was propagated by actor Scott Baio in 2016.

'Chelsea Soros Clinton,' Barr tweeted.

The theory was quickly and swiftly dismantled. Clinton is married to Marc Mezvinsky. Meanwhile, George Soros has two sons named Peter and Jeffrey Soros.

Barr sent two tweets apologizing to Clinton, which would be her first - but not last - apologies of the day during the Twitter rant

But Chelsea Clinton herself was quick to respond to Barr, writing: 'Good morning Roseanne - my given middle name is Victoria. I imagine George Soross nephews are lovely people. Im just not married to one.'

Barr first apologized to Clinton directly, tweeting: 'Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you! Please forgive me!'

In a separate tweet, Barr wrote: 'I'm sorry-Chelsea Clinton IS NOT married to a nephew of George Soros-i apologize for the mistake!'

It would be the first, but not the last, apology Barr would have to give that day.
An Afghan supermarket employee whose wife and son faced deportation has won a reprieve after customers in the Co-op where he works complained in their droves.

Former teacher Hassan Bamyani, 49, was forced to leave Afghanistan in 2001 as his life was in jeopardy because he taught girls as well as boys, contrary to Taliban doctrine.

He fled to Oxford, drawn to the city for its reputation for education and became a British citizen, and in 2012 his wife Sohaila and son Muslem, now aged 23, joined him after living in Iran.

During their separation of more than a decade, Mr Bamyani consoled himself by writing love poems, which he has performed in public to rapturous audiences.

The family are from the Hazara community, an ethnic minority which has been victim to massacres by both the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

Customers at the east Oxford Co-op where Hassan Bamyani, 49, works have helped keep his wife and child in the UK after a massive campaign involving hundreds of shoppers

They were reunited and granted a visa extension in 2014 - but in October 2017, the Home Office refused to extend it.

This meant Sohaila and Muslem faced being sent back to Afghanistan while Mr Bamyani, who as a British citizen can stay.

A massive campaign was launched by customers of Mr Bamyani, who works in a Co-Op supermarket in east Oxford, to object to the prospect of the family being split up once more.

Funds were raised to pay for their legal fees, and an immigration judge deemed the Home Office decision was 'illogical' as the family had been given permission to stay in 2014.

It was said that returning to Afghanistan would present 'insurmountable obstacles' for family life and nothing had changed.

Mr Bamyani said: 'I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone in the community who reached out to support my family so generously during this difficult time.'

He previously said: 'The situation in Afghanistan is extremely unstable with many terrorist atrocities and civil war and suicide bombings a regular occurrence.

'My wife has been greatly traumatised by the persecution she suffered in both Afghanistan and Iran and because she was separated from me and had to survive alone.'

Letters were sent in hordes to Annelise Dodd, MP for East Oxford.

Mrs Bamyani, who married her husband 32 years ago, did not pass the Life in the UK Test which is required to claim a spouse visa, along with a language test, having been dogged by depression and anxiety caused by the hardships of her life.

Lawyers argued that the family should be allowed to stay together under Article 8 of the Human Rights Act - the right to family and private life.

Adam Jackson, who represented the family, said: 'It was distressing to see Sohaila and Muslem being denied permission to remain in the UK, with Hassan who is a British citizen.

'The family are an integral part of the local community and it was uplifting to receive so many letters of support.

'The immigration judge recognised that the Home Office refusal was a serious breach of the family's right to family life and allowed the appeal on this basis.

Close friend James Attlee said the family could now focus on living their lives.

He said: 'It was very encouraging to see the community response, it was a handful of us who began the campaign but it just went viral very quickly.

'Part of it was very much down to Hassan's personality and the fact he is well-known in the community, working in the local Co-op.

'Also his poetry really touched people - it's very powerful.

'When we did the poetry reading event we had to turn people away.

'I think it became a symbol of everything that seems to be going wrong at the moment with communities being divided, but this was a chance to show ours is not.'
Senator Derryn Hinch has claimed Barnaby Joyce's television interview may be part of a plan to escape his political career.

The former deputy prime minister will appear in a tell-all interview on Channel Seven with his girlfriend Vikki Campion.

The pair are reportedly earning $150,000 for the interview, and Mr Joyce has taken personal leave from parliament ahead of its screening.

Senator Derryn Hinch told the Daily Telegraph Mr Joyce's decision to take leave could be part of a plan to leave politics.

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Senator Derryn Hinch has claimed Barnaby Joyce's television interview may be part of a plan to escape his political career

The former deputy prime minister will appear in a tell-all interview on Channel Seven with his girlfriend Vikki Campion

The pair are reportedly earning $150,000 for the interview, and Mr Joyce has taken personal leave from parliament ahead of its screening

'I think he's setting himself up to get out,' he said.

'It's a bad call, bad form all around,' Mr Hinch said of Mr Joyce's decision to accept $150,000 for the interview despite pleading for his privacy.

'He's just in it for himself now, I can't see him coming back.'

Ms Campion has broken her silence in a sneak preview for the couple's upcoming interview.

Ms Campion says she didn't plan on the couple's controversial union.

Vikki Campion has broken her silence in a sneak preview for the couple's upcoming interview

'I couldn't help it. You can't help who you fall in love with,' she says.

The pair's decision to go forward with the interview has divided the public and parliament.

MPs have called for a ban on politicians selling their stories to the media and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said 'it's not a course of action [he] would have encouraged [Barnaby] to take.'

Mr Joyce said the money from the interview will go into a trust fund for his son Sebastian.

Mr Joyce will be away until the end of parliament's winter break.
A man who coward punched another pub goer after they commented on his shorts was jailed on Tuesday.

Justin Davies, 28, was at a Kinglake pub in August when he struck up a conversation with another man.

When Davies asked the man what he thought of his shorts, the victim gave an honest answer and said he wasn't 'a fan'.

Angered by the response, Davies launched a coward punch before leveling the fellow pub-goer with a second shot,7 News reported.

Justin Davies, 28, was jailed for recklessly causing harm after he coward punched another pub goer after he said he 'was not a fan' of his shorts

The second punch caused the victim to fall into a cast iron heater before Davies continued on drinking as if nothing had happened.

The injuries sustained by the victim landed him in hospital and Davies was charged with 'recklessly causing injury.'

Before the CCTV footage was released, Davies attempted to tell police he had been acting in self-defence, but he quickly changed his account after seeing the video.

Davies pleaded guilty this week to four charges of recklessly causing injury.

As a result of Davies violent history, the Magistrate dismissed any suggestion he avoid jail time.

Before the CCTV footage was released Davies attempted to tell police he had been acting in self defence, but he quickly changed his account after seeing the video

The Magistrate said the attack was 'barbaric' and 'sickening'.

Davies' victim submitted a statement that was read to the court.

'I was pissed off. I can't even go to my own local pub and be safe there. A coward punch is disgraceful. I could have been killed,' the statement read.

Davies was sentenced to six months jail and a 12-month community corrections order to be served after his jail time.
A Florida man has pleaded guilty to impersonating a member of Saudi Arabia's royal family to orchestrate several fraud schemes involving the theft of millions of dollars.

Miami federal prosecutors said 47-year-old Anthony Gignac admitted using various aliases making it appear he was a Saudi royal and even drove a Ferrari with diplomatic license plates.

Prosecutors say he faces a lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty last week.

Authorities say Gignac and others used the fake Saudi royal identity to persuade investors to put up millions of dollars for purported business opportunities that didn't exist.

Anthony Gignac in 1991, left, and the real Sultan Bin Khalid al Saud he was impersonating

Gignac also attempted to use his false identity to buy a Miami hotel and had the nameplate 'Sultan' on his condominium's front door.

Federal prosecutors said Anthony Gignac went by the names of Khaled Al-Saud, Khalid Al-Saud, Khalid Bin Al-Saud, Khalid Bin Sultan Al-Saud and Sultan Bin Khalid Al Saud.

He now faces more than 30 years in a less than regal federal prison cell.

In March 2017, Cignac presented himself as a member of the Saudi Royal family in an attempt to purchase a multi-million dollar hotel in Miami.

He stayed at the hotel using a credit card in the name of a member of the Saudi Royal family without that individual's authorization, according to prosecutors.

Cignac pictured in 1995. He presented himself as a member of the Saudi Royal family in an attempt to purchase a multi-million dollar hotel in Miami

When visiting the hotel, Cignac drove a Ferrari with diplomatic license plates.

Cignac was so deluded by his own scam that even flew from London last year to JFK in New York on a passport in the name of another person.

He falsely told others that he had diplomatic immunity and was required to check in with the U.S. Department of State every few hours.

Cignac ended up duping numerous people and was given gifts including expensive paintings and jewelry.

Prosecutors say that Cignac set up a phony investment company in 2015 that he used to process the financial investments that he managed to con people around the world. One person even invested $5 million.

A search warrant at Cignac's residence in Miami revealed a number of fake diplomatic license plates, a fraudulent DSS Special Agent badge, unauthorized credit cards and financial documents in the name of a member of the Saudi royal family.

There was also ammunition, thousands of dollars in U.S. currency, jewelry as well as artwork.

'Cignac and his co-conspirators falsely represented to potential financial investors that the defendant was a member of the Saudi royal family and had exclusive business opportunities for them to invest in, because of the defendant's royal status,' prosecutors explained. 'One of the fraudulent investment schemes was purported to be a pre-initial private offering of a legitimate private Saudi Arabian business.'

Court documents from a 2008 case in Michigan showed Anthony Gignac first ran afoul of the law in 1991, when he passed himself off as a Saudi prince and defrauded a hotel and several other companies in that state of approximately $10,000.

By 1993, he was living a truly princely life as a guest at the Grand Bay Hotel in Coconut Grove, once a luxury base for Michael Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren and Prince.

Gignac used the identity of a California man to obtain credit cards.

Cignac pleaded guilty to impersonating a foreign diplomat or foreign government official, aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He will be sentenced in August.
President Donald Trump is heading to Nashville, Tennessee on Tuedsay, hoping to rally his faithful 'deplorables' in the Music City to support a conservative Republican running in a November U.S. Senate race.

Trump, a White House official said Tuesday, will reprise popular rally themes like Democratic 'obstrutionism' on Capitol Hill and the impact of tax cuts  while reassuring the public that his high-stakes negotiations with North Korea's dictator will take place despite hiccups in the planning stages.

His larger aim, the official said, is to send a message that 'electing another Senate Democrat means nothing they voted for in 2016 gets done.' Tennesseeans haven't sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Al Gore won there in 1990.

The GOP, now clinging to a 51-49 Senate majority, is trying to avoid committing unforced errors a year after handing Democrats an Alabama seat by choosing conservative Roy Moore in a statewide primary election.

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President Donald Trump, pictured Monday at Arlington National Cemetery, will travel to Nashville, Tennessee on Tuesday to rally his 'deplorables'

Trump's larger purpose is to back conservative Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn in her bid for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by moderae Republican Bob Corker

Corker, the retiring chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has crossed swords with Trump and turned down his offer to be the U.S. ambassador to Australia

That debacle hangs heavy over the Republican Party this year. And while Rep. Marsha Blackburn isn't scandal-plagued like Moore, she could have similar trouble as a rock-ribbed right-winger.

Blackburn aims to succeed the retiring Sen. Bob Corker, a GOP moderate who once questioned the president's 'stability' and called his White House an 'adult day care center.'

Corker is chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, amplifying his objections to Trump's moves in North Korea and Iran.

The president wants a reliable vote in his corner after Corker rides off into the sunset, preferring Blackburn equally to other Republicans and any Democrat.

Blackburn supports Trump's emphasis on border security and slowing illegal immigration. The president was privately incensed last year when Twitter banned an ad her campaign produced that accused abortion providers of profiting from the 'sale of baby body parts.'

She has also worked closely with Ivanka Trump, the president's elder daughter, on child care reform issues. And she raised eyebrows in April when she grilled Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about his conservatives' complaints that his company had shadow-banned' them by quietly limiting the reach of their messages.

Trump held a similar campaign rally on May 10 in Elkhart, Indiana, urging voters to turn out in droves in November to defeat incumbent Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly

Trump wants to see a wider Republican majority in the Senate than the GOP's current 51-49 edge, hoping for more wiggle room as he pushes policy through in 2019 and 2020

Trump tweeted last month that the congresswoman is a 'wonderful woman who has always been there when we have needed her.'

Phil Bredesen, a popular former Democratic governor, put the Senate race in play by entering the race in December. He and Blackburn are likely to romp over their primary competitors on August 2, setting the stage for a battle that pollsters say the Democrat could win by a nose.

Every nonpartisan poll taken in April showed Bredesen narrowly ahead, with each survey's result within its margin of error.

But the Rothenberg Political Report and political scientist Larry Sabato's 'Crystal Ball' report both rate the contest as 'leaning' toward Blackburn.

Blackburn has been tweeting up a storm in anticipation of her spotligt moment with the president, telling Tennesseans that coutry music star Trace Adkins will be his opening act

Some Republicans fear pitting a conservative Republican against a moderate Democrat like Bredesen could result in another shocker like the Alabama special election where far-right GOP nominee Roy Moore lost decidedly in a deep-red state

Trump endorsed Blackburn a month ago, tweeting that she is 'a wonderful woman who has always been there when we have needed her. Great on the Military, Border Security and Crime.'

Blackburn, a self-described 'hardcore, card-carrying Tennessee conservative,' served on Trump's transition team. She has been pointedly counting down the days on Twitter until Trump comes to town.

Trump won Tennessee decidedly in 2016 and remains popular there.

He will say Tuesday night that Bredesen, while considered a moderate, would serve as a rubber-stamp for Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

He made a similar claim this month in Indiana, branding Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly a 'swamp person.'

'If we elect more Republicans,' the president said in the town of Elkhart, 'we can truly deliver for all of our citizens.'

Blackburn has been literally counting down the days on Twitter until Trump's visit

Trump is not expected to blast Corker on Tuesday, despite calling the diminutive lawmaker 'liddle Bob' last year and saying he 'couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.'

Complaining too loudly about Corker could produce another odd twist since the White House asked him last month to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Australia.

Corker turned down the offer.

He has also promised not to actively campaign against Bredesen in the fall, calling him a longtime 'friend'

The president is scheduled to speak at a Blackburn fundraising event before his rally, where country music headliner Trace Adkins will warm up his Nashville Municipal Auditorium crowd.

Corker, 65, has had an up-and-down relationship with Trump.

He campaigned with the then-Republican nominee in 2016 and was considered a potential vice president or secretary of state.

Corker's anti-Trump bluster reached its zenith last year when he mocked the White House as 'an adult day care center'

The president has mad eit clear that he holds little respect for Corker

The former Chattanooga mayor slammed Trump last August following the president's divisive comments in the wake of a race riot in Charlottesville, Virginia.

He said then that the commander-in-chief had 'not yet been able to demonstrate the stability, nor some of the competence, that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful.'

By October the president was claiming Corker 'begged' for a re-election endorsement and had wanted to be secretary of state, but that his pleas fell on deaf ears.

Weeks later, when Corker suggested he might vote against a broad tax cut package favored by the White House, Trump branded him 'Liddle Bob' and called him 'incompetent.'

Corker didn't take it lying down.

'It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning,' he tweeted.
Former Bullseye host Jim Bowen who earned millions of pounds from his TV career left just over 360,000 in his will.

The comedian, who died aged 80 in March, presented the popular ITV gameshow for 14 years until 1995.

During his 1980's peak, he earned more than 500,000 a year from the show which had up to 17 million viewers, and his stand up routines.

His fortune gave him a luxury lifestyle with a Rolls Royce, a BMW with a personalised number plate and a spacious country home.

The comedian who died aged 80 in March, presented the popular ITV gameshow for 14 years until 1995

He also received a generous lump sum when more than 300 old episodes of Bullseye were sold to the comedy channel UK Gold in the late 1990s.

But probate records reveal that Bowen whose real name was James Whittaker, left a net estate in the UK of only 363,232.

His will left his estate in trust for his wife of 58 years Phyllis and their two children Susan and Peter.

His estate would not have included property or bank accounts owned jointly with his wife.

Bowen, pictured with his wife Phyllis and daughter Susan, also received a generous lump sum when more than 300 old episodes of Bullseye were sold to UK Gold in the late 1990s

His fortune from the show gave him a luxury lifestyle with a Rolls Royce, a BMW with a personalised number plate and a spacious country home

Bowen, who lived in Penrith, Cumbria, was born to an unmarried mother and adopted. He worked as a binman after leaving school, before retaking his exams and becoming a teacher.

He was a deputy head at a primary school when he saw Ken Dodd on stage in the 1950s, and was inspired to become a stand-up comedian.

Bowen was able to work full time in northern clubs after appearing on TV's quickfire gag show The Comedians in the 1970s.

He got his big break when he was invited to host Sunday evening show Bullseye in 1981 which gave away prizes such as speedboats, cars and caravans.

He got his big break when he was invited to host Sunday evening show Bullseye in 1981 which gave away prizes such as speedboats, cars and caravans

Bowen, pictured here with his wife Phyllis and daughter Susan, had originally trained as a PE teacher and became a deputy headmaster before quitting and joining the comedy circuit

What was Bullseye? Darts based quiz show Bullseye first aired on ITV in 1981, and ran for 14 years until 1995. It was presented by Jim Bowen, and co-hosted by commentator Tony Green. Its mascot was named Bully - a bull in a red and white shirt and blue trousers. Watched by 17million viewers, it involved three pairs of contestants to win prizes on the throw of the dart. Players competed for Bully's star prize, which could be a new car, a speedboat, a caravan, or a luxury holiday. Bullseye was revived for a new series in 2006, for Challenge. It ran for 30 episodes and was hosted by comedian Dave Spikey. Advertisement

Bowen was known for comments such as: 'Keep out of the black, and in the red; there's nothing in this game for two in a bed' and 'Have a look at what you would have won'.

His best known catchphrase was 'Super, smashing, great', although he claimed never to have uttered the words.

Bowen who lived near Carnforth, Lancashire, also gained a devoted student following and addressed the Oxford Union in 1992.

He had further TV appearances in Last of the Summer Wine, Muck and Brass, Phoenix Nights and Jonathan Creek.

Bowen also had a long-running role as a barman in adverts for Tetley's bitter, and played the trumpet on the QE2.

He also won two celebrity editions of The Weakest Link and was employed by another radio station, Indigo FM, in Cumbria

Bowen died at at Royal Lancaster Infirmary after suffering recent poor health and two serious strokes.


Shane O'Grady (right) was fined 1000 for urinating in his chair on a flight home from Las Vegas, USA

A drunk 'foul mouthed' lout on a stag do has been fined 1,000 after he urinated in his seat on the way back from Las Vegas.

Shane O'Grady, 30, became abusive on a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 flight from Las Vegas to Gatwick, after heavy drinking.

Eighteen men were heading home from the stag in Vegas, during which time they partied with a dwarf dressed as a leprechaun and drank heavily, when O'Grady became verbally abusive.

The Irish national was persistently disruptive according to staff who said he repeatedly used vile language.

After being refused more alcohol he began to harass and intimidate flight attendants, a court was told.

Shane O'Grady (front) took a plane selfie on a Virgin flight. On the way home to Waterford the Irishman was arrested and fined 1000 for urinating in his chair

The men from Waterford, Ireland, spent five days in Las Vegas for a pre-wedding stag but one was arrested on the way home. Shane O'Grady (known as sog) was detained at Gatwick Airport

The 20-strong stag spent five nights in Las Vegas but one man was arrested and kept overnight in Gatwick over his behaviour on the Virgin Atlantic plane

Images of the men including Shane O'Grady (far left) partying in Las Vegas have been shared over the internet

Flight crew tried to calm the situation down and placed the seatbelt signs on, but passengers were still able to use the bathroom.

When O'Grady demanded the signs were switched off the cabin staff obliged, they told police.

But despite this O'Grady urinated in his seat, crew members said.

However, one of the men on the stag do who did not wish to be named said this was not the case.

He said: 'Well he didn't actually urinate on himself he threw water on his pants cause they wouldn't let him out of his seat to go to the toilet they had the seat belt sign on for over an hour.

'I missed a lot of it I was sitting a good few rows back asleep some of the time and watching movies with headphones in, the staff handled it very well so it didn't seem like anything major was going on until the police came on board.'

Staff upgraded O'Grady to a sleep suite over the mess in his chair - seats usually reserved for first class passengers.

O'Grady was reported to police by staff on the flight so they were ready for him when he landed.

Sergeant Darren Taylor, of the Gatwick Prevention Team, said: 'Gatwick is a very family-orientated airport, and we work hard with our partners to ensure the millions of passengers who pass through every year have a safe and enjoyable experience.

'We engage with passengers at the earliest opportunity - through patrols, face to face contact and the distribution of posters and leaflets - to make them fully aware of the rules and their own responsibility.

'But while the vast majority are well-behaved, there are always a few individuals who overstep the mark. Those who ignore our advice will be dealt with robustly, as is highlighted by this case.'

The stag was handcuffed to a dwarf during the partying in Vegas. His friend Shane O'Grady was detained after bad behaviour on the return flight

The stag party drank in Vegas but one of the men swore loudly on the way home, drank and urinated in his chair, a court heard

The group left Gatwick Airport with a man down after partying in Las Vegas for the stag do. Pictured, the stag with a dwarf in Las Vegas

Sign writer O'Grady, of no fixed address, was arrested after the plane landed.

He was remanded in custody to appear before Crawley Magistrates' Court the following day and charged with being drunk on board an aircraft.

He pleaded guilty and was fined 1,000, and ordered to pay 85 costs and a 100 victim surcharge.

A Virgin Atlantic spokesperson said: 'The safety and wellbeing of our customers and crew is our top priority, and we won't tolerate any behaviour that compromises this.

'We always want our customers to have the best experience when they fly with us, and our cabin crew are highly trained to deal with any individuals that may impact that experience for others.

'We treat all incidents of disruptive behaviour seriously, and we'll continue to work with authorities to report incidents onboard.'
Failure-to-launch millennial Michael Rotondo has claimed that he was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and that he can't see his eight-year-old son because no one is willing to supervise the visits.

Rotondo exclusively told DailyMail.com about not seeing his son after the boy's mother said that she feared the decision to kick the 30-year-old out of his parents' home would send him off the rails.

She predicted that his mental condition could deteriorate if he has to fend for himself - but Rotondo has claimed while he has a history of mental health problems, he was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.

'I blame that doctor that diagnosed me with just trying to make a steady source of work for himself,' Rotondo told DailyMail.com when questioned about his schizophrenia diagnosis.

He added: 'So I'm denying that I was not now nor have I ever been a paranoid schizophrenic.'

Rotondo's case has gained worldwide attention since his parents Mark and Christina Rotondo took him to court last week to have him evicted from their four-bedroom house in Camillus, New York, a quiet commuter town just west of Syracuse.

The mother of failure-to-launch millennial Michael Rotondo's eight-year-old son fears that the 30-year-old's mental health will deteriorate if he's kicked out of his parents' home in Camillus, New York. Pictured above, Rotondo outside his parents' home

Rotondo's case has gained worldwide attention since his parents Mark and Christina Rotondo took him to court last week to have him evicted from their four-bedroom house

The mother of Rotondo's son and her lawyer revealed that his initial claims that he was barred from seeing his son were false, adding that he had the rights to supervised visits with a medical professional.

The woman, who works in the beauty business, agreed to speak exclusively to DailyMail.com on condition we did not reveal her name or show any pictures of her.

'But he has chosen not to exercise that right,' claims her attorney, Dana Grillo. 'Despite what he says, he has not attempted to see his son for eight months.'

Rotondo stood by his claim he's not allowed to see his son, saying that he gave up trying to see his son after he was turned down by potential supervisors.

The mugshot from Rotondo's 2009 arrest, when he was charged with stalking a woman in New Hartford, New York

He told DailyMail.com: 'I did everything I could to try and set it up so I could see him, but nobody would agree to be the "supervisor" and it was so heartbreaking looking that I had to stop so I could make my appeal. Otherwise I wasn't going to be able to muster up that same appeal.'

Rotondo, 30, admitted to DaiyMail.com that he has had mental health problems in the past.

But the mother of Rotondo's son and her lawyer said they only learned the details of his mental health diagnosis during protracted court battles over custody.

'I only found out then; it was always kept from me,' the mother said.

Rotondo said that mental problems have been dragged up now as a way to prevent him from seeing his son, claiming that he is being victimized for his habits of running his hands through his hair and pacing up and down.

'Anyone with long hair would tell you that is the way to get the knots out,' he said of the first point. 'And I pace - yes, I pace.'

The court papers are confidential, as are all issues before New York State's Family Court system.

The mother said she is even more worried now because Rotondo has weapons.

Rotondo lost custody of his son, pictured above, last year and said he is fighting to regain custody

But Rotondo said that he cannot get a job because he needs to focus his entire energy on getting his son (pictured) back

He admitted to Syracuse.com that he owns both a compound bow for hunting and a lever action 30.30 rifle which he keeps for protection.

'Any responsible American should own a firearm,' he said.

DailyMail.com has learned that Rotondo was arrested in 2009 for stalking and menacing a woman in New Hartford, New York. He ended up pleading guilty to lesser charges of trespass and harassment and was fined a total of $1,375. At the time he gave an address in Syracuse.

Rotondo called the arrest 'trumped up charges from a small town court', adding that text messages from the woman would 'shed some light on the situation'.

The mother of Rotondo's son said that she's 'scared' of him living on his own.

'He's not going to be able to live by himself,' she said. 'His parents are throwing him out there basically saying they don't care if he is a danger to himself.'

'Nobody here knows that Michael is the father of my son,' she added.

She said she had pleaded with police to take the rifle from him, but they have told her there is no cause.

'How do people know someone is mentally ill until they do something?' she asked. 'By then it will be too late.

'Of course I want them to take his rifle from him, but why can they? How do people know he has a mental health issue if it is kept confidential?'

Both Rotondo and the child's mother say they never had a relationship.

'It would be wrong to call me an ex-girlfriend,' she said. She refused to give any details of the events leading up to the boy's conception.

Michael says his troubles with his parents are connected to the custody battle over his son

The Rotondos say their son has been living with them for the past eight years, without paying rent or contributing in any way

In a previous interview with DailyMail.com on the driveway of the family home, Rotondo said his problems with his parents really began when he lost contact with his son. The last time he saw him was September 26 last year, both sides agree.

'It's very hard to describe what that's like. I saw him three days a week and in the summer time it would be all day, 11-8.30,' he said. 'He was my whole world. My life was characterized by the days I saw him.'

He said he cannot get a job because he needs to focus his entire energy on getting his son back.

He represented himself in the eviction case as he has done in child custody matters and in a federal 2015 suit against his former employer, Best Buy, who he sued for $330,000.

He claimed the electronics retailer discriminated against him because of his sex.

The company had wanted him to work on Saturdays but he refused, saying he needed to see his son on that day.

He said a woman with similar childcare issues was allowed to take off her day of choice. He lost the case.

The mother of Rotondo's son said she believes the decision to oust him from the family home was taken by his father, Mark, 60.

'The mother would never have done this to her child,' she said

But she said Christina Rotondo, 61, was also frustrated with her son.

'She once said to me: 'How do you think I feel that we are going to have him live with us for the rest of our lives?'' she said.

The woman said she no longer has a relationship with either parent.

The couple have written five letters to their son over the past three months, informing him that he must leave the home

The couple are now trying to get their son kicked out of their home through an ejectment proceeding

In his letter, written on February 18, the couple offered some advice to their son to help him find a new place to live

She said the past two years of her life have been a nightmare as Rotondo has constantly dragged her into court over matters concerning their son.

'Every little parenting decision I make that he disagrees with, he just goes to the court,' said the mother. 'He has tormented me - absolutely tormented me - with the number of filings and court appearances and his insistence on representing himself.'

But both she and attorney Grillo said the judges in the case have made matters worse.

'They have enabled his behavior by allowing him to come back time after time after time,' said the mom.

'When he doesn't show they just give him another court date. I think the child support judge thinks it's fun, the custody judge isn't quite so bad.'

She said the court cases have cost her thousands of dollars in lost earnings and attorney's fees.

'He has a free lawyer, I don't,' she said.

Grillo said that Rotondo was originally ordered to pay just $25-a-month in child support, but that was increased to $56-a-week last year.

'He has paid some little amounts here and there, but nothing like $56 a week,' claims the mother.

Rotondo's parents took him to Supreme Court in Syracuse this week, and succeeded in getting Judge Donald Greenwood to allow them to evict him, saying he needed to get out and find work.

The couple want him to get a job and health insurance. They even offered to pay for the insurance, but he said he had to refuse because it would deny him the ability to file court motions as a poor person without paying court fees.

Michael Rotondo believes his mother and father are being unreasonable.

Rotondo's parents took him to Supreme Court in Syracuse this week, and succeeded in getting Judge Donald Greenwood to allow them to evict him, saying he needed to get out and find work. The couple want him to get a job and health insurance

'I would say it is not a significant burden on my parents because they never really gave me money,' he told DailyMail.com. 'It was just food and housing.

'But they weren't paying for anything else - except for electricity and hot water and things like that.

'I wouldn't describe it as burdensome that they have to provide hot water and electricity and food because their son is trying to be the father to his child.

'My mother even wanted me to pay her for my cellular service. I refused to do that.'

The senior Rotondos have resisted all attempts to be interviewed by the media.

When DailyMail.com called their home the person that answered put the phone down.

Their attorney, Anthony Adorante, did not immediately return a call for comment.

Their only other child, Michael's younger sister Maria Britton, 27, also declined to comment.

'This is something that should be a private family matter,' she told DailyMail.com at the single-story home she shares with her husband in Syracuse.

The parents wrote five typed notes to their son, starting on February 2, telling him he had to leave.

In the first they told him: 'You have 14 days to vacate. You will not be allowed to return. We will take whatever actions are necessary to enforce this decision.'

Eleven days later they sent him a second saying: 'You are hereby evicted You have heretofore been out guest and there is no lease or agreement that gives you any right to stay here without our consent.'

Rotondo believes his mother and father are being unreasonable, saying he hasn't been a 'significant burden' on his parents while living at home

This time they gave him 30 days to get out.

Five days later they send a third note along with $1,100 'so you can find a place to stay', and gave him advice on how he should make money by selling off his possessions - including 'any weapons you may have' - and getting a job.

On March 5, they said they would have to throw out his property if he did not remove it within 11 days.

The final note, dated March 30, ordered him to get his Volkswagen Passat out of their driveway.

But now, nearly two months later he and his car are still there.

Michael told DailyMail.com he and his parents are like people who don't speak the same language.

'We just kind of stand in places. But I have got to do what I've got to do,' he said.

He said they are on different schedules so they rarely bump into each other inside the house.

'I get up later, my mother gets up earlier, my father gets up much earlier. The only real conflict is that dinner time for them is like 4-6 so I go down before and eat something and afterwards I will prepare my dinner,' he said.

He said he is not trying to sway public opinion by his constant media interviews.

'People will think what they will think,' Michael said. 'I am not going to try to convince them or plead my case to them as if that matters. I am just trying to explain to people what is going on.

'If people think I am an entitled millennial then that's fine. Or they may think I have some significant merits to what I am trying to get - and that is just reasonable treatment.'
Convicted criminals are able to care for foster children, despite their lengthy rap sheets.

Concerns have been raised about a 'loophole' allowing criminals to be able to foster vulnerable children in light of the murder of Tiahleigh Palmer.

Rick Thorburn was sentenced to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to the murder of his 12-year-old foster daughter, whose decomposed body was found by fishermen on the banks of the Pimpama River in Queensland on November 5, 2015.

Thorburn's criminal history has since surfaced, revealing a long list of offences spanning from 1977 to 1997.

The foster care system has been slammed for putting murdered schoolgirl Tiahleigh Palmer (pictured) in the care of Rick Thorburn after his twenty-year-long rap sheet was revealed

Tiahleigh Palmer's foster father Rick Thorburn (pictured) pleaded guilty to the schoolgirl's murder in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Friday

Tiahleigh's death led to reviews of protocols on cases of children who go missing while in out-of-home care

The New South Wales Opposition has called for the laws, which allow people with criminal convictions aside from sex offences, crimes against children and murder, to be able to foster children.

Thorburn's offences included stealing, break and enter, drink driving and other traffic offences.

The Queensland father was even a wanted man for crimes relating to trucking fines.

Despite his long rap sheet, Thorburn passed a host of tests which allowed him to become a foster father to Tiahleigh in 2014.

He passed a working-with-children check, successfully got his Blue Card and went on to run a family day care business with his wife at the family home.

The Family and Community Services Department was unable to say how many criminals are currently looking after children in NSW, the Daily Telegraph reported.

Opposition family and community services spokeswoman Tania Mihailuk said people with lengthy criminal records should be barred from caring for foster children.

A Department of Community Services spokeswoman said carers were reviewed each year and were subjected to frequent monitoring.

Thorburn was accepted into the foster care system because he was never charged with more serious crimes like assault, sexual assault or crimes against children.

Following the murder of Tiahleigh, the Queensland Government said it would review the Blue Card system, and look into the requirements a person needed to become a foster carer.

LNP member for Mudgeeraba Ros Bates questioned the Queensland system and rubbished it for allowing someone like Thorburn to be in a position of responsibility.

Queensland Opposition Leader Ros Bates slammed the foster care system saying Tiahleigh shouldn't have been placed with two teenage boys

Trent Thorburn (pictured), Rick's 20-year-old son, was released in January after serving 16 months in jail for incest, perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice

An autopsy was conducted but due to the state of her body a cause of death was never determined (pictured are police divers searching the Pimpama River for evidence)

Part of his plan, which was told to the family, was to dispose of Tiahleigh's body, which was found unclothed but for her underpants (pictured are police divers searching the Pimpama River for evidence)

'I don't think if you have criminal history as long as your arm, even if it isn't to do with child offences, that people like him should have ever been considered,' Ms Bates told the Courier Mail.

'Tiahleigh Palmer was never missing. She was right where Child Safety put her, back with her eventual murderer.'

Appearing on A Current Affair on Friday, Ms Bates said Tiahleigh should never have been put in a foster family with two teenage boys.

'It was an inappropriate placement. Why on earth would you put a prepubescent girl with two teenage boys?' she said.

Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston acknowledged the foster system needed a shake-up, but said ruling out anyone with a criminal history was not the answer.

Ms Johnston said it was already difficult enough to find foster carers.

'It's easy to criticise but there aren't enough foster carers we need to start looking at a character assessment,' she said.
Two cars were daubed with white paint after being left parked on a street near Manchester Airport.

The words 'NO PARKING' were discovered sprawled across the drivers' side doors and panels over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The vandalised cars - which were both red - had been parked up on Lownorth Road in Wythenshawe, around 500 yards from the airport.

Both had also had their tyres let down, police said.

Vandals have daubed cars parked in a street near Manchester Airport in white paint reading 'No Parking' in an apparent protest over tourists leaving their vehicles there before going on holiday

One of the cars was owned by someone visiting friends, according to residents.

In recent months, parking has been a contentious issue in residential areas around Manchester Airport.

Many people have complained that cars are being left on streets for days, or even weeks on end, while their owners go on holiday.

GMP Wythenshawe tweeted photos of the cars branding the behaviour 'completely unacceptable'.

The post said: 'Cars parked on Lownorth Road have been damaged over the bank holiday weekend.

'Having their tyres let down and 'NO PARKING' painted on the side of the vehicle.

Police say they will take action against the 'completely unacceptable' damage to the cars

'This behaviour is completely unacceptable and we will take positive action against anyone caught causing damage.'

It also comes after a similar incident in a road near Luton Airport in Bedfordshire last summer.

One car was vandalised with paint reading 'selfish git' and 'this is not airport parking' while two cars had windows smashed.

Locals said the 'extreme reaction' came because holidaymakers 'always' parked in the road and left their vehicles there for 'weeks'.
The White House says it is 'actively' preparing for President Trump's 'expected summit' with Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore.

Trump called off the face-to-face talks last Thursday but said over the weekend he hoped they would still take place on the original date.

This morning he thanked North Korea for the 'solid' response to his letter that threw the planned, upcoming summit into turmoil, as negotiators arrived in New York to continue talks.

Trump praised North Korea's chief negotiator by name and noted that meetings are ongoing after Kim's right-hand man was spotted in Beijing en route to New York.

'We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!' the president wrote.

White House spokesperson Sarah Huckabee Sanders later said the summit is expected to take place.

'We expect it to take place,' she told reporters on Air Force One. 'But we'll see what happens. We're going to be prepared. If it takes place June 12th we'll certainly be prepared. If it for some reason it takes place at a later date we'll certainly be prepared for that as well.'

Kim is the vice chairman of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party and former head of his nation's spy agency. The White House confirmed in a statement this morning that he'd be meeting with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday in New York.

A camera crew captured this image of Kim Yong Chol (front) arriving at the Beijing airport on Tuesday. He is on his way to New York City

The White House says it is 'actively' preparing for President Trump's 'expected summit' with Kim Jong-un on June 12 in Singapore

Kim is the most senior official from the hermetic nation to visit the U.S. since 2000, CNN reported.

The high-level emissary is close to Kim Jong-un and was seated next to the strongman at a summit last month.

He came under U.S. sanctions in 2015, which would require a special waiver for him to come to Washington. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper identified him as having approved the 2014 Sony hack. He is also thought to be behind North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean navy ship, the Cheonan in 2010.

WHO IS KIM YONG-CHOL? Kim Yong-chol is a vice chairman of the Central Committee of the North's ruling Workers' Party and former head of his nation's spy agency. The high-level emissary is close to North Korean President Kim Jong-un and was seated next to the strongman at summit last month. He came under U.S. sanctions in 2015, which would require a special waiver for him to come here. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper identified him as having approved the 2014 Sony hack. North Korea executed the hack in response to the release of the comedy 'The Interview,' which dealt mockingly with an assassination attempt on Kim Jong-un. He is also thought to be behind North Korean torpedo attack on a South Korean navy ship, the Cheonan in 2010. The attack resulted in the deaths of 46 sailors. Advertisement

The White House said Tuesday that not only is Kim coming to New York, a U.S. delegation that was meeting with their North Korean counterparts in the Demiliterized Zone between North and South Korea.

The officials were: Sung Kim, the U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines, Allison Hooker, the director for Korea for the national security council and Randy Schriver, assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the Department of Defense.

White House Chief of Staff Joe Hagin and an advance team were also in Singapore on Tuesday 'coordinating the logistics of the expected summit,' a statement issued by press secretary Sarah Sanders said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was also making a trip to North America next week on Thursday in advance of the planned talks, Sanders announced as the White House highlighted a flurry of diplomatic activity surrounding the June 12 talks.

Trump spoke to Abe on the phone on Monday and agreed then to meet with him again 'in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea.' The two leaders are expected to sit down at the G7 summit in Canada.

'The President and Prime Minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs,' a readout of the call said.

Official White House communications this week indicated that the meeting between Trump and Kim in Singapore was likely to happen in the latest iteration of the on-again, off-again high stakes meeting.

Trump's message this morning was that following days of quiet diplomacy, the U.S. was ready to plow ahead with talks after North Korea's 'solid' response to his Thursday message to Kim

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was also making a trip to North America next week on Thursday in advance of the planned talks, Sanders announced as the White House highlighted a flurry of diplomatic activity surrounding the June 12 talks

Sanders said that U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton had been calling his counterparts in South Korea and Japan 'virtually every day' and that he spoke to Chung Eui-yong just this morning. Chung is the national security advisor to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, was cautiously optimistic on Tuesday during a conversation with reporters and a appearance on Fox & Friends that the summit would indeed take place.

'What I'll tell you is what the president has always said and made very clear in his incredible letter last week which I thought covered the waterfront of how we got here, what was not going to happen and what could happen and they acted immediately,' she said.

Conway left open the possibility that the summit could be delayed beyond June 12 -- something that White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders has also said since North Korea recommitted to talks 'any time' in any format last Friday.

'Now, this president in letter in that letter last week, I thought really got some kinetic energy going. Folks all of a sudden said wow, this may actually not happen, and if we want it to happen, then we're going to start moving it,' Conway said. 'Ever since then practically, North Korea, South Korea, and the United States have been making very positive moves.

His counselor said, 'But let's see what happens, as the president says, if he's satisfied then it will go forward.'

Trump's message this morning was that following days of quiet diplomacy, the U.S. was ready to plow ahead with talks after North Korea's 'solid' response to his Thursday message to Kim.

In it, Trump chided the 'anger and open hostility' that North Korea showed when it labeled Vice President Mike Pence a 'political dummy.'

After hours of tweets on the Russia probe the president said today that he was shifting his attention back to North Korea

Kim Yong Chol is seen in Beijing on Tuesday. He is a former military intelligence chief who is now Kim Jong Un's top official on inter-Korean relations. He's headed to New York for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo

Choe Kang-il, the North Korean foreign ministry's director-general for North American affairs, walks through Beijing's international airport in Beijing on Tuesday. He is believed to be accompanying Kim Yong-chol to the US for senior-level talks on arranging a summit

Kim Yong Chol (left) is seen alongside Kim Jong Un at a meeting South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday at the northern side of Panmunjom in the DMZ

US Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim is seen in a file photo. He has been tapped to handle the main pre-summit negotiations in the DMZ border village of Panmunjom

That senior-level talks are proceeding between the U.S. and North Korea this week was a sign that the summit that Trump hopes will win him a Nobel Prize will proceed.

Citing diplomatic sources, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that Kim Yong Chol had changed his reservations from a Tuesday flight to Washington, DC to one going to New York on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear why he and Pompeo were meeting in New York instead of the nation's capital city.

North Korea does not maintain an embassy or consulate in the U.S. however, it does have a permanent mission to the United Nations in New York.

Kim is banned from entering the U.S. under sanctions against North Korea, suggesting that he received a waiver to enter the country for talks.

Choe Kang-il, the North Korean foreign ministry's director-general for North American affairs, was also spotted in the Beijing airport on Tuesday and is believed to be accompanying Kim to the U.S.

Hagin meanwhile arrived in Singapore on Monday after a trip to make accommodations for the president was halted and then resumed on Saturday. An advance team precedes any presidential trip.

Sanders said in a Saturday statement that the 'pre-advance team for Singapore will leave as scheduled in order to prepare should the summit take place' in the first signal that talks were back on.

White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Joe Hagin (seen in 2008) arrived in Singapore on Monday, and is leading the 'pre-advance' team for a potential summit

A US air convoy (above) of an executive plane and military C-17 Globemaster III believed to be carrying Hagin's team stopped over at Yokota Air Base in Japan on Monday

Hagin's counterpart for the logistics discussion, Kim Chang-son, is seen on the far left walking near Kim Jong Un (front) and the North Korean leader's sister (third from left) last month

South Korea's Moon also resumed talks with Kim over the weekend after a freeze in communications with the North.

Moon and Kim greeted each other warmly inside the DMZ, where they were meeting for a second round of in-person discussions.

After the meeting, Moon said that Kim affirmed his commitment to the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula - a condition the U.S. set for talks.

Moon said it would be up to the U.S. and North Korea to define the terms of the arrangement that the Trump administration says must include verification measures.

Last week, for instance, North Korea detonated a nuclear test site and invited journalists only and no nuclear experts to view the spectacle.

'I conveyed President Trump's message that the U.S. would guarantee his regime's survival and provide economic aid if North Korea pursues complete denuclearization,' Moon told the press.
A Texas teen was one day into his family's trip to Florida and was enjoying time in the water at the beach when a bull shark attacked him and ripped off most of his calf on Saturday.

Cody High, a 15-year-old from San Angelo, was in the water at Cocoa Beach and was just heading back to land when the seven-foot-long bull shark grabbed hold of his leg around 5pm.

'I was about knee-deep when he got me, and I was walking back. I didn't see him at all,' Cody told Fox35 Orlando.

'I saw blood everywhere, and I just knew something bad had happened. People were crying, my mom was probably by far one of the more petrified ones. She was screaming, ''Oh my god! What happened?''

Still smiling: Texas teen, Cody High, survived a bull shark attack on Saturday and lost a good chunk of his calf, but seems in good spirits despite it

Thankfully the shark bit his leg and swam off, and didn't continue the attack. Cody's surgeon said there were simply too many stitches to count

Cody will need to go to rehab, and may need more surgical procedures after the terrifying shark attack in knee deep waters on Saturday in Florida

Terrifying: The bull shark makes up for most attacks just off the shore as they thrive in shallow waters

'It just felt like a hand squeezing as hard as possible. My older brother- he likes pranking me a lot, and it really felt like he just grabbed me with his hand.'

Luckily for the teen, that was the end of the attack. The shark bit and ripped off a good chunk on his leg, and swam off.

He was in the water with his smaller nieces and nephews at the time as well. They were all playing in an area of the beach without a lifeguard.

A Cocoa Beach police officer assisted in getting Cody to the boardwalk where Brevard County Fire Rescue rushed him to Cape Canaveral Hospital.

Once he was stabilized, he was taken to Arnold Palmer Children's Hospital where surgery was performed.

'A gifted surgeon, Dr. Levi, stitched up Cody's leg. The doctor said there were too many stitches to count,' Cody's cousin, Janice Hotz said.

Cody was swimming with his little nieces and nephews (pictured just before they left Texas for their family vacation). The shark really could have done much worse damage to the family

The family is still in Florida, and are hoping that they can still take Cody to Disney as planned.

As of now Cody is in a wheelchair. His family has a GoFundMe page set up to help offset his medical expenses, which will include rehab, and possibly more surgical procedures.

Brevard County has the dubious distinction of the county with the second most shark attacks in the country.

The only county to beat Brevard is Volusia County which is also in Florida.
President Donald Trump goaded his Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as 'past his prime' and 'no longer a killer' as the 80-year-old heads to China next month in an attempt to negotiate a new trade deal.

The insults to Ross come as the Trump administration announced Tuesday it would impose a series of punitive trade sanctions on China in the next month.

Ross has become marginalized within Trump's orbit, Politico reported, and his Commerce Department is seen as a mess.

President Donald Trump goaded his Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross as 'past his prime' and 'no longer a killer' as the 80-year-old heads to China next month in an attempt to negotiate a new trade deal.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross returning to Beijing on June 2 to try and win concessions for American workers but expectations of his trip are said to be low.

Besides the tough talk, the president is reportedly trying to bench him from making trade deals, sources told the newspaper.

Ross was initially left off a May trade trip to China led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

But he's returning to Beijing on June 2 to try and win concessions for American workers.

That trip comes as the administration said it would go ahead with plans to impose tariffs on $50 billion of imported Chinese goods, despite asserts from Mnuchin that the trade war is 'on hold.'

The White House said in a statement it would outline the final list of goods subjected to the tariffs by June 15 and the duties would be imposed shortly after that.

Trump has said he's not happy with the way talks are going with China and there's a 'long way to go.'

One former administration told Politico said the expectations for Ross' trip were not high.

'The fact that he is going over to China is a signal that the president has some confidence in him. He likes Ross even if he does not consider him a killer,' the official said. 'But it's also a signal that they are not expecting a whole lot. You would not send him if you were expecting real progress.'

In December 2016, shortly after he won the election, Trump said of his then-Commerce sectary nominee: 'I put on a killer.'

But Axios reported in January of this year aides were frustrated by Ross, who tended to fall asleep in meetings.

And Trump reportedly reemed Ross at the time about his failed negotiations with China on trade.

'These trade deals, they're terrible,' Trump said, according to a source in the room who told Axios. 'Your understanding of trade is terrible. Your deals are no good. No good.'

In December 2017, Forbes reported it was removing Ross from The Forbes 400 rich list. Ross had claimed a net worth of $2.9 billion but the magazine examined the financial-disclosure forms he filed after his Cabinet nomination, which showed less than $700 million in assets.

Trump and Ross have known each other since the 1980s, when Ross helped bail Trump out when his Atlantic City casinos were in trouble.

Ross is known as the 'King of Bankruptcy' because of his business record of buying bankrupt companies and later selling them for a large profit after their operations improve.

President Trump is said to have lost faith in his Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and wants to bench him from trade deals. The two men are pictured here at a May 24 signing of the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief, And Consumer Protection Act.

He's a member of Mar-a-Lago and runs in the same social circles as the president, who is said to personally still like him, Politico reported.

In the 1980s, when Trump's three casinos in Atlantic City were in trouble, Ross, who was then the senior managing director of Rothschild Inc., convinced bondholders to make a deal that allowed Trump to keep control of the casinos.

When Ross took the reins of the Commerce Department last year at the age of 79, he was the oldest first-time cabinet appointee in U.S. history.

White House advisers told Politico that Ross enjoys the job perks too much to quit - the traveling abroad as a senior Cabinet official, appearing on television, and attending Oval Office meetings.

'Ross has been involved and then totally uninvolved on trade and the reason is because his whole mode is to tell the president whatever he wants to hear,' one adviser told the newspaper. 'He is always trying to guess what the president will say. In the beginning, that was easier because the president was more predictable. But Ross did not get the message that Trump now wants to win the Nobel Peace Prize and doesn't want to launch a trade war.'
The public are being warned to stay away from a 30ft decomposed whale carcass that washed up on a popular beach because it's full of bacteria.

Marine experts believe the heavily decomposed minke whale, found at Belhaven beach near Dunbar in East Lothian on Sunday night, may have been entangled in creel ropes.

If trapped, the mammal may not have been able to surface on a regular basis to breathe or be able to feed on its usual prey of fish, squid and krill.

The animal is believed to have been dead for several weeks but experts say it is too decomposed for this to be confirmed.

The public are being warned to stay away from the 30ft decomposed minke whale (pictured) that was found at Belhaven beach near Dunbar in East Lothian on Sunday night

Commenters on Facebook had speculated that the carcass could explode - as has happened in the past - due to a build up of gases within the dead whale.

Trapped air can build-up within the thick layer of blubber beneath the skin and so whales can 'explode' after the skin degrades or is pierced.

However, Corinne Gordon, of the British Divers Marine Life Rescue, has said: 'This whale has very much decomposed so there is no chance of it exploding.

'I'd urge everyone to keep away from it because whales are full of bacteria so people do not want to go near it.'

Sam Christopherson, director of Coast to Coast Surf School, said they became aware of the whale this morning when one of their teachers went out to give a session.

He said: 'The whale is definitely a lot bigger than the usual animals that get washed up on this beach.

'We will usually get a few whales, seals and dolphins a year here. It is horrendous for the animal. It's such a shame to see these kind of incidents.'

Ms Gordon added: 'It is a really sad situation but there is absolutely nothing we can do unfortunately.'

Teams from the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme and East Lothian Council have also been at the scene.

Marine experts believe the whale became entangled in creel ropes which meant the mammal may not have been able to surface on a regular basis to breathe or feed

A Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme spokesman added: 'The minke whale was reported to us late on Sunday.

'It's been dead for several weeks. There are some lesions suggestive of entanglement in creel ropes but the animal is too decomposed for necropsy to confirm this.'

With an autopsy to determine the cause of death out of the question, the whale will most likely be disposed of by East Lothian Council at the landfill site in Dunbar.

A spokesman for East Lothian Council explained: 'We are aware of the whale carcass at Belhaven and arrangements have been made by our Countryside Officers, via a specialist contractor, to dispose of it as soon as possible.'

Minkes are the most common whales in Scottish waters, especially in the summertime.

In April 2017 wildlife experts helped refloat a 20ft minke whale that was found stranded on a beach in Fife.

A second attempt to refloat the mammal at high tide proved successful after being spotted on the beach west of Elie.
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The former home of Les Miserables author Victor Hugo is set to be returned to its former glory - after 2.6million was donated by an art collector.

Hauteville House was occupied by the French author during his 15-year exile from France and is now used as a museum.

From the house, in St Peter Port, Guernsey, the author wrote some of his most famous works - including Les Miserables, Toilers of the Sea and The Man Who Laughs.

The former home of Les Miserables author Victor Hugo is set to be returned to its former glory - after 2.6million was donated by an art collector

Hauteville House was occupied by the French author during his 15-year exile from France and is now used as a museum

From the house, in St Peter Port, Guernsey, the author wrote some of his most famous work - including Les Miserables, Toilers of the Sea and The Man Who Laughs

The renovation aims to restore Hauteville House, which usually welcomes 20,000 visitors a year between April and September, to its former glory. Pictured: Archive photo of Victor Hugo at his then home on Guernsey, Hauteville House

Over the years the house, now used as a museum, has started to show its age, but now funding has been found to start a major renovation.

The renovation aims to restore Hauteville House, which usually welcomes 20,000 visitors a year between April and September, to its former glory.

The museum will reopen in 2019 after the year-long work takes place.

A spokesperson for the museum said: 'The beautiful house is widely regarded as a piece of work in itself and an expression of his creative genius with a profusion of second-hand furniture and bric-a-brac bought by Hugo during his time on the island.

'However, with time, the weather, instability of certain objects and natural wear and tear of the materials and textiles have changed the house and its decor.'

Over the years the house, now used as a museum, has started to show its age, but now funding has been found to start a major renovation

After the writer's death in 1885, the house was passed to the city of Paris by the Hugo family in 1927 and is now managed by Paris Musees

The restoration project team is made up of representatives from both houses, as well as Paris Musees and Guernsey Heritage

The spokesperson added: 'The renovations will not only return Hugo's house to its former glory, but also modernise public facilities, improve accessibility and enhance the visitor experience.'

After the writer's death in 1885, the house was passed to the city of Paris by the Hugo family in 1927 and is now managed by Paris Musees.

The group are also responsible for the conservation of Hugo's other iconic house on the Place des Vosges in Paris, France.

The restoration project team is made up of representatives from both houses, as well as Paris Musees and Guernsey Heritage.

The renovation aims to restore Hauteville House, which usually welcomes 20,000 visitors a year between April and September, to its former glory

The massive funding came as a special patronage programme from art connoisseur Francois Pinault

Mr Pinault is one of the most significant collectors of contemporary art in the world and for more than four decades has built up a collection of almost 3,000 works

The Pinault Collection's patronage programme covers 2.6million (3million) of the total estimated cost of 3million (3.6million), with the remainder financed by Paris Musees and the Heritage Foundation.

The massive funding came as a special patronage programme from art connoisseur Francois Pinault.

Mr Pinault is one of the most significant collectors of contemporary art in the world and for more than four decades has built up a collection of almost 3,000 works.
If something were to happen to 28-year-old Kyle Sherwood, he already knows his fiancee and his father will probably fight over who gets to keep the tattoo on his leg. This particular tattoo, on Kyle's right leg, is a picture of three trocars  embalming tools used by morticians to drain body fluids and organs  with the initials of Kyle, his father and his grandfather beside each one.

Kyle is a third-generation mortician in the Cleveland, Ohio area  and because he and his father Michael have developed a process for preserving the tattoos of the deceased, the argument Kyle jokingly predicts isn't so far-fetched.

For about two years, Michael and Kyle's business, Save My Ink Forever, has been preserving tattoos for loved ones across the country, using the process, a tightly-held secret, they developed. In the Netherlands, the Walls and Skin tattoo shop also preserves tattoos, though Save My Ink Forever claims to be the only place in the US for this service. Though it might seem grim, Kyle says all they're doing is preserving art to keep someone's memory alive  just like many other, more common funeral practices that people accept as normal.

'Think about what cremation is,' Kyle tells DailyMail.com. 'You're lighting a person on fire and then keeping their ashes in a jar, if you break it down like that. But you don't think of it that way. You think of it as symbolic. Symbolism of who the person was Really it's a matter of perspective. It's a matter of how you look at it.'

Father and son morticians, Michael (right) and Kyle (left) Sherwood, have developed a process to preserve the tattoos of dead people. They started a company called Save My Ink Forever and have been preserving tattoos for about the last two years. They are pictured at the funeral home where they work in the Cleveland, Ohio area

It took about two years to develop the tattoo preservation process, which was inspired by a conversation Kyle and Michael had with some friends over drinks. They received a few skin donations they used to help them develop the process, which they keep highly secret. One of Save My Ink Forever's preserved tattoos is pictured before it is framed and shipped back to the family

One tattoo Save My Ink Forever preserved was one from a young, active duty member of the military who was killed in combat. Kyle explains that they were able to save the soldier's tattoo  the details of which he is keeping anonymous for the privacy of the family.

'That was nice to be able to give to the family, almost as if they were then able to say goodbye because even though they weren't seeing him, they knew that that was him,' Kyle says. 'So for me, that was nice to be able to do. And we're here to give people closure as well as a great memorialization of the person, because that tattoo tells a story that nobody can take away from that person.'

It took about two years to develop the tattoo preservation process after Kyle and his father were inspired by a conversation they had with friends over drinks. One friend wondered aloud if he would be able to save his tattoo after he died, which prompted Kyle and Michael to start thinking about the possibilities.

'If you're looking at the funeral industry, there's definitely a need for this, or a calling for this. We kind of got the ball rolling from there, where we developed it and put it to a practical use.'

Kyle has his own tattoo (pictured) that he suspects his father and fiancee will want preserved if anything were to happen to him. The tattoo, on his right leg, is a picture of three trocars  embalming tools used by morticians to drain body fluids and organs  with the initials of Kyle, his father and his grandfather (all morticians) beside each one

They were able to get a few skin donations as they explored the process, including from a man who was getting a tummy tuck.

'Before he got a tummy tuck, he got a tattoo on the area that he knew the skin was going to be removed. So  as gruesome as it sounds  when he got his tummy tuck, he then said, well here you go, you can have the tattoo that I got for this purpose,' Kyle says.

'It was trial and error,' he adds. 'But we do have somewhat of a background when it comes to preserving tissue.'

When they first developed their process, Kyle and Michael were a part of an organization called the National Association for the Preservation of Skin Art (NAPSA), which also went by the name Save My Ink (not to be confused with Save My Ink Forever). NAPSA, however, was essentially just selling tattoo insurance policies for people who wanted to have their tattoos preserved after their death, almost like a life insurance policy.

'But the whole thing with that is, a lot of people are younger and they're not going to be paying for the next 50 years into this policy, because there wasn't a cap on it or anything like that,' Kyle says. 'So when they went out of business  because they weren't selling these insurance policies  we were still with this.'

He and his father then decided to make a separate company, where tattoo preservation is available for people on an at-need basis. People can also make a pre-need contract with a funeral home and start paying for their tattoo to be preserved in payments ahead of time so their families don't have to pay a lump sum for the process.

When a person dies, his or her family contacts Save My Ink Forever about having their loved one's tattoo preserved. The company sends a tattoo removal kit and instructional materials to the family's funeral director. Pictured are the tools funeral directors and embalmers use to remove tattoos before sending them to Save My Ink Forever for preservation

Kyle says ideally a tattoo will be removed within three to four days after the person has passed away, but if the body has been embalmed, that gives them a bit more time. Pictured is a trocar, an embalming tool, which inspired the tattoo on Kyle's right shin

Either way, when a person dies, his or her family contacts Save My Ink Forever about having the tattoo preserved; the company then gets in touch with the funeral home to explain the process. The tattoo-preserving company then ships a removal kit and sends instructional videos on how to remove the tattoo to the funeral director, if the funeral home isn't already one of the 53 Save My Ink Forever 'preferred providers' in 11 US states. Save My Ink Forever promises to work with anyone, but the 'preferred providers' are just the funeral homes who are publicly recognized for working with Save My Ink Forever.

Think about what cremation is. You're lighting a person on fire and then keeping their ashes in a jar, if you break it down like that. But you don't think of it that way. You think of it as symbolic. Symbolism of who the person was Really it's a matter of perspective. It's a matter of how you look at it. Kyle Sherwood

'A lot of funeral directors obviously haven't dealt with us before or dealt with this type of procedure. But a lot of directors are more than willing to work with us, because bottom line, they're there to serve the family and make the family happy.'

There are also forms for the family fill out and go over with the funeral director, giving permission to excise tissue from their loved one's body and making sure there isn't any confusion about what tattoo should be removed.

Once the correct tattoo is removed, the embalmer places the tattoo in the Save My Ink Forever kit with a dry preservative that keeps the tattoo safe until it is shipped to the company in Ohio, which makes it possible for the company to preserve tattoos of people in all 50 states.

'When the tattoo is removed, it's very superficial because you're just taking the skin,' Kyle says. 'You're not taking any muscle or anything like that because obviously in this instance, we're only using the skin So as far as treating that area goes, as an embalmer, it's very easy to treat because there are fluids and chemicals that we can use to cauterize an area.

'But also the tattoo can be removed after visitation. So embalming can take place and the tattoo can still be removed after. So it doesn't affect visitation or viewing at all.'

Before the tattoo can be removed, the family has to fill out forms to give the funeral director permission to excise tissue from their loved one's body and to make sure the funeral director removes the correct tattoo for preservation. Pictured is a tattoo that Save My Ink Forever has preserved and framed

Once the correct tattoo is removed, the embalmer puts it in a dry preservative and ships it to Save My Ink Forever, where the tattoo is actually preserved. The secret process takes about three to four months, Kyle says. Pictured is a tattoo preserved by Save My Ink Forever

Kyle says ideally a tattoo will be removed within three to four days after the person has passed away, but if the body has been embalmed, that gives them a bit more time. Once Save My Ink Forever gets the tattoo in the mail, the actual preservation takes about three to four months and leaves the tattoo fairly thin, with only the dermis and epidermis left. However, they refuse to reveal anything about the process itself.

'You don't know the recipe for Coke,' Kyle says. 'It's just one of those things where we just, of course, want to keep it under wraps.'

The thing is, we know we're not for everyone. But we're not trying to be for everyone. It's something that we want to offer people as a comfort You're not hurting anybody. Often times you're displaying it in the privacy of your own home. And ultimately it's you remembering your loved one. So who has the right to tell you how to do that? Kyle Sherwood, Save My Ink Forever

From there, they have the tattoo matched to a custom frame with UV glass and get it shipped back to the family. The entire process  including preservation, all the shipping to and from anywhere in the country and the custom frame with UV glass  costs $1,599 for a tattoo that is five inches by five inches. Every additional inch is another $100 added to the cost.

'It's all up to archival standards,' Kyle says. 'We're really treating it like a museum piece It could be cheaper I suppose, but then you're kind of defeating the purpose if you're just putting it in a Dollar General frame. Because we want it to last so we want to put it in something quality to ensure that it lasts.'

The company has a few reservations about types of tattoos: they won't preserve tattoos from the face or genitals and the tattoo being preserved must be professionally done. Tattoos made at home or in jail won't stand up to the preservation process and tattoos from the face or genitals just aren't the kind of thing Save My Ink Forever wants to be known for.

'When we're doing this, we want it to maintain the integrity,' Kyle says. 'This is for the purpose of art. This is for the purpose of memorializing a loved one. This isn't trying to be some freak show, circus act thing. And so we felt that those two areas being preserved would be something that incorporated what we don't want.'

What they do want, Kyle says, is to help people memorialize their loved ones in a deeper, more meaningful way than conventional mementos and services can give.

'I truthfully believe that being able to see imagery of something that your loved one was passionate about means a lot more than a casket or an urn. If you think about when people do a casket or they do an urn, if [the person] rode motorcycles, they try to put a motorcycle on the urn. So okay, what is more meaningful? An urn that has a mocked motorcycle that was just a random sticker art off the wall that they just slapped on this urn, versus having the actual imagery that your loved one put on [themselves] that means so much to them. I mean, how do you really top that?'

After it is preserved, Save My Ink Forever matches a tattoo to a custom frame with archival-standard UV glass. For a tattoo that is five inches by five inches, the entire process costs $1,599, including preservation, shipping and the custom frame. With each added inch, the cost increases by $100

Save My Ink Forever does about 100 preservations a year, Kyle says. 'It's becoming more popular,' he says. 'It's definitely starting to catch on more. It was slow at first But it is growing and I think as times goes, it's only going to continue to become more popular. Just as tattoos are becoming more popular and it's becoming less and less of a social taboo'

Save My Ink Forever does about 100 preservations a year and the service is becoming more popular, Kyle says, even though they don't advertise. Instead, the company sets up booths at funeral conventions and tattoo conventions and reaches out to funeral homes to let them know about their services.

'It's becoming more popular,' he says. 'It's definitely starting to catch on more. It was slow at first But it is growing and I think as times goes, it's only going to continue to become more popular. Just as tattoos are becoming more popular and it's becoming less and less of a social taboo.'

He adds: 'It's just one of those things where I can only hope that things continue to move in the right direction and I truthfully think it will. If you think about it, ten years ago, for the most part, cremation was taboo and now, in some states, it's a 75per cent cremation rate. So hopefully with less stigma around tattoos, more and more people will accept the idea of having your tattoo preserved.'

Elizabeth Lynch, 20, from Garfield Heights, Ohio doesn't personally have a preserved tattoo, but when her aunt unexpectedly died of cancer about two years ago, Lynch's uncle decided to get his wife's dolphin tattoo from her calf preserved.

Lynch says at first she was alarmed by the preserved tattoo, but she came to appreciate the significance of it after talking with her uncle, who keeps the framed tattoo in his bedroom.

'He said that you can have ashes of someone or you can have a grave spot, but there's nothing like seeing something that they actually had on them every single day,' Lynch says. 'Obviously, that meant a lot to me.

'At first it was kind of weird because it was like, oh, that's her skin, but it's so special, especially because she died so suddenly. It's like the last thing they really have of her. And when she died, it really hurt everyone in our family and no one's even close to over it. I guess it's just something more personal and it's like she's there, almost. I don't even know how to explain it.'

Kyle says all Save My Ink Forever is doing is preserving art to keep someone's memory alive  just like many other, more common funeral practices. 'Think about what cremation is,' Kyle says. 'You're lighting a person on fire and then keeping their ashes in a jar, if you break it down like that. But you don't think of it that way It's a matter of perspective. It's a matter of how you look at it.' Kyle and his father are pictured at the funeral home where they work

Save My Ink Forever has gotten the best responses from Texas and California, Kyle says - though he realizes the process might not exactly have universal appeal.

'The thing is, we know we're not for everyone. But we're not trying to be for everyone. It's something that we want to offer people as a comfort You're not hurting anybody. Often times you're displaying it in the privacy of your own home. And ultimately it's you remembering your loved one. So who has the right to tell you how to do that?'

Besides, Kyle says, it's difficult to understand the desire to preserve a tattoo if you've never had a tattoo yourself.

'If you don't have tattoos, I don't necessarily expect you to understand why someone would want a tattoo [preserved], because you haven't experienced the fact that you can actually have feelings for your own tattoos... If you think about it, you're getting a tattoo and you've got it for a lifetime. We're not here a long time, but it is the longest thing that we know.'

For Kyle, it's no question that at least his leg tattoo is going to be kept by either his father or his fiancee. Kyle's fiancee, however, doesn't want to leave any of her tattoos behind if something were to happen to her.

'She doesn't like the idea of it being done to her, but she wants one,' Kyle chuckles. 'I don't know. It's kind of an oxymoron but that's what she wants. She wants mine.'
Dezmond Bethea, 18, underwent eight hours of surgery at a South Carolina hospital on Saturday to treat his multiple gunshot wound

The family of a teenager who was shot 17 times by cops are demanding answers.

Dezmond Bethea, 18, underwent eight hours of surgery at a South Carolina hospital on Saturday to treat his multiple gunshot wounds.

His grandmother Wanda Bethea says the family still don't know why the officer shot her grandson and called on the police department for an explanation, theLaurinberg Exchange reports.

Laurinburg Police Chief Darwin 'Duke' Williams refused to say whether the incident was caught on bodycam but did confirm that the office had been placed on paid administration - regular procedure for officers after a shooting.

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation has now launched a probe into the incident.

'There is not much to say right now,' said Williams. 'The investigation is ongoing.'

Police said that they received a call at around 2am Saturday about shots fired near the intersection of Lee's Mill and Produce Market roads in Laurinburg, North Carolina.

Two shooting victims were transported to Scotland Memorial Hospital before being airlifted to a hospital in South Carolina.

'There were two different calls. Whether they were related or not I can't say for certain, but they were both transported from the same area at about the same time,' EMS Director Roylin Hammond said. 'The calls came in at a little after 2am and another around 2.30am.'

The first individual was recovered from the parking lot of Laurinburg Food Mart. The second, who had multiple gunshot wounds was taken from Wagram Street.

Police said that they received a call at around 2am Saturday about shots fired near the intersection of Lee's Mill and Produce Market roads in Laurinburg, North Carolina (pictured)

Bethea's family have asked for prayers for the teen who remains in hospital

Bethea, a Scotland High School senior, will require further surgery and remains in hospital after the shooting

Bethea, a Scotland High School senior, will require further surgery and remains in hospital after the shooting.

The condition and identity of the other victim has not been revealed.

Herman Tyson, president of the Scotland County NAACP, said the family are demanding 'transparency.'

'We are seeking the truth.'
Chelsea Clinton politely corrected Rosanne Barr after the sitcom star went on a bizarre Twitter rant alleging that the former first daughter is married to a nephew of investor George Soros.

The Clinton-Soros nephew rumor began when Trump supporter Scott Baio erroneously posted to Facebook in 2016 that Chelsea's husband Marc Mezvinsky is the nephew of Soros.

Barr continued to spread the misinformation on Twitter early Tuesday, writing 'Chelsea Soros Clinton.'

Chelsea responded to Barr soon-after, writing of the roundly debunked rumor: 'Good morning Roseanne - my given middle name is Victoria. I imagine George Soros's nephews are lovely people. I'm just not married to one.'

Barr wrote: 'I'm sorry-Chelsea Clinton IS NOT married to a nephew of George Soros-i apologize for the mistake!'

Roseanne Barr tried to push a conspiracy on Tuesday claiming that Chelsea Clinton was married to the nephew of George Soros. Clinton is married to Mark Mevisnky (pictured)

Barr was forced to apologize for a slew of Tuesday tweets and said she was going off Twitter. She did not in fact leave Twitter

Chelsea Clinton herself was quick to shoot down the rumor, which was first propagated by actor and Trump supporter Scott Baio in 2016

However, it did not end there.

Barr, while again apologizing, tweeted, 'Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!' she continued in the social media missive that Soros 'is a nazi who turned his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth- were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?'

Barr retweeted a clip of a 60 Minutes interview Soros did, which appears to be where she is extrapolating her information about the investor from.

And yet again, Barr tweeted another correction/ attack, this one landing closer to home for Chelsea.

'CORRECTION: CHELSEA CLINTON IS NOT MARRIED TO A SOROS NEPHEW. HER HUSBAND IS THE SON OF A CORRUPT SENATOR, SO SORRY!'

Chelsea's father-in-law is a former congressman and convicted felon who in March of 2001 plead guilty to 31 of 69 felony charges of mail, bank and wire fraud.

He served five years in prison and was released in 2008. He was never given a pardon that was requested on his behalf under the Clinton administration.

Barr sent two tweets apologizing to Clinton, which would be her first - but not last - apologies of the day during the Twitter rant

While Barr's apologies to Clinton were less than in earnest, she did attempt to make more serious amends Tuesday.

Barr apologized after coming under fire for a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett during the unhinged morning rant.

The television star's attack on Jarrett sent shock waves.

Barr was was responding to a Twitter thread with an article from SGTreports, a site known for publishing conspiracy theories, in which a commenter mentioned Jarrett.

'muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj', Roseanne then wrote about Jarret, who served as Barack Obama's senior adviser during his presidency.

Roseanne's mention of the 'Muslim brotherhood' seems to be due to the long-running conspiracy theory that Jarrett is Muslim.

Jarrett was born in Iran to American parents and lived in Shiraz for six years.

The family had moved to Iran because her father was part of a program that sent American physicians to help developing countries. He ran a children's hospital.

Roseanne Barr apologized after coming under fire for a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett during an unhinged rant on Tuesday morning

Many Twitter users called out Barr and asked ABC how they could continue to order episodes of her eponymous show (pictured)

There has never been any indication that Jarrett or her parents are Muslim.

Barr later claimed the comment was a 'joke' when she was called out on Twitter by CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski.

'ABC is doing their best to ignore some of these statements from Roseanne and she is making it really hard for them by taking it to the next level here,' he wrote.

After Roseanne responds, Kaczynski replied: 'understand it's a joke, but can you see why some people think comparing a black woman to Planet of the Apes might be racist and find the Muslim Brotherhood reference to be conspiratorial and Islamophobic?'

Many Twitter users agreed, with some asking ABC how they could continue to order episodes of Barr's eponymous show.

Others called the comedian 'quite literally a racist'.

'It wasn't a joke, it was a slur,' one user wrote.

She also issued a blanket apology Tuesday morning in announcing, 'I am now leaving Twitter.'

Barr did not in fact leave Twitter.
Byron Bailey, who flew for Emirates out of Dubai for 15 years, claims the missing Malaysian airlines plane could have been found years ago if they listened to pilots

A former commercial pilot says flight MH370 hasn't been found because authorities refuse to look in the right place.

Byron Bailey, who flew for Emirates out of Dubai for 15 years, claims the missing Malaysian airlines plane could have been found years ago if they listened to pilots.

The 'last search' for the plane that disappeared on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board Kuala Lumpur to Beijing ended on Tuesday.

Mr Bailey said that search was 1,200km north of where he and other aviators believed the plane was likely ditched by pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah.

He called on the Chinese Government, whose country had 138 citizens on board, to fund another search in a 4,000 square kilometre area they believe the plane is in.

'Us pilots, we think we knew right from the get up and go where the aeroplane was,' he told Miranda Devine's podcast.

'If they search there, I think there's a 90 per cent chance they'll find it.'

Mr Bailey said it was 'just stupid' to search 1,200km north of where the plane ran out of fuel but the Australian Transport Safety Bureau wouldn't listen.

A former commercial pilot says flight MH370 hasn't been found because authorities refuse to look in the right place.

He called on the Chinese Government, whose country had 138 citizens on board, to fund another search in a 4,000 square kilometre area they believe the plane is in

'The people doing [the search] don't have any aviation experience... but they have stubbornly refused for four years to search 130km south of where it ran out of fuel,' he said.

He claimed Malaysia, which offered $70 million to Texas-based firm Ocean Infinity if it find the plane, of not wanting the wreckage to be found.

Pilot Zaharie Shah (pictured) was flying the aircraft on March 2014 with 239 on-board while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing

[They realised] this could be a massive liability and political problem if it's proved that the Muslim captain hijacked the airplane,' he said.

'[The Australian Government] is being cowardly and sticking its head in the sand... it's a murder of 138 people and they're ignoring that.'

Mr Bailey said it was 'about time the Chinese showed some interest' and hoped they would 'step in where we were too cowardly'.

Mr Bailey earlier on Tuesday said the plane must have been hijacked because only the pilot could have reprogrammed the plane's course.

'He wanted to hide the aircraft in as remote position as possible. He didn't want bits of debris floating around, he didn't want it to ever be found,' he said.

Australia said a four-year search for the missing aircraft had been the largest in aviation history and tested the limits of technology and the capacity of experts and people at sea.

But Transport Minister Michael McCormack added there would always be hope of finding the vanished Boeing 777.

Mr Bailey said it was 'just stupid' to search 1,200km north of where the plane ran out of fuel but the Australian Transport Safety Bureau wouldn't listen. The plane is pictured over Poland a month before it vanished

A girl has her face painted during a Day of Remembrance for MH370 in Kuala Lumpur

'Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the 239 people on board MH370,' Mr McCormack's office said.

'We will always remain hopeful that one day the aircraft will be located.'

Malaysia signed a 'no cure, no fee' deal with Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean by Australia, Malaysia and China was called off. No other search is scheduled.

Ocean Infinity chef executive Oliver Plunkett said the search would soon end after covering more than 112,000 square kilometers of remote ocean floor - an area more than four times larger than the zone targeted by experts as the most likely crash site.

'I would firstly like to extend the thoughts of everyone at Ocean Infinity to the families of those who have lost loved ones on MH370. Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected,' Plunkett said in a statement.

'It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim,' he added.

The latest search for MH370 is being conducted by U.S. firm Ocean Infinity (pictured), which was offered US$70million if it found the plane during a 90-day search

Mr Plunkett said he was pleased to hear the new Malaysian government had made finding the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 people aboard a priority.

'Whilst clearly the outcome so far is extremely disappointing, as a company, we are truly proud of what we have achieved both in terms of the quality of data we've produced and the speed with which we covered such a vast area,' Plunkett said.

'We sincerely hope that we will be able to again offer our services in the search for MH370 in the future,' he added.

Australia, Malaysia and China agreed in 2016 that an official search would only resume if the three countries had credible evidence that identified a specific location for the wreckage.

The search area deemed by experts to be the most likely crash site was 9,650 square miles, an area roughly 25% larger than Wales.

Pieces of debris have been found as far away as La Reunion (pictured), but the main body of the plane has still not been located

Meanwhile, Malaysia's transport minister, Anthony Loke, said a full report into MH370's disappearance would be published in the near future, but he did not give a date.

'I can assure you the final report will be published with full disclosure. There will not be any edits, or anything hidden,' he told reporters late on Monday.

Asked whether the report would refer to controversial elements of the MH370 case, he said: 'To me, whatever elements, we will just publish it'.

The original search focused on the South China Sea before analysis revealed the plane had made an unexpected turn west and then south.

Australia co-ordinated an official search on Malaysia's behalf that scoured 46,000 square miles and cost 200 million Australian dollars (113m) before it ended in 2017.

Last year, Australian authorities said the MH370 captain had flown a route on his home simulator six weeks before the disappearance that was 'initially similar' to the course actually taken by the aircraft.

The original search focused on the South China Sea before analysis revealed the plane had made an unexpected turn west and then south

Peter Foley, who led the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's search efforts, told an Australian Senate hearing 'control inputs' had been made to fly the airliner off course, but he could not say if one of the pilots had done so.

Malaysian investigators said in 2015 they had found nothing suspicious in the financial, medical or personal histories of the pilots or crew.

Danica Weeks, an Australian resident who lost her husband on Flight 370, urged Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to call on the new Malaysian government to be more transparent about what they knew about the mysterious disappearance.

'There've been so many theories and rumours and we don't know what is true and what isn't,' Ms Weeks told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

'I want Julie Bishop to say to the Malaysian counterparts now: 'what do you have? Where is the investigation at'?'

Foley, told an Australian Senate committee hearing last week that he still hoped that Ocean Infinity would be successful.

'If they're not, of course, that would be a great sadness for all of us,' Foley said.
Police in Texas are on the hunt for a teenage girl who is accused of stabbing a 14-year-old girl to death during an argument overnight.

Officers responded to the Sycamore Point Apartments in the 8000 block of Peyton Lane in Fort Worth at around 3.30am on Tuesday and found Nylah Lightfoot suffering from a stab wound.

Lightfoot was airlifted to John Peter Smith Hospital, where she was pronounced dead an hour later.

Police in Fort Worth, Texas, say 14-year-old Nylah Lightfoot was stabbed to death at this apartment complex by another teen on Tuesday morning

A Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson said Lightfoot and her alleged assailant got into a verbal argument, which turned physical when the other girl grabbed a knife and stabbed the 14-year-old.

Police have identified the suspect in the stabbing, but she has not been arrested as of Tuesday afternoon, reported Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Her name and age have not been disclosed.

There was no word on a possible motive behind the altercation.

Lightfoot resided a few blocks away from the crime scene on Chance Boulevard, and it's unclear what she was doing on Payton Lane in the middle of the night.

Lightfoot was a student at Wedgewood Middle School until March 2017, when she left.
Mitt Romney doesn't think President Donald Trump is a good role model for his 18 grandchildren, saying 'some of the things he has said are not ones that I would aspire for my grandkids to adopt.'

Romney explained the president's tendency to not tell the truth is the main reason Trump is not a paragon of virtue for children to follow.

'I don't think that I would point to the president as a role model for my grandkids on the basis of his personal style. He has departed in some cases from the truth, and has attacked in a way that I think is not entirely appropriate,' the Utah Senate candidate told NBC News. 'I think that his policies have been by and large a good deal better than I might have expected. But some of the things he has said are not ones that I would aspire for my grandkids to adopt.'

Mitt Romney said of President Trump: 'Some of the things he has said are not ones that I would aspire for my grandkids to adopt.'

Mitt and Ann Romney have 18 grandkids and the Utah Senate candidate said President Trump is not a good role model for them.

The 2012 Republican presidential nominee also distanced himself from Trump when he defended the media and said the fourth estate apologizes when it makes a mistake.

Trump has long accused media outlets of writing fake news - his vitriol usually aimed at stories that are critical of his administration or ones that present it in a bad light.

'I know the media doesn't always get it right. Alright? But I also know that when they get it wrong they indicate they made a mistake and they apologize for it. And I respect the first amendment and all of our amendments - I'll fight for the right of people to express their own views, whether they're religious or political,' Romney said.

Romney was, at one point, under consideration for secretary of state under Trump.

However, he was a vocal 'Never Trumper' voice during the 2016 Republican presidential primary and criticized the now-president on multiple occasions.

During the height of the Republican presidential primary, Romney called Trump a 'phony' and a 'fraud' during a March 2016 speech in Utah where he also argued that Trump's policies would lead to a recession.

Trump gave as good as he got, saying during the 2016 exchange of insults that Romney was 'one of the dumbest and worst candidates in the history of Republican politics' and that he was a 'total joke.'

However the two men appear to have made some sort of amends. Trump has endorsed Romney's Senate candidacy.

But Romney has yet to return the favor.

He declined to pledge his support for Trump in the 2020 presidential contest.

'I will make that decision down the road,' he told CNN in April. 'As a person of political experience, if I endorse someone, I'll want to know what's in it for Utah and what help would he provide for us on key priorities in Utah.'

'So I'm not a cheap date,' he said.

Additionally in April, Romney was asked if he would give another speech criticizing Trump.

He pledged to focus on the future.

'I look forward. I'm not going to look backward,' he said.

The former Massachusetts governor opted to run for Utah's Senate seat after longtime Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch announced he was retiring.

Romney, who was born in Michigan before he ran for office in Massachusetts where he worked for the venture investment firm Bain Capital, told NBC News he's lived in Utah since he lost the presidential race in 2012.

President Trump and Mitt Romney traded insults during the 2016 campaign but after Trump won he considered Romney for his secretary of state, a position that Romney did not get. Here Reince Priebus, the then-incoming White House Chief of Staff, Trump and Romney dine at Jean Georges restaurant in November shortly after Trump won the election.

President Trump has endorsed Mitt Romney's Senate bid but Romney declined to say if he would back Trump in the 2020 presidential race.

'I've lived in Utah for some 10 years, and this is the place of my family's heritage. And when I lost the election in 2012, we came to Utah and bought the lot next to my son, built a home there. We've lived here ever since. This is where we live, and this is where I think I can have the greatest impact,' he said.

Romney did praise the president as having 'exceeded my expectations with regard to tax policy, regulatory policy, public land policy.'

The president, in December, reduced the size of two national monuments in Utah by about two million acres - the Bears Ears National Monument was cut by 85 percent, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante was cut in half.

Romney also said he wouldn't hesitate to call out the president when he disagrees with him.

'But if the President were to say something that I consider highly divisive or racist or misogynistic, I'll call him out on it. Because I think its important for people to know exactly where one stands,' he told NBC.

Romney is highly expected to win in the Republican-heavy state but first he has to get through the June 26 GOP primary against state Representative Mike Kennedy.
A drunk man with poor directional sense was arrested in his underwear on Friday night, after choosing to sleep in someone else's bed.

Sangyul Jo, 34, was just three buildings away from home in Georgia when he decided to enter a home nearby instead and tuck himself into bed, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Jo walked through the unlocked door, politely took his shoes off, left his clothes on the couch and burrowed under the covers, where he passed out - completely missing the man who was already in the bed.

A 34-year-old man was arrested after crawling into a stranger's bed drunk and wearing only his underpants and going to sleep (pictured)

Former local policeman and army veteran Peter Brownlowe, said he could smell alcohol when Jo climbed in to bed with him, and could not be woken.

'He came in the bed and was actually laying in the bed with me,' he said.

'So I got up and came around and said, 'Hey, what are you doing?''

Jo, perhaps too comfortable to move, did not respond - or regain consciousness until he was in handcuffs.

Brownlowe (pictured) said he could smell alcohol when Jo climbed into bed and woke him up

The 34-year-old was heard telling police 'it's okay' when they asked him what was going on and how much he'd had to drink.

'No it's not OK,' the policeman said. 'Not when you're in somebody else's apartment!'

Jo was charged with public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.

He was taken to Gwinnett County jail but later released on bond.
Ruth Davidson today gave her backing to Jeremy Hunt's call for 'substantial' extra funding to be pumped into the NHS to mark its 70th anniversary.

She urged Theresa May to put funding the health service ahead of giving voters future tax cuts.

And she also reiterated her call for the Government to scrap their target to get immigration down to the tens of thousands and take students out of it.

The Scottish Tory leader said that concerns about the number of immigrants moving to Britain has subsided since the Brexit vote.

In a speech in Glasgow University tonight, Ms Davidson set out her vision for Britain - spanning immigration, housing, the NHS and education.

It comes amid continued speculation that she will be a future Tory leader and Prime Minister.

Ruth Davidson (pictured outside Edinburgh Castle) today gave her backing to Jeremy Hunt's call for 'substantial' extra funding to be pumped into the NHS to mark its 70th anniversary.

Reports at the weekend claimed Tory grandees are plotting to oust Mrs May and replace her with Michael Gove as a caretaker leader before eventually installing Ms Davidson.

In her speech tonight, Ms Davidson added her voice to the growing number of frontbench Tries demanding major new investment in the NHS.

What does Ruth Davidson say in her speech? Here are the main points of Ruth Davidson's wide-ranging speech on domestic reform: NHS Backs calls for substantial extra money to be pumped into the NHS to marks its 70th anniversary Immigration Says the tens of thousands net migration target should be scrapped and that students should be taken out of it Housing Allow communities to benefit from the rise in property values when planning permissions are granted to fund housing and civic developments Education Calls for better and more work experience and technical education to widen students' chances of getting a good job Advertisement

She said: 'The simple choice is this - if we want to continue to adhere to the principles of our NHS then we need to find extra funding above and beyond the increases of recent years.

'So, as we prepare to mark the 70th anniversary of the NHS later this summer, I very much support the proposal for substantial extra funding across the whole of the UK to put the NHS on a firm and solid footing for the long term.

'The obvious question is: where should this money come from....My view is this: the UK Government has acted to reduce the tax burden on working families.

'It has honoured its promise to do so. Raising the income tax threshold has reduced taxes for millions of UK workers and has taken thousands out of taxation altogether.

'But the UK Government has a choice to make. And, if that choice is between extra spending on the NHS or introducing further tax breaks beyond those already promised, I choose the NHS.'

She also called for Mrs May to scrap her target to reduce net migration to the tens of thousands - pointing out that the Brexit vote has taken the sting out of the immigration debate.

Ms Davidson, who is pregnant with her first child, said she wants EU citizens who live in the UK to stay.

She told the audience he has a vested interest in the debate as her partner Jen Wilson is Irish and therefore an EU citizen.

Reports at the weekend claimed Tory grandees are plotting to oust Theresa May (pictured left) and replace her with Michael Gove (pictured right) as a caretaker leader before eventually installing Ruth Davidson to the post

She said: 'I have said this before but I will repeat it tonight: I see neither the sense nor the need to stick to an immigration figure devised nearly a decade ago, which has never been met and does not fit the requirements of the country.'

Ms Davidson added: 'Even if that target were to stay, I see no reason why overseas students should be included within the numbers counted.'

The Scottish Tory leader also called for more work experience and better technical education in schools.

And she wants a new housing and infrastructure agency crated in Scotland to oversee the building of new homes.

Ms Davidson is tipped as a future Tory leader, with her energy and popuarity with voters seen as an antidote to Mrs May's more robotic stle.

She has so far played down talk of heading to Westminster to become an MP and Tory party leader.

But her wide-ranging speech will fuel speculation she is lining herself up to be a future leader.
Turkish police are investigating the deaths of two British holidaymakers after they were found dead in their tent during their camping holiday in the Turkish Riviera.

The bodies of Natasha Amanda-Jane Layman, 45, and James Samuel Bryers, 50, were discovered on Monday by camp workers after they grew suspicious when the couple hadn't been seen for 48 hours.

Ms Layman and Mr Bryers arrived at Gunluklu Bay, a resort on the Turkish Riviera just west of the popular harbour city of Fethiye, two days earlier.

Their autopsy revealed they died of an overdose and a small amount of heroin was found near their lifeless bodies, according to local Turkish reports.

The dead bodies of Natasha Amanda-Jane Layman, 45, and James Samuel Bryers, 50, were discovered by Turkish camp workers on Monday

Ms Layman and Mr Bryers arrived at Gunluklu Bay (pictured), a resort on the Turkish Riviera just west of the popular harbour city of Fethiye, two days earlier

Mail Online has contacted the Foreign Office for further comment.

Police and medics were called to the location but they could only confirm the death of the couple at the time.

An initial investigation found no scars or any indications of the cause of death and a postmortem was ordered.

Local officials said that both the bodies had been taken to the Institution of Forensic Medicine in the city of Mugla for a postmortem to be carried out.

Local Dogan News Agency reported that heroin was found in their tent and that their autopsies showed they died of an overdose.

The Fethiye public prosecutor's office confirmed that they were carrying out an official investigation into the deaths.

Their autopsies revealed they died of an overdose as a small amount of heroin was found near their lifeless bodies, according to local Turkish reports. Pictured: Natasha Layman

The Fethiye public prosecutor's office confirmed that they were carrying out an official investigation into the deaths

Gunluklu Bay, located 12 miles west of Fethiye, has a sandy beach often photographed because of its Styrax trees, from which the bay takes its name in Turkish.

Local media reported the area is a beloved camping spot for both locals and tourists alike and is not a secluded place.

It also features some beach clubs and restaurants.

According to British Ambassador to Turkey Dominick Chilcott, almost three million British holidaymakers are expected to visit Turkey in 2018.
A 78-year-old man was arrested at his million-pound property after 'human' bones were found at a tip.

The pensioner was arrested on suspicion of preventing a lawful burial after officers were called to a 1m home on Monday.

Forensic teams continue to search the house in Hackney, east London, and a refuse site in Edmonton, north London, today.

Police have arrested 78-year-old George Zavadsky on suspicion of preventing a lawful burial. Teams of forensic officers searched Mr Zavadsky's house in Hackney, east London, pictured,

As well as the house, police are also searching a refuse site in Edmonton, north east London

The sole occupant of the house has been named as popular charity worker George Zavadsky.

A member of staff at Diamond School of Motoring, two doors down from his three-storey terraced home, said: 'He's a very popular guy around here, he's been around for years.

'As far as I know he lives on his own and he did a lot of charity work - I think it was a charity in Hackney.

'He used to deliver the papers for years.

'I last saw him last week - he just popped in to say hello and to ask about his car.

'He's a very fit and healthy person.

'He is friendly, always helps anybody - once or twice I've got locked out and he's helped me.

'It's completely out if the blue, I was quite surprised with it to be honest with you because you just know your neighbours after the years - to me he always seemed quite a friendly guy.'

She said Zavadsky was not married, had no children and occasionally visited by friends at his home.

She confirmed he still drove his blue Volkswagen van which remained behind a police cordon around his home.

The house, in one of London's poshest areas, estimated to be worth more than 1m, according to Zoopla.

A spokesman for Scotland Yard said: 'Police were called at approximately 10:40hrs on Monday, 28 May to Blackstock Road, N5.

'A man was arrested at a residential address on suspicion of preventing the lawful and decent burial of a body. He remains in custody.

'Enquiries remain ongoing.'

An earlier police statement said a 78-year-old man had been arrested.
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Search-and-rescue crews scouring the Patapsco River in Maryland on Tuesday recovered the body of a National Guardsman who went missing while trying to save a cat from a severe flash flood.

The Howard County Police Department confirmed in a tweet sent out at around 1.30pm that a deceased adult male who was found in the river across the Baltimore County line this afternoon was positively identified as 39-year-old Eddison Alexander Hermond.

Police say Hermond was last seen alive at around 5.20pm on Sunday evening trying to help a woman rescue her cat behind a restaurant during the flooding that devastated Ellicott City when he was swept away by the waters.

Hermond was reportedly holding a door to keep the floodwaters out when he went back outside to help the woman. He was the sole person reported missing in the flood.

Confirmed dead: National Guardsman Eddison Hermond was found dead in the Patapsco River in Maryland on Tuesday. He was last seen trying to help others during the Ellicott City on Sunday

Dramatic drone footage shows the devastation to a Maryland city caused by a severe flash flood

The aerial shots show the damage done to Main Street in Ellicott City, which was struck by a '1,000-year flood' for the second time in two years

Friends frantically shared the Air Force veteran's image on Facebook and said witnesses saw him being swept toward Patapsco River.

'Local news is saying no one is missing, but we don't know where our brother is,' Bonnie Hoppa wrote on Facebook.

'Please, please, please, if you know where Eddison is, we are extremely worried.'

Lt Col Charles Kohler, a spokesman for the guard, said Hermond was a sergeant assigned to the training department at the Camp Frettard Military Reservation in Reisterstown.

He said Hermond was not on duty Sunday evening and had not had guard training during the weekend.

Hermond spent more than 10 years on active duty in the Air Force, starting in 1996. After a break in military service, he joined the Maryland National Guard in 2009, according to Kohler.

The industrial and commercial area near Main Street appears to have come to a standstill as the region recovers from the fierce flooding

This image made from video provided by DroneBase shows damage by floodwaters near the intersection of Ellicott Mills Drive and Main Street in Ellicott City

Business owners in the town, which is about 20 miles from Baltimore, say they are determined to rebuild and pull together as a community again after the second terrible flood in less than two years

Simon Cortes, owner of La Palapa Grill & Cantina, said Monday it's 'a horrible time,' and his business had about 1 foot of water inside. But he says the town has been through it before

Randy Marriner, who owns the Manor Hill Tavern, says he hopes to be one of the first businesses to reopen and 'be a bright light to our brothers and sisters in Ellicott City'

The image above shows a roadway that was cut in half by the flooding, which also left debris in its wake

Main Street remained blocked off, even to residents and business owners, on Monday morning and 600 Howard County residents were still without power

Aerial footage showed the damage done to Main Street in Ellicott City, which was struck by a '1,000-year flood' for the second time in two years.

Friends frantically shared the Air Force veteran's image on Facebook, who said witnesses saw him being swept toward Patapsco River

The industrial and commercial area near Main Street appears to have come to a standstill as the region recovers from the fierce flooding.

Business owners in the town, which is about 20 miles from Baltimore, say they are determined to rebuild and pull together as a community again.

Simon Cortes, owner of La Palapa Grill & Cantina, said Monday it's 'a horrible time,' and his business had about 1 foot of water inside.

But he says the town has been through it before.

He says he has a lot of friends there, and he feels 'like it's our duty to make sure that we rebuild and open back up.'

Randy Marriner, who owns the Manor Hill Tavern, says he hopes to be one of the first businesses to reopen and 'be a bright light to our brothers and sisters in Ellicott City.'

Violent floodwaters surged through Ellicott City on Sunday, sweeping away dozens of cars and toppling buildings as more than 8 inches of rain dumped down in five hours.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has since declared a state of emergency for all of Maryland.

Residents gather by a bridge to look at cars left crumpled in one of the tributaries of the Patapsco River on Monday

A car that was swept into the riverbank rests just off Main Street in flood-ravaged Ellicott City on Monday morning

'Less than two years ago, the citizens of Howard County and Ellicott City went through a horrific ordeal, and sadly, they are facing a similar emergency today,' Hogan said.

Footage taken by one witness showed the town's historic stone cottage being completely swept away and destroyed by the turbulent currents.

A man was captured in one video desperately trying to reach safety as half a dozen cars floated near him. The woman who shot the video, Natalie Walterhoefer, said the man was rescued moments later and was safe.

Other videos showed waves of water rushing through the city's Main Street as it surged as high as 6ft at the height of the flash flooding.

Violent floodwaters surged through Ellicott City on Sunday, sweeping away dozens of cars and toppling buildings as more than 8 inches of rain dumped down in five hours

Dramatic photos and video emerged showing fast-moving torrents of brown water rushing down Main Street in Ellicott City, just outside Baltimore

Dramatic footage emerged of a man desperately trying to escape flash flooding in Maryland on Sunday as torrents of brown water swept away a building and multiple cars around him. A woman said he was rescued moments later

The flash floods prompted emergency rescues as the raging waters engulfed cars and rose above the first floor of some buildings

Footage taken by bystanders showed waves of water rushing through the city's Main Street as it engulfed cars and reached as high as six-foot

The horror flash flooding in Maryland transformed streets into raging rivers as torrential rain soaked much of the state

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood emergency for the city, warning that it was a catastrophic and life-threatening situation

Thirty rescues were carried out into Monday morning, officials told CNN.

The Patapsco River rose 17.8ft in two hours to 24.13ft, beating the previous record of 23.6ft.

A spokeswoman in Baltimore County said the fire department has received dozens of calls about cars stuck in high water and flooded basements.

After the floodwaters receded by 8.30pm, emergency officials had no immediate reports of fatalities or injuries.

Heavy flood waters also destroyed a bridge near the Howard/Baltimore County line at the Patapsco River about 1.4 miles away from Ellicott City

Portions of the bridge were washed away, making the road impassable on Monday. Pictured is more of the bridge damage

After the water receded later on Sunday, wrecked cars were strewn across Main Street in Ellicott City

Rescue personnel examine damage on Main Street after a flash flood rushed through the historic town of Ellicott City

By nightfall first responders and rescue officials were still going through the muddied, damaged downtown to assess the damage

By nightfall first responders and rescue officials were still going through the muddied, damaged downtown, conducting safety checks and ensuring people evacuated.

Main Street remained blocked off, even to residents and business owners, on Monday morning and 600 Howard County residents were still without power.

Heavy flood waters also destroyed a bridge near the Howard/Baltimore County line at the Patapsco River about 1.4 miles away from Ellicott City, according to Fox Baltimore.

Portions of the bridge were washed away, making the road impassable.

Flood warnings remained for the Anne Arundel, Prince Georges, and Howard counties on Monday, but the threat of more heavy rain and flash flooding has passed, according to NBC Washington.

But left in its wake is a town that must rebuild after only just recently recovering from similar destruction.

The community set along the west bank of Maryland's Patapsco River was stricken by deadly flash flooding two years ago.

After the floodwaters receded, emergency officials had no immediate reports of fatalities or injuries

Authorities urged residents on Sunday to seek higher ground immediately and people were being warned to avoid downtown Ellicott City

Water rushes through Main Street in Ellicott City on Sunday as it swept away multiple vehicles

Main Street, where the devastation occurred in Ellicott City on Sunday, is the same area struck by flash flooding in July 2016. In that flood, Ellicott City received 6.6 inches of rain over a two to three hour period.

Some residents of Ellicott City told The Baltimore Sun the flooding appeared to be worse than a storm two years ago that took lives and destroyed local businesses.

Officials said 96 percent of the businesses hit by the flooding were open again before Sunday's catastrophe hit, and more than 20 new businesses had opened on Main Street.

Now may are being forced to decide once again if they will rebuild.

The city had just this month received $1million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to fund projects that would help reduce Main Street's flood risk.

'It took two years to get the money and it's ironic that we just got it this month,' Gov Hogan said.

'Nobody expected another storm of this magnitude to come two years later because, as I said, they're only supposed to happen every 1,000 years.'

Authorities started to carry out water rescues in the streets with one fire department receiving dozens of calls on Sunday

Authorities said they had no immediate reports of any fatalities but rescue crews were still checking flooded buildings and streets

Main Street, where the devastation occurred in Ellicott City on Sunday (pictured above), is the same area struck by flash flooding in July 2016

Kittleman said he considers the damage worse than the flooding two summers ago.

'It's hard for me to even understand how this could happen two years later, but clearly this is worse than it was in July of 2016,' he said. 'I want to make it very clear to everyone, this is worse.'

'A lot of the businesses' first floors are gone like they were two years ago.'

Kittleman said he was 'heartbroken' to see the city so severely damaged again so soon.

'They are faced with the same daunting task again,' Kittleman said of the the city's residents and business owners. 'We will be there for them as we were in 2016,' he said.

Mike Muccilli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, said it was too early to make comparisons between the two floods but said both were devastating.

'In a normal heavy rain event, you wouldn't see this amount of flooding, where you see cars floating down the road,' Muccilli said. 'This was a true flash flood.'

Cars were engulfed by the torrents of water rushing Ellicott City on Sunday afternoon
Steven Heywood Assistant Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police (GMP), oversaw the operation which led to the the death of Anthony Grainger, 36

A high rank police official may face a criminal trial over evidence he gave to a public inquiry into the death of father-of-two who was shot by an officer, the police watchdog has said.

Steven Heywood Assistant Chief Constable at Greater Manchester Police (GMP), oversaw the operation which led to the the death of Anthony Grainger, 36, who was shot by police.

The father-of-two died of a single gunshot wound to the chest after the car he was in was stopped in Culcheth, Cheshire, on March 3 2012.

Mr Heywood gave evidence at a public inquiry into his death and the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said a report into the incident has been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.

An IOPC spokesman said: 'Our investigation looked at the evidence given by Assistant Chief Constable Steven Heywood at the inquiry, particularly in relation to how he recorded information in his police log book.

'In reviewing the evidence, we have decided that there is an indication that ACC Heywood may have committed a criminal offence.

'Our report, along with supportive evidence, has been shared with the CPS to consider if the following offences have been committed: perverting the course of justice, and misconduct in public office.'

Killed: Father-of-two Anthony Grainger (pictured) died of a single gunshot wound to the chest after the car he was in was stopped in Culcheth, Cheshire, on March 3 2012

The IOPC also investigated Detective Chief Inspector Robert Cousen, who gave evidence to the inquiry as senior investigating officer, but the spokesman said there was no indication Mr Cousen had committed a criminal offence.

The watchdog will consider publishing the findings of its investigations following the publication of the findings of the inquiry and the conclusion of any related proceedings.

Swoop: Police believed they had intelligence Mr Grainger and two others were part of an organised crime unit and were planning an armed robbery on a Sainsbury's store in the village. Above, the car he was in

The public inquiry into the death of Mr Grainger, 36, from Bolton, began in January last year and heard officers relied on out-of-date intelligence and inaccurate briefings.

The father-of-two was shot by a firearms officer through the windscreen of a stolen Audi in a car park in Culcheth, Cheshire, on March 3, 2012.

A GMP spokesman said: 'We have received the reports and recommendations from the IOPC related to two serving police officers and now will consider the findings before responding.

'It would be inappropriate for us to comment further at this stage.'

Police were previously accused of acting 'above the law' in relation to Mr Grainger's death after the case against a chief constable over the fatal shooting collapsed because his force demanded evidence be kept secret.

Sir Peter Fahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, was due to stand trial on Monday accused of Health and Safety breaches in the operation that lead to Mr Grainger's death.

Police believed they had intelligence Mr Grainger and two others were part of an organised crime unit and were planning an armed robbery on a Sainsbury's store in the village.

It was later discovered that he was unarmed and there were no weapons in the car. The three men with Mr Grainger were later acquitted of charges of conspiracy to rob.

The Crown Prosecution Service decided the marksman should not face charges for murder or manslaughter because a jury would be likely to accept that he believed his actions were necessary.

Instead, Sir Peter, who had pleaded not guilty, had been charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act.

But the prosecution abandoned its case after deciding some evidence collected by police was so sensitive it would not be in the public interest to be heard in open court.

Charged: Sir PeterFahy, chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, had been charged under the Health and Safety at Work Act in relation to the police operation that led to Mr Grainger's death

The evidence is thought to relate to the role of paid police informants and decisions made during the extensive covert surveillance operation that led to Mr Grainger's death.

The judge, Mr Justice William Davis, had also granted anonymity to some 30 police officers who were witnesses or would be mentioned in the case.

But lawyers for Sir Peter, who was prosecuted as head of the force, argued he could not get a fair trail if certain evidence was not made public in court.

Mr Justice Davis ordered that the evidence should be given if the defendant was to get a fair trial - at which point the prosecution, after consulting with the police, decided not to proceed.

Mr Grainger's family said they were 'hugely disappointed' at the outcome and 'simply want answers'.

And their solicitor, Jonathan Bridge, warned it could set 'a really dangerous precedent where the police are in effect above the law in cases where there is sensitive evidence,' The Times reported.

He added that the family would approach the Home Office next week about the future conduct of the case and may seek a public enquiry.

The prosecution argued that during the covert operation, the Greater Manchester Police made '26 failings' arising out of armed police officers being deployed without any proper intelligence basis.

It also argued and the use of armed police was unnecessary or premature.

The decision by William Boyce, QC, to abandon the case at Liverpool Crown Court effectively ends all criminal proceedings over the death of Mr Grainger.

The CPS said: 'We have considered the rulings made by the judge that there is material which needs to be disclosed in open court in order for the defendant to have a fair trial.

'After consulting with relevant parties, we have concluded that we are unable to reveal that material for public interest reasons. We are therefore unable to proceed.'
Melania Trump is taking meetings with her staff, her office said, as the first lady hasn't been seen in public for 19 days - since shortly before she had a procedure on her kidneys.

'She has had several meetings internally with staff, and will continue to do so this week. We are focusing on her initiatives, and also some longer term planning for events such as the congressional picnic and 4th of July,' her spokesperson Stephanie Grisham said in a statement to DailyMail.com.

But she offered no indications when Melania Trump may be seen in public again.

Melania Trump was last seen in public on May 10, when she joined President Trump at Andrews Air Force base to welcome home hostages from North Korea.

The first lady's office said she is having meetings with her staff to work on initiatives and plan the Congressional picnic and the Fourth of July celebrations. She announced her 'Be Best' campaign shortly before her surgery.

While her office said she is working, there have been no photos of her sent out by a White House that is image conscious and photo heavy.

The first lady herself has posted videos on social media of her work, such as one posted about the White House holiday decorations in December and another on her preparations for the first state dinner in April.

But there has been nothing about Melania Trump, leading to questions about why she spent a week in the hospital for an embolization procedure and her prolonged recovery at home.

No date has been set for this year's congressional picnic but last year's took place on June 22 on the White House South Lawn. The White House traditionally hosts a big Fourth of July celebration.

If the first lady isn't planning on appearing in public until then, that's nearly a month away.

Additionally the first lady announced her 'Be Best' campaign a few days before she went into the hospital.

When asked, the first lady's office merely says she's 'doing well.'

President Donald Trump said last week the first lady is 'doing great' after her kidney surgery.

'She's doing great. Right there. She's doing great,' he said on the White House lawn last Friday morning before he left to give the commencement address at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

'She's looking at us, right there,' he added and pointed to a window in the White House residence above him.

The first lady was not visible to reporters on the ground.

She underwent an embolization procedure on Monday, May 14, likely to remove a cyst from her kidney. Her office said it was benign, or non-cancerous.

Melania Trump underwent an embolization procedure on Monday, May 14, likely to remove a cyst from her kidney. President Trump visited her several times in the hospital.

While Melania Trump hasn't been visible in public, she has been a presence on social media.

She spent a week in the hospital recovering, returning to the White House on Saturday, May 19.

Her last public appearance was on May 10 when she accompanied the president to Joint Base Andrews to greet three North Korean detainees on the tarmac after they were released the evening before.

The day before she and the president celebrated military mothers at the White House ahead of Mother's Day weekend.

And she had announced her Be Best campaign against social media bullying two days before that.

While she hasn't been visible in public, she has been a presence on social media.

On Monday, she tweeted her thanks to service members and their families in honor of Memorial Day.

Her twitter account had a post two days after her surgery thanking her doctors and her Instagram account paid tribute to Medal of Honor winner Britt Slabinski last Thursday.

She also tweeted about the school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, last Friday, writing: 'My heart goes out to Santa Fe and all of Texas today.'

It's unknown if the first lady, who is an active presence on social media, wrote those posts or if they were written by staff.

The first lady's office said Melania Trump is working on plans for the Fourth of July. She's pictured her at last year's festivities with President Donald Trump.

The first lady is also working on the upcoming Congressional picnic. Here she holds a baby at last year's event.

Under a kidney procedure such as the first lady's, doctors block a flood vessel in order to stop blood flow to a specific area and stop a patient from bleeding.

After she returned to the White House, she thanked people for their good wishes.

'Our office has received thousands of calls and emails wishing Mrs. Trump well, and we thank everyone who has taken the time to reach out,' the White House said in a statement on Saturday May 19.

Melania Trump is not the first first lady to undergo surgery while living in the White House.

Laura Bush underwent neck surgery in 2007. She also had skin cancer removed from her shin in 2006.

Nancy Reagan had breast cancer surgery in 1987 and Rosalyn Carter had a procedure to remove a nonmalignant lump from her breast in 1977.

The president was subject to some social media rubbing after her return to the White House when he misspelled her name as 'Melanie' in a tweet welcoming her home.

'Great to have our incredible First Lady back home in the White House. Melanie is feeling and doing really well. Thank you all for your prayers and best wishes!' Trump wrote, before the tweet was swiftly deleted and replaced with a correct version.
A Canadian computer hacker has been sentenced to five years in prison in connection with a massive security breach at Yahoo that federal agents say was directed by Russian government spies.

U.S. Judge Vince Chhabria on Tuesday also fined 23-year-old Karim Baratov $250,000.

Baratov pleaded guilty in November to nine felony hacking charges.

Karim Baratov (above), a Canadian man, pleaded guilty Tuesday to charges stemming from a massive breach at Yahoo! that authorities say was directed by two Russian intelligence agents and affected at least a half billion user accounts

Baratov pleaded guilty to the charges and will now spend the next five years behind bars

He acknowledged hacking thousands of webmail accounts for seven years ending with his arrest last year.

Baratov charged customers $100 to obtain another person's webmail passwords by tricking them to enter their credentials into a fake password reset page.

Prosecutors allege that the Russian security service hired the Kazakhstan-born Baratov to target email accounts using information obtained from the Yahoo hack.

Baratov's attorneys said their client hacked only eight accounts for the Russians and that he didn't know he was working for the Russian spy agency.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria had openly struggled to find the right sentence for Baratov, noting that hes a relatively young defendant with no prior criminal history and strong family connections.

Karim Baratov was convicted after hacking into email accounts on behalf of Russian intelligence

Baratov was arrested in Hamilton, Ontario, and later agreed to forego an extradition hearing and face the US charges.

'He's been transparent and forthright with the government since he got here,' said one of his attorneys, Andrew Mancilla.

Much of the discussion in court focused on weighing the seriousness of Baratovs crimes compared to other hacking cases according to the Daily Beast.

Baratovs lawyers argued for a 45 month sentence, arguing that his hacking was less serious than the large-scale thefts of credit card numbers that have drawn prison terms as high as 25 years in the United States.

Prosecutors countered that Baratov was actually worse, because he targeted individuals on behalf of anonymous clients without regard for the consequences.

Akhmet Tokbergenov, left, and Dinara Tokbergenova, parents of alleged Yahoo hacker Karim Baratov, leave the court after their son was sentenced to five years in jail

In this courtroom sketch, Karim Baratov, right, addresses the court as his lawyer Amedeo Dicarlo, bottom left,, Crown Heather Graham, second from left, lawyer Deepak Paradkar,top left, and Justice Alan Whitten look on during Baratov's bail hearing in Hamilton, Ontario

One of Baratov's clients was an officer with Russia's Federal Security Service, or FSB, who used an alias to commission hacks on 80 targets in all, including people in other Russian agencies, and government officials in neighboring Eastern European nations.

The Russian agents, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, used the information they stole from Yahoo! to spy on Russian journalists, US and Russian government officials and employees of financial services and other private businesses, according to prosecutors.

Dokuchaev, Sushchin and a third Russian national, Alexsey Belan, were also named in the indictment filed in February, though it's not clear whether they will ever set foot in an American courtroom since there's no extradition treaty with the Kremlin.

Karim Baratov, a Canadian citizen born in Kazakhstan, pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy and identity theft charges last November with a black market no-questions-asked hacking service he operated from 2010 until his arrest in March 2017

The Russian agents, Dmitry Dokuchaev and Igor Sushchin, used the information they stole from Yahoo! to spy on Russian journalists, US and Russian government officials and employees of financial services and other private businesses, according to prosecutors. The Kremlin is seen above in Moscow

Baratov's attorneys said their client hacked only eight accounts for the Russians and did not know that he was working for Russian agents connected to the Yahoo! breach

Though the US government had previously charged individual Russian hackers with cybercrime - as well as hackers directly linked to the Chinese and Iranian governments - this was the first criminal case to name as defendants sitting members of the FSB for hacking charges, the Justice Department said.

Yahoo user accounts began being compromised at least as early as 2014.

Dokuchaev and Sushchin turned to Baratov after learning that one of their targets had accounts at webmail providers other than Yahoo, prosecutors said.

'It is hard to catch these people,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Shih said in court. 'And in terms of the state-sponsored connection, it really is a deterance concern.'
Harvey Weinstein's lawyer gave another preview of the defense he plans to offer up for his client during a pre-trial appearance in Manhattan Criminal Court on Tuesday.

Ben Brafman told reporters that the woman who alleges she was raped by Weinstein multiple times during a 2013 incident in a midtown hotel was having a decade-long affair with the producer.

'This is an extraordinary case in my judgement where the only rape victim that Mr. Weinstein is accused of raping is someone with whom he has had a 10-year consensual sexual relationship - both before and after the alleged incident,' stated Brafman.

He also called the woman's allegations 'absurd.'

The lawyer for Harvey Weinstein (above on Friday) has begun to test out possible defenses in the media

Pushing the protective order: 'The only rape victim that Mr. Weinstein is accused of raping is someone with whom he has had a 10-year consensual sexual relationship,' said Brafman

Brafman also said he had concerns about his client being able to get a fair trial.

'The ability for people to keep an open mind is of concern to me,' remarked Brafman.

'Demanding an indictment or prosecution is inappropriate pressure. It is unprecedented. It troubles me and I want to make those matters known to the court.'

He then noted: 'I'm not certain that there's any remedy but I wanted to make clear I was unhappy with those issues.'

Brafman seems to be gauging public response to a number of defenses ahead of the trial, having previously taken a different approach to explaining his client's behavior outside court on Friday.

Weinstein did not come out on Tuesday but is in the New York area after surrendering his passport last Friday.

He also handed over a cashier's check to cover the $1 million cash bond before leaving the court, with Weinstein heading off alone to be fitted for his electronic monitoring bracelet.

Weinstein was ordered to remain in New York or Connecticut as he prepares to face trial, and Brafman said outside court on Friday that Weinstein will enter a plea of not guilty.

Brafman then spoke outside court, and offered up an unexpected defense for his client.

'My job is not to defend behavior. My job is to defend something that is criminal behavior,' stated Brafman.

'Mr. Weinstein did not invent the casting couch in Hollywood. To the extent that theres bad behavior in that industry, that is not what this is about. Bad behavior is not on trial in this case.'

The investigation into Weinstein's alleged assaults is ongoing, and a grand jury is still convened and hearing testimony in the case.

Weinstein will now have the option of testifying in front of that jury should he wish as the men and women now into possible financial fraud and is he worked with members of his staff to identify potential victims.

One of the women accusing Weinstein, Lucia Evans, claimed that she was forced to perform oral sex on him at the then-Miramax offices in Tribeca.

The second woman worked with Weinstein when she claims he forced himself on her at the DoubleTree Hilton in Manhattan.

Evans confirmed the fact that she was one of the woman who helped bring charges against Weinstein in an interview with The New Yorker on Thursday, saying: 'At a certain point, you have to think about the greater good of humanity, of womankind.'

'Today, at the NYPDs 1st Precinct, Harvey Weinstein was arrested, processed and charged with rape, criminal sex act, sex abuse and sexual misconduct for incidents involving two separate women,' said the NYPD in a statement on Friday morning.

'The NYPD thanks these brave survivors for their courage to come forward and seek justice. The arrest and ensuing charges are the result of a joint investigation between the NYPD and the Manhattan District Attorneys Office. Additional information will be provided as it becomes available.'

Cyrus Vance also released a statement, saying: 'Todays charges reflect significant progress in this active, ongoing investigation.

'I thank the brave survivors who have come forward, and my Offices prosecutors who have worked tirelessly on this investigation. I would also like to thank Commissioner James ONeill and our dedicated partners at the NYPD.'

Weinstein seemed carefree in photos taken by DailyMail.com as he strolled into the police precinct in Tribeca on Friday, just a few blocks from his old office.

He carried a copy of the Rodgers & Hammerstein biography, Something Wonderful, as well as a book about the life of Elia Kazan.

Kazan, who was once one of the most celebrated directors in Hollywood, also had an epic fall from grace when he exposed communists in Hollywood during his 1952 testimony in front of the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Weinstein did not have the books on him when he was led out of the station in handcuffs on Friday.

The books were returned to his possession however once he left court.
A small plane crash in Washington state on Sunday has left a woman in critical condition and her boyfriend missing and presumed dead.

Lee Elliott, 70, and his girlfriend Joan Burns were aboard a Cessna 150 when the aircraft went down and sank in Eagle Harbor, off Bainbridge Island.

Burns was rescued from the water by boaters, who found her bleeding near the crash site. She was taken to Harborview Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition.

Lee Elliott, 70, and his girlfriend Joan Burns were sightseeing in the man's Cessna 150 plane on Sunday when the aircraft crashed in the water off Washington state

Boats are seen scouring the water in Eagle Harbor, off Bainbridge Island, before the US Coast Guard called off the search for Elliott

The US Coast Guard suspended the search for Lee on Monday afternoon. They searched Sunday and Monday but didnt find the man, who lived in Edmonds and worked as a master carpenter.

Multiple agencies and civilians took part in the search-and-rescue operation, which was officially called off at 2pm on Monday.

A crew aboard the Kitsap Marine 81, a North Kitsap fire-rescue vessel, used a side-scan SONAR to search the area but were unable to locate the sunken aircraft.

'We extend our deepest condolences to those affected by this tragedy, as well as thank all of our partner agencies and community members who assisted with search efforts for their dedication and service to the public,' the Coast Guard said in a prepared statement.

The Coast Guard says the search may resume pending additional information.

Elliott lived in Edmonds and worked as a master carpenter, but his brother said the man's true passion was aviation

Lee Elliott's brother, Scott, told KIRO7 his sibling had a passion for aviation.

He loved to fly. To be honest with you, it was the way he would have wanted to go, he said. 'Wow, he went out big.'

His family said Elliott and Burns were taking in the sights over Elliott Bay on Sunday evening when they descended to take a closer look at a group of seals.

According to Scott, Lee was looking at a navigation app on his iPad when he realized too late that he was flying too close to the water.

After the plane plunged into 100 feet of water, Burns, who is in her 60s, was able to unbuckle her seatbelt and escape the cockpit.

The National Transportation Safety Board says it will investigate the crash.
UNC Charlotte student Polly Rogers, 20, was killed when she fell from a moving party bus during a fraternity event earlier this month

A North Carolina sorority sister who fell to her death from a moving party bus had a blood alcohol content level that was double the legal driving limit.

Polly Rogers, 20, was killed after she fell out of an emergency window and into the street during a Kappa Sigma fraternity event on May 1.

A toxicology report found that Rogers had a blood alcohol content level of .19 at the time, according to the North Carolina Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

Rogers, who attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, landed in the middle lane of a street and was struck by two vehicles. She died at the scene.

The Kappa Sigma Fraternity, which rented the bus to take students to a bar for an event, was suspended following the horrific accident.

It was also discovered that the party bus Rogers fell from was not insured and had fake license plates.

Charlotte Party Charters owner Victor Rabb could face thousands of dollars in citations after authorities found the bus violated numerous safety protocols.

A toxicology report found that Rogers had a blood alcohol content level of .19 at the time of the accident. Pictured is the bus that Rogers fell from

Charlotte Party Charters owner Victor Rabb (pictured) could face thousands of dollars in citations after authorities found the bus violated numerous safety protocols

An inspection found that the bus had unmarked emergency exits, a discharged fire extinguisher, faulty windshield wipers, no warning devices, an engine oil leak, and balding tires, according to WSOCTV.

Police said Rogers was struck by two vehicles when she fell out of the window on May 1

Highway Patrol also discovered that the bus was not registered with the state.

While one father alleged that the emergency latches on the windows had been broken, the investigation found no problem with them.

But the violations were serious enough that the bus has since been taken off the road

Around 50 to 60 people were on the bus the night Rogers was killed. The bus seats 50.

According to the bus company's website, persons under the age of 21 are not allowed to drink on the vehicle.

A disclaimer states that it is the responsibility of the person who rents the bus to check ages. The website has since been taken down.

An agent with the Alcohol Law Enforcement told the outlet that it is the responsibility of the driver to make sure everyone drinking is 21 or over.

The bus has room for 50 people and was taking Rogers to a bar for a Kappa Sigma event

The Kappa Sigma Fraternity, which rented the bus, was suspended following the accident

The agent also said they have had previous issues with the bus company.

'We've seen violations at the previous encounters. Alcohol violations, some commercial motor vehicle violations,' the agent said without elaborating.

Roger's sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, set up a GoFundMe to help her family pay for her funeral costs.

'Polly was the friendliest person you would ever meet in your life,' chapter president Alexis Marie Burns said in a statement.

Rogers was a sophomore at UNC Charlotte studying special education. She was also a member of the sorority Zeta Tau Alpha

She could always be found in the common areas of the house greeting sisters after their day at classes and making sure their day was going great.'

The fraternity also released a statement, saying they were 'deeply saddened' by Rogers' death.

'Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Rogers family and to her loved ones,' the fraternity said in a statement.

'We are in the process of conducting an investigation of the event. The Kappa Sigma Fraternity will fully cooperate with all investigations of the University and local authorities.'
Border forces stopped four Polish criminals from leaving Britain with almost 1.5 million in cash - hidden in bags of chicken feed.

Poles Mariusz Ancygier, 28, and Mariusz Maciag, 38, were stopped by officers at the Channel Tunnel - with almost a million pounds stashed inside animal food in their van.

The pair were caught at the Folkestone border on November 11, 2015.

Poles Mariusz Ancygier, 28, and Mariusz Maciag, 38, were stopped by officers at the Channel Tunnel - with almost a million pounds stashed inside animal food in their van

Eight days later, police arrested Adam Grobelny, 32, and Marcin Nowaczyk, 29, carrying 500,000 in cash hidden in chicken feed heading to the same Polish zoo

Border Force agents stopped the two vans as they tried to leave the country in 2015

Investigators found the cash hidden inside the food bags and vacuum packed to protect it

They tried claiming the sacks of feed were destined for a zoo in Poland - despite having 980,000 in vacuum-sealed cash inside.

Eight days later, officers stopped another van, destined for the same zoo, loaded with animal food sacks and 500,000 in cash.

Adam Grobelny, 32, and Marcin Nowaczyk, 29, were arrested at the scene.

All four men were found guilty today following a two week trial at Canterbury Crown Court.

Ancygier and Maciag were each sentenced to seven years in prison, while Grobelny and Nowaczyk received two years each.

National Crime Agency Dover branch operations manager Mark Harding said: 'Organised crime groups rely on money launderers like these men to allow them to benefit from their crime and re-invest their criminal profits.

'Not only have we taken a considerable sum of cash out of the hands of criminal networks, we have taken a group of money launderers out of that chain.

'This makes it more difficult for criminals trying to clean their dirty cash.'

National Crime Agency investigators were able to piece together their movements before they found the cash - proving they had stopped from picking up the feed in Essex but before arriving at the Chunnel.

Paul Morgan, Director of Border Force South East and Europe said: 'Border Force officers play a crucial role in preventing drugs, contraband or the proceeds of crime from crossing our border, and where our officers suspect that cash may be linked with criminal activity, we have the power to seize it.'

The two vans were supposedly carrying animal feed to a zoo in Poland, but instead they had a total of 1.5 million in cash vacuum packed and hidden inside the bags of chicken feed
A rocket-obsessed man who was arrested in California on suspicion of having explosives after a blast killed his ex-girlfriend at her day spa has walked free after a judge dismissed a charge against him.

Stephen Beal was released from jail Sunday - a day after a judge approved prosecutors' request to drop a single charge of possessing an unregistered destructive device, a spokesman for the US attorney's office said Tuesday.

Beal, 59, was arrested during the investigation of the May 15 bombing that killed Ildiko Krajnyak in her Orange County spa, but he was never named as a suspect in the blast.

Federal investigators said they had discovered two improvised explosive devices, three firearms and more than 100 pounds of explosive material during a search that Beal allowed of his house.

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Stephen Beal (pictured in February 2018), 59, who was arrested in California on suspicion of having explosives after a blast killed his ex-girlfriend at her day spa has walked free after a charge was dismissed against him

Beal, 59, was arrested during the investigation of the May 15 bombing that killed Ildiko Krajnyak (pictured together) in her Orange County spa, but he was never named as a suspect in the blast

Beal was released from jail Sunday - a day after a judge approved prosecutors' request to drop a single charge of possessing an unregistered destructive device. Pictured is the inside of the day spa where the explosion occurred

The charges were dropped despite federal investigators discovering two improvised explosive devices, three firearms and more than 100 pounds of explosive material during a search of Beal's home. Another photo shows the inside of the badly damaged spa

Prosecutors sought to drop the charge after the FBI said it had questions about whether material found in the house met the legal definition of a 'destructive device'.

Beal, a model rocket hobbyist, told investigators he had not made any bombs and did not have material for an explosion as powerful as the one he saw in news coverage.

The father-of-four told authorities that the explosives found at his home were part of his rocket-building hobby.

Krajnyak, 48, was killed and two female clients were seriously injured when she opened a box that erupted in a fiery explosion at the spa in the city of Aliso Viejo, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, investigators said.

Beal and Krajnyak had recently split up over issues of exclusivity and finances, he told investigators, according to an affidavit filed in court by an FBI agent. But they remained business partners.

Krajnyak, a mother and licensed cosmetologist, had just returned to California after visiting family in her native Hungary when she died in the blast.

Earlier this month, shocking surveillance images emerged showing the scale of the devastation caused by the massive explosion.

The image shows an investigator surveying the scene, where much of the ceiling appears to have been collapsed, wires were blown out of place, and a hole was created in the wall.

Prosecutors sought to drop the charge against Beal (left and right) after the FBI said it had questions about whether material found in the house met the legal definition of a 'destructive device'

Beal, a model rocket hobbyist, told investigators he had not made any bombs and did not have material for an explosion as powerful as the one he saw in news coverage. His Facebook page has many photos of him traveling with Krajnyak to places like Portugal, Mexico and Canada

The father-of-four told authorities that the explosives found at his home were part of his rocket-building hobby. Above are pictures he posted of rockets on Facebook

Krajnyak's 20-year-old son returned home from Washington State University after hearing the horrific news about his mother, according to KABC-TV.

'It's just all so sudden that a lot of this is still very raw,' an emotional Keanu Vestil told reporters. 'And still really hard to process for everybody.

'I just want to express my gratitude for just all the love and support that I've gotten from everybody in the last two days. It's just been a lot.'

Stuart Davis, who lives a few doors down from Stephen Beal's home in Long Beach, said he often saw Beal and his adult son working on large rockets on their front lawn. The son told Davis that they built movie props, he said.

'I'd come home from home sometimes and there would be rockets, but big, like something you'd see in a movie,' Davis said.

Beal's wife mysteriously died after she fell down the stairs inside two-story home in a tidy middle class neighborhood.

Neighnor Don Westerhoff, 90, told The Orange County Register that Beal and his late wife Christine were moving a heavy piece of furniture down the stairs and Beal lost his grip.

She died in 2008, aged 48, according to coroner's records, with the cause of death listed as 'undetermined'.

Other causes where listed as 'pancreatitis, electrolyte imbalance and other undetermined factors'.

'Chronic lead intoxication' was also mentioned in the report, and an autopsy described the death as mysterious but said there was no evidence of foul play.

Krajnyak's 20-year-old son, Keanu Vestil (above), returned home from Washington State University after hearing the horrific news about his mother

Krajnyak, 48, (left and right) died and three other people were seriously injured in the blast at 11 Mareblu, in Aliso Viejo, California, earlier this month

The explosion blew siding off the walls, exposing insulation and framing and shattering windows at the two-story building

The Orange County Register reported that Beal won a $500,000 settlement from American International Life Assurance Company of New York in 2010.

He said Christine died from traumatic pancreatitis after she fell while carrying a 49lb end-table.

An FBI agent wrote a note earlier this month that was included in the court filing which said the materials found in Beal's home were 'not consistent with that of a model rocket'.

Nathan Beal told The Associated Press that his father built sport rockets fueled by a propellant that is legally available at specialty hobby shops. He believes federal agents may have found 'motor cases made out of aluminum'.

He said it was 'highly unlikely' his father was guilty of any charge related to a destructive device.

The biggest of the rockets used about five pounds of fuel in multiple motors.

The younger Beal also confirmed that Stephen had been in a relationship with the woman killed in the blast but they recently broke up.

Beal's Facebook page has many photos of him traveling with Krajnyak, a married mother-of-one of Coto de Caza, Orange County.

Photos on his Facebook page showed them living it up in far-flung places: a beach in Cuba, restaurants in Portugal, and riding jet skis in Mexico. But the romance cooled earlier this year after disputes over exclusivity and finances, authorities said

Krajnyak was a licensed cosmetologist who ran day spa Magyar Kozmetika out of the first floor of the building. Authorities say the explosion occurred on the same floor, after a package was delivered

Their travel destinations included Mexico, Canada and Portugal.

State documents show Beal and Krajnyak as officers in a skin care business called I&S Enterprises.

Krajnyak was a licensed cosmetologist who ran day spa Magyar Kozmetika out of the first floor of the building.

Authorities say the explosion occurred on the same floor, after a package was delivered.

One of the other women injured in the blast told federal investigators that the device was inside one of a number of cardboard boxes on the floor, according to court doucments.

When Krajnyak opened the box, it exploded.

The victim said she remembers being thrown backwards onto the floor and seeing smoke and flames.

A witness told investigators that she saw 'everything on fire' after the blast.

Investigators said they found a nine-volt battery, a cell phone, melted material believed to be duct tape and loose wires, according to the court filing.

The blast blew siding off the walls, exposing insulation and framing and shattering windows at the two-story building.

'At this point, we do not believe this was an accident,' Paul Delacourt, special agent in charge of the FBI's field office in Los Angeles, said two weeks ago. 'Our working theory is that this explosion was caused by a device.'

Pieces of the device found at the scene were being sent to the FBI's laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, to be analyzed, he said.

Firefighters and sheriff's deputies escort children from Academy on the Hill pre-K school in Aliso Viejo on Tuesday, May 15, 2018, after the fatal explosion nearby

Krajnyak (pictured) was originally from Hungary and had just visited there just before the explosion

Delacourt said investigators were still working to determine a motive and figure out exactly how the device was brought to the spa.

Photos on Beal's Facebook page, where he described himself as an actor and a member of the SAG-AFTRA actors' union, showed him vacationing with Krajnyak in Cuba, sitting together on the beach and riding jet skis in Mexico and shopping in Portugal.

Krajnyak was originally from Hungary and had just visited there, according to her Facebook page and a neighbor.

It was during her trip to Hungary that the mail which was received at her day spa - including the suspected explosives-laden package, began to pile up.

Her Facebook page showed photos from her home country, including a selfie outside the clinic where she trained to become an aesthetician 30 years ago.

Krajnyak's Orange County business offered services such as facials, waxing and wrinkle treatments.

Court records show she and Beal had filed jointly for bankruptcy in 2014 and the case was dismissed and closed Monday.

Krajnyak and Beal had met online in June 2016 and dated about a year and a half.

Photos on his Facebook page showed them living it up in far-flung places: a beach in Cuba, restaurants in Portugal, and riding jet skis in Mexico.

The romance cooled earlier this year after disputes over exclusivity and finances, FBI Special Agent Evan Jesch wrote.

They remained business partners, with Beal serving as spa manager, and the two operated a separate cosmetics firm.

The home of a homicide victim,Krajnyak, is seen after it was searched by police in Trabuco Canyon, California

The blast occurred on the first floor of the Aliso Viejo building in Orange County that was under renovation

Beal was listed on the spa's lease because Krajnyak and her estranged husband had filed for bankruptcy, he said. Beal paid the $1,500 monthly rent and half the spa's operating costs.

He had to loan Krajnyak money some months to cover her costs.

Beal was once an investment banker who turned to acting after his wife's death several years ago, said friend and neighbor Steven Young. Beal appeared in several small films.

'You can't imagine him doing what we've been hearing,' Young said, referring to the blast.

'I don't recall him ever being visibly angry at anything. He's been a good neighbor and a good friend.'

Two officials told The Associated Press that investigators believe the blast was caused by an explosive package that was specifically targeting the office where the explosion occurred.

One of the officials said one of the victims was believed to be the target.

Investigators said they hadn't yet located an explosive device and were searching through debris.

Mary McWilliams of San Clemente tells the Orange County Register that she saw two women with burns stagger out of the building.

Fire officials say a third person suffered smoke inhalation.

The Orange County district attorney's office said it would provide an update on the investigation later Tuesday.
A British father has died after falling 50ft from a ledge at a Turkish airport, with witnesses claiming he said he 'wanted it to end'.

Andrew Westlake, 30, died in hospital after 'jumping over' the balcony at Dalaman airport in south-west Turkey, according to witnesses.

He had reportedly waited three days for a flight home after 'losing his ticket' and earlier reports suggested he had plunged 15ft out of an aircraft door, which has been disputed by witnesses.

His devastated relatives revealed he had been on his first family holiday with his partner and one-year-old daughter.

Mr Westlake's partner and child were on the Jet2 plane ready to fly home when he was 'removed by staff' after a row.

According to reports in Turkey police are investigating his death as a 'suicide'.

Andrew Westlake, pictured, 30, died in hospital in Turkey after suffering a 50ft fall and witnesses claimed he said he 'wanted it to end' before his death

Previous reports suggested Mr Westlake (pictured) died after a fall from a plane door but witnesses dispute this. He had been removed from a Jet2 flight earlier on the day of his death. He had been on his first family holiday with his partner and one-year-old daughter

His aunt Pauline Butler, 67, told ChronicleLive his mother June, 54, is 'heartbroken and barely able to speak'.

Ms Butler said: 'He doted on his daughter. It was their first family holiday together. He really settled down since she was born.

'He was a really doting dad. He absolutely idolised his little girl. He would do anything for her.'

She added: 'It's just not fair on the family. Really it's diabolical that we are having to piece things together ourselves.'

Her husband Keith, 67, a retired police officer, told the website the details around his death were 'sketchy' and the family was struggling to cope because they 'were not getting answers', appealing for anyone on the flight to get in touch.

Speaking about the incident on the plane, a family friend said: 'They have had quite a volatile relationship but the common denominator is their baby, who they both love.

'His partner and the little girl were on the plane but there seems to have been some kind of dispute, there'd been a fall-out half way through the holiday but they were coming home together on the same flight.

'For some reason, we don't know why, Andrew either left the flight or didn't board the flight.

'His partner was back before the police managed to notify the family of his death.

'He's had a bit of an up and down time in life until the arrival of the little one, after that everything changed.

'He's been in regular work and he absolutely doted on that little girl.

'We've had rumours of a suicide but we know he'd never have done that because there's no way he'd have left her behind.'

A fellow passenger on the flight said Mr Westlake 'seemed nervous' but wasn't aggressive.

He said: 'I was stood next to him and he seemed a bit strange at first, I think he was just nervous.

'I asked if he was all right and he said they had kicked him off a previous flight and the reason he said to me was he had blisters on his feet from sunburn.

'He said there were signs up saying people should not wash their feet and when they questioned him about it, they said it was an insult to their culture.'

Mr Sheldon said passengers went through an intensive search at Dalaman, including being swabbed for explosives, before they were allowed to board.

Mr Westlake had received his boarding pass and passport and was allowed on, Mr Sheldon said, but after around 20 minutes he was removed from the flight.

Mr Sheldon said: 'He didn't act aggressively in any way, he just stood up and got off.

'All he did was say to the man next to him 'I told you that would happen'.

Another passenger called Charlie Tribe said on Facebook: 'This man was removed from our delayed flight around 1am, there was no hassle, no harm, he just stood up and went with the staff, he definitely did not fall from our plane.

Relatives say they are devastated at his death and said Mr Westlake, left and right, 'doted' on his daughter

'My partner Perry and I had been talking to him whilst waiting for our bags to be searched as he was in front of us, he was just wanting to get home.

'He still had his boarding pass and passport. Unfortunately after he was removed from our flight we are unaware of what happened, but there was no trouble with him in the whole time of boarding and leaving.

'We send our condolences to his family.'

Perry Sheldon added: 'He was stood next to me the whole time while waiting to get on the plane. He said multiple times to me that they were going to remove him.

'Not once did he put up a fight not once did he act aggressively towards airport staff.

'In my honest opinion something has happened when he has been in airport staff's custody.'

A 29-year-old woman from Watford flying back to Stansted with her partner and three children told the Mirror the incident happened inside the terminal at 3.30am on Tuesday and said they tried to help him after he crashed into a glass barrier only for him to 'jump over a balcony'.

The witness said: 'My partner watched him stand back up and he backed away from the barrier and then just ran for it and hopped over straight down onto the floor below.'

She added: 'When my partner helped him up he looked so sad and lost.

'The image that my partner still has in his head is the man looking so desperate.'

Another woman, 23, of Hertfordshire, told the Mirror her partner tried to help Mr Westlake after the fall along with a Thomas Cook Airlines worker.

She said: 'When we spoke to the airline representative who went down there, she said that he was saying to her that he just wanted it to end.'

Local media reported Mr Westlake had been stuck in Turkey for three days after waiting for a flight home after losing his ticket.

Hurriyet newspaper claimed he argued with cabin crew after boarding a flight at 3pm and was ordered off the aircraft as a risk to flight safety.

A nearby private hospital found the unconscious passenger had broken ribs as a result of the fall.

Witnesses said Mr Westlake plunged 50ft from a ledge inside the airport, pictured, after first crashing into a glass barrier

Paramedics took him to hospital but he died later from his injuries in the early hours of the morning. Police have launched an investigation into the death.

A Jet2.com spokesman said of Mr Westlake's death: 'We understand that a customer sadly passed away on Tuesday morning, following an incident inside the terminal building at Dalaman Airport.

'Contrary to some reports, we can confirm that the customer was not injured on our aircraft or in the vicinity of our aircraft.

'As investigations are ongoing it would be inappropriate for us to comment any further, however we would like to extend our sincere condolences to the customer's family and friends at this very sad time.'

A Durham Police spokesman added: 'We were informed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the death of British citizen, Andrew Westlake, in Turkey yesterday.

'Our officers passed the devastating news to the family who we are supporting. Our thoughts are with Andrew's family and friends.'

A Foreign and Commonwealth Office spokeswoman said: 'We are supporting the family of a British man following his death in Turkey and we are in touch with the local authorities.'

He was said to be in a dishevelled state with eye witness Ms Long saying his clothes were dirty and he looked like he 'had been having a bad time'.

The fall happened at Dalaman Airport, pictured, in Turkey although details of the fall have been disputed

A British passenger with her daughter and her partner at the busy airport told MailOnline she saw the body of Mr Westlake lying on the floor.

The woman said the incident was witnessed by passengers checking in for a Thomas Cook flight to Stansted and another flight checking in at the same time to Birmingham.

'I saw him lying on the floor below,' she said.

'I screamed for someone to help him and the staff inside the airport came over. There was an airport doctor who treated him while he was laying there'.

Staff at the Glass manufacturers where Westlake worked in Stanley, County Durham, confirmed they had been told he died while on holiday.

'We were informed by a member of the family that he had died while on holiday,' said a worker at Clayton Glass.

'We cannot say anything further'.

Turkish media reported Westlake had boarded a flight back to the UK around 3am local time and became involved in a row with cabin crew.

The captain of the jet is said to have asked for Westlake to be escorted off the flight as he was considered a risk to other passengers.

Dalaman Airport is the main entry point for thousands of British tourists who visit the Turkish resort of Marmaris and Fethiye each year.

Five years ago a court was told that Westlake had a 'history of alcohol abuse' when he was jailed for 18 months for terrorising his own family.

Witnesses said he fell from a 50ft ledge inside the terminal rather than from an airport door as previously reported by Turkish media

Westlake arrived at his mother's home 'extremely drunk and upset' after a break up with his girlfriend, Durham Crown Court was told.

After making threats against his ex on the phone he left with cans of drink and returned later.

The court heard he shouted and swore at his mother's partner and slapped him across the face and also shoved his mother when she tried to calm the situation.

The 13 year old son of Mrs Westlake's partner was so scared by what was taking place he climbed out of an upstairs window and called police.

When officers arrived they found Westlake lying on the kitchen floor having stabbed himself twice in the stomach.

The wounds were superficial and Westlake's lawyer Michael Hodson told the court he was full of remorse and had since reconciled with his partner following the incident in February 2013.

Jailing him, Judge Christopher Prince told Westlake: 'This was a quite terrifying incident for those involved, not least due to your size.

'You have a history of abuse of alcohol and in this case you were completely out of control.'

Westlake, of South View, Annfield Plain, had admitted a charge of causing an affray.

For confidential support call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit a local Samaritans branch
Two people were left needing stitches after a commemorative plane from 1943 crashed following a fly over on Memorial Day.

The Second World War aircraft's engine failed just after noon on Monday, sending it nosediving into the ground near Westport Airport in Kansas, The Wichita Eagle reported.

Just hours earlier, the 1943 Fairchild PT-23 had flown over a memorial service, as part of the Commemorative Air Force-Jayhawk Wing.

The plane was designed to train Air Force pilots and more than 8,000 were built over the lifespan of the design, the Golden Wings Museum says.

A training plane from WWII crashed on Memorial Day as it ran out of fuel and suffered engine failure just after midday

Local police say the 1943 plane clipped a pole and the ground before coming to a stop, and both the male pilot, 42, and female passenger were taken to hospital to get stitches

On a crash report, investigators say the 42-year-old male pilot, who was carrying a female passenger, 'ran out of fuel approaching the runway at Westport Airport and attempted to restart the engine'.

'Engine failed to start and plane crashed leading up to the runway,' the report read.

On the way down, Sergeant Kelly O'Brian told the Witchita Eagle the plane clipped a pole and the ground.

The policeman said with fueling vessels nearby, the accident could have been much worse.

The Kansas Highway Patrol and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident.

The plane crashed nearby fueling vessels, and Sergeant Kelly O'Brian said the people on board were lucky to get out in the condition they did

In neighboring Nebraska, a 1944 Aeronca Defender went down in a bean field following a flyover about 9.15am

In neighboring Nebraska, another Second World War era plane crashed into a bean field about 9am following a flyover.

The 1944 Aeronca Defender, also used for training, went down about 9.15am.

Pilot Dennis Westergaard, 62, and passenger Delmar Chamberlain, 87, were 'pretty roughed up', friend Judy Blomm told KETV, but expected to recover.

Chamberlain, who is a military veteran, was treated and released, while Westergaard was transferred to Nebraska Medicine in Omaha for further treatment.

The cause of the crash is unknown at this time, but Burt County Sheriff's Office and the Federal Aviation Administration are investigating.
John Bradburne didn't just look like Jesus, with his long hair, beard and simple, austere clothes. He also gave his life for others.

In September 1979, the English-born missionary, poet and warden of Mutemwa leper colony in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, was caught up in the country's civil war, the Rhodesian Bush War.

His friends told him to flee the imminent arrival of the bloodthirsty ZANU-PF guerillas who thought he was an informer. But he insisted on remaining with the lepers.

When the guerillas came, they bound Bradburne's hands, took him on a forced march and humiliated him. They made him dance and sing, got him to eat excrement and dangled young women in front of him, before interrogating him and subjecting him to a rigged trial.

They offered him the chance to escape so long as he left the country and abandoned his beloved flock. He refused and, when he knelt down to pray, they shot the 58-year-old in the back with a Kalashnikov, leaving him half-naked by the side of the road.

He was buried in a Franciscan habit, as he had requested, in a cemetery 11 miles outside the capital city, Salisbury, now Harare.

Missionary John Bradburne is set to become the first British saint in more than 400 years

If Bradburne does become a saint, it will be the extraordinary concluding chapter in a thoroughly extraordinary life  one which started in a very conventional way

And now, nearly 40 years after his brutal murder, Bradburne is on the verge of becoming a saint  the first British saint since 1970, when Pope Paul VI canonised Cuthbert Mayne and 39 British companions ('The 40 Martyrs of England and Wales'), who were executed for treason between 1535 and 1679, and the Scottish Catholic martyr John Ogilvie, canonised in 1976.

Campaigners, including Bradburne's niece Celia Brigstocke, are convinced of his power to perform miracles. Mourners at his funeral said they saw drops of blood beneath his coffin, even though no blood was found inside when it was opened. Others claim that, a decade ago, a man was cured of a brain tumour by praying to Bradburne.

And now, with the support of the Archbishop of Harare, the Most Rev Robert Ndlovu, they have raised the money to fund a Vatican investigation to justify his canonisation.

The 58-year-old was killed during missionary work in Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, in 1979

If Bradburne does become a saint, it will be the extraordinary concluding chapter in a thoroughly extraordinary life  one which started in a very conventional way.

Born in Westmorland in 1921, he was the son of an Anglican rector and, by coincidence, a relation of Lord Soames, last Governor of Southern Rhodesia, who oversaw the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980, soon after Bradburne's death.

After private school  Gresham's in Norfolk  he fought in World War II with the 9th Gurkha Rifles, heroically escaping Singapore when it was invaded by the Japanese in 1942.

Bradburne was recommended for the Military Cross for his escape. He had taken refuge in the jungle up country, living off the land. He took a boat to try to reach British-controlled territory, only to be shipwrecked.

He eventually made it to India, and then returned to fight in Burma for the Chindits, British Army raiding groups, with whom he flew into the jungle, deep behind enemy lines, in a glider.

After the war, in 1947, he converted to Catholicism, with aspirations of becoming a monk. But with no monastery prepared to accept him immediately, he opted to travel instead and wandered the world for 16 years, trying his hand at teaching and forestry, and toiling as a stoker on a steam ship. His only worldly belonging was a single Gladstone bag.

On trips home, Bradburne stayed with Carthusian monks in England, and with other religious orders in Israel and Belgium. At one stage, he walked hundreds of miles to Rome and lived for a year in the organ loft of a church in an Italian mountain village.

Born in Westmorland in 1921, Bradburne (far right) was the son of an Anglican rector and, by coincidence, a relation of Lord Soames, last Governor of Southern Rhodesia, who oversaw the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980, soon after Bradburnes death

Where others had rejected the 80 cruelly maimed lepers, Bradburne embraced them and made his home among them, eventually becoming the warden of the colony

He slept in the oddest of places: tin huts; attics; even, at one point, a hen run. He lived as a hermit on Dartmoor, sang in the choir of Westminster Cathedral and became caretaker of a cardinal's Hertfordshire country house for three years. In 1956, he joined the Franciscan Order as a layman.

And, throughout this period, he wrote poems  6,000 in fact, which won him the record for the most prolific poet in the English language in the 2014 Guinness World Records. His poems concentrate on the power of love.

One in particular hauntingly anticipates his wicked, violent murder:

'We want to make it very clear

And easy for you all.

The casting out, by Love, of fear

Is Terrorism's fall.'

Bradburne's restless life  his biography by Didier Rance is aptly subtitled The Vagabond Of God  finally took root in Rhodesia. There, in 1969, he found his calling in the rundown leper colony of Mutemwa.

Bradburne had asked a Gurkha comrade John Dove if he knew of any African caves where he might pray. Dove took him to the Mutemwa leper colony at Mutoko, 90 miles east of Salisbury.

Campaigners, with the support of the Archbishop of Harare, the Most Rev Robert Ndlovu, they have raised the money to fund a Vatican investigation to justify his canonisation

Where others had rejected the 80 cruelly maimed lepers, Bradburne embraced them and made his home among them, eventually becoming the warden of the colony. Before he arrived, the lepers were treated as outcasts, forced to wear bags on their heads to hide their disfigurement whenever an able-bodied visitor arrived.

In contrast, Bradburne prayed with them, drank with them and slept alongside them. He bathed their wounds, cut their nails, shooed away the rats that hounded the colony and, when they died, buried them with dignity.

He built them a small church, and wrote each leper a poem. With his fine voice and classical education, he even taught them to sing Gregorian plainchant in Latin.

Even today, the colony plays his music, beaten out on drums by lepers with no hands. And every year, tens of thousands of people turn up at the colony for Bradburne's memorial mass.

In 2009, on the 30th anniversary of his death, a mass commemorating Bradburne was held at Westminster Cathedral.

But in 1973, his actions were not so warmly received. The Leprosy Association, which ran the colony, took against Bradburne's caring approach. They preferred to refer to the lepers by number rather than name, and thought Bradburne's decent food provisions for them were too generous.

When the association kicked him out, he only moved as far as a nearby tin hut, just outside the colony's wire fence, with no water or electricity, and continued to tend to the lepers.

Before he died, Bradburne said that he had only three wishes  to help lepers, to die a martyr and to be buried in a habit of the Franciscan Order. He achieved all three

Here he lived for six years, denying himself everything except food, water and prayer. Wise churchmen, who appreciated Bradburne's qualities, insisted that he should bring the Eucharist to the lepers; and so the association was forced to admit him, albeit only for brief visits, into the colony.

It was a simple life, of an ancient, Biblical quality. Bradburne described how delighted he was on the day a swarm of bees arrived at the colony; how distraught he was when a tame eagle died.

And then, just as Bradburne had found his ultimate meaning in life and his permanent home, the Rhodesian Bush War took it away. The war raged from 1964 until December 1979  ending just three months after his murder.

There were three forces at war: Ian Smith's Rhodesian government; Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe African National Union; and Joshua Nkomo's Zimbabwe African People's Union. And while the civil war ended white minority rule in Zimbabwe, Bradburne was one of the victims.

A holy man tending to the sick in a remote corner of the country should have been immune from this conflict. But, in the chaos, the madness and malice of civil war, he was considered somehow suspect  and his fate was sealed.

Before he died, Bradburne said that he had only three wishes  to help lepers, to die a martyr and to be buried in a habit of the Franciscan Order. He achieved all three.

Now it seems that, in time, this exceptional Englishman will also become a saint.
A woman allegedly 'counselled' two of her lovers to brutally murder an ex-boyfriend by feeding his body through a woodchipper.

Sharon Graham, 57, was one of three people charged with the alleged murder of Bruce Saunders, 54, who died on a rural property near Gympie, Queensland, on November 12 when his body was allegedly shredded alive in a woodchipper.

Police will allege Ms Graham, from Sunshine Coast, masterminded the alleged killing, and came up with a plan for her co-accused Greg Lee Roser, 59, and Peter John Koenig, 61, to murder him and cover it up as a farm accident, the Sunshine Coast Daily reported.

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Police will allege Ms Graham (pictured after her arrest on Tuesday) masterminded the killing

Alleged victim Bruce Saunders is pictured with a former love interest, Sharon Graham, who was on Tuesday charged with his murder

The police will also allege Ms Graham was romantically linked to all three men at various times.

The three Queensland defendants were arrested on Tuesday following an investigation by the police into the crime.

Police also investigated what links Ms Graham had to Mr Saunders' finances.

Despite not physically being with him on the day of his death, the police will allege Ms Graham conspired to murder Mr Saunders.

Mr Saunders died while helping a newly widowed woman clear trees at a property near Gympie.

He was with Roser and Koenig, who were both charged with murder on Tuesday.

Bruce Saunders, 54, (pictured) died when he was allegedly put through an industrial woodchipper at a Goomboorian property in November

Ms Graham is pictured being taken into police custody on Tuesday following her arrest

Peter Koenig (left), Greg Roser (centre) and Sharon Graham (right) have been charged over the death of Mr Saunders

Mr Saunders was working on a property on Tanana Road clearing vegetation with the two men when he was allegedly murdered with the woodchipper

Ms Graham reportedly took the owner of the property out for the day, when Mr Saunders was allegedly killed.

The woman reportedly still lives in her dead ex-lover's home. She was also reportedly driving his car when she was arrested on Tuesday morning.

In a touching tribute to her former lover after his death, Ms Graham said he treated her 'like gold'.

'His love to me was bigger than anything in this world. He never stopped wanting to do for me. I'm so lost without you Bruce,' she wrote on the Browns Funerals website.

'No word can say what I'm feeling.'

Ms Graham, Roser and Koenig all fronted court separately on Tuesday, charged with murder and perverting the course of justice.

Two people have been arrested over the gruesome death of a man whose body was fed through a woodchipper - police officers are seen taking one of the men into custody this week

When police were called to the property on November 12, they described the scene as 'horrific'.

Gympie Police acting inspector Paul Algie said at the time it was 'one of the worst incident scenes I've ever seen'.

'It was actually quite horrific. His friends discovered him as he became entangled and attempted to extract him from the shredder and were unable to do so.

'They're obviously quite traumatised now.'

The death was originally treated as an accident, but police opened a murder investigation when new details came to light.

When officers returned to the homestead to investigate, they discovered fragments of human remains.

They also discovered clothing and parts of a mobile phone they believe also went through the machine.

Gympie Police acting inspector Paul Algie said at the time it was 'one of the worst incident scenes I've ever seen' (victim Bruce Saunders left and right)

Detectives are seen at the Gympie property, where they discovered human remains

Mr Saunders owned and operated a family butcher shop in Bundaberg, north of Gympie, before moving to Nambour in 2016.

He reportedly moved from Bundaberg after the break down of a relationship, before starting another relationship in Nambour.

Mr Saunders' friends and family were left devastated by the suspected murder of a man they said was always willing to help others.

Queensland police officers have arrested two people over the murder of the Queensland man

When officers returned to the Gympie property to investigate, they found fragments of the human body and bloody clothes (pictured is the local area)

Maryborough Detective Inspector Gary Pettiford said on Tuesday Mr Saunders' family was devastated but relieved after murder charges were laid.

'The family is very relieved. They've been excellent throughout the whole process. They've been patient and very trusting of the police to do our job,' he said.

'They have been briefed and are very thankful.'

Det Insp Pettiford said the family was dealing well with a very difficult situation.

'They're obviously very upset today but obviously very thankful that this stage of the operation is complete,' he said.
Nan Drummond passed away last week at the age of 74 after battling cancer.

The news of her passing was shared by daughter-in-law Ree Drummond, who many know as The Pioneer Woman from her popular Food Network program.

Ree shared the news on her social media accounts as well as her website while paying tribute to the mother, wife, grandmother and friend.

'Some of you may have seen my post on Facebook/Instagram Friday, but I wanted to post here as well that my beautiful mother-in-law Nan died last week,' said Drummond.

'Its a difficult loss for our family, as she was such a rock for all of us. We all had some time to prepare for this, though Ive found over the course of the past few days that nothing really prepares you for losing someone who is so much a part of the fabric of your familys daily life.'

Beloved: Nan Drummond passed away last week at the age of 74 after battling cancer

One-of-a-kind: Her daughter-in-law Ree paid tribute to her in posts on her blog and social media

She had previously revealed that Nan entered hospice on Mother's Day, noting how difficult it had been for the family.

'Ladd and I (and the whole family) are experiencing the pain of having a loved one in hospice care with cancer. The hard news and hospice came on Mothers Day, just as we were entering what was otherwise one of the happiest weeks in the Drummond family, with both Caleb and Paige graduating,' wrote Ree.

'Its been a constant flow (and undefinable mix) of emotions and tearsI havent been able to discern where the graduation tears start and the hospice tears stop.'

Ree also wrote that she sees a little bit of Nan in each of her children and husband Ladd in her tribute to the woman with whom she shared a ranch.

'Fortunately, we have a deep well of memories on which to draw. Nan was always there, ever-present, over the course of my life with Laddand my kids hardly saw any dividing line between our house and hers, they were in and out so much,' said Ree'

'She was a quiet, steady force and lived a faith-filled life. She loved her family.'

The Drummond, which Ree married in to, are one of the biggest landowners in the country.

'She was a quiet, steady force and lived a faith-filled life. She loved her family,' wrote Ree

In its annual list of America's 100 largest landowners, The Land Report revealed that as of 2016 the Drummond Family owns an astonishing 433,000 acres of property.

Drummond, her husband Ladd and their four teenage children make their home just two hours down the road from Oklahoma City in Pawhuska, which is where her husband Ladd's family put down roots four generations ago.

Ladd is now a key player at Drummond Land & Cattle Co, the notoriously private family-held company that Frederick Drummond started after arriving in this country from Scotland in the late 19th century.

In addition to the money they bring in from their cattle and horse endeavors, Drummond Land also manages to clean up thanks to one deep-pocketed tenant - the US government.

DailyMail.com obtained records revealing that since December 2006, the Bureau of Land Management has given Drummond Land & Cattle Co $23.9 million.

The largest of these was awarded on New Year's Eve of 2015, and totaled just over $2 million, while the most recent was for $1,066,464 on June 27.

These contracts are awarded to the family to keep wild horses and burros on their massive property, with government records stating that they need the land to 'support animal protection.'

Country road: Ree married into the Drummond family when she wed Nan's son Ladd, with the family one of the largest landowners in the country

That most recent contract in June was awarded after the Bureau of Land received 24 offers states a copy of the agreement, which will expire on December 31 of this year.

Government records state that Drummond Land & Cattle Co is a four-person organization that brings in $2.5 million a year.

In her popular Food Network show and on her blog and in her memoir as well as her cookbooks and new magazine, Drummond speaks about her love for horses and frequently shares images of the animals on the ranch.

The Drummonds' total property extends over 675 square miles of land, which is over half the size of Rhode Island and would be the seventh largest city in total area in the United States, just behind Butte (716 sq. miles) and ahead of Oklahoma City (606 sq. miles).

It was on the single parcel of land that Pioneer Woman was born after Drummond found herself with a single afternoon to herself a decade ago and decided to start a blog.
More than 1.3million patients have been forced to find a new GP in the last five years following a big rise in the number of surgeries shutting down.

At least 445 GP practices have closed or merged since 2013, according to a major investigation, and the pace of closures is accelerating rapidly.

In 2013, it was still an uncommon occurrence with only 18 practices shutting or merging. However, the study found that by 2017 this had risen to at least 130 closures or mergers  a seven-fold increase.

At least 445 GP practices have closed or merged since 2013, according to a major investigation

That meant almost 460,000 patients last year alone had to find themselves a new family doctor, with 1.3million in total since 2013.

The crisis is being fuelled by a national shortage of GPs, as well as a lack of investment in surgeries. Growing numbers of family doctors are retiring in their 50s or quitting to work abroad, as locums or in the private sector.

But they are not being replaced by younger trainees, despite vigorous recruitment drives and financial incentives. Some understaffed surgeries are tempting doctors with salaries of up to 130,000 a year, plus bonuses.

The closures are hugely distressing for patients, particularly the elderly, who may have been with the same practice for most of their lives.

A closure will also pile the pressure on neighbouring practices who have to take on thousands of additional patients when they already have too many.

Some areas have experienced a domino effect whereby GPs in the remaining surgeries quit as a result of the increased workload, forcing that surgery to close as well.

In Plymouth, a fifth of GP practices have closed in the last three years, ten out of 52, leaving approximately 34,000 patients displaced.

Brighton has seen nine out of 44 surgeries shut in four years, affecting 35,000 patients.

Closures are hugely distressing for patients, particularly the elderly, who may have been with the same practice for most of their lives

Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, warned of a serious failure of the system. A GP practice closing can have serious ramifications for the patient population it served, neighbouring surgeries, the health and wellbeing of the GPs involved.

For those living in isolated areas, this can mean having to travel long distances to get to their nearest surgery, and is a particular worry for those who have to rely on public transport.

Dr Rachel Ali, a member of the British Medical Associations general practitioners committee said the closures were caused by a perfect storm of workforce and workload issues.

The closures are being driven by GPs retiring in their fifties, partly to avoid hefty taxes on their pensions when their value exceeds 1million. In addition, growing numbers of younger doctors are quitting full-time roles to become locums which enables them to earn high salaries with less responsibility.

Figures this month showed the NHS had lost 1,340 GPs since 2016. It is meant to have hired an extra 5,000 by 2020.

Some practices have been offering doctors golden hellos worth 20,000 on top of their salaries as part of an NHS-funded incentive scheme. This recruitment crisis is coinciding with rising patient demand due to migration and an ageing population.

The latest figures were obtained by Pulse magazine through freedom of information requests to clinical commissioning groups, health trusts in England, as well as health boards in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

NHS England said it is beginning to reverse historic underinvestment with an extra 2.4billion going into general practice each year by 2021, a 14 per cent rise in real-terms.

More than half of patients still cant see a GP in the evenings or weekends, NHS figures reveal. The Government has promised that by 2020 all patients will be offered extended hours appointments  between 8am and 8pm on weekdays, as well as weekends.

But the figures, analysed by the Health Service Journal, show only 39 per cent of patients have access to such slots.
MSNBC has been slammed for having Joy Reid comment on air about the cancellation of Roseanne Barrs show over her racist tweets given that Reid was not disciplined for homophobic blog posts which she dubiously claimed was posted by hackers.

Reid appeared on Andrea Mitchells midday show on MSNBC to talk about the Roseanne Barr controversy on Tuesday.

Barrs sitcom, Roseanne, the reboot of the 1990s hit show, was abruptly canceled on Tuesday by ABCs parent company Disney.

The move came hours after Barr tweeted a racist post about former Obama advisor Valerie Jarrett.

MSNBC has been slammed for having Joy Reid (left) comment on air about the cancellation of Roseanne Barrs (right) show over her racist tweets given that Reid was not disciplined for homophobic blog posts which she dubiously claimed was posted by hackers

ABC has decided to cancel Roseanne Barr's television show just hours after the comedian posted a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett

'We have decided to cancel her show,' Channing Dungey, President of ABC Entertainment, announced on Tuesday afternoon

Disney CEO Bob Iger tweeted about ABC's decision, saying: 'There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.' Disney owns ABC Television Group

Barr came under fire for a racist tweet about Valerie Jarrett during an unhinged rant on Tuesday morning

Many on Twitter were appalled by Barr's tweet, which was in response to an article from a conspiracy website

Barr tweeted that Jarrett was the byproduct of what would happen if the 'Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby'.

The comedian then deleted the tweet and apologized.

I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks, Barr later tweeted.

I should have known better. Forgive me - my joke was in bad taste.

The apology had little effect, as ABC announced the shows cancellation.

MSNBCs coverage of the Roseanne firestorm included a segment featuring Reid being interviewed by Mitchell.

Last month Reid apologized for her 'dumb' tweets in the past but maintained she did not write newly unearthed blog posts from 2006 - 2009 which are homophobic

These are some of the posts Reid claims she did not write but which were published on her blog The Reid Report. They were discovered last month by a Twitter user

Other blog posts which appeared included this one which said 'most gay people cringe at the sight of two men kissing'

What do you have to do on social media to get fired from a top rated show on an American broadcast network? Mitchell asked Reid.

Reid answered by talking about Barrs apology. Barr tweeted that she regretted disparaging Jarrett for her appearance.

That was a very telling part of the apology, Reid said.

Im not surprised, this is the kind of humor that Roseanne does.

It appeared Mitchell was unaware of the irony of the question considering that Reid was the subject of a major controversy which also involved offensive content online.

Last month, Reid was condemned for a series of homophobic blog posts that were unearthed on an internet archive.

She then claimed that the posts were the result of hacker manipulation, though that assertion has been doubted by cyber security experts who say Reids claims were implausible.

On the April 28 edition of her show AM Joy, Reid opened by acknowledging she has said 'dumb' and 'hurtful' things in the past.

'The person I am now is not the person I was then,' she said.

But she was unable to explain blog posts from a decade ago that mocked gay people and individuals who were apparently gay.

Reid has denied posting them altogether but says security experts she hired who looked into whether she had been a hacking victim found no proof.

Some on social media said that Reid should also have met the same fate as Roseanne Barr

'I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things because they are completely alien to me.

'But I can definitely understand, based on things I have tweeted and have written in the past, why some people don't believe me,' she said.

'I have not been exempt for being dumb or cruel or hurtful to the very people I want to advocate for. I own that. I get it. And for that I am truly, truly sorry.'

The posts that came to light in December were written for The Reid Report, her blog when she was covering Florida politics a decade ago.

In posts, she refers to then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist as 'Miss Charlie' and suggested he was 'ogling the male waiters' on his honeymoon after marrying his wife, whom he has since divorced.

She questioned whether the marriage was a sham by a gay man who thought it would help him politically.

Reid apologized, saying her remarks were 'insensitive, tone deaf and dumb.'

She also apologized to Ann Coulter for using transgender stereotypes to describe the conservative commentator.

The news site Mediaite revealed a set of other supposed blog posts.

In one of these posts, Reid supposedly notes that 'most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing' and that she couldn't see the movie Brokeback Mountain because she didn't want to watch two male characters having sex.

Another post says that a lot of heterosexuals find the idea of homosexual sex to be gross and that there are concerns that gay men tend to be attracted to young, post-pubescent types and want to bring them 'into the lifestyle.'

Reid has said that these posts were 'fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology.'

She reiterated that but acknowledged she has made hateful comments and has hopefully 'grown as a person.'

'I look back today at some of the ways I've talked casually about people and gender identity and sexual orientation, and I wonder who that even was. But the reality, like a lot of people in this country, that person was me.'

After reading her five-minute statement, Reid then led a panel discussion on gender stereotypes and issues facing the LGBT community.

DailyMail.com has reached out to MSNBC for comment.

Reid is scheduled to co-host a televised town hall on race alongside Chris Hayes of MSNBC.

Jarrett was already scheduled to appear on the show as a guest before the Roseanne controversy erupted on Tuesday.
Harlee Lane Lewis was found dead 'hidden inside a diaper box' just 1,000 yards from her Chesterfield County home

A one-year-old baby's body was found just two hours after reports came in that it was violently abducted from its mother in South Carolina.

Harlee Lane Lewis was found dead 'hidden inside a diaper box' just 1,000 yards from her Chesterfield County home, according to Sheriff Jay Brooks.

The baby's cause of death has not been revealed, according to reports from WISTV.

An Amber Alert had been issued for the girl an hour after she was reported missing but that has since been ended.

Harlee's mother, 19-year-old Breanna Lewis, had alerted authorities and told them that she was walking to her mailbox, while carrying her daughter, when a man in a gold and tan SUV hopped out his vehicle.

She claimed that the man punched her several times in the head before taking the baby with him.

The man was described as being six-foot-two inches, white and having a beard.

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Harlee's mother, 19-year-old Breanna Lewis, was charged with filing a false police report after claiming that her daughter had been abducted

Police detained the woman and now list her as the primary suspect in connection to the 11-month-old's death, according to WSOC.

Their family members are also being questioned and FBI is assisting with the case.

Lewis was charged with filing a false police report.
Four unfinished high-rise buildings in a 'ghost-town' development have been torn down in east China, almost 10 years after the project was abandoned.

The blocks of flats - all between 28 and 30 storeys high - have lay vacant since 2009 after the developer ran out of money and halted the real estate project.

The Vistaria Bay project was intended to be a residential complex and had been constructed metres away from the sea in the port of Yantai, Shandong province in 2007.

Four unfinished high-rise buildings in a 'ghost-town' development have been torn down in Yantai city in Shandong province, almost 10 years after the project was abandoned

Construction was suspended in 2009 after the South Korean investor behind the project pulled out after losing money the global financial crisis, according to reports

However, construction was suspended in 2009 after the South Korean investor behind the project pulled out after the global financial crisis, according to National Business Daily.

Ownership was transferred to a mainland developer, but the development remained unfinished due to local doubts about the scheme.

The company reportedly tried to revive the project but failed.

Footage provided by residents living nearby show the buildings being brought down on Saturday with controlled explosives.

The towers crumbled and disappeared in just 15 seconds.

Witnesses said they could feel the ground trembling beneath them as thick smoke filled the air.

Concerns regarding the foundation of the buildings have been raised, with many people doubting whether the sand could hold the structure securely.

Footage provided by residents living nearby show the buildings being brought down on Saturday with controlled explosives. The towers crumbled and disappeared in just 15 seconds

The proximity to the sea could also bring strong winds and unstable weather, the report added, citing local residents.

The government sanctioned the levelling of the four high-rises recently after unidentified local buyer purchased the land rights for 174 million yuan (20.5 million).

A five-star hotel along with an exhibition centre are now expected to be built on the site.

A check in the neighbouring real estate shows an average market price of 9,000 yuan/square metre (1,057) to 11,000 yuan/square metre (1,292), according to the report.

Work for the new hotel project is expected to begin immediately, according to the report.
French film producer Luc Besson, who has directed films such as Valerian, The Fifth Element and The Big Blue, is being investigated after an actress accused him of raping her on the final day of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival.

The unidentified actress alleged that the incident happened after a meeting with the French screenwriter at the Le Bristol Hotel near the Champs-Elysees in Paris, but Luc Bessons representatives have categorically denied the claims.

The news comes after sexual misconduct was a dominating theme at Cannes, especially with Italian filmmaker Asia Argentos speech in which she described the awards ceremony as Harvey Weinsteins hunting ground. But who is Luc Besson?

Who is Luc Besson?

Born on March 18, 1959 in Paris to parents who were both Club Med scuba diving instructors, Besson spent most of his childhood travelling and visiting resorts in Italy, Yugoslavia and Greece. When he was 10, his parents divorced and both remarried immediately after.

Despite planning to become a marine biologist, a diving accident at age 17 left him unable to dive and out of boredom, Luc began writing stories, some of which provided background to what became The Fifth Element and Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue).

Besson picked up odd jobs in the film industry on his return to Paris and worked for renowned directors Claude Faraldo and Patrick Grandperret.

Besson attends the opening ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival back in May 2002

After a few years in the US, Luc set up his own production company in the French capital, at first named Les Films du Loup and later changed it to Les Films du Dauphin.

In 2000, he superseded his own company to co-found EuropaCorp with Pierre-Ange La Pogam, which saw strong growth with several English-language films with international distribution.

However, EuropaCorp has an estimated debt of 202 million, but is in talks with Netflix who may invest.

Luc Besson movies

Luc Besson has written and produced a number of action films, including Taxi, The Transporter, Jet Li films Kiss of the Dragon and Unleashed/Danny the Dog as well as the Taken series, starring Liam Neeson. Taken 2 was the largest-grossing export French film at the time.

Besson went on to win Best Director and Best French Director for The Fifth Element and was later nominated for a Cesar Award for Leon: The Professional and The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc.

Critics have labelled him as a prominent figure in the Cinema du look movement, popular in the 1980s and 1990s, where spectacle was favoured over narrative and themes included doomed love affairs, alienated youth, cynicism towards the police and a mixture of high and pop culture.

Luc has directed Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, Arthur and the Invisibles, The Fifth Element, Subway, to name a few. Bessons next film Anna, a thriller starring Helen Mirren, Cillian Murphy and Luke Evans, will be released in the US in October 2018.

Luc Besson spouse

Luc Besson married Nikita actress Anne Parillaud and the couple had a daughter Juliette in 1987. They divorced in 1991 and in the same year, Besson started dating the director Maiwenn Le Besco, who was 15 at the time.

The pair married a year later after Maiwenn fell pregnant with their daughter Shanna, born in January 1993. Bessons relationship with her is considered to have inspired the film Leon, where an adult man falls in love with a 12 year-old girl.

Maiwenn and Luc ended their relationship when he became involved with the actress Milla Jovovich on the set of The Fifth Element.

They married in December 1997, but divorced two years later. In 2004, Luc married the producer Virginia Silla and had three children together: Thalia, Sateen and Mao.
S. P. L. Srensen, the Danish chemist who notably devised the method for testing the acidity or alkalinity of a substance known as the pH scale, has been celebrated in the Google Doodle for May 29, 2018.

The scientists discovery of the pH scale was revolutionary and so indispensable that it is still used today to measure aqueous solutions.

Srensens pH scale has been taught to science students across the world after it was developed in Copenhagens Carlsberg Laboratory. But who was S. P. L. Sorensen?

S. P. L. Srensen, the Danish chemist, has been celebrated in the Google Doodle for May 29

Who is S. P. L. Sorensen?

Born Sren Peder Lauritz Srensen on January 9, 1868, in Havrebjerg, Denmark, he studied medicine but after meeting and being influenced by the chemist S. M. Jrgensen, he made the switch to chemistry.

From 1901 to 1938, Srensen served as the Carlsberg Laboratory chemical departments director, known to be the best in the world for furthering biochemical knowledge.

The laboratory is renowned for its discoveries in brewing and isolating the yeast now used to brew lager, but Srensen was responsible for a more significant development for science, the pH scale.

What is the pH scale?

Srensens most notable achievement was the discovery and introduction of the pH scale. After it was developed in 1909, scientists have used this method to measure how acidic or alkaline an aqueous solution is.

Students use the litmus test as an indicator to determine the levels of acid, which would show up as red, or blue in alkalis, on the pH scale that runs from 0 to 14, with 7 being neutral.

Throughout his career, Srensen was assisted by his second wife, Margrethe Hyrup Srensen, a fellow scientist and together they worked at the Copenhagen laboratory to study lipoproteins, research carbon monoxide and haemoglobin.

In 1917, Srensen became the first to crystallise egg whites during an experiment. He died on February 12, 1939 at the age of 71.

What is a Google Doodle?

The Google Doodle for May 29, 2018 celebrates S. P. L. Sorensen, the Danish chemist who notably devised the pH scale.

Google Doodles were introduced when the co-founders of Google Larry Page and Sergey Brin wanted to mark their visit to the 1998 Burning Man Festival in California.

Now, Google Doodles honour people and mark events around the world with illustrations on the Google homepage, that are incorporated into the Google logo.

A team of illustrators, designers, animators or guest artists, like Jayesh Sivan, work on the Google Doodles and the logos are hyperlinked to a page that provides more information about the cultural event celebrated.

Recent Google Doodles include Sam Selvon, James Wong Howe and Tamara Lempicka.
China is 'aggressively' developing next generation doomsday nuclear weapons to get ahead in its arms race with the US and Russia.

The country's scientists are conducting five times as many nuclear weapons experiments a year as US experts, according to a major Chinese weapons laboratory.

Experts warned that while China, the US and Russia hope their nuclear weapons programmes will act as a deterrent against potential threats, the escalating arms race is more likely to increase the chances of a doomsday conflict.

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China is 'aggressively' developing next generation doomsday nuclear weapons to get ahead in its arms race with the US and Russia. Pictured is a still of the US Castle Union nuclear bomb test in 1954

In a new report from the China Academy of Engineering Physics, scientists revealed that Chinese researchers carried out 200 laboratory experiments between September 2014 and December 2018.

On average, its national laboratories performed these experiments - designed to simulate the complex physics of a nuclear blast - around 50 times per year.

For comparison, US scientists carried out 50 such tests between 2012 and 2017, an average of 10 a year, according to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

US, Chinese and Russian weapons researchers are racing to build smaller nuclear warheads that allow for strikes on more precise targets.

But experts said the creation of more direct nuclear missiles may remove the inhibition to use them.

'The use of small warheads will lead to the use of bigger ones,' Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie told the South China Morning Post.

China's Dongfeng-41 intercontinental ballistic missiles have a range of 7,500 miles (12,000km) - long enough to hit the UK and the United States. The weapons are expected to enter China's arsenal later this year

He added that although China is unlikely to use these weapons it needed to develop them to keep up with Russian and US programmes.

'If other countries use nuclear weapons on us, we have to retaliate. This is probably why there is research to develop new weapons.'

With an international ban now preventing real tests of nuclear weapons, most countries conduct advanced simulations to study the capabilities of their devices.

During the experiments high-powered gas guns fire projectiles into weapons-grade materials in a laboratory.

The country's scientists are conducting five times more nuclear weapons simulations a year than US experts, according to a major Chinese weapons research institutes. Pictured are US engineers working on a nuclear warhead within an ICBM in 2014

Each blast simulated the extreme heat, pressure and shock waves produced in a real nuclear blast but on a far smaller scale.

Scientists then study the effects of the impact and scale them up to better understand the impacts of nuclear missiles and other weapons technology.

Chinese researchers have carried out more of these tests in the past three years than US researchers have over the last 15.

WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF A NUCLEAR BOMB? The impact of a single nuclear bomb depends on many factors like the weather, weapon design, geographical layout of where the bomb hits and if it explodes in the air or on the ground. About 35 per cent of the bomb's energy would be released in heat. Flash blindness, from the explosion's blast, could affect people up to 13 miles away on a clear day and 50 miles away on a clear night, they said, if the bomb is 1 megaton. Those closer by would experience burns, with third degree burns affecting those within a 5 mile radius. Most of the bomb's energy is felt in the blast, in a sudden change of air pressure that can crush buildings, which would likely kill anyone when they fell. Winds up to 158 mph would affect people up to 3.7 miles away, causing dangerous objects to fly around. Provided by AsapSCIENCE. Advertisement

Though China is ahead with its gas-gun experiments, the US likely still has the upper hand in the arms race, according to one weapons expert.

The US detonated more than 1,000 nuclear warheads between 1945 and 1996, when the UN's Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty was signed.

China conducted 45 such tests starting from 1964, leaving it long a way behind the US in live detonation experiments.

Professor Wang Chuanbin, from the State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing at the Wuhan University of Technology, told the SCMP: 'It is possible we are in a hurry to catch up'.
The tragic skeleton of a disabled man who died during the cataclysmic eruption of Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago has been found in Pompeii.

The 35-year-old man was seemingly beheaded by a falling rock as he tried to escape the eruption, which is believed to have killed around 30,000 people.

An analysis of his right foot suggests he was disabled due to an injury that left him unable to escape when the volcano blew in 79 AD, burying the city in rock and ash.

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The tragic skeleton of a disabled man who died the cataclysmic eruption of Vesuvius 2,000 years ago has been found in Pompeii (pictured)

A 300-kilo (660lb) stone presumed to have been fired through the air during the eruption landed on him and crushed his head and upper body.

The skeleton was discovered at a recently uncovered area of the Pompeii archaeological site, near Naples, Italy.

The doomed city's Regio V area was found as part of new excavation work and scientists are exploring the region to find out more about life in ancient Pompeii.

Discovered lying on his back, the man's skeleton apparently remains pinned down by the rock that killed him almost 2,000 years ago.

The director general of the Pompeii archaeological site, Massimo Osanna, called the discovery 'dramatic and exceptional'.

The eruption of Mount Vesuvius buried the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow.

An early analysis of his foot (pictured) suggests he was disabled due to a leg injury that left him unable to escape when the volcano blew in 79 AD, burying Pompeii in rock and ash

The 35-year-old man was seemingly beheaded by a falling rock as he tried to escape the eruption, which is believed to have killed around 30,000 people

How Pompeii and Herculaneum were wiped off the map by devastating eruption of Mount Vesuvius 2,000 years ago What happened? Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow. Mount Vesuvius, on the west coast of Italy, is the only active volcano in continental Europe and is thought to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world. Every single resident died instantly when the southern Italian town was hit by a 500C pyroclastic hot surge. Pyroclastic flows are a dense collection of hot gas and volcanic materials that flow down the side of an erupting volcano at high speed. They are more dangerous than lava because they travel faster, at speeds of around 450mph (700 km/h), and at temperatures of 1,000C. An administrator and poet called Pliny the younger watched the disaster unfold from a distance. Letters describing what he saw were found in the 16th century. His writing suggests that the eruption caught the residents of Pompeii unaware. Mount Vesuvius erupted in the year AD 79, burying the cities of Pompeii, Oplontis, and Stabiae under ashes and rock fragments, and the city of Herculaneum under a mudflow He said that a column of smoke 'like an umbrella pine' rose from the volcano and made the towns around it as black as night. People ran for their lives with torches, screaming and some wept as rain of ash and pumice fell for several hours. While the eruption lasted for around 24 hours, the first pyroclastic surges began at midnight, causing the volcano's column to collapse. An avalanche of hot ash, rock and poisonous gas rushed down the side of the volcano at 124mph (199kph), burying victims and remnants of everyday life. Hundreds of refugees sheltering in the vaulted arcades at the seaside in Herculaneum, clutching their jewelry and money, were killed instantly. The Orto dei fuggiaschi (The garden of the Fugitives) shows the 13 bodies of victims who were buried by the ashes as they attempted to flee Pompeii during the 79 AD eruption of the Vesuvius volcano As people fled Pompeii or hid in their homes, their bodies were covered by blankets of the surge. While Pliny did not estimate how many people died, the event was said to be 'exceptional' and the number of deaths is thought to exceed 10,000. What have they found? This event ended the life of the cities but at the same time preserved them until rediscovery by archaeologists nearly 1700 years later. The excavation of Pompeii, the industrial hub of the region and Herculaneum, a small beach resort, has given unparalleled insight into Roman life. Archaeologists are continually uncovering more from the ash-covered city. In May archaeologists uncovered an alleyway of grand houses, with balconies left mostly intact and still in their original hues. A plaster cast of a dog, from the House of Orpheus, Pompeii, AD 79. Around 30,000 people are believed to have died in the chaos, with bodies still being discovered to this day Some of the balconies even had amphorae - the conical-shaped terra cotta vases that were used to hold wine and oil in ancient Roman times. The discovery has been hailed as a 'complete novelty' - and the Italian Culture Ministry hopes they can be restored and opened to the public. Upper stores have seldom been found among the ruins of the ancient town, which was destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius volcano and buried under up to six meters of ash and volcanic rubble. Around 30,000 people are believed to have died in the chaos, with bodies still being discovered to this day. Advertisement

Of the 1,150 bodies recovered by archaeologists at Pompeii, 394 were killed by falling pumice and debris from collapsed buildings.

The remaining 756 victims were killed by a column of superheated gas and ash called a pyroclastic surge.

The skeleton of a child who tragically perished in the eruption was uncovered in the ruins of a public baths in Pompeii in February.

A 300-kilo (660lb) stone presumed to have been fired through the air during the eruption landed on him and crushed his head and upper body

Workers restoring the ancient thermal recreational area discovered the body, believed to belong to a child aged seven or eight at the time.

The crouching child is thought to have been trying to take shelter from the ensuing cataclysm when they were overwhelmed by deadly volcanic gases, experts said.

Pompeii's director Massimo Osanna said in a statement that the skeleton was found during work to shore up the main ancient baths in the sprawling archaeological site.

The skeleton was uncovered at a recently discovered area of the Pompeii archaeological site, near Naples

Of the 1,150 bodies recovered by archaeologists at Pompeii, 394 were killed by falling pumice and debris from collapsed buildings

The skeleton was removed in April from the baths' area for study, including DNA testing to determine its sex.

Professor Osanna said the skeleton might have been first spotted during a 19th-century excavation of the area, since the leg bones were orderly placed near the pelvis, but - for reasons unknown - wasn't removed by those earlier archaeologists.

Speaking to La Repubblica newspaper, he said: 'This is an extraordinary find, in an area which we thought had been fully excavated in the 19th century.

'What we can say from an early analysis is that the child was between seven and eight years old.'

The skeleton of a child who tragically perished in the eruption was uncovered in the ruins of a public baths in Pompeii in February (pictured). The body is believed to belong to a child aged seven or eight at the time
Britain is facing a flying ant invasion with numbers of the pest set to surge by 20 per cent on last year after an unseasonably warm spring.

Pest control bosses say they are taking record numbers of calls with a 148 per cent increase in the past two months.

Experts warned that the UK's ant population is normally 150 billion but has risen to 200 billion this year thanks to the recent bout of hot weather.

April 19 saw Britain bask in 29C (84F) heat, the hottest April day since 1949, and May is set to be one of the warmest on record.

Because of the surge in the insects' numbers, the arrival of thousands of flying ants - when ants sprout wings and take off on aggressive flights in search of a mate - is expected to take place earlier this year than normal.

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Britain is facing a flying ant invasion with numbers of the pest (stock image) set to increase by 20 per cent on last year after an unseasonably warm May

The event, often called Flying Ant Day despite it normally lasting around a fortnight, normally occurs in July, but this year is expected to take place as early as June.

David Cross, head of the technical training academy at Rentokil Pest Control, which is based in Camberley, Surrey, said: 'Last month we saw reported ant infestations rise to levels we wouldn't usually expect until June or July.

'It's rare to see ant infestations in cold or overcast weather, and while the 'Beast from the East' may have caused them to remain dormant in March, the sudden change in temperature has since brought them out in their droves.

'This trend could be set to continue throughout the rest of the summer.

'We also expect this to really be a bumper year for flying ants, which could manifest itself at "Flying Ant Day".'

Ant life-cycles depend on temperature, and the amount of food available to them.

Experts warned the UK's ant population has risen to 200 billion this year thanks to the recent bout of hot weather. April 19 saw Britain bask in 29C (84F) heat, the hottest April day since 1949. This image shows three sun seekers in St James's Park, London, on April 19

If the weather remains mild, Rentokil expects higher levels of ant activity throughout the summer period, according to one spokesperson.

'Provided the Queen is healthy, and enough food is being brought back to the nest, ant eggs have a greater chance of survival,' they said.

'Ants can hatch after just three weeks, leading to increased breeding and larger colonies during prolonged warm periods.'

WHAT ARE SOME OF THE WAYS YOU CAN AVOID ANT INFESTATIONS IN YOUR HOME? Ants are attracted to sugary smells in your home and often enter through cracks in door, windows and through pipes. Pest controllers Rentokil have a number of top tips to avoid infestations. 1 - Clean up after yourself - mop up spillages, don't leave dirty washing up in the sink and keep surfaces clear of food as once ants find a food source they leave chemical trails to lead others to the area 2 - Keep food sealed and rubbish bags tightly done up to avoid attracting ants 3 - Keep an eye out for ants on the patio or garden and follow where they 'disappear' into cracks, which is likely to be where their nest is. Douse the area with ant killer Advertisement

Bosses at Rentokil said the main food source for ants was sugary secretions from insects like aphids.

But many of the insects will sneak into homes and other buildings to eat sugary deposits from fruit and any other food left out.

When one of the insects finds a good food source it leaves a trail of pheromones that tips off other members of its colony.

Homes can then see hundreds and thousands march in through cracks in doors, windows and through pipes.

Because of the surge in the insects' numbers, the arrival of thousands of flying ants - when ants sprout wings and take off on aggressive flights in search of a mate - is expected to take place earlier this year than normal (stock image)

WHAT IS FLYING ANT DAY AND WHEN DOES IT TAKE PLACE? Flying Ant Day usually occurs between July and August when wet conditions are followed by a period of warm weather. The queen, who can live for up to 10 years, will set off from her nest to start a new colony and will emit pheromones to attract new males. Once the chemical is in the air, it triggers chain reaction across thousands of colonies, which can be up to 5,000 strong. Once they have picked up the pheromones, ants sprout wings and take off on flights on a journey to find a mate. The event is often called Flying Ant Day despite it normally lasting around a fortnight. Advertisement

The spokesperson said: 'Some ant nests can last for several years and cover a large area - with anything from several hundred to tens of thousands of ants in each colony.

'Their size can make them difficult to spot indoors, but ants leave sticky residues on worktops because they are attracted to, and eat, sweet things.

'If you think you have a problem in your home, it's always best to seek professional advice.'
For years, it has been a stereotype that people who wear glasses are brighter than their bare-faced counterparts.

Now, new research has proven that those who wear specs really are more intelligent than people with perfect vision.

University of Edinburgh researchers found significant links between intelligence and poor eyesight while conducting the world's largest genetic study of cognitive function.

The study analysed genetic data from 300,486 people aged between 16 and 102 who had taken part in 57 studies in Australia, Europe and North America.

Those who participated took part in a variety of thinking tests, and the results were tallied into a general cognitive ability score.

Those who scored the highest in the cognitive tests were 30 per cent more likely to need glasses, compared to those who scored poorly.

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Model Emily Ratajkowski shared a photo on Instagram of her trying on a pair of glasses last year. The latest research from University of Edinburgh has revealed that intelligent people are 30 per cent more likely to need glasses

The study also showed links between higher cognitive ability and genes known to play a crucial role in good cardiovascular health.

Unfortunately, the studys design meant researchers were unable to say why there is a correlation between a persons intelligence, poor eyesight, and cardiovascular health.

Scientists believe the extensive study could help combat Alzheimer's disease.

The team found 148 genes linked to having better thinking skills, such as memory, reasoning, speed of mental processing and spatial awareness.

Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o, who starred as Nakia in the record-breaking Marvel superhero film Black Panther, often seen sporting glasses at industry events and talks. Those who need glasses are also more likely to have good cardiovascular health, research shows

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, the richest person on the planet for 18 of the past 24 years, is nearsighted and needs glasses to see. The links between glasses and intelligence were uncovered in the world's largest genetic study of cognitive function

Fifty-eight of these genes have never been reported before.

Scientists said the results could help understanding of the declines in cognitive function that happen with illnesses such as dementia.

Dr Gail Davies, of University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology (CCACE), who led the analysis, said: 'This study, the largest genetic study of cognitive function, has identified many genetic differences that contribute to the heritability of thinking skills.

'The discovery of shared genetic effects on health outcomes and brain structure provides a foundation for exploring the mechanisms by which these differences influence thinking skills throughout a lifetime.'

Zooey Deschanel (pictured left, in TV comedy New Girl) and Tina Fey (right, in her sit-com 30 Rock) have both played characters on-screen that need glasses. The study linking intelligence and poor eyesight examined genetic data from 300,486 people aged between 16 and 102

As well as having better thinking skills, the genetic areas are also associated with better cardiovascular and mental health, decreased risk of lung cancer, and longer life.

Those who participated in the study had all taken a variety of thinking tests which were summarised as a general cognitive ability score.

Participants also had genetic testing that examined their DNA and none of the people had dementia or a stroke.

Lead researcher and CCACE director Professor Ian Deary said: 'Less than a decade ago we were searching for genes related to intelligence with about 3,000 participants, and we found almost nothing.

'Now, with 100 times that number of participants, and with more than 200 scientists working together, we have discovered almost 150 genetic regions that are related to how clever people are.

'We've also learned that we need even larger studies to see more of the picture. We also need to study our results closely to see what they can tell us about the possibility of understanding the declines in cognitive function that happen with illness and in older age.

'One thing we know from these results is that good thinking skills are a part of good health overall.'

The study, published in Nature Communications, involved researchers in Australia, Austria, Croatia, Finland, France, Germany, Holland, Iceland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, and the US.

As well as having better thinking skills, the genetic areas are also associated with better cardiovascular and mental health, decreased risk of lung cancer, and longer life (stock image)
Uber has launched a 'panic button' allowing passengers to call 911 directly from its app during a ride.

The emergency button is part of a new 'safety center' menu designed to help passengers if something goes wrong during their trip.

It is hoped the feature will help allay concerns over the safety of Uber.

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Uber is halting its self-driving car operations in Arizona two months after a crash involving one of its vehicles led to the death of a pedestrian in a Phoenix suburb

HOW DOES UBER'S 911 PANIC BUTTON WORK? The emergency button is located in a new 'safety center' menu that is easily accessible from the app's home screen, giving riders a quick way to contact first responders in the event that something goes wrong during their trip. To dial 911, riders will need to swipe up on the safety center icon, and then tap '911 assistance.' They will then be asked to confirm they mean to dial 911 before the call is put through to emergency dispatchers. Advertisement

The new safety center also includes information about the driving screening process, insurance protections, and community guidelines.

Uber said it is making that new feature live and fully operational across the US.

After it has trialled the feature in North America, Uber will consider rolling-out the feature to other markets, including the UK.

To dial 911, riders swipe up on the safety center icon, and then tap '911 assistance.'

They will then be asked to confirm they mean to dial 911 before the call is put through to emergency dispatchers.

This is meant to minimize accidental dials, Sachin Kansal, Uber's director of product management, told The Verge.

Uber first revealed the plans in March, saying 'As a result of this product lab and conversations with experts and advocates, we recently announced a host of safety features including anew emergency button in the app that will connect riders directly with 911'Kansal said a panic button for drivers would also be added soon.

'We realize that a lot of situations and a lot of criminal activity arises when people think they're not being watched,' Kansal said in an interview with The Verge.

'And we just want to say that we're turning the lights on.

UBER SHUTTERS SELF-DRIVING CARS IN ARIZONA AFTER FATAL CRASH Uber is halting its self-driving car operations in Arizona two months after a crash involving one of its vehicles led to the death of a pedestrian in a Phoenix suburb. The ride-hailing firm, which made the announcement in an internal email, is also laying off 300 drivers who operated the test vehicles on Arizona roads, according to Recode. Among the drivers being let go is Rafaela Vasquez, the driver who was behind the wheel at the time of the fatal crash. In the wake of the crash, Uber executive Eric Meyhofer told employees in the email that the firm would be shifting how it tests autonomous vehicles on the roads. 'When we get back on the road, we intend to drive in a much more limited way to test specific use cases,' Meyhofer wrote, according to Ars Technica, which obtained a copy of the email. 'Taking this approach will allow us to continually hone the safety aspects of our software and operating procedures' 'We have also used the past two months to strengthen our simulation capability, which will allow us to be more efficient with our use of road miles', he continued. Uber was also suspended from self-driving car tests in Arizona by the state's governor Doug Ducey. Advertisement

'Part of turning the lights on is providing these features to both sides and also make sure we're making the entire community aware of the presence of these features.'

Uber is also working with RapidSOS to pilot 911 integration where a rider's location and trip details will be automatically sent to the 911 dispatcher if they use Uber's emergency button.

It comes as a recent USA Today report said 911's chances of getting a distress call's location can be as low as 10 per cent.

Location sharing is being tested in Denver, Colorado; Charleston, South Carolina; Nashville, Tennessee; Chattanooga, Tennessee; and Naples, Florida.

Uber has previously said it was also strengthening driver screening with annual reruns and new offense notifications letting Uber know when a driver is involved in a new criminal offense.

It also recently added trusted contacts where riders can designate up to five friends and family members to share trip details with during every ride

The feature comes as CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's tries to improve the company's safety record.

The company was sued last year by a woman who was raped by an Uber driver in India after it was reported that executives, including former CEO Travis Kalanick, had obtained the woman's medical records in an effort to discredit her.

London transport bosses also said they would not renew Uber's license, citing the company's lax approach to safety.

Uber appealed the decision, and the service is still operational in the city.
Plastic pollution has reached Charles Darwin's Galapagos Islands and now seals on the remote archipelago have been spotted using bottles as toys.

Even the Galapagos finches, named after the great English naturalist, are tragically lining their nests with plastic fibres.

Tonnes of plastic are washing up on the protected shores of the islands, even though 97 per cent of the archipelago is off-limits to humans, according to community groups and scientists.

In light of this, a new research project between local experts and international researchers has been launched to analyse how to hold back the tide of rubbish.

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Plastic pollution has reached Charles Darwin's Galapagos Islands and now seals on the remote archipelago have been captured using bottles as toys (pictured)

Marine specialists from the University of Exeter are surveying currents and tide patterns to work out where the plastic is coming from, according to an exclusive report by ITV.

Researchers are counting pieces of plastic on the islands' beaches and sifting through the sand looking for microplastics.

In their initial visits, they found up to 156 plastic bottle caps on an 82-feet (25-metre) stretch of sand on which few humans had ever stepped.

The islands' hermit crabs were seen moving into plastic bottle caps for homes instead of shells.

Using specialist equipment, microplastics, invisible to the human eye, were identified within samples of sand.

They were then analysed back in the UK to see how much could be absorbed by the smallest creatures in the Galapagos ecosystem.

Even the Galapagos finches, named after the great English naturalist, are tragically lining their nests with plastic fibres (pictured)

Many of the bottles featured Asian writing but experts do not believe they could have come all that way and remain in tact, suggesting they were left by a passing ship.

The Galapagos islands are situated 563 miles (906km) west of mainland Ecuador, of which they are a part.

The islands contain more than 1,300 species found nowhere else on earth.

WHAT ARE THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS? The Galapagos islands are situated 563 miles west of mainland Ecuador, of which they are a part. They are some of the most remote land masses in the world. There are 21 islands but only four of them are inhabited, with a population of around 25,000. They contain more than 1,300 species found nowhere else on earth. With the islands at the intersection of three ocean currents, the sea is a mecca for marine life. The most famous species unique to the Galapagos include the giant tortoise, marine iguana, flightless cormorant and the Galapagos penguin - the only penguin species to be found in the Northern Hemisphere. Unesco decided to declare Galapagos a World Heritage Site In Danger in 2007 due to a boom in tourism. Indeed, annual visitor numbers have increased from 12,000 in 1979 to more than 300,000 today. Dozens of Galapagos species are now 'critically endangered'. Advertisement

With the islands at the intersection of three ocean currents, the sea is a mecca for marine life.

The most famous species unique to the Galapagos include the giant tortoise, marine iguana, flightless cormorant and the Galapagos penguin - the only penguin species to be found in the Northern Hemisphere.

Authorities on the island have persuaded the Ecuadorian government to back its campaign to ban single-use plastic.

Researchers are counting pieces of plastic on the islands' beaches and sifting through the sand looking for microplastics

Plastic bags and straws have also been banned on the island and authorities are now looking to do the same with foam cups and trays.

'The larger, charismatic species are more at risk with larger items and smaller animals at the bottom of the food chain, that really support this diversity here, are much more susceptible to these smaller pieces', said Dr Ceri Lewis from the University of Exeter.

'We are actually really excited here in Galapagos. We think there is a real opportunity to really understand the problem - in real detail - and do something about it.'

The islands' hermit crabs (pictured) have also been seen moving into plastic bottle caps for homes instead of shells

Unesco decided to declare Galapagos a World Heritage Site In Danger in 2007 due to a boom in tourism.

Indeed, annual visitor numbers have increased from 12,000 in 1979 to more than 300,000 today.

Dozens of Galapagos species are now 'critically endangered'.
Apple has released the first major update for its HomePod smart speaker - and has its sights firmly set on Amazon and Google.

The new iOS 11.4 update released today adds multi room capabilities to the Siri smart speaker, allowing users to play music in other rooms, in in every room at once.

It comes as Apple is believed to be putting the finishing update to a major update to its Siri AI software.

The free update also adds new features such as the ability to store iMessages in the cloud.

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The new iOS 11.4 update released today adds multi room capabilities to the Siri smart speaker, allowing users to play music in other rooms, in in every room at once.

HOW TO UPDATE TO IOS 11.4 Users simply need to go to settings/software update on their phone to update. As well as the Airplay 2 feature, iOS 11.4 also adds Messages in iCloud, which was first announced a year ago. It keeps conversations up-to-date across all your Apple devices, including iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch and Mac. When you delete a message from one device, that change syncs to all your devices. Advertisement

Australian site the Apple Post noted that if a user asks Siri about WWDC, Apple's Wordwide Developers Conference, which is being held in San Jose next week, she won't provide any useful information but will instead drop cryptic hints.

When users ask 'Hey Siri. Tell me about WWDC', the voice assistant responds with 'La la la, Siri is getting a brand new voice!'.

The latest update also allows users to pair two HomePods together to create a stereo pair for the first time.

It pits Apple squarely against Amazon, Google, Sonos and others in the crowded smart speaker market.

The Homepod came under fire for lacking the multi room and stereo pair capabilities when it was first released.

In January, the firm finally released its smart home speaker that was bid as a rival to the Amazon Echo and Google Home.

The update allows users to use the new AirPlay 2 feature to play music in any room from any room, move music from one room to another or play the same song everywhere using an iOS device, HomePod, Apple TV or by asking Siri.

But by last month, Apple slashed sales forecasts for the HomePod as inventory for the device began to pile up, Bloomberg reported, citing sources close to the situation.

It also cut HomePod orders with one of its manufacturers that assembles the device for the company, Inventec, according to Bloomberg.

However, it appears the firm is now addressing many of the problems

The wireless seven-inch HomePod currently availalble uses spatial awareness technology to sense its place in a room and adjust audio output accordingly. It has an Apple-designed upward-facing woofer paired with the custom A8 chip and is made of seamless mesh fabric

'HomePod, the breakthrough wireless speaker from Apple, now delivers an even more immersive listening experience throughout the home with support for HomePod stereo pairs and a new multi-room audio system in iOS 11.4.,' the firm said.

It allows users to use the new AirPlay 2 feature to play music in any room from any room, move music from one room to another or play the same song everywhere using an iOS device, HomePod, Apple TV or by asking Siri.

HomePod is available in the US, UK and Australia and arrives in Canada, France and Germany starting June 18, the firm said.
It is one of the most violent events in the universe.

Unsuspecting stars that wanders too close to the supermassive black hole in the center of their galaxy are torn apart by the black hole's gravity.

Now researchers have shed new light on the violent cataclysm called a tidal disruption event (TDE).

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A cross section of what happens when the material from the disrupted star is devoured by the black hole: An accretion disk is formed by the material, but there is too much material for it to pass into the black hole at once, so it is is heated up and emits vast amounts of light and radiation, visible from Earth (Double arrow).

WHAT IS A TIDAL DISRUPTION EVENT? The violent cataclysms occur when stars wander too close to the supermassive black hole in the center of their galaxy. They are torn apart by the black hole's gravity in what is known as a tidal disruption event (TDE). Tidal disruption events are rare, only happening about once every 10,000 years in a typical galaxy. When an unlucky star gets torn apart, however, the black hole is 'overfed' with stellar debris for a while and emits intense radiation. Advertisement

The new unified model from the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute and UC Santa Cruz also helps explain recent observations of these extreme events.

The breakthrough study, published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, provides a new theoretical perspective for a fast-growing research field.

'Only in the last decade or so have we been able to distinguish TDEs from other galactic phenomena, and the new model will provide us with the basic framework for understanding these rare events,' said coauthor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz of the University of Copenhagen.

In most galaxies, the central black hole is quiescent, not actively consuming any material and therefore not emitting any light.

Tidal disruption events are rare, only happening about once every 10,000 years in a typical galaxy.

When an unlucky star gets torn apart, however, the black hole is 'overfed' with stellar debris for a while and emits intense radiation.

The violent cataclysms occur when stars wander too close to the supermassive black hole in the center of their galaxy and are torn apart by the black hole's gravity. This artist's conception shows a galactic black hole being orbited by a ripple in spacetime

'It is interesting to see how materials get their way into the black hole under such extreme conditions,' said first author Jane Lixin Dai, assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study.

'As the black hole is eating the stellar gas, a vast amount of radiation is emitted.

'The radiation is what we can observe, and using it we can understand the physics and calculate the black hole properties.

'This makes it extremely interesting to go hunting for tidal disruption events.'

While the same physics is expected to happen in all tidal disruption events, about two dozen of which have been observed so far, the observed properties of these events have shown great variation.

Some emit mostly x-rays, while others emit mostly visible and ultraviolet light.

BLACK HOLES HAVE A GRAVITATIONAL PULL SO STRONG NOT EVEN LIGHT CAN ESCAPE Black holes are so dense and their gravitational pull is so strong that no form of radiation can escape them - not even light. They act as intense sources of gravity which hoover up dust and gas around them. Their intense gravitational pull is thought to be what stars in galaxies orbit around. How they are formed is still poorly understood. Astronomers believe they may form when a large cloud of gas up to 100,000 times bigger than the sun, collapses into a black hole. Many of these black hole seeds then merge to form much larger supermassive black holes, which are found at the centre of every known massive galaxy. Alternatively, a supermassive black hole seed could come from a giant star, about 100 times the sun's mass, that ultimately forms into a black hole after it runs out of fuel and collapses. When these giant stars die, they also go 'supernova', a huge explosion that expels the matter from the outer layers of the star into deep space. Advertisement

Theorists have been struggling to understand this diversity and assemble different pieces of the puzzle into a coherent model.

In the new model, it is the viewing angle of the observer that accounts for differences in the observations.

'It is like there is a veil that covers part of a beast,' Ramirez-Ruiz explained.

'From some angles we see an exposed beast, but from other angles we see a covered beast. The beast is the same, but our perceptions are different.'

The model developed by Dai and her collaborators combines elements from general relativity, magnetic fields, radiation, and gas hydrodynamics.
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NASA has shared a jaw-dropping image of an active region on the sun, revealing massive magnetic field lines stretching far above the surface as several solar flares erupt.

The image was captured on May 23 in extreme ultraviolet light by the Solar Dynamics Observatory.

Just days prior, SDO spotted a huge coronal hole facing toward Earth, which sent solar wind streaming into space in our direction.

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NASA has shared a jaw-dropping image of an active region on the sun, revealing massive magnetic field lines stretching far above the surface as several solar flares erupt. The image was captured on May 23 in extreme ultraviolet light by the Solar Dynamics Observatory

In the latest image, the magnetic field lines seen coming from the sun are many times the diameter of Earth. The space agency has provided an image of Earth next to the phenomenon for scale.

Active regions are areas of intense magnetic energy, NASA explains.

The field lines are illuminated by charged particles spiraling along them and easiest to discern when viewed in profile. The colorized images were taken in a wavelength of extreme ultraviolet light.

From May 16-18, SDO observed a good-sized coronal hole that may have spurred aurora several days later as the streams of particles collided with Earths atmosphere.

While the sun can influence atmospheric activities and the climate on Earth, only certain wavelengths of radiation are able to make it to the surface to actually heat it up, a recent article from the Max Planck Society explains.

This primarily includes visible light. In addition, the sun emits a flow of electrically charged particles.

When the sun is in a period of high magnetic activity, it produces more intense radiation  and, by tracking these fluctuations, researchers are able to determine how such activity influences Earths climate.

When the suns activity dips, Earth has experienced periods of cooler temperatures.

Just days prior, SDO spotted a huge coronal hole facing toward Earth, which sent solar wind streaming into space in our direction

This was seen during the Little Ice Age of 1645-1715, for example, when much of the world was hit with colder winters.

In the new research, Max Planck team used records of observational sunspot data as well as Carbon-14 levels in tree rings to track changes in solar activity.

This revealed that over the last few decades, as Earth has steadily warmed, the sun has not increased in brightness.

Instead, in the last 30-40 years, there has been a slight decrease.

This means that the sun cannot have contributed to global warming, according to an article from the Max Planck Society, describing the research.

In fact, the temperature increase noted in recent decades cannot be reproduced in models if only the influence of the sun or other natural sources are taken into account (for example volcanic eruptions.)

The findings go against the idea that the suns current dip in activity will counteract the recent warming, the experts explain.

NASA recently revealed the sun is heading toward a low point known as solar minimum, expected in 2019-2020.

The change, however, doesnt mean that activity ceases altogether, the space agency explained.

Instead, different types of events tend to take hold.

While sunspots may decrease, long-lived coronal holes and other phenomenon could become more common.
These hotels are being talked about, not for their exceptional service, but for their wacky names.

In New Mexico, the Elephant Butt Inn hopefully bears a more fragrant aroma than an animal's backside.

And in Exeter, The Nobody Inn thankfully has somebody there to keep things running.

Hopping to Germany, the Hotel Harms might sound a little sinister but it's described as being a 'serene wellness oasis in which to relax'.

Equally, the Pornping Hotel in Chang Mai, Thailand, might not enthuse those looking for a family-friendly spot.

Scroll down to see the hotels turning heads for the wrong reasons...

In Exeter, The Nobody Inn thankfully has somebody there to keep things running

In New Mexico, the Elephant Butt Inn hopefully bears a more fragrant aroma than an animal's backside

The Pornping Hotel in Chang Mai, Thailand, might not enthuse those looking for a family-friendly spot

Guests swear blind that the Ufuk Hotel Pension in Goreme, Turkey, offers great value for money

Hopping to Germany, the Hotel Harms might sound a little sinister but it's described as being a 'serene wellness oasis in which to relax'

Abad Atrium hotel in Kerala, India, doesn't sell itself too well to English-speaking guests. Inside, the hotel actually has a rather good atrium

Let's just hope those who stay at the Step Back Inn guesthouse in New Mexico want to return after their visit

It might sound made up, but the Best Western Plus Intercourse Village is real hotel located in Intercourse, Pennsylvania

Hotel Bad Ratzes, in the mountain ranges of Italy, has a four-star rating on TripAdvisor, despite it sounding like it could be filled with a bunch of mis-behaved rats

TripAdvisor reviewer Gabriel J said he had a great time at Abad Lounge Hotel in Montanita, Ecuador, despite its worrying name

Hotel Kuntz in Paris serves up some giggles for English-speaking tourists. Taking inspiration from a popular German surname, it is correctly pronounced 'koontz'

Visitors to the Gross Hotel in Turkey say it isn't 'gross' at all, with try-berserk writing on TripAdvisor: 'Rooms are decent and clean. Breakfast is good'

The owners of this hotel clearly can't decide how they want their name punctuated, with two different signs adorning the building

Fat Yogi Cottages in Kuta, Bali, might not appeal to serious yoga buffs, keen to maintain their toned physiques

Bad Horn hotel in Switzerland might sound some alarms with holidaymakers but everything was perfectly in tune for guest mluis1. She wrote on TripAvisor: 'This Hotel is a great choice if you are visiting the area. Rooms are spacious, nice bathroom. Breakfast is quite diverse'
Several international airlines still listed Taiwan as a separate country on their websites on Friday despite a deadline set by Beijing for carriers to refer to the self-governed island as a Chinese territory.

The Chinese Civil Aviation Administration sent a notice to 36 foreign airlines last month, asking them to comply with Beijing's standards of referring to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau as Chinese territories, in a move described by the White House as 'Orwellian nonsense.'

According to a copy of the letter circulating on Chinese social media, it was dated April 25 and gave carriers 30 days to comply, indicating a deadline of May 25. AFP could not verify the authenticity of the document.

AFP found at least eight foreign airlines were still listing Taiwan as a country on their websites as of Friday

But AFP found at least eight foreign airlines were still listing Taiwan as a country on their websites as of Friday, including United, American Airlines, Cathay Pacific, All Nippon Airways and Qantas.

A spokesperson for Qantas told AFP that Chinese authorities have given the Australian carrier 'additional time to further clarify how we refer to Chinese territories'.

Around a dozen other airlines including Air Canada, Air France, British Airways and Germany's Lufthansa list Taiwan as a Chinese territory, though it is unclear when they started referring to the island that way.

The Taiwanese foreign ministry last week requested Air Canada for a 'speedy correction' after the carrier made the changes.

China sees democratic Taiwan (pictured) - which has never formally declared independence from the mainland - as a renegade part of its territory to be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary

China's Civil Aviation administration declined to comment on when the deadline was or how many airlines have complied with their request.

The letter did not clarify the punishment for non-compliance, only saying it would be deemed as 'serious discreditable conduct'.

China sees democratic Taiwan - which has never formally declared independence from the mainland - as a renegade part of its territory to be brought back into the fold, by force if necessary.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong, a British colony until 1997, and Macau, a Portuguese colony until 1999, are now 'special administrative regions' of China.

Beijing has become increasingly sensitive to how foreign firms describe them, pressuring numerous international brands in recent months to amend language perceived as slights to its national sovereignty.

US retailer Gap Inc. apologised last week for selling a T-shirt which it said had an 'incomplete map' of China.

Japanese retailer Muji was fined 200,000 yuan ($31,000) for packaging that identified Taiwan as a separate country, Shanghai's administration for industry and commerce said last month.

Washington has maintained a delicate diplomatic balance since 1979, recognising Beijing's sovereignty as part of its 'One China' policy, while remaining Taiwan's most powerful unofficial ally and main weapons supplier.
Campaigners are demanding an international public inquiry into the effects of toxic air on aircraft.

Research has suggested that the 'tainted air' on planes can cause serious health problems that range from headaches and dizziness to breathing and vision problems.

The Aerotoxic Association claims it has been contacted by 2,500 potential victims, who say their health is suffering as a result of inhaling toxic air while flying.

Research has suggested that the 'tainted air' on planes can cause serious health problems that range from headaches and dizziness to breathing and vision problems

And now it is demanding an independent public inquiry at the International Criminal Court in The Hague to assess whether safety solutions should be put in place to protect those who fly from fumes.

John Hoyte, founder of the British-based Aerotoxic Association, said: 'The problem of passengers and aircrew being exposed to toxic air has been known about since the 1950s, and there has been mounting evidence to support the causal link between exposure on aircraft and both acute and chronic ill health.

'Despite this, the industry, the UK Government and regulatory bodies have yet to take any action to prevent this and to protect the public.

'In most areas of life we work on the precautionary principle to protect health and wellbeing, yet despite the huge amount of scientific evidence to show the effects of this preventable issue, the industry, UK Government and regulators have buried their heads in the sand.

'It is time for an independent public inquiry to finally resolve this and to determine the necessary actions to protect the public.'

WHAT IS AEROTOXIC SYNDROME? 'Aerotoxic syndrome' is the term given to symptoms linked to the exposure to contaminated air in jet aircraft. Many former pilots, co-pilots and cabin crew believe they have been subjected to long-term illnesses due to the amount of time they have spent exposed to cabin air and 'toxic fumes'. Numerous scientific studies have been carried out since the late 1970s to try and determine whether contaminated cabin air is the cause of chronic health problems. Symptoms of 'aerotoxic syndrome' are said to include fatigue, blurred or tunnel vision, loss of balance, seizures, memory impairment, headaches, tinnitus, confusion, nausea, diarrhoea, breathing difficulties and irritation of the eyes, nose and upper airways. Advertisement

Most of todays planes have systems where the cabin contains a mix of recycled air and warm compressed air drawn from their engines, known as 'bleed air'.

There are seals designed to keep oil and bleed air apart, but they can leak or fail and organophosphates contained in heated engine oil can contaminate the unfiltered bleed air that is pumped into the aircraft cabin.

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is the only aircraft where this does not occur, as it uses electric compressors that take their air from the atmosphere.

The Aerotoxic Association was set up in 2007 to raise this issue of toxic air exposure in aircraft and to support those suffering from aerotoxic syndrome.

Yet the campaigners have faced an uphill battle in convincing the public thanks to aviation industry and medical professionals who have produced conflicting studies or shrugged them off as conspiracy theorists.

Research conducted by Cranfield University in 2011 found that 95 per cent of aircraft cabin samples had no detectable levels of organophosphates.

A 2013 report published by Professor Michael Bagshaw, a specialist in aviation medicine at Kings College London, also noted: 'The amounts of organophosphates to which aircraft crew members could be exposed, even over multiple, long-term exposures, are insufficient to produce neurotoxicity.'

In 2013 a government committee considered the issue of toxic fumes on planes, saying there were several areas requiring further investigation.

Most of todays planes have systems where the cabin contains a mix of recycled air and warm compressed air drawn from their engines, known as 'bleed air'

But the Aerotoxic Association says it needs reviewing yet again.

Mr Hoyte added: 'At last we are beginning to see some action to tackle this in France and the USA, with two airlines now looking to protect their passengers and crew with air filters reminiscent of the tobacco industry filtering cigarettes in the 1950s.

'EasyJet has changed engine oil to a safer formulation and will fit "bleed air" filters and nerve agent detectors to all of their aircraft, because of an ongoing French criminal court case.

'In addition, the modern Boeing 787 Dreamliner uses separate air intakes, rather than bleed air from the engines, which completely avoids the poisoning.

'Yet despite decades of evidence and scientific research, air passengers are still put at risk every day from this preventable danger.'
Sitting in a hot tub is one of life's most pleasurable leisure activities - but for one lucky person, it's going to become a paid job.

That's because a UK hot tub manufacturer is looking for Britain's first ever hot tub tester. A bubbly personality will help.

The official job title? A hot tubologist.

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Lay-Z-Spa is searching for Britain's biggest hot tub fan and they will be paid to try them out

The successful applicant will become a 'hot tubologist' and will trial Lay-Z-Spa's brand new products

The firm that's begun the job hunt, Lay-Z-Spa, says the successful applicant will trial its brand new products.

They will also become the face of the firm's Instagram and Facebook channels and will win their own Lay-Z-Spa with accessories, along with 500.

Tom Ellyatt, Mmarketing manager at Lay-Z-Spa, said: 'We're looking for the UK's biggest hot tub fan to become our official Hot Tubologist and put our bestseller to the test.

'Whether you're an expert at relaxation, or you throw the best hot tub parties, here's your chance to become the face of the nation's number one hot tub brand.'

Applications can be made by submitting 30-second video applications through Lay-Z-Spa's official Facebook page, or by posting on Instagram.

Applications can be made by submitting 30-second video applications through Lay-Z-Spa's social media channels

Tom Ellyatt, Mmarketing manager at Lay-Z-Spa, said: 'We're looking for the UK's biggest hot tub fan to become our official Hot Tubologist and put our bestseller to the test'

They can also be made by visiting the website and entries are open until Sunday, June 10.

Being an official hot tub tester isn't the only weird job that has been offered in the past.

Last year, Mondelez, which owns Cadbury's, Milka and Oreo said it needs someone it can trust to try out new products and tell them what they think.

While earlier this year, Netflix announced it was looking for binge watchers, or what it describes as an 'editorial analyst,' to 'watch, research, rate, tag, annotate and write analysis for movie and TV content'.
Former high-class escort Samantha X paid a visit to her local police station to return a mystery officer's wallet on Monday.

And it looks like her decision paid off, as the blonde socialite revealed later that day that she received a grateful text message from a 'hot cop'.

Taking to her Instagram Story, Samantha wrote: 'OMG a hot cop sent me a photo of him looking hot in his hot uniform.'

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'A hot cop sent me a photo of himself in his uniform!' Samantha X revealed on Monday that her hard work paid off after getting a cheeky text from a mystery policeman

She added: 'He must like my bum fluff!'

Earlier in the evening, Samantha had visited a police station to return a wallet she had found in Melbourne.

She wrote on Instagram at the time: 'Anyone who knows me knows I love a hot cop, so finding a wallet on the ground is a perfect excuse to drop by.'

It pays to be kind! Earlier in the evening, Samantha had visited a police station to return a wallet she had found in Melbourne

The 44-year-old, whose real name is Amanda Goff, told her followers she was hoping to have a flirty exchange with a handsome officer.

'Will he be hot... won't he... will he be hot...' she captioned a photo of herself waiting to speak to a staff member at the police station.

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the twice-published author confirmed that she and the mystery policeman are 'chatting now'.

Nice! The 44-year-old, whose real name is Amanda Goff, told her followers she was hoping to have a flirty exchange with a handsome officer - and it looks like she may have succeeded

She added: 'I had a few men send me messages pretending to be police officers as soon as my Instagram Story popped up - but this one is the real deal!'

Samantha also revealed that she 'once dated a cop' and claimed they make 'great boyfriends'.

'It's not so much the uniform,' she said. 'It's the feeling of safety and being protected I love. I love big strong men who look after women.'
It's been almost three weeks since Roxy Jacenko first came under fire by journalist Andrew Hornery over the powder-blue 'mullet' frock she wore to the Gold Dinner fundraiser.

And on Tuesday, the Sydney socialite continued the feud on Instagram by calling out the gossip writer, who in his latest column insisted that the 'one off' design was in fact very similar to one worn by Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni.

Roxy, 37, cheekily offered another lookalike dress for his next Private Sydney column, writing: 'How on earth did you miss this one?'

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The feud continues! Roxy Jacenko taunted Andrew Hornery AGAIN on Tuesday in a cheeky Instagram post after the gossip columnist described her 'one off' mullet frock as unoriginal

'Oh wow, I'll be damned - another mullet frock - maybe we can go week four from four with the stories in your column, Andrew? How on earth did you miss this one?' she wrote on her Instagram Story.

Roxy's post showcased an intricately feathered wedding gown by Mihano Momosa, which resembled the tulle-layered gown by Velani she wore at the charity gala.

Andrew Hornery first remarked upon Roxy's Gold Dinner ensemble when she returned the dress to its Five Dock shop shortly after wearing it.

Andrew Hornery told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: 'I love Roxy, she is an endless source of content as well as providing much amusement for so many people, if only she could see it herself. Long may she and her mullet dress reign.'

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Roxy Jacenko for comment.

She's not backing down! Roxy, 37, offered another lookalike dress for Mr Hornery's next Private Sydney column, writing: 'How on earth did you miss this one?'

Acid-tongued columnist: Fairfax journalist Andrew Hornery first remarked upon Roxy's Gold Dinner ensemble when she returned the dress to its Five Dock shop shortly after wearing it

In Andrew's second reference to the gown, he pointed out how Roxy had described the outfit as a 'one off' - but observed how he had spotted a similar gown being worn by Chiara Ferragni.

He wrote: 'One-off? This week Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni, who has more than 12 million Instagram followers (about 60 times more than Roxy), posted shots of herself posing in her own mullet dress, a near identical pink ball gown by [Giambattista] Valli in front of the Arc de Triomphe.

He added: 'It was a far cry from Jacenko's Instagram props at the Gold Dinner: a couple of wheelie bins on the wharf at Walsh Bay.'

Same same? Andrew has pointed out several times that Roxy (right) described the dress as a 'one off' despite the fact it resembled a gown worn by Italian fashionista Chiara Ferragni (left)

The dress saga has carried on since Roxy's pale blue frock first caught the attention of Andrew, a longtime critic of the PR queen, around two weeks ago.

Last Friday, under the headline, 'Mullet Dress Swims Upstream', the Sydney Morning Herald journalist wrote: 'Barely 48 hours after it had hung from the fake-tanned frame of one Roxy Jacenko, the over-the-top Italian tulle "mullet" dress was back in the window of Five Dock "couturier" Velani.'

Roxy previously told Daily Mail Australia: 'Heavens, he really is a bitter old man.

'Nicky Velani is a very dear friend of mine, she often makes me garments to wear for special occasions and I'll always return them as they are one-offs that we have worked on together.'

In the pink: In an image posted to her Instagram this week, Chiara posed in front of the Arc de Triomphe in a similar dress in pink, designed by Italian fashion designer Giambattista Valli

Roxy continued: 'Isn't it nice to support other local designers instead of ridiculing them based on their "location"?

'I find the mentality of making a joke of someone's work room and boutique so out of order. Who cares where someone with such talent is located?'

It is unknown whether Andrew's reference to Velani's location was intended as a criticism or whether Roxy had simply interpreted the comments in that manner.
Love Island fans are convinced the Australian and English contestants will meet in a shocking twist this series.

The first ever Aussie version launched last week, while the UK's season four offering will hit TV screens on June 4.

With both series being filmed in Mallorca at the same time, excited followers speculated that the singletons could swap over in a 'brilliant change-up'.

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'It would be a brilliant change-up!' Love Island fans are CONVINCED the Australian (pictured) and English contestants will swap in epic twist.

One viewer wrote on Twitter: 'My bet: An Australian contestant will be involved in a swapping twist and will then enter the UK version, and a British contestant will enter the Australian version. It would be a brilliant dynamic change up!'

Another predicted: 'So with Love Island AU just starting and then the UK one soon. Both in Spain. I imagine they'll visit each other or something.'

'Cant believe Love Island Australia is filmed in Majorca too! I wonder if the British and Aussie villas will meet at any point?' a third user penned excitedly.

Daily Mail Australia has contacted a Love Island spokesperson for comment.

Interesting: The first ever Aussie version launched last week, while the UK's season four offering (pictured, the English daters) hits TV screens on June 4

The Australian contestants have already been hitting the headlines since the show debuted Down Under on Sunday night.

Bartender Cassidy McGill was among the first to get hot and heavy with Grant Crapp.

But the morning after, the blonde bombshell broke down in tears, worried she was moving too fast in her relationship with the buff electrician.

Speculation: With both series being filmed in Mallorca at the same time, excited followers speculated that the singletons could swap over to the other villa in a 'brilliant change-up'

'I'm very old-fashioned!' 23-year-old Cassidy insisted, before going on to clarify that she didn't regret fumbling under the covers on the second night of the show.

'It sped up a little too quickly. I dont regret anything... (but) I'm so into him it scares me a little bit,' Cassidy stated in a private piece-to-camera as she wiped away tears.

The Melbourne-based babe then decided she needed to chat with 22-year-old Grant about their bedtime antics.

Battle of the blonde babes: Kim Hartnett (L) is a late arrival to the Aussie series, while model Hayley Hughes (R) looks set to be a frontrunner in the English version

She emotionally claimed: 'Believe me, I wanted it, but I'm very old fashioned! I like to take things slow'.

Meanwhile, the hotly-anticipated UK version of the show features an eclectic line-up of daters.

They include an A&E doctor, a nuclear engineer and Dani Dyer - the daughter of EastEnders actor Danny Dyer.
He came into the public eye on Married At First Sight earlier this year, and it seems Nasser Sultan is trying desperately to cling onto his reality TV fame.

The 51-year-old aspiring beauty blogger was pictured on Monday charging fans $1 for a selfie.

Nasser was seen at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach, holding a cardboard sign and trying to charm the ladies.

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Has he hit rock bottom? MAFS star Nasser Sultan CHARGES fans $1 for a selfie at Bondi Beach... complete with a bizarre cardboard sign

The reality TV star's sign read: '$1 selfie with Nasser.'

Nasser wore an all-black outfit on the day, stepping out in a T-shirt and jeans.

He also added a pair of Adidas sneakers and sunglasses to his ensemble.

Nasser told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: 'It's a Nasser thing! We've all got bills to pay'

His own best advertisement: Nasser's sign read: '$1 selfie with Nasser'

Confident: Nasser was seen at Sydney's iconic Bondi Beach, holding a cardboard sign and trying to charm the ladies

He appeared in high spirits on the day, laughing as he spoke to locals who walked past him and his cardboard sign.

Nasser told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: 'It's a Nasser thing! We've all got bills to pay.'

Earlier on Monday, Nasser appeared on KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O Show, claiming he was 'blacklisted' by Channel Nine and ranted that he wasn't invited to the upcoming Logie Awards.

'After the last radio interview here, I had a text from the publicity of Channel Nine saying, "Just for your information, Channel Nine doesn't want to have anything to do with you," he told Kyle and Jackie O.

Meanwhile, he also denied rumours he is gay.

The fame game: He came into the public eye on Married At First Sight earlier this year, and it seems Nasser Sultan is trying desperately to cling onto his reality TV fame

Not happy: Earlier on Monday, Nasser appeared on KIIS FM's The Kyle and Jackie O Show , claiming he was 'blacklisted' by Channel Nine and ranted that he wasn't invited to the upcoming Logie Awards

Nasser said he's just 'very metrosexual' before jokingly asking KIIS FM's Brooklyn Ross out on a date.

The segment started with Kyle Sandilands bringing up Brooklyn's affection for the fitness trainer.

'Soon as they found out you might be gay, people like Brooklyn and Brooklyn's types they are all lined-up ready to have a go,' Kyle said.

In a shock, Nasser replied: 'Mate, I don't discriminate, if you want to have a date, let's have a date.'

Appearing somewhat tongue-in-cheek, Nasser than quizzed Brooklyn on his more intimate habits, asking first does he 'moisturize?' and 'is his clean?'

Later Nasser breached the topic of his sexuality again, with the TV groom saying he lives in Surry Hills and loves his neighbours.

He said: 'I'm metrosexual, VERY metrosexual,...If that translates 'so Nasser's gay' then so be it.'

However, he was cryptic when co-host Jackie O asked if he had been with a man on an intimate level.

Nasser said: 'Well I haven't...On a very intimate level..But I've been out and about.'

'To me its 2018, I think people should get over it whether you're gay, straight, or whatever you are...I think we should move on.'
He was recently seen ordering drinks from a bikini-clad waitress while partying with his sibling, father and an extended group of pals at the raucous Wet Republic pool party.

And Mark Wright, who is married to Michelle Keegan, hilariously revealed on his Instagram stories that he - and his fellow partygoers - had 'checked in' with their wives on Monday morning as his brother Josh's wild stag do in Las Vegas came to an end.

The Extra showbiz reporter, 31, who has relocated to Los Angeles for work, took to the social media platform to tell his fans that the group had contacted their significant others to let them know that they're still 'alive'.

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In the dog house?: Mark Wright, who is married to Michelle Keegan, hilariously revealed on Instagram that he - and his fellow partygoers - had 'checked in' with their wives on Monday

In the video, several of Mark's pals can be seen on their mobile devices as they order breakfast at the table.

The former TOWIE star then talks over the footage as he says: 'Monday morning, the end of the Vegas trip, all the boys checking in with the wives on the last day.

'Just telling them that life is all good and we're alive!'

Checking in!: The Extra showbiz reporter, 31, took to the social media platform to tell his fans that the group had contacted their significant others to let them know that they're still 'alive'

Final day: In the video, several of Mark's pals can be seen on their mobile devices as they order breakfast at the table

Party animal: He was recently seen ordering drinks from a bikini-clad waitress while partying with his sibling, father and an extended group of pals at the raucous Wet Republic pool party

Earlier in the day, Mark had taken to the social media platform to share a selfie of himself looking a little bit worse for wear in bed, as he hilariously captioned it with: '@vegas 6 me 0,' with the time as 21:22pm.

He then went on to document his flight home as he uploaded a picture of himself drinking a large smoothie, he said: 'Large Vit C drink on the final day in @vegas is a must.'

The wild stag do comes after Mark's wife Michelle, 30, attended Josh's fiancee's hen do in the same location earlier this month, with the brunette beauty taking to her social media account to document her wild night.

Hungover?: Earlier in the day, Mark had taken to the social media platform to share a selfie of himself looking a little bit worse for wear in bed

Home time: He then went on to document his flight home as he uploaded a picture of himself drinking a large smoothie

In a snap posted to her Instagram story, the bombshell is pictured hand-in-hand with Josh's wife-to-be Hollie Kane.

This comes after Mark's wife Michelle slammed 'negativity' surrounding their marriage, while revealing that the star has been offered another year as a presenter for his show Extra.

Speaking about reports of her impending divorce from Mark, Michelle confidently told The Sun: 'Theres so much negativity behind the fact that if I work away and Marks away, it has to be a disaster.'

Hilarious: Mark headed out to Las Vegas for his brother Josh's (pictured on left) wild stag do, the siblings were joined by their father Mark Sr (pictured right) and pals for the fun few days

I can have fun too!: The wild stag do comes after Mark's wife Michelle, 30, attended Josh's fiancee's hen do in the same location earlier this month

Lads: Mark showed off his hunky physique in a fun snap with brother Josh

Pool party: Mark looked happy as he bantered with his speedo-wearing brother

Hunks: Josh posed up with dad Mark Sr in the pool in Vegas

Wow factor: Josh donned a leotard as he sat atop his friend's shoulders

Revealing: Josh proudly showed off his six pack as he posed in his leotard

The soap star added that she was a 'positive person' so she did her best not to 'read into the negativity'.

Maintaining an incredibly busy schedule, the pair have spent much of their married life apart due to their working commitments on opposite sides of the world.

Mark bagged a television corresponding role with the gossip site Extra, and relocated to the States for the job in September.

Smitten: This comes after Mark's wife Michelle slammed 'negativity' surrounding their marriage, while revealing that the star has been offered another year as a presenter

Meanwhile Michelle has flitted between England and South Africa to film BBC drama Our Girl.

While the Tina and Bobby star has noted that the source of the break-up rumours stem from both of them working in different country's for months on end, she revealed news that he was just asked to another year back as host on Extra TV.

Admitting that 'he hasn't signed yet', Michelle enthused: 'Its always been something that we will talk about. Im just really proud of him.'

Michelle and Mark met in Dubai in 2012, and married in a stunning ceremony at Hengrave Hall in Suffolk three years later.
He was portrayed as the 'villain' on the New Zealand version of Married At First Sight.

And Benjamin Blackwell, 27, has revealed he has now befriended Davina Rankin, from the Australian franchise of the show.

In an interview with Woman's Day, the reality star said the two bonded over being 'the bad guys' on their respective programs.

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'I don't know how she deals with it': Married At First Sight New Zealand villain Ben Blackwell reveals he's friends with Davina Rankin... and says the pair bonded over being 'the bad guys'

'I'm probably the most hated person from the New Zealand series and she's probably the most hated from the Aussie show,' he told the publication.

'But we've got a smaller population, so there's so many more people coming at her.'

The star explained that he experienced similar backlash for his marriage with on-screen husband Aaron Chisolm, yet on a smaller scale.

Sticking together: 'I'm probably the most hated person from the New Zealand series and she's probably the most hated from the Aussie show,' he told Woman's Day

With Australia's audience being larger, Ben told the publication: 'I don't know how she does it.'

Ben quickly became known as the villain on the show because of his 'quick to criticise' personality.

The star said his 'absolutely miserable' experience on the program made him realise he had already found Mr. Right years earlier.

Mr Right: The star (pictured on the right with boyfriend Jayden Jacobsen) said his 'absolutely miserable' experience on the show made him realise he had already found Mr. Right years earlier

Ben told the publication he has rekindled his relationship with former beau Jayden Jacobsen, whom he dated between 2014 and 2016.

'My marriage was an absolute rock bottom and I had the realisation that I'd had a very good relationship with Jayden,' he told the publication.

Explaining how the two re-sparked their lost relationship, Ben said he messaged his Melbourne-based boyfriend to let him know he'd be appearing on television and things progressed from there.

Meanwhile, Davina too was put through the wringer for her controversial personality and 'cheating' scandal' with Dean Wells.

The raven-haired star is now happily loved up with beau Jaxon Manuel.

Onward and upward: Davina too was put through the wringer for her controversial personality and 'cheating' scandal' with Dean Wells. The raven-haired star is now happily loved up with beau Jaxon Manuel




Married At First Sight NZ villain Ben Blackwell is back in the arms of his ex-boyfriend.

After his relationship with on-screen husband Aaron Chisholm fizzled, the 26-year-old revealed Woman's Day New Zealand he realised how good his connection was with his Australian ex, Jayden Jacobson.

'The chemistry was still there, and despite our break-up and my marriage, I'd always come back to Jayden. I've never been with anyone like him,' he gushed.

'I've never been with anyone like him!' Married At First Sight NZ villain Ben Blackwell in the arms of his Australian ex boyfriend after his horrible time on the reality show

The reunited couple now fly back-and-forth between Australia and New Zealand to see each other.

Ben explained that he met his Australian beau at the Pride festival in Melbourne and the pair began dating in 2014.

But the couple broke up in 2016 after Ben made the heartbreaking decision to be closer to his family back in New Zealand.

Former love: In 2017, he joined the first season of MAFS NZ and was married to ambulance officer Aaron Chisholm (pictured)

In 2017, he joined the first season of MAFS NZ and was 'married' to ambulance officer Aaron Chisholm.

The couple's relationship did not end well and according to Stuff.co.nz, the two had an altercation when they 'crossed paths at Auckland's Pride Parade'.

When asked if he would be making his way down the aisle again anytime soon, Ben told Woman's Day New Zealand he was in now rush.

Bitter end: Ben and Aaron's relationship did not end well and according to Stuff.co.nz the two had an altercation when they had 'crossed paths at Auckland's Pride Parade'

Happier times: Despite the fallout they are still technically being married to each other (L-R Aaron and Ben)

'If I was going to put my family through it again, I'd want them to see me taking it seriously,' he said.

Ben also slammed detractors for suggesting he joined the show to become famous.

'I think if I came on to get famous, I could have done it in a way better way than marrying someone and sticking it out and having to go through this whole rigmarole,' he added.

Married At First Sight New Zealand is currently looking for Kiwi men and women to audition for season two of the social experiment.
He been travelling overseas, attending the world-famous Indy 500 in Indianapolis over the weekend.

But Chris Hemsworth raced home to his family in Australia on Tuesday morning.

The Thor star was seen touching down at Sydney airport, no doubt en route to his Byron Bay base to see his wife Elsa Pataky and their three adorable children.

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Honey, I'm home! Chris Hemsworth races back to wife Elsa Pataky and his three young children in Byron Bay after travelling the globe

The handsome star showed off his buff biceps in one of his signature white T-shirts, which he paired with jeans and trainers.

Attempting to fly under the radar, he covered his face with a baseball cap and sunglasses.

Proving he's not an A-list diva, Chris pulled his own luggage through the terminal.

Chris set pulses racing as he attended the inaugural running of the Indy 500 on Sunday.

Fans flocked to catch a glimpse of the hunky Thor star as he toured the famous track in Indianapolis, before waving the green flag to start the race.

The strapping actor sizzled in the soaring heat, wearing an unbuttoned white linen shirt that showed off a hint of his famous muscles.

Ladies, start your engines! Chris set pulses racing as he attended the inaugural running of the Indy 500 on Sunday

Throughout the day, Chris had several meet and greets with fans and caught up with other famous faces.

The father-of-three was even spotted taking a selfie with controversial US Bachelor stars Arie Luyendyk Jr. and Lauren Burnham.

Chris watched fellow Australian Will Power race to victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

An IndyCar series champion and four times runner-up, Power delivered a cool, calculated drive to reach Victory Lane and give owner Roger Penske his 17th Indy 500 success.

The first Australian to reach Victory Lane at Indy 500, Powers win capped a monumental day for Australian motorsport, with Daniel Ricciardo triumphing on the other side of the Atlantic at the Monaco Grand Prix.

'Unbelievable to be the first Australian to win the 500; maybe they will recognise me down there now,' Power said following the race. 'I don't think people know who I am down there.'

Power, who started on the front row, was on the charge after the final caution, coming home ahead of polesitter Ed Carpenter and 2008 winner Scott Dixon of New Zealand.

Lets get this party started! Chris waved the green flag to start the 102nd running of the race
She recently traded in the bright lights of Los Angeles for a more wholesome life.

And Lindsay Lohan looked like she was letting her hair down on Sunday as she celebrated the opening of her club, LOHAN Beach House in Mykonos with pals.

The actress, 31, nailed summer chic as she slipped into a white linen top and matching trousers for her beach jaunt.

Party-time! Lindsay Lohan looked like she was letting her hair down during her Greece holiday on Sunday as she celebrated the opening of her club in Mykonos with pals

Lindsay was dressed for the sunny climes in her beach ensemble, cinching in her waist with a silver clasped belt.

She let her famous scarlet locks fall loosely around her shoulders and shielded her eyes with a pair on brown-tinted aviators.

The Freaky Friday star looked thoroughly relaxed as she chatted happily to pals, sipping on a chilled beverage as she lounged around the idyllic beach bar.

Beach babe: The actress, 31, nailed summer chic as she slipped into a white linen top and matching trousers for her beach jaunt

Soaking up the son: Lindsay was dressed for the sunny climes, cinching in her waist with a silver clasped belt and looked thoroughly relaxed as she chatted happily to pals

The actress is based in Dubai these days but has a fondness for Greece, regularly island hopping during her summers.

The actress also lent her name to LOHAN Beach House Rhodes and is co-owner of LOHAN nightclub in Athens.

Her good pal Dennis Papageorgiou, a Greek millionaire and restaurateur, named the hotspot after the Mean Girls star.

In a recent interview on The Kyle and Jackie O radio show Lindsay revealed she is terrified of going back to California.

Over the moon: At one point the talented actress was swept off her feet as she proudly posed outside her new beach bar

'I'm terrified of going to LA. Just landing at the airport scares the s**t out of me,' Lindsay told hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson.

'When I do something good, they [the press] just bring it up,' she added, referring to her past legal troubles while living in LA.

'I'm nearly 32 years old. This is so long ago,' Lindsay explained.

The Mean Girls actress relocated to Dubai in December 2016, having previously lived in London, England.

Lindsay told W Magazine in February that she feels a sense of calm living in Dubai.

'There's a certain calmness that I find there. There's no paparazzi, no cameras. That's a big deal for me,' she said.

'I do really appreciate having the life where I can just go outside and not have to worry.'
Married At First Sight's Telv Williams has split with his girlfriend Maddie Carolan after a brief romance, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.

The 34-year-old father-of-two and Melbourne socialite, 27, have unfollowed each other on Instagram, despite only recently declaring their love for each other.

A source claimed on Tuesday: 'Everybody's sure they have broken up. Apparently things aren't as rosy as Telv and Maddie make it seem on social media.'

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EXCLUSIVE: 'Everyone's sure they've broken up': Married At First Sight's Telv Williams has split with Maddie Carolan after a brief romance, Daily Mail Australia can reveal

They added: 'They've unfollowed each other and un-liked recent posts. But they're worried about deleting any photos as that would draw too much attention.'

Telv has made no secret of his relationship with Maddie in recent weeks, declaring publicly that he loves her and even describing her as his 'wifey' on Instagram.

The source claimed that the fly-in-fly-out machinery technician is worried what his supporters will think if his new relationship fails so soon after announcing it.

'Obviously, Telv wanted this relationship to work, he's already publicly said he loves Maddie,' they revealed.

'And he knows how it would look for another relationship to end so soon after everything that happened with Sarah (Roza).'

Hmm! A source told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday: 'Everybody's sure they have broken up. Apparently things aren't as rosy as Telv and Maddie make it seem on social media'

It's over! The 34-year-old father-of-two and Melbourne socialite, 27, have unfollowed each other on Instagram , despite only recently declaring their love for each other

Daily Mail Australia has contacted Telv and Maddie for comment.

It comes just days after Telv announced on social media he was 'punching above (his) weight' by dating Maddie.

Posting the picture of the former couple on Instagram, he told his followers: 'Love is a beautiful thing.'

'Telv wanted this relationship to work, he's already publicly said he loves Maddie': Telv is worried what his supporters will think if his new relationship fails so soon after announcing it

He added the hashtags: 'happiness', 'punching above my weight' and 'love this girl'.

Telv and Maddie began dating just weeks after his Married At First Sight 'bride' Sarah Roza, 39, confirmed their heartbreaking split.

Telv had previously been a MAFS fan favourite after the show debuted in January, but his reputation has taken a significant knock in the months since.

Former flames: Telv and Maddie began dating just weeks after his Married At First Sight 'bride' Sarah Roza, 39, confirmed their heartbreaking split. Pictured on their wedding day

Shocking footage, which was filmed last year, surfaced of the 'lonely, single dad' snorting lines of white powder off a stripper's body.

And when Telv was first linked to Maddie in the press, Sarah publicly accused him of hooking up with 'countless fame hungry insignificant randoms.'

Meanwhile, Sarah has since moved on with her new boyfriend James Stephens, who she has described as a 'true gentleman'.
As one of the world's top models, she must watch her figure.

But Bella Hadid threw all the rules out the window as she sent her pizza threw the airport security machine on Monday.

The 21-year-old beauty posted a Snapchat of the delicious event as she captioned it: 'I will forever remember the first time I had to send my pizza thru security.'

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Party girl: Bella Hadid threw all the rules out the window as she sent her pizza threw the airport security machine on Monday

The video clip features two pizza boxes with writing on it going down the conveyor belt behind a pink backpack.

Later, Bella posted a pic of friends enjoying the airborne Italian delight with the caption: 'gotta keep my girls happy'

And then Bella showcased her flawless physique in a skimpy multicolored cocktail dress for another social media post.

Precious cargo: The 21-year-old beauty posted a Snapchat of the delicious event as she captioned it: 'I will forever remember the first time I had to send my pizza thru security.'

Bella has been enjoying her time in Monaco after posing up a storm in a slew of fashion events at the Cannes Film Festival.

She posted a video of herself in the southern France city, with the caption: 'post-interviews, pre-press conference lunch date', indicating that she was ready for some fun in the sun.

Alongside her bikini pictures, Bella also shared a video of herself spending some quality time with a dog as she sped across the water.

First class: The video clip features two pizza boxes with writing on it going down the conveyor belt behind a pink backpack

She enjoyed a day at the grand Prix as well.

Bella looked delighted be in France, and lamented in the June edition of Harper's Bazaar: 'I never go a day without smiling. People always say I have the same facial expressions.

'I looked that way because photographers on set would direct me to look "bored" or "very nonchalant." But it isn't necessarily the way I really am...ever since I was a baby, I was always smiling.'
Top Chef judge Gail Simmons and her husband of a decade, music executive Jeremy Abrams, just announced they welcomed their second child - a baby boy - last Wednesday in Brooklyn.

'He's here! And he's a keeper,' the 42-year-old Emmy-nominated producer - who boasts 435K social media followers - gushed on Monday.

'Please excuse the social media silence but I've been busy ogling this little guy who barreled into our lives Wednesday morning. Thank you friends far and wide for all your love and support. So far it's been beautiful chaos. #mamaoftwo.'

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It's a boy! Top Chef judge Gail Simmons and her husband of a decade, music executive Jeremy Abrams, just announced they welcomed their second child last Wednesday in Brooklyn (pictured in 2014)

'He's here! And he's a keeper!' The 42-year-old Emmy-nominated producer shared a snap of their precious newborn and called his first week 'beautiful chaos'

The Canadian culinary expert did not release the name of her newborn, who's now little brother to four-year-old Dahlia Rae.

'Having a second child wasn't a cut and dry decision for us,' Gail admitted to HATCHland last month.

'We've loved the last 4 years with Dahlia, so it was a big move to consider going from one to two kids. However, once we decided, it took a minute, as I've never been the person that could sneeze and get pregnant.

'I'm so grateful to be having our baby, but I'm cognizant of how it's going to change our lives and the systems we have in place.'

'Having a second child wasn't a cut and dry decision for us': The Canadian culinary expert did not release the name of her newborn, who's now little brother to four-year-old Dahlia Rae

Maternity leave: Gail is planning on 'taking the summer off' to be with her family and she'll return 'as soon as I feel mentally and physically able' (pictured May 15)

Simmons doesn't have a set maternity leave, so she's planning on 'taking the summer off' to be with her family and she'll return 'as soon as I feel mentally and physically able.'

It's unclear just how involved the Bringing It Home author will be in the Kentucky-set, 16th season of Top Chef, but she's been a judge on the Bravo cooking competition since its inception in 2006.

On Monday, the Food & Wine staffer's fellow judge Tom Colicchio and host Padma Lakshmi were hard at work on the rainy Louisville set where they wished everyone a happy Memorial Day Weekend.

Gail's next scheduled appearance won't be until New York's Catskills Wine & Food Festival in Bloomingburg on October 6-7.

Taking a season off? It's unclear just how involved Simmons will be in the Kentucky-set, 16th season of Top Chef, but she's been a judge on the Bravo cooking competition since its inception in 2006 (pictured January 29)
She rarely puts a foot wrong in the fashion stakes.

And model Samantha Harris once again put on a stylish show as she attended the launch of Misterhood for the Sisterhood campaign in Sydney on Tuesday.

The 27-year-old showed off a hint of cleavage in gorgeous gold wrap dress.

Going for gold! Model Samantha Harris reveals at hint of cleavage in a low-cut wrap dress as she steps out for charity event

The frock had a deep V-neckline that gave a tiny glimpse of her black bra.

The outfit also featured ruffles that lead down to a thigh high split, which also flaunted Sam's toned legs.

She completed the ensemble with a pair of nude heels and a big smile.

Fashionable form: The frock had a deep neckline that gave a tiny glimpse of her black bra

Looking good: The outfit also featured ruffles that lead down to a thigh high split

The stunner kept her makeup simple with defined brows, blush pink cheeks and nude lipstick. She also styled her long brunette locks in luscious waves that cascaded down her shoulders.

Samantha's red carpet appearance comes after she and her husband Luke Hunt recently marked four years of marriage together.

She shared a sweet selfie of herself cuddled up to her beau with sun setting in the background.

Flawless: The stunner kept her makeup simple with defined brows, blush pink cheeks and nude lipstick. She also styled her long brunette locks in luscious waves that cascaded down her shoulders

The Indigenous beauty wrote in the caption of the post: 'Celebrating 4yrs of marriage today with this cutie. Love you Luke.'

In a recent interview with The Morning Show, the stunner gushed over their romantic festivities.

'It was really good, for our anniversary we actually celebrated at Jonah's in Palm Beach,' she raved.

The couple secretly married in 2014, just two months before he began serving a prison sentence for his involvement in a fatal car crash, which killed 78-year-old grandfather Kenneth Lay.
Cornelia Frances' son has shared a heartbreaking photo of his mother in her final days following the TV legend's death at 77 on Monday.

Tributes poured in for the Australian actress, known for her roles in Home and Away, Prisoner and Sons and Daughters, after she died on Monday in Sydney surrounded by her friends and family.

Cornelia was diagnosed with bladder cancer over a year ago and, later, doctors told her the disease had spread to her hip and spine.

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'I love you, mum': Cornelia Frances' son has shared a heartbreaking photo of his mother during her final days, as tributes poured in for the TV legend following her death aged 77 on Monday

Cornelia's son, Lawrence Eastland, captioned the image of his mother in her hospital bed: 'A very personal photo of my mum during one of her resting moments.

'She is so peaceful, soft and serene. I truly love this woman,' he added, alongside the hashtags: 'Strong', 'inspiring' and 'I love you, Mum.'

During an interview from her hospital bed with A Current Affair earlier this year, it was revealed Cornelia was being treated at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.

Coincidentally, this was the same hospital where she filmed the iconic Channel Nine series The Young Doctors in the 1970s - something that she revealed gave her a 'different view altogether'.

Icon: The legendary TV villain was perhaps best known for playing Alf Stewart's sister Morag Bellingham in Home and Away from 1988. She last appeared on the soap in 2017 (second right)

Health struggle: Cornelia was diagnosed with bladder cancer over a year ago and, later, doctors told her the disease had spread to her hip and spine. Pictured in hospital in February

'I would dearly love to go back to Summer Bay': Earlier this year, Cornelia had expressed hopes that she would reprise her role as Alf Stewart's villainous sister, Morag

During the interview, which ended up being her last, she discussed the 'pain' she was suffering while battling cancer - but bravely added that she was feeling 'fine'.

Cornelia assured her fans that she would fight the cancer that had spread beyond her bladder at that point.

'The pain comes and goes but you expect that, it's par for the course,' the TV star defiantly said at the time.

Reflecting on her 50-year entertainment career, she said in February: 'I'd like to thank the producers who hired me because it ain't easy to put a b***h on television.'

Character actress: Cornelia, who emigrated to Australia from England in the 1970s, found success playing villains in a string of successful TV shows. Pictured on The Young Doctors

Cornelia added that she had no hard feelings about never winning a Logie Award - Australian TV's highest honour - despite being nominated six times.

'It's a public opinion, they don't like the b***hes, they like the nice ladies. Being nominated was a great thrill, it was lovely,' she said.

Cornelia, also known as the host of Australia's The Weakest Link, had celebrated her 77th birthday with loved ones from her hospital bed just last month.

Famous role: Earlier this year, it was revealed that Cornelia was receiving cancer treatment at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital - where she had previously filmed The Young Doctors

Earlier this year, she expressed hopes that she would reprise her role as Alf Stewart's villainous sister, Morag Bellingham, on Home and Away.

She told The Sunday Telegraph: 'I would dearly love to go back to Summer Bay but haven't heard anything as yet.'

In January, the Liverpool-born television star revealed she had been diagnosed with cancer 12 months earlier.

'I discovered I had bladder cancer. This then spread to my hip bone which fractured, and then I almost died from loss of blood due to an ulcer in my throat,' she said.

'Despite all this, I am still here, as the old song goes.'

Legend: Cornelia recently said she had no hard feelings about never winning a Logie Award - Australian TV's highest honour - despite being nominated six times

Photo shoot: Models, Rhonda Pearce (left) and Cornelia Frances (right), pictured on November 07, 1965 wearing Shrimpton Line shifts designed and made by John J. Hilton

Cornelia, who emigrated to Australia from England in the 1970s, found success playing villains in a string of successful TV shows.

The acting legend is survived by her son, Lawrence, who told New Idea only weeks ago that she had enjoyed celebrating her birthday with family.

'Mum had the best day surrounded by some of her closest friends,' he said. 'It was wonderful to see her smile and laugh.'

Lawrence added: 'Ever the trouper, she remains positive and is hoping for a miracle.'

Touching: Ray Meagher, who played Cornelia's on-screen brother Alf Stewart said on Tuesday, 'Cornie was an incredibly loved and valued member of our cast over many, many years'

'In our thoughts': Home and Away stalwart Ada Nicodemou (right), who has played Leah Patterson-Baker since 2000, also shared her condolences

Channel Seven paid tribute to Cornelia on Tuesday, describing her as an inspirational and 'unique person'.

The acting legend is survived by her son, Lawrence, who told New Idea only weeks ago that she had enjoyed celebrating her birthday with family.

'Mum had the best day surrounded by some of her closest friends,' he said. 'It was wonderful to see her smile and laugh.'

Lawrence added: 'Ever the trouper, she remains positive and is hoping for a miracle.'

Channel Seven paid tribute to Cornelia on Tuesday, describing her as an inspirational and 'unique person'.

A spokesperson said. 'Her onscreen presence inspired a generation of actors.

Fearful TV presenter: Cornelia was the host of Australia's version of The Weakest List, taking on the role made famous by Anne Robinson in the British and American series

'This gift was coupled with an ability to bring a sense of dignity and presence into each room she entered. Her energy and character will be missed.'

Ray Meagher also said on Tuesday: 'Cornie was an incredibly loved and valued member of our cast over many, many years.'

He added to the Daily Telegraph: 'We had a moment of silence for her on set (of Home and Away) this morning and she'll be sadly missed by both cast and crew.'

Fellow Summer Bay alumnus Judy Nunn and her husband Bruce Venables said their 'goodbyes' a week ago, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Judy, 73, said: 'She died with the same grace and dignity with which she lived. Cornelia was a very close friend. I loved her dearly. I will miss you Corn, we all will.'

Cancer battle: In January this year, the television star revealed that she had been diagnosed with bladder cancer 12 months earlier. Pictured in 2008

Home and Away stalwart Ada Nicodemou, 41, who has played Leah Patterson-Baker since 2000, also shared her condolences.

She said: 'Cornelia was very loved and respected. She'll be sadly missed. Lawrence [Eastland, Cornelia's son], her family and friends are in our thoughts.'

Lynne McGranger, who is best known for her longtime portrayal of Irene Roberts, spoke warmly of the woman she had worked with for 'many years'.

'She was very loved and respected,' Lynne, 65, said.

'In a way she paved the way for women in Australian TV always playing such strong characters. My thoughts are with Lawrence and her family.'

Today Extra host and musical theatre star David Campbell, 44, tweeted about the news of Cornelia's death: 'A terrific Australian actor and lovely person.'

Rest in peace: Working in the industry for almost half a century, the veteran actress appeared in numerous television shows, stage performances and films in her time
Arie Luyendyk Jr. cut short his GQ profile interview after his fiancee Lauren Burnham got upset during an interview.

The 36-year-old star of season 22 of The Bachelor spent two days with reporter Rebecca Nelson for a piece titled 'The Most Hated Bachelor In America Explains Himself' before refusing to participate any further.

Nelson went house hunting with Luyendyk and Burnham, 26, in Scottsdale, Arizona and shared multiple meals with the couple.

Magazine profile: Arie Luyendyk Jr, shown last week with fiancee Lauren Burnham in New York City, cut shot his GQ magazine profile after questioning upset his bride-to-be

Luyendyk and Burnham celebrated at a wine bar with Nelson after finding a home that they liked.

Nelson in her first-person piece said she decided to leave to write up some notes.

Luyendyk offered his Ford F-150 pickup truck for her to drive and the door code to his condominium, but she got an Uber ride instead.

Nelson said the former race car driver texted her while she was driving back to her rental place.

Season finale: Becca Kufrin was dumped by Arie after he proposed to her during The Bachelor season 22 finale in March

She asked Burnham about her experience being rejected by Luyendyk, her reaction to him proposing to Becca Kufrin before dumping her on TV and her family's reaction.

'I also asked her about Becca's comment on the finale that she "would challenge him a lot more" than Lauren and that Becca -unlike Lauren - would "really want an equal partnership."'

Burnham admitted that she and Luyendyk didn't watch the brutal finale in which Kufrin was blind-sided by the breakup after accepting Luyendyk's marriage proposal.

Former racer: Arie, shown in January in Los Angeles, proposed to Lauren after breaking up with Becca

'It makes me feel a little upset that people don't think that I would be an equal partner with Arie,' Burnham responded.

'I'm a very strong independent woman. Just because I had a little bit of a breakdown on the show, because I wasn't great in that environment, doesn't mean I'm not a strong person,' she added.

Nelson said she then got a text from Luyendyk.

Fan favorite: Becca , shown earlier this month on American Idol, was named the next star of The Bachelorette that premiered on Monday

'I don't know how the conversation went on your end but Lauren is really upset,' he wrote.

'I agreed to do this because I believed it would be positive and shed light on who I am [and] in no way did I want to make Lauren upset. I think our interview is done,' he added.

The real estate broker in later texts said their time together felt like 'a tabloid interview' and eventually canceled a planned photoshoot.

'Suffice it to say I did not receive a rose,' Nelson wrote.

Bounced back: The Minnesota native, shown earlier this month in Las Vegas, was named The Bachelorette after the brutal breakup shown in excruciating detail in March

The article blamed viewers for demanding more twists, drama and heartbreak each season from the ABC show.

'That thirst for drama essentially demanded that, at some point, an Arie would emerge. Arie may be the most hated man in America, but we created him.

And, anyway, what does he care? "The fact is, I'm really happy with Lauren," Arie says. "So for me, it was all worth it''.'

The couple have set a wedding date of January 12, 2019 for their nuptials in Hawaii.
She has previously dressed as Princess Jasmine for Halloween.

And in a new video, Kim Kardashian transformed into the Disney character once again, thanks to make-up artist Kandee Johnson.

Despite her nearly-identical transformation, the Keeping Up With the Kardashian star did not easily fool daughter North West, four.

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Coming to life: Kim Kardashian, 39, transformed into Princess Jasmine, thanks to make-up artist Kandee Johnson

Not having it: Despite her nearly-identical transformation, the Keeping Up With the Kardashian star did not easily fool daughter North West, four

The video, shared to Youtube on Monday, opened with Kim Facetiming her eldest child.

The 37-year-old attempted to convince her that she was indeed the fictional princess, and assumed she could pull a fast one on North.

'It's Princess Jasmine,' Kim said.

'You're really Kim,' North replied, unfazed.

'No it's not. It's Jasmine. I have your mommy's phone. She wanted me to call you and tell you she's on my magic carpet. She's on her way home.'

Later in the clip, North noted that Kim's 'voice doesn't sound like Jasmine.'

'You're really Kim': 'No it's not. It's Jasmine. I have your mommy's phone. She wanted me to call you and tell you she's on my magic carpet. She's on her way home'

Work of art: To transform Kim into Jasmine, Kandee, 39, began with a flat base of foundation. The beauty guru then applied a regular glue stick to the eyebrows of the mother-of-three, in order to allow concealer to stick

Wow: She then painted on dramatic brows to match the Disney Princess

To transform Kim into Jasmine, Kandee, 39, began with a flat base of foundation.

The beauty guru then applied a regular glue stick to the eyebrows of the mother-of-three, in order to allow concealer to stick. She then painted on dramatic brows to match the Disney Princess.

Kandee used contour makeup, eye shadow, liner and lipstick to complete the star's look.

Fnishing touches: Kandee used contour makeup, eye shadow, liner and lipstick to complete the star's look

Finished product: Kim looked identical to the Disney Princess

In business together: Kim and Kandee's collaboration undoubtedly comes from the duo's involvement in the Lifetime series, Glam Masters.

Kim and Kandee's collaboration undoubtedly comes from the duo's involvement in the Lifetime series, Glam Masters.

Kim is an executive producer on the show, while Kandee is a judge.

The show, which is a competition series in search of a great make-up artist, wrapped it's first season in April.
From playing Alf Stewart's evil sister Morag Bellingham in Home And Away to becoming the fearful host of The Weakest Link, Cornelia Frances was undoubtedly Australia's favourite TV villain.

The veteran actor left fans devastated when she tragically passed away aged 77 on Monday, after losing her battle with bladder cancer.

Working in the industry for more than 40 years, Cornelia appeared in numerous television shows, stage performances and films throughout her illustrious career.

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From Alf's evil sister Morag to fearful Weakest Link host: The life and times of veteran TV actor Cornelia Frances died of cancer at aged 77 on Monday. Pictured on Home and Away

Cornelia was perhaps best known for playing Alf Stewart's villainous sister Morag Bellingham on Home and Away intermittently between 1988 and 2017.

In her final TV interview in February, she joked about being a 'b***h on television' and thanked producers for offering her the antagonistic roles that made her career.

Cornelia's first-ever screen role was in the 1960 movie Peeping Tom, which was directed by her uncle Michael Powell.

Iconic role: Cornelia was perhaps best known for playing Alf Stewart's villainous sister Morag Bellingham on Home and Away intermittently between 1988 and 2017

Veteran: In 1976, Cornelia (second from left) starred as Sister Scott in The Young Doctors

Poignant: In her final TV interview in February, Cornelia revealed she was a patient in the same hospital where she filmed The Young Doctors in the 1970s

A decade later, she made her move to TV, playing Georgina Clausen on Dynasty.

Then, in 1976, she appeared as Sister Scott on The Young Doctors, which became one of her most famous television roles.

In an interview from her hospital bed in February, she revealed poignantly that she was a patient in the same hospital where she filmed the TV series in the 1970s.

She claimed that being treated at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital four decades after filming The Young Doctors is a 'different view altogether'.

Brave battle: Cornelia reflected on her illustrious career spanning five decades, in an interview with A Current Affair earlier this year

Another role: She played the tough-talking lawyer Carmel Saunders on Prisoner: Cell Block H

Remember this? After starring on a handful of shows following Prisoner, Cornelia's next notable role was as Barbara Hamilton/Armstrong in Sons and Daughters in 1982

Following her three-year stint on The Young Doctors, Cornelia next appeared on Australian television series Prisoner: Cell Block H.

On the prison drama, she played the tough-talking lawyer Carmel Saunders, who was handling inmate Pat O'Connell's appeal.

After starring on a handful of shows following Prisoner, Cornelia's next notable role was as Barbara Hamilton/Armstrong in Sons and Daughters.

However, her longest character arc would be on Channel Seven's Home and Away, taking on the role of Alf Stewart's sister Morag Bellingham.

Cornelia expertly portrayed the stern barrister and judge, who had a clear dislike for Summer Bay and the people in it  including her own family.

Debuting on the soap in 1988, she became a recurring guest star for 30 years.

Throwback: Cornelia is pictured in her early modelling career

Famous role: However, Cornelia's longest character arc would be on Channel Seven's Home and Away, taking on the role of Alf Stewart's sister Morag Bellingham. Pictured in 2010

'You are the weakest link, goodbye!' As well as her famous TV roles, Cornelia also appeared as the fearful host of Channel Seven's The Weakest Link from 2001 to 2002

Her inclusion in episode 6,645 - which aired on April 25, 2017 - would ultimately became her last TV appearance as an actor.

As well as her famous TV roles, Cornelia also appeared as the fearful host of Channel Seven's The Weakest Link from 2001 to 2002.

The flame-haired star was known for her catchphrase: 'You are the weakest link, goodbye!'

Born in England, Cornelia emigrated to Australia in the 1970s.

Beloved: With the majority of her work being television-based, the actress was nominated six times for a Logie Award, the Australian equivalent of an Emmy or BAFTA. Pictured in 2011

Autobiography: At the height of her success, Cornelia published her autobiography, titled And What Have You Done Lately? in 2003

With the majority of her work being television-based, the actress was nominated six times for a Logie Award, the Australian equivalent of an Emmy or BAFTA.

At the height of her success, Cornelia published her autobiography, titled And What Have You Done Lately? in 2003.

Earlier this year, Cornelia discussed the 'pain' she was suffering while battling cancer in her poignant final interview.

She bravely said she was feeling 'fine' during a chat with A Current Affair from her hospital bed, which aired in February.

She explained: 'The pain comes and goes but you expect that, it's part of the course.'

Staying strong: Earlier this year, Cornelia discussed the 'pain' she was suffering while battling cancer in her poignant final interview

Cornelia assured her fans that she would fight the cancer that had then spread beyond her bladder.

She also used her opportunity to thank the producers who continuously handed her roles that allowed her to become Australia's most famous TV villain.

'I'd like to thank the producers who hired me because it ain't easy to put a b***h on television,' she said.

'I'd like to thank the producers who hired me because it ain't easy to put a b***h on television': Cornelia said her lengthy career had been a 'wonderful road'. Pictured on The Weakest Link

Cornelia claimed that her lengthy career had been a 'wonderful road' and she loved 'every minute' of it.

She added that there were no hard feelings about not winning a Logie Award.

'It's a public opinion, they don't like the b***hes, they like the nice ladies. Being nominated was a great thrill, it was lovely,' Cornelia said.

In January, Cornelia confessed that she had almost died from blood loss.

Staying positive: Cornelia told A Current Affair earlier this year that she was feeling 'fine' during her cancer battle and admitted that the pain 'comes and goes'

Candid: The Young Doctors star (right) added that she had no hard feelings about never winning a Logie Award, despite being nominated six times

She told The Daily Telegraph: 'I discovered I had bladder cancer. This then spread to my hip bone which fractured, and then I almost died from loss of blood due to an ulcer in my throat. Despite all this, I am still here, as the old song goes.'

As news broke of the actress' death on Tuesday, her son Lawrence shared a heartbreaking photo of his mother in her last days.

He wrote: 'A very personal photo of my mum during one of her resting moments, she is so peaceful, soft and serene. I truly love this woman.'
15:50 | Lima, May. 29.

Speaking at the launch of a Production Ministry's (Produce) campaign aimed at MSEs , the minister said this sector provides 85% of jobs in the Andean country.

"85 out of every 100 jobs are created by micro and small-sized companies. The sector is quite intensive in terms of labor, which represents the main source of employment in Peru," Perez-Reyes told Andina news agency.

This is why Produce is extremely interested in fostering development and associativity of MSEs so that they can continue growing and turn into medium and large-sized companies.

According to Perez-Reyes, micro and small-sized enterprises worldwide always make an important contribution to the economy. "In the case of Peru, this should be accompanied by formality," he added.

"Many of our MSE activities have a large informal component. Therefore, we have to formalize them so that they can contribute to the employment , tax base, social security, and whatever formalization implies," he pointed out.
Kyle Sandilands has revealed he once narrowly avoided a brush with death.

During his radio show on Tuesday, the 46-year-old recalled living in a house owned by nightclub owner and longtime friend, John Ibrahim.

One night, the bedroom he was staying in was shot at, leaving bullet holes in the windows.

'It was terrifying!' Kyle Sandilands reveals scary moment his bedroom window was shot at while staying at best friend and nightclub boss John Ibrahim's house

Luckily, Kyle wasn't in the bedroom at the time the incident occurred. The former Australian Idol judge explained he was out all night partying with friends and discovered the damage the following morning.

He told listeners: 'When I came back the next morning, his house had been shot up, mainly in the bedroom I was staying in. [There were] bullet holes all through the glass.

'I was saying to John, "Oh my god!" And I put my finger through the bullet holes in the glass, [they went] through the window. I said, ''"Look at all these!"

'He said, "Oh, [look at] the trajectory of it. They've shot from down on the ground and it's landed in the ceiling. So unless you were bouncing around on the bed, you would have been fine.

Best pals: Kyle and John, pictured here with Kyle's girlfriend Imogen Anthony, have been friends for several years

The Brisbane-born presenter joked that John brushed off the shocking incident as it was a 'common occurrence' for him, but added that he thought it was 'terrifying'.

Radio veteran Kyle, who has been on the airwaves since he was 21, still counts John as a good friend.

The pair kicked their friendship up a notch in 2012 when Kyle moved into one of John's properties in Dover Heights, Sydney, right across the road from the landlord's own home.

High flyers: The pair frequently jet off on lavish holidays together

In his book, Last King of the X, John wrote of his friend, 'Love him or hate him, I have travelled the world with him, and weve always had great times together, from him putting on a private full-on cabaret show on the coffee table in our villa in Ibiza to just having breakfast in a street diner in LA.

'I find him to be a loyal friend, straight to the point and non-judgmental.'

John, 47, was convicted of assault as a teenager, but has not been found guilty of any crimes since.

The good life: John (left) and Kyle (bottom), pictured here on a yacht in Ibiza, share a love of partying

In August 2017, police made mass arrests to crack down on two drug syndicates thought to be operating in Australia. As a result, John's son Daniel and girlfriend, Sarah Budge, were arrested.

It is not suggested that John knew of or had any involvement in the alleged syndicates.

Sarah, 28, now faces up to 14 years in prison for possession of a handgun. It is not suggested this charge is related to any involvement in drug syndicates.
Cornelia Frances discussed the 'pain' she was suffering while battling cancer in a poignant final interview before she passed away on Monday.

The Australian TV legend - who died surrounded by her loved ones - bravely said she was feeling 'fine' during a chat with A Current Affair from her hospital bed in February.

The 77-year-old added that being treated for the disease at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital - where she had filmed Young Doctors 40 years earlier - gave her a 'different view altogether.'

'The pain comes and goes': Cornelia Frances discussed the 'pain' she was suffering while battling cancer in her poignant final interview before she passed away on Monday

Cornelia assured her fans that she would fight the cancer that had spread beyond her bladder at that point of her interview.

'The pain comes and goes but you expect that, it's par for the course,' the TV star defiantly said at the time.

Cornelia's last interview has re-emerged after the actress, known for her roles in Home and Away, Prisoner and Sons and Daughters, died surrounded by her loved ones overnight.

Poignant: The 77-year-old revealed during an interview with A Current Affair in February that she was being treated for cancer at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital, 40 years after filming Young Doctors (pictured on the show in the 1970s)

Cornelia was diagnosed with bladder cancer over a year ago and, later, doctors told her it had spread to her hip and spine.

During her interview with A Current Affair, she reflected on her illustrious career spanning five decades.

She also thanked the producers who continuously handed her roles which allowed her to become Australia's most famous TV villain.

Brave: 'The pain comes and goes but you expect that, it's par for the course,' the TV star defiantly said during the interview

Icon: Cornelia said her lengthy career - which included stints on Home And Away and as the host of the Australian version of The Weakest Link (pictured) - had been a 'wonderful road'

'I'd like to thank the producers who hired me because it aint easy to put a b***h on television,' she said.

Cornelia said her lengthy career - which included stints on Home And Away and as the host of the Australian version of The Weakest Link - had been a 'wonderful road' and she loved 'every minute' of it.

The Young Doctors star added that she had no hard feelings about never winning a Logie Award, despite being nominated six times.

Positive spirits: 'I'd like to thank the producers who hired me because it aint easy to put a b***h on television,' she cheekily quipped

'It's a public opinion, they don't like the b***hes, they like the nice ladies. Being nominated was a great thrill, it was lovely,' she said.

In January, Cornelia confessed that she had almost died from blood loss.

She told The Daily Telegraph: 'I discovered I had bladder cancer. This then spread to my hip bone which fractured, and then I almost died from loss of blood due to an ulcer in my throat. Despite all this, I am still here, as the old song goes.'
Cornelia Frances' former Home and Away co-stars have paid tribute to the actress following her death at age 77 on Monday.

The veteran performer played Morag Bellingham on the soap on-and-off between 1988 and 2017.

Ray Meagher, who played Cornelia's on-screen brother Alf Stewart said on Tuesday: 'Cornie was an incredibly loved and valued member of our cast over many, many years.'

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Cornelia Frances dead at 77: Home and Away stars including Ray Meagher and Ada Nicodemou have paid tribute to the late actress who famously played Alf Stewart's villainous sister, Morag

Ray, 73, added: 'We had a moment of silence for her on set this morning and she'll be sadly missed by both cast and crew.'

Fellow Summer Bay alumnus Judy Nunn and her husband Bruce Venables said their 'goodbyes' a week ago, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Judy, 73, said: 'She died with the same grace and dignity with which she lived. Cornelia was a very close friend. I loved her dearly. I will miss you Corn, we all will.'

Touching: Ray Meagher, who played Cornelia's on-screen brother Alf Stewart said on Tuesday, 'Cornie was an incredibly loved and valued member of our cast over many, many years'

Home and Away stalwart Ada Nicodemou, 41, who has played Leah Patterson-Baker since 2000, also shared her condolences.

She said: 'Cornelia was very loved and respected. She'll be sadly missed. Lawrence [Eastland, Cornelia's son], her family and friends are in our thoughts.'

Lynne McGranger, who is best known for her longtime portrayal of Irene Roberts, spoke warmly of the woman she had worked with for 'many years'.

'In our thoughts': Home and Away stalwart Ada Nicodemou (right), who has played Leah Patterson-Baker since 2000, also shared her condolences

'She was very loved and respected,' Lynne, 65, said.

'In a way she paved the way for women in Australian TV always playing such strong characters. My thoughts are with Lawrence and her family.'

Today Extra host and musical theatre star David Campbell, 44, tweeted about the news of Cornelia's death: 'A terrific Australian actor and lovely person.'

Paying respects: 'Cornelia was very loved and respected. She'll be sadly missed,' said Ada

Earlier this year, Cornelia expressed hopes that she would reprise her role as Alf Stewart's villainous sister on the long-running Australian soap.

She told The Sunday Telegraph: 'I would dearly love to go back to Summer Bay but haven't heard anything as yet.'

Cornelia, who was also known for her roles in Prisoner and Sons and Daughters, died in Sydney on Monday surrounded by her friends and family.

The Weakest Link host was diagnosed with bladder cancer over a year ago and, later, doctors told her the disease had spread to her hip and spine.
Married At First Sight's Sean Donnelly has slammed rumours he's dating co-star Gabrielle Bartlett after Nasser Sultan's falsely claimed on The Kyle & Jackie O Show that the pair were an item.

An irate Sean confirmed that the accusations were 'completely fake' on Tuesday.





Speaking with News.com.au , Sean said: 'I have no idea (why Nasser said it). Last week Nasser commented on Gabby's Instagram post that her and Ryan would make a good couple, so I'm not sure even he knows what he is on about.'

'He doesn't know what he's on about!' Married At First Sight's Sean Donnelly SLAMS rumours he's dating co-star Gabrielle Bartlett after Nasser Sultan makes false claims that the pair are an item

During his on-air chat with hosts Kyle Sandilands and Jackie 'O' Henderson, Nasser claimed Gabrielle and Sean were spotted getting cosy after Ryan Gallagher's stand-up gig in Adelaide.

But Sean insisted that the two merely ran into each other at the event by sheer coincidence, and nothing happened.

Denied! Speaking with News.com.au , Sean said: 'I have no idea (why Nasser said it). Last week Nasser commented on Gabby's Instagram post that her and Ryan would make a good couple, so I'm not sure even he knows what he is on about'

Supporting a friend! During his on-air chat with Kyle and Jackie O, Nasser had claimed Gabrielle and Sean were spotted getting cosy after Ryan Gallagher's stand-up gig in Adelaide

Nasser had told a shocked Kyle and Jackie O that the pair were 'sleeping together'.

'I can tell you that now that she's sleeping with Sean from Adelaide,' he ranted.

'Apparently, she flew down to see Ryan's gig and Jo (Mcpharlin, Sean's 'ex-wife' on the show) caught them in the hotel room. The story will come out today, I guarantee you.'

'She always had a soft spot for Sean': Nasser, who was paired with Gab (left) on the show, claimed that his 'ex-wife' always held Sean in high regard

'She always had a soft spot for Sean,' he added.

Meanwhile, a source echoed his claims in story that appeared in Monday's NW magazine.

'Ryan's show was at the Arkaba Hotel so some of the guys had rooms upstairs,' an 'insider' told the publication.

' Jo caught them in the hotel room!': Nasser said Sean's (right) MAFS 'ex-wife' Jo (left) discovered the pair getting cosy after Ryan stand-up gig

'Gab flew over especially to spend time with Sean as they haven't stopped talking since the show wrapped and one thing led to another.'

Meanwhile, Woman's Day also claimed the pair had 'fallen for one another'.

The most recent season of Married At First Sight saw all of the couples split, before a number of them paired up with each other.

Carly Bowyer was initially matched with Justin Fischer, before finding love with Troy Delmege, who first walked down the aisle with Ashley Irvin.

Meanwhile, Tracey Jewel (first matched with Dean Wells) and Sean Thomsen (paired with Blair Rachael) struck up a relationship before ultimately calling it quits.

Nasser was paired with Gabrielle on the series.
Dean Wells has celebrated Married At First Sight's first Logie nomination with a cheeky joke.

The 39-year-old took to Instagram on Sunday to share in the joy - posting a snap of himself with co-star Ryan Gallagher at the nominations launch party on the Gold Coast.

In the caption he referred to his scandalous 'affair' with co-star Davina Rankin on the show.

'I may win most hated man on Australian TV!' Dean Wells pokes fun at his scandalous 'affair' with Davina Rankin as Married At First Sight scores a Logie nomination

'I may win most hated man on Australian TV!! Wish me luck!!,' Dean joked, before spruiking a vote for MAFS to win a Logie.

Fans of the controversial reality TV star found his post hilarious, including Bachelor In Paradise star Jake Ellis who wrote: 'You got my vote brother haha.'

'Not hated by me - pretty sure someone else on your season may win that award,' another subtlety hinted.

Meanwhile another follower blatantly commented: 'Davina would take the Logie for that.'

Scandal: The 39-year-old marked the special occasion by writing something tongue-in-cheek about his scandalous 'affair' with co-star Davina Rankin on the show

Owning it: Davina, who had been tagged in the post by a number of MAFS fans, jokingly replied back: 'Hahaha oh great most hated female right hurrrrr '

Davina, who had been tagged in the post by a number of MAFS fans, jokingly replied back: 'Hahaha oh great most hated female right hurrrrr '

Dean's self-depreciating humour comes after Ryan also celebrated the accolade.

He too posted a photo of the two boys, along with the captioned: 'Dean got nominated for a Logie for biggest a**ehole, congrats!'

The Star on the Gold Coast will host the 60th Annual TV Week Logie Awards on July 1.

Tongue-in-cheek: Dean's self-depreciating humour comes after Ryan Gallagher also celebrated the nomination. He too posted a photo of the two men, along with the captioned: 'Dean got nominated for a Logie for biggest a**ehole, congrats!'
From dying his hair bright purple to shaving it all off, he has never shied away from experimenting with his 'do in the past.

But Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea outdid himself on Monday, as he showed off his new leopard-print dyed mane in Sydney.

The performer, born Michael Balzary, ensured all eyes were on his new look as he soaked up the autumn sunshine during the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk.

Wild thing! Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea showed off an edgy new leopard-print hairdo as he enjoys a sun-soaked coastal walk in Sydney

Letting his statement hair do all the talking, the 55-year-old kept his outfit simple for the relaxed outing.

He donned a slogan white T-shirt and black jeans and wrapped a striped woolly jacket around his waist.

The rocker seemed to be in good spirits as he swigged from a bottle of water and checked his phone during the low-key walk.

Flea hit the headlines in February this year when he said doctors bear much of the responsibility for America's opioid crisis as he reveals that he was prescribed an excessive amount of OxyContin for a snowboarding injury in 2015.

A leopard won't change his spots: The performer, born Michael Balzary, ensured all eyes were on his new look as he soaked up the autumn sunshine during the Bondi to Bronte coastal walk

The bassist opened up about his decade-long history with drug abuse in an opinion piece for Time magazine called The Temptation of Drugs is a B***h.

The 55-year-old music-industry veteran claims that America's opioid epidemic has an alarming source: the doctors that we've been conditioned to trust more than most other people in our lives.

Today opioids are the leading cause of death for adults under 50 in the US, claiming the lives of more than 115 Americans every day.

In the opinion piece he reveals that he started smoking weed at the age of 11 and went on to 'snort, shoot, pop, smoke, drop and dragon chase my way through my teens and 20s'.

Laid-back look: Letting his statement hair do all the talking, the 55-year-old kept his outfit simple for the relaxed outing

He got clean in 1993 at age 30.

After a snowboarding accident in February 2015, the father-of-two was shown a drug source that was very different from what he had experienced in his younger years.

'Back when I was a petty thievin' Hollywood street urchin running feral, and doing every drug in the book, the dangers were clear.

'Cops busted me, drug dealers burned me, accidental overdoses happened and scary gun-toting criminals lurked in the shadows. To step into this seedy world of narcotics was obviously dangerous,' he wrote.

But in recent years amid the opioid epidemic, Balzary has a new question: 'What if your dealer was someone you'd trusted to keep you healthy since you were a kid?'

'Many who are suffering today were introduced to drugs through their healthcare providers,' he wrote.
Erin Molan is expecting her first child and among the usual fears first time mothers face, she must also wrestle with how fame will affect her child.

And only weeks away from giving birth, the 35-year-old opened up on facing motherhood in the spotlight.

'I don't think that it affects me, people saying things about me or judging me, because I've had so much of it over 12 or 13 years in television,' she told 9Honey this week.

Facing fears: Erin Molan is expecting her first child and among the usual fears first time mothers face, she must also wrestle with how fame will affect her child

'But they say when it involves a child it's a different thing, so I'm a little bit anxious about how it will be perceived,' the TV host added.

While she fears for her future child could be negatively impacted by her fame, Erin is also defiant.

She told the online publication: 'I kind of think, why should I have to be? And I hate that element of it.'

It comes after the heavily-pregnant star was rushed to hospital earlier this week after suffering a shocking tumble in a Sydney shopping centre.

Pitfalls: And only weeks away from giving birth, the 35-year-old opened up on facing motherhood in the spotlight

On the way! 'But they say when it involves a child it's a different thing, so I'm a little bit anxious about how it will be perceived,' the TV host said

Erin assured worried fans that her unborn child was not harmed by the incident.

Speaking to 9Honey on Friday, she said: 'The baby is totally healthy, as am I! Just an unfortunate but very common reaction to the vaccines.'

Speaking to WSFM's Jonesy and Amanda on Thursday, Erin said she 'fainted' and landed on her side, thankfully protecting baby from injury, after receiving preventative shots for the flu and whooping cough.

'I had a little... faint is a strong word,' she revealed, 'but a little fall in the Randwick shops.'

The star, whose fiance is police officer Sean Ogilvy, previously described her pregnancy as 'awful', confirming in February that she had suffered from hyperemesis gravidarum, commonly known as extreme morning sickness.
She was famously engaged to ex-beau of 10 years Mark Wright, after he popped the question in a pub car park in 2011.

And it seems Lauren Goodger's fleeting dabble in the world of weddings has left her in a position to judge dresses, as she weighed in on Meghan Markle's Givenchy wedding dress in her latest column for Now Magazine.

The former TOWIE star gushed about the 'beautiful' former actress, however she insisted the gown was 'too plain' before suggesting she could have removed one arm to help give the dress 'an edgy spin'.

All white? Lauren Goodger's fleeting dabble in the world of weddings has left her in a position to judge gowns, as she weighed in on Meghan Markle's Givenchy wedding dress in her latest column for Now Magazine

Meghan's gown was divisive for many as some branded the gown stunning while others insisted the dress was too big and too plain.

Lauren offered her opinion, as she penned: 'I was flying back from holiday when the wedding was on so I missed it, but I was excited to see the pictures. Meghan looked beautiful. I really liked her dress. I'm a big fan of simple, believe it or not!

'It was very elegant but maybe a bit too plain. It just needed something else... I can't think what. Maybe an arm taken off to put an edgy spin on it?'

Mark and Lauren were arguably TOWIE's original golden couple, with the first two seasons of the structured reality show charting their turbulent on/off relationship peppered with his flings with Sam Faiers and Lucy Mecklenburgh.

Stunner: The former TOWIE star gushed about the 'beautiful' former actress, however she insisted it was 'too plain' before suggesting she could have removed one arm of the gown to help give the dress 'an edgy spin'

That was then... Mark and Lauren were arguably TOWIE's original golden couple, with the first two seasons of the structured reality show charting their turbulent on/off relationship (pictured at their engagement bash)

Glam: As Sam emerged from the runway, Lauren went on to mock her fiance's former flame, stating: 'She's modelling the dress, we're booking one'

Unkind: Mark then unkindly jibed: 'That's the closest she's going to get to wearing a white dress', before they both mirthlessly laughed at the catwalk star

After the reality star-turned-TV host popped the question to Lauren in a pub, the duo were seen attending a wedding fair in which Sam was modelling.

During the show, Mark cruelly criticised Lauren's weight, warning her to stop eating before their wedding, as he said: 'If you don't stop eating, your laces won't even do up at the back', as they watched one model show off her svelte frame.

As Sam emerged from the runway, Lauren went on to mock her fiance's former flame, stating: 'She's modelling the dress, we're booking one'.

Mark then unkindly jibed: 'That's the closest she's going to get to wearing a white dress', before they both mirthlessly laughed at the catwalk star.

Weighing in: Lauren offered her opinion, as she penned: 'I was flying back from holiday when the wedding was on so I missed it, but I was excited to see the pictures. Meghan looked beautiful. I really liked her dress. I'm a big fan of simple, believe it or not!'

Oh dear: Their romance often veered off course due to his romances with Sam Faiers and Lucy Mecklenburgh (left-right)

Ultimately it ended in tears, with their engagement being called off for good in 2012, following a host of devastating twists and turns - with Sam professing her love for the hunk after the engagement and an eventual infidelity with Lucy in Marbella.

Mark has since married actress Michelle Keegan while Lauren found love with convict Joey Morrison, who was recently released from prison.

It was recently claimed she plans to marry Joey, with a source telling Closer magazine: 'She's started to talk again about getting married and says she think it will happen at the end of the year, which ties in to when Joey leaves prison for good'.

Harsh times: Ultimately it ended in tears, with their engagement being called off for good in 2012, following a host of devastating twists and turns - with Sam professing her love for the hunk after the engagement and an eventual infidelity with Lucy in Marbella

On the up: Mark has since married actress Michelle Keegan (pictured) while Lauren found love with convict Joey Morrison, who was recently released from prison

Meghan's dress has been a hot topic in recent days after designer Emilia Wickstead, a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, last week commented that the new Duchess of Sussex's gown was similar to a 7,000 gown in her own collection.

She sparked backlash on social media when she commented on Meghan's dress, which was actually created by Givenchy's Clare Wright Keller, costing 200,000, and kept firmly under wraps until the big day.

Wickstead triggered the storm after she reportedly said: 'Her dress is identical to one of our dresses. Apparently a lot of commentators were saying, 'It's an Emilia Wickstead dress.''

Hmm... Meghan's dress has been a hot topic in recent days after designer Emilia Wickstead (pictured), a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge, last week commented that the new Duchess of Sussex's gown was similar to a 7,000 gown in her own collection

Uh oh... She sparked backlash on social media when she commented on Meghan's dress, which was actually created by Givenchy's Clare Wright Keller, costing 200,000, and kept firmly under wraps until the big day

She continued: 'Her dress is identical to one of our dresses. Apparently a lot of commentators were saying, "It's an Emilia Wickstead dress.'"

The designer then went on to have a bit of a dig at Meghan's look. She said: 'If you choose a simple design the fit should be perfect. Her wedding dress was quite loose.'

And she didn't approve of the bride's relaxed hair style: 'I was like, 'Hold the wisps [of her hair] back  it's a Royal Wedding for God's sake.'

She later denied her claims as she said: 'I do not think that her wedding dress was a copy of any of our designs. I have the greatest respect for Clare Waight Keller and the House of Givenchy, a huge source of inspiration to me.'
As tributes pour in for Cornelia Frances, who lost her battle with cancer at 77, fans and peers are fondly recalling the TV legend's most memorable roles.

A veteran of Australian television screens, Cornelia appeared in some of the biggest shows of the 1980s and 1990s, including Prisoner, Sons and Daughters and of course, her longest running role, as Morag on Home and Away.

While she died on Monday in Sydney, surrounded by her friends and family, Cornelia's roles, already iconic, like the woman who played them, will be remembered forever.

A star of the screen: As tributes pour in for Cornelia Frances, who lost her battle with cancer at 77, fans and peers are fondly recalling the TV legend's most memorable roles

Speaking of her career, which began in 1970 with the soap Dynasty and spanned 47 years until 2017, Cornelia said she was proud to have played a 'b***h'.

'I'd like to thank the producers who hired me because it ain't easy to put a b***h on television,' she told A Current Affair in February.

She was nominated for six Logie Awards but never won, however the actress took it all her her stride.

'It's a public opinion, they don't like the b***hes, they like the nice ladies,' she told the current affairs program.

Nonetheless, she was thankful, Cornelia said, adding: 'Being nominated was a great thrill. It was lovely'.

Happy to be bad: Speaking of her career, which began in 1970 with the soap Dynasty and spanned 47 years until 2017, Cornelia said she was proud to have played a 'b***h'

Channel Seven paid tribute to Cornelia on Tuesday, describing her as an inspirational and 'unique person'.

A spokesperson said: 'Her onscreen presence inspired a generation of actors.

'This gift was coupled with an ability to bring a sense of dignity and presence into each room she entered. Her energy and character will be missed.'

Ray Meagher also said Tuesday: 'Cornie was an incredibly loved and valued member of our cast over many, many years.'

Like family: Ray Meagher said Tuesday, 'Cornie was an incredibly loved and valued member of our cast over many, many years'

Morag Bellingham - Home and Away

The acid-tongued sister of Alf Stewart (played by Meagher) Morag Bellingham was a soap opera super-villain known for her cutting wit and brutal take downs.

Cornelia played Morag on and off for almost thirty years, between 1988 and 2017, and the arch nemesis is perhaps her most memorable on screen role.

Morag was a character everyone loved to hate, forever meddling in the lives of those around her, whether they were family or not.

Despite her viciousness, Morag was actually a respected magistrate and used her smarts to get what she wanted.

Speaking to What's On TV in 2011, Cornelia described Morag as a 'a worthy and antagonistic character.'

Not a nice lady! Cornelia played the villain Morag on and off for almost thirty years, between 1988 and 2017, and the arch nemesis is perhaps her most memorable on screen role

She also saw her an 'independent, amazingly strong woman, but I think she now realises family is what matters most.'

The actress even suggested story lines for the character, including what she described as some of the most 'sizzling' ones.

Cutting jabs were Morag's greatest strength, and her most memorable was an exchange with Donald Fisher, played by Norman Coburn.

Fisher snapped: 'You are without doubt, the most despicable vindictive venomous woman I've ever had the misfortune to meet'.

Without missing a beat, Morag replied: 'Flattery will get you everywhere'.

Speaking in 2011: Cornelia described Morag as a 'a worthy and antagonistic character'

Presenter - The Weakest Link

They were big shoes to fill when Cornelia lead the local production of the infamous British game show, originally presented by Anne Robinson.

But Cornelia was a perfect fit, off the back of her great stint at playing a villain, the role of the icy presenter suited her perfectly.

The show's famous catch phrase, 'You are the weakest link, goodbye' was just one of many ice-cold jabs Cornelia delivered.

Cold hard cash: The show's famous catch phrase, 'You are the weakest link, goodbye' was just one of many ice-cold jabs Cornelia delivered

The role allowed the actress, so good at playing devious characters, to experiment with ad lib and a hint of comedy.

Although the show aired only two seasons, between February 2001 and 22 April 2002, it was lauded for it's clever format.

The Weakest Link was nominated for a Logie in the category of Most Popular Game Show in 2002.

Game changer: The Weakest Link was nominated for a Logie in the category of Most Popular Game Show in 2002

Carmel Saunders - Prisoner

Playing the first lawyer of her career, Cornelia was in her element, as determined legal eagle Carmel Saunders on the iconic prison drama, for several episodes in 1980.

Carmel fought for jailed armed robberPat O'Connell as she launched an appeal on her prison sentence.

The compassionate lawyer then convinced the imprisoned mum of three to try a second appeal, convinced that newspaper publicity influenced the judge to hand down too harsh a sentence.

It would be one of the few righteous characters Cornelia would play, and showed her range as not just a villain but a hero.

Strong turn: Playing the first lawyer of her career, Cornelia was in her element as determined legal eagle Carmel Saunders on the iconic prison drama in 1980

Barbara Hamilton - Sons and Daughters

Cornelia played the role of Barbara Hamilton on the long-running Australian soap between 1982 and 1986.

The daughter of a wealthy, high flying socialite Dee Morrell, Barbara's life was filled with drama and heartbreak.

Barbara's relationship with her mother was shaky, first because she believed Dee to be cheating on her husband, Benjamin, Barbara's father.

Drama! Cornelia played the role of Barbara Hamilton. Her many run-ins with Pat the Rat, played by Rowena Wallace (pictured), made for truly memorable soap opera moments

After years of heartbreak, Barbara finally stopped speaking to her mother altogether after blaming the businesswoman for the death of her father.

Her many run-ins with Pat the Rat, played by Rowena Wallace, made for truly memorable soap opera moments.

The role allowed Cornelia to show off her softer side, with her character often fraught emotionally, giving the actress a change to flex her range and hinted at the brilliant career yet to come.
Eamonn Holmes has spoken candidly about his fears over developing dementia, admitting he would rather die than live with the condition.

In a new interview with Best Magazine, the This Morning presenter, 58, said he had told his family to take him to a euthanasia clinic should he develop the degenerative condition.

He said: 'It's what everyone dreads. It's a long, lonely walk, one I would never want to go on.

Candid: Eamonn Holmes has spoken candidly about his fears over developing dementia, admitting he would rather die than live with the condition

Presenting legend: In a new interview with Best Magazine , the This Morning presenter, 58, said he had told his family to take him to a euthanasia clinic should he develop the degenerative condition (above with wife Ruth Langsford)

'I genuinely say to all my children and my wife, "take me to Switzerland and press the red button. That is what I want."'

'I have no desire to lose my dignity. I just don't want that to happen to me. However controversial that may sound, that is my genuine wish.'

The star, who is married to fellow presenter Ruth Langsford, 58, admits his wife of eight years 'puts her finger in her ears' whenever he broaches the subject.

After losing 30 per cent of his hearing at age 50, the star discovered that his risk of developing dementia could be increased due to his hearing issues.

He now wears a hearing aid after suffering from chronic hearing loss since his 30s.

Legend: After losing 30 per cent of his hearing at age 50, the star discovered that his risk of developing dementia could be increased due to his hearing issues

There is a family link to the condition with wife Ruth's dad Dennis passing away after suffering from the condition.

The star said he believed his aunts and uncles also had the condition.

The presenting legend said he believes the law in the UK should be changed to allow assisted suicide, which is illegal in the country.

He has four children, son Jack, 16, who he shares with wife Ruth Langsford, and Declan, 28, Rebecca , 26, and Niall, 24. from his first marriage to Gabrielle.

Eamonn previously told The Daily Telegraph of his hearing loss: No one warns you that your hearing is going to go down from 50. Learning a third of your hearing has gone is not the best birthday present.

The Ulsterman also said he gets frustrated if he doesnt have a hearing aid on, saying he is liberated by it.

For support, information and advice on dementia, call the National Dementia Helpline on 0300 222 1122.

Happy couple: The star admits his 58-year-old wife of eight years 'puts her finger in her ears' whenever he broaches the subject
Russian-Chinese relations are seeing the best stage in their history, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov said during the international conference dubbed "China and Russia: Cooperation in a New Epoch.", TASS reports.

May 29, 2018, 11:48 Russia-China relations experiencing best stage in their history  deputy foreign minister

STEPANAKERT, MAY 29, ARTSAKHPRESS:"Russian-Chinese partnership is an island of stability in a raging ocean. Russian-Chinese relations are seeing the best stage in their history," he stated.

The Russian deputy minister also noted that Moscow and Beijing managed to bring bilateral relations to a new stage. "Today, they are an important factor of national development and security in our countries," he stressed.

The diplomat also affirmed that development of relations between China and Russia fully corresponds to the interests of the two countries. "Confidence in positive development of our ties is based on the fact that weve got a whole system of cooperation built in all spheres, which has a high degree of safety and allows to constructively approach difficult issues that arise from time to time even in relations between very good neighbors," he concluded.

According to Morgulov, the task to increase the trade turnover between Russia and China to $200 billion by 2020 is realizable.

"China, as you know well, consolidated itself as a leading trade-economic partner of our country, and I believe that the implementation of the task to bring the bilateral trade turnover to a $200 billion level by 2020 set by the leaders is quite feasible," the Russian deputy foreign minister stated.

He noted that bilateral work is a key prerequisite for the implementation of these plans. "A key prerequisite for success is work, a transfer to a new model of cooperation based on closer production chains and investment ties," the diplomat concluded.








Her marriage to Mark Wright has been spent mostly long-distance.

And Michelle Keegan is said to be spending more time away from her husband of three years, as his career continues to rise as a presenter on LA-based showbiz segment Extra while she insists she is 'too much of a homebird' to relocate.

The Our Girl star looked truly happy to be in her home country on Tuesday as she was seen emerging from the Radio One studios while looking typically stunning in a chic summery look comprising of a yellow top and high-waisted jeans.

Mellow yellow: Michelle Keegan is said to be spending more time away from her husband of three years, as his career continues to rise as a presenter on LA-based showbiz segment Extra while she insists she is 'too much of a homebird'

Michelle and Mark's long-distance relationship has been the subject to many whispers as sources frequently claimed there was trouble in paradise.

Despite this, the duo have long insisted all is well and their daily Facetime sessions were sufficient to keep their romance alive - after Michelle has frequently insisted she will never relocate to Los Angeles as she loves home too much.

She told Closer magazine: 'I do like it out there but I couldn't live there full time. I'm such a home bird and I love going back to Manchester and when Mark's home chilling out in Essex. I think LA is too far away.'

Additionally, New magazine claim Mark is desperately trying to get Michelle a Hollywood career using his contacts, yet she is defiant in staying in the UK.

Happy days: Her marriage to Mark Wright has been spent mostly long-distance

Bright spark: The Our Girl star looked truly happy to be in her home country on Tuesday as she was seen emerging from the Radio One studios while looking typically stunning in a chic summery look comprising of a yellow top and high-waisted jeans

Happy days: Despite this, the duo have long insisted all is well and their daily Facetime sessions were sufficient to keep their romance alive - after Michelle has frequently insisted she will never relocate to Los Angeles as she loves home too much

As she prepares for the return of her critically-acclaimed BBC show Our Girl, she was on the promo trail during her radio appearance on Tuesday.

Despite the drizzle in the capital, Michelle looked super summery as she showed off her sun-kissed complexion while injecting some serious sunshine into the day with her cropped yellow top adorned with dainty flowers.

Showing off her cutting edge style and also her stunning figure, she paired the look with a pair of high-waisted jeans with pearl adornments at the bottom of the leg.

Summer girl: As she prepares for the return of her critically-acclaimed BBC show Our Girl, she was on the promo trail during her radio appearance on Tuesday

Stunner: Her brunette tresses - typically preened to perfection - fell victim to the wind as she momentarily lost her flawless appearance in a particularly large gust

Adding in a kooky pair of chunky heel shoes, she looked stunning while also toting a denim jacket - meaning she was nailing double denim chic.

Her brunette tresses - typically preened to perfection - fell victim to the wind as she momentarily lost her flawless appearance in a particularly large gust.

Beaming as she greeted fans, Michelle was gracious as ever as she continues to promote Our Girl - for which she won huge praise last year.

Denim diva: Beaming as she greeted fans, Michelle was gracious as ever as she continues to promote Our Girl - for which she won huge praise last year

Not a face for radio! Showing off her cutting edge style and also her stunning figure, she paired the look with a pair of high-waisted jeans with pearl adornments at the bottom of the leg

Meanwhile! Elsewhere Michelle's husband Mark Wright was spotted visiting Universal Studios Hollywood in a casual ensemble
Zoe Foster Blake is known for her love of skincare.

But on Tuesday, the Break-Up Boss author turned her attention to her hair.

Taking to Instagram Story, the 37-year-old shared a snap of her old but new hairstyle to fans.

Scroll down to video

'Back to my 'me' length': Zoe Foster Blake unveils new shorter locks after getting her hair trimmed. Picture (left) in January and (right) on Tuesday

The wife of TV funnyman Hamish Blake smiled with delight at the result in a beaming selfie.

'Ahhh, back to 'Me' length,' she captioned the snap, showing her short, tightly curled hair framing her heavily made-up face.

'HEY, GREAT SNIPPIN,' she added, appearing to pay her hairdresser a compliment.

New look: The wife of TV funnyman Hamish Blake smiled with delight at the result in a beaming selfie

Zoe, who often opts for new and different hairstyles, previously had longer shoulder-length hair, which she wore curly.

While late last year, the acclaimed children's book author opted for a shorter, straight style - adding that she suffered from heavy hair during pregnancy.

Earlier this month, she playfully dumped husband Hamish on the radio.

Likes a change! In the past, Zoe has opted for shoulder-length straight hair

The beauty entrepreneur called up her Hamish, the father of her two children, to jokingly break things off during a live radio interview.

Declaring that it wasn't working between them, Zoe deadpanned that she wanted to get back together with her fictional 'super-hunky' ex 'Mitch the Mitsubishi mechanic'.

The cosmetics entrepreneur rang up Hamish during an appearance on KIIS 101.1s Jase & PJ.

She began: 'Honey, I need to talk to you about something very serious. As you know I've been doing publicity for the Break-Up Boss and it's really got me thinking.

'The reason I wrote this book is because I wish I had it when I was younger, in my late teens and early twenties when I was so bad at break-ups.'

Trying to stifle her giggles, she continued: 'And I actually started thinking... if I had done a better job of breaking up with Mitch the Mitsubishi mechanic, that we might still be together.

'I looked him up on Instagram and he's a super-hunk now. He's all I've ever wanted and I just messed it up!'

Not missing a beat, comedian Hamish joked in response: 'You did often say that he had an AMG engine under the hood. This is disappointing.'
Phil Hartman, who rose to fame as a comedy actor on Saturday Night Live and voiced characters like Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure on The Simpsons, has been remembered 20 years after he was shot to death by his wife Brynn Omdahl.

Also known as The Glue because of his talent for holding a show together and supporting his cast members, Phil Hartman won an Emmy in 1989 for his work on SNL after starring as Bill McNeal on NewsRadio.

As well as this, he appeared in films such as Jingle All the Way, Small Soldiers and Houseguest, but who was Phil Hartman?

Phil Hartman and his wife Brynn shown as they attended a private dinner party in Beverly Hills

Who was Phil Hartman?

Born Philip Edward Hartmann on September 24, 1948, in Ontario, Canada, he was one of eight children who later moved to the US to settle in Connecticut, before moving to the West Coast.

Known as the class clown throughout his schooling, Phil went on to study art at Santa Monica City College but soon dropped out to become a roadie.

He returned to school in 1972 to study graphic arts at California State and developed his own business, creating over 40 album covers for bands such as Poco and America.

Hartmans first television appearance was on The Dating Game which led to him being stood up by his date but during this time, he also attended evening comedy classes run by California group The Groundlings, before formally joining the troupe in 1979.

After meeting Paul Reubens, together they created the character Pee-wee Herman and created a number of shows for HBO in the 1980s.

A falling out with Paul Reubens resulted in Phil Hartman leaving the Pee-wee Herman project but he went on to voice roles The Smurfs, Challenge of the GoBots, The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo and Dennis the Menace.

Phil Hartman on SNL

After a successful audition, Phil Hartman joined the cast and writing staff of Saturday Night Live and was renowned for his impressions. He played characters such as Eugene, the Anal Retentive Chef and Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer.

Hartmans impressions included Frank Sinatra, Ronald Reagan, Barbara Bush and Bill Clinton, the latter considered his best work which the former President also found humorous.

Coined by Adam Sandler, Phil Hartman began being referred to as The Glue after helping the other cast member, especially Jan Hooks with overcoming her stage fright.

SNL creator Lorne Michaels explained: He kind of held the show together. He gave to everybody and demanded very little. He was very low maintenance.

Phil Hartman starred on NewsRadio and portrayed the character of news anchor Bill McNeal

After winning the Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music or Comedy Program, a fast cast turnover led to Phil himself leaving the show even though he was offered a role on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, but later had his own comedy show called The Phil Show on NBC.

Following this, Phil starred on NewsRadio and portrayed the news anchor Bill McNeal. Despite publicly lambasting the network for changing the time that the show was on, NewsRadio was never cancelled.

Hartman died before production for the fifth season began.

Phil Hartman Simpsons

Phil Hartman appeared in 52 episodes of The Simpsons and his first was in the episode Bart Gets Hit by a Car.

He went on to voice recurring characters Lionel Hutz and Troy McClure and before his death, wanted to make a live action film about the latter.

He also starred in the film Houseguest, So I Married an Axe Murderer, Jingle All the Way and his last theatrically released film, Small Soldiers.

Brynn Hartman

After short marriages to Gretchen Lewis and Lisa Strain, Phil Hartman tied the knot with former model Brynn Omdahl in November 1987. The couple had two children together, Sean and Birgen Hartman but the marriage reportedly had difficulties.

Brynn was allegedly intimidated by her husbands success as an aspiring actress herself and Hartman even considered retiring for her happiness and to save the marriage. However, Brynn became reliant on drugs and alcohol and she started to joke that Phil and Jan Hooks were married on some other level.

Phil Hartman death

On May 27, 1998, after going to an Italian restaurant called Buca di Beppi in Encino, California, with producer Christine Zander, Brynn got into an argument with Phil on her return home, who threatened to leave her if she started using drugs again.

While Phil slept, Brynn entered his room before 3am on May 28 with a handgun and shot him twice in the head and once in his side. Intoxicated and having taken cocaine, Brynn drove to her friend Ron Douglass house and confessed to the murder, but he did not believe her.

The body of Brynn Hartman is wheeled into a coroner's van along with her husband, Phil

The police were called at around 6am and while Douglas and the two children were escorted out of the home, Brynn locked herself in the bedroom and committed suicide by shooting herself in the mouth.

According to CNN, the death was as a result of domestic discord because Brynn allegedly had trouble controlling her anger and she got attention by losing her temper.

Other incidents that could have contributed to the death include Brynn taking the antidepressant Zoloft and Hartmans former NewsRadio co-star Andy Dick re-introducing her to cocaine, which resulted in a nervous breakdown.

Brynns sister Katharine Omdahl and her husband Mike Wright went on to raise Sean and Birgen Hartman and both will receive their inheritance after they turn 25.

Phil Hartman death anniversary social media reactions

20 years after his death, Phil Hartman is still remembered and his voice can still be heard in 52 episode of The Simpsons.

On the day of the anniversary, fans took to Twitter to pay tribute to the late comedy actor.

Today marks 20 years since we lost the legendary Phil Hartman. Take a moment to think about your favourite Phil moment @TheSimpsons @thatbilloakley #loveforhartman pic.twitter.com/4IMSKdVPys  Four Finger Discount Network (@fourfingerpod) May 28, 2018

20 years since Phil Hartman died so tragically. Sad to say sometimes I forget what a huge influence he was on me. I met him very briefly when I was in a sketch on SNL when I was 14 and I wrote about meeting him in my college essay and how thrilling that was. Here's to you, Phil. pic.twitter.com/2sBeLe88a3  billy eichner (@billyeichner) May 29, 2018

20 years ago today since Phil Hartman was senselessly murdered.



The voice behind Lionel Hutz, Troy McClure, and the reason for the creation of Zapp Brannigan. Quite simply one of the funniest comedians to ever grace this earth. pic.twitter.com/Di5cCF6HiI  Danny (@BrianKiddsMate) May 28, 2018

We lost Phil Hartman 20 years ago today. When he was on SNL, he would greet the fans in the NBC lobby after a grueling 12-hour Friday rehearsal. We'd say "Do Sinatra, do Clinton." etc. You could see he was tired, but he always obliged. That's how sweet he was. We miss you Phil! pic.twitter.com/p3w2tQr1Kc  Candice Graham (@candygraham0813) May 28, 2018

If I were able to invent a time machine the first thing I'd do is save Phil Hartman.  Dan Telfer (@dantelfer) May 29, 2018

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the death of Phil Hartman. The most versatile performer to ever grace the Saturday Night Live stage. Hes still the greatest that has ever been. pic.twitter.com/OAGqtMl6nD  Shawn Garrett (@ShawnGarrett) May 28, 2018

20 years ago, we lost Phil Hartman. He was a legend. He didn't deserve to go as soon as he did or especially the way he did. pic.twitter.com/LYHoCLAr7O  Holly Brooke (@Holly_Brooke7) May 28, 2018

I can't believe it's been 20 years since Phil Hartman's murder. He was such a huge comedy presence throughout my youth. I remember crying at the breaking news report that day. I also cried seeing his humble thank you note to Lorne Michaels at the #SNL museum a few years ago. RIP pic.twitter.com/tbsbnkYizL  Jillian Sederholm (@JillianSed) May 28, 2018
The Bachelor 2016's Alex Nation has penned a heartfelt tribute to Megan Marx, ahead of their upcoming reunion.

The 26-year-old shared a throwback photo of the pair to Instagram on Tuesday, adding that she looks forward to seeing the bisexual blonde again after two years.

The friends will reunite next week at a Paradise Party in Sydney, where they will raise money for cancer research.

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Were they more than friends? Alex Nation reflected on 'waking up and falling asleep next to' her Bachelor roommate Megan Marx on Tuesday as they prepare to reunite after two years

'My darling girl, I'm not sure I've seen you since this photo was taken two years ago,' Alex captioned a photo of them at Perth Fashion Festival in September 2016.

'I went from waking up next to you and falling asleep next to you every day for almost two months, to it being far too long between drinks.'

Alex then gave Megan's relationship with her Bachelor In Paradise co-star Jake Ellis her seal of approval, writing: 'I'm so proud of you and I am overjoyed for the love and friendship you have found in Mr Ellis.'

'I am overjoyed for the love and friendship you have found in Mr Ellis': In a gushing Instagram post, Alex told Megan how happy she was about her blossoming romance with Jake Ellis (right)

Signing off, Alex then let her Instagram followers know her and Megan would be attending the Paradise Party together next month.

'I'll be joining my old roomie Megan and most of the Paradise cast members for a special event for you all to come and enjoy a (drink) with us in the hope to raise money for cancer research!' she wrote.

While competing for Richie Strahan's heart on The Bachelor in 2016, Alex and Megan struck up a close friendship.

'He [Richie] will soon come to find that you are amazing': In January last year, Megan shared a letter Alex had written to her during the Bachelor 2016, offering her plenty of encouragement

In January last year, Megan even shared a letter Alex had written to her during the show, offering her plenty of encouragement.

Megan previously revealed to OK! that Alex had influenced her decision to leave the program early, despite being one of Richie's favourites.

'I would say she [Alex] was a little bit behind it,' Megan said at the time.

'I spent a lot of time with Alex and I could see she was falling for Richie and I wanted her to be happy.'
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She famously described her curves as 'her candy'.

And Gemma Collins was once again flaunting her figure on Monday as she hit the pool in a sizzling red swimsuit, during her sun-soaked holiday in Spain.

The 37-year-old The Only Way Is Essex star ensured she was in total relaxation mode as she topped up her tan and indulged in a luxurious poolside massage, after discussing the possibility of having a baby with boyfriend James 'Arg' Argent.

Red hot: Gemma Collins was once again flaunting her figure on Monday as she hit the pool in a sizzling red swimsuit during her sun-soaked holiday in Spain

Gemma was showing off her frame as she posed by the pool and took the front of her swimsuit down to enjoy her massage, while also looking preened with her hair coiffed and her make-up elegantly applied.

Her red swimsuit was perfectly cut to display her figure, with a lace-up extending down the front while she paired the look with her stunning pink sunglasses with a diamante trim.

Nailing her attention to detail, she also clutched a red towel while she hammed up the glam factor with her thick eyelashes and tumbling extensions.

Someone who will undoubtedly appreciate Gemma's display would be her boyfriend Arg, who she has been on and off with for years - however they are very much on at the moment.

Stunning: Her red swimsuit was perfectly cut to display her figure, with a lace-up extending down the front while she paired the look with her stunning pink sunglasses with a diamante trim

Stripping off: First topping up her tan, she later peeled of her swimsuit - to bare her assets for all to see - as she treated herself to a massage poolside

Massaging moment: Gemma was luxuriating in the plush area with the assistance of two aides

Speaking to New magazine, she discussed falling pregnant by her beau and how she is being put on hormone tablets to level her out, due to her polycystic ovaries syndrome.

She told the magazine: 'I've got polycystic ovaries syndrome and I didn't realise how severe it can be with trying to fall pregnant. They've just put me on some really good hormone tablets to level it out.

'If I was to fall pregnant tomorrow, we would have it. We're not trying and we're not actively going for it. But we're having lots of fun and we're in a new relationship. I think we will enjoy the summer first. I wouldn't want to be pregnant in the summer with the fluid retention on the feet! James does want to get married'.

Chatting away: Gemma was catching up with some fellow pool dwellers as she chilled out

Relaxed: She was chilling out to the maximum during her lavish break in the sunshine

Check me out! The red swimsuit had Baywatch vibes thanks to its red colouring and high-rise leg

Her interview comes after the feisty couple were at the centre of drama in the series finale of TOWIE on Sunday, after having an explosive row at the airport following their Tenerife holiday.

With Arg leaving Gemma to race back to Essex, Gemma is left crestfallen and admits her doubts about the relationship are resurfacing to Chloe Sims and Georgia Kousoulou. Meanwhile her beau tries to explain his side of the story to Tommy Mallet, revealing Gemma has blocked him on social media.

The next day at Tommy's birthday, Gemma has a renewed positivity, leaving her future with her reality star boyfriend in doubt.

Having a giggle: Gemma looked into the distance as she chilled out with her pals next to the pool

Cooling off! The sunshine seemed to be too much for Gemma as she kicked back with a strained expression

Loved-up: Someone who will undoubtedly appreciate Gemma's display would be her boyfriend Arg, who she has been on and off with for years - however they are very much on at the moment

With Georgia telling Arg where Gemma's head is at, he finally has the chance to speak to her at the end of the party to try and patch up their fractured relationship with her and his former friend Chloe Sims.

Their explosive row occurred after their romantic break in Tenerife, where they shared a slew of loved-up snaps on social media. In an video obtained by The Sun, the couple were pictured rowing at London's Southend airport, with Gemma grabbing Arg's arm.

While it's not clear what the tiff was about, Gemma begged her boyfriend to talk to her, but he's not having any of it as he shouts back and tries to get away.

A moment of peace: Gemma looked relaxed while away - after she and Arg were spotted having an explosive row at the airport following their Tenerife holiday

Cheeky! Earlier this month, Gemma was her typically outrageous self as she FaceTimed pal Bobby Norris while sunbathing nude

Chilled out: She appeared briefly in a scene as she chatted to Bobby while enjoying a spot of sun in her private villa, revealing she wanted to make sure she was getting an all-over tan

Red hot: Gemma's lace-up swimsuit was the perfect fit for her curves, with the halterneck teasing her cleavage

Soaking up the sun: Gemma seemed to have dozed off in the sunshine as she reclined alongside her designer bag and pals

Earlier this month, Gemma was her typically outrageous self as she FaceTimed pal Bobby Norris while sunbathing nude. She appeared briefly in a scene as she chatted to Bobby while enjoying a spot of sun in her private villa, revealing she wanted to make sure she was getting an all-over tan.

Gemma appeared briefly in the ITVBe show after partying a storm at a leaving party for some of the production crew on Friday, putting on a united front with Arg following their explosive row earlier in the week.

In the scene Bobby could be seen reclining on his soft as he Facetimed Gemma, although only her neck and face were on display. The blonde beauty told her best friend: 'I'm sunning myself with nothing on,' to which Bobby replied: 'Legs akimbo?' 'Do you know what? I thought whilst I'm in my private villa I might as well get that all over tan,' she explained.

Woah mama: The blonde beauty told her best friend: 'I'm sunning myself with nothing on,' to which Bobby replied: 'Legs akimbo?' 'Do you know what? I thought whilst I'm in my private villa I might as well get that all over tan,' she explained

Pink to make Arg wink: Her stylish sunglasses upped the glam factor of the look while her swimming costume oozed sex appeal

Hometime? Gemma later wrapped up in a clashing pink pair of trousers while clutching a complementary towel
Kim Kardashian can't get enough of her daughter Chicago as she has been sharing several cute photos to social media.

And Tuesday was no different as the 37-year-old wife of Kanye West took to Instagram to post a nice image of the little girl.

This comes after the baby, who will turn five months old in just two weeks, was not included in a recent family photo in Wyoming. Fans wanted to know why.

The third: Kim Kardashian can't get enough of her daughter Chicago as she has been sharing several cute photos to social media. And Tuesday was no different as the 37-year-old wife of Kanye West took to Instagram to post a nice image of the little girl

Needing a break: The beauty has been in Wyoming with Kanye and the kids; fans wanted to know why Chicago was not in the frame

Kardashian posted snaps from a Wyoming holiday on Monday. The reality star was vacationing with friend Natalie Halcro who shared a picture of a teepee and the caption: 'where we're sleeping tonight.'

Natalie - she of WAG LA fame - posted several picturesque photos of the landscape.

One of the shots is from the window of an airplane showing green pastures and snowy mountains with the caption: 'so beautiful.'

Another shot had a close up of the hotel's acres with the caption 'in love.'

Meanwhile, Kim got into more hot water when she posted a sweet family shot that followers couldn't help but wonder why she chose not to include her youngest four-month-old daughter Chicago.

Gorgeous: Kim shared a shot of the teepee they would be staying in overnight

Sleeping quarters: The reality star was vacationing with friend Natalie Halcro who shared a picture of a teepee and the caption: 'where we're sleeping tonight.'

Ariel view: One of the shots is from the window of an airplane showing green pastures and snowy mountains with the caption: 'so beautiful.'

Loved up"Another shot had a close up of the hotel's acres with the caption 'in love.'

The picturesque photo saw Kim, Kanye and their eldest children North, four, and Saint, two head out for a hike in Wyoming.

The family who've been in the city for the past week while Kanye records his latest album, were all seen rugged up in coats and jackets.

And while many were quick to gush over how beautiful the candid photograph was with even the rapper showcasing a rare smile, others couldn't help but notice they were missing their latest addition.

Altogether: The family of five have spent the past week in Wyoming while Kanye records his latest album

'Did Chicago take this?' questioned one fan.

'Hey Kim cute pic but I think you forgot baby No 3,' wrote another.

And it appears as though it's not the first time this has happened with an additional eagle eyed follower writing: 'They forgot about Chicago...AGAIN.'

A trend? And it appears as though it's not the first time this has happened with an additional eagle eyed follower writing: 'They forgot about Chicago...AGAIN'
Over the weekend, she announced that she is set to marry her partner Al of four years.

And despite keeping his identity a secret, any onlookers would be forgiven for mistaking the male companion meeting Lisa Riley at the airport on Tuesday, for her fiance.

Touching down in the UK, returning from a cruise around Majorca, the actress, 41, laughed and joked with the mystery man - who was in fact her chauffeur and an old pal.

Al, is that you? Lisa Riley returned from holiday with a mystery man after announcing she's set to wed her secret 'soulmate' Al on Twitter over the weekend

He accompanied her from Arrivals, with her luggage in a trolley, through the terminal to the car park.

The silver-haired gent looked very familiar with the former Emmerdale actress, who pointed to him and giggled hysterically.

Lisa previously declared her partner Al 'her soulmate and love of her life' and revealed the happy news on Twitter on Monday morning.

Who's that guy? The actress, 41, laughed and joked with the mystery man as he accompanied her from Arrivals, with her luggage in a trolley, through the terminal to the car park

The question is: could that be Al? The silver-haired gent looked very familiar with the former Emmerdale actress, who pointed to him and giggled hysterically

Engaged: Lisa Riley has announced her engagement to secret boyfrend Al

Delighted: She called her secret partner her best mate and soul mate

Lisa, who has lost an incredible 12 stone in the last three years, flashed the new silver engagement ring in a selfie taken of just herself, after keeping her partner out of the spotlight since 2014.

'Yes I can now confirm the rumours are true...' she wrote. 'I have got engaged... my soul mate and best mate and love of my life.

'Al is the best thing to have ever happened to me.... we have absolutely NO date set for ANY wedding day, just happy together... zero fuss, just firmed our togetherness.'

Lisa met 'very talented and very, very lovely' musician Al through friends four years ago.

Just last weekend, she revealed that they had been trying IVF with hopes of starting a family.

No date has been set: Still most famous for her role in Emmerdale as Mandy Dingle (pictured), Lisa says they are 'happy together [with] zero fuss'

After dropping from a size 30 to slimmer than a size 18, Lisa told The Mail On Sunday's YOU magazine last week: 'When I went in to have surgery to remove the loose flesh after I lost all my weight, the first thing that came into my head when I saw my surgeon was, "Can I still have kids after all the surgery?"

'I was worried that because my skin had been cut it would no longer stretch.'

She added: 'I want to have IVF but I'm not going to put myself through a lot of stress if it doesn't work.

'There are a lot of reasons why I want to have a baby: some to do with the fact I've saved myself by losing weight, but also that I'm in love for the first time in my life and he would like to have a baby if we can.'

Delighted: Lisa has kept her 'very, very lovely' partner out of the spotlight after four years together

IVF battle: Lisa spoke about how she worried that her skin removal surgery (pictured) could have affected her chances of carrying a baby

'I don't just think about myself any more. If we were to have a child, that would be wonderful.'

Nevertheless, she said on Loose Women this week that she and Al were 'moving on' after seven months of unsuccessful attempts.

She said: 'I went through it all and my other half was unbelievable. My readings were rubbish. Ive tried it for seven months but it's not for me.'

She added: 'I am a woman with a fantastic partner and it's OK to not have a child.

'All my girlfriends have got families, and I am godmother to some of them. You think, "Am I fulfilled? Have I done everything?" But I have a lovely life and I am blessed with that.

The actress did not appear on the Loose Women panel on Monday, despite regularly featuring on the ITV lunchtime show.

It is believed that Al popped the question over the weekend, as Lisa was last pictured not wearing the ring on Wednesday's show.

Better than ever: Lisa has given up her battle with IVF and conceded that she is very happy without a family

In 2013, Lisa spoke about the experience of her 'fake relationship' with her best friend Darren, who she later found out was gay.

He attended premieres and parties with her at the start of her Emmerdale career, she recalled.

'I began thinking that I needed a proper boyfriend,' she wrote in her autobiography. 'Not this fake relationship that we had innocently developed. I realised the casual sex thing had to stop because he was my friend, not my boyfriend.'

After they broke up, she dated a man who was to be sentenced to three and a half years in jail for fraud, shortly afterwards.

In 2002, she dated a married man who was more than 10 years her senior.

The affair was exposed when his wife sold her story to a magazine, ending in yet more heartache for Lisa.

Since then, Lisa has kept her relationship with Al out of the spotlight.
Gym bosses Jack Zuvelek and James Buchanan felt the wrath of the Shark Tank judges on Tuesday after they boasted they 'really couldn't lose' on the reality show.

The two entrepreneurs run The Body Consultants, and asked the five judges for $500,000 investment for 25 per cent of their personal training business.

But the judges - Andrew Banks, Janine Allis, Naomi Simson, Glen Richards and Steve Baxter were left unimpressed by the duo, branding them 'cocky' and 'naive' when they presented their unsuccessful pitch.

I don't give a s***': Shark Tank judges slammed 'cocky' gym bosses who boasted they 'couldn't lose'...and then walk away empty handed

Before stepping towards the intimidating group, Jack admitted that 'we really can't lose' and suggested he would use his fleeting fame for his Tinder profile.

Jack said: 'We either get a deal or we get really good publicity and I'll be able to use it on my Tinder profile. I'll be getting deals left, right and centre.'

Investor Andrew Banks asked whether the muscular pair were going to show anything on the TV screens behind them, but James shook his head and answered: 'Our belief is you're buying us. Ideal situation, you'll give us $100,000, 5 per cent each.'

Unimpressed: Entrepreneur Steve Baxter - angered by the smug demeanor of the pitch - explained: 'I'm going to give you nothing'

But the egotistical retort and arrogance off the bat put the gym bosses immediately on the judges' bad side.

Entrepreneur Steve Baxter - angered by the smug demeanor of the pitch - explained: 'I'm going to give you nothing.

'You are selling a piece of your company and I'm buying it. I'm not Santa Claus, alright, I don't give s**t. It's a sales process, investment's a serious sales process. Please treat it as such.'

Having already felt skeptical about the business hopefuls, RedBalloon founder Naomi Simson was left speechless after neither of the contestants could answer what each of their fitness centre's revenue was from year-to-year.

Hopeful: With one glimmer of positivity for the gym bosses, Andrew did praise them for their business model and valuation, even telling the twosome that he 'couldn't fault' their plan

The businesswoman told the duo: 'I think you're both incredibly naive. 'The first rule of business is to respect the competition and really you have no understanding in terms of the contribution...There is nothing like experience. Therefore I'm out.'

With one glimmer of positivity for the gym bosses, Andrew did praise them for their business model and valuation, even telling the twosome that he 'couldn't fault' their plan.

With Janine, Andrew, Glen and Naomi all withdrawing any support they had, the last flicker of hope came from an angered Steve, who said he couldn't get past his first impressions.

'Cocky': The two entrepreneurs run The Body Consultants, and asked the five judges for $500,000 investment for 25 per cent of their personal training business

'You felt a bit cocky when you came out, that really put me off-side. But I've looked at the numbers here, and I just think it seems really good. I'm trying to find reasons to do the deal and not do the deal at the same time.'

On why he leaned towards letting the team go home empty handed, Steve concluded: 'I learned a long time ago that my first impression is usually the one I have to follow'.

Despite saying no to the pair, who left without any investment for their business, Glen reprimanded his fellow judges, chastising them for being 'too harsh'

'You know what I like, that humble arrogance of the 20-year-olds that need a bit of mentoring, they will listen,' Glen argued.
Hugh Jackman has spoken out on the issue of sexual misconduct in Hollywood.

The Australian star of stage and screen believes that actors should be protected by 'third parties' during auditions.

'There should never, ever be an audition again without a third person present, there should never be a meeting in a hotel room,' the 49-year-old told GQ Australia.

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'There should never be a meeting in a hotel room': Hugh Jackman spoke out about Hollywood's sexual misconduct scandal this week, claiming a 'third person' should be present at auditions

'You can call it a hotel room, but essentially it's a bedroom, right? So why would you ever need to have a meeting there?' Hugh said.

The Wolverine star added that he hopes Hollywood's sexual misconduct scandal will open the door for gender equality in the industry.

'What's been great in all of this is that it's morphed into genuine discussion about equality in the workplace,' he continued.

'So in many ways, it feels like there's a hopeful feeling that this could be a genuine change for the better.'

Setting boundaries: 'There should never, ever be an audition again without a third person present, there should never be a meeting in a hotel room,' the 49-year-old told GQ Australia

Previous projects: Hugh has appeared in two of disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein's films, Kate & Leopold (pictured) in 2001 and Butter in 2011

It comes after producer Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to police on Friday.

Several actresses have accused Weinstein of inappropriate sexual behaviour, among them Gwyneth Paltrow, Rose McGowan, Ashley Judd and Paz de la Huerta.

Weinstein has repeatedly said he is innocent of any crime, and is currently out on a $1 million bail.

Development: It comes after producer Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to police on Friday

Former actress Lucia Evans is set to testify against Weinstein and claims that he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him while they were in his office in 2004.

Meanwhile, the second woman pressing charges against Weinstein claims that he allegedly raped her twice in one night at a hotel in New York in 2013.

The former Miramax boss faces up to 25 years in jail if he is convicted.

Hugh has appeared in two of the disgraced producer's films, Kate & Leopold in 2001 and Butter in 2011.
Hugh Jackman certainly scrubs up well.

The rugged actor looked in fine form posing on the cover of GQ Australia's July issue, his fifth appearance on the magazine's front page.

For his smouldering photo shoot, the 49-year-old modelled several sharp outfits, including a stylish winter coat.

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From Wolverine to well-dressed man! Hugh Jackman smoulders while posing for his fifth GQ Australia cover... as he talks sexual harassment in Hollywood and the #MeToo movement

Inside the magazine, Hugh opts for a more refined style, posing in a grey waistcoat and a crisp white shirt.

In the accompanying interview, the Les Miserables star spoke out about the issue of sexual misconduct in Hollywood.

The Australian star of stage and screen told GQ he believes that actors should be protected by 'third parties' during auditions.

Dapper chap! The rugged actor, 49, looked in fine form posing on the cover of GQ Australia's July issue, his fifth appearance on the magazine's front page

'There should never, ever be an audition again without a third person present, there should never be a meeting in a hotel room,' he said.

'You can call it a hotel room, but essentially it's a bedroom, right? So why would you ever need to have a meeting there?'

The Wolverine star added that he hopes Hollywood's sexual misconduct scandal will open the door for gender equality in the industry.

'It's morphed into genuine discussion about equality': In the accompanying interview, the Les Miserables star spoke out about the issue of sexual misconduct in Hollywood

'What's been great in all of this is that it's morphed into genuine discussion about equality in the workplace,' he said.

'So in many ways, it feels like there's a hopeful feeling that this could be a genuine change for the better.'

It comes after disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to police on Friday after being accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour by multiple women.
North Korea has dispatched top officials to the United States and Singapore, media reported on Tuesday, the latest indication that the on-again-off-again summit with US President Donald Trump may go ahead.

May 29, 2018, 13:39 Top North Korean officials head to US, Singapore in summit preparations

STEPANAKERT, MAY 29, ARTSAKHPRESS:North Koreas Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers Partys Central Committee, was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency said, citing an unnamed source.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

At the same time, a pre-advance team was traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans, Reuters reports, citing White House sources.

US government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The reports indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week. A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at the Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was going there to play, according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport, according to Yonhap. It did not say whether Choe would be accompanying Kim Yong Chol.
Anne Hathaway has had to deal with abuse in Hollywood.

The 35-year-old Oscar winner told the June/July issue of Glamour it can be tough working in the movie business. 'I've had a 20-year career and Ive had some really, really bad experiences, but Ive had a lot of great ones toowith members of both genders,' the brunette bombshell said.

The Ocean's 8 actress added that her experiences do not compare with the 'atrocious, galling stories' other women have shared in recent months, she has had 'negative on-set experiences, some of a sexual nature. Some are from the beginning of my career, some are more recentall are unacceptable.'

Being herself: Anne Hathaway covers the June/July issue of Glamour magazine to promote her new film Ocean's 8, which opens June 8

Now she is working on Times Up for all women.

'But its not just being an actress. Being a 35-year-old cisgendered woman who has experienced the everyday, abusive imbalance of the world also made me want to be a part of a movement for change.

'I know the world can be far worse for others than it has been to me, but I suppose, like most everyone who has been hurt, I want to protect others from going through the worst of what I experienced,' said the Devil Wears Prada star.

'I want to help make what I consider the best of my experiences to be the norm, as it always should have been.'

Truth time: She also talked about how tough working in the movie business can be. 'Ive had a 20-year career and Ive had some really, really bad experiences, but Ive had a lot of great ones toowith members of both genders,' she said

And she said she thinks abuse runs so deeply within the industry because 'theres got be some guys who get high off the power. But in a lot of cases, its an an echo chamber. Most guys have never seen anything different.'

The Rio star the said: 'If change is going to happen, we have to get uncomfortable.

'Somebody really brilliant once told me that prophecy is not handed down by DNA. We learn by telling each other stories.'

Not easy: 'While they do not begin to approach the atrocious, galling stories others have shared in recent months, Ive had negative on-set experiences, some of a sexual nature. Some are from the beginning of my career, some are more recentall are unacceptable'

Anne has also had to deal with trolls.

She had a harsh spotlight put on her when her fiance Raffaello Follieri was accused of conning the Catholic Church.

And then years later, when she over effused while winning her Academy Award for Les Miserables.

That led to hate campaigns against her. But now the beauty knows how to deal with the life in the fast lane.

Snoozy? Who cares! 'I dont know if that makes me a boring person. I dont really care if it does,' she insisted. The June/July issue on national newsstands June 5

The happily married actress has decided to focus on 'peace' and 'honesty' and if that makes her 'boring,' so be it, she told the magazine.

And the Princess Diaries star wants to keep it as real as possible.

'I'm interested in living a very honest life,' said the brunette beauty who got her start in 1999 on the TV series Get Real.

'I dont know if that makes me a boring person. I dont really care if it does.' The June/July issue on national newsstands June 5.

She used to get mad: 'I have a history with rage. I used to do this thing where I was like, "Im nice 29 days out of 30, and then I give myself permission to be a bitch to anyone, about anything,"' she said

Peace talks: 'I realized that if I could actually move away from the judgment and deal with my emotions in the moment, I didnt actually need the extra day,' she said. 'Rage doesnt lead you to a place of peace. And for me the goal is not happiness. The goal is peace'

And she addressed some bad behavior in the past.

'I have a history with rage. I used to do this thing where I was like, "Im nice 29 days out of 30, and then I give myself permission to be a bitch to anyone, about anything."

'I realized that if I could actually move away from the judgment and deal with my emotions in the moment, I didnt actually need the extra day,' she said.

What her dad told her: 'When I was a teenager and life was starting happen, my dad said to me: "Three promises. Dont get a tattoo until youre 23. Dont get into motorcycles"we have a family history of motorcycle accidents"and dont lie." I took that in really, really deep,' said the Intern star

'Rage doesnt lead you to a place of peace. And for me the goal is not happiness. The goal is peace.'

She also talked about the advice her parents handed down to her when she was taking off in films like 2004's Ella Enchanted.

'When I was a teenager and life was starting happen, my dad said to me: "Three promises. Dont get a tattoo until youre 23. Dont get into motorcycles"we have a family history of motorcycle accidents"and dont lie." I took that in really, really deep,' said the Intern star.

No time for drama: The happily married actress has decided to focus on 'peace' and 'honesty' and if that makes her 'boring,' so be it, she said

New focus: And the Princess Diaries star wants to keep it as real as possible. 'I'm interested in living a very honest life,' said the brunette beauty who got her start in 1999 on the TV series Get Real

Her mantra: 'Somebody really brilliant once told me that prophecy is not handed down by DNA. We learn by telling each other stories,' shared the Interstellar actress

As far as working with Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett on Ocean's 8, she said she was a bit intimidated.

'I was so excited to get invited onto the team. It was a big, out-of-nowhere offer. I was just like, "Do not embarrass yourself in front of your heroes. Do not embarrass yourself,"' she admitted.

Rihanna, Mindy Kaling and Sarah Paulson. There are cameos by Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner.

New pals: As far as working with Sandra Bullock and Cate Blanchett on Ocean's 8, she said she was a bit intimidated. 'I was so excited to get invited onto the team. It was a big, out-of-nowhere offer. I was just like, "Do not embarrass yourself in front of your heroes,"' she admitted; seen on May 22

The film opens June 8, 2018.

Anne was shot by Billy Kidd and wore a Versace bodysuit, Annelise Michelson hoops, a Celine coat, hoodie, pants. She also had on a Topshop jacket on waist, Kathleen Whitaker ring, Eye M by Ileana Makri gold ring, Eckhaus Latta blazer. Ivy Park hoodie. Rockins scarf, worn as belt. Kathleen Whitaker earring. Eye M by and Ileana Makri gold ring.

Other credits include a Lacoste dress, Rockins scarf, Levis Limited jacket, Valentino dress, Ash sneakers, Louis Vuitton sleeveless jackets, dress, shoes and Juicy by Juicy Couture pants.
Blake Painter of Deadliest Catch fame has been found dead aged 38 in Oregon.

He died days before police discovered his body at his home on Friday, where they are examining substances for narcotics, TMZ reports.

Although there were prescription pills on the scene, it is possible they were not involved in Painter's death. Law enforcement do not suspect foul play at this time.

Dearly departed: Blake Painter of The Deadliest Catch has been found dead aged 38 in Oregon; law enforcement do not suspect foul play

A friend of his had called the police, having become worried because he had not had contact with Painter for days on end.

An autopsy and toxicology test are to be performed on Painter, who appeared on the second and third seasons of Deadliest Catch.

Nick McGlashan, who also stars on Deadliest Catch, took to Twitter on Saturday to announce: 'A former crabber on Deadliest Catch' had 'lost his life to an overdose'.

The Astoria Police Department did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com's request for comment.

Painter's hometown newspaper The Daily Astorian reported that a man of his name and age was arrested this January after a police officer allegedly caught sight of him smoking heroin at the wheel.

He was charged with unlawful possession of heroin, tampering with physical evidence, and reckless driving.

The incident was not Painter's first run in with police, Hollywood Life reported.

The respected captain was arrested for gun possession, recklessly endangering another person and criminal mischief in January 2001.

Painter was arrested for a DUI charge in 2013 and for driving on a suspended license in 2015.

Young loss: He died days before police discovered his body at his home, where they are examining substances for narcotics

He was in a harrowing accident three years ago, wrecking his pickup truck against a tree while towing a gillnet boat in the Astoria area.

Painter was retrieved from the crash with the Jaws Of Life, whereupon he was flown to Portland for hospital treatment, according to The Daily Astorian.

In 2013, he told Investigate West about the physical problems his profession has caused him, including carpal tunnel syndrome so severe he had to be operated on.

An autopsy and toxicology test are to be performed on Painter, who appeared on the second and third seasons of Deadliest Catch

His troubles included back and shoulder complaints, as well 'the claw' - intense forearm pain as his hands gripped each other when he woke up.

Deadliest Catch, a Discover Channel docu-series that began in 2005 and is still currently running, follows fishers in the Bering Sea.

Painter could be seen on seasons two and three of the show captaining the F/V Maverick, a crabbing vessel in 2006 -2007.
Danny Dyer has made a name for himself of the small screen and his daughter Dani Dyer is determined to do the same, though she's taking a different approach.

The EastEnders star's 21-year-old daughter will be appearing on the upcoming season of Love Island, according to the network.

While most go into the show's Spanish villa looking for love, Dani's said she's open to whatever happens on the show.

Eastenders star Danny Dyer's daughter Dani Dyer is due to appear on the upcoming season of Love Island

'I am a girly girl. Having a friendship with a girl in the villa is just as important as finding romance,' she said, according to her ITV bio.

Dani will be joined by more than 10 other hopeful singles. What do you need to know about her?

Here's the scoop.

Who is Dani Dyer?

Dani Dyer is the 21-year-old daughter of Danny Dyer, who plays Mick Carter on EastEnders. She's from East London and currently works as a barmaid, though she's hoping to break into acting one day.

It appears, based on her Twitter account, that her dream may become a reality before long. On May 14 she tweeted that she 'will be in a sequel of a first film'. It's not clear what film she's talking about or what her part is.

Although Dani hasn't yet had her big break as an actress, she does seem to have found a way in with reality TV. Prior to being cast on Love Island, Dani appeared on Survival of the Fittest. She did not last long, however.

Dani is hopeful that her Love Island appearance will go better. She admitted that love hasn't been her strong suit, adding that she's hopeful the show can help her find the right guy for her.

She has her reservations, according to Radio Times.

'Dating has never been great for me. It's such a personal thing but you're doing it on national television. Falling for someone, not liking someone, letting someone's feelings down,' she said.

One thing Dani won't put up with in the Love Island villa is games.

'If the situation arises when a new boy comes in, I won't be playing games,' she said.

'If a boy plays two of us against each other, I will say, "You know what mate, leave it." To me, I would rather be friends with the girls. I'm done with games, you do that enough on the outside.'

Love Island 2018 cast

Dani Dyer will be joined on Love Island by more than 10 other competitors hoping to find the loves of their lives.

Here's who will be appearing on Love Island 2018:

Adam Collard

Adam is a personal trainer who is looking for a 'genuine and down to earth' girl who he 'could take home to family if I wanted to'. He's 22-years-old and hails from Newcastle, United Kingdom.

Dr. Alex George

Alex is a 27-year-old doctor from Carmarthen, Wales.

He told ITV2: 'I don't like high maintenance girls. I think it's brilliant to look good but spending three hours to get ready to go and walk on the beach is too much for me.'

Eyal Booker

Eyal is a 22-year-old model from London.

'I have a fun energy and I am a spiritual person. I'd like to think I have a depth to me so I guess that stands out and I look at things quite deeply,' he told ITV2.

Hayley Hughes

Hayley is 21 and comes from Liverpool, United Kingdom. She's a model and self-proclaimed 'diva'.

'My nickname from my friends is diva, maybe because I always go after what I want and I always get it,' she told the network.

Jack Fincham

Jack's a stationary sales manager. He's 26 and comes from Kent, United Kingdom.

He told Metro UK his turn-offs include: 'Girls being fake, talking behind people's backs or farting. I don't want a girl farting or burping in front of me.'

Jack also admitted: 'I can be quite selfish  if I don't want to do something, I won't do it. Some people might get annoyed with that. I'm not doing it to be nasty or annoying, I'm just a bit stubborn.'

Although his dating history hasn't been the best in the past, he said he's ready to turn over a new leaf and find real love: 'I have cheated when I was younger and sillier but I'm here now to find love on the Island.'

Kendall Rae-Knight

Kendall is a 26-year-old retail manager from Blackpool, United Kingdom. She's a pageant winner who's coming on Love Island to find a guy she can settle down with.

'This time last year I was in a five year relationship, I was engaged, had a house, and I was all settle down ready to have children,' she revealed, adding that she feels 'ready to move on and start dating'.

Niall Aslam

Niall's a 23-year-old student/construction worker from Coventry, United Kingdom. He's ready to have a go at romance on Love Island and knows exactly what he's looking for:

'Obviously I'm looking for a fit girl, but I'm assuming pretty much all of the girls in there are going to be fit and above my level anyway,' he said.

Niall may be a bit of a drama-starter in the villa, so keep an eye on him.

'I am going in there and I want to find love. I don't care who a lad is if he is big, better looking, I'm still going in there and I'll still rock up and try and chat up his missus,' he said.

Samira Mighty

Samira's a 22-year-old West End performer from London. She's appeared in Mamma Mia and Dreamgirls and now she's ready to make her dream of finding the one a reality  or so she hopes.

'I haven't had the chance to have a proper Summer break before because I've been doing long contracts in West End shows,' she said.

'I have the whole days free, when everyone is at work, then work in the evenings, so I haven't really had the chance to meet anyone.'

Wes Nelson

Wes is an electrical engineer from Staffordshire, United Kingdom. He's 20-years-old and it seems his expectations for Love Island are high:

'I'm looking for a partner, I'm looking for someone I can settle down with and tame my wild lifestyle,' he said. 'I am 20 years old but I'd say I am ahead of my age in terms of maturity and in terms of who I am and my mannerisms.

'I don't think I'd be childish in there. I consider myself a mature person so definitely looking for something serious.'

Laura Anderson

Laura is a 29-year-old Scotland native who's looking for 'a rugged, real man'. She's the oldest person on the Love Island cast this year and she hopes that won't affect her chances of finding real romance.

Age won't be her only obstacle though.

'My voice might annoy people. Or perhaps I might tell too many jokes. I'm sure when you live with people you will always rub them up the wrong way,' she said.

When does Love Island 2018 start on TV?

Love Island is due to return to ITV2 on June 4, 2018, at 9pm BST.
America Ferrera and husband Ryan Piers Williams have welcomed their first child.

On Tuesday the Ugly Betty star, 34, shared to her Instagram account that she gave birth to their son, who they have named Sebastian. This is the first time the TV actress has revealed the gender of the baby.

'When 2 becomes 3  Welcome Sebastian Piers Williams  aka Baz! Mom, Dad and Baby are happy, healthy and totally in love!' Ferrera captioned a photo of her baby's foot.

Happy day: America Ferrera, 34, and husband Ryan Piers Williams have welcomed their first child. On Tuesday the Ugly Betty star shared that she gave birth to their son. This is the first time she revealed the gender of the baby

Flower power: The pregnant beauty looked lovely in a curve-hugging floral dress during her baby shower in LA in mid May

She only threw her baby shower 11 days ago.

The actress looked lovely in a curve-hugging floral dress during the celebration at LA's upscale Beauty & Essex, which she called 'gorgeous' in her Instagram photos from the soiree.

The USC alum gave followers a play-by-play of the festivities in the pics captions.

The set started with a photo of America beaming as she held her tummy sweetly and captioned the pic: 'Joy.'

Her shower: The Superstore actress said she felt 'joy' on her special day

Zany before baby: The couple goofed it up in their photo booth and said they would be dancing

Her dark tresses were styled long and straight and America kept her makeup at a natural glow as she threw her head back in glee.

In another photo America stood next to director husband, who wrapped his arm around his wife.

Though the duo have been wed since 2011, she added the label her other half as 'the baby daddy'  a term usually reserved for unmarried co-parents.

Far along: Here she is seen in West Hollywood in mid March

She shared silly photobooth shots with 'the grandparents' and 'the siblings' as well.

America was also joined by her TV family at the event, posting one picture with Ugly Betty's Ana Ortiz and Mark Indelicato.

Superstore's ensemble cast needed its own photo to fit everyone in, as castmates Ben Feldman, Kelly Stables, Nichole Bloom, Colton Dunn, Kaliko Kauahi, Nico Santos and Lauren Ash wrapped their arms around each other for the snapshot.

America explained there would be 'No poopie diaper games' at the event, 'Just dancing, drinking (water for me ), and some of the people we love to celebrate the little human we can't wait to meet.'

The love of her life: Ferrera has been married to Williams since 2011; seen in 2017 in LA

She also gushed over the hip Hollywood location, writing: '@beautyessexla was a gorgeous place to celebrate (not being paid to say that).'

And of course her pal and party planner Elsa Marie Collins deserved a huge shoutout, as America continued: '...Get you an amazing friend like @elsamariecollins who always shows up for you and throws the best parties!'

America announced she and Ryan were expecting with a joyous Instagram post on New Years, sharing: 'We're welcoming one more face to kiss in 2018! Wishing you #MasBesos in the New Year! #babybesos #HappyNewYear.'

Her big hit show: The beauty was on Ugly Betty from 2006 until 2010

Although Ferrera has been dealing with pregnancy and preparing for motherhood, she has been active in the Time's Up movement, which advocates action against sexism in Hollywood.

In January, the Sisterhood Of The Traveling Pants actress sat down with Oprah Winfrey and other prominent women to discuss breaking women's silence.

The Latina told Winfrey: 'I think what we are experiencing now is a tectonic shift underneath our feet, where women and men are feeling that we can no longer not say the truth.

'And when the truth is said, there is maybe a ripple in our culture right now that is going to allow for there to be a change.'
Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber celebrated 20 years of marriage in an extremely low-key fashion on Tuesday evening.

The 52-year-old shared a stunning shot of herself and her husband Rande, 56, from their wedding day in celebration the milestone anniversary before posting a video as they slow-danced and smooched to country music in a dive bar.

Gazing lovingly at one another, the duo sat in front of a bottle of liquor while they were serenaded in the low-key setting - which saw the duo surrounded by crass wall signs and wooden decor, while they each sported minimalist ensembles.

Adoring: Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber celebrated 20 years of marriage in an extremely low-key fashion on Tuesday evening

Shunning lavish celebrations, the duo headed to a dive bar in Nashville to listen to country music while getting up close and personal.

They were serenaded with the track from their wedding day as they sat in the very front row to the stage and mouthed the words to one another in a tender display.

She added a caption on her Instagram video of the moment, reading: 'Thanks @kidrock and @missaudreyberry for making our anniversary so special.

'@officialdeanjames, @jonpardipics, and @thefiddleman_ played the song from our wedding Have A Little Faith In Me good words for a long marriage!'

Up close and personal: The 52-year-old shared a stunning shot of herself and her husband Rande, 56, from their wedding day in celebration the milestone anniversary before posting a video as they slow-danced and smooched to country music in a dive bar

Loved-up: Gazing lovingly at one another, the duo sat in front of a bottle of liquor while they were serenaded in the low-key setting - which saw the duo surrounded by crass wall signs and wooden decor, while they each sported minimalist ensembles

Time flies! Cindy once again proved she was age-defying on Tuesday as she shared a throwback photo of her wedding to Rande Gerber to mark their 20th anniversary

The supermodel, who dominated the fashion industry in the '80s and '90s, made a very beautiful bride - and she's barely aged a day since then.

She captioned the tender picture, in which she wowed in a white-trimmed cami dress: '20 years ago today walking down the aisle @randegerber. I couldnt have chosen a better man to do this thing called life with. I love you!'

The genetically-blessed beauty opted to go barefoot on her big day and had her hair styled out into lose curls as she walked hand-in-hand with her man.

Stylish: Cindy opted for a white slip lace dress and no shoes for her big day

Rande: '20 years ago today, 2 amazing kids and this beautiful girl with her arms always holding on tight. Thank you for our life,' he wrote

Rande also had a low-key style on his big day. The business mogul had his white shirt untucked and he sported straight leg trousers.

He also took to social media to celebrate the day, as he penned: '20 years ago today, 2 amazing kids and this beautiful girl with her arms always holding on tight. Thank you for our life,' he wrote.

Sharing more love, the couple's daughter Kaia Gerber, 16, also took to social media to send her wishes to her parents.

She wrote on top of one of their wedding photos: 'Happy anniversary to this match made in heaven. 20 YEARS OF LOVE. (also, yes to getting married with no shoes on).'

What's her secret? The '80s and '90s supermodel has continued to prove time and time again that she's age-defying (L: Fundraiser in 1997 | R: MET Gala in 2018)

Music city! The couple have been spending the past few days celebrating their anniversary in Nashville, Tennessee

The couple have been spending the past few days celebrating their anniversary in Nashville, Tennessee.

Between 1991 to 1995, Cindy was married to actor Richard Gere. Following her divorce, she married former model Rande Gerber.

The couple have two children - both models - son Presely Walker, 18, and daughter Kaia Jordan, 16.
She is going to be making a return to Hollyoaks three years after she was fired following a string of warnings for lateness, attendance and turning up drunk.

But Stephanie Davis, 25, was allegedly warned by bosses 'no nonsense' will tolerated this time as she must adhere to strict guidelines on her comeback to the soap, according to Now magazine.

As she reprises her role of Sinead O'Connor, she reportedly must stay sober at all times as well as not using foul language or making any diva demands on set.

She's back! Stephanie Davis 'got a strict warning to stay sober and make no diva demands' on her Hollyoaks return, according to Now magazine

A source told the publication: 'There'll be no nonsense this time around. Lateness is an absolute no-no. Call-time must be honoured, even if it's at 5am. She must turn up on time, not drunk, and ready for hair and make-up.

'There will be no wardrobe wobbles. Any foul-mouthing will not be tolerated. Stephanie must remain professional at all times, leaving drama at home.

'There should be no diva requests in hair and make-up, her phone must be left in the dressing room, no guests on set unless otherwise cleared, and no calling in sick at the last minute!'

No nonsense! As she reprises her role of Sinead O'Connor, she reportedly must stay sober at all times as well as not using foul language or making any diva demands on set

Stephanie Davis' representative told MailOnline: 'No we have not been told of any such rules at all and we are her management so we would know.

'She has worked so hard to get herself back on track and its disgraceful that these stories are being made up and printed.

'Hollyoaks have had an amazing response since announcing Stephanie return and are over the moon she has agreed to. Come back , she is doing very well has her own clothing range and lashes out soon also.'

Moving on: The warnings have reportedly been laid out to the actress on her return just three years after she was fired for a series of incidents including turning up drunk

The warnings have reportedly been laid out to the actress on her return just three years after she was fired for a series of incidents including turning up drunk.

A statement from her spokesman said at the time: 'Stephanie's contract was terminated following warnings for lateness, attendance and after a final incident in which she turned up to set unfit to work because of alcohol consumption.'

Stephanie started out with great promise as an actress on BBC1's Somewhere Over The Rainbow at the tender age of 16 before joining Hollyoaks in 2010.

The Celebrity Big Brother star's character will now return to the Hollyoaks scene as one of fan's old favourite characters in August.

Since becoming a mother, Stephanie put her acting duties on hold as she temporarily devoted her time to looking after her 18-month-old son Caben.

A spokesperson for Stephanie Davis added: 'We are so proud of her, she has been through so much and we and her have worked so hard to turn her life around.

'She is super excited to be back on screen in Hollyoaks in August. She has her own clothing range and make up range coming soon. She is looking after herself in every way never to go back to where she was.'

Exciting! In a clip shared shortly after, the brunette is seen reading the script before passionately telling the camera: 'She's back!'

It's been a difficult few years for the reality star as she struggled with the tumultuous nature of her very public romance with Jeremy McConnell.

Although she has since forgiven the Irish model, Stephanie divulged she sought help after her toxic break up from Jeremy.

Stephanie and Jeremy became embroiled in domestic violence, a consequential restraining order, public showdowns, vicious spats and unlikely reconciliations.

After putting her career on hold for the son she raises with Jeremy, Stephanie expressed her desire to return to TV in a cosy MailOnline chat.

Stephanie exclusively told MailOnline: 'I have missed it. My home is in front of the camera. I love it. I want to win an award for best actress. Any award.

'It's important to get back to my career. As a single mum that freaks me out a little bit but it's important to still have an outside life too. You can forget who you are, so I want to find me again, which I didn't think I ever would.'
She has starred as the powerful Daenerys Targaryen on the hit HBO series for seven years.

And Emilia Clarke has now revealed why she thinks Game Of Thrones is so popular with both men and women, amid the industry's recent inequality scandal.

Speaking to US Glamour, the actress, 31, praised the series for showing both male and female nudity - and claimed the show's depiction of power struggles is what makes it so appealing to women.

Honest: Emilia Clarke has revealed she thinks Game Of Thrones is so popular with both men and women because of its depiction of 'power struggles'

Discussing the hugely popular series, Emilia reflected on why her love interest Khal Drogo was not exposed on-screen, while her character stripped fully naked.

First joking of her co-star Jason Mamoa's manhood, she said: 'Oh, I did. I saw his member, but it was covered in a pink fluffy sock. Showing it would make people feel bad. It's too fabulous.'

However, she went on to praise the show's equal amounts of male and female nudity by recalling one of the show's sauciest moments - which saw another of her love interests strip for the camera.

Leading lady: The actress, who plays Daenerys Targaryen (above), also praised the series for showing both male and female nudity

She added: 'No, I don't know why. But I'd like to bring your memory back to Mr. Michiel Huisman and I copulating for the first time, which began with me saying, "Take off your clothes," and then you got to see his perfect bottom.'

Her comments come amid a time of unrest in Hollywood, following the emergence of the Harvey Weinstein scandal last year.

Reflecting on this, Emilia expressed her delight that so many women are fans of Game Of Thrones - which she believes is due to its gender-balanced story lines.

'I love that so many women watch': She said of the show's appeal: 'The story lines are fascinating depictions of the struggle for power. And women are in on that conversation'

She explained: 'I love that so many women watch the show. If you look at 'Game of Thrones' on face value  blood, tits, dragons, swearwords  you're like, 'Oh, this must be for guys.'

'But if you take that away, the story lines are fascinating depictions of the struggle for power. And women are in on that conversation.'

Emilia recently wrapped filming on the eighth and final series of the show, which is set to hit screens next year.

After teasing her character comes to a 'weird' end, she also recently revealed her plans to get a dragon tattoo, in tribute to her character.
He was awarded the coveted first impression rose on Monday night's season premiere of The Bachelorette.

And while Becca Kufrin may have felt keen on Garrett Yrigoyen, former Bachelor contestant Ashley Spivey was quick to reveal a slew of problematic 'likes' from his since deleted accounts.

Ashley showed a series of screenshots on Twitter where Yrigoyen had liked numerous transphobic memes and conservative posts before he turned his account private on May 24, according to Variety.

Scroll down for video

Difficult: While Becca Kufrin may have felt keen on Garrett Yrigoyen, former Bachelor contestant Ashley Spivey was quick to reveal a slew of problematic 'likes' from his since deleted accounts; seen on Tuesday in New York

Some of the screenshots showed that Yrigoyen had liked a host of questionable posts, including one comparing 'conservative woman' Tomi Lahren clad in an American flag ensemble to a 'leftist woman' wearing a feminist shirt.

'Yeah, I think we win this one too,' was written across the bottom of the meme which seemingly dissected a woman's appearance.

Another image liked by Yrigoyen's now defunct account suggested that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor David Hogg was a crisis actor.

Wilted: Garrett was awarded the coveted first impression rose on Monday night's season premiere of The Bachelorette

Wow: Some of the screenshots showed that Yrigoyen had liked a host of questionable posts, including one comparing 'conservative woman' Tomi Lahren clad in an American flag ensemble to a 'leftist woman' wearing a feminist shirt

Questionable view: Another image liked by Yrigoyen's now defunct account suggested that Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting survivor David Hogg was a crisis actor

Ashley was unafraid to show a series of the posts liked by Garrett, with one image showing a member of the armed forces swinging a child with the words, 'When a kid makes it over the wall and you have to throw him back.'

He seemed to have taken an interest in one particular account, having liked many of the company's photos shared on Instagram.

One photo in question showed a women's restroom door covered in an image of Cailtyn Jenner on Vanity Fair, with the men's bathroom showing Caitlyn's previous identity as Bruce Jenner.

The image was captioned, 'How to determine which bathroom to use in 2017.'

Wow: Ashley was unafraid to show a series of the posts liked by Garrett, with one image showing a member of the armed forces swinging a child with the words, 'When a kid makes it over the wall and you have to throw him back'

We can see your likes: One photo in question showed a women's restroom door covered in an image of Cailtyn Jenner on Vanity Fair, with the men's bathroom showing Caitlyn's previous identity as Bruce Jenner

Not great: He seemed to have taken an interest in one particular account, having liked many of the company's photos shared on Instagram

Tell it like it is: Ashley was not afraid to share a few words after publicizing the questionable content, saying 'I truly though this would be something we paid better attention to'

He liked a meme saying 'what boys did in my day' with children holding guns to 'what boys are doing today' as kids posed for selfies wearing flawless makeup.

Kufrin and crew are reportedly banned from social media while the show is filming, so it's not clear if she knew about his activity.

Becca has been a vocal supporter of Hilary Clinton and multiple women's movements, even posting a photo flipping off a Trump booth at the Minnesota State Fair in August 2017.

The ABC show has been weathered with social media controversy, most recently when contestant Lee Garrett was found to have sent a series of racist and sexist tweets- words that were later addressed on one of the show's reunions.

Not a comparison: He liked a meme saying 'what boys did in my day' with children holding guns to 'what boys are doing today' as kids posed for selfies wearing flawless makeup

Vocal: Becca has been a supporter of Hilary Clinton and multiple women's movements, even posting a photo flipping off a Trump booth at the Minnesota State Fair in August 2017
The first live show was blighted when a thunderstorm caused a technical glitch, forcing Britain's Got Talent to be off air for five minutes.

And Tuesday's semi-finals didn't go without a hitch after a stage invader stormed onto the judging panel and slammed three of the red buzzers.

The judges were left shaken when the intruder interrupted their critique of Magus Utopia's act, as Amanda Holden screamed in fright while Simon Cowell swore.

Annoyed: A stage invader stormed onto the judging panel and slammed three of the red buzzers leaving Simon Cowell furious on Tuesday night's Britain's Got Talent

The judges were in the midst of giving feedback to Magus' magical performance when the trespasser decided to give his own verdict.

The stage invader inside London's Hammersmith Apollo has been identified as Perry Rose who calls himself a 'public wind-up merchant'.

Unfortunately, security were not alerted to the fact that the audience member was a professional prankster who should not have been able to interrupt a live family TV show.

Shocking: The judges were left shaken when the intruder interrupted their critique of Magus Utopia's act, with Amanda Holden screaming in fright while Simon Cowell to swore

Managing to slam Amanda, Alesha and Simon's buzzers, the camera quickly panned out as Simon swore and security dealt with the stage invasion.

Speaking about what happened, Simon said: 'It's been one of the nuttiest nights of my life. We've had zombies. We've had magicians. We've had people pressing our buzzers.'

Eagle-eyed fans noticed the music mogul vent his frustration by giving the invader a two finger salute before putting his head in his hands in despair.

Surprise! Ironically, it came mere minutes after Magus made the judges jump up from their seats by appearing behind them at the end of his act

Fright: Managing to slam Amanda's, Alesha and Simon's buzzers, the camera quickly panned out as security dealt with the stage invasion

Ironically, it came mere minutes after Magus made the judges jump up from their seats in fright when he mysteriously appeared behind them at the end of his illusion act.

In the midst of confusion, some believed it was part of the act but quickly found it wasn't after Amanda exclaimed she 'needed a gin' while holding her hand to her chest.

Viewers were left shocked by the incident as they flooded to Twitter to comment on what happened, with some describing the music mogul's reaction as the highlight of the show.

Shaken: In the midst of confusion, some believed it was part of the act but quickly found it wasn't after Amanda exclaimed she 'needs a gin' while holding her hand to her chest

Head in hands: Speaking about what happened, Simon said: 'It's been one of the nuttiest nights of my life. We had zombies. we've had magicians. We've had people pressing our buzzers'

One wrote: 'Did Simon just flip the bird brilliant!' while another said: 'That stage invader has been the best judge tonight'.

Another typed 'that was the most exciting bit with the random buzzers!', while one fan wrote: 'Simon swearing at that idiot is the best thing he's ever done!'

It's not the first time an invader has interrupted the live shows.

Back in 2012, viola player Natalie Holt pelted Simon Cowell with eggs during the live final of Britain's Got Talent.

Highlight: Viewers were left shocked by the incident as they flooded to Twitter to comment on what happened, with some describing the music mogul's reaction as the highlight of the show

Natalie was accompanying singing brothers Richard and Adam on stage when she jumped to the front and began throwing eggs at Cowell and his fellow judges.

Judge Amanda spoke of her anger at the disruption caused and branded Natalie 'a stupid cow' for the apparent act of protest.

Simon meanwhile was forced to remove his jacket and was left with yolk on his shirt following the attack, which Natalie later apologised for.

Storming the stage: The invasion happened following Magus Utopia's illusion where he escaped a bed of spikes in his pyjamas

On Tuesday, Dec kick-started the show with another explosive opening as he slipped into a glittery dress for his solo comedic sketch.

The television presenter, 42, introduced the second night of the semi-finals with a skit about him not knowing what to wear before changing into an array of skimpy ensembles.

Dec slipped into a cabin crew outfit before shocking viewers when he made a quick change into a multi-coloured sequin mini-dress.

Funny: Declan Donnelly made another explosive opening for Tuesday night's show at Hammersmith Apollo as he slipped into a glittery dress

Flying solo: Dec shocked viewers when he made a quick change into a multi-coloured sequin mini-dress, with many praising him for the fast outfit turnaround

The host's dress was however upstaged when Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon showed off their gowns.

The 47-year-old flaunted her age-defying physique in a risque semi-sheer ruffle gown which came complete with a sultry thigh-split.

Amanda flaunted her toned stomach and lean limbs due to the sheer paneling and bustier bra.

Leading the glamour: Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon lead the glamour as they entered the stage

Gorgeous: Amanda showed off her age-defying physique in a risque semi-sheer ruffle gown which came complete with a sultry thigh-split and flaunted her toned stomach and lean limbs

Stunning: Alesha opted for a plunging crushed velvet gown which hugged her svelte frame

Meanwhile, Alesha opted for a plunging crushed velvet gown which hugged her svelte frame.

Styling her raven hair in a high bun, the singer ensured all eyes were on her as she held hand with her fellow judges.

B Positive choir were the first to perform, singing This Is Me from The Greatest Showman, which was lauded by the judges.

Powerful opener: B-Positive choir kicked off the show singing This Is Me from The Greatest Showman, which was lauded by the judges

Terrifying: Dance Troop Futinity who performed a zombie-inspired danced, with a girl running through the Hammersmith Apollo before she eventually became infected

Comedic sketch: Andrew Lancaster gave a stellar impression of Donald Trump and David Attenborough

David Walliams said: 'You've got a brilliant message but just judging you purely on a performance it was out of this world guys, well done,' while Alesha claimed it was the most 'powerful opener on the show'.

Dance Troop Futinity performed a zombie-inspired danced, with a girl running through the Hammersmith Apollo before she eventually became infected.

All four judges gave the act a standing ovation, with Amanda Holden describing it as 'apocalyptic'.

Sweet: Dec later comforted young singer Calum Courtney after he burst into tears following his moving rendition of Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely in tribute to his mum

Getting the crowd on their feet: Golden buzzer contestant Donchez performed his summer hit Wiggle Wine

Dec later comforted young singer Calum Courtney after he burst into tears following his moving rendition of Stevie Wonder's Isn't She Lovely in tribute to his mum.

Simon told Calum, who has autism: 'You are so popular, you are likeable and popular. You've just ticked two boxes.

'And also that you had the courage to come out here is daunting.'

Out of the competition: Ronan Busfield was sent home after his rendition of Never Enough from The Greatest Showman failed to impress the viewers at home

Lack-luster: Nick Page failed to impress the judges with his sketch, with Alesha saying she didn't 'belly laugh' at his jokes

The public voted for Donchez Dacres to go through to the live finals after he managed to get the auditorium on their feet with his summer hit Wiggle Wine.

Following the results, he told Dec: 'I'm speechless, thank you very much and I'm going to bring something to new to the table. Wiggle Wine has had its glory and now we're going to bring something fresh.'

Judges had to then decide if Calum Courtney or B Positive would make it through to Sunday's show.

Summer hit: The public voted for Donchez Dacres to go through to the finals, the mechanic promised he would bring something new for Sunday's show

Overwhelmed: After going to deadlock with B Positive, Calum was also put through to the finals

Simon said: You've got a choir who has a positive message about the NHS and you've got an adorable kid who sings about his mum. We have to let the public decide.' The act with the most votes was revealed to be Calum Courtney.

Meanwhile Tuesday's stage intrusion comes a day after Britain's Got Talent suffered a major technical failure less than 15 minutes into its first live show.

Screens went black on ITV during a thunderstorm shortly before 7:45pm, before the channel was forced to air a 'sorry for the disruption' message, with Simon Cowell jokingly blaming Ant McPartlin for sabotaging the show.

For the first time in the popular show's history the live shows took place at London's Hammersmith Apollo instead of ITV's studios, with Declan Donnelly, 42, presenting the show alone.

Oh dear: ITV were forced to air old audition footage as they rushed to fix the problem during their flagship programme, with the show picking up with Dec at the judges panel

Having a blast: Alesha appeared in high spirits as she left the Hammersmith Apollo following the action-packed show

ITV were forced to air old audition footage as they rushed to fix the problem during their flagship programme.

Viewers vented their frustration about the technical glitch with many joking Ant was behind the failure and had 'pulled the plug on the show'.

After five minutes off air with ITV having to show audition footage, Dec appeared on stage.

Time for bed: Simon, who called it one of the 'nuttiest nights of his life' waved as he headed home

In the audience: Jimmy Car and Les Mis star Samantha Barks turned out to watch the show unfold

Glam: Louise Redknapp looked chic in a white silky shirt as she left the theatre

Sleepy: The Strictly star looked a little tired as she stepped into her awaiting taxi

Speaking about what happened, the presenter said: 'Welcome back to the start of semi-final here in London.

'Now the weather has caused some problems here.'

The television host then turned to the judges and joked: 'All going well so far guys.'

Over the moon: Finalist Calum gave a broad grin as he posed outside the theatre following his success
Last week it was reported that she was 'in a really bad place' after being diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

But Abby Lee Miller's spirits were lifted on Tuesday when she received a special visit from dance student Jojo Siwa.

Taking to Instagram to share a sweet photo, it was also revealed that the 15-year-old had given her teacher a bag of movie popcorn, candy and a $10,000 check from Dancers Against Cancer.

Scroll down for videos

Brightening up her day! Dance Moms Jojo Siwa surprised coach Abby Lee Miller in the hospital with a $10K check amid her cancer diagnosis on Tuesday

'So glad @itsjojosiwa came to visit me today!' she captioned.

'The whole fam was there to wish me well! Thank you to the Siwa Family for all the beautiful gifts and real popcorn from the movie theater too!'

Jojo also shared the same photo before taking to her YouTube channel to share a vlog titled Visiting Abby In The Hospital.

Feeling loved: 'The whole fam was there to wish me well! Thank you to the Siwa Family for all the beautiful gifts and real popcorn from the movie theater too!'

Bringing in the surprise gifts, a tearful Abby was shocked when she learnt about the check from the charity.

'It's horrible,' she said tearfully when speaking about her health struggles.

'My mom died of colon cancer and my dad died of esophageal cancer so I knew it was only a matter of time. I didn't think it would be now at my age. It has a 95 percent cure rate.'

Not doing too well: Last week a source told People that the reality star was 'losing it' and was in a 'really bad place'

Last week a source told People that the reality star was 'losing it' and was in a 'really bad place'.

'She has two more chemo sessions to go, but she's in a really bad place - mentally and emotionally. She's really losing it,' they said.

In April Abby underwent a four-hour emergency operation shortly after her prison release, on what doctors first thought was a spinal infection.

Wrong diagnosis: In April Abby underwent a four-hour emergency operation shortly after her prison release, on what doctors first thought was a spinal infection

One of the Pittsburgh native's doctors, Dr. Hooman M. Melamed, told the People: 'It was not an infection, it was a type of a non-Hodgkins lymphoma - its a type of a cancer.'

Melamed, an orthopedic spine specialist based out of Marina Del Rey, California, said an oncologist will be brought on to 'figure out what the next steps are as far as chemotherapy or radiation or more spine surgery.

'Depending on the tumor type, depending on the sensitivity of the tumor - it just depends the type but I feel more than yes, she will undergo chemotherapy or radiation,' the doctor said.

Melamed told the publication that the Dance Moms instructor initially sought treatment amid 'excruciating' and in her neck and a weak arm, leading to the immediate surgery.

Melamed said that the surgery on Miller was essential, as 'she was not doing well' and 'her blood pressure was bottoming out.

Pushing through: It's been a difficult few years for Miller, who had been in custody at Victorville Federal Correctional Institution from July until late last month in connection with her bankruptcy fraud conviction

'If we didnt do something,' the doctor said, 'she was going to die.'

Melamed told People 'theres a chance this can spread to any part of the body,' as 'this is probably coming from somewhere else.

'We dont know where the source is,' he added. 'Any tumor that spreads anywhere is automatically Stage 4, but we have not determined the stage yet.

Miller was 'encouraged' as she recovery in an ICU, according to her doctor.

It's been a difficult few years for Miller, who had been in custody at Victorville Federal Correctional Institution from July until late last month in connection with her bankruptcy fraud conviction.

She lost 100 pounds while in custody while at the penitentiary.

In March, she began staying at a Long Beach, California halfway house, where she was slated to stay until May 25.
President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian is impressed with the Fatherland Defenders Rehabilitation Center.

May 29, 2018, 13:57 President Sarkissian impressed with Fatherland Defenders Rehabilitation Center

STEPANAKERT, MAY 29, ARTSAKHPRESS-ARMENPRESS:During our talk the soldiers told me that they are happy for being in this Center, President Sarkissian told reporters after the tour in the Center.

He compared this Center with the rehabilitation centers of the worlds best hospitals, adding that this Center is the best in the world.

The President also toured the Centers rooms, got acquainted with the soldiers who undergo rehabilitation treatment and personally congratulated all of them on the centennial of the First Republic of Armenia.

The President wished soldiers speedy recovery. I have talked to you and understood that each of you have a very strong will. You are people who overcame both fear and difficulty. Today you need to overcome yourself in order to recover, the President told soldiers. I wish those of you who are not married, to get married, have children, grandchildren and then to tell them about the path you passed since your path is very important. Patriotism is not only by calls, you are the best example of patriotism, Armen Sarkissian said.
His physique was so toned when he starred in Gladiator that fans called him 'Russell the Muscle'.

And eighteen years on, Russell Crowe looked a world away from the Roman fighter as he strolled along Kings Road in Chelsea.

The heavily bearded Oscar-winner, 54, wore a navy T-shirt and a pair of Adidas shorts and was smoking a cigarette as he stepped out on Tuesday.

Casual: Eighteen years on, Russell Crowe looked a world away from his Gladiator days as he strolled along Kings Road in Chelsea

Back in the day: Russell is well known for his role as the Roman Fighter - with his toned figure earning him the reputation of 'Russell the Muscle'

He was accompanied by his young assistant, who at one point put her arms around his shoulders.

Laughing and joking on the street, the pair were then seen perching on a park bench and puffing on cigarettes as they spent a low-key afternoon in the capital.

Crowe, who divorced his wife Danielle Spencer last month after splitting in 2013, has denied being romantically involved with the young brunette.

Low key: The heavily bearded Oscar-winner, 54, wore a navy T-shirt and a pair of Adidas shorts as he stepped out

Playful: He was accompanied by his young assistant, who at one point put her arms around his shoulders

Comfortable: The actor added bright blue trainers and a pair of sunglasses, which he left on his head

Having a ball: The pair laughed and joked together as they strolled the street

Just friends: Crowe, who divorced his wife Danielle Spencer last month after splitting in 2013, has denied being romantically involved with the young brunette

After photos emerged of the pair spending time together in Mexico, he Tweeted: 'Been told there are pics of me "on holiday with a young woman" in Mexico.'

He then added in a string of hashtags: '#thereforameeting #shesmyassistant #defamersbegone'

Russell and Danielle began an on-again, off-again relationship in 1989, when they co-starred in the Australian movie The Crossing.

Catching up: The pair were later seen puffing on cigarettes on a park bench

Close: The pair looked to be comfortable with each other as they chatted in the capital

Low profile: Russell later added a white cap to his look

They married on 7 April 2003 at Russell's cattle ranch in Nana Glen, New South Wales and welcomed two sons - Charles, 14, and Tennyson, 11 - before announcing their separation in 2012.

While the exact reason for Russell's trip to London is not known, the actor treated himself to a night out on Tuesday - bizarrely at the Britain's Got Talent studios.

Eagle-eyed fans spotted the star clapping and cheering in the audience beside actress Samantha Barks and comedian Jimmy Carr.

Here for the show: While the exact reason for Russell's trip to London is not known, the actor treated himself to a night out on Tuesday - bizarrely at the Britain's Got Talent studios

Hilarious: Eagle-eyed fans spotted the star clapping and cheering in the audience beside actress Samantha Barks and comedian Jimmy Carr

Sharing screen shots of the Man Of Steel star in his seat, excitable fans wrote: 'What I want to know is what is Russell Crowe doing in the #BGT audience!'

'#BGT did I just see Russell Crowe in the audience?' and 'Why is Russell Crowe watching BGT? Why do I find this strange? My brain can't process this.'

Another fan even joked of the evening's stage intruder: 'The prankster who stormed onto was really brave considering Gladiators in the audience'

The actor was no doubt present with Samantha to support fellow Les Miserable star Alfie Boe, who was performing during the ITV results show.
He may be the son of respected television journalist Terry Willesee, but gold-toothed rapper Jesse Sunset is determined to prove he has plenty of his own cash to burn.

The flamboyant musician took to Instagram on Tuesday to conspicuously flaunt his wealth, using a lighter to ignite a wad of $100 bills believed to total $10,000.

While lounging in a bubble bath in Los Angeles, the 30-year-old socialite proudly told his social media followers: 'This is for all my broke boys and girls!'

'This is for all my broke boys and girls!' Terry Willesee's gold-toothed rapper son Jesse Sunset burned $10,000 while boasting about his sex life in the bath on Tuesday

Eccentric Jesse wore a blue du-rag on his head and a trendy pair of sunglasses while rapping about his wealth and active sex life.

He began: 'I be broke and burning fat stacks, that's facts, hows that? This is for all my broke boys and girls who ball out when they're broke.'

Jesse then waved around the large wad of money before using the lighter's flame to set it ablaze.

'Doesn't burn very well, but I still be burning it': The flamboyant musician took to Instagram to flaunt his wealth, using a lighter to ignite a wad of $100 bills believed to total $10,000

Slowly catching fire, the notes began to blacken at the edges, prompting Jesse to say: 'Doesn't burn very well, but I still be burning it!'

He continued to rap: 'Ballin' isn't about money, it's a mother f**king attitude. How I be broke and hopping out in BMWs in Hollywood.

'How I be broke and dating models, how I be broke and burning fat stacks, no cap - that's facts!'

He also boasted about his active sex life, adding: 'I be broke and f**king' your b**ch, how's that?'

When one of Jesse's followers suggested that could have donated the money to a good cause, he responded: 'Trust me, charity don't want that money.'

He added, 'I stopped donating to charity after I lost my fortune to KONY in 2012,' referring to the controversial viral campaign to topple war criminal Joseph Kony.

'Quite frankly I'm rich, b***h': In February, Jesse hit back at social media critics who claimed that his obnoxious display of wealth was simply because of his father's fortune

In February, Jesse hit back at social media critics who claimed that his obnoxious display of wealth was simply because of his father's fortune.

He revealed that he had, in fact, made a tidy sum purchasing Bitcoin shares and had even gifted his father a BMW X3, which is worth approximately $68,900 in Australia.

Jesse explained on Instagram how Bitcoin success enabled to finance his lifestyle, which includes a fleet of vehicles and a pricey new apartment with gold furnishings.

'Quite frankly, I'm rich b***h. I've been thinking of legally changing my name to Lil' Bitcoin,' he said at the time.

Proud dad! Jesse revealed that he had, in fact, made a tidy sum purchasing Bitcoin shares and had even gifted his father a BMW X3, which is worth approximately $68,900 in Australia

The Willesee family legacy is well-known, with Jesse's uncle Mike Willesee, 75, creating Channel Nine's A Current Affair and helping launch Paul Hogan's career.

Mike's younger brother and Jesse's father Terry, 72, first moved to America in 1992 to anchor A Current Affair Extra, returning to Australia three years later.

Their late father Don Willesee was a longtime member of the Australian senate and Whitlam Government minister.

Raised in the affluent Northern Beaches enclave of Avalon, Jesse Willesee has now adopted the moniker 'Jesse Sunset' in an attempt to launch his career in rap music.
Thousands of Canberrans have marked Australia's first Reconciliation Day public holiday with events across the ACT.

Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it provided an opportunity to learn more about Aboriginal history and culture, and reflect on the importance of reconciliation and "the contribution each of us can make".

"Bringing Canberrans together each year to celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and better understand the history of our country and region is a practical step we can take to continue the reconciliation journey," he told AAP on Monday.

Mr Barr said it was a matter for other states and territories whether they wanted to follow the ACT's lead.

Dr Chris Bourke, co-chair of the ACT Reconciliation Day Council, said reconciliation was about a "better Australia, free of racism and injustice".

The federal government is spending $3.6 million on 400 events across the country as part of National Reconciliation Week.

"(It's) time to acknowledge and reflect on the contribution First Australians have made to the nation we are today," indigenous affairs minister Nigel Scullion said.
Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews is visiting China to meet with potential investors amid what he says is a deteriorating relationship between Canberra and Beijing.

The premier leaves for China on Tuesday night to spruik infrastructure projects and build trust, and he said recent friction involving the federal government meant the relationship between the two nations is "not very good at the moment".

"The notion of respect and the notion of value is very important in this particular partnership, if it's just about commodities, if it's just about trade, that is a limited relationship - it's got to be about trust and respect," he told ABC radio.
Treasury boss John Fraser is confident the strength being seen in the global and Australian economies is sustainable.

Mr Fraser told a Senate estimates hearing that global growth has picked up to its fastest pace since 2011 and strong momentum has been observed across most advanced economies, being better synchronised than has been seen for some time.

"This cannot be guaranteed and there may be twists and turns but the direction is very encouraging," Mr Fraser said in his opening address to the committee.
A Gold Coast grandmother is seeking compensation amid claims her 12-year-old grandson was mistakenly given alcohol on a Jetstar flight to Bali.

The woman, named by The Courier-Mail as Debra Pettigrove, and the boy were flying from Brisbane to Denpasar six months ago when he told her his drink "tastes yuck".

Ms Pettigrove's grandson has plant allergies and she says he reacted to the drink with hay fever, watering eyes, sneezing and headache.

Shine Lawyers are representing Ms Pettigrove.

In a brief given to AAP by the firm, it's claimed Ms Pettigrove wants Jetstar to "at least offer a full trip somewhere to supplement such a horrific experience".

Jetstar have already offered Ms Pettigrove and her family $400 in flight vouchers as compensation.

The airline says the mixer mix-up happened when similar-looking drinks from an adult customer and the boy were taken to the galley during turbulence to prevent spillage.

When the drinks were returned the adult passenger was asked to taste and confirm if he'd been given the correct drink.

After confirming that he had the right drink, the other beverage was given to the boy, who was then served a new drink after cabin crew were informed of the mix-up.

"We are in contact with a family after a mix-up of drinks occurred on a flight six months ago which resulted in a child having a few sips of an adult customer's drink," a Jetstar spokesperson told AAP.

"There was never any mention of the boy feeling unwell on the flight so we're surprised by the claims now being made by Ms Pettigrove and her lawyers."

Shine Lawyers say no statement of claim has been filed at this stage and no court proceedings have commenced on the matter.
Lionel John Patea will be sentenced for murder for a second time on Tuesday after he admitted killing Gold Coast father Greg Dufty.

Patea, his brother Nelson Andrae Patea and Aaron John Crawford were expected to go on trial for the 2015 killing this week.

But the trio appeared in the Brisbane Supreme Court on Monday where Lionel Patea pleaded guilty to murder.

Nelson Patea pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter, while Crawford also admitted to unlawful killing and another count of interfering with a corpse.

Mr Dufty, a father-of-two, was last seen in early July 2015 but his body has never been found.

During the sentencing for Liam Rawhiti Bliss and Clinton Lee Earl Stockman, who also pleaded guilty to the 37-year-old's manslaughter in February, it was revealed he was bashed unconscious after he stole cannabis.

When he couldn't be woken, his body was incinerated at a property near Casino in northern NSW.

Lionel Patea admitted killing his former partner Tara Brown on the opening day of his trial in February 2017.
The Defence Department has declined to disclose how much its former minister David Johnston is being paid to sell Australian military exports.

Mr Johnston was appointed the first defence export advocate in April and Defence officials told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday they cannot reveal his pay cheque because of "commercial in confidence" reasons.

Mr Johnston has a one-year contract which can be extended, but the position is part-time.

Officials said his domestic and overseas travel is approved as required.

The hearing was told he had access to an office in Canberra, but no office in his home city of Perth.

Mr Johnston in 2014 famously declared he wouldn't trust the government-owned shipbuilder ASC to build a canoe.

He was swiftly ousted from the defence minister role and then lost his seat in the Senate.

The Turnbull government wants to make the country a top-10 global arms exporter in the next decade.

Australia is now ranked 19th in global defence industry exports and its market is valued between $1.5 billion and $2.5 billion a year.
Gold Coast deputy mayor Donna Gates will reportedly step down from the city council's planning committee on Tuesday, following local government reforms in Queensland.

Cr Gates will resign from the committee at a full council meeting on Tuesday afternoon after the new rules banning political donations from property developers were implemented earlier this month, the Nine Network reports

She has faced claims that her decisions on matters relating to donors have been compromised, after she received over $170,000 in donations before the last council election in 2016.

AAP has sought comment from Cr Gates.
A federal government report into the death of a teenager on a work for the dole site more than two years ago will not be released until the matter is resolved in a Queensland court.

Josh Park-Fing, 18, died from a head injury in April 2016 when he fell from a trailer at the Toowoomba Showgrounds in April.

But the government isn't releasing details of an internal review until a magistrate rules on the case.

Jobs department officials told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday provider Neato Employment was still being used by the government, but had been "limited" from running work for the dole programs.

The department's Martin Hehir said penalties had been imposed on the company.

"We've also retained the right to undertake or impose further penalties depending on the outcome of the Toowoomba Magistrates Court," Mr Hehir said.

Jobs Minister Michaelia Cash expressed sympathy for Mr Park-Fing's family, but said it was a matter for the Queensland government and the court.

Greens senator Lee Rhiannon asked Senator Cash if the delay was acceptable.

"Are you seriously saying you haven't considered any way that such a delay could be avoided in the future?" Senator Rhiannon said.

The minister said once legal proceedings finished, the report would be released, but in the meantime the government was determined not to prejudice the case.

Since the death, no new projects have been given to the Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland and the Toowoomba Showgrounds program was ended.

One of the cases over the death is due back in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on June 22.
Syria has recognized the Republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

May 29, 2018, 14:28 Syria recognizes South Ossetia and Abkhazia

STEPANAKERT, MAY 29, ARTSAKHPRESS:The Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of South Ossetia have agreed on mutual recognition and on establishing diplomatic relations, according to the South Ossetian Foreign Ministry, TASS reports.



The Republic of South Ossetia and the Syrian Arab Republic declare mutual recognition and the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the level of embassies from the date this communique is published," the document says according to TASS.

President of the Republic of Abkhazia Raul Khadzhimba delivered a speech on the occasion of the mutual recognition.

On May 29, 2018, the Republic of Abkhazia and the Syrian Arab Republic declared mutual recognition and the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two states at the level of the Embassies which reflects their common intention to develop these relations in all spheres.

This event was preceded by great work of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Abkhazia, the Embassy of the Republic of Abkhazia in the Russian Federation and other institutions of the Republic of Abkhazia. Mutual visits of Abkhazian and Syrian officials took place and close ties were established.

The day before, on May 28, a tripartite meeting of the Ambassadors of the Republic of Abkhazia, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Republic of South Ossetia in the Russian Federation took place, in the course of which the Ambassadors agreed on the text and the release date of the communique and exchanged relevant notes.

We highly value this step of the leadership of the Syrian Arab Republic and we are confident that our relations will be developing in the spirit of mutual respect and cooperation. I am certain that in the near future, peace will come to the Syrian land and that its people will start a peaceful life, he said, according to his website.
Labor denies a former minister now heading a research institute with ties to Beijing is directing senators to ask questions in Senate committees.

Former foreign affairs minister Bob Carr reportedly funnelled questions to Labor senator Kristina Keneally regarding an adviser to a clandestine report on China.

"Senator Keneally asked the questions, she wrote the questions," Labor frontbencher Brendan O'Connor told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

"They were absolutely relevant to Senate estimates."

Fairfax and ABC reports claim Mr Carr sought employment details of John Garnaut, tasked in 2016 to inquire with ASIO into Chinese influence in Australia.

Mr Carr is the director of the Australia-China Relations Institute, billed as the first Australian think tank devoted to exclusively studying the relationship.

While Mr Carr denied the reports, he released a statement describing Mr Garnaut as leading "recent anti-China panic in the Australian media".

"Fuelling a campaign against a friendly foreign country is incompatible with an advisory and speech writing role on the Prime Minister's staff."

Reports claim Mr Carr suggested Senator Keneally ask the questions. But it was Labor senator Kimberley Kitching who asked them in Senate estimates last week.

Widespread reports of a diplomatic chill in the relations have seen both Chinese media and officials criticise Australian policy.

Beijing is reportedly rankled by proposed foreign interference legislation, which politicians are examining in two parliamentary committees.

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek refused to speculate on reports regarding Mr Carr but Labor was prepared to work with the government on the changes.

"Our concern is that the government has seemingly mishandled some of the drafting of these laws," Mr Plibersek told reporters.

"That criticism isn't just a Labor criticism, it looks like there is widespread criticism about the unworkability of some of the laws we are talking about."
Tasmania's environmental watchdog has slashed the maximum amount of salmon and trout allowed to be farmed in Macquarie Harbour, revealing more than a million fish died there in half a year.

The picturesque harbour on the state's west coast has for years suffered environmental damage and mass fish deaths due to overstocking.

The Environment Protection Authority on Tuesday cut the harbour's fish stock limit from 12,000 tonnes to 9500 tonnes for the next two years.

Director Wes Ford told ABC radio that 1.35 million fish died due to an endemic virus over a six month period from October last year.
The same offender is responsible for three unsolved murders committed in South Australia over a 13-year period, the head of the Major Crime Investigation Branch has revealed.

The murders of Beverley Hanley in 2010, Phyllis Harrison in 1998 and Stephen Newton, whose badly decomposed body was found in 2011, have been the subject of Task Force Resolute, established after fresh forensic evidence was uncovered.

"We now have proof that the same offender is responsible for all three deaths," Detective Superintendent Des Bray said on Tuesday.
A 20-year-old woman has been charged with dangerous driving after a collision which killed a "devoted family man" in Sydney's west.

The man, 51, died after his Mercedes crashed with the Lexus carrying two women in South Granville on Monday night.

The 20-year-old driver and her 22-year-old passenger suffered minor injuries and were taken to Westmead Hospital.

The driver has since being charged with dangerous driving occasioning death, and was refused bail to appear at Parramatta Local Court on Tuesday.

The 51-year-old has been described as a "good devoted family man", the Seven Network reported.
The Defence Department insists it has "high and extreme risks" related to shipbuilding under control and will adjust project costs along the way.

The Auditor-General released a scathing report of the $89 billion shipbuilding plan earlier this month, which called for Defence to double check its maths on costs. The department insists that's unnecessary.

The audit report said the tight time frame on building Australia's nine new Navy frigates had the potential for "severe reputational damage" to the government and Defence.

Defence department official Kim Gillis hit out at "outlandish" media reporting of the audit.

He maintained in early 2016 Defence had identified some aspects of the frigate building program were of high to extreme risk but mitigation efforts were in place to make this more manageable.

"This was our statement that the audit office was reporting, it wasn't the audit office's assessment," defence official Kim Gillis told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday.

He said there would be a prototype of the frigate in 2020 as part of risk mitigation.

Mr Gillis denied there would be a cost blowout to the Offshore Patrol Vessels contract because it was a "fixed price" project and that it knows ongoing sustainment costs.

He said some parts of the audit report were "out of date".

Twelve new submarines, nine frigates and two new offshore patrol vessels are set to be constructed in Adelaide, while Perth will host the building of 10 offshore patrol boats and 19 Pacific patrol boats.

Labor senator Kim Carr said the audit report was "unprecedented" in its strong language.

Mr Gillis disagreed, saying it was "relatively positive".

Vice Chief of the Defence Force Ray Griggs said there would always be adjustments to shipbuilding project costs.

"As we learn more about each of these projects... these adjustments will need to be made," Vice Admiral Griggs said.

"There has not been a budget shortfall."

The audit report found a slated Naval Shipbuilding College for South Australia had blown out by 2.5 times the original cost estimate of $25 million.
Developers who block arterial roads in inner Melbourne will be charged thousands of dollars under a new trial starting on Friday.

The three-month trial means private developers who occupy arterial roads in the city of Yarra will incurr charges from $1200 to $1865, per lane, per week, depending on the level of traffic disruption.

"Drivers know how frustrating it is when construction clogs up road space, shutting lanes and causing bottlenecks across important routes - this trial will encourage them off the road, where possible, to keep traffic moving," Roads Minister Luke Donnellan said on Tuesday.
A Wollongong man is in hospital after he was slashed with a machete and then ran through a glass door to escape his attackers.

It's alleged two men wearing balaclavas broke into his house at Figtree in the early hours of Tuesday and cut the 36-year-old's back.

The man fled through a neighbour's front glass door and suffered more cuts to his hands, arms and legs, police say.

The victim was taken to Wollongong Hospital for multiple lacerations and a punctured lung. His injuries aren't considered life-threatening.

The alleged offenders were last seen running north along the Princes Highway.
Two family pets are back on their paws after being rescued from a Queensland house fire and resuscitated by quick-thinking paramedics.

Seven-month-old cattle dog Holden and Chip the kitten were drowsy and smoke-affected when they were pulled from a burning two-storey duplex at Pimpama on the northern Gold Coast on Monday afternoon.

Luckily, paramedic Jennie Chesters is a former veterinarian and she used her previous expertise to help save the tiny critters.

Ms Chesters and her partner Shelly Pringle gave their furry patients oxygen for an hour before the animals were well enough to be taken to a nearby vet clinic for further treatment and observation.

No humans were injured in the blaze, which is now being investigated by police.
The federal opposition has accused the Turnbull government of "completely politicising" the Department of Treasury by getting it to cost Labor policies and then leaking the findings.

Treasury officials were quizzed during a Senate estimates hearing whether they had been requested to cost changes to negative gearing, the capital gains tax and dividend imputation, all Labor policies that were rejected outright by the government.

"Treasury costs what the government asks us to cost," deputy secretary of Treasury's revenue group Maryanne Mrakovcic told the hearing on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann said it would have been "nonsensical" for the government not to act.

"It was in the public interest for the public to know what the negative impact would be of $220 billion of higher taxes for the economy," Senator Cormann told the hearing.

Labor senator Jenny McAllister argued this was a "complete politicisation of Treasury".

"So you think we should not be aware of what the impact would be for the economy, families and jobs in relation to policies you say should be adopted?" Senator Cormann responded.

Treasury secretary John Fraser said it was no different to what he experienced when he was with the department in the 1980s.
The family of a man critically injured after being overcome by gas at a NSW paper mill is trying to stay positive as he clings to life in hospital.

Thomas Johnson, 22, remains in a critical condition at Albury Base Hospital, five days after the gas leak which killed his two colleagues at Norske Skog mill at Ettamogah, north of Albury.

In a statement issued through the hospital, Mr Johnson's family said the 22-year-old remained on life support but was "trending in the right direction".

"We are hoping for a positive outcome, however, we are acutely aware that this is a very rare condition and that things can change very rapidly," the family said.

Lyndon Quinlivan, 35, and Ben Pascall, 28, died in the hours after the incident on Thursday, which forced the evacuation of 150 workers and resulted in dozens being taken to hospital.

SafeWork NSW inspectors are still at the scene as they try to determine the cause of the incident, a spokesman told AAP in a statement on Tuesday.

Initial investigations indicate the men were exposed to hydrogen sulfide - a colourless, extremely hazardous gas with a 'rotten egg' smell.
The status of Artsakh and the security guarantees are priority for Armenia and the negotiation process, Armenian Foreign Minister Zohrab Mnatsakanyan said during a meeting with EU Special Representative on South Caucasus Toivo Klaar.

May 29, 2018, 15:38 Armenia FM: Azerbaijan's militaristic rhetoric should be suppressed

STEPANAKERT, MAY 29, ARTSAKHPRESS:Speaking about the statements from Baku, he said Armenia is ready to continue the settlement of the Karabakh conflict exclusively by peaceful means within the framework of the OSCE Minsk Group, News.am reports.

Minister Mnatsakanyan underscored the need for an atmosphere of trust that is promoting peace and stated that Azerbaijan's rhetoric has a negative impact and should be suppressed.
Denying compensation for convicted criminals who were sexually abused as children would be a fundamental denial of justice, a federal Labor MP says.

The ability for serious convicted criminals to be excluded from the national redress scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse was a flaw in legislation, Richard Marles told parliament on Tuesday.

Abuse survivors are over-represented in prisons and a significant number of people would be prevented from gaining compensation through the scheme because they are people with significant criminal records.

"It denies a fundamental justice to people who started their life with profound bad luck," he said.

People who have served five or more years in prison can only be considered eligible for the scheme if providing compensation would not bring the scheme into disrepute.

Ballarat Labor MP Catherine King said she understood some people had "committed unforgivable crimes".

"The later decisions and crimes of these survivors do nothing to negate the abuse that they as innocent children suffered," she said.

"This childhood trauma may have been a significant cause that led to later crimes - this bill seeks to potentially deny them that justice of redress."

It was an issue also highlighted by a Senate committee examining the legislation.

They recommended the government consider the value of redress as a tool for rehabilitating offenders, noting that excluding criminal offenders could also have the unintended consequence of institutions not being held liable.

Social Services Minister Dan Tehan announced the government had agreed or given in principle agreement to all 11 of the committee's recommendations.

Key recommendations included:

* Doubling the acceptance period for redress offers from three months to six months.

* Consideration of mechanisms for ongoing counselling for survivors.

* Consideration of reducing the two-year deadline for institutions to opt in, and to encourage greater participation in the scheme.

NSW, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania, the ACT, South Australia, the NT and the commonwealth have committed to the scheme.
Queensland Deputy Premier Jackie Trad has formally requested Labor colleague Jo-Ann Miller be referred to the parliamentary ethics committee for misleading parliament.

It follows Ms Miller accusing Ms Trad in parliament of ignoring "hundreds of complaints" about corruption at Ipswich City Council, which turned out to be just three complaints, all of which were referred to the corruption watchdog.

Ms Trad has already sought to have Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington, Deputy Leader Tim Mander and education spokesman Jarrod Bleijie referred to the ethics committee for making similar claims at the time.
A driver in a car loaded with barrels of marijuana waved a knife at officers as he fled down a dead-end dirt road on the NSW South Coast, police say.

Officers were conducting mobile speed checks along the Princes Highway near the rural village of Quaama when the man passed them.

They attempted to speak him but he sped off, NSW Police said in a post on Facebook on Monday.

As the officers attempted to catch up, the driver allegedly performed a U-turn and drove back toward their car while waving a knife.

A pursuit continued with the driver reaching speeds of 160km/h, and at one point going through a 50km/h zone at 130km/h.

The driver hit a dirt road and the dust forced police to call off the pursuit.

"The dirt road had one entry and exit so Police apprehended the driver further along the dirt road," the post said.

"Good work by Narooma Police at the other end."

The Cobargo man, aged in his 30s, was arrested and a search of the vehicle allegedly uncovered 11.3 kilograms of cannabis in blue plastic kegs.

Cash, a half-case of Jack Daniels, a computer and other tins of cannabis were also seized.

"If only he was obeying the speed limit," the post reads, noting the man was charged with "numerous offences".
Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack is holding out hope Malaysia Airlines flight 370 may one day be found, as a search for the plane draws to a close.

A search of the seabed in the remote Indian Ocean where the aircraft is believed to have crashed ends on Tuesday, after two extensions of the original 90-day time limit.

Mr McCormack said all Australians were feeling for the loved ones of those on the ill-fated flight, after a four-year search costing more than $200 million failed to find the wreckage.

"It's very sad for the families and relatives of the 239 people on board, particularly the seven Australians," he told Sky News.

The Boeing 777 vanished in March 2014 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Mr McCormack, who serves as federal transport minister, acknowledged fresh searches may one day be launched if new technologies emerge.

"But it looks as though this will remain a mystery for the time being," he said.

Mr McCormack doubts Australia will take part in any new search efforts "at this stage".

"We've got to remember the actual plane is about 60 metres long - that's about four times less than the Titanic - which they took more than 70 years to find knowing exactly the co-ordinates of where it went down," he said.

"This is a very deep ocean, this is a large aircraft admittedly, but not that large that it was obviously easily detectable."

Mr McCormack defended the early efforts of Australian investigators, saying they were covering a massive search area based on patchy information.

"With the information they had at the time, albeit scant, they did their very best efforts."

The minister also addressed claims the Australian Transport Safety Bureau had ignored a theory in which the pilot flew the plane to the end.

"Without the black box flight recorders and all those other things, it's so difficult to know exactly what happened in the cockpit towards the end," Mr McCormack said.

"Of course, if they had the black box flight recorders they'd have the plane, but this will remain a mystery."

Malaysia signed a "no find, no fee" deal with a US company in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search by Australia, Malaysia and China was called off.

No other search is scheduled.

Australia, Malaysia and China agreed in 2016 an official search would only resume if the three countries had credible evidence that identified a specific location for the wreckage.
QUESTION TIME IN FEDERAL PARLIAMENT:

WHAT WE LEARNED

* About $6 billion will be returned to workers when they are reunited with lost super accounts.

WHAT THE GOVERNMENT WANTED TO SPIN

Government reforms to superannuation are ensuring workers recover lost money and and protect the system into the future.

WHAT LABOR WANTED TO TALK ABOUT

The government is rewarding dodgy businesses who steal the retirement savings of workers.

THEY SAID WHAT

"Why is it always one rule for business and another rule for everyone else under this government?" - Labor leader Bill Shorten.

"One of the ironies of politics today is that we have this former union leader ... who will not put workers first." - Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Shorten.

"Senator Steve Martin (is) a new voice for Tasmania in the government." - Nationals leader praises his new party room colleague, whom he also described as a "Tasmanian tiger".

TWEETED

@andrewjgiles Anyone told McCormack that the Tasmanian tiger is extinct yet? #qt #AskingForAFriend
Cronulla star Wade Graham will contest a dangerous contact for a crusher tackle at the NRL judiciary on Tuesday night.

Graham was charged for the tackle on Newcastle's Kalyn Ponga in the Sharks' thumping of the Knights on Sunday, which would have seen him miss Friday's clash with South Sydney.

Graham's inclusion would be a massive bonus for Cronulla, given Souths are without four State of Origin stars and the Sharks will only lose Valentine Holmes to the representative arena.

They will still have Luke Lewis at their disposal, after the fellow Sharks back-rower copped an early guilty plea for his dangerous contact charge for a similar tackle on Ponga - allowing him to avoid suspension.

Cronulla have won six straight and look set to launch an attack on the top of the NRL ladder through the State of Origin period.

Meanwhile Newcastle prop Herman Ese'ese will miss Saturday's clash with Parramatta after entering an early guilty plea for a high tackle.

He will miss just the one match for the offence.

North Queensland's Matt Scott will join Graham via video link at the judiciary on Tuesday night, after he'd earlier elected to fight his one-game ban for a shoulder charge on Monday.
A family murdered by a grandfather who then took his own life at a rural West Australian property have been remembered as "beautiful angels" and "special friends" ahead of their funerals.

Peter Miles, 61, his 58-year-old wife Cynda, their daughter Katrina, 35, and her four children - daughter Taye, 13, and sons Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, eight - were found dead at Forever Dreaming Farm in Osmington on May 11.

Mourners will farewell the family in two separate funeral services at the Crematorium Chapel in Bunbury on Wednesday.

Tributes have been posted on the funeral company's website by mourners from all over the world.

Mary and Bob Elton and family said: "We will always treasure our friendship of 30 years with Peter and Cynda and family."

Diana Lokken and Jay Jennings wrote they were saddened to hear of the sudden loss.

"We had so enjoyed the lovely breakfast at the farm and chatting with all your family during our visit to Australia," they said.

"May time and the memories of happier days give you strength to overcome your sorrow."

Phil and Debbie, who did not give their surnames, said they were thankful for many happy family holidays at the farm.

"Seeing our children grow and grandchildren arrive, through the happy times and through the sad times, you've always been special friends."

Three guns licensed to Mr Miles were found at the hobby farm and the family all suffered gunshot wounds.

Detectives and forensic officers spent days scouring the 11 hectare property, about 20km from the tourist hub of Margret River.

The investigation into what led to the multiple murders and suicide is continuing, and the coroner will eventually hold an inquest.

Friends have told AAP Mr Miles "couldn't look after his family" and felt a "sense of failure".

He was facing financial problems and looking for work, offering farm maintenance and even welcoming small jobs.

He was battling mental illness and there were reports he had been taking antidepressants.

The children's father Aaron Cockman previously said he believed Mr Miles had planned the murder-suicide because he'd been told the siblings, all of whom were on the autism spectrum, were in their beds and appeared peaceful.

Mr Cockman said Mr Miles, whose son died years ago, could not bear the thought of losing his other son Neil, who is gravely ill with a kidney illness.

1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)

Lifeline 13 11 14
Amid icy China-Australia relations, Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop have been urged to jump on the Weibo bandwagon - China's equivalent to Twitter.

Foreign embassies have been self-censoring and are failing to speak up when content is censored on Weibo, a new report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute says.

Between November 2017 and January, the US embassy's Weibo account was censored by the social media giant 28 times, including six cases of deleted posts and 15 times comments on posts were disabled immediately.

The Australian embassy's Weibo account was censored three times in three months, for mentioning China's President Xi Jinping.

"Whether this lack of censorship reflects savvy account management, the (Chinese Communist Party) disinterest in the embassy Weibo account or self-censorship by the Australian government is the important question," the report by Fergus Ryan says.

Mr Ryan said in Australia's case, the lack of transparency and cycle of self-censorship sits oddly with the description of a country as "a determined advocate of liberal institutions, universal values and human rights" in the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper.

The report urges the Turnbull government to set up accounts for the prime minister and foreign minister and commit to publishing transparency reports about the extent legitimate public diplomacy efforts are being curtailed in China.

It suggests embassies should cross-post all of their content on Twitter so that audiences are both aware of any incidences of censorship and have alternative avenues to access full content.

The report said Israel had ploughed resources into a Weibo presence in the last three years and now had the most followers of any foreign embassy.

Israel has close to two million followers while Australia is ranked 10th with more than 205,000.

However, Japan, the US and UK had the most popular posts.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd is a Weibo user and has used the platform to criticise Mr Turnbull for derailing Canberra's ties with Beijing.

Relations with China have soured in the past year and Beijing is especially cranky about Australia's foreign interference laws.

No Australian minister had visited the Chinese mainland for eight months until Trade Minister Steve Ciobo broke the drought last week.
Businesses who "robbed workers" of their superannuation are being rewarded with an amnesty allowing them to pay it back, Labor says.

The Turnbull government brought in laws last week allowing employers to pay back superannuation with interest, but without the required late fees.

Financial Services Minister Kelly O'Dwyer said if employers don't pay what they owe under the amnesty, they will be slammed with even higher penalties.

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull told parliament on Tuesday the scheme is designed "to recover more money for more workers."

But Labor used question time to claim the program rewards companies which haven't paid superannuation.

"It is now government policy to reward dodgy businesses who have robbed workers by failing to pay their superannuation for more than 25 years," shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said in parliament on Tuesday.

Mr Bowen said businesses are not only having the penalties waived, but the government's budget this month is also giving them tax deductions.

But Ms O'Dwyer said the amnesty was set up to ensure employers "make good every single dollar that they owe their workers".

"We're doing this because we actually care about the superannuation entitlements of every single worker," she said.

The Australian Tax Office estimates that in 2014/15, around $2.85 billion in guaranteed superannuation payments went unpaid.
Greg Inglis admitted he cried after Maroons skipper Kevin Walters told him he would take over from retired captain Cameron Smith in June 6's State of Origin opener.

Twelve months earlier, Inglis was also close to tears - for very different reasons.

After breaking down with a season ending knee injury, the South Sydney star shocked the NRL when he checked into a rehabilitation facility to battle depression.

But Inglis believed the hardships he faced last year had helped shape him into a worthy successor for 42-Origin veteran Smith.

Inglis, 31, will be Queensland's 13th captain and only third indigenous Maroons leader.

"If I had not gone through what I have I wouldn't be here today," Inglis told a packed press conference on Tuesday while flanked by Walters.

"I learned a lot about myself.

"If I did not recognise that earlier I don't know where I would be.

"I don't see it as a lowlight. I see it as a highlight. I wouldn't have learned who I really was."

Inglis' ability to overcome hardship will come in handy as Maroons captain after Queensland copped another blow on Tuesday when Billy Slater announced the 2018 Origin series would be his last.

Slater, 34, will walk away after the series to join fellow Maroons legends Smith, Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston in representative retirement.

Inglis now takes over a Maroons team that has lost a total of 150 Origin games' experience after prop Matt Scott and veteran back Darius Boyd were also overlooked for Origin I.

But Inglis was unsurprisingly unfazed.

"It (Slater's announcement) doesn't change it (mindset) a hell of a lot. We always think team first," he said.

"We know what we have to do, we know what Origin is about.

"But it's great he is going out on his terms. He's been a role model to myself and the other guys."

For Walters, it's 30-Origin veteran Inglis who'll Queensland will look to for inspiration after exorcising his 2017 demons.

"He has been through some tough times but like the true champion he is he has come out the other side," Walters said.

"I just think he is ready to lead this Queensland team into battle."

While Inglis provided a stoic front on Tuesday the rampaging centre admitted he wasn't so composed when Walters told him he would be captain.

"When I got the phone call from Kev I was a bit shocked to be honest," he said.

"After I got off the phone there was a lump in my throat, tears started rolling down my eyes - I was quite emotional.

"I never thought in my wildest dreams I would captain Queensland.

"I am still learning how to be a leader but I will just be myself and lead on the field."

Asked if he was ready to lead the Maroons, Inglis said ominously: "Most definitely".

Meanwhile, Queensland will ease halfback Ben Hunt (thigh), lock Josh McGuire (ankle) and Slater (hamstring) through training with their first official session on Tuesday.
Students of the Yerevan State University (YSU) have formed an initiative named Restart and staged a protest on Tuesday morning, demanding the resignation of the University rector. The students walked out of the classes and marched through the streets. The protesters claim about financial abuses and corruption schemes in the University. They also say the University is politicized.

May 29, 2018, 15:53 YSU students demand rectors resignation

STEPANAKERT, MAY 29, ARTSAKHPRESS:As of 13:00, Rector Aram Simonyan is holding an open discussion with the protesting students.
Matt Wilkinson has found form in Bali, notching an important win to secure a third round berth as he attempts to kickstart his World Surf League campaign.

Apart from a ninth place at Bells Beach, Wilkinson has struggled to make a dent on tour this year and arrived at Keramas ranked a lowly 28th.

But he found form on Tuesday, scoring 7.17 and 7.77-point waves to easily beat France's Joan Duru in one of the few heats on another quiet day of competition.

Brazilian Tomas Hermes bumped out fellow Australian and former WSL rookie of year Connor O'Leary by less than two points in the day's final duel.

Hawaiian Ezekiel Lau had the wave of the day, showcasing his power with an aggressive layback on his way to an 8.40-point ride that consolidated his place in the third round.

New South Wales product Wilkinson joins series leader Julian Wilson as well as Joel Parkinson, Adrian Buchan and Wright brothers Mikey and Owen as one of six Australians in the final 24.

In-form wildcard Mikey, still just 21, will meet Wilson in heat six while Hawaii's world champion John John Florence faces Brazil's Jesse Mendes in the first heat.

The women's program is yet to begin, with six-time world champion Stephanie Gilmore boasting a healthy series lead thanks to wins in two of the four events this season.
The human rights activist son of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr has criticised Australia over its treatment Aboriginal people, saying he is disappointed in the lack of progress since his last visit 20 years ago.

Martin Luther King III highlighted the poverty and disadvantage many Aboriginals endure, citing the controversial Whitegate/Irrkerlantye community town camp at Alice Springs that has no water or reliable power.

He said it was not a good look that the dominant central building in Alice Springs was the Supreme Court and Australia's First Nations people were locked up more than those of any other nation on Earth.

Youth crime and alcohol abuse are major problems in the town.

"When I went to Whitegate I was told that they have no water, the water has been turned off," Mr King said at a Reconciliation Week event in Alice Springs, hosted by the local Arrente Nation.

"I just want to ask how do you justify mistreating human beings who really were here first, before anyone?

"I don't know why any of us can stand here today and feel good about ... the mistreatment of human beings on a consistent basis."

Mr King visited Whitegate with traditional owner Felicity Hayes, whose family were granted native title on what is their ancestral land in the 1970s.

However it is not formally recognised as one of Alice Springs' town camps, the water was cut off several years ago by the Northern Territory government and it is not provided with basic services.

He says the Australian government has the resources and ability to work in partnership with Aboriginal communities but chooses not to.

"That is wrong, that's unjust, that's unfair, that's ungodly."

Mr King said something significant had to happen before Australia, which had much beauty and "phenomenal people", could begin the process of reconciliation and become more humane and just.

Aboriginal groups this week marked the first anniversary of the Uluru Statement, calling for Aboriginal people to be guaranteed a constitutional "voice" in parliament, which was rejected by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

"Just as we in the United States must find a way to engage in unity because division will create a failed nation, but unity will create a great nation," Mr King said.

He quoted his father during what was also a positive speech designed to inspire local indigenous and non-indigenous children.

"My father said even in life, if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper well go on and sweep streets like Michaelangelo carved marble ... do your job well, whatever you are, be the best of what you are," he said.
A NSW woman who laced her de facto partner's dinner with pills to "stupefy" him so her significantly older lover could then kill him has had almost three years cut off her sentence.

Sarah Renea Tarrant, 29, was previously found guilty of the manslaughter of Alois Rez in Dubbo in 2013 and sentenced to 10 years and eight months in jail with a non-parole period of eight years.

The jury had cleared her of the more serious charge of murder on the basis of substantial mental impairment.

Her widowed lover Raymond Roff, then 51, was separately sentenced for murder after Tarrant gave evidence at his trial that she had put sleeping tablets in Mr Rez's mashed potato before facilitating the killing.

The 33-year-old's body has never been found.

The NSW Criminal Court of Appeal in February ruled a new sentence be imposed after Tarrant argued the sentencing judge's conduct gave rise to a reasonable apprehension of bias against her.

In the NSW Supreme Court on Tuesday, Justice Peter Johnson sentenced Tarrant to eight years in jail with a non-parole period of five years. He noted her early offer to plead guilty to manslaughter and her assistance to authorities, including a letter she wrote to Roff asking where he had dumped Mr Rez's body.

"Her offence is of a very grave kind, but is to be understood in the unusual and extreme circumstances which then existed in her life," Justice Johnson said.

Tarrant's sentence was backdated and she will be eligible for parole in November 2020.

Tarrant was in Year 10 at school when she ran away from home to be with Mr Rez but their subsequent nine-year relationship was marred by violence. He also had soured links to the Rebels motorcycle gang, according to agreed facts.

She met Roff, 27 years her senior, through her de facto partner and their friendship "turned into a sexual and romantic affair" that remained a secret.

Text messages between them were recovered from a mobile phone Tarrant returned as faulty to Target Dubbo the day after Mr Rez disappeared. The texts included one saying she had seen him "stumbling" to the toilet after eating his dinner and one from Roff checking whether Mr Rez was in a deep sleep before he entered the home about 2am.

The judge said he was satisfied Tarrant had good prospects of rehabilitation but the planned nature of the killing, that the two decided Mr Rez "should go" so they could be together, meant general deterrence played a significant role on sentence.

"The law should not tolerate, to any extent, a person taking the law into their own hands to rid themselves of a tormentor," Justice Johnson said.
Today's Birthday, May 30: Australian politician Lee Rhiannon (1951 - ).

Australian Senator Lee Rhiannon's time in federal parliament is drawing to a close after being axed as the Greens' lead candidate for NSW at the next election.

The 67-year-old announced she will retire early from parliament, paving the way for colleague Mehreen Faruqi to take her seat in the upper house.

Senator Rhiannon will quit in mid-August, creating a casual vacancy to be filled by Ms Faruqui.

Ms Faruqi, a Greens MP in the NSW upper house, beat the incumbent senator in a November preselection battle for the No.1 spot on the ticket.

Her seat will be up for grabs in late 2018 or early 2019, given her three-year term at the 2016 double dissolution federal election.

Senator Rhiannon's preselection loss came after she was temporarily suspended from the Australian Greens party room in early 2017, sparking internal tensions and resignation calls.

In February, factional in-fighting erupted again when an email was circulated calling for NSW upper house MP Jeremy Buckingham's expulsion after he publicly accused Senator Rhiannon of opposing party reform.

She denied any role in the complaint.

Born in Sydney, NSW in 1951, Rhiannon grew up the only child of an extremely political family, the daughter of long-time Australian communist party members Bill and Freda Brown.

As a young girl, she was infatuated with horses and initially wanted to be a vet.

But the Vietnam War got her political blood boiling in 1968, the teenager and her classmates creating a high school group to protest against the conflict.

The 1969 Sydney Girls High School graduate became the first tertiary-educated member of her family, completing a University of New South Wales science honours degree in 1975.

Over the next 15 years, the go-getter and feminist worked as a botany and field ecology tutor, women's union official, freelance journalist, editor and environmental lecturer before entering politics.

She joined the Greens in 1990 and in 1999 won preselection for NSW parliament, sitting in the legislative council for more than a decade until resigning in 2010 to take a run at Canberra.

Since taking federal office in 2011, Rhiannon - a leader of the party's left faction - has become a prominent, yet polarising, party figure and presently holds housing, industry, democracy, gun control, local government and animal welfare portfolios.

Rhiannon married Pat O'Gorman in 1977 and the pair had three children before separating in the late 1980s.
Australia's lowest-paid workers would have more than $60 a week extra in their pockets under a Greens-backed union plan.

The minor party has unveiled its new industrial relations policy, which supports the Australian Council of Trade Unions' long-term target to make minimum wage 60 per cent of the median income.

The Greens will introduce legislation to phase in pay increases to meet the target as soon as possible.

"If trickle-down economics worked, we'd all be drenched by now. It's time for the government to put its hands back on the levers," Greens' employment spokesman Adam Bandt said.

"Working people need a living wage enshrined in law."

The median wage is $1261 a week, with 60 per cent of that figure $756, which would increase the minimum wage by almost $62.

The ACTU is pushing for an immediate $50-a-week pay increase when the industrial umpire makes its upcoming minimum wage ruling.

Employer groups have warned that figure would reduce the job security of low-paid workers and lower employment opportunities.
Former intelligence chief Dennis Richardson has been hand-picked to head the biggest overhaul of security laws in more than four decades.

The ex-ASIO boss will spend 18 months examining the mountain of national security and intelligence laws put in place in recent years.

"This will be the most comprehensive review of intelligence legislation in Australia since the royal commission on intelligence and security in the 1970s," Attorney-General Christian Porter said.

The coalition government has passed 10 tranches of laws to tackle the evolving threat of terrorism and an 11th tranche - modernising espionage offences and establishing new foreign interference offences - is before the parliament.

"The national security environment is constantly changing and it is essential that we ensure our agencies have the tools and framework they need to be effective and meet their core function - keeping Australians safe," Mr Porter said.

The review will consider the powers of agencies - such as ASIO, Home Affairs, Australian Federal Police, Austrac and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission - as well as protections and oversight.

Mr Richardson was director-general of ASIO from 1996 to 2005, secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2010-2012, Defence Department boss from 2012 to 2017 and Australia's ambassador to the United States.
Merging two courts could see an extra 8000 family law cases dealt with each year in a bid to cut blown-out waiting times and reduce trauma for families.

Families now wait for more than a year for trials in both the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court, with cases often bouncing back and forth between the two.

Attorney-General Christian Porter says the two courts will be merged, ending the red tape that sees complex trials drag out.

"This significant structural change is designed to dramatically increase the number of family law matters finalised each and every year," Mr Porter said on Wednesday.

It's aimed at chopping the backlog of unresolved cases, giving families shorter waiting times, and reducing prolonged and acrimonious family disputes.

"Families will have one new court with one set of new rules, procedures and practices designed to ensure that their disputes will be dealt with," Mr Porter said.

As many as 22,000 family law final order cases are filed each year across the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court, while the number of matters awaiting resolution has grown from 17,200 to 21,000.

The median time taken to reach trial has grown in both courts, now sitting at 15 months in the Federal Circuit Court and 17 months in the Family Court.

"Family break-up is a traumatic time for both parties and children as well as wider family," Mr Porter said.

"These reforms ... (have) the potential in time to allow up to an extra 8000 cases to be resolved each and every year."

The Federal Circuit Court already spends 85 per cent of its time hearing family disputes and is significantly more efficient than the Family Court.

The merger will see judges from the Family Court hear family law matters, while Federal Circuit Court judges will hear family and general matters.

Over time, all judges will hear both family and general cases.

The Law Council of Australia in early May argued for a single law court to handle family matters, under the same set of rules.

Almost 1200 families' cases are transferred between the two courts each year, some after having been in court for more than 11 months.

"This means those families must start the whole court process again in the other court with completely different rules, procedures and processes," Mr Porter said.

Legislation to implement the changes will be introduced later this year.
Daria Gavrilova breathed a sigh of relief after staging a tense fightback to break her French Open first-round jinx in Paris.

Without a win at Roland Garros since 2015, Gavrilova was staring down the barrel of another painful premature exit at the hands of Sorana Cirstea before rallying to a 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 win over the feisty Romanian.

Australia's 24th seed pulled herself together during a 45-minute rain delay.

Before that, Gavrilova appeared to be unravelling, receiving a code violation for racquet abuse after dropping serve for a fourth time to fall behind a set and 2-0.

"I battled the rain, my opponent, the nerves, so it's pretty nice to get through. I feel a little bit relieved," Gavrilova told AAP after booking a date with unseeded American Bernarda Pera for a place in the last 32 for the first time.

"Last time I won a round was three years ago and I actually battled an injury.

"So I feel like clay is my best surface and I did put a lot of pressure on myself and I didn't play great.

"It's nice to get through and I thought I was pretty tough out there mentally."

As well as overcoming the conditions and the scoreboard deficit, Gavrilova found it impossible to block out the distraction of her opponent's running battle with the chair umpire.

Time and time again, Cirstea was in dispute with the official.

"I actually have no idea why," Gavrilova said.

"I didnt know what she complained about. I was, like seriously, why is she complaining?

"I was curious myself. I didn't know."
Mourners will gather at two separate funeral services to farewell a family of seven killed in a murder-suicide at a rural property in Western Australia's south.

Peter Miles, 61, his 58-year-old wife Cynda, their daughter Katrina, 35, and her four children - daughter Taye, 13, and sons Rylan, 12, Arye, 10, and Kadyn, eight - were found dead at Forever Dreaming Farm in Osmington on May 11.

Three guns licensed to Mr Miles were found at the hobby farm and the family all suffered gunshot wounds.

A funeral service will be held at the Crematorium Chapel in Bunbury on Wednesday morning for Katrina and her children while another one will be held at the same location in the afternoon for the entire family.

Tributes posted on the funeral company's website included Diana Lokken and Jay Jennings, who said they were saddened to hear of the sudden loss.

"We had so enjoyed the lovely breakfast at the farm and chatting with all your family during our visit to Australia."

Phil and Debbie, who did not give their surnames, said they were thankful for many happy family holidays at the farm.

"Seeing our children grow and grandchildren arrive, through the happy times and through the sad times, you've always been special friends."

Police spent days scouring the 11 hectare property, about 20km from the tourist hub of Margret River, and the investigation is continuing.

Friends have told AAP Mr Miles "couldn't look after his family" and felt a "sense of failure".

He had financial problems, was battling mental illness and was reportedly taking antidepressants.

The children's father Aaron Cockman, who was embroiled in a bitter dispute with his estranged partner over access to their children, previously said he believed Mr Miles planned the murder-suicide.

Mr Cockman speculated that Mr Miles, whose son died years ago, could not bear the thought of losing his other son Neil, who has a serious kidney illness.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.
A defunct power station on Victoria's surf coast is set to go out with a bang as part of demolition works by aluminium giant Alcoa.

A 400-metre exclusion zone is in place around the Anglesea Power Station ahead of Wednesday's controlled explosion, with nearby residents told to expect to hear "claps of thunder" for between 10 and 20 seconds.

The power station and mine closed in 2015 before being subject to a 12-month asbestos removal program, Alcoa said.

Tight security will be in place for the big bang, expected to happen between 9am and 12pm.
The completed buildings gave a big boost to Mai High School, which lacked the required accommodation to cater for an increased the influx of students. No less than 26 singsing groups in traditional regalia sang and danced prior to the arrival of the distinguished guests at last Fridays opening ceremony attended by 2,500 people.

The money was allocated between three schools: Muaina Secondary and Bii Mai High receiving building funds of K4 million each while Ku High received K2 million.

Since the inception of the tax credit scheme, it has established impact projects in Southern Highlands and Hela but this was a first for Simbu. The project was conceived by Kerenga Kua MP and Oil Search advisor Willie Kupo.

KUNDIAWA  The Oil Search tax credit scheme has reached schools in the Sinesine-Yongomugl District of Simbu with a K10 million infrastructure fund delivering new buildings to educate the provinces children.

Oil Search managers and prominent Simbu MPs officiate at the opening of Mai High School's new buildings

They greeted a contingent of Oil Search managers airlifted to the scene and led by country manager Gerea Aopi and general manager Leon Buskens. Other dignitaries were Kerenga Kua MP, Joe Mogwai from National Planning and Monitoring and Simbu Governor Michael Dua MP.

The five new buildings include male and female dormitories, two staff houses and a double classroom, all fully kitted out. The facilities in the dorms looked like a hotel.

Oil Search reaches the most remote places through its tax credit scheme with needed infrastructure, country manager Gerea Aopi said. We have been in the country since 1929 and, at 89 years old, we are a big brother to the nation.

Oil Search will continue to help where there is a need. We work in partnership with the government to enable people to enjoy desirable infrastructure if the capacity of the government falls short.

Kerenga Kua commended Oil Search and the people of Southern Highlands and Hela for believing in the holistic development of non-resource-rich provinces like Simbu.

As a nation, we deserved to get such infrastructure, since Oil Search is investing in this country not just the oil and gas provinces alone, he said.

Even if the government does not have the money to bring much anticipated infrastructure then the cooperating companies will dish out funds to needy areas to serve Papua New Guineans at large.

The female dormitory was named after late former MP John Numi and the male dormitory was named after former MP Luker Mond. The double classroom was named after Willie Kupo, the advisor to Oil Search.
A Melbourne man is due to face court, accused of being behind a frightening road rage attack in which two women in their 60s were terrorised.

The 27-year-old Craigieburn man was arrested and charged on Tuesday over the incident on the Tullamarine Freeway, charged with multiple offences including conduct endangering life, threats to kill and assault with a weapon.

It will be alleged Leigh Mahady, 62, was driving on Saturday when a truckie began tailgating her and tooting his horn before side-swiping her.

She pulled over so she and her friend Julie Dougherty, 60, could inspect the damage when the truck driver confronted them, armed with a hammer and a stick, and pushing Ms Dougherty down.

The man has been remanded in custody to appear in Broadmeadows Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Labor's national executive will meet on Wednesday to decide a new date for the party's national conference.

The original July 28 date clashed with the recently announced Super Saturday by-elections, leading Labor to move the meeting.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten told his MPs there was nothing they could do about the postponed conference.

"Regardless of all of that, we need to focus on the by-elections," Mr Shorten said in a caucus meeting on Tuesday.

Mr Shorten said Labor wants to hold a national conference before the next general election, with the preference being to remain at the Adelaide Convention Centre if a new date could be found.

Various Labor factions have been gearing up for the conference as a key battleground over policies on refugees and industrial relations.

Malcolm Turnbull, whose Liberal party will contest three of the five by-elections, told a coalition party room meeting MPs need to remind voters about the jobs they have created and the coalition's strong border protection policies.

He said Labor's rank-and-file members disagree with Mr Shorten's border policies and they will change them if they can.
A teenager has been charged by Queensland police after he allegedly threatened a school shooting in Brisbane.

The threats were posted on two social media platforms on Monday and warned of a mass shooting at an undisclosed school in the Moreton Bay suburb of North Lakes.

The teen allegedly responsible for the threats was charged on Tuesday with one count of using a carriage service to make a threat to cause serious harm and threatening violence.

He will be dealt with under the provisions of the Youth Justice Act, police say.

Acting Chief Superintendent Chris Stream says the teenager is facing serious criminal charges with significant penalties.

"The Queensland Police Service will continue to assess any threats to public safety and I would urge anyone with information to contact police," he said.

No specific schools were named in the posts, which made reference to the recent shooting that killed 17 people at a school in Parkland, Florida.

A Gold Coast school was briefly put into lockdown on Tuesday morning following another threat, which police quickly determined was a hoax.
A man is missing after escaping a psychiatric hospital in Melbourne.

Hawthorn man Simon Fair, 42, was last seen leaving the hospital at Fitzroy on Tuesday night, and police are concerned as he has considerable psychiatric issues.

They have released an image of Fair, and say he regularly frequents major transport hubs, sleeps rough, and was last seen wearing jeans, a hoodie and shoes with a white stripe.

Police have warned people who spot the man to not approach him but call triple-zero.
The search for a missing teenager who fled a high-speed car chase in rural South Australia is set to continue.

Remote scrub west of Whyalla will be searched on Wednesday by police and SES volunteers in a bid to find 19-year-old Scott Redman.

Police believe the teen was in a car that was involved in a pursuit on the Eyre Highway near Kimba on April 21.

The pursuit was terminated due to safety concerns, with the black station wagon found on a dirt road 40km east of Kimba four days later.
A man has been found dead in his prison cell, days after he was arrested at Sydney airport for allegedly importing $20 million of cocaine concealed in frozen fish.

Dimitrios Mavris was due to face Sydney's Central Local Court on Wednesday but the 48-year-old was found dead in his cell at a Surry Hills corrections facility on Friday night.

A NSW Police spokeswoman told AAP on Wednesday the death is not being treated as suspicious.

Mavris, from Woolloomooloo, was nabbed at the airport as he landed in Sydney a week ago and charged with importing a commercial quantity of cocaine concealed in two shipping containers of frozen fish from Peru into Australia.
Given the twists and turns, and the mercurial nature of the parties involved, few Korea watchers are prepared to say with any certainty, but most observers are confident the process for a June 12 summit is back on track -- for now.

Events around the Korean peninsula have been moving at a dizzying pace over the last few days, with a summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un that was on, then off, then apparently on again.

Here's where we stand with what could be a historic meeting.

- How did we get here? -

A few months ago Kim and Trump were hurling insults and threats of war at each other.

The rhetoric began to cool during the Winter Olympics in South Korea, and by mid-March the two sides had agreed to a face-to-face.

After some back-and-forth, June 12 in Singapore was fixed on, but as May ticked over both sides began casting doubt on the meeting.

The insults started up again, with North Korea calling US Vice President Mike Pence a "dummy", and both sides threatening to walk away.

Trump abruptly pulled the plug last week, only to apparently reverse course 24 hours later in the wake of Pyongyang's emollient response.

- How did talks get back on track? -

Some say Trump's sudden willingness to walk rattled Pyongyang, which has since dialled down its rhetoric and expressed a willingness to talk "at any time".

"Trump's unexpected response totally took Kim by surprise and left the North scrambling to find a way to mend things," Cho Sung-ryul, a senior researcher at the Institute for National Security Strategy, told AFP.

Others say the crisis was primarily averted by Kim and South Koreas president Moon Jae-in, who made the extraordinary decision to meet in the Panmunjom truce village between the two Koreas.

The State Department says a team of US officials also met with North Koreans in Panmunjom on Sunday.

The Washington Post reported that senior diplomat Sung Kim was leading the US delegation and that the two sides planned to continue talking Monday and Tuesday.

The White House said on the weekend that a separate team of officials was also on its way to Singapore to lay the ground for the meeting.

- Who is Sung Kim? -

Few American officials have more experience of dealing with North Koreans than Sung Kim.

The Korean-born diplomat previously served as Washington's ambassador in Seoul and was a special envoy during ultimately fruitless Six-Party Talks in the mid-2000s.

He is currently Washington's envoy to the Philippines but has been called back to his old stomping ground -- Trump has yet to nominate an ambassador to Seoul.

- So is it going to happen? -

Given the twists and turns, and the mercurial nature of the parties involved, few Korea watchers are prepared to say with any certainty. But most observers are confident the process is back on track -- for now.

In the last 48 hours Trump has sounded upbeat, saying the June 12 meeting will still go ahead, or that it could happen at a later date if more time is needed. Usually these kind of summits are planned months, sometimes years in advance.

Now officials have only a fortnight left to finalise thorny protocol details such as where in Singapore the talks will take place and how internationally sanctioned North Korean officials will travel there.

Importantly, they'll also have to decide what exactly the two men are going to talk about.

- What are the stumbling blocks? -

In a word, denuclearisation.

Both sides say they want it, but there is a yawning gulf between their definitions.

Washington says it wants to see the complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation (CVID) of North Korea in return for sanctions and economic relief.

Trump wants to see CVID take place immediately -- although he has recently conceded a phased approach could be discussed.

Moon says Kim is also committed to the "complete" denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. But when asked if that meant the same as CVID, he told reporters that was something for Pyongyang and Washington to discuss.

Analysts believe North Korea will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given security guarantees that the US won't try to topple the regime.

That may mean they will look for confidence-building measures such as a reduction in US troops in South Korea or joint military drills.

Kim Sung-han, professor of international relations at Korea University, said Trump will have difficulty accepting any conditions from North Korea, partly because he had been so critical of the Iran nuclear deal.

"If he believes that it would be hard to include CVID or any specific terms to mandate the North to carry out nuclear disarmament quickly, he may cancel the summit again, even days before the event," he said.
Pakistan's powerful military is incensed at a book by a former spy chief

Pakistan's military Monday took the unprecedented step of preventing a former spy chief from leaving the country, after he ignited a storm by co-authoring a book that touches on Pakistan's alleged roles in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

Retired Lieutenant General Asad Durrani, who headed Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) from 1990 to 1992, was placed on the Exit Control List (ECL) stopping him from leaving the country, according to the military spokesman.

Durrani has been mired in controversy since last week's release of "The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace". He wrote the book with A.S. Dulat, who headed India's Research and Analysis Wing intelligence agency -- arch-rivals of the ISI.

It is based on a series of discussion between the two on various subjects including tense relations with India and Pakistan's alleged interference through proxies in Afghanistan and Kashmir.

The US has long accused the ISI in particular of backing militants in Afghanistan, including the Taliban. Islamabad denies the claims.

Criticism of the military, especially its use of proxies in regional conflicts, is seen as taboo in the country. The military is the most powerful institution in Pakistan, ruling the country for roughly half its history and operating largely with impunity.

The book also suggests that the Pakistani authorities may have known about the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden -- an extraordinarily sensitive topic for the military -- and may have later handed over information to the US resulting in the 2011 raid that killed the Al Qaeda supremo.

Earlier Monday Durrani was summoned to the Pakistani military headquarters for allegedly violating the institution's code of conduct over comments he made in the book. The military did not specify which comments had prompted the meeting.

It then announced a court of inquiry into Durrani's alleged misconduct and said he had been placed on the ECL, marking the first instance such controls have been placed on a former spy chief.

The controversy comes weeks after former prime minister Nawaz Sharif sparked a similar firestorm at home and in India by suggesting Pakistani militants were behind the 2008 attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai.

The comments made during a newspaper interview resulted in an official condemnation from the country's National Security Council.

Sharif has called on the council to discuss Durrani's book also.

Since being ousted by the Supreme Court last July, he and his supporters have repeatedly suggested they are the victims of a conspiracy driven by the military and the courts to damage their party.
Netanyahu will travel to Germany and France for talks expected to focus on the US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal -- long sought by Israel -- and the Iranian presence in Syria

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Monday he will press German and French leaders next week to support his position that Iran should have no military presence in neighbouring Syria.

Netanyahu will travel to Germany and France for talks expected to focus on the US decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal -- long sought by Israel -- and the Iranian presence in Syria.

He will meet French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the June 4-6 trip. Netanyahu said he may also meet British Prime Minister Theresa May.

"We believe that there is absolutely no room for any Iranian military presence in any part of Syria," Netanyahu told senior officials from his Likud party, according to a statement from his office.

"These things, of course, reflect not only our position. I can safely say that they also reflect the views of others in the Middle East and beyond the Middle East. This will be the main focus of my discussions."

Israel has been pledging for months to prevent its main enemy Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria, where Tehran is backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

Earlier this month, Israel launched a large-scale attack on what it said were Iranian targets in Syria, raising fears of a major confrontation.

Those strikes followed a barrage of rockets that Israel said was fired toward its forces in the occupied Golan Heights by Iran from Syria.

Even before that, Israel had been blamed for a series of recent strikes inside Syria that killed Iranians, though it has not acknowledged them.

Israel argues the lifting of sanctions under the nuclear deal allowed Iran to expand its presence in the Middle East, both through its own forces and with proxy groups.

It also says the time limits on the accord do not guarantee Iran will not eventually obtain nuclear weapons, while it also wants to see restrictions on Iranian missile development.

Trump announced on May 8 that the United States was pulling out of the agreement, but all other parties to it -- Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia -- say the agreement is working as intended and want to stick by it.

There have been concerns over the fallout from the White House decision and tensions in Syria.

Chagai Tzuriel, director general of Israel's intelligence ministry, told journalists on Monday he believed recent events were convincing countries such as Russia that allowing Iran to entrench itself militarily in Syria was not worth it.

Russia is also backing Assad's regime in Syria and Netanyahu has held a series of recent discussions with President Vladimir Putin on Iran's presence there.

Tzuriel said that if the opportunity is not seized on and Iran is not pushed back "we are on a collision course with Iran".
US President Donald Trump (L) and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis (3rd L) mark Memorial Day by visiting Arlington National Cemetery

From President Donald Trump visiting the main US military cemetery to parades and solemn remembrances, Americans honored their fallen war heroes for the Memorial Day holiday on Monday.

Across the country, relatives, friends and members of the general public placed American flags and flowers on the tombs of soldiers who gave their lives for the country.

During his second Memorial Day as commander-in-chief, Trump placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

He was joined by US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford for the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, whose rolling hills of greenery just outside the US capital are the final resting place for more than 400,000 veterans.

"Our fallen heroes have not only written our history -- they've shaped our destiny," Trump said. "They fought and bled and died so that America would forever remain safe and strong and free."

Navy veteran Richard Jones prays before the grave of his friend James McDermott at the Los Angeles National Cemetery

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was among the speakers during an observance at his city's National Cemetery.

Besides Washington, some of the largest parades took place in Chicago and New York, with veterans' groups and bands among the participants. Chicago's celebrations have taken place since 1870.

In contrast to Veterans Day, which honors all who have served in the armed forces, Memorial Day pays tribute to fallen military staff.

Thousands of bikers and military veterans take part in the Rolling Thunder motorcycle parade in Washington

On Sunday, tens of thousands of bikers in bandanas, cowboy hats or gleaming helmets descended on Washington to parade from the Pentagon past the military cemetery and ending at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in honor of US soldiers missing in action in foreign wars, a now 30-year-old tradition by motorcyclists who dub themselves Rolling Thunder.

A biker and Vietnam War veteran searches for names on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington

Among them are many Vietnam War veterans. Some of the bikers stopped by the National Cathedral for a "blessing of the bikes" service before they set about their humming business.

This year, there was also an effort to expand awareness of the Korean War and the Americans killed in that conflict.

A massive display of 645,000 poppies was placed behind glass on the National Mall -- the expansive grassy esplanade home to many of the city's monuments -- near the Korean War Memorial.

Rolling Thunder is a 30-year-old tradition

The display honors fallen military members and aims to raise awareness about the impact of war.

Memorial Day originated after the American Civil War that ended in 1865.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor plans to step into ride-hailing area, according to local media. Some ride-hailing service practitioner revealed that they have received offers from SAIC Motor.

According to people with knowledge of this matter, SAIC has set up a ride-hailing department and its recent recruitment in the new department is focusing on people who will be in charge of products, technologies as well as operation businesses. Wu Bing, general manager of SAIC Motor Insurance Sales Company Limited (INSAIC), is likely to preside over the ride-hailing businesses. Besides, several former Didi's employees have recently confirmed their participation.

SAIC Motor does have an inherent advantage in operating ride-hailing services. As a massive vehicle maker in China, SAIC is never in shortage of vehicles, which omits the need to rent cars from vehicle leasing companies. Meanwhile, the group is working on developing electric vehicles (EV), so that the licensing issues could be solved as well.

According to local media, SAIC Motor's launch of ride-hailing businesses aims to promote its vehicle sales relying on the rental business development and the connection with manufacturing businesses.

Within the cash-burning industry, ride-hailing platforms always depend on providing large subsidies to strive for sufficient orders. However, SAIC Motor doesn't plan to massively offer subsidies. The ride-hailing platform is not designed to gain profits but to accumulate data. The people familiar with the matter said.

SAIC Motor is not the unique automaker who sets foot in mobility field. In 2015, Geely Auto set up its ride-hailing platform Caocao Zhuanche, which has already obtained operational licenses in 19 cities across China. Relevant data show that there are over 100 thousand orders per day received on the platform, which can generate daily operational income of around RMB 2.7 million. Reportedly, it will land in some Chinese megacities, such as Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen in 2018. In addition, FAW Group has recently grouped several subsidiaries into a new mobility unit.
Choi Deuk-soo, 91, is one of just five people still alive to have been awarded South Korea's top military medal, the Taeguk, given for a suicidally brave charge he made up an enemy-held hill in the end stages of the 1950-53 Korean War

As a decorated war hero who once took out three machine gun nests with nothing but grenades, Choi Deuk-soo knows first hand what is at stake should US-North Korean peace talks fail -- and he is doubtful of an imminent breakthrough.

The wizened 91-year-old is one of just five people still alive to have been awarded South Korea's top military medal, the Taeguk, given for a suicidally brave charge he made up an enemy-held hill in the end stages of the 1950-53 Korean War.

"I hate any war," he told AFP from his apartment in Incheon, west of Seoul, apologising for his poor hearing, the result of firing a heavy machine gun for hours during a battle to repel Chinese troops that had come to the aid of North Korea's communist forces.

That war led to an armistice and the two Koreas divided by the demilitarised zone. It is a festering Cold War sore that lives on today, and US President Donald Trump has vowed to combat the threat posed by the authoritarian, nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang either by talks with his North Korean opposite Kim Jong Un or "fire and fury".

"Another war might have to break out sometime in the future, maybe hundreds of years from now, for the two sides to be reunified," said Choi Deuk-soo, a South Korean war hero

Choi -- who was speaking to AFP before Trump cancelled an upcoming summit with Kim only to suggest it might be back on -- is not convinced by the recent flurry of diplomatic detente.

"Another war might have to break out sometime in the future, maybe hundreds of years from now, for the two sides to be reunified," he said.

"I doubt whether any deal with Kim Jong Un would hold long because all the North is interested in is material rewards," he added, questioning whether Pyongyang was really committed to giving up its nuclear weapons or genuinely seeking peace.

- 'No retreat' -

The nonagenarian's cynicism was forged in the crucible of the Korean War and nurtured by decades of failed peace attempts that have seen North Korea's regime remain steadfastly in power and oversee its metamorphosis into a nuclear armed state.

South Korean war hero Choi Deuk-soo questions whether Pyongyang is really committed to giving up its nuclear weapons or genuinely seeking peace

Breathing repeatedly through an inhaler to ease his asthma, Choi recalled his own horrifying experience the last time full-scale war broke out on the Korean Peninsula.

The memory that sticks with him the most was the night that won him the Taeguk.

On 30 June 1953 his unit was ordered to take back Hill 938 from a brigade of Chinese volunteers who had seized the strategic position earlier that month.

Choi's battalion was so depleted its ranks had dropped from 500 to just 30 men.

"The top commander gathered us together and handed out cigarettes. He then said: 'You only move on. No retreat'. The company installed a machine gun, threatening to shoot us if we tried to retreat," he recalled.

The Korean war ended in an armistice with the two Koreas divided by the demilitarised zone. It is a festering Cold War sore and US President Donald Trump has vowed to combat the threat posed by the authoritarian, nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang

To improve their agility, the soldiers were told to ditch their helmets and take only grenades -- the commanders noted that if they needed a rifle they could always grab one from the hundreds of bodies littering the hill side.

Under cover of darkness and a smoke screen Choi and his comrades inched towards the enemy.

"I crawled up to a machine gun post and hurled the first grenade. I finished a second one with another grenade and silenced a third machine gun nest with the remaining two grenades," he said.

With the enemy machine guns silenced, reinforcements successfully stormed uphill, bringing an end to the hour-long battle.

Somehow Choi emerged unscathed. But only five men from the original 30 survived the night, he recalled.

The war ended a month later with the armistice, though the two Koreas remain technically still at war.

- 'How long will it last?' -

Choi said he welcomes the fact that Trump was willing to talk to Kim.

But he worries about the more bellicose members of the US administration, particularly National Security Advisor John Bolton, a known North Korea hawk.

"That guy with the thick moustache almost blew it up with reckless, unnecessary statements," South Korean war hero Choi Deuk-soo fumed, referring to US National Security Adviser John Bolton

Earlier this month Bolton -- and later Vice President Mike Pence -- raised the spectre of Libyan leader Moamer Khadafi, who gave up atomic weapons only to die years later at the hands of US-backed rebels.

That comparison drew angry responses from North Korea.

"That guy with the thick moustache almost blew it up with reckless, unnecessary statements," Choi fumed, referring to Bolton.

His hopes for peace are tempered by a cynical realism that comes from decades of witnessing the Korean conundrum, one of geopolitics' stickiest issues.

South Korean war hero Choi Deuk-soo welcomes the fact that Trump was willing to talk to Kim but worries about the more bellicose members of the US administration, particularly National Security Advisor John Bolton, a known North Korea hawk

Last month, like millions of others, Choi watched on as South Korean president Moon Jae-in met Kim in the heart of the DMZ. They shook hands and, at the invitation of Kim, Moon briefly stepped into North Korea.

"I thought this was a good thing," Choi recalled thinking about the current detente. "But then the next moment, I wondered how long it would all last this time around."
(From left) Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, French President Emmanuel Macron and UN special envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame hold a press conference after four Libyan leaders agreed to hold elections in December

Four Libyan leaders agreed Tuesday to hold elections on December 10 after a peace conference in Paris aimed at unifying the war-torn north African country.

The four men, who represent most but not all of Libya's rival factions, also agreed to "accept the results of elections, and ensure appropriate funds and strong security arrangements are in place".

The commitment to holding parliamentary and presidential polls this year came after four hours of talks in Paris where the leaders faced pressure to agree on a political roadmap to end seven years of conflict.

European leaders see stabilising Libya as key to tackling jihadist threats and migration from the fractured country, which has become a departure point for hundreds of thousands of Africans trying to reach Europe.

"I'm optimistic," UN envoy Ghassan Salame told AFP at the end of the talks which he called "historic" because they had brought together the main Libyan protagonists as well as regional countries for the first time.

The Libyan invitees were Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, and 75-year-old military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose rival Libyan National Army dominates the country's east.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, right, with Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who has fought Islamist militias and was recently treated in Paris for an undisclosed ailment

Also present were Aguila Saleh Issa, the parliament speaker based in the eastern city of Tobruk, and Khalid Al-Mishri, the newly-elected head of the High Council of State.

"There is no solution other than via you," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi told the Libyan leaders at the opening of the talks. "If things go badly, it's your responsibility."

- Implementation doubts -

Despite the French-led efforts to seek a political settlement, many analysts and diplomats were sceptical that a statement that was verbally agreed -- but not signed -- could lead to real change on the ground.

Some have voiced doubt whether the country, which is swamped by weapons and controlled by a patchwork of political groups and armed militias, will be able to hold credible elections.

"I believe that elections are a big risk in a country armed like Libya," Federica Saini Fasanotti, an analyst with the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told AFP.

Other countries, including former colonial power Italy and some Gulf states, had also argued that Libya needed to agree on a new constitution before holding elections.

In a further complication, the main political and military representatives from the western city of Misrata boycotted proceedings after not being offered the same status as other invitees in Paris.

"There are some positive points in this agreement, which ultimately is not worth anything because it hasn't been signed," a senior military figure in the Misrata militia, Ibrahim Ben Rjab, told AFP.

Instead of signing the deal, the leaders in Paris gave their approval for a joint statement to be issued and later committed verbally to implementing it when explicitly asked to do so by Macron during a group photo.

"So we are all working on this common basis, bravo!" Macron told them.

Years of mediation by the United Nations, as well as Italy, have failed to bring stability to the nation which descended into chaos after the ousting of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011.

Previous peace agreements have come to nothing.

"It went well. Afterwards, it depends on the implementation," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.

- Regional competition -

Representatives from 20 countries including Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, attended the talks, as well as Libya's neighbours Algeria and Tunisia.

Stabilising Libya has been complicated by diverging interests among Middle Eastern countries, which have sometimes backed opposing sides in the fighting, as well as the competition between Europeans.

Macron referred to foreign countries "pulling strings behind a curtain" but claimed that Tuesday's agreement had put everyone on the same page.

Karim Bitar, an expert at the Paris-based French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS) think-tank said France would "need to convince the Sunni powers in the Gulf to stop their proxy wars in Libya, which won't be easy".

He also said voiced scepticism about the elections as the way to unify the country, which currently operates with two parliaments, various armed forces and different central banks.

"Generally speaking the West sometimes tends to place too much emphasis on the ballot box and the voting slip," he said, explaining that polls could sometimes be counter-productive.

Macron threw himself into finding a solution in Libya shortly after his election in May 2017, inviting Sarraj and Haftar to Paris in July -- a move that irked Italy.

Some in Rome suspect Macron of organising the conference at a time when Italy, which has major oil interests in Libya, is embroiled in a deep political crisis.

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Fighters from Libyan forces affiliated to the Tripoli government drove the Islamic State out of the town of Sirte in 2016

Libya fell into chaos after the ouster of strongman Moamer Kadhafi in October 2011, with competing authorities in Tripoli and the east vying for power.

As rival leaders committed to elections at a peace conference in Paris Tuesday, here is a recap.

- Kadhafi killed -

Amid the Arab Spring uprisings, a popular revolt erupts in Libya in February 2011, developing into a NATO-backed conflict.

Long-time dictator Kadhafi, on the run since the capital is captured in August, is killed in October while trying to flee his hometown Sirte as rebels close in.

Days later the rebel National Transitional Council declares Libya's "total liberation".

In August 2012 the Council hands over power to a transitional General National Congress (GNC).

- Rise of radical groups -

US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American staff are killed in an attack on their consulate in Libya's second city Benghazi on September 11, 2012. An Al-Qaeda-linked group is accused.

A car bomb attack in April 2013 targets France's embassy in Tripoli, wounding two French guards.

Foreign delegations pull out as the country falls into chaos.

- Two governments -

Military strongman Khalifa Haftar, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launches an offensive in May 2014 against Islamist groups in Benghazi.

Several military officers join his paramilitary Libyan National Army.

In June, following legislative elections, the GNC is replaced by a parliament dominated by anti-Islamists. But in August Islamist-led militias storm Tripoli and reinstall the GNC.

The country finds itself with two governments and two parliaments.

The June-elected government and parliament, the only ones recognised internationally, take refuge in eastern Libya.

The Islamic State group profits from the chaos, claiming its first attack in Libya in December 2014. The following June it seizes Sirte to the east of Tripoli, but is driven out in December 2016.

- Rival authorities -

In December 2015 months of negotiations result in accords signed under UN supervision in Skhirat, Morocco, that designate a UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) for the fractured country.

The unity government takes up office in Tripoli in March 2016 headed by prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

But the rival administration in the east remains in place, backed by Haftar and the parliament elected in 2014.

In July 2017 Sarraj and Haftar, meeting in Paris, commit to a ceasefire and elections but there is no development on the ground.

In December 2017 the UN says the two-year-old Skhirat accord is the only viable framework for a solution. Haftar claims it has expired and the GNA's mandate has run out.

He backs the holding of elections in 2018 while implicitly threatening to take power if the political process fails.

- Fresh violence -

In January 2018 fighting at Tripoli's only working international airport kills at least 20 people after militiamen attack in a bid to free jihadist comrades held at a jail there.

The same month nearly 40 people are killed in two car bombings outside a mosque frequented by jihadist opponents in Benghazi.

On May 2 two IS suicide attackers kill 14 people at Libya's electoral commission in Tripoli.

Haftar announces on May 5 an offensive to take the Mediterranean city of Derna from jihadists. It is the only part of the country's east outside the control of his Libyan National Army.

- Polls pledge in Paris -

Haftar, al-Sarraj and other Libyan leaders meet in Paris on May 29, committing after about four hours of talks to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in December, and to accept the results.

The four men represent most but not all of Libya's factions.
After making official complaints over the media's coverage of his extra-marital affair which gripped Australia, ex-deputy PM Barnaby Joyce is set to earn big in a tell-all TV interview

A decision by Australia's former deputy prime minister to sell his story about having a love child with a former aide sparked derision Tuesday and calls for politicians to be banned from paid interviews.

Scandal-hit Barnaby Joyce, who was forced to quit in February and move to the backbench over his affair with his 33-year-old former media adviser, will reportedly be paid Aus$150,000 (US$113,000) for a tell-all television appearance by the pair on Sunday.

Malcolm Turnbull said he planned to raise the matter privately with the married Joyce, whose smaller National Party rules alongside the prime minister's Liberals.

"It's certainly not... a course of action that I would've encouraged him to take, I'll put it that way," he told broadcaster ABC.

"I think you can understand how I feel about it but I'll just be circumspect, uncharacteristically circumspect, on this and leave it for a private discussion."

News that Joyce, 50, had left his wife of 24 years for Vikki Campion gripped Australia earlier this year, sparking debate about workplace culture amid the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

The saga took another twist when Joyce questioned the paternity of the baby boy, who has since been born.

Best known outside Australia for threatening to euthanise Hollywood star Johnny Depp's two dogs when they were brought into the country illegally, Joyce claimed Tuesday that it was Campion's decision to accept payment for the interview.

He said the couple had tried to ride out the attention, but the paparazzi would not leave them alone.

"Remember there are other people in this interview being Vikki and (baby son) Seb, so if it was just an interview with me as a politician, sure, I am not going to charge for that," he told The Australian newspaper.

"But that is not what they wanted, they wanted an interview obviously to get Vikki's side of the story.

"Like most mothers, she said: 'Seeing as I am being screwed over and there are drones and everything over my house in the last fortnight, paparazzi waiting for me, if everybody else is making money then (I am) going to make money out of it.'"

But the decision to accept payment has prompted accusations of hypocrisy -- Joyce had previously made a formal complaint to the Australian Press Council over the media's coverage of the affair.

Nationals minister Darren Chester said serving politicians should be banned from giving paid interviews.

"I think the public is asking the question, is it appropriate for sitting members of parliament to receive money to do media interviews. I think we should have the conversation in the parliament. I'm hoping for that conversation to occur," he said.

Liberals minister Kelly O'Dwyer warned it could backfire for Joyce.

"Ultimately, it's a matter for him and his judgement. I personally wouldn't do it, I don't think it's right, and I think most Australians are pretty disgusted by it," she said.
The conflict has forced millions of Syrians like Umaima al-Sheikh (pictured with her husband Firas and two children) to flee their homes

Displaced from her home in Syria's Eastern Ghouta, Umaima al-Sheikh and her family sought refuge in an abandoned house across the country in Afrin.

The traditionally Kurdish town had been emptied of its residents just weeks earlier, after a brutal Turkish-led offensive forced tens of thousands to flee.

"No one wants to live in a house that isn't theirs, or use other people's belongings," said Sheikh.

After staying briefly in rebel territory elsewhere in northern Syria, the 25-year-old moved to Afrin around a month ago with her husband Firas and two young children.

"We all want to be in our own homes, our own towns, but the situation forced us to settle in a house that isn't ours," Sheikh told AFP in a leafy park in the town.

"The homes we left behind are now being lived in by other people, too. This is the case for everyone in Syria, not just us," she said.

Since war broke out in 2011, half of Syria's population has been displaced, including more than five million outside the country and another six million internally.

Half of Syria's population has been displaced, including more than five million outside the country and another six million internally

Among them are rebels and civilians transferred en masse from one bombed opposition area to another under "reconciliation" agreements.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has used such deals to retake territory, prompting charges he is reshuffling the country's demographics.

His April capture of Ghouta was sealed with the transfer of thousands of people to the rebel-held north, with many going on to Afrin.

The offensive by Turkish-backed rebels sparked a wave of accusations that Ankara was guilty of ethnic engineering, by resettling Syrian Arabs into Afrin after pushing out Syrian Kurds.

- Seeking safety -

As many as 35,000 people have taken refuge in the Afrin region, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Some live in a pair of refugee camps in a rural area, but many have moved into the town's empty and ruined homes.

Mehdi Haymur and his young son picked through the rubble and debris at the entrance of one bombed-out apartment for anything salvageable.

They lifted a mismatched pair of torn, dust-covered cushions from the smashed cinderblocks and headed inside.

"We left Ghouta and lost our homes, land, and work. We were forced to leave Ghouta, and we also came here in a forced way," said Haymur.

Thousands of people have taken refuge in the Afrin region where many of them, like Mehdi Haymur, have moved into the town's empty and ruined homes

With help from rebel military police, he and his family have squatted in several Afrin homes but their owners have arrived and asked them to leave.

The owner of the abandoned block where he lives now has allowed them to stay temporarily, Haymur told AFP.

Ahmad al-Buri, 19, was displaced to Afrin from the outskirts of Ghouta's largest town of Douma.

"This is a Turkish zone, protected from Syrian regime bombardment. That's why I came here," said Buri.

Rebels also helped his family find an empty home in Afrin's Mahmudiyah district, and Buri has enlisted in the Turkish-backed police.

"If the owner of this house comes back and we have to leave, I don't know what we'll do. We'll have to find another home or go to a camp," he shrugged.

Those camps house an estimated 10,000 people, according to the United Nations' humanitarian coordination office (OCHA), which also confirmed the house-squatting.

"While some are paying rent, reports of internally displaced people residing in empty houses without obtaining the permission of their owners continue to emerge," it said.

- 'Strangers' -

Around 135,000 of Afrin's original residents stayed in the region as fighting continued, more than a third in the town itself, according to OCHA.

Othman Khalil, a 57-year-old metal worker, refused to leave his home on Villa Street during the fight.

A Turkish-led offensive forced tens of thousands to flee Afrin

"There are families from Ghouta that come to our neighbourhood. We talk to each other," he told AFP.

"They can come into Afrin but people originally from here cannot enter," said Khalil, whose friends escaped the town during clashes but have been unable to return.

A pair of Turkish-backed rebels guard one access route, checking the vehicles coming in and out.

OCHA has expressed increasing concern over "protracted displacement" from Afrin as security operations continue.

Syria's leading Kurdish Party, the People's Democratic Union (PYD), and the Observatory have both accused Ankara of seeking to change Afrin's ethnic makeup by resettling Arab families in Kurdish homes.

Ankara is accused of seeking to change Afrin's ethnic makeup by resettling Arab families in Kurdish homes

"There are strangers living in my nephew's house who won't leave," said Mahmoud Hassan, 58, a farmer in Afrin.

"People from Ghouta are good people, we can talk to them and there's peace between us," he told AFP.

"But this isn't your house, you came and lived in it, and if the owner comes back, you need to get out before he complains."

On Saturday, hundreds of Syrian Kurds demonstrated in the northeastern city of Qamishli in protest at Turkey's military presence in Afrin.
"Children need an environment where they can stay with their mothers ... if you ask infants under three which parent they like more, the answer should be mama," a senior Japanese MP says, in comments which prompted a strong backlash

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government came under fire Tuesday after a senior MP suggested only women should raise children under three and another urged newly-weds to have at least three kids.

Abe's government has made "womenomics" -- or boosting women's participation in the workplace -- a priority, as the country's workforce drops amid a rapidly ageing population.

But Koichi Hagiuda, a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), touched off a firestorm on Sunday when he said men rearing children might be "unwelcome" for them.

"Children need an environment where they can stay with their mothers ... if you ask infants under three which parent they like more, the answer should be mama, even though there are no firm statistics to support it," said Hagiuda, 54, the LDP's executive acting secretary-general.

Those remarks came after another MP, Kanji Kato, doubled down on comments suggesting young couples should produce at least three children, saying he had received popular backing.

But the leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party lashed out on Tuesday, saying the comments were "intolerable."

"There are many people who cannot give birth to children despite wanting to and there are many single-father families," Yukio Edano said. "Don't they notice these facts?"

Sumire Hamada, from rights group Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center, told AFP that Hagiuda's comments were "out of the question."

"What happened to the government's pledge to build a society where men can participate in child-rearing?

"These comments overturn what the government has said, and I'm sure many fathers have been angered" by Hagiuda's "rude remarks," she said.

Another campaigner said the remarks could encourage men to persist in the long working-hours culture endemic in Japan.

Tetsuya Ando, founder of the organisation Fathering Japan, told AFP: "When he said children under three like mothers more than fathers, that's unacceptable."

"That kind of remark puts pressure on working mothers to stay at home while removing fathers' rights to rear children," said Ando, 55, himself a dad-of-three.
Nguyen Truong Chinh shares some of the intricately crafted animals made by his son on death row

Nguyen Truong Chinh proudly holds up intricately crafted animals, flowers and hearts -- secret gifts made from plastic bags by a son on Vietnam's death row.

The palm-sized creations that his son and other inmates have furtively made and smuggled out of their solitary cells offer a rare glimpse of prison life in Vietnam, believed to be one of the world's leading executioners.

They're also an emotional lifeline for desperate parents fighting to free the children they say have been wrongly convicted.

"Any time we receive the gifts from my son I feel like he's here with me, like he's come back home," Chinh told AFP, clenching his jaw to hold back tears.

His 35-year-old son Nguyen Van Chuong, convicted of murdering a police officer a decade ago, is one of a handful of prisoners known to have made the artwork that is officially banned on death row.

The families suspect they made the pieces with discarded plastic bags passed on by fellow prisoners, shredded and woven into figurines.

They were once smuggled out by prisoners released after serving their terms but relatives stopped receiving them a few years ago, leading Chinh and other parents to fear guards have cracked down on the forbidden prison pastime.

They're too scared to ask about the practice during brief monthly visits closely monitored by prison staff.

The artworks are believed to be made from discarded plastic bags passed on by fellow prisoners, shredded and woven into figurines

But Chinh says the art still drives his decade-long fight to free his son, who he insists was nowhere near the scene of the crime he was convicted of.

"When I see the animals, I know somehow that my son is stable enough to create these things, that he is mentally strong," said Chinh, sitting with a bag full of documents on his son's case.

"They motivate our fight for justice."

- Leading executioner -

Little is known about Vietnam's prison system, but in a rare report last year the Ministry of Public Security said 429 people were executed between August 2013 and June 2016.

That is an average of 147 per year -- putting Vietnam among the world's top executioners along with China and Iran.

Details about prison conditions are scarce and media access heavily restricted.

But the law requires death row inmates to be held in solitary confinement and monitored around the clock.

Vietnamese artist Thinh Nguyen with a deer made by an inmate on Vietnam's death row at his studio in Hanoi

Prisoners deemed "dangerous" have one foot shackled for most of the day, released only for 15 minutes to bathe inside their cell, where they also eat and use the toilet.

"In many cases, acts of torture, coupled with the denial of medical care, have resulted in deaths in custody that are almost never investigated by the authorities," Andrea Giorgetta from International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) told AFP.

The MPS report said 36 death row inmates died behind bars between 2011 and 2016, without saying how.

In letters to his family, Chuong said he was tortured in custody: hung upside down and naked with a dirty sock in his mouth and beaten during interrogation.

Police electrocuted his genitals and prodded him with needles until he confessed under duress, he wrote.

Vietnam's foreign ministry rejected allegations of torture as "false information" in a statement to AFP and said it does not do anything to harm the "honour and dignity" of inmates.

- Determined to fight -

Relatives of the death row artists say their work offers a necessary diversion from constant fear of execution.

Prisoners are given little notice before their execution, which since 2010 has been carried out by lethal injection.

Nguyen Truong Chinh says the art drives his decade-long fight to free his son, who he says was nowhere near the scene of the crime he was convicted of

Before then, inmates were awakened before dawn, given a final meal and a cigarette, tied to a post and shot by five officers, with one final "humane shot" to the head, according to a 2016 report by the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights.

Today locally manufactured drugs are used to kill prisoners, though advocates complained of inhumane deaths after a man reportedly took two hours to die in 2011.

It's an unimaginable end for the families who refuse to give up hope their sons will one day be freed.

Nguyen Thi Loan has sent more than 1,500 letters to the government proclaiming the innocence of her son Ho Duy Hai, 32, and gave up her land, home and job as a vendor to fight for his release.

'When I see the animals, I know somehow that my son is stable enough to create these things, that he is mentally strong,' says Nguyen Truong Chinh

"I'm determined to seek justice and fairness for Ho Duy Hai until my last breath," she said of her son who was jailed over the murder of two women in 2008.

His scheduled execution was called off at the 11th hour in 2014 by the president, raising hopes his case could be reopened.

In his earlier years in prison, Hai sent shrimp, fish and miniature horses as gifts to his lawyers, former teachers and relatives.

But she hasn't received one in years and fears jailers have banned the practice.

"Making those gifts didn't harm anyone. Why won't they let my son do it?" she told AFP in tears.

Supporters hope to raise awareness about Hai's case through his artwork, which was put on display alongside Chuong's pieces earlier this year at an underground show by activist artist Thinh Nguyen.

He started collecting the pieces from families years ago after he met them outside government offices calling for their sons' release.

"When I put these animals on show, their stories are known," Thinh said. "I look at these and I see a lot of hope."
At least 121 Palestinians have been killed since March 30, most of them during protests along the border

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of mortar shells at southern Israel on Tuesday, the army said, causing no injuries but raising tensions in the border area.

A statement from the Israeli army said that "25 mortar shells were launched towards several sites in Israeli territory."

"Most of the launches were intercepted by the IDF's (Israel Defence Forces) Iron Dome aerial defence system," the army said.

Police said that "a number of the mortars landed in open areas inside Israel," with no injuries reported.

Two further mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza after the initial barrage, the army said.

One mortar shell exploded near a kindergarten building, a military spokesman said. No children were believed to be there at the time.

It appeared to be the largest projectile barrage from Gaza targeting Israel since a 2014 war.

Palestinian security sources said Israeli tanks struck observation points belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad near the border. An Israeli military spokesman said he was not aware.

The mortar fire follows deadly mass protests and clashes that began along the Gaza border on March 30.

The protests have called for Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation to be allowed to return to their former homes now inside Israel.

They peaked on May 14, when at least 61 Palestinians were killed as tens of thousands of Gazans protested and clashes erupted on the same day of the US transfer of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Demonstrations and clashes have continued at a low level since then. At least 121 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the unrest.

Israel says its actions are necessary to defend its borders and accuses Hamas of encouraging thousands of Palestinians to break through the border and attack Israelis.

- Activist boat -

On Monday, Gaza's health ministry said one Palestinian was killed by tank fire at an observation point. Israel said it had fired at it after two Palestinians attempted to infiltrate the border fence with the "intention of carrying out an attack." The two were arrested.

There was also machine gun fire from the Gaza Strip toward Israel later Monday, the military said.

A day earlier, a tank targeted an Islamic Jihad observation point in response to an explosive device being placed on the border fence.

Three members of the militant group were killed, and there was speculation that the Tuesday mortar fire may have been Islamic Jihad's response.

Later on Tuesday, a group of Palestinian activists were due to launch at least one boat to protest and perhaps try to breach Israel's naval blockade.

The destination of the boat, which organisers said would carry patients needing medical care, students and job-seeking university graduates, was not announced.

The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade for more than a decade, with Israel saying it is necessary to prevent the Palestinian enclave's militant Hamas rulers from obtaining means to attack the Jewish state.
Iraqi men buy food in an open air market after breaking the fast during the holy month of Ramadan in the city of Mosul

Under the cover of night in the Iraqi city of Mosul, Rayan and Ali break the silence by drumming to announce suhur, the pre-dawn breakfast during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Islamic State (IS) group which controlled the city for three years before its ouster last July had banned drumming, along with other Ramadan traditions that make up the festive spirit of the dawn-to-dusk fasting month.

But since this year's Ramadan started in mid-May, Rayan Khalidi and Ali Mahboub have been doing their nighttime rounds, donning traditional keffiyeh headscarves and jalabiya robes.

The Ramadan drummers, known as "messaharati", are "part of the religious and social heritage of Mosul", the now war-battered city which has stood for centuries as a trading and cultural hub of the Middle East, said 25-year-old Rayan.

But the jihadists of IS decreed that such drumming was a sin, under their rigid interpretation of Islam enforced by its own courts and henchmen.

Ironically, Mosul residents had a Ramadan much like any other in 2014, when it started just days after IS had proclaimed its "caliphate" spanning tracts of Syria and Iraq.

Families descended on Mosul's tree-dotted parks along the River Tigris in the relative cool of dusk to share "iftar", the meal that breaks the daytime fast.

All across town, men and women gathered in coffee shops and restaurants, many clutching nargileh water pipes or smoking cigarettes -- that was before IS laid down the law segregating the sexes and banning smoking at the risk of corporal punishment.

Most of Mosul's restaurants and open-air cafes then closed their doors.

"Some of them stayed open for business after iftar but people were afraid to go for fear of punishment by IS who always found some reason to make arrests," said 29-year-old housewife Umm Raghed.

- Mosul's famed dishes -

Ramadan is a time for family reunions in Muslim countries, but in Mosul such events often only come about after several hours of shopping to collect the ingredients for the elaborate dishes for which the city is famed.

Under IS rule, "women did not have the right to go out, except in cases of extreme necessity, and even then a woman would have to be accompanied by a man and fully covered by a black veil", said Nahed Abdullah, a 32-year-old taxi driver.

Hassan Abdelkarim, 26, whose sister was killed when their home was bombed last year, said the jihadists had destroyed many of Mosul's mosques.

"Now we have to pay attention to hear the call for prayers from distant minarets to break the fast."

If it's tricky to determine the precise time for breaking the fast, knowing when to start is impossible, according to Abdelkarim, who is unemployed and lives amid the rubble of Mosul's devastated Old City.

"We don't have electricity or mobile phones to know the exact time" when the sun rises and the daily fast starts, he said.

Abu Salman, 45, never experienced life under the jihadists, having been displaced before the IS takeover in 2014. He returned to find his home and shop both destroyed.

Iraqi men walk past waterpipes (shisha) after breaking the fast during the holy month of Ramadan in the city of Mosul

"Ramadan used to be the best time of year for business. Now I have no source of revenue and have to survive on charity," he said.

While families wait for the launch of the city's reconstruction and assistance to help them get back on their feet, the "Moslawis" have revived another tradition: long tables set up on the streets to feed the poor.

"It's a beautiful initiative and typical of the people of Mosul who are known for their sense of solidarity, especially in hard times," said 45-year-old Umm Mahmud.

Thanks to the donations, she was able to serve her children a full meal of chicken, rice and orange juice at a table in the city's Bab Lakash district.
North Korean general Kim Yong Chol (left) also attended an inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjom last month

A top North Korean general is headed for the United States in what would be the highest-profile visit in years, reports said Tuesday as the two countries prepare for a momentous summit.

General Kim Yong Chol landed at Beijing airport on Tuesday and will journey on to New York the following day after talks with Chinese officials, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which cited diplomatic sources.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy as preparations gather pace for the on-again, off-again summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12.

US negotiators, headed by Washington's current ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, met with North Korean counterparts in the truce village of Panmunjom that divides the two Koreas on Sunday.

The State Department said a separate team of White House officials has also headed to Singapore to sort out logistics for the historic meeting.

Chung Sung-yoon, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim Yong Chol would be the most senior North Korean official to step onto US soil since Vice Marshall Jo Myong Rok met President Bill Clinton in 2000.

The general has long been a right hand man to North Korea's leader, playing a front-seat role during recent rounds of diplomacy aimed at ending the nuclear stalemate on the Korean peninsula.

He sat next to Trump's daughter Ivanka, who is also a White House aide, during the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang which was a turning point in the nuclear crisis.

He also accompanied Kim Jong Un on both of his recent trips to China to meet President Xi Jinping and held talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he travelled to Pyongyang.

"Kim's official counterpart is Pompeo but he may also push for meetings with (National Security Advisor John) Bolton and even Trump if possible," Chung told AFP.

General Kim, whose official title is vice-chairman of the central committee of North Korea's Workers' Party, has a background in military and civilian intelligence agencies and is a deeply controversial figure in South Korea.

Seoul blames him for masterminding the 2010 sinking of the South Korean navy corvette the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, an attack North Korea denies playing any role in.

Relatives of those who died protested his presence at the Winter Olympics earlier this year.

From 2009 to 2016 he was also director of North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau, the unit tasked with cyber warfare and intelligence gathering.

During that period North Korea ramped up its hacking programmes, including a hugely costly penetration of Sony Pictures that was seen as an attempt to stop the release of an American comedy film poking fun at the Kim Jong Un regime.
Shanghai (Gasgoo)- There are only five years of opportunity left for Chinese automakers to develop electric vehicles (EV) and relevant technologies, Li Shufu, Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (Geely)'s chairman forecasted at Dragon Bay Forum on May 29.

He said that China's automobile industry will eliminate obstacle for automakers development in five years, and then foreign automakers will live in China with a different route. However, it poses both opportunity and challenge for Chinas auto industry to seek progress during the five years.

China will soon ease the restriction on the foreigner ownership of joint ventures, especially in auto industry, President Xi Jinping said at the Boao Forum for Asia on April 10. In addition, China will reduce its import tariff on autos from 25% to 15%, which will take effect on July 1, the government announced on May 22. All those moves demonstrate Chinas resolution to deepen the opening-up, and Chinese automakers should seize the opportunity to take a leap.

In Li's point of view, China is not powerful enough now to compete with foreign companies in a fully open auto market, including EV area. Currently, almost 44% market shares of self-owned brands are from medium and low-end products, which gain no profit, feature no core technologies and are unsustainable to be further developed. However, 56% market shares of foreign brands come from premium vehicles featuring original design, core technologies and sustainable development mode. Li Shufu said.

Geely has made some achievements in new energy realm. The company has promised to realize the average fuel consumption limit of 5 litre per 100km for its vehicles before 2020 and provide consumers with affordable hybrid vehicles. Besides, Geely has developed its own technologies of battery, electric motor and electronic control. Whats more, the automaker has also reached a world-leading level in new energy-saving technology, covering mild hybrid electric vehicle (MHEV), hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) and plug-in electric vehicle (PHEV).

Meanwhile, Li stated that Chinese automakers, at least for Geely, still lag much behind foreign companies in scale economy, not only in sales, but in many capabilities like R&D, cost distribution, quality control, power of discourse, etc. He added, Geely has currently been working on electrification and sustainability.
Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari approved lowering the minimum age for political candidates ahead of elections next year

Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said he would approve a new law to reduce the age limit for political office, raising the prospect of younger candidates at next year's general election.

"In (a) few days to come, I will be joined by many promising young Nigerians to sign into law the 'Not Too Young To Run' bill," he said in a speech to mark the country's annual Democracy Day public holiday.

The bill was passed by both houses of parliament last year and later received the constitutionally required approval of two-thirds of state legislatures, leaving the final step of presidential assent.

It reduces the minimum age for presidential candidates from 40 to 35, and state governors and senators from 35 to 30.

The minimum age for national and state assembly members will now be 25.

The overall aim of the change in the law is to increase the participation of young people in politics. More than half of Nigeria's estimated 180 million people are under 30.

The Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement organisation, which has backed the bill, has said youth inclusion was "a constitutional imperative for democratic development".

Buhari, 75, is hoping to be re-elected to a second, four-year term at elections in February next year, which will be Nigeria's sixth since the restoration of civilian rule on May 29, 1999.

But there have been lingering question marks about his health after he spent several months undergoing treatment in London for an undisclosed illness.

Political candidates are currently jockeying for position to oppose him, but one declared hopeful is former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, 71.
US firm Ocean Infinity used the Norwegian research vessel Seabed Constructor to scour for MH370 wreckage in the Indian Ocean

A private search for Flight MH370 will end in the coming days, an exploration firm said Tuesday, some four years after the plane disappeared in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished in March 2014 with 239 people -- mostly from China -- on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

No sign of it was found in a 120,000-square kilometre (46,000-square mile) Indian Ocean search zone and the Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January last year.

After pressure from families, the Malaysian government struck a deal with US exploration firm Ocean Infinity to restart the search in January on condition it would only be paid if the Boeing 777 or its black boxes were found.

The firm stood to make up to $70 million if successful but found no sign of the airliner despite scouring the seabed with some of the world's most high-tech search equipment.

The hunt was officially meant to end in late April but was extended. However, the new Malaysian government of Mahathir Mohamad, which came to power after a shock election win this month, announced last week the search was set to end.

Texas-based Ocean Infinity said in a statement Tuesday that "its current search for the wreckage of... Flight MH370 is shortly coming to an end".

A spokesman added the hunt would end in the coming days, without giving a precise date.

- 'Nothing hidden' -

Ocean Infinity chief executive Oliver Plunkett said the failure to find the wreckage was "extremely disappointing" but he hoped that his company would be able to "again offer our services in the search for MH370 in future".

Malaysia's new government has not indicated that it wants to revive the search but has pledged to be more open about the mystery. Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Monday that a full report into MH370's disappearance would be published soon.

"There will not be any edits, nothing will be hidden," he told reporters.

Ocean Infinity said it had scoured over 112,000 square kilometres of seabed, including 25,000 square kilometres north of the original search zone which scientists later identified as the most likely crash site.

The ship conducting the hunt, Seabed Constructor, was a Norwegian research vessel carrying 65 crew, including two members of the Malaysian navy as the government's representatives.

It used eight autonomous drones equipped with sonars and cameras, able to operate at depths up to 6,000 metres (20,000 feet).

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

The jet's disappearance remains one of the most enduring aviation mysteries of all time and has spawned a host of theories, with some blaming a hijacking or even a terror plot.
A gun lies next to the body of a Bangladeshi alleged drug dealer after a battle with law enforcement in Chittagong

More than 100 alleged drug dealers have been killed and thousands detained in Bangladesh in the past fortnight in a Philippines-style narcotics crackdown that has raised concerns about extrajudicial killings.

Police said ten more alleged traffickers were gunned down in the early hours of Tuesday, some in shootouts with police and others in so-called gang wars between dealers.

A total of 102 suspected traffickers have been killed since Bangladesh launched an aggressive war on drugs in mid-May to smash the surging trade in yaba, a cheap pill combining methamphetamine and caffeine.

"We are saying that this war will continue until we bring it under complete control," Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP.

Around 12,000 accused dealers have been arrested and tried in special courts since the crackdown began on May 15, with many handed jail sentences of seven days to six months, he added.

Khan said there was "no question" that those killed were drug dealers, despite allegations by rights groups that innocent people had died.

"Most of those who were killed had guns. They opened fire as soon as they saw the police," he said.

"They are not good people. There are 10 to 12 (criminal) cases against each of them."

But the National Human Rights Commission this week expressed "grave concern" at the mounting death toll and sounded the alarm over alleged extrajudicial killings.

The Rapid Action Battalion, an elite police unit in charge of the sweep, said all 24 people killed by its forces were "top drug traders" but provided no evidence.

One of those killed was a councillor from Teknaf whom supporters say had no involvement with drugs.

The rest died in late-night shootouts with police or shootouts among themselves over turf and drugs, officials said.

Among those killed Tuesday were two alleged kingpins apparently found dead by police after a so-called drugs war in Jessore district, local police chief A.K.M Ajmal Huda told AFP.

"We found the bodies after the gunfight between two rival groups of drug traders," he said.

Bangladesh has struggled to contain the trade in "yaba", with hundreds of millions of pills entering the country from Myanmar.

Authorities last year seized a record 40 million pills but said an estimated 250-300 million others entered the market.
A blistering UN report has accused the Afghan state of failing to prosecute criminal violence against women

The United Nations issued a blistering report Tuesday accusing the Afghan state of violating women's rights by failing to prosecute criminal violence against them, underscoring widespread gender brutality nearly 17 years after the Taliban's fall.

A law protecting women from violence has been in place since 2009, but instead of enforcing it authorities are allowing and sometimes overseeing informal mediation to resolve criminal cases, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in the report.

In a country where women are often confined to the home and seen as subordinate to men, access to justice remains "severely inadequate" and promotes impunity for perpetrators, UNAMA added.

The report -- titled "Injustice and Impunity" -- documents the experiences of women who survived violence and tried to bring criminal complaints against their male attackers in 237 cases across Afghanistan from August 2015 until December 2017.

Of them, 145 were resolved by mediation, the report said, adding that it documented a "consistent pattern" of women being pressured by authorities as well as their families to withdraw their complaints.

The report also examined 280 cases of murder, including many carried out in the name of so-called "honour", in which women are killed -- often by male relatives -- for bringing what is described as "shame" on the family under an outdated, patriarchal social code.

Only 50 of them -- or 18 percent -- resulted in the perpetrators being punished under the law.

The landmark 2009 Elimination of Violence Against Women (EVAW) law criminalises child marriage, forced marriage, forced self-immolation, rape and other violence against women.

There is no provision in Afghan law that allows for mediation in such criminal cases.

Pressuring a woman to accept mediation therefore "amounted to a direct breach of the EVAW Law, the Penal Code, and constituted a human rights violation on the part of the State," the report said.

"Once mediated, incidents of violence against women are essentially transformed from 'criminal acts' into mere 'family disputes'," Danielle Bell, UNAMA's human rights chief, told AFP.

Women "are encouraged to reconcile with the perpetrator as if no actual crime occurred, or to seek a divorce if the parties cannot reach an agreement. Such outcomes directly contradict the spirit and letter of the EVAW Law."

It also means that once a complaint is made, the risk of seeing the violence repeated is "quite high", Bell said.

The Afghan government had made "concrete" efforts, however, and agreed that "there is no room for forced mediation and informal justice in criminal offences", according to the report.

But it said the frequent failures to investigate and prosecute such crimes contributed to "the existing high rate of impunity and strengthened the normalisation of violence against women in the Afghan society".
Six people have been murdered in southern India this month based on rumours spread on social media, police say

Indian police on Tuesday urged the public against believing rumours on social media after a sixth person falsely accused of being a child trafficker was killed by an angry mob.

A transgender woman was lynched and three others seriously injured in Hyderabad city at the weekend by a crowd that linked them to a child exploitation ring that police say does not exist.

The 52-year-old's murder was the sixth this month in southern India prompted by false and persistent rumours on social media about a child kidnapping gang, police said.

A 42-year-old man was beaten to death last week in Nizamabad district, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Hyderabad, after a mob accused him of being a child kidnapper.

"There are no kidnapping gangs in Hyderabad," the city's police commissioner Anjani Kumar told AFP on Tuesday.

"We warn (the) public... (against) harming anyone based on rumours on social media."

Dozens of police officers and locals marched through the southern city on Monday evening with loudspeakers urging people not to take the law into their own hands.

"Don't believe the rumours," the policemen chanted.

Police have arrested 35 people in connection with the beating of the transgender woman on Saturday. She died in hospital on Sunday.

Authorities have issued warnings in Telangana -- where the attack occurred -- and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states where vigilantes have murdered four others this month over the same rumour.

A hundreds-strong mob killed a labourer and injured seven others on May 20 in Andhra Pradesh, believing the men were linked to a child trafficking gang.

His death came a day after a beggar was lynched for the same reason in the same coastal state.

Police said most of the victims were not from the localities where they were killed.

Officials are yet to find any cases of child kidnapping related to the videos circulating on social media platforms like WhatsApp.

But a dozen people have been arrested for circulating the videos, which show men hoisting a child from outside a home and mutilating an infant.
Lawyers in charge of the Kamal Matmati case, a member of the Islamist movement Ennahdha who was arrested in 1991 during Ben Ali's rule and tortured to death, gather in the Gabes court on May 29, 2018

A Tunisian court on Tuesday heard the first round of cases brought by a commission probing human rights violations stretching back six decades, with 14 former officials, including the ousted dictator, on trial.

The Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) was set up in 2014 following the revolt that toppled dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011 and sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.

It has a mandate to investigate human rights violations between 1957, when Habib Bourguiba became president, and the date of its creation, with the aim of holding perpetrators to account and rehabilitating their victims.

Tuesday's first court case concerned the forced disappearance of Kamel Matmati, a member of the Islamist movement Ennahda, who was arrested in October 1991 during Ben Ali's rule, and tortured to death.

The courtroom in the southern coastal town of Gabes, where Matmati was taken, was packed with family members and activists who called for justice, an end to impunity and closure.

"We want those who killed him, tortured him, to be tried" and convicted, Matmati's widow Latifa told AFP.

"We have spent terrible years. The hardest of all is" that his body has not been returned to the family, she said.

Demonstrators carry the portrait of Kamal Matmati outside the Gabes court on May 29, 2018

"But today we are happy because the truth will be finally unveiled," she added.

The court set the next round of hearings for July 10, promising to ensure the accused are duly summoned but without specifying whether arrest warrants or extradition requests would be issued.

On trial are Ben Ali, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia, his interior minister Abdallah Kallel and 12 other former officials, including former security chief Mohamed Ali Ganzoui -- but all are being tried in their absence.

They face charges of voluntary homicide, torture and forced disappearance.

- 'Systematic crimes' -

"It is an exceptional day," defence lawyer Habib Kheder said.

"It is rare for results to emerge from a case of forced disappearance... we know part of the truth but the rest must come to light," he added.

Since the IVD began work, it has received more than 62,000 allegations of human rights violations, including rape, murder and torture.

The commission has interviewed close to 50,000 people and referred at least 32 cases of "serious violations" of human rights to Tunisian courts.

Human Rights Watch said Tuesday's trial could be a turning point for Tunisia's judicial system and to consolidate democracy in the birthplace of the Arab Spring.

"If the judiciary, one of the pillars of the past dictatorship, can deliver accountability fairly for such iconic cases, it will be such a huge step forward for consolidating democracy in Tunisia and a landmark for the entire region," said Amna Guellali, HRW's Tunisia director.

The Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) was set up in 2014 following the revolt that toppled Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali to investigate human rights violations stretching back six decades

The IVD has built its cases by documenting each one and accumulating proof such as handwritten documents implicating former senior government officials.

Thirteen specialised tribunals have been set up and Tuesday's trial is the first in a series of court cases.

"These are systematic crimes, not isolated cases," IVD president Sihem Ben Sedrine told AFP in April.

During the IVD's first hearings in November 2016, Matmati's widow said he had been snatched from his workplace in Gabes on October 7, 1991, never to be seen again.

On Tuesday his mother, Fatma, told the court how she searched for him "in every police station and in all the prisons" to no avail.

"For years I looked for him everywhere... (now) I want to know where is my son buried to pray for him," she added.
French President Emmanuel Macron (L) and Saad Hariri, meet at the Elysee Palace in Paris on November 18, 2017, more than a week after the Lebanese premier announced his resignation in a televised address from the Saudi capital Riyadh

Saudi Arabia on Tuesday rejected French President Emmanuel Macron's comment that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri had been held against his will in the kingdom in November.

Hariri announced on November 4 that he was stepping down in a televised address from Riyadh, only to rescind it the following month after Macron's intervention.

In an interview broadcast Friday by French broadcaster BFMTV, Macron described how he waded into the crisis after Hariri resigned, allegedly under pressure from the Saudi crown prince.

"Lebanon has since emerged from a serious crisis where, as I recall, a prime minister was held in Saudi Arabia for several weeks," Macron said.

On Tuesday, a Saudi foreign ministry spokesman denied that Hariri was held against his will.

"What the French president said in an interview with channel BFMTV that the kingdom had held Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is incorrect," he was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.

"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was and still supports the stability and security of Lebanon and Prime Minister Hariri," he said.

The spokesman went on to accuse Saudi regional rival Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, of stoking instability in Lebanon.

Macron's mediation in the crisis, which led Hariri to travel to Paris and then rescind his resignation, was seen by analysts as exposing the limits of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's authority.

During a his first visit to France in April as the heir to the Saudi throne, the prince and Macron hailed a warming of ties between Paris and Riyadh but conceded some differences over Iran.

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Smoke billows over the Gaza Strip on May 29, 2018, after Israeli air strikes on the Palestinian enclave which Hamas says struck bases of militant groups

Israel struck bases of militant groups in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas said, hours after nearly 30 mortars rounds were fired at the Jewish state.

At least one base belonging to Hamas and four for Islamic Jihad, an allied group, were struck, security sources said.

A spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, confirmed only that "resistance" bases were being hit.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Israel's military said it was "currently operating in the Gaza Strip. The explosions heard are related to this activity. Details to follow."

The strikes came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a "powerful" response to some 28 mortar shells fired at Israel from Gaza early Tuesday.

There were no reports of injuries.

One mortar shell exploded near a kindergarten building, a military spokesman said, causing damage to the structure.

It was the largest projectile barrage from Gaza targeting Israel since a 2014 war, according to Israel's Shin Bet internal security service.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the mortars, which Israeli media speculated were fired by Islamic Jihad.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for any fire from Gaza. It has controlled the Palestinian enclave since 2007.
More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's civil war began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests

The United States led a protest Tuesday against Syria taking over the Conference on Disarmament, calling it "a travesty" at a time when Damascus is widely accused of using chemical weapons.

The US ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament (CD), Robert Wood, briefly walked out of the room in protest when the Syrian representative took the floor.

"Syria's presence here is a travesty," he told AFP just before the session began.

"This regime has committed countless crimes against its own people through the use of chemical weapons, and it is just unacceptable for them to be leading this body," he insisted.

Syria's ambassador Hussam Edin Aala meanwhile slammed the protest as "sensational propaganda" and "characterised by double-standards."

Syria on Monday took over the rotating presidency of the CD, according to a decades-old practice among the body's 65 members following the alphabetical order of country names in English.

But despite the mechanical nature of Syria's arrival at the helm of the CD, following Switzerland and Sweden, a number of country representatives voiced their outrage that a representative of Damascus was presiding over the body that negotiated the chemical weapons ban.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's civil war began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

After hundreds of people died in chemical attacks near Damascus in 2013, a deal with Russia was struck to rid Syria of chemical weapons, staving off US air strikes.

But the United Nations and Western countries have accused Damascus of carrying out a number of chemical attacks since then.

A suspected chlorine and sarin attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 this year triggered punitive missile strikes against alleged chemical weapons sites in Syria by the US, Britain and France.

- 'Sad, shameful day' -

An image grab taken from a video released by the Syrian civil defence in Douma shows unidentified volunteers giving aid to children at a hospital following an alleged chemical attack on the rebel-held town where local medics say 40 people were killed

During the first open CD session of Syria's presidency on Tuesday, the United States led a number of diplomats in protest.

Wood briefly left the room when Syria's ambassador Aala opened the session, before returning to voice Washington's displeasure from the floor.

"Today marks a sad and shameful day in the history of this body," he told the assembly.

"Simply put, it is a travesty that the Syrian regime, which continues to indiscriminately slaughter its own people with weapons banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention, should presume to preside over this body," he said.

Wood stressed that the US would not "permit 'business as usual' in the CD while Syria presides over this body."

He said his country would be represented "in this hall to ensure that Syria is not able to advance initiatives that run counter to the interests of the United States.

"But we will fundamentally alter the nature of our presence in the plenaries," he said, before moving in protest to a seat usually reserved for assistants.

Wood's words were echoed by a number of ambassadors from other countries, including Britain and Australia.

"The UK deplores the fact that Syria will assume the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament, given the regime's consistent and flagrant disregard of international non-proliferation and disarmament norms and agreements," British ambassador Matthew Rowland said in a statement Monday.

But he pointed out that all CD members including Syria had to agree to change the rotating system.

The French representative also said Syria "does not have the moral authority to lead this body."

Others, like the representatives of China and North Korea meanwhile offered their "congratulations" to the new president of the CD, while the representative of Syrian ally Russia slammed the US and other critics for "poisoning the atmosphere" at the CD.

In the following volley of accusations, Wood countered that he was "more concerned about the poisoning of the Syrian people".

The CD, which is not a UN organisation but meets at UN headquarters in Geneva, is a multilateral disarmament forum that holds three sessions a year. It negotiates arms control and disarmament accords and focuses on the cessation of the nuclear arms race.
North Korean general Kim Yong Chol (left) also attended an inter-Korean summit at the truce village of Panmunjom last month

A senior figure in the North Korean regime was en route to the US on Wednesday, and Russia's top diplomat was preparing to visit Pyongyang as diplomatic preparations for a historic nuclear summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un gathered pace.

General Kim Yong Chol, right-hand man to the North Korean leader, will meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York, officials said.

Trump confirmed the general was on his way in a tweet and boasted that Washington would have a "great team" for the talks aimed at resolving the nuclear standoff.

The US president still hopes the summit will take place on June 12 in Singapore.

"Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young (sic) Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump wrote.

Moscow said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would travel to North Korea on Thursday to discuss Pyongyang's nuclear programme.

Last month the North's foreign minister Ri Yong Ho held rare talks with Lavrov in Moscow, part of a quickening effort to improve strained ties with global powers.

Russia was a member of six-nation talks held between 2003-8 aimed at persuading the North to scrap its nuclear programme.

Japan is also keenly watching summit preparations. Trump will meet its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington on June 7, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

"Since the president's May 24 letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the North Koreans have been engaging," she said.

"The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore."

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Kim Yong Chol was at Beijing airport Wednesday for his flight to New York. He used the restricted VIP entrance, according to AFP journalists.

Pompeo's spokeswoman said it would be the third meeting between Pompeo -- who opened contacts with the isolated Pyongyang regime when he was still CIA director -- and Kim.

"We're still finalising exactly what these meetings will look like," she said.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy before the on-again, off-again summit.

- Truce village -

Trump briefly scrapped the talks last week, citing "open hostility" from the North, but since then both sides have dialled down the rhetoric and the process appears to be back on track.

Since the US cancelled the planned summit last week, both sides have dialled down the rhetoric

On Sunday US negotiators, headed by Washington's ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, began meeting North Korean counterparts in the truce village of Panmunjom that divides the two Koreas.

"They plan to have additional meetings this week," Sanders said.

Kim Yong Chol will be the most senior North Korean on US soil since Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok met then-president Bill Clinton in 2000.

General Kim Yong Chol (L) be the most senior North Korean on US soil since Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok met then president Bill Clinton in 2000

The general has played a front-seat role during recent rounds of diplomacy aimed at ending the nuclear stalemate on the Korean peninsula.

He sat next to Trump's daughter Ivanka, who is also a White House aide, during February's closing ceremony for the Winter Olympics in South Korea, an event that was seen as a turning point in the nuclear crisis.

He also accompanied Kim Jong Un on both of his recent trips to China to meet President Xi Jinping, and held talks with Pompeo when he travelled to Pyongyang.

- Yawning gap -

The general is a notorious figure in South Korea, where he is accused of masterminding the 2010 sinking of the Cheonan navy corvette, which killed 46 sailors, an attack for which North Korea denies responsibility.

From 2009 to 2016, he also headed North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau, the unit tasked with cyber warfare and intelligence gathering.

Kim Chang Son (L) gets into a car as he leaves a hotel in Singapore

General Kim is one of several North Korean officials under US sanctions, but State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said she was sure the US had taken appropriate steps to allow him to visit New York unmolested.

His journey to the US caps a frenetic few days of meetings between North Korean and American officials.

An AFP photographer saw Kim Chang Son, Kim Jong Un's de facto chief of staff, in Singapore Tuesday for preparatory discussions there.

The key task is to settle the agenda. The main stumbling block is likely to be the concept of "denuclearization" -- both sides say they want it, but there is a yawning gap between their definitions.

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.

But analysts say North Korea will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given security guarantees that the US will not try to topple the regime.

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Shanghai (Gasgoo)- Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd (Changan Auto) announced that Gong Bin, Huang Zhongqiang and Luo Minggang will no longer serve as the company's vice president, according to an official personnel change statement released on May 28.

According to the statement, Gong Bin will not work in Changan Auto after he steps down as vice president. He was officially hired as the companys vice president on April 14, 2011 and has been in charge of the production and marketing of sedan businesses. Previously, he had assumed the office of chairman, general manager in Chongqing Jialing Special Equipment Co.,Ltd, chairman and general manager in China Jialing Industrial Co.,Ltd (Group) and vice president in China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC)'s motorcycle unit, etc.

Although Huang Zhongqiang and Luo Minggang will no longer take the position of vice president, they will still stay in Changan Auto. Huang Zhongqiang, before he became the Changan Auto's vice president, had hold posts in China Chang'an Automobile Group and Changan Suzuki.

Luo Minggang joined Changan Auto in 1995 and was appointed as vice president in 2009. During his job career, he had still served as executive vice president of Changan Ford Mazda Engine Co.,Ltd.

None of the three former vice presidents holds shares in Changan Auto.

Changan Auto just launched its new development strategy on the eve of 2018 Auto China, involving a big products restructuring.

Apart from the existing Changan Passenger Vehicle (PV), the company will promote an all-new mid-to-high-end brand. Besides, the automaker officially renamed Changan commercial vehicle unit as Oushang Cars and its light vehicle unit as Kaicheng Cars which is positioned as a smart logistics CV brand, which works on improving the urban logistics efficiency.

In new energy vehicle (NEV) area, the automaker plans to complete 3 major NEV platforms by 2020 and launch a total of 21 BEVs and 12 HEVs by 2025, covering whole series from small-sized vehicle to high-performance coupe.
Fred Warmbier (pictured here) and his wife are pursuing legal action against North Korea over their son's death

The father of Otto Warmbier, the US student who died after being held in North Korea, said Tuesday he favoured US talks with Pyongyang, a move he hoped would bring "the world's most barbaric dictatorship...out of its hole".

Otto Warmbier was arrested in North Korea for a petty offence and held for more than a year before he was released in a comatose state in 2017.

Warmbier, aged 22, died shortly after he was flown home unconscious. Although North Korea claimed he had contracted botulism in detention, the US has since alleged that he was tortured in custody.

US President Donald Trump is planning to hold a historic summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

"The diplomatic track with negotiations, I support them," Otto's father Fred Warmbier said at the Oslo Freedom Forum, an annual gathering of human rights activists in the Norwegian capital.

"Not talking to North Korea has helped foster the world's most threatening, barbaric dictatorship. I don't know if talking to them is going to change them but at least it will bring them out of their hole and force them to engage."

The diplomatic efforts have however not prevented Warmbier and his wife Cynthia from pursuing legal action against North Korea.

The couple has accused the Pyongyang regime in a US court of murder and torture of their son, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a propaganda poster.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to force them to be answerable to what they did to my son," Fred Warmbier said.
Despite President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's appeal for a large turnout in March polls only 41 percent of registered voters cast their ballots

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will be sworn in for his second term on Saturday during a special parliament session, state-media reported.

Sisi's second term in office was sealed when he won 97 percent of valid votes in a presidential election in March.

Saturday will be the first presidential swearing in to be held in parliament since former ruler Hosni Mubarak began his fifth consecutive term in 2005, Al-Akhbar newspaper reported Tuesday.

The current parliament was elected in 2015, a year after Sisi was elected for his first term.

The session will be attended by lawmakers and media personalities, as well as other guests including ambassadors, head of universities, and religious leaders, Al-Ahram newspaper reported.

Sisi defeated sole rival Moussa Mostafa Moussa, who was seen by critics as a token candidate to try to legitimise the Egyptian leader's re-election, during the March vote.

Before Moussa's inclusion in the race, all serious presidential hopefuls had dropped out, been sidelined, or were arrested.

Despite Sisi's appeal for a large turnout, only 41 percent of registered voters cast their ballots, with seven percent spoiling their ballots.

Sisi, a former army chief, ousted his Islamist predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013 amid mass protests against him.

Morsi was Egypt's first democratically elected president, and the first leader not from military ranks, but his year in office was divisive and sparked massive protests demanding his resignation.
Visitors try out the cells in the renovated Victoria Prison

A former colonial prison and police station in Hong Kong welcomed the public into sunny courtyards and art spaces Tuesday as the city tries to undo its reputation for prioritising development over heritage.

The multi-million renovation project saw the overhaul of the complex built by the British between the mid-19th and 20th centuries which housed the city's first jail -- Victoria Prison -- as well as its central police station and court buildings.

Colloquially known as Tai Kwun, or "big station", former Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh was among those jailed there in the 1930s.

Opening its doors to the public for the first time since the renovation, visitors roamed through former prison cells which have been preserved and converted into an interactive museum.

Other parts of the 16-building complex have been transformed into outdoor squares, restaurants and sleek new exhibition spaces by Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron, which designed London's Tate Modern art gallery.

A projection in a cell shows a depiction of a prisoner attempting an escape from Victoria Prison

"There are modern buildings surrounding this but conserved elements in here. It's like the past and present are assembled together," said Annie Leung, a homemaker in her early 40s.

"I live nearby, so I really wanted a leisurely and tranquil place like this," she added.

High school student Smith Yip thought the museums could "really show the old days of Hong Kong" at a time when there is less space in the city for learning about local culture and history, compared with the city's ubiquitous shopping malls.

One of Hong Kong's oldest surviving collection of buildings and declared monuments, the compound was officially decommissioned in 2006.

It sits on a slope in the buzzing downtown Soho district, now surrounded by the densely packed city's tower blocks and skyscrapers.

The revitalisation process took over a decade, complicated by the collapse of a wall and the discovery of a secret mural in a chapel.

The Hong Kong Jockey Club led the project in partnership with the government, pumping in HK$3.8 billion ($484 million) and describing it as the club's largest heritage project in the city.

It comes as concern grows that China wants to erase Hong Kong's colonial heritage -- some Beijing officials have called for the city to shake off its colonial past.

But there has been public resistance to the airbrushing of history.

Protesters chained themselves to the Queen's Pier -- the former landing place for British dignitaries -- in an unsuccessful attempt to stop its demolition in 2007.

Conservationists have also campaigned against commercial and luxury redevelopment plans led by developers targeting characterful old areas of the city.

People visit the former Victoria Prison on its opening day after a multi-million renovation project

Some buildings have survived -- the 106-year-old domed former legislative council building reopened as the Court of Final Appeal in 2015.

Police barracks in central Hong Kong have also been converted into a shopping hub featuring local designers.
A lawsuit accuses CBS chairman CEO Les Moonves of an illegal effort to win control of thje media company by diluting the special voting shares owned by the Redstone family

The Redstone family controlling CBS filed a countersuit Tuesday alleging an illegal power grab of the media company by the board and its chief executive Les Moonves.

The latest legal action comes amid an ugly war for control of the US television giant and a hotly disputed plan to merge it with media rival Viacom.

The lawsuit was filed in a Delaware court by National Amusements Inc., a holding company directed by Shari Redstone acting on behalf of her ailing 95-year-old father, Sumner Redstone.

The complaint, filed on the heels of a CBS lawsuit against the Redstones, says Moonves and the CBS board acted illegally by trying to dilute the special voting shares that give the family control of the company.

It contends the family had no intention, despite the claims by the CBS board, of forcing a merger with Viacom, which is also controlled by the Redstone family and was split from CBS in 2006.

The only logical explanation for the CBS action, accord to the lawsuit, is that Moonves "has tired of having to deal with a stockholder with voting control and has taken particular umbrage that the exercise of such stockholder's control has migrated from Sumner Redstone to his daughter, Ms. Redstone."

The lawsuit said the board backed Moonves after he delivered an ultimatum -- threatening to resign, with a $180 million "golden parachute" payment -- unless the structure of the company was changed.

The CBS lawsuit filed earlier this month claimed Shari Redstone was interfering with the board's evaluation of a proposed tie-up with Viacom and was threatening to replace its board members.

Tuesday's complaint says the CBS claims are untrue, and that National Amusements in early May "determined that it no longer supported a merger" with Viacom.

In a statement, National Amusements said, "While Les Moonves is an extremely capable television executive, neither he, nor the board acting at his behest, is entitled to strip NAI of its voting control."

CBS said in a statement Tuesday that its board stands by its claims that National Amusements "misused its power to the detriment of CBS shareholders."

A judge on May 17 denied a CBS request for a restraining order against Shari Redstone and National Amusements.

The CBS board went ahead with its plan, subject to court approval, for a special dividend which would have the effect of diluting the voting power of the Redstones.
Experts say children remain at risk in Myanmar as new underage recruits continue to trickle into the ranks of both the military and insurgent groups

Myanmar has not done enough to fulfil its promise to end the use of child soldiers and underage recruitment may even be on the rise, a top UN official said Tuesday.

The military and a number of rebel groups have for years drafted underage soldiers to battle in several civil conflicts festering in Myanmar's remote borderlands.

The army vowed to end its use child soldiers in 2012, the year after it brought decades of junta rule to an end, and has discharged hundreds of underage soldiers in the years since.

But experts say children remain at risk as new underage recruits continue to trickle into the ranks of both the military and insurgent groups.

Despite her "frank and constructive" discussions with authorities, UN special representative for children and armed conflict Virginia Gamba said that the army was not providing timely evidence that it was discharging child soldiers.

"When we ask for information, when we ask for verification of places, when we ask about the detention of children, its too slow," she told reporters in Yangon at the end of an official trip.

"The answers come very slowly. Sometimes months or even years pass."

Gamba added the UN was "worried" that some rebel groups battling the army were increasing the number of underage recruits in their ranks.

Human rights groups have been highly critical of the country's lack of progress in demobilising child soldiers.

"Myanmar remains on a watchlist because of the militarys absolute failure to protect children in areas of armed conflict," said David Baulk from regional watchdog Fortify Rights.

Many child recruits have been sent to remote areas near Myanmar's border with China, where a recent upsurge in fighting between rebel groups and the military has displaced thousands of people.

There are no concrete figures on how many children are still among the estimated 500,000 troops that serve in Myanmar's military or insurgent armies.
A picture taken on July 17, 2015 shows activists waving Georgia's flag at a rally against what they called Russia's "de facto annexation" of Georgian territories

Syria on Tuesday recognised the Russian-backed breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent from the former Soviet state of Georgia, prompting Tbilisi to cut diplomatic ties with Damascus.

"A deal has been reached between the Syrian Arab Republic, the Republic of Abkhazia, and the Republic of South Ossetia to exchange recognitions and set up diplomatic ties at the embassy level," a Syrian foreign ministry official said, quoted by state news agency SANA.

Syria has been a close ally of Russia for decades, but ties have strengthened since Moscow intervened militarily in 2015 to boost Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's troops in the country's civil war.

Its decision to recognise the two breakaway regions of Georgia prompted an outcry from Tbilisi, which blamed it on meddling from Moscow.

"With this act the Assad regime declared its support for Russia's military aggression against Georgia, the illegal occupation of Abkhazia and (South Ossetia) regions and the ethnic cleansing that has been taking place for years," Georgia said.

"Considering the aforesaid, Georgia initiated the procedures to break off the diplomatic relations with the Syrian Arab Republic," its foreign ministry said in a statement.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but Russia and a handful of other countries say they are independent.

Russia waged a brief war with Georgia in 2008 over the two regions and has stationed thousands of troops there.

Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru were the only other countries that recognised the two regions' independence before Syria's decision on Tuesday.

Most Western countries cut ties with Syria shortly after the uprising broke out in 2011, and the Arab League formally suspended Syria's membership in November 2011.

Oman is the only Gulf country that has maintained full diplomatic relations with Syria, while Egypt and others still maintain low-level ties with a charge d'affaires.
The deadly attack took place not far from Palma, a small town in northern Mozambique which is gearing up to be the country's new natural gas hub

Ten people were beheaded in a village in northern Mozambique, police said on Tuesday, as local sources blamed the attack on Islamists.

The pre-dawn attack on Sunday occurred in two small villages close to the border with Tanzania and not far from Palma, a small town gearing up to be the country's new natural gas hub in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

"There are 10 citizens who have been hideously killed," Inacio Dina, the national police spokesman told a news conference in Maputo, adding the attackers used machetes.

Two of those killed were boys aged 15 and 16 years who had set out in the early hours, "hunting mice to eat," said the police. Villagers had earlier said the fatalities included children.

No arrests have been made yet.

- 'Scary environment' -

Without mentioning the group of the attackers by name, police's Dina vowed that "we will hunt and find them and take them to the court as happened with others", in apparent reference to attacks that occurred elsewhere in the same province in October.

Police reinforcements have been sent to the villages to step up security .

"The environment is scary," said Dina.

Cabo Delgado province has seen a number of attacks by suspected radical Islamists since October.

One of the victims of the latest attack was the leader of Monjane village, a local resident said, without giving his name for fear of reprisals.

"They targeted the chief as he had been providing information to the police about the location of al-Shabaab in the forests," he told AFP, referring to an armed group believed responsible for a deadly October attack on a police station and military post in the town of Mocimboa da Praia.

Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed then in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack on the country.

The group has no known link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name.

In the following weeks, at least 300 Muslims, including Tanzanians, were arrested and several mosques forced to close.

Alex Vines, a specialist analyst on Mozambique for the London-based Chatham House told AFP that the "new attacks are unsurprising and a reminder of the seriousness of the situation".

"A number of independent assessments of the situation in Cabo Delgado conducted over the last three months have concluded that the security situation (there) remains fragile and continued attacks probable," he said.

- 'Serious situation' -

Police suspect the attackers are hiding in the forests surrounding the villages. A local villager said police were called during the attack but "arrived very late and the attackers were already gone. Nothing was stolen".

"They are becoming much more radical now as they are facing attacks from government," said another villager.

"This attack is a worrying sign of the deterioration of the situation," said Eric Morier-Genoud, a lecturer in African History at the Queen's University Belfast. "On the one hand the rate of attacks appears to intensify, on the other hand, the methods seem to be radicalised, with decapitations becoming more and more common".

A study published last week by a Mozambican academic Joao Pereira said up to 40 members of the radical group "have been trained by movements" that operate in the Great Lakes region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Kenya.

The increase in attacks in the north of the country could present a problem for Mozambique, which holds general elections next year and has its eyes set on recently-discovered gas reserves.

Vast gas deposits discovered off the shores of Palma could transform the impoverished country's economy.

Experts predict that Mozambique could become the world's third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

But Morier-Genoud suggested the group won't pose immediate "significant danger" to the gas project, urging that government engages the northern region from social and religious platforms instead of resorting strictly to a military response.

The country's north has largely been excluded from the economic growth of the last 20 years, and the region sees itself as a neglected outpost, giving the radical Al-Shabaab-style ideology a receptive audience.

Mozambique this month passed an anti-terrorism law that punishes terrorism activity with more than 40 years in jail.
Starbucks staged four hours of racial bias training for its 175,000 US employees -- including at this store in Chelsea, New York -- in a closely watched exercise that spotlights lingering problems of discrimination

Starbucks closed more than 8,000 stores on Tuesday to train around 175,000 employees against racial bias, an unprecedented public operation that highlights America's ongoing struggle with discrimination.

The move follows the April 12 arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks, which sparked outrage, protests and soul-searching about racial tensions that have deteriorated under President Donald Trump.

For many, the training was overshadowed by ABC's decision to cancel hit sitcom "Roseanne" after its star Roseanne Barr, a Trump supporter, made a remark decried as racist against former White House aide Valerie Jarrett.

"We realize that four hours of training is not going to solve racial inequity in America or anyone coming into our stores who may have a problem," Starbucks executive chairman Howard Schultz admitted on CNN.

"But we have to start the conversation."

While store managers declined to talk to media and the press was not invited to the training sessions, staff were to watch taped messages from Schultz and CEO Kevin Johnson, as well as a message from Common, the rapper and activist.

Employees will watch a film from documentary maker Stanley Nelson on African American history and the civil rights struggle, before discussing in groups their own experience of racial discrimination.

The curriculum, to be made available at a later date, was drawn up in consultation with US president Barack Obama's former attorney general Eric Holder and civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson, among others.

As a result, frappuccino lovers had to shop elsewhere. The coffee giant said it was designed to make Starbucks "a place where all people feel welcome."

The company pledged to integrate further trainings in the United States and around the world. Starbucks has 25,000 coffee shops in 70 countries.

More than 8,000 stores across the United States closed to conduct employee training on racial bias

Estimated to cost Starbucks $12-14 million in lost sales, the exercise was criticized by some as virtue signaling, but has been cautiously welcomed by black officials and activists.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and one of those consulted on the curriculum, said it "created an important window" for retail corporations "to honestly and forthrightly tackle racial inequality."

- 'If it is genuine' -

In New York and Washington, Starbucks customers who dashed out for a sandwich or a caffeine fix before it was too late welcomed the move.

"Smart idea. It should have been done a while ago," sales rep Chad Mittleman, 31, told AFP in Midtown Manhattan.

"If it is actually genuine and not a PR move, it will be a good thing," said Devon Smith, a 31-year-old African American on L Street near the White House.

"At the end of the day, it is all in the attitude and belief of the individual employee," he said. "It's good but I don't know whether it will bring definitive change."

Starbucks announced the training on April 17 as it battled to contain outrage over the arrest of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, apologizing and adopting an open bathroom policy to non-paying customers.

After Nelson and Robinson stepped into the cafe, one of them asked to use the restroom while waiting for a third person to arrive for a business meeting.

Staff refused, on the grounds that he was not a customer. After the pair sat down to wait, the manager called the police.

A video that went viral showed uniformed officers questioning then handcuffing the two men, who put up no resistance, while a white client repeatedly asks an officer, "What'd they do? What'd they do?"

But US social networks have been rocked by a slew of other recent examples of racial discrimination going viral. A student called the police in May when a black graduate student at Yale University fell asleep in a common room.

Earlier this month, a 22-year-old black man was choked by police at a Waffle House in North Carolina after taking his sister to prom, the fourth incident at outlets of the restaurant to attract national attention in less than two weeks.

Other large companies have also adopted racial bias training, albeit with less fanfare. Target introduced its first unconscious bias sessions in 2017, which it says are being rolled out across the company.

American Airlines announced last year that it would train 120,000 employees after the civil rights group NAACP warned against "a pattern of disturbing incidents" reported by African-American passengers specific to the company.
A UN camp in Timbuktu came under a four-hour rocket, mortar and car bomb attack on April 14. Around 15 assailants were reported killed

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Mali on Tuesday to show support for UN peacekeepers facing an Islamist insurgency that has killed scores of their colleagues.

Guterres, received at the airport by Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, went to the UN's MINUSMA base for ceremonies marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.

Guterres paid tribute to "the brave men and women serving in our mission in Mali, our operation with the highest casualties last year. At their own personal risk, they save lives serving the cause of peace".

Twenty-one troops and seven civilians with MINUSMA died last year, the UN said last week. It was the highest number of fatalities of any UN peacekeeping mission for the fourth year running.

MINUSMA has 12,500 military and police personnel. It has lost more than 160 people since it deployed in 2013 -- a figure that accounts for more than half of UN peacekeeping fatalities over this period.

During his two-day "solidarity visit" to the capital Bamako and the provinces, Guterres will observe the fasting ritual of Ramadan, the UN said.

He is being accompanied by the UN's top officials for peacekeeping and logistical support, and by the head of Unicef, Henrietta Fore.

Northern Mali fell into the grip of al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in 2012.

Most of them were ousted or dispersed by a French military operation, which was launched in January 2013 and continues to this day.

MINUSMA deployed to help stabilise the area, but swathes of the territory remain lawless, and attacks have spilled over to the centre and south of the country and into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Cormoran President Azali Assoumani at his inauguration in May 2016. Critics say the former colonel is trying to undermine democracy

The head of the Indian Ocean state of the Comoros, President Azali Assoumani, intends to seek re-election next year if constitutional changes are approved in an upcoming referendum, his spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.

Azali, 59, a former colonel who won the last election in 2016, is serving a single five-year term, allowed under the current constitution drafted in 2001.

But a referendum scheduled on July 29 could change the system -- which sees power rotate every five years between the archipelagos three main islands -- and allow Azali to run for two fresh five year-terms.

Presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for 2021, would be held next year.

"If the 'no' wins, the president will end his term and withdraw. If the 'yes' wins, he will resign and will seek another mandate," spokesman Mohamed Ismailla told journalists in the capital Moroni.

"Consulting the people is the most democratic process for modifying the constitution," he said.

Azali's critics say the president is intent on enshrining himself in power and destroying democracy.

He first seized power in a coup in 1999 and ruled until 2006 after winning a democratic election in 2002.

In May 2016 he returned again as president after an election marred by violence and allegations of voting irregularities.

The Constitutional Court has been suspended, demonstrations outlawed and one of Azali's leading critics, former president Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, has been placed under house arrest.

An archipelago of three islands between Mozambique and Madagascar and one of the world's poorest countries, the Comoros has had a long history of coups and political turmoil since it gained independence from France in 1975. A fourth island in the group, Mayotte, remains part of France.
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Sitcom star Roseanne Barr had apologized for what she called a 'bad joke' on Twitter that was widely decried as racist

US television network ABC announced on Tuesday it was canceling Roseanne Barr's hit comedy "Roseanne" over a joke she made on Twitter that was widely decried as racist.

The sitcom star had earlier apologized to African-American former Barack Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, for what she called a "bad joke."

"Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby = vj," tweeted Barr, star of the newly revived ABC TV comedy "Roseanne."

After a barrage of criticism on social media, Barr deleted the tweet, apologized and then said she was leaving Twitter.

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans," Barr tweeted. "I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me - my joke was in bad taste."

"I apologize. I am now leaving Twitter," she said.

The mea culpa was not enough for ABC however, which issued a statement from its entertainment president Channing Dungey saying it was axing the hit show over Barr's "abhorrent, repugnant" tweet, which was "inconsistent with our values."

Barr's 1988-97 hit show "Roseanne" returned to the air this year with her as a Trump-supporting character.

The show is a rare depiction of working-class life on US television and also of Trump supporters, who have been largely ignored by Hollywood.

Barr is also an outspoken backer of President Donald Trump in real life and frequently voices her support for him on Twitter.

The revival of "Roseanne" received good ratings and was recently renewed for a second season.

African-American comedian Wanda Sykes, a consulting producer on the comedy, announced Tuesday she would not be returning to the show.

Campaigns had also been launched on social media to pressure advertisers to drop their support for the sitcom.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo puts religious freedom at the heart of the US human rights agenda

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will host a high-level international meeting on religious freedom, he announced Tuesday, putting the issue at the heart of the US human rights agenda.

The "Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom" will be held between the chief diplomats of "like-minded governments" in Washington on July 25 and 26.

US President Donald Trump's administration has been criticized for downplaying human rights in international relations in favor of seeking America's economic interest.

But Christian conservatives in the cabinet, such as Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence, have been outspoken in support of religious freedom around the world.

"The ministerial will also be my first to host as a secretary of state, and that's very intentional," Pompeo told reporters at the launch of the annual US religious freedom report.

"Religious freedom is indeed a universal human right that I will fight for, one that our team at the department will continue to fight for, and one that I know President Trump will continue to fight for.

"The United States will not stand by as spectators. We will get in the ring and stand in solidarity with every individual who seeks to enjoy their most fundamental of human rights."

The report, compiled every year by US envoys around the world, covers the state of religious freedom in 200 countries and territories around the world.

In announcing its release, the State Department insisted that, while the report itself is meant to be a simple objective account, it does inform US government decisions.

- Watch list -

In particular, it will serve as a guide when Pompeo decides whether and when to update the US list of "Countries of Particular Concern" -- those that most egregiously limit freedom of conscience.

Currently those countries are China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- with Pakistan on a watch list.

But, while the United States does protest persecution in these states, the list has not stopped Washington maintaining extremely warm and close ties with Saudi Arabia, for example.

And the US envoy for religious freedom, Ambassador Sam Brownback, was forced to defend America's credibility to issue such a report in the light of Trump's efforts to halt or limit US visas for Muslim travellers.

Rights watchdogs were extremely guarded in their response to the report, concerned that the administration's evident enthusiasm for religious rights in some countries might be used to distract from broader concerns.

"It's clear Secretary Pompeo intends to use this report as a way to elevate the importance of religious freedom, which could be positive as long as doing so does not minimize other rights concerns and truly protects victims of all religious persecution," said Sarah Margon, Washington Director at Human Rights Watch.

And she warned against the administration allowing itself to be "manipulated by ideologues" at home or abroad.

At the launch, special envoy Brownback made particular mention of the fate of Myanmar's Rohingya -- a Muslim minority group that he said faced the "ethnic cleansing of a religious minority."

"I don't think you've seen progress taking place there in the country. If anything, the administration there is doubling now its effort," he said of Myanmar's authorities.

Brownback also warned that China's Muslim Uighurs and Tibetan Buddhists are facing persecution, along with the country's Falun Gong and Christian minority groups.

But, while acknowledging that the situation in Saudi Arabia -- where non-Muslim worship is illegal -- is bad, Brownback said he saw an opening for reform under Washington's ally Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

"I'm hopeful you're going to start seeing change coming out of that country and that you are starting to see change come out of Saudi Arabia," he said.
Although President Cyril Ramaphosa still has to sign the bill into law, an unprecedented piece of minimum wage legislation passed in South African parliament is expected to improve the livelihoods of an estimated six million South Africans

South Africa's parliament on Tuesday passed a national minimum wage bill in a landmark step aimed at bridging one of the world's highest income inequality gaps.

The bill attempts to ensure that the lowest paid workers receive a minimum of 20 rand ($1.60) per hour.

Although President Cyril Ramaphosa still has to sign the bill into law, the unprecedented piece of legislation is expected to improve the wages and livelihoods of an estimated six million South Africans earning less.

"The adoption of this historic National Minimum Wage bill goes a long way in protecting millions of vulnerable workers," the ruling African National Congress said in a statement.

Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant hailed the move saying although small, it was crucial.

"Every journey starts often with a small step. The journey to address the plight of the lowest paid workers reached a milestone," she said.

The bill establishes exemption provisions for employers who cannot afford the rate.

However, it was not passed without pushback from various labour unions and opposition political parties.

The Democratic Alliance (DA), the main opposition party in the country, voted against the bill saying it had "not been subjected to proper public consultation and will push hundreds of thousands of people into unemployment".

The leftist Economic Freedom Fighters, led by the firebrand Julius Malema also rejected the bill which will see workers earn a minimum 3,500 rand ($277) per month.

The second largest labour federation the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has labelled it a "slave wage", demanding instead a monthly minimum wage of 12,500 rand ($988,50).
The large Indian Ocean island nation has been rocked by violent protests against Rajaonarimampianina over electoral laws that the opposition says bar their candidates from standing

The opposition in Madagascar on Tuesday petitioned the country's top court to unseat 18 of its lawmakers who crossed the floor to join the ruling party.

The move comes just days after the same Constitutional Court ordered President Hery Rajaonarimampianina to form a unity government in a bid to end a political crisis that has plagued the island nation for more than a month.

In the decision on Friday, the court also said a consensus prime minister must be found to lead the country until general elections expected by the end of September.

Opposition MP Jean Brunelle Razafitsiandraofa told reporters the defectors' action following 2013 elections was unconstitutional.

The party with the majority in parliament normally has the right to appoint a prime minister, and if the 18 defectors lose their seats, the opposition will have the upper hand in the selection process.

The large Indian Ocean island nation has been rocked by violent protests against Rajaonarimampianina over electoral laws that the opposition says bar their candidates from standing.

The crisis has triggered international concern, with the African Union, the UN and regional bloc Southern African Development Community (SADC) all dispatching envoys.

Madagascar has seen a series of popular protest movements since gaining independence from France in 1960, often resulting in bloodshed.

Elected in 2013, Rajaonarimampianina has not yet announced whether he will stand for re-election.

But two former heads of state have already mooted runs: Marc Ravalomanana, who was president from 2002 until he was ousted in a 2009 coup, and Andry Rajoelina, who removed Ravalomanana during another coup.

The two former rivals have joined forces in the protests against the government.
Libya's military leader Khalifa Haftar (C), whose rival Libyan National Army dominates the country's east, stands with members of his delegation on the steps of the Elysee Palace after an international conference on Libya in Paris on May 29, 2018

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres praised Tuesday an agreement endorsed by Libya's rival leaders to support elections as a "significant and welcome step forward" in the North African country's political transition.

Four powerful players in Libya, including UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and military leader Khalifa Haftar, agreed during a meeting in Paris to work toward holding parliamentary and presidential elections by December 10.

"The declaration is a significant and welcome step forward in Libya's political transition," said a UN statement released hours after the meeting was held.

Also present were Aguila Saleh Issa, the parliament speaker based in the eastern city of Tobruk, and Khalid al-Mishri, head of the High Council of State in Tripoli.

"The meeting recognized the importance of developing a constitutional basis for elections," said the UN statement, adding that the four leaders had agreed to work with the United Nations on a proposal and timeline to adopt a constitution.

The Libyan players "committed to work constructively with the United Nations to realize parliamentary and presidential elections in a secure environment by 10 December 2018 at the latest and to respect the results of the election."

A UN conference will be held to follow up on the Paris meeting, the statement said, without specifying a date.

The United Nations has launched a plan to bring stability to Libya through elections this year that are meant to turn the page on years of turmoil since the 2011 ouster of Moamer Kadhafi.

Libya remains divided between the UN-backed government in Tripoli and a rival administration in the east that enjoys support from Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates.
US authorities said German pharmaceutical giant Bayer and US conglomerate Monsanto can proceed with their merger afer executing $9 billion in divestitures

Nearly two years after unveiling their proposed merger, German chemicals firm Bayer and US agricultural giant Monsanto are on the cusp of finalizing the deal following conditional US government approval.

The Justice Department's antitrust division Tuesday announced it was ready to approve the massive transaction once the two companies break off key units where they overlap. The government said the $9 billion in divestitures was necessary to address competition concerns.

"This comprehensive structural solution to significant horizontal and vertical competition concerns -- the largest merger divestiture ever required by the United States -- preserves competition in the sale of these critical agricultural products and protects American farmers and consumers," assistant attorney general Makan Delrahim said.

The mandated asset sales cover areas of overlap between the two companies including Bayer's cotton, canola, soybean and vegetable seed business and a Bayer herbicide that competes with Monsanto's Roundup product.

The companies also must sell key intellectual property and research programs to address competitiveness worries.

"Without the agreed-to divestitures, the proposed merger would likely result in higher prices, lower quality, and fewer choices across a wide array of seed and crop protection product," the US agency said.

"Under the terms of the proposed settlement, Bayer must divest those Bayer businesses that compete with Monsanto today."

The German company, which has been chasing approval from antitrust regulators on both sides of the Atlantic ever since it launched the bid in September 2016, cheered the announcement.

"Receipt of the DOJ's approval brings us close to our goal of creating a leading company in agriculture," Bayer CEO Werner Baumann said in a statement.

Monsanto, contacted by AFP, sent Bayer's statement.

The settlement still must win approval from a US court. The agreement also is subject to public comment under US government administrative procedures.

- BASF deal approved -

The EU approved the buyout, which is to create the world's biggest integrated pesticide and seeds company, in March.

Bayer was previously told by competition authorities, including the European Commission, to sacrifice existing activities in seeds and pesticides worth 7.6 billion euros ($8.8 billion) to homegrown rival BASF in exchange for approval of the Monsanto deal.

That means there will be less overlap and fewer savings when Bayer assumes the US firm's product range of genetically-modified seeds and compatible pesticides.

The EU Commission said separately on Tuesday that it approved BASF as a suitable buyer for the assets.

Environmentalists are unhappy with the deal, fearing it will give too much power to the world's leading manufacturers of GMOs and the controversial weedkiller glyphosate.

When launching the bid, Bayer said it would not introduce genetically modified crops in Europe. The deal was part of a wave of consolidation in agriculture that included combinations between Dow Chemical and DuPont and ChemChina and Syngenta.

Prior to the US announcement, Bayer had received approval from numerous other regulators, including in China and Brazil.

Shares of Monsanto rose 0.7 percent to $127.38, a rare gainer in a down day for global stocks.
A handout picture provided by the Lebanese photo agency Dalati and Nohra on May 24, 2018, shows Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri speaking during a press conference at the presidential palace in Baabda, east of the capital Beirut

Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri headed to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the second time since his shock resignation in the kingdom last year.

On November 4, Hariri announced he was stepping down in a televised address from Riyadh, sparking rumours he was being detained against his will.

After French mediation, however, he rescinded his resignation the following month and was named premier for a third term this month after Lebanon's first parliamentary polls in nine years.

"Hariri headed to Saudi Arabia for a visit expected to last a few days," his office said in a statement late Tuesday.

It is the premier's second visit to Saudi Arabia since his surprise resignation after an earlier trip in February.

Hariri, 48, has started consultations to form a coalition government.

His Future Movement lost a third of its seats on May 6, when voters reinforced the strength of the Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies.

Hariri has been prime minister since December 2016 and served his first term from 2009 to 2011.

Saudi Arabia has long been a key ally of Hariri, while Riyadh's regional foe Iran backs Hezbollah.
In another of his now accustomed policy veers, US President Donald Trump said he is moving ahead with sanctions on China even as officials try to resolve the brewing trade dispute

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is moving to finalize trade sanctions against China even as a US delegation is set to travel to Beijing for talks to resolve the dispute.

The White House said the planned sanctions announced in March, largely focused on China's theft of American intellectual property, were still in the works and details would be announced in the coming month.

It was yet another apparent change of course for Trump, who veers from harsh threats to promises of compromise and back again on trade and other more sensitive issues.

Despite announcing a truce in the trade hostilities less than 10 days ago, after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said threatened tariffs on Chinese goods were "on hold," the White House signaled it was ready to pull the trigger on a broad array of penalties.

"From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and to be reciprocal," in a statement, which spelled out a list of long-standing US trade grievances," Trump said in a statement.

The Chinese Commerce Ministry said the move breached the recent consensus reached between Washington and Beijing.

US China trade tariffs

"Whatever measures the United States takes, China has the confidence, capability and experience to defend the interests of Chinese people and the core interests of the country," the ministry said in a statement published by official new agency Xinhua.

The US trade sanctions announced in March -- including restrictions on Chinese investment, export controls and 25 percent tariffs on as much as $50 billion in Chinese tech goods -- remain under development, the White House said.

The final list of Chinese imports covered by the tariffs list will be announced June 15, and imposed shortly thereafter, while the proposed investment restrictions and enhanced export controls will be announced by June 30, according to the statement.

Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on an additional $100 billion in Chinese goods as well if Beijing retaliates.

- 'Difficult and unfair' -

The White House said "the United States will continue efforts to protect domestic technology and intellectual property, stop noneconomic transfers of industrially significant technology and intellectual property to China, and enhance access to the Chinese market."

In addition, as part of the ongoing talks "the United States will request that China remove all of its many trade barriers, including non-monetary trade barriers, which make it both difficult and unfair to do business there."

The announcement, which offered little new information, comes as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross prepares to travel to Beijing this week for another round of talks aimed at resolving the conflict, which includes a threat of matching sanctions from China on US goods.

The White House issued a second statement listing the details of many complaints against China, including dumping of goods into the US market at below market value, high tariffs and overcapacity -- likely referring to steel and aluminum, which are subject to another set of harsh US tariffs.

In addition to the bilateral talks with Beijing, the US also will continue to pursue the complaints filed in the World Trade Organization as well as the cases against individual products.

The National Retail Federation on Tuesday said it was "disappointed" with the new White House communications, saying the tariffs would raise prices, kill jobs and spur costly retaliation.

"China's trade practices raise serious concerns but job-killing tariffs aren't the answer," the statement said.

"The lack of clarity surrounding the administrations plans is creating significant uncertainty for American businesses, disrupting supply chains and threatening to undermine the economic gains weve seen over the past year.

The NRF cited a study which estimated the tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese imports could shave $3 billion off of US GDP and eliminate 134,000 jobs.

The White House announcement came on the heels of stiff criticism from lawmakers of the White House's negotiating tactics and willingness to soften tough penalties in some cases with no benefit to the US.

Trump has faced a backlash among lawmakers this month after announcing he would soften US sanctions on the Chinese telecoms equipment maker ZTE, which neared collapse due to an April ban on purchasing crucial US components.

Lawmakers in both parties also criticized the president, saying this month's truce surrendered Washington's leverage without obtaining significant concessions from Beijing.
Morgan Freeman's lawyer has demanded CNN retract a story accusing the 80-year-old movie star of multiple cases of sexual harassment

Morgan Freeman's lawyer demanded Tuesday that CNN retract a story accusing the 80-year-old movie star of multiple cases of sexual harassment.

"We presented CNN with objective evidence, including videotapes and on-the-record denials by the claimed 'victims,' that the alleged incident that gave rise to the story never happened," lawyer Robert Schwartz said in a statement.

In a letter sent to the television news network, the lawyer accused CNN of "malicious intent, falsehoods, sleight-of-hand, an absence of editorial control and journalistic malpractice."

Schwartz said in a later statement that "we proved to CNN, beyond any doubt, that the whole story was built on fakery. The credibility of the entire CNN attack on Mr Freeman has now been undermined."

Sixteen people -- eight of whom say they were victims -- last week described to CNN a range of troubling behavior by Freeman on production sets or promotional tours.

The actor issued a quick apology after the report was published.

"Anyone who knows me or has worked with me knows I am not someone who would intentionally offend or knowingly make anyone feel uneasy," Freeman said in a statement.

"I apologize to anyone who felt uncomfortable or disrespected -- that was never my intent."

One of the journalists behind the CNN report, Chloe Melas, said her own encounter with Freeman, when she was six-months pregnant, prompted her to produce the piece.

She said that during a press conference for the 2017 movie "Going in Style," Freeman looked her up and down and said "Boy, I wish I was in there."

The article also quoted an unnamed production assistant on the same film who accused Freeman of massaging the small of her back without her consent, and of trying tried to lift her skirt while asking if she was wearing underwear.

In the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal in Hollywood, the veteran actor is already facing the fallout from the accusations, including the possible withdrawal of a Lifetime Achievement Award he was given earlier this year by the Screen Actors Guild.

In his letter, Schwartz accused Melas of "baiting and prodding" a number of "so-called witnesses" to malign Freeman.

Tyra Martin, one of the television journalists cited in the CNN report, denied she was one of the accusers and said the news network "totally misrepresented" a video in which she had interviewed Freeman. The report "took my remarks out of context," she added.

Martin acknowledged having felt ill at ease one time when she stood up and Freeman asked her not to pull her skirt back down after it had ridden up. She said, however, that her interviews with the movie star "were always fun for me."

Despite his initial apology, Freeman later issued a denial of the claims against him.

"I am devastated that 80 years of my life is at risk of being undermined, in the blink of an eye, by Thursdays media reports," he said.
A general view of Jerusalem's Old City is seen in April 2018

The Czech Republic on Tuesday reopened its honorary consulate in Jerusalem, the CTK news agency reported, after President Milos Zeman voiced his wish to move the Czech embassy to the city from Tel Aviv.

The CTK named Dan Propper, a 78-year-old Israeli businessman of Czech origin, as the new honorary consul.

"I see my contribution as being especially focused on economic relations because I have links to the local entrepreneurial community," Propper told the CTK.

Opened in the early 1990s, the Czech honorary consulate in Jerusalem was closed in 2016 due to the death of the honorary consul.

The Czech Foreign Ministry vowed in April that the decision to reopen the honorary consulate had "no influence on the final agreement on Jerusalem" adding that Prague "fully respects the common position of the European Union that considers Jerusalem as the future capital of both states, that is to say, the State of Israel and the future state of Palestine."

US President Donald Trump broke with decades of policy, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, infuriating Palestinians and intensifying protests on the Gaza border, with 60 killed in clashes with Israeli forces that day.

Trump's move ruptured generations of international consensus that Jerusalem's status should be settled as part of a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority recalled its envoys to Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria after their ambassadors attended an Israeli reception marking the US embassy's move to Jerusalem.

Czech President Zeman, known for his pro-Israel stance, has repeatedly said he also wants to see his country's embassy transferred to Jerusalem.

The Czech Embassy (of Czechoslovakia then the Czech Republic) has been in Tel Aviv since 1949, except during the interruption of diplomatic relations under the former communist regime in Prague between 1967 and 1990.

Any decision to move the embassy would first need to be approved by the Czech government.
Wellington & Auckland make Top 3 Oceania Coffee Towns in Lonely Planets Global Coffee Tour

Wellington

and Auckland have been declared the best coffee towns in Oceania alongside Melbourne in Lonely Planets Global Coffee Tour, published this May.

International travel authority Lonely Planet has worked with a worldwide network of coffee-loving travel writers (and well-travelled coffee journalists) to select the worlds best cafes, roasteries and plantations that caffeine-addicted travellers can visit in more than 30 countries across Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania.

In Oceania, Lonely Planets Global Coffee Tour says Wellington, Auckland and Melbourne are the regions Top 3 Coffee Towns.

Wellington : Windy Welly may be a long way to go for some but the quality of the coffee here is unsurpassed. One of the disputed homes of the flat white, Wellington is rightly proud of its perfectionist baristas and quirky coffee shops found on every street corner. Clear your caffeine buzz with a stroll on the waterfront or up to Mt Victoria. Coffee spots reviewed in the book are Customs by Coffee Supreme, Flight Coffee Hangar and Havana Coffee Works.

Auckland : Thanks to Auckland-based roasters such as Allpress and Atomic (and their knowledge-sharing ways) its now hard to find a bad cup of coffee in New Zealand. Pop in for some barista training, or there are plenty of other spots to enjoy NZ roasts. When youve had your fill, hop on a ferry to Waiheke Island for beaches and wineries.

Also reviewed in the book are Pateas Devils Cup and C1 Espresso and Hummingbird Coffee in Christchurch.

To celebrate the launch of Lonely Planets Global Coffee Tour, weve teamed up with JOCO, the original glass reusable cup, limited edition stylish, eco-friendly coffee cups. Available for free to the first 100 people to buy the book on th June 2018. to create 100stylish, eco-friendly coffee cups. Available for free to the first 100 people to buy the book on lonelyplanet.com/shop from 7

How to use Lonely Planets Global Coffee Tour

Within each of the 37 countries in the book, Lonely Planet has organised the best coffee shops and roasteries to visit by city, or in the case of plantations, by region. In each entry authors have suggested the coffee you should taste or buy while there, and also recommend local sights and things to do so coffee tourers can explore the local area, as well as the coffee.

Lonely Planets Global Coffee Tour

May 2018 | $32.99 NZD | 1 st Edition

216mm x 171mm | 256 pages

Hardcover | ISBN

: 9781787013599
Smoke billows after a mortar fired from the Gaza Strip hit near a railway track near Sderot in southern Israel on May 29, 2018

The UN Security Council will meet Wednesday to discuss Palestinian rocket strikes on Israel, at the request of the United States which wants the top UN body to strongly condemn the attacks.

The rocket and mortar firings from the Gaza Strip were claimed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, prompting Israel to respond with air strikes on bases of the militant Palestinian groups.

It was the worst flareup since the 2014 war between Israel in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

"Mortars fired by Palestinian militants hit civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten," US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, and the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for what they're allowing to happen in Gaza."

The United States circulated a draft statement calling on the council to condemn "in the strongest terms the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants in Gaza" toward Israel, according to a copy of the text seen by AFP.

The council will hear a report from UN envoy for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov during the meeting scheduled for 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).

Israel's military has said it was not seeking an escalation, but warned Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, to rein in its fighters. Three Israeli soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire.

Islamic Jihad announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel.

The confrontation followed weeks of deadly demonstrations and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the unrest.

The US-drafted council statement would demand that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups "cease all violent activity and provocative actions, including along the boundary fence, and cease putting civilians at risk through their actions."

The council has been divided over the violence in Gaza and it was unclear whether the US-proposed statement would win full backing.

Security Council statements are adopted by consensus by all 15 members.

Separately, council diplomats are negotiating a draft resolution, put forward by Kuwait, that calls for an "international protection mission" to be deployed for the Palestinians.

Diplomats said the United States is likely to use its veto to block adoption of that measure, but Kuwait is hoping to win backing from the 14 other council members to highlight Washington's isolation on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks to reporters aboard a US military plane on May 29, 2018

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis vowed Tuesday that the US would keep confronting China over its territorial claims in the South China Sea, where Beijing has established a significant military presence on contested islands.

Mattis's remarks came after Beijing voiced "strong dissatisfaction" Sunday after two US warships sailed by an island in the disputed Paracel Island chain.

"You'll notice there's only one country that seems to take active steps to rebuff (such operations) or state their resentment of them, but it's international waters and a lot of nations want to see freedom of navigation, so we will continue that," Mattis told reporters as he flew to Hawaii.

The US Navy periodically conducts "freedom of navigation" operations in the contested waterway, where it sails close to island features China has built into military facilities as a way of showing it rejects any territorial claims.

"We are going out of our way to cooperate with Pacific nations, that's the way we do business in the world, but we are also going to confront what we believe is out of step with international law," Mattis said.

Sunday's operation was conducted just over a week after Beijing flew nuclear-capable bombers to a disputed island, drawing immediate criticism from the US.

Last week, the Pentagon pulled its invitation to China to join maritime exercises in the Pacific over Beijing's "continued militarization" of the South China Sea.

Beijing has been building artificial islands to reinforce its claim over most of the resource-rich South China Sea, despite protests from Southeast Asian countries.

Its neighbors, particularly some of those involved in maritime disputes over the waters, have expressed fears China could eventually restrict freedom of navigation and overflight.

"Our diplomats are robustly engaged on this," Mattis said.

"The concerns have come to me not just from American government circles, but also from foreign nations that are concerned, very concerned about this continued militarization of features in the South China Sea."

Mattis was heading to Hawaii to attend a change-of-command ceremony for the US military's Pacific Command.

The current head, Admiral Harry Harris, has been nominated to be the new ambassador to South Korea. He will be replaced by Admiral Philip Davidson.

Mattis is then due to attend a regional security conference in Singapore.
Eric Greitens -- once a rising Republican political star -- has resigned from his post as Missouri governor amid expanding investigations of a sex scandal and potential violations of campaign finance laws

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens -- once a rising Republican political star -- resigned Tuesday amid expanding investigations of a sex scandal and potential violations of campaign finance laws.

It was a stunning fall from grace for the military veteran and Rhodes scholar once rumored to be considering an eventual run for the presidency.

The Midwestern US state's legislature, controlled by the governor's own party, was in the midst of a special session to consider whether Greitens should be impeached, when the governor announced his resignation would be effective Friday evening.

"This ordeal has been designed to cause an incredible amount of strain on my family," said the defiant governor, who had repeatedly called the investigations against him a "witch hunt," borrowing a favorite phrase of President Donald Trump.

"I have not broken any laws or committed any offense worthy of this treatment," he added at a brief news conference, at one point clearly holding back tears.

Greitens's troubles had mushroomed over revelations of a 2015 extra-marital affair and charges, which he vehemently disputed, that he attempted to blackmail his mistress into silence with a compromising semi-nude photo.

The state legislature's investigation had expanded to probe potential campaign finance violations, as questions swirled about whether the governor's campaign illegally coordinated with a non-profit organization to conceal the identity of political donors.

The governor's decision came after a judge compelled Greitens to release information about A New Missouri and any communications or coordination between the group and his own campaign fund, according to the St Louis Post-Dispatch newspaper.

A former Greitens campaign adviser also told a state House investigative committee that the campaign had considered soliciting donations from foreign nationals, according to the newspaper.

- 'No end in sight' -

The former US Navy SEAL and nonprofit founder, who swept into power in the 2016 election, had alienated many in the Midwestern state's political establishment by casting himself as an outsider and criticizing lawmakers of both parties who disagreed with him.

The 44-year-old married governor was hobbled when an extramarital affair from two years ago became public in January, including allegations that he attempted to coerce his mistress into silence.

Greitens's mistress, who has not been publicly identified, claimed that he took a photo of her partially nude, bound and blindfolded, without her permission, and threatened to release the photo if the affair became public.

An investigation by a bipartisan state legislative committee found the woman credible, and released a report laying out her allegations in great detail.

While admitting to the extramarital affair, Greitens insisted his failings were personal and did not rise to the level of a criminal offense.

He claimed the allegations, and subsequent investigations, were the result of entrenched forces wanting to cripple him politically. Greitens repeated that claim Tuesday.

"It's clear for the forces that oppose us there's no end in sight. I cannot allow those forces to continue to cause pain and difficulty to the people that I love," the governor said.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - The Australian government announced Monday that the Senate will vote in June on cutting corporate tax rates after an opinion poll suggested the contentious reform had popular public support.

The leader of a crucial minor party said she was reassessing her opposition to proposed tax cuts in light of the polling, rekindling government hopes of achieving a key policy promise at the last election in 2016.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's conservative coalition wants to cut the corporate tax rate by 5 percent to 25 percent by 2026-27, but the measure has been blocked in the Senate, where the government holds a minority of seats.

Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann speaks during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, May 28, 2018. The Australian government announced Monday that the Senate will vote in June on cutting corporate tax rates after an opinion poll suggested the contentious reform had popular public support. Cormann, the government's chief negotiator in the Senate, said that senators will be asked to vote on the tax cuts when they next sit from June 18 to 28. (Mick Tsikas/AAP Images via AP)

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann, the government's chief negotiator in the Senate, said Monday that senators will be asked to vote on the tax cuts when they next sit from June 18 to 28.

Cormann said the need to reduce the tax burden on businesses had become more pressing for future Australian jobs and investment since the 2016 election because the United States had reduced its top corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.

"Putting businesses in Australia at an ongoing competitive disadvantage deliberately by imposing higher taxes in Australia ... puts Australian workers at an oncoming disadvantage and that is clearly the point that more and more Australians are starting to fully appreciate," Cormann told reporters.

Cormann was referring to a poll published in The Australian newspaper on Monday that showed 63 percent of respondents supported company tax cuts , with 36 percent wanting them introduced as soon as possible rather than phased in over a decade.

The poll found 29 percent of respondents opposed corporate tax cuts and 8 percent were uncommitted.

The poll was a nationwide weekend survey of 1,591 voters. It has a 2.5 percentage point margin of error.

Sen. Pauline Hanson, leader of the anti-Islam, anti-immigration and pro-President Donald Trump minor party One Nation, withdrew its support for the tax cuts last week, depriving the government of three crucial Senate votes.

She cited the government's failure to meet One Nation demands, including more trade skills training for young people, reduced immigration and a commitment to building a new coal-fired power plant.

But following the poll, Hanson said she would now consider whether the cuts should be implemented sooner than proposed.

"I will listen to what the people are saying," Hanson told the Seven Network television.

"People can ring my office and they can actually put their message across to me," she added.

Tax is shaping up as a major policy difference at elections due within a year, with the center-left opposition Labor Party arguing that the government favors big business over ordinary people.

Labor leader Bill Shorten said his party remained opposed to the reform despite the poll result.

"I don't need a poll to tell me a dumb idea when I see one," Shorten told reporters.

Australia must hold an election by May next year, but could go to the polls as early as August.

Turnbull says he intends to call the election in 2019, and his government's poor performance in opinion polls for more than 18 months will not tempt him to call an election any time soon.

Support for the tax policy might be tested in five by-elections to be held on July 28.

Cormann said the government would continue campaigning for the tax cuts at the by-elections if the Senate rejects them in June.
SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Rebels attacked an Indian army camp and an armored vehicle, leading to fighting in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said Monday. A soldier and a civilian were killed and three soldiers were wounded.

The deaths occurred overnight during fighting that followed a rebel attack on an army camp in southern Kakpora village, said a police official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Police said the civilian, a taxi driver, was caught in the crossfire and was hit by a bullet in the head. He died instantly.

On Monday, thousands participated in the man's funeral while chanting pro-rebel slogans and demanding an end to Indian rule over Kashmir.

Clashes also erupted as some youths threw stones at government forces, who fired tear gas to quell the anti-India protests. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Separately, militants targeted an Indian army armored vehicle with a remote-controlled bomb in the volatile Shopian area on Monday, the police official said. Soldiers in the vehicle were patrolling the area.

Three soldiers, including an army officer, were wounded in the blast, which extensively damaged the vehicle.

Local residents said shortly after the blast, soldiers descended on neighboring villages in the area and ransacked dozens of homes and damaged apple orchards.

Ghulam Hassan Shah, a local rebel commander's father, told reporters that all of his household appliances and other possessions were damaged by the soldiers.

"They want to break us by breaking our homes. It's a punishment but it's not going to work," said a local woman, Khatija, who uses only one name. "This will further provoke young and all against India."

Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army spokesman, said the army was "ascertaining the facts with respect to these allegations." Senior police officer S.P. Vaid also said police will look into the complaints.

Government forces in Kashmir have often been accused of systemically raiding neighborhoods, ransacking houses and beating residents as part of their counterinsurgency tactics. Authorities say troops only respond to restore law and order.

The attacks come despite a cease-fire declared by India during the current Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. Rebels have rejected the government cease-fire, calling it a "drama."

India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim it in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989, demanding that Kashmir be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

In recent years, there have been renewed rebel attacks and public protests against Indian rule as a new generation of Kashmiri rebels, especially in the southern parts of the region, revive the militancy and challenge New Delhi's rule with guns and use of social media.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, a charge Pakistan denies.

Most Kashmiris support the rebel cause while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

Nearly 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.
GENEVA (AP) - Insurance company Swiss Re and Softbank have agreed to end discussions about a potential minority investment by the Japanese technology conglomerate.

Swiss Re didn't give reasons for the move in a brief statement Monday. The companies had announced in February that they were in preliminary discussions.

Zurich-based Swiss Re is one of the world's biggest reinsurers, which provide backup policies to companies that write primary insurance policies.

The company said it will "further explore business ideas between Swiss Re's operative entities and the portfolio companies of Softbank."
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) - The head of a U.S. technology company that scoured the Indian Ocean seabed for more than three months looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 said on Tuesday he was disappointed the hunt failed to find wreckage and hoped to take part in some future search.

Malaysia said last week the search by Texas-based Ocean Infinity would end on Tuesday after two extensions of the original 90-day time limit.

Ocean Infinity chef executive Oliver Plunkett said the search would soon end after covering more than 112,000 square kilometers (43,000 square miles) of remote ocean floor - an area more than four times larger than the zone targeted by experts as the most likely crash site.

In this May 24, 2018, photo, Jiang Hui whose mother was on board the missing Malaysia airplane MH370 speaks to journalist about Texas-based company Ocean Infinity's search in Beijing, China. Australia said Tuesday that it was holding out hope that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 would one day be found, as the last search by Ocean Infinity of the seabed in the remote Indian Ocean where the plane was believed to have been lost was scheduled to end Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

"I would firstly like to extend the thoughts of everyone at Ocean Infinity to the families of those who have lost loved ones on MH370. Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected," Plunkett said in a statement.

"It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim," he added.

Plunkett said he was pleased to hear the new Malaysian government had made finding the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 people aboard a priority.

"Whilst clearly the outcome so far is extremely disappointing, as a company, we are truly proud of what we have achieved both in terms of the quality of data we've produced and the speed with which we covered such a vast area," Plunkett said.

"We sincerely hope that we will be able to again offer our services in the search for MH370 in the future," he added.

Malaysia signed a "no cure, no fee" deal with Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean by Australia, Malaysia and China was called off. Ocean Infinity stood to be paid $70 million if it had found the wreckage or black boxes. No other search is scheduled.

Australian Transport Minister Michael McCormack said the four-year search had been the largest in aviation history and tested the limits of technology and the capacity of experts and people at sea.

"We will always remain hopeful that one day the aircraft will be located," McCormack's office said in a statement.

Australia, Malaysia and China agreed in 2016 that an official search would only resume if the three countries had credible evidence that identified a specific location for the wreckage.

Flight 370 vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. The original search focused on the South China Sea before analysis revealed that the plane had made an unexpected turn west and then south.

Australia coordinated an official search on Malaysia's behalf that scoured 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) and cost 200 million Australian dollars ($150 million) before it ended last year.

Experts used drift analysis of wreckage found washed ashore on the west coasts of the Indian Ocean to define the new search area that Ocean Infinity. The most likely crash site was only 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles), roughly the size of Vermont.

Ocean Infinity ship Seabed Contractor made quick progress operating up to eight remotely controlled underwater sonar drones.

Danica Weeks, an Australian resident who lost her husband on Flight 370, urged Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to call on Malaysia's new government to be more transparent about what they knew about the mysterious disappearance.

"There've been so many theories and rumors and ... we don't know what is true and what isn't," Weeks told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"I want Julie Bishop to say to the Malaysian counterparts now: What do you have? Where is the investigation at?" she added.

The director of the official seabed hunt that ended last year, Peter Foley, told an Australian Senate committee hearing last week that he still hoped that Ocean Infinity would be successful.

"If they're not, of course, that would be a great sadness for all of us," Foley said.

Jiang Hui of China, whose mother was on board the plane, said he appreciated Ocean Infinity's efforts but still hoped for more information on the possible reasons for the disappearance.

The recent seating of a new Malaysian government under Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad could offer the prospects of new data becoming available, Jiang told The Associated Press last week.

"I don't believe a corrupted government can be efficient or fair," he said, referring to the administration of Najib Razak, who was Malaysia's prime minister when the flight disappeared and who has been questioned by police in a money-laundering scandal that tainted his government.

In this May 24, 2018, photo, Jiang Hui whose mother was on board the missing Malaysia airplane MH370 speaks to journalist about Texas-based company Ocean Infinity's search in Beijing, China. Australia said Tuesday that it was holding out hope that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 would one day be found, as the last search by Ocean Infinity of the seabed in the remote Indian Ocean where the plane was believed to have been lost was scheduled to end Tuesday. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

FILE - In this March 6, 2016, file photo, well wishes are written on a wall of hope during a remembrance event for the ill fated Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Australia said it held out hope Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 would one day be found as the last search of the seabed in the remote Indian Ocean where it was believed to have been lost was scheduled to end on Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Joshua Paul, File)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - The soggy remnants of Alberto moved toward the nation's interior Tuesday, leaving scattered flooding and downed trees in the wake of the year's first named tropical storm.

More than 25,000 power outages were reported in Alabama, many caused by trees rooted in soggy soil falling across utility lines.

But while forecasters said the subtropical depression could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain inland, few major problems were reported so far.

Mindy Borkson, of Hollywood, Fla., walks through a bed of seaweed washed up along the beach, Tuesday, May 29, 2018, at Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park in Dania Beach. Fla.. She often collects shells and coral from the beach and said "I have never seen it like this," after the Memorial Day weekend storm. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

"We've had a lot of rain, but we got lucky. It was a constant rain but not a heavy rain," said Regina Myers, emergency management director in Walker County northwest of Birmingham.

Subtropical storm Alberto rolled ashore Monday afternoon in the Florida Panhandle and then weakened overnight to a depression. Beachcombers had returned to the white sands of the Northern Gulf by Tuesday morning, but forecasters still warned of dangerous currents.

In Cuba, flooding damaged an oil refinery and caused crude oil to spill into Cienfuegos Bay as the remnants of Alberto continued to drench the island in heavy rain.

State-owned TV showed authorities using barriers Tuesday to try to contain the spill from the Cienfuegos refinery in central Cuba about 150 miles southeast of Havana.

U.S. forecasters said rain could still cause dangerous flash floods in the coming days in northern Alabama and large areas of Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.

In North Carolina, a television news anchor and a photojournalist were killed Monday while covering the weather, when a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked ground and toppled onto their SUV, authorities said.

WYFF-TV of Greenville, South Carolina, said news anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were killed.

"Two journalists working to keep the public informed about this storm have tragically lost their lives, and we mourn with their families, friends and colleagues," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement.

Alberto was more of a rainstorm than a wind threat, but the National Weather Service said at least one tornado had been confirmed.

The weather service said its meteorologists confirmed a weak tornado with maximum winds of 85 mph (147 kph) hit an area around Cameron, South Carolina, on Monday afternoon. No one was hurt.

____

Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay in Miami Beach, Florida, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Jeffrey S. Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

Florida Governor Rick Scott addresses members of the media on Tuesday May 29, 2018 outside of the West Florida Area Emergency Operating Center in DeFuniak Springs, Fla. Scott visited with officials to determine what they need following the landfall of Subtropical Storm Alberto in Walton County on Monday. (Nick Tomecek/Northwest Florida Daily News via AP)

Dania Beach Ocean Rescue lifeguard Michael Vasta paddles out, Tuesday, May 29, 2018, as his colleague Peter Fournier watches from a beach tower in Dania Beach, Fla. (Joe Cavaretta/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

Beachgoers walk on Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., Monday, May 28, 2018, as Subtropical Storm Alberto approaches the Gulf Coast. The storm's gusty rain and brisk winds roiled the seas near the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday, keeping white sandy beaches emptied of their usual Memorial Day crowds. (Nick Tomecek/Northwest Florida Daily News via AP)

This April 2016 photo provided by WYFF-TV shows television news anchor Mike McCormick. North Carolina's governor is urging his state's residents to exercise caution as rains from a subtropical depression spread into his and other Southern states, noting the deaths of McCormick and another broadcast journalists killed by a falling tree as they reported on the severe weather associated with Alberto. McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer both had worked in the Greenville market for more than a decade, anchor Carol Goldsmith said on air, breaking the news of their deaths Monday, May 28, 2018. (WYFF-TV via AP)
GARANHUNS, Brazil (AP) - To many in his hometown, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is a hero who pulled millions from poverty and who deserves to be elected to lead Brazil once again this year. Yet so far, nobody has yet put up posters or banners to promote him in this city of almost 140,000 people, part of a region that will be pivotal in deciding the next leader of Latin America's largest nation.

The jailing of da Silva - and his likely disqualification from the presidential race - has left a huge political question mark over Brazil, nowhere more than in the hardscrabble northeast that was crucial to the victories of da Silva's Workers' Party in Brazil's last four presidential elections. Its 38 million eligible voters are nearly a fourth of the nation's total.

Many say they're still not ready to vote for anyone other than the man known across Brazil as Lula.

In this May 5, 2018 photo, Eraldo dos Santos stands inside a replica of the birth home his cousin, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Garanhuns, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Da Silva's family moved from Garanhuns to the southwest state of Sao Paulo, the country's industrial center, when he was 7 years old. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

"Lula will be the first prisoner elected president," said farmer Jorge Rodrigues de Melo, a childhood neighbor of da Silva. "I believe police will take him from jail to his inauguration."

A booming economy under da Silva's 2003-2010 governments, which included hikes to the minimum wage and several social welfare programs, helped de Melo gain enough extra money he could afford a third horse and buy better hats to protect him from the region's blazing sun.

Although Brazilian law bans da Silva from running because his corruption conviction has been upheld on appeal, the former leader and his party still insist there are ways to get him on the ballot. Paintings, posters and banners in many cities say "Free, Lula!" while others portray him as a crook who should remain jailed, a sign of deep polarization.

In a handful of letters from jail, da Silva has repeated he plans to run, in part because not doing so would be akin to admitting guilt. Da Silva has repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

While many die-hard backers may not vote for anybody if da Silva doesn't run, others say they are open to supporting a candidate picked by da Silva. Still others, angry over several years of corruption scandals that have implicated da Silva, say they are looking beyond him, but don't know where.

Natalia Oliveira, who says she is "apolitical" but still adores the former president, says people like her feel lost.

"We feel like orphans," she said at the bar she owns in Brasilia Teimosa, a neighborhood in city of Recife that was transformed from a dangerous slum into a modern beachfront area during Da Silva's second term. "Who will we vote for? It is so sad, but that's where we are at."

A Datafolha institute poll taken in April after the former president was jailed found he had a roughly 2-1 advantage nationwide over his nearest rival, conservative Congressman Jair Bolsonaro. In the northeast, however, da Silva polled at about 50 percent, while all rivals were in single digits.

Da Silva's mark on the northeast would be impossible to erase.

Between the year da Silva took office and 2013, the last year before an economic plunge under successor Dilma Rousseff, the economy in the northeast grew an average of 4.1 percent per year compared to 3.3 percent nationally, according to the central bank.

Meanwhile, social programs and strong economic growth helped change the daily reality for millions: When da Silva was elected, 21.4 million people in the northeast were under the poverty line compared to 9.6 million in 2012.

Da Silva's humble beginnings and everyman charisma also help him identify with voters in the region. Da Silva's family moved from Garanhuns to the southwest state of Sao Paulo, the country's industrial center, when he was 7 years old. As an adult, he rose through the ranks as a metalworkers union leader, eventually winning the presidency during his fourth campaign.

That track record is why 21 percent of Brazilians polled by Datafolha in April said they wouldn't vote if da Silva is not on the ballot, although voting is supposedly mandatory. The same poll also said two-thirds of da Silva supporters would back whoever he endorses.

They include even some conservative northeasterners like Livio Chaves, who owns a gas station and raises goats in Sertania, a city of 35,000 in the dry lands of Pernambuco state. Chaves said his vote will be based on the billions of dollars in investment to irrigate local farms with waters from the transfer of the Sao Francisco River.

The project, which provides water to four drought-prone states, stands as one of the most ambitious undertakings of da Silva's time in office.

"I want the continuation of a project that helped us in the northeast and still needs to be completed," said Chaves. "I want (Lula). If not him, someone from here who worked with him."

So far, Ciro Gomes, the former governor of the northeastern state of Ceara, is the only candidate with both regional credentials and experience working with da Silva. Gomes started the Sao Francisco project as a minister in da Silva's first administration, but doesn't belong to the Workers' Party. Polls have consistently found he garners about 10 percent.

While Bolsonaro until recently was largely unknown in the region, the conservative from Rio de Janeiro has softened his attacks on the former president in hopes of luring disappointed supporters.

"People want an honest president and Bolsonaro is that. Lula's mask has fallen. He is a saboteur," said martial arts teacher Daniel Bastos, who works in a gym in Recife's upscale Boa Viagem neighborhood.

Brazil's top electoral court is expected to announce a decision on a da Silva appeal to get on the ballot in August. The Workers' Party has until Sept. 17 to replace its jailed founder on the ticket. Besides the conviction for money-laundering and influence peddling, da Silva has been charged in seven other corruption cases that are pending trial.

Back in Garanhuns, local Workers' Party chairman Eraldo dos Santos, da Silva's cousin, believes it's time for the former president to pick a successor even if he believes the jailing of da Silva was unjust.

"I believe this is a coup, that Lula should be freed and be our candidate. But we also must think about the future," said dos Santos, wearing jeans and a straw hat while showing reporters the area where da Silva used to live. "Lula is not immortal and we progressives need to put his ideas forward."

This May 5, 2018 photo, shows a view of the replica of the birth home of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Garanhuns, Pernambuco state, Brazil. To many in his hometown, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is a hero who pulled millions from poverty and who deserves to be elected to lead Brazil once again this year. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 3, 2018 photo, a group of men talk on a sidewalk in the Brasilia Teimosa slum that was urbanized by an initiative of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. A booming economy under da Silva's 2003-2010 governments, which included hikes to the minimum wage and several social welfare programs, helped many of the country's poor. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 4, 2018 photo, Jorge Ferreira shows a photo combo, of the old and new Brasilia Teimosa slum, that was urbanized under an initiative of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The neighborhood was transformed from a dangerous slum into a modern beachfront area during Da Silva's second term. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 3, 2018 photo, men play soccer on a beach of the Brasilia Teimosa slum that was reformed, improved and urbanized under an initiative of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Social programs and strong economic growth under da Silva helped change the daily reality for millions. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

This May 4, 2018 photo, shows an aerial view of the Brasilia Teimosa slum, that was urbanized under an initiative of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The neighborhood was transformed from a dangerous slum into a modern beachfront area during Da Silva's second term. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 4, 2018 photo, young people play soccer as they cast their shadows at the Brasilia Teimosa slum, that was urbanized under an initiative of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The neighborhood was transformed from a dangerous slum into a modern beachfront area during Da Silva's second term. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

This May 5, 2018 photo, shows a propaganda billboard for presidential hopeful Jair Bolsonaro in Garanhuns city, Pernambuco state, Brazil. A Datafolha institute poll taken in April after the former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was jailed found he had a roughly 2-1 advantage nationwide over his nearest rival, conservative Congressman Bolsonaro. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 5, 2018 photo, farmer Jorge Rodrigues de Melo, a childhood neighbor of Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, says "Lula will be the first prisoner elected president," "I believe police will take him from jail to his inauguration.", in Garanhuns city, Pernambuco state, Brazil. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 5, 2018 photo, Joao Lino da Silva, right, and her wife Lidia Rosa Silva, stand in their home, in Garanhuns city, Pernambuco state, Brazil. The family of former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva moved from Garanhuns to the southwest state of Sao Paulo, the country's industrial center, when he was 7 years old. As an adult, he rose through the ranks as a metalworkers union leader, eventually winning the presidency during his fourth campaign.(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

This May 5, 2018 photo, shows view of a market in Garanhuns city, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Between the year former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva took office and 2013, the last year before an economic plunge under successor Dilma Rousseff, the economy in the northeast grew an average of 4.1 percent per year compared to 3.3 percent nationally, according to the central bank. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 4, 2018 photo, Severino Silva stands near signs supporting Brazil's former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at his home, in the Brasilia Teimosa slum, in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Da Silva's humble beginnings and everyman charisma also help him identify with voters in the region.(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 8, 2018 photo, martial arts teacher Daniel Bastos, speaks during an interview with the AP at a gym, in the Boa Viagem neighborhood of Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. "Lula's mask has fallen. He is a saboteur," said Bastos when talking about former president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

In this May 6, 2018 photo, Livio Chaves works at his gas station in Silvania, an area irrigated with waters from the transfer of the Sao Francisco River, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Chavez although he considers himself a conservative is a supporter of former president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. "I want (Lula). If not him, someone from here who worked with him." (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
WASHINGTON (AP) - At a West Virginia rally on tax cuts, President Donald Trump veered off on a subject that likely puzzled most of his audience.

"Nine of your people just came up to me outside. 'Could you talk about 202?'" he said. "We'll be looking at that 202. You know what a 202 is? We're trying."

One person who undoubtedly knew what Trump was talking about last month was Jeff Miller, an energy lobbyist with whom the president had dined the night before. Miller had been hired by FirstEnergy Solutions, a bankrupt power company that relies on coal and nuclear energy to produce electricity. His assignment: push the Trump administration to use a so-called 202 order - named for a provision of the Federal Power Act - to secure a bailout worth billions of dollars.

In this jan. 19, 2017, photo, Jeff Miller attends then Energy Secretary-designate Rick Perry's confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Capitol Hill in Washington. President Donald Trump has talked frequently about 'draining the swamp' of inside dealers in Washington. But lobbyist Jeff Miller might be considered part of the new swamp. Miller, who is a close friend of Energy Secretary Rick Perry, is pushing the administration for a bailout worth billions of dollars for FirstEnergy Solutions, a bankrupt coal and nuclear power company. Miller has earned $3.2 million in just over a year as a lobbyist for clients that include several large energy companies. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Although Trump didn't agree to the plan - he still hasn't - for Miller, a president's public declaration of interest amounted to a job well done.

How a single lobbyist helped carry a long-shot idea from obscurity to the presidential stage is a twisty journey through the new swamp of Trump's Washington. Rather than clearing out the lobbyists and campaign donors that spend big money to sway politicians, Trump and his advisers paved the way for a new cast of powerbrokers who have quickly embraced familiar ways to wield influence.

Miller is among them. A well-connected GOP fundraiser, he has served as an adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, also a close friend. He ran Perry's unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016. And when Trump tapped Perry to lead the Energy Department, Miller shepherded his friend through confirmation, sitting behind him, next to the nominee's wife, at the Senate hearing.

When Perry came to Washington, Miller did, too. He launched his firm, Miller Strategies, early last year and began lobbying his friend and other Washington officials.

Besides Perry, Miller is close to other Trump-era power players. He is among House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's best friends, their relationship dating back decades to Miller's days in California. In more recent years, Miller developed a friendship with Vice President Mike Pence adviser Marty Obst.

"He's very influential in Washington, a leading fundraiser," Obst said of Miller.

Now, after 14 months in business, the 43-year-old Miller has collected more than $3.2 million from a roster of clients that includes several of the nation's largest energy companies, among them Southern Co., a nuclear power plant operator headquartered in Atlanta, and Texas-based Valero Energy, according to federal filings.

Miller also has continued to raise money for GOP politicians. He contributed nearly $37,000 of his own over the past year to Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Greg Pence of Indiana, who's seeking the congressional seat once held by his younger brother, the vice president, according to federal campaign records.

He is an active supporter of America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC that raised $4.7 million in the first three months of 2018. That work earned him a spot at dinner with Trump, McCarthy and other GOP donors in the upscale City Center complex blocks from the White House.

"What happened to draining the political swamp?" asks Dick Munson with the Environmental Defense Fund, who said he sees FirstEnergy and other coal operators "grasping" for bailouts to solve problems of their own making. "It seems when you don't have solid arguments, you hire well-paid lobbyists and make huge political contributions."

Miller declined to comment for this story.

Brian Walsh, president of America First Action, said Miller raises money for the group on a volunteer basis. Miller, who lives in Texas, spent years outside of Washington independently developing an "amazing" network of connections, Walsh said. He described Miller as a "straight shooter" and rejected the notion that he is cashing in on Trump's election and Perry's ascension to energy chief.

"He doesn't play games with people," Walsh said of Miller.

But Tim Judson, executive director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an activist group, called Miller's involvement in the bailout request the ultimate "Washington swamp" situation.

"We have a special-interest appeal by FirstEnergy, a top lobbyist dining with the president, and that same lobbyist is raising money for a pro-Trump super PAC and asking for 'emergency action' from someone whose presidential campaign he ran," Judson said.

Miller registered as a lobbyist in Washington in February 2017, just after Trump took office. He was hired by FirstEnergy in July 2017. Lobbying disclosure records show he was paid to target the highest levels of American government: the White House - including the offices of Trump and Pence - and Perry's Energy Department. Miller has earned $330,000 from FirstEnergy since last year, making him one of the company's highest-paid outside lobbyists.

The coal industry's top priority at the time was seizing on a key Trump campaign promise - to bring back coal jobs - and ask for unprecedented federal assistance.

Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp., the nation's largest privately owned coal-mining company, and its largest customer, FirstEnergy, pushed the Energy Department for an emergency order, a measure typically reserved for war or natural disasters. Among other measures, the intervention would have exempted power plants from obeying a host of environmental laws and spent billions to keep coal-fired plants open, an unprecedented federal intervention in the nation's energy markets.

CEO Robert Murray and Charles Jones, CEO of FirstEnergy's parent company, met with Trump in West Virginia to discuss the request, informing the president that the power company was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Despite the high-powered lobbying, Perry rejected the request in August, saying the emergency order wasn't the right mechanism. He offered another option, asking federal energy regulators to approve a plan that would reward nuclear and coal-fired power plants for adding reliability to the nation's power grid. But the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected the plan in January, saying there's no evidence that past or planned retirements of coal-fired power plants pose a threat to grid reliability.

Soon after, FirstEnergy began pushing anew for the 202. Miller has visited the Energy Department at least twice since June, including on the day Trump delivered a speech on his energy agenda at the agency's Washington headquarters.

The company argues the emergency order is needed to prevent premature retirement of coal and nuclear plants that "cannot operate profitably under current market conditions." The proposal would allocate money to subsidize the company and other coal operators - an outcome the company says would avert thousands of layoffs and help ensure reliability of the electric grid up and down the East Coast.

The Ohio-based company filed for bankruptcy in late March, days after announcing it would shut down three nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania within three years. The company also plans to close a West Virginia coal-fired plant, one of a series of closings as the coal and nuclear industries struggle to compete with electricity plants that burn cheaper natural gas.

FirstEnergy's bid for the emergency request is widely opposed by business and environmental groups as an unfair tipping of the scales in favor of faltering energy sources.

An independent wholesaler that oversees the power grid in 13 states and the District of Columbia has said the Eastern grid is in no immediate danger. FirstEnergy can shut down its three nuclear power plants within three years without destabilizing the power grid, according to a report last month from the wholesaler, PJM Interconnection.

Still, the push for a bailout continues.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., recently suggested that Perry consider using a Korean War-era defense law to prevent the retirement of ailing coal and nuclear units. The Defense Production Act of 1950 is intended to prioritize industries deemed vital to national security. President Harry Truman used the law to cap wages and impose price controls on the steel industry.

FirstEnergy said it supports the premise, although it says it has not specifically urged Perry to use the defense law.

Perry said the administration is looking at the defense law "very closely," one of several options being considered.

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Associated Press writer Steve Peoples contributed to this report.

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Follow Matthew Daly: http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC and Richard Lardner: http://twitter.com/rplardner
BERLIN (AP) - Hamburg police say authorities in Italy, Spain, France and Switzerland are conducting raids as part of an investigation into the riots that accompanied last year's Group of 20 summit in the German city.

Police gave few details of the raids that started early Tuesday. They said that, in France, authorities are looking for a male suspect in the riots for whom a European arrest warrant has been issued.

Hamburg saw three nights of violence during anti-globalization protests as the leaders of the world's 20 biggest industrial and developing countries met in the port city in July.
DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Tuesday that right-wing populist rhetoric can lead to violent attacks, as she and Turkey's foreign minister marked the 25th anniversary of a firebombing by extremists that killed five Turks and shocked the country at the time.

The firebombing in Solingen, north of Cologne, on May 29, 1993, was the deadliest in a series of racist attacks that raised international concerns following German unification in 1990. Two Turkish women and three girls died when fire raged through their building, and more than a dozen other family members were severely injured.

Saying that Germany has a special responsibility to combat racism because of its Nazi past, Merkel suggested - without mentioning names - that inflammatory tweets and statements like those from the nationalist Alternative for Germany party and other right-wing populists could have grave consequences.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with Mevlude Genc, right, mother, grandmother and aunt of the victims, and Durmus Genc in Duesseldorf, western Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 during a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of a firebombing in which five Turks were killed in Solingen. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)

"Too often the limits of freedom of speech are being tested very calculatedly, and taboos are being broken and carelessly employed as political instruments," she said. "But this isn't just chit-chat. We're playing with fire - those who with their words sow the seeds of violence must at least be aware violence will come to harvest."

Germany let in more than 1 million migrants in 2015-16, which gave rise to fears from some about the country's ability to deal with the influx and helped the AfD win seats in parliament for the first time in the 2017 election.

Merkel was joined for the commemoration by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at the state governor's office in Duesseldorf along with 75-year-old Mevlude Genc, who lost two daughters, two granddaughters and a niece in the blaze.

"The firebombing on your home in Solingen shocked our entire country ... it was not an isolated act, but the appalling low point in a long series of inhuman, far right crimes at the beginning of the 1990s," Merkel said.

Still today, she said, "people in our country are being demonized and attacked because they are asylum-seekers or refugees, or because they look like them because of their skin color and it doesn't matter how long they have lived here."

After the 1993 firebombing, fears ran high in the country's large Turkish community, and protesters, among them many German-Turkish youths, put up barricades and fought street battles with police in Solingen.

It was the victims' mother and grandmother, Mevlude Genc, who appealed to everyone in the country, Turks and Germans alike, to overcome the hatred and reach out to each other.

"The death of my family should open us up to be friends," she said during a memorial ceremony a few days later. "Let's live together hand in hand."

At Tuesday's commemoration in Duesseldorf, Genc said she was condemned to live a life in darkness after the killings and "I am praying that nobody else will have to suffer this pain."

Around 2.8 million people of Turkish origin live in Germany. They were initially brought as workers to help rebuild the country after World War II.

Relations between immigrants and ethnic Germans haven't always been easy and the 2015 influx of more than 1 million migrants from war-torn countries like Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan has led to a nationalist backlash against all Muslims in Germany, both recent arrivals and longtime residents.

Cavusoglu condemned any kind of racism against Muslims and warned that "Solingen wasn't the first attack and it won't be the last one ... We need to deal with this together."

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Kristen Grieshaber reported from Berlin. Geir Moulson contributed from Berlin.

Northrhine-Westphalian governor Armin Laschet, right, welcomes Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Dusseldorf, western Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)

Northrhine-Westphalian governor Armin Laschet, right, welcomes Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Dusseldorf, western Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)

Foreign Minister of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, right, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stand in from of a memorial showing a torn swastika in Solingen, Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. Both attend a ceremony commemorating an arson attack committed 25 years ago killing five Turkish women and children. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Foreign Minister of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, right, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stand in from of a memorial showing a torn swastika in Solingen, Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. Both attend a ceremony commemorating an arson attack committed 25 years ago killing five Turkish women and children. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Foreign Minister of Turkey, Mevlut Cavusoglu, left, and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas stand in front of a memorial showing a torn swastika in Solingen, Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. Both attend a ceremony commemorating an arson attack committed 25 years ago killing five Turkish women and children. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Duesseldorf, western Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 during a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of a firebombing in which five Turks were killed in Solingen. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, talks to Mevlude Genc, mother, grandmother and aunt of the victims, in Duesseldorf, western Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 during a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of a firebombing in which five Turks were killed in Solingen. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with Mevlude Genc, right, mother, grandmother and aunt of the victims, in Duesseldorf, western Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 during a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of a firebombing in which five Turks were killed in Solingen. (Federico Gambarini/dpa via AP)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, talks with Mevlude Genc, center, mother, grandmother and aunt of the victims, and Durmus Genc in Duesseldorf, western Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 during a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of a firebombing in which five Turks were killed in Solingen. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavasoglu signs a guest book in Duesseldorf, western Germany, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 during a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of a firebombing in which five Turks were killed in Solingen. (Rolf Vennenbernd/dpa via AP)
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iranian university students in a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered harsh criticism of the country's direction, local media reported Tuesday, an unusually frank discussion showing the concerns many feel over the Trump administration's pullout from the nuclear deal with Tehran and Iran's battered economy.

One student in particular offered a list of problems confronting Iran and directly asked Khameni, whom hard-liners view as second only to God, how he would respond to them.

While concerns regularly come up during the annual audiences that Khamenei holds during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, the fact that these criticisms received publicized attention in Iran's tightly controlled media is telling. Already, farmers and truck drivers have been protesting and on strike in the country.

In this Monday, May 28, 2018, photo, released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, university student Sahar Mehrabi reads her speech during a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran, Iran. University students offered harsh criticism of the country's direction, local media reported Tuesday, in an unusually frank discussion showing the concerns many feel over the Trump administration's pullout from the nuclear deal with Tehran and Iran's battered economy. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP)

At Monday's audience with Khamenei, university student Sahar Mehrabi read a speech in which she recounted the "numerous crises" now facing the country.

Among them, she listed Iran's "intensified systematic inequality in social classes, the decline of public trust and the increase in environmental crisis and shantytowns." She also mentioned high unemployment, the challenges faced by minority groups and the way hard-line element's within Iran's judiciary and security system "fabricate security cases in a delusional way" to target activists.

"What answer does Your Excellency have in response to questions, criticisms and protests," she asked.

In his own speech, Khamenei acknowledged many of the shortcomings, saying that "removing problems is not as easy" as the students expect. He said one solution can be the "injecting of revolutionary, motivated and committed young people into the governmental apparatuses."

"Growth of the society requires freedom of expression," Khamenei said.

Khamenei's Twitter account also acknowledged the criticisms.

The pro-reform Mardomsalari daily newspaper published Mehrabi's remarks and other websites also carried her full speech, which included a call for deepening democracy in Iran.

Iran is a Shiite theocracy overseen from the top by Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state. However, it also holds regular elections for its presidency and parliament. Its politics include everything from hard-liners who recently set alight a paper American flag on the floor of the parliament in protest over the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal, to reformists who want to see change in Iran's government.

However, bubbling frustrations over the economy and other issues led to nationwide protests in December and January that saw violence and anti-government chants. Khamenei has advocated recognizing peaceful protests.
STUART, Fla. (AP) - A large fire at a Florida condominium complex has destroyed at least 10 units.

The Martin County sheriff's office says a section of the Cedar Pointe Villages complex in Stuart was engulfed by flames on Monday night. Firefighters contained the flames at the complex, a community for people 55 years or older near the Atlantic Ocean.

Sheriff William Snyder tells WPTV in West Palm Beach the man who lived in the corner apartment where the fire started told investigators he dropped a lit cigarette and "the next thing he knew there was smoke in his apartment." The sheriff says a neighbor saw flames and smoke and called for help.

No serious injuries have been reported.

The Cedar Pointe Villages complex has 62 two-story buildings divided into eight villages.
PARIS (AP) - For all that has changed in the 16 months since Serena Williams last played in a Grand Slam tournament - she is now married and a mother - so much was familiar about her at the French Open on Tuesday.

The fashion statement, this time in the form of a black bodysuit with a red belt that she said made her feel like a "warrior princess." The cries of "Come on!" The big serves that provided 13 aces. The returns that eventually produced three consecutive breaks of serve.

And, yes, the victory. Competing as a mom for the first time at a major, and only about nine months since giving birth to her daughter, Alexis Olympia, then dealing with postpartum complications, Williams edged 70th-ranked Kristyna Pliskova of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 6-4 at Roland Garros.

Serena Williams of the U.S. clenches her fist after scoring a point against Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Already a transcendent sports star and cultural icon, Williams now carries a new title: working mother.

"Well, my priority is Olympia. No matter what, that's my priority. I have given tennis so much, and tennis has actually given me a lot, and I couldn't be more grateful," Williams said. "She's my priority, and I work everything around her."

The 36-year-old American had not played in one of tennis's biggest tournaments since winning the Australian Open in January 2017 for her 23rd Grand Slam title, breaking a tie with Steffi Graf for the most in the professional era.

Williams, the world found out later, was pregnant at the time. Her baby was born Sept. 1; Williams married Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in November.

Williams eventually revealed that she had an emergency cesarean section, then encountered trouble breathing afterward because of a pulmonary embolism and needed a follow-up operation.

"Just literally not sure if I was going to make it or not at several different times," Williams said. "A lot of people have really reached out, because they have so many similar stories, too. I feel like a lot of people don't talk about it. They talk about the baby and how happy they are. But it's a lot that goes into it with the pregnancy and with giving birth, and it's called a 'miracle' for a reason."

The first match of her comeback was in doubles alongside her older sister, Venus, for the U.S. Fed Cup team in February. She entered two tournaments in singles the next month, going 2-2. An absence of more than two months followed, until Tuesday in Paris.

So a woman who has spent hundreds of weeks ranked No. 1 is currently No. 451 and unseeded at the French Open, a subject of some debate: Should her past success accord her the protection a seeding offers? Williams faces 17th-seeded Ash Barty of Australia next.

"She's a genuine champion," Barty said. "What she's done to be able to get back ... is a pretty amazing thing."

Tuesday's return was striking, from Williams' powerful shots to her outfit, which called to mind the "catsuit" she wore at the 2002 U.S. Open.

It was by far the most significant event of Day 3 at Roland Garros, even though there were so many other Grand Slam champions in action. Rafael Nadal finished off a rain-interrupted victory as he begins his try for a record-extending 11th French Open title. Maria Sharapova, a two-time champ in Paris, was pushed to three sets in a win. Garbine Muguruza, who beat Williams in the 2016 final at Roland Garros, beat another past champion, Svetlana Kuznetsova.

All eyes were on Williams, though. On the fifth point, she delivered an ace at 112 mph (181 kph). Moments later, the chair umpire intoned, "Jeu, Madame Williams," - French for "Game, Mrs. Williams," a change from the "Mademoiselle" used for unmarried female players.

Pliskova, a lefty whose twin sister upset Williams in the 2016 U.S. Open semifinals, actually hit more aces, 15. That's the most anyone has hit against Williams since at least 2008, according to the WTA.

Indeed, Williams appeared to have trouble reading Pliskova's serves early on. There were other blips, of the sort to be expected from someone who hasn't played lately. Williams double-faulted seven times. She had nearly as many unforced errors, 25, as winners, 29.

But she is not simply skilled. She is smart, too, and she figured things out.

After trailing 3-0 in the tiebreaker, she reeled off six points in a row. After falling behind 2-0 in the second set, Williams came up with a trio of service breaks.

All was not perfect, of course. In the final game, Williams' right foot gave way as she sprinted toward the net and she landed on her backside. At least she was able to laugh at that as she went to the sideline to towel off. A spectator yelled: "That's all right, Serena! You still look great!"

After months of worrying more about diapers than drop shots, of breastfeeding for what she called "a really, really, really long time," of organizing her practice schedule around her newborn's nap schedule, Williams was back to doing what she's most famous for, in an arena where she earned trophies in 2002, 2013 and 2015.

On Tuesday, she noted that she showed up at her news conference more promptly than she used to, so she could have more time to spend with Olympia.

"I don't want her to ever feel like I'm not around. I'm a super hands-on mom," Williams said. "Maybe too much."

A reporter wanted to know whether Williams believes she can win the title again.

"I'm definitely here to compete and do the best that I can do, obviously. I'm not putting any pressure on myself as I normally do," Williams began.

Then, perhaps questioning her own words as she heard them, she paused, before adding with a laugh: "I think deep down, we all know the answer to that."

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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

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More AP tennis coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/apf-Tennis

Serena Williams of the U.S. clenches her fist after scoring a point against Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Serena Williams of the U.S. laughs after slipping on the court during her first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic returns a shot against Serena Williams of the U.S. during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Serena Williams of the U.S. celebrates winning her first round match of the French Open tennis tournament against Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Serena Williams' husband Alex Ohanian, her agent Jill Smoller, her sister Isha, and her mother Oracene Price, from left to right, watch Serena celebrate her win against Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Serena Williams of the U.S. serves against Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Serena Williams of the U.S. reacts after missing a return against Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

Serena Williams' husband Alex Ohanian, her agent Jill Smoller, her sister Isha, and her mother Oracene Price, from left to right, watch Serena play against Krystina Pliskova of the Czech Republic during their first round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, France, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
LIEGE, Belgium (AP) - A knife-wielding prison inmate on a 48-hour leave stabbed two police officers Tuesday in the Belgian city of Liege, seized their service weapons and shot them and a bystander to death before being mowed down by a group of officers, setting off a major terror investigation into the country's most savage assault since 2016 suicide attacks.

Prime Minister Charles Michel acknowledged the assailant, who had a lengthy criminal record that included theft, assault and drug offenses, had appeared in three reports on radicalism but was still allowed to take a leave from prison.

"Is our system working when we see that these kind of people are running free?" asked vice premier Alexander De Croo, echoing the thoughts of many in a nation where armed police and gun-toting soldiers still patrol the streets in the wake of the March 2016 attacks that left 32 people dead at the Brussels airport and subway system.

Police try to calm a man at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Tuesday's attack happened outside a cafe in the eastern city of Liege when the assailant crept up on the two female officers from behind and stabbed them repeatedly.

"He then took their weapons. He used the weapons on the officers, who died," the Liege prosecutor's spokesman, Philippe Dulieu, told reporters.

Dulieu said the attacker then shot and killed a 22-year-old teacher in a vehicle that was leaving a parking lot outside a nearby high school. He then took two women hostage inside the school before confronting police massed outside.

"He came out firing at police, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs. He was shot dead," the spokesman said, adding that the hostages escaped unharmed.

Justice Minister Koen Geens described the assailant as a repeat offender who had been incarcerated since 2003 and was due for release in two years.

Police Chief Christian Beaupere said "the goal of the attacker was to target the police." He identified the slain officers as 45-year-old Lucile Garcia and 53-year-old Soraya Belkacemi. He said Belkacemi was the mother of 13-year-old twin daughters who earlier lost their father, also a police officer. Four other officers were wounded in the attack, one seriously with a severed femoral artery.

Belgian media identified the suspect as Benjamin Herman, a Belgian national born in 1982, though in keeping with standard procedure authorities declined to confirm his identity.

Interior Minister Jan Jambon said authorities were also investigating the suspected killing on Monday of an old acquaintance of the assailant and said there could be a link. "It is a serious hypothesis," he told the VRT network.

Asked about a video from close to the scene in which someone appeared to be shouting "Allahu Akbar!" in the din, Jambon said: "My reaction is that in many terror acts, it is the last thing they shout." But, he added, it is up to federal investigators to determine if Tuesday's attack was terrorism.

"The investigation judge must find out if we talk about terror. Because terror also has to do with someone who gives the order, ISIS or someone else, if others are involved. We need to look at all these elements," Jambon said.

Michel said the suspect in Tuesday's attack was indirectly mentioned in state security reports on radicalization. But, the prime minister added, the reference was "in notes that did not primarily target him, but others or other situations," and he was not on a list of suspects maintained by the main OCAD anti-terror assessment group.

Asked about reports that the assailant was radicalized in prison, Geens, the justice minister, said it "was not a clear-cut case."

"He certainly was not someone who could clearly be qualified as radicalized. Otherwise he would have been known as such by all services," Geens said.

But a senior official at the federal prosecutor's office told The Associated Press that "there are indications it could be a terror attack." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation.

Nevertheless, Belgium's crisis center said the country's terror threat alert would not be raised and remained at level 2 out of 4. It briefly stood at a maximum 4 shortly after the 2016 attacks.

Belgium's King Philippe, Michel and the country's justice and interior ministers traveled to Liege to confer with local officials.

"I want to offer my government's support for the victims, for the victims' families," Michel said.

It's not the first time Liege has been hit by a violent attack. In December 2011, a man with a history of weapons and drug offenses hurled hand grenades into a square filled with Christmas shoppers then opened fire on those who tried to escape. Five people were killed, including the assailant.

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Cook and Casert reported from Brussels.

Forensic police, right, investigate at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Forensic police work at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

A police man stands next to a man who holds his head in his hands at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Police try to calm a man who crossed over a police line at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

In this grab taking from video Tuesday, May 29, 2018,emergency services arrive at the scene after a shooting incident, in Liege, Belgium. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting. (Victor Jay via AP)

Belgian Special Police walk by the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Belgian police guard the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

Belgian Special Police at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, a city official said. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
GENEVA (AP) - The U.S. envoy to the United Nations-hosted Conference on Disarmament says that Syria's presidency of the Geneva-based body is a "travesty."

Referring to killings and chemical weapons attacks allegedly committed against civilians by the Syrian government, Robert Wood said Tuesday "this is no normal presidency, and thus the U.S. will not treat it as such."

Syria took up the rotating presidency Monday. It will chair the body for a four-week period.

Syria's Ambassador Houssam-Eddin Ala, President of the Conference on Disarmament, delivers his statement at the Conference on Disarmament at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)

Wood said the "United States will not be silent" and called on other countries to "speak out" and send a "very similar and clear message about their abhorrence."

Wood walked out as Syria's envoy made opening remarks, but later returned.

The 65-nation conference is the world's most important disarmament negotiating forum, though it has achieved little in recent years.

U.S. Disarmament Ambassador Robert Wood, left, leaves his seat in protest against Syrian presidency at the Conference on Disarmament at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (Salvatore Di Nolfi/Keystone via AP)
BERLIN (AP) - The British military says it's wrapping up a renewed investigation into the decades-old cold case of the disappearance in Germany of a soldier's 2-year-old daughter after finding no new evidence.

The British military said Tuesday the Royal Military Police's search of the Alme river banks, in the western city of Paderborn, turned up no new leads on what happened to Katrice Lee.

Excavation of the river bank started in early May and was scheduled to take five weeks, but the military said investigators were able to conclude work faster than planned.

FILE - In this May 3, 2018 file photo Royal Military Police started a forensic investigation in the case of missing Katrice Lee near the river Alme in Paderborn, Germany. The British military said it's wrapping up a renewed investigation into the decades-old cold case of the disappearance in Germany of a soldier's 2-year-old daughter after finding no new evidence. (AP Photo/Martin Meissner, file)

Lee vanished on her second birthday on Nov. 28, 1981, on the outskirts of Paderborn, near the British military base where her father was stationed.

A review of the evidence had concluded the riverbank was "significant and of interest."
PARIS (AP) - Authorities say an inmate on a radicalization watch list who escaped from a prison in western France earlier this month has been arrested in Spain.

The prosecutor's office in the Brittany city of Brest said Tuesday that 21-year-old Anthony Pondaven was subject to a European arrest warrant.

Basque regional police confirmed Pondaven was detained with another man in the early hours of Tuesday in San Sebastian, a Spanish city located about 12 miles from the French border.

Pondaven had been jailed in a Brest prison for theft, not for terror-related offenses. But he's also on a watch list for religious radicalism. He escaped on May 16 while he was on the way to a hospital for a medical exam.
NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) - A spokeswoman for the United Nations' refugee agency says the bodies of nine Syrian migrants who drowned off Cyprus' northern coast have been buried in the breakaway north of the ethnically divided island.

Emilia Strovolidou told the Associated Press on Tuesday that the nine men died earlier this month in what the United Nations refugee agency said was the first shipwreck off Cyprus involving migrants.

She said most of the nine, who hailed from the Syrian town of Idlib, were identified by relatives living in the island's southern, internationally recognized part.

Strovolidou said the Syrians had reportedly taken a boat from Turkey on May 10 to join relatives in Cyprus.

The U.N. refugee agency has said approximately 1,900 migrants came to Cyprus in 40 boat trips since 2015.
WARSAW, Poland (AP) - Poland's prime minister vowed tough measures Tuesday to fight a string of illegal fires at garbage dumps and landfills that has been producing hazardous smoke - in some cases trash imported by private companies from other countries to be recycled.

Mateusz Morawiecki said the burning trash is "ruining our health and the health of our children and we will do everything to stop this practice."

He said lax regulations had contributed to the problem and announced at a news conference in Warsaw that he has tasked his environment minister to prepare new legislation in the next two weeks to "eliminate these pathologies."

In this photo taken in Zgierz, Poland on May 26, 2018, smoke pollutes the air from a burning garbage dump in this central town, one of over 60 fires across Poland in recent days. Poland's government said it was an unwanted and hazardous way of getting rid of trash, much of which is brought from abroad, and has vowed tough measures to fight the practice.(AP Photo/TVN24)

TV stations in Poland have been showing footage of huge clouds of smoke billowing into the air from various dump sites, as firefighters try to contain the situation.

In many cases, local residents were told to stay indoors and keep windows shut, and a primary school in the village of Wszedzien was closed for a few days in central Poland while a nearby dump was burning.

Morawiecki said he has asked Poland's prosecutor general to investigate the fires.

Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski said private companies pretend to bring substances from abroad for recycling, but in fact "huge amounts of dangerous garbage are pouring into Poland in an uncontrolled way."

He said the garbage included medical refuse, greases, oils and other chemicals.

Brudzinski said the situation is the result of China shutting the door to its processing sites for garbage from Europe.

Environment Minister Henryk Kowalczysk said there have been over 60 garbage dump fires across Poland recently.

Kowalczysk said he would present a set of new regulations next month that will increase inspection and surveillance of garbage sites. The time the garbage can be stored will be shortened from the current three years to one year, in a move that will prevent companies from piling it up.

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Monika Scislowska contributed to this report.
PARIS (AP) - The Latest on the Libya conference in Paris (all times local):

4:15 p.m.

The U.N. envoy to Libya has praised the "historic meeting" in Paris of rival Libyan leaders, who agreed on a political roadmap leading to elections on Dec. 10.

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, holds an International Conference on Libya is held at the Elysee Palace with representatives of twenty countries, including Libya's neighbors, regional and Western powers and international organizations and the French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday May 29, 2018. Libya's rival leaders meet in Paris to agree on a political roadmap including elections in an effort to bring order out of Libya's chaos, which is feeding Islamic militants, traffics of all kind and instability in the region. (Etienne Laurent, Pool photo via AP)

At a news conference after Tuesday's talks, Ghassan Salame says "we do not speak in place of the Libyans. It's the Libyans who agree all together in our presence. This is crucial."

Salame said he has never seen "such convergence between the Libyan popular will and the international will."

Some 20 countries and several international organizations attended the conference, which was hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.

Salame says he will keep working with the parties in the coming weeks on setting a constitutional basis for the parliamentary and presidential elections. He says one option is to organize a constitutional referendum prior to the elections, while another is to pass an electoral law.

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3:30 p.m.

The head of Libya's U.N.-backed government says there are many challenges ahead but that that rival parties will work together in the coming months to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on Dec. 10.

Fayez Sarraj spoke after talks with his rivals in Paris, in which they issued a joint declaration setting out a political roadmap aimed at unifying and stabilizing the North African country.

Libya slid into chaos after the 2011 uprising that toppled Moammar Gadhafi, and today is ruled by rival authorities in the east and west backed by an array of unruly militias. Sarraj said the military would be brought under civilian rule.

Underscoring the complex task ahead, Sarraj said the parties haven't agreed on one point in their final declaration, which sets a Sept. 16 deadline for creating a "constitutional basis" for elections.

He says they have not agreed on whether this entails amendments to the country's current laws or the drafting of a new constitution.

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2:25 p.m.

French President Emmanuel Macron is lauding the agreement struck between rival Libyan leaders at a Paris meeting as a "crucial step" for the war-battered country.

Macron said at a press conference after the gathering concluded in the French capital that this was "the first time these Libyan leaders accepted to work together and approved a joint declaration."

He said "now we have clear commitments for the country, an approved calendar" for December parliamentary and presidential elections.

He said the presence of 20 countries and international conference in Paris shows "the support of the international community" toward the efforts of the Libyan leaders.

Macron said the "Libyan people aspire to stability, security" and a better life.

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2:05 p.m.

Libya's rival leaders have agreed on a joint declaration stating they are committed to organizing credible and peaceful elections in December and respecting the results.

The eight-point joint declaration at the end of a Paris summit on Tuesday in Paris says: "Libyan leaders commit to accept the results of elections, and ensure appropriate funds and strong security arrangements are in place. Those who violate or obstruct the electoral process will be held accountable."

The document was approved by four leading Libyan officials who symbolize the divisions in the North African country, and read at the Elysee palace in the presence of the representatives of some 20 countries and the U.N. special envoy for Libya.

The declaration says "any obstruction or interference with the voting process will not be tolerated, and those responsible will be held accountable." It says security forces will be "responsible for safeguarding the electoral process."

Libyan leaders commit to work on "phasing out parallel government" and on "the unifying of the Libyan Central Bank and other institutions."

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1:10 p.m.

An adviser of the head of Libya's U.N.-recognized government based in Tripoli has tweeted that the country's rival leaders have reached consensus at a Paris meeting to hold both parliamentary and presidential elections in battered Libya on Dec. 10.

Taher El-Sonni, a senior political adviser to Prime Minister Fayez Sarraj, tweeted about the agreed-on date ahead of the closing of the brief conference in Paris on Tuesday.

He also says the two sides would finalize a "constitutional base" by Sept. 16. The Paris gathering brought together Libyan rivals and representatives of the international community under U.N. auspices.

Besides Sarraj, whose government dominates western Libya, the conference was attended by Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the commander of Libya's national army which controls the east of the country.

A declaration signed by all four was expected to follow shortly.

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10:10 a.m.

Libya's rival leaders are meeting in Paris to agree on a political roadmap, including nationwide elections, in an effort to bring order to Libya's chaos.

Representatives of 20 countries, including Libya's neighbors, regional and Western powers, and international organizations also were in attendance at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday.

The U.N.-backed conference aims at securing parliamentary and presidential elections in the North African country, if possible by the end of 2018.

French President Emmanuel Macron's office said Libyan leaders have agreed in principle to a non-binding accord.

Libya is split between rival governments in the east and west, each backed by an array of militias.

Participants include Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of Libya's UN-recognized government in Tripoli in the west, and Gen. Khalifa Hifter, the commander of Libya's national army which dominates the east.

French President Emmanuel Macron, center, holds an International Conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace with representatives of twenty countries, including Libya's neighbors, regional and Western powers and international organizations in Paris, France, Tuesday May 29, 2018. Libya's rival leaders meet in Paris to agree on a political roadmap including elections in an effort to bring order out of Libya's chaos, which is feeding Islamic militants, traffics of all kind and instability in the region. (Etienne Laurent, Pool photo via AP)

An International Conference on Libya is held at the Elysee Palace with representatives of twenty countries, including Libya's neighbors, regional and Western powers and international organizations and the French President Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, Tuesday May 29, 2018. Libya's rival leaders meet in Paris to agree on a political roadmap including elections in an effort to bring order out of Libya's chaos, which is feeding Islamic militants, traffics of all kind and instability in the region. (Etienne Laurent, Pool photo via AP)

Libya Chief of Staff, Marshall Khalifa Haftar, President of the Libyan House of Representatives in Tobruk Aguila Saleh Issa Chairman of the Presidential Council of Libya, Fayez al-Sarraj and President of Libya High Council Khaled Mechri, from left to right, attend an International Conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace with representatives of twenty countries, including Libya's neighbors, regional and Western powers and international organizations in Paris, France, Tuesday May 29, 2018. Libya's rival leaders meet in Paris to agree on a political roadmap including elections in an effort to bring order out of Libya's chaos, which is feeding Islamic militants, traffics of all kind and instability in the region. (Etienne Laurent, Pool photo via AP)

UN Special Envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame, French President Emmanuel Macron, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso, from left to right, attend an International Conference on Libya at the Elysee Palace with representatives of twenty countries, including Libya's neighbors, regional and Western powers and international organizations in Paris, France, Tuesday May 29, 2018. Libya's rival leaders meet in Paris to agree on a political roadmap including elections in an effort to bring order out of Libya's chaos, which is feeding Islamic militants, traffics of all kind and instability in the region. (Etienne Laurent, Pool photo via AP)

French president Emmanuel Macron, right, welcomes Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia in Paris,Tuesday May 29, 2018. Libya's rival leaders are meeting in Paris to agree on a political roadmap including elections, in an effort to bring order to Libya's chaos, which is feeding Islamic militants, traffics of all kind and instability in the region. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)

U.N. special envoy for Lybia Ghassan Salame arrives at the Elysee Palace for the international congress on Libya in Paris,Tuesday May 29, 2018. Libya's rival leaders are meeting in Paris to agree on a political roadmap including elections, in an effort to bring order to Libya's chaos, which is feeding Islamic militants, traffics of all kind and instability in the region. (Ludovic Marin, Pool via AP)

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, and Algeria Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia discuss during a meeting at the Elysee Palace Tuesday May 29, 2018 in Paris. Libya's rival leaders are meeting in Paris to agree on a political roadmap including elections, in an effort to bring order to Libya's chaos, which is feeding Islamic militants, traffics of all kind and instability in the region. (Etienne Laurent, Pool via AP)
HOLLY HILL, Fla. (AP) - Police say a Florida pizza store worker was likely justified in fatally shooting a masked man who was beating him with a wooden pole.

Holly Hill Police Chief Steve Aldrich tells news outlets that Heriberto Feliciano was ambushed and appeared to be defending himself.

Surveillance video shows the man in a scary clown mask swinging a wooden pole at Feliciano as he locked up a Little Caesars store Saturday night.

This May 27, 2018 photo made available by the Holly Hill Police Department, Fla., shows the clown mask that a suspect was wearing while committing a crime. The suspect was swinging a bat at an employee of a Little Caesars restaurant on Saturday night. The employee shot and killed the suspect. (Steve Alrich/Holly Hill Police Dept. via AP)

Feliciano told officers the suspect also tried to stab him with scissors. He said he pulled out his gun, for which he has a concealed weapons permit, and fired multiple times at close range. The suspect was declared dead at a hospital; his identity wasn't immediately confirmed.

Police say Feliciano was hospitalized for face and shoulder injuries.
LONDON (AP) - A British jury has convicted a couple of attempting to force their teenage daughter to marry her first cousin in Bangladesh.

The 19-year-old from Leeds in northern England said her parents used verbal and physical abuse to try to get her to marry the relative. The teenager eventually alerted British consular officials and was rescued days before the wedding.

A jury at Leeds Crown Court found the couple guilty Tuesday of forced marriage and of using violence, threats or coercion.

The parents, who can't be named to protect their daughter's identity, are due to be sentenced June 18.

Last week, a Birmingham woman was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison for forcing her teenage daughter to marry a relative in Pakistan -the first successful prosecution of its type in England.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Ethnic cleansing targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has not stopped despite growing condemnation from the international community, the Trump administration said Tuesday.

In November, the United States declared that violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state constituted ethnic cleansing, and the U.S. later imposed sanctions. Ambassador Sam Brownback, the U.S. envoy for global religious freedom, said the violence is continuing.

"I don't think we've seen progress there in that country," Brownback said as he unveiled the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom. The report estimates that about 680,000 people fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh to escape the violence.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo releases the annual U.S. assessment of religious freedom around the world, at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rather than changing course, Brownback said, Myanmar authorities were "doubling down" by opening a new front in Kachin state. A new offensive by Myanmar's government against Kachin rebels who have fought for decades for greater autonomy has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in Kachin mirroring the one in Rakhine state. The Kachin rebels are a largely Christian minority group.

The report covering 2017 also highlighted other U.S. concerns about religious freedom abroad:

- Some 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are being held in prison camps in North Korea, some for religious reasons. The report said that prisoners are held "under horrific conditions" in remote areas.

- "Hundreds of thousands" of Uighur Muslims in China have been forcibly sent to re-education centers in China.

- Saudi Arabia continues to prohibit the public practice of any religion other than Islam, and the report noted a "pattern of society prejudice and discrimination" against Shiite Muslims in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation. Still, Brownback said he was encouraged by recent comments from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about plans to expand freedoms.

- At least 50 people in Pakistan were imprisoned on charges of blasphemy last year. The report said at least 17 were given death sentences.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking as the report was unveiled, announced that the United States will host a global summit on advancing religious freedom on July 25-26. The State Department wouldn't say which countries will be invited to attend.

"International religious freedom deserves to be a front-burner issue," Pompeo said.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo releases the annual U.S. assessment of religious freedom around the world, at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. He is joined by Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, speaks to reporters as he unveils the annual U.S. assessment of religious freedom around the world, at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped more than 400 points Tuesday afternoon after a trade war with China that the administration declared 'on hold' showed signs it could be back on.

The tumble came after the Trump administration announced it was going ahead with planned 25 per cent tariffs on $50 billion in Chinese-made goods.

The administration also announced it would impose new limits on Chinese investments in the U.S.

The move came just days after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that a trade war with China was 'on hold.'

In this Nov. 9, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands during a joint statement to members of the media Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Trade tensions with China preceded a drop in the Dow Jones Industrial Average

The turmoil came after the Trump administration has renewed its threat to place 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods in retaliation for what it says are China's unfair trade practices.

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also dropped, with the S&P down 1.4 per cent and the Nasdaq down less than 1 per cent, CNN Money reported.

The heightened China fears came in advance of a scheduled trip to Beijing by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who according to a Politico story out Tuesday Trump has needed as 'past his prime' in the Oval Office.

Trader Gregory Rowe, left, and specialist John McNierney work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. U.S. stocks are opening lower, following sharp drops in Europe triggered by political uncertainty in Italy. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Specialist Peter Mazza, left, and trader Michael Milano work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. U.S. stocks are opening lower, following sharp drops in Europe triggered by political uncertainty in Italy. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Ross is considered a leading administration trade hawk with China.

The tensions followed what appeared to be a pause, as Trump prepares for a possible summit with North Korean Kim Jong-un after complaining Kim got cold feet after a trip to China.

It was revealed over the weekend that China had approved 13 trademarks for Trump's daughter, Ivanka  inviting howls from watchdog groups but nevertheless a barometer of possible lowering of tensions.

The White House also said Tuesday that it would restrict Chinese investment into the United States and limit U.S. exports of high-tech goods to China.

The announcement intensifies the high-stakes trade confrontation between the world's two largest economies. Ross is scheduled to visit Beijing on Saturday for a round of talks.

The White House said it will target the tariffs on cutting-edge technologies, including those that China has said it wants to dominate as part of its "Made in China 2025" program. Under that program, China aims to take a leading role in developing technologies in areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and electric cars.

The Dow tumbled 1.7 per cent on Tuesday amid news from China and Italy

Trade tensions with China and political turmoil in Italy were pegged as the culprits

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced that a trade war with China was 'on hold' more than a week ago

The list of imports that will be covered will be announced by June 15, the White House said, and the tariffs will be imposed "shortly thereafter." The list will be based on a previous compilation of 1,300 goods released in April that will be narrowed based on public comments the administration has received.

Analysts said the renewal of the tariff threat could disrupt Ross's planned talks in China this weekend. Ross's trip was originally intended to work out the details of a vague promise by China May 19 to increase its purchases of U.S. farm goods and natural gas.

"If Beijing was under the impression that Trump's $50 billion of tariffs were actually on hold, they may find this confusing," Chad Bown, senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said. "It could very well complicate Wilbur Ross's visit."

Trump has bemoaned the massive U.S. trade deficit with China - $337 billion last year - as evidence that Beijing has been complicit in abusive trading practices.

The United States has also long complained that China forces U.S. companies to share technology with Chinese firms as part of joint ventures in order to gain access to its market.

Trump has frequently focused on the trade deficit, urging China to boost its imports and lower the gap by $200 billion, while China has refused to agree to any dollar amounts.

Many experts and U.S. companies, however, warn that China's efforts to protect its high-tech industries and capture U.S. technology represent the larger threat.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - For every peso declared to Mexican electoral authorities by political parties and candidates, 15 more are moving under the table, according to a report Tuesday on the problem of illegal campaign finance.

The nonprofit Mexicans Against Corruption and Impunity published the report after months of investigation, concluding that Mexico's public campaign finance system has failed to keep illegal money from influencing elections.

The report says that the cash moving around electoral campaigns is such that Mexico's central bank has documented inexplicable increases in the amount of cash circulating in the economy in the five months before elections.

FILE - In this April 11, 2018 file photo, independent presidential candidate Jaime Rodriguez known as "El Bronco" speaks with the press at the airport in Mexico City. Mexico's electoral institute announced Monday, May 28, 2018, that it has fined Rodriguez more than $37,000 (739,000 pesos) for an assortment of alleged campaign violations. (AP Photo/Marco Ugarte, File)

The money comes from both public and private sources. Money is siphoned from public programs and local governments to fund campaigns and is funneled to candidates by businesses interested in winning public contracts and having access to elected officials.

"The illegal campaign financing is the principle problem of electoral democracy," said Maria Amparo Casar, the organization's executive president and one of the study's authors, in an interview prior to the report's release. "What it does is when one arrives to power, what you're doing is buying benefits."

On Monday, Mexico's electoral institute fined independent presidential candidate Jaime Rodriguez more than $37,000 (739,000 pesos) for an assortment of alleged campaign violations, including having hundreds of state government employees working to gather the signatures necessary for him to appear on the ballot.

In response, Rodriguez tweeted that the regulatory agency targets only independent candidate because it is controlled by the major parties.

The National Electoral Institute announced the fines due to what it said was $650,000 (12,800,329 pesos) of "irregular financing" for the candidate known as "El Bronco." It said it would also forward the case to the Attorney General's Office and Mexico's tax agency for further investigation.

The institute also accused Rodriguez of making banned contributions from businesses appear to come from individual supporters.

"It's a triangulation to make citizens appear as legitimate supporters, when in reality the money came from businesses with which these citizens have no relationship whatsoever," electoral institute council member Ciro Murayama said in a statement.

Rodriguez, on leave as governor of Nuevo Leon state, is one of four candidates in the July 1 presidential election. His campaign has largely framed itself as a threat to the status quo of the dominant political parties.

The campaign finance report released Tuesday said the electoral institute needs to do more such investigations and impose heavier fines. As it is, parties and candidates can make a cost-benefit analysis and decide that it is worthwhile to violate regulations if it could give them an edge in the election, Casar said.

Mexico's public campaign finance system, which has been in place for more than 20 years, has succeeded in leveling the playing field and making elections more competitive, the report said. But more aggressive policing of campaign spending is necessary.

The report's authors recommend making voting obligatory in Mexico as a way to reduce spending on vote buying and election-day get-out-the vote efforts, which are legally restricted in Mexico.

They also concluded that the calculation used to set spending limits is not rooted in the reality of what it costs to run modern campaigns.

"The limits are like a promise of good behavior that no one follows and that stimulate even more violations of the law," the report said.

Asked if creating a legal and transparent path for private money to play a role in elections should be considered, Casar said public financing was still the best option. "The massive entry, like in the United States, of private money in a country like Mexico would deform the ideals of the foundations of fairness in elections in Mexico."
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court has declined the appeal of an Ohio inmate who has long maintained his innocence in the 1994 slaying of three people.

The court's Tuesday decision involves the case of Kevin Keith. He is serving a life sentence for killing two women and a 4-year-old girl in what prosecutors said was retaliation for his arrest in a drug sweep.

Lawyers for Keith say the personnel file of a state forensics investigator who worked on his case contains allegations she had a habit of providing police departments answers they wanted in cases.

Attorneys for the 54-year-old Keith, who is black, also say the file shows the investigator used racial slurs against co-workers.

Prosecutors say there's no evidence the file would have made a difference at trial.
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) - Two conservation groups said Tuesday a deal has been struck with commercial fishermen in Greenland and the Faroe Islands that will help thousands of vulnerable Atlantic salmon return to rivers in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Commercial fishing for Atlantic salmon is prohibited in the United States, where the fish's Gulf of Maine population is listed under the Endangered Species Act. But the Atlantic Salmon Federation and North Atlantic Salmon Fund said their new deal with Greenland and Faroe Island fishers is a major step toward recovery because it will dramatically reduce fishing.

Coastal Greenland and the waters off the Faroe Islands are important feeding grounds for salmon. Fishermen who work those waters take fish that originate in both jeopardized populations in Maine and New Brunswick, Canada, and healthy populations elsewhere.

In this Oct. 12, 2008 file photo, farm-raised Atlantic salmon move across a conveyor belt as they are brought aboard a harvesting boat near Eastport, Maine. Two conservation groups say a deal has been struck with commercial fishermen in Greenland and the Faroe Islands to protect thousands of vulnerable Atlantic salmon. The Atlantic Salmon Federation and North Atlantic Salmon Fund say their new deal with Greenland and Faroe Island fishers will allow more of the fish to return to the rivers of North America and Europe. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty, File)

The agreement places new limits on fishing, including ending the Faroe Islands fishery.

Here's a look at the agreement and the status of Atlantic salmon in the United States and Canada:

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FISH IN TROUBLE

Atlantic salmon are well known to seafood fans because they are raised extensively in aquaculture - a controlled farming environment - but their wild counterparts are in trouble in some parts of the world. The fish are born in freshwater streams, head to sea for one or more years and return to their natal streams to spawn.

The most productive river for the salmon in the U.S. is the Penobscot River in Maine, which is the only U.S. state left with native Atlantic salmon populations. Less than 850 returned to the Penobscot in 2017. The number was above 1,000 per year in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

The decrease in the fish's populations is due to factors such as overfishing, habitat loss and pollution. U.S. and Canadian environmentalists and marine managers have long sought cooperation from Greenland, which has a significant harvest of the fish.

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TERMS OF THE DEAL

ASF and NASF said in a statement that Greenland and Faroe Islands delegations to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization will agree to a commercial salmon quota of zero at a summit meeting next month in Portland, Maine. Greenland will retain a harvest of no more than 20 metric tons for personal and family consumption, the groups said.

The two conservation groups said they have pledged to "financially support alternative economic development, scientific research, and education initiatives focused on conservation" in exchange. ASF President Bill Taylor declined to name the cost of the initiative but said it would be in line with the market value of the salmon that the fishermen are agreeing not to harvest.

The agreement would last 12 years. The groups said the money was raised from private donors.

Tnnes Berthelsen, a financial consultant for Association of Fishers and Hunters in Greenland, said the agreement can go into effect when Greenland's government approves it.

HOPE FOR THE FUTURE

In the meantime, conservationists in the U.S. and Canada state that the deal is an important step toward saving salmon. The agreement will be a major topic of discussion at the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization meeting scheduled for June 12 to 15 in Portland.

"Any reduction in the fishery is welcomed," said Tommi Linnansaari, Atlantic salmon research chair at the University of New Brunswick. "The salmon population, especially here on the North Atlantic side, is on its last legs and any effort is welcome."
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Latest on the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom (all times local):

10:15 a.m.

The Trump administration says ethnic cleansing targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has not stopped despite growing condemnation from the international community.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo releases the annual U.S. assessment of religious freedom around the world, at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. He is joined by Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

In November, the United States declared that violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state constituted ethnic cleansing, and the U.S. imposed sanctions. U.S. Ambassador Sam Brownback said Tuesday as he unveiled the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom that the violence is continuing.

The report estimates that about 680,000 people fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh to escape the violence.

The report covering 2017 also highlighted other U.S. concerns about religious freedom abroad, including some 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are being held in prison camps in North Korea, some for religious reasons.

It says hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims in China have been forcibly sent to re-education centers.

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9:10 a.m.

The Trump administration is estimating that 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are being held in prison camps in North Korea.

That's according to the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom. It says some of the prisoners are being held for religious reasons. The report adds that prisoners are held "under horrific conditions" in remote areas. Yet it also notes that North Korea's constitution guarantees "the right of faith" to citizens.

The report covering 2017 also says that "hundreds of thousands" of Uighur Muslims in China have been forcibly sent to re-education centers in China.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is formally unveiling the report Tuesday.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo releases the annual U.S. assessment of religious freedom around the world, at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback, speaks to reporters as he unveils the annual U.S. assessment of religious freedom around the world, at the State Department in Washington, Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
LOS ANGELES (AP) - In October 2016, Shailene Woodley was not paying much attention to work emails. The devoted environmentalist had gone to protest the Dakota Access Pipeline and gotten arrested in the process. It's no wonder that the actress missed an email from a few old Hawaii friends with a project based on the incredible survival at sea story of a 23-year-old woman in 1983. It's not that she wasn't interested - she was just a little busy.

It would take about a month for the script to get into Woodley's hands, and she remembers being at her mother's house and just sobbing while reading about the story of Tami Oldham and Richard Sharp, a young couple who endeavored to sail from Tahiti to San Diego and endured a hurricane that nearly destroyed the ship and put it irrevocably off-course. The film based on their story, "Adrift," hits theaters Friday.

"I called my friends immediately and I was like, 'Whatever I have to do to do this movie, please, please let me be part of it,'" Woodley said recently.

In this May 18, 2018 photo, actress Shailene Woodley, a cast member in the film "Adrift," poses for a portrait at The Ritz-Carlton on Friday, May 18, 2018, in Marina del Rey, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

It was exactly the kind of project the then-24-year-old was looking for. It was about love, survival, working with nature, and, under the ambitious direction of the Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormakur, would become one of her wildest movie-making experiences. Kormakur insisted that they shoot on the open ocean off the coast of Fiji, much to the very strong and very understandable objections from the studio and financiers. But it was non-negotiable for the director, who's a lifelong sailor.

"The first day of shooting on water it was sunny and like, 'Oh it's the best day ever,' taking selfies, 'I can't believe people pay us for this.' And I go, 'This is not the movie we're making,'" Kormakur said. "But cut to two hours later we're carrying buckets of puke. I thought, 'This is the movie we're making! Now we're talking! Roll the camera!'"

For Kormakur, who also directed the film "Everest," shooting in real locations lends an invaluable authenticity to the final product, and he had cinematographer Robert Richardson ("The Aviator"), a three-time Oscar winner, behind the camera to help.

"I strongly believe in this: People come and watch a movie and pay money for it and they want to be taken through something. They want to experience something and they experience through it the experience of the actor," Kormakur said. "And if you create reality from nothing there's often a feeling that it's a game."

And on "Adrift," everyone was keenly aware that this was not a game, or even just a story, but the real life experience of a woman, now Tami Oldham Ashcraft, who survived something few can fathom.

She wrote a memoir soon after her experience and says that the film "Adrift" is something she's been awaiting for 34 years. There had been a lot of promises over the years, and a lot of potential "Tamis" along the way, including Jodie Foster and Kate Hudson, but no movie until screenwriter brothers Aaron and Jordan Kandell approached her about six years ago and - much to her surprise - things actually started happening.

Woodley boarded to play Tami ("she's a West Coast girl," said Ashcraft, "I just feel her vibe") and Sam Claflin as Richard, whose casting Ashcraft said is "uncanny... from his accent to his playfulness to his humor."

Kormakur agreed that Woodley had that kind of "free spirit, nature loving" energy that is difficult to fake, but also praised her emotional truthfulness.

"There is something authentic about when she goes to a place," he said. "She doesn't fake it in a soapy way, the kind of soap acting you sometimes see in American acting style."

For Woodley, it's even simpler.

"Truth is my jam," she said. "It would be impossible to not be authentic given the circumstances."

Plus, she had both Ashcraft's memoir and the woman herself for any questions, big and small, and a subject that she felt strongly connected to.

"The beautiful thing about this movie to me is that it is a woman's survival story but it's not a man or woman versus nature story," Woodley said. "It's a woman learning how to work with nature to survive."

Indeed, Woodley's passion for the project ran so deep and she found herself doing so much, she eventually even got her own producer credit.

"It became more than me fighting for my character as an actor, it was about fighting for the integrity of the whole project from start to finish," Woodley said. "It was a once in a lifetime opportunity. It's something that as hard as I try to articulate the experience I will never be able to fully encapsulate the emotion and the feelings that we had while we were out there. There's just something that happens when you spend that much time with Mother Nature."

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Follow AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ldbahr

In this May 18, 2018 photo, actress Shailene Woodley, a cast member in the film "Adrift," poses for a portrait at The Ritz-Carlton on Friday, May 18, 2018, in Marina del Rey, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

In this May 18, 2018 photo, Tami Oldham Ashcraft, left, and actress Shailene Woodley, a cast member in the film "Adrift," poses for a portrait at The Ritz-Carlton on Friday, May 18, 2018, in Marina del Rey, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

In this May 18, 2018 photo, actress Shailene Woodley, a cast member in the film "Adrift," poses for a portrait at The Ritz-Carlton on Friday, May 18, 2018, in Marina del Rey, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

In this May 18, 2018 photo, actress Shailene Woodley, a cast member in the film "Adrift," poses for a portrait at The Ritz-Carlton on Friday, May 18, 2018, in Marina del Rey, Calif. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) - Serbia's parliament has approved the scandal-ridden mayor of Belgrade as the country's new finance minister.

The vote Tuesday was overwhelmingly in favor of Sinisa Mali, a member of the ruling populist Serbian Progressive Party, despite claims by the opposition that he has been linked to numerous financial and other affairs.

Mali was at the center of the illegal overnight demolishing of buildings in downtown Belgrade in 2014 to make space for the construction of a luxurious building project financed by an Emirates-based conglomerate.

In this photo taken Sunday, April 2, 2017, Belgrade mayor Sinisa Mali attends a press conference after presidential election in Belgrade, Serbia. Serbia's parliament has approved a scandal-ridden Belgrade mayor as the country's new finance minister. The vote Tuesday, May 29, 2018 was overwhelmingly in favor of Sinisa Mali, a member of the ruling populist Serbian Progressive Party, despite claims by the opposition that he has been linked to numerous financial and other affairs. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)

Although current President Aleksandar Vucic had accused Mali of being behind the demolition, the autocratic Serbian leader later protected Mali from any legal consequences and is believed to be behind his nomination as the finance minister.

Former Finance Minister Dusan Vujovic resigned this month, citing personal reasons.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. (AP) - Joe Ganim made a stunning return to politics in 2015, when he was elected mayor of Connecticut's largest city after serving seven years in prison for corruption during his first tenure as Bridgeport's leader.

Now the Democrat is knocking on doors and greeting people in cars and on the streets in Bridgeport and other cities, hoping to pull off another improbable and even bigger victory - becoming Connecticut's next governor.

Coming just shy of winning enough delegate support at the recent Democratic state convention to secure a spot automatically in the Aug. 14 primary, Ganim says he has nearly reached the goal of collecting signatures from roughly 15,500 registered Democrats to petition his way onto the ballot.

File- This Jan. 3, 2018, file photo shows Bridgeport, Conn., Mayor Joe Ganim filing papers to run for Connecticut governor in Hartford, Conn. Ganim is knocking on doors in many Connecticut cities, hoping to pull off an improbable political victory. The Democrat is trying to collect roughly 15,500 signatures to petition his way onto the Aug. 14 primary for governor. Ganim came just shy of winning enough support at the recent Democratic state convention to secure a spot automatically. The party instead endorsed wealthy Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont. (AP Photo/Dave Collins, File)

He's delivering a message of liberal populism to urban voters, many of whom appear unconcerned by Ganim's prison record and view him as someone who cares about them.

"We see it as someone coming up from being held to the bottom," said Bridgeport resident Louis Lacend as he signed one of Ganim's petitions last week. "He's doing the best he can and people see that."

Ganim, who was first mayor from 1991 to 2003, was sent to prison for steering city contracts in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in expensive wine, custom clothes, cash and home improvements. He was released in 2010.

Nevertheless, the 58-year-old former inmate thinks his personality and message resonate with many voters.

"They want people that are in touch, that are not afraid to take on what's perceived to be a kind of entrenched, kind of alienated establishment, whatever that is - Republican or Democratic," he said.

At the state convention, the Democrats endorsed Ned Lamont, a wealthy 64-year-old businessman best known for defeating then-U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary only to lose the general election to Lieberman after the senator ran as an independent.

Lamont has avoided publicly criticizing Ganim's effort to force a primary, saying he can't complain about intra-party challenges. Besides Lieberman, Lamont unsuccessfully also challenged Dannel P. Malloy in the 2010 Democratic primary for governor.

Retired Greenwich business executive Guy Smith also is collecting signatures.

Gary Rose, a political science professor at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, doesn't foresee Ganim winning the primary. But Rose said Ganim could harm Lamont's chances in the general election by casting a cloud of suspicion during the primary over the businessman, who likely won't have the same level of appeal among urban minority voters.

"I think Ned is going to be scathed somewhat and I think that's going to work to the advantage to whomever emerges as the Republican nominee," Rose said. "Ganim's base of support could potentially stay home."

Ganim's popularity was evident as he knocked on doors in the "Hollow" neighborhood of Bridgeport, where he was greeted with hugs and requests for selfies. It's one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in a city of more than 147,000, where almost a quarter of the population lives below the federal poverty line.

Ganim greeted voters with a "Hey, it's Ganim" or "Hey man, you vote?", then asking, "Will you sign my petition so they'll let me run for governor?"

Some of Ganim's supporters spoke openly about having served time in prison, their difficulty finding work and concerns about the city's youth turning to drugs.

"I don't think the neighborhoods of Greenwich are exactly like this," quipped Ganim, a not-so-subtle reference to Lamont and his wealthy hometown.

For his part, Lamont pledged at the state convention to help Bridgeport, where he has volunteered at one of the city's high schools. Lamont promised to be on "Bridgeport's side every day. Don't worry about that. All of our cities."

Bridgeport resident Cheyan Hines said she doesn't know Lamont, but she does know Ganim - and she likes him. She remembers he once visited her church and how "everything was really, really good" in the city the first time he was mayor.

His felony record doesn't bother her.

"Everybody has some hard times sometimes. And I, myself, have had a hard time," she said. "So I think he can relate to people who've had that experience before." She then signed his petition.

In this Monday, May 21, 2018 photo, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim poses for photos with residents of an apartment building in the city's Hollow neighborhood after asking them to sign a petition that will allow his name to appear on the Aug. 14 Democratic primary ballot. He is attempting to collect the roughly 15,500 signatures after narrowly losing his chance to automatically appear on the ballot at the recent Democratic State Convention (AP Photo/Susan Haigh)

In this Monday, May 21, 2018 photo, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim and Wanda Geter, a Bridgeport Democratic Town Committee leader, right, watch resident Shannon Bulerin, left, of the city's Hollow neighborhood sign a petition to help Ganim appear on the Aug. 14 Democratic primary ballot for governor. Ganim, who served seven years in federal prison for public corruption, fell short of winning the 15 percent of delegates needed at the state Democratic convention to automatically qualify for the primary. (AP Photo/Susan Haigh)

This photo taken Dec. 1, 2015, shows Joseph Ganim speaking after he was is sworn in as Bridgeport mayor during a ceremony at the Klein Memorial Auditorium in Bridgeport, Conn. Ganim is knocking on doors in many Connecticut cities, hoping to pull off an improbable political victory. The Democrat is trying to collect roughly 15,500 signatures to petition his way onto the Aug. 14 primary for governor. Ganim came just shy of winning enough support at the recent Democratic state convention to secure a spot automatically. The party instead endorsed wealthy Greenwich businessman Ned Lamont. (Brian A. Pounds/Hearst Connecticut Media via AP)

In this Monday, May 21, 2018 photo, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim talks with Democrats in his city, asking residents of Connecticut's largest city to sign a petition that will help him appear on the Aug. 14. Democratic primary ballot for governor. Ganim, who served seven years in federal prison for public corruption, fell short of winning the 15 percent of delegates needed at the state Democratic convention to automatically qualify for the primary. Louis Lacend, right, said city voters don't mind that Ganim previously spent seven years in prison, saying "he's doing the best he can and people see that.". (AP Photo/Susan Haigh)

In this Monday, May 21, 2018 photo, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim walks through the Hollow neighborhood of Bridgeport, attempting to collect the roughly 15,500 signatures he needs to petition his way onto the Aug. 14 primary ballot for governor. Watching, at rear, is City Council member Alfredo Castillo, whose district includes the Hollow. Ganim, who served seven years in federal prison for public corruption, fell short of winning the 15 percent of delegates needed at the state Democratic convention to automatically qualify for the primary. (AP Photo/Susan Haigh)

In this Monday, May 21, 2018 photo, Bridgeport Mayor Joe Ganim asks residents of the Hollow neighborhood of Bridgeport to sign a petition that will allow his name to appear on the Aug. 14 Democratic primary ballot for governor. He is attempting to collect the roughly 15,500 signatures after narrowly losing his chance to automatically appear on the ballot at the recent Democratic State Convention. (AP Photo/Susan Haigh)

In this Monday, May 21, 2018 photo, Bridgeport resident Cheyan Hines, right, signs a petition that would allow the city's mayor, Joe Ganim, left, to appear on the Aug. 14 Democratic primary ballot for governor. Ganim is attempting to collect the roughly 15,500 signatures after narrowly losing his chance to automatically appear on the ballot at the recent Democratic State Convention. (AP Photo/Susan Haigh)
CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on the death of a Chicago Fire Department diver who was searching for a missing boater (all times local):

9:30 a.m.

Officials are waiting for the autopsy results of a Chicago Fire Department diver who died while searching the Chicago River for a boater who had fallen into the water.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office says Firefighter Juan Bucio's autopsy is expected to be completed by Tuesday afternoon. Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford says that while the cause of death has not been determined, there is no indication that the 46-year-old Bucio was struck by a boat while he was in the water Monday night.

Two other divers were injured.

The fire department says Bucio was in the water with a diver partner when the two lost contact. He was later pulled out of the water and pronounced dead at a hospital. The missing boater has not been found.

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2:05 a.m.

Two Chicago Fire Department divers injured while searching for a missing boater and for a fellow diver who later died have been released from a hospital.

The three divers were involved in the search for a man who fell off a boat into the Chicago River on Monday night.

The Chicago Fire Department says Firefighter Juan Bucio "tragically passed away answering a call of a person in the water" and the two other divers were injured.

The injured divers were temporarily hospitalized and were released early Tuesday. The missing boater hasn't been found.

Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago says the 46-year-old Bucio was in the water with a dive partner when the partner lost contact with him. He says Bucio later was pulled from the water and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

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12:45 a.m.

A fire department diver looking for a man who fell off a boat into the Chicago River has been killed.

The Chicago Fire Department says its "prayers go out to the family of Firefighter Juan Bucio." It says on Twitter he "tragically passed away answering a call of a person in the water."

Police say the man fell off the boat Monday night. Bucio was killed and two other divers were injured while searching for him.

Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago says the 46-year-old Bucio was in the water with a dive partner when the partner lost contact with him. He says Bucio later was pulled from the water and was pronounced dead at a hospital.

The man who fell off the boat hasn't been found.

The other two divers are hospitalized in stable condition.
NEW YORK (AP) - ABC canceled its hit reboot of "Roseanne" on Tuesday following star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet that referred to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the "Planet of the Apes."

ABC Entertainment President Channing Dungey said the comment "is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values." Barr apologized and deleted her Monday-night tweet, calling it a "bad joke," but the damage had already been done.

Late Tuesday, Barr tweeted a second apology to the writers and co-stars of the show and urging people not to feel sorry for her. She also highlighted supporters' tweets that criticized ABC and two of its personalities, Joy Behar and Keith Olbermann.

FILE - In this Jan. 8, 2018, file photo, Roseanne Barr participates in the "Roseanne" panel during the Disney/ABC Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in Pasadena, Calif. ABC canceled its hit reboot of "Roseanne" on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, following star Roseanne Barr's racist tweet that referred to former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett as a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the "Planet of the Apes." (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

She also retweeted a meme that juxtaposed shots of President Donald Trump next to orangutans, and an image of Jarrett next to a picture of a "Planet of the Apes" actress.

The defiant tweetstorm capped a day that saw Barr resoundingly criticized by fellow actors, cast mates and others, and abandoned by several companies, including her talent agency, ICM Partners.

The revival of the comedy was a surprise smash for ABC, owned by the Walt Disney Co., and was counted on to lead the network's fortunes next season. Its first new episode in March was seen by more than 25 million people, with delayed viewing counted in, numbers that are increasingly rare in network television. ABC expected advertisers to pay millions of dollars for the chance to be seen during commercial breaks on television's most popular comedy after "The Big Bang Theory."

And it was all killed in a 53-character tweet.

One of the few network shows about a working-class family, "Roseanne" attracted considerable attention upon its return when Barr's character supported Trump. That made the show popular with conservative viewers, and Trump himself suggested the character's backing had a lot to do with the show's success.

Barr herself has a history of diving into political conspiracy theories on her Twitter feed, and she ended her Memorial Day weekend with a series of statements. She criticized Democratic financier George Soros and tweeted that Chelsea Clinton was "Chelsea Soros Clinton," implying she was married to a nephew of Soros. Clinton herself corrected Barr online. Donald Trump Jr. retweeted two of Barr's statements about Soros, although not the remark about Jarrett.

Jarrett, who is black, was brought up in response to Twitter commentary that raised her name in relation to an Obama conspiracy theory. Barr tweeted: "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

She later tweeted an apology to Jarrett. "Forgive me," she wrote. "My joke was in bad taste."

Jarrett, who appeared at the taping of an MSNBC show about racism on Tuesday, said she hoped the incident could be turned into a teaching moment.

"I'm fine," she said. "I'm worried about the people out there who don't have a circle of friends and followers who come right to their defense."

Barr was quickly condemned. Comic Wanda Sykes, a "Roseanne" writer, tweeted that she wouldn't be returning to the show. Sara Gilbert, a co-star, also tweeted that the remark was abhorrent.

It was a quick decision at ABC for Dungey, who is the first African-American to serve as programming chief for one of the major broadcast networks, and her boss, network president Ben Sherwood. Disney chief executive Robert Iger tweeted his approval: "There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing."

Three weeks earlier, "Roseanne" was the toast of ABC's annual presentation of its programming plans to advertisers. Sherwood even joked then: "If anyone came to play a drinking game based on how many times we mention 'Roseanne,' you're welcome."

"Roseanne" earned an estimated $45 million in advertising revenue for ABC through its nine episodes that started airing in March, according to Kantar Media. The firm estimates that the 13 episodes that had been ordered for next season would have brought in as much as $60 million, with more through repeat episodes.

Hulu and the Laff comedy channel said Tuesday they were pulling re-runs of "Roseanne" from their schedules.

The cancellation has no clear precedent in television history, said David Bianculli, professor at Rowan University in New Jersey. The closest analogy is CBS pulling the plug on the Smothers Brothers variety show due to their anti-war views in the late 1960s and the same network not renewing "Lou Grant" at its peak, which star Ed Asner always contended was due to his outspoken political beliefs.

"Roseanne Barr's comments were appalling and reminiscent of horrific time in our history when racism was not only acceptable but promoted by Hollywood," said Derrick Johnson, NAACP president and CEO. "We applaud ABC for taking a stand against racism by canceling 'Roseanne.' We commend the network and ... Dungey for placing the values of diversity, inclusion and respect for humanity above ratings."

Barr got what she deserved, said Shonda Rhimes, creator of hit ABC shows like "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal."

"As I tell my 4-year-old, one makes a choice with one's actions," Rhimes tweeted. "Roseanne made a choice. A racist one. ABC made a choice. A human one."

ICM dropped Barr within hours of the cancellation, saying in a statement that the agency was "greatly distressed by the disgraceful and unacceptable" tweet. Bruce Helford, executive producer of "Roseanne," said he was "personally horrified and saddened by the comments and in no way do they reflect the values of the people who worked so hard to make this the iconic show that it is."

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AP writers Mark Kennedy, Jocelyn Noveck and Leanne Italie in New York and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A U.N. expert on the impact of conflict on children expressed concern Tuesday over a lack of access to Myanmar's Rakhine state, where army-led violence has prompted about 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to flee to neighboring Bangladesh since last August.

"The figures we started receiving about killing and maiming and sexual violence are worrisome, but it's even more worrisome that we cannot see the picture clearly for lack of monitoring ability," Virginia Gamba told reporters in Yangon.

Gamba, who is the U.N. secretary-general's special representative for children and armed conflict, met with Myanmar's leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, armed forces chief Senior General Soe Win and other officials during her two-day visit to the Buddhist-majority country.

United Nation's special representative for children and armed conflict, Virginia Gamba, speaks during a press conference, in Yangon, Myanmar, Tuesday, May 29, 2018, her first visit to the country. (AP Photo/Thein Zaw)

She said she asked the government to allow her team access to Rakhine state, and believes the request will be granted in the coming weeks.

Gamba said she emphasized in her meetings with Myanmar authorities that any return of refugees be safe and voluntary. Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to begin the repatriation of Rohingya from overcrowded camps in Bangladesh, but many refugees say they fear they will face unsafe and unfree conditions if they return.

In 2012, Myanmar's military and government signed a Joint Action Plan to end the recruitment and use of children in the armed forces. Shortly after the signing, more than 840 children were released from the military.

Gamba said other aspects of the Joint Action Plan have not been fully implemented and must be speeded up.

"I had frank and constructive discussion with the authorities of Myanmar including the way forward in completing the implementation of the Joint Action Plan," Gamba said in a statement. "Many measures have already been put in place but we need to expedite completion of this Joint Action Plan."

Myanmar's army has been accused of extrajudicial killings, torture, forced labor, rape and other abuses against the country's many minority groups. More than 20 armed ethnic groups are currently active.
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) - The United Nations secretary-general on Tuesday arrived in Mali to visit the world's deadliest U.N. peacekeeping mission and call for peace, saying the West African nation is "living in a key moment" with elections just two months away.

"This is a solidarity visit with the Malian people," Antonio Guterres said after landing in the capital, Bamako. "Our forces are working here in difficult conditions."

The U.N. peacekeeping mission has been the target of attacks by a number of extremist groups in Mali's vast north. It saw 21 peacekeepers and seven civilians killed last year, the fourth year in a row that it suffered the greatest loss of life among missions worldwide, the U.N. said.

Guterres is expected to attend a ceremony paying tribute to fallen peacekeepers.

He also will visit the command post for the recently created five-nation regional G5 Sahel counter-extremism force, and will meet with armed groups that are signatories to a 2015 peace agreement with the government in an effort to press all parties to honor the accord.

"It's an honor to receive Guterres. He has taken the habit of being in solidarity with Muslims each month of Ramadan," said President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita before meeting with the secretary-general.

The visit comes two months before an election that many worry could turn into conflict between supporters of Keita, who on Monday announced his intention to run again, and the opposition led by Soumaila Cisse.

Guterres will meet with Cisse as he encourages a July 29 election that is transparent and free of violence.

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BERLIN (AP) - Christians in western Europe are less accepting of immigrants and non-Christians than people without religious affiliations, a study published Tuesday that was based on a 15-country survey found.

The Pew Research Center report revealed that Christians - whether or not they are churchgoers - are more likely than western Europeans who don't identify with a religion to express negative views of Muslims, Jews and migrants. They also are more inclined to think their country's culture and values are superior.

"On balance, more respondents say immigrants are honest and hardworking than say the opposite," the study's authors wrote. "But a clear pattern emerges: Both church-attending and non-practicing Christians are more likely than religiously unaffiliated adults in Western Europe to voice anti-immigrant and anti-minority views."

FILE - In this Thursday, June 5, 2008 file photo, books from the three monotheistic religions, clockwise from bottom left, the Bible, a Jewish Siddour, several copies of the New Testament and the Quran are seen on a table at a prison built for potential inmates at the Palexpo in Geneva, Switzerland. A new study suggests Christians in western Europe are less accepting of immigrants and non-Christians than people without religious affiliations. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer, File)

The study was based on a telephone survey of 24,599 randomly selected adults in the 15 countries. Pew researchers compared the attitudes of respondents who described themselves as practicing Christians, non-practicing Christians and religiously unaffiliated, including atheists and agnostics.

One of their findings was that ethnic Europeans as a whole hold "mixed views on whether Islam is compatible with their country's values and culture."

In Britain, 45 percent of churchgoing Christians and 47 percent of non-practicing Christians agreed with the statement that "Islam is fundamentally incompatible with our values and culture, the survey showed. Among non-religious Britons, 30 percent shared that view.

In France, nearly three-quarters of Christians who attend church, or 72 percent, agreed it was important to have French ancestry to be "truly French." Among non-practicing Christians, 52 percent took this position, compared to 43 percent of those without religious affiliations.

The survey was conducted during April-August 2017, after more than 2.3 million migrants and refugees had entered Europe during the previous two years, according to the European border control agency Frontex. Some European countries, including Germany and Italy, have seen an anti-immigration backlash and nationalist political parties gaining support.

The survey found that Swedes were the least likely to express anti-migrant and anti-minority views, while Italians were the most likely.

"Undercurrents of discomfort with multiculturalism are evident in Western European societies," the researchers wrote in the report.

Although Muslim newcomers have been the focus of far-right candidates appealing for votes and activist campaigns to seal Europe's borders, the survey also asked about attitudes toward Jews in western Europe.

For example, 36 percent of Italians, more than in any other country, agreed with the statement that, "Jews always overstate how much they have suffered," compared to the 11 percent of Swedes who did.

One-quarter of all the respondents in Italy - Christian and non-religious combined - said they would not be willing to accept a Jew as a family member. The comparable figure in Britain was 23 percent, in Austria 21 percent and 29 percent in Germany.

However, anti-Muslim sentiment exceeded anti-Semitism in every country. By comparison, 43 percent in Italy, 36 percent in Britain, 34 percent in Austria and 33 percent in Germany said they would be unwilling to accept a Muslim as a family member.

A hotly debated question in some parts of Europe is whether Muslim women should be prohibited from wearing concealing garments such as burkas. Most of the adults Pew surveyed supported at least some restrictions on religious dress.

Some 30 percent of those surveyed in Italy, 28 percent in Belgium and 24 percent in both Germany and Austria agreed that Muslim women "should not be allowed to wear any religious clothing."

Across the 15 countries where people were surveyed, the median was 22 percent, while half agreed Muslim women should be able to wear religious clothing as long as it does not cover their faces.

Pew said the survey had a margin of error of 2.7 to 3.3 percentage points depending on the number of people questioned in each country.
NEW DELHI (AP) - AirAsia India Ltd., the Indian arm of regional budget airline AirAsia, has denied allegations it engaged in corruption, saying it was cooperating with an investigation into suspicions that it paid bribes to get government approvals.

Malaysia-based AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes, his deputy Bo Lingam and others were named in a complaint filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Press Trust of India news agency reported late Tuesday.

The investigation centers on allegations that AirAsia paid bribes through a "sham contract" with a Singapore-based company to get government approvals to launch its India operation.

FILE - In this Nov. 10, 2014, file photo, AirAsia Airbus A320-200 passenger jets are parked on the tarmac in Sepang, Malaysia. AirAsia India Ltd., the Indian arm of regional budget airline AirAsia, has denied allegations it engaged in corruption, saying it was cooperating with an investigation into suspicions that it paid bribes to get government approvals. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin, File)

India, with its rapidly growing middle class eager to travel, was a key business target for AirAsia, which dominates budget air transport in many Asian countries.

AirAsia India official Shuva Mandal said in a statement that the carrier was "cooperating with all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts."

Indian investigators registered the case Tuesday but formal charges can only be ordered by a court.

Fernandes has had a difficult few weeks. He has apologized for supporting former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, whose long-ruling coalition was ousted in May 9 elections. Fernandes said he bowed to government pressure and believed his endorsement would help protect jobs.
PARIS (AP) - Some supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have caused an outcry in France after they forced a local newsstand to remove an advertising poster for a newsmagazine that called the Turkish leader a "dictator."

Xavier Magnin, a public official in the southern French town of Le Pontet, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that pro-Erdogan residents pressured the newsstand's managers and workers into taking the poster down last week. The poster was put back up later while a dozen police officers provided protection.

French President Emmanuel Macron described the incident as "perfectly unacceptable." Christophe Deloire, director of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders, said: "We must not accept the importation of dictatorial behavior."

The incident also has attracted attention in Turkey, where Erdogan is seeking re-election next month.
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AP) - An Ethiopian court has dropped charges against two U.S.-based media outlets once accused of coordinating anti-government protests, as well as a high-profile politician and opposition activist.

The developments reported by the state-affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate are the latest under new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, who since his installation in April has secured the release of several thousands of prisoners.

Charges were dropped against broadcasters ESAT and OMN and activist Jawar Mohammed.

Charges also were dropped against politician Berhanu Nega, who leads the opposition Patriotic Ginbot 7 group and was previously sentenced to death.

Also Tuesday, Ethiopia-born British national Andgargachew Tsige walked free after being pardoned Saturday on "special circumstances." He was secretary-general of Ginbot 7 and had been detained in Yemen in 2014 under Ethiopia's infamous anti-terror law.
NEW YORK (AP) - The woman who has accused Harvey Weinstein of rape in his criminal case was in a decade-long relationship with him that continued after the alleged attack in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013, a lawyer for the film producer said Tuesday.

Attorney Benjamin Brafman made the remark after meeting behind closed doors with prosecutors and a New York judge Tuesday over defense concerns about whether Weinstein can get a fair trial.

The criminal case revolves around two women, only one of whom, the former actress Lucia Evans, has gone public with her story of being forced to perform oral sex on Weinstein at his office in 2004.

Prosecutors haven't identified the second accuser, who told investigators Weinstein confined her in a hotel room and raped her.

Brafman said he also wouldn't identify the woman by name, but speaking to reporters outside a Manhattan courthouse, said she was "someone with whom he has had a 10-year consensual, sexual relationship, both before the alleged incident and after the alleged incident."

Brafman called the allegation "serious on its face, but when you drill down on it, it is in my opinion also absurd."

He added that the woman who made the rape claim was not Weinstein's wife, Georgina Chapman, who married him in 2007 and filed for divorce after the scandal broke last fall.

Prosecutors left court without commenting. The Associated Press does not identify alleged victims of sexual assaults without their consent.

Weinstein, 66, surrendered last week and was led into court in handcuffs to face rape and criminal sex acts charges involving the two women. The once-powerful Hollywood figure, who is free on $1 million bail, did not appear in court Tuesday. He has consistently denied having nonconsensual sex with anyone.

Brafman said that he was limited in what he could say about the 90-minute conference Tuesday in the chambers of Judge James Burke because a transcript of it was sealed. But he said he was worried about the impact the wave of bad publicity about his client could have on a grand jury that's hearing the case under Burke's supervision.

Brafman also claimed the Manhattan District's Attorney's office is under "inappropriate" and "unprecedented" pressure to pursue the prosecution. He said Weinstein expects to be exonerated if the case goes to trial.

"You can only imagine what your state of mind would be if you were accused of a very serious crime that you maintain you didn't commit," he said. "So it's a terrible state of mind in that regard, but he's confident he's going to clear his name."

There were rumors in Hollywood for years about Weinstein's pursuit of young actresses. And in 2015, an Italian model went to New York City police and accused him of groping her during a meeting.

Police set up a sting in which the woman recorded herself confronting Weinstein. But Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. decided not to bring charges, citing a lack of evidence.

The Democratic prosecutor came under public pressure from women's groups to prosecute Weinstein this time in the wake of more recent allegations of sexual misconduct against him by dozens of women.

Until the scandal, Weinstein was among the most influential forces in American film. Companies he co-founded, Miramax and the Weinstein Co., were behind such hits as "Pulp Fiction," ''Shakespeare in Love" and "The King's Speech."
Former Rhode Island Congressman Patrick Kennedy and his wife have added another boy to their brood.

Amy Kennedy gave birth Sunday night to the couple's fourth child, Marshall, at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in New Jersey.

Marshall, whose full name is Marshall Patrick Kennedy, was born weighing 7 pounds, 4.2 ounces.

As the family left the hospital on Tuesday, his father remarked how it would have been his uncle John F. Kennedys 101st birthday.

Patrick Kennedy is with his wife Amy, their fifth child Marshall and their four other children (l-r), Nell, two, Owen, six, Harper 10, and Nora, four, at the AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in New Jersey

'As we reflect on the tragedies of the past, Amy and I are hopeful that this child will know a more compassionate, connected world-one my aunts, uncles and father fought for every day,' he said in a statement to Press of Atlantic City.

Marshall made his first public appearance Tuesday along with his parents and older siblings - 10-year-old step-sister Harper Petigout, six-year-old Owen, four-year-old Nora and two-year-old Nell.

Earlier, the former congressman announced the happy news in a tweet.

He said: 'Amy and I are pleased to announce the newest member of our family: Marshall Patrick Kennedy!'

He also took to Facebook to thank the 'amazing staff' at the hospital and shared more photographs of his happy brood.

The post included a sweet photograph of their four children doting over Marshall who was wrapped in a swaddle and placed in his older brother Owen's lap.

Nell, Kennedy's two-year-old, cooes over her baby brother in the hospital as the rest of the family watches on

The former congressman's wife Amy gave birth on Sunday. She was a picture of health and happiness as she posed for family photos with Marshall on Tuesday

The former congressman announced the happy news on Twitter on Tuesday

Patrick Kennedy and his wife Amy welcomed their fifth child, Marshall, on Sunday. He is pictured with siblings Owen, 6, Nora, 4, Harper, 10, and Nell, 2 (L-R)

It was not until earlier this month that Amy's pregnancy became common knowledge when she appeared with a burgeoning bump at an event.

Amy Kennedy was a public school teacher for more than 15 years and serves on the board of Mental Health America.

Kennedy, a Democrat, was elected in 1994 and chose not to run again in 2010, the year after his father, Massachusetts Sen. Edward Kennedy, died.

Kennedy has written and spoken publicly about his long struggle with bipolar disorder and drug addiction. He has become an advocate for a stronger mental health care system.
CLEVELAND (AP) - An Ohio man accused of hiding his membership in a Serbian special police unit that massacred more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims during the 1995 genocide will leave the U.S. as part of his sentencing.

An attorney for Oliver Dragic (DRAH'-gich) said Dragic will leave for Bosnia with his mother sometime in June.

Dragic appeared in federal court Tuesday in Cleveland and was sentenced to time served after spending 13 months in custody while waiting for his case to be decided.

Dragic pleaded guilty in December to possessing and using fraudulently obtained immigration documents.

Prosecutors say Dragic, of Barberton in suburban Akron, made false statements on forms about his role in ethnic cleansing in Bosnia while applying for refugee status in the U.S. in 1998.
The man suspected to be the Golden State Killer stood in court inside a metal cage on Tuesday after he was last seen in a wheelchair.

Joseph DeAngelo, 72, stood inside the Sacramento courtroom during a hearing. His prior appearance in court presented a stark contrast.

DeAngelo sat in a wheelchair and appeared to be mumbling incoherently during his arraignment at Sacramento Superior Court last month.

But on Tuesday, DeAngelo appeared fit and spry.

A judge on Tuesday weighed how much information to release about the arrest of the former police officer.

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The man suspected to be the Golden State Killer stood in court inside a metal cage on Tuesday after he was last seen in a wheelchair

Joseph DeAngelo, 72, stood inside the Sacramento courtroom during a hearing. His prior appearance in court presented a stark contrast

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Sweet began considering the issue after a hearing where attorneys for DeAngelo argued that sharing the details could lead to an unfair trial.

Sweet indicated he's likely to release some information and is working with prosecutors and defense attorneys to determine how much to redact, which would continue to shield some details from public view.

The Associated Press and other news outlets are pushing for information from search and arrest warrants to be made public.

Transparency helps the public act as a check on the legal process and ensures investigators are acting appropriately, said Duffy Carolan, a lawyer for the news outlets.

'The press, the public and the victims deserve open proceedings,' she argued.

DeAngelo sat in a wheelchair and appeared to be mumbling incoherently during his arraignment at Sacramento Superior Court last month

Authorities arrested DeAngelo last month and said he is responsible for at least a dozen killings and roughly 50 rapes in the 1970s and '80s.

Investigators have searched his home in Citrus Heights, California, his computer and his cellphone.

Defense attorneys said the warrants include information about other allegations against DeAngelo that can no longer be tried, as well as details on evidence and methods.

Making that information public could taint jurors and witnesses, defense lawyer David Lynch said.

'We have witnesses to events decades ago. Fading memories are going to be a huge issue in this case,' he said.

Prosecutors did not object to the release of the documents but want to shield some information, including investigatory techniques and victim and witness identities.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. (AP) - One of the most liberal politicians seeking national office in conservative Wyoming in recent years is running again but has switched parties, from Democrat to Republican.

Former Roman Catholic priest Charlie Hardy is mounting a long-shot bid against U.S. Sen. John Barrasso in the GOP primary.

Hardy said Tuesday that he's now an "Eisenhower Republican," referring to Republican President Dwight Eisenhower, who warned against out-of-control military spending.

Former Roman Catholic priest Charlie Hardy, seen here in Cheyenne, Wyo. on May 25, 2018, has switched from Democrat to Republican to challenge U.S. Sen. John Barrasso in the 2018 Republican primary in Wyoming. Hardy ran unsuccessfully as a Democrat for U.S. House in 2016 and U.S. Senate in 2014. (AP Photo/Mead Gruver)

The 79-year-old supports universal health coverage and a steep increase in the federal minimum wage but is now pessimistic he can be successful as a Democrat in heavily Republican Wyoming.

Hardy lost to Ryan Greene in the Democratic primary for U.S. House in 2016.

Hardy was the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in 2014, getting 17 percent of the vote against Republican incumbent Mike Enzi.
MEXICO CITY (AP) - A journalist with the national newspaper Excelsior has been killed in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas, the state prosecutor's office said Tuesday.

The body of Hector Gonzalez Antonio was found Tuesday morning in Ciudad Victoria, the capital of the state that shares a border with Texas. Authorities responded to call about a dumped body and only identified Gonzalez later. He was beaten to death, according to a statement from prosecutors.

As the correspondent for a national outlet, Gonzalez's most recent stories reflected the violence and corruption present in Tamaulipas state. Prior to joining Excelsior, Gonzalez had worked for local newspapers in Ciudad Victoria.

More than 30 journalists have been killed in Mexico in the past 5  years.

On May 15, gunmen killed radio news host Juan Carlos Huerta in Tabasco state.

On May 24, Alicia Diaz Gonzalez, a business reporter with El Financiero, was found killed in her home in Monterrey in what authorities suspected was a domestic killing.

Gonzalez is the second journalist killed in Tamaulipas this year.

On Jan. 13, independent journalist Carlos Dominguez Rodriguez was stabbed to death in Nuevo Laredo. Six people were arrested in that case and the judicial process was ongoing.

Tamaulipas includes lucrative drug and human smuggling routes, which have made its violence difficult to control.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - After the revelation in January that Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens had an extramarital affair with his former hairdresser before he took office, the first-term Republican faced a series of investigations and charges. Here's a look at some of the significant moments that led to Greitens' announcement Tuesday that he was resigning:

Jan. 10 - Hours after Greitens delivers his State of the State speech, St. Louis television station KMOV broadcasts a story featuring a conversation secretly recorded between the governor's former hairdresser and her then-husband in 2015 in which she is heard saying she had a sexual encounter with Greitens. She says he took a photo of her while she was partially nude and threatened to release it if she exposed their relationship. Greitens issues a statement admitting to having an affair but calling it consensual and denying blackmail.

Feb. 22 - A grand jury in St. Louis indicts the governor on a felony invasion of privacy charge for taking and transmitting the alleged photo. Greitens' attorney says the charge is "baseless and unfounded."

FILE - In this May 17, 2018 file photo, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens looks on before speaking at an event near the capitol in Jefferson City, Mo. Greitens, a sometimes brash outsider whose unconventional resume as a Rhodes Scholar and Navy SEAL officer made him a rising star in Republican politics, abruptly announced his resignation Tuesday, May 29, 2018, after a scandal involving an affair with his former hairdresser led to a broader investigation by prosecutors and state legislators. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)

March 1 - The Republican-led Missouri House forms a bipartisan committee to investigate Greitens. On the same day, Republican Attorney General Josh Hawley opens an inquiry into The Mission Continues, a veterans charity Greitens founded. A key issue is Greitens' use of a charity donor list for his political campaign.

March 14 - A Democratic consultant files an ethics complaint alleging that Greitens falsely reported how his campaign obtained The Mission Continues' donor list and failed to disclose that it also got the charity's email list.

April 11 - The House investigatory committee releases a graphic report that details instances in which Greitens' former hairdresser says he slapped, spanked, shoved, grabbed and called her derogatory names during a series of sexual encounters in 2015. The committee finds her testimony credible. Greitens says the report is part of a "witch hunt." The woman's name never has been officially released; it is redacted from the legislative documents and she is identified only by her initials in court filings.

April 17 - Hawley announces that Greitens may have committed a felony by taking The Mission Continues' donor list and using it for political fundraising without the charity's permission. Hawley turned his evidence over to St. Louis prosecutors.

April 20 - St. Louis prosecutors charge Greitens with a felony of tampering with computer data for allegedly disclosing The Mission Continues' donor list to his political fundraiser in 2015 without the permission of the St. Louis-based charity. Greitens says the allegations are "ridiculous" and resists calls to resign.

May 2 - The House investigatory committee releases a second report that indicates that Greitens originally received The Mission Continues' donor list so he could call key supporters of the charity and explain that he was stepping down as CEO in 2014. However, the report says Greitens directed political aides to work off the list to raise money for his campaign - even though he had signed an agreement to not disclose the charity's confidential donor information. The report also indicates that Greitens' campaign later lied in campaign finance reports about how it got the list.

May 3 - Republican leaders in the Missouri House and Senate announce they have enough signatures to call a special legislative session to consider disciplinary actions against Greitens that could include impeachment.

May 14 - Three days into jury selection in Greitens' trial on the felony invasion of privacy charge, prosecutors abruptly drop the charge after the court rules that St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner would be questioned and might have to testify at the trial with Greitens' attorneys attacking her handling of the case. Greitens declares an initial victory, but Gardner says she plans to pursue the case, either through a special prosecutor or an appointed assistant.

May 18 - State lawmakers convene a special session to consider whether to initiate impeachment proceedings against Greitens. The session could last up to 30 days.

May 21 - A judge appoints a special prosecutor, Jackson County prosecutor Jean Peters Baker, to decide whether to refile the invasion of privacy case against Greitens.

May 29 - Greitens announces that he's resigning as of 5 p.m. Friday, June 1.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Venezuelan officials in the government of President Nicolas Maduro have committed crimes against humanity, a panel of experts said Tuesday, recommending their finding be forwarded for possible prosecution.

Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, said he will forward the three-member panel's 400-page report and a mountain of supporting evidence to the International Criminal Court.

Senior government officials in Venezuela clearly used the state as an instrument to terrorize its people, he said.

"These crimes are an affront to the conscience of humanity and the welfare of all," Almagro said in a statement.

The report - drawing a sharp response from Venezuelan officials who called it "nothing more than a grotesque media farce" - documents 131 alleged murders perpetrated by security forces or pro-government armed civilian groups - known as "colectivos" - during street protests in 2014 and 2017.

It identified 8,292 executions outside of the judicial process since 2015 and more than 12,000 people arbitrarily detained since the presidential elections of 2013, including more than 1,300 political prisoners.

"The widespread and systematic targeting of opponents of the regime or suspected 'enemies of the state,' constitute the crime against humanity," the report says. "These acts, for which there is no legal basis, did not take place spontaneously or in isolation, but instead reflect a policy put in place by the Government of Venezuela through acts directed by the highest State authorities."

The international panel designated by the OAS secretary general included Argentine Santiago Canton, Canadian Irwin Cotler and Costa Rican Manuel Ventura.

They drew their conclusions after five hearings held at the OAS headquarters in late-2017 with testimony from 26 witnesses. They collected documents from victims, relatives of victims and more than 40 non-governmental and international organizations.

Venezuelan diplomats in Washington fired back saying the findings were prepared by "anti-Venezuelan activists" relying on testimony of "criminal fugitives."

It is part of a "propaganda campaign against the Venezuelan state, whose sole objective is to overthrow the Constitutional Government of President Nicolas Maduro," Venezuelan diplomats said in a statement.

Maduro in recent days won an election to a second six-year term as president in a vote his leading challenger called fraudulent and banned opposition parties rejected as an illegitimate victory.

The panel presented its report after the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Fatou Bensouda, announced a preliminary investigation had been launched into alleged crimes committed by Venezuelan police and security forces.

A preliminary investigation is the first step toward a possible full investigation that could lead to charges before the international court.

The International Criminal Court, governed by an international treaty called the Rome Statute, is the first permanent international criminal court. It investigates and prosecutes individuals accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Venezuela was the first Latin American country to ratify the Rome Statute in December 2002.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Justify has completed a half-mile workout at Churchill Downs in preparation for his Triple Crown bid next month.

The 3-year-old colt covered the distance in 46.80 seconds on Tuesday with trainer Bob Baffert and co-owner Elliott Walden of WinStar Farm looking on. It was the fastest among 43 workouts at the distance. Jockey Martin Garcia flew in from Southern California to work Justify, who is ridden in races by Mike Smith.

Baffert says Justify performed the way he wanted, and he believes the colt is progressing ahead of the June 9 Belmont Stakes.

Jockey Martin Garcia works Triple Crown hopeful Justify at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)

Justify is expected to have one more workout, possibly on Monday, before he flies to New York next Wednesday.

Baffert will return to his Southern California base before returning to Louisville this weekend.

Also Tuesday, Free Drop Billy was confirmed to run in the Belmont. The colt finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby and skipped the Preakness.

Jockey Martin Garcia works Triple Crown hopeful Justify at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Tuesday, May 29, 2018. (AP Photo/Garry Jones)
SEATTLE (AP) - A federal judge in Seattle on Tuesday became the latest to block President Donald Trump's administration from prematurely cutting off funding for science-based programs aimed at reducing teen pregnancy.

King County, which includes Seattle, sued after the Department of Health and Human Services decided to end funding two years early for what was supposed to be a five-year, $5 million grant through the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program.

The county was among 81 grant recipients notified last summer that their funding would end early. The news came after advocates of abstinence-only education were appointed to key positions at Health and Human Services, and the department offered shifting explanations about why it was ending the funding, the county said in its lawsuit.

U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour, an appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, on Tuesday blocked the administration from cutting King County's funding without cause, calling its actions arbitrary. Judges in Spokane, Washington; Baltimore; and Washington, D.C., have made similar rulings.

The department's "failure to articulate any explanation for its action, much less a reasoned one based on relevant factors, exemplifies arbitrary and capricious agency action meriting reversal," Coughenour wrote.

Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. In court documents it argued that it had a right to change its funding priorities.

It also has issued statements suggesting that the Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program was ineffective. Advocates of the program credit it with helping to lower the teen pregnancy rate 41 percent since 2010.

"We sued the federal government because they are attempting to eliminate funding for programs based on science and evidence in favor of right-wing ideology that is out of touch with reality," King County Executive Dow Constantine, a Democrat, said in a written statement.

Congress created the $110 million Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program in 2010 as a way to support and develop evidence-based programs to reduce teen pregnancy. In 2015, Health and Human Services awarded 81 grants that were supposed to last five years.

King County's grant was to expand its sex education curriculum - called High School Family Life and Sexual Health, or FLASH - to other jurisdictions around the country, where its effectiveness in persuading teens to delay sex, or to use birth control if they are sexually active, could be measured against that of standard curriculums. The program is already considered effective, officials say, and King County's teen pregnancy rate is well below the national average.

Before Health and Human Services announced it was pulling funding, the department had given King County's study positive reviews, the lawsuit said.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens resigned Tuesday amid both criminal and legislative investigations that stemmed from an extramarital affair and questions about campaign financing.

Here is his full resignation speech:

"Today I am announcing that I will resign as governor of Missouri effective Friday, June 1, at 5 p.m.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens announces his resignation in the governor's office, Tuesday, May 29, 2018, in Jefferson City, Mo. Greitens resigned amid a widening investigation that arose from an affair with his former hairdresser. He said his resignation would take effect Friday. (Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP)

"I came to office to fight for the people of Missouri, to fight for the forgotten. I love Missouri and I love our people. That love remains.

"I am thankful to all those who have worked beside me, who sweated beside me, those who gave their time, their energy and their precious resources, so that we could pursue our mission of taking Missouri in a new and better direction.

"We have accomplished a lot. I am proud of you and I am proud of all our work.

"The last few months have been incredibly difficult for me, for my family, for my team, for my friends and for many, many people.

"This ordeal has been designed to cause an incredible amount of strain on my family; millions of dollars of mounting legal bills, endless personal attacks designed to cause maximum damage to family and friends; legal harassment of colleagues, friends and campaign workers.

"It's clear that for the forces that oppose us there is no end in sight. I cannot allow those forces to continue to cause pain and difficulty to the people that I love.

"I know, and people of good faith know, that I am not perfect. But I have not broken any laws or committed any offense worthy of this treatment. I will let the fairness of this process be judged by history.

"It has been a great honor and a privilege to serve as your governor. Traveling the state, I have talked to many of you who harbor extraordinary anger at this ordeal and for those who have pushed and promoted it. For those who would be moved to vengeance, let us allow history and God to bring justice.

"We must, as we have always done, work to improve the lives of those around us.

"This is not the end of our fight. I will always be a fighter for the people of Missouri.

"A great deal of work is left undone. The time has come, though, to tend to those who have been wounded, and to care for those who need us most. So for the moment, let us walk off the battlefield with our heads held high

"We have a good and a proud story to tell our children. Let's love them and each other every day. May God continue to bless you and to bless the great state of Missouri."
MEXICO CITY (AP) - The governor of Mexico's Jalisco state says the cartel of the same name has hired ex-soldiers from Colombia to train recruits.

The Jalisco New Generation cartel is Mexico's fastest-growing drug gang, and one of its most violent, directly attacking police and army troops.

Gov. Aristoteles Sandoval said Tuesday that searches of cartel training camps have turned up evidence that people with guerrilla warfare and military training have been training its members.

Sandoval said such experts have also come from other countries.

In 2005, the Zetas cartel enlisted "Kaibiles," former members of an elite Guatemalan counterinsurgency unit, to train new recruits.
ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) - Blake Painter, an Oregon fisherman featured on the television series "The Deadliest Catch," has died. He was 38.

Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin said Tuesday Painter had been found in his Astoria home May 25 by a friend who visited after being unable to reach him.

Bergin said a cause of death would not be released until a toxicology report had been completed, but there was no apparent evidence of foul play.

FILE - In this April 18, 2006 file photo, Capt. Rick Quashnick, right, shares a laugh with boat engineer Blake Painter, left, as family and close friends gather at Quashnick's Warrenton, Ore., house to watch the Discovery Channel series "The Deadliest Catch." Painter, an Astoria fisherman featured on the television series 'The Deadliest Catch,' has died. He was 38. Clatsop County Sheriff Tom Bergin confirmed Tuesday, May 29, 2018, that Painter had been found in his home May 25 by a friend who visited after being unable to reach him. (Lori Assa/Daily Astorian via AP, File)

Painter rose to prominence after appearing on early seasons of the Discovery Channel series, which chronicles the lives and work of fishermen in Alaska waters, with an eye to the hazards of the profession.
Britains armed forces need to be given a pay rise in order to protect recruitment, Defence Minister Tobias Ellwood has said.

The move could see pay rises for tens of thousands of personnel, but is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of pounds over several years.

The minister suggested that the country would have to spend north of 2.5% of gross domestic product (GDP) in order to pay for increased salaries and new jets, warships and other equipment.

Tobias Ellwood made the recommendation (Jonathan Brady/PA)

The independent body that advises the Government on pay for members of the Army, Navy and RAF has provided its recommendations for the 2018-2019 pay round.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said an announcement would be made in due course, but The Times reports the body has recommended an increase of about 3%.

The Government announced in September that it was lifting the 1% public sector pay cap, which has been in place since 2010.

However, an announcement on how armed forces pay may change was delayed.

A soldier on parade (Peter Byrne/PA)

Mr Ellwood, a former Army captain, told The Times that while people do not join the armed forces for the money as such, pay must not become a reason as to why they would be deterred from it.

He added: There needs to be a pay rise. We have still got to conclude the defence modernisation programme but you would need to move north of 2.5% to make any of this work, if you want to retain the same defence posture given the dangers, the complexities of the world that we face.

Mr Ellwood has previously suggested the armed forces should receive funding on a par with the NHS.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show the UK spent 9.8% of gross domestic product (GDP) on healthcare in 2016.

On Friday, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson warned Britain must continue to invest in its conventional armed forces if it is to deter aggressors such as a resurgent Russia.

An RAF Typhoon from RAF Lossiemouth flying over the newly installed Air Defence Radar at Saxa Vord, on the Island of Unst, Shetland (Trish James/MoD/PA).

In comments likely to be seen as aimed at Chancellor Philip Hammond, he said investing in the military was about making sure things do not happen.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is said to be facing a budgetary black hole of at least 20 billion over the next decade.

Malcolm Chalmers, deputy director-general at the Royal United Services Institute, told The Times a 3% increase would cost around 200 million a year.

If Mr Hammond declines to give the MoD more money to pay for increased salaries it would have to come from the departments own stretched budget.

An MoD spokesman said: The Armed Forces Pay Review Bodys recommendations for the 2018 pay award are being considered by the Government and an announcement will be made in due course.
Monday could be the hottest day of the year so far after more than a months rainfall deluged parts of Birmingham in just one hour on Sunday.

Thunderstorms and heavy downpours swept across the country on Sunday, causing flash flooding that left a major route into Birmingham impassable because of water up to 5ft deep.

The Met Office said a site at Winterbourne, in Edgbaston, recorded 58mm of rainfall in just one hour on Sunday afternoon, and 81mm in a 12-hour period.

People make the most of warm Sunday evening weather on Sunday at Emsworth Mill Pond, part of Chichester Harbour (Flora Thompson/PA)

The monthly average for the West Midlands region in May is 55mm, meteorologist Craig Snell said.

But he said the torrential rain had been very localised, pointing out that another site 10 miles away at Coleshill recorded just 3mm of rain in 12 hours.

The heavy downpours could continue for some on Monday, with a yellow weather warning for rain in place as thunderstorms roll south through Northamptonshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire overnight.

Reports of a vehicle submerged in floodwater - @WMASHART operatives swam to assist local @WestMidsFire crew rendering aid to 2 patients on the roof



@TechRescueWMFS arrived & deployed a boat@OFFICIALWMAS crew conveyed 1 patient to A&E under blue light conditions pic.twitter.com/yMgKVVsE7m  Peter Bowles (@wmaspeterbowles) May 28, 2018

Mr Snell said: We wont see the scenes we saw last night.

There could be a few very short-lived thunderstorms but overall it will be a much quieter night.

In the West Midlands overnight a person was rushed to hospital after they were rescued from the roof of a car submerged in floodwater.

Paramedic Peter Bowles said members of the West Midlands Ambulance Services Hazardous Area Response Team swam to the vehicle to treat two people who were on top of it.

Once brought to dry land by boat one of them was taken to A&E, he said on Twitter.

Southern England was struck by lightning between 15,000 and 20,000 times on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

The Environment Agency has more than 20 flood warnings and more than 40 flood alerts in place covering much of Central England.

A yellow weather warning for rain is also in place from the afternoon for large swathes of East Anglia, the South East including London, the South West and Wales.

But Mr Snell said temperatures could hit highs of 28C or 29C in the South East, potentially surpassing the 2018 record of 29.1C on April 19 in St James Park, central London.

People feed goslings from pedalos on the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London (John Stillwell/PA)

He said: It all depends how much cloud develops. Theres a chance we could see the warmest day of the year.

It will be quite widely into the 20s across many parts of the UK.

For a bank holiday Monday, its not looking too bad.

Further thundery downpours might appear in the late afternoon  not everyone will see them but if you do see one they could be quite nasty.

The areas worst hit on Sunday might escape.

Scotland would see the most prolonged sunshine, he said, but most areas would start dry and cloud cover quickly burn off.
French President Emmanuel Macron has lauded as a hero a migrant from Mali who scaled an apartment building in Paris to save a child dangling from a balcony.

Mr Macron rewarded the young mans bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter.

Bravo, the president said to 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama during a meeting in a gilded room of the Elysee Palace, where Mr Gassama also received a gold medal from the French state for courage and devotion.

Mr Gassama climbed five storeys up the apartment building, moving from balcony to balcony, and whisked a four-year-old boy to safety on Saturday night as a crowd below screamed.

His actions went viral on social media, where he was dubbed Spiderman.

Mr Gassama said he has authorisation to stay legally in Italy, which is where he landed in Europe in 2014 after more than a year in Libya and a trip across the Mediterranean Sea.

He came to France in September to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades.

Dressed in tattered blue jeans and a white shirt, the young man recounted for the president what took place after he and some friends saw a young child hanging from a fifth-floor balcony.

Parce que des actes dheroisme comme ca, on en a besoin tous les jours ! M. GASSAMA peut, sil le souhaite, rejoindre les heros du quotidien @PompiersParis. pic.twitter.com/gtcl52V0Z2  Elysee (@Elysee) May 28, 2018

I ran. I crossed the street to save him, Mr Gassama told Mr Macron.

He said he did not think twice.

When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing.

God helped me too, he said. Thank God I saved him.

Mr Gassama said he trembled with fear only after he had reached the boy, got him safely back over the balcony railing and taken him inside the apartment.

Mamoudou Gassama scales an apartment building to save a young child (AP)

The father of the child was detained overnight for alleged parental neglect, and is to appear in court in September.

He left the child alone while he shopped, then lingered to play Pokemon Go, prosecutor Francois Molins told BFM-TV.

The whereabouts of the childs mother were unclear.

You saved a child. Without you, no-one knows what would have become of him, the president said.

You need courage and the capability to do that.

Mr Macron offered to begin the naturalisation process to make Mr Gassama a French citizen, and said: Because this is an exceptional act  we are obviously, today, going to regularise all your papers.

The president is behind a bill toughening French immigration law, and he stressed there is no contradiction between rewarding Mr Gassama for his act of bravery and working to prevent migrants from entering France illegally by stopping the stream of arrivals at its source.

An exceptional act does not make policy, he told reporters later, vowing to maintain a policy that is exigent, respectful of our principles on asylum and rigorous regarding the migratory flux.

Mamoudou Gassama (Thibault Camus/AP/Pool)

The special treatment for Mr Gassama comes as authorities prepare to evacuate some 2,400 migrants from makeshift encampments in the French capital.

The forced closure of the encampments is the subject of a heated debate between the Paris mayor, who wants to ensure the uprooted will be sheltered, and interior minister Gerard Collomb, who was present at the Elysee.

Mr Gassama told Mr Macron he was arrested and beaten during his long, rough stay in Libya but I wasnt discouraged.

The French president said Mr Gassamas actions made him deserving of special treatment.

Working as a firefighter corresponds with his skills, said Mr Macron, who opened the door for him to do just that.

You have become an example because millions have seen you on social media, the president said.

Another Malian, Lassana Bathily, was given French citizenship in January 2015, shortly after he saved lives by hiding people in a freezer and alerting police during a terror attack on a Jewish grocery shop where he worked.
Diplomacy levels have accelerated ahead of a potential summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A team of American diplomats involved in preparatory discussions left a Seoul hotel, possibly to continue talks with their North Korean counterparts.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported that senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol planned to head to the United States, potentially for more talks to set up the summit over the future of North Koreas nuclear weapons programme.

He would be the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States in 18 years.

The trip could be a reciprocal visit after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Pyongyang, North Koreas capital, twice in recent weeks for meetings with Kim Jong Un, after which he said there was a shared understanding between the two sides about what they hope to achieve in the summit.

It remains unclear whom Kim Yong Chol would meet in the United States if he goes.

South Korean media also reported that a North Korean delegation arrived in Singapore on Monday night for probable summit preparations with US officials.

Seoul did not confirm reports that the North Korean officials were headed by Kim Chang Son, Kim Jong Uns close associate, and that his American counterpart would likely be White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Washington and Pyongyang were engaging in working-level talks to arrange the possible summit, but said it could not confirm specifics.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in shake hands (South Korea Presidential Blue House/AP)

Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk also did not say whether Seoul knew of any US plans regarding Kim Yong Chols possible visit, such as whether he and Mr Pompeo have plans to meet.

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling partys central committee tasked with inter-Korean relations.

A visit to the United States would be the highest-level North Korean official visit since 2000, when late national defence commission first vice chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Koreas Unification Ministry said.

Stay focused. It's about the outcome. It's about keeping Americans and the world safe. #NorthKorea  Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 26, 2018

President Trump withdrew from a planned June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un last Thursday, citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting in Singapore could still happen.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between President Trump and Mr Kim, met with the North Korean leader in a surprise meeting on Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

In their second meeting in a month, Mr Moon said Mr Kim expressed willingness to co-operate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with President Trump.

But Mr Kim also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States over its promise to end hostile policies against North Korea and provide security assurances if the country does abandon its nuclear weapons, according to Mr Moon.
Forecasters have warned of the risk of more flooding, travel disruption and power cuts with thunderstorms set to rumble on.

Those off for half-term have been told to beware of potential flash floods and sudden worsening of visibility amid heavy rain and balmy temperatures.

The Met Office has issued a yellow alert warning of thundery rain or showers which could bring local flooding to parts of southern England and Wales through Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.

People enjoying the hot weather during a May Bank Holiday in Hampstead Heath, London (Yui Mok/PA)

Forecasters say there is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded or struck by lightning, causing damage to some buildings, and where flooding does occur there is a slight chance of delays or cancellations to train and bus services.

Spray and flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures, while flooding or lightning strikes could cause power cuts in some areas.

A Met Office spokeswoman said: Its fairly normal weather for us to see thunderstorms through the summer months as temperatures warm up. Thunderstorms are caused by the warmer air.

She said most summer rain comes in short, sharp, heavy showers, adding that what is unusual is the longevity of this period  with the risk of thundery showers lasting through the week.

Heavy showers and #thunderstorms are forecast across some parts of the UK today. Heavy #rain, frequent #lightning and gusty winds could lead to some local disruption at times. Stay #weatheraware https://t.co/bWJhTxX452 pic.twitter.com/GNl9TXq5pw  Met Office (@metoffice) May 29, 2018

While some places will escape the worst of the rain, or even manage to stay largely dry, some rain will be heavy and up to 1.2in (30mm) could fall in an hour or less and 1.6in-2in (40mm-50mm) could fall in a couple of hours.

More than 30 flood alerts are in place for England on Tuesday.

One elderly man lost his life in the early hours of Monday when his vehicle became submerged in Walsall, and multiple rescues had to be carried out from cars, buses and homes on Sunday, the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service technical rescue unit said.

Scattered heavy showers and #thunderstorms will develop through the rest of Tuesday and into Wednesday morning. Frequent #lightning, heavy #rain and localised flooding is possible. Stay #Weatheraware pic.twitter.com/yTSV5MnrvR  Met Office (@metoffice) May 29, 2018

Cavendish in Suffolk was the warmest recorded spot on Monday, peaking at 27.3C (81.1F), a few degrees shy of the April high of 29.1c (84.4F) in central London.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all enjoyed their hottest days of 2018 on Monday, with Dunstaffnage in Argyll reaching 27.1C (80.8F), Hawarden Airport in Clwyd reaching 24.9C (76.8F), and Castlederg in County Tyrone reaching 25.1C (77.2F).

Kate Marks, Environment Agency flood duty manager, said: Further heavy showers and scattered thunderstorms remain today (Tuesday) and overnight into tomorrow (Wednesday) morning which bring a risk of localised surface water and river flooding.

The main risk is across Southern England, East Anglia and parts of the South Midlands, with urban areas most likely to see the impacts.

Our thoughts are with those who have been affected by the flooding over the bank holiday weekend and our teams are working with those communities who have experienced flooding.

We are continuing to check and operate defences and we are supporting local authorities in responding to surface water flooding.

We remind people not to drive through flood water as just 30cm can move your car, and to check our active alerts and warnings, which are updated every 15 minutes, online at www.gov.uk/check-flood-risk or by calling 0345 988 1188.
The British military has ended a renewed investigation into the disappearance of a soldiers two-year-old daughter in Germany after finding no new evidence.

The Royal Military Polices search of the Alme river banks, in the western city of Paderborn, turned up no new leads on what happened to Katrice Lee, a spokesman said.

Katrice Lee before she went missing on her second birthday (Johnny Green/PA)

Excavation of the river bank started in early May and was scheduled to take five weeks, but the military said investigators were able to conclude work faster than planned.

Katrice vanished on her second birthday on November 28, 1981, on the outskirts of Paderborn  near the British military base where her father was stationed.

A review of the evidence had concluded the riverbank was significant and of interest.
Deliveroo will now accept delivery orders to UK beaches, and the on-demand food service has unveiled a beach clean-up operation alongside the new policy.

The delivery app has launched its Beach More Amazing scheme, which will visit a UK beach every weekend in June to run clean-up initiatives  offering beach visitors Deliveroo credit for buckets of rubbish they collect and hand in.

The scheme will begin on Brighton beach on June 2 and 3, before visiting Bournemouth, Southend, Edinburgh and Torquay over the following weekends.

(Piers Allardyce/Deliveroo)

The project has been launched with the support of Keep Britain Tidy, whose chief executive Allison Ogden-Newton said: Its wonderful that the warm weather brings everyone outdoors.

However, we estimate the cost of cleaning up is likely to be close to 1 billion a year, it is also extremely damaging to our environment. This campaign is a great reminder to us all that we can do our bit to help.

The announcement comes amid increasing calls to limit the distribution of single-use plastics in an effort to cut down on waste polluting beaches and oceans.

(Piers Allardyce/Deliveroo)

Earlier this year, Deliveroo introduced measures to cut down on its use of plastic cutlery by asking users to request cutlery rather than automatically providing it in deliveries.

The firm was founded in 2013 and operates in more than 200 cities across 12 countries.

Deliveroos Joe Groves said: Its a rare occasion that us Brits get to enjoy a bit of beach time. These moments are special and deserve amazing food and drink to go with them.

Thankfully our riders can now bring your favourite fresh dishes direct to your towel, so you dont miss a second in the sunshine.
At least 10 people were killed overnight as strong winds swept through north India, blowing down mud-walled homes and uprooting trees, officials have said.

Six died in Unnao district, 25 miles south of Lucknow  the capital of Uttar Pradesh state, said state spokesman Awanish Awasthi.

Four more people died elsewhere in the state. At least six people were injured.

A man cleans his house in Sewla village following the storm (Pawan Sharma/AP)

The winds were blowing at nearly 50 mph, strong enough to blow down the walls of mud homes, or cause trees to collapse and destroy concrete houses.

The storm also blew down power lines, Mr Awasthi said.

North India has been battered repeatedly by strong wind and heavy rain in recent weeks, including one storm that killed 134 people and another that killed 43.

The weather often turns extreme in north India at this time of year, as the blistering summer heat prepares to give way to annual monsoon rains.
Donald Trump has confirmed that a top North Korean official is heading to New York for talks on an upcoming summit between the US president and Kim Jong Un.

President Trump said in a tweet that Kim Yong Chol was travelling to New York as part of ongoing meetings between the two countries to arrange the summit on the future of North Koreas nuclear weapons.

South Korean media earlier reported that Kim Yong Chols name was on the passenger list for a fight Wednesday from Beijing to New York.

President Trump tweeted: We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling partys central committee.

He would be the highest-level North Korean official to travel to the United States since 2000, when late National Defence Commission First Vice Chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Koreas Unification Ministry said.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has travelled to Pyongyang, North Koreas capital, twice in recent weeks for meetings with Kim Jong Un, after which he said there was a shared understanding between the two sides about what they hope to achieve in the summit.

Stay focused. It's about the outcome. It's about keeping Americans and the world safe. #NorthKorea  Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 26, 2018

It remained unclear whom Kim Yong Chol will meet in the United States.

Meanwhile, a team of American diplomats involved in preparatory discussions was seen leaving a Seoul hotel on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether they went to Panmunjom, a village that straddles the border inside the Demilitarised Zone, to continue talks with their North Korean counterparts following their first meeting on Sunday.

The US officials are led by Sung Kim, the US ambassador to Manila, who formerly was the US ambassador to Seoul and a top negotiator with North Korea in past nuclear talks.

The US-led United Nations Command cancelled a press tour of Panmunjom scheduled for Wednesday, saying the decision was related to security preparations to accommodate the US-North Korea talks there.

There will be no similar media events at the village until after June 12, the possible date of the summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un, according to the command.

South Korean media also reported that a North Korean delegation arrived in Singapore on Monday night for likely summit preparations with US officials.

Seoul did not confirm reports that the North Korean officials were headed by Kim Chang Son, Kim Jong Uns close associate, and that his American counterpart would likely be White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in (Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service /AP)

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Washington and Pyongyang were engaging in working-level talks to arrange the possible summit, but said it could not confirm specifics.

Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk also did not say whether Seoul knew of any US plans regarding Kim Yong Chols visit, such as whether he and Mr Pompeo will meet.

President Trump withdrew from the planned summit with Kim Jong Un last Thursday, citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting in Singapore could still happen as originally scheduled on June 12.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between President Trump and Mr Kim, met with the North Korean leader in a surprise meeting on Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

In their second meeting in a month, Mr Moon said Mr Kim expressed willingness to co-operate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with President Trump.

But Mr Kim also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States over its promise to end hostile policies against North Korea and provide security assurances if the country does abandon its nuclear weapons, according to Mr Moon.
A revamped storage gallery in Westminster Abbey, once hailed by poet Sir John Betjeman as offering the best view in Europe, has been unveiled for the first time.

Officials have given a sneak peek at the Queens Diamond Jubilee Galleries, which sits more than 16 metres (52ft) above the abbeys floor and will display 300 treasures from the abbeys collection.

Visitors will reach the gallery, which opens on June 11, through a new tower housing a staircase and lift.

It is the first major addition to the abbey church since 1745 and is part of a 22.9 million, privately funded development project aimed at giving a more generous welcome to the two million visitors and worshippers who go to the abbey annually.

The Very Rev Dr John Hall, Dean of Westminster, said: We look forward to welcoming visitors to the galleries.

The preview for the opening of the Queens Diamond Jubilee Galleries at Westminster Abbey (John Stillwell/PA)

The views are breathtaking. The space astonishing. The displays fascinating.

The visitor will gain far greater insight into the life and history of the abbey than ever before.

The fulfilment of this vision is a shared achievement, with so many people involved. We are profoundly grateful.

The view looking down to the Great West door from the Queens Diamond Jubilee Galleries (John Stillwell/PA)

Updates to the large medieval gallery, which had been used for storage and was not accessible to the public, have opened it up so visitors can look at some rarely seen treasures and collections and also get a unique view into the abbey and outside to surrounding London, according to the Westminster Abbey website.

The tower is outside Poets Corner, tucked between the abbeys 13th century Chapter House and 16th century Lady Chapel.

The London-based architect firm Muma (McInnes Usher McKnight Architects) has led the transformation.

A portrait of the Queen during the preview for the opening of the Queens Diamond Jubilee Galleries (John Stillwell/PA)

It is hoped the new set-up will help the public to deepen their understanding of the church, charting the foundations of the first Benedictine monastery in AD 960, through its life as Edward the Confessors church, and the extensive repair programme during Sir Christopher Wrens role as Surveyor of the Fabric (16981723).

The Westminster Retable, (125969) the oldest surviving altarpiece in England from Henry IIIs abbey, and the Litlyngton Missal, an illuminated 14th century service book made for the abbeys high altar, are among the artefacts on display.

The marriage licence of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (2011) and Mary IIs Coronation Chair (1689), created for William III and Mary IIs joint coronation, which is the only joint coronation in English history, are also to be part of the display.

The marriage licence from the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton (John Stillwell/PA)

The gallery has been arranged to tell the story of Westminster Abbey in four themes  Building Westminster Abbey, Worship and Daily Life, Westminster Abbey and the Monarchy and The Abbey and National Memory.

The Queens Diamond Jubilee Galleries is the final phase of the Dean and Chapters 2020 Vision development plan.

Private donors and trusts have helped pay for the project.
A top Treasury official has said that the total number of Brexit-related banking job moves is currently unknown, raising questions about the scale of losses to Londons financial services industry after Britain leaves the EU.

Katharine Braddick said the impact on jobs has so far been minimal across the financial services industry, and played down suggestions that all banks had already made decisions to shift staff away from London to Germanys financial hub.

Speaking at the Frankfurt Finance Summit, she said: What we see in the UK is an initial set of moves which are to do with essentially hedging the immediate risks to ensure that clients and boards can be assured that services continue in a way that is not only undisrupted, but completely sound from a regulatory and legal standpoint.

And that first phase of moves is, I think, relatively confined.

However, the Treasurys director general of financial services said most firms expect there to be a second wave of job moves  but said the total figures were unknown.

Depending on the relationship that we achieve with the European Union  and of course our aspiration is a very close relationship on financial services  that will determine the scale of that second phase and to me thats currently unknown, Ms Braddick said.

It raises questions about the composition of the financial services industry post-Brexit.

Frankfurt Main Finance, which organised the conference, has forecast that the City of London could lose as many as 20,000 to 25,000 jobs as a result of Brexit, with 10,000 ending up in Frankfurt.

Without a deal, businesses are expected to shift EU-focused operations and key staff to rival financial hubs including Dublin, Paris, Frankfurt and Luxembourg.

The composition of Londons financial centre after Brexit is still unclear (PA)

JP Morgan is ramping up a number of EU sites, with plans to move up to 1,000 London front and back-office roles, while EU lender Deutsche Bank is preparing to settle more of its transactions out of Frankfurt and is likely to move hundreds of staff from London.

Separately, HSBC has said it is on course to move up to 1,000 jobs to France.

Goldman Sachs  which employs 6,500 UK staff  is set to at least double its Frankfurt workforce to 400 through a mixture of relocations and local recruitment and has also signed a lease on a yet-to-be-built skyscraper that can house up to 800 employees, with options to take up additional space.

A raft of Asian banks including Nomura, Daiwa, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group (SMFG) and Mizuho Securities are also on track to expand their operations in the German financial hub.

Ms Braddicks comments come after reports emerged suggesting tensions have been growing between the Treasury and Bank of England over post-Brexit regulation of the City.

Tension between the Treasury and Bank of England has been sparked by the EUs rejection of a mutual recognition plan which would have given the Bank the regulatory control it seeks, the Financial Times has said.

The Treasury is seeking to keep controls as closely aligned to Brussels as possible to assure maximum City access to the EU market, while the BoE is against any compromise that would leave it a rule taker of the blocs regulations, according to the newspaper.
President Donald Trump has accused special counsel Robert Muellers investigative team of meddling in the upcoming mid-term elections, and blames Democrats for collusion.

Mr Mueller is leading the probe into whether Russia interfered in the 2016 presidential election with the help from Trump campaign aides.

So far, four Trump associates have been charged in Mr Muellers investigation; three have pleaded guilty to lying to the authorities.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller (J Scott Applewhite/AP)

President Trump has repeatedly referred to Mr Muellers team as 13 angry Democrats, although Mr Mueller is a Republican.

President Trump tweeted: The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be meddling with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats.
Downing Street has hit back at negative anonymous briefing from Brussels as Brexit negotiations remain mired in stalemate.

EU frustration over Britains failure to come up with a preferred proposal for customs relations bubbled to the surface last week, as one senior official accused the UK of chasing a fantasy, while chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier compared the process to a game of hide-and-seek.

Both of the options being considered by the Government  a customs partnership under which the UK collects tariffs on behalf of the EU or a maximum facilitation arrangement using new technology to avoid delays on the Irish border  have been anonymously branded unworkable in Brussels.

(PA Graphics)

Meanwhile, manufacturers organisation EEF dismissed the prospect of having Max Fac up and running by 2020 as naive and wholly unrealistic and called on ministers to ditch it.

In a letter to Business Secretary Greg Clark, EEF chief executive Stephen Phipson said experience on the US-Canadian border showed that Max Fac  which is backed by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson  is a non-starter which risks creating tailbacks from London to Paris.

The decision would have economic consequences for thousands of British businesses and real financial implications for the millions of people who work for them, said Mr Phipson.

We have an absolute responsibility to highlight fundamental flaws in one of the options that still remains under serious consideration. I hope that the Government now recognises that one of these options is simply not credible.

The EEF warned that `Max Fac customs arrangements risk a repeat of Operation Stack tailbacks like those seen in Kent in 2015 (John Stillwell/PA)

Theresa Mays official spokesman acknowledged there is more work to be done on both option, and declined to say when the Prime Ministers Brexit war cabinet would come to a conclusion.

Asked how the PM responded to suggestions that the UK was indulging in fantasies about the outcomes it might achieve, the spokesman responded: As the Brexit Secretary said last week, we need to approach these discussions with the interests of our citizens at heart.

That means focusing on holding constructive talks inside the negotiation room. We also need to be constructive outside the room, which means looking beyond soundbites and negative anonymous briefings.

The PMs spokesman played down the significance of an invitation offered by the 27 remaining EU states for the UK to take part in discussions on the blocs 1 trillion budget for the next multi-annual financial framework (MFF) period, for 2020-27.

Jacob Rees-Mogg warned against UK involvement in discussions on the multi-annual financial framework (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

The UK was ready to talk about future financial contributions to individual programmes, including some relating to science and security, but the overall budget was for the EU27 to discuss, he said.

Negotiations on the next MFF are primarily a matter for the 27 remaining member states, but there are a number of areas where it will be in the UKs and Europes mutual interest to have engagement, such as on issues relating to the design of the next framework and its programmes, said Mrs Mays spokesman.

The PM has been clear that we will want to continue working together in ways which promote long-term economic development and the security of our continent, including participating in EU programmes where it is in our interest.

Leading backbench Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg warned against UK involvement in discussions on the MFF, telling LBC radio: If you are in the discussions, is there a risk that you begin to take responsibility for decisions and then you find that you get a bill at the end of it?

Meanwhile, the Treasury sought to play down the scale of reported differences with the Bank of England over post-Brexit regulations.

The Financial Times reported that tensions have been sparked by the EUs rejection of a mutual recognition plan which would have given the Bank autonomous control of regulations in the City of London.

Michel Barnier compared the process to a game of hide-and-seek (Niall Carson/PA)

The Bank reportedly opposed a Treasury compromise which would keep UK controls closely aligned to Brussels, but leave Threadneedle Street a rule taker.

A Treasury spokesman said: HM Treasury and the Bank of England are united in our aim to ensure the stability and prosperity of our economy, and we are working together to ensure that the UK continues to remain the pre-eminent financial services centre of the world.

We agree the United Kingdom cannot be an automatic rule taker. We will start our first day outside the European Union from a unique position with full alignment.
Sajid Javid will highlight the threats from international terrorism and Russia in his first meetings with senior figures in Donald Trumps administration since his appointment as Home Secretary.

The Cabinet minister is flying to Washington to hold talks with a number of high-ranking US officials.

He is expected to stress that the US and Britain have a joint interest in tackling a range of security and crime issues.

Cementing the leading role both countries play in tackling international terrorism, serious and organised crime, and the threat posed by Russia will be at the top of the agenda, the Home Office said.

Sajid Javid will meet administration figures including Kirstjen Nielsen (Evan Vucci/AP)

In the wake of the Salisbury attack, Mr Javid will seek a co-ordinated approach against the threat of hostile state activity, including targeting illicit finance and cyber attacks.

Britain has pointed to finger at Russia over the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in the Wiltshire town in March. Moscow has repeatedly denied responsibility.

Mr Javid will also use the two-day trip to brief his US counterparts on the Governments updated counter-terrorism strategy, which is expected to be published next week.

Jeff Sessions is Donald Trumps attorney general (Evan Vucci/AP)

Powers available to police and security services were reviewed after Britain was hit by five attacks last year.

Reports have suggested the strategy, known as Contest, will set out proposals to share information about suspects more widely and introduce longer prison terms for some terror offences.

Mr Javid will also emphasise the need for international collaboration on issues such as aviation security and terrorist content online.

The Home Secretary is due to hold discussions with homeland security secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, attorney general Jeff Sessions, director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Centre Bill Evanina, and John F Clark, president and CEO of the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

Mr Javid was appointed Home Secretary in April following the resignation of Amber Rudd.

His first weeks in the role have been dominated by the fallout from the Windrush scandal.

He made his first major speech in the post at the Police Federation of England and Waless annual conference last week.
French President Emmanuel Macron has hailed the agreement struck between rival Libyan leaders at a Paris meeting as a crucial step for the war-battered country.

President Macron said at a press conference, after the gathering concluded in the French capital, that this was the first time these Libyan leaders accepted to work together and approved a joint declaration.

He said now we have clear commitments for the country, an approved calendar for December parliamentary and presidential elections.

Libyan officials attend an International Conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris (Etienne Laurent/AP)

LIVE | Reunis a Paris pour aider la Libye a trouver le chemin de la stabilite et de la securite. https://t.co/yykhj6vwsF  Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) May 29, 2018

He said the presence of 20 countries and international conference in Paris shows the support of the international community toward the efforts of the Libyan leaders.

President Macron said the Libyan people aspire to stability, security and a better life.
A zoo in south-western Poland is celebrating the birth of a bear cuscus, saying it is the first time the rare marsupial mammal has been born in captivity.

Joanna Kij, of the Wroclaw Zoo, said that keepers noticed movement and a little one in the female marsupials pouch in March.

The baby bear cuscus mostly remains in the pouch, but sometimes leaves to inspect the surroundings.

A tiny bear cuscus with its mother in Poland (Monika Gorska/AP)

Ms Kij said the female is taking very good care of her offspring and the family is being kept in a secluded place.

Bear cuscuses live on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and little is known about them, but their population is shrinking rapidly.

To preserve the species, 13 animals are held in four zoos around the world  but they have not reproduced there previously.
A father whose young daughters and wife died in Grenfell Tower said his life has fully stopped, as an inquiry heard details of victims final moments.

Hassan Awadh Hassan had been in Egypt when his wife Rania Ibrahim, 31, and daughters Fethia, four, and Hania, three, became trapped in the west London inferno.

He told the public inquiry into the disaster that his only mistake was moving the family into the flat, having been assured there was no danger in the event of a blaze.

Rania Ibrahim with husband Hassan Awadh Hassan (Grenfell Tower inquiry/PA)

During an emotional morning of commemorations, the probe, which is holding seven days of tributes to the dead, also heard the parting words of several victims.

An Italian architect told her parents be strong, I hug you both, I love you as flames swept through her home, while a mother of two said to her son over the phone, I cant breathe, I cant breathe.

Each presentation was given a standing ovation.

Hassan struggled for composure as he spoke about his family, supported by two loved ones at his side.

A video tribute was then played, which showed him sitting with a framed picture of his wife and daughters at his side.

He said: What happened in Grenfell Tower is not normal. For me, life has fully stopped. I know if I keep talking Im not going to get Rania, Fethia and Hania back.

Remembering the day of the fire, he described rushing to the airport in Egypt after seeing chaos unfolding on television.

When Im inside the airport, I go to duty free to buy chocolate for my two daughters. I think, How can I go back empty-handed?.

I arrive here on the same day, I never had in my mind that my wife and my daughter is going to be lost.

Fethia Hassan, left, and Hania Hassan (Grenfell Tower inquiry/PA)

Why do I say that? Because were in London, in London, in London.

He had sought to reassure his trapped wife over the phone before leaving, a sorry experience shared by many that night.

Earlier, Ahmed Elgwahry told the hearing he was on the line to his younger sister, Mariem Elgwahry, 27, when she and their mother Eslah Elgwahry, 64, took refuge on the top floor.

He described standing at the bottom of the tower with the grim knowledge that running inside was an act of suicide.

He said: On my final call with Mariem, despite her suffering, despite her gradual deterioration, despite her gradual loss of consciousness, she persisted in letting me know that she was still there.

She started fading away from me rather rapidly, but she kept going all the way until she was no longer audible. She started to mumble, started banging the floor, and then finally, no longer responsive.

It was at this point I presumed I lost my mum at the same time. But then about 20 seconds later, for the first time that early morning, I heard my mums voice.

She was struggling for breath, and said her last words: I cant breathe, I cant breathe. That was the last time I heard her voice. She was so frightened that she had not spoken prior to this.

Similarly, the parents of Italian architect Gloria Trevisan shared the message their daughter had left them, during a touching video package played to the inquiry.

Gloria Trevisan (Grenfell Tower inquiry/PA)

The 26-year-old died with her fiance Marco Gottardi who, it was heard, held her in his arms until the last breath, to protect her.

All three grieving families directly appealed to Sir Martin Moore-Bick to uncover the truth.

Finally, the father of Isaac Paulos, a five-year-old who died in the fire, spoke of his terrible guilt at his sons fate.

Genet Shawo with her son Isaac Paulos (Grenfell Tower inquiry/PA)

But he also expressed anger at the advice of the fire service to stay inside the flats as the blaze intensified.

He said: I want the truth. I will not have peace until I have the truth. I want to know why I was physically stopped from leaving the flat at about 2am.

Why we were kept inside for so long? I want answers. If I had not listened to the fire brigade my son would have likely been alive today.

The commemorations are being heard at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel in South Kensington, ahead of evidence sessions next week.
A jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the fraud trial of a former Anglo Irish Bank chief executive.

David Drumm, 51, has pleaded not guilty to two offences linked to his running of the failed Irish lender in 2008. Bailing out Anglo was to cost taxpayers billions of euro.

Twelve jurors at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court are considering their verdict following a near-five month trial summed up by judge Karen OConnor on Tuesday.

She said: These were clearly very stressful and difficult times.

These were people who were under a lot of pressure at the time.

Drumm was the chief executive in 2008 (Brian Lawless/PA)

She said those included liquidity problems and referred to taped phone calls within the bank used as evidence during the trial.

The judge also instructed jurors to remember that pressurised atmosphere when considering any poor language which they may have felt was evident during the phone calls.

These were challenging times. A number of witnesses have referred to how difficult these times were.

The defendant is charged with conspiring to dishonestly create the false and misleading impression that deposits in 2008 were 7.2 billion euro larger than they were.

He also denies knowingly presenting the false figures to the market in December 2008.

The Northern Rock building society in the UK was nationalised in 2008 as the international money markets stopped lending as part of a crisis involving sub-prime mortgages in the US. Investment banks Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers collapsed.

March 17 2008 became known as the St Patricks Day Massacre as the effects of the global financial crisis began to take hold in Ireland and huge amounts were wiped off the value of stocks.

Visitors to the National Museum of Ireland at Collins Barracks in Dublin look at the former sign of the Anglo Irish Bank

The Irish Government introduced a deposit guarantee scheme that year, then underwrote the entire banking system, the judge said.

She added: Liabilities would be met by the Irish Government, thus providing comfort to the Irish banks.

The case against Drumm centres on a series of inter-bank deposits which circulated between Anglo and fellow financial institution Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) in 2008.

The judge described some of the transactions, worth billions, passing between Anglo and ILP and back again within hours.

Meetings were held in Drumms office about funding, Judge OConnor added, which she said had gone into meltdown as liquidity ratios (between assets and liabilities) had fallen.

On 29 September 2008, Drumm delivered a letter to Irelands Central Bank about Anglos liquidity problems and its inability to make payments the following day. He sought 1.4 billion euro in emergency funding, the judge said.

Drumm, from Shenick Avenue in Skerries, Co Dublin, was appointed Anglos chief executive in January 2005 and resigned in December 2008 as the bank was collapsing.
An angry Richard Madeley terminated a live TV interview with Gavin Williamson after the Defence Secretary dodged his question four times.

The ITV Good Morning Britain guest presenter demanded to know whether Mr Williamson regretted telling Russia to go away and shut up after Moscow denied responsibility for the Salisbury poison attack.

The Defence Secretary responded by paying tribute to health workers who treated Sergei and Yulia Skripal and highlighting the support offered to the UK by the international community.

Secretary of State for Defence Gavin Williamson (Stefan Rousseau/PA)

But Madeley  who described Mr Williamsons earlier comment as Trump-esque  repeatedly interrupted him to demand an answer, before finally pulling the plug.

The exchange went:

RM: You told Russia to shut up and go away. Do you regret that now? Do you think it was a bit too informal?

GW: Id like to pay tribute to the health service personnel who did an amazing job

RM: No sorry, could you answer the question? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Im sure you do want to pay tribute to them. No, no, Mr Williamson. I asked you a straight question. We can talk about tributes to the health services in a minute. Do you regret using that kind of casual language? Thats the question. Could you answer that question, please?

GW: Well, what we saw is we saw an atrocious attack on British soil. You saw a British citizen and his daughter were targeted. And actually, how we responded to that is the world united behind Britain and we showed Russia we wouldnt be divided

RM: Yes. Do you regret telling Russia to shut up and go away? Mr Williamson, please answer the question. Mr Williamson, you are just not answering the question. Im asking the question not on my behalf but on behalf of our viewers, so on behalf of the viewers, would you please answer the question. Do you now regret telling a nation state to shut up and go away? Do you think that was too casual an expression? Could you please answer that question?

GW: Well, I think that what everyone saw is Russias actions against our citizens in a city here in the United Kingdom

RM: Yes, youre telling us what we know. We know what happened in Salisbury, we know how atrocious it was, we know how close these people came to death. The question is  Ill try it one more time  do you regret using very casual Trump-esque language like shut up and go away? Please dont tell me what happened, because we know what happened. Do you regret using that language? That is the question.

GW: What was right was actually that we came together with our allies and made it absolutely clear to Russia that they couldnt act in that

RM: Right, youre not going to answer, are you? OK. All right, interview terminated because you wont answer the question. It would be helpful if you answered a straight question with a straight answer.

After the Defence Secretary had disappeared from the screen, a clearly exasperated Madeley said: What are they like? What are these politicians like, when you give them a straight question?

It would have been so easy to say, No, I dont, I think it was an appropriate expression, or to say, Yes, probably, on reflection, I should have perhaps been a little more formal.

Mr Williamson was speaking from West Midlands Safari Park in Worcestershire, where he was meeting military personnel preparing to go to Malawi to train park rangers to protect elephants and rhinos from poachers.
The Home Office has established contact with three people out of more than 60 who may have been wrongly removed from the UK as a result of the Windrush scandal.

Officials have trawled through around 8,000 records dating back to 2002 following fears that residents who had been in the country lawfully for decades may have been forced to leave.

It emerged earlier this month that 63 cases had been earmarked for detailed investigation.

The number comprises Caribbean individuals who are aged over 45, have been removed from the UK, and may have entered the country before 1973  meaning they might have been protected by the 1971 Immigration Act.

Thirty-two of the cases are categorised as foreign national offenders, while 31 were people subject to administrative removals.

In a letter to Home Affairs committee chairwoman Yvette Cooper, Home Secretary Sajid Javid said those in the latter group are being proactively contacted through a specialist Windrush taskforce, where we have contact details.

He added: We have so far made contact with three and are asking high commissioners to assist where we do not have contact details.

When we reach these individuals they will be invited to contact the taskforce.

The Home Office has come under pressure to state how many people have been held in immigration detention as a result of the Windrush fiasco.

Mr Javid said: As with the removals exercise, this is a complex piece of work which involves manually examining thousands of cases in order to see whether there is anything on the record which suggests that someone could have been here before 1973  likely to be a much smaller number.

Officials believe that their initial investigations are likely to take between six and eight weeks.

Yvette Cooper condemned the time taken for those affected to be contacted (PA)

The Home Secretary noted that there are people of the Windrush generation who, having worked all their lives in Britain, have retired to the country of their birth, disclosing that the taskforce has supported 11 individuals back to the UK and is handling 226 inquiries.

In response to the letter, Ms Cooper said: It remains a real concern that only three of the 63 potential wrongful deportations and removals have been contacted so far, and that it will take a further six weeks for the Home Office to assess how many people may have been wrongfully detained.

Ministers faced a furious backlash over the treatment of the Windrush generation  named after a ship that brought migrants to Britain from the Caribbean in 1948.

Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 were automatically granted indefinite leave to remain under the 1971 Immigration Act.

While many of those who arrived have taken British citizenship or have official documents confirming their status, others have struggled to produce paperwork demonstrating they are lawfully resident.

People who have been living legally in the UK for decades have lost their jobs, been denied access to NHS treatment, benefits and pensions, had their driving licences withdrawn and been warned they face deportation.

The Home Office has identified 19 cases where people who arrived under a highly skilled work visa subsequently departed voluntarily after they were denied leave to remain under a paragraph in immigration rules concerning character and conduct.

One has since been issued with a visa to return, while all applications in the Tier 1 (General) indefinite leave to remain and 10-year residency routes potentially falling for refusal under the paragraph have been put on hold.

Welcoming the step, Ms Cooper said: Weve heard of a series of cases of highly skilled workers, employed in our public services and senior jobs legally for many years, now being told to leave apparently due to minor tax errors.
A former British champion boxer railed against Starbucks, Coca-Cola and McDonalds as he called for attacks on the West on YouTube, a court has heard.

Muslim convert Anthony Small, 36, is accused of encouraging terrorism in a seven-and-a-half-minute video published on his account on September 12 2016.

On his YouTube channel, Small described himself as a former professional champion boxer who now works to take mankind out of the oppression of democracy and liberating themselves with Islam/Sharia.

In his Eid message, the defendant began by talking about the influence of America and Israel in the world.

He spoke of military and commercial influence through McDonalds and Cola Cola signs and former aerospace manufacturer McDonnell Douglas.

He said the choice was to either accept the flame-grilled burger or we are going to flame grill you from the sky.

He talked of pilgrims to Mecca being faced with commercialisation by McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and the Hilton hotel chain.

He said it was an indication that America and their puppet masters, the Israelis, are in control of them tyrant, sellout, apostate Saudi leaders.

Calling for their removal, he said: What is great in number, three million Muslims in one place. Forget Occupy Wall Street, Occupy St Pauls Cathedral or any of the Arab uprisings.

Three million Muslims saying we are going nowhere until these tyrant, apostate rulers are removed along with their Starbucks and their McDonalds, the Hilton hotel as well.

Small is on trial at the Old Bailey (Nick Ansell/PA)

The defendant spoke about liberating the third holiest mosque, adding: Not only that, may we see the day when the Muwahideen then go on to conquer the White House all the way in America and 10 Downing Street.

He concluded: I am not calling for you to boycott Starbucks or McDonalds, instead buy Israeli-made Desert Eagles (a type of gun) cock them back and let them go in the sons of monkeys peoples.

In matter of fact, hijack an American-made Humvee and stick a black flag over the USA eagle.

Small, of south-east London, ended with a disclaimer saying he was in no way, shape or form calling for violence or terrorism in what he described as a little light-hearted poetry.

But opening his Old Bailey trial, prosecutor Karen Robinson told jurors the defendant knew the meaning of his carefully chosen words.

She said: The prosecution case is that in September 2016, the defendant published to his own YouTube channel a video, accessible to anyone with access to the internet, in which he spoke to camera and implored Muslims to take violent action against the West.

The former British and Commonwealth champion, who also found fame in the 2016 BBC Two programme Muslims Like Us, denies encouraging terrorism.
The family of a man who died after a car was driven into a group of people has described him as kind and loving.

Nathan Marshall, 30, from Reddish, died in hospital after he was hit by the black Audi A4 outside the Salisbury Club in Brinnington, Stockport, Greater Manchester, at about 10.45pm on Sunday.

In a statement, his family said: Nathan was our much loved son, he was kind and loving and a wonderful friend to the many people who knew and cared about him.

Nathan Marshall, who died after a car hit a group of people in Birnnington,Stockport (Greater Manchester Police/PA)

Nathan was our first born. He lit up the room when he was alive. Living without him will be the hardest thing we will do as a family and we are devastated by our loss.

A 30-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of murder after he presented himself at Central Park police station shortly before 10pm on Monday.

He remains in custody.

Two other men, aged 31 and 33, suffered minor injuries in the collision.

Floral tributes left at the scene where a 30-year-old man died after a car was driven into a group of people (Pat Hurst/PA)

Police later found the Audi on the M60 motorway and believe the driver climbed a nearby fence before running away.

On Tuesday, floral tributes left at the scene said Mr Marshall had a new baby sister.

At the police cordon outside the club on Truro Avenue, dozens of bunches of flowers and cards had been left.

One note attached to flowers read: From the landlady and family and customers of The Salisbury Club, so very sorry we tried our hardest.

Wed only met you for the first time but well never forget your pleasant smile. Rest in Peace.

Another read: RIP Nathan, We had some great times back in cruise days. Taken too soon. Sleep tight mate, Nige XXX.

A third said: Rest in peace Nathan, Youll be missed by so many. I promise Ill look after your baby sister for you, always in my heart, Liv XXXX.

Anyone with information should contact police on 0161 856 9790 quoting reference number 2575 of 27/05/18 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
UBS has hired the former European Commissioner Jonathan Hill to help advise its corporate clients on Brexit, making the UK politician the latest to make the leap to the City.

Lord Hill has been brought on as a senior adviser for the Swiss lenders corporate client department, which covers topics including mergers and acquisitions, capital markets and restructuring.

An internal memo described the former Commissioner as one of the few people who can interpret politics in both the EU and the UK at a moment when businesses around the world are keen to know what recent developments might mean for them.

The UBS note said the bank was `really pleased to have someone with Lord Hills record and standing in Europe to join the firm (Philip Toscano/PA)

Mr Hill served as the European Commissioner for Financial Stability, Financial Services and Capital Markets Union until July 2016, during which he was responsible for financial regulation across the bloc as well as the development of a European capital markets union meant to ramp up the flow of investment capital.

That followed his time as leader of the House of Lords and preceded his launch of Prosperity UK, an organisation meant to bring together business leaders from both the Leave and Remain sides of the Brexit debate.

The hire makes Lord Hill the latest to make the move from politics to the City.

Former prime minister Tony Blair earned what is thought to be hundreds of thousands of pounds in taking an advisory role at JP Morgan after quitting Downing Street.

Former foreign secretary William Hague joined Citigroup as an adviser, and it was announced last year former chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne was joining BlackRock  also as a senior adviser.

The UBS note  circulated by Javier Oficialdegui, head of UBS Investment Banks corporate client solutions (CCS) for Europe, the Middle East and Africa  said the bank was really pleased to have someone with Lord Hills record and standing in Europe to join the firm.

His experience in both Brussels and the UK means he is able to speak with authority on the challenges and opportunities for business arising from recent political and economic developments in Europe.

That in turn means we will be able to offer richer advice in relation to Brexit and the wider political and economic environment to our CCS clients.
A woman who died alongside her 12-year-old son in Grenfell Tower was 10 weeks pregnant at the time, an inquiry has heard.

Berkti Haftom, 29, lived on the 18th floor of the west London block with son Biruk when they were caught in the disaster.

As well as expecting another child, she was making arrangements for her eldest son, from whom she had been separated for years, to join them in the UK.

The Grenfell Tower inquiry heard a heartbreaking tribute from Nahom Tesfay, 18, who expressed despair for his future.

He had been left in the care of his grandmother in Ethiopia at the age of two, while Ms Haftom fled conflict to set up a new home.

Mr Tesfay was regularly overcome by emotion when he spoke of his loss on Tuesday.

He said: When my grandmother died in 2016, everything changed. She (Ms Haftom) was really worried about me because I couldnt cope on my own. Since that time she kept calling me to promise me, saying, you will soon be with me.

When I remember her voice you cannot even imagine how I feel. I was looking forward to living with my mum and little brother but the fire in Grenfell Tower on June 14 2017 changed everything. I didnt see my mother for 15 years.

He was held by his relatives as he wept.

Berkti Haftom with her son Biruk, 12 (Family handout/PA)

Ms Haftom had fled their home country of Eritrea after conflict erupted with Ethiopia in 1998. It had been too dangerous to take her eldest child with her.

A statement by her sisters read to the inquiry revealed she had been expecting a third child when she died.

Biruk was so happy that his mother was going to have a baby, the statement said.

Tributes were paid to Biruk by his young cousins in Britain.

In a poignant video message, Simon Michael, 10, said he wished he had been in Grenfell Tower on the night of the fire.

He said Biruk, who he called his brother, always looked after him.

Remembering that his cousin was always good with secrets, he said: Let me tell you a secret, I wish I was with you there that night, but dont tell my mum.

I wont forget you, brother, he finished.

Of his aunt, he said: You didnt die alone, a part of me left with you.

Seven-year-old Hemen Yemen said her cousin Biruk was very sweet and handsome, in the video tribute.

She said: We were all excited but the fire took the excitement away from us.

I was very happy but my happiness has gone because of the tragedy of Grenfell Tower.

I miss him so much I still dont know what to do without him.
Serena Williams made an eye-catching return to the grand slam scene with victory over Kristyna Pliskova in the French Open first round.

The former world number one had not played a major tournament since winning a 23rd title at the 2017 Australian Open, having given birth to her daughter in September.

Her first grand slam action in over 15 months had the Paris fashionistas in a whirl as she walked on court in a black bodysuit with a bright pink belt.

Back where she belongs...@serenawilliams announces her return to the Parisian clay in style, 7-6(4) 6-4 over Kristyna Pliskova.#RG18 pic.twitter.com/eicIMK6nrp  Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2018

Williams may be short of match sharpness and the footwork is not quite there yet, but the 36-year-olds serve remains a formidable weapon as she took the first set after a tie-break.

The pair exchanged breaks in the second set, with Williams grabbing the decisive one in the seventh game before sealing a 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 victory  not bad going for her first match on clay in two years.

Two years is a really long time but I have trained hard on clay and feel good, she said courtside afterwards.

Im happy to have won a match here and Im just taking it one day at a time.

2x champion @MariaSharapova survives a tough first round clash against Hogenkamp.



Gets through to the second round with a 6-1 4-6 6-3 win.#RG18 pic.twitter.com/RmW0KDA67o  Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2018

Maria Sharapova lost six games in a row and then won the next six as she got her return to Roland Garros off to a successful start.

The Russian appeared to be cruising at 6-1 3-1 ahead but Hollands Richel Hogenkamp suddenly had her on the ropes, taking the second set and racing 3-0 ahead in the decider.

But Sharapova rediscovered her game in the nick of time to reel off half a dozen games for a 6-1 4-6 6-3 victory.

It was an ultimately sweet moment for the two-time Paris champion.

Maria Sharapova hits out against Richel Hogenkamp (Alessandra Tarantino/AP)

This time last year Sharapova had recently returned from a 15-month doping ban, but had not built her ranking high enough to qualify and was not offered a wild card.

But 12 months later Sharapova is back in the worlds top 30, seeded 28 at Roland Garros and a potential challenger for a third title.

I think if there is any way to turn that match around, its that way, she said.

Its great to be in this draw and great to be back on a court that I have had great success at.

RG16 champion, @GarbiMuguruza wins her first round against another former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in 2 sets 7/6 6/2. More highlights on RG Youtube channel https://t.co/L0wmcTZXGO #RG18 pic.twitter.com/8zWPBYaJ19  Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) May 29, 2018

Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza got the better of Svetlana Kuznetsova in a first-round meeting of two former champions.

After a 90-minute rain interruption at 5-5 in the first set Muguruza, the 2016 winner, blew 2009 champion Kuznetsova away in the tie-break and went on to win 7-6 (7/0) 6-2.

Caroline Garcia of France, the seventh seed, took just 58 minutes to dispatch Chinas Yingying Duan 6-1 6-0.
Israeli jets have bombed targets in the Gaza Strip hours after militants from the territory fired more than 25 mortar shells toward communities in southern Israel.

The Israeli military said no one was hurt and that most of the shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system, though one landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The high volume of projectiles came as tensions have been running high in recent weeks following the deaths of over 100 Palestinians from Israeli fire during mass protests along the border.

Israeli tanks take up positions along the border with the Gaza strip, (Ariel Schalit/AP)

Israel says it holds Gazas Hamas rulers responsible for the bloodshed.

Today, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations launched tens of mortars and rockets from the Gaza strip towards Israeli communities



Read about it here: https://t.co/FqIqs9umNi pic.twitter.com/RrwCTod4KC  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018

Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it, and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the barrage.

Shortly after that warning, Israeli jets began dropping bombs on what security officials in Gaza said was an Islamic Jihad militant training site.

Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah in the coastal strip, and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported.

Over the past hour, several launches from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel were identified. The IDF's Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted several of them  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018

The Israeli military said it carried out over 35 airstrikes on seven sites across Gaza, including an unfinished tunnel near the city of Rafah that crossed under the border into Egypt.

The sudden surge in violence brought back memories of the devastating 2014 war between Israel and Hamas.

That round of fighting began with tit-for-tat attacks on both sides and escalated into a full-blown war that inflicted heavy damage on Gaza.

We are prepared for a great variety of scenarios, said the armys chief spokesman, Brig Gen Ronen Manelis.

The way the coming days look will depend on the choices of the Hamas terrorist organisation.

Islamic Jihad was believed to be behind the mortar fire, which appeared to be retaliation for the deaths of three of its fighters in an Israeli airstrike earlier this week.

But Israel believes Hamas, a larger Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, gave Islamic Jihad a green light to strike.

The IDF will respond with great force to these attacks. Israel will exact a heavy price from anyone who tries to attack it, and we view Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks against us.  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 29, 2018

We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to the Zionist crimes, said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza who also has helped coordinate the past two months of border protests.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes.
Cameron Norrie insists he is ready to take on Lucas Pouille and a partisan Paris crowd.

British number three Norrie faces home favourite and 15th seed Pouille in the second round of the French Open on Wednesday.

This time last year Norrie had only just turned professional and was playing a Challenger event at Surbiton, but 12 months on the 22-year-old will step out the Roland Garros showcourt Philippe Chatrier.

Cameron Norrie has his sights set on Lucas Pouille (Simon Cooper/PA)

And rather than be fazed by the challenge, Norrie, whose first-round opponent Peter Gojowczyk retired injured at 6-1 2-0 down, is out to silence the crowd.

I love being the underdog and all the pressure is on him, he said.

So its going to be a battle and hopefully Ill come out on top. But its going to be a good challenge for me.

I know its going to be tough against Pouille and its going to be real physical, and Im sure Ill be a little bit nervous. Ill be on a big court.

But Im really looking forward to it, and its just another great experience.

Pouille is an undoubted step up in class but Norrie has proved he can live with top-20 players after recent wins over Roberto Bautista Agut, in the Davis Cup, and John Isner.

He can also pick the brains of fellow Briton Kyle Edmund, who beat Pouille on the clay of Rome just a fortnight ago.

For sure Ill ask Kyle to see what he thinks, added . I also remember watching Kyle in Davis Cup against him. It was a good match.

Kyles played him a couple times, so he would be a good person to ask.
Classes have resumed at Santa Fe High School, less than two weeks after a student shot 10 people dead in an art classroom in Americas deadliest school attack since the massacre in Parkland, Florida.

Students at the school near Houston, Texas, were greeted by more than 20 law enforcement vehicles and supporters holding signs saying Santa Fe Strong and United We Stand.

The day began with a two-hour assembly honouring the victims, and counsellors were available for anyone who needed to talk about the May 18 shooting that took the lives of eight students and two substitute teachers.

Santa Fe HS students are returning to school today, 11 days after that tragic shooting. And theyll be met with lots of love as they get to campus #khou11 pic.twitter.com/OZ4KgeKk2A  Janel Forte (@JanelForte) May 29, 2018

Students who had classes in the area of the shooting were the first allowed back in, followed by the rest about two hours later.

Senior Hailey Hubbard was returning for her final week of high school.

She said: Honestly, I just want to go back so I can see my friends and not spend my last three days of senior year just being secluded in a room.

Ms Hubbard said she did not want the shooting to be her last memory of high school. She said some of her friends were more ambivalent about returning to campus and that she had to help calm down a friend who suffered a panic attack at the thought of going back to school.

Dimitrios Pagourtzishas been charged (Galveston County Sheriffs Office/AP)

Her mother, she added, was also terrified of her returning.

Students lined up in front of the schools main entrance, which was the only approved entrance. They were not allowed to carry backpacks or large purses and were required to show ID before entering.

Authorities have charged Dimitrios Pagourtzis with capital murder in the attack. He is accused of using a shotgun and pistol that belonged to his father. The 17-year-old remains in custody without bond in Galveston.

The hospital treating a school police officer who was badly wounded in the attack announced that his condition had been upgraded from critical to serious.

Officer John Barnes was shot in the arm when he confronted the gunman. A bullet damaged the bone and a major blood vessel around his elbow. He remains in the intensive care unit.
Palestinian militants have bombarded southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortar shells, while Israeli war planes struck targets throughout the Gaza Strip in the largest flare-up of violence between the sides since the 2014 war.

The Israeli military said most of the projectiles were intercepted, but three soldiers were wounded, raising the chances of further Israeli retaliation. One mortar shell landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The sudden burst of violence follows weeks of mass Palestinian protests along the Gaza border with Israel. More than 110 Palestinians, many of them unarmed protesters, have been killed by Israeli fire in that time.

Today, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations launched tens of mortars and rockets from the Gaza strip towards Israeli communities



Read about it here: https://t.co/FqIqs9umNi pic.twitter.com/RrwCTod4KC  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018

Israel said it holds Gazas Hamas rulers responsible for the bloodshed.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it, and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks.

Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies and have fought three wars since the Islamic group seized control of Gaza in 2007.

The last war in 2014 was especially devastating, with more than 2,000 Palestinians killed, including hundreds of civilians, and widespread damage inflicted on Gazas infrastructure in 50 days of fighting. Seventy-two people were killed on the Israeli side.

Tuesdays violence bore a striking resemblance to the run-up to past wars. In the early morning, Palestinian militants fired more than two dozen mortar rounds into southern Israel, including the shell that landed near the kindergarten.

Over the past hour, several launches from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel were identified. The IDF's Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted several of them  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018

The Israeli military said it carried out over 35 air strikes on seven sites across Gaza, including an unfinished tunnel near the southern city of Rafah that crossed under the border into Egypt and from there into Israeli territory. No Palestinian casualties were reported.

Palestinian militants continued to fire additional barrages toward southern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the area throughout the day and into the evening.

Brig Gen Ronen Manelis, the chief military spokesman, threatened tougher action and said it was up to Hamas to stop the situation from escalating.

He told reporters outside Israeli military HQ: These strikes will continue to intensify as long as necessary if this fire continues.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant issued a joint statement, claiming shared responsibility for firing rockets and projectiles against Israeli communities near Gaza.

Smoke raise flowing an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City (AP)

They said Israel began this round of escalation by targeting their installations in the past two days, killing four militants. It was the first time the armed wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for rocket attacks out of Gaza since the 2014 war.

Hamas has been severely weakened by the three wars with Israel, as well as a stifling Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has brought the local economy to a standstill.

Hamas initially billed the weekly border protests as a call to break through the fence and return to homes that were lost 70 years ago during the war surrounding Israels establishment.

The IDF will respond with great force to these attacks. Israel will exact a heavy price from anyone who tries to attack it, and we view Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks against us.  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 29, 2018

However, the protests appear to be fuelled primarily by a desire to ease the blockade. Gazas unemployment rate is edging toward 50%, and the territory suffers from chronic power outages.

With limited options at its disposal, and a failure so far of the protests to significantly ease the blockade, Hamas appears to be gambling that limited rocket fire might somehow shake up the situation.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes.

Israel said the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities.
Aaron Ramsey has suggested his future lies at Arsenal after hailing Unai Emerys arrival as an exciting time for the Premier League club.

The fact that Ramsey is set to enter the final 12 months of his contract has put question marks against his future at Arsenal.

Barcelona, Liverpool and Manchester United have all been linked with the Wales midfielder in the past.

Arsenals Aaron Ramsey is looking forward to playing under new boss Unai Emery (Mark Kerton/PA)

But Ramsey, speaking after Wales 0-0 draw against Mexico in California, gave his backing to Emery, the former Sevilla and Paris St Germain manager.

Asked if he was looking forward to working with Emery, Ramsey replied: Of course.

I havent spoken to him at all yet, but I think its an exciting time for the club.

I cant wait to get back there now.

Emery was appointed Arsenal manager earlier this month after Arsene Wengers 22-year reign came to an end.

Ramsey, signed from Cardiff in 2008, is soon to mark his 10th anniversary at Arsenal and is the longest-serving player at the club.

He suffered an ankle injury against Mexico but battled on after taking the armband from the stricken Ashley Williams.

Everton defender Williams suffered a suspected rib injury, which forced him to go to hospital for an X-ray.

I rolled my ankle but Id taken the armband from Ash and I thought I had to stay on and do my bit for the team, Ramsey said.

It wasnt the best surface in the world and my ankle is a bit sore.

Hopefully there will be no lasting damage and it will settle down over the next few days.

It was always going to be difficult coming here against a good Mexico team, but we did well.

In the first half we played really well, we just couldnt quite get the goal we needed.

Apart from that we hung on in the second half, so we are pleased with the result and the performance.

The future of Wales is very bright and there are a lot of exciting young players coming through.

Playing a lot of them in this game and in this sort of atmosphere will only give them that bit more confidence now going into the future.
By Liz Lee and John Geddie

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 (Reuters) - Malaysia is cancelling a project to build a high-speed rail link between its capital, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore, and will talk with its southern neighbour about any compensation Malaysia has to pay, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday.

Mahathir, the 92-year-old who triumphed in a general election this month, has made it a priority to cut the national debt and pledged to review big projects agreed by his predecessor that he says are expensive and have no financial benefit.

"It is a final decision, but it will take time because we have an agreement with Singapore," Mahathir told a news conference referring to his scrapping of the project, valued by analysts at about $17 billion.

The project is out for tender and was scheduled to be completed by 2026.

Mahathir said Malaysia may have to pay about 500 million ringgit ($125.63 million) to Singapore to get out of the deal.

"We had agreed to proceed with the High Speed Rail project based on mutual benefits and obligations," Singapore's Ministry of Trade said in a statement.

"We will wait for official communication from Malaysia."

Companies from China, Japan, South Korea and Europe were eyeing a contract to build, operate and finance the trains and the rail assets, sources close to the bidding process had told Reuters.

Even picking a winner was expected to test ties between Malaysia and Singapore, which have been frosty since the end of the colonial era in the 1960s, against the backdrop of broader tension over China's growing influence in the region.

About 90 percent of the rail network was set to be in Malaysia, including a terminal in Bandar Malaysia, a big property development owned by scandal-hit state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).

A $1.7 billion deal to sell a majority stake in Bandar Malaysia to a Malaysian-Chinese consortium fell through in May 2017. A year on, the project has failed to attract any buyers.

Mahathir has reopened an investigation into 1MDB following his election victory. It is being investigated in other countries, including the United States.

Properties linked to former prime minister Najib Razak have been searched as part of the investigation, and Najib has given statements to an anti-graft agency.

Najib has long denied any wrongdoing.

Mahathir said his government was also in the process of renegotiating with Chinese partners over the terms of a $14 billion rail deal aimed at connecting the South China Sea at the Thai border in the east with the strategic shipping routes of the Straits of Malacca in the west.

He estimates that Malaysia could cut almost a fifth of its $250 billion national debt and liabilities by scrapping such big projects. ($1 = 3.9800 ringgit) (Reporting by Liz Lee, John Geddie and A. Ananthalakshmi in KUALA LUMPUR and Fathin Ungku in SINGAPORE Editing by Clarence Fernandez, Robert Birsel)
JERUSALEM, May 28 (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet the leaders of France, Germany and possibly Britain next week to discuss ways to stop what he called Iran's nuclear ambitions and regional expansionism, he said on Monday.

His European tour follows the U.S. withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal which the European signatories, France, Germany and Britain, have said they will stick to. Netanyahu called the pact, which lifted economic sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on its nuclear programme, a "disaster".

"I will go to Europe next week. I will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Emmanuel Macron and possibly British Prime Minister Theresa May," Netanyahu said in broadcast remarks.

"I will discuss with them halting Iran's nuclear aspirations and also stopping Iran's expansion in the Middle East. I will present our positions as clearly as possible. There were years when we stood alone in the face of these two threats. I think the situation has changed for the better."

U.S. President Donald Trump said he quit the nuclear accord, completed under his predecessor Barack Obama, because it did not cover Iran's ballistic missile programme, its influence in neighbouring countries, or address what happens after the deal begins to expire in 2025.

Macron has said he wants to tackle those concerns in a broader international dialogue to complement the nuclear deal.

French diplomats said Iran would be a key issue when Netanyahu visits Paris on June 5, and when he meets Merkel in Berlin.

Since Trump's decision to abandon the nuclear deal, European states have been trying to ensure Tehran receives enough benefits to persuade it to maintain the accord. Iran is pressing Europe for a package of economic measures to offset the effects of the U.S. pullout. (Reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem and John Irish in Paris Writing by Jeffrey Heller Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW, May 28 (Reuters) - One of Russia's leading art galleries announced on Monday it would try to stop the sale of alcohol on its premises after a man attacked a masterpiece with a metal pole after drinking vodka there.

The incident at Moscow's State Tretyakov Gallery on Friday caused serious damage to one of the country's most famous paintings, which depicts Tsar Ivan the Terrible cradling his dying son in 1581, and raised awkward questions about how Russia protects its historical and cultural artefacts.

The damaged painting was completed by renowned Russian realist Ilya Repin in 1885 and was described by its curators on Monday as a masterpiece in the same league as the Mona Lisa.

In an interior ministry video, a 37-year-old man called Igor Podporin described how he had knocked back 100 grams of vodka in the gallery's cafe, became "overwhelmed", and then used a metal security pole to strike the canvas several times.

Zelfira Tregulova, director of the Tretyakov, said she wanted to stop the sale of alcohol on the gallery's premises and would be holding talks with the lessees of an on-site cafe and restaurant.

"As we've now understood, there were small bottles of wine or cognac in the cafe. We're going to talk to the cafe and ask them to remove them," she told a news conference.

It would be harder to persuade a separate restaurant, accessible from both the gallery and the street, to stop selling alcohol, she said.

"The incident was awful and frightening and speaks to the aggression which reigns in society," said Tregulova, complaining that people were increasingly unable to distinguish between works of art and the documentation of historical facts.

HISTORICAL GRUDGE?

Vladimir Aristarkhov, the deputy culture minister, said that jail time for such attacks should be sharply increased from a current three-year maximum, disclosed Russia's museums had a shortfall of around 1,000 security guards, and called for the attacker to be made an example of.

The Tretyakov's curator, Tatyana Gorodkova, told reporters that Podporin had shouted something at the time of his attack to the effect that Ivan the Terrible did not kill his son. The painting depicts Ivan cradling his son after dealing him a mortal blow.

Some Russian historians and nationalists dispute the idea that Ivan murdered his son.

The painting, which will be protected by a bulletproof case after being restored, has never been valued because it has never been lent out, but another work by Repin was sold for over $7 million in 2011.

The painting was attacked in 1913, prompting the then gallery's curator to commit suicide.

When asked if she took responsibility for the latest attack, Tregulova, the gallery's director, quipped she would not be taking her own life and said the incident had been hard to stop.

"It was not possible to do anything. It was a question of seconds," she said, saying the gallery nonetheless planned to review security. (Editing by Andrew Roche)
PARIS, May 28 (Reuters) - France on Monday offered citizenship to an illegal immigrant from Mali who scaled the facade of a Paris apartment block to save a boy who was about to fall from a fourth-floor balcony, President Emmanuel Macron said.

Video shows Mamoudou Gassama, 22, risking his life on Sunday as he climbed up the balconies to rescue the four-year-old who is clinging to a railing and glancing at the ground below, while horrified onlookers watched.

The video went viral and Gassama, who has been nicknamed "Spider-Man" for reaching the boy in the nick of time, was swiftly granted a meeting at the Elysee Palace.

"I did it because it was a child," French newspaper Le Parisien quoted Gassama as saying. "I climbed .... Thank God I saved him."

Macron congratulated Gassama for "an exceptional act" and said France would give him a job in the emergency services.

"We'll obviously be setting all your papers straight and if you wish it, we will start the process of naturalization so that you can become French," he added.

Ministers said the citizenship process would be sped up, although Gassama can't legally be granted it right away.

As elsewhere in Europe, immigration from Africa and the Middle East has fixated French public opinion in the last few years, fueling the rise of far-right parties such as the National Front.

Macron, who had been criticised by left-wing voters for taking a tougher stance on immigration since his election, may also have sought to send a message to Socialist voters by signalling a more welcoming attitude to a deserving migrant.

Gassama told Macron he tried to cross the Mediterranean in March 2014 to reach Italy, but was caught by police.

Europe has faced a migrant crisis since 2015 following wars in Libya and Syria and more than 1 million people from Africa and the Middle East have tried to reach the continent via Turkey or by sea.

Macron's government has said it wants to be both firm and fair on immigration but it took a tougher stance lately, with parliament approving a bill that tightens asylum rules.

"What you have done corresponds with what firefighters do; if this fits your wishes, you could join the firefighters' corps so that you can do (such acts) on a daily basis," he said.

Adam Thiam, a Malian analyst and former presidential advisor told Reuters that Gassama's act had been praised in his home country.

"There is great pride here in Mali," Thiam said. "But while (Gassama) gets the honours, there are ... Malian citizens under the threat of being expelled by the French government."

Gassama told Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo by phone on Sunday he arrived from Mali a few months ago and wished to stay in France.

"I replied that his heroic gesture was an example for all citizens and that the City of Paris will obviously be keen to support him in his efforts to settle in France," Hidalgo said.

The boy's father was arrested and told police he had left his son alone to go shopping and returned home later than planned because he was playing Pokemon Go, an enhanced reality game, on his smartphone.

"His behaviour constitutes an offence, failing to honour parental responsibilities, which carries a possible sentence of two years in jail," Molins said.

Gassama is being offered a spell of community service work at the Paris emergency services. An official website says the work pays about 480 euros ($558) a month for a fixed 11-month period. ($1 = 0.8606 euros) (Reporting by Bate Felix, Michel Rose; Marine Pennetier, Julie Carriat in Paris, Sofia Christensen in Dakar Writing by Mathieu Rosemain and Brian Love Editing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg)
May 28 (Reuters) - Latin America must give serious thought to legalizing drugs in order to reduce the human cost of prohibition, the head of a United Nations agency for the region said on Monday.

Tens of thousands of people across Latin America have died in violence stemming from the struggle to control the lucrative trade in narcotics, particularly in Mexico, where murders fueled by warring drug cartels reached a record high last year.

Alicia Barcena, a Mexican who heads the Santiago-based Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the United Nations' regional arm, told a Latin America forum in Paris the time had come to explore a new strategy.

"I'm going to be very provocative. Who would drug legalization be good for? Latin America and the Caribbean, for God's sake. Because the illegality is what's killing people," she said. "It's time to seriously consider legalizing drugs."

Peru, Colombia and Bolivia are the top producers of coca leaves used to make cocaine, much of which is smuggled through Mexico to reach the world's biggest market, the United States.

The battle to dominate crystal meth and heroin markets has also precipitated mounting violence in Mexico.

Most countries in the Americas continue to pursue restrictive policies toward drugs, although growing liberalization of marijuana laws in the United States has encouraged supporters of legalization to redouble their efforts. (Reporting by Diego Ore; Editing by Michael Perry)
SOFIA, May 29 (Reuters) - The se are some of the main stories in Bulgarian newspapers on Tuesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

-- Electricity costs for households will increase by an average of 1.89 percent as of July, according to a proposal of the energy regulator. (Trud, Sega)

SEGA - Bulgarian national security agency to be able to place undercover agents in ministries and other institutions as well as private companies without informing their management, legal changes envision.

-- Bulgaria plans to complete the Hemus highway linking Sofia with the Black Sea port of Vrana in six years, officials said. (Standart, Trud, Standart)
The Railway Technical Services Trade Union Committee (RTSTUC) yesterday said that they would launch a 48-hour token strike from 4 p.m today (29) claiming that the authorities had failed to fulfil their demands.

RTSTUC President P. Sampath Rajitha told the Daily Mirror they held discussions with several officials in the Transport Ministry including Transport Deputy Minister Asoka Abesinghe in Battaramulla last evening.

The Railway Department had taken steps to increase the salaries of several employees by 12 per cent based on favouritism. Therefore, we demand the authorities to grant a pay hike of 12 per cent for all 12,000 railway employees. Incentives have not been provided to employees since 2004 and we demand an incentive payment be given as well,he said.

Following the discussion, the Deputy minister had reportedly told the RTSTUC to wait until the issue was discussed with the Sarath Amaunugama Committee.

During the token strike, Railway gate operators, Tail track inspectors, railway operator technicians and compartment connectors will refrain from their duties from today. (Chaturanga Samarawickrama)
Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) General Secretary and Minister, Duminda Dissanayake said today that by now legal action should have been taken against those of the previous government alleged to have committed acts of fraud and corruption had the government acted in a manner similar to Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

The Malaysian people requested newly-elected Premier Mohamad to punish corrupt politicians of the previous regime. After assuming office, he took immediate action as demanded by the people to arrest all those, including politicians, Government Officials and Police Officers known to have committed fraud and corruption, he told journalists in Anuradhapura.

The minister said however investigators in Sri Lanka are reluctant to investigate the charges levelled against politicians and multi-millionaires.

They are very prompt in implementing the law when it comes to ordinary citizens who are alleged to have committed minor offences. Some influential individuals even seek court orders to evade arrest when cases are to be filed against them. The law must be applied equally to all citizens, he said. (Athula Bandara)
The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) today expressed optimism about establishing several regional offices within the next six months.

The OMP earlier announced its plan to establish 12 regional offices, eight in the North and East, and four in the rest of the country, in order to expand its services and to receive information and complaints about the missing.

OMP Chairman Saliya Pieris PC today said if all the processes were completed smoothly, they would be able to establish not one but more regional offices in the coming months.

Most likely, the first set of regional offices would be set up in the North, he told Daily Mirror.

The regional offices would be established in Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Ampara, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Matara, Kurunegala, Moneragala and Kandy.

Meanwhile, Mr. Pieris said the next outreach meeting of the OMP would be held in Mullaitivu on Saturday (2). Previous outreach meetings were held in Mannar and Matara.(Lahiru Pothmulla)
by Libby Sequeira and Susan D'Costa





KUWAIT, MAY 29, 2018: The Salesian community, along with their families and the parishioners, gathered at the St. Therese of the Child Jesus church, Salmiya Kuwait on June 24, to celebrate the Feast of Mary Help of Christians.





The celebration began with Holy Mass, which was celebrated by Father Lionel Braganza, concelebrated by Father Derrick Misquita, the Rector of the Salesians, and Father Blany Pinto.

In his homily, Father Braganza shed light on how honour is bestowed on Mary for her role in the redemption of mankind. Hence "All generations will call her blessed", he said.

He also narrated how the battle of Lepanto which took place on October 7, 1571 was won because of the intervention of Our Lady. For this reason, this date was chosen as the feast of the Holy Rosary. He added that in 1809, Napoleon's men entered the Vatican, arrested Pope Pius VII and brought him in chains to Grenoble.

The Holy Father vowed to God that, if he were restored to the Roman See, he would institute a special feast in honour of Mary. Military reverses forced Napoleon to release the Pope, and on May 24, 1814, Pius VII returned in triumph to Rome. Twelve months later, the Pope decreed that the feast of Mary Help of Christians, be kept on May 24 .

After the homily, all the Salesian Cooperators renewed their promise to continue to be loyal and committed to their mission. A short programme, which included games, dancing and a festive meal, followed.

"It was so much fun with all the Cooperators and their families as well as the three priests who were all playing around, dancing, singing and having loads of fun like little kids," Christopher Pereira, a Salesian Cooperator, said.
In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, C.S. Lewis described the dreary state of Narnia under the curse of the White Witch as always winter but never Christmas. His assessment may soon apply to the National Health Service (NHS), whose annually intensifying winter crisis threatens to become permanent, according to the UKs leading doctors association.

The winter crisis has truly been replaced by a year-round crisis, said Dr. Chaand Nagpaul, chairman of the British Medical Association (BMA).

Each winter, the need for medical care strains the nationalized healthcare infrastructure to the breaking point. This year, the NHS preemptively cancelled all surgeries it deemed non-urgent, with some waiting times exceeding 18 weeks; then, it canceled an additional 25,000 surgeries with one days notice or less.

Emergency waits lasted longer than ever. The NHS has never met its goal of having 95 percent of patients seen within four hours. (To put that in perspective, the average U.S. wait time is 138 minutes.) But some waits well exceeded UK standards. On 2,010 occasions, patients waited in emergency rooms 12 hours or more in the Royal Cornwall Hospital alone  six-times higher than last year.

The inevitable rationing that accompanies single-payer health care discriminates against the elderly. Older people were more likely to face long waits, Cornwall Live reported. One in 23 people aged 90 and over (4.4%) waited longer than 12 hours from arrival to admission, discharge or transfer in 2017/18. Yet no one under the age of 10 did.

The long waits in A&E rooms came about because NHS hospitals lack sufficient beds. Some 54 of 137 NHS trusts reached 100 percent occupancy. A record 16,900 people were stuck waiting in ambulances during the week between Christmas and New Years.

The UKs health care troubles became so acute that last year the British Red Cross likened NHS service to a humanitarian crisis. And winters chill still hangs in the air. In April, 20 percent of Welsh emergency patients spent 12 hours or more waiting for treatment  worse than last year.

Only a massive funding increase, the BMA warns, can stave off perpetual winter. A new report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and the Health Foundation puts a dollar figure on that: 2,000 a year from every single home in the UK. Funding would have to increase by three to four percent a year to make even modest improvements, the report states.

Taxes will have to rise to historically high levels (but not especially high by continental European standards, the report helpfully notes) to meet current wait time goals. We will have to pay a lot more, said IFS Director Paul Johnson  and, he admitted, the burden will fall on the middle class, since the wealthy are very mobile.

NHS spending would grow faster than the most optimistic GDP estimates. British families would see one-quarter of all their projected income gains consumed by the NHS tax.

At the same time, the NHS engages in a ridiculous waste of resources, according to one health care expert. He specified the practice of bed-blocking: Surgeons are idled daily, unable to operate because social care does not have beds available for patients who should have already been discharged.

Social care  government health care provided for sick adults, especially the elderly  is also in crisis, according to the IFS, and needs a corresponding funding increase of its own. If the NHS is to celebrate its 100th birthday, then its imperative that adult social care is  given parity with the health service, said the chair of the Local Government Associations (LGA) Community Wellbeing Board. The current sinkhole in funding is putting at risk provision of care for a growing number of people of all ages.

But more funding may only incentivize bad practices. The Centre for Policy Studies (CPS) found that as NHS spending rose, waste increased and productivity fell. Unless [the funding increase] goes hand in hand with structural improvements to how the NHS is run, we risk betraying patients and taxpayers, said CPS Director Robert Colvile.

The enormity of the crisis seems lost on no one, except the NHS and certain U.S. religious leaders. Instead of fixing any of these potentially life-threatening shortcomings, the executive director of one NHS Trust spent the Bank Holiday weekend decrying white privilege.

Worse yet, some Christians in the U.S. appear to be under the spell of the White Witch. Two weeks ago, liberal denominational leaders launched a new, reimagined version of the Poor Peoples Campaign with a call to import something akin to the NHS. Its members wore buttons endorsing Bernie Sanders Medicare for All, and the campaigns Moral Agenda endorses universal healthcare (as well as abortion-on-demand). The man who delivered the homily at the royal wedding, Bishop Michael Curry of the Episcopal Church, has attempted to portray the campaign as a clear outworking of the Gospels  proclaiming it a Jesus Movement and a Pentecost Movement.

But Jesus never told His followers to petition the State for their medical needs (or anything else): He gave a far more demanding responsibility to provide for the needs of others personally. We must care for others even if, like the widow, it requires giving our last two mites. It is fair to say that Jesus would look askance at giving Caesar, Herod, or Pontius Pilate more power over life-and-death decisions. And Christian prudence would reject any system with the manifest, systemic failures of the NHS.

Lifting the veil of winter and making death itself start working backward will require a deeper magic than tax increases and government centralization.

(Photo credit: Andy Mabbett. This photo has been cropped. CC BY-SA 3.0.)
 Iran is Funding Hamass Violent Protests at the Border, Media M.I.A. | Main | Why Does a NY Times Journalist Want to Suppress an Anti-Hamas Article? 

May 28, 2018

Distorted History at Christ at the Checkpoint 2018

Jack Munayer speaks at the Christ at the Checkpoint, 2018. (Photo: Dexter Van Zile)

May 28, 2018 marks the first day of the Christ at the Checkpoint Conference, a so-called peacemaking event organized by the Bethlehem Bible College, a non-denominational Evangelical institute of higher learning located in Beit Jala in the West Bank. Speakers from around the world purport to inform attendees about the Israel-Palestinian conflict and how Evangelicals, particularly those in the United States and Europe, can help bring the conflict to an end.

On the afternoon prior to the first night of the conference, which is held every two years, organizers host an orientation session where first-time attendees are instructed in the history of the conflict. This year's session was offered by Jack Munayer, an Israeli citizen who like his father Salim, has been particularly harsh in his description of Israel and its supporters.

Munayer, who was introduced as an expert? by Gary Burge, a former professor at Wheaton College in Illinois, offered a particularly one-sided depiction of the Arab-Israeli conflict. For example, he described the expulsion of Arabs from Lydda during the 1948 War as premeditated act of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by Israel without informing his audience of more than 100 listeners, most of them first-time attendees, that Arabs were expelled from the city after a previously agreed upon truce was violated by the inhabitants of the city. It was this violation that precipitated the expulsion that Munayer describes.

During the question and answer period, Munayer was asked how the Palestinians have come to grips with with the legacy of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who assisted the Nazis in the Holocaust and also broadcast virulent Jew-hatred into Muslim countries in the Middle East during World War II, once telling his listeners in a radio address to kill the Jews wherever you find them.?

Munayer's response was telling.

He said I think that the Palestinians are split. There would be different opinions of what they think of the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem.? Munayer then stated, I don't accept the premise that the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem helped accelerate [or] encourage the Holocaust in any manner. I don't think that there are any Palestinians or any serious Holocaust historians that will accept that either.? Munayer's response is simply shocking. The Grand Mufti's participation and support for the murder of Jews in Europe is well-documented. He recruited Bosnian Muslims to serve in Hitler's SS and also wrote letters to Nazi officials to stop planned exchanges of Jewish children for German POWs held by the allies during the war. As a German official testified before the judges at Nuremberg, The Mufti was an accomplished foe of the Jews and did not conceal that he would love to see all of them liquidated? Why is what the Grand Mufti said and did during the Holocaust important today? Because the man is a national hero to many Palestinians. President Mahmoud Abbas described him as such in 2013. The Christ at the Checkpoint has a well-documented tendency to condemn Israel while failing to hold Palestinian leaders to account for their misdeeds. Munayer's refusal to acknowledge the role that the Grand Mufti played in the Holocaust is a clear sign to his fellow Israeli citizens that he is not serious about promoting the cause of peace. If there is to be peace between Arab and Jew in the Holy Land, one issue the Palestinians must confront forthrightly is the Mufti's impact on both communities.

Posted by dvz at May 28, 2018 05:24 PM

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 Distorted History at Christ at the Checkpoint 2018 | Main | Michael Brown Exposes Double-Standard at Christ at the Checkpoint 

May 29, 2018

Why Does a NY Times Journalist Want to Suppress an Anti-Hamas Article?

A New York Times journalist thinks the Wall Street Journal shouldn't have published an opinion piece criticizing Hamas's anti-Israel propaganda campaign. The reporter, Declan Walsh, is one of the Times reporters who has covered the recent clashes along the Gaza Strip's border with Israel.

The first to suggest the article should have been spiked was Gregg Carlstrom, a correspondent for The Economist:

Why do newspapers give Israeli mouthpieces space to accuse journalists (including their own!) of being naive, incompetent apologists for terror? https://t.co/PIYieXDmac  Gregg Carlstrom (@glcarlstrom) May 21, 2018

Walsh concurred. "Fair question," he responded on Twitter.

What arguments does the Wall Street Journal piece make that are so egregious, so beyond the pale, that they prompted these two journalists to wish editors had suppressed it? And what exactly did the author of the Op-Ed, an Israeli army spokesman, say about journalists being "naive, incompetent apologists for terror"?

In fact, the piece was almost entirely focused on Hamas, its goals, and its propaganda. It charged Hamas leaders with lying when describing the Gaza demonstrations they organized as a "peaceful protest," and lamented that "much of the world simply fell for it." And it said that "some in the media helped Hamas by publishing its lies rather than facts."

And that's all.

The irony is striking. Carlstrom and Walsh are criticizing journalists  in this case Wall Street Journal opinion editors  because they seem to believe criticizing journalists should be taboo. How to make sense of the self-contradiction in their call for self-censorship?

In the case of the New York Times writer, Declan Walsh, it could be that the criticism in the Journal piece struck a bit too close to home. Walsh is one of the New York Times reporters who've counted Hamas gunmen that opened fire on Israelis, and Palestinians planting explosives, as supposed "protesters" killed by Israel.

So criticism of Wall Street Journal opinion editors is okay. But criticism of "some journalists"  maybe, for example, journalists who outrageously count gunmen as protesters?  is, conveniently out of bounds according to Carlson and Walsh.

You can read the piece the reporters wanted suppressed by clicking here.



Posted by GI at May 29, 2018 05:31 PM

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Outdoors Day

Outdoors Day 2021

Thank you to all who attended Outdoors Day 2021 events!

Outdoors Day is a free, open-house style event held in conjunction with National Get Outdoors Day. Try a new outdoor activity or introduce your family to old favorites like hiking, archery, paddling, and fishing. Bring the whole family and spend the day having an outdoor adventure!

Check out photos from previous events on our Flickr album (leaves DEC website) or view the event video (leaves DEC website) on our YouTube channel.

Don't forget to share your photos using #OutdoorsDayNY!

In case you missed it, check out our Facebook LIVE from Tuesday, June 2, at High Tor Wildlife Management Area and our Facebook LIVE from Tuesday, June 8, at Sonyea State Forest discussing ways to recreate safely and enjoy state lands.
The moving trucks came and went on Friday, May 25, leaving employees to set up their desks and offices in anticipation of the opening of Del Mar's brand new civic center, the largest capital project in the city's 59-year history.

After being closed over Memorial Day weekend for the move, city offices were slated to open at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29, with lemonade and cookies to mark the historic event. A more formal grand opening is set for June 30.

The $17.8 million project came in within budget and on time, said Assistant City Manager Kristen Crane, who oversaw planning and construction.

The civic center - at Camino Del Mar and 10th Street - includes a 3,000-square-foot town hall where the City Council and city committees will meet; a 9,000-square-foot city hall housing such departments as planning, administrative services, finance, code enforcement and the city manager's office; and a 13,000-square-foot plaza that will host events such as a weekly farmers market, as well as serving as a de facto park where the public can enjoy panoramic ocean views.

"I really hope the community will see this as an asset for themselves, a beautiful place for them to come and enjoy," said Crane.

Friday, May 25, was move-in day at the new Del Mar City Hall. Joe Tash

The town hall, where the council will hold its first meeting on Monday, June 4, was designed with an open floor plan to allow it to be used for everything from public meetings to events by Del Mar nonprofit groups (a commercial kitchen/employee lunchroom in city hall can be used to cater events).

The council dais was custom designed for the space, and is made of three sections on wheels that can be rolled away into a storage room at the back of the hall when needed. Chairs for audience members are not fixed and can also be stacked and stored.

Along one side of the town hall is a glass wall that can slide open to connect with an adjacent covered breezeway to expand the space for large events. At the back, wood and earth-toned materials invoke nature.

Above the town hall, a rooftop deck provides stunning ocean views.

"This is my favorite spot in the house," said Crane. "It has an awesome view and will be a great place to sit for the sunset, reading a book or talking with a friend."

The city has ordered outdoor furniture for the plaza and roof deck, which will arrive in the coming weeks. Also planned are the placement of solar panels and a battery storage system - funded primarily through a state grant - that will provide most of the power needed by the civic center during the day, as well as power for up to five hours during the evening when meetings are held.

Tucked away out of site beneath the plaza is an underground parking structure, which, together with a rear surface lot, will have 140 parking spaces, that can be used by city hall during the day and by the public at night and on weekends.

When visitors enter the city hall building, which fronts on the plaza, they will come to a counter where city staff can assist them with a variety of functions. Behind the counter, a glass partition provides a view of the main, open floor plan of the city office. Private offices line the space around the open section in the center, and windows at the back of the building provide another view of the sea.

About two dozen full-time employees, as well as some part-time workers, will be assigned to the new city hall. Workers from some departments, such as lifeguards, firefighters and public works employees, work from other locations.

Ashley Jones, administrative services director/city clerk, tidies up after moving into her office at the new Del Mar city hall. The new office opened for business on Tuesday, May 29, at 1 p.m. Joe Tash

The move to the new civic center went smoothly, with the workers installing the city's IT servers in the new building on Thursday, May 24, followed by trucks bringing boxes of files, computers and other items on Friday, May 25, said Crane. Some furniture was transported, but the bulk of the furnishings for the new civic center were purchased new, Crane said.

The city financed the new civic center with about $2 million in cash, along with a low interest, 30-year loan from the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, or IBank, which operates under the jurisdiction of the California governor's office.
An exclusive interview with Kelly Wu, president & CEO, Clientron

Clientron, a world-leading provider of thin clients and embedded systems, established its industrial PC (IPC) team in 2017, demonstrating its determination to penetrate deep into the IPC market. Clientron has always been able to provide product designs that precisely match customer needs and now riding on burgeoning IoT and Industry 4.0 trends, Clientron is ramping up efforts toward IPC product development and market expansion.

Kelly Wu, president & CEO, Clientron, states, "Taiwan-based manufacturers have been active in the IPC market for many years. IPC firms are characterized by being small but exquisite. Clientron, with years of product R&D experiences, is capable of providing high-end industrial-grade products with wide temperature and voltage ranges, waterproof and dustproof as well as ability to maintain long-term operation under extreme circumstances." Clientron has introduced embedded single board computers (SBC), embedded systems and industrial panel PC to accommodate different customer needs.

Expanding vertical industrial applications

IPC has always targeted niche market segments. Clientron's endeavors in this field began with the food processing industry and smart transportation applications. Clientron's Pike-AL-1500SP, crafted specifically for the food processing industry, is an industrial panel PC that can withstand special cleaning or a steaming environment. It offers IP69K protection against high temperature, dust and water and long-term submersion under water. The Pike-AL-1500SP has passed spray test with steam pressure of 100bar (1450 psi) at a temperature of 80C. It is built with grade 304 stainless steel casing to enable protection against heat and corrosion and prevent hazardous substances from leaching due to heat or acid, thereby guaranteeing safe and sanitary operation in a food processing plant.

For smart transportation, Clientron custom-built its IT900 embedded system for intelligent traffic decision making. It co-worked with customers to design applications such as smart intersection and smart parking solutions. With aluminum alloy casing, fanless & ventless design and IP40 dust-proof protection, the IT900 is suitable for murky outdoor environments with a reduced probability of failure or repair. It supports dual display ports and dual LAN ports and is powered by an Intel high-performance energy-efficient quad-core or dual-core platform. Its modular I/O box can quickly and flexibly accommodate customer's I/O design based on actual needs. The innovative drawer-type casing also allows easier hardware installation and expansion by its user friendly design

Clientron drew naming inspiration from cold weapons for its industrial-use products to represent symbolic meaning of simplicity, user friendly and combat strength. For example, its industrial panel PC is named as "Pike," innovative box type embedded systems as "Mace" and SBC as "Saber." Its Mace-AL-200 embedded system provides "Tsuba Kits" with a flexible modular design for customers to easily add I/O modules and build systems tailored to their specific needs. On top of that, the removable back cover makes maintenance work a breeze.

Clientron keeps turning innovative designs into reality

For point-of-sale (POS) terminals, Clientron presents PST650 all-in-one POS suited for the food service industry. PST650 features streamline, compact and lightweight design and built-in integration with a thermal printer supporting multiple well-known brands, so customers do not need to install an additional printer, thereby saving counter footprint and cost.

Among Clientron's most renowned thin client product line, the R800 was recently recognized with the 26th Taiwan Excellence Award. It comes with an innovative rotatable port-on-foot design with I/O expansion ports, enabling both space saving and I/O expandability advantages. Its high-durability capacitive-touch power button provides convenient on/off switch and reduces mechanical failure. Featuring support for triple 4K ultra-high-definition (UHD) displays, energy-efficiency design translating to savings on electricity bills and a three-year standard warranty, the R800 is especially suitable for virtual desktop solutions in banking, healthcare, government and education sectors.

Clientron is making leaping advances in automotive electronics

Looking forward, Wu speaks about Clientron's achievements in the automotive electronics market: "Clientron has been dedicating its time and efforts in this segment for many years and actually obtained ISO/ TS16949 certification as early as 2004. With a focus on Car Informatic Device (CID), we leveraged nearly 20 years of design and manufacturing experiences in automotive video and audio systems and worked with customers to jointly craft ' Interactive in three displays, one instrument with ADAS' software and hardware integrated solutions. This is a big step forward for us in the factory-installed equipment market." Three displays here refer to the CID system, driver instrument cluster and digital insole cluster. One instrument refers to the car recorder. They work in conjunction with the advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) in the vehicle.

Furthermore, it should be noted that a major customer of Clientron has engaged in large-scale expansion in the American market, which is expected to fuel Clientron's revenue growth in the region this year. With the inauguration of a new factory in Nangang, Clientron will be able to fully meet growing market demand.

Clientron plans to showcase its latest thin client series, POS systems and embedded IPC solutions at Computex 2018. Visitors to Clientron's booth K0427a in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center will be able to see Clientron products being put to use in different scenarios, including an embedded IPC in food processing industry, thin clients in banking scenario and a POS system in a restaurant setting.

Kelly Wu, president & CEO, Clientron, states that the company will keep ramping up efforts toward IPC products in 2018.

DIGITIMES' editorial team was not involved in the creation or production of this content. Companies looking to contribute commercial news or press releases are welcome to contact us.
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Concentrated solar power (CSP) is enjoying a boost of renewed attention worldwide as the renewable industry moves into the storage phase. There are currently a number of CSP plants operating and under construction in South Africa, and we went to look at one.

The CSP sector is receiving renewed attention after a lull in interest, and there are several large plants under construction or on order worldwide. For instance the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum solar power complex in Dubai will consist of 100 MW CSP tower and 600 MW of parabolic trough collectors, as well as several other projects of several hundred MW capacity.

The renewed interest in CSP has probably been brought about by the realisation that the problem of variability and intermittency of renewable energy sources can best be solved by storage, and the development of suitable bulk electricity storage is still quite far down the road. The major advantage of CSP is thermal storage, which is now an integral part of all CSP plant. The requirement for storage has led to the use of molten salt both as a heat transfer and storage medium.

The region around Upington has the highest level of solar radiation in Africa, as well as an abundance of available land, most of it flat, which makes this area ideal for the application of CSP technology. South Africa has both solar tower (ST) and parabolic trough (PT) systems installed and under construction. Table 1 shows the field up until window 3 of the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producers Procurement Programme (REIPPPP). There was no CSP allocation in window 4.

Table 1: CSP projects in South Africa. Project name Technology Capacity (MW) REIPPPP Window Nearest town Status Bokpoort CSP Parabolic trough 50 2 Groblershoop Operational Eskom CSP Tower 100 other Upington Construction Ilanga CSP 1 Parabolic trough 100 3 Kimberley Construction Kathu Solar Park Parabolic trough 100 3 Kuruman Operational Kaxu solar 1 Parabolic trough 100 1 Pofadder Operational Khi solar 1 Tower 50 1 Upington Operational Redstone CSP Tower 100 3 Postmasburg Planning Xina CSP Parabolic trough 100 3 Pofadder Operational Totals 8 700

Parabolic troughs have dominated the concentrated solar thermal power industry for the last two decades, winning the confidence of utilities and investors, but ST technology is experiencing a new interest, especially in African applications.

Parabolic trough systems

The parabolic trough system consists of rows of parabolic mirrors using single axis tracking . The 600 MWth, 100 MWe Xina Solar one system near Pofadder is an example where the rows are orientated on a north/south axis and use east west horizontal tracking (Fig. 1).

Oil is currently used as the heat transfer fluid in PT systems and this limits the temperature to <400C , which limits the efficiency of the system. The oil temperature in this system is limited to 393C. The mirrors focus the sun on an absorber tube enclosed in an evacuated glass tube. The vacuum between the absorber tube and the glass envelope prevents conduction and convection heat losses. The outer surface of the glass tube receives a non-reflective coating, which increases the transmittance of radiation through the glass onto the absorber tube. Furthermore, the glass is treated with a hydrophobic coating, which increases its resistance to atmospheric conditions, which might negatively affect the cleanliness of the glass (Fig. 2).

The heated oil passes follows two different paths, one to the heat exchanger to drive the turbines, and the other to the thermal storage, which consists of molten salt. The storage system consists of two tanks, the hot tank at 390C, and the cold tank at 290C. Molten salt solidifies at about 230C and the cold tank is always maintained above this temperature.

The possibility of using molten salt as a heat transfer fluid and a direct storage medium in a parabolic trough plant has been investigated. This allows for higher temperatures, which in turn increases the efficiency of the steam cycle, and the molten salt can be stored directly, which eliminates the need for an oil-to-salt heat exchanger. The use of solar salt at a maximum operating temperature of 450C could reduce the LCOE of the parabolic trough technology by 14,2%, and it has been suggested that costs could be further reduced if higher temperatures were attained [6].

The problem however is material and mechanical one. More than 13 different variations of ball joints, flexible hoses and rotary joints were tested by a developer but a solution could not be found that could perform under the high temperatures and pressures associated with the molten salt in the solar field [6].

Solar tower systems

The tower system is a fairly new entrant to the commercial market although demonstration and pilot systems have been in operation all over the place. There are still very few tower systems of a significant capacity in operation. The tower system uses higher temperatures than the trough system and achieves higher efficiencies. There are two types of solar tower in use in South Africa: Direct steam and molten salt.

Solar field

The tower system uses a solar field of individual mirrors with both horizontal and vertical tracking, focused on a central tower. The solar field for the SA systems is circular with the tower in the centre, and the tower uses a cylindrical receiver. Earlier systems located in the northern hemisphere used a single solar field located on one side of the tower, but the high solar elevation, and the flatness of the land of the South African sites allows a circular field to be used, making more use of the available radiation. The cylindrical receiver also allows the concentrated solar flux to be spread over a larger area, reducing the temperature of the receiver surface. The ST system has a concentration ratio of 800 suns and can reach receiver temperatures of 1000C

Direct steam system

Khi solar one began operation in South Africa in 2015. This 50 MWe plant uses direct steam generation together with steam accumulators for a small amount of thermal storage. In a direct steam generation thermal solar plant, the solar receiver directly generates steam for the turbine, without resorting to other heat transport fluids. As they do not require separated steam generators, such plants are economical and allow the highest efficiency. However, given the necessarily high pressures involved, steam storage tanks are thick, heavy and expensive. Direct steam generation is, therefore, not the best adapted technology for a large energy storage. In this case, a molten salts plant will be more efficient. Khi Solar One highlights one of the drawbacks of using direct steam generation  a high level of thermal storage is not feasible.

Molten salt system

In modern molten salt power tower plants, molten salt (MS) is pumped up the tower, through the receiver where it is heated, and back down the tower after which it is stored directly in large tanks. The MS is therefore used as heat transfer fluid (HTF) and a storage medium. The piping layout of an MS system is short and vertical, allowing fast and easy drainage, and central towers are the safest solution for direct heating of molten salts in the receiver.

A 100 MWe molten salt power tower , Redstone, is currently in development in South Africa. The plant will implement 12 hours of storage and use a dry-cooled power cycle due to water availability concerns in South Africa. In a typical liquid salt solar tower (LSST) the liquid salt flows through the receiver at a rate of 22 000 l/min. Liquid salt is heated from 288 to 566C. This high temperature differential stores more energy in less salt compared to other technologies. Fig. 3 shows the layout of a molten salt solar tower (MSST) system.

The first requirement for storage is that there must be surplus energy to store, and this is achieved by oversizing the collector field. The characterizing factor by how much a solar field is oversized is called the solar multiple (SM). In a plant without storage it is typically about 1,4. A plant with storage needs an SM of >2. Typical values are 2,4 to 3.

Oversizing has another advantage. The direct normal irradiance (DNI) is obviously not constant throughout the day but reaches its maximum around noon. The turbine, however, is aimed to run at constant maximum capacity. For this to be possible the solar field needs to deliver the equivalent capacity long before noon and must therefore be oversized by a certain factor. As a result, the solar field provides extra capacity early in the cycle and late in the afternoon. In a CSP plant without storage the surplus energy at the solar peak needs to be dumped. Oversizing the plant gives the advantage that the plant can start operating at full output very early in the solar cycle and can continue operating at full output on solar energy until late in the solar cycle.

Thermal inertia

The CSP system, even without separate storage, has advantage over PV in the form of thermal inertia. Storage of heat in the thermal transfer fluid in trough system should cater for passing clouds and short variations in irradiance. No short interruptions in output. The same applies to the tower system, the thermal inertia of the transfer fluid will carry the system through short interruptions in clouds cover, etc. The effect of thermal inertia can be as much as 15 minutes of storage [3].

Costs

The relatively high cost of electricity from CSP plants has been one if the barriers to wider acceptance of CSP. The cost of CSP electricity in round 3 of the REIPPPP is R1,69/kWh. The technology is still in its early stages, compared to PV and wind which have had 20 years or more to develop, and prices are expected to decrease considerably as the technology matures. World prices have decreased dramatically in the past year. Here are some examples [2]:

In May 2017, Dubais DEWA received a solar bid at a new low of just $94/MWh

In August 2017 , Dubai DEWA awarded a contract at a record breaking price of $73/MWh

In September 2017, the South Australia government awarded a contract at yet another record low price of $61/MWh

In October 2017, a bid in the Chilean contract of under $50/MWh ($0,05/kWh) was received

This kind of fall in price is astonishing for an innovative technology that has barely started, and for bids to be half what they were just six months ago is unprecedented. It seems that 2017 was a turning point for CSP. In many cases the low prices were made possible by the extremely high irradiance at the sites selected, and system developers and suppliers caution that it may not be possible to achieve the same low prices in other countries and in other localities.

Previous South African studies have forecasted that prices would drop by 50% or even lower by 2030, although this point may already have been reached [3]. Fig. 5 shows the projected decrease in costs until 2050.

Comparison with PV bulk storage

One of the great advantages of thermal storage is the large amount of energy storage ( kWh) possible. A 100 MW plant with 12 h of storage at maximum capacity stores 1200 MWh. The largest battery storage of 100 MW only delivers 129 MWh of energy. The critical issue here is the cost per kWh of storage.

MicroCSP

In addition to the large utility scale plants, the industry has seen the development of MicroCSP plant ranging in size from 100 kW to 5 MW for electricity generation. The technology is usually based on downsized trough, although small tower versions have emerged. Micro CSP is most often used for industrial heat generation and several plants are running in South Africa

References

[1] O Craig: The current and future energy economics of concentrating solar power (CSP) in South Africa, SAJIE, Nov. 2017.

[2] S Kraemer: Solar thermal power prices have dropped an astonishing 50% in six months, SolarPACES, October, 2017.

[3] F Dinter: A review of Andasol 3 and perspective for parabolic trough CSP plants in South Africa, SolarPACES, 2015.

[4] W Scanlon: Thermal storage gets more solar on the grid, NREL news, 2012.

[5] V Rajpaul: CSP in South Africa, AfDB and WB workshop, Tunisia, June, 2012.

[6] I Poole: Concentrating solar power in South Africa  a comparison between parabolic trough and power tower technologies with molten salt as heat transfer fluid, Msc Thesis, SU, 2017.

Send your comments to energize@ee.co.za

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By Reuters , May 25 , 2018





NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India said on Monday it abided by sanctions imposed by the United Nations but not those imposed by any other country, such as those announced by the United States against Iran.





U.S. President Donald Trump this month withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and ordered the reimposition of U.S. sanctions suspended under the 2015 accord.

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Common sense says making a plan is a good way to reach a goal. But how do you go about making a plan? Starting from the finish and working backward gets the best results, a new study suggests.

Some people make a plan of attack in chronological order. They note the steps theyll take first, next, and so on. Students preparing for a big exam might plan to do some reading at the outset, then list a bunch of other tasks to accomplish and end with a final review of their notes before the big test. Other people plan backward, starting with a visualization of the end goalpassing the testthen tracing in reverse the steps they would take to get there. According to the research, these backward planners are more likely to stay motivated and accomplish their goal than those who plan from the starting point.

The interesting aspect of our study is that we studied how people construct plans, co-author William Hedgcock of the University of Iowa told Education Week. Prior research has shown that planning affects goal pursuit. We showed how they planforward or backwardaffects goal pursuit.

Why do backward planners stay motivated longer than forward planners? Forward planners start too far from the finish line, projecting problems in the way of their goal. But backward planners imagine overcoming potential obstacles ahead of time. This relieves the pressure of trying to complete a project on a deadline. We found backward planning helped people think about the intermediate steps more clearly, Hedgcock said.

Hedgcock and his co-authors, marketing professors Jooyoung Park of Peking University and Fang-Chi Lu from Korea University, conducted experiments in which students made plans for tackling real-life goals, like studying for a test or preparing for a job interview. Afterward, students were asked to score their motivation to work on the project by answering questions like How much effort will you allocate to study for the exam, using a scale from 1 (a little bit) to 7 (very much).

In one experiment, 53 U.S. undergraduate students planned for an exam for a class in which they were actually enrolled. Each participant was given 15 activities they could do to study for the exam. One group of students was instructed to arrange the activities by working backward from their goal. The other students had to plan the activities in chronological order, starting from the first day of studying. The results were based on how participants answered the motivation questions. Those who planned backward intended to exert more effort than the forward planners to achieve their desired grades.

In another experiment, 60 students at a Chinese business school were asked to imagine they had a job interview at their dream company. They were provided with 15 activities that would help them prepare for the interview and were told to plan the activities in either chronological or reverse chronological order. Based on their responses to the questions afterward, the backward planners reported a greater intention to strive for a successful job interview than those in the forward-planning group.

Even in experiments where participants were not provided with a fixed number of tasks to organize and had to come up with the tasks by themselves, the backward planners still had the greater motivation to achieve their goal and even received better grades. But these results held true only when the plan involved multiple steps, as when studying for a final exam or completing a long-term research project.

Our findings indicate that planning in reverse chronological order may not only help people have a clearer view of tasks to execute but also improve their actual performance, the authors write.

The researchers acknowledge that they are not accounting for the predispositions of individual students that might affect motivation, and more research could be done in that direction. Still, they say backward planning can be used to accomplish a range of goals, such as pursuing a college degree, making career choices, or planning a budget. Some teachers even use backward design to plan their lessons .



And while the study focused on college students, the findings could also help high schoolers, Hedgcock said. For students who view an assignment as complex, or who feel their interest lagging halfway through a project, backward planning may help.

Related stories:
Today, the Energy Department is announcing that The Ohio State has taken home first place in the final year of EcoCAR 3, an Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and General Motors Co. (NYSE:GM). This is the fourth consecutive win for the Buckeyes.

EcoCAR 3 exemplifies DOEs commitment to STEM education and supporting the next generation of American innovators," said Energy Secretary Rick Perry. "The creativity and talent displayed by the students in the EcoCAR 3 competition is what will keep America's transportation sector moving forward."

In addition to the coveted first place trophy and bragging rights, the Buckeyes' will also take home an extra $10,000 to further support the university's advanced vehicle technology program. The team earned 895 out of 1000 overall points.

EcoCAR 3 is the latest Energy Department Advanced Vehicle Technology Competition (AVTC) series and challenges 16 North American university teams to redesign a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro to further reduce its environmental impact, while maintaining the performance expected from this iconic American car. Teams spent the last four years (2014-2018) harnessing those ideas into the ultimate energy-efficient, high performance vehicle.

Year Four finals began with a week of rigorous safety, technical, drive quality and emissions testing at General Motors Desert Proving Ground in Yuma, Arizona. For the second leg of competition, teams headed to southern California for track events, including autocross, acceleration, and consumer appeal at the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana. Teams also spent several days presenting to judges and proving how they have developed into the next generation of engineers and business leaders who are prepared to enter the auto industry and related careers. Industry and government officials judged the presentations.

Following presentations, teams hit Los Angeles roads for a 150-mile over-the-road event where the Chevrolet Camaros were scored based on performance with everyday driving applications. At the end of the second week, students had the opportunity to display their completed hybrid-electric Chevrolet Camaros with a car show at Hollywood's famed Magic Castle.

West Virginia University and University of Alabama teams finished second and third place, respectively.

Additional sponsors joining the DOE and GM include: MathWorks; National Science Foundation; California Air Resources Board; NXP; AVL Powertrain Engineering; The Bosch Group; ETAS; PACCAR; dSPACE, Inc.; Snap-on Tools; Siemens PLM Software; GKN Driveline; Transportation Research Center (TRC, Inc.); Horiba; DENSO; Champlain Cable Corp.; Woodward; Proterra; Ricardo; Mentor Graphics; New Eagle; Gage; tesa tape; Vector CANtech, Inc.; Delphi Foundation; EcoMotors; Electric Power Research Institute, Inc.; A123 Systems; Flextronics; and Samsung SDI.

EcoCAR 3 sponsors have provided more than $87 million in software, hardware and cash donations to the 16 participating universities throughout the four years.

To learn more about the EcoCAR 3 program, please visit www.ecocar3.org.

About EcoCAR 3

EcoCAR 3 is a four-year collegiate engineering program that builds on the successful 30-year history of the Department of Energy (DOE) Advanced Vehicle Technology Competitions (AVTC) by giving engineering students the chance to design and build vehicles that demonstrate leading-edge automotive technologies. General Motors provides each of the 16 competing teams with a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro, as well as vehicle components, seed money, technical mentoring and operational support. The DOE and its research and development facility, Argonne National Laboratory, provide competition management, team evaluation and logistical support. Through this important public/private partnership, EcoCAR 3 provides invaluable experience and training to promising young minds entering the North American job market. Thanks to the 16 competing teams for all your hard work for the past four years:

Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona

California State University, Los Angeles, California

Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida

Georgia Tech (Georgia Institute of Technology), Atlanta, Georgia

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario

Mississippi State University, Starkville, Mississippi

Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania

University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama

University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee

University of Washington, Seattle, Washington

University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario

Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia

Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan

West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia
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A week after eight students and two teachers were gunned down at Santa Fe High School in Texas, a group of students called for safe gun storage practices, hiring licensed therapists, and adding another armed officer and new security measures like metal detectors at their school.



The students emphasized that they were not calling for guns to be taken away from responsible owners.

HAPPENING NOW: Students from Santa Fe High School in Texas hold press conference one week after mass shooting left 10 people dead. //t.co/BgxA5kDgZM -- ABC News (@ABC) May 25, 2018

Instead, they said they want to ensure that firearms are stored out of the reach of children, that gun owners report lost or stolen weapons, and that gun sellers conduct thorough mental health and background checks on gun buyers and those in their households.

My dad is a gun owner, my grandfathers are gun owners, Megan McGuire, a junior at Santa Fe High School, said at a press conference organized by March for Our Lives Houston on Friday. I dont want to take away their guns or your guns for that matter.



What I mean by gun safety is common-sense solutions to keep those who wish to harm themselves or others from obtaining guns, she said. Gun safety means making sure that gun owners do not let their guns fall into the hands of young children or those who are not mature enough to be able to handle weapons that can take someones life.

The Santa Fe students press conference came while authorities in Noblesville, Ind., were dealing with the aftermath of a school shooting at Noblesville West Middle School that left a teacher and one student hospitalized. A student was detained in connection to the shooting, the Indianapolis Star reported.

Police said that the student asked to be excused from class and returned with two handguns.

Noblesville West Middle School does not have metal detectors, but the school has a resource officer, according to the paper.

The Santa Fe students said that they were not speaking on behalf of their entire community, and noted that the problem was a multi-faceted one.

I do believe that this is a three-legged problem, said Bree Butler, an 18-year-old senior. Its not only gun safety. Its also mental health and security in our schools.

The response to the school shooting in Santa Fe has been different from the one in Parkland, Fla., where 17 students and educators were killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14. In the wake of that tragedy, the calls for stricter gun measures were almost immediate. Such calls have been absent in this Texas community.

The Santa Fe students said that they had traveled to the state capitol in Austin to speak with legislators about school safety, and that they had also spoken with Gov. Greg Abbotts staff. Abbott this week held a series of meetings with superintendents, parents, survivors and others to discuss school safety and mass shootings.

McGuire also shared a message for elected officials who are not taking action.

My thought is that if you do not do something, you do not have a prayer of being elected, she said. My generation will see to that.


The identity of a mysterious fossil felid found in central Italy has been revealed thanks to synchrotron techniques. Scientists used X-ray tomography to virtually extract the fossil from its rock encasing and describe decisive anatomical details for the first time. Previously thought to be an extinct Eurasian jaguar, this new study concluded by identifying the felid as Acinonyx pardinensis, one of the most intriguing extinct carnivores of the Old World Plio-Pleistocene. The study is published in Scientific Reports.

The team of physicists and palaeontologists from the University of Perugia, the University of Verona and the University of Rome Sapienza, in collaboration with the European Synchrotron, ESRF, scanned the partial skull of the specimen, still embedded in the rock. The analysis of images and 3D models obtained revealed a mosaic of cheetah-like teeth and Panthera-like features leading to a reconsideration of the ecological role of this species.

Right lateral view of specimen ArgBsc1 of Acinonyx pardinensis from Monte Argentario. Credit: Dawid A. Iurino

The skull was discovered on Monte Argentario in Tuscany at the beginning of the 20th century and belongs to the Villafranchian Land Mammal Age. This period is significant because the earliest hominids that clearly evolved into modern man appeared within it. Many animals and their extinct ancestors also evolved during this period including the Etruscan bear, sabre-toothed cats, mammoths and the earliest fallow deer. Until today, and because of the fossils imprisonment in the rock, the observation of the anatomical details needed for taxonomic determination was impossible without damaging the fossil, hence the debate over its identity. Although regularly used for hominid or dinosaur fossils, this is the first time synchrotron microtomography has been used to scan a carnivoran mammal fossil. X-ray based tomographic methods developed at the ESRF allowed the scientists to virtually extract the fossil from its host matrix, a reddish rock block with a similar density to the fossil. The combination of hard X-rays, high beam intensity and partial coherence provided huge amounts of information on the external and internal morphology of the specimen down to the micrometre scale. Imaging such large fossils has become a typical characteristic of the ESRF. The X-rays generated here allow us to solve problems and get information that would be very difficult to obtain elsewhere, says Vincent Fernandez, palaeontologist, co-author from ESRFs ID19 beamline.

Dawid Iurino with the Acinonyx pardinensis skull from Monte Argentario, on the set-up of ESRF ID17 beamline. Credit: Marco Cherin

High-resolution 3D images obtained at the ESRFs ID17 beamline revealed previously hidden anatomical features, including sutures between the bones of the palate and the complete morphology of the teeth. The latter are just some of the elements that made it possible to refer the skull to the species Acinonyx pardinensis, the Plio-Pleistocene giant cheetah.

Palaeontologists consider Acinonyx pardinensis as one of the most intriguing carnivore mammals of the recent geological past in the Old World. Some of its anatomical characters, for example the short snout, pointed premolar and molar teeth, elongated body with long limbs and long tail, resemble the living cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus). Other features, however, like the large body size weighing some 80-90 kgs, the jaw muscle system and shape of the braincase resemble pantherine cats, such as the jaguar or leopard.

The co-occurrence of Acinonyx-like and Panthera-like characteristics has allowed scientists to hypothesise that A. pardinensis had a hunting strategy and killing behaviour different to those of the living cheetah, and more in line with those of an adult jaguar.

The study on the Monte Argentario felid was the starting point for a review of the entire Old World sample of A. pardinensis. We discovered that, regardless of the age of the different sites (the species inhabited Eurasia and North Africa for more than 2 million years), we can recognize a great body size variation between individuals, says Marco Cherin, lead author of the publication. This can be explained if we assume that A. pardinensis, like all extant large felids, was characterised by sexual dimorphism, meaning that males of the species are larger and stouter than the females.

3D models of Acinonyx pardinensis skull from Monte Argentario. Left to right: damaged and fragmented skull in rostral view with embedding sediment, without sediment and reconstructed skill with cloned and mirrored portions highlighted in different colour. Credit: Dawid A. Iurino

Slower but stronger

Among the big cats today the cheetah stands out for its extraordinary sprinter skills that allow it to reach 100 km/h in a few seconds. The rapid acceleration allows the predator to suddenly approach its prey, mostly gazelles and antelopes, which are then landed and suffocated by a bite to the throat. To achieve this performance, the cheetah's skeleton has evolved over time, becoming thinner and smaller in size, with only partially retractile claws and with a small rounded skull with large nasal cavities. These, in fact, favour a greater flow of air during the pursuit, but the price of expanded nasal cavities is a reduction in the size of the canines, greatly reduced in cheetahs compared to other large cats. Overall, this series of adaptations is expressed in a style of hunting that is practically unique among today's carnivores.

The characteristics observed on the fossils of A. pardinensis, however, tell of an unusual skeletal structure for a cheetah. As revealed by the study, the estimated average size of about 80 kg is similar to that of an adult jaguar, as well as the tell-tale robust bones and massive teeth. A cheetah of this size could not achieve the same high performance in a pursuit as its current descendants. The anatomy of A. pardinensis is in some respects reminiscent of the current, slower and sturdier jaguar, with ambush hunting behaviour involving short pursuits and powerful bites to the nose or throat. The Plio-Pleistocene giant cheetah was therefore a felid capable of bringing down large herbivores in the same way as today's lions or jaguars. These characteristics make it one of the top predators in the trophic network of the Plio-Pleistocene ecosystems, next to sabre-toothed cats and giant hyenas.

References

Cherin M., et al., Synchrotron radiation reveals the identity of the large felid from Monte Argentario (Early Pleistocene, Italy). Scientific Reports, 29 May 2018. Doi:10.1038/s41598-018-26698-6.

Text by Kirstin Colvin
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This blog is looking for wisdom, to have and to share. it is also looking for other rare character traits like good humor, courage, and honor. It is not an easy road, because all of us fall short. But God is love, forgiveness and grace. Those who believe in Him and repent of their sins have the promise of His Holy Spirit to guide us and show us the Way.
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I have a part time masters degree (studied while I was working full time). It is from BITS pilani which is a well reputed institution. How does WES consider this degree? Will it consider as masters degree or a diploma or as a certificate or none?
I am applying for a Study permit for Canada after getting admission in Humber College. In the form 'imm1249e - Application For Study Permit Made outside of Canada', 'Details of Intended Study in Canada' section and the question on cost of tuition and room and board, am I supposed to quote the cost of the WHOLE program (3 years) or just the cost for the first year? My offer letter quotes an estimated range for the tuition cost of only the first academic year.



For the question Funds available for my stay is the cost of tuition+room and board+other expenses for one year or the duration of the whole program?



I am confused as some people on other forums state that you need to fill in details for 1 year and some state that you need to fill for the entire duration of the course. So please help me out to fill the form correctly and proceed forward with my application



Thanks in advance


CSO data released today shows that the number of overseas visits to Ireland for the first four months of 2018 was over 2.8 million, which was an increase of 7.3% compared to the corresponding period in 2017.

A breakdown of todays data shows that visits from North America were up by 13.6%, compared to the same period last year, while visits from Mainland Europe and Britain were up by 12.3% and 1.1% respectively. Visits from the rest of the world (long-haul) were up by 2.9%.Responding to the publication of todays figures, Paul Kelly CEO of Failte Ireland emphasised:We are delighted to see the hard work of everyone involved in tourism being rewarded with such positive growth in tourist numbers - this growth will further increase the already significant contribution tourism makes to the overall economy of Ireland. The challenge for us all now is to manage and maintain this growth, and key to this will be to ensure that we continue to give our visitors a top quality and excellent value for money experience. In order to do this, we will need increased investment from both the private and public sector in all areas - from accommodation to visitor attractions and infrastructure - to build our capacity to host these visitors in a way that gives them a top-class experience, making them more likely to visit again and recommend Ireland to their family and friends."Our Failte Ireland research is picking up a softening in our value for money ratings. If that trend should continue, we will become considered as an expensive destination. Should that happen, all the good work of recent years will be undone and it could take us years to reverse that perception. These growth levels in visitor numbers also gives us a real opportunity to develop a better regional and spatial spread of activity to minimise congestion, and we in Failte Ireland will continue to work with all stakeholders to ensure the benefits of this growth are spread throughout the country.

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Employees will walk off the job at 10:00 p.m. EST

By Diego Flammini

Staff Writer

Farms.com

Some Canadian rail workers will walk off the job tonight if their unions and employer cant reach a deal.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), who represent employees at Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), issued a strike notice on Saturday.

The strike is set to begin at 10:00 p.m. EST.

The strike notice came a day after the unions rejected CPs latest contract offer by more than 90 per cent.

Negotiations have not progressed enough to warrant any other action, the unions say.

CP is offering more of the same contract language that workers just voted to reject a few hours ago, Doug Finnson, president of the TCRC, said in a statement Saturday. The company clearly isnt serious about reaching a negotiated settlement and delivering on their promise to do right by their employees.

Many of CPs customers, including farmers who rely on rail service to transport grain, would be impacted by a strike.

The work stoppage would also halt any momentum generated by Bill C-49s passing .

Last weeks passage of Bill C-49 was good news for the long term success of grain farmers but a work stoppage would have an immediate negative impact on farmers, Jeff Nielsen, president of Grain Growers of Canada, said in a statement yesterday.

Growers see the strike as just another hurdle associated with the ag industry.

It looks like just another challenge farmers face in a line of many, Chris McQuid, a cash crop and cattle producer from Vermilion, Alta., told Farms.com today.

The silver lining, McQuid says, is that the strike is happening in the summer and not during harvest.

Really theres no good time for a strike, but the timing at least allows them to get a deal done before we need to begin moving grain, he said.
By Alvaro Garcia

This article analyzes the actual cost of production (2017) compared to the projected cost (2018) for corn, soybeans, and wheat in the Northern Great Plains based on figures from the Economic Research Service.

Table 1. Cost of production forecasts for corn, soybeans, and wheat. 2017-2018

Corn Soybeans Wheat Item 2017 2018 %

change 2017 2018 %

change 2017 2018 %

change Operating Costs: Dollars per planted acre Operating costs: Seed 99.63 100.82 1.01 60.63 61.36 1.01 14.40 14.58 1.01 Fertilizer 1/ 112.62 114.94 1.02 28.01 28.59 1.02 33.32 34.01 1.02 Chemicals 28.12 28.77 1.02 27.54 28.18 1.02 14.53 14.87 1.02 Custom operations 2/ 19.77 20.13 1.02 11.03 11.23 1.02 11.28 11.49 1.02 Fuel, lube, and electricity 19.70 20.16 1.02 12.56 12.85 1.02 11.27 11.53 1.02 Repairs 26.77 27.40 1.02 23.59 24.15 1.02 21.82 22.33 1.02 Other variable expenses 3/ 0.14 0.15 1.07 0.06 0.06 1.00 0.70 0.72 1.03 Interest on operating capital 1.31 2.32 1.77 0.70 1.24 1.77 0.46 0.81 1.76 Total, operating costs 308.06 314.69 1.02 164.12 167.66 1.02 107.78 110.34 1.02



The operating costs of production (seed, fertilizer, chemicals, custom operations, fuel, electricity, repairs and operating capital) show no differences between all three crops and an increase of 1.02 percent between 2017 and 2018. When itemized individually, they will all increase similarly also at around 1 percent with one exception: interest on operating capital. For all three crops interest on operating capital will increase almost by 77 percent on average; corn 1.31 to 2.32 percent, soybeans 0.70 to 1.24 percent, and wheat 0.46 to 0.81 percent. Paying a closer look to total dollar amounts as well as interests paid on borrowed money during the 2018 crop year will thus be of importance to tighten margins. Since corn seed has already been purchased the second greatest impact on operating cost of production is once again fertilizer at almost 1/3 of the total. Use fertilizer rationally based on soil tests and crop requirements; SDSU Extension soil experts can help out from this perspective. For soybeans seed represents the highest expense at almost 36 percent followed by fertilizer and chemicals at roughly 17%; SDSU Extension experts in soil and pest management can also help producers make right, cost effective decisions. Finally, for wheat it is also fertilizer that will weigh the heaviest in operating costs of production at 31 percent of the total.

When analyzing these figures, it becomes clear why SDSU is emphasizing Precision Agriculture as an area of emphasis. Precision agriculture goes beyond the purchasing of high-tech equipment. As mentioned is a toolbox of practices that is combination of information acquired from the field and the response of the crops respond to management practices. The process starts with a soil analysis for nutrient content early in the spring, right before planting. Farmers today can select crop genetics from a wide array of hardy to high-yield, developed to better fit a specific environment. Choosing the right varieties to plant is critical since it is less expensive and momentally sound to adapt the crop genetics to the environment than to modify the latter.
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An audit found agencies charged with protecting the environment and water resources  Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), Depart- ment of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) and Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER)  do not have the information they need to effectively manage salinity.

Salinity monitoring has declined with reductions in funding since 2008 to the extent agencies did not know how effective a $560 million investment of State and Federal funds to combat salinity between 2003 and 2008 had been, the audit found.

While acknowledging managing dryland salinity is a shared responsibility requiring co-ordinated local efforts by agencies, landholders and stakeholders, the audit report said neither the State Salinity Action Plan nor the State Salinity Strategy were completed and, since 2008, both have been dormant and are outdated.

The report was prepared by the Office of the Auditor General as one of two final critical reports  the other was on management of the State art collection  released this month under outgoing Auditor General Colin Murphy, who handed over to Caroline Spencer on Monday.

Salinity was estimated to affect between one and two million hectares  up to 10 per cent  of land in the agricultural regions to the west of a line between Kalbarri and Esperance, it said.

The audit report said DPIRD calculated the opportunity cost of lost agricultural production due to dryland salinity since 2009-10 at $519 million a year.

Without some level of intervention, dryland salinity will continue to be a significant cost and major risk to the State, it stated.

The extent of salt-affected land in the audit area is expected to more than double over the next 50 to 100 years to about 5.4mha, of which 4.5mh will be agricultural land, it said.

As well, salinity also damaged infrastructure such as roads, railways and buildings  adding further costs, impacted on water resources and reduced biodiversity, the report pointed out.

Government has to decide how much intervention is both feasible and economically sound, but is currently in no position to make an informed decision, the audit found.

Since 2008, there has been a lack of strategic direction and agencies have reduced monitoring of the extent and impact of salinity.

In the absence of strategic direction, agencies have focused on protecting individual assets and there has been little co-ordination of efforts between agencies, landholders and stakeholders.

The report highlighted a lack of current information about the extent of salinity affecting agriculture land, although it was recognised by agencies most rivers in the States south west were affected to some degree by rising salinity.

Agencies do not have good information about the current extent, impact and cost of dryland salinity and are therefore not well positioned to manage the risks and provide direction and advice, the report stated.

The Soil and Land Conservation Council, the key independent advisor to government, has not met since 2003.

This impacts on the States ability to manage salinity effectively and efficiently and increases the risk that poor decisions will be made.

There are no goals and targets for reducing water tables or planting deep-rooted species and decisions to protect land are left to individual landholders.

Relying purely on private benefit can result in landholders either acting alone, or not at all, it stated.

It said the last satellite imagery analysis mapping salinity was in 2000 and at that time, DPIRD calculated that severely salt affected land was increasing by 14,000ha per year.

The department does not know if this rate of increase has continued, decreased or accelerated, it said.

But river monitoring and the link between a rising water table and salinity indicated the problem was growing, the report said.

Mr Murphy made six recommendations to government to improve effectiveness and efficiency of dryland salinity management, including giving DPIRD, in consultation with DBCA and DWER, six months to set a strategic direction for salinity management and re-establishing regular monitoring and reporting of the spread, impact and cost of salinity.

The recommendations also included making better use of existing mechanisms to ensure more co-operation and co-ordination at all levels and of compliance and enforcement mechanisms to ensure landholders prevent or mitigate land degradation.

The government should continue to promote soil conservation and educate landholders and the public and consider whether there should be targets to reduce water tables and re-plant deep rooted trees on a catchment-wide or localised level, the Auditor General said.

Responding to the report, the State government pointed out in December it had moved to re-establish the Soil and Land Conservation Council.

Agriculture and Food Minister Alannah MacTiernan, Water Minister Dave Kelly and Environment Minister Stephen Dawson blamed the previous government for neglecting salinity management.

Salinity is a critical issue for our agricultural lands, affecting not just farming businesses, but water quality in rivers, wetlands, public drinking and irrigation water supply dams, Ms MacTiernan said.

The last government dropped the ball on salinity and failed to meet their responsibility to prevent and mitigate land degradation across the State.

We have already taken concrete steps to fix this issue with our move to re-establish the Soil and Land Conservation Council and welcome the Auditor Generals recommendations, she said.
Far North Queensland federal Liberal MP, Warren Entsch, is not expecting voter backlash following his decision to support the private members Bill introduced by fellow Liberal, Sussan Ley, which calls for the end of live sheep exports within five years.

People responding to the news on Mr Entschs Facebook post immediately commented that it would be a short step to bringing in bans on the live cattle export trade, while Katters Australian Party state leader, Rob Katter, used the news to question the LNPs commitment to the sheep and cattle industries in Queensland.

Mr Katter said it was unlikely the people of Leichhardt would be happy if their elected member supported a ban on live cattle.

Earlier this month, KAP announced that Cairns-based charter boat operator, Daniel McCarthy, would be their candidate in Leichhardt at the next federal election, after he contested the seat as an independent in 2016.

Queensland is the largest exporter of beef in Australia and Australia is the third largest exporter of beef in the world, Mr Katter said.

This industry is worth billions to our economy. If the LNP wish to ban the export of live cattle they are going to destroy the industry in northern Australia. I think people are entitled to ask, what is going on here?.

In saying he was inclined to support the Live Sheep Long Haul Export Prohibition Bill 2018 , Mr Entsch added that he didnt want his decision to lead to the debate being hijacked by the Australian Labor Party purely for them to gain cheap political points.

Furthermore, if and when the Bill is debated, I will not support it being extended to capture the live cattle industry, he said.

Social media commentators, including Charters Towers grazier, Kylie Stretton, werent confident that could be avoided, suggesting that Mr Entsch had opened the door to the possibility.

What will this mean for your electorate if cattle live exports are to follow? she said. You are naive if you think banning sheep export won't lead to that.

Bob Kelso said Mr Entschs emotions had clouded his judgment, citing the impending AACo abattoir closure in Darwin as a pointer to the irrationality of expecting the live trade to be replaced by boxed meat.

I know you only want to ban live sheep exports at this stage but it will eventually effect the cattle as well.

There was support from the farming community for Mr Entsch, such as comments from Jenny Hume saying we are all being tainted by this vile trade which has taken over 2.5 million animals to an appalling death on ships for decades.

Mr Entsch said the differences between sheep and cattle live export conditions were chalk and cheese, which meant he could support the phasing out of the sheep trade without jeopardising live cattle exports.

Live export is only 6 per cent of the sheep industry and its been declining over the last 20 years, he said.

There are only two destinations in the Middle East, and in Kuwait, the sheep are immediately killed and chilled and sold as Aussie lamb. Why not send that as boxed from Australia?

He believed it would be nearly impossible to alter Qatars ingrained importing habits of decades.
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.
The surreal, brilliant white terraces and warm, limpid pools of Pamukkale hang, like the petrified cascade of a mighty waterfall, from the rim of a steep valley side in Turkeys picturesque southwest.

Truly spectacular in its own right, the geological phenomenon that is Pamukkale, literally Cotton Castle in Turkish, is especially famous for its white limestone travertines shaped by calcium-rich hot springs and has been used as a thermal treatment centre for millennia.

It is also the site of the remarkably well-preserved ruins of the Greek-Roman city of Hierapolis.

With such a unique combination of natural and man-made wonders its little wonder that Pamukkale-Hierapolis has been made a Unesco World Heritage site. With over two million visitors annually, it is also Turkeys single most visited attraction.

Journey to the past

This city of travertines has long been home to various civilizations and it is possible to trace them back from the dusty pages of history through the ruins of each ancient city.

The best preserved structures belong to the ancient city of Hierapolis.

Hierapolis flourished, reaching its peak in the second and third centuries A.D. under the rule of the Roman Empire. However, the city was destroyed by an earthquake in A.D. 60 and later rebuilt. The ruins of the Greco-Roman period include remnants of baths, temples, a monumental arch, a nymphaeum, a necropolis and a theater. Following the acceptance of Christianity by the Emperor Constantine and his establishment of Constantinople as the new Rome in A.D. 330, the town was converted into a bishopric. As the place of St. Philips martyrdom in A.D. 80, commemorated by his martyrium building in the fifth century, Hierapolis with its several churches became an important religious center for the eastern Roman Empire.

The ancient city of Hierapolis is located in the Aegean region and was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1988.

The Temple of Apollo was raised for the towns principal god during the late Hellenistic period. In time, the temple was destroyed; however, Romans rebuilt it using stones from the old temple, but in Roman fashion. The ruins can still be visited in the ancient city.

The remains of the Byzantine city walls, the ruins of the octagonal Martyrs Church of St. Philipus and the Arch of Honor of Emperor Domitian from the first century complete the journey into the past, which is accompanied at every turn with views of the fantastic Cotton Castle. Pamukkale is, in the truest sense, a wonder.

Ancient springs

The pool, which was formed naturally after the collapse of a series of columns in an earthquake in A.D. 692 causing thermal water to accumulate, offers visitors a unique experience. Its water temperature is fixed at 36 degrees Celsius.

Since ancient times, the springs of Pamukkale have been seen as gift from nature for the mankind. The water is said to be good for rheumatism, cardiovascular diseases as well as skin and nerve diseases.

Among the ruins of Hierapolis, a Roman bath with high-vaulted ceilings is particularly well preserved. It houses an archaeological museum that is home to ornate sarcophagi. Just behind the museum is the Antique Pool. In the pleasantly warm spring water, you take a relaxing swim between ancient column sections.

Karahayt

The phenomenon of Pamukkale continues just over 5 kilometers away in the village of Karahayt which has its own wonder, only in color. Here, too, hot water flows but iron and sulfur have colored the rocks in bright reds, yellows and greens.

Though impressive, it still does not compare to the sinter terraces. The original white terraces are by far a favorite for visitors.

It is worth spending the night in Pamukkale, especially during a full moon. You can swim after dark in the small lake located just down the slope. As the pale light settles on the deserted terraces, one can only sit in silent homage and marvel at its unworldly beauty.

Particularly in the last 20 years, the areas popularity has spiked as an increasing numbers of Turks and foreign tourists have begun visiting the baths again. Today Pamukkale ranks among the most-visited sites of southwestern Turkey, along with Ephesus, Pergamum, Sardis and Aphrodisias.

Source: Daily Sabah
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Lome, Togo  Fijis Head of Mission to the European Union, Ambassador Deo Saran, addressed the ACP Ministerial Consultations on Commodities held during ACP Council of Ministers Meeting in Lome, Togo, highlighting the importance of sugar industry to vulnerable and Small Island Developing States, like Fiji. In this context, he submitted that it was vital for these suppliers to obtain a stable and commercially remunerative price with a sufficiently long-term perspective, necessary for continued investment in improving productivity and efficiencies.

Ambassador Saran noted with concern the recent sharp decline in EU sugar prices. This, he noted, was a deeply worrying development for Fiji and many other ACP sugar suppliers which may result in many of the suppliers, including Fiji, being displaced from their traditional market in the EU and forced to find new and less remunerative markets.Ambassador Saran said that the current EU market situation can be attributed to the abolition of the EU sugar production quotas on 30th September 2017. This is aggravated by the Voluntary Coupled Support subsidy program provided by the EU to the sugar sector in some of its Member States which in our view undermines the market orientated sugar regime reform.Fiji, therefore, fully support the call by the ACP for the EU to abolish Voluntary Coupled Support subsidy program in the sugar sector and refrain from instituting other trade-distorting measures, and to engage with the ACP to look into ways of addressing the current situation which has led to many of the ACP suppliers under the EPA and EBA initiative to cease exports of sugar to the EU market so soon after the abolition of the EU sugar production quotas Ambassador Saran said.Speaking on Brexit, Ambassador Saran, noted that as United Kingdom was the largest market for the ACP and LDC sugar, Brexit offered a real opportunity to negotiate a meaningful preferential market for sugar which would be of lasting value and which would not only allow the U.K.'s beet growers and the UK refining sector to prosper but also provide a platform for development in ACP sugar industries.At the same time, the ACP will need to ensure that the ACP sugar suppliers are not worse off in their trading relationship with the EU 27 post-Brexit.
The Minister for Industry, Trade, Tourism, Lands and Mineral Resources, Hon. Faiyaz Siddiq Koya recently received a cheque of $10,000 from the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association (FHTA), as one of the Silver Sponsors for the upcoming 30th United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Joint Commission Meeting for East Asia and the Pacific (CAP).

FHTAs sponsership will also include the UNWTO Commission for South Asia (CSA) and the Regional Seminar, that will be hosted by Fiji.In receiving the cheque, Minister Koya highlighted the importance of the Meeting in elevating the Fijian tourism industrys profile by being the first Pacific Island country to host a UNWTO Meeting.Hosting the Joint Commission Meeting for the first time in Fiji and the Pacific region is an achievement in itself and I thank FHTA executives for their support to Government. I am certain with the partnership of key stakeholders such as FHTA, the conference will be a success and deliberations from the three-day Meeting will be of great benefit to all stakeholders, Minister Koya said.In handing over the cheque, FHTA President, Mr. Dixion Seeto, thanked the Fijian Government for the opportunity to support a significant undertaking.The 30th United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) Joint CAP-CSA Meeting and the UNWTO Regional Seminar on Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Tourism Development will be held from 18 to 20 June of this year, at the Sofitel Fiji Resort & Spa in Nadi.Delegates attending the event include Ministers of Tourism, senior Government officials, industry practitioners and tourism experts from countries such as China, Korea, Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Maldives, Pakistan and India, among others.
Moneyfarm, a Milan, Italy and London, UK-based fintech startup, raised 46M in new funding.

The round, which brings total funding to over 70m, was led by Allianz Asset Management, with participation from Endeavor Catalyst, and Fondazione di Sardegna, and existing investors United Ventures, Cabot Square Capital.

The company intends to use the funds to consolidate its presence in Italy and UK and continue to grow abroad, extend its product offering and its current team of 90 people in London, Milan and Cagliari.

Co-founded by Paolo Galvani and Giovanni Dapra in 2011, Moneyfarm is an online investment advisor and one of the largest digital wealth management companies in Europe, regulated by Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Consob in Italy.

The company, which today has over 27.000 clients in Italy and UK, adopts a hybrid model that unifies tech innovation and a team of traditional advisors.

FinSMEs

29/05/2018
Seed-stage investor High-Tech Grunderfonds (HTGF) held the second closing of its third venture capital fund, HTGF III, at 316.5m.

Investors in this public-private partnership include the Federal Ministry For Economic Affairs and Energy, the KfW Banking Group, and Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft e.V., as well as the companies ALTANA, BASF, Bayer AG, B.Braun, Boehringer Ingelheim, Robert Bosch, BUFA, CEWE, Deutsche Post DHL, Drager, Drillisch AG, EVONIK, EWE AG, Haniel, Hettich, Knauf, Korber, LANXESS, media + more venture Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG, PHOENIX CONTACT, Postbank, QIAGEN, RWE Generation SE, SAP, Schufa, Schwarz Gruppe, STIHL, Thuga, Vector Informatik, WACKER and Wilh. Werhahn KG.

Since autumn 2017, HTGF III has invested up to 3m and more in exceptional cases in high-tech startups, which are up to three years old, on freely negotiable conditions. The fund is active nationwide but companies based outside of Germany can also be financed in exceptional cases.

Based in Bonn/Berlin, High-Tech Grunderfonds is a seed investor that finances high-potential, tech-driven startups with 892.5m in total investment volume across three funds (272m in HTGF I, 304m in HTGF II, and a targeted volume of 316.5m for HTGF III) and an international network of partners. Since 20015, the firm has invested in close to 500 start-ups focusing on a range of sectors, including software, media, internet, hardware, automation, health care, chemicals and life sciences.

FinSMEs

29/05/2018
Saranas Inc., a Houston, TX-based medical device company with innovative technology for real-time detection and monitoring of internal bleeding during endovascular procedures, completed a $2.8m Series C funding round.

The company intends to use the proceeds to conduct a multicenter clinical pilot in the U.S. and to support U.S. commercialization plan.

Led by President and CEO Zaffer Syed, Saranas focuses on improving patient outcomes through early detection and monitoring of internal bleeding complications. The companys Early Bird Bleed Monitoring System includes a vascular access sheath with embedded sensors that are designed to detect and monitor bleeding from a blood vessel accidentally injured during endovascular procedures, such as a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), large bore hemodynamic support device placement, or other complex cardiovascular interventions, where the femoral artery or vein is used to obtain vascular access. The technology, invented at the Texas Heart Institute, enables physicians to mitigate downstream consequences by addressing bleeding complications immediately.

The financing follows the companys recent De Novo application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the Early Bird Bleed Monitoring System.

FinSMEs

29/05/2018
Following the announcement of a 4m funding, Mobidiag Ltd., an Espoo, Finland-based molecular diagnostics company, received a 1.5m loan from Business Finland (formerly Tekes).

The company will use the funds for the development of a sepsis assay on the new Novodiag system.

Established in 2000 and led by Tuomas Tenkanen, CEO, Mobidiag develops and commercializes innovative solutions to advance the diagnosis of infectious diseases. Via its Amplidiag and Novodiag solutions, the company offers a comprehensive line of products for diagnostics for infectious diseases and antibiotic resistances.

Mobidiag also has subsidiaries in France, UK and Sweden and R&D centers in Finland and France.

FinSMEs

29/05/2018
Porter Road, a Nashville, Tennessee-based online animal butcher shop, secured $3.7m in seed funding.

Backers included Max Ventures, Slow Ventures, BoxGroup, Tribeca Venture Partners, Collaborative Fund and Great Oaks VC, among others.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations, deepen relationships with its farmers and continue to provide a platform that encourages an open, honest dialogue about the evolving food ecosystem.

Founded by trained chefs and butchers, Chris Carter and James Peisker, Porter Road is an online, whole animal butcher shop which works directly with sustainable local farmers to raise animals to strict specifications, meticulously processes the meats in their own facility in Kentucky and ships directly to the consumer in biodegradable packaging.

FinSMEs

29/05/2018
SocialChorus, a San Francisco, CA-based global workforce communications platform, secured $12.5m in growth financing.

The round was co-led by Arrowroot Capital and Kohlberg Ventures, with participation from Western Technology Investment.

The company intends to use the funds to expand operations and its business reach.

Led by Gary Nakamura, CEO, SocialChorus provides a workforce communications platform to enterprise customers including USAA, Phillips 66, Cargill, Sound Physicians, American Cancer Society, Kohler Co., Lendlease, Lloyds Bank, TD Bank, PG&E and Lincoln Financial Group.

The companys platform allows employees to stay connected and get the news and information they need to feel informed. Additionally, SocialChorus Program Studio gives communicators the ability to aggregate both internal and external sources of news and information such as video, articles, links, notes and images, and systematically plan and program distribution across an enterprises multiple channels including SharePoint, Slack and Workplace by Facebook.

To support company growth, SocialChorus has also opened a London office and made several hires, including Cyrus Gilbert-Rolfe as managing director, EMEA; Dave Lutz as vice president of client strategy and success; and Alison Murdock as chief marketing officer.

FinSMEs

29/05/2018
.          1.6  -     - 74.6 .    ,      ...
290518PARAMOUNT CHIEF CALLS FOR A UNITED WEST

New Dawn FM News

The former Bougainville Interim Government Deputy Governor and Paramount chief from Kunua, GERARD SINATO today supported the mining exploration work that will take place in the West Coast of Bougainville.

Speaking at the meeting with the KALIA investments and their partners plus the landowners at HAHON today, MR. SINATO called for unity amongst the people of west Coast so that they can see some tangible development on the west coast.

MR. SINATO said that for the development to come off the ground all people must put their heads together and support the project.

He said because of the Bougainville Mining act, landowners own the land and their resources and with the support of investors they can benefit from their resources.



Ends






Sony earlier this month has launched the Bravia X9000F 4K HDR Android TV series in India, and the 55-inch model KD-55X9000F went on sale at that time, today the company has announced that the 65-inch (KD-65X9000F) and 85-inch (KD-85X9000F) models are available in India. These TVs come with an X1 Extreme processor that promises striking highlights, deeper darks, and vibrant colors.

Furthermore, it comes with Object-based HDR remaster, Super Bit Mapping 4K HDR and Dual database processing. It runs on Android TV version 7.0 with Sonys exclusive user interface and also has Chromecast built-in. The new Sont TVs come with TRILUMINOS Display, X-tended Dynamic Range PRO enhances HDR and non-HDR content by boosting and dimming the backlight levels precisely for each zone of the screen with a unique backlighting technology.

The Sony TVs come in 85, 65, and 55-inch sizes, and uses 4K X-Reality PRO to produce stunning detail with Sonys unique algorithm of reality creation database for any content, such as TV broadcasting, DVD, Blu-ray Disc, Internet video and digital photos. The TVs pack sturdy construction, which uses an inverted V-shape to ensure stability, the stand creates the ideal space for a soundbar.

Sony Bravia X9000F specifications

55/65/85-inch (3840 x 2160 pixels) 4K HDR (HDR10, Hybrid Log-Gamma, and Dolby Vision) TRILUMINOS Display with X-Motion Clarity

4K HDR Processor X1 Extreme

Dynamic Contrast Enhancer, Object-based HDR remaster, X-tended Dynamic Range PRO, 4K X-Reality PRO

16GB onboard storage

Android TV 7.0 (Upgradable to Android Oreo) with Built-in Chromecast and Google Assistant

Voice search

WiFi 802.11a ac, Bluetooth 4.1, 4 x HDMI, 3 x USB ports (2 x side, 1 x bottom), 1 x Ethernet

10 W+10 W speaker with Dolby Digital, Dolby Digital Plus, Dolby Pulse, DTS Digital Surround, DSEE, Cinematic S-Force Front Surround, Clear Phase, ClearAudio+

The Sony KD-85X9000F and KD-65X9000F are priced for INR 1,299,900 and INR 3,39,900 respectively and will be available across all Sony Center and electronic stores across India. The 55-inch Sony Bravia X9000F (KD-55X9000F) is priced at Rs. 2,39,900 and was made available earlier this month.
Michelle Bartsch-Hackley and Jordan Larson showed off their dazzling array of shots to guide the United States to a clinical 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-17) win over Germany in the inaugural women's FIVB Volleyball Nations League on Tuesday.Mixing power with clever touches, the two American big hitters dominated in attack, paving the way for the reigning world champions to rack up a fifth successive straight sets win, each as impressive as the other.Kelly Murphy also played superbly, while Rachael Adams and Carli Lloyd were prominent throughout as the US maintained their place at the top of the competition standings with their sixth win from seven games.Germany were well served by the ultra consistent Louisa Lippmann and Marie Scholzel but were unable to unbuckle the Americans, who continue to set the standard for the exciting new competition.It was Germany's sixth straight loss in the tournament after they opened with a win over Brazil, although they were brave in defeat, testing the Americans throughout a top quality contest.Unfazed, the Americans continue to go from strength to strength. They swept each of their three matches in Japan last week and made the perfect start to Pool 11 in Bangkok.Bartsch-Hackley and Larson were quickly into stride, penetrating the German defence from the outset, combining power with some acute accurate shots.The second set was closer but an ace from Lloyd gave the US a decisive 17-14 lead and Murphy wrapped up the set with a spike.The barrage of heavy hits continued in the third set and although Germany managed to save two match points, the Americans sealed victory when substitute Micha Hancock set up Adams for the winning kill.The US faces the Dominican Republic in its next match on Wednesday while Germany tackles the pool hosts Thailand.
Vistara today has announced that it has created a unique robot RADA that uses Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology to assist customers, address their queries and entertain them. This unique robot is aimed at offering a seamless experience in guiding customers.

The company says that in its initial stage, RADA will be present at the Vistaras Signature Lounge at the Delhi Airports Terminal 3 from July 5, 2018. It will help customers who are using the lounge until they board the flight. In the meantime, the RADA will be under further development in terms of functionality and features for future use cases.

At the moment, it can scan boarding passes and further provide information on the terminal, departure gates, weather conditions of the destination city, real-time flight status as well as information about Vistaras products and services. Interestingly, it can greet customers and interacts with them using basic hand movements and is capable of moving around in the lounge on predefined pathways. Additionally, it can engage with kids and adults alike by playing games and other multimedia content such as songs and videos.

The RADA is built on a chassis of four wheels, enabling it to rotate 360 degrees, and it has three inbuilt cameras for cognitive interaction. The company says it will invest in Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Data Science with a core emphasis on customers while continuously improving people and quality of its workplace.

Commenting on the announcement, Leslie Thng, Vistaras Chief Executive Officer said:
The hard seltzer category has seen major growth in the past few years, and now the hard tea segment is emerging as a potential disrupter to the hard space.... Read More
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The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is set to announce stricter guidelines to discourage the menace of unsolicited commercial communication, commonly known as telemarketing or even UCC, according to sources familiar with the development. The regulator has called for a press conference this afternoon when the announcement is likely to be made.One of the companies keenly watching TRAI's language and words would be Apple. The two have been at loggerheads over sharing of users' data. TRAI has a Do Not Disturb' app which users can download as a means to keep unsolicited commercial communication at bay. The app takes broad, wide-range permissions from a user to gain access to its call log, contacts, ongoing calls and various other data on the mobile phone.The Android version of the app allows the user to give such permissions to the TRAI app. The iOS version of the app does not allow it such vast access even if the user permits as Apple said it violates its own policy on privacy and censorship.The regulator had in its September 2017 consultation paper on the subject asked the stakeholders to suggest steps to ensure required permissions from device operating systems or platforms are available to the mobile app to properly function.TRAI and Apple could not agree on common principles and the TRAI Chairman RS Sharma had even threatened legal action against the iPhone maker.After ebbing for a few years, the menace of these calls and SMS has worsened significantly over the last three-four years.TRAI currently disconnects the numbers and blacklists any entity that is found to have initiated an unsolicited commercial call. But the regulator found that such entities managed to get new connections and continued to indulge in these activities. Therefore, it felt there was a need to devise a more effective mechanism to deal with the issue.The problem has only become severe in the last few years as more and more users come to possess smartphones and use more data.Earlier, these calls and messages were simply annoying while nowadays, they are also being used by scammers trying to steal the identity or mislead the target for making some investments, TRAI said in its consultation paper.Under TRAI's existing regulatory framework, subscribers can register for not getting calls and SMS from telemarketers. Provisions are also there to set one or more of seven pre-defined categories of fields or areas in which one may be interested to receive telemarketer SMS. But this has been of little help as mobile service providers express their helplessness and plead not guilty'.Mobile users, who have registered with the regulator's Do Not Call' registry, continue to get telemarketing calls from agencies such as banks, insurance companies, real estate agents, stock brokers and other utility service providers.Telemarketing activities are permitted only after registration with TRAI and after entering into agreements with mobile service providers. There are different standard agreements for different purposes such as promotional voice calls, promotional SMS, transactional SMS, SMS with reply among others.According to the regulator's consultation paper, with the present regulatory provisions and processes, it takes seven days for the preferences registered by the customer to become effective.TRAI felt that under current technology solutions, it should be possible to update the records at necessary places and enforce the preference in much less time. Similarly, the time for resolution of a complaint may also be shortened and thus, the window of time available with an unregistered telemarketer before action is taken can be reduced substantially.The regulator would also look to safeguard the interest of genuine telemarketers who have entered into a formal contract with a subscriber for sending such communication.Original Source:
Embarrassment hit The New York Times this week when it was forced to fire an 18-year veteran editor for behaving inappropriately with at least three female colleagues on the heels of the paper winning a Pulitzer Prize for exposing sexual misconduct at other companies.

Wendell Jamieson was the papers metro editor and it was announced Monday that he resigned after an internal investigation, but media watchdogs quickly slammed the Times for lacking transparency.

Executive Editor Dean Baquet told staffers that Jamiesons departure was not based on a journalism issue but failed to explain what was actually investigated. Jamieson also sent a vague memo to staffers that fueled questions about the lack of transparency.

The Times pinned the lack of transparency on protecting the privacy of the women involved in the investigation. I feel like sh-t as a leader and a journalist not answering questions that Id have Sarah Huckabee Sanders answer, Baquet told staffers, according to Vanity Fair.

The cryptic Times memo has driven speculation inside the newsroom over what precipitated the investigation. And the lack of transparency is also striking given the Times has aggressively covered workplace matters, Politicos Michael Calderone wrote on Tuesday.

Vanity Fair also published a piece questioning the Times decision regarding Jamiesons ouster headlined, I feel like sh-t as a leader: #MeToo claims a high-level Times editor, but Dean Baquet cant say why. Joe Pompeos piece notes, The paper of record talks the talk on sexual misconduct -- but yet in another case, it doesnt fully walk the walk.

Pompeo wrote that the Times is a news organization at the forefront of reporting on sexual misconduct, but it was not able to be fully transparent about such matters when they hit close to home.

Hours after the Vanity Fair piece was published, the Times bizarrely had its own reporter cover the story without help from management or media relations. Tiffany Hsu, a breaking news reporter on the Business Desk, wrote that Jamieson was accused of inappropriate behavior by at least three female employees, citing two people familiar with the investigation.

The Times did not respond when asked by Fox News if Hsu was assigned the story because of pressure from Vanity Fair and Politico.

Hsu reported that Jamieson engaged in inappropriate communication with at least two of the women. Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy declined to give Hsu, a reporter at her own paper, any further details regarding Jamiesons ouster.

According to one person familiar with the investigation, the Times statement lacked detail because the women had asked that their identities not be revealed, Hsu wrote.

Hsu also pointed out that the Times investigated star reporter Glenn Thrush last year for inappropriate behavior and was suspended and taken off the White House beat as a result. The Times has been at the forefront of the #MeToo movement, publishing revealing exposes on Harvey Weinstein, Bill OReilly, Louis C.K. and Vice Media, among others.

The Times did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News but offered the following statement to Vanity Fair: Our obligation is to ensure we have a climate at the Times where employees feel comfortable coming forward with complaints or issues, knowing that we will investigate fully, act on the results of the investigation and protect their privacy after doing so.
Meghan Markles half-sister is calling out the royal family for not giving her dad a coat of arms in the same way the Middleton family was.

To exclude him of a coat of arms is really stripping him of an honor and its a huge insult, Samantha Markle Grant said, the Telegraph UK reported.

Kate Middletons father, Michael, was given his own coat of arms after his daughter married Prince William in 2011 and became the Duchess of Cambridge. Not only is she entitled to use his coat, her siblings and her brothers children are as well.

But the Queen deemed the process this time around too complicated, since to qualify for a heraldic coat of arms, one must prove they have an ancestor who was a subject of the Crown, according to the Daily Mail.

Instead, the new Duchess of Sussex, Markle, 36, will be given her own coat of arms, which wont apply to the rest of her American family, the Mail reported.

But her sister still considers this a royal snub.

Click to read more from the New York Post.
Apparently Harry Potter wasn't the only one who ever took issue with Professor Severus Snape.

Late actor Alan Rickman, who played the potions and defense against the dark arts teacher in the "Harry Potter" films, admitted in newly released letters that he had some "frustrations" with the character over the years.

Rickman, who died on Jan. 14, 2016, at the age of 69 after battling with cancer, kept piles of fan mail, journals, letters with co-stars and other items inside his home. The personal notes  enough to fill up dozens of boxes  are going up for auction at the ABA Rare Book Fair in London.

In one letter, film producer David Heyman thanked Rickman for making "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" a success.

I know, at times, you are frustrated but please know that you are an integral part of the films. And you are brilliant," the note read, according to The Independent.

While filming "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" in 2009, Rickman criticized director David Yates in a letter titled Inside Snapes Head."

Its as if David Yates has decided that this is not important in the scheme of things i.e. teen audience appeal, he reportedly wrote, though it's unclear what he's referring to.

High-profile celebrities such as J.K. Rowling, Emma Thompson, Daniel Radcliffe and Sting are among those featured in Rickman's impressive collection, The Mirror reports.

It's a fabulous collection," actor and collector Neil Pearson told the British newspaper. "Every single script of a play or film, all of his diaries and a massive amount of correspondence from pretty much every one youve ever heard of.
Even now, 10 years later, Casey Anthony's mother, Cindy, gets very emotional when the topic of her granddaughter's death arises.

At one point during the A&E interview special "Casey Anthony's Parents Speak," which aired Monday night, she stormed off the set visibly upset.

The A&E special, which also featured Anthony's father, George, shows the Anthonys in the Orlando, Fla., home where they believed Caylee was killed by their own daughter, Casey.

As the couple revisits the tumultuous time, emotions run high.

"There was different things that I got the blame for," George said prompting clear anger in his wife to the point where she throws up her hands in the air and exclaims "No!"

Cindy then abruptly gets out of her chair and leaves the set saying, "No, but I'm telling you, you lied to me for several years and that's where our daughter got it."

George then replies: "Don't deny it."

The interview special also shows a clip of Cindy yelling, "I was told my granddaughter died in the pool. And I want the f---ing answers to that."

Another clip shows a disappointed George saying, "As a parent, you question a lot of times in life you know, what did you do wrong, what could you have done better, but you can never go back."

Later, a more emotional George cries, "We have lost more than you could ever even fathom, I don't want to lose anymore."

According to the Daily Mail, Cindy and George were in the process of getting divorced before learning that their daughter was pregnant more than 10 years ago. After Caylee was born in 2005, the new grandparents grew closer.

But things changed for the worst just a short three years later.

Caylee was reportedly last seen on June 16, 2008, and was first reported missing by her grandmother on July 15. The following day, the little girls mother, Casey, was arrested on charges of child neglect. She told police at the time that her child had disappeared with a babysitter.

It wouldnt be until Dec. 11 that a utility worker found skeletal remains that were later determined to be Anthonys.

In the 2011 trial, experts testified that air samples indicated that decaying human remains had been present in Caseys trunk.

While the prosecutors proved Casey, the prime suspect, was a liar, they couldnt convince the jury she was a murderer. The government failed to establish how Anthony died, and they couldnt find her mothers DNA on the duct tape they said was used to suffocate her.

After a trial of a month and a half, the jury took less than 11 hours to find Casey not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse.

The couple's latest interview comes just a year after the 2017 Investigation Discovery special, "Casey Anthony: An American Murder Mystery," where the Anthonys sat down to discuss the decade-long mystery.

The new A&E special could be the last time the Anthonys will be seen in their Florida home, which is currently in foreclosure. But this is not the first time the couple has reportedly failed to make their mortgage payments. According to the Daily Mail, this is the third time since 2010 that the couple has slipped into the foreclosure process.

Casey, who is said to talk to her mother every now and then, but is not on speaking terms with her father, currently lives in Palm Beach, Fla.

Fox News' Stephanie Nolasco contributed to this report.
The New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief Jake Silverstein incorrectly shared Obama-era pictures of children sleeping in enclosed cages to take a swipe at the Trump administration  and that was only one of several Twitter stumbles by anti-Trump public figures over the holiday weekend.

It turned out the photographs were published by The Arizona Republic in 2014 after authorities detained over 1,000 children who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally and placed them in a detention facility.

All of these photos are disturbing, but the first two are especially awful, Silverstein wrote in the tweet, along with a link headlined, First glimpse of immigrant children at holding facility.

Silverstein eventually deleted his tweet and blamed being with his family for the embarrassing gaffe.

Correction: this link, which was going around this morning, is from 2014. Still disturbing, of course, but only indirectly related to current situation, Silverstein tweeted. My bad (and a good reminder not to RT things while distracted w family on the weekend).

The New York Times did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Silverstein was widely criticized for the blunder and his correction received over 1,400 responses ranging from followers referring to the Times as fake news to followers criticizing the editor for blaming his family.

This is what happens when you throw away your journalistic standards in favor of political bias, one user responded while another wrote, We could have done without the excuse.

CNN reporter Hadas Gold also shared the Obama-era image, prompting White House counselor Kellyanne Conway to ask a CNN reporter about the situation on Tuesday.

Your CNN colleague retweeted two migrant children, I suppose, laying in a cage to make the point against this president. It happened under President Obamas watch and then [she] deleted the tweet because it didnt fit the narrative, Conway said when approached by a CNN staffer at the White House before asking, Do you or do you not care about the migrant children?

CNN did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Gold eventually deleted her tweet and wrote, Deleted previous tweet because gave impression of recent photos (theyre from 2014), but hundreds of responses ripped the CNN reporter for the misleading tweet.

No you did not give the impression. You flat out said it, one user wrote while another said, Don't delete it. You could've have said Correction: These were children detained under the Obama administration.

In an attempt to attack Trumps zero-tolerance policy towards parents and children crossing the border illegally, ex-Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau and activists Linda Sarsour and Shaun King also tweeted Obama-era pictures showing kids in one of the enclosures and criticized the government for neglecting the children. Like Silverstein and Gold, they also initially made it appear the photos were taken recently.

Anti-Trump Twitter was particularly reckless over Memorial Day weekend, as the Obama-era photos of caged children is only one example of fake news being spread. CNN contributor April Ryan was mocked for tweeting a headline without context to a story in The Root that asked if the Trump administration is involved in child sex-trafficking.

Is the Trump Administration Running a Child-Trafficking Ring or Nah? Follow Me Down the Rabbit Hole, Ryan wrote without explaining to her 337,000 followers that the storys outcome was that conspiracy is not true.

One of Ryans CNN colleagues attempted to defend her by saying the article was a thought experiment and not meant to be taken literally, but the explanation was met with criticism.

Activist Antonio Arellano helped circulate a story that was published on April 29, 2016  roughly six months before Trump won on Election Day  detailing special buses used for educational field trips by a Texas detention center. The article features an image of a bus complete with child seats and specifically mentions in the second paragraph that the bus is used to bring youngsters to places such as the San Antonio Zoo, seeing a movie at the local theater, going to the park, etc.

However, Arellano  who says he works for Houstons ABC affiliate-- tweeted the link with his own caption: ICE's largest family detention center, Karnes County Residential Center in Texas, run by contractor GEO Group, has a prison bus just for babies.

ABC13 Houston did not immediately respond to a request for comment and clarification on Arellanos status at the network. Arellano deleted his tweet, along with dozens of follow-up re-tweets, shortly after Fox News asked for comment.

Arellanos misleading message was quickly spread across social media, with most people presumably not even clicking on the story to realize it predated the Trump administration. America, this cannot be who we are, CNNs Ana Navarro wrote when sharingthe article.

Arellanos message was retweeted over 16,000 times and made a favorite by over 12,000 people.

NBC News Kasie Hunt, TheWrap founder Sharon Waxman, journalists Luke Savage, Mark Joyella, Liliana Soto, actors Alyssa Milano and Matt McGorry, authors Ali Noorani, Julissa Arce Rayaand Emma Kennedy, former Obama staffer Michael Simon and Democratic strategist Zac Petkanas are among the thousands of public figures who shared Arellanos tweet without providing context.

President Trump took to Twitter on Tuesday to combat some of the false information spreading about him on social media.

Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obamas term showing children from the Border in steel cages. They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires, Trump wrote before adding, The Fake Mainstream Media has, from the time I announced I was running for President, run the most highly sophisticated & dishonest Disinformation Campaign in the history of politics.

Fox News Lukas Mikelionis and Robert Gearty contributed to this report.
Hailey Baldwin revealed in a new interview that the 2016 election led to public Twitter fights and months of silence in the Baldwin household.

The 21-year-old Hillary Clinton supporter said it was especially difficult to watch her Trump-backing Republican father, Stephen, feud with his older brother, Alec, 60, who impersonates President Trump on "Saturday Night Live"  a portrayal that has received fierce criticism from the president in recent years.

"That was a very hurtful situation for me," Baldwin recently told The Sunday Times. "I love my father, he's an amazing dad, but we so strongly disagreed on [the election]."

In December 2017, Stephen, 52, admitted he hadn't spoken to Alec since Trump won the election, claiming it was "by his choice."

ROB SCHNEIDER SLAMS ALEC BALDWIN'S 'SNL' TRUMP PORTRAYAL: 'I DON'T FIND HIS IMPRESSION TO BE COMICAL'

"We grew up in a dumb-jock, competitive, 'Friday Night Lights' kind of environment. And Im sorry ... but my guy won. Sorry. Thats what happened," Stephen told The Hollywood Reporter at the time.

Stephen predicts Alec will switch sides in the 2020 election when he makes money off of Trump's new tax breaks.

"I love my father, he's an amazing dad, but we so strongly disagreed on [the election]."  Hailey Baldwin

"What Im saying is that 'The Boss Baby' sequel money is going to go a long way because of Trump," he quipped.

In October 2016, Stephen accused CNN's Anderson Cooper of being biased in his coverage of the Trump campaign.

HAILEY BALDWIN NOT AFRAID TO TALK ABOUT HER FAITH

"If my father were alive today (a veteran) He would be ashamed & disgusted of media biased & manipulation by people like @andersoncooper," Stephen tweeted.

Stephen's brother, Billy, 55, fired back at the accusation.

"If our father were alive today he'd smack you in the side of the head for supporting Donald Trump," Billy tweeted in reply.

Hailey Baldwin said Stephen's brothers weren't the only ones to disagree with his political viewpoints.

"He and my sister [Alaia] strongly disagreed on it," she told the British newspaper. "My sister's husband, like everyone on our side, just doesn't agree with him."

Somehow, Baldwin said the family has learned to move forward  sort of.

"We don't talk about it now. It's not worth the argument," Baldwin added.

Baldwin said she's instead focusing her attention on young people, encouraging them to stand up and be vocal about issues they care about.

"Ive been trying to find ways to get more involved with people my age and make changes for things that matter," she said.
Its been 32 years since Jeff Daniels left behind Hollywood in 1986 and moved to Chelsea, Mich., with his wife, high school sweetheart Kathleen Rosemary Treado.

The couple managed to successfully raise three now-grown children away from the spotlight. And they wouldnt have it any other way.

It slows you down, Daniels told Closer Weekly Monday on life on the Lower Peninsula. It always reminds you when you go back into a movie or play that its an extra dose of special.

The 63-year-old was already familiar with the state. After attending Central Michigan University, Daniels went on to pursue acting with the full support of his family.

He ran a lumber company, she was a housewife, said Daniel about his parents. They saw something in this kid who could stand on a stage and know exactly what to do.

Daniels first appeared on television in 1980 as Neal Forrester, a guest role in the hit series Hawaii Five-O. He would go on to land his first leading role in Woody Allens 1985 fantasy The Purple Rose of Cairo.

The film, which starred Mia Farrow, tells the story of a 1935 movie character who steps out into the real world.

If I was good enough for Woody, I was good enough for anybody, Daniels said. That meant I was in it for the long haul.

Daniels career flourished in Hollywood, which is why his agents and managers attempted to talk him out of co-starring with Jim Carrey in the 1994 comedy Dumb and Dumber.

They said, Were going to stop this  youre a serious actor and this will ruin your career, said Daniels. With all due respect, Jim is going to wipe you off the screen. I said, If I f--- up and its wrong, then its my choice, but Im getting on a plane.

Daniels was on to something. The film was a smash hit and it would lead to a sequel in 2014 titled Dumb and Dumber To.

The theme is, dont repeat yourself, he shared. Do something youve never done before because you think you cant. Challenge yourself.

Daniels is planning on doing just that. The magazine revealed he plans to take on Gregory Pecks iconic film role as attorney Atticus Finch in a Broadway adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.

I hadnt read it or seen the movie, but now Ive read the book and seen the movie twice, said Daniels. I think its an important play, especially now.

And while Daniels continues to remain busy as an actor, he happily finds refuge in Michigan, which he still calls home. Hes also focusing on a beloved side project, the Jeff and Ben Daniels Band.

Its something I get to do with my sons  my other son, Lucas, tour manages us, Daniels explained. Closer Weekly claimed hes written over 400 country-inspired tracks and played over 300 live gigs over the years.

We look at it as a big adventure thats a lot of fun, he said.

When Daniels and his sons arent hitting the road, they return to the family dock.

Its like a poor mans Kennedy compound, but its a great place to be, said Daniels. Were just comfortable there.
Mary Kay Letourneau, the Seattle elementary school teacher who was convicted in 1997 of raping her sixth-grade student, is ready to share her side of the story.

In an A&E Biography special titled Mary Kay Letourneau: Autobiography, a two-hour confession set to debut Tuesday night, the 56-year-old recounts her tumultuous, headline-grabber past.

Letourneau shocked the world when, at age 34, she began an affair with 12-year-old Vili Fualaau.

Their relationship ultimately sent her to prison for nearly eight years before the controversial couple married on May 20, 2005  he was 22 by then. The pair now share two daughters.

In the documentary, Letourneau detailed how her forbidden romance with Fualaau, now 34, came to be, as well as how it both fascinated and disturbed the country. Fualaau, lawyers, friends, as well as a fellow prison inmates also chose to participate in the special.

Executive producer Brad Abramson told Fox News that while both Letourneau and Fualaau were willing to tell nearly all, one topic that was off limits was their recent split.

In 2017, Fualaau filed for legal separation from Letourneau. At the time of filing, the couple were still living together and raising their daughters.

"I think theyre still trying to figure it out, to be honest," said Abramson. We told as much as they would tell us. I think  their relationship was evolving as we were shooting. There were no rumors of a separation [at that time]. But I think, for the both of them, they were trying to figure things out and save the relationship.

Abramson admitted it took some convincing for Letourneau to revisit her shocking past for the special.

I know it took a lot, he explained. I think she was a little nervous about getting started. But she warmed up right away. I think she definitely took responsibility for her actions. She said she regretted doing what she did and she made a mistake. But clearly, when she had two kids, her life came out of that.

"And I think she wanted to tell her side of the story for the first time. This platform, where shes looking right at the camera in an intimate and personal way, allows her to frame her story which she was not allowed to do for many years. So I think that was appealing to her. The platform and the presentation of it.

Letourneau was a married mother of four when her relationship with Fualaau began. She was arrested in March 1997 after a relative of her husband, Steve Letourneau, notified police. She gave birth to a daughter, Audrey, in May 1997, while out of jail on bail.

Letourneau eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree child rape and was sentenced to six months in jail. But as part of her plea bargain, Letourneau agreed to avoid any further contact with Fualaau, a condition she violated in 1998, when she became pregnant a second time by Fualaau. That resulted in her prison sentencing.

Abramson said Letourneau, now working as a paralegal, insisted she felt injustice and betrayal when she lost contact with her children at the time of her sentencing.

I think reliving the time in prison was brutal, he said. Giving birth in prison. And having her baby go away. Missing her kids. Missing all those birthdays. Shes openly weeping as shes talking about missing her older childrens birthdays while in prison. I think she felt very, very conflicted. It brought back a lot of raw emotions. I was quite surprised to see that after 20 years. Those raw emotions were still close at hand.

Letourneau, who quickly became the subject of tabloid fodder across the country, still appeared frustrated with the media scrutiny over the years. The former teacher insisted the shocking relationship was always consensual.

I think the media wanted to see her as a very one-dimensional character in this story, said Abramson. The older female teacher, the rapist. And by definition, yes, she is that. But I think she found her soulmate  at least, thats what she says.

"And I think she was upset that part of the story was never told. It was always the headline, Mary Kay Letourneau sleeps with her former student when in her mind, this was a long, emotional love affair that lasted for 20 plus years now.

Letourneau also claimed in the documentary that she didn't think the forbidden romance could result in an arrest.

Nowadays, we hear so many [similar] stories over the past 20 years, said Abramson. Especially female teachers and young male students. [But] I think it was unheard of at the time. In her mind, it was consensual even though obviously at the age of 13, you cant give consent. But in her mind, it was all about love. So I think she was either in denial, oblivious, or really, feeling the feelings instead of seeing the clinical nature of the crime she had committed.

Letourneau went on to also claim how the then-teenager instigated the relationship with his increasingly aggressive advances. Fualaau allegedly bet with one of his friends he could seduce his former teacher.

One thing that surprised me was that first encounter, said Abramson. How he flirted with her, or she says he flirted with her, and he wanted to kiss her first. I think she was pulled to something about him. And I cant say what it is.

"I dont think she can say what it was, other than the essence of him that she connected with. Hes an artist. And I think she was pulled towards him in some greater way. This was not a repeat offender. She was pulled to this person her whole life. So I think when she told the anecdote of how their relationship escalated, that to me, made me understand her more.

Before the couple could wed, Fualaau had to get a court order barring Letourneau from contacting him lifted. By then those who lived near the couple accepted the marriage, despite the high-profile scandal.

They have seen what we got to see a little bit of in the documentary, said Abramson. Shes a family person. Shes a devoted mother. A devoted wife. A devoted member of her community. An active member of the community. Active as a paralegal helping people.

"I think she served her time and since shes been out, shes been a valuable member of the community. And she didnt run. She stayed in that small Washington state town for all these years. And I think people respect her for it.

An inmate who was in the same prison as Letourneau also claimed the fallen teacher was a model prisoner while she was separated from her children.

She was trying to make the best use of her time, said Abramson. She helped other prisoners. She provided legal advice, counseling. She befriended a lot of people... And I think that helped her cope inside. And I think that made her a stronger person She says in the documentary 'I did what I did and Im a sex offender.' She has lived by that.

"She has served her time. She has come out of the other side. She now gives back as a paralegal, helping other people in prison fighting for themselves. I think its very clear she understands what shes done, but at the same time, doesnt regret the deed because it gave her a family.

Abramson hopes the documentary will show viewers a new side to Letourneau and Fualaau, one rarely covered by the press.

Shes there in her house, near where her original family was, he explained. Shes still in touch with her four older children from her first marriage. And they are a part of her life now. Its pretty unimaginable that 20 years later, you have her and her kids and Villi and her older kids all together as one extended family. Its pretty remarkable what she has done.

Mary Kay Letourneau: Autobiography premieres Tuesday, May 29th at 8 p.m. on A&E. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An attorney representing Morgan Freeman sent a letter Tuesday to CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker accusing CNN of journalistic malpractice and demanding an apology after the network published a detailed report that accused the iconic actor of sexual misconduct.

The CNN article's co-author and sole accuser who went on the record, Chloe Melas, alleged that Freeman, 80, harassed her when she interviewed him for CNN at a press junket for the movie "Going in Style." Freeman has denied sexual wrongdoing but admitted to making some people feel uncomfortable throughout his career.

Attorney Robert M. Schwartz of Irell & Manella is now accusing CNN of defaming his star client.

CNN said in a statement, "The unfounded accusations made by Mr. Freemans lawyer are disappointing and are difficult to reconcile with Mr. Freemans own public statements in the aftermath of the story. CNN stands by its reporting and will respond forcefully to any attempt by Mr. Freeman or his representatives to intimidate us from covering this important public issue."

Schwartz's letter, which has been obtained by Fox News, states that if CNN has any decency, or any allegiance to journalistic integrity, it will immediate retract the article and issue a public apology to Mr. Freeman.

Eight women told CNN that Freeman made suggestive comments about their appearance and inappropriately touched them in an article that was published on Thursday.

Given that Mr. Freeman is a world-renowned actor, and that the article sought to associate him with Hollywood actors and executives who have used their positions to trade sex for career advancement, it will come as no surprise to you that CNNs article attracted explosive attention in newspapers and websites throughout the world, Schwartz wrote. But no one who read CNNs article about Mr. Freeman was told that it was the product of malicious intent, falsehoods, slight-of-hand, an absence of editorial control, and journalistic malpractice.

Schwartz then claimed that Melas had no reasonable basis to have interpreted what Mr. Freeman said or did at the Going In Style interview last year as having been directed at her or as any form of harassment and wrote that videotape evidence will prove his client was not harassing her.

Freemans attorney also claims that a second victim has said CNN "misrepresented her comments and a third victim told CNN that Freeman never harassed her.

Melas baited and prodded supposed witnesses to say bad things about Mr. Freeman and tried to get them to confirm her bias against him. Thus, no reader of the article can have any confidence that any of the anonymous sources, which make up the balance of CNNs article, can be relied upon at all, Schwartz wrote. Based on those facts, and the additional information presented below, it is clear that CNN has defamed Mr. Freeman.

Schwartz wrote that CNN has inflicted serious injury on Freemans reputation and career and needs to immediately issue and apology and retract the story.

Melas, who was pregnant at the time of her alleged encounter, said upon meeting Freeman he looked her up and down and said, "Boy do I wish I was there." The remark was caught on camera but the tape was not rolling when she said Freeman allegedly also told her, "You are ripe."

Freeman's attorney said the actor was referring to something one of his co-stars had said at the press junket, unrelated to Melas.

Following the CNN report, Freeman was dropped by VISA as a spokesperson, and Vancouvers transit system, TransLink, said they were pausing the actors voice announcements as part of a VISA ad campaign on the transit system," Deadline reported.

The problem with Ms. Melas account, which infected everything that she and CNN thereafter did, is that her version of the interview is false. It is based on her imagining that Mr. Freeman had said or done anything to harass her. However, there is substantial evidence that Ms. Melas imagined an incident, or exaggerated a non-malicious remark wildly out of proportion to reality, to give her a basis to go after Mr. Freeman and cause him the grave harm that CNNs story has inflicted, Schwartz wrote. Melas nonetheless made a conscious decision to treat Mr. Freemans comment as a form of sexual harassment, and then set out on a crusade to vilify him.

Schwartz went on to call CNNs reporting a scandal-mongering hit piece that was approached with reckless disregard for the truth and with a malicious intent to harm Mr. Freeman. The attorney wrote that CNN should not have allowed Melas to work on the story because she lacks impartiality and objectivity after accusing the actor of harassment herself.

If CNN were committed to impartial reporting about Mr. Freeman, on a topic of extreme sensitivity and with the potential to destroy him, CNN should not have allowed that breakdown to occur. But CNN did, he wrote.

Fox News Sasha Savitsky contributed to this report.
Former NCIS star Pauley Perrette warned tabloids and reporters to leave her alone or she will do her best to have them arrested.

Perrette, 49, tweeted on Friday: Hey tabloids and reporters, leave me alone I WILL have you arrested for trespassing on my property if I decide to talk, its on MY TERMS!

Perrette made headlines following her departure from "NCIS." After departing from the show following 15 seasons with little explanation, the actress, who played forensic scientist Abby Sciuto, hinted on Twitter that she was physically abused on set.

EMINEM RESPONDS TO NICKI MINAJ DATING RUMORS, SAYS HE WOULD LIKE TO DATE HER

CBS released a statement regarding the claims and confirmed Perrette came to them with a workplace concern and they were able to come up with a resolution.

Pauley Perrette had a terrific run on NCIS and we are all going to miss her. Over a year ago, Pauley came to us with a workplace concern. We took the matter seriously and worked with her to find a resolution. We are committed to a safe work environment on all our shows, the statement read.

PATRIOTS OWNER ROBERT KRAFT HELPS SAVE KEVIN HART SHOW-GOER WHO COLLAPSED DURING SET

Earlier this month, Perrettes ex-husband, musician Francis Coyote Shivers, claimed the actress broke into his home and assaulted a female guest while demanding that he take her back.

However, Shivers has been known to the state of California as a vexatious litigant since 2008. The term applies to those who abuse the legal system by making multiple meritless lawsuits aimed at harassing or subduing a singular target - in this case Perrette.

The details of the suit were made public when the court mistakenly accepted the file without proper review. Once the mistake was corrected, the lawsuit was stayed pending a judges review. According to court documents obtained by Fox News, the lawsuit has been completely thrown out following said review.

Fox News Tyler McCarthy contributed to this report.
Roseanne Barr went into emergency damage-control mode after sending out a politically charged tweet linking Chelsea Clinton to liberal donor George Soros and a racially charged tweet saying former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett, who is African-American and born in Iran, is like the "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby."

The latter led to an almost immediate mea culpa, and a vow to never tweet again.

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me  my joke was in bad taste," she tweeted, after writing she was quitting Twitter.

Her account was deactivated for a period of time, before reappearing with an old tweet with a glowing New York Times review of her highly-rated "Roseanne" reboot pinned to the top of her Twitter feed.

But if some have their way, her show could be in trouble, as many are calling on ABC to drop it in lieu of her Jarrett jab. Consulting producer Wanda Sykes has already tweeted that she will not be returning to the show.

Come on @ABCNetwork do the right thing, cancel her show  Beth (@BethB1213) May 29, 2018 Time to #BoycottRosenne. Who wants to support a racist? Where is @ABC? Barr should spend all her time chasing conspiracies. That seems to be something she is good at. Have you no shame?  The Tweetwit (@TheTweetwit) May 29, 2018

Fox News' calls for comment to Barr and ABC were not immediately returned.

Barr also apologized earlier on Tuesday for sending out a tweet that suggested former first daughter Chelsea Clinton is married to liberal donor George Soros' nephew.

"Chelsea Soros Clinton," the "Roseanne" star tweeted late Monday night, alluding to a theory that TV personality Scott Baio wrote about in October 2016.

Clinton is actually married to Marc Mezvinsky, who is not related to Soros.

Clinton replied to the conservative comedian with an explanation of her actual middle name.

"Good morning Roseanne  my given middle name is Victoria. I imagine George Soross nephews are lovely people. Im just not married to one," she wrote Tuesday morning, adding that she is "grateful for the important work" Soros' organization, Open Society, "does in the world. Have a great day!"

Barr replied to Clinton saying she was "sorry" for her mistake.

But she then quickly followed up by sharing an article about Clinton's husband whom Barr called the "son of a corrupt senator."

Barr also sent out a series of tweets on Tuesday morning against the billionaire donor, accusing Soros of trying to "overthrow of us constitutional republic."

"soros' goal; the overthrow of us constitutional republic by buying/backing candidates 4 local district attorney races who will ignore US law & favor 'feelings' instead-and call everyone who is alarmed by that 'racist'," Barr tweeted.

In another tweet, she accused Soros of being a "nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth."

On Sunday, the 65-year-old also spoke out against Michelle and Barack Obama's recent Netflix deal to create original content for the streaming service.

"I don't think any President should go from WH to producing big media 4 public consumption. It's an unholy alliance. Leave show biz 2 professionals-altho i do think going from show biz 2 WH is Ok-I might do it one day, then retire from both," she tweeted.
MSNBC provided viewers with one of the most tone-deaf moments in cable news history on Tuesday when Andrea Mitchell asked Joy Reid about a racist tweet that Roseanne Barr sent about former Obama aide Valerie Jarrett.

Last month, Reid famously kinda-sorta admitted to writing homophobic slurs that shed previously insisted were the work of diabolical hackers.

On Tuesday, after Barr sent a racist tweet, Mitchell asked Reid  who is in Philadelphia to co-moderate a town hall event  about social media behavior in a moment that was captured by TheWraps Jon Levine.

Mitchell asked, "What do you have to do on social media to get fired from a top rated show on an American broadcast network?"

Reid responded by pointing to the specific language of Barrs apology, noting that admitting the jab was about Jarretts appearance was proof that the message was racist. That was a very telling part of the apology, Reid said. Im not surprised, this is the kind of humor that Roseanne does.

Following the discovery of the homophobic slurs and intense speculation about her own future, the AM Joy host addressed that situation during the April 28 episode of her show that airs every Saturday and Sunday morning.

I genuinely do not believe I wrote those hateful things, Reid told her viewers, adding, "The person I am now is not the person I was then."

Reid got emotional on the air and admitted it seemed unlikely she was hacked, but that she didnt recall making the offensive remarks, for which she apologized anyway. She also admitted to making several slurs on Twitter  which makes Tuesdays question by Mitchell especially ironic.

Reid was never punished for her homophobic tweets.

Media watchdogs were quick to notice the irony that Reid was used by MSNBC to offer her opinion on Barr.

Mediaite columnist Joseph Wulfhsohn wrote, Its rich that shes talking about it with Joy Reid, of all people.

What the hell does someone have to do to get fired from a network these days? To help me answer this question Im bringing in Joy Reid & Brian Williams, Fox News contributor Stephen Miller joked.

Upon hearing that ABC had canceled Roseanne, pundit Mark Simone wrote, "Looks like the only network Roseanne could work at now is MSNBC, they've had a host accused of racist posts, anti-gay posts, and anti-Muslim posts and don't cancel their show, if they apologize.

BuzzFeeds Steven Perlberg wrote, As it happens, it's been one month and Joy Reid's hacker  the one who made her old anti-gay blog posts slightly more anti-gay and manipulated the Wayback Machine  remains at large. This morning I asked MSNBC for an update in the investigation, but haven't heard back.

MSNBC did not immediately respond to request for comment.
Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2018 9:00 am

Celebration of life: 2 p.m. Sunday, June 3, Buffalo United Methodist Church. A reception will be held after the service in the churchs Family Life Center.

Memorials may be made to the Buffalo United Methodist Church Memorial Fund.

Sandra Lee Sandy Hatfield was born July 9, 1947, in Biloxi, Miss., the daughter of Col. Hugh Ballard and Joy Marie Ballard. She died May 22, 2018, at Cox South Hospital, Springfield.

She was one of six children. Her father was in the service, so the family moved several times as she was growing up. The family lived in Germany, Texas, France and New Mexico, finally moving to Springfield when her father retired from the Air Force.

She graduated in 1965 from Roswell High School in Roswell, N.M. At one point, she, her father and her sister Cindy all attended Southwest Missouri State University at the same time. Sandy graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in music.

She did her student teaching in Buffalo under Freda Heady. Prior to beginning her teaching career in Mountain Grove, she toured 21 countries in Europe with the college chorale. One country she sang in was behind the Iron Curtain. She met Ian Thomson during the tour through Europe. She reconnected with him during a visit to Scotland the next year, and in 1971 they were united in marriage. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy, and they were assigned to Dunoon, Scotland, where she taught school. Later they lived in Rhode Island. To this union, one daughter, Catriona, was born.

After her divorce and while teaching at Mountain Grove again, she met Donald Hatfield at a divorce support singles group in Springfield.

On May 3, 1985, they were united in marriage. To this union, one son, Emery, was born.

She continued her teaching career, teaching music at Skyline and Hermitage schools. She then changed careers, working at Meeks Lumber and then Discount Lumber.

She was known in the Buffalo community for her exceptional musical talent. She sang and played at numerous weddings and sang at many funerals throughout the years. Most recently she brought together and directed the community choir that sang at the Ministerial Alliances Christmas service. She was a loyal member of Buffalo United Methodist Church, where she was choir director and music director.

She always was smiling and pleasant, even in the throes of pain while hospitalized. She tried to see the best in any situation. She will be missed deeply by all who loved her.

Sandy was preceded in death by her parents.

Survivors include her husband, Don; daughter, Catriona Thomson and Mark Cline, Lansdale, Pa.; son, Emery Hatfield and Savanna Patterson, Buffalo; stepson, Daniel and wife, Mary Hatfield, Bolivar; siblings: Cindy Willis, Dallas, John Ballard, Joplin, Hugh Ballard, Springfield, Leslie Harpool, Little Rock, Ark., and Bill Ballard, Kansas City; grandchildren: Lillian and Elijah Hatfield; eight nieces and nephews; and her church family.

Paid memorial provided by family.
If I could have dinner with any human being, I would certainly pick Queen Elizabeth II. This monarch has ruled in England for 66 years, and I can only imagine the type of stories that she would bring to the table. But if I were to feast with the Queen, there are two important rules that I would need to follow.

Rule #1: Dont sit before the Queen does

If anyone is dining with the Queen (even during a huge reception, like Prince Harry and Meghan Markles wedding), you must follow the lead of the Queen when it comes to approaching the table. No one is allowed to sit until the Queen is settled into her seat.

Rule #2: You can only eat while she is eating

The second rule follows suit with the first. Since everyone has to follow the queue of the Queen, that also applies to starting or finishing a meal. When the Queen starts eating, the rest of the dinner party is allowed to eat. But you better eat quick, because as soon as the Queen finishes, everyone else must finish as well.

The reality of royal dining

Of course, if you forget to follow the rules, she wont get too offended. According to a story submitted to The Guardian by a former royal butler, one prince did just that.

I was once on the Royal Yacht Britannia in the South Pacific and the Queen was hosting a dinner for a local prince, wrote Paul Burrell, the former royal butler.

Dessert was served. The prince forgot to watch what the Queen did  instead, he popped the grapes into his finger bowl, then some cherries, then when the cream and sugar came out, he poured them in too, making a kind of fruit soup. I was standing behind the Queen looking horrified. He was about to raise the bowl to his lips to drink it when he looked at the Queen and realized he had made a terrible mistake. Not wanting to make him feel awkward, she picked up her finger bowl and took a sip. Now thats class.

This article originally appeared on Taste of Home.
An Arkansas woman claims the manager at an IHOP discriminated against her 3-year-old son who was born without arms.

Alexis Bancroft said she and her family ended up leaving the pancake restaurant before they ever got their food Saturday morning because of the way they were treated.

3-YEAR-OLD GIRL DESCRIBES 'TERRIFYING' IMAGINARY 'MUM'; TWITTER CONVINCED SHE HAS A GHOST

Bancroft, whose son William learned to eat with his feet, said the general manager of the restaurant told her the boy couldnt sit on the table and touch the syrup containers.

"All he wanted was some pancakes," Bancroft told KARK.

She said she told the manager she took William to the bathroom to wash his feet when they first arrived. "I asked her, 'Do you ask all of your customers if they washed their hands before they touch them [syrup containers]?'" Bancroft said.

"She was the one who discriminated against my son for having a physical disability," she said. It was then that the family chose to leave the restaurant without paying for their drinks.

Bancroft later posted about the incident on Facebook, which quickly went viral.

William is a beautiful little boy and hes fortunate to have such a wonderful mom advocating for him, one person wrote on Bancrofts page.

This was so wrong and for William to feel like he did something wrong and be worried about eating on a table again, someone else commented.

Others are calling for a boycott of the restaurant in support of William.

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IHOP President Darren Rebelez released the following statement on the matter: IHOP and our franchisees do not tolerate actions that are or allude to discrimination of any type. The franchisee at this location has been in touch with the guest to express his sincerest apologies and will continue to be in communication with her to resolve the issue.

"Additionally, the franchise will also retrain his team members to ensure IHOPs level of service, particularly regarding guests with disabilities, is provided to all. For 60 years, IHOP and our franchisees have strived to create a warm and hospitable dining experience for all guests, and this incident is not reflective of that ongoing commitment.

Bancroft, however, told Fox News that IHOP has not reached out to her since shes shared her story.
Starbucks will be shutting down all of its company-operated stores on the afternoon of May 29 to conduct anti-bias training, but coffee lovers craving their beloved Frappuccinos or free Internet will still be able to get their fix at the companys licensed locations.

While more than 8,000 company-operated Starbucks will be closing Tuesday shortly after 2 p.m., a representative for Starbucks confirmed that most of its 7,000 licensed stores are expected to remain open.

These licensed stores  not quite franchised locations (Starbucks does not franchise) and not quite company-owned  are usually those found within grocery stores, hotels, airports or college campuses, the rep explained.

MAN WANTED FOR ALLEGEDLY THROWING HOT COFFEE IN MCDONALD'S MANAGER'S FACE

Last month, the company said the anti-bias training curriculum would be available to licensed outlets as well, and that those stores would be encouraged to participate in the training.

Starbucks is sharing its training content with its licensed business partners, so they may have the option to make it available to their employees at a later date, the company stated in a news release last week.

As of Tuesday morning, however, a Starbucks representative said the company still expects the majority of its licensed locations to be operating as normal on Tuesday afternoon. Customers looking for operational Starbucks locations are also directed to visit the companys store locator, which provides hours of operation.

Starbucks chairman and founder Howard Schultz has also made public an open letter to customers and employees on May 29, which he concluded by telling patrons, "We'll see you tomorrow."

STARBUCKS PREVIEWS CURRICULUM FOR 'RACIAL BIAS TRAINING

Starbucks announced it woud be conducting a racial bias training back on April 17, less than a week after two black men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were filmed being arrested at a Philadelphia location.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson has since apologized to Nelson and Robinson personally. The men have also settled with the city of Philadelphia for the sum of $1, in addition to the promise of a $200,000 grant to fund a pilot program aimed at helping Philadelphia high-schoolers achieve their aspirations of becoming entrepreneurs.

In the weeks since, Starbucks also announced a new policy  called the Third Place Policy  that would allow any Starbucks customers to use the facilities or occupy the store, regardless of whether the actually purchase anything.

We are committed to creating a culture of warmth and belonging where everyone is welcome, Starbucks said.

In a Starbucks subreddit, partners were already voicing concerns that the new policy will lead to stores being filled with homeless people and drug users. One user who claimed to work at a Chicago Starbucks wrote that a homeless person using the bathroom got into a fight with a customer and police requested to see the store policy before taking action.

Others claimed that the policy wasnt actually new, but rather Starbucks is publicizing a policy that is already in place.

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Tuesdays training is set to address the new Third Place Policy, among other concerns of unconscious bias concerning workers and guests. A news release ahead of the training session further confirmed that the sessions events will include several video screenings, guided group discussions and a refresher in the Civil Rights movement.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson and Starbucks founder Howard Schultz will be appearing via pre-recorded videos to welcome partners to the session.
One Pennsylvania teen is upset that administrators at her high school shot down her request to graduate in her black and gold U.S. Army sash as it didn't match school colors, though she has signed enlistment papers and is headed to boot camp in August.

Despite her frustration, when Toni Kress attends graduation at Central Valley High School in Beaver County on June 1, she intends to respect school rules.

MEMORIAL DAY 2018: LARGEST PARADES IN THE US

People are saying Im going to be a rule breaker, but I have no intention of doing that at all. If the school says I'm not going to wear it, Im not going to wear it. I'm not going to disrespect the school like that, the senior said on Fox & Friends on May 29. But if I do have a chance, Ill wear it off stage.

Her father, Wayne Kress, a U.S. Air Force veteran, voiced similar sentiments.

Im very disappointed in the school, he agreed. "She worked hard for this. She went through the ROTC program through the school. In today's world where we have kids out there eating Tide pods, she's willing to stand up and fight for her country.

Though Kress claims there is no mention in the school handbook of any rules that would bar her from wearing the military sash on the big day with her powder blue graduation gown, Principal Shawn McCreary has other thoughts.

Our graduation is a formal ceremony, McCreary recently told The Times. We do not permit students to wear anything on their gowns that depicts what their future plans may be.

He also added that students must wear the standard gown, and those who graduate with highest honors are awarded a sash. National Honor Society members, too, can sport a gold cord and a pin.

McCreary said that students entering the military are individually recognized by name, and a medley of military service songs will play during the graduation ceremony.

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I think we do a very good job at our commencement ceremony honoring the past, present and future military members, he said.

Despite the controversy, Kress is excited for all that is ahead.

I am really stoked to serve my country, it's been my dream since I was a kid, she told Fox and Friends.

Just days ago, in Nebraska, another high school senior spoke out for being denied the request to wear her Army sash at graduation as well.
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Recently when I stood alongside President Trump in Michigan and declared this is Trump country in front of 15,000 people, I witnessed first-hand our president interacting with thousands of American workers. I truly believe that no one cares more about standing up and fighting for American workers than our president.

In recent months, President Trump took courageous action with the Section 232 relief to save tens of thousands of American jobs by imposing tariffs on foreign aluminum and steel imports. Prior to President Trump issuing the Section 232 relief, global overcapacity of aluminum directly threated U.S. national security, negatively impacted American workers and caused aluminum smelters across Americas heartland to shut down. This led to thousands of American workers losing jobs, decimating communities across the United States.

Despite President Trumps strong decisive leadership, Americas allies and economic foes are now jockeying for exemptions from these tariffs  threatening to undermine their effectiveness. President Trump is expected to make a decision on exemptions on June 1, and I am confident that he will negotiate a winning solution that is in the best interests of American workers.

Russia, the European Union, the Middle East, and Australia work hand in hand with Chinese aluminum producers in the global marketplace. The Chinese will find any way to cheat the system and avoid tariffs, by moving Chinese product through countries aligned with the United States or making strategic acquisitions of facilities in countries that are not subject to the same scrutiny.

The Chinese will find any way to cheat the system and avoid tariffs, by moving Chinese product through countries aligned with the United States or making strategic acquisitions of facilities in countries that are not subject to the same scrutiny.

For instance, Australian producers, some of whom are partially owned by the Chinese, do not need an exemption to survive or thrive. Its interesting  like other countries, Australia consumes almost none of the aluminum it produces. If completely exempted, all of Australias aluminum exports will be targeted at the United States. Even now, as Australia attempts to position itself for a permanent exemption from President Trumps 232 tariffs, imports of primary aluminum from Australia skyrocketed by 95 percent in recent months after already increasing by over 1000 percent the year before. If this situation continues without either applying the Section 232 tariffs to Australia or placing a quota on their shipment volumes, the Australian industry will completely replace the U.S. industry. The Trump administration will not allow American workers to lose out, while the European Union, the Middle East, Australia or others game the system.

President Trump will always put America First, at home and abroad and I applaud him for his visionary leadership on U.S. trade policy. As the Trump administration works to make tariffs effective and decrease the likelihood of countries cheating the system there are two options: 1) broad implementation (i.e. no special treatment); or 2) exemptions with quotas. While not ideal, quotas at least ensure that countries cant increase their exports from previous levels by becoming a backdoor entry point for other countries. If any country is permanently exempted from the 232 tariff, whether it be Canada, Mexico or others, a quota needs to be put in place to ensure that the benefits of the relief flow to the United States, not foreign steel or aluminum industries.

Under President Trumps leadership, things are finally looking up for hard-working Americans. Smelters are restarting in Western Kentucky, Missouri and across the country with thousands of new American jobs being created. President Trump is keeping his commitment to American workers that he so clearly spelled out on the campaign trail.

The fearmongering from the fake news media and free-market zealots misses the mark on why President Trump is fighting for these tariffs. The claims of massive job loss and economic hardship from the tariffs are unsupported and frankly ridiculous.

The America First agenda championed by President Trump will ensure that the domestic aluminum industry can compete on the global stage and fight back against illegal trade practices and countries that cheat. Too much is at stake for America to not take a stand.

While the European Union, the Middle East, and Australia vigorously seek to represent their own national interests, we too should represent ours. Come June 1, I am confident that President Trump will negotiate from a position of strength and put America First as we work together to Make America Great Again.
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When California Gov. Jerry Brown decided to support President Trumps call to put National Guard troops along the U.S. border with Mexico to keep out drug smugglers, human traffickers and gangs, I nearly fell out of my chair.

So let me get this straight  the Democratic governor wants to keep these people from entering the state, but if they do sneak in he wont support deporting them? The hypocrisy would be laughable if it wasnt so frustrating.

I tried to follow the logic, but then realized that when it comes to President Trump, California Democratic politicians have lost all ability to use logic or reason. After all, senseless outrage gets more likes than reasonable discourse.

Lets face it, if President Trump found a cure for cancer, you can bet that some California Democratic politician would find a reason to denounce him for it.

I suppose even Gov. Brown realized how out of touch it would look to oppose putting the National Guard along our southern border since about 99 percent of all illegal drugs come from Mexico, not to mention the deadly business of an open border that encourages human trafficking.

Gov. Brown wont support a wall along our southern border, but he desperately wants to erect one between federal and local law enforcement partners.

So last month the governor coordinated with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to accept federal funding to deploy 400 members of the California National Guard to the California-Mexico border.

In his communication with DHS, Brown clarified that the California Guard members would support operations targeting transnational criminal gangs, human traffickers and illegal firearm and drug smugglers. The fact that he is acknowledging a problem at the border is a good first step.

Unfortunately its campaign season, and I fear this will be the last rational act by Democrats, at least until after the November elections.

Democratic politicians in California have almost universally opted for the same political playbook that consists of doing and saying anything to oppose the policies coming out of the Trump administration. While that may be a time-honored political tradition, we should draw the line when their actions threaten the safety of Americans.

The passage of the sanctuary state law that places restrictions on the communications between federal, state and local law enforcement agencies is incredibly dangerous. There are a host of reasons and real world examples where collaborative communication between federal and local law enforcement partners made the difference in protecting the public.

California State Sheriffs Association President Bill Brown illustrated the concerns by highlighting the fact that the sanctuary state law contains significant liabilities, which include restricting our communications with federal law enforcement about the release of wanted, undocumented criminals from our jails, including known gang members, repeat drunk drivers, persons who assault peace officers, serial thieves, animal abusers, and other serious offenders.

Gov. Brown wont support a wall along our southern border, but he desperately wants to erect one between federal and local law enforcement partners.

Thankfully Californians see past Browns irresponsible attempts to thwart law and order. Cities across the state, including the cities of Corona and Lake Elsinore in the 42nd Congressional District that I represent in the U.S. House, have taken action to oppose the sanctuary state law. I applaud them for their courage and leadership.

Now its time for California Democrats to step up and stop playing politics with the safety of the public. They need to put the interests of Americans and legal residents ahead of criminal illegal immigrants. Its obvious to anyone paying attention that their efforts to protect criminal illegal immigrants are nothing but a desperate attempt to re-litigate the presidential election they lost.
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If you are in the mood for a high-priced cup of coffee that tastes burnt  you'll have to go somewhere other than Starbucks during a three-hour period Tuesday afternoon.

More than 8,000 shops are shuttering for anti-bias training  an ill-conceived attempt to restore Starbucks tarnished liberal image.

Last month, two black men were arrested in Philadelphia after they refused to leave one of the coffee chains stores and one was denied use of the restroom. The men, who said they were waiting for a friend, were sitting quietly but had not purchased so much as a latte. They were taking up space meant for paying customers.

While police arrested the two men for trespassing, they were later released without charges and both the police and Starbucks apologized to them.

For decades Starbucks has been using its stores to promote social justice, but now it's come back to bite 'em in the coffee bean.

Starbucks had every right to ask those men to order a beverage or food or leave the shop. Its a place of business, not a public park.

Nevertheless, the social justice warriors pounced  accusing the folks who wear the green aprons of racial profiling and discrimination.

Instead of standing its ground, Starbucks threw their baristas under the roaster and offered a profuse apology.

Regretfully, our practices and training led to a bad outcome  the basis for the call to the Philadelphia police department was wrong, CEO Kevin Johnson wrote in a meandering mea culpa. Our store manager never intended for these men to be arrested and this should never have escalated as it did.

Starbucks vowed to treat every customers with respect and dignity  even if they dont purchase an expensive cup of their bitter java.

Tuesdays anti-bias training features appearances by company executives along with the rapper named Common. Baristas are being encouraged to open up about implicit biases and stereotypes in encountering people of color, gender or other identities.

Starbucks has no one to blame for this fiasco but itself.

For decades Starbucks has been using its stores to promote social justice, but now it's come back to bite 'em in the coffee bean.

Remember back in 2015 when Starbucks ordered baristas to strike up conversations about race relations with customers?

So thats one venti Veranda Blend Blonde Roast with extra cream. May I have your name, sir?

Yes, thank you. Its Todd.

So, Tom  Im curious  do you have a problem with Dark Roast?

My name is Todd. Wait. What?

And Ted, based on your defensive posture, Im sensing some privilege, too. We can help with that.

From that day forward I began brewing Community Coffee. The beans are roasted by a family-owned company based in Louisiana. Its a good cup of coffee, it costs less and best of all  no political agenda.

There's a lesson we can all learn from this Starbucks debacle. When a coffee house serves up a piping hot cup of politics  well  it's going to end up frothing everybody's latte.
Republican businessman John Cox is shaking up the gubernatorial contest in liberal California, as he enjoys a strong position in the polls and the full-throated endorsement of President Trump ahead of next week's primary.

California has a rare opportunity to turn things around and solve its high crime, high tax, problems -- along with so many others, Trump tweeted on Memorial Day, 10 days after first endorsing Cox. On June 5th, vote for GOP Gubernatorial Candidate JOHN COX, a really good and highly competent man. Hell Make California Great Again!

Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is still the clear front-runner in the race. But Cox could advance to the general election if he secures a second-place finish next Tuesday -- thanks to the state's unique "jungle primary" system that advances the top two finishers regardless of party.

Even a spot on the November ballot would mark a win for Republicans in the increasingly liberal state, where Democrats have controlled the legislature roughly 90 percent of the time and have held both U.S. Senate seats since 1992.

However, winning the governorship isnt unthinkable, considering four of the last seven governors have been Republicans dating back to Ronald Reagan in 1967.

An Emerson College poll released Monday shows front-running Democrat Newsom leading with support from 24 percent of likely voters, followed by Cox at 16 percent and Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa at 12. It followed another poll also showing Cox in the second-place spot in the race to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown.

Villaraigosa, the Los Angeles mayor, is now at risk of being shut out of the general election if Cox's support holds. He is considered more moderate than Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor, and remains widely popular among likely Hispanic voters.

But in a political twist, Newsom is launching ads against Cox -- which could have the effect of boosting the Republican's candidacy next week.

One Newsom video calls Cox a Trump protege who spews the same hateful rhetoric. While his ads attack the GOP candidate, Newsom could be helping him with Republican voters by underscoring his ties to the president -- as he would presumably prefer to face the Republican, and not Villaraigosa, in November.

Coxs closest Republican competition is state legislator Travis Allen, who finished fourth in the Emerson poll, at 11 percent.

The Huntington Beach-area lawmaker has also tried to align himself with the Trump agenda and this weekend appeared to bristle at Cox being endorsed by the president.

"Cox is a Never Trumper, Allen tweeted Monday. I think @realDonaldTrump was misled by the establishment in Washington, DC. I fully expect my phone to be ringing on June 6, and I expect Trump to say 'We made a mistake but now we're fully on board, LET'S GO TAKE BACK CALIFORNIA' "

The 62-year-old Cox, a successful Southern California businessman, is running on a pro-Trump agenda, with a top priority of ending the states sanctuary status and those of cities and counties that protect illegal immigrants from deportation.

Politicians like Gavin Newsom thrive on the politics of division, supporting so-called sanctuary cities just to win votes, Cox says in a campaign ad. Lets end sanctuary cities now.

Cox aligns with Trump -- whose administration in March sued California over sanctuary laws -- in arguing that limiting local law enforcement officials from helping federal immigration agents has resulted in more crime.

Coxs other top priorities include protecting Second Amendment rights and cutting taxpayer waste, including the states proposed high-speed rail, which he and other critics call a boondoggle and the train to nowhere. A recent analysis shows the cost now at $77 billion, up 20 percent from roughly two years ago. He also opposes a new gas tax hike.

The top two issues are the state sanctuary state law  because it protects criminal illegal aliens  and the new gas tax, Cox said last week on Fox News Special Report with Bret Baier."

Its crushing workers in the state, Cox also told Fox News.

Trump and other Republicans, at least until November, would surely be elated with Cox finishing second behind Newsom, because they desperately need a GOP candidate at the top of the state ballot this fall to bring out Republican voters. The situation is especially pressing in California congressional races, where Democrats are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into bids to swipe seven GOP-held House seats. Higher GOP turnout could help Republicans hold at least some of them.

Cox, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other California Republicans also are trying to get a gas tax repeal initiative on the November ballot, in another attempt to get GOP voters to the polls.
The arrest and jailing of British right-wing activist Tommy Robinson for covering a child grooming trial has led to an outpouring of anger from conservative political figures in the U.S. and Europe -- with Donald Trump Jr. citing it as a reason for the original Brexit.

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Lennon, was arrested Friday outside a court in Leeds for filming men accused of being part of a gang that groomed children. Britain has been rocked by an epidemic of child sex scandals perpetuated by gangs of predominantly Muslim men.

Fox News reported Friday that he had been jailed for 13 months for contempt of court, but British media initially were unable to report on the sentence due to a reporting ban slapped on the case by the judge. That ban was lifted Tuesday after appeals by media outlets.

Robinson, the former leader of the English Defense League known for his acerbic criticism of Islam, reportedly pleaded guilty to breaching the terms of a previously suspended sentence from 2017 when he reported on a similar case.

Robinson is a polarizing figure in the U.K. Supporters say he speaks out against political correctness and the growing influence of Islamic extremism, while opponents claim he is a racist who stokes fear and division, and note that he has previous convictions.

A counterterror police official said Robinson's material was partially responsible for the radicalization of a man who committed a terrorist attack on a mosque last year.

The details of the case Robinson was reporting on last week are still blocked by a reporting ban. Consequently many British media outlets reported only that he was arrested outside a courthouse, but gave no specifics about the case itself. However, Robinsons supporters say he repeated allegations that have been published in local media outlets.

Robinsons jailing has tapped into a long-standing narrative among conservatives in the U.K. and Europe that authorities are quick to clamp down on anyone bringing attention to crimes associated with Islam, while being lax about the perpetrators of those crimes.

Consequently, as news trickled out over the weekend, conservative figures reacted with fury. On Saturday, crowds descended outside Downing Street to demonstrate for Robinsons release.

Others expressed concern for Robinsons welfare, suggesting that due to his profile as an Islam critic, he may be a target in prison. U.K. Independence Party leader Gerard Batten said that one of the partys members of the House of Lords wrote to Home Secretary Sajid Javid threatening a private prosecution as an accessory, or for misconduct in public office."

Quickly, the case picked up international attention. Trump Jr. responded to a tweet about the case and the gag order, saying it was Reason #1776 for the original #Brexit.

Dont let America follow in those footsteps, he warned.

In Europe, reaction was also strong, particularly among those who have opposed what they see as the Islamization of the continent.

Right-wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders submitted parliamentary questions to the Dutch minister of foreign affairs on the matter, and on Monday called the jailing "a disgrace."

"The lights of freedom are going out," he said in a statement in front of the British Embassy in The Hague.

German MP Petr Bystron, who represents the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD), told Breitbart London that he is pushing the German government to allow Robinson to claim asylum, and deemed him a political prisoner.

Weve seen there has been a high level of opposition throughout Europe against this act. So we said, Okay now society is reacting but we need not only banners, not only stickers but something else, something real,' he told the outlet.

Supporters of Robinson set up a Change.org petition, which by Tuesday afternoon had picked up more than 481,000 signatures.
North Korea is holding up to 120,000 political prisoners in "horrific conditions" in camps across the country, according to estimates from a newly released State Department report.

The department on Tuesday issued its annual International Religious Freedom Report for 2017, which covers 200 countries and territories, documenting religious freedom and human rights abuses.

The findings on North Korea come as the Trump administration is working to engage the isolated regime. The White House says the administration continues to "actively prepare" for a possible summit with Kim Jong Un.

The report, though, addressed the brutal conditions festering inside Kim's kingdom. It revealed 1,304 cases of alleged religious freedom violations in the country last year, while detailing the harsh treatment of political and religious prisoners -- and persecution of Christians.

The government continued to deal harshly with those who engaged in almost any religious practices through executions, tortures, beatings and arrests, the report read. An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, some imprisoned for religious reasons, were believed to be held in the political prison camp system in remote areas under horrific conditions.

According to the report, Christian Solidarity Worldwide said there was a policy of guilt by association applied in cases of detentions of Christians, meaning that the relatives of Christians were also detained regardless of their beliefs.

Religious and human rights groups outside the country continued to provide numerous reports that members of underground churches were arrested, beaten, tortured, and killed because of their religious beliefs, the report read. International NGOs and North Korean defectors reported any religious activities conducted outside of those that were state-sanctioned, including praying, singing hymns, and reading the Bible, could lead to severe punishment, including imprisonment in political prison camps.

The report was released by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who underscored the Trump administrations commitment to promoting religious freedom around the world.

Religious freedom is in the American bloodstream, Pompeo said at the State Department Tuesday. The release of the report is critical to our mission to defend religious liberty, and brings to light the state of religious freedom all over the world.

It's unclear whether the North Korea findings will affect talks over a potential summit between President Trump and Kim Jong Un. Trump last week sent a letter to Kim cancelling a June 12 summit in Singapore following hostile rhetoric from North Korea, but has since re-opened the door to a potential meeting.

This week, Kim dispatched his infamous right-hand man, Kim Yong Chol, to the U.S. amid a diplomatic flurry aimed at salvaging the U.S.-North Korea summit.

Kim Yong Chol is a longtime spy chief and vice chairman of the ruling Workers Party, and traveled to New York to meet with officials.

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you! Trump tweeted early Tuesday.

Trump also plans to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on June 7 at the White House.

The State Department report also noted that North Korea has detained foreigners allegedly engaging in religious work within its borders.

Earlier this month, Kim Jong Un agreed to release three American prisoners, following a meeting with Pompeo.

Kim Dong Chul, a South Korea-born U.S. citizen and former Virginia resident, was sentenced in April 2016 to 10 years in prison with hard labor after being convicted of espionage. He reportedly ran a trade and hotel service company in Rason, a special economic zone on North Korea's border with Russia.

Tony Kim was detained at Pyongyang's airport in April 2017 and accused of unspecified "hostile acts" against the regime. He taught accounting at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. In a statement, Kim's family thanked "all of those who have worked toward and contributed to his return home."

Kim Hak Song, an ethnic Korean born in China, was detained in May 2017 for "hostile acts." He worked in agricultural development at an experimental farm run by the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, which was founded in 2010 with donations from Christian groups.

But another American detainee, Otto Warmbier, died in June 2017 -- just days after he was brought back to the U.S. with severe brain damage. He had been arrested in January 2016, accused of stealing a propaganda poster, and was sentenced to 15 years in prison with hard labor.

Despite the Trump administration's diplomatic efforts toward a denuclearization agreement, the report stated clearly that the U.S. government "does not have diplomatic relations with the DPRK and has no official presence in the country."

The report said that officials used "other mechanisms" to address religious freedom concerns in North Korea.

"The United States cosponsored resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council in March and December that condemned the countrys 'systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations,'" the report said. "The resolutions further expressed grave concern over the countrys denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as well as of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, and association, and urged the government to take immediate steps to ensure these rights."

Fox News' Adam Shaw contributed to this report.
Gov. Eric Greitens said he will resign this week following a report that an affair he had was at times violent and non-consensual and allegations of misuse of a charity donor list.

"The time has come, though, to tend to those who have been wounded and to care for those who need us most," Greitens, a Republican, said on May 29. "So for the moment, let us walk off the battlefield with our heads held high."

Greitens' last day in office will be June 1. His resignation allows him to avoid the potentially dubious distinction of becoming the first Missouri governor ever impeached.

Earlier in May, prosecutors dropped the felony invasion-of-privacy charges against Greitens but said they planned to re-file the case. After he resigned, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said her office is dropping another charge of computer data tampering, related to allegations that he misused a charity donor list.

Missouri lawmakers on both sides of the aisle had been asking Greitens to step down ever since the sexual misconduct scandal surfaced. He's been accused of taking and transmitting a non-consensual -- partially nude -- photo of a woman with whom he was having the affair.

Heres a look at the allegations and what the Republican governor has said about it.

Why was Greitens on trial?

Greitens was indicted in February on a felony invasion-of-privacy charge. He was booked at the St. Louis Justice Center before he was released on his own recognizance, according to a circuit attorney spokeswoman.

The charges came after a man secretly recorded his wife admitting to having an extramarital affair with Greitens in March 2015. In the recording, she alleged that Greitens took a photo of her when she was partially nude without her permission and threatened to release photos of her if she told anyone about the affair, KMOV-TV reported.

The couple, not publicly identified, have since divorced.

Greitens admitted to the affair in February in a joint statement with his wife, Sheena. He said he'd made a deeply personal mistake before he was elected, and that the family had dealt with this together honestly and privately.

However, his attorney told KMOV-TV that there was no blackmail.

In a Facebook post, Greitens slammed the reckless liberal prosecutor who uses her office to score political points. He said that while he'd made a personal mistake before becoming governor, he did not commit a crime.

If convicted, Greitens could have face up to four years in prison. He has declined to directly answer questions about whether he took the photo.

What was in the accusers testimony?

WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS BELOW

A Missouri House investigative committee was assembled shortly after Greitens was indicted on the felony charge.

After speaking to the accuser and other witnesses, it released a report  signed by five Republicans and two Democrats  that included a sensitive-content warning. The lawmakers said they found the woman to be an overall credible witness.

The meeting

The woman said she met Greitens in 2013 when he became a client at the hair salon where she worked, according to the report. She said that she developed a crush on Greitens, but when she saw him in the salon in March 2015, he moved his hand up her leg all the way up to [her] crotch without her consent."

Sexy workout

Later that month, she said Greitens asked her to come to his house when his wife was out of town. She said he did not want to be seen in public with her because he was running for office.

At his house, she testified that Greitens told her he thought she hadnt been treated good in so long and wanted her to exercise. She said for whatever reason, I trusted him.

Greitens then gave her mens pajama pants and a mans white T-shirt with a slit at the top and instructed her to change into them, she said. After she changed, she claimed he told her he was going to teach her how to do a proper pull-up. She said she thought this is going to be some sort of sexy workout.

I still really thought he was perfect, the woman testified, adding that Greitens knew she had not cheated on her husband in the past, and she didnt want to do anything physical with him. So I think I was just confused, kind of shocked. And I was curious enough  he likes me this much that he has something planned for our workout?

The photo

When the two got to the basement, the woman alleged, Greitens taped her hands to the pull-up rings and blindfolded her. She said the items he used were already on a workout bench nearby.

He then spit water into her mouth, telling her she needed to be hydrated, she testified. She said it was his way of trying to kiss her, but she did not want to be kissed.

Greitens began to kiss her, and he tore off the white shirt, she testified. During this time, he was also pull[ing] down [her] pants, but she did not give consent, she said.

[T]hen I hear him kind of, like, step back  take a step back and I hear  I can hear like a, like a cell phone  like a picture, and I can see a flash through the blindfold, she added.

Greitens said: Youre not going to mention my name. Dont even mention my name to anybody at all, because if you do, Im going to take these pictures, and Im going to put them everywhere I can. They are going to be everywhere, and then everyone will know what a little whore you are, she testified.

She alleged he spanked her after she didnt respond.

I was definitely fearful. I was so embarrassed and ashamed, because I really felt like a whore because I had let him get me in this position before weve even kissed. I felt really used, she said.

A photo has not been obtained by lawmakers on the committee nor by the prosecutor in the criminal case.

The aftermath

As she was trying to leave, Greitens gave her a hug and laid her on the floor while she wept, the woman testified. On the floor, the woman testified, she performed oral sex on Greitens because she felt that she had no other choice if she were going to get out of the basement, according to the report.

She said Greitens didnt prevent her from leaving after that, but she forgot her keys at the house. When she went back to get them, she said she confronted Greitens about the picture.

You have to understand, Im running for office, and people will get me and I have to have some sort of thing to protect myself, she claimed he told her.

The woman testified that Greitens told her he had deleted the photo, but that she didnt believe him.

How has Greitens responded?

Greitens has called the accusations a political witch hunt.

He did not testify before the House committee and said the report was one-sided tabloid, trash gossip that was produced in a secret room.

He also highlighted a comment the woman made during a deposition in his criminal case in which she was asked if she saw what she believed to be a phone used to take the photo. A court filing from Greitens attorneys quoted her as saying, I havent talked about it because I dont know if its because Im remembering it through a dream or I  Im not sure, but yes, I feel like I saw it after that happened.

Additionally, Sheena claimed in a letter to the Missouri lawmakers investigating the allegations that she was stalked by the accusers ex-husband, The Washington Examiner reported.

When I didnt respond to his anonymous emails, he sent me a letter, Sheena said. When a letter to me didnt produce the desired response, he contacted my parents. When letters didnt satisfy him, he made his accusations public on Twitter. And finally, when targeting our family on social media didnt fulfill his agenda, he secretly recorded his wife admitting to the affair and began shopping the audio tape to news outlets.

How have lawmakers responded?

House Speaker Todd Richardson called the woman's testimony beyond disturbing and defended the integrity of the investigation. He said, Let me be very clear about this: This is not a witch hunt, and the committee had no political agenda.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have called on Greitens to resign. They include the states Republican Attorney Gen. Josh Hawley, who is also a U.S. Senate candidate.

The conduct the report details is certainly impeachable, in my judgment, and the House is well within its rights to proceed on that front, Hawley said in a statement. But the people of Missouri should not be put through that ordeal. Governor Greitens should resign immediately.

Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., said she read the House investigators report and believes it is clearly time to put the interests of the people of Missouri first in calling for Greitens to resign.

This is a sad chapter in our history that should never have come to pass, Missouri Rep. Ann Wagner, a Republican, said on social media. The transcripts paint the picture of a vulnerable woman and a man who preyed on that vulnerability. I am disgusted, disheartened and I believe Governor Greitens is unfit to lead our state.

State Rep. Jean Evans also called on Greitens to resign, saying, Violence against women is always wrong.

State Senate Majority Leader Mike Kehoe is the highest-ranking member of the legislature to call on Greitens to resign. He said the governor has lost the "moral authority and the ability to lead," KMBC-TV reported.

What is Greitens background?

A onetime Navy SEAL, Greitens assumed office in January 2017. He beat Democrat and former Attorney General Chris Koster.

Hawley is also investigating The Mission Continues, a veterans charity founded by Greitens, as it relates to the state's consumer protection and charitable registration and reporting laws. That probe came after media reports alleged Greitens' campaign had obtained and used a charity donor list in 2015 as it ramped up fundraising for his gubernatorial bid.

Greitens married Sheena in August 2011, and the pair have two children. He was married once before, but it ended in divorce in 2003, according to The Kansas City Star.

Fox News Samuel Chamberlain and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Eric Greitens, the embattled Republican Missouri governor facing a sexual misconduct scandal and allegations of misuse of a charity donor list, said Tuesday he will resign this week.

Greitens said during a news conference that "the last few months have been incredibly difficult."

"This ordeal has been designed to cause an incredible amount of strain on my family. Millions of dollars of mounting legal bills, endless personal attacks designed to cause maximum damage to family and friends," Greitens said. "Legal harassment of colleagues, friends and campaign workers, and it's clear that for the forces that oppose us, there is no end in sight."

He continued, "I cannot allow those forces to continue to cause pain and difficulty to the people that I love."

Greitens added that he was "not perfect" but insisted he hadn't "broken any laws or committed any offense worthy of this treatment."

GREITENS ACCUSER STANDS BY SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS, APOLOGIZES TO MISSOURI GOVERNOR'S WIFE

"I will let the fairness of this process be judged by history," he said.

Greitens previously had said he would not quit his post despite the allegations against him. He was facing possible impeachment.

The 44-year-old lawmaker, a onetime Navy SEAL, has been accused of taking and transmitting a non-consensual -- partially nude -- photo of a woman with whom he was having an affair.

A felony invasion-of-privacy charge levied against him has been dropped, however a special prosecutor has been considering whether to refile it.

Also being investigated is The Mission Continues, a veterans charity founded by Greitens, as it relates to the state's consumer protection and charitable registration and reporting laws. The probe came after media reports suggested Greiten's campaign had obtained and used a charity donor list in 2015 as it ramped up fundraising for his gubernatorial bid.

In April, Greitens was charged with a felony of tampering with computer data for allegedly disclosing the charity's donor list to his political fundraiser in 2015 without permission.

St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner said Tuesday her office has reached a "fair and just resolution" on criminal charges against Greitens, now that he's stepping down. Further details will be released Wednesday, she said.

MISSOURI GOV. GREITENS ACCUSED OF VIOLENCE, SEXUAL ASSAULT, BLACKMAIL: WHAT TO KNOW

Greitens likely will be replaced by Missouri Lieutenant Gov. Mike Parson.

Parson was elected as the state's 47th lieutenant governor in November 2016 and previously served in the state's senate and house of representatives.

Greitens said it was "a great honor and a privilege" to be governor and he "will always be a fighter for the people of Missouri."

"The time has come though, to tend to those who have been wounded, and to care for those who need us most," he said.

Greitens assumed office in January 2017, defeating Democrat and former Attorney General Chris Koster.

Fox News' Matt Finn, Shannon Bream, Kaitlyn Schallhorn and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
With Sen. Orrin Hatchs retirement this year, two men are vying for the Republican nomination to replace him: Mitt Romney and Mike Kennedy.

Romeny and Kennedy are facing off in a June 26 runoff after neither were able to secure at least 60 percent of delegates' support at the state GOP convention earlier this year. Whoever wins the runoff will go up against Democrat Jenny Wilson, a city councilwoman, in the general election.

Like Romney, Kennedy is wealthy -- just not nearly as much. According to The Salt Lake Tribune, Kennedys net worth is somewhere between $1.1 million and $2.6 million. In comparison, Romneys is between $73.7 million and at least $271 million, according to the newspaper.

Ironically, Romney lost a previous Senate bid to a Kennedy -- Ted Kennedy -- in 1994.

Read on for a look at the Republican candidates.

Mitt Romney

This Senate race isnt Mitt Romneys first rodeo. Hes governed Massachusetts, ran for Senate and was named the 2012 Republican presidential nominee. Additionally, Romney was president of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee when it was behind the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

FOX NEWS MIDTERM ELECTIONS HEADQUARTERS

At the Utah Republican convention earlier this year, Romney was unable to defeat Kennedy to avoid a July runoff election.

But Romney, 71, told Deseret News hes already built relationships with dozens of members of the Senate over the years.

Romney was one of President Trumps harshest Republican critics during the 2016 election. According to Romney, the tension has softened, especially after he was considered for the secretary of state job.

Im with his domestic policy agenda that he has put in place so far -- lower taxes, lower regulation, lower bureaucracy, Romney told Deseret News. He added that Trump has been pretty effective so far.

Ahead of the runoff, Romney penned an editorial for the Salt Lake Tribune on his stance on the "Trump agenda." He said Trump's first year in office "has exceeded my expectations" and promised to support his policies "when I believe they are in the best interest of Utah and the nation."

"I have and will continue to speak out when the president says or does something which is divisive, racist, sexist, anti-immigrant, dishonest or destructive to democratic institutions," he said. "I do not make this a daily commentary; I express contrary views only when I believe it is a matter of substantial significance."

In February, Trump endorsed Romney for the Senate seat.

While Romney has spent much of his life in Massachusetts, he has considered Utah his home for at least 10 years, according to Deseret News. Utah has been Romneys permanent residence since 2014. Romney said he and his wife plan to live in the state for the rest of [their] lives.

ROMNEY WALKS FINE LINE ON TRUMP AMID UTAH PRIMARY FIGHT

With now-House Speaker Paul Ryan as his running mate, Romney ran for president in 2012 as the Republican nominee, losing to incumbent President Barack Obama. However, Romney carried Utah in that election with more than 72 percent of the vote.

Romney is a graduate of Brigham Young University and Harvard University. He would later co-found investment firm Bain Capital. He and his wife, Ann, have five children and 24 grandchildren, according to his campaign website.

Mike Kennedy

Since 2013, Mike Kennedy has served as a state representative in Utah. But Kennedy has held many jobs, including practicing law and medicine.

Despite Romneys profile, Kennedy forced a June runoff between the two candidates at the state GOP convention in April, finishing ahead of the former presidential nominee. But as The Spectrum reported, winning over the votes of Utahns is a different process than delegates at the Republican convention.

Kennedys main focus in the U.S. Senate would be the deficit, according to The Spectrum. He said a climbing deficit would be our greatest national security threat.

On his campaign website, Kennedy slammed the takeover of national monuments for political control instead of just protecting historical and cultural sites. He also said education decisions would be best determined by state and local governments as opposed to unelected bureaucrats in Washington.

MITT ROMNEY REVEALS WHO GOT HIS VOTE IN 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION

According to Deseret News, Kennedy only sponsored and passed one bill during the 2018 legislature: legislation that mandates the Utah Driver License Division and State Board of Education inform student drivers about how to improve air quality and vehicle emissions. He was also asked to lead the Utah School Safety Commission in wake of recent mass school shootings that have plagued the nation, according to the newspaper.

In the legislature, he serves on the Health and Human Services, House Rules and Transportation committees, among others.

Kennedy said he was raised by a single parent in less than fortunate circumstances," adding that he "worked hard to find success and provide a better life for his family.

Kennedy graduated from Brigham Young University before attending Michigan State University for medical school. He would later earn a law degree from BYU.

He and his wife have eight children.
President Trump warned Tuesday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller and the 13 Angry Democrats on his team will be MEDDLING in the midterms by pursuing their Russia probe so close to the election.

The special counsel reportedly is expected to lie low going into the midterms if the probe has not wrapped up by that point, so as not to be seen as swaying voters.

But in a Tuesday morning tweetstorm, the president effectively argued that the probe is already threatening to interfere in the vote -- and questioned again why the team is not investigating totally Crooked Hillary Clinton and Democrats.

The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats! Trump tweeted early Tuesday, hitting the team with the same accusation leveled at the Russians in the 2016 race.

Minutes later, he added: Why arent the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton. Its a Rigged Witch Hunt, thats why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration!

The president was referring to the 13 investigators -- of the 17 total members on Muellers team -- who have registered as Democrats. At least nine have donated to Democratic candidates and causes. Mueller, though, is said to be a lifelong Republican and served as FBI director under former Republican President George W. Bush.

One of the registered Democrats on the team, Andrew Weissmann, reportedly attended Hillary Clintons election-night party at the Javits Center in New York City.

The president has repeatedly blasted Muellers investigation as a witch hunt, and has vowed all along that there was no collusion between his campaign and Russia during the 2016 presidential election -- a central focus of the probe.

He and his legal team have ramped up criticism of the probe in recent weeks, with Trump now casting it as a distraction from big issues like pending diplomatic talks with North Korea.

Sorry, Ive got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc., Trump tweeted Tuesday morning.

The president has been emboldened by revelations that an FBI informant was communicating with members of the Trump campaign. The issue is now being examined by the Justice Department inspector general.

Former Obama-era intelligence officials, like former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and former FBI Director James Comey, have defended the intelligence communitys use of an informant, or Confidential Human Source.

And after a high-level briefing last week with lawmakers, Democrats maintained they had seen no evidence "to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump Campaign."

But the president has dubbed the controversy SPYGATE, following revelations that the informant had communicated with at least three members of the campaignGeorge Papadopoulos, Carter Page, and Sam Clovis.
Astronaut Donald Peterson, one of the first astronauts to perform a spacewalk from the space shuttle, died on Sunday at the age of 84.

Peterson's passing was first reported by the Association of Space Explorers, which noted his death on its Facebook page.

"So sad to report that we have lost another member of the astronaut family," the post reads. "Fair skies and tailwinds, Don."

Peterson joined NASA in September 1969, two years after the U.S. Air Force chose him to be a part of the planned Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). The mission was eventually canceled, which led Peterson and his other trainees to joining the government space agency.

"You might think that there was a lot of I mean, a bunch of screening and testing and all that. As far as I know, there was none," Peterson said, according to CollectSpace.com by way of Space.com. "There were fourteen people who were crew on the MOL program, and they took the seven youngest people."

Born in Winona, MS., Peterson enrolled at the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1955. From there, he joined the Air Force, becoming a second lieutenant, but it took him 14 years to eventually fly into space, being named to the maiden crew of the space shuttle Challenger.

Challenger had its first flight between April 4 and 9, 1983, led by STS-6 commander Paul Weitz. The shuttle undertook 10 missions, the last being the ill-fated STS-51-L mission on Jan. 28, 1986 that took the lives of all seven crew members, including teacher Christa McAuliffe, when it exploded just 73 seconds into its flight.

Three days into the first Challenger mission, Peterson and fellow mission specialist Story Musgrave made history, becoming the first astronauts to wear Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits and go for a spacewalk.

"That was fun," Peterson recalled, according to CollectSpace.

During the 4-hour, 10 minute extravehicular activity, both astronauts attached tethers to their suits and worked with the cradle that supported the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite, the first of its kind to launch. They used a wrench to manually lower it after it had been tilted forward to deploy.

"We had foot restraints, but it took so long to set them up and move them around, that we didn't want to do that. So I just held on with one hand, actually, to a piece of sheet metal, which is not the best way to hold on, and cranked the wrench with my other hand, and my legs floated out behind me," Peterson said. "As I cranked, my legs were flailing back and forth, like a swimmer, to react the load on the wrench."

Because of the movements made, the waist ring on Peterson's spacesuit rotated and the seal that kept it air tight popped out, causing Peterson to say he had an alarm.

"Story stopped what he was doing and came over. We were trying to check what was going on and the seal popped back in place and the leak stopped, so we went ahead and finished the EVA," Peterson said.

Peterson eventually resigned from NASA in November 1984, after he had spent a total of 5 days, 23 minutes and 42 seconds in space, going 2.1 million miles. STS-6 was his only spaceflight.

From there, Peterson consulted and worked with crewed aerospace operations, before stopping that work in 1993.

He is survived by his son, Don, two daughters, Jean and Shari and his brother Gil. His wife, Bonnie Ruth Love, passed away in 2017.
Archaeologists have discovered a remarkably well-preserved 1,000-year-old mummy in Peru.

A team from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium made the stunning find after nine weeks of excavation at the ancient site of Pachacamac.

The deceased is still wrapped in the enormous funeral bundle that served as a coffin, said ULB professor and excavation leader Peter Eeckhout, in a statement. Discoveries like this one are exceptionally scarce, and this mummy is incredibly well preserved. Samples were collected for carbon-14 dating, but the area in which it was discovered and the type of tomb suggest this individual was buried between 1000 and 1200 AD.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS RECONSTRUCT FACE OF ANCIENT, 1,200-YEAR-OLD PERUVIAN QUEEN

Working with Christophe Moulherat, a textile specialist at the Musee du Quai Branly in Paris, the team will use medical imaging technology to examine the mummy. Experts hope that this will shed light on the persons position in society, any diseases they suffered from, and also reveal any hidden artifacts.

The mummy was discovered in an undisturbed funeral chamber within an ancient sanctuary at Pachacamac. Dedicated to local ancestors, the sanctuary appears to have been transformed into a water and healing temple during Inca rule in the late 15th century.

Archaeologists discovered a number of offerings left by worshippers, such as Spondylus shells imported from Ecuador. Associated with the influx of water during El Nino, the shells symbolize fertility and abundance, according to researchers.

ARCHAEOLOGISTS FIND ANCIENT MASS CHILD SACRIFICE IN PERU

A monument intended to host pilgrims and rituals was also excavated at Pachacamac.

Other fascinating, and sometimes chilling, archaeological finds have been made in Peru.

Earlier this year archaeologists in northern Peru said they have found evidence of what could be the world's largest single case of child sacrifice. The pre-Columbian burial site, known as Las Llamas, contains the skeletons of 140 children who were between the ages of five and 14 when they were ritually sacrificed during a ceremony about 550 years ago, according to experts who led the excavation.

Last year, archaeologists harnessed 3-D printing technology to reconstruct the face of an ancient 1,200-year-old Peruvian queen.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.

Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers
The Trump administration's push to ease regulations on private industry is no longer confined to Earth.

Yesterday (May 24), President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-2 (SPD-2), which instructs the secretary of transportation to devise a new regulatory regime for launch and re-entry activities, and to consider requiring just a single license for all such commercial operations.

The document also orders the commerce secretary to review regulations on the commercial remote-sensing industry, and gives the secretary 30 days to come up with a plan to create a "one-stop shop" within the Commerce Department for private-spaceflight regulation. [In Photos: President Donald Trump and NASA]

"The president is committed to ensuring that the federal government gets out of the way and unleashes private enterprise to support the economic success of the United States," White House officials wrote in an SPD-2 fact sheet that was released yesterday.

The thrust of SPD-2 should come as no surprise, experts say. After all, the Trump administration has made it a priority to roll back or streamline regulations in many other parts of the economy, from banking to the energy industry.

"It is certainly consistent with an overall pro-business, deregulation approach of the Trump administration, applied to the space sector," said space policy expert John Logsdon, a professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at The George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C.

And SPD-2 started taking serious shape back in October 2017, at the first meeting of the newly resurrected National Space Council (NSC), Logsdon added.

"One of the tasks was to develop a directive on regulatory reform," Logsdon told Space.com. "That's been in process, and it's been on Trump's desk for a while."

Major players in the private-spaceflight industry have been calling for regulatory reform for decades, and some of them  including SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell  reiterated that request during testimony at the October NSC meeting.

"The council could commit to reforming, modernizing and streamlining federal regulations governing space launch," Shotwell told members of the council, which is chaired by Vice President Mike Pence. "Regulations written decades ago must be updated to keep pace with the new technologies and the high cadence of launch from the United States if we want a strong space launch industry here at home."

So Trump's signing of SPD-2 was a popular move in industry circles.

"This is a tremendous accomplishment by this administration on behalf of America's commercial space industry," Alan Stern, board chairman of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said in a statement.

"We've been innovating here at home and competing around the world under the burden of regulations written decades ago, in some cases rooted in the Cold War," added Stern, who's also the principal investigator of NASA's New Horizons Pluto mission. "Now we can foresee a more streamlined legal and administrative regime that will allow us to continue to help transform how Americans access and use space."

As its name suggests, SPD-2 is the Trump administration's second space policy directive. SPD-1, which Trump signed in December, formally instructs NASA to work toward returning astronauts to the moon, as a stepping stone to Mars.

Originally published on Space.com.
When it comes to his sudden misfire against the media, Elon Musk is losing some of his rocket fuel.

Musk was showered with waves of positive press as he built two great companies. He is an amazing entrepreneur. Its impossible not to admire the guy.

But now that some difficulties at Tesla and Space X are drawing routine journalistic scrutiny, he is railing against the mediaand its sounding a bit like a temper tantrum.

Musk somehow got the idea that criticism from the business press automatically means that hes being treated unfairly. Like any CEO, he has every right to push back. But Im not sure, based on his recent tweetstorm, that he has a firm grasp on how the media work. Or maybe Musk is just mad, as when he told a Wall Street analyst on a recent call not to ask a bonehead question.

At Tesla, Musk has run into some production problems with versions of the Model 3, and the Center for Investigative Reporting has questioned workplace safety at his factories. Plus, a semi-autonomous Tesla sedan slammed into the back of a fire truck earlier this month. (I do think Musk had a point when he called it super messed up that an accident that caused the driver to suffer a broken ankle is front page news and the ~40,000 people who died in US auto accidents alone in past year get almost no coverage.)

Journalists have also questioned the reliability of Space X rockets after a pair of critical government reports and a Falcon 9 that failed to reach orbit in January.

But the recent fusillade was ignited by his car company, prompting Musk to tweet: The holier-than-thou hypocrisy of big media companies who lay claim to the truth, but publish only enough to sugarcoat the lie, is why the public no longer respects them.

Many folks would agree with the hypocrisy charge, but the second part sounds like an accusation of fake news. And indeed, there was this followup: Anytime anyone criticizes the media, the media shrieks Youre just like Trump! Why do you think he got elected in the first place? Because no one believes you any more. You lost your credibility a long time ago.

Again, I can hear at least part of America cheering.

But then Musk begins to veer off the road. Another tweet begins with a sharp but pointed critiqueProblem is journos are under constant pressure to get max clicksbefore hitting a ditch: & earn advertising dollars or get fired.

Reporters dont think that way. They cover problems in the auto industry without worrying about losing their jobs (or actually losing their jobs). Tesla doesnt advertise, so Musk feels at a disadvantage against gas/diesel car companies.

But one major reason that Teslas luxury cars (Model S starts at $74,500) have been such a phenomenon is the endless headlines that portrayed them as sexy and the founder as a cool visionary.

The wheels really started to come off when Musk proclaimed that he would get into the media criticism business himself:

Going to create a site where the public can rate the core truth of any article & track the credibility score over time of each journalist, editor & publication. Thinking of calling it Pravda  (Weird to use the name of the onetime Soviet propaganda sheet, even if tongue-in-cheek.)

First, the idea that the public can rate the core truth of any article seems bizarrely out of touch. Why would such a site not be buried under a mountain of partisan barbs from all sides? (He says hed weed out propaganda bots, but how about propaganda humans?)

Second, how does the public know the core truth about any article? And if more than half found a particular story untruthful, would that mean anything beyond your typical, self-selected online poll?

Musk seems unaware that there are fact-checking sites and social media efforts, however flawed, that attempt to hold journalists accountable. He seems to think hes inventing the wheel here.

Still, he insists: Even if some of the public doesnt care about the credibility score, the journalists, editors & publications will. It is how they define themselves.

In his Twitter poll, 88 percent said his proposed site would be good, while 12 percent say no, the media are awesome. More than 680,000 votes were cast, but of course this reflects Musks nearly 22 million Twitter followers, most of whom are presumably fans.

Musks stature is such that he can rip the media and have an important impact on the news business, but not with a gimmicky site. He just needs to tap the brakes a bit in the process.
Buying a low-cost Android tablet may sound like a bargain, but it can come with some security risks.

According to antivirus vendor Avast, thousands of Android devices from lesser-known brands have been secretly loaded with malware that can potentially download other nefarious code.

So far, it's only been used to spread adware. Avast noticed the threat on over 140 different Android models, most of them tablets, including products from ZTE, Archos, and Prestigio, among others.

Devices carrying the code will display annoying pop-up ads promoting various mobile games, Avast said. But what makes the malware particularly worrisome is that it was pre-installed. A mysterious party directly embedded the problematic code into the device's firmware, making it difficult to remove.

Avast speculates that the culprits exploited a gap in the supply chain. It's possible a vendor had its firmware software hacked, or maybe a rogue employee secretly slipped in the malicious code during production, Avast told PCMag in an email.

The malware, dubbed "Cosiloon," has been active for at least three years. In December 2016, Russian antivirus firm Doctor Web reported that it had been embedded into the firmware of 26 smartphone models. Since then, the code has persisted, and manufacturers continue to ship with it.

Although Cosiloon has so far been more of a nuisance than a security threat, Avast warns that the malware could also be used to download spyware and ransomware to the same devices.

Among Avast's own customers, the adware from Cosiloon has been found on 18,000 devices located in over 100 countries, including Russia, Italy, Germany, the UK, and the US.

Google reached out to the firmware developers so they could take steps to root out malicious code from their systems. In the meantime, Google is using its built-in malware protection on Android to prevent the adware from loading.

Avast's blog post has tips for affected users on how to remove Cosiloon from their devices. For instance, the company's mobile security app can automatically delete the adware it downloads.

"Users can find the [Cosiloon] dropper in their settings (named 'CrashService', 'ImeMess' or 'Termina' with generic Android icon), and can click the 'disable' button on the app's page, if available (depending on the Android version). This will deactivate the dropper and once Avast removes the payload, it will not return again," the antivirus vendor said.

A list of all the affected Android models can be found here. Interestingly, Cosiloon appears to run dormant on devices based in China, suggesting the culprits may be based there and want to avoid attention from authorities.

This article originally appeared on PCMag.com.
This is a rush transcript from "Sunday Morning Futures," May 27, 2018. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

TRISH REGAN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL ANCHOR: Good Sunday morning everyone. New fall out from a critical meeting between the Justice Department and Congressional leaders. Are we any closer to answers on potential spying on the Trump Campaign? Hello everyone. Good morning. I'm Trish Regan in for Maria Bartiromo today, and this is "Sunday Morning Futures." Critics lashing out at our President after he holds an event on combating criminal illegal immigrants and two major stories breaking on the world stage for President Trump as he welcomes home another American held overseas. And new talks give new life to hopes for historic summit between the U.S. and North Korea is it back on? House Foreign Affairs Committee Member Lee Zeldin is right here as we look ahead today, on "Sunday Morning Futures."

All right, a warm welcome from President Trump at the White House as a Utah native held for nearly two years, in a Venezuelan prison returns to U.S. soil. 26-year-old Joshua Holt and his wife arriving last night meeting with the president in the Oval Office, Holt thanking those who worked for his freedom including Tennessee Senator Bob Corker who after intense lobbying was able to hold a surprise meeting with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro a day before Holt's release. The President calling last two years a tough ordeal for the American missionary, watch.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Josh Holt and his wife Thamy, and they came back from a very tough ordeal in a Venezuelan prison almost two years, Josh. I just want to welcome you to the Oval Office, welcome you to the White House. It's really very special to have you both.

JOSHUA HOLT, PRISONER OF VENEZUELA: I'm just overwhelmed with gratitude for you guys for everything that you've done, for the support of my wife. Those two years, they were very, very, very difficult two years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REGAN: Let's bring in New York Congressman Lee Zeldin. He sits on the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. It's good to have you here. It's good to see you.

REP. LEE ZELDIN, RNEW YORK: Good to see you as well.

REGAN: Happy Memorial Day weekend.

ZELDIN: Thank you, you too.

REGAN: Certainly a nice weekend for that missionary's family. That's a big deal. He was held in Venezuela for two years. Who does the congratulations go to?

ZELDIN: First of all, to Josh Holt and his family. Congratulations and welcome home. The timing couldn't possibly be any better for him. I'm sure that he would have rather it been two years ago but he's here. For the whole state of Utah, you've seen how they've rallied behind Josh Holt for him to be here now with his wife. For our whole country, we get to celebrate. Again, we just had three Korean-Americans return home from their captivity in North Korea and now we have Josh Holt and his wife returning from Venezuela, and Americans feel good about it. But congratulations and thank you to the President, to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the State Department, Senator Corker, the Utah Congressional delegation. A lot of people really worked really hard for this.

REGAN: Yes. What does Venezuela doing taking Americans? I mean, I've traveled to Venezuela many times reporting stories there. Not during the Madura regime but back during Chavez's era. They're retaking Americans? I mean, this guy is just down there trying to do his missionary work and he winds up in jail?

ZELDIN: It's -- so other countries. They operate very differently than we do here in the U.S. and it is unfortunate that this happened. Unfortunately, we've got into the point where Josh Holt is released. Venezuela is in a world of hurt. I mean, they just came off of an election that was not a Democratic election. You have a presidency --

REGAN: Maduro won again, by the way, surprise, surprise.

ZELDIN: Surprise, surprise. The presidency actually is a dictatorship, their economy is in ruins. There is really no voice of opposition that allows them to take over with their ideas, to move their country in a better trajectory. So their nation doesn't really need to keep adding to that world of hurt by holding hostage and wrongfully imprisoning a United States citizen.

REGAN: OK. So speaking of all these sort of rogue nations or rogue regimes if you would, this brings us of course to North Korea. And the big question is whether or not this summit is actually going to happen or not. Maybe it's back on. Here's the President speaking about North Korea, watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're doing very well in terms of the summit with North Korea. It looks like it's going along very well. There -- as you know there are meetings going on as we speak in a certain location which I won't name but you'd like the location. It's not so far away from here. And I think there's a lot of goodwill. I think people want to see if we can get the meeting and get something done. If we got that done and if we can be successful in the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REGAN: Congressman Zeldin, let me just ask you about why is this been so touch-and-go? I've gotten word that perhaps the Chinese had something to do with this. General Keane telling me recently that his sources which are quite good are telling him that the Chinese have begun trading with the North Koreans again and that they are trying to bring the North Koreans back into the fold and they don't like the idea of us having this summit. So are they really mucking things up enough that the summit might actually be off?

ZELDIN: Well, it looks like if the answer -- that question was being asked a few days ago after the President made his announcement and looked off.

REGAN: Right.

ZELDIN: Over the course of the last couple of days, it seems like North Korea's reaction has been one of saying hey, listen we want this summit to take place. They have sent signals that we're receiving overnight that they are in favor of a full denuclearization according to the South Korean President. China played an important role in 2017. You remember in August there was a unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution but where even China and Russia voted -- it was unanimous to effectively cut off over one-third North Korean exports. China played an important role in getting North Korea to the point where they wanted to summit realizing they need a different trajectory for their country, but then we heard that the Chinese leader met with the North Korean leader and then all of a sudden North Korea's rhetoric changed, their behavior changed which led to President Trump deciding to walk --

REGAN: OK, but now it's changed again. So why is it -- are they are they like figuring how maybe the Chinese aren't what we thought they were? I just -- yes, it's great that their language is changing again but you know, when you go into a negotiation, you need to do so in good faith. And I think them sort of bailing on this or seeming to bail on it and ratcheting up their rhetoric only to then get slapped down by us and now they're coming back to the table, I mean, goodness I mean, why can't they just you know, be an adult and have a normal negotiation process here.

ZELDIN: I think -- I think North Korea watched the way the United States approached our negotiation with Iran and there's no similarities. This isn't Barack Obama as the President of the United States. This isn't John Kerry as the -- as the Secretary of State. Why that -- why is that important? In Iran, they were using rhetoric during the negotiations illegally test-fire intercontinental ballistic missiles, calling us the Great Satan, pledging death to America on their holidays, doing a lot of bad things, the rhetoric was terrible. North Korea started doing that, and when North Korea did that President Trump said no summit.

REGAN: Yes, enough. Yes, and that's the way it should be. That said, you know what really bugged me, and I know it bugged you because I heard you this week and I heard you talking about how you know, look we need to remember that the President's success is all of our success as Americans.

What bugged me was that many members of the left and many members of the mainstream media almost rejoiced seriously, in the idea that the summit was off. Here's some of the Democrats on the withdrawal from the summit. Watch.

REP. NANCY PELOSI, DCALIFORNIA: They were on a par with each other. He got global recognition and regard. He's the big winner. And when he got this letter from the President saying, OK, never mind, he must be having a giggle fit right there now in North Korea, in Pyongyang.

SEN. BOB MENENDEZ, DNEW JERSEY: The art of diplomacy is a lot harder than the art of the deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REGAN: A giggle fit, the art of diplomacy a lot harder than -- you know what, we know diplomacy is hard. The President knows diplomacy is hard. But why act like I told you so. I told you so. I mean, isn't it good for the world? Isn't it good for our country? Isn't it good for the entire Peninsula that this summit happened?

ZELDIN: So Nancy Pelosi was wrong. Bob Menendez -- Bob Menendez' point is well-taken. The -- you know, the United States of America did not elect Nancy Pelosi President of United States. It is a certain way of diplomacy or approaching foreign policy that led to this issue in the first place.

It was a temporary shot. That actually was proven false within days. Clearly Kim Jong-un wants this summit. North Korea needs to pursue a different path for their nation. The current one's not working. Their country is in shambles. And if they take a step back and reflect on some of the words that they've used, this is some people in Congress, some of the media, some all throughout our country, people who wakeup in the morning, they're laying their hair on fire and taking whatever talking points they're being fed as far as how they're supposed to oppose this President on everything and anything today, and if they reflect on what they say, there have been times were they root for North Korea against the United States. They have they have rooted for Hamas against the United States and our allies. When the market has a bad day, I've seen them celebrate. I told you so. Celebrating our economy --

REGAN: Well, that is messed up because we are all Americans first. Before we are left, before we are right, before we are anything, we are Americans. Don't go anywhere, Congressman. Congressman Zeldin is going to stay right here because coming up, we're going to discuss President Trump's comments about the MS-13 gang. Why critics are slamming the President on his rhetoric? Is it justified? You can follow us on Twitter @SundayFutures, so stay with us here as we look ahead on SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Crippling loopholes in our laws have enabled MS-13 gang members and other criminals to infiltrate our communities and Democrats in Congress refused to close these loopholes.

ZELDIN: This issue should transcend partisan politics. And unfortunately, it's not right now in Congress. They need to protect our constituents here. They need to protect their own -- they need to work with you because you're putting your neck out there on the line. They need to do it as well even if they're taking a tough vote from their constituents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REGAN: That's New York Congressman Lee Zeldin reacting to President Trump speech last week in Bethpage, Long Island on illegal immigration and the violent Ms-13 gang. But critics are saying that the President is unfairly conflating the crimes committed by the ruthless gang and I mean ruthless, with all illegal immigrants. Mr. Zeldin, you were there at the event, I don't -- I think it's pretty clear when he's talking about animals that he's referring to the gang members because he was talking about MS-13 and some of the horrible things that they have done, and you know you've probably given animals too much credit to call those people that do these horrible, horrible, horrible -- we don't even need to go into it but you know what I'm talking about -- to do that and then they're saying, well no he's referring to all immigrants when he says that. That seems like kind of a leap, right, if you would. I mean, taking things out of context and I think this is partly why Americans are so frustrated with the media and so frustrated with those that are trying to pull him down. What do you think he meant, sir, with those comments?

ZELDIN: That is a leap. That's a leap off the side of a cliff and falling on your face because the California Sheriff was clearly asking at the White House about MS-13 and the President directly, immediately responded to that comment referring to them as animals. And then you have members of Congress and the media and others who are trying to conflate that to him talking about all immigrants. I mean, they weren't big. They went broad. Now, what's important, and you pointed out being at -- the calling of animals is a nice way of putting it. You could actually call them much, much worse. What's very interesting was while we were at this roundtable, you had two parents, two sets of parents there for the childhood best friends were murdered by MS-13. And the animals remark came up a few times and describing an MS-13's behavior and their lack of humanity, their lack of character. The reaction from these parents are all the confirmation that the victims, their families, the people most impacted by MS-13, they're the ones who can absolutely validate that that MS-13 are in fact made up of animals. They -- we hear about the high profile crimes, we had those two best friends, you had four people also just before that murdered with machetes and centralized of ball field --

REGAN: And ripping the hearts out and the horrendous gang rape, it's -- I mean, it's really bad and this is an extremely violent group. I had one guest tell me, you know, they look make the Mafia look. You know like Disney or something because it is that bad. And they are extraordinarily ruthless, unlike anything we have ever seen historically. And so, with that in mind and also knowing as some of the people there on that panel pointed out that a lot of people are coming into this country as youths and they haven't been properly vetted and they're here illegally. And if you're trying to actually control crime in certain neighborhoods and throughout the U.S., if you're trying to control drug trafficking, why wouldn't you control your borders? Why would you allow people in and give them the potential to do this enormous harm and join a gang like MS-13?

ZELDIN: The right policy will be better border security, better interior enforcement, ending catch and release, to end the visa lottery, to -- also with the UAC, the Unaccompanied Alien Children, that program, we have these individuals who are set up for failure the entire time. The Obama Administration actually was encouraging parents of the Central American countries to turn their kids over to these coyotes for this dangerous mission in the United States. The UACs, they end up coming to -- buy the way, some of them are held at gunpoint in order to be able to cross the border. I have to do bad things, carry narcotics to get across the border. But then they come into communities where the gangs are targeting UACs for recruitment. So for that parent, the right thing for United States to be doing, the right policy would be to tell that parent not to turn their kid over.

The Trump Administration recognizes that, the U.S. Attorney, the Department of Justice, Department of Homeland Security, other local levels of government, everyone realizes that there are flaws in UACs and other programs. We need to fix it, we want to fix it. We're up against some opposition, some obstructionism in Congress but we have to fight through it and we just need to shame these Democrats if they're not willing to do the right thing on their own. All right, let me get to another hot topic right now, and that's whether or not there's going to be a second special counsel to look into what may have happened with the FBI, how on earth that FISA warrant was issued based on a dossier that nobody had bothered to even check and see who had financed it. You are calling for a second special Council. I actually applaud that because you know what, as a journalist I want answers. As an American, I want answers. I think the world deserves answers. The United States of America, everybody who votes deserves an answer. Are you going to get it?

ZELDIN: We have gotten a lot of transparency. What we've seen in this resolution, the House Resolution 907 calling for a second special council,25 original co-sponsors. It details a lot of facts with regards to misconduct to the highest levels of the DOJ and FBI with regards to the FISA abuse, how and why the Hillary Clinton e-mail probe ended? How and why the Trump Russia probe began? And what's amazing, I was on with you a few days back and over the course of the last few days in the entire country, no one has been able to poke a single hole in a single word of this resolution. So this is filled up with facts. Now, what's very telling is Congressional Democrats and others don't want the American public to have more information. Congressional Republicans, the White House, others want the American public to have as much information as possible so they can form their own independent judgment.

REGAN: I mean, I think we deserve it. We need the information. There's still a lot of questions out there. No matter how it shakes out if we get the information and I get it, you got to redact certain things to protect certain people but at least let people make their own conclusion.

ZELDIN: The White House should declassify the FISA application. If you need to redact some of the sources and methods, that's fine. The fact is, as you read through this resolution, we now have a lot of answers. And now--

REGAN: Oh, we're getting there.

ZELDIN: And now we need accountability.

REGAN: Congressman, it's good to see you.

ZELDIN: It's great to see you as well.

REGAN: It's great to have you here.

ZELDIN: It's great to be here.

REGAN: Thank you. All right, the President continuing to call the Russia investigation a witch hunt on Twitter this morning. A senior intelligence and law enforcement officials shared classified information about the probe with Congressional leaders this past Thursday. I'm going to tell you what they had to say about it as we look ahead today on SUNDAY MORNING FUTURES.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REGAN: Congressional leaders meeting with senior intelligence and law enforcement officials this past Thursday about the Russia investigation. President Trump claims the so-called government spy was placed in his campaign. One day after that meeting, the President tweeting can anyone even imagine having spies placed in a competing campaign by the people and party in absolute power for the sole purpose of political advantage and gain? And to think that the party in question even with the expenditure of far more money lost, exclamation point. Now here's the other side. Democrat Ranking Member on the House Intelligence Committee Adam Schiff, watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REP. ADAM SCHIFF, DCALIFORNIA: Nothing we heard today has changed our view that there is no evidence to support any allegation that the FBI or any intelligence agency placed a spy in the Trump Campaign or otherwise failed to follow appropriate procedures and protocols.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REGAN: Joining me right now, Bud Cummins. He's a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Arkansas and Partner at Avenue Strategies. Good to see you, Bud.

BUD CUMMINS, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: Good morning.

REGAN: What do you think really happened here?

CUMMINS: Well, you know, they're playing word games and it's intended to be a distraction and I think if you look at the overall landscape, there's a lot of concern among the Democrats and the left about the political implications of these latest revelations. They don't want to concede that a spy was put in the campaign. OK, what about a confidential human resource paid to approach members of the campaign to try and elicit damning information? I mean, you can call it whatever you want, but they -- during the course of an ongoing presidential campaign, the FBI targeted people in the campaign and went on a fishing expedition --

REGAN: OK, what's the difference between a spy and an informant?

CUMMINS: You got me. What's the difference between a murdering MS-13 gang member and an animal? You know, what's the difference between they eavesdropped on my campaign, whatever the President said, you know, they eavesdropped on me in Trump Tower. Well, they put taps on members of his -

- of his team that talked to him. You know, it's a word game but the talking points is really what it is.

REGAN: So I guess the question then, Bud, is were they doing this for political reasons or were they doing this because they somehow thought there was a legit a legit fear that the Russians had infiltrated the Trump campaign? The President says, political leaders.

CUMMINS: Actually look in the (INAUDIBLE) of all the decision makers but it's gross incompetence and at best it was a bunch of career bureaucrats within DOJ and FBI trying to somehow get involved in something they absolutely had no understanding of which is politics and they completely gummed it up. That's the best scenario.

REGAN: So why would they do that?

CUMMINS: Well, they might have convinced themselves they were trying to do good and they had some legitimate concern about Russian interference and elections. I mean, we can give them that. But now, let's fast forward and I ask you, what are they investigating now? What are they -- what is Mueller team -- and I ascribe no misdeeds to Rosenstein or Mueller, what are they investigating? And in this polarized country, shouldn't you and I know that? I mean you and I probably have eight or twelve years of college between us and we have no idea what they're doing.

REGAN: Well, they're -- OK, they're allegedly investigating collusion. They want to know whether the Russians colluded with the Trump campaign. I mean, I think you and I have -- and the rest of America right now has already seen that there is no evidence of collusion between Donald Trump and the Russians.

CUMMINS: That's right. So what are they investigating at?

REGAN: But that's what -- they're claiming that they could wrap it up shortly. I mean, I guess it's a question of whether or not the President is willing to sit down for an interview. Should he?

CUMMINS: I don't think he should because it's a trap and until he and his team and the American public even know what crime they're investigating. You know, they -- you've talked about a young man being released in Venezuela, you've talked about North Korea, our justice system is supposed to be different than that. You know, there's a -- there's a DOJ motto, it's in Latin and there's kind of a little mystery about it because apparently, the people who understand Latin say it doesn't really mean anything. It's grammatically incorrect. So -- but I'll tell you one thing it doesn't mean, show me the man and we'll find you the crime. That's a Russian -- that's about as American as Russian caviar and that's what we're doing right now.

REGAN: So Lee Zeldin, Congressman Zeldin was just here on set and he's calling for a second special counsel. I've talked to some people say they don't like special counsels period because they think it sends us down a dangerous path and a slippery slope. That said, I think what you're getting at is you know, they've got this investigation going on. So far they've come up with no collusion but is there something else there? Is there a deep state at work that really wants to basically change the will of the American people? And if so, does that deserve a special counsel investigation?

CUMMINS: I -- count me among the people that don't like the special counsel statute. Congress created the Independent Counsel. They tried to fix it here. It obviously doesn't work. They've allowed a special counsel to be launched like the bomber at the end of Dr. Strangelove on fraudulent pretense and now they don't know how to recall it. It's just going. And so I don't -- I don't like that. I think it's, in this case, it's the weaponization of politics. But the American people deserve the truth. So whether it's through the independent or through the OIG reports or through a special committee that Congress sets up for this purpose to have hearings like an Iran-Contra and find out -- but they need to do it soon because the American people -- there's so many important things going on and nobody deserves to have this distraction where there is questions about the President about Russia when we've got all these important things going on.

REGAN: Bud, before I let you go, I mean, isn't this exactly what Russia might wanted? I mean, isn't this what Vladimir Putin wanted all along, I mean this discord that we now have?

CUMMINS: Of course it is. Of course, it is. Their interests merged with the Democrat Party's interests and they were able to con the country into going down this path and we don't know how to stop it.

REGAN: All right, Bud Cummings, it's so good to see you. Thank you very much for all your insight. Be sure everyone --

CUMMINS: Thank you.

REGAN: You got to catch next Sunday's show because Maria is going to be interviewing the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunez. It's starting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern right here on the Fox News Channel. You know there's a chance that the summit with Kim Jong-un might actually still happen. Coming up why analysts say North Korea may need a deal as we look ahead today on "Sunday Morning Futures."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REGAN: Good morning everyone. Today we are following two major developments at this hour for the President happening on the world stage. First, Venezuelan prisoner Joshua Holt, he's back home in the USA. President Trump helping to secure his release after he spent two years behind bars in Venezuela. The President also making an announcement about the North Korean summit last night. The June 12th meeting, hey, it might be back on. The White House is reportedly sending a team to Singapore to prepare for potential talks with Kim Jong-un. All this coming after a surprise meeting between Kim and South Korea's President Moon Jae-in yesterday. So here's what the President had to say about the release of Josh Holt and the possible June 12th summit. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're looking at June 12th in Singapore that hasn't changed and it's moving along pretty well so we'll see what happens. We've had 17 prisoners released during the Trump Administration. You were a tough one, I have to tell you. That was a tough -- that was a tough situation. But we've had 17 released and we're very proud of that record, very proud. And we have others coming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REGAN: Joining me right now, Gordon Chang. He's the Author of Nuclear Showdown and the Coming Collapse of China. Boy, we've got a lot to talk about here today. But let me start actually with Venezuela and the significance of Josh Holt being back home in America right now. What does that tell you?

GORDON CHANG, AUTHOR, NUCLEAR SHOWDOWN: Well this is the second time this month that President Trump has secured the release of Americans and I don't think that's a coincidence. I think the bad actors around the world have taken one look at this President and said he's really regained his footing and now is not the time to mess with the United States of America.

REGAN: So that's a big deal. I mean, everything that he's doing right now may be in fact a little bit calculated for that world stage given that we've got these negotiations going on with North Korea. Do you think the summit is going to happen?

CHANG: Yes, I think so. The North Koreans need this summit. They need sanctions relief, they certainly don't want the United States to take out their nuke in their missile facilities. And Kim wants legitimization of course meeting President Trump. And also he needs a counterweight to the Chinese. The United States has no territorial designs on the Korean Peninsula and the Chinese you know, they've had a really rough relationship with the Koreans for two millennia. So, I think Kim really wants to meet Trump. And we saw that on Thursday when you know, the President cancels the summit and within hours the North Koreans come out with this string of unusually conciliatory messages and saying we even will go for the Trump formula on denuclearization. This is really quite stunning.

REGAN: So why did they pull what they did? I mean, why did they have so many aggressive statements in the days before that led us to have to say, OK guys, enough.

CHANG: Well, I think there are a number of factors but the most important one is that the Chinese were really starting to say to the Koreans especially after that second summit on the 7th and 8th of this month where Kim went to China two times in a row, I think the Chinese basically said, look pull back. You don't have to deal with the Americans because we Chinese are going to support your economy. And we saw in the first two weeks of this month, the price of gas and diesel in the northern part of North Korea fell dramatically. And the only reason that could have happened is because the Chinese are pumping much more oil through the friendship pipeline.

REGAN: And I also heard that coal may actually -- the coal trade may have been resumed as well where the North Koreans aren't able to send the Chinese coal. In that case, they're in violation of the sanctions that they signed up to with us.

CHANG: For about three months now, maybe two and a half, there's been really blatant Chinese sanctions busting and it's a number of things. It's North Korean workers are now back in China. It's Chinese investment into North Korea. There's all those gifts that Xi Jinping gave this to Kim at the end of the March at their summit. That's a violation of U.N. sanctions. And the worst thing about this Trish, is not only that the Chinese violated the sanctions by giving all those luxury items, they photographed it and they were saying look, we're violating sanctions, U.S., what are you going to do about it?

REGAN: Yes. Well, we can do something. Believe me, we could do a whole lot about it. You know, and don't forget and I know you've talked about this a lot and I appreciate this because you and I are simpatico on this one, we have economic leverage. So before we start you know, sending troops, we ought to be doing everything economically we possibly can with China to influence what they're doing with North Korea. And by that I mean--

CHANG: We held all the high cards for instance. We can, for instance, declared four of the biggest Chinese banks to be primary money-laundering concerns. It used to be just Bank of China. Now there's evidence coming out that the three others of the big four have also been handling North Korea's money.

REGAN: By the way, wait, it's in operation right down there. I mean, it's closed today because it's Sunday but it's in operation right over there on Madison.

CHANG: Yes, at 40th and Sixth Avenue, eight blocks from here. So we can do that. We also -- you know, we got ZTE that Chinese embattled telecom manufacturer. It's got a death sentence right now from the Trump Administration and the Chinese need relief from that. There's all sort of things --

REGAN: But we're letting it exist, Gordon. I was a little surprised by that because it feels like a little-mixed signal.

CHANG: Yes. And I wouldn't do that because you know, people are saying we'll look, the ZTE deal that the President has negotiated is a good one. But the point is this is not an issue of whether it's a good deal or not for us or them. The point is the Chinese have made this an issue of political will by saying you have to give relief to ZTE and so any deal, so no deal no matter how good is a good deal. We need to show China that we have political will and that we will not allow them to mess with Iran sanctions, North Korea sanctions, you name it.

REGAN: OK, so maybe not trade so much or maybe you know --

CHANG: Not trade so much and --

REGAN: I mean, the whole trade thing is a whole other conversation because the idea that they're like, OK, we're going to knock our 25 percent tariffs down to fifteen percent on cars.

CHANG: That makes no difference. Tariff has to go down to what our tariff is on Chinese cars coming into the U.S. --

REGAN: 2.5 percent.

CHANG: 2.5 percent.

REGAN: Or how about zero for everyone. I'll take that.

CHANG: Zero for everyone

REGAN: All right, Gordon, it's good to see. Thank you.

CHANG: Thank you.

REGAN: There's a lot we can do and we should do but it's going in the right direction.

CHANG: Absolutely.

REGAN: All right, good. Gordon Chang. Ten progressive candidates winning in the Democratic Party's carry the momentum over into midterms. We're going to debate that with our panel as we look ahead today right here on "Sunday Morning Futures.'

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REGAN: New concerns for the Democratic Party as they struggle to find their way ahead of midterms. Last week we saw several progressives winning Democratic primaries in many red states, take Georgia's Governor's race where Democrat Stacey Abrams is now running for an office in a state that hasn't elected a Democrat for Governor since 1998. But then in New York, Democrat Party heavyweights overwhelmingly getting behind incumbent Governor Andrew Cuomo over his progressive challenger Cynthia Nixon. Here with me Ed Rollins, Republican Strategist and former Campaign Manager for the Reagan-Bush ticket 1984 and Democratic Strategist Jessica Tarlov. She's a Senior Director of Research at Bustle.com, both are Fox News Contributors. It's good to see you both.

ED ROLLINS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

JESSICA TARLOV, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, BUSTLE DIGITAL GROUP: Thank you for having us.

REGAN: Ed, starting with you, where are the weaknesses right now as you see it? What is -- what is the problem with the Democrats message -- that's a big question -- but what is the problem with it and will Republicans be successful as a result?

ROLLINS: Well, it's five months to go. We don't know what's going to happen. A lot can happen in the next couple months. Here's what is happening. There's a lot of enthusiasm among particularly women candidates who are turning out. There's a lot of people on the Democratic side, there's a lot of people who basically thought OK, we've got to go out and fight Trump. There's been some intensity the voter turnout now. And when that happens sometimes the establishment types and as you look across the line just at side your side. If you're an incumbent, sometimes you're not doing very well. There's a real anti-movement out there. Now, how does that -- how does that get -- when you get to November you've got two candidates but I would say at this point in time Democrats are struggling to find a message. The Nancy Pelosi message is not exactly what they're adhering to and I think the reality is you're a party about Trump, he's the leader of our party and so candidates and our side go out and say I'm going to support the President's programs. That's much easier to determine.

REGAN: But it's one of the things that gets so challenging here Jessica, the fact that some of the President's programs actually are very in line with -- historically what a lot of Democrats have wanted. And I look to Pennsylvania for example --

TARLOV: And Ohio, Sherrod Brown who backs the President's trade policies, Connor Lamb did in the Pennsylvania special election where he took that seat. So there's a delicate line that Democrats have to walk especially in the middle of the country and we have ten Democrat Senators up for reelection in states that President Trump took by a lot. But I would say pointing to the Georgia primary for instance, Stacey Abrams won the support of Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton so that wasn't really about the division between the moderate wing and the progressive wing. And if you look at Amy McGrath for instance, she was a fighter pilot. She has an amazing story. Yes she has progressive values but this isn't your typical Bernie Sanders candidate. Here she talked a lot about national security. She talked a lot about patriotism. Topics that Republicans have tried to co-opt and make their own and I think that's really when you look at the odds and we've talked about this a lot before, you see a lot more Democrats featuring their service to this country and leading with that which I think is a great trend line.

REGAN: We have a lot of women running --

TARLOV: So many that are on our side.

ROLLINS: Which is -- which is positive and a lot of -- a lot of -- a lot of people in the primers and it's not just an established candidate. Equally as important though, I think, is that there's an intensity out there and I think we had an intensity in the -- in the general. That's how Trump got elected. And a lot of the -- a lot of Democratic voters voted for Trump so some Democrats have to go try and get some of those voters back. Hopefully, we get our voters turnout and historically and the drop off of the election there's a 30 percent drop off. And so as whose voters are going to vote, that's easy for us to predict who's going to win if you tell us who is going to vote. Right now we don't know who was going to vote.

REGAN: When we think about all the female candidates that are out there, you know, it's in some ways a little surprising that others haven't gotten behind say like the Cynthia Nixon versus Andrew Cuomo. We all remember this quote from Madeleine Alberta, I'm going to play it for you and I want to get your reaction, Jessica. Here she is back in 2016 telling why -- telling people why women should support Hillary Clinton.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MADELEINE ALBRIGHT, FORMER UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: Just remember there's a special place in hell for women who don't help each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REGAN: That kind of backfired if you'll recall, Jessica.

TARLOV: It did, unfortunately.

REGAN: And you're not seeing you know, Cynthia Nixon say get the support just because she's a woman.

TARLOV: But that's not what Madeleine Albright was saying.

ROLLINS: And she shouldn't -- she shouldn't get the vote just because she's a woman. The critical thing here and having been around this game a long time. I have never seen a primary that's continued. The Sanders- Hillary battle is still going on even back in when Bush lost to Reagan in 1980, three weeks later was back to Republican Party. There's still Sanders people out there who never going to vote for the Hillary people and vice versa. In the case of Governor Cuomo, this is the largest -- second largest state in the country, overwhelming Democrat state. Cuomo is a major player. You can't basically walk away from him. She is the outlier. She's basically the challenger and I don't think she ends up winning, but it's not like you don't like women because you're voting for Cuomo.

TARLOV: Yes, that's not the argument and I think this is something that Republicans try to do to spin this argument where they say you were playing identity politics, you should just back Hillary because she's a woman. It was you should back Hillary because she's the most qualified person for this job.

REGAN: The quote was there's a special place in hell for women who don't back other women and it was this sense that you know, how dare you if you are a woman not vote for the first woman that's running for president.

TARLOV: That is a tiny piece of what Madeleine Albright was saying and it's also a tiny piece of understanding Madeleine Albright's history in this country. That's the first female Secretary of State.

REGAN: I'd like to see us get away from some of this identity politics and a little bit more back to the issues.

TARLOV: But Cynthia Nixon is not --

REGAN: We'll get a quick break. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

REGAN: The firestorm of debate continues after the Justice Department briefing on the alleged spying on the Trump presidential campaign. Congressional Democrats saying they have not seen any evidence to support the claim. Let's bring our panel back. Republican Strategist Ed Rollins and Democratic Strategist Jessica Tarlov, both Fox News Contributors. And I'm starting with you on this because you use some questions. Fill us in.

ROLLINS: I have some -- I have real questions. I mean, this guy help or whatever his name is, whoever had him in that campaign, he wasn't -- he wasn't a Trump supporter so he's wandering around being paid at one point in his life by the CIA and by the -- by the FBI. Someone are basically -- and if I was the president, I'd say -- I'd bring somebody in from the Justice Department and I say you tell me what's going on my own campaign. This is outrageous. This isn't about criminal activity, this is about me.

The idea that you're paying it for somebody to be in my campaign spying on me or whatever you want to call it is outrageous and we want to stop it. We never want to happen again.

'

REGAN: I think he ought to know, right? Like he deserves -- we all deserve to know, by the way. And this is why I'd love to see some of the stuff be declassified within reason and we want to protect people of course, but Jessica everybody has a lot of questions. Shouldn't the President United States know what happened and why this particular person was there inside his campaign as an informant?

TARLOV: Well, I think that we do know because we know that the Intelligence Community warned the Trump Campaign that there were attempts oppression and infiltration. That's something the President denied on Twitter yesterday but we know that to be the case that was widely reported and NBC broke that news. So we do know the reason that had happened in the first place. Following up on that, I understand his desire to understand -- to know everything that he possibly can about this but then he turned it into a partisan issue and didn't want Democrats to be there for the briefings by the DOJ. That seems completely wrong to me. Then he marched his Chief of Staff and his personal attorney or the White House Attorney into that briefing, had them just give opening comments about how the President wants transparency when he really just wants politicization.

REGAN: Well, I don't think there's a politicization. I mean, I think the other side

(CROSSTALK)

ROLLINS: Why didn't the CIA, if they knew about this, why didn't the FBI, if they knew about this say to the President, not as a president but as a candidate, you've got problems in your campaign. There's Russians basically in there --

REGAN: That's a valid question.

TARLOV: But the reports indicate that they did warn them and they didn't heed this warning.

ROLLINS: Who did they warned? There's nobody stepped forward and said I told Trump, I told Manafort, I told anybody, I told Cory, no one has said that. What they have said is that basically after the fact, and you know there were partisans. Brennan and those guys were partisans. They're as partisan as anybody I've seen in my 50 years in politics. And the CIA guy basically was -- this was an old CIA guy Halperin. And at the end of the day, they were doing things they should have been doing.

REGAN: All right, so what does that tell you about our system? If that is allowed to happen, and Jessica, I mean, if that's allowed to happen,

(CROSSTALK)

REGAN: If we -- if we assume the DOJ sent a spy informant, whatever you want to call him, into the Trump campaign, Ed, I mean --

ROLLINS: If I was running a campaign and the FBI knew there was somebody in my campaign who was doing something un-American, I would want to know immediately and fire him. I cut it off. And I think it's just ridiculous they didn't do that.

TARLOV: But what if there were people in your campaign who are doing things that are un-American like George Papadopoulos --

REGAN: All right, I got to leave --

TARLOV: -- who is communicating with Russia?

REGAN: I'll see you next week.

(CROSSTALK)

REGAN: Good to see you both. Thank you so much and as we mentioned earlier, be sure to catch next Sunday show. Yes, our thanks to all of our troops and everyone that made such a tremendous sacrifice with their own life for this great country. Maria is going to be interviewing the Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee Devin Nunes, starts 10:00 a.m. Eastern. I'll see you right back here -- oh, well on Fox Business, on Tuesday.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END

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A power outage at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio, brought rides to a stop on Monday afternoon  and stranded dozens of guests on one of the parks most popular roller coasters.

Sarah Parry, a guest at the park, claims riders on the Millennium Force roller coaster were trapped in their seats for at least an hour. She also shared footage that showed the roller coaster stopped midway up the rides lift hill.

I am still here and its been over an hour and it still hasnt moved, Parry wrote on Twitter. Other rides are down as well.

5 SEAWORLD AND BUSCH GARDENS PARKS OFFERING FREE ADMISSION TO VETERANS

Witnesses say the Millennium Force wasnt the only ride affected by the power outage, with many observing that the Sky Ride, WindSeeker, and Rougaru had come to a standstill as well.

The Sky Ride station, too, appeared to be smoking during the outage.

It was really scary. I felt really bad for them. Especially looking around at the Millennium Force. People on the cable rides, the swings. You saw so many people stuck. It was so horrible, said Alecia Beggs, a guest who spoke with Fox 8 Cleveland.

VETERAN CLAIMS HE WAS KICKED OFF SIX FLAGS RIDE FOR NOT HAVING 'REAL LEGS'

Power to the park was originally lost at around 1:45 p.m., after a car struck a utility pole, according to Cedar Point spokesperson Tony Clark. Power was only restored about two hours later, according to Cedar Point.

Employees were reportedly helping stranded guests off the rides in the interim.

FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS

Mondays power outage marks the second incident to befall Cedar Point this month. On May 5, the parks Steel Vengeance roller coaster was shut down after one of the trains lightly bumped a parked train in the loading station. It was the rides first day of public operation.
The first named storm of the 2018 hurricane season made landfall late Monday on the Florida panhandle, bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds to the coastal area normally packed with Memorial Day crowds.

The National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. ET advisory that Subtropical Storm Alberto has top sustained winds of 45 mph, and made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida panhandle

"On the forecast track, the center of Alberto will cross the northern Gulf Coast in the warning area this afternoon or evening," the center said. "The weakening system is forecast to move well inland into the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday and into the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region on Wednesday and Thursday."

The NHC warned of life-threatening surf conditions, the possibility of a few brief tornadoes in much of Florida and parts of Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama. Heavy rains are also expected in many areas, with some locations seeing between up to a foot of rain across the Florida panhandle into Alabama.

Alberto's approach to the region triggered mandatory evacuations of some small, sparsely populated Gulf Coast barrier islands in one Florida county.

Lifeguards posted red flags along the white sands of Pensacola Beach, where swimming and wading were banned amid high surf and dangerous conditions. The hurricane center said a tropical storm warning was in effect from the Suwannee River in Florida to the Mississippi-Alabama state line.

"We've got currently, at double red flags," Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said at a news conference Sunday. "That means that people are not allowed to go in the water, there could be legal consequences if they go in the water because there are very dangerous surf conditions so we do that for their safety as well as the safety of responders."

THOUSANDS EVACUATE AS ALBERTO BEARS DOWN ON NORTHERN GULF COAST

The Florida Division of Emergency Management said in a statement Sunday that a mandatory evacuation has been issued in Franklin County for all barrier islands there and those in the county living directly on the coast in mobile homes or in recreation vehicle parks.

The storm's approach during the busy Memorial Day weekend caused disruptions for local businesses, eating away at profits.

In the seaside town of St. Marks located south of Tallahassee, the threat of severe weather kept many people out of the Riverside Cafe. Bartender John Hargan told WCTV what normally is a large weekend for the restaurant has instead turned into an "all hands on deck" situation to handle any damage.

"We're going to unplug everything that we can unplug, we're going to lift it up the best that we can and we're just going to let mother nature take its course," he said.

GULF COAST BRACES FOR IMPACT AS ALBERTO THREATENS FLASH FLOODS

Another small business, Taylor Airboats, told FOX35 they had to cancel some bookings over the weekend.

"I had some people that wanted to go out on the boat ride but I said I don't think we're going to make it because it's coming in pretty quick," owner Dennis Inman said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
He killed a cop  and now he wants a payday from the city.

Convicted Queens murderer Demetrius Blackwell  who is serving life in prison without parole for fatally shooting NYPD Officer Brian Moore in May 2015  whines in court papers he was attacked by two inmates while behind bars.

Blackwell claims he was jumped in April 2017 by two other cons at the Brooklyn Detention Center  thanks to the carelessness, recklessness and gross negligence of prison staff.

The 37-year-old killer suffered a deep, almost 5-inch slice to his face, according to court papers.

Blackwell  whom a judge described as a cold, calculating killer at his sentencing  insists that he was an innocent victim in the brawl.

The cop-killer says he was attacked without provocation and justification, according to the suit.

The melee was caught on surveillance footage, which shows a correction officer using pepper spray to break up the fight.

Blackwells two alleged attackers were identified as convicted robbers Kai Watkins, 39, and Layquan Johnson, 34.

Blackwell got the book thrown at him when sentenced by Queens Judge Gregory Lasak in December for shooting Moore, a five-year department veteran, in the face while he was on patrol.

Read more from the New York Post.
A South Carolina anchor and photographer died on Monday after a large tree fell on their SUV while they were covering Subtropical Storm Alberto.

WYFF news anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were covering rain impact in Polk County, North Carolina, when a tree fell on their SUV, killing both of them, their home station said Monday night.

Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant said in a press conference that at about 2:30 P.M., the station received a call that there was a tree down on a vehicle with people trapped inside. When local authorities arrived, they saw a tree on the SUV in what Tennant estimated to be around three feet in diameter.

He also said that the vehicle appeared to be in motion when it was struck because the engine was running and the transmission was in drive when rescue teams approached.

I think it was a matter of the tree root system had failed and the tree came down Tennant told local reporters. He said that he did not believe it was a slide but rather a cause of saturated grounds because of the rain.

All of us at WYFF News 4 are grieving. We are a family and we thank you, our extended family, for your comfort as we mourn and as we seek to comfort the families of Mike and Aaron, the station said.

Tennant said he was also personally affected by the deaths because he had been interviewed by McCormick only 10 mins before he and his co-worker were struck and killed by the falling tree.

Its the first time I met either one of the two gentlemen but you feel a sense of responsibility toward them, Tennant said.

The first named storm of the 2018 hurricane season made landfall late Monday on the Florida panhandle, bringing heavy rainfall and strong winds to the coastal area normally packed with Memorial Day crowds.The National Hurricane Center said in its 5 p.m. ET advisory that Subtropical Storm Alberto had top sustained winds of 45 mph, and made landfall near Laguna Beach in the Florida panhandle.

McCormick, originally from Arkansas, joined the NBC affiliate station in 2007 as a reporter after years in the industry. He became an anchor in 2014.

Smeltzer, originally from Virginia, joined WYFFs team only a few months ago, in February.

Tennant says that the North Carolina State Highway Patrol will be leading the investigation going forward.
Joshua Holt, who was unjustly detained in Venezuela for two years, arrived to a warm welcome in his home state of Utah Monday night after meeting with President Donald Trump in Washington D.C.

Holt and his wife Thamy were greeted at Salt Lake City International Airport by a crowd filled with family, friends, and politicians who joined the couple and their daughter in the singing of the national anthem.

A second homecoming celebration will take place in Holts hometown of Riverton City, Utah, where streets were lined with green ribbons on light poles and trees. Green is Holts favorite color, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

The 26-year-olds long-awaited arrival comes after he spent roughly two years incarcerated in Venezuela after traveling to the country in the summer of 2016 to marry Thamara Candelo. The pair planned to return to the U.S. after their nuptials, but were jailed in El Hilcolde on what human rights groups said were largely trumped-up charges.

TRUMP MEETS WITH UTAH MAN WHO'S BACK IN US AFTER LONG CAPTIVITY IN VENEZUELA

Holt met with Trump at the White House Saturday following his return back to the U.S.

Trump said it was "a great honor" to have the Holts there after "a very tough ordeal in a Venezuelan prison."

While at the White House, Holt said he was "overwhelmed with gratitude" to those who worked for his freedom. He also thanked his wife for supporting him through the "very difficult two years."

Fox News Elizabeth Zwirz contributed to this report.
Four people were shot and killed inside a Tennessee home Monday in an apparent murder-suicide, police said.

The Rutherford County Sheriffs Office said the shooting happened at a Murfreesboro home at around 3:30 p.m. Two men and two women were killed inside a bedroom, FOX13 Memphis reported.

Officials said the victims were family members.

Sean Ganey, who was identified as the shooter, shot his wife Cassidy Ganey, her father Kenny Adair, her stepmother Shelly Lorenz-Adair and then himself, Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh said. A child found at the scene was unharmed.

Sean Ganey was taken to a hospital by officers on Friday after he expressed thoughts about suicide, police said. The weapons were removed from home and police are unsure how he was able to get the weapon used in the killings.

He was transported to the hospital and... we're trying to find out now what took place after that, Fitzhugh told reporters, according to the Daily News Journal.

Police were still trying to piece together the events that led up to the shooting. They said marital trouble may be to blame.

We do think that there may have been a possibility of a divorce or at least comment of a divorce that may have led to this, Fitzhugh said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The body of a National Guardsman was found in a Maryland river on Tuesday, two days after he went missing while attempting to rescue a woman and her cat during devastating flash floods that swept through Ellicott City.

Howard County police said the body of Eddison Hermond, 39, was located in Patapsco River, just across Baltimore County line. Hermond was seen around 5:20 p.m. Sunday near La Palapa restaurant on Main Street, Howard County police said.

"Rescue personnel have been searching buildings and waterways in the area since the flood. There have been no other reports of missing people," police said.

Hermond is a sergeant assigned to Camp Fretterd in Reisterstown, Md. He joined the Maryland Army National Guard in 2009 after serving in the Air Force for more than a decade.

Kate Bowman told the Baltimore Sun that Hermond was trying to pull her to safety when he washed away.

I could barely see anything and I could barely hear anything, Bowman, 41, told the newspaper. He stepped over the ledge to try to get to me, and he was washed away.

Bowman said she fled her shop, Clippers Canine Cafe, with her cat through a window because the rainwater flooded the area. The water was waist-high when Hermond spotted her.

MARYLAND FLASH FLOODS LEAVE NATIONAL GUARD MEMBER MISSING, GOVERNOR DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY

Bowman said the rescue had nothing to do with her cat.

He was trying to save me, Bowman said. Hes a hero.

Hermond was reported missing by 12:30 a.m. Monday after officials searched the area where he was taken away by floodwaters, but couldnt find the 39-year-old. Dogs were deployed to help look in buildings and vehicles.

Were just tossing around ideas, Beth Czyryca, one of Hermonds friends, told the newspaper. Maybe hes sitting up in a tree where no one can see him, or he broke both his legs and cant walk and is waiting for someone to find him.

She called Hermond the nicest person in the world who always had a smile on his face. Czyrca added that she wasnt surprised that her friend, whom shes known for a decade, was trying to rescue someone during the flash flooding.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan said he was "deeply saddened" to hear Harmond had died.

"Were deeply saddened to learn that the body of @MDNG Sgt. Eddison Hermond has been found. There are no words to adequately describe our sense of loss," he tweeted Tuesday.

Residents in Ellicott City, about 13 miles west of Baltimore, returned to their businesses and homes Monday to examine the damage cause by the massive flood. Just hours before, murky brown water rushed through the city center, taking with it anything in its path. Videos and photos showed flipped vehicles and debris littering streets and storefronts. Officials said the weekend flooding was worse than the July 2016 storm that wreaked havoc on the city of nearly 66,000 people.

For many residents, this is the second time they will be rebuilding following a 2016 deluge that caused millions in damages.

Time to rebuild, thats it, restaurateur Michel Tersiguel said. Its no question for us. We rebuilt the building last time, so that helped.  Our plan is to get at it as soon as the county lets us in.

Local officials recently said about 96 percent of the business destroyed during the 2016 flooding were back in operation and more than 20 new businesses had again opened in the Main Street area. But the rebuild proved to be short-lived, leaving some shop owners questioning whether they will do it all over again.

"We'll see. It takes a lot of money and a lot of time, a lot of energy. We'll just have to assess it," Nathan Sowers said about rebuilding his pizza shop.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Chicago fire department diver looking for a man who fell off a boat into the Chicago River has been killed.

The department said in a statement that its "prayers go out to the family of Firefighter Juan Bucio." It says on Twitter he "tragically passed away answering a call of a person in the water."

Police say the man fell off the boat Monday night. Bucio was killed and two other divers were injured while searching for him.

Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago said the 46-year-old Bucio was in the water with a dive partner when the partner lost contact with him.

His partner turned around and he was missing. It was that quick, Santiago said.

He said Bucio later was pulled from the water and was pronounced dead at Stronger Hospital, The Chicago Tribune reported.

The man who fell off the boat hasn't been found. The other two divers are hospitalized in stable condition.

Two firetrucks parked facing each other near the Cook County medical center with their ladders up, which is custom when a firefighter dies on duty.

The Associated Press contributed to this report
U.S. citizen Cindy Garcia on Tuesday defended the Trump administration's decision to deport her husband, Jorge, saying she can't fault President Donald Trump for executing the laws of the land.

Garcia appeared on CNN to talk about her husband's current life in Mexico and what her next steps would be with his case, which prompted her to advocate changes to immigration laws. Host Brooke Baldwin noted Garcia wasn't upset at government agents and asked her what Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had said to her about her husband.

"Yes, I am not upset at our government due to the fact that I am a U.S. citizen and that our laws come first," Garcia said. "Our laws are just broken and need to be fixed, but I can't be mad at Trump for doing his job because that is his job to protect us, as U.S. citizens, from criminals. The only thing is my husband was not a criminal and those are the laws that need to be fixed because they are broken for the people  brought as children, doing the right thing, and have never committed a crime."

"For the criminals that have come here illegally, they need to go back," Garcia added.

Baldwin followed up by asking whether Garcia has spoken to the White House about her husband's case.

Click for more from the Washington Free Beacon.
A Southern California man arrested on suspicion of having explosives after a blast killed his ex-girlfriend at her day spa has walked free after U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday that they had dropped the charge against him.

Stephen Beal was released from jail Sunday  a day after a judge approved prosecutors request to drop a single charge of possessing an unregistered destructive device, the U.S. attorneys office said.

Beal, 59, was arrested during the investigation into the May 15 bombing that killed Ildiko Krajnyak in her Orange County spa, but he was never named as a suspect in the blast.

Federal investigators said they had discovered two improvised explosive devices, three firearms and more than 100 pounds of explosive material during a search that Beal allowed of his house.

Prosecutors dropped the charge after the FBI said it had questions about whether material found in the house met the legal definition of a destructive device.

Beal, a model-rocket hobbyist, told investigators he had not made any bombs and did not have material for an explosion as powerful as the one he saw in news coverage.

Krajnyak, 48, was killed and two female clients were seriously injured when she opened a box that erupted in a fiery explosion at the spa in the city of Aliso Viejo, about 50 miles south of Los Angeles, investigators said.

The curtains and blinds were drawn at Beals home in Long Beach, and he did not answer the door or return messages sent to him by friends on behalf of The Associated Press.

Im glad hes home. I feel sorry for him, said Don Westerhoff, who lives across the street. You can be able to build rockets and not be able to build a bomb thatll blow up in a box.

Beal told investigators that he and Krajnyak had recently split up over issues of exclusivity and finances, according to an affidavit filed in court by an FBI agent. But they remained business partners.

Krajnyak, a mother and licensed cosmetologist, had just returned to California after visiting family in her native Hungary.

The Orange County district attorneys office said it would provide an update on the investigation later Tuesday.
The 2018 NAACP 11th Annual Criminal Justice Seminar is set for Saturday from 8 a.m.-2 p.m. at the UTC Student Center. The keynote speaker will be Mark Gwyn, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, who retired after 30 years of service this May.

The 2018 Thurgood Marshall Award will be presented at the seminar.

The event is free and include a luncheon. All ages are welcome and there is a special seminar for the youth and young adults.

Representatives from the school system, criminal justice department, civil rights, juvenile justice department and other scholars will be present to assist those in need.

A lifelong Tennessean, Mark Gwyn became director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in 2004. Originally from McMinnville, he holds a Bachelors Degree from Middle Tennessee State University and a Masters Degree from Tennessee State University. Mr. Gwyn began his career in public safety as a patrolman with the McMinnville Police Department before joining the TBI as a special agent in 1988. Mr. Gwyn served as the agencys executive officer and later led its Forensic Services Division before becoming director in 2004, becoming the first African-American to lead the states primary investigative law enforcement agency. In July 2016, Governor Bill Haslam reappointed Mr. Gwyn to serve as director, making him the first director in the TBI's history to be reappointed to a third term.

During his tenure, Mr. Gwyn has expanded the reach and resources of the agency. He oversaw the creation of the Technical Services Unit, which is responsible for high-tech surveillance methods, computer forensics, and investigating internet crimes against children. Under his leadership, the Tennessee Fusion Center was established within TBIs headquarters as a central hub of information sharing between local, state, and federal law enforcement partners. More recently, Mr. Gwyn spearheaded the TBIs efforts to combat human trafficking, including a unit of agents to investigate cases and train law enforcement officers across the state.

Director Gwyn has completed some of the most prestigious law enforcement and leadership training available, including the FBIs National Executive Institute, Harvard Universitys John F. Kennedy School of Government, and the FBIs Leadership in Counter-Terrorism Program. He has also graduated from the FBIs Law Enforcement Executive Development Seminar, the FBI National Academy, the Leadership Nashville Foundation, and the Tennessee Government Executive Institute. Director Gwyn also received extensive terrorism training conducted in Israel by the Israeli National Police while attending the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange. In 2015, he also graduated from the inaugural Tennessee Law Enforcement Command College.

In 2010, Mr. Gwyn received the Distinguished Alumni Award for professional achievement from MTSU, and in 2015, received the Lead By Example Award from the Tennessee Government Executive Institute. In 2016, he was awarded the Good Guy Award from the Women's Political Collaborative of Tennessee.

Mr. Gwyn proudly serves as president for the Board of Directors of the Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies. Additionally, he serves on several boards, including the IACP Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Committee, the University of Tennessee National Forensic Academy, the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee, the Criminal Intelligence Coordinator Council, Law Enforcement Executive Forum, Nashvilles Sexual Assault Center, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence Homeland Security and Law Enforcement Partners Board, and the Joint Counterterrorism Assessment Team.

To host a booth at this event please contact the NAACP at NAACPChattanooga@epbfi.com or call 280-0083 or 704-8232.


The unofficial start to summer sent tourists heading to the beach over the Memorial Day weekend, but drivers attempting to cut through one North Carolina neighborhood discovered they had to now fork over some cash after residents of a private street turned it into a toll road.

The road, Cedar Avenue, provides a bypass to Highway 210 to the popular oceanside spot of Surf City and has grown more popular over the years by vacationers who want to skip traffic backups.

"Over the years as the area has grown, traffic has gotten worse, and so people have found a cut through in our neighborhood to the beach from Highway 210 to Highway 50," resident Debbi Long told WECT. "You bypass all the stoplights, traffic and waiting."

The road is not a publicly maintained road, but instead is owned by the Cedar Landing and Creek Estates Subdivision, which means that residents who are part of the neighborhood road maintenance organization are stuck with the bill for repairs on the street. The roadway is littered with potholes and eventually becomes a dirt road.

The volume of traffic has gotten so bad that for us to maintain it with the meager funds we have, its just almost impossible now," resident Roy Ward told WWAY.

Residents decided it was eventually time to take action, and held an emergency meeting before Memorial Day weekend, where it was decided they should charge $5 for anyone who wanted to use the road over the holiday weekend. The checkpoints were open on Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The Pender County Sheriffs Office told the Port City Daily the toll was legal, because Cedar Avenue is a private road and there "are no laws that we know of that prohibit an owner of private property from charging for the use of that property."

NY FAMILY CHARGED $15,000 IN FEES CROSSING 'FREE' BRIDGE

Residents along Cedar Avenue were given stickers to prove they lived there, and the tolls were not impeding residential traffic, so the county attorney told police the toll was not in violation of state law, according to the Port City Daily. The road maintenance organization, however, could face issues if someone files a lawsuit in civil court, according to the newspaper.

The sheriff's office added that if there was "any unrest" at the toll checkpoints, they would respond to "keep the peace."

Neighbors told WECT they made $800 over the weekend from the tolls, but not without some issues. Residents had to call 911 seven times over the weekend to remove drivers who refused to pay or drove through the toll checkpoints without stopping.

In one case, a driver refused to stop at a checkpoint and hit a toll volunteer and another volunteer's vehicle, John Conerly told the television station. The driver was detained, questioned, and then released by police, according to Conerly. No injuries or major damage was reported as a result of that incident.

"This is the type of safety issue we desperately need state help with before someone is hurt, or worse," he told WECT.

The group said overall the tolls did the job to reduce the impact of cars on the private road over a busy time for vacationers, according to WWAY. It is not clear if they plan to continue the tolling for the remainder of the summer season.
Police say a Florida pizza store worker was likely justified in fatally shooting a masked man who was beating him with a wooden pole.

Holly Hill Police Chief Steve Aldrich tells news outlets that Heriberto Feliciano was ambushed and appeared to be defending himself.

Surveillance video shows the man in a scary clown mask swinging a wooden pole at Feliciano as he locked up a Little Caesars store Saturday night.

Feliciano told officers the suspect also tried to stab him with scissors. He said he pulled out his gun, for which he has a concealed weapons permit, and fired multiple times at close range. The suspect was declared dead at a hospital; his identity wasn't immediately confirmed.

Police say Feliciano was hospitalized for face and shoulder injuries.
Hawaii's Kilauea volcano generated a fast-moving lava flow that shut down a major road on Tuesday, leaving only one way out of the area and spurring a new round of evacuation orders.

Hawaii Civil Defense said that Highway 132 has been being shut down between Lava Tree State Park to Four Corners, due to a "fast moving lava" flow approaching the highway. The closure now means that there is only way to access the lower Puna area of the island.

A separate lava flow from fissure 8 is also "advancing rapidly" towards an older lava flow heading towards the Puna Geothermal Venture access road.

The lava flows on Tuesday came a day after Hawaii County officials knocked on doors on several streets in the Leilani Estates subdivision alerting residents to flee. Evacuation orders were issued Monday evening for anyone in the area east of Pomaikai Street to avoid being isolated by the flow.

Firefighters had to rescue a man whose driveway was covered by the fast-moving lava flow and had to be guided out on foot using a back way, Hawaii News Now reported.

"His only way out was through his back door and through the forest," Hawaii County Civil Defense administrator Talmadge Magno told Hawaii News Now. "Kind of disturbingly, some people just refused to leave and so it kind of gives us terrifying insight into what's going on out there."

HAWAII VOLCANO 'NOT SAFE' TO ROAST MARSHMALLOWS OVER, USGS SAYS

Magno said the incident showed why residents in the area needed to heed evacuation orders. The man reported no injuries, and turned down medical treatment, authorities told the news outlet.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on Oahu reported that a 4.4 magnitude earthquake shook the Hilina region of Kilauea volcano, southwest of the estates, but was not strong enough to generate a tsunami.

Lava has oozed over two wells at the Puna geothermal power plant, but county officials said the flow stopped. Officials said there was no release of any dangerous hydrogen sulfide gas after lava crept over the plugged wells.

As of Friday, officials said that the lava has destroyed 82 structures, including 37 homes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A U.S. Health and Human Services official played down an April report that the agency had lost track of some 1,500 immigrant children who entered the United States unaccompanied, Reuters reported Monday, citing a department officials statement.

The HHSs Office of Refugee Resettlement had gone beyond its legal requirements in late 2017 when it contacted the sponsors who had taken in those unaccompanied immigrant children, Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan said.

He said the April testimony had been "misleading."

These children are not lost; their sponsors  who are usually parents or family members and in all cases have been vetted for criminality and ability to provide for them  simply did not respond or could not be reached when this voluntary call was made, Hargan said.

Hargan said the sponsors were often illegal immigrants themselves and would not answer the ORRs check-in calls.

He blamed the recent surge in separations of unaccompanied children and their families on loopholes in immigration law.

"This is the core of this issue: In many cases, HHS has been put in the position of placing illegal aliens with the invidividuals who helped arrange for them to enter the country illegaly. This makes the immediate crisis worse and creates a perverse incentive for further violation of federal immigration law."

Hargans statement quoted Steven Wagner, the HHS official, who likened the unaccompanied alien children program to a foster care system with more than 10,000 children in custody at an immediate cost to the federal taxpayer of over one billion dollars per year.

Despite backing the Trump administrations support of the separation policy, President Trump tweeted Saturday, Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border into the U.S. Catch and Release, Lottery and Chain must also go with it and we MUST continue building the WALL! DEMOCRATS ARE PROTECTING MS-13 THUGS.
Two students at a Kentucky private high school  the valedictorian and the student council president  were told they couldnt speak at graduation because the local Catholic diocese disagreed with the content of their remarks.

So Christian Bales, valedictorian, and Katherine Frantz, the council president, used a bullhorn to give their talks Friday outside the ceremony in Northern Kentucky. Bales focused on youth activism, referring to Parkland, Fla., students calling for stricter gun control laws after a shooting massacre at their high school in February.

Diocese of Covington spokesman Tim Fitzgerald said the students didnt submit their speeches on time.

When the proposed speeches were received, they were found to contain elements that were political and inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church, Fitzgerald said in a statement.

Bales told local media outlets he isnt sure if his being openly gay played a role in their decision.

"I have been on their radar as a rather non-gender-conforming individual," he said. "I have worn makeup and bobby pins in my hair to school before. So it seems too much of a coincidence for my critical thinking to think this was just about the speech itself.

Bales added, I wasn't going to go up there and give my speech in full drag."

Bales touched on political activism by students, including himself, such as urging the removal of a Jefferson Davis statue at the state capitol, and attending the pro-life March for Life.

Theres a misguided notion that wisdom is directly proportional to age, but were disproving that daily, Bales said in his speech. The young people must be willing to speak candidly about issues, and we mustnt tremble in the face of the institution that try to silence us.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hurricane Maria killed more than 4,600 people in Puerto Rico during and after the storm wreaked havoc on the island last September, making the official death toll 70 times more than reported, a Harvard study published Tuesday claimed.

The study  led by a team of scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and published in The New England Journal of Medicine  dismissed the official death toll of 64 as a substantial underestimate. Scientists conducted a study surveying random households on the U.S. territory and found there were 4,645 hurricane-related deaths between Sept. 20 and Dec. 31 2017.

In early December 2017, the official death count in Puerto Rico stood at 64, but several independent investigations concluded that additional deaths attributable to the hurricane were in excess of 1000 in the months of September and October, the study stated.

STORM DEALT PUERTO RICO KNOCKOUT BLOW AFTER DECADES OF FISCAL FAILURE, CORRUPTION

Experts compared the number of deaths found between September and December to the same period in 2016, when the island wasnt devastated by a storm.

Researchers, however, believe the number they provided is still an underestimate. They believe the actual death count exceeds 5,000.

The storm that hit the island in September caused months of power outages and repairs on the Caribbean island, which endured Hurricane Irma the week before Maria came -- both Category 5 storms. Things on the island went from bad to catastrophic as local leaders pointed fingers at the U.S. government for not doing enough.

"This should be a day of collective mourning in Puerto Rico," San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz tweeted on Tuesday. "Thousands dead because of administrations that could not get the job done."

However, Puerto Rico was already suffering from decades of dysfunction, mismanagement and embarrassing abuses of power. Enormous debt, absurd infrastructure projects and a tradition of corruption have hampered the commonwealth's ability to get off the canvas.

Thereve been so many problems that have built up year after year, Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., told Fox News in March. Its a tough situation.

PUERTO RICO IN 'FRAGILE STATE' SIX MONTHS AFTER HURRICANE MARIA

Harvard researchers found that many Puerto Rican residents went 84 days without electricity, 68 days without water and 41 days without cell service from when Maria hit to the end of 2017. Roughly 83 percent of households had no power during the entire period.

The study also blamed interrupted medical care as the main cause of the high death toll.

By March, six months after the Maria made landfall, major repairs are still needed. More than 130,000 Puerto Ricans have moved away from the island.

Fox News' Barnini Chakraborty and Elizabeth Zwirz contributed to this report.
A firefighters rescue of a dog out on a roof in Maine involved a furry personal touch.

This beautiful dog managed to get out onto the roof of his home thru an upstairs window, Wells police wrote in a Facebook post Sunday, sharing photos of the canine.

They added, We received numerous calls but one concerned citizen, Phil Burke, discovered him early on and notified us. Another awesome citizen stood by with the dog until we could arrive on scene!

Wells Fire Capt. Jeff Nawfel used a ladder to get to the dog and got some "kisses" from the canine, NECN reports.

The police department's post sparked hundreds of reactions from Facebook users and several comments.

"Well done, and you got kisses too!!!" one commenter wrote.

"Nice job ! Doggie kisses r the best," another replied.

"Great job, guys. And, Doggie, behave yourself," one user added.

FLORIDA DEPUTIES RESCUE PUPPY LOCKED IN HOT CAR

Wells police also posted video showing the duo up on the roof, which includes Nawfel being licked. The clip has garnered 7,600 views as of Tuesday afternoon.

Officials said there's still no word on whether the troublesome pet is out of the dog house yet.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
An Ohio man accused of hiding his membership in a Serbian special police unit that massacred more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims during the 1995 genocide will leave the U.S. as part of his sentencing.

An attorney for Oliver Dragic (DRAH'-gich) said Dragic will leave for Bosnia with his mother sometime in June.

Dragic appeared in federal court Tuesday in Cleveland and was sentenced to time served after spending 13 months in custody while waiting for his case to be decided.

Dragic pleaded guilty in December to possessing and using fraudulently obtained immigration documents.

Prosecutors say Dragic, of Barberton in suburban Akron, made false statements on forms about his role in ethnic cleansing in Bosnia while applying for refugee status in the U.S. in 1998.
A young Michigan mother who admitted to performing oral sex on her 5-month-old son during a live-streamed video was sentenced to at least six years in prison.

Jazmine Pacyga, 20, admitted to fondling and performing oral sex on her baby while she live-streamed it in a video sent to Nathan Osborne, who allegedly pressured her into the act, MLive.com reported. Pacyga was sentenced last week to a minimum of six years in prison and a maximum of 25 years as she was a second-time offender, according to MLive.com.

Pacyga was convicted of producing child sexually abusive material by a jury in April. She was acquitted, however, of first-degree criminal sexual conduct because she said she did not penetrate the child, MLive.com reported at the time. A first-degree criminal sexual conduct conviction could have resulted in a life in prison charge for Pacyga.

Pacyga was reportedly 19 at the time of the incident. She told law enforcement officials the video lasted approximately five minutes, according to Muskegon Township police.

She testified that she sent Osborne videos of her having sex with another man and nude photos of herself because she needed money, according to MLive.com. She also said she sent Osborne the video of her abusing her son because she was afraid of him.

According to a written statement that was read in court, Osborne coerced Pacyga into abusing her son. He had also sent her a video of another Michigan woman sexually abusing her own son. That woman, identified as Kailee Perez, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in January.

Osborne was sentenced last year to 37 years in prison for sexual exploitation of a child and distribution of child pornography.

Pacyga was arrested in February 2017, the same month the video is believed to have been filmed, according to WOOD-TV.

According to MLive.com, Pacyga will still face trial for another charge of assaulting an inmate at the county jail. She also has a prior conviction for home invasion.
Remember last year when the Mayor Andy Berke pushed the city of Chattanooga for a property tax increase? He whined about the $150 million underfunded fire and police pension plan. The Finance Department whined about the financial challenges that the city was experiencing like the annually increasing cost of employee heath benefits. Remember City CEO Maura Sullivan whined about the hard work over tough budget decisions. These serious issues required our ultimate sacrificea tax increase. All that whining took place just nine months ago.



With those major long term financial issues still looming over the city, how do the same people have the unmitigated gall to present the 2019-No Project Is Too Outlandish To Fund-Capital Budget with a straight face? This mighty band of pollution adverse, socially concerned, fiscally unconscious politicos now demonstrate how fiscally inept they are by suggesting taxpayers pay for design and installation of a $4,050,000 light show for the Walnut Street Bridge. No mistake here. All the decimal points and zeros are in the right places.



Lest readers think this is a sick joke, below is the exact quoted description of the Ripples of Light light show budget item as it appeared in the proposed citys Capital Budget.



[Ripples of Light" by Moment Factory is an architectural and data responsive lighting design that responds to pedestrian activity on the bridge and the flow of the TN River below the bridge to create subtle color variations and ripples of light. Artistic lighting design elements include: pier grazers, heart wash lighting, pendant lighting, beacon fixtures, entrance lighting, interior vertical grazers, exterior vertical grazers and edge grazers to highlight the historic architecture of the bridge. The artistic lighting project includes expenses related to the artistic lighting fixtures and their installation, smart data, prototyping, creative services, technical services and fees.]



Forget artificial light pollution flashing off and on from the bridge. Forget the miles and miles of city roads that need repair, but never receive enough money to be repaired. Of course this show will need maintenance and future repairs, so prepare to budget that for ongoing operating expenses. Remember the cost of this Vegas light show is close in price to the always inadequate annual paving budget.



How dare they whine, raise taxes and propose spending on insanity. New LED lights were installed on the Walnut Street Bridge less than 10 years ago. We dont need Vegas lights on the Walnut Street Bridge or a city climbing wall. (Note: The climbing wall is buried in another capital project called phase one, Scramble.) Citizens struggling to pay taxes are already being driven up walls at their homes and daily scramble over potholes to travel across Chattanooga, but still they find new ways to torture taxpayers.



Which city employee or leader sponsored the Vegas light show? Did any city employees or elected officials travel out of town or receive perks from Moment Factory? I suggest a bucket of hot tar, feathers and a free rail ride for every person who votes to approve the Capital Budget.



Deborah Scott

* * *

I must agree with former councilperson Scott on the Ripples of Light proposal for the Walnut Street Bridge.

While a worthy attraction to Chattanooga's beautiful downtown, to me the history of the Walnut Street Bridge does not merit the "circus" atmosphere that other cities attach with that type of bridge lighting in their downtown areas. Lighting of that type seems to work best, when a city's entire downtown is lit in the same manner. Fancy, robust lighting also works best when the bridge is of a modern structure.

By their very nature, historic steel truss bridges have a tendency to look gaudy and pretentious with exaggerated lighting in my opinion. The Walnut Street Bridge, by the way, is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Not to mention that the historic bridge is soon to host a much-needed memorial that honors the memory and brutal slaying of Ed Johnson, an African-American dragged from his jail cell by an angry white mob in 1906 and hanged from the second span of the bridge. Ninety-four years later, he was posthumously exonerated of the charge that placed him in custody. The incident came 13 years after Alfred Blount, another African-American was also taken from his jail cell in the same manner, and hung from the first span of the bridge.

Somehow, "Las Vegas-style" lighting does not seem to lend much to the sacrifices of Mr. Johnson and Mr. Blount, nor a memorial to Mr. Johnson's honor.

Las Vegas is a nice place to visit. But I don't think I'd want to live there.

Calvin Sneed

* * *

I have had to re-read Ms. Scotts letter to make sure that what I read is real. A $4 million light show for the Walnut Street Bridge? It appears that the Snowflakes have invaded City Hall. Heart wash lighting, subtle color variations, ripples of light. Surely all of this will help to give them a safe space in which to escape lifes harsh realities. Whats worse is that we are paying their salaries.

Four million dollars for a light show? On the heels of a tax increase? At a time when the headlines surrounding our city have everything to do with our poor performing schools, ordinances to reduce homeless begging, granted requests for corporate tax abatements, lack of affordable housing, stormwater fee increases to cover an aging infrastructure, etc.? And, my personal favorite, our crumbling roads Again, are you kidding me?

You know, I do understand the concept of individuals sacrificing for the common good. For several years, I signed on to the sales pitch of sending generous tax dollars to the common goal of upgrading our downtown so as to encourage tourism and revitalize the downtown area. The sales pitch told us that all city taxpayers would also enjoy the benefit of downtown recreation/restaurants/ attractions that our tax dollars were going to build. We were also told that we would benefit from the tourism dollars gained because their spending would help to alleviate our own tax burden. I watched as new condos were built, restaurants were opened, climbing walls added, and parks and artwork adorned many city blocks. Meanwhile, in my part of the city, my roads fell into disrepair, my trash pickup was reduced, grass grew tall next to the roads and a police cruiser was never, ever seen patrolling.

To make matters worse, parking fees were instituted downtown so that I could no longer enjoy the benefits of the downtown redevelopment that my tax dollars had built without having to pay an additional fee. Multiple big corporations were being given tax abatements so that I actually ended up subsidizing them with my required tax payments. More art and more parks were added downtown while my neighborhood streets continued to fall into disrepair. City sponsored concerts sprang up downtown.

My breaking point hit when the city decided to use millions of tax dollars to revamp Miller Park. My streets are crumbling as are most of the other city streets that do not fall downtown, and yet the Mayor and his minions (read River City) decided that it was prudent to use millions to fix a downtown park that wasnt broken. Add a light show to the Walnut Street Bridge? Really?

Ive got an ideaIf the mayor and his minions really think that we need $4 million for a light show on the Walnut Street Bridge, instead of asking taxpayers who are already weary of all of the wasteful spending of his administration, why dont they take empty cans and sad looking dogs to the intersection of Walmart and Signal Mountain Road to ask for donations?

Lynn Ashton

* * *

Thanks to Deborah Scott for making people aware that the city still seems determined to light the Walnut Street Bridge like it is an attraction in Las Vegas or in an amusement park rather than a classic elegant bridge on the National Register of Historic Places.



I am one of over 100 property owners who owns a condo at the south side of the bridge. The city did not make us aware of their razzle-dazzle plans when they began planning this project last year. They seemed to forget that there is a residential neighborhood at the bridge and that we pay over $1 million in city and county property taxes each year.



Many of us bought our units because of our love for the bridge. Our concern is about much more than preservation of our views. We see first hand how much this bridge is enjoyed by so many. We walk by the many plaques on the bridge placed there to honor loved ones. It seems like city officials could have brought us and the larger community and the State Historic Preservation Office into the discussion before the "dynamic, interactive" plan got so far along.



Once we learned in April about the "Las Vegas" plan, a small group of owners formed a committee. Most members preferred white lighting and no motion. Rather than going public, we decided to try to work within the system. I was one of three owners who met with Mayor Berke to share our concerns. We made it clear that we were opposed to the vertical lighting and had concerns about the interactive lighting.



We thought our group had been successful in persuading the city to press the pause button and reconsider the design. However, the wording and price tag Ms. Scott quoted from the Capital Budget reads very much like the original "enhanced" concept.



We must now rely on the City Council to get the wording and the price tag right on this lighting project in the 2019 capital budget. If the city is intent on spending money on an interactive design, they should pick a boring modern bridge and leave the Walnut and Market Street bridges alone. These bridges have integrity and character that would be undermined by this light show.



Bruce B. Stewart
A naked man who was found yelling for help in the middle of the Columbia River on Memorial Day told Washington deputies responding to the scene to not be worried because "God has my back," officials said.

The Cowlitz County Sheriff's Office said in Facebook post that authorities responding to reports of a man struggling to swim in the middle of the river on Monday morning who told responding boaters to "go away."

When deputies arrived to the scene near the marina in Kalama, located about 40 miles north of Portland, Ore., the man told officers he was just trying to swim across the river.

The man, whose name was not released by authorities, then told deputies they should not be concerned about him because "God has my back," police said.

REAL-LIFE 'SPIDERMAN' WHO SAVED CHILD DANGLING FROM BALCONY TO BECOME FRENCH CITIZEN

Deputies were eventually able to convince man he should get in their boat after they determined he was "very tired, and very cold."

An ambulance was called to the scene after authorities determined the man had ingested a "large amount" of water and was very cold. He later taken to an area hospital.
An Oregon man was reportedly stabbed 17 times after he told a homeless man not to camp out in his neighborhood.

Kasey Lebechuck was hospitalized after being "brutally stabbed" in Portland, his daughter, Kayla McNeel, wrote on a GoFundMe page aimed at raising money for her father's medical bills.

McNeel told Fox 12 that Lebechuck's "lucky to be alive" after he was stabbed in the "lungs, eyes, his stomach, his back, his head."

Todd Schneider, 25, was identified as the suspect in Lebechuck's stabbing, but the Portland Police Bureau didn't confirm the details of the reported assault.

'VETERANS MATTER' HELPS HOUSE THOUSANDS OF HOMELESS VETERANS

Neighbors said that Lebechuck had been telling homeless people in recent weeks that they couldn't stay in the area, where they had reportedly been living in tents for years.

He just always stays on top of it because he doesnt want them taking over his neighborhood, McNeel told Fox 12 of her father.

Lebechuck reportedly approached Schneider when the suspect said he had to grab a phone from his backpack, but instead pulled out a knife.

"It truly is a miracle [Lebechuck] survived this attack," McNeel wrote online. "My dad is a hard working man who was trying to protect his neighborhood."

Schneider was booked at the Multnomah County Jail on Sunday on a charge of first-degree assault.
Authorities say 41 small animals were found dead inside a closed pet store in western Illinois where the electricity had been disconnected.

Macomb Police Chief Curt Barker said Tuesday that police received a complaint on Saturday about Macomb Pet Land, where officers faced an overwhelming smell of dead animals and ammonia. The dead animals included rabbits, hamsters, snakes and mice. No dogs or cats died.

Barker says 56 animals were found alive and placed in foster care.

He says the store's power was shut off May 14 for non-payment of bills.

The store's owner faces charges of aggravated cruelty to animals. Baker says she told police she had arranged for someone else to care for the animals.

Macomb is about 60 miles (95 kilometers) west of Peoria.
A South Carolina woman was charged with filing a false police report after her 11-month-old daughter, who she claimed had been kidnapped, was found dead on Tuesday. Now, investigators say they suspect there never was a kidnapping at all.

The infant, Harlee Lewis, was found dead inside a diaper box in a field about 1,000 yards from her home Tuesday afternoon, Chesterfield County Sheriff Jay Brooks said.

An Amber Alert was issued around 4:00 p.m. local time after Breanna Lewis, 19, told police that while she was checking the mail, a white man wearing a black coat and gloves got out of a tan and gold colored SUV and punched her several times in the head before snatching the baby from her arms and taking off, Fox 46 reported.

We canceled the Amber Alert because we dont think there was a kidnapping, Brooks told The Associated Press.

Investigators also told Fox 46 that Lewis admitted to making up the story but did not say how the child died.

Brooks said that she will remain in custody until more information surrounding the childs death is revealed. He told Fox 46 the girl's father recently had committed suicide and his family had been working to get custody of the child.

Click for more from Fox 46.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A Catholic bishop urged Thomas Aquinas College graduates earlier this month to be politically incorrect, instructing them to stand up for the Christian vision of sex and marriage.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino, from Madison, Wisconsin, told graduates of the Santa Paula, Calif. private college to be the voice of reason heard in our culture amid the darkness of our world, The College Fix reported.

People today have been taught to be offended, people live to be offended. Thats why they need a safe space and a cry closet, and what they mean by that seems to be a space where they can be safe from hearing the voice of reason and truth, he said. If you speak the truth, you might not be safe.

Speaking basic truths today requires courage, Morlino told them.

So lets be politically incorrect, like St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of political incorrectness, Morlino said, pointing to Pope Paul VIs 1968 encyclical, Humane Vitae, which addressed the Catholic Churchs teachings on sexuality and contraception.

Morlino pointed out that artificial methods of birth control such as abortion, sterilization, and contraception are all condemned by the Catholic Church.

The primary purpose of sexual union is the procreation of children; thats what its for; and thats why contraception is wrong  because it frustrates the purpose of sexual union, Morlino said.

He followed up by telling the graduates they need patience to find common ground because the Catholic Churchs teachings sound like a foreign language to most people.
Two New York City subway riders were caught screaming at each other about race and religion during the rush-hour commute last week.

A black woman and a Jewish man got into a shouting match Thursday morning over subway etiquette on a train headed for the Bronx, according to the New York Daily News.

You said I'm being racist, so you tell me who I'm being racist towards, one woman shouted. Because you're Jewish, and I said if a Jewish family got on here, somebody would have gotten up. That's not a racist statement! That is a factual statement!

A man chimed in, Yes, it is racist.

The woman then said the man needed to learn the difference between race and religion. The man attempted to calm the woman down, but things only got more heated.

The screaming match then turned into the woman charging Jewish building owners with refusing to rent apartments and homes to black people.

Its unclear what exactly triggered the argument and if any of the matters were resolved.
A Macon County, Tenn., woman has been indicted for filing a fake sexual assault report.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) says 24-year-old Sarah Elizabeth Suddarth filed a report with police accusing a Jamestown man of sexually assaulting her while at his home in December 2016.

Investigators found the alleged assault never took place. A Fentress County Grand Jury indicted Suddarth on one count of filing a false report.

Tuesday morning, Suddarth turned herself in to police and she was booked into the Fentress County Jail on $2,500 bond.

This story first appeared on Fox 17.
A twice-deported Mexican citizen was being held by immigration authorities Tuesday as police continue to search a rural New York town for a 14-month-old child feared dead after his mothers body was found last week.

Evarardo Donoteo-Reyes, a 25-year-old who is in the country illegally, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is facing an evidence tampering charge after the body of his girlfriend, Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, was found Wednesday in a wooded area of a farm in Sodus where the two lived and worked.

Hidalgo-Calderons child, Owen, was last seen on May 16 and an Amber Alert was issued surrounding his disappearance. The Amber Alert was abruptly canceled Tuesday morning, though authorities did not explain why. Reyes is not the childs father and Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts expressed doubt Monday afternoon that Owen was safe.

"My hope is that he still is alive," Virts said, according to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle. "But we have to look to reality here that he is concealed somewhere here on the farm."

An ongoing search for the toddler, which has covered at least 600 acres so far, has turned up nothing.

On Wednesday, the body of his mother, 18-year-old Hidalgo-Calderon, was found between two logs and covered with soil and branches.

Donoteo-Reyes, caught on a hunter's trail camera going in and out of the woods with a shovel, was arrested Wednesday night on charges of tampering with physical evidence. He has admitted to burying the woman but not killing her, and is a suspect in the homicide investigation, Virts said.

He was being held on $25,000 bail in the Wayne County Jail pending a court appearance on Tuesday. Virts said he is working with authorities in Mexico, where Donoteo-Reyes is from, to learn more about him and if he has a criminal record.

An ICE statement said Donoteo-Reyes was deported from the U.S. in 2016 and 2017, and was also convicted the latter year for re-entering the county illegally.

"We will bring justice," Virts said Monday, according to the Democrat & Chronicle. "We are going to keep after this until we get the evidence and the information we need."

Police suspect Hidalgo-Calderon was killed inside the home she shared on the farm with Donoteo-Reyes. Virts said Donoteo-Reyes admitted to investigators that he moved her body from the home to the wooded area, but did not answer questions about Owens whereabouts or condition.

Donoteo-Reyes has since stopped talking to police after asking for an attorney, Virts said in a Monday press conference.

An Amber Alert issued Friday said the child was taken under circumstances that lead the police to believe that he is in imminent danger of serious harm and/or death."

Rebecca Fuentes of the Workers' Center of Central New York told the Democrat & Chronicle that Hidalgo-Calderon was from Guatemala and was seeking asylum.

"I don't care about your race, creed, color, national origin or religion," Virts said at a past press conference. "If you are a victim, we will fight for you, we will triumph for you. If you are a perpetrator and you have abused somebody, we are going to hunt you down."

Hidalgo-Calderon had been in the U.S. since November 2016, according to the Workers' Center.

"My daughter and my grandson were my life," her mother, Estela Calderon, said in a statement issued by the center. "She was my first born and I feel like a piece of my heart is gone."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The blood alcohol level of a 20-year-old student from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was more than double the legal limit when she was killed earlier this month after falling out of a party bus, toxicology results revealed Tuesday.

Polly Rogers had alcohol in her system that amounted to 0.19, more than double the legal limit for driving in North Carolina, WSOC-TV reported, citing toxicology results by the North Carolinas medical examiner office. She was not driving the party bus at the time.

Rogers was on the party bus, rented out by UNCC fraternity Kappa Sigma, on May 1 heading to a bar when she fell out of the emergency exit window on North Tryon Street in northeast Charlotte. She was hit by multiple cars, ultimately killing her, police said.

Juan Vasquez, who witnessed the incident, told WSOC-TV there was chaos moments after Rogers fell onto the road.

"Out of nowhere I just come out of nowhere and started yelling, Yo, stop, stop, stop, slow down, slow down, call 911, call 911. Call an ambulance! Everybody kept driving and driving and driving," Vasquez recalled.

PARTY BUS OWNER CITED AFTER UNC CHARLOTTE STUDENT, 20, FALLS OUT BUS WINDOW, DIES

Its still unclear how Rogers managed to fall off the vehicle. The police report stated several people on the bus were consuming alcohol at the time.

Victor Rabb, owner of Charlotte Party Charters, was cited in the incident. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department said the party bus was uninsured and had a fake license plate, FOX 46 reported.

Fox News' Nicole Darrah contributed to this report.
St. Alban's Episcopal Church at 7514 Hixson Pike is hosting free pancake breakfasts from 9-11:30 a.m. on second Saturdays from May-October.

All are welcomed to these breakfasts where pancakes, sausage, coffee and juices will be served.

There will be dog friendly seating outside (dogs do need to be on a leash).

Come for breakfast and, while there, check out the St. Alban's Farmers Market which has local vendors selling produce, eggs, jams, jellies, herbs, plants, grass fed meats and more.


A U.S. rocket artillery strike last week on a gathering of Taliban leaders in southern Afghanistan killed at least 50 of them, a U.S. military official said Tuesday.

Lt. Col. Martin O'Donnell, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, said a weapon system known as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, which is capable of firing GPS-guided rockets, destroyed a command-and-control position that was a known meeting place for high-level Taliban leaders. He said at least 50 leaders were killed.

Additional, unspecified numbers of Taliban officials were killed in U.S. airstrikes over a recent 10-day period, the spokesman said.

The May 24 rocket artillery attack in the Musa Qala district of Helmand province was announced by the U.S. military last week, but without a public estimate of the numbers killed.

O'Donnell said that because of the large number of leaders killed and their involvement in a range of attack planning, the impact of the HIMARS strike "will be felt beyond Helmand province." He called it an example of how the U.S. military is using expanded authorities granted as part of the Trump administration's new regional strategy for fighting the Afghanistan war, allowing U.S. forces to take a more active role in combat.

U.S. officials have sought to compel the Taliban to enter peace talks by increasing the military pressure on them.

Last week, a U.S. government watchdog group said the administration's revamped strategy has made little progress against the Taliban insurgency, leaving the country a "dangerous and volatile" place nearly 17 years after the U.S. invaded. That conclusion contrasts with assertions last fall by the American military that the Afghans, with U.S. support, had "turned the corner" and captured momentum against the Taliban, which it called fractured and desperate.

The report to Congress by inspectors general of the Pentagon, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development also cast doubt on the administration's decision to send a new set of military advisers this year to work with Afghan forces closer to the front lines. It said this, combined with stepped-up Afghan offensives, "further raises the risk of civilian casualties, insider attacks, U.S. casualties, and other conflict-related violence."

The U.S. has about 15,000 support troops in Afghanistan, mostly providing various forms of military assistance.

The Pentagon, meanwhile, announced Tuesday that President Donald Trump has nominated Army Lt. Gen. Scott Miller for promotion to four-star rank and assignment as the next commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan. If confirmed by the Senate, Miller would succeed Gen. John Nicholson, who has held the position since March 2016 and is expected to step down this summer.

Miller currently is commander of Joint Special Operations Command and is a career special operations soldier.
Ethnic cleansing targeting Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar has not stopped despite growing condemnation from the international community, the Trump administration said Tuesday.

In November, the United States declared that violence against the Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state constituted ethnic cleansing, and the U.S. later imposed sanctions. Ambassador Sam Brownback, the U.S. envoy for global religious freedom, said the violence is continuing.

"I don't think we've seen progress there in that country," Brownback said as he unveiled the State Department's annual report on international religious freedom. The report estimates that about 680,000 people fled Myanmar to neighboring Bangladesh to escape the violence.

Rather than changing course, Brownback said, Myanmar authorities were "doubling down" by opening a new front in Kachin state. A new offensive by Myanmar's government against Kachin rebels who have fought for decades for greater autonomy has raised fears of a humanitarian crisis in Kachin mirroring the one in Rakhine state. The Kachin rebels are a largely Christian minority group.

The report covering 2017 also highlighted other U.S. concerns about religious freedom abroad:

 Some 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners are being held in prison camps in North Korea, some for religious reasons. The report said that prisoners are held "under horrific conditions" in remote areas.

 "Hundreds of thousands" of Uighur Muslims in China have been forcibly sent to re-education centers in China.

 Saudi Arabia continues to prohibit the public practice of any religion other than Islam, and the report noted a "pattern of society prejudice and discrimination" against Shiite Muslims in the predominantly Sunni Muslim nation. Still, Brownback said he was encouraged by recent comments from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about plans to expand freedoms.

 At least 50 people in Pakistan were imprisoned on charges of blasphemy last year. The report said at least 17 were given death sentences.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, speaking as the report was unveiled, announced that the United States will host a global summit on advancing religious freedom on July 25-26. The State Department wouldn't say which countries will be invited to attend.

"International religious freedom deserves to be a front-burner issue," Pompeo said.
Josh Holt, the American man who was freed on Saturday after spending nearly two years in a Venezuelan jail, returned home to Utah on Monday with his wife.

Holt, 26, was greeted at Salt Lake City airport Monday by a cheering crowd of family members, politicians and friends holding colorful signs with messages like, We never gave up. They sang the national anthem together as Holts grandmother draped an American flag around his shoulders.

Today we're not going to take any questions, as you guys all know it's been very, very long three or four-- I'm not sure how many days it's been," Holt said at the airport. "We've gotten maybe four hours of sleep in four days, but I just wanted to publicly say thank you to all the people here.

Holt and his wife, Thamara Candelo, attended another welcome home event at Rivertons Old Dome Meeting Hall less than an hour after he arrived in the Utah city.

Candelos daughter, 7-year-old Nathalia Carrasco, was also at the Salt Lake City homecoming. The child had been living with Holts mother, Laurie Holt, since February. Candelos other daughter, Marian, traveled with the couple from Caracas.

UTAH MAN INCARCERATED IN VENEZUELA JAIL IS ON HIS WAY HOME, OFFICIALS SAY

Holt traveled to Venezuela in June 2016 to marry his fiancee whom he met on a website for Mormon singles. They were awaiting their U.S. visas when Venezuelan authorities took them into custody and accused them of stockpiling weapons. Venezuelan authorities suggested they were part of a U.S. plan to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.

President Trump announced on Saturday Holt was released and headed to Washington, D.C. Trump then met with Holt in the White House.

Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch's office said in a statement that he couldnt be more honored to reunite the Utah native with his family. Hatch's office also thanked Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker for his "pivotal efforts" and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for its role.

Laurie Holt said her son is in good health but lost weight, suffered a number of bronchial problems in prison and has a rotten tooth that needed checking out. Caleno has more serious pain issues on one side of her body.

"He's not the same Josh that left," said Laurie Holt. "He just doesn't quite have that sparkle back yet in his eyes. He'll come back, I know he will. We just have to give him time."

Fox News Kathleen Joyce and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Ernie Troiano, the mayor of Wildwood, N.J., on Monday said the police seen in the viral video that showed an officer striking a woman multiple times were doing their job."

Troiano told NJ.com that he does not know the entire story of what led up to the encounter, but said she refused to comply.

Officers involved in a violent scuffle with a 20-year-old woman suspected of underage drinking at a New Jersey beach  an incident caught on video  were reassigned to administrative duty pending the outcome of a full and thorough investigation, officials said Sunday.

Video of the arrest Saturday went viral showing a Wildwood Police officer punching Emily Weinman of Philadelphia twice  once in the head and once in the neck  and putting her in a chokehold. Voices in the background could be heard shouting, Stop resisting, according to Fox 29.

The police department issued a statement about the arrest on Facebook Sunday, noting: While Chief [Robert Regalbuto] finds this video to be alarming, he does not want to rush to any judgment until having the final results of the investigation.

Weinman is facing multiple charges, including two counts of aggravated assault on an officer and being a minor in possession of alcohol.

Troiano said the city has been trying to crack down on underage drinking.

"If our officers are wrong, they're wrong and they'll be handled as such," the mayor said. ... "But when push comes to shove, I think our police officers did what they had to do."

Fox News' Frank Miles contributed to this report
A World War II-era plane crash-landed in Kansas after just completing flyovers for Memorial Day, officials said.

The Kansas State Highway Patrol said in a crash report the pilot ran out of fuel while approaching the runway at Westport Airport in Wichita around 12:10 p.m. and attempted to restart the engine.

The aircraft's engine failed to start, and the plane went down in a nearby neighborhood, police said.

The 1943 Fairchild PT-23 was part of the Commemorative Air Force-Jayhawk Wing doing flyovers across the state, according to KWCH. The PT-23 was a trainer plane for the U.S. Army Air Force.

The pilot attempted to land the aircraft on a roadway, but struck a pole and the ground in the process.

AIRPLANE MAKES EMERGENCY LANDING ONTO FREEWAY AFTER EXPERIENCING 'MECHANICAL ISSUES'

Wichita Police Sgt. Kelly OBrien told the Wichita Eagle the male pilot and female passenger suffered minor injuries and were taken to a hospital for stiches.

"Thankfully they missed the fueling vessels that are over there and there was no fire with the plane or anything else," he told the newspaper.

The Kansas Highway Patrol and Federal Aviation Administration are investigating the incident.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The father of a young boy who was dangling from a balcony in Paris was out shopping and playing Pokemon Go while his son almost fell out of a building, authorities said.

The father will be charged with missing in action, police said.

The boy was saved by a migrant from Mali, who scaled the apartment building to rescue him. Mamoudou Gassama, who was in France illegally, climbed five stories, moving from balcony to balcony, and whisked the 4-year-old boy to safety on Saturday night as a crowd below screamed in horror. His actions went viral on social media, where he was dubbed Spiderman.

The unnamed father was detained overnight for alleged parental neglect, and is set to appear in court in September.

He left the child alone while he shopped, then lingered to play Pokemon Go, Prosecutor Francois Molins told BFM-TV.

The boys mother was not home, either, Molins said, according to ABC News, because she was visiting Frances Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean with relatives.

He took a long time to return home because he had decided to play the smartphone game Pokemon Go when he left the store, Molins told BFM-TV. He is devastated because he realizes what he did, and the tragic consequences that it could have led to.

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday lauded the 22-year-old as a hero, and rewarded the young migrants bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter.

Gassama also received a gold medal from the French state for courage and devotion.

I just didnt have time to think, I ran across the road to go and save him, Gassama told Macron during the meeting, as Fox News previously reported. I just climbed up and thank God  God helped me. The more I climbed, the more I had the courage to climb up higher  thats it.

Gassama said he has authorization to stay legally in Italy, which is where he landed in Europe in 2014 after more than a year in Libya and a trip across the Mediterranean Sea. He came to France in September to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades.

Gassama told Macron he was arrested and beaten during his long rough stay in Libya, but I wasnt discouraged.

The French president said Gassamas actions made him deserving of special treatment. Working as a firefighter corresponds with his skills, Macron said.

You have become an example because millions have seen you on social media, the president said.

Macron is behind a bill toughening French immigration law, and he stressed there is no contradiction between rewarding Gassama for his act of bravery and working to prevent migrants from entering France illegally by stopping the stream of arrivals at its source.

An exceptional act does not make policy, he told reporters later, vowing to maintain a policy that is exigent, respectful of our principles on asylum and rigorous regarding the migratory flux.

The special treatment for Gassama comes as authorities prepare to evacuate some 2,400 migrants from makeshift encampments in the French capital. The forced closure of the encampments is the subject of a heated debate between the Paris mayor, who wants to ensure the uprooted will be sheltered, and Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, who was present Monday at Gassamas meeting with Macron.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Violence returned to protests against Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega when riot police confronted students who had seized a university.

Students demanding greater democracy and Ortega's resignation took over the Engineering University in Managua, the capital.

Government supporters moved to end the takeover, but anti-government protesters took the students' side. The opposition demonstrators then partially set fire to the pro-government radio station Radio Ya, whose offices are located near the university.

Police were sent to contain the protests Monday and there were reports of people injured.

Protests erupted in mid-April after Ortega imposed austerity measures for Nicaragua's social security system. At least 76 people died amid a violent response from police and government-allied Sandinista youth groups.
Arkady Babchenko, a Russian and fierce anti-Kremlin journalist, was fatally shot in Kiev on Tuesday, Ukrainian police said.

Babchenko, 41, was shot and killed in his apartment, according to police, who said he suffered multiple gunshot wounds on his back. His wife found him bleeding and called an ambulance, but he died on his way to the hospital.

His wife told authorities the two suspected Babchenko had a target on his back because of his professional work, Reuters reported.

Hours before he was shot, Babchenko wrote on Facebook that he narrowly escaped death exactly four years ago when the Ukrainian military refused to take him on a helicopter heading to the front line in eastern Ukraine. The aircraft was shot down minutes later.

"I was lucky, it was my second birthday," he wrote Tuesday.

The journalist left Russia in February 2017 after he claimed he had been receiving threats and shared concerns he might be jailed. He had been critical of the Kremlin in recent years.

SOUTH CAROLINA ANCHOR, PHOTOGRAPHER KILLED COVERING ALBERTO AS STORM MAKES LANDFALL

He moved to Kiev in the fall and worked as a host for ATR, the Crimean Tatar TV station.

Babchenko served in the Russian army during the first separatist war in Chechnya in the 1990s and later started his journalism career, working as a military correspondent for several Russian media outlets.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Children living in residential areas of Denmark with large numbers of immigrants will now have to be educated about democracy, equality, and other major holidays like Christmas, government officials announced Monday.

The new policy, which was agreed to by the country's major political parties, will force children living in "ghettos" into 25 hours of public education a week starting from the age of one, according to Reuters.

Denmark is the only country in the world to officially use the word "ghetto" to describe areas consisting of primarily non-Western immigrants. The term came from the 16th Century to describe areas of Venice where Jewish residents were restricted to live.

Non-Western immigrants made up over 60 percent of the population of "ghetto" areas in 2017, Euronews reported.

Danish parents living in the designated areas will be forced to enroll their children in the program, unless they are already receiving daycare. The deal seeks to educated primarily Muslim children in Danish traditions, expanding language skills, and teach them about Christian holidays such as Christmas and Easter.

Parents who don't enroll their children in the program may end up losing their child benefits, according to Reuters. Currently, children in Denmark receive 10 years of education after the age of six, but it is not mandatory for parents to send their children to school.

Denmark has struggled to integrate immigrants, especially from the Middle East in recent years, into its homogeneous welfare society.

DANISH GOVT: MINISTER'S VIEWS ON FASTING MUSLIMS ARE HER OWN

Earlier this month, Denmark's immigration minister came under fire for saying that Muslims fasting for Ramadan pose a safety hazard in some jobs.

Integration Minister Inger Stoejberg faced criticism over a blog post that urged residents observing a month of dawn-to-dusk fasting to take leave from work "to avoid negative consequences for the rest of Danish society."

In her blog for tabloid BT, Stoejberg questioned how "commanding observance to a 1,400-year-old pillar of Islam" was compatible with modern labor markets. She cited bus drivers as an example of workers whose performance could be negatively affected by forgoing food and drink.

Ozlem Cekic, a former lawmaker with Denmark's left-wing Socialist People's Party, said the airing of her opinions was "a sad way to start the Ramadan" and "contribute at digging deeper and deeper trenches" within the society, the Associated Press reported.

Some 250,000 Muslims are estimated to live in Denmark, a country with a population of 5.7 million.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The staff at a British hospital who cared for former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia after they were poisoned said they did not believe the two would survive the attack.

A few employees at Salisbury District Hospital who cared for the Skripals told BBC they were at first confused about what happened to the father and daughter. However, when policeman Nick Bailey was also admitted for similar symptoms, nursing director Lorna Wilkinson feared the situation was worse than she thought.

"Have we just gone from having two index patients having something that actually could become all-consuming and involve many casualties? Because we really didn't know at that point, she told the BBC.

Sarah Clark, a nurse, told BBC she was worried the staff could get infected after not knowing what happened to the Skripals.

EX-RUSSIAN SPY SERGEI SKRIPAL DISCHARGED FROM UK HOSPITAL AFTER BEING POISONED WITH NERVE AGENT

Clark said she initially believed the Skripals overdosed on opioids due to a brief description of their symptoms.

"We were just told that there were two patients down in the emergency department who were critically unwell and they would be coming up to the unit," Clark said.

However, once police were made aware of Sergei Skripals career as a Russian spy, officials discussed that the father and daughter could have been targeted.

"I spoke to the nurse in charge," Dr. Duncan Murray told BBC. "And it was this conversation I really could never have imagined in my wildest imagination as having with anyone. Essentially the story of a known Russian spy having been admitted to hospital in pretty unusual circumstances."

Dr. Stephen Jukes told BBC that once they learned the former spy and his daughter were poisoned with a nerve agent, staff members did not believe the two would survive.

"We would try all our therapies. We would ensure the best clinical care. But all the evidence was there that they would not survive, Jukes said.

Earlier this month, Sergei Skripal, 66, was released from the hospital. His daughter, 33, was discharged in April. Health officials said there would be longer term questions about the Skripals health later on.

"The vast majority of the improvement and the success... were attributable to the very good generic, basic critical care, Murray said.

POISONED FORMER RUSSIAN SPY SERGEI SKRIPAL NO LONGER IN CRITICAL CONDITION, HOSPITAL SAYS

The pair were found unconscious on a public bench in the city of Salisbury on March 4, and spent weeks in critical condition. Officials suspect the father and daughter were poisoned with novichok, a Soviet-engineered nerve agent.

Sergei Skripal served with Russias military intelligence agency, often known by its Russian-language acronym GRU, and retired in 1999. He then worked at the Foreign Ministry until 2003, and later became involved in business.

Skripal was arrested in 2004 in Moscow and later confessed to having been recruited by British intelligence in 1995. He also said at the time that he provided information about GRU agents in Europe, receiving over $100,000 in return.

In 2006, Skripal was convicted on charges of spying for Britain and sentenced to 13 years. However, he later was pardoned and released from custody in July 2010 as part of a U.S.-Russian spy swap, which followed the exposure of a ring of Russian sleeper agents in the U.S.

He had been living quietly in the cathedral city of Salisbury, 90 miles southwest of London, when he was struck down.

Britain blamed Russia for the attack while Moscow denied all allegations. More than two dozen Western allies, including the U.S., ordered out over 150 Russian diplomats in a show of solidarity. Russia ordered out 60 U.S. diplomats and closed the consulate in St. Petersburg in a tit-for-tat response.

Last month, the U.S. Treasury Department announced it was punishing seven Russian oligarchs and 17 Russian government officials with sanctions for what the U.S. called Russia's "malign activity" around the world.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Jim Fields, our wise and wonderful County Commissioner who represents the Red Bank-Signal Mountain crowd of our community, is just the one to do it. Too often the County Commission will not butt in on School Board matters but this socio-economic integration scam is so embarrassing that other cities in dozens of states believe, as they say in church, we are off our medicine. Jim isnt running for re-election so whos he to care to take one for the team -- hes in the perfect spot to stop this madness before it becomes misery, or one year of guaranteed root-canal agony.

Actually, the school leaders  all very nice people  unwittingly gave some meddlesome liberals the permission to use the HCDE bank account to funnel over a quarter-million to some other far-lefts in Washington. Last week the School Board approved spending $290,000 on what has to be, among other things, the fastest contract ever written in modern-day buffoonery.Actually, the school leaders  all very nice people  unwittingly gave some meddlesome liberals the permission to use the HCDE bank account to funnel over a quarter-million to some other far-lefts in Washington.



So at tomorrows County Commission meeting, I pray that Mr. Fields, he of District 2, will call on his fellow commissioners, this in earnest, to delay any action between The Howard Group of Washington D.C. and The County of Hamilton in Tennessee for no less than thirty (30) days.



Dont mention the School Board in the motion  this way they can save face  and all you are asking is for a delay. If, after 30 days, the School Board insists the Howard Group teach classes to our teachers in Culturally Relevant Pedagogy and Examining Implicit Bias the board still has that right  with this proviso: County Mayor Jim Coppinger must decree every school board member be required to attend every class, too. Its high time to hold the school board accountable for its actions and, by gumbo, from this day forth the mandate must be: You buy it  then you own it!



UnifiEd, totally responsible for running well-respected Greg Beck from the County Commission and trying mightily to do the same to Tim Boyd, allegedly spent months and months creating a diversity plan they call The APEX Project. But when they presented it late last month, rational people laughed at its flaming audacity and the panicked liberal elites, as our latest wave of lovelies is called, came up with a force-feed.



The latest ploy will have the liberals in Chattanooga who control the foundation money hire  through the now-victimized school system -- some far-left consultants out ofThe Oasis of All Knowledge to come down and foist their questionable beliefs and theories on our captive teachers.

Because UnifiEd has lost all credibility, and that the volunteers who toiled so unselfishly over the APEX Project are such sore losers, $290K aint squat in order to force the subservient schools and all of its have-no-say teachers to swallow the garbage and idiocy of the UnifiEd bust. Tricky, huh! If the HCDE accepts a $290,000 grant from the Lyndhurst and Benwood Foundations, there is no way our schools can dodge the leftist propaganda, resist the unwanted opinions, or escape the doldrums of senseless fantasy. The elite liberals finally win! Oh, just lovely, darling, lovely.



Heres a closer look at liberal lunacy. Pedagogy is a ridiculous word that has never been used in Chattanooga. It refers to the discipline that deals with the theory and practice of teaching and how these influence student learning. Cold, hard, fact: The reason there are so many different types of churches is because followers of the same Christ have different opinions but  get this straight -- there is not one school of any kind on planet Earth that does not teach to influence learning. And, bozo, you can etch that in hard marble.



Stick with me here: According to the scholars, pedagogy is based on five principles: motivation, exposition, direction of activity, criticism, and inviting imitation. Further, those who flaunt their one-year PhDs would have us to believe imitation is an advanced behavior whereby an individual observes and replicates another's behavior but so help me the absolute truth is Hamilton County teachers have been practicing exact and precise pedagogy since approximately two weeks following the Battle of Chickamauga.



Dont you see? The reason a carnys shell-game works, or the joy that is found in Two-card monte, is because you fool some sucker. This bunch out of Washington rips off a treatise on Culturally Relevant Pedagogy in less than a week and the elite liberals break out in hives. Another absolute and total truth -- any member of any faculty at any public or private school or university will tell you, nose to nose, that pedagogy aint nothing but a $290,000 word that means teaching.



So help me, this is the biggest B.S. you ever saw (B.S. = blowing smoke) and tomorrow , in the Hamilton County Courthouse, Commissioner Jim Fields can command his finest moment in two glorious terms by making a motion our county take a 30-day respite in any dealings with the Howard Group of Washington D.C.



At that precise moment, Greg Beck can enjoy his biggest chuckle this month by seconding it.



* * *



HOW TO DO THE TWO CARD MONTE CARD TRICK

NOTE: This card trick requires a lot of practice and is for advanced magicians. There are some great tutorials on YouTube but the one to see is by David Blaine because his patter helps drive his marks crazy. Also, you gotta master the double lift, which I suspect Supt. Bryan Johnson may have pulled on the school board last Thursday. Thats not mean-spirited; somebody has to be the magician in any trick.



The magician (Johnson) shows the spectator (school boad)  the queen of diamonds on top of the deck. He then tells the spectator to hold the queen face down between his fingers. The performer then shows the next top card, the other red queen. (Yes, that would be a heart.)



After several fast and sneaky switches of the cards (Yes, it happens at every school board meeting), the spectator is told to guess which card is on top. But when he turns over his hand, he realizes he is holding no aces at all. (Remember when  fill in the blank  was superintendent?)



PREPARATION: This trick is done with a regular set of cards. Before performing the card trick, put the black ace on the bottom of the pack, preferably the ace of clubs, it is less conspicuous. On the top of the deck, place the queen of diamonds, then the ace of spades, then the queen of hearts. (Dont worry, if you botch the set-up the worst they can do is call Rhonda Thurman and Joe Smith 'racists.' Yes, it has just been publicly shown the 'liberal elites are every bit that twisted.)



PERFORMANCE: With the deck set up as above, first show the spectator the (actual) top card. Tell them to hold it between their fingers, face down. Then tell them to look at the card they have, so they are sure that there was no fancy moves in play. Using this as misdirection (Think: This wont cost the schools anything) prepare to double lift the next two cards once they have looked at their card. Perform the double lift and show them the queen of hearts with the ace concealed. (Think: Supt. Johnson's bungling in the Signal Mountain fiasco.)



Put the cards back on top of the deck, then remove the ace without showing them the face of the ace. Then pretend to switch the cards, once or twice. After this say " OK Im going to teach you how to do this." (Think: The School Board approves at $290,000 scam  even when they couldnt see it either.)



This time, perform the "switch" very slowly, actually switching the cards. (Think: This is when the board approves 8-1 vote with absolutely no show of outward concern.)



Make sure that they do not look at the ace in their hands. (Think: No problem there!)



Then, very quickly, making sure that they do not notice what you are doing, take the queen of diamonds you are holding and put it on top of the deck. (Think: This makes the elite liberals actually salivate.)



Then steal the card off the bottom of the deck (ace of clubs) and give it to them. (Think: Not one of Unifi-ED's 'approved' School Board members -- Tiffanie Robertson Joe Wingate, Kathy Lennon -- dares to blink.)



Then ask them to tell you where the card is.



After you hear their guess, have them turn over their hand and  (Think: every parent in Hamilton County is absolutely and totally amazed.)
Hungarys government is ramping up its battle against billionaire George Soros by drafting new laws criminalizing those who help migrants seeking asylum.

The legislation is the latest reported measure in Prime Minister Viktor Orbans Stop Soros campaign following accusations that the Hungarian-born donor is trying to create an immigrant continent.

If passed, it would make offering asylum seekers food, legal advice or printing leaflets with information a criminal offense in Hungary, the BBC reports. It added that the legislation would amend Hungarys constitution to block other European Union countries from sending asylum-seekers there.

Hungarian media is reported to have said that violators under the proposed laws would be sentenced to prison ranging from a few days to up to a year.

Hungary, already guarded by a razor-wire fence on its southern border, is among a group of EU countries that are opposing the unions plan to relocate 160,000 refugees from Eritrea and war-torn Syria to crowded migrant camps in Italy and Greece, according to the BBC.

An estimated one million asylum seekers are believed to have crossed through Hungary in 2015 to escape conflicts in the Middle East.

Soros said Tuesday that the actions of Orban, who was recently re-elected for a third term, go against the EUs values.

Indeed the whole of Europe has been disrupted by the refugee crisis, Soros said during a speech in Paris at a European Council on Foreign Relations meeting. Unscrupulous leaders have exploited it even in countries that have accepted hardly any refugees. In Hungary, Viktor Orban based his re-election campaign on falsely accusing me of planning to flood Europe, Hungary included, with Muslim refugees.

The comments come two weeks after Soros relocated the offices of his Open Society Foundations group to Berlin from Budapest because of what it claims is an "increasingly repressive" environment forming in Hungary. The group, on its website, says it is working to create vibrant and tolerant democracies whose governments are accountable and open to the participation of all people.

Patrick Gaspard, its president, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that Orban and his government have "denigrated and misrepresented our work and repressed civil society for the sake of political gain, using tactics unprecedented in the history of the European Union."

But Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs, who dubbed legislation against the influx of migrants the Stop Soros campaign in January, according to Reuters, accused the group of trying to hide something.

"They don't want the public to know exactly what they are engaged in and in what way," he told the Associated Press.

"They want to create an immigrant continent and an immigrant country, but the Hungarian government and Hungarian laws are preventing them from doing so. For this reason they are fleeing abroad to avoid Hungarian law and will continue to apply pressure from there," he added.
Iranian university students offered harsh criticism of the countrys direction in a frank conversation with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, local media reported Tuesday.

One student went as far as offering a list of problems confronting Iran and asked Khamenei directly how he would respond to them. Other students showed concerns on the Trump administrations pullout from the nuclear deal with Tehran and the countrys battered economy.

Sahar Mehrabi read a speech in which she cited numerous crises facing the country.

She listed Irans intensified systematic inequality in social classes, the decline of public trust and the increase in environmental crisis and "shantytowns" as well as high unemployment, challenges faced by minority groups and hard-liners influence in the countrys judiciary and security system.

What answer does Your Excellency have in response to questions, criticisms and protests? Mehrabi asked.

Khamenei responded by acknowledging the criticisms that came from the students, saying removing problems is not as easy as the students expect. To fix the issues, he floated the idea of adding young people into government apparatuses.

Growth of the society requires freedom of expression, Khamenei said.

Irans pro-reform newspaper Mardomsalari published Mehrabis remarks and other websites carried her full speech.
Israeli jets bombarded militant position in Gaza on Tuesday hours after more than two dozen mortar shells were launched at the Jewish State in what appears to be the largest single barrage since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

The Israeli military said no one was hurt by the 25 mortar shells launched into its territory as most were intercepted by its Iron Dome missile defense system, although one of them landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The retaliatory strikes by Israels armed forces were aimed at a training site for the Islamic Jihad militant group, believed to be behind the Tuesday mortar barrage with the approval of Hamas, the Associated Press reported, citing security officials in the Gaza Strip. Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported.

"Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the barrage.

The border area has been tense in recent weeks as the Palestinians have held mass protests aimed at lifting a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized power in 2007.

"We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to the Zionist crimes," Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, said Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

Israeli fire has killed more than 110 Palestinians, most of them during the Hamas-led protests, which climaxed on May 14. Reuters reported that Israeli tank fire killed a Hamas fighter on Monday at a frontier outpost.

Hamas, however, has vowed to continue the border rallies. Israel says it is defending its border as well as its communities nearby. It accuses Hamas of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of protests.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said Tuesdays barrage proved that the "resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes."

He spoke as a two fishing boats carrying students and medical patients set sail out of Gaza City's port, aiming to break 11 years of naval blockade that Egypt and Israel imposed after the militants violently took control of the coastal territory.

The expedition would be a new way of challenging the blockade but also raises the possibility of more confrontation and violence as Israel bars any boats from Gaza reaching farther out than a six-nautical-mile radius into the Mediterranean Sea. Hamas acknowledged it was mostly a symbolic act.

It also marks eight years since Israeli commandos raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine pro-Palestinian Turks and sparking an international outcry against the blockade.

In southern Israel, angry residents complained to the Associated Press about how vulnerable they felt after 15 years of rocket fire threats from neighboring Gaza.

Adva Klein, a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, said she only got about two hours of sleep because of the frequent incoming fire and the sirens warning of them. Other residents reported machine gun fire from Gaza as well.

"It's been a really scary morning," said Adele Raemer, a resident of Kibbutz Nirim.

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he was convening the top military brass at his Tel Aviv headquarters to discuss the situation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.


The Israeli military says more than 25 mortar shells have been fired from the Gaza Strip toward communities in southern Israel. No one was hurt in the barrage.

The military says most were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system on Tuesday.

But the volume of mortars would appear to be the largest fired in a single incident since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. Israeli media reported that one of shells landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The border area has been tense in recent weeks as the Palestinians have held mass protests aimed at lifting a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized power in 2007.

Israeli fire has killed more than 110 Palestinians, most of them during the Hamas-led protests, which climaxed on May 14.
The Latest on the violence along the Israel-Gaza border (all times local):

1:10 p.m.

Palestinian activists have set sail in defiance of years of an Israeli and Egyptian naval blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Two fishing boats carrying 20 people in need of travel left the territory's small harbor on Tuesday.

Gaza's militant Hamas rulers say the move is symbolic. It's unlikely that Israel will let the boats exceed the six-nautical-mile limit it imposes on Gaza.

Occupants include medical patients and students unable to leave through overland crossings.

Israel and Egypt sealed off their border when Hamas violently took over from the Palestinian Authority in 2007.

The expedition also marks eight years since Israeli commandos raided a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing nine pro-Palestinian Turks and sparking an international outcry against the blockade.

___

8:50 a.m.

The Israeli military says more than 25 mortar shells have been fired from the Gaza Strip toward communities in southern Israel. No one was hurt in the barrage.

The military says most were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system on Tuesday.

But the volume of mortars would appear to be the largest fired in a single incident since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war. Israeli media reported that one of shells landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The border area has been tense in recent weeks as the Palestinians have held mass protests aimed at lifting a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized power in 2007.

Israeli fire has killed more than 110 Palestinians, most of them during the Hamas-led protests, which climaxed on May 14.
A top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Singapore Monday evening to meet with U.S. government officials, an indication that the fragile June 12 summit with President Donald Trump will proceed, Reuters reported.

President Trump had abruptly called off the highly anticipated summit with Kim before retracting a day later.

Kim Jong Uns chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, arrived in Singapore by way of Beijing, where he told reporters he was going to play in Singapore.

Meanwhile, U.S. government officials, flew to Singapore from U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan, to work out the details of the June 12 summit.

Monday nights pre-advance meeting follows a surprise second meeting between Kim Jon Ung and South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Saturday and a meeting between North Korean officials and the U.S. State Department on Sunday. Both meetings were held at the border village of Panmunjom.

The two Korean leaders had previously met in Panmunjom on April 27, to discuss denuclearization and a formal end to the Korean War  which technically hasnt ended since 1953.

According to reports, Moon and Kim agreed on Saturday that the summit with Trump must proceed.

Trump has repeatedly demanded that North Korea completely abandon its nuclear weapons in exchange for lifting sanctions.

North Korea has said it will not give up its nuclear program until the United States withdraws its 28,500 troops stationed in South Korea and end its decades-long alliance with Seoul.
Indian investigators have reportedly filed a corruption case against the chief executive of regional budget airline AirAsia and some of his top deputies, saying the company paid bribes to get government approvals to launch its India operation.

The Press Trust of India news agency says Malaysia-based AirAsia chief Tony Fernandes, his deputy Bo Lingam and others were named in the complaint filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.

The report says most of the bribes were paid through a "sham contract" with a Singapore-based company. The complaint did not say which Indian officials were allegedly bribed.

A senior official of AirAsia India Ltd., Shuva Mandal, says the company "refutes any wrongdoing and is cooperating with all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts."
The suspect accused of stabbing and killing two police officers and a bystander near a Belgian coffee shop was indirectly mentioned in state security reports on radicalization, Prime Minister Charles Michel said Tuesday.

Michel said the suspect, Benjamin Herman, 36, who was killed by police after he shot the three victims with a female officers' service weapon, appeared in security reports "in notes that did not primarily target him, but others or other situations."

"Different services considered that, based on the elements they had, there was no reason to give him such a qualification," he said, adding slayings will involve, at least initially, "an investigation for terrorism."

Herman, a Belgian native, was an inmate who had been granted a few hours release Monday, but failed to return to prison. Local media reported that he was a known drug offender and may have been held in a prison with radicalized inmates.

The suspect allegedly approached two police officers from behind carrying a knife and stabbed them several times in the city of Liege, city prosecutors spokesman Philippe Dulieu said.

He then took their weapons. He used the weapons on the officers, who died, Dulieu told reporters.

Dulieu said the attacker shot dead a 22-year-old man in a vehicle that was leaving a parking lot outside a nearby high school. The attacker then took a woman hostage inside the school.

Liege police intervened. He came out firing at police, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs. He was shot dead, Dulieu said.

Liege police Chief Christian Beaupere said "the goal of the attacker was to target the police." He didn't identify the police officers, but said they were both women aged 45 and 53, the latter a mother of twins.

Images on social media showed people fleeing from the scene and police converging on the coffee shop.

A senior official at the federal prosecutors office told the Associated Press that there are indications it could be a terror attack. However, Belgiums crisis center said it saw no reason to raise the countrys terror threat for now.

There is absolutely no confirmation yet that the incident is terror-related, Yves Stevens of Belgiums federal crisis center, told the Associated Press, adding there was no reason to raise the terror threat level.

Liege is an industrial city located near the German border. It was the scene of a 2011 shooting when a gunman killed four people and wounded more than 100, according to Reuters.

Belgian police and military have been on alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people at the Brussels airport and subway system in 2016.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Here is the latest jail booking report from Hamilton County:

ALEXANDER, CHAISE MICHAEL

3742 RIVERSIDE PKWY DECATUR, 30034

Age at Arrest: 27 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

POSSESSING A FIREARM WITH INTENT TO GO ARMED

POSS. OF HANDGUN WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCE

DRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALE

---

ALEXANDER, JULIAN JEROME

3742 RIVERSIDE PKWY DECATUR, 30034

Age at Arrest: 25 years old

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga

POSSESSING A FIREARM WITH INTENT TO GO ARMED

POSS.

OF HANDGUN WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCEDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALE---ARNOLD, REBECCA SUE1675 KEEBLE ST EAST RIDGE, 374123509Age at Arrest: 47 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeAGGRAVATED DOMESTIC ASSAULT---BENJAMIN, PAUL THOMAS307 SCENIC DR TUNNELL HILL, 30755Age at Arrest: 40 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPUBLIC INTOXICATION---BOSTON, MARTEZ MARIO2006 MILNE ST CHATTANOOGA, 37321Age at Arrest: 30 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---BROWDLEY, REGINALD WILLIAM1905 WALKER ST CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 58 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaALTERING, FALSIFYING OR FORGING EVIDENCES OF TITLEFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITYDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---BURDETTE, LASANDRA119 HOLLYBERRY LN CHATTANOOGA, 37411Age at Arrest: 26 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING ON REVOKED LICENSE---BURWICK, ARTHUR HAYES3007 GREENWHICH AVENUE RED BANK, 37415Age at Arrest: 50 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyVIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA)VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FAILURE TO APPEAR)---CRAIG, JUSTIN DWAN2501 TUNNEL BLVD CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 23 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEF---CREVISTON, ANTHONY MICHAEL2104 PORT ROYAL RD SODDY DAISY, 373798839Age at Arrest: 19 years oldArresting Agency: Soddy DaisySHOPLIFTING---DOSTER, JAWARA TUQWAN3719 SANDY SHOALS LN DECATUR, 30034Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaPOSSESSING A FIREARM WITH INTENT TO GO ARMEDPOSS. OF HANDGUN WHILE UNDER THE INFLUENCEDRUGS GENERAL CATEGORY FOR RESALE---DOVER, TIFFANY MARIE7625 MAHAN GAP RD OOLTEWAH, 37363Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSINGDISORDERLY CONDUCTPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCEPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCEPOSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE---DURHAM, THOMAS R1520 SPRINGVALE RD CHATTANOOGA, 37412Age at Arrest: 29 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeDUI---FAIRBANKS, NICHOLAS CLABON6050 DIBBS LANE OOLTEWAH, 37363Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVIOLATION OF PROBATION (DOMESTIC ASSAULT)---FIMBEL, JOSEPH MICHEAL312 PEMBROOK LN CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 56 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDISORDERLY CONDUCT---GARREN, BRANDY NICOLE271 PLUM LANE DAYTON, 37321Age at Arrest: 33 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyPOSSESSION OF LEGEND DRUGS W/O PRESCRIPTIONPOSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA---GUNNER, TRAVIS WESLEY3431 4TH AVE CHATTANOOGA, 37407Age at Arrest: 41 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---HARDNETT, JAKEL E1118 E 13TH ST CHATTANOOGA, 37408Age at Arrest: 18 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaASSAULTDISORDERLY CONDUCT---HILT, MATTIQUE1314 CYPRESS STREET COURTS CHATTANOOGA, 37402Age at Arrest: 28 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSESAFETY EQUIPMENT VIOLATIONLIGHT LAW VIOLATIONOPEN CONTAINER LAWFINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY---LEE, KENNEDY TYRONE1608 W 56TH STREET CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 25 years oldArresting Agency: East RidgeDRIVING WITHOUT A LICENCELEAVING THE SCENE OF ACCIDENTFALSE REPORT---MCKENZIE, DONTE2413 NORTHBRIAR CIRCLE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaAGGRAVATED ASSAULTAGGRAVATED ASSAULTAGGRAVATED ASSAULT---MCKENZIE, KIMBERLY MONICHE2413 NORTHBRIAR CIRCLE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 48 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaAGGRAVATED ASSAULTAGGRAVATED ASSAULTAGGRAVATED ASSAULT---MERCIERS, TREVOR DHOMELESS SODDY DAISY, 37379Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency:Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---MOTTERN, CHARLES PHILLIP810 31ST ST COLUMBUS, 31904Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: Soddy DaisyDOMESTIC ASSAULTRECKLESS ENDANGERMENTRECKLESS ENDANGERMENT---ORTEGA, ONEXCIS MANUEL200 BAYLEE LANE DAYTON, 37421Age at Arrest: 33 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyDOMESTIC ASSAULT---PEAY, GEOFFERY DU VAL1808 S WILLOW ST CHATTANOOGA, 37404Age at Arrest: 37 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVIOLATION OF PROBATION(AGGRAVATED BURGLARY)---RAMSEY, MARLIN D7159 HOLLAD LN APT B CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 21 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaNONSUPPORT AND FLAGRANT NONSUPPORT---REYNOLDS, ACQUANETTA L1813 PARKWAY DRIVE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: Tenn Highway PatrolDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 2ND OFFENSEDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE---ROBINSON, MATTHEW COREY3522 RODA LANE CHATTANOOGA, 37416Age at Arrest: 38 years oldArresting Agency: Red BankBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---SCHOLL, JAMES ALAN729 DAVE BROWN RD TRENTON, 30752Age at Arrest: 30 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaVIOLATION OF PROBATION(POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHER---SLEDGE JR, TRAVIS ANTWAIN703 FULLER GLEN CIR CHATTANOOGA, 37421Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---SPARKS, MAKALA DAJAUAN4929 JEFFERY LN CHATTANOOGA, 37410Age at Arrest: 35 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaCRIMINAL TRESPASSINGDISORDERLY CONDUCT---STATEN, GARY LEEHOMELESS CHATTANOOGA, 37403Age at Arrest: 69 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaINDECENT EXPOSURECRIMINAL TRESPASSINGPUBLIC INTOXICATION---STELLING, SHAWN CODY4426 FRANCIS SPRINGS ROAD WHITWELL, 37397Age at Arrest: 25 years oldArresting Agency: Hamilton CountyBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---STERLING, SHERWIN LAMAR3914 MEMPHIS DRIVE CHATTANOOGA, 37403Age at Arrest: 27 years oldArresting Agency: Red BankBooked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)---TAYLOR, RAYMOND ANTOHNYHOMELESS CHATTANOOGA, 37411Age at Arrest: 31 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaATTEMPT TO SELL PSILOCYBIN FOR RESALE---THOMAS, CODY WILLIAM11186 DAYTON PIKE SODDY DAISY, 37379Age at Arrest: 24 years oldArresting Agency: Soddy DaisyDRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE---TRAMMELL, SABRINA LATYOYA2016 EMMA KATE DRIVE CHATTANOOGA, 37406Age at Arrest: 34 years oldArresting Agency: ChattanoogaNO PROOF OF INSURANCEVIOLATING AUTO REGISTRATION LAWDRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE

Here are the mug shots:

ARNOLD, REBECCA SUE

Age at Arrest: 47

Date of Birth: 08/03/1970

Arresting Agency: East Ridge



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED DOMESTIC ASSAULT BENJAMIN, PAUL THOMAS

Age at Arrest: 40

Date of Birth: 01/26/1978

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

PUBLIC INTOXICATION BOSTON, MARTEZ MARIO

Age at Arrest: 30

Date of Birth: 03/04/1988

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE BROWDLEY, REGINALD WILLIAM

Age at Arrest: 58

Date of Birth: 03/10/1960

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

ALTERING, FALSIFYING OR FORGING EVIDENCES OF TITLE

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE BURWICK, ARTHUR HAYES

Age at Arrest: 50

Date of Birth: 05/27/1968

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (POSSESSION OF MARIJUANA)

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (FAILURE TO APPEAR) CRAIG, JUSTIN DWAN

Age at Arrest: 23

Date of Birth: 10/08/1994

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

VANDALISM/MALICIOUS MISCHIEF CREVISTON, ANTHONY MICHAEL

Age at Arrest: 19

Date of Birth: 01/12/1999

Arresting Agency: Soddy Daisy



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

SHOPLIFTING DOVER, TIFFANY MARIE

Age at Arrest: 29

Date of Birth: 01/08/1989

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

CRIMINAL TRESPASSING

DISORDERLY CONDUCT

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

POSSESSION OF CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE DURHAM, THOMAS R

Age at Arrest: 29

Date of Birth: 09/08/1988

Arresting Agency: East Ridge



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

DUI FAIRBANKS, NICHOLAS CLABON

Age at Arrest: 27

Date of Birth: 11/07/1990

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

VIOLATION OF PROBATION (DOMESTIC ASSAULT)

FIMBEL, JOSEPH MICHEAL

Age at Arrest: 56

Date of Birth: 09/13/1961

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

DISORDERLY CONDUCT GARREN, BRANDY NICOLE

Age at Arrest: 33

Date of Birth: 09/05/1984

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

POSSESSION OF LEGEND DRUGS W/O PRESCRIPTION

POSSESSION OF DRUG PARAPHERNALIA GUNNER, TRAVIS WESLEY

Age at Arrest: 41

Date of Birth: 11/24/1976

Arresting Agency: Hamilton County



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

HILT, MATTIQUE

Age at Arrest: 28

Date of Birth: 01/31/1990

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE

SAFETY EQUIPMENT VIOLATION

LIGHT LAW VIOLATION

OPEN CONTAINER LAW

FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY MCKENZIE, DONTE

Age at Arrest: 24

Date of Birth: 08/10/1993

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT MCKENZIE, KIMBERLY MONICHE

Age at Arrest: 48

Date of Birth: 09/17/1969

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT MERCIERS, TREVOR D

Age at Arrest: 27

Date of Birth: 09/12/1990

Arresting Agency:



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Booked for Previous Charges or Other Reason(s)

MOTTERN, CHARLES PHILLIP

Age at Arrest: 24

Date of Birth: 06/18/1993

Arresting Agency: Soddy Daisy



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

DOMESTIC ASSAULT

RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT

RECKLESS ENDANGERMENT RAMSEY, MARLIN D

Age at Arrest: 21

Date of Birth: 10/01/1996

Arresting Agency: Chattanooga



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

NONSUPPORT AND FLAGRANT NONSUPPORT REYNOLDS, ACQUANETTA L

Age at Arrest: 27

Date of Birth: 08/11/1990

Arresting Agency: Tenn Highway Patrol



Last Date of Arrest: 05/28/2018

Charge(s):

DRIVING UNDER THE INFLUENCE 2ND OFFENSE

DRIVING ON REVOKED, SUSPENDED OR CANCELLED LICENSE
Exiled opposition politician Mikheil Saakashvili has called on European nations to slap sanctions on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his inner circle, accusing them of violating his human rights.

Saakashvili said Tuesday that Poroshenko breached international law by stripping him of his Ukrainian citizenship and forcibly kicking him out of the country.

Speaking in The Hague, Netherlands, Saakashvili says sanctions should be used to push Poroshenko into restoring Saakashvili's citizenship and allowing him to return to Ukraine.

Saakashvili was Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013, and later was given a governorship in Ukraine by then-ally President Petro Poroshenko. However Saakashvili has since criticized Poroshenko for failing to stem corruption and has led anti-government protests.

Saakashvili was detained in March in Kiev by armed, masked men and deported to Poland.
Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff will discuss the 2017 safety performance of the Sequoyah nuclear power plant, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, during an open house on June 6.

The open house will be held at the Sequoyah Training Center, 2600 Igou Ferry Road in Soddy Daisy. The two-unit Sequoyah plant is located near Soddy Daisy, about 16 miles northeast of Chattanooga.

The open house will run from 5-6 p.m., and NRC employees responsible for plant inspections, including the resident inspectors based full-time at the site, will be available to discuss its performance.



The NRC concluded that the Sequoyah plant operated safely during 2017. At the end of the year, all but one inspection finding and all performance indicators on Units 1-2 were green or of low safety significance. As a result of one security-related finding in the third quarter of 2017, both units are being subjected to additional oversight in addition to the NRCs normal levels, which entail thousands of hours of inspection each year.



The NRC Reactor Oversight Process uses color-coded inspection findings and indicators to measure plant performance. The colors start at green and increase to white, yellow or red, commensurate with the safety significance of the issues involved. Inspection findings or performance indicators with more than very low safety significance trigger increased NRC oversight.



Inspections are performed by two NRC resident inspectors and inspection specialists from the NRC Region II office in Atlanta.

The annual assessment letter for the Sequoyah plant, as well as the notice for the open house, are available on the NRC website. Current performance information for Unit 1 and Unit 2 is also available.
The Nightfall Concert Series, produced by Chattanooga Presents, continues its 31st season Friday with a series of free Friday-night concerts held at Miller Plaza in downtown Chattanooga. Each Friday through Aug. 31 (with the exception of June 8 and 15 during Riverbend), Nightfall will showcase a broad spectrum of musical genres featuring a local band at 7 p.m., followed by a headline show by a national artist at 8 p.m., many of whom are performing for the first time in Chattanooga.Review for The Dustbowl Revival:Headlining Nightfall this week will be The Dustbowl Revival.From Los Angeles, The Dustbowl Revival is an electrifying eight-piece ensemble who play an old-school type of American soul, funk, rock and swing. The band has been voted as Best Live Band in LA by LA Weekly and has also been featured in Rolling Stone who said, Americana swing that was so fun I went back to see them again the next day.Review for Priscilla and Little Rickee:The local opening band will be Priscilla and Little Rickee who start the show at 7 p.m. A very entertaining group with great harmonies, relaxing melodies and music that is sure to get people moving and grooving with a variety of genres that audiences will love.Nightfall bulk discount beer and wine tickets will again be available this year at each show, offering a 20 percent savings on a packet of 20 beer and wine tickets. Food trucks and non-alcoholic drink concessions are also available on site. No outside food or beverages are allowed to be brought in to Nightfall, therefore coolers are not allowed.Nightfall, recently named as downtown Chattanoogas favorite event in a survey by River City Company, has been the communitys signature summertime program for the past 30 years. Known for its family-friendly environment as well as being recognized nationally for the quality of its musical programming, Nightfall has an average attendance of between 2,500-3,000 each night.For more information on this free community concert series, call 265-0771 or visit NightfallChattanooga.com for a complete, interactive website that includes music samples by each headliner, as well as other information for first-time attendees.
La Paz announced the winner of this years Best Sangria in Chattanooga contest.

Conga Latin Food is the winner for 2018, after having taken the title in 2017 as well.





Rene and Alex Hernandez manage the restaurant along with their mother, owner Eva Rodriguez.





Natives of El Salvador, the family serves traditional Latin American fare from different parts of the region.





The restaurant is at 26 E. Main Street, where they have been since 2016 after moving from their previous location on 207 E. Main Street.





We are very honored and grateful for the people of Chattanooga that appreciate the effort we put into our Sangria and food. We have worked with La Paz over 10 years and have seen them grow just like they have seen us grow. We hope to be partners with them for many more years, the Hernandez brothers said.





The Best Sangria in Chattanooga is chosen each year at La Pazs signature fundraising event.





Guests of the event receive voting tickets and are asked to sample each of the sangrias from participating restaurants.





Fellow participants from this year were Mexiville, Embargo 62 and St. Johns Meeting Place, the latter two being winners in previous years. 181 guests voted, with Conga being first at 92 votes. The runner-up was Mexiville with 48 votes.





Sangria on the Bluff is La Paz's annual cultural event highlighting Latino and Hispanic heritage. The Hunter Museum has served as the venue for the fundraiser for the past two years.
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High Court Continues Pro-life Law in Arkansas

WASHINTON, May 29, 2018 / Christian Newswire / -- The U.S. Supreme Court issued an order today that allows a 2015 Arkansas law requiring individuals who prescribe abortion drugs to have a partnership with a local doctor who agrees to treat emergency situations and has medical admitting privileges at a local hospital. This law allows a mother to experience seamless care when urgent, life-threatening complications arise from an abortion. The Supreme Court refused to take an appeal from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which reversed a federal district judge's preliminary injunction against the law because of a lack of evidence, or even an estimate, of the number of people the law would cause to delay, or not have, an abortion.

Approximately 19 pages of patient safety information, with cautions and directions, accompany a prescription for Misoprostol, a drug commonly used in chemical abortions. It includes risks of "serious and sometimes fatal infections and bleeding" and the possibility of uterine rupture. However, Planned Parenthood claims that being equipped to provide local care for their clients was "medically unnecessary." In addition, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists found a wide variation in the drug called Misoprostol. Pills ordered online that were labeled for 200 mcg, actually had as little as 34.1 mcg, with one in four of the studied pills having less than half the dose their label claimed.

The Arkansas bill still has significant hurdles to overcome as the circuit court has returned the case to the lower judge to find more evidence of people who would be harmed by the law. Planned Parenthood claims that this law will shut down their locations in Little Rock and Fayetteville, Arkansas, because they cannot find a single local doctor to partner with them.

"We firmly believe that women who are taking strong abortion-inducing chemicals should have access to local doctors who understand what is happening and can quickly and properly care for their health," said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel. "To diagnose a mother can take valuable and unnecessary time away from saving her life. This law is a common sense way to protect the lives of women across Arkansas," said Staver.

Liberty Counsel is an international nonprofit, litigation, education, and policy organization dedicated to advancing religious freedom, the sanctity of life, and the family since 1989, by providing pro bono assistance and representation on these and related topics.


Yokuas Island Express Out Now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switcha  and PC





[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource Games Press.]

29th May 2018, UK  Team17, a global games label, creative partner and developer of independent, premium video games and Swedish independent developer Villa Gorilla are happy to announce that the charming open-world pinball adventure game Yokus Island Express is out now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC. Check out the new launch trailer here: https://youtu.be/sMgHGxYOUek Yoku has arrived on Mokumana and hes ready for the easy life, soaking up the sun and delivering parcels on a tropical paradise! However, an ancient Island deity is trapped in a restless sleep - and its all down to Yoku to traverse the island using a unique blend of pinball mechanics, platforming and open world exploration, in an amazing adventure to help those in need! Key Features: OPEN-WORLD PINBALL ADVENTURE: Flip and bump our pint-sized protagonist around the stunning hand-painted island on your quest to rebuild the post-office and wake an old god from its deep slumber

Flip and bump our pint-sized protagonist around the stunning hand-painted island on your quest to rebuild the post-office and wake an old god from its deep slumber WELCOME TO MOKUMANA ISLAND: Seamlessly explore multiple regions of the island, including tropical beaches, lush jungles, snowy mountains, mysterious caves, and steamy hot springs!

Seamlessly explore multiple regions of the island, including tropical beaches, lush jungles, snowy mountains, mysterious caves, and steamy hot springs! UNLOCK AMAZING NEW ABILITIES: Help the friendly locals and earn a range of fantastic new power-ups!

Help the friendly locals and earn a range of fantastic new power-ups! CAPTIVATING STORY: Meet a cast of unforgettable characters across multiple storylines - whilst uncovering the islands deepest secrets. And maybe rebuild the post office too!

Meet a cast of unforgettable characters across multiple storylines - whilst uncovering the islands deepest secrets. And maybe rebuild the post office too! EPIC BOSS BATTLES: Get ready to take on giant bosses using Yoku's trusty ball to 'deliver' the final blow

Get ready to take on giant bosses using Yoku's trusty ball to 'deliver' the final blow BEAUTIFUL ARTWORK: Feast your eyes on the breath-taking hand-painted artwork created by games industry veteran artists Yokus Island Express is out today on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC for just 15.99 / 19,99  / $19.99. A physical edition will be arriving on 15th June (Europe/Australia) and 19th June (North America) for all console platforms. Please check local retailers for pricing and availability. To keep up to date with all the information on Yokus Island Express please like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter and join us on Discord. Assets are available to download from: http://bit.ly/PressKitTeam17 For more information please contact: Bethany Aston  PR & Events Manager  Team17 [email protected] // +447508014428 About Team17 Group plc Founded in 1990, Team17 Group plc is a leading international video games label and creative partner for independent developers. The portfolio comprises over 90 games, including The Escapists, Genesis: Alpha One, Overcooked, Yokus Island Express, Yooka-Laylee, the Worms franchise and many more from developers around the world. Visit www.team17.com for more info. About Villa Gorilla Villa Gorilla is located in Stockholm, Sweden and was founded in 2013 by industry veterans Jens Andersson and Mattias Snygg. Our goal is to create small and unique games with a focus on innovative game design and beautiful execution. Yoku's Island Express. Developed by Villa Gorilla.  2018. Yoku's Island Express and Villa Gorilla are trademarks or registered trademarks of Villa Gorilla. Published by Team17.  2018. Team17 is a registered trademark of Team17 Digital Limited. All other trademarks, copyrights and logos are property of their respective owners.  2017 Nintendo. Nintendo Switch and Joy-Con are trademarks of Nintendo.
Early opening : Outdoor pool season in Bonn starts with thousands of visitors

Bonn The warm temperatures have already attracted thousands of Bonners to the outdoor pools. The city has warned against swimming in the Rhine.

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Spring is showing itself at its best this year. Three outdoor pools in Bonn have reacted to the unexpected summer temperatures and started their season early ten days ago: by Sunday, 16,800 visitors had already been to the Friesi, Hardtbergbad and Ennertbad.

The city said Saturday was the most popular day with over 2600 visitors spending the summery spring day at the Ennertbad, almost 2000 visitors at the Hardtbergbad and 1800 at the Friesi. On Sunday, the total number of visitors reached 3600, just under 60 per cent of the previous day. This was probably because of the onset of rain showers during the late afternoon.

On 31 May (Corpus Christi), the Romerbad, Melbbad and the outdoor pool in Rungsdorf open. The outdoor pool season ends on Sunday, 2 September 2018. Opening times are Mondays to Fridays from 6.30am to 8pm (each pool will only open one pool for swimmers until 10am). On Saturdays, Sundays and on public holidays, the outdoor pools are open from 11am to 8pm.

Swimming in the Rhine is extremely dangerous

In light of the temperatures, the city has also pointed out that it is extremely dangerous to swim in the Rhine. At the Rhine banks in Beuel and Bad Godesberg, signs warn of the dangers of the river. Even experienced swimmers find it difficult to judge the currents and speed of the Rhine and inadvertently put themselves in danger.

People often do not realise that the change from standing to running water does not happen slowly, but can occur unexpectedly. This is because you can suddenly lose your footing where the bottom of the channel drops away steeply. The Rhine flows through Bonn at a speed of about six kilometres per hour.
In secret, behind locked gates, our Nation's Oldest City dumped a landfill in a lake (Old City Reservoir), while emitting sewage in our rivers and salt marsh. Organized citizens exposed and defeated pollution, racism and cronyism. We elected a new Mayor. We're transforming our City -- advanced citizenship. Ask questions. Make disclosures. Demand answers. Be involved. Expect democracy. Report and expose corruption. Smile! Help enact a St. Augustine National Park and Seashore. We shall overcome!
Manila (CNN Philippines Life)  Earlier this year, it was reported that sea levels are rapidly rising because of climate change. Multinational companies such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft have quickly responded by making sustainability a priority within their institutions.

In the Philippines, a company called MUNI is addressing climate change by advocating for living a sustainable lifestyle. It's our goal to just share ideas and create a community that can empower people to think more critically about how they shop, eat, travel, and do business, says Jen Horn, founder of MUNI.

Horn emphasises the power of community, of being able to gather like-minded people and move the conversation on sustainability forward. She says that during MUNI Meet-ups, they are able to gather people from various sectors to share and discuss best practices on being more mindful about the impact that peoples decisions  from the food we eat to the clothes we wear  have on communities and the environment.

It can't just be environmentalists talking amongst themselves, or the development workers talking amongst themselves, or entrepreneurs talking amongst themselves, she says. It's about this inner cross-pollination of ideas.

Learn about MUNI Meet-ups here:
Waukesha, WI (53187)

Today

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 52F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. Low 52F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 30)  The Kapisanan ng mga Brodkaster ng Pilipinas (KBP) honored CNN Philippines with four awards Tuesday at the 26th Golden Dove Awards held in Pasay City.

The network won Best Magazine Show (Profiles Marawi: Heartbreak and Homecoming), Best Special Program (On The Record: Breaking Fake News - Hosted by Nicole Curato), and Best Public Affairs Show (The Source).

Pinky Webb was named Best Newscaster.

Along with Webb, Mitzi Borromeo and Alfonso "Pal" Marquez, Senior Vice President for Operations were there to receive the awards.

The Golden Dove Awards are given by the KBP to honor the best of broadcast media.

On its website, it says it was established to "encourage excellence and high professional standards in the broadcast media as well as to promote more responsible broadcasting."
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29)  The Philippines did not lose a single inch of its territory under President Rodrigo Dutertes watch, the countrys top diplomat said, even promising to quit public office if proven wrong.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano on Monday challenged critics to provide evidence that the Duterte administration failed in protecting the country's rights over disputed islands in the South China Sea.

"Ano man ang profession nila (Whatever their profession may be)  justice sila, pulitiko (politician) sila, newsman, journalist  if we lost a single island during Duterte's time, I will pack my bags, go home, and I will not serve the public in any elected or appointed position," Cayetano said in a lengthy speech at his department's flag-raising ceremony.

He said he was reacting to an article he read Sunday, "How many islands do we have?" A column was published on the Philippine Star that day, titled "How many islands does Phl still have?"

Columnist Federico Pascual Jr. said, "A confident China has stepped up its setting up of military installations on artificial islands built in the Philippines' Exclusive Economic Zone with Duterte looking the other way."

In a landmark ruling on July 2016, the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague awarded to the Philippines areas in the South China Sea that lie within the country's 200-mile exclusive economic zone, based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), an international treaty both the Philippines and China had signed. China has refused to acknowledge the arbitral ruling and continues to claim the South China Sea in its entirety.

Alejano: We lost Sandy Cay

Opposition lawmaker Gary Alejano on Tuesday responded to Cayetano's statement, saying the country "lost effective control" on Sandy Cay, a sand bar over 2.5 nautical miles west of Pag-asa Island in the South China Sea.

"Secretary Cayetano should be reminded that China seized Sandy Cay during his and Duterte's incumbency," Alejano said in a statement.

Duterte in August 2017 said China has assured him that it will not invade Sandy Cay, amid reports that Chinese vessels are blocking Filipino fishermen there.

Alejano said this is just one case. "In a bigger picture, if our ability to patrol and supply our islands is slowly being diminished, then time will come China will have effective control of the whole West Philippine Sea. We would lose everything."

Cayetano: Gov't protecting country's rights

Cayetano on Monday said not mentioning the words "arbitration award" in public statements is not tantamount to the government not protecting the country's sovereign rights over its EEZ in the West Philippine Sea.

"Lahat ng economic rights ay ipinaglalaban namin (We are fighting for all economic rights)," Cayetano said, mentioning the Filipinos' rights to fish in the area, to secure ecological and environmental protection, right to safe harbor, and oil and gas exploration.

He also reiterated that the government is taking diplomatic actions whenever necessary. Recent Chinese actions on areas within the country's EEZ include the reported presence of two Chinese military planes on Panganiban or Mischief Reef, and China's unveiling of a monument to mark its construction work in Kagitingan or Fiery Cross Reef.

Both are in the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea, which is being claimed by the Philippines, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei.

Critics have slammed President Duterte's "defeatist" stance on the long-standing maritime dispute. Duterte has repeatedly said the country cannot afford to go to war against China, but has promised to bring up the arbitral ruling with the Asian giant during his term.
The marine environment is critical to Grenadas economy and closely linked to the islands income generating tourism sector. Grenadas tri-island ocean state is not just a hub of maritime activity, but also home to unique marine biodiversity
For the first time since the Great Recession of the late 2000s, the fiscal position of the states is looking bright . The economy is growing more rapidly than anytime over the last decade, causing state revenues to rebound, and many states will see additional revenues as a result of last year's federal tax overhaul.But if there is one thing I've learned as an economist who led the National Governors Association for decades, it's that budgeting in good economic times can be much more difficult than in bad times. The competition for any surplus revenues is always going to be intense. Meanwhile, however, most economic forecasters are warning that the next recession could be far worse than the one that decimated state budgets a decade ago. That's why it's critical to seize this opportunity and invest the current surpluses in education and workforce talent. Otherwise, we will spend years struggling to recover from the next economic downturn.Industry, higher-education and government leaders serving on the National Commission on Financing 21st Century Higher Education, which is funded by the Lumina Foundation, identified specific policy recommendations to prepare states for a strong economic future. Here are six takeaways for state leaders:State leaders must help the public understand why boosting the number of their residents who earn college degrees is critical. The public needs to realize that increasingly the United States will be competing with the highly educated labor pools of Berlin, Shenzhen, Bangalore, Stockholm, Seoul and Hong Kong. Unfortunately, the U.S. has dropped from first in graduation rates among the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development countries in 1995 to 19th in 2016.If states want businesses to expand in their states, they need to understand that future jobs increasingly will go where there is a highly educated labor pool. Just ask the cities vying for the second Amazon headquarters, which promises to bring $5 billion in economic development and 50,000 new jobs. Cincinnati leaders received a briefing from Amazon on why the city did not make it into the company's final 20 contenders, and were told that "talent was the most important factor out of everything they looked at." Merely increasing state higher-education spending will not be enough to spur improvements. State leaders must experiment with new models. This includes income-share agreement (ISA) plans, such as the one recently developed by Purdue University, which allow students with loans to pay a set amount of their wages after graduation for an agreed-upon number of years; ISA payments adjust according to levels of income. Allowing community colleges to sell bonds to finance innovative delivery systems is another innovation in funding, as demonstrated by initiatives in Iowa, Kansas and Michigan.In California, Gov. Jerry Brown's budget proposal calls for the creation of the state's first wholly online community college . Legislation in New Jersey proposes a multi-year plan to make community college free . And 11 universities, including Kansas, Michigan State and the University of California at Riverside, a re working together in a network to ensure that more low-income students earn degrees.Institutions that increase graduation rates for low-income and students of color and hold down costs should get more funding. Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam is a leader in building bipartisan support for policies that create a higher-education system that delivers value for students and employers. To build on the state's extraordinary success, he has proposed a new Complete to Compete initiative . Among other things, it would restructure financial-aid requirements to keep students on track for on-time graduation.State leaders should move quickly to invest the expected surpluses in higher education and other efforts to develop their workforce talent before they are taken by special interests and legislative pet projects. The states' fiscal position should remain strong for the next couple of years. Acting now will minimize the impact of the next economic downturn, in terms of lost jobs, as employers become more reluctant to terminate workers with higher education and skill levels.In the long run, these steps will sustain a higher economic-growth path, with its positive impact on wages and incomes. They will effectively reduce wage inequality, which should be a top priority for all state leaders. And when the next recession does hit, states will be in a much better position to bounce back and avoid the painfully protracted recovery that followed the last recession.
Gov. Larry Hogan vetoed three education bills Thursday, calling them "a crude attempt" to dilute accountability in Maryland public schools.Two of the bills were backed by the Maryland State Education Association, the state's largest teachers' union and a frequent target of Hogan's ire.The legislation would have changed the composition of the Maryland Board of Education to include two teachers and a parent, made it possible for more school supervisors to join the union and made it harder to fire hundreds of political appointees at the state Department of Education.Hogan's veto of the bills is final because it is the last year of the four-year term and the next General Assembly does not have authority to override him.The Republican governor said the bills follow "an unfortunate litany of attempts" by state lawmakers to reshape education policy. Hogan used his four-page veto letter to criticize lawmakers for not passing bills he pushed to create an "investigator general" to look into school systems, and to criticize other legislation he vetoed in the past. The Democratic-dominated General Assembly overrode those vetoes."It is shocking to me, as well as the citizens of Maryland, the lengths the General Assembly will go to weaken accountability that will hurt the performance of our school children," Hogan wrote.The state's largest teachers' union issued a statement calling Hogan partisan for vetoing the legislation that required him to appoint teachers -- who would have been recommended by the union -- and a parent to the state school board."It's the very definition of common sense that teachers should be at the decision-making table when developing policies that affect our students," MSEA president Betty Weller said in a statement. "Gov. Hogan is sending a very clear message: He doesn't believe teachers should have a voice in decisions about our schools, students and profession."
The FBI warned on Friday that Russian computer hackers had compromised hundreds of thousands of home and office routers and could collect user information or shut down network traffic.The U.S. law enforcement agency urged the owners of many brands of routers to turn them off and on again and download updates from the manufacturer to protect themselves.The warning followed a court order Wednesday that allowed the FBI to seize a website that the hackers planned to use to give instructions to the routers. Though that cut off malicious communications, it still left the routers infected, and Fridays warning was aimed at cleaning up those machines.Infections were detected in more than 50 countries, though the primary target for further actions was probably Ukraine, the site of many recent infections and a longtime cyberwarfare battleground.
Missouri is switching governors. It would be difficult to find a replacement as different from outgoing Gov. Eric Greitens as Mike Parson, the state's lieutenant governor.Parson is a much more conventional politician than Greitens, a former Navy SEAL who had never held an elected position before and announced his resignation on Tuesday, five months after news broke about a sex and blackmail scandal.Greitens faced possible impeachment. He left office as part of a plea deal to get criminal charges of illegally obtaining a campaign donor list dismissed, according to the St. Louis prosecutor's office. Earlier on Tuesday, a judge ruled that Greitens and his allies have to comply with a Missouri House subpoena regarding his dark money campaign groups. He could also still be charged with an invasion-of-privacy felony in connection with his extramarital affair.Greitens was a brash and combative political outsider. His manner of attacking legislators, including fellow Republicans, left him without political cover once he was embroiled in scandal.Parson, on the other hand, has long been a familiar presence at the Capitol, having served in both legislative chambers."One of the contributing factors to the widespread call for Greitens to resign [was] the high level of comfort with having Parson as his successor," says Terry Jones, a political scientist at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.Parson is sometimes compared with Andy Griffith, the long-ago TV sheriff. In part, that's because Parson served a dozen years as Polk County, Mo., sheriff. But it's also because the word most commonly used to describe him is "personable.""He fits the classic profile of a get-along, go-along elected official who is not full of himself and who regards the job as more important than the person in the job," Jones says.Parson is a solid conservative, receiving perfect or near-perfect ratings from the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union and the National Federation of Independent Business. As a legislator, Parson supported tax cuts and co-sponsored an expansion of Missouri's "castle doctrine" law, which allows individuals to use deadly force in defense of their homes.He's been a staunch champion of agriculture, Missouri's leading industry. Parson supported the state's "right to farm" amendment, which makes it difficult to pass laws curtailing farming and ranching practices."That's where he really did great work, not just locally but all through the state, fighting hard for it and fighting hard for the farmers of Missouri," says Trent Drake, who chairs the Polk County Republican Party.Parson was elected to the state House in 2004 and won a Senate seat in 2010, eventually rising to majority whip. He has been "very active as lieutenant governor" on the floor and in chambers, says state GOP Rep. Bill White."Like most Republicans in the General Assembly, Parson is a mainstream conservative, so I would assume their policy agendas will mesh with little problem," says Peverill Squire, a University of Missouri political scientist. "He's a product of the General Assembly and consequently knows the legislative process and the personalities serving in the legislature."Parson was elected independently as lieutenant governor in 2016. He mostly kept mum during Greitens' season of legal and political troubles. Addressing Boone County Republicans in April, however, he won applause with an oblique swipe."No one elected official, including myself, no statewide official is larger than the state of Missouri," he said. "None."Long before he got into legal hot water, Greitens could be secretive and imperious in dealing with the legislature. Parson, by contrast, has long experience in stroking lawmakers and patiently letting the process play out."So many times when you talk to a politician, they have preconceived ideas and can't wait until you're done to jump in," says Alan Wessler, who chairs Missouri Farmers Care, an umbrella group of agriculture organizations. "Parson will listen to what you have to say, and I appreciate that willingness to listen intently."As lieutenant governor, Parson worked on a "Buy Missouri" initiative to encourage support of local businesses. He conducted one of several investigations into reports of physical abuse and medical neglect at the St. Louis Veterans Home.What was happening was wrong, and it needed to be corrected, Parson told residents and staff at the home in February, according to theHe drew some criticism as lieutenant governor as the only statewide official to accept gifts from lobbyists. In January, he asked for an increase of $50,000 for his travel budget so he could hire a driver."The criticism about his push for his own driver was overblown," Jones says. "It was not particularly shrewd, but it was not out of the question, given the amount of travel the lieutenant governor does around the state."
Facebook and other social media companies should turn over users' public communications to criminal defendants in response to subpoenas, the California Supreme Court decided unanimously Thursday.The ruling, a victory for the criminal defense bar, overturned an appeals court decision that said the defense lawyers could not force media companies to comply with such subpoenas prior to trial.Defense lawyers have been fighting since 2008 to be able to have access to social media accounts to defend their clients. The media companies have refused access, saying a federal privacy law barred cooperation except in limited circumstances.Police and prosecutors, though, are able to obtain the communications through warrants and subpoenas.Thursday's decision, written by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, said the companies would have to comply with subpoenas for users' information that was public at the time of the request."A provider must disclose any such communication pursuant to a subpoena that is authorized under state law," Cantil-Sakauye wrote.Although defense lawyers, like anyone else, can obtain users' information that is public, those communications are not admissible in court until the media company or the user confirm their authenticity."It is so signficant," said Janelle Caywood, a criminal defense lawyer in the case who has tried to subpoena user information."Whenever criminal defendants subpoena records that we think we need to prove our clients are innocent, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram ignore us completely," she said.She said the California Supreme Court was the first state high court to take up the issue and the first to rule on it."We have had public defenders calling us from throughout they country who have been waiting for this," she said. "This is the first step in the right direction to full and fair access."The decision stemmed from a gang-related prosecution of a killing and attempted killing in a drive-by shooting in San Francisco. One of the participants, a 14-year-old, told police the victim had "tagged" him on Instagram in a video featuring guns.The boy admitted that he shot the victim six times -- and said the victim "would have done the same thing to us."A grand jury indicted the boy and two others.Defense lawyers for two of the defendants served subpoenas on Twitter for communications that had been posted by a witness. One also served subpoenas on Facebook and Instagram for the accounts of both the witness and the victim.The media companies said the federal Stored Communications Act prevented them from disclosing stored electronic communications except in limited circumstances.The court said the companies may still challenge a subpoena if the person requesting it can obtain the information by other means, or show that the burden on the company is not justified.A lawyer for the media companies could not be reached for comment.
Remember white flight? A few generations ago, millions of white Americans left major cities for the suburbs. Their departures were aided, in part, by the growth of the highway system. But they were also motivated by race, as schools and neighborhoods started to desegregate. Now that more minorities are moving into the suburbs themselves -- a majority of minority residents of major metropolitan areas now live in suburbs, according to the Brookings Institution -- white flight is happening all over again.Thats the conclusion of a new study by Samuel Kye, an Indiana University sociologist. As more minorities have entered the middle class and established themselves in healthy suburban neighborhoods, Kye has noticed an exodus of white residents. Examining 28,000 suburban Census tracts in the nations 150 largest metro areas, he found that more than 3,000 of them experienced white flight, losing at least 20 percent of their white populations between 2000 and 2010. In fact, the average loss of white residents was actually twice that high.Kye discovered that white flight was particularly pronounced in areas with fewer high school dropouts, strong home values, median income levels and large numbers of professionals. He suggests this is because low-income whites dont have the means to leave neighborhoods seeing influxes of minority residents; affluent whites, on the other hand, have the resources to vote with their feet.Kyes study, published in Social Science Research, is in keeping with other recent academic findings. Maria Krysan, who studies racial residential segregation at the University of Illinois at Chicago, finds that most people she interviews say they want to live in integrated neighborhoods. But while members of minority groups often act on that desire, whites end up limiting their real estate searches and purchases to neighborhoods that are predominantly white.In earlier generations, the pattern of segregation was white suburbs surrounding black center cities. Today, more whites are living downtown, while others are moving to suburbs beyond the ones being populated by minorities. A team of researchers at Cornell and Mississippi State universities found that segregation is not just persisting within cities, but among them. That is, neighboring cities are likely to have very different racial profiles, largely because many whites are moving out to the exurbs.Theres even a tipping point for when whites typically pack up and move: White flight eventually becomes more likely in middle-class neighborhoods, Kye writes, when the presence of Hispanics and Asians exceeds 25 percent and 21 percent, respectively.
The Governors Official Program is comprised of a wide range of constitutional and legal duties and ceremonial and community engagements. Each year, the Governor hosts thousands of visitors to Government House to take part in investiture and award ceremonies, Open Days, receptions and meetings, and travels widely throughout Queensland to support the activities of Patron groups. View a chronological record of the Governors daily program below.

On Monday, in the morning, His Excellency the Honourable Paul de Jersey AC and Mrs Kaye de Jersey departed Government House for official travel to Thargomindah and Quilpie.

Following, at the Bulloo Shire Council Chambers, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey received a briefing on local issues from the Mayor and Councillors.

Following, at Thargomindah State School, the Governor and Mrs de Jersey visited classrooms and met with students and staff.

Following, at Thargomindah Airport, the Governor, with Mrs de Jersey, officially opened the newly-upgraded airport terminal, where the Governor addressed guests.
Description

GIS  29 May 2018: Mauritius hosted an international Conference focusing on the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation for the global tourism industry last week at Le Meridien Hotel in Pointe aux Piments.

The Conference brought together high-level policy makers including Ministers of Tourism, CEOs of Tourism Boards, Tourism professionals, private operators, Industry Associations, trade unions, academics and experts. It offered a platform for the participants to reflect on the challenges and opportunities of digitalisation for the tourism industry and share the best practices driving the global tourism industry.

The Conference adopted the Mauritius Declaration on Digitalisation and Sustainable Tourism. The recommendations include the creation of a Working Group on Digital Platforms; the promotion and diversification of sustainable tourism as well as the formulation of national regulatory and policy frameworks that require the tourism industry to protect the privacy of visitors.

The Declaration also provides for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation of the European Union, the reskilling of workforce for the tourism industry and rigorous application of Green ICT techniques to ensure minimal environmental impacts.

Moreover, it makes recommendations for the optimal use of geoinformatics technologies for the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage and the establishment of an Indian Ocean Agency on Climate change and protection and conservation of the biodiversity.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29)  The Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) released the list of passers of the Certified Public Accountant (CPA) Licensure Exam Tuesday.

On its official website, the PRC said 2,843 out of 9,830 examinees (28.92 percent) passed the CPA exams conducted by the Board of Accountancy in the cities of Manila, Baguio, Cagayan De Oro, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo, Legazpi, Tacloban and Tuguegarao this May 2018.

Topping the list was Jayson Ong Chan from the St. Paul School of Professional Studies in Palo, Leyte, who got a 92.50 percent score.

He was followed by his schoolmate, Jomari Jess Abellar, who scored 91.67 percent. Taking the third spot were Eddielyn Morfed from the Isabela State University - Echague and Stewart Herbie Tan Po from the University of San Carlos in Cebu, who both got a 91 percent score.

Eight students from the University of San Carlos placed in the Top 10.

Here is the list of the top ten passers:

Meanwhile, here is the full list of passers:

The date and venue for the oathtaking ceremony of the new successful examinees in the said examination will be announced at a later date, the PRC said.
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GIS  29 May 2018: The 9th SADC Regional United Nations Public Administration Network (UNPAN) workshop focusing on the future of public service in the context of the 4th Industrial Revolution, opened yesterday at Le Meriden Hotel in Pointe aux Piments. The Minister of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms, Mr Eddy Boissezon, the Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration of South Africa, Dr Chana Pilane-Majake, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mauritius, Ms Christine Umutoni, and other eminent personalities were present.

The two-day workshop is being organised by the Ministry of Civil Service and Administrative Reforms in collaboration with the Centre for Public Service Innovation of South Africa. It is bringing together some 50 delegates of the SADC countries with a view to reflect on the methods relating to the quality improvement of the public service sector.

In his address, Minister Boissezon highlighted that civil service officers are vested with the duty of contributing effectively to the delivery of timely and quality services to the citizens. To this end, he said that his Ministry is committed to providing more integrated, effective and qualitative civil service with an utmost priority being given to the training of staff.

He also underscored the importance of uplifting the quality of public service in addition to developing a modern and sustainable civil service, which according to him will act as an enabler and facilitator to spearhead the countrys development, in line with Governments Vision 2030.

The Minister pointed out that the workshop will serve as an excellent platform and enable SADC representatives to have better insights on innovation and digitalisation which in turn will help contribute to empowering public service officers and professionalise the public service sector.

For her part, the Deputy Minister of Public Service and Administration of South Africa, Dr Chana Pilane-Majake, underlined the relevance of technology and innovation at the core of developmental progress for the African Continent. Good governance, democracy and law are among the key elements vital for the transformation of the country into an Africa we want, she outlined.

On this score, she emphasised that it is high time to revolutionise the public service sector by incorporating innovation and technology so as to improve service delivery to the citizens. The role of public service officers remains central to the evolution of the sector with the emergence of a modern and technologically advanced administration, she added.

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Mauritius, Ms Christine Umutoni reiterated the commitment of the United Nations to support Mauritius in its endeavour to transform the public service sector by improving the conditions of civil service officers. She also underlined that the civil service officers are dynamic but they have to evolve so as to keep pace with technology and contribute to leveling the performance of the organisation.

The United Nations Public Administration Network

The UNPAN has been designed to help developing countries and countries in economic transition to respond to the challenges that Governments face in achieving their development goals.

Its main aim is to establish an internet-based network that links regional and national institutions devoted to public administration, thereby facilitating information exchange, experience sharing, and training in the area of public sector policy and management.

The UNPAN facilitates capacity building of the regional and national institutions so that they can access, process and disseminate relevant information by means of up-to-date information and communication technologies for the promotion of better public administration.
User research: In its simplest form, this involves watching people try to do something you want them to do, like enroll in a benefits program. It also involves interviewing people to gain a deeper understanding of their behavior and the problems they encounter using the service.

Product management: Taking a page from the private sector, state and local governments can designate someone within a department as a product manager, someone who can ensure that how a constituent uses a service and how they feel about their experience receives proper attention.

Design principles: Governments and their agencies that articulate how their services look and feel can make a difference in how they approach their work. The U.S. Digital Service has a playbook on design principles; so does the U.K.

The problem has existed since state and local governments launched the first computerized service system: How do you design software that focuses on what the customer needs to get done as easily as possible, rather than on the technical aspects of whats needed?Given governments unique mission, its many business rules, regulations and ever-changing policies, the institution was never going to be an innovator around the user experience, especially when it came to technology. Because government has no competitor for most of the services it delivers, there has been little incentive to spend tax dollars on simplifying and improving how citizens interacted with government.But as online services in the private sector exploded in the past decade, and with the rise of social media, giving citizens a platform to interact, complain and cajole government about the poor quality of its online services, the pressure to change has begun to bear fruit.What the private sector discovered was that problems involving customers and how they experience a product or service can be improved through a process called human-centered design. By obsessively focusing on understanding the perspective of the person who experiences a problem, companies can figure out whether or not a solution is meeting their needs effectively or not, according to DC Design , a social impact design firm.When youre using human-centric design, youre looking to understand deeply held needs and motivations that people have that explain why they behave the way they do, Erik Olesund, a lecturer at Stanford Universitys d.school, told. The end goal, he added, is that the design stems from the needs of the people, rather than from the institution that wants to solve the problem.The Apple stores Genius Bar, with its staff who direct customers to the solutions they need, is based on a concept of highly evolved customer service run by a luxury brand hotel chain. Imitators of Apples style of human-centered design can be found in a growing number of firms where customer problems are paramount. Comcast, the cable giant, has put concierges in its stores who deal with a customers simpler problems at the front desk, or pass them along to an expert to solve the more intricate issues.The success of these efforts has caught the attention of state and local governments. The best example so far is the department of motor vehicles. Gone (for the most part) are the long lines and long waits by customers who would finally arrive at a service window, only to be told they had the incorrect paperwork. Where states have modernized their DMV , customers are now greeted by someone who will triage their problem and, if theyve got the right paperwork, will get them promptly to a service representative.Those DMV lines are getting shorter for another reason: human-centered design in software. DMVs have realized the best way to shorten lines is by making it easier for customers to get services and problems solved online. For that to happen, DMVs are getting better at designing self-serve applications that are easy for drivers to use and get the job done faster.There are lots of explanations of how human-centered design works. Whenlooked at the issue from the perspective of government, it broke the concept into three focus areas:Besides DMVs, some of the most promising efforts at human-centered design have occurred around social services. In 2015, California revamped its online enrollment for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. With nonprofit partner Code for America (CfA), the state simplified a stodgy process that once took 45 minutes to complete and cut the online time down to 10 minutes.More recently, the state of Michigan overhauled its public benefits application process , which once was more than 40 pages long, with 1,000 questions, making it the most bureaucratic enrollment experience in the country. Today, its down to 18 pages and just over 200 questions. Despite the massive cuts in the length of the application, the state is still able to get all the information it needs from the new form. Civilla, the company that helped with the states efforts at human-centered design, is teaming up with CfA in hopes of bringing its streamlined design to other social service agencies around the country.These are promising examples of what can be changed in state and local government and they are becoming more common. It signals a move away from what one public technology executive called the Field of Dreams approach to online services, in which government would build an application with the hope that, because its online, people will use it. Instead, government is starting to take the time to better understand human behavior and whether or not citizens are getting a good experience from online experience.You cant change anything without understanding the people who are part of the process, both as customers and as workers, Alison Fisher, program director for the state of Connecticuts LeanCT program, toldlast year.Fisher brings up an important point about using human-centered design in government software. The human factor is critical to the success of this design methodology, yet humans dont always think and act alike. That means the design needs to take into account a range of people using the service  from the mainstream to the fringe  in order to work well. That kind of software design can take time and be expensive to produce, say experts. It may also make the underlying software code complicated.Techniques that can help government measure the success of human-centered design include the use of quick and simple customer satisfaction surveys, scoring tools that measure a customers loyalty to a service, and behavioral economics that can nudge citizens toward behaviors that reduce costly errors.Other issues that have to be overcome include data privacy, security and agency control, as well as access to information. Despite these challenges, the shift to human-centered design is underway. As more examples of it at work appear in government, the quicker it will become the norm.is part of e.Republic,parent company
(TNS) - On the Big Island of Hawaii, the ongoing eruption of Kilauea volcano is giving residents a lesson in what it's like to live on the flanks of an active volcano.Fissures oozing lava won't be opening up in southcentral Alaska anytime soon. But the region around Alaska's biggest city is hardly a stranger to volcanic eruptions and the mayhem they can cause.Our closest neighbor volcanoes have an explosive, active history. Mount Iliamna, Augustine Volcano, Mount Redoubt and Mount Spurr  "have done some really bad things," said Chris Waythomas, a research geologist with the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage.Over the past 60 years alone, Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska has been repeatedly dusted by ash from erupting volcanoes strung down the western side of Cook Inlet. Ash from exploding volcanoes has shut down airports, fouled car engines and machinery and sent residents stocking up on air filters and face masks, most recently when Redoubt erupted in March of 2009.But any of those events pale in comparison to what could happen if one of Alaska's 52 historically active volcanoes erupted on a truly major scale.Novarupta, on the Alaska Peninsula in what is now Katmai National Park, erupted in 1912 in the largest volcanic eruption worldwide of the 20th century, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. It devastated the Alaska landscape for hundreds of miles around and dropped gritty ash as far as Seattle.Communities in the territory, especially on Kodiak Island, were hit hard.On the third day of the eruption, "darkness and suffocating conditions caused by falling ash and sulfur dioxide gas immobilized the population of Kodiak," according to a USGS history of the event. "Radio communications were totally disrupted, and with visibility near zero, ships couldn't dock."Roofs collapsed. Buildings were burned after being struck by lightning from static electricity in the ash cloud, which reached the stratosphere. Even today  more than 100 years later  ash from the eruption lifted by strong winds can cause flights to be diverted.If an eruption on that scale happened today, vast ash clouds could blanket large swaths of Alaska with acidic, finely pulverized rock dust, causing serious problems for transportation, infrastructure, health and commerce, said Waythomas. At the high end, a half-foot of ash could coat every surface.Buildings could collapse under the weight of heavy ash. When ash gets wet, it turns to the consistency of concrete, Waythomas said.If Anchorage was walloped by an ash cloud, the biggest immediate impact could be on aviation  and commerce. Because ash can destroy a jet engine, planes flying would be diverted and flights to and from the city would be cancelled, Waythomas said.The Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport would shut down until it could clean up ash from its runways, said spokeswoman Trudy Wassen.When ash fell in 2009 the airport covered it with snow and used a snowplow to clear it, Wassen said. The airport has special "vacuum sweeper trucks" capable of sucking up ash that could be used in summer, she said.[From 1989: Alaska volcano's ash kills 747's engines]Shipping could be impacted too. Coarse particles of ash that fall on water can form "pumice rafts" of floating, air-pocketed rafts of rock that could litter Cook Inlet."The pumice rafts could stay intact, move around and cause problems for boats and ships," said Waythomas.Southcentral Alaska has oil and gas infrastructure at the base of an active volcano, though not for long.When Mount Redoubt erupted in 2009, lahars, or volcanic mudflows, caused major flooding at the Drift River Oil Terminal, where crude oil is stored. The location of the terminal  at the foot of Redoubt  has long been criticized for its vulnerability to eruptions."It makes me nervous," Waythomas said.Hilcorp, the owner of the facility, plans to decommission the terminal beginning as early as next spring.If ash blankets the city, expect the power to go out for at least a little while, Waythomas said. Power companies would want to shield their machinery from the fine dust.Chugach Electric's Beluga power plant, across Cook Inlet, could be vulnerable, said Waythomas.Chugach Electric would shut down any generation plants in the path of a volcanic eruption, said spokeswoman Julie Hasquet."We would use other sources of generation," she said.Communications equipment could be disrupted, Waythomas said. GCI says its operations centers are designed to be sealed to prevent "external airflow that could damage our systems," according to spokeswoman Heather Handyside."During other volcanic episodes, communities have experienced power outages and during those events we have relied upon backup generators," Handyside said.The company keeps "a large inventory of filters" to keep generators working and machinery and equipment cool.Anchorage's drinking water, which primarily comes from the glacier-fed Eklutna Lake, would be largely unaffected by a big ash cloud, according to city water managers.The filtering system that makes the lake water drinkable is already designed to remove what engineers call "inorganic particulate matter" from glaciers, said Brett Jokela, the general manager of the Anchorage Water and Wastewater Utility.If for some reason the ash overwhelmed the water treatment system plant, the city could also pull drinking water from a supply of 14 wells and a supply from Ship Creek, he said.Anchorage has been covered by a thick layer of ash before. Dig three or four feet deep and you'll hit layer of ash two or three centimeters thick, Waythomas said. Researchers believe it comes from an eruption of Mount Hayes about 3,500 to 3,700 years ago."It could have been as much as half a foot when it fell, but it's been compacted."Thinking in geologic time, one of Alaska's volcanoes will eventually go off in a big way."For me, it's not a question of if," Waythomas said. "It's when."The good news: There would probably be lots of warning beforehand.Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory monitor volcanoes around the state with sensitive equipment that can detect seismic rumblings that are a prelude to an eruption."Years, months, weeks," Waythomas said. At worst, it would be hours.Waythomas says Alaska's recent eruptive history is a lesson in how much just a dusting of ash can disrupt life."Just a little bit of ash, millimeters, can cause problems," he said.Imagine, he says, what a half-foot might do.2018 the Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage, Alaska)Visit the Alaska Dispatch News (Anchorage, Alaska) at www.adn.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS) - In the aftermath of the mass shooting at Santa Fe High School, Gov. Greg Abbott has repeatedly stressed the vital role school counselors and mental health professionals play in identifying troubled students.Texas law, though, does not require schools to hire counselors, psychologists or social workers, and there is no cap on how many students they can serve.In Houston, there is one counselor for every 1,100 students, one of the highest caseloads in the state. On average, there are 430 students to every counselor in Texas, well above the American School Counselor Associations recommended caseload of one counselor per 250 students. For psychologists and social workers, the caseloads are in the thousands.After each tragedy in American schools  including Santa Fe and Parkland, Fla. politicians and educators call on districts to do everything from adding metal detectors, banning backpacks to increasing police officers in schools. Hiring more mental health professionals on campuses consistently makes the list, and Abbott has suggested hiring more counselors.School experts say if the governor and lawmakers want to make meaningful reforms, the state must require counselors on every campus, set manageable caseloads and limit how much time they can spend on non-counseling duties. All of these proposals will cost money, which educators say must come from the state because cash-strapped school districts often have to choose between hiring a counselor or a teacher.I do appreciate the governor looking at mental illness, metal detectors, social media checks, which is wonderful, said Tammi Mackeben, a counselor in El Paso and president of Lone Star State School Counselor Association. We want mental health screenings, but who is going to pay for them? And then when students do need services, where are we going to send them to meet their needs?Most states mandate schools to have at least one counselor  not Texas. Most high schools in the state have at least one counselor, but there are many elementary schools that do not have someone full-time. Some elementary schools share counselors, which leads to higher caseloads. If counselors have to work with hundreds or thousands of students, they often spend less time with students and cant fully address their academic or emotional needs, experts say.Then theres the question of how schools use their counselors. While state law requires that counselors have a masters degree in mental health, Mackeben said many schools use counselors to perform tasks that have little to do with helping students. In middle and high schools, counselors also set class schedules, ensure students are on track to graduate and have a career or college plan.In many districts, the counselors are the testing coordinators. They also serve as parent liaisons, so their time spent on social emotional and mental health issues is limited, Mackeben said.Some schools have psychologists and social workers who should be able to focus on social emotional learning and behavioral health, but their time is also often spent on other tasks, mainly serving special education students. On average, each school psychologist serves more than 2,700 students in Texas schools. The recommended caseload is no more than 700, according to the National Association of School Psychologists.There needs to be a collective rethinking of school psychologists and social workers, beyond serving just those students with significant mental distress of in special education, said Eric Rossen, the director of professional development and standards at the National Association of School Psychologists.Lawmakers in Texas have tried to require schools to hire behavioral health professionals in the past, but their efforts have failed. In 2017, state Sen. Sylvia Garcia, D-Houston, wrote a bill that would require schools to alert parents if their childs school does not have a full-time counselor, nurse or librarian on staff for more than 30 consecutive days. State Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, proposed two bills that would have lowered the student-to-counselor ratio to no more than 300-to-1 and would have set a 10 percent limit on non-counseling duties.The measures never became law.After the Santa Fe shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott hosted roundtable discussions for three days that included parents, students, education and law enforcement officials. At the end of each day, Abbott said the need for more mental health professionals in schools came up. On Thursday, several parents and students told Abbott that it can often take weeks to see a counselor.We talked about increasing school counselors at all levels of schools and with these counselors, Abbott said. They'd focus not on academics and not on other types of programs, but they'd focus solely on interventions which is a type of behavior which could lead to your school shooting or other conduct by a student that can harm another.At Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, the Houston areas second-largest school district, each counselor serves on average 526 students. Each psychologist has 4,000 students and there is no social worker employed by the district, according to state records.Franklin D. Sampson, the director of guidance and counseling, said counselors in the district would be able to get to know their students better if they could work with about 300 students. Still, he said dealing with a students mental health is a school-wide effort. If teachers see something disturbing in a classroom, they need to alert counselors or other staff.From the front receptionist to the cafeteria workers, I think its going to take everyone to come together to try to avoid something like this happening again, Sampson said. Yes, the counselors play an important role. But do I feel its the counselors sole responsibility? Absolutely not.Jacob Carpenter and Andrea Zelinski contributed to this report.Alejandra Matos covers politics, education and immigration policy. Follow her on Twitter. Email tips to alejandra.matos@chron.com.2018 the Houston ChronicleVisit the Houston Chronicle at www.chron.comDistributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
(TNS)  Californias dramatic new license plate is hitting the streets  a digital display board that allows changeable messages controlled by the driver or remotely by fleet managers.The new plates use the same computer technology as Kindle eBook readers, along with a wireless communication system.They come with their own computer chips and battery.Motorists who choose to buy the plate can register their vehicles electronically and eliminate the need to physically stick tags on their plates each year. They also may be able to display personal messages  if the DMV decides to allow that.If the car is stolen, the plate's manufacturer says the plate can tell the owner and police exactly where the car is or at least where the license plate is if it has been detached.California, which has been quietly prepping its roll-out this year, is the first state to try out the new plates.The state Department of Motor Vehicles is conducting a pilot project with a Bay Area company, Reviver Auto, which makes the plate and is about to begin marketing it for sale at auto dealerships.Last week, Sacramento became the first city to agree to test the plates, taking a shipment of 24 plates for its in-house vehicle fleet.The technology comes with a high price, however, and has already prompted questions about privacy and safety.Dealerships are expected to sell the plates for $699, not including installation costs. Users also must pay a monthly fee of about $7. The plates are not available through the DMV.Some drivers are questioning whether the device's communications system could allow the state, the police or private companies to track a driver's movements.In a recent blog posting, Alex Roy, an editor at The Drive website, raised those and other questions."What little privacy we have left is annihilated," he wrote. "This makes sense for fleet management. For my personal car? No thanks."Neville Boston, founder of Reviver Auto, said he expects initial interest to come from companies for their vehicle fleets.Some businesses will use them as mini-billboards to advertise their products or services, he said, but will be able to do so only when the vehicle is stopped. The license plate number will still appear on the screen when messages pop up, but it will be smaller and tucked into the upper right corner of the screen.Boston said the devices are available, though, for individual private users who want to be on the cutting edge of new technology.DMV officials declined last week to answer Bee questions about the states plans for the new plates, saying they are just testing the new product."The purpose of the pilot is to identify and detail potential benefits, so we are still in the evaluation phase and wont make any determinations until the pilot concludes," a spokesman wrote in an email to The Bee.The state legislature gave the DMV the go-ahead to explore the new devices several years ago and ordered the department to report back by July 2020 about how the plates are performing.Under the pilot program rules, the state can allow up to one-half of 1 percent of the state's 35 million vehicles  or about 175,000 vehicles  to use the plates during the test period.DMV officials last week said there are only 116 cars in the state with digital plates in use so far. But Reviver Auto expects that number to jump into the thousands this year as auto dealerships begin selling them and companies and consumers read about them.The city of Sacramento is about to begin testing the devices as well, in cooperation with Reviver Auto, on some fleet cars.The city's innovation officer, Louis Stewart, said the city took shipment last week of 24 new Chevy Volts with the electronic plates. It got the plates at no cost from Reviver. City officials want to see whether the plates allow them to keep track of fleet vehicles more efficiently and inexpensively via electronic messaging.Stewart said the city likely also will experiment with the plates as message boards. When a car is stopped, Stewart said, the license can display programmed public service messages, such as street closure notifications, an ad for a city service, an Amber or Silver Alert warning or some other emergency alert.Stewart said city officials will talk first with labor representatives about assurances that the city will not use the plate technology as a monitoring device on city employees.The city sees the plates as a stepping stone, he said, along with an upcoming Verizon 5G Wi-Fi network, for the city to become a national testing ground for autonomous or driverless vehicles. The goal, he said, is to create cutting-edge jobs for city residents."We want to look at ourselves as a laboratory for a lot of these technology companies," Stewart said. "Come to test in Sacramento, come see how your product or service is viable.
(TNS)  The Fredericksburg, Va., city council has taken another step toward its goal of making Fredericksburg the city with the fastest broadband in Virginia.It unanimously approved a deal Tuesday granting Cox Wireless Access LLC a 10-year, non-exclusive franchise to install and operate in city rights-of-way whats known as small-cell facilities. These add additional wireless bandwidth to existing cell-tower networks, and are typically enclosed in a relatively unobtrusive cabinet mounted on existing infrastructure such as a street sign, streetlight or telephone pole.Small-cell telecommunications infrastructure has generally been found to be a winwin for the city, Public Works Director Dave King told the council. Small cells help the city to achieve its goal of being the fastest broadband city in Virginia while also minimizing the visual impacts that are caused by the massive monopole towers that you may be accustomed to seeing in different areas around the region.If the city council gives final approval at its next meeting, Cox Wireless Access will become the third company to have the right to install this type of service in Fredericksburg. It granted ExteNet a 15-year, non-exclusive franchise to install 14 of them on utility poles around the University of Mary Washington campus in 2016, and Mobilitie LLC a 10-year, non-exclusive franchise to install around a dozen boxes in the citys public rights-of-way. Mobilites franchise and the one Cox is seeking come with three options for five-year renewals upon mutual agreement.King said that ExteNet has installed about a dozen small cells so far, and Mobilitie is seeking approval for five, including one on Charles Street. He said a cell facility is about the size of a piece of carry-on luggage, adding that most people driving by one dont even notice it.Having robust and widely available broadband coverage is an important goal for the city of Fredericksburg, said Bill Freehling, director of the Fredericksburg Department of Economic Development and Tourism. Businesses and residents increasingly consider broadband as a necessary utility, and we want to meet and surpass their expectations.The city is asking residents and businesses to fill out an online survey about their broadband access and needs at fredericksburgva.gov . Survey results will be reported to the city council in July.Small cell facilities are popping up more frequently in response to the growing demand for Internet access.In Stafford County, three of the 56 permit applications for tower and new or replacement antennas since January 2016 were for small-cell facilities, according to county spokeswoman Shannon Howell.Spotsylvania County has some mini or micro cells/small-cell facilities on its cell towers, but the number isnt known because those less than 80 feet in height arent regulated and dont require a special-use permit, said spokeswoman Michelle McGinnis.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29)  President Rodrigo Duterte has certified urgent a bill giving over a billion pesos as supplemental budget for individuals vaccinated with Dengvaxia.

This follows the House Appropriations Committee approving the supplemental budget on May 22.

House Bill No. 7449 was signed by President Duterte Tuesday.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Karlo Nograles said the supplemental budget was passed by the House of Representatives on the third and final reading Tuesday night.

"The 1.161-B Supplemental Budget for 2018 to assist the Dengvaxia victims with 231 voting for, and no votes against and no abstentions," he said.

Under the proposed additional budget, the Department of Health (DOH) would shoulder all the medical expenses  medicines, laboratory tests, and hospital confinement  of some 890,000 children who received the Dengvaxia vaccine regardless of the illness.

The money would come from the 1.16-billion refund from Sanofi Pasteur, manufacturer of Dengvaxia, for the vaccine returned by the government after it shelved the dengue immunization program due to health risks.

Here is the breakdown of the 1.16 billion supplemental budget:

Medical Assistance Program - 945,827, 530

Supplies and Medicines - 45,000,000

Dengvaxia Assistance Card - 25,000,000

Salary of 1,250 nurses - 78,296,250

Followup vaccinees with complaints - 67,586,220

In late 2017, Sanofi Pasteur announced that Dengvaxia posed potential severe sickness from the vaccine for those who never had dengue. This prompted the government to halt the nationwide immunization program, which was launched by the Aquino administration in April 2016.

CNN Philippines correspondent Joyce Ilas contributed to this report.
F1 must remain a technological challenge if Pirelli will stay beyond its current contract.

That is the claim of the Italian tyre manufacturer's CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera, as F1 reaches a crossroads regarding the regulations for the future.

"If the challenge continues to be technological, giving the teams and drivers what they want, then we are here to do it," he is quoted by Italian radio Rai.

"But if it becomes a commercial event, we will withdraw. So if the path remains we are there, if it doesn't we will not be," said Tronchetti Provera.

Pirelli's current contract runs out at the end of 2019.

He continued: "The important thing is that the drivers are more and more at the centre. I believe the tyres work when the drivers are happy, and the public is happy when the drivers are able to have a challenge."

F1 drivers and fans were disappointed with the spectacle in Monaco last weekend, but Tronchetti Provera thinks the action has been generally good in 2018.

"The competition this year is generally more lively and that is good news," he said.

"But it is clear that with the increase in the performance of the cars, both with aerodynamics and the tyres, overtaking at narrow circuits has become practically impossible."

As for the forthcoming Canadian grand prix, Tronchetti Provera commented: "We'll see in Canada if different scenarios are created with the second generation of the engines."

(GMM)
Kimi Raikkonen has hit back at reports that suggest he will quit formula one and return to world rally in 2019.

Toyota Gazoo Racing bosses Tommi Makinen and Mia Miettinen were both at Monaco last weekend and spotted on Raikkonen's yacht.

"Kimi could be a Toyota (rally) driver," Miettinen said, "but first he has to decide if he will continue his career with Ferrari."

But when asked about the rumour, 38-year-old Raikkonen said any talk of a deal is wide of the mark.

"I'm interested in rally for when my career ends at some point," the Ferrari driver told Iltalthti newspaper.

"It's no secret. But I have no agreement on anything. People write all kinds of things, but it's not my problem," Raikkonen added.

"The funniest thing was the story that said Mika Hakkinen confirmed it. Really? The writer and Mika -- how much do they know about my life?"

Williams reserve driver Robert Kubica can imagine that Raikkonen will stay at Ferrari next year rather than retire from F1.

"Ferrari knows him very well, because he's driven for them for so many years," the Pole told Ilta Sanomat newspaper.

"Continuity is also very important."

(GMM)
Max Verstappen has denied claims his error-strewn 2018 season could result in his demotion to Toro Rosso.

The speculation hit a high point in the wake of the Monaco grand prix, when despite having a potentially pole and race-winning car, Verstappen crashed out in practice.

Every critic is now having his say, but some believe Dr Helmut Marko could decide to demote the young Dutchman from the senior team Red Bull Racing.

"I never had a conversation like that," former Red Bull driver Robert Doornbos told Ziggo Sport.

"But it will be 'How do we ensure this doesn't happen anymore?'

"Last year Max put the team under pressure with the reliability, and Daniel Ricciardo has refused to sign, saying 'Let the team prove itself first'. That's how it works.

"But you also have to help each other through these moments," Doornbos said.

Doornbos does't, however, think Verstappen's seat at Red Bull is in doubt.

"Max's seat is not under pressure," Doornbos said. "There is only pressure to perform as he's missed a lot of chances this season, most painfully in Monaco."

Doornbos said Red Bull is lucky that, in Ricciardo, the team has a clear driver leader.

"They will never appoint a number 1 and number 2 -- that's not the DNA of Red Bull, even in the times of Sebastian Vettel. That's important for Max," he added.

Former F1 driver Vitaly Petrov agrees that Verstappen's seat is not in doubt.

"While he is faster than most other drivers, he will not be expelled," he told Russia's Sport FM.

Verstappen himself told De Limburger newspaper that rumours about his return to Toro Rosso are not right.

Asked if it can even happen in theory, he insisted: "No, it cannot.

"A lot of these people - I call them 'keyboard warriors' - criticise me on the internet, because it's much easier to say it than in person."

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner backed 20-year-old Verstappen to eventually succeed, agreeing that his age could be a factor.

"It's no secret that Max went to formula one very early, and he had to learn very quickly before the eyes of the whole world at the wheel of one of the best cars," he said.

"Most of the drivers out there made mistakes in the younger series, when no one paid any attention. So it's different for Max. I'm sure he will succeed," Horner added.

(GMM)
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29)  The Department of Justice on Tuesday said there is no need to investigate Solicitor General Jose Calida for the 150 million-worth of government contracts bagged by his family's security agency.

His family's company, Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc., bagged two contracts with the Department of Justice (DOJ) worth 12 million when he was already SolGen. The Office of the Solicitor General is an attached agency of the DOJ, raising concerns of potential conflict of interest.

Calida, who served as one of President Rodrigo Duterte's campaign managers, was appointed as Solicitor General in July 2016. Prior to his appointment, Calida resigned as president and chairman of the family-owned security agency. The notice of his resignation was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on July 13, 2016.

However, SEC documents also show that Calida still holds 60 percent of shares of the company, as of September 2016. His wife and three children still own the remaining 40 percent of the security company.

Three months from his appointment as SolGen, the Calida family's security firm won contracts to provide security for four government agencies. The company had contracts with Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) worth 15.2 million, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) worth 6.8 million, National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) worth 2.8 million, and a contract with the National Environment Agency (NEA) worth 5.9 million.

It was unclear if SolGen Calida had given up his shares after September 2016  the last time Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc. filed its last General Information Sheet with the SEC.

After September 2016, the Calida family's agency bagged six more contracts with the government, including a 12-million worth of contracts with DOJ. The security firm also bagged another contract with PAGCOR worth a total of 67.7 million. It also had a contract with National Parks Development Committee worth a total of 39.5 million.

All the deals of Vigilant Investigative and Security Agency Inc. with government offices total to 149.9 million.

Justice Secretary Menardo Guevarra believes the contracts between the security firm and DOJ are valid. Although the Office of the Solicitor General is an attached agency of the DOJ, its authority and control is only over the OSG's budget.

"It's a private security agency (Vigilant Investigative), not the OSG or the SolGen, who entered into the contracts with the DOJ. For now let's presume that the contracts were validly entered into," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

Guevarra added he sees no need to investigate the issue for now.

"From the viewpoint of the DOJ, what is important is that all procurement laws, rules and regulations were observed when it entered into these contracts," Guevarra said.

The conflict of interest issue is already part a graft complaint filed against Calida at the Ombudsman.

A complaint filed by petitioner Jocelyn Acosta on May 10 did not specifically mention the DOJ contracts, but she pointed out there was conflict of interest in the other contracts won by Vigilant because Calida represents different agencies of the government.

"As Solicitor General, respondent (Calida) represents the agencies and instrumentalities of the government, including the NEDA, NAPC, PAGCOR, and NDPC," Acosta's complaint read.

Calida was evasive when he was cornered by the media during a visit to the Senate on Monday.

"I will defend myself at proper forum, not here," he said.

In a statement, he stressed there was no conflict of interest in Vigilant's contracts with its client agencies since the OSG is not involved in the transactions.

He also said he complied with the law when he resigned as the firm's president and chairman. Calida reiterated that contracts won by his family's security firm all went through public bidding.
A study published by the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) has explored the possible impact of increased electrification of road transportation and domestic heating and cooking on the energy system (electricity and gas), as well as on CO 2 emissions and on GDP. The study is based on a set of scenarios for 2050 of electrification in five European countries: Austria (AT), Belgium (BE), France (FR), Germany (DE) and the Netherlands (NL).

There are three scenarios: the first where electrification remains limited; the second where the residential and road transport sectors are virtually fully electrified by 2050; and a third intermediate path. Among the main conclusions of the report is that increasing electrification in the transport and heating sectors reduces the consumption of fossil fuels in these sectors but because the demand for power increases significantly, the use of gas as energy resource of last resort gains weight in the generation mix.

Specifically, the authors found that while demand for gas from the residential sector decreases as electrification progresses, because of the planned phasing-out of coal and nuclear generation and limited increase of renewables, overall gas demand rises in the power market. The net effect depends on the countries specific policies and current energy mix, with demand for gas increasing in BE, FR and DE, remaining constant in AT and slightly decreasing in NL.

As more renewable sources of generation (biomass, wind, solar) are progressively deployed in the market, the electricity supply becomes more weather-dependent and thus more volatile so that a substantial amount of gas-fired power plant capacity will be necessary for reliability of supply. In BE, FR, DE and NL this capacity should be around 3 to 4 times the current capacity by 2050, while in AT a small increase would be sufficient, the study found.

The current plans of the countries governments regarding the expansion of renewable generation capacity, coupled with a full electrification scenario, result in very small amounts of renewable electricity being available to use for power-to-gas. From now to 2050, only under exceptional weather conditions will an oversupply of electricity occur.

As both electricity and gas provision rely heavily on the use of transmission and distribution networks, an increase in power generation and/or gas consumption requires a possibly costly resizing of the networks. In 2050, in a full electrification scenario, the electricity grid capacity would have to increase in BE by 70%, in NL by 50%, in AT by 34%, in FR by 35% and in DE by 37%. Except for NL and possibly BE, the capacity of the gas networks will have to be extended.

Electrification of the residential and road transport sectors will shift CO 2 emissions from these sectors to the power sector, with an increased price on carbon as a result. The net effect depends on the technology mix for power generation and is therefore country-specific. In 2050, with a full electrification scenario, CO 2 emissions from the residential, road transport and electricity sectors together in BE would decrease only by 11% relative to the corresponding 1990 levels, in AT by 62%, in DE by 70%, in FR by 48%, and in NL by 40%.

The model results show that the social costs of a full electrification path towards 2050 vary significantly, ranging from 0.5% of GDP in FR to close to 7% of GDP in NL, with intermediate rates for AT (2%), DE (4%) and BE (4.5%). The cost per ton of CO 2 reduction would be 250 for NL, 146 for BE, 142 for DE, 78 for FR and 54 for AT.

The authors caution that their study is based on a number of assumptions and includes limitations, such as:

The limited geographical scope of the study, based on case studies of five Western European, EU member states;

The increased carbon price within the EU ETS, as a result of increased gas fuel power production, has not been taken into account; and

The gradual introduction of renewable gases has not been fully taken into account.

Scenarios, added the authors, are not forecasts or recommendations for specific policy options. Rather, they illuminate challenges and choices, in this case those to be respectively addressed and made by policymakers and the energy sector to manage in the most efficient way the impact of possible electrification paths.

The Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE) promotes robust and consistent regulation in Europes network and digital industries. CERREs members are regulatory authorities and operators in those industries as well as universities.

The study, by Professor Jose Luis Moraga (coordinator), CERRE & Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Professor Chloe Le Coq, CERRE and Stockholm School of Economics; Professor Machiel Mulder, University of Groningen; and Professor Sebastian Schwenen, CERRE and Technical University Munich, is an independent project which received the financial support from a number of CERRE members.

The views expressed in this CERRE report are attributable only to the authors in a personal capacity and not to any institution with which they are associated. They do not necessarily correspond either to those of CERRE, to any sponsor or to any (other) member of CERRE.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29)  President Rodrigo Duterte will go to war if one of the government's so-called "red lines" in the South China Sea dispute is crossed, the country's top diplomat said.

"Sinabi na ng Pangulo 'yun (The President had said that). If anyone gets the natural resources in the West Philippine Sea-South China Sea, he will go to war. Sabi niya, 'Bahala na' (He said, 'Let it be'). He will go to war," Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said in a speech on Monday.

Duterte has been criticized for his "defeatist" stance on the maritime dispute as he publicly said the Philippines cannot afford to go to war against China.

In March, however, Duterte warned he will wage war against those who explore Philippine Rise, also known as Benham Rise, without the government's approval.

No other country has claims in Benham Rise east of the country, even as the President has repeatedly asserted ownership of the vast undersea region after Chinese survey ships were spotted there in March last year.

Cayetano said both the Philippines and China have set rules each other must respect amid the South China Sea dispute.

"We have to build trust. They said some red lines, we said some red lines," Cayetano said.

For one, the Philippines does not want other countries to exploit the natural resources in disputed waters "on their own," Cayetano said.

The government calls as West Philippine Sea areas in the South China Sea that lie within the country's 200-mile exclusive economic zone, based on the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, an international treaty both the Philippines and China had signed.

This is stated in the July 2016 landmark ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, which China refused to acknowledge. China continues to claim the South China Sea in its entirety.

Duterte has promised to bring up the arbitral ruling with the East Asian giant during his term, or until 2022.

Other red lines

Aside from exploring the disputed waters without Philippines' approval, Cayetano said China also should not build on Scarborough, also known as Panatag Shoal, one of the islets and reefs in the South China Sea.

The issue hogged headlines in 2017 as China reportedly plans construction on Scarborough. The government has accepted China's pronouncement it has no official plans to build anything there.

Cayetano revealed more red lines. "Hindi dapat i-attempt man lang na tanggalin ang ship natin na nandoon sa Ayungin [Shoal]. Hindi dapat hina-harass ang soldiers natin 'pag nagre-resupply o 'pag inaayos katulad ng mga runway."

[Translation: They should not even attempt to remove our ship on Ayungin Shoal; they should not harass our soldiers when they bring supplies or repair facilities like runways.]

A rusty old ship is the country's outpost in the Ayungin or Second Thomas Shoal in the West Philippine Sea, located a hundred nautical miles from Palawan.

Malacanang meanwhile, recently defended the government's construction and repairs on Pag-asa Island in the contested Spratlys.

Cayetano mentioned a few of China's red lines, including that uninhabited islands must not be inhabited, and that countries should not embarrass each other during multilateral and bilateral talks for the whole world to see.

China wants talks, Cayetano said.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29)  Malacanang on Tuesday said certifying the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law as urgent may no longer be necessary.

"Hindi na po siguro magkakaroon ng certification of urgency kasi unang-una po, iba-iba 'yung bersyon ng Kamara at ng Senado. Pero ang importante po ay nagkaroon ng kasunduan sa panig ng dalawang kapulungan na makipag-ugnayan," Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque said in a press birefing in Bondoc, Mountain Province Tuesday.

[Translation: Certification of urgency may no longer be needed since the House and Senate versions of the bill are different. However, what is important is the commitment of the two Houses to coordinate.]

On Monday, House Majority Floor Leader Rudy Farinas said President Rodrigo Duterte certified the proposed BBL as urgent. The certification means the Senate and House Representatives do not need to wait three days before voting on the measure for the final reading.

The President has repeatedly said the BBL will help satisfy the Moro people's aspirations for real autonomy. Both chambers of Congress earlier promised they will approve a consolidated version of the law, before the recess on June 2.

"Now of course we would like to see the BBL enacted before Congress goes into recess on June 2, pero ang pangako po talaga [but the promise is] they will do everything that is humanly possible to pass the BBL," Roque explained.

Roque added the Duterte administration is working towards creating a separate regional government not only for Muslim Mindanao, but also for the Cordillera Administrative Region.

"In fact, I'm arranging a meeting with the governor of Benguet, so we'd like to also invite the governor of Mountain Province and the rest of Cordillera to the Palace to discuss Cordillera autonomy," Roque said.

The BBL paves the way for the creation of the Bangsamoro, which will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) established in 1989 through Republic Act 6734. ARMM groups the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu and Tawi-Tawi.

The bill provides the basic structure of the Bangsamoro government, and outlines which government powers are exclusive to it. Jurisdiction over the region is classified into reserved powers for the Central government, exclusive powers for the Bangsamoro government, and concurrent powers for both the Central and the Bangsamoro governments.

A separate bill was filed at the Senate on February 1, which seeks to establish the Autonomous Region of Cordillera. A House version of this bill was filed in March 2017, and is currently pending at the Committee on Local Government.
Youve got alternatives. Photo: Michelle Gustafson/Bloomberg via Getty Images

As youve by now heard, today is the day Starbucks closes its 8,000 company-run U.S. stores for racial bias training. The afternoon-long closure is estimated to cost the coffee chain about $12 million in lost revenue, but as Starbuckss own execs have pointed out, this is merely a start to solving this problem, as biases wont suddenly disappear after employees complete the last page of their Team Guidebooks. Regardless, black coffee-shop owners see the closure as an opportunity to serve some newly under-caffeinated customers, while also politely reminding them it shouldnt take Starbucks mistreating customers in the first place for people to patronize local businesses like theirs.

 Sites that promote black-run small businesses like Shoppe Black have curated lengthy lists of alternatives for the next time you feel the need for some Starbucks. (Shoppe Blacks list  which has now been shared 180,000 times  encompasses 47 businesses nationwide and commenters have added dozens, maybe hundreds, more.)

 A group of black cafe owners in Philly, meanwhile, is holding a roundtable discussion today to stress how inclusivity and racial justice have been core parts of their business models for years. Ariell Johnson will host the discussion at her Amalgam Comics and Coffeehouse. Among the participants is cafe proprietor Blew Kind, who worked briefly for Starbucks, but has run coffeehouses in Philly for a decade, and now operates Franny Lous Porch  a spot named after an abolitionist and civil-rights activist that serves drinks like the Sojourner Truth (a vanilla-mint latte) and Cesar Chavez (featuring cinnamon, cayenne, and cocoa).

 Also in Philadelphia, the cafe and roastery Quaker City Coffee is about a ten-minute walk from the Rittenhouse Square Starbucks where the original 911 call and subsequent customer arrests took place. Co-owners Bob Logue, whos white, and Christian Dennis, whos black and has been incarcerated himself, explain to NBC that theyve seen the other side of the racial-bias equation here: For the past year, theyve made a point to hire people recently released from prison. So far, all three such new employees are black; since bringing them aboard, Logue and Dennis claim half of their customers have left, even though the food and beverage quality hasnt suffered.

 In Sacramento theres also Tiferet, a three-cafe mini chain run by sisters Sabrina and Makeda Berhane. They say theyve seen a trickle-down effect since Starbuckss gaffe last month, but tell NBC News they believe the outpouring of support isnt because Tiferet is black-owned, but because they treat everyone with kindness and respect.

 A cafe in D.C.  aptly named Uprising Muffin Company  is also hoping to break peoples Starbucks obsession, postPhilly arrests. The shop belongs to Donnie Simpson Jr., the famous radio DJs son who also briefly managed a Maryland Starbucks. Simpson says sales are up since the arrests, and hes encouraged green-mermaid defections in social-media messages that ask people to avoid the megachain: Do I want the entire city to skip Starbucks and come to Uprising? Yes, hes written. But I want that to happen because you love us and you want to support local black-owned businesses, not because of the ripple effect of one idiots actions.
The Sacramento location. Photo: Google Maps

Chick-fil-A has plenty of critics, between its Human Rights Watch goose egg for an LGBTQ-friendly workplace and the masses left starving for chicken on Sundays. But anyone whos eaten there knows that the employees do, in fact, smile more than anyone else in fast food, and it seems that staff at one California location will soon have an extra reason to grin: ABC 10 reports that a Sacramento franchisee named Eric Mason will start paying employees $17 to $18 an hour at his store on Monday. Workers will also be eligible to receive paid sick leave, and his supervisors will qualify for paid time off.

Its unclear whether this new wage applies to all employees, but Mason tells the station that its for hospitality professionals who are eligible, which is corporate-speak that means it will apply to the entry-level jobs at Masons store, a group he reportedly pays $12 to $13 an hour at the moment. This also puts Masons store well above Californias minimum-wage law, which is one of the U.S.s most generous: Its currently set at $11 per hour, and that hourly rate climbs 50 cents a year until 2022, when it will finally reach $15.

In other words, next week these workers will start making, at the very least, $2 to $3 more than Californias 2022 minimum wage. Thats an impressive raise anywhere, but the restaurant industry in particular has fought a (mostly losing) battle against the so-called $15 living wage for years. Mason admits that paying his staff in excess of that will be challenging, but adds that his philosophy is, people are the key component to successful businesses. To attract workers looking for long-term opportunity, hes willing to pay enough to keep them from juggling multiple jobs, and eventually help them raise families and improve their lifestyle. Chick-fil-A tells ABC 10 that it is cool with Mason compensating workers that well, and is even letting him run ads and post signs bragging about the starting rate.

For perspective, consider that Danny Meyer, a big champion of fair worker pay, has suggested that $15 an hour is completely acceptable for New York restaurant workers, and he actually doesnt even guarantee Shake Shack employees that kind of rate yet, much less $17 or $18. However, also remember that Chick-fil-A generates more revenue per store than any other fast-food chain while still only being open six days a week. If anyone can afford to pay workers an actual living wage, its one of these franchisees.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29)  Vice President Leni Robredo on Tuesday slammed former Senator Bongbong Marcos after he filed a 13-page comment with the Presidential Electoral Tribunal (PET) to junk her appeal to uphold the 25 percent ballot shading threshold during the poll recount.

"Nagsisinungaling siya kasi iyong records will show. In fact, iyong Comelec (Commission on Election) resolution naka-attach ito sa pleading namin," Robredo said.

[Translation: He's lying because the records will show. In fact, we've attached the Comelec resolution in our pleading.]

In his comment filed Monday, Marcos said Robredo's appeal is "misleading," as there is no categorical declaration in the Comelec Resolution No. 16-0600 that the 25 percent shading threshold was adopted by the Comelec En Banc "during the judicial recount and revision of ballots in election protest."

Robredo, however, belied Marcos' claim.

"Hindi iyon totoo. Noong 2010, talagang 50 percent iyong threshold na sinunod, pero iyong 2013, 20 percent. Iyong 2016, 25 percent. Ito, ano naman ito, hindi ito galing sa hangin, pero ito mave-verify ito sa Comelec," she said.

[Translation: That is not true. In 2010, the threshold being followed was really 50 percent, but in 2013, it was 20 percent. In 2016, 25 percent. This is something that was not snatched out of thin air, it can be verified with the Comelec.]

The recount started on April 2, two years after Marcos brought his electoral protest to the Supreme Court, sitting as the PET. He lost to Robredo by 263,473 votes in the 2016 vice presidential race.

In its resolution on April 10, the PET denied Robredo's motion, saying it's not aware of any Comelec resolution that states the applicability of a 25 percent threshold.

It added it cannot treat the Random Manual Audit Guidelines and Report as proof of the threshold used by the Comelec.

The tribunal claimed that it has no basis to impose a 25 percent threshold in determining whether a vote is valid.

But in her urgent motion, Robredo said as early as September 6, 2016, Comelec informed the PET - by way of a letter to then Clerk of the Tribunal Felipa Anama - of the 25 percent threshold used in the May 9, 2016 national and local elections.

The vice president also argued the application of the 50 percent threshold gives the head revisors authority to "reject" her valid votes.

Robredo explained that in the Municipality of Balatan, Barangay Laganac, Clustered Precinct No. 16 - Robredo received 358 votes while Marcos got 17 votes.

However, she pointed out, due to the application of the 50 percent threshold, the votes for Robredo decreased by 12 votes while the votes for Marcos was maintained.

Robredo, however, maintained she is "very confident" that she will still win in the vote recount, saying there was no cheating during the 2016 national elections.
Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, May 29)  The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) is in bad financial shape because P10.6 billion of its fund was funneled to the Department of Health in 2015, Philhealth Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ruben Basa revealed on Tuesday.

"(The) management found that there was no valid waiver by PhilHealth of the P10.6 billion senior citizens fund. The matter was not presented (to) nor approved by the PhilHealth Board of Directors," Basa told legislators during the joint oversight hearing on the state of PhilHealth's finances.

Basa said former Health Secretary Janette Garin and former PhilHealth Chairman Alex Padilla wrote the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) in 2015 to ask for the release of the P10.6 billion-fund to the Health Department to augment its health facilities enhancement program. Even without the board's approval, they used the money to finance the construction of barangay health clinics, Basa said.

He added that the transfer of funds affected the projected longevity of Philhealth's funds since its coffers may run dry by 2022 unless steps are taken to replenish it.

"Nakabawas siya sa sustainability ng programa, nakabawas siya sa reserve funds kaya ngayon kumain na 'yung binayaran natin noong 2015 sa reserve funds [It affected the program's sustainability because the reserve funds were used to release premiums for senior citizens in 2015]," he said.

Basa said that DBM informed them a year after that PhilHealth's funds have been depleted.

Reached for comment, Garin belied Basa's claims, saying these were "not recognized by DBM."

"Why spend for unrealized income? Culprits of fraud, are looking for a scapegoat on the real reasons behind their disastrous financial situation," Garin said.

She also said that "many of the resource persons being utilized (in the joint hearing) are compromised. Garin also called for an external and credible audit.

CNN Philippines is still trying to get the side of Padilla.
An Open Letter to the Democratic Party of Hawai`i and ACLU Hawai`i

by Christine Gralow, Meanwhile in Hawaii, 5/26/2018

Aloha Democratic Party of Hawai'i and ACLU Hawai'i! I hope the Democratic Party of Hawai'i convention is going well this weekend and that it brings a much-needed economic boost to the Big Island.

 I would like to share concerns regarding U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and violations of constituents' First Amendment rights. My intent in exposing this is not to create a political rift, but to spark a needed discussion in the wake of Wednesday's federal circuit court ruling that Trump violated the First Amendment by blocking dissidents on Twitter. My concerns about Gabbard include and go far beyond Twitter.

I would like to disclose that I am impressed by Sherry Campagna, Gabbard's Democratic primary challenger, and I welcome her campaign. I am a resident of Hawai'i's 2nd Congressional District. I do not work for Campagna, and I was not involved in her decision to run for Congress. I am a member of the Hawai'i State Teachers Association, which endorsed Campagna earlier this week. I am not one of the leaders of HSTA. I played little to no role in HSTA's decision to endorse Campagna. I am a full-time teacher and part-time journalist.

Last year, I exposed Gabbard's deep involvement in the Science of Identity sect, which is led by Kris Butler (aka Chris Butler, Jagad Guru, etc.). I also exposed this sects ties to an international money laundering ring. I knew little about Gabbard and nothing about Campagna when I decided to research this interesting group in my community.

The First Amendment also, of course, protects freedom of religion. Gabbard clearly has the right to participate in this sect's activities, so long as those activities do not violate others' human or civil rights. Despite accusations from Butler disciples, I am not a religious bigot. I have defended both Gabbard and Senator Mazie Hirono against actual religious bigotry on social media.

 For over a year now, I have experienced and witnessed harassment and violations of the First Amendment rights of Gabbard's constituents. I have six key concerns, which relate to 1) Twitter 2) a publicist being paid to discredit me as a journalist 3) cyberattacks 4) online defamation 5) Butler disciples coming to my home after a Gabbard town hall and 6) false reports to U.S. Capitol Police.

1. The Twitter Problem

A United States Representative's professional Twitter page is a public forum. People cannot be blocked from that forum unless they are engaging in threats or other speech not protected by the First Amendment. Please see this Knight First Amendment Institute lawsuit .

I was blocked from Gabbard's public Twitter page after simply exercising my intellectual freedom and using my critical thinking skills to ask questions. I chose to make my questions public on Twitter because Gabbard's press team has failed to answer all of my questions sent via email. Not one question has been answered. Other Gabbard constituents, who by no means threatened or harassed anyone, have also been blocked. In one case, a Gabbard constituent was blocked for simply sharing one of my articles.

2. The D.C. Publicist Paid to Discredit Me as a Journalist Problem

Gabbard's communications team also made a strategic effort to stifle freedom of the press in Hawai'i when they chose to pay a D.C. publicist, Chris Cooper of The Potomac Square Group, to discredit me as a journalist to a mainstream news editor here. This editor was interested in my work, and we had an agreement. I was careful to ask the editor if I could identify as a freelancer for her publication when questioning sources for an article on Gabbard and Science of Identity. She agreed that I could. Soon after I began doing so, the editor received the below email from Cooper. Gabbard's recent FEC records show she paid Cooper's The Potomac Square Group nearly $20,000.

Cooper's paid email contains multiple grammatical and factual errors. He has not actually worked as a journalist in nearly a decade. He is currently best known in D.C. for accepting money to spin Bahrain's human rights abuses and taking a job with Kremlin lawyer and informant Natalia Veselnitskaya (of Trump Jr. meeting fame). Cooper hung up on me when I politely asked him to confirm his email address. I recorded that conversation, because I had a legal right to do so.

3. The Cyberattack Problem

Soon after I launched my independent news site to publish my investigative series, the site was subjected to two DDoS attacks. I do not yet have definitive evidence of who was behind those attacks. The attacks are being investigated. There was only one article on my site at the time. It was about Science of Identity and the Gabbard family's involvement in the sect. A man who runs another news website in Hawai'i, Hawai'i Free Press, also claimed he experienced a DDoS attack after publishing articles about Gabbard.

4. The Online Defamation Problem

This problem began when I participated in a discussion on The New Yorker magazine's Facebook page about Kelefa Sanneh's article on Gabbard. A "George Bacay" quickly chimed in to comment: "Christine Gralow has record of TROs with 4 different people so uh?! Temporary Restraining Orders People."

There has never been a TRO requested or issued against me.

On Tuesday, as I read comments on HSTA's Facebook page regarding their endorsement of Sherry Campagna, I saw this, from an "Aquino Purificacion": "Not surprising considering a TRO was filed against HSTA VP Justin Hughey by the owner of a small business on Maui after he entered the business threatening and harassing Tulsi's staff."

 I checked Hawai'i's civil court records. There is no record of a TRO ever having been requested or issued against Hughey. Hughey and I are both special education teachers. The First Amendment does not protect libel.

(Update May 27 7:47pm: Someone just tried this TRO tactic again, in another Facebook discussion of Gabbard. See the third photo below. The Hawai'i civil court screenshot used by both "George" and "Kaleo" shows no evidence of TROs against me. Two of those civil cases involved me winning my deposit back from landlords who thought they could just keep it. One case involved a judge agreeing that my safety was at risk and that I needed a TRO against someone else. The fourth case was a misfiling of one of the landlord/tenant cases.)

5. The Disciples at My Home after the Town Hall Problem

I experienced retaliatory intimidation at my home shortly after I asked critical questions at a Gabbard town hall in Waianae, O'ahu, last year.

First, John Bishop, a long-time Butler follower and husband of Science of Identity President Jeannie Bishop, repeatedly photographed me at the town hall. I expect to be photographed and recorded when speaking at public town halls, and I have no problem with that. I am not a naturally paranoid person. But this was different. Bishop was not news media. He appeared to zoom in on me and photograph me dozens of times, not while I was speaking, but when I was just sitting there. Bishop appeared to do the same thing to LGBT rights activist and Democratic Party of Hawai'i Assistant Secretary Michael Golojuch Jr., who I happened to sit next to at the town hall. This photographer seemed hostilely fixated on Michael and me. I did not know anything about Michael at the time.

I was later able to confirm with former Butler disciples that Bishop has indeed engaged in odd surveillance jobs for Butler. One former Butler disciple I spoke with also admitted to infiltrating gay pride parades and tracking the activities of gay rights activists. He was under Butler's control at the time. Butler has taught his followers an extremist homophobic philosophy.

The night of the Waianae town hall, a clip of me asking Gabbard about her Syria trip funders appeared on Hawai'i News Now. The next day, two Butler disciples were parked immediately outside my home. As I left my home to walk my dog, I clearly saw their faces and quickly recognized one of them as a close personal and business associate of Gabbard Chief of Staff Kainoa Penaroza.

One week after this first lovely visit to my home, I observed two more Butler disciples parked immediately outside my home. One man stared at me as I again left my home to walk my dog. His wife tried to hide behind him in the passenger seat. I observed her taking pictures of me and the front door area of my home. I will refrain from publishing these young peoples names, because I believe responsibility for their actions ultimately lies with their guru.

6. The U.S. Capitol Police Problem

Gabbard's staff and/or close political supporters have also used the U.S. Capitol Police in apparent attempts to harass and intimidate critically thinking constituents.

Someone made a false report that I impersonated a Gabbard staffer. I did not. Two other Gabbard constituents say Gabbard's staff also reported them to Capitol Police and accused them of harassing Gabbard after they simply asked tough questions. The Capitol Police agent who called me after receiving the false report was nice enough and seemed to understand the situation. Since I had him on the phone anyway, I told him everything I know about Gabbard, Butler, and the Science of Identity Foundation.

A truly democratic election cannot be held when such tactics are being used to silence concerned constituents, journalists, and union leaders.

Mahalo for reading.

Sincerely,

Christine Gralow, M.S.Ed., M.J.

Teacher and Independent Journalist

U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, '03

---30---

Nov, 2017: DDOS Attack on Hawaii Free Press tied to Gabbards Cult?

Jan 2018: Tulsi Gabbard Hires Russian Agent to Keep Hawaii Media in Check
Worker killed in explosion at Procter & Gamble plant in Louisiana

According to local media, a man was reportedly operating a fork lift vehicle at the P&G Alexandria plant in Pineville, Louisiana, when an explosion occurred. A spokesperson for the Louisiana State Fire Marshals office said that the explosion was contained to the fork lift and that no fire was reported. All other workers on the site were sent home.

Stock image

The following is an official statement from P&G:



"We are deeply saddened to confirm that a member of the P&G Product Supply Family passed away at our Alexandria manufacturing facility in a tragic accident during the early morning hours of May 24, 2018. The safety of our employees is a top priority, and there is an investigation underway at this time. We are connected with the employees family and have expressed our deepest condolences. We will support them and all our Alexandria employees in this difficult time."



Investigators from the US Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are looking into the incident. The P&G plant in Pineville manufactures laundry detergent.

Contact Details and Archive...
(Bloomberg) After years of prevarication, BT Group Plc seems finally willing to consciously uncouple from its fixed-network business. CEO Gavin Patterson may be learning from the experience of BTs Italian peer. The former British national telecoms operator is evaluating informal proposals to sell at least a minority stake in Openreach, which operates most of the countrys phone and broadband networks, according to a Bloomberg News scoop late on Thursday. Thats exactly what I advocated earlier this month.

To read this article:
Soini reiterated his widely documented opposition to abortion in his personal blog after the Irish voted overwhelmingly  by 66.4 per cent to 33.6 per cent  in favour of a proposal to repeal a constitutional ban on abortion in a referendum on Friday, 25 May.

Timo Soini (BR), the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, received no support for his views on abortion from his fellow cabinet members.

The world is becoming stranger indeed if you need to justify yourself for defending life. I do defend it, however, in both the appropriate and inappropriate moment. A well of dirty water. It may look good, but it tastes bad, he phrased on Sunday.

His blog post prompted a handful of opposition members to ask the government to clarify its position on the issue.

Kai Mykkanen (NCP), the Minister of the Interior, responded to such questions by assuring that the views of Soini do not reflect the official position of the Finnish government.

As the minister for international development, I increased funding for sexual and mental health and for support related to reproductive rights, including the possibility of safe abortion in developing countries, he tweeted on Monday.

This is precisely how it is, confirmed Anne Virolainen (NCP), the current Minister for International Trade and Development. Finland has drawn attention to sexual and mental health and reproductive rights in all contexts  most recently in a meeting of development ministers on Tuesday. The right to abortion is not a matter of opinion. It is a matter of human rights.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Roni Rekomaa  Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
TWO hundred miniature hippos decorated to mark the bicentenary of Leander Club in Henley went on public display for a day.

The hippo is the rowing clubs symbol so it invited individuals, schools and businesses to customise the 18cm high papier-mache figures for a community art project called Hip Hip Hooray.

People could paint, paper, dress, decorate or embellish them however they wanted and the resulting artworks went on show at the River & Rowing Museum in Henley.

Linda Saul, a member of the Henley Arts and Crafts Guild, draped her hippo in red, white and blue bunting and had it holding a sculling boat in its jaws.

She called the piece King of the River, which is how hippos are known in Africa and is said to be why Leander adopted the logo in the mid-1800s.

Pupils in year 6 at Valley Road Primary School in Henley gave their hippo a crown, beard and robes to look like Henry II in whose reign Henleys first historical record was made.

Year 1 pupils hippo resembled the late magician Paul Daniels, from Wargrave, dressed in a suit and top hat decorated with playing cards and with a rabbit perched on top and a wand in his mouth.

This was paired with another resembling his wife and stage assistant Debbie McGee in a gold lame and lace outfit with long eyelashes and lipstick.

The museums hippo resembled Mr Toad from The Wind In The Willows, complete with tweed coat and hat, in a papier-mache boat with his friends Badger, Mole and Ratty.

A hippo dressed as a First World War soldier named Tommy was submitted by the Henley-on-Thames WWI Remembrance Association. He carried three poppies at his feet and was daubed with the slogan Lest we forget, 1914-1919.

Henley Town Council submitted a likeness of Kellie Hinton, who was mayor when the project was announced earlier this year, in the mayoral robes and hat with a miniature chain of office.

Artist and former rower Helen Stamoulis called her hippo Brookes The Oarsome Babe after Oxford Brookes University, for whom she rowed in the Nineties, and decorated it with gold, silver and bronze bells to represent the 127 Olympic and Paralympic medals that Leander has won.

Henley artist Nancy Marcello called her hippo Redders after Henley Royal Regatta chairman Sir Steve Redgrave, a former Leander athlete who won five Olympic gold medals between 1984 and 2000. It was decorated with gold and silver studs plus five miniature medals made from painted 1p coins and a red, white and blue ribbon with crossed silver oars.

The hippos will now be exhibited at shops, homes and businesses in Henley until the end of the month and there will be a trail for people to walk round and see them all.

They will then be used in this years regatta shop window display competition and some will be displayed at the Henley Festival.

They will be reunited at Leander Clubs family day on July 22 before being returned to their creators or auctioned for charity. Each hippo has a label with a QR code, which can be scanned using a smartphone, to find out more about it and place a bid. A private viewing was held at the museum attended by more than 200 people including the artists, Leander and Team GB rowers Vicky Thornley, Will Satch, Jack Beaumont and Ed Fisher, the clubs general manager Paul Budd, Henley Royal Regatta president Mike Sweeney and Henley Mayor and Mayoress Glen and Anna Lambert.

This also marked the launch of an exhibition called Leander Club: The First 200 Years, which traces the clubs history from its origins at a boatyard opposite the Houses of Parliament to its latter-day triumphs. This will run until July 15.

Guests were welcomed by the museums chairman David Worthington, who said: Leander Club has an unparallelled record in the sport of rowing and I would like to congratulate them on their 200th anniversary, which is quite a staggering achievement. We are delighted and proud to welcome them and their athletes to this celebration.

The museum has been here for 20 years and its important that we remain at the heart of this community because the jewel in Henleys international crown is undoubtedly its rowing. We really punch above our weight and it is thanks to institutions such as Leander Club and its supporters.

Hugh Richardson, the clubs honorary treasurer, raised a toast and told guests: We are blessed to have this museum in our community and it is a privilege to be recognised with this special exhibition.

Its wonderful that we can honour our heritage as we are merely stewards of a proud tradition which has included some great periods and others when we werent so much in the pink.

Shelley Robertson, of Wilson Avenue, Henley, who organised the hippo project with the clubs house manager Caroline Mulcahy, said: Were delighted with how its gone. What has come back is far beyond anything we thought people were capable of. Were glad we didnt make it a competition because we couldnt judge the best one as theyre all beautiful.

 Leander Club was formed in London in 1818 and moved to Putney in 1860 and then to Henley in the late 19th century.
All that would not have been possible without the sacrifices of our fallen, and that was his point. He was pointing out the greatness of those that gave the ultimate sacrifice that allowed all these positive things to happen. he is giving them the credit and somehow it is twisted into he takes credit and pisses on their graves.



Trump is guilty of being a lousy communicator in this case, no more and no less. Personally, I think he should stop tweeting and do all communicating to the public through someone that is blessed with the gift of gab, because he apparently just kind of freestyle it all the time. But then if he does somehow shut up, the TDSers will also find something wrong with that.



As far as VoteVets go, seriously...........it is a reflect response by a group that opposes Trump. Anyone here can seriously say they never said "Happy" Memorial Day to anyone and have never heard anyone say the same? Memorial Day is a family gathering day to remember and honor loved ones and all those that have fallen for this nation. What is not happy about that? Do you see people crying at parks and picnic grounds, or do you see families celebrating a holiday with BBQ's and happy children playing? That is the very legacy that our fallen has given us.
Quickly built breastworks saved the day on Culps Hill

When the Army of the Potomacs 12th Corps arrived on Culps Hill early in the morning July 2, 1863, 2nd Division commander Brig. Gen. John Geary submittedthe question of building rifle-pits to his three brigade leadersColonel Charles Candy, Colonel George A. Cobham Jr., and Brig. Gen. George Sears Greene. Doing so was not Gearys choice. He was of the mindset that building defensive works unfitted the men for fighting without them.

At this point of the war, Gearys opinion was not unusual on either side. Although both armies sometimes built breastworks and earthworks in battles preceding Gettysburg, their construction in the face of the enemy was not standard doctrine, as it would become in 1864. At Gettysburg, in fact, Culps Hill was the only location where true field works were constructed.

The first works on the hill were erected the evening of July 1 by troops in Brig. Gen. James S. Wadsworths 1st Division, 1st Corps. The division had suffered enormous casualties in the fighting that day, and after retreating through the town to Cemetery Hill, the men were ordered to occupy the northern slope of Culps Hill. Upon arrival, Lt. Col. Rufus R. Dawes, commanding the 6th Wisconsin, ordered his regiment to entrench. They set to work with a dozen spades and shovels, obtained from their regimental wagon. The decision to entrench did not come from above. Wrote Dawes: There were no orders to construct these breastworks, but the situation plainly dictated their necessity. The other regiments saw the wisdom of Dawes actions and soon the whole division was busy entrenching from Stevens Knoll to the summit of Culps Hill by nightfall.

Seeing the works the 1st Corps troops had built might have prompted Gearys breastworks query to his brigade commanders. He might also have felt some pressure by the actions of the 12th Corps other division commander, Brig. Gen. Alpheus Williams. When his division reached Culps Hill, Williams wrote, I ordered at once a breastwork of logs to be built, having experienced their benefits at Chancellorsville, adding that our men had learned to love entrenching with logs.

It is possible General Greene was the one who suggested building breastworks. He was the only West Pointer among the divisions leadership and understood engineering. [T]he saving of life, he said, was of far more consequencethan any theories as to breastworks, and so far as his men were concerned, they would have them if they had time to build them. Candy, a former Regular Army enlisted man, shared Gearys doubts and insisted his brigade would not waste time building works, but Cobham sided with Greene. Fortunately for the 12th Corps, Geary placed Candys brigade in reserve and Greenes and Cobhams on the front line.

The men grumbled a little, recalled Captain George Collins of the 149th New York, but they nevertheless brought sticks, stones, and chunks of wood, and felled trees and shoveled dirt for three or four hours.

Although some soldiers refer-red to them as rifle pits they were true breastworks. Captain Jesse Jones of the 60th New York described how the men felled the trees and blocked them into a close log fence, and appropriated nearby piles of cordwood. The numerous boulders strewn across the hill were incorporated into the line, and head logs for further cover were added along much of the line. Efforts were also made to conceal the works by placing heavy boughs and logs in front. The work was so well done, Captain Charles P. Horton noted, the entrenchments could not be distinguished fifty yards to the front.

Culps Hill remained quiet most of the day, but when Lt. Gen. James Longstreet launched his attack on the Union left about 4 p.m., the summit came under Confederate artillery fire. As the crisis on the Union left grew during the afternoon, Army of the Potomac commander Maj. Gen. George G. Meade ordered the entire 12th Corps to reinforce his embattled flank. To the Federals good fortune, 12th Corps commander Maj. Gen. Henry W. Slocum convinced Meade to keep one brigadeGreenes 3rdon Culps Hill. Greene sent a skirmish line down the slope and aligned his brigade along a single line, each man separated by several feet in order to cover as much ground as possiblea tactic he never would have attempted without the benefit of the breastworks. Just before 7 p.m., Confederate Second Corps commander Lt. Gen. Richard S. Ewell launched an attack on Greenes position, spearheaded by Maj. Gen. Edward Johnsons Division, more than 4,000 strong. The skirmishers sent down the slope were soon seen running back uphill, followed by a Confederate line of battle, yelping and howling in their peculiar manner.

Behind the works, their colors concealed, Greenes men waited for the enemy to come within range. The pale faces, staring eye-balls, and nervous hands grasping loaded muskets, Collins wrote, told how terrible were those moments of suspense. The Confederates were allowed to approach to within 50 yards before the order to fire was given. Though the first volley staggered the Rebels, it did not stop their advance. But the Yankees continued to blaze away until the smoke became so dense [they] were unable to distinguish the enemy and were governed more by hearing than sight in directing fire.

Three times, Johnsons men came close to reaching the breastworks but were forced to fall back by the relentless fire each time, finally calling off the attacks about 10 p.m. Greenes men reportedly had fired upward of 80 rounds per man, and though the Confederates had seized the lower summit, the top of Culps Hill remained in Union hands.

Heavily reinforced, Johnsons Division attempted to carry Culps Hill again the next morning. But the entire 12th Corps had returned by then and now also had the services of a 6th Corps brigade. Johnsons attacks failed once more, with heavy losses.

Had Gearys disdain for breastworks carried the day, it is difficult to envision how the Army of the Potomac could have held onto Culps Hill. And had the hill fallen, the armys position at Gettysburg would have been untenable. Whoever was behind the decision to build those worksand, as weve shown, several officers can be so recognizeddeserves considerable credit for the Unions Gettysburg victory. Without them, Captain Collins would write, the 3d Brigade could never have held the position on the 2d day of July against the overwhelming numbers brought against it.

Scott Hartwig writes from the crossroads of Gettysburg.
German Chief of Staff Erich Ludendorff prolonged World War I with his revolutionary tacticsbut to what end?

On a list of historical figures who have left disaster in their wake, few can top Erich Ludendorff. And yet, he was not an incompetent man. On the contrary, he was one of World War Is most able generals, among the few who recognized that Western Front battlefield tactics would require a fundamental rethinking, especially with regard to combat leadership.

Unfortunately, even here his contribution proved disastrous, as his tactical revolution enabled Germany to hold out far longer than it might have, thereby exacerbating the November 1918 collapse. In the realms of operations, strategy and politics, Ludendorffs baleful influence wreaked havoc on Germany over the course of the war, while the seeds he planted would eventually support the rise of Adolf Hitler and an even more disastrous German defeat.

Ludendorff was born on April 9, 1865, in the town of Kruszewnia, near Posen, Prussia. Like most of the border towns split between Polish and German ethnicity, Kruszewnia was a hotbed of Prusso-German nationalism. His parents were middle-class but strongly nationalist. And as young Erich gobbled up military histories filled with romantic legends and nationalist nonsense about Prussias struggles against Napoleon or its heroic defeat of the evil French in the Franco-Prussian War, his nationalistic fervor soon eclipsed that of his parents. As a teen, Ludendorff made the obvious career choice of the German army. He excelled at cadet school and after graduation entered the army as an infantry officer.

At the time, the nobility dominated the armys officer corps. While there was certainly no room for Jews or members of the lower class, there were considerable opportunities for young, ambitious sons of the middle class, especially if they were bright and diligent and possessed the presence and poise required of a good officer. Ludendorff had all of these qualities and was quickly nominated by his superiors for the Kriegsakademie, the elite Prussian military academy from which the Great General Staff was handpicked.

The Kriegsakademie was so rigorous that most cadets washed out of the first and second-year courses. By now the culture of both the Kriegsakademie and the General Staff had shifted from the deep strategic analysis that marked the writings of Prussian generals Gerhard von Scharnhorst, August von Gneisenau, and Carl von Clausewitz to an emphasis on such technical aspects as planning, tactics and mobilization. Future Lt. Gen. Leo Geyr von Schweppenburg, who attended the Kriegsakademie immediately before World War I, said as much in a letter to military historian Basil Liddell Hart after World War II:

You will be horrified to hear that I have never read Clausewitz or [Hans] Delbruck or [Karl] Haushofer. The opinion on Clausewitz in our General Staff was that of a theoretician to be read by professors.

But Ludendorff excelled precisely in those tactical and technical areas, and he soon became a junior member of the Great General Staff, as well as one of Alfred Graf von Schlieffens most trusted staff officers. His career progressed steadily until 1912, on the eve of World War I, when a major budgetary fight broke out among the General Staff, the Imperial Navy and the Prussian War Ministry.

For more than a decade, the Prussian government had funded a massive buildup of the Imperial Navy to counter the British Royal Navy. The General Staff now sought greater support for the army and its planning obligations, particularly with regard to the Schlieffen Plan (the invasion of France). In the end, the War Ministry sided with the navy, resisting any large-scale enlargement of the army, perhaps out of concern that a strong officer corps might challenge the nobilitys control. Ludendorff led the charge for the General Staff, in the process angering many higher-ups. And when the dust settled in 1913, the General Staff shipped off Colonel Ludendorff to command an infantry regiment in the west.

In late July 1914, the simmering European crisis over the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, exploded into war. The Germans immediately invaded France, Belgium and Luxembourg. Ludendorff was assigned as deputy chief of staff to the Second Army under General Karl von Bulow and charged with seizing Lieges key fortresses, a move that would enable the German right to strike deep into Belgium, then sweep south to encircle the French army.

As Ludendorff rolled forward through complex firefights, he was probably also involved in a number of atrocities, in which German troops shot Belgian civilians (upward of 6,000 by the end of September) in retaliation for the supposed activities of guerrilla fighters known as Franc-tireurs. In the midst of the heavy fighting, Ludendorff led a small group of Germans to the citadel at the heart of Liege, literally knocked on the front door and demanded the surrender of its garrison. One has to wonder how history might have turned if one of the Belgians had done his job and summarily shot Ludendorff for his temerity. Instead, the Belgians surrendered, and he received the coveted Pour le Merite medal for his actions.

While the Schlieffen Plan unfolded in the West, the operational situation in East Prussia was going to hell in a handbasket, as the Russian army had moved earlier than expected. To make matters worse, General Maximilian the Fat Soldier von Prittwitz had panicked and recommended that his Eighth Army abandon East Prussia and retire to Pomerania. Chief of the General Staff Helmuth von Moltke promptly fired Prittwitz, replacing him with retired General Paul von Hindenburg. But while Hindenburg was certainly dependable and unflappable, he wasnt considered especially bright. So Moltke brought in Ludendorff, brilliant and already a war hero, to be Hindenburgs chief of staff.

The two hurried east to assume command of the Eighth Army, which the Russians had already badly mauled in a skirmish at Gumbinnen. On arrival, they confronted two invading armies:

General Pavel Rennenkampfs First Army from the east and General Aleksandr Samsonovs Second Army from the south. As Prittwitz retired into obscurity, Eighth Army Deputy Chief of Staff Max Hoffmann briefed his new bosses on a plan he had already set in motion.

The Russian First Army had stopped at Gumbinnen, while the Second Army rapidly advanced north. Since the Russians were communicating via uncoded radio transmissions, the Germans had a clear fix on their enemys positions. What they didnt know was that Rennenkampf and Samsonov had been bitter enemies since the 190405 Russo-Japanese War and would not be overly inclined to help each other.

Hoffmann recognized that if the German Eighth Army concentrated its strength against one of the opposing forces and screened the other, it could defeat the Russians in detail. Samsonovs advance obviously made his army the most vulnerable. Hindenburg and Ludendorff saw the advantage and signed off on Hoffmanns plans. Cavalry units screened Rennenkampfs First Army, which remained stationary despite having an open road to Konigsberg. Meanwhile, the Eighth Army used the rail system to rapidly redeploy south and west. It broke the flank corps of Samsonovs Second Army, then enveloped and destroyed the entire Russian force.

The deputy had done the work, but Hindenburg and Ludendorff took credit for the Battle of Tannenberg, Germanys first major victory of the war.

Yet even as the situation stabilized in East Prussia, matters worsened elsewhere in the East. A series of major defeats threatened to knock Germanys main ally, Austria-Hungary, out of the conflict. To restore the situation in Galicia, Hindenburg, Ludendorff and Hoffmann took command of the Ninth Army, which had been scratched together from Western Front corps and much of the Eighth Army. During heavy fighting, in which the Russians managed to surround three German divisions only to let them slip away again, the bitter foes fought to a standstill. Nevertheless, the confrontation proved one of Ludendorffs finest hours, as the Ninth Army bought the Austrians enough time to recover and patch together a front.

Hindenburg and Ludendorff insisted Germany should act decisively to drive Russia out of the war. But by then, General Erich von Falkenhayn had succeeded Moltke as chief of the General Staff. Falkenhayn, with a broader strategic vision and perhaps a deeper appreciation of what a push into Russia would entail, demurred. So, while subsequent German offensives inflicted devastating losses on the tsarist enemy, they failed to achieve overall victory.

As to who was correct, no one can say, though its worth noting that no invasion from the West deep into the Russian heartland has ever succeeded. By confining the fighting to the borderlands, where the Russians faced serious logistical difficulties, Falkenhayn may well have set the stage for the eventual political collapse and defeat of tsarist Russia in 1917.

As the war stretched into 1916, Falkenhayn and the Hindenburg-Ludendorff duo continued to bicker over German strategy. Ludendorff was not above disloyalty to his superior and tried to sway the imperial regime in favor of an Eastern offensive. But Kaiser Wilhelm II remained loyal to his chief of staff. Then Falkenhayn, who had recognized back in 1914 that Germany could not defeat the forces arrayed against it, made a series of operational blunders.

First, having argued that Germany was engaged in a battle of attrition against Britain, he launched a great offensive against the French at Verdun. That battle bled the French white, but it also exhausted the Germans. As the fighting reached its climax in early June, Russia launched a major offensive against Austria, which promptly collapsed. Falkenhayn had to shut down Verdun and rush reinforcements east to shore up the Austrians.

Adding to his woes, in mid-June the British began preparatory bombardments on the Somme. Two weeks later their troops went over the top. On July 1, the first day of battle, they took a disastrous 60,000 casualties. But thereafter the weight of British artillery coupled with unimaginative German tactics, which demanded that soldiers hold every foot of ground, led to equally heavy casualties among the Germanslosses they could ill afford. Romanias declaration of war in August further compounded the Central Powers strategic difficulties.

With the Reich in desperate straits, Kaiser Wilhelm finally yielded to political pressure and replaced Falkenhayn with Hindenburg and Ludendorff. From that point on, Ludendorff became the true driving force behind the German war effort, as Hindenburg deferred to him on virtually every decision.

The Germans faced a desperate situation in the West. The battle of materiel, as Ludendorff termed it, was even more serious. On the Somme, British attacks were imposing huge losses on the German army. Also that fall, the French launched a sharp offensive that would regain much of the ground they had lost at Verdun. One of Ludendorffs first actions was to visit the Western Front to see for himself what was happening. He sought input from both senior officers and frontline commanders. I attached the greatest importance to verbal discussion and gathering direct impression on the spot, he later noted in his memoirs.

The loss of ground up to date appeared to me of little importance in itself. We could stand that, but the question how this, and the progressive falling off of our fighting power of which it was symptomatic, was to be prevented was of immense importance. On the Somme, the enemys powerful artillery, assisted by excellent aeroplane observation and fed with enormous supplies of ammunition, had kept down our own fire and destroyed our artillery. The defense of our infantry had become so flabby that the massed attacks of the enemy always succeeded. Not only did our morale suffer, but in addition to fearful wastage in killed and wounded, we lost a large number of prisoners and much materiel.I attached great importance to what I learned about our infantryabout its tactics and preparation. Without doubt it fought too doggedly, clinging too resolutely to the mere holding of ground, with the result that the losses were heavy. The deep dugouts and cellars often became fatal mantraps. The use of the rifle was being forgotten, hand grenades had become the chief weapons, and the equipment of the infantry with machine guns and similar weapons had fallen far behind that of the enemy.

From the chiefs of staff he visited, Ludendorff demanded complete and accurate briefings rather than favorable report[s] made to order. Based on a thorough lessons-learned analysis, he then fundamentally recast the German armys defensive philosophy. By late 1916 his staff and field officers had developed the first modern defensive warfare doctrine for the era of machine guns and artillery. This new doctrine rested on the concept of holding frontline positions lightly with machine gunners, with successively stronger defensive positions echeloned in depth. By now artillery was the great killer on the Western Front, so Ludendorff concentrated German reserves and defensive positions in rear areas, out of range of all but the heaviest Allied guns.

The emphasis shifted from the trench lines to well-camouflaged strong points that would shield the defenders from observation and bombardment. The deeper the enemy worked his way into these defenses, the more resistance he would encounter and the farther he would stray from his own artillery support. The new doctrine also demanded that battalion commanders and their subordinates, down to junior officers and NCOs, exercise initiative on the battlefield and not wait for directions from above.

What is particularly impressive about these changes is that they were put into practice within two months of their inception. On December 1, the German army published The Principles of Command in the Defensive Battle in Position Warfare. Ludendorff and the General Staff further ensured the new doctrine was inculcated at all leadership levels, requiring even senior commanders and staff officers to attend courses introducing the methods. These tactical reforms represented the building blocks of modern war. And they were to play a major role in German defensive successes on the Western Front in 1917: first, in defeating the Nivelle Offensive in April, nearly breaking the French army in the process; and second, in thwarting Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haigs heavy-handed offensive at Passchendaele, Belgium, in late summer and fall.

To further reduce the strain on the army, Ludendorff ordered a major withdrawal to curtail the line the army had to defend on the Western Front. During Operation Alberich, named for the vicious dwarf of the Nibelungen saga, the withdrawing Germans completely destroyed more than 1,000 square miles of French territory. Astonishingly, they filmed their performance. As General Karl von Einem, commander of the Third Army, described the footage: We saw factories fly into the air, rows of houses fall over, bridges break in twoit was awful, an orgy of dynamite. That this is all militarily justified is unquestionable. But putting this on filmincomprehensible. The Allies would not forget at Versailles. Nevertheless, the operation did free up 10 German divisions.

At the time Ludendorff was implementing his extraordinary improvements to the armys tactical abilities and short-term strengthand thus, Germanys ability to prolong the warhe was also pushing for a series of strategic and political decisions that would ultimately seal Germanys fate.

Strategically, Ludendorff supported the Imperial Navys efforts to resume unrestricted submarine warfare, whatever its impact on the United States. The Germans had launched their first unrestricted U-boat campaign in 1915. The result, particularly the sinking of RMS Lusitania on May 7, had pushed America to the brink of war. Only the desperate intervention of Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann Hollweg persuaded Kaiser Wilhelm to halt the campaign. The navy forced the issue again in the fall of 1916, however, presenting figures that suggested unrestricted submarine warfare would bring Britain, the engine of the Allied cause, to its knees. But the navys research was bogusa case of figures lie and liars figure.

The truth was that unrestricted submarine warfare would almost immediately bring the United States into the war. Here again, Ludendorff threw his weight behind the navys arguments by insisting the United States was incapable of fielding an effective army, much less deploying it to Europe to fight on the Western Front. His comment to a senior industrialist in September 1916 sums up his understanding of strategy: The United States does not bother mein the least; I look upon a declaration of war by the United States with indifference. Even more astonishing is that in the fall of 1916 Ludendorff was seriously worried that Holland or Denmark might enter the war on the Allied side.

On Feb. 1, 1917, the Germans unleashed their U-boats, and in April the United States declared war. By July 1918, the Americans had four divisions (the equivalent of eight European divisions) in the field, and 250,000 doughboys were arriving in France every month. German submarines had not sunk a single American troop transport. The U-boat offensive had failed. It remains one of the more disastrous strategic decisions in human history.

Politically, Ludendorff continued to meddle in the Reichs internal affairs. In July 1917 he forced out Bethmann Hollweg and persuaded Kaiser Wilhelm to replace the chancellor with a cipher, Georg Michaelis. The army soon found itself battling strikes, fomented by the military spending demands Ludendorff was putting on the economy, and food riots, exacerbated by the governments flawed agricultural policies. To end the strikes, the army drafted obstreperous munitions workers, which only served to further lower morale among the troops.

Russias collapse in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution, coupled with victory over the Italians at Caporetto in October, afforded the Germans a window of opportunity. In the fall of 1917, the General Staff, under Ludendorffs guidance, applied aspects of the defensive doctrine to offensive operations. By the early winter of 1918, they had invented modern decentralized combined-arms warfare and trained substantial units in the new tactics. Gambling that this development would secure German victory before the gathering might of the United States could shift the momentum in the Allies favor, Ludendorff readied his armies for a series of spring offensives. Interestingly, he drew few units from the now quiescent Eastern Front. Ludendorff left the Eastern army in place for two reasons: first, because troops were deserting in large numbers as they moved from east to west, and second, because throughout the spring and summer of 1918 Ludendorff continued to pursue megalomaniacal goals in the East that rivaled Hitlers ambitions two decades later.

Although Ludendorff managed to build an extraordinary, albeit fragile, force for his coming offensive, he did not have the slightest idea what its operational goals should be. When asked as much by Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, group commander of the northern forces along the Western Front, Ludendorff testily replied: I object to the word operations. We will punch a hole into [their line]. For the rest we shall see. We also did it this way in Russia. And that is precisely what the Germans, under Ludendorffs direction, did. Their impressive battlefield gains were completely devoid of strategic and operational benchmarks, and they constructed no defenses to maintain the greatly expanded front.

Moreover, to make these gains, the Germans took nearly a million casualtiesfar heavier offensive losses than those suffered by the Allies earlier in the war. By the summer of 1918, the German army could no longer defend itself on the Western Front. On July 15, Ludendorff launched a major offensive, code-named Peace Storm, against Reims. His troops encountered well-prepared French lines deployed in defense-in-depth echelons. The offensive failed.

By now the balance was shifting drastically against the Germans. The first Allied blow came on July 18, when a combined Franco-American offensive hit ill-prepared German defenses along the Marne salient. The resulting loss of ground that the Germans had taken at the end of May was the first sign of disasters to come. Three weeks later, the British, led by Canadian and Australian corps, struck German defensive positions outside Amiens, forcing them into retreat by midmorning. Fleeing soldiers tried to discourage reinforcements from restoring the situation. Ludendorff was later to describe August 8 as the black day of the German army.

Worse followed. The British army mounted the bulk of late summer and early fall Allied offensives, while the American army increasingly made its presence known. A round of major pushes by the British, Canadians and Australians drove back the German army deep into Belgium. The continuous heavy fighting was exhausting Ludendorffs men: Companies were down to less than 30 men, regiments to barely 100. Half a million troops ultimately deserted, and the rear area gave out. By October, Germanys allies were collapsing one after another.

Once again, Ludendorff displayed neither leadership nor strategic sense. In September he began casting about for someone to blame for the looming German defeat. His initial target was his staff. By early October, he had shifted the blame to the liberals and socialists. As the German political, strategic and operational situation spiraled out of control, Ludendorff himself approached a complete breakdown. On October 26, the Kaiser dismissed him. Disguising himself in a false beard, Ludendorff fled to Sweden to write his extraordinarily dishonest memoirs.

Ludendorffs postwar career was no more propitious for German history. He was an early and enthusiastic proponent of Dolchstoss, the infamous social legend that Communists and Jews had somehow managed to stab an unbeaten German army in the back and cause the Reichs downfall. Thus, to a large extent, Germanys military leadership escaped responsibility for the catastrophic defeat of the German army on the Western Front. Not surprisingly, in the postwar period Ludendorff became an ardent supporter of radical nationalist parties, lending his name to the Nazis and confronting the police lines with Hitler during the infamous Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923. Although he later broke with the Nazis, the damage had already been done: Ludendorff had provided an unknown street agitator with considerable political legitimacy.

As a commander, Ludendorff represented the strengths and weaknesses of the German army. In my final analysis on Ludendorff, notes David Zabecki, the foremost historian of Germanys 1918 offensives, I have to conclude that in many ways he was a reflection of the German army as a whole in the first half of the 20th century: tactically gifted, operationally flawed and strategically bankrupt.

For further reading, Williamson Murray recommends: Ludendorffs Own Story, August 1914November 1918, by Erich von Ludendorff; The First World War: Germany and Austria-Hungary, 19141918, by Holger Herwig; and The German 1918 Offensives, by David T. Zabecki.

Originally published in the October 2008 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.
Milton Lee Olive III gave his life to save four comrades

Although President Harry S. Trumans Executive Order 9981 ended segregation in the military in July 1948, Vietnam was the nations first fully integrated war. Texan Jimmy Stanford, a lieutenant in the 173rd Airborne Brigade, which in May 1965 became the first major Army unit in Vietnam, felt uncomfortable with the desegregation. He had grown up in a segregated town and said the N-word occasionally. But he didnt consider himself prejudiced and was thankful for every man in his 3rd Platoon of B Company, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment.

Stanfords senior platoon sergeant, Vince Yrineo, a 35-year-old Hispanic who had endured racial prejudice, was quick to call his platoon leader out. I simply wasnt going to take that from some redneck shavetail [second lieutenant], and I wanted him to know right away where I stood, Yrineo recalled years later.

One of Yrineos soldiers was Milton Lee Olive III, an 18-year-old black Chicagoan everyone usually called Skipper. His mother died four hours after he was born on Nov. 7, 1946.

Much of Olives youth was spent in Chicago with his father and other family members, but he also stayed on his grandparents farm in Lexington, Mississippi, where he went to an all-black high school that was an extension of a church.

In January 1964, during Olives second year of high school, the 24th Amendment was ratified, guaranteeing the right to vote without paying poll taxes that had been used to suppress the black vote in the South. Olive became one of the 3,000 students participating in Mississippi Freedom Schools, which taught black students about their rights and their potential to bring change at the polls. When the school year ended in 1964, Olive became a volunteer in The Mississippi Summer Project to register black voters.

The escalating violence concerned Olives grandmother, who sent him back to Chicago. In Chicago, the 17-year-old learned that some of his credits earned in Mississippi didnt count, and he would have to repeat his sophomore year. Discouraged, he left school to find a job, but that didnt pan out either. On his 18th birthday Olive enlisted in the Army. In a letter home he wrote: You said I was crazy for joining up. Well, Ive gone you one better. Im now an official U.S. Army Paratrooper.

One month after the 173rd Airborne arrived in Vietnam, Pfc. Olive joined the unit there. His cherubic countenance, quiet demeanor and tendency to avoid vulgar language earned a second nickname: Preacher.

On Oct. 22, 1965, helicopters inserted Olives unit into dense jungle outside Phu Cuong, near Saigon, where it was engaged by a large enemy force. The Americans returned fire, forcing the enemy into a retreat, and Stanford rallied his men to give chase. But Stanford, Yrineo, Olive and two other soldiers ran into an ambush. Look out, lieutenant, grenade, Olive shouted, as one landed in the middle of the group. And then the private threw his body over the explosive, giving his life to save four comrades.

It was the most incredible display of selfless bravery I ever witnessed, Stanford said later.

On April 21, 1966, the elder Milton Olive, who had remarried, and his wife, Antoinette, were at the White House when President Lyndon B. Johnson detailed their sons heroic acts. Stanford looked on as Olive became the first black recipient of the Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War. Stanford changed drastically after that day [in Vietnam], Yrineo told me, and said the two men became very good friends.

A day doesnt go by that I dont think about him, Stanford said. Milton Olive changed me. I made a vow never to forget him.

Doug Sterner, an Army veteran who served two tours in Vietnam, is curator of the Military Times Hall of Valor, the largest database of U.S. military valor awards.

This article was published in the August 2018 issue of Vietnam.
As one hikes down the Kall Trail today in Germanys Hurtgen Forest, it is almost impossible to visualize how U.S. forces in November 1944 managed to get M4 Sherman tanks and M10 Wolverine tank destroyers down that steep and narrow footpath. From the village of Vossenack west of the Kall River, the trail plunges almost 500 feet into the river gorge and then climbs almost as steeply to an open field just outside the village of Kommerscheidt east of the river. On the Vossenack side there is no room to maneuver. The right side of the trail runs smack up against the steep hillside, while the left side drops straight into the gorge. At its tightest point, a place American soldiers dubbed the rocky outcropping, the trail is a few inches narrower than the 8-foot, 7-inch width of a Sherman.

Even more difficult to understand is how this narrow goat path could have served as the axis of the 28th Infantry Divisions dagger-like main thrust toward the town of Schmidt, as it sought to break through the Hurtgen and reach the Rhine. Of course, the entire division wasnt trying to come down that single path, only the 112th Infantry Regiment. But that actually compounded the problem. The other two regiments were advancing in widely diverging directions, which meant their attacks were not mutually supporting and the divisions combat power would dissipate as it advanced. Any second lieutenant with a basic grasp of Tactics 101 should have known that such a scheme of maneuver was a recipe for disaster. And it was.

When the Americans started into the gorge on Nov. 3, 1944, they had not even reconned the trail and had no idea whether tanks could make it. Worse still, they didnt know if the small bridge over the Kall that showed on the map was still standing or, if it were, whether it could support tanks. By November 5, against almost overwhelming odds, a platoon of Shermans under 1st Lt. Raymond Flieg and a platoon of M10s under 1st Lt. Turney Leonard had managed to get down the trail, across the bridge and up the other side, only to run into German Panthers outside Kommerscheidt. Within two days the Germans counterattacked and destroyed all the American armored vehicles. Flieg later received a Silver Star and Leonard a posthumous Medal of Honor.

The Americans had tried to move more tanks across the gorge, but about noon on November 4, a Sherman threw a track and hung up on the rocky outcropping, blocking the trail. For the next 15 hours nothing moved while tankers and engineers argued about whether to recover the tank or push it over the side. Meanwhile, their buddies outside Kommerscheidt were taking a severe beating from the 89th Infantry Division.

On the hillside less than 200 feet down from the rocky outcropping, an abandoned forestry hut became the main American aid station. As the battle raged over the next four days, control of the aid station passed back and forth repeatedly between the Germans and Americans. The Germans brought medical supplies to the aid station, and eventually their own wounded and medics. Throughout the battle German and American medics and doctors worked together, treating hundreds of casualties from both sides.

By November 8, the Germans had stopped the attack and pushed the Americans back across the Kall and completely out of the gorge. The 28th ID had sustained 6,184 casualties in just six days of fighting.

Today almost nothing remains to suggest the terrible events of November 1944, unless you know what to look for. The rocky outcropping bears scars where American engineers finally set off explosives in an attempt to clear the trail. The crumbled stone foundation of the forestry hut/aid station is still there, but its overgrown and hard to find. The Germans ultimately did blow the bridge, but the replacement built in the 1950s is largely unchanged. The Kall Trail today offers an idyllic walk in the forest, but for anyone familiar with the savage fighting of November 1944, the forest is still thick with ghosts.

Originally published in the October 2008 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.
The U.S. Marines drew on the disastrous 1915 landings at Gallipoli to write the first how-to manual of amphibious warfare.

The potential and perils of amphibious operations were never more hotly debated than in the Tokyo headquarters of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in the Far East, on Aug. 23, 1950. The two-month-old Korean War had reached a critical stage. North Korean tank and infantry columns were converging on Pusan, threatening to drive the Republic of Korea and U.S. defenders into the sea.

President Harry S. Trumans military advisors debated whether to abandon South Korea altogether or attempt an end run amphibious attack from the Yellow Sea against the exposed western flank of the North Korean forces. MacArthur and the Joint Chiefs of Staff agreed on the second option but disagreed about the aims and extent of the attack. The Joint Chiefs wanted a short-range landing near Kunsan; MacArthur favored Inchon, farther up the west coast, the gateway to Seoul. Kunsan offered limited returns for a limited risk. Inchon, far riskier, could affect the outcome of the war.

Two members of the Joint Chiefs flew in from Washington to express their concerns to MacArthur. Rear Adm. James H. Doyle, commanding Amphibious Group 1, would play the role of expert witness. A veteran of many World War II amphibious campaigns, Doyle stood ready to execute whichever plan MacArthur and the chiefs could agree on. Doyle had planned MacArthurs landings in 194445 and sensed that the supreme commanders insistence on Inchon reflected a desire to replicate his dramatic end run at Hollandia, New Guinea, in 1944.

Doyle and his staff bluntly explained to MacArthur that Inchon was no Hollandia. Unlike Hollandias broad, undefended beaches open to the sea, Inchon was a hydrographic nightmare, accessible from the Yellow Sea only by a narrow channel dominated by an extreme tidal rangeamong the worlds largestwhich, at the ebb, left impassable mudflats in the harbor. Inchon had no beaches, only sea walls and piles of concrete rubble. Fortified North Korean artillery positions on the outlying island of Wolmi-do commanded the final approaches to the port. The assault force would have to scramble ashore with scaling ladders and then fight through the streets in a city nearly the size of Baltimore.

Inchons bizarre tides dictated an extremely early D-day. The fully laden LSTs (Landing Ships, Tank), drawing 29 feet under their keels, required an extreme high tide of 31 feet, which would occur just once in the month ahead, on September 15barely three weeks away. Doyle concluded, General, the best I can say is that Inchon is not impossible.

MacArthur had listened attentively, smoking his pipe. Then he stood and mesmerized the room with a soliloquy on why Inchon was the superior strategic choice. The amphibious landing is the most powerful tool we have, he said. To employ it properly, we must strike hard and deep! Dismissing the Kunsan option, he stated that nothing in warfare is more futile than a short envelopment. Landing at Inchon would allow swift recapture of Seoul and the interdiction of North Korean supply lines to the Pusan Perimeter. Alluding to the British amphibious landing at Quebec in 1759, he declared, Like Montcalm, the North Koreans would regard an Inchon landing as impossible. Like Wolfe, I could take them by surprise. Staring imperiously around the table, the 70-year old MacArthur vowed, We shall land at Inchon, and I shall crush them.

The event vindicated MacArthurs confidence. Landing on September 15th, Doyles hastily assembled amphibious force seized Inchon against moderate resistance. Ten days later the landing force liberated Seoul, forcing the North Koreans to abandon their siege of Pusan. Yet the stunning surprise landing did not end the Korean War. MacArthur continued to advance into North Korea as far as the Yalu River, provoking Chinas intervention and prolonging the war for years.

Such is the nature of amphibious operations. By themselves, forcible landings rarely end wars. Neither Omaha Beach nor Okinawa ended the wars against Germany or Japan. Duke William of Normandy did not become William the Conqueror upon his landing on English soil in 1066; his defeat of King Harolds Saxons at Hastings 16 days later made the invasion decisive.

An amphibious operation is an attack launched from the sea by naval and assault forces embarked in ships, involving a landing against a hostile shore. Opposed amphibious landings are among the most difficult and riskiest naval operations to execute. A full-scale amphibious operation is a high-stakes enterprise, affirms Lt. Gen. Bernard E. Trainor, USMC (Ret.), a 40-year veteran of saltwater landings. It either succeeds dramatically or fails dramatically. There is nothing in between.

Great risks and rewards have always characterized forcible amphibious landings. Julius Caesars Roman legions had a surprisingly difficult time battling their way ashore in 54 BC against British archers and cavalry defending their coastline near present-day Kent. During the Napoleonic Wars, the British executed a highly successful nighttime amphibious assault against French forces defending Aboukir Bay, Egypt in 1801: The Black Watch regiment, wading ashore from their grounded flatboats, at one point formed a defensive line in knee-deep water to repulse a French cavalry charge. By days end the Royal Navy had delivered sufficient infantry, artillery and cavalry ashore to sustain Lt. Gen. Sir Ralph Abercrombys inland campaign.

With formal establishment of the Navy and Marine Corps in the last decade of the 18th century, the U.S. mounted small but frequent amphibious landings worldwide. Most were low-intensity affairs: landing parties rowing ashore to seek redress, rescue hostages or restore domestic order. Indeed, before World War II, the United States conducted fewer than a dozen landings against hostile opposition. These included the failed 1778 assault against British fortifications at Penobscot Bay, Maine territory; the 1847 landing of Maj. Gen. Winfield Scotts soldiers and Marines at Veracruz, Mexico; the abortive 1863 night assault against Fort Sumter by Union sailors and Marines in Charleston Harbor; the 1898 landing by Maj. Robert Huntingtons battalion of Marines against Spanish regulars at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; and the 1914 landing at Veracruz. American landing forces would not encounter major opposition in a ship-to-shore assault until Salerno, Italy, and Tarawa, British Gilbert Islands, in the fall of 1943.

Paradoxically, it was the 20th centurys most disastrous amphibious invasionthe Allied tragedy at Gallipoli, Turkey, in 1915that led directly to the great U.S. and Allied landing successes in World War II. Prompted by the harsh lessons learned from the many mistakes at Gallipoli, the U.S. Marines wrote what proved to be literally the how-to book on amphibious warfare.

At Gallipoli, an expeditionary force of British, French, Australian and New Zealand troops landed on seven beaches along the 50-mile-long peninsula in an attempt to knock Germanys ally Turkey out of the war. The Allies violated key principles of war in the planning, execution, political direction and logistical support for this difficult campaign. Faulty intelligence and careless operational security forfeited the element of surprise, leading to the loss of thousands of men trying to splash ashore against point-blank fire from Turkish defenders. Scattered elements fought their way ashore to seize and hold narrow beachheads, where they clung for eight bitter months, unable to advance or retreat. The Royal Navy eventually evacuated the survivors under fire, but the overall experience was a military and political nightmare. Many military analysts concluded from the events at Gallipoli that 20th century weaponry had made large-scale landings obsolete.

On studying Gallipoli, the U.S. Marines acknowledged the scale of the disaster but disagreed that amphibious operations were obsolete. Within a year of the Allied evacuation, Major Earl H. (Pete) Ellis, a visionary strategist, captivated students and faculty at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., by predicting a coming maritime war with imperial Japan. Ellis spoke of the urgent need for the U.S. to develop the ways and means of waging a far-flung amphibious campaign across the Pacific. He envisioned a systematic island-hopping campaign across the Central Pacific that would demand a fleet capable of seizing local command of the sea, air and subsurface in order to project well-trained assault forces ashore under fire by special reef-crossing craft. Ellis deemed the designation and training of amphibious storm troops as the Marines most critical need. It is not enough that the troops be skilled infantry men, he wrote. They must also be skilled water men and jungle men who know it can be doneMarines with Marine training.

Maj. Gen. John A. Lejeune carried the torch for an amphibiously capable Corps throughout his tenure as commandant in the 1920s, but it was tough going. Most Marine forces were committed to colonial infantry missions in the Caribbean, the Navy expressed little interest, and the occasional landing exercises only revealed the enormous gap between desire and capability. When Lejeune retired in 1929, the nation still lacked a doctrine for offensive amphibious operations and a trained and equipped landing force.

Two threats arising in the early 1930s finally galvanized the Corps into adopting amphibious warfare as its primary mission: Japans invasion of Manchuria in 1931 revived the likelihood of an island war in the Pacific that Pete Ellis had predicted 15 years earlier. Closer to home, Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur sought to fold the Marine Corps into the Army. To fend off that threat, and neutralize Army claims that based on their role in World War I the Marines had become a redundant second Army, Major General Commandant Ben H. Fuller took measures to prepare the Corps for a global maritime war. Lacking sufficient headquarters staff to formulate a new naval assault mission, Fuller turned to the Marine Corps Schools at Quantico. In November 1933, Fuller suspended all courses at the schools and ordered their commandant, Brig. Gen. James C. Breckenridge, to launch an immediate study of the Marines potential role in offensive amphibious operations.

Fullers timing proved fortuitous. Newly inaugurated President Franklin D. Roosevelt had just ended decades of Marine Corps occupation duty in Haiti, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic, bringing thousands of Marines home. Many of these junior and middle-grade officers, now attending Marine Corps Schools, were disenchanted with expeditionary campaigns and eager to assume a more meaningful mission. The Navy had begun to express greater interest in amphibious warfare. A month later Fullers gifted assistant commandant, Maj. Gen. John H. Russell Jr., singlehandedly created the Fleet Marine Force, a designated, combined-arms landing force that would come to be called the Navy-Marine Team. So, effective December 1933, there would be a designated landing force on hand to test the new doctrine then under feverish development in the redbrick buildings along the Potomac River at Quantico.

Fuller, Russell and Breckenridge realized that Congress would not authorize funds for amphibious ships or landing craft until someone could overturn the widespread belief that Gallipoli had rendered assaults from the sea an obsolete concept. Breckenridge directed the staff and students to undertake a fresh analysis of the Gallipoli landing, detailing what went wrong and why, and whether it could have been done better. Breckenridge brought aboard as his chief of staff Colonel Ellis Bell Miller, a tightly organized officer, long on intellect, short on patience. Many junior officers would contribute to the workespecially Major Charles Barrett and Navy Lieutenant Walter Ansel but Miller was the driving force behind the groundbreaking Gallipoli study and the new landing operations manual.

The study of Gallipoli generated tough questions: Was an assault landing against a defended shore indeed still feasible? Who should exercise overall command the naval assault force commander or the landing force commander? Could unity of command be maintained in passing control from naval to ground commanders? Who should have ultimate authority on assigning objectives, selecting landing beaches and choosing the date and time of the assault? What special intelligence requirements are unique to amphibious warfare? Could naval gunfire and carrier aviation safely and effectively support the landing force? Can speedy, shallow-draft landing boats be developed that could land and extract in a breaking surf? How best to clear enemy mines and beach obstacles under fire? How could the assault force land tanks, artillery, antiaircraft guns under fire over an unimproved beach? Could transports be loaded to match the anticipated priorities of maneuver ashore? What types of cargo-handling units would be needed to maintain momentum and keep the beachhead unclogged?

Along with the visionary thinkers, the Quantico staff included practical men who had experienced the disorder of the 1914 Veracruz landing or had braved the Nov. 10, 1918, crossing of the Meuse River on a patchwork causeway under heavy fire. Colonel Miller drew on their hard-learned lessons in reaching the studys conclusions. In essence, the study found that Gallipoli could have been successfully assailed from the sea, had the Allies followed certain tactical and logistical principlessome time-honored and others unique to joint seaborne-assault operations. The Marines concluded that these principles and precautions, formulated into doctrine and tested in training, could dramatically improve the prospects for successful assault landings against strongly fortified enemy shore defenses. The study acknowledged that improved doctrine could not stand alone, that without parallel improvements in organization, material development and training, any assault against Gallipoli-type defenses would remain hazardous. And, of course, the nations near total lack of special assault transports and landing craft in the preWorld War II years was an obvious liability.

Having reverse engineered Gallipoli, Miller directed the incorporation of the resulting concepts, principles and procedures into a detailed field handbook. He organized it into seven primary components: command relations, naval gunfire, air support, ship-to-shore movement, securing the beachhead, logistics and coordination. Although Millers study group could neither anticipate nor solve all of the problems, they continued to focus intensely on the development of a coherent amphibious warfare doctrine, and by the spring of 1935, 18 months after Fuller cancelled classes, the schools published their pioneering, comprehensive, 300- page doctrine with the unassuming name, Tentative Landing Operations Manual.

The chief of Naval Operations, alerted to the manuals unusual range and depth, signed his approval within weeks. In 1938 the Navy published Fleet Training Publication 167, Landing Operations Doctrine, which superseded the draft manual and incorporated much of its contents. The Army followed in 1941 with Field Manual 31-5, Landing Operations on Hostile Shores. The three manuals varied little. A few years later the remarkable joint doctrine received its validation by fire on the beaches of World War II, and the essential elements of the Tentative Manual remain valid to this day.

At the heart of the doctrine was its assertive offensive spirit. The ship-to-shore movement would be a tactical assault against a defended objective and supported by the full firepower of the fleet, not a ferrying operation against some backwater coast. The naval and aerial bombardments would only shift inland when the first-wave boats approached the beach, whereupon troops would fix bayonets and pour ashore with utmost speed and dash. While stressing unity of command, the manual encouraged joint and concurrent planning by both naval and ground staffs through all stages of an amphibious campaign. The manual specified the essential intelligence requirements, including enemy mines and obstacles, reefs, tides, surf conditions, beach trafficability and beach exits. The manual was the first document to recognize the enormous role of logistics in amphibious operations and to specify detailed combat loading for each ship to support the tactical scheme of maneuver ashore. The manual also addressed the need for naval beach-master units to bring order out of chaos, as well as shore party outfits to manhandle bulk cargo off the beach to inland dumps. The entire thrust of the manual was to maintain the momentum of the assault.

The manual would prove a major contribution to naval warfare. It had no single author, although its lineage would certainly include Pete Ellis, John Lejeune, John Russell, James Breckenridge and the relentless Ellis Bell Miller. Following World War II, Princeton University historians James Isely and Jeter Crowl, in their book, The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War: Its Theory and Practice in the Pacific, praised the pioneers who realized the possibilities of amphibious warfare, took hold of a neglected and discredited theory, and reduced it to a practical science.

Material development for amphibious warfare, however, lagged far behind the new doctrine for years. Fleet landing exercises in the 1930s revealed inadequate ships, craft and special equipment. Amphibious proficiency could not be attained until the Navy Department acquired large numbers of troop transports, landing ships, tank lighters and assault boats, a process given low priority during the prewar years. The nation had embarked on an urgent shipbuilding program, and combat ships, aircraft and submarines took precedence over auxiliaries. Consequently, fleet landing exercises continued to resemble those of the Spanish-American War, with landing forces squeezing into small boats towed toward shore by tugboats, with artillery pieces requiring a nearby non-hostile portall of it far short of matching the visionary new doctrine, and far short of what would soon be needed in the global war against Japan and Germany. U.S. amphibious forces desperately needed specialized landing ships for delivering heavy weapons, like the later workhorse LSTs and LSDs (Landing Ships, Dock), and as late as 1940 the Navy had no landing craft suitable for beach assault or crossing a coral reef.

Frustrated, the Marines first bypassed the hidebound Bureau of Ships to acquire an agile riverboat, the Eureka, manufactured by Andrew Jackson Higgins of New Orleans. Higgins agreed to militarize his craft with an armored bow ramp, thus producing the storied Higgins boat. When a pictorial story in the Oct. 4, 1937, issue of Life featured Florida-based inventor Donald Roeblings full-tracked Alligator, designed to rescue hurricane victims from the Everglades, the Marines saw the potential for a reef-crossing landing vehicle that could also negotiate marginal terrain ashore and offered Roebling a contract for what later became known as an LVT (Landing Vehicle, Tracked) or amtrac.

The United States was thus unprepared for the war it entered in December 1941. Indeed, the nation was lucky to have valorous allies and its own oceanic moats to keep its enemies at bay during the two years it took to achieve full-bore wartime production. This delayed mobilization forced the armed forces to fight two distinctly different wars against the Axis Powers: The first, from the attack on Pearl Harbor to November 1943, featured desperate measures by outgunned, lightly armed forces, risking surprise landings on the periphery of enemy-held territory, such as Guadalcanal and North Africa.

Americas material unpreparedness showed up clearly during Operation Watchtower, the wars first major offensive amphibious landing, at Guadalcanal on Aug. 7, 1942. None of the 18 amphibious ships available for the invasion had been upgraded in terms of troop capacity and safety or retrofitted with modern landing craft. The few Eureka boats on hand were early prototypes that lacked bow ramps, so every embarked Marine had to roll over the gunwales into the shallows. And while the Marines did possess the first 100 of Roeblings Alligators, they had not yet learned to adapt them as beach assault vehicles, using them instead for logistical support roles. It helped that the U.S. amphibious task force achieved strategic surprise at Guadalcanal, resulting in an initially unopposed landing.

Two years into the war, following the landings at Sicily and Bougainville in 1943, the U.S. finally attained the full industrial productivity necessary for largescale amphibious landings against heavily defended objectives. Part two of the developing amphibious strategy ensuedan unremitting global offensive campaign against Germany, Italy and Japan that would reach its most effective form in the landings that overwhelmed Normandy, Luzon, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

In September 1943, the Fifth Army, a joint U.S.-British force, landed near Salerno, Italy, against strong German defenses that included mines, 88mm high-velocity cannons, tanks and railroad guns. Just getting ashore came at a price, and defending the beachhead against German counterattacks led to one of the most savage battles in the Mediterranean Theater, but the landing succeeded.

The November 2023 Battle of Tarawa marked first full-scale U.S. assault from the sea of a heavily defended islandanother trial by fire of the new invasion doctrine. Victory at Tarawa was by no means assured; at one point on D-Day the amphibious force reported, Issue in doubt, a warning that remained in effect until the afternoon of the second day. Rear Adm. Keiji Shibasaki, the Japanese commander, had fortified the small island of Betio with 500 bunkers and pillboxes, and dozens of large-caliber coastal defense guns. He expected the islands coral reef to provide an additional barrier. The Marines knew of the reef and had adapted their LVT Alligators to serve as assault vehicles. The expedient worked. All three assault waves trundled across the exposed reef on D-Day, but there werent enough LVTs available, and a rare and persistent apogean neap tide blocked reinforcing elements in Higgins boats from entering the lagoon. Consequently, thousands of Marines waded ashore under heavy fire and then engaged the Japanese in savage fighting. The Japanese fought virtually to the last man. When the battle ended after 76 hours, some 6,000 men (more than 1,000 Marines and nearly 5,000 Japanese) lay dead in the sand or floating in the lagoon.

The U.S. amphibious force made many tactical and technical mistakes at Tarawa. The three-hour preliminary naval bombardment proved ineffective. Instead of saturating the island with high-angle, high explosive shells, the fleet fired flat-trajectory, armor-piercing rounds that skittered off the low island. Effectiveness improved swiftly once fire-control teams got ashore and began adjusting fire by radio: One team reported troops in the open near the Japanese command post, and two nearby destroyers delivered airbursts over the target, killing Shibasaki and most of his staffa major turning point in the battle.

Tarawa marked the first appearance in Pacific combat of the new dock landing ship. USS Ashland (LSD-1) launched her pre-boated Sherman tanks just after H-hour, the Higgins lighters debarking the tanks directly onto the exposed reef. Not all the tanks survived the lagoon crossing, but those that did provided another turning point.

The U.S. Pacific Fleet adapted swiftly to the grim lessons as it continued its westward drive across the Central Pacific. Six weeks after Tarawa the fleet swept through the Marshall Islands armed with a more effective naval bombardment plan, more LSTs and LSDs, the theaters first Underwater Demolition Teams (precursors to the Navy SEALs), and hundreds more of the new and up-gunned versions of the LVT Alligator. More improvements emerged from the hard-fought amphibious campaigns in the Marianas, Peleliu, the Philippines, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. Compared to Tarawas three-hour preliminary bombardment, for instance, Navy guns softened up Guam for 13 days. One hundred twenty-five troop-carrying Alligators crossed the reef at Tarawa; 700 were launched at Saipan and 1,300 at Okinawa. It took all day to land 5,000 troops on Tarawa; the V Amphibious Corps landed 30,000 Marines at Iwo Jima by noon. The intricate choreography of tactical and logistical support took years to master, but the end result was a series of storm landings (as the Japanese described them) that proved as irresistible as a tsunami.

More significant, despite Tarawas high cost, tactical blunders and hydrographic frustrations, the battle validated the 1930s prophetic doctrine of offensive amphibious assault: A well-armed, well-trained landing force could in fact be successfully launched from the sea against a strongly fortified coastline.

The seizure of Tarawa carried significant implications for the men already planning Operation Overlord, the Allied cross-channel assault on Fortress Europe at Normandy. That momentous D-Day June 6, 1944would herald the most dramatic landing in history, a sea assault unrivaled in scope and ingenuity and a masterpiece of deception, surprise and maneuver. Adolf Hitler was incredulous that the Allies could land where they did under the weather conditions that stormy June morning. He was further confounded that the Allies were able to land a million men and tens of thousands of combat vehicles on Normandys unimproved beaches. Overlords roots stemmed from Aboukir Bay, Gallipoli and Tarawa. Its progeny would include Okinawa, Inchon, Operations Starlite and Bold Mariner in Vietnam, the British recapture of the Falklands, and the amphibious force-in-being that threatened Saddam Husseins seaborne flank during the 1991 Gulf War.

For further reading, Colonel Joseph H. Alexander recommends: The U.S. Marines and Amphibious War: Its Theory and Practice in the Pacific, by Jeter A. Isely and Philip A. Crowl, and At the Waters Edge: Defending Against the Modern Amphibious Assault, by Theodore L. Gatchel.

Originally published in the October 2008 issue of Military History. To subscribe, click here.
I t used to be easy to define Ulysses S. Grant. He was a heavy drinker who won the Civil War by slinging vast numbers of hapless Union soldiers at the outnumbered Confederacy. But that definition has become more complex. The generals reputation has been trending upward as recent historians strive to replace the powerful stereotype of the top Union general and two-term president as a butcher commander and failed chief executive. Their collective work has provided a measured and often more appreciative evaluation of the soldier-statesmans event-filled life and vital legacy.

More success has been notched in reevaluating Grants military reputation than with his troubled presidential tenure. That too, may be changing. The arrival of Ron Chernows Grant and Charles Calhouns The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant are brilliant entries to the list of revisionist literature; both deserve a wide readership. The icing on the cake is the publication of the complete annotated edition of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, edited by John F. Marszalek with David S. Nolen and Louie P. Gallo.

Best-selling biographer Ron Chernow begins Grant with Walt Whitmans famous assessment that includes the lines, What a man he is! What a history! Chernow proceeds to deliver a dense and riveting saga fully validating the poets declaration. Divided into four parts with a total of 43 chapters, Grant covers the Ohio-born and -bred Ulysses origins, education and hardscrabble period, his rapid ascent to fame and success as the Unions top general, his turbulent and influential political career, and his post-presidential years. Chernow threads the narrative with an astute psychological analysis of the man whose private wellsprings remained a mystery. Grants relationships with a judgmental father, an undemonstrative mother, and a blowhard father-in-law are examined, yielding rich insights into his experiences with public and private humiliations that wounded him but also added to his strong character. He thrived in a long and happy marriage and was a loving father to four children.

Two recurring themes stand out in the book in regard to Grants struggles: his alcoholism and his peculiarly naive and trusting nature. Both tarnished his reputation. Chernow unearths every story (true or false) of Grants battles with the bottle. He insists the reader understand that Grants rare benders were often preceded by bouts of loneliness, boredom, or pain. It seems that Julia Grants presence was the surest guarantee of sobriety and few, if any, lapses were committed during and after his presidency. He judges that all available evidence suggests Grant had abstained from alcohol and largely vanquished the problem though sheer willpower and perseveranceIt was one of the supreme triumphs of a life loaded with major accomplishments.

Grants resolute nature featured perseverance, intelligence, and the patience to pursue victory in the face of innumerable setbacks. This is made manifest in Grants willingness to wage war with a remorseless ferocity in the cause of saving the Union, and at the same time demonstrate magnanimity toward the enemy, most famously at Appomattox. While not ignoring serious mistakes, Chernow renders Grants military career in the Western and Eastern theaters in refreshingly accessible prose, explaining how this unassuming man delivered the kind of decisive, smashing, aggressive victories at Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, and in Virginia that made him a hero in the eyes of his countrymen and brought him to a position of unrivaled power. Grant was the strategic genius produced by the Civil War, Chernow proclaims.

Hailed in the postwar North, Grants vast popularity and serene confidence, magnified after President Lincolns death, propelled him into another level of power and fame. His position as general-in-chief plunged him into the struggles between President Andrew Johnson and the Republican Congress. Grant learned to master the politics of military leadership, but by 1868 he feared that politicians would fritter away the hard-won fruits of Union victory, accepting the Republican nomination with his campaign slogan, Let Us Have Peace. The youngest president yet to be elected, the 46-year-old silent general won his first term with 53% of the popular vote; in 1872 he swept the Democratic ticket with a huge mandate from the electorate. He remained personally popular during his eight years in the White House; his ardent desire to escape Washington City trumped all considerations of a third term.

Chernows narrative encompasses serious misjudgments, such as Grants stubborn loyalty to his corrupt aide Orville E. Babcock in the Whiskey Ring scandal that engulfed his second term. Personally incorruptible, Grants trusting nature disinclined him to take action against shady dealings until too late. Notably, Chernow hails the 18th president as an early champion for black civil rights.

Among many other courageous actions, he proudly signed off on the 15th Amendment, broke the spine of the KKK, and tried repeatedly to stop the violent chaos that attended black voting in the South.



Grant also signed meaningful social rights legislation like the Ku Klux Force Bill that allowed federal resources to help suppress the Klan and uphold African American voting rights. (Library of Congress/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Although he lost the battle for a racially enlightened Reconstruction, Chernow writes, Grant deserves an honored place in American history, second only to Lincoln, for what he did for the freed slaves.

Grants final weeks in office were spent ensuring national authority in the disputed election of 1876, no small achievement. Grants financial ruin late in life coincided with his fatal contraction of throat cancer. He rallied to write his memoirs, and in doing so, produced a classic history of the war, ensuring an already indispensable place in U.S. History.

Ron Chernows Grant is a masterpiece of the art of biography and will be the standard for some time to come.

Charles C. Calhouns The Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant is the only comprehensive study of the Grant administration to be published since the 1930s. Calhoun, a distinguished political historian, was determined to rectify this gap, remarking wryly that, most historical writing magnified its blemishes and slighted its achievements. To a surprising degree, the hostile charges against Grant levied by his fiercest contemporary critics were embraced and embellished by most 20th-century historians. Here, John Russell Youngs quote is worth repeating: Calumny has fallen upon the memory of Grant with Pompeiian fury, he claimed, so that to tell the truth about him, sounds like unreasoning adulation.

Calhouns task is to convince the skeptics, and his meticulously researched book offers a thorough and judicious reassessment of President Grants eight years in office. The enormity of Grants undertaking in 1868 still astonishes. Buffeted by civil war, assassination, a $2 billion war debt, Johnsons impeachment, and constant turmoil over the Southern question, voters elected General Grant to clean up the disastrous mess created by the nations political class. A majority of Northern Americans couldnt have cared less about Grants early fumbling with Cabinet selection, or his friendship with wealthy supporters, or his supposed lack of cultural polish that so outraged professional politicians. Rather, they approved of his first-term achievements in securing financial reform, encouraging a surging economy, promoting humane changes in Indian policy, stabilizing Reconstruction policy, and notching foreign policy triumphs.

These accomplishments were aided by the wise guidance of Cabinet members such as Hamilton Fish, George S. Boutwell, and Amos Ackerman. Reelected by a landslide in 1872, Grants second term was marred in 1873 by a severe economic depression, followed by the exposure of corruption in his Cabinet, and Northern white exhaustion with Reconstruction.

The unfolding chapters depict a military hero who became a skilled politician. He lobbied for his agenda, twisted arms, wielded patronage, promoted policies, and shrewdly enlisted supporters in Congress. He did so because he believed the Republican Party was the only national institution that could preserve the wars goals of union and emancipation. He did so in an atmosphere of vicious, sustained, and shocking attacks by members of his own party led by an unhinged Charles Sumner. Emboldened Democrats launched numerous politically motivated investigations with the goal of destroying the administration.

The firestorm of political venom and visceral hatred directed toward Grant and documented by Calhoun provides shocking reading, and renders his judgment important: Taken together, Grants eight years produced a record of considerable energy and success, tempered at times by frustration and blighted expectations. Charles Calhouns mastery of the inner workings of politics is combined with the unmatched depth of his research. As a result, this important book is not only full of original insights into Grants presidency, but also for that of the eras larger political culture.

Finally, the best place to start a study of Grant can be found in the annotated edition of The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant, edited by John F. Marszalek with David S. Nolen and Louie P. Gallo. Although one might quibble with the editors decision not to include maps, the superb annotations make this edition indispensable. Grants beautiful narrative of the war is a pleasure to read. While imbued with the spirit of reconciliation between the sections, he also expresses his belief that the Norths cause is the morally superior one. Ulysses S. Grant was the general who saved the Union and the steadfast president who made sure it stayed together. He is surely deserving of a renewed appreciation from the current generation.

A history professor at UCLA, Joan Waugh is the author of U.S. Grant: American Hero, American Myth (University of North Carolina Press, 2009).
The legendary Canadian house producer is making a long-awaited return to Belfast.

One of the most powerful figures in dance music, Deadmau5 will be making his long overdue return to Belfast this November to play at The Telegraph Building, a pop-up warehouse events space that once housed the printing presses for the Belfast Telegraph newspaper.

November 13 is the date set for deadmau5's retun. in the city since 2012s sold out headline gig at The Kings Hall.

The last time Deadmau5 played - all the way back in 2012, at a sold out headliner at King's Hall - this beauty was just released. (Tickets on sale Fri 1st June 9am 27.50+bf from shine.net & Ticketmaster).
WATCH: Our director, Sarah Glennie introduces the NCAD 2018 Season of Exhibitions, running from 11 May to 5 July. First up is our First Year Exhibition, which opens tomorrow. Keep an eye out as we share details of our graduates' work over the next weeks. #NCAD2018 pic.twitter.com/1l0kaZjjo1

 NCAD (@NCAD_Dublin) May 10, 2018

NCAD are delighted to announce the winner of the 2018 @brownthomas Designer to Watch bursary, Ala Sinkevich. Ala will receive a 4,000 bursary, an installation at CREATE in Brown Thomas, and mentoring. #NCADFashion #NCAD2018 @WestburyDublin pic.twitter.com/SRx9F79gDr
Reigniting Our Love Of AM Radio

Once an integral part of the nighttime listening experience, AM radio has since fallen out of favor somewhat, as with many traditional forms of media consumption. The medium is far from dead however, and in this piece, Fred Jacobs explores a plan to rekindle our love of AM Radio.

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Guest post by Fred Jacobs of Jacobs Media

I know I may sound like a relic from another era, but chances are if youre a Baby Boomer (or gasp  even older), you were inspired by AM radio as a kid growing up whether it was in a big city or a small town. If youre a member of a younger generation, you may not even know that AM  or amplitude modulation  has a magic power. At night when the clouds are just right, AM signals have the ability to skip across geography, unlike frequency modulation (FM) which is line of sight. Clear channel stations had an even easier time being heard beyond their metro confines  often covering many states during the nighttime hours.

Many of us radio veterans remember those nights, lying in bed, where your trusty bedside AM clock radio pulled in signals from all over the U.S. As a boy in Detroit and not especially well-traveled, I learned how to pronounced Des Plaines (Des-planes) and Touhy (2E) by listening to Chicago radio stations like WBBM and WLS. Tuning in KYW in Philly (which came in like it was next door), I learned how to spell the quirky town of Conshohocken from listening to Phillips Ford commercials. It was from a jingle that got in your head (CON-SHO-HO-CKEN). At least, it got in mine.

It didnt matter if you lived in Dallas or Des Moines, or a small town in Delaware  you were able to pick up big AM radio stations from faraway. And if you talk to todays broadcasters on the other side of 50, many will tell you their careers were likely inspired by these booming, exciting blowtorches on AM radio that provided a soundtrack for our teens.

AM radio was where we first heard the Beatles, the Supremes, the Stones, Stevie Wonder, and even the Doors. Big AM Top 40 stations of the day  KHJ, WABC, CKLW, WLS  played all these cool rock songs, right next to Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass, Elvis, Bobby Boris Pickett, and the Singing Nun. And even though the fidelity of amplitude modulation is obviously technically inferior to that of FM, there was something very different and even romantic about hearing all those songs first on AM radio. All the big recording studios used AM radio-sounding speakers as they worked on their final mixes, knowing thats where the music would first be exposed. They may have sounded cleaner years later on FM, but they sounded bigger on AM.

So, when Steve Goldstein posted a Wall Street Journal story the other day  Why Nighttime Is The Right TIme For The Great American Road Trip by Dan Neil  it sparked a reaction from lots of old radio guys on Facebook. One after another chimed in with call letters, personalities, and faraway cities that charmed them over AM radio during the evening hours decades ago.

But alas, theres nothing very romantic about AM radio these days. While broadcasters did their best to salvage these facilities, mostly by switching to spoken word formats, there are fewer and fewer AM stations still thriving. And unlike those good old days where many AM stations were in hot pursuit of one another, there are just a handful still operating at meaningful competitive levels. Even the great stations feel a lot like high-end department stores anchoring malls on the poor side of town.

And so in this years Techsurvey, our new research director, Jason Hollins, came up with a fascinating idea to gain a better understanding of AM radios continued relevance. Over the years, weve identified new car buyers (or those in the market for a new vehicle). We then give them a list of in-car media features, and ask them to tell us which are most important to them.

Weve always expressed broadcast radio as AM/FM. And it has always ended up at the top of drivers wish lists  ahead of connectivity features like Bluetooth, Wi-FI, and Apple CarPlay. Its not just our radio-centric Techsurvey that shows broadcast radio ranking above newer features  everyones research reinforces its value at these high levels.

So, in our new Techsurvey 2018, we separated AM and FM radio for this question. And the results are perhaps predictable:

The chart tells the tale of these two broadcast radio platforms. On its own, FM hangs in well, deemed to be very important for eight of every ten respondents looking to purchase or lease a new car. AM, on the other hand, is mentioned by fewer than four in ten as a must-have feature, behind the CD player.

A solution for the AM radio problem? Its a tough one, or it would have been solved years ago.

It turns out The Verge wrote a feature story about AMs dilemma back in 2014  Can we save AM radio? by Trent Wolbe. Its sub-heading  Keeping amplitude modulation out of the dustbin of history  is ominous and speaks to the precarious position of the platform nearly 5 years ago. Todays AMs health is even more tenuous.

The story charts then-FCC commissioner Ajit Pais efforts to save AM radio, and concludes with the hope that perhaps todays AM radio stations could become what those early FMs once were  sandboxes used by pioneers, swashbucklers, and even wild-eyed entrepreneurs to try something very unradio-like.

In some ways, AMs pathway may resemble that of my hometown of Detroit. A once-proud city that fell on the hardest of times is now on the comeback trail as young innovators flock to the city. Most find the environment agile, inexpensive, and inspirational. Like AM radio, Detroit has a rich history, having once played an important role in millions of lives. But that was a long time ago.

A palpable spirit of innovation pervades the Motor City these days  an attitude that would suit AM radio operators, whether they chose to experiment with their own properties, hire inventors to try new concepts, or lease their airwaves to wild-eyed devil-may-care artists looking for a palate on the airwaves.

Now the cynics among you may be thinking, Isnt it possible to do this on the Internet? Or on H2s? Why would anyone bother experimenting with AM radio at this point in time?

Ill let Verge writer Wolbe answer that question:

The AM band may eventually return to the Wild West feel that it had when it was first deployed in the early 1900s: a low-rent haven that artists and other cultural opportunists will inhabit and reinvent for their own devices. Imagine an instant, global communications medium free of regulation: it sounds a lot like the internet used to be. Is it even fathomable that a 12 year-old in 2018 would lay in bed at night tuning in an AM clock radio? It may sound far-fetched, but remember its largely Millennials buying those antennas to pull in local televisions stations without having to buy cable TV. Theres nothing hi-tech about that. They even have a cool acronym  OTA  over the air. Now that sounds a bit romantic. Fred Jacobs founded Jacobs Media in 1983, and quickly became known for the creation of the Classic Rock radio format. Jacobs Media has consistently walked the walk in the digital space, providing insights and guidance through its well-read national Techsurveys. In 2008, jacapps was launched  a mobile apps company that has designed and built more than 1,000 apps for both the Apple and Android platforms. In 2013, the DASH Conference was created  a mashup of radio and automotive, designed to foster better understanding of the "connected car" and its impact. Along with providing the creative and intellectual direction for the company, Fred consults many of Jacobs Media's commercial and public radio clients, in addition to media brands looking to thrive in the rapidly changing tech environment.

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A conceptual design of the new south portion of Linear Park. The area where a new playground and open space will be created at Linear Park. PreviousNext

Williamstown Group Fund-Raising to Renovate Park, Playground



Dead trees are removed at Linear Park in Williamstown last week. WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  The potential loss of a popular playground has become an opportunity to rehabilitate the south end of the town's Linear Park thanks to the work of a trio of volunteers and one anonymous donor.

Now those volunteers are revving up a fund-raising campaign to help maximize the park's potential and ensure recreational opportunities for youngsters for years to come.

Last year, a safety inspection at the park turned up deficiencies in its outdated and aging play equipment, forcing the town to decide to remove the play structures.

Rather than leave a vacant play area  actually part of a single park that continues across Main Street and north to near the Hoosic River  Rita Coppola-Wallace, Amy Jeschawitz and Julie Sniezek worked with the town to see how that portion of Linear Park could be reimagined.

This spring, thanks to the generosity of Pittsfield's J H Maxymillian Inc., the town-owned park has been regraded and the parking area has been moved closer to the Water Street entrance and away from the play area.

And this summer, a $50,000 anonymous donation will fund the addition of a new state-of-the-art "fall zone" and new play equipment, Jeschawitz said last week.

"[After the inspection last fall], we were going to lose the playground, which gets a lot more use than what people may think," Jeschawitz said. "It gets use from young families, the [Williamstown Community] Preschool, people who live and work in the area can go over and have their lunch. The [Green] River is right there.

"There was a push to see what could be done."

And that effort got a major push from the unnamed donor who kicked off the fund-raising effort.

Soon, the Friends of Linear Park will be reaching out to the community through a direct mail campaign to seek donations with a goal of matching the $50,000.

"Playgrounds are different than when you and I went to school," Jeschawitz said. "The codes have changed. The safety regulations are stricter. It runs from a see-saw costing $2,000 to the fall zone, just to put that in, is like $30,000."

The organizers also envision a small pavilion at the south end of the playground to give caregivers a spot to sit and watch children play and to provide shelter from passing showers.

"We're looking to still keep this park filled with individual pieces of equipment," Jeschawitz said. "We don't want to do the big, one-piece thing. Individual pieces are less expensive, and the elementary school has the big one-piece thing. Broad Brook [Park] has the big, one-piece thing. It's nicer to have something different at this park."

The play area, which will be slightly elevated from the new parking area, will include both the fall zone and playground equipment and a large field for free play. The whole area of Linear Park included in the project is about 3.5 acres, according to Town Manager Jason Hoch.

Jeschawitz said organizers hope to have the park seeded and some playground equipment in place by the end of the summer. They anticipate it will be a phased approach as money is raised to buy additional equipment and the biggest item on their wish list, the pavilion, has an estimated cost of about $20,000.

"We'd love to complete the whole thing this year, but we will get some of the equipment in this summer," she said. "How much equipment goes in really depends on how much, donation-wise, we can do.

"Any amount for a donation is fine, whether it's $5 or $100. But if there are people out there who want to select and donate a specific piece of equipment or if someone wants to donate the pavilion, we'll name it after them."

Donations to the park's renovation can be sent to: Friends of Linear Park, c/o Community Chest, PO Box 204, Williamstown, MA 01267. Make checks payable to "Friends of Linear Park." Donations are tax deductible.
Educators from around North County gather at Williams College's Faculty House on Tuesday morning for the annual Olmsted Awards breakfast. Williams College's interim President Tiku Majumder addresses Tuesday morning's breakfast. Adams-Cheshire Superintendent Robert Putnam tells how the grant helped the school district's Lead the Way program. BArT Principal April West says the Olmsted grant the school received was used toward developing a science fair program and cultural competency training for faculty. Lanesborough Elementary teacher Anna Mello explains how their school's grant was used toward faculty team building. McCann Tech's grant allowed several teachers to attend a conference on technology in the classroom. Teacher Erin Mucci says they are now sharing what they learned with colleagues. Mount Greylock Regional School teacher Dan Louis explains how that school's grant helped create a robotics club for all six grades. North Adams Public School's literacy coordinator Kimberlee Chappell tells the gathering about the school district's new language arts program funded through the grant. Williamstown Elementary's Tom Welch, teacher and technology director, says last year's grant went toward a Chromebooks program and this year's will be used for emotional learning workshops for students and parents. PreviousNext

Elementary, Secondary Teachers Highlighted at Williams College's Olmsted Breakfast

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.  As a Harvard Ph.D. in atomic physics, a fellow in the American Physical Society and, currently, interim president of arguably the nation's top liberal arts college, Tiku Majumder has accomplished a lot.

But at some level, he is still trying to satisfy his high school English teacher.

"For me, as totally a math/science kid from fairly early on, admittedly, surprisingly the teacher I think about more than any other is my high school English teacher," Majumder said Tuesday morning at the annual William College breakfast honoring recipients of the college's Olmsted Awards for Faculty and Curricular Development. "Mrs. Soffer taught me both junior and senior year AP English at Northampton High School.

"Hers were the hardest classes by far and, more important, offered the biggest intellectual challenge I've ever faced. I worked really, really hard for her, and, as I recall, she never gave me an A. I don't know why, but that sticks in my mind.  She always had positive things to say but also lots of constructive comments about how things could be better.

"She met with every student to talk about their work, their high school experience, how life was going, their aspirations for life after high school. I didn't take much English after this  but I still feel today that my writing, my literacy and, indeed, my analytical skills benefit more from her than anyone I can point to. I have to say, when I read or hear the phrase, 'from whence,' or 'irregardless,' I still see Mrs. Soffer frown."

It was all smiles on Tuesday at the college's Faculty Club, where seven North County public schools were recognized for their past and future use of $5,000 annual grants that the college initiated in 1993.

Faculty members, administrators and school committee members from the Adams-Cheshire Regional School District, Berkshire Arts and Technology Public Charter School, Lanesborough Elementary School, McCann Technical School, Mount Greylock Regional School, North Adams Public Schools and Williamstown Elementary School gathered to share initiatives at their schools that have been supported by the grants.

Programs range from implementing new curricula in the classroom to co-curricular activities to offering professional development opportunities for teachers and staff.

At Hoosac Valley Middle School, the Olmsted grant is funding the implementation of Project Lead the Way, which promotes hands-on, student-centered instruction in the STEM [science technology, engineering and math] curriculum.

"We've been trying to reorganize ourselves in a way that changes the way we do business," Adams-Cheshire Superintendent Robert Putnam said. "This Olmsted grant is something that will help accomplish that.

"Project Lead the Way was chosen by Mass STEM Hub as a premiere STEM curriculum and professional development provider.  This is all part of preparing students for our biomedical science program, which is going to be focused in Grades 9 through 12."

In North Adams, last year's grant helped research and adopt a new English language arts program at the elementary school level, explained Kimberlee Chappell, the district's literacy coordinator.

At BArT, last year's grant helped the science team collaborate on a guide to creating science fair projects that students can use to help make it a more enriching exercise, Principal April West said. The Adams school also used Olmsted funds to support a professional development program in cultural competency for staff.

"At present, about a quarter of our students are students of color, which, for Berkshire County, is rather diverse," West said. "We've been having increased student diversity over the last five to seven years, and in an era of Black Lives Matter, [cultural competency] has gained greater importance."

McCann Tech science teacher Erin Mucci talked about the benefits of being able to send herself and other faculty to the International Society for Technology in Education conference in Texas, a trip funded by the Olmsted grant. Mucci said the conference attendees came back with knowledge about implementing technology in the classroom that they are passing along to McCann Tech colleagues at twice-weekly workshops.

Tom Welch, the technology director at Williamstown Elementary School, said he has seen the benefits of the Olmsted grants since their inception. Most recently, the college's grant has helped WES implement a 1-to-1 Chromebook program in the fourth grade. In the 2018-19 school year, the school plans to use the funds to focus on emotional learning, offering workshops for staff and parents.

At Mount Greylock, the grant has helped foster the middle-high school First Robotics club, allowing students from all six grades to work toward regional competitions in Worcester, Connecticut and New York.

Those competitions not only teach lessons in problem-solving and programming but also foster teamwork, teacher Dan Louis explained.

"That word on the slide, 'Cooperatition,' is not a typo," he said, referring to the neologism that combines competition and cooperation. "You're competing against teams but also working together with them. That's a big part of the skills."

Lanesborough Elementary teachers focused on their cooperative skills in a team-building trip to Ramblewild adventure park before the current academic year, third-grade teacher Anna Mello said.

"It was the best day ever," she said of the experience funded by the Olmsted grant. "It was really fun but also really challenging. Our principal is afraid of heights, and he planned this. He was terrified, and he did the whole thing.

"It was such a great, meaningful experience for all of us. I learned a lot about myself."

On Tuesday, Majumder said, the staff from all the North County public schools had a chance to learn a little about each other  one more benefit from the Olmsted program.

While the area schools benefit from the college's grants, the symbiotic relationship between Williams and the public schools goes deeper, he noted, pointing to the successful program of putting college students in the classroom.

"These students learn so much from you, the professionals in this room, as they volunteer in the schools, learning from your examples and, in many cases, being inspired to pursue their own careers in education," Majumder said.

"It's a program I remember very, very vividly as my kids were at Williamstown Elementary. They loved the Williams students from 15 years ago coming in for a couple of hours and reading or working on math or whatever it was. It was a wonderful thing that I now appreciate was equally wonderful for the elementary students, the Williams students and, hopefully, for the teachers."
Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagicGuns N' Roses' massively successful Not in This Lifetime tour features a reunion of most of the band's Appetite for Destruction-era lineup, although one of the members who hasn't taken part in the trek is rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin. Long considered the group's most reclusive member, Stradlin has issued a statement to The Wall Street Journal regarding why he didn't join his old band mates for the trek.

"The current GnR tour has been a great success for the guys," writes Izzy. "My non-participation was simply not being able to reach a happy middle ground through the negotiation process. That's life, sometimes things don't work out."

This isn't the only comment Stradlin has made about why he hasn't been touring with Guns N' Roses. In September 2016, GN'R frontman Axl Rose suggested during a Brazilian television interview that when the trek was being organized, Izzy was indecisive about taking part. The guitarist responded by posting a now-deleted message on his Twitter feed that read, "B*******. They didn't want to split the loot equally. Simple as that. Moving right along."

The Not in This Lifetime tour marked the official return of guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan to the Guns N' Roses lineup for the first time since the 1990s. Founding GN'R drummer Steven Adler, meanwhile, has made a few guest appearances during the trek, which kicked off in April 2016 and currently is mapped out through late November. The tour currently is the fourth highest-grossing trek of all time, having earned more than $480 million to date.

As previously reported, GN'R will release deluxe reissues of the band's 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction, on June 29.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Hey, fellow Hoosiers! I mean you sitting smug over there oblivious to the rantings of Louis Farrakhan, one of the worst traffickers of anti-Semitic stereotypes in our country. At a Feb. 25 meeting of the Nation of Islam in Chicago, Farrakhan declaimed he was doing the work of Jesus by denouncing the Jews  saying that Jesus called the Jews Children of the Devil.

Farrakhan charged that Ukraine, France, Poland and Germany are controlled by Jews. As an aside, Jews are leaving France en masse as a result of Frances inability to control the steep rise in anti-Semitic violence most often perpetrated by radicalized Muslims. According to Farrakhan, Jews control the agencies of government, including the FBI. He also promoted the pot plot conspiracy that Jews and the U.S. government are manipulating strains of marijuana to feminize Black men.

You may be laughing at these ridiculous character assassinations and thinking not my problem. but you would be mistaken. In his February speech Farrakhan also targeted the majority community with the greatest thing that is happening is a natural death of the white race. Are you surprised? Turn over the rock of anti-Semitism and youll find hatred of all kinds. To the LGBT community he said, Do you think Allah is pleased with you bringing the evils of Sodom and Gomorrah to the entire world?

Farrakhan is a classic bully who never got that requisite punch in the nose. He continues unchecked  encouraged by a hard-core entourage and lack of censorship by leaders who should know better.

After basking in the success of his Million Man March, Farrakhan seemed to be losing his place on the world stage, a minor though not insignificant outlier like the American Nazi Party and the Ku Klux Klan. But today, anti-Semitism on the rise worldwide, he resonates particularly with African-American youth. He has been called perhaps the most popular anti-Semite in America.

It is worrisome that National Womens March leader Tamika Mallory extols Farrakhan and attacks the Anti-Defamation League, which questioned her alliance with the Nation of Islam. She accused the ADL of constantly attacking Black and brown peoples when even a cursory look at the record shows the ADL has defended and protected all Americans over decades. What a shame. One of the goals of the Womens March is to spread inclusivity and equal treatment. Yet Mallory abandoned those principles when it came to Farrakhan.

U.S. Rep. Todd Rokita, although never my favorite U.S. Senate candidate, deserves applause for introducing a resolution condemning Farrakhan for promoting ideas that create animosity and anger toward Jewish Americans and the Jewish religion.

The reaction from African-American community leaders has been tepid. Why? Is it reflectivesupport of another African-American by those who fail to limn the difference between the Muslim faith and the Nation of Islam? Is it animus toward the Jewish community? Is it a failure of courage? Surely no one believes the vile poison spewing from that hateful mouth.

Farrakhan deserves to be censured along with all those who espouse the hate that separates people. Perhaps if he dares bring his circus to Indiana, our leaders and role models will deliver that punch in the nose. We should expect no less.

Maurer is a shareholder in IBJ Corp. To comment on this column, send email to mmaurer@ibj.com.
Bollywood actress Parineeti Chopra was appointed a FoA (Friend of Australia) in September 2017, and she feels the country has best locations for Indian producers to explore for shooting Bollywood movies. (IANS photo)
Kulvinder Singh, an Indian American attorney, is running for Placer County Superior Court Judge in Northern California. The court system is denying people due process, Singh told India-West, noting that many defendants, including those with limited English proficiency who may not understand their case, are rushed through their day in court. (photo provided)
The Israeli Aeronautics group, a manufacturer of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), will attend, along with its Spanish partner Aicox Soluciones, the upcoming summit on UAS for defense and security, UNVEX S&D.

The event, which brings together exhibits, a wide-ranging roundtable program and flight demonstrations, was inaugurated on Tuesday, May 29, at the brand-new congress hall in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon.

Aeronautics, which specializes in the development of solutions for satellite communications (SATCOM), will present its UAS and integral defense solutions. The companys UAS Orbiter fleet has already accumulated hundreds of thousands of flight hours in 52 countries.

Orbiter 3

The Orbiter 3 is a small-sized tactical UAS, with a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) of 50 kilograms (110 pounds). It has been designed for intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (ISTAR) missions. It can carry loads of up to 5 kilograms (11 pounds) and, in its latest version, the system is equipped with a digital data connection. It possesses seven hours of flight autonomy and its operational range is 150 kilometers (93.2 miles).

The manufacturer underscored that this completely autonomous system can be mounted on a vehicle and is capable of performing operations both in static mode and while in motion.

It is adequate for terrestrial and maritime environments, and requires a very small logistics footprint, the company said.

It also has an electric feed system for stealth operations.

At the start of the year, the Spanish Army evaluated the Orbiter 3 within the framework of the Rapaz program of the Defense Ministrys Office of Armament and Material (DGAM).

SATCOM technology

Aeronautics will also showcase at UNVEX S&D its developments in SATCOM technology for UAS in X band (7/8 GHz). The company said it had improved communication between the aircraft and its ground control center, thus achieving a more robust connection, especially in adverse conditions. The system improves the interoperability of battlefield maneuvers, complying with military standards and meeting MIL-STD EMI (military standard electromagnetic interference) standards and environmental standards for Arinc (aeronautical radio).
On Wednesday, May 30, the head of flight security of the Spanish Navys Aircraft Flotilla (FLOAN), LCdr. David Juarez Galan, will moderate a panel focused on the training of operators and crew at the upcoming Unvex Security & Defense drone summit.

Juarez said in an interview with Infodefensa.com that the need for training of both operators and maintenance workers in the use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) was one of the 11th Wings biggest requirements.

Juarez is an RPAS (remotely-piloted aircraft systems) pilot and in 2014 underwent specific training in the use of the Scaneagle system operated by the 11th Wing.

How has the need for UAS operator training grown in the past few years in the Navy?

The need for training is considerable anytime a new unit is created, or new material is incorporated, especially at first. This is due to it being necessary to reach a minimum level that will allow us to operate as a unit in all areas, but above all in three: operator/pilot, maintenance and cargo operator/photo interpretation. Once a sufficient or optimal level has been reached, the training needs will focus on the replacement rate for personnel that, due to the idiosyncrasies of military life, will often change postings.

What else do armies take into account when evaluating their training needs?

Apart from all that, another determining factor when establishing training needs is the level of ambition that the organization, in this case the Navy, decides for the unit, meaning the mission load assigned to it. The truth is that, due to the units short life and the amount of operations it has taken part in since its creation, the need for training of both operators and maintenance specialists continues to be one of the biggest necessities.

What are the main criteria when determining the location of an RPAS unit in Spain?

There are many points to take into account when it comes to necessary infrastructure, but the determining factor is the answer to the question: Where is it possible to fly? The fact that Spanish legislation provides for a segregated airspace for RPAS, and that this airspace needs to be approved by authorities once a feasibility study has been performed, considerably complicates the choice. This is because it is better to be outside the controlled traffic region (CTR) of airports, airways, certain population clusters, etc., and at the same time have areas that are adequate for operations and training. In the Navys case, we took advantage of the airborne targets facilities on the coast, although its true that the Scaneagle allows for it since it doesnt require airstrips for takeoff and landing.

The Scaneagle system can operate both on land as well as on vessels. What are the most significant differences between the two operations?

The biggest difference lies in the systems complexity, since for embarking operations, two directional antennae are required for a 360-degree coverage, which must be gyro-stabilized for proper alignment. You also need commutation modules for antennae and video, a dedicated antenna for the vessels positioning and a gyroscope at the control stations. On the other hand, the onboard launch and recovery operations are more complex since factors such as the ships movement, the relative (apparent) wind velocity on deck and the relation between the latter and the true wind must all be taken into account.
Rear Adm. Antonio Pineiro Sanchez is the adjunct to the Chief of Staff of Spains Operations Command (MOPS).

In an interview with Infodefensa.com, the rear admiral analyzed the use of remotely-piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) in the missions in which Spain takes part and said that the plan was to deploy Thales Fulmar in Iraq next November. He also took stock of the first months the Scaneagle has been deployed with the international coalition training Iraqi troops.

Pineiro will act as moderator of a roundtable on Operational Experience on Thursday, May 31, at the UNVEX S&D drone summit. The panel will include representatives from the Spanish Armys Intelligence Regiment, the Air Forces Airborne Sappers Squadron and the Navys 11th Aircraft Wing.

The Navy has recently deployed the Scaneagle in Iraq. Whats your impression of these first months of deployment?

The use of the Scaneagle is a basic tool when it comes to developing operations and obtaining intelligence. It is being profusely used both to support Spanish special forces and to support international coalition forces, in order to benefit Iraqi operations.

Is there a date for the 11th Wings units return to Spain?

The deployed unit will return in November 2018.

Have you already tested the new systems such as Thales Fulmar of SCRs Atlantic?

We expect to deploy the Fulmar in Iraq next November. The system is currently being tested at the Armys Logistics Support Command (MALOG) before its final delivery to units. The Army is now instructing trained operators for its future use.

At an operational level, how are you preparing for the arrival of a MALE system such as the Reaper?

We expect to integrate these weapons systems in Command and Control as an efficacy multiplicator when it comes to intelligence acquisition and in benefit of the protection of our forces. The Reapers arrival will mean a big boost to the armed forces JISR (Joint Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance) capabilities. In the short term, its implementation is being managed within the Air Force so that it can be integrated for joint use later in time.

In Iraq, Spain has also deployed its first anti-drone systems. How are they functioning?

Iraq was the first area of operations where it was determined that there was a threat stemming from commercial drones. This prompted the deployment of a counter-RPAS (C-RPAS) system at the Gran Capitan base in Besmayah (near Baghdad), which is functioning correctly by warning of possible threats to the deployment area of all our personnel, both in the living areas and in the training camps where a large part of their activities and tasks take place. In addition, portable systems that provide units that move away from the base with anti-drone capabilities. Until now, there has been no need to use them against any real threat.

Apart from Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq and Operation Atalanta (the European Union Naval Forces anti-piracy mission in the Horn of Africa), is the Chief of Defense Staff planning to deploy RPAS in any other missions?

At present, apart from the operations youve mentioned, there are RPAS of the Raven I type deployed in the European Union Training Mission-Mali. In the short term, there have been no further requests made to Spain for the deployment of RPAS in other operations; however, it remains an option that could be needed at any time for any operation. At a domestic level, the armed forces have been using these systems in their wildfire prevention efforts in the regions of Galicia - with the Raven being used in Operation Galician Sentinel _ and Castile and Leon.
The Spanish company Sener, along with its partner General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI), will again be present at the European summit on remotely-piloted aircraft systems, Unvex Security & Defense (Unvex S&D), which will take place in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon between May 29-31.

Both companies will showcase at the fairs exhibition grounds the capabilities of the American manufacturers MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) system, Reaper. This RPAS has been bought by Spains Air Force, which will receive three out of the four aircraft next year.

Sener will provide support to the systems life cycles and produce and give support to components for the Reaper MQ-9/Predator B series, according to the deal reached between both companies.

It is also worth mentioning that during the fair, a Reaper MQ-9 from the French Air Force will fly over Leon while transmitting live footage to the Virgen del Camino airbase.

The Reaper MQ-9 can be operated by remote control both within the pilots field of view and beyond the pilots visual line of sight (BVLOS) through a satellite connection. It can reach a maximum altitude of about 14,000 meters (46,000 feet) and is able to remain airborne for more than 26 consecutive hours. It can reach a speed of 440 kilometers per hour (273 miles per hour) with an external load of 1,700 kilos (3,748 pounds). GA-ASIs Reaper fleet has now surpassed the two-million mark when it comes to total flight hours.

Communications systems

A Sener representative will take part on Tuesday, May 29, in a roundtable discussion on Initiatives with New Technologies, with a talk titled Communications Systems for RPAS.

The company will present the development of its complete latest-generation multi-band data-link system for UAS. This innovation, Sener said, has been made possible thanks to the companys experience in multi-band communications  X and K bands  for special missions, especially in research projects of the European Space Agency (ESA).
The European RPAS summit for security and defense, UNVEX S&D, on Tuesday opened its doors at the new congress hall in the northwestern Spanish city of Leon.

The Spanish Secretary of State for Defense, Agustin Conde, presided over the inauguration along with the mayor of Leon, Antonio Silvan, and the CEO of IDS  the company organizing the event , Angel Macho.

The Spanish government, and, in particular, its Ministry of Defense, has taken the initiative in the unmanned technology sector with its support for this fair.

The citys brand-new congress halls inaugural event will take place over the next three days and has three distinct areas. One is reserved for exhibitors, where the latest developments in RPAS and communications technologies with security and defense applications will be showcased. In that arena, indoor flight demonstrations will also take place using smaller drones.

Representatives from the national and international institutions most relevant to the sector will attend roundtables that are set to take place on May 29, 30 and 31. This includes 57 panelists, 27 of which are representatives of international organizations such as the European Commission (DG GROW, EUMS, ERCC, EDA, EMSA, SESAR) and NATO (ASG, NSPA, AGS, OCCAR o C-IED COE). In addition, military professionals from Spain, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States are also slated to take part in the panels.

As part of the flight demonstrations program, a dozen systems of various sorts will be flown throughout the three days. Attendees will be able to witness the exhibition of three anti-drone systems, as well as a drill by Spains Military Emergencies Unit (UME). All of these activities will take place at the Virgen del Camino airbase and the Conde de Gazola military base.

General Atomics RPAS Reaper is set to be one of the shows highlights. This MALE (Medium Altitude, Long Endurance) system will fly over the fair and transmit live footage that will be shown to attendees on screens located at the Virgen del Camino base.

The demonstrations will also include three multirotor RPAS - two of which are Class I Micro - eight fixed-wing systems - most of which are tactical - and a tethered drone. In addition, Airbus will unveil its drone swarm project. This constitutes the first time that attendees will be able to enjoy three days of high-caliber RPAS demonstrations.

More than 45 companies, between sponsors, collaborators and exhibitors, will take part in UNVEX S&Ds fifth edition. Indra and Thales, two of the main sponsors, will be present at the exhibition, the roundtables and the flight demonstrations.

General Atomics will be sponsoring the Virgen del Camino airbase demonstrations on May 29 along with its Spanish partner, Sener. Other sponsors include Airbus and Aeronautics. Expal, Everis, IAI, Inta, Isdefe and the regional government of Castile and Leon will be collaborating with all of the summits activities.
By Finian Cunningham May 29, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Italy's political turmoil tends to prove the wry old saying that "if voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal". The country is facing a mounting constitutional crisis amid calls for the president to be impeached after he blocked the formation of a new government. The crisis seems to be mainly about a clash over financial policy and a populist challenge to European Union economic austerity, according to to the Financial Times. But lurking too is a concern among the EU establishment in Brussels that a new populist Italian government is proposing to radically restore friendly relations with Russia. That concern is no doubt shared by Washington and NATO. After the populist parties of Five Star Movement (M5S) and League topped the polls in a general election in March, they have formed a would-be coalition to govern. It has taken nearly three months of negotiations to hammer out a governance plan. But there are core policies on which the coalition partners are in strong agreement. Those policies include an end to the EU's orthodoxy of neoliberal economic austerity; and, perhaps just as significant, to end EU sanctions on Russia in a step towards normalizing relations. Interfering in Italy's Democracy... and It's Not Russia

Both M5S and League have praised Russia's military intervention in Syria to bring the seven-year war there to a close. Both parties have also blamed the United States and the EU for meddling in Ukraine's internal affairs as the cause of the ongoing conflict in that country. The latter viewpoint turns upside-down the conventional US-NATO-EU notion of accusing Russia of interfering in Ukraine.

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For these reasons, that is why the Italian government-in-waiting wants to abandon the EU position of imposing economic sanctions on Russia for the past four years since the Ukraine conflict erupted in 2014.

The EU's sanctions require unanimity among its 28 member states for implementation. If Italy were to vote against the sanctions  as the M5S and League are firmly proposing to do  then the US-EU policy of trying to isolate Russia will be split in two.

After the populist parties won the Italian election in March, a Guardian headline captured the apprehension felt among the Washington and Brussels NATO axis: Electoral gains or M5S and League may threaten Italy's strong support for NATO and US'.

This may, in fact, be the decisive factor in the latest twist of Italy's political crisis.

Over the weekend, long-time President Sergio Mattarella sparked fury after he blocked the key appointment of a finance minister. The nominee for the position, Paolo Savona, is a prominent critic of the EU economic policy of austerity and tight fiscal control.

Savona was nominated by the would-be coalition government because his Eurosceptic views dovetail with the populists' demands for more public investment and a basic income for poor families. The populists believe that Italy can in this way stimulate its economy and grow its way out of high indebtedness, rather than through the orthodox neoliberal position prevailing in Brussels of reducing debt through cutting public spending and imposing austerity.

Italy's largely figurehead President Mattarella said he was refusing to mandate the appointment of the populist finance minister out of "fears about Italian and foreign investors" pulling out of the country's economy. Italy's economy is the third biggest in the Eurozone, but it has been mired in sluggish growth for years, with a massive debt-to-GDP ratio of over 130 percent and soaring unemployment.

The blocking of the new finance minister's appointment has rebounded in a constitutional crisis. Prime Minister-designate Giuseppe Conte resigned in protest. A new government cannot be formed, and there are furious calls from M5S and League for President Mattarella to be impeached for impeding the "will of the people".

Luigi Di Maio, the leader of M5S was quoted as saying: "Why don't we just say that in this country it's pointless that we vote, as the ratings agencies, financial lobbies decide the governments?"

The League's Matteo Salvini was equally vehement: "In a democracy, if we are still in a democracy, there's only one thing to do, let the Italians have their say."

He added with notable fury: "Italy is not a colony. We are not slaves of the Germans or the French or finance".

Incumbent President Mattarella is accused of being "pro-Brussels" and compliant with the dominant economic policy of austerity and strict public finances.

Italy's 132 percent debt-to-GDP ratio is more than double what EU rules allow, and second-highest to Greece, as cited by the BBC.

So if a populist government in Rome were to relax debt rules and grow its way out of economic stagnation, the result would be a head-on challenge to Brussels, the EU administration and the German government in particular, which is a fiscal hawk.

However, the point is that a radical challenge to EU economic policy is what the Italian people voted for. Large numbers of them are fed up with "slave-like" obedience to fiscal policies that accommodate the priorities of financial institutions and foreign capital.

The fury felt in Italy over the latest crisis is propelled by a sense that their votes are being overturned. That is, "if your vote changed anything, it would be made illegal".

This perceived blatant interference in democratic rights on behalf of neoliberal economic interests and financial investors is bound to further rile up the populist backlash against the EU establishment  not just in Italy, but increasingly across the bloc, from Britain to the Netherlands, from France to Germany, Austria, Denmark, Hungary and elsewhere.

But there's another factor that may be equally important, if not quite as openly stated. That is Russia and the geopolitics of the US-led NATO axis.

Already noted above, the incoming government coalition between the M5S and League was proposing to end the EU policy of economic sanctions on Russia. Both parties have said Moscow should not be treated as a military threat, but rather viewed as a partner and ally.

As a founding member of the EU, Italy's position on the matter of foreign relations with Russia would be crucial. If the new government had overturned the EU's sanctions policy and restored friendly ties with Moscow that would scuttle the pro-Atlanticist axis between Washington and Brussels.

Arguably for Europe's citizens, that would be a beneficial release from the irrational hostility towards Russia, which Washington has dictated in recent years and which EU leaders have lamentably followed.

In other words, huge geopolitical interests are at stake if the Italians are allowed their democratic freedom to form a populist government. No doubt Washington and its allies in Brussels stepped into "brief" the Italian president on what is deemed acceptable limits of democracy.

And yet, laughably, the US-NATO-EU Atlanticist axis has the brass neck to continually berate Russia for "interfering in Western democracies".

Finian Cunningham has written extensively on international affairs, with articles published in several languages. He is a Masters graduate in Agricultural Chemistry and worked as a scientific editor for the Royal Society of Chemistry, Cambridge, England, before pursuing a career in newspaper journalism. He is also a musician and songwriter. For nearly 20 years, he worked as an editor and writer in major news media organisations, including The Mirror, Irish Times and Independent.
Home Search ICH Saudi Wahhabism Serves Western Imperialism By Andre Vltchek May 29, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - When the Saudi Crown Prince gave an interview to the Washington Post, declaring that it was actually the West that encouraged his country to spread Wahhabism to all corners of the world, there was a long silence in almost all the mass media outlets in the West, but also in countries such as Egypt and Indonesia. Those who read the statement, expected a determined rebuke from Riyadh. It did not come. The sky did not fall. Lightning did not strike the Prince or the Post. Clearly, not all that the Crown Prince declared appeared on the pages of the Washington Post, but what actually did, would be enough to bring down entire regimes in such places like Indonesia, Malaysia or Brunei.Or at least it would be enough under normal circumstances. That is, if the population there was not already hopelessly and thoroughly indoctrinated and programed, and if the rulers in those countries did not subscribe to, or tolerate, the most aggressive, chauvinistic and ritualistic (as opposed to the intellectual or spiritual) form of the religion. Reading between the lines, the Saudi Prince suggested that it was actually the West which, while fighting an ideological war against the Soviet Union and other socialist countries, handpicked Islam and its ultra-orthodox and radical wing  Wahhabism  as an ally in destroying almost all the progressive, anti-imperialist and egalitarian aspirations in the countries with a Muslim majority. As reported by RT on 28 March 2018: The Saudi-funded spread of Wahhabism began as a result of Western countries asking Riyadh to help counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told the Washington Post. Speaking to the paper, bin Salman said that Saudi Arabias Western allies urged the country to invest in mosques and madrassas overseas during the Cold War, in an effort to prevent encroachment in Muslim countries by the Soviet Union The interview with the crown prince was initially held off the record. However, the Saudi embassy later agreed to let the Washington Post publish specific portions of the meeting. Since the beginning of the spread of Wahhabism, one country after another had been falling; ruined by ignorance, fanatical zeal and fear, which have been preventing the people of countries such as post-1965 Indonesia or the post-Western-invasion Iraq, to move back (to the era before Western intervention) and at the same time forward,towards something that used to be so natural to their culture in not such a distant past  towards socialism or at least tolerant secularism. Are You Tired Of The Lies And Non-Stop Propaganda? Get Your FREE Daily Newsletter In reality, Wahhabism does not have much to do with Islam. Or more precisely, it intercepts and derails the natural development of Islam, of its strife for an egalitarian arrangement of the world, and for socialism. The Brits were behind the birth of the movement; the Brits and one of the most radical, fundamentalist and regressive preachers of all times  Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The essence of the Wahabi/British alliance and dogma was and still is, extremely simple: Religious leaders would force the people into terrible, irrational fear and consequent submission. No criticism of the religion is allowed;no questioning of its essence and particularly of the conservative and archaic interpretation of the Book. Once conditioned this way, people stopped questioning and criticizing first the feudalist, and later capitalist oppression; they also accepted without blinking the plunder of their natural resources by local and foreign masters. All attempts to build a socialist and egalitarian society got deterred, brutally, in the name of Islam and in the name of God. Of course,as a result, the Western imperialists and the local servile elites are laughing all the way to the bank, at the expense of those impoverished and duped millions in the countries that are controlled by the Wahhabi and Western dogmas. Only a few in the devastated, colonized countries actually realize that Wahhabism does not serve God or the people; it is helping Western interests and greed. Precisely this is what is right now happening in Indonesia, but also in several other countries that have been conquered by the West, including Iraq and Afghanistan. Were Syria to fall, this historically secular and socially-oriented nation would be forced into the same horrid direction. People there are well aware of this, as they are educated. They also see what has happened to Libya and Iraq and they definitely do not want to end up like them. It is the Wahhabi terrorist fighters that both the West and its lackeys like Saudi Arabia unleashed against the Syrian state and its people. Despite its hypocritical secular rhetoric, manufactured mainly for local consumption but not for the colonies, the West is glorifying or at least refusing to openly criticize its own brutal and anti-people offspring  a concept which has already consumed and ruined both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. In fact, it is trying to convince the world that these two countries are normal, and in the case of Indonesia, both democratic and tolerant. At the same time,it has consistently been antagonizing almost all the secular or relatively secular nations with substantial Muslim majorities, such as Syria (until now), but also Afghanistan, Iran (prior to the coup of 1953), Iraq and Libya before they were thoroughly and brutally smashed. It is because the state, in which the KSA, Indonesia and the present-day Afghanistan can be found, is the direct result of both Western interventions and indoctrination. The injected Wahhabi dogma is giving this Western project a Muslim flavor, while justifying trillions of dollars on defense spending for the so-called War on Terror (a concept resembling an Asian fishing pond where fish are brought in and then fished out for a fee). Obedience, even submissiveness  is where, for many reasons, the West wants its client states and neo-colonies to be. The KSA is an important trophy because of its oil, and strategic position in the region. Saudi rulers are often going out of their way to please their masters in London and Washington, implementing the most aggressive pro-Western foreign policy. Afghanistan is valued for its geographical location, which could potentially allow the West to intimidate and even eventually invade both Iran and Pakistan, while inserting extremist Muslim movements into China, Russia and the former Soviet Central Asian republics. Between 1 and 3 million Indonesian people had to be massacred in 1965-66, in order to bring to power a corrupt turbo-capitalist clique which could guarantee that the initially bottomless (although now rapidly thinning) natural resources could flow, uninterrupted and often untaxed, into places such as North America, Europe, Japan and Australia. Frankly, there is absolutely nothing normal about countries such as Indonesia and the KSA. In fact, it would take decades, but most likely entire generations, in order to return them to at least some sort of nominal normalcy. Even if the process were to begin soon, the West hopes that by the time it ends, almost all of the natural resources of these countries would be gone. But the process is not yet even beginning. The main reason for the intellectual stagnation and lack or resistance is obvious: people in countries such as Indonesia and KSA are conditioned so they are not able to see the brutal reality that surrounds them. They are indoctrinated and pacified. They have been told that socialism equals atheism and that atheism is evil, illegal and sinful. Hence, Islam was modified by the Western and Saudi demagogues, and has been sent to a battle, against progress and a just, egalitarian arrangement of the world. This version of religion is unapologetically defending Western imperialism, savage capitalism as well as the intellectual and creative collapse of the countries into which it was injected, including Indonesia. There, in turn, the West tolerates the thorough corruption, grotesque lack of social services, and even genocides and holocausts committed first against the Indonesians themselves, then against the people of East Timor, and to this day against the defenseless Papuan men, women and children. And it is not only a tolerance  the West participates directly in these massacres and extermination campaigns, as it also takes part in spreading the vilest forms of Wahabi terrorism and dogmas to all corners of the world. . All this, while tens of millions of the followers of Wahhabism are filling the mosques daily, performing mechanical rituals without any deeper thought or soul searching. Wahhabism works  it works for the mining companies and banks with their headquarters in London and New York. It also works extremely well for the rulers and the local elites inside the client states. Ziauddin Sardar, a leading Muslim scholar from Pakistan, who is based in London, has no doubts that Muslim fundamentalism is, to a great extent, the result of the Western imperialism and colonialism. In a conversation which we had several years ago, he explained: Trust between Islam and the West has indeed been broken We need to realize that colonialism did much more than simply damage Muslim nations and cultures. It played a major part in the suppression and eventual disappearance of knowledge and learning, thought and creativity, from Muslim cultures. The colonial encounter began by appropriating the knowledge and learning of Islam, which became the basis of the European Renaissance and the Enlightenment and ended by eradicating this knowledge and learning from both from Muslim societies and from history itself. It did that both by physical elimination  destroying and closing down institutions of learning, banning certain types of indigenous knowledge, killing off local thinkers and scholars  and by rewriting history as the history of western civilization into which all minor histories of other civilization are subsumed. As a consequence, Muslim cultures were de-linked from their own history with many serious consequences. For example, the colonial suppression of Islamic science led to the displacement of scientific culture from Muslim society. It did this by introducing new systems of administration, law, education and economy all of which were designed to impart dependence, compliance and subservience to the colonial powers. The decline of Islamic science and learning is one aspect of the general economic and political decay and deterioration of Muslim societies. Islam has thus been transformed from a dynamic culture and a holistic way of life to mere rhetoric. Islamic education has become a cul-de-sac, a one-way ticket to marginality. It also led to the conceptual reduction of Muslim civilization. By which I mean concepts that shaped and gave direction to Muslim societies became divorced from the actual daily lives of Muslims  leading to the kind of intellectual impasse that we find in Muslim societies today. Western neo-colonialism perpetuates that system. In Indonesia, after the Western-sponsored military coup of 1965, which destroyed the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and brought to power an extreme pro-market and pro-Western regime, things are deteriorating with a frightening predictability, consistency and speed. While the fascist dictator Suharto, a Western implant after 1965, was said to be suspicious of Islam, he actually used all major religions on his archipelago with great precision and fatal impact. During his pro-market despotism, all left-wing movements and -isms were banned, and so were most of the progressive forms of arts and thought.The Chinese language was made illegal. Atheism was also banned. Indonesia rapidly became one of the most religious countries on Earth. At least one million people, including members of the PKI, were brutally massacred in one of the most monstrous genocides of the 20th century. The fascist dictatorship of General Suharto often played the Islamic card for its political ends. As described by John Pilger in his book,The New Rulers of The World: In the pogroms of 1965-66, Suhartos generals often used Islamicist groups to attack communists and anybody who got in the way. A pattern emerged; whenever the army wanted to assert its political authority, it would use Islamicists in acts of violence and sabotage, so that sectarianism could be blamed and justify the inevitable crackdown  by the army A fine example of cooperation between the murderous right-wing dictatorship and radical Islam. After Suharto stepped down, the trend towards a grotesque and fundamentalist interpretation of the monotheist religions continued. Saudi Arabia and the Western-favored and sponsored Wahhabism has been playing an increasingly significant role. And so has Christianity, often preached by radical right-wing former exiles from Communist China and their offspring; mainly in the city of Surabaya but also elsewhere. From a secular and progressive nation under the leadership of President Sukarno, Indonesia has gradually descended into an increasingly radically backward-looking and bigoted Wahhabi-style/Christian Pentecostal state. After being forced to resign as the President of Indonesia during what many considered a constitutional coup, a progressive Muslim cleric and undoubtedly a closet socialist, Abdurrahman Wahid (known in Indonesia by his nickname Gus Dur), shared with me his thoughts, on the record: These days, most of Indonesian people do not care or think about God. They only follow rituals. If God would descend and tell them that their interpretation of Islam is wrong, theyd continue following this form of Islam and ignore the God. Gus Dur also clearly saw through all the tricks of the military and pro-Western elites. He told me, among other things, that the 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta was organized by the Indonesian security forces, and later blamed on the Islamists, who were actually only executing the orders given to them by their political bosses from the pro-Western military regime, which until nowis being disguised as a, multi-party democracy. In Indonesia, an extreme and unquestioning obedience to the religions has led to a blind acceptance of a fascist capitalist system, and of Western imperialism and its propaganda. Creativity and intellectual pluralism have been thoroughly liquidated. The 4th most populous nation on the planet, Indonesia, has presently no scientists, architects, philosophers or artists of any international standing. Its economy is fueled exclusively by the unbridled plunder of the natural resources of the vast, and in the past, pristine parts of the country, such as Sumatra and Indonesian Borneo (Kalimantan), as well as on the brutally-occupied Western part of Papua. The scale of the environmental destruction is monumental; something that I am presently trying to capture in two documentary films and a book. Awareness of the state of things, even among the victims, is minimal or out rightly nonexistent. In a country that has been robbed of its riches; identity, culture and future, religions now playthe most important role. There is simply nothing else left for the majority. Nihilism, cynicism, corruption and thuggery are ruling unopposed. In the cities with no theatres, galleries, art cinemas, but also no public transportation or even sidewalks, in the monstrous urban centers abandoned to the markets with hardly any greenery or public parks, religions are readily filling the emptiness. Being themselves regressive, pro-market oriented and greedy, the results are easily predictable. In the city of Surabaya, during the capturing of footage for my documentary film produced for a South American television network TeleSur (Surabaya  Eaten Alive by Capitalism), I stumbled over an enormous Protestant Christian gathering at a mall, where thousands of people were in an absolute trance, yelling and lifting their eyes towards the ceiling. A female preacher was shouting into a microphone: God loves the rich, and that is why they are rich! God hates the poor, and thats why they are poor! Von Hayek, Friedmann, Rockefeller, Wahab and Lloyd George combined could hardly define their idealsin more precise way. What exactly did the Saudi Prince say, during his memorable and ground-breaking interview with The Washington Post? And why is it so relevant to places like Indonesia? In essence, he said that the West asked the Saudis to make the client states more and more religious, by building madrassahs and mosques. He also added: I believe Islam is sensible, Islam is simple, and people are trying to hijack it. People? The Saudi themselves? Clerics in such places like Indonesia? The Western rulers? In Teheran, Iran, while discussing the problem with numerous religious leaders, I was told, repeatedly: The West managed to create a totally new and strange religion, and then it injected it into various countries. It calls it Islam, but we cant recognize it It is not Islam, not Islam at all. In May 2018, in Indonesia, members of outlawed terrorist groups rioted in jail, took hostages, then brutally murdered prison guards. After the rebellion was crushed, several explosions shook East Java. Churches and police stations went up in flames. People died. The killers used their family members, even children, to perpetrate the attacks. The men in charge were actually inspired by the Indonesian fighters who were implanted into in Syria the terrorists and murderers who were apprehended and deported by Damascus back to their large and confused country. Many Indonesian terrorists who fought in Syria are now on their home turf, igniting and inspiring their fellow citizens. The same situation as in the past  the Indonesian jihadi cadres who fought against the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan later returned and killed hundreds and thousands in Poso, Ambon and other parts of Indonesia. Indonesian extremists are becoming world-famous, fighting the battles of the West as legionnaires, in Afghanistan, Syria, Philippines and elsewhere. Their influence at home is also growing. It is now impossible to even mention any social or god forbid, socialist reforms in public. Meetings are broken up, participants beaten, and even peoples representatives (MPs)intimidated, accused of being communists, in a country where Communism is still banned by the regime. The progressive and extremely popular Jakarta governor, Ahok, first lost elections and was then put on trial and thrown into jail for insulting Islam, clearly fabricated charges. His main sin  cleaning Jakartas polluted rivers, constructing a public transportation network, and improving the lives of ordinary people. That was clearly un-Islamic, at least from the point of view of Wahhabism and the Western global regime. Radical Indonesian Islam is now feared. It goes unchallenged. It is gaining ground, as almost no one would dare to openly criticize it. It will soon overwhelm and suppress the entire society. And in the West political correctness is used. It is lately simply impolite to criticize Indonesian or even the Saudi form of Islam, out of respect for the people and their culture. In reality, it is not the Saudi or Indonesian people who get protected  it is the West and its imperialist policies; policies and manipulations that are used against both the people and the essence of Muslim religion. While the Wahhabi/Western dogma is getting stronger and stronger, what is left of the Indonesian forests is burning. The country is literally being plundered by the Western multi-national companies and by its local corrupt elites. Religions, the Indonesian fascist regime and Western imperialism are marching forward, hand in hand. But forward  where? Most likely towards the total collapse of the Indonesian state. Towards the misery that will come soon, when everything is logged out and mined out. It is the same, as when Wahhabism used to march hand in hand with the British imperialists and plunderers. Except that the Saudis found their huge oil fields, plenty of oil to sustain themselves (or at least their elites and the middle class, as the poor still live in misery there) and their bizarre, British-inspired and sponsored interpretation of Islam. Indonesia and other countries that have fallen victims to this dogma are not and will not be so lucky. It is lovely that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke publicly and clarified the situation. But who will listen? For the Indonesian people, his statements came too late. They did not open many eyes, caused no uprising, no revolution. To understand what he said would require at least some basic knowledge of both the local, and world history, and at least some ability to think logically. All this is lacking, desperately, in the countries that have found themselves squashed by the destructive imperialist embrace. The former President of Indonesia, Abdurrahman Wahid, was correct: If God would come and say people would not follow God Indonesia will continue following Mr. Wahab, and the capitalist dogma and the Western imperialists who arranged it all. They will do it for years to come, feeling righteous, blasting old North American tunes in order to fill the silence, in order not to think and not to question what is happening around them. There will be no doubts. There will be no change, no awakening and no revolution. Until the last tree falls,until the last river and stream gets poisoned, until there is nothing left for the people. Until there is total, absolute submission:until everything is burned down, black and grey. Maybe then, few tiny, humble roots of awakening and resistance would begin to grow. 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 . This article was originally published on New Eastern Outlook. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Information Clearing House. ====== Join the Discussion It is not necessary for ICH readers to register before placing a comment. 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May 29, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Dear Ambassador,

In view of the alarming news emanating from your estimable embassy, as a concered world citizen I am writing to you.

It is an open secret that the United States contemptuously considers the sovereign states, the independent nations, of Latin America as its backyard, and frequently exerts enormous pressure on Latin American countries to do its bidding, to the extent of effecting changes in the government by means both peaceful and violent. This arrogant superpower is now pressuring your small country to evict Mr. Julian Assange from your embassy and render this valourous warrior for truth and justice to the British  who are hand-in-glove with the Americans.

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The government and people of Ecuador surely realize that when your country so courageously granted asylum to Mr. Assange, she served as a model for Latin America  nay, for 195 countries and 7.6 billion people. In granting asylum to Assange, Little Ecuador set an extraordinary example: for she not only protected the worlds pre-eminent cyber freedom-fighter, she stood up to a most terrifying tyranny that is neither subject to any checks and balances nor pays the slightest heed to the Rule of Law.

If, after setting the unique example that you have, you now buckle at the knees and bend at the waist before the United States and proceed to turn out Assange from his refuge, the counter-example that you would set would negate all the wonderful work that Ecuador has done so far in giving hope to those who are hunted and pursued for doing nothing more than exposing the truth about those whose power is as boundless as their morality is negligible. Even worse, such an odious development may be a mortal blow to the morale of good, honest, hard-working human beings whose only sin is to face up to the powerful and the corrupt.

If the rest of us cannot emulate such brave persons as Mr. Assange, then those like me ought to at least speak out for them and those like you  with all due respect  ought to afford them whatever protection that you can, in line with the principles that your country, under former President Mr. Rafael Correa, had previously enunciated.

May I respectfully request that my sentiments and reasoning  which would be echoed by millions of people the world over  be communicated to your new head of state, Mr. President Lenin Moreno, and his new Foreign Minister, Ms. Maria Fernanda Espinosa.

With gratitude for your consideration,

Yours Respectfully,

Kersasp D. Shekhdar

Cc. Media organizations
May 29, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Any healthcare system in the West would collapse if it had to treat as many gunshot wounds in a single day as there were in the Gaza Strip on May 14, say international medical figures. Yet Gazas medical system, which for years has been on the brink of collapse as a result of the Israeli blockade and Palestinian internecine conflict, coped amazingly well with the challenge. In Israel, the events of May 14 are already history. In the Strip, their bloody consequences will shape the lives of thousands of families for years to come.

It was the number of people injured by gunfire, more than the high body count, that was so shocking: Nearly half of the more than 2,770 people who sought emergency care had gunshot wounds. It was clear that the soldiers are shooting above all in order to injure and maim demonstrators. That was the conclusion I heard from my interlocutors, some well experienced in bloody international conflicts. The aim was to hurt rather than to kill, to leave as many young people as possible with permanent disabilities.

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The preparations at the 10 triage and trauma stabilization stations were impressive. Each of the stations erected near the protest sites was staffed by paramedics and volunteer medical students. Within six minutes, on average, they managed to examine each patient, to determine the type of injury, to stabilize the patient and decide who needed to be treated in a hospital. Beginning at around noon, one ambulance arrived at Gaza Citys Shifa Hospital every minute. The sirens didnt stop wailing. Each ambulance carried four or five people with injuries.

Twelve operating rooms worked nonstop. The first to be treated were people with injuries to blood vessels. Hundreds of people with less critical injuries waited in the hospital corridors for their turn, groaning and dizzy. The only pain relievers available were meant for bad headaches at most, not gunshot wounds. Even if the Health Ministry of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank had not reduced its medicine shipments to the Gaza Strip in the past year, following directives from top Palestinian political echelons, its doubtful that the hospital would have had the painkillers and anesthetics needed to treat the 1,300 or so patients with gunshot wounds and carry out the hundreds of operations performed on May 14.

No hospital in the world has enough vascular and orthopedic surgeons to operate on hundreds of gunshot victims in a single day. Surgeons from other specialties were brought in to operate under the guidance of the specialists. No hospital has enough medical teams to care for so many patients. After 1:30 P.M., when the families of the injured began streaming into the already overcrowded hospital, things began to fall apart. An armed security detail from the Hamas-controled Interior Ministry was called in to impose order, and remained there until 8:30 P.M. At night, 70 injured demonstrators still awaited treatment, and another 40 waited the next morning. One week on, the time for orthopedic surgery and physical therapy rehabilitation has arrived, but the Strip lacks sufficient physiotherapists, orthopedic surgeons and medical equipment.

From March 30 to May 22, a total of 13,190 people, including 1,136 children, were injured in the demonstrations along the border with Israel, according to a World Health Organization report issued May 22. Of these, 3,360 were injured by live ammunition fired by our heroic  and well-protected  soldiers; 332 are still in critical condition (two people died of their injuries over the weekend). Five upper-limb amputations and 27 lower-limb amputations were performed. In the week of May 13-20 alone, Israeli soldiers injured 3,414 Gazans. Of these, 2,013 were treated in hospitals and in clinics operated by nongovernmental organizations, including 271 children and 127 women; 1,366 had gunshot wounds.

Our brave soldiers also shoot at medical teams that approach the fence to rescue casualties. Orders are orders, even when it means firing at paramedics. As a result, the medics work in teams of six: If one is wounded, two others will carry him away for treatment and the three who remain will continue to work, praying that they wont be hit themselves.

On May 14, a paramedic from the Palestinian Civil Defense was killed, shot on the way to rescuing an injured protester. For around 20 minutes, his colleagues tried to reach him but failed, deterred by the heavy gunfire. The paramedic died of lung collapse. In the week of May 13-20, an additional 24 medical personnel were injured  eight by live ammunition, six by bullet shrapnel, one by a tear gas grenade and nine by exposure to tear gas. Twelve ambulances were damaged. Between March 30 and May 20, a total of 238 medical personnel were injured and 38 ambulances were damaged.

On May 23, following a visit to a hospital and a rehabilitation center in Gaza, UN Relief and Works Agency Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl highlighted the ramifications of the recent events: I truly believe that much of the world completely underestimates the extent of the disaster in human terms that occurred in the Gaza Strip since the marches began on March 30. ... As many people or even slightly more were injured during a total of seven days of protests than were injured during the full duration of the 2014 conflict. That is truly staggering. During the visits, I was also struck not only by the number of injured but also by the nature of the injuries. ... The pattern of small entry wounds and large exit wounds indicates ammunition used caused severe damage to internal organs, muscle tissue and bones. Both the staff of the Gazan Ministry of Health hospitals, NGOs and UNRWA clinics are struggling to deal with extremely complex wounds and care.

This article was originally published by "

Haaretz

" -
By Jonathan Cook

May 29, 2018 " Information Clearing House " - Fathi Harb should have had something to live for, not least the imminent arrival of a new baby. But last week the 21-year-old extinguished his life in an inferno of flames in central Gaza.

It is believed to be the first example of a public act of self-immolation in the enclave. Harb doused himself in petrol and set himself alight on a street in Gaza City shortly before dawn prayers during the holy month of Ramadan.

In part, Harb was driven to this terrible act of self-destruction out of despair.

After a savage, decade-long Israeli blockade by land, sea and air, Gaza is like a car running on fumes. The United Nations has repeatedly warned that the enclave will be uninhabitable within a few years.

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Over that same decade, Israel has intermittently pounded Gaza into ruins, in line with the Israeli armys Dahiya doctrine. The goal is to decimate the targeted area, turning life back to the Stone Age so that the population is too preoccupied with making ends meet to care about the struggle for freedom.

Both of these kinds of assault have had a devastating impact on inhabitants psychological health.

Harb would have barely remembered a time before Gaza was an open-air prison and one where a 1,000kg Israeli bomb might land near his home.

In an enclave where two-thirds of young men are unemployed, he had no hope of finding work. He could not afford a home for his young family and he was about to have another mouth to feed.

Doubtless, all of this contributed to his decision to burn himself to death.

But self-immolation is more than suicide. That can be done quietly, out of sight, less gruesomely. In fact, figures suggest that suicide rates in Gaza have rocketed in recent years.

But public self-immolation is associated with protest.

A Buddhist monk famously turned himself into a human fireball in Vietnam in 1963 in protest at the persecution of his coreligionists. Tibetans have used self-immolation to highlight Chinese oppression, Indians to decry the caste system, and Poles, Ukrainians and Czechs once used it to protest Soviet rule.

But more likely for Harb, the model was Mohamed Bouazizi, the Tunisian street vendor who set himself on fire in late 2010 after officials humiliated him once too often. His public death triggered a wave of protests across the Middle East that became the Arab Spring.

Bouazizis self-immolation suggests its power to set our consciences on fire. It is the ultimate act of individual self-sacrifice, one that is entirely non-violent except to the victim himself, performed altruistically in a greater, collective cause.

Who did Harb hope to speak to with his shocking act?

In part, according to his family, he was angry with the Palestinian leadership. His family was trapped in the unresolved feud between Gazas rulers, Hamas, and the Palestinian Authority (PA) in the West Bank. That dispute has led the PA to cut the salaries of its workers in Gaza, including Harbs father.

But Harb undoubtedly had a larger audience in mind too.

Until a few years ago, Hamas regularly fired rockets out of the enclave in a struggle both to end Israels continuing colonization of Palestinian land and to liberate the people of Gaza from their Israeli-made prison.

But the world rejected the Palestinians right to resist violently and condemned Hamas as terrorists. Israels series of military rampages in Gaza to silence Hamas were meekly criticized in the West as disproportionate.

The Palestinians of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, where there is still direct contact with Israeli Jews, usually as settlers or soldiers, watched as Gazas armed resistance failed to prick the worlds conscience.

So some took up the struggle as individuals, targeting Israelis or soldiers at checkpoints. They grabbed a kitchen knife to attack Israelis or soldiers at checkpoints, or rammed them with a car, bus or bulldozer.

Again, the world sided with Israel. Resistance was not only futile, it was denounced as illegitimate.

Since late March, the struggle for liberation has shifted back to Gaza. Tens of thousands of unarmed Palestinians have massed weekly close to Israels fence encaging them.

The protests are intended as confrontational civil disobedience, a cry to the world for help and a reminder that Palestinians are being slowly choked to death.

Israel has responded repeatedly by spraying the demonstrators with live ammunition, seriously wounding many thousands and killing more than 100. Yet again, the world has remained largely impassive.

In fact, worse still, the demonstrators have been cast as Hamas stooges. The United States ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, blamed the victims under occupation, saying Israel had a right to defend its border, while the British government claimed the protests were hijacked by terrorists.

None of this can have passed Harb by.

When Palestinians are told they can protest peacefully, western governments mean quietly, in ways that Israel can ignore, in ways that will not trouble consciences or require any action.

In Gaza, the Israeli army is renewing the Dahiya doctrine, this time by shattering thousands of Palestinian bodies rather than infrastructure.

Harb understood only too well the Wests hypocrisy in denying Palestinians any right to meaningfully resist Israels campaign of destruction.

The flames that engulfed him were intended also to consume us with guilt and shame. And doubtless more in Gaza will follow his example.

Will Harb be proved right? Can the West be shamed into action?

Or will we continue blaming the victims to excuse our complicity in seven decades of outrages committed against the Palestinian people?

(A version of this article first appeared in the National, Abu Dhabi.)

 Jonathan Cook won the Martha Gellhorn Special Prize for Journalism. His books include Israel and the Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and the Plan to Remake the Middle East (Pluto Press) and Disappearing Palestine: Israels Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). He contributed this article to PalestineChronicle.com. Visit his website: www.jonathan-cook.net .
Happy wedding anniversary, Toolz!

Today, the famous OAP took to her Instagram to share a collage of her wedding photos with her husband Tunde Demuren, with heartwarming caption that read:

2 down 98 years to go!!!!

Happy 2nd Anniversary to us @captdemuren

No long talk necessary

Love you like Trump loves Putin/Twitter!!!

Team #TSquare forever! #GodsGotUs#NewChapters

This comes weeks after she talked about dealing with the loss of her baby in an interview with Genevieve Magazine in which she talked about recuperating after a stillbirth.

However, the OAP is super and looks forward to sharing more years with her darling husband and fans are super happy for her.

See her post below.

-Olisa
Dubai-based big boy, Hushpupppi who is currently in Ghana is seen in a new video taking stacks of dollars to himself  wads of dollar bills that reportedly amount to $260,000.

See photo below:

This comes days after controversial journalist, Kemi Olunloyo begged him for money. So could his recent action be a sign of her that hed be keeping his money to himself?

Recall that in a social media post recently, Kemi Olunloyo called on the Dubai based Nigerian big boy to make some donations to help her battle mental disorder.

In his reply to her the de-facto Gucci ambassador wrote:

It was brought to my attention the posts of one of the great journalists of Nigeria which I have carefully gone through and I must note that I never made mention of Madam Kemi Oluloyos name in my video that I made at the airport lounge, where I gave a general observation as to how the rich tend to mind their business and suggested if we were all doing same, maybe Linda Ikejis fruit of the womb just wouldnt be a problem as people are making it.

I do Appreciate madam Oluloyos taste in my fashion and as well Appreciate her works, just like most of her writes up often carries constructive criticism and lash back ,

I believe it is safe to say her request to beat Lindas 100k donation which I could have said was from a sarcastic point there after accompanied with a bank details puts me in a dicey position.

I wouldnt consider it a wise move crediting the account of a woman that just openly lambasted a fellow female benefactor that was there for her when it mattered regardless of how little the amount now seem to her after her ordeal.

Before my money becomes blood money in future, maybe I should reconsider the alert part plus Aunty Kemi herself would have called such a person an Ingrate.

Besides I had my fair share of experience from Mr Jollof in the past, when my act of kindness became a public show as to how he doesnt need my dime and I should Chanel it on more philanthropical use.

Let there be one LOVE. Linda and Madam Oluloyo as females are in a better position to understand that precious Grace of the fruit of the womb and should share the female joy as ONE let Peace Reign. STAND Together, support each other in the Good and bad.. all we need is One love.

I urge madam Oluloyo to write an apology and appreciation letter to Linda openly as we all see you as a role model and a great example of women empowering women for our younger females in the nation to become better people and learn to appreciate each other in our nation.

If this is done I promise to give all necessary support and provisions in my power to you ma to get better health care and treatment. God bless us all.

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A woman, Teresiah Mumbi, has threatened to sue two police officers from Nairobi, Kenya, after they allegedly forced her to undress to confirm her gender because she has a beard.

Mumbi, 31, revealed that she was stripped on May 15 after being arrested for a traffic offence, reports Myjoyonline.

Speaking on Friday at KTN Television, the woman said two unidentified female officers demanded to confirm whether she was a man or a woman.

Those two female officers came and demanded that I undress and I put my legs apart. After they were satisfied they let me back to the cell, Mumbi said.

Mumbi said she stopped shaving her beard because the beard became very itchy every time she did.

I even stopped working. I do not want another incident like that, she said.

Is this justice? If these are the officers mandated to provide security, what will happen to me in public? Mumbi asked.

Huruma OCPD Alice Kimeli is yet to confirm the claims by Mumbi as she said she was in a meeting when contacted.

 Punch

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I once had a financial advisor, long ago, who told me he would vote for Cuomo to be president because he would be the first Italian-American president. He had no idea what Cuomo was about politically, just that he was of Italian heritage, like the financial advisor. It made me question his judgment and wonder if he was the right person for me to be working with. I remember once, as a small child, my grandmother making it clear to me that her loyalty to Israel was as strong as her loyalty to the U.S. I was horrified and it stuck with me-- viscerally-- for 6 decades.

More recently, I was disgusted with a primitive American politician-- who used to falsely claim he was Swedish -- bragging on TV how his German blood was "great stuff."

On Saturday, Megan Smolenyak, one of America's top genealogists took a look at Devin Nunes' family tree and gasped at Nunes' divided loyalties between Portugal and the U.S., asking Why Hasnt Devin Nunes Assimilated Yet? I gather that would got her interested in Nunes was Jason Zengerlesfeature, How Devin Nunes Turned the House Intelligence Committee Inside Out , which didn't delve too much into genealogy, just Nunes' shady politics. But... "a healthy chunk of Zengerles exploration is devoted to the California congressmans ties to Portugal and his curious efforts to establish American intelligence operations at Lajes Field on the Azorean island of Terceira, despite the notion being deemed impractical by many in the upper echelons of the U.S. government. Zengerle cites the frustration of those caught in the middle of Nuness agenda, like Jim Townsend, who served under President Obama as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (DASD) for Europe and NATO:

Nunes created so much rancor over the issue that some American officials came to question his motives, and even his patriotism. I was having a hard-enough time being beaten up by the Azoreans and the Portuguese, but it was even harder seeing a congressman being in cahoots with them, Townsend says. It was like, Whose team are you on?  A former Pentagon official suspects that during the Lajes negotiations, Nunes was making the Portuguese privy to things they should not have known. We would have a conversation about some proprietary matters with Nunes, this official says, and then the next day, somehow, Portugal knew some of that. Its no secret that Nunes is of Portuguese -- more specifically, Azorean -- descent, so why should this grab my attention-- aside from the fact that it would be peculiar behavior for any congressional representative and that the President of Portugal namechecked Nunes in a chat with Trump even before his inauguration?





Well, because his ties to Portugal are not as direct as many think.





Perhaps due to his communications director incorrectly claiming that all four of Nuness grandparents were Portuguese immigrants, many accept this as fact so youll find this tidbit sprinkled in many pieces about Nunes. But its not true. Lets start with some basics that are:





 One of his grandparents has no Portuguese ancestry. This portion of his family tree blew into California as a result of the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s, and meanders back in time through Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee, Missouri, Virginia, etc.





 The remaining 75 percent of his heritage is indeed Azorean, but none of his grandparents were immigrants.





So if Nuness grandparents werent the immigrants, who were? It turns out it was a mix of his great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents.













For those keeping score, thats a total of nine immigrant ancestors, but we should probably add a tenth with an asterisk. One of his great-grandmothers, Della Nevis, was American-born, but lost her citizenship when she married a foreigner thanks to the Expatriation Act of 1907 (the same happened to Representative Bob Goodlattes (R-Va.) grandmother). The moment Nevis was wed, she became a Portuguese citizen, even though she was living in California.





People have different ways of defining immigrant generations, so depending on your interpretation, Nunes is a combination of either third/fourth generation or fourth/fifth generation American. Now take a look at that last column in the table above. His Azorean ancestors all arrived in the States between 1870 and 1911-- roughly 100150 years ago-- so not exactly yesterday.





In fact, the most recent arrivals in Nuness family were both of his great-grandfathers who arrived in Boston on April 4, 1911. Mind you, they were just buddies from Faja dos Vimes at this point. It would be another 35 years before their future children would marry, making them in-laws, but they brought up the rear in terms of Nuness immigrant ancestors.





I get it. Ive been fortunate enough to visit the Azores and am well acquainted with the nostalgic attachment many of us have to the countries of our families origins. My own family is similar to Nuness in the sense that most of my immigrant ancestors arrived between 1880 and 1913, with one pocket landing here earlier-- like his Dust Bowl branch-- and as a result, I have a soft spot for Ireland and Slovakia.





But theres a big difference between having a fondness for an ancestral country and Nuness intense loyalty to Portugal that prompts him to repeatedly attempt to use his political clout for Portuguese benefit over strenuous and practical objections from a number of American military, congressional, and other governmental experts. If everyone in your family has been here for at least 107 years, if every branch of your entire family tree has been planted in America for a minimum of three generations, shouldnt your allegiance be first and foremost to the United States?





Every time I write an immigration-related article, I get responses from pro-border wall people-- yes, Nunes supports the wall) who invariably make the same three claims: My ancestors came here legally, they learned English, and they assimilated. Those familiar with the history of immigration in America know that it was pretty darn hard to come here illegally before the 1920s, so please read this if youre new to the topic, but lets consider the latter two claims with regard to Nuness family.





He comes from an area of California that has long been home to many dairy farmers of Azorean descent. Like so many immigrant communities, they stayed tight-knit and provided support for one another. The same happened in my own family, with the Irish who came to build railroads and the Slavs who came to work in the coal mines. What differentiates Nuness community is that it still exists-- even generations after arrival.





One factor is the intensity of chain migration/family reunification. In Nuness case, the chart showing his nine immigrant ancestors is the proverbial tip of the iceberg. These nine include only direct line ancestors of Devin Nunes-- in other words, it doesnt include collateral relatives who also came over, such as siblings, cousins, aunts or uncles. But none of these nine came here in a vacuum. Those two great-grandfathers who came together in 1911? Both of them were going to meet their respective brothers who were already in California.





Heres another example showing Joaquin A. Silveira, who had been in America for some time, returning from a trip to the Azores with his father, mother, brother, sister, and his brothers wife. By the standards of the proposed Securing Americas Future Act of 2018 (H.R.4760), none of these relatives would be eligible to join Joaquin in the United States. That would be unfortunate for Nunes, as Joaquins sister, Maria Inez Silveira, would become his great-grandmother.





Its easy to understand why these families would stick closely together. They were regarded as outsiders, making existing connections that much more important. The concentration of Portuguese immigrants into the Tulare vicinity was so pronounced that a local accounting of deaths in 1920 specifies those of American babies and Portuguese babies, but no other ethnicities, even though an examination of the paper trail shows that there were a variety of immigrants in the area ranging from Japanese to Armenian.





One of Nuness grandfathers was born in Tulare in 1919 to Maria, the sister who had arrived with her whole family in 1908. These tight bonds were surely comforting, but likely made it harder for immigrants to assimilate. Heres Maria again in 193022 years after arriving in America-- still unable to speak English.













Marias brother who brought her over left the fold and became the president of a bank in Oakland, but she stayed safely ensconced in her community, and so continued to speak Portuguese. And that community continued to grow in place over the generations , partly because Nunes hails from an impressively long-lived people with large extended and interlacing families. Born when his parents were only 16 and 20 years old, the abundance of octogenarians and nonagenarians among Nuness kinfolk meant that he had an astonishing five living great-grandparents to welcome him into the world, and just missed a sixth by one week. The cousin density in his district may well parallel that of Amish, Icelandic, Mormon, and other closely knit populations.





It also seems that becoming an American citizen was not a priority for Nuness family. Some of the nine immigrant relatives listed in the initial chart never went through the naturalization process, but heres a summary of those who did. Collectively, they took an average of 30.8 years from their date of arrival to do so.





Even Della who surrendered her American nationality upon marrying took 18 years to address the situation. Her husband had skipped the chance for expedited citizenship-- which would have restored his wifes citizenship as well-- by serving in World War I, but he wasnt alone. All three of Nuness Azorean immigrant great-grandfathers had this opportunity, but passed on it. Instead, everyone waited a couple of additional decades until the approach of the next world war to take steps in this direction.





Divided Loyalties





Perhaps the self-contained nature of the community in which Nunes was raised helps explain why he displays such strong allegiance to the country that three-quarters of his ancestors arrived from 100150 years ago, even if it doesnt entirely excuse it. That Nunes is willing to put the priorities of any other country over those of the United States is worrisome, though it isnt his divided loyalty with Portugal, specifically, that most alarms patriotic Americans. For those troubled by his baffling behavior during the present administration, I leave you with a promising omen I stumbled across in my research. Lurking among the non-Azorean branches of his family tree is a relative with an unexpected and reassuring name: Robert Mueller.
Jeremy D. Morley concentrates on International Family Law. The firm works with clients around the world from its New York office, with a global network of local counsel. Mr Morley is the author of "International Family Law Practice", the leading treatise on international family law in the U.S., and "The Hague Abduction Convention", published by the American Bar Association. He is a Fellow of the International Academy of Family Lawyers and a former law professor.
This content is from: Mauritius

Canadian engineering company SNC-Lavalin has defended its use of a Mauritian company, telling International Tax Review that it structures its business in a tax-efficient manner thats compliant with the law.
hammer with books-320 x 215

In that context, there were significant discussions last year pointing out the nullities in some judgments rendered by the CARF, which judges proceedings involving tax issues in Brazil before the federal executive branch.

Dissatisfied with the judgments before CARF, some taxpayers seeking resolution before the judiciary branch obtained favourable decisions to cancel tax claims upheld in a judgment decided by the casting vote at the CARF. Such decisions, obtained at the judiciary branch, determined the stay of proceedings at CARF in cases where the CARF Internal Regulations had not been fulfilled, among other reasons.

As long as there are no legislative changes in the CARF structure, which is the main administrative court in Brazil, we need to focus on the present moment. The aim of this article is to strengthen CARFs performance, so that it will once again be the main judge body in the cases involving federal taxes.

What is proposed with the present article is that the CARF should not become a mere jurisdiction of transition to the judiciary, maintained at the cost of significant funds from the public treasury.

For that purpose, it is important to remember that the Brazilian Constitution states that no one shall be deprived of freedom or of his assets without the due process of law(Brazilian Federal Constitution, Article 5, LIV) and which ensure compliance, in the administrative proceeding, with the broad defence and the right to adversary proceeding (Brazilian Federal Constitution, Article 5, LV). Based on these provisions, it can be noted that the constitutional configuration attributed to the administrative proceeding, especially to the tax proceeding  which has the power to expropriate part of the property of taxpayers , is very similar to the legal proceeding.

It is probable that many of the current problems identified in the judgments rendered by the CARF would be resolved if the fundamental guarantees were actually complied with in practice.

For that purpose, it is crucial that the council members of the tax authorities and of the taxpayers, in the exercise of the duties as administrative judges, adopt some precautions in order to ensure impartiality in the judgments.

In exercising these duties, the CARF council members are there to judge and, accordingly, they should not act as defenders of the parties, who are already advised by prosecutors of the national treasury and by lawyers duly enrolled with the Brazilian Bar Association.

Regarding the position of the judge in the judgment, the opinion of jurists is that the judge, because of his duty of impartiality, is placed between the parties, but equidistant from them: if he hears one of them, he shall not fail to hear the other (...) Only by summing up the partiality of the parties (one representing the thesis, the other, the antithesis) the judge may embody the synthesis in a dialectic process. (Cintra, Grinover e Dinamarco, Teoria Geral do Processo, 30th Ed., page 74).

In our opinion, without going into the merits of the current structure of the body, we understand that isonomic treatment between the parties to the litigation is an essential condition to ensure impartiality.

Therefore, situations like those recently disclosed by the press, whereby a former council member provided his opinion during the judgment session of an appeal filed against an appellate decision to which this same former council member was the reporting judge at a lower court of the CARF itself only distances the court from its true purpose.

It cannot be supposed that any privileges granted to the national treasury in the administrative judgments could be justified by the alleged principle of supremacy of the public interest.

In fact, anyone who practices tax litigation  either in the administrative jurisdiction or in the judiciary  has certainly faced decisions and arguments of the tax authorities that seek to justify the maintenance of a given tax requirement based on the so-called principle of supremacy of the public interest.

However, the application of this principle could never justify any mitigation of the fundamental rights and guarantees, given that there should be no superior public interest than the respect for the constitutional rules and the democratic institutions.

When there is any type of favouritism to any of the parties, as mentioned above, the impartiality that characterises the due process is impaired.

In summary, the administrative proceeding is a condition of validity of the tax assessment. In turn, the validity of the administrative proceeding is indissociably conditioned to compliance with the due process. In this line, the Federal Supreme Court and the Superior Court of Appeals have repeatedly adopted the position of declaring the nullity of appellate decisions rendered in violation of the due process, such as, for example, in MS No. 11.766/DF and in RMS No. 26.029/DF, reported by Justice Carmen Lucia.

This article was written by Joao Marcos Colussi and Gabriel Mendes Goncalves Issa of Mattos Filho, Veiga Filho, Marrey Jr e Quiroga Advogados.

The material on this site is for financial institutions, professional investors and their professional advisers. It is for information only. Please read our Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy before using the site. All material subject to strictly enforced copyright laws.  2021 Euromoney Institutional Investor PLC. For help please see our FAQ.

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May 29, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) The Class B Subordinate Voting Shares of MedMen Enterprises Inc. have been approved for listing on the CSE. Listing and disclosure documents will be available at www.thecse.com on the trading date.

MedMen Enterprises is a U.S. cannabis company and among the most recognized brands in the emerging marijuana industry, with assets and operations in California, Nevada and New York. Based in Los Angeles, MedMen brings class leading operational expertise and unprecedented investment to the fast changing and fast-growing cannabis industry. MedMen is also one of the nation's largest financial supporters of progressive marijuana legalization efforts at local, state and federal levels.

________________________

Les actions a droit de vote subalterne de categorie B de MedMen Enterprises Inc. ont ete approuvees pour inscription a la cote du CSE.

Les documents d'inscription et de divulgation seront disponibles sur www.thecse.com a la date de negociation.

MedMen Enterprises est la principale societe de cannabis aux Etats-Unis et la marque la plus reconnue dans l'industrie emergente de la marijuana, avec des actifs et des operations en Californie, au Nevada et a New York. Base a Los Angeles, MedMen apporte une expertise operationnelle de premier plan et un investissement sans precedent a l'industrie du cannabis en rapide evolution et a croissance rapide. MedMen est egalement l'un des plus grands soutiens financiers de la nation aux efforts progressifs de legalisation de la marijuana aux niveaux local, etatique et federal.

MedMen Enterprises Inc. was formed by way of a business combination with Ladera Ventures Corp., previously listed on the TSX Venture Exchange. The common shares of Ladera were consolidated at a rate of 1 new for 9.2623 old prior to the business combination.

If you have any questions or require further information please contact Listings at (416) 367-7340 or E-mail: Listings@thecse.com

Pour toute question, pour obtenir de l'information supplementaire veuillez communiquer avec le service des inscriptions au 416 367-7340 ou par courriel a l'adresse: Listings@thecse.com

The Canadian Securities Exchange, or CSE, is operated by CNSX Markets Inc. Recognized as a stock exchange in 2004, the CSE began operations in 2003 to provide a modern and efficient alternative for companies looking to access the Canadian public capital markets. http://thecse.com/

Investorideas.com is a listed service provider on the Canadian Securities Exchange http://thecse.com/en/services/services-for-listed-companies/investorideascom

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May 29, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Analyst Bill Newman with Mackie Research Capital Corp. provided a post-Q1/18 update on this energy firm.

In a May 17 research note, Bill Newman, an analyst with Mackie Research Capital Corp., reported that Pan Orient Energy Corp. (POE:TSX.V) delayed commencement of spudding the Anggun-1X well a month to October 2018, as it has yet to receive the requisite permits. Once they're in hand, construction should start immediately. "A successful well could be a major catalyst for the stock," Newman added.

This high-impact well sits about 5.6 kilometers to the northwest of the Ayu-1X well and about 70 meters "structurally updip at the Gumai sandstone level," explained Newman. Anggun-1X will target a large prospective resource at both the Batu Raja formation and the Gumai sandstone reservoir that the Ayu-1X and Elok-1X wells previously encountered. The dry hole cost is an estimated "US$15.4 million (US$15.4M), or US$7.55M net to Pan Orient's 49% interest."

In Thailand, at the L53/48 concession, which Pan Orient has a 50.01% working interest in, Q1/18 oil production was lower than anticipated. Average net production of 182 barrels a day (182 bbl/day) compared to Mackie's estimate of 245 bbl/day. In contrast, cash flow during the quarter beat expectations, coming in at CA$818,000 versus a forecasted CA$634,000 "due to a higher-than-expected realized oil price of $75.50 per barrel," Newman wrote.

Also in Q1/18, Pan Orient completed several well workovers at L53/48 and plans to do three more starting in July. In Q4/18, the company intends to drill one exploration well and one appraisal well at L53-B. Cash flow should fund these Thailand projects.

As for the energy company overall, it ended Q1/18 with "a strong balance sheet and no big work commitments," noted Newman. At quarter's end, it had no debt and CA$31.6M in cash and CA$36.8M in working capital, the latter essentially unchanged since year-end 2017. Ultimately, Newman pointed out, the company has "financial flexibility to fund high-impact exploration."

Therefore, Mackie maintained its Buy recommendation on the company. With Pan Orient's stock currently trading at roughly CA$1.15 per share, Mackie's CA$3.25 per share price target represents a greater than 180% projected return.

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: Pan Orient Energy. 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. As of the date of this article, officers and/or employees of Streetwise Reports LLC (including members of their household) own securities of Pan Orient Energy, a company mentioned in this article.

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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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May 29, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Almost 5500 miles (8,800 kilometers) . That's the distance between Pyongyang and Rome. It seems a lot, right? But not for gold, the truly global monetary asset. In recent days, the price of the yellow metal has immediately reacted to the developments around both North Korea and Italy. What has happened?

Love Is a Battlefield

As Pat Benatar beautifully sang, love is a battlefield. The same applies to the gold market. The chart below shows the price of gold in 2018. As one can see, the price of the yellow metal dived on May the 15th below $1,300 just to rebound several days later.

Chart 1: Gold prices in 2018 (London P.M. Fix, in $).

What happened? Well, gold plunged because of the rebound in the greenback. The U.S. dollar strengthened partially (aside the Eurozone's problems and rising yields on American Treasuries) because of the eased conflict over the Korean Peninsula. President Trump was supposed to meet with the North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June. But Trump pulled out of the June the 12th summit on Thursday, sending gold prices again above $1,300. Diplomatic negotiations are a battlefield. However, as the chart below shows, the jump was temporary and the price of gold has gradually fallen since Friday. As we constantly repeated, geopolitical factors in general, and threats from the North Korea in particular, have only short-lived and limited impact on the gold prices.

Chart 2: Gold prices (London P.M. Fix, in $) from May 25 and May 28.

Good Morning Italy with Your Elections

Fast teleportation to Italy with the spaghetti al dente, strong coffee, and political instability. On Monday, Italy's President Sergio Mattarella nominated Carlo Cottarelli, a former International Monetary Fund official, as interim prime minister with the goal to pass the next budget and to plan snap elections in the autumn or early next year. The decision to appoint Cottarelli, was a surprising move, as it means a conflict with the anti-establishment forces which gained the majority of votes in March elections. President Mattarella vetoed the 5-Star Movement and League's choice of a euro-sceptic Paolo Savona as economy minister, because he had threatened to pull Italy out of the Eurozone. He explains this move, saying:

The uncertainty over our position has alarmed investors and savers both in Italy and abroad. Membership of the euro is a fundamental choice. If we want to discuss it, then we should do so in a serious fashion.

Hence, President clearly wanted to calm financial markets. But it might be a bear's favor. You see, snap elections may lead to an even stronger mandate for the country's populist parties. The President's decision might be interpreted as desperate and disrespectful for popular vote establishment's maneuver to remain in power. It is grist for the populist's mill. Hence, the euro declined again the U.S. dollar, as investors are afraid that anti-euro forces will strengthen in Italy.

And more weakness might come. The Italy's snap election in autumn could create a problem to ECB which considers to start winding down its quantitative easing program by September. If the central bank postpones the reduction of its monetary accommodation, the U.S. is likely to strengthen further, putting the yellow metal under downward pressure.

Implications for Gold

As we have argued in our Gold News Monitor and Market Overview for a long time, gold behaves like a currency. But it's not a typical currency, as it is not linked to any particular country or economy. Gold is a real international monetary asset, the ultimate safe haven against global turmoil. Indeed, on Thursday, its price jumped in reaction to Trump's cancellation of the meeting with Kim Jong Un.

But it started to decline soon after, partially to the revived hopes that the U.S. President would eventually meet with the North Korean leader (investors should always remember about Trump's unique negotiation and communication style). But the gold prices reacted also to the developments in the Old Continent, i.e. to concerns about the snap election in Italy. Adding to these worries was news that Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy would face a vote of confidence on Friday (as dozens of people linked to the ruling center-right People's Party were convicted of corruption). Another potential hit for the euro. In consequence, Italian and Spanish borrowing costs relative to Germany's increased substantially. So the U.S. dollar bulls should have a good time for a while. But we cannot say the same about gold bulls, at least in the near future. Investors should also remember that the Volcker rule might be soften soon, which should support the financial sector, reducing additionally the safe-haven appeal of gold. Stay tuned!

If you enjoyed the above analysis, we invite you to check out our other services. We provide detailed fundamental analyses of the gold market in our monthly Market Overview reports and we provide daily Gold & Silver Trading Alerts with clear buy and sell signals. If you're not ready to subscribe yet and are not on our gold mailing list yet, we urge you to sign up. It's free and if you don't like it, you can easily unsubscribe. Sign me up!

Disclaimer: Please note that the aim of the above analysis is to discuss the likely long-term impact of the featured phenomenon on the price of gold and this analysis does not indicate (nor does it aim to do so) whether gold is likely to move higher or lower in the short- or medium term. In order to determine the latter, many additional factors need to be considered (i.e. sentiment, chart patterns, cycles, indicators, ratios, self-similar patterns and more) and we are taking them into account (and discussing the short- and medium-term outlook) in our trading alerts.

Thank you.

Arkadiusz Sieron

Sunshine Profits' Gold News Monitor and Market Overview Editor

All essays, research and information found above represent analyses and opinions of Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA and Sunshine Profits' associates only. As such, it may prove wrong and be a subject to change without notice. Opinions and analyses were based on data available to authors of respective essays at the time of writing. Although the information provided above is based on careful research and sources that are believed to be accurate, Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA and his associates do not guarantee the accuracy or thoroughness of the data or information reported. The opinions published above are neither an offer nor a recommendation to purchase or sell any securities. Mr. Radomski is not a Registered Securities Advisor. By reading Przemyslaw Radomski's, CFA reports you fully agree that he will not be held responsible or liable for any decisions you make regarding any information provided in these reports. Investing, trading and speculation in any financial markets may involve high risk of loss. Przemyslaw Radomski, CFA, Sunshine Profits' employees and affiliates as well as members of their families may have a short or long position in any securities, including those mentioned in any of the reports or essays, and may make additional purchases and/or sales of those securities without notice.

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May 29, 2018 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Jamie Keech of Capital Exploits talks with Maurice Jackson of Proven and Probable about what he sees as the benefits of investing in Platinum Group Metals.

Maurice Jackson: Joining us today is Jamie Keech of Capitalist Exploits. Today we'll be discussing platinum. Jamie, thank you for talking with me today about platinum. First, tell us about Capitalist Exploits.

Jamie Keech: Capitalist Exploits is a blog that's run by Chris McIntosh, who is a macro investor. He also runs a small fund called the Asymmetric Opportunities Fund, which he invests his own money in and looks for asymmetric opportunities all over the world. In the last few months, I've partnered with Chris and we're launching a new service for our readers called Resource Insider. Resource Insider is going be focused purely on the natural resources sector, primarily mining and metals. We're going to be looking for opportunities and recommendations for our readers about how to get the best rewards and the best returns in the mining and metals space.

Maurice Jackson: Since we're discussing precious metals today, what is your thesis on stewardship of precious metals?

Jamie Keech: I was thinking about this this morning and I put precious metals into two categories. I look at them either as an investment or a store of wealth, and in terms of an investment, I look at it like any other investment. Sometimes it's a good investment, sometimes it's a bad investment. If you bought gold or a gold security or ETF at the top of the market in 2012, obviously it would've been a bad investment. Today, given the political situation in a lot of places in the world, given the economic situation, given the sovereign debt of a lot of nations, I'm starting to think of gold and other precious metals as a very good place to put money. I get exposure to that mostly through securities and I've invested junior exploration companies. I've invested in development and operating companies, as well as royalty and streaming companies.

Now, the other way to answer your question is, do you also look at gold particularly, but precious metals in general, as a store of wealth? That's a totally different ballpark. I would make the case that any serious investor should have some part of his or her portfolio in precious metals, particularly gold, as a way to essentially hedge against catastrophe. If you lacked faith in fiat currencies, having that as a store of your money means you're not so dependent on any one government or any one country. So the percentage you're going put into precious metals is really going to depend on your personal portfolio, where you live, your general level of paranoia at the state of the world. But I do think precious metals, and gold in particular, are a very important part of any investment portfolio, as that underlying safety net.

Maurice Jackson: Speaking of gold and silver, that's what a lot of precious metals investors focus on and they overlook the platinum group metals. For someone new to the fundamentals of platinum, please provide us with a 10,000-foot narrative.

Jamie Keech: Platinum's a funny metal in a lot of ways or rather I should say it's a funny precious metal, because it's the industrial precious metal. Whereas gold is almost 90+ percent used as a store of wealth or in jewelry, platinum's a lot different. Something like 40% of platinum gets used in the automotive industry, particularly catalytic converters. Another big chunk does get used for jewelry, around 30%, and then there's 20% in the industrial space such as medical equipment because platinum's a very sterile metal.

Only 3% of platinum is actually bought and held as an investment opportunity, compared to gold or silver, which are obviously much higher. So that's the underlying ownership fundamentals of platinum. Now from a high-level perspective, almost all of the world's platinum comes out of South Africa and in terms of buyers, the biggest buyers are of course the automotive industry and using it for catalytic converters for diesel cars.

Maurice Jackson: Let's get into the supply and demand fundamentals for platinum. What can you share with us regarding supply?

Jamie Keech: As I was just mentioning, the vast majority of platinum and platinum group metals in general, that includes palladium and rhodium, comes from South Africa. That country produces somewhere in the order of 70, 80% of all platinum group metals. It holds 80% of the world's platinum reserves. So I think totally there's about 160,000 kilograms of platinum produced every year. Something on the order of 110,000 of those comes from South Africa. That's followed at a pretty far distance by North America and then third would be Russia. While platinum does come out of Russia, the majority of the platinum group metals that we're seeing from there is actually palladium and I believe that Russia is the number one or else a close number two producer of palladium in the world right now. The South African mines are starting to dry up. The cost of platinum has dropped to a level that it's getting very hard to mine it economically and then you're seeing these social shifts occurring right now in South Africa that's putting the industry in jeopardy.

South Africa recently elected a new prime minister called Cyril Ramaphosa. He came in as a very pro-business, pro-development politician, but since that time he's turned around on that. One of the things that he's starting to instigate right now is I believe 30% black ownership of the mines. That's an increase from what had previously been in place. That's going to stir things up a little in terms of the ownership and the profitability of these mines. And then there's also really an underlying movement right now from the EFF, which is the other prominent party. I think it's the Economic Freedom Fighters. It wants to nationalize all land ownership and that includes mines and natural resources. In terms of supply, you're really seeing a constraint on platinum and platinum group in general and it's not yet been picked up in the other parts of the world.

Now obviously Russia has its own complications right now in the world and in North America, you're just not seeing the mines or the deposits come online to fill the gap that's inevitably going to be left by South Africa. But with so much coming from South Africa, the supply is really dependent on the political climate of that nation, and I look at platinum right now as one of the most interesting ways to be short South Africa.

Maurice Jackson: This is a perfect storm of events here, you have geopolitical turmoil, the cost of production, water shortages. It's just leading to what could be a spectacular event here in platinum. Now what can you share with us regarding demand?

Jamie Keech: Demand is interesting and what's going on right now, or at least what I see going on, is the concept of demand and the actuality of demand are not matching up. So the vast majority of platinum and platinum group metals goes to the automotive industry, particularly as we noted, catalytic converters for diesel burning cars and trucks. Now with the new electric vehicle craze that's taking the world right now, the narrative's going like this. There are going to be electric vehicles that take over the world, we're not going need fuel burning vehicles anymore. We're not going to need diesel because we don't need diesel, we don't platinum. So there's this perception that platinum's not going to be necessary to the same degree that we've seen in the past, but this doesn't really actually match up what's going on right now.

If you look at the numbers, there's actually a deficit of platinum every year of a couple hundred thousand ounces. We're seeing growth still throughout China and the third world and it's not going to be realistic to assume we're just going to inject electric vehicles there. I mean a lot of these places, diesel is the obvious and only choice in terms of automotive transport. Additionally, what you're seeing with the skyrocketing palladium prices and rhodium prices, these metals have been traditionally more used with gasoline powered engines as opposed to diesel powered engines, Palladium is at an all-time high (dating back to the last 10 years) or nearly an all-time high right now, rhodium has over doubled in price in the last year. So these are getting to a price where car manufacturers are going to start thinking about using platinum instead of palladium in gasoline engines as well. In terms of demand, you're seeing it in the automotive industry and it's going to continue to be in the automotive industry. Beyond that, about 20 to 30% of the world's platinum is used in jewelry, and then you have a small amount that's used for other industrial metal as well, as we said primarily medical supplies.

Maurice Jackson: I want to play devil's advocate here, Jamie. Palladium, can it be used in diesel engines?

Jamie Keech: I would say that it's unlikely that it will be used in diesel engines and the reason for that is in the average platinum group deposit, platinum makes up about 60% and palladium makes up about 30%. So there's always going to be proportionally less palladium available. I don't know if there would be a realistic case for manufacturers switching from platinum to palladium.

Maurice Jackson: Now what are the global costs of production versus all-in sustaining costs on platinum?

Jamie Keech: Right now the platinum price is $927 an ounce. The South African cost of production, the average price of cash cost is $950 per ton or the all-in sustaining costs are $1,100 per ounce. So it's costing $1,100 per ounce of platinum to pull it out of a mine in South Africa right now and they're only able to sell it for $927. So obviously this is a situation that can't go on indefinitely.

Maurice Jackson: In global relative terms, what percentage of investors owns gold, silver and then platinum?

Jamie Keech: I couldn't even speculate on what percentage of investors own gold or silver, but I would say only 3% of the world's platinum is held as an investment. I believe the vast majority of this is in Japan. So a tiny, tiny portion of people hold platinum as an investment.

Maurice Jackson: If I'm not mistaken, platinum is 30 times more rare than gold. Is that correct?

Jamie Keech: That's close. Platinum that has been mined is about 30 times more rarer than gold, so extracted platinum. It's actually very similar to the level of gold found in the earth's crust, but the deposits are harder to find and we've been less successful at extracting it previously. I believe platinum wasn't even really discovered until the 18th century and that's when it was thought to be a combination of gold and silver. It was discovered by Conquistadors in South America and for the longest time, what limited us from accessing and extracting platinum effectively was the processing methods for it.

Maurice Jackson: Now is there a catalyst that will change the supply and demand fundamentals for platinum?

Jamie Keech: I mean we've touched on this earlier, but the biggest catalyst is political changes in South Africa. If the mines are nationalized, all of a sudden, the platinum market is going to explode. We've seen grumblings of this already. Sibanye, the South African platinum miner, is one of the biggest in the world. Sibanye Gold recently bought, I believe in December 2016, the Stillwater mine in Montana for $2.2 billion. This is one of the biggest platinum miners in the world. Its in South Africa, the biggest platinum producer in the world, the most reserves and resources in the world, and it is actively looking for deposits outside of the country. I'd say that tells us a lot, that even the companies that are most familiar with this market are aware of the risks in South Africa, and they're trying to hedge that right now. In terms of EV, electrical vehicles, of course this can have an effect and if everyone's driving electrical vehicles, there is going to be a lesser demand for platinum, but that's not realistically five years out, that's not realistically even 10 years out. And at today's prices, miners cannot keep mining. It doesn't make sense. They're losing money on every ounce they produce on average. So something has to change.

Maurice Jackson: When we say something has to change, how long do think it'll take for that change to occur? And I'm referring to the price change that we should see in platinum.

Jamie Keech: The real answer is I don't know, but if I had to guess, I would guess within the next 12 months, and the reason for that is there's been a deficit the last several years in platinum produced versus demand. That deficit is expected to increase right now and I assume it's only a matter of time until people start to clue in on this. The other aspect is we've seen a big run in both palladium and rhodium; I mentioned this before. Palladium had an all-time high last year, rhodium more than doubled in price and platinum has just continued to be in the doldrums, and I think it's going to start to follow suit soon. I couldn't give an accurate date of when that will be, but I would say sooner rather than later.

Maurice Jackson: Relative to the price of gold, how often is platinum below the price of gold?

Jamie Keech: I think platinum has actually only been below the price of gold two times or so in the last 30 years and the last one was in the late 1990s or early 2000s and then now, where we are today. So generally platinum's almost like the opposite of gold. Gold thrives on volatility and uncertainty and the price of gold spike in those events, whereas platinum has traditionally thrived in stable economic environments. And one of the big reasons for this is the fact that platinum is a functional commodity, so it's used in building cars primarily. So in good environments, more people are buying cars and we're seeing more platinum be used. But that's not happened over the last few years and it's very out of whack to what traditionally we would be seen. So it's an unusual occurrence.

Maurice Jackson: With regards to platinum, I see anomalies and distortions because it's below the price of gold and more recently below the price of palladium. How often does that occur?

Jamie Keech: For both to happen at the same time? I'm not sure that's ever occurred or not in recent history.

Maurice Jackson: Jamie, you survived the storm. Last question here for you. What did I forget to ask?

Jamie Keech: I would say the question you forgot to ask is the best way for people to get exposure to platinum. And I'm in a way glad you forgot to ask that because I'm not entirely sure yet and that's something we've been looking at Capitalist Exploits, finding promising deposits run by good companies with great management teams outside of South Africa, outside of Zimbabwe, outside of Russia. And there are not very many there. So that's something we're going to have our eyes peeled on the next few months and we're looking for opportunities then.

Maurice Jackson: If investors wish to get more information regarding Capitalist Exploits, please share the contact details.

Jamie Keech: Please check out our website, which is capitalistexploits.at or you can find me on Twitter, which is jamie_keech, and I'll respond to any questions you might have.

Maurice Jackson: And as a reminder, we are licensed to buy and sell precious metals through Miles Franklin Precious Metals Investments. The website is www.milesfranklin.com. Are we biased? Absolutely and we practice what we preach. We've been aggressively adding to our platinum positions. If you want to buy or sell precious metals, email me at maurice@milesfranklin.com.

And last but not least, please visit our website www.provenandprobable.com where we interview the most respected names in the natural resource space. You may reach us at contact@provenandprobable.com.

Jamie Keech of Capitalist Exploits, thank you for joining us today on Proven and Probable.

Maurice Jackson is the founder of Proven and Probable, a site that aims to enrich its subscribers through education in precious metals and junior mining companies that will enrich the world.

Disclosure:

1) Statements and opinions expressed are the opinions of Jamie Keech and Maurice Jackson and not of Streetwise Reports or its officers. They are wholly responsible for the validity of the statements. Streetwise Reports was not involved in the content preparation. Jamie Keech and Maurice Jackson were not paid by Streetwise Reports LLC for this article. Streetwise Reports was not paid by the author to publish or syndicate this article.

2) This 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.

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Back in mid-April, the Russian telecom watchdog had asked Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store after banning the app across the country based on a court order.

A month later, Telegram continues to be available on the App Store. This is why the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications or Roskomnadzor has again demanded Apple that it removes the app from the App Store and stops sending Russian users push notifications regarding it.

In order to anticipate Roskomnadzors likely response to the violations regarding the operation of the aforesaid Apple, Inc. services we are asking you to notify us within the tightest deadlines of the companys further actions regarding the solution of these issues,Roskomnadzor said in a statement.

Apple now has one month to report on its efforts taken to remove Telegram from the App Store. Alexander Zharov, head of Roskomnadzor refused to provide details on what actions the telecom watchdog can take if Apple fails to reply.

We sent them [Apple] a legally binding letter and are awaiting their legally binding reply. Because Apple, like other transnational companies, is a company with a high degree of red tape, we expect the reply within a month, Zharov told Interfax on Monday.

Apple has previously removed apps from the iOS App Store at the request of the government. The company removed hundreds of VPN apps from the iOS App Store in China and recently started removing those apps which relied on the CallKit framework, all on the request of the Chinese government and to comply with the local regulations there.

[Via Interfax
Rumors continue to circulate on the internet about Kenya Moore's future on. Multiple reports are claiming that the former Miss USA beauty queen may not be returning to the Bravo hit reality series for the show's upcoming eleventh season.According to, Kenya has lost her peach. They reported: "Sheree wasnt the only one who lost her peach . . . Kenya Moore didnt receive a her letter either and several of my well informed sources revealed that all this time she has pretended as if she did."The gossip site also claims that "Kenya may possibly be relegated to friend status, adding that "as of todays date, [Kenya] doesnt have a peach and is not scheduled to return to the show for season 11."Meanwhile,claims that Moore has been invited back to RHOA as a full-time peach and is currently negotiating her contract. However,reports that she has been demoted to a part-time role for Season 11.Shooting starts in two weeks, an insider revealed to, and Kenya will not hold a peach!Execs arent even sure if Kenya will be a friend on the show, the source revealed about Moores future with the show. Shes been fired as a full-time housewife. She just hasnt delivered anything that people want to watch. So shes out.A final decision hasnt been made on Kenya, but she is definitely not a fulltime housewife, said the insider.Currently, the full time cast for Season 11 includes Cynthia Bailey, Kandi Burruss, NeNe Leakes and Porsha Williams, with Friends of the Housewives Marlo Hampton and Shamea Morton set to return.Apparently, "two peaches up for grabs and Eva Marcille will most likely be one of them."adds that at least three women are being tested for the show's upcoming eleventh season.As previously reported, Sheree Whitfield was not asked back and Kim Zolciak-Biermann confirmed that she was "done" with the show after the explosive RHOA Season 10 reunion.What are our thoughts? Sound off in the comments below!Photo Credit: Bravo
Arman Tatoyan meets with Dunja Mijatovic

On May 28, Armenian Human Rights Defender Arman Tatoyan had a working meeting in Strasbourg with the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner Dunja Mijatovic. The Ombudsman, congratulating her on assuming the office of the Commissioner of the Council of Europe, presented the activities of the Staff during the April and May events in Armenia. In those days, the commissioner's support and constant contact with the Ombudsman were particularly important. In the course of the meeting the Obdusman's work was discussed in connection with the protection of the rights of peaceful protest participants, discussion of complaints against police actions, etc. They also discussed the programs implemented by the Obdusman's Staff in the protection of women, children, the rights of persons deprived of their liberty, guarantees of journalists' work and in a number of other spheres. Dunja Mijatovic attached importance to the role of the Human Rights Defender, impartial professional approaches, as well as effective work on the protection of rights and assessments. At the end of the meeting, the sides agreed to strengthen cooperation and activate joint work.
Johnny Melikyan: PM is likely to visit Javakhk (video)

President Sargsyan's visit to Georgia was very important for inter-state relations. Geoscientist Johnny Melikyan said this at a news conference today. "There were very important meetings with foreign leaders who were in Tbilisi. President Sargsyan's speeches covered by the media in a very positive way, and there were some responses from the expert community. " According to Johnny Melikyan, a positive background is created in the Armenian-Georgian relations. This is a continuation of the former relationship. Mr. Melikyan thinks the situation has matured when an opportunity has been created to deepen the relationship and enter a new phase. "On the positive side, an official visit will take place tomorrow, the newly-elected PM and the Armenian delegation. The agenda will be saturated, and most likely, there will be a visit to Javakhk will be given. "
Head of polyclinic N 16 resigns (video)

Head of Polyclinic N 16 of the Kanaker-Zeytun community was released from work. This was announced today by the head of the Yelk faction David Hazhakyan. Let us remind you that the members of the Yelk (Way Out) Council of Yerevan municipality were warned about abuses at the medical institution. "He resigned after we visited the polyclinic. "After that, the mayor was presented with a collection of signatures of the majority of employees who had a preferred candidate, the former deputy director. Employees of the polyclinic appealed to the mayor to appoint him." According to the head of the Yelk faction, today the Mayor's Office received information that another medical worker, a sonographer, who is not accepted by the staff, is being appointed as acting head: "The members of the collective say, if he becomes the head of the polyclinic, it will be like before or even worse. And they turn to the mayor, saying designate the candidate they prefer, who they can work with. If the Mayor makes such a mistake and appoints this woman, the employees say that they will hold a strike. "


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Boaters line up last summer in the lagoons near Kelownas Delta Grand hotel to use the boat lock. This summer should be great for boating in the Okanagan if the Weather Networks prediction of a hot and dry July and August comes true.
A Police officer stands watch at the scene of an explosion at a restaurant in Mississauga, Ont., on May 25, 2018. Police say they will be providing an update today on the investigation into an explosion last week at a Mississauga, Ont., restaurant that injured 15 people. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Cole Burston
A search is underway on Vancouver Island for two British Columbia men who have not been seen for almost a week. The RCMP in Ucluelet are looking for the public's assistance in locating two males who were last seen on May 16th. Daniel Archibald is seen in an undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-RCMP, *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Stratford Police sit outside the Stratford Festival's Festival Theater after a bomb threat caused the cancellation of the opening night performance of "The Tempest" in Stratford, Ont., on Monday, May 28, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Geoff Robins
Finance Minister Bill Morneau speaks about the Trans Mountain Expansion project at a press conference in Ottawa on May 16, 2018. Finance Minister Bill Morneau will announce as early as Tuesday morning where the government plans to go with Kinder Morgan to ensure the controversial Trans Mountain pipeline expansion gets built.There are three options on the table, which include the government buying and building the expansion, then selling it once it's complete; and buying it on an interim basis, then selling it to investors and leaving them to handle the construction. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Patrick Doyle
FILE - In this March 7, 2012, file photo, the Columbia River flows past the Vista House on Crown Point, right, with Beacon Rock visible in the distance near Corbett, Ore. Talks are scheduled to begin Tuesday, May 29, 2018, in Washington, D.C., to modernize the document that coordinates flood control and hydropower generation in the U.S. and Canada along the Columbia River. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)
A marijuana plant is seen before harvesting at a rural area near Corvallis, Ore. in this Sept. 30, 2016 file photo.A Senate committee has voted to amend the federal government's cannabis legalization bill to allow provinces and territories to ban home-grown marijuana. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP/Andrew Selsky
Frank Ostrowski, who has been freed on bail while his murder conviction is being reviewed, talks to reporters in Winnipeg on December 18, 2009. A Manitoba man imprisoned for 23 years for first-degree murder before spending the last nine years on probation is on the verge of having his name cleared. Lawyers for the Crown and defence told the Manitoba Court of Appeal on Monday that they agree Frank Ostrowski's 1987 conviction in the shooting death of a drug dealer was a miscarriage of justice and cannot stand. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Steve Lambert
Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.'s shares traded higher after the federal government announced it would buy its controversial Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion. A sign warning of an underground petroleum pipeline is seen on a fence at Kinder Morgan's facility where work is being conducted in preparation for the expansion of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, in Burnaby, B.C., on Monday April 9, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland and staff make their way to the National Press Theatre in Ottawa on Wednesday, May 23, 2018. Freeland is kicking off her two-day visit to Washington with meetings at the office of the U.S. trade representative, site of intensive NAFTA talks over the last several weeks.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Minister of Finance Bill Morneau speaks during a Committee of the Whole in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on May 22, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang
FILE - In this March 23, 2018, file photo, Roseanne Barr arrives at the Los Angeles premiere of "Roseanne" on Friday in Burbank, Calif. Barr has apologized for suggesting that former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett is a product of the Muslim Brotherhood and the AuPlanet of the Apes.Au Barr on Tuesday, May 29, tweeted that she was sorry to Jarrett Aufor making a bad joke about her politics and her looks.Au Jarrett, who is African-American, advised Barack and Michelle Obama. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel, center, stands with other officials, police and the general public during a moment of silence for shooting victims near the City Hall in Liege, Belgium, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. A gunman killed three people, including two police officers, in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday. Police later killed the attacker, and other officers were wounded in the shooting.(AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
In this May 21, 2017 photo, cows rest in a paddock on a farm near Invercargill, New Zealand. New Zealand plans to slaughter about 150,000 cows as it tries to eradicate a strain of disease-causing bacteria from the national herd. Politicians and industry leaders announced the ambitious plan Monday, May 28, 2018. They say it will cost hundreds of millions of dollars, and, if successful, would be the first time an infected country has eliminated Mycoplasma bovis.(AP Photo/Mark Baker)
Smoke rises following an Israeli strikes on Gaza City, early Wednesday, May 30, 2018. Palestinian militants bombarded southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortar shells while Israeli warplanes struck targets throughout the Gaza Strip in the largest flare-up of violence between the sides since a 2014 war. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)
SAGINAW, Ore.  Many community members who live in the Saginaw area said they are struggling with the loss of the Whitsell Mill because they said it played a big role in the community.



The mill has been there for decades and for some it was a place of employment. Some had family connections. Others interacted with it in their daily lives and in the course of business.

READ MORE: Fire destroys Whitsell mill in Saginaw

Noreen High, a resident, said she went to the mill about two or three times a week to get wood for the past few years.

"It's terrible, I have nowhere else to go to get any wood. Now I'll have to buy it and that's tough," High said. "I worry more about the people that worked here and their jobs."

Many residents said they are also concerned about what this means for the mills employees and their families.

Michelle Lockard said the loss of the mill is personal to her. Her grandfather used to work there and she knows people who recently did. She said this is the time for community members to step up and lend a helping hand.

"You know this community needs to come together and help all these families who have lost all their jobs until we can get something going again for all those families out here," Lockard said.

She said some of the impacted families will likely need help with things like food, gas and rent. She said right now, everyone should do what they can to help.

Lockard said she is hoping officials can figure out the cause of the fire quickly so the mill can rebuild.
DUBLIN (AP)  Irish voters overwhelmingly repealed a constitutional ban on abortions and asked the countrys parliament to enact laws that reflect the popular will and make abortions legal in the country for the first time, final results from a historic referendum showed Saturday.

Elections official Barry Ryan said more than 1.4 million voters, or 66 percent of those who cast valid ballots, favored repealing the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution while roughly 724,000 wanted to keep the abortion ban in place.

The outcome was a historic victory for womens rights in a traditionally Catholic country. The size of the win exceeded expectations and will make it much easier for Irish women to obtain abortions legally for the first time.

It will also make it easier for the government to claim a mandate for more liberal laws when the divisive issue goes to parliament later this year.

The vote will remove a 1983 amendment that required Irish authorities to defend the lives of a woman and a fetus equally on almost all abortions.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar called the result the culmination of a quiet revolution.

The people have spoken, said Varadkar, a medical doctor who campaigned for repeal in Fridays historic referendum. The people have said that we want a modern constitution for a modern country, that we trust women and we respect them to make the right decision and the right choices about their health care.

Varadkar said the large margin of victory will give his government a greater mandate when drafting abortion legislation that will be submitted for parliamentary approval in a matter of months.

Voters were asked whether they wanted to keep or repeal the Eighth Amendment to Irelands Constitution, which requires authorities to treat a fetus and its mother as equals under the law from the moment of conception. It outlawed all abortions until 2014, when the procedure started being allowed in rare cases when a womans life was in danger.

Campaigners who have fought for more than three decades to remove the Eighth Amendment abortion ban from Irelands Constitution hailed the referendum vote as a major breakthrough for the largely Catholic nation.

This is a monumental day for women in Ireland, said Orla OConnor, co-director of the Together for Yes group. This is about women taking their rightful place in Irish society, finally.

The vote is a rejection of an Ireland that treated women as second-class citizens, she said, adding: This is about womens equality and this day brings massive change, monumental change for women in Ireland, and there is no going back.

The referendum will likely end the need for thousands of Irish women to travel abroad  mostly to neighboring Britain  for abortions they cant get at home.

The mood was jubilant at Dublins Intercontinental hotel, where the Together For Yes group was celebrating its apparent victory.

Some supporters had tears of joy running down their cheeks, and many women hugged each other. Cheers erupted every time partial results were shown on two big screens transmitting the latest television news.

There were cheers when the vote tally was announced at Dublin Castle. More than 1,000 people gathered outside the castle, singing, chanting, and toasting one another with champagne as they waited for the official announcement.

Opponents of the repeal movement conceded defeat earlier.

John McGuirk, spokesman for the Save the 8th group, told Irish television Saturday that many Irish citizens will not recognize the country they are waking up in. The group said on its website that Irish voters have created a tragedy of historic proportions, but McGuirk said the vote must be respected.

You can still passionately believe that the decision of the people is wrong, as I happen to do, and accept it, he said.

Exit polls from the Irish Times and broadcaster RTE had suggested the Irish people have voted by nearly 70 percent to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

The RTE poll indicated that about 72 percent of women voted yes along with about 66 percent of men. The strongest backing came from younger voters  the exit poll said the only age group in which a majority voted no were voters who are 65 or older.

Surprisingly, the poll also suggests that supporters of more liberal abortion laws may have triumphed throughout the country, not just in the cosmopolitan capital, Dublin, where a strong youth vote had been anticipated.

Irelands parliament will be charged with coming up with new abortion laws in the coming months. The government proposes to allow abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, with later terminations allowed in some cases.

Katherine Zappone, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, said she is confident new abortion legislation can be approved by parliament and put in place before the end of the year.

I feel very emotional, she said. Im especially grateful to the women of Ireland who came forward to provide their personal testimony about the hard times that they endured, the stress and the trauma that they experienced because of the eighth amendment.
MASON CITY, Iowa - The Mason City Police Department is investigating a stabbing reported on Monday afternoon.

Officers were called to a home on the 1100 block of E. State St. Once on scene, they say they found a victim who had been stabbed. A second person at the residence was arrested on an outstanding warrant.

Police are not confirming if the person who was taken into custody is the suspect in the stabbing investigation. Stay with KIMT for more information on this developing story.
Alliant Energy called in extra crews and prepared for an all-nighter after a storm left thousands without power in north Iowa after a severe thunderstorm.

Justin Foss, an Alliant Energy spokesman, said they hope to have all homes back on by tonight and early (Tuesday) morning."

Alliant Energy is reminding people not to get near or drive over downed power lines.

Watch: Drone footage captures storm damage in and around Clear Lake.

You can follow updates on the outages from Alliant Energy here.

Related: Images from the storm.



1:30 pm update: Alliant Energy says power will be restored to all but 100 customers by mid-afternoon Tuesday. The remaining should have power back by midnight.

11 a.m. update: As of 11 a.m., 691 Alliant Energy customers were still without power in north Iowa.

8:50 a.m. update: Alliant Energy said 828 customers are still without power in north Iowa.

6:25 a.m. update: According to its online outage map, Alliant Energy said 935 customers in north Iowa are still without power.

5:30 a.m. update: 1,023 customers are without power.

8:45 p.m. update: Alliant Energy is reporting 8,582 outages in north Iowa.

8 p.m. update: The number of outages has eclipsed 10,000, according to Alliant Energy. The number of reported outages reached 10, 615.

7:40 p.m. update: The outages have dropped to 8,885 in north Iowa.

7:20 p.m. update: The number of outages has risen to 9,474, according to the online outage map.

7 p.m. update: The number of Alliant energy customers in north Iowa without power is at 9,263, according to its online outage map.

6:45 p.m. update: The number of Alliant Energy customers without power is nearing 9,000. According to the outage map, 8,853 customers don't have power.

6:15 p.m. update: More than 8,000 people are without power as a severe thunderstorm rolls through north Iowa.

According to the Alliant Energy outage map, 8,002 people are without power as outages affect people in Hancock, Cerro Gordo and Worth counties.

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MASON CITY, Iowa - A Mason City couple is accused of having between 50-100 counterfeit Iowa and Wisconsin drivers licenses and identifications.

Aleksandr and Galina Sagaydak, of Mason City, are facing charges for ongoing criminal conduct and felony forgery and are being held in the Cerro Gordo County Jail on $25,000 bond.

A search warrant was executed May 8 at 1601 6th Place SE and investigators located the licenses and manufacturing equipment used to produce the counterfeit state drivers licenses and IDs, the criminal complaint said.

Authorities said the two were traveling to department stores in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin and fraudulently purchased goods using fake IDs to avoid detection.

This happened on a continuing basis, the complaint states.
DECORAH, Iowa  Court dates have been set for the South Carolina couple arrested in Winneshiek County with their two-year-old daughter.

William Ray, 44, has entered a not guilty plea to 2nd degree theft. His trial is scheduled to begin on August 1. Jessica Ray, 36, has a hearing set for May 31 on a charge of 5th degree theft. They were arrested on May 17 after having gone missing in April with their daughter, Dakota Ray, when she was going to be removed from their home by social services.

William Ray is charged with theft because he was arrested while driving a van that had been stolen in South Carolina. Jessica Ray is accused of stealing a womans purse in Le Mars. They are also facing charges in South Carolina for disappearing with their daughter.

Authorities described both William and Jessica Ray as being heavy into meth.
GARNER, Iowa  An accused meth dealer is pleading not guilty.

Corey David Tangman, 31 of Crystal Lake, is charged with two counts of conspiracy with intent to deliver methamphetamine. Authorities say they searched Tangmans home in October 2017 and found meth and marijuana paraphernalia, scales, baggies, and drug notes.

He was charged in April and his trial is set to start on July 11.
BLUFFTON TOWNSHIP, Iowa  Five people were arrested Sunday after authorities responded to a possible emergency on the Upper Iowa River.

The Winneshiek County Sheriffs Office says there were several reports around 4 pm about kayakers possibly in distress near Cattle Creek Road. Deputies, the Decorah Fire Department, the Iowa State Patrol, and the Iowa Department of Natural Resources all went to the area. They found five individuals who were taken to the Winneshiek County Jail for public intoxication.

Those arrested are:

Randall Rau, 52 of Oelwein.

Timothy Wright, 50 of Oelwein.

Jolene Wright, 44 of Oelwein.

Rachel Wright, 21 of Oelwein.

Nicole Wright, 18 of Oelwein.
AUSTIN, Minn.  A guilty plea has been entered in a Mower County case where authorities say a woman was abducted and assaulted.

Ryan Arthur Sanvick, 45 of Sargeant, entered a guilty plea Tuesday to one count of 1st degree criminal sexual conduct. He was arrested in December 2017 and charged with four counts of criminal sexual conduct, two counts of kidnapping, two counts of 2nd degree assault, and one count of domestic assault by strangulation.

He was accused of holding a woman prisoner on December 11, 2017, beating her, raping her, and threatening to cut out her eyes and kill her.

Sanvicks trial was scheduled to begin on Wednesday. His sentencing is now set for October 11.

For previous coverage of this story, click here.
ROCHESTER, Minn.  A tip from a social worker led to the arrest of a man accused of stealing eight swords from a home.

Cordell Young, 64, of Rochester, is facing a first-degree burglary charge after authorities say he was involved in stealing eight decorative swords from a home in the 200 block of 10th Ave. NE.

The incident was reported May 23 and police say Young admitted to being involved. Authorities also said Young pawned off a number of different kinds of knives and swords May 24.

Authorities say based on the description of the man involved, a social worker recognized the description and told police she had knowledge that Young has been known to steal things.
AUSTIN, Minn. -- The top three music ensembles at Austin High School spent their Tuesday performing at six primary schools-- Sumner, Banfield, Southgate, Neveln, I.J. Holton, and Ellis.

Austin High School director of choirs Brian Johnson is set to retire at the end of the school year, but he hopes his students remember to act as rolemodels for younger students. "We talk a lot about that both in how we behave when we're listening to performances and how we perform on stage--all of that self-discipline that goes into making music together," he explains.

Jazz One, La Fiera, and Austinaires performed for the elementary students.
(Kitco News) - Gold and silver prices are moderately lower in early U.S. trading Tuesday. A very strong U.S. dollar and a slumping crude oil market are trumping an uptick in geopolitical tensions early this week. June Comex gold futures were last down $6.30 an ounce at $1,297.20. July Comex silver was last down $0.161 at $16.385 an ounce.

World stock markets were mostly lower overnight. U.S. stock indexes are also pointed toward lower openings when the New York day session begins.

Geopolitical risk is squarely on the front burner of the marketplace early this week. The Italian president on Sunday blocked an anti-establishment government from forming. There is also an upcoming election in Spain, where the right-wing candidate is expected to do well. All of this is putting strong downside pressure on the Euro currency, which fell to a seven-month low against the U.S. dollar overnight.

The U.S.-North Korea nuclear summit may be back on, as the U.S. has sent a team of negotiators and planners to Singapore to set up the summit meeting between U.S. President Trump and North Korean President Kim Jong Un. However, given recent North Korean actions, the summit could quickly be off again.

U.S. Treasuries are seeing some safe-haven demand today, on geopolitics. While gold prices are not seeing much of a safe-haven bid, so far, the Italian and Spanish political uncertainty could boost the yellow metal if the marketplace perceives those two countries as moving away from the European Union bloc of countries.

The key outside markets today find Nymex crude oil prices lower, hitting a six-week low and trading around $67.00 a barrel. Last Fridays bearish weekly low close and the recent steep downdraft are technical clues the market has put in at least a near-term top. U.S. oil production is at an all-time high and Russia and Saudi Arabia have pledged to open their oil spigots some more. Slumping oil prices are an underlying negative for the raw commodity sector, including the precious metals.

Meantime, the U.S. dollar index is solidly higher and hit a 10.5-month high, as the greenback continues its surge higher, partly on perceived safe-haven demand.

U.S. economic data due for release Tuesday includes the S&P/Case-Shiller home price index, the consumer confidence index and the Texas manufacturing outlook survey.

Technically, June gold bears still have the slight overall near-term technical advantage. Prices are still in a seven-week-old downtrend on the daily bar chart. Gold bulls' next upside near-term price breakout objective is to produce a close above the May high of $1,326.30. Bears' next near-term downside price breakout objective is pushing prices below solid technical support at the May low of $1,281.20. First resistance is seen at last weeks high of $1,307.20 and then at $1,309.00. First support is seen at the overnight low of $1,294.60 and then at $1,286.70. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 4.5

July silver futures bulls and bears are back on a level overall near-term technical playing field, amid recent choppy trading. Silver bulls' next upside price breakout objective is closing prices above solid technical resistance at $17.00 an ounce. The next downside price breakout objective for the bears is closing prices below solid support at the May low of $16.07. First resistance is seen at todays high of $16.53 and then at last weeks high of $16.74. Next support is seen at $16.28 and then at $16.19. Wyckoff's Market Rating: 5.0.
SEOUL (Reuters) - A senior North Korean official is headed to New York to discuss an upcoming summit, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, the latest indication that an on-again-off-again meeting between Trump and North Koreas leader may go ahead next month.

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you! Trump said in a Twitter post.

Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers Partys Central Committee, was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency said, citing an unidentified source.

The talks indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week in a letter to the Norths leader, Kim Jong Un.

A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

Kim Yong Chol will be the most senior North Korean official to meet top officials for talks in the United States since Jo Myong Rok, a marshal, met then-President Bill Clinton at the White House in 2000.

Analysts believe the United States is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree to sufficient steps toward denuclearisation to allow a summit to take place.

North Korean leader Kims de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing late on Monday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

At the same time, a pre-advance U.S. team was in Singapore to meet North Koreans.

In Singapore, a team of U.S. officials, with a fleet of idling vehicles on standby, was at a hotel on the resort island of Sentosa but declined to comment.

NUCLEAR NEGOTIATIONS

North Korea has faced years of isolation and economic sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs since it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

But events have moved quickly since Kim Jong Un made a conciliatory New Years address at the end of last year, following months of sharply rising tension.

The latest flurry of diplomacy began on Saturday, when Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting on at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-U.S. summit must be held.

On Sunday, the U.S. State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led the U.S. delegation, an official told Reuters.

Sung Kim will meet North Koreas foreign ministry official Choi Sun Hee again on Wednesday on the border, Yonhap reported, citing a diplomatic source, adding that the agenda for the Trump-Kim summit would be roughly worked out.

While likely substantive, those discussions could be upstaged by any talks between Kim Yong Chol and officials in the United States, said Evans Revere, a former senior diplomat who dealt with North Korea under U.S. President George W. Bush.

We now know that the main discussion of the agenda and any possible deal will take place (in the United States), not in Panmunjom, he said

The future of North Koreas nuclear program, U.S. security guarantees and coordination for a Trump-Kim summit are likely to be at the top of the agenda, analysts said.

The most important agenda item would be the method of denuclearisation, said Moon Sung-mook, a former South Korean military official who negotiated with Kim in the past. We can expect that Kim is visiting the U.S. in order to do final coordination ahead of the June 12 summit.

In Kim Jong Un and Moons first meeting on April 27, they agreed to seek the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula - but didnt define what that meant, or how that would proceed.

Since then, North Korea has rejected U.S. demands for it to unilaterally abandon its nuclear program that experts say could threaten the United States.

North Korea also demanded the United States stop military exercises with South Korea if it truly wished for talks with North Korea, the Norths Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.

South Koreas defense ministry said it did not have plans to change exercise schedules with the U.S. military.

North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programs as a deterrent against what it sees as U.S. aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

SENIOR VISIT

A former military spy chief, Kim Yong Chol has played a central role in the recent thaw in relations between North Korea and South Korea, as well as the United States.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted him for supporting the Norths nuclear and missile programs in 2010 and 2016, respectively, so a visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.

During his tenure as a senior intelligence official, Kim was accused by South Korea of masterminding deadly attacks on a South Korean navy ship and an island in 2010. He was linked by U.S intelligence to a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014.

North Korea denied any involvement in the attack on the ship and on Sony Pictures.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was going there to play, according to Nippon Television Network.

Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North American issues, was also spotted at Beijing airport, according to Yonhap. It did not say whether Choe would be accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

China said it had no information to offer on any North Korean officials traveling to the United States via Beijing.

Meanwhile, Japan said it had detected what appeared to be a Chinese-flagged vessel, 350 km (218 miles) off Shanghai, conducting illegal transfers to a North Korean ship.

China has repeatedly said it is fully enforcing U.N. sanctions against North Korea and it would punish any Chinese company breaking them.
Shenandoah, IA (51601)

Today

A few showers in the evening with thunderstorms developing overnight. Low 59F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph..

Tonight

A few showers in the evening with thunderstorms developing overnight. Low 59F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 80%. Winds could occasionally gust over 40 mph.




By Grace Lee





Dahyun, a member of K-pop girl band TWICE, celebrated her 20th birthday on Monday.





She posted a photo of her hand-written letter to fans, referred to as ONCE, on TWICE's main Instagram account, @twicetagram.





It translates:

"Thanks to ONCE I had a very happy birthday. Not only is my (Dahyun's) birthday important, but everyone's birthday is also important. I was happy as much as the sky and as much as the land, and for making my birthday special, I thank ONCE. ONCE is the best, of course. Those who wished me happy birthday, and our ONCE, I love you. I hope ONCE has a happy day. #HAPPYDAHYUNDAY #ONCE"





Dahyun returned to Korea the afternoon of her birthday after finishing the Japanese tour TWICELAND ZONE 2: Fantasy Park.







Grace Lee is a Korea Times intern.


By Kim Yoo-chul



Bithumb, Korea's largest cryptocurrency exchange, has joined international initiatives to toughen regulations on cryptocurrency trading by banning the use of its platform in North Korea, Iran and nine other countries.



The cryptocurrency exchange announced it will take additional measures to ensure anti-money laundering compliance with the country's laws.



"Bithumb has shut down all trading operations in 11 countries including Iraq, Iran, North Korea and eight others due to potential money laundering, terrorism funding and other illegal activities which may pose a threat to the global financial system," Bithumb spokesman Choi Yong-soon said.



Choi said the latest measure is mostly aimed at increasing transparency in the exchange's operations, while complying with all regulatory measures.



"The new rule went into effect May 28. Bithumb will take additional steps to make crypto-trading much more transparent," Choi said, adding the exchange will mandate overseas investors to pass an identification verification process if they want to trade crypto assets listed on the exchange.



All named countries are on the Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories (NCCT) list made by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an inter-governmental body that combats money laundering. The NCCT is a list of countries the FATF believes don't have sufficient laws to prevent money laundering.



In a statement, Bithumb added it will no longer accept new investors and users from the 11 NCCT-blacklisted countries, and in addition will disable all accounts of existing users June 21.



The announcement came months after local prosecutors searched Bithumb's headquarters on suspicion of tax evasion, though no criminal activity has yet to be proven. Earlier, the United States asked the financial authorities in Korea, China and Japan to join forces to investigate unregulated exchanges and to check their anti-money laundering records.



The Financial Supervisory Service (FSS) welcomed Bithumb's decision and said it was talking with other agencies to soften regulations on cryptocurrency policies.



"The Bank of Korea reached a consensus to view digital tokens as financial assets but not as currencies. The latest step by Bithumb seems to have been encouraged from recent money laundering cases in Japan, wherein millions of dollars were flushed out for illegal activities through anonymous cryptocurrencies named Monero and Dash," an official said.



As a follow-up measure, Bithumb will strictly comply with the government-set "5.5.7 Regulation," in which the FSS mandates a financial institution hire at least 5 percent of its staff as IT experts and 5 percent as data privacy employees, while allocating a minimum of 7 percent of its budget for data protection.



"Twenty-one percent of our employees are IT experts, while the portion of employees managing data privacy policies is 10 percent. Bithumb was spending 8 percent of its total budget on various data protection activities," Choi said.



Bithumb is the world's fifth-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume.


By Yoon Ja-young





Coway CEO Lee Hae-sun

The country's major air purifier manufacturers including Coway and Chungho Nais have been fined 1.5 billion won in total for misleading advertising.



The Fair Trade Commission (FTC) announced Tuesday it levied 1.5 billion won in penalties on six air purifier manufacturers for misleading consumers regarding the function of their products through advertising.



The country's air purifier market has been growing strongly during the past few years amid increasing concerns about fine dust. According to the 2016 Environmental Performance Index (EPI) released by researchers at Yale and Columbia universities, Korea ranked 173rd among 180 countries surveyed about air quality. The air purifier market is expected to reach 2 trillion won this year, doubling from 2016.



However, it turned out that air purifier companies exaggerated their products' functions in ads.



Coway, for instance, advertised between 2009 and 2016 that its air purifier filters 99.9 percent of harmful viruses in the air. It added the function was proven by five research institutes, including those in Japan and China.



Winix also promoted in a home shopping catalog and on its website that its product kills 99.9 percent of colon bacteria, pseudomonas aeruginosa, staphylococcus aureus and salmonella.



"We provide healthy air, getting rid of not only dust but also bacteria, fungus, diverse harmful bacteria and smell," it noted in the ad.





Chungho Nais CEO Lee Seok-ho
By Jhoo Dong-chan



Credit card companies have decided to file a complaint with the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) against Chinese UnionPay for unilaterally raising its foreign transaction fees.



The domestic card firms have paid the Chinese card payment firm the fees on behalf of Korean customers, but decided to bring the case to the FTC after UnionPay raised its transaction fees from 0.6 percent to 0.8 percent last year.



In a bid to expand its market presence, UnionPay had exempted domestic card users from fees when it first entered the Korean market. However, it has raised the foreign transaction fees since an increasing number of Korean customers started using it for cross-border shopping.



"Visa also recently raised foreign transaction fees. Now, UnionPay raised the fees only in Korea," said a Hyundai Card official.



"There is no international payment firm in Korea. Korean customers have no option but to use international firms such as MasterCard, Visa and UnionPay. Without leverage to control their unilateral fee policy, they are likely to take advantage of Korean customers."



Domestic card firms, including KB Kookmin, Lotte, Shinhan, Samsung, Woori and Hyundai Card, reportedly protested UnionPay's decision last year, but the Chinese firm pushed ahead regardless.



They also filed a complaint with the FTC against Visa for the same reason _ the case is currently being reviewed. The inspection results are scheduled to be released next month.



Domestic card companies said they will bring the UnionPay case to the FTC as soon as the results come out.



"They changed their stance as nearly 30 million UnionPay cards have been issued in Korea," said an industry observer.



"Domestic credit card firms are experiencing difficulties in sales as more Korean customers buy products directly from overseas markets."



These firms said they will also review their plan to stop paying the fees for customers.



"UnionPay's decision will burden Korean customers. If they continue exercising the unfair practice in Korea, it will discourage customers' purchasing morale and eventually hamper their sales in the long term," the observer added.



Established in March 2002, UnionPay is the world's largest card payment organization based on payment transactions, plans and number of cards issued, ahead of Visa and MasterCard.






By Kim Jae-heun







The Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has teamed up with China's largest IT firm Tencent to increase Chinese visitors to Korea.







The two sides reached the business agreement at the KTO's Seoul office, Tuesday.







Under the agreement, they will cooperate on a variety of businesses designed to promote Chinese tourists to Korea and help them travel Korea easily.







In addition, the Chinese company plans to encourage their employees to visit Korea and enjoy shopping and eating _ two favorite activities of Chinese tourists to Korea.







Tencent, whose market capitalization is $470 billion (507 trillion won), is mainly doing business in the fields of social media messengers, games and online payment services.







It operates China's top social media app WeChat with 1 billion active users.







In that respect, the KTO plans to take advantage of Tencent's big data collected on Chinese travelers' overseas trips and improve ways to cater to Chinese tourists.







The tourism body expects the new deal to bring Chinese tourists back to Seoul.







Angered by Korea's decision to deploy an advanced U.S. missile defense system here, the Chinese government banned travel agencies from selling Korea travel packages in March 2017 _ a move hitting the nation's tourism industry that was heavily dependent on Chinese tourists.







The KTO will release summer season-specialized ads through WeChat Moments and other video platforms. It also plans to offer promotion for 48,000 executives and employees of Tencent.







"Tecent is China's largest IT firm that operates various online platforms and owns an incredible amount of users. It is the best company to promote our tourism within China," a KTO official said.







"We are seeing positive signs and improvements in our tourism market with Chinese tourists. However, we still have a few more barriers to overcome. We hope the new deal will increase momentum in recovering our relationship with Chinese tourists."






Poster for the 2018 Seoul International Book Fair
U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Monday to meet ahead of the president's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, the White House said.



Trump and Abe spoke by phone after the U.S. leader canceled his June 12 meeting with Kim, citing "open hostility" from the regime, and then put it back on track.



They "confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea," the White House said in a statement.



"The President and Prime Minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs."



If held, the Trump-Kim meeting in Singapore will focus on dismantling the North's nuclear weapons program. Tokyo has urged Washington to also address the issue of North Korea's short- and medium-range ballistic missiles, which pose a direct threat to Japan, and the unresolved abductions of Japanese citizens by Pyongyang decades ago.



U.S. officials have been in meetings with their North Korean counterparts on the inter-Korean border and in Singapore, raising expectations the summit will be held as planned. (Yonhap)




In this image made from video, Kim Yong-chol, center, a former military intelligence chief who is now Kim Jong-un's top official on inter-Korean relations, walks upon arrival at Beijing airport in Beijing Tuesday, May 29, 2018. He was at North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's side at the table in last weekend's North-South summit, and had been a prominent senior official in other important talks. It was not possible to confirm the reason for his visit to Beijing, or if he would be traveling on to another destination. / AP



By Kim Bo-eun

Vice Chairman of the Central Committee of the North Korean Workers' Party Kim Yong-chol is to visit the U.S., Wednesday, for what appears to be high-level talks, amid a flurry of preparations for the Pyongyang-Washington summit that is presumably to be held June 12 in Singapore.

Kim is set to take a flight to New York departing at 1 p.m., Wednesday. He arrived at the Beijing Capital International Airport a day earlier.

He is expected to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to finalize the framework for North Korea's denuclearization ahead of the summit. Kim was accompanied by Choe Kang-il, a diplomat in charge of U.S. affairs, who was also seen at the airport.

He will be the highest ranking North Korean official to visit the U.S. since 2000.





In this image made from video, Kim Yong-chol, in white, a former military intelligence chief who is now Kim Jong-un's top official on inter-Korean relations, walks upon arrival at Beijing airport in Beijing Tuesday, May 29, 2018. / AP



Ahead of Kim's visit to the U.S., working-level talks took place at the truce village of Panmunjeom between delegations led by the North's Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui and U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, who was a former ambassador to South Korea and the top envoy for the six-party talks for North Korea's denuclearization.

Kim Yong-chol, regarded as the right-hand man of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, has played a key role in arranging the North Korea-U.S. summit. He held meetings with Pompeo, alongside the North Korean leader when the U.S. secretary of state made two earlier visits to Pyongyang in March and May.

The earlier meetings focused on how to guarantee the North Korean regime's security by establishing diplomatic relations with the U.S. in return for Pyongyang giving up its nuclear program.

In March, Kim Jong-un told South Korean envoys who visited Pyongyang that the regime had no reason to have nuclear weapons if its security was guaranteed.

The meeting this time is likely to nail down the deal ahead of the summit, after it was cancelled due to a series of verbal provocations from the North, and then revived after a surprise meeting between Kim Jong-un and President Moon Jae-in, Saturday. Kim Yong-chol was the only official from the North who accompanied the North Korean leader when he held the secret meeting with Moon at Panmunjeom.

Speculation has grown that the preparatory meetings for the summit may discuss North Korea sending nuclear weapons to the U.S. as a token of its willingness to move toward denuclearization.

The U.S. has stated it is ready to trade with and invest in North Korea if it achieves complete denuclearization.





In this image made from video, Kim Yong-chol, in white, a former military intelligence chief who is now Kim Jong-un's top official on inter-Korean relations, walks upon arrival at Beijing airport in Beijing Tuesday, May 29, 2018. / AP



Meetings for the summit also took place in Singapore between the North's Kim Chang-son, chief secretary of the National Defense Commission Secretariat, and Joe Hagin, White House deputy chief of staff of operations, to discuss protocol and security affairs for the summit.

Meanwhile, the U.S. postponed additional sanctions on North Korea as the two states prepare for the summit, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal that cited U.S. officials.

The sanctions targeting over 30 companies including Chinese and Russian entities with business ties to the North were planned to be announced Tuesday, following the initial cancellation of the summit.
The Istana, or presidential palace, in Singapore. / Captured from Wikipedia



By Park Si-soo



Singapore's presidential palace, also known as the Istana, could host the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump, a report said on Tuesday.



Citing unidentified diplomatic sources, South Korean newspaper JoongAng Ilbo daily reported that the Istana is one of the places under consideration as the summit venue.



"Istana could be the venue," JoongAng quoted a source as saying, "considering the magnitude and sensitivity of the summit."






Apart from large immigration offices like the Seoul Immigration Office, above, smaller venues across the country are short-staffed. A banner at the Seoul office's entrance says "The first-class country in the world together with foreigners."



By Ko Dong-hwan



The South Korean government is short of immigration officers, causing a delay to screening highly skilled foreigners who have applied for permanent residency in Seoul.



There are not enough immigration officers to evaluate applications and issue F-5 visas, with processing time taking up to one year for each applicant.



While some large immigration offices, including ones in Seoul and Suwon, have a dedicated window for these applicants, and can therefore speed the process, smaller regional branch offices have a much more limited workforce. In worst case, a single official is burdened with carrying out the whole process, from registration to evaluation. In the smaller venues, whether they are skilled or not, applicants must queue in a single line and wait for their turn.



"We know we need to deal with the highly skilled foreigners more quickly to help them acquire permanent resident status," said a deputy from the Korea Immigration Service. "But the bottom line is that we are short staffed. We cannot afford to operate a separate line to handle the educated group."



According to the deputy, foreigners with exceptional professional backgrounds made up less than two percent of F-5 visa applicants. Most applicants are those with spouses of Koreans or Koreans who are citizens of another country. The applications are basically processed in order, not selectively.



"We have loads of migrants who are married to Koreans and Koreans from foreign countries seeking the visa," the deputy said. "And in most marriage migrant cases an investigative official must visit the applicant's residences or ask their Korean spouses to verify his/her backgrounds before deciding to approve a visa. After all, it is all done by humans, not by simply crunching numbers on calculators. We cannot just make way for highly skilled foreigners and put them through first while ignoring the rest of the applicants."



The processing time basically depends on how long the investigation takes. Although an application might be registered before various other ones, if the investigation period is extended by being referred to different departments for further investigations, another later application could be processed more quickly.



"Our shortage of workers must be resolved but, as you know, it takes almost forever for the government to increase any department's workforce even by one because of our budget and all the other financial issues that must be approved from the top," the deputy said.



Another immigration service official told The Korea Times that unlike other working visas with a "quota"  a limited number of acceptable applicants in a given period  F-5 visas has no quota so the ministry continued to accept applicants.



The situation has angered some highly skilled foreigners who applied for F-5 visas.



A Pakistani senior research engineer at a robotics company in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province, who applied for F-5 visa in March, said an immigration official told him he would have to wait at least a year for his application to be processed.



"The immigration office is processing applications of highly skilled personnel along with those who are applying for F-5 only because they have a Korean spouse," the engineer told The Korea Times. He graduated from Korea's advanced science and technology institute KAIST and has been working in the country more than five years.



He said he had been communicating with officials from the Immigration Policy Division about the matter, but they had stopped responding.



"With the Korean government trying hard to prevent a brain-drain, it's important to process the applications of skilled people from the science, technology, engineering and mathematics field on a priority basis," he said. "People like me did not apply for F-5 just because they married some Korean citizen. We applied because we have education, skills and talent that we can share with Korean society."


By Kim Rahn



Japan seems to be desperate to get involved in the ongoing nuclear negotiations among the two Koreas and the United States, amid concerns that it has been sidelined in talks ahead of the historic summit between the U.S. and North Korea.



The situation may have resulted because of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's hawkish stance toward Pyongyang, as Japan was the only neighboring country that put maximum pressure on the North before having dialogue, even after the reconciliatory atmosphere began.



Abe had a phone call with U.S. President Donald Trump, Monday, and agreed to meet soon before Trump's planned summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, June 12.



Abe may either visit the U.S. before participating in the G7 meeting to be held in Canada, June 8 and 9, or have a summit with Trump in Canada on the sidelines of the gathering.



The two met in Florida, April 17 and 18 as well ahead of the April 27 inter-Korean summit.






As the U.S. military relocates out of Yongsan Garrison, Yongsan Legacy aims to archive the living memories of those who served, worked and lived there. This is one of them.  ED.



By Marsha Altvater





Richard S. Mead, a veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, passed away in 2010. / 2018-05-24 (The Korea Times)

I was born in Yongsan to an unwed Korean mother and an American GI. But unlike many other Amerasian children, mine was an atypical story. I was brought up in a Korean family home, unlike so many like myself who were either abandoned or put up for adoption. For this, I will be forever grateful to my grandmother, since I know my birth brought great shame to our family. Also unlike many of the others, I have always known who my father was and what he looked like from pictures. He, too, did not abandon me.



My father was a young MP during the mid-1950s assigned to Yongsan when he met my mother. Toward the end of his tour, he finally got his command's approval for their marriage. However, my mother decided she didn't want to leave her family to marry him. After he relocated to Germany, she discovered she was pregnant. When she contacted him to let him know, he promised he would return and take me back to the U.S. She corresponded with him and his family about my birth and sent pictures over the years to let them know how I was doing. He returned after eight years, and I went with him to the U.S. in 1965.





Marsha Altvater is pictured as a baby in the arms of her mother. / Courtesy of Marsha Altvater / 2018-05-24 (The Korea Times)

To me as a Korean-American child, Yongsan Garrison was a place that was forever behind an impassable gate. One day, I decided to go in search of my father. From the outhouse window of my home you could see the road and the gate leading to the garrison across a gully between the two. One time, my mother held me up to the window and told me my father had worked at the gate.






Korean death metal band Seed appears in the documentary "K-Pop Killers" by Ian Henderson and Michael O'Dwyer. / Courtesy of Michael O'Dwyer



By Jon Dunbar



K-pop consistently upstages all other music made in Korea, including in this article, even in the title of the heavy metal music documentary "K-Pop Killers" by U.S. expats Ian Henderson and Michael O'Dwyer.



The movie lets Korea's extreme metal underground take center stage. Korean metal history stretches back to the 1980s and covers a wide variety of subgenres, performed by highly skilled Korean men and women across many generations. But after the rise of idol groups, ironically championed by former Sinawe bassist Seo Taiji, metal took a nosedive into the underground.



Henderson and O'Dwyer, two bald-headed metalheads, dedicated the better part of the last two years to telling this story. In separate interviews, they both described the 90-minute film as their "love letter" to the scene and the country they have called home for years.



"It's kind of my love letter or swan song to the scene that's been like my family for the past decade," said Henderson, who's been in Korea almost a decade and spent most of that time connected to the local metal scene.



"It's really my love letter to Korea," added O'Dwyer, a photographer, "especially the underground music scene."





Ian Henderson (left) and Michael O'Dwyer / Courtesy of Michael O'Dwyer

Korea's metal scene is often designed in opposition to dominant cultural forces, especially the K-pop industry named in the film title.



"The name itself is supposed to represent diametrically opposed sentiments," Henderson explained. "The whole movie pits images and ideas against each other."



"K-Pop, or at least the shadow of it, is ever-present in the background," O'Dwyer said.



"In Korean modern life K-pop music and idol group members are everywhere. A lot of the subjects in the documentary consciously made a decision to pursue a music and style that is on the polar opposite of K-pop style and what they feel it represents. Korean society is changing quickly but there's still a huge collective/societal pressure to conform, so even just liking extreme metal made by Korean musicians that play in tiny clubs in Mullae puts one in the societal fringes. So participating in the metal scene with all that pressure the fans and musicians are acting on a deep urge to express themselves or rebel."





A metal band performs in GBN Live House in Mullae-dong, the metalworking district that has become the heart of Korean heavy metal music. / Courtesy of Michael O'Dwyer



Both speak highly of the technical proficiency and dedication of Korean metal bands.



"Very few bands have members that phone it in or are out of sync," O'Dwyer said. "I've been back in Texas for a couple of months now," he said, "and I'm appalled now when I see a touring band drown out their shows in distortion or play sloppily."



They also speak highly of the diversity present in Korean metal bands. O'Dwyer says the top three subgenres are death metal, metalcore and grindcore, saying the latter is getting increasing international recognition, with some magazines and bloggers calling Korea the "new home of grindcore." But there is also classic heavy metal, thrash, black metal, doom metal and many others.



"It's all here _ there's something for everyone who is interested in metal," O'Dwyer said. "You really can't pigeonhole this scene; for me that's why it's so fascinating. Without a navigator it can be difficult to know where to start, but at Korean shows there's always a mix of genres."



But Henderson emphasizes the film isn't just for fellow metalheads; he hopes everyone can learn something bigger about Korea through its extreme metal scene.



"Although the main narrative thread is metal, I made sure to make it big enough in scope to hold the interest of people who really couldn't give a rat's ass about metal," Henderson said. "It's more about Korea, through the lens of metal."





Death metal band Fecundation appears in heavy metal documentary "K-Pop Killers." / Courtesy of Michael O'Dwyer





They spent just over a year filming live footage, and band and street interviews. They interviewed dozens, including venue owners like Lee Yuying of GBN Live House , Kirk Kwon of Thunderhorse Tavern and Jay Lee of 3Thumbs. They also talked with legendary bands such as Baekdoosan and Mahatma, as well as young bands like doom metal band Gonguri and black metallers Kryphos, whose music video O'Dwyer previously produced , and others whose names are too profane to print.



Working without a budget, the pair instead dedicated their lives to filming. Henderson learned the discipline to wake up at 6 a.m. on weekends, editing the film over six months.



"This certainly has been the biggest single endeavor of my life," Henderson said. "We started in November 2016 and planned and shot for just over a year. I've been organizing and editing for the past six months. I think I will have surpassed 1,000 hours myself by the time I'm done."



O'Dwyer, who lived in the remote mountain city of Taebaek throughout production, traveled to Seoul weekly to take part.



"Making this film really was like sprinting uphill while having a refrigerator strapped to your back!" laughed O'Dwyer, who like Henderson worked full-time as a teacher on the side. "It was a rare week that I didn't spend at least a day actively working on some aspect of this documentary."



Both added they reached out to about a dozen others for research, translation and archival footage.



The two feel strongly about Korea's metal scene, as shown in the scale of their endeavor. The documentary helped them rationalize their experience and create a "testimonial," in Henderson's words.





Ian Henderson (middle) and Michael O'Dwyer (right) work on production of their documentary "K-Pop Killers." / Courtesy of Ian Henderson
By Kim Rahn



The Cabinet approved a measure Tuesday to appoint an independent counsel to investigate allegations that a blogger tied to the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) rigged online comments for political purposes.



The approval came after the National Assembly passed a bill last week to launch a special investigation into the online opinion rigging led by the blogger nicknamed Druking, who allegedly contacted President Moon Jae-in's key aides, including DPK lawmaker Kim Kyung-soo and presidential secretary Song In-bae.



Moon presided over the Cabinet meeting and approved the measure, although he had a right to refuse it.



According to the law, the National Assembly speaker is required to ask the President to appoint an independent counsel, and within three days he has to request the opposition parties suggest candidates for the role.



The opposition parties then have five days to have four people recommended by the Korean Bar Association, select two of them and recommend the two to the president, who will have three days to pick one of them.



The probe team can have three assistant independent counsels, 13 prosecutors, 35 inspectors and 35 public servants. It can continue its probe for 60 days. The period can be extended once for 30 days.



Druking and some other members of a Moon supporters' group claimed Rep. Kim tacitly agreed to their campaign of using illegal software to manipulate online opinions. Kim flatly denied the claim, saying he was willing to face the independent counsel's investigation.



It was found later that Druking also met Song four times before the presidential election and gave him money for attending a conference organized by the blogger. Cheong Wa Dae said that through its internal inspection it concluded there was no illegality involved.


Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha, left, and Defense Minister Song Young-moo talk to each other while walking toward a Cheong Wa Dae room, Tuesday, to join in a Cabinet meeting chaired by President Moon Jae-in. / Yonhap



By Lee Min-hyung



Joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States are likely to become a key topic at the denuclearization talks between the U.S. and North Korea.



The Rodong Sinmun, the North's mouthpiece newspaper, published an op-ed article claiming the drills as a major source of security concern in Northeast Asia.



"It is an international practice for two negotiating sides to refrain from any military activities," the article said.



"When the U.S. deploys strategic nuclear weapons during the joint military exercises with South Korea, all the ongoing dialogue momentum will return to the original state."



Seoul-Washington military exercises have for years drawn a strong backlash from North Korea. But as the country has rarely shown any peace gestures to Seoul and Washington until recently, no negotiations have been possible over the drills.



With the first-ever summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un approaching, the North is raising its voice against the drills.



In particular, Pyongyang has in recent months reacted to a series of joint drills by Seoul and Washington. The regime claimed Tuesday that they were harming the ongoing dialogue on the Korean Peninsula, saying they may take the escalating peace momentum back to square one.



The regime last week threatened to cancel a planned summit between Trump and Kim, expressing anger over the Max Thunder joint air force exercises.



As the drills ended their two-week run last week, the regime ramped up criticism of the Ulchi Freedom Guardian (UFG) exercises between Seoul and Washington, annually held sometime around August.



"South Korea is making a fuss that it does not have plans to downsize UFG drills in August," the propaganda newspaper said. It said the exercises are the root cause of breaking up peace and stability on the peninsula, urging their suspension in line with the ongoing dialogue momentum.



But South Korea and the U.S. said they do not have any plans to scale down or cancel any scheduled exercises.



Ministry of National Defense spokeswoman Choi Hyun-soo said Tuesday: "Seoul and Washington have yet to discuss any detailed plans over whether to scale down upcoming joint military drills." But she said Seoul and Washington will proceed with them as planned.


By Park Ji-won



With the June 13 local elections about two weeks away, some foreign residents with voting rights are still having difficulty getting information about candidates because of the language barrier.



The National Election Commission (NEC) has been running an official foreign language website, but they are poorly managed with few updates; they are virtually useless for foreign voters who cannot speak Korean.



From May 27 to 29, foreign residents with suffrage need to visit their local community center or government website for their city, county or district, to confirm whether they are listed as eligible voters and how to find their polling station. Foreigners who find their names missing should ask the center to include them during this period. Otherwise, they might lose the chance to vote.



However, there is no such crucial information on the NEC's official website in English. Rather, there is almost no updated information about candidates running for the elections.



The latest news update on the site is dated April 26 and is lacking in practical voting information; it is about the NEC's moves to enhance ties with Twitter. Meanwhile, in Korean, people can find their name online and see posters at bus stops and near community centers reminding them to check their names are on the voting list. Needless to say, there is no such news in other languages.



There are ways to get updated information about voting procedures in other languages such as English, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese, but it can only be found on a random page of a Korean website called "election information for the elderly and handicapped."



Even that page doesn't include information about candidates.



In 2005, South Korea gave foreign residents in South Korea who have held F-5 permanent residence visas for more than three years the right to vote in local elections. To be specific, currently the minimum qualification for an F-5 visa is grade 2 in a Korean language efficiency test; this level is allegedly not enough to get voting information in Korean.



Eligible foreign voters can vote for chiefs of provinces and cities, local assemblies and superintendents of education. On Jeju Island, permanent residents even have the right to run for election as education superintendent, according to the NEC.



The number of eligible foreign voters reached 48,428 in the last local elections in 2014. That number is expected to rise this year as more people have moved to Korea compared to 2014.



The government's move to give foreigners voting rights was controversial, but took effect anyway, which is unheard of for an Asia country where there are not many immigrants compared to the U.S. and Canada.



It is the government's obligation to provide adequate information for voters. It might not be their problem if there is no such law to give foreigners voting rights. But as far as there are eligible voters who can't rely on information in Korean, the government should make efforts to distribute information through various channels, such as the foreign-language pages the NEC currently operates.



Uploading it only on Korean websites in hard-to-find spots cannot be considered the best way to inform foreign voters.



Needless to say, the lives of residents, even foreign ones, can change based on who runs local communities. That's one of the reasons foreign permanent residents have the right to select their local representatives. In that sense, the government should provide more information on its official websites in foreign languages, especially concurrent information about candidates.



The NEC cannot make excuses that the number of foreign voters is too small for operating the foreign language website properly as the Seoul city government provides up-to-date information in at least six languages.



As more diverse people are living in Korea, voting rights should be guaranteed and backed with enough information.




By Lee Kyung-min



Starting next month, drivers of old, diesel-powered vehicles driven between 6 a.m. and 9 p.m. in Seoul amid fine-dust alerts will be fined 100,000 won ($89), the city government said, Tuesday.



Over 2.2 million vehicles registered before Dec. 31, 2005 will be immediately subject to the ban from June 1. Those equipped with exhaust-reducing air treatment systems will be exempt from the ban. A nine-month grace period will be allowed to drivers of vehicles registered in non-Seoul regions and old cargo trucks that weigh below 2.5 tons as well as drivers with disabilities, giving them time to get equipped with the anti-pollution system.



The alert is issued if three conditions are met: if average daily levels of Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5, a fine particulate matter which is 2.5 micrometers or smaller in diameter, are above 50 microns per cubic meter of air between midnight and 4 p.m.; if the level is expected to remain above 100 microns per cubic meter the following day for more than three hours; and if a fine dust alert is issued in one of nine designated areas in Seoul, Incheon and Gyeonggi Province as of 5 p.m.



Up to 9.28 million won in financial support will be given to install the air treatment systems, the city government said, to owners of vehicles over 2.5 tons registered before Dec. 31, 2005. The city will give up to 7.7 million won to owners of trucks lighter than 2.5 tons, on which such installation is not feasible, who have no choice but to give them up.



The measure is among a slew of efforts to reduce air-pollution including an odd-even vehicle use ban subject only to civil servants, under which vehicles with odd-number plates must not be driven on even-numbered dates and vice-versa. Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, who is seeking a third term in the upcoming June 13 local election, said he would push harder to revise the law to make the odd-even vehicle ban mandatory when the PM 2.5 concentration average is over 50 micrometers for more than two days. Currently, the city can only issue non-binding recommendations with no penalty for people who fail to follow them.



The move comes amid heightened public concern about potential health risks posed by inhaling fine particulate matter known to cause respiratory ailments and weaken the body's immune system, among other health risks. Fine dust refers to particles that are smaller than 10 micrometers and are not caught in the mucous membranes of the nose, but penetrate into the lungs. If a particle is smaller than 2.5 micrometers it is called ultrafine dust. According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer under the World Health Organization (WHO), small particulate matter is classified as carcinogenic to humans. Vehicle emissions are one of the main sources of fine dust that produces PM 2.5.






Lotte Shopping CEO Kang Hee-tae responds to a question during a news conference to update its business strategies held at the Lotte Hotel headquarters, downtown Seoul, Tuesday. Yonhap



By Kim Yoo-chul



Lotte Shopping's decision to sell one of its retail store operations to China's Liqun Commercial Group for 291 billion won would lift Lotte's soundness, a leading credit ratings agency said Friday.



Lotte Shopping recently announced that it will sell 53 hypermarket stores in eastern China to Liqun. The announcement follows its announcement on April 26 that it would sell 21 hypermarket and supermarket stores in northern China to Wumei Holdings, said the company.



"These transactions, which Lotte Shopping is likely to close this year and next, are credit positive because they will improve the company's adjusted debt and pre-tax margin, given the sizable operating losses and adjusted debt associated with its China hypermarket business," Wan Hee Yoo, vice president at Moody's Investors Service (Moody's), said in a report.



The senior credit officer stressed the sales will improve Lotte Shopping's business profile "because of its weak market position in China's highly competitive hypermarket sector."



Lotte Shopping's hypermarket operations in China have been loss-making, and political tension between South Korea and China since March 2017 have further deteriorated the company's performance in China.



According to the company, 87 of its 99 hypermarket stores in China suspended operations at the end of 2017 after its affiliate, Lotte International, agreed to a land swap with the Korean government that allowed the latter to deploy a missile-defense system on the land.



The result was catastrophic as Lotte Shopping reported operating losses of 269 billion in its Chinese hypermarket business, last year, a significant weakening compared with a loss of 139 billion in 2016.



"Operating losses from the hypermarket stores in eastern and northern China accounted for about 83 percent of the total losses in Lotte Shopping's hypermarket business in China in 2017," said the executive in the report.



Lotte said it plans to close down its remaining 21 stores in eastern China and dispose of the remaining stores in other regions as part of its decision to exit its hypermarket business in China.



"Although uncertainties exist about the closure or disposal of the 36 remaining hypermarket stores in China, if we assume that Lotte Shopping successfully disposes of the remainder during the next two years, we expect Lotte's adjusted debt and pre-tax earnings to improve because of a significant improvement in earnings and a decrease in adjusted debt," said the credit analyst.



"A moderate recovery in the operating performance of Lotte Shopping's domestic department store business would also support the improvement. This level of financial leverage is consistent with its current rating level, particularly given its sizable cash balance of about 3 trillion won at the end of March 2018," he added in the report.



In a related note, Lotte Shopping also acquired Lotte.com after it restructured its online shopping mall businesses previously operated by the various affiliates of Lotte Group. Lotte said it plans to invest up to 3 trillion won to expand its online shopping-centric business over the next five years.






By Ned Forney





This past weekend as Americans enjoyed cookouts, beach reading, shopping sprees, blockbuster movie openings and good times with family and friends, many also took time to remember America's military men and women who died in defense of U.S. freedom. It was, after all, Memorial Day weekend.



But there's another group of Americans, far from home and separated from loved ones, who also made it a point to remember those who made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for the ideals Americans and other freedom-loving people around the world cherish.



This weekend I had the pleasure of meeting Lieutenant Colonel Scott "Bobcat" Koltick, USMC, and his family. They had traveled four hours from their home at Yongsan Garrison in Seoul to Geoje Island to be part of a ceremony at the Hungnam Evacuation Memorial, a monument to the December 1950 military and humanitarian operation.



Lt. Col. Koltick, a Marine aviator, Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, and Deputy Commander for Marine Forces Korea, was the honored guest of the event sponsored by the Hungnam Evacuation Memorial Committee, a group of former North Korean refugees and their descendants who make annual pilgrimages to Geoje Island to commemorate the Hungnam Evacuation, the largest military amphibious evacuation of civilians under combat conditions in U.S. history.



The unprecedented two-week-long operation, at the port city of Hungnam on North Korea's east coast, withdrew over 103,000 U.N. troops, mainly U.S. soldiers and Marines, and their equipment, supplies and vehicles, and 100,000 North Korean refugees who were fleeing from the approaching Chinese.



In his speech, Lt. Col. Koltick honored his brothers in arms who fought and died during the Korean War.



"When the U.S. Marines arrived in Korea in 1950, they experienced some of the fiercest fighting imagined ... they fought to stabilize the Pusan Perimeter . . . they led the advance from Incheon to Seoul, and fought to recapture the city of Seoul."



He also talked about the brave men who lost their lives at the Battle of Chosin Reservoir "in some of the bitterest fighting U.S. Marines have ever had to endure" and gave recognition to the courageous refugees who made their way with the Marines through knee-deep snow and enemy fire to Hungnam. He concluded:



"Every day I spend in Korea . . . I am reminded that great sacrifice can produce great results."



The Republic of Korea has evolved from a war-ravaged, impoverished country with few natural resources to one of the world's most dynamic, wealthy, and promising democracies _ all in a span of less than 70 years.



As Americans reflect on Memorial Day, it is altogether fitting and proper that they honor those who sacrificed their lives for the United States and its allies, and remember the American men and women stationed on the front lines of potential flashpoints around the world who continue to protect what our fallen heroes fought for throughout history. These well-trained and dedicated soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines are ready to fight the battles they hope will never come.



Semper Fi!





Ned Forney (ned@nedforney.com) lives in Seoul, where he is writing a book on the Chosin Reservoir Campaign and Hungnam Evacuation.


By Joschka Fischer





BERLIN  U.S. President Donald Trump's decision earlier this month to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement, and to shift toward a policy of renewed sanctions and confrontation, will make the future of the Middle East even more uncertain. The signs in the weeks since have not been encouraging.







Trump's decision cannot be justified by any breach of the agreement on Iran's part. It is, rather, a return to the old, largely unsuccessful U.S. policy of confrontation with Iran. The only difference this time is that the Trump administration seems determined to go to the brink of war  or even beyond  to get its way.







If the administration has any plans for keeping Iran's nuclear program in check in the absence of the nuclear deal, then it is keeping them a secret. Judging by some of the administration's rhetoric, it would appear that airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities are on the table.







But bombing would only delay Iran's nuclear program, not stop it. Would Trump then consider a massive ground war to occupy the country and topple the regime? We know all too well how that strategy worked the last time it was tried.







The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) concluded by Iran and the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China, plus Germany and the European Union, was not intended only to prevent a regional nuclear-arms race or a military confrontation. It was also supposed to be the first step toward creating a new, more stable regional order that would include Iran.







The old order was established by the World War I-era Sykes-Picot Agreement between Britain and France, which largely created the national borders that exist in the region today. A century later, it is clear that the old order has become obsolete, given that it no longer provides any semblance of stability.







Instead, the most important regional players  Israel, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey  have all been vying for influence in the war in Syria, and collectively sliding toward a hopeless conflict for mastery of the entire region. Because no one country is strong enough to eliminate or subdue the others, this escalating struggle promises only years, if not decades, of war.







The region's instability can be traced back directly to the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003. With the toppling of Saddam Hussein's regime, Iran suddenly gained an opportunity to pursue a kind of quasi-hegemony in the region, starting with its Shia-majority neighbor. And after a series of mistakes by the West in Syria, Iran was able to establish an unimpeded presence stretching all the way to the Mediterranean.







This is the backdrop against which the JCPOA was negotiated. The deal was meant to reintegrate Iran into the international order, thereby encouraging it to play a more responsible regional role.







But Trump's decision has foreclosed that possibility, leaving Iran's future role in the region an open question. Make no mistake, though: One way or another, Iran will remain an integral part of the Middle East. It is an ancient civilization that cannot simply be sidelined or ignored, unless one wants to invite even more chaos.







Having abandoned the framework for influencing Iran by diplomatic and economic means, the Trump administration's only alternative now is regime change. Clearly, White House hawks such as National Security Adviser John Bolton have not heeded any of the lessons from the U.S. debacle in Iraq. Given the failure to bring stability to that country or to Syria, it should be obvious that escalating a confrontation with a much larger country like Iran has little to recommend it.







Unfortunately, the JCPOA probably cannot survive the reimposition of U.S. sanctions. European firms are not going to forsake the much larger American market just so that they can maintain ties with Iran. And once Iran loses its economic lifeline from Europe and other parts of the world, it might well decide to restart its nuclear program, or even to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, raising the risk of war.







Moreover, Russia and the U.S. are further undermining nonproliferation by modernizing their nuclear arsenals. Where once their leaders talked about mutually agreed arms reduction and verified disarmament, now they are more interested in miniaturized nuclear warheads that can be used as bunker busters.







When the world's two leading nuclear powers behave like this, the prospect of another major war in the Middle East becomes all the more terrifying. After all, with Russia's deeper involvement in Syria, the risk of a clash between Russian and Western forces in the region has already been growing. And it is not as though Russia would simply give up its new position of strength by abandoning Iran now.







None of this bodes well for Europe, which will be directly affected by an escalation of tensions in the region, owing to its geographic proximity and historic obligations to Israel. In the event, the EU would have to lead on finding a negotiated solution that addresses both the hegemonic intentions of regional players and the issue of nuclear- and conventional-arms control.







For now, Europe must assert itself as a voice of reason, by holding firm to the idea of a peaceful reordering of the Middle East  regardless of how difficult this task may seem at the moment. Europeans know all too well the consequences of endless hegemonic struggles.







The EU was established as a response to a century of war and terror that brought Europe to the brink of self-destruction. The lesson since then has been clear: Only reconciliation and cooperation can ensure a peaceful regional order. Trump's way  hegemony  means chaos.











Joschka Fischer, Germany's foreign minister and vice chancellor from 1998 to 2005, was a leader of the German Green Party for almost 20 years. Copyright belongs to Project Syndicate ( www.project-syndicate.org ).
By Park Jae-hyuk







The founder of the nation's largest gaming company, Nexon, said Tuesday he will not hand over control of the company to his children.







He also vowed to donate more than 100 billion won ($93 million) to Korean society.







Kim Jung-ju, chairman of Nexon's holding firm NXC, announced this plan a few weeks after he was found not guilty on the charge of bribing former senior prosecutor Jin Kyung-joon.







Kim was indicted without detention two years ago for allegedly offering Nexon shares to Jin for free in 2005.







The appeals court recently ruled in favor of Kim, according to a precedent of the Supreme Court.







"During the first trial, I promised to pay off my debt to society, regardless of the ruling on my charge," the chairman said in a press release. "The establishment of Nexon Foundation in February was a part of such efforts."







He also vowed to help establish children's rehabilitation hospitals in major cities nationwide.







After sponsoring establishment of a children's rehabilitation hospital in Mapo-gu, western Seoul, Nexon decided to support opening of another hospital for young patients with disabilities.







The chairman said he will invest in startups founded by young entrepreneurs as well.







Kim also promised to give management rights of his company to a professional manager in the future, not his daughters, who are still under the age of 20.







"I have planned to do so since I founded Nexon in 1994," he said. "Nexon could grow into a large company with passion of our employees and horizontal corporate culture. I think the culture should be maintained for the company's continuous innovation and healthier growth."







Last September, Nexon having more than 5 trillion won in asset was designated as a conglomerate, which faces stricter regulations.







NXC is the largest shareholder of Nexon, which is listed on the Japanese stock market.







Nexon holds all shares of Nexon Korea, which controls affiliates including Nexon Networks and Neople.


Hillstate Geumjeong Station, a high-rise residential complex to be built by Hyundai E&C, is expected to become a regional landmark. / Courtesy of Hyundai E&C



Hyundai Engineering & Construction (E&C) will build five 49-story residential buildings in Gunpo, Gyeonggi Province, turning the site previously occupied by a pharmaceutical factory into a regional landmark.



According to the construction company, it will obtain applications for purchase from prospective homebuyers for the Hillstate Geumjeong Station apartment complex next month. The five residential buildings will harbor 843 apartments, each between 72 and 84 square meters, as well as 639 studio apartments ranging from 24 to 84 square meters.



Linked directly with Geumjeong Station where Seoul Metro lines 1 and 4 cross, the complex boasts excellent public transportation infrastructure. It takes less than 40 minutes from Geumjeong Station to Seoul's Yongsan Station, and less than 30 minutes to Sadang Station. It is also close to Sanbon and Pyeongchon interchanges as well as other major roads.



The complex will also harbor a hybrid shopping mall, combining both street stalls and indoor stores. With a total area of 55,000 square meters, it will include shops, a food court, a brunch zone, a book cafe, facilities for children and a multiplex theater. It is close to major department stores and retail outlets that have been operating in Sanbon and Pyeongchon, as well as elementary, middle and high schools. Also, Hogye Park is within walking distance.



As it is close to industrial complexes including Anyang IT Valley, Gunpo IT Valley and LS Group, there is expected to be solid demand for the apartments. It is also competitive as a new apartment. According to Real Estate 114, a housing market information provider, 70.57 percent of all the apartments in Gunpo were built before 1998, while only 3.62 percent were built less than five years ago. Gunpo is not subject to the government's anti-speculation regulations, leaving investors with wider choices.



Its studio apartments are also expected to see solid demand as 44.4 percent of the households in Anyang and Gunpo comprise only one or two members.



Furniture made of eco-friendly materials will be installed, and all the parking lots will be placed underground. Surveillance cameras will be installed around the complex to enhance security.



The construction company will be applying its IoT system "Hi-oT" at Hillstate Geumjeong Station. Residents can control gates, lighting, gas, heating and ventilation through mobile devices. They can also control their home appliances such as air purifiers, air conditioners and robot cleaners that are IoT-compatible.



"The complex is drawing attention as many residents in the area want to move into new apartments," a Hyundai E&C spokesperson said. "It is likely to become a regional landmark." (Advertorial)






By Jung Min-ho







A group of Chinese men assaulted a British man who had the word "Taiwan" tattooed on his forehead for refusing to say "Taiwan is part of China."





Paul Farrell, who has lived in Taiwan for 14 years, lost two teeth, received a fat lip and ended up with bruises all over his body after 10 Chinese men beat him during his holiday in the southern Cambodian city of Sihanoukville, the Taiwan News reported Sunday.





According to the report, he became embroiled in an argument with them after they tried to pick a fight over the tattoo at a bar.





One of them suddenly shouted "Taiwan-China!" In response, Farrell said, "Taiwan-Taiwan!" And then they "went insane, grabbed poles and started attacking me," he said.





He said at least 10 Chinese men savagely assaulted him, forcing him to say "Taiwan is part of China," as hundreds of bystanders watched the attack.





Fearing for his life, Farrell eventually said: "OK, you think Taiwan is China, I'll say Taiwan is China. I just want to leave."





According to local media, Farrell received widespread attention last October when photos of his Taiwan tattoo were posted on social media. He said he became a naturalized Taiwanese citizen after marrying a local woman seven years ago.


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(St. Joseph,MO) Few people go through something as traumatic as rape, but what if a victim sought help and never got a response?

A preliminary report from Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley revealed there are 4,889 untested rape kits sitting in labs, hospitals and law enforcement offices throughout the state.

Carrie Turner, Training and Outreach Coordinator for the YWCA of St.Joseph said she works with victims of sexual assault on a regular basis.

"When people say 'Your kits not going to be tested' that whole test is really reviolating you again, it's excruciating to go through," Turner said

According to the report, 3,701 of the kits are in the possession of law-enforcement, and 1,188 kits are in the possession of various healthcare providers. When labs are not trying to work on backlogged kits, typical wait times to process a kit can range from nine months to a year. Turner said that large gap in time can make victims hesitant to take their case to court.

"As far as prosecution is concerned, sometimes it doesn't even make it that far, there's just not enough evidence. Sexual assault is a very hard case to prove," Turner said.

Captain Mark Brock, Investigator for the Buchanan County Sheriffs Department, said the report might be inflating concern because the report does not specify a timeframe for how long the kits have been at the lab.

"Of these kits that they say exist, how long have they been in existence? Because some people retain them forever, some people don't," Brock said.

Federal guidelines require the kits to be stored until the conclusion of the statute of limitations for that specific case or a twenty year period. According to Brock, Buchanan County holds the kits indefinitely.

"The Sheriff gladly volunteered to take any and all rape kits. And we would keep them forever if need be. Should we ever need them should the victim want to go prosecute," Brock said.

All victims are entitled to a rape kit test if they choose to do one, however not everyone reports the rape to law enforcement.

In Missouri a victim holds the right to report anonymously by giving details of the assault to law enforcement, without making an official police report. Anonymous reporting allows police to check details of the case against a national database to see if it is occuring in the same area in a set amount of time.

Because of the sensitivity of the crime, many victims choose to report anonymously, but anonymous reporting can cause backlogs, pushing forward on the cases that have pending court cases.

"There are lots of kits that are waiting. Then we have to decide, unfortunately, if there is not an active case is it ok to destroy them?" Turner said.

In April, the Attorney General applied for a $3million federal sexual assault kit initiative grant to develop uniform state practices for processing rape kits.
Naples, May 29 - The FISU Executive Committee will decide where to locate the athletes' village for the 2019 Universiade World University Games in Naples, when it meets on June 15 in Kazan, Russia, said FISU Secretary-General Erik Saintrond, following a Universiade executive commission meeting on Monday at the Mostra d'Oltremare convention centre in Naples. There are two choices being considered for housing the athletes: either at the Mostra site, or at a combination of the Agnano Racetrack, on ships and in hotels. In addition to Saintrond, the executives present at the meeting in Naples on Monday included: 2019 Universiade Special Commissioner Luisa Latella, CONI Services CEO Alberto Miglietta, Commissioner's Advisor Raffaele Pagnozzi, FISU Universiade Director-General Marc Vandenplas, CUSI President Lorenzo Lentini, and staff members from FISU, ARU and CONI Services. The meeting touched on several different topics and then proceeded to presentations of the executive plans for the athletes' village proposals. The plan for the Mostra was presented by Mostra President Donatella Chiodo and Mostra Managing Director Giuseppe Oliviero. They showed a project that would locate the athletes' village in three different cemented areas, without any impact on the surrounding architecture or landscaping. The plan includes 2,561 housing units of one and two stories, for a total of 6,825 single beds. Each athlete would have between seven and eight square metres of personal space, in line with FISU standards. The presentation also included an illustration of the plumbing and sewage system as well as the electrical wiring. The second athletes' village proposal was presented by architect Pasquale Manduca from the Region of Campania. He showed a plan that would provide 4,000 beds on ships docked in the Port of Naples, about 3,000 beds at the Agnano Racetrack, and 600 beds in two hotels, one in the nearby city of Pozzuoli and one in the Naples district of Fuorigrotta. One of the questions the commission had about that plan regarded who owns the Agnano facility. The city of Naples owns the structure, but its management is outsourced to a private company called Partenopei Racetracks, whose contract expires in March. The project calls for building out brand-new plumbing and sewage services, as well as the electrical system and bathrooms in the housing units. The planned surface for the project is grass, which means that a 96,000-square-metre platform would need to be built for the housing units in the area adjacent to the parking lot. The plan includes 2,500 square metres of space for shared restrooms. Saintrond said FISU had awarded the Universiade to Naples based on a candidacy that foresaw three "clusters" for the athletes: the former NATO base in Bagnoli, Salerno, and Caserta. "We don't want to modify this type of set-up, and dividing Naples in four areas is not realistic, also because we can't be certain that between ships, Agnano and two hotels there will be the same standard for all the athletes. In addition, we recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the IOC on the Olympic Agenda 2020 to reduce organising committee costs. Two of the mainstays of the 2020 Agenda are budget control and legacy," Saintrond said.
Rome, May 29 - The spread between Italy's 10-year BTP bond and the German Bund continued to soar on Tuesday amid massive uncertainty about the political situation. After closing on 233 basis points on Monday, the spread climbed to 320 points with a yield of 3.4% at one stage, before dropping back to 278.5 points. The Milan stock exchange's FTSE Mib index, meanwhile, plunged by 3% before regaining some ground. It was 2.5% down at the middle of Tuesday's trading session. The turmoil comes after an effort to form a League/5-Star Movement (M5S) coalition collapsed after President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday rejected the nomination of Euroskeptic economist Paolo Savona as economy minister. Mattarella mentioned the threat of financial turbulence as he explained his decision and on Monday asked former spending review commissioner Carlo Cottarelli to try to form an interim government. Bank of Italy Governor Ignazio Visco said that the intense pressure Italy's bond spread is coming under is excessive. "There are no justifications for what is happening on the markets today, except for emotional ones," he said. League leader Matteo Salvini and M5S leader Di Maio blamed the president. "Ask Mattarella" Salvini said when asked about the spread. "If it were for me, there would be a government in office now". "They chose differently to reassure the markets but they don't seem to be achieving that to me". Di Maio said that the rise in Italy's bond spread showed that the problems lie elsewhere. "Today the spread jumped over 300 points - this hadn't happened for four years," Di Maio said. "We weren't the problem, not our team of ministers, but the uncertainty that today reigns. If the government of change had started, today we would have a political government".
Rome, May 29 - Premier designate Carlo Cottarelli is set to present his team for an interim, technocrat government when he meets President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace at 16:30 on Tuesday. Mattarella asked former spending review commissioner Cottarelli to try to form an executive after attempts to put together a political government following the inconclusive March 4 election failed. The last attempt, based on a agreement between the League and the 5-Star Movement, broke down after Mattearella refused to approve the nomination of Euroskeptic economist Paolo Savona as economy minister. Cottarelli said Monday that his government will rule until the end of the year if it wins parliament's confidence, with its key task being the approval of the 2019 budget law. He said fresh elections will take place after August if the government does not win a confidence vote. The chances of a Cottarelli government passing a confidence vote look unlikely at the moment.
Rome, May 29 - Anti-migrant Euroskeptic League leader Matteo Salvini said Tuesday Italy should go back to the polls as soon as possible. "I wouldn't like to bother Italians in the month of August, at least," he said. "One thing is sure and that is that we can't have a phantom government that hikes VAT and raises petrol duty and then goes away undisturbed after three or four months. From that point of view the sooner the better, hoping that we don't vote at Ferragosto".
The fight for control of CBS Corp. took a more personal turn Tuesday with the Redstone family alleging that CBS Chairman and Chief Executive Leslie Moonves has long been bent on running the company on his own terms  and that he has chafed under the power of Shari Redstone.

The Redstone family filed a 66-page lawsuit in Delaware that alleges CBS has no legal right to strip the family of its special voting privileges, which give the family great sway over CBS affairs.

The suit takes aim at Moonves, saying he has tried twice before to get the Redstones to relinquish their voting power  in 2006 and 2015. Both times he was turned away, but Moonves prospered for more than a decade working for the Redstone regime  collecting rich compensation packages that, over the years, total more than $700 million. Moonves consistently has been the highest-paid executive in media.

The suit contends that Moonves this year gave CBS board an ultimatum: Vote to strip the Redstone family of their voting control, or he would resign. Moonves has leverage, including his standing on Wall Street and his contract, which gives him a $180-million golden parachute should he exit the company, the suit says. The Redstones, in a footnote in the lawsuit, also said that they reserve all rights to contest any payments to Mr. Moonves under his employment agreement.

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The lawsuit is the latest flare-up between the two sides, which have sparred over a plan to merge CBS with Viacom, the other company the Redstone family controls.

CBS special board committee decided that a merger is not in the best interests of shareholders. The companys independent directors sued the Redstones and their investment vehicle, National Amusements Inc., on May 14, taking the first step to try to dilute the Redstones voting shares. The family enjoys nearly 80% of the vote even though they own just 10.3% of CBS.

CBS independent directors then voted May 17 to adopt a dividend that would give rank-and-file shareholders a vote. That move, should it be upheld by the courts, would dilute the Redstones authority by reducing the familys voting power to 17%.

The Redstones are challenging the action in court.

The only cogent, but manifestly improper, explanation for the [companys] unprecedented action is that Leslie Les Moonves, CBSs long-time CEO, has tired of having to deal with a stockholder with voting control and has taken particular umbrage that the exercise of such stockholders control has migrated from Sumner Redstone to his daughter, Ms. Redstone, says the suit filed Tuesday by National Amusements.

Sumner Redstone, 95, has been ailing for the last four years. Since 2016, Shari Redstone has been calling the shots.

National Amusements, in its suit, also sought to undermine CBS argument that Shari Redstone had breached her fiduciary responsibility to shareholders by pushing for CBS to merge with Viacom Inc. The suit said that Shari Redstone abandoned her support of the merger because of CBS resistance just a few days before CBS filed suit against her.

NAI and Ms. Redstone did not, and do not, intend to force a CBS/Viacom merger, whether by removing and replacing CBS directors or otherwise, according to the suit.

It further states that Moonves initially agreed with Redstone that the merger of Viacom and CBS made sense because both are medium-sized companies in an industry increasingly dominated by giants. But then Moonves balked, even after Shari Redstone dropped her demand that Viacom Chief Executive Bob Bakish have a role in the combined company as his successor.

CBS stock has lost more than 10% of its market value this year due to investor worries that Moonves might leave and that CBS would get saddled with Viacoms cable channels at a time when people are cutting the cable cord.

In a statement Tuesday, CBS said that its own lawsuit against the family details the ways in which [National Amusements] misused its power to the detriment of CBS shareholders, and was submitted after careful deliberation by all involved.

The board also voted 11 to 3 to strip the Redstones of their voting control. Only CBS Vice Chair Shari Redstone and her two allies on the board  who both are family attorneys  voted against the measure.

We continue to believe firmly in our position, CBS said.

meg.james@latimes.com

@MegJamesLAT

UPDATES:

5 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details from the Redstone family lawsuit.

This article was originally published at 9:40 a.m.
Starbucks will close all 8,000 of its company-owned U.S. stores Tuesday afternoon to train employees to combat unconscious bias, marking the start of an effort by the coffee giant to turn a public relations mess into a teachable moment.

Unconscious bias training has become increasingly popular at companies wishing to cultivate diverse, inclusive environments, but the high-profile nature of Starbucks initiative  and the outrage that spurred it  has put the concept in the spotlight.

All eyes are on Starbucks, and the company has a really unique opportunity to show other companies how to do this well, said Erin Thomas, who leads the Chicago office of Paradigm, a diversity and inclusion strategy consulting firm.

Most stores will close at 2 p.m. local time. Stores that arent owned by the company, such as those operated by grocery stores and hotels, will remain open.

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Last month, the company announced the training day for its 175,000 employees as the chain became the target of protests and calls for boycotts over the arrest of two black men at a Starbucks in Philadelphia. The men  business partners who hadnt bought anything from the store  were waiting for an associate to arrive, and when one asked to use the restroom, the store manager refused. They were asked to leave, and when they didnt, the manager called police, prompting many to wonder whether events would have unfolded differently had the two men been white.

The incident was an example of when bias, which everyone harbors, goes unchecked and results in blatant discrimination, Thomas said.

Unconscious bias training attempts to make people aware of their automatic assumptions about certain groups and provide tools to prevent those snap judgments from shaping their decisions.

Its not about making someone feel bad, its about understanding reality and then creating behaviors that can create a different one, said Doug Harris, chief executive of the Kaleidoscope Group, a Chicago-based diversity consultancy.

The effectiveness of the training depends on whether it is done well, and thats a challenge in an unregulated industry, Harris said. He applauds Starbucks for owning up to the problem and committing to make changes, though he said time will tell how genuine the companys commitment is.

If all they do is that training, thats going to be a problem, he said. If its an initial step, its a powerful step.

Starbucks is calling Tuesdays four-hour training the first step in a long-term journey. The initial training will focus on understanding racial bias and the history of discrimination in public accommodations in the United States, while future events will address other areas in which bias exists, including gender identity, class, political views and religious affiliation.

Last week, the company released details about what Tuesdays training will entail, including a highlight video that suggests much of the event will be guided by recorded footage. It includes a welcome by Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson, a talk by Chicago-born rapper Common and a segment from Starbucks founder Howard Schultz reaffirming the coffee shops role as a third place  that is, a gathering spot outside of work and home. An original documentary called Youre Welcome, created for the event by filmmaker Stanley Nelson, will be screened. Employees also will receive notebooks to guide them through small group discussions about their personal experiences with bias.

Starbucks said it plans to share the content and curriculum with other companies.

I do think this is historic, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, said during a conference call with reporters Thursday. She is one of several racial justice leaders Starbucks contacted in the wake of the Philadelphia arrest who have been serving as unpaid consultants to help the company devise a strategy.

I dont know of another company as ubiquitous as Starbucks is  that has stated their willingness to directly confront racism and bias within their own company, Ifill said.

Heather McGhee, president of Demos, a progressive public policy organization that also is advising Starbucks, said she has been pleasantly surprised by the depth of Starbucks commitment.

My earliest memory is being chased out of a candy store by a store manager, she said on the call. As a black woman, I had cynicism of what commitment a company like this would have to making a meaningful difference.

The consultants plan to produce a report next month to assess how the training went and lay out future plans. Buy-in from employees is the goal for Tuesday, but eventually anti-bias training must be incorporated throughout the organization, particularly when bringing new employees onboard, Ifill said.

We made it clear we wont be a rubber stamp to validate their program if we feel it is not delivering on its promises, McGhee said.

Starbucks has ample corporate company as it strives to address bias, which can show up in hiring, promotions, internal workplace dynamics and customer interactions.

At American Airlines, company leadership went through anti-bias training in January, and all 130,000 employees will complete a computer-based training in June and July, said airline spokeswoman Shannon Gilson. The airline pledged to add the training, among other diversity efforts, after the NAACP issued a travel advisory last fall that accused it of mistreating African American passengers.

Its program, developed with consultancy Cook Ross, includes interactive and in-person training meant to help employees understand the causes of bias and presents case studies, best practices and tools to recognize and mitigate its effects, Gilson said. Examining bias also will be incorporated into training for all new hires, as well as customer service and leadership training, and an existing diversity training program will be required every 18 to 24 months, she said.

Accounting firm PwC two years ago rolled out unconscious bias training for its nearly 50,000 employees, through an online program they can take on their own time. PwC CEO Tim Ryan also is leading an initiative to get other companies on board.

CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, which requires a pledge to implement unconscious bias training as well as other diversity initiatives, launched last year with 150 companies and now has 449, PwC spokeswoman Idalia Hill said. In a survey last month answered by half of the coalition members, 89% said they were implementing or expanding unconscious bias training, and more than 60% made it mandatory for at least some workers, she said. The initiative includes a Check Your Blind Spots mobile unit that travels to companies and schools, inviting people to come on board to test their own bias through onscreen implicit association tests.

There are drawbacks to unconscious bias training, a term that some experts dislike because it puts a negative pall on what is a normal mental reflex.

Bobby Gordon, vice president of client relationships at Prism International, which has provided training around diversity issues for 25 years, said he worries that unconscious bias training has become a catch-all buzzword for all things diversity, when in fact it wont help clients understand how diversity and inclusion can benefit their business or help employees understand cultural differences.

Still, Gordon said, unconscious bias training imparts a critical skill for managers and business leaders. The training tends to be most effective when businesses can connect it to the work employees do day to day, and when they have infrastructure in place to ensure the impact lasts through changes in leadership and employee turnover, he said.

Research on unconscious bias training has found some approaches to be ineffective.

At Ohio State Universitys Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity, trainers focus less on trying to change attitudes, which research has shown is difficult, and more on actions people can take to reduce the chance bias will affect their decisions, said senior research associate Kelly Capatosto. Such actions can include, for example, maintaining long-term relationships with people from other groups.

How companies evaluate the effectiveness of bias trainings also can be problematic. Rather than the standard post-event survey, trainers should measure peoples understanding of the concepts before they start, so there is a baseline for measuring progress, Thomas said. To continue reinforcing the training, employers could bake parts of it into performance reviews, she said.

Companies also cant put the burden on employees to always make the right decision, and should have clear and objective protocols in place that guide employees on how to define and respond to particular situations, Thomas said.

Thats especially important for retail and consumer-facing companies. Starbucks recently announced it will allow nonpaying customers to use its restrooms and linger in its cafes, so workers will need even more guidance than before about what qualifies as disruptive behavior and the specific actions employees should take when a customer is disruptive, she said.

All employees have a role in being welcoming, but its not fair to put all of the corporate responsibility of inclusion on them when theyre just trying to serve people a nice cup of coffee at the end of the day, Thomas said.

Many companies that implement anti-bias training are not responding to a crisis, but are being proactive or burnishing their diversity bona fides.

Assurance, an insurance and employee-engagement firm headquartered in Schaumburg, Ill., in March held a 90-minute lunch and learn on unconscious bias that was mandatory for supervisors and managers and will be required for each new class of managers, said Michele McDermott, senior vice president of human resources. The company is in discussions about rolling it out to all employees and threading the topic through its other diversity initiatives, she said.

The training, conducted by the Anti-Defamation League, included role-playing exercises, a written test and action plans for people to use should they encounter bias at work, she said. Among the strategies taught is to be aware of our first thought, which is where bias often manifests, and to employ the logical part of the brain to justify the decisions you make, McDermott said.

Meghan Duke, vice president of business process at Assurance, who went through the training, said one of the most memorable teachings was that employees should hold each other accountable.

Its appropriate for you to say, Hey, you need to rethink that, and call each other out when you see bias, she said.

One way Duke has seen bias rear its head at work, she said, is in assumptions people make that millennials feel entitled. Its an easy excuse: Theyre a millennial, of course theyre asking for a raise already, she said. To avoid an unfair reaction, you would take the individual out of it and say, If this was anyone else on my team, would I say they do deserve a raise at this point? 

In Chicago, online lender Enova last summer launched unconscious bias training that is mandatory for managers and voluntary for other employees. About 300 people took part in 20 training sessions last year, and the company plans to host another 20 sessions this year, said chief people officer Stacey Kraft.

The two-hour training, conducted by Krafts team, includes examples of internal initiatives to counter the negative effects of bias. For example, there is a push within the technology team to interview candidates for a culture add versus a culture fit  that is, valuing people based on their different viewpoints rather than their similarities, Kraft said. Another example given is the recruiting process in the software engineering department, which requires hiring managers to conduct interviews without seeing candidates resumes so that theyre not influenced by factors like the pedigree of their school, she said.

Kraft said she was heartened by an internal survey done later that found a small uptick in the share of employees who believe Enova is inclusive. Often these types of initiatives suffer from feeling like compliance-oriented human resources programs, she said, but it seems so organic here, and I think it feels that way because it comes from the top.

At Starbucks, the urgency of the training has been coming from the top. The company needed to send a strong message after the Philadelphia arrests because it has staked out a position as a progressive brand that is active on social issues, said Bob Phibbs, CEO of the retail consultancy the Retail Doctor.

This is who theyve chosen to be, Phibbs said.

Elejalde-Ruiz and Zumbach write for the Chicago Tribune.
Tronc Inc. has acquired the Virginian-Pilot newspaper from Landmark Media Enterprises for $34 million, the Chicago-based newspaper chain announced Tuesday.

The deal adds the Norfolk-based newspaper  the largest in Virginia  to the Tronc portfolio, along with specialty publications and a printing plant. Tronc has long owned the nearby Daily Press in Newport News, Va.

The inclusion of The Virginian-Pilot further strengthens our presence in the region and renews our commitment to our longstanding tradition of journalistic excellence, Justin Dearborn, Troncs chairman and chief executive, said in a news release.

Troncs other newspapers include the Los Angeles Times and San Diego Union-Tribune; in February, the company agreed to sell both of those papers to biotech billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong in a $500-million deal that is still pending.

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Founded in 1865, The Virginian-Pilot is a Pulitzer Prize-winning daily newspaper with a Sunday circulation of 132,000 as of last year, according to Tronc, which is also acquiring 460,000 square feet of real estate, including the newspapers Norfolk headquarters and its printing facilities in Virginia Beach.

In order to most effectively continue its important work, the Virginian-Pilot must have the benefit of the resources of a large organization, Rusty Friddell, executive vice president and general counsel of Landmark Media Enterprises, said in the news release.

Nancy Meyer, Troncs regional manager, will oversee integration efforts of the acquisition, working with local leaders at both the Virginian-Pilot and Daily Press, the company said. Tribune Co.  which a few years ago split into two pieces: Tribune Media Co. and the company that became Tronc bought the Daily Press for $200 million in 1986. In 2014, Tribune Co. bought the Capital in Annapolis and the Carroll County Times, both in Maryland, for nearly $30 million from Landmark, expanding the reach of the companys Baltimore Sun.

Tronc also owns the Chicago Tribune, New York Daily News and other major daily newspapers. In recent months, Tronc effected layoffs in the newsrooms of outlets that it is not selling to Soon-Shiong.

In April, newly formed investor group McCormick Media said it would acquire the entire 25% stake of former Tronc Chairman Michael Ferro for $208.6 million. That deal has not yet closed.

Channick writes for the Chicago Tribune.

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Only days after declaring a truce in a looming trade war with China, the Trump administration on Tuesday unsheathed its sword of tariffs again as it prepares to send another high-level delegation to Beijing for talks this weekend.

The administration has veered back and forth between conciliatory and antagonistic moves in its dealings with China, partly reflecting Trumps negotiating style but also clashing views inside the White House and what many analysts see as a lack of a coherent strategy and clear set of goals on trade policy.

A White House statement Tuesday said it would announce by June 15 a final list of $50 billion of Chinese imports that would be subject to 25% tariffs. The duties would target Chinese goods containing industrially significant technology, the statement said, and would be imposed shortly thereafter.

Additionally, the White House stated that by June 30 it would make public specific investment and related export-control measures aimed at restricting Chinas access to important U.S. technology, and that these would take effect also soon after.

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The proposed tariffs and investment restrictions have been in the works since earlier this year and are in response to the Trump administrations findings that Chinese policies have pressured U.S. firms to give up their technology secrets to do business in China and that in some cases American firms have been victimized by outright theft of intellectual property.

A spokesperson for Chinas Ministry of Commerce in Beijing expressed surprise at the White House statement, saying it was contrary to recent announcements by both sides after high-level talks in Washington earlier this month. Regardless, the spokesperson said, China has confidence that it would be able to defend the countrys core interests.

A little more than a week ago, Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin said that the planned tariffs would be suspended in the wake of Chinas pledge to buy billions of dollars more of American products, specifically U.S. farm goods and energy resources such as liquefied natural gas.

Mnuchins public remarks May 20 that were putting the trade war on hold, plus Trumps recent move to ease up on severe penalties against Chinese telecom giant ZTE, drew immediate fire from Trumps supporters, who criticized the president for going back on his promise to get tough on China and bring real reform to trade policy.

It was unclear whether the White House issued the statement in response to the backlash, or meant to enhance its leverage in ongoing talks with a trading partner, a familiar tack by the administration. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is scheduled to lead a delegation to Beijing for talks Saturday through Monday with a Chinese team headed by Vice Premier Liu He.

Others suspect the statement may be related to the ongoing talks with North Korea. Trump has blamed China for influencing Pyongyang to take a more hard-line stance toward the U.S. as Trump tries to hold a summit with Kim Jong Un on denuclearization.

Liu, Chinese President Xi Jinpings top economic advisor, has met with senior Trump administration officials on three separate occasions since February as trade tensions began mounting this year. In early March, Trump announced tariffs on steel and aluminum from China and other countries, and a month later U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released an initial list of hundreds of Chinese imports valued at nearly $50 billion that could be hit with 25% tariffs.

Dozens of U.S. firms and business groups, as well as lawmakers, have sought to restrain the White House from imposing massive tariffs that could trigger a trade war and end up hurting American consumers, companies and the broader economy.

Chinas trade practices raise serious concerns, but job-killing tariffs arent the answer, Matthew Shay, president of the National Retail Federation, said shortly after the White House issued the statement.

Others pressing for significant tariffs against China argue that tough punitive action is needed to get China to change. But where most everybody agrees  hard-liners and those preferring a softer approach alike  is that the Trump administration has not articulated or implemented a unified strategy of what it wants from China and how it will achieve those goals.

Trump himself has made it a top priority to cut down the large U.S. trade deficit with China  about $375 billion in goods last year. But economists widely agree that U.S. trade deficits are the result of an imbalance between American savings and investment patterns. At the same time, some administration officials have put the focus on Chinas domestic industrial policies and other mercantilist behavior.

What youre seeing is a back-and-forth because various people are looking at it from different perspectives and theres no consistency, said Yukon Huang, senior fellow in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. A lot of the focus is on technology transfer, so-called unfair competition, and those have to do with investment decisions and not really with trade. [Theyre] trying to reconcile this, and its chaotic because no one seems to know, and particularly at the presidents level, there isnt any consistent signal.

Huang suggested it was hard to see how China would respond at this weekends meeting beyond the pledges it already has made to ramp up imports of U.S. goods to help lower the American trade deficit.

Its not simply a matter of blowing hot and cold from week to week, but there are serious internal contradictions in the Trump administrations China trade policy, said Alan Tonelson, the founder of RealityChek, a blog on economic and national security policy, and a longtime analyst on manufacturing and trade.

One of these problems, he said, is the administrations apparent goal of breaking down various forms of discrimination and other tactics that the Chinese employ to make it easier for U.S. companies to do business in China. But some in Trumps team dont want American companies making more investments in China. Theres a striking tension between that goal on one hand and greatly reducing the trade deficit on the other, Tonelson said.

Peter Morici, a business professor at the University of Maryland and former chief economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission, argued that Tuesdays statement from the White House wasnt inconsistent with its earlier remarks that it was putting tariffs on hold.

All theyre doing is cocking the trigger, he said, noting that the administration needed to set the process in motion in case talks break down. The bigger problem, Morici said, is that theres been a pattern in the administration of backing down when it counts.

Donald Trump makes big bluffs but doesnt follow through, he said.

The latest from Washington 

More stories from Don Lee 

don.lee@latimes.com

Follow me at @dleelatimes

UPDATES:

3:50 p.m.: This story was updated with reaction from China and industry experts.

This story was originally published at 8 a.m.
Less than two months after the first rocket-powered test flight of its suborbital spaceplane, Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic on Tuesday completed another test and moved closer to its goal of regular tourist flights into space.

A four-engine craft with twin booms lifted off from the Mojave Air and Space Port around 8:40 a.m., carrying the VSS Unity spaceplane under its belly. The Unity separated cleanly from the larger aircraft about an hour later, and its two pilots ignited the spaceplanes rocket motor for 31 seconds.

The spaceplane reached a speed of Mach 1.9 and hit an altitude of 114,500 feet, higher than the altitude it reached during a previous test flight in April.

That April flight was the first powered test since a 2014 fatal accident that destroyed the companys previous SpaceShipTwo spaceplane. The National Transportation Safety Board later found that the accident was caused by premature deployment of the spaceplanes feathering system, which is designed to help the vehicle reenter Earths atmosphere. Virgin Galactic has said it created a mechanism on the new plane to prevent its feather system from opening too early.

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Branson said in a phone interview after the flight test that the spaceplane ended up going faster and higher than expected. Virgin Galactic added seats and other equipment to the spaceplane to shift the vehicles center of gravity to more closely mimic what it will be like to have passengers aboard during commercial service.

It was as good as it gets today, he said. Weve all got big smiles on our faces.

Assuming all post-flight tests go well, Virgin Galactic could conduct its next flight test in six weeks, Branson said. That test will have a longer, potentially 40-second burn of the spaceplanes rocket motor.

Quicker vehicle turnaround is an important part of Mojave-based Virgin Galactics plans for commercial service. Eventually, the company hopes to reduce turnaround time between flights to about four days, Branson said.

In an interview with BBC Radio 4 posted Saturday, Branson said his company, along with competitor space firm Blue Origin, could carry paying passengers into space within 12 months. Virgin Galactic is charging $250,000 for a ticket.

The British billionaire estimated that there would be three to four more test flights before he embarked on his own spaceflight as a passenger on Virgin Galactics first commercial flight.

I would be disappointed if I havent been in space before the end of the year, he said.

Branson said Tuesday that he wanted the Virgin Galactic team to get it right and that the only race was with ourselves, as safety was the companys main priority.

samantha.masunaga@latimes.com

Twitter: @smasunaga
Its bad enough that U.S. healthcare prices are the highest in the world. That the healthcare industry routinely treats us as marks and suckers makes it infinitely worse.

San Juan Capistrano resident Dennis Ettlin, 70, was shopping in the most recent Medicare open enrollment for a new Medicare Advantage plan that would cover his hearing aids. A state-of-the-art pair, he knew, could run thousands of dollars.

Ettlin came across an attractive offer: an Anthem Blue Cross plan that covered up to $3,000 for hearing aids and supplies every year. The only catch was that the hearing aids had to be purchased from Colorado-based Hearing Care Solutions, or HCS, which contracts with insurance companies for such benefits.

Like any smart consumer, Ettlin did his homework. Before signing with Anthem, he said, he stopped by an HCS branch in San Clemente and asked about the cost of the hearing aids he desired. He was told a pair would run him about $3,800  a good price.

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I asked if that meant the $3,000 benefit would be applied to the $3,800, and if my net cost would be $800, he recalled. The salesman said yes.

So Ettlin signed with Anthem, waited until his new Medicare Advantage plan took effect, returned to the store and said: Hook me up.

Thats when he learned that the actual cost of the two hearing aids was $10,000. But with the $3,000 in coverage from Anthem and some additional sweetening from HCS, Ettlin was told, hed only be responsible for about $1,800 per unit, or $3,600 for the pair.

I was flabbergasted, he said. It seems like a bait and switch.

It does indeed. Ettlin has lodged a complaint with Medicare and is now awaiting word from the federal agency.

There are a few things to unpack here. First, how an anticipated $800 out-of-pocket cost skyrocketed to $3,600.

Second, the challenge all consumers face in finding out the actual cost of healthcare.

Finally, this is a growing problem. Hearing aids are fast becoming a concern for millions of Americans as our aging society places new strains on healthcare.

Roughly 48 million Americans say they have difficulty with their hearing, according to the Hearing Loss Assn. of America. A third of all people age 65 or older are, to some degree, hard of hearing.

Hearing loss is a major public health issue that is the third most common physical condition after arthritis and heart disease, the organization says.

The National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders says that among hearing-impaired adults age 70 and older who could benefit from hearing aids, fewer than 30% use them. Only 16% of adults ages 20 to 69 who could benefit from hearing aids have ever tried them.

One reason is the cost  theyre expensive, and most private insurance plans dont cover them. The industry, bless its greedy little heart, generally views hearing aids as elective, not medically necessary. Like a face-lift.

Because as we all know, going deaf is a personal choice.

You almost get the feeling that insurance companies are doing everything they can to avoid having to cover a legitimate (but pricey) medical expense.

The Presidents Council of Advisors on Science and Technology said in a 2015 report that a single hearing aid costs an average of $2,300. Most people need two. Nowadays, top-of-the-line models can easily run as much as $4,000  per ear.

Medicare doesnt cover hearing aids either. Only some Medicare Advantage plans, such as the one Ettlin chose, include the devices as a benefit.

However, finding out actual costs can be a challenge. HCS, like nearly all providers of medical devices, apparently uses inflated prices when dealing with insurers to boost the amount the company actually receives.

So even though Ettlins eyes went wide when he first saw that $10,000 figure, the reality is that no one pays that much. This raises an important issue, though.

Why cant the U.S. healthcare system have transparent pricing? Why do we routinely complicate and confuse things by starting with Fantasyland prices that every player in the healthcare equation admits in no way reflect actual costs or how much people are really charged?

Ive spoken with insurers, hospitals, drugmakers, medical device manufacturers  not one could make a rational argument for this deliberately deceptive approach to pricing. Ive been told again and again this is just how we do it.

Thats insane. President Trump says he wants to do something about the countrys ridiculously high drug prices. How about he broaden his horizons and require honest pricing for all healthcare products and services, with providers posting actual prices online for all to see?

Just trying to nail down Ettlins situation demonstrated how hard it can be to get healthcare companies to come clean.

I reached out to both Anthem and HCS, laying out for each details of the problem and giving them plenty of time to look into the matter.

I noted from the get-go that there were medical privacy considerations, and asked the companies to email privacy waivers to Ettlin, which he was more than happy to sign, so they could talk to me.

Ettlin said neither Anthem nor HCS sent him a waiver.

Yet both companies didnt hesitate to use this as a dodge to avoid answering my questions.

We cannot comment on the specifics of this case due to patient privacy, said Leslie Porras, an Anthem spokeswoman.

HCS cannot comment on specifics due to privacy laws, said Nicole Bloch, an HCS spokeswoman.

Like I hadnt anticipated that days earlier.

In a lengthy email, Bloch laid out all the ways HCS strives to make hearing care more affordable and transparent, all evidence to the contrary notwithstanding.

She suggested it may forever be a mystery as to how Ettlin came to believe hed be charged only $800 for hearing aids.

We simply do not know what transpired, what specific aids were referenced, what if any discounts or services were not included with the pricing, or even if the appropriate insurance carrier benefits or documentation were ever utilized, Bloch said.

Yeah. We simply do not know.

Or maybe Ettlin had it right. Bait and switch.

Would it help if I shouted?

BAIT AND SWITCH!

I feel better already.

David Lazarus column runs Tuesdays and Fridays. He also can be seen daily on KTLA-TV Channel 5 and followed on Twitter @Davidlaz. Send your tips or feedback to david.lazarus@latimes.com.
There are no special T-shirts on sale as swag for the Los Angeles Philharmonics Schumann Focus festival, the way there have been for Gustavo Dudamels Beethoven and Mahler symphony cycles at Walt Disney Concert Hall. Schumann may have been the crucial symphonic link between Beethoven and Mahler, but he is not thought of as a composer to be worn heart on sleeve, even if he all but invented Romanticism in music and was a Romantics romantic if there ever was one.

Schumann has long been considered a composer for the fingers, his piano music treasured above the rest of his catalogue, and of the voice, his songs coming in second. Most of all, though, he has been accorded the dubious distinction of having been a composer of the psyche who, once he began hearing voices, no longer commanded a coherent one of his own.

The symphonies, as were the concertos for piano and cello that Dudamel paired with them, were relatively late works, written between 1841 and 1851. Schumann had a complete mental breakdown soon afterward; the theories of his death at 46 in 1856 include syphilis, a brain tumor, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. He long had issues with depression, and the state then of medical science offered little help for the torment of his last years.

Lacking psychopharmacology, Schumann turned to psychosymphonicology during his decade devoted to orchestral music. Writing these four symphonies may not have been able to remove a composers day-to-day mental anguish, but Dudamels coherently searing performances revealed, against hard-to-break conventional wisdom, Schumanns great triumph of music over mind.

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In the First Symphony, which began the festival, Dudamel put to rest the nonsense that Schumann didnt know how to orchestrate, that he lacked the concentration for rational symphonic argument and that he had too many new ideas to sustain cogent symphonic structure. But that this more or less conventional symphony is a paean to spring, optimism might be thanked for forgiving compositional sins. In fact, Dudamels propulsive performance, accenting the positive as well as the accents, proved preparation for the downright spectacular Schumann to follow.

My guide for Dudamels readings of the symphonies has been Antonio Damasios revelatory discussions of the deep structure of feelings and their relationship to not only the body but all biology in his new book, The Strange Order of Things. The most strongly ordered emergences of high faculties, the noted USC neuroscientist and philosopher writes, are probably feeling and consciousness.

The strange order of all things Schumann in his symphonies is that feelings follow cognition itself. To hear a trombone play a soft, lyrically seductive melodic phrase in the introduction of the Second Symphony  something that was new to symphonic music  was not incompetence but a vision for broadening of the aspects of beauty. Instruments of the orchestra, in Schumanns hands, were not simply tools for clarifying the details in a score but for creation of new meaning  the instruments, themselves, were connected to and of feelings.

That was how Dudamel proceeded. Moment after moment after moment, he made sense of Schumann by effusively bringing out all that was new and adventurous in the symphonies not as details or asides to the structure but as an integral part of the experience.

Like so much else in Schumann, his rhythms have a quixotic peculiarity easily explained as clumsiness, a broken mind-body connection somewhere along the line. Dudamel extravagantly made them seem not nearsighted but farsighted: This is where music rightfully was heading, a step beyond Beethoven. Schumanns unexplained changes in tone or time or tune had little effect on Dudamel. He kept looking ahead, the only difference being that getting where he was going was no longer as overwhelmingly important as the going.

Still, there was more than enough smelling the roses in these performances. In the movement of the Third Symphony (Rhenish) that evokes Colognes great cathedral on the Rhine, the hallowed effusiveness the L.A. Phil produced made the picturesque downright mystical. A little swell in the last movement of the Fourth Symphony, otherwise played with bravo-inducing excitement, was so perfectly time as to be the pause that refreshes before launching into a life-enhancing fugue.

No T-shirts, but there will be a souvenir for these symphony performances. The orchestra recorded them live for unspecified future release. It will burnish its reputation. The playing was about as good, and as L.A., as it gets. Dudamel and the orchestra have recently returned from an East Coast and European tour. The reviews have been mixed. Critics expect the L.A. sound to be loud and brash and, well, Hollywoodish.

It can be. But the orchestra is also uniquely flexible, capable of displaying a phenomenal quickness of reflexes, and it rarely fails to exhibit a sense of rhythm. Perhaps then it will come as news when the recordings are released that Schumanns symphonies need not come across as too thick of texture, too fussy in structure and not danceable, and that they need not be toned down.

This past weekends concerts with the last two symphonies were preceded by the Genoveva Overture and Cello Concerto. Most of Schumanns audacious late music is neglected, and that includes his large-scale dramatic works, such as his only opera, Genoveva. Schumann Focus will partially rectify that this coming weekend when it turns to Schumanns brilliantly inventive oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri, with staging by Peter Sellars.

No one can complain about the lack of performances of the poetically elegiac Cello Concerto, on this occasion featuring Sol Gabetta as the graphically vivid soloist. But its long past time for more attention to the Violin Concerto, Schumanns farewell to the world, which has been dismissed as the ravings of a composer who had lost his mental powers. Dudamels Schumann, however, focuses on a composer achieving a heightened power of expression where peception cannot be contained by mere mind alone.

mark.swed@latimes.com
Prosecutors have dropped an assault charge against a former Los Angeles County sheriffs jail guard who was accused of allowing a man to be beaten by other inmates.

The case against Jonathan Grijalva, 29, was dismissed on the first day of trial last week after prosecutors said they could not locate a key witness  the man who had been attacked.

Grijalva, a custody assistant, was working at the North County Correctional Facility in 2014 when an inmate asked him to walk to another area of the lockup so that another man could be assaulted, prosecutors alleged.

The guard at the Castaic lockup was also accused of refusing to arrange for medical care after the targeted inmate, Saul Lira, was beaten by three other men and suffered a broken nose and jaw.

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Grijalva, who has been relieved of duty without pay since October 2014, was charged with one count of assault in November 2016.

Angel Navarro, Grijalvas attorney, said his client did nothing wrong and was a victim of the times in an era when the Sheriffs Department is trying to reform itself after a jail abuse scandal.

The case followed a string of prosecutions against Los Angeles County deputies accused of assaulting inmates, lying to cover up the beatings or conspiring to obstruct an FBI investigation into misconduct by jailers. The scandal resulted in the conviction of more than 20 department officials, including former Sheriff Lee Baca.

But the charge against Grijalva marked the first time since the jail abuse scandal began in 2011 that a county jail guard was charged with a crime after being accused of looking the other way while inmates ambushed someone else.

I think this case is an example of overreaching. Weve seen cases where deputies beat people up. This is not one of those cases, Navarro said.

Greg Risling, a spokesman for the district attorneys office, said in an email that prosecutors were convinced the evidence would prove Grijalva was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Risling said a necessary witness failed to appear in court.

Risling would not identify the witness, but Lira is named in court documents as the person who could not be located.

The assault on Lira, 35, was coordinated by powerful inmates known as shot callers associated with the Mexican Mafia, a gang network within the jails, according to the district attorneys office.

Last week, federal and local authorities revealed a sweeping investigation into the Mexican Mafia and its control within the Los Angeles County jail system.

After being held at the Castaic jail, Lira spent time in state prison on charges including firearm possession by a felon. He was released in May 2017 and placed on probation in Los Angeles County, said Bill Sessa, a spokesman for the state prison system.

A county probation spokeswoman, Kerri Webb, said she could not confirm whether Lira has ever been under supervision by her agency.

Liras sister, Ida De La Cruz, did not respond to queries by The Times.

Grijalva could still face trial if prosecutors decide to charge him again, Navarro said.

maya.lau@latimes.com

Twitter: @mayalau

UPDATES:

4:25 p.m.: This article was updated with additional comments from the district attorneys office.

This article was originally published at 3:45 p.m.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcettis unveiling of the first new public bathrooms on skid row in more than a decade was seen as a possible turning point for the homeless enclave, which remains mired in misery even as downtown development closes in around it.

But after more than three months of operation, the trailers with toilets and showers shut down in late March for a planned expansion and now are gone. Across town, bathroom access for Venices homeless people is hung up over approvals from other agencies.

The slow and faltering bathroom rollouts raise questions about whether logistical problems and red tape are contributing to Los Angeles homelessness crisis, despite the hundreds of millions of dollars that have started to flow for new programs.

If we cant get something as simple as mobile restrooms up and running, that doesnt give me a lot of faith the city can produce the leadership needed to produce housing units, said Pete White of the Los Angeles Community Action Network, a skid row anti-poverty group.

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No one expected the citys $1.2-billion housing construction program  designed to produce 10,000 units for poor and homeless people in 10 years  to be a quick fix for the countys 55,000 homeless people. And the mayors new, $20-million shelter plan has run into a wall of resistance in Koreatown and elsewhere, although the first of what he hopes will be 15 temporary housing facilities is set to open in mid- to late summer.

Both the city and county envisioned expanding bathroom access to reduce homeless peoples isolation and to ready them for housing and jobs. Officials also wanted to eliminate the human waste and stench of urine that have appalled businesses and residents, as homeless encampments spread far from their downtown origins.

The hepatitis A outbreak among homeless people gave the effort a push, although Los Angeles 12 cases were dwarfed by San Diegos rash, which included 20 deaths and 402 hospitalizations.

A grass-roots group called the Skid Row Community Improvement Coalition worked with the mayors office to open the ReFresh Spot in December in temporary trailers. The understanding was the showers and bathrooms would be expanded and laundry facilities added when permanent trailers arrived.

The transition and state approvals are taking longer than expected, and several tentative dates to reopen have come and gone, organizers said.

It was kind of a premature grand opening, but there was a sense of urgency to respond to the need, said Charles Porter of Social Model Recovery Systems, a skid row nonprofit substance abuse prevention program.

While I am disappointed that the expansion of the ReFresh Spot is taking longer than anticipated, I remain encouraged that it will help meet the basic human needs of far more people, and will offer services that were not previously available, Garcetti said in an email. My team is working to reopen the site as quickly as possible.

A homeless man walks around Venice Beach wearing a blanket November 6, 2017. (Francine Orr / Los Angeles Times )

Venices homeless bathroom saga began two years ago, when Westside City Councilman Mike Bonin pushed for comprehensive services including toilets and showers as part of a street strategy while housing was prepared and under construction.

At Bonins instigation, the city had the independent Board of Recreation and Parks approve keeping beach restroom stalls open overnight at the Ocean Front Walk, one of the citys top tourist attractions.

The City Council passed an ordinance to enable the change, and approved funding for custodial and security staff.

The project awaits approval by the California Coastal Commission, which wrote the city April 2, asking for more information, including a rationale for adding beach restroom access.

The city also approved overnight mobile toilets and wash stations at the Rose Avenue beach parking lot, which the county must green-light before they go before the Coastal Commission.

Councilmember Bonin is eager to get these bathrooms open and has managed to remove all the obstacles at the city level. Unfortunately, at Venice Beach the city does not have unilateral authority to do what it wants, said Bonins spokesman, David Caso-Graham.

The countys Department of Beaches & Harbors is working with Supervisor Sheila Kuehls office on placing the portable toilets on a temporary basis, spokeswoman Carol Baker said.

While Venice waits, Lava Mae, a nonprofit showers-on-wheels operation from San Francisco, is due this week in the beach town.

What really bothers skid row advocates about their stalled bathrooms is that the initial response was so enthusiastic, said Porter. About 3,400 showers were taken, and 150 people showed up to use facilities on their final day, he said.

The guests enjoyed the minimal security, attendants who included formerly homeless people and a culturally sensitive music playlist, which ranged from classic R&B to soft rock and jazz, Porter said.

The key is having people involved with lived experience, in a community-designed facility with a sense of dignity and respect, Porter said.

On Friday, Porter said one of the new skid row trailers had arrived and pending installation and inspection, should open in early June. The others, to include washer-dryers, are expected later in the summer.

Meanwhile, Lava Mae has also stepped up its downtown presence.

The increased service is welcome, but doesnt make up for the loss of the ReFresh Spot, organizers said.

Folks on the street are now cursing [outreach workers] out because they are tired of hearing things like in a couple more weeks, said Tom Grode, another community organizer.

This is something that should be emulated in other parts of the city, Porter said.

gholland@latimes.com

Twitter: @geholland
A 19-year-old woman has been arrested on suspicion of murder and attempted murder after allegedly hitting her boyfriend and 7-month-old daughter with a car in front of their home.

Police received a call around 11:40 p.m. Monday about an altercation in the 500 block of West D Street, according to Ontario police Sgt. Jeff Higbee. Sarah Gomez, 19, had gotten into an argument with her 21-year-old boyfriend, who was holding their 7-month-old daughter, before allegedly hitting the two with a car.

Family took the boyfriend and the baby to the hospital, where the infant later died. The boyfriend had several abrasions on his body and is still in the hospital, Higbee said.

Detectives interviewed Gomez at the hospital, where they arrested her on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.

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The couple had been at a family gathering earlier in the night, where they had both been drinking, Higbee said.

Something happened on the way home or after they left the event, Higbee said.

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia
Federal prosecutors have dropped a criminal charge against a man whose home was searched after a suspected package bomb killed his former girlfriend and business partner in Aliso Viejo, according to court documents.

Stephen Beal, 59, of Long Beach had faced one count of possessing an unregistered destructive device. He has not been charged in connection with the explosion that killed Ildiko Krajnyak, Beals former girlfriend.



For the record: A previous version of the article said that prosecutors had dropped charges against Beal. Beal faced only one charge, of possessing an unregistered destructive device.

The motion to dismiss the charge was filed Saturday afternoon. Beal was released early Sunday morning, according to a U.S. attorneys office spokesman.

Krajnyak, 48, was killed when a cardboard package blew up at the Magyar Kozmetika spa. The May 15 explosion tore open the ceiling and buckled the floor of the business.

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Soon after, during a search of Beals Long Beach home, authorities said they found two complete improvised explosive devices, two cardboard tubes, batteries, a 9-volt battery connector, 130 pounds of explosives and precursors, two handguns and a shotgun.

The findings were detailed in a 10-page affidavit and criminal complaint filed by federal authorities in U.S. District Court. However, a motion filed over the weekend to dismiss the complaint called the findings into question.

Further examination by the Federal Bureau of Investigation raises questions as to whether the devices meet the statutory definition for a destructive device,  the U.S. attorneys office stated in court documents.

Beal told investigators that he saw news coverage of the Aliso Viejo explosion and said he did not have material to create a blast that large, according to the document.

According to the court filing, Beal told investigators that Krajnyak was his former girlfriend and that he was a model rocket builder but had dropped the hobby in 2004.

When asked by investigators about one of the rocket devices, Beal first said he did not recognize it. Later, a court filing said, he identified the device as a smoke detonator that releases smoke during flight so a rocket would stay visible.

When he was shown photographs of the two pipe IEDs, Beal initially said he didnt recognize them. But he later explained exactly where the items were found, according to the affidavit, which said the devices were not consistent with that of a model rocket.

Beal and Krajnyak met on a dating app in the summer of 2016. They traveled extensively and vacationed in Cuba, Portugal and Canada. They opened a day spa together in Aliso Viejo. Krajnyak was a skin care specialist who had recently filed for bankruptcy, and Beal was a widower who occasionally acted.

Their romance fizzled, authorities said, over disagreements about money and their dating exclusivity. In February or March, they broke up, but decided to remain business partners. Beal paid the $1,500 monthly rent for the spa space and half its operating costs. Sometimes, if Krajnyak didnt make enough, he would loan her money.

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia

UPDATES:

10:40 a.m.: This article was updated with details of Beals release.

10:35 a.m.: This article was updated with additional details about Beal.

This article was originally published at 10 a.m.
A Tesla sedan in Autopilot mode crashed into a parked Laguna Beach Police Department vehicle Tuesday morning, authorities said.

The collision happened at 11:07 a.m. at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road, according to Laguna Police Sgt. Jim Cota. The officer was not in the cruiser at the time of the crash. The Tesla driver suffered minor injuries, but refused transportation to the hospital.

Thankfully there was not an officer at the time in the police car, Cota said. The police car is totaled.

Cota said that a year ago in the same area there was another collision involving a Tesla running into a semi-truck.

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Why do these vehicles keep doing that? Cota said. Were just lucky that people arent getting injured.

Teslas Autopilot driver-assist feature has come under scrutiny following other collisions.

A Tesla driver in Utah crashed while using Autopilot and looking at her phone earlier this month. Two fatal crashes while the system was being used also have occurred: one in California in March and a 2016 crash in Florida.

The Palo Alto-based automaker, led by Elon Musk, has said it repeatedly warns drivers to stay alert, keep their hands on the wheel and maintain control of their vehicle at all times while using the Autopilot system.

Tesla has always been clear that Autopilot doesnt make the car impervious to all accidents, and before a driver can use Autopilot, they must accept a dialogue box which states that Autopilot is designed for use on highways that have a center divider and clear lane markings, a Tesla spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

brittny.mejia@latimes.com

Twitter: @Brittny_Mejia

UPDATES:

2:50 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from a Tesla spokesperson.

1:20 p.m.: This article was updated with details of the collision from the police sergeant.

This article was originally published at 1:05 p.m.
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.

FULL COVERAGE: USC former gynecologist Dr. George Tyndall accused of inappropriate behavior 

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The advancement of the criminal probe comes as more women lodge civil lawsuits against USC. By Tuesday, an additional six women had sued Tyndall and the university, bringing the total number of former patients with pending litigation to 27.

Revelations of Tyndalls conduct in the clinic have fomented an uproar at the university, prompting trustees to announce Friday that President C.L. Max Nikias would step down.

Nikias is out as USC president: A timeline of his troubled tenure 

Although the LAPD probe is in its early stages, three veteran sex-crimes prosecutors from the Los Angeles County district attorneys office have been assigned to assist detectives.

Tyndall, who was allowed to resign last year with a financial payout, could not be reached for comment Tuesday, and its unclear if he is represented by an attorney. In previous interviews, he has denied wrongdoing. In a letter to The Times dated May 17 but received late last week, the physician said he had heard of only one patient complaint before March 2016: an allegation that he did not wear gloves during a pelvic exam. He wrote that the claim was debunked by administrators.

Patients sometimes fabricate stories, Tyndall wrote.

He included with his letter more than a dozen positive comments from patients who sent clinic supervisors emails from 2013 to 2015. Overall Dr. Tyndall is a great doctor and a very friendly man who shows great care for his patients, one read.

LAPD Capt. Billy Hayes said that of the 52 complaints from former patients, 13 came directly to police and the rest were shared by USC.

Hayes said that some of the patients who came forward were believed to be under age 18 at the time. Investigators were working to corroborate and verify the dates of when their appointments took place.

The most serious crime under investigation by the LAPD is finger penetration.

Witnesses to Tyndalls exams said that he frequently commented on the tightness of patients vaginal muscles, made inappropriate remarks about their sex lives, and touched patients inappropriately during breast and pelvic exams. The physician routinely inserted one to two fingers in patients after voicing concern that a speculum might not fit, and commented on their bodies as he probed them, the witnesses told The Times.

In interviews with The Times, Tyndall said his use of fingers had a legitimate medical purpose and said some of his comments to patients were misinterpreted.

An internal inquiry by USC in 2016 and 2017 disagreed, finding that his pelvic exams were outside the scope of accepted medical practice and amounted to sexual harassment of patients.

As detectives examine the wave of reports, Hayes said that police were consulting with experts in gynecological exams, the Medical Board of California and the Santa Monica Rape Treatment Center.

Tracy Green, a trial lawyer who defends physicians and other healthcare professionals, said that to bring a criminal case, prosecutors will have to show that Tyndall derived sexual gratification from any alleged misconduct. Green noted that inappropriate remarks could serve as evidence of sexual intent.

When you add the color commentary, according to patients, thats what makes it a little odd, she said.

Leonard Levine, a criminal defense attorney who specializes in sexual abuse cases, said that part of the investigation will entail looking for potential patterns from victim statements.

The civil lawsuits against USC and Tyndall have also alleged a pattern of misconduct dating to the late 1980s.

A USC undergraduate said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that in 2013, Tyndall groped her breasts, penetrated her vagina with ungloved fingers and was leering at her naked body for his own sexual pleasure. Another former undergraduate said Tyndall complimented her genitalia for being beautiful, adding: You look like a model; I bet your mom looks like a model, too.

Another woman alleged in a lawsuit filed late last week that Tyndall penetrated her with three fingers while pushing her to go on birth control, saying she would be great at sex.

USC has said that complaints about Tyndall dating to the early 2000s reached the clinics executive director, who handled patient complaints independently. The university said it was unclear why Tyndall was allowed to remain in his position. It was only after a frustrated nurse reported Tyndall to the campus rape crisis center in 2016 that the gynecologist was removed.

Top administrators have acknowledged that the system for reporting and disciplining Tyndall had broken down. But in a letter, Provost Michael Quick said he and top administrators didnt know about the complaints until 2017. USC ousted two top administrators at the clinic earlier this month.

Hayes, the LAPD captain, did not rule out whether the investigation would widen to include university administrators and other USC staff familiar with Tyndalls conduct, but he cautioned that it was premature.

At this point in time, the focus is on the victims to determine if there are actual victims who rise to a criminal level, Hayes said.

John Manly, a civil attorney representing more than 100 former patients, said with the criminal investigation now launched, it was important that those with evidence reach out directly to the LAPD.

Anyone with information about Tyndall was urged to contact the Robbery-Homicide Divisions special assault section at (213) 486-6910.

matt.hamilton@latimes.com | Twitter: @MattHjourno

richard.winton@latimes.com | Twitter: @lacrimes

adam.elmahrek@latimes.com | Twitter: @adamelmahrek

UPDATES:

7:05 p.m.: This article was updated with background and information from experts.

This article was originally published at 4:15 p.m.
Bill Gold  who designed more than 2,000 posters for such movies as Casablanca, My Fair Lady, Dirty Harry, The Exorcist and Goodfellas, making him one of the film worlds leading image-makers  died May 20 at a hospital in Greenwich, Conn. He was 97.

He had complications from dementia, said his wife, Susan Gold.

Although he worked mostly in New York, Golds artistry throughout a seven-decade career helped shape the mystique of Hollywood. The first poster he designed, after joining the Warner Bros. art department, was for Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), starring James Cagney. His second job was Casablanca.

Gold later worked on many of Clint Eastwoods projects and came out of retirement in 2011 to produce the poster for J. Edgar, starring Leonardo DiCaprio as FBI director J. Edgar Hoover.

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The first image you have of many of your favorite films, Eastwood wrote in the introduction to a 2010 collection of Golds posters, is probably a Bill Gold creation.

The poster is a humble but crucial piece of advertising that helps define a moviegoers mental image of a film. Golds job was to entice people into theaters by capturing a films message in a single image and a few words  without giving away too much of the plot.

When he was asked in 1942 to design the poster for Casablanca, a film of wartime intrigue starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman, the movie was still in production. Without seeing a single scene, Gold painted a montage of its stars, with Bogart in front, wearing a trench coat and fedora. He wrote the word Casablanca in a flowing, sign-painters script across the bottom.

Still, the executives at Warner Bros. werent quite satisfied.

They thought it was too static, they wanted more action, Gold told Britains Guardian newspaper in 2013. I didnt have time to change it much, so I just stuck Bogeys hand in the front and put a gun in it  and they liked that.

It scarcely mattered that Bogarts character, Rick Blaine, did not carry a gun for most of the film.

Even if it wasnt exactly the way the movie was, Gold said in 2010, you had to come up with something that marketed it and led the audience to believe that they wanted to see it.

For The Sting, a Depression-era caper movie from 1973 starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford, Gold borrowed the style of illustrator J.C. Leyendecker, who created the Arrow Collar Man advertisements of the early 20th century and many covers for The Saturday Evening Post.

Designing another poster that year, Gold created a much darker mood for The Exorcist. Told by the studio that he could not use religious imagery or a picture of Linda Blair  the actress who played a girl possessed by demons  Gold chose a still photo of actor Max von Sydow silhouetted beneath a lamppost.

The stark black-and-white image of von Sydow, who portrays a priest in the movie, became an enduring symbol of William Friedkins film.

Posters are meant to evoke an emotional response from audiences and often show images that are not actually in the films. For Sam Peckinpahs 1969 western The Wild Bunch, Gold snapped a photograph of the actors walking across a parking lot, trailed by long shadows. He altered the color of the image, enhanced the shadows and created a poster that has been endlessly copied by others.

When he designed the poster for Eastwoods Oscar-winning 1992 film Unforgiven, about an aging gunfighter seeking a last measure of justice, Gold showed Eastwood from the rear, wearing a long coat and broad-brimmed hat, holding a pistol behind his back.

The image pieced together a gun from one photograph, the hands from a second and Eastwoods head, turned to left, from another.

William Gold was born Jan. 3, 1921, in Brooklyn. His father was an insurance salesman.

He began drawing  and going to the movies  at an early age and studied illustration at New Yorks Pratt Institute.

During World War II, he made training films while serving in the Army Air Forces before returning to Warner Bros. He lived in Hollywood from 1959 to 1962, then moved back to New York, where he formed a company devoted to film projects.

He loved movies, his wife said in an interview. It wasnt like advertising a can of peas. Every movie is different. You cant do the same thing twice.

Gold is survived by his wife, Susan Cornfield Gold, two children and two grandchildren.

news.obits@latimes.com
U.S. ally Saudi Arabia continued to torture, execute and discriminate against minority Shiite Muslims last year, according to the State Department, but the Trump administration followed the Obama administration and has granted the Sunni-ruled kingdom an exemption from sanctions normally placed on countries with bad records on religious freedom.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled the annual report on international religious liberty on Tuesday, the first issued by the Trump administration. He called religious freedom, which is a key concern for a significant portion of President Trumps political base, the administrations top priority in human rights.

The issue becomes tricky when key allies or strategic partners such as Saudi Arabia and China restrict faith practices, especially of minority populations.

Religious freedom deserves to be a front-burner issue, Pompeo said. Know that we are working in countries around the world to ensure that religious freedom remains the case, and where it is not, that it becomes so.

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Pompeo and Sam Brownback, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, announced plans to invite what they called like-minded foreign ministers to a July 25-26 conference to discuss religious liberty and persecution.

It will be first ministerial level conference that Pompeo, an evangelical Christian, will host. He said that was intentional to showcase the importance he attaches to the issue.

Brownback would not say if Saudi Arabia will be invited, saying the list of attendees would be made public later, but said he was encouraged by recent Saudi reforms. Saudi Arabia has been granted an exemption from sanctions since at least 2011 for reasons of national security.

The report denounced egregious repression in North Korea, including the killing or disappearance of nearly 200 people last year, and the existence of what Brownback called gulag camps that hold between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners, some jailed for religious reasons.

China continued to imprison members of religious minorities, including Falun Gong and Uighur Muslims, and many die in custody, the report said. Hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims were put in reeducation camps and are subject to invasive surveillance, the report said. Beijing considers many of the Uighurs to be extremists.

Chinas treatment of Tibetan Buddhists has also deteriorated and was very, very troubling, Brownback said. The report cited a rash of self-immolations by Tibetans to protest the restrictions.

Like Saudi Arabia, China was designated a country of particular concern. Unlike Saudi Arabia, China is under sanctions that the administration renewed in December, including a ban on U.S. exports to China of crime control and surveillance equipment.

The continued exemption for Saudi Arabia is particularly troublesome, said Sarah Margon, Washington director of Human Rights Watch. Few of the recently announced reforms, she noted, have been enacted.

Religious freedom is unquestionably an important issue but it is not an uncontroversial one, Margon said, especially given this administrations history of using language that is intolerant and discriminatory.

At least in public, Trump has minimized U.S. concerns about human rights abuses in his meetings with autocrats, including Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. State Department programs on womens rights, reproductive rights and similar issues have been scrapped or marginalized since Trump took office.

Brownback denied that the administration was elevating religious freedom to the exclusion of other human rights concerns.

This is a foundational human right, Brownback said. You do religious freedom and a whole series of better human rights come out of it.

Brownback said the ethnic cleansing of Muslim Rohingya persists in Myanmar and has worsened. With the monsoon season looming, he said, children are dying of air- and water-borne diseases like diphtheria

The report used generally neutral language to discuss restrictions on non-Orthodox Jews by the Israeli government. It has promised recognition and co-ed praying at the Western Wall but has not acted on it.

As with the State Departments Human Rights report last month, the report on religious freedom scrubbed the word occupied when referring to the Palestinian West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Not surprising, the new report is toughest on several U.S. adversaries.

It slammed Cuba for the harassment and intimidation of the Ladies In White Christian dissident group; Iran, which has imprisoned at least 300 people from religious minorities or accused of insulting God; and Venezuela, which has denied or delayed operating permits for several religious groups.

The state of religious freedom is dire, Brownback said. We must move religious freedom forward and defend it in every corner of the world.

tracy.wilkinson@latimes.com

For more on international affairs, follow @TracyKWilkinson on Twitter
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens announced Tuesday that he will step down from office Friday, abandoning a months-long effort to stay in office as he faced felony criminal charges and threats of impeachment by the state Legislature.

l love Missouri, and I love our people. That love remains, a somber Greitens, a Republican, told reporters in Jefferson City, the state capital, where legislators had called for his resignation and a legislative oversight committee was investigating the governors conduct.

Greitens, who has previously said he was the victim of a political witch hunt, said Tuesday that millions of dollars in attorneys fees and what he described as legal harassment and personal attacks were starting to take their toll, including on his friends and family.

Its clear for the forces that oppose us there is no end in sight, said Greitens, who did not immediately indicate why he picked Friday as the day to resign.

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This is not the end of our fight, he said. I will always be a fighter for the people of Missouri. A great deal of work is left undone.  For the moment, let us walk off the battlefield with our heads held high.

Investigations by prosecutors and lawmakers examining possible sexual and financial misconduct by Greitens had offered the public a stark window into Missouri politics and into the private life of the governor, whose 16 months in office had also alienated many Republican leaders.

Some were concerned the scandals would dampen enthusiasm for Republican state Atty. Gen. Josh Hawleys U.S. Senate bid against Democratic incumbent Claire McCaskill.

Republican House Speaker Todd Richardson, who had previously called for Greitens resignation, welcomed the governors announcement. We believe the governor has put the best interest of Missourians first today by choosing to resign, Richardson said in a statement. The past few months have been difficult for everyone involved, including the Governor and his family.

Democratic leaders took a harsher view of Greitens announcement.

Innocent people dont resign and criminals dont get let off the hook simply because they cut and run, Missouri Senate Democratic leader Gina Walsh said in a statement. Missourians deserve to know what laws were broken, what lies were told, and how deep the corruption went.

Greitens, a former Navy SEAL and philanthropist who won an outsider bid for the governors seat in 2016, was a rising star in the Republican Party. Promising to shake up the political establishment, he caught national attention for firing a machine gun in one of his campaign ads.

But in January, media outlets in St. Louis revealed that a hairdresser, with whom Greitens had had an affair in 2015, had privately accused him of stripping her clothes off and photographing her naked against her will. The woman also testified to state legislators that Greitens had coerced her to perform oral sex.

Greitens, who admitted having the affair but denied allegations of sexually attacking the woman, was charged with felony invasion of privacy in St. Louis city circuit court.

Prosecutors dropped the case after Greitens attorneys accused an investigator of wrongdoing. A Kansas City-area prosecutor has been appointed to determine whether the charge should be refiled.

Our investigation continues, Jackson County Prosecutor Jean Peters Baker said in a statement Tuesday. Our review of this case, as I have stated before, will be pursued without fear or favor.

The allegations of sexual misconduct were the most explosive scandal surrounding Greitens administration, but the governor was also dogged by allegations of financial wrongdoing.

He was separately charged with a felony on suspicion of stealing a list of donors from his nonprofit group for veterans, The Mission Continues, and using the list to solicit donors to his campaign after he stepped down from the charity to run for office. He previously denied criminal wrongdoing, but on Tuesday prosecutors signaled that a plea agreement had been reached. They did not provide details.

I have been in contact with the Governors defense team over the past several days. We have reached a fair and just resolution of the pending charges, St. Louis city Circuit Atty. Kimberly M. Gardner said in a statement Tuesday. We will provide more information tomorrow.

Greitens also caused concern among political opponents during his campaign by raising millions of dollars that were routed through advocacy nonprofits, limited-liability corporations and political action committees in a way that allowed the sources of the money to remain hidden, even today.

Michael Hafner, an aide who worked on Greitens campaign, testified to state lawmakers that Greitens asked him to have conversations with donors who intended to raise significant amounts of money and  conceal the identity of those donors.

Hours before Greitens resignation, a Cole County judge had ordered a Greitens-linked nonprofit, A New Missouri Inc., to turn over documents to lawmakers seeking to determine whether Greitens or his supporters broke campaign-finance laws.

The head of the state House oversight committee investigating Greitens, Rep. Jay Barnes, a Republican, said last week that he had also spoken to the FBI about allegations that Greitens sought donations from foreign donors.

I had direct conversations regarding foreign contributions with very high net worth individuals that Eric Greitens connected me with, Hafner tweeted, disputing Greitens supporters claims that he had given dubious testimony.

The legislative oversight committee has also been unable to definitively establish who gave $100,000 to a St. Louis attorney who played a key role in revealing allegations of sexual misconduct against Greitens in January.

The attorney, Al Watkins, who represented the womans aggrieved ex-husband, distributed private audio recordings to local media outlets in which the woman accused Greitens of attacking her.

Before the story became public, Watkins received $100,000 in cash from a Missouri newspaper publisher who said he was delivering the money on behalf of a wealthy Republican who had a personal problem with the governor, Watkins told the Los Angeles Times.

Greitens attorneys have suggested that the source of the money might be housing developers  a powerful lobby in Missouri  who stood to lose millions of dollars after Greitens spearheaded an effort to shut down the states lucrative low-income housing tax credit program. Greitens replacement, Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Parson, is a supporter of the tax credit.

In a twist that has vexed legislators, Scott Faughn, the publisher who delivered the money to the lawyer, said the cash was his own.

Faughn, one of the most politically connected figures in the state, refused to reveal how he got more than $100,000 in cash. Faughns sworn testimony appeared to directly conflict with the testimony given by Watkins.

I would presume that this could lead to questions of perjury, Republican Rep. Curtis Trent said during the hearing.

Faughn did not respond to messages seeking comment.

matt.pearce@latimes.com

Matt Pearce is a national reporter for The Times. Follow him on Twitter at @mattdpearce.

More national headlines

UPDATES:

6:00 p.m.: This article was updated with comments by Greitens and additional developments.

This article was originally published at 2:35 p.m.
As the immigration debate hit another low last week, I received the news that my favorite immigrant died: My father-in-law, Paul Gavora.

I dont want to politicize Pauls story too much, or really at all. For me, the man wasnt a talking point; he was a hero.

Still, one of the things about todays immigration debate that breaks my heart is how both sides have lost the plot. There are legitimate policy arguments on all sides, but the story of immigration is getting slaughtered in the crossfire.

Consider my father-in-law. Born Vladimir Gavora in 1931, in the then-Czechoslovakian (today just Slovakian) village of Brezova pod Bradlom, Vlad grew up fast. When he was 7, the Germans invaded. When he was 13, his father died. The same year the Red Army moved in. He saw things then he didnt like to talk about. In 10th grade, he was expelled for questioning Communist doctrine in class. In his day, it was the teachers who were snowflakes.

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If White House advisor Stephen Miller has his way, the children of immigrants would be seen as a terrorism threat.

Expulsion slammed a door on any future he might have had at home. So in 1948, he swam the Danube by moonlight to escape the Communists. He made it to an Austrian refugee camp, where they sent him to Germany to finish high school. Colorado State University offered him a scholarship. To get there, he signed on as a hand on a United Nations refugee ship. During a storm of biblical proportions, he was tasked with preventing panicking passengers from rushing to the top deck for air. He was tied to the railing and given a billy club to beat the passengers back  for their own good.

In college, he changed his name to Paul and met his saintly wife, Donna. He soon transferred to the University of Chicago, where he worked as a milkman while pursuing a joint bachelors-masters degree under Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman. When he heard about a teaching job at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, he and a pregnant Donna packed their three young children in a car and drove north and west.

Alas, when he got to still-territorial Alaska, the job fell through. So he returned to his vocation as a milkman.

Eventually, he scrimped and borrowed enough money to open a small grocery store of his own in Fairbanks. Then he opened another. Eventually he had seven supermarkets, Fairbanks first shopping mall and a wholesale food business that supplied native villages and the Russian far east alike. He also had nine children and invested his time, money and love into his community.

Opinions will differ about the takeaway of Pauls story. For me, its not that he got rich. Its that the United States gave him a shot to try  and he remained grateful for the opportunity his whole life.

Peter Schramm, another immigrant, and a scholar and friend (who passed away not long ago) often told the story of his familys escape from Hungary after the failed 1958 uprising. We are going to America, Peters father told him.

Why America? Peter prodded.

Because, son. We were born Americans but in the wrong place.

Today the conversation about immigration is so toxic in part because we poisonously disagree about what it means to be an American. Thanks to the identity politics of the left and the right, immigrants are increasingly cast either as imported victims ready-made to join the Coalition of the Oppressed or invading takers, rapists and even animals. If White House advisor Stephen Miller has his way, the children of immigrants would be seen as a terrorism threat, which might explain why the Trump administration is snatching babies from their mothers at the border.

Of course theres a kernel of truth to both sides awful arguing points on immigrants, but they crowd out the truth: Most immigrants, even those who are in the country illegally, arent animalistic members of MS-13, nor are they eager to be props for the latest campus debate about intersectionality. They are human beings desperate to make the most of the American dream as they see it.

Thats the immigration story in America: People leaving  or fleeing  the places of their birth for the freedom to try their best. No party owns that story. But each can abandon it.

jgoldberg@latimescolumnists.com

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinionand Facebook
Video recordings in very different settings caught two incidents of Spanish speakers being harassed or detained as perceived undocumented immigrants this month.

In midtown Manhattan, an attorney, Aaron Schlossberg, berated a restaurant owner after he heard workers speaking in Spanish. He ranted that they should speak English in his country and threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

A world away in Montana, two American citizens, Ana Suda and Mimi Hernandez, recorded as they confronted a U.S. Border Patrol agent about why he asked for their identifications. He responded plainly that he wanted their IDs when he saw that you guys are speaking Spanish, which is very unheard of up here. He detained them for 40 minutes in a parking lot.

The call to speak English in America has a long history that often drowns out our even longer history of diverse language use. Spanish especially is a language with deep roots in the United States.

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The Southwest was originally part of Mexico. When the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the U.S.-Mexican War in 1848, it also granted the remaining Mexican settlers citizenship. The treaty did not require that they learn English.

Forty-one million native Spanish speakers reside in the U.S. today, and this figure does not include the millions more who have learned Spanish by choice.

Quite the opposite is true: Over the decades that followed, the federal government permitted local governments in the Southwest to use Spanish in official capacities.

Californias first state Constitution required that all laws, decrees, regulations, and provisions, which from their nature require publication, shall be published in English and Spanish. Some California counties received session laws and operated their courts in Spanish.

The use of Spanish in New Mexico was especially widespread. Just five years after taking over the territory, the United States recognized that it needed to pay for translators in the legislative chambers. Federal officials embraced Spanish as a necessary way to fairly govern this new group of citizens.

In some parts of New Mexico, election results, loyalty oaths, session laws, letters to elected officials, speeches by both political parties, court transcripts and many other official documents were written in Spanish. These are merely the recorded uses of Spanish and dont include its widespread oral use.

Senators visiting New Mexico in 1902 concluded that they could not conduct their official business without an interpreter. They encountered school teachers, judges and a census supervisor who were monolingual Spanish speakers.

When the senators asked a former justice of the peace, Jose Maria Garcia, why he continued to use Spanish, he replied: I like my own language better than any other, the same as I like the United States better than any other country in the world. For Garcia, there was no contradiction in being both an American and a Spanish speaker.

Spanish remained an official language of politics and government in much of the Southwest throughout the 19th century, but that changed in the first decades of the 20th century. Increasing immigration from Mexico, a push for school segregation and other Americanization efforts helped turn the tide. As the historian Paul J. Ramsey has shown, 26 states, including California, had outlawed the teaching of languages other than English in public primary schools by 1921. California outlawed it in private schools that year.

Anti-Mexican sentiment peaked in the early 1930s, coinciding with cruel repatriation campaigns that forced hundreds of thousands of Mexican citizens and Mexican Americans over the border into Mexico. Los Angeles County was especially effective at these tactics. Nevertheless, Spanish remained the preferred language in many parts of the Southwest during this period, and more than a thousand civic organizations promoted Spanish in the interest of Pan-Americanism.

Spanish speakers also settled well beyond the Southwest, of course. As early as 1891, the Cuban poet and journalist Jose Marti, then living in New York City, was writing of Nuestra America, or Our America, in an effort to unite Spanish speakers across the hemisphere. Tens of thousands more Cubans arrived in the early 20th century, well before the Cuban Revolution.

Congress created many Spanish-speaking Americans when it gave Puerto Ricans their citizenship in 1917 through the Jones Act, which also did not have an English-language provision. By the 1950s, nearly 200,000 Puerto Ricans had moved to New York City. Spanish has now been a part of everyday life in New York for over a century.

Forty-one million native Spanish speakers reside in the U.S. today, and this figure does not include the millions more who have learned Spanish by choice. In fact, the U.S. has the second-largest number of Spanish speakers in the world, outnumbered only by Mexico, according to the Instituto Cervantes.

Not only does the U.S. have no official language, but Spanish is not a fringe language here. It plays a much deeper role in this country than either of this months news-making videos suggest. Its use is neither new nor an anomaly. Spanish is an American language.

Lozano is an assistant professor of history at Princeton University and the author of An American Language: The History of Spanish in the United States.

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To the editor: Gustavo Arellanos idea to have all high school students work on farms for a week as a graduation requirement is a wonderful solution to a wide variety of the problems confronting Californians today.

It is highly doubtful that it will bear any fruit (pun intended) because it is impractical and really cant be implemented, and thats a shame.

Speaking personally, Im sure I would not have been appointed a Superior Court judge without having worked in the peach orchards of Gridley and Chico for three summers during high school and college, living with the braceros and experiencing that particular lifestyle. It was truly an eye-opening experience that todays youth are insulated from because they tend to live on their smartphones.

It would be nice if Arellano could persuade some of our leaders to implement his idea.

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Michael C. Solner, Burbank

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To the editor: Arrellanos suggestion that high school graduates work as fruit pickers as part of Californias proposed new ethnic studies requirement only underscores the need for a serious ethnics studies curriculum.

Though its tempting to infer differences by outward appearance and function, the reality of who we deem different or the other is not so obvious. The field worker we assume is Latino and undocumented may not be while our daughters boyfriend may be. Our childs best friend may have documents, but her parents may not.

Our differences need to be studied in an educational environment, because why these differences matter or dont has to do with peoples willingness to examine policies, laws, cultural norms and attitudes that affect all people rather than what will be gained having students pick almonds or grapes.

The latter can build bridges, but it doesnt supply the ideas and understanding that make building those bridges a necessity.

Maggie Light, Carpinteria

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To the editor: Arellanos proposal to require high school students to put in a week as a farm hand is a good one.

The summer after my first year of college, I signed on to pick plums at an orchard near Santa Clara. It took only one day of picking in the hot sun and with all the fruit flies to realize it was not the life for me.

The next day I took the bus to San Francisco and got a job as a copy boy at the Examiner. Some would say that was a bad career move. If so, it took me 40 years to find out.

Don Anderson, Ojai

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To the editor: In America, there is a belief that the rich can have anything they want. Unfortunately for Californians, the members of our Coastal Commission not only believe this, they actively facilitate it. (Soon you can visit this pristine California beach  if youre a nearby landowner, on a guided tour or willing to paddle 2 miles, May 22)

The state Constitution is clear: Californias beaches are public and open to everyone. Even with beach access, Hollister Ranch in Santa Barbara County is isolated and would never draw crowds like Malibu, where a detente between land owners and the public clearly works.

We need Coastal Commissioners who believe protecting access is a religious calling, not an opportunity to mingle with the rich and famous. Until they are willing to do their job, the public will have to. Perhaps we should start with a boycott of products made by Patagonia, whose founder owns land on Hollister Ranch, and any films by James Cameron, who also has property there.

David Higgins, Los Angeles

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To the editor: The Hollister Ranch settlement, calling for paddle-in only or chaperoned access to a public beach, should not be viewed by the city of Malibu as any kind of precedent.

The Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy is a defendant in two city of Malibu lawsuits seeking to deny public access to public land. Already, Im hearing that the Hollister settlement can be a basis for settling the Malibu lawsuits.

Hollister Ranch is remote and unique; the agencies involved had their own reasons for settlement. But with respect to beach access and parkland in Malibu, owned by the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, the public would not stand for a settlement on such idiosyncratic terms. Nor would our board members, living all over Southern California, vote for it.

Joseph T. Edmiston, Pacific Palisades

The writer is executive director of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy.

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To the editor: We the people just lost, and the privileged few just won. Thanks to the Coastal Commission, the public lost its right to access 8.5 miles of our most treasured public beach by land.

And what did wealthy homeowners win? The right to dictate who may have the privilege to visit our public beaches in the Hollister Ranch area, and that doesnt include you or me unless you have a boat or can paddle or swim the two miles to get there.

This decision may have turned the tide along our coast. The message: Fight long enough, and the Coastal Commission will banish the public from the coast outside your window and award you a private beach.

Kathryn Anderson, Costa Mesa

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The Supreme Court has refused  for now  to block an Arkansas abortion law that could prevent most women there from ending their early pregnancies with medication.

The justices, without comment or dissent, refused to hear an appeal from the Planned Parenthood Federation, which said the states law, if put into effect, would leave most women without access to a doctor who can provide medication that will bring about an abortion.

The case is not over, however. It returns now to a district court judge, who could put the law on hold again. And while the move was a setback for Planned Parenthood, the lack of dissents from the liberal justices suggests the courts action was based more on procedure than substance.

The dispute almost certainly will return to the Supreme Court after the lower court judges rule on the constitutionality of the Arkansas law.

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But Tuesdays action shows again that the high court is not eager to take up disputes over abortion regulations.

Two years ago, the Supreme Court by a 5-3 vote struck down a Texas law that imposed strict regulations on abortion clinics that had caused most of them to close. The majority, including Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, concluded the Texas law imposed an undue burden on women seeking abortions under the guise of protecting their health and safety.

Lawyers for Planned Parenthood had hoped the high court would quickly block the Arkansas law because, they said, it is strikingly similar to the Texas measure.

In their appeal, they told the justices that the restriction on drug-induced abortions was enacted supposedly to protect womens health [but] is medically unnecessary. If allowed to take effect, it would make Arkansas the only state to effectively ban medication abortion, a common method of early abortion that has been safely used by over two million American women since its approval in 2000. It would also leave only one remaining abortion provider in the entire state of more than 53,000 square miles.

At issue is a provision in a 2015 law that requires a doctor who prescribes or dispenses an abortion-inducing drug shall have a signed contract with a physician who agrees to handle complications.

State legislators said these contract relationships are needed to make sure women receive emergency care if they encounter complications, including excessive bleeding.

Abortion-rights advocates argued this legal restriction is unnecessary as a matter of medical safety. They said complications are rare, and in such circumstances, it is best for a patient to go immediately to an emergency room, not to seek out a second doctor who may be many miles away.

Further, Planned Parenthoods lawyers say this restriction works to outlaw such abortions entirely. They say other physicians in the state have refused to enter into contracts with abortion providers. They said the law would force the closure of its abortion providers in Little Rock and Fayetteville, both of which rely on medication. A privately run facility in Little Rock would remain in business and provide surgical abortions.

Arkansas Atty. Gen. Leslie Rutledge urged the court to turn down the appeal. She said her states law differs from the Texas measure. It does not require abortion doctors to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, as Texas had required, but instead says they must have a working agreement with another doctor who can handle emergencies. She also said a high court review now would be premature.

On Tuesday, in response to the high courts action, she urged the 8th Circuit Court to allow the state law to go into effect immediately.

Two years ago, a federal district judge had blocked the Arkansas law on the grounds it was obviously unconstitutional. However, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals set aside that ruling last year and told the district judge to look more closely at how many women would be affected if the law were to take effect.

Planned Parenthood opted to appeal directly to the Supreme Court.

The justices sometimes spend weeks debating behind closed doors whether to hear a potentially significant case. The appeal in the Arkansas case  Planned Parenthood of Arkansas vs. Jegley  came before the justices late last week, and it was immediately turned down.

The latest from Washington 

More stories from David G. Savage 

david.savage@latimes.com

On Twitter: DavidGSavage
Allies balk at Trump administration bid to block Chinese firm from cutting-edge telecom markets By David S. Cloud Britain and Germany are balking at the Trump administrations call for a ban on equipment from Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, threatening a global U.S. campaign to thwart Chinas involvement in future mobile networks. Both countries are expected to limit Huawei and other Chinese companies from providing core components including routers. But other types of Chinese equipment for next-generation, high-speed communications could still be installed on British and German networks, officials and analysts say. The U.S. push to ban Huawei has provoked a global dispute in recent weeks, with senior U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo, publicly urging NATO allies in Europe to exclude the company and warning that the United States might limit its military presence in countries that did not do so. Read More Facebook

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Confucius Institutes: Do they improve U.S.-China ties or harbor spies? By Don Lee Hanging red lanterns welcome visitors to the University of Marylands Confucius Institute, the oldest of about 100 Chinese language and cultural centers that have popped up over the last 15 years on American campuses, subsidized by millions of dollars from Chinas central government. But last fall, when four U.S. Senate investigators walked into the Confucius offices in Maryland and spent hours questioning staff, they werent looking for an educational exchange. The committee has been seeking detailed information from the university about the program, including contracts, email exchanges and financial arrangements that school administrators have kept under wraps since it started in 2004. American colleges once viewed these jointly funded institutes as an economical way to expand their language offerings  one that could also bring warmer ties with China and, importantly, an influx of Chinese international students paying full tuition. Read More Facebook

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Watch Live: White House holds surprise news briefing amid government shutdown Facebook

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U.S. policy toward China shifts from engagement to confrontation By David S. Cloud For decades, China had no closer American friend than Dianne Feinstein. As San Francisco mayor in the 1970s, she forged a sister-city relationship with Shanghai, the first between American and Chinese communities. As U.S. senator, she dined with Chinese leaders at Mao Tse-tungs old Beijing residence. And in the 1990s, she championed a trade policy change that opened a floodgate of Western investment into China. Today the Democratic senator sees China as a growing threat, joining a broad array of Trump administration officials, national security strategists and business executives who once favored engagement with Beijing and now advocate a confrontational approach instead. Read More Facebook

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Mnuchins attempt to calm markets backfires as Trump takes another shot at the Federal Reserve By Jim Puzzanghera An attempt by Treasury Secretary Steven T. Mnuchin to calm plunging financial markets backfired Monday, further rattling investors with new fears about whether major U.S. banks have enough cash on top of worries about interest rates, political instability in Washington and a slowing global economy. Adding to the volatile mix was a fresh attack on the Federal Reserve by President Trump, who declared that the central bank was the U.S. economys only problem and that it didnt have a feel for the market. The Fed is like a powerful golfer who cant score because he has no touch -- he cant putt! Trump said on Twitter. Read More Facebook

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He speaks to Democratic hearts. But is Beto ORourke a serious White House contender? By Mark Z. Barabak Hes a failed U.S. Senate candidate with an undistinguished congressional record who, for the moment, is a blazing-hot 2020 presidential prospect  despite the fact that he may not run and faces long odds if he does. Beto ORourke suggests the will-he-or-wont-he speculation is something he himself cant quite fathom. I think thats a great question, he responded in a Dallas Morning News interview when asked whether his unsuccessful November Senate bid merited a promotion to the White House. I ask that question myself. Read More Facebook

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Russian disinformation teams targeted Robert S. Mueller III, says report prepared for Senate By Craig Timberg, Tony Romm, Elizabeth Dwoskin Special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. (Associated Press) Months after President Trump took office, Russias disinformation teams trained their sites on a new target: special counsel Robert S. Mueller III. Having worked to help get Trump into the White House, they now worked to neutralize the biggest threat to his staying there. The Russian operatives unloaded on Mueller through fake accounts on Facebook, Twitter and beyond, falsely claiming that the former FBI director was corrupt and that the allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 election were crackpot conspiracies. One post on Instagram  which emerged as an especially potent weapon in the Russian social media arsenal  claimed that Mueller had worked in the past with radical Islamic groups. Such tactics exemplified how Russian teams ranged nimbly across social media platforms in a shrewd online influence operation aimed squarely at American voters. The effort started earlier than commonly understood and lasted longer while relying on the strengths of different sites to manipulate distinct slices of the electorate, according to a pair of comprehensive new reports prepared for the Senate Intelligence Committee and released Monday. Read more Timberg, Romm and Dwoskin report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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President Trump announces Mick Mulvaney as acting White House chief of staff By Associated Press President Trump says budget director Mick Mulvaney will serve as acting chief of staff, replacing John F. Kelly in the new year. I am pleased to announce that Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management & Budget, will be named Acting White House Chief of Staff, replacing General John Kelly, who has served our Country with distinction. Mick has done an outstanding job while in the Administration....  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2018 Facebook

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It aint over when its over: In Michigan, Wisconsin and elsewhere, losers seek to undermine election results By Mark Z. Barabak Democrat Gavin Newsom has yet to become California governor, but already a candidate for state Republican Party chairman is promoting a recall effort. In Michigan and Wisconsin, GOP lawmakers have rushed through legislation to thwart their incoming Democratic governors and hamper others in the opposing party from doing the jobs voters chose them to do. In Congress, GOP leaders have echoed President Trump and sought to undermine the legitimacy of Democrats strong midterm performance, raising unsubstantiated allegations of fraud and political malfeasance. Read More Facebook

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New CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger says she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera On her first full day leading the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Kathy Kraninger said she wont be a puppet of Mick Mulvaney, the controversial acting director whom she replaced in the powerful regulatory position. To underscore that point, the former White House aide said she would even reconsider a Mulvaney action that critics saw as a gratuitous jab at Democrats who championed the agencys creation: changing its name to the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection. Kraningers declaration during a meeting with reporters Tuesday addressed one of the main criticisms of her selection. She is considered a protege of Mulvaney, her boss at the White House Office of Management and Budget who has executed a dramatic, industry-friendly shift at the watchdog agency. Read More Facebook

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Trumps pick for chief of staff, Nick Ayers, out of running By Associated Press Nick Ayers, right, with Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, at the funeral service for George H.W. Bush on Dec. 3. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Associated Press) President Trumps top pick to replace John F. Kelly as chief of staff, Nick Ayers, is no longer expected to fill that role. Thats according to a White House official who is not authorized to discuss the personnel issue by name and spoke on condition of anonymity. Ayers is Vice President Mike Pences chief of staff. The official says that Trump and Ayers could not agree on Ayers length of service. The father of young children, Ayers had agreed to serve in an interim capacity though the spring, but Trump wanted a two-year commitment. The official says that Ayers will instead assist the president from outside the administration. Trump announced Saturday that Kelly would be departing the White House around the end of the year. Thank you @realDonaldTrump, @VP, and my great colleagues for the honor to serve our Nation at The White House. I will be departing at the end of the year but will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause.  #Georgia  Nick Ayers (@nick_ayers) December 9, 2018 Facebook

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U.S. hiring slows to 155,000 jobs, unemployment rate holds at 3.7% By Jim Puzzanghera Job growth slowed significantly in November but still was solid, indicating the economy remains in good shape but not expanding so quickly that it will lead to sharply higher interest rates. U.S. employers added 155,000 jobs last month, well below analyst expectations and a steep decline from Octobers strong 237,000 figure, the Labor Department reported Friday. Still, monthly job gains are averaging 206,000 this year, the best since 2015. Even the slower pace of 170,000 over the last three months is close to last years average of 182,000 and well above the amount needed to keep up with population growth. Read More Facebook

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Trump is expected to pick State Department spokeswoman for U.N. ambassador By Associated Press Heather Nauert at a briefing at the State Department on Aug. 9, 2017. (Alex Brandon / Associated Press) President Trump is expected to nominate State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert to be the next U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Two administration officials confirmed Trumps plans. A Republican congressional aide said the president was expected to announce his decision by tweet on Friday morning. The officials were not authorized to speak publicly before Trumps announcement. Trump has previously said Nauert was under serious consideration to replace Nikki Haley, who announced in October that she would step down at the end of this year. Trump has been known to change course on staffing decisions in the past. Nauert was a reporter for Fox News Channel before she became State Department spokeswoman under former Secretary Rex Tillerson. Facebook

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Senate confirms new consumer financial protection chief: Kathy Kraninger, protege of industry-friendly Mick Mulvaney By Jim Puzzanghera The Senate, in a party-line vote Thursday, confirmed White House aide Kathy Kraninger to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and experts predicted a continuation of the industry-friendly shift it has taken since President Trump installed an acting director last year. Kraninger is a protege of acting director and White House budget chief Mick Mulvaney, an outspoken critic of the agency that was created in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to prevent predatory lending and other abuses that led to it. Democrats and consumer advocates have denounced him for sharply departing from the aggressive watchdog role the bureau had pursued under its first director, Obama-appointee Richard Cordray, including scaling back enforcement and moving to reassess tough new rules on payday loans and narrow the definition of abusive practices by banks and other firms. Read More Facebook

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Shutdown postponed by two weeks under plan approved by Congress By Erik Wasson Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), shown at the Capitol on Tuesday, says President Trumps border wall is a waste of money. (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Congress passed a two-week stopgap spending bill that will delay the chance of a partial government shutdown until Dec. 22 as lawmakers and President Donald Trump negotiate over his demands to pay for a wall on the southern border. The House and Senate passed the measure Thursday without dissent, and Trump has indicated hell sign the bill before the current shutdown deadline of midnight Friday. Negotiations were delayed by memorial services this week for former President George H.W. Bush. The temporary measure gives Democrats and Republicans more time to find a resolution to their biggest hurdle: funding a wall on the U.S. Mexico border wall. Trump says he wants $5 billion for parts of a concrete wall on the southern border and is willing to shut down the government if he doesnt get it. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York has said Democrats will provide no more than $1.6 billion for border security, because the wall is a waste of money. The presidents demands for wall funding from Congress come after he said during the campaign that Mexico would pay for it. This week he said on Twitter that a $25 billion border wall would pay for itself in two months, without providing evidence. Most of the U.S. governments $1.2 trillion discretionary budget has been appropriated already by Congress for the fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. Departments at a risk of a partial shutdown late this month include the departments of State, Interior, Agriculture, Commerce, Justice, Treasury and Homeland Security. Talks to resolve the differences have been on hold since a meeting among Trump, Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California originally slated for Dec. 4 was postponed due to Bush memorial events. The three are scheduled to meet on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Senate Appropriations Chairman Richard Shelby of Alabama told reporters the rest of the seven-bill spending package being negotiated is basically done. Shelby in recent weeks had tried to broker a compromise in which Trumps $5 billion request would be split over two years, but Schumer has rejected that. Some Democrats have been willing to trade border wall funding for deportation protections for young undocumented immigrants. Pelosi ruled out such a deal in remarks to reporters Thursday. The stopgap government funding measure also would extend the National Flood Insurance Program, which provides subsidized coverage for homes in flood-prone areas, to Dec. 21. Facebook

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Bipartisan Senate group wants to formally blame Saudi crown prince for journalists killing By Karoun Demirjian Saudi Arabias Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires. (Associated Press) A bipartisan group of senators filed a resolution Wednesday condemning Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible for the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, directly challenging President Trump to do the same. This resolution -- without equivocation -- definitively states that the crown prince of Saudi Arabia was complicit in the murder of Mr. [Jamal] Khashoggi and has been a wrecking ball to the region jeopardizing our national security interests on multiple fronts, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said in a statement accompanying the release of the resolution. It will be up to Saudi Arabia as to how to deal with this matter. But it is up to the United States to firmly stand for who we are and what we believe. The resolution put forward by Graham and Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who are expected to lead the Judiciary Committee together next year, comes just one day after CIA Director Gina Haspel briefed leading senators about the details of the agencys assessment that Mohammed ordered and monitored the killing and dismemberment of Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. Senators emerged from that closed-door briefing furious not only with Saudi Arabia, but Trump as well for dismissing the heft of the CIAs findings. You have to be willfully blind not to come to the conclusion that this was orchestrated and organized by people under the command of MBS and that he was intricately involved in the demise of Mr. Khashoggi, Graham said following the briefing, referring to Mohammed by his initials. He added that Secretary of State Michael R. Pompeo and Defense Secretary James N. Mattis, who briefed senators last week, were at best being good soldiers and at worst were in the pocket of Saudi Arabia for presenting the evidence of Mohammeds involvement as inconclusive. The release of the resolution condemning Mohammed also comes as the Senate is preparing to move ahead with debate on a resolution to curtail U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Though the Yemen resolution does not directly address Khashoggis murder, its popularity is a sign of how strained the United States patience with Saudi Arabia is on multiple fronts, including its role in worsening the civilian cost of the war in Yemen, cited by the United Nations as the worlds worst humanitarian crisis. Last week, the Senate voted 63 to 37 to advance the Yemen resolution past an opening procedural hurdle. But Graham and Feinsteins resolution on the crown prince has the potential of drawing broader support, especially from Republicans, who are deeply divided about how fiercely to punish Saudi Arabia over Khashoggis killing. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), who has been an outspoken advocate for human rights and is seen as one of the more influential foreign policy voices in the GOP, did not vote for the Yemen resolution last week or sign on to a bipartisan measure last month to sanction Saudi officials and cease weapons transfers to the kingdom. But he is an original co-sponsor of the resolution condemning Mohammed over Khashoggis death. So is Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.), who represents the other end of the GOP spectrum in terms of recent Saudi-related votes and endorsements. Young was an initial co-sponsor of the bill Graham wrote with Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) to sanction Saudi officials deemed responsible for Khashoggis killing and stop the sale of anything but exclusively defensive weapons to the kingdom until it ceased hostilities in Yemen. Young also voted to advance the Yemen resolution  something Graham did as well, though Graham has signaled he will not be lending any similar support to the measure, fearing it may establish a precedent of invoking the War Powers Act too broadly. Sens. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.) are listed as original co-sponsors of the resolution condemning Mohammed, which also urges Saudi Arabia to negotiate with Houthi rebels to end the Yemen war, work out a political solution to its standoff with Qatar and release political prisoners. But how much sway the resolution has probably comes down to how forcefully the administration decides to heed it -- and thus far, Trump has not shown any interest in condemning the crown prince the way the senators hope he will. Demirjian reports for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Los Angeles County offices and U.S. Postal Service closed Wednesday in honor of George H.W. Bush By Brian Park The Honor Guard carries the casket of former U.S. President George H. W. Bush following his funeral on Dec. 5 in Washington, DC. (Doug Mills - Pool/Getty Images) The U.S. Postal Service will suspend regular mail delivery Wednesday, which President Trump has declared a national day of mourning in honor of former President George H.W. Bush. All retail postal outlets will be closed, and package delivery will be limited. In Los Angeles, all nonessential county departments, offices and libraries will be closed for the day, L.A. County officials said. The Los Angeles County Library said no overdue fines will be assessed for books, and due dates will be moved forward one week. Los Angeles County Department of Public Health offices also are closed Wednesday. The Sheriffs Department, Fire Department, clinics and hospitals will continue to operate, the county said. The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health clinics are being operated with reduced staffing, and the department asked patients to confirm or reschedule any appointments. All county courts and the disaster recovery centers for the Woolsey fire in Malibu and Agoura Hills will remain open. Larger federal government operations will be closed Wednesday. To honor the life and legacy of President Bush, the Postal Service will observe the National Day of Mourning. Learn how Postal operations will be affected. https://t.co/Mffch7bPCh pic.twitter.com/vG46BsIOpm  U.S. Postal Service (@USPS) December 4, 2018 L.A. County offices and libraries will be closed tomorrow (Dec 5) in observance of the #NationalDayOfMourning for President George H. W. Bush.



The Countys Disaster Recovery Centers in Malibu & Agoura Hills will remain open from 10 a.m. - 8 p.m. pic.twitter.com/Sv1J7GoJ7T  Los Angeles County (@CountyofLA) December 4, 2018 @LAPublicHealth offices will be closed tomorrow December 5 in observance of the national Day of Mourning for President George H. W. Bush. Essential Services including clinics and other services will remain open: https://t.co/tZGoGGHRlg pic.twitter.com/ypXsV6vlYY  LA Public Health (@lapublichealth) December 4, 2018 Facebook

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Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick to skip 2020 White House race, sources say By Associated Press Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick speaks during an interview in Boston on Dec. 15, 2014. (Elise Amendola / Associated Press) Former Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts will soon announce he wont launch a 2020 presidential campaign, according to three sources familiar with his plans. They did not say why the Democrat decided against a run. A formal announcement was delayed as the country observed a day of mourning for President George H.W. Bush, one source said. News of Patricks plans was first reported by Politico. Patrick, 62, served two terms as governor, from 2007 to 2015, was assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Clinton administration and since leaving the governors office has been a managing director for Bain Capital. Patrick traveled the country in support of Democratic candidates in the recent midterm election. Earlier this year, some of Patricks supporters and close advisors started the Reason to Believe political action committee, a grassroots organization dedicated to advancing a positive, progressive vision for our nation in 2018 and 2020. Reason to Believe PAC had been holding meetups across the country, including in early presidential primary states. While Patrick is opting against a 2020 run, dozens of Democrats are considering jumping in, including nearly a half-dozen members of the Senate, several House members, and other Massachusetts politicians. On Tuesday, Michael Avenatti, the attorney for adult film star Stormy Daniels and a vocal critic of President Trump, said in a statement that he would run. Patrick had previously expressed some concerns about breaking through if he sought the nomination, telling David Axelrod, a former advisor to President Obama, that he wasnt sure he could stand out in such a large field. Its hard to see how you even get noticed in such a big, broad field without being shrill, sensational or a celebrity, and Im none of those things and Im never going to be any of those things, Patrick said in a September interview with Axelrod. Facebook

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Former Trump adviser Roger Stone invokes 5th Amendment right and wont testify before Senate Judiciary Committee By Associated Press Roger Stone in 2017. (Joe Raedle / Getty Images) Roger Stone, an associate of President Trump, says he wont provide testimony or documents to the Senate Judiciary Committee. An attorney for Stone said in a letter to Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the committees top Democrat, that Stone was invoking his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to produce documents or appear for an interview. Stone has been entangled in investigations by Congress and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III about whether Trump aides had advance knowledge of Democratic emails published by WikiLeaks during the 2016 election. Stone has not been charged and has said he had no knowledge of the timing or specifics of WikiLeaks plans. In the letter to Feinstein, Stone said the committees requests were far too overbroad, far too overreaching and far too wide-ranging. Facebook

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Watch live: Vice President Pence and lawmakers honor George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol before he lies in state Facebook

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Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure has bipartisan support. But who gets to pay for it? By Jim Puzzanghera The grades for major U.S. infrastructure would give any parent indigestion if they were on a childs report card. Roads: D; bridges: C+; dams: D; ports: C+: railways: B; airports: D; schools: D+; public transit: D-. The nations overall grade: D+, which translates to being in fair to poor condition and mostly below standards with significant deterioration and a strong risk of failure, according to an evaluation last year by the American Society of Civil Engineers. Read More Facebook

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Trump calls former lawyer Michael Cohen a weak person who is lying By Associated Press President Trump says his former lawyer Michael Cohen is lying to get a reduced sentence. The president is reacting to Cohens guilty plea Thursday to lying to Congress about work he did on a Trump real estate project in Russia. During a surprise court hearing, Cohen admitted to lying in testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee about a plan to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen in his guilty plea said he made the false statements to be consistent with Trumps political message. Cohens lawyer says he continues to cooperate with special counsel Robert S. Mueller IIIs investigation into Russian election interference and possible coordination with Trump associates. Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Mark Z. Barabak When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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As California Republicans confront a congressional wipeout, GOP leader Kevin McCarthy faces a reckoning By Sarah D. Wire When the House voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, Kevin McCarthy trooped with other Republican lawmakers to a splashy Rose Garden celebration, smiling alongside President Trump as they celebrated the moment. As majority leader, McCarthy had helped round up the votes to narrowly pass the hard-fought legislation, convincing 13 other California Republicans to go along, even though several faced tough reelection fights. Fewer than half will be returning in January. Read More Facebook

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Michael Cohen, President Trumps ex-lawyer, pleads guilty to lying to Congress about Trump real estate project in Russia By Associated Press Michael Cohen, President Trumps former personal lawyer, pursued a Russian real estate project on candidate Trumps behalf well into the 2016 campaign, he said Thursday while pleading guilty to lying to Congress. Cohen had previously said that the project was abandoned in January 2016, but he now admits he continued to pursue a deal and says he updated Trump and members of his family about the negotiations, according to a new court document. Read More Facebook

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James Comey says acting Atty. Gen. Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer By John Wagner Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker speaks at the Justice Department in Washington on Nov. 14. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais / Associated Press) Former FBI Director James B. Comey apparently isnt too impressed with the mental prowess of President Trumps acting attorney general. Matthew Whitaker may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, Comey said during a radio interview on Monday night in which he sized up the man Trump installed this month to replace ousted Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions. Comey was asked by WGBH News in Boston if he thinks Whitaker could derail the investigation of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. Whitaker has spoken critically of the probe, and Trump  as recently as Tuesday  continues to call it a witch hunt. I think its a worry, but to my mind not a serious worry, Comey said. The institution is too strong, and [Whitaker], frankly, is not strong enough to have that kind of impact. He may not be the sharpest knife in our drawer, but he can see his future and knows that if he acted in an extralegal way, he would go down in history for the wrong reasons, and Im sure he doesnt want that, added Comey, who was fired by Trump last year and later wrote a book that portrays the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. Whitaker, a former U.S. attorney in Iowa, was Sessions chief of staff before being picked by Trump to lead the Justice Department. Trump has called Whitaker a very smart man. Earlier this year, Trump called Comey an untruthful slime ball. Wagner writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Interior Department watchdog clears Zinke in investigation of Utah national monument By Juliet Eilperin Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke, third from the left, and Gov. Jerry Brown tour fire damage in Paradise, Calif., on Nov. 14. (Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press) The Interior Departments Office of Inspector General has cleared Secretary Ryan Zinke in a probe of whether he redrew boundaries of a national monument in Utah to aid the financial interests of a Republican state lawmaker and stalwart supporter of President Trump. In a Nov. 21 letter to Zinkes deputy, David Bernhardt, Deputy Inspector General Mary Kendall wrote that her office found no evidence that the secretary or his aides changed the boundaries of Utahs Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in an effort to help former Utah state representative Mike Noel, who serves as executive director of the Kane County Water Conservancy District. Last December, Trump shrank the monument, first established by President Clinton in 1996, by 46% based on Zinkes recommendation. Noel owns 40 acres that had been surrounded by the monument, but now lies outside its boundaries. The new boundaries also would make it easier to construct the proposed Lake Powell Pipeline, which would deliver water to sites in Kane County that include Noels property. Earlier this year, the Interior Department had proposed selling off 120 acres of federal land from the former monument that lay adjacent to some of Noels land holdings, but later reversed the plan. We found no evidence that Noel influenced the DOIs proposed revisions to the [monuments] boundaries, that Zinke or other DOI staff involved in the project were aware of Noels financial interest in the revised boundaries, or that they gave Noel any preferential treatment in the resulting proposed boundaries, Kendall wrote. Neither the Interior Department nor the inspector generals office would release the actual investigative report. In the letter, Kendall writes that her office will provide the report to Congress no sooner than 31 days from Nov. 21, when it is provided it to Zinkes office. The Associated Press first reported the inspector generals conclusions Monday night, but did not provide details from the report itself. Noel emailed Zinke about the effort to alter Grand Staircase-Escalante, according to emails released by Interior under the Freedom of Informational Act. But those emails do not make references to Noels land holdings. Noel also pushed to rename a Utah highway in honor of Trump, but abandoned that effort in March after some of his fellow Republicans objected to the idea. Noel did not respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The inspector generals office still has at least two ongoing probes of the secretary, including one focused on his real estate dealings in Whitefish, Mont., and another regarding his decision to deny a permit to two Connecticut tribes who were hoping to jointly run a casino after MGM Resorts International lobbied against it. Interior Department spokeswoman Heather Swift welcomed the watchdogs conclusions. The report shows exactly what the secretarys office has known all along  that the monument boundaries were adjusted in accordance with all rules, regulations and laws, she said in an email. This report is also the latest example of opponents and special interest groups ginning up fake and misleading stories, only to be proven false after expensive and time consuming inquiries by the IGs office. But Kendalls spokeswoman, Nancy DiPaolo, defended the inquiry, even though she said the report has not been publicly released and we will not be speaking specifically about the matter at this time. The OIG opens investigations based on credible allegations and reports our findings objectively and independently, DiPaolo added. Any time or resources spent investigating conduct or activity that may be a violation of law, regulation or policy is a service to the public, Congress and the Department. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Arizona, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement that he still intended to investigate the way Zinke and his colleague redrew the boundaries for Grand Staircase-Escalante and another Utah national monument, Bears Ears, next year. I have great respect for the inspector general, and I accept these findings, but Secretary Zinke should have known the people he listened to while destroying our national monuments had disqualifying conflicts of interest, he said. Should I chair the Natural Resources Committee in the next Congress, the process he and President Trump used to destroy Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante will be front and center in our oversight and investigations efforts. We need to know why they ignored overwhelming public expressions of support for both Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, why they ignored Native American tribes throughout their decision-making, and why they removed protections on parcels of land with known mineral deposits. Eilperin and Rein report for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump advisor Larry Kudlow says China must do more to end trade war By Jim Puzzanghera Larry Kudlow, President Trumps top economic advisor, said Tuesday that Chinas response to U.S. efforts to rework the two economic superpowers trade relationship has been extremely disappointing but the planned meeting this weekend between the nations leaders is an opportunity for a breakthrough. They have to do more. They must do more, Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters ahead of a Saturday dinner between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 Summit in Argentina. I think the president is exactly right  to show strong backbone when prior administrations did not, to break through these Chinese walls, Kudlow said. Theyre so resistant to change. We have to protect the country. We have to protect our technology, our inventiveness, our innovation. Read More Facebook

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Watch live: White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders holds a media briefing amid tensions at the border By Los Angeles Times Staff Facebook

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Democrat TJ Cox grabs lead over Republican David Valadao in nations last remaining undecided House race By Maya Sweedler Democrat TJ Cox slipped past Republican incumbent David Valadao on Monday to take the lead in the countrys sole remaining undecided congressional race, positioning Democrats to pick up their seventh House seat in California and 40th nationwide. Cox, who trailed by nearly 4,400 votes on election night, has steadily gained as ballot counting continues nearly three weeks after the Nov. 6 election, a pattern consistent with the states recent voting history. On Monday, he pulled ahead by 438 votes after Kern County updated its results. Read More Facebook

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Former CIA director Michael Hayden hospitalized after suffering a stroke By Deanna Paul Then-CIA Director Michael Hayden testifies before a Senate committee in 2008. (Saul Loeb / Getty Images) Former CIA Director and retired Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden has been hospitalized after suffering a stroke, his family said Friday. He is receiving expert medical care for which the family is grateful, according to a statement issued by his namesake organization. The General and his family greatly appreciate the warm wishes and prayers of his friends, colleagues, and supporters. Hayden, 73, served as director of the CIA and National Security Agency during the George W. Bush and Obama administrations. He retired from the CIA in 2009. Hayden has been a vocal critic of Donald Trumps campaign and presidency. Earlier this year, after Trump decided to revoke the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, Hayden was one of several former intelligence leaders who signed a statement in opposition. Criticizing the president for crossing a line, he quickly became one of the individuals whose security clearance Trump threatened to review. Deanna Paul writes for the Washington Post. Facebook

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Trump tells troops hes thankful for what hes done for the U.S. and rails against courts and migrants By Associated Press President Trump talks with troops via teleconference from his estate in Palm Beach, Fla., on Thanksgiving. (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump used his Thanksgiving Day call to troops deployed overseas to pat himself on the back and air grievances about the courts, trade and migrants heading to the U.S.-Mexico border. Trumps call, made from his opulent private Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., struck an unusually political tone as he spoke with members of all five branches of the military to wish them happy holidays. Its a disgrace, Trump said of judges who have blocked his attempts to overhaul U.S. immigration law, as he linked his efforts to secure the border with military missions overseas. Trump later threatened to close the U.S. border with Mexico for an undisclosed period of time if his administration determines Mexico has lost control on its side. The call was a uniquely Trump blend of boasting, peppered questions and off-the-cuff observations as his comments veered from venting about slights to praising troops  You really are our heroes, he said  as club waiters worked to set Thanksgiving dinner tables on the outdoor terrace behind him. It was yet another show of how Trump has dramatically transformed the presidency, erasing the traditional divisions between domestic policy and military matters and efforts to keep the troops clear of politics. You probably see over the news whats happening on our southern border, Trump told one Air Force brigadier general stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan, adding: I dont have to even ask you. I know what you want to do, you want to make sure that you know who were letting in. Later, Trump asked a U.S. Coast Guard commander about trade, which he noted was a very big subject for him personally. Weve been taken advantage of for many, many years by bad trade deals, Trump told the commander, who sheepishly replied, Mr. President, from our perspective on the water  we dont see any issues in terms of trade right now. And throughout, Trump congratulated himself, telling the officers that the country is doing exceptionally well on his watch. I hope that youll take solace in knowing that all of the American families you hold so close to your heart are all doing well, he said. The nations doing well economically, better than anybody in the world. He later told reporters, Nobodys done more for the military than me. Indeed, asked what he was thankful for this Thanksgiving, Trump cited his great family as well as himself. I made a tremendous difference in this country, he said. Facebook

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Trump contradicts CIA assessment that Saudi crown prince ordered Jamal Khashoggi killing By Josh Dawsey | Washington Post (Susan Walsh / Associated Press) President Trump on Thursday contradicted the CIAs assessment that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had ordered the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting that the agency had feelings but did not firmly place blame for the death. Trump, in defiant remarks to reporters from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, defended his continued support for Mohammed in the face of a CIA assessment that the crown prince had ordered the killing. He denies it vehemently, Trump said. He said his own conclusion was that maybe he did, maybe he didnt. I hate the crime .... I hate the cover-up. I will tell you this: The crown prince hates it more than I do, Trump said. Asked who should be held accountable for the death of Khashoggi, who was killed at the Saudi Consulate in Turkey, Trump refused to place blame. Maybe the world should be held accountable because the world is a very, very vicious place, the president said. He also seemed to suggest that all U.S. allies were guilty of the same behavior, declaring that if the others were held to the standard that critics have held Saudi Arabia to in recent days, we wouldnt be able to have anyone for an ally. Trumps remarks came after he held a conference call with U.S. military officers overseas, during which he repeatedly praised his administration and sought to draw the officers into discussions of domestic policy. Facebook

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Former FBI Director James Comey gets subpoena from House Republicans By Bloomberg Former FBI Director James B. Comey said he has received a subpoena from House Republicans, according to a Twitter post on Thursday. Bloomberg News reported last week that Comey would be receiving a subpoena alongside former Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch as part of continuing probes into their handling of investigations into Hillary Clinton and Russian election meddling, according to a top House Democrat. Happy Thanksgiving. Got a subpoena from House Republicans. Im still happy to sit in the light and answer all questions. But I will resist a closed door thing because Ive seen enough of their selective leaking and distortion. Lets have a hearing and invite everyone to see.  James Comey (@Comey) November 22, 2018 Read More Facebook

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Republican David Valadaos lead slips to 447 votes over Democrat TJ Cox in still-undecided Central Valley House race By Mark Z. Barabak Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford), right, finds himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox. (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) On election night, it looked like Rep. David Valadao had survived a close shave and was destined to return to Washington for his fourth term. But on Wednesday, when Fresno County announced its latest vote totals, the Hanford Republican found himself in an increasingly harrowing cliffhanger against Democrat TJ Cox, with his lead in the Central Valley district shrunken to 447 votes. Thousands remain to be counted. Valadao, a repeated Democratic target, finished election night with a lead of nearly 4,440 votes. Cox, an engineer and a business owner who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2006, has steadily gained ground in the 21st Congressional District ever since. The trend is consistent with historic patterns showing Republicans in California tend to vote early and Democrats later, meaning their mail ballots continue to stream in past election day. Under California law, ballots postmarked up to midnight on Nov. 6 will be counted. Democrats have already picked up six House seats in California. They ousted Reps. Dana Rohrabacher, Mimi Walters, Steve Knight and Jeff Denham and won the seats of retiring Reps. Ed Royce and Darrell Issa. All six represented districts that backed Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump in 2016. Valadao was the seventh California Republican in a district Clinton won, though his previous successes  he last won reelection by a 14-point margin  suggested his ouster was a longer shot for Democrats. If Cox prevails, it would give Democrats a 40-seat gain nationwide, far more than the 23 seats needed to take control when Congress reconvenes in January. Facebook

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Trump says no new punishments against Saudi Arabia in Jamal Khashoggi murder By Eli Stokols In this Oct. 25 photo, candles are lit in front of a photo of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. (Lefteris Pitarakis) President Trump made it clear on Tuesday that he does not intend to punish Saudi Arabia or Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi, an American resident killed by Saudi officials in Turkey in October. In a remarkable statement replete with exclamation points, Trump cast doubt on the CIAs reported conclusions that it has a high degree of confidence that the crown prince ordered Khashoggis murder and sent his closest allies to Saudi Arabias consulate in Istanbul to carry it out. Read MoreThis article has been updated with staff. Facebook

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Sixteen House Democrats vow to oppose Nancy Pelosi as next speaker By Mike DeBonis | Washington Post House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (J. Scott Applewhite / Associated Press) Sixteen House Democrats said Monday that they will vote to deny Rep. Nancy Pelosi another stint as House speaker, a show of defiance that puts her opponents on the cusp of forcing a seismic leadership shake-up as their party prepares to take the majority. Their pledge to oppose Pelosi (D-San Francisco), both in an internal caucus election and a Jan. 3 floor vote, delivered in a letter sent to Democratic colleagues, comes as Pelosi has marshaled a legion of supporters on and off Capitol Hill to make her case. But her opponents said Monday they are convinced it is time to select a new leader. We are thankful to Leader Pelosi for her years of service to our Country and to our Caucus, they wrote. However, we also recognize that in this recent election, Democrats ran on and won on a message of change. Pelosi has expressed complete confidence that she will retake the speakers gavel in January  eight years after she lost it following massive Republican gains in the 2010 midterms and 16 years after she was first elevated to the top Democratic leadership post in the House. Come on in, the waters fine, she said Friday about a potential leadership challenge. The signers might not be able to force Pelosi out themselves. The size of the Democratic majority remains in flux, but Democrats have already won 232 seats, according to the Associated Press, with five races still undecided. All those races have Republican incumbents, but the Democratic challenger is ahead in only one of them. If the leads hold in the uncalled races, Democrats would have won 233 seats, a 16-seat majority. That means Pelosi could lose as many as 15 Democratic votes when she stands for election as speaker on Jan. 3. Read More Facebook

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Democratic senators sue over Whitakers appointment as acting attorney general By Associated Press Acting U.S. Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitaker (Nicholas Kamm / AFP/Getty Images) Three Senate Democrats filed a lawsuit Monday arguing that Acting Atty. Gen. Matthew Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge to remove him. The suit, filed by Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Mazie Hirono of Hawaii and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, argues that Whitakers appointment violates the Constitution because he has not been confirmed by the Senate. Whitaker was chief of staff to Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions and was elevated to the top job after Sessions was ousted by President Trump on Nov. 7. The Constitutions Appointments Clause requires that the Senate confirm all principal officials before they can serve in their office. The Justice Department released a legal opinion last week that said Whitakers appointment would not violate the clause because he is serving in an acting capacity. The opinion concluded that Whitaker, even without Senate confirmation, may serve in an acting capacity because he has been at the department for more than a year at a sufficiently senior pay level. President Trump is denying senators our constitutional obligation and opportunity to do our job: scrutinizing the nomination of our nations top law enforcement official, Blumenthal said in a statement. The reason is simple: Whitaker would never pass the advice and consent test. In selecting a so-called constitutional nobody and thwarting every senators constitutional duty, Trump leaves us no choice but to seek recourse through the courts. The lawsuit comes days after a Washington lawyer challenged Whitakers appointment in a pending Supreme Court case dealing with gun rights. The attorney, Thomas Goldstein, asked the high court to find that Whitakers appointment is unconstitutional and replace him with Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Rosenstein, the second-ranking Justice Department official, has been confirmed by the Senate and had been overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker is now overseeing the investigation. The Justice Department issued a statement Monday defending Whitakers appointment as lawful and said it comports with the Appointments Clause, the Federal Vacancies Reform Act and legal precedent. There are over 160 instances in American history in which non-Senate confirmed persons performed, on a temporary basis, the duties of a Senate-confirmed position, Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said. To suggest otherwise is to ignore centuries of practice and precedent. Facebook

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Gov. Rick Scott says Sen. Bill Nelson concedes Florida Senate race By Associated Press Republican Senate candidate Rick Scott speaks with his wife, Ann, by his side at an election watch party in Naples, Fla., on Nov. 7. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas Republican Gov. Rick Scott says incumbent Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson called him to concede defeat in their extremely tight race. Scott issued a statement Sunday saying Nelson graciously conceded their Senate race shortly after the states recount ended. The final results show Scott defeated Nelson by just over 10,000 votes out of 8 million cast. Nelson is scheduled to release a videotaped statement later Sunday. The defeat ends Nelsons lengthy political career. The three-term incumbent was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2000. Before that he served six terms in the U.S. House and as state treasurer and insurance commissioner for six years. Scott spent more than $60 million of his own money on ads that portrayed Nelson as out-of-touch and ineffective. Nelson responded by questioning Scotts ethics and saying he would be under the sway of President Trump. Facebook

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Orange County goes blue, as Democrats complete historic sweep of its seven congressional seats By Michael Finnegan Gil Cisneros defeated Republican Young Kim on Saturday in the last of Orange Countys undecided House races, giving Democrats a clean sweep of the states six most fiercely fought congressional contests and marking an epochal shift in a region long synonymous with political conservatism. With Cisneros victory, Democrats will constitute the entirety of Orange Countys seven-member congressional delegation, the first time since the 1930s that the birthplace of Richard Nixon, home of John Wayne and spiritual center of the Republican Party will have no GOP representative in the House. Sitting back in the 1960s, I would never have believed this would happen, said Stuart K. Spencer, a party strategist who spent more than half a century ushering Republicans, including President Reagan, into office. Read More Facebook

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Going, going ... with midterm wipeout, California Republican Party drifts closer to irrelevance By Michael Finnegan For a party in freefall the last two decades, California Republicans learned that its possible to plunge even further. The GOP not only lost every statewide office in the midterm election  again, in blowout fashion  but Democrats reestablished their supermajority in Sacramento, allowing them to legislate however they see fit After major defeats in Orange County and the Central Valley, two longtime strongholds, Republicans will have a significantly smaller footprint on Capitol Hill. (Democrats hold both Senate seats.) When the vote-counting is finished, the GOP may not even have enough lawmakers in Californias 53-member House delegation to field a nine-person softball team. Read More Facebook

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Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter says she will support Rep. Nancy Pelosi for speaker By Maya Sweedler Democratic Rep.-elect Katie Porter is congratulated by volunteers at her campaign headquarters in Irvine. (Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times) Congresswoman-elect Katie Porter said she plans to support Rep. Nancy Pelosis bid for speaker of the House and will make campaign finance reform her top priority when she enters the chamber in January. Im going to continue to have conversations, but so far I feel like Leader Pelosi is definitely making the things that were a priority to the families that elected me her priorities, including announcing her support for campaign finance reform and anti-corruption as HR1, Porter said in her first public appearance since being declared the winner in Californias 45th Congressional District on Thursday evening. It means a lot to me that she is a Californian. She understands our state, Porter added. When we talk about environmental protections, this is a person who understands as a Californian how fragile our environment is and whats at risk in things like drilling off our coasts. Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, defeated two-term Republican Rep. Mimi Walters. The 45th District, covering inland Orange County, has never been represented by a Democrat. Porter became the third Democrat to claim a Republican-held seat in Orange County, following the victories of Harley Rouda in the 48th District and Mike Levin in the 49th. A fourth, Gil Cisneros, is running slightly ahead of his Republican opponent in the race for the open seat in the 39th District, which extends into Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Porter attributed the massive political shift in the county, for decades a conservative stronghold, to increased levels of political engagement. Folks here care about education, they care about the environment, they believe climate change is real, they want healthcare that protects preexisting conditions, they want a tax system that doesnt punish California, they want our schools and places of worship to be safe from gun violence, she said. Those are the issues we campaigned on, and to the extent that Donald Trump and Mimi Walters were on the wrong side of those issues, the voters have made clear what direction they want us to go. Porter was flying back from the East Coast when her race was called, she said. She turned on her phone to find 167 text messages from friends and supporters. Among them was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who was one of Porters teachers in law school and with whom she has remained close. The pair spoke via FaceTime this morning, she said. Facebook

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Bitter battle for Senate seat in Florida goes to hand recount By Associated Press Employees look through damaged ballots during a recount Thursday in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee / Associated Press) Floridas acrimonious battle for the U.S. Senate headed Thursday to a legally required hand recount after an initial review by ballot-counting machines showed Republican Gov. Rick Scott and Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson separated by less than 13,000 votes. But the highly watched contest for governor between Republican Ron DeSantis and Democrat Andrew Gillum appeared to be over, with a machine recount showing DeSantis with a large enough advantage over Gillum to avoid a hand recount in that race. Gillum, who conceded the contest on election night only to retract his concession later, said in a statement that it is not over until every legally casted vote is counted. The recount so far has been fraught with problems. One large Democratic stronghold in South Florida was unable to finish its machine recount by the Thursday deadline due to machines breaking down. A federal judge rejected a request to extend the recount deadline. We gave a heroic effort, said Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher. If the county had three or four more hours, it would have made the deadline to recount ballots in the Senate race, she said. Meanwhile, election officials in another urban county in the Tampa Bay area decided against turning in the results of their machine recount, which came up with 846 fewer votes than originally counted. Media in South Florida reported that Broward County finished its machine recount but missed the deadline by a few minutes. Counties were ordered last weekend to do a machine recount of three statewide races because the margins were so tight. The next stage is a manual review of ballots that were not counted by machines to see whether there is a way to figure out voter intent. Scott called on Nelson to end the recount battle. Its time for Nelson to respect the will of the voters and graciously bring this process to an end rather than proceed with yet another count of the votes  which will yield the same result and bring more embarrassment to the state that we both love and have served, the governor said in a statement. The recount has triggered multiple lawsuits, many of them filed by Nelson and Democrats. The legal battles drew the ire of U.S. District Judge Mark E. Walker, who slammed the state for repeatedly failing to anticipate election problems. He also said the state law on recounts appears to violate the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that decided the presidency in 2000. We have been the laughingstock of the world, election after election, and we chose not to fix this, Walker said during a morning hearing. Walker vented his anger at state lawmakers and Palm Beach County officials, saying they should have made sure they had enough equipment in place to handle this kind of a recount. But he said he could not extend the recount deadline because he did not know when Palm Beach County would finish its work. This court must be able to craft a remedy with knowledge that it will not prove futile, Walker wrote in his ruling turning down the request from Democrats. It cannot do so on this record. This court does not and will not fashion a remedy in the dark. The overarching problem was created by the Florida Legislature, which Walker said passed a recount law that appears to run afoul of the 2000 Bush vs. Gore decision by locking in procedures that do not allow for potential problems. A total of six election-related lawsuits are pending in federal court in Tallahassee as well at least one lawsuit filed in state court. Walker also ordered that voters be given until 5 p.m. Saturday to show a valid identification and fix their ballots if they have not been counted due to mismatched signatures. Republicans appealed the ruling, but an appeals court turned down the request. State officials testified that nearly 4,000 mailed-in ballots were set aside because local officials decided the signatures on the envelopes did not match the signatures on file. If those voters can prove their identity, their votes will be counted and included in final official returns due from each county by noon Sunday. Walker was asked by Democrats to require local officials to provide a list of people whose ballots were rejected. But the judge appointed by President Obama refused the request, calling it inappropriate. Under state law, a hand review is required with races that have a margin of 0.25 percentage points or less. A state website put the unofficial results showing Scott ahead of Nelson by 0.15 percentage points. The margin between DeSantis and Gillum was at 0.41 points. The margin between Scott and Nelson had not changed much in the last few days, conceded Marc Elias, an attorney working for Nelsons campaign. But he said that he expected the vote tally to shrink due to the hand recount and the ruling on signatures. The developments fueled frustrations among Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats want state officials to do whatever it takes to make sure every eligible vote is counted. Republicans, including President Trump, have argued without evidence that voter fraud threatens to steal races from the GOP. Facebook

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Democrat Gil Cisneros pulls ahead of Republican Young Kim as more votes are tallied in Orange and San Bernardino counties By Michael Finnegan Congressional candidate Gil Cisneros (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times) Democrat Gil Cisneros pulled ahead of Republican Young Kim in one of Californias undecided congressional races Thursday, an ominous sign for a GOP already reeling from its loss of four House seats in the state. In updated vote counts released by the registrars for Orange and San Bernardino counties, Kim fell 941 votes behind Cisneros in the contest to succeed Republican Rep. Ed Royce in Californias 39th Congressional District. The 39th straddles Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Orange counties. In another unresolved House race, Democrat Katie Porter pulled further ahead of Republican incumbent Mimi Walters in the 45th District, which includes Mission Viejo, Tustin, Irvine, Rancho Santa Margarita and Laguna Hills. Porter, a consumer attorney and UC Irvine law professor, is now 6,203 votes ahead. The Nov. 6 midterm election has been devastating to Republicans in California. If Cisneros and Porter win, the party will have lost six of its 14 House seats in the state, essentially a wipeout in every contest that both parties spent heavily to win. The three Republicans already bounced from Congress are Reps. Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa, Steve Knight of Palmdale and Jeff Denham of Turlock in the San Joaquin Valley. Democrat Mike Levin won the seat of retiring GOP Rep. Darrell Issa of Vista in the fourth district flipped so far. Facebook

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Florida Senate race likely headed to second recount By Associated Press A Palm Beach County Sheriffs deputy walks past boxes of ballots before a recount on Nov. 15 in West Palm Beach, Fla. (Wilfredo Lee) Unofficial Florida election results show that the governors race seems to be settled after a machine recount but the U.S. Senate race is likely headed to a hand recount. Republican Ron DeSantis is virtually assured of winning the nationally watched governors race over Democrat Andrew Gillum. Florida finished a machine recount Thursday that showed Gillum without enough votes to force a manual recount. Unofficial results posted on a state website show the margin between U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson and Gov. Rick Scott is still thin enough to trigger a second review. State law requires a hand recount of races with a margin of 0.25 percentage point or less. Counties have until Sunday to inspect the ballots that did not record a vote when put through the machines. Those ballots are re-examined to see whether the voter skipped the race or marked the ballot in a way that the machines cannot read but can be deciphered. The election will be certified Tuesday. Read More Facebook

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Pelosi says she has the votes to become the next House speaker By John Wagner Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi speaks during a news conference in Washington on Nov. 14. (Susan Walsh) House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi insisted Thursday that she has the votes to become the chambers speaker despite solid opposition from more than a dozen Democrats who want fresh leadership when the party takes control next year. I have overwhelming support in my caucus to be speaker of the House, the San Francisco lawmaker told reporters. I happen to think at this point, Im the best person for that. A vote within the Democratic caucus is scheduled for Nov. 28. The full House votes on Jan. 3 to elect a new speaker. During her remarks, Pelosi touted the size of the Democratic victory in the midterms, which she called almost a tsunami. With a few races still to be decided, Democrats are poised to pick up close to 40 seats in the chamber. Pelosi called that the biggest victory for the Democrats since 1974, when the Watergate babies came in. Pelosis comments come as she faces solid opposition from at least 17 Democrats, setting the stage for a battle over who will ascend to one of the most powerful positions in Washington. After a campaign in which some Democrats prevailed in competitive districts by promising to oppose her, a coalition of incumbents and newly elected members has denied her a smooth path to the speakership. The defections, if they stand, would leave Pelosi, who has led the Democrats for more than 15 years, several votes short of the 218 she would need when the full House votes for speaker Jan. 3. However, no Democrat has stepped forward to run against her for a job she held from 2007 through 2010. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told reporters Wednesday that shes being encouraged to stand for speaker if Pelosi doesnt have the votes. In an interview with the Washington Post on Thursday, she said she has been overwhelmed by the support from many of her colleagues for her possible entry into the race for House speaker. Over the last 12 hours, Ive been overwhelmed by the amount of support Ive received, Fudge said, adding that there are probably closer to 30" Democrats who have privately signaled that they are willing to oppose Pelosi. Things could change rapidly, Fudge said. Fudge, 66, a former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said she is building a diverse coalition as she mulls a speaker run, talking with allies in the caucus, moderate Democrats and newly elected members. To this point, Pelosi has enjoyed the strong backing of the Congressional Black Caucus. On Thursday, Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), one of its members, wrote a letter to colleagues praising her insight, fortitude and strategic thinking and urging support for her speakership bid. Former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., an African American who is contemplating a 2020 presidential bid, also voiced support for Pelosi, praising her in a tweet as an architect of the recent midterm success. Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), a leader of the resistance to Pelosi, said during an interview on CNN on Thursday that Fudge is the kind of new leader that we need in this party. Shes in touch with middle America. She understands what the American people want. Shes a next-generation leader that people will look to and say, Thats the future of our party, thats the future of our country, and thats exactly the kind of leader that I want to see as our next speaker. Wagner reports for the Washington Post. The Posts Robert Costa, Erica Werner, Mike DeBonis, Paul Kane and Elise Viebeck contributed to this report. Facebook

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GOP Rep. Jeff Denham concedes to Democrat Josh Harder in Central Valley race By Maya Sweedler Rep. Jeff Denham (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) Republican Rep. Jeff Denham has conceded to Democrat Josh Harder in the race to represent Californias 10th Congressional District in the San Joaquin Valley. It has been an absolute honor to serve our community and represent the Central Valley in Congress over the past eight years, the 51-year-old congressman said. The enormity of the responsibility was never lost on me. My wife Sonia and I look forward to starting the next chapter of our lives. Harder said he had spoken with Denham and the two were committed to a productive transition. Denham, an Air Force veteran, previously represented the region in the state Senate for eight years and founded a company specializing in plastic packaging used in agriculture. While a member of Congress, he sat on the Transportation and Infrastructure, Veterans Affairs and Agriculture committees. First-time candidate Harder was born and raised in the district. After graduating from Stanford University, he served as vice president of a Silicon Valley venture capital firm. Since moving back, he has been teaching at Modesto Junior College. Denhams House seat is one of four in California that Republicans lost in the Nov. 6 election, with two contests in Orange County still undecided as of Thursday morning. Jeff Denham called me this morning and we had a very productive conversation. I'm honored that I've been chosen to serve our community in Congress, and we're both looking forward to a productive transition that best serves the people of District 10.  Josh Harder (@JoshHarder) November 14, 2018 Facebook

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Democrat Katie Porter now nearly 3,800 votes ahead of GOP Rep. Mimi Walters By Maya Sweedler Rep. Mimi Walters thanks all of her supporters as she watches election results in Irvine on Nov. 7, 2018. (Alex Gallardo / Associated Press) Democrat Katie Porter opened a 3,797-vote lead Wednesday over Republican Rep. Mimi Walters in Orange Countys 45th Congressional District. In the neighboring 39th, Democrat Gil Cisneros has nearly tied the race against Republican Young Kim. Cisneros now trails Kim by a razor-thin margin of 122 votes. The 39th District straddles Los Angeles, Orange and San Bernardino counties; Wednesdays updated ballot counts came from the latter two. There are more than 202,000 ballots left to count in Orange County, which includes parts of seven congressional districts. The 45th is entirely in inland Orange County. In California, the ballots counted first tend to lean Republican and those tallied later skew Democratic. In the Central Valleys 21st Congressional District, Democratic challenger TJ Cox has pulled within 2 percentage points of Rep. David Valadao, who is serving his third term. The Associated Press had projected a win for Valadao on election night, but his 4,839-vote advantage has shrunk to 2,090. Back in CA-21, Valadao (R) wins a batch of ballots from his stronghold in Kings Co., but by a considerably smaller margin (14 points) than his previous ~30-point margin in the county. We're moving to Lean R from Likely R; today a bit scary for Valadao.https://t.co/WqJVUVkqGW  Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) November 15, 2018 A spokesman for Valadao told the Fresno Bee that the changes were expected and that [s]tatistically, David Valadao has won this race. Democrats in California have already flipped four House seats, defeating three Republican incumbents and claiming an open seat previously held by the GOP. Reps. Steve Knight of Palmdale, Dana Rohrabacher of Costa Mesa and Jeff Denham of Turlock have already lost their races, and retiring Rep. Darrell Issas San Diego County seat was claimed by Democrat Mike Levin. Facebook

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Trump aide departs West Wing after rebuke from Melania Trump By Associated Press First Lady Melania Trump. (Alain Jocard / AFP-Getty Images) Deputy national security advisor Mira Ricardel is leaving the White House, one day after First Lady Melania Trumps office issued an extraordinary statement calling for her dismissal. No replacement was named. Aides said Ricardel clashed with the first ladys staff over her visit to Africa last month. Yet it is highly unusual for a first lady or her office to weigh in on personnel matters, especially the presidents national security staff. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Ricardel would have a new role in the administration. On Tuesday, Stephanie Grisham, the first ladys spokeswoman, released a statement saying, It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House. President Trumps White House has set records for administration turnover. Ricardel was the third person to hold the post under Trump. An ally of national security advisor John Bolton, Ricardel began her service in the Trump administration as associate director in the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, then moved to the Commerce Department last year. Bolton brought her into the West Wing shortly after taking the job in April. He is traveling in Asia this week alongside Vice President Mike Pence. Facebook

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Race for House Minority Leader is Kevin McCarthys to lose By Associated Press (Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call) House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy is running to take over next years shrunken caucus in closed-door elections that will set the tone for the new Congress. The race for minority leader is McCarthys to lose Wednesday. But the California Republican, who is an ally of President Trump, must fend off a challenge from conservative Jim Jordan of Ohio. Jordan is a leader of the House Freedom Caucus. The two encountered questions and finger-pointing during a private meeting with lawmakers Tuesday night as the GOP sorted through the midterm defeat that put Democrats in the majority next year. Elections Wednesday will also determine party leadership in the Senate. Voting for the biggest race, Nancy Pelosis bid to return as the Democrats nominee for speaker, is later this month. Read More Facebook

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Melania Trump calls for the firing of deputy national security advisor By Justin Sink First Lady Melania Trump arrives at the Chateau de Versailles outside Paris on Nov. 11. (Alain Jocard / AFP/Getty Images ) First Lady Melania Trumps office said she wants Mira Ricardel, the deputy national security advisor, ousted from the White House. It is the position of the Office of the First Lady that she no longer deserves the honor of serving in this White House, Trumps spokeswoman, Stephanie Grisham, said in a statement in response to a question about reports the first lady had sought Ricardels removal. Ricardel is the top deputy to national security advisor John Bolton. She drew the first ladys wrath after threatening to withhold National Security Council resources during Melania Trumps trip to Africa last month unless Ricardel was included in her entourage, one person familiar with the matter said. Grishams statement comes as several media outlets have reported that President Trump is considering a broader shakeup of his administration, including ousting Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen. Sink and Jacobs report for Bloomberg. Read More Facebook

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CNN sues Trump over the suspension of Jim Acostas White House press credentials By Jim Puzzanghera CNN said Tuesday that it is suing President Trump and other administration officials over the decision to suspend the White House press credentials of correspondent Jim Acosta after a conflict at a news conference last week. The suit, to be filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, escalates an ongoing battle between Trump and the cable news outlet that he frequently accuses of disseminating fake news for its aggressive coverage of him and his administration. The wrongful revocation of these credentials violates CNN and Acostas 1st Amendment rights of freedom of the press, and their 5th Amendment rights to due process, CNN said in a written statement. If left unchallenged, the actions of the White House would create a dangerous chilling effect for any journalist who covers our elected officials. Read More Facebook

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Maxine Waters to take aim at Wells Fargo and Deutsche Bank as new head of House Financial Services Committee By Jim Puzzanghera Rep. Maxine Waters plans to zero in on two big banks  Wells Fargo & Co. and Deutsche Bank  when she becomes head of the powerful House Financial Services Committee. The Los Angeles congresswoman, now the committees top Democrat, is widely expected to gain the gavel after her party won control of the House in last weeks elections. While Waters has outlined a wide-ranging agenda, she said her focus on bank oversight will target two large institutions she has been tangling with for a while  including one, Deutsche Bank, that spills into her bitter feud with President Trump. With Trump in the White House, I know that our fight for Americas consumers and investors will continue to be challenging. But I am more than up to that fight, Waters wrote in a letter last week to her Democratic colleagues on the committee that was obtained by The Times. Read More Facebook

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Heres how a controversial voting system will decide a congressional race in Maine By Kurtis Lee For the first time in U.S. history, a controversial voting system known as ranked choice is being used to decide a federal election. Its happening in Maine, which adopted the system in 2016. Rather than marking a single candidate, each voter ranks them all, assigning a first-place vote, a second-place vote and so on down the ballot. Read More Facebook

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ACLU files suit to stop Trumps new asylum limits By Associated Press A group of Central American migrants march to the office of the U.N.'s humans rights body in Mexico City on Nov. 8. (Rebecca Blackwell / Associated Press) The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a legal challenge to President Trumps order denying asylum to migrants if they cross the U.S.-Mexico border illegally. The lawsuit was filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco and argues the new rules are against the law. Attorney Lee Gelernt said the regulations will put families in danger. The suit seeks to declare the regulations invalid and wants a judge to stop the rules from going into effect while the litigation is pending. The new rules were spurred in part by caravans of Central American migrants slowly moving north on foot, but officials say they will apply to anyone caught crossing illegally. Officials say about 70,000 people who enter the country illegally claim asylum. The order invoked the same national security powers Trump used to push through his travel ban. Read More Facebook

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Trump on new acting AG: I dont know Matt Whitaker By Associated Press President Trump talks with reporters before departing for France on the South Lawn of the White House on Nov. 9. (Evan Vucci / Associated Press) President Trump is moving to distance himself from Matthew Whitaker as he faces criticism over his choice for acting attorney general. Trump told reporters Friday that I dont know Matt Whitaker and said he didnt speak with Whitaker about special counsel Robert Muellers Russia investigation. Whitaker has made public comments critical of Muellers investigation, and critics have called on Whitaker to recuse himself from oversight of the inquiry. Under former Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the investigation was overseen by Deputy Atty. Gen. Rod Rosenstein. Of the scrutiny Whitaker is facing, Trump said: Its a shame that no matter who I put in they go after. He also called Whitaker a very highly respected man. Whitaker was Sessions chief of staff before Trump made him Sessions interim replacement. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg out of hospital after fall By Associated Press The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is home after being released from the hospital. She had been admitted for treatment and observation after fracturing three ribs in a fall. The court said Ginsburg was released Friday. Supreme Court spokeswoman Kathy Arberg says she is doing well and working from home. The court had previously said the justice fell in her office at the court on Wednesday evening and went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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Gun-control activist Lucy McBath defeats GOP Rep. Karen Handel in Georgia By Associated Press Lucy McBath speaks during a rally for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Nov. 2 at Morehouse College in Atlanta. (Alyssa Pointer / Atlanta Journal-Constitution via AP) Democratic gun-control activist Lucy McBath has defeated Republican Rep. Karen Handel of Georgia in a suburban congressional district long considered safe for the GOP. Handel had to seek reelection after winning her seat last year in a close special election race against Democrat Jon Ossoff. McBath became an advocate for stricter gun laws after her son, Jordan Davis, was fatally shot at a Florida gas station in 2012 by a man angry over loud music the teenager and his friends were playing in a car. McBaths margin of victory was narrow enough for Handel to have requested a recount. The Associated Press declared McBath the winner Thursday after Handel conceded. Handel conceded in a statement Thursday morning, stating that after reviewing all of the election data, its clear she came up a bit short in Tuesdays vote. Handel congratulated McBath, offering good thoughts and much prayer for the journey that lies ahead for her. McBath, who is African American, declared victory Wednesday. Facebook

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Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg hospitalized after fracturing 3 ribs in fall By Associated Press Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Jacquelyn Martin / Associated Press) The Supreme Court says 85-year-old Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg fractured three ribs in a fall in her office at the court and is in the hospital. The court says the justice went to George Washington University Hospital in Washington early Thursday after experiencing discomfort overnight. The court says the fall occurred Wednesday evening. Ginsburg was admitted to the hospital for treatment and observation after tests showed she fractured three ribs. Ginsburg broke two ribs in a fall in 2012. She has had two prior bouts with cancer and had a stent implanted to open a blocked artery in 2014. Facebook

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White House suspends press pass of CNNs Jim Acosta after heated exchange with Trump By Associated Press The White House on Wednesday suspended the press pass of CNN correspondent Jim Acosta after he and President Trump had a heated confrontation during a news conference. They began sparring after Acosta asked Trump about the caravan of migrants heading from Latin America to the southern U.S. border. When Acosta tried to follow up with another question, Trump said, Thats enough! and a female White House aide unsuccessfully tried to grab the microphone from Acosta. White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders released a statement accusing Acosta of placing his hands on a young woman just trying to do her job as a White House intern, calling it absolutely unacceptable. The interaction between Acosta and the intern was brief, and Acosta appeared to brush her arm as she reached for the microphone and he tried to hold onto it. Pardon me, maam, he told her. Acosta tweeted that Sanders statement that he put his hands on the aide was a lie. CNN said in a statement that the White House revoked Acostas press pass in retaliation for his challenging questions Wednesday, and the network accused Sanders of lying about Acostas actions. This conduct is absolutely unacceptable. It is also completely disrespectful to the reporters colleagues not to allow them an opportunity to ask a question. President Trump has given the press more access than any President in history.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Contrary to CNNs assertions there is no greater demonstration of the Presidents support for a free press than the event he held today. Only they would attack the President for not supporting a free press in the midst of him taking 68 questions from 35 different reporters...  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 As a result of todays incident, the White House is suspending the hard pass of the reporter involved until further notice.  Stephanie Grisham (@PressSec) November 8, 2018 Sanders provided fraudulent accusations and cited an incident that never happened. This unprecedented decision is a threat to our democracy and the country deserves better, CNN said. Jim Acosta has our full support. Journalists assigned to cover the White House apply for passes that allow them daily access to press areas in the West Wing. White House staffers decide whether journalists are eligible, though the Secret Service determines whether their applications are approved. Facebook

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Trump spars with reporters at post-election news briefing, ordering several to sit down By Associated Press  President Trump assails CNNs Jim Acosta at a White House news conference. President Trump sparred with reporters at his post-election news conference, ordering several to sit down and telling another hes a rude, terrible person. He told another reporter hes not a fan of yours, either. The presidents mood turned sour Wednesday after reporters pressed him on why he referred to a migrant caravan making its way to the U.S. on foot through Mexico as an invasion. Trump ramped up his anti-immigrant rhetoric against the caravan in the final days of the midterm elections. Trump was also pressed on why his campaign aired an ad featuring a Mexican immigrant convicted of killing American police officers and linking the mans actions to the caravan. Several television networks pulled the ad after airing it or declined to air it at all. Facebook

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Im living one hour at a time at this point By Christine Mai-Duc Republican congressional candidate Young Kim and gubernatorial candidate John Cox campaign in Rowland Heights. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times) Republican congressional candidate Young Kim greeted gubernatorial candidate John Coxs giant campaign bus, the words HELP IS ON THE WAY emblazoned across it, as it rolled into the parking lot outside her Rowland Heights field office. Standing beside Cox on Saturday, Kim predicted that a string of GOP victories Tuesday would start with voters repealing the gas tax hike. Can you imagine Gavin Newsom being our governor? Can you imagine Gil Cisneros being your representative? Kim asked the crowd, to loud boos and cries of Nooo! The former state assemblywoman who worked for retiring Rep. Ed Royce (R-Fullerton) is vying for his seat with Democrat Gil Cisneros. She led the crowd in chants of Enough is enough! and, though short-lived, Drain the swamp! Ive served you in Sacramento and Ive seen dysfunction personally, Kim continued. We cannot continue that route. She urged her supporters to stay and help make phone calls or walk neighborhoods. Lets get out there  the 72 hours is really critical. Its all going to come down to a few votes, it could be your vote, she said pointing to her left, then pivoting right, it could be your vote. So dont sit back and do nothing. Every night I go to sleep thinking, OK, how many more votes can I get or how many more people can I call tomorrow? Kim said. It can be physically exhausting but Im mentally, emotionally very energized. She listed off her events so far that day  and the next one she was heading to. Thats just what I can remember, she said. Im living one hour at a time at this point. Kims campaign invited press to two of her events on Saturday. After she was whisked away to her next event  a high tea fundraiser in Walnut, a couple dozen volunteers remained. John Freeman, a statewide field manager for the state Republican Party, tried to pump them up. This is the Super Bowl. Were not in an NFL stadium, were not getting paid millions of dollars, but you know what? Freeman said. Were walking on the field right now. This is that high-stakes-level game. Facebook

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Its going to be tough out there Democratic candidate Katie Porter speaks to volunteers in Mission Viejo. Jon Bauman, Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na, is in the background. (Victoria Kim / Los Angeles Times ) Judging from the cheers in the crowd, about half those assembled at Katie Porters campaign headquarters in Mission Viejo Sunday morning were old enough to remember 70s rock n roll star Bowzer from the band Sha Na Na. Jon Bauman, as Bowzer is known off stage, said it was her position on senior issues including retirement and social security that has him out supporting Porter over her opponent, incumbent Rep. Mimi Walters. I want you to make sure every phone is called and every door is knocked, he told the crowd of about 80 volunteers. There has never been a more important election. Both Bauman and his nephew, California Democratic Party Chairman Eric Bauman, were interrupted by yells from Trump supporters coming from an adjoining hillside. We love Trump, the voice cried out. We love him too, he makes great fodder, the younger Bauman retorted, before introducing Porter. Porter, a UC Irvine law professor and first-time candidate, acknowledged the uphill battle some of her canvassers might face in this more conservative end of the long-red Orange County district. I know its going to be tough out there, she said, motioning to the hillside. But she said the attacks meant the other side viewed her campaign as a significant threat. This election is going to be close, she said. If we dont fight all the way to the finish line, until 8 oclock on Tuesday, this could slip away. Bowzer then took to a keyboard piano to lead the crowd in a reworded rendition of the song Good Night Sweetheart: Good night, Mimi Walters, he crooned. A woman in a black tank top, jeans and flip flops holding a cup of coffee later joined the crowd with her two sons, 17 and 14, the younger one wearing a Trump 2016 T-shirt. She declined to give her name, saying she was concerned about being attacked, but said she lived up the hill and said she had been the one yelling. She said she was encouraging her sons to talk to people on both sides and make up their own minds. We need to have a government that runs the way government teachers are telling kids its supposed to be run, said the woman, a retired registered dental assistant who voted early for Mimi Walters. Referring to Democrats, she said: Theyve had control over all these years and Californias gone to crap. Among those canvassing was Stacie Campbell, 37, who was at the launch with her husband Jerome and three children, the youngest of whom was 2 months old. Campbell, a Mission Viejo resident who runs a business, had never canvassed or volunteered for campaigns before, and her husband is a French citizen and unable to vote. She said they had been talking to their children  the older ones are 5 and 2  about the presidency and the government since Trumps election. Together, they worked on homemade Katie Porter lawn signs and put them up around town. This is the first time its felt like a big deal and there isnt a president up for election, she said. Because her city is a mix of conservatives and liberals  her next-door neighbor is an NRA-supporting Republican  she the race felt m
The Supreme Court on Tuesday extended the Constitutions privacy protection to include vehicles that are parked on a homes driveway or carport, ruling that police need a search warrant before they may inspect them.

In general, police may look closely at cars that are parked along public roads, without the need for a search warrant.

But in Tuesdays 8-1 ruling, the justices said a vehicle parked in a carport or on private property adjacent to a home deserves the privacy protection of the 4th Amendment.

When a law enforcement officer physically intrudes on private property and walks up to a house to look for evidence, a search within the meaning of the 4th Amendment has occurred, wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in Collins vs. Virginia. Such conduct thus is presumptively unreasonable without a warrant.

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Tuesdays ruling closely tracks a decision in 2013 when the court ruled that police may not bring a drug-sniffing dog to the front porch of a home without a search warrant. In both instances, the justices said the 4th Amendment gives its greatest protection for homes and the private property surrounding them.

The court ruled in favor of Ryan Collins, a Virginia man who was convicted of stealing a motorcycle. Two officers in Albemarle County were in search of a distinctive orange-and-black-colored cycle they had seen speeding. After doing some research on Facebook, they saw Collins had posted a photograph of the cycle.

One officer stopped at the house where Collins was living and saw from the street what looked to be a motorcycle under a tarp. It was next to the house. The officer walked up the driveway, lifted the tarp and took several photos of the cycle. Collins was arrested and convicted.

The Virginia courts rejected his claim that the search was unconstitutional, citing the automobile exception to the 4th Amendment. In defending the conviction, the states lawyers agreed an officer may not enter a closed garage, but they argued there was no such bar on checking a vehicle in plain sight on the property.

The Supreme Court disagreed with both the states courts, and the states fallback legal position about plain sight.

We conclude that the automobile exception does not permit an officer without a warrant to enter a home or its curtilage in order to search a vehicle therein, Sotomayor said.

Matthew A. Fitzgerald, a Richmond lawyer who appealed the case to the Supreme Court, said the ruling makes an important clarification in the law. It is now clear that a person who parks his vehicle on a private driveway near his home has placed it within the 4th Amendment protection of the home, he said.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented, saying the search was reasonable because the vehicle was parked in plain view in a driveway just a few feet from the street.

In a separate opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas took the most far-reaching view. He concurred with the outcome based on precedent, but said the court should overturn the exclusionary rule, which since 1961 has blocked the use of illegally obtained evidence in state courts. I have serious doubts about this courts authority to impose that rule on the states, he said.

Trumps victory assures a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. 

For the 4th time, the Electoral College picks the loser of the popular vote. 

david.savage@latimes.com

On Twitter: DavidGSavage

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Supreme Court grants emergency order to block transgender male student in Virginia from using boys restroom

Can Trump put another Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court?

UPDATES:

1:25 p.m.: This article was updated with details from the decision and reaction.

This article was originally published at 7:55 a.m.
Rep. Tom Garrett (R-Va.) announced Monday that he is struggling with alcoholism and will abandon his run for a second term in Congress so he can focus on recovery and his family.

Garrett, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, is the 48th Republican to retire or announce he will not seek reelection to the House this year, according to a list maintained by the House Press Gallery.



For the record: An earlier version of this story said Rep. Tom Garrett was the 44th Republican to retire or announce he will not seek reelection to the House this year. He is the 48th.

Many are leaving in anticipation of a strong Democratic performance in congressional races this fall and out of frustration with partisan politics in Washington.

Garrett, 46, was facing a robust challenge from his Democratic opponent, journalist and author Leslie Cockburn, who had raised more money and had more cash on hand. In recent days, unnamed former staffers had accused him and his wife of mistreating staff who worked in his congressional office.

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In a videotaped statement, Garrett, a former Virginia state senator, said his departure from politics was spurred by his addiction.

Any person  Republican, Democrat or independent  who has known me for any period of time and has any integrity knows two things: I am a good man and Im an alcoholic, Garrett said, fighting back tears. This is the hardest statement that I have ever publicly made by far. Its also the truth.

His announcement caps a week of turmoil in Garretts Washington office, marked by the resignation of his chief of staff, Jimmy Keady; an online news report that Garrett was thinking about dropping his reelection bid; and a news conference Thursday in which he insisted he was running.

On Friday, a Politico report quoted four unidentified former staffers who accused Garrett and his wife, Flanna, of ordering staff to walk their dog, carry groceries or perform other personal tasks for the couple  a practice prohibited by House ethics rules.

In an effort to confirm those allegations, the Washington Post spoke to two former staffers who said the couple would from time to time call upon staffers to handle personal chores.

The former staffers declined to be named, saying they feared retribution.

Garrett declined to answer questions about those allegations on Friday. In the video statement, he said: The recent attacks on my family and myself were a series of half truths and whole lies. He said he had been honest in every aspect of his life, save one: his drinking, which he said people close to him had cautioned him about since his early 20s.

Cockburn said she wished Garrett and his family well. Obviously, its been a very very difficult week for Tom Garrett, and I think this is a great thing that hes recognized the problem and admitted it, she said.

Garrett is an Army veteran and former commonwealths attorney with a libertarian streak. He won election in his central Virginia district by 16 percentage points in 2016, outperforming Donald Trump by about 5 percentage points. Garrett succeeded retiring Rep. Robert Hurt.

He was officially nominated to seek another term months ago. His impending departure means the 5th Congressional District Republican Committee, which has about three dozen members, will choose a new nominee to face Cockburn.

Republican observers of Virginia politics have said possible candidates from the General Assembly could be state Sen. William Stanley, state Sen. Jill Holtzman Vogel, state Sen. Bryce Reeves and state Del. Robert Bell. Tech executive Michael Del Rosso and businessman and developer Jim McKelvey sought the GOP nomination in 2016 and could also be interested, along with distillery owner Denver Riggleman.

Longtime GOP consultant Chris LaCivita  who ran the campaign of Hurt, Garretts predecessor in Congress  said a candidate without Garretts baggage might have an easier path to victory than Garrett would have.

Theres going to be a command focus on holding this seat, which means that the partys fundraising apparatus will be brought to bear, he said.

Garrett made his announcement Sunday outside the Virginia State Capitol. Wearing a dark suit and tie on a hot, humid day, he stood by a monument to Barbara Johns, who as a teenager in 1951 led a walkout to protest poor conditions at her segregated high school in the town of Farmville, Va. Garrett has filed a bill to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Johns.

Not for fear of losing or for lack of love for our great nation, today I am announcing that I will not seek reelection, he said as the camera rolled. Sometimes winning means knowing where your priorities should be. My devotion to the ideals and beliefs in America has not wavered, but my commitment to be the best husband, father and friend means addressing the only truth Ive been heretofore unwilling to tell. God has blessed America and hes blessed me. I am not dying. I am starting anew. With work and dedication, great things can be done. This isnt an ending for me or my values of service to my fellow man. Its just a new beginning.

In an interview, Garrett said that he never drank on the job.

I never, ever, ever had a drink during the day, he said. I didnt keep booze in my drawer. When I knew I could drink [after work], I would drink, and I would drink to my own detriment.

The news saddened some of his colleagues, including state Sen. David Marsden, who said Garrett helped him on some legislation even though they were polar opposites politically.

Tom was the kind of guy who would help you with issues that he felt deserved public debate and discussion even though politically it was not something he supported, Marsden said. I wish him the best. Hell always be my friend.

Reeves, who confirmed that he is interested in the seat, called Garrett one of my dearest friends.

I know he has struggled for some time to shed himself of this affliction, Reeves said Monday night. He has taken a step that not many men have the courage to do, admit his weakness."
The future looked bright for Democratic Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia when she coasted to reelection in 2016. She had gained clout in the Capitol and statewide attention for notching hard-fought victories for environmental advocates and championed womens rights.

Now, shes in a fight for her political life, facing a well-funded opposition campaign from typically Democratic allies and damaged relationships with many of her colleagues in Sacramento.

Its a stark reversal of fortune for a leader of the #MeToo movement in Californias Capitol, who forcefully criticized male colleagues accused of inappropriate behavior, only to face similar accusations of harassment and misconduct herself not long after their resignations.

The completion of a legislative investigation into her conduct enabled her to return from a three-month voluntary leave of absence last week. Still unresolved is the controversys impact on her reelection prospects and her influence in Sacramento, particularly after being removed from all legislative committees by the Assembly speaker.

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It is incredibly difficult for her to be an effective representative, said Jessica Levinson, law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. She can only do floor votes. She has no power in committees, which is where all the power is.

Garcia went on a 103-day unpaid leave during an investigation into a complaint by Daniel Fierro, a former legislative staffer, who accused her of inappropriately touching him during a legislative softball game four years ago. His allegations were first reported by Politico, which also reported on an accusation from an anonymous lobbyist about Garcias behavior at a Sacramento fundraising event. A group of former employees, most of whom did not accuse her publicly, alleged she fostered an inappropriate work environment. One ex-staffer said she once encouraged aides to play spin the bottle after a fundraiser.

An Assembly investigation did not substantiate the complaint made by Fierro, who said he plans to appeal. But it did find that Garcia had commonly and pervasively used vulgar language, had used staff to run personal errands and had disparaged other elected officials.

After the investigation began and in response to news reports, Garcia acknowledged in March that she had made a homophobic comment about former Assembly Speaker John A. Perez (D-Los Angeles). She apologized then for the remark, and also to constituents when announcing earlier in May that the probe into her conduct had concluded.

Its an open question whether those constituents  who have history of not turning out in big numbers for elections  are even paying attention before she appears on the June 5 primary ballot. Garcia faces six fellow Democrats and a Republican in the heavily Democratic 58th Assembly District, which stretches across southeast Los Angeles County from Montebello to Downey and Pico Rivera. The crowded ballot is a far cry from her last two reelection campaigns, when no one even appeared on the primary ballot to challenge her candidacy.

Over half of registered voters there are Democrats, while about a quarter of voters have no party preference and just 17% are Republican.

It is not the typical setting for a heated campaign, particularly with an incumbent in office. But interest groups have aggressively mounted a campaign to oust Garcia, who has never before faced significant spending against her from outside groups.

The state building trades union  which represents construction workers  has been the primary driver of the opposition. The labor group has spent more than $500,000 since late April on anti-Garcia television ads, mailers and phone banking.

Cristina Garcia embodies every part of the bully that we teach our children not to be, said Erin Lehane, a spokeswoman for the unions campaign. She was intolerable to so many because of her conduct.

The trades are not alone in their opposition. A campaign group representing charter school backers spent $300,000 against Garcia and nearly $600,000 in favor of one of the Democratic challengers, Frine Medrano, a staffer for state Sen. Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles).

A spokesman for California Charter Schools Assn. Advocates, a political action committee, pointed to legislation Garcia introduced this year that would ban Teach for America educators from teaching in low-income public schools.

No one should be surprised by our campaign to unseat Cristina Garcia. Shes been pulling the lever against families whove chosen to enroll their students in high-quality charter public schools since she was elected in 2012, Carlos Marquez, a spokesman for the charter group, said in an email.

The investigation has made Garcia politically vulnerable, giving the interest groups and other candidates a lane to openly attack the three-term incumbent in hopes of unseating her this year.

Leo Briones, a political consultant for Garcia, called the attacks an affront to the voters in the district and suggested the assemblywomans constituents know that Cristina is a fighter for them.

In her reelection bid, Garcia has touted her voting alignment with key Democratic constituencies, such as environmental interests and reproductive rights advocates. Some prominent players, though, have kept her at arms length, including the California Labor Federation. When Garcias campaign played up her strong voting record on the groups top issues, the federation pointedly announced it had not endorsed her for reelection.

Garcia does have the official backing of the state Democratic Party, but unlike other candidates with state party endorsements, she is not appearing on mailers and California Democrats have not provided financial help to her campaign. The only expense has been $26,000 to conduct a poll in her district.

Her own fundraising efforts have cratered.

Protesters call on Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia to resign from office while standing in the Assembly gallery on Friday in Sacramento. (Rich Pedroncelli / AP )

Garcia disciplined for sexual harassment as investigation comes to a close 

Some candidates are pitching themselves as fresh starts without the drama that has surrounded Garcia for months.

If it wasnt for her behavior, I wouldnt have gotten into the race, said Republican candidate Mike Simpfenderfer, who is on the board of a nonprofit organization that advocates for survivors of sexual violence. We are getting all this international attention for all the wrong issues.

Thanks to Californias top-two primary, its not impossible for Garcias numerous Democratic challengers to splinter the vote and allow Simpfenderfer to advance to the November election.

Is Cristina going to perform at 70% or 80% like she had in the past? Probably not, Briones said. But were very confident shes done the work in the district. And at the end of the day, shes being attacked for standing up for her district by pursuing environmental protections for the area.

Briones said the opposition campaign was not motivated by concerns over Garcias behavior, as they have claimed, but on differences over policy  specifically, the aggressive air-quality measures she has sought that have been opposed by oil companies, who employ union members in their refineries. Some of the building trades groups have said Garcia seeks to put their members out of work, but Lehane said overall it was her conduct, not policy positions, that was the motivation.

A group of women affiliated with the trades union, dressed in Rosie the Riveter garb, loudly rallied outside Garcias Capitol office on Monday. The assemblywoman was not in the Capitol at the time. On Friday, during the first floor session after her return, protesters briefly stood in the gallery wearing T-shirts that spelled out R-E-S-I-G-N.

One Garcia staffer, who wished to remain anonymous, said the demonstrations left the offices employees feeling intimidated and on edge.

At a tense private meeting Tuesday, Assembly Democrats grappled with Garcias imminent return. Several members expressed anger and frustration over Garcias behavior, according to attendees who requested anonymity to discuss what had happened behind closed doors.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Paramount) earlier this month publicly chastised Garcia for her use of homophobic slurs. After the investigation substantiated her use of vulgar language, Rendon stripped her of all committee assignments, including her chairmanship of the Assembly Natural Resources panel. There is no set timeline for that punishment to be lifted.

Rendon said Friday he believed Garcia should apologize in person to her colleagues.

Shes embarrassed the caucus, he said. Shes offended a lot of our members.

But he has also forcefully condemned the opposition campaign against Garcia, calling the construction workers unions effort attacking one of his members an affront to his speakership.

If Garcia is reelected, she will have to mend relations with her colleagues, said Darry Sragow, a veteran Democratic strategist and editor of the nonpartisan election guide California Target Book.

When you are a member of either house, you are member of a pretty exclusive club, and there are plenty of examples of members of the club who for whatever reason were viewed as having transgressed and were essentially treated as a persona non grata, he said.

In those cases, it is very, very tough to get anything done, he said. It is tough to achieve your own legislative objectives.

javier.panzar@latimes.com

melanie.mason@latimes.com

Twitter: @jpanzar @melmason
With a key deadline a month away, two national paint companies are turning up the pressure on California lawmakers to absolve them of potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in legal penalties from lead paint hazards.

The companies, Sherwin-Williams and ConAgra, have hired five lobbying firms, sponsored a website, purchased advertisements and spent at least $2.8 million on a political campaign. At issue is a state court ruling finding that the companies promoted the use of lead paint in homes even after they knew the material could harm children, and making them financially responsible for cleaning it up.

Sherwin-Williams and ConAgra are behind a proposed November ballot initiative that would overturn the court decision, eliminate their financial penalty and instead authorize a $2-billion taxpayer-funded bond to fund the cleanup of lead paint and other health hazards in homes and schools.

Instead of taking the initiative to voters, the companies would prefer to strike a deal with lawmakers to relieve some of their burden. Sherwin-Williams and ConAgra face a June 28 deadline to withdraw the measure, which is expected to have collected enough valid signatures to get the secretary of states blessing for placement on the statewide ballot.

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Coverage of California politics 

I think its fair to say that theres interest, Anthony Dias, a Sherwin-Williams attorney, said of conversations the companies have had with lawmakers, though he declined to name any of the legislators. The Legislature understands that they are better equipped to deal with an issue than the courts are.

There are no pending bills that would address the companies concerns. Publicly, lawmakers are reacting to the companies push with fury. A half-dozen legislators have written bills that would further penalize the paint companies, including one that would add a new $2 fee on all paint sold in California  by any paint company  that would go into effect if the November initiative passes.

Lawmakers took turns pillorying the companies at a public hearing last week on the proposed initiative.

Ive never heard such deceptive testimony in my life, Assemblyman Bill Quirk (D-Hayward) said. It takes a lot to get me angry. You have gotten me angry.

Striking some compromise would spare the paint companies potentially tens of millions in campaigning to pass a statewide ballot measure. A failed 2008 effort by Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens to provide billions in state subsidies for consumers to purchase natural gas vehicles fueled by companies Pickens owned cost $23 million.

The dispute over whos responsible for cleaning up lead paint, which became illegal to use in homes in 1978, dates back 18 years. Ten cities and counties, including Los Angeles, sued Sherwin-Williams, ConAgra and NL Industries, arguing that lead paint in homes was a public nuisance and that the three companies should have to pay to get rid of it.

Paint companies could hand taxpayers the bill for hazardous lead paint cleanup under proposed California ballot measure 

In November, a state appeals court largely upheld a lower-court ruling that put the companies on the hook for cleaning up paint in homes built before 1951, an amount likely to be hundreds of millions of dollars. Earlier this month, the plaintiffs settled with NL Industries for $60 million and as part of the deal that company withdrew its support for the proposed initiative.

Sherwin-Williams and ConAgra are pursuing an appeal of the case at the U.S. Supreme Court while also ramping up efforts in the Legislature. They argue that the court ruling, specifically the declaration that lead paint in homes is a public nuisance, harms not only them but also homeowners. The court required the companies to clean up pre-1951 homes, but provided no funding to get rid of lead paint in those built afterward.

This finding, Sherwin-Williams and ConAgra contend, makes owners of homes built after 1951 responsible for the lead cleanup. Thats an assessment shared by the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce among other business groups. The companies started a website warning that the court ruling red tags millions of California properties. Lawmakers have said theyve received thousands of emails from their constituents in response.

The companies and their supporters went further in the hearing last week, arguing that the implications of the court decision for homeowners were akin to the racist government-backed mortgage lending policies in the 1930s known as redlining and the recent lead crisis in Flint, Mich.

The cities and counties that sued Sherwin-Williams and ConAgra vigorously disagree with the companies legal argument, and independent observers share that stance. Sean Hecht, a UCLA School of Law professor who has followed the litigation, said the court decision doesnt increase homeowners liability.

The companies want to scare people into thinking this is going to be this dramatic problem for the real estate community and maybe tenants, and its hard for me to see how the ruling does what they say at all, Hecht said.

Instead, cities and counties argue, the paint companies are trying to use the threat of a ballot measure and their current lobbying efforts to erase their current legal problems and avoid future ones. The existing court ruling applies only to the 10 local governments that sued and, unless the laws change or the initiative is successful, others in California could do the same thing.

Our lawsuit sets forth a blueprint by which city attorneys, county counsels, other public prosecutors for other jurisdictions throughout this state can file similar public nuisance lawsuits and obtain similar funds, Jenny Lam, a deputy county counsel in Santa Clara, told legislators at last weeks hearing.

liam.dillon@latimes.com

Twitter: @dillonliam
Along with sharing information about happenings taking place in every aspect of Burbank life and one anothers businesses, members of the Burbank Chamber of Commerce who gathered for the organizations May mixer also welcomed new members and celebrated the completion of two major projects.

Hosted by assistant manager Luis Carmona and the staff of Sharkys Woodfired Mexican Grill, members were welcomed to the Empire Center restaurant by the chambers managing director Chris Hunter, board chairwoman Gema Sanchez, and executive committee member Karen Volpei-Gussow.

Always an enjoyable evening of mingling, interesting and enlightening conversation, food, cocktails and raffle prizes, the mixer held last week also provided members with an update on the progress the chamber has made during the first two quarters of 2018.

Late last year, during a strategic goal-setting session led by Lee Wochner, outgoing chamber chairman, plans were adopted to move forward with a capital-improvement project at the organizations Magnolia Boulevard building, along with operational upgrades that would include the creation of a new, more user-friendly website.

Serving as the emcee was David Knight, the founder and president of the Burbank-based Angel City Data, said he was proud to advise the assemblage that, along with improvements to the chambers conference room, which were done earlier this year, the final work is now being completed on the buildings new roof.

We are also excited to announce that our new website has been launched and is now up and running, Knight said.

It was time for us to update the look and functionality of our site to be both more visually appealing and offer better navigation for users, he added.

Hunter, who played a major role in enhancing the chambers digital presence, said that, along with the physical improvements being done to the facility, she is also pleased to see the accomplishments of goals that will have far-reaching impact to members of the community and beyond.

Our website is an important tool that offers vital information for our members, businesses [that] are looking to open or relocate here, and Burbank residents, Hunter said.

The mixer also served as an opportunity for the organization to welcome two new members, Ed Gibbons of T&T Improvements, who has been providing work called out in the chambers capital-improvement plan, and Debra Moeley, who serves as the branch manager at Coldwell Banker Hallmark Realty.

Among the chamber members at the festive mixer were Michelle Bouse of Beauty Boutique, and Patricia Nelson of Nelson Treasures, who creates custom-made jewelry of which a portion of the proceeds are donated to help people of the Wayuu tribe in Cartagena, Colombia, with much-needed food, clothing and education.

Others who enjoyed the evening included Ed The Car Guy Levitt, Jeannie Vlazny, Burt Johnson, Rey Sanchez, Barry Gussow, Don Baldaseroni and Nancy Serpa.

The Burbank Chamber of Commerce, which represents nearly 1,000-member businesses with more than 33,000 employees, hosts mixers at different locations every month.

The next mixer will be held on June 28 at Tinhorn Flats Saloon & Grill, which has been a legendary Burbank watering hole since 1939.

For more information about the chambers upcoming events and membership, call (818) 846-3111.

DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.
Officials with Ascencia homeless services recently thanked donors and those who contribute to its year-round meals program during a volunteer appreciation reception held at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center recently.

Kelly Linden, Providences chief executive, and Terry Walker, manager of business development, welcomed 90 guests including Ascencias board of directors, staff, volunteers and supporters.

Debbie Hinckley, Ascencias board president, conducted the program and said that in the guest chefs program, a different group of volunteers comes in 365 days a year to purchase, cook and serve dinner to those residing in the Glendale shelter.

This year, some 900 volunteers donated 4,646 hours of service to the program.

Our clients have had 730 gourmet dinners and breakfasts served by 50 teams of guest chefs, Hinckley said. All of these volunteer services have saved $46,467.50 that Ascencia could spend on [other] homeless services.

Last year, the board instituted the Top Guest Chef Award, Hinckley said, to recognize outstanding commitment to the guest chef program. The first recipient was St. Robert Bellarmine Catholic Church in Burbank.

This years recipient was Aren Blanco, who started her guest chef service in 2010 with St. Roberts church.

She enjoyed it so much, she started her own team of chefs and now serves dinner twice a month. In total, she has logged in more than 150 hours serving dinners to Ascencia clients.

It may be more than that, as Aren is very humble and sometimes does not log in her hours, Hinckley said.

In addition, Blanco has brought in more than 50 volunteers to help with the meals.

This year, the board instituted the Volunteer of the Year Award, and the recipient was announced by Brianna Beyrooty, administrative assistant who coordinates the volunteers.

Receiving the honor was Barbara Gormley, who began in February 2016 and has logged more than 200 hours of service  the longest administrative volunteer to date.

Several of the guest chefs, donors and guests attending had created culinary delights for the reception. In judging, the majority voted desserts as the top two favorites.

Debbie Andrus captured first place for her cream puffs, and Anush Avejic received second place for her Armenian kadayif with cream.

Adding icing to the cake, Tippy Boonkokua, branch manager of HomeStreet Bank in Burbank, presented a $2,500 donation to Natalie Profant Komuro, Ascencias executive director .

Volunteers not only provide the meals, but they sit down and eat with the homeless clients and exchange their life stories, said Anjalika Nigam, development officer with Ascencia.

A group of police officers had served food to clients at one dinner, and a clients high-school-age daughter was so taken by her chat with the police chief during the meal, she has decided on law enforcement as her career.

Residents put on glitz for Ritz luncheon

Glendale residents stepped back in time at the recent Puttin on the Ritz fashion show luncheon at the Sheraton Universal Hotel.

The Roaring 20s-themed event raised funds for projects by the Providence St. Joseph Medical Center Guild.

Over the guilds 70 years, members have raised money with this fashion show, card parties and their Gift Gallery shop in the medical centers lobby.

In her welcome speech, Julie McArdle, the organizations president, said members have raised more than $7 million for area medical facilities such as the Disney Family Cancer Center, the Howard and Hycy Hill Neuroscience Center and the Cusumano Family Outpatient Center.

Residents attending were Lynda Burns, who is chair of the Glendale Commission on the Status of Women; and members of Glendales Cabrini Literary Guild  Genevieve Collopy of Eagle Rock, Sarah de la Torre of Glendale and Connie Alamdari of La Canada Flintridge.

Providence Guild publicity chair Maureen Walsh, who is also a member of the Cabrini Guild, had a table of guests including Mary Rough of Glendale, Anna Kalayjian of Granada Hills and Nancy Hinderer of Santa Clarita.

Longtime guild member Wanda Bistagne attended with her son and daughter-in-law, Chuck and Leslie Bistagne, who now run the family business Bistagne Bros. Body Shop, in town since 1946.

JOYCE RUDOLPH can be reached at rudolphjoyce10@gmail.com.
Another year of school has passed and another graduation is upon us. From kindergarten to middle school to high school, each step has often been taken with a cohort of childhood friends. The culmination of this march to education is high school graduation; beyond its boundaries, paths will inevitably diverge. Graduation is the last opportunity for students to celebrate with their childhood friends.

This is one of Americas greatest rites of passage, and well it should be. This is more than a celebration of an educational milestone. It is also a marker of passage into adulthood. At graduation, most students will be approaching (or have recently passed) their 18th birthday, when they can vote and accept legal obligations such as contracts and credit card debt. They are now adults in the eyes of the justice system as well. Were really doing double duty with high school graduation  graduating from high school and graduating into adulthood.

Not to make a great event a grind, but sometime around graduation is a great time to sit down with your student and acknowledge all that has been accomplished. He or she has completed 12 years of schooling and learned not only academic topics but also social skills, work skills, habits and attitudes that will serve a lifetime. Thats a lot. The advances and increases are small on a day-by-day basis, but when you step back a bit and take a look, you can see the full arc of achievement. Praise and celebrate it. There is a lot to praise and celebrate for every student.

Graduation is also a good time for each parent to adopt a change of attitude and start seeing the graduate as the adult he or she now is. Its not easy. Your student is still your child, but not a child. Its a good time to acknowledge that by respecting contrary decisions while still offering counsel and guidance. In a very important way, this is your graduation as well. You are graduating from concerned and responsible parent to a more co-equal status based on mutual respect and accepting that your child is not you.

High school graduation acknowledges both completion and capability. Students should look back and feel good knowing that they managed 12 years of sometimes intense learning. If they can do it in high school, they can do it for another four years in college, community college, trade school, or on-the-job training. Twelve years (plus kindergarten) of school make a statement that, You are able to function on your own and be a community person in good standing.

For some, high school graduation will be a time of mixed emotions. For many students, high school wasnt the experience they expected or wanted it to be. From bullying to anxiety to academic challenges, many things can happen that disrupt the dream. If thats your student, pointing out that theres more ahead than behind can help. So does pointing out that they are transitioning to a new environment, with a new chance to make things work as they want. Its a good time for reflection, consideration and planning for the future.

I congratulate this years graduates. I hope they will recognize all that theyve accomplished and that they will participate in our greatest rite of passage and have happy and prosperous lives beyond that special day. May all their days be special, may all their wishes come true.

And parents, I congratulate you, too. Your achievements to date have also been monumental, often against great odds. Youve done the biggest part of the parenting job, and now you hand the reins over to your son or daughter.

Happy graduation.

ROBERT FRANK is the executive director of the Hillside School and Learning Center in La Canada. He holds a masters of science degree in special education and has more than 40 years of teaching experience. His column appears on the last Thursday of each month. He can be reached at frank@hillsideforsuccess.org.
Kimpton Amara Resort and Spa in Sedona, Ariz., offers visitors a 40% discount off its high season prices for travelers who visit midweek this summer. Its located in scenic Oak Creek Canyon, which makes the red-rock setting as special as the deal.

The deal: The Escape the Heat offer starts at $259 a night for stays Mondays through Thursdays, plus a nightly $29 resort fee. The fee includes use of the fitness center, steam and relaxation room at the spa, valet parking and a hotel shuttle. The deal includes a $20 credit at the 100-room resort.

Extras also include free yoga, lawn games, mountain bikes, nightly social hour and a nighttime program of stargazing with a local astronomer  complete with smores.

The pool at the Kimpton Resort and Spa in Oak Creek Canyon. (Kimpton Amara Resort and Spa )

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When: The offer is good for stays through Sept. 13.

Details: Depending on when you visit, rooms at Kimpton Amara can run $350 to $500 a night, reason enough to sample the resort at the lower summer rate.

Info: Kimpton Amara Resort and Spa, (877) 488-1908

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Almost four years ago, Archbishop Afanasy faced a firing squad.

Several armed separatists in southeastern Ukraines Luhansk region blindfolded and beat the full-bearded, stately Orthodox cleric in June 2014, weeks after pro-Moscow leaders declared Luhansks independence and intention to join Russia.

The separatists targeted Afanasy because his spiritual leader, Patriarch Philaret, had broken away from the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1990s and lambasted Russian President Vladimir Putins policies in Ukraine.

Afanasy heard a shot, but the bullet did not hit him. The separatists removed the blindfold and told him to leave Luhansk. His run-down car soon crashed because they had deliberately damaged its brakes, he said. He hates recalling that day, his personal episode in a Russian-Ukrainian religious war that seems far from over.

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I dont like to rehash the past, he said in an interview.

But it is the past  the shared, ancient past of Russia and Ukraine  that fueled the conflict.

Believers and visitors on the way to the Great Church of the Kiev-Pecherska Lavra, an Orthodox Christian complex in Kiev, Ukraine, founded in 1051. (Mansur Mirovalev / For The Times )

More than a thousand years ago, in roughly 988, Prince Vladimir of Kiev, a warlike pagan of Viking origin, arrived in Crimea, the peninsula that would eventually be jointly claimed by Russia and Ukraine. There he converted to Orthodox Christianity and wed a Byzantine princess. That immensely boosted the international prestige of Kievan Rus, a nascent Eastern European power that would morph into the modern states of Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

It would be another Vladimir  Putin  who would underscore that shared heritage when he annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, hailing its return to the motherland. The annexation came as pro-Russian separatists covertly supported by the Kremlin fought to split off eastern Ukraine, which borders Russia, from the rest of the country.

Eastern Ukraine has long leaned toward Moscow in its politics. Many of its people speak Russian as their primary language. The west of the country, including the capital, Kiev, has looked longingly to central Europe for its cultural and political cues, and is linguistically Ukrainian  a Slavic language that is close to, but distinct from, Russian.

Religiously, though, the majority of Ukrainians have long been faithful to Orthodox Christianity, which split from Catholicism in 1054 and is based mostly in the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

After the Crimea annexation, Metropolitan Onufri, who heads the Russian Orthodox Churchs Ukrainian branch, called the pro-Russian separatists brothers in faith and bristled at Kievs military operation against them.

During a parliament session in May 2015, when Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was reading aloud the names of Ukrainian servicemen awarded for fighting the separatists, the entire audience stood up  except for Onufri and his coterie.

Whats even more irksome to many Ukrainians is that Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the most revered leader of Orthodox Christianity, recognizes only Onufris church in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, center, attends an Orthodox Easter celebration April 8 in the Volodymyrskiy Monastery in Kiev, Ukraine. (Evgeniy Maloletka / Associated Press )

To Poroshenko, who came to power in 2014 after violent protests ousted his pro-Moscow predecessor, Ukraines ecclesiastic independence is not just a matter of squabbles of elderly, long-bearded men with archaic names.

In early April, Poroshenko urged Bartholomew to recognize an independent and unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

This is a matter of national security in this hybrid war, because the Kremlin sees the Russian Church as one of the main tools of influencing Ukraine, Poroshenko told Ukrainian lawmakers in mid-April.

It was not a far-fetched argument.

Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church and a Putin ally, argues that ethnic Russians anywhere, from Kazakhstan to California, are ethnic Orthodox Christians whose rights must be protected by Moscows spiritual and secular rulers.

Their Russianness stems from Prince Vladimirs Kievan Rus  and Ukraine is, therefore, a part of the Russian world that broke away temporarily, Putin claims.

Russians and Ukrainians are one people, after all. We dont see a difference, he proclaimed in 2015 during his first visit to annexed Crimea. I am sure the situation in Ukraine will be straightened out, and Ukraine will develop positively, will step away from the shameful practices that we see today.

Putin justified Crimeas annexation and pro-Russian separatism elsewhere in Ukraine as steps to consolidate the Russian world  because in the breakaway regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, Russian speakers see themselves as a majority oppressed by Kiev. One of the separatist squads was named the Russian Orthodox Army.

The independence of the Ukrainian church would therefore deal a deadly blow to the very concept of the Russian world.

It would be severely undermined by Ukrainian [religious independence] as Ukraine is the home and center of Kievan Rus and, therefore, of the Russian world, Taras Kuzio, a Kiev-based political scientist, said in an interview.

Unsurprisingly, Moscow opposes Poroshenkos drive for ecclesiastic independence.

Russia will hardly support and hardly welcome actions aimed at splitting the church, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told journalists in late April.

Such plans and ideas only benefit enemies of the church, Metropolitan Hilarion, who heads the Russian churchs equivalent of a foreign ministry, said in a statement.

Patriarch Philaret, who repeatedly called Putin a new Cain, dismissed their words as signs of despair and powerlessness. In recent statements, he accused Russia of trying to stop Bartholomew from recognizing an independent Ukrainian church  and promised that no one will force Moscow-loyal clerics to join his church.

The Russian church defrocked and denounced Philaret in the 1990s, and Russian courts ordered the destruction of the only church in Russia that reports to him.

That church, in the town of Noginsk outside Moscow, remains untouched, according to its former cleric, the Rev. Merkuriy Skorohod. He said it had been spared out of fear that its destruction could prompt retaliation against some 12,000 parishes of the Russian church scattered throughout Ukraine.

There already were calls to destroy the pro-Moscow churches in Ukraine after a shocking incident.

A 2-year-old boy was accidentally killed in the southern city of Zaporizhzhya last December. His parents requested a funeral service at an Orthodox church attached to a cemetery, but its Moscow-affiliated priests refused because the boy had been baptized in the Ukrainian church.

They said they have rules, the boys father, Roman Polishchuk, said in televised remarks. It wasnt God who wrote these rules.

Unification of Orthodoxy may prove hard in Ukraine, whose religious map is a patchwork that reflects the nations tumultuous past.

Some 11% of Ukrainians, mostly in western regions that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, are part of the Greco-Catholic church that retains Orthodox rites but considers Pope Francis its pontiff. Some 44% are the flock of Philarets church  twice the percentage of Ukrainians loyal to Moscows Patriarch Kirill, polls show.

More than half of Ukrainians favor the unification of Ukrainian churches into an independent patriarchy, and only 9.2% think that the Russian Orthodox Church should dominate Ukraine, according to a survey by the Razumkov Center, an independent pollster, conducted in March.

If hes granted independence, Philaret will oversee the worlds largest Orthodox church after Russias  giving him considerable clout among other patriarchs of the worlds 250-million-plus Orthodox community.

Ukrainians hope the Holy Synod  a congregation of clerics under Bartholomew  will grant Philarets church independence by July 28, the 1,030th anniversary of the day when newly-converted Prince Vladimir arrived in Kiev and ordered its residents to plunge in the waters of the Dnieper River to get baptized.

Mirovalev is a special correspondent.
Sirens rang in southern Israeli cities and towns throughout Tuesday as a continuous barrage of mortars and rockets was launched from the Gaza Strip  followed by an announcement by Palestinian militants that they had agreed to a cease-fire.

The assault was believed to be the biggest of its kind in four years.

Israeli police said that militants from the Islamic Jihad group fired 130 projectiles, apparently in retaliation for Israels killing of three guerrillas on Sunday. The Israeli military gave a lower figure of 70.

The three guerrillas were killed after a bomb was planted on the border fence between Gaza and Israel, the site of weeks of Palestinian protest.

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Seven Israelis, including three soldiers, were wounded and required hospitalization after being hit by shrapnel from missiles intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.

The Israeli army said it had struck back against more than 30 Gaza military targets belonging both to the ruling Hamas militant group and to Islamic Jihad, including a terror tunnel penetrating half a mile into Israel via Egypt.

According to Israeli police, the Iron Dome intercepted about half of the projectiles, which had been launched from Khan Younis, a city in southern Gaza, toward cities in the Negev desert. Other missiles failed to detonate or landed in unpopulated areas.

Late Tuesday night, a spokesman for Islamic Jihad, Daoud Shehab, appeared on Al Jazeera television and said the group had agreed to an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire beginning at midnight. We are committed as long as Israel is committed to it, he said.

However, there was no confirmation from Egypt and no immediate response from Israel.

Earlier, Israeli residents living in border communities had been instructed to remain within a 10-second range of air raid shelters. One rocket landed next to a kindergarten in the early morning, and shrapnel damaged several cars in the city of Sderot later in the day.

An Israeli army spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, said the escalation marked the largest amount of rockets and mortars fired at Israel since 2014, when a summer war between Israel and Hamas, the Islamist group ruling Gaza, cost the lives of over 2,000 Palestinians and 70 Israelis, most of them soldiers.

Late Tuesday, in a rare joint statement, Hamas and Islamic Jihad together accepted responsibility for the daylong salvo against Israel. The gunfire is a response to Israeli aggression and crimes against the Palestinian people, they said.

The Israeli army spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, described the day as a different form of terror attack against Israel that we have no intention to permit following what he described as the failure of Hamas to penetrate Israel, harm Israelis or bring any benefit to its own population during two months of demonstrations. He blamed Iran for its financial support of Islamic Jihad.

Since March, thousands of Gazans have gathered at the border weekly to protest a growing humanitarian crisis in what they often describe as the worlds largest open-air prison. The Gaza Strip, an overcrowded coastal enclave, has been held under an Israeli and Egyptian blockade since Hamas took control of the area from the Palestinian Authority more than a decade ago.

About 115 Gazans have died in clashes with the Israeli army since the protests began, and Israel has faced international condemnation for its use of sharpshooters.

Tuesday, however, marked the first time rockets or missiles have been aimed at Israel since the start of the confrontations.

As a new wave of air raid sirens sounded along the 32-mile border well into the night, the rumble of air force jets provided a constant background noise to Israelis living in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Manelis said that Israel did not intend to escalate but that continued rocket and mortar attacks will only draw a more forceful response.

Manelis said the long fusillade proved that Hamas is losing control of Gaza, and said that terror of any type will be met with great force.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said that every location terror organizations use to launch missiles is a legitimate target for air force strikes.

For the last two months, Hamas has maintained that the massive weekly protests are nonviolent. The Israeli army has released images of protesters using weapons ranging from slingshots to submachine guns, and numerous attempts to breach the Israeli border with knives or bombs, to prove the contrary.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called for an urgent meeting of his top security team for Tuesday evening, posted a fiery red poster emblazoned with a message in capital letters on his official Twitter account.

Let the world know: Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip continue to attack Israel. Share the truth! pic.twitter.com/wRYnRJ2yK6  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 29, 2018

Shehab, the Islamic Jihad spokesman, said the rockets constituted a blessed response from our resistance.

We will continue to defend our people everywhere, he said in an interview. The resistance has the right to respond to the crimes of the occupation.

No Gazans were reported wounded Tuesday.

In a preplanned action, a fleet of more than 30 small boats carrying two students and several medical patients set sail from Gaza in an attempt to symbolically break through the sea blockade.

Gazan hospitals have reported they are at a breaking point following two months in which their systems have been overwhelmed with thousands of injuries. The Israeli navy detained and boarded a boat about 5.5 miles into Mediterranean waters, towing it to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

The Israeli army said, in a statement, that the Hamas terror organization, who is behind this attempt to breach the naval blockade, is trying to carry out a propaganda operation whilst cynically using its people for that purpose.

Adham Abu Salmiya, a spokesman for the flotilla organizers, announced the launch of a second freedom boat soon.

Matthias Schmale, the Gaza director for the principal United Nations organization charged with supporting Palestinian refugees in Gaza, lamented the very worrying continuous firing of rockets back & forth between Israel and #Gaza all day. That drew a withering response from Emmanuel Nahshon, the spokesman for Israels Foreign Ministry, who said the gold medal for blind hypocrisy went to an agency not willing, or afraid, to admit the difference between the aggressor (Hamas and its consorts) and the country protecting its citizens against aggression.

Special correspondents Tarnopolsky and Salah reported from Jerusalem and Gaza City, respectively.

UPDATES:

2 p.m.: This article was updated with reports of a cease-fire and a change in the number of boats in the flotilla.

12:15 p.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting, a higher casualty toll, background information and comments.

This article was originally published at 2:45 a.m.
Diplomacy accelerated Tuesday ahead of a potential summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a team of U.S. diplomats involved in preparatory discussions left a Seoul hotel, possibly to continue talks with their North Korean counterparts.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported that senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol planned to head to the United States, potentially for more talks to set up the summit. He would be the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States in 18 years.

Yonhap said Kim Yong Chols name was on the passenger list for a flight Wednesday from Beijing to New York. It earlier reported that he was heading straight to Washington, but later said he changed his flight to New York. South Korean officials couldnt immediately confirm the report. Kim was seen in the Beijing airport Tuesday by the Associated Press.

Kim is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling partys central committee, tasked with inter-Korean relations. A visit to the United States would mark the highest-level North Korean official visit since 2000, when late National Defense Commission First Vice Chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Koreas Unification Ministry said.

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In South Korea, it wasnt immediately clear whether the American officials, including Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to Manila, were heading to the village of Panmunjom, which straddles the border inside the Demilitarized Zone, where they met with North Korean officials on Sunday. Sung Kim is a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and was a top negotiator with North Korea in past nuclear talks.

Trump withdrew from a planned June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un last Thursday, citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting in Singapore could still happen. South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim, met with the North Korean leader in a surprise meeting on Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.
After legalizing abortion and same-sex marriage in recent times, Portuguese lawmakers will decide Tuesday on another issue that has brought a confrontation between faith and politics in this predominantly Catholic country: whether to allow euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.

The outcome of the vote is uncertain and is likely to be close, but Portugal could become one of just a handful of countries to permit euthanasia under certain circumstances.

Euthanasia  when a doctor kills patients at their request  is legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In Switzerland and some U.S. states, assisted suicide  where patients administer the lethal drug themselves under medical supervision  is permitted.

A string of left-leaning governments determined to bring about what they call a modernization of the country, as well as the Catholic Churchs waning influence, have opened the door to deep cultural changes in Portugal. That trend has included permitting abortion on demand in 2007 and same-sex marriage three years later.

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A 2016 petition by right-to-die activists pushed the divisive issue of euthanasia onto the political agenda. It received more than 8,000 signatures  more than double the number needed to force a parliamentary debate last year.

The petition said allowing euthanasia would be a concrete expression of an individuals rights to autonomy, to religious freedom and freedom of conscience, which are rights enshrined in the Constitution. It added: It is of the utmost importance to end pointless and useless suffering, imposed by the convictions of others.

In response, a petition by the Portuguese Federation for Life a few months later collected more than 14,000 signatures and told lawmakers that society and the state have a duty to protect human life.

Now, four left-leaning political parties  the governing center-left Socialist Party, the radical Left Bloc, the Green Party, and the People-Animals-Nature party  have introduced bills proposing euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide. Inciting or assisting euthanasia is currently punishable by up to three years in prison.

The Socialist governments bill has the best chance of success, having the most lawmakers behind it, though there is little difference between the four parties proposals.

The Socialist bill covers patients who are in a situation of extreme suffering, with an untreatable injury or a fatal and incurable disease. Two doctors, at least one of them a specialist in the relevant illness, and a psychiatrist must sign off on the request to die. The case then goes to a verification and evaluation committee, which can approve or turn down the procedure.

The process is postponed if it is legally challenged or if the patient loses consciousness, and doctors can refuse to perform the procedure on moral grounds. Oversight is provided by the Inspectorate-General of Health.

To discourage people from traveling to Portugal to end their life, the bills all stipulate that patients must be Portuguese citizens or legal residents.

Before the debate, the Portuguese Episcopal Conference has been distributing 1.5 million pamphlets arguing against legalizing euthanasia, saying it would be a backward step for society.

Life cannot be regarded as an object for personal use, the pamphlet says.

The four bills are going to a Tuesday afternoon debate in the Assembly of the Republic, Portugals parliament. The 230 lawmakers will vote at the end of the debate.

Muddying forecasts, some Socialist lawmakers have said they will vote against their partys bill. The conservative Popular Party and the Communist Party have said they will vote against all four bills.

The legislations fate depends largely on how many lawmakers in the center-right Social Democratic Party, the largest opposition party, support it. The party has no official stance on euthanasia and is allowing its lawmakers to vote according to their conscience.

If any of the four bills are approved, they are forwarded to a parliamentary committee where they can be fine-tuned before returning to a full plenary session for a final vote.

The legislation then goes to President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. If he vetoes it, the legislation returns to parliament, which can override the veto with a two-thirds vote.
Tickets on sale for murder mystery fundraiser for Lehigh Community Services

news@breezenewspapers.com Tickets are now on sale for Lehigh Community Services first Murder Mystery dinner fundraiser. A Murder on the Grill will be held Saturday, Nov. 6, at Double Eagle Event Center at Majestic Golf Club, 350 Homestead Road. The social hour will begin at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the mystery at 7 p.m. Tickets are $45 and includes dinner and the show. The menu is chicken marsala, baked ziti, scalloped potatoes, salad, rolls, dessert and a cash bar. To purchase tickets, which are on sale until Thursday, Oct. 21, call 239-369-5818. Lehigh Community ...
A student found a live bullet in an Easton Area High School bathroom on Tuesday morning, according to a message sent home to parents.

The message sent on the afternoon of Tuesday, May 29, says the student found a .380 caliber round of ammunition and turned it over to officials at the school at 2601 William Penn Highway in Palmer Township.

"No firearms have been recovered and there is no indication that a firearm was possessed on school district property, however the incident remains under investigation," the message says.

Easton Area School District Director of Safe Schools John Remaley said there are no disciplinary issues concerning the student who found the bullet. He's not aware of any pending threats and doesn't believe students are in danger as a result of the discovery.

Remaley declined to release many details pending the investigation. He said he's tracking down leads and needs another day or two to question students before he believes he'll find out who's responsible for the bullet.

"We're not sure at this time where it came from," he said.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
A former Lehigh County Jail employee accused of "inappropriate" sexual contact with a prisoner reached a plea deal with prosecutors on Tuesday.

Danika Alexander, 27, pleaded guilty to a single count of official oppression, and prosecutors withdrew a charge of institutional sexual assault.

Alexander, of the 1200 block of Overlook Road in Whitehall Township, will be sentenced at a later date. The official oppression charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in jail.

She remains free on $25,000 unsecured bail. Her attorney, Dave Ritter, declined to comment about the plea deal.

At the time, Alexander, a licensed practical nurse, was employed by Prime Care Medical and worked at the county jail. She no longer works for Prime Care, which is contracted to provide medical services to inmates at the jail.

Prosecutors said jail employees noticed one inmate, who is only identified as John Doe, had an "unusually high" number of visits in June and July to and from Alexander's work station.

A jail investigator, Clifford Knappenberger, and Lehigh County Detective Edward Ressler worked on the investigation, including listening to recorded calls from the jail to Alexander's personal cellphone, prosecutors said.

After interviewing the inmate, the district attorney said it was determined an inappropriate sexual relationship existed between Alexander and the inmate, and it was carried on within the jail.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Health SciSerTec and Serbia agree long-term cooperation!



29.05.2018 23:05:52 - The German software company for conference management software SciSerTec and the Serbian S Medica Agency in Belgrade complete a three years contract.



(live-PR.com) - The German software company for conference management software SciSerTec and the Serbian S Medica Agency in Belgrade complete a three years contract.



The agreement is an exclusive deal for all events in Serbia. According to General Manager of S Medica Jelena Jovanovic the decision for SciSerTec was made because of excellent product quality and the advantage of location. S Medica - The German software company for conference management software SciSerTec and the Serbian S Medica Agency in Belgrade complete a three years contract.The agreement is an exclusive deal for all events in Serbia. According to General Manager of S Medica Jelena Jovanovic the decision for SciSerTec was made because of excellent product quality and the advantage of location. S Medica appreciates the cooperation with SciSerTec because of already existing close connections to the International Neuroscience Institute (INI) in Hanover. We are very glad about the credit for SciSerTec and happy that vCongress is favored outside Germany!, states Dr. Daniel Breuer, CEO of SciSerTec. We already got started with the first two international conferences.



S Medica and the participants of the congresses can be looking forward to the brilliant data protection achieved by the new European data privacy regulations. We are very pleased with the cooperation so far and are excited about much more successful projects with SciSerTec, says Jelena Jovanovic.



About SciSerTec:

SciSerTec stands for Science, Service and Technologies and thus connects research, service and information technology. We offer our professional conference management software vCongress for the organization and management of medicine- and life science conferences and congresses. vCongress is a very user-friendly and individually-customisable online software.



The company was founded in 2006 in Hannover, Germany and is located in the campus of Hannover Medical School, which is one of the largest teaching hospital and Research Center in Germany. vCongress is preferred internationally and is used by participants all over the world. Our customers and cooperation partners benefit from the highest German quality and the most stringent data protection laws in Germany as our servers are locally based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.



The four pillars of SciSerTec's work:

1) Experience - We have more than 10 years of experience in the online management and organization of conferences and congresses. We know exactly what you need, how you need it and when you need it. This judgement saves you time as well as money.

2) Reliance - Arranging and hosting a conference is an extremely complex project. Its success is very important for your business. Therefore, you need somebody to rely on. Our excellent conference management software along with our very fast reaction times set up the base for your success.

3) Globality - Our conference management soft- ware vCongress is used internationally by thousands of participants all over the world. The software processes are self explaining and well structured for world wide use.

4) Fun - People who explore fun in what they do, perform much better. To be satisfied with our work is very important for us and therefore, when you are appreciated in your conference or congress, we find immense pleasure in it.



SciSerTec provides highest quality:

Although, our conference management software is optimized for medicine and life science projects, it can be used for a meeting, symposium or event in any other field. The medicine and life science areas claim the highest quality requirements and hence, we want to maintain the same standards for all the areas, that use our conference management software vCongress.



Contact:

SciSerTec

Dr. Daniel Breuer, CEO

c/o Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (MHH)

Veranstaltungsmanagement OE 0060

Carl-Neuberg-Strae 1

D-30625 Hannover, Germany



Phone: +49(0)5 11 - 10 54 894

Mobile: +49(0) 176 27 19 25 88

www.scisertec.com

Mail:



S Medica

Jelena Jovanovic, General Manager

Grge Jankesa 14

Belgrade, Serbia



Phone 381 69 767 321

E mail

www.serbiamedica.com

www.smedica.rs

appreciates the cooperation with SciSerTec because of already existing close connections to the International Neuroscience Institute (INI) in Hanover. We are very glad about the credit for SciSerTec and happy that vCongress is favored outside Germany!, states Dr. Daniel Breuer, CEO of SciSerTec. We already got started with the first two international conferences.S Medica and the participants of the congresses can be looking forward to the brilliant data protection achieved by the new European data privacy regulations. We are very pleased with the cooperation so far and are excited about much more successful projects with SciSerTec, says Jelena Jovanovic.About SciSerTec:SciSerTec stands for Science, Service and Technologies and thus connects research, service and information technology. We offer our professional conference management software vCongress for the organization and management of medicine- and life science conferences and congresses. vCongress is a very user-friendly and individually-customisable online software.The company was founded in 2006 in Hannover, Germany and is located in the campus of Hannover Medical School, which is one of the largest teaching hospital and Research Center in Germany. vCongress is preferred internationally and is used by participants all over the world. Our customers and cooperation partners benefit from the highest German quality and the most stringent data protection laws in Germany as our servers are locally based in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.The four pillars of SciSerTec's work:1) Experience - We have more than 10 years of experience in the online management and organization of conferences and congresses. We know exactly what you need, how you need it and when you need it. This judgement saves you time as well as money.2) Reliance - Arranging and hosting a conference is an extremely complex project. Its success is very important for your business. Therefore, you need somebody to rely on. Our excellent conference management software along with our very fast reaction times set up the base for your success.3) Globality - Our conference management soft- ware vCongress is used internationally by thousands of participants all over the world. The software processes are self explaining and well structured for world wide use.4) Fun - People who explore fun in what they do, perform much better. To be satisfied with our work is very important for us and therefore, when you are appreciated in your conference or congress, we find immense pleasure in it.SciSerTec provides highest quality:Although, our conference management software is optimized for medicine and life science projects, it can be used for a meeting, symposium or event in any other field. The medicine and life science areas claim the highest quality requirements and hence, we want to maintain the same standards for all the areas, that use our conference management software vCongress.Contact:SciSerTecDr. Daniel Breuer, CEOc/o Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (MHH)Veranstaltungsmanagement OE 0060Carl-Neuberg-Strae 1D-30625 Hannover, GermanyPhone: +49(0)5 11 - 10 54 894Mobile: +49(0) 176 27 19 25 88Mail: team@scisertec.de S MedicaJelena Jovanovic, General ManagerGrge Jankesa 14Belgrade, SerbiaPhone 381 69 767 321E mail office@serbiamedica.com Press Information:

SciSerTec



c/o Medizinische Hochschule Hannover (MHH)

Veranstaltungsmanagement OE 0060

Carl-Neuberg-Strae 1

D-30625 Hannover, Germany



Contact Person:

Dr. Daniel Breuer

CEO

Phone: +49(0)5 11 - 10 54 894

eMail: eMail



Web: http://www.scisertec.com





29.05.2018 23:05:52 -

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FTSE 250 movers: Dixons Carphone dives, IWG pops after rejecting offer 29-05-2018 09:34



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George Soros warns new financial crisis could be looming 29-05-2018 13:58



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Vedanta's Tuticorn copper smelter sealed after protestors killed 29-05-2018 07:07



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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

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Right across the street from the Lodi Transit Station and rail line is Rogers Railroad Junc

Model train history

The first train toys were made in Europe in the 1860s, a few decades after the first steam locomotive was operated in 1804.

In 1901, the first electric toy train was created by Lionel, intended for use in store displays. Several other companies followed suit, including American Flyer, Marx, Ives and Marklin. Some of the first model trains were made of stamped, thin metal, called tinplate.

Model Railroader Magazine began in 1934, and by the 1950s the train sets were growing in popularity.

Today, many model trains are digital. They can be controlled by special controls or even smartphone apps. Many have recorded whistles  from the real trains they are based on  and some even produce steam. They come in a variety of sizes and price points.

 Sources: National Toy Train Museum, Wikipedia
(Childish Gambino "This Is America" Parody)



(Verse 1)

Extremely Poor. The medical facilities are poor. We operate a predatory, neocolonial capitalist system, which is founded on fraud and exploitation and therefore you are bound to have corruption. Many criminal cases are settled in police station



(Hook)

Ehee, Ehee Ehee ee ewo

Ehee, Ehee Ehee ee ewo

Ehee, Ehee Ehee ee ewo



[Chorus]

This is Nigeria

Look how I'm living now

Look how I'm living now

Everybody be criminal

This is Nigeria

Look how we living now

Look what we eating now

Everybody be Criminal



(Verse 2)

This is Nigeria

Just because I'm on TV now

Person wey get no work

Is checking to see

If my watch is original

This is Nigeria

Wey da Madam Philomena

Money vanish from your office

36 million

You talk say na animal

This is Nigeria

Never end the recession o

When looter and killers and stealers are still contesting election o

Politicians wey thief some billions and billion no dey go prison o

Police station dey close by 6

Security reason o

(Babaa, oche o, Babaa, Oche o Babaa)



My brothers and sisters i want you to put your hands up right now because your miracle is coming this week. If you believe let me hear you say Amen



(Verse 3)

This is Nigeria

Praise and worship we singing now

Pastor put his hands on the breast of his members

He's pulling the demons out

This is Nigeria

No electricity daily o

Your people are still working multiple jobs

And they talk say we lazy o

This Is Nigeria

There is plenty Wahala sha

Fulani Herdsmen still they slaughter

Carry people they massacre

This is Nigeria

Works in my area

This is democracy

Political hysteria

Yahoo Yahoo don't tear everywhere now

We act like it's so cool

Casting the P being castigated just by trying to noble

This Nigeria

Look at my nation o

SARS stop me for road any explanation you go talk am for station o



(Sir am, Sir look am sorry, am just a student of the University of Lagos. We are just coming from the club. Ok so my friend and I. No sire i had my I.D. to prove.)



(Hook)

Ehee, Ehee Ehee ee ewo

Ehee, Ehee Ehee ee ewo

Ehee, Ehee Ehee ee ewo



(Chorus)

This is Nigeria

Look how I'm living now

Look how I'm living now

Everybody be criminal

This is Nigeria

Look how we living now

Look what we eating now

Everybody be Criminal



(This is breaking, transmission of ah, transmission eh, transmission.)



But what happens everyday is that, the system has allowed it. For instance there is no law that allows you to take money from the church, invest in business, and privatize it. No. It is only in Nigeria were you can take money from the church, money contributed by poor congregation members. You go and set up a university that the members cannot attend. Cannot send their children to. It's against the rule and the law of God. It's against the constitution

Share lyrics
President Tran Dai Quang (R) and Senator Cory Gardner, Chairman of the US Senates Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia (Photo: VNA)



He made the remark while receiving Senator Cory Gardner, Chairman of the US Senates Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cyber Security Policy, in Hanoi on May 28th.

Praising his guests contributions to the USs relations with the region in general and Vietnam in particular for peace, stability, cooperation and development, the leader expected the senator to continue helping the ties to grow.

President Quang expressed his delight at upbeat improvement of Vietnam  US comprehensive partnership across all fields as reflected through talks and meetings between their high-ranking leaders.

He specifically pointed to a State visit to Vietnam by President Donald Trump and an official visit to the US by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last year.

The State leader lauded positive growth of bilateral parliamentary ties and stressed that Vietnam welcomes visits of more US congressmen who seek to explore Vietnams culture, land and people and will serve as a bridge for Vietnam  US cooperation.

He suggested the US side carry out measures to increase exports to the Vietnamese market in a bid to improve their trade balance, and clear trade barriers to facilitate the entry of Vietnamese goods into its market.

He recommended the two nations extend their mutual consultations and information exchange at international and regional forums and within the UN framework, especially on issues of shared concern.

For his part, Cory Gardner informed his guest that during his visit, he planned to have working sessions with Vietnamese agencies to discuss boosters to Vietnam  US ties.

He commended Vietnams stance on ensuring peace, security and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea.

As the US Senator of Colorado, he introduced his states strength in environmental sector and expressed his willingness to bridge cooperation between Colorado and Vietnam in environmental protection and climate change response.

He said he supports free trade and increasing Vietnam  US collaboration in mitigating Agent Orange impacts and clearing post-war bombs and mines./.
Kottayam: The dawn to dusk hartal called by the Bharatiya Janatha Party, UDF and CSDS has started in Kottayam in protest against the police apathy which resulted in the death of the newly wed man in Kottayam.

Shops were shut down and vehicles were stopped in the district. Services of the Kerala Road Transport Corporation were also affected. Several supporters of the hartal took out a march at different parts of the districts.

Kevin, 23, had been missing from Sunday morning. He was allegedly abducted by his wife's relative over their love marriage. The local people spotted Kevins body in a stream on Monday morning.

Reports also suggested that a DYFI activist was among the abductors of Kevin. The police have filed cases against ten people including Shanu Chacko, Neenu's brother.
The widow of former La Union Rep. Eufranio Eriguel has described the May 12 murder of her late husband as politically motivated and asked the National Police to investigate the pullout of security detail from the Eriguel family days before the incident. Truly, violence has no place in any civilized society. The peace loving people of La Union denounces violence and we condemn, to the highest degree, the senseless, brutal and cowardly murder of Congressman Franny and his three companions, La Union Rep. Sandra Eriguel, the widow of the late legislator and mayor, said in a privilege speech on Monday. At the same time, Rep. Sandra Eriguel cried for justice over the death of her husband. ...We will not rest until we find your murderers. We will not stop until all the perpetrators including the mastermind of this heinous act be apprehended and suffer the wrath of our justice system. We cry for justice. We want justice for those who were injured, for those who died and for Congressman Franny Eriguel, she said Eriguel and three of his companions died, while eight other people were wounded after a group of nine men armed with automatic weapons attacked the former lawmaker, mayor and doctor while he was delivering a speech in Barangay Capas, Agoo, La Union on the night of May 12. An autopsy report showed that the late legislator sustained eight gunshot wounds on his head, chest, arm and leg. Based on police statements, high-caliber bullets were used during the carnage from M16 and M14 rifles. I lost my partner, the love of my life, my soulmate, the father of my children. They killed Franny, said Rep. Sandra Eriguel. Sowing fear upon the people through intimidation and violence should never be the basis for voting our leaders, but rather, to vote freely and based on personal preference should be the basis for voting our leaders, she said. Congressman Frannys murder is politically motivated. There is no other angle but politics. Rep. Sandra Eriguel said days before the ambush, their police security detail were pulled out one by one. The Eriguel family received police security after Franny Eriguel survived a failed attempt on his life on April 30, 2016. An improvised explosive device planted on a motorcycle exploded as his convoy passed by along a road in Agoo, La Union, a few meters from the family residence, resulting in the death of a supporter. The bombing incident remains unsolved to this day, with the police still to identify any suspect. Rep. Sandra Eriguel said they asked Senior Superintendent Genaro Sapiera, then the provincial director of La Union PNP not to pull out all the security detail amid the active threats on their lives. Stefanie Eriguel, the Eriguel couples daughter, is also the incumbent mayor of Agoo.Congressman Franny personally pleaded to him. But PD Sapiera insisted that he has orders coming from Police Chief Superintendent Romulo Sapitula, the regional director of PNP-Regional Office 1 to pull out all police security detail, she said. The Barangay Captain of Capas also wrote a letter dated May 7, 2018 to Police Chief Inspector Alfredo Padilla Jr., then the Agoo police chief, requesting for security assistance. But the said request was not acted upon by PCI Padilla, Eriguel said. Without our police security detail, each one of us became vulnerable to any attack. But Congressman Franny never wavered in any fight. He would rather take it head on and show to his opponents that they cannot take him down. I firmly believe that if it were not for the orders of RD Sapitula to pull out our police security detail and the ineptness of former Agoo COP Padilla for failing to act on the letter of Barangay Capas for security assistance, the shooting incident may have been prevented and my husband could have been alive today. As legislators, we must look into the actions of the PNP days before the brutal and cowardly murder of my husband. We can prevent this type of murder [from] being committed again, she said. We also owe it to the people, most especially to the peace loving people of La Union, to pass relevant laws that can stop this culture of violence. We must not let fear envelope our people and our nation. This must end here, Eriguel said. Eriguel vowed not to be intimidated by the latest attack on the family. Congressman Franny has already done more than unite our leaders, he has long created a legacy that is already written in history. Together with our leaders, we will continue his legacy. Congressman Franny will always be the cohesion that will bind us together towards a peaceful and progressive Second District of La Union, she said. I now hold the reins of leadership of the Second District of La Union. Like Gabriela Silang, the valiant Ilocana heroine who continued the fight his husband Diego Silang began, I will continue what Congressman Franny had begun. I will continue to fulfill his dream of peace and violence-free La Union. I will continue to push for progress and development in our beloved district. I will continue to protect our people from any forms of atrocities, she said. Eriguel also called on the PNP and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to fast track the investigation and unmask the perpetrators including the mastermind of her husbands murder. As long as they remain unidentified, my life and the life of my children will always be at risk, she said. They might have killed Congressman Franny but not his ideals, and not the type of leadership he had instilled in our leaders. He will always be in our hearts. We will all overcome this tragedy and we will all emerge stronger and united than ever, she said.
Addressing the plight of distressed women overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Kuwait, Coca-Cola Philippines, in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) will be conducting its second micro-enterprise training specifically designed to empower women who wish to start their own business. This initiative leads the various efforts to help these women OFWs prepare for their reintegration in the country.

There are currently over 2.2 million Filipinos working in various labor sectors abroad, 83 percent are in Asia, with large concentrations in the Middle East. 54% of these OFWs are women who are primarily engaged as laborers or low-skilled workers, would venture abroad in their bid to find better sources of income for their families.

In line with the governments bid to provide livelihood for returning distressed OFWs, Coca-Cola Philippines, through its 5by20 program and in partnership with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) through the Overseas Workers Welfare Association (OWWA) and the National Reintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO), launched the Women Entrepreneurs Reintegrated and Economically Active at Home (WOMEN REACH) program in the State of Kuwait.

Silver Lining. The women OFWs at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Kuwait shed tears of joy upon hearing the various possibilities that the Coca-Cola 5by20 entrepreneurship program holds for them and their families.

The WOMEN REACH program is designed for women OFWs who were employed in the low-skilled labor sector such as domestic helpers, prioritizing those who have experienced distress during their employment period. It is the first-of-its-kind that provides a step-by-step entrepreneurial training, business counselling, and self-assessment for the OFWs to determine the most appropriate business model and scale based on their skills and resources.

This is our way of continuously empowering women, especially those in the most vulnerable sectors  in this case, the distressed women OFWs who are currently at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Kuwait  by helping them prepare for their livelihood, upon resettling back in the country. This program is designed to be highly targeted and responsive to the exact skill set and resources available to these women OFWs. We are one with the government in up-skilling them to better provide for their families, said Gilda Maquilan, 5by20 Lead and Sustainability Manager of Coca-Cola Philippines.

In 2017, the pilot training at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Kuwait was able to reach 100 distressed women OFWs, most of whom are awaiting the completion of their deportation procedures. The 5-day training program tackled topics such as the creation of a solid business plan, technical assistance in the fine-tuning of these business plans, and gender sensitivity.

First Steps. Coca-Cola Philippines 5by20 Lead and Sustainability Manager Gilda Custodio-Maquilan congratulates the first batch of graduates after a week-long training session at the Philippine Overseas Labor Office in Kuwait. About 100 distressed women OFWs completed the five-day entrepreneurship training.

The DOLE-POLO office said that WOMEN REACH is a program where OFWs are encouraged to be entrepreneurs. There are now opportunities in the Philippines that can help themuplift their lives and their families, without the need to leave the country . For distressed OFWs who have been subject to physical and emotional abuses, going through the training helps them prepare for a new start once they get home.

Amidst the government-imposed deployment ban to Kuwait, Filipino women OFWs who are still waiting for repatriation to the country will continue to receive their entrepreneurial training. They will also be provided with starter kits through the Balik Pinay, BalikHanapbuhay program of DOLE.

Most of the business plans that were conceived by the participants during the training include: backyard hog and poultry raising, carinderia, sari-sari store, computer rental shop, and online ready-to-wear shop, among others.

Coca-Cola has launched 5by20, a global campaign that aims to empower 5 million women by 2020 across its value chain by providing access to training, access to business resources, and access to peer mentoring. Through its various training, the Coca-Cola 5by20 program empowers women in vulnerable sectors to overcome the obstacles that they may face in achieving business success.
Prepared For The Next Leg In The US Stock Markets?

Ever since the deep price rotation in late January/early February 2018, many analysts have attempted to pinpoint the next moves in the markets. We recall reading the doom and gloom reports telling traders this is the big one and to prepare for a much lower price breakdown. We also read a few research posts that aligned with our adaptive predictive modeling systems suggesting this move would expand into extended bottoming rotation. We want to point out a few components of this move that most analysts are missing.

As we continue through this article, we want to highlight the similarities of this recent price rotation to the price rotation that took place in 2015/2016 and how prices advanced in staged legging patterns that allowed a great opportunity for traders and investors.

Take a look at this first chart below of the recent SPY price rotation on a Daily basis. It shows the late January price peak and the deep price low that established this range of rotation. This chart also shows our adaptive Fibonacci price modeling system and the analysis results of this strategy. You should be able to see the RED and GREEN horizontal levels that are drawn on this chart widening against price levels. This is indicative of non-trending price rotation as our adaptive Fibonacci modeling system sees this price rotation as attempting to establish a new breakout trend.

Now, please compare the SPY Daily chart (above) to the Weekly SPY chart from 2015~2016 (below) and pay attention to the price rotation between July 2015 and last 2016. The initial price breakdown in August/September 2015 was rather deep and established a price low near $182.50. After the initial price breakdown, price rallied back to near the previous highs before stalling again and falling to new lows before recovering. This move is very similar to the current price rotation  two very deep price corrections with wide range peaks and troughs. What happened next?

Take another look at the chart, below, and pay attention to the upward price move after January 2016. Notice that the upward price move started to build some upside momentum  establishing new higher low points and, eventually, breaking out to new price highs near August/September 2016? Take a real close look at this move and compare it to the first chart. Although these two charts are not exactly the same, our Fibonacci price modeling system, in both instances, developed similar types of Fibonacci target levels and analysis. The result of the current chart, above, is that we have yet to see a substantial upside price move that would prompt the Fibonacci price modeling system to bias the upside trend into its analysis  but we are close to this happening (very close).

Now, lets take a look at the current Weekly SPY chart that shows how narrow and short this current price rotation really is in comparison to the 2015/2016 rotation. Currently, the entire price rotation that we are discussing has consisted for only four months  whereas the 2015/2016 price rotation consisted of almost 12 to 14 months total (before new price highs were established). If the current price rotation continues at this pace, already having established two critical lows and beginning the upside price leg (in 4 months) that took the previous 2015/2016 rotation over 8 months to complete, we could expect a fairly dramatic upside price move in the US majors within the next 30+ days that could equate to the last 4 to 5 months upside activity within the 2015/2016 rotation. In other words, this entire move is mirroring the 2015/2016 price rotation as a speed that is nearly 3x the earlier rotation.

Now, focus on one thing right now, the current Weekly SPY chart, below, is showing a Bullish Fibonacci price trigger level that has already been breached (near early April 2018). This key component that is different from the earlier price rotation is a very clear indication that we could see a big move to the upside in the US equities market at a much faster rate than compared to what happened in 2015/2016.

The last chart we want to share with you is this Daily YM chart with our Fibonacci modeling system at work. The recent price rotation near the right side of this chart has clearly illustrated the Fibonacci Price Trigger Levels and shown us that the upper Price Trigger level has already been broken while the lower Price Trigger levels have acted as a support boundary for price. One thing to understand about this Fibonacci price modeling system and the Price Trigger Levels is that they are like key targets for price. If price crosses the Fibonacci Price Trigger Levels, then this price level and trend direction becomes ACTIVE. If not, they act as boundaries for price often becoming support or resistance level in the future.

Based on our research and analysis, the bias for the markets is, and has continued to be, bullish. We are expecting a moderately large upside breakout to happen within the next 5~15 days that may drive prices to near or above all-time highs in the US majors. We dont expect you to understand or to be able to read our advanced Fibonacci modeling system like we can. Weve been working with this system for many years and this might be your first time viewing these types of charts. What we want to push into your thinking is that our modeling systems are suggesting a broad market upside breakout is very likely over the next few weeks and months. As long as key support levels are not breached and the current trend BIAS does not change, our analysis is to get ready for a potentially large upside price move.

If youve made it to the end of this article and understand the value of our work researching, coding and developing this content for you to better understand the future of the markets, then we thank you very much for your dedication and focus in reaching this point. We also urge you to support our efforts in providing you this type of advanced and proprietary research and modeling tools by visiting www.TheTechnicalTraders.com to learn more about how we can help you find and execute success each week in the markets. Our job is to be your research team, provide you with detailed analysis (both video based and text based) and to provide you with detailed trading signals that are primed for profits. We take pride in our ability to deliver the best and most innovative market research youll find anywhere and our clients love the exclusive member only content and trades. Please take a moment to see how we can help you achieve greater success.

Our 53 years experience in researching and trading makes analyzing the complex and ever-changing financial markets a natural process. We have a simple and highly effective way to provide our customers with the most convenient, accurate, and timely market forecasts available today. Our stock and ETF trading alerts are readily available through our exclusive membership service via email and SMS text. Our newsletter, Technical Trading Mastery book, and 3 Hour Trading Video Course are designed for both traders and investors. Also, some of our strategies have been fully automated for the ultimate trading experience.

Chris Vermeulen

www.TheTechnicalTraders.com

Chris Vermeulen has been involved in the markets since 1997 and is the founder of Technical Traders Ltd. He is an internationally recognized technical analyst, trader, and is the author of the book: 7 Steps to Win With Logic



Through years of research, trading and helping individual traders around the world. He learned that many traders have great trading ideas, but they lack one thing, they struggle to execute trades in a systematic way for consistent results. Chris helps educate traders with a three-hour video course that can change your trading results for the better.



His mission is to help his clients boost their trading performance while reducing market exposure and portfolio volatility.



He is a regular speaker on HoweStreet.com, and the FinancialSurvivorNetwork radio shows. Chris was also featured on the cover of AmalgaTrader Magazine, and contributes articles to several leading financial hubs like MarketOracle.co.uk

Disclaimer: Nothing in this report should be construed as a solicitation to buy or sell any securities mentioned. Technical Traders Ltd., its owners and the author of this report are not registered broker-dealers or financial advisors. Before investing in any securities, you should consult with your financial advisor and a registered broker-dealer. Never make an investment based solely on what you read in an online or printed report, including this report, especially if the investment involves a small, thinly-traded company that isnt well known. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report has been paid by Cardiff Energy Corp. In addition, the author owns shares of Cardiff Energy Corp. and would also benefit from volume and price appreciation of its stock. The information provided here within should not be construed as a financial analysis but rather as an advertisement. The authors views and opinions regarding the companies featured in reports are his own views and are based on information that he has researched independently and has received, which the author assumes to be reliable. Technical Traders Ltd. and the author of this report do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any content of this report, nor its fitness for any particular purpose. Lastly, the author does not guarantee that any of the companies mentioned in the reports will perform as expected, and any comparisons made to other companies may not be valid or come into effect.

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President Tran Dai Quang was greeted at the Haneda International Airport (Photo: VNA)



The Vietnamese President was greeted at Haneda International Airport with a 21-gun salute.

After his arrival, President Quang went on a visit to Gunma Prefecture, where there are around 3,000 Vietnamese nationals.

An official welcome ceremony for the Vietnamese head of State is scheduled for May 30 morning at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo under the chair of Emperor Akihito.

Vietnam and Japan are celebrating the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic ties this year. Bilateral partnership is now at its best time in history since the establishment of diplomatic relationship.

The State visit of President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse aims to affirm Vietnams consistent external policy of independence, self-reliance, multilateralisation and diversification in international relations, as well as the importance that the country attaches to strengthening the extensive strategic partnership with Japan.

The visit also aims to bolster the close relationship and political trust between senior leaders of Vietnam and Japan, contributing to strengthening the bilateral extensive strategic partnership./.
With the UK Conservative Party engaged in fratricide over Brexit, there is talk on the Tory backbenches of a snap general election in the making. This is entirely possible given the mess they are in. We could therefore see Jeremy Corbyn heading for 10 Downing Street sooner rather than later.

Corbyn, a backbench rebel for decades, could lead the most radical government since 1945. The prospect of a far-left government led by Mr Corbyn and Mr McDonnell is not a joke, states the Economist. Above all, they fear the masses that stand behind Corbyn  a force which could push a Labour government further to the left.

A Corbyn-led Labour government would face an onslaught from big business, with threats of a strike of capital, a run on the pound, billions being shipped abroad, etc. All of this will be used to whip up an atmosphere of crisis. The Tory press would also launch a hysterical campaign against Labour.

Would the Establishment be prepared to go even further?

History repeats itself

It is 50 years ago this month that a plot was hatched to stage a coup against the then Labour government under Harold Wilson.

On 8th May 1968, Earl Mountbatten of Burma hosted an extraordinary gathering at his London home in Belgravia. Those present were Cecil King, chairman of the International Publishing Corporation and owner of the Daily Mirror; its editor, Hugh Cudlipp; and Mountbattens associate, Sir Solly Zuckerman, the governments chief scientific adviser.

50 years ago Lord Mountbatten hatched a plot to stage a coup against the Wilson government / Image: public domain

The 68-year-old Mountbatten was invited by King to head up a government of national emergency, where the tops of the armed forces, businessmen and other City figures would take over the government. But the plan fell apart after Zuckerman objected.

So could history repeat itself under a Jeremy Corbyn premiership?

The Daily Telegraph suggests that it could, recently publishing an article with the heading Could the same thing happen today?

The article reminded us that, only one week after Jeremy Corbyns election as Labour leader, a serving general of the Army warned of a direct and public challenge if a future Prime Minister Corbyn jeopardised the countrys security.

Closing ranks

The coup plotters of 1968 were convinced that Britain was heading for catastrophe. Many today in the British establishment hold a similar view regarding a possible Corbyn government. They see radical left policies as a disaster.

The British ruling class will not give up its position without a struggle / Image: Socialist Appeal

But with a Tory party split and in crisis, other forces would need to replace a left-wing Labour government. Here is where the state within a state comes in, with their undercover operations and black ops to discredit the left. They would be supportive of a coup.

They could engineer a constitutional crisis, where the Blairites in the Parliamentary Labour Party could be used to bring down a Labour government in the national interest.

The monarchy could also be used in such a crisis, as happened in 1931, when they assisted the collapse of the Labour government and its replacement with a national government. Bear in mind, also, that the army does not swear its allegiance to government or parliament but to the Crown.

The top judges, police chiefs, heads of military, heads of civil service, etc., are all part of a British establishment which is determined to defend the capitalist system.

The British ruling class, that tiny handful of people, bankers, financiers, capitalists, who own and control the economy, will do anything, including closing down parliamentary democracy, to hold on to its power, wealth and prestige.

This is no idle threat. The British ruling class has been one of the most ruthless in the world. It will not give up its position without a struggle.

In fact, Sir Ian Gilmore, who was a top ranking Tory theoretician, once wrote:

Conservatives do not worship democracy. For them majority rule is a device  majorities do not always see where their best interests lie  For Conservatives, therefore, democracy is a means to an end and not an end in itself And if it is leading to an end that is undesirable or is inconsistent with itself, then there is a theoretical case for ending it. (Inside Right, 1977)

Defeat the establishment

A Corbyn government will face the full force of these class interests. The only way to foil their plots and sabotage is to expose what is going on and mobilise the working class in defence of the Labour government.

The only way to defeat the Establishment will be to take economic power out of the hands of the capitalists and put it in the hands of working people / Image: Socialist Appeal

Even Clement Attlee before the war raised the question of extra-parliamentary action in his book Labour in Perspective, which said there are those who,

[B]elieve, as soon as it is found that democracy is no longer prepared to be the handmaid of Capitalism, the supporters of the present system will reject it. They think that any attempt to deal with fundamentals will be met by forcible resistance It is idle to deny that there is a possibility.

A Labour government cannot simply wait on the inevitable. It would need to purge the armed forces, civil service and the judiciary, who are there to serve the Establishment. It would need to sack the judges, generals and police chiefs, and elect in their place those committed to socialist change, while placing them under the control of working people.

Above all, it should take immediate steps to introduce an Enabling Act to allow it to take over the 150 monopolies, banks and insurance companies that dominate the British economy. This will take economic power out of the hands of the capitalists and put it in the hands of working people  the people who create the wealth of this country.

This is the only way to defeat the Establishment.
Hackers have compromised hundreds of thousands of home and office routers and could collect user information or shut down network traffic, according to the FBI

The FBI issued a statement urging the owners of many brands of routers to turn them off and on again, and download updates from the manufacturer to protect themselves.

"The malware is able to perform multiple functions, including possible information collection, device exploitation, and blocking network traffic," the FBI stated.

Cisco Systems Inc said the hackers targeted at least 500,000 devices from Belkin International's Linksys, MikroTik, Netgear Inc, TP-Link, and QNAP.

The U.S. Justice Department said the hackers involved were in a group called Sofacy that answered to the Russian government.

Sofacy, also known as APT28 and Fancy Bear, has been blamed for many of the most dramatic Russian hacks, including that of the Democratic National Committee during the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign.
HOLYOKE -- Mariel Serrano was a student earning her bachelor's degree in communications in her native Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria devastated the island eight months ago.

By January she was in Holyoke, having fled her hometown of Arecibo as restoration work lagged and the island's economy crumbled. She works now for Victory Home Health Care in Holyoke, a company that sends workers into homes to care for mostly elderly clients.

"When I came here, I had nothing," she told public officials gathered Tuesday for a news conference. "Today I have a job and I'm on my feet."

The news conference at the CareerPoint jobs center in Holyoke celebrated a $2.5 million National Emergency Grant to assist evacuees from Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

It was awarded earlier this year to job centers across the state and is administered by the Regional Employment Board of Hampden County. Locally, the grant provides services through CareerPoint in Holyoke and FutureWorks in Springfield. Elsewhere, the grant is working through the state's other one-stop-career centers.

With the money, career centers can get people into English as a second language classes, help evacuees get their certifications and professional licenses from Puerto Rico transferred to Massachusetts, help them get further training, and send workers out into the business community to identify jobs in need of filling as unemployment rates fall, said David C. Gadaire, executive director of CareerPoint.

"It's to help them get the skills so they can get the jobs," Gadaire said. "These are in many cases very skilled, very talented people."

The news conference also highlighted the work left to be done, especially with 53 local families facing a June 30 Federal Emergency Management Agency deadline to move out of area motels and into permanent housing.

"The work of everyone in this room has been heroic," said state Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta.

Acosta shared her own family story. Her parents, both college professors with doctorates, fled Cuba and the Castro regime in the 1960s.

"They both worked in factories," Acosta said. "And after 12 years, after going back to school and learning English, they were able to get jobs as teachers."

Not much has changed, said Frank Martinez, a job developer at CareerPoint. Martinez said CareerPoint has a surgeon working as a certified nurse's aide right now until he can get his Puerto Rican license to practice medicine recognized in Massachusetts and pass English requirements.

Martinez, who grew up here but returned to Puerto Rico for his education, was working as a restaurant manager before Maria hit. The storm picked up boats from the bay and slammed them into the restaurant. Utilities failed and his family had to rely on a hand-operated pump for water.

His job now is to go out into the business community and find jobs for his fellow evacuees. He's meeting with some success.

"Puerto Rico has so many professionals that people don't know about, nurses, cooks," he said. "We are finding success with companies that are willing to have these people come in, people who have a great work ethic."

About 1,300 Puerto Rican evacuees have made contact with career centers around the state, said Steve Trueman, vice president of workforce development operations at the Regional Employment Board. Of those 1,300, about 800 are right here in Hampden County and more than 600 of them are registered through CareerPoint. The remaining 200 or so are at FutureWorks in Springfield.

The grant is for a maximum of 300 evacuees, Trueman said. At this point, more than 200 have signed up for programs, a step beyond just making contact.

"We have the option of applying for more money to continue the program," he said.

Acosta said the grant comes from a federal program usually used to retrain workers after a major employer closes.
Police at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge are investigating a third alleged assault at the university within one month.

MIT police responded to a call early Sunday morning at the Phi Kappa Theta house at 229 Commonwealth Avenue. At 5:30 a.m., a woman told MIT police she woke up to an unknown man touching her leg. When she woke up, she said the man fled the room and ran down a back staircase.

The incident on Sunday marks the third report of assault at MIT in the month of May. Over the course of the month, two women reported to campus police that they had been raped.

On May 23, MIT police received notice of an alleged rape that occurred days earlier, on May 19, in the Theta Delta Chi fraternity home at 372 Memorial Drive.

Earlier in the month, a woman told MIT police she had been raped at a dorm on Amherst Alley in the early morning hours of May 5. The woman told police she spoke to a man at a party, and the next thing she remembered was waking up next to him. She reported bruising and sought medical attention for her injuries, according to MIT police. The alleged perpetrator in the May 5 case has denied the rape accusation.

Campus police say the incidents are under investigation, and warn students to lock their doors and windows and report suspicious activity. Police also advised students to utilize campus safety features like Blue Light emergency phones or "SafeRide" shuttles for transportation.

"The MIT police want to remind the MIT community that we are located in an urban setting and share many of the crime and safety issues that exist in any city," a statement by Sergeant Andrew Turco reads.
CHICOPEE - Police charged an Agawam man with driving under the influence of drugs and for possession of heroin and cocaine after he tried to drive away from on officer despite having a flat tire.

Mitchell Wilson, 36, of 499 Mill St., was arrested at about 9:35 a.m., Tuesday, and charged with operating under the influence, possession of heroin and cocaine and reckless operation, said Michael Wilk, police public information officer.

A resident initially called police to complain about a red Toyota blocking a driveway at Chapman Street. When Officer Peter Adamczyk arrived, he found the vehicle had front-end damage, one tire was flat and it was parked oddly and away from the curb, he said.

The driver appeared to be falling asleep and it took Adamczyk some time to get him to respond. Wilson then put the car in park, got out to look at the damage and said it had happened previously, he said.

During the discussion, Adamczyk spotted what he believed to be evidence of heroin in the car. By then Wilson starting to drive away, despite the flat tire, and ignored the officer who told him to stop. Adamczyk activated his lights and siren and followed him until the driver stopped again on Springfield Street, Wilk said.

Wilson was arrested and in a subsequent search of the Toyota, police allegedly found 10 rocks of what is believed to be crack cocaine and drug paraphernalia, he said.
Mr. Thuong meets with leaders from the Egyptian Communist and Socialist Parties. (Photo: VOV)





During the visit, Mr. Thuong met with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, Chairman of the Egyptian Parliament Ali Abdel-Aal, leaders of the Egyptian Communist Party, the Egyptian Socialist Party, Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Egyptian Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

Talking with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi and Parliament Chairman Ali Abdel-Aal, Mr. Thuong expressed his hope that, with the strong political determination of the two countries leaders and the legitimate aspirations of the two peoples, Vietnam and Egypt will continue to strictly cooperate and support each other on multilateral, regional and international forums, for the benefits of the two peoples, for peace, stability, cooperation and development.

Egyptian leaders confirmed that Vietnam is Egypts trusted partner in Southeast Asia. The Government of Egypt is promoting the implementation of cooperative documents signed with Vietnam, and is willing to make favourable conditions and issue preferential policies for Vietnamese investors.

Working with leaders of the Egyptian Communist Party and the Egyptian Socialist Party, the two sides exchanged information about the Parties activities, as well as the current developments in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Ministers of Foreign Affairs, and of Communications and Information Technology, expressed their hope for learning from Vietnams experience in fishing development, rice production and shipbuilding, and increasing bilateral cooperation in communications and information technology, cyber security, software production, oil and gas and alternative energy.

In Egypt, Mr. Thuong and his delegation attended a ceremony to honour President Ho Chi Minh at the Saqqara Pyramid where the great leader of the Vietnamese nation visited in 1946; and visited the Vietnamese Embassy in Egypt./.
CHICOPEE - A Holyoke woman accused of barging into homes on Burnett Road uninvited and threatening two people with a knife was arrested over the weekend.

Heather Rodriguez, 40, of 949 Hampden St., was arrested Saturday and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon, creating a disturbance while carrying a dangerous weapon, breaking and entering in the daytime to commit a felony and resisting arrest, said Michael Wilk, police public information officer.

Rodriguez's alleged rampage began at around 6:30 p.m. when she approached a man who was mowing his lawn and asked him for a drink of water. "She then, without provocation, pulled a folding knife from her pocket and began chasing the party around," he said.

The man was able to flee and Rodriguez went to another house and is being accused of entering uninvited. The homeowner confronted her, took the knife and demanded she leave, Wilk said.

She then rang the doorbell at 1040 Burnett Road and then entered the house of people she did not know. She then began yelling and walked into the kitchen while the homeowner tried to force her to leave, Wilk said.

When Officer Erek Machowski responded to a call from the residents, he found the woman "ranting and raving." When she refused to leave the house at 1040 Burnett Road with him, he handcuffed her and escorted her from the home and into his car, all while she tried to get away, he said.

Police then arrested her and began driving her to the Police Department.

"During transport, she again began to become combative, screaming, yelling and urinating in the vehicle. During booking, she was kept handcuffed, as she continued to be uncooperative and combative," Wilk said.

Rodriguez was held over the weekend at the Western Massachusetts Regional Woman's Correctional Facility, Wilk said.

She was arraigned Tuesday and bail was set at $500 cash. She continues to be held at the correctional facility and the case was continued until June 28, court officials said.
NORTHAMPTON - Most of 400 fighting birds seized by police from a property in Florence over the weekend are not suitable for adoption and will need to be euthanized, according to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The 400 birds, roosters, hens and chicks bred specifically for fighting, were all confiscated last week from Ravenwold Greenhouses, located at 1095 Florence Road. They have been transported to the MSPCA's Nevins Farm facility in Methuen, where they are being housed in individual cages to prevent them from fighting.

MSPCA spokesman Rob Halpin said most of the birds are aggressive and not suitable for adoption.

The seizure represents the largest number of fighting birds ever taken at one time in the 150-year history of the MSPCA.

Cockfighting is illegal in all 50 states, but still exists albeit in the shadows as a betting sport.

Capt. John Cartledge of the Northampton Police Department said no charges have been filed as yet against anyone in connection with the operation. The investigation is ongoing, he said, and "there is a lot of follow-up to do."

According to the Daily Hampshire Gazette, the ring came to light on Thursday when the city animal control officer noticed an unusual number of roosters on the property while conducting a barn inspection at Ravenwood Greenhouses. Many of the birds appeared to have body modifications for fighting, and there appeared to be a training ring with evidence of blood spatter.

The Gazette also quoted the property owner, Richard Adams, saying he had nothing to do with the operation, and that the birds were on a portion of the property that he had rented out to someone else. The rentor was not named.

Halpin said there are 100 hens and as many as 50 chicks that could be adopted. The chicks are a concern because they were bred specifically to fight and could be overly aggressive as they mature.

"The roosters could be a problem. They are aggressive and could kill other birds and other small barnyard animals," he said.

They will have to be euthanized, which he said is will be more humane death than what was eventually in store for them if they continued as fighting birds.

"It will be a swift and kind end versus a bloody fight-to-the-death end," he said.

The 100 chicks will be placed in sanctuaries or responsible homes once they are cleared medically for adoption, he said. It could take a few months to determine which of the chicks may be adopted.

With the farm's bird population swelling from around 50 to 450, Nevins announced that for the time being it will be closed to the public. It will likely reopen by the end of the week.

Mike Keiley, director of adoption centers and programs at the MSPCA-Nevins Farm, said the birds are locked up and the farm is being monitored by the Methuen Police Department.

"These birds are aggressive and must be housed separately to keep them from attacking each other," he said. "Cockfighting is an extremely cruel blood sport and we condemn the callous disregard for life shown by those responsible for raising these birds to fight."
At the time of his death Sgt. Sean Gannon and his "little brother" Rylee, a 12-year-old from Cape Cod, had been matched for three years through the Big Brothers Big Sister organization.

"But it was pretty clear they were going to be going on forever," Wendy Foster, the CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay said at an award ceremony in early May, where Gannon was given the "Big of the Year" award.

A Canal cruise at the end of June will help raise money for Rylee, who wants to become a police officer, said Lois Wack, an event organizer.

"It is for Rylee to be able to fulfill his dream to be just like Sean," Wack said. Money raised through the cruise will go to a scholarship for the 12-year-old.

Tickets for the June 28 cruise cost $100 per person. The boat will leave from the Sandwich Marina dock at the intersection of Moffitt Drive and Gallo Road.

Tickets are available at canalcruiseforgannon.com. Only 200 tickets will be sold, Wack said.

Gannon was shot and killed while serving an arrest warrant on April 12.
The principal of an Ashburnham elementary school is accusing her school district of unfair treatment, saying she was wrongly suspended after her husband, a school custodian, was charged with sexually assaulting an 18-year-old employee.

John R. Briggs Elementary School Principal Andrea McGrath was placed on administrative leave May 22 following the arrest of her husband James McGrath, who was accused of raping the teenage school employee -- both after-hours on school property and at the couple's Ashburnham home.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for McGrath said the principal had no prior knowledge of her husband's actions and had cooperated fully with the school district.

"Mrs. McGrath was not a party and should not be punished because her husband had an alleged sexual relationship with a fellow employee," the statement said. "As one can imagine, this issue has turned Mrs. McGrath's life upside down. Rather than support her through this tragic happening in her life and despite her years of leadership and mentoring at Briggs, the school department seems to be shaming her."

McGrath was informed that she had been placed on leave in a phone call from Superintendent Gary Mazzola and has not received any information in writing about the reasons for her leave or its duration, her spokeswoman, Rhino Public Relations CEO Susan Shelby, wrote in an email.

MassLive has reached out to the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District for comment.

The 18-year-old woman, an employee at Briggs' extended day program, told a social worker in May that James Mcgrath, a substitute janitor for the district, had made repeated sexual advances toward her, the Sentinel & Enterprise reported. The employee told police that sometime before Easter, McGrath saw her husband rub the employee's leg and told him it was inappropriate.

The employee told police McGrath sexually assaulted her three times in April and once in May, the Sentinel & Enterprise reported.

Once news of the charges broke on May 18, Mazzola issued a statement describing the charges as "disturbing" and saying the district had removed him from employment as soon as it learned of the allegations.

McGrath has been the principal of Briggs Elementary since 2012 and has worked for the Ashburnham-Westminster Regional School District for more than two decades, she said in a statement. Her husband has been a substitute custodian for the district for 10 years and was hired by the previous principal, the statement said.

McGrath said it is in the "best interests of the Briggs' school community" to reinstate her as principal, and that parents and teachers at the school had started a petition to return her to her job. Shelby, McGrath's spokeswoman, could not immediately provide copies of those petitions but said she was seeking those documents.

"Despite instructing her husband to immediately cease work at her school and cooperating with Dr. Mazzola, the school superintendent, Mrs. McGrath has been placed on administrative leave," McGrath's statement said. "She is now facing a situation where she is being prevented from doing her job despite no wrongdoing on her part. Her husband has been charged with a crime; not Mrs. McGrath."
NORTHAMPTON -- For 150 years, the Northampton village of Florence has been remembering those from the community who were killed while serving their country in the military.

They remember the 32 names of those killed in World War One. They remember the eight names from the Vietnam War. And on and on.

Names like Kenneth R. Mahoney, killed in the Korean War, and Charles W. Moore, lost to his family while serving in the Civil War.

The 2018 Memorial Day observance marked the 150th consecutive year the village remembered its war dead with a parade, making it the oldest continuously running parade of its kind in the country, said Mayor David Narkewicz.

The latest edition drew thousands to the quaint village to view the parade, and it also brought Major General Gary W. Keefe, USAF, adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, as the keynote speaker.

"Memorial Day is the most solemn of any of the military holidays we have," said Keefe, speaking before his keynote address. "A lot of people look forward to Memorial Day weekend because it's the official kickoff of summer. But Memorial Day specifically is to honor and remember our war dead."

Contingents from Springfield Central High School's ROTC program, veterans from Soldier On and a float of Gold Star families all helped parade-goers remember why they were there.

There was also plenty of fun to be had. Dozens of Melha Shriners zipped along the route in their mini cars. High school bands played, and color guards twirled their flags.

Local business Cooper's Corner brought out a grill and kept alive the Memorial Day BBQ tradition.

As the voice of Dennis Lee provided a running commentary as parade units passed by, it was the hundreds of little flags waving in the hands of children that left a lasting image of the day -- a day of remembering those names.
A new study suggests the University of Massachusetts Amherst has more rigorous admission standards for Massachusetts applicants compared to students living out-of-state.

The Pioneer Institute released a study Tuesday exploring admission standards for the University of Massachusetts' flagship campus in Amherst.

Over a six-year period, accepted students from Massachusetts had higher grade point averages and SAT scores compared to their out-of-state and international counterparts, according to data collected by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.

In 2016, the average GPA and SAT averages for Massachusetts students accepted were 3.97 and 1265, respectively. The average for accepted students from elsewhere was a GPA of 3.78 and and SAT score of 1242.

In recent years, the university announced a plan to increase out-of-state students to 25 percent of the undergraduate student population by 2017.

UMass Amherst has grown its national profile. The university reached 27th on the U.S. News & World Report's annual rankings of universities last year. The number of applicants to the school doubled in the past decade.

Following a trend of recent years, the university said in September that the entering class of 2017 is the "most academically accomplished" and most diverse class in the university's history, highlighting GPA and SAT averages of the entering student body.

The authors of the Pioneer report questioned if the university "prioritized maximizing the financial benefit derived from accepting out-of-state students over serving in-state applicants," the report reads.

"The central mission of the University of Massachusetts is to serve the state citizens whose taxes support increased appropriations to the system," said Mary Connaughton, the director of government transparency at Pioneer and co-author of the study. "While the general belief has been that non-resident student help augment intellectual rigor on campus, that benefit is in question if admissions standards, on average, are lower rather than higher for those students."

The estimated cost of attending UMass Amherst for the upcoming year varies drastically based on location. In-state students should expect to pay $28,926 for the upcoming school year - $15,787 for tuition and fees, $13,139 for room and board.

For out-of-state students, the annual cost jumps to $47,609 due to an increased cost of tuition. International students can expect to pay an estimated $49,354 due to supplemental health fees.

The 2015-2016 school year marked the first time the flagship Massachusetts campus accepted more out-of-state and international students than residents, though the overwhelming majority of accepted students who enrolled remained in-state students.

For the 2017-2018 school year, UMass Amherst received more than 42,000 freshman applications. Of the 4,700 students enrolled, 3,460 students are from Massachusetts, 900 are out-of-state students and 400 are international students.

The Pioneer Institute is a free-market think tank based in Boston.

This is not the first report Pioneer has issued on UMass admissions. In 2016, Pioneer released a report critical of the UMass system recruiting outside Massachusetts, making UMass Amherst "out of reach" for many in-state teens.

UMass officials fired back at the report, saying the think tank sought to protect private institutions of higher learning in Massachusetts over public universities.

UMass Amherst Chancellor Kumble R. Subbaswamy said rising enrollment of out-of-state students pays the way for Massachusetts residents to attend the university at a lower cost than they would otherwise.
WEST SPRINGFIELD -- The issue of charter schools with possible ties to a controversial Muslim cleric will be explored during a panel discussion and screening of the film "Killing Ed" at 6 p.m. Wednesday at West Springfield High School, 425 Piper Road.

The issue is of particular concern to Mayor Will Reichelt, school Superintendent Michael J. Richard, and local state lawmakers, all of whom have raised concerns about the publicly financed charter school that's set to open in West Springfield in the fall.

The Hampden Charter School of Science in Chicopee is expanding to West Side, where HCSS-West is scheduled to open in September at the former Immaculate Conception-St. Frances Xavier Cabrini property on Main Street in the city's Merrick neighborhood.

The new charter school is modeled after its successful Chicopee flagship, which will now be known as HCSS-East, and is expected to draw up to 588 students in grades 6-12 from West Springfield, Agawam, Holyoke and Westfield.

But critics worry it will siphon students and funding from the city's eight public schools. Besides the financial impact of a competitor taking a bite of the public education apple, Reichelt and others are concerned about the political impact of HCSS-West opening in town.

The school's Chicopee forerunner has business ties to organizations that have been linked to Fethullah Gulen, a self-exiled Turkish imam who lives in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains. Gulen is the inspiration for a growing international charter school movement that's already well-entrenched in the U.S., particularly in Texas.

Trailer for KILLING ED from Visual Truth Projects on Vimeo.

There's nothing wrong with that at face value, particularly since Gulen is viewed by U.S. officials as a "moderate Muslim" who preaches peace throughout the Islamic world. But here's the downside: His followers have been labeled terrorists by the Republic of Turkey, a U.S. ally, which blames the so-called Gulen movement for a 2016 coup attempt.

Investigations into how Gulen-inspired charter schools spend their public dollars is also a concern for some public officials, including Sen. Jim Welch and Rep. Mike Finn, a pair of state lawmakers from West Springfield. The officials have called for an audit of HCSS and question the process the Massachusetts Department of Elementary & Secondary Education used when permitting the charter school to open in West Springfield.

State officials initially approved a site in Westfield for the new charter school, but after that location fell through they allowed the school to switch sites to 475-485 Main St. in West Springfield.

No public hearings were held in West Side, according to Welch and Finn, who believe state officials had made up their minds about the site transfer before visiting the former Catholic church compound in Merrick.

"The process by which this decision was made did not take into account the voice of West Springfield's public school officials, parents or teachers, the majority of whom opposed this move," Welch and Finn wrote in an April letter to Gov. Charlie Baker, asking him to intervene.

During deliberations over whether to approve HCSS-West, Massachusetts Board of Elementary & Secondary Education members raised concerns about Gulen allegations, but the board still voted to OK the new charter school.

Acting Massachusetts Education Commissioner Jeff Wulfson said the Education Department found no evidence to support allegations of "ambiguous financial practices" by Hampden Charter School of Science, according to February 2017 minutes of the state Board of Education.

"The Commissioner noted that HCSS-West anticipates opening for the 2018-2019 school year and the school will be watched very closely between now and then. He said if the Department receives information about a nefarious situation involving the school, we would take action based on that evidence," the minutes say.

In general, state officials say HCSS has an "outstanding track record" and stand by their decision to grant a charter to HCSS-West. Tarkan Topcuoglu, the school's CEO, has denied any ties between his school and charter schools or organizations connected to the controversial Muslim cleric.

"We are an independent public school. We are not a religious school at all," Topcuoglu said.

Dominic Slowey, a public relations specialist in Boston who represents the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association, took a swipe at Reichelt, West Side's mayor and perhaps the most vociferous critic of HCC-West coming to town.

"We're not a terrorist organization or a cult, or whatever the mayor is insinuating," Slowey said in an email to The Republican.

In addition to siphoning students and funding from city public schools, Reichelt believes there are too many unanswered questions about the Gulen movement to allow HCSS-West to open.

"These kinds of allegations seem far-fetched," he said, "but the public record on this matter is deeply concerning."

Wednesday evening's free event at West Springfield High School will feature a panel discussion with Mark S. Hall, the director of "Killing Ed," a film that examines the reach and expansion of Gulen-inspired charter schools in America.

Other panelists include educators, members of the local Turkish community, state and local officials, and attorney John Martin, a partner with the international law firm hired by the Turkish government to investigate the Gulen movement. Massachusetts is currently home to three Gulen-affiliated schools, with critics saying HCSS-West will mark the fourth such school when it opens in September.

The event is cosponsored by the West Springfield Education Association and the Turkish American Society of Western Massachusetts.

"We're going to fight this until we can revoke this charter," said Bill Garvey, a member of the West Sprignfield School Committee involved in planning the discussion at the high school.

Hall said the main message of his documentary, which focuses on the heavy concentration of Gulen charter schools in his native Texas, is that funding practices, pay and gender discrimination, and the use of special visas to bring Turkish teachers to the U.S. are issues that have been linked to Gulen-affiliated institutions across the country.

Both the federal Department of Labor and FBI have investigated certain schools with ties to Gulen, including whether his followers have skimmed money from these schools to help fund his movement in Turkey.

"I'd tell the people that this is an organization that you don't want operating any school," said Hall, noting that the issue doesn't split along partisan lines in the U.S., with lawmakers from both parties embracing Gulen as a moderate voice in the Islamic world.

"I think it's nonpartisan. A lot of politicians who are involved in this are from both sides of the aisle," he said. "It's really about money when it comes to the purchase of political influence."

Gulen charter school backers are influence peddlers, according to Hall, whose film shows how the publicly funded, privately managed schools deftly navigate the corridors of power.

"This film has struck a lot of nerves," said Hall, an attorney who financed and directed the movie himself. "These guys have really found a very comfortable place to do their work."

Hall followed the Columbia Journalism School's rules for investigative journalists when filming the documentary, which was vetted by three different law firms and deemed "air tight," he said.

"I'm a filmmaker," he said. "People can choose whether they believe it or don't believe it."

Hall will introduce the film, which is scheduled to be shown at the start of Wednesday's program, followed by a panel discussion from 7:45-8:30 p.m.

"My hope is the screening will give us the momentum and assistance we need to move ahead," said Garvey, the school board member involved in bringing the event to West Side.

"My ultimate goal is to have the expansion and original charter of HCSS revoked," Garvey said.
A fire at a Worcester apartment building on Tuesday morning left one dog dead and injured two firefighters. Another dog was rescued and survived.

The blaze started around 9:15 a.m. at 1039 Main St. in the Main South neighborhood. Firefighters arrived to find the rear of the fourth floor of the building fully involved and quickly struck a second and third alarm.

Deputy Fire Chief Martin Dyer said the main bulk of the blaze was knocked down in about 20 minutes and firefighters the started to attack any remaining hot spots.

Two firefighters were treated at the scene for minor injuries, Dyer said.

Two dogs were pulled out of the building, including a white poodle that was taken from the third floor. That dog survived.

The second dog was treated at the scene but did not survive, Dyer said.

There were no reports of resident injuries, but 17 people were displaced, Dyer said. The American Red Cross was heading to the scene to assist.

It was not yet clear what caused the fire.

The 1925 building is assessed at $1,229,000, according to city property records.
Apparently, President Donald Trump wants to make China great again. At least one particular Chinese company with ties to both the government and to espionage.

Trump, despite strong objections from those across the political spectrum, moved to help save Chinese telecom company ZTE.

Thankfully, Congress gets a say in what happens going forward.

Trump, who has been mouthing off about having had a spy implanted in his presidential campaign -- even though there's absolutely no reason to think that such an assertion is even close to true -- wants the spy agency, er, make that telecom company ZTE to pay a fine, to restructure its management and board, to make a pledge -- and then to keep operating in the United States.

What this would do is to open the door to allow the Chinese company to spy on U.S. companies and citizens even as it endangers our vital infrastructure.

Here was Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, speaking of ZTE and other Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd. on CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday:

"None of these companies should be operating in this country. None of them. They are used for espionage."

On Friday, Rubio wrote, on Twitter: "#China crushes U.S. companies with no mercy & they use these telecomm companies to spy & steal from us. Many hoped this time would be different. Now congress will need to act."

He's got that right.

Imagine, Congress stepping up and acting to stop Trump from doing something harmful. Imagine, the GOP-led Congress doing its job, rather than being Trump's lapdog. One can hope.

Trump's move on ZTE, it seems clear, was part of the White House's on-again, off-again trade war with China. Which isn't to suggest that it was part of some master plan, of course. Because the on-again, off-again trade war hasn't exactly been proceeding as if someone has a clear vision of what will be done next. In fact, the White House hasn't been acting as though everyone is on the same team, even.

Here was Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, in an interview on "Fox News Sunday" on May 20, just days before the president moved to aid ZTE:

"We are putting the trade war on hold. Right now, we have agreed to put the tariffs on hold while we try to execute the framework."

If so, then why have worked to ramp it up in the first place? And why link ZTE, the spying telecom giant that has been described as little more than an extension of the Chinese ruling party, to the trade war?

No good reason, of course.

It's time for Congress -- Republicans and Democrats alike -- to come together to protect America from those who are seeking to do us harm. When it comes to spying, Congress must put America first.
The most popular time people are searching online to buy sex in Boston is 2 p.m. -- in the middle of the work day.

The overwhelming majority of sex buyers are white men from middle and upper class backgrounds who are married or in a steady relationship and who work in white collar professions. Among buyers, 24 percent admitted to paying for sexual acts while traveling for business.

These are among the statistics presented by Attorney General Maura Healey and Massachusetts business leaders, who on Tuesday announced a new partnership to combat sex trafficking.

"Sex trafficking is driven by demand for it, driven by those in the business community," said Bob Rivers, chairman and CEO of Eastern Bank.

Healey and Boston Mayor Martin Walsh announced that 23 businesses and business groups have agreed to adopt a "zero tolerance" policy toward employees buying sex. The policies explicitly prohibit employees from engaging in any activities related to sex-buying -- such as buying sex during a business trip or using a company computer to respond to an online ad.

Rivers said business leaders "have a responsibility to address among the most heart-wrenching criminal activity that preys upon the most vulnerable in our society."

According to Demand Abolition, a group working to eradicate the commercial sex trade, there are 20,000 ads selling people for sex posted online every month in Boston, with each ad receiving an average of 52 responses. More than 9,000 searches for sex buying opportunities happen in Boston daily.

Buying sex is currently illegal. Healey said she hopes companies that become aware of illegal activity are already reporting it to law enforcement.

She said the major goal of the new business coalition is to raise awareness of the prevalence of sex trafficking. "It's illegal to buy sex. We wanted to make sure people who work in our offices understand that we mean what we say, and there will be accountability and efforts to enforce the law," Healey said.

Healey said she is troubled that employers do not understand how pervasive sex trafficking is, and how frequently people use work equipment or company vehicles to buy sex. The coalition is about making sure businesses and law enforcement are getting the message out that buying sex will not be tolerated.

Rivers said Eastern Bank will talk to employees about the policy and remind them that "we do have the capability to monitor their computer activity, and we will."

Julia Abramovich, vice president of software of IBM Corporation, said IBM has its own zero tolerance policy, and it is also providing technology to help other companies enforce their policies.

Other businesses to join the Employers Against Sex Trafficking initiative include Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, Deloitte, Dunkin Brands, Google, MITRE and others.

Walsh said the average age of a sex trafficking victim is 14, but it can happen to girls as young as 10. "We're not talking about victimless crimes," Walsh said. "Zero tolerance is a no brainer."

Cherie Jimenez, a sex trafficking survivor and founder of the EVA Center, which runs a safe house for victims of domestic violence, said it is impossible to end sex trafficking without ending prostitution. "It's all about demand," Jimenez said.

"Just because something's been around forever isn't a basis for its continuance," Jimenez said. "As long as we normalize the idea that some vulnerable women and girls can be ordered online, commodified like a product, equality will never happen. ... It's a powerful thing to have control over someone's body, to buy someone. It's unacceptable."
Visitors consult at an exhibition area for China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region at the Fifth China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services in Beijing, May 28, 2018. The fair kicked off here on Monday and will last until June 1. More than 130 seminars, meetings and trade activities have been planned for the fair. (Xinhua/Zhang Chenlin)

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U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Massachusetts, offered Tuesday that she doesn't currently support the idea of impeaching President Donald Trump, saying she would like Special Counsel Robert Mueller to finish his probe into the Republican leader's actions before considering such an option.

The senator, an outspoken critic of Trump who has previously suggested she'd support impeachment efforts, told hosts of "The View" that she doesn't believe Democrats or anyone should push for such proceedings without first seeing the results of Mueller's independent investigation.

"I take this very seriously -- this is a serious, constitutional move. ... I'm not there," she said, when Meghan McCain, the daughter of U.S. Sen. John McCain, asked if Democrats should call for Trump's impeachment if they win back control of Congress this fall.

"Where I am is, that we need this independent investigation without political interference," she said. "That's what we owe to the American people. This is more important than politics. This is more important than whether or not you agree with him on 100 different things, what matters is that no one in this country -- no one, not even the president of the United States -- is above the law."

The Democrat noted that Mueller's investigation into alleged Russian election meddling and obstruction of justice has already yielded more than a dozen indictments or guilty pleas.

She took issue at Republicans and Trump for suggesting that the probe is partisan and a "witch hunt."

"This is a serious -- a serious -- criminal investigation," she said. "As Trump hears the hoofbeats that that's getting closer to him, he's throwing everything he can in the road, including, 'Let's undermine the FBI, let's undermine the CIA. ... That's the problem, everybody follows and has the conversation that Trump wants them to have, rather than the conversation about saying -- which I think we should be doing -- we need to protect Mueller."

Warren said she would like to see the special counsel finish his investigation without interference from either Democrats or Republicans, report on his findings and have the American people judge from there.

Warren, a rising star in progressive politics and oft-rumored 2020 presidential contender, is up for re-election in 2018.

She faces challenges from at three Republicans and various independent candidates.
BOSTON -- John Kingston, a Winchester businessman and Republican running to unseat U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren this fall, will tout his vision for Massachusetts and plan to confront "divisive voices and institutions" this week as he launches a speaking series across the state.

The Republican, who has been critical of Warren's outspoken opposition to GOP-backed policies and high-profile spats with President Donald Trump, is expected to lay out his vision for "fundamentally changing the tone of public discourse" during a "major campaign speech" at Carrie Nation Restaurant and Cocktail Club in Boston on Wednesday, officials said.

Kingston's campaign said the speech -- set noon at the Beacon Street establishment -- will be the first in a series the Republican candidate will deliver on the "state of America" as he looks to take his plan directly to Massachusetts voters.

Officials did not provide further details on other events that are expected to be included in the Republican's speaking series.

Although the campaign was not yet ready to release details on the other events, Kingston spokesman Jon Conradi said the speaking series will take place across Massachusetts this summer.

He added that the speeches will generally focus on policy proposals that "break free from the traditional partisan mold."

"The series will paint a picture of how John will deliver results for Massachusetts families as a U.S. senator by challenging partisan barriers, pushing solutions where there are broad areas of public agreement and standing up to divisive voices in Washington and at home," Conradi said in an email.

Kingston is one of three Republicans looking to square off against Warren, a rising star in progressive politics and oft-rumored 2020 presidential contender, in the November general election -- a race which is expected to be among the top watched in the country this fall.

He is expected to face fellow GOP challengers state Rep. Geoff Diehl, the state party's endorsed candidate, and Beth Lindstrom, a Groton business owner and longtime political operative, in the Sept. 4 Republican primary.
State Sen. Eric Lesser, D-Longmeadow, is endorsing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jay Gonzalez in advance of the Democratic convention in Worcester this weekend.

Lesser told The Republican/MassLive.com that he chose Gonzalez because of Gonzalez's understanding of transportation issues. Lesser has been a major proponent of expanding high-speed rail between Boston and Springfield.

"He's someone who understands intimately how our lack of a statewide transportation program is really hamstringing and hurting our commonwealth," Lesser said. "I feel he has presented the most thoughtful and comprehensive approach to it."

Gonzalez, a former health care CEO and state budget chief, is competing with environmentalist and entrepreneur Bob Massie for the Democratic nomination for governor. Massie also supports expanding east-west rail.

Lesser said he respects both men, and chose Gonzalez after seeing "the totality of their positions and of this campaign."

Gonzalez, in a 2017 interview with The Republican, called east-west rail "exactly the kind of project that can bring transformation to the state," through stimulating economic growth in Western Massachusetts and providing more affordable housing options for people who work in the Boston area. He also supports raising more revenue for the state's transportation system.

"His vision meets the moment we're in," Lesser said. "He's ambitious about the agenda that we need to make sure all corners of the commonwealth, especially Western Massachusetts, get the respect and attention and investment we need."

Lesser said he thinks Gonzalez will take "bold action" on issues such as addressing opioid addiction and expanding access to early education and universal preschool.

At the June 1-2 Democratic State Convention, members of the state Democratic Party will decide whether the party should endorse Massie or Gonzalez. Each candidate will need at least 15 percent support among delegates to get onto the primary ballot.

Republican Gov. Charlie Baker is running for re-election, with a primary challenge from Scott Lively.

The primary will be held Sept. 4.
Mike Crawford, a medical marijuana patient and longtime advocate for marijuana legalization, may not buy much marijuana in recreational shops, since he has a medical card that lets him get the drug tax-free. But he is looking forward to recreational stores opening.

"If there's enough competition, the price will go down," Crawford predicted.

As recreational marijuana stores prepare to open, the implications for medical marijuana patients remain murky. Patients have different hopes and expectations, and other states have had varied results.

"One of the big impacts that we've seen is that the medical marijuana industry starts to decline in states after they legalize recreational," said Chris Walsh, vice president and founding editor of Marijuana Business Daily, a publication focused on the marijuana industry.

Some advocates for medical marijuana patients have been vocal about their concerns. Representatives of the Massachusetts Patient Advocacy Alliance say they are worried about marijuana shortages and about the potential for medical marijuana dispensaries that have not yet opened to decide to only sell the drug for recreational use.

The group has been working to ensure patients get benefits like reserved parking spaces at dispensaries that sell both medical and recreational marijuana.

Nichole Snow, executive director of the MPAA, said she hopes the medical marijuana program will become "part of the fabric of the cannabis industry."

Snow said people who are sick but have not applied for a medical marijuana card will have the opportunity to try marijuana recreationally, then apply for a patient card if marijuana helps their condition.

Patients have to go to a registered medical marijuana dispensary to get benefits like tax-free marijuana, a financial hardship discount, access to certain doses and a record accessible by their physician.

Several patients cited potential benefits related to prices, access and stigma once recreational shops open.

Crawford, who lives in Marblehead, had a medical marijuana card, let it lapse, and renewed it as more dispensaries started opening. Crawford said as more dispensaries open, prices are starting to come down, and he anticipates that will continue.

Crawford said the opening of recreational stores could also help people who are sick but who do not want to get a medical marijuana card. They might work for the government or want to possess a gun license, both of which are affected by marijuana use, since marijuana remains illegal at the federal level. Some people might not want their name in a government database of medical marijuana users.

"A lot of people are still afraid to get a medical card," Crawford said.

Stephen Mandile, of Uxbridge, said he used medical marijuana to wean himself off opioids and other drugs after he was injured during military service in Iraq. Mandile is part-owner of dispensaries he plans to open in Hull and Hyde Park that will focus on providing marijuana to veterans.

Like Crawford, Mandile said the recreational market will help people not currently in the medical market. "A lot of patients can't get a card due to their jobs. Now they're going to be able to have access to tested and regulated cannabis," he said.

Mandile said he hopes having more marijuana sold legally will also reduce the stigma for people who need marijuana for medical reasons. "The more people see it and start talking about it, it helps," Mandile said.

Chandra Batra, a Somerville resident active in marijuana patient advocacy, has used marijuana to treat fibromyalgia and pain.

Batra said recreational shops will open up a bigger market and, over time, could drive prices down as supply increases. She said prices of marijuana in Washington and Oregon have fallen as the industry ramps up. "As more growers come online, the prices of products should go down," Batra said.

Experts say they have seen impacts on both pricing and numbers of patients in other states.

Walsh, of Marijuana Business Daily, said in Colorado and Oregon there was a sharp dip in the number of registered medical marijuana patients after recreational marijuana was legalized.

Patients who needed medication daily for serious illnesses stayed in the medical market, Walsh said, but patients with smaller aches and pains tended to buy from the recreational market because of the convenience of not having to go to a doctor. He said the tax benefit of medical marijuana can be outweighed by the convenience combined with the cost savings of not having to apply for and maintain a medical marijuana card.

"The cost savings you typically get on the medical side with lower taxes aren't enough for a lot of patients currently in there to convince them to stay," Walsh said.

Long-term, Walsh said, businesses, particularly new businesses, are likely to focus on the recreational market because it is a larger market. So there could be fewer options for medical patients.

It is difficult to make comparisons among states, since every state with legal marijuana has different laws.

Adam Koh, editorial director at Cannabis Benchmarks, an independent price reporting agency for legal cannabis, said Washington and Alaska never had regulated medical marijuana markets. Oregon forced businesses to pick either a recreational or a medical license, and almost every business picked recreational.

Koh said Colorado is the most similar to Massachusetts because businesses can participate in both markets. But Koh, who previously managed a marijuana cultivation facility in Colorado, said that state had several hundred medical marijuana dispensaries open before recreational shops were legal -- compared with 24 dispensaries open in Massachusetts as of March 31.

The opening of the recreational market in Colorado did not initially change medical prices, Koh said. Over time, as more cultivation facilities opened, recreational marijuana prices fell below medical prices. Colorado has a similar structure to Massachusetts where medical dispensaries have to grow the marijuana they sell, while recreational licenses let one business grow and another sell.

Cultivation licenses were first issued in Colorado in late 2014. By mid-2016, Koh said, prices in the recreational and medical markets were dropping. "We just had that influx of product into the recreational market from all the standalone cultivation operations," Koh said.

By 2017, Koh said, there was an oversupply of marijuana, and prices began to level out, without much of a difference between wholesale medical and recreational prices. Four years into legal marijuana in Colorado, Koh said, "The prices in Colorado are less than half of what they are in Massachusetts."
Most aspiring entrepreneurs look to their alma mater, or any university, as a source of classes that can help them, but neglect to think outside the box or take advantage of all the other resources to be found there. The lesson of finding help, connections, and even funding where other people may never look is one that makes all the difference in the entrepreneur lifestyle.

Martin Zwilling

https://blog.startupprofessionals.com/2018/05/8-ways-your-local-university-can.html
People view a model of the Chinese high-speed Fuxing bullet train during the 2018 International Exhibition on Transport Technology &Equipment in Beijing, capital of China, May 28, 2018. About 600 entrepreneurs attend the exhibition held in Beijing on Monday. (Xinhua/Xing Guangli)

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[ Editor: Zhang Zhou ]
NEW DELHI, May 28 (Xinhua) -- After the southern state of Kerala, another Indian state -- Goa in the west -- Monday got its first suspected case of Nipah.

Goa's Health Minister Vishwajeet Rane told the media that the suspected Nipah virus-infected patient, who travelled to the state from Kerala by a train, has been quarantined in the Goa Medical College, a government hospital.

"It is not clear yet whether it is a Nipah case. We will have to wait for test results. The person admitted himself to the hospital, after he felt he had some symptoms similar to those affected by Nipah and he has been kept in the isolation ward," he said.

Nipah virus has already claimed the lives of 14 people in Kerala. Apart from the 14 deaths in Kerala's Kozhikode and Mallapuram districts, some 94 people have been quarantined in their homes while 17 others are under treatment in hospitals.

The Indian Health Ministry last week claimed to have contained the virus. "It was a highly localised infection and we have been able to contain it well," Indian Health Secretary Preeti Sudan had said.

Health officials have identified the bat-infested well in the house in Kozhikode district as the likely epicentre of the outbreak of Nipah virus in this country.

This is the third outbreak of Nipah virus in India. Two other outbreaks of the virus were reported in 2001 and 2007, respectively, in eastern state of West Bengal, claiming 50 lives.

[ Editor: WPY ]
He said the visit will create a good chance for the two sides to express their determination to bring the bilateral extensive strategic partnership to a new period of development.

Annually, Japan only welcomes one or two State-level visits. Therefore, the reception of President Tran Dai Quang this year shows that the country attaches importance to the role and position of Vietnam in the region and the world as well as the development of the bilateral relations, he said.

For Vietnam, the visit is in line with the Party and States foreign policy of diversification and multilateralisation, as well as the policy of reform, door-opening and deep-and-wide international integration, he added.

The Ambassador said the visit is a follow-up of the regular exchanges between the two countries leaders. He recalled the successful visit to Japan in 2015 by Secretary General of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee Nguyen Phu Trong, and later by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc in 2016 and 2017.

In 2017, the Japanese Emperor and Empress made a historic successful visit to Vietnam. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid two official visits to Vietnam the same year and attended the APEC Economic Leaders Week in the central city of Da Nang in November 2017.

Regular exchanges have helped strengthen and reinforce political trust between the two countries and peoples, Cuong said.

He stressed that the Vietnamese Presidents visit takes place at a time when the two countries are celebrating the 45th founding anniversary of their diplomatic ties (1973-2018).

It provides an occasion for Vietnamese and Japanese leaders and people to look back at the achievements they have gained over the past 45 years, the Ambassador noted.

He said while bilateral ties are at its best in history, there is still great room for the two sides to expand their partnership.

Vietnam is pushing ahead with comprehensive reforms to achieve rapid and sustainable development towards the goal of becoming a modern industrialised country by 2030 with a vision towards 2045.

Japan plays a crucial role in helping Vietnam implement the Vietnamese Party and States policies, he stressed.

Meanwhile, Japan is stepping up the implementation of the Abenomics policy, restructuring the economy and encouraging small-and-medium-sized enterprises to boost external investment. Vietnam is an important market and partner of Japan in the region, he noted.

A new foundation for Vietnam - Japan relations is their active participation in negotiations to reach the signing of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). The agreement is expected to come into force from 2019, opening new cooperation prospects for the two countries businesses.

The Ambassador also highlighted the role of the overseas Vietnamese in Japan in promoting the two countries relations.

Besides, Vietnam and Japan share many strategic interests in regional and international issues, for example their similar viewpoints on the East Sea matter. Both countries support the settlement of disputes in the East Sea via peaceful means and without threat to use or use of force, based on international law, especially the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, he added.
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>>> FM hosts visiting US Senator

The Vietnamese President made the remark while receiving US Senator Cory Gardner, Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific, and International Cybersecurity Policy, in Hanoi on May 28.

Praising his guests contributions to the USs relations with the region in general and Vietnam in particular for peace, stability, cooperation and development, the leader expected the senator to continue helping the ties to grow.

President Quang expressed his delight at upbeat improvement of Vietnam - US comprehensive partnership across all fields as reflected through talks and meetings between their high-ranking leaders.

He specifically pointed to a State visit to Vietnam by President Donald Trump and an official visit to the US by Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc last year.

The State leader lauded positive growth of bilateral parliamentary ties and stressed that Vietnam welcomes visits of more US congressmen who seek to explore Vietnams culture, land and people and will serve as a bridge for Vietnam - US cooperation.

He suggested the US side carry out measures to increase exports to the Vietnamese market in a bid to improve their trade balance, and clear trade barriers to facilitate the entry of Vietnamese goods into its market.

He recommended the two nations extend their mutual consultations and information exchange at international and regional forums and within the UN framework, especially on issues of shared concern.

For his part, Senator Gardner informed his guest that during his visit, he planned to have working sessions with Vietnamese agencies to discuss boosters to Vietnam - US ties.

He commended Vietnams stance on ensuring peace, security and freedom of navigation and overflight in the East Sea.

As the US Senator of Colorado, he introduced his states strength in environmental sector and expressed his willingness to bridge cooperation between Colorado and Vietnam in environmental protection and climate change response.

He said he supports free trade and increasing Vietnam - US collaboration in mitigating Agent Orange impacts and clearing post-war bombs and mines.
At the meeting, Lenh informed his host about the outcomes of his talks with LFNC Vice President Khambay Damlath, saying he hopes the LFNC chief to direct the enhancement of friendship and cooperation activities, particularly between Vietnamese and Lao social organisations and people, toward effectiveness.

He also asked the Lao front leader to pay attention to facilitating the activities of Vietnamese expatriates and students in Laos.

Saysomphone Phomvihane stated fruitful cooperation between the Vietnamese and Lao fronts will contribute to the two nations special relations.

The official lauded outcomes of the talks between Lenh and his deputy, particularly the review of one-year implementation of a joint communique issued at a 2017 international conference on building the Vietnam - Laos border of peace, friendship and comprehensive cooperation for mutual development.

He suggested the two fronts carry out joint field trips along provinces that share the border to build a better mechanism to address free migration, unregistered marriage and goods smuggling in the area.

He expected the sides to continue their implementation of a cooperation programme among the VFF, the LFNC and the Solidarity Front for the Development of Cambodia Motherland, thus tightening the traditional solidarity, friendship and cooperation among the neighbouring nations.

Prior to his meeting with Saysomphone Phomvihane, Lenh held talks with LFNC Vice President Khambay Damlath. The sides agreed that joint efforts to build a peaceful border had recorded in organisation of communication campaigns and information exchanges in order to prevent and promptly deal with incidents occurring in border areas.

They also lauded outcomes of border demarcation, marker planting and patrol work during the one-year period.

They expressed their delight at the widespread implementation of the Vietnam - Laos - Cambodia front cooperation programme, which was signed in 2017.

As heard at the talks, the VFF would open a short-term training course on front work for 20 officials from the LFNC.
At a reception for Gunma prefectures Governor Masaaki Osawa, President Quang appreciated Osawas sentiments towards Vietnam when selecting Vietnam as the first country to visit after he was re-elected as Governor of Gunma in 2015.

He called on Gunma to enhance cooperation with Vietnamese localities in order to effectively utilise potential of both sides by increasing people-to-people exchanges and stepping up collaboration in tourism and investment, especially in high-tech agriculture, farm produce processing and preserving industry, and manufacturing and supporting industries.

The President also suggested Gunma prefecture receive more Vietnamese trainees and workers in the fields of agriculture and construction.

Osawa briefed President Quang on the results of cooperation between Gunma and Vietnam over the recent past, saying that 12 businesses from the prefecture have invested in Vietnam. Gunma is also assisting nearly 40 enterprises which plan to invest in the country in the time to come, he added.

Gunma prefecture wants to receive more highly-skilled Vietnamese workers and trainees, the governor said.

At the reception, many local firms expressed their wish to increase educational cooperation with Vietnam, particularly with Vietnamese universities, to create qualified human resources, thus meeting cooperation needs in economy, trade and investment between Vietnamese and Japanese localities.

Later on the same day, President Quang visited Koganei Seiki Co., which is specialising in manufacturing aircraft and Formula One cars. There are 39 Vietnamese out of 240 engineers working in the company.
In May alone, the figure topped 1.16 million, down 13.5% month-on-month.

The number of Asian tourists hit more than 5 million in the five months, up 33.3%, while those from China was up 37%, the Republic of Korea (62.1%), Japan (6.6%), Malaysia (12.5%), Thailand (9.1%), and Singapore (5.4%).

Meanwhile, the number of European visitors rose by 11.8% year-on-year, including those from Russia (up 9.2%), France (13.1%), the UK (9.6%), Germany (8.5%), and Italy (18.3%).

In addition, visitors from America and Oceania were up 13.8% and 12.1%, respectively.

Major tourist localities saw a surge in tourist arrivals. The central city of Da Nang welcomed more than 3.2 million visitors, up 30.4% year-on-year, including more than 1.35 million foreigners, a rise of 51.3%.

The central province of Khanh Hoa served more than 2.44 million holidaymakers in the period, marking a 20.75% rise, over 1.17 million of them were foreigners, a surge of nearly 50%.

In May, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism and the Japanese embassy in Vietnam held a seminar to boost the exchange of tourists between the two countries.

Last year, around 800,000 Japanese visitors arrived in Vietnam while 300,000 Vietnamese landed in Japan. At present, almost all of Vietnams lodging facilities and flight services could serve Japanese visitors, even during the peak season.

However, Vietnam still lacks tour guides proficient in the Japanese language, especially in the central region. Moreover, Japanese tourists often stay in Vietnam for brief periods, so Vietnams tourism sector needs to offer new products to satisfy their demand.

The Vietnam Society of Travel Agents proposed that Japan loosen its visa policy, especially for groups of tourists from major travel agencies.
Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, addresses the opening of the 19th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 14th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, in Beijing, capital of China, May 28, 2018. (Xinhua/Ju Peng)

BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhua) -- President Xi Jinping on Monday called for efforts to develop China into a world leader in science and technology.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said as China strives for prosperity and rejuvenation, it needs to devote great energy to promoting science and technology, and endeavor to be a major world center for science and innovation.

Xi made the statement at the opening of the 19th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the 14th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).

Xi said the circumstances, challenges and missions are pressing. He called on the country's science and technology personnel to grasp the main trends, seize opportunities, face problems squarely, and rise to challenges.

Xi said they should aim for the frontiers of science and technology, lead the direction of its development, shoulder the heavy responsibilities bestowed by history, and be vanguards in innovation in the new era.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee attending the meeting were Premier Li Keqiang, Wang Huning, who is a member of the Secretariat of the CPC Central Committee, and Vice Premier Han Zheng.

Xi noted that since the 18th CPC National Congress in 2012, China has been adhering to the Party's leadership over the cause of science and technology, striving toward the goal of developing China into a science and technology power, sticking to the path of innovation with Chinese characteristics, inspiring creativity vitality through deepened reform, stressing the key role of talent in innovation-driven development, and integrating itself into a global network of innovation.

Historic, holistic, and structural changes have taken place in China's science and technology sector.

China's strength in this field is undergoing a transition from quantity accumulation to quality leap, and from breakthroughs in certain fields to improvement of systematic capabilities, Xi said.

A new round of scientific, technological, and industrial revolutions are

reshaping the world domain of innovation and global economic structure. The impact of science and technology on a country's future and the people's wellbeing has never been so profound as today, he said.

Calling innovation the primary driving force of development, Xi said efforts must be made to ensure "high-quality science and technology" to underpin the development of a modernized economy.

Xi required integration of the internet, big data, and artificial intelligence with the real economy, advance fundamental transformations of the industrial pattern and enterprise forms in the manufacturing and move Chinese industries up to the medium-high end of the global value chain.

Xi called for unwaveringly carrying out independent innovation, having firm confidence and enhancing the capability in this regard.

Noting that independent innovation is the only path for China to climb high in global science and technology, Xi urged courageous moves to reach for the "commanding heights" in scientific and technological competition and future development.

Xi called for courage to explore the uncharted courses and realize the goal that key and core technologies are self-developed and controllable.

"The initiatives of innovation and development must be securely kept in our own hands," Xi said.

Also, Xi demanded greater efforts to research and plan for scientific issues that are of fundamental significance and overall importance.

Prime resources should be focused and strategic planning made to deal with "key areas and stranglehold problems," Xi said, calling for breakthroughs at the earliest possible date in these fields.

Xi urged overall reform of scientific and technological system, to improve innovation efficiency and inspire innovation vitality.

Technological innovation should be accompanied by institutional innovation, Xi said.

Xi called on Chinese scientists to be deeply involved in the global governance in science and technology, offer Chinese wisdom, and make greater efforts to promote the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.

Efforts should be made to deepen international exchanges and cooperation, make use of global innovation resources, and establish partnerships featuring win-win cooperation to deal with common challenges concerning future development, food and energy security, health and climate change, Xi noted.

While achieving its own development, China will bring benefits to more countries and their peoples and promote balanced development around the globe, Xi said.

Xi encouraged integration into the global innovation network and enhancing opening-up of the country's scientific and technological plans, saying Chinese scientists are encouraged to actively participate in and lead international science plans and projects, and initiate and organize international scientific cooperative programs.

Xi called for efforts to create a good environment for innovation, and mechanisms to foster talent and let everybody display their talent.

The CAS and CAE should continue to play their role as the state strategic scientific and technological force and work with all in the field in the country to push for strides in development and scale new heights in science, Xi said.

Xi urged the academicians to do forward-looking, targeted, and strategic research.

Calling academicians a treasure of the state, pride of the people, and honor of the nation, Xi said he hoped they could gain continuous breakthroughs in key scientific fields.

Party leadership is the fundamental political guarantee of advances made in the cause of scientific innovation with Chinese characteristics, Xi said.

He stressed the role of youth in the future of the country and innovation. "Numerous children in China dream of becoming a scientist. We should make science an appealing career for the young," Xi said.

Leading officials of the Party, the national legislature, the cabinet, the top political advisory body, and the military were present at Monday's conference.

It was presided over by CAS President Bai Chunli. CAE President Zhou Ji delivered opening remarks.

The event was attended by more than 1,300 academicians, representatives of outstanding scientists and grassroots science and technology personnel, officials from the central government agencies and the military, research institute fellows, and university students and teachers.

The opening of the 19th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the 14th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering is held at the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, capital of China, May 28, 2018. (Xinhua/Pang Xinglei)
BEIJING, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping will chair the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Summit, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced Monday.

The summit is scheduled for June 9 to 10 in Qingdao, a coastal city in east China's Shandong Province.

Leaders of SCO member states and observer states, as well as chiefs of various international organizations will attend the summit, Wang said at a press conference on the summit in Beijing.

This is the first SCO summit since the expansion of the SCO in June 2017 at the Astana summit in Kazakhstan, when India and Pakistan were accepted as full members.

It is the second major diplomatic event China is going to host in 2018, following the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference in April.

According to Wang, Xi will exchange views on the current and future development of the SCO, cooperation in all areas under the new situation, as well as on major international and regional issues, with leaders of the other seven member states, four observer states and chiefs of the international organizations.

Xi will sign the Qingdao Declaration and a dozen agreements on security and economic cooperation, and people-to-people exchanges with leaders of other member states, according to Wang.

The president will also invite foreign delegates to a welcoming banquet and a display of fireworks and lights, he said.

On the sidelines of the summit, Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin will pay a state visit to China at the invitation of Xi.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will pay a working visit to China.

Xi will hold bilateral meetings with other leaders during the summit, Wang added.

NEW MILESTONE

Since China took over the rotating presidency of the SCO last June, more than 160 activities including a series of important institutional meetings and multilateral events have been held so far, Wang said.

"Mutual political trust has been lifted to a new high; security coordination has made new progress; pragmatic cooperation has achieved new breakthroughs and people-to-people exchanges have yielded new fruits," Wang said.

He said China hoped that the Qingdao summit would reach new consensus, formulate new measures and design a new blueprint for enhanced development.

Wang said the Qingdao Declaration to be issued after the summit would sum up the development experience of the past 17 years since the SCO was created in Shanghai in 2001.

The declaration will call on all parties to continue to carry forward the Shanghai Spirit of mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, consultation, respect for diverse civilizations and pursuit of common development, Wang said.

"Parties are also encouraged to enhance the cohesion, implementation capacity and the influence of the SCO, gain consensus on building a community with a shared future for humanity and building a new type of international relations featuring mutual respect, fairness and justice, and win-win cooperation, and enrich the Shanghai Spirit in the new era so as to consolidate the basis for the SCO's future development," Wang said.

He said that on security the summit focus would be on the "three evil forces" (terrorism, extremism and separatism), drug trafficking and cybercrime.

"During the summit, leaders of the SCO member states will analyze the global and regional security situation, explore specific measures to strengthen security cooperation and review several cooperation documents," Wang said.

On development, Wang said the summit would deliver a clear message on issues like improving global governance and consolidating the multilateral trade system.

"The summit will advocate the new vision of innovative, coordinated, green, and open development that is for everyone, and strive to create a favorable development environment for member states," he said.

A number of cooperation documents will be adopted at the summit in the hope of transforming political consensus into achievements, he said.

"The Qingdao summit will lay out new plans to enhance the synergy of development strategies of member states, especially promoting the construction of the Belt and Road to lift regional economic cooperation," the Chinese foreign minister said.

Wang said that Shandong Province, as the home of ancient Chinese philosophers Confucius and Mencius, was one of the birthplaces of Chinese civilization.

He said that Qingdao, as one of the first Chinese cities to open up, was an important port for the Belt and Road, and that people could sense the extensive, profound local culture and the vitality of China's reform and opening-up.

"I believe that Qingdao Summit will become a new milestone in the development of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization," Wang said.
WYOMING - Homeless veterans from across West Michigan are expected to gather on the Wyoming campus of Metro Health-University of Michigan Health later this month when the hospital hosts what is known as a "Stand Down" event.

Meant to connect veterans with resources that can help them rebuild their lives, the events are coordinated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and held throughout the year in different parts of the country.

Metro Health's Stand Down event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday, June 15, on the Granger Green in front of the hospital at The Metro Health Village, 5900 Byron Center Ave. SW.

Nearly 50 service providers plan to participate, including federal, state and community agencies, as well as veteran support groups. Homeless veterans in attendance will have access to food, clothing, medical care, housing assistance, job counseling, substance abuse treatment and mental health services.

Additionally, lunch, free haircuts and massages will be offered and military surplus items, including sleeping bags, backpacks, cold weather gear and personal hygiene products, will be available for eligible veterans.

"We're honored to host these veterans on our campus," Emil Hannesson, director of community outreach for Metro Health, said. "These individuals have pledged their lives to the country and now need the community's assistance. This event is a great way to remind them how much they are valued, and that people do support them."

The name of the event has its origins in the Vietnam War, when "standing down" referred to soldiers being taken off the front lines to rest and recover, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Wyoming's Stand Down event is for veterans only. If any veterans need help getting to the event, assistance is available by calling the Health Care for Homeless Veterans service center at 616-356-1746.
ANN ARBOR, MI - Larry Collins stepped down as Ann Arbor's fire chief earlier this month, but before he left he finished work on a 134-page fire station master plan for the city.

It concludes the Ann Arbor Fire Department should replace -- and in some instances relocate as part of replacement -- all five of its existing fire stations over the next 10 to 12 years.

It also recommends reopening a sixth fire station that was shuttered in 2003 -- Station 2 near Stadium and Packard -- and staffing it to improve response times and effective response force coverage.

The plan also explores options for increased fire protection in other parts of the city.

The estimated capital replacement cost for the new stations is $16 million to $17 million, according to the plan.

Increased staffing could cost millions more.

City Administrator Howard Lazarus shared Collins' plan with the City Council last week, saying it's still a draft awaiting review, but he welcomes input on it as Mike Kennedy, the new fire chief, looks comprehensively at fire protection and response for the city.

The city acknowledges the fire department isn't meeting national standards for response times right now, and the new plan explores various options for increasing efficiency and effectiveness.

Council Member Jack Eaton, D-4th Ward, requested a copy of the plan, prompting the city administrator to share it.

It concludes Ann Arbor's fire stations are dated, inefficient to run and maintain, and not ideally situated to provide the best coverage according to national standards or local expectations.

"Some do not meet the personal living needs and work-study needs of the personnel assigned to them, nor do some adequately meet the needs of today's larger and heavier fire apparatus and equipment," the plan states. "Further, there is no specifically designed or designated facility for live fire and other practical training critical to the maintenance of personnel skills and abilities."

The new stations should have no less than three bays each and should be built to contemporary fire station standards, the plan states.

The process of preparing the new plan involved looking at fire and emergency medical response data, including travel times, call processing times by emergency dispatchers, and station turnout times by firefighters when getting into gear.

It also relied on computer modeling and mapping technology, and examined staffing levels as they relate to the ability of initial arriving fire forces to execute critical tasks efficiently and effectively -- what's known as an effective response force, or ERF coverage.

"It is not enough to get on scene quickly, there must be sufficient personnel on-board the initial arriving fire apparatus to execute, in a relatively short period of time, critical fire ground tasks necessary to bring a fire under control," the plan states.

"Ideally, this is accomplished before the fire reaches the flashover stage of combustion, which is an almost instantaneous ignition of the entire structure and its contents, and at which point survivability is almost non-existent for trapper occupants and damage to contents is effectively a total loss."

According to the plan, computer modeling demonstrates the positive impact Station 2 -- located at 1510 E. Stadium Blvd. and now used as a fire prevention bureau office and storage space -- would have on improving response time targets and ERF coverage.

Since closing Station 2 about 15 years ago, Ann Arbor has operated with five fire stations known as stations 1, 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Station 1, built in 1977, is centrally located in downtown across from city hall on Fifth Avenue.

Station 3, built in 1963, is on the city's west side on Jackson Avenue near Veterans Memorial Park.

Station 4, built in 1966, is on the city's east side on Huron Parkway, just south of Washtenaw Avenue near County Farm Park.

Station 5, built in 1959, is on the city's north side on Beal Avenue off Plymouth Road on the University of Michigan's North Campus.

Station 6, built in 1981, is on the city's south side off Eisenhower Parkway near Briarwood Mall.

The new station master plan recommends relocating stations 4 and 6, with Station 4 proposed to move "almost directly across the street" to county parkland on Platt Road, and Station 6 from the Briarwood Mall area to the northwest corner of South Main Street and Scio Church Road on school property next to Pioneer High School.

The plan concludes the relocated Station 6 would cover a much more concentrated area in the city in a more balanced manner, citing computer modeling that suggests it's an excellent location.

Assuming the school district is willing to donate or lease the land to the city for $1 per year, the cost for a new Station 6 near Pioneer High is estimated at $2.5 million to $3 million.

As for the short move proposed for Station 4, the plan states the current building is too small and inefficient for today's needs and sits on a dangerous "blind curve." The plan concludes the city should secure county park property on Platt Road between Huron Parkway and Washtenaw Avenue and build the new station there.

"There are plans in the future for a new residential development near the area being suggested," the plan states. "Now is the time to approach the county about securing the property."

The plan concludes Station 3 on Jackson Avenue is at a good location and a new station should be built there at the current site.

It's estimated to cost $2.5 million each to replace stations 3 and 4, assuming no land acquisition costs.

The current building and land for Station 5 on North Campus is provided to the city rent-free by the university. UM also covers maintenance and utility costs, an estimated annual value of more than $70,000.

The plan anticipates the university will cover the replacement cost of the station as it is UM's stated preference to have the facility on North Campus. But the plan concludes the station should be shifted further out toward Plymouth Road for better access.

"Also, the existing station 5 could again be used for a fire department training center and classroom facility, as it was originally designed for," the plan states. "It was not designed to be a 24-hour-per-day fire station facility, but was modified to such use many years ago."

As for the downtown station, the plan concludes the Station 1 building is too big at nearly 43,000 square feet, when other stations range from 5,000 square feet to more than 21,000 square feet.

"Station 1 is very large and not economical to operate considering its current staffing -- most days there is only a 3-person Aerial Tower crew and Battalion Chief there for 24 hours," the plan states.

"A new station can be smaller in size and made more efficient to operate, but will still need to be large enough to contain support staff in addition to fire crews," the plan continues. "The current station sits on valuable downtown property which could be sold for private development purposes to help off-set the cost of a new station. It is important to note that permanently closing fire station 1 will have the same deleterious effect on response time and ERF coverage as closing fire station 2 had. Its total elimination is not recommended."

A new Station 1 is estimated to cost $5 million.

The plan also recommends building a new Station 2 at its current site near Packard and Stadium at an estimated cost of $3.5 million, saying it should be reactivated as a working fire station and city emergency operations center. Staffing it would require 18 new positions at an estimated annual cost of slightly under $2.5 million.

"While operational, this was the best-located fire station in the city. The existing station should be razed and a new modern station built on the same site," the plan states, indicating computer modeling shows it would help significantly reduce response times and increase ERF coverage in the city. "Further, it is in an ideal location to assist Station 1 with the heavy response activity near the main campus."

The plan also examines the possibility of building a Station 7 near the intersection of Dhu Varren Road and Pontiac Trail to increase fire response coverage in the northern part of the city. That would be an entirely new station for the department, but the plan stops short of recommending actually building it.

The plan concludes the most viable location at Dhu Varren and Pontiac Trail would put the station on the city's border and provide limited coverage to other parts of the city, making it an expensive and inefficient proposition.

"A better approach would be to entertain the joint staffing of a fire station and apparatus with Ann Arbor Township Fire Department. They currently have a station on Pontiac Trail that could assist in serving this area of the city," the plan states. "The joint staffing option would serve both communities well, and be much less costly than building a new fire station. The units at the joint station would be used to protect city and township properties and residents in the area by decreasing overall response times and increasing the ERF."

Under a joint staffing configuration, two additional AAFD firefighters per day, or six total, would be necessary to help staff an existing township engine company, at an estimated cost to the city of slightly more than$800,000 annually, the plan states, indicating there also might be a one-time expense to help remodel the township's station to accommodate more personnel.

Ann Arbor firefighters respond to fires, medical emergencies and hazardous materials situations.

During a three-year period from 2013 to 2015, the most recent years with complete fire data available as the study commenced, the AAFD responded to 19,707 incidents, or an average of 6,569 per year, according to the new plan.

Of those, 796 were fire-related, 11,221 were classified as medical emergencies or rescues, and the remaining 7,690 comprised all other types of incidents. One civilian was killed in a fire and 19 other civilians were injured, while property damages totaled more than $10 million.

The total city valuation of property protected in 2017 was $10.6 billion, the plan states, noting the annual cost of public fire protection for the same years was $15.8 million, with 88 AAFD personnel.

"The department protects a city of 29 square miles, with a resident population of nearly 120,000, but an estimated daily population of 250,000 when the university is [in] session, in addition to the daily population in-flow working within the city," the plan states. "Interestingly, the data reveals that over 30% of AAFD's calls for service involve UM property, students, and/or employees."

The fire department acknowledged earlier this year that city's response times don't meet National Fire Protection Association standards, with the city's combined dispatch, turnout and travel times around 12 minutes for fires when the national standard is six minutes and 20 seconds. The national standards allow 60 seconds for dispatch time, 80 seconds for turnout time (the time it takes for firefighters to get geared up and leave the station), and four minutes for the first crew's travel time, with all other crews arriving in 8 minutes.

The new plan notes there is an established travel time benchmark of a fire crew arriving within four minutes 90 percent of the time, and the AAFD met the standard 63 percent of the time in 2013, 62 percent of the time in 2014 and 61 percent of the time in 2015, "even though mapping suggests their current static locations should allow the standard to be met. Issues such as traffic congestion, street construction, etc., can also play a part in this equation."

"Notice that the alarm handling time is around 7 minutes (the standard is 1 minute)," the plan also states. "The AAFD turnout time in the station is slightly over 3 minutes (the standard is 80 seconds for fires). Department travel time is nearly 11 minutes."

The plan includes maps showing four-minute and eight-minute drive-time coverage for the five existing stations, plus if Station 2 was reopened, and if a Station 7 was built at Dhu Varren and Pontiac Trail. See the maps and other plan details in the image gallery above.

One chart in the plan illustrates a need for a minimum of 17 firefighters at the scene of a standard two-story, 2,000-square-foot house fire.

"AAFD typically has only 15-16 personnel on duty at any given time, meaning it does not meet the standard in those instances where an aerial ladder and supply pumps are engaged," the plan states.
ANN ARBOR, MI - A proposal intended to let the people of Ann Arbor decide the fate of a city-owned property and whether it should be the site of a downtown central park is going on the ballot.

The city clerk's office has confirmed a grassroots citizens group known as the Ann Arbor Committee for the Community Commons turned in more 5,000 valid petition signatures for its ballot proposal.

The clerk's office intends to formally notify the group this week that it met the 4,836-signature requirement.

This now forces a vote in the November election on the future of the city-owned Library Lot along Fifth Avenue, where a community debate over density vs. public space has been playing out for years.

Group members say they're pleased and relieved to finally get their proposal on the ballot after years of trying, and now they're gearing up for a campaign and expecting some degree of opposition from pro-density forces. They say this is democracy in action.

But whether a yes vote on the group's proposal for a downtown central park and civic center commons will be enough to legally halt a high-rise development deal already in the works is another question.

The Library Lot is the parking lot atop the Library Lane underground parking garage next to the downtown library.

In April 2017, the City Council voted 8-3 in favor of selling the lot to Chicago developer Core Spaces for $10 million to allow Core to build a 17-story high-rise including a hotel, apartments and office/retail space, along with an outdoor plaza space open to the public.

The outdoor plaza wasn't enough for the committee for the commons, and so the group pushed forward with its petition effort.

More than a year later, the city attorney's office and the developer are still working to finalize the purchase agreement. The developer also still has to finalize designs and submit a formal site plan to the city for review and approval before a development can proceed.

The residents behind the ballot proposal are hoping to stop the sale of the property and halt the development.

The question now going before voters in November is whether to add a section to the city charter stating all city-owned land on the Library Lot block, which includes both the Library Lot and Liberty Plaza, must be retained in public ownership in perpetuity and developed as an urban central park and civic center commons.

Mayor Christopher Taylor said he looks forward to executing the purchase agreement to sell the Library Lot to Core Spaces.

If the city finalizes the sale of the property to the developer before November, he said, he's not sure what the legal effect would be if the proposal is approved. He said that's a question for the attorneys.

City Attorney Stephen Postema couldn't be reached for comment.

Taylor and a majority of council members are in favor of a dense development on the Library Lot combined with a public plaza, and they argue a large park there isn't realistic.

Taylor has said he fears a large park without activation of the space in the way that Core Spaces proposes with its development would replicate the problems the city has with Liberty Plaza, a corner park on the same block where the city has struggled with issues such as drug activity, overdoses, fights, assaults, disorderly conduct, larceny, malicious destruction of property, open intoxicants, panhandling, noise complaints, urinating in public, littering and vagrancy.

He said to make a park on the Library Lot successful would require a major redesign of the block and then hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on programming for the space.

The Library Green Conservancy, another grassroots group in support of public open space on the Library Lot, has supported the petition effort, working with the committee for the commons.

Will Hathaway, a member of the conservancy, said they met together as a group over the weekend and there was cheering and applauding before they turned their attention to the next steps in the campaign.

Up until now, he said, they've just needed to persuade enough people to put the proposal on the ballot, and now they need the support of thousands more for it to be approved in November.

"We've got our work cut out for us," he said.
ANN ARBOR, MI - The University of Michigan will honor former interim president and distinguished professor Homer Neal, who died on May 23 at the age of 76, with a special lighting of Burton Memorial Tower Tuesday evening, May 29.

Neal served as interim president for UM in 1996, following the retirement of James Duderstadt. He joined the faculty at UM in 1987 and was appointed vice president for research in 1993.

During his time at UM, Neal was a prominent high-energy physicist and educator, serving as the Samuel A. Goudsmit Distinguished University Professor of Physics, and professor of physics in the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts.

Outside of his role with the university, Neal served as president of the American Physical Society, board member of Ford Motor Company, council member of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, director of the Richard Lounsbery Foundation, Regent of the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Board.

"Homer Neal was a legend as a scientist and as a leader at the University of Michigan," UM Dean of the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts Andrew Martin said in a statement. "Throughout his career, he stood on the cutting edge of physics, but we will miss him just as much as a colleague and friend who made UM a better place."

University of Michigan President Mark S. Schlissel recognized Neal's contributions to the university as both a scholar and leader.

"Dr. Neal championed the idea that UM should engage our academic mission beyond the borders of our campus, and our students and the communities we serve continue to see the benefits of his vision today," Schlissel said in a news release. "I am also very appreciative of Dr. Neal's passion for fostering undergraduate participation in research and his willingness to step forward and serve our campus community with distinction."

Neal was a recipient of a Sloan Foundation Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, the Stony Brook Medal, and the Indiana University Distinguished Alumni Service Award. He was a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
YPSILANTI, MI - Chaplain Larry Vollink told members of the Ypsilanti community to remember one key word this Memorial Day - sacrifice.

"You know what the difference is between Veteran's Day and Memorial Day?" Vollink asked. "Veteran's Day is about service. Memorial Day has to do with sacrifice. It is about those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country, so that we can be here today and honor these men and women."

On the warmest day of the year with temperatures reaching 90 degrees, American Legion Post 282 hosted its annual Ypsilanti Memorial Day parade at 9 a.m. Monday, May 28.

Veterans, community members and families lined the streets of Depot Town waving American flags as floats, service vehicles and local marching bands made their way to Depot Bridge and proceeded to Highland Cemetery.

Rev. Jeff Jones led a community in prayer before the Lincoln High School marching band capped off the ceremony performing "Amazing Grace" and taps.

"We give thanks for a place called America, (and) we give thanks for families, commitments, freedom and liberty," Jones said. "Today we are here to honor those who have fallen, for those who have made commitments onto death. We thank them for their commitment to their oath, to our constitution and their commitment to us as free citizens."
BAY CITY, MI -- Michigan Sugar Company has begun its annual cleaning of ponds used to store and treat water at its Bay City processing plant.

And as a result, things could get a little stinky.

The endeavor has the potential to create odors "as sediment and organic material are removed from the ponds," company officials said in a press release.

"Cleaning our water storage ponds is an important step as we prepare for our next sugar beet processing campaign set to begin this fall," said Mark Flegenheimer, president and CEO. "We feel it is equally important to inform the community about this work as it has the potential to produce odors."

Flegenheimer added the company remains committed to reducing odors through facility upgrades, new technology, and new strategies. To that end, the company in 2016 installed a $1.5 million, state-of-the-art centrifuge system that reduces the amount and duration of sediment removal.

In August of 2017, the Department of Environmental Quality filed a lawsuit against the company in Bay County Circuit Court. Throughout its seven counts, the suit alleges the site, located at 2600 S. Euclid Ave., has repeatedly polluted the air and the Saginaw River and negatively affected residents' quality of life. In doing so, the company has violated air pollution control and water resources protection aspects of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Act (NREPA) and the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES).

The suit states that from 2011 to 2017, the DEQ received more than 1,500 complaints from people regarding foul odors from the facility.

The month after the suit was filed, attorneys representing Michigan Sugar filed a motion for a change of venue. Both parties agreed to the change and the case was moved to Ingham County Circuit Court.

The matter is still pending a resolution, company officials said.

To be more transparent to the public about the smell, the company has published an FAQ section on its website on what creates the odors, and it's also hosting public tours. In 2017, the company welcomed 735 guests throughout 82 tours.
FLINT, MI -- Robert Kohn didn't want to play video games or sit at home.

He wondered if others felt the same way and he decided to create a club to solve the problem.

Kohn created the Flint Area Adventure Club in February 2015, a group dedicated to planning meet ups around Genesee County. Now with nearly 1,200 members, Kohn says he never has down time and he's happy about it.

"We have a lot of people from out of the state or country or just like me where a lot of my close friends play video games, but I like being outside and active," Kohn said. "I used to arrange for my friends to play volleyball and they wouldn't always follow through. The people on this site are seeking the same thing."

Each week, five or so events are added to the Flint Area Adventure Club MeetUp page, Kohn said. MeetUp is a website where people can attend events in the area they're in.

"There wasn't a MeetUp page for Flint, so I was driving to Ann Arbor almost every weekend until I decided to start my own group," Kohn said. "A good amount of people would say there isn't much going on here, but, you know, since we've created it, I've found so many great things to do in the area. There are five or six things I have to post every week that we've never done before."

The most popular meetup activity in the group is hiking, Kohn said. However, since the group has been around long enough, most of the events are popular regardless of what they are.

"The community we've built around this group is great," Kohn said. "We usually carpool to events. We did a camping trip last year. We've talked about a Pictured Rocks trip and people will bring their friends along."

Since starting the group, Kohn said he's made a lot of friends and the response to the group has made it worthwhile for him.

"I've met a lot of people that say they would've moved from Flint if it weren't for this group and the friends it provides," Kohn said.

While Shelley VanDusen lives in Bay City, she spends most of her weekends in the Flint area. The 42-year-old engineering assistant with the City of Saginaw said she joined the Flint Area Adventure Club a little over two years ago through a friend that is close with Kohn.

VanDusen said one of her favorite aspects of the group is the variety of ages of the members.

"There are people like me who are in their 40s who maybe aren't married and don't have children," VanDusen said. "There are people in their 20s who maybe are just looking for something to do that is more adventurous and don't want to sit in front of the TV or play video games. There is even a group of people in their 60s who have recently retired or maybe widowed and they're just looking to get out and do something that isn't necessarily just sitting at a bar."

Kayaking, hiking, sand volleyball and navigating through escape rooms are some of VanDusen's favorite meetup activities. The range of different activities members can take part in is made possible by Kohn allowing several people to plan events, VanDusen said.

"One of the great things he does as an organizer is allow others to plan events. By doing so, we have a variety of different things to do at all times," VanDusen said. "Just because of the variety of people and age group, by having a handful of event organizers there is always something to do."

Lowell Gjerstad attended the Flint Area Adventure Club's first meetup, an extreme go-karting event in Clio. It was there that Gjerstad met Kohn and talked about some of the trails in Genesee County he hikes.

"When I first met Rob, I was telling him about hiking trails in the area and basically from that very first meetup event he gave me the authorization to organize the hiking events," Gjerstad said. "He basically allowed me to be one of the organizers right away. "

Gjerstad, a 44-year-old Hemlock native who has lived in Genesee County for the past 20 years, was familiar with MeetUp before joining the Flint Area Adventure Club. The technician for Rico lived in Florida for a year when he discovered the site.

He wanted to check out what adventures were in Florida but didn't really know anyone in the area until he discovered MeetUp. When Gjerstad moved back to Michigan, he wanted to make it a priority to learn everything fun there is to do in the state.

"It used to be hard to find someone that wanted to go out and hike, now I have a number of people I can call up at any time and see if they want to do something," Gjerstad said. "We have probably 25 really solid members that consistently show up to the events. We've become really close friends, just all of us. It's just nice having a group of people that are consistently up for doing something fun."

The group has events every weekend and people wanting to join are encouraged to make a MeetUp account so they're able to join.

"Give it a try, come out and sign up for something," VanDusen said. "If you're nervous, pick a meetup that has a bunch of people showing up to it. Or bring a friend to the group, you're more than welcome to."
BERLIN TWP., MI -- Police used a robot to help in arresting a man after he allegedly beat his girlfriend and then fired shots at a vehicle Saturday in St. Clair County.

Police responded at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 26, to the 16000 block of Tubspring Road and were told by a 48-year-old woman that her boyfriend had come over earlier with his mother, according to a statement from the St. Clair County Sheriff's Office.

The woman told police that a 41-year-old Bruce Township man assaulted her, left the residence with a handgun and fired shots at a car in the yard, before taking off into the woods, the statement said.

Police searched for the man, but could not find him at the time.

The woman called police again at about 2 a.m. on Sunday, May 27, and said the man had returned and was trying to force his way into the home.

Police responded with the sheriff's office special response team and located the man's mother hiding in a trailer on the property, the statement said. She was taken to safety. The 48-year-old woman was found inside the house and also taken to safety, police said.

A robot from the special response team was used to search the residence for the man because police believed he was still in possession of the handgun.

The suspect was found inside the home and was arrested without incident, police said.

He was lodged in the St. Clair County Jail on suspicion of aggravated domestic assault, four counts of malicious destruction of property, unlawful entry and interfering with 911 communications.

The St. Clair County Sheriff's Office detective bureau, Lapeer County Sheriff's Office, Dryden Police Department and Imlay City Police Department all assisted during the incident.
Five satellite navigation industrial clusters have been formed in China, although there is a bubble risk in some of the industrial parks, experts said on Monday.

The development of China's satellite navigation sector, boosted by the progress of the homegrown BeiDou Satellite Navigation System (BDS), has led to the emergence of five vibrant industrial clusters, the 21st Century Business Herald reported on Monday.

The five clusters are, according to the Herald, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; the Pearl River Delta; the Yangtze River Delta; the Central China region encompassing Hunan, Hubei and Henan provinces; and a western China region including Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces and Chongqing Municipality.

Together, the five clusters, with a gross output value of 204 billion yuan ($31.89 billion), accounted for about 80 percent of the output value of the national satellite navigation industry in 2017, with each of the clusters registering an annual growth rate of 15 percent, the report said.

"The rise of these clusters is the result of movement of talent and market resource allocation," Wang Bo, a satellite navigation system expert with the Beijing Institute of Technology, was quoted as saying in the report.

Gu Zhengxi, general manager of 4DSmart Co based in Jiaxing, East China's Zhejiang Province, told the Global Times on Monday that the sector needs to focus on developing the overall industrial chain rather than geographical factors.

"What matters is how players can coordinate under a reasonable division of labor, how standards are formed, and how a win-win ecosystem is forged," said Gu, whose company applies location-based services in the building of smart cities.

"Maybe for local governments aiming to attract companies and capital, or for some companies, the branding of an industrial cluster based in a certain location is a relevant tag, but we would like to focus on other tags such as chips, applications, data, platforms, industry-specific systems and comparative advantages over foreign competitors," Gu said.

The Herald report said that Huizhou, which is situated in the Pearl River Delta, accounted for over 60 percent of domestic production of vehicle-based BDS navigation equipment.

But Gu said that should be attributed to the overall manufacturing capacity of the region, rather than the strength of the local satellite navigation industry.

Dong Dengxin, director of the Finance and Securities Institute at the Wuhan University of Science and Technology, said the satellite navigation industry could have a big influence on new economic forms such as artificial intelligence and drone technology.

"This industry can drive many other industries to grow. But what is important is to make homegrown BDS the key, and to let BDS drive the development of other homegrown technologies," Dong told the Global Times on Monday.

Bubble concerns

The five clusters have as many as 34 BDS-themed industrial parks, although 16 of the parks are still under construction, according to the Herald.

"The industrial parks are growing too fast, and despite many companies using BDS in their branding, they are not competitive and have no core capacity," Gu said. "The support from local governments is good, but only the market can decide where resources should be allocated."

According to an industry white paper, the overall output value of the satellite navigation and location-based services market in China reached 255 billion yuan in 2017, up 20.4 percent from the previous year.
FLINT, MI -- More than three years after the first outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in Genesee County, the state has issued a new report that concludes exposure to McLaren-Flint hospital -- not Flint water -- is only explanation for the surge in cases.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services "has found no demonstrated clustering of non-healthcare related cases in patients with residences serviced by the Flint water system," DHHS said in an news release issued Tuesday, May 29, with a new report on the Legionnaires' outbreaks in 2014 and 2015.

The time period includes the 17 months when the city used the Flint River as its water source and is at odds with separate studies by professors at Wayne State and Virginia Tech universities, each of which have said the use of river water was the likely trigger of the outbreaks.

MDHHS said its report is the result of reviews of medical records and interviews to determine symptom onset, patient residence, recent healthcare received, recent travel and other variables.

McLaren issued a statement Tuesday, calling the timing of the DHHS information release "an interesting coincidence as the first phase of the criminal proceedings against MDHHS leadership winds down."

"Initial review of the report reveals no new information regarding our community's epidemic of Legionnaires' disease in 2014 and 2015, but reflects the state's normal pattern of attempting to shift liability away from those criminally charged," the hospital said in an email to MLive-The Flint Journal.

Two top executives at DHHS are facing criminal charges related to the Flint water crisis, specifically the state's failure to inform and protect the public from Legionnaires' during the outbreaks.

During the Genesee District Court preliminary examinations, attorneys for MDHHS Director Nick Lyon and Chief Medical Executive Dr. Eden Wells have said the department pursued more than a single theory for what may have caused the spike in the disease in the county.

Each of the exams are nearing a close, requiring two judges to determine whether there is probable cause to believe crimes were committed and that Lyon and Wells committed them.

Both Lyon and Wells have been outspoken on what they have described as McLaren's role in the outbreak periods, which produced 90 cases of Legionnaires and 12 deaths, the state has said previously.

In January 2017, the department specifically required that Genesee County and McLaren take "immediate corrective action to reduce the future risk of exposure to Legionella at the hospital."

The new Legionnaires' report, which DHHS referred to as a "chart book" says:

Geographically, the cases were distributed throughout Genesee County, and the majority of cases (68 percent) lived in a residence that was not serviced by Flint water.

Of 83 patients for whom a complete exposure history was available, 54 (65 percent) patients had hospital exposure, and 51 of 54 (85 percent) were exposed only to McLaren-Flint.

Of 32 patients who did not have a McLaren-Flint exposure, only nine lived in homes with Flint water.

No cases on the Flint water system occurred after Aug. 15, 2015 -- after McLaren "superheated their water system and installed secondary treatment systems."

MLive-The Flint Journal could not immediately reach Wayne State professor Shawn McElmurry, who led researchers in the most recent Legionnaires' study, which concluded 80 percent of Legionnaires' cases in Flint between 2014 and 2015 were linked to the city's drinking water.

A study by professors and students at Virginia Tech University in August 2017 concluded that the use of the Flint River for drinking water was "a likely trigger contributing to the increase in Legionnaires' disease incidence" here.

McLaren said the state's conclusions fail to account for "the significant number of Legionnaires' disease cases that had no affiliation with our hospital" and "fails to account for potential exposure to Legionella outside of the home or hospital setting."
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - A Bosnian man who spent seven years in Holland should be returned to his native country to face charges in the 1994 killing of a Muslim couple, a federal prosecutor said.

Alexander Kneginich, who has lived in the U.S. since 2001, lost U.S. citizenship last year because he lied to immigration officials about his past, including allegations he took part in the killings and about his military service.

His attorneys say Kneginich should be granted a "political-offense exception" to Bosnia's extradition request. The killings were part of an attempt to terrorize the enemy during a political uprising, attorney Pedro Celis argued.

He also disputed allegations his client was a "principal" in the killings.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagen Frank said evidence provided by the Bosnian government showed Kneginich to be a leader in a cold-blooded killing.

Kneginich, who has a son and daughter in Nevada, earned U.S. citizenship and found safe haven here.

He allegedly said he is Serbian and his wife is Croation so they had to flee Bosnia to avoid persecution for having an ethnically mixed marriage. Both, however, are ethnic Serbs, the government said.

Kneginich, with a graying beard and black eyeglasses, and wearing an orange jail uniform, glanced around the courtroom periodically as he sat at the defense table with his attorneys, Celis and Helen Nieuwenhuis.

Kneginich and three others were accused of breaking into a home on April 11, 1994, and killing a couple, Rejhan and Razija Sikiric, ages 57 and 58, by shooting them multiple times. Kneginich was acquitted but a higher court two years later ordered a retrial.

Frank said that Bosnia sought Kneginich's extradition based on a 1902 treaty.

After hearing 90 minutes of arguments, U.S. Magistrate Judge Phillip Green said he would issue a ruling, likely within two weeks, on whether to certify the extradition request, which would then go before the U.S. Secretary of State.

Frank said Kneginich and three others, armed with guns and knives, killed the couple. Kneginich carried a television out of the residence, a co-defendant said.

Another co-defendant said that the four men were upset by the killings of Serbian police officers by the predominately Muslim "Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina," Frank said.

He said the group meant to kill another Muslim couple, but they were gone. They stopped at another house, occupied by two women, but left them alone before going to the Sikiric home.

Frank disputed any notion the killing happened during warring or an uprising.

"They lived down the street. There was no combat going on."

He said they were "four angry guys (looking) to get pay back. ... It's just plain, old common-law murder."

Kneginich lived in Holland, Las Vegas and Crown Point, Indiana, before his arrest near Kalamazoo in 2016.
COMSTOCK PARK, MI - Comstock Park Public Schools recently informed families Superintendent Ethan Ebenstein will leave the district to become superintendent of the Ionia County Intermediate School District, effective July 1.

During its May 21 meeting, the Comstock Park School Board agreed to hire search Gary Rider, regional president of the Michigan Leadership Institute, to lead the search effort for the 1,923-student district.

"During the past ten years, Ethan has had a huge impact on Comstock Park School and community. He will surely be missed!" School Board President Christy Nowak said.

"Mr. Rider will be facilitating focus group meetings and a community forum to explain the search process, and a survey to gather data regarding what people would like to see in their next superintendent will be posted on the district web site,'' according to School Board President Christy Nowak.

Nowak said this data will be compiled and given to the board to consider when developing a profile for the ideal candidate.

Comstock Park is among seven Kent ISD districts that will have new superintendents for the 2018-19 school year.

"I am excited by the challenges this new professional opportunity holds for me, but at the same time will greatly miss my Comstock Park school family,'' Ebenstein, who has been superintendent since 2008.

"This is truly a staff and community that cares deeply about their children and education. I feel blessed that I have been able to be a part of such a great community and school system the past ten years and to have been a part of so many special achievements and accomplishments.''

There are a total of eight districts in the Kent and Ottawa ISDs that will have new leadership. Caledonia, Hudsonville, Wyoming, and Thornapple Kellogg have all announced their superintendent replacements for next school year.

In addition to Comstock Park, East Grand Rapids, Sparta, and Cedar Springs are all in various stages of the search process.

In Ottawa County, Hudsonville announced Rockford Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Douglas VanderJagt will replace Nicholas Ceglarek, who will become superintendent of the Traverse Bay ISD on July 1.

Below are the new superintendents announced in the Kent ISD, which is comprised of 20 school districts:

Wyoming Public Schools -

Caledonia Community Schools - The Caledonia School Board recently announced

Rob Blitchok

Rider expects a good pool of candidates to apply for the Comstock Park position. The application deadline is July 11. Community forums and focus groups begin this week.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI -- The city of Grand Rapids is embarking on an ambitious plan to install a $20 million LED streetlight system that eventually could monitor water meters and collect data about activity on the street.

City officials are proposing to overhaul the 17,800 streetlights in Grand Rapids with a $10 million bond in 2019 and another $10 million bond in 2022. The program is included in the city's fiscal 2019 budget proposal.

The $20 million project would put $12 million to infrastructure improvements that city officials say are long overdue, and $8 million to the purchase of the lights. Only the lights themselves would be replaced; the poles would remain the same.

Much of the infrastructure investment will go to upgrade wires and transformers the city's electric circuit that it operates in the core city. Grand Rapids buys electricity from Consumers Energy at a lower rate and runs its own utility to 108 buildings and streetlights in the area, said Mike Lunn, environmental services director for the city.

"That needs $8 to $10 million," Lunn said.

Infrastructure work would begin this summer. The entire project would take four to five years to complete, Lunn said.

Mayor Rosalynn Bliss said the city is anticipating part of the city's debt on the bond issue would be paid for through the energy savings gained by using LED lights.

LED streetlights are shown at the Grand Rapids Water Resource Recovery Facility in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Thursday, May 24, 2018. (Casey Sykes | MLive)

Lunn said the energy savings from the LED lights will depend on the rate that Consumers Energy charges the city.

The utility is planning to increase the electric rate it charges to municipalities for streetlights, Consumers Energy spokesman Roger Morgenstern said. The Michigan Public Service Commission will decide the case.

The new LED lights will use about half of the electricity that the current lights use, Lunn said.

The city last made major changes to its streetlighting system about 40 years ago, when lights were switched to the current high-pressure sodium models. Since then, investments in streetlights have been reactionary, like when new buildings are built or roads are repaired.

The LED streetlights would be managed from one central location instead of turning on through sensors, as they transmit data using an 800 megahertz radio wave, Lunn said. The new management system would also be able to show if a light was burned out.

"The police will be able to control them and turn them up and down," Lunn said, explaining that motion sensors could also be added to brighten the lights or dim them depending on activity.

The same technology that allows the streetlights to be managed remotely also would allow the city to use the streetlights to collect data. Sensors could eventually be added to monitor parking spaces and pedestrian counts, Lunn said.

An LED streetlight is shown at the Grand Rapids Water Resource Recovery Facility in Grand Rapids, Mich., on Thursday, May 24, 2018. (Casey Sykes | MLive)

On the top of the list for Grand Rapids officials: they'd like to use the new streetlights to monitor water meters. This would require the city to upgrade its water meters to be "smart."

The cost of upgrading every water meter is not included in the $20 million, Lunn said. The city has about 80,000 water meters, and replaces up to 5,000 of them each year. A "smart" water meter costs about $90 more than the regular meter, Lunn said.

LED streetlights have been on the radar of the city commission for years. In 2015 the commission was considering spending $9.3 million to replace all of the city's lights with LED fixtures. The idea was scrapped then as the commission was concerned with putting money away into its savings.

In 2010 Grand Rapids entertained charging property owners a fee for streetlights, but scrapped that idea after voters approved a five-year income tax increase. Money from that tax has been put into a Transformation Fund to cover budget deficits and be spent on a variety of initiatives aimed at reducing the long-term ongoing cost of running city government.

In addition to the streetlight overhaul, the city is working on a plan to upgrade lights on Division Avenue.
OLIVE TOWNSHIP, MI -- A 47-year-old Zeeland man is in critical condition after the motorcycle he was driving crashed into a semi-truck in Ottawa County.

Police said Christopher Pearl was airlifted to Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital where he's listed in critical condition. He was wearing a helmet.

Ottawa County Sheriff's deputies were dispatched around 11:35 a.m. Tuesday, May 29, to a report of a two-vehicle crash on 96th Avenue in front of Tyson Foods in Olive Township.

Pearl was northbound on 96th Avenue when he attempted to pass a semi-truck on the left with his 2017 Suzuki GSX1300. As the truck was slowing to turn left into Tyson Foods, the motorcycle crashed into its driver's side door.

Police said Pearl was critically injured. The 45-year-old Indiana man, who was driving the truck, was not injured.

The crash remains under investigation by the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office.
BARRY COUNTY, MI -- Police have released the names of two West Michigan motorcyclists who died over the weekend when they were involved in a crash with a large tree limb.

The incident occurred around 8 p.m. Sunday, May 27, on Yankee Springs Road between M-179 and Deep Lake Road in Yankee Springs Township of Barry County.

Police said Christian Nederveld, 47, of Wyoming, and Jeffrey Altena, 55, of Hudsonville, died as a result of the crash.

The two men were both southbound on separate motorcycles when police said a large tree limb fell on top of one of the motorcycles. The second motorcycle drove into the same tree limb, police said.

Both drivers, who were wearing helmets, were thrown from their vehicles.

Altena died at the scene. Nederveld was transported to a local hospital where he died from his injuries.

The crash remains under investigation by the Barry County Sheriff's Office with assistance from Yankee Springs Fire, Wayland fire, Wayland EMS, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Michigan State Police and the Barry County Road Commission.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos toured the Grand Rapids Public Schools Museum School Tuesday, touting it as an example of a school that is "doing things differently to meet students' needs."

"This model is a place-based, very experiential, hands-on collaborative approach and the students that I met were clearly energized by their learning environment," DeVos told reporters following her visit, which was geared toward highlighting innovation in education.

During her tour of the school - launched in 2015 and housed within the Grand Rapids Public Museum - DeVos visited a music classroom, spoke with students who were recording podcasts for English class, checked out an exhibit on Lake Sturgeon, and participated in a roundtable discussion with students and administrators.

Reporters in attendance were able to attend the first few minutes of the roundtable discussion but were then asked to leave the room.

Following her tour, DeVos spoke with reporters about the importance of rethinking how education is provided, and she fielded questions about school safety, her March interview on 60 Minutes - widely seen as a public stumble - and campus sexual assault.

She said her role as education secretary is to draw attention to innovative approaches to education, such as the museum school, which enrolls 180 students in grades 6-8.

"One of the most important things I can do is go and visit schools like this and talk about them and help other communities see and learn what's happening in other places," said DeVos, a West Michigan native.

One group of students DeVos spoke with were working on a podcast on the Civil War and the life of Sojourner Truth, a former slave and famed abolitionist, for their eighth grade English class.

Elena Holmes - one of the students working on the podcast - said she likes how the school incorporates technology into learning and that students get to venture out into the city for lessons and activities.

She told DeVos, "I wish all schools could be like this."

"That's a good wish to have, and not only a wish, but I think a lot more schools should take note of what you're doing here," DeVos replied.

The museum school, which next fall is expected to expand to include ninth-grade, focuses on "place-based learning," in which students participate in projects that impact the region, such as the restoration of the Grand River.

In 2016, the school won $10 million in a contest sponsored by XQ: The Super School Project. The organization is backed by Laurene Powell Jobs, Steve Jobs' widow.

Tuesday's visit came just days after a school shooting in Noblesville, Indiana, left one student and teacher wounded. And just earlier this month, 10 people were killed and 13 were injured in a school shooting in Santa Fe, Texas, outside of Houston.

Both incidents followed a February school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in which 17 students were killed. The incident ignited a groundswell of activism, with students throughout the country calling on lawmakers to stop school violence.

DeVos spoke with reporters about a four-person commission on school safety that she's leading that's expected to, by year's end, deliver a report outlining best practices and possible recommendations for Congress.

She said she feels a sense of "urgency" around the issue, but added that local communities and states are addressing issues around school safety in "meaningful ways."

"But there are great ideas that this community might not know about that we hope we can expose Grand Rapids to, and the same is true for communities across the country," she said. "We need to make sure that schools and communities have all the tools available to them and then ultimately the resources they need to address these issues appropriately."

Larry Johnson, executive director of public safety at Grand Rapids Public Schools, attended the discussion with DeVos and shared his district's approach to school safety.

He said it's important that any federal recommendations don't represent a "one-size-fits-all" approach, and that the discussion should go beyond "security technology" to include social emotional learning and adverse childhood experiences.

"Doors and locks and alarms are great, but if we're going to cure school violence what we have to do is really start digging deep inside to figure out not necessarily the act the child is doing but what put that child on that path," Johnson said.
Teresa Sullivan, the outgoing president of University of Virginia, has been hired by the Michigan State University Board of Trustees to advise the board on its search for MSU's next president.

Sullivan, 69, is a graduate of MSU's James Madison College and former provost at University of Michigan. She has led University of Virginia since 2010 and is retiring from that job in July.

"Identifying a new president for Michigan State University is an extremely important process and as a respected, accomplished member of the academy and collegiate administrator, Dr. Sullivan is well positioned to offer insight and advice to the board," said Board Chairman Brian Breslin.

The board is seeking for a replacement successor to Lou Anna K. Simon, who stepped down in January amid the Larry Nassar controversy. Former Gov. John Engler has been serving as interim president.

Sullivan has dealt with her own share of controversies at Virginia.

In 2012, some members of the university's governing board attempted to oust her because of her unwillingness to consider program cuts urged by some board members. Sullivan submitted her resignation, which led to protests by students, faculty and alumni. After then-Gov. Robert McDonnell threatened to remove the entire board if they failed to resolve the issue, the board unanimously voted to reinstate Sullivan.

Sullivan also came under scrutiny in a 2014 Rolling Stone magazine article, "A Rape on Campus," that detailed an alleged sexual assault on campus and looked at the U of V's handling of sexual assault cases. The central rape case in the story was quickly discredited as false, and a Virginia administrator and a fraternity both won libel settlements against Rolling Stone.

Sullivan has a doctorate in sociology from the University of Chicago and was a longtime faculty member and administrator at the University of Texas before she went to U-M in 2006.

Trustees Breslin, Dianne Byrum and Melanie Foster served on a board subcommittee to recommend the hiring of Sullivan.

Byrum today released the following statement: "The search for a new president to lead Michigan State University must be transparent and inclusive of all university stakeholders, and Dr. Teresa Sullivan is highly qualified to advise the MSU Board as we develop this search process. I am excited to get to work holding our initial listening sessions yet this summer and look forward to working with Dr. Sullivan."
When Torin Hodgman, an eighth grader at Grand Rapids Public Museum School, learned that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was visiting Hodgman's school today, Hodgman wanted to make a statement.

So this morning, as Hodgman got dressed for school, Hodgman grabbed a transgender pride flag and hooked it around Hodgman's neck so it hung off Hodgman's back like a cape.

And Hodgman - who identifies as "gender queer" and whose preferred pronoun is "they/them" - came prepared with a question: What is DeVos doing to ensure schools are safe learning environments for LGBT students and others who are questioning their gender identity?

Hodgman, 14, didn't get a chance to pose that question to DeVos during a roundtable discussion Tuesday morning.

But Hodgman is hopeful she recognized the flag - and what it stood for - and that she realizes that transgender students are a real presence in America's schools.

"Public schools are a place for all children," Hodgman said.

The Trump administration drew scrutiny in early 2017 when it rescinded Obama-era guidelines permitting transgender students to use restrooms that match their gender identity. DeVos said the issue should be decided at the local level. But LGBT advocates said the move was callous and didn't protect the rights of the LGBT community.

DeVos visited the museum school Tuesday to learn about its innovative approach to education. Launched in 2015, the school focuses on place-based learning and projects addressing real-world issues, such as the restoration of the Grand River.

Though Hodgman didn't get an opportunity to ask DeVos about transgender students, Hodgman is hopeful that over time she'll push for policies that promote safe learning environments for transgender students.

Hodgman feels safe and supported at the museum school. But Hodgman worries about students elsewhere.

A national survey by the National Center for Transgender Equality found that 75 percent of transgender students feel unsafe at school, and that "those who are able to persevere had significantly lower GPAs, were more likely to miss school out of concern for their safety, and were less likely to plan on continuing their education."

"Out of all LGBTQ ... and actually all teenagers, transgender and questioning people have a higher rate of suicide and deaths than anybody else," Hodgman said.

Correction: This story has been corrected to use Hodgman's preferred pronoun.
SPRING ARBOR, MI - Hundreds of Spring Arbor residents lined the sides of M-60 on May 28 to commemorate the 45th Annual Memorial Day Parade.

The 40-minute parade started at 1 p.m. in front of the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church. Beforehand, attendees of the parade could enjoy a dunk tank, trailer rides and chicken lunches supplied by Boy Scout Troop 144.

Dottie Miller, 76, a retired pastor from the Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church, served as the organizer and emcee of the memorial service honoring local veterans held before the parade. Miller, originally from Petoskey, has organized the event for the past 10 years.

Miller, whose husband Wayne is a veteran of the Vietnam War, said her favorite part of the event is giving veterans a chance to share their stories and experiences.

"(The parade) brings people together, and there's something for everybody," Miller said.

Bob Bradley, an employee of Hutch's Food Center with 60 years of experience in the grocery business, served as the parade marshal.

Among those in the parade included representatives from the Vietnam Veterans of America, the Jackson County Mounted Division and the Spring Arbor, Parma-Sandstone and Hanover Township fire departments, among other local organizations and groups.
Third and fourth carriers expected to achieve technological breakthroughs

 Chinese aircraft carrier pilot completes night mission, signaling that China's carrier has initial all-weather combat capabilities

 Experts estimate that China's third aircraft carrier, currently at the construction stage, will be more advanced than the Liaoningor the Type 001A

A J-15 fighter jet takes off from China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning. Photo: VCG

China's first operational aircraft carrier, known as the Liaoning, recently completed its nighttime takeoff and landing mission, signaling that this carrier has initial all-weather capabilities, a key step toward the formation of practical capabilities for combat.

State television broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV) released a video clip showing a Chinese carrier-borne aircraft taking off and landing at night on May 24. The images revealed that a J-15 aircraft, guided by a deck officer and a takeoff and landing system, successfully completed its operations in the dark nighttime environment. This is the first time that State media has confirmed that the carrier has the ability to take off and land at night.

Beijing-based naval expert Li Jie told the Global Times previously that only when the pilot of a carrier-borne aircraft grasps the ability to take off from and land on an aircraft at night can he become a truly qualified pilot. The Liaoningcan be called a real aircraft carrier only when it has an all-weather combat capability.

Based on the CCTV video clip, Li speculated that there should be at least four pilots who are trained to successfully take off and land at night.

Nighttime missions on aircraft carriers are internationally recognized as far more challenging and dangerous than in the daytime due to limited lighting, blocked vision and psychological pressure. Previously, only the US, Russia, France and the UK had mastered night-time carrier-based aircraft takeoffs and landings.

Chinese experts expect that the next phase of the task will focus on nighttime taking off and landing training in more complex weather conditions.

Graphics: GT

Main difficulties

The night landing is reportedly a big challenge for pilots because they struggle to distinguish signal lights. During daytime landings, carrier-borne aircraft pilots rely on Fresnel Lens Optical Landing System (FLOLS), widely used in giving glidepath information for pilots in the terminal phase of landing, with support of the landing signal officer, to achieve a safe landing.

But during the night, due to the lighting control in order to avoid exposure, the references an aircraft pilot can rely on become very limited, which requires pilots to touch down based on the aircraft's own searchlights and the sign lights for the runway, supported by other navigation devices.

"The reason we need to strengthen night flight training is because air operations are now being conducted primarily at night," military expert Wang Mingzhi told People's Daily Online.

Air combat emphasizes high intensity and fast pace, and is generally carried out around the clock to ensure no breathing space for the opponent. Night flight training is therefore an important indicator of the operational capability of an air force, including a carrier-borne aircraft force, Wang said.

Since the task of night landing has been successfully completed, what follows next is night landing training in more complicated weather, Song Zhongping, a military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times.

According to Li, there are two primary weather dimensions: day versus night and simple versus complicated. The lowest challenge is daytime with simple weather, then daytime with complicated weather; next is night with simple weather, and finally night with complicated weather.

Li added that it is time to speed up cultivating pilots who can perform duties in complicated weather. Only when enough pilots can master such relevant skills can the Chinese aircraft carrier get into the groove for a full-scale strike.

In addition to grasping the key technology of night landing and its specific tactics, Li noted that the most important factor for pilots is to overcome their psychological barriers. He said that a lack of previous experience in landing at night may make a pilot feel confused in a more complicated situation. Psychological strength then becomes a very critical standard to assess their capability.

Second home-made carrier

When Type 001A, China's first domestically built aircraft carrier and the country's second, completed its first sea trial on May 18, Chinese netizens began to expect a third aircraft carrier would be coming out soon.

Several media outlets, including South China Morning Post and the Diplomat, reported that a third aircraft carrier, Type 002, is under construction at the Shanghai Jiangnan Shipyard Group, although it has yet to be officially confirmed.

Song told the Global Times that, according to the development stage of China's weapons and equipment, equipping the present carrier and developing future carriers usually take place concurrently. Following such a schedule, he is convinced that the completion of a sea trial of the second carrier signifies that the third aircraft carrier may have completed its research phase and has stepped into the construction stage.

Experts believe that the first and second aircraft carriers provide knowledge for future projectiles and nuclear-powered carriers.

"Our aircraft carrier technology will become more mature as each achieves progress," Li told the Global Times in an earlier report. "The third carrier is able to use an electromagnetic aircraft launch system from the conventional ski-jump system; the fourth may witness breakthroughs in power units."

Navy development

Military commentator Chen Guangwen wrote on news portal Sina that aircraft carriers not only serve as a deterrent force but also a powerful chip in political games, which can send a strong diplomatic signal.

To join the ranks of the world's great powers, China must spare no effort to develop aircraft carrier combat forces, making its navy a stronger frontier force of a country's deterrence, wrote Chen.

China's naval development has been expedited since the Liaoningentered into service in September 2012. It was reported that, over the past year, the aircraft carrier force has conquered multiple challenges and realized many breakthroughs, including flights from day to night and increasing the quantity from one aircraft to an entire fleet. Multiple batches of J-15 carrier-borne aircraft pilots have attained the qualification certification.

During cross-sea training in April, aircraft on the carrier Liaoningwere on duty around the clock for the first time during training against naval shore-based aviation. This was widely seen as an early signal that these aircraft have gained the ability to take off and land at night. In May, China's Type 001A, completed its maiden sea trial.

"China can be more flexible with two carriers. In the face of long-term maritime security competition, China will gradually expand its maritime interests to include three or four new carriers, at least, to meet its strategic needs," Kang Jie, an assistant research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, wrote in the Global Times.
KALAMAZOO, MI -- The Kalamazoo County Consolidated Dispatch Authority has been awarded a nearly $2 million grant by the Michigan as part of the Competitive Grant Assistance Program, the Michigan Department of Treasury reports.

The $1,966,006 grant is meant to help the organization that is consolidating five public safety answering points into a single authority, the Department of Treasury announced Friday, May 25.

It is the largest of 16 grants totaling $3.7 million that the department announced Friday.

The City of Kalamazoo, the City of Portage, Kalamazoo County, Kalamazoo Township and Western Michigan University entered into an agreement to fund the project.

A funding amendment signed by representatives of the municipalities in December establishes a short term (5 year) funding solution for the capital build-out and operational funding, totalling $21.5 million to be paid over a period from 2018 to 2023.

The grant is specific and must be used to assist with capital build-out, renovation and build out or upgrading of infrastructure and technology of the systems going into the consolidated dispatch center, he said. It cannot be used for operational costs.

"It's a great thing not only for the particular municipalities of the project, but also for residents and visitors of the county," Kalamazoo County Consolidated Dispatch Authority Executive Director Jeff Troyer said.

The dispatch authority board of directors will decide specifics of how the extra funds could impact the funding plan that's already laid out, he said.

The Kalamazoo County Consolidated Dispatch Authority submitted the grant application in February, Troyer said.

The grant funds are designed to help offset costs associated with mergers, inter-local agreements and cooperative efforts for projects started on or after Oct. 1, 2013.

For an authority, school district, intermediate school district, public community college or public university to qualify for grant funding under this program, the entity must combine operations with a city, village, township or county.

"I am pleased to announce the recipients of this latest round of grant funding," said Deputy State Treasurer Dr. Eric Scorsone, head of Treasury's State and Local Finance Group. "These grants will help communities share or merge services, bolstering budgets while improving services that residents depend on every day."

The grant panel gave preference to applications calling for complete mergers and consolidation of departments or services between local units of government. The grant funding expires on Sept. 30, 2018.
THREE RIVERS, MI -- A 31-year-old man was shot outside a store in Three Rivers, police said.

About 7 p.m. Sunday, May 27, Three Rivers officers were dispatched to a shooting at Paul's Pantry, 261 E. Michigan Avenue.

Officers found evidence of a shooting in the parking lot and located the victim, a 31-year-old Sturgis man, in his vehicle a short distance away.

He was transported by ambulance to Three Rivers Health for a gunshot wound, treated and released, police said in a news release.

The suspect is at large and believed to be armed and dangerous, police said in the news release sent May 28.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Three Rivers Police Department or St. Joseph County Central Dispatch.

The Michigan State Police and Constantine Police Department assisted Three Rivers police.
MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, MI - Fun in the sun will be on tap Thursday at Mona Lake Park.

The Fourth Annual Community Mixer for citizens throughout the Muskegon area is designed to "honor our diversity and celebrate our friendship," according to organizers.

The event that will feature food, music children's games and camaraderie will be held 5-8 p.m. Thursday. Mona Lake Park is located off of Seaway Drive between Hoyt and Green streets in Muskegon Heights.

The mixer is meant to honor diversity in Muskegon Heights. It was created in 2014 to hopefully foster strong bonds between residents and community partners, like local leaders, area businesses and service organizations.

Last year, more than 700 people attended the mixer, said Muskegon Public Safety Director Jeff Lewis, who assists the Muskegon Rotary with the event.

Lewis said he and other organizers are hoping to eclipse that attendance number on Thursday.

The Rotary Club and the city of Muskegon Heights host the mixer, which is designed to help people from different cultures, backgrounds and cities better understand one another.
SAGINAW, MI -- A male suspect is in custody after police say he was shot Sunday night while trying to break into a Saginaw home.

Saginaw police officer and Michigan State Police troopers responded May 27 to the 1700 block of Vermont Street and learned three suspects attempted to kick in the home's door.

Michigan State Police Lt. David Kaiser said the homeowner warned the suspects he had a gun and told them to stay out of his house.

That's when shots were allegedly fired into the home by at least one of the suspects and the homeowner returned fire, Kaiser said. One of the suspects was hit during the exchange of gunfire.

The group of men fled from the scene, but the injured suspect later traveled to a local hospital for treatment where he was interviewed by a Michigan State Police investigator.

He's been lodged at the Saginaw County Jail awaiting formal charges including attempted armed robbery, home invasion, and assault with intent to murder. No descriptions were available on the two additional suspects.

Anyone with information on the incident may contact the Saginaw Police Department at 989-759-1229 or report a tip anonymously to Crime Stoppers at 1-800-422-JAIL (5245) or on the P3 tips app.
HOLLY HILL, FL - A Little Caesars employee in Florida shot and killed a clown-mask wearing intruder over the holiday weekend.

According to WFTV9 in Orlando, Heriberto Feliciano, 28, had just closed the Detroit-based pizza chain's store on Ridgewood Avenue in Holly Hill when he was attacked by a masked man wielding a wooden post and scissors.

The masked man, who has not been identified, repeatedly attacked Feliciano, WFTV reported. Feliciano told police he eventually drew his gun and shot the man four to five times at close range. The masked man later died at local hospital.

As soon as he exited the building, he was immediately attacked by an individual that was wearing a scary clown mask and brandishing a wooden stick," Holly Hill Police Chief Steve Aldrich told the Florida TV station. "

I'm glad that he was able to defend himself and that he's OK. It's just unfortunate that this whole episode occurred."
SEATTLE -- Coffee lovers will need to find a different couch to enjoy their favorite latte on Tuesday as more than 8,000 Starbucks locations across the country will be closed for company wide racial-bias training.

The various coffee shops will close for three hours in the middle of the day Tuesday, but when each store closes will be determined by each location. Most shops are expected to close between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

The training is being held in response to an incident last month in Philadelphia where two black men were waiting inside of a Starbucks to meet with a friend when an employee called police because they had not bought anything.

When officers arrived, they eventually arrested the two men, but later released them due to a lack of evidence that a crime was committed, according to the Associated Press. Video of the incident was captured and shared online where it went viral.

As a result, protests were launched at Starbucks locations all over the U.S. and on social media calling for a boycott of the brand.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson announced the training just days after the video of the incident went public.

"I watched the video, which was hard to watch. That is not what Starbucks is about. That is not representative of our mission, our values and our guiding principles," Johnson said.

Close to 175,000 employees are expected to take part in the training, including employees who do not work in the coffee shops.
On May 24th, commencing at about 12:45 p.m. for approximately 15 minutes, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, held a Japan-Malaysia summit telephone talk with Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad, Prime Minister of Malaysia. The overview of the talk is as follows.

1. Prime Minister Abe congratulated Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir on his victory in the recent Malaysian general election. He also stated that along with further strengthening Japan-Malaysia relations, he hopes to deepen cooperation toward regional stability and prosperity.

2. Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir thanked Prime Minister Abe for his words of congratulations, and stated that he looked forward to visiting Japan soon and meeting with Prime Minister Abe.
A contestant gives a speech at the competition

Port Elizabeth  Final competition of the 17th "Chinese Bridge", a Chinese language proficiency competition for college students, was held here on Saturday.

Twenty first teenagers studying Chinese took the writing test, demonstrated Chinese language and cultural skills such as dancing, singing and martial arts.

Weian, from Confucius Institutes of University of Johannesburg, and Xiaoxiao, from Confucius Institutes of Rhodes University won the competition, and will represent South Africa at the finals in China.

A contestant gives a speech in the competition

While addressing the event, Zheng Wen, an official with the Chinese Embassy in South Africa, said this year marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Africa. Chinese language as the bridge between two countries cultural communication, will further strengthen solidarity and cooperation between China and Africa.

The "Chinese Bridge" competition was first organized in 2008 to inspire the students between 15 and 20 to learn Chinese and enhance their understanding of the Chinese culture.

A contestant in the competition

A contestant dances in the competition

A contestant sings in the competition
May 29, 2018

Syria - Israel Falsely Claims Iran Pull-Back Deal With Russia - Again

Israel loves to pretend that it is an important country which can move other governments to do its bidding.

During last fall, when Russia, Jordan and the U.S. negotiated about a de-escalation zone in southwest Syria, Israel demanded to exclude Iranian troops and militia supported by Iran from a 40 or even 60 kilometer zone from the occupied Golan heights. Later Israel media announced success: Russia agrees to keep Iran, Hezbollah forces away from Israeli border wrote JPost in October.

But such an agreement was only rumored by Israel. It was never made. Israel had demanded an exclusion zone but neither Syria nor Iran accepted that. The Russian/U.S./Jordan agreement was not published but it obviously included no such clause. In November 2017 Hizbullah successfully fought Syrian "rebels" in the Beit Jinn pocket, a stone throw from the Golan Heights. Iranian advisers have regularly visited and advised Iranian paid pro-government militia, marked green on the map, near the Golan line.

Now Israel tries the same trick again. It sets expectations and announces agreements where none exist.

The teaser came yesterday when Haaretz headlined: Russia Considers Pulling Back Iranian Forces From Israel-Syria Border

Russia fears Israel's strikes in Syria will undermine Assad's rule. Israel believes Moscow may agree to move the Iranians 60 kilometers away from the Israeli border Israeli political and military leaders believe Russia is willing to discuss a significant distancing of Iranian forces and allied Shiite militias from the Israel-Syria border, Israeli officials say. The change in Russias position has become clearer since Israels May 10 military clash with Iran in Syria and amid Moscows concerns that further Israeli moves would threaten the stability of Syrian President Bashar Assads regime. Russia recently renewed efforts to try to get the United States involved in agreements that would stabilize Syria. The Russians might be willing to remove the Iranians from the Israeli border, though not necessarily remove the forces linked to them from the whole country.

...

Israel's Channel 2 followed up by announcing success: Israel, Russia agree to keep Iran and Hezbollah from border

After months of diplomacy between Jerusalem and Moscow, the two sides reached an understanding that Iran should be kept away from Israel's northern border with Syria, Channel 2 News reported on Monday evening. According to the report, Israel and Russia agreed the Syrian army will be allowed to re-take control of southern Syria up to the border with Israel. Iran and Hezbollah, though, will not be permitted to take part in the takeover.

This is again nonsense for at least two reasons.

1. Russia has no way to keep Iran out of Syria or to tell Iranian advisors and militia where to go or not to go. The Syrian government will not do away with its best ally, Iran, which came to its help before Russia came in and will continue to help while Russia lowers its presence in the conflict. Were Russia to play "either-or" hardball with the Syrian government the decision would likely be against Russia and for Iran.

2. Iran already announced that it will not take part in the upcoming Daraa operation in southwest Syria.

Damascus, May 23, IRNA  Iranian Ambassador to Jordan Mojtaba Ferdowsi-pour said on Wednesday that Iran has no role in military operations in southern Syria and has no presence in the area.

Iran is concentrating the other militia it supports in east Syria for the continuing fight against ISIS and the U.S. occupation forces. (Hezbullah will stay where it is.)

The Iranian announcement was ignored by other media.

The shrewd Russian foreign minister Lavrov used the Iranian decision to offer a deal to the U.S.:

Russia said on Monday only Syrian army troops should be on the country's southern border with Jordan and Israel, ..

...

"Of course, the withdrawal of all non-Syrian forces must be carried out on a mutual basis, this should be a two-way street," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in on Monday.

The U.S. is holding the border station of al-Tanf at the border triangle of Syria, Jordan and Iraq. In the same news conference Lavrov accused the U.S. of hiding ISIS forces in a nearby refugee camp. When Lavrov says "the withdrawal of all non-Syrian forces must be carried out on a mutual basis" he is offering the (already announced) Iranian pull-back from southwest Syria in exchange for a U.S. pull-out from al-Tanf in the southeast.

The Israeli defense minister Liberman was asked to come to Moscow on Thursday for talks with the Russian defense minister Shoigu. The Russians will likely reinforce earlier warnings against Israeli overreach in Syria. They will also press Israel to pull its strings in Washington in favor of the "mutual bases" deal.

Posted by b on May 29, 2018 at 9:48 UTC | Permalink

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Australian actress Cornelia Frances, who played Morag Bellingham on Home and Away, has died at the age of 77.

She passed away overnight on Monday in the company of friends and family in Sydney, the Daily Telegraph reports.

The actress had been diagnosed with bladder cancer over a year ago, which had spread to her hip.

Home and Away actor Ray Meagher, who played Morag's brother Alf, has paid tribute to her in a statement.

"Cornie was an incredibly loved and valued member of our cast over many, many years," he said.

"We had a moment of silence for her on set this morning and she'll be sadly missed by both cast and crew."

Frances starred in a number of roles in addition to Home and Away, including on Sons and Daughters, Prisoner, Young Doctors and Kingswood Country as well as hosting The Weakest Link.

Newshub.
Egypts military has said eight Islamist "takfiris" and two army personnel have been killed in the past few days as part of an extensive offensive to crush militant groups concentrated in parts of Sinai.

The attacks are part of a major security operation, Operation Sinai 2018, which involves the army, navy, air force and police, launched in February to target terrorist and criminal elements and organisations in northern and central Sinai, parts of the Nile Delta and the Western Desert.

The armed forces spokesman announced the deaths in a video communique published on the Egyptian military's official Facebook page on Tuesday, the 23rd such military statement on Operation Sinai 2018 since its launch.

The takfiris were killed in an exchange of fire with army forces during raids in northern and central Sinai, the spokesman said, as the video showed footage and photos of the attacks.

The Arabic word "takfiri" refers to hardline Sunni Muslims who accuse other Muslims of being infidels, often as a justification for using violence against them.

Two army conscripts were killed and three other conscripts and one officer were injured during clashes with the militants, added the spokesman.

The deaths bring the total number of those killed since the operation began to more than 300, including at least 37 military personnel, according to calculations based on military statements.

The air force, which has been conducting airstrikes in northern and central Sinai since the operation started, also recently destroyed two vehicles loaded with weapons near Egypts western border, the spokesman said.

He added that 64 criminal fugitives and suspects have been arrested in recent days, while 578 people have beencaptured while attempting to enter Egypt illegally through the country's western border with Libya.

Forces have also recently destroyed 80 hideouts used by militants to store weapons in central and northern Sinai, and a weapon cache near the countrys western border.

Military engineers have discovered and destroyed 15 bombs planted to target forces at operation sites, he added.

Security forces have also recently uncovered and destroyed "a number of" farms used to grow banned narcotics.

The armed forces said it has continued to dispatch convoys to distribute food to locals in northern and central Sinai, to meet their needs in the areas it is operating in, especially during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.

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March 9, 2018

Santiago, Chile

Three days ago we came through the last of the Andes passes, along the way hiking into a national park for a few kilometers to get as close as we could to a view of Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the world outside of Asia. If ever there was a day Id hoped for bright morning sunshine, this was it. And we got it.

I was in high school when I first came across Maurice Herzogs story of his French alpine teams ascent of Annapurna in 1950, the highest mountain then to have been climbed. They did it without oxygen and without a route. They paid for it though, leaving a bunch of fingers and toes up there. Three years later Hillary conquered Everest, but his success seemed to me to have been not so hard-earned as that of Herzogs team. But it was Everest, and the fame and fortune to the guy who could first bag that one, that captured the publics imagination.

One of Herzogs stalwarts, Lionel Terray, was a climber from the town of Chamonix in the French Alps. Trust me on this, there is no more beautiful place on earth than this little town. He wrote a book of his mountaineering accomplishments in 1964 with the French title, The Conquerors of the Useless. When it was published in the U.S., the title was changed by Madison Avenue to The Conquerors of the Impossible. OK, I got that. Positive imaging and so on. But Terray knew what he was doing, just like motorcyclists know what theyre doing: impossible, useless things.

What it took longer for me to absorb was Terrays death the following year on a relatively simple cliff near Grenoble in France. I kept the copy of the story of his last climb as related in Paris Match for at least 20 years. Ive been to the place where he fell. Ive visited his grave  he is buried next to Edward Whymper, the first climber of the Matterhorn  every time Ive been to Chamonix. And since Terray had climbed Aconcagua and had been the first to climb the even more difficult Fitzroy in Patagonia, for me just to look even at a distance where this nearly immortal man had stood was a gift in and of itself. I took a lot of photographs, but I will never see what he saw.

We crossed the border into Chile. It took forty days to get through, more or less. Jairo and I arrived in downtown Santiago in rush hour, the usual take-20-minutes-to-go-three-blocks routine wed already perfected in La Paz and other cities. The next day I asked the desk clerk at the hotel where I might find the nearest urgent care center. I didnt know the expression for Doc-in-a-Box, but I was given directions to a university hospital not three blocks away.

Ill skip to the chase and omit the six hours or more sitting in waiting rooms over the next two days, but the care I received from an ophthalmologist at the hospital was the care I needed and the advice that I have heeded. His examination revealed that a small vein in my right eye had occluded, almost certainly because of the extreme altitude Id attained leaving Nazca, and that Id need further testing to determine the extent of the damage and to mitigate the possibility of further problems. His recommendation was contained in ten words: Suspender su viaje programado y retornar a su pais EEUU. Cancel your planned trip and return to the U.S.

About 30 years ago one of Rider magazines staff writers, Beau Allen Pacheco, wrote an article in which he said in passing, Sooner or later everyone quits riding. Those words have haunted me ever since. How does it come to be that a person who is a motorcycle rider ceases to be that person? Ive come up with some truly eloquent theories over the years about why people ride and why they quit but until now have never had to put the theories to the test. As to the latter, why riders stop riding, Ive concluded that my original idea  they simply cant take another bad day in the saddle anymore  is as good an explanation as any. At some point it just isnt worth it. You just cant push that damned bike ten more feet down the road.

I dont know where I am here. an eternal stranger in an eternally strange land. I know I cant see very well in what used to be my good eye. I know Im not willing to fall off a cliff to prove a useless point the way Lionel Terray did. I know that I had a life on a bike that left nothing on the table when it was over. Beyond that, I hardly know a thing. But it was fun while it lasted. I do know at least that much. I think.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=177dc5a62c0d1d6a1c&hoursPast=0&showAll=yes

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Update from Robert, 10 May 2018:

Im not through with the bitches yet! This was the last eight days, including four sitting on my ass in Daytona. I did 833 today, leaving the condo in Daytona at 0400. I hate days slabbing the interstate, especially the horrific I-95, but this was a pure necessity.

https://spotwalla.com/ tripViewer.php?id= 18b025aea211a543d7&hoursPast= 0&showAll=yes

Ive now had three eye exams and the two ophthalmologists agree that there was no vascular occlusion, that the physician in Chile was in error, and that the problems without any doubt are bilateral cataracts, worse in the right eye. Im going to wait two more months, do another round of exams, and have the surgery on the right done in the summer.

With the benefit of calm reflection it looks to me, so to speak, that one of three things has transpired: 1) Im seeing better (substantiated by an improvement to 20/40 from 20/50 six months ago) in the right eye, although there is still noticeable blurring; 2) Im simply getting used to things and the left eye is doing all the work; or 3) The entire thing has been a monstrous psychiatric joke with my body pretending to have had a physical meltdown sufficient to excuse me from riding the bike any farther on a trip I wasnt much enjoying to begin with. I view these possibilities as having pretty much equal odds, especially since I dont seem to be even marginally impaired on the bike back here in all the miles Ive ridden recently. Sigh

Cataract surgery on the right eye is scheduled for June 11. I expect it will be successful. The doc does about 1/3 of the cataracts in this county. No one will let her buy dinner anywhere. If it does solve everything, Ill have her do the left. Im older than God but on days like this I feel younger than Baby Jesus!

Fantastic. Thanks for sharing, Bob. Write when you can. Over and out.
Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi is due to take the oath of office before Egypt's parliament on Saturday, following his re-election for a second term with a landslide victory almost two months ago.

Under the Egyptian constitution, the country's president must take the oath before a special session of the parliament after winning elections and before his presidential term officially starts, which in El-Sisi's case begins on June 3.

El-Sisi won a second term in office in a March election with 97 percent of the votes, the same proportion that the former military commander secured four years ago.

Voter turnout was 41 percent in the election, which included only one other candidate, Ghad Party head Moussa Moustafa Moussa.

Al-Ahram Arabic website said on Monday that around 1,000 people are expected to attend the swearing-in session, including ambassadors, party heads, top government officials and Muslim and Christian clerics.

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Sudan's Foreign Minister El-Dardiri Mohamed Ahmed said his country, along with Egypt and Ethiopia, were determined to end the deadlock in talks over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam Project, following the failure of previous negotiations.

"We are determined to overcome our differences on issues pertaining to the Renaissance Dam on a tripartite level between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia," Ahmed said in a press conference with the attendance of Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

Shoukry said "there was a great deal of agreement between the Egyptian and Sudanese sides" on the dam saga.

Ahmed reiterated that there is no difference between the Sudanese and Egyptian positions regarding the project, pointing out that there are agreements and reference points that specify how the two countries should cooperate with other Nile Basin countries.

Ahmed stressed that these agreements were the basis of coordination with Ethiopia.

"There are challenges and difficulties and we are in a pivotal phase in the Nile Basin region," he said.

Ahmed also announced a bilateral summit between Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Sudanese President Omar El-Bashir to be held in October.

Libya crisis

Meanwhile, Shoukry said that he and Ahmed had discussed the Libyan crisis and agreed that a resolution could only be reached by both parties rejecting any international intervention.

Shoukry's comments came as rival Libyan factions simultaneously agreed in Paris on a declaration that would pave the way for U.N.-backed elections in December to end the country's seven-year conflict.

The oil-producing nation splintered following the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi, and since 2014 has been divided between competing political and military groups based in Tripoli and the east.

The United Nations is leading an effort to reunify Libya and to organise national elections.

The Paris meeting, which included eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar; Tripoli Prime Minister Fayez Seraj; and the leaders of rival parliamentary assemblies, aimed to urge both parties to agree to general principles that would end the conflict and move the country toward elections.

The "red line" in Egypt-Sudan relations

Hours ahead of the press conference, El-Sisi received FM Ahmed in Cairo to discuss bilateral issues, Egyptian presidential spokesperson Bassam Rady said in a statement.

Shoukry, as well as Egypt's head of Intelligence Abbas Kamal, attended the meetings.

This was the first visit by the Sudanese FM visit to Egypt since he took office on 15 May.

"Ways of enhancing bilateral relations and activating aspects of joint cooperation in various fields, as well as a number of regional issues and matters of common concern were also reviewed," Rady said.

Following the meeting, the Sudanese and Egyptian FMs met for a wide-ranging session of talks, which covered bilateral relations and regional issues of common concern.

Among the issues discussed were a common electricity interconnection project between Egypt and Sudan, cooperation in the field of airport management and security, and challenges faced by the Nile Valley Authority for river navigation between Egypt's Aswan and Northern Sudan's Wadi Halfa.

The ministers also discussed Sudan's ban on Egyptian agricultural products, implementing the work of the Egyptian Sudanese Company for Agricultural Integration, and settling EgyptAir's debts to Khartoum.

Later at the joint press conference, Ahmed said that good relations between Egyptians and Sudanese are a red line that should not be crossed. He referred to an Egyptian TV serial aired during Ramadan that he said had "gotten out of hand."

On Saturday, Sudan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs requested a meeting with Egypt's Ambassador to Khartoum Osama Shaltout to object to the series, which it claimed promotes "stereotypes about accusations of terrorism against Egyptians living in or visiting Sudan," according to a statement by the Sudanese Foreign Ministry.

The drama serial, titled Abu Omar Al-Masri, airs on privately-owned channel On-E and features armed Islamic terrorist groups who receive training in Sudan.

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RIO DE JANEIRO (AP)  Brazilian cabinet ministers on Monday called on truckers to end a crippling eight-day strike that has led to major shortages and disruptions in Latin America's largest nation, saying the government had gone as far as it could to meet their demands.

The ministers spoke in Brasilia hours after President Michel Temer announced a series of measures aimed at getting truckers back to work. Late Sunday, Temer said the government would subsidize a 10 percent drop in diesel prices for 60 days. He also said measures were being crafted to cut tolls for truckers and establish minimum freight rates, both key demands.

"We are at the limit of what we can do to normalize the situation," said Finance Minister Eduardo Guardia.

It wasn't immediately clear how many truckers would accept the government's stance. Some unions said Monday they would start demobilizing their blockades but needed a few days to talk to members. Other unions remained mum.

In an ambiguously worded statement, the National Confederation of Autonomous Transporters, one of the largest unions, called on members to "consciously" evaluate the protest going forward and let gasoline, dairy products and supplies for hospitals through blockades to "maintain the support of the population."

A supposed agreement reached between several unions and the government last week was ignored by thousands of truckers, who continued striking.

On Monday, as in previous days, thousands of schools remained shuttered, many flights were grounded and many supermarket shelves were empty.

Wendel Campos, a trucker in Rio de Janeiro who vowed to keep protesting, said he would not accept the measures because he believed prices would go back up in a few months.

"We will stay here as long as necessary," he said.

At the heart of the impasse is a fight over the future of the economy, particularly as it relates to state oil company Petrobas.

Temer's predecessor, President Dilma Rousseff, implemented price controls that worked as de facto subsidies, keeping prices relatively low regardless of what was happening in the world oil markets.

However, beginning in 2014, the so-called "Car Wash" investigation uncovered a massive kickback scheme for construction contracts coming from Petrobras. The probe, which continues, has led to the jailing of several of the country's elite, from politicians like former President Luiz Inacio da Silva to Petrobras directors.

In 2016, Temer, then vice president, took over for Rousseff when she was impeached and removed from office for illegally managing the federal budget. As part of a series of reforms aimed at pulling Brazil from a deep recession, Temer's administration said there would no longer be interference in Petrobras pricing.

The company recovered and grew, and market prices worked fine in the economy while world oil prices were low. But lately, the combination of rising prices and a sharp devaluation of the Brazilian real against the U.S. dollar has caused prices to jump.

This was acutely felt by truckers, who move the majority of goods in the commodity-rich nation over a territory slightly larger than the continental United States.

Gilberto Braga, a finance professor Ibmec university in Rio de Janeiro, said the strike and its aftermath could cut gross domestic product by at least half a percent.

"This is not an isolated event. The truckers' strike will have repercussions in just about every part of the economy," he said.

On Monday, Guardia, the finance minister, and Temer's chief-of-staff Eliseu Padilha repeatedly said that the subsidies were short-term, would be covered by the government and did not represent a policy change for Petrobras.

The market has not been convinced.

When Petrobras announced last week it would cut prices by 10 percent for two weeks to help ease the crisis, shares began plunging. Monday afternoon, shares were trading 10 percent below the closing price on Friday.

"When the 60 days of the agreement pass, will the government return to the previous policy of market prices?" said Andre Prefeito, chief economist at Spinelli CVMC, a Sao Paulo-based investment firm. "Probably not, and then it will be time to assume the economic consequences."

Adding to the government's woes, on Monday oil workers said they planned a 3-day strike beginning Wednesday to demand cuts in the price of cooking gas.

Silvio Cascione, a senior analyst with Eurasia, said the group expected more stoppages.

"Other sectors of the economy saw how fragile this government is and will go to the streets with demands," he said.

____

Video journalists Mario Lobao and Diarlei Rodrigues in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP)  The Latest on the homecoming of a Utah man, Joshua Holt, who has been held in Venezuela for two years without a trial (all times local):

8 p.m.

An American man held in a Venezuelan jail for nearly two years is back home in Utah.

Josh Holt arrived at the Salt Lake City airport Monday night to cheering and tears from about 100 family and friends carrying signs in his favorite color, green. His grandmother draped an American flag around his shoulders as he exchanged long hugs with one person after another.

Holt spoke briefly to share his thanks to everyone from senators to close friends. He said he and his wife Thamara Caleno hadn't slept much and were exhausted.

The couple was freed this weekend.

Holt was arrested in June 2016 on suspicion of weapons charges that he and his family say were bogus. His wife was arrested in the same sweep.

___

12:35 p.m.

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is urging engagement with Venezuela's socialist government after he traveled to the South American nation to bring home a Utah man jailed for two years without a trial.

Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee stressed in an interview with The Associated Press that "nothing was asked, and nothing was given" in exchange for Joshua Holt's freedom. But he says the 26-year-old's release Saturday as a goodwill gesture by President Nicolas Maduro shows what can be achieved through dialogue with the United States' adversaries.

Corker traveled to Venezuela in 2015 only to be snubbed by Maduro. He says he was received more warmly this time because Maduro is feeling "somewhat confident" after he was re-elected a little over a week ago in what the U.S. considered a "sham" vote.

___

10:45 a.m.

A Utah man freed this weekend after being held in a Venezuelan jail for nearly two years is scheduled to return to Salt Lake City on Monday night after getting medical care and visiting President Donald Trump in Washington.

Laurie Holt says family and friends will meet her son Joshua Holt and his wife, Thamara Caleno, at the airport to welcome them home.

The couple arrived in Washington on Saturday after secret, backchannel negotiations between a U.S. congressional staffer and Venezuelan officials finally secured his freedom.

Holt had a tearful reunion with his parents in Washington but has yet to see his three siblings. He and his wife have been receiving medical treatment in Washington from a team with experience helping people return from captivity.

Holt was arrested in June 2016 on suspicion of weapons charges that he and his family say were bogus.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)  The remnants of Alberto doused the Deep South with waves of rain Tuesday as the vast, soggy system pushed northward toward the Tennessee Valley.

Forecasters said the subtropical depression swirling near Birmingham could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain on central Alabama.

Heavy downpours reduced visibility for commuters, while toppled trees blocked roads south of the city. The U.S. Golf Association canceled a practice round of the U.S. Women's Open Championship, being played at Shoal Creek, because of the weather.

Alabama Power Co. said about 20,000 homes and businesses were without electricity Tuesday, most in the Birmingham area.

In south Alabama near the Florida line, the city of Andalusia reopened its roads after ordering residents to stay off streets overnight because of flash flooding and downed trees and power lines.

In Cuba, flooding damaged an oil refinery in central Cuba and caused crude oil to spill into Cienfuegos Bay as the remnants of Alberto continued to drench the island in heavy rain. State-owned TV showed authorities using barriers Tuesday to try to contain the spill from the Cienfuegos refinery about 150 miles southeast of Havana.

As the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season, Subtropical Storm Alberto lumbered ashore Monday afternoon in the Florida Panhandle and then weakened overnight to a depression.

Forecasters said rain could still kill people caught in flash floods in the coming hours or days in Alabama and large areas of Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.

In North Carolina, a television news anchor and a photojournalist were killed Monday while covering the weather, when a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked ground and toppled onto their SUV, authorities said.

"Two journalists working to keep the public informed about this storm have tragically lost their lives, and we mourn with their families, friends and colleagues," North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement.

"North Carolina needs to take Alberto seriously. I urge everyone to keep a close eye on forecasts, warnings and road conditions, especially in western North Carolina where even heavier rain is predicted."

The National Weather Service said a weak tornado briefly touched down Monday in central South Carolina as an outer band from Alberto moved through. A flood watch is in effect through Wednesday morning for the northwestern part of the state because of the storm.

Between 2 and 6 inches (10-15 centimeters) of rain could soak Alabama and western Georgia on Tuesday, and isolated deluges of 12 inches (30 centimeters) also are possible as the system heads into the Tennessee Valley on its way to the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region.

Alberto dumped between 2 and 5 inches (2 and 13 centimeters) of rain over parts of the Florida Panhandle, according to the National Weather Service. Double-red flags along the white sandy beaches kept most people out of the rough waters, and some low-lying areas experienced minor flooding, officials said.

"Most of the issues we're having right now are downed trees and downed limbs," Walton County spokesman Louis Svehla told the Northwest Florida Daily News. "Our beaches did good. There was not a lot of erosion. The surge was not that large."

Santa Rosa County officials had put out many piles of sand several days ago in case people wanted to make sandbags to mitigate any flooding in their homes. People who took those supplies will be better prepared as the hurricane season gets its official start on Friday, said county spokeswoman Brandi Whitehurst.

"What Alberto has done for us is to have people dust off their hurricane plans and stock up on supplies," Whitehurst said.

The pelting rain soaked the uniform and socks of Lt. Andy Husar with the Bay County Sheriff's Office, who watched surf get kicked up along Panama City Beach on Monday.

"It's not a good sign, getting hit by a storm before hurricane season," Husar told the Panama City News Herald.

As a subtropical storm, Alberto had a less defined and cooler center than a tropical storm, and its strongest winds were found farther from its center.

The large tree that crushed the TV news vehicle Monday afternoon near Tryon, North Carolina, killed news anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer of WYFF-TV of Greenville, South Carolina, the station said.

They had just interviewed Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant as they covered storms in North Carolina.

"Ten minutes later we get the call and it was them," Tennant said at a news conference, his voice cracking.

Tennant said the roots of the large tree tore loose from ground saturated by a week's worth of rain. The men died instantly, their vehicle's engine still running, he said.

____

Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay in Miami Beach, Florida, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Jeffrey S. Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
NEW YORK (AP)  Starbucks, mocked three years ago for suggesting employees discuss racial issues with customers, asked workers Tuesday to talk about race with each other.

It was part of the coffee chain's anti-bias training, created after the arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia Starbucks six weeks ago. The chain apologized but also took the dramatic step of closing its stores early for the sessions. But still to be seen is whether the training, developed with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund and other groups, will prevent another embarrassing incident.

"This is not science, this is human behavior," said Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz. He called it the first step of many.

The training was personal, asking workers to break into small groups to talk about their experiences with race. According to training materials provided by the company, they were also asked to pair up with a co-worker and list the ways they "are different from each other." A guidebook reminds people to "listen respectfully" and tells them to stop any conversations that get derailed.

"I found out things about people that I've worked with a lot that I didn't know," said Carla Ruffin, a New York regional director at Starbucks, who took the training earlier Tuesday and was made available by the company to comment on it.

Ruffin, who is black, said everyone in her group said they first experienced bias in middle school. "I just thought that was pretty impactful, that people from such diverse backgrounds, different ages, that it was all in middle school."

She said the training and discussion was needed: "We're never as human beings going to be perfect."

Starbucks declined to specify how much the training cost the company, though Schultz said it was "quite expensive" and called it "an investment in our people and the long-term cultural values of Starbucks."

The chain also lost sales from closing early, but the late-in-the-day training sessions meant no disruption to the busier morning hours.

At the company's Pike Place Market location in Seattle, commonly referred to as the original Starbucks, the store stopped letting people in at 1 p.m.

Trina Mathis, who was visiting from Tampa, Florida, was frustrated that she couldn't get in to take a photo but said the shutdown was necessary because what happened in Philadelphia was wrong.

"If they haven't trained their employees to handle situations like that, they need to shut it down and try to do all they can to make sure their employees don't make that same mistake again," said Mathis, who is black.

Others visiting the store questioned whether the training would make a difference or suggested it was overkill.

Anna Teets, who lives in Washington state, said the problem has been fixed and the company has dealt with the situation. "It's been addressed," she said.

The training was not mandatory, but Starbucks said it expected almost all of the 175,000 employees at 8,000 stores to participate and said they would be paid for the full four hours. Executives took the same training last week in Seattle.

Training in unconscious, or implicit, bias is used by many corporations, police departments and other organizations. It is typically designed to get people to open up about prejudices and stereotypes  for example, the tendency among some white people to see black people as potential criminals.

Starbucks said it would make its training materials available to other companies. Many retailers, including Walmart and Target, said they already offer some racial bias training. Nordstrom has said it plans to enhance its training after three black teenagers in Missouri were falsely accused by employees of shoplifting.

In the Philadelphia incident, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson were asked to leave after one was denied access to the restroom. They were arrested by police minutes after they sat down to await a business meeting.

Video of the arrests were posted on social media, triggering protests, boycott threats and debate over racial profiling, or what's been dubbed "retail racism." It proved a major embarrassment for Starbucks, which has long cast itself as a company with a social conscience. That included the earlier, widely ridiculed attempt to start a national conversation on race relations by asking its employees to write "Race Together" on coffee cups.

Starbucks said the Philadelphia arrests never should have occurred. Some black coffee shop owners in the city suggested black customers instead make a habit of patronizing their businesses. Amalgam Comics and Coffeehouse owner Ariell Johnson said she has called the police just once in the two years she has been open. She said that should happen only when there is a provocation or danger.

Nelson and Robinson settled with Starbucks for an undisclosed sum and an offer of a free college education. They also reached a deal with the city of Philadelphia for a symbolic $1 each and a promise from officials to establish a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.

The two men visited the company's Seattle headquarters on Friday, Schultz said, to "see what Starbucks does every day." He added that Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson has agreed to mentor them. "I suspect this won't be the last time they come," Schultz said.

Calvin Lai, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, said diversity training can have mixed effects.

"In some cases it can even backfire and lead people who are kind of already reactive to these issues to become even more polarized," Lai said.

One afternoon wouldn't really be "moving the needle on the biases," he said, especially since Starbucks has so many employees and they may not stay very long.

Starbucks said the instruction will become part of how it trains all new workers. Stores will keep iPads given out for Tuesday's meetings and new videos will be added every month for additional training.

Starbucks said it also plans to hold training at its stores in other countries.

___

Associated Press reporters Terry Tang in Phoenix, Phuong Le and Elaine Thompson in Seattle, Lynne Sladky in Miami, Mark Gillespie in Cleveland and Errin Haines Whack in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Head of Egypt's State Information Service Deyaa Rashwan said on Tuesday that he has only one official Facebook page under his name, Al-Ahram Gate reported.

Rashwan said that an anonymous person created a second account under his name, using his photo as a profile picture. The SIS head also said the person had been sending friend requests to public figures and Egyptian officials using this profile.

He gave the following link goes as his only real and official profile on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Deyaa.Rashwan.

Authorities have been notified to take necessary legal procedures.

Rashwan also said that Facebook administration has been informed and asked to delete the fake account.

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Over the past two weeks, Italian and Egyptian investigation teams have met in Cairo to analyse all data collected during investigations of the killing of Italian student Giulio Regeni, a statement by the Egyptian prosecution read.

For the past two years, Egyptian and Italian authorities have been cooperating in the ongoing investigation into the murder of the Italian graduate student, who disappeared in Cairo on 25 January 2016, and was found dead 10 days later, bearing signs of torture.

According to the statement, camera recordings from Cairo's metro stations have been retrieved and presented to Italian technicians during the past two weeks.

The Egyptian team has issued a copy of the final investigations as well as some new investigations that were completed in the last few weeks to the Italian authorities.

The statement said that more meetings are being scheduled to follow up on the investigations.

Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadeq discussed in a phone call on Tuesday with his Italian counterpart the ongoing investigations into Regeni's murder, a statement by the general prosecution read.

Italys top prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone expressed appreciation during the call for Egypt's ongoing cooperation.

Sadeq told Pignatone that cooperation would continue until the perpetrators who were behind Regeni's death are referred to a criminal court, according to the statement.

In December, Egypt's President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi underscored in a meeting in Cairo with the Italian Minister of Interior Marco Minniti Egypt's "sincere determination" to reach final conclusions in the investigation.

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Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry denied French President Emmanuel Macron's assertion that the kingdom held Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri captive last November, official Saudi media reported on Tuesday.

In an interview with broadcaster BFM TV last week, Macron claimed credit for heading off war in Lebanon, which was plunged into crisis after Hariri resigned while in Saudi Arabia, saying he feared assassination and criticising the Saudis' regional rival Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Sources close to Hariri have said Saudi Arabia had concluded that the prime minister, a long-time Saudi ally, had to go because he was unwilling to confront Hezbollah.

After international intervention, including by Macron, Hariri was able to leave the kingdom and eventually rescinded his resignation.

Lebanese officials accused the Saudis at the time of holding Hariri hostage. Riyadh, like Hariri, denied he was ever held against his will.

The Saudi Foreign Ministry statement on Tuesday called Macron's comments "untrue" and said the kingdom would continue to support Lebanon's stability and security.

"All the evidence confirms that what is pulling Lebanon and the region towards instability is Iran and its tools like the Hezbollah terrorist militia..." the statement said.

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Arun M By

Express News Service

KOCHI: The honour killings, which had been the ugly underbelly of the caste-riven societies in the other states, have started to pervade the Kerala society with the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recording as many as five such cases in the state since 2014.A chilling reminder of the states slide into the casteist mayhem is borne out by the two recent cases of honour killing witnessed here.

Kevin P Joseph, a Dalit Christian from Kottayam, who was murdered on Monday for marrying a girl from an upper-class Christian household, has been the latest instance of the dreadful practice taking root in Kerala society.The Kottayam incident is the second one reported in the state in recent times and the fifth since 2014, as per the records.

ALSO READ | Abducted newlywed man's body found in Punalur a day after wife's complaint overlooked by Kerala police

According to the NCRB records, there have been five honour killing cases  three murders and two cases of culpable homicide not amounting to murder  registered in Kerala between 2014 and 2016.

Psychiatrist C J John said these instances are a warning sign of the communal divide existing in the socio-political scenario of the state.

Kevin P Josephs mother M O Mary is inconsolable after hearing about

her sons demise | Vishnu Prathap

Due to several reasons the communal divide is happening in the state, though in a somewhat subtle manner. But we should resist the divide in the society. However, this is not being done and the senior citizens, mainly parents, are responsible for creating the divide and the youth are blindly following them without looking into the merits and demerits, said the psychiatrist.

The Kottayam incident occurred barely two months after Athira, 23 of Pathanapuram near Areekode was stabbed to death by her father on the eve of the marriage. A Thiyya girl, Athira was to marry her fiance Brijesh, 25, from Koyilandy. Since Brijesh belonged to the SC, the marriage was vehemently opposed by Rajan, father of Athira.

ALSO READ | Athira murder case: Police confirm honour killing, victims father held

What this alleged honour killing (Kevin) has exposed is the upper class Christian communitys ethical values more than the political affiliations of alleged accused, said Shibi Peter, a social activist, who is associated with the Centre for Social Studies and Culture, Kottayam.

Activists of various political outfits, including the Congress, BJP, CSDS and

SDPI, stage a blockade in front of Gandhinagar police station on Monday |

Vishnu Prathap

The number of honour killings in Kerala compared to the other states is quite low. However, the CPM and church are the two factors maintaining a vigil to prevent marriages with Dalits and tribals, he said.

Referring to the DYFI release which said several of its workers and leaders had opted for intercaste marriage, he said while this in indeed true, the question is how many of them had married Dalits or tribals.

Recently, the CBI court found two persons guilty in a case related to the murder of a Kasargod native Youth Congress leader for marrying a woman belonging to another religion in 2001.

Balakrishnan was stabbed to death after being abducted. The 29-year-olds crime was that he married a Muslim woman- daughter of Aboobackar Haji of Uppala in Kasargod.

ALSO READ | Balakrishnan murder: CBI court finds two guilty, acquits three

Mohammad Iqbal alias Ikku of Thekkil, Chattachal, Kasargod, and Mohammed Haneef alias Jackie Haneef of Thalangara, Kasargod were found guilty by the CBI court under Sections 120(b) and 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

5 Cases of honour killings recorded in the state since 2014.
By PTI

JOHANNESBURG: A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl was today killed in a botched car hijacking, leading to angry protests by the community members in the Indian township of Chatsworth in Durban.

The girl, Sadia Sukhraj, was on her way to school with her father when three armed men allegedly accosted and hijacked the car she was in and sped away with her.

In an ensuing chase in which the hijackers and community members shot at each other, the hijackers crashed the car they were in.

The girl was found shot and critically injured while one of the hijackers tumbled out of the car dead.

She was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her serious injuries.

A second hijacker was arrested by an off-duty policeman, while the third one escaped.

Some among the protestors are still highly-charged. #ChatsworthProtest pic.twitter.com/lji2Yu9nwX  Dasen Thathiah (@DasenThathiah) May 28, 2018

Following the incident, more than 3,000 members of the community converged outside Chatsworth police station calling for urgent police action.

As the small contingent of officers at the police station allegedly came under severe verbal abuse and threats of physical action from protestors, they resorted to firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, which included scores of children.

Councillor Jonathan Annipen tells residents hes spoken to Community Safety MEC Mxolisi Kaunda. Those arrested during the #ChatsworthProtest may be released on bail tonight. pic.twitter.com/lmnQsIKKQ5  Dasen Thathiah (@DasenThathiah) May 28, 2018

Mahendra Lillkan, chairperson of the local Crime Forum, said there had been a spike in crime in the area, despite community patrols at night.

"It seems that the criminals have now resorted to striking at soft targets, such as parents taking their children to school, as we have seen with this tragic incident."

Police and community leaders have appealed for calm amid fears that the protests would escalate tomorrow as the distraught family prepared for the funeral.
The United Nations called on Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to provide information about women's rights activists arrested ahead of the lifting of a ban on women driving that is part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's reform programme.

The UN human rights office said the government should ensure the women and other campaigners in custody have due process.

The crackdown on women's rights activists, just weeks before a much-hyped lifting of the has revived doubts about Prince Mohammed approach to reforms in the kingdom.

Nearly a dozen prominent activists, mostly women who for years urged reforms that are now being implemented, were arrested this month, drawing a rare expression of concern from the UN human rights office on Tuesday.

Six women and three men are known to remain in custody facing very serious allegations that "could lead to draconian sentences", UN human rights spokeswoman Liz Throssell told a Geneva briefing.

Their exact whereabouts is unknown and most of them have only been permitted to make a single telephone call to their families since they were arrested, she said.

"We urge the Saudi Arabian authorities to reveal their locations, and ensure their rights to due process guarantees," Throssell said. "If, as it appears, their detention is related solely to their work as human rights defenders and activists on womens issues, they should be released immediately."

They are entitled to the right to legal representation, to know the nature of the charges against them, to have access to their families and to be brought before an impartial tribunal within a reasonable period of time, she added.

Saudi authorities should provide information about a Saudi prince, Nawaf Talal Rasheed, reported to be missing since being deported from Kuwait on May 12 and to make clear if was arrested and on what grounds, she said. He is also Qatari national.

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The agreement reached Tuesday by four senior Libyan leaders to hold elections in December is "an essential step toward reconciliation" in the war-torn country, President Emmanuel Macron said.

The gathering of the rival leaders at a peace conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris was "a historic meeting" that had the support of "the entire international community", he said at a press conference.

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Gaza's Islamist rulers Hamas and an allied militant group claimed joint responsibility on Tuesday for a barrage of rockets and mortar rounds fired at Israel throughout the day.

The military wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad announced in a rare joint statement their "responsibility for the striking of military positions and Zionist settlements surrounding the Gaza Strip," saying it was in response to Israeli attacks targeting their positions in recent days.

The two groups said "all options will be open" to them, adding the Israeli "crimes can not be tolerated".

Israel launched three military offensives against Gaza since 2008.

Dozens of mortars and rockets were fired from Gaza throughout Tuesday, with the Israeli army striking dozens of "military targets" in Gaza in response.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties, though three Israeli soldiers were injured -- one moderately and two lightly.

Three members of Islamic Jihad were killed in an Israeli strike Sunday, with the group vowing revenge.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Reporter

Noelle McGee is a Danville-based reporter at The News-Gazette. Her email is nmcgee@news-gazette.com, and you can follow her on Twitter (@n_mcgee).
One of Editor & Publishers 10 That Do It Right 2021
Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri headed to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the second time since his shock resignation in the kingdom last year.

On November 4, Hariri announced he was stepping down in a televised address from Riyadh.

After French mediation, however, he rescinded his resignation the following month and was named premier for a third term this month after Lebanon's first parliamentary polls in nine years.

"Hariri headed to Saudi Arabia for a visit expected to last a few days," his office said in a statement late Tuesday.

It is the premier's second visit to Saudi Arabia since his surprise resignation after an earlier trip in February.

Hariri, 48, has started consultations to form a coalition government.

His Future Movement lost a third of its seats on May 6, when voters reinforced the strength of the Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies.

Hariri has been prime minister since December 2016 and served his first term from 2009 to 2011.

Saudi Arabia has long been a key ally of Hariri, while Riyadh's regional foe Iran backs Hezbollah.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Zimbabwe's new airline, Zimbabwe Airways  which has been linked to the family of ousted former president Robert Mugabe  has hit fresh controversy.



This comes as the Daily News has been told that one of the airlines new planes that it recently sourced from Malaysia  a Boeing 777 jetliner  has already been sent back to the Asian country for repairs before it has made a single commercial flight.



This also comes as the government is yet to receive the remaining three wide-bodied aircraft from Malaysia Airlines, which are to be used by the new airline whose ownership has prompted more questions than answers  although the government, which initially distanced itself from the secretive carrier, now says it owns it.



Well-placed sources said yesterday that the new Boeing 777 jetliner had recently flown back to Malaysia for A checks and other maintenance works.



A subsequent visit by a Daily News crew to Robert Mugabe International Airport confirmed that the plane was indeed no longer parked at the airport.



According to experts, A-Check maintenance refers to checks that are carried out on an aeroplane every eight to 10 weeks  where filters will be changed, key systems (like hydraulics in the control surfaces that steer the aircraft) will be lubricated and a detailed inspection of all the emergency equipment (like inflatable slides) is completed.



Transport minister Joram Gumbo, who has been tormented by the Zim Airways deal, could neither deny nor confirm yesterday that the Boeing 777 had been flown back to Malaysia.



Ask whoever told you that the plane went for repairs to tell you the extent of the damage. As far as I am concerned, I do not know anything about it, Gumbo said curtly.



The sources who spoke to the Daily News said as long as the plane was not flying, it would continue to gobble hundreds of thousands of dollars both in parking fees and maintenance costs.

They also revealed that the plane had raked up a bill of more than $100 000 in parking, maintenance fees and crew hire alone in the short time that it had been parked at the airport.



The delay in flying the new plane commercially has apparently been partly caused by the fact that Zim Airways has no qualified captains to fly it, and will thus have to fork out even more money to hire expatriate pilots.



Unfortunately, if the delay in organising everything continues, the costs of maintaining it will keep ballooning, especially considering the fact that it is not making any money  which all raises more questions as to how we have ended up where we are, other aviation sources have said.



Firstly, no one wanted those old planes and so they should have cost us much, much less. Secondly, Zim Airways clearly has no capacity to operate those aircraft, as they have no trained pilots and engineers for them.



This means that we will need to hire expatriates to fly the planes, and the going rate for a B777 captain is at least $20 000 per month which is unaffordable in this market, where you dont even have the passengers to justify the investment.



You require at least three sets of pilots per aircraft, although you can even go up to five if you have 15-hour flights and above, one of the aviation experts told the Daily News on the day the government received the 777 jetliner which was flown by a set of five Malaysian pilots when it landed in Harare.



The plane touched down at the Robert Mugabe International Airport on April 11, this year, at a glittering ceremony that was attended by many government officials.

It was brought as part one of the opaque deal that will see a total of four wide-bodied planes eventually being sourced from Air Malaysia for Zim Airways.



Government is also set to bring in two Embraer jets  raising more concerns about the Air Malaysian deal and the governments seeming lack of preparedness for the planes. Daily News
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A senior North Korean official is headed to New York to discuss an upcoming summit, US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, the latest indication that an on-again-off-again meeting between Trump and North Korea's leader may go ahead next month.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump said in a Twitter post.

Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing an unidentified source.

The talks indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week in a letter to the North's leader, Kim Jong Un.

A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

Kim Yong Chol will be the most senior North Korean official to meet top officials for talks in the United States since Jo Myong Rok, a marshal, met then-President Bill Clinton at the White House in 2000.

Analysts believe the United States is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree to sufficient steps towards denuclearisation to allow a summit to take place.

North Korean leader Kim's de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing late on Monday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

At the same time, a "pre-advance" US team was in Singapore to meet North Koreans.

In Singapore, a team of US officials, with a fleet of idling vehicles on standby, was at a hotel on the resort island of Sentosa but declined to comment.

Nuclear Negotiations

North Korea has faced years of isolation and economic sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes since it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

But events have moved quickly since Kim Jong Un made a conciliatory New Years address at the end of last year, following months of sharply rising tension.

The latest flurry of diplomacy began on Saturday, when Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting on at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-US summit must be held.

On Sunday, the US State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former US ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led the US delegation, an official told Reuters.

Sung Kim will meet North Korea's foreign ministry official Choi Sun Hee again on Wednesday on the border, Yonhap reported, citing a diplomatic source, adding that the agenda for the Trump-Kim summit would be roughly worked out.

While likely substantive, those discussions could be upstaged by any talks between Kim Yong Chol and officials in the United States, said Evans Revere, a former senior diplomat who dealt with North Korea under US President George W. Bush.

"We now know that the main discussion of the agenda and any possible deal will take place (in the United States), not in Panmunjom," he said

The future of North Korea's nuclear programme, US security guarantees and coordination for a Trump-Kim summit are likely to be at the top of the agenda, analysts said.

"The most important agenda item would be the method of denuclearisation," said Moon Sung-mook, a former South Korean military official who negotiated with Kim in the past. "We can expect that Kim is visiting the US in order to do final coordination ahead of the June 12 summit."

In Kim Jong Un and Moon's first meeting on April 27, they agreed to seek the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula - but didn't define what that meant, or how that would proceed.

Since then, North Korea has rejected US demands for it to unilaterally abandon its nuclear programme that experts say could threaten the United States.

North Korea also demanded the United States stop military exercises with South Korea if it truly wished for talks with North Korea, the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said.

South Korea's defence ministry said it did not have plans to change exercise schedules with the US military.

North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programmes as a deterrent against what it sees as US aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

Senior Visit

A former military spy chief, Kim Yong Chol has played a central role in the recent thaw in relations between North Korea and South Korea, as well as the United States.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted him for supporting the North's nuclear and missile programmes in 2010 and 2016, respectively, so a visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.

During his tenure as a senior intelligence official, Kim was accused by South Korea of masterminding deadly attacks on a South Korean navy ship and an island in 2010. He was linked by US intelligence to a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014.

North Korea denied any involvement in the attack on the ship and on Sony Pictures.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was "going there to play", according to Nippon Television Network.

Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North American issues, was also spotted at Beijing airport, according to Yonhap. It did not say whether Choe would be accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

China said it had no information to offer on any North Korean officials travelling to the United States via Beijing.

Meanwhile, Japan said it had detected what appeared to be a Chinese-flagged vessel, 350 km (218 miles) off Shanghai, conducting illegal transfers to a North Korean ship.

China has repeatedly said it is fully enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea and it would punish any Chinese company breaking them.

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(Newser)  The Nipah virus has now killed at least a dozen people in southern India and health workers fear it could become a global epidemic if it isn't tightly monitored. More than 40 other people have been infected with the virus, which has a mortality rate of around 75%, Fox News reports. Health officials believe the outbreak in Kerala state began with an infected fruit bat, with later infections coming from human-to-human contact. There's no known cure or vaccine for Nipah, which causes symptoms including fever, vomiting, and convulsions. To avoid being infected by fruit bats, citizens have been urged to ignore fallen fruit on the ground, especially if it has claw or tooth marks.

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Previous outbreaks of Nipah were recorded in West Bengal and Bangladesh, more than a thousand miles away from the current outbreak. Experts aren't sure how it ended up in Kerala, especially since no cases have been detected elsewhere in southern India and even migratory bats don't travel that far. Some experts believe it was spread through infected figs and dates, while others say pressures on fruit bat populations may have activated the virus. "This is why it is so important to find the source of this outbreak," a medical officer tells FirstPost. "Only if we answer the question of how the virus came to this part of the world can we put in place scientific measures to ensure that such an outbreak does not happen anywhere close by again. Otherwise, we cannot be sure of how and in which way this virus would spread in the future." (Read more India stories.)
(Newser)  For 132 years, Coca-Cola has stuck to non-alcoholic beverages. No more. On Monday, the company introduced three fizzy lemon drinks in 3%, 5%, and 7% alcohol on the Japanese island of Kyushu, home to 13 million people. Coca-Cola's Lemon-Do falls into Japan's popular "chuhai" category, drinks that typically combine grain-based alcohol with flavored carbonated water, reports the Wall Street Journal. The canned beveragein lemon, salty lemon, and honey and lemon flavorswill be slightly cheaper than the average chuhai, however, with a $1.50 price tag including tax.

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"We've started to experiment because, in the end, we are trying to follow the consumer. And, in the case of Japan, this is a relatively well-developed segment of low alcohol," Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey says, per the Journal. The brand hopes to appeal to female drinkers especially. Early testers seem impressed, comparing the drink to those made in bars. "I'm a bit surprised that this is a Coca-Cola brand," says a 59-year-old tester. "It's nice, but I would add a splash of grapefruit or more lemon to it." There are no plans to make Lemon-Do available outside of Japan, reports the BBC. (Read more Coca Cola stories.)
(Newser)  WYFF in South Carolina is mourning two of its journalists, who were killed Monday while covering the effects of subtropical storm Alberto on the region. News anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were killed when a tree fell on their SUV in Polk County, North Carolina, about 30 miles away from the Greenville TV station. "Tonight, our news family grieves over the loss of two special journalists and two special friends," WYFF anchor Carol Goldsmith said at the start of the station's 6pm broadcast, less than four hours after the men lost their lives. Tryon Fire Department Chief Geoffrey Tennant told reporters that the large tree fell on the SUV as the men traveled on Highway 176, the Washington Post reports.

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Tennant said he spoke to the men not long before the accident. "We had talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe and I wanted him to stay safe and of course 10 or 15 minutes later we got the call and it was him and his photographer," Tennant said. "It's the first time I ever met either one of those two gentleman, but you feel a sense of responsibility to them." He said the men were killed instantly when the tree's roots came out of soil saturated by a week of rain and it fell. Alberto came ashore on the Florida Panhandle Monday afternoon and although it has been downgraded to a depression, authorities warn that the system could cause flooding as it brings heavy rain to Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas, the AP reports. (Read more journalists killed stories.)
(Newser)  He's said to be behind the 2014 Sony hack, made an appearance at the Pyeongchang Olympics, and is often right next to Kim Jong Un at meetings with global leaders. Now one of North Korea's most high-level officials is on his way to the US, reportedly to attend meetings designed to get the President Trump-Kim Jong Un summit back on track, the BBC reports. Kim Yong Chol, who would be the most senior North Korean official to visit the US since 2000, is believed to be arriving in New York on Wednesday, per the Yonhap News Agency, in what CNN notes would be an indicator that Washington and Pyongyang are trying to get a summit back online after Trump pulled out of the June 12 meeting last week. Kim is an ex-spy chief who was personally sanctioned by the US after the Sony hack and the 2010 torpedoing of a South Korean warship that killed 46 on board.

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This development may be part of what the Wall Street Journal calls the "mad dash" to revive the summit, which also included postponing a new round of sanctions against the North, per a US official. Kim Yong Chol's visit would also follow the surprise meeting over the weekend between Kim Jong Un and South Korean leader Moon Jae-in, who apparently discussed the US-North Korea summit. Trump referenced Kim Yong Chol's visit in a tweet early Tuesday: "We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" (Trump is fighting the New York Times over a White House source on the summit.)
(Newser)  The family of a French boy who was saved as he dangled from a fourth-floor balcony by a man dubbed "Spider-Man" is now calling Mamoudou Gassama's actions "incredible"and shaking their heads at the child's father for leaving him unattended. Gassama is "truly a hero," the 4-year-old's grandmother tells the BBC of Malian migrant, who scaled a Paris building in just seconds to rescue the boy. The child had reportedly gone to live with his dad just weeks ago, with his mom and sibling set to join them from Reunion Island in June. The building's concierge tells BFMTV the father actually lives on the sixth floor; a new report says the boy fell two stories before grabbing onto the fourth-floor balcony. A French prosecutor says the father left the boy alone to go shopping and stopped on the way home to play Pokemon Go, per CNN.

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"I can't justify what my husband did," the boy's mother tells Antenne Reunion, via the BBC. "My son was just lucky." She adds that her husband wasn't used to watching their son and had left him alone in the past. The father, who was taken into police custody on Sunday, could face up to two years in prison if convicted on charges of "failure to meet parental obligations," per the New York Times. Meanwhile, some are railing against President Emmanuel Macron's offer of French citizenship to the 22-year-old Gassama, calling it a PR stunt considering Macron's hardline approach to immigration. "I dream of a country where it wouldn't be necessary to scale a building to save the life of a child, at the risk of one's own life, to be treated like a human being when you are a migrant," posted an editor for a literary magazine on Facebook. The BBC has more on Gassama's life. (Read more France stories.)
(Newser)  The weekend might have started with a "devastating" act of hate, but it ended with an "outpouring of love." That from the manager of Sunset Hill Cemetery in Glen Carbon, Ill., 20 miles northeast of St. Louis, where more than 1,400 veterans are buried. Early Saturday, a building and some 200 gravestones were found vandalized with spray-painted swastikas. In nearby Edwardsville, dozens of homes, vehicles, signs, and mailboxes were marked in the same way, per the Alton Telegraph. Cemetery manager Jeanne Brunette described "tears and disillusionment and disappointment" days before a 29th annual Memorial Day ceremony to be attended by hundreds, per the New York Times. "We haven't seen anything of this magnitude in the 30 years that I've been here," the grounds superintendent adds, per KMOV.

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The son of a veteran noted the swastikas were especially upsetting as "the majority of the people buried up here that were in the service fought during World War II," per KSDK. But thanks to volunteers and local businesses that donated food and products, the swastikas were erased from view in time for Monday's event. An arrest had also been made by that time. A 34-year-old white male was taken into custody Saturday afternoon after Edwardsville police shared a surveillance video showing a person leaving the vandalized area. Described as previously known to police, Timothy VA Mclean of Glen Carbon is expected to be charged with a hate crime and institutional vandalism, per the Telegraph. "The fact that he did this on Memorial Day weekend is inexcusable and disgusting behavior that we're not going to tolerate," a police rep tells the Times. (Read more swastikas stories.)
(Newser)  If you're looking to get your Starbucks fix Tuesday, make a morning run or find somewhere else to get caffeinated. All Starbucks locationsmore than 8,000 nationwideare closing in the afternoon for training to educate its 175,000-plus workers on racial bias, per Money. The program is in response to two black men who were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks last month while waiting for a business meeting. Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson have settled with the city for $1 each, along with a vow from Philadelphia officials to invest $200,000 in a program for young entrepreneurs. Starbucks says this training is just the beginning. "We know that one day of training will not stop bias or solve racism," a rep tells Money. "These are hard, complex questions and this is a step in a long-term effort." Check out what time your local Starbucks will be closing here. More:

USA Today and the AP report that a "tool kit" will be offered to employees that will "focus on understanding prejudice and the history of public accommodations in the United States." The program also includes a short documentary film, as well as comments from Starbucks execs and rapper Common. The media won't be privy to the training sessions, which a Clark Atlanta University race and gender expert says is probably best to create a "safe [space] for open dialogue."

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There are five things Starbucks "has to get right" in Tuesday's training, per CNBC, including teaching about white privilege and avoiding making "false equivalencies." "While it might be tempting to frame this issue as 'bias can happen to anyone anytime,' I'd recommend against letting anyone come away from the program thinking that what happened in Philadelphia could have happened to two white customers," one consultant says.

Count Vox, which talked to five social scientists about racial bias, among those in the "this isn't nearly enough" camp. In some cases, one expert says, such training can even backfire by bringing long-buried biases to the surface, and not in a constructive way. "Diversity trainings are filled with good intentions and poor evidence," one University of Virginia researcher says.

Still, the training is a "good start," Andrew Ross Sorkin writes for the New York Times. Sorkin doesn't think any other US company is investing as much money or tackling so publicly the issue of race. He says the Starbucks program "will start a dialogue among some 175,000 employees," with "the hope  that they will continue the conversation in stores, at home, and among their family and friends for days, weeks, and months, multiplying the impact."

NBC News notes there are other places to get your latte on Tuesday, and on any other dayspecifically, at black-owned coffee shops where owners try to make everyone feel welcome. "Do you want to spend your dollars at a place where you can feel safe or a place where they're going to call the police on you?" the proprietor of a Philly coffeehouse notes.

So what else is Starbucks doing beyond Tuesday? CNNMoney notes even non-customers can now hang out and use Starbucks' restrooms without buying anything, with limits (e.g., no sleeping or smoking in the restrooms), and more training sessions are said to be in the works.

(Read more Starbucks stories.)
(Newser)  All they have is a photo from the 1970s, a nickname, and social mediabut the veterans from one Vietnam War platoon are hoping that will be enough to track down the buddy they called "Louisiana." Posting from her husband's Vietnam reunion earlier this month, Susan Waldrop Garvin posted the photo of the man, taken in 1970 or 1971 when his friends estimate he was 18 to 20 years old, and what his buddies remembered about him: his dark curly hair, the necklace he wore along with his dog tags, the fact that he had so many nicknames they don't even know if they ever knew his real nameand that, due to his main nickname, they think he may have hailed from Louisiana. "He was a grunt on the ground in Vietnam. ARMY infantry; D Company; 2/8th CAVALRY; Range platoon in Vietnam," she wrote, pleading for anyone who might recognize him to come forward.

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The post also included a video (viewed more than 170, 000 times so far, Garvin says) of three of his buddies talking about how much they miss him and want to track him down. Garvin's husband Jim, who took the photograph, says he takes it to every reunion he attends and everyone remembers Louisiana, but no one has been able to identify him. That post has been shared more than 130,000 times, and Garvin has made subsequent posts as news organizations have picked up the story. "We just remember that the picture represents the beautiful grin that he had almost all the time," Jim Garvin tells WBRZ. To WWL-TV, he adds that Louisiana was "a very jovial and lighthearted person and kind of lifted the spirits of the rest of the troops." "He was just a very happy-go-lucky, very positive individual," he tells NBC DFW. He adds that attending reunions can be "healing" for vets, and he hopes Louisiana can make it to one. (Read more Vietnam veterans stories.)
(Newser)  The company behind OxyContin may have a little secretthat it knew early on about people abusing its powerful painkilling drug and said nothing, the New York Times reports. Purdue Pharma executives received reports of "significant" abuse soon after Oxycontin's 1996 release, including people stealing and snorting the drug, according to a confidential Justice Department report. But when a four-year federal probe recommended felony charges against three senior Purdue Pharma executives, Justice officials in George W. Bush's administration didn't back the strategy and opted to settle in 2007. Three executives took sole responsibility, pleading guilty to a misdemeanor "misbranding" charge, and with the company paid $634.5 million in fines.

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The Times chronicles OxyContin's journey through the marketplace, from its questionable FDA approval to Purdue salespeople claiming OxyContin was less addictive than other opioids (despite its high narcotic levels). Reports emerged of Oxycontin's predecessor drug, MS Contin, being abused, and by 1999 Purdue officials apparently learned that OxyContin was called "the hottest thing on the streetforget Vicodin." Then came the 2007 case, which Justice officials called a win, while others saw an opportunity lost. "It would have been a turning point," says a former DEA official. "It would have sent a message to the entire drug industry." Meanwhile drug companies fueled the opioid crisis by sending pills to areas plagued by drug abuse, supplying West Virginia with enough to give each person 433 pills over a five-year period, the Charleston Gazette-Mail reports. (Read more OxyContin stories.)
(Newser)  A Philadelphia woman denies spitting on an officer before she was arrested Saturday and punched in the head at least twice, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. "The cops smashed my head into the ground when he tackled me and I spit the sand out of my mouth," Emily Weinman told reporters in a Facebook message. "So no, it is not true." A viral video shows the 20-year-old being arrested on the beach in Wildwood, NJ, and sparked rival accounts of what happened. Weinman admits she refused to tell officers her name and asked if they couldn't do something besides bother underage drinkers; she had alcohol, she says, but hadn't been drinking. Police say she kicked an officer in the groin and spat on them before an officer tackled her.

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Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano sides with the cops: "She's a combatant," he says. "Sometimes police have to do what they have to do to stun them." A former bouncer, Troiano says women "can be hard to control. They're kicking, they don't care. ... Look I don't care who you are and what you are, the worse people [to subdue] are women." He claims police body cam footage will tell "a whole different story" when it gets released. Per court records, Weinman is on probation after entering the home of a woman she thought was seeing her ex-boyfriend and attacking her in 2016. The lawyer who represented her in that case says it was unlike Weinman: "Whatever happened in the first case seems to be an anomaly in her personality," he tells the Daily News. (Read more New Jersey stories.)
Finance Minister Amr El-Garhy has approved the allocation of EGP 4.6 billion to several state institutions, including the Railways Authority, the Cairo Metro Authority, and the General Authority For Health Insurance, the ministry said on Tuesday.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the finance ministry stated that it allocated EGP 4 billion to the General Authority For Supply Commodities, for food supply cards and for subsidised bread in May.

The finance ministry also said it had issued guarantees for $14.8 million to buy 63,000 tons of imported wheat.

The ministry also allocated EGP 220 million to the National Media Authority to pay the salaries of its employees in May, and EGP 125 million to the National Press Authority, to pay the salaries of employees and journalists in state-owned press institutions.

A sum of EGP 98.5 million was allocated to the states Cotton and TextileIndustries Holding Company, to pay the salaries of its workers in May.

A sum of EGP 67.6 million was paid to the Railways Authority and the Cairo Metro Authority, including EGP 4.5 million to support subsidised ticket subscriptions for students and school pupils in April.

A sum of EGP 60.6 million was allocated to the General Authority For Health Insuranceto provide health insurance to students, children of school age, and working women for the month of May.

The ministry also allocated EGP 62.5 million to subsides the Holding Company for Water and Waste Water, and EGP 4.3 million for the salaries at state-owned irrigation companies in May.

A sum of EGP 2.6 million are allocated to the Supreme Council of Culture to pay the salaries of the Sound and Light Cinema Company in May.

The general budget for 2017/2018 amounts to EGP 1,206 billion.

According to Egypt's finance ministry, the budget deficit reached EGP 218 billion from July 2017 to January 2018, which is equal to 5.1 percent of GDP, compared to an EGP 195.8 billion budget deficit in the same period of the previous year.

According to the statement, the total expenses increased to EGP 570.2 billion in those seven months, compared with EGP 464.4 billion in the same period of last year.

The salaries, wages and compensations paid to public servants increased by 4.8 percent in those seven months to reach EGP 103.4 billion, as permanent salaries increased to reach EGP 36.8 billion, while bonuses increased to reach EGP 2.8 billion.

The ministry added that the purchase of merchandise and services increased to EGP 21.9 billion while expenses increased to EGP 204.7 billion.

Social subsidies and support increased as well to reach EGP 131 billion.

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Five wooden beams that were installed during the restoration work carried out at the mosque in 2005 collapsed, leading to a collapse in the ceiling of one of the arcades

The restored wooden beams holding up the ceiling of part of the arcade in the medieval mosque and madrassa of Sarghatmish collapsed on Tuesday morning, Egypts antiquities ministry has said.

Gamal Mustafa, head of the Islamic and Coptic Antiquities Department at the ministry, told Ahram Online that five wooden beams that were installed during the restoration work carried out at the mosque in 2005 to hold up the wooden ceiling of the mosque qiblas riwaq (arcade) had collapsed.

He said that there are no casualties reported and the mosque, located in Cairos Sayyeda Zeinab, is in good conservation condition, except for the fallen beams, and the decorative element that runs along the upper level of the mosques main facade.

An engineering company will now consolidate the mosque to avoid any further risk, and start the restoration of the ceiling, Mustafa said, while a cleaning crew from the Arab Contractors cleans the debris.

The mosque-madrassa comprises an open court with a water fountain at its centre, surrounded by eight marble pillars and four iwan (vaulted halls). The mihrab (the point faced during prayer) of the mosque has a panel of white marble with a medallion in the centre and four quarter-medallions in the corners.

Hidden among the leaf and stem forms of the arabesque design are six birds and five hands. On the north corner of the facade are finely carved mashrabiya (wooden lattice) windows.

14th-century treasure

The mosque is located in Saliba Street close to such important Islamic monuments as the mosque of Ibn Tulun, the madrassa and sabil-kuttab of Sultan Qaitbay, the Gayer Anderson House, the mosque of Raghri Bardi and the mosque and madrassa of Hassan Pasha Tahir.

Until the 14th century, the area was dotted with waste and rubbish heaps along with cemeteries and private estates. The redevelopment of the citadel under Sultan Al- Nasser Mohamed led to the transformation of this zone into an urban area, and Saliba Street became a major thoroughfare. Princes built town houses, palaces, mosques and schools in the area.

The mosque and madrassa of Sarghatmish are attached to the northeast wall of the Ibn Tulun mosque and were originally part of the Ibn Tulun complex, but were later turned into houses.

In 1356 these houses were demolished by Prince Sarghatmish, a Mamluk in the reign of Al-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Qalawun, so he could build his own mosque and madrassa.

This renowned Mamluk prince was the jamandara (wardrobe keeper) of Al-Nasser Mohamed Ibn Qalawun. His prominence dates from the reigns of Al-Nasser's minor sons, when he took an active part in battles waged on their behalf.

In 1354, supporting Prince Shaykhu, he was one of the principal agents in the re-election of Sultan Hassan, and after Shaykhu's assassination he became the amir kabir or "great prince".

He was virtual ruler of Egypt for Hassan, who in 1358 had Sarghatmish thrown into prison and put to death. He was buried under the dome of his madrassa.

The Sarghatmish madrassa is a good example of the type founded in the mid-14th century by Mamluk emirs in support of higher Quranic studies, prophetic traditions and jurisprudence.

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New Delhi:

Bank customers need to hurry up and finish their banking works soon as a two-day-long nationwide bank strike has been lined up till May 31 starting from Wednesday, May 30, 2018.

ATM services along with bank operations will be hit badly as employees and officers of various state-run banks will go on strike to protest against a two per cent wage hike offered by the Indian Banks Association (IBA).

It its last meeting with Bank unions on May 5, the IBA negotiated on a nominal two per cent wage hike but failed to convinced the bank employees. The decision came after higher losses were reported due to provisions towards NPA (Non-Performing Assets).

The losses, however, were not because of the bank employees. In the last wage settlement between November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2017, IBA had given a wage hike of 15 per cent.

Read | Petrol, diesel prices rise for 16th consecutive day; government mum on solution

Bank officers had been also asking for various other demands, which would now be restricted up to scale III officers only.

Talking about the ATM services, bank unions have promised to replenish the ATMs before they go on strike. Bank ATMs will not go dry as monthly salary credits for many organisations are scheduled for Thursday, May 31, 2018.

However, last year, during a nationwide strike, some ATMs went dry and clearing of cheques, money transfer, cash remittances, and deposit and withdrawals were affected at various branches across India.

Speculations had been also rife that ATM guards will also take part in the nationwide protest, scheduled to take place from May 30 to May 31.

On 30 & 31st May, 10 lakh bank employees all over India will be on strike over the issue of wage revision: Ashwani Rana, VP, National Organisation of Bank Workers pic.twitter.com/rcblkWQBGJ  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Read | Rs 25 per litre cut possible in fuel prices, claims P Chidambaram

Though services of country's largest lender States Bank of India are expected to be impacted, online transactions will continue to work even after banks go on strike.

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New Delhi:

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) on Tuesday declared the CBSE Class 10th 2018 results at 1 pm. The CBSE has made the results available on its official website--cbse.nic.in.

According to CBSE officials, the overall pass percentage in the Class 10 board examinations is 86.70. Girls, with a pass percentage of 88.67, outshone boys, who registered a pass percentage of 85.32.

Prakhar Mittal from Gurugram, Bijnor's Rimzhim Agrawal, Shamli's Nandni Garg and Sreelakshmi G from Cochin topped the CBSE Class 10th Examination, each scoring 499 marks out of 500.

Talking about Nandni's extraordinary results, her father said, "I am proud of my daughter. She has always been focused and wants to become an IAS officer in the future. She has an inquisitive nature, always wants to learn new things".

"We are very proud of her, she has made the school and the district proud. She has a balanced approach towards studies and other activities," ANI quoted Ashu Tyagi, Nandini's principal.

We are very proud of her, she has made the school and the district proud. She has a balanced approach towards studies &other activities: Ms Ashu Tyagi, Principal Shamli's Scottish International School whose Nandini Garg scored 499 out 500 in #CBSE10THResult2018 pic.twitter.com/8yhb4InZOl  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 29, 2018

Anil Swarup, secretary of HRD Ministry, on Tuesday took to micro-blogging site Twitter and shared the news about the announcement of the CBSE Class 10th results.

"Congratulations to those who have succeeded. This is basically preparation for 12th board. Those students who have got compartment should prepare again and I'm sure they'll do well," Prakash Javadekar was quoted by ANI.

This was the first batch to appear for the Class 10 board examinations after the CBSE decided to junk the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and reintroduce the board exams.

Meanwhile, students, who are waiting eagerly to download their CBSE Class 10th results 2018, may go through the following steps.

Steps to check CBSE Class 10th Results 2018:

Step 1: Log in to the official website

Step 2: Click on the link 'CBSE 10th Result 2018'

Step 3: Enter the required details such as Roll Number

Step 4: Check your result

Step 5: Take a print out of the same for future reference

CBSE Class 10 results for 2017-18 declared  Anil Swarup (@swarup58) 29 May 2018

Read | Suspended for long hug, Kerala boy gets 91 per cent in class 12 exam



Additionally, students will also be able to check their results on Google by searching for CBSE Class 10 result.

"CBSE has partnered with Google for the first time to host the boards Class 10 and Class 12 results on the search engine," Hindustan Times quoted CBSE spokesperson Rama Sharma.

Earlier, the CBSE conducted the Class 10th examination between March 5 to April 4 for the academic session 2017-18.

This year, 28.24 lakh students registered for the CBSE board exams. Out of these, around 16.38 lakh students appeared for the Class 10th boards while 11.86 lakh students sat for the Class 12th board exams in 2018.

CBSE declared the results for Class 12 examination on May 26, 2018. Total 83.01 per cent candidates have cleared the CBSE Class 12 examination. Meghna Srivastava from Ghaziabad topped the examination with 499 marks out of 500.

Read | WBBSE Madhyamik Result: West Bengal Class 10th results 2018 likely to be declared on June first week at wbbse.org
New Delhi:

The eight men accused in the Kathua rape and murder case will be produced before a court in Pathankot in Punjab on May 31 in accordance with the Supreme Court directions, officials said on Tuesday.

The eight were accused of rape and murder of an eight-year-old girl from a minority nomadic community in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

The J-K Crime Branch will produce the charge sheet in the case and all the accused in the case before the district and sessions judge in Pathankot, 30 km from Kathua.

The police team will request permission to translate all the documents from Urdu to English. Also, citing security concerns in transporting the accused to court, the public prosecutor will move a plea to keep them in judicial custody in Pathankot, the officials said.

"The learned district and sessions judge, Pathankot, shall himself take up the trial and not assign it to any additional sessions judge and shall fast-track the trial and take it up on day-to-day basis so that there is no delay in trial," the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court order had said earlier in May.

Several petitions in the case were filed in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court as well as the Supreme Court. And, the Crime Branch had submitted a charge sheet in the crime on April 9 before the Kathua court.

Earlier, lawyers of the Kathua bar association tried to prevent the police from filing the documents in the case.

According to the 15-page charge sheet, the minor girl was kidnapped on January 10 and allegedly raped in captivity in a small village temple in Kathua district after having sedated her for four days and was bludgeoned to death. It states that the kidnapping, rape and killing of the child was part of a carefully planned strategy to remove the minority nomadic community from the region.

The charge sheet names eight people, including temple custodian and alleged mastermind Sanji Ram, his son Vishal, a juvenile nephew and special police officers Deepak Khajuria alias 'Deepu' and Surender Verma. The others arrested in the case are the juvenile's friend Parvesh Kumar alias Mannu as well as investigating officers head constable Tilak Raj and sub-inspector Anand Dutta, who allegedly took Rs 4 lakh from Ram and destroyed crucial evidence.

The case became a bone of contention between the state government's alliance partners PDP and the BJP.

Two BJP ministers Chowdhury Lal Singh and Chander Prakash Ganga were sacked for taking part in a 'Hindu Ekta Manch' rally in support of the accused arrested by the Crime Branch.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi:

In an unprecedented move, the Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed all the media houses to remove news articles, which disclosed the identity of the eight-year-old Kathua rape victim. The next hearing on the matter is scheduled for July 16.

Earlier, on May 18, the High Court issued notice to Google, Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites as they did not bother to reply to court's first notice on disclosing the identity of Kathua victim. On April 13, the High Court, for the first time, had issued a notice to various media houses, who disclosed the identity of the rape victim.

The media companies were also slapped a finme of Rs 10 lakh for revealing the identity of the Kathua rape-case victim. Moreover, anyone who will further disclose the identity of the minor, is liable to be imprisoned for upto six-month.

The eight-year-old girl, from a minority nomadic community had disappeared from near her home in a village near Jammu and Ksahmir's Kathua on January 10. Her body was found in the same area a week later.

The chargesheets, filed against seven persons and a juvenile in a Kathua district court, revealed heart-shivering details about how the girl was allegedly kidnapped, drugged, raped and murdered inside a temple.

(With inputs from agencies)

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New Delhi:

The priest of Brahma temple in Rajasthanas Pushkar was attacked by a amentally challengeda man on Tuesday for allegedly objecting President Ram Nath Kovind from entering the temple.

The accused Ashok Kumar Meghwal, a Dalit, was unhappy because President Kovind was not allowed to worship in the temple during his recent Pushkar visit.

aI wasnat present on that day, otherwise Iad have ensured that he sees the temple,a ANI quoted the accused as saying.

According to the police, Meghwal was mentally unstable.

The priest Mahadev Puri, however, escaped the attack with minor injuries and was being treated at a Government Hospital in Pushkar.

Earlier on May 15, Kovind and his family had visited the Brahma temple in Pushkar and offered prayers from the stairs. There were reports that he was stopped by the temple authorities from entering the temple for being a Dalit.

However, press secretary to the President, Ashok Malik rubbished the reports and said that entirely the presidentas decision and there was no other factor.

aPresidentas visit to Pushkar was very short as he had to fly to Mumbai that afternoon. Despite repeated requests of government, temple authorities and the priests, his schedule didnat permit him a full darshan. This was entirely the presidentas decision. There was no other factor at all,a he tweeted.

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New Delhi:

Over 39 people were reported killed and 50 others injured as massive thunderstorm accompanied by squall hit parts of Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh on Monday night.

Seventeen people were killed in Bihar and nine in Uttar Pradesh in the thunderstorm and lightning.

In Jharkhand, the high-velocity storm with wind speed of over 70 km per hour uprooted trees, electricity poles and killed 13 people. At least 28 others were injured due to the storm in different parts of the state.

In Uttar Pradesh, five persons were killed and four others injured as lightning struck some parts of Unnao district last night, said Principal Secretary, Information, Avinish Awasthi, according to PTI.

There were also reports of two deaths, each in Kanpur and Rae Bareli, he said.

Meanwhile, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted thunderstorm accompanied with heavy rains and hailstone over the next few hours in isolated areas of Hardoi, Sitapur and Farrukhabad districts in UP.

"Thunderstorm accompanied with Rain/Squall/Hailstone is likely to occur today during next 3 hours over some areas in Hardoi, Sitapur, Farrukhabad districts & adjoining areas," a Met official said.

Private weather management agency Skymet Weather has also forecast severe weather condition in parts of Bihar over the next three-four hours.

"Duststorm and thundershower with strong winds 40-60 kmph at some places over Araria, Darbhanga, Madhubani, Muzaffarpur, Champaran, Purba Champaran, Sheohar, Sitamarhi, Supaul and Raxaul during next 3-4 hours," Skymet tweeted.

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New Delhi:

Cool wind and "fishes in gold" greet you as you enter Kanchanaburi in Thailand. The long row of tall posts with golden fishes atop along the road leading travellers inside this holiday destination lends a unique feature to the place.

And, quiet float the white Water Lilies and the summer-style traditional houses on the serene River Kwai that flows through Kanchanaburi. A beautiful countryside, this travel destination is a peaceful and a pretty fairytale kind of place. Cute cottages, small lanes and dream resorts dot this tiny place in West Thailand. Breathtaking landscape with wooden houses along the foothills and the lush valley is a famous landmark in Kanchanaburi.

The small, yet traditionally rich town boasts of having maintained the traditional Thai identity unlike the other more popular and commercial destinations like Phuket and Pattaya.

If you want to see and taste traditional Thai ways of living, you must visit Kanchanaburi, a young and charming hostess at Hotel Novotel in Bangkok said as I stepped out to explore the place.

Like the other holiday destinations in Thailand, Kanchanaburi too comes alive in the evening time with its night markets and cafes with exotic food and drinks to feast on and fancy things to shop. Tourists and visitors start filling up the traditional food joints and massage parlours by evening and late into the night. "My parlour opens till 2 am and tourists come for massage after a long day of touring around the place," said a petite lady who runs a parlour there.

Besides the many delightful ventures one can explore, rafting a blissful journey on the dark river late into the quiet night is one of the most unforgettable travel experiences here. Of course, there are more to see and experience when in this beautiful province of World War-II history.

The River Kwai remains symbolic of World War-II. , the river that runs through the town is lined by floating houses and restaurants packed with tourists and visitors.

The mesmerising riverside beauty completely lures you to the place. And, the floating houses on the river makes for an idyllic setting--a bright and blissful afternoon or a romantic evening by the waterside.

If you are on a short holiday and want to cover everything, make sure to stay in a hotel or resort near the River Kwai bridge, which is the main attraction of the province. It is a part of the railway line constructed during the World War-II that connected Burma and Thailand. After the war, the Thai Government renovated it in 1946.



The railway line runs along the cliff on one side and the River Kwai below. The track connects to the River Kwai bridge which is worth visiting.

If you are looking for a comfortable stay, opt for resorts as they have the best of amenities and are quite reasonable, especially during the offseason. Most of the resorts like the Dheva Mantra Resort and Spa are situated by the riverside. The green resort is uniquely built with a fusion of traditional and modern architecture and provides a great stay though it is tucked away from the main town.

However, taxi services are available. If you have more days in hand, you can chuck the cars and trek around the place and experience the traditional Thai living.



The best time to visit the place is anytime of the year. The weather here is always fine with a little shower of rain and drizzle every now and then. If one is looking to bust the stress with a relaxing and refreshing break, less-travelled Kanchanaburi is an ideal wellness destination.

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New Delhi:

Orders for the permanent closure of the Sterlite copper smelter plant of the Vedanta group in Thoothukudi town of Tamil Nadu (earlier called Tuticorin) have come not a day too soon.

When it was set up two decades ago, the setting up itself was mired in controversy, with three statesGujarat, Maharashtra and Goarefusing to allow it to be located in their states due to environmental and health concerns.

Yet, Tamil Nadu opted for it. Off and on there have been agitations against it but recently the controversy over its closure took a violent form when 13 people were killed following police firing on anti-Sterlite protesters last week.

However, despite its toxic nature, whether the closure would stand judicial scrutiny remains to be seen considering that the state government, prone to mismanaging things under the Palaniswami government, did not seemingly undertake due diligence.

It merely said it was bowing to public demand for its closure without dwelling adequately on the harm that it was doing to the environment and to public health. Whether that would be deemed adequate reason for closure of a unit that employs 35,000 people, a large part of them as casual labour, is contestable.

In the beginning, there were protests because the plant was located very close to the Gulf of Mannar, which is a sensitive marine ecosystem.

Despite the evidence from the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI) and Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board that Sterlite was contaminating the groundwater, air and soil with its effluents, no action was taken.

A report published by the Tirunelveli Medical College found high prevalence of asthma, pharangytis, sinusitis and other respiratory tract infections, all proxies for the presence of toxic gases and particular irritants in the lower atmosphere. They also found an inexplicably high incidence of menstrual disorders in women living in the area.

Commissioned in 1997, the Sterlite smelter plant made headlines in 2013 when a gas leak took place leading to the death of one person and injuries to many. The then chief minister late J Jayalalithaa ordered its closure following which, the company moved the National Green Tribunal. With the tribunal overturning the government order, the state moved the Supreme Court against it, and the petition is still pending.

The plant has been shut since March 27 this year, with the company citing the closure as a part of 15-day maintenance. Incidentally, the company had consent to operate the plant until March 31 this year.

Protesters raised concern over the pollution belching out of the copper plant, including issues relating to disposal of copper waste and effluents from the operational unit, demanding its permanent closure.

Vedanta, however, said that the protests were based on false allegations. Through all these years, the company has steadily increased its capacity by over six times from 60,000 tonnes per annum to over 360,000 tonnes per annum, despite constant run-ins with various regulatory bodies, protest groups and activists.

The unit is said to be one of the countrys biggest copper smelters. Vedanta Ltd  a majority-owned subsidiary of London-listed Vedanta Resources.

The Thoothukudi plant accounts for a 40 per cent share in Indias annual copper production of 10 lakh tonnes and its closure could have a downstream impact on around 800 small and medium units in the electrical sector. These include cable manufacturers, winding wire units and transformer manufacturers who sourced from these units. Reports also say that the shutdown is also likely to impact Indias copper exports.

Yet, all these benefits do not entitle the company to ride roughshod over the health and deleterious environmental effects of the plants operations.

It goes without saying that if the copper plant is to be useful to society in India, it must be relocated to a place where there is no habitation other than the workers, who too need to have safeguards built into the set-up. Serious environmental concerns of this magnitude cannot be allowed to play with the lives and well-being of people at large.
New Delhi:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reached Jakarta on the first leg of his three-nation visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The Prime Minister, who embarked on a five-day visit on Tuesday, is looking forward to enhance Indiaas relations and engagements with all the three countries, which forms Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

On the first leg of his visit, Prime Minister is scheduled to hold detailed discussions with Indonesia President Joko Widodo in Jakarta. He will also interact with Chief Executive Officers and the Indian community in Indonesia.

He is also scheduled to address the Indian gathering in Jakarta on Wednesday at 4 pm local time. It will be followed by a brief stopover at Malaysiaas Kuala Lumpur, where Prime Minister will congratulate the newly elected Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr. Mahathir Mohammad.

Prime Minister will then leave for Singapore, in the last leg of his Southeast Asia visit. In Singapore, Prime Minister Modi plans to focus on developing a bilateral partnership in several areas including financial technology, skill development, urban planning and artificial intelligence.

#WATCH Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets members of the India community outside the The Ritz Carlton in Indonesia's Jakarta pic.twitter.com/3P1yJfGp2o a ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Further leaders of both countries will hold discussions on possible business and investment opportunities. Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the India-Singapore enterprise and innovation exhibition. Later he will address a business and community event followed by a roundtable meeting with select top CEOs of Singapore to discuss business and investment opportunities.

On Friday, he will call on his Singaporean President Halimah Yacob. Further, he is scheduled to hold delegation-level talks with Singaporeas Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong followed by a visit to Nanyang Technological University where he shall hold an interactive session with students.

Later in evening, Prime Minister Modi will deliver a keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue. The next day, Prime Minister Modi will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Gandhijias ashes were immersed in the sea on 27 March 1948.

Prime Minister would conclude his five-day visit by going to Changi Naval Base in Singapore where he shall visit Indian Naval Ship INS Satpura and interact with officers and sailors of the Indian Navy and Royal Singapore Navy.

(With inputs from agencies)

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Paris attention has long been focused on Libya; for France, the war-torn countrys fate is a security issue.

Tuesdays special conference on the Libyan crisis, which will bring together many international actors, as well as Libyan factions, to the Elysee in the French capital, is also an attempt to entrench Frances political presence with regards to the issue.

Libya is riven with conflict, with a number of competing factions and armed militias, many more powerful than official institutions. Uniting these diverse groups is a tall order, and many participants and observers are sceptical of the Paris conference, feeling it is not up to the task.

Some have also expressed concerns that the origins of the conference made it seem more like a public relations exercise than an initiative to achieve a real breakthrough.

A political public relations conference requires a celebration, in which a number of parties are invited that are normally difficult to bring together.

The number of attendants suggests the existence of an organised political process, but the fact is that it is a hasty one, perhaps indicating confusion.

Achieving a breakthrough requires different preparations, the most important of which is accommodating the environment to the conferences outcome.

The experience of France with Libya also raises concern; Libyans wont quickly forget that Paris actions in 2011 are the main reason behind the deterioration of their country.

International scepticism

Most of the parties involved have not overtly announced their reluctance to participate, but instead have hinted of their dissatisfaction.

Those countries who backed the French initiative were keen to raise the level of representation, for example Algeria, which will send a prime minister. Those who did not back it will send lower-level representatives, like Egypt, which has assigned former prime minister and current presidential assistant Ibrahim Mahlab to attend.

Washington likewise has sent low-level representation to the conference; it views Paris as encroaching on its role, hijacking the UN mission to Libya, just because Ghassan Salame, the UN envoy to Libya, has French nationality.

Rome believes that Paris wants to maintain its interests at the expense of Italian interests, and isnt comfortable with the conference because it may secure Frances interests in the south, but it may incite tensions in the north, which is an essential area for the Italians.

Cairo feels that the conference is harvesting the results of continuous Egyptian efforts in supporting the Libyan military institution, efforts which have been bringing Libyan forces closer to each other, and believes the conference grants the Islamists a new kiss of life that will strengthen their position.

Some fear that the new attempt will result in a more bitter reality that will leave Libya facing two choices: turning the Islamist current, represented by the Muslim Brotherhood, into a main force once again, or paving the way to the division of the country.

The division scenario will mean that France acquires the region of Fezzan in the south and protects a big chunk of its strategic interests in the neighbouring area.

The maximising of the Brotherhoods gains in Libya is an objective for France and a number of international and regional forces, as has been apparent from the statements and meetings held between Brotherhood elements and different Libyan forces, meetings which had been impossible to arrange before.

This was an attempt to create a new network of interests, then gather them amid encouragement from Paris and via different channels. The Dakar conference, held two weeks ago, was a sign of Frances approach.

Imposing the Brotherhood

There is a looming desire by Paris, backed by Turkey, Qatar and Western powers, which still champion the Islamist current, to return to the scenario of pre-2014. This was the period in which the Brotherhood tightened its grip on a large number of the key posts in Libya.

The aforementioned circles believe that the return of the Brotherhood to Libya should be carried out by any means possible.

This explains the reason behind the sudden changes that were obviously clear in political messages made by the Brotherhood leadership regarding Field Marshal Khalifa Haftar, the head of the Libyan army, and Aqeela Saleh, president of the House of Representatives, and other leaders considered part of the Muammar Gaddafis regime who attended the Dakar conference.

Those who back this approach overlook the fact that dealing with Libyan forces may be different to dealing with others in neighbouring countries; it is difficult to anticipate their reactions.

The standpoints can change between one moment and another; Saleh met with Khaled Al-Mishri, president of the High Council of State, who belongs to the Brotherhood, and it seemed that Saleh was distant from Haftar during Haftars recent illness.

Things have recently changed, and Saleh parted ways with Al-Mishri and returned to Haftars square. The pair had breakfast together last week, and Al-Mishri praised the Libyan army and withdrew his previous statement in which he accused it of being illegitimate, and described it as the national army.

Then two days before the Paris conference, he declared that he doesnt acknowledge Haftar. Thats the case for the majority of the political forces and armed groups in Libya.

This is a major and rapid change in relationships.

The theatre is now being arranged in order to give the Brotherhood a considerable part of the political pie.

The Brotherhood scenario enjoys the support of, or at least faces no objections from, the Maghreb countries, as they do not resent dealing with the group.

Algeria sees the Brotherhood being in power as a guarantee to control the terrorist groups in Libya and stop them from pouring across the Algerian border, because the Brotherhood knows how to deal with Al Qaeda, IS and the Islamist militias.

Egypt has a big problem with the Brotherhood being in the forefront of Libyan politics; it believes that the French initiative may lead to this, if holding elections before the end of the year is upheld without taking steps to ensure a certain degree of fairness.

Many observers are concerned about the French push for elections. They wonder which body will be responsible for holding the poll.

First, a national unity government must be formed, to take responsibility for this process.

Is there a security body that can control the situation in the light of the rejection of the role of the Libyan national army by some? Some even fight it and obstruct it in while it is performing the mission of cleansing Derna of terrorists.

What is the body that will ensure that the election results will be executed in the light of current circumstances? What would happen if Haftar is nominated and won the presidency? What would be the consequences if an ex-Gaddafi regime man won?

Thus, it is necessary to be well-prepared for this step, because hastiness will lead to a distorted process, reminiscent of what happened in 2011, and could have bleak consequences.

Elections and beyond

Whats interesting is that the main forces in Libya dont lean towards holding elections in these circumstances.

Haftar wants to wait until the national army imposes its will and enters the capital, Tripoli, and a solution be found concerning the problem of the militias.

In these elections, Fayez Al-Sarraj, the prime minister, will be the first to lose his post, which he obtained in the Skhirat Agreement.

Saleh cant guarantee being the president of the House of Representatives.

Al-Mishri wants to hamper the elections in order that the Brotherhood be able to create and expand internal alliances, to ensure its control over a large piece of the pie.

Why is France, which was unable to carry out its previous initiative when it brought Haftar and Al-Sarraj together in Paris last year, being hasty in presenting a new initiative now?

Perhaps the recent suicide attack on the Electoral Commission headquarters in Tripoli is a clear sign that the militias reject the idea of holding elections, which presumably would curtail their status.

The statement issued by military forces and militias in western Libya ahead of the Paris conference means that they are rejecting the political process in its current form and that they could sabotage it.

Going along with the French initiative will lead to giving priority to the internal division scenario, because the French conceptions, in their essence, dont make an effort to reach a detailed political settlement that takes into consideration the complicated situation.

This will lead to increasing infighting in Libya, affecting the efforts of the national army to take control of certain areas and to halt the march of the armed militias.

Consequently, this will open the door wide to the division scenario. This probability wasnt acceptable during the first few years after the downfall of Gaddafis regime, so as to not embarrass or expose those who stood behind the downfall and abuse of that regime.

Now unwise developments may lead to a return to this option as inevitable. It will result in the realization of the interests of the big powers wanting to acquire certain areas, at a time when the countrys citizens are about to lose faith in the unity of the Libyan state.

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The High Criminal Appeals Court has dismissed the appeals of two defendants convicted of joining terror group Saraya Al Mukhtar (Al Mukhtar Brigades). A lower court had sentenced one of them to 15 years in jail, while the other was served a seven-year sentence. The court also revoked their nationality in accordance with the Kingdoms anti-terror law. The appellants were arrested alongside three other men after it came to light that they were part of Al Mukhtar Brigades, a group listed as terrorist organisation by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and Britain. The group has claimed responsibility for several terrorist attacks in Bahrain and among its top targets were police officers. The group aimed at undermining Bahrains peace and stability.

As per the official records, the convicted men were assigned to execute particular tasks for the group leaders, and this was confirmed by the third appellant who agreed to the first appellants statement before Prosecution. The High Criminal Court had earlier acquitted two defendants in the case due to lack of evidence. Although the third convict was sentenced to three years, he didnt challenge his verdict.
He escaped the cops, but could not escape the cops dogs. Police have foiled an attempt by an Arab man to smuggle in 1kg of hashish inside his socks after the police dogs jumped on him, raising alarm at King Fahad Causeway. According to police records, the Arab man concealed hashish inside his socks and sprinkled turmeric to escape sniffer dogs. He almost escaped when dogs surrounded him. Later investigations found that the 27-year-old man was a renowned drug lord who was arrested on multiple occasions for similar crimes. The convict would regularly smuggle drugs into Bahrain and his girlfriend would sell them in the illegal market. The convicts girlfriend was arrested later after she made frequent calls to his mobile phone. I bought these drugs in my country and hid them inside my socks before sprinkling turmeric on it to escape sniffer dogs, he told Prosecutors. The 27-year-old man was handed over 10 years jail term along with a fine of BD5,000, while his girlfriend aged 26, was given a comparatively lighter sentence of six months in jail and BD100 in fine. The Arab man challenged his verdict before the High Appeals Court, which rejected it, confirming the initial verdict. The woman, however, opted against appealing the lower court ruling.
Police in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, have arrested an unemployed 52-year-old man on suspicion of attempted murder after he tied a rope across a national highway, injuring a motorcyclist who was knocked off his bike.

According to police, Katsuo Oshiro was apprehended at around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday after a witness earlier called police to report that a man was attaching a nylon rope to the handrails of steps going up to a pedestrian overpass along National Route 132 in Higashidacho. The rope was about 1.5 meters from the ground and stretched across the 20-meter-wide highway.

A 29-year-old male motorcyclist from Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture, ran into the rope and injured his neck, after being knocked off his bike, Fuji TV reported.

According to police, Oshiro has admitted to setting up the rope but he has denied any murderous intent. He was quoted as saying he just wanted to stop traffic. - Japan Today
Eyes across Japan and Vietnam will be watching next month when a Japanese man stands trial for killing a 9-year-old Vietnamese girl who lived with her family in a city east of Tokyo.

The third-grader, Le Thi Nhat Linh, "loved Japan," her mother told Nikkei. She added that she hoped the courts would "protect children and uphold justice" by handing down a harsh sentence. She and her husband have received public support from both countries in pushing to bring the accused to trial and have him face the death penalty.

On March 24, 2017, Linh disappeared on her way to school in Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture. Her body was found two days later near a drainage ditch in the nearby town of Abiko.

The next month, prefectural police arrested Yasumasa Shibuya, who headed a local school parents' association and had helped stand watch over children's routes to school, on charges of abandoning Linh's body. Shibuya, then 46, was further indicted in district court for murder, sexual abuse and kidnapping. His trial will begin June 4, with closing arguments and sentencing recommendations set for the 18th of that month.

Linh's mother, Nguyen Thi Nguyen, spoke with Nikkei from the northern Vietnamese port city of Haiphong, where she and her daughter used to live. She will leave for Japan again June 10 and is set to appear in court June 12.

Linh "always talked about what good people the Japanese are," said Nguyen. But Shibuya "hasn't owned up to his crime and won't say a word" about it, she went on with audible anger.

Nguyen hopes for "a severe punishment, so children will never become victims again," she said. She also mentioned the killing of a 7-year-old girl this month in Japan's Niigata Prefecture.

Linh's death sent shock waves through the community. News of a petition from Nyugen and her husband Le Anh Hao spread rapidly in Vietnam through Facebook. Musical artists and prominent athletes have called for people to sign. As of April 9, the petition had 1.05 million Vietnamese signatures and 69,000 Japanese.

As many as 260,000 Vietnamese live in Japan. - Nikkei
Sodus, N.Y. -- The death of a farm worker and her child in Sodus carries ammunition for both sides in the national argument over immigration.

Alberto Reyes' story is tailor-made for President Trump's crusade on illegal immigration. Reyes entered the country illegally three times in two years and was deported twice.

Selena Hidalgo-Calderon's life shows the hazards of that crackdown, her advocates say. In this tougher climate of enforcement, she may have felt she couldn't go to law enforcement for protection from Reyes without inviting her own deportation.

There it is, in the apple orchards of Wayne County: arguments for both a wall and leniency.

Reyes, 25, was determined to come to the U.S., federal records show. Every time he was kicked out, he came back.

He was first deported back to Mexico Nov. 17, 2016, at the border in Brownsville, Texas, according to information from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It's unclear whether he was bused back to Mexico or walked across the border by an agent, but he was sent home, an ICE spokesman said.

Less than four months later, Reyes was caught wading across the Rio Grande River outside of Laredo, Texas. This time he was charged, criminally, with illegally entering the U.S., according to court records. The first time, his case was in immigration court, which is a civil court that operates largely in secret.

The second time Reyes was caught, March 1, 2017, he found himself in federal court the very next day. And everything was done in one appearance before a U.S. magistrate. Reyes was charged with entering the U.S. illegally. He was appointed a public defender and he pleaded guilty to the charge. The proceeding was so short the court minutes take up less than a quarter of a page.

The magistrate sentenced him to 15 days in detention and a $10 fee, according to court papers.

It's unclear how Reyes was returned to Mexico at the end of his time in detention, but an ICE officials said it's standard for agents to walk people back across the border or to bus them.

"ICE is determined to seek out and locate illegal aliens in New York." said ICE Field Office Director Thomas Feeley. "This case sadly illustrates the real dangers to our communities."

Then, likely less than a year later, Reyes crossed the border again, making his way to Upstate New York. He found work at the Melrose Dairy Farm in Owasco, where he met Selena Hidalgo-Calderon.

The couple were among thousands of farm workers in the state who are undocumented. As many as half of New York's farm workers entered the country illegally, estimated Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball. Those workers are often afraid to report crimes to police or to ask for help because they worry the result will be deportation, advocates and police said.

At a press conference last week about Hidalgo-Calderon's murder and her son's disappearance, Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts said members of the Hispanic community reported that the young mother had reached out for shelter in the past year because of domestic violence.

Virts begged immigrants to trust him and his officers, first in English, and then in Spanish through an advocate who works with his office.

"It is very difficult to engage our Hispanic community because they are afraid. And I do not want them to be afraid of my deputies or the sheriff's office," Virts said at a press conference about the murder May 25. "I don't care what your race, creed color, or national origin is ... If you are a victim we will fight for you ... if you are a perpetrator, we will hunt you down."

Virts said Hidalgo-Calderon's immigration status didn't matter to him or his office.

Virts also made a point of saying that his office does not bring immigration authorities in when he needs translation help.

The investigation into the case in continuing. Reyes appeared in town court for a preliminary appearance today and charges that he tampered with evidence when he moved Hidalgo-Calderon's body. So far, he has not been charged in her death or her son's disappearance. His case is set to go before a Wayne County grand jury.

The Amber Alert for Owen Hidalgo-Calderon was canceled today, but the search is continuing for the child, Virts said. He said he fears the toddler is dead, but hasn't given up searching. He tweeted about the effort this afternoon:

"Our intensive search efforts to locate 14 month old Owen Hidalgo-Calderon will continue!!"

Marnie Eisenstadt writes about people, life and culture in Central New York. Have an idea or question? Contact her anytime: email | twitter | Facebook | 315-470-2246
One hundred and forty-six suspected Boko Haram members have willingly given up their arms and surrendered to troops.

File Photo: Boko Haram suspects

One hundred and forty-six suspected Boko Haram members have willingly given up their arms and surrendered to troops.Theatre Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole Maj-Gen. Roger Nicholas gave the figure at a news conference while parading 17 suspects, who renounced their membership of Boko Haram at the military command in Maiduguri.Maj-Gen. Rogers said: Seventy of them had surrendered in Munguno, 60 in Bama and this set of 17 just willingly surrendered to our troops.He explained that Operation Safe Corridor has urged the insurgents to repent.The operation, the Theatre Commander noted, is yielding results as many of the insurgents are coming out from their fighting camps to surrender.He added that the army had established designated centres at various commands and formations, where the insurgents can surrender.He promised that they would be treated with respect.According to him, the 17 insurgents said they were no longer interested in staying in the bush as Boko Haram fighters but to come out and live a better life.He added that the repentant insurgents would be properly profiled, de-radicalised and re-integrated into the society.Some of the paraded Boko Haram insurgents, who spoke to reporters, said they were tired of the crimes they had committed fighting as Boko Haram insurgents.One of the suspects, Mustapha Umar, said: Im a commander at the Lake area. My operation was mainly on the water. My regret was the number of persons I have killed and took their money. I have killed many people, but I am asking for forgiveness.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has remanded former Zamfara State Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, and ex-Minister of State for Finance Bas...

A Federal High Court in Abuja has remanded former Zamfara State Governor Mahmud Aliyu Shinkafi, and ex-Minister of State for Finance Bashir Yuguda in prison.Two others  former Secretary to the State Government Aminu Ahmad Nahuce, and former state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Ibrahim Mallaha  are also to stay in prison.The suspects were arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on a five-count charge of conspiracy and money laundering.A statement by EFCCs Head of Media and Publicity Wilson Uwujaren said the defendants allegedly conspired and received N450 million, part of the $115,000,000 allegedly distributed by ex-Minister of Petroleum Resources Diezani Allison-Madueke to influence the 2015 election.Some of the charges read: You, Ambassador Bashir Yuguda, Aminu Ahmed Nahuche and Ibrahim Malaha, on or about March 27, 2018, at Gusau, within the jurisdiction of this court, conspired among yourselves to receive cash payment of N450 million from Odia Akpotune, without transacting through a financial institution, and thereby committed an offence contrary to Section 18 (A) of the Money Laundering Prohibition Act and punishable under 16 (2) (B) of the same Act.That former Governor Muhamuda Aliyu Shinkafi received cash payment of N15 million from Ambassador Bashir Yuguda without transaction from financial institution, thereby committing an offence.The defendants pleaded not guilty.The prosecution counsel, Johnson Ojogbane, requested the court for a trial date in view of the defendants plea.The defence counsel, J. C Shaka, moved a motion for bail, asking the court to admit the defendants to bail pending conclusion of the matter.Subsequently, Ojogbane informed the court the prosecution had filed a counter affidavit and prayed the court to refuse bail.Shaka submitted that the accused had been on administrative bail for three years without violating the terms.But Justice Fatima Murtala granted the defendants N5 million bail each and two sureties in like sum.She said: One of the sureties must be resident within the jurisdiction of the court while the other must own a landed property within the jurisdiction of the court. Both sureties shall be public or civil servants not below Grade Level 16.The court also ruled that the defendants should deposit their recent passport photographs and international passports with the registrar.The case was adjourned till June 27 and 28 for trial, and the defendants remanded in prison pending perfection of their bail terms.
The Anambra Government wants residents of the state to use Democracy Day to reflect on the state of the nation, rather than engaging in lavish celebrations.The states Commissioner for Information and Public Enlightenment, Mr C-Don Adinuba, gave the advice in an interview on Tuesday in Awka.Analysts have criticized some state governments for marking the Democracy Day with lavish celebrations at a time millions of their citizens go to bed hungry from day to day.Adinuba said that instead of the usual merry-making, dinning and wining that had characterised the event in the past, the Anambra Government wanted its citizens to have sober reflection on the journey so far.Nigeria, Africas most populous nation returned to popular democracy 19 years ago after a brutal military era that was characterized by looting.Adinuba said that Anambra had just hosted the second term inauguration of Gov. Willie Obiano on March 17, and had also hosted the Ohaneze Summit on May 21.So we reasoned that it is not good enough for the state to get involved in another round of celebrations today. It is not worth it.He said, however, that the state had recorded achievements in security, social harmony and promptness in the payment of workers salaries.Anambra State Government is the only state that has reviewed salaries of workers upwards and pays salaries of workers on 25th of every month in addition to other welfare plans for workers.As we talk, government has started handing over brand new cars to all directors, based on seniority and we challenge other states to emulate Anambra State in terms of workers welfare and promotion of peace and security.Adinuba said that the State Government was waiting eagerly for the announcement of a new minimum wage for workers by the Federal Government in August, saying: we will be the first to implement the new minimum wage.The spokesman also told residents of the state to disregard the planned sit-at-home order by the pro-Biafra group, IPOB, describing the groups directive as an illegality.Commenting on the decision of the Anambra Government not to celebrate, a resident of Awka, Mr Chidi Agim, said that he was surprised that the State Government could not observe the Democracy Day because of the significance of the day to Nigerians.Agim argued that even if the government did not want to mark the event with ceremony, the governor should have addressed the people to enlighten them on what they should do in the face of mounting challenges confronting the nation.
The Muhammadu Buhari led government has announced that it will launch the replacement of the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme known...

The Muhammadu Buhari led government has announced that it will launch the replacement of the Growth Enhancement Support (GES) scheme known as the Agricultural Inputs Mechanisation and Management Services (AIMMS) by June.

Audu Ogbeh, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this while speaking with newsmen on the achievements of the current administration in the agriculture sector in three years.





GES was introduced by the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan through his Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Akinwunmi Adesina.





On Monday in Abuja, Ogbeh said that the programme would enable famers to get subsidised and quality inputs in various Local Government Areas in the country.





According to him, at least four distributors of agriculture produce and service providers will be there to render services to farmers in every council area.





The minister, who said that AIMMS might not be as cheap and subsidised as the GES, expressed optimism that farmers would get value for their money.





Ogbeh said that AIMMS implementation would eradicate the act of selling substandard fertilisers, chemicals and seeds to farmers as all agro-dealers would be traced through the distributors.





We are creating a new arrangement called AIMMS  Agricultural Inputs Mechanisation and Management Services.





We are launching that before the middle of June so seed companies, fertiliser companies, chemical marketers will hand over inputs to distributors and farmers will have a place they can go and source for genuine inputs.





Farmer may not like it now because it doesnt look as cheap as the previous programme but we had a problem where the agro-dealers many of them were not delivering but were making claims.





I will rather that farmers are sure of what they are getting.





They will get the service and they will realize soon that whoever sells them fake fertilisers and chemicals, they can trace, because a lot of fake fertilisers are being sold by a few people, who are not authorised to blend fertilisers, but who are doing it as a flight by night business, he said.





Explaining why the Federal Government under Buhari dropped the GES scheme, Ogbeh said, I found on arrival that I owed N67 billion on GES claims and my budget was N33billlion as at then.





I couldnt pay and then the agro-dealers were demonstrating in front of my office. They even wrote that I had stolen N2billion from their money, they complained.





I said that we cant pay a debt of N67 billion which is twice my ministrys budget and still continue with the programme.





When we came in, some state governors said they had no money to pay their counterpart support of 25 per cent for GES, some of them said they couldnt continue because the economy had crashed.





Farmers dont have to worry; we have their interest at heart.




More details have emerged on the meeting between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and leaders of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afeni...

More details have emerged on the meeting between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and leaders of the Yoruba socio-political group, Afenifere.





Obasanjo was reported to have said that President Muhammadu Buhari speaks from both sides of his mouth.





Tribune quoted Obasanjo as saying thatvBuhari had consistently dodged the issue of Fulani Herdsmen who were responsible for the death of thousands of Nigerians.





The former President stressed that Buharis body language towards the activities of herdsmen was making the job of security agencies difficult.





Obasanjo was quoted as saying, He (Buhari) often speaks from both sides of the mouth on the issue of armed herdsmen killing of innocent citizens. At times, he would say the herdsmen are not Nigerians; that they are from Niger, Mali, Chad and other neighbouring countries.





In the same breath, the president would say we should learn to live and cope with our neighbours, talking of the Middle Belt groups and that the crisis is an internal matter.




President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said his governments policies, including N-Power, were yielding results.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said his governments policies, including N-Power, were yielding results.





In his Democracy Day speech, Buhari noted that the Whistle-Blowing Policy has helped to recover over N500 Billion.





He further lists achievements of the Social Investment Programmes.





Home Grown School Feeding Programme  About 8.2 million pupils are currently being fed from 24 States of the Federation with over 75,000 Catering Staff engaged under the programme.





The Conditional Cash Transfer has so far recorded over 297,000 caregivers and being trained by 2,495 Community Facilitators in 21 states. Less privileged Nigerians are now being paid N5,000 monthly stipend in 9 pilot States of Bauchi, Borno, Cross River, Ekiti, Kwara, Kogi, Niger, Osun and Oyo. Eventually the scheme will cover all the 36 states of the federation including the FCT.





Under the Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme  About 264,269 loans had been disbursed to 4,822 societies in the 36 States and FCT, while another 370,635 are awaiting release of funds.





N-Power Job creation Scheme  is targeted at providing jobs for unemployed young graduates and has so far recruited 200,000 youths while the next batch of 300,000 have been selected, verified and would soon be deployed across the 36 States and the FCT.




A PROSECUTION witness in the N2.1 billion fraud case filed against Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Mr. Usman Aliyu, yesterday told the Federal Hig...

A PROSECUTION witness in the N2.1 billion fraud case filed against Chief Raymond Dokpesi, Mr. Usman Aliyu, yesterday told the Federal High Court, Abuja, that the defendant received the money without executing any contract.Dokpesi, a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chieftain, was docked by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for allegedly receiving the money from the office of former National Security Adviser (NSA), Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd).The prosecution also announced the closure of its case after calling 14 witnesses.Aliyu, an operative of the EFCC, led in evidence by the commissions counsel, Mr. Oluwaleke Atolagbe, said Dokpesi received the funds through his company, DAAR Investments and Holdings Ltd.Dokpesi, former Chairman of DAAR Communications, is facing a seven-count charge, bordering on money laundering and procurement fraud.Aliyu added that N60 million out of the N2.1 billion was transferred to two companies, including Archithesis Ltd and Wood Country Investment Ltd.We invited the owners and promoters of these companies, one Ayonbani, who volunteered his statement and confirmed that he received the fund from Dokpesi.He stated that the fund was for renovation and reconstruction work he was to carry out at the home of Dokpesi in Edo.An exhibit, marked D- statement of account, was produced in court by the witness to show the details of the transactions.According to the exhibit, on January 22, 2015, N500 million was credited to the account of DAAR Investment and Holdings Ltd by the office of the former NSA with no work done.The balance in the account before the transaction was N113, 885.28.He also said on February 4, 2015, there was a credit deposit of another N500 million from the office of the NSA to DAAR Investment and Holdings account.On Feb. 9, 2015, another deposit of N620 million was made into the account by the same office of the former NSA.On March 19, 2015, Dokpesis company account was also credited with N500 million.Aliyu also analysed the bank statements for the transactions between Dokpesi and the two companies (Archithesis and Wood Country Investment Ltd) with dates.Responding to a question by the defence counsel, Mr. Kanu Agabi (SAN), on whether the account of the office of the NSA was kept with the Central Bank of Nigeria, he answered in the affirmative.Agabi also asked if funds kept in such account were the proceeds of crime and the witness said no.The witness also responded in the negative, when he was asked whether he obtained a statement from the defendant.The witness said he read the defendants statement, but did not investigate the allegations Dokpesi made, because he was only limited to the N2.1 billion received by his company.Upon further interrogation, he admitted that the defendant had no control over the procedure for making payments in the office of the former NSA.But Atolagbe, after calling his 14th witness, told the judge the commission is concluding its testimony.Agabi said the defence intends to make a no-case submission, in which it would argue among others, that the prosecution has not led sufficient evidence linking his client to the offences charged and warrant him being called to enter a defence.The defence will then pray the court to dismiss the charge and set the defendants free.The trial judge, Justice John Tsoho, directed the defence to file its no-case submission within 21 days.Justice Tsoho equally asked the prosecution to file its response within 21 days from the day it is served with the defendants no-case submission.He also directed that the defendants would have 14 days to further reply from the day they are served with the prosecutions response to the no-case submission.The judge adjourned to October 4 for parties to adopt their written submissions for and against the no-case submission.
The All Progressives Congress, APC in Delta State, has said the state has no reason to celebrate Democracy Day, stating that despite the 19 years of democracy in the country, Delta State is in a standstill.Vice Chairman of the party and Chairman elect, Chief Cyril Ogodo while speaking to Vanguard, said rather than celebrating, All Deltans should use the day as a day of mourning.He said: There is no reason to celebrate Democracy Day in Delta. Despite claims by the state governor, Dr. Ifeanyi Okowa that his administration has built over 200 roads, it is pertinent to note that these roads can best be described as wash and wear roads that cant withstand two raining season.Also speaking, Publicity Secretary elect of the party, Moses Kamanya, noted that while Nigerians across board are celebrating 19 years of Democracy, with democratic dividend in terms of improved infrastructure and better living standard, it is sad that what is we have in Delta State is a Black Day.He said: The 19 years of the PDP has been a motion without movement and the past 3 years of the Okowa administration is an abysmal failure, with nothing tangible to hold on to.In terms of governance, there is no direction as the Okowas administration can best be described as an adhoc arrangement to cover up the monumental corruption and pillage of our commonwealth by his predecessors.The jobs he claimed to have created are a strategic positioning for his reelection and have nothing to do with Deltans. What we have in Delta is a governor empowering thugs to bring him back to power, that is not empowerment, we are talking about creative and resourceful empowerment.We want to tell Deltans that after three years in government we have come to know that there is nothing smart about the SMART agenda.
An All Progressives Congress (APC) chieftain in Ebonyi, Dr Paul Okorie, has given passmark to President Muhammadu Buhari led  administration, as Nigeria marks the May 29 Democracy Day.Okorie, a former Commissioner for Works, Transportation and Environment in Ebonyi, who reacted to the President s Democracy Day address, said the APC led Federal Government, had shown commitment to the development of the country.He listed infrastructure development, economic growth, diversification of nations economy, defeat of Boko Haram, fight against corruption and job creation for youths, as part of the landmark achievements of the Buhari administration.That our foreign reserve moved from $29.6 billion to $47.5 billion under the president is a positive evidence of response to diversification and other efforts to restore the countrys economy.The prosecution of high profile Nigerians on alleged corruption charges is an unprecedented development in this country.The anti graft war has reduced widespread corruption and the whistle blowing policy of government has yielded billions of naira for the country.Economic diversification has led to greater attention to agriculture, thus reducing rice importation by 90 per cent, thereby increasing our countrys foreign reserve, Okorie said.Okorie, a major contender in the Ebonyi governorship election under the platform of the All Progressives Congress, lauded Buharis intention to sign the not-too-young-to-run bill.He said that the Presidents intension was a good one and urged the Nigerian youths to begin to prepare to take higher leadership responsibilities.The presidents declaration in his broadcast to sign the not- too-young-to-run bill was an indication of the administrations desire to begin a process of transferring power and leadership to the younger generation.With this, the youth must be prepared to take higher responsibilities, as well as embrace more positive attitude to life.
The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the Democracy Day address by President Muhammadu Buhari as uninspiring, hollow, full of...

The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described the Democracy Day address by President Muhammadu Buhari as uninspiring, hollow, full of self-praise and false performance claims.The President also failed to address issues agitating the minds of Nigerians, a statement yesterday by the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan said.According to the main opposition party, the address was the worst since President Buhari took office in 2015, adding that it was garnished with a list of phantom projects and executive regurgitation, inherently designed by his handlers to sway Nigerians and divert attention from the many failures of the administration.The statement said, The few Nigerians who bordered to listen to the address were miffed that, in the most insensitive manner, Mr. President failed to show the littlest empathy to millions of citizens groaning under the worst form of poverty, starvation and economic hardship occasioned by his misruleThe party also observed that the Presidents aloofness to the plight of Nigerians was manifest in all the lines of the speech.In fact, no line in the supposed Democracy Day address had any inclination towards justice for victims of abuse of human rights, reported executive high-handedness, illegal arrests and detentions, extra-judicial executions as well as victims of killings and daily bloodletting in Benue, Taraba, Zamfara, Kaduna, Plateau, Borno, Kogi, Yobe and other parts of the country, by insurgents and marauders.Mr. President, on Democracy Day, had no words of assurance on the unrelenting violation of our constitution; assault on the National Assembly and erosion of personal freedom of citizens.The President said nothing on the humonguous corruption going on under his administration, where APC leaders and cabal at the Presidency have stolen over N10 trillion, mainly from a sector under his direct supervision.The PDP similarly faulted the president address for failing to make any commitment towards the conduct of free, fair and credible general elections in 2019. It added that he was apparently overwhelmed by the avalanche of his public rejection ahead of the polls.Incredibly, Mr. Presidents handlers chose to subject him to a fantasy trip, making false performance claims with phantom projects, muddling up economic statistics and ended up worsening his already diminished public perception.This is exactly why the PDP had earlier advised President Buhari not to border to address Nigerians on Democracy Day.The PDP notes that Nigerians have reached a consensus that the 2018 Democracy Day celebration is the last for the Buhari Presidency and the APC. Our citizens have endured under the misrule of the APC, keeping their hopes in the 2019 elections to get back our democracy on the platform of the repositioned PDP.In solidarity with Nigerians, the National Working Committee of the PDP has already held a meeting where it reviewed the circumstances and will formally address Nigerians on the issues of misrule of our nation in the last three years, the statement added.
Adedayo Adeyeye, a former spokesman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In May, Adeyeye lost the Ekiti PDP governorship primary election to Kolapo Olusola, the incumbent deputy governor.





After the primary, Adeyeye had said he was satisfied with the exercise that produced Olusola, but his supporters told TheCable that he would leave the PDP.





In a statement released on Tuesday to announce his defection, Adeyeye said leaving the PDP was not an easy decision to make.





He said: Expectedly patriotic leaders of the party appealed to me to reconsider my decision in the light of my previous services and loyalty to the party. But the issue was never about me as a person.





It was about the interest of the very many people who associate with me and more importantly the collective interest and future of Ekiti people. For me politics has always been an opportunity to serve and make contribution towards the development of my community and the nation.





Therefore where I am compelled to make a choice between loyalty to a political party and loyalty to my community, l will readily chose my community or state. Political parties come and go but the community remains. I cannot change my state or hometown but I can always change my party if I feel that it can no longer serve as a vehicle for our collective good as a people.





As a thoroughbred Ekiti person with a deep love of this land and the people It is incumbent on me to resist and stop the evil agenda of one man to put our people in perpetual enslavement. I have said No to Fayoses continuity of dictatorship, impunity, imposition, poverty, unprecedented looting of our common patrimony and deliberate debasement of the self esteem of our people.





For my friends, admirers, patrons and well wishers I want to reiterate that Fayose is an impossible person to deal with. A pompous martinet with a huge ego ,he is deliberately divisive and deceitful. He does not believe in reconciliation and no effort at reconciliation will work with him.





Therefore after deep introspection and wide consultation with various stakeholders in this State, my supporters and I have decided to leave Egypt which the Fayose administration represents and join hands with patriotic Ekiti people to board the train of the APC for the onward journey to our promised land.




There was palatable fear in Enugu and other major cities in the South-East on Monday over the planned celebration of the Biafra Day on t...

There was palatable fear in Enugu and other major cities in the South-East on Monday over the planned celebration of the Biafra Day on tomorrow.In Enugu, it was observed that many residents are worried over the possible breakdown of law and order on the day.There are also concerns over possible clashes between pro-Biafran activists and security agents, a situation which residents fear could lead to the loss of innocent lives and destruction of property.Feelers from other states in the zone also indicate a similar disposition among residents.Pro-Biafran groups, including the Indigenous People of Biafra and the Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign State of Biafra, called for the sit-at-home protest in order to celebrate the anniversary of the defunct Republic of Biafra on May 30, the date the breakaway state declared independence from Nigeria in 1967.In 2017, the event was marked with a sit-at-home protest ordered by IPOB, which grounded commercial activities in major cities in the zone, as well as Port Harcourt, in Rivers State, and Asaba, in Delta State.IPOB has again ordered a sit-at-home protest to mark this years Biafra Day, but the other major pro-Biafran groups have different plans.MASSOB intends to commemorate the anniversary with lectures and a candlelight procession, while the Biafra Zionists Federation has announced plans to raise the flag of the defunct Republic of Biafra at the Enugu State Government House on that day.In a bid to avert a possible breakdown of law and order, the troops of the 82 Division of the Nigerian Army have engaged in a massive show of force by parading through major cities in the geopolitical zone in a long convoy of military vehicles.Men of the 553 Base Services Group, Nigeria Airforce, Nigeria Police Force, Department of State Services and the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps are participating in the show of force.The Deputy Director, Public Relations, 82 Division, Col. Sagir Musa, explained that the parade of the heavily armed troops was purely a show of force, aimed at sending a clear message to individuals or groups who intend to cause a breakdown of law and order.Musa added, Law-abiding members of the public are enjoined not to worry about seeing a long convoy of military and paramilitary vehicles and equipment on selected locations across the South-East zone.The Enugu State Police Command has also declared its readiness to engage the pro-Biafran agitators.On May 22, 32 members of the Biafra Independence Movement faction of MASSOB, who were marking their own Biafra Day, were arrested while they were about to embark on a parade through Enugu metropolis.The activists are currently in prison custody, having been remanded after they were arraigned before a magistrate court.But the pro-Biafran groups have vowed to go ahead with their plans for the Biafra Day.IPOB has vowed that the South-East and the South-South, as well as other states marked out for the exercise, would be locked down on Wednesday, May 30th.The secessionist group said nothing would stop the sit-at-home protest.The group has urged every family, kindred, village, clan and town in the South-East and the other designated areas to remain indoors from 6 pm on Tuesday, May 29, to 6 pm on May 30.IPOB has warned the army and the police against interfering with the exercise.It will be crass insensitivity of the highest order for any police or army officer in the South-East to intrude upon our grief, IPOB spokesman, Emma Powerful, said in a statement.The Biafra Zionists Federation, on the other hand, has vowed that not even fighter jets would stop the plan to raise the Biafran flag at the Enugu State Government House on May 30.The group, led by Mr. Benjamin Onwuka, a lawyer, had attempted to declare the independence of Biafra in the past.Onwuka was detained, and charged with treason, after leading some members of the BZF to invade the studios of Enugu State Broadcasting Service in a failed bid to announce the secession of Biafra on June 5, 2014.A policeman was killed during the incident.In July 2017, having been released from detention, he named himself Interim President of Biafra, and appointed some prominent Nigerians, including an economist, Prof. Pat Utomi, a former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, and former information ministers, Jerry Gana and Labaran Maku, as members of the Biafran cabinet.Onwuka has urged Biafrans to ignore IPOBs sit-at-home protest.Rather, he urged them to converge on the Enugu Government House to witness the raising of the Biafran flag.The spokesman for the Enugu State Police Command, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, told one of our correspondents on Monday that the police had taken note of Onwukas comments, as well as IPOBs declarations.Amaraizu said the police are ready for the secessionists.We are ready for them, he said.But MASSOB and other pro-Biafran group have insisted that despite the influx of security men into the South-East, the groups will mark the 51st anniversary of the declaration of the Republic of Biafra on May 30.The groups said that no amount of intimidation by the security agencies would deter their members from going on with the planned anniversary.A statement on Monday signed by MASSOB leader, Madu, Felix Anochirimonye of the Eastern Peoples Congress, Rita Anibuogu of the Movement of Biafrans in Nigeria and Innocent Amadi for Bile Human Rights Initiative, said that the celebration would start on May 29 with a candlelight procession.
AS Nigeria celebrates the Democracy Day, the senior non-teaching staff in the Universities have described the government of the day as insensitive and non-challant towards the welfare of the citizenry.The union has also called on its members especially the Muslim faithful among them to use the occasion of Democracy Day and the Ramadan to seek divine intervention so that God would touch the hearts of those in government.The non teaching staff under the umbrella of Senior Staff Association of Nigeria, SSANU, through its President Samson Chijioke Ugwoke in a statement in Abuja, lamented that after the union and other non teaching unions in the Universities have reached an agreement and with a time line for implementation, government was yet to implement the agreement.SSANU President in the statement signed by the National Public Relations Officer, Salaam Abdussobur, noted that the Federal Government was yet to honour the judgement of the National Industrial Court, NIC, that had directed her to recall the sacked staff school teachers that were disengaged by Vice Chancellors as a result of the Call Circular from government.The statement read, On behalf of the National President and the National Administrative Council of our dear union, this is to wish you a happy democracy day. We cannot but wish you less, given that these are not the best of times for our union SSANU and by extension, Nigeria.For over two years now, it has been one struggle or the other, over which the government has continually shown its hands as insensitive and nonchalant about the welfare of its non teaching workforce in the university system.Is it on the issue of University Staff Schools where the National Industrial Court has ruled that our teeming members who were laid off over the misguided and ill motivated Budget Call Circular should be reinstated? Or is it the Memorandum of Understanding reached in which it was agreed that a sum of N8 Billion would be paid to our members as part of the Earned Allowances being owed?Unfortunately and shamefully, for a government that prides itself as democratic and takes the principles of rule of law and respect for agreements as primal, we are disappointed at the developments.This years Democracy Day should be a day of prayers for our country, our union and the entire university system. Coming during the holy month of Ramadan, we urge our Muslim brothers to pray specially that God touches the hearts of our ruling class so that they rule us with the fear of God and the love of the hardworking and hapless labourer in their hearts.We do not know politics, neither do we know political parties. What we know is our welfare and that is where our survival and happiness is derived.From UNIOSUN to Niger Delta University, from University of Abuja to Ladoke Akintola University, we urge that the growing insanity pervading our universities are stopped. Enough is enough on attacks on hapless Nigerians who are protesting and demanding that their trampled rights are restored.We use this medium to let our members know that we are not sitting by and we are not going to look by and allow this injustices to continue. We are going to defend and protect the rights of our members from our oppressors.Be it over the issue of Staff Schools or Earned Allowances. Be it over the issues of UNIOSUN or NDU. We are not relenting. We however need your cooperation. We need your unity, solidarity and proper compliance with the directives of NAC and NEC when tough actions need to be taken and I daresay that it is inevitable that tough actions will be taken because we cannot continue this way.Let us eschew every move to undermine the union and weaken our power of bargain. When we are united, we are strong. If we divide, we become weak. This is the time to unite more than ever before because the fight ahead shall be for only the strong!
President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Nigerians to get their permanent voter cards (PVCs) and vote the politicians they want in 2019.

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked Nigerians to get their permanent voter cards (PVCs) and vote the politicians they want in 2019.Buhari, who is seeking reelection, said this when he hosted judges at the presidential villa in Abuja on Tuesday night.Attributing his victory in the 2015 poll to technology, he urged the governors not to relent in voters education.I find it necessary to invite you because I dont normally see you. I have to repeat what I said having heard what you said, he said.I mentioned that when I was in the military and much younger, we believed things were going wrong and so when I came, I took from the president downwards, to Kirikiri against your advise and told them that they are guilty until they prove themselves innocent.But we proceeded to have various tribunals to investigate and I can still remember extremely good and fantastic Nigerians, they are few in the society that is why we dont see the impact of fantastic people we have.I decided to put agbada and come back, I tried three times and then fourth time I eventually made it. Thanks to God and thanks to technology because this permanent voters card and card readers are fantastic. Those who went to their polling booths in their constituency and voted, their votes counted.Before, votes were disregarded and results written and there was nothing you can do before the justices to proof your case. But now with technology it has been made easy. That is why I keep appealing to the governors to embark on voters education, to please tell the people that their voters card is their national card so to speak.Let them vote for anybody they want across ethnicity and religion I think that is why I am calling on and I am begging the governors to please continue with voters education so that people will take their permanent voters card seriously and make sure that they dont loose it.I am bothering you with this because you are in a position of influence and you come from a constituency that is recognized and what you say will mean a lot to the people at your constituency.Earlier, Alfa Belgore, former chief justice of Nigeria, who spoke on behalf of members of the judiciary said before now votes did not count as results were written.He also said the current economic challenges was not peculiar to Nigeria, commending the effort of the Buhari administration.I have always respected the president as a person. He loves this country very much. Because of that, what he need always is to have very good people around him, he said.The economy is down all over Africa so if we have any other problem now, its just a childs play with what is happening in other countries. I pray that this country will continue to develop under you. God will continue to guide you right and the country will be very very strong. We are holding another election next year.
Non Governmental Organizations, NGOs and Civil Liberty Organizations, CLO, have condemned the incessant killings of innocent Nigerians by ...

Non Governmental Organizations, NGOs and Civil Liberty Organizations, CLO, have condemned the incessant killings of innocent Nigerians by Fulani herdsmen.

The groups who spoke with one voice during the National mourning day for those killed by herdsmen in Nigeria, urged the federal government to map out strategies to check the killings.





Executive Director of South Sahara social Development Organization, SSSDO, Nkechi Igwe, urged the federal government to call a round-table meeting and discuss the way to save lives and also reach out to those that lost their loved ones.





Igwe said that the federal government should look for a standpoint to solve the problem of killing to favour both sides, adding that the killings have escalated from killingof farmers to Christians at their worship centers.





Federal government should come up with a strong option to stop the killing not just providing food for the victims.





We are not happy with what is happening in our country. FG is not doing well in the area of security of the country.





We march together today with others in the country to condemn the killing of farmers and innocent citizens by Fulani herdsmen in this country. Herdsmen recently went to a church and killed Christians, she explained.





Leader of Civil Liberty Organisation, CLO in Enugu, Comrade Onyebuchi Igboke, while lamenting the lives and property lost in the country, urged federal government to secure the lives and property of its citizens.





Igboke said that the federal government should provide solution to the menace of herdsmen in Nigeria to restore peace, unity and boost the economy of the country.





Igboke noted that foreign investors cannot come to Nigeria because of insecurity that has torn the country apart.





Lamenting the poor intervention to the families who lost their bread winners during the attack at Nimbo in Nsukka, Igboke called on the government to come to the aid of the victims.





In the country, the primary function of federal government is to protect the lives and property of the citizen.





We call on Mr President to step up in the security of life and properties of the citizens, he observed.




A United States-based International Christian Concern, PERSECUTION.org, has called on the Federal Government to protect Christians allegedly being targeted by rampaging herdsmen.In a petition addressed to Nigerias Ambassador to the United States, Sylvanus Nsofor, ICC sought the immediate intervention of the President Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress, APC, Federal Government to stop the escalating violence led by armed herdsmen against Christian farmers.The letter, copied the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, two senators and two Congress men, stated: ICC has reported nearly 1,000 deaths since the beginning of 2018. Over the last 20 years, it is estimated that victims of attacks led by Boko Haram and herdsmen number as high as 50,000 to 60,000.In addition, millions of Christians have been pushed out of northern Nigeria and the Middle Belt region and forced to live as refugees in their own country. The time to act is now.The extensive, long-term violence directed at Christians by armed herdsmen is egregious and has reached a level that threatens Nigerias economic vitality and political stability.The lack of action by the Nigerian government continues to embolden the militants in their violent actions. The government must protect the sacred rights and safety of its Christian citizens. Its time for the Nigerian government to act.The ICC letter addressed to Ambassador Nsofor reads: It is with great concern that we petition the Republic of Nigeria to immediately intervene in the long-term and escalating violence led by Fulani militants against Christian farmers.Due to Nigerias leadership in Africa and the world, the country must make meaningful progress on behalf of its Christian citizens if it is to maintain its credibility as a stable, safe, and secure democracy. International Christian Concern, ICC, and other organisations have reported nearly 1,000 deaths since the beginning of 2018 alone.The world is increasingly watching the Nigerian government to see if they will engage on this issue. We strongly urge the Nigerian government to immediately take action against Fulani militants to end the mass murder of Christians. We respectfully request that the Nigerian government: Ensure that all citizens are protected equally, regardless of their ethno-religious affiliation.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that Nigerians from all parts of the country continue to report better power supply and less use of ...

He says his administration is committed to lawful interventions to ensure that the operators of the power distribution business live up to expectations.The President stated this when he addressed the nation in a broadcast to mark the 19th year of Nigerias nascent democracy and the third anniversary of his administration in Abuja on Tuesday.The president, who noted an impressive improvement in power generation and distribution in the past three years, however, charged the operators in the sector to enhance their services, especially in the areas of distribution capacity, service delivery, collection efficiency, and metering to eliminate contentious estimated billing.In the area of power generation, Nigerians from all parts of the country continue to report better power supply and less use of generators.This underscores the effectiveness of the methodical plan to deliver incremental and uninterrupted power supply to our homes, markets, offices and factories.The country achieved 5, 222.3 MW representing the highest peak of power generated onto the national grid and delivered to customers in December, 2017.With new facilities, repairs and rehabilitations by Government and private investors, generation capability now exceeds 7,500 MW, he said.Cue out audio  BuhariOn the transportation Sector, the President observed that the sector had continued to undergo a series of reforms in order to sustain the international best practices and ensure safety and security.According to him, the nations major airports have witnessed reconstruction of runways, installation of navigational equipment and new international terminals.He said these new terminals were due for commissioning in Abuja, Lagos, Kano and Enugu.President Buhari expressed the hope that Bilateral Air Services Agreements between Nigeria and the Governments of other countries would significantly open up new flight routes.He said: As a result of strict regulatory and compliance policies, Nigeria retained her Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Category 1 status, after a routine international audit.Recently, a new Maintenance Repair and Overhaul facility with capacity for aircraft C-checks and other comprehensive levels of maintenance was established in Lagos.This would save the country an estimated 90million dollars annually.The president added that giant strides had been recorded over the past three years to improve road transport infrastructure in all geopolitical zones of the country.He stated that the railway sector had also received tremendous attention as government was committed to the goal of linking all state capitals in the federation by rail network to ease the movement of goods and passengers.(NAN)
JOINT Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede has refuted claims that the boards security system was br...

JOINT Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Registrar Prof. Is-haq Oloyede has refuted claims that the boards security system was breached and examination leaked.Oloyede said the examination body was always a step ahead of fraudsters, who wanted to hack into its system.The registrar, who spoke to reporters in Benin City, promised to pay huge sums of money to anybody that could produce its genuine question papers.He said the examination body has put proactive measures in place to arrest anybody attempting to hack into its system.Oloyede stated that he was surprised that people were making noise that JAMB is generating money for the Federal Government.He explained that he was only increasing efficiency and cutting cost.The registrar said he would be happy if the Federal Government stopped paying salaries of JAMBs workers and asked the examination to fund itself.His words: We are not interested in bringing in more money, except in the area of third party examination because we have established a platform. We now conducted examinations for international agencies like West Africa College of Surgeon, which we just did across West Africa. People believe that we are credible.I have not found any case of a breakthrough. No matter how clever they think they are, we are ahead of them. One of the reasons why I led a delegation here myself is to see whether there is any evidence of breakthrough. You can ask any of the security agencies handling the matter, they will tell you.We have not been able to find one case of success. What we are treating are attempts. And because we are proactive, that is why we are picking their attempts when people try to break into our BVN. They did not get any questions because our questions were not there. They were able to break into a decoy that we created and they were not able to do anything.Oloyede said: That is why we keep on promising them that if you can get us one question of ours that is genuine, we will pay you a lot. So, because we believe that we must be proactive that is why we are dealing with any attempt and once an attempt is made, we do not leave it as attempt, we go after them and when we go after them, we arrest them.
The Special Assistant to the Ekiti State Governor on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka has told the Senior Special Assistant to the Pre...

The Special Assistant to the Ekiti State Governor on Public Communications, Lere Olayinka has told the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu not to drag Governor Ayodele Fayose into President Muhammadu Buharis messy fight with former president Olusegun Obasanjo.





These people should rather fight their battle alone because when they were going to Obasanjos house to prostrate for him to get his support, they never remembered that he was a despot and that he spent $16 billion on power, he said.





Shehu had stated that some state governors including the Ekiti state governor, Ayo Fayose, were illegally removed from office during the tenure of Obasanjo.





Olayinka challenged Buhari to go ahead and arrest Obasanjo, saying; Obasanjo has challenged them to probe him, what are they waiting for?





As far as we are concerned, Obasanjo and Buhari are allies in the comity of dictators and treasury looters. It was under Obasanjo that Buhari served as Minister of Petroleum and NNPC Chairman in 1977 and N2.8 billion oil money went missing from the accounts of the NNPC in Midlands Bank, United Kingdom. N2.8 billion as at that time is like $2.8 billion (over N1 trillion) now!





Fayoses spokesman, who described Buhari and his men as political hypocrites, said; It is the height of hypocrisy for Garba Shehu to have said that none of the absurdities recorded under Obasanjo had happened under President Buhari.





Garba Shehu should tell Nigerians what this government has done differently. Today, Nigeria under President Buhari is now a country where Nigerians are arrested and detained without trial and orders of court to release them are brazenly disobeyed.





Judges have been arrested in gestapo manner in the night and dragged into open vans like common criminals, government house and State House of Assembly invaded by armed men of the DSS.




Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki, has assured Nigerians that the long-awaited Petroleum Industry Bill law will be ready before the end of this legislative season.While giving the status of the bill, which has passed through various readings at the National Assembly, the Senate President declared that this 8th National Assembly has taken the bull by the horns. We have been making conscious efforts to ensure that we progress the passage of the bill, which has gone through various readings. But I promise Nigerians that before the end of this legislative assembly, definitely the bill will be passed.He gave this assurance through his representative, Senator Abdullahi Sabi, at the formal presentation of the International Tourisms Borse Berlins Golden City-Gate Film Festival award in Germany won by a Nigerian artist and film maker, Wilfred Ukpong, with his film, Future World in the Eco-Tourism category.Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, who received the award from the organisers of the International Film Festival held in Berlin in March 2018, on behalf of the artist, formally presented it to him. He was assisted by Senator Sabi.After the screening of the film before the audience, Senator Saraki observed that the message in the film is quite clear and apt, noting that it is an early warning of the impending danger in the Niger Delta, and advised that all the stakeholders must take it seriously.He maintained that all Nigerians have a responsibility to what is happening in Niger Delta, which has been captured by our artist through the Future World film, and unbiasely recognised in far away Germany.We must congratulate the government of Buhari for the initiatives of starting the clean-up of the Niger Delta, beginning with the Ogoni land.
A fake, illegal non-government organisation (NGO responsible for bringing ill people to Lagos and using them for begging has been busted...

A fake, illegal non-government organisation (NGO responsible for bringing ill people to Lagos and using them for begging has been busted b the Lagos State Police Command.Four members of the syndicate, Paul Samuel, Chukwuma Igbokwe, 24, Ofiga Ayuba, 18 and Bright Edet, 32, have been arrested.Police Commissioner Imohimi Edgal said the suspects usually lured people having health challenges from Benue State, with a promise of helping them to get treatment, only to dump them after using them to make money from motorists and residents.It waslearnt a female victim, Tina, battling a cancerous growth on her face, was allegedly impregnated by a member of the group.Edgal said: About 8 pm on May 27, a Lagos-based NGO informed the police about the illegal activities of an unregistered NGO operating as a body that helps people with debilitating diseases to raise fund for treatment.Based on the report, police detectives attached to Ilemba Hausa Division swung into action. They found Jacob Monday, of Obi Local Government of Benue State, who reported that the NGO brought him to Lagos on the pretext that they will assist him to raise money for surgery.He said they made him to beg for money in the streets of Lagos, which he has been doing in the last three months. The money realised from the begging was given to the syndicates leaders, Paul Samuel and Jacob Ogochukwu.A search for the leaders led to the arrest of Samuel and his associates  Chukwuma Igbokwe, of 12, Olorepe Street, Egbeda, Lagos; Ofiga Ayuba of Vendekia village, Benue State and Bright Edet, of no fixed address.They were identified by the victim as members of the fake NGO. The suspects confessed that they worked for Samuel and Ugochukwu. The latter is at large, but he will soon be arrested.Those in our net will be arraigned after investigation.Tina said she had been with the syndicate for over three years, adding that instead of helping her with surgery, she ended up getting impregnated.She said: They impregnated me. I dont have anywhere to go because my parents are poor. They said they need about N5 million to carry out the surgery. Each time I ask them how far they have gone, they would say they were making efforts.
Niger State Governor, Abubakar Bello, on Monday, enumerated reasons Nigerians should cast their votes for President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019.Bello, who made the remark while speaking with newsmen in Minna, said President Buharis decision to seek a re-election was a welcome development.According to him, the decision of President Muhammadu Buhari to seek re-election in 2019 is to lay a concrete foundation for the political growth of the country.I appeal to Nigerians to appreciate the Presidents declaration of intent to run again; strong in our conviction that he will continue to run an open and transparent government if given a second chance.We owe ourselves the duty to ensure that President Buhari continues beyond 2019 so that he could consolidate on the tremendous achievements so far recorded, he said.He said that Buhari remains a stabilising factor in strengthening the nations hard-earned unity.I am in full support and throw my weight behind the idea of President Muhammadu Buhari seeking a second tenure in 2019. It is encouraging and soul lifting.We have already set in motion a political strategy to lead a successful campaign for the President to get re-elected, he said.He explained that President Buharis efforts to diversify the economy yielded fruits in many folds, making agriculture to take the drivers seat and offering employment opportunities to millions of hitherto deprived Nigerians.Mr Presidents zeal in fighting corruption with emphasis on loot and assets recovery is the best thing that had happened to our country. Stolen monies, where they were stashed abroad, were being recovered.The ongoing fight against insurgency, militancy, cattle rustling and armed bandits is paying result, he said.Bello called on eligible Nigerians who had not register to take the advantage of the ongoing continuous voters registration exercise to do so.He said that it was only by so doing that the partys candidates seeking elective positions could emerge victorious.He also called on leaders of political parties to preach peace and be tolerant to ensure peaceful conduct of the elections.
The school bus crash that killed a student and teacher from Paramus two weeks ago is spurring lawmakers to push for safety upgrades for school buses at the state and federal levels.

Three-point seat belts would be required on all new school buses nationwide if a bipartisan bill, expected to be introduced this week, becomes law.

And a similar state law was introduced in the Assembly.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer announced Tuesday the Secure Every Child Under the Right Equipment Standards Act (SECURES ACT) would require seat belts on all school buses nationwide, make three-point lap and shoulder seat belts the national standard, and it will encourage alerts and other measures to make sure students are wearing seat belts.

The law is in response to a May 17 crash involving a Paramus Board of Education school bus on Route 80. It was carrying 38 students and seven adults from East Brook Middle School to Waterloo Village for a fifth grade field trip.

Fifth grader Miranda Vargas and teacher Jennifer M. Williamson, 51, were killed. The 43 others onboard were injured and transported to area hospitals.

The driver, Hudy Muldrow Sr., 77, of Woodland Park, has been charged with two counts of reckless vehicular homicide.

New Jersey is one of just eight states that require lap seat belts on all school buses. But in a May 22 report, on school bus crashes in Maryland and Tennessee, the National Transportation Safety Board -- for the first time -- recommended that school buses be equipped with shoulder and lap belts.

Every day nearly 600,000 school buses carry more than 25 million students to and from school, activities and trips. Between 2006 and 2015 a total of 301 children were killed in school bus crashes, Gottheimer said during a press conference Tuesday in the parking lot of Fair Lawn Board of Education offices.

"We know that seat belts save lives. And we know that three-point belts are far more effective than lap belts," Gottheimer said. "How is it possible that 42 states allow children as young as kindergarteners to board buses every morning across our country with nothing keeping them in their seats. It's unconscionable."

The legislation is being co-sponsored by New York Rep. John Faso. A companion law is expected to be introduced by Sen. Robert Menendez.

Gottheimer also said he is writing to state and federal officials asking them to study and take immediate action to make sure all bus drivers are qualified to transport children.

Paramus Schools Superintendet Michele Robinson, who stood by Gottheimer as he introduced the legislation, was asked by reporters what kind of background check Muldrow -- who had a long list of violations -- was put through.

"The information that we received from the state did not show moving violations," Michele Robinson said, adding that Muldrow was identified by the state as a "driver in good standing."

The district is exploring "measures," she said, to improve background checks.

Asked if Muldrow should have been driving the bus, Gottheimer said, "As a congressman and a parent, the reason I'm standing here today is because I'm deeply concerned about how we're handling all of our busing."

Robinson was asked the same question as she was chased to her car by a hoard of reporters. She did not answer.

Allison Pries may be reached at apries@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @AllisonPries. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
BAYONNE -- Hundreds of people lined Broadway on Monday morning for the city's annual Memorial Day parade.

Many, waving flags, cheered as service men and women made their way from the Bergen Point section of the city up to 32nd Street.

The parade began with a ceremony at the World War I monument near Fifth and Dodge streets. Color guards stood at attention as prayers were offered and reflections were shared.

Bayonne Mayor Jimmy Davis said Memorial Day is a time to remember those who made the "supreme sacrifice" so Americans can live in freedom.

"To this day we still have veterans that are protecting our rights," Davis said. "It's up to us each and everyday to remember that. It's probably the most expensive thing in our world, our freedom. Let's never forget and always thank a veteran."

This year's Grand Marshal is Thomas Bell. He and Davis placed a wreath at the monument, which lists Bayonne residents who died during WWI.

A rifle volley and playing of taps concluded the ceremony and the parade stepped off just after 10:30 a.m.

Members of the Veterans of Foreign War, American Polish Veterans, American Legion, Disable American Veterans, Catholic War Veterans, Jewish War Veterans, Korean War Veterans, Marine Corp League Detachment, and Vietnam Veterans all participated.

Check out photos from the parade in the gallery above.

Caitlin Mota may be reached at cmota@jjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @caitlin_mota. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
JERSEY CITY -- The state has rested in the manslaughter trial of a West New York man police say dragged a man down a flight of stairs on Christmas Day in 2016 and the defense began presenting its case for self-defense defense this morning.

Wilmer G. Ruiz-Martinez, 34, of Bergenline Avenue, was initially charged with aggravated assault against Leny Antonio Lainez-Hernandez in connection to an incident that occurred in a building on Hudson Avenue in West New York.

Lainez-Hernandez, 39, died two days later at a hospital and Ruiz-Martinez was then indicted on the charge of manslaughter. A forensic pathologist testified that he suffered a large fracture across the back of his skull.

Security video footage shown to the jury showed two men plunging down a flight of stairs and out of the building.

The defense's first witness was Maria Hernandez Cruz, who attended the Christmas party during which the incident occurred. But under questioning by defense attorney Chriss Orriss, she said men at the party were drinking and talking but said there was no arguing.

"So this jury is clear, you describe the atmosphere as calm?" Orriss asked the witness.

"Yes," she replied.

"And again, so the jury is clear, you observed no bad words or argument between the men?" Orriss asked.

Martinez Cruz again replied, "No."

The criminal complaint states Ruiz-Martinez told police he pulled the victim down the staircase, but the defense claims his actions were in self-defense.

Ruiz-Martinez's Dec. 29, 2016 videotaped interview with a Hudson County Prosecutor's Office homicide detective was played for the jury last week. The interview was in Spanish and jurors were provided an English transcript but The Jersey Journal's request for a copy was denied.

The defense's second witness is scheduled to take the stand after the lunch break.

Manslaughter is a second-degree offense and carries a possible prison sentence of five to 10 years in prison upon conviction.

The trial is before Hudson County Superior Court Patrick Arre in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.

The trial is being prosecuted by Hudson County assistant prosecutors Jennifer Pinales and David Feldman. Ruiz-Martinez is represented by Orriss and Claude Claude Heffron.
JERSEY CITY -- A doctor testifying for the defense at the manslaughter trial of a West New York man said today that the alleged victim's intoxication would have increased the severity of the head injury he suffered in his fatal fall on Christmas Day 2016.

Wilmer G. Ruiz-Martinez, 34, of Bergenline Avenue, was initially charged with aggravated assault against Leny Antonio Lainez-Hernandez in connection to the incident in a building on Hudson Avenue in West New York. Ruiz-Martinez is accused of dragging the victim down a flight of stairs.

Lainez-Hernandez, 39, died two days later at a hospital and Ruiz-Martinez was then indicted on the charge of manslaughter. A forensic pathologist testified that Hernandez suffered a large fracture across the back of his skull.

Security video from outside the building shows two men plunging down a flight of stairs and out of the building. Video from inside the building shows the men facing each other and interacting before the fall.

The criminal complaint says Ruiz-Martinez admitted pulling Lainez-Hernandez down the stairs.

Forensic Pathologist Dr. Zhongxue Hua testified today that a blood sample taken at the hospital shows Hernandez's blood alcohol concentration at the time of the fall was about 0.28 percent. He said Hernandez would have had to drink about 15 beers to reach that BAC. The legal limit for driving in New Jersey is a BAC of 0.08 percent.

Hua said Hernandez's BAC means he would have had a loss of muscle coordination, slurred speech and confusion and would be staggering and far more prone to falling.

Hua said he believes alcohol contributed "significantly" to Hernandez's death, adding that "There is a synergism between head injuries and alcohol" which makes the injuries worse.

He also noted that the doctor who performed the autopsy found signs that Hernandez chronically abused alcohol which had adversely affected his liver and spleen.

Finally, Hua said he reviewed the security video numerous times and believes that it only shows two people having an altercation on the stairs before both fall.

Hudson County Assistant Prosecutor David Feldman showed still shots of the security video while cross-examining Hua. He worked to convince jurors that the images show Ruiz-Martinez grabbing Hernandez and throwing him down the steps.

Feldman noted that the medical examiner's office determined that Herandez's death was the result of blunt force trauma to the head.

Hua agreed when the prosecutor asked if it was true that "certain brain trauma can be so severe that someone is going to die regardless of how drunk they are."

It was a reformulation of a previous question in which Feldman asked Hua if he agreed that "if someone was drunk beyond drunk and had his head cut off, the alcohol would not have an impact on his death?"

Finally, Feldman produced medical records from the hospital that described Hernandez's wound as not being survivable.

The trial is scheduled to continue tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. before Hudson County Superior Court Judge Patrick Arre in the Hudson County Administration Building in Jersey City.

The defense's first witness was a woman who also attended the Christmas party in the building where the incident occurred.

Ruiz-Martinez is represented by attorney's Chris Orriss and Claude Heffron. Also representing the state is Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Pinales.

Ruiz-Martinez faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of manslaughter.
The Lafayette Amvets Post 33 of Jersey City, friends and neighborhood residents honored their fallen comrades and all military personnel on Memorial day.

The day started with a march through the neighborhood prior to a special Mass at St. Mary's Church. Following the Mass, concelebrated Mass with the Revs. Lozinsky and Szabo, the group conducted a Memorial Day ceremony at Dr. Ercel Webb Park/Lafayette Park.

Post 33 concluded the commemoration with a luncheon for all members, family, and friends, at the Broadway Diner in Bayonne.

Check out Jersey Journal freelance photographer Richard J. McCormack's photos from the morning march.

More Memorial Day coverage
BAYONNE -- An employee of Planet Wings chased a man and his nephew down Broadway with a butcher knife, beat the man and destroyed his cellphone, authorities said.

Adrian Ramos-Menendez, 21, of West Fifth Street, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, unlawful possession of a weapon, simple assault and criminal mischief, authorities said.

According to police, the victim, a 32-year-old man, was walking near Planet Wings with his nephew just before 2:30 p.m. when he peered into the restaurant's window to see if a friend was inside, police said.

After spotting him, Ramos-Menendez then ran out of the restaurant wielding a butcher knife and began chasing the victim down Broadway, police said. When Ramos-Menendez caught up to the victim, he began punching him in the head and body.

Police said he did not use the knife at any point.

It is unclear if the two men had a prior relationship or what prompted the altercation. A police spokesman could not immediately be reached for comment.

The victim broke free of the assault and flagged down a police officer, but during the altercation the victim's cellphone fell out of his pocket. Police said that Ramos-Menendez took the phone at the scene and while on his way back to the restaurant, he tossed it into the air and it shattered when it hit the ground.

After interviewing witnesses at the scene, police arrested Ramos-Menendez in Planet Wings.

The victim suffered minor injuries to his face and head, but refused medical attention, police said.

A manager for Planet Wings could not immediately be reached, but an employee of the restaurant said it is "unlikely" Ramos-Menendez will be returning for work.

Corey W. McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @coreymacc. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.
Nearly two years after 22-year-old Deja Farrior-Quinones was killed by a driver who was being pursued by state troopers, her family has filed a civil lawsuit seeking to bring the driver and officers to court.

And the lawyers working with the woman's family are also working with state senator to try and pass legislation that would address police chases in urban areas. They want to call it "Deja's Law."

Farrior-Quinones was driving to visit her nieces in Hamilton Township one night in September 2016 when Chandler Heaviside, then a 22-year-old Jackson man, crashed into her car at an intersection while fleeing police.

Deja Farrior-Quinones (Family photo)

Officers had allegedly seen Heaviside involved in a drug deal in Trenton's West Ward, and pursued him for several miles at high speeds on two highways around Mercer County.

At South Broad Street and East Park Avenue, Heaviside ran a northbound red light and t-boned Farrior-Quinoes' car, authorities have said.

She died shortly after from her injuries.

New Jersey State Police troopers had just cut off the pursuit moments earlier, authorities said, and came upon the wreck moments later.

Heaviside was reportedly high at the time of the pursuit, authorities said. He was arrested at the crash scene and later charged with causing her death.

Robin Lord and Clifford Bidlingmaier, the attorneys representing Farrior-Quinones' family, though, point to the pursuing police in the incident. They question why troopers pursued Heaviside for such a distance over an alleged drug offense.

The complaint alleges four State Police officers and one Trenton police officer were reckless in their driving, and their regard for policies and procedures regulating police of pursuits, when they took off after Heaviside - eventually leading to the young woman's wrongful death.

The complaint names the state, the City of Trenton, Heaviside, as well as the following state police officers: Detective Kartik Birudaraju, Detective Sgt. Ricardo Diaz, Detective Carlos Estevez and Detective Sgt. Jeffery Gauthier. An unknown Trenton officer is also listed among the defendants.

It identifies Birudaraju, Diaz and Estevez and the unnamed Trenton officer as all pursuing Heaviside recklessly for several miles throughout Trenton and Hamilton Township.

The complaint also claims that Gauthier was the supervisor of the vehicle driven by Estevez and that he and the drivers were "negligent, careless and/or reckless" while driving and with New Jersey State Police policies and procedures.

The complaint says the family is seeking the defendants be tried in court for compensatory and punitive damages

"What her family is going through should not be experienced by anyone." Lord wrote to NJ Advance Media in an email. "No mother should have to bury her daughter because of actions of overzealous cowboy troopers who think the laws do not apply to them."

Spokespeople with the New Jersey State Police and state Attorney General's Office did not immediately return requests for comment about the suit.

As for the legislation, Lord said she's been working with state Sen. Shirley Turner, (D-Mercer) about drafting new legislation addressing police chases in urban areas.

Turner told NJ Advance Media that she had met with Farrior-Quinones' family to adopt a "Deja's Law."

"There's just too many people who are subject to get in the way in urban areas," during a police chase stemming from a non-violent crime, Turner said. "We don't want to obstruct officers from doing their jobs, we just want to give proper consideration to innocent bystanders."

Meanwhile, Heaviside was indicted on 15 crimes last year in relation to the crash, including aggravated manslaughter, eluding, death by auto, assault by auto, aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest and drug offenses.

His criminal case is pending in Mercer County Superior Court.

Spokespeople from the New Jersey State Police and the New Jersey Attorney General's Office declined to comment.

Paige Gross may be reached at pgross@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @By_paigegross. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Wildwood police say they will soon release body camera footage of a young woman's violent weekend arrest, and when they do, it will likely show that the officers did what was necessary, said Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr.

A video shared on social media over the weekend shows a Wildwood part-time officer punching 20-year-old Emily Weinman of Philadelphia in the head after she was stopped for underage drinking on the beach.

"She assaults them, she spits at them, she kicks them. At that point, the police officer did what he had to do," Troiano said Tuesday. "I didn't see her put her hands behind her back. I didn't see any of that."

"From what I gather from the people that looked at it, you'll see that the officers were restrained in what they did."

Asked if Weinman deserved to be punched, Troiano said she was "out of control."

"Did she deserve to get hit? Maybe not, but then again maybe she did deserve it. I don't know. The internal investigation will determine that."

Attorney Stephen Dicht of Margate, who is representing Weinman, said he's looking forward to the videos being released, and that he would not be surprised if the mayor had to issue a retraction when they are.

He said the beating his client endured was the result of inferior training that class II officers receive. The Attorney General's use of force policy states that officers trying to get a subject under control should use "only that force which is objectively reasonable and necessary."

"It's kind of ridiculous. They're there to protect, to diffuse situations, not escalate them," he said. "Whatever she did or said -- and I'm not admitting she did or said anything -- the response is way out of proportion. That's what happens when you've got poorly trained officers."

New video of the arrest will be released in the next two days, but must first be reviewed to blur faces of those not involved, said Wildwood Police Chief Robert Regalbuto.

"I want to be as thorough and complete as possible. We'll put everything out there. We just want to make sure we cover all of our bases."

The social media video, which has now been viewed millions of times and picked up by news outlets worldwide, prompted an almost immediate investigation by the police department and the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office. Gov. Phil Murphy, who had not seen the video, called the incident "pretty darn disturbing."

This City of Wildwood Police Department has received reports of a video on various social media sources, regarding an... Posted by City of Wildwood Police Department on Sunday, May 27, 2018

On Saturday, Weinman refused to give her name to officers and spit on them and kicked them as they tried to arrest her, police said.

The young woman, however, has a different story. In her since-deleted Facebook post, she said she was visiting the beach with her boyfriend and their 18-month-old child when two officers confronted her about unopened containers of alcohol she had on the beach.

She passed a breathalyzer test, and afterwards, police followed her as she walked away to make a phone call.

"I asked them don't they have something better to do as cops than to stop people for underage drinking on the beach," the Facebook post reads, and that's when Weinman claims an officer said, "I was gonna let you go but now I'll write you up."

She said as she was backing away she tripped and fell, and an officer tackled her. Dicht said she spit out sand after having her face pushed into the beach.

In the video, two officers struggle to arrest Weinman and one punches her twice in the head as they grapple in the sand. Onlookers gather to stare at the scene.

Weinman was charged two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, aggravated assault by spitting bodily fluids at a police officer, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, obstruction and minor in possession of alcohol.

The two officers involved have been reassigned to administrative duties while the matter is reviewed by the department's internal affairs unit and the county prosecutor's office. County Prosecutor Jeffrey H. Sutherland promised a formal statement once the initial investigation is complete.

The officers were class II, part-time cops hired to work during the busy summer months. Regalbuto has not released the officers' names, but said they would be identified when the investigation is complete. In addition to its full-time staff, the department employs 10-12 class I and about 40 class II special officers to cope with the busy summer months.

The chief said he was "shocked" when he saw the video and that "use of force is never pretty."

He then went on to say, however, that "all you have to do is comply with the officer's request."

Mayor Troiano noted that Wildwood's special officers go through extensive training, adding that two of the officers at the scene are new to the force while the third has been with the department since last year. He did not say if the officer who delivered the blows was one of the new officers.

Dicht said he is appalled at the "irresponsible" comments by the Wildwood mayor.

"What he's trying to do is destroy her character, and it's unfair. The mayor of a city destroying the character of a 20-year-old," he said. "I find it very offensive."

He declined to say where his client is living, but said she is not commenting now. Court records indicate she was on four years probation in Pennsylvania, but Dicht said she is free and not being held on any kind of probation violation.

According to court records, Weinman was arrested in 2016 on charges of burglary, simple assault, criminal mischief, criminal trespass and recklessly endangering. She eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of simple assault and reckless endangerment and received probation.

Alexis Johnson may be reached at ajohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexisjreports. Find nj.com on Facebook.

Rebecca Everett may be reached at reverett@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @rebeccajeverett. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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NJ Advance Media Illustration

By Marisa Iati

NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

By the time Shakera Alston realized what was happening, she says her colleague was already pulling his pants down.

She came out of a restroom stall at Snuffys Steakhouse  Pantagis Renaissance to see a busboy with his genitals out, begging her for sex, Alston alleged in a lawsuit and a recent interview.

Thats when he tried to grab me, she said of the incident in October of 2016. But when he grabbed me, I hit him.

Alstons allegations may seem extreme, but they are not an anomaly. Whether its lewd remarks, forced kissing or unwanted sexual text messages, experts say women working in restaurants are particularly susceptible to harassment and even assault at the hands of male supervisors, colleagues and customers.

A spate of lawsuits recently filed in New Jersey illustrates how drastically uneven power dynamics, a lack of other job opportunities, close working quarters, night and evening work hours, and alcohol in the workplace often make restaurants hotbeds for sexual harassment or worse.

Since November, NJ Advance Media has invited readers to tell us about their experiences of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. After complaints from college campuses, restaurant industry workers and corporate employees were tied for the second most frequently submitted type of complaint.

Many of the complaints came from women who were under the age of 18 at the time of the incident. Almost all of the complaints went unreported to officials for a variety of reasons. The harassment happens at eateries across the spectrum, from five-star dining hubs to coffee shops, where workers try to eke out a living.

This job is the difference between, I can pay my rent at the end of the month, or I cant. I can feed my kids, or I cant, said Nancy Erika Smith, a Newark-based employment lawyer who specializes in sexual harassment cases. Women are particularly powerless when youre working in a job that doesnt pay well and that you are very insecure in.

Alston, 34, was being harassed at the popular Scotch Plains restaurant and event venue long before her co-worker pulled his pants down in a restroom, she says in her lawsuit filed in January in Superior Court in Union County.

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NJ Advance Media Illustration

'If I didn't fight this dude, it probably would have been worse...'

After Alston began working as a waiter at Snuffys in June of 2014, a manager joked to her about the size of his genitals and another supervisor suggested to a male employee that he hook up with Alston because (he) had not had sex in a long time, the lawsuit alleges.

Still, Alston said, she kept working her $8-per-hour job so she would have money to pay rent on her home in North Plainfield and eventually to buy a car.

A manager who recently came to the phone at Snuffys and identified himself only as Paul declined to comment on Alstons allegations. Tracy Armstrong, an attorney for the company and for five managers named in the lawsuit, did not respond to phone and email messages.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said they deported the busboy, Mayco "Mikee" Enriquez, to Guatemala in August after local officials charged him with criminal sexual contact in the Snuffys incident. The state case in Union County remains open.

Enriquez has no attorney in the lawsuit against him, court records show. Michael Noriega, an attorney who represented Enriquez in the criminal case, said he was no longer Enriquez's lawyer.

Alston left Snuffys last year, choosing to rely only on income from her second job at Verizon. She said she sought a lawyer, Brooke Barnett, after she was bolstered by watching other women speak out about sexual harassment as part of the #MeToo movement.

If I didnt fight this dude, Alston said, it probably would have been worse than what it was.

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NJ Advance Media illustration

A strict power structure

Food industry employees often work in close quarters  isolated warehouses, stock rooms and walk-in refrigerators  making restaurants breeding grounds for sexual harassment and assault, said Elaine Zundl, the research director at Rutgers Universitys Center for Women and Work.

Common complaints include customers grabbing waitresses between their legs, kitchen staff making them flash their chests before they get their meals to serve and managers telling women to show more cleavage in order to earn more tips.

In our industry, women are told not just to tolerate harassment, but to go out and encourage it, said Saru Jayaraman, the president of the national non-profit Restaurant Opportunities Center United.

In fiscal year 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission received about 6,914 complaints of sexual harassment. Roughly 331 were from restaurant and hospitality workers, more than any other industry specified. About 265 of those were from women.

Managers and chefs maintain significant power over wait staff because of the waitresses dependence on customers tips for their income, Jayaraman said.

Restaurant servers and hosts are among the 10 lowest paid professions nationally, federal Department of Labor statistics show. They often earn $2.13 per hour, which is the federal minimum wage for tipped employees.

Women, meanwhile, make up 70 percent of server jobs and 89 percent of host jobs. Most managers and chefs are men and do not rely on tips.

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NJ Advance Media illustration

Sexually explicit remarks

Customers can directly withhold tips from waitresses who do less than grin and bear any abuse, however poorly they are treated.

Chefs, meanwhile, can delay releasing meals, knowing the waitresses tips rely on delivering the food exactly as customers ordered it, Jayaraman said. Managers can reassign waitresses to different shifts where they are likely to serve fewer customers and make less money.

While working as a server at a Bahama Breeze in Cherry Hill last year, Anarrah Wallace says in a lawsuit that one manager suggested Wallace, who is black, sleep with her male co-worker because he is white.

Another manager questioned whether the male server really had sent Wallace sexually explicit texts and said she could not do anything because neither server was on duty when the conversation occurred, Wallace claims in the federal lawsuit filed in February.

When the male server continued to make daily sexual comments and innuendos to Wallace, the lawsuit says, one of the managers told her to chill out. Neither manager took the complaint to human resources or talked with the male server, the suit says.

The harassment drove Wallace to resign in March of 2017, according to the lawsuit.

Wallace could not be reached for comment. Her attorney, Samuel A. Dion, said the case will go to arbitration, pursuant to Wallace's employment agreement with Bahama Breeze.

NJ Advance Media is not naming the male server because he is not a defendant in the lawsuit.

A spokesman for Bahama Breeze said the male server voluntarily left the company in October and one of the managers voluntarily departed in March of 2017  both unrelated to the allegations they now face. The spokesman, Rich Jeffers, said the restaurant chain does not tolerate harassment and has strong policies in place to ensure a safe work environment.

We dont have any record of Ms. Wallace sharing this issue through our channels, he said. Had we been made aware, we would have immediately investigated and terminated the individual if the allegation was corroborated.

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NJ Advance Media illustration

Why waitresses are vulnerable

Sarah Deriphonse, 25, worked at the Maplewood Diner for only four months before the owners sexually aggressive gestures and comments drove her to quit, she says in a federal lawsuit filed in February.

George Filippatos grabbed her butt and breasts multiple times and, told her he wanted to have sex with her, Deriphonse says in the lawsuit.

When Deriphonse rejected Filippatos advances, he cursed at her and called her names, the suit claims.

She quit in October of 2016 and returned two months later after Filippatos apologized and promised he would treat her better, the suit says. He fired her the following March, Deriphonse alleges in the lawsuit.

Deriphonse could not be reached for this story. Her lawyer, Timothy Seiler, did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

"It really increases tolerance for harassment later in life..."

 Saru Jayaraman

Filippatos, 69, could not be reached for comment. A hostess who answered the phone at the diner said he was ill and no longer worked there, and no one answered the door at his home Wednesday.

Reached by phone, his son, John Filippatos, declined to comment or identify a lawyer who could comment. No attorneys are listed for Filippatos or for the diner in court records.

Deriphonse claims in the lawsuit that she was given no logical explanation for her termination and was fired because she complained about the sexual advances.

Waitresses are vulnerable to sexual abuse from their supervisors because they are often relatively uneducated and therefore, easily replaceable, said Smith, the sexual harassment attorney.

The restaurant business has a certain persona, which is sort of accepting this incredible hierarchy where the chef and his immediate underlings are all powerful and able to behave in a very bullying and obnoxious and abusive way, she said.

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Few means of recourse

Restaurant workers main options for recourse are to file a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the state Division on Civil Rights, contact local police or seek a lawyer  but women sometimes fear police officers and lawyers may not take them seriously, Zundl said.

And, experts said, most people who are harassed at work dont ever come forward. Sexual abuse is so ingrained in restaurant culture, Zundl said, that many workers dont even think to report it. Some fear retaliation if they complain.

These are people that dont feel they have a lot of power in life, Smith said. Theyre often economically insecure, dont have the time or energy to go to a lawyer, or dont think they have the money to go to a lawyer.

Restaurant workers who are harassed on the job often are either fired for turning down their bosses advances or quit because they no longer can stand the harassment, said James M. Cooney, an attorney who has represented plaintiffs in sexual harassment cases and an employment law professor at Rutgers.

The behavior they learn to tolerate while on the restaurant floor often follows them throughout their careers, Jayaraman said.

It really increases tolerance for harassment later in life when you are told early in your career, Go out and get harassed, and the more you get harassed, the more money youll make in tips and the more worthy of a worker you are, she said.

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Staff reporter Susan K. Livio contributed to this report.

Marisa Iati may be reached at miati@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @Marisa_Iati or on Facebook here. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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The 2018 version of Donald Trump should listen to the 2004 version when it comes to Mideast policy.

That guy was one heck of a hard-headed realist. Here's what he said about the Iraq War in an Esquire magazine interview that occurred about a year after George W. Bush's "Mission Accomplished" appearance on an aircraft carrier:

"Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the county? C'mon. Two minutes after we leave, there's going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over."

It took a bit more than two minutes, but in recent elections in Iraq, the party of Moqtada al-Sadr swept to victory.

At the time Trump made those remarks, al-Sadr was leading the "Mahdi Army." This was a Shia militia that attacked American troops in the heavily Shia areas like Baghdad.

Now "the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy" is the power behind the Iraqi government.

Ain't democracy wonderful?

No, it ain't.

Neither is "regime change," another bad idea that Trump denounced during the 2016 presidential campaign - while Hillary Clinton was championing it for Syria.

So just why the heck has he been filling key foreign-policy positions with people espousing a view of the world much more like Clinton's than his own campaign position?

The latest is Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. On Monday, Pompeo gave a speech in which he presented a list of 12 demands that amounted to a call for regime change in Iran. (Read Pat Lang's dissection of that speech on his Sic Semper Tyrannis blog.)

Among those demands was that the Iranians end support for the Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Put your hand up if you even know where Yemen is.

I don't see many hands. I've yet to meet a single regular human being who's not involved in politics who has the slightest interest in who wins the civil war in Yemen (where the Saudis are busy bombing and killing children.).

I did meet one guy, but he was politically active.

I met him when he was protesting outside the 2016 Democratic convention Hillary Clinton's interventionist foreign policy.

The guy was a member of Code Pink, an antiwar group that used to picket Clinton for her pro-war positions. He described to me how he was on a ship bringing supplies to the Yemeni people when it was intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Arabian Sea.

What is the U.S. Coast Guard doing in the Arabian Sea?

Wasting our tax dollars, that's what.

At least that's what the old Donald Trump would say. He uttered that sentiment repeatedly during his campaign against Clinton. He even repeated it in February when he announced he would pull the U.S. out of Syria.

"As of a couple of months ago, we have spent $7 trillion in the Middle East. Seven trillion dollars. What a mistake," he said. "We're trying to build roads and bridges and fix bridges that are falling down, and we're have a hard time getting the money. It's crazy.

It is indeed crazy. What's even crazier is that not long after that he named as his national security adviser John Bolton, a veteran of the Bush 43 administration who was getting everything wrong about Iraq at the same time Trump was getting it right.

And then there's Pompeo, whose demands for Iran were of the same sort Bush imposed on Iraq prior to beginning that military debacle that Trump accurately diagnosed.

I asked Trump's first major Republican supporter in New Jersey, state Sen. Mike Doherty of Warren County, what he makes of Trump's conflicting postures.

"I think his instincts are correct but then he gets in a room full of generals and a national security adviser like Bolton and they just wear him down," said Doherty, who is like Pompeo a West Point alumnus.

"He should listen to the voters who want to end these stupid wars," said Doherty. "All the citizens and veterans I talk with say, 'We're tired of these wars.'"

The problem is that generals never get tired of wars, said Doherty, who commanded an artillery unit in Germany during the Cold War.

"They think that's the pathway to power," he said. "They think wartime is where historic heroes are created. Pompeo's not the first."

No, he's not. But if the current Donald Trump would listen to the old Donald Trump, he'd be the last.

ADD - READ MY COLUMN FROM 2004: Like Trump, I concluded from the bungled U.S. occupation that the entire idea of "liberating" people who hate us was destined to backfire.

Here's a quote about the U.S. strategy from former CIA agent Bob Baer, who had extensive experience in Iraq in the 1990s:

"It was idiocy in a sense. The administration had no idea about the country of Iraq. The basic facts are that Iraq is not a real country but three nationalities all warring against each other. It was all held together by an army, the same army that kept the Iranians from stirring up the Gulf. Why did we want to go and remove that army from the face of the earth?"

For the same reason the so-called "neo" conservatives now want to invade and "liberate" the Iranians.

Despite all evidence to the contrary, the neocons persist in believing that if we set up a democracy in Iran, the people there will freely elect a regime that is friendly to the U.S. and Israel.

Hint: These people do not like the U.S. and Israel. They will give power to someone who shares that view - just like the Iraqis just did.

These "neo" conservatives are neither "neo" nor "conservative." They're just old lefties carrying out a liberal interventionist foreign policy that is more than 100 years old.
For a president who himself ran a fake university - defrauding thousands of students with sleazy sales tactics and unqualified instructors - cleaning up the for-profit education industry isn't exactly a priority.

It isn't for Betsy DeVos, either, his education chief, who has personally invested in for-profits and hired her top staffers from such schools; including one that paid out a bigger fraud settlement than Trump University.

Now that these sharks are running the Education Department, they have effectively shut down federal investigations into fraud at the for-profit colleges where they once worked, the New York Times reported.

No surprise here. Nothing to see, really: Just the Trump administration, not draining the swamp, so much as hiring it.

Under DeVos, the feds have sharply curtailed even basic communication with state law enforcement, ending an Obama-era partnership to investigate shady practices at these schools.

They are no longer helping to nab the bad actors and get loan relief for victims; people desperate to catch a break, who these schools shamelessly duped about their job-placement rates.

For-profits aren't the ones lending students money, so don't care if they can't pay back it back. They encourage people in dire straits to take out as much financial aid as possible. Then they suck up this federal loan money like sponges, leaving veterans, single parents and others who live paycheck-to-paycheck with huge debts and no degrees.

Why would the Education Department, charged with overseeing these loans and protecting the students, overlook such a racket? Why side with the fraudsters over their victims?

That's the question behind a letter New Jersey's Attorney General, Gurbir Grewal, just sent DeVos, vowing to do what her office will not: Police these predatory practices and help the people who got ripped off.

In the past, he said, our state partnered with the feds to alert some 2,200 New Jerseyans that they can get loan relief, after the notorious collapse of the for-profit Corinthian. But some still haven't gotten it.

The AG is simply asking for a list of victims who have not yet contacted the feds, so the state can follow up. "If the federal government will not pursue these investigations wherever the facts and law take them," Grewal wrote, "let us pick up where you leave off."

DeVos' office hasn't answered him, or any of our questions. If her staff isn't going to stick up for students, why not hand this over to someone who will? It's almost as if they don't want anyone to investigate.

The feds also killed an ongoing probe into DeVry, which operates in New Jersey. It had already paid $100 million in 2016 to settle a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit that it baited students with deceptive ads about jobs and salaries after graduation. It also paid another limited settlement to the Education Department that year, for making unsubstantiated job-placement claims.

But then the investigation was suspended by Trump staffers, employees told the Times - and DeVos hired a top DeVry official to head the team probing the for-profits.

It's hard to investigate these hacks if you're one of them. So it's time for the states to step in. And not just the AG; our legislators must also take action.

We need to keep closer tabs on schools that overpromise and under-deliver, if the feds won't. How many students end up defaulting on their loans? How many get jobs relevant to their degrees, or pass state licensing exams?

We should also appoint a reliable, multimember oversight body - one not chock-full of people from the industry, like DeVos' team.

We must be more vigilant. If it seems more like a get-rich-quick scam than a school, it likely is; and if the feds prefer to look the other way, you can bet somebody is profiting off that, too.

Bookmark NJ.com/Opinion. Follow on Twitter @NJ_Opinion and find NJ.com Opinion on Facebook.
By Cheryl Holly

United States citizens live in a gun culture. Children are, by nature, curious. These two facts form a deadly combination.

Americans own more than 350 million firearms -- more guns than people -- and often store them in their homes. We debate laws surrounding gun ownership and purchase. We debate the state of mental health services. We debate provisions to keep students safe in schools.

But what we are not talking about is how to keep guns out of the hands of children -- often very young children.

About four in 10 gun owners report that they have a firearm that is both loaded and accessible in their homes. In New Jersey, an estimated .03 percent, or about 7,710 children, are living in homes where there are unlocked, loaded firearms. Although these percentages are low, thanks likely to our state's strict gun laws, that number is still far too high.

("Truth About Kids & Guns" report by the Brady Center)

Laws do not prevent a child from discovering a loaded, unlocked gun. They did not prevent a 4-year-old boy in East Orange from dying after being shot in the head by his 6-year-old brother who was playing with their mother's gun in 2016. The year prior, they did not stop a 4-year-old Toms River boy from killing a 6-year-old friend while playing "pretend shooting" with his father's rifle.

These children join the ranks of the nearly 2,600 children who died from a firearm-related injury in the United States from 2012 to 2014. Six percent of those deaths were unintentional.

In other words: Preventable.

These figures also do not include the estimated 7,000 kids sent to Emergency Departments every year after suffering firearm injuries.

In 2012, a young man fatally shot 20 first-graders and six teachers and staffers at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Sandy Hook, Conn., where I live. At the time, my daughter was in kindergarten. Although we had no guns in our home, I wondered what she might do if she came across a firearm and what programs existed to teach children about gun safety.

This thought led me and my colleagues at Rutgers University (Sallie Porter, Mary Kamienski and Aubrienne Lim) to recently publish a study in "Health Promotion Practice" that reviewed research on gun safety education programs. We found that none of these programs work well.

We were also startled by parental attitudes toward guns as they relate to their children: 72 percent of parents in the studies we reviewed believe their children can tell a real gun from a fake one, and 85 percent of parents reported they did not practice safe gun storage. In addition, children who participated in gun safety programs often ignore what they learned when they encounter a real firearm in a real-world situation. Children's curiosity, we found, often wins.

Firearm safety programs try to teach children what to do if they find an unsupervised gun. The purpose of these programs is to eliminate or minimize the risks of death or injuries from improper possession, storage or handling of firearms.

("Truth About Kids & Guns" by the Brady Center)

Most of these programs provide children with information and warnings on gun safety and even allow a child to touch a non-functional gun. Increasing a child's knowledge about what to do if he or she comes across an unsupervised gun makes sense, but it provides no certainty they will translate this knowledge to a real-life situation.

Our research also shows that there are few studies of programs that involve adolescents and teens.

This is surprising given the national Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System reports that 5.3 percent (13,263 students) of high school respondents reported carrying a gun at least once during the 30 days before the survey, and that more than 15,468 reported carrying a gun on school property.

The issue is not about gun control but how to keep our children -- who are developmentally unable to understand the consequences of picking up what looks like a toy and pulling the trigger -- safe around firearms.

Until we determine more effective ways to teach children at each stage of development about gun safety, the two best solutions are to not have guns in the house or to ensure they are locked away and the key or code cannot be found. Hiding a gun under the sofa or in the closet is dangerous.

The guns in the Sandy Hook killer's house were in a gun safe. It was unlocked.

Cheryl Holly is a professor and co-director of the Northeast Institute for Evidence Synthesis and Translation at Rutgers University School of Nursing.

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Text by Brent Johnson | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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Video and Photos by Michael Mancuso | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com

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A view of the rotunda under the Statehouse dome.

It's been a year since final approval was given to Gov. Chris Christie's controversial plan to spend $300 million in taxpayer money to restore New Jersey's two-century-old Statehouse in Trenton.

So how's it going so far? The state  which is now overseen by new Gov. Phil Murphy  gave reporters a tour of the renovations late last week.

Here's what we saw and learned:

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1. Murphy's administration admits this was needed.

The golden-domed capitol  which dates 1792  is the second-oldest continuous state capitol in the U.S., after Maryland. Christie, a Republican, announced in late 2016 that it was in grave need of an update because sections were in danger of "catastrophic failure."

The problem that critics had was how it was approved and paid for. The state borrowed money, financing it through the state Economic Development Authority, without the say of the state Legislature or voters, as required by the state constitution.

Both Murphy, the Democratic nominee, and Kim Guadagno, his Republican rival and Christie's own lieutenant governor, questioned the project on the campaign trail last year.

Murphy wondered why the cost was so expensive, but he did not say the renovation should be stopped.

Now, Murphy's state treasurer, Elizabeth Muoio defended it.

This is a project that is necessary, and I think the concerns were more about how the funding was put together," Muoio, a former member of the state Assembly, told reporters after the tour. "But the need is clearly here."

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2. It's about one-fifth done.

Officials say the project is about 15 to 20 percent complete.

Only the executive branch of the Statehouse  where the governor and his staff work  is being updated. The Legislature's wing was renovated years ago.

So far, the building has been gutted and cleared of furniture, fixtures, and everything else that's "non-hisotrical," said Building Authority Executive Director Ray Arcario, who led the tour.

Officials said Christie's assessment that the building was hazardous was true. They said the building lacked a fire-suppression system, windows were close to falling out, duct tape was keeping skylights together, and there was water damage all over.

Still, Arcario said, the building was structurally "very, very" sound.

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3. It's on budget and on track (to finish after Murphy's first term).

So far, New Jersey has secured about $38 million in public contracts for the project so far, officials confirmed.

The Associated Press was the first to report that figure, through the Open Public Records Act.

The AP reported those invoices show contracts with about a half-dozen architecture, demolition, and hazardous materials firms. Billing began as soon as a few weeks after Christies administration greenlighted the project.

In one example, East Coast Hazmat submitted a bill for about $400,000 in November for asbestos abatement. In another, Philadelphia-based Nelco Architecture has a nearly $24 million contract covering demolition and renovation.

Officials say the project is on budget and on track to finish on time  four years from now, in 2022.

"Everything is on schedule," Arcario said.

In a parting gift from Christie, Murphy and his staff are located down West State Street in a temporary space at the State Archives building. The project is slated to be done after Murphy faces re-election.

In other words, he'll have to win a second term to actually govern from the Statehouse.

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State Building Authority Executive Ray Arcario stands in one of the oldest parts of the Statehouse.

4. Some of the wood is quite old. Like Founding Fathers old.

On the main floor, some of the wood beams date to the 18th century.

Aracrio said some of the building had been walled off over decades and 18 building campaigns. He added that workers are keeping as many elements as they "can possibly keep."

"There will be a great effort to preserve that," Arcario said of one room with wood traced to the 1790s.

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5. Much of the massive work is ahead.

Next up: The state will grant contracts for the actual renovation and restoration stretch of the project. That is slated to begin early next year, officials said.

Arcario said that will include new mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems.

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A a chandelier inside the governor's outer office, where press events were held. It will be updated to include LED lighting.

MORE COVERAGE

Christie announces $300M N.J. Statehouse renovation project

Christie's renovation gets final approval

What's your $300M for renovations getting so far? Here's an inside look

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The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Brent Johnson may be reached at bjohnson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @johnsb01. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
UPDATE: New videos of cop punching woman in head will likely vindicate cops, mayor says

Gov. Phil Murphy said Tuesday he hadn't seen the video from Memorial Day weekend that shows a woman on a Wildwood beach get wrestled to the ground and punched multiple times in the head by police.

But based on what he's heard about the incident, the governor said he finds the account "pretty darn disturbing."

Murphy, speaking to reporters at a public event in Hoboken on Tuesday, said there needs to be an investigation into the confrontation between police and Emily Weinman, 20, of Philadelphia, on Saturday.

The video begins when an officer has Weinman pinned down while she kicks her legs in the air. People in the background can be heard shouting "stop resisting," before one of the officers punches her twice in the head.

"I have not seen the video, but it is quite disturbing based on the description," Murphy said.

He continued: "Like everything else in life, the overwhelming percentage of folks in any line of business, certainly in folks who protect us are extraordinary, ... but if you see an example of excess force you've got to pursue and figure out why the heck that happened because based on everything I heard it was pretty darn disturbing."

The incident was sparked by a crackdown on underage drinking that the city has been trying to combat for years, according to the town's mayor. According to Weinman's account of the violent arrest, which she posted on Facebook before deleting it, she had unopened containers of alcohol on the beach when officers approached her.

The Wildwood Police Department launched an internal affairs investigation into the incident and the officers involved in the arrest have been reassigned to administrative duties pending the findings, according to the department.

Murphy declined to say exactly how the department should respond to the incident. Rather, he called for an immediate investigation and left the matter at that.

"There are avenues that exist for things like that and I hope that they're pursued with speed and we come to some resolution," Murphy said.

NJ Advance Media staff writer Joseph Atmonavage contributed to this report.

Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.
More than four years ago, a former New York City police sergeant's date ended in criminal charges when she fired her service weapon during a fight with her date's girlfriend.

And on Friday, Wanda Anthony, 47, was sentenced to five years in state prison for the crime, which occurred on April 30, 2014 in Watchung, Somerset County Prosecutor Michael H. Robertson announced.

After an outing with a man, Anthony arrived with him at a residence in Watchung 3:30 a.m. when she got in a "physical altercation" with the man's girlfriend.

A police affidavit said Anthony then left through the home's garage, taking some bottles of wine along. Residents heard Anthony saying she'd return with "her boys" before a loud bang and the sound of glass breaking.

With her NYPD-issued 9-millimeter handgun, Anthony shot through the rear driver-side window of a black Mercedes-Benz. The bullet lodged in the car frame near the front passenger-side window.

She was arrested later that morning. A ballistics investigator matched the bullet fragment to Anthony's gun, and she was later fired by the NYPD.

After a three-week trial with Judge Bradford M. Bury, a jury found Anthony guilty of 2nd-degree possession of a firearm for an unlawful purpose on October 12, 2017.

She must serve 42 months of her sentence without parole.

Joe Brandt can be reached at jbrandt@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JBrandt_NJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.

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When the Texas Rangers visited Yankee Stadium last week, there was a lot of chatter about Cole Hamels being on the trading block, with the Yankees as a potential suitor.

But according to the Boston Globe's Nick Cafardo, all eyes should be on another playoff-contending team (although the Yankees shouldn't be counted out just yet):

The Braves could pare as much as $60 million off their payroll in the offseason, which means they'll likely be a player in free agency and at the trade deadline, where they will likely go after a starting pitcher. The Braves are heading toward a playoff berth probably a year ahead of schedule. They have the money to go big -- perhaps on Cole Hamels for example -- if they so choose.

...

Here's why a contender would want Hamels: In four starts from April 30 to May 22, he faced the Indians, Red Sox, Astros, and Yankees. In 24 innings, he had a 1.88 ERA and .161 batting average against. Hamels is more than willing to give up his no-trade provision for the chance to pitch in the playoff hunt. At 34, Hamels is still very good. His $23 million salary and $6 million buyout of an option for 2019 becomes an issue. But his salary will only be half that by the trade deadline. He's well worth the investment and it looks like the Yankees could be interested.

Hamels, the 2008 NLCS and World Series MVP for the Phillies, faced the Yankees one week ago, giving up two runs in seven innings of work, leading the Rangers to a 6-4 victory.

Hamels returned to the mound Sunday, but with less success. He gave five runs in 6.1 innings of work in the Rangers' 5-3 loss to the Kansas City Royals.

For the season, Hamels is 3-5 with a 3.74 ERA.

Mike Rosenstein may be reached at mrosenstein@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @rosenstein73. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
The Times-Picayune is marking the tricentennial of New Orleans with its ongoing 300 for 300 project, running through 2018 and highlighting 300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans, featuring original artwork commissioned by NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune with Where Y'Art gallery. Today: the Rev. A.L. Davis Jr.

The icon: The Rev. A.L. Davis Jr.

The legacy: If Abraham Lincoln Davis Jr. was burdened by the idea of carrying the name of the Great Emancipator, he didn't show it. In fact, the Rev A.L. Davis, as he was better known to New Orleanians -- or just "the Rev," depending on just how well you knew him -- dedicated his life to helping finish the job the 16th president started. He did it on the streets, where he was involved in sit-ins and civil rights protests in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He did it at City Hall, where he served as the first black member of the New Orleans City Council since Reconstruction. And he did it from the pulpit at New Zion Baptist Church, where he presided for more than 40 years -- and where Martin Luther King Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Council was born.

The artist: Queen Hope Parker.

The quote: "New Orleans has lost a rare citizen, one who made lasting contributions both spiritually and politically. I worked with and learned from A.L. Davis in the years of the 1960s when the civil rights movement was first getting underway. I know first-hand of the cause he helped lead and I know of the faith that carried him through some very difficult times." -- Dutch Morial, in 1978

Explore more of Queen Hope Parker's work online at WhereYart.net and in person at the Where Y'Art gallery, 1901 Royal St.

Abraham Lincoln Davis Jr. was born in 1914 in the Iberville Parish town of Bayou Goula.

Source: The Times-Picayune archives

More on 300 for 300:
"Laws are like sausages," the old aphorism goes. "It's better not to see them being made."

The parliamentary procedures of getting a law through both houses of Congress might seem an unlikely source of tension, but playwright Robert Schenkkan masterfully mines the minutiae of such maneuvers, resulting in the powerful drama, "All the Way," now receiving its regional premiere from Southern Rep Theatre.

Spanning from November 1963 to November 1964, the play centers on President Lyndon B. Johnson and his efforts to move the historic civil rights acts through Congress in his first year in office, while also securing his place to win re-election.

Having ascended to the Oval Office after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Johnson feverishly sought to overcome the specter of being merely an "accidental president," by winning the 1964 election in his own right.

While tightly focused on a single year, Schenkkan's Tony Award-winning drama is epic in scope, Homeric in the characters and events portrayed or forecast amid the tumultuous times. Director Aimee Hayes keeps that focus sharp, pacing it as a whirlwind of a thriller, playing up the moments of suspense to gripping effect. Even at three hours, it remains a taut, carefully crafted tale that unveils its characters with revealing detail to the very end.

What:

When Kennedy was killed in Dallas, many in the Civil Rights Movement likely felt that their best chance of changing the laws would be, at best, delayed. After all, compared to the elite, liberal and urbane New Englander, the image of Johnson was that of a crude, redneck Texan, who surely like his fellow Southerners would water down, stall or outright stop the bills.

Johnson, however, responded to his better angels, knowing that he was on the right side of history by fighting to advance the legislation. While Schenkkan's script is basically true to history, the playwright does slide toward hagiography and ennobles Johnson beyond the evidence.

At the centerpiece of "All the Way" is a bravura performance by Jason Kirkpatrick, who captures the force of LBJ's personality and the fierce determination of accomplishing the work that would cement his place in history.

Aside from the carefully preserved Southern drawl, Kirkpatrick doesn't attempt to present an impersonation of Johnson - there are no prosthetic drooping earlobes or false nose here - but instead draws on the temperament, one that is ferocious at points, while also being wickedly funny.

Kirkpatrick has the commanding presence to recreate one of Johnson's most effective tools - "The Treatment," in which the 6-foot-4 chief executive would stand over his subject only millimeters away from his face and cajole, wheel and deal, or outright bully that senator or congressman into submission. And gain a needed vote.

In full bellowing mode, Hayes allows Kirkpatrick to paint a broad portrait, one that is part Foghorn Leghorn, part Machiavelli - a good ol' boy pol whose mind is constantly surveying, constantly counting votes.

The deeper delight in his performance comes in the handful of quieter moments, when Johnson is alone or when Schenkkan has him step out of a scene. Here in an elegant transition, Kirkpatrick shows more introspection, self-doubt, even fear. That inner turmoil is the greatest prefiguring of the second half of his presidency.

Though covering only a year, the sweeping play brings in more than 60 distinct characters plus ensemble roles, played by 30 actors. As they spin in and out of scenes, it is often confusing to keep track of the various historical figures they play. Even those who recall the times, or know the history well, must pay rapt attention to keep up with who's who onstage. As in a Russian novel, a more descriptive cast of characters in the program would not be out of place.

Of the many relationships with Johnson depicted, the two most intriguing are with Hubert Humphrey and Martin Luther King Jr.

As the "Happy Warrior," Mike Harkins strongly establishes Humphrey as the principled liberal leader of his party, who questions just how strong Johnson's commitment to the civil rights legislation is. Harkins also brings out Humphrey's sheer decency, a trait that is too often detrimental in Washington politics. When Humphrey argues against excising the voting rights passages from the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Johnson lashes at him, "This is not about principle. It's about votes!"

When he bursts forth into full oratory mode, Dominique McClellan captures King's vocal rhythms and cadences to stirring effect. His charismatic appeal, however, is equally strong in the quiet calm he brings as he struggles to unite the various factions of the black leadership of the movement.

Just as Johnson wrangled the divided members of his own Democratic Party, King fought to preserve a united front between the more conservative traditional leaders, such as the NAACP's Roy Wilkins (Angelo Cross) and Ralph Abernathy of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (Rodney C. Graham), and those calling for more radical revolution like Stokely Carmichael (Kirk Jonathan Bush).

In other key roles, John Bostic is a slithery, eager to please but conniving J. Edgar Hoover. Joe Fredo gets across George Wallace's contentious bombast. James Wright is effectively august as the genteel segregationist Sen. Richard Russell, Johnson's longtime mentor, with whom he breaks over the legislation.

Te'Era R. Coleman and Nancy H. White, as respectively Corretta King and Lady Bird Johnson, each reflect the heartache of supporting powerful men whose determination and appetites - for power, a cause and other women - strain marriages and family life. LaKesha Glover has a particularly moving moment as voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer.

Throughout the play, Schenkkan shows that whatever flaws these leaders may have had, and through all the political manipulations, they showed a willingness to compromise as they sought to work for good of the country, a rare commodity in today's Washington.

Amid the backdrop of so many details and moments in history, ranging from the Freedom Riders to the Gulf of Tonkin incident, which presaged a deepening into the mire of the Vietnam War, Hayes is a precise storyteller. "All the Way" is not intended as a broad history lesson, but a look at how all these events shaped a single man and his presidency. While wide-ranging in scope, it remains personal in execution.

It also is one of the most vital and well-produced plays seen this year.
New Orleans police on Tuesday (May 29) arrested 21-year-old Laymon Adams, who is accused in the Algiers killing a year ago of Roy Noel, 24.

Adams faces one charge of second-degree murder.

Noel was found shot May 16, 2017, in a car in the 5200 block of Timber Haven Lane. Two other people, ages 23 and 20, were wounded.

Police announced Monday they were searching for a "Laymon Hayes." However, NOPD spokesman Aaron Looney clarified in a Tuesday release that no man named Laymon Hayes was booked in the incident. A transcription error caused the confusion.
New Orleans police said Monday (May 28) they are searching for Laymon Hayes, 21, in the Algiers killing a year ago of Roy Noel, 24. They plan to book him with second-degree murder.

Noel was found shot May 16, 2017, in a car in the 5200 block of Timber Haven Lane. Two other people, ages 23 and 20, were wounded.
The Orleans Parish Coroner's office identified two victims from Memorial Day weekend shootings in the 7th Ward and Algiers.

Monique Davis, 45, was struck more than once and died Saturday night (May 27) in a 7th Ward shooting in the 2400 block of Frenchmen Street, according to New Orleans police.

Neighbors said there were at least 30 shots fired from what sounded like three different guns.

"It sounded like Vietnam," said Walter LeBlanc, who lives around the corner from the shooting.

Meanwhile, Diamond Jackson, 27, was found just before 8 p.m. with more than one gunshot wound in a car in the 3000 block of Copernicus Street in Algiers.

Two women who live in the area said they heard "too many shots to count" fired. Both said they constantly worry about violence in the neighborhood.

Reporter contributed.
A man charged in a drunk driving wreck that killed New Orleans Police Officer Natasha Hunter in 2016 pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide Tuesday (May 29), and will face up to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced later this year.

Chau Nguyen, 35, who had been out of jail since posting bond four months after the wreck, was remanded to the sheriff's office following his plea, according to court records.

Authorities said on June 5, 2016, Nguyen's four-door Acura sedan hit the back of Hunter's marked patrol car that was parked on the shoulder of Interstate 10 near the Esplanade Avenue exit. She was investigating a crash when her car was hit around 2:30 a.m., and her vehicle's emergency lights were flashing.

Hunter suffered traumatic head injuries in the crash, and died two days later.

Nguyen, who was in pharmacy school at the time of the wreck, also was injured in the crash. Prosecutors said he failed field sobriety tests and admitted to drinking alcohol at a casino prior to driving.

His blood-alcohol concentration measured at 0.16 after the crash, according to the district attorney's office.

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Hunter, 32, joined the New Orleans Police Department in December 2004. She was the mother of a 5-year-old girl.

District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro said he was pleased Nguyen took "some measure of responsibility for his actions" by pleading guilty.

"We hope for the sake of this fallen officer's family that the judge will impose an appropriate sentence befitting the severity of this crime," he said. "It is always tragic when someone loses their life as the result of another's foolish decision to drink and drive. When the victim is a public servant dedicated to preserving our safety, that tragedy resonates through our entire community."

Nguyen will return to court Aug. 3 for a pre-sentence investigation, court records show. He faces between five and 30 years in prison. State law requires a person convicted of vehicular homicide from an incident in which their BAC registered at 0.15 or higher must serve at least five years without benefit of probation, parole or suspension of sentence, according to Cannizzaro's office.

Assistant District Attorney Arthur Mitchell IV prosecuted the case. Nandi Campbell represented Nguyen.
(Update: This story was updated on May 31 to reflect comments from a spokeswoman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. The update also added information from the St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office, which said it had positively identified three of the victims through dental records. State Police had initially identified those victims.)

The pricey plan to add lanes to a seven-mile-stretch of Interstate 12 in western St. Tammany Parish is still likely years away. But in the wake of Saturday's deadly, multi-vehicle crashes on I-12 near Covington, elected officials from St. Tammany Parish are pushing the state to make safety improvements in the interim.

State Rep. Mark Wright, for instance, in a letter Sunday asked state Transportation Secretary Shawn Wilson to have the agency think "outside the box'' to identify creative solutions in the area. And St. Tammany Parish President Pat Brister in a letter Tuesday asked Gov. John Bel Edwards to accelerate the planned roadway expansion through the area.

"Please let's not wait until 2023 as currently scheduled to begin construction on this expansion,'' Brister said in her letter.

A State Police official, meanwhile, again used the deadly crash to plead with drivers to be more attentive on area roadways, especially I-12. "I know that distracted driving represents a large percentage of the crashes that state troopers investigate,'' State Police Trooper Dustin Dwight said.

Four people died as a result of Saturday's crash. State Police said it occurred when an 18-wheeler struck vehicles that had slowed in traffic congestion on the overpass over Louisiana 21, setting off other collisions. The St. Tammany Parish Coroner's Office on Thursday (May 31) said it had used dental records to positively identify three of the victims as Rachel Lehmann, 63, of Mandeville, and Yolanda Simmons, 44, and Keland Simmons, 24, of Baton Rouge.

The driver of the 18-wheeler, who also died, had not been publicly identified as of Tuesday morning (May 29). The Coroner's Office said positively identifying the truck driver will require DNA analysis, and that the driver's family in Pennsylvania has agreed to provide a sample.

The wrecks closed a stretch of I-12 for several hours into Sunday morning, as first-responders tended to the injured and cleared the smoldering wreckage.

Saturday's crash comes in the wake of several other crashes in the same area of I-12. On- and off-ramps in the area, as well as the Louisiana 21 overpass and the bridge over the Tchefuncte River are chronic chokepoints.

Dwight said the number of exits, entrances and "downslopes'' (overpasses) can make that stretch of roadway more prone to sudden slowdowns than in other places.

"I don't think it's sight-seeing," he said of the numerous backups at the Tchefuncte River bridge. "Traffic at Pinnacle (the on-ramp) has to reach interstate speed - that's a problem."

Combine that with the "staggering" increase in traffic in the last 20 years and many more distracted drivers and the number of crashes will jump, he said.

The latest DOTD figures available show nearly 80,000 vehicles each day on I-12 near the Tchefuncte River bridge - about twice the traffic volume as 2000.

The daily traffic average between Louisiana 21 and Louisiana 1077 was around 53,000 in 2015. That was actually down from the volume in 2012, but still much more than in 2009, DOTD data shows.

Data provided by the Department of Transportation and Development shows there were 951 vehicular crashes on I-12 between U.S. 190 and Louisiana 1077 between 2012 and 2016, the last year available.

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"It is scary,'' said Sen. Sharon Hewitt, R-Slidell. "You can top an overpass and traffic is stopped on the other side'' and you don't have time to react.

The state Department of Transportation and Development has unveiled a project to add a third travel lane to the east- and westbound sides of I-12 for a seven-mile stretch from roughly Louisiana 59 to just west of Louisiana 21. The plan would add a fourth lane to each side of the bridge over the Tchefuncte River and from U.S. 190 to Louisiana 59.

But the price tag of that work is expensive: Estimated at $100 million or more in a federal-state mix. It's also competing with a lot of other proposed projects for limited construction dollars.

Which means it's still a long way off, Hewitt said.

Hewitt said new digital signs that might be coming to that stretch of highway could increase safety. Hewitt said Louisiana Highway Secretary Shawn Wilson has already requested a "road safety assessment," the first step to getting the federal government to cover the cost of the project.

"That (study) will conclude what we already know: that we have a problem in that area," Hewitt said.

Wright, R-Covington, said he has heard countless constituents question "the arrangement of two highway entrances around one exit and the bridge over the Tchefuncte River,'' he wrote to Wilson.

As a frequent user of I-12, Wright said, "I can attest that the addition of a second entrance prior to the bridge seems to have resulted in a regular back-up of traffic.''

Dwight said troopers often activate a "queue system" when they're working an I-12 crash. Under that system, a trooper responding to a crash will ask other troopers to respond to the area east or west of the crash site, with the effect being that drivers coming up to the crash site begin slowing and paying closer attention when they see the other troopers in their vehicles.

"The trooper will say, 'We need somebody on the 'queue,'" Dwight said. "If we don't, we know we'll be on the interstate all day working crash after crash after crash."

Brister, meanwhile, pointed out to Edwards that the traffic counts through the area between Louisiana 1077 and U.S. 190 are significantly greater than in other areas where I-12 "that are currently expanding to a minimum of six lanes with capacity for more.''

Brister said there is no way of knowing if additional lanes could have prevented the traffic backup that resulted in Saturday's deadly crash. But, she said, taking steps to prevent more families from dealing with the grief of losing loved ones "may help, in some small way, to ease the pain of this tragedy . . .''

Bambi Hall, a spokeswoman for the state Highway Department, said the I-12 expansion project would be gearing up for the beginning of construction this year if the Legislature had approved a proposed gasoline tax in 2017. But the sponsor of that legislation, which initially sought a .17-cents-per-gallon tax, shelved the measure when he couldn't muster the needed support.

"It's in the top tier,'' she said of the proposed widening project. "We know it's needed.''
A North Shore man convicted of murdering his estranged girlfriend in front of their 3-year-old son was sentenced Tuesday (May 29) to life in prison. Jonathan Talley, who was found guilty May 11 of killing Aimee Kirst in the victim's home and kidnapping the child, was sentenced by Judge Scott Gardner of the 22nd Judicial District Court.

Calling the killing a tragedy for the families and especially the child, Gardner imposed the life sentence at hard labor, along with a 40-year sentence for kidnapping and a 20-year sentence for being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. Several of Kirst's family members who were in Gardner's courtroom Tuesday declined comment after the sentencing, saying only they were happy with the outcome of the case.

A St. Tammany Parish jury found Talley guilty of second-degree murder after deliberating about three hours, dismissing the defense argument that Kirst was killed accidentally as the 37-year-old defendant had a suicidal meltdown at the victim's Pearl River home.

During the five-day trial, defense attorney James Carrington portrayed Talley as a drug user with a history of mental problems, but a man who never tried to hurt anyone but himself. He said Talley went to Kirst's home to kill himself in front of her, leading to a struggle over the gun and the single shot that hit the victim in the head and took her life.

But prosecutors Casey Dieck and Jay Adair pointed to evidence showing that the fatal shot was fired from at least four feet away from the victim, undermining the contention that the two were struggling over the gun when it went off. Adair and Dieck also painted Talley as someone who used threats of suicide to manipulate others and asked the jury not to buy into his manipulative ways.

Testimony revealed that the defendant went to his mother's home in Mississippi after the shooting and told her he would commit suicide unless he could get money to flee the country. His mother, along with his stepfather, summoned police while creating the impression that they were gathering funds to help him flee. Talley surrendered to the George County Sheriff's Office in the early morning of July 1, 2016.

Jurors were also told that Kirst and Talley had a dysfunctional relationship that involved verbal and physical abuse. The combative nature of their relationship prompted Kirst to obtain a protective order against her estranged boyfriend in March of 2015. Talley was in violation of that order when he appeared at her home on Ed Yates Road north of Pearl River on the day of the shooting. Because he was convicted of a felony in 2004, Talley was not allowed by law to be in possession of a firearm when Kirst was shot.
A 41-year-old Slidell woman was sentenced Tuesday (May 29) to 10 years in prison for stealing another woman's identity via social media and using fake credentials to obtain a high paying job at the spice company founded by the late Al Copeland.

On April 18, a St. Tammany Parish jury found Cindy T. White found guilty of theft of identity over $1,000 after testimony that she lifted the resume of an unsuspecting woman with a similar name on the networking site LinkedIn. The false credentials included a bachelor's degree from Tulane University and a master's degree from Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which helped White land a job in September 2015 as human resources manager at the Covington office of Diversified Foods and Seasonings.

White started at a salary of $95,000 per year and was promoted five months later to senior human resources director at an annual salary of $105,000.

Between October 9, 2015, and May 6, 2016, White fraudulently collected $56,209 in salary from Diversified Foods, prosecutors said. Jurors deliberated just 15 minutes before returning the guilty verdict.

Since White's conviction last month, three additional companies reached out to the North Shore district attorney's office to report that White had also scammed them, authorities reported.

A prominent eye clinic with offices on the North Shore and in Metairie provided an affidavit to the court, confirming White was hired on Aug. 16, 2016, as a medical practice manager with an annual salary of $65,000. A month later she asked for a $7,000 raise. By then, the clinic's medical director had noticed deficiencies in White's performance and demanded improvement in several areas. She was terminated on Nov. 28, 2016, the district attorney's office said.

Several years earlier, the New Orleans Museum of Art hired White - who at the time went by the name Cindy Carmen - as human resources manager. On June 6, 2012, just a month after she was hired, she asked for a raise, according to Gail Asprodites, NOMA's deputy director for administration and finance who was called by prosecutors to testify at Tuesday's sentencing hearings.

When White failed to provide proof of her claimed credentials, including an MBA from Emory University in Atlanta and a coveted human resources certification, she was terminated on Jan. 29, 2013. Afterwards, White got an attorney to send a letter to NOMA on her behalf, threatening legal action based on her accusation that she had been wrongfully terminated, District Attorney Warren Montgomery's office reported.

White then applied for unemployment, which was contested by NOMA but ultimately granted by the Louisiana Workforce Commission, and Social Security disability. She fraudulently claimed that her NOMA salary had been subsidized.

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A third company -- a New Orleans-based architecture firm -- also provided an affidavit that White was interviewed for an office manager position on Feb. 24, 2018, even as she awaited trial in the Diversified Foods case. A representative for the architecture firm told Assistant District Attorney Casey Dieck, who prosecuted the case, that White's resume and interview were so impressive that she didn't get the job because she was deemed overqualified, according to the district attorney's office.

White's inability to do the job proved to be her undoing in most cases. Diversified Foods grew suspicious and began looking into White's background when she was unable to perform basic tasks within the educational level and experience listed on her resume. Upon closer inspection of White's personnel file, company officials found discrepancies that ultimately helped them uncover the fraud, the district attorney's office said.

White was fired in May 2016. In addition to stealing her resume, investigators discovered that White also had been able to obtain the victim's Social Security number and driver's license through an unspecified site online.

Investigators eventually learned that White had been arrested as an employee of the Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office in New Orleans in February 1997 for theft, forgery and malfeasance in office. There, she assumed a co-worker's identity and emptied the victim's bank account, before being identified by surveillance photos, according to a news release from the district attorney.

White pleaded guilty to two counts of forgery in September 1997 and was placed on probation. Records indicate her probation was terminated in 1999 because the court received information that White had died.

White previously also had pleaded guilty in Jefferson Parish to attempted theft of goods on December 4, 1998.

While Dieck sought the maximum possible sentence of 10 years, Ernest Barrow, White's attorney, asked Gardner to be lenient because his client's actions did not cause financial harm to her employers. He also said White has cancer.

Montgomery's office said the district attorney will file a motion to sentence White under the state's multiple offender law, which will make it possible for her to be re-sentenced to up to 20 years in prison.
Up to 150,000 households who otherwise wouldnt qualify  including some with six-figure salaries  are expected to apply for food stamps as qualifications are relaxed to help in the recovery from Hurricane Ida.
The number of people who perished in the Gaagaa bus accident on Friday is now at 23, following the death of a laboratory technician Jackson Agona.



Agona was one of the seven survivors who were airlifted to Nsambya hospital and has been in the intensive care unit since Saturday, according to his brother Felix Ongom.

RIP: Jackson Agona

Agona's relatives were among the recipients of government's Shs 3 million given to the survivors of the accident yesterday. Museveni directed that each of the survivors be paid Shs 3 million and families of the deceased Shs 5 million to help with the burial arrangements.

Gaagaa bus company also paid Shs 5 million to each of the 20 families of the deceased. The bus company did not pay the families of the tractor and truck drivers who also perished in the accident, claiming they were not their passengers.



19 people died on the spot when the Kampala bound bus hit a tractor before colliding with an oncoming truck in Nanda village. Three people lost their lives moments later from Kiryandongo hospital where they'd been rushed for treatment - bringing the number of the dead to 22, now 23.



Survivors still undergoing treatment at Nsambya hospital include Gloria Akullo, Robson Santos Okello, Jackline Apio, Malcolm Kabunga, Anthony Lauryn Odwe and a 9-year-old boy Nathan Mulangira. Others at Mulago hospital are Majid Kintu, Ruth Martha, David Mutebi, Abdu Sempijja, Joel Wasswa and Simon Ojok.

On Sunday government declared three days of national mourning, ordering for flags to fly at half mast. Over-speeding has been blamed as the cause of the accident.
Visit Victoria is looking for a PR firm to attract travellers from the US and Canada in its effort to build Melbourne and Victoria into Australia's No. 1 tourism destination and the gateway to Down Under.
Prime Policy Group, the lobbying wing of WPP's BCW unit, is repping Islamic Relief USA of Alexandria (VA) in its mission to provide relief and development aid to those in need in more than 40 countries, regardless of religion, gender or race.

Specifically, BCW will educate the Trump Administration on the priorities, positions, actions and humanitarian priorities of the 25-year-old humanitarian aid group.

PPG vice chairman John Tanner, former Democratic Congressman from Tennessee, leads the firm's six-member team. Oher members are managing directors Lisa Cotter-Colangelo (one-time member of the human rights and foreign policy committee of the Dole for President organization), and Becky Weber (ex-Republican counsel on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee) and Ed Cox (ex-aide to Utah Senator Orin Hatch).

Islamic Relief has provided humanitarian assistance to people in Syria, Yemen, Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Iraq, Chad, Central African Republic and Puerto Rico in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria.

It donated $2.4M this month to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency to support more than 3,000 Palestinian refugees in Gaza.
A woman died and two men were hospitalized following a rollover crash in unincorporated Clackamas County near Molalla Monday.

The two men, one of whom was the driver, are being treated for their injuries at local hospitals, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office said in a release.

Callers told 911 dispatchers the car left the roadway and that it rolled several times before coming to a rest near the 12000 block of South Dart Road. The sheriff's office said good Samaritans had been helping the victims until first responders arrived.

The men, 18 and 21, are both from Molalla. The woman who died was a 20-year-old visiting from Michigan. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

All three have been identified but officials are waiting to release their names until their families are notified.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com
A man was air-lifted to the hospital Monday after he and two women fell "several hundred" feet at Hogsback on Mount Hood earlier in the day.

The three climbers were safely transported off the mountain just after 4 p.m., according to reports from several media at the scene. All of the climbers sustained injuries in the fall, Portland Mountain Rescue leader Steve Rollins said.

Portland Mountain Rescue officials began recovery efforts just after 9 a.m. The organization was already in the area performing exercises for its Ready Team, which teaches safe climbing techniques, among other things.

Rollins said the climbers fell just ahead of him  the rescue team was dispatched within minutes.

Falling rocks and ice gave the rescue an increasing sense of urgency as the day progressed.

"This was a case where if we didn't move the patients, they could have sustained a lot more injuries," Rollins said.

The injured man was sent to OHSU Hospital because of back, stomach and shoulder injuries, KOIN reports. Several media at the scene reported the two women arrived at Timberline Lodge aboard a Snowcat just before 5 p.m.

Mt. Hood mission wrapping up. all 3 injured climbers rescued. 1 was taken to a local hospital by National Guard Helicopter, the other 2 are at Timberline Lodge being checked out. Rescue teams are picking up equipment and headed down. pic.twitter.com/YuEagGFHoX  Mountain Wave SAR (@MountainWaveSAR) May 28, 2018

This is the second mountain rescue officials have mounted in three days.

On Saturday, rescuers retrieved another injured climber from the Hogsback area of Mount Hood -- nearly 10 hours after the first report of the incident had come in. The 35-year-old man had fallen nearly 200 feet, and rescue attempts were hampered by high winds, the Clackamas Sheriff's Office said.

Back in February, a fall in the same area killed one man and left several others stranded.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com
Cowlitz County Sheriff's deputies don't know for sure if the naked man they pulled out of the Columbia River Monday was from Kalama but he was definitely "very tired, and very cold," the agency said in a release.

Deputies were dispatched to a patch of the river in Kalama after a call came in about a man who was shouting for help just off the shore.

The man told other boaters who tried to help to "go away." By the time deputies arrived to assist him out of the water, the man kept telling them not to worry because, "God has my back."

Sheriff's deputies eventually convinced the man to board their boat, the agency said in a release. Officials did not know he was naked until the man, who was in his mid-20s, left the water.

Deputies called an ambulance because the man was "very cold and had consumed a lot of water."

He was taken to a hospital, although Cowlitz County officials did not know which one. They also did not get his name, just his claim that he was a Kalama resident.

--Eder Campuzano | 503.221.4344

ecampuzano@oregonian.com
Greg Porter, the 61-year-old man accused of intentionally running his SUV into three women at Portland State University last week, told authorities after his arrest that he smokes marijuana daily for pain.

Court papers released Tuesday say Porter, however, claimed he hadn't used marijuana for the two days before last Friday, when police say he drove his 2005 Mazda Tribute into three women along the sidewalk at Southwest Sixth Avenue and Montgomery Street.

Porter is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday afternoon.

All three women are still being treated at OHSU Hospital. One of them is in fair condition, and the other two have asked that their conditions not be made public, said OHSU spokeswoman Tracy Brawley.

Hours after police say Porter drove off from the scene, officers tracked down Porter and his SUV, which showed front-end damage. Porter was booked into Multnomah County Jail and was denied the opportunity to post bail because of the attempted murder charges against him.

Porter told jailers that he has been homeless for the past year and most recently has been living in his car. He said he has a ninth-grade education, is unemployed and lives off Social Security disability checks of $1,425 a month. He didn't say what his disability is.

3 hospitalized, suspect in custody after downtown Portland hit-and-run Friday, May 25 71 Gallery: 3 hospitalized, suspect in custody after downtown Portland hit-and-run Friday, May 25

Authorities noted that Porters criminal history dates to the 1970s. In 1976, when he was still a teenager, he was convicted of larceny in Texas. In 1996, when he was in his late 30s, he was convicted of driving under the influence of intoxicants. Its not clear where he committed that crime.

Although Porter told jail officials that he has never been diagnosed with a mental illness, an administrator at a rehabilitation facility that Porter checked out of last year said Porter suffered from delusions. The first page of a Portland police report also lists a warning to officers that Porter may be mentally ill, stating: "CAUTION: SUICIDAL / MENTAL HEALTH."

Two of Porter's former neighbors at the King City Apartments described Porter as confrontational or difficult to get along with when he lived there from roughly 2015 to 2017. Court records show he and his wife, Mary Porter, were served an eviction notice from the apartments in late May 2017 for failing to pay their $850 monthly rent.

Neighbors say Mary Porter died that same month. Neighbors also said the couple had broken up a month earlier, and Greg Porter started living out of his car. The Porters were officially evicted last June, according to court papers.

-- Aimee Green
UPDATE: ABC announced Tuesday that it has canceled "Roseanne" after the show's star, Roseanne Barr, went on a vitriolic Twitter rampage.

The "Roseanne" revival may have been a breakout hit for ABC this spring, but star Roseanne Barr created a firestorm with a Twitter post that was condemned as "a racist and bigoted 'joke.'"

On Tuesday, Barr posted on Twitter regarding Valerie Jarrett, a former aide to President Barack Obama. In the tweet, Barr wrote: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

In a statement released just hours after Barr's offensive social media post, the network said: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."

Barr's costar Sara Gilbert, who also co-hosts CBS talk-show "The Talk," also addressed the flap on Tuesday, calling Barr's comments "abhorrent," the Los Angeles Times reported.

"Roseanne's recent comments about Valerie Jarrett, and so much more, are abhorrent and do not reflect the beliefs of our cast and crew or anyone associated with our show," she wrote. "I am disappointed in her actions to say the least."

Barr's tweet drew immediate condemnation from a variety of sources. Joe Scarborough, cohost of MSNBC's show "Morning Joe," wrote on Twitter: "Hey @ABC, Roseanne Barr compared Valerie Jarrett to an ape. There is no apology she can make that justifies @ABC turning a blind eye to this bigotry by airing another second of her show. Even in the Age of Trump, there are red lines that can never be crossed. This is one."

Hey @ABC, Roseanne Barr compared Valerie Jarrett to an ape. There is no apology she can make that justifies @ABC turning a blind eye to this bigotry by airing another second of her show.

Even in the Age of Trump, there are red lines that can never be crossed. This is one.  Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) May 29, 2018

Others were swift to blast Barr for the racial overtones, including actress Patricia Arquette, who wrote on Twitter: "I am repulsed that Valerie Jarret had that racist and bigoted 'joke' made at her expense and I am sickened that any Black or Muslim person has to keep hearing this sickness in 2018."

I am repulsed that Valerie Jarret had that racist and bigoted "joke" made at her expense and I am sickened that any Black or Muslim person has to keep hearing this sickness in 2018.  Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) May 29, 2018

reactions continued to multiply, Barr posted an apology on Twitter. Barr wrote: "I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans. I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste."

However,

the comedian who was a consulting producer on the "Roseanne" revival, wrote on Twitter Tuesday that she won't be returning to the show for its next season.

I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC.  Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) May 29, 2018

Barr has posted that she's leaving Twitter.

As the Hollywood Reporter notes, ABC's decision to cancel "Roseanne" in such swift and stunning fashion is even more striking considering what a hit the revival of the sitcom has been for the network. From THR report: "The rebooted comedy debuted its nine-episode run midseason and finished as the TV seaon's No. 1 scripted series on all of broadcast."

"Roseanne" reached more than 20 million viewers weekly, with time-shifted viewing factored in, the Hollywood Reporter says.

Variety reports that Barr has been dropped as a client by the talent agency, ICM Partners. In a statement, the company said that Barr's "disgraceful and unacceptable tweet" prompted the agency to end the relationship.

-- Kristi Turnquist

kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist
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Catalyst Paper Agrees to Sell Its Two U.S. Mills to Nine Dragons for $175 Million The mill in Rumford, Maine is a fully-integrated pulp and paper mill with three paper machines with a combined annual capacity of approximately 550,000 tonnes. The mill also operates two kraft pulping lines that produce both hardwood and softwood grades. May 25, 2018 - Catalyst Paper announced today that it has entered into a Sales and Purchase Agreement with ND Paper LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Ltd. for the sale of Catalyst's U.S. operations to ND Paper for US$175 million. Upon the closing of this transaction, ND Paper will acquire Catalyst's Rumford, Maine and Biron, Wisconsin mills along with the associated staff at the company's U.S. operations center in Dayton, Ohio. Catalyst has agreed to provide transition support services to ND Paper to assist with the development of certain operational and administrative functions required for the two U.S. mills. We're proud of what our employees have accomplished at our Biron and Rumford mills and our Dayton operations center. Their hard work and dedication have vastly improved these operations, said Ned Dwyer, Catalyst President and CEO. This transaction allows Catalyst to re-pay a significant portion of our debt and focus on our British Columbia operations, Dwyer added. Yan Cheung, Chairlady of Nine Dragons, said, We are very pleased to welcome the Rumford and Biron mills to the Nine Dragons family. We are committed to making these mills more competitive on a global scale, while staying true to our core values as an environmentally friendly and socially responsible enterprise with utmost respect for our employees. We look forward to working with the teams and communities in Maine and Wisconsin as we embark on this next phase of expansion together. According to Nine Dragons, the acquisition is an upstream integration of the company's current business and is an important step in executing its global fiber sourcing and customer strategy. The mill in Rumford is a fully-integrated pulp and paper mill with three paper machines with a combined annual capacity of approximately 550,000 tonnes. The production lines are capable of producing coated one-side, coated freesheet and coated groundwood grades. The mill also operates two kraft pulping lines that produce both hardwood and softwood grades and have excess production capacity beyond internal needs, selling approximately 120,000 tonnes of kraft pulp to the market. The mill in Biron is a pulp and paper mill consisting of two paper production lines with a combined annual production capacity of 340,000 tonnes of coated groundwood grades. The deal is expected to close by the end of the second quarter upon the favorable vote of Catalyst's shareholders, with a meeting of shareholders scheduled for June 11, 2018. Catalyst noted that pursuant to a Lock-Up Agreement, the three major shareholders of the Company, aggregating approximately 87% of the outstanding shares, have agreed to vote in favor of the transaction at the meeting. Catalyst Paper manufactures diverse papers such as coated freesheet, coated one side (C1S), flexible and industrial packaging, coated and uncoated groundwood, newsprint, directory, as well as market pulp. ND Paper LLC is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Nine Dragons Paper (Holdings) Limited. Nine Dragons is the largest containerboard producer in China and Asia and a leading paper product manufacturer globally. It is primarily engaged in the production and sale of a broad variety of packaging paperboard products, including linerboard, high performance corrugating medium, coated duplex board, as well as recycled printing and writing paper and specialty paper. It operates nine mills and 39 machines with total annual production capacity of over 14 million tonnes. SOURCE: Catalyst Paper and Nine Dragons
Brazil's Forest Products Sector Revenue from Exports of Pulp, Paper and Wood Panels Up 38.5% in First Four Months of 2018 Most notable among the products and their destinations was pulp, with revenues boosted by 37.9% in exports to China, 55.6% to North America, and 63.4% to Europe. May 29, 2018 - The Brazilian Tree Industry reports that exports from its pulp, paper and wood paneling sector during the first four months of the year grew 38.5% compared to the same period in 2017, reaching R$ 3.5 billion. There was growth in three products: pulp, paper, and wood panels. Against this backdrop, the sector increased its share of domestic exports in comparison to 2017, reaching 11.6% of agribusiness and 4.7% of total exports. The trade balance in the sector grew by 42.0% to total R$ 3.2 billion. Most notable among the products and their destinations was pulp, with revenues boosted by 37.9% in exports to China, 55.6% to North America, and 63.4% to Europe. This means an increase of 48.7% in the accumulated sales values for this product to foreign markets from January to April, when compared to the total value from the same period in 2017. In the paper sector, Latin America expanded its consumption of this raw material by 14.7% in comparison with the previous year, and was the destination with the greatest monetary transaction volume, which reached US$438 million. Sales of wood panels to foreign markets advanced 15.1% in value for all destinations. Production During the first four months of the year, pulp production gained 10.6% to reach 7.0 million tons. In April alone, 1.7 million tons of this product were produced, up 4.4%. In the paper sector, production rose 3.0% in April, most notably in packaging (+3.8%) and sanitary paper (+3.0%). In the accumulated result for the year, paper production increased by 2.2%, driven by paperboard (+3.7%) and sanitary paper (+6.2%). Domestic Sales Wood panels continue their good performance in the domestic market, registering an advance of 13.5% and totaling 537,000 m in domestic sales in April and 5.5% growth in the accumulated result for the year, which represents a total of 2.2 million m. Meanwhile, the paper segment closed the four-month period with 1.8 million tons traded, an increase of 3.7%. Sanitary paper demonstrated the highest growth (+6.9%), with 388,000 tons sold. Export Volumes Pulp exports remained high and recorded an advance of 11.1% in April compared to the same period of 2017. Compared to the accumulated total over the same period of the previous year, this product continued to grow by 16.5%, totaling 5.1 million tons sold in external markets. The wood panel category also advanced to reach 416,000 m3 sold in 2018, an increase of 10.6% compared to the previous year. During April 109,000 m3 of this product were traded (+18.5%). The Brazilian Tree Industry (Iba) is the association responsible for institutionally representing the planted tree production chain, from the field to the industry, before its main audience of interest. To learn more about Iba, please visit: www.iba.org . SOURCE: Brazilian Tree Industry (Iba)
Coldwater Strengthens Its Global Ceramics Capabilities with TKF Agreement

TKF's facility in Germany has grinding capabilities for drainage elements up to 13 meters using the same precision grinding equipment that all new Wilbanks Ceramics are manufactured with.

May 29, 2018 - Coldwater has appointed Technische Keramik Fromgen GmbH (TKF) of Korschenbroich (Glehn), Germany as an Authorized Repair and Grinding facility in Europe for Coldwater's Wilbanks Ceramics drainage elements.

Since Coldwater's acquisition of Wilbanks Ceramics in late 2017, this is one more step to support Coldwater's global leadership in supplying and servicing Wilbanks Ceramics high performance drainage elements. Coldwater now designs, manufactures, assembles, grinds and repairs these precision ceramic drainage elements in Atlanta, Georgia.

Through sales to all major paper machinery OEMs, the agreement with TKF gives Coldwater the ability to provide its large installed base of European customers with the same high quality and responsive service for ongoing blade inspections and regrinding as well as the ability to replace any drainage elements as needed.

Replacement blades/elements will be provided through Coldwater's North American plant and installed by TKF.

TKF has a long and highly respected history in the ceramics business. Their Germany facility has grinding capabilities for drainage elements up to 13 meters using the same precision grinding equipment that all new Wilbanks Ceramics are manufactured with. Plus, TKF employs some of the industry's most experienced drainage elements personnel.

Coldwater is a global leader and innovator in paper machine consumables and engineered products that optimize paper machine performance and reliability. To learn more, please visit: www.coldwaterseals.com .

SOURCE: Coldwater
A series of actor Alan Rickman's personal letters have recently been acquired by Neil Pearson Rare Books and are being auctioned off as a 38-box set. The set, which is valued at over $1,260,000, includes diary entries, fan mail, and photos. It also contains notes from Daniel Radcliffe, who played Harry Potter, and from Harry Potter author J.K.Rowling. Rowling wrote a sentimental note to Rickman, saying, "Just back from weeks away and had to send a line about what you wrote in the souvenir programme for Hallows II. Made me very tearful. Thank you for doing justice to my most complex character."

Not all of the letters are entirely positive, however. It has come to light that the actor, who played Severus Snape in the Harry Potter films, didn't always love his famous role.



In one letter, David Heyman, a producer for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, praised Rickman's contributions, saying they made the film a success. He added, "I know, at times, you are frustrated, but please know that you are an integral part of the films. And you are brilliant."

In another note written in 2009 and titled, "Inside Snape's Head," Rickman wrote that he had issues with Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince director David Yates, saying, "It's as if David Yates has decided that this is not important in the scheme of things i.e. teen audience appeal."

Aside from Harry Potter-related memorabilia, the box sets contain Rickman's scripts for Die Hard, Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, and Truly Madly Deeply, as well as letter from Prince Charles, Tony Blair, and Bill Clinton.

Image via Getty


Watching Harvey Weinstein emerge from a New York precinct in handcuffs (albeit with a smug smile on his face) last week was an exciting moment for many who have followed his downfall, but for Weinstein's accusers his arrest seemed to be an anticlimax.

Related | Harvey Weinstein Has Been Arrested in New York

Taking to Twitter to express their mixed emotions, multiple actresses allegedly abused by Weinstein claimed the law finally catching up with him did not leave them feeling "celebratory," especially considering Weinstein was released on $1 million bail with a monitoring device. Annabella Sciorra was one of the first women to go on the record about Harvey Weinstein, who she claims raped her in the 90s, and began a thread last night to reveal her reaction to Weinstein's return to the public eye.

"The law finally caught up with Harvey Weinstein on Friday and charged him with multiple counts of rape and sexual assault. But nothing about that felt celebratory to me," she tweeted. "The smirk on his face as he was led out of the police station in cuffs made me physically sick. The public statement from his lawyer was intended only to denigrate all the brave women who came forward and spoke out against him."

She continued: "And I got no relief from seeing this monster walk into court, then sneak out the back door after posting a million dollar bond. All that says is, money buys VIP treatment in the justice system no matter how serious or violent the crimes. If there was truly 'equal justice under the law,' Harvey Weinstein would be behind bars in Rikers today, waiting for his own day in court, not free to roam New York, his other hunting ground, wearing an ankle bracelet."

Fellow actress and Weinstein accuser, Mira Sorvino, revealed on the same platform that Sciorra's words resonated with her. "I feel the same way, there was no jubilation although I was heartened that he was starting the process of standing trial."

Ashley Judd, who is in the process of suing Weinstein for defamation, felt differently, calling Weinstein's arrest a "watershed event."

"That Harvey Weinstein, a powerful man who thrived and flourished as he shattered and abused women in a culture of impunity was arrested and charged is resoundingly significant. It is a watershed event, an irreversible pivot away from tacit and explicit license to exploit to clarity about unacceptable behavior no longer being tolerated," she wrote. "Today, these images of Harvey in handcuffs are possible because of the voices, backbone, & determination, in spite of the unknown & retaliation, demonstrated by survivors & the journalists who reported our stories."

Weinstein's attorney released a statement prior to the movie mogul's arrest telling the Wall Street Journal this month that "Mr. Weinstein has always maintained that he has never engaged in nonconsensual sexual acts." Over 90 women have come forward to claim Weinstein harassed or assaulted them.

Image via Getty


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It was reported back in March that Intellectual property (IP) was back in focus as US President Donald Trump slapped wide-ranging tariffs on China for allegedly stealing American technology and IP, and eroding US firms' competitive edge. It's a contentious issue but one that has to be taken head-on and change course from previous administrations who failed to challenge China on tough issues.

Another example of the Chinese government taking on foreign tech companies directly came to light today in Korea. It's being reported that China has come out and demanded that Samsung and SK Hynix cut chip prices for leading Chinese tech companies.



Last June it was reported that that Apple was locking in DRAM for iPhones and causing problems for their competition.

Reuters reported that "Global electronics makers are scrambling to stock up on memory chips to keep production lines running as Apple Inc's new iPhone 8 launch later this year threatens to worsen a global squeeze on supply.

While heavyweights such as Apple and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd which is also the world's top memory chip maker - will not be seriously hit, industry sources and analysts say some electronics makers are paying a premium to lock into longer-term contracts."

The report specifically noted that "Signs of stress have already emerged: Huawei Technologies Ltd was criticized by consumers after it was discovered the Chinese firm used a mix of less advanced and powerful chips in its flagship P10 model that led to significant variations in performance."

In the Korean report today they further noted that "Officials at China's commerce ministry and anti-trust agency asked Samsung Electronics and SK hynix to cut the prices of DRAM chips they sell to Chinese technology companies. Samsung representatives met with Chinese officials, the results of which were notified to Korea's trade ministry. SK hynix is keeping an eye on further developments on the price issue," a high-ranking government official said.

The requests were apparently made due to China's concern over the continuing price increases for DRAMs, which are used in all digital devices.

Chinese PC makers have been struggling under component cost pressure as Samsung and SK control over 75 percent of global demand as of the first quarter of 2018. China says it wants to ensure "fair competition" in the market, so that no single supplier becomes too dominant and manipulates prices.

The two Korean companies are most likely to be investigated due to "limiting the amount of products for sale" as a violation of antitrust laws, said market researchers. If Samsung and SK pay a fine, it will be a one-time event.

Sources at Samsung and SK say "price correction" isn't the only reason behind the latest action by China, adding it may want more cross-licensing with the Korean pair.

China has been keen to establish a foothold in the semiconductor industry, as it looks to move into high-value manufacturing and maintain national security with "Made in China" components.

Samsung, SK and Intel of the United States have established memory fabrication facilities in China over the past decade thanks to lower labor costs and favorable tax policies.

"However, China is dissatisfied with the South Korean firms as they have been highly protective with less cross-licensing and often use older technology _ two or more generations behind _ to safeguard their intellectual property rights," said a Samsung source on the condition of anonymity as he wasn't authorized to officially speak to the media.

"With several failed efforts to acquire memory technology from the two companies, China wants to protect its companies.

The indigenous memory technology in China remains three to five years behind that of the Korean companies. Lagging in competition by one generation often implies at least a 30 percent cost disadvantage.

Bloomberg reported in March that a 2011 report by the U.S. International Trade Commission estimated that U.S. IP-intensive firms lost $48 billion in 2009 because of Chinese infringements. A 2016 U.S. Trade Representative's report highlighted serious problems, especially concerning the theft of trade secrets. "Offenders in many cases continue to operate with impunity," the report said.

As Apple is preparing a series of new iPhones and iPads for the second half of the year, memory chip supplies will be an issue again and this is likely why China has chosen this time to send a veiled threat to the largest Korean memory chip suppliers. They don't want Apple to have an advantage over Chinese smartphone leaders like Huawei.

To date the Korean memory chip makers know that they have to protect their intellectual property and not allow Chinese memory makers to take possession of their latest technology via "cross-licensing." Cross-Licensing is how China steals intellectual property.



The Chinese government will be relentless putting the squeeze on Korea's memory chip makers which is why the U.S. is fighting China on this issue as the same has been happening to U.S. firms trying to access the Chinese market. It should be a global concern that China is basically stealing intellectual property at an alarming rate by threatening to lock out competition from their market if they don't play ball.

China's Huawei and other OEM's have basically crushed Samsung in the smartphone market in China. Not complying with China's demands has hurt Samsung and this type of market manipulation shouldn't be allowed to continue in an open market. At present, President Trump is the only world leader standing up to China.

While it'll be interesting to see how this saga plays out with Samsung and SK Hynix vs. the Chinese government over time, for now, let's hope that Apple and their supply chain stay focused and continue to outflank their Chinese competitors so that Apple's next round of premium iPhones can continue to dominate the globe.



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Apple announced this morning that HomePod will be arriving in Canada, France and Germany on June on 18th. Apple also announced that HomePod now delivers an even more immersive listening experience throughout the home with support for HomePod stereo pairs and a new multi-room audio system in iOS 11.4.

Apple's iOS 11.4 update introduces the most advanced, easy to use, wireless multi-room audio system using AirPlay 2 to play music in any room from any room, move music from one room to another or play the same song everywhere using an iOS device, HomePod, Apple TV or by asking Siri.





HomePod combines Apple-engineered audio technology and advanced software to set a new audio quality standard for a small speaker, delivering high-fidelity sound and a wide soundstage. Featuring a large, Apple-designed woofer for deep, clean bass, a custom array of seven beamforming tweeters that provide pure high frequency acoustics with incredible directional control and powerful technologies built right in, HomePod is able to preserve the richness and intent of the original recordings.





With two HomePod speakers set up as a stereo pair, this soundstage gets even wider, delivering room-filling sound that is more spacious than a traditional stereo pair from a speaker that's just under 7-inches tall. Using spatial awareness to sense their location in the room, each HomePod automatically adjusts the audio to sound great wherever it is placed and sound great together, using an Apple-designed wireless peer-to-peer direct link to communicate with each other and play music completely in sync.

With an A8 chip in each speaker, each HomePod is able to play its own audio channel  left or right  while separating out both the ambient and direct energy. This innovative stereo sound provides a wide, almost three dimensional soundstage for an incredible listening experience anywhere in the room. A HomePod stereo pair creates room filling sound with greater bass extension, resulting in a deeper, more accurate reproduction of low frequencies.

Setting up a stereo pair is simple. When a second HomePod is set up in the same room, the user is prompted whether they would like to form a stereo pair, and in just a matter of minutes, the room is filled with amazing audio. Even though these two speakers act as one, each HomePod communicates with each other so that only one speaker responds to Siri requests.

AirPlay 2 and Multi-Room Audio





AirPlay 2 enables the most advanced, wireless multi-room audio system, creating an effortless way for people to stream music or podcasts anywhere in the home to different devices, all in-sync. While listening to music, it's as easy as selecting or unselecting where the music is playing in Control Center, or users can ask Siri to play music in any room, a group of rooms, or everywhere in the home. For HomePod, AirPlay 2 features are automatically supported and music can be streamed around the house without the need to manually group speakers.

AirPlay 2 controls are available across iOS within any app and in Control Center for quick access to what's playing in every room, on every speaker. Apple Music subscribers can also ask Siri to play different songs in different rooms or the same song everywhere, without ever leaving the room. Just like iPhone and iPad, HomePod will be able to communicate with other AirPlay 2-enabled speakers when they become available, so Siri can control music playing on speakers from Bang & Olufsen, Bluesound, Bose, Bowers & Wilkins, Denon, Libratone, Marantz, Marshall, Naim, Pioneer and Sonos.





With AirPlay 2, ask Siri to play music in any room right from an iOS device or by asking Siri on HomePod.

Siri, now actively used on over half a billion devices, has a deep knowledge of music and understands personal preferences and tastes. With personal requests turned on for HomePod, Siri can send a message, add reminders and notes and check calendar appointments.2 Siri can set a timer, play a podcast, check the news, sports, traffic and weather, and control a wide range of HomeKit smart home accessories.

To learn more ways to get the most out of iOS 11.4, users can visit the Tips app on iPhone or iPad. For details on how to update HomePod, visit Apple Support.

Pricing and Availability

HomePod is available in white and space gray for $349 (US) in the US, UK and Australia and will be available in Canada, France and Germany beginning Monday, June 18. HomePod will be available in Apple Stores, apple.com, the Apple Store app and at select Apple Authorized Resellers.

HomePod is compatible with iPhone 5s or later, iPad Pro, iPad Air or later, iPad mini 2 or later, or iPod touch (6th generation) with iOS 11.2.5 or later. Stereo and multi-room audio are available with iOS 11.4.





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German FM vows to assist Iran's economy if it adheres to nuclear deal

05/29/18

Source: Press TV

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says Berlin is prepared to help Iran improve its economy and business ties by the time that Tehran remains committed to a landmark nuclear agreement it signed with major powers in 2015. "We will continue to make efforts to fulfill Iran's hopes for economic recovery and good trade relations as long as Iran is ready and able to prove that it adheres to its obligations under the nuclear deal," Maas said on Tuesday.

World order is changing (stellt sich neu auf"), and not in a good way. But rule-based liberal order & multilateral cooperation remain best options, says German FM @HeikoMaas at #GlobalSolutions - EU must work harder to defend this order, will "do everything" to uphold Iran deal pic.twitter.com/pTYOp6QoSC  Henning Hoff (@HoffHenning) May 29, 2018

He was speaking at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin three weeks after the United States pulled out from the landmark nuclear accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).



US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany.



Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.



Since the US president pulled Washington out of the historic nuclear deal, other signatories, including Germany, have been scrambling to ensure that Iran gets enough economic benefits to persuade it to stay in the deal.



Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Monday ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers, the European Union's foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said the bloc is determined to save the JCPOA despite the United States' move to withdraw from the deal.



She added, "You know that we have been acting already at European Union level to put in place a set of measures to make sure that the nuclear agreement is preserved and the economic investments from the European side, but also from other sides in the world are protected."



German EU Affairs Minister Michael Roth also said on Monday Iran's commitment to the JCPOA was "indispensable" and pledged that the EU would "support Iran financially and economically on the basis of the agreement."



"Today, we have to send out a clear signal that the European Union is standing behind the nuclear deal. It is in our most personal security interest that this deal has a future," Roth added.



In a meeting with US National Security Adviser John Bolton on Wednesday, the German foreign minister said Europe is still "very, very united" on continuing to support the Iran nuclear deal.



He said, "Europe is very, very united in its position on the nuclear accord with Iran, and that will not change... We don't want a proliferation of nuclear weapons in our expanded neighborhood."
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Alpha Barry sign a joint communique to resume diplomatic relations between China and Burkina Faso, in Beijing, capital of China, May 26, 2018. [Photo/Xinhua]

Foreign minister invites Africans to join nation's 'family of friendship'

More countries may sever relationships with Taiwan if the island's leader, Tsai Ingwen, continues to refuse to acknowledge the one-China principle, experts on the Chinese mainland said.

China and the West African country of Burkina Faso resumed diplomatic relations on Saturday, after the latter distanced itself from Taiwan on Thursday. The number of countries with so-called diplomatic ties to the island has dropped to 18.

Burkina Faso is the fourth country to change its stance toward the island since Tsai, leader of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, assumed office in May 2016. It is the second to back away from the island this month, following the Dominican Republic.

At a media briefing on Saturday, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the resumption of China-Burkina Faso ties signified a step toward the goal of having all African nations join in the big family of friendly cooperation between China and Africa.

"Only one African country has not established diplomatic relations with China, and we sincerely hope that this country will soon join in the China-Africa family of friendship," he said.

Liu Xiangping, a professor of Taiwan studies at Nanjing University in Jiangsu province, said that since the Chinese mainland has a much greater influence in politics, economics, culture and military issues than Taiwan, it is reasonable for countries to adopt its stance regarding the island.

"With the growth of our comprehensive strength, China is now one of the main drivers of the world's economic development. Many countries are willing to take the road of development, and their willingness to sever relations with Taiwan has become stronger," Liu said.

Zhu Songling, a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Beijing Union University, said Taiwan's "diplomatic partners" need to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing and cut ties to Taiwan to better engage in global society.

He added that Tsai's consistent refusal to acknowledge the 1992 Consensus, which embodies the one-China principle, has harmed cross-Straits relations and pushed Beijing to consider stronger relations with those who have sided with the island.

Zhu said that countries having "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan have witnessed the island's ruling DPP go against the tide of history, adding that its refusal to accept the 1992 Consensus has jeopardized the common political foundation on both sides of the Straits and harmed the peaceful development of relations.

Liu, of Nanjing University, added that when Taiwan's former leader, Ma Ying-jeou, was in office between 2008 and 2016, the Kuomintang party, which ruled at the time, recognized the 1992 Consensus and maintained peaceful cross-Straits relations. During that time, the mainland turned down many requests from other countries to establish diplomatic ties, he said.

However, Liu said, Beijing no longer needs to be concerned, since Tsai has chosen to remain antagonistic toward the mainland.

Recently, the Taiwan administration further hindered cross-Straits communication by rejecting the participation of high-ranking KMT officials in the Straits Forum in Xiamen, Fujian provincea nonpolitical platform designed to enhance people-to-people interaction, economic exchanges and cultural integration.

Such actions have further harmed cross-Straits relations, and may push more "diplomatic partners" of the island toward the mainland, the experts said.
Sixteen pupils from four junior high schools New Generation School, S. Sowah Boye Memorial School, Joehans Academy and St. Charles Preparatory School have made it to the finals of a competition aimed at developing a solution to end Ghanas endemic waste challenge.



The pupils, who represented and qualified their schools for the Foundation for Generational Thinkers (FOGET) and Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) 2018 Inter-school Quiz and Challenge, have been given the assignment: Your community has been filth-laden. Devise a means by which waste can properly be managed to ensure a clean environment.



Each of the contesting schools is expected to produce a 30-page document that contains a scientifically based solution to the menace with referencing to avoid any incidence of academic dishonesty or plagiarism.



FOGET, a non-governmental organisation into youth empowerment, gave the schools laptops and pen drives to aid their representatives in the assigned project. And to enable the contestants have first-hand knowledge and experience about waste management, organisers of the competition also took them on fieldtrips to a number of waste management companies in the Accra Metropolis.



The recommendation chosen by a panel of jurors at the end of the competition would be presented to government for a possible implementation by the relevant ministries.



How the 4 Finalists made it



The preliminary stage of the competition saw 34 basic schools, all members of GNAPS and from the Zone 5 of the Greater Accra region, take part.



As the contest progressed keenly through knockout phases, the number of the participating schools dropped to 8. The surviving eight were divided into groups A and B for the semi-final ties.



Joehans topped Group A with 59 points whilst St. Charles Preparatory School obtained 56 points, Zion Academy 49 and Visionoport International School 48. The Group B semi-finals ended with New Generation School crowned winners with 74 points, S. Sowah Boye Memorial School garnering 59 points, Gods Gift International School 48 and Josephus Memorial School 46 points. The group winners and first runners-up qualified for the finals of the tournament called the Challenge.



Best Legacy is to make the Youths Critical Thinkers FOGET



Addressing stakeholders after the semi-finals Wednesday, FOGETs President and Founder, Prosper Afetsi, said the worthiest legacy anybody could leave behind on earth was to provide an avenue for young people to be critical thinkers.



The quiz and the challenge competition, he said, were some of the avenues being deployed by FOGET for the young generation not to repeat the mistakes the adults had made in their own generation.



The challenge aspect of the competition was to give the students an insight and experience of how to properly manage environmental issues in their own small ways. This, I strongly believe, will go a long way to influence behaviours and attitudes toward the environment or perhaps their immediate families, friends and community, said Mr. Afetsi whose organisation has run the competition successfully for three years now.



He also appealed to government institutions, departments, agencies, corporate organisations, religious bodies, associations, civil society organisations and other benevolent groups to support the competition with cash or souvenirs for the pupils.



The Chairman of GNAPS Zone 5, Nii Kwei, congratulated the pupils and the schools for what he described as a wonderful performance and showed appreciation to FOGET for investing so much resources in ensuring the quiz aspect of the competition was a great success.



A satisfied-looking Mr. Kwei also noted the quiz competition would help to boost the pupils preparations towards the upcoming Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

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.

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Audio Attachment: Listen to Nana Ofori Owusu on Peace FM's 'kokrokoo' programme.

Aspiring National Chairman of the Progressive People's Party (PPP) Nana Ofori Owusu has expressed resentments over the country's National Identity Card registration.



Executive Secretary of the National Identification Authority (NIA), Prof. Ken Agyemang Attafuah has announced the commencement of the national identity card (Ghana Card) registration in the Greater Accra Region Monday May 28, 2018.



According to him, the registration in the Greater Accra Region is intended to last for approximately three months.



The exercise is aimed at registering all Ghanaians within one year.



The Ghana Card will, in accordance with the country's laws, become the only card to be used in transactions where identification is required.



But addressing the programme on Peace FM's 'Kokrokoo' programme, Nana Ofori Owusu wondered why the government has to restart the identity card registration all over when there have been previous works.



He asked the NIA about their unwillingness to continue to improve upon the previous registration, questioning the Authority's logic to have a new database when there's already an existing one.



He also lambasted the move further wondering if the monies spent on the registration in previous years will therefore go waste by virtue of the fact that the current administration won't rely on previous database to register Ghanaians for the Ghana Card.



To him, some people should be taken to court because we continue to waste tax payers money on projects".



"Theres discontinuity. We begin everything all over all the time . . . Then the money that has been spent in the past, who accounts for it? Where is the money? How did they use it and what did they use it for? We cant live as a nation like this without continuity . . . We care about Ghana, he told host Kwami Sefa Kayi.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The Vice President of the Republic, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has inaugurated a seven-member Governing Board for the Major Mahama Trust Fund with a charge to the members to adhere to the tenets of Act 960 in applying the funds for the welfare of the wife and children of the late military officer.



Then Captain Maxwell Adam Mahama, who was part of an anti-galamsey task force, was lynched by a mob at Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region on 29th May, 2018, who say they suspected he was a thief.



The gruesome murder shocked the entire nation, and led President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to promote him posthumously to Major, give him a State Burial and set up a Trust Fund to cater for his family and any other matters. President Akufo-Addo made a personal donation of Ghs50,000, while the State, after the passage by Parliament of the Major Mahama Trust Fund Act, 2017 (Act 960), has provided Ghs500,000.



The President also ordered the construction of a monument near Burma Camp to serve as a constant reminder to all Ghanaians not to indulge in such acts of shame and dishonour again.



After administering the Oaths of Office and Secrecy at the Jubilee House, Accra on Tuesday 29th May, 2018, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia charged the Board to be diligent in their service to the Trust Fund and the people of Ghana.



The events leading to his untimely demise were regrettable and very much not reflective of the character of Ghanaians. It is an occurrence that must not be repeated in our Nation.



The loss of Major Maxwell Mahama to his family is immeasurable, particularly considering the future of his young wife and children As members of the Trust Fund, I wish to advise you to adhere to the Act 960 in your work, particularly in applying the funds of the Trust Fund in your functions and responsibilities as members of the Board of Trustees.



You are to perform your roles as a dutiful service to our Nation, Ghana and ensure that the aim and objects of this Trust Fund are achieved.







Speaking on behalf of the Board, the Minister of Defence, Hon Dominic Nitiwul, expressed appreciation to the President and the Vice President for the confidence reposed in them, and pledged their commitment to ensuring the sustenance of the Trust fund.



Other members of the Board of Trustees for the Major Mahama Trust Fund are Hon Seth Kwame Acheampong, MP for Mpraeso and Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior; Hon James Agalga, MP for Builsa North and Ranking Member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior; Kuoro Richard Babini Kanton VI, Paramount Chief of Tumu Traditional Area; Mrs Winifred Assibi Dy-Yakah; Madam Dorcas Ama Frema Coker-Parker; and Dr Evans Agbeme Dzikum, Chief Director at the Ministry of Defence.

Source: Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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Nana Ofori Owusu, PPP National Chairman Aspirant, has fired back at Deputy Communications Minister George Andah over the contract between the Ministry of Communications and Kelni GVG.



President of IMANI Africa, Franklin Cudjoe is on record to have called for the abrogation of the $89.4million contract between the State through the Ministry of Communications and Kelni GVG.



According to him, Subah Info Solution and Afriwave are already performing similar roles for the Ministry and so stated emphatically that the Kelni GVG contract amounts to duplication of functions; hence needless of the Government of Ghana to pursue such contract.



But the Deputy Communications Minister George Andah reacting to IMANI's concerns on Joy FM's 'Newsfile' on Saturday refuted the claims saying "either IMANI is misinformed or they have been motivated to do whatever they are doing . . . I would have expected that if they had any concerns, they should have engaged the ministry. People could be misinformed . . . IMANI is not God. There hasnt been any request to meet with the ministry. They are misinformed; IMANI is misinformed".



Following the Deputy Minister's rebuttal, Franklin Cudjoe is said to have reported threats to the Police over his disagreement with the deal.



A group calling itself the Progressive Nationalist Forum (PNF) also jabbed the IMANI President wondering "why any patriotic Ghanaian, or for that matter good cooperate citizen will be against an auditing system that seeks to bring transparency and enable government collect taxes due it".



Also addressing the claims by IMANI, the Progressive Nationalist Forum described Franklin Cudjoe's assertions as "pedestrian" and believed the policy think tank is in connivance with the telecom companies to collapse government's efforts to streamline the sector.



In Mr. Cudjoe's defence, Nana Ofori Owusu says "threats on Franklin Cudjoes life must cease".



Addressing the issues on Peace FM's Kokrokoo, Nana Ofori Owusu described Hon. George Andah as a "bad communicator", insisting the claims made by Franklin Cudjoe should not be ignored.



He stated there's something wrong with the contract and therefore sought to find out why Hon. George Andah would speak ill of the IMANI President.



Alluding to Mr. Andah's days when he was a member of Occupy Ghana, he (George Andah) together with Franklin Cudjoe were one of the strong opponents against the shady deals in the communication sector.



He therefore wondered why George Andah has suddenly turned on Franklin Cudjoe all because he's the Deputy Minister and is in power.



Nana Ofori further asked the Communications Minister, Ursula Owusu-Ekuful, what Ghana stands to gain from the contract with Kelni GVG.



How much will return to Ghana for paying for this money? How much will we save as Ghana for paying this money?



To him, the Minister should on top of her game and stop deferring her duties to the Deputy Ministers, one of which is George Andah, who he stated emphatically that is a "marketer" but not a "good communicator.



You must be on top of your game. You cannot defer everything to your Deputy Ministers. Youre the Minister, the buck will stop with you, he said.

Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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The entire Eastern Regional branch of the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) have thrown their unflinching support for the aspiring National Organizer Mr. Sammi Awuku who also doubles as the National Youth Organizer of the party.



According to the Eastern Regional Organizer, Mr. Kwame Appiah Kodua, the decision came after gathering thoughts from all the 33 constituencies within the region as they believe Sammi Awuku has shown in several ways that he has the ability, desire and leadership skills to be the man they need for election 2020 and beyond.



In a statement sent to peacefmonline.com, Mr. Kodua indicated that all the executives were convinced about the hard work of Mr. Sammi Awuku who played a significance role in the 2016 election for the overwhelming victory and will inevitably need him to enhance grounds and bring change into the lives of the many expectant Ghanaians.



Below is the full statement;



We, the Regional Executives of the New Patriotic Party in the Eastern Region; having gathered thoughts from the 33 constituencies of the Eastern Region, where there is a 100% endorsement chorus for Sammi Awuku in the upcoming NPP national elections; standing indivisible, from Afram Plains to Upper Manya Krobo to Abuakwa North to Ofoase Ayirebi, has decided to issue our formal 100% endorsement of Sammi Awuku as the next National Organizer of the New Patriotic Party.



Sammi has over the years shown proven leadership and deserve our 100% endorsement.



Sammi has shown in several ways that he has the ability, desire and leadership skills to be the man we need for election 2020 and beyond. As a communicator, mobilizer, and grassroots person, he successfully mobilized one of the single most powerful youth revolutions in the history of Ghanas election that supervised the 2016 election victory for the NPP. He operated the youth wing of the party as his business, where he and his staff provided a caring, functioning and loving atmosphere for our most vulnerable citizens and the opposition NPP at the time.



We speak with first-hand knowledge and conviction of this, as he entirely changed the operations and spirit of the Youth Organizers at all levels of our party.



We remember how he built the capacities of our Regional Youth Organizers in Germany to effect change at the grassroots towards election 2016. As a member of national executive, we have a firm believe that he was the force behind election 2016 victory and we will inevitably need him as the party move to enhance its fortunes, consolidate Page 2 of 2 grounds and bring change into the lives of the many expectant Ghanaians and NPP members and sympathizers.



Sammi is a friend of the grassroots; he is the one who can be counted on in times of crisis as well as celebration. During the past four years in office as the National Youth Organizer, he has served the NPP, Ghana and its citizens with admiration.



He has also contributed immensely to the effective handling of the exponential growth that has occurred in our party. You can see through these examples amongst others, of his leadership and faithfulness that, as the National Organizer of the NPP, Sammy Awuku can help the NPP grow to become a spirited and prosperous political party. Indeed, Sammy has shown faith to the New Patriotic Party across all levels, hence our decision to reward him with a 100% endorsement. We entreat all other regions to follow suit and please endorse Sammi Awuku as the next National Organizer of the NPP on or before 7 July.



Long Live Sammi Awuku!



Long Live Nana Addo Dankwah Akuffo Addo!



Long Live the NPP!



Long Live Ghana!



Signed Kwame Appiah Kodua (Regional Organizer)









Source: Josephine Acheampomaa









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NDCs Flagbearer hopeful, Professor Joshua Alabi has expressed optimism of wining his partys primaries despite former President John Dramani Mahama being widely tipped as the favorite after showing interest to contest the 2020 election.



In an interview with NEAT FMs morning show Ghana Montie, Joshua Alabi was emphatic that, he will be Ghanas president for 8 years equivalent to two terms if he is given the nod by his party.



I will win the primaries and will be Ghanas president for 8 good years and so Ghanaians should watch out for me. I will make Ghana the Swiss of Africa when given the nod and I know I will win hands down, he told host Mc-Jerry Osei Agyemang.



According to him, former president Mahamas decision to join the flagbearship contest doesnt scare him in anyway.



Ive already factored him [Mahama] within my campaign strategy so I am not worried. I know surely that I will win the primaries. God is at the center of my campaign, he said.



Outlining his vision for Ghana, he said he will transform the country into the financial hub of Africa.



Prof. Alabi is among the four NDC stalwarts who have declared their readiness to lead the party into the 2020 polls.

Source: King Edward Ambrose Washman Addo/Peacefmonline.com/ Twitter: @Washman5/ Instagram: Ambrose_wash









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.

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Assin Central Member of Parliament, Kennedy Agyapong has issued a caustic warning to investigative journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas not to dare travel out of the country.



According to him, he has a smoking gun on the activities by Anas Aremeyaw Anas and his team Tiger Eye PI, which he describes as "illegal and evil".



Kennedy Agyapong, speaking on Adom TV's "Badwam" programme, challenged Anas to provide concrete evidence on his source of wealth.



He disclosed that the investigative journalist has been using dubious means to bamboozle his victims and enrich himself.



Kennedy Agyapong, boldly exposing the "corrupt" nature of Anas, revealed that the investigative journalist has acquired estates and lands together with other vast assets by extorting monies from people.



He also added that Anas employed the services of land guards to terrorize people and plunder two lands at Trade Fair in Accra.



Anas has also acquired a Pharmaceutical shop and imports things from Dubai, Kennedy Agyapong further stated.



Furthermore, he questioned the Inspector General of Police why Anas has been given a private Police security at his residence, asking is he a better citizen than any Ghanaian?



He dared Anas to prove if he pays taxes, saying "I will stick my neck on the line for Ghanaians and the innocent people he has destroyed over the years. It's too much".



Mr. Agyapong swore on Badwam to show Ghanaians the true colors of Anas Aremeyaw Anas, who he believed would have been obliterated if he were in a different State.



"The guy is not genuine. He's blackmailing people. He's extortionist, taking monies from people. He is evil. Hes an extortionist. He is a blackmailer.



"The guy shouldn't travel. The guy should not leave this country because I will take him on one on one and bring the evidence out. Because he's never been fair to the people that he has destroyed and institutions that he has destroyed in this country for taking monies...We're not small boys. We are human beings. We're all Ghanaians", he stressed.





Source: Ameyaw Adu Gyamfi/Peacefmonline.com/Ghana









Disclaimer : Opinions expressed here are those of the writers and do not reflect those of Peacefmonline.com. Peacefmonline.com accepts no responsibility legal or otherwise for their accuracy of content. Please report any inappropriate content to us, and we will evaluate it as a matter of priority.

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A well known dealership in Harrisburg will likely change hands.

The shareholders of Sutliff Chevrolet have reached an agreement to transition ownership of the dealership at 1251 Paxton Street to Lee and Sharon Turner of Lemoyne, who own and operate Turner Kia in Swatara Township and Turner Buick GMC in New Holland, Lancaster County, the company said in a press release.

The transaction is not expected to have any impact on the current employees of Sutliff Chevrolet, and the sale and service of Chevrolet vehicles at the company's Cameron Street campus will continue without interruption, the company said.

The sale is contingent on approval by General Motors and the state of Pennsylvania.

--Business Buzz
After a roller coaster series of adjustments to the Korean Peninsula situation, all sides have begun afresh moving toward a June 12 summit. Looking back over this period, a strange analysis of China's role in resolving the crisis has left a deep impression upon people. It is time to put an end to those judgments.

The claim that China is being marginalized emerged in South Korea and the West after Pyongyang and Seoul started to ease relations at the beginning of this year. At that time, the summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was confirmed.

Yet when Kim visited China in March, those who had promoted that very opinion were awakened to Beijing's massive influence on the peninsula. This impression peaked when Kim visited China again in May.

The cognition was mixed with some foreign forces' wish to subdue North Korea. After a recent round of tough rhetoric from Pyongyang about the Trump-Kim summit, the idea became widely publicized among Western and South Korean media that Beijing had probably urged North Korea to change its attitude.

When Trump announced his cancellation of the meeting, Pyongyang became very restrained, expressing its hopes to hold the summit. At this time, the US and South Korean media barely mentioned China.

What's particularly ridiculous is that arguments about limiting China's influence on the peninsula are once again on the rise.

For instance, some say they don't want China, one of the signatories of the Korean Armistice Agreement, to participate in the signing of the joint declaration to end the state of war.

Those who promulgated such arguments were obviously not yearning for a permanent peace on the peninsula in the first place, but instead have been carefully calculating their own geopolitical gains and losses. Eyeing every single change on the peninsula since the beginning of this year, they hope China will play a walk-on part.

But China is a crucial driving force of the progress on the peninsula. On the one hand, China's strength and geopolitical position is obvious to all. On the other, North Korea is a fully independent country. China does not have a decisive influence on the affairs of the peninsula, yet without China, major decisions in the region can hardly take shape or be implemented in a stable way.

Some people in the US and South Korea tend to blame China when North Korea plays tough, but hope China will step back whenever they have smooth communication with Pyongyang.

China's stance on the issue has never changed. Beijing has spared no effort in establishing a functional framework to resolve the crisis under UN auspices, as well as encouraging North Korea and the US to meet each other halfway. Without Beijing's efforts, the situation on the peninsula would likely have become unmanageable last year and interactions between Pyongyang and Washington would have been more fragile than they are now.

The US and South Korea should neither underestimate China nor irresponsibly shift their responsibilities to China.
WILLIAMSPORT - The leader of an organization that distributed more than $10 million in misbranded drugs and synthetic marijuana in the U.S. and internationally is headed to prison for nearly four years.

Paul C. Chomiak, 51, Tuesday was sentenced to 46 months, fined $500 and ordered to forfeit up to $6,448,988 in proceeds from the illegal operation. He will be on supervised release for two years after the jail term.

That was the sentence handed down by U.S. Middle District Judge Matthew W. Brann on the Bloomsburg resident, who allowed Chomiak to self-report to prison on June 29.

Chomiak, who is frail with sight and hearing issues, was unable to stand during the more than hour-long proceeding. His only comment was to apologize.

He had pleaded guilty in 2014 to charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and money laundering.

He is the seventh of eight individuals indicted five years ago in the conspiracy to be sentenced. Combined, they are required to forfeit $7,008,965.

Only Dwain Colin Dunwell of London, who ran the international part of the operation, has yet to appear in federal court.

He is in prison in Hungry and is unlikely to ever to be brought back to the United States, Brann said.

Chomiak began selling designer drugs commonly known as bath salts in 2009 and obtained synthetic marijuana from a vendor in the United Kingdom, the judge noted in reviewing the scope of the conspiracy.

As customer interest grew, he started taking Internet orders and hired Lindsay Lee-Lampshire of Michigan to create websites, he said. Lee-Lampshire has been sentenced to 21 months in prison.

The business grew to where he was selling wholesale, Rocktashel said. "He tried to stay one step ahead of the law," he said.

Chomiak kept doing business despite in 2011 surrendering 400 pounds of bath salts to the Federal Drug Administration and being subjected to a May 2012 search by the Columbia County Drug Task, he said.

People who walked by his two stores in Bloomsburg did not realize in the basements people were packaging misbranded drugs and fulfilling Internet orders, Rocktashel said.

He used locations in Philadelphia to receive products and they would be transported to Bloomsburg, he said.

Although the products were labeled not for human consumption, buyers knew they could high on them like using marijuana and cocaine, he said.

The prosecutor's comment Chomiak made "an awful lot of money" was reinforced by the judge who cited monetary transfers in the amounts $50,000 and $100,000 to Belize and $215,000 to a lawyer brother in California.

Banks in the Bloomsburg area stopped doing business with him because of the high volume of overseas transactions, Rocktashel said.

Chomiak assembled a staff that included those versed in information technology and logistics to market his products, he said.

Defense attorney Philip Gelso of Kingston, in arguing for a non-custodial sentence due to Chomiak's mental health and medical issues, pointed out his client sought legal advice.

One of those lawyers, Clyde Kevin Middleton of Orangeville, was sentenced in March to 18 months in prison and fined $1,000. He had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to introduce and deliver misbranded drugs.

The indictment also charged four businesses included one operated by Lee-Lampshire but those counts will be dropped, Rocktashel said.
After visiting her husband's grave Sunday at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery, a Harrisburg woman said she and two friends were called a racist name while entering a nearby restaurant.

Betty Durham said a man with a small group of motorcyclists said "Here some more [racial slur]" as they walked to the entrance of the restaurant around 1 or 1:30 p.m.

"I said, 'What did you say?' " Durham said. "He said, 'That's what I said - [racial slur].' "

"I felt it was awful them saying anything like that to us," she said. "I thought we were done with those days."

Durham said she told an employee inside, and said she was told if they see the motorcyclists again, they won't allow them in the restaurant.

"I feel comfortable with that," Durham said. "I feel really bad about it, but it is what it is."

"It's not the restaurant's fault - they don't know those people," she said, adding that they stayed and had dinner.

Durham, along with her sister and a 93-year-old friend - all black women - had taken flowers to the graves of loved ones at Indiantown Gap National Cemetery. Durham's husband, an Army veteran who died in 2012, is among those buried there.

Durham worked 36 years in the military, in legal support for the U.S. Army War College, served in the Army Reserves and retired from Defense Distribution Logistics in the EEOC program.

"I've been going out there 15 to 20 years, and this is the first time anything like this happened," Durham said.

She said another black woman outside the restaurant said she had been called the same word by one of the men.
A Tim Hortons restaurant sign is shown in Newcastle, Ont., on February 11, 2018. A Tim Hortons franchisee who is being denied a licence renewal after the company accused him of violating food safety and operating-standards has passed most of such reviews, according to internal documents obtained by The Canadian Press. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives
Gabion baskets line the Okanagan Lake waterfront in Penticton. The lakes rise is slowing and it now appears unlikely the water will reach 343 metres above sea level as initially projected.
By Guo Yuandan and Ma Jun

An online photo on May 27 revealed that China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning (Hull 16) returned to the Dalian Shipyard to join the first home-made aircraft carrier already docked there. China's two aircraft carriers had a historical "rendezvous".

The photo drew extensive attention throughout China. Chinese military expert Song Zhongping told the reporter on May 27 that it is rare for the two carriers to appear at the shipyard at the same time and it was a special situation this time.

The homemade aircraft carrier had just returned from a sea trial when Liaoning(Hull 16) happened to return to the shipyard for repair and maintenance, thus creating the historical moment. After the homemade carrier is officially commissioned in the future, it will undertake its own duties, so it is highly improbable that the two carriers will meet at the Dalian Shipyard again.

The aircraft carrier Liaoning (Hull 16) sailed back to the Dalian Shipyard for a four-month routine maintenance in the middle of 2014, after which it carried out training across large sea areas, so another comprehensive "body check" was normal and necessary.

Many netizens hailed the arrival of the "age of double carriers", but Chinese expert Li Jie said that such an age should be characterized by the carriers' combat capabilities. At present, the homemade carrier only has a symbolic meaning. Even when it's commissioned to the Navy, it needs to go through equipment commissioning and personnel adaptation for a long time.

According to Song Zhongping, the simultaneous appearance of the two aircraft carriers means China is getting closer to the double-carrier age. "It is just a beginning. We will see more aircraft carriers together in the future."

It will be some time before the homemade aircraft carrier forms combat capability, but the interviewed experts all believed the process will be largely shortened thanks to the sound foundation laid by Liaoning.

Shi Hong, executive editor-in-chief of Shipborne Weapons magazine, said that the carrier Liaoning undertakes the training for a large number of personnel, which greatly shortens the time necessary for new carriers to be combat ready.

Official media reported that carrier-borne aircraft numbers starting with "2" appeared in a Liaoning training session in April, which may mean that the aircraft destined for the homemade aircraft carrier have already started training on Liaoning.

He also said that the carrier Liaoning has created the model of a carrier battle group, according to which corresponding vessels can be dispatched to form a carrier battle group with combat capability within a very short time. Therefore, "while it took six years for the carrier Liaoning to form combat capability after it was delivered to the PLA Navy, the first homemade aircraft carrier may only need two years or so.

How will the two aircraft carriers change the PLA Navy in the future?

Li Jie said that actually one third of an aircraft carrier's service life is spent in the shipyard because repair, maintenance and upgrade take a lot of time, so we have to have two carriers to make sure there is always one carrier at sea.

He also said the two carriers provide the PLA Navy with different tactical options. Either the two carriers can form a large battle group together or they each lead a battle group and serve in different strategic directions, for instance, one in the South China Sea and the other in the West Pacific.

But Li Jie stressed that the "double-carrier age" only means the nation's strategic projection capability is enhanced, but the two carriers will seldom operate together except in an extremely grave situation.

All the experts mentioned that the US has the richest experience in multi-carrier operation. Considering the experience of the American Navy, the "double-carrier age" will bring both benefits and new challenges.

Shi Hong gave an example to explain that double-carrier operation isn't the simple combination of two carrier battle groups. If one carrier in the combined battle group is responsible for attack and the other focuses on defense, the tactics will definitely be different from those for a single aircraft carrier, so we have to explore anew. Meanwhile, more training has to be carried out as to what formation the escort vessels should adopt and how great a distance from each other they should maintain.

In addition to changes in the combat system, the double carriers also pose new requirements to the PLA Navy in logistics support, replenishment and maintenance, as well as personnel rotation as the war-ready tasks become long-term operations, according to Li Jie.

How to keep up efficient rotation of aircraft carriers while mitigating the pressure on logistics and troops on vessels is a difficulty that the American Navy is also trying to solve, Li Jie added.

Disclaimer: The author is Guo Yuandan and Ma Jun, reporters with the Global Times. The article is translated from Chinese into English by the China Military online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article are those of the authors from the Global Times and do not reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn. Chinamil.com.cn does not assume any responsibility or liability for the same. If the article carries photographs or images, we do not vouch for their authenticity.
Ben Perryman, Abdoul Abdi's lawyer, fields questions as Abdi's sister, Fatouma Abdi, looks on at Federal Court after a hearing to determine whether deportation proceedings should be halted for the former child refugee, in Halifax on Thursday, Feb. 15, 2018. Two organizations have made motions in Federal Court in Halifax to intervene in the judicial review of Abdoul Abdi's case.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
Auditor General Michael Ferguson holds a press conference following the tabling of the AG Report in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 29, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
A Saskatchewan couple has been sentenced after admitting to their roles in a human smuggling operation involving a group of Nigerian citizens and asylum-seekers. In a ruling brought down Monday, a provincial court judge in Estevan ordered Victor Omoruyi of Regina to spend nine months in jail and pay a $20,000 fine.His wife, Michelle Strawford-Omoruyi, was given a 12-month conditional sentence and a fine of $10,000. Victor Omoruyi is shown in this undated handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO - Grand Forks Correctional Centre *MANDATORY CREDIT*
Canadian Pacific Railway president and CEO Keith Creel addresses the company's annual meeting in Calgary, Wednesday, May 10, 2017. More than 3,000 conductors and locomotive engineers at Canadian Pacific Rail are on strike. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh
Canada's diplomatic service has come under fire for taking months to notify the foreign affairs minister and top officials about cases where Canadians detained abroad are being tortured or mistreated. Auditor General Michael Ferguson holds a press conference following the tabling of the AG Report in the House of Commons in Ottawa on Tuesday, May 29, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick
Chinese civilization has long been hailed as one of the oldest in the world  up to 5,000 years old  and now researchers in the country have found more archaeological evidence to prove that.

Officials and experts on Monday unveiled the results of the state-led Comprehensive Investigation into the Origin and Early Development of Chinese Civilization Project, which aims to explore the origins of early Chinese civilization based on major archaeological excavations using modern technologies.

Based on the latest archaeological finds, the project's experts have arrived at the conclusion that early Chinese civilization started some 5,800 years ago in areas including the lower reaches of the Yellow River and the Yangtze River.

"Years of large-scale excavations in the ruins of Liangzhu in east China's Zhejiang Province, the Taosi site in north China's Shanxi Province, the Shimao site in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and the Erlitou site in central China's Henan Province have provided proof," said Wang Wei, who works on the project.
Pirate offense sputters in loss The downpour of rain that drenched Pirate Field in the fourth quarter was probably an accurate representation of just how Perryville football coach Brent Roth and his team felt following the game.The 

Indians have fun in shutout victory over Bayless St. Vincent football coach Tim Schumer said that his team had a lot of fun on Friday night. The Indians scored early and often, then dominated on defense as they shutout Bayless 59-0 
Oil revenues can choke Guyana's democracy - Latin American Political Risk Analysis By Kiana Wilburg GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 05 29 2018 In any democratic state, the citizenry elects a political unit to serve, protect and represent its interest/rights. But if the systems which allow this very political unit' to carry out its elected function are weak, then it opens the floodgates for rampant corruption.



It is with this understanding in mind that Thiago de Aragao, Director of the Latin American Political Risk Analysis, has called on the Government of Guyana to strengthen systems governing the electoral process, taxation and regulation. Aragao made the point that if these instruments for equality are not up to standard, then Guyana's democracy can end up being choked by oil and gas money. In a recent interview with Kaieteur News in California, Aragao explained that Guyanese should understand that the goal of the petroleum investor is to drill, extract, and burn all the oil and gas resources it can acquire. The business plan is to burn it all. To ensure that it can carry out its objective uninterrupted, Aragao said that oil and gas investors will seek to exert influence in every place it can. In this regard, he pointed out that campaign financing loopholes are always a target.



In the USA's 2016 election cycle alone, the oil and gas industry contributed over US$103 million. In funneling billions of dollars into the election, Aragao said that the companies are able to exert influence over policy that it is against. Policies in short, end up serving the interest of the petroleum investors.



In a report called The Chilling Effects on Oil & Gas Money on Democracy, Clean Water Action, it was outlined how large polluters influence environmental policy and oversight. The report focused on the broad, historic formula for acquiring power and influencing policymakers, which relied on campaign finance and lobbying. The report also exposed how oil and gas companies continue to have a major advantage over the rights of the American people when it comes to regulatory policy.



Given the secrecy that has surrounded campaign financing in Guyana, the Brazilian Director said that authorities here would be wise to amend its archaic laws before the next election to ensure transparency.

He commented too, that it would be up to the policy leaders to decide whether there will be laws to cap the moneys they can receive from oil companies during the election campaign or make a decision to not receive any at all.



The Political Analyst said, Personally, I am against oil companies funding campaigns because implicitly there is an expectation. Even if it is legal, the candidate is expected to return something to the company. In my experience, I don't think that a country should be driven in that direction. But it comes back to the overarching principle of transparency. This is a key issue here.



Aragao said that Guyana's democracy can also be caught in a stranglehold if the systems for environmental regulation and taxation are left in a weak and disorganized manner.



The leading Political Analyst said, If the country is to thrive then there must be a clear set of rules for taxation in the oil and gas industry as well as environmental regulation. Otherwise, you are setting yourself up for abuse and for oil money to rule and lead the way. Leaders must seek to remove loopholes for exploitation. If you have an environment of clear tax systems for oil and gas, then this will be one of the major things that will attract other investors, the kind that would also be willing to engage in conscionable negotiations.



Aragao added, Oil companies look at your tax system, regulatory framework and your electoral system. If those things are not in check, then you are giving away parts of your democracy  Petroleumworld.com



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Guyana's appearance of country map minus Essequibo region possibly a cyber-attack- Foreign Affairs Ministry





By Demerarawaves

GEORGETOWN

Petroleumworld 05 29 2018

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday suggested that the appearance of maps minus the Essequibo Region on Guyana's 52nd Independence anniversary might have been a deliberate assault by cyber-attackers.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not ruled out the strong possibility that this could be a cyber-attack and is looking into the matter, the ministry said.

The Guyana Chronicle has already stated that no such botched image of Guyana's map is in its system. Based on our internal checks such a map is not in our photograph database and it would seem that some mischievous person might have uploaded this distorted image of the Guyana map.

Copies of the maps first appeared on advertisements by American Home and Beauty Centre and later on the Facebook Page of Jobs GT and the website of the government-controlled Guyana Chronicle newspaper.

Expressing its deep concern over the disturbing image on certain websites that depict Guyana without its known internationally recognised borders, the Foreign Ministry signaled that the appearance of the map during the Independence period was not coincidental.

This act which occurred on our 52nd Anniversary of Independence should serve as a sobering reminder that the threats to our territory remain real and dangerous. The Ministry has noted with appreciation and pride the immediate and defensive responses by our citizens over this despicable image, added the Foreign Ministry.

Back in 2015, Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro had issued a decree that had unilaterally extended his country's maritime boundary to include all the waters off Guyana's coast including where ExxonMobil had discovered a huge oil deposit. That move had coincided with Guyana's independence anniversary, the swearing in of Guyana's President David Granger and ExxonMobil's announcement of the oil deposit located off the coast of Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara.

Referring to this latest incident, the Foreign Ministry said the shape of Guyana's 83,000 square miles is unmistakable. From the dawn of our independence to this day, we have spared no effort to preserve our

sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Venezuela eventually backed off from its unilateral extension of the maritime boundary after the 15-nation Caribbean Community (CARICOM) had raised serious concerns on behalf of Guyana, and the fact that that decree had severely impacted on the maritime boundaries with almost all Caribbean islands, Suriname and French Guiana.

Venezuela's claim to the Essequibo Region has since been referred to the International Court of Justice to rule on the validity of the 1899 Arbitral Tribunal Award that had finally and fully settled the land boundary between the two neighbouring South American nations.

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Brazil week-long strike leaves big loses and more strikes to come

Bloomberg



Brazil government will face bill of at least 9.5b reais. Petrobras workers plan strike for May 30, want CEO fired.

By Rachel Gamarski and Simone Preissler Iglesias

BRASILIA

Petroleumworld 05 29 2018

A week-long truckers' protest is leaving Brazil with a massive bill, lower growth projections and worse yet -- more strikes to come.

A diesel price cut for 60 days, the latest concession to truckers announced by President Michel Temer late on Sunday, will cost 9.5 billion reais ($2.6 billion), Finance Minister Eduardo Guardia told Bloomberg. A further four-billion reais shortfall in fuel taxes due to cuts announced last week may be off-set if Congress votes to end payroll tax breaks. At the same time economists cut their 2018 growth projections for the fourth consecutive week to 2.37 percent.

Financial markets tanked on Monday, reflecting just how much investor sentiment toward Brazil has soured. Brazil's real led losses among 24 emerging market currencies tracked by Bloomberg, falling 2.3 percent to 3.7375 at close of trading. The Sao Paulo stock market index fell 4.49 percent, and is down over 9 percent since the strike began. State-run oil company Petrobras led losses, falling almost 15 percent in the day.

While many blockades have been lifted, truckers remain on strike. The supply of fuel and food improved in parts of the country, but many of Brazil's businesses and public schools remained shut as commuters struggled to get to work on Monday. At least eight airports are without fuel. To make matters worse, the oil workers federation FUP called for a strike on Wednesday.

In an effort to get truckers to go home, the government on Monday issued decrees backing up pledges it had made to them. With that the government considers negotiations to have come to an end and expects protests to stop, according to Chief of Staff Eliseu Padilha.

"The negotiations with truckers are over, we did our part," Padilha told reporters. It's not the first time the authorities have declared the end of the stand-off.

Several of the unions involved have said they favor ending the strike or have already decided to do so but that many truckers have not demobilized yet. Renato Antonio Borges, head of Brazil's federal highway police, said in a press conference on Monday evening that the intelligence services were working to identify false leaders among the protesters preventing the truckers from going home.

Police escorts over the weekend helped tanker trucks reach key fuel depots and gas stations after some people chose to sleep in their cars, sometimes waiting more than 12 hours in line for fuel. While delivery of essential medical supplies is improving, supermarkets still face shortages of perishables such as fruit, vegetables and eggs.

Many business also remain shut due to lack of raw materials or difficulty in distributing their production. Dreyfus halted two sugar mills due to a lack of fuel for machinery. The meat producers association ABPA said poultry growers have lost 64 million chickens. Brazil is the world's largest poultry exporter.

An additional one billion chickens and 20 million pigs continue to be at risk as animals are not being sufficiently fed, ABPA said in an email statement. An ABPA leader reportedly met with the Temer administration late Sunday, the president's office said by text message.

With one strike not fully over yet, the government is now turning to negotiation to avoid the next, said Padilha. The FUP oil union federation demands Petrobras CEO Pedro Parente's resignation in addition to lower fuel prices.

Pedro Parente and Michel Temer are the ones to blame, FUP said in a note on Saturday. Parente out. Petrobras has imploded," it said.

Parente has no intention of resigning and Temer doesn't plan to sack him, according to people with direct knowledge of his situation. Yet much of the damage is already done. The state-run oil giant fell 8 percent on Monday. Since the strike began it saw 126 billion reais ($33 billion), or more than a third of its market value, erased.

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JERUSALEM, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Israeli aircraft struck Hamas and Islamic Jihad sites in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after an earlier mortar attack from the besieged Palestinian enclave.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Gaza and Israel.

"Israel is currently operating in the Gaza Strip," the Israeli military said in a statement, without giving details.

Local media said sites belonging to Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian movement that controls Gaza, and Islamic Jihad, a local Islamist group, were targeted in the Israeli attack.

The air raid came shortly after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to respond with "great force" to a barrage of 28 mortar shells fired from Gaza early in the morning.

No organization has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, but local media cited a security official as saying the mortars were likely launched by the Islamic Jihad, which lost three fighters on Sunday when Israel attacked a military observation position in the coastal enclave.

However, Netanyahu said Israel will hold Hamas "responsible for preventing these attacks."

The incident came amid a rising tension between Israelis and Palestinians, as at least 110 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire since March 30, the first day of the ongoing Palestinian anti-Israel "Great March of Return" rally.
Lydia Gonzalez Sciarrino, the new CEO of the Mazzoni Center has taken over at a time of turmoil LGBTQ-health-services nonprofit. She is shown here in the newly refurbished building on the 1300 block of Bainbridge Street, in Philadelphia, Read more

Lydia Gonzalez Sciarrino, eight weeks into her job as chief executive of the Mazzoni Center, knew she was stepping into a turbulent situation at the Center City nonprofit that provides medical and other services to the city's LGBTQ community.

In April 2017, Mazzoni's board ousted its longtime leader amid allegations that she harbored long-running bias against minority employees and was slow to react to claims of sexual misconduct by a former medical director. In the wake of all that, workers voted to unionize in September.

The appointment of Gonzalez Sciarrino in March sparked a new furor, with some objecting that the 50-year-old can't represent the Mazzoni community because she is the group's first non-LGBTQ leader in its nearly 40-year history.

"There's a lot of distractions," Gonzalez Sciarrino said Friday at Mazzoni's new building at Broad and Bainbridge Streets, which serves 35,000 clients a year. "Distractions are distractions, as long as we know what we are here to do."

Among her priorities, Gonzalez Sciarrino said, is to rebuild relationships with longtime partners that were frayed by last year's turmoil. She said the dedication she has seen from employees since she arrived has encouraged her: "They know how we need to do what we do, how we need to do it best, so that we can help, so that we can provide hope."

Some leaders in the city's LGBTQ community are waiting to see what Gonzalez Sciarrino does at the center, which says it operates the largest private HIV testing and STD screening program in Philadelphia. It employs 182 and expects to have $16.5 million in revenue in the year ending June 30.

"The importance of the Mazzoni Center cannot be overstated. As a community institution, many LGBTQ Philadelphians count on Mazzoni for their medical care," said Amber Hikes, executive director of Philadelphia's Office of LGBT Affairs.

Hikes said she is looking forward to Gonzalez Sciarrino's presentation at the LGBTQ State of the Union on Tuesday at the Kimmel Center, where 600 people are expected. "This event will be the first time the greater Philadelphia LGBTQ community has an opportunity to hear from Mazzoni's new CEO about her priorities for the Mazzoni Center and its direction moving forward," Hikes said.

A founder of the Brown & Black Workers Collective on Friday remained convinced that Gonzalez Sciarrino was not right for the job.

"Lydia is, from what we know, straight-identified. She is 'CIS'  she identifies with the gender she was assigned at birth  and she is a white Latinx woman from Florida, who isn't even from Philly," said Shani Akilah. "Not only did they not choose somebody from Philly, they didn't choose someone who represents the community impacted by HIV/AIDS."

Gonzalez Sciarrino said she moved from Puerto Rico to Erie, Pa., when she was 19 and lived there for 21 years, rising to chief financial officer of a nonprofit continuing-care retirement community, before moving to Florida in 2008. She worked most recently as CEO of the nonprofit Whole Family Health Center in Fort Pierce, Fla., which had $9.5 million in revenue in fiscal 2017.

The controversy over the choice of Gonzalez Sciarrino by Mazzoni's board is not surprising, said Laura Otten, director of the Nonprofit Center at La Salle University's School of Business. When picking a CEO, organizations that serve a narrowly defined population, such as people with a certain disease or with specific characteristics, face particular challenges. Otten said some board members are going to want the CEO to mirror the population that group serves, while others want the best candidate for their mission.

Mazzoni's balance sheet shows a spike in long-term debt from zero in fiscal 2016 to $10.5 million at the end of fiscal 2017. The money was used for its new headquarters, which opened in May 2017 at Broad and Bainbridge Streets. The board clearly needed someone with deep financial experience.

"No matter what we do, if the business is not financially solid," Gonzalez Sciarrino said, "we may not be able to continue providing services or we may have a hard time regrouping."

The goal, she added, is to "continue providing services and invest in our own, so that we can grow the programs and do more."
On Memorial Day 2018, members of the Maryland National Guard and some residents of Ellicott City, Md., a historic mill town just west of Baltimore, were way too busy to honor fallen soldiers from America's past wars. They were occupied instead with searching through the muck and debris from an almost Biblical flood the day before, praying with the increasingly dim hopes that a 39-year-old Air Force veteran and Guard member named Eddison Hermond might be found alive.

Hermond went missing after a small act of kindness in the midst of Sunday's natural disaster. As the floodwaters caused by 6-to-10 inches of rapid rain cascaded like whitewater rapids through Ellicott City's timeworn main streets, the National Guardsman told a desperate resident he would help find her lost cat, who went missing behind a restaurant. Instead, witnesses said Hermond was swept up and then under by the rapid floodwaters and disappeared.

Hermond's body was found Tuesday afternoon, making him the third person in Ellicott City to die from floods in less than two years. In July 2016, a massive burst of rain that meteorologists blamed on unusually moist air in the depths of a heat wave caused a flood and two fatalities. At that time, officials said the flood has been Ellicott City's once-in-a-1,000-years storm. Twenty-two months later, Ellicott City experienced its second once-in-1,000-years storm.

After the 2016 disaster, a top Maryland lawmaker  state Sen. James Rosapepe, chair of a key environmental subcommittee  asked, "Did climate change kill two people in Ellicott City"  pointing to the mounting evidence that a hotter planet and a wetter atmosphere is making weather events more extreme and thus more deadly more often. He said government officials are making a mistake by not seeing flash floods from these 1,000-year storms that now happen every year or two as a part of the global-warming puzzle. Rosapepe argued in 2016 that "climate change is about more than polar bears and the rising sea level in the Chesapeake Bay."

State officials had recently begun moving toward a major flood-mitigation program for Ellicott City, plagued by other problems such as suburban development that alters runoff patterns. But they weren't able to act fast enough for Hermond and the city's stunned residents. It's another reminder that officials from Capitol Hill to Harrisburg aren't moving nearly fast enough to reduce carbon pollution from fossil fuels  before climate change becomes completely unmanageable.

Remember 2017 and the spate of extreme weather  here in the United States around the world? The deadliest wildfire in the history of California? Hurricane Harvey, which dumped an unbelievable 50 inches of rainfall on America's fourth-largest city, Houston, and which was described by the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency as "a storm the United States has not seen yet."? Or Hurricane Maria, the Category 4 storm that slammed into Puerto Rico last summer and which  we just learned this week  is now estimated to have caused 4,645 deaths, or more than government officials had claimed by a factor of more than 70 times.

Look, we all know the drill by now. It's difficult to prove the link between any specific weather event and long-term climate change, and, yes, these things  floods, hurricanes, wildfires  have happened since before the current breed of humans roamed the planet. It wasn't carbon pollution that caused the great Johnstown Flood of 1889 (no, it was a shoddy dam for a resort for millionaire industrialists, but I digress). But we ignore the rapid leap in extreme weather, and warnings that droughts on land and moisture air from a hotter planet are what's exacerbating them, at our own risk.

Dr. Heidi Cullen, chief scientist for the environmental news site Climate Central, told the New York Times that as recently as the start of this decade "people were still of the mind-set that you couldn't attribute any individual event to climate change. But with each subsequent issue, people are able to say that climate change really is increasing the risk." That's on top of the more obvious sign posts of a looming climate catastrophe, such as dangerous and unheard-of levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, low levels of Arctic ice, and the 400th consecutive month of record global average temperatures. So you could imagine this is setting off alarm bells for policy makers from Capitol Hill to Harrisburg.

The only thing is, they're not listening. Last fall, according to a new report in the Washington Post, Michael Catanzaro, President Trump's special assistant for domestic energy and environmental policy at the time, gave the president and his top staff several options on how to deal with government science showing that climate change is real and getting worse. One of the proposals was to simply "ignore" the evidence  while promoting the truth and alerting the American public wasn't even considered.

We don't know the exact response to Catanzaro's memo, but Team Trump is still doing everything it can to "ignore" climate science. The administration is pulling out of the Paris climate accord and promoting the dirtiest fossil fuels such as coal at every turn, while watching China and other adversaries eat our lunch on clean alternative fuels like solar and wind. It's probably just a coincidence that the countries that win with high prices for oil and natural gas  Russia, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates  are the ones who seemed so eager to see Trump win the 2016 election.

At least we have state governments and City Halls to fight against greenhouse-gas pollution. Many are, and they're doing a great job. The state capital of Pennsylvania is not one of them. The legislature is pretty much in the back pocket of Big Oil and Gas, while voters in the 2018 governor's race get a choice of the incumbent Democrat Gov. Wolf  whose heart is in the right place on environmental matters but whose big idea of having a lot of fracking but taxing it for schools seems outdated as the climate crisis escalates  or the GOP's Scott Wagner, who said last year that there's a lot of people in the world so it may be "warm bodies" that are heating the planet.

Scott Wagner's climate denial is so outrageous that it obscures that fact that Wolf  the heavy favorite  won't go far enough. Earlier this month, a coalition calling itself Pennsylvania Fracking Health Impacts urged the governor to support a moratorium on fracking, citing scores of cases across the Keystone State of people who say they were made ill from natural-gas drilling. One of the group members is Hollywood actor Mark Ruffalo, who said he'd had higher expectations for Wolf. Said Ruffalo: "He's done nothing to hold the oil and gas industry accountable."

Halting fracking in Pennsylvania is seen as a radical idea, and politically impossible. This despite that fact that the states immediately to our north and south  New York and Maryland  have managed to do exactly that. Maybe it's time for Pennsylvania to stop focusing so much on whether we can afford to stop drilling, and start asking how many more events like Ellicott City or Houston will it take to begin understanding the new reality.
When Bam Margera's best friend and fellow Jackass star Ryan Dunn (in painting, right) died in a fiery crash in West Goshen Township in 2011, he went into a deep, downward spiral. Read more

Hulk Hogan meant to write a touching tribute to late Jackass star Ryan Dunn on Twitter this week, but instead, he accidentally mourned the "loss" of Dunn's Jackass costar and longtime friend Bam Margera, who is actually still alive.

"Damn Bam I wish you were still with us, I sure would love to hang out again my brother," Hogan, 64, wrote in a since-deleted tweet on Monday that included a photo of himself and Margera. "Love u miss u HH."

Fans corrected the Hulkster's error online within minutes, and the longtime wrestler posted a followup indicating that he got Margera and Dunn, who died in 2011, "mixed up."

"Sorry Bam," Hogan added. That tweet has also been deleted.

What prompted Hogan's remembrance of Dunn is unclear. The late stuntman died in a drunk driving crash on June 20, 2011 in West Goshen Township. Jackass production assistant Zachary Hartwell was also killed in the crash.

Margera is currently on probation for a drunk driving incident in California earlier this year. California Highway Patrol officers arrested Margera on two counts of DUI in January after a traffic stop. Last year, he told the Inquirer's Jason Nark that Dunn's death put him on a destructive path with alcohol.

"It took me four beers to even feel normal," Margera said. "Drinking helped me get paid."

The pro skateboarder is also preparing to list his West Chester home, Castle Bam, on Airbnb for fans to rent this summer. April Margera, his mother, is currently renovating the property. He and wife Nicol Boyd welcomed their first child, Phoenix Wolf, in December.

Hogan, meanwhile, has had Philly-area stars on the brain lately. Earlier this month, he told TMZ that he would beat Sylvester Stallone, Rocky himself, in an actual fight. Hogan played wrestler Thunderlips, the Ultimate Male, in 1982's Rocky III. That match ended in a draw.

"Brother, come on," Hogan said to TMZ at the time. "Come on, brother."
Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub speaks at a news conference after the announcement that Bensalem Township would be filing a lawsuit against major drug companies to pay for the opioid epidemic Wednesday, August 30, 2017 at the Bensalem Municipal Complex in Bensalem, Pennsylvania. (WILLIAM THOMAS CAIN / For The Philadelphia Inquirer) Read more

Following a slew of lawsuits against opioid manufacturers by local and state governments across the country, Bucks County officials announced Tuesday that they are filing suit against three opioid distributors and 14 pharmaceutical companies, including Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of OxyContin.

Bucks County officials said in a news release that 232 people died of overdoses in Bucks last year, "an 89 percent increase over the last two years." They said the costs of the opioid epidemic "have left the county strapped on many fronts," including hiring new employees at the county coroner's office, creating a "drug strike force," and funding a $20 million prison expansion and an additional $4 million to house local inmates in other prisons.

The lawsuit says manufacturers "misled the public about the dangers of prescription opioids," and the distributors "disregarded their obligation to monitor distribution and halt any 'suspicious sales' to protect the community from an exorbitant flood of opioids," according to the release.

Since neighboring Delaware County became the first county in the state to sue pharmaceutical companies over the local costs of the opioid crisis last year, other municipalities have taken similar action: Philadelphia has two separate cases in the courts, filed by the District Attorney's Office and the City Solicitor's Office; and last August, Bensalem, in Bucks County, became the first town in the region to sue opioid manufacturers.
Deputy Commissioner for Emergency Medical Services Jeremiah Laster tries to help a heroin overdose victim (center) who could not be identified, get on a gurney after he was revived on Kensington Avenue in Philadelphia. The man refused and walked away from the scene. Read more

The front lines of the opioid crisis run straight through Philadelphia's emergency rooms.

They are where doctors have to decide whether to prescribe opioid medication for patients presenting with acute pain due to injury or illness  and risk setting off or feeding an addiction. And these are the places where doctors can reach patients already in addiction, coming to the ER after an overdose or for injection-related wound care.

As rates of addiction and overdose deaths have mounted in the Philadelphia region, ER doctors have worked to change the way they prescribe opioid medication and addiction treatments.

"Emergency departments have really rallied to trying to be on the front lines," said Jeanmarie Perrone, director of the division of medical toxicology at the Perelman School of Medicine emergency medicine department. Since 2012, physicians from 21 emergency departments around the region have been meeting periodically to share data and compare their efforts to combat the crisis.

A case study by Perrone and colleagues at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, published recently on the New England Journal of Medicine's Catalyst website, found that opioid prescribing had dropped by an average of 37 percent between 2011 and 2016 at eight area hospitals in the working group. Fifteen hospitals in the group have gone on to develop new opioid-prescribing guidelines; before they started meeting, only four hospitals in the group had done so.

"Efforts to galvanize the network of EDs across an urban center can have significant impact on a potentially higher-risk, city-wide population and can rapidly change patient and provider expectations about opioid use," the authors wrote. The report goes on to say that even though emergency doctors specialize in acute problems, they also can be "ideal partners and agents in developing innovative approaches to public health issues" by giving people in addiction medication to encourage their recovery.

Perrone has led efforts in Penn's emergency departments to prescribe suboxone, one of the medicines that, research shows, greatly increases the chances of a lasting recovery. Suboxone itself is an opioid; used as directed, it works to stave off the withdrawal pains that send people back to using, without creating euphoric effects. Patients have to be several hours from their last dose of heroin to start suboxone, so it's not always advisable to prescribe it directly from the ER  but emergency physicians in the area are working to help patients gain access to treatment as easily as possible.

Too often, Perrone said, patients get their overdoses reversed through naloxone administration, or are treated for an addiction-related injury or illness, and then are sent out of the hospital without immediate help to stay away from heroin. "It's about building a culture where everyone thinks about it, for every patient," Perrone said.

Still, physicians are quick to note the irony surrounding hospitals' efforts to combat the opioid crisis: State regulators and insurance companies restrict doctors from dispensing high doses of opioids for pain relief. Yet it can be even harder to prescribe treatment to fight an opioid addiction.

Since last fall, Penn Presbyterian's ER has run a version of "warm handoffs," connecting its patients with treatment directly with the help of peer specialists who have been through addiction and recovery themselves. But before then, hospital policy dictated that doctors could prescribe suboxone only for a patient who was already on it and just needed a prescription renewed.

Perrone and her colleagues lobbied administrators to allow new suboxone prescriptions so they could take advantage of the crucial hours when a patient may be shaken by a crisis, and open to help. Other area hospitals, like Temple University, also employ this practice.

The change is more than a matter of hospital policy, though. Any doctor can dose a patient with suboxone in the hospital. But U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration regulations allow only physicians who have had extra training to send a patient home with a suboxone prescription. ER doctors don't want to stand in for long-term treatment, which also includes talk therapy and other interventions. But they do want patients to have enough to tide them over until they can get into a treatment clinic.

Not all doctors want to get that training, said Rachel Haroz, an emergency medicine physician at Cooper University Health Care.

"People really felt uncomfortable getting a special license to treat what they call 'drug addicts,' " she said. "And we didn't treat them, for so long. We did nothing for them  if anything, we gave them a bunch of papers and they walked."

Haroz helps run her health system's addiction clinic, which opened in 2015 and takes patients from the emergency room and other departments around the hospital. When it opened, it was one of the first of its kind in the country. Initially, Haroz wanted to model the hospital's suboxone program on similar initiatives at other hospitals, where physicians were able to link patients with outpatient-addiction treatment within a few days after their hospital visit.

"But we didn't have any providers  we had nowhere to send them to," she said. "So we said, OK, we have to start our own." Temple University Hospital now runs a similar clinic.

Doctors at Philadelphia-area emergency rooms were among the first to see the prescription-fueled crisis. Some have been cutting back on opioid prescribing for more than five years, since first noticing an uptick in ER patients complaining of pain and asking for specific drugs to soothe it.

Daniel del Portal, who helped draft Temple University Hospital's opioid-prescribing guidelines  the first of their kind in the city  remembers conversations with pain patients when he was a resident.

"It was like a case-by-case negotiation" over the patient's risk of addiction, he said. But those discussions have gotten easier.

"In the past five years, we've gone from, 'Doc, give me the strongest thing you've got,' to 'I don't want that, I'm not looking for something like that.' Word has gotten out into the community about the risk of these drugs."

Chronic pain patients have said that insurer and government crackdowns on opioid prescribing have made it harder for them to access the medications they need to get through daily life.

"We looked at chronic pain" while coming up with Temple's ER guidelines, del Portal said, "and we felt the ER wasn't the best place to manage that." The guidelines also recognize research indicating that opioids are not the solution for all kinds of acute pain.

Under Temple's guidelines, doctors are discouraged from dispensing opioids to patients with acute or chronic dental or back pain, migraines, or chronic abdominal pain, and won't prescribe opioids to patients who run out of pain meds. They try to refer chronic pain patients to pain-management programs that can treat them more holistically than busy ER doctors can.

"We're trying to keep opioid-naive patients opioid-naive, unless they've failed other therapies," he said. "If we need to prescribe opioids, it's for short-term therapy. Most ERs are saying, 'We're giving you enough to get through a few days.' "

Del Portal's colleague Joseph D'Orazio, the director of the Division of Medical Toxicology in the emergency department at Temple's Lewis Katz School of Medicine, said he's been encouraged by "buzz" around prescribing and administering addiction treatment from emergency departments  but EDs are still just beginning to figure out how to do it.

"We are on the front line, and we are best equipped to manage addiction in an acute scenario  we manage drug overdoses more than any other type of physician," he said. "We're adept at understanding those problems  we're just not very comfortable treating these problems. We're going in the right direction, but we've still got a long way to go."
"Since joining the UN peacekeeping operations 28 years ago, the Chinese military has actively performed the responsibility of a big country, effectively boosted the peacekeeping capabilities and fulfilled its solemn commitment to maintaining world peace with concrete actions," said the head of the Peacekeeping Affairs Office of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense on the eve of the 16th International Peacekeepers Day in an interview with PLA Daily.

China has participated in 24 UN peacekeeping operations since 1990, and has contributed more than 37,000 peacekeepers with 13 Chinese soldiers having laid down their lives on the peacekeeping frontline. At present, Chinese military personnel totaling 2,507 people are on missions with 2,419 peacekeepers in 13 peacekeeping contingents deployed in seven UN mission areas and 88 military observers and staff officers working with the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations.

"The significant enhancement of overall national strength has enabled China to provide stronger support for UN peacekeeping operations," said the head of the Peacekeeping Affairs Office. President Xi Jinping made six commitments to support UN peacekeeping missions when addressing a UN peacekeeping summit in September 2015. At present, China has completed the establishment of a peacekeeping standby force of 8,000 troops and two permanent peacekeeping police squads and completed their registration at the UN peacekeeping capability readiness mechanism in 2017.

In the 8,000-strong Chinese peacekeeping standby force, there is a certain percentage of engineering, transportation, and medical units, including three engineering companies, two transportation companies, four Level-II hospitals, two medium-sized multi-purpose helicopter detachments and two transport aircraft detachments .

The Chinese military has trained nearly 1,000 foreign peacekeepers by holding international peacekeeping training courses and sending experts and instructors abroad.

Chinas first peacekeeping helicopter detachment was deployed to the UN peacekeeping mission area in Darfur, Sudan in 2017.

Part funds from the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund have been used to support UN peacekeeping operations. The UN report "Improving Security of United Nations Peacekeepers: We need to change the way we are doing business" released in January 2018 was also funded by the China-UN Peace and Development Trust Fund.

Not long ago, to express its thanks to the Chinese military for its strong support for peacekeeping operations, the UN launched a series of articles, graphs and videos on its official website that reflect Chinas contributions to the UN peacekeeping missions.

Since joining the UN peacekeeping operations 28 years ago, peacekeepers from China have built and restored more than 14,000 kilometers of roads, cleared more than 9,800 landmines and various types of unexploded ordnance, treated more than 200,000 patients, transported 1.35 million tons of supplies and facilities of various types with a total mileage exceeding 13 million km.

Speaking at an interview with Chinese reporters before his trip to China for the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) annual conference, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said, "We see the role of China not only in the direct contribution of peace-keepers, but also in the contribution to the discussions we will have this year on how to improve peace-keeping, to make peace-keeping more focused and safer for the peace-keepers." China is now the second largest financial contributor to peace-keeping and one of the countries with a very meaningful number of peacekeepers on the ground, Guterres said, adding that there is a very strong commitment to peace-keeping from China.

The 4th Chinese peacekeeping infantry battalion to S. Sudan (Juba) conducts emergency response drill on May 9, 2018. (mod.gov.cn/Wang Anhong)
Wendy L. Campbell, the longtime president and CEO of the Alzheimer's Association Delaware Valley Chapter, announced her retirement Tuesday. Her last day will be June 8.

Campbell, 65, has led the local organization for 18 years. Based in Philadelphia, the Delaware Valley Chapter operates branch offices that serve people in Southeastern Pennsylvania, South Jersey, and Delaware. Its coverage area includes nearly 300,000 people with Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Before beginning work at the Alzheimer's Association in 2000, Campbell was a vice president at Pennsylvania Hospital for nearly 20 years.

She led the merger in 2002 of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association with chapters that served South Jersey and Delaware. More recently, she helped organize the new Alzheimer's Association Greater New Jersey Chapter, which serves central and northern New Jersey, and was its interim director. That expansion came after several other regional chapters split with the national group.

During Campbell's tenure, the Philadelphia Walk to End Alzheimer's became the first chapter walk in the nation to raise more than $1.5 million for the organization. It has been the top regional fund-raiser among the association's chapters in terms of participants and dollars for the Alzheimer's Association every year since 2015, the organization said.

Until a successor is chosen, Gail Roddie-Hamlin, regional leader of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware for the Alzheimer's Association, and president and CEO of the Greater Pennsylvania Chapter, which serves central and Western Pennsylvania, will be in charge of the Philadelphia office.
An Upper Darby couple have been charged with child endangerment after their toddler tumbled out of a second-story window Monday while home alone, authorities say.

The 3-year-old boy was transported to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia with a head injury, according to court documents. His parents, Legbo Thierry Wanhi, 31, and Lea Rosine Wanhi, 29, were being held Tuesday at the Delaware County prison, charged with felony counts of child endangerment.

Upper Darby Township police were called to the Wanhis' apartment on the 300 block of Hampden Road around 5:30 p.m. Monday. When they arrived, they found the injured child on the front patio, according to the documents. As he was transported to the hospital, officers forced entry into the Wanhi family's unit and found no one inside. However, they noticed that a pane of glass was missing from a front window. They also took note of photos of the child with Lea and Legbo Wanhi.

Lea Wanhi arrived at the apartment shortly before 8 p.m. and was taken to the police station. According to the documents, officers then called Legbo Wanhi, who told them he was on his way back from Philadelphia.

Through a translator, Legbo Wanhi agreed to be interviewed by police later that evening. He told them he left his apartment before 5 p.m. to go "look for work," knowing his wife would not be back until about 6 p.m., according to the documents.

In a separate interview, Lea Wanhi, also via a translator, told police that she had known Legbo Wanhi was going to be leaving the apartment around 5 p.m., but she had planned to be home around 5:20, according to the documents.

Both were arraigned Tuesday and await preliminary hearings scheduled for June 8. No attorney for Legbo or Lea Wanhi was listed on court documents.

CHOP officials said Tuesday afternoon they could not comment on the child's condition due to the hospital's patient privacy policies.
Philadelphia began offering the meterUP parking app in December, following a nationwide trend. With the city adopting the app and planning to expand the use of smart meters, the number of conventional, coin-only parking meters in the city continues to drop. Read more

Along the busy restaurant district on East Passyunk Avenue, you can park in some spaces for three whole hours while you eat a leisurely dinner. All you'll need is about four pounds of quarters to feed the meter.

That neighborhood, however, remains a holdout to the decades-old tradition of the coin-only meter. In the last 15 years, in Philadelphia and cities across the country, paying for street parking isn't what it used to be. A technological revolution is underway  and more changes are coming soon.

"A lot is happening very fast," said Donald Shoup, a professor of urban planning at the University of California at Los Angeles.

In the city, the coin-only meters no longer constitute a majority, now accounting for 43 percent of the paid street spaces.

Five months into the Philadelphia Parking Authority's roll-out of its second try at offering a parking mobile app, 10 percent of parking payments in the city are being made through meterUP.

Business districts throughout Philadelphia are asking for kiosks that accept credit cards in their neighborhoods, and the parking authority is starting to look at expanding those features and the app beyond Center City and University City.

Most  if not all  major cities now offer payment apps, according to the parking and transport ticketing company Flowbird, which has a U.S. headquarters in Moorestown and whose clients include Chicago, New York, Miami, Los Angeles  and Philadelphia. Other municipalities in the region are following suit.

The practice took off among cities in the last three years. But the trend is helping smaller municipalities catch up technologically with larger ones. Communities discouraged by the cost of continuously paying for credit-card capability at kiosks and the associated transaction fees can get around those costs by using an app.

"It's so much cheaper for the cities, because they have no hardware to pay for," Shoup said. "In some cities, the only way you can pay for parking is with an app. There's no parking meters; there's no hardware."

With the adoption of the Parkmobile app last month, Lower Merion Township became one of the latest municipalities to skip "smart" kiosks in favor of an app.

Some years back, township officials considered updating their parking meters to accept credit cards. But to maintain the real-time connection for their use, the township would have had to pay a $5 fee for each of its 1,400 single-space meters or purchase new kiosks. Since parking is a mere 50 cents per hour  as opposed to the $1- to $3-per-hour meter rate in Philadelphia  the township could not absorb the credit-card fees, said Tom Pintande, director of parking services.

With the app, Lower Merion didn't have to change its meters. The app takes its 40-cent transaction fee from customers, so the township doesn't have to pay a credit-card fee.

"For a municipality like ours with small parking fees, that's a good thing," Pintande said.

And it gives customers  many of whom have smartphones  another way of paying. Those without smartphones can pay by dialing a number.

"If it's hard for people to pay for parking, they're not going to do it," said Sean Renn, vice president of sales and marketing at Flowbird. "The more payment options you have, the better chance your compliance rate will be higher."

That's the thinking behind the PPA's decision to try another payment wrinkle as early as midsummer: the use of license-plates numbers.

Corinne O'Connor, deputy executive director of the PPA, said the authority soon plans to bid for "pay-by-plate" systems for parking in Center City and University City. As in communities such as Collingswood and New Hope Borough, Bucks County (which also offers two apps and Apple Pay), drivers would enter their license-plate numbers into a kiosk, pay at the kiosk, and go about their business without having to return to their cars to put tickets on their dashboards.

"It's all about the convenience," O'Connor said.

While license-plate systems and parking apps are only going to grow in popularity, some communities  including Lower Merion, Princeton, and New York City  continue to offer prepaid, reloadable parking cards, which were popular a decade ago. Many places began using the payment cards as a bridge between coins and credit cards before they had the capability to take credit. The prepaid cards don't require meters that are connected to the internet.

Drivers can put money back on their cards if they return to their vehicles before the paid-for time has expired, if their communities choose that option. People without smartphones can use them.

Municipalities also get their money right away when drivers buy prepaid cards, instead of waiting months for them to use parking spots. Cities also can sell advertisements on the cards.

The cards have some drawbacks. Customers in Lower Merion can reload their cards only by going to the municipal building, where a township employee must do it for them.

In 2014, the PPA stopped its 11-year-old prepaid "smart card" program, which did not offer reloadable cards. The agency cited the cost of envelopes and postage to mail the cards, maintenance for the machine that produced the cards, monthly fees to use the system, and staff time to activate the cards. Meanwhile, fewer people used the cards once kiosks began taking credit-card payments in 2009.

Communities and college campuses from New England to California use payment cards, said Seth Ward III, president and chief executive officer of the parking-meter company POM Inc.

One of POM's clients is Princeton. It issues 4,000 new payment cards each year and the 14-year-old program pulls in nearly a quarter of Princeton's meter revenue, said Marc Dashield, municipal administrator. Its meters are still coin-operated.

Princeton now is working through the details of adopting pay-by-phone.

With all these technological innovations, the days of the coin-only meter might be numbered. The first one popped up on a street in Oklahoma City in 1935, originally conceived as a way to keep traffic moving.

However, the revenue potential became evident, and the virus spread across the country. By 1937, they were on the streets of Atlantic City and Wilmington. Philadelphia resisted the trend, and the first meters didn't appear in the city until the late 1940s.

In 2003, the city introduced payment cards, then later kiosks, and gradually the once mighty coin-only meter has been taking a backseat.

As to whether they all will disappear someday, a parking authority spokesman says, that's "still under review."
Coming soon to a car near you? Lets hope not. Read more

When our out-of-town guests arrive for our son's wedding this summer, we are confident they will savor what they experience in the great City of Philadelphia. I hope none of them have the pleasure of visiting a Philadelphia Parking Authority impoundment lot.

We did have said pleasure recently, spending a lovely Friday evening at the lot on Weccacoe Street in a forsaken parcel of deep South Philadelphia, and it was like old times, except worse.

This essentially is a prison compound, where vehicles and their operators are presumed criminals, served by slow-motion wardens whose glacial movements are astonishing contrasts to the alacrity with which their colleagues ticket and pluck vehicles from the streets of Philadelphia. The former must get paid by the hour; the latter, by the score, their efficiency stunning.

I recall the time a parking enforcement officer agreed that a certain Center City kiosk wasn't functioning and assured me and two other strangers standing by said kiosk that "Parking was free on this street tonight." My wife and I took a celebratory walk, only to find a ticket on the car when we returned  written minutes after the conversation with the officer.

Our recent visit to the impoundment lot was the result of a simple mistake, probably common among people who aren't speed-readers. My wife missed a rush-hour no-stopping order embedded in one of those cluster signs that offer a veritable club sandwich of instructions and prohibitions. Who knows how many visitors are ensnared in the same trap?

I understand the necessity to get a vehicle out of the way at a critical time, especially in a busy area such as Old City  but a $251 fine!? It's not as if she did this on purpose. I often remind my colleagues that we chronicle some very peculiar species, but I've never met anyone who got his or her jollies from deliberately sabotaging rush-hour traffic.

Besides, anyone who has endured the reclamation process has suffered enough. You wait in one line to pay a clerk behind a protective barrier designed to repel bullets and hostility. You are told you must have registration and proof of insurance handy. Folks, those things are in our glove compartment. And shouldn't this information be keystrokes away; it takes me but a few minutes to register a car online. After paying, you transfer to a second line for reasons that resolutely escape me. All I know is the woman behind that impenetrable barrier spent a lot of time stapling papers.

When the warden finally signed off on our release, I half expected someone to remove our handcuffs. A gentleman unlocked a prison gate leading to the incarcerated vehicle. I began walking toward ours, but was ordered to get into a PPA vehicle. I balked. Nothing personal; but I was afraid that whatever drained the life from the eyes of the employees here might be contagious. By the time we got out of this hell hole, we felt violated.

I have tried to love these people. It's hard.

I should disclose that I have had a long relationship with the Parking Authority as a former city resident.

I've been ticketed, towed, booted, fined  everything the Parking Authority has to offer.

Sadly for PPA, I married a responsible person, and we later were granted asylum in a community outside its jurisdiction.

On the fateful Friday evening in question, my wife risked leaving that sanctuary town to meet me for dinner after work. We planned to scout a restaurant for our son's wedding-rehearsal dinner. By the time we were released from the custody of the parking authority  complete with a prison-like ID number scrawled on our windshield  the restaurant had stopped serving. We ended up eating near our safe house.

I know people have had worse experiences. I understand the PPA has a mission. Philadelphia, any city, absolutely needs parking enforcement. I realize that PPA employees have family, loved ones, and that this job isn't necessarily quenching their souls' tender fires. No doubt they deal with car thieves and assorted miscreants, and endure bouts of barbarism.

All that said, may I offer a few humble suggestions:

Hire someone to simplify those signs, preferably a slow reader.

You don't have to turn the impoundment complex into the Rittenhouse, but it doesn't have to be the Detention Center.

Hire employees who have at least a passing acquaintance with the human condition.

Apply that ticketing-towing efficiency to the reclamation process.

No doubt you encounter real, live scofflaws, scoundrels, and other miscreants, but do not assume that everyone who gets a car towed is a criminal; people do make mistakes.

Be aware that the car you towed just might belong to a free-spending out-of-towner who might decide to go somewhere else next time.

And lower those fines, and announce that not all the money is going to payroll or smarter tow trucks, that you're giving half the money to some decent cause, say, St. John's Hospice. Even if it's not true, it would make us all feel better.

Anthony R. Wood is a Philadelphia Media Network editor and former Center City resident who still greatly enjoys parallel parking.
Shantrell Lewis, CIO of Shoppe Black; Ariell Johnson, owner of Amalgam Comics; Pam Africa, activist; Keba Konte, owner of Red Bay Coffee; and Blew Kind, owner of Franny Lous Porch at a coffee roundtable the day of Starbucks racial-bias training. Read more

Starbucks is hosting a racial-bias training Tuesday to talk to employees about the relationship between employees and customers and what the company can do to make its spaces more inclusive. The training comes after the arrests of two men waiting for a business contact at the 18th and Spruce Streets location last month prompted outcry, protests and public apologies.

In Philadelphia, another roundtable tour was also happening Tuesday: A discussion organized and run by black-owned coffee shop owners to highlight retail racism and the exclusion of people of color in white spaces and the importance of supporting black-owned businesses.

The chat, live-streamed by Essence, a monthly lifestyle magazine for black women, touched upon how responses to incidents like Starbucks can turn into actionable initiatives and the difficulties minorities and minority-owned businesses face in spaces and industries that are predominantly white.

>> READ MORE: Starbucks stores closing for anti-bias training: Latest updates

Rolando Brown, 36, who serves on the board of directors for Red Bay Coffee and is based in Philadelphia, said he was inspired to help organize the event in light of the response to the Starbucks arrests.

People in Philadelphia saw the events at Starbucks as unacceptable, Brown said.

"That's what inspired us, we saw what was happening in Philly so that inspired this kind of dialogue," he said.

>> READ MORE: For black cafe patrons, Starbucks arrests raise concerns and interest in black businesses

Other participants spoke of how coffee shops aren't always welcoming for people of color.

"Coffee spaces are a white culture space in the U.S., so black folk don't feel welcomed in that space. So if a space to build community and foster activists is white culture, why can't we all say 'that's pretty cool to gather' why don't we make it a black culture space too?" said Blew Kind, owner of Franny Lou's Porch.

"I don't want to impede on beauty parlor, stoop, block parties because those are black culture spaces too. I'm trying to make a space where marginalized people, black folks, elders, family can be welcomed and relaxed and talk about hard difficult topics in a welcoming space," she continued.

Kind added that all businesses should be mindful of how they treat "other" people and that black businesses are also identifying areas of opportunity to be more inclusive in their own spaces.

>> READ MORE: Would you have spoken up during Starbucks arrest of two black men? White teachers at a Delaware County school debate

>> READ MORE: An unlikely outcome of Starbucks: Kindred spirits and a social media campaign

The participants also talked about the importance of showing up to meetings and public discussions, especially when the events stem from incidents like the Starbucks arrests where black people have been unfairly targeted.

"Showing up to this [roundtable] says we have a wide range of voices in the community. It's not just people from the same group. We have very business-minded people and we're thinking about economics and sharing this information who are interested but may not have access to it," said Shantrell Lewis, the CIO of Shoppe Black, a website that provides resources and training to black-owned companies.

For Marc Lamont Hill, a Temple professor and owner of Uncle Bobbie's in Germantown, protests and boycotts aren't the only way to react. Sometimes, just being present without protesting is the best response and shows action too, like when hundreds of people in the black community came together to barbecue following an incident in which a white woman called police on a black family who were barbecuing at a lake near Oakland.

"A boycott is a strategy. Sometimes it's not that, but instead can be a reinvestment strategy. The thing about Starbucks is it's getting people to go to other locations. With Oakland, it's congregating. People engaged in black joy and more black people showed up to barbecue," Lamont said.

Other times, it's being insistent and consistent and taking initiative to educate others, no matter the turnout. "Sometimes you have 1,000 people show up, sometimes five people. Make sure you educate no matter what. That way you keep moving so that when people come back you're moving forward," said Pam Africa, a longtime activist who leads an organization seeking the release of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a man convicted for the death of a police officer.

Organizers said accountability in these instances can remedy conflicts, mitigate chances of minorities being targeted or excluded, and ultimately shift how community members acknowledge, respect and include others in their spaces.

"How can we humanize each other? How can we love? That's what we're missing, love," Kind said, "I don't want to ostracize the white community, I want them to do better."
A Starbucks staff member tapes a message to the door of a Starbucks on Bala Cynwyd, letting customers know that the store will be closed the rest of the day on Tuesday. Read more

Tens of thousands of Starbucks employees around the country spent Tuesday afternoon in anti-bias training, an event stemming from the arrests of two black men at a Philadelphia location last month.

The Seattle-based coffee chain announced shortly after the incident last month that it would close its more than 8,000 U.S. stores May 29 while nearly 175,000 employees undergo training "geared toward preventing discrimination in our stores."

Tuesday's training sessions at Starbucks and the related events grew out of an incident that occurred April 12 in the Starbucks at 18th and Spruce Streets in Center City. Here are highlights from Tuesday, more details about the training and a recap of the events that prompted it.

I do think people are learning, Philly Starbucks employee says of training

Malek Young, 28, who works at a Center City Starbucks, said he thought the training was going well.

"I do think people are learning," he said outside the Loews Hotel, where the training was held. "And if they aren't, I am."

Jordan Crockett, 21, who also works at one of the coffee chain's Center City stores, said he thought the conversations were productive, especially from a store manager's perspective. He said his takeaway from the presentation was to "treat people as people."

Considering this is 2018, and a major corporation had to shut down thousands of stores to teach employees to be inclusive and not discriminate, he quipped: "It's a shame, but at least it's happening."

Starbucks CEO details training, says manager who called police on black men no longer works for company

In a meeting with the Inquirer and Daily News, Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson called the anti-bias training "one step in a journey."

He said the company worked with 30 experts to create the training and that part of the session features videos in which a Starbucks board member, a store manager and experts from The Perception Institute  a group that seeks to reduce discrimination  talk about topics like "racial anxiety" and personal bias versus structural bias. After watching the videos, employees will split into groups of two to three people to discuss further. Johnson and COO Rosalind Brewer said it was "emotionally exhausting" when they went through it.

Employees are also being asked to write about  and, if they're comfortable, discuss with others  when they first noticed their racial identity.

The training takes at least four hours, said Johnson, who estimated the cost to Starbucks for the trainings would be in the "tens of millions."

The company plans to evaluate the success of the initial training, as well as the trainings to come, through customer service scores and employee surveys.

Further trainings will center around topics like how to handle escalation, how to judge the seriousness of an incident and how to define "a true altercation," Brewer said. Store staff will also be given other phone numbers to call in the event of an incident, including homeless shelters and food banks. Previously, the policy was to call either the store manager or 9-1-1.

Asked how business and the Starbucks brand was affected after the Rittenhouse incident, Johnson said it was "difficult to measure" and that the company was taking a "longterm view."

He also confirmed that the manager who called the police in the Rittenhouse location was no longer working for Starbucks.

Customers have varied reactions to closed stores

At the popular Starbucks in downtown Haddonfield, Norm Alger praised the company's decision to close for anti-bias training.

"I think it's respectful of Starbucks to take some kind of move," said Alger, 53, of Audubon. "I think it opens some people's eyes."

In Center City, Sheba Patton found the Starbucks at Broad and Pine Streets closed. She said she usually stops by that location on her way to work or home and asks for a cup of water.

"Since that incident I think they got a little bit better. They seem more friendly," the South Philadelphia resident said. "This was one was all right, but they had a manager that would always put people out of the store if they weren't buying anything.  I think they still need the training."

Charles Marshall, a retired white man who also found the shop locked, called the training "a PR gesture."

"It's a mix of PR and 'We're sorry,'" said Marshall, who regularly visits that Starbucks. When asked if he thought the workers needed the training, he said: "I haven't had any experiences, but then again, I'm not black."

Starbucks employees in Philly leave stores to do training off-site

A group of seven employees left the Starbucks at 10th and Chestnut Streets just before 1 p.m. and walked to the Loews Hotel, where they entered an event-access-only door. Others entered as well. A Starbucks spokeswoman confirmed that Philadelphia staffers were getting trained in the Loews, but that other shops outside the city are holding the trainings in-store.

The spokeswoman said workers are getting paid for their time and also being fed.

Some Starbucks locations begin to close

The Starbucks at 19th and Chestnut streets closed around 11:30 a.m.

Cleirach Partin, a retiree who goes to that shop, likened the trainings to the "consciousness raising" sessions of the 60s.

"If that [Starbucks] incident was reported fairly and accurately, which I believe it was, they should have their consciousness raised," Partin said.

Others questioned whether the training is necessary. Sam Atkinson, 60, who is black, said he has been to many Starbucks and didn't have a problem. "It was only one jack," he said.

At the Starbucks at Broad and Pine Streets, a sign alerted customers of the training.

Megyn Kelly criticizes Starbucks choice in rappers

Megyn Kelly doesn't have a problem with Starbucks' closing for racial bias training. But she's not a fan of the coffee chain's choice in rappers.

On Megyn Kelly Today on Tuesday morning, the host criticized Starbucks for turning to Common, an Emmy, Oscar and three-time Grammy-winning hip-hop artist, to narrate the coffee chain's day of training, due to some lyrics in his music she described as homophobic and degrading to women.

"If we're going hold up someone as an example to teach on bias, maybe we should be sensitive to that person's entire record," Kelly said.

Criticism of Common by Kelly and some of her former Fox News colleagues dates back to 2011, when he was one of several artists invited by former First Lady Michelle Obama to celebrate poetry and the spoken word in front of young students at the White House. Former White House spokesman Jay Carney dismissed the controversy at the time, noting that President Obama spoke out about those types of lyrics but "he does not think that is the sum total of this particular artist's work."

Common made an appearance on Good Morning America Tuesday morning, where the musician said it was important to "have a black man standing up and saying what we need."

"Starbucks was just a microcosm of how black people have been dehumanized and I wanted to be a part of that conversation," Common said.

 READ MORE: host roundtable talk

While Starbucks will be training their employees, black-owned cafes in Philadelphia are opening their doors for roundtable discussions on the discrimination and racial profiling blacks face in retail environments.

"Coffee spaces are a white culture space in the U.S.," said Blew Kind, owner of Franny Lou's Porch, who talked about creating welcoming spaces for people of color. "I'm trying to make a space where marginalized people, black folks, elders, family can be welcomed and relaxed and talk about hard, difficult topics."

Rolando Brown, 36, who serves of board of directions for Red Bay Coffee and is based in Philadelphia, said people around the world were watching the city and its residents to see how they would respond to the Starbucks arrests.

"The way they responded, we appreciated it  saying this was unacceptable and there's no reason someone should resign to that kind of treatment," Brown said.

The goal of the event, which started at Amalgam Comics & Coffeehouse in Kensington was to bring "attention to the larger implications of what happened at Starbucks, [promote] the importance of inclusive and fair business models as a way to advance racial justice, and [encourage] people in Philadelphia and on social media to support Black-owned alternatives to Starbucks," according to a news release.

>> READ MORE: For black cafe patrons, Starbucks arrests raise concerns and interest in black businesses

>> READ MORE: Here are Philly's best independent coffee shops

A tour of black-owned coffee shops in Philadelphia, including Uncles Bobbie's Coffee & Books, Little Jimmie's Bake House and Cafe, and Franny Lou's Porch, followed.

What happened in the controversial arrests?

A female manager at the 18th and Spruce Starbucks called police after Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, both 23, waited in the store for a business meeting but did not make any purchases. Nelson also asked to use the bathroom but was denied access. Police came and arested the pair. The arrests, captured on video and widely spread across social media, sparked national outrage and continued conversation on racial inequality. The company and police responded with apologies, while Nelson and Robinson reached separate agreements with Starbucks and the city.

>> READ MORE: An unlikely outcome of Starbucks: Kindred spirits and a social media campaign

Why is Starbucks having racial-bias training?

The arrests prompted many to ask if the manager would have contacted police if Nelson and Robinson were white. The racial-bias education aims "to ensure everyone inside a Starbucks store feels safe and welcome," the company said in a news release last month.

During a speaking appearance in which he elaborated on a more-inclusive bathroom policy, Starbucks' executive chairman Howard Schultz said the company was undergoing a "transformation."

"That curriculum and that education is the beginning, not the end, of an entire transformation of our training at Starbucks, which, in addition to everything we do operationally, will stay inside the company," Schultz said.

>> Read more: Would you have spoken up during Starbucks arrest of two black men? White teachers at a Delaware County school debate

What will the training look like?

While the media will not be granted access to any of Tuesday's training sessions, the company gave a brief preview last week of what they will involve. In addition to watching a film by Stanley Nelson, a director who has often focused on black history and experiences, employees will explore how bias shows up in their lives, according to a video from the company.

"We're here to make Starbucks a place where everyone, everyone feels welcome," CEO Kevin Johnson says in the video.

Bryan Stevenson, founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative; Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund; and Heather McGhee, president of the think tank Demos, have played a role in developing the curriculum.

The company said it also plans to share its training materials with other businesses.

>> READ MORE: What one start-up did when it got called out for being too white

>> READ MORE: Philadelphia Starbucks case: What we've learned since the arrests

What are experts saying about it?

University of Pennsylvania professor Howard Stevenson (whose brother is Bryan Stevenson) teaches people how to handle racially charged encounters and told the Inquirer and Daily News last month that the training needs to extend beyond just one afternoon. He also said the training should include role-playing exercises and open discussion about employees' personal experiences.

"It gets emotional sometimes," Howard Stevenson said. "Some people will remember stories that they had forgotten."

>> Read more: Starbucks racial bias training can't just be done in one day, Penn professor says

Americus Reed, professor of marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, called the training "remarkable" in a previous interview with the Inquirer and Daily News.

Staff writers Tauhid Chappell, Justine McDaniel, Katie Park, Tommy Rowan, Juliana Reyes, and Rob Tornoe contributed to this article.
Screenshot from surveillance video of crowd outside the Last Chance Lounge at 18th Street and Girard Avenue in North Philadelphia moments before shootout that killed Nafis Owens on Nov. 8, 2014. Read more

There was no public outcry when a troubled 25-year-old named Nafis Owens was fatally shot in a November 2014 gun battle in North Philadelphia.

He and an accomplice had helped instigate the mayhem near 18th Street and Girard Avenue that sent bystanders ducking and diving, surveillance video showed. Owens was hit by two bullets from a 9mm handgun: One lodged in his back, the other cut through his ribs, liver, heart, and lungs, the Medical Examiner's Office said.

As one of 248 homicides recorded in the city in 2014, this one might have passed unnoticed. Owens, after all, had recently been released from prison after a five-year sentence on gun and drug charges, and was killed the same evening he allegedly robbed other patrons outside a bar.

But what has happened in his case since that night  a chronology that the Inquirer and Daily News pieced together through public records, court testimony, and interviews  offers a window into the often tangled and sometimes flawed criminal justice system in one of the nation's most violent cities. Three men were charged in the killing. One spent 17 months in jail before prosecutors set him free, acknowledging that the only witness against him had lied. The two others were acquitted. The judge herself called the case particularly weak.

Prosecutors from the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office stubbornly pursued a case against the wrong men even though there's little dispute about the identity of the real killer, say the former defendants and their lawyers. Owens' father disagrees.

So the killing officially remains unsolved, stirring the question: Will there be justice for Nafis Owens?

Gunfight at the Last Chance Lounge

The sidewalk outside the Last Chance Lounge at 18th and Girard in Francisville was more crowded than usual shortly before 10:30 that Saturday night, Nov. 8, 2014. A cookout had been underway for hours, hosted by a woman trying to raise money to hire a lawyer for a loved one.

Eddie Slater Jr., a lifelong resident of the neighborhood, was frying fish and chicken under a sidewalk tent when Owens and another man approached him. Owens  on parole  was visibly drunk. The second man, clad in a jersey bearing the number 99, brandished a 9mm handgun and pressed it to the chest of the 37-year-old. Owens then reached into Slater's pockets and pulled out $20.

Not long after, the same duo moved to their next target, 37-year-old Shawn Timmons. Owens pressed the gun to Timmons' chest in a failed attempt to steal his bicycle.

Owens wasn't a stranger to the North Philadelphia community. He had grown up with Timmons' younger brothers, Tariq Timmons and Shaquille Rainey.

When the brothers arrived at the cookout they found Owens outside the bar and confronted him. In a scuffle partly captured on surveillance video, Tariq Timmons grabbed Owens' shirt collar and shoved him against a parked van.

Owens was shouting as Timmons and Rainey hustled him around the corner onto Girard. Rainey drew his own weapon, keeping it pointed downward.

As the group turned the corner onto Girard, the video showed a second man  the one in the 99 jersey  also brandishing a gun as he crept up behind Rainey and Timmons.

Then the gunshots erupted. Owens collapsed, and the crowd scattered.

Owens died on the sidewalk.

The next day, Rainey and Timmons voluntarily went to the police. They explained that Rainey had fired his gun in self-defense when Owens' accomplice pointed his gun. The cops let them go.

A jailhouse tipster

Nine months later, no charges had been filed in Owens' death when city prosecutors got a tip from a jailhouse informant. The tipster, Mikel Smith, was also from the Francisville neighborhood. He said that he'd been waiting for a trolley at 19th and Girard when he saw the shooting, and that he could identify the killer. He implicated a man named Kevin Prince.

Prince was also local, and friends with Timmons and Rainey. But on the night of the cookout, the 25-year-old professional DJ and graduate of the Art Institute of Philadelphia was sitting in a bar four miles away, watching a Bernard Hopkins title fight.

Still, based on Smith's tip, police swarmed on the house Prince shared with his 85-year-old grandmother. He was arrested and jailed without bail on a charge of first-degree murder, as was Rainey. Tariq Timmons was charged with third-degree murder and freed on bail.

The three had previously only had minor brushes with the law: Prince had a conviction for disorderly conduct; Rainey was convicted of loitering; and Timmons had convictions for DUI, marijuana possession, and operating a vehicle without an inspection sticker.

As his client sat in prison, Prince's lawyer, David Nenner, began burrowing deeper into the investigation. He explored Prince's alibi, got the surveillance video from outside the Last Chance Lounge, and looked more closely at the prosecution's central witness.

Smith had a long criminal record  and incentive to help prosecutors. In early 2015, Smith had been indicted as the triggerman in the armed robberies of four grocery stores and a Dunkin' Donuts. His plea negotiations with federal prosecutors began within weeks of being charged, and he was still looking at possibly spending decades behind bars. Helping to solve a murder might help lighten the punishment.

Prince was important to the prosecution's case for one reason: Although Rainey admitted that during the confrontation outside the bar he had pulled out a gun  one legally owned and registered  the bullet that killed Owens didn't match his weapon. So investigators didn't have a shooter.

But the defense lawyers did. The word on the street, they learned, was that the gunman was an 18-year-old named Keahn Morrison.

Nenner pulled his criminal record. All of Morrison's brushes with the law had been in the 22nd Police District, where Owens was killed. Just two weeks after Owens' death, police had responded to reports of a shooting near Morrison's home along 23rd Street. The victim, shot in the upper right thigh, was unwilling to talk, but police retrieved a bullet casing that matched the casings fired from the gun that killed Owens.

Nenner, the lawyer, got a photo of Morrison and had his investigator show it to Slater. The sidewalk fish-fryer confirmed that Morrison appeared to be the man in the 99 jersey who had pressed a gun to his chest outside the Last Chance Lounge.

That fall, Nenner took his case file to the District Attorney's Office and asked prosecutors to reconsider the charges. They declined.

They wouldn't have had to go far to find Morrison. He had spent much of the year jailed on weapons charges. Even when he finally was released in October 2015, it wasn't for long. By Christmas, he was back in, charged with attempted murder.

In early 2017, convinced that Morrison was the gunman who killed Owens, Nenner appealed to the defense lawyer representing Smith in his federal robbery case. The lawyer, Thomas Burke, went back to the jailhouse informant and pressed him to tell the truth. Smith then admitted he had made up the claims about seeing Owens' shooting.

With their star witness gone, prosecutors had no choice but to drop the charges against Kevin Prince. In March 2017  17 months after being arrested on the faulty jailhouse tip  Prince was freed.

But the District Attorney's Office wouldn't drop the charges against Rainey and Timmons. Instead, they marched ahead toward trial.

Called out by the judge

In January, a jury was impaneled to hear the case against Timmons and Rainey. Now Nenner was representing Timmons, and Rainey was represented by Jason Kadish.

The two lawyers didn't mince words: From the outset, they told jurors that evidence showed Owens was killed by friendly fire from his partner in crime that night, the man wearing the 99 jersey  Keahn Morrison. They introduced the surveillance video that showed Owens and Morrison together outside the bar prior to the shooting; the forensic evidence pointing to a matching bullet casing found near Morrison's home; Eddie Slater's eyewitness identification of Morrison; and Morrison's arrest and 2016 guilty plea on two unrelated attempted murders.

Nenner even subpoenaed Morrison, having him brought into the courtroom so Slater could point him out to jurors.

Assistant District Attorney Deborah Watson-Stokes, the prosecutor who had rejected Nenner's assertions about Morrison more than a year earlier, tried to rebut the evidence. In a move that shocked defense lawyers, she called to the witness stand Morrison's mother, Ebony Morrison, who told jurors that the man seen on fuzzy surveillance video wearing the 99 jersey was not her son. He didn't even own such a shirt, she said, adding that she would know because she buys his clothes.

In the end, attorneys Nenner and Kadish prevailed. In a rare courtroom putdown after both sides rested their cases but before the jury began deliberating, Common Pleas Court Judge Diana Anhalt acquitted Timmons of all charges, telling Watson-Stokes: "I just don't think you have enough evidence against Tariq."

Then Anhalt threw out the first-degree-murder charge against Rainey and replaced it with third-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter.

"I've thought about this for four days, and I've been waiting to hear the evidence that is going to pull it all together, and it's not there," the judge told them, according to a transcript obtained by the Inquirer and Daily News. "It really just isn't there. I'm going to sleep well with this decision."

The final blow came from the jury. On its second day of deliberations, the panel acquitted Rainey of all charges.

The conclusion of the case  three defendants, no convictions, and evidence pointing to a fourth man who has not been charged  troubled at least one juror.

"I walked away not understanding why 99 wasn't charged," said Arnold Bolden, a 71-year-old real estate salesman. "I believe 99 shot the boy. There was only two guns out there, and if [Rainey] didn't shoot him, then it had to be 99."

Bolden said he and most of the other jurors did not believe the testimony of Morrison's mother, and that during deliberations they had agreed the prosecutor was poorly prepared for the trial.

Nenner said the District Attorney's Office wasted time and money and, more important, locked up men who didn't deserve to be jailed.

"What's offensive to me about this whole thing," Nenner said, "is that in September or October of 2015 at the latest, I gave Deborah Watson-Stokes my entire investigation, and the attitude was, 'You're wrong.' And more importantly, no one looked any further into what we were saying in all those years that went by."

It was a weak case

The District Attorney's Office declined to allow Watson-Stokes to respond to questions about the case. District Attorney Larry Krasner said he was troubled by some of the defense attorneys' allegations. "We are always concerned when there is evidence that seems to indicate another possible theory," Krasner said when asked in February.

But he said it would not be appropriate to say if the office would investigate Morrison.

The men once accused of killing Nafis Owens have moved on, seeking normalcy.

Tariq Timmons is working in construction. Prince landed a job as a machine operator for the Tasty Baking Co. Rainey says he has not been able to find a job despite turning in a handful of applications. The 30 months he spent in jail waiting to be tried and the trial's aftermath have left him feeling resentful, including at the prosecutor.

"It was a weak case. She's wrong for taking all that time away from me," Rainey said. "That was wrong."

He is convinced that Watson-Stokes' zeal to prosecute him stemmed from her frustration about another court case that she lost in 2012. In that case, a murder trial against his cousin, Rainey was supposed to be a key prosecution witness, but recanted on the stand and said homicide detectives had beaten and threatened him into making incriminating statements.

Owens' father, Rob Hamilton, is also bitter. He believes that the three former defendants should have been convicted. Reached by phone last week, he cursed the three, the court system, and a reporter.

Morrison remains in prison. He got 8 to 16 years for an unrelated attempted murder in December 2015.

And Owens' murder remains unsolved, at least officially.

"What this says is Nafis Owens never got justice, because Nafis Owens' killer was his co-conspirator that night robbing people," Nenner said. "The bottom line is, he's the one that pulled the gun and escalated the situation. He's the one that made it into a gunfight. He got away with murder."
Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho's wife appeared at the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency in Seoul for questioning on Monday morning.

She refused to answer any questions from reporters, but just said, "I am sorry for causing trouble. I will cooperate fully with the investigation."


Services are set for Sunday, June 10, for Evelyn "Scotty" Macauley Gembala, 95, a volunteer leader and fund-raiser who worked to preserve and maintain the historic mansions in Philadelphia's Fairmount Park. Mrs. Gembala died Wednesday, April 11, of complications from Alzheimer's disease at home in East Falls.

"Scotty was a dedicated and tireless worker for causes in which she believed," said her daughter-in-law, Tish Gembala. "She was adept at bringing together committees of people to work toward goals of fund-raising and programming."

Mrs. Gembala organized a series of dinners in the 1980s at the Fairmount Park houses, not only as fund-raising events but also "to showcase the jewels these houses are in our city," her daughter-in-law said.

Mrs. Gembala brought in researchers to document the history of the park's houses and to create exhibits of the items they had gathered. Then the public was invited to tour them.

In 1982, Mrs. Gembala, who lived in East Falls, was serving as a tour guide at Strawberry Mansion with Maureen Harrison, of Radnor when they learned that Ormiston Mansion, another historic building in Fairmount Park, was up for lease.

"We decided to go for it," Mrs. Gembala told the Inquirer in October 1982.

The two women founded the Royal Heritage Society to act as the nonprofit sponsor of the project. With that in place, they obtained a one-year renewable lease from the City of Philadelphia and as part of the deal, the society agreed to maintain and preserve the 1798 Georgian structure.

Their goal was to make the mansion a showcase for historical artifacts signifying the ties between Britain and Philadelphia.

"She worked tirelessly to promote relationships between the British Commonwealth and Philadelphia for decades," said her daughter, Rosaleen B. Parsons.

During the Christmas holidays, Mrs. Gembala led a committee that decorated the park houses and opened them to the public. She played Christmas music on the piano and shared the wassail bowl while visitors experienced the historic surroundings.

But her activities weren't limited to the park mansions. She served on the board of governors of the English Speaking Union, which promoted the Shakespeare Competition. The national event helps teachers with language-arts curricula.

In the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, she threw many elegant parties, and accounts of the social events appeared in the Inquirer and the Evening Bulletin.

Mrs. Gembala was a member of the Fairmount Park Commission and a member and president of the "Committee of 1926," the organizing body at Strawberry Mansion. She received many awards for her civic achievements from Philadelphia Mayors W. Wilson Goode and John F. Street.

Although Mrs. Gembala became a naturalized citizen in 1976, she remained a royalist. "She loved the royal family and never missed the fund-raising party each June to celebrate the queen's birthday," her daughter-in-law said.

Mrs. Gembala was invited to meet Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 at London's Buckingham Palace. She called the meeting one of the best moments of her life.

Born in Craigneuk, Lanarkshire, Scotland, in 1922, Mrs. Gembala graduated from Ogilvie College School of Social Science in 1945, and did graduate work in social sciences at the University of Edinburgh. She never lost her Scottish brogue.

She was chairman of the Scottish Education Department responsible for music, arts, and drama in the schools of Western Scotland. She came to the United States in 1954 under a one-year grant to study at the University of Pennsylvania.

She soon met lawyer Joseph E. Gembala Jr. but returned to Scotland in March 1955 when her grant expired. He traveled there in June and declared that he would not leave without marrying her. They married in August 1955 and returned to Philadelphia, where Mrs. Gembala worked as a social worker with Catholic Charities before starting a family.

The couple raised two children in East Falls.

Mrs. Gembala's husband died in 2000. In addition to her daughter and daughter-in-law, she is survived by a son, Joseph A. III; and two grandchildren.

A celebration of her life will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 10, at Ormiston Mansion, 2000 Reservoir Dr., Philadelphia, Pa. 19121. Burial was private. Donations in her memory may be made to Ormiston Mansion at the address above.
Demonstrators protest outside the Starbucks cafe in Philadelphia where two black men were arrested on April 12, 2018 for waiting inside without ordering anything. Read more

>> READ MORE: What one start-up did when it got called out for being too white

>> READ MORE: Is Starbucks closing for a day really going to fix racial bias? | Opinion

>> READ MORE: Starbucks is planning racial bias training. Here's what a Penn professor says it should involve

Chandra Bozelko is a formerly incarcerated writer. Her blog, "Prison Diaries," won the 2018 People's Voice Webby Award for best personal blog.
President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plan to hold face-to-face discussions before a planned summit between Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un.

"We agreed to meet before the U.S.-North Korea summit," Abe told reporters in Tokyo following his Monday telephone call with Trump.

In the call, Trump and Abe also "affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and ballistic missile programs," according to a White House statement.

Both Trump and Abe are set to attend the Group of Seven economic summit June 8-9 in Canada, but the two may meet at the White House prior to that, according to officials in Washington and Tokyo.

The two leaders spoke Monday as American officials were in North Korea and Singapore to discuss arrangements for the prospective talks.

The phone conversation took place before Trump went to Arlington National Cemetery for a Memorial Day ceremony. There, the president made no reference to the situation on the Korean peninsula in his 22-minute scripted remarks.

Nearly 34,000 Americans died as a result of hostile action in the three-year war on the peninsula. Hostilities ceased in 1953 with an armistice but no peace treaty has ever been signed.

It is unclear when or where Trump and Abe will meet before the anticipated Singapore summit, which the U.S. president has said in recent days is likely to occur on June 12 after he declared last Thursday that the summit would not be held on that day.

Both Trump and Abe are set to attend the Group of Seven economic summit on June 8-9 in Canada.
Allister AnnKenny Chesney will unveil the title track of his new album, Songs for the Saints, on Friday.

The superstar from East Tennessee was making the record just as his island escape, the U.S. Virgin Islands, was hard-hit by Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

Theres so much to say, and so much music on this record," Kenny says. "Knowing where to start was hard and easy, because this is the song that really holds everything together. Its a tribute to those islands and their unstoppable spirit."

"Even as people were coming off the islands," he continues, "some just to not tax the limited resources -- so many of my friends were digging in, trying to figure out what needed to be done and getting on to the work of clearing debris, creating habitable space for those staying and reminding all of us how Island Strong they all are.

"Songs for the Saints" will be available to stream or download June 1, ahead of the full album's release on July 27.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The European Commission on Monday proposed banning single-use plastic products such as cotton buds and plastic straws and putting the burden of cleaning up waste on manufacturers in an effort to reduce marine litter.

Under the proposal, single-use plastic products with readily available alternatives will be banned and replaced with more environmentally sustainable materials.

The proposal also requires EU countries to collect 90 percent of single-use plastic drink bottles by 2025 and producers to help cover costs of waste management and clean-up.

"Plastic waste is undeniably a big issue and Europeans need to act together to tackle this problem, because plastic waste ends up in our air, our soil, our oceans, and in our food," said EU Commission Vice President Frans Timmermans.


KAMPALA: Prof Waswa Balunywas reappointment as the principal of Makerere University Business School came as a result of behind-the-scenes protracted talks with President Museveni, PML Daily can exclusively report.

On Monday, President Museveni directed the Education minister, Janet Museveni to re-appoint Prof Balunywa to the position he has held since 1997.

His institution has been free of strike. I have never found him averse to the advice the times I have interacted with him, such a person is always good to work with, the Presidents May 28 directive reads in part.

And now highly placed sources in State House have told this website that Prof Balunywas re-appointment came after he personally met the President at State House in April. It is said the beleaguered professor sought the Presidents intervention after he realized that Janet Museveni was against his re-appointment and had directed the Education Service Commission to begin on a process of appointing Balunywas successor.

Sources said since Janets appointment to the Education docket, she had been displeased with Prof Balunywas conduct at MUBS. It is said the strained relations between the two came to a head with the tuition fees wrangle between MUBS and its parent institution, Makerere University. It was reported in the press that Makerere had refused to include thousands of MUBS students on the February 2018 graduation list because of tuition arrears MUBS had collected but refused to remit to mother campus.

However, sources added that attempts by the First Lady to reach out to Prof Balunywa and solve the impasse were futile, with Balunywa allegedly not cooperating with Higher Education State minister Dr Chrysostom Muyingo. Sources said Dr Muyingo, on instructions of Janet, first sought a meeting with Prof Balunywa but the latter shunned the meeting and claimed that he was busy. This prompted the First Lady to work with Prof Moses Muhwezi, his deputy to resolve the fees impasse.

Sources added that from this incident, the First Lady interested herself in the affairs of MUBS and sent undercover officials to investigate the activities of Prof Balunywa. Meanwhile in the ministry archives, the Education minister landed on past dossiers, implicating Prof Balunywa in the mismanagement of the institution.

The undercover investigation team is said to have reported to the minister that Prof Balunywa was never at the institution most of the time and that most of the work was being done by his deputy, Prof Muhwezi.

He was reported to be doing consultancy work all the time and instead delegated most of the work to his deputy. Even most administrators at MUBS reported of his absence most of the time, the source said.

It should be remembered that Prof Balunywa has been Musevenis blue-eyed man since he joined MUBS. Even previous attempts not to renew his contract as principal always fell flat. Whenever, there was a function at MUBS, Museveni always attended praise and heaped praise on him.

However, this did not deter the First Lady, who sources said, was determined to get rid of him.

Consequently, on April 11, 2018, Ms Museveni wrote to the chairman Education Service Commission, Hajji Lubega Waggwa, saying the position of MUBS Principal should be advertised as soon as the Education ministry Permanent Secretary avails to the Commission the specifications for the job.

The purpose of this letter is to request you that Education Service Commission finalizes the process of appointment of the next principal of MUBS before the contract of the current one expires to avoid a leadership vacuum, the First Ladys letter read in part.

The First Ladys letter also prompted MUBS council chairman. Prof Venancius Baryamureeba, to retract his earlier March 5 letter to the Education Service Commission, in which he had indicated that Balunywa was suitable for the job. In the new May 5, Prof Baryamureeba pointed out that whereas the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act sets 60 as the maximum age at which one can serve as Principal, Balunywa was already 63 making him clearly ineligible.

This is the reason why Prof Balunywa last week accused Baryamureeba of attempting to take over the position. Prof Balunywa on Thursday issued a blistering dossier about poor management practices at the school that he blamed on Prof Baryamureeba. He also accused him of nursing ambitions of taking over the leadership of the business school; now touted as one of the finest in Africa.

Realising that odds were against him, Prof Balunywa then sought a meeting with the President last month through Bukedea Woman MP Anita Among, who was a former lecturer at MUBS.

Sources were unable to reveal what transpired in the meeting but after it, President Museveni wrote to Janet on April 29, saying he had no objection to Prof Balunywas re-appointment.

Since Prof Balunywa is a serious implementer of programmes and a serious educationist whose institution has never seen part of the indiscipline of strikes, etc, I have no objection to his re-appointment if all other factors are in order, Mr Musevenis letter reads in part.

However, sources said, on learning that MUBS Council was bent on not re-appointing Balunywa, Museveni followed up the matter with the latest May 28 letter, directing that the re-appointment be effected.

Prof Balunywas tenure has been dominated by several fights, with several accusations of managing the institution like his own home.

He has been accused of ruling the institution with an iron hand and suppressing any dissenting staff about his work methods.

He fell out with Prof James Akampulira, Dr Julius Kakuru and then Prof Samuel Sejaka, who were seen as potential successors to him.

Balunywa was in 2014 dragged to court over uttering false documents, forgery and embezzlement by a lawyer Isaac Kimeze Ssemakadde. Ssemakadde claimed that Balunywa, using various pseudo names of Balunywa JMA Waswa alias Juma J Balunywa alias Juma Waswa Balunywa, committed various acts of fraud while serving at Makerere University and later on at Mubs.

Ssemakadde further alleged that Balunywa, being a public officer, unlawfully authorized expenditure of Shs 32m for the [medical] treatment of his mother in India yet he knew this would cause financial loss to the government.

The MUBS principal was also accused of embezzlement.

That the accused, being a public officer employed as principal and accounting officer of Makerere University Business School, on various dates between January and December 2006 stole Shs 10,000,000, a property of MUBS, Ssemakadde claimed.

Balunywa was also accused of flouting procurement procedures when he contracted his personal enterprise named Maya farm to supply pineapples, eggs and potatoes to MUBS. When it comes up for hearing on June 11, the Director of Public Prosecutions is expected to take over prosecution of the case. Balunywa could also be committed to the Anti-Corruption court for a criminal trial.

In 2010, the IGG recommended that Balunywa be sacked because he was wrongly appointed for a job he is not qualified for. In a January 6 report, the acting IGG, Raphael Baku, said under section 83 of the Universities and Other Tertiary Institutions Act 2001, only the Education Service Commission (ESC) has the authority to appoint the principal of a public tertiary institution. Balunywa was appointed by the Minister of Education. The report also said that at the time Balunywa was appointed, he did not have a doctorate degree (PhD) as required of a holder of that position. Balunywa enrolled for his doctorate in 2000 at the University of Stirling in Scotland but he has not yet graduated.

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The Democratic Party Womens leagues have tasked police to produce a report on the continuous murders of women and girls that have instilled fear in the population.

This was contained in their petition presented by Florence Namayanja Bukoto East MP who led the delegation to meet the Speaker of Parliament Hon. Rebecca Kadaga on Monday May 28, at Parliament.

MS Namayanja, who is also the DP Womens League chairperson said whereas Article 22 (1) of the Constitution of Uganda provides for the protection of the right to life and Article 20 (2) mandates all organs and agencies of government and all persons to respect, uphold and promote human rights; over the years there has been some level of insecurity of person for women and girls in Uganda.

Over the last three years, albeit the failure by the Uganda Police Force to release its annual crime reports, there has been a systematic decline of security of person for women and girls in particular, read the petition.

Recently, Kyadondo East legislator Robert Kyagulanyi Ssetanumu, alias Bobi Wine expressed dissatisfaction at the way security agencies are handling the increasing cases of kidnaps and murders.

In a smiliar development, President Museveni this week summoned the Inspector General of Police, Martin Okoth Ochola to explain the recent spike in cases of kidnaps across the country.

The President wanted to know if the kidnaps are organized or spontaneous and whether or not the Police are arresting the culprits.

The petition added that since 2017 to date over 30 women and girls have lost their lives in gruesome killings which to date remain unresolved. In addition, according to the Uganda Police, in 2017, 22 people were kidnapped countrywide and eight of them are yet to be found.

According to the Flying Squad records, between 2015 and 2018 a total of 48 people of different age and genders were reported kidnapped. Out of these 26 were found alive while eight were found dead. In 2018, 16 cases of kidnap had been reported by March 2018 with a few victims later re-united with their families without any known government in intervention to address the trauma they have faced while in captivity.

The statement further added that DP womens league demands the following: Uganda police releases a status report to the public on the current status of investigations (without divulging details on evidence that may jeopardize the cases) of the kidnappings and murders of women and girls in Uganda; Uganda police should release its annual crime report for the last 3 years to enable various stakeholders including Parliament to take necessary actions to address recommendations in the report, they should also advertise through media and any interfaces with the public hotlines which the public can use to report these cases and increases public information and education on what can do to avert the situation if they can; families that have lost their dears ones be provided with counseling and regular status reports on the cases of their loved ones; they should also intensify its investigations and review the current laws on kidnappings to introduce tougher penalties for perpetrators.

The womens league commends the media and other stakeholders for covering horrendous stories and urges them to continue with the same vigilance, which has saved some of the victims lives.

Namayanja appealed to the Speaker to champion the cause for a national prayer to pray for the lost souls and their families so that they feel comforted.

Kalungu west MP Joseph Sewungu accused the government for being selective in giving support and yet its mandated to provide for everyone Ugandan who is affected by a tragedy, when late Nakafeeros body was got, it was the MPs and DP womens league that came on board where is government in all this? Adding that Uganda Communications Commission headed by Mr Mutabazi gave a directive that everybody should re-register their Sim cards which we did but till now, he has never give us accountability of how he has used them.

After switching off phones, why are we still seeing more murders of women and girls as parliament, we want an audit from him. The kidnappers are using phones to kill people and this is becoming too much, Sewungu added. The women say that they are waiting to hear from police on how they plan to stop the gruesome killings but if they dont, DP women will not keep quiet as more women and girls die but continue to look for other measures until they do something about it.

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Emmanuel Ruiz Mejia was charged with two counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer. (Photo: Winter Haven PD)

Two Winter Haven, FL, officers were injured after encountering a man in a wheelchair wielding a 9-inch knife. Both officers sustained non-life threatening injuries and were treated and released at the scene, police report.

Just after midnight Friday, officers responded to a bar where a man in a wheelchair was reported to have a large knife attached to his wheelchair and he constantly would take out and show around. He left prior to law enforcement arriving, a Winter Haven Police Department press release says.

When officers arrived, they found 29 year-old Emmanuel Ruiz Mejia around the corner in front of a business just beside the parking garage.

As officers approached Mejia, they told him they were there investigating a possible disturbance, but Mejia attempted to roll past them in his wheelchair. A large sword-style knife was seen on the back of the wheelchair and was immediately removed for safety reasons. As officers continued to attempt to speak with him, Mejia placed his left hand under his thigh and appeared to be clinching something. Mejia would not comply with commands to show both hands and officers feared he was hiding a weapon. Mejia continued to refuse commands to show his hands. Officer Kristopher Corley pulled his agency issued Taser and continued to command Mejia to show his hands. After numerous commands and Mejia continuing to refuse to show his hands, the taser was used to gain compliance. Mejia pulled his hands from under his thighs and a large serrated knife was plainly seen in his hand. He refused to surrender the knife and he was tackled to the ground in another attempt to get the knife. At this point Mejia thrust the knife towards Officer Kristopher Corleys face causing lacerations from his neck and across his face, the police report.

Officer Edgardo Cruz deployed his taser and at the end of the cycle, Mejia reportedly picked the knife back up and threw it directly at Officer Cruz causing a laceration on his hand as he deflected the weapon.

Mejia was handcuffed and taken into custody. After being medically evaluated at Winter Haven Hospital, he was transported to Polk County Jail and booked on two counts of aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, two counts of resisting officers with violence, and four counts of resisting officers without violence.

We are thankful that the injuries sustained to Officers Corley and Cruz are minor and they ultimately can go home to their family, said Chief Charlie Bird. This guy had no regard for life whatsoever and he is where he belongs and hopefully will stay there for a long time.
Nebraska State Patrol troopers searched the vehicle and discovered a false compartment located in the empty trailer. The compartment contained 42 foil-wrapped packages of cocaine and a powder suspected to be fentanyl. (Photo: NSP)

Troopers with the Nebraska State Patrol have seized 117 pounds of narcotics during a traffic stop on Interstate 80 near Kearney, including 44 pounds of a powder that is thought to be fentanyl.

The traffic stop occurred at approximately 10:20 a.m. on Thursday, April 26, when a trooper observed an eastbound 2013 Freightliner truck-tractor and semi-trailer driving on the shoulder near mile marker 280. During the stop, the trooper became suspicious of criminal activity.

Troopers searched the vehicle and discovered a false compartment located in the empty trailer. The compartment contained 42 foil-wrapped packages containing 73 pounds of cocaine and 44 pounds of an unknown powder suspected to be fentanyl. The two narcotics carry an estimated street value of $5 million-$10 million, the NSP reports in a press release.

Because of the dangerous nature of the substance, troopers do not perform field testing on suspected fentanyl. Testing at the Nebraska State Patrol Crime Lab is being utilized for confirmation.

The driver of the truck, Felipe Genao-Minaya, 46, and passenger, Nelson Nunez, 52, both of New Jersey, were arrested for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and no drug tax stamp. Both men were lodged in Buffalo County Jail.
The police officer who was almost killed confronting a school shooter in Santa Fe, TX, on May 18 is no longer in critical condition, according to University of Texas Hospital in Galveston.

John Barnes, 49, was among the officers who responded to the shooting, in which a gunman killed 10 people and injured 13 others. Barnes, a retired Houston police officer who joined the tiny Santa Fe ISD police department in January, was hit by a shotgun blast in the elbow.

The blast caused massive bleeding and nearly killed him.

According to officials at the hospital, Barnes' condition was upgraded to "serious" Monday, and he remains in the hospital's intensive care unit, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Korea's land area increased by 24 sq.km last year, the equivalent of about eight times the size of Yeouido in Seoul.

According to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on Monday, almost 16 sq.km of the new land came from a reclamation project in Haenam, South Jeolla Province.

The development of a technology valley in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province chipped in another 2.8 sq.km. The rest was mostly due to registration of previously unlisted lands.

Over the past decade, the amount of agricultural land and forests has shrunk while urban areas and land dedicated to transport infrastructure has grown.


This is a case study in the genesis and propagation of fake news. It supports the view that we should never believe anything that comes from the New York Times, if it is attributed to an unidentified source. Reporters cannot be trusted.

The subject is President Trumps meeting with Kim Jong-un. Mollie Hemingwayan increasingly important commentatorhas the story at The Federalist. It starts with a media meme, the claim that Trump was so desperate to get a win that he likely would make a bad deal. (They misspelled Obama.)

The Washington Posts David Nakamura wrote that critics fear that a president determined to declare victory where his predecessors failed will allow his desire for a legacy-making deal to override the substance of the negotiations. On the same day, the Washington Posts Paul Waldman mocked Trumps desire for a win, which he said was turning Trump into a fool who was getting played.

Then Trump suddenly canceled the June 12 summit, while also saying that he was still willing to talk with the North Koreans, and a meeting might still take place on the 12th if the North Koreans cooperate.

This led to a new liberal press theme: Trump is making absurd claims and is at odds with his aides. Mark Landler and David Sanger of The New York Times wrote an article, the theme of which was that there are deep divisions between Trump and his staff. The June 12 meeting was Exhibit A:

As with so many issues involving this president, the views of his aides often have little effect on what he actually says. On Thursday, for example, a senior White House official told reporters that even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed. On Friday, Mr. Trump said, It could even be the 12th.

But the Timess claim about what a senior White House official said was false. The president called out the papers misrepresentation:

The Failing @nytimes quotes a senior White House official, who doesnt exist, as saying even if the meeting were reinstated, holding it on June 12 would be impossible, given the lack of time and the amount of planning needed. WRONG AGAIN! Use real people, not phony sources.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

Trump was right, but the liberal media dug in:

Media types rushed to The New York Times defense, claiming they heard a White House official say the impossible line in a background briefing they were privy to. Someone leaked audio of a background briefing that they said supported The New York Times impossible characterization. Yashar Ali, who writes for New York magazine and HuffPo, then outed the name of someone who briefed reporters on background and provided audio that he erroneously claimed supported The New York Times characterization.

Ive long suspected that liberal journalists cant read very well. It turns out they cant hear, either. The audio recording shows that Deputy Press Secretary Raj Shah didnt say a June 12 meeting would be impossible. In fact, he didnt say anything remotely resembling that claim:

REPORTER: Can you clarify thatthe President obviously announced in the letter and at the top of the bill signing that the summit is called off. But then, later, he said its possible the existing summit could take place, or a summit at a later date. Is he saying that its possible that June 12th could still happen? WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL: Thats REPORTER: Or has that ship sailed, right? WHITE HOUSE OFFICIAL: I think that the main point, I suppose, is that the ball is in North Koreas court right now. And theres really not a lot of time. Weve lost quite a bit of time that we would need in order to, I mean, theres been an enormous amount of preparation thats gone on over the past few months at the White House, at State, and with other agencies and so forth. But theres a certain amount of actual dialogue that needs to take place at the working level with your counterparts to ensure that the agenda is clear in the minds of those two leaders when they sit down to actually meet and talk and negotiate, and hopefully make a deal. And June 12 is in 10 minutes, and its going to be, you know. But the President has said that he has  someday, that he looks forward to meeting with Kim.

That a June 12 summit is impossiblethe whole point of the fake New York Times reportis nowhere to be found. Nor did Raj Shah agree with the reporters prompt that that ship [has] sailed. So the original Times story was false, a classic example of fake news. The Times just made it up.

If you think the liberal press was embarrassed at having attributed a statement to the Deputy Press Secretary that he didnt make, you are mistaken. Instead, the press doubled down by asserting the absurd proposition that President Trump denied that White House aides give briefings. You cant make this up. Once again, the failing New York Times led the way:

Imagine being the WH background briefer who led this briefing, who now has his boss  the president of the US  saying he/she doesnt exist. https://t.co/6tYHxp3ZFK  Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 26, 2018

You got it, Maggie! President Trump denied that Raj Shah exists! This is mind-numbingly stupid, but it is the kind of nonsense/fake news that appears in the New York Times every day. The moral of the story is that you should never believe anything in the New York Times that is attributed to an unnamed source. The Timess characterization is likely to be false, and the falsehood will, in all probability, be driven by the papers far-left ideology.

UPDATE: CorrectionRaj Shah only introduced National Security Council aide Matthew Pottinger, who was the purported source for the impossible quote.
The liberal press tells us that socialism is ascendant. College students, apparently, are largely socialists. And some think that Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky, etc. are dominant, no matter how stupid they may be.

I cant explain why so many American liberals dont care whether socialism works. Maybe liberals are just dumb. Perhaps there is another explanation that I cant think of. But happily, most people care about what works.

Michael Ramirez comments on the ongoing disaster that is Venezuela. You know when you are living in a socialist country when there are no more pets, because they have been eaten. Also, no more rats: people fight over their dead carcasses, hoping for a main course for dinner. That is the context of Michaels most recent cartoon. Click to enlarge:
The media and the left (but I repeat myself) are in a tizzy that democracy in America is in imminent risk of being snuffed out, because Trump is at least Mussolini, if not Hitler. This is plainly ridiculous. As has been pointed out, Hitler would have gotten The Wall built and repealed Obamacare. Still, the Washington Post trumpets their self-regarding slogan, Democracy Dies in Darkness, while there is a flood of new books on the death of democracy.

Perhaps all the democracy-philes ought to direct their deep concern to Italy, where a coalition government of the left-leaning and right-meaning parties that emerged dominant in the recent election has been turned out of office by Italys president because the prime minister wanted to appoint a finance minister who is opposed to Italy remaining in the Euro currency. It has hardly received any attention in the American media. The Spectator reports:

The two Italian populist parties which were on the verge of forming a government that may never now happen won a majority of votes at the 4th March elections. But who has more power? The people who voted for populism  or the elites who have now shot down populism? We shall see. Pressure from the Germans, the French, the markets, Brussels, etc spoke with what Italians call the tongue of the astuta serpente (the astute snake) against this nascent Italian populist government as  in the words of the FTs editorial headline on the matter: Rome opens its Gates to the Modern Barbarians. . . In his brief television explanation, President Mattarella told Italians that he could not support the proposal of a minister who supports exit from the euro. Why ever not? I wondered. After all. that is what the voters of Five Star and Lega  i.e nearly half of Italians  voted for isnt it?

Italy is legendary for the instability of its parliamentary administrations, which have an average tenure in office of something like 15 months. Italys convoluted constitution allows the president to reject cabinet appointments from a prime minister, but not much else. So the country remains dysfunctional, and the replacement government the president has suggested is not likely to last very long. (Italy recently rejected a complicated constitutional reform in a referendum.) The prevention of an anti-Euro finance minister hasnt reassured financial markets: Italian bonds have sold off heavily the last few days.

What is the basic point of democracy, if not to allow the people to control the government. The premise of Progressivism, and the administrative state, is for a permanent governing class to control the people, and prevent the effective control of government by the people. Hence the horror of Britains Brexit vote, and Trumps election here.

The contest going on in Europe right now is just another front in the same contest under way here: to determine whether the revolt of the people against elitist government will succeed.

Even Paul Krugman thinks this is a bad sign:
A U.S. negotiation team led by Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, wants to lay out three steps toward North Korean denuclearization in talks with North Korea while discussing the agenda for a U.S.-North Korea summit scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

Joseph Yun, a former senior diplomat, told the New York Times on Sunday that the U.S. negotiators want to lay out the process in a document.

"The goal... was likely to be developing a set of documents, agreed on by both sides that detail the three steps that North Korea is willing to consider taking toward elimination of its nuclear weapons program," Yun told the daily.

He said the first step "is a declaration of how far the North Koreans are willing to go in unwinding their weapons program. The second is deciding how and when the North Koreans would provide an accounting of that process to the United States. And the third is determining how the United States would verify those claims."

U.S. President Donald Trump "says he's not going to go until there is substantial agreement. The question is, is there time to reach that kind of agreement?" Yun said. "Right now, the summit is kind of teetering on whether we make progress on those things."

Yun was appointed special representative for North Korea policy by the Obama administration in 2016 but continued to work during the Trump administration until he retired in March.

Last year, he visited Pyongyang to win the release of Otto Warmbier, an American college student detained there.


Over the years, critics of the United Nations have been able to attack and ridicule that organization over the membership and leadership of various human rights organizations it sponsors. The best example is probably Irans membership on U.N. committees that oversee the protection of womens rights and global human rights.

Now, we have an even more egregious case. Syria has taken up the presidency of the United Nations-backed Conference on Disarmament.

Robert Woods, the U.S. ambassador to the Conference, condemned the move, calling it one of the darkest days in the forums history. If there have been other days comparably dark, perhaps the Conference should disband.

Woods declared that Syria has neither the credibility nor moral authority to preside over the [Conference]. Thats an understatement. Syria has flagrantly and repeatedly violated what passes as the Conferences signature achievement, the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention banning the production, stockpiling, or use of chemical weapons.

Even after agreeing to surrender its stocks of chemical agents used in the production of sarin gas and other chemical weapons, under a deal brokered by Russia, Syria continued to launch deadly chemical weapons attacks.

Thats Syria idea of disarmament.

The New York Times suggests that a presidency [of the disarmament agency] occupied by a government that has used chemical weapons against civilians is. . .a blow to the groups public image. I guess.

Syrias presidency tells us plenty about the United Nations and its offshoots. The U.N. is a farce. Currently, its only salutary purpose is to provide a forum for Nikki Haley to lecture the parasites who assemble at Turtle Bay. In most administrations, the U.N. does not even serve this kind of purpose.

We are able to negate most of the harm the U.N. would like to inflict on us, and the world generally, through the veto and/or by simply ignoring it. Thus, President Trump has bigger fish to fry. But it would be nice if he got around to directing his wrath at the United Nations.
President Andrzej Duda has thanked Polish veterans for their patriotism, sacrifice and courage.

"We also remember those who fell in the service of the Motherland," President Duda wrote on Twitter on the occasion of the Day for Veterans of Foreign Missions observed in Poland on Tuesday.

The Day for Veterans of Foreign Missions was instituted in a 2011 law on veterans. It falls on the same day as the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, instituted by the UN General Assembly.

Over 100,000 Polish soldiers and several thousand law enforcement officers have taken part in foreign missions since the 1950s. Some 120 Poles have died while on foreign missions.

In a letter from President Andrzej Duda, read out in Kielce by presidential aide Andrzej Zybertowicz during celebrations marking the Day for Veterans of Foreign Missions, the head of state underscored that "soldiers of the Republic of Poland, faithful to the glorious traditions of the Polish military, defend our freedom and independence." "Faithful to the motto 'for our freedom and yours' for 65 years they have carried the hope for peace of people from whom war took everything."



The President highlighted that Polish soldiers take part in international operations of different types, including UN, EU and NATO missions. "Because today's world is in so many places full of threats and contempt for human civilisational achievements. By taking part in missions we prove that Poland, as a part of the international community, does not isolate itself from the problems of global security," the president declared, going on to say that the Polish army receives "respect and admiration of its allies" by taking part in missions.



"Our veterans know the hard truth, that Poland also fights for security far from its borders. Poles, soldiers, officials of many services, but also civilian workers go to places of conflict and war to serve peace. Their role in missions have been and are an expression of the utmost devotion and sacrifice for the Motherland." (PAP/MK)
( Read 8432 Times)

Source :

Mumbai: The Hindi comedy dramaGolmaal  The Playhas been the talk of the town since its premiere in Rang Sharda, Bandra (West), Mumbai. The second show staged on May 26 at the same venue received thunderous response. The play is being geared for numerous performance not only pan India like Surat, Pune, Delhi, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Vadodara but also abroad like Dubai and America. B-town celebrities like Bhagyashree, Sonu Nigam, Johnny Lever, Archana Puran Singh and her husband Parmeet Sethi, Avtar Gill and many others turning up in large numbers to attend the fun-filled drama.Golmaal  The Play is a satire on the existing education system including its functioning and policies and the trouble the parents undertake running from pillar to post. The popular film and television actor Vindu Dara Singh dons the producers cap with the production of this play. Vindu Dara Singh features in the cast along with film actress Sheeba, Rajesh Puri, Payal Goga Kapoor, Lakhbir Lahiri, Surleen Kaur and Akashdeep. The popular Punjab famed duo Lakbhir Lahiri and Lucky Hans are the directors of this hilarious play which is of 2 hours duration.Vindu Dara Singh is elated with the response received for his maiden production. I am happy that the play has been received well. All the stars have played their parts well and the satire has left the audience in splits. This has encouraged us and also there have been numerous requests for this show to be staged not only pan India but also in foreign shores, regales Vindu Dara Singh.The script of Golmaal  The Play has been written by Lucky Hans. Akashdeep is the creative director.
North Korea has again pressured South Korea to return a group of North Korean women who defected from a restaurant in China in 2016.

In an editorial titled "Unconditional Repatriation" on Sunday, the propaganda website Uriminzokkiri said, "Our people, who are being held against their will, must be returned to the arms of their family members without delay according to their wishes."

It accused the South of "inhumane acts" for refusing to repatriate the women after the "crime of enticement and forced abduction has become clear to the world." North Korea questioned South Korea's willingness to improve cross-border relations.

The demand came just after the North agreed to resume high-level talks later this week which were originally scheduled to take place on May 16 and canceled unilaterally by the North.

Pundits predict that North Korea will link the repatriation of the female defectors with South Korea's request to resume reunions of family members separated during the 1950-53 Korean War.

One researcher at a state-run think tank here said, "High-level talks will be held as planned on Friday since they were decided during the second summit" between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"But a Red Cross meeting which is necessary for reunions of separated families to take place could be canceled," he added. "We cannot rule out the prospect of the North Koreans making a fuss over the repatriation of the female defectors during the upcoming high-level talks."

During high-level talks that took place in January of this year, which were the first of such kind between the two sides since the Moon Jae-in administration was launched, North Korea raised the issue of the female defectors and refused to accept South Korea's request to resume reunions of separated families.

The North went on the offensive again after a South Korean broadcaster reported last month that the defection was orchestrated by the National Intelligence Service.


MUMBAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

With Eid around the corner and festive shopping on the go, what better time to launch a new collection than on this holy month of Ramadan. Candere by Kalyan Jewellers unveils their new launch - Noor - musings of Morocco.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/697730/NOOR_by_Candere.jpg )



This Moroccan jewellery collection is the first-of-its-kind at Candere and is limited to 35 products only for its exclusivity. It has been envisioned keeping in mind the upcoming festivities and the need for something less casual.

Inspired by the architectural genius of Marrakech, of the kingdom of Morocco; the designs exude an aura of fairy tale romance, mystic allure and Arabian magic. 'For the girl in you that believes in fairytales'- a tagline that aptly describes the inspiration for this collection. As children we have heard stories of the Arabian Nights; this collection pays homage to those memories. Keeping in sync with Moroccan motifs and architecture i.e. intricate geometric patterns, zellige tile work and arches, Noor collection is designed around one such motif and is available exclusively for online shopping.

The collection has been designed and launched around the fact that people are considering ordering Eidi for their dear ones. Noor is a small collection of mostly rings and pendants and also earrings. Noor collection has been launched in the traditional yellow gold color, available both in 18K and 14K. The collection retails at Rs. 7,700 only and can be customized in white gold and rose gold options.

Visit Moroccan Jewellery collection here - https://www.candere.com/trending/noor.html

About Candere.com:

Candere.com is one of India's growing e-commerce companies dealing majorly in online shopping of diamond jewellery (diamond rings, earrings, etc.) and has shot to limelight with its recent merger with Kalyan Jewellers. Candere commenced business with a vision of bringing the offline diamond industry to the online market making it available to the masses in India.

To visit the website click on link https://www.candere.com/

Media Contact:

Naushaba Ara

[email protected]

+91-22-61066202

Content Head

Enovate Lifestyles Pvt Ltd



SOURCE Candere.com
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, one reporter who visited the North said, "North Korean guides were well informed, perhaps because of their job, which is to handle information about the South." Many of the guides worked for the North's Foreign Ministry and affiliated agencies.

The North Koreans they met showed keen interest in South Korea's regional elections scheduled for next month and knew about stories like power blogger "Druking," who is accused of large-scale opinion-rigging in favor of now-President Moon Jae-in during his election campaign, and the "Me Too" movement.

North Koreans were well aware of South Korean issues, according to reporters who visited the North's nuclear test site in Punggye-ri to witness its demolition.

Another reporter said the guides knew about "the Druking scandal and Me Too movement. They were even reluctant to shake hands with a female journalist due to concerns they might be misunderstood."

A reporter for the state-run [North] Korean Central TV claimed that there was no radioactive contamination near one of the tunnels at the test site and asked South Korean journalists to drink water from a nearby stream. One South Korean reporter said, "I suggested he drink the water first, but he refused."

The reporters said the only people they spotted along the 21 km trip from the nearest train station to the Punggye-ri test site were soldiers manning the seven military checkpoints en route.

Another said, "We saw buildings appearing after passing around 7 km from the nuclear test site, and there were cornfields even though we could not spot any people."

Foreign journalists said earlier that when they took a train in Wonsan they were not allowed to open the curtains until reaching Kilju, from where they went by road to Mt. Mantap, apparently to prevent them from seeing the exterior.


MUMBAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

SMEs need consulting to grow, says Pravin Daryani, CMD, A&A Business Consulting Pvt. Ltd

Management consulting space in India has grown at a rapid 15% in the recent past. Where the need for consulting is growing, poor implementation results in consulting services not translating into real time business growth. No wonder, businesses taking consulting services from the market are unhappy and dissatisfied for one reason or the other.

To counter this, "The consulting organizations and clients need a better understanding of what consulting assignment can do for a business. Consultants must learn to fulfil out-of-contract professional expectations of the clients. It should be more about knowledge and implementation and less about mere advice, says Pravin Daryani," CMD of Mumbai based A&A Business Consulting Services Pvt. Ltd, the leading consulting company for SMEs in India.

Mr. Daryani further says, "SME is a different class in itself; their challenges are local and unique. Our team of consultants are groomed and trained to understand the challenges these SMEs face and purpose of consulting in that context."

He further added, "Working with SME needs a different approach and thought process altogether and our biggest strength is culture connect to the extent that we understand the pains and mind-set of Indian SMEs to the core. Our clients are able to understand our approach which is simplified in the form of certain set of doables, which our team of professionals implement at the businesses of the SME clients."

Anyone who has been into servicing SMEs in India, Mr. Daryani's words will ring true to his ears. In the times that we are living, the dynamic business environment, political and social situations, regulatory changes and economic-growth India is witnessing, mere advice or motivational talk might not serve the purpose of taking Indian SME to the next level. The time has come when we need to shoulder the responsibilities of the SME owners thereby helping them implement the ideas, driving actions in their businesses to effect real time change in business.

About A&A Business Consulting

A&A Business Consulting (AABC) is India's leading consulting company for Small and Medium Enterprises. Founded in 2009, AABC has completed 1500 full-fledged consulting projects assisting businesses achieve organised growth. We have presence in 7 states across India with a network of 18000+ SMEs. At AABC, our vision is to assist individuals and organizations to GROW. Remaining rooted to our vision, we completed assisting 1239 businesses grow financially in March 2018. We are working towards our next mission of assisting 2020 businesses grow financially by 31st March 2020. We can foresee the change we want to bring in the SME sector in India. We want to craft the financial destinies of millions of SMEs by assisting them grow in an organized way.

Media Contact :

Nitin Bang

[email protected]

+91-9993126216, Corp comm

A&A Business Consulting Pvt. Ltd



SOURCE A&A Business Consulting Pvt Ltd (AABC)
CHENNAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

- Its products recognises 80 plus global languages; deployed by more than 70 enterprises

- Plans to further tap into global opportunities; to set up presence in US

On the eve of successful completion of 10 years since its incubation, Uniphore Software Systems (Uniphore), the leader in voice/speech recognition-based technology solutions, announced its global expansion plans and foray into the United States of America, the largest potential market for its solutions.

Incubated at IIT Madras in 2008, Uniphore was founded by Umesh Sachdev and Ravi Saraogi with a vision to unleash the power of speech and help bridge the digital divide, globally. The company offers three products based on speech recognition which includes its flagship offering auMina, which is a speech analytics product; Akeira, that provides voice-based virtual assistance; and amVoice, which reduces possibilities of human error by using voice biometrics. The company has already established its leadership in India and is growing at a rapid pace in South East Asian market.

Speaking on the occasion of 10 years of its operations, Umesh Sachdev, Co-founder & CEO, Uniphore, said, "Uniphore has emerged as the leader in speech recognition-based technology. Our solutions can understand more than 80 Indian and global languages. More than 70 enterprises across the globe depend on our products and solutions to deliver superior Customer Experience to their customers. We have been growing at a rate of 100% in the last three years and are looking to clock yet another 300%-400% growth in the coming years. Entry into the US market will catapult us to the next level as it is the biggest market for our products."

According to a study conducted in 2017 by Opus Research (commissioned by Uniphore), organizations globally are looking at implementing speech technologies to provide superior customer experience and improve business performance. Globally, 53% of the respondents said they have deployed speech analytics for 'Workforce Optimization' while 50% for 'Discovering the root cause of customer experience failures', and 49% for 'Quick identification of customer intent'. In India, the primary driver to deploy speech analytics in the business is 'Increasing Sales and Collections'.

Uniphore is funded by John Chambers, Kris Gopalakrishnan, IDG, IIFL, Indian Angel Network (IAN), YourNest Fund, and Ray Stata.

About Uniphore:

Uniphore Software Systems is headquartered in IIT Madras Research Park, Chennai. Uniphore was incubated in IIT Chennai, India in 2008 and currently has offices in India, Singapore and U.A.E with about 100 employees spread across all locations. Uniphore's investors include Kris Gopalakrishnan, IDG Ventures India, India Angel Network, YourNest Fund and Ray Stata. Uniphore has worked with over 70 enterprise customers and served over 4 million end users. Uniphore was recognized by Deloitte as a Technology Fast 500 company in Asia Pacific in 2014 and was also ranked as the 10th fastest growing technology company in India by Deloitte Fast 50 in 2015. Uniphore's Co-Founder and CEO, Umesh Sachdev was recognized by the TIME Magazine list of 2016 amongst '10 Millennials Changing The World', and in India's edition of MIT Technology Review's 'Innovators Under 35 for the year 2016.

http://www.uniphore.com.

For editorial queries, contact:

Karthik Kannan

[email protected]

+91-9686612531

Senior Account Executive

Hill and Knowlton Strategies



SOURCE Uniphore Software Systems
Growing portfolio of regional accounts sparks need for seasoned sales professional to further capitalize on Envestnet | Yodlee success in region.

REDWOOD CITY, California, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Envestnet | Yodlee (NYSE: ENV), a leading data aggregation and data analytics platform for digital financial services, is pleased to announce and welcome Matt Cockayne, Vice President of Sales in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa (EMEA). Mr. Cockayne comes with a wealth of experience having spent the last several years at Smart DCC and SunGard FIS where he was instrumental in managing revenue, P&L and business growth. Matt's earlier experience includes scaling and running the EMEA commodities business for SunGard FIS and leading EMEA delivery organisations at OpenLink International and Allegro Development. Matt started his career at Accenture and has a Masters in Science from Imperial College London.

Matt aims to help Envestnet | Yodlee bring about innovative and flexible data aggregation solutions to both new and existing customers in the fast-paced and changing financial services environment in EMEA. Mr. Cockayne will be responsible for expanding Envestnet | Yodlee's global sales footprint and identifying opportunities which unlock new business and revenue opportunities in the region. "The opportunity presented by Envestnet Yodlee to leverage a global market leading offering in EMEA is really exciting. I am really looking forward to helping grow our business in EMEA and help our customers succeed," said Matt.

"Matt is an experienced general manager with a proven track record of identifying key trends, building high-volume sales and revenue teams, and driving transformation while accelerating business growth," said Bill Parsons, SVP, Products and Data Analytics. "With his extensive work in management consulting and financial services, Matt brings a client-focused and deep understanding of the fintech ecosystem in the UK, EU and abroad. As our new VP of EMEA, there's no one better to help accelerate our vision in the region."

Envestnet | Yodlee is excited to have Mr. Cockayne on board and looks forward to a successful future with him.

About Envestnet



Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE: ENV) is a leading provider of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness. Envestnet's unified technology enhances advisor productivity and strengthens the wealth management process. Envestnet empowers enterprises and advisors to more fully understand their clients and deliver better outcomes.

Envestnet enables financial advisors to better manage client outcomes and strengthen their practices. Institutional-quality research and advanced portfolio solutions are provided through Envestnet | PMC, our Portfolio Management Consultants group. Envestnet | Yodlee is a leading data aggregation and data analytics platform powering dynamic, cloud-based innovation for digital financial services. Envestnet | Tamarac provides leading rebalancing, reporting, and practice management software for advisors.

Envestnet | Retirement Solutions provides an integrated platform that combines leading practice management technology, research, data aggregation and fiduciary managed account solutions.

More than 87,000 advisors and 3,000 companies including: 16 of the 20 largest U.S. banks, 43 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms, over 500 of the largest Registered Investment Advisers, and hundreds of Internet services companies, leverage Envestnet technology and services. Envestnet solutions enhance knowledge of the client, accelerate client on-boarding, improve client digital experiences, and help drive better outcomes for enterprises, advisors, and their clients.

For more information on Envestnet, please visit www.envestnet.com and follow @ENVintel.

Related Links

http://www.yodlee.com



SOURCE Envestnet | Yodlee
The rapidly aging society is causing the number of deaths to outstrip the number of births. The number of deaths in Korea remained at around 200,000 per year from 1970 until last year but is expected to surpass 300,000 this year and reach 420,000 in 2030 and 570,000 in 2059.

In contrast, the number of births each year fell from 1 million in 1970 to around 300,000 last year and is expected to fall even further to 240,000 in 2040 and 170,000 in 2059, according to Statistics Korea.

Some 2.86 million deaths occurred in Korea last year to reach the highest level since statistics began in 1970, while the number is forecast to surpass 300,000 this year. The number of deaths reached 81,800 during the first three months of this year, up 12.1 percent compared to the same period of 2017.

Lee Ji-yeon at Statistics Korea said, "The number of people in their 70s and 80s is rising steeply, so it seems obvious to see the number of deaths surpass 300,000 next year."

As a result, population decline due to natural causes is expected to start in 2023, five years earlier than the government had expected.


Traditional motor shows are losing their luster as many major carmakers are turning their eyes on IT expos.

The Paris Motor Show in October is expected to be downsized this year as major automakers are not participating. Marking its 120th anniversary this year, the Paris show is one of the world's four biggest alongside Detroit, Geneva and Frankfurt.

Earlier this month Volkswagen already announced its decision to pull out of the event this year, while other carmakers including Ford, Infinity, Lamborghini, Matsuda, Nissan, Opel and Volvo followed suit.

Volkswagen said it could instead host "various communications activities" in Paris, including test drives. "The Volkswagen brand is continually reviewing its participation in international motor shows," it added.

Jaguar, Land Rover, Matsuda and Porsche also did not take part in the Detroit Motor Show in January, and three major German brands -- Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz -- have already made it clear that they will not participate from next year.

A considerable number of automakers including Bentley, Honda, Ssangyong, Volkswagen and Volvo are not participating in the Busan Motor Show next month either.
Market Players Play Oil Price Guessing Games

The international market of crude oil seems to be in panic. Yet, the panic is snowballing. The reason for that is said to be the statement made by Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak about the possibility of easing the OPEC+ deal in June 2018, which came as a surprise to the international trading community.

In response to the statement, oil prices started going down on Thursday. The next day, a barrel of Brent oil cost under $77, which is over 2% below the recent open prices. At that point, the biggest newsmakers were participating in a major energy summit in Saint Petersburg, Russia. During the summit, they made some more of those unexpected statements. For instance, Mr. Novak is convinced that when oil prices are too high, the market gets overheated, which further leads to instability and excessive market supply. In the meantime, the Oil Minister of Saudi Arabia confirmed that the OPEC+ participants would probably start increasing their oil production in the second half of the year. The Russian minister agreed and clarified that this would probably take place somewhere in Q3 2018.



Its interesting to note that just a couple of weeks ago, most experts were convinced that the OPEC+ deal would be extended until the end of the year during the next summit. However, their desire to stick to the agreement was undermined by a number of geopolitical factors like Donald Trumps decision to impose new sanctions on Iran, the OPECs second-biggest oil producer, as well as the aggravating oil crisis in



Its interesting to note that just a couple of weeks ago, most experts were convinced that the OPEC+ deal would be extended until the end of the year during the next summit. However, their desire to stick to the agreement was undermined by a number of geopolitical factors like Donald Trumps decision to impose new sanctions on Iran, the OPECs second-biggest oil producer, as well as the aggravating oil crisis in Venezuela and some other factors.

Today, the international community is no longer divided over the direction of the future trend. Instead, they are trying to guess how deep and fast the prices will go down in the near future. Some of the participants of the mentioned summit say that 50-60 dollars per barrel represent fair oil prices at this point.







You are free to discuss this article here: forum for traders and investors
If you were looking for the Charlestown Democratic Town Committee website and ended up here, try this





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The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which mysteriously vanished more than four years ago, has ended in failure.

Ocean Infinity, a private American exploration company based in Houston, said Tuesday that it had covered 112,000 square kilometers of the ocean floor but ultimately found nothing.

The aircraft disappeared in 2014 carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in one of the world's biggest aviation mysteries.

The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China suspended the official search after scrutinizing about 119,139 square kilometers of the Indian Ocean floor at a cost of more than $150 million. Officials then concluded that the probable crash site was farther north.
Rio de Janeiro is just one option on a Holiday of a Lifetime Holidays of a Lifetime are a product exclusive to Goway, and each carry both an exclusive fun theme, and the companys exclusive Promise of Something Special.

With nine different itineraries across its most popular destinations, Goway Travels Holidays of a Lifetime are the companys exclusive, deluxe small group escorted tours. Passengers who book one of these tours by June 30, 2018 will receive a complimentary air credit to make the journey just that bit more comfortable.

Holidays of a Lifetime are a product exclusive to Goway, and each carry both an exclusive fun theme, and the companys exclusive Promise of Something Special. Fully inclusive of meals and accommodation of First Class quality or better, each is also led by an expert Tour Director, who takes care of the little things including tips. Holidays of a Lifetime itineraries include trips to South America, India, China, Southern Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.

Globetrotters who take advantage of this offer will receive up to $500 per person in air credit toward their Business Class international flight. Those booking Premium Economy will receive $250 per person, while those booking Economy Class will receive $100 per person. Holidays of a Lifetime and flights must be booked by June 30, 2018, but can be for any eligible Holidays of a Lifetime Departure.

Since 1970, Goway has been providing unforgettable travel experiences to Africa, Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Central & South America, Idyllic Island destinations and Europe. Today Goway is recognized as one of North America's leading travel companies for individuals, families and groups to select exotic destinations around the globe. Goway has offices in Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Manila, and Sydney, Australia.

For reservations and information, visit http://www.goway.com, or call 1-800-387-8850.
Srijan Technologies Rahul Dewan, CEO, Srijan said, We have always believed in giving back to the Drupal community. So when Megan (Executive Director, Drupal Association) talked about the need for more people to handle community work, we decided to help.

Srijan, one of Asias largest Drupal companies, has recently renewed its Signature Supporting Partnership with the Drupal Association.

Drupal is an open-source content management system that powers websites for many Fortune 500 enterprises, non-profits, and government organizations. Drupal Association is the organization that supports and recognizes the contribution of individuals and agencies to the Drupal project.

Srijan has been a Supporting Partner to the Drupal Association for several years now. The company has actively contributed to the Drupal core, and has been instrumental in the growth of the Drupal community in India.

In late 2017, Srijan adopted a new mode of extending its support to the community. They pledged their former Drupal community manager as a full-time resource to the Drupal Association. This year, Srijan has committed to maintaining this contribution, thus renewing the partnership. Srijan is one of the first Drupal companies to have sponsored a full-time employee to work exclusively for the community.

Srijan is now a Signature Supporting Partner to the Drupal Association, the highest level of partnership currently available.

Responding to this, Rahul Dewan, CEO, Srijan said, We have always believed in giving back to the Drupal community. So when Megan (Executive Director, Drupal Association) talked about the need for more people to handle community work, we decided to help. We are honoured to once again contribute a full-time resource to the Drupal Association. And we will continue extending our support in any manner possible, to grow and support the vibrant community.

Srijan has been consistently sponsoring Drupal events across the globe since the past ten years. Most recently, Srijan sponsored DrupalCon Nashville, one of Drupals largest community events. Srijans team of digital transformation experts were showcasing their innovative enterprise solutions that leverage Drupal, IoT, chatbots, machine learning and more.

Moving forward, Srijan aims to build increasingly innovative Drupal solutions for its clients. Srijan is leveraging emerging tech like AI and Deep Learning, and recently launched an algorithm that uses these technologies to streamline the KYC process for financial institutions.

About Srijan

Srijan Technologies is one of Asias largest Drupal companies, with offices across USA, UK, India, Japan, Singapore, Philippines, Australia and Germany. They specialise in enterprise web application development using Drupal. They also deliver services across Data Science, API Management, DevOps, IoT, and Machine Learning. Among their key clients have been: Crain, Sealed Air, Flight Center, OPEN Magazine, Vogue, OnCorps, Zoho, TUI, Conde Nast Traveller, global consulting, and telecom enterprises. The Srijan team combines keen business sense and technology expertise to power digital transformation for enterprises across industries. For more information, please visit: http://www.srijan.net
The 12th-annual Global Wellness Summit will be held at Technogym Village, Cesena, Italy from October 6-8, 2018.

The Global Wellness Summit (GWS), the foremost gathering of leaders in the $3.7 trillion global wellness economy, today announced that Andrea Illy, chairman of the global coffee brand illycaffe, will keynote at the 12th annual conference taking place Oct. 6-8 at Technogym Village in Italy. A humanist scientist, Illy has wide-ranging accomplishments as an entrepreneur and as an activist for sustainable and ethical businesses; for Italian culture, art and design; and for governments to put happiness at the heart of policy.

Its an honor to have Andrea Illy keynote at the Summit, said Susie Ellis, GWS chairman and CEO. As a businessman hes shown that you can create a brand powerhouse and true global culture based on your own valuesaround sustainability and ethics, and the importance of happiness, wellness, and arts and culture.

Ellis noted that by combining high quality standards with concepts of pleasure, health and sustainability, Illy has been a key force in transforming coffee from a mere commodity to a global cultural obsession and ritual.

A longtime promoter of art and culture, since 2013, Illy has served as chairman of Altagamma, which represents the most important brands in Italys cultural and creative industries and is the official ambassador of the Italian lifestyle to the world. Passionate about creating happier, healthier people and nations, he is also a patron ofand Fondazione Ernesto Illy is the sole sponsor ofthe influential World Happiness Report. Hes won diverse global awards for business and sustainability leadership: from illycaffe being named one of the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere Institute for seven consecutive years to Illy being named Marketing Superstar by Advertising Age. The author of Espresso Coffee: the Chemistry of Quality and Coffee: the Dream, Illys new book, an economic and philosophical discussion of what could drive a new Italian Renaissance, will be released in October.

I look forward to addressing the worlds wellness leaders in Italy this October, said Illy. There is much I want to share with delegates: from what conscious leadership can do for companies to how happiness will be a much more powerful future focus for both governments and brands. I also look forward to discussing the importance of art and culture in any true concept of wellbeing and whats unique about the Italian lifestyleand how important it will be to Italys future.

More about illycaffe

Andrea Illys grandfather founded illycaffe in 1933 when he developed the first modern espresso machine. A family-owned business for three generations, its products are now sold in over 100,000 outlets in 140 countries. The company has pioneered important innovations in the coffee industry and culture, such as the direct procurement of green coffee from farmers; the University of Coffee, to promote the science of coffee excellence at all levels; and the sustainability certification of the entire production chain. In 2011, illycaffe became the worlds first company to earn the Responsible Supply Chain Process certification from industrial standards arbiter DNV GL.

More about Andrea Illy

A scientist by training, Illy received his degree in Chemistry from the University of Trieste, his Executive MBA from Milans SDA-Bocconi, and has earned degrees from the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School and the Executive Program at Silicon Valleys Singularity University. He holds numerous high-profile positions including honorary president of the Association for Science and Information on Coffee (ASIC).

The Global Wellness Summit is the worlds largest conference on the business of wellness and always a sold-out event. To apply to attend, click here.

About the Global Wellness Summit: The Global Wellness Summit (GWS) is an invitation-only international gathering that brings together leaders and visionaries to positively shape the future of the $3.7 trillion global wellness economy. Held in a different location each year, Summits have taken place in the U.S., Switzerland, Turkey, Bali, India, Morocco, Mexico and Austria. The 12th annual Summit will be held at Technogym Village, Cesena, Italy from October 6-8, 2018.
Cooperative organizations serve a critical role in our communities, says Rose. As a cooperative association ourselves, Farm Credit fully embraces this unique organizational model."

Andrew Rose, MidAtlantic Farm Credits director of innovation, strategy and development, has been appointed to the board of directors for the Keystone Development Center. Rose will be serving as the organizations treasurer, with his term beginning this month.

The Keystone Development Center is a non-profit corporation headquartered in Ephrata, Pennsylvania, funded by the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. The organization, which was established in 1999, provides technical and research assistance to businesses who wish to operate under the cooperative model across Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey.

Cooperative organizations serve a critical role in our communities, says Rose. As a cooperative association ourselves, Farm Credit fully embraces this unique organizational model. The Keystone Development Center works to support the inception and on-going operations of successful cooperatives, and I am very excited to join their team to help them continue to fulfill their mission.

For more information about the Keystone Development Center, please visit kdc.coop.

About MidAtlantic Farm Credit

MidAtlantic Farm Credit is an agricultural lending cooperative owned by its memberborrowers. It provides farm loans for land, equipment, livestock and production; crop insurance; and rural home mortgages. The co-op has over 11,400 members and over $2.71 billion in loans outstanding. MidAtlantic has branches serving Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. It is part of the national Farm Credit System, a network of financial cooperatives established in 1916 to provide a dependable source of credit to farmers and rural America.
Pelican Water is thrilled to announce that our flagship Mobile Showroom will be appearing at the Tampa Bay Home Show this June. The Mobile Showroom replicates the convenience of the recently launched In-Home Consultation service that brings knowledgeable and friendly Pelican Water experts into the comfort of your own home. We cannot wait to reach more Tampa residents who are ready to take control of their water after chlorine and questionable water quality continue to plague the city of Tampa and surrounding areas.

Through our Mobile Showroom, attendees can examine our catalogue of point-of-entry home filtration systems, softeners, and well water treatment options with the assistance of a Pelican sales professional. All visitors can then schedule an in-home consultation for follow up following the show. The Mobile Showroom provides the same basic services that our hugely successful In-Home Consultation appointments provide. Since launching our In-Home consultations the response has been extraordinary, said Iain Whyte, CEO of Pelican Water. More and more Florida families are installing Pelican Water systems in their homes as a final solution to protect against chlorine and many water contaminants found throughout the state.

Our Mobile Showroom brings factory direct pricing, superior customer service, and a large inventory of products directly to the exhibit floor of the Tampa Bay Home Show. The Tampa Bay Home Show features leading home improvement brands showcasing the latest trends in home remodeling, from kitchens and bathrooms to flooring and windows. Citizens from all over the area can make the drive and view all that Pelican Water has to offer before considering a purchase.

The Tampa Bay Home Show is produced by the Tampa Bay Times. Come experience the Pelican Water Mobile Showroom on Friday, June 1st, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, June 2nd, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; or Sunday, June 3rd, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission and parking for the Tampa Bay Home Show are completely free.

Visit the Tampa Bay Home Show to view our signature filtration systems and learn how Pelican Waters city and well water products can protect you from the spike in chlorine in Tampas public water. The Tampa Bay Home Show will take place at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg between June 1st and June 3rd. Reserve your space for the Tampa Bay Home Show by emailing dlabell@tampabay.com today.

About Pelican Water Systems

PelicanWater.com is the official, factory-direct retail website for Pelican Water Systems, providing professional knowledge and leading technologies in whole house water filtration, countertop water filtration systems, UV bacteria disinfection systems, and salt-free water softening and conditioning systems. Pelican Water products use cutting-edge technology to enable customers to go green by eliminating wasteful and harmful salt brine discharge that is polluting our valuable fresh water resources. Pelican Water is also proud to offer under-counter reverse osmosis systems that are small enough for practical use in RVs and marine vessels. Pelican Water continues to be the global market leader in salt-free water softening systems. For more information about Pelican Water Systems, visit PelicanWater.com.
IP Cores, Inc., (California, USA, http://www.ipcores.com) has announced additional shipments of the cores from its RS200 forward error correction IP core family that supports the IEEE 50, 200, and 400 Gbps standards.

RS200 is a well-known series of cores that follow in the footsteps of our hugely successful RS100 family, said Dmitri Varsanofiev, CTO of IP Cores, Inc. Our developers will keep tracking the progress of the fast-moving IEEE 802.3 standardization group, so that our customers always have access to the FEC IP cores that are reflecting the Clause 91 and Clause 134 in the latest versions of the standards.

IEEE 50G, 200G, and 400G Ethernet

IEEE 802.3bs (http://www.ieee802.org/3/bs/) standardization group had added 400 Gbps data rate to PHYs to the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet specification and and IEEE 802.3cd (http://www.ieee802.org/3/cd/) is adding the 50, 100, 200 Gbps. RS200 cores, shipping for more than a year, support the ASIC designs targeting these standards and are available in a variety of bus widths and target clock rates.

The RS200 FEC cores support the RS(528, 514) and RS(544, 514) ocdes. Just like the RS100 family, RS200 cores support channelization (a.k.a. fracturability, ability to process in time-multiplexed fashion, for example 1x400 Gbps stream, 2x200 Gbps, 1x200 + 1x100 + 2x50 Gbps, etc.).

About IP Cores, Inc.

IP Cores (http://www.ipcores.com) is a rapidly growing California company in the field of security, error correction, data compression, and DSP IP cores. Founded in 2004, the company provides hardware IP cores for embedded, communications and storage fields, including AES-based ECB/CBC/OCB/CFB, AES-GCM and AES-XTS cores, MACsec 802.1AE, IPsec and SSL/TLS protocol processors, flow-through AES/CCM cores with header parsing for IEEE 802.11 (WiFi), 802.16e (WiMAX), 802.15.3 (MBOA), 802.15.4 (Zigbee), public-key accelerators for RSA and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), true random number generators (TRNG), cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generators (CS PRNG), secure cryptographic hashes (SHA-1/MD5, SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, SHA-3), lossless data compression cores, low-latency and low-power fixed and floating-point FFT and IFFT cores, as well as cyclic, Reed-Solomon, LDPC, BCH and Viterbi forward error correction (FEC) decoder cores.

All mentioned trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
37th Awards Night Our industry relies on a steady flow of new talent, new ideas, and a passion for engineering. I want to ensure that students are able to fulfill their desire to study and eventually work in the field of engineering

Edward McMahon, CEO of Epec Engineered Technologies donated $6,500 to the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School scholarship fund in celebration of Epecs 65th anniversary.

In an effort to support the local community and the field of Engineering, the local vocational high school was chosen as a recipient of the donation. Students were selected based upon their service to the school and community as well as for demonstrating academic excellence. The scholarship will be distributed to seven students that completed their studies in engineering, drafting, and machine technology.

The scholarship was conceived as part of Epecs Engineers of the Future which is a focus on working with students studying STEM related material.

McMahon says, Our industry relies on a steady flow of new talent, new ideas, and a passion for engineering. I want to ensure that students are able to fulfill their desire to study and eventually work in the field of engineering.

McMahon is a graduate of the Engineering program at Clarkson University and has worked in the field for decades. Based upon the success of this inaugural scholarship, Epec plans to continue to scholarship in the future and expand to internship and mentorship programs.

About Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School

Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School is a public, four-year vocational technical high school that enrolls more than 2,000 students. GNBVT is one of the largest vocational-technical high schools in Massachusetts. The schools roots date back nearly a century. In 1955, it became the first vocational high school to be accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

About Epec, LLC

Epec Engineered Technologies is the ideal choice for an OEM seeking customized product solutions from a focused and agile partner having supported over 5,000 customers across all sectors of the electronics industry. By providing highly experienced technical resources, a proven manufacturing platform and the fastest delivery in the industry, we are able to provide cost effective and innovative solutions that deliver the highest reliability products to the market faster. Visit http://www.epectec.com/ for more information.
San Francisco Sexual Harassment Attorney Employees may tolerate behavior at work that is not only unethical but illegal.

California Civil Rights Law Group, a San Francisco Bay Area law firm specializing in sexual harassment and discrimination law at http://www.civilrightsca.com/, is proud to announce a short, informative post for the lay public on workplace discrimination and harassment. Even in the San Francisco Bay Area, these issues remain common at work, and persons who may be experiencing either harassment or discrimination (or both) are urged to not only read the post but reach out for a private, confidential attorney consultation.

"Employees may tolerate behavior at work that is not only unethical but illegal," explained Larry Organ, principal attorney at the Bay Area-based law firm. "The post explains to the layperson some of the issues involved in seuxl harassment and workplace discrimination not only here in the San Francisco Bay Area but really anywhere in California or the United States."

To read the post in full visit http://www.civilrightsca.com/2018/05/12/what-to-do-discrimination-at-work/. The post has easy links for more information embedded in it; for example, to learn about sexual harassment legal issues in easy-to-understand language, visit http://www.civilrightsca.com/sexual-harassment-discrimination/sexual-harassment/. It must be noted, however, that nothing on the website nor the blog should be construed as legal advice. Persons who believe that they may be facing harassment or discrimination should reach out to the law firm for a private, confidential attorney consultation. With San Francisco Bay Area offices in both San Anselmo (Marin County) and Oakland (Alameda County), the law firm makes it easy for persons to reach out. Indeed, those in San Francisco or down the Peninsula can also take advantage of phone consultations with the firm's attorneys.

The blog post identifies three important steps. The first step is to preserve evidence. Second, it recommends that an employee report any harassing or discriminatory conduct to a supervisor and/or the human resources department. Third, a complaint should be filed as soon as possible with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing and the federal Equal Opportunity Commission. Finally, the post recommends that an attorney should be consulted as the administrative and legal issues are complex and subject to error.

ABOUT CALIFORNIA CIVIL RIGHTS LAW GROUP

Headed by renowned trial lawyer Larry Organ, California Civil Rights Law Group (http://www.civilrightsca.com/), is a leading employment law firm with San Francisco Bay Area offices in Oakland, Alameda County and San Anselmo, Marin County, California. Employees experiencing sexual harassment, race harassment, disability discrimination, LGTBQ discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, whistleblower retaliation and/or wrongful termination should reach out for an attorney consultation in either our Oakland/East Bay or San Anselmo/Marin County office.

Media Relations.

Tel. 415-453-4740
Peter Doghramji, a pastor, theologian, biblical scholar, and teacher born and raised in Aleppo, Syria who, among other academic distinctions, was awarded the ThM degree by Harvard Universitys Divinity School and a doctorate with honors from Princeton Theological Seminary, has completed his book Trinitarian Ethics: a scholarly dissertation on the ethical implications of two of the worlds great monotheistic faiths.

Monotheism is the belief in one Supreme Being, God. Belief has its consequences. The believer is expected to follow moral precepts and ethical norms peculiar to the faith. In this book, Dr. Doghramji explains the similarities and differences among adherents of various monotheistic faiths such as Christianity and Islam.

Christian monotheism is Trinitarian, while Islam is Unitarian. What are the ethical implications of Muslim monotheism and Christian trinitarianism?

Dr. Doghramji demonstrates the transcendence of Christian ethics over all forms of morality, particularly Islam.

Published by New York City-based Page Publishing, Peter Doghramjis book is a detailed and insightful examination of the moral precepts at the foundation of the Christian and Muslim faiths.

Readers who wish to experience this thought-provoking work can purchase Trinitarian Ethics at bookstores everywhere, or online at the Apple iTunes store, Amazon, Google Play, or Barnes and Noble.

For additional information or media inquiries, contact Page Publishing at 866-315-2708.

About Page Publishing:

Page Publishing is a traditional New York-based full-service publishing house that handles all the intricacies involved in publishing its authors books, including distribution in the worlds largest retail outlets and royalty generation. Page Publishing knows that authors need to be free to create - not bogged down with logistics like eBook conversion, establishing wholesale accounts, insurance, shipping, taxes, and the like. Its roster of accomplished authors and publishing professionals allows writers to leave behind these complex and time-consuming issues to focus on their passion: writing and creating. Learn more at http://www.pagepublishing.com.
President to lead summit, with focus on security

From:ChinaDaily | 2018-05-29 04:21

President Xi Jinping will chair the 18th Shanghai Cooperation Organization Summit in Qingdao, Shandong province, on June 910, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday.

Leaders of all SCO member and observer states, as well as heads of some major international organizations, will attend the summit, Wang said at a news briefing in Beijing.

It will be the first summit since the SCO accepted India and Pakistan as member states in Astana last year.

According to Wang, Xi will chair meetings and exchange views with participants on the SCO's current status and future development, cooperation in various areas under new circumstances and major international and regional issues.

Xi and leaders of other member states will sign and release the Qingdao Declaration, and approve cooperative documents on security, economy and humanity, including a threeyear action plan on fighting the "three evil forces" of terrorism, separatism and extremism.

The declaration will draw lessons from the SCO's experience of development since its establishment in 2001, continue to uphold the "Shanghai Spirit" and boost solidarity and mutual trust among member states.

The summit also will speak with a loud voice about improving global governance, consolidating the multilateral trade system and striving to create a better external development environment for member states, Wang said.

During the meeting, leaders of SCO member states will discuss new measures to improve security cooperation amid the current international and regional security situation, contributing to world peace.

Wang said the meeting also will formulate new plans to strengthen the interconnection of all parties' development strategies, including the Belt and Road Initiative, to boost regional economic cooperation.

"We hope this summit will draw an overall blueprint with a clear direction and path for the development of this organization," Wang said.

Kyrgyz President Sooronbay Jeenbekov, Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and Russian President Vladimir Putin will make state visits to China from June 6 to 10, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday in Beijing.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also will pay a working visit to China, Lu said.
Karla Jo Helms, CEO of JoTo PR, discusses the risk of cutting corners in the case of a security breach. Those who delay or cut corners could soon find themselves facing a PR disaster of far greater magnitudeas well as skyrocketing costs.

More than 2.6 billion digital records were lost, stolen or exposed last year in 1,765 data breach incidents, including 1,453 in the United States.(1) Each breach cost U.S. businesses an average of $7.35 millionnearly 10% more than the 2016 average of $6.69 million;(2) and Equifax alone has already spent over $242.7 million to address last years massive data theft.(3) Karla Jo Helms, founder and CEO of JoTo PR, aims to educate businesses on the costs and repercussions of security breaches, as well as steps to prevent them. In light of hefty crisis management expenses, she recommends proactive public relations efforts as a cost-effective way to manage brand reputation and help mitigate crises before they escalate.

Despite ongoing advances in cybersecurity, data breaches continue to occurand reoccurwith alarming regularity. Among companies that suffered a successful attack in 2017, there is a 27.7% likelihood they will experience another data breach within 24 months.(2) It takes businesses an average of 191 days to detect a data breach and 66 days to contain it.(2) Within the United States, the average costs of each data breach include:



$1.07 million for detection and escalation, including investigation, assessment, auditing and crisis team management;

$690,000 to notify customers, including creating a contact database, postage and other communication costs, and engaging outside experts;

$1.56 million for post-breach response, including customer support, legal fees, remediation, regulatory interventions and inbound communications; and

$4.13 million in lost business costs, including high levels of customer turnover, increased customer acquisition costs, reputational damage and loss of goodwill.(2)

Though companies may balk at the expense of IT security and other proactive and preventative measures, theyre far less costly than a data breach, noted Helms. In Equifaxs case, the company has already recorded hundreds of millions of dollars in losses; and when lawsuits are factored in, the total could run into billions. Certain expenses are unavoidablesuch as repairing the breach and attempting to make things right for customersbut businesses should also budget for crisis management expertise from the moment a breach is discovered. Those who delay or cut corners could soon find themselves facing a PR disaster of far greater magnitudeas well as skyrocketing costs.

Equifax has received harsh criticism for the poor handling of its 2017 breach,(4) which impacted 147.7 million Americans.(1) The company waited nearly six weeks before announcing the breach, which was discovered July 29, and three of its executives sold off nearly $2 million in shares in the interim. Instead of reaching out directly to impacted consumers, Equifax set up a websitebut it wasnt ready for days. When the company offered free credit-monitoring services to those affected by the breach, it initially required enrollees to waive their right to sue. And after Equifaxs initial September 7 statement, CEO Richard Smith did not publicly address the matter for nearly a week, until he published an op-ed piece in USA Today on September 13.(4)

The PR nightmare that followed this breach was largely of Equifaxs own making, asserted Helms. Beyond allowing the hack to happen and failing to encrypt personally identifiable information, Equifaxs lack of transparency, ineffectual communications and focus on profits over people made the company seem careless, bumbling, greedy and insensitive to consumers plight. Better crisis-management efforts and a customer-first response could have saved Equifaxs reputation from taking such a hit; consumers may have been more forgiving if they believed Equifax cared as much about their losses as its own. Likewise, proactive public relations could have gone a long way in establishing goodwill and reducing lost businesswhich accounts for more than half of the costs of each data breach.

Helms says there are several important steps companies can take to mitigate financial and reputational damage in the event of a data breach:

1. Encrypt all sensitive data, which protects customers personal information and renders it useless to hackers. Among the data breaches recorded in 2017, only 3.1% involved encrypted datathe rest of the files were completely vulnerable.(1)

2. Securely store and manage all encryption keys to keep them out of the hands of cybercriminals.

3. Control access to data and encryption keys, and require authentication of all users. While malicious outsiders perpetrate 72% of data breaches, 9% are the work of malicious insiders.(1)

4. Maintain a relationship with an experienced crisis management firm. When a crisis strikes, you need to have a plan of action ready to goand its best if that plan comes from an expert who fully understands your business and customers.

5. Engage in proactive public relations on an ongoing basis. This not only helps to improve brand reputation, but it can help foster a positive connection between consumers and a business that makes them want to believe the best of a company.

Market growth, market positioning and competitor dynamics are the fiercest indicators of a companys health and valuation, says Helms. Proactive PR tactics can bring these to lifeand can help a company blunt reputational crisis hemorrhaging.

JoTo embraces a nonconventional approach to public relations, with Helms serving as the companys Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR Strategist. She has identified three key stages to achieve return on investment (ROI) in PR: disruption, exposure and influence. By parlaying these tools in combination with JoTos extensive crisis management expertise, Helms has earned a reputation for developing highly effective proactive campaigns.

About JoTo PR:

After doing marketing research on a cross-section majority of 5,000 CEOs of fast-growth trajectory companies and finding out exactly how they used PR, how they measured it and how they wanted the PR industry to be different, PR veteran and innovator Karla Jo Helms created JoTo PR and established its entire business model on those research findings. Helms is the Chief Evangelist and Anti-PR Strategist for JoTo PR. Experienced in crisis management, she learned firsthand how unforgiving business can be when millions of dollars are on the lineand how the control of public opinion often determines whether one company is happily chosen, or another is brutally rejected. Astute in recognizing industry changes since its launch in 2009, JoTo PRs team utilizes newly established patterns to create timely PR campaigns comprising both traditional and the latest proven digital media methods. This unique skill enables them to continue to increase market share and improve return on investment (ROI) for their clients, year after yearbeating usual industry standards. Based in Tampa Bay, Florida, JoTo PR is an established international public relations agency. Today, all processes of the agency are streamlined PR services that have become the hallmark of the JoTo PR name. For more information, visit JoTo PR online at https://jotopr.com.

(1) Gemalto. 2017 Breach Level Index Report; April 11, 2018.

(2) Ponemon Institute. 2017 Cost of Data Breach Study; report sponsored by IBM Security; June 2017.

(3) Equifax. Equifax Releases First Quarter Results; press release issued April 25, 2018.

(4) Wiener-Bronner, Danielle. Equifax Turned Its Hack Into a Public Relations Catastrophe; CNN Money; September 13, 2017.
The Quinism Foundation has sent correspondence to the Acting Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) and current Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Robert Wilkie, calling upon the VA to implement universal screening of recent veterans for a history of symptomatic exposure to the antimalarial drug mefloquine (previously marketed in the U.S. as Lariam).

Mefloquine has been widely used by the Department of Defense (DoD), particularly for the prevention (or prophylaxis) of malaria among U.S. military personnel, since it was licensed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1989.

In 2013, after nearly a quarter-century of use by DoD, the FDA warned that mefloquine can cause long-lasting and even permanent adverse effects. The DoD has since declared mefloquine a drug of last resort, and has all but eliminated the drugs use.

However, recent media coverage has revealed that the VA is unable to account for which service members were previously exposed to the drug, and which veterans may be affected [1]. In 2012, the Assistant Secretary for Defense for Health Affairs, in a memorandum from a subordinate office within Wilkies current department at DoD [2], conceded that, Some deploying Service members have been provided mefloquine for malaria prophylaxis without appropriate documentation in their medical records and without proper screening for contraindications.

Mefloquine exposure is the cause of a hidden epidemic, said Remington Nevin, MD, MPH, DrPH, executive director of The Quinism Foundation. The lasting effects of mefloquine are undoubtedly the cause of mental and physical disability among veterans, but because documentation is so poor, neither VA nor DoD have any idea how large or how serious this epidemic is.

Recent research confirms that nightmares and other abnormal dreams affect nearly 1 in 7 of those exposed to mefloquine [3], and that more than 1 in 5 of those who complain of nightmares report this symptom continuing as long as three years after exposure [4]. Authors at the U.S. militarys Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), where mefloquine was developed, have noted [5] that mefloquine toxicity can persist for several years after exposure has been discontinued, with little to no abatement in symptoms over time. Furthermore, given the overlapping symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and mefloquine toxicity, it can be challenging to distinguish between the two diagnoses.

Screening for symptomatic exposure during a clinical encounter can be as quick and simple as asking the veteran Did you take mefloquine, and if so, While you were taking the drug, did you experience one or more of these symptoms? said Dr. Nevin. If the veteran reports symptomatic exposure, clinicians should retain an index of suspicion that any chronic neurologic or psychiatric symptoms, including those reported, could represent effects of mefloquine poisoning, a medical condition also known as chronic quinoline encephalopathy or neuropsychiatric quinism.

Although the VA has recently awarded several disability claims to veterans for permanent neuropsychiatric conditions including anxiety and insomnia that the VA has concluded were due to exposure to mefloquine while serving in the military [6], Dr. Nevin cautions that, these are likely the tip of a very large iceberg.

For every mefloquine veteran who has been successfully awarded service-connected disability compensation by the VA, I am personally aware of several others with disabilities caused by mefloquine poisoning who have been denied compensation, either because their clinicians have misattributed these to non-service-connected conditions, or because the veteran is missing documentation of exposure, said Dr. Nevin. Screening for symptomatic mefloquine exposure is a necessary first step to raising VA clinicians awareness of the prevalence of mefloquine poisoning among the recent veteran population. Screening will also permit the VA to estimate the total number of veterans exposed, how incomplete prescribing documentation may be, and how many veterans may be suffering disability who may become eligible for compensation.

About The Quinism Foundation

The Quinism Foundation promotes and supports education and research on quinism, the family of medical disorders caused by poisoning by quinoline drugs, including mefloquine and tafenoquine. Founded in January 2018, the Quinism Foundation is supported by private donations and is advised by an international committee chaired by Mr. Andrew Bryce, of Dublin, Ireland. The Foundations board of directors includes retired U.S. Navy Commander William Manofsky, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Gregory Alderete; Michael Little, U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class, Individual Ready Reserve; and retired U.S. Army Colonel and former psychiatry consultant to the Army Surgeon General Dr. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie.

Dr. Nevin is a board-certified occupational medicine and preventive medicine physician and former U.S. Army medical officer and epidemiologist. He is author of more than 30 scientific publications on malaria and the quinoline antimalarials, including Screening for Symptomatic Mefloquine Exposure, published in Federal Practitioner (see: https://www.mdedge.com/fedprac/article/132560/mental-health/screening-symptomatic-mefloquine-exposure-among-veterans).

1. McCarren, A. Veterans say anti-malarial drug they were ordered to take isn't in medical records. May 1, 2018 (see: https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/local/veterans-say-anti-malarial-drug-they-were-ordered-to-take-isnt-in-medical-records/65-547667488).

2. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. Memorandum Dated 17 Jan 2012, Subject: Service Review of Mefloquine Prescribing Practices.

3. Tickell-Painter M, Maayan N, Saunders R, et al. Mefloquine for preventing malaria during travel to endemic areas. The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2017;10(10):CD006491.

4. Ringqvist A, Bech P, Glenthj B, et al. Acute and long-term psychiatric side effects of mefloquine: A follow-up on Danish adverse event reports. Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease. 2015;13(1):8088.

5. Livezey J, Oliver T, Cantilena L. Prolonged Neuropsychiatric Symptoms in a Military Service Member Exposed to Mefloquine. Drug Safety Case Reports. 2016;3(1):7.

6. Nevin RL, Ritchie EC. FDA Black Box, VA Red Ink? A Successful Service-Connected Disability Claim for Chronic Neuropsychiatric Adverse Effects From Mefloquine. Federal Practitioner. 2016;33(10):2024.
Levvel, a fast-growing global strategy and technology consultancy, is pleased to announce the opening of a new office in London, England.

This announcement follows Levvels recent opening of an Atlanta office, its tenth location since the company was founded in 2014. Levvel is expected to hire 75 new employees in the next 9-12 months and is approaching $40 million in annual revenue. Specific to the London office, Levvel is expected to hire up to 15 employees within the next year.

The London office will be led by Managing Director Daniel Clayden, formerly of Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan, Accenture, and Credit Suisse.

My interest has always resided in helping companies use technology to improve their competitive advantage and multiply their differentiators, said Clayden, speaking to his vision for the London office and Levvels unique opportunity in the United Kingdom.

It's exactly what I find exciting about working for a company with the impressive ethos and culture of Levvel. I look forward to utilizing our deep capabilities and innovative culture to further help clients create and manage disruptive technology solutions.

My background is in Financial Servicesa big part of what well be focusing on earlybut a key attraction to me was to move beyond FSI (Financial Services Industry) and focus on other industries and the technology itself. I'm thrilled to be leading the London office, our first in Europe, and I look forward to being an integral part of its growth.

The London location allows Levvel to put down roots in Europe while strategically tapping into the enormous potential of capital markets in the UK.

John Espey, Levvel CEO and co-founder, explained why Levvel chose London as its third international office location, joining Australia and Singapore.

With the tremendous work Levvel is doing for global investment banks in both the North American and Asia-Pacific regions, the London office establishes a footprint for Levvel in all three major banking center geographies, said Espey.

This became a big opportunity for us, with capital markets being one of the fastest-growing parts of Levvels business. Dans industry expertise, working relationship with many of our existing employees, and deep industry network makes him a natural fit to lead our expansion into the UK.

Levvel COO Jim Devlin spoke about the strategic market opportunities that London offers and where he sees Levvel making an immediate impact.

We couldnt be more pleased to have Daniel Clayden join us, given his extensive career in several global financial institutions, said Devlin.

London is a natural extension of our geographic footprint and allows Levvel to better support our global customers. With London being a global financial hub and Levvels best-in-class expertise in digital transformation for the financial market, this move is an obvious one.

Many of the markets we are focused on are operating in increasingly complex regulatory environments, and Europe and London are sitting at the forefront of this movement.

About Levvel

Levvel helps clients transform their business with strategic consulting and technical execution services. We work with IT organizations, product owners, and innovation teams to design and deliver on business priorities.

We have extensive expertise in application development, DevOps, cloud technology, product innovation & design, retail banking, capital markets, and payments. Our consultants are industry veterans with wide business-domain knowledge and a specific focus on financial services, insurance, digital media, and healthcare.

For press inquiries and interview requests, contact:

Michael Aprile

pr(at)levvel.io

(980) 278-3065
Your end-to-end medical device development partner This partnership grows the RTP ecosystem and will result in getting products to the market much quicker

Nocturnal Product Development, LLC (Research Triangle Park, NC) has entered into a strategic global partnership with TechWald Holding SpA (Turin, Italy and Tel-Aviv, Israel) to evaluate, fund, and develop innovative medical technologies.

"We are excited to announce this partnership with TechWald Holding as it enhances our service capabilities in the US and expands our footprint into Europe and Israel. We believe that a prearranged partnership with a global source of funds completes our development lifecycle offerings to our clients. With an international funding option, this partnership grows the RTP ecosystem, provides access to physicians in Europe and Israel, and will result in getting products to the market much quicker." says Terry Ransbury, President of Nocturnal.

"The partnership with Nocturnal Product Development is contributing a strategic asset to TechWald Holding network of expertise in scouting and assessing innovative medical technology, and in enhancing the development capabilities of its invested companies, with the ultimate goal of retiring innovation development risks and increasing financial returns for our investors" says Alessandro Piga, Managing Director of TechWald Holding.

Nocturnal Product Development, LLC is a medical device development firm located near Research Triangle Park, Durham, North Carolina. The company specializes in multi-disciplinary technology product development with expertise in: electrical design, mechanical design, embedded software, optics, IOT, wireless, cloud-based applications, project management, and clinical & regulatory strategy.

TechWald Holding S.p.A - TWH - is an international participation holding company located in Italy and Israel and investing in healthcare innovation with a key strategic focus on the MedTech industry and on medical technologies and solutions which can demonstrate strong benefit and value for healthcare community and reward investors with a sound and ethical profit. TWH approach is to maximize the risk-adjusted return on investments in technologies whose innovation is more effective for patients and physicians, more efficient for healthcare providers and more sustainable for healthcare payers.
PTS Diagnostics, a U.S.based manufacturer of point-of-care biometric testing devices, today announced that they are expanding operations in Indianapolis and building a new global headquarters.

In order to support continued rapid growth, the in vitro diagnostics company is investing in additional manufacturing and office space, and moving their global headquarters to Whitestown. The new 135,000 square foot building is slated to open in June of 2019 on the southwest corner of Anson Blvd and C.R. 450 South.

A private groundbreaking ceremony with executives, architects, builders and representatives from PTS Diagnostics parent company, Sinocare, was held on the morning of Tuesday, May 15. A company-wide celebration is planned for summer 2018.

PTS Diagnostics is still in high-growth mode, and our organization has evolved considerably in the past decade, said Robert Huffstodt, President and CEO of PTS Diagnostics. As an organization, we pride ourselves on the ability to adhere to our core Hoosier values while scaling the business globally in accordance with growing demand and the expansion of our product lines. In addition to acquiring a manufacturing facility in California, we recently opened a sales office in Bangalore, India. In December, we announced the launch of a new retail point-of-care software for health screeners that is poised to create a niche in the expanding field of population health management.

PTS Diagnostics currently has more than 150 employees in its flagship Indianapolis location and 86 employees in its Sunnyvale, California facility, which was acquired in late 2013. The company continues to grow much faster than the rate of industry growth, and this expansion will bring jobs to Indianapolis in the finance, marketing, chemistry, engineering, and manufacturing sectors, amongst others. Interested applicants are encouraged to monitor the PTS Diagnostics career center at ptsdiagnostics.com/career-center.html.

According to Indiana Universitys Kelley School of Business, the economic impact of Indianas life sciences industry has climbed to more than $63 billion and is comprised of roughly 60,000 employees  making it one of the top states for in vitro diagnostics.

The Browning/Duke Realty joint venture is proud to partner with PTS Diagnostics and assist them with the development of a building that is capable of meeting their growth and manufacturing needs, said Mark Hosfeld, Vice President of Leasing and Development at Duke Realty. Indiana has a booming life sciences sector and this new global headquarters represents a continued commitment to the point-of-care technology that will further solidify their place in this rapidly growing industry.

About PTS Diagnostics:

Through its People, Technology and Service, PTS Diagnostics creates health innovation that drives action and results. Since 1992, we have helped medical professionals and patients achieve better health outcomes through our accurate, precise, fast, affordable, and certified point-of-care medical devices. Healthcare professionals have used our CardioChek products to assess cardiovascular disease risks for more than 140 million patients worldwide through lipid panel screening. And, our A1CNow systems, which provide fast and reliable HbA1c testing, have helped physicians deliver more effective treatments to patients with diabetes. From our headquarters in the United States of America, we design, manufacture, and market our products to more than 140 countries around the globe. For more information, visit ptsdiagnostics.com.

About Browning

Founded in 1977, Browning remains one of the premier development companies in Indianapolis and is engaged in the acquisition, development, construction, leasing, management, ownership and disposition of investment real estate properties, primarily in the Indianapolis metropolitan area. In total, Browning has developed and constructed more than 25 million square feet of space of bulk industrial space. To learn more, visit: http://www.browninginvestments.com.

About Duke Realty Corporation

Duke Realty Corporation owns and operates approximately 149 million rentable square feet of industrial assets in 20 key U.S. logistics markets. Duke Realty is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol DRE and is listed on the S&P 500. The company maintains a Baa1 rating from Moodys Investor Service and a BBB+ rating from Standard & Poors Financial Services. More information about Duke Realty Corporation is available at http://www.dukerealty.com. Duke Realty also can be followed on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.

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Natura strongly believes in the transformational power of the beauty industry, with the use of technology and network innovation to develop solutions that promote environmental and social change

NaturaBrasil was named winner of Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Beauty Insiders Excellence in Sustainability Award. It recognizes a beauty brand that seeks to reduce its environmental impact and has moved further toward the goal of sustainability in multiple facets of its business.

The criteria for this award are based upon the four science-based sustainability principles promoted by the international network of non-profits, The Natural Step. Candidates must demonstrate measurable changes that have been implemented within the past three years.



How a brand helps to reduce the use of fossil fuels and mined materials

How a brand reduces introduction of non-biodegradable materials to the environment

How a brand helps to reduce the loss or damage to natural resources

How a brand demonstrates consideration for people's needs and rights, in the company, supply chain, and the communities in which it operates

Natura strongly believes in the transformational power of the beauty industry, with the use of technology and network innovation to develop solutions that promote environmental and social change. We encourage people to turn enterprise into an opportunity to create positive impact within four sectors: economic, social, environmental, and cultural," says Roger Schmid, Global Sustainability Advisor at NaturaBrasil.

The company operates on a value system that the world is interconnected, and that business can be a force for good. This ethos is reinforced by third party accolades including the United Nations Champions of The Earth Award and Naturas status as a B (Benefit)- Corporation. To date, Natura has saved nearly 635,000 acres of Amazon rainforest  the company remains dedicated to sustainability, community development and an inclusive vision of beauty.

CEW hosted the 24th Annual CEW Beauty Awards Luncheon on May 18, 2018, a significant event recognizing the years most innovative beauty products and companies. Held in partnership with the New York Times, the event drew more than 1,200 industry insiders to the New York Hilton Midtown, where winners were named across 44 categories. Alicia Quarles, Correspondent, Daily Mail TV, served as Master of Ceremonies. As innovation in the beauty space grows, so does the abundance of products for consumers to choose from. Now, more than ever, the CEW seal of approval helps consumers navigate the beauty space to make their purchase decisions, said Carlotta Jacobson, President of CEW. Winners are listed on CEWAwardWinners.com throughout the year with shoppable links.

About NaturaBrasil

The Brazilian brand is known for the quality of its beauty products and its commitment to transparency, sustainability and the promotion of well-being. What started in 1969 as a single store in Sao Paulo has grown into Brazils largest beauty brand and a major force in beauty throughout Latin America. It expanded into the US market in 2017.
Intelligent software that mimics the hackers actions is gaining momentum worldwide.

Pcysys, provider of the machine-based penetration testing platform, announced today that Pcysys version 1.5, addresses newly in-force GDPR requirements.

GDPR Article 32, 1(d) requires organizations to regularly test, assess and evaluate their security effectiveness and controls. Existing methods for security validation such as human pen-testing are often performed only once a year. These methods fail to address the GDPR continuous assessment requirement in a cost-effective way, as they provide primarily a point-in-time assessment.

In the arms race of CISOs vs. Hackers, many corporates cannot afford an in-house red team. Others lack the knowledge and tools to predict and defend against sophisticated hackers in a continuous way. This is where Pcysys meets an unattended need with software.

We are at the verge of the industrial revolution of cyber risk validation said Founder and CTO of Pcysys, Arik Liberzon. Intelligent software that mimics the hackers actions is gaining momentum worldwide and solving economically a dire need to validate cyber risk against the real threat and prioritize the remediation efforts.

The European Central Bank (ECB) recently published the European Framework for Threat Intelligence-based Ethical Red Teaming coined as TIBER-EU. The framework aims to unify the methodologies of pen-tests which mimic the tactics and techniques of real hackers who target financial institutions.

We are in agreement with the TIBER-EU framework that threat-based risk validation is the preferred path towards the enhancement of corporate cyber resilience said CEO of Pcysys, Amitai Ratzon. Our growing network of partners and service providers can now act on this methodology by leveraging our technology to deliver penetration tests safely over critical live production systems.

About Pcysys

Pcysys delivers an automated Penetration-Testing platform that assesses and reduces corporate cyber security risks. By applying the Hackers perspective, our software identifies, analyzes and remediates cyber defense vulnerabilities. Security officers and service providers around the world use Pcysys to perform continuous machine-based penetration tests and improve their immunity against cyber attacks across their organizational networks.

contact@pcysys.com to schedule a demonstration at Infosec.

For more information, please contact:

Aviv Cohen, CMO

Pcysys

+972.54.320.7204

aviv@pcysys.com
Attorney Kathryn L. Harry Attorney Kathryn L. Harry, of Kathryn L. Harry & Associates, P.C., has been honored with a 2018 Elite Lawyer Award for the areas of Illinois Divorce.

Attorney Kathryn L. Harry, of Kathryn L. Harry & Associates, P.C., has been honored with a 2018 Elite Lawyer Award for the areas of Illinois Divorce. The Elite Lawyer rating service recognizes attorneys who display a high level of competence in their practice and receive acknowledgment from their peers, community, bar and committees.

For more than 25 years, Oak Brook, Illinois attorney Kathryn Harry has represented clients in divorce cases involving property division, child support and the allocation of parental responsibilities. She founded her law firm in 1995 on the principal of teamwork.

In the past, Harry has served as chair of the DuPage County Bar Associations Professional Responsibility Committee and Bankruptcy Committee of the DCBA. She has also been an advisor to the Legal Referral Service Committee and member of the subcommittee for the Family Law Trial Advocacy Workshop for Practicing Attorneys.

Harry earned her bachelors degree in finance from Millikin University, located in Decatur, Illinois, in 1988 and her juris doctor from DePaul University, located in downtown Chicago in 1991. She was admitted into the Illinois State Bar and U.S. District Court, Northern District Bar in 1991. In 2005, she was admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court Bar.

Designed to assist potential clients in finding an experienced legal professional to address specific legal needs, the Elite Lawyer tools and resources provide information on distinguished attorneys throughout the United States.

The Elite Lawyer Award assures that each attorney selected to the directory has received a nomination from their peers for displaying excellence and a high level of skill with the law. Awarded only to those who have met or exceeded the criteria of a rigorous, multi-phased selection process, the Award recognizes top-rated attorneys for their excellence and outstanding service in their specific area or areas of practice.

Only the most outstanding and experienced attorneys receive the Elite Lawyer Award. A prestigious nomination and presented only to legal professionals who are able to meet or exceed its demanding criteria, it sets these exceptional attorneys apart from their peers when consumers use the directory to search for a top-notch attorney in their area.

The Elite Lawyer Award speaks highly of how well each nominated attorney is perceived by their legal community. For more information about Elite Lawyer, or to become a member of the esteemed directory, visit https://www.elitelawyer.com/.

About Kathryn L. Harry & Associates, P.C.:

The attorneys at Kathryn L. Harry & Associates, P.C., take a personal approach to serving clients who need representation in cases involving divorce, family law, and criminal defense. The firm believes that its clients should understand their rights and options before making any decisions. Located in Oak Brook, Illinois, the firm serves clients in Hinsdale, Lombard, Villa Park, Addison, Westmont, Glen Ellyn, Downers Grove, Wheaton, Willowbrook, Clarendon Hills, and surrounding areas. To learn more about the firm or schedule a free initial consultation, call 630-472-9700 or fill out the online submission form.
LaCorte News announced today that John Moody, the former head of news at Fox News Channel, has joined the company as Editor in Chief. He will be responsible for all original content on its news platform.

Moody is the former Executive Editor and Executive Vice President of Fox News, where he assembled and managed hundreds of correspondents, editors, and producers around the world. He was responsible for the channels news gathering and reporting on television and all Fox News platforms. He left the network in April.

John Moody is one of the most accomplished and respected journalists Ive ever known, said LCN founder Ken LaCorte. Im lucky to be working with him again.

About LaCorte News

LCN is a news startup based in the San Francisco area that will launch this summer, combining a unique news delivery platform with human editors and reporters. It's an app/mobile/desktop suite of products delivering both original news and video with hundreds of daily curated stories from around the internet.

Journalism has lost its way. From hyper-partisanship to clickbait, do you really trust the headlines anymore? said Moody. Reporters have too often become advocates and the media is going off the rails. Weve found a way to help fix that."

The company was founded by Ken LaCorte, who ran all editorial at FoxNews.com from 2006 to 2016. He served as a senior executive at Fox News for 18 years, including as Director of News Editorial and as Western Bureau Chief.

The company has drawn heavily from former Fox News talent, including two former executive editors of FoxNews.com, Jeff Misenti, FNC's former Chief Digital Officer and former FoxNews.com editor Drew Lynch, who serves as Managing Editor.

Roger Ailes built an outstanding senior team and many of them have been purged, said LaCorte. I am taking full advantage of that.

For more information: lacortenews.com, contact(at)lacortenews(dot)com or (415) 493-8534
You CAN save a life! The chance of survival can triple when victims of sudden cardiac arrest receive immediate care from bystanders. Past News Releases RSS Thousands More Lives Could Be Saved...

Parent Heart Watch Wins National...

Parent Heart Watch and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation have joined forces to urge the public to learn CPR and how to use automated external defibrillators (AEDs) to help save lives threatened by sudden cardiac arrest. The co-sponsored Call-Push-Shock campaign is being launched to coincide with National CPR and AED Awareness Week June 1-7, a national observance designated by Congress in 2007.

Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. It affects more than 356,000 people each yearincluding 7,000 youth under age 18and unfortunately only one in every 10 victims survives. The survival rate has remained at about 10 percent for 30 years because the public is not as prepared as it could be to help save lives.

The campaign leverages results of a recent national research study conducted for the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation by global consumer research firm StrataVerve. Findings indicate most Americans are unfamiliar with sudden cardiac arrest and the critical importance of immediate bystander intervention. However, when exposed to a clear description of SCA, both the perceived importance of learning CPR and AED skills, and the likelihood to give CPR or use an AED in an emergency jump significantly.

We learned that two messages show the greatest strength in grabbing attention and motivating the public to act. The realization that Sudden cardiac arrest can happen to a loved one and the impact CPR and AEDs have in doubling or tripling the chance of survival connect on both emotional and rational levels, explains Jennifer Chap, co-founder of StrataVerve.

When sudden cardiac arrest occurs, its vital for people nearby to call 911, start CPR and use an AED, if one is available, said Mary M. Newman, MS, president of the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation. In fact, the chance of survival can triple when victims receive immediate care from bystanders. Whats more, she said, Since about 70 percent of cardiac arrests occur in the home, chances are bystanders will be called upon to help someone they know and love.

The two nonprofits, members of the National Cardiac Arrest Collaborative, urge interested parties to visit Call-Push-Shock to learn more, and to help raise awareness during National CPR and AED Awareness Week June 1-7 by sharing information through their social media channels using the hashtag #CallPushShock.

Sudden cardiac arrest is a public health crisis, said Martha Lopez-Anderson, executive director of Parent Heart Watch. There is a critical need to raise awareness about sudden cardiac arrest, educate people about the importance of taking immediate action, and empower communities to provide CPR training and widespread access to AEDs.

About the Call-Push-Shock Campaign

The Call-Push-Shock campaign is an educational initiative for National CPR/AED Awareness Week June 1-7, co-sponsored by Parent Heart Watch and the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation, members of the National Cardiac Arrest Collaborative. The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and the likelihood that bystanders will help victims by calling 911, giving CPR, and using AEDs. For information, reach out to contact@callpushshock.org.

About Parent Heart Watch

Parent Heart Watch is the only national advocacy organization focused solely on protecting youth from sudden cardiac arrest. PHW is comprised of parents and other advocates who have been personally touched by sudden cardiac arrest or sudden cardiac death and who now put their time and effort into preventing SCA/SCD in the young throughout their communities. For information, reach out to contact@parentheartwatch.org.

About the Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation

The Sudden Cardiac Arrest Foundation is a national community benefit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to raising awareness about sudden cardiac arrest and saving lives. The Foundation serves as an information clearinghouse on sudden cardiac arrest. Programs include educational outreach initiatives and an online community that provides peer support and opportunities for survivors, family members and other advocates to participate in awareness, advocacy, and research initiatives. For information, reach out to info@sca-aware.org.
Most five-star hotels in Kathmandu love to experiment with food by hosting numerous food festivals. Over the past year, hotels have hosted Chinese food festival, Hyderabadi food festival, Thai food festival and so on and to continue the trend, Hotel Yak & Yeti in association with the Sri Lankan embassy is host food festival at the Sunrise Restaurant until June 2.

As I had no idea about Sri Lankan food, I couldnt help but go try some. But that said, I was a bit sceptical if the food would actually be Sri Lankan. And my doubts disappeared when I met chef Publis who comes all the way from Sri Lanka especially for this food festival.

Chef Publis Silva, 82, has a PhD and has been involved in the food industry for the last 65 years. He also has two Guinness book records  one for the smallest cookbook and the other for cooking kheer (rice pudding) with 1020 kg rice.

Chef Publis and executive chef Sagar tell me about Sri Lankan food and how it is different from South Indian cuisine. Sri Lankan food is a combination of flavours which is different to Nepal and India. As Sri Lanka are surrounded by sea, most of the items in the buffet could be categorised as seafood cooked using coconut, tamarind, mustard and curry leaves. Sri Lankan food has its unique blend of spices and is ideal for everyone as it is not too spicy.

Chef Sagar tells me that the food is similar to that eaten in Kerala and Tamil Nadu but the spices used in Sri Lankan food is different from that used in Indian food. Indian food is spicy, but Sri Lankan cuisines are milder.

Sri Lankans dont use artificial colours or flavours while preparing food and they also dont use animal fat or milk.

Hotel Yak & Yeti regularly hosts these festivals in order to promote world cuisine and give their patrons a different taste every few months. As the restaurant changes its menu every day, chef Sagar and chef Publis head out to the market every morning and get ingredients available in Nepal to prepare Sri Lankan food.

In total, there are 12 hot dishes out of which 3-4 are rich dishes. Apart from that they also have five different salads, a soup and 12 different varieties of dessert.

After an informative conversation with the chefs, I indulge in the meal.

To start with, I went for the coriander soup. It was my first time tasting it. I must say it was quite a pleasant surprise as the soup tasted really good and was full of flavours.

I am not a huge fan of salads so I directly went for the main course which had 12 different items.

I tired some red rice along with the baked crab as recommended by chef Publis. The rice was a bit odd for my liking but the baked crab was lovely. It had a strong taste and was creamy and had its own distinct flavour. That they bring live crabs all the way from Chennai makes the dish even better.

With it I also tried the prawn devilledthe only spicy dish on the menu. The dish was a glamorous and flavoursome addition to a spread as it added a special touch with its lively taste and appearance.

Another interesting item I tried was the kotu roti. These are rotis (flatbread) chopped and cooked the way Nepalis cook fried rice. It tasted quite nice and was a tasty mixture of salty pieces of fried dough, lightly spiced which was extremely fulfilling.

Along with that, I also tried the hoppers. They looked like dosa but were different in taste and texture. The batter, I was told, is made from a slightly fermented concoction of rice flour, coconut milk, coconut water and a hint of sugar. The hoppers perfectly complimented the curries on the buffet.

After a fulfilling and hearty main course, it was time to indulge in the dessert. For a sweet tooth, I couldnt stop but help myself to all the available sweets. The tiramisu was quite nice and tasty but what I liked the most was the coconut pancake and the wood apple pudding which were both unique and appetising.

All in all, the whole meal was extremely satisfying. It wasnt just me who was enjoying the meal, the Sunrise Restaurant was full of peopleboth local and foreignerswho were looking happy with the spread. The best part is that the chefs are on the floor and visit each table to ask the patrons what they think about the food.

The food festival is runs till June 2.

Photos by: Bikash Shrestha

Venue: Sunrise Restaurant

Time: 6.30  10.30 PM

Rate: 2500+ taxes

Phone: 01-4248999
We are pleased that not only LeaseAccelerator, but also the new category of software  Enterprise Lease Accounting  is being recognized.

LeaseAccelerator, the pioneer in the Enterprise Lease Accounting software market, was named the winner of a Bronze Stevie Award in the Company of the Year, Computer Software category at The 16th Annual American Business Awards.

More than 3,700 nominations from organizations of all sizes and in virtually every industry were submitted this year for consideration in a wide range of categories, including Startup of the Year, Executive of the Year, Best New Product or Service of the Year, Marketing Campaign of the Year, Live Event of the Year, and App of the Year, among others. LeaseAccelerator was nominated in the Company of the Year category for Computer Software.

LeaseAccelerator is the first enterprise application designed specifically to help companies comply with the new lease accounting standards and automate the business process lifecycle for their leases. The typical Fortune 500 company has between 1,000 and 10,000 leases, representing a dollar value between $100 million and $15 billion, but has no enterprise application to track these financing arrangements or the underlying assets. LeaseAccelerator enables companies to automate the record-to-report, procure-to-pay and acquire-to-dispose lifecycles for real estate, vehicle fleet, IT and other equipment leases.

We are pleased that not only LeaseAccelerator, but also the new category of software  Enterprise Lease Accounting  is being recognized for its critical importance to business performance, said Michael Keeler, CEO of LeaseAccelerator. Leasing is one of the few multi-trillion-dollar business processes that has not yet been disrupted by technology. We strive to help companies comply with SEC accounting regulations and save millions of dollars per year through smarter procurement and financing strategies, noted Keeler.

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.

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.

Details about The American Business Awards and the list of 2018 Stevie winners are available at http://www.StevieAwards.com/ABA.

About LeaseAccelerator

LeaseAccelerator offers the market-leading SaaS solution for Enterprise Lease Accounting, enabling compliance with SOX, SEC and current and new FASB and IFRS standards. Using LeaseAccelerators proprietary asset-based Global Lease Accounting Engine, customers can account for all categories of leases including real estate, fleet, IT, material handling and other equipment at an asset level. On average, LeaseAccelerators Lease Sourcing and Management applications generate savings of 17 percent on equipment leasing costs with smarter procurement and end-of-term management. Learn more at http://www.leaseaccelerator.com/.

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.
Rabbi Sirkman

On Tuesday, May 22, Calvary hosted a joyous celebration to dedicate a new mantle cover for a sacred Torah scroll. This 135-year old Torah scroll -- dating from 1880 -- is originally from the town of Taus-Domazlice, in what is now known as The Czech Republic. Since 1988, it has been on permanent loan to Calvary from the Memorial Scrolls Trust in London. Of the more than 1,400 MST scrolls currently on permanent loan around the world, Calvary's scroll, No. 515, is one of only 20 in the greater New York area today and one of just a handful that has gone to non-Jewish recipients.

At the event, Rabbi Jeffrey J. Sirkman, Senior Rabbi of Larchmont Temple in Larchmont, NY, shared his own CalvaryCareSM experience with his beloved wife, Susan, in 2015. Calvary cared for her in their home and at the Hospitals 200-bed Bronx campus. Before he blessed the new mantle cover, Rabbi Sirkman spoke about how Torah is important every day and how this particular scroll represents "undying hope."

During World War II, the Nazis confiscated Jewish ritual items and sacred Torah Scrolls from Jewish communities of Bohemia and Moravia, then known as Czechoslovakia. In 1964, the Westminster Synagogue in London, England, received 1,564 Torah scrolls from Prague and established the Memorial Scrolls Trust to restore the scrolls and distribute them to communities throughout the world. To learn more about the Trust, visit http://www.memorialscrollstrust.org.

Thanks to the significant support from the Charles R. and Winifred R. Weber Foundation, Calvary launched the restoration in November 2015. By the time this project was completed in November 2016, more than 200 donors had made gifts that amounted to more than $111,000. Once all restoration expenses were covered, the remaining funds benefited all patients and families under Calvarys care.

Jewish patients and families at Calvary have many amenities at their fingertips. Three rabbis at Calvary care for hundreds of Jewish inpatients and home hospice patients each year. In addition to kosher food upon request, Jewish inpatients and their families can expect a daily visit from a rabbi, food from an expanded Kosher Hospitality Room, dedicated Shabbos Lounge, Kabbalat Shabbat service, and celebrations of all major holidays.

The Hospitals outreach to the Jewish community has been spearheaded by Dr. Michael J. Brescia, Executive Medical Director.

About the Company:

Since 1899, Calvary Hospital has been the nations only fully accredited acute care specialty hospital devoted exclusively to providing palliative care to adult patients with advanced cancer and other life-limiting illnesses. Each year, thousands of patients receive CalvaryCare throughout the greater New York area. To learn how Calvary can help you and your family, please visit http://www.calvaryhospital.org.
Monica Eaton-Cardone, entrepreneur and IT executive in the fraud prevention industry, discusses the diversity gap and the impact it has on VC firms. VC firms that invest almost exclusively in male-led companies arent just doing a disservice to women, but they may be limiting their own return on investment.

New data reveals that venture capital (VC) investments remain heavily biased toward menin 2017, companies with all-female founders closed 368 VC deals, compared to 5,588 deals for all-male teams and 1,046 for mixed-gender teams. Women-led startups also received a smaller share of VC dollars, landing just $1.9 billion (2.2%) of the $85 billion in VC investments last year and averaging $5.16 million per deal versus $11.97 million for male founders.(1) Yet evidence shows that women entrepreneurs often outperform males, both in VC portfolios(2) and in crowdfunding campaigns(3, 4) Monica Eaton-Cardone, an entrepreneur and IT executive specializing in risk management and fraud prevention, urges venture capitalists to promote greater diversity within their firms and investment portfolios and to allocate more funding for women in business.

Researchers found that male-led tech companies were nearly twice as likely as female-led startups to receive funding from male investors, and they determined the preference was a matter of taste-based discrimination, including outright sexism and other subtler factors.(5) This implicit biascoupled with the fact that women represent just 8% of partners at top VC firms(1) and only 10% of all venture capitalists(5)may help explain why male-led companies continue to receive a disproportionate share of VC deals and funding. Yet when First Round Capital analyzed its investments over a 10-year period, it found that companies with at least one female founder performed 63% better than those with all-male founders, and three of its top-10 investments had at least one female founder.(2)

In the world of crowdfunding, where women and men have an equal opportunity to vote with their dollars, females have fared better than their male counterparts. An analysis by PwC noted that female-led campaigns are 32% more successful than male-led ones, with success rates of 22% and 17%, respectively.(3) Women even performed better in traditionally male-dominated sectors, achieving a 13% success rate to males 10% in technology and a 16% success rate to males 9% in digital technology.(3) Another study found women are 13% more likely to be successful than men in trying to raise the same amount of money for the same type of project; and in the case of technology campaigns, women met their fundraising goals 65% of the time compared to just 30% for men.(4)

VC firms that invest almost exclusively in male-led companies arent just doing a disservice to women, but they may be limiting their own return on investment, said Eaton-Cardone, who is the co-founder and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Global Risk Technologies and the founder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Chargebacks911. Evidence clearly reveals a solid track record of success among women founders in business and technology. Male investors need to come to terms with their own biases and make an effort to seek out and fund female-led ventures. Otherwise, they may soon find themselves outperformed by a new breed of VC firms that seek to provide more opportunities for female founders.

PitchBook recently highlighted 22 VC firms that are actively investing in female-founded companies, including New Enterprise Associates, Right Side Capital Management, First Round Capital and Golden Seeds, which focuses solely on women-led businesses.(6) Several other funds that invest exclusively in women-led startups include The Helm, Female Founders Fund and Flybridge Capitals new seed fund, XFactor Ventures. Chip Hazard, a general partner at Flybridge and an investment partner at XFactor, spearheaded an initiative called Start With Eight after realizing 90% of his investment meetings were with men. In advance of International Womens Day, he called on fellow investors to commit to take eight meetings with women outside their networks throughout March 2018; in response, more than 40 venture funds made the pledge to #StartWithEight.(7)

After several of the VC industrys most powerful men were accused of sexual harassment and discrimination last year,(1) Eaton-Cardone says investors need to step up and show their support for women entrepreneurs with more than mere words. Women in business and technology deserve to be given a fair shot at funding. Not only is it the right thing to do, but its a smart move for those who aim to maximize their investment opportunities and ROI, she asserted. Eaton-Cardone suggests several ways VC investors can champion women:



Commit to meet with female entrepreneurs, whether you #StartWithEight or go even bigger.

Allocate a set amount to invest in female-led businesses, which can help you break male-centric investing habits and seek out promising new opportunities.

Appoint more women to decision-making positions in funds, which can help overcome the usual male-funding bias and promote a more diverse portfolio.

Provide constructive feedback to female entrepreneurs if you opt not to fund them, which can help them fine-tune their pitch, improve their business plan or come back with an even better product.

Monica Eaton-Cardone is happy to share her insights on the advantages of investing in female-led startups and she welcomes the opportunity to connect with fellow female entrepreneurs at industry conferences and events, where she frequently presents on topics relating to fraud prevention, financial technology (FinTech) and security best practices. She is also available for interviews and future speaking engagements. For more information, visit http://monicaec.com.

About Monica Eaton-Cardone:

Monica Eaton-Cardone is an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, author and industry thought leader who is internationally recognized for her expertise in risk management, chargeback mitigation, fraud prevention and merchant education. Eaton-Cardone found her calling as an entrepreneur when she sold her first business at the age of 19. She later became an eCommerce merchant; and after grappling with chargebacks and fraud, she took it upon herself to develop a comprehensive, robust solution that combined agile technologies and human insights. Today, Eaton-Cardones innovations are helping thousands of organizations achieve sustainable growth, and she continues to pioneer loss-prevention best practices as CIO of Global Risk Technologies and COO of Chargebacks911. Eaton-Cardone is a champion of women in IT and business leadership, and aims to inspire the next generation of young innovators through her nonprofit organization, Get Paid for Grades. Get to know her at http://www.monicaec.com.

1. Zarya, Valentina. Female Founders Got 2% of Venture Capital Dollars in 2017; Fortune; January 31, 2018.

2. First Round Capital. 10 Year Project; July 2015.

3. PwC and The Crowdfunding Center. Women Unbound: Unleashing Female Entrepreneurial Potential; July 2017.

4. Lu, Jiaxi. Study: Women Are More Likely to Succeed in Kickstarter Projects Than Men; The Washington Post; August 15, 2014.

5. California Institute of Technology. Female Tech Entrepreneurs Hampered by Bias Among Male Investors, Study Finds; Caltech news release posted November 16, 2017.

6. Clark, Kate. 22 VC Firms Investing in Female-Founded Companies; PitchBook; updated February 22, 2018.

7. Rosen Andy. Looking to Hire More Women in Tech? Try Meeting With Some; The Boston Globe; March 27, 2018.
American Muslim Fund (AMF) AMF is the first Muslim community foundation in this country, and we are looking to revolutionize the way Muslims give.

The lunar month of Ramadan means many things to Muslims who adhere to the fourth pillar of the faith, Fasting (Saum). The third pillar, Almsgiving (Zakat), is often coupled with Ramadan to increase the merits of ones actions. Today, the American Muslim Fund (AMF) welcomes this holy month of fasting and philanthropy and hopes to amplify the impact American Muslims make with their philanthropy.

According to Giving USA, Americans gave $390 billion in 2016. Muslims represent roughly 1% of the population in the U.S. Our goal is for Muslims to contribute more than 1% of all charitable giving, says Co-Founder Muhi Khwaja. A veteran fundraiser, Khwaja began his career a decade ago and credits his passion to University of Michigans Development Summer Internship Program and was awarded its alumni award in 2017. Khwaja currently works at the American Red Cross.

AMF is the first Muslim community foundation in this country, and we are looking to revolutionize the way Muslims give, says Khwaja. AMF supports Muslims in fulfilling their religious obligations of Zakat and philanthropy (sadaqa) by providing a streamlined vehicle for charitable donations through Donor Advised Funds (DAFs). Since July 2017, AMF has worked with 18 families across the country and has already distributed over $200,000 to more than 70 nonprofit organizations, including hospitals, schools, museums, relief organizations, food banks, and educational institutions.

AMFs vision is to lead sacred, sustainable, and strategic Muslim philanthropy for today, and for future generations. This is accomplished by cultivating a thriving philanthropic ecosystem to advance charitable causes by evolving donor giving and diversifying funding pathways for community organizations. AMF has a goal of building a $5,000,000 endowment by December 2020.

This Ramadan, AMF is looking to open DAFs across the country and seek support on the worlds largest Muslim crowdfunding site, LaunchGood. Those who establish a DAF through AMF receive an immediate tax benefit and can support charities of their choice through grant recommendations. DAFs are growing in popularity and are one of the most efficient and cost-effective alternatives to private or family foundations. Those interested in learning more about supporting AMF, establishing a DAF, or hearing about mini-grants, contact Muhi Khwaja through the AMF website.

About the American Muslim Fund

Founded in 2016, the American Muslim Fund (AMF) is the first grassroots, national community foundation in the United States focused on creating Donor Advised Funds, distributing grants, and building endowments for the Muslim community. For more information, visit their website to subscribe to their email newsletter.
JADPRO Live 2018 The JADPRO Live conference prides itself on bringing focused education to the advanced practitioner, including sharing clinical updates and practical information, and providing opportunities to promote networking among other passionate attendees.

Over 1,400 nurse practitioners, PAs, pharmacists, and additional health-care professionals (collectively referred to as advanced practitioners) will convene at the sixth annual JADPRO Live conference to address the evolving and increasingly complex landscape of cancer care. The meeting will take place from November 1 through 4 at The Diplomat hotel in Hollywood, Florida.

With the abundance of new drug approvals, advancements in patient care, and practice-changing research, attendees will obtain a new understanding of the accelerated complexity of cancer care, and implications for the collaborative practice approach, said Paula Anastasia, RN, MN, AOCN, Conference Chair for JADPRO Live 2018. Practitioners of all levels, such as those with years of experience, or those who may be moving into another practice setting or specialty, will benefit from attending this conference.

The number and impact of advanced practitioners (APs) is growing in the US health-care system: in a 2017 Oncology Trend Report, 75% of oncologists surveyed employ APs, up from 70% in the 2016 Report. Advanced practitioners provide exceptional cancer care by diagnosing and educating patients, providing symptom management, and prescribing medication.

The largest educational conference for advanced practitioners, JADPRO Live is an annual event based on the first journal written by and for oncology and hematology advanced practitioners, the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO). Organizers schedule the conference each year in conjunction with the Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHO) annual meeting.

Highlights of the conference include:



Opportunity to earn up to 21 CE/CME credits

55 world-class speakers shedding light on the latest advancements and key challenges in oncology and hematology

A keynote presentation by Charles F. von Gunten, MD, PhD, from OhioHealth Hospice, a pioneer in palliative care

Networking and professional development activities

Interaction with over 50 exhibitors on the latest therapeutic options available for patients with cancer

More information about the conference is available at http://jadprolive.com

About JADPRO Live

JADPRO Live is a medical conference inspired by the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology. This years meeting will take place from November 14, 2018, at The Diplomat hotel in Hollywood, Florida.

About APSHO

The Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology (APSHO) is a society for advanced practitionersnurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists, clinical nurse specialists, and other oncology health-care professionals. The mission of APSHO is to actualize oncology patient care that is high quality, cost effective, and delivered through collaborative practice models by optimizing the role of the advanced practitioner as an integral member of the care team.

About Harborside

Harborside: The Nexus of Knowledge, is the foremost medical communications company that oncology clinicians turn to for accurate content, news, and education. We understand that knowledge propels advancement. And no matter how quickly advances are made in the struggle against cancer and other diseases, the world will meet here. Harborside is based in Huntington, New York, and is the publisher of the Journal of the Advanced Practitioner in Oncology (JADPRO), The ASCO Post, JNCCNJournal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network, and the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP). Harborside designs educational resources for practicing nurse practitioners, PAs, pharmacists, and other advanced practitioners by publishing JADPRO, organizing the JADPRO Live conferences, and providing the management services for the Advanced Practitioner Society for Hematology and Oncology. Harborside also manages the advertising sales for ASCOs suite of publications, including the Journal of Clinical Oncology (JCO), the Journal of Global Oncology, JCO Clinical Cancer Informatics, and JCO Precision Oncology.
This customer requested a glass port on the door of this space simulator which will be used to shoot a laser beam through for alignment testing of their product.

Tenney Environmental, announced the shipment of a vacuum temperature space simulation system. This space simulator will allow the customer to bring the testing of their products in house. The customer manufactures laser guidance modules for satellites and other space equipment that is used to assure precise locations of equipment while they are docking together.

The Tenney space simulation chamber utilizes a cascade cooling system and has a temperature range of -75C to +125C.

It is constructed with a thermal shroud and thermal platen which will perform the thermal conditioning function. This vacuum chamber has an extremely low maintenance dry roots style roughing pump and a turbomolecular high vacuum pump. The customer also requested a special LN2 trap which is used to attract any outgassed detrimental gasses to prevent contamination of their product.

This type of space chamber is a fairly standard offering for Tenney and can be customized for each customers unique process needs. This customer requested a glass port on the door of this space simulator which will be used to shoot a laser beam through for alignment testing of their product. After our start-up and training of the equipment, the customer was very pleased with the performance and equipment quality.  Rick Powell, Vacuum Products Manager

Unique features of this Tenney space simulation chamber include:



Therma platen supports 200lbs. mass load

5.0 x 10-8 Torr vacuum range

-75C to +125C temperature range

Two (2) 5.0 horsepower semi-hermetic reciprocating type compressors

Start-up and training for operations team

Low maintenance roughing pump

Turbomolecular high vacuum pump

About Tenney Environmental

Tenney boasts the most comprehensive line of standard and custom environmental test chambers and rooms in the industry. Known for innovative engineering design, robust construction, and superior performance, the Tenney line of test chambers is designed to meet all your temperature, humidity, altitude, vibration, and vacuum-testing requirements.

About Thermal Product Solutions, LLC (TPS)

Thermal Product Solutions, LLC (TPS), is a leading American manufacturer of industrial ovens, furnaces, pharmaceutical sterilizers, laboratory ovens, environmental temperature chambers, and stability test chambers. TPS provides thermal processing and test solutions for a range of industries. TPS brands include Baker Furnace, Blue M, Gruenberg, Tenney, Lindberg, Lunaire, MPH, and Wisconsin Oven. For more information on equipment solutions from TPS visit the website at http://www.thermalproductsolutions.com.
"Weve got a fountain of cheesy data flowing from our customers current order behavior" said Craig Key, Chief Marketing Officer at Bite Squad. "But we wanted to zoom out to see how cheesy dish preference changes from state to state.

Americans love their cheesy foods! From the overall most popular pizza to mac-n-cheese to just plain cheese, a survey conducted by Bite Squad, the restaurant delivery service, reveals what cheesy foods Americans love most. The survey was conducted just in time for National Cheese Day, celebrated by cheese lovers across the country on June 4.

At the beginning of May, Bite Squad asked 2,500 Americans What is your favorite food that contains cheese?" An overwhelming 41% of respondents answered pizza, while the second most popular answer was just plain cheese, at 13%. From there, macaroni and cheese, cheeseburgers, lasagna, grilled cheese and tacos rounded out the top seven.

"Weve got a fountain of cheesy data flowing from our customers current order behavior," said Craig Key, Chief Marketing Officer at Bite Squad. "But we wanted to zoom out to see how cheesy dish preference changes from state to state.

Using the survey data, Bite Squad took a closer look at what cheesy foods each state prefers most, after the top seven. Cheese dip is the big cheese, winning the hearts of Americans in 10 states. Enchiladas are a close second, with eight - mostly southwestern - states professing their love. Seven states have a sweet spot for cheesecake, matched by seven states that prefer a cheesy quesadilla. Most surprising? Florida likes a cheesesteak! And most predictable? Of course, cheese curds are well-loved in the midwest.

The company also analyzed internal data to determine the cheesy food dishes most ordered for delivery in 2018. Cheeseburgers top the list, followed by macaroni and cheese, cheese dip, cheese pizza, cheesecake, cream cheese wontons, cheesesteak, grilled cheese, cheese curds and quesadillas.

We ranked our most delivered cheesy dishes in May compared to last year, and cheese dip is shredding it this year! said Key. Im not sure if its because of the dip-pics we posted on the blog or what, but from beer cheese dip to Mexican queso to cheese and artichoke combos, this cheesy favorite is a rising star, jumping from the number 10 spot to number three.

The data on cheese dip shows southern states may edge out the rest, Arkansas has more cheese dip orders than any other state. Tennessee holds second place for cheese dip delivery and South Carolina is in third place.

###

About the survey

Bite Squad commissioned Brandish Insights to survey U.S. online consumers through Google Surveys about their favorite food containing cheese. The survey was completed by 2,560 respondents. Survey responses were collected between May 11, 2018 and May 14, 2018.

About Bite Squad

Bite Squad is a leading independent provider of online and mobile food ordering and delivery services in the United States. Founded in 2012, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bite Squad partners with more than 10,000 restaurants across more than 40 metropolitan areas to deliver fresh food straight to the customers door, quickly and hassle-free. To learn more about Bite Squad or to download the top-rated Bite Squad mobile apps, visit bitesquad.com.
It was a great experience witnessing the San Diego community coming together for such an amazing cause - the champions and their families will forever be in our thoughts.

D.C. Labs, nationwide provider of the luxurious Ovation Cell Therapy Hair & Scalp Treatment announces their partnership with Rady Childrens Hospital, Celebration of Champions event.

Ovation Hair is proud to partner with Rady Childrens Hospital to participate in the 23rd Annual Celebration of Champions. This special day away from the hospital brings together children diagnosed with cancer and their families - symbolizing their spirit and determination to fight this life-threatening disease.

This is our first year partnering with Rady Children's Hospital and we are excited to continue our efforts with them in the future, explains Erika Sherwood, Marketing Director at Ovation Hair. It was a great experience witnessing the San Diego community coming together for such an amazing cause - the champions and their families will forever be in our thoughts.

Rady Childrens Hospital Peckham Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders currently treats 750 children with cancer. Each year about 200 or more children are newly diagnosed and cared for at this state-of-the-art facility. These children are provided with the finest medical care available today, including the countys only pediatric bone marrow transplant center. In an effort to raise funds to facilitate these valuable services, the La Playa Unit of Rady Childrens Hospital Auxiliary has organized the Celebration of Champions

Ovation Cell Therapy Hair and Scalp Treatments proprietary formula delivers high levels of vital proteins, key vitamins, botanical extracts and amino acids to the hair and scalp, resulting in reduced breakage. Cell Therapy is designed to be used a few times a week for thicker, stronger, longer- healthier hair, after your shampoo and followed by your conditioner. Cell Therapy has been clinically proven to reduce hair breakage by over 80% after just one use.

Based on a consumer perception test after 4 weeks of Cell Therapy use:

100% of participants reported healthier hair.

97% of participants reported more bounce and volume.

97% of participants reported more luster and shine.

93% of participants reported more manageable hair.

To learn more about Ovation Hair visit OvationHair.com

About Ovation Hair

The philosophy of Ovation Hair is to meet clients high expectations with quality, nourishing and rejuvenating products that demonstrate proven effectiveness. Ovation Hair has been helping clients achieve healthy hair since 2007. Their flagship product, Ovation Cell Therapy is proven to deliver thicker, stronger, longer hair. Ovation products include high quality ingredients, demonstrated to be safe and effective to create healthy hair. For more information please visit https://www.ovationhair.com
Lojas Renner Selects Centric PLM Our core business challenges are related to faster product development cycles and digitalization of processes. In order to meet our development goals, we decided to invest in a PLM solution.

Centric Software announces that Lojas Renner, the largest fashion retailer in Brazil, has selected Centric Software to provide its Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solution. Centric Software provides the most innovative enterprise solutions to fashion, retail, footwear, outdoor, luxury and consumer goods companies to achieve strategic and operational digital transformation goals.

With an illustrious history that stretches back to the foundation of the first A.J. Renner store in Porto Alegre, Lojas Renner incorporated in 1965. Since then, it has grown to become the largest fashion retailer in Brazil. Lojas Renner owns three separate businesses: fashion retailer brand Renner, specialized youth brand Youcom and home and decor brand Camicado. With 512 stores across Brazil, a thriving e-commerce channel and a recent expansion into neighboring Uruguay, Lojas Renner is a giant of the South American fashion retail scene.

Lojas Renner is expanding and also collaborates with a sourcing office in Shanghai, explains Henry Costa, Product Director at Lojas Renner. Our core business challenges are related to faster product development cycles and digitalization of processes. In order to meet our development goals, we decided to invest in a PLM solution.

Before PLM, product development was done with a combination of Excel, Powerpoint, email and even instant messaging, Costa continues. There were too many issues with using these disparate systems and there are also differences in operations between the brands. Our main goal with PLM is to improve collaboration in order to reduce time to market and achieve alignment across product development.

Lojas Renners selection process whittled an initial list of 12 PLM providers down to four, and then two. Users tested the final two competing solutions and scored them on a variety of criteria. Centric PLM came out on top.

As Costa explains, All users had a checklist to complete and Centric PLM ranked highest for user interface. We also examined the IT side in relation to our existing infrastructure. Centric PLM can integrate well with our other systems, which makes a huge difference.

Costa concludes, Were looking forward to getting started. The Centric team has been very helpful and available whenever we needed them. Centric are very knowledgeable about PLM for fashion and are responsive to our needs.

We are delighted to partner with Lojas Renner as our first retail customer in Brazil, says Chris Groves, President and CEO of Centric Software. As the largest fashion retailer in Brazil, Lojas Renner wanted an innovative, easy to use solution to help drive digital transformation and global expansion. We look forward to working with them now and into the future as they continue to transform and grow.

Lojas Renner

The Company was incorporated in 1965 and has been listed since 1967. A pure, widely held company since 2005, with a 100% free float, Lojas Renner was deemed the first Brazilian corporation. Renners equities are traded under the LREN3 symbol on B3s Novo Mercado, the highest level of Corporate Governance, and via ADRs on the US OTC market under the LRENY symbol. As of December 28, 2017, the closing price of the LREN3 share was R$ 35.49, the Company reporting a market capitalization of R$ 25.3 billion.

Lojas Renner is the largest fashion retailer in Brazil. In December 2017, Lojas Renner has 330 Renner stores (including three stores in Uruguay), 98 Camicado units and 84 Youcom stores, the large majority of which are located in shopping malls, in addition to its online platforms and the e-commerce exclusive brand Ashua. Renner designs and sells quality apparel, footwear and underwear for women, men, adolescents and children under 17 private labels of which 6 represent the Lifestyle concept, each one reflecting a style of being and dressing. Renner also sells accessories and cosmetics under two proprietary brands as well as offering specific items bearing third party labels. Camicado, acquired in May 2011 is a company in the home decor segment and Youcom, launched in 2013, is a new business model focused on the younger generation in a specialized store environment. The Company also owns Realize CFI, a financial institution which supports Renners retail business, through the management of the financial products offered.

The target customers of Renner and Camicado are women between the ages of 18 and 39 who are in the medium-high consumption groups in Brazil. Youcom also caters for the medium income class, but with focus on the younger consumer between the ages of 18 and 35.

Lojas Renner offers its customers fashion products in various styles with quality and competitive prices in practical and pleasant shopping environments.

Centric Software (http://www.centricsoftware.com)

From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions. Centric VIP transforms decision making and automates execution to truly collapse time to market and distance to trend. Centrics flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality, and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for small businesses.

Centric Software has received multiple industry awards, including the Frost & Sullivan Global Product Differentiation Excellence Award in Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM in 2016 and Frost & Sullivans Global Retail, Fashion, and Apparel PLM Product Differentiation Excellence Award in 2012. Red Herring named Centric to its Top 100 Global list in 2013, 2015, and 2016.

Centric is a registered trademark of Centric Software. All other brands and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

(end)

Media Contacts:

Centric Software

Americas: Jennifer Forsythe, jforsythe@centricsoftware.com

Europe: Kristen Salaun Batby, ksalaun-batby@centricsoftware.com

Asia: Lily Dong, lily.dong@centricsoftware.com
Facial plastic surgery is about helping people feel better about themselves and their appearance. However, it is not the answer for everyone. I am proud to have worked with Ms. Schott to better understand that beauty is not always found in exact ratios and perfect symmetry, says Dr. Ben Talei.

Dr. Ben Talei, one of the most respected facial plastic surgeons in the country, was recently featured in Cosmo.com article entitled The Nose Job I Didnt Get by Julie Schott. In the May 14th article, Schott discusses her journey of deciding whether or not to get a nose job (rhinoplasty). After seeing multiple plastic surgeons, she tells about her encounter with renowned rhinoplasty surgeon Dr. Talei, who helps her make an informed decision not to undergo nasal plastic surgery. The Cosmo article highlights Dr. Talei for his ability to put the patient first, instead of simply pushing a certain plastic surgery procedure. Schott comments about her previous feedback from plastic surgeons who relied on measurements and ratios to determine her candidacy for rhinoplasty. Schott welcomes the reassurance that Dr. Talei provided, telling her that the most beautiful people in the world do not follow that rule. Dr. Talei illustrated his point by show Schott pictures of famous faces such as Marilyn Monroe who did not have perfectly symmetrical facial features.

Facial plastic surgery is about helping people feel better about themselves and their appearance. However, it is not the answer for everyone. I am proud to have worked with Ms. Schott to better understand that beauty is not always found in exact ratios and perfect symmetry, says Dr. Ben Talei.

Dr. Benjamin Talei is a double board certified facial plastic surgeon. He is the owner and founder of the Beverly Hills Center for Plastic & Laser Surgery, a state-of-the-art facility located at 465 N. Roxbury Drive in Beverly Hills, CA 90210. Beyond his strong commitment to philanthropy and charitable works, Dr. Talei carries a reputation for using the most advanced, minimally-invasive techniques to produce natural and sustainable results. He offers a full menu of facial plastic surgery procedures and cosmetic treatments, including advanced facelift procedures, rhinoplasty, eyebrow lifts, non-surgical skin rejuvenation and more. Dr. Talei has pioneered numerous techniques in facial plastic surgery to improve patient experience, recovery and results. These include a lip lifting method that offers faster healing and more natural results than past surgical methods as well as an awake and painless deep plane facelift technique.

About Dr. Ben Talei:

A native of California, Dr. Benjamin Talei graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Physiological Sciences. He received his medical degree at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. Dr. Talei then went on to complete his residency training in Head and Neck Surgery at Columbia University and Cornell University Medical Centers, New York Presbyterian Hospital. Following his residency program, Dr. Talei became one of the only surgeons in the country to complete two separate fellowships in Facial & Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery including a fellowship at the Vascular Birthmark Institute of New York. In addition, Dr. Talei is a respected author, speaker and humanitarian.

If you would like to get more information about Dr. Ben Talei or his plastic and reconstructive surgery services, please visit his website at http://www.beverlyhillscenter.com or call (310) 288-0641.

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Various newspapers published in Kathmandu on Tuesday have taken up different facets of the federal budget, which will be presented by Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada in Parliament at 4:00 pm. The Federal Socialist Forums decision to join the government has also grabbed the attention of the editors. Heres a round-up of important, ignored and interesting reports that made it to the press on Tuesday:

Important

Budget announcement for 2018/19 today

Minister for Finance Yubaraj Khatiwada will present the governments budget for the upcoming fiscal year today. Infrastructure, energy, agriculture and tourism are the focus areas of the budget, reports The Kathmandu Post. This is the first time that a full-fledged national budget will be tabled in Parliament after the country adopted federalism in 2015, says Republica.

Similarly, a story published in Karobar adds, the government has set a target of eight per cent economic growth for the the next five years.

Federal Socialist Forum to join government

Federal socialist Forum Nepal has decided to join the government after the party sealed a two-point agreement with the ruling Nepal Communist Party. FSF-N Chair Upendra Yadav and NCP Chairmen KP Sharma Oli and Pushpa Kamal Dahal signed the agreement, reports Gorkhapatra. The government will now have a two-thirds majority in the 275-member Parliament after the Upendra Yadav-led party comes on board, says The Himalayan Times.

The two-point agreement says the government shall address the demands and issues raised during the Madhesh agitation and amend the constitution. The groundwork for the same will be carried out as per mutual agreement between both parties, reports Naya Patrika.

Meanwhile, with Upendra Yadavs joining the government, the alliance between the FSFN and Rastriya Janata Party Nepal in Province 2 has started falling apart. The question now is that whether the alliance formed between the parties will continue, adds Annapurna Post.

Supreme Court asks govt to submit Bal Krishna Dhungels pardon file

The Supreme Court has asked the government to provide the original documents related to its decision to provide a presidential pardon to murder-convict Bal Krishna Dhungel. A division bench of Justices Mira Khadka and Tanka Bahadur Moktan decided to seek the file for a hearing on Tuesday, according to The Kathmandu Post.

The division bench has been testing the constitutionality of the governments preparation to release Dhungel. The government was preparing to release 1,034 jail inmates for good conduct on the occasion of Republic Day, adds Republica.

Ignored

Levy is the main source of income for political parties

According to a story published in Nepal Samacharpatra, political parties in Nepal have claimed that levy is their main source of finance to operate the daily activities of the party.

The story further says that the then CPN-UML earns more than Rs 1.5 million per month through levy.

Govt endorses labour directive, salaries to be paid through bank

The Cabinet on Sunday endorsed the Labour Directive-2075. According to the directive prepared by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, labourers now will get their salaries paid through banks. The new directive also states that the salaries of household workers and labourers in the industrial and agricultural sectors will be paid through bank, reports Rajdhani.

Household workers will now get mandatory 12 days of paid leave, according to Abhiyaan.

Universities across Nepal to be categorised

The University Grant Commission has decided to categorise universities across the country. A seven-member committee formed by the UGC decide to categorise two universities as central, five universities as provincial and remaining three universities according to its subject specialisation, reports Nepal Samacharpatra. There are eight universities across the country.

Govt to scrap various trade unions close to political parties

The government is preparing to scrap trade unions in civil service. As per the Federal Civil Service Act, government employees will now have only one authorised trade union. The proposal will soon be presented in Cabinet, Naya Patrika reports quoting Minister Lal Babu Pandit.

Interesting

Biogas plant in Nawalparasi selected as model project

Nepals largest biogas plant constructed in Nawalparasi has been selected as the worlds best model project. The Climate Investment Fund selected around 300 projects from 75 countries in the world, of which, the biogas plant project was selected in top 10 projects. Around 147 cylinders of biogas is produced daily, says Karobar.
Litra, Professional Adventure Lighting has been named a recipient of the NewBay Best of Show Award, presented at the 2018 NAB Show by Government Video, for their brand new light, LitraPro. Launching this summer, LitraPro is the worlds first full spectrum compact light. Built with remote smartphone app control, the bi-color video and photo adventure light achieves an entirely new level of compact, rugged, professional lighting.

With so many top global brands at the worlds largest broadcast show, we are honored to win this award. The feedback from end users and dealers has been very positive - validating that the LitraPro will be a must-have solution for mobile compact lighting, said Scott Gant, President of Litra.

NewBays Best of Show Awards are evaluated by a panel of engineers and industry experts, and are selected based on innovation, feature set, cost efficiency and performance in serving the industry. Winners receive an award for display and will be covered at governmentvideo.com, a resource for federal, military, state and local government media professionals.

All nominated products are featured in the special Best of Show Awards Program Guide, to be distributed in digital edition form to more than 100,000 readers of Government Video, Video Edge, Radio World, TV Technology, Digital Video, Radio, Pro Sound News and Sound & Video Contractor after the convention.

The NewBay Best of Show Awards at NAB are now in their fifth year, said Paul McLane, NewBay managing director, content. The program seeks to shine a spotlight on relevant innovations in technology as seen around the million-square-foot exhibit floor of the industrys top trade show. The list of 2018 winners and nominees gives real insight into where and how rapidly our media tech businesses are evolving.

The innovative design and technology of the LitraPro is patent pending. The LitraPro was announced at NAB, Las Vegas and will be available for distribution this summer at a very affordable price of less than 220 USD.

ABOUT LITRA

LITRA, Professional Adventure Lighting. Litra is a passionate group of product designers, manufactures, innovators and entrepreneurs who have been helping companies design, build and bring world-class products to market for over a decade. Litra put all the years of photography LED expertise into bringing their own lighting products to market. For more information please visit http://www.litra.com
I was thrilled to share the serious matters of oral health in such a light-hearted way. GloZell allowed me to share a variety of holistic and simple ways to fight embarrassing breath odor and keep a healthy mouth, says Dr. Kyle Stanley of Beverly Hills.

GloZell Greens latest YouTube show features a house call from leading holistic dentist Dr. Kyle Stanley in Beverly Hills. The YouTube segment, entitled GloZell Tackles Bad Breath, was posted May 21st on Awestruck TV network and has garnered a remarkable number of views and likes. This is one of several videos in her newest Glolistic series, which follows GloZells personal journey in holistic medicine.

Dr. Stanley was chosen by GloZell due to his expertise in holistic dentistry. Dr. Stanley is a partner at Helm Nejad Stanley, an upscale dental practice in Beverly Hills. The practice offers a unique niche of dentistry called biomimetic dentistry. Biomimetic dentistry relies on a conservative and minimally-invasive treatment approach when restoring damaged teeth. While Dr. Stanley is known for his expertise in implant dentistry, he utilizes a holistic approach in all aspects of dental care, which is why GloZell chose him to be a featured guest on her latest show.

GloZell is considered one of the hottest comediennes blazing the Internet. With her frequent postings of hilarious YouTube videos, GloZell has been called "The Queen of YouTube." Most recently, GloZell Green decided to broadcast her venture into the world of holistic medicine on a new show termed GloListic. GloZell invited Dr. Stanley to share ways to prevent halitosis or bad breath. Dr. Stanley explains how to detect your own bad breath as well as which natural remedies can reduce foul breath odor, including fresh mint, zinc crystals, tongue scrapers, oil pulling and Neti Pot rinses.

I was thrilled to share the serious matters of oral health in such a light-hearted way. GloZell allowed me to share a variety of holistic and simple ways to fight embarrassing breath odor and keep a healthy mouth, says Dr. Kyle Stanley of Beverly Hills.

More About Dr. Kyle Stanley of Helm Nejad Stanley Dentistry:

Dr. Kyle Stanley is recognized for his experience and skill in computer-guided implant dentistry.

Dr. Stanley graduated Magna Cum Laude from USC, where he completed a mini-residency with the world leader in minimally invasive dentistry, Dr. Pascal Magne. He then went on to complete a dental implant and surgery residency in Florianopolis, Brazil, which covered dental implant, bone and gum surgery. Dr. Stanley is a respected professor and lecturer as well as a dedicated researcher who has published in top international dental journals.

To learn more about biomimetic dentistry or the services offered from Dr. Kyle Stanley, please visit, http://www.beverlyhillsladentist.com or call the Beverly Hills office at (310) 278-0440.

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I cant think of a better-prepared, pragmatic and caring executive to join the Board.

Mr. Rosendale brings more than three decades of relevant technology and life sciences leadership experience to the MTC Board where he joins a distinguished and diverse group of executives from the private sector, public sector, academia, not-for-profit and NGO sectors who guide and support the management and staff of MTC as the States unified voice for attracting tech and life science companies and leveraging synergies to solidify Maryland as an elite hub. In 2016, Mr. Rosendale was engaged by the Board to assist with the merger of the Technology Council of Maryland and the Chesapeake Regional Tech Council which was celebrated by Maryland Governor Larry Hogan who stated that the merger demonstrated the the collective strength and impact of Marylands tech sector which is growing every day with new startups and expansions by our companies.

MTC Chairman Rene B. LaVigne, President & Chief Executive Officer of Iron Bow Technologies said Mr. Rosendale served the Tech Council of Maryland at a critical time and played an integral role in the merger of the two organizations. When the Tech Council was facing its most significant challenges, Martys leadership, diligence and commitment to the Council and its membership was absolutely invaluable.

I am pleased to be elected to the Board of the Maryland Technology Council, and to have a leadership role in the critical mission to support Maryland companies that are focused on saving lives, securing our nation, and improving the quality of life through innovation, said Marty Rosendale. Mr. Rosendale added, Maryland is the center of Life Sciences in the BioHealth Capital Region. The world depends on what we do.

The Maryland Technology Council is the largest Life Science and Technology industry organization in Maryland with over 600 members representing the biotechnology, therapeutics, medical devices, cyber security, and technology industries.

Marty Rosendale cares deeply about Life Sciences and the potential to save and improve lives said Tony Cord, Managing Director of Newports Mid-Atlantic Region. He speaks authoritatively as a 35-year veteran and subject matter expert, and is passionate as an advocate for supporting the missions of all companies whose technologies are intended to save and improve lives. I cant think of a better-prepared, pragmatic and caring executive to join the Board, he added.

Prior to joining Newport, and leading its Life Sciences Practice, he was the founder and CEO of Selnova LLC, a professional services firm dedicated to supporting life science companies. Marty has led several successful businesses in various market sectors including medical biologics, drugs, medical devices, and plastics. He has launched, branded, acquired or commercialized more than 10 products and companies. He has been a Board member for Nuo Therapeutics, the Transplant Recipients International Organization and the American Red Cross, San Jose Region, and Marty is a founder and Management Committee member of The Maryland Tech Council Venture Mentoring Service.

Mr. Rosendale and his family reside in Mt. Airy, MD.

Newport Board Group is a unique national professional services firm of CEOs, senior executives and board members who collaborate to serve emerging growth and entrepreneurial middle market companies and the private equity firms that invest in them. By working together in local practices in major cities and across the country, Newport partners create solutions to help clients improve their performance and valuation and become more transaction-ready.

Mark Rosenman, Chief Knowledge Officer - mark.rosenman@newportboardgroup.com or 973.509.3838
Best San Francisco Web Design Firms

Monthly awards organization 10 Best Design has released its May 2018 list of 10 honorees for Best SF Website Development Company. This new monthly award features outfits that currently dominate San Francisco's highly competitive web design landscape.

Anyone who visits the website of leading web design agency Arhue can easily see the companys web design excellence. Arhues engaging website uses written content wisely and displays engaging animation. Located on San Francisco's Sansome Street, Arhue offers web design and development, video and interactive services, marketing, public relations, strategy consulting, branding and other professional services one would expect from a digital agency. Additionally, Google, Coors, Adidas and other international brands have employed Arhue's excellent services. Arhue currently accepts new clients, and a brand need not be international to reach out to the agency.

A winner of many web design awards, EIGHT25MEDIA serves brands based in Silicon Valley and far from the Bay Area. At its offices on Fremont Boulevard in San Francisco, this agency has built more than 500 results-providing websites. Visitors can access case studies on EIGHT25MEDIA's homepage that prove the value its services deliver for clients, which is why it ranks as one of the best SF website development companies. Those clients include Wine Warehouse, Machine Zone and an array of other eCommerce brands. EIGHT25MEDIA's core capacities include web design and development, mobile app development, web app development and digital marketing. Currently, EIGHT25MEDIA welcomes new clients from across the industry spectrum.

Mission Street is the home of KNI, which is well known for providing top-shelf services. As a leading web design firm, KNI expertly tailors its work to each client's needs. KNI's client list features Capital One, Audi and KFC, but a brand need not be huge to obtain this agency's services. It has also created output for startups, some of which have garnered devoted clientele, like the Nest thermostat. This adept provider even built the online presence for The Harrison, a five-star real estate venture in San Francisco.

10 Best Design has been a leading evaluator of web design agencies since 2012. In the coming months, it will release additional Best Web Design Firm awards. In the meantime, for more information about the winning firms for May, please visit http://www.10bestdesign.com.
It is no secret that the real purpose of the ELD Mandate is to attack small business carriers by "driving" up their costs, costs that can easily be absorbed by the large and mega carriers but are burdensome on the smallest businesses. --James Lamb, SBTC President

The Small Business in Transportation Coalition (SBTC), a 501(c)(6) non-profit transportation industry trade group, has announced it has endorsed the proposed Small Carrier Electronic Logging Device Exemption Act of 2018 (HR 5948), a bill introduced into the U.S. House of Representatives last week that would relieve up to 90% of the trucking industry from the new Electronic Logging Device (ELD) mandate imposed in December 2017 by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), an agency of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT), the group's spokesman and president, James Lamb (@JamesPLamb), said today. The bill exempts motor carriers that own or operate 10 trucks or less.

According to a May 23, 2018 press release issued by the office of Congressman Greg Gianforte (R-MT), Mr. Gianforte and Representative Collin Peterson (D-MN) have introduced the bipartisan legislation to help remove the burden of electronic logs and enable small motor carriers and independent truckers to revert back to paper logs to track their hours of service. According to Federal Regulations codified at 49 CFR Part 395, truck drivers cannot drive more than 11 hours following 10 consecutive off duty hours. Interstate truck drivers around the country have been protesting the new regulation for six months citing the additional cost, unreliability of the new technology, and driver privacy concerns, Lamb said. "As many seasoned interstate drivers have left trucking over the ELD mandate, and the industry cannot replace them fast enough, the supply chain is being adversely affected. As shipping costs rise, consumers should prepare for higher prices," Lamb asserted.

According to the truckers.com website, the SBTC filed a class exemption application with FMCSA seeking to exempt motor carriers with 50 or less employees on November 20, 2017. That application was later supplemented at the request of FMCSA on February 1, 2018. According to Lamb, the SBTC has filed a "comment" with the U.S. Small Business Administration's Ombudsman asking for help dealing with the FMCSA, pointing to how the agency is required to publish the application in the Federal Register "upon receipt" under Federal Law, which states:

"49 U.S. Code  31315 - Waivers, exemptions, and pilot programs

(6)Notice and comment.

(A)Upon receipt of a request.

Upon receipt of an exemption request, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register (or, in the case of a request for an exemption from the physical qualification standards for commercial motor vehicle drivers, post on a web site established by the Secretary to implement the requirements of section 31149) a notice explaining the request that has been filed and shall give the public an opportunity to inspect the safety analysis and any other relevant information known to the Secretary and to comment on the request. This subparagraph does not require the release of information protected by law from public disclosure (emphases added)."

Lamb said he argues in the SBA Comment that FMCSA has not published the application in over six months and skirted the impact of the ELD rule on the smallest players during rulemaking, lumping one man trucking operations into the same category as $28 million motor carrier operations. He said the SBTC's 14,000 dues-paying membership welcomes the new legislation as a means to override the SBTC's exemption attempts at the administrative agency level as a matter of law.

"It is no secret that the real purpose of the ELD Mandate is to attack small business carriers by "driving" up their costs, costs that can easily be absorbed by the large and mega carriers but are burdensome on the smallest businesses. What boggles the mind is that the FMCSA, in its infinite wisdom, has created a regulatory scheme that ignores a Congressional mandate in the 2012 Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act for FMCSA to establish certification criteria and allows ELD manufacturers to simply "self-certify" their products in furtherance of a program that was created to prevent drivers from self-certifying their compliance with hours of service regulations. That's a lazy short cut. And to suggest that ELD manufacturers are more responsible and trustworthy to self certify than truckers is absurd and downright insulting," Lamb said.

Lamb said the SBTC's registered lobbyist, Laurence Socci of Influence Strategies @Influenstrategy, met with the Honorable Collin Peterson's staff last week to recommend amended bill language to better define a commercial motor vehicle as a self-propelled power unit for the purpose of qualifying for the exemption so that 10 trucks do not become 5. "Otherwise, FMCSA will count trailers as one of the 10 trucks and we are left with an exemption that applies to only 5 tractor-trailers," Lamb said.

For more about Lamb, the SBTC and its issues, click here.

Small Business in Transportation Coalition

1775 I. (Eye) Street, NW, Suite 1150

Washington, DC 20006

@theSBTC
Visit Zinrelo at IRCE - Booth #1503 "IRCE is a great opportunity for us to showcase how the simple implementation process, ease of use, and effectiveness of our loyalty rewards program empowers businesses to take their company to the next level"- Jai Rawat, CEO at Zinrelo

Zinrelo is participating as an exhibitor in retail industrys leading e-Commerce conference IRCE for the fifth consecutive year. The conference will take place from June 5-7, 2018 at McCormick Place West in Chicago, IL. Along with other team members, the Zinrelo executive team, Jai Rawat  CEO and Samir Palnitkar  VP, Customer Success will be in personally present at booth #1503 to demonstrate the effectiveness of Zinrelos modern-day loyalty rewards program.

Zinrelo has partnered with hundreds of businesses to help them foster a deeper relationship with its customers by maximizing customer engagement and retention. Moreover, the enterprise-grade loyalty rewards program from Zinrelo has helped eCommerce merchants convert one time shoppers into loyal brand ambassadors through 360-degree customer interaction.

Considering how modern-day customers shop and interact with brands, Zinrelos loyalty rewards program allows businesses to reward customers not only for purchases but for multiple interactions on the website such as referrals, account creation, email signups, photo sharing, reviews, social advocacy, and much more. On an average; the loyalty rewards program generates 2.4x more per-customer revenue, and an 80% increase in repeat sales frequency.

Zinrelos Loyalty Rewards Program is packed with innovative and unique features to help businesses create fiercely loyalty customers. Some of the key features are;



360-Degree Engagement module: This feature allows businesses to reward its customers in multiple ways by adding custom activities for rewards.

Unmatched User Experience: The self-service platform offers a fully customizable End-User Dashboard and Admin Console for enhanced flexibility.

Powerful Business Rules engine: This unique feature can help businesses build sophisticated reward scenarios that can maximize user engagement. Examples are:

- 10X points for Category = SHOES

- 5X points for Category=SWIMWEAR

- Double the referral reward points if the referred purchase order value is greater than $300

- Birthday bonus: 200 points for Gold Tier, 300 points for Platinum Tier.

Omni-Channel support: The loyalty rewards program can be deployed seamlessly across desktop web, mobile web, mobile apps and in-store environments.

Powerful API access: Zinrelo loyalty rewards program has been developed using an API-first approach. It is the only loyalty rewards program in the world that can be seamlessly embedded within your business processes completely via API and Webhooks.

Pay-As-You-Go pricing: Zinrelo offers a pay-as-you-grow plan that enables you to build a customized loyalty program to achieve your business objectives. In addition, Zinrelo caters to businesses both large and small, start-ups and enterprises.

Once again, were thrilled to be a part of the IRCE. We are all excited to unravel the innovative features and success stories of our loyalty program at IRCE 2018, commented Jai Rawat, CEO at Zinrelo. It is a great opportunity for us to showcase how the simple implementation process, ease of use, and effectiveness of our loyalty rewards program empowers businesses to take their company to the next level.

Zinrelo is excited to meet and interact with retailers and attendees at IRCE 2018. Attendees can visit the Zinrelo website to register for a one-on-one meeting with the executive team at IRCE 2018 to learn more about the companys innovative solutions.

About IRCE:

Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition (IRCE) provides a conference full of industry experts, an exhibition hall filled with the latest and greatest solution providers, and a community made for networking with thousands of like-minded industry peers. E-Commerce is evolving faster than ever and its essential for companies that want to stay ahead to have access to the right solutions. IRCE 2018 will take place in the world-class city of Chicago, June 5-7, at McCormick Place West. For further details, visit http://www.irce.com.

About Zinrelo:

Zinrelo brings you the worlds best loyalty rewards and referral programs, helping to maximize revenue per customer and new customer acquisition through 360-degree customer engagement. It supports omni-channel interactions including desktop web, mobile web, mobile apps and in-store engagements.

Zinrelo loyalty rewards program boosts per-customer revenue by 2.4 times and repeat purchases by 80%. It creates fiercely loyal customers that are rewarded for all forms of engagements including purchases, social advocacy, reviews, signups, referrals, photo sharing and more. It is fully customizable and is easy to deploy. Zinrelo referral program delivers a 25% uplift in new customer acquisition by converting your customers into brand ambassadors.

To zing your loyalty and referral programs, contact Zinrelo at http://www.zinrelo.com or info(at)zinrelo(dot)com
We appreciate how easy Slicebooks makes it to acquire content by the chapter, as well as access custom course packs created by professors

Slicebooks, an innovative provider of publishing tools and white label stores, today announced a deal to expand its partnership with Minha Biblioteca in Brazil by licensing its Slicebooks source code. Slicebooks will also provide managed services and custom development support. By licensing the code, Minha will be able to develop new features specific to the Brazilian market, and give Brazilian publishers the ability to sell ebook content in chunks like chapters & articles, and create curated course packs by mixing & matching micro content.

Minha Biblioteca is a consortium formed by the four leading publishers of academic books in Brazil - Group A , Gen Group - Atlas , Manole and Saraiva. The retail site, loja.pastadoprofessor.com.br will launch with more than 2,500 eBooks and nearly 60,000 chapters covering quality legal, medical, technical and scientific content. All content is available by the whole book and by the chapter, and with the built-in Remixer users can drag-and-drop content to create their own custom eBook packages.

The Slicebooks publishing platform features tools like a flexible content management system along with the eBook Slicer, Remixer and Micro Store Widgets, all designed to help publishers repurpose content and sell direct to consumers.

We first launched a white label version of the Slicebooks platform in 2016, called loja.pastadoprofessor.com.br, said Richardt Rocha Feller, CEO of Minha Biblioteca. We appreciate how easy Slicebooks makes it to acquire content by the chapter, as well as access custom course packs created by professors, all while respecting copyright. Now, by licensing the code we have a lot more flexibility going forward in terms of adding features our Brazilian clients are asking for, and also easily expanding our efforts beyond academic by targeting new markets such as corporate.

Minha Biblioteca will also be taking advantage of the Slicebooks Micro Store widgets. These embeddable store widgets can be created in minutes, have full ecommerce functionality and can be branded and used to target niche audiences. For example, authors who blog can embed a branded mobile store widget right on their blog site and fill it with content customized for their particular audience.

We are thrilled to expand our partnership with Minha Biblioteca in this way, and to support them going forward in building a more customized version of our Slicebooks platform, said Jill Tomich, CEO of Slicebooks. The original loja.pastadoprofessor.com.br has been a great success story for Slicebooks, and was exactly the kind of store we had in mind when we built Slicebooks. This licensing deal will make it easier to build a version of Slicebooks that is more customized for the particular needs of the Brazilian market.

About Slicebooks

Slicebooks, a wholly owned brand of EarlyAccess, Inc., is a publishing platform that helps publishers repurpose content and build direct sales channels. Slicebooks includes a unique content management system, an iTunes style white label retail platform and mobile web apps. EarlyAccess also owns yaBeam, the worlds first location-based marketing engine for publishers. The Slicebooks development team is led by veterans from such leading technology publishing companies as OReilly Media, Pearson, and Manning. For more information, visit http://slicebooks.com.

About Minha Biblioteca

Minha Biblioteca is a consortium formed by the four leading publishers of academic books in Brazil - Group A , Gen Group - Atlas , Manole and Saraiva, headquartered in Sao Paulo, with areas of expertise in law, applied social sciences, health, education and more. For more information, visit http://minhabiblioteca.com.br.
"...the state of class warfare has reached unprecedented levels. You have 6 billion people on this planet that are poor beyond belief and who cant hang on to the meager wages that that they earn for even 15 seconds because of the intense pressure to spend and the rise of e-commerce.

On Memorial Day 2018, MOLSI Productions released the musical album War Elephantthe company's 5th album release of 2018. CEO and Executive Producer Jack Molsi states that he is extremely proud of the War Elephant release because the content of the album presents such an eclectic mix of musical variety--from touching synth-pop ballads to electric guitar-driven Rock songs--while still telling a cohesive story and offering poignant social commentary on the state of our society and geopolitical affairs.

Jack Molsi said the album took a few months to write and record in a series of intense and focused recording sessions in the Florida backwoods where those involved were completely withdrawn from the pressures of modern society. Touching on the themes of war and underclass rebellion, War Elephant tells the story of a protagonist that is extremely benevolent at heart but has no choice but to wage war against the powers that routinely oppress him. Jack Molsi continued by saying: in 2018, I think the class divide and the state of class warfare has reached unprecedented levels. You have 6 billion people on this planet that are poor beyond belief and who cant hang on to the meager wages that that they earn for even 15 seconds because of the intense pressure to spend and the rise of e-commerce. If certain elite institutions do not have the good sense to give back to those that line their coffers, we may see a violent slave uprising in this country and beyond. People feel angry, betrayed, lied to even spit onespecially the younger generations and thats the truth regardless of what the newscasters tell you.

Aside from pointing out systemic social problems, MOLSIs War Elephant aims to inspire constructive dialogue about how our economy can better serve more people. Jack Molsi stated: People need to speak openly about the problems that they face in their lives and careers. Suffering should not be a daily routine for so many. The end-result of staying silent and simply saying well, thats just the way the world works is a recipe for disaster in that it will only perpetuate the status quo and possibly even worsen the serious problems that we face now. It would be a miracle for a single politician or a single news outlet to promote the concept of workers saving money instead of spending it thoughtlessly. Like it or not, thats the message that real leaders need to get out to the people.

MOLSI Productions War Elephant is available for a free listen on Youtube. The album can be found by searching MOLSI  War Elephant. Jack Molsi finished by saying: MOLSI Productions always encourages the use of headphones when listening to our content. We are a small-budget operation that cant afford to produce content as pristinely as we would like. Use of headphones will heighten the listening experience and let you better connect to the music and the story being told.
Rencore is Microsoft Gold Partner in the Collaboration and Content competency The Gold Partner status proves that we have not only the technical capabilities, but also the right people, and the right vision and strategy required to serve the market at the highest level.

Rencore announced today that it has attained Microsoft's Gold Competency rating in their Collaboration and Content competency program and consequently has become a Microsoft Gold Partner. By awarding this highest partner status, Microsoft recognizes Rencore in delivering leading SharePoint solutions that help companies share, collaborate, and improve productivity.

In order to attain Gold Competency rating in Microsoft's Collaboration and Content program, companies have to meet a number of strict requirements. These include the number of Microsoft-certified employees allocated to Microsofts collaboration platform, as well as the scale of SharePoint user references, which usually means having customers in the top segment. Rencore has satisfied all these requirements to obtain Gold Partner status and to show that the company has committed itself to evolving Microsoft technologies for their own interests as well as the needs of its clients.

Microsoft's award of its Gold Competency certification in Collaboration and Content shows we have the highest possible level of competency in Microsoft SharePoint, said Matthias Einig, Microsoft MVP, CEO and co-founder of Rencore. This is a major step for us, and we consider it a great honor. It proves that we have not only the technical capabilities, but also the right people, and the right vision and strategy required to serve the market at the highest level. We will continue to work hard and innovate in order to keep delivering SharePoint solutions that help our customers excel in their collaboration strategy, be it optimizing existing workloads or managing change when migrating to the cloud.

As a Microsoft Gold Partner, Rencore - and ultimately its customers - now also benefit from continuous online technical support and an even deeper working and collaboration relationship with Microsoft.

To learn more about Rencore and its offerings, visit Rencore at European Collaboration Summit in Mainz, Germany this week. The team will be happy to answer all questions regarding our Microsoft Gold Partner Status and our products today and all week at booth #18.

About the Microsoft Collaboration and Content competency

Through its Competency Partners programme, Microsoft seeks to encourage partner companies to offer high-quality solutions in specific areas of business. Microsoft competencies were developed to meet the needs of customers, and guarantee the best possible service for existing and future customers. The Collaboration and Content competency recognize partners that develop and sell solutions for Microsoft SharePoint  on-premises or in the cloud. Companies can earn the Gold or Silver Competency.

About Rencore

Rencore is the leading provider of software protecting organizations against customization risks in Microsoft SharePoint and Office 365. Their proven suite of products detects and resolves potential security issues and compliance risks caused by custom coded solutions, third-party components, and citizen developers. Rencore's customers are able to comply with regulations more easily, optimize usage of their Microsoft SharePoint infrastructure and pass audits faster and with less effort.
Alexandra Kisselgoff marks her publishing debut with the release of Fallen Tree (published by Xlibris), a novel charting the adventure of a young woman who must protect an island from greed and death. Readers can check the book at https://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Tree-Alexandra-Kisselgoff/dp/1984510517.

Jessie decides to travel to Hawaii for a concert and to visit her family. Suddenly, her plane crashes midflight, leaving her on an unknown deserted island with a tribe who takes care of her.

Out of nowhere, the jungle starts to face dreadful trouble. A company owned by the government begins to cut down the trees, claiming the land to be their territory now. What will Jessie and the tribe do to protect their land and save the fate of the island?

Written by a young author for readers of all ages, Fallen Tree emphasizes how society today is very dramatic, carefree, and overall, just rude. The book aims for readers to realize that we should step it up.

I want them to take away, that you shouldnt always trust what you see on the media. Think critically, and always be okay with disagreeing with someone else, it can be bad to always follow the crowd, Kisselgoff reminds readers.

Fallen Tree

By Alexandra Kisselgoff

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 72 pages | ISBN 9781984510518

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 72 pages | ISBN 9781984510501

E-Book | 72 pages | ISBN 9781984510495

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Alexandra Kisselgoff is an 11-year-old girl with a passion for writing. She also enjoys singing, acting, playing multiple instruments and drawing. She is a Canadian, but originally born in Israel. She now lives in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.

Xlibris Publishing, an Author Solutions, LLC imprint, is a self-publishing services provider created in 1997 by authors, for authors. By focusing on the needs of creative writers and artists and adopting the latest print-on-demand publishing technology and strategies, we provide expert publishing services with direct and personal access to quality publication in hardcover, trade paperback, custom leather-bound and full-color formats. To date, Xlibris has helped to publish more than 60,000 titles. For more information, visit xlibris.com or call 1-888-795-4274 to receive a free publishing guide. Follow us @XlibrisPub on Twitter for the latest news.
Kathmandu, May 28

The government has sealed two petrol pumps of Lalitpur during a market monitoring held on Monday morning after they were found cheating customers.

A market monitoring team, coordinated by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Supplies, sealed Ekantakuna-based Prashanti Oil Store and Satdobato-based Mahalaxmi Biswokarma Traders after it was proved that they were deceiving the customers.

According to Under Secretary at the Ministry, Santosh Bista, Prashanti Oil distributed 30 ml less petroleum in each 10 litres whereas Mahalaxmi Bishwakarma Traders distributed 10 ml less quantity in every 10 litres.

As per the law, if the quantity is less than 25 percent of the set amount, no action will be taken. However, the petrol pumps had exceeded 25 per cent. Hence, we had to seal it, he added.

A monitoring team from Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology and technicians from Nepal Oil Corporation had monitored five petrol pumps in the district after complaints were filed against them.
With her debut novel, The Odd Muslim (published by Lulu), Noreen Mirza hopes to counter the growing Islamophobia she sees by advocating for love and tolerance, as well as encourage female empowerment. The book follows Shazia, a Muslim woman whose home is vandalized in a gated community in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The book is available for purchase at: https://www.amazon.com/Odd-Muslim-Noreen-Mirza-ebook/dp/B07CHYCBK1.

Following the attack on Shazias house, in a series of flashbacks she recounts the story of her experience attending one of New Jerseys state colleges, to her neighbor. Through Shazia, the reader is introduced to many diverse Muslim characters and given an understanding that like all people, every Muslim has their own personality. Each character helps shape Shazia and helps her grow as a person. In return, she brings them together to accomplish a higher goal of promoting tolerance.

At some point we all feel like an outsider, Mirza explains. Everyone wants to be understood and loved like the main character in the story. We all go through life being introduced to many people who we learn from and realize that everyone has their own problems and journey. The most important thing in life is to understand and love one another.

The Odd Muslim

By Noreen Mirza

Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 216 pages | ISBN 9781483481760

E-Book | 216 pages | ISBN 9781483481753

Available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble

About the Author

Noreen Mirza was born and raised in Marlboro, New Jersey. After graduating from Rutgers University, she attended New York Law School. She is currently a lawyer residing in Alpharetta, Georgia; she has been practicing law for over seven years. The Odd Muslim is Mirzas first novel.

Lulu empowers people of all ages to explore and express their interests, passions and expertise through books, photography and art. Since introducing self-publishing in 2002, Lulu has empowered creators in more than 225 countries and territories to produce nearly two million publications. Lulu Jr. allows children to become published authors, encouraging creativity, strengthening literacy and building self-esteem. Picture.com offers professional photography of collegiate and professional sports, memorable and historic events, fine art and home decor. For more information, please visit lulu.com.
MacXDVD Software, a global leader of the multimedia solution, today announced the official release of macXvideo, the first free video processing tool specially designed for 4K and other UHD videos. This program offers a new way to edit, resize, compress and transcode 4K videos with unprecedented simplicity and speed. In just clicks, even the most novice users can process 4K videos like a pro.

macXvideo is 100% free and safe. Everyone who wants a neat and stable 4K video processing solution is invited to download the program at https://www.macxdvd.com/macxvideo/

When most of the video solution world is still busy transitioning into the 4K era, macXvideo has successfully delivered the peak performance when processing 4K videos. Powered by the unique hardware acceleration, covering major solutions Intel QSV, Nvidia Cuda/Nvenc and AMD, the program is capable of massive 4K and 8K video editing, resizing and transcoding at 5 x faster performances than other leading solutions. The GPU processing also removes the bottlenecks that typical throwaway consumer PCs can hardly deliver the power that sophisticated tools require for Ultra HD videos, solving long-standing problems like computer overheating or freezing.

Moreover, the release of macXvideo ends the situation where most 4K software programs on the market are extremely challenging to learn and too complicated to be fun. Users can get started creating amazing 4K movies in three simple steps.

1. Edit 4K videos in an easier way

macXvideo contains all the features that turn raw 4K footages into professional movies in clicks. A bunch of video editing options is available to cut, trim, rotate, merge, split videos, add personalized subtitles, adjust playback speed and audio volume etc. Besides that, there are a huge variety of dazzling effects which are normally available in professional editors. It allows full control on the hue, lightness, contrast, gamma, and saturation, and flexibility to apply grayscale, vignette, mirror, noise, negate, mask, mosaic, more effects.

2. Compress 4K videos with the best quality

The exclusive compression engine is designed with the characters of 4K videos in mind - big size and best quality. Based on that, it provides groundbreaking video quality at the lowest possible bitrates, making macXvideo the only freeware on the market that can offer the best video compression on Mac, up to 90% file size reduction and 98% quality reservation.

3. Prepare 4k videos for any platforms

With extensive format support, the transcoding engine offers the highest flexibility to convert 4K HEVC, ProRes, XAVC, AVC, HD & SD videos from DSLR, GoPro, camcorders, mobiles, other recording devices or sources into HEVC, H.265, H.264, MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV, etc. Optimized profiles are built-in for iPhone, iPad & Android devices. Moreover, numerous codec settings and parameters are available for free adjustment. Within one click, any incompatible videos can be optimized for social media, portable devices, and other platforms.

Pricing and Availability

macXvideo is 100% free & safe. It works with Mac OS X 10.6 or later. Everybody who wants a simple yet powerful tool that offers unprecedented 4K processing speed, professional-quality performance, and one-click approach, free download the "one-size-fits-all" 4K processing software at https://www.macxdvd.com/macxvideo/

About MacXDVD Software, Inc.

MacXDVD Software is a multimedia software developer dedicated to providing a range of trusted and innovative products across Mac, Windows, iOS, Android, including MacX Video Converter, MacX DVD Ripper, MacX MediaTrans, DVD Author, DVD backup tools, etc, series of apps for Apple video player and iPad iPhone manager. More information, please visit http://www.macxdvd.com.
Guitarist Pete McCann's new CD "Pay for It on the Other Side." These musicians have the ability to read and play anything I put in front of them, yet also bring their own creativity to the project. They have the ability to flesh out what I'm thinking even before I say it.

Pete McCanns trademark infusion of postbop jazz with roots-rock grit and energy reaches a new peak with the guitarist-composers July 20 release of "Pay for It on the Other Side" (McCannic Music). McCanns sixth album, and his third with the quintet of alto saxophonist John OGallagher, pianist/keyboardist Henry Hey, bassist Matt Clohesy, and drummer Mark Ferber, packs a hefty punch that emphasizes the confrontational aspect implied by its name.

It sounds like an aggressive album title, McCann acknowledges, noting that on one level, the title refers simply to the toll he pays every morning when he crosses the George Washington Bridge from New Jersey into New York. He adds, though, that if theres a confrontation at work in the music, its one that takes place in the afterlife. Im fascinated by the spiritual implications of karma, he says. How we treat people and the environment and the consequences of that.

Far from ethereal, mystical meditations, however, McCanns ten new compositions are earthy and direct. Tunes like the title track, Mud Flap, and Conventional Wisdom land with a crunch, loaded with driving rhythms and intense, instantly memorable hooks. Even more tranquil tunes like Yonder and Indemnity, and jazzier, more overtly complex pieces like the angular swinger Is April Okay? and the bluesy, noir-ish Floor Three are delivered with an immediacy and command that grabs the listeners attention from the moment they begin.

The music also carries a strong sense of synergy that McCann attributes to the chemistry at work within the band. These musicians have the ability to read and play anything I put in front of them, yet also bring their own creativity to the project, he says. They have the ability to flesh out what Im thinking even before I say it.

He wrote the music on "Pay for It on the Other Side" with the band members specifically in mind. I definitely heard John OGallaghers alto voice on all this music, he says. Henry has so many ideas for sounds and different instruments. His playing is so unique, walking a fine line between terrific jazz piano, funky clavinet, accordion, organ. Hes like a one-man band. And I love the way Mark and Matt work together. They have an amazing sense of time and feel.

Pete McCann was born in 1966 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and raised there in a bustling farm household. Radio and turntable played sounds of country, rock n roll, and heavy metal, and thus the pathway to a life in music came into view. Petes love affair with the guitar began at age eight, when his mother persuaded the local music store to take him at an early age for lessons.

As a junior high and high school student, he attended Shell Lake Jazz Camp, 80 miles from Eau Claire, for six summers in a row. Master classes in jazz improvisation with teacher Mike Irish and weekly guitar lessons with Russ Moss provided further inspiration. At University of North Texas, he studied with Jack Peterson; during his junior year, he attended a summer program at the Banff Centre in Alberta, studying with Kevin Eubanks.

Arriving in New York shortly after his 1989 graduation, McCann gigged with the East Down Septet, performed with Erwin Vanns Worlds project, and subbed for Ben Monder in the Maria Schneider Orchestra. He has also worked with Lee Konitz, Brian Blade, and Dave Liebman, as well as the Mahavishnu Project (in which he was endorsed by John McLaughlin himself), Patti Austin, Grace Kelly, and Curtis Stigers.

McCann is also a member of the quartet Spin Cycle, co-led by drummer Scott Neumann, whose ties with the guitarist date back to college days, and saxophonist Tom Christensen. That group debuted in 2016 with "Spin Cycle"; their 2018 follow-up is "Assorted Colors."

McCann made his first recording, "Parable" (1998), in a quintet setting featuring bassist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Matt Wilson. Two more albums with varying lineups followed before McCanns current quintet coalesced for 2009s "Extra Mile" and 2015s "Range."

Pete McCann and his quintet will perform a CD release concert at the 55 Bar, NYC, on Thursday 7/12 (10pm start, two sets).
Shai Reshef, President University of the People "Making higher education flexible, affordable, and high quality is the only solution for accommodating millions of students who need to fit their studies around busy family, work, and life schedules. This is where the future of higher education is heading." Shai Reshef, President, UoPeople

Its commencement season and this year in America nearly four million graduates are readying their cap and gowns. But theres a huge group of American students we rarely consider; those who started but never finished their degree. A new study titled, The Opportunity Cost of Not Having a College Degree points to affordability and flexibility as todays biggest hurdles to completing higher education. 65% (or 20 million) of Americans surveyed who have not completed a college degree and are no longer taking classes (noncompleters) would want to go back to school if they could afford to (59%), and/or if classes were flexible around their schedule (58%), according to the study. The study, conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of University of the People among over 450 noncompleters, examines Americans who started but never completed higher education.

The nation-wide poll identified that the main reasons these individuals are not able to complete their college degree at this time despite the pervasive belief that life would be better with oneare a lack of time and financial inability. 72% of American noncompleters feel they would have better career opportunities if they had finished their degree.

Shai Reshef, President of the online University of the People, says, 31 million people started higher education but had to drop out, many of them due to financial reasons and others simply because it wasnt the right time for them to complete their degree. Most American noncompleters recognize the benefits of higher education, but either due to their lifestyle or lack of finances they are prevented from achieving this. Making higher education flexible, affordable, and high quality is the only solution for accommodating the millions of students who need to fit their studies around busy family, work, and life schedules. This is where the future of higher education is heading. This is exactly what we set out to accomplish at University of the People.

Ithaka S+R Managing Director Catharine Bond Hill, an economist, former President of Vassar College, and University of the People Presidents Council member, says, For a nation that faces a widespread skilled labor shortage, coupled with a growing class of driven but unqualified workers, the findings of this study are critical. Life presents seemingly insurmountable obstacles for many students, but by stopping their education they risk the loss of the significant lifetime benefits of a degree: benefits which extend both to the individual and to the economy at large. This includes better jobs and socioeconomic mobility. Those with a college degree, for example, have median earnings that are about 65% higher than those with a high school diploma.

The surveys findings help explain the reasons underpinning the growth in students enrolling at this non-profit, tuition-free, accredited American online university. Since its accreditation in 2014, UoPeoples enrollment has expanded from 500 to more than 14,000 students worldwide. Currently over 6,000 of those students reside in the U.S. Over 90% are working while studying; 70% have children. And almost 60% indicate they are the first in their families to attend a college or university.

The polls findings validate what we already knew based on our student body, which heavily comprises working adults. People are short on time and on money, adds Reshef. The most expensive degree is not the degree from Harvard or Cambridge. The most expensive degree is the degree started but never finished. Its the cost of not having a college degree that Americans should be most worried about. The question now is, how can someone today afford not to get a higher education?

###

Research Method:

This survey was conducted online within the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of University of the People from April 24-26, 2018 among 2,026 U.S. adults ages 18 and older, among whom 459 completed some college and are not currently enrolled in classes. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact Tawny Saez, Head of PR at The Harris Poll, tawny.saez@harrisinsights.com.

About University of the People:

University of the People (UoPeople) is the first non-profit, tuition-free, American accredited online university. Dedicated to opening access to higher education globally, UoPeople is designed to help qualified high school graduates overcome financial, geographic, political, and personal constraints keeping them from collegiate studies. The university currently offers two-year associates and four-year bachelors degree programs in business administration, computer science, and health science as well as an MBA program. Founded in 2009, UoPeople has partnered with Yale ISP Law School for research; New York University (NYU), University of California (UC) Berkeley, and The University of Edinburgh to accept students. UoPeople is supported by The Gates Foundation, Ford Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Fondation Hoffmann, and companies such as HP, Google, Microsoft, Intel, Western Union, Estee Lauder and many more. Learn more at http://www.uopeople.edu @UoPeople

About The Harris Poll:

The Harris Poll is one of the longest-running surveys in the U.S. tracking public opinion, motivations and social sentiment since 1963 that is now part of Harris Insights & Analytics, a global consulting and market research firm that delivers social intelligence for transformational times. The Harris Poll works with clients in three primary areas; building twenty-first-century corporate reputation, crafting brand strategy and performance tracking, and earning organic media through public relations research. Learn more at http://www.theharrispoll.com @HarrisPoll
Elder law attorney Anthony J. Enea, member, Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano, LLP Common signs of diminished cognitive ability include short-term memory loss, difficulty finding the correct words, speaking in a vague or disorganized manner, lack of mental flexibility, and trouble comprehending and following a logical path.

According to the Alzheimers Association, approximately 5.5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimers and, by 2050, the number could rise as high as 16 million. Along with a diagnosis of Alzheimers or other type of dementia comes the complex question of mental capacity. Elder law attorney Anthony J. Enea of Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano, LLP in White Plains and Somers, N.Y. recently addressed common signs of diminished capacity and the legal and ethical implications involved at an education program for the New York State Bar Association (NYSBA).

Mitigating Bias: A Focus on Clients with Capacity Concerns marks the latest speaking engagement for Anthony Enea, who has spent more than 30 years protecting the rights of seniors, the disabled and their families. The program was sponsored by the NYSBAs Elder Law and Special Needs Section and the Committee on Continuing Legal Education.

As an elder law attorney, I determine my clients legal capacity with cognitive, behavioral and emotional assessments on a regular basis, said Enea. Common signs of diminished cognitive ability include short-term memory loss, difficulty finding the correct words, speaking in a vague or disorganized manner, lack of mental flexibility, and trouble comprehending and following a logical path. Another red flag is disorientation with reality  not knowing where they are or what theyre doing. It is also important to pay attention to emotional reactions and note if your loved one isnt showing appropriate emotions in everyday situations.

A persons demeanor, body language, dress and appearance may also be clues to a possible capacity issue. Behavioral signs of incapacity can range from poor grooming and hygiene such as soiled clothing or not being dressed appropriately to delusions and hallucinations, Enea noted. Uncharacteristic confusion about basic instructions, repeating tasks, and difficulty recalling past decisions are often early signs of diminished capacity.

If diminished capacity is suspected, its better to act sooner rather than later. Seek professional help from your loved ones doctors, a social worker experienced with older adults, and/or a geriatric care manager. From a legal perspective, Enea emphasizes the importance of planning early  before diminished capacity is present.

Advanced planning is essential now more than ever. A proactive approach often consists of executing a combination of documents that include a Durable Power of Attorney with broad powers, an Irrevocable Trust funded with ones home and a portion of ones liquid assets, advance directives such as a Health Care Proxy and HIPPA form, and a Revocable Living Trust to allow continuity of management of ones assets in the event of incapacity.

A strong leader in Westchesters legal community, Mr. Enea is president of the Westchester County Bar Foundation, a past president of the Westchester County Bar Association, and a past chair of the New York State Bar Associations Elder Law Section. He was named Westchester Countys Leading Elder Care Attorney at the Above the Bar Awards and Best Lawyers 2018 Elder Law Lawyer of the Year in White Plains. Mr. Eneas practice areas include elder law; Medicaid asset protection trusts; Medicaid applications (home care and nursing home); special needs planning; guardianships (Article 81 and 17-A); and wills, trusts and estates.

Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano, LLP is located at 245 Main Street in White Plains, N.Y. with additional offices in Somers, N.Y. Elder law attorney Anthony J. Enea can be reached at 914-948-1500 or a.enea@esslawfirm.com. For the latest news, visit Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano online at http://www.esslawfirm.com.

About Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano, LLP

Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano, LLP is an AV preeminent rated elder law firm with offices in White Plains and Somers, N.Y. The practice concentrates on Elder Law; Medicaid Planning; Nursing Home and Home Care Applications; Wills, Trusts and Estates; Guardianships; Estate Litigation; Supplemental Needs Trusts; and Special Needs Planning. Enea, Scanlan & Sirignano, LLP serves Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, the Bronx, Manhattan, Long Island and Queens and is committed to providing the highest quality legal services to seniors, the disabled and their families. Visit the firm online at http://www.esslawfirm.com and http://www.westchesterseniors.com.
Top geographical areas for funding in Q1, as compiled by AngelMD.

Today AngelMD has released its findings from the companys quarterly report on private healthcare investing. By carefully analysing over 500 individual Federal Trade Commission Form D filings, AngelMD is able to provide a granular representation of the funding landscape for 2018 thus far to AngelMD Premium members.

The report details that, generally speaking, healthcare startups continue to attract significant funding in 2018, with a median investment size of $1.64 million. Among these seed-stage investments below $2 million, Endocrinology, Respiratory Services, and Emergency Services paced significantly higher than they did in 2017.

The power of AngelMD is in our network, said AngelMD CEO Tobin Arthur. We understand that the more information our members have, the more they are able to make intelligent decisions as evaluators, investors, and advisors in cutting-edge healthcare innovations. Our Private Healthcare Investment Reports are one of several new tools being made available to AngelMD Premium members

AngelMD research also unearthed interesting figures related to investments from different states. Geographically, Massachusetts gathered $721 million in Q1 funding, significantly closing the gap between the state and California. That said, California still outpaces the rest of the country, accounting for $821 million in Q1 funding. Interestingly, more money was raised in Boston ($634 million) than in San Francisco ($383 million), which elevates Boston to the top of the funding list for Q1 2018.

The full Q1 report is available to the public at http://bit.ly/AngelMDQ12018. Subsequent reports will only be made available to AngelMD Premium members. The AngelMD Premium package includes a host of features that enable better decision making for healthcare investors:

Exclusive intelligence - Business and Investor Insider reports feature promising startups, relay network feedback, and show polling results from AngelMD members.

Reporting - Access to the Quarterly and Annual AngelMD Private Healthcare Investment Reports

Content - The Startup Insider Podcast

Alpha Conference - AngelMD Premium members get discounted and early access to the premiere investment and healthcare event.

About AngelMD

AngelMD is an investment and networking platform connecting innovative medical startups, physicians, investors, and industry partners. Leading physicians from all over the US have joined AngelMD to help source, evaluate and advise companies in biotechnology, medical device, and healthcare technology. For more information, visit http://www.angelmd.co.
Colonel (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired) was selected by Norwich University to have her name engraved on a memorial staircase in commemoration of Norwich Universitys bicentennial in 2019. Col. Pritzker embodies the best of what a civic leader can do to have a positive impact on students. She is a person of enormous heart and great integrity.

Colonel (IL) Jennifer N. Pritzker, IL ARNG (Retired), a distinguished entrepreneur and philanthropist, and the CEO of TAWANI Enterprises, an organization specializing in the development, investment, management and preservation of real estate properties, was selected by Norwich University to have her name engraved on a memorial staircase in commemoration of Norwich Universitys bicentennial in 2019.

As part of Norwichs Bicentennial, stairs will be constructed between the southeast corner of the Upper Parade Ground and the Sullivan Museum and History Center. The 78 names selected for this monument include Norwichs leaders, distinguished alumni and others from military and civilian careers and those who represent firsts at the university. The Bicentennial Stairs are part of Norwichs $100 million Forging the Future campaign. The largest fundraising effort in the universitys history, the focus of the campaign is on creating a state-of-the-art learning environment, strengthening academic programing and growing scholarship endowments.

Fittingly, the largest campaign in Norwichs history began with the universitys largest-ever donation. In April 2013, former Trustee Colonel Jennifer Pritzker, IL ARNG (Ret.) H07, president of the TAWANI Foundation, committed $25 million to the Norwich University bicentennial campaign in a successful challenge match to current and former university board members.

Pritzker is one of 78 leaders, distinguished alumni and others from military and civilian careers recognized for making significant contributions to the development and legacy of the University in its second century. The staircase will be formally dedicated in a groundbreaking ceremony at Norwich University May 31.

Col. Pritzker embodies the best of what a civic leader can do to have a positive impact on students. She is a person of enormous heart and great integrity. We are deeply grateful for her extraordinary efforts and ongoing partnership with the University, said Norwich University President, Dr. Richard W. Schneider. Her name memorialized on our staircase is a tribute and daily reminder of those who personify Norwich Founder Capt. Partridges ideals and exemplify Norwichs mission to make moral, patriotic, effective and useful citizens.

TAWANI Enterprises represent a dynamic portfolio of iconic brands, including Stone Heritage Collection, TAWANIs hospitality arm of thoughtfully designed lodging and event spaces, the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, the TAWANI Foundation, the Pritzker Military Foundation and TAWANI Property Management and TAWANI Property Development. Properties under the Stone Heritage Collection includes Stone Terrace, Stone Porch by the Lake, Lang House, The Emil Bach House, Mayne Stage and The Lincoln Way Inn.

Im incredibly humbled to be recognized by Norwich University with such a prestigious event. I have such high regard for the Universitys work and dedication to advancing education in America, said Col. Pritzker, who holds an honorary doctorate from Norwich University and serves as a Trustee Emerita. It is even more inspiring to be honored alongside others who have significantly contributed to the success and positive collegiate experience of Norwich University students.

The Pritzker Military Foundation also supports the Colby Award, a prize awarded annually by Norwich University in Northfield, Vt., to a first solo work of fiction or nonfiction that has made a major contribution to the understanding of military history, intelligence operations or international affairs. The Colby Award is presented at Norwich Universitys Annual Military Writers Symposium.

For more information about Norwich University and their bicentennial activities, visit http://bicentennial.norwich.edu/. To learn more about TAWANI Enterprises, please visit https://www.tawanienterprises.com.

About TAWANI Enterprises

TAWANI Enterprises, headquartered in Chicago, specializes in the development, investment, management and preservation of real estate properties in the Chicago area. The company represents a diversified portfolio of iconic brands, such as the Stone Heritage Collection, TAWANIs hospitality arm of thoughtfully designed lodging and event spaces, the Pritzker Military Museum & Library, the TAWANI Foundation and the Pritzker Military Foundation. Properties under the Stone Heritage Collection include Stone Terrace, Stone Porch by the Lake, Lang House, The Emil Bach House, Mayne Stage and The Lincoln Way Inn. For more information, visit http://www.tawanienterprises.com.

About Norwich University

Norwich University is a diversified academic institution that educates traditional-age students and adults in a Corps of Cadets and as civilians. Norwich offers a broad selection of traditional and distance-learning programs culminating in baccalaureate and Graduate Degrees. Norwich University was founded in 1819 by Captain Alden Partridge of the U.S. Army and is the oldest private military college in the United States of America. Norwich is one of our nations six senior military colleges and the birthplace of the Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC). http://www.norwich.edu.
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Stonebwoy represented as the only Ghanaian to have had the opportunity to grace the occasion which happened this past Sunday, May 27th.

Prior to the event, the 'Bawaasaba' hitmaker posted a video on Instagram in which he is spotted performing.

Fans of Shatta Wale trolled Stonebwoy claiming he was unable to wow the crowd that came to watch him. They said for someone who claims to be a global artiste' his performance was below par.

Shatta Wale seems worried about his label mate who is being insulted in such a manner has begged his fans to stop mocking him and support Stonebwoy.

He posted on Facebook:

Nobody should insult Stonebwoy on his recent performance ..If his fans wont support us lets support him anyhow we can ..Ghanaians isnt it? Lets educate the Bhim. Shatta movement didnt start this comparison, they started God knows. Lets support our own !!! Whoever say shit here BIG F**CK YOU .
Reports say Basima al-Shammar is a news anchor for Kuwait TV which is run by the countrys ministry of information.

She was reportedly covering the municipal elections of the country last weekend when her woes begun.

The lady genuinely told the news correspondent who was preparing to give a report on the happenings at the election centers.

In a widely circulated video on Kuwaiti social media and attracted condemnations across the Arab country, Basima al-Shammar is heard telling the correspondent that Nawaf, you dont need to adjust your ghutra, youre handsome as is.

READ MORE: MP in trouble for teaching constituents how to give a woman good sex

According to odditycentral.com, the correspondent was still adjusting his traditional headgear in preparation for the report when Basima passed the compliment.

The simple genuine statement by the news anchor infuriated her fellow Kuwaitis who claimed she was flirting with the correspondent.

The negative reactions got so intense that one MP, Mohammad Al Hayef asked the ministry of information to sanction Basima, hence her suspension.

Following the controversy regarding the controversial compliment, Basima is quoted as having told Al-Arabiya: What happened is not a joke or something else.

She explained: It is well known that the customs of communications in the Gulf, is that when you see someone adjusting his attire, you tell him: you look good or handsome that is what I told him you dont need to adjust your head garment you look handsome, meaning your attire looks good, and you are in good shape, and were waiting for you to report the news.

Female news anchor suspended for calling colleague handsome on TV

All efforts by the anchor to clarify the matter did not yield any result, as the ministry of information has gone ahead to suspend her and further launched an investigation into the matter to ascertain whether Basima was actually flirting with her colleague.
Currently the Food and Drugs Authority is on a campaign to crack down on both the unapproved importation of Tramadol and unprescribed use.

YEN.com.gh reported some prostitutes as having revealed that the drug helps them to forget about every pain and trauma that they are sometimes compelled to endure to have sex with their customers just because they need money badly.

READ MORE: Sex worker narrowly escapes lynching when she publicly had sex at a funeral ground

One sex worker for instance is quoted as saying: Sometimes the kind of guy you have is a not not but because of money you cant talk. I use Tramadol to help to do it without feeling bad.

Another prostitute said: For me I always take one every time before I meet my customer. It makes me wild. You cant cheat me.
At least 20 illegal miners were arrested, out of which one was a Chinese and two others being Togolese.

Accra-based Joy FM reports that the seventeen (17) other apprehended illegal miners were Ghanaians.

The arrests were made in Adeade and Asuawde areas, whiles the illegal miners were conducting their activities along the Offin River.

Upon their arrest, the joint task force team seized their mining equipment, including six excavators, seven industrial water pumping machines and other smaller pumping machines.

The team later handed the suspects to the Atakyem Police Station in Dunkwa-on-Offin for further investigations and possible prosecution.

Illegal mining, popularly known as galamsey, has been a menace in the country over the years, leading to the destruction of lands and water bodies.

READ ALSO:

Last year, government set up the Operation Vanguard Task Force to take on all illegal miners across the country and to help preserve lands and water bodies.

The joint task force has so far arrested 1, 265 suspected illegal miners who are before the various courts.
Akinola said the visit was part of the Ministers effort at ensuring that screening measures were heightened and health security infrastructure was strengthened particularly at all ports of entry.

She added that the visit was also to allay the fear entertained by the public that medical teams were not on hand at points of entry to screen and monitor movement into the country.

She quoted the minister as saying that the ministry and its agencies were committed to ensuring the safety of all Nigerians.

The minister said government was determined at ensuring that no disease including Ebola was imported into the country.

He added that Nigeria was better prepared to effectively prevent, detect and respond to infectious diseases at all times.
READ ALSO: Police record 968 robbery cases in first quarter

Accra-based Starr FM reports that the 19-year-old day student who hails from Accra is under investigation for stealing students mattresses in the school but was granted Police enquiry bail.

The student, therefore, decided to storm the Police station on Monday at about 8:40 am with a weapon, threatening to kill the officer in charge of his case.

The actions of the student created a chaotic scene at the Koforidua Effiduase Police station, with the officers present attempting to take the pistol from him.

The student, however, stood firm, threatening to gun down anyone who dared to come close to him.

After several attempts, the Police finally managed to arrest the student and disarm him of the pistol and metallic implement.

READ ALSO: Police receive 604 cases of misconduct against personnel in 4th quarter

He has since been taken into custody to assists the Police in further investigations.
Scores of Ghanaians trooped to the State House to witness the funeral of the 31-year old soldier who was gruesomely murdered over a week ago. The whole atmosphere, as expected, was cringed with sorrow, grief and low-spirits.

Who would ever have thought that this could happen in Ghana? For a country that prides itself as the ultimate hub of hospitality, how did it ever get to this?

--- June 9, 2017 will forever be remembered in the history of Ghana. Just like the 6th Marchs, 1st Julys and the 21st Septembers, this day will also not be forgotten anytime soon.

But while the aforementioned dates inspire hope and joy, June 9 marks a day of reflection; a day when we were reminded of how we lost all our humanitarian and altruistic senses.

The late Major Mahama was a noble man with dreams just like everybody else. He was in Denkyira-Obuasi as part of his assigned duties. A duty which meant he should protect Ghanaians at all cost, however, he was betrayed by his own people. He was beaten, stoned and burned without any provocation.

His killers claim they thought he was a thief, and so they lynched him. They did not just kill his body, but also his soul.

But this is a man whose death is set to make a statement in the life of every Ghanaian. For so long we condoned mob (in)justice and made it look like the ideal punishment for the wayward. Today, regrettably, we mourn a man whose death was as the result of a mad system we created.

We created a monster and today it has hit us where it hurts most. We claim we are a democratic country, but we throw our laws to the dogs when it comes to some selected people. Even if Major Mahama was a thief, did he deserve such inhuman treatment?

Nobody deserves to die this way; not even the worst of criminals. But we have played the unconcerned card all these years. We have watched 100s of innocent people lose their lives as a result of this absurd reasoning. We always kept quiet and pretended not to care.

It had to take death of this soldier to wake us up from this folly. We had to be dealt a reality-check, but unfortunately it was Major Mahama who paid the price. That is why we, as Ghanaians, are all guilty. Instead of uprooting the bad seeds, we allowed them to grow poisonous fruits.

Today the late Major Mahama lays cold. His passion stopped, his dreams brought to a halt and his family separated from him, but we must all take the blame. If we had banished the demons of mob justice earlier, it wouldnt have gotten to this point.

Now he is gone, but the circumstances of his death will always be remembered. And the guilt will also always hover around the head of every Ghanaian. Tales will be told of this day: we will narrate it to our children and grandchildren when we turn old.

But more importantly, now we know the way forward. A way which has always been clear, yet we refused to see. The security services should be up and doing. After all, the fact that many people no longer trust our Police is the reason why this insane reasoning began in the first place.

The 42 persons  and hopefully the rest hiding are sniffed out too  that have been arrested in connection with Major Mahamas death should be made to face the full rigors of the law to serve as deterrent to others.

Never should this happen again. Major Mahama may be dead now, but his spirit breathes an awakening wind that has taken over the length and breadth of this country. That is why as his coffin  wrapped with the red, gold and green of Ghana  was being marched for burial, cries could be heard from all angles.
According to the popular Muslim cleric, only the virtues of tolerance, honesty, endurance among leaders would bring progress to the nation.

It is only the truth that can deliver the country, only the truth can save us in Nigeria.

Deceit cannot take us anywhere; religious and ethnic tolerance should be our focus as these will help to foster the desired peace in the country.

We should pray for our country as well as our leaders for God to help the leaders to bring peace and progress in the country.

In all, let us have the fear of God, he said.

Also speaking, NURTW National president, Alhaji Yassim Najeen, urged members of the union to avoid being used as instruments of violence during elections.

Najeen said that campaigns and elections should not be do or die affair in any decent democratic dispensation.

There is time for everything; aspirants who are not eligible this time should wait for their time and not be violent, he advised.

Mr Yinka Ogundimu, a Lagos lawmaker representing Agege Constituency II, also advised the citizens to imbibe the virtue of tolerance during and after the Ramadan.

Ogundimu said that the virtues of charity and nearness to God should be extended beyond the Ramadan period to bring about peace in the country.

Earlier, Lagos State Chairman of NURTW, Alhaji Tajudeen Agbede, tasked members to be steadfast in their service to God, drive carefully and obey traffic rules during and after Ramadan.

We should endeavour to be careful while driving and avoid breaking traffic rules at all times.
Wabba said, We reason that Nigerian workers are frequently turned into cannon fodder by the Nigerian political elite in their high stakes political games and mindless scramble for the commonwealth.

Despite escalating costs of living, devaluation of the Naira and general hardship in the land, the Nigerian workers are still forced to survive on N18, 000 as minimum wage with not a few states owing backlog of salaries and pensions.

Pensioners in not a few states wallow in misery and unimaginable suffering, while the political elite led by state governors take in advance whopping severance packages to which they are not entitled in the first place.

How well has this democracy uplifted the spaces where we live and work? Without prejudice to the effort of this government, our infrastructure is still in tatters. Our roads are impassable and public electricity supply remains epileptic.

Our schools and health facilities have become sorry relics of what they used to be in the first decade post-independence, he said.

He also noted that the spate of killings, violence and insecurity across the country had further traumatised the hapless citizenry.

He said in the light of the foregoing, May 29, Democracy Day should not be devoted to false homage to democracy.

He said that rather, it should be devoted to soul-searching and truth-telling, and commitment from all and Nigerians.

This day avails us a great opportunity to demand for accountability from our leaders, especially, governors, and also from ourselves as citizens of a great country that has potential to be greater.

It is a day for us to shift from our pliant position as citizens to a position of virility, vitality, proactivity or of asking questions, especially, those who have appropriated the machinery of democracy to feather their nests.

This May 29 must be seized by those who have been under-served by the chefs manning our democratic kitchen.

This May 29 must be captured by those who have been left behind in our democratic journey.

There is no better time to demand for accountability from political office holders than now.
Salaam made the appeal in a statement issued on Tuesday in Osogbo by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Goke Butika.

According to him, the opportunity offered by Democracy Day must be seen by the people through voting wisely without inducement from politicians.

We have reached a phase in our political life in which the people who are electing politicians to manage their affairs must show interest in the way they want to be governed and who they want to govern them.

This is the best way to recruit political leaders, this is the way to go, not offering votes for tagged price, he said.
Reports suggest that Stacy Offie Darko died at the Obenfo Hospital in Accra on Monday, May 21, 2018. However, her body was deposited at the morgue 4 days after her death. No family member was aware of this at the time.

In an interview with Accra-based Joy FM, the mother of the deceased, Nana Akosua Anima (I) said her daughter was not sick. She added that Stacy had only gone to the hospital on Saturday for a medical check-up.

Nana Akosua Anima (I) added that she was expecting to see Stacy on Monday. She, therefore, started calling her when there was no sign of her coming, but her calls went unanswered. A nurse answered the phone call and asked the mother to come to the hospital since her daughter was in a terrible condition.

When she got to the hospital, a doctor explained to her that her daughter came for a checkup and died while receiving treatment.

They also told her the body has been deposited at the morgue. She asked how they did that since there was no family member available at the time.

The doctor then explained to her that it was difficult depositing the body at the morgue because the attendants wanted a relative to sign the documents.

READ ALSO: NIA fails to begin Ghana card registration on the set date

She reported the doctor as saying that after failing to secure a place for the deceased at three different places, he then asked one of the cleaners to pretend he was a brother to the deceased so as to get the papers signed.

They were successful this time and deposited the body at the Buduburam morgue.

Nana Akosua Anima (I) said she got suspicious and reported the matter to the police.

She is, therefore, accusing the owner of the Obengfo Hospital of having a hand in the death of her daughter.
The NIA stated that it would let the general public know the challenges it faced in due course.

The NIA in its statement failed to give a new date for the much-anticipated registration.

The registration was expected to start on Monday (May 28, 2018) at the Jubilee House and other specified institutions.

We would have our technicians and registration officials at the Flagstaff House or Jubilee House. They will be at Parliament House, they will be at the judicial house premises, and they will also be at the security sector institutions registering them and issuing cards to them.

The strategy is to be in the Greater Accra Region for about two to three months registering every Ghanaian and then we go onto the Volta Region, Northern Region, Upper East, Upper West, Brong Ahafo, Western Region, Ashanti Region, Eastern Region and then we end with the Central Region, he told Accra-based Citi FM.

However, the NIA missed the timeline again. This is the fifth time the NIAs has missed an announced deadline.

The staff at the presidency and personnel of the security institutions after waiting without any hope was disappointed.

At the presidency, the Chief of Staff told the workers the registration cannot be done due to technical challenges.

It said technicians are working fervently to resolve the challenge.

Read the NIAs full statement below:

COMMENCEMENT OF MASS REGISTRATION OF GHANAIANS FOR THE GHANA CARD

The National Identification Authority (NIA) regrets to inform the general public especially the selected institutions scheduled to be registered from today Monday 28th May 2018 to Friday 8th June 2018 about its inability to roll-out today as planned.

The National Identification System has suffered a technical hitch which has affected the NIAs ability to commence roll-out as scheduled. Details of the technical difficulties will be communicated to the general public in due course.

Our technical team is working fervently to resolve the issue for registration to begin. Under the circumstance, registration was suspended today until the problem is completely resolved.

The NIA unreservedly apologizes to the personnel of the following institutions which were to begin registration this morning at 7:00 am for the inconvenience they have had to endure:

Jubilee House

Judicial Service

Ministry of Defence

National Security

BNI

MOFARI (Research Dept)

Ghana Police Service

Ghana Immigration Service

Ghana Prison Service

Ghana National Fire Service.

The NIA wishes to assure these institutions that every effort would be made to cover any lost time by deploying enough registration officials and equipment to undertake the exercise. Once again, we sincerely apologise for the inconveniences caused.
Speaking at a meeting with some elders and chiefs from Mepe in the Volta Region last Tuesday, the NDC founder suggested that the two former Presidents do not deserve to make it to heaven.

I know with my integrity when I die, I will go to heaven but when I see these corrupt leaders, I will ask permission from God and flog them, Rawlings ranted.

If they dont leave heaven for me, I will go and leave the heavens and join Satan in hell because I cannot stay in the same place with them, he added.

Rawlings later appoligised to both Kufour and Mahama for his remarks, insisting his choice of words were inappropriate.

"The former president apologises to former Presidents John Agyekum Kufuor and John Dramani Mahama for the choice of words. He deems the words as inappropriate and withdraws them," a statement from his office read.

However, the withdrawal from Rawlings has not prevented Kufour from also relying in equal measure.

In the letter signed by Dr Kwabena Osei Adubofour on Monday, Kufour said it is not the place of any man to tell which individual will make it to heaven as "it is only God who decides who goes there or not."

He further debunked claims of by Rawlings that he diverted state fund during his eight-year stay in office.
The US and Japanese leaders will meet ahead of a much anticipated summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un back on schedule for June 12 in Singapore just days after Trump announced he was canceling it.

The American president said the summit could go ahead as planned following a more appeasing statement from Pyongyang and productive talks with North Korean officials.

Japan, which has by far the hardest line compared to neighbors China and South Korea, has been left uneasy by the pace of events, and by what it sees as an unwarranted softening toward an untrustworthy Pyongyang.

Abe and Trump spoke by telephone a day after American and North Korean officials met at a border truce village to prepare for the summit.

During a telephone call, the pair "discussed recent developments in North Korea and confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea," a White House statement read.

"The president and prime minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs."

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.
The U.S. vessels  the Higgins, a destroyer, and the Antietam, a cruiser  passed within 12 nautical miles of the Paracel Islands, an archipelago in the northern part of the disputed waters of the South China Sea off the coast of Vietnam.

The chief spokesman for Chinas Ministry of National Defense, Senior Col. Wu Qian, said that the United States gravely violated Chinese sovereignty.

The high-seas confrontation, while not unprecedented, came as tensions have been rising between the United States and China on a number of fronts, from trade to the on-again-off-again talks with North Korea over its nuclear program.

In recent months, China has appeared more determined to defend its claims in the South China Sea, reinforcing and arming its bases in the Paracel Islands and farther south in the Spratly Islands, even though the various islands, reefs, shoals and other outcroppings are also claimed by Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan and others.

On May 18, China announced that it had for the first time landed its H-6K strategic bomber on an outpost in the Paracels, Woody Island. Earlier in the month, the United States also formally protested the deployment of missiles and radar equipment on three artificial islands China has built in the Spratly Islands.

U.S. officials accused Beijing of breaking a promise the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, made in 2015 when he said China did not intend to militarize the disputed territories. In retaliation for the deployment, the Pentagon last week rescinded an invitation for China to participate in a multinational naval exercise this summer near Hawaii.

The two U.S. warships involved Sunday were carrying out maneuvers known as freedom of navigation operations. The operations, which the Obama administration curtailed somewhat but which picked up again under President Donald Trump, are intended to exercise what the United States says are its rights under international law.

China, whose claims on the islands in the Paracel and Spratly Islands are not recognized, argues that passage within 12 nautical miles constitutes a violation of the countrys territory under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. In April, Chinese ships and aircraft challenged three vessels of the Australian navy as they traveled to port calls in Vietnam.

The United States naval vessels Antietam and Higgins entered without Chinese government permission into territorial waters around the islands, which China calls the Xisha Islands, Wu said in the statement.

Chinas military, he said, would be firm and unwavering in its determination to strengthen sea and air operational preparedness construction on the islands.

The two ships passed within 12 miles of four islands  Tree, Lincoln, Triton and Woody  according to a U.S. defense official.

A spokesman for the U.S. 7th Fleet, Cmdr. Clay Doss, did not discuss the details of the Chinese challenge but said that in 2017, U.S. warships conducted similar operations in the waters of 22 different countries, including allies of the United States.

The operations are not about any one country, he said in a statement, nor are they about making political statements.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Markle, dressed in a navy blue coat and pale beige skirt and carrying a maroon-and-blue handbag, set off arm-in-arm with her future husband but soon went to meet crowds across the road.

The 36-year-old laughed and smiled as she shook hands and doled out high-fives to those who had braved the icy conditions, many of whom had come with bouquets, gifts and Union Jack flags.

"I'm so happy," she was heard to say at one point. "It's just such a thrill to be here".

The two visited an AIDS Day charity fair at a museum before being driven to a school taking part in a programme to combat youth violence.

In their engagement interview on Monday, Markle said she wanted to get to know the "different communities" which make up Britain.

The couple will take a six-month tour of Britain before getting married in May at Windsor Castle, the weekend residence of Harry's grandmother Queen Elizabeth II and the place where he was baptised.

Harry's spokesman Jason Knauf said the 33-year-old prince had visited Nottingham many times and he was "looking forward to introducing Ms Markle to a community that has become very special to him".

Veteran royal supporter Irene Hardman, 81, told the Press Association it was "absolutely wonderful and fantastic, and we're privileged they've chosen Nottingham to be their first official engagement."

"She kept saying: 'I can't believe it, I've been made so welcome and I can't believe it'."

One well-wisher put up an American flag and another clutched a pink hot-water bottle on a chilly morning.

One fan brought his pet barn owl to the event.

Transition to British royalty

The prince and the US television star got engaged after a 16-month transatlantic romance.

Harry, a one-time playboy and soldier who is now best known for his work on AIDS awareness and veterans' issues, revealed how he had proposed to Markle over a roast chicken dinner at his cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, his family's sprawling estate.

In the first interview marking their engagement, the pair revealed they were set up on a "blind date" in London in July last year. They quickly grew close, but tried to keep their relationship private.

Markle, who is mixed-race, divorced and an outspoken feminist, does not fit the mould of most British royal women and she admitted that some of the media coverage about her was "disheartening".

But the queen has led a chorus of congratulations, saying she was "delighted for the couple".

Harry has himself railed against the confines of royal life, recently admitting he came close to a nervous breakdown in his 20s as he struggled to deal with the legacy of the death of his mother, Princess Diana.

Harry is fifth in line to the throne and will soon be sixth when his brother Prince William's wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, gives birth to their third child in April.

Markle, who is best known for her role as a lawyer in the hit US television series "Suits", has said she is giving up acting, applying for British citizenship and getting baptised into the Church of England.

She will also give up her work on gender equality for UN Women and take up royal charity duties instead.

Harry and Meghan had tried to keep their relationship private for as long as possible, and when news of their involvement first hit the headlines, he lashed out at the media.
Nigerias President Muhammadu Buhari seems not to be in a hurry to forget the actions of Elder Peter Godsday Orubebe at the 2015 Presidential election.

President Buhari had taken a swipe at Orubebe at the Democracy Day lecture, which held in Abuja on Monday, May 28, 2018, saying the organisers failed to invite the South-South politician to the day.

Here, I must digress to raise an observation about the programme organisers because I did not see Mr. Orubebe who ought to have come and listen to Prof. Jega deliver his lecture. This is a major observation, the President dropped.

The jibe drew laughter and hailings from the Presidents aides and other dignitaries present on the occasion.

In the video (as seen below in a tweet), the President in his character decided to throw a comic relief into the event, which heralded Nigerias celebration of its 18th Democracy Day celebrations.

Obviously yet to get over the drama displayed by Orubebe at the collating and counting center, President Buhari had to throw shades at the South-South politician.

Orubebe was appointed Nigerian Minister of Niger Delta on 6 April 2010 when Acting President Goodluck Jonathan announced his new cabinet.
As Nigerians celebrate May 29, 2018 as Democracy Day, a day set aside to mark the return to democracy in Africa's largest economy, the masses believe that the country can be better off.

Nigeria returned to democracy on May 29, 1999, with the election of Olusegun Obasanjo after the reign of Abdulsalam Abubakar, Sani Abacha, Ibrahim Babangida, and others.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018, marked the 3rd year anniversary of President Muhammadu Buhari's administration who cling power through his anti-corruption and change mantra in 2015.

After three years, Nigerians believed despite successes recorded in some areas by the Buhari-led federal government, some grey areas need attention that the government failed to take into cognizant.

In his anniversary broadcast, President Muhammadu Buhari said it is time up for killer herdsmen who have been on a rampage across Nigeria.

In his words: The unfortunate incidences of kidnappings, herdsmen and farmers clashes in several communities which have led to the high number of fatalities and loss of properties across the country are being addressed and the identified culprits and their sponsors shall be made to face the full wrath of the law.

But Nigerian Senator, Shehu Sani said though the President Muhammadu Buhari has recorded achievements in fighting corruption but failed in areas of respecting human rights and protecting human lives and respecting principles of separation of powers.

Democracy Day; The nation under this Govt has recorded achievements in the areas of fighting corruption, self-sufficiency, economy & completion of projects: And has failed in areas of respecting human rights & protecting human lives & respecting principles of separation of powers, Shehu Sani said in a Twitter post.

Business Insider Sub-Saharan Africa takes a look at what some citizens are saying about the Muhammadu Buhari-led government.

In 2017, Acting President Yemi Osinbajo delivered the democracy day speech while President Muhammadu Buhari was taking a medical vacation in the United Kingdom.

Osinbajo painted the sorry state of the Army under the dreaded terror group, Boko Haram. He said Boko Haram openly challenged the sovereignty and continued existence of the state, killing, maiming, and abducting, causing the displacement of the largest number of our citizens in recent history.
Nigerias Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki has stressed that the citizenry and public office holders should understand that democracy isnt all about elections only but other rudiments.

The Senate President and former governor of Kwara state pointed out that rule of law, following due process, respecting and nurturing institutions are key elements of democracy while being accountable when in positions of authority.

I would like us all to remember that Democracy is not just about elections. It also involves the rule of law, following due process, respecting and nurturing institutions. It is also a unity of purpose while being accountable when we are in positions of authority.

These include abuse of office in a manner that suggests persecution and oppression of perceived enemies, stifling of free expression, undermining of democratic institutions, and impunity on the part of certain individuals who behave as though they are above the laws of the land, Saraki said.

Rumoured to be eyeing the seat of President Muhammadu Buhari, the number three citizen said: History will not be fair to us if we allow our complacency to jeopardize democracy. We must all be able to speak out with strong voices on issues that constitute a danger to democracy.
They are:

(1) Yemi Osinbajo

Oluyemi Oluleke "Yemi" Osinbajo was a pastor before he became the current vice president of this country.

Despite his position as VP, he remains in charge of the Lagos Province 48 (Olive Tree provincial headquarter) of The Redeemed Christian Church of God in Ikoyi.

In his words, "Just like Pastor Ibitayo has said we are on loan. I am still the pastor-in-charge of Province 48 in Lagos and my wife remains wife of the pastor-in-charge and wife of the Vice President."

Speaking recently with Benue stakeholders in Makurdi, Osinbajo announced that he remains a priest, who is willing to give up his position in order to hold on to his faith.

He said: "My Lord Bishop, you said you are not a politician, I am also not a politician. As a matter of fact, I am also a priest and I'm a Christian, a born-again Christian. Because I am a born-again Christian, my destiny is not determined by any man but by God who I serve."

The VP added: "Let me assure you that under no circumstance, none whatsoever, will I give up my faith or refuse to stand up for my faith. You can take that to the bank. Even the position that I currently occupy, I did not ask for it and I'm prepared to leave it at a short notice. It doesn't mean anything."

(2) Pastor Tunde Bakare

This Latter Rain Assembly Man of God is a very politically inclined cleric. Over the years, he has been heavily involved in politics, even getting reportedly arrested in March 2002 for preaching sermons critical of then-president Olusegun Obasanjo.

He took matters into his own hands when he contested unsuccessfully in the 2011 Nigerian presidential election. Pastor Bakare recently announced his plans to try again during the new year eve's service in Ogba, Lagos.

Bakare said, "I heard the Lord say, politics is not over for you, run for president. "And (the lord) said to me, I'll work it out myself and make it happen in due course.

"Please trust me, I lie not in the Holy Ghost. This is not easy for me to share with you. I share this with you so that you can pray along with me. It appears destiny is calling and the time is at hand, but who is sufficient for these things? As I hear more, You'd be the first to know by the grace of God."

This declaration received interesting reactions from Nigerians.

(3) Pastor Chris Okotie

Before Bakare, there was Reverend Christopher Oghenebriore Okotie of the Household of God International Ministry in Oregun, Lagos.

In 2003, he came with the original 'God said I would be president' message. Unfortunately for him, this did not work out so well.
Most users prefer to smoke it, usually mixed with high-grade marijuana and rolled up in papers like tobacco and weed.

Although it can come in almost any color, the backroom chemists who make it often use dried herbs or lawn clippings to make sure it looks closely like the real stuff, so it often appears something between a deep shade of green and damp brown.

In the real sense, it looks a lot like marijuana, but its the farthest thing from marijuana that youve ever heard of.

It is widely reported that, beneath the surface of daily activity, Nigeria is on the cusp of a major drug problem.

The aggressive emergence of a culture of casual drug use has been supported by the presence of players at every major level of the drug chain.

On one hand, production is high as ever, even as makers of amphetamine have been discovered in Lagos and Rivers.

Nigerias status as a transit country is also not in question; since the early years of military rule, large amounts of cocaine have been funneled through the country under various guises.

And now, while the consumption of drugs like marijuana and opioids like Codeine and Tramadol has reached an alarming rate, a new, unfriendly substance is causing convulsions, kidney failure and a zombie-like state of intoxication that can lead to death.

Synthetic marijuana, like the name suggests, is a collection of man-made chemicals that mimic the effect of marijuana and are sprayed on dried herbs or similar substances, wrapped in brightly colored packs and sold as an alternative to marijuana that is both legal and more potent.

In the United States and the UK, it is sold under three major brand names; "Spice", "K2" and "Black Mamba", for as low as $1 per bag. This is key because it puts it in the ballpark of the most susceptible; the homeless, poor and young students.

In many ways, this affordability is a major reason why the use of the drug is spreading rapidly in areas like Lagos, Port-Harcourt, and Abuja.

But aside that, many other factors, like easy access, are contributing their quota.

Synthetic marijuana is relatively new in Nigeria, so the sale and use are not as elaborate as it is on the other side.

It is mostly sold in head-shops here, small outfits that sell accessories used for the consumption of cannabis and tobacco, as well as items that form part of that culture, like weed-branded shirts and Bob Marley bandannas.

Outfits like this are scattered around Lagos and Victoria Islands.

There are also reports that it is sold by dealers of more expensive strains of marijuana and designer drugs in the highbrow areas of Lagos.

Synthetic marijuana is sold in small quantities for a little as 2,000 naira and as much as 10,000 naira, depending on the size of the bag and where it is bought. The substance itself is sealed tight in small, shiny bags about the size of a sugar or tea bag with the brand name written across it.

On the streets where this drug is slowly claiming victims, the tags vary; Colorado, Black Mamba, Lamba (when mixed with Loud, a highly potent strain of marijuana), Happy Boy or Scooby Snax.

The names are admittedly more colorful than youd expect; what the packs contain is anything but.

Most of the clamor against synthetic weed has been made by people who have either experimented with the drug, or have seen its effects on frequent, and even first-time users. And as more people come in contact with the drug, the numbers are rising and the voices are getting louder.

On social media website, Twitter, a user @sofireginald recounted her experience with the drug in a series of tweets.

Some of her friends had tried the drug and, despite diluting it with large amounts of tobacco, what they got was nowhere near the pleasurable high they were hoping for; according to her tweets, one of them had gone completely deaf for three days, another went so mental that she was held in medical care for three weeks and counting.

Apparently alarmed by these experiences, she advised users to stay away from "Colorado or comorado or whatever name you people have coined for it"

One of her tweets read, Ive seen people cry, convulse, take off their clothes and do other weird shit. You can actually go insane. Its not remotely healthy.

Segun (not real name) agrees that synthetic marijuana is very dangerous; he also thinks that it is difficult to explain the true extent of its danger to people who have never tried it or seen it at work.

Segun is an avid marijuana user; he has smoked at least a blunt a day, consistently, for over three years.

One day, while driving home after work, a friend showed him a half-rolled blunt that he had gotten from another friend earlier that day; just two hits had fucked him up, but for some reason, he felt he was overreacting.

This friend offered the mystery blunt to Segun and another colleague who was on the ride; ever the adventurous smokers, but unwilling to take too much of a risk, they took three light drags each. What came immediately after was an intense, harsh high, and a comedown made in hell.

I dont know how to describe it. At first, I was feeling these strange sensations at the back of my head and my shoulders., Segun recounts. My right leg, it felt almost detached. It felt like if it stayed still for long, it would feel like it was not there any more

I could only think about one particular thing at a time. My thought process was limited to handling the steering and using the brake. I had no idea where I was driving to, or where I was.

I couldnt just remember. It was as if something crazy would happen if I tried to think of anything else. All I could do was drive and say guy (when my friends talked to me)", he said. I had to increase the volume of the music to avoid falling into this place that the drug was taking me to

When I got home, I ate and bragged a lot about the high, then I blacked out. I dont remember these things happening. I can only tell you because I was told, Segun adds.

He is one of the lucky people. There have been reports of people having worse highs while on synthetic weed, sometimes inflicting self harm. In one case, a user jumped off a ledge, broke his leg and carried on, completely oblivious to what had happened and the broken leg he was trying to stand on.

For all the novelty of these accounts, you will be mistaken to assume that they are isolated events.

In recent weeks, various people have reported seeing the distinctive colorful packs of Spice in different places, from the Afrika Shrine in Ikeja, to Vantage, a hotel, and lounge, in Lekki.

In the 1990s, John W. Huffman, a chemist from South Carolina in the United States, began researching artificial ways to replicate cannabinoids, the active chemicals that cause the behavioral and psychoactive changes that we interpret as being high.

Marijuana was a banned Schedule 1 substance in the United States at the time, and Huffman needed to replicate these chemicals for his research on the health effects of marijuana while avoiding the implications of experimenting with a banned substance.

He found some success years after; one of the compounds he developed replicated the desired effects and was shown to help reduce skin cancer and brain tumors in lab mice.

Huffman published his findings in the mid-2000s, complete with instructions on how to re-create the chemical compound he had developed that he said could be followed by a halfway decent undergraduate chemistry major in three steps using materials that can be purchased by just about anyone.

Needless to say, there were more than enough capable chemistry graduates at the time. In the years that followed, manufacturers created it in large quantities and began to sell it in head shops, packaged as air fresheners, aromatic leaves or potpourri.

Most experts agree that Spice was first sold as a recreational drug in the UK in 2004.

Huffmans original compound was the product of years of rigorous research and had been fine-tuned to achieve as little harm as possible, but even at that, it was extremely dangerous.

In time, cities around the US became aware of the health and social risks that it posed. Between 2014 and 2015, New York and other states banned the substance out-rightly.

The manufacturers responded in the most unexpected way.

The original anti-spice laws only recognized the class of compounds close to Huffmans original template; so the manufacturers set about using it to create their own chemical compounds that could replicate marijuana and evade the laws.

As new laws are created in Europe and the United States to tackle the production of spice, the manufacturers have become more experimental, pushing the boundaries and creating new chemicals that they do not totally understand.

It is why, regardless of the ingredients listed on the packaging, no-one ever really knows what is in a spice blunt. Not even the manufacturers themselves.

What they have managed to create is a concoction of random chemicals that can take a user to the fringes of insanity and, as in a case where 33 New Yorkers were rushed to the hospital in July 2016, turn them into living, breathing zombies.

It then begs the question: What makes a person want to be so high that they use a drug that rids them of control of the mind and body?

Few regular users of synthetic marijuana hardly ever find the words to recount their experience in useful detail; but among those who have tried the drug, a number have lived to tell the tale.

They describe the feeling of being high on synthetic weed as something entirely different from regular, natural marijuana.

While regular cannabis gives a feeling of light euphoria, drowsiness, increased sensory awareness (and paranoia among new users), this synthetic high is something between extreme paranoia and a deep, aggressively overwhelming trance.

Users begin to act erratically almost immediately after smoking. Even where two individuals use the same batch, their reactions can be completely different.

Some users are so bemused that they break into spontaneous, intense laughter, others become severely anxious and paranoid that they literally withdraw into themselves and become hostile at any attempt to make contact or have a conversation.

Either way, they enter a world of their own, one where the norms and behavior of sobriety are inaccessible, to put it lightly.

In many ways, it is the case with all forms of recreational drug use and it's eventual, usually unavoidable abuse. Most drug users do so for the euphoria, mental liberty and the feeling of detachment that can come with being high.

In this sense, it is a journey between two extremes; release, euphoria, and weightlessness on one hand and the reality of daily life and its momentary worries on the other.

Users of synthetic marijuana are simply more willing, usually by reason of circumstance or sheer misdirected curiosity, to explore the former extreme to its farthest ends; what they find is usually a chaotic inverse that one can hardly emerge from without any harm.

The compounds that make up synthetic marijuana were never meant to be inside the human body. When they are, the damage they cause is immense.

Some of the short term effects on the mind include but arent limited to; unresponsiveness, loss of consciousness, confusion, altered time sense, extreme anxiety, panic attacks, severe paranoia, delusions, hallucinations, psychosis and potential suicide, says Victor Ugo, a medical doctor who is the founder of Mentally Aware Initiative, a mental health advocacy program based in Lagos, Nigeria.

In cities like New York and London where spice is already a major problem, there are entire groups of the homeless, poor, delinquent and wanderers who use the drug in groups during smoking sessions in not-so-secluded places.

Locals call them zombies.

The name comes from the zombie-like state they enter after using the drug, where they seem to lose all capacity to understand, process information and make decisions.

In extreme cases, zombies can black out and become almost motionless, falling over whatever is in sight when the high takes effect.

It can take days or weeks for a user to feel completely rid of the feeling. When they regain consciousness, there is usually no memory of these events.

With some medical help and abstinence, recovery can happen at a much quicker pace but, even in the case of a first time user, the drug usually causes permanent damage to brain cells and long-term behavioral changes.

It is not that easy to escape the effects of synthetic marijuana on the bodys anatomy.

According to Ugo, from medical analyses, it has been found that the active ingredients are dangerous and toxic.

The drug has severe short and long term effects of the human body, with no limit to which vital organ it affects., he adds.

Short term use can cause nausea and vomiting, heavy sweating, uncontrolled/spastic body movements, acute kidney injury, rapid heart rate, high blood pressure and reduced blood supply to the heart.

Long-term users face health risks that are far worse and can be, in extreme cases, terminal. Unlike the non-synthetic Marijuana which isnt known to be addictive, synthetic Marijuana can be addictive, Ugo says.

It can lead to withdrawal symptoms which include craving, nightmares, heavy sweating, nausea, tremors, headaches, extreme tiredness, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, problems thinking clearly and neglect of other interests or duties.

After repeated use of the drug, users can experience forgetfulness and confusion. Weve at times heard of and read about users/addicts experiencing paralysis, he continues.

Beyond these health concerns, there is also the social implication of dealing with such an addictive drug that is mostly used by the youth and individuals on the fringes of society.

Factors like these have pushed governments in countries most hit by synthetic marijuana to educate the population, enact legislation and provide intensive rehabilitation in a bid to defeat what is fast becoming an epidemic.

The reverse is the case in Nigeria. Despite reports of overdoses, insanity and organ failure caused by synthetic marijuana in recent months, Nigerias drug agencies are yet to even show any signs that they are even aware of the drugs existence.

For now, the full extent of their focus is on often-celebrated cannabis busts that end with press releases and high-definition pictures.

(Efforts to reach the Lagos State Command of the Nigerian Police Force were not responded to)

As they tackle a rapidly emerging epidemic, countries in the West have considered and explored many routes to get synthetic marijuana off their streets.

In the UK, stringent laws have been enacted to discourage the production, sale, and use of synthetic marijuana.

The United States approach to solving this problem has involved similar stringent laws, but also a trend where states have legalized medical and recreational marijuana at various levels. While some believe this approach is as liberal as it gets, there are others who feel it is not liberal enough.

In the alternative, certain individuals and pro-Spice groups have called for a more liberal approach to synthetic marijuana around the world.

They claim that the original compound that Huffman developed was the product of years of scientific research, and much safer than what is sold today.

What they advocate is that the government sponsors research into synthetic marijuana with a view to developing compounds that are safer to consume.

Regardless of the many differing opinions, one thing is certain, that more people need to be educated on the perils of using and selling synthetic marijuana.

Unlike regular marijuana, synthetic marijuana is hardly stored in bulk or sold in dark dens under the bridge, so law enforcement agents must drop their usual model of random raids for an approach that relies more on community policing and coordinated investigations.

Anti-Spice laws must also be created, with heavy sanctions for those who violate its provisions.

In all fairness, the spread of synthetic marijuana has come faster than was first feared, but the dangers that it poses demand that efforts against it move even quicker.
According to the reports, the teenager identified as Soni Kumari, was chopped up into 12 pieces for demanding her salary.

The police disclosed the information after arresting one of the alleged killers from Nangloi, identified as Manjeet Karketa.

ALSO READ: Nigerian man who allegedly cut teenage girl to pieces escape murder charge

The deceased who was a native of a village near Ranchi, was reportedly hired as a domestic help for a monthly salary of Rs 6,500.

However, the reports revealed that Soni did not receive a single penny after working for three years in Delhi.

Rajender Singh Sagar, additional deputy commissioner of police, added that Soni worked as a full-time help at a businessmans house in south Delhis East of Kailash area.

The employer would pay the monthly salary, but the people who brought her to Delhi were pocketing the money, said the officer.

The Police also revealed that four persons, including a woman who also works as a domestic help as well as the arrested suspect, were involved in Soni's brutal murder.

The police finally uncovered the motive behind Soni's death following Manjeet's arrest from Jharkhand on Thursday, May 24, 2018.

Local news media reports that Soni's father dies years ago and she had lived with her mother and two brothers in Malgo village in Jharkhands Ranchi district.

Soni was, however, brought to Delhi with promises of a high-paying job three years ago.

Soni's killers who have been identified as Manjeet and two other associates, Sahu and Gauri, reportedly operated an informal placement agency and regularly brought girls from Jharkhand, employing them as domestic helps in Delhi homes.

Kumari worked at a few homes in the city before being hired by a businessmans family in East of Kailash. But her monthly salary would be pocketed by the people who brought her to Delhi. Karketa would justify pocketing the money by telling her employer that he was Kumaris brother. It also helped prevent the girl from escaping, said an investigator.

After the first year in Delhi, Soni began to demand for her salary, asking to be sent back home.

The investigator adds, Over the past few weeks, she had become more persistent with her demand. Karketa and his associates owned her more than ?2 lakh. They also feared being reported to the police. So, the trio planned to kill Kumari and roped in a fourth partner, Rakesh.

"On May 3, the suspects took her away from her employers home on the pretext of sending her back to her village. Instead, they brought her to a house in outer Delhis Nangloi.

The killers first hit her on her head. They then severed her neck before dismembering her limbs and torso. They packed her body parts into bags and dumped them into a drain in Mianwali, said the investigator.

According to the reports, Soni's body parts were later discovered by a passer-by who alerted the police.

ALSO READ: Body of a fugitive chopped into pieces

Although a CCTV camera had recorded two of the suspects carrying the bag filled with body parts, their faces were not clear enough to be recognised.

Police later took a picture of the victims head, going door to door, searching for clues on Soni's identity in Mianwali and neighbouring areas.

We visited 2,500 homes and particularly focused on 200 houses before zeroing in on a house whose two occupants had been missing since the day of the murder. Neighbours were shown the girls photo and they confirmed that she was seen there on May 3, said the investigator.

As soon as the suspects were identified, police teams were sent out to Jharkhand villages to arrest them.

The investigator said, We searched 45 villages in Gumla and neighbouring areas before finding Karketas home."
According to the reports, the MMA fighter and boxer living in New Taipei City murdered Huang who he met on dating app, Tinder, for reportedly lying about being a virgin.

Detectives disclosed that the 28-year-old man killed the 27-year-old lady after flying into a murderous rage over the fact that she was no longer a virgin. They suspect that Huang had been cheating on Chu at the time of the killing.

Instablog9ja reports that CCTV camera recorded the moment the couple went into Chu's flat together before he allegedly killed and dismembered her then dumped her body in garbage bags.

Chu took his life after killing Huang, in a murder/suicide.

The police disclosed that a suicide note was found with the words, she wronged me after Chu was discovered hanging.

Chu also went on a rant on Facebook before his death as Huang's family members began searching for her.

In his rant, Chu claimed he never once hurt her or restricted her freedom and said, after we met on Tinder, she lied to me saying she was a virgin.

He also claimed that she kept coming back to him when he tried to break-up with her.

May their soul rest in peace.

Husband murders wife, commits suicide (Graphic Photos)

A man has committed a sacrilege in the Gambia after he murdered his wife before hanging himself in the Mandiary community.

According to a Facebook user, Sizzla Mandinka Worior Jadama, the man had engaged his wife in a fight following allegations of infidelity and in the process, used a knife to slice the woman's throat.

On realizing the gravity of what he had done, the man went to a tree outside his house and used a rope to hang himself. His lifeless body was later discovered by relatives dangling from the tree.

Read what Jadama posted on his wall:
The deceased identified as Ibukun Arowolo reportedly passed away on Thursday, May 24, 2018.

ALSO READ: Corps member preparing for marriage in December dies a day to passing out

Prior to his death, Arowolo who was deployed to the State Ministry of Economic Planning and Budget.

Instablog9ja reports that the deceased seemed uncomfortable after eating his meal and suddenly slumped to the ground.

The staff of the ministry are said to have rushed him to Folarin Color Hospital for immediate treatment.

Arowolo was later confirmed dead. May his soul rest in peace.

Another female Corps member dies in Abia

The cold hands of death has snatched yet another member of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), following the death of a female member serving in Abia State.

The Abia NYSC reported the sad loss on its Whastapp group that the young lady was on a commercial motorcycle popularly called Okada, when a speeding car lost control and hit the motorcycle with the victim said to die instantly.

ALSO READ: Friend pens touching tribute to Corps member who died on her way to service
Olakunle, who shared a picture of a cell had a problem with the law officers as indicated in a post displayed via his IG profile on Monday, May 28, 2018.

The policemen had interrupted his journey to Ogudu, Lagos, based on an allegation suggesting that he is a homosexual.

This ensured his arrest and a disruption of a plan to visit a client who needed a hairdo.

"THE MAN THAT ARRESTED ME... So this morning by 9am, I was on my way to style someone at Ogudu.

"I entered a public transport and was stopped by a guy at Ojota who asked me to introduced myself I asked why he said his police, they asked for my ID card I showed them.

"Then he said I look like a girl and that was it they started yelling and calling me names then they took me and put me in their bus, took me all the way from Ojota to IWAYA POLICE POST then I asked what my offence was, they said I look like GAY, INDECENT ACT and I'm too SLIM.

"I was locked up from 9am - 4pm before they release me. Please since when did been slim become an offence in LAGOS.

"I was unjustly maltreated today by the POLICE and I demand justice," Idowu Oluwatosin Olakunle wrote.
This was revealed in a footage which captured a late evening in Port Harcourt.

A Facebook profile, Efcc Chiko confirmed that the incident occurred on Sunday, May 27, 2018.

The sum of N1 million failed to appeal to the suicidal man according to Chiko's post shared on the day of the event.

"Happening Now at Jevinik PH. This Young man wanted to commit suicide and climbed a high tension wire.

"He was beg with 1million naira to climb down..the boy refused and went high before he was finally electrocuted and fell from the pole," Efcc Chiko expressed on his page.

A group of people including Apostle Chibuzor Chinyere, the General Overseer of the Omega Power Ministries, gathered by a roadside as they nurtured hope of a positive response.

But an electrical spark much earlier before they could get one. It sent the suicidal man tumbling down the ground yet he surprisingly survived.
According to him, the deceased, Amadi Chukwuemeka Princewill was killed by a Naval officer who is currently on the run, on Saturday, May 26, 2018.

ALSO READ: 51-yr-old man rapes NYSC member to death in Ilorin

In his post, he shared photos of the deceased while alive and now dead, as well as an account of the incident that led to his murder.

Read what he wrote below:

"Amadi Chukwuemeka Princewill, a serving corps member and a native of Awaka in Imo state. On Saturday being the 26th of May, he went on a sit out with his friends, one Mr Nick Anyanwu (current community chairman at Ndegbelu community in Awaka Imo state and also a re-election aspirant) came to the sit out spot with a naval officer and started harassing them (Princewill amadi and friends) all in d name of political power.

"Amadi Chukwuemeka Princewill who has been away for the 3weeks orientation camp prior to NYSC proper tried to inquire what the problem was, but the naval officer faced him squarely and started harassing him in particular. On seeing that his attacker is a uniformed man, Chukwuemeka tried walking out and the naval officer dragged him back, beat him up mercilessly and shot him in the chest.

"This same naval officer took him to the hospital (Holy Rosary Hospital Emekuku) dumped him there and ran away. As it stands now, the navy officer and the man aspiring for the post of chairmanship are at large.

"Please let us get #justiceforprincewilll #justiceforchukwuemeka #justiceforsleek.

"Let the search for Mr Nick Anyanwu, current chairman and aspiring chairman of Ndegbelu community in Awaka Imo state begin."

See his post below:

Driver arrested for raping, strangling Corps member

The Ogun State Police Command has arrested a 29-year-old driving instructor, Festus Udo, for allegedly raping and strangling a female youth corps member serving in the state.

Premium Times reported that Udo, a resident of Abule Ayo area in Mawuko, Odeda Local Government Area of the state, allegedly raped and strangled the victim whose name was given as Modupe Taiyese, before dumping her body in a forest in the area.

The Commissioner of Police in the state, Ahmed Ilyasu who led journalists to the scene of the crime on Wednesday, December 13, 2017, said the suspect had already confessed to the crime while the decomposed body of the 23-year-old victim had been recovered.

CP Ilyasu said the suspect was a driving instructor at Lizzy Driving School, Abeokuta, where the victim registered to learn driving.

Udo, an indigene of Uromi in Edo State, had, on Saturday, December 9, lured the corps member into the bush with the promise of giving her a driving permit which would allow her to drive around the town without hindrance.

He, however, ended up raping her forcefully after which he strangled her to death and hid the body in the forest.

CP Ilyasu said the police received the complaint of a missing person from the coordinator of the NYSC in the state, John Okon, and his command immediately went into action and after investigations, Udo was arrested and during interrogation, he confessed to the crime.

We went for a powerful, technical screening of fact left behind by the last person she made contact with, who is the suspect, CP Iliyasu began.

Continuing, he said:

Technically, the information led to one person by name Festus Udoh, an indigene of Uromi of Edo State, who was teaching this innocent deceased corper, Taiyese Modupe, how to drive.

We were able to uncover this nefarious act and he led us to this place [forest] and confessed. The man tactically and deceitfully convinced her on Saturday evening that her driving permit is ready.

She decided to answer to his call and he cleverly and deceitfully apprehended this lady and brought her down to this forest where he had a forceful, illegal and unlawful carnal knowledge of her and thereafter strangled her to death.

CP Ilyasu added that operatives were given a matching order to make a breakthrough in the case given the national importance of the case, since the victim was a corps member.

The passport photographs of the suspect were found at the scene of the incident which is a remarkable scene of crime evidence, he said.

The suspect who spoke to journalists, admitted the crime, blaming the devil for his action.

After I took her to the place, I told her that I wanted to have sex with her but she said no, and I dragged her into the bush and had sex with her.

After having sex with her, she said she will tell her family; that was when I tore her clothes and used it to strangle her neck; as she was gasping, I now ran away. It was the devil who made me do it, he confessed.
According to the National Helm News, the latter vanished while in care of one of the nurses at the Peniel Maternity and Clinic located in Anyingba, Kogi State.

Mudi reportedly delivered her child at the health facility also known as "Mummys hospital" on Sunday, May 27, 2018, but was prevented from seeing her baby by the hospital staff who put her in a different ward.

Fitumu, a relation of the Mudi's husband confirmed that the infant was receiving care from the nurse who was not identified.

ALSO READ: Malian who rescued baby gets French citizenship from President Macron

A picture revealed members of Anyingba community during a visit to the health center.

They reportedly visited a police station where the carer was taken to demand for her release.
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In America, Martha Washington is considered to be the first "first lady," but the term wasn't used until after her death. Her main function was to play hostess for social events, and she set the standard for the subsequent first ladies.

Now, the world over, contemporary first ladies are expected to perform public and ceremonial duties. While they've always hosted state dinners and other official events, now they also serve as surrogates to their husbands' administrations, taking on particular social projects or causes.

All four of these women took a very hands-on approach to the office of the first lady and their names are just as well-known as those of their husbands. Be it from philanthropic or more controversial involvements, these women sure made an impact during their tenure and were sure to do so in style.

Check out the four first ladies below!

Aisha Buhari

Married to Muhammad Buhari: 7th and 15th President of Nigeria. 31, Dec. 1983 - 27, Aug. 1985 & May 25, 2015 till date.

The Buharis have been arguably the most youthful and vigorous first families Nigeria has ever had led by their capable matriarch, Aisha. Nigeria was captivated by the beautiful and radiant Zahra and her handsome brother, Yusuf and the youthful energy they brought.

From the beginning, Aisha made it know that she had a taste for the finer things in life In one of her official portraits, Aisha was spotted wearing the Cartier Baignoire Folle 18-Carat White Gold Diamond Ladies Watch of the First Lady made of rhodiumised white gold set with brilliant-cut diamonds. The rather ostentatious watch raised a few eyebrows and the administration was forced to come out in defence of the First Lady.

Since then, Aisha has kept the flashy watches to a minimum but continues to show she's a cut above the rest in the style stakes with her colourful outfits and love of gold jewelry.

Patience Jonathan

Married to Goodluck Jonathan: 14th President of Nigeria. 5, May 2010 - 29, May 2015.

Patience Jonathanwas arguably one of the most outspoken of all First Ladies of all In a ground-breaking interview with This Day Live, Patience and her family posed for a photo shoot and she opened up about public speaking as part of her duties, she said:

Some people see public speaking as an act or a performance. In acting or performance(s), you act or mimic someones style or manner of speaking. I speak naturally.

And because I speak straight from my heart, it comes naturally. While growing up, my parents encouraged sharing of views. They did not impose their views on us. They only gave us guidance. So, I found myself growing up as a free human being, free to express my views on anything at any time. And I dont hold back my opinion when I feel strongly about anything.

Patience was best known for her love of traditional Nigerian fashion. She was often spotted looking regal in native and had a penchant for gele. Her vivid personality reflected in the clothes she wore and Patience always made sure she was very colourful and expressive in the way she dressed.

Turai Yar' Adua

Married to Umaru Musa Yar' Adua. 13th President of Nigeria. 29, May 2007 - 5, May 2010.

Turaiwas known as the silent but influential First Lady. Often keeping a relatively low-profile in public but having her husbands ear at all times. Turai was rumoured to be one of her husband's closest advisors during his tenure as President of Nigeria.

One of the more understated wives, Turai rarely wore makeup and was not flashy in her style. Instead she wore, colourful traditional Northern wear.

Stella Obasanjo

Married to Olusegun Obasanjo: 5th and 12th President of Nigeria. 13, Feb. 1976 - 30th Sept. 1979 and 29, May 1999 - 29, May 2007.

Stella Obasanjo was well-known for her love of all things fashion, style and glamour. Obasanjo's wife, who often wore a full face of make-up, lots of jewelry and colourful attire, unfortunately died in her pursuit of beauty. Stella famously died whilst undergoing cosmetic surgery but her vibrant legacy remains.
As much as we feel it is okay to travel to all the countries of the world. Some countries just don't want you. From limitations on getting a Visa to difficulty getting flights, these are some of the hardest places to visit in the world.

1. Libya

ALSO READ: What to know when travelling to a Muslim country

Most government officials warn against travelling to Libya, but it is not impossible to visit the country. You'll need to enter Libya through Egypt if you are not an African (countries like Algeria, Niger, Sudan and Chad are closed to non-Africans).

There are no direct flights to Libya from the UK and US, but Afriqiyah Airways flies from Istanbul to Tripoli or you could take a connecting flight through Tunis.

2. North Korea

North Korea does not want you in their country and they would not go out of their way to hide it.

They require all visitors to book a full package tour before visiting. During your visit, youll be required to stay with your guides the entire time. The lack of North Korean embassy in most countries means tourists will need to travel to China before booking a tour.

3. Turkmenistan

To get to Turkmenistan, youll need to agree to be accompanied by a guide for the duration of your stay which can be quite expensive. However, there are ways around it. If youre arriving by car or bike through another country you can apply for a transit and visit the country without an official guide.

4. Bhutan

ALSO READ: 7 African countries you never knew you wanted to visit

50 decades ago people were unable to visit the Kingdom of Bhutan. Thanks to the mountainous Tibet to the north and the dense jungles of West Bengal. Today there are two airlines that fly to and from Bhutan (Drukair and Bhutan Airlines). However, you will need to pay for your trip in advance which is an all-inclusive package through a Bhutanese travel agent.

5. Syria
Well-aware of his controversial past as a military dictator, the president sold himself as a reformed democrat and promised Nigerians to play by the rules as far as the constitution would allow him.

Three years on from that inauguration speech, and it's not been smooth sailing for the president's administration no matter what he or his people care to tell the world.

Certain events have happened under the president that has brought Nigeria's democracy into question and sometimes disrepute. While all of it is not directly the president's fault, some of it somehow lead back to his doorstep.

1. Magu's failed nomination

Ibrahim Magu has been the chairman of anti-graft agency, the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) for nearly three years now but he's only been in the role in an acting capacity.

Magu has made two appearances before the National Assembly hoping to be confirmed as a substantive chairman of the agency but has been rejected both times.

After the presidencyfirst forwarded his name to lawmakers for confirmation in July 2016, a hearing was not scheduled for months, a development that fueled speculations about a plan to reject him.

When he eventually made an appearance in December 2016, his nomination was indeed rejected mainly due to a damning security report written by the Department of State Services against him.

While many protested that the rejection was motivated by lawmakers' fears that Magu would prosecute them, the National Assembly insisted that they were doing the Nigerian people a favour by being meticulous with who assumed leadership of an important institution.

It's important to note here that in his inauguration speech, President Buhari promised, "The Federal Executive under my watch will not seek to encroach on the duties and functions of the legislative and judicial arms of government."

However, unsatisfied with rejection, he sent Magu's nomination to the National Assembly a second time but met with the same rejection that boiled down to the controversial DSS report whose credibility has been brought into question.

Despite the rejections, the presidency has kept Magu in his role, an action that led to the breakdown in the relationship between the executive and legislature until earlier this year.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo's remark that executive appointments did not require legislative approval based on Section 171 of the Nigerian constitution had angered legislators so much that they resolved to suspend all issues relating to the confirmation of nominees from the executive until the laws of the federation are adhered to.

This led to a cold war between two of the nation's three organs of government as federal appointments stalled in the legislative chambers for months, with untold consequences.

While speaking about the issue in August 2017, Senate President Bukola Saraki described the presidency's decision to keep Magu on as EFCC boss, despite the rejections, as a violation of the principle of checks and balances enabled by democracy.

He said, "We cannot belittle or weaken the institution because it is that institution that separates democracy from dictatorship. When you weaken the parliament, you have weakened democracy."

Over time, from what public records indicate, Magu has grown chummy with the leadership of the National Assembly, so maybe third time is the charm.

2. Nnamdi Kanu and Ibrahim El-Zakzaky

Leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), Nnamdi Kanu, is fast becoming history on Nigeria's political landscape, and it's for some pretty unsettling reason.

After he was held by the federal government for two years on charges of treason, Kanu was released on bail in April 2017 for health reasons. The leader of the separatist movement soon cranked up ethnic tension in the country while also violating the bail conditions set by the court.

Rather than revoke his bail through civil means, the government allowed his nuisance to fester for months until a military exercise in his hometown worsened the situation.

The commencement of Operation Python Dance II in the southeast region triggered fears that it was targeted at Kanu and IPOB and that was soon aggravated after reports emerged 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.

The army countered the claims and said the soldiers had been attacked with stones by IPOB members while on a routine parade exercise in the Abia state capital, but things only got worse from there.

Days after Kanu accused the army of trying to provoke his group to war, he disappeared without a trace.

While the federal government has insisted that Kanu is on the run from his court trouble, IPOB has relentlessly claimed that soldiers had succeeded in invading his house and abducting him while also killing dozens, a claim his counsel, Ifeanyi Ejiofor, has repeated to the court several times.

His parents, HRH Eze Israel Kanu and Lolo Sally, have also been missing since then, raising even more suspicion.

The belief that Kanu might secretly be in the government's custody is not a big leap in logic when you consider that the government has previously pulled a similar move with the spiritual leader of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria, Ibrahim El-Zakzaky.

The cleric's residence in Kaduna state was invaded by soldiers in December 2015 after his followers' clashed with the convoy of the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant-General Tukur Buratai. During the invasion, hundreds of his followers, including three of his sons were killed by soldiers.

Despite a court order to release the cleric in 2016, he's remained in government detention since 2015 and wasn't arraigned before a Kaduna High Court until May 2018 as he's been charged with unlawful gathering, criminal conspiracy and culpable homicide of a soldier that died in the 2015 clash.

The treatment of Kanu and El-Zakzaky has been noted to be major excesses of the federal government circumventing the constitution of the country to run with impunity that has no place in a democracy.

3. Mace theft

When 'unknown' hoodlums invaded the National Assembly on April 18, 2018, and stole the mace of the upper legislative chamber, it was a physical violation of the nation's democracy.

Not only because the mace is the symbol of authority in the legislative chamber, but because the theft was allegedly masterminded by one of its members, Senator Ovie Omo-Agege who had recently been suspended for 90 legislative days for his conduct in objecting to the electoral amendment bill. The lawmaker had run into trouble for accusing his colleagues of targeting Buhari with the bill.

He was arrested by the police at the National Assembly complex hours after the theft but was released after interrogation as he maintained his innocence.

Even though the mace was recovered the next day where it was abandoned, one of Nigeria's most democratic institutions took a huge dent that should embarrass all involved.

Despite currently enjoying its longest streak of democratic governance since independence in 1960, it's disingenuous to say Nigeria's system is anywhere close to running properly and this has not improved under President Buhari even if it didn't start under him.

According to President Buhari's inaugural speech in 2015, Nigeria has a democratically-elected government in place. However, what it doesn't have is a reliable democratic system and more needs to be done for the country to get out of this rut.
This, the group believes would bring to an end the situation where IDPs are allegedly used as conduit pipes by non-governmental organization in the northeast to amass wealth.

The group has also advised the federal to expel Amnesty Internationalfrom the country for acts, the say, is capable of undermining Nigerias democracy.

These decisions were part of the communique released at the end of its second International Human Rights Conference on Local Armed Conflicts in Nigeria on Monday, May 28, 2019, in Abuja.

In reaction to the backlash from Nigerians against their interference, Amnesty International and its collaborators adopted a strategy of using other organizations to front for them, the group said.

The group (Amnesty International) for some time routed its false report through UNICEF, which in turn got other groups to form Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) Nigeria that was used to create a doctored . These platforms go to extra length to compromise media representatives so that their own misleading accounts of events get traction with the publics.

We demand that the Federal Government expels Amnesty International and any other organization that undermines the war of terrorism from Nigeria; the expulsion is without prejudice to any actions brought against staff of these organizations under the anti-terrorism laws of the land.

We request that the Federal and State Governments shut down the IDPs Camps since Boko Haram no longer occupies the communities from where the IDPs were displaced; the ability of the terrorists to attack soft targets would be neutralized once returnees adopt community policing approach to pass intelligence onto the police and military authorities," the communique cosigned by Mutiullah Olasupo and Maxwell Gowon noted.

GAW also advised the Nigerian government to institute the process of exiting the International Criminal Court over alleged intimidation.

The International Criminal Court is constantly used to harass and intimidate military commanders and troops to discourage them from being committed to defeating Boko Haram. The myriads of false reports from Amnesty International and other groups usually have built in texts that threaten military personnel with arraignment for war crimes and crimes against humanity before the International Criminal Court.

It was noted that South Africa, Burundi, Kenya and the Gambia are countries that have taken different steps towards exiting the court created by the Rome Statute because of its confirmed selective justice and usage as a tool for modern day colonialism.

While canvassing for increased funding for the military, it chided the Nigerian Police for abandoning their role in the fight against terrorism in the northeast.

The civil police have within the reference period largely abandoned its jurisdiction in the northeast and other trouble spot in the country for the military to assume jurisdiction even when this is not in consonance with the laws. This growing practice of burdening the military with civil policing is a drain on resources needed to conclusively prosecute the war on terrorism.

We request that the civil police, Nigerian Police Force re-assume jurisdiction in the northeast except for localities where soldiers still have needs to engage remnant of Boko Haram terrorists. This will allow the military to focus on flushing out whatever is left of the terror group and remove its capacity to attack soft targets.

The group also expressed its appreciation to President Muhammadu Buhari for the support against the anti-terrorism war.

Earlier, David Falt, GAWs Global President, decried terrorism and its destructive impact of human lives and property as well as displacements of the citizenry saying: Terrorism creates victims, victims deserve justice and justice delayed is justice denied.

He called for more peaceful approach to resolving the crisis.

Speakers at the conference include; Professor Pita Ogaba Agbese, University of Northern IOWA, [USA]; Mary Johnson, Human Rights Lawyer, [USA]; Malfouz A Adedimeji, former Director, Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Ilorin Kwara State; Stuart McGhie,an expert in Humanitarian Law, London; Professor Emmanuel O. Ezeani of the Conflict Resolution and Peace Building Unit, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State, Prof. Shuaibu Ahmed Danfulani, country director of the group; Dr. Udenta O. Udenta as Conference Moderator amongst others.
Ugwuanyi said this when he addressed the people of Enugu State during the 2018 Democracy Day at Okpara Square, Enugu, on Tuesday

The governor, however, said that with aggressive revenue drive and prudent management of available resources, his administration had held unto its dreams.

The laudable goals we have achieved appeared impossible at that time owing to the realities on ground: huge debt profile of the state pressing down our neck and huge salaries and pension arrears confronting us.

All these were in the midst of economic crunch and depleted revenue from the centre. Our promises then appeared vague, but we held unto our lofty dreams, he said.

Ugwuanyi said that the determination to succeed prompted his administration to modernise the revenue collection process of the state as well as block leakages.

Following these reforms, our internally generated revenue hit N22 billion in 2017, the highest by Enugu in a single year since 1999.

Today, the results we have on ground and the progress we have made in the last three years bear us out that with God all things are possible, he said.

The governor said that his administration had set out to build a state where security and peace were the order of the day.

He said that apart from partnering with the security agencies to create a peaceful environment, his administration was also getting the youths engaged through job creation.

He said that the health sector of the state had come alive with the construction of district hospitals and training of 400 volunteer workers for health intervention programmes in rural communities.

The governor said that doctors, nurses and allied workers had also been employed in the sector.

Ugwuanyi said that the agricultural sector of the state had also been active with several rice farmers receiving assistance from the government, which had improved yield in the state.

He expressed gratitude for what he called the overwhelming acceptance of his administration by residents of the state.

As we embark on the last lap of this tenure, be rest assured that we will never let you down. With God ordering our steps, we will continue to put efforts at ensuring that the common good remains our watch-word.

Let me on your behalf congratulate President Muhammadu Buhari, members of the National Assembly, the judiciary and other state governors on this occasion, Ugwuanyi said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the highpoints of the event were parade by the Enugu State Command of the Nigeria Police Force, musical renditions and cultural displays.
Mr Muhammad Hamza, Special Assistant Gov. Muhammad Badaru on Community Affairs and Social Inclusion, confirmed this to the New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Dutse on Tuesday.

This is part of the state governments efforts to assist the less-privileged in the month of Ramadan, Hamza said.

NAN recalls that the Jigawa government, since its inception in 2015, had been providing tons of assorted grains to the needy across the state.

According to Gov. Muhammad Badaru, his administration decided not to organise any ceremony to mark the Democracy Day due to economic hardship.
According to a report by Guardian, the drug is predominantly abused by youths and housewives in Kano.

On May 1, 2018, the Federal Government announced the immediate ban of all syrup containing codeine following a documentary (Sweet Sweet Codeine) by BBC Africa, which exposed the cartel supplying the drug to Nigerian streets.

The directive was issued by the Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who also asked the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) and National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, (NAFDAC) to supervise the immediate recall of all the codeine-containing cough syrup in the country.

Investigations carried out by the newspaper at the Sabon-Gari open drug market in Kano, however, revealed that the syrup is still being sold by licensed pharmaceutical distributors in the state, but strictly on prescription.

A pharmaceutical dealer at the market, Aminu Yakubu, was quoted as saying that government cannot control such popular-demand medication in Kano.

"It will be difficult for government to stop the marketers from selling codeine because of the money involved. Do you know how many cartoons of codeine we sell daily?", he asked.

Reacting to the development, the Head of NAFDAC in Kano, Shabba Mohammad, said the directive of the health minister has not been enforced in the state due to the ongoing industrial action of Joint Health Sector Union (JOHESU).

"NAFDAC is regulating the control of drugs and on the Federal Government directive on codeine, we have started making efforts to commence the enforcement, unfortunately our members of staff are also members of health workers who are currently on industrial action but I can assure you that full scale work will commence very soon."

ALSO READ: NAFDAC raids 4 pharmaceutical companies exposed in BBC codeine documentary

One of pharmaceutical companies implicated in the BBC documentary, Emzor, had suspended the distribution of its major cough drug, ''Emzolyn with Codeine' following the scandal.
Okorocha belongs to the governing All Progressives Congress (APC)a political party that often parrots stamping out corruption in public office, as a cardinal objective.

The APC is also led by President Muhammadu Buhari, a former military general who has vowed to kill corruption before it kills Nigeria.

However, in an interview with ChannelsTV, Okorocha appeared to suggest that keeping politically exposed persons from dipping their hands in the public till, will amount to an exercise in futility.

Okorocha also said everyone in Nigeria is corrupt to a certain degree.

'All men steal'

Theres no man on earth in Nigeria, from A-Z who will say he lives with the money you pay him monthly. The salaries of governors are N750,000 a month.

"So, if you dont have a second office or something else to do, you must steal. Any political office holder who doesnt have a second office, must steal, Okorocha said.

The governor added that what is more important is making sure governors and political office holders deliver on the job like hes doing in Imo, Southeast Nigeria.

But if you give target, excuse me, you then perform your work and people see the way you have done it and its correct, they are fine.

In Imo State, people are happy with the performance. They are happy. Their children are going to school without school fees, they are happy.

Corruption index

In February, a Transparency International report portrayed Nigeria as one of the most corrupt countrieson the planet.

In the TI corruption perception index, Nigeria ranked 148 out of 180 countries surveyed across the world.

Nigerias new position on the corruption rankings meant it has slipped 12 place from its 136th ranking of 2016.
Sani, who is the Chairman, Senate Committee on Domestic and Foreign Debts, said in a telephone interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN) in Kaduna on Tuesday that in spite of visible achievements, the administration scored low in some areas.

The nation under this government has recorded achievements in the areas of fighting corruption, self sufficiency, economy and completion of projects.

So, if we look around very well, we will realize that this present administration has delivered on its campaign promises and has also lived up to the speech delivered during the inauguration three years ago.

Sani, a human right activist, however, scored the administration low in the areas of respect for human rights and the protection of human lives.
While reflecting on the achievements of the APC-led Federal Government in the last three years, the president said his administration was working hard to deliver more democratic dividends to citizens.

Overall we are on track. I thank all and commend all who have worked so far with us to achieve these successes.

I assure you that our people will continue to see and experience more progress, more prosperity and greater security.

He called on Nigerians to remain steadfast and keep faith with this administration as it remained committed to peace building, good governance and the delivery of the best dividends of democracy to the Nigerian people.

Buhari noted that the country has had its rough times but maintained that the government would not allow itself to be overwhelmed.

According to him, the Federal Government has taken the needed steps to sustain peace in all parts of the country affected by various crises.

He said: We have engaged in several rounds of dialogue and town hall meetings, targeted at peace building between aggrieved persons and communities.

We have worked hard to decimate insurgents in various parts of the country.

The President, who sympathised with people affected by insurgency and communal clashes across the country, said the rebuilding of the North-east was on-going, saying this would enable displaced persons to return to their respective abodes.

He also reiterated the determination of his administration to fight corruption to a standstill in order to achieve meaningful development.

Our resolve to fight corruption was informed by the realization that reducing corruption and ensuring the effective and just utilisation of public resources are crucial for achieving sustainable growth and development in Nigeria.

Corruption has been at the root of most of the development challenges of our country.

There can be no progress in any facet of our national life unless we tackle and curb corruption.

Corruption manifests itself in several forms, including accelerating poverty, conflicts and civil disturbances, resulting into violence and destruction; therefore, all must be done to stop it.

He further reiterated that his administration would not relent in its efforts to eliminate the menace of corruption in spite of the strong opposition against such moves form some quarters.

He noted that Nigerias security situation had greatly improved against the background of what the current government inherited in 2015.

The president said: Incidences of bombings in towns and villages have been drastically curtailed; series of plots have been averted with many culprits arrested through the vigilance, patriotism and professionalism of security agencies.

He therefore restated governments determination to continue to equip troops to confront agents of violence until total victory was attained.

Buhari also noted that the economy had continued to improve with government achieving its objectives, some of which he listed to include increased food production and food security and rapid economic diversification.

He also observed with delight that the countrys foreign reserves had reached new heights.

The President, who reflected on events leading to the conduct and announcement of results of the 2015 general elections, `queried organisers of the programme for not inviting former Minister of Niger Delta Affairs, Mr Godsday Orubebe to the event.

ALSO READ:This is why Obasanjo and Buhari are fighting again

He said his invitation would have afforded him the opportunity to listen to Prof. Mahmud Jegas lecture on good governance.

Here I must digress to raise an observation by (to) the programmes organisers because I did not see Mr Orubebe who ought to have come and listened to Prof. Jega delivering this lecture.

This is a major observation. For those of us, who were lucky that there was light and we have the television to see the confrontation between Mr Orubebe and Prof. Jega, that instant made a life impression in some of us."
Between 1966 and 1973, the country witnessed several coups and the assassination of perceived enemies across the country.

Then military Head of State, General Olusegun Obasanjo, handed over power to Shehu Shagari in 1973. This marked the end of the countrys first military regime and the beginning of the Second Republic.

The second military junta in Nigeria saw the takeover of government from Shagari by then General Muhammadu Buhari in 1983. The coups and counter-coups lasted till 1999 when Genaral Abdusamlai Abubakar handed over power to Obasanjo who became Nigerias Head of State after a presidential election. This ushered Nigeria into the democratic rule it currently enjoys.

Nineteen years down the line, takes a look at events and issues Nigerians would have encountered if the military never handed over power to a democratically elected government in 1999.

1. Human rights violations

Remember your fundamental human rights like right to live, free speech and so on? Forget that if we were under military rule.

But for democracy, Many Nigerians would have been jailed and thrown into prison for speaking against the government. Music legend, Fela Kuti; Activist Ken Saro Wiwa, and Shehu Sani are classic examples individuals who had their rights violated for speaking truth to power during Nigerias days of military rule.

In this age of social media where all you need to oppose the government is a multimedia-enabled phone and internet, I bet you, there would have been more prisons than schools and hospitals if Nigeria was under the dictates of the military.

2. No National Assembly

If the military had not handed over power to a civil government in 1999, Nigeria would not have the National Assembly  the law making arm of government. This arm also exists to check the excesses of both the executive and the judiciary.

Under the military, the Supreme Military Council reserved the both the executive and legislative duties. The Chairman of the Council was the head of the military government.

But for democracy, Nigerians would not have been entertained by the melodious tunes of Senator Dino Melaye, the dance skills of Senator Ademola Adeleke, there would be no need for the IGP, Ibrahim Idris to shun Senates invitation three times in a row and the Comptroller General of Customs, Hameed Ali, would not have appeared at the Senate in a white kaftan instead of his uniform.

We would not have heard about budget padding, Senates mace would not have been stolenamidst high security presence, Nigeria would have saved billions of Naira collected by lawmakers for doing very little job.

3. Suspension of the Constitution

Under the military, the Constitution of the Country was suspended to give room for Decrees. These Decrees are more like the Biblical ten commandments which if broken, exposes one to extreme punishment or death.

4. Unstable government

Imagine waking up to hear that a coup had taken place and a new government had taken over power with the plans of his predecessor trashed. This would have been a norm in the country.

If Nigeria was being ruled by the military, President Buhari would not have travelled on Medical vacation to London and still returned as the countrys leader after over three months away.

You know the rest.

Late President Umaru Musa YarAdua would have suffered the same fate while Goodluck Jonathan would have been overthrown due to alleged corruption under his government at the time.

5. Corruption

The reason for most of the coups in the past was corruption. It is also interesting to note that the military has not been absorbed of these allegations even till date. The reason then was due to the lack of accountability.

Till date, the Swiss Government is still returning the Abacha loot. These were monies stolen by Late Head of State, General Sani Abacha and stashed in Swiss bank accounts.

You think the war against corruption would have been better fought under the military?

Think again.

6. Freedom of Association for what?

Under the military, Nigerians were not allowed to associate freely, form groups and associations. There were no needs for political parties as elections were nonexistent. Anyone alleged to have formed political parties were charged with treason and either imprisoned or killed.

The All Progressives Congress, Peoples Democratic Party, KOWA party and others would have not existed.

7. Clampdown on the media

Media houses which publish or broadcast anti-government news and opinions would have been shut down, licenses withdrawn and newsprints seized if the military was in power. Editors and reporters would have been thrown in jail for doing their jobs.

Despite the democratic rule, PremiumTimes publisher, Dapo Olorunyomi and its judiciary correspondent, Evelyn Okakwu were arrested for publishing a report against the military and refusing to take down same from the news website.

Fisayo Soyombo, then editor of TheCable would have faced treasonable charges for his award-wining report entitled "Nigerias forgotten soldiers: Tales of a wounded fighter" which focused on military men fighting Boko Haram who had suffered life-threatening injuries but were abandoned by authorities afterward.

A blogger, Daniel Elomba, was also arrested for publishing a story against the Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris.

If the military was still in power, my editor, Jude Egbas and colleague, Samson Toromade, would have been arrested for writing some of the most damning -- yet factual -- editorials against the Buhari-led government.

Truth is, intimidation and arrests of journalists would have worse if we were under military rule.

8. Alienation from international organisations

Nigeria would not have been members of international organisations like the United Nations if the State was under military dictates.

What this means is that the recognition, aides and assistance the country currently received would have stripped off. This is because some of the cases of human right violations, disregard for the Rule of Law and international conventions binding on member countries.

9. Boko Haram, herdsmen and bandit attacks? Maybe not

Some experts have argued that the Boko Haram insurgency which the country currently grapples with would never have existed if Nigeria was under military control.

The insurgents, they believe, would have been arrested and killed at the formative stage of the group while individuals allegedly funding the terrorist organization would have been dealt with.

Many have also blamed the prolong crisis on the lack of political will of the then President, Goodluck Jonathan, to fight the terrorists. Jonathan was the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces at the time Nigeria witnessed some of its first terrorist attacks which resulted in the death of many Nigerians.

In a democracy, the President must approve of major operations. These and other factors have also been blamed for the terrorism crisis in the country.

If Boko Haram had not existed, Chibok and Dapchi schoolgirls would not have been kidnapped, the northeast would have been peaceful as ever, billions of dollars would have been saved and there would have been no need for camps to shelter displaced persons.

Killings by suspected herdsmen and bandits would have been equally curtailed.

10. We would not have known Nnamdi Kanu

The Nigeria civil warwhich took place between July 1967 and 1970 arose as a result of the demand for the breakup of Nigeria to provide for the Sovereign State of Biafra. The Igbos at the time accused the government of marginalization. The result was nearly three years of war, killings and hunger especially down country.

Nnamdi Kanu, self-acclaimed leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), began the same agitation a few years ago.

Protests, threats and disruption of economic activities in the Eastern part of the country culminated during his stay in jail after his arrest in Lagos by the Department of State Services (DSS).

When released, Kanu flouted all his bail conditions, began instigating citizens against federal government. He soon became a hero and was worshipped with many calling him Supreme master and leader.

If the military was in power, Kanu would never have attained the god status as he would have had his excesses curtailed long before his final disappearance after an alleged attack on his fathers house by the Army.

Many have also argued about a possible breakout of war within the country if the military was in power while those accused of corruption would have been guilty until proven innocent.

Safe to say, at this point, that if the military had not handed over power to a democratically elected government, I would not have written this piece.

============================

: This article is not to encourage the return of military rule in Nigeria.
It all began on May 25, 2018 when Omokri went after Shehu by labelling him an AGIP (Okay, thats not the name of a gas station in this context. Its actually an acronym for Any Government In Power. It essentially means the person being attacked will serve any government as long as hes guaranteed food for his belly).

The beginning

Omokri wrote that: And as for Garba Shehu who told me to tell my friends in the PDP that they are not coming back to power, my response to him is that he should buy a mirror and what he will see is the face of PDP.

In fact, Garba Shehu was affiliated with the Peoples Democratic Party for 12 good years. He was in the PDP for more years than he has been in the APC. He was in the PDP longer than I,

Omokri added that Shehus office at the time was opposite his.

Garba Shehu cannot deny this because his office was opposite mine at the presidential villa between 2003 when I returned from the United Kingdom and 2005 when I went to the US.

Garba Shehu used to craft very strong anti-Buhari press releases for the PDP during his 12 year sojourn as a PDP member, which included years spent as SA media under Obasanjo. Now he crafts press releases for the same man he once attacked against the same people he once praised.

Shehu responds

Of course Shehu didnt take Omokris attack lying down so he called Omokri a pathological lying Pastor.

Pastor Reno Omokri is forcing me to do what I dont do. I dont react to published criticisms. I have spent my entire career in the media and as one who criticizes others; you must be ready to take criticism.

This is about exposing a liar masquerading as a pastor. By the way, I have known and worked with exemplary pastors who are decent and from whom you learned more of the etiquette of truth telling.

Take for example Pastor Emeka Izeze and his brother, Pastor Ifeanyi, or his friend, Pastor Segun Babatope. And lately, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President and Pastor Femi Adesina.

For those Reno tried to mislead, yes it is a fact that I worked in the media office of a PDP administration. Not for five years as the new-day pastor published but only for six months at which point it was announced on NTA news, to my surprise, that my letter of resignation had been accepted when I hadnt written any.

I learned of course that I was fired because the head of the country at that time, who believed that every published criticism was sponsored by an insider, read the weekly magazine, The News, and didnt like what was written about him, Shehu wrote.

Errand boy

Shehu added that Omokri was an errand boy in the corridors of power who only used to perch on a stool in an office.

Another point the Pastor keeps making is that he was my colleague at that time. No, he wasnt. His boss was. The Reno I knew was a Personal Assistant (PA) to a Principal Officer like me. He didnt attend meetings and didnt receive official briefings as we did but ran errands for his boss.

Not being a principal officer by status, he could not have had an office opposite my own. He may, however, have perched on a stool in one of those offices but I didnt take particular notice of which one. He was, however, very personable at that time.

Pastor Reno lied by calling me an AGIP - meaning an unprincipled person ready to serve any government in power. The period he was referring to was one in which my boss ran into bad political weather and some of us around him were scapegoated.

I was locked in DSS detention many times, my houses in Kano and Abuja broken into and valuables, including cash some of which were never returned were seized. I was going to court for two years and for the most part of which I didnt have a passport.

In the course of that trial, the judge presiding called back my lawyers, Niyi Akintola, SAN and Rickey Tarfa, SAN, after an adjournment to say that I didnt mean that he should be kept in DSS detention. I said he should be taken to Kuje Prison, and thats where I was kept. Under detention in the DSS I was stripped down to the pants and photographed head to toe. All that didnt make one to capitulate.

When they lost to Muhammadu Buhari in the party primaries, the candidates in that race, Governor Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Waziri Atiku Abubakar, Rochas Okorocha and Sam Nda-Isaiah surrendered their media assets to the winner who had the grace to ask me to lead the media team. When we won, he (then President-elect Buhari) invited me to serve as one of his two spokespersons and I pledged 100 per cent loyalty to him and thats where I am. This cannot be AGIP by any standards.

Reno should stop lying, if only to help the pastoral calling to retain its good name. Otherwise he should quit the ministry.

If you are wondering who Shehu kept referring to as "my former boss" here, it is Atiku Abubakar who was Vice President to Obasanjo from 1999 to 2007.

Atiku and Obasanjo fell out before their first term even got off the ground.

Omokri returns with more insults

Shots fired??!! Hold on a second. Omokri read Shehus essay and doubled down.

In his statement calling me a liar, Garba claims that I alleged that he was a Special Assistant in the Buhari Administration for five years. That claim is either a function of dishonesty or semi literacy because I never made such a claim. I said that Garba was an SA in the Obasanjo administration and served that government and the PDP for years. This is a fact!

Even if Garba Shehu denies that his office was opposite mine, at least he was forced to admit that he worked at the Presidential Villa at the same

Garba Shehu says he is not an AGIP (Any Government in Power), but then the facts contradict this. What do you call a man who now

People like Garba Shehu ridiculed Fayoses stomach infrastructure, yet they are ardent disciples of stomach infrastructure! When PDP was providing Garbas stomach infrastructure he was attacking Buhari. Now that Buhari provides Garbas stomach infrastructure, he is attacking PDP.

For 20 years Ive been loyal to PDP. I have NEVER looked left or right. I remain loyal to Goodluck Jonathan in power and out of power. I have maintained my conscience. I will NEVER be a food is ready character like Garba Shehu, who jumps from PDP to APC depending on which party has food.

Can you imagine this Any Government in Power (AGIP) character called Garba Shehu attacking me? I can NEVER be bought like you. Insult Buhari for PDP one day, insult PDP for Buhari the next. It is shameless political prostitutes like you that make decent people run from politics!

Only a shameless character like Garba Shehu, who worked as SA Media in the PDP Government of Obasanjo can turn around today to now insult the same Obasanjo under whom he served for the same Buhari that he once attacked when he was in the PDP. People whose loyalty can be bought!
When he quit the party weeks ago, Adeyeye said he was no longer happy with the direction the PDP was taking the state under Fayose and his cronies.

While he had previously dismissed reports that he had joined the ruling party, he said on Tuesday that he would help the APC's candidate for the gubernatorial election, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, to rescue Ekiti state from the grips of Fayose.

He noted that leaving the PDP was a hard choice but he had to take the leap for the collective interest and future of Ekiti people. He described Fayose's continuity plan with Olusola's candidacy as a deliberate blemish on the self esteem of the Ekiti people.

He said, "For me politics has always been an opportunity to serve and make contribution towards the development of my community and the nation. Therefore where I am compelled to make a choice between loyalty to a political party and loyalty to my community, l will readily chose my community or state.

"Political parties come and go but the community remains. I cannot change my state or hometown but I can always change my party if I feel that it can no longer serve as a vehicle for our collective good as a people.

"As a thoroughbred Ekiti person with a deep love of this land and the people. It is incumbent on me to resist and stop the evil agenda of one man to put our people in perpetual enslavement.

"I have said No to Fayose's continuity of dictatorship, impunity, imposition, poverty, unprecedented looting of our common patrimony and deliberate debasement of the self esteem of our people.

"For my friends, admirers, patrons and well wishers I want to reiterate that Fayose is an impossible person to deal with. A pompous martinet with a huge ego, he is deliberately divisive and deceitful. He does not believe in reconciliation and no effort at reconciliation will work with him.

"Therefore after deep introspection and wide consultation with various stakeholders in this State, my supporters and I have decided to leave Egypt which the Fayose administration represents and join hands with patriotic Ekiti people to board the train of the APC for the onward journey to our promised land.

"We are joining forces with eminent Ekiti sons and daughters to free our land from the Vulture and predator feeding fat on our common wealth. We want to set our land free and never again shall we entrust our land unto the hands of unknown person with unverifiable pedigree to ride roughshod on our people.

"We have assurances of Dr. Kayode Fayemi the APC candidate that he has come to right the wrong of the past and not on a vengeance mission as being touted by Fayose and his cohorts.

"He is now better equipped, well focused and better prepared to move Ekiti forward. Let's join hands with him in the collective mission to rescue our dear State from the greedy predator in this hour of our greatest need. This is a call to duty for all patriotic Ekiti sons and daughters.

"My supporters, associates, PAAM and I have finally resolved to join APC with effect from today 29th May in the celebration of democracy day that some of us fought gallantly to achieve from the military."

Familiar history of defection

Adeyeye joined the PDP after leaving the Action Congress (AC) in 2006 in the wake of his loss in the party's primary election to Fayemi, the candidate he now supports for a second term as governor after his initial stint between 2010 and 2014.
Police were deployed in the southern city of Avignon over the weekend after a group of pro-Erdogan activists attempted to remove, then cover up advertisements for the magazine at newsstands.

Another poster of the front cover -- a portrait of Erdogan above the headline "The Dictator. How far will Erdogan go?" -- was targeted at a newspaper kiosk in the town of Valence on Sunday, Le Point said.

"After a week of harassment, insults, intimidation and anti-Semitic slurs and threats towards us on social media, now has come the moment when supporters of the AKP (Erdogan's party) are attacking symbols of freedom of expression and diversity in the press," Le Point said on its website.

President Emmanuel Macron rallied behind the magazine Monday calling the harassment "totally unacceptable".

"You cannot put a price on freedom of the press, without it, it's dictatorship," he tweeted.

The left-leaning weekly, one of France's most popular news magazines, published an investigation into the Turkish strongman in its latest edition which also included an editorial asking: "Is Erdogan a new Hitler?".

Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he co-founded in 2001, are seeking another mandate ahead of snap parliamentary and presidential polls on June 24.

The Turkish president imposed a state of emergency following an attempted coup in July 2016 which has sparked a crackdown affecting "hundreds of thousands of people", including killings and torture, according to the UN rights office.

The report in March this year also warned about "a continued erosion of the rule of law and deterioration of the human rights situation", including the arrests of hundreds of journalists and opposition members.

Ankara slammed the findings as "biased" and "unacceptable".

'Unacceptable breach'

Christophe Deloire, the head of media freedom group Reporters without Borders, said that the incidents in France were "isolated but have a strong symbolic resonance."

One of the leading figures in France's ruling Republic on the Move party, Richard Ferrand, called the protests in southern France an "unacceptable breach of the freedom of expression."

"We are not going to tolerate in France that the front cover of a magazine be somehow censored under pressure," he told the France 3 channel on Sunday.

Many European countries are home to large Turkish-origin or migrant communities, but Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have barred Turkish politicians from electioneering in their countries.

Around three million expatriate Turks are allowed to vote in the elections next month, including 1.4 million in Germany, and they are seen as a valuable source of support by Erdogan's party.

A year ago Germany and other European countries also banned a series of planned Turkish campaign events for a referendum that extended Erdogan's powers.
Ndubai has been nabbed alongside three officials in the ongoing probe on the theft of Sh9 billion.

The others are assistant director general Sam Michuki, finance manager Mr Mbugua, and a fourth official whose name is yet to be established.

According to reports, the four were arrested on Sunday and will be taken to the DCI headquarters for questioning before being taken to court to face various charges related to the NYS scandal.

Ndubai, who stepped aside a week ago to pave the way for investigations into the scandal, was arrested on Sunday night alongside 20 other suspects and taken to Muthaiga Police Station.

The 16 suspects are said to have been arrested in Nairobi while four were nabbed in Naivasha.

Reports indicate that those arrested include NYS officers and alleged suppliers who benefited from fraudulent procurement deals with the youth agency.
The former Prime Minister was accompanied by his lawyer Paul Mwangi during the visit to Kirubi.

"This morning I visited who has recently returned from overseas where he had gone for medical treatment. It was great to see him in high spirits and we wish him all the best as he continues with his recovery," Odinga tweeted.

The business man said it was time for all Kenyans to work together towards a better nation.

"Earlier today my friend paid me a courtesy call at my home. I am proud that he wants to leave a legacy of a united Kenya. It is time we work together towards a better nation," Kirubi tweeted.

Many Kenyans on Twitter thanked Odinga for visiting Kirubi and wished the billionaire a quick recovery after his return to Kenya.
In a move seen as a continuation of national unity and cohesion through the building bridges initiative started by the President and the former Prime Minister, the two leaders are set to preside over the issuance of title deeds to Embakasi East constituents at the famous political ground.

The area MP Babu Owino took to Twitter to announce the function urging all his constituents to turn up in large numbers for the rare occassion.

"INVITATION TO ALL EMBAKASI EAST CONSTITUENTS FOR THE TITLE DEEDS ISSUANCE FUNCTION AT JACARANDA GROUNDS FROM 8AM TOMORROW.

All Embakasi East constituents are invited to the title deeds issuance function which will be presided over by HE @UKenyatta and HE @RailaOdinga," the MP tweeted.

Rare spectacle

The function will provide a rare spectacle for Kenyans to witness the two leaders once again together since last year's divisive elections.

The two former bitter rivals surprised Kenyans when in early March, set aside their political differences and met at Harambee House in what heralded the building bridges initiative aimed at uniting Kenyans and averting further divisions in the country.

President Kenyatta and Odinga again met a month later during the funeral of the late second liberation fighter Kenneth Matiba in Murang'a County.
The following are Q&A conducted with the candidates seeking the position of Quay County Magistrate Judge in the upcoming June 5 Primary Election.

Timothy James O'Quinn

Q: What makes you the best candidate to serve as the Magistrate Judge for Quay County?

A: I have a bachelor's degree in business administration, after college I attended the University of New Mexico and earned my law degree. Since I began serving as the magistrate judge, following the appointment by Gov. Susana Martinez, I have rendered fair, legally accurate and impartial decisions. I feel that is based in a large part because of my training and experience.

Q: What experience do you have that would help you to perform the duties as magistrate judge if elected?

A: Before taking the bench as the Quay County magistrate judge I spent better part of a decade learning and practicing the law as an attorney in both civil and criminal cases. I have prepared briefs and notices in that have gone before the court of appeals and supreme court of the state. I feel I have a unique experience, having been on all sides of a court case as both an attorney and a judge. Viewing things from all sides is crucial and vital in making fair and unbiased decisions.

Q: As magistrate judge you may have to hear a case against someone you know. Will you be able to be impartial in your judgment or know when to recuse yourself?

A: Yes. Given my experience as a judge so far, you must follow the code of judicial conduct but also use common sense as well. If the person appearing before your court is a friend or family member you must recuse yourself from the case. If you didn't that would be a major ethical violation that could get you removed from the bench. I do my best to perform my duties as judge and avoid the situations that could potential lead to me having to recuse myself.

Q: Have you ever been arrested if so what was the nature of the arrest and the resolution?

A: I was arrested as a juvenile, but the charges were dismissed. I do not want to go into detail as juvenile records are very sensitive.

Q: Have you ever been involved in a civil or criminal as the defendant or plaintiff? What was the outcome?

A: As an attorney I have been involved in numerous criminal and civil cases. Personally I was the plaintiff in a civil case involving the painting of a car I owned. Due to the quality of the work that was done, I filed a civil case in magistrate court for the return of my money and I won.

Patricia J. Lopez

Q: What makes you the best candidate to serve as the magistrate judge for Quay County?

A: I have the most experience with the law. I have been applying the law for more than 25 years as a law enforcement officer. I have been involved with a variety of cases from misdemeanor to felonies, that has given me a unique experience that would help me serve as magistrate judge.

Q: What experience do you have that would help you to perform the duties as magistrate judge if elected?

A: My years as a police officer has given me insight into the social and economic issues facing our area. I have been qualified as an expert in drug trafficking and to do so one must know a lot about search and seizure and the applicable laws. I have also written out search warrants, overall my experience in law enforcement will help me to best serve the residents of Quay County.

Q: As magistrate judge you may have to hear a case against someone you know. Will you be able to be impartial in your judgment or know when to recuse yourself?

A: I think this is important for a judge and I am not to proud to recuse myself if their was a conflict of interest where I could not be impartial. There are going to be people as well from the past that I may have arrested who will claim they can not get a fair shake from me as a judge. In those instances I would have no problem recusing myself for the interest of a fair and impartial judgment on the case.

Q: Have you ever been arrested if so what was the nature of the arrest and the resolution?

A: I have never been arrested.

Q: Have you ever been involved in a civil or criminal as the defendant or plaintiff? What was the outcome?

A: In criminal cases I have pursued or been a witness as a law enforcement officer. I have been involved in civil suits as an officer but the outcome of those cases are not know to me as they are handled by the city and its attorney. To the best of my knowledge I have never personally been involved in a civil or criminal case.

Paula J. Chacon

Q: What makes you the best candidate to serve as the magistrate judge for Quay County?

A: I believe my 19 years within the court system and my management and budget, finance experience as a whole makes me a good candidate for this position.

Q: What experience do you have that would help you to perform the duties as magistrate judge if elected?

A: In my 19 years of work within the court system I have worked my way from court clerk to the court manager, I know all of the policy and procedures as well as the legal aspects of the job. I also served as a county manager for both Quay and Union County for a total of five years and worked in a legal office at one point in my career.

Q: As magistrate judge you may have to hear a case against someone you know. Will you be able to be impartial in your judgment or know when to recuse yourself?

A: Yes, a judge is always supposed to remain unbiased, listening to the merits of each case and rule impartially on those cases. A judge must remain neutral and never make a decision before the case is heard.

Q: Have you ever been arrested? if so what was the nature of the arrest and the resolution?

A: I have never been arrested.

Q: Have you ever been involved in a civil or criminal as the defendant or plaintiff? What was the outcome?

A: I was involved in a civil case involving the foreclosure of my home. The outcome was the case was dismissed; they did not foreclose. I was a single parent not making enough money; we have all had those hardships. I paid what was owed and the case was resolved.
EUROPE: Swiss and Italian national operators SBB and Trenitalia signed an agreement on May 22 to increase the number of cross-border inter-city services. In an initial step the 2020 timetable will include an extra Basel  Milano service via Bern, giving four trains a day in each direction, with a ...
A steady downpour on the first Saturday in May couldnt dampen the spirits of Kentucky Derby newcomer Hannah Mathiesen.

The Rancho Santa Fe resident was at Churchill Downs to cheer on My Boy Jack -- a horse owned by her family in partnership with West Point Thoroughbreds, along with Monomoy Stables and Dont Tell My Wife Stables  in this years Run for the Roses.

It was amazing! Mathiesen said.

As part of the ownership group  and one of the youngest, at age 21  she was able to participate in the walkover. The walkover is a Derby tradition where the horses and their connections make the long trek from the barns behind the backstretch, around the first turn, through the tunnel and into the paddock, where the saddling occurs before the race.

All of the fans who were yelling My Boy Jack  it was the coolest thing! Mathiesen recalled.

She watched the race from the ground floor, near the rail, as the rain came down in buckets.

We (Californians) didnt get the memo about needing ponchos, Mathiesen said with a laugh.

She recalled hearing the roar of the crowd starting at one end of the grandstand and making its way to the opposite side, as Justify splashed his way to a 2 1/2-length victory. Meanwhile, My Boy Jack, who was at the back of the pack for the first part of the race, got bumped around and raced wide into the final turn, but closed strongly to finish fifth.

Hannah Mathiesen's family is among the owners of My Boy Jack. Kelley Carlson /

My Boy Jack had such a tough trip, Mathiesen said. We knew he would be coming from behind.  We were very happy with this (effort).

I am so glad (Hannah) has  been able to live the Derby dream as a partner in My Boy Jack, West Point founder and President Terry Finley said. It has been a special thing for me to see her family enjoy their ownership experience together.

It certainly was one of the most memorable racing days so far for Mathiesen, who has experienced a quick ascension in the sport.

She was introduced to it at an early age, as she grew up in close proximity to the Del Mar racetrack. Mathiesen remembers attending morning breakfasts once or twice each summer as a casual fan while horses trained on the track.

However, she began to take more interest in racehorses once she attended college. The Santa Fe Christian graduate initially went to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo to play volleyball, but after she broke her foot, she started to explore other options.

I always really liked animals, Mathiesen said. On campus, there were always horses around  they were calming and de-stressing for me.

She decided to sign up for the Thoroughbred Enterprise program, where she helped take care of mares and yearlings, and even sold one at a sale.

It piqued my interest (in racing), Mathiesen said.

She came home for summer vacation after her freshman year, and began visiting the Del Mar racetrack more frequently. A chance encounter with trainer Bob Baffert in a local coffee shop led to an invitation to his barn to meet Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. Mathiesen fell in love with the mild-mannered colt as she fed him carrots, and he became her favorite racehorse.

Mathiesens passion for the sport further deepened that summer, as she attended a new owners seminar at Del Mar with her dad, Mark, a business consultant and private investor. While they were there, they met representatives from West Point Thoroughbreds, one of the sports top racing syndicates, whose horses include 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming. Mark Mathiesen decided to give ownership a try, and bought into the partnership.

We dipped our toes in the water to see if we would like it, and we did! Hannah Mathiesen said.

The Mathiesens also began to establish their own stable  managed by Hannah  and now have about 25 horses between them and West Point, all based on the West Coast. Among their top runners is Fatale Bere, fifth in the Grade I Breeders Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Del Mar in 2017 and winner of the Grade III Providencia Stakes in April; and La La Land, second in the Singletary Stakes in May.

As fate would have it, Fatale Bere won the Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita last October, on the same day My Boy Jack won the Zuma Beach Stakes. My Boy Jacks race caught the attention of the Mathiesens, and they kept an eye on him throughout the winter and spring. So when West Point brokered a deal and bought a minority interest in the colt after he won the Grade III Stonestreet Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in April, the Mathiesens jumped at the chance to be among his owners.

We just liked My Boy Jack  every time he races, he shows up, Mathiesen said. Keith (Desormeaux) is an amazing trainer.

While assisting her family with the stable, Mathiesen has been supplementing her racing education with internships. During the summer and fall of 2016 and 2017, she did a little bit of everything for West Point.

Having Hannah out in California during the summer meets at Del Mar was a huge help to us and our partners, Finley said. Hannah has a warm and friendly personality that is an asset in the racing partnership business since it is so focused on customer service. Hannah was videoing horses training in the morning, escorting partners back to the barns, and helping our primary partner service liaison in California, Nancy Dollase, interact with owners on race days. Shes inquisitive, and I really think shes enjoyed learning about the racing industry.

Mathiesen also served as a Del Mar media marketing intern last summer.

I recall Hannah as being personable, refreshingly intelligent, and very much relishing the opportunity to learn everything she could while an intern last summer at Del Mar, said Dan Smith, the tracks senior media coordinator. My strong hunch is that she will have a decidedly positive impact should she choose to pursue a career in thoroughbred racing.

Indeed, Mathiesen confirmed that she plans to stay with the sport. In just a few weeks, she will graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a degree in kinesiology, and will move to Melbourne, Australia, at the end of September to work for trainer Ciaron Maher as an assistant bloodstock manager. Mathiesen will be involved in buying horses at auction, client relations and syndication sales.

And as vice president of the Nexus Racing Club  a nonprofit social organization established last year  she will continue to encourage people ages 18-30 to become involved in racing. Club members have the opportunity to preview thoroughbred ownership, network with industry professionals, and meet other racing fans. For more information, go to nexusracingclub.com.
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Hermitage Capital CEO Browder denied right to rehabilitation

 flickr.com/World Economic Forum

10:58 29/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 29 (RAPSI)  The Moscow City Court has upheld dismissal of an appeal filed by Hermitage Capital CEO William Browder against an investigator, who had refused to explain him a right to rehabilitation, the courts press service has told RAPSI.

According to attorney Alexander Antipov, the appeal was related to a case opened against Browder yet in 2013 over alleged embezzlement of state funds during the purchase of Gazprom companys stock at an understated price by firms under his control. In July 2017, the case was closed due to a lack of evidence, in other words on exonerative grounds, the lawyer said. Therefore, Browder has a right to rehabilitation, Antipov explained. However, Russian courts refuse to recognize this right of Hermitage Capital CEO because of political background of the case, he added.

The lawyer also said that the ruling would be appealed again and admitted the possibility of lodging a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

On December 29, Browder was sentenced to 9 years in prison in absentia for deliberate bankruptcy and tax evasion. His business partner Ivan Cherkasov received 8 years in prison. The defendants were also fined 200,000 rubles (about $3,500) each. Moreover, Moscows Tverskoy District Court granted a civil lawsuit and recovered 4.3 billion rubles (about $75 million) from the defendants in favor of the Russian Federation. The sentence was appealed and therefore did not take effect.

Browder has been charged with several economic crimes, including deliberate bankruptcy and tax evasion, Antipov has told RAPSI earlier. Investigation into Browder was completed within the shortest possible time, from February 8 to 17, 2017, the lawyer added. However, neither the defendant nor his legal team were notified about investigation. According to Antipov, this fact exemplifies secret justice and violates the law.

Prosecutors claimed that the defendants caused damage estimated at over 4 billion rubles. The businessmen, residing in the United Kingdom, were put on the international wanted list.

In February 2017, the Tverskoy District Court arrested the defendants in absentia. However, the United Kingdom refused to extradite its nationals on Russias request.

In 2013, a Russian court sentenced Browder in absentia to 9 years in a penal colony. The court found that between 1997 and 2002, Hermitage Capital auditor Sergey Magnitsky created and applied an illegal tax evasion scheme in the interests of Browder.

Magnitsky worked for Firestone Duncan and represented Hermitage Capital, which the Russian authorities accused of tax evasion. Magnitsky was arrested on fraud charges in November 2008 and found dead in a Moscow detention center in November 2009. The lawyers death provoked an international outcry.

In July 2013, Moscows Tverskoy District Court found Magnitsky guilty of tax evasion and closed the case due to his death. According to the case materials, Magnitskys and Hermitage Capital director William Browders actions cost Russia over 500 million rubles (over $8 million).
Former mayor of Tambov receives another suspended sentence for abuse of office

 flickr.com/Joe Gratz

17:32 29/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 29 (RAPSI)  Former mayor of Tambov, a town in central Russia, Yury Rogachev has been sentenced to a 2-year suspended term for abuse of office, the press-service of the regional Investigative Committee has stated.

According to a court ruling, Rogachev is also prohibited from holding certain office positions for two years.

The court found that in 2016 the defendant asked to prepare documents for free transfer of a land plot to a third party for construction of a private house. He knew that the land plot was a part of recreational zone and could not be provided for private construction.

In November 2017, the former official was given a 3-year suspended sentence for a similar crime.
Russian government suggests banning foreign agents from conducting anti-corruption exams

 RIA Novosti

14:45 29/05/2018

MOSCOW, May 29 (RAPSI)  A bill prohibiting international organizations and NGOs labeled as foreign agents from conducting independent anti-corruption examinations of laws and regulations has been submitted to the State Duma. The documents version has been published on the database of the lower house.

Under the bill, prevention of the said organizations influence on social and political institutions in Russia is one of the government works priorities aimed at protection of the constitutional systems foundations, morality, rights and legitimate interests of Russian citizens, public policy, national defense capability and security and maintaining public order.

The draft law also envisages restrictions for individuals. According to the document, an applicant for conduction of independent anti-corruption examinations must not have an unexpunged or unspent conviction. Moreover, people committed corruption offenses and fired out because of loss of trust would be banned from accreditation as well.

The bill will step up the requirements to candidates for independent expert status conferring a right to carry out anti-corruption examinations, the initiatives authors believe.
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Last updated on: May 29, 2018 11:17 IST

'Last year, Rs 20,000 crore was ripped off from the banking system.'

'The situation has deteriorated under the Modi government.'

IMAGE: Prime Minister Narendra D Modi at the convocation of the Sher-E-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu, May 19, 2018. Photograph: Press Information Bureau

When economist Prasenjit Bose filed an RTI plea to know the details of losses and loan frauds that Indian banks have faced in the last 10 years, he was shocked by the Reserve Bank of India's reply.

Bose learnt that the amount of bank frauds had increased from Rs 1,542.8 crore (Rs 15.42 billion) in 2008-2009 to Rs 22,469.6 crore (Rs 224.69 billion) in 2017-2018.

"It is really surprising that there is no crackdown happening on loan frauds," Bose told Rediff.com/ Syed Firdaus Ashraf.

Why did you file this RTI plea?

I asked eight questions related to the state of the banking sector in India.

I did that because I am an economist and I have written extensively on this issue.

I wanted to know about the banks' non-performing assets, the state of the public sector banks and so on.

The RBI replied, stating it did not have the data for most of my queries for the last financial year.

I sought information on NPAs, recoveries, write-offs and wilful defaults.

In many cases they gave me a (Web site) link which I knew was available, but they did not give me the data for 2017-2018 in any of those categories.

The last question in the RTI plea was on loan frauds.

Surprisingly, on loan frauds they gave data till 2017-2018.

This was not public data and was also not available on the RBI Web site.

I had sought the last 10 years data and I was shocked to see the deteriorating figures, which need to be brought into the public domain.

Why are loan frauds happening in our country?

It is a common form of financial fraud.

It is not that it is happening only in India, but all over the world.

These kinds of frauds have now got sophisticated dimensions and it is expected to happen in huge financial dimensions in a country like India.

The problem is that these loan frauds are happening when the banking sector is already under stress.

Already the banks' financial balance sheets are stressed because of the massive buildup of NPAs.

It is really surprising that there is no crackdown happening on loan frauds.

Loan fraud is quite different from NPAs.

Generally, NPAs happen when one takes a loan and fails to repay, but not wilfully, and it is not a criminal act.

It is a business decision that has gone wrong because that particular firm failed in the market.

Therefore, they are unable to repay the loan and that becomes an NPA.

But in the case of a loan fraud, it is criminal intent. Like the Nirav Modi case.

To begin with, the plan was to rip off the public sector banks. And this is not specific to limited public sector banks only.

There is a racket going on and it is too big to ignore.

Last year Rs 20,000 crore (Rs 200 billion) was ripped off from the banking system. This is systemic.

Last year? Are you saying the RTI findings indicate loan frauds are happening under the Modi government as well, and not just the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) government?

Precisely, that is what the data suggests.

Since the publication of this, a lot of people who are favourably disposed towards the Modi government, are making the point that this is the data on detection.

They are saying these loans may have originated under the UPA time, but have been now caught by the Modi government.

That is the official argument. But I feel this is a completely wrong argument.

I have already sent a note to the RBI asking for clarification on this data, asking what is the maturity factor of these (fraudulent) loans.

Did they originate before Modi government's tenure?

I am waiting for an official response from the RBI now.

But if one uses common sense, then you will find out that the RBI had already revised its guideline in 2016 on loan frauds.

It has put in place a series of new measures including very stringent measures, which has been criticised as being kind of anti-business as it makes difficult for businesses to take loans, red-flagging of accounts and early warning system and so forth and so on.

After that, in 2016, the figures of loan frauds are still going up.

What is the loan frauds figure after the 2016 RBI guidelines?

It has crossed Rs 20,000 crore each year after 2016.

From April 2014 to March 2018, Rs 77,000 crore (Rs 770 billion) worth of bank loan frauds took place under the Modi government.

But the Modi government cracks down on economic offences.

I put out in the public domain that the prime minister told a rally in Odisha how he is tackling corruption in the banking sector.

And on Sunday I saw memes on social media on how so many companies have been forced by the government to repay their loans worth Rs 80,000 crores.

There was no source credited to those memes.

Now if a company is repaying a loan, that is not news because the companies have to repay the loan that they take.

The news is when companies do not repay the loan.

Is the Modi government failing to tackle loan fraud?

The situation has deteriorated under the Modi government.

The RBI data states that under the Modi government, Rs 77,000 crore loan frauds have been detected.

The data is not showing when it originated.

What action has been taken after finding out about the Rs 77,000 crore of loan frauds?

That is the question even I am asking!

How many people have been arrested?

How many people have been prosecuted?

There is absolutely no answer. I am waiting for the RBI to respond.

In the Nirav Modi case, the argument was that those loans were taken during the UPA regime -- but it continued under the Modi regime too.

Therefore, you cannot call that a UPA scam only, because the scam was going on under the Modi government too.

The RBI is autonomous. Why bring the Modi government into this?

This is corruption.

This is a crime.

The RBI can be held accountable under regulatory norms and oversight in terms of a banker abiding by the guidelines.

If the corruption is on this scale, then the RBI does not have under them the police, enforcement directorate or vigilance department.

These all come under different ministries of the central government.

The CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) must get involved because they are probing tax defaulters, and the enforcement directorate must also get into this.

Are there any details about the fraudsters?

No.

I just got one sheet of answer from the RBI.

The Hindustan Times reported that under the UPA, if you see annual figures then the number of loan fraud cases per year was around 2,000.

Under the Modi government the number is more or less the same.

Are these new people or the same old people who are doing loan fraud?

That is the point.

Earlier, there were 10,000 cases and the total amount of loan fraud was Rs 22,000 crore.

Now, from 2014 to 2018 under the Modi government, the loan fraud amount is Rs 77,000 crore.

How come no one knows the names of the people who have done this fraud?

Actually, what it shows is the complete distortion of democracy.

Democracy says every citizen must be treated as equal.

Here, you have the classic case when farmers don't repay their loans, they commit suicide.

If the middle class fails to pay their EMI, their homes and cars get confiscated.

But here corporate groups have taken huge loans which they have not repaid and turned into NPAs.

So many people should have been arrested, but not a single person has been arrested.

Why is the government not disclosing the names of these fraudsters?

There is complete lack of transparency by the Modi government.

The government is busy trying to spin the data by saying they are doing a great job.

Every time someone points out a problem to the Modi government, they are in denial.

They then will go to alt-facts by giving another data which is totally unrelated without responding to this particular data.

They then change the narrative and shift the goal post.

Here every year people are running away with Rs 20,000 crore by doing loan fraud.

Lack of transparency also shows complicity.

It is crony capitalism.

They are big businessmen and they are politically connected people like Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi so they are being protected by the government.
Petrol and diesel futures will be priced in Indian rupees and the benchmark price will also be Indian

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering allowing futures trading in petrol and diesel, according to sources. The petroleum and natural gas ministry has already approved the proposal.

Petrol and diesel are among the 90-plus commodities that have been approved by the government for derivatives trading.

Globally, petrol and diesel derivatives are traded on the Nymex and ICE exchanges.

The proposal for trading in petrol and diesel derivatives was submitted by the Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) eight months ago. Sebi deliberated on the matter and sought the opinion of the oil ministry on the issue, according to sources.

The ministry also held talks with respective players and oil marketing companies and later approved the proposal.

Now, the market regulator is deliberating with the exchange on details such as the settlement price for contracts and the mode of delivery or cash settlement.

Crude oil is traded on the Multi Commodity Exchange (MCX) but settled by cash.

This means that on the day of expiry, there is no delivery of the commodity.

Even the benchmark for crude oil traded on the MCX is WTI crude, while most of Indias imports are of the Brent variety.

MCX crude oil contract is very liquid and hence hedging happens. However, to expand the basket further for participants and hedgers, MCX has also applied to Sebi to launch futures trading in petrol and diesel.

The petroleum ministry is understood to have asked Sebi for a product where smaller investors and transporters can hedge, since prices of both automobile fuels are rising consistently and consumers have no direct commodity where they can hedge the risk.

ICEX managing director and chief executive officer Sanjit Prasad confirmed that the exchange has approached the regulator with a proposal to allow futures trading in petrol and diesel, and added, We are awaiting Sebi approval.

Petrol and diesel futures will be priced in Indian rupees and the benchmark price will also be Indian.

However, prices of petrol and diesel are different across cities and public sector oil marketing companies such as Indian Oil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum change them on a daily basis.

Private sector companies, including Reliance Industries and Essar Oil, also retail fuel. Hence there is no single national benchmark price.

However, futures contracts will need a price for daily and contract settlement.

Sebi and the ICEX are deliberating on what should be considered the benchmark price for settlement.

Another issue that genuine hedgers would be interested in is physical delivery of both fuels.

However, the requirement for petrol and diesel will be regular and storage will be difficult for consumers.

The exchange has proposed to the regulator that oil marketing companies depot or petrol pumps deliver the product.

Sebi is yet to take a final call on this, according to the source quoted above.

ICEX expects the contracts to be attractive to both individual and corporate consumers along with transporters, and if delivery from depots is allowed by Sebi on a contracted price, a delivery mechanism can be worked out.

The contracts will be equally good for large consumers such as huge transport companies.

Photograph: Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters
'When a company goes into insolvency, by definition it means that existing shareholders have been wiped out.'

Tinesh Bhasin reports.



Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

Many retail shareholders of companies that are undergoing bankruptcy proceedings are watching developments closely.

They are hoping that the bidder who gets the National Company Law Tribunal's approval may revive the ailing company and their fortunes may change for the better.

However, with lenders taking a massive haircut, shareholders may not be able to realise much value from their investments in these companies.

Piyush Pandey, who has invested in Monnet Ispat & Energy, is ruing the fact that he didn't exit the stock when the price was higher.

"I should have exited the company in November or December when there was still investor interest in the stock. The stock was trading at Rs 32-Rs 35 then," says Pandey. The stock closed at Rs 14.14 on May 18.

Monnet has outstanding loans of Rs 110 billion. The lenders are expected to take a haircut of around 72 per cent, according to the resolution plan that has been submitted.

Shareholders don't get any preference under bankruptcy proceedings.

"When a company goes into insolvency, by definition it means that existing shareholders have been wiped out. Many investors don't realise it and, therefore, we see shares of these companies trading at such high prices," says Sandeep Parekh, founder, Finsec Law Advisors.

Shareholders come last

The whole objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code is to enable lenders to recover their dues.

Whatever money the bidder invests goes first to secured and unsecured creditors, bondholders and then the government's dues are paid.

Only after all these parties have been repaid in full does the turn of the shareholders come to get some value.

But in the current cases, the secured and unsecured creditors are receiving only a part of what the company owes them.

Equity investors should, therefore, not expect any value out of the resolutions.

"As the IBC has no provision for shareholders, bidders are free to submit plans without any consideration towards equity investors. It is the bidder's call to decide the benefit s/he wants to give to various stakeholders," says Amar Gupta, a partner at J Sagar Associates.

They could lose their entire investment

There's a lesson for shareholders in the resolutions that NCLT has approved and those that are in an advanced stage.

According to Vedanta's resolution, it will acquire 90 per cent stake in Electrosteel Steels.

It means that the company will write-down existing equity by 90 per cent. The remaining will be held by public, promoters and banks who have the pledged shares.

It's even possible for the bidder to submit a resolution where it wants to write down 100 per cent equity, which means that the holdings of existing investors amount to zero.

While such a resolution has not come up in NCLT yet, lawyers say that the markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, may not allow such proposals. But investors can expect a significant write-down of equity.

New regulations could be unfavourable

Sebi is considering bringing in new regulations pertaining to companies that are under bankruptcy proceedings.

Depending on the position Sebi takes, there are chances that the regulations may hamper shareholders' chances to exit a company.

"Representations have been made to Sebi to halt trading of stocks that are under insolvency proceedings," says Kumar Saurabh Singh, partner, Khaitan & Co.

Following this, Sebi had come up with a discussion paper in which it discussed halting trade as one of the options.

If the regulator decides to halt trading or restrict it, existing shareholders will have even fewer opportunities to exit their holdings.

Many investors have been hoping that their investment in the defaulting company could grow, as Sebi regulations state that a listed company should have minimum 25 per cent public shareholding.

They believe that the winning bidder cannot write-down maximum 75 per cent equity.

At present, companies such as Vedanta will need to approach Sebi seeking an exception to its rules, and hold 90 per cent stake.

But there's always the possibility that Sebi may bring in regulation to relax the minimum public shareholding norms for companies that are in NCLT.

There's also ambiguity on whether 100 per cent equity write-down will trigger delisting provisions, in which case shareholders have to be compensated adequately.

Bidders, lawyers and other stakeholders are awaiting the regulator's clarification on this.

Don't put fresh money

Stocks of insolvent companies have witnessed a fall when resolution proceedings have reached an advanced stage. Investors realise that they are not getting any value.

Electrosteel Steels closed at Rs 1.04 on May 18. A month ago it was at Rs 2.85, or 170 per cent higher. In January, it had even touched Rs 7.06.

The stock of Bhushan Steel has seen similar volatility and at present trades at Rs 27.65 on May 18.

Experts say that these were speculative trades.

"Once the company is in NCLT, there are hardly any disclosures of proceedings. Those trading in the shares, therefore, speculate based on news about the proceedings," says Ashesh Shah, MD, Trans Continental Capital Advisors.

Even after approval, the resolutions from the winning bidders can face hindrances, and the entire process could be delayed or reworked.

There are a lot of uncertainties surrounding NCLT proceedings.

Investors should, therefore, avoid putting fresh money until the restructuring exercise is completed.
Recently, the government announced yet another ambitious scheme aimed at providing health insurance to 50 crore individuals.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

On the face of it, the National Democratic Alliances ambitious Jan Dhan Yojana, to bring the excluded sections of society into the ambit of the formal financial system, has been a roaring success.

Data till May 2, 2018, shows a staggering 315 million accounts have been opened as part of the scheme.

Of these roughly 59 per cent, or 185.8 million accounts, have been opened in bank branches located in rural and semi-urban areas. Total deposits in these accounts have touched Rs 81,300 crore.

While there was some initial scepticism over the extent of coverage among poor households, a recent World Bank report titled Global Findex Report 2017 shows that bank account penetration rose by 30 percentage points among adults in the poorest 40 per cent of households, suggesting that the gap in ownership of bank accounts between the rich and poor is shrinking.

A little more than half of these accounts were opened by women, implying that the gender gap has shrunk significantly during the span of a few years.

Data from World Bank shows that in 2014, men were 20 percentage points more likely than women to have bank accounts. By 2017, the gap was down to a mere 6 percentage points.

This rise in ownership of bank accounts, coupled with the linkage of these accounts with Aadhaar and mobiles - the JAM trinity as Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian put it - has also led to a reduction in leakage from the system.

While there has been some debate over the extent of actual savings, the World Bank report notes that leakage of pension payments dropped by 47 per cent when these were made through biometric smart cards.

However, challenges remain. For one, roughly 190 million Indians still do not have a bank account. Second, usage levels continue to be low.

The World Bank report notes that 48 per cent of these accounts remained active, twice the world average of 25 per cent.

Third, only 7 per cent of adults in India reported using their accounts for savings, the study found.

These accounts are typically pass-through. The government transfers the subsidy into these accounts, which is then subsequently withdrawn by the recipients.

"There is no engagement with the system, says professor MS Sriram of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore.

There are also challenges in ensuring last-mile connectivity. A MicroSave study had earlier found that while the Jan Dhan Yojana had improved financial inclusion, insufficient income for banking correspondents (BCs), and deficiency in training, supervision and infrastructure for these last-mile delivery agents had impeded the reach of the government's flagship scheme.

The last-mile connectivity is a tough problem to solve, says Sriram. You need a very high level of transactions for banking correspondents to be adequately remunerated, he adds.

Ensuring that the poor have bank accounts was only a part of the governments strategy to deepen financial inclusion.

To ensure greater engagement with the system, the government has also offered a host of financial products designed to provide social security.

Data shows these initiatives have made significant headway.

For instance, the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) offers a renewable one-year accidental death-cum-disability cover of Rs 200,000 for a nominal premium of Rs 12 per annum per subscriber. A staggering 135 million individuals have enrolled in the scheme and 22,294 claims have been filed, of which 16,644 (75 per cent) have been disbursed.

Similarly, the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) offers subscribers a renewable one-year term life cover of Rs 200,000 for a premium of Rs 330 per annum per subscriber.

So far, 53 million individuals have enrolled in the scheme, 100,881 claims have been filed, of which 92,089 (91 per cent) have been disbursed.

The Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana, which extends loans up to Rs 10 lakh to small and medium enterprises, has disbursed a total of Rs 2.46 trillion in 2017-18, up from Rs 1.75 trillion in 2016-17.

Recently, the government announced yet another ambitious scheme aimed at providing health insurance to 50 crore individuals.

While the modalities of the scheme are being worked out, experts are worried about the lack of physical infrastructure needed to support such schemes.

I do not think the physical infrastructure exists to service these policies. The focus should have been on creating good quality healthcare facilities first, says Sriram.
Currently, most crowdfunding platforms neither operate with proper authorisation nor are governed under any law.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

With alternative capital-raising facilitators like crowdfunding gaining popularity, the Centre is mulling setting up a new regulator or authority to regulate them.

Currently, most crowdfunding platforms neither operate with proper authorisation nor are governed under any law.

Following a finance ministry meeting with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) last month, the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) is considering a flexible regulatory regime to recognise crowdfunding platforms as a marketplace.

The ministry has also proposed an option of a separate regulator other than Sebi and the Reserve Bank of India for governing these entities.

At present, Sebi regulates fundraising for securities through both equity and debt for listed companies.

Private placements by unlisted firms are regulated by the MCA. However, none of these covers crowdfunding of donations, rewards and charity.

The DEA, in a note circulated to all regulators concerned, has said it would be beneficial to examine development of a marketplace model in greater detail.

According to it, a new framework shall enable small firms to raise capital from individuals or entities that have investible surplus funds.

According to the DEA, fundraising activity need not be restricted to securities according to the Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act and thus could also be in the form of loans, grants, and simple contractual payments.

Further, it suggested having a new mechanism, separate from the stock exchange system, which would be considered a public offer as understood in the Companies Act, but give greater flexibility in funding options.

For facilitating this, perhaps a new law may be required, the DEA has noted.

The DEA also outlined some of the options for the regulatory authority for these fundraising tools.

A new regulator called the Authority for Alternate Markets can be created by an executive order of the government by passing a Bill in Parliament by carving out the required exemptions from the existing Acts.

Another option could be to create an Alternate Markets Commission/Crowdfunding Commission, which is empowered with powers to decide the policy as well as administration of that policy independently.

The DEA further explained the rationale behind regulating these platforms.

Considering the experience of scams like those involving the National Spot Exchange and various collective investment schemes, it is felt that a regulatory vacuum in financial matters may not be a good idea.

Bringing in clarity and definite rules grants these activities the legitimacy and the scope for scaling up, aiding capital formation, and economic growth, it said. Business Standard has reviewed the note.

Sources said the concept had been discussed extensively with all regulators, including Sebi. However, Sebi expressed its reservations about regulating crowdfunding, citing jurisdiction issues, said a person privy to the development.

Though, in 2014, it had floated a discussion paper and proposed a framework to enable domestic start-ups and small and medium enterprises to raise capital from multiple investors through crowdfunding.

It had defined crowdfunding as solicitation of funds (small amount) from multiple investors through a web-based platform or social networking site for a specific project, business venture, or social cause.

However, it had scrapped the idea, citing ambiguity and lack of clarity on cross-border investments.

Grex, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Ketto, LetsVenture, Milaap, Wishberry, Fueladream, BitGiving, Catapooolt, DreamWallets, Start51 and Fundlines are among the active crowdfunding platforms in the country catering to various kinds of projects.

The exact amount mobilised by these players is not known. However, these platforms claim to have empanelled hundreds of investors and start-ups.
Bankers seem to be pleased with the government for keeping its promise of not interfering in operational matters, but are apprehensive about the intense scrutiny of their functioning.

Illustration: Uttam Ghosh/Rediff.com

The government in August 2015 announced Indradhanush, a seven-pronged plan to reform public sector banks (PSBs).

About three years later, much of the action points remain unachieved.

What the government has shown, though, is the political will to support the Reserve Bank of India-initiated clean-up drive of the balance sheets of banks.

Some big reforms in the shape of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) have been initiated for this. But the jury is out on whether they would help the domestic banking sector become healthy, say experts.

So far, one of the 12 large accounts referred by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in June last year has seen successful resolution.

Tata Steel bought Bhushan Steel for Rs 35,200 crore, for which bankers took a haircut of 37 per cent, lower than many analysts had expected the bankers would have to concede in discount when the proceedings started.

If other accounts meet with such success for the banking system, the IBC and the resultant behavior change of corporate borrowers would be a great legacy of the Modi government, analysts say.

Bankers seem to be pleased with the government for keeping its promise of not interfering in operational matters, but are apprehensive about the intense scrutiny of their functioning.

The recent arrests and questioning of bankers have shaken their confidence, while the RBIs strict rules on stressed assets could be forcing banks to sell assets at a deep discount.

Some of the assets could have been recovered had more time been given, say bankers.

But the government had promised to put in enough capital, Rs 2.11 trillion, into banks to enable them for a deep cleaning.

On April 1, 2017, State Bank of India merged its associates with itself, joining the league of the top 50 global banks.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley gave indications of deep reforms by pushing banks towards privatisation, starting with IDBI Bank.

However, in January this year, the banking system was rocked by the Rs 13,000 crore-plus scam at Punjab National Bank.

The government intensified its scrutiny of bankers after that and life has been tough for them at a time when the Lok Sabha elections are due in less than a year.

It is perhaps not an overstatement that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made banks the fulcrum of many of his programmes. From opening an account for each family, to direct benefit transfer, to efforts at wiping out black money through demonetisation, Modi has time and again leaned on banks to further his social and economic agenda.

Bankers didnt disappoint him, but things have soured of late.

The government had started with a great promise for bankers.

On the basis of the P J Nayak committee report on banking reforms, the government split the post of chairman and managing director in banks.

The government also appointed two outsiders as the head of Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank, two of the largest banks in the country.

The next move was to announce Indradhanush. The plan, arranged alphabetically, involved Appointments, Banks Board Bureau, Capitalisation, De-stressing PSBs, Empowerment, Framework of Accountability, and Governance Reforms.

Bankers were told the government would not interfere in their work, and the Prime Minister assured them there would be no call to them from his office, either.

They say Modi has kept his promise.

Nevertheless, the banking sector could have much more.

This government brought in a lot of hope, but they have not really been fulfilled, said a senior banker.

For example, even though there was a promise of empowerment and ownership neutrality, the human resource policies of public sector banks are still uniform, there is no special recognition or reward for performing bankers, no retention policies, arbitrary transfers and the absurd witch hunt, the banker said.

Another senior banking sector expert says plans are ready but execution is a problem.

Rather than showing us the action plan, please point out the one you are going to implement now, said the person.

Bankers say while the IBC is a great idea, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is new and largely untested.

And yet more and more cases are being pushed into this institution, leaving a grey area.

To their credit, the judges in NCLTs have expeditiously ruled in stressed assets cases, but those rulings should be debated more.

Despite having a majority in the Lok Sabha and perhaps the political will to do deep reforms, the government could not distance itself from ownership, something that the RBI governor stressed reforming as soon as possible and empowering the central bank more to do effective control over the boards of public sector banks.

At present, despite being the regulator, it cannot pack off bank boards.

Bad debts in the Indian banking sector skyrocketed under this regime.

In the June quarter of 2014, the gross non-performing assets (NPAs) of the listed banking entities were Rs 2.43 trillion.

Those swelled to Rs 8.82 trillion by the end of the December quarter, led by public sector banks.

The gross NPA of PSBs were at Rs 2.19 trillion in June 2014, which rose to Rs 7.83 trillion by the end of December 2017.

What is disturbing though is that the profitability of banks plunged in this period.

The banking sector as a whole had net losses of Rs 7,255 crore in December 2017, against Rs 20,174 crore in profit in the quarter when Modi took over as prime minister.

Public sector banks accounted for a combined loss of Rs 18,025 crore, against Rs 11,570 crore in profit in 2014.

The market capitalisation of PSBs plunged to Rs 4.29 trillion on May 21, 2018, against Rs 7.26 trillion on May 26, 2014.

In contrast, the market cap of private banks more than doubled from Rs 6.5 trillion to Rs 14.2 trillion in that same period.
Turkey and Rumi: What a holiday for the Lipstick In A Burkha actress.

Shilpa Shetty spent some time with her family a Maldives.

Jacqueline Fernandez holidayed in Bali.

Soha Ali Khan and Kunal Kemmu went on a Croatian holiday.

Sanya Malhotra took us to Europe.

Sunny Leone and husband Daniel Weber went to Mexico.

Ileana D'Cruz took us to her favourite destination, Fiji.

Neha Dhupia had a fun holiday in Ibiza.

Parineeti Chopra had an awesome Australian holiday.

Kunal Kapoor took us on a road trip from Dharamsala to Kaza in Himachal Pradesh.

Television couple Aamir Ali and Sanjeeda Sheikh discovered Hong Kong.

This time, let's travel to Istanbul with Aahana Kumra with Rumi to accompany her travel pix.

Posing at Lara Beach, Antalya, Aahana writes, 'Beach more Worry less!'.

The Lipstick Under My Burkha actress shared this pic and wrote, 'A craftsman pulled a reed from the reedbed, Cut holes in it, and called it a human being. Since then, it has been wailing. A tender agony of parting, Never mentioning the skill That gave it life as a flute. - Rumi #GoodbyeIstanbul'.

At Antalya, she writes, 'Come to the orchard in spring. There is light and wine and sweethearts In the pomegranates flowers. If you do not come, these do not matter. If you do come, these do not matter. - Rumi'.

'The morning wind spreads it's fresh smell. We must get up to take that in, That wind that lets us live. Breathe, before it's gone. - Rumi'

Aahana shares this picture by the water in Kadkoy and writes, 'People want you to be happy. Don't keep serving them your pain. If you could untie your wings And free your soul of jealousy, You and everyone around you Would fly up like doves. - Rumi'

Being touristy outside the Hagia Sophia museum.

'Friend our closeness is this. Anywhere you put your foot Feel me in the firmness under you. How is it with this love, I see your world and not you? - Rumi'

A glimpse from the museum.

'The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep. You must ask for what you really want. Don't go back to sleep. People are going back and forth across the dorsill Where the two worlds touch. The door is round and open. Don't go back to sleep. - Rumi'

Smiling for the camera in a bus ride in Sirkeci.

Enjoying a meal at Galapera_GALATA.

She also got a taste of the ice cream, Turkish style.

'Here's a throwback to my favourite moment in Istanbul with the 'Dondurma' - the turkish mastic ice cream! A must do when you visit #istanbul . This truly is a trick and treat!' she wrote.

'All you need is love and two big scoops of ice cream'.

Making the most of the background at Galata.

Photographs: Kind courtesy Aahana Kumra/Instagram
'Countries in possession of nuclear weapons have a heightened sense of power and it is logical for Kim to expect/demand to be treated as an equal at any bargaining table.'

'It is here that Trump ought to respect Kim as the leader of a sovereign power and not treat the North Korean leader as a subordinate,' says Dr Rajaram Panda.

After generating much hype about a possible breakthrough on North Korea's nuclear weapon problem through a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on June 12 in Singapore, in a three-paragraph terse letter that began 'Dear Mr Chairman,' US President Donald J Trump pulled out of the planned summit, blaming 'tremendous anger' and 'open hostility' from North Korea.

Further, Trump threatened to use nuclear weapons if necessary. In the letter, he also said, 'If you change your mind having to do with this most important summit, please do not hesitate to call me or write.'

Trump described the cancellation of the summit as 'a tremendous setback' for North Korea and warned that the US military is ready to act should Pyongyang take any 'foolish and reckless' action.

Hours later, Pyongyang said it was ready to meet with the US 'at any time'.

Following this, Trump quickly responded, saying that the proposed meeting with Kim, which he had cancelled a day earlier, could still go ahead on June 12.

Such a casual manner of conducting diplomacy smacks of immaturity by the leader of the sole superpower bordering on recklessness, no different from the much maligned North Korean leader.

The manner in which negotiations have been going on since Kim's peace overtures, it does not appear surprising to observers of Korean affairs that Trump pulled down the curtain.

Though the window has currently been kept open, it is difficult for one to take an optimistic view for the future.

So long as Washington insists on 'complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation' of North Korea, and Pyongyang vows never to give up its nuclear deterrence until it feels safe from what it terms US aggression, no tangible outcome can ever be expected.

The reactions from the stakeholders were on expected lines. Confused by Trump's cancellation, there was a sense of disappointment and deep concern.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged both parties to continue dialogue to find a path towards the verifiable denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- who initiated the peace process and called Trump's action 'very regrettable' -- met with Kim on Sunday, May 27, exactly a month after the leaders of the two Koreas met for the first time on April 27.

'Denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula and enduring peace are historic tasks that cannot be abandoned or delayed,' Moon said. 'The sincerity of the parties who have tried to solve the problem has not changed.'

Though China did not react immediately, Hu Xijin, editor, Global Times, the newspaper owned by the Chinese Communist party, which reflects official thinking, was critical of Trump.

Trump's announcement cancelling the Singapore summit came just hours after Pyongyang dismantled its nuclear site in the presence of international journalists.

Though talks with North Korea were always desirable and worth pursuing, considering the manner in which they were being worked out, the prospects for a one-on-one summit always looked fragile.

If Trump -- who says the summit may still go ahead -- decides to finally cancel, he risks souring ties with South Korea as Seoul could start perceiving Washington as an untrustworthy ally. Moon may then tilt more towards China.

If both China and South Korea urge a lifting of sanctions against North Korea, should Trump continues to waver, Japan will feel more isolated. That could lead Japan to rethink its own options, including bolstering its defences as well as developing nuclear weapons.

Though such a scenario does not currently appear possibile, in the long run it may not be unthinkable.

This makes a serious case for Trump to rethink his Korea policy, including assuring China and the US's two Asian allies that he is still open to serious talks.

Now that Kim has indicated his willingness for talks anytime and anywhere, it would be a serious mistake if Trump remains rigid in his demand.

Unless both sides sit across the table it would be difficult to know who concedes how much so that a mutually agreeable agreement can be explored.

Not only should Trump cease his belligerent statements and threats to use nuclear weapons and order his officials not to indulge in fiery rhetoric, he should be more considerate about Pyongyang's demands and see what emerges at the summit.

The US, not North Korea, should be seen as the party most committed to a peaceful resolution of the issue.

Countries in possession of nuclear weapons have a heightened sense of power and it is logical for Kim to expect/demand to be treated as an equal at any bargaining table.

It is here that Trump ought to respect Kim as the leader of a sovereign power and not treat the North Korean leader as a subordinate.

Continuous nuclear threats, bluster and bullying on trade and other foreign policy issues are always counterproductive.

Despite North Korea's limited access to the outside world -- either by choice or engineered isolation by the world -- Pyongyang is not entirely friendless.

North Korea has survived despite global sanctions and China will ensure that the nation does not collapse ever.

A divided Korea suits Beijing and it would be foolhardy to expect any change from such a position. So, Trump will need help.

Though Japan and the US have been on the same page on North Korea, the situation can alter dramatically if Japan suddenly confronts an unpleasant security situation.

Annoying China would also be unwise for Trump.

Trump may be worried about the balance of trade excessively in China's favour, but if he links trade with enforcement of sanctions against North Korea, it would be unwise because enforcing sanctions is a UN obligation, not only that of the US.

Against this background, a negotiated settlement is the only desirable route to secure peace on the Korean peninsula.

In order to make that possible, Trump needs to be ready to accept something less than complete and irreversible denuclearisation.

This is not what the US wants, but it would at least reduce the North Korean threat to more manageable levels.

In order to do that, Trump and his advisors need to be more sophisticated in their choice of words and language, and not say something that could infuriate the North Korean leader.

The North Korean issue is not simple and there cannot be a quick-fix solution.

If a trigger-happy Trump does not change track, an unintentional conflict could break out on the Korean peninsula and assume a global dimension.

Should Trump choose to be more suave, more patient and more tolerant, he could be in a position of strength to deal with world issues.

The choice is Trump's, not Kim's.

Dr Rajaram Panda, former Senior Fellow, IDSA, was until recently ICCR Chair Professor at Reitaku University, Japan.
Three guys stood out at the swearing-in ceremony of Deve Gowda's son, says Sudhir Bisht.

One was Akhilesh Yadav, the other was Tejashwi Yadav. And the third?

IMAGE: Congress leader Sonia Gandhi, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and JD-S General Secretary Danish Ali at the swearing-in ceremony of the Janata Dal-Secular-Congress coalition government in Bengaluru, May 23, 2018. Photograph: Shailendra Bhojak/PTI Photo

So the guy who stood third in the race was eventually granted the gold medal at the Karnataka political games!

H D Deve Gowda and Chennamma's younger son was sworn in as Karnataka's chief minister by the very man who had done his best to ensure that it didn't happen.

Vajubhai Vala, Karnataka's governor, who fought boldly and some may say barefacedly, had the Constitutional compulsion of administering the oath of office to a man who least deserved to be king.

It all happened last week in front of the Vidhana Soudha, with the television anchors bemoaning that barring Devraj Urs and another CM, anyone sworn in at this venue had to suffer the misfortune of falling well before the tenure ended.

So all credit to Kumaraswamy for not falling prey to that superstition.

Haradanahalli Devegowda Kumaraswamy, or simply Kumaraswamy -- which is another name for the Hindu god Murugan -- the man of the moment.

The gathering at Kumaraswamy's swearing-in had its ooh, aah and ouch moments.

Among the first leaders to troop in was the ever-smiling Akhilesh Yadav, the ex-CM of Uttar Pradesh who has fought the hegemony of his father and his cohorts in the Samajwadi Party.

Akhilesh may have lost the office of chief minister, but he has gained full control of his Samajwadi Party and a sense of satisfaction glows on his face.

He came in, waved at the crowd confidently and with a genuine sense of friendship with a state where he studied for his couple of engineering degrees.

Akhilesh, a contemporary of Rahul Gandhi, came alone and interacted with politicians several years older than him, with poise and dignity.

His newly acquired bua Mayawati walked in with the general secretary of her Bahujan Samaj Party, Satish Mishra. Mayawati met Akhilesh as an elder would meet a younger member of the extended family.

The young lad with folded hands bowed to the grand warrior of Indian politics and Mayawati seemed to have blessed him. This is the bonhomie that could lead to a lot of strategising in the saffron camp.

Kumaraswamy's parents walked in and JD-S General Secretary Danish Ali left everyone to receive them. Deve Gowda may have bent a bit due to age (he turned 85 on May 18) and his movements may have slowed down, but he looked sharp in acknowledging everyone's greetings.

He was the only male leader who shook hands with Mayawati and the latter took his palms in hers in reverence.

The grandsire of Karnataka politics hugged Akhilesh for a long, long, time. He was there meeting everyone with a sense of gratitude.

There were many other heavyweights, current and past, who appeared on the dais briefly. Many sat in the back row.

There was Chandrababu Naidu, who tried his best to steal the limelight by standing tall over the short statured leaders in the photo-op.

There was Ajit Singh, the founder-chief of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, with 0 members in the Lok Sabha and 0 members in the Rajya Sabha.

The Communist Party of India-Marxist was represented by who else but Sitaram Yechury. By his side was D Raja, leader of the 'national' party that has 1 seat in the Lok Sabha and another solitary seat in the Rajya Sabha.

What must have gone on in the minds of the JD-S supremo and the rag-tag combination that was on stage? I only have to read an old article by Sumit Mitra published in the India Today issue dated April 30, 1997. It talks about the key leaders of the United Front of the late 1990s then running the country.

'As chairman of the UF steering committee, Chandrababu Naidu's role was crucial. Yet the TDP chief rarely saw eye to eye with Deve Gowda, especially over the contentious Almatti dam issue.'

About Deve Gowda's relationship with Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav, who were both represented by their sons at Kumaraswamy's show, Mitra wrote, 'The two Yadavs had reasons to distrust Deve Gowda. Laloo felt victimised in the fodder scam while Mulayam thought the CBI was being used to nettle him over his alleged role in the ayurveda scam.'

And the Left Front's feelings about Deve Gowda are captured by Mitra as, 'It didn't take the leftists long to realise they had little say in the government. Deve Gowda ignored Marxist reservations about his economic policies while Indrajit Gupta remained home minister only in name.'

As per the India Today article from 1997, these key people in the United Front had a bone to pick with Deve Gowda. At Kumaraswamy's swearing-in ceremony, Deve Gowda displayed no trace of rancour or ill-will, nor did the sons of the two Yadavs..

The most interesting entry on stage was that of Mamata Banerjee, chief minister of Bengal. She met leaders on the dais, but ignored Yechury and Raja. Everyone stood up to greet Mamata, including Sharad Pawar and Sharad Yadav, but Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan didn't.

Mamata and Sonia Gandhi didn't meet each other with the warmth that was on display when the retired Congress president met Mayawati.

On the stage was D K Shiv Kumar, the Congress MLA who was largely responsible for doing an Amit Shah for his party.

He kept the Congress flock at a well known hideout and ensured that none of his party's elected reps went astray.

Shivakumar looked disgruntled as he was denied the deputy CMship, at least for now.

Also there putting on a brave front was Siddaramaiah, the man who was to be king but is now doomed to political hibernation.

Three guys stood out for me at the swearing-in ceremony of Deve Gowda's son.

One was Lalu Prasad's son, Tejashwi Yadav. The guy looks so likeable when compared to his father. He won the hearts of many when he touched Mamata and Sonia Gandhi's feet.

The second guy who gave a good impression was Akhilesh Yadav who appears to have gained the respect of all the Opposition leaders by the way he has conducted himself after his huge loss in last year's UP assembly election.

The third guy who stood out for me was Rahul Gandhi, but for the negative air that emitted from him.

The man at the helm of the Indian National Congress still needs to lean on an ailing mother when it comes to big stage events.

He looked like a 'gwachi gaay', which in Punjabi means a lost cow. How Sonia must have wanted her son to be more like Akhilesh or at least like Tejashwi.

The grandest of political legacies can't buy you a grand personality. This is my most notable impression of H D Kumaraswamy's swearing-in ceremony.

Sudhir Bisht, PhD, Delhi-based author and columnist, tweets at @sudhir_bisht
IMAGE: A man is being consoled on the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, on Tuesday. Photographs: Francois Lenoir/Reuters

A gunman on Tuesday shot dead two police officers with their own weapons before killing a bystander in a suspected terror attack in Liege, Belgium, briefly taking a hostage at a school before being killed by the police.

Both police officers killed in the attack were women.

The attack began around 10.30 am (0830 GMT) when the man, armed with a knife stabbed two police officers repeatedly before using their own firearms to kill them, local media quoted prosecutors as saying.

Federal prosecutors said they had launched a terrorist investigation into the incident, which comes with Belgium on high alert after a string of attacks including twin suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State group.

"Armed with a knife, the suspect followed and attacked two police officers, and used their own firearms to kill them," prosecutor Philippe Dulieu told reports at a press conference.

"He continued on foot, attacking a parked vehicle where he opened fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat. The young man died.

"He then continued and entered the Leonie de Waha school. He took a woman working there as hostage. Police intervened, he came out firing on the police officers, wounding several before he was killed," Dulieu said.

IMAGE: A police officer on the scene.



According to Belgian broadcaster RTBF, the shooter was released from prison yesterday and was only known for minor infractions with no known links to extremism.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Belgium's Federal Crisis Centre was monitoring the situation.

'Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of establishing an overview of exactly what happened, Jambon wrote on Twitter.

A major security cordon was set up around the area, while panicked parents came to collect their children from the school complex.

The governor of Liege province said all the children and staff were safe and unhurt.

Belgium has been on high alert since the smashing of a terror cell in the town of Verviers in January 2015 that was planning an attack on police.
Director Generals of Military Operations of India and Pakistan on Tuesday agreed to 'fully implement' the ceasefire pact of 2003 in 'letter and spirit' forthwith to stop cross border firings in Jammu and Kashmir.

The two military commanders reviewed the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and International Border in J&K during a conversation over the hotline at 6 PM, the Indian Army said.

The special hotline contact was initiated by the Pakistani DGMO.

Following the conversation between Indian DGMO Lt Gen Anil Chauhan and Pakistan's Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, the two armies issued identical statements saying both sides agreed to fully implement the 15-year-old ceasefire understanding.

"Both the DGMOs agreed to fully implement the Ceasefire Understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit forthwith and to ensure that henceforth the ceasefire will not be violated by both sides," the Indian Army said.

The Pakistan Army, in a statement, said both the DGMOs agreed to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation to ensure peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders.

The LoC has been witnessing increasing hostilities in the last few months.

A total of 908 incidents of ceasefire violations by Pakistan Army were reported till today in the current year as against 860 incidents during 2017, defence sources in New Delhi said.

"It was also mutually agreed that in case of any issue, restraint will be exercised and the matter will be resolved through utilisation of existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and Border Flag Meetings at Local Commanders' Level," the Indian Army statement said.

It said the Indian Army DGMO agreed with the proposal to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation to ensure peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders.
Former President Pranab Mukherjee accepting an invite from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh to be the chief guest at a function at the Sangh headquarters on June 7 snowballed into a row with a former Union minister urging him to reconsider his decision in the interest of secularism.

While the Congress refrained from making a comment on the issue, a party leader asked if the RSS accepted what the former president said as a minister and Congress leader about the Sangh being the 'worst' outfit which was 'communal', 'anti-national' and 'unpatriotic'.

While Union minister Nitin Gadkari defended Mukherjee's decision saying the RSS is not Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence and an 'untouchable' and it was a 'good beginning'.

The RSS, on its part, claimed even Mahatma Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan attended their functions and former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had invited its workers for the Republic Day parade in 1963 after being impressed with its work.

Former Union minister C K Jaffer Shareif, in a letter to Mukherjee, expressed surprise over the move and said he like other secular people was 'stunned' to hear about his attending the RSS function.

'I personally think that a person of your stature, being secular and in politics for decades, having served in various capacity including the highest position of Rashtrapati, visiting Sangh Parivar at this point in time before Parliament elections is not proper.

'Congressmen besides secular people are stunned to hear the news and are agitated on the situation and are hopeful that yourself will reconsider the idea.

'I once again request you to reconsider and avoid visiting Sangh Parivar in the interest of secularism and the country,' Shareif said in his letter which was also signed by former MP H Hanumanthappa.

"No comments," was Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkan's response when asked about Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters.

He said since the event is yet to happen he would not comment on it and the Congress will formulate its thoughts once the event takes place.

"The event has not happened. I have come to know about it from media reports and am collecting further details. At present I have no comments to offer till the event takes place," he told reporters at the All India Congress Committee office.

Former MP and Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said as a Congress leader and minister, Mukherjee has spoken about the RSS and the Bharatiya Janata Party many times on various issues and dubbed it as 'bad' and 'worst' outfit, which is 'communal' and 'anti-national'.

"Pranab Mukherjee used to say that the RSS is the worst organisation in the country. Its leaders have no morals and RSS is corrupt and spreads lies. He (Mukherjee) has also said that the RSS is anti-national, unpatriotic and communal.

"If the RSS has invited a person with such views, does this mean that the RSS admits that his (Pranab's) views about the organisation were correct," Dikshit asked.

Dikshit is the son of former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit.

Earlier, at a press conference in Mumbai, Gadkari said, "The RSS is not Pakistan's ISI. The RSS is an organisation of nationalists."

"Mukherjee's acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good," he said.

Amid the raging debate over Mukherjee's address at the RSS event, the RSS said the likes of Mahatama Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan have attended its functions in the past.

RSS joint spokesperson Narinder Thakur in a statement said that even former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had also invited its workers for the republic day parade in 1963, as he was impressed by their work.

Vadakkan said there is a lot of difference between their ideology and that of the RSS and never shall there be any compromise on that.

Asked about the RSS statement that even Mahatma Gandhi has attended the Sangh headquarters, the Congress leader said 'everyone knows about the specialisation of the RSS and the BJP on history. I would not comment on it'.

Mukherjee, who has been a Congress veteran, has been invited to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of Sangh Shiksha Varg -- a training camp for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers -- at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, scheduled on June 7.

The former president has accepted the invitation, an RSS functionary said on Monday.
The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday cancelled the land allotment to Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin, while the killing of 13 people in police firing there resonated in the state assembly, with opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam deciding to boycott proceedings until the unit was 'permanently shut'.

The police department, meanwhile, transferred the case involving last week's police firing that led to the deaths to the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID), a senior official told PTI.

The cancellation of land allotment for the proposed expansion of the Sterlite Copper plant came a day after the government ordered the State Pollution Control Board to 'seal and permanently close' the existing unit.

"..in larger public interest, the land allotment made.. proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled," State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu said.

In its filing in the Bombay Stock Exchange, the Vedanta group apprised it of the development.

An official release here said, "The cancellation of allotment of 342.22 acres of land has been made in the larger public interest and this has been communicated to the company."

The killing of 13 people in police action against Sterlite protesters on May 22-23 rocked the state assembly, which met after a gap of over two months to pass the budgetary demands of different departments, with members of the main opposition DMK staging a demonstration and saying they would boycott the proceedings until the unit was shut permanently.

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami, meanwhile, put up a strong defence of his government and police, insisting the action by men in uniform had become 'unavoidable'.

Attired in black shirts as a mark of protest against the killings, and shouting anti-government slogans, DMK members demonstrated in the legislature complex.

DMK working president M K Stalin targeted the government for issuing a Government Order for closure of the polluting copper plant instead of convening a meeting of the cabinet and taking a policy decision to shut it for good.

Claiming that the government order was an 'eyewash and a drama', Stalin said it was done to enable the Sterlite management approach the court and seek relief, like it did when the plant was ordered closed in 2013.

Stalin then walked out of the House along with other DMK lawmakers, shouting slogans and demanding the chief minister's resignation.

Palaniswami said due to 'unavoidable circumstances, police personnel were forced to take action'.

He said a Commission of Inquiry has been constituted under retired Madras High Court judge Aruna Jagadeesan to go into the incidents in Tuticorin, and 'appropriate action will be taken against those who had committed wrong, whoever they may be'.

The chief minister also tabled a report in the House on incidents that occurred in the port city on May 22, and said police burst teargas shells and baton-charged the violent protesters to control the situation, but it vain.

He said vehicles parked in the residential quarters at Sterlite Copper plant were set on fire. The protesters also damaged Tuticorin South Police Station and the industries department office.

All efforts were made to rein in the protesters and safeguard lives and property, but 'due to unavoidable circumstances, police personnel were forced to take action'.

Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit, meanwhile, visited the families of those killed in police firing and met the injured at a government hospital at Tuticorin.

Seeking to turn the tables on DMK for its 'eye-wash and drama remarks', Chief Minister Palaniswami said the Government Order issued for the closure of the plant was legally valid and it was done after consultation with legal experts.

Palaniswami listed several police firing incidents during the previous DMK regimes in Tamil Nadu and pointed out that during such occasions when people died, the government had constituted an inquiry by a retired judge.

His government had constituted an Inquiry Commission by a retired judge to probe the violence and police firings.

"Were the inquiry panels constituted by (previous) DMK governments only for eyewash?" he asked.

Stating that he was not 'justifying' (firing incidents), he said the government is for justice, adding that the main opposition party was however trying to 'divert' and 'politicise' the incident.

Palaniswami said DMK leader Stalin,who enacted a 'farcical drama', seeking Sterlite's closure, had allocated 230.63 acres for its expansion in 2009 when he was industries minister.

He said as many as 14 rounds of talks were held with the anti-Sterlite protesters by district authorities and they had agreed to hold a demonstration at a playground.

However, contravening it, thousands gathered for a rally towards the Colectorate and about 200 DMK cadres, led by Tuticorin legislator Geetha Jeevan, went in a procession to take part in the rally.

On May 23, stones were also hurled at vehicles which followed Stalin's car in Tuticorin and Vilathikulam union secretary of the party Marimuthu was asked to get down from his car and it was set ablaze, the chief minister said.

"So the protestors did not welcome them. From this it should be understood against whom the people were angry."

A case has been registered on such violence, he said.

Photograph: PTI Photo
AZERBAIJAN: Theologian challenges state's book ban

Publisher Forum 18 Author Felix Corley Publication Date 14 May 2018 Cite as Forum 18, AZERBAIJAN: Theologian challenges state's book ban, 14 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b0d3c824.html [accessed 13 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.

14 May 2018

AZERBAIJAN: Theologian challenges state's book ban

Muslim theologian Elshad Miri is challenging in court the State Committee for Work with Religious Organisations decision to ban one of his books on theological grounds. The Committee operates the prior compulsory censorship of all religious materials. A court fined another bookshop owner for selling religious literature without permission.
KAZAKHSTAN: Why were prisoner's conditions made harsher?

Publisher Forum 18 Publication Date 18 May 2018 Cite as Forum 18, KAZAKHSTAN: Why were prisoner's conditions made harsher?, 18 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b0d423d4.html [accessed 13 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 May 2018

KAZAKHSTAN: Why were prisoner's conditions made harsher?

After prisoner of conscience Imam Abdukhalil Abduzhabbarov's transfer to a harsher prison he is held in solitary confinement with one short daily exercise period, and can have only two two-hour meetings with relatives a year. He is only occasionally allowed to read the Koran.
RUSSIA: Will Constitutional Court reduce "anti-missionary" prosecutions?

Publisher Forum 18 Author Victoria Arnold Publication Date 16 May 2018 Cite as Forum 18, RUSSIA: Will Constitutional Court reduce "anti-missionary" prosecutions?, 16 May 2018, available at: https://www.refworld.org/docid/5b0d44134.html [accessed 13 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.

16 May 2018

RUSSIA: Will Constitutional Court reduce "anti-missionary" prosecutions?

Lawyers have cautiously welcomed a March Constitutional Court ruling, hoping it will reduce "missionary activity" prosecutions. However, the first case seeking compensation for an unjustified "missionary activity" prosecution failed. Glorification Pentecostal Church's case against Krasnoyarsk Regional Prosecutor's Office and Russia's General Prosecutor was rejected.
Ellijay, GA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/29/2018 --Who does not want to own a home of dreams? When it comes to looking for a dream home, Cherry Bloom Homes and Design is the name to rely on. The company finds the greatest pleasure in helping families find houses for sale in Blue Ridge and Ellijay, Georgia. The homes that are featured on the official website of the company are built with vast detail. The company understands investing in a new home is an important decision one has to take in life and this is why they strive to find the best deal for their clients.



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Atlanta, GA -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/29/2018 --First Choice Accident & Injury Care, LLC. is a leading accident injury clinic that has been treating injuries caused by an untoward incident, as well as chronic neck and back pain. To offer top-notch treatments to patients, the company employs only knowledgeable and expert auto accident doctors in Marietta and Alpharetta, Georgia who possess a high level of expertise and experience in treating injured patients.



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Plano, TX -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/29/2018 --Roofing & Remodeling of Dallas is a highly reputed and widely trusted locally owned and operated firm that was established in the year of 1990. It is a fully licensed, insured, and bonded company that offers its host of services to the people of Lewisville, Mckinney Texas, Allen Texas, Dallas, Richardson Texas, Wylie, Frisco and its nearby areas. Providing free storm damage assessments and replacement estimates, as well as handling the insurance claim of their clients, Roofing & Remodeling of Dallas are an accurate turnkey resource.



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New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/29/2018 --For those looking for a versatile Manhattan catering company, Voila Caterers is a reliable name to consider. Over the years, the company has set the standard for customer satisfaction that they bring to the table. The culinary creations that they offer are truly extraordinary, the presentations are beautiful, and the service that they provide is out of the world. When this commitment is combined with quality, there is no reason to look elsewhere for Manhattan breakfast catering and lunch catering in Upper East Side and Manhattan.



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HCM City: will $5 billion drive floods away?

VietNamNet Bridge - More than 10 years ago, HCMC began applying a series of measures to fight against floods and improve the environment, worth trillions of dong. The road beds have been raised, while more water drainage outlets have been built in depression areas. However, money has gone, but floods have stayed.









Money has gone, but floods have stayed









HCMC has spent trillions of dong to implement many large projects and hundreds of small projects to prevent floods.



In 2011-2015, three projects capitalized at VND22.948 trillion in total, included the ODA second phase of the water environment improvement project funded by JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency), the second phase of the environment sanitation funded by the World Bank and the Tham Luong  Ben Cat waste water treatment plant.



In 2016, a super-project on fighting against high tides was kicked off with the contract value of VND10 trillion.





In the last few years, the money was used to implement anti-flood projects in the central area, 550 square kilometers large. In the next years, the capital will be arranged to implement the projects in the suburbs.

The HCMC Anti-Flood Center, and other departments and agencies, including the citys transport department, district peoples committees and ODA-funded projects also poured money into anti-flood projects.



However, the municipal authorities still said it needed VND73.379 trillion more to implement anti-flood projects under Program 752 and Program 1547.



According to Do Tan Long from the Anti-flood Center, the capital needed to implement the two programs is up to $5 billion.



In the last few years, the money was used to implement anti-flood projects in the central area, 550 square kilometers large. In the next years, the capital will be arranged to implement the projects in the suburbs.



Long said the HCMC Transport Department has recently drawn up an anti-flood project with the most updated input data.



The department, together with the agriculture department, have been assigned by the municipal authorities to check and adjust Programs 752 and 1547 to fit the new socio-economic development conditions in the new period.



When asked when HCMC can stop the floods, Long said when the two programs are implemented, the problem will basically settled.



Long said there are many reasons behind the floods  heavy rain, high tide, the badly-done canal dredging, the uncontrolled littering and encroachment on canals which cause the water flow stuck.



An official of the District 12 Peoples Committee said the flooding on Nguyen Van Qua street is a headache. The committee, in addition to speeding up the implementation of the projects suggested by the Anti-flood Center, has asked for permission to build two pump stations and a reservoir to settle the problem.



In district 9, though a water drainage system has been put into operation since 2016, the Do Xuan Hop street still suffers from flooding.





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Kim Chi
A Place for All Conservatives to Speak Their Mind.
Singapore company to buy diamonds worth $20m for its new cryptocurrency coin

29 may 2018 News

D1 Mint, a Singapore based company will purchase $20 mn worth of diamonds to back its new cryptocurrency coin. The 1,500 investment-grade diamonds were manufactured by Hong Kong-headquartered KGK Diamonds, and sourced from Russian miner ALROSA. The stones will go to the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) in New York for grading, laser-etching and packaging, before being secured in vaults in Singapore and Switzerland, says a report in diamonds.net.

Coin holders can select specific stones from the reserve at any time and convert their tokens into diamonds at a fixed price, determined by the companys algorithm. Consequently, D1 Coins provide a direct exposure to the price of diamonds, opening a new asset class to investors globally, the company explained.

We believe that the approach taken by D1 will succeed in making natural diamonds an investment asset class attractive to various investor groups, drive higher demand for natural diamonds and support further growth of the diamond industry in Russia, said Alexei Chekunkov, a member of the international advisory committee for D1, as well as CEO of the Far East Development Fund and a member of ALROSAs board of directors.



Aruna Gaitonde, Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Bureau, Rough & Polished
Sierra Leone is set to review mining law and contracts to ensure the West African nation benefits from its natural resources, Reuters reports.

President Julius Maada Bio, who was elected last month, recently told law makers that there was an "extreme lack of transparency" in the extractive sector under his predecessor Ernest Bai Koroma.

He then called for an immediate review of both the 2009 Mines and Minerals Act and the individual licenses of mining companies.

"We have to look at these agreements, and we have to look at the laws that govern them," Yusuf Keketoma Sandi, the president's press secretary, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

"There have been many issues in terms of how concessions were given to mining companies and treatment of workers that people deemed unfair."

Extractives - mostly diamonds, iron ore and mineral sands - constitute more than 80 percent of Sierra Leone's exports but generate only 15 percent of its total revenues, according to official figures cited by the news agency.

Major companies operating in the country include BSG Resources-controlled diamond miner Koidu Holdings, which was a supplier to Tiffany and Co as well as China's Shandong Iron and Steel which owns the Tonkolili iron ore project.



Mathew Nyaungwa, Editor in Chief of the African Bureau, Rough&Polished
Image credit: CIB

JO

The Centesimus Annus pro Pontifice Foundation organized a private audience in Vatican City in Rome on Saturday between CIBJO President Gaetano Cavalieri and Pope Francis I, the head of Catholic Church on "New Policies and Lifestyles in the Digital Age", according to the press note from CIBJO.During the audience, Dr. Cavalieri underlined the importance of the development of both professional skills and socially ethical awareness among young people entering the workplace.The Pope noted that profit and social responsibility are interconnected and every economic financial system should be based on ethics respectful of humanity and the common good."The current difficulties and crises within the global economic system have an undeniable ethical dimension," Pope Francis was quoted as saying. "They are related to a mentality of egoism and exclusion that has effectively created a culture of waste blind to the human dignity of the most vulnerable."
Giving Farmers a Voice in their Community

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) encourages Americas farmers and ranchers to nominate candidates to lead, serve and represent their community on their local county committee. USDAs Farm Service Agency (FSA) will accept nominations for county committee members beginning Friday, June 15, 2018.

Producers across the country are already serving on committees where they play a critical role in the day-to-day operations of FSA, making important decisions on programs dealing with disaster and conservation, emergencies, commodity price loan support, county office employment and other agricultural issues.

Our county committees make decisions about how federal farm programs are administered locally to best serve the needs of agriculture in their community, said Acting FSA Administrator Steve Peterson. We strongly encourage all eligible producers to visit their local FSA office today to find out how to get involved in their countys election. Theres an increasing need for representation from underserved producers, which includes beginning, women and other minority farmers and ranchers.

Nationwide, more than 7,700 dedicated farmers and ranchers serve on FSA county committees, which consist of three to 11 members and meet once a month, or as needed. Members serve three-year terms.

Producers can nominate themselves or others. Check your local USDA service center to see if your local administrative area is up for election this year. Organizations, including those representing beginning, women and minority producers, may also nominate candidates to better serve their communities. To be eligible to serve on an FSA county committee, producers must participate or cooperate in an FSA program and reside in the area where the election is being held.

To be considered, a producer must sign an FSA-669A nomination form. The form and other information about FSA county committee elections are available at http://www.fsa.usda.gov/elections. All nomination forms for the 2018 election must be postmarked or received in the local FSA office by Aug. 1, 2018. Visit farmers.gov for more information.

Election ballots will be mailed to eligible voters beginning Nov. 5, 2018. Read more to learn about important election dates.
Sidney, Montana (May 21, 2018)  The Richland County Cancer Coalition is hosting a Rock Painting Party on Thursday, May 31 from 6:00-8:00 PM at the Sidney Elks Lodge to spread kindness and raise funds for the Cancer Coalition Relief Fund through the Foundation for Community Care.

The idea of the Rock Painting Party was originated by two local ladies, Kelly Wilkinson and Peggy Kopp, who both work at Sidney Health Center. An online organization, known as The Kindness Rocks Project, inspired the two ladies to collaborate with the local Cancer Coalition and host the event.

"Kindness rocks are a trendy way to share a small message of encouragement, raise awareness for a good cause, and track the rocks on social media using a common hashtag phrase," commented Kopp. "We are encouraging people to paint a rock, give it to someone, or leave it in a special place for others to find, using #rocksolidsupport."

Sometimes it is the little things that make the biggest difference. The Kindness Rocks organization has a vision; "One message at just the right moment can change someone's entire day, outlook, life."

All ages are invited to stop by and paint a rock in memory or to honor a friend, family member, co-worker or anyone going through cancer. The cost is $10 per person, which includes two tribute rocks and the art supplies to decorate the rocks. Thrivent Financial has graciously funded for the supplies so all the funds raised through the event will be given to the local Cancer Coalition Relief Fund, which provides monetary assistance for those going through cancer treatment.

The special fund currently grants $1,000 to qualified applicants, limited to once a year per new cancer diagnosis. On average, this fund assists 40-45 area cancer patients per year. With the growing number of cancer patients receiving treatment in Richland County, there is an increasing need to keep this fund available. The Cancer Coalition depends on gifts from donors in our community to keep making a difference in lives of individuals diagnosed with cancer.

To support someone fighting cancer in our area, please consider making a donation to the Cancer Coalition Relief Fund at the Foundation for Community Care. Anyone interested in supporting this worthwhile cause can visit the Foundation's website at http://www.foundationforcommunitycare.org or stop by the office at 221 2nd Street NW, Sidney, MT 59270.
On July 14, 1918 Reverend Olaf Carlson was installed as the full-time pastor for four different churches. Scandinavian Lutheran was in Four Mile, Montana, St. Peter's Lutheran was in Sioux Pass, Montana, Bethel Lutheran was in Cartwright, North Dakota and the freshly started Zion Lutheran Church was in Fairview, Montana. As the years rolled on, attendance in most of the churches dwindled and they merged with Zion in Fairview. Scandinavian Lutheran joined with Zion in 1954, St. Peter's in 1965 and, Bethel Lutheran in 1970. One hundred years from its beginning; from Sunday, May 27, through Saturday, July 21, Zion Lutheran Church will be taking the time to remember the congregation's past.

Rhonda Cayko is a committee member and volunteer at Zion Lutheran Church.

In truth, their remembrance began on Easter Sunday when attendees were greeted by the stunning sight of hundreds of white paper doves hanging from the ceiling of the sanctuary with the names of every baptized member from 1943 to date on them. On Memorial Sunday, May 27, a song service with a little history was held at the old St. Peter's Lutheran Church site. On Sunday, June 10, a similar service will be held at the old Scandinavian Lutheran site and June 24 a service will be held at the old Bethel Lutheran. The church bus will be leaving at approximately 10:15 a.m. to take people to those services. Zion Lutheran's actual centennial service will be Sunday, July 15, at 309 S. Central Ave, in Fairview Montana, the current location of the church. Service will start at 9 a.m. and there will be a potluck afterward. Also, as part of the celebrations, a model was made of each of the dissolved churches plus one of Zion Lutheran's former church building. All four models are on display in the hallway just outside Zion's sanctuary and they will be on a float in the Old Timer's Festival Parade. Lastly, July 21 will be Zion Lutheran's Open House and Ice Cream Social. It will start at 1 p.m.

The church asks that anyone who wants to attend the Centennial service and potluck or Open House with Social to please RSVP by June 1. Committee member and volunteer Rhonda Cayko said: "Our anniversary theme is Let the rivers clap their hands, let the hills sing for joy together. Psalms 98:8. It was chosen because of the history of the rural churches in the hills joining Zion in the valley by the river. So celebrating at each rural site with song and service seemed appropriate."
Letter to the Editor

Elections bring out some very interesting advertising by candidates. Im concerned about a term called, campaign conservative, meaning someone is a conservative but only until after the election. As that relates to our area, we have our share of campaign conservatives seeking election. It seems the chore is to seek and find the truth. After more than forty years of involvement on our county and state Republican committees, it is quite clear to me how to sort out the chaff from the wheat.

Tanya Rost is a newcomer to election politics (so is her opponent, who has not held office before) but she fortunately arrives as a consistent, reliable conservative, without any checkered past. Her character and involvement as active mother and business owner has justifiably earned her the full support of most of our countys incoming Republican Central Committee members to include the full support from her predecessor, Rep. Scott Staffanson, as well as our current Richland County Commissioner Duane Mitchell. Our neighboring Montana Rep. Alan Doane likewise agrees, and so does our neighboring state senator, Steve Hinebauch. Rost did not misguidedly campaign for Obama (Krautter did). She does not speak in polite, waffling platitudes about I will do what is best for all of Montana (she understands her job is to represent Richland County). She is principled, actively pro-life, actively pro-gun, and by experience, pro-business. Rest assured, she will not sacrifice her principles for a few votes.

While Krautter has received endorsement from a left-of-center former GOP state chairman (which is why he is a former and not present chairman) and our city mayor (who has not been involved with the Richland County Republican Central Committee in at least the last thirty years, if ever), Rost has retained the support of most, if not all, neighboring elected conservative office-holders.

Im convinced that Rost will have a far better relationship with Eastern Montana legislators, helping to build a coalition in Helena that will best represent our interests and needs. I look forward to having a tried-and-true conservative in Helena who already enjoys good relationships with sitting legislators from our region. I would encourage you to vote for Tanya Rost for HD35.

- John R. Mercer
Canadian Pacific

Two unions have informed Canadian Pacific (CP) of plans to initiate a strike beginning at 10 p.m. Eastern time on May 29.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference-Train & Engine (TCRC) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) provided more than the necessary 72-hour notice after voting last week to reject the Class 1s final contract offers, officials said.

CP has commenced its work stoppage contingency plan and will work closely with customers to ensure a smooth, efficient and safe wind down of operations, the railroad said in a statement.

The Class 1 said it plans to continue working to reach an agreement with the unions.

Teamsters and the IBEW are committed to working with federal mediators and reaching a negotiated settlement. Both unions are willing to remain at the bargaining table until the May 29 strike deadline and beyond, a TCRC statement said.

TCRC represents approximately 3,000 conductors and locomotive engineers at CP, a statement said, and IBEW represents about 360 signals and communications employees.
The South Korea stock market on Monday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 10 points or 0.4 percent. The KOPSI now rests just beneath the 2,480-point plateau and it figures to remain stuck in that neighborhood again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian is flat to lower, with the U.S. and British markets were off on holiday. The Asian markets figure to open lower, however, with crude oil prices tumbling.

The KOSPI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the heavy industrials and steel companies were capped by weakness from the stocks and shipbuilders.

For the day, the index advanced 18.16 points or 0.74 percent to finish at 2,478.96 after trading between 2,463.14 and 2,482.40. Volume was 692.2 million shares worth 9.55 trillion won. There were 606 gainers and 232 decliners.

Among the actives, Hyundai Engineering skyrocketed 29.89 percent, while GS Engineering surged 12.42 percent, Hyundai Steel soared 14.48 percent, POSCO spiked 2.31 percent, Woori Bank dropped 1.58 percent, Hana Financial collected 0.23 percent, Daewoo Shipbuilding tumbled 2.36 percent, Hyundai Heavy plummeted 5.33 percent, Samsung Electronics shed 0.76 percent, SK hynix lost 0.74 percent and Shinhan Financial was unchanged.

There is no lead from Wall Street, which was off Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. United Kingdom markets also were shuttered.

Germany's DAX slid 74.55 points or 0.58 percent to 12,863.46, while the CAC 40 in France shed 33.61 points or 0.61 percent to 5,508.93.

Crude oil prices continue to plummet near $66 a barrel from a four-year peak near $73 on renewed expectations that OPEC will ramp up production.

Weakness may be tempered by hopes that the U.S. and North Korea will reinstate their June 12 meeting in Singapore and the prospect of fresh elections in Italy.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
(Agencia CMA Latam) - Merval, the benchmark stock market index in Argentina, fell 3% to 28,774.34 points Monday, tracking the decline of Petrobras and after the country's president, Mauricio Macri, asked lawmakers to block a bill that would limit price adjustments to public services.

Petrobras shares fell 12.96% amid fears that the trucker strike in Brazil against high diesel oil prices will force the company to change its fuel price policy. Rumors that Pedro Parente, the firm's president, could step down also weighed on the shares, as well as an oil workers' strike which began this weekend.

President Macri requested that senators refrain from supporting a bill from the opposition that limits increases to public services prices - and that also influenced the Argentinean . He said that the law is "unconstitutional."

The locally traded U.S. dollar rose to a record high of 24.71 pesos, amid higher seasonal demand for the greenback and the risk-averse scenario in the country, according to analysts.

by Agencia CMA Latam

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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.
Canada is likely to buy the Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. Trans Mountain oil pipeline and its controversial expansion project in a bid to ensure it gets built, Bloomberg reported citing a person familiar with the talks.

Buying the pipeline outright has become increasingly likely and is now the most probable option, the report said. The deal, a value for which hasn't been publicly reported, will be announced as soon as Tuesday when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet is due to meet.

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Business News
European stocks look set to open mostly lower on Tuesday in the absence of any lead from Wall Street. The U.K. market may also start the day notably lower as traders return to their desks following the spring bank holiday.

Asian stock are broadly lower in cautious trade as investors keep an eye on Italian politics and oil price movements.

The euro hovered near 6-1/2 month lows on worries of snap polls in Italy after the anti-establishment 5-Star and League parties abandoned plans to form a government.

Italy's president has appointed a former International Monetary Fund official as interim prime minister with the task of planning for snap polls and passing the next budget after weeks of uncertainty.

Markets fear a snap election will turn into referendum on Italy's euro membership.

Adding to heightened geopolitical uncertainty, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of confidence on Friday.

Elsewhere, the Wall Street Journal reported that U.S. President Donald Trump has decided to defer launching new sanctions against North Korea while talks about the summit proceed.

European markets finished firmly in negative territory on Monday as oil extended last week's slide and Italy headed for fresh elections. The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 0.3 percent.

The German DAX and France' CAC 40 index both shed around 0.6 percent. Ongoing political turmoil in the country saw Italy's FTSE MIB falling more than 2 percent.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
German stocks fell sharply on Tuesday as investors weighed political uncertainty in Spain and the prospect of fresh elections in Italy, which could serve as a referendum on its euro membership.

The benchmark DAX was down as much as 210 points or 1.63 percent at 12,654 in opening deals after declining 0.6 percent in the previous session.

Volkswagen tumbled more than 3 percent. The automaker has stopped production of some of its diesel engine vehicles due to problems with the engine control lamp.

Chemical firm SGL Carbon lost 3.5 percent after presenting its new brand concept to the public.

Lufthansa Group dropped 1.8 percent on news that it has firmed up a previous option for six further Airbus A320neo.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
French stocks tumbled on Tuesday as investors weighed political uncertainty in Spain and the prospect of fresh elections in Italy, which could serve as a referendum on its euro membership.

The benchmark CAC 40 was down 88 points or 1.60 percent at 5,420 in opening deals after closing 0.6 percent lower on Monday.

Aircraft maker Dassault Aviation dropped half a percent. The company announced death of Serge Dassault, Chairman and chief executive Officer of the company.

Aerospace and defense major Airbus also slid half a percent despite news that

Lufthansa Group has firmed-up a previous option for six further Airbus A320neo.

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Market Analysis
The Japanese yen advanced against its major opponents in the European session on Tuesday amid risk aversion, as investors weighed political uncertainty in Spain and the prospect of fresh elections in Italy, which could serve as a referendum on its euro membership.

Italian President Sergio Mattarella appointed former International Monetary Fund official Carlo Cottarelli as interim Prime Minister until fresh elections, which is expected to be held later this year or early 2019.

Markets fear a snap election will turn into referendum on Italy's euro membership.

Adding to worries, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of confidence on Friday.

Data from the Ministry of Communications and Internal Affairs showed that Japan's jobless rate came in at a seasonally adjusted 2.5 percent in April.

That was in line with expectations and unchanged from the March reading.

The yen advanced to more than a 5-week high of 108.43 against the greenback and more than a 2-week high of 109.23 against the franc, off its early lows of 109.47 and 110.17, respectively. The next possible resistance for the yen is seen around 106.00 against the greenback and 107.00 against the franc.

The yen climbed to an 8-1/2-month high of 143.20 against the pound and near a 1-year high of 125.10 against the euro, reversing from its early lows of 145.71 and 127.28, respectively. If the yen continues its rise, 142.00 and 122.00 are possibly seen as its next resistance levels against the pound and the euro, respectively.

The yen strengthened to near a 3-week high of 81.61 against the aussie, near 2-month high of 83.34 against the loonie and near a 7-month high of 74.99 versus the kiwi, coming off from its early lows of 82.61, 84.24 and 75.96, respectively. The yen is likely to find resistance around 80.00 against the aussie, 82.00 against the loonie and 74.00 versus the kiwi.

Concerns over political instability in Italy sent the euro lower.

The euro dropped to near a 1-year low of 1.1510 against the greenback and near a 5-week low of 0.8698 against the pound, from its early highs of 1.1640 and 0.8741, respectively. Next key support for the euro is likely seen around 1.14 against the greenback and 0.86 against the pound.

The single currency dropped to 1.1447 against the franc, its lowest since February 28. The euro is seen finding support around the 1.13 level.

The 19-nation currency fell to near a 5-month low of 1.4987 versus the loonie, near 4-month low of 1.5316 against the aussie and more than 4-month low of 1.6657 against the kiwi, reversing from its early highs of 1.5112, 1.5455 and 1.6786, respectively. The euro is poised to challenge support around 1.49 versus the loonie, 1.51 against the aussie and 1.65 against the kiwi.

Looking ahead, S&P/Case-Shiller home price index for March and U.S. consumer confidence index for May are due in the New York session.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
MGM Resorts International (MGM) and MGM Growth Properties LLC (MGP) said that MGM Resorts has agreed to acquire the real property and operations associated with the Empire City Casino's race track and casino in Yonkers, New York, for consideration of $850 million.

Further, MGM Resorts and MGP have entered into a definitive agreement whereby MGP will acquire the developed real property associated with Empire City from MGM Resorts and lease it back to a subsidiary of MGM Resorts, after which a subsidiary of MGM Resorts will operate the property.

The total consideration of $850 million includes the refinancing of Empire City's outstanding debt, which is expected to be about $245 million at the time of closing. MGM Resorts said it expects that about $260 million of the remaining consideration will be in the form of MGM Resorts common stock.

Furthermore, MGM Resorts has agreed to pay additional consideration of $50 million if Empire City is awarded a license for live table games on or prior to December 31, 2022 and MGM Resorts accepts such license by December 31, 2024.

The transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.

Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International said, "This acquisition represents an excellent opportunity to further solidify our presence on the East Coast, and in particular, expand our reach into the high-density New York City region. We believe this transaction enhances our free cash flow profile and presents attractive future opportunities for the Company, and we look forward to welcoming the Empire City team and guests to the MGM Resorts family."

Subsequent to the purchase of Empire City, MGM Resorts and MGP have agreed that MGM Resorts will sell the developed real property to MGP for total consideration of about $625 million.

This will include the assumption of the about $245 million of debt refinanced by MGM Resorts, while the balance consideration will be through the issuance of operating partnership units to MGM Resorts based upon MGP's closing price of $29.38 as of May 25, 2018.

In addition, MGM Resorts has agreed to give MGP a right of first offer with respect to certain undeveloped land adjacent to the property to the extent MGM Resorts develops additional gaming facilities and chooses to sell or transfer the property in the future.

For the last twelve months ended March 31, 2018, Empire City reported about $230 million in net revenues and about $70 million in adjusted EBITDA.

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Business News
Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (ICE), an operator of global exchanges and clearing houses as well as provider of data and listings services, said it has agreed to acquire TMC Bonds LLC for $685 million in cash.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2018, and is not expected to materially impact Intercontinental Exchange's 2018 financial results or capital returns. TMC Bonds will operate alongside ICE's fixed income trading and data solutions.

Established in 2000, TMC Bonds is a fixed income marketplace, supporting anonymous trading across multiple protocols, including click-to-trade and request-for-quote or RFQ in various asset classes including Municipals, Corporates, Treasuries, Agencies and Certificates of Deposit.

"TMC Bonds will offer a new and complementary access point to liquidity for our customers and expand our portfolio of diverse solutions in the global fixed income across analytics, execution and post-trade. As the fixed income markets continue to automate and migrate to electronic trading, ICE's trading and data infrastructure offer customers more choices to access liquidity, conduct price discovery and manage risk in more efficient ways," said ICE President Benjamin Jackson.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
South Korean crypto-exchange Bithumb decided to ban trading with investors in eleven countries including North Korea, Iran, and Iraq. from May 28 in a bid to prevent its platform to be used for money laundering activities and international terror financing.

Bithumb says it is self-enforcing these strict regulations in order to follow the government's recommendations and the measures introduced recently by the self-regulatory industry working group Korean Blockchain Association.

Bithumb announced that it will impose an outright ban on trading in all of the eleven countries monitored by the Non-Cooperative Countries and Territories (NCCT) Initiative.

The eleven countries that are considered as high-risk jurisdictions by the NCCT are North Korea, Iran, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Serbia, Tunisia, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu, Yemen and Syria.

The exchange said it will not accept new customers from these countries and will also disable the accounts of users on June 21.

Bithumb will also request foreign users to endure a mobile verification process to ensure users cannot deceive the platform by falsifying personal information and residential address starting from next month.

The decision by Bithumb is expected to set the ball rolling for other exchanges to follow as it is currently the sixth largest crypto-exchange in the world in terms of trading volume and the largest in South Korea.

The eleven NCCT countries are seen by the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF) as not taking sufficient action to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and other threats to the international financial system.

The FATF is an intergovernmental organization founded in 1989 on the initiative of the G7 to develop policies to combat money laundering and terrorism financing. It currently has about 35 member countries and 2 regional organizations (European Commission and Gulf Co-operation Council).

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Ivanka Trump's received "registration" approval from the Chinese government for multiple trademark applications this month, raising potential ethics issues over the Trump family's business connections to China.

China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce granted seven trademark rights to Ivanka Trump Marks LLC for goods such as kitchenware, furniture, bath mats, textiles, baby blankets, paper products and cosmetics earlier this month, reports say.

And within days, Ivanka's father President Donald Trump reprieved a US export ban against Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE.

The Chinese Government's business-friendly attitude has allegedly influenced Trump to reverse his decision last month to ban American companies from selling parts to ZTE. The company had admitted violating US sanctions by making illegal shipments to Iran and North Korea.

About 72 hours before his announcement, the Chinese government also agreed to loan $500 million to a project in Indonesia in which the Trump Organization is a partner, according to nonprofit watchdog groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Democracy 21.

Separately, CREW alleged that Ivanka, who is an adviser to the President, had already been granted more than a dozen trademarks in China and has several pending applications. China is also a major supplier of Ivanka Trump-branded merchandise.

As a White House adviser, Ivanka has represented the United States at multiple diplomatic events despite the potential conflicts her business interests present. Although Ivanka has stepped down from her role at her business and has placed it in a trust, she continues to receive profits from the business.

CREW pointed out that last year, Ivanka's business won preliminary approval for three trademarks on the same day that she dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Stocks fell Tuesday despite news that Canada has bought the Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd. Trans Mountain oil pipeline and its controversial expansion project for $4.5 billion.

Kinder Morgan gave up on the project after heavy resistance from British Columbia.

With crude oil prices falling sharply, the TSX Composite Index dropped 93.53 points to 15,922. Stocks have fallen six straight days, even as big banks turned in strong earnings performances.

Scotiabank (BNS.TO) turned in better-than-expected results on international earnings. Still, shares fell 3.7 percent.

Markets everywhere were in a skittish mood amid political turmoil in Italy. It is feared that Italy's problems will spread to other euro zone members.

CP Rail (CP.TO) is trimming operations in anticipation of a strike this week.

Crescent Point Energy (CPG.TO) has named C Bryska interim president and CEO.

Pembina Pipeline Corp. (PPL.TO, PBA) announced that based on strong year-to-date results, the company has updated its 2018 adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $2.65 to $2.75 billion.

Gold prices fell Tuesday as U.S. stocks turned in one of the worst performances of the year.

July gold was down $3.90 at $1305 an ounce, while silver dropped to $16.40.

Crude oil futures were hammered Tuesday in catch-up trade after the Memorial Day break.

Reports surfaced indicating that key OPEC members are going to meet Sunday. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and the UAE will discuss raising output amid speculation Russia will back away from its supply quota deal with OPEC.

July WTI oil was down $1.15, or 1.7%, to settle at $66.73/bbl, the fifth straight losing session. Prices touched a 4-year peak near $72 a week ago.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
By SA Commercial Prop News

Richard Rubin, CEO of Aengus Investment Properties says student accommodation is an untapped market, particularly in emerging economies.



As education levels improve and millions more students attend universities in the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), emerging market student accommodation as a sub-sector of commercial property is attracting the attention of forward-looking investors.

This is an untapped market, particularly in emerging economies, says CEO of student accommodation specialists, Aengus Investment Properties, Richard Rubin. Whether youre in Rio de Janeiro or Accra, there is a severe shortage of safe, secure, affordable accommodation for students globally. Its proving to be an excellent investment opportunity regardless of macroeconomic conditions affecting the property environment.

Historically, accommodation for students has been provided by tertiary institutions themselves, but as operating budgets are slashed and property becomes increasingly expensive to acquire and maintain, many universities are outsourcing the provision and management of student accommodation to independent companies and in many instances partnering with them to do so.

In Europe, listed student property funds have been around for quite some time. Publicly quoted players such as Unite PLC and Opal are well known to equity investors.

Education is a massive investment for families and sponsors, so students are looking for value for money when it comes to accommodation. But this doesnt mean cheap and nasty  these are discerning customers, says Rubin
By SA Commercial Prop News

Student housing has become a very attractive vocation for the private sector given the severe shortage of it in SA.



Student housing has become a very attractive vocation for the private sector given the severe shortage of it in South Africa.

According to the Department of Higher Educations Ministerial Review of South Africas University accommodation, less than 10% of first-year university students can be accommodated. In addition, much of the available on-campus accommodation is dilapidated, unhygienic and unsafe.

Ken Reynolds, Regional Executive of Nedbank Corporate Property Finance in Gauteng says that according the Department of Higher Education in 2009, it was confirmed that the shortage is extreme and that the lack of supply of student housing is one of the primary causes for poor performance and the high dropout rates at some universities.

According to statistics from the Department, out of a student population of 530 000, there is currently only enough student accommodation for 100 000 students  this barely meets 18% of the demand. As the demand for student accommodation far outweighs supply, there are excellent investment opportunities available in this market.

As a result, we may see the establishment of a new real estate investment trust dedicated to providing student accommodation in the future. And, although the buy-to-let market is currently depressed, student accommodation is one section of this market that is proving to be an excellent buy-to-let option for private investors, usually for a relatively small capital outlay, he says.

Standard Bank, ABSA, FNB and Nedbank are some of the private financial institutions pursuing student housing as an investment. They have recently partnered with a number of developers that are focusing specifically on addressing this critical student accommodation shortage.

Nedbank Corporate Property Finance announced in June last year that it had provided finance to CampusKey to provide close to 500 additional beds at the University of the Free State and the University of Pretoria.

Nedbank has also financed an additional 1 590 beds for the University of Johannesburg and University of Pretoria which were constructed by Respublica in time for occupation by students at the start of this academic year.

Respublica is fast becoming a major student bed developer. Respublica has a capacity of 2,700 beds now which it hopes to increase to 20,000 in the next four years.

Craig McMurray, CEO at Respublica says the demand is tremendous for student housing.

The key is to develop housing which is of a good standard. Students cannot just live anywhere. If the housing is inadequate as it is cramped with other people and things break like stoves and so on, the accommodation becomes a waste, he says.

He says bad accommodation has a high correlation with people failing at university, especially in their first year of study.

Redefine Properties, the second-biggest listed SA-based property company gave a vote of confidence to investing in student housing last year. The company bought a 51% stake in Respublica for R204m.

Now Nedbank Corporate Property Finance is providing PCI Rentals (Pty) Ltd through its subsidiary, JJP Varsity Lodges, with R221m to provide 2574 additional beds to tertiary institutions around the country, with at least another 2000 to be developed in the near future.

Accommodation provided by this funding is spread across the country.

It includes Meadowlands in Newcastle, offering 289 two bedroom units that are across the street from the newly developed Curro Meridian School and in close proximity to Majuba College.

It also includes 1115 beds in Riviera and Phillip Nel Park in Pretoria, which provide much needed accommodation to the University of Pretoria, Tshwane Institute of Technology and SANDF students.

As many as 530 beds in Brixton and Hursthill in Johannesburg will also be accommodated. These are for the University of Johannesburg and Helen Joseph Academic Hospital students.

As many as 450 beds in Midrand will be financed, providing accommodation to the students of the Midrand Graduate Institute and finally 190 Beds in Potchefstroom for students of The North West University will be financed.

Private individuals are also encouraged to rent out flats and houses to students.

Seeff Properties, the estate agent says however that student housing is maintenance heavy and that the property owners must be careful.

Seeffs agents across the board agree that investors should keep in mind that although student accommodation is clearly in demand, these properties also require extensive maintenance.

The tenant turn-over can be very high and factors such as good security, wi-fi facilities, proximity to place of study, parking and access to public transport, gyms, bars and night clubs play a crucial role in the desirability of the property and its rental returns.
LOS ANGELES (AP)  Daniel Craig is back as Bond, the spy series' producers confirmed, in a Danny Boyle-directed film due for release in 2019.

Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli of EON Productions announced Thursday that production on the 25th official James Bond thriller will begin in December at London's Pinewood Studios.

Craig will reprise his role as 007 and Oscar-winner Boyle ("Trainspotting," ''Slumdog Millionaire") will direct from a screenplay by Boyle's frequent collaborator John Hodge.

Confirmation of Craig's fifth Bond film followed speculation that the 50-year-old actor was about to hand in his license to kill. He said in 2015 that he would rather "slash my wrists" than return to the role  but later backtracked on those remarks, made just after he finished filming his fourth Bond film, "Spectre."

Boyle has directed Craig as Bond once before, in a 007-themed segment for the opening of the 2012 London Olympics.

EON said that after more than a decade at Sony Pictures, Universal Pictures will release the next installment of the superspy franchise internationally. MGM will handle the U.S. release.

Sony's Bond contract expired in 2015 and many of the major studios competed for the chance to distribute the profitable franchise.

As per tradition Bond 25 will open a bit earlier in the U.K., on Oct. 25, 2019, than in the U.S., where it will debut on Nov. 8, 2019.
Dear Editor,

Re: Church opposes tax law

I do not support this law by the Samoa government. It is NOT RIGHT and it has many bad consequences if enforced.

First of all the money donated by the parishioners or members of a congregation to the Faifeau or the church is for their heart felt desire to be used for the work of God whether it be for the faifeau or any programmes being run by the church for the benefit of those who are members of that organization.

They were not donating this money with the intention that it be diverted to pay taxes. All of the people paying lafoga for the church should already have taxes taken out of their income PRIOR to paying the donation to the church. The church then is responsible to the members to use that money as intended.

For the government to enforce a tax on this donation is to insert its own control over the churches. This violates the separation of church and state. The State can now make churches subject to their control which violates the 11th Article of the Samoa constitution which states:

FREEDOM OF RELIGION

(1) Every person has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his or her religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in a community with others, and, in public or private, to manifest and propagate his or her religion or belief in worship, teaching, practice and observance.

(2) Nothing in clause (1) shall affect the operation of any existing law or prevent the State from making any law in so far as that existing law or the law so made imposes reasonable restrictions on the exercise of the right conferred under the provisions of that clause in the interests of national security or of public order, health or morals, or for protecting the rights and freedom of others, including their rights and freedom to observe and practice their religion without the unsolicited interference of members of other religions.

Under part 2 it is clear that the laws of the land cannot interfere, unless they are reasonable, with the exercise of the freedom of religion. So the questions arise, does this law 1. interfere with the freedom of religion of Samoans and 2. is this interference reasonable? I would answer that yes this law does interfere with the freedom of religion by imposing a penalty on the faifeau if they do not pay this tax which will be a state control on religion. Therefore this law taxing the clergy violates the Samoa Constitution and is therefore void and null under Article 2 of the Constitution.

Part 2 of the Article state that the law affecting the free practice of religion can be considered reasonable if the practice of religion is affecting the countrys national security or of public order, health or morals, or for protecting the rights and freedom of others... clearly there is no such application here. No national security is at risk...etc., etc...This is strictly a money grab. The government needs more money so they are desperately resorting to taxation of churches. Pathetic!

State and religion have long been separated because to exert any influence over the religious institutions is a slippery slope toward the eventual undermining of this freedom under the guise of a state benefit. It is always considered taboo for a state or government to interfere with the religious beliefs and exercise of that belief. If a religion contends they do not believe in taxation then the state needs to stay out of the religious beliefs because these are protected rights that are fundamental in the democratic societies we all are a part of. This is why most western nations avoid taxing churches because it is a clear and obvious interference with the religions ability to practice its beliefs free of the states control which is what taxation is...CONTROL over that religion!!!!

This is Tuilaepas Modus Operandi. He is a control freak and has now shown how desperate he is to squeeze every dime out of the people to pay for his idiotic political decisions including the national debt, which he must repay. This is a sign of the debt becoming too much for him to manage.

The other issue is that by penalizing the Faifeau he is sending a very destructive message to the members of the Samoan community. That we as Samoans now honor the government more than God. God is not as powerful as the government.

This is a clear and obvious departure from our Samoan heritage and the roots of our culture, which has placed God at the pinnacle of our culture.

By doing this we as Samoans are turning our backs on the culture and the respect for our Maker and our God that has been at the core of our nation since we were founded.

Again it is an attempt to replace God with Tuilaepa as the supreme authority in Samoa. How sad is this for the generations to come when they lose sight of what made Samoa special.

It is sacreligious as well as the introduction of secularism as the new God of our people. Please we must refuse this law at all costs. It goes straight to who we are as a people. We lose God we lose Samoa!

Namulauulu Albert Ainuu
The importance of palliative care to improve the quality of life of patients and their families is one of the messages behind the 2018 Samoa Palliative Care Forum.

Opened at the Tanoa Tusitala Hotel, the Minister of Health Tuitama Dr. Leao Tuitama, said anyone who suffers from a terminal illness deserves to die with dignity and minimal suffering.

He assured that the Government is committed to improving the level of palliative care in Samoa.

He said it is regarded as a blessing that Samoans tend to their sick elders with so much pride and care.

Palliative care has been proven to prolong life as well as restoring quality of life, he said.

He went on to say that the lack of access to palliative care is one of the biggest challenges in the world.

Worldwide only 14 percent of people who need palliative care currently receive it with 78 percent of them living in low income countries.

For children the situation is worse with even less access to palliative care and a much higher risk than adults to face inadequate pain relief measures that are available and present.

The need for palliative care has never been greater in Samoa.

It continues to grow with increase of chronic illnesses and people living to an old age. Despite this need in 2011 the study found that only 20 of the 22,034 countries studied had well integrated palliative care services.

He also said Samoa was one of the 42% of countries that have no palliative care services at all.

It is important that home care in the sense of providing some minimal level of support is not confused with the provision of palliative care.

The Minister went on to say that the Forum is the first of many important steps that need to be taken to ensure that the people of Samoa are dying with comfort and with dignity.

In May 2014 the world health sector passed its first palliative care resolution recognising palliative care as a human right and a state obligation, he said.

The resolution emphasizes that access to palliative care and pain relief is an element of the right to health and calls on all members states such as Samoa to integrate palliative care into health care systems and to improve funding and training.

Since 2010 there has been discussion within Samoa to develop a coordinated approach to deliver palliative care and since this time there have been various training and programmes and workshops and all such great deal of discussions.

The ongoing momentum has met that and now in 2018 there is increased knowledge to broader health community about what palliative care is.

The Forum is being co-hosted by the Samoa Cancer Society (S.C.S) and the Ministry of Health.

It aims to help progress the development of a coordinated approach to delivering palliative care within Samoa.

The Forum is a platform to hear perspectives from all aspects of service provision and consumers, to look at strengths and opportunities and to seek a commitment from stakeholders to establish a working group to develop and implement National Palliative Care Guidelines for Samoa.

Themed Palliative Care in Samoa: Everyone, Everywhere, the forum also confirms that M.O.H. recognises the need to make palliative care accessible at primary and secondary level.
Ten keen and enthusiastic chefs are ready for the workforce after completing a 12-week course courtesy of the Samoa Culinary Association (S.C.A.).

The students graduated during a ceremony at Tanoa Tusitala Hotel on Saturday night where families and friends gathered to celebrate.

The 12-week course started from the first of March and ended on the third week of May. The 2018 Grassroots Cookery programme aims to address unemployment in Samoa by producing successful participants at the end of the programme armed with skills to find work.

S.C.A President Chef Joe Lam said the association started the programme due to two concerning factors.

One is the high unemployment rate in Samoa and the other is that within the rate are a higher number of unemployed youths. The kids are the future, if you teach them well; they will be guided for life, he said.

Here are some more photos from the graduation ceremony.
A training and consultation workshop focusing on ocean data applications has helped build ocean science capacity and has kick-started discussions to improve national oceanographic services.

The workshop held last week was developed in collaboration with the Samoa Meteorology Division and facilitated by ocean science experts from the Pacific Community (S.P.C.), University of the South Pacific (U.S.P.) and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

The workshop was attended by Samoa Meteorology Division Staff and ocean stakeholders from the Department of Fisheries, the Ministry of Works, Transport and Infrastructure, the National University of Samoas Maritime School, and Samoa Ports Authority.

Participants received training on marine meteorology, technical skills and an introduction to ocean data tools, including tide calendars, real-time data from Samoas tide gauge, and the Pacific Ocean Portal- a website that makes ocean temperature, waves, sea level and other key forecast maps and graphs easily accessible.

The Director of Samoa Meteorology Division, Mulipola Ausetalia Titimaea, praised the participants of the workshop for their dedication to strengthening working relationships among all stakeholders, and highlighted the fortunate timing for the event.

We are seeing some big swell waves coming up from the Southern Ocean this weekend and the trainers have been able to work with our forecasting team to analyse coastal hazard risk in real time, he said.

This is the ninth in-country Ocean and Tides Workshop delivered under the Australian-funded Climate and Oceans Support Program in the Pacific (C.O.S.P.Pac) and it aims to increase knowledge, technical capacity, understanding and application of ocean science for improved decision-making and disaster preparedness.

The workshop also provided a platform for Samoa Meteorology Division to showcase and present their work on storm surge, tsunami, sea level analysis, and traditional knowledge to national colleagues.

Samoa Met has taken a proactive approach in requesting and organising this workshop, said S.P.C.s Team leader for Ocean Literacy and Maritime Capacity, Molly Powers-Tora.

Most weather services in the region have limited oceanographic capacity, but through exposure to training, tools, and practical applications of ocean data, were seeing some, like Samoa, are really coming up. This week weve been able to identify priorities and opportunities to support Samoa Met to continue to grow in this area.

Since its inception in 2012, C.O.S.P.Pac has worked to build the capacity of Pacific Island Meteorological Services and other relevant agencies to understand and apply climate, ocean and sea level information for the benefit of island governments and communities. The programme is implemented in partnership by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Geoscience Australia, S.P.C., and the Secretariat of the Pacific Regional Environment Programme (S.P.R.E.P.).
GENEVA (AP)  The U.N. telecommunications agency's chief says several African countries are concerned about the possible fallout if Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE Corp. collapses in a standoff with the United States.

Houlin Zhao, secretary-general of the International Telecommunications Union, said such concerns were raised at the Transform Africa conference in Rwanda this month.

Speaking Monday to reporters in Geneva, Zhao summarized the concerns that if ZTE's systems were stopped, "then our systems would be stopped as well."

ZTE said this month it had halted its main operations after the U.S. government blocked it from importing American components for seven years. The Commerce Department accused the company of misleading U.S. regulators over sanctions against North Korea and Iran.

The Trump administration has said it's reached a deal to keep ZTE in business.
ELLICOTT CITY, Md. (AP)  Roaring flash floods struck a Maryland city Sunday that had been wracked by similar devastation two years ago, its main street turned into a raging river that reached the first floor of some buildings and swept away parked cars, authorities and witnesses say.

News outlets showed photos and video of sudden, violent floodwaters surging down Main Street in Ellicott City, some 13 miles (20 kilometers) west of Baltimore. The community, set along the west bank of Maryland's Patapsco River, was also stricken by deadly flash flooding in July 2016.

This time, witnesses say, the flash flooding came with a roar of onrushing water after hours of heavy rain had soaked the region around Baltimore.

After the floodwaters receded, emergency officials had no immediate reports of fatalities or injuries. But by nightfall first responders and rescue officials were still going through the muddied, damaged downtown, conducting safety checks and ensuring people evacuated.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who declared a state of emergency for the flooded community, traveled there late Sunday for a firsthand look at the destruction.

Footage of Sunday's flash flooding showed the seething floodwaters engulfing cars and pickup trucks. The Howard County Fire & EMS agency tweeted that water was above the first floor of some buildings at the height of the disaster.

Some residents of Ellicott City told The Baltimore Sun the flooding appeared to be worse than the 2016 flooding that killed two people and destroyed local businesses.

Jessica Ur, a server at Pure Wine Cafe on the city's Main Street, told the paper she watched as gushing waters swept three or four parked cars down the street. She had been around the last time the area flooded, but said this time it appeared worse.

"It's significantly higher than it was before," she told the newspaper, comparing the floodwaters to those of 2016.

Mike Muccilli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, said it's too early to make comparisons between the two floods. But he said both were devastating.

In July 2016, Ellicott City received 6.6 inches (17 centimeters) of rain over a 2- to 3-hour period. On Sunday, the community received nearly 8 inches (20 centimeters) of rain over a 6-hour period, but most of it fell during an intense, 3-hour period, Muccilli said.

"In a normal heavy rain event, you wouldn't see this amount of flooding, where you see cars floating down the road," Muccilli said. "This was a true flash flood."

Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said authorities aren't aware of any fatalities or missing people. But officials were just beginning to assess the damage.

Kittleman said he toured the historic county seat after the flash flood receded and was "heartbroken" by seeing it so severely damaged again since the flooding of 2016. As he spoke at an outdoor news conference, Maryland Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford put a comforting hand on Kittleman's back.

Kittleman said he considers the damage worse than the flooding two summers ago. Of the city's residents and business owners, Kittleman says "they are faced with the same daunting task again."

"We will be there for them as we were in 2016," he said.

Hogan also toured the area and promised "every bit of assistance we possibly can."

"They say this is a once every 1,000-year flood and we've had two of them in two years," Hogan said.

Some people reported hearing a blaring alarm during the flooding. Others said they gathered in the second story of a building to anxiously watch the seething waters. One sight during the flood: a handmade, white flag hung from an upper story of a Main Street building bearing the letters SOS.

"If you are trapped, we are coming," the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services tweeted at one point. It added that multiple rescues were carried out, and rescue swimmers were called in. Swift water units from as far away as Northern Virginia also were summoned.

Meanwhile, some roads were also flooded in neighboring Baltimore County. A spokeswoman in Baltimore County said the fire department has received dozens of calls about cars stuck in high water, as well as flooded basements.

Ellicott City has been rebuilding since the 2016 flooding damaged and destroyed businesses. Local officials recently said that 96 percent of the businesses were back in operation and more than 20 new businesses had again opened in the Main Street area.

Just two weeks ago, Hogan announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had awarded the state and county more than $1 million to pay for projects aimed at reducing the flood risk in areas around Main Street.
Questions have been raised about the ability of Police in Savaii to respond to violent situations in the wake of the fight between men from Salelavalu and Salelologa during the weekend.

It comes as the Village Mayor of Salelologa, Touli Fagaese, issued a public apology over the ransacking of the Salelologa market by some men from their village.

In the wake of the weekend of terror on the big island, members of the public present say the Police in Savaii were poorly equipped to stop the angry mob of men hurling rocks at each other and firing off gun shots at will.

The Police had to sail across extra reinforcement from Upolu on Monday but by that time the damage had already been done  including the ransacking of the Salelologa Market.

About 50 Police Officers, including the Commissioner of Police, sailed across to Savaii on the Police Boat Nafanua. Among them were members of the Tactical Unit, Nafanua, Criminal Investigation Division, General Policing, Traffic Police Officers; Forensic Officers and more.

Yesterday, the Police returned to Upolu to prepare for the Independence Day celebrations.

Superintendent Tuaena Lomano Paulo and a team of 10 Police Officers remain in Savaii. This was confirmed by Superintendent Taulapapa Pati, who oversees the Police Post in Tuasivi Savaii.

He declined to comment on the complaints and concerns raised by the public.

I cannot comment on anything, he said. I cant even defend myself due to the protocols in place and that is you have to refer to the Commissioner and his spokesperson Aupaau Logoitino Filipo who are the authorized people to address any concerns and issues.

It was not possible to get a comment from Commissioner Fuiava Egon Keil as well as Auapaau.

But Salelologas Member of Parliament and Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, said its important for the Police to be prepared for any eventuality.

No I am not saying to arm the Police Officers in Savaii because I know there is still the ability of the Village Councils to counter issues in the village, said Sili.

Yesterday, the Village Mayor of Salelologa, Touli Fagaese, issued a public apology over the ransacking of the Salelologa market. In doing so, he assured that they will ensure the behaviour is not repeated.

We have met with the youth and the Village Council of Salelavalu, the Ministry of Police and we have sorted things out. I can assure that nothing will happen, said Touli.

According to the Touli, they met with the Police, who had left Savaii yesterday.

We have agreed to turn over the young men involved and we have agreed to cooperate with the Police on what needs to be done, said Touli.

He told the Samoa Observer the Village does not condone such behaviour and those involved will be dealt with accordingly.

Furthermore the Village Council will meet later this week with the entire village to address what has happened."

In the time being, we are just focused on keeping the peace in the village and Salelavalu village.
Two suspects from Salelavalu, Savaii, have been arrested in connection to the assault of Fui Tomesi from Salelologa during the weekend.

The two suspects were handed over to the Police on Tuesday evening following a lengthy Village Council meeting at Salelavalu.

The Samoa Observer was asked to leave the meeting.

The men were allegedly responsible for attacking Mr. Tomesi, which was caught on video.

The video shows Mr. Tomesi kneeling while someone held a rifle to his mouth. A voice could be heard asking him to apologise.

As Mr. Tomesi started to speak, he is punched and slapped repeatedly. The interrogator also swears in Samoan.

The suspects were on the 6am ferry to Apia and were escorted by more than 10 Police Officers.

Upon arrival at the Mulifanua wharf, more Police officers were present to collect the suspects in the Police vehicle. They were taken to Police custody.
The Talafulu family from Salelologa is living in fear.

It follows a horrific ordeal where their house was stoned with rocks and cars shot at during a violent fight between Salelavalu and Salelologa men during the weekend.

Speaking to the Samoa Observer, Epi Rose Talafulu, said they are relocating.

Still in shock, she is struggling to accept that Samoans are capable of being so "angry", "vicious" and "violent."

She recalled what happened.

A fight broke out during a billiard game and as a result, young men from Salelavalu assaulted another young man who has been admitted to the hospital, she said.

As if that was not enough, the young men from Salelavalu then burnt the house to the ground. Thats when things escalated."

Early Sunday morning about, 2am when young men from Salelologa set up rocks to block the road."

Despite the fact that my family was not involved in the fight between the young men; but our home was badly damaged."

The young men from Salelavalu; came and threw rocks at our house and my cousins house across the street, if you go inside, everything has been destroyed."

And not only that, our house was shot at. Luckily for us, no one died and that is my biggest fear. This is why we are packing our belongings and we heading over to our family in Iva.

Epi said they are grateful no one was killed but it could have easily turned nasty.

Aside from shooting at use, they threw rocks at our family car.

My 14-year-old son was in the house whilst all of this is happening and for him to witness such cruel actions by other young men is disheartening.

My son was hiding at the back of our house. He feared for his life and as a parent, this is something no one would want on their child.

Asked as to why the Police was not contacted, the mother said it was a waste of time.

The incident started around 2am Sunday, and we have been calling them and no one came to our aid.

But then again I never expected them to show at these types of situation.

I called for help but they never came, and the Police here anyway are not reliable.

We cannot depend of them for anything, they are useless, said Mrs. Talafulu.

It is unbelievable the reality that our young men have come to.

She told the Samoa Observer that it is unclear whether they will return to their home in the weeks to come.

Who would want to come back here? Surely, me and my son dont want to come back here.

Outside Parliament yesterday, the Minister of Finance, Sili Epa Tuioti, who is Salelologas Member of Parliament, said he was reluctant to comment on the issue until he gets more details.

It is sad what has happened but I cannot comment on the events given that I dont have the full story of why and what happened, he said.

I spoke to the chiefs in Salelologa and each chief had a different story to tell, so again I cannot comment.

Sili had to deliver the budget yesterday and is expected to be in Savaii tomorrow.

He said he is satisfied about the heavy Police presence in Savaii as a deterrence for the youth of Salelologa.

The vandalizing of the Salelologa market, he said , would impact on the future plans the Government has in store for the village.

The Government is trying to have all its offices and services available at Salelologa for convenience to the residents of Savaii, so they dont have to come to Apia.

We are currently allocating government lands in Salelologa for the governments offices however given what has occurred, it begs the question of whether the government plans should be reconsidered.

We have to look at the safety of the people at the same time.

I have faith in the Village Councils and Church Ministers to assist in keeping the peace in the villages in Savaii. After all it is in our best interest.
The Chairman of the National Council of Churches, Deacon Leaupepe Kasiano Leaupepe, has distanced himself from the dispute between the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa and the Government over the taxing of church Ministers.

But Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi used Parliamentary privilege yesterday to send a message to the Church that Parliament is the supreme law making body of the land and no one can derail their decisions.

Thats the latest development in the ongoing tax saga.

Contacted for a comment yesterday, Leaupepe told the Samoa Observer the Congregational Christian Church of Samoa is a sovereign body that is free to make their own decisions.

The E.F.K.S. churchs response to the matter is their own human right, Leaupepe said. They are in control of their own decision making and so I cannot say anything."

The church has come up with a decision and as the Samoan saying goes e le aia moo i liu o vaa therefore I am not going to interfere."

That is my response to the matter; I have no power over the churchs decision about the law.

Last week, the General Secretary of the C.C.C.S., Rev. Vavatau Taufao, confirmed that their Church maintained its opposition to the law to tax the Head of State and Church Ministers.

He said they are looking for an opportunity to meet with Prime Minister Tuilaepa to discuss the issue.

In Parliament yesterday, Tuilaepa said he is looking forward to meeting the Church leaders. He said he waited for them on Monday and even yesterday, hoping that they would come.

But in a Ministerial statement he delivered yesterday, Prime Minister Tuilaepa said the law has been passed and there is nothing that can be done about it anymore.

He reiterated that Parliament is the supreme law making body of Samoa and its decisions are final. If Parliament gives in to the wishes of the E.F.K.S. Church, Tuilaepa said he fears what would happen to integrity and finality of laws passed by Parliament.

The Prime Minister also dismissed claims that the law is the first time in Samoas history the Government has taxed Church Ministers. He told Parliament that he has archives from Savali editions of the past, which proves that Church Ministers of the L.M.S. (London Missionary Society) paid taxes.

Tuilaepa went on to claim that the C.C.C.S. Church is divided over the issue and that some Ministers have already registered to pay their taxes.

Last week, the General Secretary of the Church maintained that church members want to understand the rationale behind the law.

The reason has to link to church beliefs. There is no teaching by Jesus that points to the taxing of Church Ministers.

According to Reverend Vavatau, Jesus teachings is clear, what belongs to God, give it to him."

And the common belief among church members of their alofa to the Faifeau, is that they give freely with the notion this is their way expressing of their love for God. That is why they give and more reasons why they do not want the Church Ministers to pay taxes.

Rev. Vavatau said it is the right decision.

For me personally, I am very proud of my church, they stand by their faith and I am very proud of that, said Reverend Vavatau, while fighting back tears.

I am proud of my Church, he reiterated.

He reminded the teachings of the Bible not to compromise the Gospel.

We cant compromise the Gospel to satisfy human necessities.
San Diego County consumers looking for fresh, organic, ready-to-eat meals, cold-pressed juices and snacks now have a new choice.

Urban Remedy, which sells its foods and juices in kiosks, stores and online, recently opened in San Diego County -- only the second market for the nearly 10-year-old company headquartered in the Bay Area.

Earlier this year, it installed kiosks inside the Whole Foods in La Jolla and Del Mar. This month, it opened three more San Diego County kiosks inside Jimbos Naturally. It plans to open a stand-alone store in Solana Beach on June 11.

Also, in the next six to 12 months, Urban Remedy hopes to open 10 to 15 more kiosks and three to four more shops in San Diego County.

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Urban Remedy, which sells its foods and juices in kiosks, stores and online, recently opened in San Diego County  only the second market for the nearly 10-year-old company headquartered in the Bay Area.. (Eduardo Contreras / San Diego Union-Tribune)

We are coming to San Diego in a big way, said Paul Coletta, Urban Remedys CEO. We are not just dabbling.

The company rolled out its first store in 2013 and didnt introduce kiosks until 2016. Today, it has 15 stores and about 50 kiosks inside mostly grocers but also hospitals and corporate offices. Its total sales from kiosks are larger than from stores as well as online. In 2017, same-store sales for its kiosks grew more than 25 percent, Coletta said.

Its stores  the Solana Beach one spans about 250 square feet  stock on average about 100 items vs. about 50 items for its kiosks, which only offer its best sellers.

Its top-selling products include the $11.75 Macro Bowl, a gluten-free quinoa with roasted sweet potatoes, kale, pumpkin seeds, beets, cumin chickpea croutons and a Tahini vinaigrette. Also popular is the $5.25 four-ounce Booster Shot made with organic carrot and turmeric juice that has 7 grams of sugar.

Below, Coletta, CEO since 2014, recently chatted about what he means by pay the farmer not the pharmacist, why kiosks are its fastest growing business and where locally hed like to put automated kiosks. (The interview was edited and condensed.)

Q. Why pick San Diego County as your second market?

A. We felt San Diego was a more underserved market with fewer options for fresh clean food. Im also familiar with (the area). I lived there for almost a decade.

We debuted with the La Jolla Whole Foods kiosk about three months ago and opened the Del Mar Whole Foods kiosk a few weeks ago. The success of our first kiosks in La Jolla rivaled sales of some of the Bay Area locations. That gives me a lot of confidence that our products resonate in that market.

Q. The company opened its first store in 2013. Why did it take about five years to enter a second market?

A. We really wanted to prove out one market first with our full omni-channel network of retail and online and that took the better part of three to four years. That time also allowed us to refine our omni-channel business model and optimize our product portfolio.

Q. Why are sales growing faster at a kiosk than store?

A. Convenience. If Im at Jimbos market twice a week to pick up eggs and other groceries, its very convenient to pick up an Urban Remedy Macro Bowl. Our kiosks have been successful because they are in the path of the consumer who is already in the store buying other things.

Consumers first discover us in a fresh kiosk and then migrate to our store for a broader offering and can participate in our loyalty program that rewards frequency. Theres real synergy between these spokes.

Q. Whats the benefit of having stores?

A. We can develop a product from concept to consumer in about six to eight weeks. We develop our products in house. We would first launch it in a few or all 15 retail stores we own. If it works, we next put it online. If it works in the store and online, we then move it to the kiosks where we have limited space but high volume. We own every one of our channels, even the kiosks. It allows us to launch and learn.

Q. Whats been the biggest challenge in growing a fresh food business?

A. We believe the future of foods is ultra fresh. But we also believe its clean. By clean, we mean certified organic, certified non GMO, low glycemic. Foods that are not clean are creating inflammation in the body, which is a precursor to most chronic diseases. Food is healing. Its not a tag line. Its a call to action.

We define ultra fresh as products that are as close to nature as possible. The higher the nutrient density, the shorter the shelf life. Good food goes bad and thats a good thing.

The single biggest business challenge we have is food waste. When dealing with a three-day shelf life, that is your reality. There are many ways to minimize that. You decrease waste with demand forecasting and history of what sells when and in what geography, how our products are selling and how seasonality affects the rate of sales. So we have real-time manufacturing. We place orders daily. We dont stock or inventory our items.

We place the order in the afternoon. The second shift at the production facility in the Bay Area would start working on the order and finish it later that night. Its then trucked that night to arrive in the morning the next day (in San Diego County).

What we dont do to minimize waste is we dont process our food. We dont strip nutrients from our food.

Also, the omni channel allows you to balance inventory. So for example, if the Del Mar kiosk is having a great day and low on inventory, the store manager at Solana Beach (can stock it with foods from the store thats about 2.5 miles away.) Theres synergy and yes that helps with food waste.

Q. Whats next for the company?

A. We are trying to make eating fresh and clean easier. We built fully-automated kiosks (that you pay with) credit cards. We launched 10 in hospitals and corporate headquarters in the Bay Area. We started this three months ago. We dont have this in San Diego yet, but we plan to bring to them to various channels such as hospitals and airports very soon.

Our intention is to take these automated kiosks (to where) the consumers live, work and play. Go where the customer is and the competition isnt.

About Urban Remedy

Headquarters: Point Richmond, Calif.

Founded: 2009

Employees: 300

Where to find Urban Remedy locally: Kiosks inside Jimbos in Carlsbad, Del Mar Highlands and 4S Ranch stores; kiosks inside Whole Foods in La Jolla and Del Mar and stand-alone store at 146 S. Cedros Ave. in Solana Beach.

Hang Nguyen is a freelance writer based in Los Angeles.
Elton John will deliver this years The Diana, Princess of Wales, Lecture on HIV on June 8 in London. The invited audience will include people living with HIV, health workers, civil society leaders, journalists, politicians and celebrities.

John, whose extended farewell concert tour includes a sold-out Jan. 29 San Diego show at Valley View Casino Center, was a close friend of the late Princess Diana, who died in a 1997 car crash. He is also a longtime fundraiser for various HIV-related causes.

Since its creation in 1992, the Elton John AIDS Foundation has raised more than $400 million to prevent infections, provide treatment and services, challenge discrimination against people affected by the epidemic, and motivate governments to work to end AIDS.

The June 8 London speech by John will focus on creating an AIDS-free future by reaching the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to end AIDS by 2030. He will also discuss his friendship with Princess Diana and their shared commitment to eradicating HIV. In 1997, after her death, he re-recorded his 1973 classic, Candle in the Wind, in Princess Dianas honor.

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I am delighted to be able to deliver this lecture and to remember the enormous contribution Diana, Princess of Wales, made to this cause, John said in a statement released Tuesday morning.

In the quarter-century since the Elton John AIDS Foundation was established, the global AIDS fight has changed beyond recognition. Yet tolerance and courage has never been more important in the fight to create an AIDS-free generation and make the world a more accepting place for those living with HIV.

george.varga@sduniontribune.com

Twitter @georgevarga
In a historic referendum closely watched around the world by activists on both sides of the abortion debate, Ireland overwhelmingly approved a referendum to end its constitutional ban on abortion, among the worlds most restrictive.

The vote was an undeniable confirmation of what has been true for some time: Modern Ireland bears scarce resemblance to the fervently religious and socially conservative society it was in 1983, when the amendment was inserted by almost the exact same margin by which it will be repealed after significant lobbying by Catholic groups.

Once an unspeakable taboo, the reality of abortion in Ireland has been brought into the open, spoken about with honesty and frankness on television, social media and in private conversations among families and friends.

Irish citizens living as far away as Japan and Brazil flew home to cast their votes, arriving by the thousands at airports across Ireland, determined not to miss a once-in-a-generation opportunity.

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The mood was triumphant among yes campaigners and volunteers in Dublins main election center Saturday, where on the back wall hung a photo of Savita Halappanavar. Her death by infection in an Irish hospital in 2012, after she was denied an abortion she had sought for medical reasons, became a rallying cry for the countrys abortion rights movement. Weve got justice for Savita, her father told the Guardian newspaper Saturday.

Since her death, increasing numbers of women and couples have publicly and privately shared their own stories of secret abortions and agonizing journeys abroad to terminate a child they had been told would not survive. Yes campaigners credit these testimonials for swaying some of Irelands most prominent politicians, including Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and Health Minister Simon Harris.

The vote had been expected to be close, but it proved anything but, as early results on Saturday confirmed Fridays surprise exit polls. Those polls showed huge numbers in favor of repealing the ban and to introduce relaxed laws in line with other European countries.

Tears, songs and jubilation filled the courtyard of Dublin Castle as thousands gathered for the official announcement Saturday. The final result was 66.4% in favor of repealing the ban and 33.6% against, with 64.1% of eligible voters participating in the vote, the highest of any referendum in more than 25 years.

This is Irelands second chance to treat women equally, to treat all with extra compassion and respect, Varadkar said, after stating earlier it was the culmination of a quiet revolution that has taken place in Ireland for the last 10 or 20 years.

The no campaign conceded defeat around midday, when communications director John McGuirk acknowledged to state broadcaster RTE the countrys overwhelming decision to repeal the Irish Constitutions 8th Amendment, which grants equal rights to the life of the mother and unborn.

According to the Irish government, at least nine women each day travel from Ireland to the United Kingdom to access legal abortion and three more take illegal abortion pills ordered online.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, left, greets voters at a watch party for supporters of a referendum to repeal Irelands abortion laws at Dublin Castle on May 26, 2018. (Jeff J. Mitchell / Getty Images )

Under the 8th Amendment women in crisis pregnancy have been told: Take the plane, take the boat. Today we tell them: Take our hand, Harris said on Saturday in Dublins vote count center. The people of Ireland have spoken very clearly today.

Veteran activist and director of the official yes campaign Ailbhe Smyth arrived at the election center to rapturous cheers.

We have actually rewritten history and we are creating an Ireland which ... values women, our bodies, choices, ourselves, our lives, she said.

Others, of course, did not agree, and called into question the process.

I dont think it was a fair campaign. It was biased from the very beginning, said Catherine Flynn, a volunteer for the no campaign, who pledged to continue to fight for her anti-abortion beliefs. Im here because of generations before me and I dont want to kill generations to come.

The decisive result, which will allow abortion up to 12 weeks after conception, gives the center-right minority government a clear mandate to enact additional proposed legislation that would extend the period for legal abortion in cases where the mothers health is at risk or the fetus is diagnosed with a fatal condition. Harris, the health minister, said this could be passed as soon as autumn.

The referendum holds lessons for the global debate surrounding the dangers social media can pose to democracy.

There were attempts to unduly influence the campaign through the likes of foreign ads from organizations based outside of Ireland, misinformation, but also the potential manipulation of voters from unregulated ads, said Craig Dwyer of the Transparent Referendum Initiative, which tracked online advertising during the campaign. The independent monitor said Google and Facebook had failed in their attempts to safeguard their platforms.

The Irish vote may well have effects beyond its borders. Abortion activists from Argentina and Poland, which both tightly restrict terminations, were present in Dublin this week, keen to take inspiration for their own struggles.

[The result] is historic . Social movements around womens rights in Poland will take some hope from it, said Natalia Broniarczyk, of the Abortion Dream Team group from Polands capital, Warsaw.

Casey is a special correspondent.

UPDATES:

2:40 p.m.: This article was updated with staff reporting and additional details, including final voting results.

This article was originally published at 8:45 a.m.
About 1,000 people gathered to honor and remember living and deceased veterans in a Memorial Day ceremony on Mt. Soledad on Monday, with special attention given to one person who had been conspicuously absent from the monument.

A plaque recognizing President Ulysses S. Grant was unveiled as the newest addition to more than 4,900 individual veteran tributes that are embedded on black granite plaques at the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial.

Brig. Gen. Jeffery Broadwater, commanding general of Fort Irwin and the National Training Center, was the keynote speaker and reflected on the meaning of Memorial Day while also sharing highlights and a little trivia about Grants life.

From Lexington Green to the deserts of the Middle East, whenever and wherever freedom is thretened, gallant men and women risked and too often gave their lives in service to America, he said. It is what has made America the beacon of hope and freedom that it is.

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Memorial Day had originally been known as Decoration Day, a day for decorating the graves of fallen Civil War soldiers, he said.

Grant and his wife presided over the first large Decoration Day ceremony in Arlington National Cemetery from the veranda of the home once owned by Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, Broadwater said.

Grant is the sixth president to be honored at the memorial, which also includes 17 Medal of Honor recipients and five Hollywood celebrity veterans.

The bulk of people on plaques on the six curved walls encircling the Mt. Soledad memorial, however, are less known. Many are installed as tributes from family members who donate to the memorial.

One plaque is for Raymond Erickson, a World War II veteran who died last October.

His daughter Tina Gray said she wanted to give him the plaque for his 90th birthday. It was installed about four months before his death, but he was in hospice by then and couldnt make it.

I got choked up today when I came, she said about arriving at the memorial. Im glad to see so much pomp and circumstance for our veterans.

This years Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial Veteran of the Year Neil OConnell and the county veteran of the year Bob Muth led the Pledge of Allegiance at the ceremony.

Master of ceremonies Marc Bailey asked guests at the memorial, which has sprawling views of the city and ocean, to take a moment to soak it in and appreciate the site.

I want you to look around and take in the sights, and then realize all thats been possible because of those who came before us, he said.

Mondays ceremony included a 21-gun salute and flyover from vintage aircraft, who passed overhead in a missing man formation in honor of lost service members.

During his talk, Broadwater spoke about Grants childhood and early military career. Born April 27, 1822, Grant didnt acquire his unusual name until some weeks later, when his parents selected one from a hat among suggestions from relatives.

Ulysses S. Grant is the fifth president who is depicted on a plaque at the Mt. Soledad National Veterans Memorial. (K.C. Alfred )

His actual name was Hiram Ulysses Grant, Broadwater said. At 17, Grant applied and received a congressional appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, but the name on his appointment letter mistakenly called him Ulysses Simpson Grant.

Broadwater said that after learning it would take an act of congress to correct the mistake, Grant adopted his new name.

Among the guests in attendance were Rep. Scott Peters, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, County Supervisor and Purple Heart Recipient Bill Horn, San Diego City Attorney Mara Elliott, District Attorney Summer Stephan, San Diego City Councilman Chris Cate, San Marcos Mayor Jim Desmond, El Cajon City Councilman Gary Kendrick, Lemon Grove Mayor Racquel Vasquez and state Assemblyman Todd Gloria.

A San Diego native, Gloria said this was his 17th Memorial Day service at the site.

Watching the evolution of this space over the years has been really special, he said. Each year you see the progress of the memorial, you see more people in attendance, and you appreciate what a sacred place this has become for so many San Diegans.

The Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial is the only memorial that honors living and deceased veterans from the Revolutionary War to the current war on terrorism.

Controversies about the site are in the past, but the memorial went through several lawsuits and incarnations along the way.

A wooden cross was first erected on the site in 1913, later replaced with a concrete one, and for decades the site was used for Christian services.

But the site also has been used to honor veterans for decades. The 29-foot cross now at the site was dedicated in 1954 by the Mt. Soledad Memorial Association as a tribute to servicemembers who died in the two World Wars and the Korean War.

Lawsuits about the legality of the cross went back and forth for more than two decades, and in 2013 a federal judge ordered it removed, pending a review by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court declined to review the case in 2014, but in December of that year Congress passed the National Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Obama, which include a provision that allowed the ownership of the property to be conveyed from public land to the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial Association, ending the controversy and keeping the cross in place.

This story has been revised to correct an earlier version with an inaccurate number of presidents and Medal of Honor recipients with plaques at the site.

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760-529-4939
At 75, San Diego Superior Court Judge Herbert Exarhos rides to work from La Mesa to El Cajon every day on his Harley Davidson.

It keeps me young and keeps my mind alert, said the judge, who presides over criminal cases at the East County courthouse and recently got a new Harley.

Exarhos, serving on the bench since 1983, is the second-most senior Superior Court jurist after Judge David Gill, who took the bench in 1979.

His age, seniority, and a past boycott of him by the District Attorneys Office are factors that prompted Valley Center attorney Vicki Rothman, 57, a certified family law specialist, to challenge Exarhos in the upcoming election.

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I believe, as so do many colleagues and litigants, and voters, that after almost 40 years he is out of touch with what is going on in the courts. He is far too removed from the people, almost like an oligarchy, Rothman said in an interview by email.

Exarhos countered Rothmans statement, saying Ive got a few miles left in me.

Im still enjoying the job. Im still presiding over criminal trials, misdemeanor and felony, from petty theft to murders, Exarhos said.

He added that he was suprised to learn, on the last day for filing to run for election, that he had a challenger. He hopes to complete one more six-year term and then retire.

Rothman also said she is running against a system of no accountability on the bench to the people.

She noted that 47 judges are up for re-election this year, and only two are contested races.

That means all of those incumbents, mostly appointed, never have to face the people in an election, Rothman said. This is totally against our democratic principles of accountability to the people by the elected officials.

Rothman has not previously held public office.

Judge Gary Kreep, who was censured for misconduct last year by the state Commission on Judicial Performance, is facing four challengers. They are Deputy District Attorney Matthew Brower, state Deputy Attorney General Timothy Nader, retired Assistant United States Attorney Steve Miller and criminal defense/civil trial attorney Victor Torres.

Rothman noted that the District Attorneys Office boycotted Exarhos in 2016 after he imposed what prosecutors viewed as light sentences for several people in connection with the killing of a homeless man in Santee.

I have no regrets on what I did, Exarhos said in a telephone interview.

He recalled that three young men and three women were charged in the murder case. He dismissed charges against one woman and gave the other two three-year prison terms when they pled to being accessories to the crime. The DAs office had requested six-year terms, he said.

The prosecutor on the day of sentencing was Elizabeth Rodriguez, daughter of Assistant District Attorney Jesse Rodriguez.

Exarhos said the blanket challenge to keep felony cases out of his courtroom lasted eight or nine months, during which time he heard only misdemeanor cases. Then things returned to normal.

Although judgeships are regarded as non-political, party politics can come into play when a governor makes judicial appointments. In this race, both contestants have conservative backgrounds.

Rothman worked more than a decade ago at the U.S. Justice Foundation, a Ramona-based conservative legal advocacy group founded by Kreep before he won election to the bench in 2012.

The foundation filed court briefs supporting conservative causes such as religious freedom, opposing same-sex marriage, and in birther cases that tried to challenge former President Barack Obamas birth certificate.

In a previous interview, Rothman said she didnt work at the foundation for long, and was not involved in birther cases. She said the work supplemented her private practice income.

Exarhos, a Republican, was appointed to the bench by then-Gov. George Deukmejian, of the same party.

Exarhos said he served in the Army, went to Vietnam as a Judge Advocate General, and was awarded a Bronze Star.

He is a member of the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and Patriot Guard Riders, a non-profit organization whose members attend funderal of veterans and form a motorcycle honor guard.

After a stint as a San Diego deputy city attorney, Exarhos went into private practice. In 1979 he became one of the earliest attorneys to earn state bar certification in family law.

On the bench, he served on the San Diego Superior Court Executive Committee for 15 years and as supervising judge of the criminal division and the East County division in El Cajon.

Rothman was a married mother when she became an attorney in 2004. She said she has handled civil and family law litigation and served as an independent mediator. She is a member of the North County Bar Association and the San Diego Family Law Bar Association.

Judge Herbert Exarhos

San Diego County Bar rating: Exceptionally qualified.

Key endorsements: San Diego County Deputy Sheriffs Association, San Diego Deputy District Attorneys Association; Lawyers Club of San Diego, Mexican American Business and Professionals Association; most San Diego Superior Court judges; Republican Party of San Diego.

Total contributions reported by May 19: $36,024. Spent $34,199.

Key contributors: Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, $5,000; Republican Party of San Diego, $5,000.

Attorney Vicki Rothman:

San Diego County Bar rating: Qualified.

Key endorsements: San Diego North County Conservatives; San Diego East County Conservatives, California Republican Veterans Association; El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells; evangelist Morris Cerullo, United Missionary Baptist Church Pastor Ray Smith.

Total contributions reported by May 5: Self loan, $20,000; Dran Rees of Vista, president of Salt and Light Council, $1,000; Spent: $11,750.

The Salt and Light Councils website states its mission is to establish Salt & Light Biblical Citizenship Ministries that will defend and promote life, natural marriage, our constitutional and religious liberties.

pauline.repard@sduniontribune

Twitter: @pdrepard
On any given night, people scour downtown San Diego in their cars and pickup trucks looking to collect the electric scooters for rent that have flooded the city in recent months.

People try to run up to them and grab them or fight you for them, said Erick Rios, who was loading several scooters on Thursday into the back of a Jeep while his girlfriend sat behind the wheel. You find all different people, even your own friends, picking them up.

The 25-year-old is part of a group of people who call themselves chargers or juicers, and theyre the latest incarnation of the gig economy.

Companies, such as Bird or LimeBike, pay people to collect the motorized vehicles, charge them at their homes and return them to designated locations early in the morning. Charging a scooter can fetch between $5 and $20, a range dependent on how difficult the scooter is to find, according to company officials.

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The Santa Monica-based company Bird pioneered the business, innovating on the model of dockless bike rentals, which in the last year have crowded city streets all over the world.

Bird, led by former Uber executive Travis VanderZanden, as well as rival company LimeBike have also capitalized on contract labor, much like the auto-based ridesharing companies that preceded them.

We see the Juicer program as a great opportunity for people looking to make extra money on the side, Colin McMahon, with LimeBike, said in an email.

The fact that Rios would have to pay taxes on the roughly $50 a day hes been earning from Bird for the last three weeks seemed lost on the young professional, who also holds down a day job at the San Diego Naval Base in Barrio Logan.

Im not sure how it works yet, he said. Ill figure it out eventually. Im just trying to make some money.

Two men share an electric scooter in Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego on Friday. The practice of sharing a scooter is discouraged by Bird. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune )

Meanwhile, on Thursday night people zipped on the scooters into intersections in the Gaslamp Quarter, often ignoring traffic signals and forcing drivers to wait at green lights.

One of those drivers was Melba Arredondo, who was driving around in her pickup truck with her 18-year-old son. They had just come from North Park through Bankers Hill and into downtown, picking up LimeBike scooters as they went.

We started doing a contest between him and myself and our daughter, like a family thing, said the 42-year-old, who works as an office manager at a mortgage company. Then it turned out addicting in a way because you look at the app and you see how much money you can make.

Its way better than Uber, she added.

Arredondo said they scoop up a couple dozen a night, making an average of $125. Because those working as chargers can pick up any scooter after 8 p.m. that has less than 97 percent charged, sometimes the situation can get competitive.

You get stuck with stubborn drunks, and you say, OK, five bucks aint worth it, she said.

Dominick Ucello and Brody Martin, 10, ride electric scooters in Gaslamp Quarter in San Diego on Friday. Riders are required to be 18 years or older and scan a valid drivers licence. (Hayne Palmour IV / San Diego Union-Tribune )

As the inner workings of these increasingly popular scooter companies have penetrated the public consciousness, lawmakers, including in San Diego, are now scrambling to regulate the dockless rental industry, which has clogged sidewalks and raised concerns about pedestrian collisions.

App-based bike sharing started in China in 2014 as a student project at Peking University in Beijing. Today, start-up companies, rolling in hundreds of millions in venture capital, have brought the candy-colored vehicles to cities around the world.

Places such as San Francisco and Austin recently decided to require companies get permits to operate within their jurisdictions, imposing a suite of requirements, such as capping the number of vehicles allowed in a city.

Other cities have taken a more hands-off approach, such as San Diego, where the companies are simply required to obtain a business license.

San Diego has been a great market for us, said David Estrada, chief legal officer for Bird. Its been working well, both on the government and business side. The government has been very welcoming to us.

Over the summer, were going to have a zillion people at the beach, and I cant even begin to fathom how many people on scooters we will have. San Diego City Councilwoman Barbara Bry

However, Bird and LimeBike have recently started testing the patience of local elected officials. Councilwoman Lorie Zapf recently tried to ban the electric scooters on boardwalks in Mission Beach and Pacific Beach following a spate of injury reports from collisions.

The idea was tabled by the City Council last week as lawmakers debated whether to impose a broader regulatory scheme on the scooters, which people have been riding on sidewalks and without helmets contrary to state law.

Councilwoman Barbara Bry, who supported the boardwalk ban, urged her colleagues at the public hearing not to drag their feet on the issue.

Over the summer, were going to have a zillion people at the beach, and I cant even begin to fathom how many people on scooters we will have, she said.

Bird officials have said they strongly discourage people from riding on the sidewalk. The company is supporting, at least partially, a bill moving through the legislature that would allow the vehicles to operate in many parts of the pedestrian right-of-way and those 18 years and older to ride without a helmet.

Twitter: @jemersmith

Phone: (619) 293-2234

Email: joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com
The soggy remnants of Alberto moved toward the nations interior Tuesday, leaving scattered flooding and downed trees in the wake of the years first named tropical storm.

More than 25,000 power outages were reported in Alabama, many caused by trees rooted in soggy soil falling across utility lines.

But while forecasters said the subtropical depression could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain inland, few major problems were reported so far.

Weve had a lot of rain, but we got lucky. It was a constant rain but not a heavy rain, said Regina Myers, emergency management director in Walker County northwest of Birmingham.

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Subtropical storm Alberto rolled ashore Monday afternoon in the Florida Panhandle and then weakened overnight to a depression. Beachcombers had returned to the white sands of the Northern Gulf by Tuesday morning, but forecasters still warned of dangerous currents.

In Cuba, flooding damaged an oil refinery and caused crude oil to spill into Cienfuegos Bay as the remnants of Alberto continued to drench the island in heavy rain.

State-owned TV showed authorities using barriers Tuesday to try to contain the spill from the Cienfuegos refinery in central Cuba about 150 miles southeast of Havana.

U.S. forecasters said rain could still cause dangerous flash floods in the coming days in northern Alabama and large areas of Georgia, Tennessee and the Carolinas.

In North Carolina, a television news anchor and a photojournalist were killed Monday while covering the weather, when a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked ground and toppled onto their SUV, authorities said.

WYFF-TV of Greenville, South Carolina, said news anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were killed.

Two journalists working to keep the public informed about this storm have tragically lost their lives, and we mourn with their families, friends and colleagues, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement.

Alberto was more of a rainstorm than a wind threat, but the National Weather Service said at least one tornado had been confirmed.

The weather service said its meteorologists confirmed a weak tornado with maximum winds of 85 mph (147 kph) hit an area around Cameron, South Carolina, on Monday afternoon. No one was hurt.

Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay in Miami Beach, Florida, Kate Brumback in Atlanta and Jeffrey S. Collins in Columbia, South Carolina, contributed to this report.
San Diego police are hoping the public can help them identify and locate a driver who crashed a Mazda into a parked car then took off on foot early Sunday, leaving behind two injured passengers.

One of the injured was the 79-year-old owner of the Mazda. He is not expected to survive, according to San Diego Crime Stoppers. He has not been able to talk with police.

The crash happened shortly before 5 a.m. on South 47th Street near Ocean View Boulevard in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, Crime Stoppers reported.

The woman was driving a gray 2010 Mazda3 when it struck the parked and empty SUV. The elderly man was a back-seat passenger in the Mazda. He received multiple major head and neck injuries, according to Crime Stoppers.

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The Mazdas front-seat passenger, a 39-year-old man, received minor injuries. He was not able to provide police with information about the woman whod been driving the Mazda, a police sergeant said.

Police are seeking public help to identify this woman, who is suspected as the driver in a car crash Sunday. (courtesy San Diego Crime Stoppers )

Authorities provided surveillance video of the driver at a convenience store. She is described as a black woman in her 50s. She wore a purple, long-sleeved shirt and jeans with holes. She wore black socks but no shoes.

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $1,000 for information that leads to an arrest in the case.

Tipsters can call the police departments Traffic Division at (858) 495-7805. Anonymous tips can be left by calling Crime Stoppers at (888) 580-8477. Go to sdcrimestoppers.org to send anonymous tips via email or text.

teri.figueroa@sduniontribune.com

(760) 529-4945

Twitter: @TeriFigueroaUT
The San Diego County Medical Examiners Office has identified the inmate who died Friday from injuries sustained from a fight in jail two weeks earlier.

Michael Sugar, 61, died at UC San Diego Medical Center, where he had been taken following an altercation at the Central Jail on Front Street on May 12, county authorities said.

According to a news release, sheriffs deputies in the jail had responded to a fight between two cellmates at 2:35 p.m. and found one man lying on a bed with a severe head injury while his cellmate stood just inside the cell door.

Because of the severity of the injuries, the injured inmate could not tell deputies what had happened, Lt. Michael Blevins said in the news release.

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The vicitm was taken to the hospital for treatment, but died from his injuries 4:45 a.m. Friday.

The name of the other inmate in the fight has not been released, and the death is under investigation by sheriffs homicide detectives.

Sugar reportedly was in custody on charges of robbery and assault with a deadly weapon.

The suspect was in jail on charges of battery on a police officer, vandalism, and being under the influence of a controlled substance.

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The man who was shot and killed by police on Sunday after he allegedly refused to drop a knife was identified as Raul Rivera, San Diego police said Tuesday.

The 42-year-old man was walking in and out of traffic at Hollister Street and Tocayo Avenue in the community of Nestor when someone called 911 about 10:50 p.m. Sunday, police Lt. Anthony Dupree said.

Nearby Border Patrol agents were flagged down and ordered Rivera to drop the knife, but he refused, police said. Additional officers arrived and also commanded he drop the knife, but, again, he refused.

Officers tried using a Taser and shooting him with bean bag rounds, but neither was effective, Dupree said.

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When Rivera advanced on the officers with the knife pointed at them, three officers shot him, the lieutenant said.

Rivera died before he could be taken to a hospital.

The three officers involved in the shooting have been identified as Carter Torres, whos been with the San Diego Police Department for one year, Michael Martinez, whos been with the department for two years and Samuel Rodriguez, whos been with the department six years. They are all assigned to the departments southern division.

A married couple who spoke to the Union-Tribune the day after the shooting seemed to agree with police that Rivera ignored orders to drop a knife.

On Tuesday, however, a man who witnessed the shooting disputed several details in the police account.

Tiger Wicks said he and his wife were just 20 feet from the shooting, inside their parked motor home. He said the incident unfolded quickly and he did not see the man holding a knife or officers deploy Tasers or bean bag rounds before they fired a barrage of shots.

He was running in the intersection, cops told him to get on the ground, next thing you know, they just started shooting, Wicks said.

He said there were so many shots fired, it was like the Fourth of July.

 Border Patrol agents approached the man first, but he didnt drop the knife when they ordered him to.

Wicks questioned why officers didnt send a police dog to take down the man or try other tactics.

It was just wrong. There was another way to handle it, Wicks said. They could have tackled him, they could have sent in a canine or they could have shot him with pepper spray. But shoot a guy 30 times? Thats just excessive. Thats just wrong.

Wicks said he hasnt given a statement to police about the incident. The night of the shooting, he said officers yelled at him and a neighbor who were standing in the front yard to go inside. He said they stayed outside.

Wicks and other residents in the area put up signs and crosses as part of a makeshift memorial at the intersection where Rivera died. He said they also prayed for the slain man.

I didnt know him personally but he was still a human being and the way he got killed was just wrong, he said.

A poster says Guns dont kill, cops will kill at the intersection where police fatally shot a man Sunday night. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune )

A cross, candles and a poster were put up at the intersection where Raul Rivera was killed. Not knowing the name of the person killed, neighbors used the names Juan and Jose on the cross. (John Gibbins / San Diego Union-Tribune )

Twitter: @LAWinkley

(619) 293-1546

lyndsay.winkley@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

9:50 p.m.: This article was updated with additional details.

This article was originally published at 12:45 p.m.
Police pursuits and high-speed crashes happened in two cities at opposite ends of the county on Memorial Day.

One crash happened Monday morning in East County and the other in coastal North County about two hours later, and both involved stolen cars, authorities said.

City News Service and OnScene TV reported a man driving a stolen silver Honda west on Interstate 8 in El Cajon tried to escape a traffic stop by exiting and re-entering the freeway at West Main Street at about 8:45 a.m.

After returning to I-8, the driver made a U-turn on the freeway, and the pursuing officer did not follow.

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The Honda continued a short distance, traveling east in a westbound lane, but turned around to exit at West Main Street.

The Honda then struck an SUV. El Cajon Police arrived and arrested the Honda driver. The SUV driver was taken to a hospital after he reported chest pain.

Police later determined the Honda had been reported stolen in Oceanside.

 A man driving a stolen silver Honda west on Interstate 8 in El Cajon tried to escape a traffic stop by exiting and re-entering the freeway at West Main Street.

OnScene TV reported that another crash involving a stolen car occurred at about 10:50 a.m. in Carmel Valley.

A San Diego police officer interviewed at the scene said a car was pulled over for a traffic violation on Sorrento Valley Boulevard, but the driver took off as the officer approached.

The officer pursued the car, but stopped for safety reasons when speeds reached 90 mph.

The pursuing officer soon caught up with the car after finding it had crashed into a fire hydrant at the intersection of Seapoint Way and Sorrento Valley Road.

The officer interviewed at the scene said residents told police officers the driver had run away. The driver reportedly jumped a backyard fence but was caught when he returned to Sorrento Valley Road.

The officer said the driver may be a juvenile, and the car had been reported stolen.

Water shot from the fire hydrant for 10 or 15 minutes before it was shut off and may have caused some damage to a home, OnScene TV reported.

Homeless Playlist  On Now San Diego hepatitis outbreak continues to grow: 481 cases On Now Homeless entrenched in booming tent city along Santa Ana River On Now San Diego mayor agreed to homeless hub, then delayed, advocates say On Now Homeless outreach in San Diego On Now Video: Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #8 On Now In poverty himself, 'Water Man Dave,' is the fearless saint of San Diego's homeless 5:41 On Now Video: Homeless living in cars find safe havens 2:21 On Now Street Art: Portraits of San Diego's Homeless #7 On Now Pitching a tent plan for San Diego's homeless On Now Homeless efforts get $80M boost for various services

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The Trump administration moved on multiple fronts Tuesday to prepare for a possible nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore next month, as U.S. diplomats scrambled to revive the meeting that President Trump had publicly scrapped last week.

Most importantly, the White House said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would travel to New York on Wednesday to sit down with Gen. Kim Yong Chol, considered Kim Jong Uns closest aide. The former intelligence chief, whom Pompeo met during his two visits to Pyongyang, presumably can speak directly about whether the North Korean leader is serious about nuclear disarmament.

Other U.S. teams huddled with North Korean officials in Singapore and planned to meet in the demilitarized zone between the two Koreas in a push to assemble the complex logistics and still-unformed agenda of a major arms control summit, which is tentatively back on the calendar for June 12.

Pompeos meeting in New York could produce a final decision in the White House as to whether Kim Jong Un will ultimately give up his nuclear arsenal and whether the still-stalled summit can proceed. Pompeo was known to harbor deep doubts about Kims intentions after his second visit to Pyongyang.

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I think how that meeting goes [in New York], that will be the deciding factor on whether this summit moves forward, said Suzanne DiMaggio, a fellow at New America, a nonpartisan think tank, who helped facilitate the Trump administrations first contacts with North Korea last year.

He is an unsavory interlocutor but he is also a highly credible one, DiMaggio said of Gen. Kim. Whatever he says, he is speaking for Kim Jong Un.

South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that Gen. Kim would fly to New York on Wednesday after discussions with Chinese officials in Beijing. China is North Koreas biggest trading partner and political ally.

Gen. Kim is vice chairman of the Central Committee of the Workers Party of Korea and is in charge of relations with South Korea. One of numerous North Korean officials blacklisted by the U.S. Treasury, he required special State Department permission to travel to New York and is the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States in nearly two decades.

Pyongyang maintains a diplomatic mission at the United Nations that often has served as a back channel with U.S. officials, although the meeting with Pompeo will not be at the U.N., according to the State Department.

When Gen. Kim headed North Koreas military intelligence, he was accused of orchestrating attacks on South Korean targets, including the March 2010 torpedoing of a South Korea warship that killed 46 seamen, as well as the November 2014 cyberattack of Sony Pictures and the release of hacked emails.

Following those incidents, the Obama administration imposed personal sanctions on Gen. Kim in 2010 and 2015. His career clearly didnt suffer since he accompanied Kim to summits with leaders of China and South Korea, and headed North Koreas delegation to the closing ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics in South Korea  where he sat close to Ivanka Trump, the presidents daughter and advisor.

For his part, Trump praised the latest signs of diplomatic progress. We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea, he said on Twitter. He noted Gen. Kims planned visit to New York, although he misspelled the envoys name.

Weve seen tremendous amounts of progress toward the summit, Heather Nauert, a State Department spokeswoman, told reporters. It is pretty remarkable where we are, given where we were a year ago, when Trump and Kim were trading crude insults and threatening nuclear war.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House spokeswoman, also expressed optimism about a nuclear summit. We expect it to take place, she said.

If it takes place on June 12, were gonna be prepared, she told reporters aboard Air Force One as Trump flew to Nashville for a rally. If it for some reason takes place at a later date, were gonna be prepared for that as well.

Joe Hagin, the deputy White House chief of staff, led a pre-advance team in Singapore on Tuesday to coordinate logistics and security for the possible summit. Hagin also flew to Singapore two weeks ago but the counterpart North Korean team didnt show up for the planned meetings, according to the White House, a shift that Trumps aides interpreted as a deliberate snub.

A separate U.S. delegation will meet later this week with North Korean envoys in the demilitarized zone that separates North and South Korea. It will be led by Sung Kim, a longtime expert on North Korea who currently serves as U.S. ambassador to the Philippines. He will be accompanied by Allison Hooker, the Korea director in the National Security Council, and Randy Schriver, an assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.

The most important thing is whether Sung Kim comes back with some sort of joint communique that includes the outlines of an agreement for a North Korean nuclear disarmament, said Christopher R. Hill, a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea who led the U.S. delegation in an ultimately unsuccessful multilateral talks with North Korea in 2005 aimed at persuading it to give up its then nascent nuclear weapons program.

I wouldnt go into a summit with anybody without a draft communique, most of all the North Koreans  that would be very risky, Hill added.

Last Thursday, Trump wrote a public letter to Kim pulling out of the June 12 summit, blaming what Trump called tremendous anger and open hostility from Pyongyang but leaving the door open to future talks  a letter the White House now credits with creating new momentum for a historic sit-down.

The North Koreans have been engaging since the May 24 letter, Sanders said in a statement Tuesday. The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trumps expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore.

The latest flurry of diplomatic maneuvering comes after a surprise meeting Saturday between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in in the border town of Panmunjom. The pair agreed that the Trump-Kim summit should be held, Moon said later.

Trump also will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June 7 at the White House, Sanders said. The two leaders have met six times so far, most recently a month ago at the White House, as Trump tries to line up support from allies nervous about his unconventional nuclear diplomacy.

Abe was reportedly stunned by Trumps on-the-spot decision in March to stage a nuclear summit with Kim, and apparently was also not informed before Trump decided on May 24 to scuttle it. Except for South Korea, Japan is most at risk if diplomacy fails and war breaks out in northeast Asia.

Trumps national security advisor, John Bolton, has been in touch with South Korean and Japanese officials virtually every day, including speaking with his South Korean counterpart this morning, Sanders said.

The latest from Washington 

Stokols is a special correspondent.

estokols@gmail.com

Twitter: @EliStokols

UPDATES:

4:45 p.m.: The story was updated throughout with new details.

The story was originally published at 9:20 a.m.
Judge Herbert Exarhos, candidate for San Diego County Superior Court Judge, Office 28, answers questions from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Please explain your legal background.

I obtained my juris doctor from California Western University, School of Law, and was admitted to the California State Bar in June 1966. Shortly hereafter, I entered the United States Army and was commissioned as an officer in the Judge Advocate Generals Corps and attended classes at the JAG School at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and was admitted to the United States Court of Military Appeals.

In July 1980, I became a certified specialist of family law, the first time that specialty was offered by the California Board of Legal Specialization of the State Bar of California.

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After my appointment to the bench, I attended the California Judicial College, and throughout my career I have kept abreast of changes in the law by attending classes of the California Center for Judicial Education and Research (CJER) which is administered by the California Judicial Council.

Related: Q&A with Superior Court Judge candidate Vicki Rothman

Why are you qualified to be a judge?

I had a varied legal career prior to my appointment to the San Diego Municipal Court by Gov. George Deukmejian in September 1983. After serving four years as an attorney in the Judge Advocate Generals Corps, I served 15 months as a deputy in the criminal division of the Office of the San Diego City Attorney.

In December, 1971, I joined the law firm of Milch, Wolfsheimer & Wagner, where I was an associate for four years and practiced predominantly family law. After I left the firm in December 1974, I practiced family law, initially with a partner and then as a sole practitioner, including several years as a certified family law specialist until I was appointed to the San Diego Municipal Court. Four years later, Gov. Deukmejian appointed me to the San Diego Superior Court where I have served ever since.

I am satisfied that my varied career prior to my appointment and my judicial education and experience since my appointment have qualified me to serve as a jurist.

Why are you seeking this position?

Although my service with the Superior Court has been lengthy, it has also been varied and challenging, a challenge that I want to be able to continue.

Initially, I served in the downtown San Diego courthouse as a criminal trial department and I was also assigned as the supervising judge of the Criminal Division. Afterward, having grown up in the East County, I opted to be assigned to the East County Division in El Cajon where I served as the supervising judge for over 14 years, an assignment that seldom exceeds two or three years. Since then, I have served as a criminal trial department.

Additionally, I have served as a member of the courts Executive Committee for 15 years. It is this variety of assignments that has been challenging and professionally rewarding. I have not lost any of my desire to serve in this position and I am seeking to continue to be able to do so.

More people seem to be calling for criminal justice changes that reduce sentences, limit or eliminate bail, and emphasize trying to help convicts rebuild their lives. What one change is most needed or are you content with the criminal justice system as it is? Why?

As a trial judge, I must avoid expressing opinions as to the state of the law. Those decisions are to be made by courts of appeal, the Supreme Court and the Legislature.

I exercise my discretion within the bounds of what the law currently permits and I must not let anything distract me from that exercise. That, being said, there are several things that a bench officer can get involved in and this pertains primarily to rehabilitation. As a military veteran, I am particularly concerned with the problems that other veterans face, often from the effects of PTSD and other mental and physical injuries. Accordingly, we have established specialty courts and programs to deal with those issues. On a personal level, I am even more aware of these problems as a result of my membership in several military organizations such as Disabled American Veterans and Vietnam Veterans of America. We have established specialty courts and programs that concentrate on areas besides veterans that deserve special attention for rehabilitation, such as substance abuse, domestic violence and anger management.
Vicki Rothman, candidate for San Diego County Superior Court Judge, Office 28, answers questions from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Please explain your legal background.

I passed the bar exam on my first attempt in 2005 and became licensed that year. In 2015, I passed the family law certified specialist exam, which is like another bar exam that is particularly focused on family law, which includes marital separations and dissolutions, custody and domestic violence. Family law often includes what we call cross-over issues, such as bankruptcy, tax laws, welfare and institutions codes, and probate.

I have practiced civil and business litigation, handled transactional legal work such as wills, trusts, real estate and for the last decade or so, I have done extensive family law work. Part of my practice includes mediation, which requires an ability to bring the parties to a meeting of the minds to settle their cases. I have had to be able to see both sides of a case in order to be an effective mediator. I have done extensive court hearings and trial work.

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Related: Q&A with Superior Court Judge Herbert Exarhos

Why are you qualified to be a judge?

I returned to law school in my 30s while I was a working mom and passed the bar on my first attempt. I am able to manage multiple responsibilities with success, as may be necessary to manage a courtroom. I believe that judges need to administer justice without prejudice or bias, and also that judges need to respect all litigators and lawyers and understand that the bench belongs to the people. My demeanor includes significant patience, as I would not have been a successful family law attorney for such a long time without patience, which is necessary for a good judge. An understanding of the law and ability to apply the law to the facts presented by reliable and relevant evidence is what is necessary to properly rule on a case. I am able to do that, as during my practice I always tried to tell my client how I thought a judge was going to rule on their cases and why (based on the above). Being realistic to my clients allowed for them to make their own decisions as to whether or not they wanted to settle their cases or proceed to trial. I understand the frustrations that the public faces with the court backlogs and overcrowded calendars. I will work to manage cases promptly as is necessary for swift justice.

Why are you seeking this position?

Although we have many good judges in San Diego County, most were appointed by a governor and have never faced an election. This results in a lack of accountability. There are no court reporters in civil, probate and family law courtrooms, resulting in judicial decisions that are virtually impossible to appeal without a court reporter making a transcript. Judges who are never challenged and their decisions never challenged is a dangerous combination for the people. Our courts need to be held accountable to the people like all other public officials. We also need many more family law judges, not just judges who so often come up from the District Attorneys Office or other large civil firms.

More people seem to be calling for criminal justice changes that reduce sentences, limit or eliminate bail, and emphasize trying to help convicts rebuild their lives. What one change is most needed or are you content with the criminal justice system as it is? Why?

As a judicial candidate, I am bound by certain rules, called judicial canons, that prevent me from making certain statements about issues, as judges are nonpartisan. I will however state that the people need to petition their legislative representatives if they want changes, and not expect the courts to make new laws, as that is not the role of the courts.

Budget cuts and crowded courtrooms are a problem that I have seen, and that is a nonpartisan issue that affects all litigants. Although we have problems in the criminal justice system, the United States and the states have designed their constitutions to protect the people from bias in the courts. I will pledge to uphold the state and federal constitutions.
Digital license plates may be on the way to save Californians  and maybe Americans in other states thereafter  from having to register or update their license plates with those pesky stickers by hand every year.

The Sacramento Bee was the first to draw attention to this fascinating story this week. These new plates being tested in California  equipped with computer chips  would be able to display the license plate number, yes, but are also capable of displaying personal messages if the California Department of Motor Vehicles allows it.

Heres the 411 on digital license plates, now being displayed on some vehicles in California.

What is a digital license plate?

Reviver Auto, the company that created these license plate for Californias pilot program, describes them as transforming the 125-year-old stamped metal vehicle license plate into a cool-looking, multi-functional digital display and connected vehicle platform, delivering multiple efficiencies to businesses, government agencies and consumers.

Picture a Kindle e-reader shaped like a license plate.

Its simplest function would be displaying a car owners license number and registration date like the traditional plates already do, but it has the capability  if approved at a later date by the DMV  to be personalized to acknowledge an alma mater or charitable cause, for example.

This would only be allowed when the car is stopped.

The plate, known as RPlate Pro, is also smart enough to be tracked. More on that later.

What do the plates do?

The most obvious plus side to the technology is that automation would simplify the vehicle registration and renewal process. No more stickers.

This is not clunky and chunky like a big piece of metal, Allan Cooper, of Reviver Auto, told 10 News. Your registration becomes renewable. You pay online and these just click over to the next year.

They are also capable of widespread advertising campaigns or public messaging like an Amber Alert. The plates can offer real-time data about the vehicles to which theyre attached, too.

If a car is stolen, authorities could use the plate to track down the vehicle. Commercial fleets could also use the information for tracking mileage and other expenses, the company says.

But the tracking capabilities raise privacy concerns for some who are looking at the technology with skepticism. As of now, the law associated with the test  written by Sen. Ben Hueso, D-San Diego  says the data exchanged between the government and the device should be limited to whats necessary for showing registration compliance, and thats it.

The state legislature is slated to review the program, especially the data-collecting aspect of these plates, by 2020.

How are they being used?

The California Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown approved testing for alternative license plates back in 2013, but a pilot program to test them on cars in the state has only just begun. Theyre being used on at least 116 cars in the state right now, according to The Sacramento Bee, with state approval to allow as many as 175,000 in the state.

The Department of Motor Vehicles says its keeping an eye on the test to identify potential benefits, but hasnt offered up much more information than that.

Last week, Sacramento became the first city to agree to test the plates on 24 of its city vehicles, according to the Bee.

How can you get one?

First, you should know that theyre pretty pricey. They can be purchased for $699 and also require a $7 monthly service charge.

Reviver Auto says theyll begin sales in auto dealerships this year, but they wont be offered by the DMV.

Would you use one?

Many questions remain about these plates, but the early reaction on social media has included skepticism and some interest.

Are you interested? Let us know.

The Conversation

The Conversation with Abby and Luis is live on Facebook every weekday at noon PDT. They discuss whats written on this blog and more with viewers and welcome questions and comments that they reply to in real time.

Check out Abby and Luis talking about digital license plates below.

Email: abby.hamblin@sduniontribune.com

Twitter: @abbyhamblin
The twists and turns of local campaigns in the stretch run to Tuesdays election have featured the predictable and the unexpected. Perhaps the most surprising is Gov. Jerry Brown not only endorsing Sheriff Bill Gore but working to re-elect him.

Hi. This is Governor Jerry Brown. Im calling to urge you to vote for Sheriff Bill Gore on June 5th, the governor says in a recorded telephone call that has been received by some San Diego voters.

Ive worked with Bill Gore; I know him to be a good man. His top priority has always been keeping the community safe. Thats what we need. California could use more leaders like Bill Gore. Thats why I urge you on June 5th to vote for Sheriff Bill Gore. Thank you.

County races are officially nonpartisan, but parties often play a role. Gore is a Republican, though hes not known as much of a partisan player. Still, its notable that he gained the endorsement of the states top Democrat, whose standing is good in California and very good among Democrats. Brown had a 51 percent job-approval rating in March, according to a statewide poll by the Public Policy Institute of California. That was 20 points more than those who disapproved of his performance. His job-approval rating among Democrats was 77 percent.

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The Gore campaign, which paid for the calls, declined to say who is receiving them, though some Democrats have told The San Diego Union-Tribune they have gotten the calls. Thats potentially a huge boost for Gore and a big blow to his opponent, sheriffs Cmdr. Dave Myers, who was endorsed by the local Democratic party.

A poll by SurveyUSA conducted May 9-14, before the Brown calls, showed Gore leading Myers 38 percent to 28 percent, with 33 percent undecided. Among the undecided, 33 percent were Democrats. Is there anybody in Californa better to sway undecided Democrats than Jerry Brown?

Myers said he doesnt believe the governor will make any difference.

Jerry Brown is another career politician so invested in the status quo that hell ignore repeated scandals, in which Gore has failed to act on police brutality, sexual assault, and the violation of human rights, Myers said in a statement. With all the work weve done, I dont think a last-minute robocall is going to move the needle in this race.

How Brown came to endorse Gore and help with his re-election is quite simple: They have a good working relationship.

Sheriff Gore and Governor Brown have worked together for many years on public safety issues, the Gore campaign said in a statement. Governor Browns endorsement reflects his recognition of the sheriffs commitment to the community and his effectiveness in keeping San Diego safe.

Gore is among the law enforcement officials Brown regularly consults around the state. Among other things, the governor has reached out to Gore to discuss potential changes in parole law and SB 54, the controversial law that limits when local law enforecment can give information to federal immigration authorities about the release of certain criminal unauthorized immigrants.

In an April interview with the Union-Tribune editorial board, heres how Gore described the latter: Three or four months ago we spent probably two hours on the phone just talking about SB 54. He says, I want to make this  its going to pass  but I want to make it as good as we can and he kept doing amendments.

Jones-Wright campaign brings up Crowe case

District Attorney Summer Stephans campaign long has anticipated that the Stephanie Crowe murder case would surface. It finally has, but, at least initially, in a low-key way.

The campaign of Stephans opponent, Deputy Public Defender Genevieve Jones-Wright, produced a three-minute video titled This Botched Murder Case Still Haunts San Diego and posted it on social media.

Stephanie Crowe was found stabbed to death in her bedroom in 1998. At first, her brother, Michael, and two friends were charged with the killing. Stephan became the lead prosecutor against the three youths as the case headed to trial.

But the high-profile case fell apart shortly before the trial when Stephanies blood was found on a shirt worn by a transient seen in the Crowe familys Escondido neighborhood on the night of the killing. Charges were dropped against the three boys. The transient, Richard Tuite, was eventually tried and convicted, but the conviction was later reversed and he was acquitted in a second trial.

The video goes over familiar details and criticizes Stephans handling of the case. As of Tuesday afternoon, it appeared the Crowe case had not become a focus of the California Justice & Public Safety PAC, a committee financed by billionaire George Soros that has put more than $1.5 million into an independent campaign to elect Jones-Wright, according to inewsource and the Los Angeles Times.

A twist on the Cox dynamic

Much has been written about Republican hopes that Rancho Santa Fe businessman John Cox will win a place on the November ballot for governor against Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, who all the polls suggest is a shoo-in to advance out of the top-two primary on Tuesday. They believe a GOP presence at the top of the ticket will energize the party and help down-ballot Republican candidates, even if hes a long-shot to win.

Mike Madrid has a much different take. Madrid is a Republican consultant who specializes in Latino politics, but this time around is working for the gubernatorial campaign of Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, a former Los Angeles mayor.

He told Politico Republican turnout could be even higher if its Villaraigosa squaring off with the more liberal Newsom.

If you have Villaraigosa, you will have millions of dollars targeting Republicans to show up and vote, Madrid said. That, to me, is a very compelling argument. . . If youve got somebody whos openly competing for those votes, arguing for the swing vote with many, many millions of dollars, I think turnout is actually no different or could increase in that instance.

On the other hand, he said, Lets say its Cox and Newsom, the race is over and there will be no spend. None. Theres nobody who thinks a Republican can win.


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Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/29/2018 -- Market Scenario



Tissue microarray (TMA) is a recipient paraffin block that comprises thousands of separate tissue centers assembled in array fashion to allow multiplex histological analysis. These TMAs allow a quick, cost-effective, high through-put examination of thousands of molecular markers at nucleic acids or protein level. TMA is the latest advancement in the field of pathology. Different sorts of tumors at different phases of disease progression can also be studied at a single stage, in identical conditions in less labor-intensive and cost-effective ways.



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The market for tissue microarray treatment is growing extensively. It is a practical and efficient tool for high-throughput molecular analysis of tissues that help to identify new diagnostic and prognostic markers. It also targets human cancers and has a range of potential applications in basic research, prognostic oncology, and drug discovery. The growing need for targeted treatments for various chronic diseases such as cancer, genetic diseases, and others has boosted the growth of the market



Increasing application in drug discovery is one of the major factors driving the market growth. During drug research and development, the risk of product failure is high. Moreover, advancement in molecular methods have massively simplified the discovery of potential molecular targets for gene-specific therapy. Application in drug discovery has generated a massive demand for such supposed targets and to meet such demand human tissue analysis is needed. Nevertheless, the need for analysis of large numbers of well-characterized human tissues constitutes a major role in the drug discovery and development. Earlier, tissue analysis used to be done in slide-by-slide manner, which was time consuming, expensive, and difficult to operate.



Increasing prevalence of cancer is one of the important factors that drives the growth of the tissue microarray market. According to the American Cancer Society, in 2017, about 1 in 8 the U.S. women (about 12%) predicted to develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. In 2017, an estimated 252,710 new cases of invasive breast cancer are expected to be diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 63,410 new cases of non-invasive (in situ) breast cancer.



However, tissue microarray may not be fruitful for heterogeneous cancers, which may hamper the market growth over the review period.

The global tissue microarray market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 10.88% during the forecast period 2017-2023.



Segmentation



The global tissue microarray market is segmented on the basis of procedure, technology, application, and end user.



On the basis procedure, it is segmented into immunohistochemistry, fluorescent in-situ hybridization, and frozen tissue array.



On the basis of technology, it is segmented into DNA microarray, polymerase chain reaction, next-generation sequencing, northern blotting, and western blotting.



On the basis of application, it is segmented into oncology, gene expression profiling, SNP detection, double-stranded B-DNA microarrays, and comparative genomic hybridization, and sequencing bioinformatics.



On the basis of end user, it is segmented into pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies, research organization, and others.



Regional Analysis



The Americas dominates the global tissue microarray market owing to the presence of strong economic condition, huge development in healthcare domain, and focus of research institutions on updating technology for new and advanced diagnosis and treatment methods. Moreover, advanced hospitals infrastructures, availability of skilled healthcare professional are boosting the growth of the market.



Europe holds the second position in the market on the basis of increasing emphasis on rapid diagnosis and treatment of cancer, and infectious diseases, changing lifestyle, increasing prevalence of cancer among geriatric population. As per Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the share of GDP to health spending in Germany was 11.0% in 2013, which was 10.8% in 2012, thus this factor also drives the growth of the market in this region. All these factors will drive the market growth in Europe.



Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market owing to more number of developing nations present in this region, for instance, countries like India and china are encouraging the growth of the healthcare domain. Furthermore, increasing patient population from cancer in developing countries will directly increase the demand for various diagnosis & treatment methods and it will boost the growth of the market.



The Middle East & Africa is expected to hold the least market share due to less availability of medical facilities, and less development in the healthcare domain. However, countries such as Qatar and Kuwait are focusing more in healthcare domain and developing medical facilities, which will boost the market growth in this region.



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Key Players



Some of the key players in this market are Agilent Technologies, Illumina, Inc., Protein Biotechnologies Inc., Asterand Bioscience, Pantomics Inc., Applied Microarrays, Arrayit, Phalanx Biotech, Qiagen, Takara Bio, Perkin Elmer, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp, and general electric.



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Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/29/2018 -- Market Scenario



The healthcare BPO helps remove the complexity of tedious tasks. The healthcare BPO services enrich resource allocation, boost financial performance and increase the effectiveness of healthcare providers. The healthcare BPO provides services such as: medical billing & collection medical billing, medical coding, medical data entry, medical records indexing, medical claims processing and others. Technological improvements in medical care & the rising demand for health services from geriatric population are driving a sea of change in the healthcare industry. Moreover, digital technologies have transformed the processes from electronic records to telemedicine.



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However, errors in the healthcare sector, especially in the patient's medical records can cost lives. Medical bills also contain large number of errors as changing billing rules and regulations are rarely updated on time. Increasing patient inflow result in the occurrence of these types of mistake in the healthcare organizations. Healthcare BPO services can help in avoiding critical billing mistakes as a dedicated team of trained professionals handle medical data entry tasks with maximum accuracy.



Increasing number of healthcare organization, to avoid the critical mistakes in medical billing, and increasing need for cost saving drives the growth of the market. Moreover, increasing number of recovery audits, increasing patient inflow, and increasing prevalence of diseases have provided fuel to the market growth. Furthermore, increasing need a number of medical aspects such as minimizing critical mistakes, the cost saving, number of recovery audits, number of healthcare organizations, patient inflow, demand for niche services, overall demand for delivering better services and better healthcare expenditure have fuelled the growth of the market.



However, on the other hand doubts over service quality may hamper the growth of the market over the review period



The global healthcare BPO market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.3% during the forecast period 2017-2023.



Segmentation



The global healthcare BPO market is segmented on the basis of services, into pharmaceutical services, payer services, and provider services.



Key Findings



The global healthcare BPO market and is expected to reach USD 449,623.8 million by 2023 at CAGR of 12.3%.

Pharmaceutical service segment accounted for the largest share with 72.2 % in the global healthcare BPO market, by services in 2016.

Americas hold the largest market share of healthcare BPO market and is anticipated to reach USD 254,713.4 million by the end of the forecast period.

Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region across the globe and expected to grow at a rate of CAGR 12.6% during the forecast period.

Regional Analysis



The Americas dominate the global healthcare BPO market owing to the presence of strong economic conditions and huge development in healthcare domain. Moreover, according to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, in 2014, recovery auditors identified and corrected USD 2.39 billion as overpayment and USD 173.1 million as underpayment. They also suggests that collectively 1.1million claims were registered to recover USD 2.57 billion.



Europe holds the second position in the market owing to healthcare spending has expanded slightly in UK and Germany. Western Europe continues to see a need to save money on healthcare because of a slight drop in financial growth and obstinate economic pressure. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the healthcare expenditure in Germany was EUR 321 billion in 2014, France recorded the second highest level of current healthcare expenditure of EUR 237 billion, followed by the United Kingdom of EUR 223 billion.



Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market owing to more number of developing nations present in this region, for instance, countries like India and China are encouraging the growth of the healthcare IT domain. Furthermore, increasing patient population from cancer in developing countries will directly increase the demand for various diagnosis & treatment methods and it will boost the growth of the market. Moreover, Healthcare spending in Asia expanded in 2016 due to an extension of state healthcare programs and the increasing affluence of the population. India, in specific, saw expansion in its healthcare expenditure due to a government resolution to enhance healthcare services, which is estimated to further will boost the market growth



The Middle East & Africa is expected to hold the least market share due to less availability of medical facilities, and less development in the healthcare domain. However, countries such as Qatar and Kuwait are focusing more on healthcare domain and developing medical facilities, which will boost the market growth in this region.



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Key Players



Some of the key players in this market are QuintilesIMS, HCL Technologies Limited, Covance Inc., IBM, Catalent, Inc., PAREXEL International Corporation, Lonza, Infosys Limited, Charles River Laboratories International, Inc., Genpact, SUTHERLAND, and others.



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Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.
Pune, India -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/29/2018 -- Ink Solvent Market  Overview



Ink Solvent possess high efficiency, rapid evaporation rate, and non-coating properties in numerous end use application such as packaging, corrugated, publication, and others. The market is estimated to witness moderate growth due to their usage in numerous end use industries specifically in paints & coatings, building & construction, and others. On the basis of the end use application segment, packaging is predicted to register strong growth followed by corrugated due to increasing consumer's disposable income along with expanding packaging industry in developing countries across the globe. In addition, increasing construction and other food & beverage manufacturing base in emerging economies combined with increasing need for high quality Ink Solvent is estimated to propel the growth of the market over the assessment period.



Geographically, Asia Pacific accounted for the largest market share for ink solvent in 2016, followed by Europe which is further trailed by North America. The North American Ink Solvent Market is expected to witness moderate growth over the assessment period on account of substantial growth of food & beverage and packaging industry in this region. In North America, the market is further categorized into Canada and the U.S., among these the U.S. is anticipated to hold major regional market share of ink solvent on account of strong presence of key operating players in this region. Asia Pacific is estimated to witness tremendous growth over the forecast period in Ink Solvent Market during 2017 to 2023. The demand for ink solvent is estimated to raise in several countries of Asia Pacific such as Malaysia, Taiwan, India, China, South Korea, the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia due to rising population along with shifting of manufacturing base for most of the matured market players in this region. In Europe, ink solvent market is projected to register average growth due to shifting consumer preference towards the ink solvent based products combined with high adoption rate in numerous end use industries specifically in UK, Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, and Russia. In addition, various countries of the Middle East & Africa and Latin America are anticipated to witness significant growth in ink solvent on account of rising disposable income along with sales of Ink Solvent based product specifically in Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, and Mexico along with increasing commercial, institutional, and residential construction activities specifically in Oman, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Turkey, Qatar, and the UAE.



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Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:



November 2017- Toyo Ink group announced to expand its production facilities in Turkey. The construction plant is expected to start in mid of 2018 and will cost around USD 26.7 Million. With this capacity expansion the company will meet the increasing demand in Central Asia, MENA, and Eastern Europe.



December 2017- Siegwerk announced to acquire Tupahue Tintas, a Brazilian ink manufacturer. Tupahue Tintas products includes flexo and gravure printing inks and varnishes for a broad range of substrates such as HDPE, LDPE, polyolefin, polyester, aluminum, PP, and others. With this acquisition, the company will strengthen its presence in Latin America region and enhance their product portfolio.



June 2016- Kao Chemicals Europe announced to acquire Chimigraf Holding S.L., a Spain based organization involved in manufacturing and sales of inkjet ink and flexographic ink for package printing. This acquisition will help company to meet the demand for innovative products and provide better service.



May 2016- Flint Group announced to acquire American Ink & Coatings (AIC), the eight largest North America ink manufacturers. AIC market comprises of folding carton, gift wrap and corrugated printing, water and solvent based inks. With this acquisition the company strengthen their packaging ink position in North America.



Competitive Landscape



The Ink Solvent Report has analysed the level of competition among the major manufacturers in ink solvent market as well as sector growth and market scenario. The global ink solvent market composed of large number of suppliers operating in the market which includes large scale and medium scale manufacturers. The noticeable manufacturers of ink solvent and medium level producers which has strong hold in the market have shifted their focus towards growth association specifically by Asia Pacific as small level and medium level suppliers belongs to this region specifically from the Philippines, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, China, and Thailand. In addition, the key operating players of ink solvent are observed to follow various strategic plans to improve their product portfolio such as distribution agreements, joint ventures, product launches, strategic acquisition and mergers, and exclusive agreements. Numerous key operating players in this market are expected to expand their manufacturing capacity of ink solvent to meet the increasing demand for Ink Solvent Worldwide.



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Valley Cottage, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/29/2018 -- Future Market Insights (FMI) announced the release of a latest report titled, "POU Water Purifiers Market: MENA Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014  2020". FMI estimates that the Point of Use (POU) water purifier market in Middle East and North Africa is expected to reach US$ 471 Mn at a CAGR of 7.6% from 2014 to 2020.



Residential water purification system includes point of use water purifiers (POU), point of entry (POE) water purifiers, portable water purifiers. Moreover, the demand for POU water purifiers is high among consumers in MENA region as compared to POE and portable water purifiers. In the POU water purifiers market, products with high purification capabilities such as combination of reverse osmosis (RO) and Ultraviolet (UV) technologies are more preferred. It has also been observed that a majority of the demand is coming from urban centres in GCC when compared to the entire MENA region.



The POU water purifiers market is segmented on the basis of technology which includes RO, UV and media-based. RO technology based water purifiers segment is estimated to account for slightly over 40% of the total https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/mena-pou-water-purifiers-market POU water purifiers market in MENA region in 2014. Media-based water purification, which is a conventional water purification technology has also witnessed technological advancements, and is estimated to display a CAGR of 9.3% during the forecast period, in terms of volume. The third technology, UV based water purifiers, is estimated to exhibit a sluggish growth rate during the forecast period due to its limitation in removing only organic contaminants from water. Additionally, UV-based water purifiers are also priced higher in comparison to media-based water purifiers and hence the product preference for UV based water purifiers is comparatively low.



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Region-wise, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), United Arab Emirates (UAE), Turkey, Israel, Egypt and Algeria are the promising markets for POU water purifiers. In addition, a cumulative scenario has been highlighted for rest of MENA (includes smaller countries like Kuwait, Jordan etc.). Among the aforementioned regions, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is estimated to be the prominent market for POU water purifiers, followed by Turkey, due to its growing population and rapid urbanization, and increasing awareness for safe drinking water forecast period.



In addition, penetration of bottled water is a challenge for the POU water purifiers market in Anatolia. As a result, Anatolia is estimated to demonstrate a sluggish growth rate in the near future. Furthermore, POU water purifiers market in UAE is anticipated to reach 149.2 thousand units by 2020, exhibiting a CAGR of 10% between 2014 and 2020.



Deteriorating water quality, rising cost of bottled water, increasing population coupled with increasing per capita income are some of the prominent factors which will catalyse the point of use water purifiers in the region. Though the MENA market is attractive in terms of absolute dollar opportunity, low awareness about safe drinking water and product unavailability are major challenges for the MENA POU water purifier market.



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Key players operating in the MENA water purifier market are LG, Eureka Forbes, Strauss Water, Panasonic, WaterLife and Coolplex. The report sheds light on their key growth strategies and recent developments. In addition, the report also discusses the value chain followed by multinational companies in MENA for POU water purifiers.
Newark, DE -- (SBWIRE) -- 05/30/2018 -- Leading premium adult toy brand, SVAKOM is proud to announce it attended the China Adult Care Expo 2018 in Shanghai, China. The expo which held from the 21st to the 23rd of May 2018 offered SVAKOM the opportunity to showcase some of its outstanding products including its new and unique remote controlled prostate massager, Vick.



Many of the visitors to the SVAKOM stand were thrilled by the unique and special angle design of Vick which makes it easy to massage the prostate and the perineum at the same time. Vick comes with remote control & a soft head for easy insertion and 35 different frequency experiences. The innovative prostate massager is equipped with a lithium battery which can be fully charged in an hour and provide about 2 hours of continuous pleasure. What's more? Vick is made of environmentally friendly silicone and has passed all the strict tests to reach a high standard of quality.



Aside from Vick, SVAKOM also showcased some of its other award-winning products including Hedy, Candy and Cookie. These products were also an instant hit with visitors to the SVAKOM booth. Hedy surprised many of the visitors because of its elasticity. And as always the unique design of Candy and Cookie was center of attraction among the visitors.



The China Adult Care Expo 2018 is one of the world's famous adult toy exhibitions and is gradually been recognized as one of the most impressive trade fairs for the adult industry companies in Asia and Pacific area. SVAKOM's participation at the expo was a worthwhile experience and provided an opportunity to gather valuable direct feedback for the products showcased at the event. These feedbacks afford SVAKOM the opportunity to continually create innovative and award-winning products.



SVAKOM did also hold its "2018 Annual Global Appreciation Gala" at Shanghai on the evening of 22nd May 2018. It was well attended by clients and distributors across the world mainly from Europe, South America, USA, Australia and Asia Pacific countries.



For more information about SVAKOM, please visit their site at http://www.svakom.net.
#NO:EL Rapper NO:EL arrested over allegedly assaulting police officer, refusing breathalyzer Rapper NO:EL was arrested Tuesday on charges of driving without a license, refusing to take a breathalyzer test and headbutting a police officer last month. Police took the 21-y...

#swimming Swimmer Hwang Sun-woo breaks nat'l record in individual medley Teen swimming sensation Hwang Sun-woo broke the national record in the men's 200m individual medley (IM) on Tuesday, surpassing South Korea's only Olympic swimming champion Park Ta...
Lending contracted by 5.62% during 2017 to $54bn, though in 2017 the Greek fleet grew by 7% in deadweight terms to just over 387m dwt, according to Petrofin. The contraction follows one of 8.8% in 2016, the greatest since the onset of the financial crisis in 2009.

With the number of banks involved in Greek ship finance remaining at 51, with a small internal reshuffle, the report supports the evident retrenchment of traditional bank finance as a source of funding for Greek interests.

The top 10 Greek ship financing banks, although they have collectively reduced their loan portfolios, saw their share of the total rise 1% to 56.17% last year, as the whole portfolio has fallen.

European banks still account for the vast majority of total loans at 78.70%, though their share is steadily dropping. It was 90% in 2013.

Credit Suisse, with a $6.2bn book is the top lender for the third year in a row, ahead of DVBs $4.3bn, while BNP Paribas leads a batch of eight banks with Greek portfolios of between $2.0bn and $2.8bn. The leading Greek bank is Piraeus Bank with a $2.8bn book, excluding its ferry fleet.

The fall in overall Greek loans, both drawn and committed but undrawn, booked both in Greece and worldwide, saw the Petrofin Index for Greek Shipfinance at January 1, 2018 standing at 327 points down from 346 a year earlier and 379 in 2016.

Ted Petropoulos, head of Petrofin Bank Research, discussing the main findings said drawn loans are down 3.69% compared to 5.34% last year. Also, commitments have fallen markedly, by 30.63% compared to a drop of 38% in 2016. "This confirms the underlying contraction of bank ship finance, as well as a switch to other forms of finance like funds and Chinese leasing, which are rapidly expanding," said Petropoulos.

Read More: CSIC Leasing makes first-ever ship lease financing deal with Eletson

However, contrary to the overall results, the Greek bank group is the only group showing growth. Four of the five Greek banks show growth, compared to two last year, with one, the Latsis-controlled Eurobank up 24.21%. Overall, Greek bank exposure is up 4.25% and their share of Greek ship finance has risen to 16.84% compared to 15.25% last year and 14.63% in 2015. "This is a resilient performance by Greek banks despite continuing domestic problems and underlines the commitment of Greek banks to shipping," said Petropoulos.

Further, Petrofin found, total forward commitments, which by definition "show the position of trust in the future of Greek shipping, are down from $3.55bn to $2.4bn".

"However, the forward commitments to newbuildings are up 2%," which Petropoulos says, underlines the emphasis by banks on newbuildings as opposed to second hand vessels and the enhanced appetite will result in more bank finance and non-bank finance being used.

Concluded, Petropoulos: "Traditional bank finance, especially among western banks, continues its steady decline, but bank finance continues to be the main source of ship finance.

The risk / reward of bank ship finance appears to be improving. A more stable international financial climate for banks, coupled by enhanced prospects in shipping, is expected to result in more banks becoming willing to lend into the Greek market. A welcome development and prospect.
Press Release

May 28, 2018 Villanueva lauds signing of law curbing red tape in applying, operating businesses in PH Senator Joel Villanueva on Monday hailed the signing into law of a landmark legislation which seeks to address delays and inaction in issuing licenses, clearances, and/ or permits (LCPs) by government agencies. Republic Act (RA) No. 11032 or the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act of 2018 (Expanded Anti-Red Tape Act) shortens the length of prescribed processing time for the issuance of LCPs to business entities in a bid to cut the bureaucratic red tape, dismantle graft and corrupt practices, and improve the efficiency of delivering frontline services by government agencies. According to the 2017 World Bank report, the country's ranking in the ease of doing business slid to 113th from 99th in 2016 out of 190 countries covered. "For over a decade, we have been steadfast in our fight to come up with a legislation that will not only curb corruption but will also improve our country's competitiveness in doing business. The signing into law of RA 11032 would give more teeth to our present laws, curb the ills of corruption, and improve the ease of doing business in our country," Villanueva said. The new law amends the Anti-Red Tape Act of 2007, a landmark legislation aimed at combating corruption, which Villanueva principally sponsored in the 14th Congress when he was still representative of Citizens' Battle Against Corruption (CIBAC) party-list. Under the law, the prescribed processing time for the applications of business entities classified as micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) shall take no longer than three working days for simple applications and 10 working days for complex applications from the time the application is received. For special type of businesses requiring technical valuation or under necessary condition for LCP issuance, prescribed time shall be no longer than 30 working days or as determined by agency. The law also considers applications for LCPs which were not acted upon within the prescribed period as automatically approved, given that agency has not informed applicant of the error, omissions, or additional required submissions and all documents and fees have been completed and paid, respectively. Meanwhile, applications for renewal of LCPs shall be deemed automatically extended if not acted upon within the prescribed period, until a decision or resolution is rendered. "We believe that by reducing the requirements and waiting time for the approval of applications submitted by the public would greatly enhance the efficiency of our government agencies and entice more businessmen to invest in our country. We are definitely elated that a new law has been passed that would provide a conducive business environment and promote transparency in government transactions," Villanueva said.
To improve financial status of PhilHealth:

ANGARA RENEWS CALL TO PROVIDE FREE CHECK-UPS, LAB TESTS AND MEDICINES TO ALL FILIPINOS

Senator Sonny Angara has renewed his call for the expansion of PhilHealth's primary care benefit package, which includes free check-ups, laboratory tests and medicines, for all Filipinos.

Angara pointed out that expanding the coverage of the primary care benefit package would help improve the financial status of PhilHealth in the long run.

"The primary care benefit package aims to improve access to outpatient medicines, reduce hospitalization, and improve the health of patients with non-communicable diseases long before their conditions become catastrophic. Tiyak na malaki ang matitipid ng PhilHealth kung ang lahat ng miyembro nito ay may akses sa primary care services," Angara said.

The Senate is conducting a review of the performance and accomplishments of PhilHealth amid its reported P9-billion loss and alleged P700-million debt to private hospitals.

Based on the data presented by PhilHealth on Tuesday, among the top drivers of benefit payments in 2017 are: pneumonia (P10 billion), hemodialysis (P8 billion), and urinary tract infections (P2 billion).

The primary care benefit package or "Tsekap" program covers drugs and medicines for pneumonia, diabetes mellitus, urinary tract infection, hypertension, as well as for asthma, acute gastroenteritis, upper respiratory tract infection, dyslipidemia, deworming and ischemic heart disease.

In a hearing last week, PhilHealth said it is now implementing a rationalization of benefit payouts by expanding its primary care benefit package.

"Magpupunta muna ang mga pasyente sa primary care physician para malaman kung kaya nang i-manage sa primary care setting ang kanilang sakit, kaysa ma-confine sila kaagad kahit hindi na kailangan," explained Nerissa Santiago, Senior Vice President of the Risk Management Sector of PhilHealth.

Also part of the package are regular blood pressure and body measurement, clinical breast examination, cervical cancer screening, digital rectal examination, risk profiling for hypertension and diabetes, counselling for smoking cessation and lifestyle modification, and oral check-up.

Diagnostic examinations such as complete blood count, blood typing, urinalysis, stool exam, chest x-ray, sputum microscopy, lipid profile, fasting blood sugar, creatinine, electrocardiogram are likewise included.

Currently, only indigents and sponsored members are entitled to such benefits.

"We should extend this benefit to all. That is the essence of universal health coverage--that every Filipino must be provided with proper health services without fear of financial hardship," said Angara, one of the authors of the Universal Health Coverage bill.

His father, the late Senator Ed Angara, was the author of the law creating PhilHealth.

"Dapat maunawaan ng mga kababayan natin na ang P2,000 halaga ng pagpapa-check-up at mga gamot sa isang taon ay maaaring makaiwas sa higit P200,000 na pagpapa-dialysis kada taon. Kung may konsultasyon at agarang paggamot, maagapan ang posibleng paglala ng sakit at magiging mas malusog ang mga Pilipino," Angara added.
Press Release

May 29, 2018 De Lima elated, humbled at Amnesty International's 'Most Distinguished Human Rights Defender' award Opposition Senator Leila M. de Lima today expressed deep elation over the latest recognition by the prestigious award given by Amnesty International (AI) as "Most Distinguished Human Rights Defender" on its first-ever Ignite Awards for Human Rights. De Lima, who is considered as the first prominent political prisoner under the Duterte regime, said she is both humbled and grateful for AI for recognizing her unrelenting fight for human rights, justice and the rule of law. "I am deeply humbled to learn that Amnesty International has chosen me for its first Ignite Awards for Human Rights as the 'Most Distinguished Human Rights Defender,'" she said. "It is with great honor to receive this latest accolade as recognition for my unwavering stance on human rights despite my continued unjust detention and political persecution," she added. AI, which announced the awardees for the 1st Ignite Awards for Human Rights on May 28, is conferring the accolade to De Lima and other winners on June 2. De Lima bested four other nominees for the Most Distinguished Human Rights Defender - Individual Category award, including Sen. Risa Hontiveros, Ryan Silverio, Nymia Pimentel Simbulan and Leni Velasco. The Senator from Bicol said she considers the latest accolade as a "vindication" from all the politically-motivated trumped-up charges filed by the Duterte administration to taint her integrity as a staunchest critic of the government's bloody war on drugs." De Lima likewise thanked AI for its unrelenting efforts to promote and protect human rights even as she expressed her openness to further work with the organization in fighting and advancing the causes for human rights, democracy and the rule of law. "Our shared goals and cooperation only prove that no tyrant can stop us. No matter how influential and powerful those who violate our dignity and human rights are, our strong will and determination will always prevail; truth and justice will always succeed," she said. De Lima, who once served as chairperson of the Commission on Human Rights, said she offers the award to all her fellow human rights defenders who tirelessly fight for the dignity of, and respect for the Filipino. Even from her detention quarters at the Philippine National Police-Custodial Center in Camp Crame, Quezon City, De Lima continues to receive awards and citations from various organizations and leaders here and abroad who call for her swift release. Prior to this latest award, De Lima was also recognized by Foreign Policy magazine as one of the leading Global Thinkers for 2016 and 2017, by Time Magazine as one of 100 Most Influential People, one of the Icons, for 2017, by Fortune Magazine as 39th World's Greatest Leader, and by Amnesty International as one of the notable Women Human Rights Defenders in 2017, among others.
Press Release

May 29, 2018 Dispatch from Crame No. 315:

Sen. Leila M. de Lima's statement on "Most Distinguished Human Rights Defender" Award given by Amnesty International in its 2018 Ignite Awards for Human Rights 5/29/18 I am deeply humbled to learn that Amnesty International has chosen me for its first Ignite Awards for Human Rights as the "Most Distinguished Human Rights Defender." It is with great honor to receive this latest accolade as recognition for my unwavering stance on human rights despite my continued unjust detention and political persecution. I view this as another vindication from all the trumped-up charges that have been fabricated by the Duterte regime not just to destroy my person and integrity as a staunch critic of the government's bloody war on drugs, but also, and more importantly, to divert attention away from the truth about the extrajudicial killings and official abuse that are, to this day, being committed with impunity. I thank Amnesty International, its Philippine Section, and its other country offices for their steadfast resolve to promote and protect human rights, especially during these times of silencing dissent and increasing attacks against human rights and its defenders. The work that you do serves as the light that not only allows the truth to shine through, but also serves as an inspiration for us, individual human rights defenders, and ignites the fervor of our people for justice under the rule of law. Our shared goals and cooperation only prove that no tyrant can stop us. No matter how influential and powerful those who violate our dignity and human rights are, our strong will and determination will always prevail; truth and justice will always succeed. I dedicate this award to all human rights defenders, who tirelessly fight for the dignity of, and respect for the Filipino. I look forward to further working with the Amnesty International and like-minded groups and individuals in promoting and advancing our causes for human rights, democracy and rule of law. Our common calling in these trying times is to serve as the bright light of hope that keeps the darkness brought by apathy and ruthless self-interest at bay. Therefore, together, may we ignite a firestorm in the hearts and minds of more and more people, that tyranny may never again find a foothold in society.
Press Release

May 29, 2018 Sen. Francis "Kiko" Pangilinan congratulates Sen. Leila De Lima on the Amnesty International award We are proud to highlight the distinction given to Senator Leila de Lima as the most distinguished individual human rights defender from the rights watchdog Amnesty International. Senator De Lima is worthy of the accolade, as much as she deserves to be free from unjust detention and political persecution from this administration. The award is a great moment for her fight against the abuses of the administration, and at the same time, a message of hope for the victims of human rights violations. After more than a year, she is still awaiting arraignment on false drug-related charges. She has been denied not only of her rights as a prisoner, but her rights as mother to her children. While other jailed political personalities have been granted furlough during special family occasions, Senator De Lima's request to attend the graduation of her son was turned down. Her indefatigable spirit and her passion to continue being the voice of the voiceless Filipinos whose rights are trampled are what keep her going. The recognition from Amnesty International will no doubt help her carry on.
Press Release

May 29, 2018 Villar calls the youth "poverty busters" The youth has one of the highest potentials in breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty, said Senator Cynthia A. Villar, as she acknowledged their interest in the agriculture, where majority of poor Filipinos can be found. Speaking during the celebration of Agriculture Day 2018 of the Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University-North La Union Campus (DMMMSU-NLUC) College of Agriculture, Villar recognized the huge role of the youth in the country's growth and development. She said it is very crucial for us to keep the involvement of Filipino youth comprising 27 percent or about 27 million of the Philippine population. "We need collaborated efforts and the participation of our youth to end the passing of poverty to the next generation especially in the agricultural sector since the farmers and fishermen belong to the poorest sector in the Philippines," said Villar, chair of the Senate agriculture and food committee. Conceding that we may still have a long way to go to completely eradicate poverty, Villar however believes it can be reduced until finally it will no longer be experienced by the next generation. "It is a must that the youth will be directly and actively involved as early as now. You are the poverty-busters. So please help us stop poverty," she further told agriculture students. The senator mentioned concerns raised by some sectors that Filipino farmers are getting older (with average of 57-58), thus, "we need to get the young generation interested in agriculture." "So, I am happy that here at DMMMSU-NLUC and other campuses of universities, our youth are very much involved in farming and agriculture," she said. Also, the senator told the agriculture students that there is so much more to agriculture than merely tilling the land and planting crops. Saying this is a very limited concept, Villar said the youth should realize that there are a lot of exciting opportunities and untapped potentials in the agriculture sector. "Now, we are talking of mechanized farming, farm tourism, science and technology, research and development and of course, there is agri-entrepreneurship. I think, that it is one area where many young Filipinos are venturing into," she said. In trade fairs and exhibits here and abroad, she said many of the participants are 'food-entrepreneurs' which are also under the category of agri-entrepreneurs. She also said half of the micro and small enterprises are involved in the food and beverage sector. "Moreover, small and micro enterprises comprise over 95 percent of the businesses in our country and provide more than 65 percent of employment. Wealth and a high majority of jobs are created by small businesses started by entrepreneurially-minded individuals or groups of individuals. Many of whom go on to create big businesses. And any of you can do that," added the senator.
Gentrack Group lifted first-half earnings 80 percent as the utilities software developer benefited from new projects and acquisitions made last year and said it had a strong pipeline of opportunities.

The Auckland-based company posted underlying earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $15.9 million in the six months ended March 31, up from $8.8 million a year earlier and in line with its forecast for ebitda of $15 million to $16 million. Revenue rose 80 percent to $52 million and net profit increased 50 percent to $8.4 million. It said its second-half performance will be broadly in line with the first half.

Gentrack has been expanding its business, with its workforce now totalling 487, up 14 percent over the past six months and 70 percent higher than year-earlier levels. The company last year acquired UK billing and customer information systems firm Junifer Systems for $74.6 million and European airport software developers Blip Systems and CA Plus for about $20.3 million, secured major contracts with two of the UK's 'Big 6' energy suppliers and is working on new projects across its divisions.

"The acquisitions completed in April and May of 2017 (Junifer, Blip, CA+) have contributed to the result and we have made good progress with the integration of these businesses into the group," the company said in a statement. "New projects with utilities and airports in the UK and Europe contributed to organic growth in the period."

The company has more than 200 customers in 36 countries and said it had a "strong pipeline of opportunities in all markets" but noted the timing of key contract wins and project milestones were subject to uncertainty. It said it's actively watching for new markets and geographies.

Its utilities business increased ebitda to $13.2 million in the first half from $7.8 million a year earlier as revenue jumped to $42.2 million from $25.6 million. The company said first-half revenues from the utilities business reflects significant projects in the UK including E.On, Npower and ENGIE, while completed smart meter related projects in Australia and system deployments in Singapore also contributed to the strong result.

Its Veovo airports business lifted ebitda to $2.7 million from $1 million a year earlier and increased revenue to $9.7 million from $3.3 million. The company said strong revenues for Veovo during the period reflected key wins and projects at Belfast International Airport, Greenland Airports, Ports of Jersey, Brisbane Airport, Al Ghurair and Schiphol Airport.

The company said recurring revenues from annual fees and support services surged 89 percent in the first half, while revenues from licences and project services were up 349 percent and 35 percent respectively. Contractually recurring annual fees lifted to 33 percent of total revenue from 28 percent six months earlier.

Gentrack will pay a first-half dividend of 5 cents per share on June 25, up 19 percent on the year-earlier level.

In the second half of the year the company said its priorities include progressing market growth opportunities in the UK/European, Australasian and South East Asian markets, further innovation through its services and solutions which allows customers to provide the lowest cost to serve models and best customer experience, and transforming its business operations to ensure it anticipates and delivers to the needs of customers.

Gentrack said it is investing in its key utility growth markets in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore to enable it to deliver 'software as a service' projects quicker with lower risk and to increase its mix of recurring revenue.

Its shares last traded at $7.45 and have jumped 62 percent over the past year.

(BusinessDesk)

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ASX-listed Integral Diagnostics has secured a New Zealand beachhead, spending $105 million in cash and scrip for four Auckland radiology clinics.

Melbourne-based IDX today announced the acquisition of three Auckland businesses operating four radiology clinics in New Zealand's biggest city that have projected annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of $13 million-to-$14 million in the 2019 financial year, the Australian company said in a statement. IDX will take on 14 Kiwi radiologists from Specialist Radiology Group, Trinity MRI and Cavendish Radiology, paying $80 million in cash and $25 million in shares, with a five-year staged earn-out based on the companies' operations.

Specialist Radiology + MRI was set up by principal consultant Quentin Reeves in 2007 and expanded to Canvedish Drive in Manukau in 2015. Reeves' interests are the controlling shareholders of SRG and Cavendish, with junior shareholder Alpenglow Australia, which operates 16 radiology sites across the Tasman. Trinity MRI's biggest shareholder is Maurice Moriarty at about 25 percent, with the firm's other radiologists holding smaller stakes.

"Joining the New Zealand clinics with our Australian business will create a significant, best-in-class diagnostic imaging platform in a collegiate trans-Tasman partnership," said managing director Ian Kadish. "The clinics have a demonstrated track record of achieving strong revenue growth at market-leading profitability and add significant value to IDX."

IDX's ASX-listed shares jumped 7.1 percent to A$2.795, adding to a 13 percent gain so far this year. The stock rose as high as A$2.81, a record since the diagnostics firm went public in 2015.

SRG was rumoured to be on the block last month, with the Australian Financial Review's Street Talk column reporting Allier Capital was drumming up interest for a potential buyer. NZX-listed medical services investor Abano Healthcare completed the sale of its 71 percent stake in Ascot Radiology for $17 million.

Australia's IDX fended off a cash and scrip takeover bid earlier this year by smaller rival Capitol Health, saying it wasn't fair or reasonable and that its own future as a standalone business was attractive.

IDX's acquisition is at a forward earnings multiple of between 7.5 times and 8.1 times, depending on how the 2019 result plays out, comparable to the Capitol Health's A$24.7 million purchase of Radiology Tasmania last year.

(BusinessDesk)

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New Zealand pensioners were swindled out of $1 million by cyber scams in the first three months of the year, with phishing attacks the most favoured con, the government's Computer Emergency Response Team (Cert NZ) says.

The one-stop shop responsible for tracking, monitoring and advising on cybersecurity incidents received 506 reports in the March quarter, of which it responded to 318 directly, referred another 182 to NZ Police, sent five to Netsafe and one to the Department of Internal Affairs. Of those, 196 were phishing scams, where an email or text is used to try to trick a user into handing over information, credentials or cash. Another 168 of those incidents were scams or frauds designed to convince a user to giving up money.

Those attacks caused $2.9 million of direct financial losses, three-quarters of which were reported by individuals. The remaining quarter of losses came from organisation reports.

Older New Zealanders were the biggest dupes, with 44 incidents reported by people over 65, who accounted for $1 million of direct financial losses, while a smaller group of people between 55 and 64 reported $724,000 of losses.

"New data analysis this quarter shows that this has been particularly harmful for victims in the over-55s age group who have reported losing more money than any other age group," Cert NZ director Rob Pope said in a statement. "In quarter one there has been a real focus on taking down phishing websites where we can, including working alongside key partners such as banks and financial institutions whose brands are so often misrepresented in these campaigns."

The government committed an extra $970,000 a year of new operating funding over the next four years for Cert NZ, lifting its annual budget to $5.9 million for the June 2019 year.

Pope told BusinessDesk the increased reporting is a good sign that the agency is building a profile and attracting public acceptance as the clearinghouse for cyber-security issues, where Cert can receive the complaints and either handle it directly or refer it to the appropriate agency.

The latest report is Cert's fourth, and while Pope said it's too early to draw granular conclusions from the data, it has been able to identify firm trends such as the prevalence of older targets.

"That prevalence of phishing still seems to the major malaise that's impacting New Zealanders," Pope said. "It seems at this point in time, the baddies are getting quite a good return on their efforts."

Cert wants to be more proactive in helping New Zealanders prevent cyber incidents, and has several programmes operating in the public and private sectors. However, "demystifying technology language" and humanising the issue is key to make people more comfortable in digital spaces and reporting issues to the authorities, Pope said.

"Our main focus is prevention so we're very very alert of the need to be more proactive," he said.

The agency was formed from the previous administration's cyber-security strategy, and Pope said it will play a role in a policy refresh, which he describes as a "stocktake" and that Communications Minister Clare Curran says is essential to the government's goal of building a "connected nation, promoting and protecting digital rights, and harnessing digital technology for economic growth, community benefit and innovation".

Pope said establishing public buy-in is "exceptionally important" so it can describe the "cyber-threat landscape", which can get confusing with different but similar sounding reports, such as last year's assessment by the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) identifying 396 cyber threats in the year ended June 30, which could have caused $640 million of harm to nationally significant organisations. The NCSC is a unit of the Government Communications Security Bureau.

Over the past four quarters, Cert has received 1,637 reported incidents, referring 474 to the police and 2 to the NSCS.

The March quarter report shows financial and insurance firms were the most targeted sector, with 92 reports accounting for 44 percent of organisation incidents, most of which were phishing attempts.

(BusinessDesk)

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(Civil Servants: This is part of a periodic series on city workers who call Staten Island home.)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Arrochar resident Andrew DiLorenzo said he routinely gets questions about his job at the Board of Elections.

"What do you do other than work on election day?" they ask him, confused as to how he holds a 40-hour-per-week job year-round.

There's a lot to be done, according to DiLorenzo, including training poll site workers.

At 28-years-old, he never saw himself working for the BOE.

DiLorenzo graduated from the College of Staten Island in 2012 with a bachelor's degree in communications, media studies and journalism. He hoped to break into the radio or broadcast fields.

Even after interning for WPIX11 and working for free at WSIA, CSI's radio station, for five years, he had difficulty getting his foot in the door that lead to a job in journalism.

He was working as an assistant manager at RadioShack at the time.

"I absolutely hated it," DiLorenzo said. "But it was good for me because it allowed me to talk to all different kinds of people and you have to treat them all with the same respect."

In 2010, during his time at RadioShack, he became a volunteer poll worker.

"I thought it would get me out of jury duty. Guess what? It doesn't," he said, laughing.

He may have been disappointed about still getting called to serve his civic duty, but it also lead him to the position he now has with the BOE - a job that he loves and is thankful to have.

TWO YEARS AND A PROMOTION

"Just imagine it's your first election, a federal primary, and you're dealing with a lot of older people who are not so computer-literate trying to use the scanners and are scrambling for help," DiLorenzo said.

DiLorenzo worked as a poll site volunteer at P.S. 39 on Sand Lane between 2010 and early 2013. He said that's where his RadioShack experience came in.

"I'm tech-fluent and was used to dealing with and explaining things to all different kinds of people so my experience came in handy," he said. "It was actually a fun experience."

DiLorenzo got a promotion to a poll site coordinator in 2013 at P.S. 36 on Jefferson Avenue.

The 2013 election was more hectic than elections past because of Hurricane Sandy. It was during this time Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a State of Emergency and allowed all affidavit ballots to be accepted at any polling site, he explained.

No long after, DiLorenzo read about a vacancy at the Board of Elections via their website for a poll worker trainer.

"[The supervisor] took a chance on me," he said.

Over the course of five days and 40 hours, DiLorenzo learned terminology, policy, procedures, and how to train others.

"They expect you to know the books of what you're teaching backwards and forwards. You are the one teaching volunteer poll workers; you have to make sure they go out and do the best job that they can without screwing up -- because it will come back to their training and that's you," he said.

PUT A LITTLE COMEDY INTO IT

DiLorenzo knows that sitting in a classroom for six hours can be a bore -- so he said he puts a little bit of comedy into his training to help keep people engaged.

"It's not a variety show but sometimes that's how you have to treat it. Your audience is your classroom and you need to make it somewhat enjoyable to keep them engaged," DiLorenzo said.

"Not everybody is going to take to you but for six hours, I hope I can entertain you enough so when my test grades are totaled up it doesn't look like I was a failure," he said.

He said some people still fall asleep in class but test scores average in the high 80s to low 90s - management approves of his teaching technique, too.

In addition to training, he's also responsible for making sure training rooms are fully stocked, all of the machines are working properly, disciplining and re-training workers who have had issues and the occasional special project.

DOESN'T WANT TO STRUGGLE LIKE HIS FRIENDS

It may not be where he saw himself six years out of college, but DiLorenzo said he couldn't be happier.

"The fact is I'm employed and I'm happy; that's all that matters to me," DiLorenzo said.

"I have friends and I see them struggle. It's real," he said. "And I give credit to all of my friends who are artists and pursue their dreams but I need stability."

DiLorenzo helps his father raise his 7-year-old nephew Marco and wants to set a good example for him.

"I live in the most competitive market from a broadcast point of view and there's no sense for me right now to go and change what's been good to me so I can pursue [something else]. Broadcasting is a fickle process and to be a successful broadcaster, you have to travel to these low-market states and become a weekend anchor, and do well to get noticed, and then maybe you can come back to New York. I want to be home," he said.

But he hasn't completely given up on the idea.

"If opportunity knocked, I'd answer the door," he said.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A World War II veteran and community servant from West Brighton died Sunday at the age of 99.

William A. Morris Jr. died at home surrounded by his family, his daughter, 2017 Advance Woman of Achievement Dolores N. Morris, said.

"He was my hero. He taught me so much," she said. "He was probably one of the strongest people I've ever met."

Morris was born in 1919, and could trace his family heritage to the last slave sold on Staten Island in the 1700s, according to his family.

His father, William A. Morris Sr., founded and became the first president of the Staten Island chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Morris Intermediate School (I.S. 61) in West Brighton is named in his honor.

The younger Morris graduated from PS 18 in West Brighton, Port Richmond High School and Wagner College before his service in the U.S. Army.

WORLD WAR II VETERAN

In World War II, Morris served in both the European and Pacific theaters, and participated in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge.

Dolores Morris wrote about her father's service in her 2015 book, "The Soldier that Wagged Her Tail."

Morris served five years in the Army, and retired as a sergeant of the 369th Infantry Division, according to his family.

Locals honored Morris multiple time for his service. The PS 19 park in West Brighton was named for him in 2017.

And officials awarded him the Albert V. Maniscalco Community Service Award in 2016. That award was also given for the work he did when he returned home from the Army.

"Last year, I met William Morris and was amazed by his life story. He is one of the most remarkable gentlemen I have ever met," Borough President James Oddo said at the time the award was given.

"At 96 years old, he has not stopped giving back to the community. From his heroic service in World War II to his continued charitable work here at home, I can think of no one more deserving of this award."

A SPECIAL LEAGUE

Dolores said her father felt his creation of the Morris Softball League was some of his most important work.

He founded the league at the PS 19 park that would later be named for him, and it served nearly 900 kids every summer from 1973 to 1990.

"It was really about getting diverse groups of kids to play ball, to learn fairness and play," she said. "He was very, very keen of having kids play together and learn to respect each other."

Morris and his wife of 74 years, Norice Allen Morris, raised four children and two foster children. The couple actively participated at the Faith United Methodist Church in Port Richmond.

The two founded and ran the church's food pantry for over 40 years, and served as church lay leaders for over 30 years, according to his family.

Morris also served as a Boy Scout leader of Troop 47 for 35 years. The couple received the Silver Beaver -- the highest award of service and scouting.

District Attorney Michael E. McMahon, who was a city councilman at the time, bestowed a proclamation on Morris in 2007 for his service to the community.

'A LEGEND'

"He was a legend. I can say that, because I think many people will echo the sentiment," Dolores said.

Morris is survived by his wife, his daughters Dolores and Joan M Morris, his son William A. Morris III, foster sons Ben and Christopher Greene, four grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

A wake will be held Thursday from 3 to 7:30 p.m. at Faith United Methodist Church, located at 221 Heberton Ave. A funeral will be held there Friday after the final viewing from 10 to 10:30 a.m.

Morris will be buried at Fairview Cemetery on Victory Boulevard in Castleton Corners.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donation be made to the Faith United Methodist Memorial Fund.
(Civil Servants: This is part of a periodic series on city workers who call Staten Island home.)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's been 17 years since John Catapano retired from the FDNY, but he remembers the first big fire he fought like it was yesterday.

Catapano said his time working for the FDNY were the best years of his life, but nothing could prepare him for the feeling of leaving the department he put his life on the line for.

Now retired, he should be enjoying his free time.

Instead, surgeries, a divorce, and 9/11-related injuries have left him with chronic pain and in debt. He worries every day how he will continue to make ends meet.

"[Despite everything] I did; I loved the job. I loved being a fireman. They were great guys and it was a great job," Catapano said, recalling his time on the job from his Oakwood home.

"I think one of the mistakes I made was never talking about the job at home. I wouldn't let my friends talk about it and I wouldn't talk about it either," he said.

"But of course I was scared," he said.

'I SAVED A LITTLE GIRL THAT DAY'

The location was familiar -- Zito's Bakery in Greenwich Village; a place where Engine Company 18 would frequent for bread, rolls, and donuts.

"We never paid a dime; we couldn't, even if we tried," Catapano said.

Catapano remembers crawling into the blaze on his stomach before his lieutenant began pushing him backwards, telling him and the other fireman to exit the building.

As soon as they exited the building, it was incinerated.

"Hey Lou, how do I know when the fire is going to light up like that and we need to get out? I need to know,'" Catapano remembers asking. He was on the job for six months at the time.

"'When you feel my feet running over your chest; that's when you know it's time to get out.' I said 'Oh, that's nice,'" he said with a laugh.

He said leadership from lieutenants like Lou, and fellow firefighters, helped him not fear anything -- even death.

"My captain used to joke around at role call and tell me not to die tonight," he said, laughing.

Catapano was halfway up an aerial ladder when his captain called him down.

"He told me what to expect; he said it's going to feel like somebody threw a blanket over my head," he said. He was still in his first year on the job.

His captain had a feeling the roof wasn't vented and told Catapano to search the apartment, find the door leading to the staircase to the roof. He was instructed to open the roof door, which would help vent the apartment and get the heavy smoke out.

"He was right; [the roof] wasn't vented and had he not given me a few minutes to tell me exactly what to do...who knows," he recalled, getting up to light a cigarette. "I ended up saving a little girl that day."

It wasn't long after the advice that may have saved his life when a blast sent him tumbling down a ladder for three stories, throwing him on top of a fire truck.

"I broke my lower back and didn't know it. I didn't feel the pain; you don't have time to feel the pain with all of the adrenaline," Catapano said.

He found out about the injury one month later when he went to get an adjustment from a chiropractor to help with the pain.

"He said he couldn't help me, so I went back to work; I was too young to get off the job. I lived with this break for a long time," he said.

VOLUNTEERING AT GROUND ZERO

When two planes struck the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Catapano headed to downtown Manhattan, like many others, to assist in searching for victims.

His engine company lost 12 men that day. He had retired just seven months prior.

He spent a month at Ground Zero.

His time there came to an end when he was unearthing a large piece of steel when he felt a sharp pain. Then, his arms and hands went numb.

"It was like chaos," Catapano said, describing the conditions. "There were no face masks; who knew what we were all breathing in," he said.

He ultimately had to have his uvula -- the piece of flesh that hangs above your throat -- removed but he said that was the least of his problems.

Further testing revealed a bilateral pinched nerve in his neck.

It took Catapano a long time to find a doctor, surgeon and treatment plan that worked for him. Numerous doctors recommended surgeries, like a disc fusion in his neck, that would have left him "like a robot."

And he's not alone -- dozens of his friends and fellow fireman have suffered 9/11-related injuries.

"I'm tired of going to wakes. I used to be able to go to these things and move forward but I've been to so many of them now. I couldn't even go to the funeral for George Froehlich; only the wake. I was so shook up," he said.

Froehlich, long-time owner of Duffy's Tavern in West Brighton, and retired firefighter, died on March 29 after a long battle with prostate cancer.

'IT WAS A CRAZY JOB'

Catapano was a driver on the tiller -- a ladder truck that has a rear steering position in addition to the driver up front. The double steering allows the truck to navigate sharp turns easier than a standard truck.

A lot of men didn't want to drive the tiller because there was no heat in the back of the truck, he explained, but somebody suggested that he try it out.

"They told me, 'Just turn the opposite way of the guy in the front,'" he said. It seemed simple enough but he was still afraid of killing somebody standing on a corner or scraping a car.

"A lot, a lot of cars lost mirrors," he said, laughing.

"I became, I think, one of the best [tiller drivers] in the city. There was only one other guy who was as good as me. It was my mission to be the best in the city," he said.

Despite constant pain which he says has taken his laughter away, Catapano recalls his time as one of "New York's Bravest" and steering the tiller with a smile.
Hope and despair: key moments in hunt for MH370



Kuala Lumpur, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, and the enormous hunt that followed, has captured global attention since the jet vanished off radar screens in 2014.

Here's a timeline of key events in the search for the Boeing 777:



- 'Goodnight Malaysian 370' -



On March 8, 2014, Flight 370 departs Kuala Lumpur at 12:42 am, bound for Beijing with 239 people -- mostly from China -- on board.

It vanishes from Malaysian civilian radar at 1:30 am but continues to blip on military radar for another 45 minutes before disappearing entirely.

The final words from the cockpit are: "Goodnight Malaysian Three Seven Zero."



- Where in the world is MH370? -



Chaos and confusion reign in the first weeks. Initial radar data sends searchers looking for the plane in the Gulf of Thailand, the South China Sea, the Straits of Malacca and the Andaman Sea.

Available clues to locate the plane are limited.

Those searching for the jet are forced to use transmissions between it and satellites as well as calculations about how much fuel is on board to try to pinpoint where the aircraft could have crashed.

Malaysia's air force chief initially says the plane may have turned back towards Kuala Lumpur for no apparent reason, citing radar data.

A week later, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announces that the plane appears to have flown for hours, veering sharply off-route at roughly the same time that its communications system and transponder were manually switched off.



- Indian Ocean hunt -



Analysis of satellite communications with the aircraft shows the flight ended somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia.

Australia takes charge of the what is to become the biggest search in aviation history, which is to involve more than dozen countries.

A US-supplied "black box" detector begins scanning the suspected crash zone but no signals are detected within the locator beacons' one-month battery life.

Australia expands the search area and the focus shifts for several months to mapping the uncharted seafloor before searching can resume.

In January 2015, Malaysia's government declares MH370's passengers and crew "presumed dead", angering next of kin who demand proof.

In April, more than a year after the plane goes missing, Malaysia, Australia and China say the oceanic search area for MH370 will double in size to 120,000 square kilometres (46,000 square miles).

Search teams from Dutch outfit Fugro rely mainly on towed drones, which collect data as they are dragged along the ocean floor.

Several leads, including floating debris and oil slicks, raise hopes but all turn out to be not from the plane.



- Debris off Africa -



On July 29, 2015, a piece of aircraft debris is found by a beachcomber on the shores of the French island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.

It is sent to France for analysis and the two-metre wing part, known as a flaperon, is later confirmed to be from MH370.

In September 2016, Malaysia confirms another piece of aircraft found off Tanzania is from MH370, and a separate piece of wing from the plane is later found off Mauritius.

Other pieces of debris that turn up on various Indian Ocean shorelines off eastern Africa are also believed to have come from the aircraft.



- Search suspended, then new hope -



On January 17, 2017, the Australian-led search is suspended, nearly three years after the plane vanished.

Scientists, however, identify an area of about 25,000 square kilometres in the Indian Ocean, north of the original search zone, that they now believe is the most likely crash site.

On January 10, 2018, Malaysia enters into a deal with a US-based private seabed exploration firm, Ocean Infinity.

The firm agrees to lead a new hunt lasting for 90 days and will only be paid if they find the jet's wreckage or black boxes.

Their search covers an area of 112,000 square kilometres -- including the new area identified by scientists -- but turns up nothing.

Ocean Infinity announced Tuesday that its hunt will end within days.

mba/sr/qan

FUGRO
Panama-China to open trade talks



Panama City, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



China and Panama will begin negotiations on a free trade agreement in the first half of July, the Central American country's Commerce Minister Augusto Arosemena said Tuesday.

"The first round of negotiations will be in the month of July in Panama and then it will take the number of rounds it takes to negotiate an accord that is beneficial for both countries," Arosemena told journalists.

Panama switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China last year.

Since then, both countries have signed a score of cooperation agreements on economic, commercial, migration, customs and education.

Panama is eyeing potential exports of coffee, fruit, cocao and seafood to the world's largest market.

The minister said he was confident "of making a negotiation that is win-win with the People's Republic of China which will allow us to open the market and receive foreign investment."

Exports to China have already grown 10 percent in the first quarter this year compared to last year, he said.
Page Content

The Council of Ministers has appointed Mr. Marcel Gumbs as the representative of Sint Maarten to the Steering Committee of the World Bank Trust Fund. Under the Trust Fund, decisions on the financing of recovery and resilience projects are made by the Steering Committee, in which Sint Maarten, the World Bank and the Netherlands will be equally represented.





In the next seven years, the Trust Fund will channel 470 million euros (about US$580 million) to support the recovery of Sint Maarten and to increase the countrys resilience following the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma & Maria.





This week Mr. Gumbs will meet with Mr. Frans Weekers, the representative of the Netherlands to the Steering Committee. On June 12th, the Prime Minister and Mr. Gumbs will travel to Washington for the first meeting of the Steering Committee in order to discuss ongoing and future recovery projects that may be financed by the Trust Fund.





Photo caption  Mr. Marcel Gumbs and Prime Minister Leona Romeo-Marlin




PHILIPSBURG:--- The Council of Ministers has appointed Mr. Marcel Gumbs as the representative of Sint Maarten to the Steering Committee of the World Bank Trust Fund. Under the Trust Fund, decisions on the financing of recovery and resilience projects are made by the Steering Committee, in which Sint Maarten, the World Bank and the Netherlands will be equally represented.

In the next seven years, the Trust Fund will channel 470 million euros (about US$580 million) to support the recovery of Sint Maarten and to increase the countrys resilience following the devastation caused by Hurricane Irma & Maria.

This week Mr. Gumbs will meet with Mr. Frans Weekers, the representative of the Netherlands to the Steering Committee. On June 12th, the Prime Minister and Mr. Gumbs will travel to Washington for the first meeting of the Steering Committee in order to discuss ongoing and future recovery projects that may be financed by the Trust Fund.
PHILIPSBURG:--- The official Safety and Emergency Response Guidelines for Schools (SERG) was dispatched the week of May 21st by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport to all schools as one policy within the larger MECYS Resilience Plan. The Resilience plan was created after Hurricane Irma to ensure that the education sector will be more effectively prepared to respond to and recover from disasters and crises.

Developed in collaboration with various school boards, community stakeholders and with technical support from UNICEF Netherlands, the SERG lays out a number of quality standards and procedures for safety preparedness and emergency response within St. Maartens schools. Although schools are not traditional response organizations, when an emergency occurs, school personnel and students must respond immediately. In addition to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and hurricanes, a schools environment is also relatively hazard and threat-prone. Threats such as gang violence or technological hazards such as an explosions or gas leaks may occur within a school at any time. This is why it is imperative that in each educational institution on St. Maarten, its staff and students, are fully aware of the steps involved in dealing effectively with an emergency and are always prepared to respond accordingly, contact the relevant authorities and take safety measures when necessary.

Each school will be required, in addition to developing their own personalized School Safety and Emergency Plan, to establish a school Safety and Emergency Team (SET). The SET is responsible for establishing a warning system in the school, creating awareness of safety within the school, keeping updated contact lists for medical support professionals and ensure that first aid equipment is maintained, amongst other tasks.

The SERG was also created to foster an improved culture of safety in schools as well as act as the first step towards the development of a larger comprehensive school safety plan that will take into account long term issues related to building standards, disaster risk reduction education and sustainable approaches to sector development.
GENEVA (ILO News):--- The Director-General of the International Labour Organization, Guy Ryder, warned of heightened tension in the world as he addressed the opening of the 107th session of the International Labour Conference (ILC).

He urged delegates to show the spirit of tripartism, compromise, and consensus, which, he said, is a precondition of success for the Conference and of the ILO.

Ryder spoke of the growing challenge to international cooperation through multilateralism. Referring to a new brutalism in the world, he expressed his firm belief that our Organization and our Conference must be a bulwark against such contagion, by its own conduct and by the results it achieves.

In this environment, he said, the Conference discussion on social dialogue is timely and an opportunity to sharpen it as an instrument for dealing with the transformations taking place in the world of work.

On workplace violence and harassment, the Director-General called on delegates to open the way for guarantees of workplaces entirely free of violence and harassment.

Underscoring the need for action against all forms of violence and harassment at work, including sexual harassment  which has been brought into sharp focus by the 'Me Too' campaign  he encouraged delegates to produce results which will really make the difference: Our answer to the ever more vocal call for action must be 'Us Too', he said.

During the Conference, a committee of workers, employers and government representatives will hold a first discussion on possible new standards to fight violence and harassment at work .

Looking ahead, Ryder announced a major report to be published by the Global Commission on the Future of Work early next year, adding that the future of work also means the future of the ILO.

Ryder also introduced his report on The Women at Work Initiative: The push for Equality , which calls for innovative action to close the persistent gender gap. His annual report on The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories , had little positive to report on the labour situation but he pointed out the potential of ILO action bringing some improvement to the realities faced by working people there.

The ILC will discuss ILO development cooperation in the context of UN Reform. The Conference Committee on the Application of Standards will address the situation of labour rights in countries around the globe and discuss a general survey on standards related to working time, reflecting the experience of member States.

On 1 June, Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia and Nobel Peace Prize winner, will address the Conference.

On 7 June, a high-level World of Work Summit will discuss the role of jobs and decent work in securing peace and stability in countries emerging from crisis, conflict and disaster. The Prime Minister of Iraq, Haider al-Abadi, and the Presidents of the Central African Republic, Faustin-Archange Touadera, and of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, will also address the Conference on the Summit day.

The first day of the Conference saw Samir Murad, Minister of Labour of Jordan, elected President of the Conference over its duration from 28 May to 8 June.

The Conference elected as Vice-Presidents Jean-Jacques Elmiger (Governments) from Switzerland, Khalifa Khamis Mattar (Employers) from the United Arab Emirates and Akiko Gono (Workers) from Japan.

The International Labour Conference sets the broad policies of the International Labour Organization and meets once a year in Geneva, Switzerland. The annual world parliament of labour brings together more than 5,000 government, worker and employer delegates from the ILOs 187 member States.
John Cox, Previously Endorsed by Donald Trump, Wins Republican Backing

John Herman Cox is an American accountant, businessman, broadcaster, attorney, and politician. He is a Republican candidate in the California gubernatorial election, 2018

At today's meeting the members of the Southern California Republican Women and Men voted by a two-thirds majority to endorse John Cox to be the next Governor of California, the Group announced.

Advertisement"We consider it critically important that a Republican make it to the top 2 on June 5. While some of us may have preferred Travis Allen, we recognize the necessity of unifying behind the Republican candidate who has objectively established a decisive lead. A THIRD-PLACE FINISH BEHIND ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA IS NOT AN OPTION!"warned the group in a statement.

A Republican at the top of the November ticket is necessary for its own sake, but also is critical to boosting our down-ticket candidates, who may otherwise be massacred. Additional candidates endorsed by vote of two-thirds of members present:

Attorney General: Steven Bailey

Secretary of State: Mark Meuser

Lieutenant Governor: David Hernandez (Note that there are 2 Hernandez's running for Lieutenant Governor. DO NOT VOTE FOR ED THE DEMOCRAT!) VOTE DAVID Hernandez.

U.S. Senate: Tom Palzer

State Senate, District 18: Brandon Saario

Los Angeles County Sheriff: No Endorsement.

Incumbent Jim McDonnell: see http://sheriffjimmcdonnell.com

Challenger Robert Lindsey: see http://sheriffboblindsey.com

PROPOSITIONS AND JUDGES

In addition to the above endorsements, the following propositions and judgeships were discussed and recommendations are made without a formal vote, based on surveys of respected sources such as Craig Huey, Gary Aminoff, the Pacific Palisades Republican Club and Tim Donnelly.

Propositions:

Proposition 68: No

Proposition 69: No

Proposition 70: No

Proposition 71: Craig Huey says Yes, Tim Donnelley says No

Proposition 72: Yes

Judges:

County of Los Angeles; Office 4

Alfred A. Coletta (present at the meeting to address the members and guests)

County of Los Angeles; Office 16

Hubert S. Yun

County of Los Angeles; Office 20

Mary Ann Escalante (present at the meeting to address the members and guests)

County of Los Angeles; Office 63

Malcolm Mackey

County of Los Angeles; Office 67

Dennis P. Vincent

County of Los Angeles; Office 71

David A. Berger: 9 (JI: 10, Q: 8)

County of Los Angeles; Office 113

Craig Huey recommends Steven Schreiner

Various members recommend Michael P. Ribons, who has attended our meeting in the past

County of Los Angeles; Office 118

Troy Davis

County of Los Angeles; Office 126

Ken Fuller

County of Los Angeles; Office 146

Emily Theresa Spear

TWO ADDITIONAL GUIDELINES:

1) SCRW&M strongly recommends that you do NOT mail in your ballot. If you have a mailable ballot, take it to the polling place on Election Day, hand it to the staff and verify that you see them drop it into the box. There is credible concern of fraud related to mail-in ballots. See https://www.electionintegrityproject.com

2) Finally, DO NOT FOLLOW THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF SLATE FLYERS DELIVERED BY THE U.S. POSTAL SERVICE! Read the very very fine print. These are NOT endorsed by any official Republican Party organization; they are simply advertising that the candidates pay for. Some may be legit, but many are Trojan Horses, paid for by Democrats. Don't be fooled by clever phrases like "Republican Revolution" and photos of Ronald Reagan. As one of our members demonstrated today at the meeting, one mailer titled "Democrat" an another titled "Republican" were 90% identical and obviously came from the same print shop.
Top North Korean general on way to US ahead of summit: report



Seoul, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



A top North Korean general is headed for the United States in what would be the highest-profile visit in years, reports said Tuesday as the two countries prepare for a momentous summit.

General Kim Yong Chol landed at Beijing airport on Tuesday and will journey on to New York the following day after talks with Chinese officials, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency, which cited diplomatic sources.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy as preparations gather pace for the on-again, off-again summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on June 12.

US negotiators, headed by Washington's current ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, met with North Korean counterparts in the truce village of Panmunjom that divides the two Koreas on Sunday.

The State Department said a separate team of White House officials has also headed to Singapore to sort out logistics for the historic meeting.

Chung Sung-yoon, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim Yong Chol would be the most senior North Korean official to step onto US soil since Vice Marshall Jo Myong Rok met President Bill Clinton in 2000.

The general has long been a right hand man to North Korea's leader, playing a front-seat role during recent rounds of diplomacy aimed at ending the nuclear stalemate on the Korean peninsula.

He sat next to Trump's daughter Ivanka, who is also a White House aide, during the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang which was a turning point in the nuclear crisis.

He also accompanied Kim Jong Un on both of his recent trips to China to meet President Xi Jinping and held talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he travelled to Pyongyang.

"Kim's official counterpart is Pompeo but he may also push for meetings with (National Security Advisor John) Bolton and even Trump if possible," Chung told AFP.

General Kim, whose official title is vice-chairman of the central committee of North Korea's Workers' Party, has a background in military and civilian intelligence agencies and is a deeply controversial figure in South Korea.

Seoul blames him for masterminding the 2010 sinking of the South Korean navy corvette the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, an attack North Korea denies playing any role in.

Relatives of those who died protested his presence at the Winter Olympics earlier this year.

From 2009 to 2016 he was also director of North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau, the unit tasked with cyber warfare and intelligence gathering.

During that period North Korea ramped up its hacking programmes, including a hugely costly penetration of Sony Pictures that was seen as an attempt to stop the release of an American comedy film poking fun at the Kim Jong Un regime.
Afghan special forces kill nine civilians: officials



Jalalabad, Afghanistan, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



Afghan special forces have killed nine civilians in an apparently botched operation in the eastern province of Nangarhar, officials said Tuesday.

The victims were related to Afghan Senate chairman Fazel Hadi Muslimyaar, provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.

"A delegation from Kabul has been sent to Nangarhar to investigate the incident," he added.

The provincial health director confirmed the dead and wounded were brought to local hospitals in Jalalabad.

Details of the attack late Monday in Chaparhar district remained unclear and there was no immediate comment from the defence ministry. The Senate is parliament's upper house.

Civilian casualties remain high in Afghanistan's grinding conflict with more than 10,000 killed or wounded in 2017, according to the UN.

The majority of casualties were caused by the Taliban and other militants.

But pro-government forces, including international troops, were responsible for 20 percent of the civilian casualties last year -- a seven percent increase from 2016.

The increase was partly due to a growing number of aerial bombings by Afghan and foreign forces, the UN said.

The US is the only international force known to be carrying out air strikes in Afghanistan.

Earlier this month President Ashraf Ghani apologised after the UN released a blistering report into an Afghan Air Force strike in Kunduz on April 2 which killed 36 people including 30 children.

The UN investigators could not confirm if the casualties in that incident were all civilians.
Trump confirms senior N.Korean official en route to US



Washington, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that a senior North Korean official is en route to New York as part of preparations for a planned summit with leader Kim Jong Un.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump wrote in a tweet.

General Kim Yong Chol landed at Beijing airport on Tuesday and will continue on to New York the following day after talks with Chinese officials, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported earlier, quoting diplomatic sources.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy as preparations gather pace for the on-again, off-again summit between Trump and North Korea's leader, scheduled to take place in Singapore on June 12.
Top North Korean general on way to US ahead of summit



Seoul, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that a senior North Korean official is headed to New York for talks as preparations for his historic summit with Kim Jong Un gather pace.

"Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump wrote in a tweet, hailing the formation of a "great team" for the talks.

General Kim Yong Chol landed at Beijing airport on Tuesday and will journey on to New York the following day after talks with Chinese officials, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy before the on-again, off-again summit originally scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

Trump cancelled the talks last week, citing "open hostility" from the North, but since then both sides have dialled down the rhetoric and the process appears to be back on track.

US negotiators, headed by Washington's current ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, met North Korean counterparts in the truce village of Panmunjom that divides the two Koreas on Sunday.

The State Department said a separate team of White House officials has headed to Singapore to sort out logistics.

Chung Sung-yoon, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim Yong Chol would be the most senior North Korean official to step onto US soil since Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok met President Bill Clinton in 2000.

The general has long been a right-hand man to North Korea's leader, playing a front-seat role during recent rounds of diplomacy aimed at ending the nuclear stalemate on the Korean peninsula.

He sat next to Trump's daughter Ivanka, who is also a White House aide, during February's closing ceremony for the Winter Olympics in the South Korean resort of Pyeongchang which was a turning point in the nuclear crisis.

He also accompanied Kim Jong Un on both of his recent trips to China to meet President Xi Jinping, and held talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when he travelled to Pyongyang.

"Kim's official counterpart is Pompeo but he may also push for meetings with (National Security Advisor John) Bolton and even Trump if possible," Chung told AFP.



- Controversial figure -



General Kim is a deeply controversial figure in South Korea, where he is blamed for masterminding the 2010 sinking of the navy corvette the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, an attack for which North Korea denies responsibility.

From 2009 to 2016 he was also director of North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau, the unit tasked with cyber warfare and intelligence gathering.

During that period North Korea ramped up its hacking programmes, including a hugely costly penetration of Sony Pictures.

His journey to the US caps a frenetic few days of meetings between North Korean and American officials.

Japanese broadcaster NHK reported that Kim Chang Son, Kim Jong Un's de facto chief of staff, arrived in Singapore on Monday, showing footage of him at the airport escorted by three bodyguards.

China's state Xinhua news agency also said one of its photographers saw Kim Chang Son leave a hotel in the city-state.

Also on Monday, a US government aircraft carrying a delegation including Joe Hagin, the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, departed from Yokota air base in Japan en route for Singapore, NHK added.

The Washington Post reported that talks inside the Demilitarised Zone would continue this week between US and North Korean officials.

South Korean media broadcast footage of US embassy vehicles, including one carrying Sung Kim, leaving a Seoul hotel on Tuesday but there were no details on whether the convoy was heading back to the DMZ.

If the original date stands, officials have only a fortnight to finalise thorny protocol details such as where in Singapore the talks will take place and how internationally sanctioned North Korean officials will travel there.

The key task is to settle the agenda. The main stumbling block is likely to be the concept of "denuclearisation" -- both sides say they want it, but there is a yawning gap between their definitions.

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.

But analysts believe North Korea will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given security guarantees that the US will not try to topple the regime.
Poland proposes to help fund US troops in country: ministry



Warsaw, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



Poland has a proposal to welcome a permanent deployment of US troops to the country, including helping to defray the costs, the defence ministry confirmed Tuesday, amid fears over recent aggression by neighbouring Russia.

Pawel Soloch, head of the office of national security at the Polish presidency, had revealed in a television interview that a defence ministry "information document" showed that Poland could spend between $1.5 to $2 billion (1.3 to 1.7 billion euros) to help cover the cost of a US tank unit.

"Yes, we are interested in the presence of American forces in our country and we have submitted -- including to think tanks -- some options that we could offer if such decisions were adopted," Soloch said.

Contacted by AFP, the defence ministry confirmed the "Proposal for a US Permanent Presence in Poland", which has been passed on to several governmental institutions, Congress and main think-tanks.

Moscow's annexation of Crimea and involvement in the insurgency in eastern Ukraine have raised concerns among NATO member countries like Poland which border Russia about increased aggression.

The proposal published in the Polish media triggered an immediate response from Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that "the progressive expansion of NATO military structures near our borders... will not benefit in any way the security and stability on the continent" and will lead "to reciprocal measures by Russia to restore the balance (of power) each time it is violated".

According to the document published by Onet.pl, the Polish funds would be used to improve infrastructure ahead of the potential arrival of American soldiers.

Some elements of a US tank brigade were deployed to Poland on a temporary basis in January 2017 as part of measures to reassure countries in the region bordering Russia.

Poland has also received the support of a multinational NATO battalion under US command.
Summit preparations intensify with Pompeo, top North Korean to meet



Washington, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet in New York this week with a top North Korean general amid intensifying US-North Korean summit preparations, the White House said Tuesday.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders also announced that President Donald Trump will host a meeting with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe June 7, a week before the Singapore summit.

"Since the president's May 24th letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the North Koreans have been engaging," Sanders said.

"The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore," she said.

The Trump-Kim summit is set for June 12, back on schedule after the US president briefly pulled out, with officials now scrambling to get ready.

Kim Yong Chol, the North Korean leader's right hand man, was expected to arrive Wednesday in New York where he will meet later this week with Pompeo, Sanders said.

"President Trump will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June 7th here at the White House," she said.
Top North Korean general on way to US ahead of summit



Washington, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



A senior North Korean official was bound for New York for high-level talks with US officials on Tuesday as preparations for a historic nuclear summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un gathered pace.

General Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the central committee of the Workers' Party and right hand man to Kim, will meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York "later this week," the White House said.

Trump confirmed the general was on his way in a tweet and boasted that Washington would have a "great team" for the talks on resolving the old foes' nuclear stand-off, which he still hopes will take place on June 12 in Singapore.

"Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump wrote.

Trump will also meet Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington on June 7, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said.

"Since the President's May 24 letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the North Koreans have been engaging," she said.

"The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore."

A spokesman for the North Korean mission to the United Nations said he was unable to confirm that the general was on his way to New York but added that "preparation for the summit is proceeding at the highest level."

The North Korean envoy landed at Beijing airport on Tuesday and was to meet with Chinese officials before travelling on to the United States on Wednesday, according to South Korea's Yonhap news agency.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy before the on-again, off-again summit.



- Truce village -



Trump briefly cancelled the talks last week, citing "open hostility" from the North, but since then both sides have dialed down the rhetoric and the process appears to be back on track.

On Sunday, US negotiators, headed by Washington's ambassador to the Philippines Sung Kim, began meeting North Korean counterparts in the truce village of Panmunjom that divides the two Koreas.

"They plan to have additional meetings this week," Sanders said.

"Separately, Joe Hagin, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and the US pre-advance team are in Singapore coordinating the logistics of the expected summit."

Chung Sung-yoon, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim Yong Chol would be the most senior North Korean on US soil since Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok met then president Bill Clinton in 2000.

The general has played a front-seat role during recent rounds of diplomacy aimed at ending the nuclear stalemate on the Korean peninsula.

He sat next to Trump's daughter Ivanka, who is also a White House aide, during February's closing ceremony for the Winter Olympics in South Korea, an event that was seen as a turning point in the nuclear crisis.

He also accompanied Kim Jong Un on both of his recent trips to China to meet President Xi Jinping, and held talks with Pompeo when he travelled to Pyongyang.



- Yawning gap -



General Kim is a notorious figure in South Korea, where he is blamed for masterminding the 2010 sinking of the navy corvette the Cheonan, which killed 46 sailors, an attack for which North Korea denies responsibility.

From 2009 to 2016 he was also director of North Korea's General Reconnaissance Bureau, the unit tasked with cyber warfare and intelligence gathering.

During that period North Korea ramped up its hacking programs, including a hugely costly penetration of Sony Pictures.

His journey to the US caps a frenetic few days of meetings between North Korean and American officials.

Japanese broadcaster NHK showed footage of Kim Chang Son, Kim Jong Un's de facto chief of staff, arriving in Singapore on Monday, escorted by three bodyguards.

An AFP photographer saw Kim entering Singapore's luxury Fullerton hotel Tuesday and leaving some 30 minutes later in a three-vehicle convoy.

If the June 12 date stands, officials have only a fortnight to finalize details such as where in Singapore the talks will take place and how internationally sanctioned North Korean officials will travel there.

The key task is to settle the agenda. The main stumbling block is likely to be the concept of "denuclearization" -- both sides say they want it, but there is a yawning gap between their definitions.

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.

But analysts believe North Korea will be unwilling to cede its nuclear deterrent unless it is given security guarantees that the US will not try to topple the regime.
Latvia convicts ex-railway worker of spying for Russia



Riga, May 29 (AFP) May 29, 2018



A Latvian court on Tuesday convicted a former railway worker of spying for Russia, sentencing him to 18 months behind bars for sharing classified information on NATO troops and heavy equipment being moved by rail.

Aleksandrs Krasnopjorovs, an ethnic Russian and former Soviet Red Army soldier who served in Afghanistan during the 1980s, worked for Latvian state railways and had access to its network of surveillance cameras.

He was found guilty of recording videos of NATO troops and cargo being moved by rail -- images considered to be classified -- and then sending them to contacts in Russia.

Krasnopjorovs pleaded not guilty and his lawyer vowed to appeal the verdict.

Latvia hosts one of four NATO battle groups deployed to the three Baltic states and Poland to reinforce the alliance's eastern flank, particularly since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Krasnopjorovs made the recordings between October 2015 and September 2016 when troops from Canada, Poland, United States and other NATO member countries arrived in Latvia along with heavy equipment that was transported mostly by rail.

Krasnopjorovs, who lost his railway job after being arrested in late 2016, spent more than a year in pre-trial detention and so will now only be required to serve three months of the sentence he was handed on Tuesday.

Along with the jail time, the court also sentenced him to 60 hours of community service and 18 months probation, plus covering the court expenses. He was also found guilty of possessing explosives.

The conviction is the first of its kind after Latvia tightened legislation on what constitutes espionage and treason or terrorist activity in the wake of Crimea's annexation.

A Baltic eurozone and NATO state, Latvia has a large ethnic Russian minority accounting for about a quarter of its 1.9 million people.
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Windhoek (Namibia), May 29, 2018 (SPS) - The President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Secretary General of the Frente POLISARIO, Brahim Gali, held a meeting with the President of Namibia, Hage Geingob, on Monday in framework of the state visit to Namibia at the invititation of his counterpart President Hage Geingob.

The meeting highlighted the historic relations that unite the two countries, as well as their successive national liberation movements, the Frente POLISARIO and SWAPO, which stands out for its support for the legitimate struggle of the Saharawi people for their self-determination and independence.

The high-level bilateral meeting also addressed the recent resolution 2414 of the United Nations Security Council, adopted last April, which forced the parties to the conflict, the Frente POLISARIO and the Kingdom of Morocco, to start direct negotiations in order to reach a just solution that will culminate in the holding of a referendum on self-determination of the Saharawi people.SPS

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Bir Lahlou, May 29, 2018 (SPS) - The President of the Republic, Secretary-General of the Frente POLISARIO, Mr. Brahim Gali, has congratulated Mrs. Mia Mottley on her election as Prime Minister of Barbados in the elections held on Thursday.

On behalf of the Government and people of Western Sahara and on my own behalf , I would like to convey our warm congratulations to Mrs. Mia Mottley, extending his best wishes for successful tenure of office, and further progress and prosperity for the people of that great nation. Sahrawi President says in his letter of congratulation

the trust placed in the elected Prime Minister by Barbadians people will strengthen Mia Mottley resolve to achieve significant achievements that serve the people of Barbados expressing his hope in the enhancement of bilateral relation between Barbados and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic Gali adds in his letter SPS

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Travel writer Janice Nieder shares her experience traveling across Costa Rica. Read on for travel tips and advice, plus a surprise or two as Janices adventure begins on Stark Insider 

Bookended between Costa Ricas Caribbean and Pacific coasts, visitors will find some of the worlds most immaculate beaches, volcanoes, dramatic waterfalls, and dense rain forests brimming with exotic flora and fauna. Amazingly, this teeny country (about the size of West Virginia) is home to approximately two-thirds of all living animal and plant species on the planet!

Costa Rica has long been a leader in green travel, emphasizing eco tourism, sustainability, environmental and social responsibility. While these are extremely important, note-worthy causes, they often were relegated to backpacking and budget hostel stays, which so is NOT my thing. That is why I was thrilled to discover Small Distinctive Hotels, a group of eight privately owned boutique properties sprinkled throughout the country so you travel forest-green without sacrificing style or comfort. Since most are within a two-hour drive of each other you can easily plan your trip by hopscotching between these unique properties making it easy to experience Pura Vida (the pure way of life) in high style!

Inclusion in the upscale Small Distinctive Hotel group is akin to receiving The Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for luxury hotels in Costa Rica. After staying in five SDH properties, I can attest that each property is considered one of the best in their geographical area, with less than 60 rooms, has a hands-on owner (which accounts for the excellent, highly professional service I received at each one) and has received a Certification of Sustainable Tourism. These unique hotels can be found perched on majestic volcanic mountaintops, nestled in dense rain forests and national parks, or hidden on secluded beaches, where the sound of crashing waves lulls you to sleep.

Hotel Grano de Oro: From warm private home to welcoming hotel

If youre flying into Juan Santamaria Airport (SJO) about 30 minutes from downtown San Jose, youll probably want to spend a night or two, exploring this historic capital. Hotel Grano de Oro, conveniently located on a quiet side street in the heart of the city, provides a welcome respite from the citys non-stop energy.

Once the home of Felipe Pozuelo, who owned the countrys largest cookie company in the early 1900s, this tropical Victorian mansion is now a rambling 40-room boutique hotel with polished wood, antiques, striking stained glass windows, Italian-tiled bubbling fountains, indigenous plants and dramatic floral arrangements.

Search out the rooftop Jacuzzi terrace snuggled in between the turrets for some primo relaxing while taking in the city view. To fully appreciate the character of this heritage hotel, take time to explore the many nooks and crannies lined with photos of old San Jose.

No two rooms are the same although they all feature a relaxed, old-timey elegance with wrought-iron beds and handcrafted fabrics, mixed with modern amenities including free Wi-Fi, air conditioning, flat-screen TVs and comfy pillow-top mattresses with 300 thread-count linens.

Lucky for us Elden and Lori Cooke, a Canadian couple that had fallen under Costa Ricas spell during frequent vacations, decided to leave snowy Calgary for sunny San Jose.

Lucky for us Elden and Lori Cooke, a Canadian couple that had fallen under Costa Ricas spell during frequent vacations, decided to leave snowy Calgary for sunny San Jose. There werent any upscale boutique hotels here in the early 90s so they bought the Pozuelo mansion, transforming it into the world-class, Hotel Grano de Oro.

In a twist on the chicken or the egg debate one could argue which is most touted, the Hotel or the Restaurante Grano de Oro. I didnt care which won since I was delighted that I could just trundle downstairs for a memorable meal.

Francis Canal, the French chef whose cooking offers a refined European twist on Costa Rican classics, has wowed both local and international foodies for over two decades. I bypassed the elegant dining room for a seat in the enchanting open-air, palm-filled courtyard.

The menu changes often but since Im a rabbit lover I opted for the locally raised, rabbit redux,  starting with homemade rabbit ravioli, napped with mushrooms, carrot foam, and rabbit jus, followed by a roasted saddle of rabbit stuffed with a mousseline, which both made me very hoppy, although my neighbors fish looked pretty tasty also.

This would not be the place to skip dessert since menu enticements include a decadent Marquise de Chocolate  dark chocolate marquise, red wine poached pear, sweet Gorgonzola and an airy Tres Leches three-milk cake, a traditional Costa Rican dessert. Restaurante Grano de Oro also houses an award-winning wine cellar, with many fine wines available by the glass.

I returned to the charming courtyard to start my day with a scrumptious breakfast and a steaming pot of Costa Ricas finest coffee. Although an elegant dish of eggs poached in truffle cream was tempting, I opted for the traditional Tico (native Costa Rican) breakfast of gallo pinto (rice & black beans) eggs, fresh cheese, tortillas and plantains.

Inside tip: Splurge a bit and reserve the immense Vista de Oro Suite, which can only be reached by a private staircase. Highlights include dramatic wood-paneled walls, gorgeous antique furniture, and a hot-tub with panoramic city views.

Travel writer Janice Nieders adventure across Costa Rica continues with Part 2
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AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. Provides Information Regarding the National Truckers Strike in Brazil

Amsterdam, 29 May 2018 (Regulated Information) --- AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. ("AMG", EURONEXT AMSTERDAM: "AMG") has temporarily shut down certain tantalum mining and processing operations in Brazil as a result of the ongoing national truckers strike.

At this stage AMG does not expect a material financial impact as a result of the strike, subject, however, to the length of the labor dispute. Furthermore, AMG does not expect the industrial action to have a material impact on the ongoing commissioning of AMG Mineracao's first lithium concentrate processing plant at the Mibra Mine in Minas Gerais, Brazil.

AMG will provide further updates in due course.

This press release contains inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

This press release contains regulated information as defined in the Dutch Financial Markets Supervision Act (Wet op het financieel toezicht).

About AMG

AMG is a global critical materials company at the forefront of CO 2 reduction trends. AMG produces highly engineered specialty metals and mineral products and provides related vacuum furnace systems and services to the transportation, infrastructure, energy, and specialty metals & chemicals end markets.

AMG Critical Materials produces aluminum master alloys and powders, titanium alloys and coatings, ferrovanadium, natural graphite, chromium metal, antimony, lithium, tantalum, niobium and silicon metal. AMG Engineering designs, engineers, and produces advanced vacuum furnace systems and operates vacuum heat treatment facilities, primarily for the transportation and energy industries.

With approximately 3,300 employees, AMG operates globally with production facilities in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the Czech Republic, the United States, China, Mexico, Brazil, India, Sri Lanka and Mozambique, and has sales and customer service offices in Russia and Japan (www.amg-nv.com).

For further information, please contact:

AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. +1 610 293 5804

Steve Daniels

Senior Vice President

sdaniels@amg-nv.com

Disclaimer

Certain statements in this press release are not historical facts and are "forward looking". Forward looking statements include statements concerning AMG's plans, expectations, projections, objectives, targets, goals, strategies, future events, future revenues or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs, plans and intentions relating to acquisitions, AMG's competitive strengths and weaknesses, plans or goals relating to forecasted production, reserves, financial position and future operations and development, AMG's business strategy and the trends AMG anticipates in the industries and the political and legal environment in which it operates and other information that is not historical information. When used in this press release, the words "expects," "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "may," "will," "should," and similar expressions, and the negatives thereof, are intended to identify forward looking statements. By their very nature, forward looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward looking statements will not be achieved. These forward looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. AMG expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in AMG's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any forward looking statement is based.





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: AMG Advanced Metallurgical Group N.V. via Globenewswire


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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.
Fighting continues in the south (Katanga province), the east (North and South Kivu provinces), northeast (Ituri province) and southwest (the Kasai region). All told, the UN estimates this continuing violence has put 400,000 people at immediate risk of starvation and disease. However, the biggest political issue remains Joseph Kabilas illegal control of the office of president. Congolese election officials are assuring the country that a new election will be held in December 2018 and Kabila will not be a candidate. Right now the oppositions attitude is well believe it when we see it. Congos constitution limits the president to two terms. Kabila was supposed to relinquish his office in December 2016. At the moment the election is scheduled to be held December 23.

May 26, 2018: The two most prominent Congolese opposition leaders, Felix Tshisekedi and Moise Katumbi have announced that they are developing a common agenda for the December elections. Both men are concerned that Joseph Kabila will try to undermine the elections and remain in power.

May 25, 2018: In eastern Congo (North Kivu) soldiers attacked a base camp of the Islamist Ugandan SDF rebels. Five soldiers and 14 rebels died in the attack while and 13 wounded. Operating near the town of Beni the ADF had been attacking (and often killing) uncooperative civilians.

May 24, 2018: In eastern Congo (Maniema Province) Five people were killed and several others wounded when a Mai-Mai militia attacked the Namoya gold mine. Although the attackers were supported by mortar fire the mine security for the huge open pit mine repelled the assault.

May 21, 2018: Burundi announced that the controversial referendum extending presidential terms had been approved. This constitutional change allows president Pierre Nkurunziza to have two more seven-year terms after his current term expires in 2020. Essentially Nkurunziza could remain in power until 2034.

May 20, 2018: Angola and Portugal have agreed to a new defense cooperation deal involving maritime and cyber security. At one time Angola was a Portuguese colony and now Africas second biggest oil exporter. On May 10 a Portuguese court ruled that former Angolan vice president Manuel Vicente could be sent to Angola and tried on money laundering and corruption charges.

May 18, 2018: Ugandan security officials still consider Joseph Kony and his remnant Lords Resistance Army (LRA) a latent threat. Ugandan security officials are speculating that since the Ugandan Army and U.S. special operations personnel quit chasing the LRA, the remaining LRA bands, including leader Joseph Kony, have been surviving by poaching on African wild game and smuggling. Ugandan intelligence believes Kony has several hideouts in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Congo.

May 17, 2018: An anti-balaka militia in the CAR (Central African Republic) killed a UN peacekeeper from Mauritania and wounded eight others. The Mauritanian contingent was ambushed south of the town of Alindao.

In southeast Congo (Tanganyika province), a Mai Mai militia released the last two UN peacekeepers they had kidnapped on May 11. Initially, 13 peacekeepers were taken but the militia immediately released 11.

May 16, 2018: China and Uganda announced a nuclear power deal. China will help Uganda build several nuclear power plants. Uganda has several uranium deposits and wants to use its own uranium to power the reactors.

May 15, 2018:  Rebels in the CAR attacked the town of Bambari. At least six people died in the attack. Officials said the rebel group was a breakaway faction of the Seleka rebel organization.

May 13, 2018: The Rwandan Army confirmed that the first echelon of a battalion sized mechanized infantry task force has deployed the CAR where they join the UN peacekeepers.

May 12, 2018: The UN is asking for an additional $88 million to help feed refugees in southwest Congo (Kasai region.)

May 11, 2018: In eastern Congo (North Kivu province) two gunmen killed a park ranger and kidnapped two tourists in Virunga National Park. Since January 1, eight rangers have been killed in Virunga.

May 9, 2018: East African diplomats report relations between Rwanda and Uganda are strained. Uganda is accusing the Rwandan government of interfering in Ugandan domestic politics. Rwandan has denied the allegations. In 2017, several key Ugandan security officials were fired for allegedly maintaining close ties with Rwandan president Paul Kagame. A former senior Ugandan police official, Kale Kayihura, was a close friend of Kagame. Rumors were Kagame wanted Kayihura to succeed Uganda president Yoweri Museveni.

May 2, 2018: Rumors, rumors, rumors. There are claims the Russian mercenary Wagner group has built a training camp in the Central African Republic. The Wagner organization supposedly uses the site to train personnel and store equipment.

May 1, 2018: An attack in the Bangui, capital of the CAR, left 15 people dead and at least 60 injured. One of the dead was a Catholic priest. The attack occurred near the PK 5 district (a predominantly Muslim area). Observers said the fighting began when a gang attacked a Catholic Church.

April 30, 2018: A court in Burundi sentenced a government official to three years in jail for encouraging supporters of President Pierre Nkurunziza to drown citizens who oppose the constitutional amendment that would permit him to stay in power until 2034.

April 27, 2018: In western Congo (Equateur province) 47 people fleeing Congo drowned when their escape boat capsized and sank in the Ubangi River. The refugees were fleeing an attack by bandits on the town of Dongo. It is believed the bandits belonged to the Enyele militia, which is also called the Independent Movement of Liberation and Allies. They are primarily from the local Lobala tribe.

April 26, 2018: Responding to criticism by the opposition Union for Democracy and Social Progress, a government spokesman said that Congo will hold national elections in December 2018.

Rwandan investigators found a mass grave outside the capital, Kigali. The grave contains at least 2,000 bodies of individuals murdered in the 1994 genocide.

April 25, 2018: A recent study concluded that the gold trade nets Uganda about $200 million a year. The trade is a euphemism for smuggling gold from Congo and using Uganda as the transit route for artisanal gold mined in northeastern and eastern Congo (gold mined by small groups of miners).
The Aluminum Overcast and Yankee Lady, both B-17s, along with the P-51 Aint Misbehavin and a Heritage trainer are displayed at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force flight line May 17, 2018. They performed a flyover over the museum during the morning to commemorate the opening of the Memphis Belle. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Megan Friedl)

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Four days ago Pakistan finally abolished the colonial era administration of the FATA Pushtun tribal areas along the Afghan border. FATA (Federally Administered Tribal Areas) are now merged into the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Until 2010 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was known as NWFP (North-West Frontier Province) and largely consisted of tribal peoples who preferred to be treated as another province of Pakistan and not a tribal area. Despite that when the 2010 name change took effect the Pushtun majority in NWFP violently protested and demanded that the renamed NWFP be called just Pakhtunkhwa which means Land of the Pushtuns. The NWFP minority tribes who wanted their own small provinces.

Khyber refers to the Khyber Pass near the Afghan border. For thousands of years, this has been the most convenient route for travelers, and invaders, coming from Central Asia to India. The government compromised with the awkward name Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. FATA increases the population of Khyber (the short term for the province) about 14 percent and nearly all of those new people are Pushtuns. Before the merger, Khyber was 74 percent Pushtun and after the merger that goes up to 78 percent. This is likely to encourage support for establishing Pushtunstan (a new nation combining the Pushtun populations of Pakistan and Afghanistan). That will never happen because Afghanistan and Pakistan oppose it and the Pushtuns have never been united enough to pull it off and that has not changed. The merger of FATA into Khyber is the latest of many recent changes for FATA and the Pakistani Pushtuns.

For example in 2009 Pakistan changed the rules in the seven federally administered tribal areas (FATA), allowing political parties for the first time. FATA is about 27,000 square kilometers in size, and containing 5.6 million people (mostly Pushtun) and is where the Pakistani Taliban have been strongest. Because of the Pushtun influence, Khyber was always a close second. FATA has always had a separate set of laws, which depend more on tribal leaders than elected officials (thus the ban on political parties, which would be a direct challenge to tribal elders.) But even many tribal elders have sought the authority to establish political parties, thus the change. This did not solve the problems in FATA.

By 2013 a decade of post-2001 anti-terrorist operations in the tribal territories (as demanded by the enraged Americans after September 11, 2001) led to the Pakistani government finally make an effort to fundamentally change the way things were run in the tribal areas. The century old agreement (between the British colonial officials and the Pushtun tribal chiefs) gave the tribes a lot of autonomy, in exchange for peace. This was continued when the new Pakistani government replaced British control in 1947.

Over a decade of Taliban unrest pushed the government to face the problem (of tribal governance) head on and begin to tear up the 1901 agreement. Not all the tribal people, and their leaders were unhappy with this. The Taliban terrorism had exposed the weakness of tribal government. Many believed that change couldn't be any worse than what was already happening in the Pushtun areas of the northwest. The government found itself caught in a tribal civil war (between reformers and traditionalists) and the militarys own desire to protect the terrorists who work (more or less) for the generals.

The continued existence of North Waziristan as a terrorist sanctuary forced more Pushtun tribes to protest this arrangement because most of the Taliban terror attacks were in FATA and Khyber province. Its more difficult for the Taliban to carry out terror attacks outside the tribal territories (more police, fewer sympathetic civilians) but all those attacks in the tribal territories killed a lot of innocent Pushtun, including women and children. According to Pushtun traditions, this is considered very bad manners. So even many Pushtun were hostile to the army support for Islamic terrorists in North Waziristan.

In 2014 Pakistan began a military campaign in North Waziristan that killed or chased away most of the Islamic terrorists there and forced most of the civilians out for over a year. This campaign was supposed to be over by 2016 but it continues, with much of the fighting moved to Khyber province. The elimination of North Waziristan as an Islamic terrorist sanctuary denied groups like al Qaeda any hope of finding a refuge in Pakistan. As those North Waziristan refugees returned they found that much had changed. As has happened elsewhere in the tribal territories, when the Islamic terrorists are chased out, things changed, usually for the better. This is a pattern that goes way back. Pakistan's problems along the Afghan border are mostly about the difficulty of integrating its Pushtun and Baluchi tribes into the nation of Pakistan. In southwest Pakistan (Baluchistan) there are the Baluchi, and in the northwest, there are the Pushtun. Both groups are very territorial and hostile to outsiders. But people from Punjab (48 percent of the population) and Sindh (29 percent) are better educated and possess technical skills lacking in the Pushtun tribal territories (16 percent, FATA and Khyber) and Baluchistan (seven percent), and must be brought in to do work requiring education and experience. While Sindh province has economic development levels similar to India, the tribal territories are more similar to the less developed nations in Africa. What the tribes lack in economic development they make up for in terms of aggressiveness and hostility towards the more numerous and wealthier lowlanders.

For thousands of years, these mountain tribes raided and plundered their lowland neighbors. But the last time that happened was nearly a century ago when Pushtuns from Afghanistan joined tribal brethren on the other (British India) side of the border and headed for the lowlands. The tribesmen didn't make it far and spent three months trying. Folks along the border still talk about that one. When Pakistan was created in 1947, the tribes were still not pacified and were a sixth of the population. Ever since then a growing number of Pushtun and Baluchi moved into the lowlands (especially the cities, like Karachi) while many lowlanders moved into the tribal areas, bringing needed skills and a veneer of government and modern civilization. But the tribal leaders and their ancient form of government persisted, as did the custom of most adult males being armed, and ready to fight (or turn into a bandit). This, as much as the corrupt and self-serving Pakistani military has defined and defiled the history of Pakistan. But one major aftereffect of the North Waziristan campaign was that the government assured everyone that henceforth the security forces would have a lot more presence in this area and tribal power would be forever limited. Many Pushtun dont like this, but a majority did or didnt care.

As bad as the Taliban and Pushtun political pressure is the threat of all Pushtuns in the region uniting is worse. This is complicated by the fact that Pakistan considers Afghanistan a client state and many Pakistanis support that attitude because of the Pushtun threat. That threat is getting worse inside Pakistan. The Afghans are considered a collection of fractious tribes pretending to be a nation. With no access to the sea, most Afghan road connections to ports are with Pakistan. The Afghans resent this, especially since for thousands of years invasions of northern India (which, historically, lowland Pakistan was a part of) came out of Afghanistan where many Pushtun tribesmen would join the invaders. Pakistan and India are well aware of this, and still, consider the Pushtuns a bunch of bloodthirsty savages from the mountains. Afghanistan has only been around for a few centuries and Pakistan was carved out of British India in 1947. Before that, it was a collection of feudal states and tribal territories. When you get right down to it, Pakistan's big problem is that it contains two-thirds of the Pushtun people (who are 15 percent of Pakistan's population) while Afghanistan contains the other third (who are 40 percent of Afghanistan's population.) "Pushtunstan" is a nation of 30-40 million Pushtuns caught between Pakistan (still over 170 million people without the Pushtuns) and northern Afghanistan (with about 20 million non-Pushtuns) Without Pushtuns, Afghanistan would become yet another Central Asian country with a small population (neighboring Tajikistan has 7.7 million and Uzbekistan has 30 million). But Pushtunstan is never going to happen because the Pushtuns have long been divided by tribal politics and cultural differences. When the Pushtun aren't fighting outsiders, they fight each other. The violent and fractious Pushtuns are a core problem in the region and have been for centuries. There is no easy solution to this and now more Pushtuns are openly calling for the establishment of a Pushtunstan and are making common cause with the Baluchis to the south (in Baluchistan) who have long fought to establish an independent Baluchistan. Both tribal separatist groups want to be rid of the Pakistani military and the Islamic terrorist organizations the military supports.

Meanwhile, Pakistani Pushtuns are uniting to oppose the mistreatment of Pushtuns in general. For example, since mid-May leaders of the PTM (Pashtun Tahafuz Movement or Pashtun Protection Movement) have gone public with complaints that the security forces (controlled by the military) are kidnapping PTM leaders. So far the kidnappings have not escalated to murder but the PTM leaders taken were interrogated, threatened, beaten and released. PTM fears their leaders will start to disappear and at that point, things could get violent. The Pakistani military is aware of that as well and is reluctant to play rough with Pushtuns who have a reputation for pushing back even harder. PTM is a growing Pushtun nationalist movement in Pakistan that seeks peaceful resolution of issues.

Pakistani Generals Expand Their Target List

In addition to increased attacks on uncooperative journalists, the Pakistani military and ISI (military intelligence) are also making life more difficult for American diplomats in Pakistan. In addition to legal and media based harassment, Pakistani hackers have been found going after the online activities of Western, especially American, diplomats. Both these efforts are generating more pushback than expected.

While the military now has a dominant position in the Pakistani economic, media and political life it is also encountering growing resistance from within the military and the population as a whole. The core problem is that the enormous power and wealth of the military is based on a lie. Actually, there are several lies but the one that has gotten the generals into the most trouble at home and abroad is their insistence that they do not support Islamic terrorist groups who are willing to follow orders from Pakistani general. These are the groups, like Haqqani Network, the Afghan Taliban and Lashkar e Toiba. The first two carry out terror attacks in Afghanistan, as a way to keep the Afghan government weak and Pakistani influence strong. The Afghans do not like this at all. The third group is one of the main military sponsored Islamic terror groups that attack India and other nations in the region the Pakistani generals feel they are unofficially at war with. The victims are angry about these losses. The victims' list is long and includes Afghan and Pakistani Pushtuns, Pakistanis and Afghans in general and thousands of Indians who have died from this violence and the millions who still live in fear from actual or potential Pakistani sponsored Islamic terrorism.

Pakistan has always been reluctant to discuss the army decision in the 1970s to sponsor Islamic terror groups to attack India and control Afghanistan were the source of most of this continuing mayhem. The Pakistan military blames all the Islamic terrorism losses in Pakistan on India, Israel, the United States, Afghanistan and anyone else who will resonate with Pakistani public delusions. What Pakistan plays down is the damage done by something else it supports in Afghanistan; the drug trade. The opium and heroin coming out of Afghanistan (now the major source of it) results in 18 times more Pakistanis dying each year from drug addiction than from terrorism. When there are deaths from terror attacks there are headlines. The larger number of drug related deaths get little attention, nor does the notorious Pakistani support for the drug trade. Pakistan is the source of chemicals and other supplies needed to convert opium into heroin. Pakistan is the main export route for heroin (via Karachi) and many politicians and security officials have grown rich by taking bribes to let the heroin and opium move around the country. This is the main reason why over six million Pakistanis are addicts, a statistic that, like the many drug related deaths, is kept in the shadows.

The Pakistani military uses the lies about India sponsoring Islamic terrorism inside Pakistan to justify an aggressive, and technically illegal policy towards India which includes ordering troops to constantly fire across the border (usually into Indian Kashmir) and insist that the Indians fired first. This has justified the military acquiring control over so much of the economic and political life. The army has the guns and the determination to protect their power and privileges. More importantly, the military has control of a large chunk of the economy and the loyalty of much of the population. This is due to military control of many media outlets and journalists, and decades of propaganda that has turned India into a threat that it is not and the Pakistani military into a national asset, which it is not. More Pakistanis are turning against the military, including senior officials who spent decades as part of the military operation they are now exposing and condemning. A majority of Pakistanis were always hostile to all the corruption and violence (especially inside Pakistan) the military generated to achieve their current power.

The current effort to suppress news is all about a recently published book by former (three times) prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Even closer to home the military is trying suppress news of a recent book by Asad Durrani, a former (1990-92) head of ISI (military intelligence) that was written with a former head of RAW, the Indian equivalent of ISI. These two intel experts compare perspectives and it does not look good for the Pakistani military. Durrani was recently barred from leaving the country for any reason. Durrani and Sharif are but the latest (and among the most senior) Pakistani insiders to go public with details of how the Pakistani military operates. While the Pakistani military is gradually losing its power due to relentless and growing opposition inside Pakistan, the military still controls nuclear weapons. Worse there are a growing number of generals who are true believers in Islamic radicalism (some have even joined Islamic terror groups after retiring). These true believers are a minority in the military leadership but that fact that they exist and the fact that Pakistan was able to build nuclear weapons via corrupt practices (and then secretly offer some of the tech for sale) makes a lot of people inside and outside Pakistan nervous.

This makes many senior generals uncomfortable as well. The current head of the Pakistani military, Qamar Javed Bajwa, has expressed an interest in moving away from this unofficial support for Islamic terrorism. Bajwa seems to recognize that he cannot run Pakistan (via another military government) and that the growing tensions with India are indeed dangerous. The Indians have nukes and a track record of defeating Pakistan every time the two nations get into a war. China has openly proclaimed that it is not a military ally of Pakistan so Bajwa realizes he actually is in a weak position that is liable to get worse and end very badly for Pakistan, Bajwa and the Pakistani military. China also openly urges Pakistan to make peace with India. As open to peace talks as Bajwa says he is he cant even admit that he has imposed on himself a lot of difficult restrictions. He cannot admit that Pakistan is sponsoring Islamic terrorism anywhere. In private discussions with Chinese and American officials Bajwa is called out on the reality of the military still supporting Islamic terrorism. Bajwa can deny the accusations from the Americans but the Chinese cannot be lied to. The Chinese support Pakistani lies publicly but privately urge the Pakistanis to face reality before they trigger a nuclear war that would destroy a lot of valuable Chinese investments. To help this peace effort along the Chinese openly deny they are any kind of military ally of Pakistan.

Casualties

The Pakistani military continues to reduce Islamic terror violence in Pakistan while increasing it in Afghanistan and India. In 2014, when the Pakistani army finally decided to shut down sanctuaries for Islamic terror groups not under military control, there were 5,496 Islamic terror related deaths in Pakistan and the Pakistani public was enraged at the military. In 2015 that Islamic terror related deaths in Pakistan dropped to 3,682, then to 1,803 in 2016, 1260 in 2017 and so far in 2018 it looks like these deaths will fall to under 600.

India, with six times as many people, has had terror related deaths under a thousand a year since 2012 and most of those have nothing to do with Islamic terrorism. That trend continues, despite increased Pakistani efforts in Kashmir. India will have more terrorism related deaths but still under a thousand. In 2017, for the first time in many years, India had more terrorist fatalities from Islamic terrorism than from leftist rebels in eastern India and tribal separatists in the northeast. This Pakistani aggression in Kashmir is pushing the two nations towards war, despite the possibility of both sides using nukes. This has brought more pressure on the Pakistani military to behave.

Despite the growing popularity (among Moslems) of Islamic radicalism in the last three decades, Moslem majority Bangladesh has been largely free of it. Compared to Pakistan (with a ten percent larger population) Bangladesh still had only six percent as many terrorist deaths as Pakistan during 2017. So far it looks like Bangladeshi terror related deaths will decline even more in 2018, to less than three percent of the Pakistani total.

Not So Quiet On the Northwest Front

In response to the continued Pakistani border violations India has agreed to expand its bunker construction program along the Pakistani border, especially the Kashmir portion. A year ago India began building a hundred bullet and shell-proof bunkers in villages that have experienced the most from increased Pakistani firing across the border. Each bunker can accommodate 20 or more people. These bunkers were an experiment and if they did significantly reduce civilian casualties.

They did but it was clear that smaller bunkers were needed for individuals or small groups of people working in areas frequently hit by Pakistani fire. These are usually farmlands or pasture area where herds are often tended by one shepherd. The latest plan is to build at least 14,000 bunkers. About ten percent of the bunkers will be the larger ones the rest will be smaller ones that hold a few people. So far in 2018 Pakistani forces have violated the ceasefire on the border over 200 times a month.

May 24, 2018: Pakistan has agreed to buy 30 ATAK (T129) helicopter gunships from Turkey. The T129 is a license built version of the Italian A-129. The Pakistan purchase is partly driven by Turkish purchase, exactly a year ago, of 52 Pakistani MFI-395 Super Mushshak training aircraft. This was the largest export order to date for Pakistani built aircraft.

May 23, 2018: The U.S. accused Pakistan of deliberately harassing American diplomats as a form of retaliation for cuts in American financial aid.

May 21, 2018: In Pakistan the military escalated its use of coercion against uncooperative Pakistani media. In this case it was blocking the distribution of the Dawn newspaper which first printed an interview with a former prime minister who admitted that the 2008 Islamic terror attacks on India in Mumbai were the work of a Pakistan based Islamic terrorist group that has long, and still does, receive support and sanctuary by the Pakistani military. Dawn has continued to report on that interview, the book and the reaction of readers inside Pakistan and worldwide. Details of the 2008 Mumbai attack are well documented and widely accepted worldwide and were included book Dawn gave a lot of attention to. But to discuss this in inside Pakistan can get you into trouble. Sometimes fatal trouble.

Dawn is the oldest and most read English language newspaper in Pakistan. The military had suspended distribution of Dawn in areas that the military controls (because of military bases, military operations or because the military controls much of the local economy.) This sort of thing backfires because the military cannot control the Internet and as the news gets through anyway people are eagerly seek it out and embrace it. Among those embracing this news are many Pushtuns in the northwest who are openly blaming the military for all the Islamic terrorism and chaos in the Afghan border areas where most Pushtun live.

May 18, 2018: China has openly praised Pakistan for how well its security forces, especially the army, have kept thousands of Chinese working in Pakistan on major construction projects safe from Islamic terrorist attack. This public praise is also a warning that any loss of security for those Chinese and their massive buildings projects would result in China reducing its economic activity in Pakistan. China has done this before, in Afghanistan and Burma and thus this is no hollow threat. This is more important now that the United States has been cutting economic and military aid to Pakistan because Pakistan refuses to curb Islamic terrorist groups it controls. These Chinese interests are colliding with the growing international pressure on Pakistan to halt what it is doing to support Islamic terrorist activity in Afghanistan, India and elsewhere. The UN has been trying to address that issue and censure Pakistan but China has been blocking those efforts. This is becoming more difficult for China to do as the evidence against Pakistan (especially from former senior government and military officials in Pakistan) continues to accumulate.

May 17, 2018: In southwest Pakistan (Quetta, capital of Baluchistan) soldiers halted a major attack on one of their bases. The attack consisted of a suicide bomb truck, containing another four Islamic terrorists armed with rifles and wearing explosive vests. Troops guarding the base detected and fired on the bomb truck and killed the Islamic terrorists before they could do much damage. Four soldiers were wounded. Further north in Khyber province a suicide truck bomber attacked a military convoy and wounded ten soldiers. These two attacks were the work of LeJ (Lashkar e Jhangvi), a Sunni Islamic terror group that has long carried out attacks on Pakistani Shia. These two LeJ attacks were retaliation doe security forces killing local LeJ commander Salman Badeni, who was responsible for attacks that have killed over a hundred Shia.

May 16, 2018: American officials confirmed that on April 23rd the top leader of AQIS (Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent) was killed by an American airstrike i n the eastern Afghanistan (Nangarhar Province) near the Pakistan border . Technically Afghanistan is not part of AQIS territory but it has become a more secure base area (for training camps) than Pakistan or anywhere else in South Asia. AQIS was created in 2014 and initially tried to establish its headquarters in Karachi (Pakistan), long a haven for all sorts of criminal activity and forged alliances with the major Islamic terrorist organizations there. Yet AQIS has been responsible for very few terror attack in Pakistan or anywhere else. AQIS was created to manage and support operations in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and Burma. Islamic terrorism experts believe this was largely a publicity stunt by al Qaeda to counter the growing popularity of the more radical ISIL. Indian Moslems have produced some recruits for Islamic terrorism, but not enough to produce the level of mayhem Islamic terrorists wanted. Lacking a lot of radical clergy and religious schools India has simply not produced a lot of radicalized young men willing to kill and be killed. Similar recruiting problems were encountered elsewhere but other Al Qaeda groups have continued to provide enough cash and other assistance to keep AQIS going and barely visible. Afghan training camps, destroyed at the end of 2017, were a major AQIS asset and that loss was one reason AQIS agreed to work with the Pakistani Taliban.

May 1, 2018: In southwest Pakistan (Quetta, capital of Baluchistan) senior army officers met with leaders of a Hazara Shia, who are preparing for a major protest against the security forces inability to halt the growing number of Islamic terrorist attacks on Hazara Shia. Some 20 percent of Pakistanis are Shia and that comes to ten times as many Shia as Afghanistan has. The Hazara are easier to spot as they are the descendants of Central Asian Mongols and Turks who invaded and occupied Afghanistan centuries ago. Nearly half a million Afghan Hazara (nearly all of them Shia) have fled to Pakistan since the 1980s to escape the violence, including Afghan Sunni Islamic terrorists who see the Hazara Shia as heretics. Since early 2016 a growing number of Hazara have died in Baluchistan because those anti-Shia Sunni groups exist in Pakistan as well.

Iran is also pressuring Pakistan to crack down on these anti-Shia groups. That crackdown was more of an emergency once it became apparent that that Pakistani Sunni Islamic terror group LeJ was not only the main source of these attacks but had recently joined ISIL, a group that has had a difficult time establishing itself in Pakistan (and an even harder time in India and Bangladesh). Pakistan is also getting pressure from China, which has thousands of its citizens in Baluchistan working on major infrastructure projects. China has impressed on the Pakistani military that importance of these Chinese being safe from Islamic terrorist attack. Since groups like LeJ consider Chinese legitimate targets the Pakistani military can tell their Shia, and especially the Hazara, that maximum efforts are being made against LeJ and similar groups. That has worked for the Chinese in Baluchistan but less well for the Hazara.
Table of Contents





Whats next for Clash?

Riot IAmWalrus

"Hey everyone,

Thanks for your patience so far with Clash. The launch weekend obviously didnt go as planned, so we thought wed share what happened, what were doing for those of you who missed out, and whats next for Clash.

What happened during the launch weekend?

As soon as the first tournaments for Clash were starting in the Philippines and OCE, we realised games were not starting and teams were automatically losing, something that we had not seen in this fashion or scale in internal testing or regional betas across Vietnam, Turkey, both European servers, North America, and Korea.

We started pulling in engineers from across Riot to help triage, but because the global rollout was ongoing, we had to scramble to find a fix as soon as we could. Unfortunately, more and more regions were due to roll out while we were actively working on finding the source, forcing us to make late cancellations.

As our confidence dropped in finding a fix on Friday and the knowledge that teams across the world were ready to go and set time aside to play, we made the call to cancel Clash for the rest of the weekend and regroup for a relaunch as soon as we could.

Whats happening for players who were affected?

We apologize for the inconvenience of getting your teams together, making time to play and ultimately not being able to. Were giving out some one-time freebies to make up for it, which are detailed below:

First, well be returning all used tickets to your account if they were spent. Further, as a thank you for your patience, wed like to offer a bonus for everyone who was on a pending or active roster of 2 players or more. Well be granting a Clash Orb containing a 3 win XP boost, two Clash team logos, one for MSI and the second at random, and a shard for a 750 RP skin.

This will be added to your Loot tab by June 2.

Whats next for Clash?

Before we try to release Clash again, we want to be as confident as possible before announcing a new global launch date. We believe weve pinpointed the underlying issue, but we need to keep testing, and are implementing more diagnostics to see if our fixes are working out. Well be testing Clash in one-day betas in every region. More details will follow!

Once again, were sorry for how things went down, and well be working flat out until were sure we can confidently launch Clash to everyone."

NaKyle

"I'll add a little detail to clarify. This isn't to say this weekend featured perfect decision making. Devs are in LA, so launch began around 1AM (LA time) in the Phillippines and moved westward from there, with NA due last. Out of the first few regions in Asia, some fell over and some went just fine. That led us to believe we might be able to fix things ahead of Europe--a bet that turned out to be wrong and ultimately led to later cancellations.

While we raced to fix things, we worried that putting out communications that made it unclear whether the tournament was going forward would just make things worse because people would have mixed information while trying to organize teams and weekends. Once we had enough info to know we weren't gonna be able to fix it, every server from Russia west was cancelled within a couple hours as we discussed with regional offices around the world, but naturally it was later on Friday in Europe.

You're right that we saw the issues in Asia and could've immediately canned the regions in the timezones covering Europe and the Americas, but we wanted to try and preserve it if we could, that's the short version of how it went down."

/Dev: Diving into Champion Bios

Thermal Kitten

"Hello narrative friends.

With Pykes imminent release into the watery wild, Scathlocke and I thought itd be a good time to dive into a question narrative gets pinged on a lotchampion bios. As this is one of our primary tools for communicating the backstory of a champion, we thought it might be useful to dig into what they are, why we make them, and then run through the process with our favorite Titan of the Depths, Nautilus.

Lets start with the shortest version and the one most players are familiar with, the client description, or what we call it in-housethe short bio.

THE SHORT BIO

This is a brief paragraph of information that describes the champion, and because its the only narrative description that lives in the client, it should also reinforce why youd want to play that champion in game, from a fantasy archetype perspective.

Up until recently, the information in the client was all over the place in terms of length and subject matter. Some were not actually bios, but flash fiction. Some were extremely short and some were so long, the gist of the champion was lost. Overall the experience was wildly unpredictable, and that left some champions feeling neglected and under-served. This is why we decided to standardize the in-client champion bios last November.

In their intended form, these biographical appetizers are meant to be read quickly, in about the time it might take to queue for a game. To do that, we aim to keep them shortideally 80 to 100 words. That works out to about four sentences. A strong short bio should cover who the champion is in the world of Runeterra, where they came from, and their personality, all while trying to avoid direct repetition of the words in the champions title.

Some of you with mains that once had an overflowing cornucopia of biographical information might be making an angry face right about now. When we put the new standardized short bios in client last fall, we heard complaints that we had erased information from a champions history. In most cases, these details werent cut from a champions story, they just lived more appropriately on their page on Universe. Thankfully last February, we were able to get a Learn More button in the client, which makes connecting to this information a lot easier, and brings us to the next incarnation of a champions life story

THE FULL BIO

This narrative text should summarize a champions backstory and current place in the world of Runeterra. Though longer than a short bio, we still like to keep it on the brief side, ideally no more than 600 words. When a champions history is a little complicated, we might bump that up another hundred words or so.

You might be wondering, Why have a word count restriction at all? (Or as I like to refer to them, a strongly suggested creative goalpost.) It might seem like having an unlimited word count would be awesome and let us share more about a champion, but there are two major reasons we like to keep the bios concise.

First, the full bio aims to highlight significant events in a champions life. The keyword there is highlight. Were a big fan of story being told through well, story, and not biographical text. To me, its the difference between a history textbook and historical fiction: The textbook is informative and interesting in small doses, but I would much rather immerse myself in a story where a character can live and breathe. Any events mentioned in a champions full bio should be ones that proved influential to the person they are today, and any relationships to other champions or regions that are noted should be significant. How they are depicted should make the reader want to know more, preferably in the form of a story.

The second reason we stick to a word count restriction, and perhaps why I personally enjoy writing full bios, is that the small space forces a writer to be exact with their craft. When you have to count every word, every word must count. Putting together a champions bio is a good exercise in figuring out what really matters to who that champion is, and finding the right words to communicate that effectively to a reader.

We want the full bio to be accurate to the whole experience of a characters life. To do that, we may update a bio with additional information after telling a significant story, like we recently did with both Yasuo and Riven after Confessions of a Broken Blade finished. Both of them are now on different parts of their continuing journey, and we believe it is important to reflect that in their bio.

So what does all of this look like in action? Lets take a closer look on a champion who presented an interesting challenge.

THE NAUTILUS DILEMMA

Before November, Nautilus was a character wed largely left alone, narratively speaking. As an older champion, the information in the client wasnt outright contradictory to the world of Runeterra, or other champions, but it wasnt terribly deep either. This put Nautilus in the lore triage category of not an immediate emergency, but well revisit if that changes.

As the Champion Team began working on the idea that would become Pyke, we saw the need to take a closer look at the Titan of the Depths. Pyke was shaping up to be a Bilgewater champion that had been pushed onto his character journey by betrayal, and then touched by some eerie power. The player-facing information on Nautilus that had been alright a few months earlier was looking less so. We knew that, narratively, wed have to revisit and deepen Nautilus as a function of developing Pyke.

Writers and editors love questions, and one we endlessly debate is, Why? For Nautilus, the questions were, Why is he the way he is? What was the power that touched him? Where did it come from? And why does it still push him ever forward?

In our desire to find a place that made more sense for [Nautilus] in the lore, we had undermined something that players had previously loved about him. Like most people who love story and character development, the folks who work within the narrative discipline have a lot of personal headcanon about Leagues cast, and we do a lot of theorycrafting around what could be. That healthy internal debate helps us poke holes in our own logic before it becomes public. There were a number of possible explanations for the questions surrounding Nautilus, and we took the opportunity to hint at a connection to Nagakabouros that had been pitched. This would not only put some more character distance between him and Pyke, but could elaborate on Nautilus in-game support persona.

Unfortunately, of the nearly 140 bios we updated at that time, the change to Nautilus was one that players took major exception to. Specifically, Nautilus working for Illaois god made him feel like less of champion in his own right. In our desire to find a place that made more sense for him in the lore, we had undermined something that players had previously loved about him.

Looking at the Nautilus challenge, Scathlocke and I were teetering on the precipice of a particularly deep chasm of self-doubt. Nautilus was a champion created long before either of us started working at Riot. As much as we narrative folk are excited by the prospect of creating characters and worlds from the stuff of raw imagination, the craft of writing is often an exercise in humility. Each edit a draft goes through reveals what you didnt know about your story, or what you did a poor job in communicating the last time around.

Nautilus was much more than his armored bulk. He was a lost soul, dragged down by darkness, but one that persevered no matter what. So, we started there. What else did we not know about the armored goliath? After considering a couple of options on how to get to the bottom of this, we contacted as many Nautilus players as we could and pointed them to this question on the boards, hoping to find some answers. (While this instance of feedback was sourced in one particular channel, were always looking for better ways to understand player feels from all over the world. If you want to tell us what you think about our decisions, please feel free to reach out to us in the comment section of this article.)

At first the posts trickled in, but it soon became a torrent. In over a thousand posts, covering fifty pages on the boards, Nautilus mains delivered a masterclass in what this champion meant to them. One of the many things that makes me excited to write for League is how deeply player passion runs for these characters and their world. (It also gives me a crazy set of nerves whenever writing of mine is in placed front of that passion!)

So I read the posts. All of them. And they were amazing.

Nautilus was much more than his armored bulk. He was a lost soul, dragged down by darkness, but one that persevered no matter what. He was the embodiment of inescapable dread, of burdens that cannot be put down, and the will to survive even the most intense pressures. In his anchor and his lonely trudge across the bottom of the sea, there were beautiful metaphors for dealing with depression. Through all of this, even his betrayal, Nautilus was not evil. Inside the diving suit was still the soul of a man.

Weve taken a new crack at Nautilus short bio (up now on PBE). And since youve gotten this far on an article thats nerding out about League champion bios, heres a sneak peek at where we landed for the full bio for Nautilus, Titan of the Depths.

To understand the legend of Nautilus, one must first know the manfor even the tallest of tavern tales agree, he was indeed a man.

Though the waves have washed away the name he was born with, most remember Nautilus as no mere sailor, but as a salvage diver. Just beyond the southernmost reach of the Blue Flame Isles lies a graveyard of ships, rumored lost while searching for a blessed land, looking to trade wealth for immortality. On a fair day, their glittering holds beckon from beneath the surface. Many crews sought divers to collect the lost fortune, and none could match the skill of the quick-sinking hulk of solid muscle that was Nautilus.

With lungs that could steal the air from a galleons sails, Nautilus preferred to freedive. Always bringing up plenty of gold or jewels for the crew, the man demanded no special wageshe asked only that the captain toss a coin overboard as they set out, honoring and appeasing the vast ocean. A sailors superstition to be sure, but many a sea-fearing crew made such offerings to ensure a safe return.

Years of salvage depleted the easy treasure, each haul becoming less and less, until one day Nautiluss crew learned that their ship and working papers had been bought out from under them.

The dawn was scarlet the morning the new captain came aboard. Hailing from a foreign port, he brought with him a giant suit of brass and iron. He zeroed in on Nautilus; indeed, he had purchased the command because of Nautilus. It was clear the captain was obsessed with a specific wreck, one shrouded in darkness even on a fair day. The diving armor could withstand the pressures of the ocean floor far longer than any man, long enough to collect what was hidden in the abnormal murk.

The crew agreed working was better than starving, and Nautilus found himself being bolted into the suit, the wooden deck groaning under the load. Panic rose in his throat when he realized that they had nothing to pay the tithe. The foreign captain laughed as Nautilus was lowered into the water. He assured the crew that whatever the Bearded Lady was protecting would make them all rich beyond their wildest dreams. When Nautilus returned to the surface, they would make their silly sacrifice.

As Nautilus sank, the light above dimmed, and all grew quiet, the mans own breath the only sound echoing in the iron suit. Then something reached out from the depths. He was being pulled down, and for the first time Nautilus felt liquid fear wrap itself around his heart. It was not treasure his captain sought, but some slumbering, eldritch power.

Nautilus grabbed the anchor chain, his last connection to the world above, and hauled himself up even as the thing below sought to drag him down. But the weight was too much. Just as his giant metal fingers were about to breach the surface, the chain snapped. Nautilus screamed within the suit, but none could hear him. He tumbled back into the inky maelstrom, clutching the sinking anchor in desperation. Dark tendrils enveloped him, and he could only watch as the dimming outline of his ship faded away. Then everything went black.

When Nautilus awoke on the ocean floor, he was something different. The darkness could no longer hurt him. The great metal suit had become a seamless shell around him, concealing the bond that the primordial power had made with his spirit. Trapped in the sunless depths, he could remember only one thingthe new captains broken promise.

Nautilus vowed, there and then, that all would pay the oceans tithe. He would see to it himself.

Driven ever forward by this thought, he trudged toward the shore. But by the time he reached Bilgewater, years had passed, and he could find no traces of his captain or crew. There was no life to which he could return, no revenge he could take. Instead he returned to the sea, allowing his anger to surface on the greedy, gutting their ships with his mighty anchor.

Sometimes, in the tumble of waves, distant memories of who he was push up above the waterline but always the man who is Nautilus stays drowned just below the surface. Weighing in at about 715 words, its a little heavier than wed normally aim for, but with all the big guys gone through, we thought wed err on the side of a little more information. For those of you with a discerning eye, there are a few sentences we could have trimmed out to get us closer to 600 words. But as fans of Easter eggs, Scathlocke and I left them in for reasons.

WHEN WE GET IT WRONG

Sometimes, after all thisall the research, all the internal debate, all the editorialwe wont hit the bullseye with a champion. Our intentions are good, but Scathlocke, myself, and the rest of the narrative staff are still human (well, I am, but sometimes Scathlockes logical, editor brain makes me wonder )

When you think weve messed something up, please tell us, and most importantly, please tell us why. Karmas bio update is a good example of this process. We delivered a bio that didnt quite land the way we had hoped, and the detailed notes and discussions that followed were insightful and incredibly useful. We may not respond to every post and piece of constructive criticism, but we are listening.

If youre wondering why we havent given your particular champion any love recently, theyre probably on our lists and were looking at when we can update them (cough, cough, Soraka!) For updating some champions, it makes the most sense to time these if were already planning on visiting a particular faction (and were looking at you, Karma)

Are there more narrative questions, tools, or processes youre curious about? Let us know in the comments below."

Quick Hits

NaKyle noted that pre and post game chats were now included in reports on NA, but would be coming for other regions soon:

"FYI, this is just NA for now, but coming to the rest of the world shortly."

Reminders

To round out this red post collection, here are a few reminders on current promotions or limited time events!

The Rainbow Fluft icon, celebrating IDAHOTB, is available to purchase for 1 BE through Patch 8.10! This enables a rainbow spawn animation during the patch, so make sure to grab it while you can!

Today's red post collection includes a rundown on what happened with Clash over the weekend, a new /Dev on champion bios, including a sneak peek of' new lore, and more!Continue reading for more information!Here's with an update on Clash after the unfortunate cancellation of the event weekend: provided more details on went down over the weekend:Here'swith a /Dev blog on champion bios , including a sneak peek of the newbio coming to the Universe soon:
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- A man has been charged with stabbing and critically injuring another man early Tuesday in Syracuse.

Anthony L. Moses, 49, was arrested by the Syracuse Police Department and charged with assault. He was arrested at 424 Rich St. -- the scene of the stabbing, said Sgt. Richard Helterline, a police spokesman.

The incident was reported at 12:24 a.m. Moses stabbed the man after a dispute, Helterline said.

When the police department arrived on Rich Street, officers found a 50-year-old man who had been stabbed in his chest and back, Helterline said.

The wounded man was rushed by American Medical Response to Upstate University Hospital. He is listed in critical but stable condition and is expected to recover, Helterline said.

Moses was charged with first-degree assault, a felony, and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a misdemeanor. He is being held in the Onondaga County Justice Center pending arraignment.
Syracuse, NY -- Three corporate entities took the fall today for failing to pay $125,428,07 in state sales tax, while the man behind the gas station businesses escaped a crime.

Muhammad Wady had been named in a 70-count indictment relating to the missing sales tax collections. He had pleaded guilty to grand larceny.

But the businesses themselves were also criminally charged. And under an agreement worked out with prosecutors, the businesses ended up with the criminal conviction.

Wady -- and the businesses -- were required to repay all of the missing sales tax money, which authorities have said stemmed from 2010 to 2014.

A check for the entire amount was paid to the tax department this morning.

After turning over the check, Wady was allowed to withdraw his felony plea, while the three corporate entities remained convicted.

Those gas stations are:

* Sanna Seniora, 6325 Thompson Road, East Syracuse

* QA Seniora, formerly called Seniora 3, 1864 Route 31, Chittenango

* Tala-Seniora, 5846 S. Salina St., Syracuse

County Court Judge Matthew Doran then sentenced the three corporations today to a 3-year conditional discharge, meaning that as long as the companies stay out of trouble for three years, there will be no further punishment.

Wady's lawyer, Robert Tisdell, was the representative of the three corporations for the purposes of court. If any punishment were doled out, he would be the one punished.

The unusual plea deal ended a prosecution that began with a 70-count indictment against Wady and two others in 2016. The charges against the others were also dismissed today.
Syracuse, NY -- An Onondaga County prosecutor took the witness stand today to try to convince a judge that two key murder witnesses knowingly skipped town before a murder trial.

But a defense lawyer disagreed with pretty much everything said about basic facts of the case.

Amid all the disagreements, things got chippy with both lawyers snipping at each other.

Prosecutor Robert Moran insisted that receipts proved that the two witnesses knew they had been ordered to testify at trial.

But defense lawyer Tylyn Bozeman said the paperwork didn't count because it hadn't been fully filled out.

The receipt, called an affidavit of service, was valid even though it wasn't complete, Moran said.

"No it's not," Bozeman responded.

"Yes it is," Moran retorted.

"No it's not."

"Yes it is."

Judge Matthew Doran cut the lawyers off. Their exchanges went on like that for the better part of an hour.

At issue is whether Shontay Corley and her daughter, Zinya, intentionally left Syracuse for New York City to avoid testifying at a delayed murder trial against Shontay Corley's husband, Vernon Brockington.

Brockington is facing a murder charge in the shooting death of Samuel Dixon in June 2017, a day after the two men had an argument.

Authorities say both Corleys were home the day that Brockington is accused of killing Dixon. They both initially cooperated with authorities about what they saw, making them key witnesses, Moran said.

But a couple weeks before trial, Zinya Corley stopped going to school in Syracuse and authorities couldn't find either of them. Brockington's trial was put on hold.

The Corleys are now being held without bail after being arrested in New York City last week. But they had the right to a hearing to determine whether they were actually essential witnesses and whether they could be held in jail until trial.

Most of today's arguments revolved around a conversation Moran and Bozeman had the Friday before trial was supposed to start in April.

The lawyers had vastly different recollections of the conversation, with Moran accusing Bozeman of lying about her account and Bozeman responding by suggesting that Moran was making up testimony.

Bozeman argued that her client never received a subpoena from DA's investigators. She said Moran didn't bring up the subpoena during a conversation on Friday before trial. She suggested that the Corleys had been evicted, and were staying with family in NYC, meaning their departure had nothing to do with the trial.

Moran contends that the receipt shows that Shontay Corley was served the subpoena for herself and her daughter, and that Bozeman clearly knew that Moran considered them material witnesses in the Friday conversation. The prosecutor insisted that both Corleys had skipped town to avoid the unpleasant duty of testifying against Brockington.

Bozeman said the conversation between lawyers lasted only seconds and consisted of one question, with Moran asking her if Shontay Corley was going to come to trial. Bozeman said she didn't know.

Moran said that conversation took four to five minutes and may have consisted of more than one question.

"It was a pleasant conversation," the prosecutor told Bozeman. "You were trying to be helpful, unlike today."

Bozeman clearly didn't accept Moran's depiction, continuing to grill him.

"Not done yet?" Moran asked.

"No, this is fun," Bozeman replied.

The hearing ended abruptly as Bozeman left due to a personal emergency. It will resume at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

Both Corleys remain in jail overnight.
SYRACUSE, NY -- Think of roller derby, and you might think of fast action, along with bumps and bruises.

Now you can also think of glitter in your beer.

Syracuse's first entry into the world of glitter beer comes courtesy of Stout Beard Brewing Co., in partnership with Assault City Roller Derby. This version is a limited-quantity cranberry-orange beer soured with sumac berries, with a dose of edible glitter added to the glass, said Stout Beard brewer and co-owner Mike LeRoy. It's 6 percent alcohol.

The beer, called Cranberry Jammer, made its debut Saturday during the roller derby squad's "after party" at the Pale & Bucket Pub on Onondaga Boulevard. The team had a bout earlier Saturday.

It will be available this week at Stout Beard's tasting room at 126 Dell St., in the Westcott Street business district. The tap room is open 5 to 10 p.m. Thursday and Friday; 2 to 10 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. Stout Beard only made one barrel (31 gallons), split among six 1/6-barrel kegs (sixtels). Only one sixtel will be available this week, so it may not last the weekend.

But it will return to the Stout Beard tap room Saturday, June 9, when members of the Assault City team serve as guest bartenders for the day. After that, limited quantities will be made available for future Assault City after-bout parties, LeRoy said.

Glitter beer is just what it sounds like: Edible (and digestible) glitter is added to give the beer an unusual sparkle. Some brewers add it to a keg of draft beer, but LeRoy prefers to pour the beer first, then mix glitter into a small dose of fresh cranberry juice and add to the glass.

"You get that nice cascading effect every time that way," he said.

The partnership with Assault City came about through mutual friends, LeRoy said. The team wanted a special beer, and suggested a sour using cranberry.

"Somebody brought up glitter -- I don't even know where that came from," LeRoy said. Like many brewers, he was initially skeptical.

Glitter beer has been one of the hot trends in craft beer around the country for the past few months, but has struggled to catch on in Upstate New York. The Sato Brewpub in Buffalo has served it, as has Awestuck Cider, a hard cider maker in Delaware County.

Rare or not, the members of the Assault City Roller Derby team think it's perfect for them. The team has been around for 11 years, and plays in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association. Home bouts are at Onondaga Community College's SRC Arena.

"Our league is full of strong women who take pride in the balance we find between intensity and playfulness," said Assault City's Jeanne Celso, aka Riot Punch, in a news release. "When we sat down with the brewers at Stout Beard we wanted to create something that defined us, tasted delicious and stood out. The cranberry packs a sour punch, the orange zest balances that sour with a little citrus and the sparkles ... well what better way to define how unique and beautiful my team is?"

And just to make it clear, the glitter is non-toxic and is absorbed by the body. It does not come out the other end.

This was Stout Beard's Facebook announcement about the beer last weekend:

Here it is! Syracuse's first glitter beer! Cranberry Jammer is a cranberry and orange sour with a touch of magic! Posted by Stout Beard Brewing Company on Friday, May 25, 2018

Don Cazentre writes about craft beer, wine, spirits and beverages for NYup.com, syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. Reach him at dcazentre@nyup.com, or follow him at NYup.com, on Twitter or Facebook.
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Police investigating a stabbing that occurred at about 3 p.m. Monday in the 400 block of James St. are seeking help from the public.

Syracuse police officers went to the location after a motorist called 911 to report a man was injured in a possible stabbing. Police were initially unable to find the victim, but an officer spotted a 42-year-old man walking to St. Joseph's Hospital Health Center seeking treatment for a cut to the left side of his face.

The injury, not considered life threatening, appeared to be caused by an unknown type of sharp instrument, according to police.

The man refused to give police any information about the incident. Police have no information about the suspected attacker or the exact location where the incident occurred.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Syracuse Police Department's criminal investigations division at 315-442-5222. All calls will remain confidential.
Dave Pasinski lives in Fayetteville.



By Dave Pasinski

Spring has finally sprung in our beautiful Central New York and our senses have awakened to the renewing Earth ... and these life-giving words presented themselves to me again.



"There is a revolution coming. It will not be like the revolutions of the past. It will originate with the individual and the culture and it will change the political structure only as its final act. It will not require violence to succeed and it cannot be resisted by violence. This is the revolution of a new generation ..."



This was the optimism in 1970 in Charles Reich's futuristic "The Greening of America." His thesis promised near-celestial changes for which we were thirsting after those final 1960s years that had seen such hopes thwarted and chaos on the rampage. Hippiedom's "summer of love" was replaced by poverty and drug overdoses. The tragedies of the King and Kennedy assassinations ended the dream for many. Escalation in Vietnam, the sour election of Richard Nixon after the debacle of the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, and the Manson horror ended the decade with blood.



Was it because of -- or in spite of -- these cataclysms that this hope sprung that the nation and its shaken institutions could yet evolve into something greater? The "greening" would yet happen, given our challenged but still extant rule of common sense and law and a commitment to the "common good." But could we yet evolve organically to ever greater equality and opportunity? Naively, we thought so.



Now Americans appear to be in the opposite space - a black hole called the "'mean-ing" of America," which predicates a bleak future of anger, polarization and political chaos that threatens those very values and cherished foundations Reich celebrated.



To illustrate the depth of "mean-ing," it isn't necessary to repeat the sad, long list of insults, tweets, crude remarks and name-calling over these past two years by our chief executive. They threaten to swallow us like quicksand. "Green-ing" requires some grooming and attention to destructive and predatory challenges; "mean-ing" only demands ever greater ignorance, rage and fear -- coupled with a desire to publicly humiliate another.



Through repetition, we dully accept Oval Office offal that we would tell our children, in other circumstances, "It's not nice to talk like that." Or, perhaps as dangerous, we lash back with reciprocating hatreds and reactive anger. All hopes of our "green-ing" into a that verdant nation appear to have been smothered in the darkest clouds of "mean-ing."



Can anything reverse or at least stall this devolution? Perhaps. But only perhaps.



What may make that "perhaps" into a reality is a hope and commitment to a dawn in the "civil-izing" of America. It is not inevitable. It will involve real change and work.



"Civil-izing" is not an act of cultural superiority wherein one people imprints its own culture and dominates or extinguishes that of another. Rather, as Syracuse University's Keith Bybee elucidates in his excellent little book, "How Civility Works," suggests that civility is much more than politeness - even if that is a value on its own. My take on his definition of being "civil" involves the paradoxes of speaking frankly but with respect, of being honest without being rancorous, and at times of being oppositional, but with a view to the greater and "common good." It certainly includes "civil" disobedience with the insistence on nonviolence and compliance with its consequences.



What he presents us with is not always easy and it has not always been the characteristics of our nation, but when the "better angels of our nature" triumph, it has been. It is the paradox that the so-called "weaknesses" of being civil are really its strengths -- that we really can and must be both honest and treat people with respect.



Civility cannot be a mask for suppressing speech that is contrary to popular opinion. It does not attempt to repress candor, but it does mean that free speech recognizes that it is important to be both factual and as respectful as possible. "Speaking truth to power" can likewise be civil, although it seems like more of a challenge in this era when so much of power does not speak civilly.



Civility is not always easy because it is full of the tensions of attempting to communicate one's own integrity and beliefs, often in the face of that which is both degrading and dehumanizing.



But this is something that we are capable of doing!



"Civil-ization" as you might call it, involves the worthwhile effort of mind and soul and body. Perhaps we are not capable of the elusive "green-ing," but we can get past the "mean-ing" through greater civility which at least may plant the seeds from which the green shoots may yet spring!
Timothy Shriver is co-founder of Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning and co-chair of the Aspen Institute National Commission on Social, Emotional, and Academic Development.

By Timothy Shriver | Special to The Washington Post



The news media is obsessed with the unstable stream of contradictory messages, hirings and firings, ethical failings and volatility that constitute our national politics today. But in the midst of it, most of us missed the voice of the one person in the executive branch who is almost guaranteed not to be fired and is, at the same time, most able to speak independently about what matters in the country: Melania Trump.

It's time we listened to Melania.

Trump announced her initiative, "Be Best," to respond to the social media and economic pressures facing young people nationwide. The New York Times dismissed the announcement as an effort to "primarily repackage projects that already exist." This is hardly unusual: First ladies are often accorded polite respect, but their work is rarely accorded serious attention.

In this case, though, the first lady has entered an arena with serious policy implications and even more serious educational implications: the issue of how to transform our schools into places that use evidence-based practices to support social and emotional learning in parallel with academic learning.

Social and emotional learning is an idea whose time has come. It builds from neuroscience that reveals that our brains are both malleable and dependent on the strength of our relationships. It involves teaching skills like self-awareness and problem-solving, and then empowering young people to use those skills to focus on academic learning and supporting others. It calls for schools to engage families and, in particular, to end inequities and bring families and educators together to promote positive growth.

Recent research suggests it works. In one study, social and emotional learning programs were shown to reduce behavior problems and increase test scores. In another, they were shown to improve physical and mental health outcomes -- and with gains that persist up to 18 years. In a third, they were shown to deliver an 11-to-1 return on investment. The World Economic Forum recommends a focus on social and emotional skills for the workplace of the future. Overwhelming majorities of teachers, administrators and parents report wanting more social and emotional learning in their schools.

The implications of seeing teaching and learning as a social interaction could hardly be more sweeping. In Chicago's public schools, chief executive Janice Jackson says a focus on integrating social and emotional learning resulted in a steep drop in discipline problems as well as an improvement in test scores. A teacher in Atlanta wrote a letter to a colleague of mine describing the fruits of teaching social and emotional learning in her class: "We are all in this space where they are comfortable with one another . . . and this has opened up an entirely new relationship. I had a student stand and tell us that she battled stage 4 cancer a few years ago, and that this cancer came back three times. She had to learn how to walk and do everything all over again. While doing this, her grandmother died from the same cancer she was battling. She became the teacher on that day. . . . She taught us all to value our lives differently." This classroom isn't just a place of belonging; it's also a place of deeper and more purposeful learning.

Could Trump be on the forefront of this massive shift in thinking? I don't know. But she did use the exact language of the field of social and emotional learning when she said, "We can and should teach children the importance of social and self-awareness, positive relationship skills, and responsible decision-making." This isn't just nice language; it's cutting-edge science meeting school improvement on a national scale.

And could this administration's Education Department move decisively in this direction? I don't know. But consider that a week after the first lady's speech, the department announced the creation of a new center -- one that I and others have been recommending for many years -- dedicated to providing "technical assistance to support States and districts in the implementation of social and emotional learning evidence-based . . . programs and practices." It's a small step but an important one: Districts all over the country are eager to move toward an integration of social and emotional learning.

Ultimately, the integration of social, emotional and academic development in schools around the world is a change bigger than any administration or even country. It's using all the knowledge we have about children and development to make schools places of inspiration -- places where desire is unlocked, belonging promoted, purpose discovered. In truth, it's not an option. It's an obligation.

There's one voice in the White House asking for just that. Maybe it's time we paid attention to her.
It takes a lot for a tenured teacher to be fired in New York State.

For a teacher at Lewiston-Porter Central School District, it took a documented history of being mean:

* In one case, according to state documents, veteran middle school teacher Elizabeth Filocamo gave a girl a zero on a quiz because she used a spiral-bound notebook rather than a composition book.

* Another time, she refused to allow a girl who was using a wheelchair and crutches after knee surgery to leave class five minutes early to get to her next class, despite permission from the school nurse. Instead, she let her leave 15 seconds early. Another student was denied a trip to the bathroom for asking an aide instead of Filocamo.

* Filocamo also got into arguments in class with her aides, accusing one of feeding special education students answers to an assignment. She told an aide, according to documents, "Don't help them. They'll become idiots."

It was an unusual teacher discipline case in a state where it can sometimes take years to remove a teacher accused of bad behavior.

Less than 18 percent of the 862 disciplinary cases brought against tenured teachers in the last six years outside of New York City ever received hearings, according to the state Education Department. Since 2012, only 57 teachers, including four this year, have been terminated after hearings.

Lew-Port Superintendent Paul J. Casseri said this was the first removal hearing for a Lew-Port teacher in at least 25 years. He estimated the district spent $250,000 investigating Filocamo over the years, including $40,000 to $50,000 in legal fees for the hearing.

"We refuse anyone to denigrate, harass, demean or bully anybody," Casseri said. "Whether that's adult-to-student, student-to-student, it's just not acceptable."

Filocamo's file

After an eight-day, trial-like hearing in January and February, state hearing officer Ruth M. Moscovitch ruled that 30 charges and specifications against Filocamo had been proven, and decided that for conduct unbecoming a teacher and insubordination, "termination is the appropriate penalty."

"While each of the incidents charged may seem relatively insignificant by itself, the sheer number of incidents where (Filocamo) acted inappropriately and without sensitivity to the needs of her students is significant," Moscovitch wrote.

The Lew-Port Board of Education unanimously fired Filocamo March 13. The Buffalo News obtained the 84-page hearing report under the Freedom of Information Law.

"It was proven by the district that her pattern of behavior over the years was detrimental to students, detrimental to her relationships with her colleagues and detrimental to the educational process," Casseri said.

"It was proven by the district that her pattern of behavior over the years was detrimental to students, detrimental to her relationships with her colleagues and detrimental to the educational process," the Lew-Port superintendent said. https://t.co/eSvvPLLMx0  The Buffalo News (@TheBuffaloNews) May 28, 2018

Filocamo also was found to have falsified evidence for the disciplinary hearing against her by changing a PowerPoint presentation on classroom rules to include material that wasn't there originally. The district proved that the original version didn't include rules about what type of notebook to use and who could give permission to use the bathroom.

Moscovitch, the state hearing officer, found Filocamo's "credibility was irreparably damaged" by the alterations.

No exceptions

A reporter found Filocamo at her home Tuesday, but she said she was about to leave and couldn't talk then. She did not return calls seeking an interview.

But at the hearing, Filocamo testified that she believes in being strict and she was not at school to be the students' "buddy."

"Does that mean I'm disrespectful in any way? No," Filocamo said. "I want them to become successful men and women after school."

When it comes to enforcing rules, Filocamo testified, "I try not to make exceptions."

The superintendent said he tried to work out an exit agreement for Filocamo, but she refused.

"Generally, a teacher will see the writing on the wall and resign. But that's not her style," Casseri said.

For many years, Filocamo had been a highly rated teacher.

But at some point, she became a teacher who, according to testimony at the hearing, reduced some of her students, both boys and girls, to tears. Some headed to the principal's office to fill out complaints about her under Lew-Port's student dignity policy.

She was removed from science teaching for a while, but after her return there was immediate trouble, which led to her being placed on leave for two months. Filocamo was sent back to a science classroom in September 2016, but within three months she was placed on leave again.

She continued to draw a salary while the district investigated her and prepared charges. According to the website seethroughny.net, Filocamo was paid $94,122 in 2017.

Nineteen witnesses testified at Filocamo's "3020a hearing," named after the section of state education law that governs such proceedings. They included students, teachers, aides, administrators, a parent and Filocamo herself.

After trial testimony, Moscovitch wrote, a picture emerged of Filocamo "as a teacher who I believe truly loved her profession, but was fixed and rigid in her idea of what good teaching means."

"She also had a loud voice that, by her own admission, could sound like she was yelling at students. Over the years, her students complained about feeling belittled or picked on by (Filocamo), and she was counseled to change her approach," the hearing officer commented.

"Rather than demonstrate that she is open to change and can be rehabilitated, if anything, she became more insensitive to her students in the last year she taught," Moscovitch wrote.

Long history

After her hiring as a science teacher in 1989, Filocamo received only positive reviews from supervisors. She was granted tenure in 1992, meaning she couldn't be removed without a hearing.

But the hearing record shows that things started to change in 2006-07, when Middle School Principal Vincent Dell'Oso gave Filocamo a negative evaluation and ordered her into a teacher improvement plan.

Dell'Oso wrote that parents were complaining about Filocamo "constantly picking on" their children, who "do not want to come to your class anymore, in fear of being embarrassed in front of their peers."

After a year of the improvement plan, Dell'Oso gave Filocamo positive evaluations until 2010.

But in June 2010, 10 of Filocamo's fellow teachers signed a letter decrying Filocamo's alleged unfairness to students, negative attitude, poor participation in team teaching activities and frequent lateness for school.

Because of the hostile atmosphere, Filocamo testified, she requested and received a transfer to the high school, where Casseri was then the principal.

After observing her class on May 8, 2012, Casseri warned her about her "tone and attitude," saying that her interactions with students "might be perceived as harsh or accusatory."

Filocamo replied that the trouble was caused by one student who was chronically unprepared and disrespectful. Casseri gave her a positive year-end evaluation.

But in 2012-13, Filocamo accused a teaching aide of doing a special education student's work. Casseri investigated and decided that the accusation "was blatantly false and further had negative impact on the student's overall emotional well-being."

For 2013-14, Filocamo was reassigned to the middle school, where she was eventually assigned to the in-school suspension room.

Piling up charges

In December 2015, a seventh-grade science teacher went on leave and Filocamo filled in. Trouble soon followed.

According to the testimony, Filocamo yelled at a male special education student on Dec. 11 for not skipping every other line on his homework paper, as Filocamo preferred.

The defense contended the only evidence for the yelling was the word of an aide who some years earlier became so upset in a discussion with Filocamo that the aide "flipped her the bird."

On the same day, Filocamo got into an exchange with a female student and allegedly made her sit in the front corner facing the blackboard. Four days later, Filocamo allegedly accused the same girl of smirking at her and again made her sit in the front corner.

Filocamo testified she was trying to break up a noisy group of students and asked them to move, and the girl chose a desk that was already against the front wall.

Later in the day, the girl said Filocamo confronted her in a hallway and accused her of not placing a magazine back on the pile. Filocamo followed the girl back to the room and watched her pick up the magazine.

The girl testified that she started crying after both incidents. On Dec. 16, 2015, she filled out a student dignity complaint form, writing, "I want to be treated with respect."

That same day, Filocamo was placed on administrative leave for two months, and on her return, she was reassigned to the in-school suspension room.

"You can discipline, or you can manage a classroom, and not have to degrade and demean a student," Casseri said.

Arguments in class

Staff retirements put Filocamo back in a middle school science classroom for the fall of 2016. Then-principal Dean Ramirez testified that he tried to encourage her to be more of a "kids' teacher, building rapport with kids."

Ramirez said Filocamo commented, "Maybe I'm just not made up that way."

On Dec. 7, 2016, Filocamo got into an argument with a teacher aide who said the students were confused about a graphing assignment. Filocamo said they should know how to do it.

Witnesses said Filocamo told the aide, "I don't need to be reprimanded in front of the students. If you think you can teach this class better, go ahead and do it." Then Filocamo got up as if to leave, one student testified.

The next day, with students still confused, Filocamo and a consulting teacher argued during class. Testimony showed the consulting teacher left the classroom, saying, "If you're not going to help us, I'm going to go find someone who can."

Filocamo admitted having disagreements with the aides, but said they were conducted "politely."

Three students went to the office to complain about Filocamo, who was placed on leave the next day -- for the last time.

Casseri said Filocamo has not appealed the verdict against her.

- By Thomas J. Prohaska, The Buffalo News, N.Y.
Mark Johnson, the grounds superintendent at Sunset Hill Cemetery, came to work early Saturday to wrap up remaining preparations for the cemetery's annual Memorial Day event. It's the busiest day of the year for the Glen Carbon, Illinois, cemetery, Johnson said. Dozens of volunteers help erect more than 1,300 full-sized American flags to honor every veteran buried there. They have a balloon release, a ceremony.

But when Johnson arrived that morning the work would only just be getting started: He found swastikas spray-painted in black on nearly 200 headstones.

"It's very heartbreaking, because guys have put in countless hours trying to prepare everything for our one big day, Memorial Day," Johnson told Fox 2 hours after the vandalism. "We were coming in this morning just to put the final touches on it, and we came in and seen all this damage. It's heartbreaking for the families. It's heartbreaking for us."

Swastikas spray-painted on more than 200 headstones in Illinois cemetery. https://t.co/HzlSPsi2Os pic.twitter.com/ltwCEiaW34  Slate (@Slate) May 28, 2018

With less than 48 hours before the ceremony, Johnson and about a dozen groundskeepers and volunteers got to work, power-washing the desecrated graves, plus two private mausoleums, the nondenominational cemetery's office and an angel statue.

Some volunteers brought food to the workers, Sunset Hill's family services manager told the Associated Press, describing it as "a big hug from the community." Family members whose loved ones were buried at the cemetery began showing up, wondering if the grave marker for a relative was among those vandalized. One woman told Fox 2 she cried at the mere thought of it.

"I hadn't cried about my grandpa in I don't know how long," Michelle Browning told the reporter, welling up again.

By the end of the day, Johnson said the workers had removed 95 percent of the swastikas. And by the end of the day, the suspected vandal was arrested.

Glen Carbon and Edwardsville, Illinois, police said the same vandal spray-painted swastikas on nine homes and several cars in the nearby subdivision of Sunset Hill Memorial Estates. A homeowner's security camera happened to capture footage of the vandal that the Edwardsville Police Department released to the public, asking for help identifying him.

A 34-year-old suspect was arrested within hours, according to the Edwardsville Police Department, which did not release the name of the man in custody. Glen Carbon police expect he will be charged with institutional vandalism and possibly a hate crime Tuesday, according to the Edwardsville Intelligencer.

On Monday, the annual ceremony went on just as it always had. One of the organizers, Bob Herr, told Fox 2 that normally 75 people help hoist the more than 1,300 flags.

This year, he said, more than 175 people volunteered.
The news came just hours before their high school graduation ceremony was set to begin: Valedictorian Christian Bales and student council president Katherine Frantz would not be able to give their speeches.

It was a confusing announcement, as the two students thought administrators at Holy Cross High School - a Catholic school in Covington, Kentucky - had approved their speeches beforehand. But in a phone call to the students' families on Friday morning, the school principal explained that in an "emergency meeting" the local diocese had deemed the students' speeches inappropriate. The diocese had felt that Bales' speech, in particular, was "aggressive, angry and confrontational," according to the Cincinnati news station WCPO.

Bales, 18, felt that his speech was indispensable. It addressed the importance of youth advocacy at a time when the nation has its eye on teenagers, such as the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who have campaigned for stricter gun laws since a gunman opened fire on their Parkland, Florida, school in February, leaving 17 people dead. And it praised his fellow student activists across the political spectrum - from those who spoke out about the Parkland tragedy to those who participated in the antiabortion March for Life in January.

Holy Cross High School valedictorian Christian Bales wanted to deliver a speech about youth advocacy at his graduation tonight, but the diocese said it was inappropriate.



So he accepted his diploma, grabbed a megaphone and gave the speech outside. https://t.co/25VRma0PDF pic.twitter.com/k80O4Ns66X  Sarah Walsh (@sarahbellewalsh) May 26, 2018

So Bales and Frantz, still hoping to impart their advice to the Class of 2018, delivered their speeches outside after the ceremony through a megaphone.

"'The young people will win' is a mantra that I'm sure many of you have heard if you've been attentive to the media recently. It's a phrase adopted by the prolific Stoneman Douglas teenagers who are advocating for an agenda - our rights to feel secure as humans," Bales said through a megaphone on a grassy lawn to a group of cheering fellow graduates, according to a video obtained by WCPO.

"As we enter into the real world, we must remember that we have a voice," Bales said.

Bales went on to say that it's sometimes the young who are the wisest, as they have not been desensitized to the "atrocities of our world." Therefore, young people must "speak candidly about issues" and "mustn't tremble in the face of the institutions" that try to silence them, he said.

"We are dynamic. We are intelligent. We have a voice, and we're capable of using it in all communities," Bales said.

The Washington Post was unable to obtain a copy or recording of Frantz's speech and could not immediately reach her.

Diocese of Covington spokesman Tim Fitzgerald told WCPO that the speeches were "found to contain elements that were political and inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church." He added that the students had not met the deadline for turning their speeches in to faculty.

Fitzgerald and Principal Mike Holtz could not be immediately reached for comment.

Bales said he believed that he and Frantz were treated unfairly because of their outspokenness on social issues.

"The president is my best friend, and we've been two huge advocates for social reform in our community, which has likely put us on the radar for the diocese," Bales told WCPO.

Bales' mother told WCPO that her family has been part of the diocese for years and that Holtz had never called her personally to talk about Bales until last week. An initial phone call, she said, was to ensure that Bales, who identifies as gender non-confirming, would wear men's clothes, formal shoes, a conservative hairstyle and no makeup to the graduation ceremony - as expected by diocesan officials.

Holtz's next phone call was regarding Bales' speech.

Marksberry said the staff of Holy Cross had been supportive of her son and so she did not harbor any negative feelings about the situation.

"We don't want to be vindictive; we don't want to be vengeful," she told WCPO. "That's not what this is about. He's earned the right to have a voice."

Bales plans to study biology at the University of Louisville on a full scholarship in the fall, according to WCPO. He hopes to become a conservationist.

"We must take what we've learned in this community and apply it to the world we are about to encounter," Bales said in closing his speech. " We are the young people, and we will continue to win."
A security camera perched above the blacktop parking lot caught sight of him, a figure in a dark shirt and light pants lumbering along the side of Little Caesars restaurant, four blocks from the Intercoastal Waterway in Holly Hill, Florida, north of Daytona Beach. The pizza place was closed for the night, the parking lot empty.

The camera footage showed the man walking the length of the building last Saturday night, a 2-inch by 4-inch board in his right hand. When he stepped into the glare of a streetlight, the camera caught his face: he was wearing a demonic mask, the mouth smeared in blood-red paint. Police would later describe it as a clown mask. But an internet search of similar looking masks suggested something closer to a vampire.

Inside the Little Caesars, 28-year-old Heriberto Feliciano was locking the store up for the night, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. Camera footage from inside the restaurant, released by Orlando's News 6, showed Feliciano push open the Little Caesers's glass door, step out into the parking lot, and look to his right as the masked-man began attacking him with the board.

"This is unusual for the city of Holly Hill and we take this very seriously," Holly Hill Police Chief Stephen Aldrich told News 6. "It was an ambush type of an attack and it does appear that [Feliciano] was defending himself."

The attack would prove deadly.

According to a police report cited by the News-Journal, Feliciano was hit with the wooden board until it broke. The masked attacker then attempted to stab him with a pair of scissors.

Feliciano, a conceal carry permit holder, was able to pull his gun on his attacker, firing four to five times into the masked man.

Little Caesars employee kills man in Halloween mask https://t.co/njZHIZxiVy pic.twitter.com/EbTeiZ9IFF  WHIO-TV (@whiotv) May 28, 2018

Holly Hill police quickly responded to the scene, arriving at the Little Caesars around 11:50 p.m. on Saturday night. The suspect - who has not yet been officially identified - was found unresponsive in the middle of the parking lot suffering from gunshot wounds. The scissors and clown mask were scattered on the ground nearby. The suspect was taken to a hospital, where he later died from his injuries, the Daytona Beach News-Journal reported.

WATCH: A Little Caesars employee shoots and kills a suspect in clown mask who attacked him with a wooden post. https://t.co/Jnb79saPiu (via @CBSNews) pic.twitter.com/CgnZu5qfOD  48 Hours (@48hours) May 29, 2018

"I'm glad that he was able to defend himself and that he's okay," Aldrich told ABC 9. "It's just unfortunate that this whole episode occurred."

Feliciano reportedly suffered injuries to his face and shoulders and was treated at a hospital. His father told ABC 9 Feliciano is "deeply affected" by the attack and has had trouble sleeping. The victim is scheduled to meet with investigators on Tuesday.

In Florida, Holly Hill Chief Aldrich says it appears the shooting was justified.
Portland, Ore. -- An Oregon man is recovering at a hospital after being stabbed 17 times by a homeless person who was camping in the man's neighborhood, family members said



Kasey Lebechuck was found Sunday with life-threatening injuries. He suffered wounds to his face, neck, chest and stomach, according to KOIN in Oregon.



Lebechuck's daughter told the station her father has lived in his northeast Portland neighborhood for about six years. He has been active trying to combat rising homelessness in the area.



Lebechuck was arriving home from errands when he found 25-year-old Todd Schneider setting up camp in a field near some bushes in the neighborhood.



Lebechuck approached Schneider and told him he was not allowed to camp in that area, according to KPTV in Oregon. Another family member told KPTV that Schneider said he needed to get a phone from his backpack, but instead grabbed a knife and attacked.



Lebechuck managed to get to a nearby home and ask for help, according to KPTV.



Police charged Schneider with first-degree assault, but officials have not confirmed what led to the assault or that Schneider is homeless, KPTV said.



Doctors have told family members that Lebechuck should recover, but faces several more days in the hospital and physical therapy, according to KPTV.



A neighbor said Lebechuck had been going down and talking to homeless people in the neighborhood for at least a couple of weeks. He would tell them they couldn't camp in the area.



Lebechuck has made calls about homeless people camping in his neighborhood to both the city and county in the past, KOIN said.



"No on one should have to go through this, just going up and asking a person to maybe move on and not be in a place that he shouldn't be," said Mary Haney, one of Lebechuck's neighbors, according to KOIN. "We're so let down by the city. This shouldn't be happening to tax-paying citizens."

Contact Kevin Tampone anytime: Email | Twitter | Google + | 315-454-2112
TOKYO - A top North Korean official is on his way to the United States for talks about a landmark summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, as efforts to the make the meeting happen go into overdrive.

Kim Yong Chol, a four-star general who has been at the forefront of North Korea's diplomatic outreach, landed at Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday, according to television footage from the airport.

He was initially booked on an Air China flight to Washington but changed it to a Wednesday flight bound for New York, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported. That would have him arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday.

Trump confirmed that he was on his way to New York.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea," the president tweeted Tuesday morning. "Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!"

Kim Yong Chol is one of the vice chairmen of the Workers' Party of Korea, the communist organization through which the ruling family controls North Korea, but is not technically the No. 2 behind Kim Jong Un.

He has, however, emerged as one of the leader's closest aides and has been at all the talks this year that have led to the current rapprochement.

He will be the highest-ranking North Korean to visit the United States since Gen. Jo Myong Rok went to the White House to see President Bill Clinton in 2000, part of a denuclearization effort that went nowhere.

There had been speculation that Kim, who greeted Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang this month, would be traveling to the United States amid frenzied talks aimed at salvaging the summit, scheduled to be held in Singapore on June 12.

While Pompeo is based in Washington, the North Korean diplomats accredited to the United Nations are based in New York and are not allowed to travel outside the city without special dispensation, making it the easiest place for meetings to be held.

Although Trump has not officially announced that the summit, which he abruptly canceled on Thursday, is back on, his staff is acting as though it is.

A team led by Sung Kim, a former American negotiator with North Korea who currently serves as ambassador to the Philippines, is holding another round of talks Tuesday on the northern side of the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas. Officials are discussing the substance of any summit agreement, focusing on the thorny issue of denuclearization, with a North Korean team led by Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui.

Separately, an advance team headed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin is in Singapore making logistical plans for the summit, should it go ahead. The North Korean side is led by Kim Chang Son, who effectively serves as chief of staff to Kim Jong Un.

Kim Chang Son was seen at Beijing airport Tuesday and, asked by Japanese reporters if he was heading to Singapore for talks with U.S. officials, he said he was "going there to play."

Now, it appears that Pompeo is getting ready for another round of discussions with Kim Yong Chol. Both are former spy chiefs and met in Pyongyang during the secretary of state's visits there in April and again this month.

Kim Yong Chol was directly sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his involvement in North Korea's nuclear program and illicit activities while he served as director of intelligence, so the United States would have had to grant a waiver to allow him to enter the country.

He now serves as head of the United Front Department, the arm of the ruling Workers' Party that handles relations with South Korea. In this role, he traveled to the South in February during the Winter Olympics, which provided the springboard for the current diplomatic frenzy, and was prominent during an inter-Korean summit on April 27.

He is widely believed to have masterminded the attack on a South Korean naval corvette, the Cheonan, in 2010, leading to the deaths of 46 sailors.

As the rapprochement with the United States has picked up pace, Kim Yong Chol appears to have taken on a broader remit to deal with the Trump administration.

He holds a number of senior positions within North Korea's communist hierarchy. He is a member of the Workers' Party Politburo and the powerful State Affairs Commission, and he also serves on the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.

"This combination of positions in the party and state makes Kim one of the most powerful figures in North Korea," according to North Korea Leadership Watch, a website that tracks senior regime figures."
Candidates named in city and school elections

With the passing of the filing deadline for the upcoming city and school election, several area governing bodies including the City of Tama and ...
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A rancher in Denton, Montana, shot and killed a wolf-like creature that came too close to his herd of livestock. After shooting the creature, the rancher called Montana wildlife officials because of the unusual characteristics exhibited by the creature.

Experts are sure that it isn't a wolf but aren't sure exactly what it is.

Wolf-Like Creature In Montana

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) department had to release a statement about the wolf-like creature that the rancher killed when it approached the farm. In the statement, it says that the rancher shot and killed a wolf-like animal on May 16 near Denton, Montana. It says that wildlife officials and the public aren't certain of the species of the animal.

The news release says that the wolf-like creature came within several hundred yards of livestock in the ranch. It is legal for ranchers in Montana to shoot wolves if they come too close to their livestock. The rancher adhered to the law by shooting and then reporting it to the authorities.

Wildlife officials say that the animal was a young, non-lactating female and that it is a canid, which would put it in the dog family of foxes, coyotes, and wolves. Originally, the animal was reported to be a wolf, but wolf specialists at the department determined that it couldn't be a purebred wolf.

Some of the details that threw officials off were the short canine teeth of the animal, smaller than normal front paws, and claws on the front paw that was too long. The Montana FWP decided that instead of guessing the species of the animal, it would send tissue samples to be analyzed at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Laboratory in Ashland, Oregon.

They say that at the laboratory, DNA will be extracted from the cells that could show specific markers to be able to identify it with a species. Officials say that the process may take a week or more depending on the backlog at the lab.

Social media has speculated as to what the creature could be, ranging from cryptids such as Bigfoot and dogman to suggestions that the unidentified canid could be a dire wolf. Detailed analysis of a tissue sample would definitely reveal what sort of animal the rancher killed.

One of the more realistic possibilities is that the animal could be a dog-wolf hybrid. These hybrids are able to have offspring, unlike other hybrid animals.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
More than 800 people in Michigan are infected with hepatitis A strain that causes severe complications and liver failure.

This outbreak sets the highest morbidity and mortality case in the history of hepatitis A in the United States.

The Worst Hepatitis A Outbreak

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services recorded 837 cases of hepatitis A as of May 23 including 671 hospitalizations and 27 deaths. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they are investigating the viral outbreak, which began infecting people in August 2016.

The Wayne County and City of Detroit health departments, as well as the Oakland County Health Division, urged the restaurant workers to avail the vaccine.

Dr. Nicholas Gilpin, the chief medical officer of Beaumont Hospital in Grosse Pointe, describes hepatitis A as more of a nuisance condition and that only 1 percent of the cases typically progress to liver failure. Patients who are infected with the virus usually recover over time.

"In all three of those jurisdictions, which have been most heavily impacted by these ongoing hepatitis outbreaks, the hospitalization rates have all been very high. Something is different and we're trying to figure out what it is. It's going to take a little while," said Jay Fielder, manager for surveillance and infectious disease epidemiology of the MDHHS.

Who Are At High Risk?

People with hepatitis A spread the virus through their feces, which can eventually contaminate food or water. The virus is also transmitted through body fluids, for instance, during sexual intercourse.

Symptoms such as fever, joint pain, loss of appetite, jaundice, and dark urine do not show until after 15 to 50 days from the onset of the disease. This is why it is difficult for health officials to manage the condition when it has progressed to an aggressive stage.

"People can live for decades without symptoms, but over time chronic hepatitis can cause serious health problems," said Dr. Eden Wells, the chief medical executive at MDHHS. "Michigan residents are urged to learn the facts about hepatitis, particularly the steps they should take to protect themselves and how to identify their risk of the disease."

People who use recreational drugs or those who traveled to countries where there is a hepatitis A epidemic have higher risks of contracting the virus. Men who have sexual intercourse with men and those with chronic liver diseases are also at risk, according to the WHO.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Why choose between cannabis and beer when you can have both? At the Canadian Brewing Awards in Halifax, brewers from all over Canada gathered to show off their best brews, but one in particular stood out, and it doesn't even exist yet.

Expert brewers know that to get a good kick out of beer, the key ingredient is hops, but hops are relatives of the marijuana plant, so why not use it to brew beer if cannabis is going to get legalized in the country anyway?

One company in Toronto is currently developing a type of beer that, instead of hops, will contain cannabis. Surprisingly, it will be non-alcoholic.

"Cannabis is by far a safer and healthier alternative to alcohol, and this is the first time in any of our lifetimes that we're able to bring a product like that to market," says Dooma Wendschuh, CEO of Province Brands of Canada.

A Beer Made From Marijuana

The cannabis beer will contain a small amount of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC  just 6.5 milligrams. Wendschuh says the ultimate goal is to make a product that can't get a person drunk more than a beer could, something that would feel familiar to those who've already drank beer in the past. Also, creating something close to actual beer would make it easier to regulate, but all this would require extensive development and research. Right now, the initial goal is to create a cannabis-based drink that will affect the consumer and leave their system in a similar amount of time as alcohol would.

In this undertaking, one of the biggest hurdles is the amount of time it takes for cannabis to kick in. As such, the company is trying various accelerants to speed up the cannabis beer's "kick."

Two Types Of Cannabis Beer

The company is developing two variations of the cannabis beer: the first is the non-alcoholic one already mentioned, and the second is a beer that's completely made out of cannabis through an entirely new brewing process. More than anything, Wendschuh is most excited about the latter.

"If we can create something that is a true alternative to alcohol, you know, that could change the world in so many ways ... to make that kind of change and to create something that could be healthier and safer but still convey a lot of the benefits of psychoactives," he said.

Canada's federal government is expected to legalize consumable marijuana next year, and that's when Province Brands plans to launch its cannabis beer. The company is also opening a brewing facility soon to work on the product further.

What do you think would cannabis beer taste like? As always, feel free to speculate in the comments section below!

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Sunscreen is once again an important part of the daily routine now that summer is here, and people should know all about these sunscreen tips and tricks to maximize their effectiveness.

Best Sunscreen SPF Level

The American Academy of Dermatology recommends a sunscreen SPF level of at least 30, as those are already capable of blocking 97 percent of the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun.

People with more sensitive skin or with fairer skin tones might want to get a sunscreen with SPF 50 for added protection, but according to skin expert David Leffell, any SPF higher than 50 only provides minimal additional benefits.

Sunscreen Effectiveness Over Time

Using sunscreen with SPF 50 does not mean that you can stay under the sun longer compared to when you use sunscreen with SPF 30. The SPF levels are based on the protection that sunscreens offer for only two hours.

After two hours under the sun, no matter how high the SPF level of your sunscreen is, you will need to re-apply.

Sunscreen Expiration Date

Before using sunscreen, you should always check its expiration date. While using old or expired sunscreen will not be harmful to your health, it will not provide the necessary protection because the active ingredients would have lost their effect.

For sunscreens with no expiration date, they should be considered expired after three years from purchase.

Sunscreen Capsules Don't Work

You might have products called sunscreen capsules or sunscreen pills that promise protection from sunburn after ingesting them. The Food and Drug Administration, however, has warned against using them.

FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb called out the companies distributing the products, claiming that they are misleading consumers because sunscreen capsules do not work. Sunscreen capsules and pill should not replace the usage of sunscreen.

Safe Sunscreen Brands

Hawaii recently banned sunscreens, but people should not suddenly be afraid of the products. It should be noted that the ban only applied to sunscreens with chemicals that are harmful to corals though.

To be on the safe side, people might want to take a look at the best sunscreens of 2018, as recommended by Consumer Reports.

The Importance Of Sunscreens

According to the American Cancer Society, about 91,000 people are expected to be diagnosed with melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, this year. It is also said that one in five people will develop skin cancer in their lifetime.

Sunscreens provide protection against the sun's ultraviolet rays that lead to the development of melanoma and skin cancer. Sunscreens also prevent painful sunburns and early signs of skin aging.

Everybody should apply sunscreen before they head out, to make the most out of summer without worrying about the sun's harmful effects.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
In the cold, rugged Shumagin islands off the southern coast of mainland Alaska, there are no evergreen tangerines growing. However, a trip to one of these 20 islands will have you wondering why the air perpetually smells like oranges.

It turns out that a type of Alaskan seabird makes its own tangerine-scented cologne to communicate with a potential mate. Both males and females emit their own orange scent. But male crested auklets, in particular, produce a stronger aroma to show off their wares and get the girls.

Independent marine biologist Hector Douglas, also a former assistant professor of biology at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, began studying crested auklets in 2002, when he was a graduate student at the UAF's Institute of Marine Science. Douglas was sailing to Big Koniuji island on a fishing boat when the air suddenly began smelling like tangerines. He looked up and saw a huge flock of crested auklets soaring over his head.

"The citrus odor is incredibly intense," Douglas says. "They're the strongest smelling birds I know of."

Crested Auklets Smell Like Oranges To Get The Girls

Not too long ago, bird researchers have panned the idea that birds have a sense of smell. The notion alone that birds give off a particular scent was ridiculous. However, Douglas hypothesized that crested auklets produce their own natural cologne to signify their fitness level and, thus, their mating capabilities.

Researchers have long believed that the size of a bird's crest, the tuft of colorful feathers on top of its head, is a sign of sex appeal. But unlike the peacock's elaborate display of fanning out its feathers, for instance, a bird's crest size costs nothing to make. This makes it an unreliable sign of fitness or fertility.

Making natural cologne, however, is requires a lot of energy.

"The individuals that are secreting the odor are saying, 'I can do this, despite the fact that I'm giving up some of my metabolic energy,'" Douglas explains.

Crested Auklets Make Their Own Citrus-Scented Cologne

To test his theory that the birds use scent as a sign of fitness in males, Douglas collected dozens of male crested auklets and transported them to Florida. He placed the birds in a specialized chamber filled with purified air that could pick up molecules of the bird's scent.

After filtering and analyzing the samples, Douglas found octanal, a type of organic compound that is also found in the rind of citrus fruits and perfumes such as Chanel No. 5.

He also discovered that the birds with the largest crests made more octanal than their smaller-crested rivals, suggesting that the tangerine scent is highly attractive to female crested auklets. Douglas found that the smellier birds released more corticosterone, hinting at better levels of fitness.

"Something happened in evolution to favor the production of these chemicals," Douglas says.

The Discovery Of The Tangerine-Scented Seabirds

Crested auklets were first recorded to emit their own tangerine-scented perfume in 2003 by a team of biologists at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania.

"It's like someone is peeling a tangerine next to you," team lead Julie Hagelin once told Nature journal.

The team found that the perfume is actually a blend of oils in the bird's feathers. However, the preening gland was found to be odorless, leading researchers to believe that bacteria in its plumage may have something to do with the tangerine scent.

They also discovered that crested auklets prefer the smell of tangerine to animal musk or an odorless control.

Douglas first wrote his paper on crested auklets in 2002. It was published in the journal Behavioral Ecology on May 9.

Photo: Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith | Flickr

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The video gaming industry loses another important icon. Gamers are mourning the death of Ted Dabney, a brilliant engineer and one of the co-founders of Atari.

Ted Dabney's Passing

Leonard Herman, the author of the Phoenix series of books and video game historian, confirm the news about Dabney's passing on Facebook.

"I just learned that my good friend, Ted Dabney, the co-founder of Atari, passed away at the age of 81, RIP good friend. Your legacy will live on a long time," wrote Herman.

In 2009, he also wrote an article for Edge magazine that details the icon's story.

Late last year, Dabney was apparently diagnosed with esophageal cancer, which caused his death. Doctors estimated that he only had eight months to live, but he no longer opted to undergo any form of treatment.

The Birth Of An Industry

Together with Nolan Bushnell, Dabney co-founded Syzgy, the predecessor of Atari in 1971. Their initial venture was responsible for the development of Computer Space, which is considered the world's first commercially available arcade video game.

Eventually, in 1972, the pair co-founded Atari and used the former software as the inspiration for Pong that went on to make millions for the company. His stint with the business did not last long due to some disagreement over management roles. He ended up selling his shares back to Bushnell for $250,000.

After a brief period of working with Bushnell to develop games for Pizza Time Theater, which later on became Chuck E. Cheese, another company purchased its assets after it had declared bankruptcy in 1984.

After leaving Atari, he spent much of his time working for companies such as Raytheon, Teledyne, and Fujitsu. It might seem that his involvement with video games is quite short, but the video game industry considers his contributions crucial to the growth of the market.

The Road To Atari

Before Dabney joined hands with Bushnell to form the iconic company, his previous experience paved the way for his future. His expertise in electronics got its start when he was still with the U.S. Marine Corps. After his military service, he went on to work for HP and Bank of America in various tech roles.

Then in 1961, he met his fellow Atari co-founder when he got a job with Ampex. Moreover, the opportunity allowed him to learn more about display technology. The two came up with an idea to open a pizza place that features coin-operated gaming systems.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
American spaceflight startup Rocket Lab announces a new launch schedule ahead of the first takeoff of its Electron rocket.

This is in line with the company's commercial spaceflight program called It's Business Time.

Rocket Lab's new window of departure is anytime between June 23 and July 6 at 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. The Electron space vehicle will take off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand, which is licensed to launch rockets every 72 hours.

The launch window, which had been initially slated for April 20 to May 3, was postponed when experts found an abnormality in the motor controller during one of the tests. The team reviewed the data, applied corrective measures, and installed additional satellites. New customers were also included in the manifest.

"It's been a really tough one to determine the root cause," said Peter Beck, Rocket Lab CEO in an interview. "It wasn't particularly obvious."

The Electron Rocket Technology

Electron's new satellites including IRVINE01, developed by the Irvine CubeSat STEM Program and NABEO, is designed and manufactured by High-Performance Space Structure Systems GmBH.

Rocket Lab worked together with Ecliptic Enterprises Corporation, a Pasadena-based supplier of onboard video and imaging systems for use in rockets and spacecraft.

According to Beck, their rocket technology is designed to meet consumer demands.

"Rocket Lab's responsive space model is crucial to support the exponential growth of the small satellite market. That a customer can come to us seeking a ride to orbit and we can have them booked to launch in weeks is unheard of in the launch business," he said.

The Rocket Lab Proposition

Beck added that small satellites have become increasingly important as it offers a myriad of services that could benefit millions of people on the planet.

Rocket Lab's goal is to primarily become a dedicated launcher for small satellites, which is why the Electron rocket measures 55 feet tall compared to SpaceX's Falcon 9 that stands at 230 feet. Furthermore, the Electron is capable of carrying up to 550 pounds of space cargo while the Falcon 9 can deliver around 50,000 pounds of cargo into the same orbit.

However, Rocket Lab's smaller space vehicles allow them to send satellites faster than their bigger counterparts. This is also the reason why the company is licensed to take off in New Zealand every three days.

The launch of It's Business Time will be covered by a live video stream, and Rocket Lab is expected to provide more updates as it nears June 23 launch date.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The government of France helped 1 million smokers make the decision to drop the life-threatening habit in 2017, according to the country's Ministry of Health.

France attributed the success to its anti-smoking campaign, which resulted in the biggest drop in the number of smokers in the country in a decade, according to Public Health France.

France Anti-Smoking Campaign Makes 1 Million Smokers Quit

France saw a drastic decline in the number of people in the country who smoke daily, with 1 million less smokers in 2017 compared to 2016.

The survey, which was carried out by Public Health France, also saw a decrease in the number of smokers among teenagers and among people with low income.

The decline in the number of smokers in France was attributed to the anti-smoking measures implemented by the government. In recent years, France has pushed for neutral packaging for cigarettes, offered reimbursements for people moving to tobacco substitutes, and introduced campaigns like a national tobacco-free month.

Arguably the biggest detractor for smokers in France is the escalating prices of cigarettes. The government is increasing the price of cigarettes in the country in increments, with the plan to get the price up to 10 ($12) by 2020.

The initiatives have resulted in survey results of 26.9 percent of people aged 18 years old to 75 years old smoking every day, equivalent to 12.2 million smokers in 2017. This is a significant decline compared to 29.4 percent, equivalent to 13.2 million smokers, in 2016, for a reduction of 1 million smokers in France in one year.

Quit Smoking, Save Your Life

There are many articles and studies on the detrimental effects of smoking on the health of people and the others around them. As examples, according to recent studies, smoking just one cigarette per day already raises the risk of heart disease and stroke, and smoking may increase the risk that a person becomes deaf by 60 percent.

However, smoking remains a major problem across the world.

In the United States, the FDA has moved forward with its anti-smoking proposal that will look to further reduce the usage of cigarettes. The plan will look to reduce the allowable levels of nicotine in cigarettes, making them non-addictive as possibly the final step in the fight against smoking.

Smokers may already be asking how to quit smoking, but it is a very difficult habit to beat. A new study, however, claimed that financial reward is the most successful way to get somebody to quit smoking.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A study says bottlenose dolphins confined in recreational facilities are happy to interact with their trainers more than playing with toys or when allowed to do things on their own.

For the study, a team of French scientists observed the bottlenose dolphins that are being held in Parc Asterix, a theme park with the largest dolphinariums in France.

The team concluded that bottlenose dolphins, kept for recreational purposes, are more motivated and eager to play with humans than toys.

Dolphins' Happiness Measured By Scientists

Dr. Isabella Clegg, the lead researcher for the study published in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science, explained that experiments they conducted were specifically designed to decode dolphins' behavior. Through representational toys and physical stimulus, the team aimed to measure how captive dolphins truly feel in their habitat.

"We wanted to find out what activities in captivity they like most," Clegg explained. Their study could become the first to analyze how captivity really feels like from the perspective of the animals themselves.

The scientists from the University of Paris monitored the animals in three different settings: putting toys for them to play in the water, having them play with a familiar trainer, and allowing them to play as they wished. For each of the setting, the scientists played a corresponding sound to signal the animals about which of the activities await them.

Their observation revealed that captive dolphins do their "spy hopping" enthusiastically when they heard the sound signaling that they will be playing with their trainers. "Spy hopping" is when dolphins emerge their heads from the water as if trying to see what is happening.

The dolphins being monitored for the study behaved less enthusiastic when they heard the signal that they will be playing with toys or will be swimming as they wished.

Ultimately, the team concluded that a good quality bonding between humans and animals will lead to better animal welfare.

Are The Dolphins Really Happy?

Birgitta Mercera, the person who manages the dolphinarium at the Parc Asterix, surmised that dolphins' happiness depends on how they were raised.

"I think that wild dolphins are happier in the wild, and captive-born dolphins are much happier in captivity," she said. She added that dolphins born in facilities should stay in the facilities with humans to take care of them.

Dr. Susanne Schultz from the University of Manchester argued that dolphins' pleasant interaction with humans is not enough basis to say that they will choose captivity over their natural habitat in the wild. Schultz has been studying the social behavior of wild marine mammals.

David Lusseau, professor of behavioral biology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, echoed the same opinion. He has been working with bottlenose dolphins for nearly 25 years.

Lusseau explained that "spy-hopping" is a natural tendency among the dolphins when they are curious about what is happening on the surface of the water. The behavior has nothing to do with the animals being happy, he emphasized.

 2021 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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A Baton Rouge man who was scheduled to stand trial Tuesday on murder and drug charges in the fatal 2015 heroin overdose of a 20-year-old man now will be tried Aug. 27.

Brandon Jamal Parker, 27, is charged with second-degree murder and possession with intent to distribute heroin in the March 7, 2015, death of James "Alex" Brasfield.

A witness told investigators that Parker sold heroin to Brasfield on March 6, 2015. Brasfield went to his residence on Denham Road and ingested the drug before he went to sleep. He did not wake up, according to an arrest warrant.

East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Beau Clark concluded Brasfield died of acute heroin intoxication.

Parker is being prosecuted under a seldom-used provision of Louisiana's second-degree murder statute that allows a murder prosecution when someone is killed and the suspect is accused of distributing or dispensing an illegal drug that directly causes the recipient's death.

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Only one person, Jarret McCasland, 29, of Denham Springs, has been convicted in East Baton Rouge Parish of second-degree murder under that provision. McCasland was found guilty in 2015 in the heroin overdose death of his girlfriend, Flavia Cathy Cardenas, 19, in 2013. She died with multiple drugs in her system. McCasland was sentenced to a mandatory term of life in prison.

The East Baton Rouge Parish District Attorney's Office on Tuesday requested the new trial date for Parker because of a conflict with another trial. Parker's court-appointed lawyers did not object, so state District Judge Trudy White granted the trial continuance.

The judge also scheduled a July 2 status hearing in the case.
Starting Tuesday, a charter-school friendly group is running digital ads, as well as some TV and radio spots aiming to persuade Baton Rouge voters to sign onto a new vision of success focused on excellence, equity and accountability.

Dubbed Raise The Bar Baton Rouge, organizers describe it as a significant six-figure buy scheduled to stretch over eight weeks during June and July. The ad campaign is timed to prepare the ground for elections this fall for the nine seats on the East Baton Rouge Parish School Board; qualifying for those elections takes place July 18-20.

The campaign highlights how only two-thirds of ninth-graders in Baton Rouge public high schools graduate on time four years later, one of the lowest rates in the state. It also points out that more than a third of the public school students in Baton Rouge attend schools with state academic letter grades of D or F.

The future of Baton Rouge goes through the schoolhouse door. And right now, the future isnt as bright as it should be, goes the script for an initial 30-second commercial launching the campaign.

Can't see video below? Click here.

Behind the ads is a group called Education Reform Now Advocacy, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit corporation affiliated with the New York-based Democrats for Education Reform.

Its way past time that we talk about the challenges in Baton Rouge with the larger community, said Eva Kemp, director of the group's chapter in Louisiana.

Kemp said the campaign also will highlight newer charter schools that it sees as being viable alternatives to traditional public schools.

We want to build overall awareness for the high quality options across the city, Kemp said.

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+6 Backers of Common Core, other changes make clean sweep in BESE contests Advocates of major changes in public schools, including Common Core, swept all six races decided Saturday night for Louisianas top school board.

Kemp, who ran unsuccessfully in 2010 for the School Board seat that Connie Bernard won and still holds, said Democrats for Education Reform and its affiliated groups hope the campaign will persuade like-minded Democrats to run in School Board races this fall, but she said the organization is not actively recruiting candidates.

Education Reform Now Advocacy is structured for tax purposes as a social welfare organization, which, according to the IRS, may engage in some political activities, so long as that is not its primary activity. Such organizations dont have to disclose their donors.

School choice, once rare in Baton Rouge, has exploded over the past decade.

In 2008, just three charter schools operated in East Baton Rouge Parish. Now, 24 charter schools operate in the parish and educate more than 8,600 students, about 14 percent of the public schoolchildren in the parish. Four more charter schools are set to open this fall, adding thousands of more children to charter school rolls. Charter schools are public schools run privately via contracts, or charters.

And that does not count the publicly funded private school assistance programs that pay for some or all of the private school tuition of children from low-income families in Baton Rouge.

+3 Competing union, ed-reform cash infusions in School Board races result in wins for incumbents Despite a near-upset in one race, incumbents in three contested Orleans Parish School Board elections held onto their seats Tuesday, rounding 

Education Reform Now Advocacy and its sister organization, Education Reform Now, have long been active in Louisiana school politics. In 2016, Education Reform Now spent more than $300,000 supporting two successful School Board candidates in New Orleans. In the lead-up to that election, it launched a public information campaign called Raising Grades, Lifting Futures that is still ongoing.

The website for the new Raise The Bar Baton Rouge campaign lays out an agenda similar to what charter school advocates have been pressing, with limited success, for years in the Capital City:
Louisiana lawmakers on Tuesday ended an impasse that has threatened the Legislature's ability to pass a state budget in the current special session and created mounting speculation about the need for yet another special session this year.

The House Appropriations Committee, with little discussion, advanced five spending measures to the House floor, where they are likely to be taken up Thursday. It was a key sign of movement in the two-week special session that must end Monday, as the committee had not yet discussed budget bills this session.

But lawmakers remain concerned about the tight timeline that remains and another special session remains a possibility.

"I wish we would move more swiftly than that and I believe we could and should," said House Speaker Pro Tempore Walt Leger, a New Orleans Democrat who helped jumpstart the stalled budget discussions Monday by threatening to attempt to pass a bill of his own, sidestepping the Appropriations Committee.

If a budget isn't adopted before this session ends, another special session will be held to finalize state spending by July 1.

Special sessions cost taxpayers about $50,000 to $60,000 a day.

House members in recent days had increasingly voiced frustration about the lack of movement on the budget, which must be approved by July 1 to prevent a shutdown of government services.

"Isn't anybody concerned?" Rep. Major Thibaut, D-New Roads, implored from the House floor Tuesday before the committee hearing. "We need to advance some legislation."

After the House, budget bills that advance must then be vetted by the Senate. Typically, the two chambers would then hash out any final spending disagreements with further negotiations.

As approved by the committee, House Bill 1, the measure that traditionally carries the annual state operating budget, would fund the popular Taylor Opportunity Program for students at about 80 percent and leave general support for colleges and universities about $25 million below the fully-funded level. The state Department of Health could receive about $70 million less than was allocated in a budget proposal that the Legislature approved during the regular session.

The Rundown: Budget battle looms as House advances tax bills and more Louisiana politics news Today in The Rundown: The House has advanced revenue-raising bills but the budget outlook remains precarious; Capital punishment changes have 

Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the earlier HB1, calling it "catastrophic" to state services because of the "fiscal cliff" the state faces when more than $1 billion in temporary tax measures expire June 30.

The special session was meant as a last-ditch effort for lawmakers to try to bridge part of the remaining nearly $650 million gap in state revenue. On Monday, the House hit another milestone when it, for the first time in two years, passed a revenue-raising measure off the House floor.

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Lawmakers have spent the past two years, since adopting the temporary tax measures, including a one-cent sales tax hike, trying to pass structural budget changes. A fiscal session and multiple special sessions later, they are back considering temporary measures to plug the next hole.

House Bill 27 would extend one-third of the expiring sales tax hike through 2023, and separate measures have advanced that would continue through 2023 the suspension of tax breaks that were halted in 2015 but set to resume this summer.

Combined, the tax measures would mean about $400 million toward the $648 million hole.

Speaking to a crowd from Acadiana at the State Capitol on Tuesday, Edwards said his optimism about the special session was growing but was tempered by the fact that the House has resisted bridging the entire gap.

So I cant tell you that you wont get a cut," he said. "I cant do that yet because we are just not there. It is my hope and expectation that at the end of the day that we are going to maintain $648 million.

Edwards, a Democrat who has frequently been at odds with House Republican leaders since taking office in January 2016, said he hopes that issues can be resolved by this special session's end.

The range of disagreement is relatively narrow," he said. "(House leaders) have acknowledged the need to keep some portion of the penny that is going to expire. They want to keep a third. I believe we need to keep a half."

House Republican leaders have described the one-third, which also calls for a corresponding spending cut to state agencies, as a compromise between revenue and budget cuts. House GOP Caucus Chair Lance Harris, R-Alexandria, released a video statement on Tuesday warning that any effort to increase the size of the tax beyond one-third of a penny would blow up the deal.

"This bill doesnt make as many cuts as Republicans want and it doesnt raise taxes as much as the governor wants," he said. "The bill to reduce spending and renew one-third of the one-cent sales tax is our compromise."

Edwards said by continuing half of the expiring sales tax, the state could prevent unnecessary cuts.

"If we keep a half, we can fund everything that is important," he said. "If all you keep is a third, you are going to vote to keep a portion of the fifth penny, but you are still going to be making cuts  I fundamentally just dont understand that.

Ben Meyers of The Advocate Acadiana bureau contributed to this report
Drilling rigs stacked at the Port of Iberia in 2016 reflect the impact an oil industry slump has had on the Louisiana's economy. Effects are still showing up in a second straight annual slump in the state's gross domestic product, a measure of all goods and services produced.
State Superintendent of Education John White, left, and Lisa T. French, right, chat with Gov. John Bel Edwards, center, who just spoke at the annual meeting of Jump Start, which allows high school students to get workforce training in addition to regular academic classes, Tuesday Jan. 23, 2018, in Baton Rouge, La.
With his ministry's private jet now 12 years old, a popular televangelist based in Louisiana is asking for donations to purchase a new one.

Jesse Duplantis, who runs a Christian ministry headquartered in Destrehan, asked for the donations in a video posted on his website last week. In it, he explains that his current jet  the third his ministry has owned  no longer serves his needs.

Now he has his eye set on a brand-new Dassault Falcon 7X, largely because of its fuel capacity. The jet comes with a price tag of at least $54 million, according to Aviation Week.

"Ive owned three different jets in my life," he says in the video. "Ive used 'em, and just burning them up for the Lord Jesus Christ."

Watch "This Week with Jesse" as Jesse shows the importance of using aviation as an amazing tool for evangelizing the world! Tune in each Monday at https://t.co/hnG6BhPAvH or on our JDM App. Click to watch https://t.co/PLfSYt2A3U pic.twitter.com/sAvKskmokO  Jesse Duplantis (@jesse_duplantis) May 21, 2018

Duplantis shows pictures of the three planes, which he describes as a Cessna Citation 500, an IAI Westwind II and a Dassault Falcon 50 purchased in 2006.

He goes on to show a picture of the fictional star ship "Enterprise" from the series "Star Trek," joking that he plans to be in one someday.

He stresses that the new plane would be owned by Jesse Duplantis Ministries and would remain its property even if he were no longer affiliated with the organization.

The organization also runs Covenant Church in Destrehan and produces a weekly broadcast that airs on WGNO-TV in New Orleans and several religious networks.

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"Some people believe that preachers shouldnt have jets," he says. "I really believe that preachers oughta go on ... every available outlet to get this gospel preached to the world."

Duplantis, a 68-year-old New Orleans native, has been preaching since 1976 and is credited with 11 books and one film. He says that if Jesus were alive today, "He wouldn't be riding a donkey."

He also claims in the video that he was told by God to "believe" specifically for a new Falcon 7X, which would allow him to make longer trips and save money on fuel.

"I didn't ask you to pay for it," Duplantis says he was told by God.

We dont hide nothing whatsoever at all," he says in the video. "We never ask you to give something that (we) dont give ourselves."

Duplantis isn't the only religious leader tapping followers for a new set of wings. Kenneth Copeland, a televangelist from Texas, announced in January that he had taken possession of a "debt-free" Gulfstream V.

He credited the purchase of the jet to members of Kenneth Copeland Ministries and included an image and video of him with the jet. The plane's purchase price was not disclosed.

Duplantis and Copeland both defended the use of private jets in a 2015 video exchange.

"This is so important ... we've got to have this," Copeland said. "The mess that airlines are in today, I would have to stop  I'm being very conservative  at least 75 to 80, more like 90 percent of what we're doing."
Less than a month after declaring Thalmus Williams innocent in the rape of a 12-year old girl, the Orleans Parish District Attorneys Office has filed two new charges against him for the same crime.

In explaining the startling about-face, the DAs Office said only that it had received additional DNA test results.

Williams now faces life in prison on charges of first-degree rape. He is accused of attacking the pre-teen on June 5, 2016, inside an apartment where he stayed on occasion. The girl told her mother that Williams, whom she knew, had sexually assaulted her, and she was taken to a hospital, according to police.

Williams, 37, was first arrested in February 2017. He remained in custody for over a year as Orleans Public Defenders attorneys sought to win his release.

Prosecutors initially said that DNA tests performed at the Louisiana State Police Crime Laboratory showed inconclusive results. Williams attorneys said that examiners at the lab should have been able to conclude, from the same tests, that Williams was innocent.

Williams defense team also filed a motion in November questioning the girls credibility. The defense attorneys said in a request for the girls medical records that they believed she may have previously falsified a report of sexual assault in 2014.

Eventually, the state lab recommended referring DNA samples from a sexual assault examination of the girl to a private lab in Pennsylvania that uses an advanced technique. That lab determined that seminal fluid collected from the girl could not have come from Williams.

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Prosecutors immediately moved to dismiss the charges against Williams. A spokesman for the DAs Office said he was innocent" and the accusers account of the assault had been disproved.

Yet within days of his release, Williams was back in legal jeopardy. Assistant District Attorney Mary Glass sought and obtained two charges of first-degree rape against Williams on May 10.

Prosecutors did not offer further details on the new DNA test results that led to the more recent indictment.

Orleans Public Defenders attorney Sean Collins said last month that two experts hired by the defense had questioned the state lab's original, inconclusive results.

Its going to change the way I approach anything I get from State Police Crime Lab on my current cases and my future cases, Collins said.

Williams appeared in court on Friday for his arraignment, where he pleaded not guilty.

Although bail was set at $2 million at the time of the new indictment, Criminal District Court Judge Benedict Willard lowered the amount to $200,000 at Williams' arraignment.

He remained in custody as of Monday.
New Orleans police were investigating fatal shootings in both the St. Roch and Leonidas neighborhoods Thursday morning.

The first shooting was reported about 8 a.m. near Abundance and Touro streets. A 44-year-old man was found dead on the sidewalk, police said. He had been shot multiple times.

The second shooting was reported about 8:15 a.m. in the 1700 block of Eagle Street, the NOPD said. A male shooting victim was pronounced dead on the scene.

A school in the area of the second shooting was placed under lockdown for a while.

A third, non-fatal shooting was reported in Algiers about 3:45 p.m. Thursday. A man was shot in the arm near Gen. de Gaulle and Kabel drives.

In other matters recently handled by local authorities:

 The man suspected of a fatal shooting outside an Algiers storage facility last month has been transferred to New Orleans jail following his recent arrest in Slidell.

David Collins, 37, faces a count of second-degree murder in the April 18 slaying of Kevin Dunkley in the 3900 block of Behrman Highway.

Police said Dunkley and three other men took a moving truck and a pickup to the storage facility, where they unloaded furniture. Dunkley was then shot dead, and the other men left in the pickup and the moving truck, police said.

Police released a still image of a man who was seen on surveillance video with Dunkley. Collins called police and told them he was near the area when the killing occurred but had nothing to do with it.

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Police later found a picture of Collins and said he resembled the man that the surveillance video suggested killed Dunkley. They arrested him at his home in Slidell on May 8.

Collins was transferred to New Orleans jail on Wednesday night.

At a court hearing Thursday, his attorney argued that he should be released because he had been awaiting transfer for more than 10 days. But prosecutor Michael Henn countered that the arrest warrant remained valid, and he would be immediately rearrested if released.

Collins remained in custody, and his bail was set at $350,000.

 A TCBY store in the 700 block of Metairie Road was robbed at knifepoint before 3 p.m. Thursday, the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office said.

The hold-up occurred two days after a Smoothie King in Metairie was robbed at gunpoint and one day after a Honey Baked Ham store in Metairie was robbed at gunpoint as well.

 An arrest was made Wednesday in the shooting death of a 25-year-old Reserve man last week.

DeQuan Donnell Brown, 23, was arrested in connection with the murder of Corey Lyntrell Anderson, who was found early on the morning of May 20 in the 1300 block of Yorktowne Drive, in LaPlace.

Deputies arrived about 3 a.m. and found Anderson lying in the grass near the street with a gunshot wound to the right shoulder. A motorcycle was near the body. Deputies later learned he was driving a motorcycle when he was shot.

Brown and Anderson are from Reserve; a motive is unknown at this time. The investigation is ongoing, authorities said.
I am thinking that this will be my year, and here is why. This is an election year for the Oregon governor, and I am optimistic about my chances of her granting me clemency and giving me a shot at freedom. I have the support of the Cascade AIDS Project, and their deputy director said that a letter would be drafted and sent on my behalf to the governor. This will hopefully demonstrate that HIV reform needs to happen, and she can make the change that starts with me. Hopefully I will hear shortly after this November election cycle?

I recently received my results from my last blood draw. I had a nurse send me the numbers for my viral load, and thankfully, it is still undetectable. My CD4s are close to 850, which is a great thing for me. I am grateful that Genvoya (elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide) is working for me. Have you had a chance to take this miracle once-a-day pill to treat your chronic HIV? As long as I have been taking it, there haven't been any noticeable side effects. Ask your doctor about taking this pill if you are tired of remembering to take a multi-pill cocktail to treat your HIV every day.

For those of you reading this who are newly diagnosed with HIV, as of March I had been living with HIV for 28 years, and it would not have been possible if it weren't for the strides made by science to understand this illness and make medicines that will suppress the virus. Back in 1997 when my CD4s were in decline, I was forced to decide to start taking the meds available at the time with all of their side effects or else die in a prison hospital bed.

I made the obvious choice and started taking Crixivan (indinavir), which worked to keep me alive, but the side effects were messed up. Lasting side effects from this cocktail medicine changed my physical appearance. It is called the "Crixivan Hump" and sits nicely at the top of my neck and makes me feel like Quasimodo. This makes me self-conscious about myself when I want to take my shirt off when it is nice outside.

When people ask me about it, I just want to crawl under a rock and hide, but I have to put on a brave face and stand up for myself being in prison. Talk about people being judgmental. Holy cow! Judge much? It is already bad enough that I am living with an illness that has a close-minded stigma attached to it. Society judges you on your appearance, just like the men I am surrounded by every day that already have hatred in their hearts, especially for HIV-positive people.

One of life's lessons that I still have to learn is complete self-acceptance and to really love myself. The deeper I dig into my soul and look at who I have always been, the more I am taken to a place of pain, suffering, loneliness, and self-doubt. We are our own worst critics, which is something I have learned over my life.

What are the important life lessons that have opened your eyes to the things you needed to change? Care to share with me? I am a work in progress, and I am open to your comments.

Recently, I was moved back into a cell from an 88-man dorm. The cell I live in with another man is the second one from the end. There are 26 cells on the bottom tier and the same on the second tier. I am in #25, which is mere steps from the yard door, which brings in fresh air each time it is opened.

I have never spoken a word to my neighbor next door. I have no understanding about his culture or beliefs, but I do understand discrimination. Ever since I moved in and he heard that I had HIV, he has talked to the orderlies that pass out cleaning supplies each morning. He explains that it is "his religion" to want to always get the dust mop and wet mop before I get the chance to clean my cell. I am second in rotation to clean when the orderlies start at my end of the tier every other morning. Because I have HIV, I should be skipped over, and the orderlies are supposed to perpetuate this stigma? NO WAY!

I explained it in a way they all understood. That is a blatant act of disrespect, which comes with repercussions. If they don't like that, they can talk to the guards. I stood up for myself and offered to educate them with my knowledge, which they didn't want. Ignorance is not an excuse to be disrespectful.

Stay healthy & stay safe.

Read Tim's blog, HIV on the Inside.
Kiwi Harry Potter fans are in mourning as Daniel Radcliffe has left our shores after a month shooting his latest film in West Auckland but good news is he's promising he'll be back.

Radcliffe, 28, has the lead role in Guns Akimbo; an R-Rated action comedy written and directed by local filmmaker Jason Lei Howden (Deathgasm).

SEE MORE: Harry Potter's Neville Longbottom just got married!

SEE MORE: People are losing it over this Daniel Radcliffe look alike.

The film is a co-production with Germany, so Radcliffe and the rest of the cast are now en route to Munich for the rest of the shoot.

But his time in Auckland was clearly special for the actor, who told Newshub that he has absolutely loved his first time here.

Everyone has been genuinely so warm and friendly. I will definitely, 100 percent be coming back here on holiday,



While most of the shoot took place on soundstages at Studio West in Glen Eden, there were some on-location night shoots in central Auckland.

To all the people who we annoyed when we filmed on Customs Street, stopping traffic - I am very sorry and thank you for your patience. Unless you're one of the people who shouted at us, in which case, screw you buddy.. keep walking

Radcliffe was full of genuine praise for the city and can't wait to return to explore further around New Zealand.

We've been walking around Auckland and the surrounding areas going 'this is so beautiful, this is amazing', and everyone's like, 'this is nothing, you need to go exploring'. But I'm from London and this is beautiful - you're by the sea, you've got the water right there, you travel half an hour and your surrounded by mountains - and everyone's still like, 'this is nothing'.



One place Radcliffe is definitely keen to check out is one of the most popular tourist hotspots of the South Island.

Everyone says we've gotta go to Queenstown. It must be a literal heaven the way everyone has talked about it, I've never heard a place so unanimously talked about in glowing terms, I'll have to come back and go there at some point.

SOURCE: Newshub.


Soap star Cornelia Frances - who played Morag on Home and Away has passed away after a long battle with cancer.

The 77-year-old TV veteran leaves behind her son Lawrence Eastland and her dearly loved 17-year-old granddaughter Tipani.

"Lawrence is truly devastated by the passing of his mum, they were the best of friends," show business reporter Craig Bennett told Woman's Day.

Cornelia first announced she was battling cancer in January when what began as a bladder cancer spread to her hip.

Despite undergoing chemo and radiation treatment, the cancer tragically metastasised in Cornelia's spine and she spent the final months of her life in palliative care.
There is nothing new in the present battle for the soul of Ireland. Throughout its history, the struggle for the Irish soul has always been over its Druids. What is needed are fiery souls that will contest not just social issues, but all the neo-Druid falsehoods that undermine the Faith.

The abortion referendum in Ireland is over, and many are devastated by the tragic outcome. Some now conclude that Ireland has surrendered to the secular European agenda. It has lost its Catholic identity. The progressives are now giddy with joy, proclaiming a new modern Ireland that has left behind the old.

However, there is nothing new in the present battle for the soul of Ireland. Throughout its history, the struggle for the Irish soul has always been over its Druids. Ireland only abandons the ardor of the Faith when it allows its hidden Druids to return and dominate.

What the Druids Believed

This is what has happened now. The Druid label fits perfectly on the political caste that has imposed divorce, same-sex marriage, and now abortion on the Emerald Isle. The diviners, charmers, priest, magicians, astrologists, and wizards of old were amazingly similar to their neo-pagan counterparts today.

The Druids principal doctrine supported a life without moral consequences since they believed the soul did not die but passed at death from one person to another. Although these frequenters of sacred oak groves are viewed as a priestly sect, they were quite secular. Their influence was much more social than religious since their role was mostly administrative and ceremonial. The Druids had no god of their own nor did they introduce any new divinity. They merely lived with the local gods as they were.

Finally, as a part of their duties, the Druids performed human sacrifices. It was their custom to have large wickerwork structures that were filled with people and then burned as part of their offerings to appease local divinities.

The Rise of the Neo-Druids

To those who have observed modern Ireland, these and other similarities make the Druid appear quite familiar. With the approval of abortion, modern Irish progressives are fully neo-Druids. With the killing of the unborn, they will lead the nation back to its cruel and barbarous origins. Likewise, they will be the bitterest opponents of Christianity, not to be appeased until the light of Christ is snuffed out. That is how it was in the past and is again today.

The battle for the Irish soul is over this return of the Druids. Abortion, same-sex marriage, and divorce are the important issues that dominate the headlines, but the core debate is the titanic clash between two opposing irreconcilable worldviews.

The Way to Fight Neo-Druids

This helps explains the devastating loss of the abortion referendum. Neo-Druids are not moved by emotional pleas for the lives of innocent unborn babies. They promote their immolation. Barbarians only think about gratifying their unbridled passions; they care little for whom they hurt. They follow their radical urges and are unimpressed by those who defend their views weakly or who are mired in mediocrity.

The only way to fight Druids is with the bold audacity that so characterized Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, and which even today molds the fiery Celtic souls of those he brought into the Church. The dark passions and superstitions of the neo-Druids must be denounced and overturned. The liberating true Faith must be presented with zeal and daring.

The Example of Saint Patrick

Indeed, such was the scene on that fateful Easter vigil in 433 when a decree went forth over the kingdom of Erin that all fires were to be extinguished until the signal fire on the Hill of Tara was lit by the Druids at the royal palace. At the opposite end of the valley, atop the Hill of Slane, Saint Patrick kindled a massive Paschal fire in defiance. The Druids implored the king to take action for they claimed the fire will blaze forever in this land unless it be this very night extinguished.

By Gods protection, all efforts to put out this fire or harm the missionary archbishop failed, and the saint boldly led a procession with miter and crosier, arrayed in full episcopal attire, to the Hill of Tara, where he confronted the Druids and put them to flight. The evangelization of Ireland began with this confrontation. Many of the Druids were so astonished that they requested Baptism.

What Impresses Druids

The example of Saint Patrick is full of lessons on how to deal with Druids and todays neo-Druids. Druids are impressed by faith-filled certainty and conviction. They are intimidated by a manly courage that despises and challenges their myths and superstitions. They are marveled by ceremonial beauty. Above all, God showers His graces upon those who dare to confront the evils of the day. He blesses their actions. Such is the stuff of the legends and song that are so much a part of the poetic Irish soul.

Alas, this dramatic example was not heeded in the referendum on abortion. It was judged prudent that the Church play a subdued part in the debate over the taking of innocent lives. There were no dramatic challenges on the part of churchmen to denounce the promiscuous neo-Druid lifestyles that are so much a part of the abortion culture. There was no fire lit to illuminate the darkness of the postmodern wasteland that makes abortion so prevalent.

And that is why the center of the struggle for the Irish soul must always be over the return of its Druids. It is the only way Ireland will again be Catholic.

What is needed are fiery souls that will contest not just social issues, necessary for sure, but all the neo-Druid falsehoods that undermine the Faith. There must be an unapologetic proclamation of the Faith that defies the diktats of modern secular society. Ireland must implore Saint Patrick to raise new disciples who can rekindle the embers of Christianity that remain, so that the Pascal fire may yet continue to blaze forever on the Hill of Slane, and put the neo-Druids to flight.

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Linkedin Niranjan Marjani (The Jakarta Post) Vadodara  Tue, May 29, 2018 10:12 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e68d9e3 3 Opinion India,Indonesia,bilateral-relations,Indian-ocean,maritime-security,international-relations,state-visit,Narendra-Modi,Jokowi Free

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits Indonesia on May 29, followed by a visit to Singapore. This is his first visit to Indonesia while President Joko Jokowi Widodo has visited India twice. Focused engagements with Southeast Asia and East Asia have been a prominent feature of the Modi government.

The development of India-Indonesia relations has seen an interplay of soft power and hard power. During the entire Cold War period, despite common cultural links India hardly invoked these in its foreign relations with the Southeast Asian region. Soft power started featuring prominently in Indias foreign policy only in the post-Cold War period. The second factor was strategic orientation of foreign policy which was also absent during the Cold War. Although this situation has started changing the use of strategic thinking or hard power is still in a developmental stage in Indian diplomacy.

Modis visit to Indonesia is expected to strengthen strategic cooperation between both countries. Strategic partnership with Indonesia provides India a platform to expand its maritime outreach, another area which had long lacked focus in Indian policymaking. Indonesia holds maritime importance for India on two fronts. Firstly, Indonesia is Indias maritime neighbor. Secondly, Indonesia covers a vast area which includes the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, as part of the emerging strategic entity, the Indo-Pacific.

Chinas strategic assertion has caused regional and extra regional powers to concentrate on and create a formidable deterrent entity of Indo-Pacific, where powers such as the United States, Japan and Australia have increasingly encouraged Indias active role. But Indias participation in the proposed security arrangements of the Indo-Pacific would need many details to be worked out.

In the present situation and in the near future Indias strategic partnership with Southeast Asian countries looks more promising, hence a practical way to increase Indias strategic footprint. During his recent visit to India, Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan spoke of the importance of India-Indonesia strategic partnership for maintaining balance of power in the region and also for counterterrorism and anti-piracy operations. Another point which he raised shows a striking similarity between Indian and Indonesian strategic approaches. He said that despite being an archipelago Indonesia had not paid attention to its maritime domain. For both countries the maritime domain is the emerging strategic area where they can cooperate and advance individual and collective interests.

While hard power is beginning to occupy an important place in Indias diplomacy the role of soft power is currently more established. The historical and cultural ties between India and Indonesia are centuries old, but long neglected. This could be an appropriate time to revive these links. The epics of Ramayana and Mahabharata form the basis of cultural links that both the countries share. During this visit, Prime Minister Modi is expected to attend a kite-flying festival that would feature tales from Ramayana and Mahabharata.

Soft power in the form of ancient history might just be a catalyst to strengthen the ties between India and Indonesia. The Tourism Ministry in India has a tourist scheme called The Ramayana Circuit, comprising 15 destinations where Lord Rama is believed to have traveled. During Modis recent visit to Nepal, Janakpur was added to the circuit to strengthen bilateral relations as well as to improve connectivity. Since Indonesia has similar cultural foundations the Ramayana Circuit could be extended to Indonesia. Or anything on similar lines could be started. Connectivity is the basis for increasing outreach. In such case soft power diplomacy could lay the foundation for forwarding strategic interests.

India-Indonesia relations hold much potential and importance for both countries. The Cold War period forced the two nations to remain at a distance despite strong cultural links. But the emerging strategic scenario in the region calls for revival of historical links to meet the present challenges.

***

The writer is an independent researcher and columnist based in Vadodara, India. Check out his Twitter https://twitter.com/NiranjanMarjani

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect the official stance of The Jakarta Post.
The Muarojambi Temple complex in Muarojambi regency, Jambi, is slated to be the center of Vesak Day celebrations on Tuesday.

This year, the observation of Vesak Day for Sumatra is to be centered at Muarojambi Temple, with the main event to be held on Tuesday, Husni Thamrin, the head of promotion, culture and tourism board of Jambi, told Antara on Monday.

Thamrin went on to say that monks from all parts of Sumatra would attend the event, along with monks from Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and a few other countries.

He further explained that processions started on May 26, in which a number of monks walked to the origin of the eternal flame. They were to carry on the ritual of obtaining the eternal flame, from a source located at Pertamina EP I asset field Jambi, Sungaigelam, Muarojambi. This ritual is a part of the commemoration.

The fire will then be carried during the major event at Muarojambi Temple. It will be used to light a five-color candle, in the hope of melting the nations challenges.

Read also: India promotes Buddhist tourism to attract Japanese travelers

Meanwhile, the head of the tourism boards partnership division, M. Amril, said prior to obtaining the eternal flame, the monks also obtained holy water from Tujuh Mountain in Kerinci regency. Monks from Jambi, Lampung, and Thailand together with local youth were seen obtaining the water.

The commemoration of Vesak Day at Muarojambi Temple is expected to boost the local economy and promote tourist attractions.

Amril said Vesak Day celebrations were hosted by the Buddhist alliance of Jambi and supported by the Jambi provincial government and the culture and tourism board, with the theme harmony of diversity to strengthen the nations unity (mut)
Russia on Monday called for the harshest possible punishment after a visitor to Moscow's Tretyakov Gallery caused serious damage by attacking a famous 19th-century painting of Ivan the Terrible.

On Friday, Russian police arrested a 37-year-old man who used a metal pole to break the glass covering Ilya Repin's painting of the 16th-century tsar killing his son, damaging the work in three places.

Russia's deputy culture minister Vladimir Aristarkhov said at a news conference on Monday at the Tretyakov Gallery that his ministry expects the man to receive "the most severe punishment possible."

Under the current law, the man faces up to three years in jail.

"Three years is nothing compared to the value of this painting," Aristarkhov added.

"We would like to initiate a discussion on toughening up the punishment for the vandalism of art," Tretyakov Gallery director Zelfira Tregulova said in the Repin Room of the gallery where the crime took place.

Read also: Russian police arrest man who vandalized Ivan the Terrible painting

According to state media, the man vandalised the painting for "historical reasons" and later told police he acted under the influence of alcohol after drinking a glass of vodka.

Tregulova raised her fear that Russians are increasingly "not differentiating artistic work from historical facts."

"The mixing of the two can mean that any art work can be a victim (of an attack)," she warned.

She called the act a "tragedy" and said it exposed "unprecedented aggression" in Russian society.

The gallery showed photographs of the damage to the painting, which has been removed from the Repin Room for the first time since it was evacuated from Moscow during World War II.

It is not the first time the painting has suffered such an attack.

In 1913, a man stabbed the work with a knife, ripping the canvas in three places. The artist Repin was then still alive and participated in the restoration of his painting.

Since 1913, the painting has been protected by glass.

Russian state officials have lobbied for the rehabilitation of Ivan the Terrible, who led Russia from 1547 to 1583 and earned the moniker "Terrible" due to his brutal policies, which included the creation of a secret police that spread mass terror and executed thousands of people.

In October 2016, Russia inaugurated a controversial monument to the 16th century tyrant, the first of its kind, in the city of Oryol some 335 kilometres south of Moscow.
Under the cover of night in the Iraqi city of Mosul, Rayan and Ali break the silence by drumming to announce suhur, the pre-dawn breakfast during the holy month of Ramadan.

The Islamic State (IS) group which controlled the city for three years before its ouster last July had banned drumming, along with other Ramadan traditions that make up the festive spirit of the dawn-to-dusk fasting month.

But since this year's Ramadan started in mid-May, Rayan Khalidi and Ali Mahboub have been doing their nighttime rounds, donning traditional keffiyeh headscarves and jalabiya robes.

The Ramadan drummers, known as "messaharati", are "part of the religious and social heritage of Mosul", the now war-battered city which has stood for centuries as a trading and cultural hub of the Middle East, said 25-year-old Rayan.

But the jihadists of IS decreed that such drumming was a sin, under their rigid interpretation of Islam enforced by its own courts and henchmen.

Ironically, Mosul residents had a Ramadan much like any other in 2014, when it started just days after IS had proclaimed its "caliphate" spanning tracts of Syria and Iraq.

Families descended on Mosul's tree-dotted parks along the River Tigris in the relative cool of dusk to share "iftar", the meal that breaks the daytime fast.

All across town, men and women gathered in coffee shops and restaurants, many clutching nargileh water pipes or smoking cigarettes -- that was before IS laid down the law segregating the sexes and banning smoking at the risk of corporal punishment.

Most of Mosul's restaurants and open-air cafes then closed their doors.

"Some of them stayed open for business after iftar but people were afraid to go for fear of punishment by IS who always found some reason to make arrests," said 29-year-old housewife Umm Raghed.

Read also: Egyptians use mania over soccer star Salah to sell Ramadan products

- Mosul's famed dishes -

Ramadan is a time for family reunions in Muslim countries, but in Mosul such events often only come about after several hours of shopping to collect the ingredients for the elaborate dishes for which the city is famed.

Under IS rule, "women did not have the right to go out, except in cases of extreme necessity, and even then a woman would have to be accompanied by a man and fully covered by a black veil", said Nahed Abdullah, a 32-year-old taxi driver.

Hassan Abdelkarim, 26, whose sister was killed when their home was bombed last year, said the jihadists had destroyed many of Mosul's mosques.

"Now we have to pay attention to hear the call for prayers from distant minarets to break the fast."

If it's tricky to determine the precise time for breaking the fast, knowing when to start is impossible, according to Abdelkarim, who is unemployed and lives amid the rubble of Mosul's devastated Old City.

"We don't have electricity or mobile phones to know the exact time" when the sun rises and the daily fast starts, he said.

Abu Salman, 45, never experienced life under the jihadists, having been displaced before the IS takeover in 2014. He returned to find his home and shop both destroyed.

"Ramadan used to be the best time of year for business. Now I have no source of revenue and have to survive on charity," he said.

While families wait for the launch of the city's reconstruction and assistance to help them get back on their feet, the "Moslawis" have revived another tradition: long tables set up on the streets to feed the poor.

"It's a beautiful initiative and typical of the people of Mosul who are known for their sense of solidarity, especially in hard times," said 45-year-old Umm Mahmud.

Thanks to the donations, she was able to serve her children a full meal of chicken, rice and orange juice at a table in the city's Bab Lakash district.
A site for a controversial art installation and memorial to the victims of the 2015 Paris attacks by US artist Jeff Koons has still not been found, the culture ministry said Monday.

The brightly coloured "Bouquet of Tulips", which would stand 10 metres (35 feet) tall, donated by Koons to the city after the attacks that claimed 130 lives, has been the subject of tension for months.

The culture ministry confirmed that no decision had been made after a meeting with Paris city officials and the artist's representatives.

Koons is known for his brash, voluptuous works of pop art which come with stellar price tags.

He provoked an outcry when he said he wanted his work to be installed on the esplanade of the contemporary art museum Palais de Tokyo, which faces the Eiffel Tower.

Read also: Six Picasso exhibitions to see in Europe in 2018

But Culture Minister Francoise Nyssen told the Figaro newspaper on Monday that "we will offer him another place".

The tulips should be erected somewhere "popular, visible and shared by everyone," she added.

A park in the north of Paris has been tipped as a possible alternative, according to a source from the park's management.

A source familiar with the discussion said Koons' representatives were not happy to learn through the media that the Palais de Tokyo had been ruled out.

In January, artists, gallery owners and officials including former culture minister Frederic Mitterrand signed an open letter objecting to the planned memorial.

The letter described Koons as an "emblem of industrial art which is spectacular and speculative" and slammed the cost of installing the 35-tonne sculpture.

"We appreciate gifts, but free ones," they wrote.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, May 29, 2018 07:14 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e68862b 1 City Jakarta-administration,Supreme-Audit-Agency,BPK,Jokowi,ahok,Sumber-Waras Free

The Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) gave an unqualified opinion on Jakartas 2017 financial report on Monday -- the first one in four years.

A wajar tanpa pengecualian (unqualified opinion or also known as WTP) is the best audit grade given by the agency to a government institution.

Based on the BPKs audit on the Jakarta administrations 2017 [financial report], including the implementation of the administrations plans, it granted the unqualified opinion to the administration, BPK member Isma Yatun said during a plenary meeting at City Hall, as quoted by kompas.com.

Despite a transparent budget that had been implemented by then-governor Joko Jokowi Widodo and his deputy, Basuki Ahok Tjahaja Purnama, the administration had failed to achieve a clean status for its financial reports since 2013.

The agency cited irregularities in several asset procurements as the reasons for giving a qualified opinion on Jakartas financial reports in the previous four years.

The BPK found inflated prices over the purchase of a plot of land in West Jakarta that belonged to the Sumber Waras Foundation. The administration had planned to build a city-owned cancer hospital in the area.

Read also: BPK discovers irregularities in Sumber Waras land procurement

Ahok also did not succeed in fixing the financial report when he replaced Jokowi, who was elected president in 2014.

Despite the clean status, Isma said the audit agency still found several problems in the 2017 financial report, including school and educational operational funds, as well as construction projects.

She said the BPK gave the administration 60 days after receiving the full audit report to follow up on the agencys recommendations and requested that the administration improved the management of its budget. (ami/wit)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, May 29, 2018 09:33 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e68a981 1 City Ramadhan-2018,Idul-Fitri-2018,FBR,Idul-Fitri-bonuses,Kelapa-Gading,LBH-Jakarta,anies-baswedan Free

Jakarta residents are being advised to ignore any Idul Fitri holiday bonus (THR) demands from mass organizations.

Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH) lawyer Aprilia Lisa Tangker said residents were not obliged to give the THR to any mass organizations because the law on bonuses only applied to companies.

Mass organizations cant ask for the THR because they are not employees and cant represent one, Aprilia told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The THR is the obligation of employers and the right of employees, Aprilia said.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan urged residents to report any mass organization that demanded the THR to the police.

What is important is that there is no implicit threat when demanding the THR. If they insist, just report them [to the police], Anies said on Monday.

Anies also urged mass organizations to refrain from asking for the THR.

Read also: Betawi forum denies requesting Idul Fitri donations

A letter reportedly from the Betawi Brotherhood Forums (FBR) Kelapa Gading chapter in North Jakarta was widely circulated on WhatsApp. It demanded that residents of Kelapa Gading in North Jakarta donate money for Idul Fitri.

FBR North Jakarta branch coordinator Yusriah Dzinun denied that the group made demands for Idul Fitri donations from residents and that he knew nothing about the letter. (ami/wit)
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Linkedin Nurul Fitri Ramadhani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, May 29, 2018 08:15 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e6895aa 1 National national-exam,UN,Education-and-Culture-Ministry,Education,education-agency Free

The Education and Culture Ministry claimed that the results of this years national exams for secondary school students have become more reliable, adding that it can be used to detect weaknesses in the schools learning methods.

The ministry gave the exam results to education agencies in cities and regencies on May 22. Schools that had a low integrity index in 2017 received low marks, which stood at 28.01, in the 2018 national exams.

The reliability of the national exam results is getting better because [the government] has reduced improper practices, such as cheating, the ministrys head of research and development, Totok Suprayitno, said in a written statement on Monday.

He added that the exams would be an indicator for the government to come up with recommendations to improve the quality of learning.

However, the ministrys teachers and education staffs acting director general, Hamid Muhammad, said providing teachers with training would not be enough to solve learning problems at schools.

The Language Teachers Association (MGMP) should draft a relevant learning method for training that was in line with the needs of every school, he added.

The number of secondary school students participating in national exams has increased every year. Last year, the government recorded 1,136,739 participants. This year, the number increased to 1,977,027.

National Education Standardization Body (BNSP) head Bambang Suryadi said this years national exams ran well thanks to close cooperation between the central government and local administrations. (ebf)
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Bekasi  Tue, May 29, 2018 13:05 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e69804c 1 City mudik,Idul-Fitri-2018,idul-fitri-exodus,holiday-extension,Holiday,Trips Free

At least 700 free mudik (exodus) buses will depart from Bekasi, West Java, on June 9.

The Bekasi Transportation Agency has instructed the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road operator to prepare for the buses headed in that direction.

All buses will simultaneously hit the Jakarta-Cikampek toll road on Saturday [June 9]. Can you imagine how crowded it will be?  said the agencys fleet division head, Fathikun, on Monday as quoted by antaranews.com.

Of the 700 buses, more than 500 have been provided by the Transportation Ministry, 110 by the West Java Transportation Agency and 25 by the Workers Social Security Agency (BPJS Ketenagakerjaan).

The remaining buses are provided by private companies.

The Bekasi Transportation Agency, Fathikun said, decided to dispatch the buses on Saturday to avoid traffic congestion the following week.

The toll road will get even busier a few days before Idul Fitri [expected to fall on June 15], Fathikun said.

PT Jasa Marga Tol Jakarta-Cikampek spokesman Irwansyah, meanwhile, said the company was ready to accommodate the mudik.

Were predicting that the roads wont be too congested that day, he said, noting that some infrastructure projects on the toll road might be halted by June 9.(vla)
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Linkedin Thomas Biesheuvel (Bloomberg) London, United Kingdom  Tue, May 29, 2018 19:24 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e6a0ed9 2 Business business,diamonds,De-Beers Free

For the first time in its 130-year history, De Beers will sell diamond jewelry made in a lab rather than underground over billions of years.

The move is a historic shift for the worlds biggest diamond miner, which vowed for years that it wouldnt sell stones created in laboratories. The diamonds will be marketed in the US under the name Lightbox, a fashion jewelry brand, and sell for a fraction of the price of mined gems.

The strategy will create a big price gap between mined and lab diamonds and pressure rivals that specialize in synthesized stones. A 1-carat man-made diamond sells for about $4,000 and a similar natural diamond fetches roughly $8,000. De Beers new lab diamonds will sell for about $800 a carat.

Lightbox will transform the lab-grown diamond sector by offering consumers a lab-grown product they have told us they want but arent getting: affordable fashion jewelry that may not be forever, but is perfect for right now, said Bruce Cleaver, chief executive officer of De Beers.

Fun, Pretty

Our extensive research tells us this is how consumers regard lab-grown diamonds  as a fun, pretty product that shouldnt cost that much  so we see an opportunity, he said.

Theres been increasing concern in the industry that expensive diamonds arent appealing to millennial consumers, who are often more likely to spend on high-priced electronics or vacations. Diamonds have also come under fire for environmental and human-rights concerns related to mining in poor communities in Africa.

Unlike imitation gems such as cubic zirconia, diamonds grown in labs have the same physical characteristics and chemical makeup as mined stones. Theyre made from a carbon seed placed in a microwave chamber and superheated into a glowing plasma ball. The process creates particles that can eventually crystallize into diamonds in 10 weeks. The technology is so advanced that experts need a machine to distinguish between synthesized and mined gems.

Man-Made Gems

While De Beers has never sold man-made diamonds before, its very good at making them. The companys Element Six unit is one of the worlds leading producers of synthetic diamonds, which are mostly used for industrial purposes. It has also been producing gem-quality stones for years to help it tell the difference between natural and man-made types and to reassure consumers that theyre buying the real thing.

Man-made gems currently make up a small part of the $80 billion global diamond market, but demand is increasing. Global diamond production was about 142 million carats last year, according to analyst Paul Zimnisky. That compares with lab production of less than 4.2 million carats, according to Bonas & Co.

The move also comes at a sensitive time for De Beers and its relationship with Botswana, the source of three-quarters of its diamonds. The two have a sales agreement that gives De Beers the right to market and sell the diamonds from Botswana. The deal, which gives De Beers its power over global prices, will soon be up for negotiation and Botswana is likely to push for more concessions.

For example, last time the two sides negotiated, De Beers agreed to move all its sales staff from London to Botswana. In the talks, one of De Beerss levers is the threat of synthetics to Botswanas economy.

On Tuesday, De Beers said it had extensive talks with Botswana about the decision to sell man-made diamonds and the country supports the move.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, May 29, 2018 16:06 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e69c6d6 1 City Vesak-Day,BuddhistTemple,Buddhism,Buddhist,anies-baswedan Free

Thousands of Buddhists flocked to the Ekayana Arama temple in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, on Tuesday morning. They came to pray, sing and observe sacred rituals to celebrate Buddhas birth, which is celebrated as Vesak Day.

The temples representative, Arama Husen Danawira, said the celebration proceeded peacefully.

Weve always been supported by personnel from the police and military. They guarded the temples indoor and outdoor areas, Husen said as reported by kompas.com.

The temple chose Harmony in Diversity for the Nation as it theme for the 2,562th Vesak celebration this year.

Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan also paid an impromptu visit to the temple.

Amid the festivity, the leader of the temple, Monk Aryamaitri Mahasthawira, gave Anies a red scarf called the scarf of blessings.

Keep on making the Ekayana Arama temple a source of love and happiness for all humankind, Anies told the congregation, according to tempo.co. (vla)
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Paris  Tue, May 29, 2018 18:35 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e69e63b 2 World Recep-Tayyip-Erdogan,freedom-of-speech,press-freedom,dictatorship,Turkey Free

French magazine Le Point said it had suffered harassment and intimidation by supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after it labelled him "The Dictator" on its front cover.

Police were deployed in the southern city of Avignon over the weekend after a group of pro-Erdogan activists attempted to remove, then cover up advertisements for the magazine at newsstands.

Another poster of the front cover -- a portrait of Erdogan above the headline "The Dictator. How far will Erdogan go?" -- was targeted at a newspaper kiosk in the town of Valence on Sunday, Le Point said.

"After a week of harassment, insults, intimidation and anti-Semitic slurs and threats towards us on social media, now has come the moment when supporters of the AKP (Erdogan's party) are attacking symbols of freedom of expression and diversity in the press," Le Point said on its website.

President Emmanuel Macron rallied behind the magazine Monday calling the harassment "totally unacceptable".

"You cannot put a price on freedom of the press, without it, it's dictatorship," he tweeted.

The left-leaning weekly, one of France's most popular news magazines, published an investigation into the Turkish strongman in its latest edition which also included an editorial asking: "Is Erdogan a new Hitler?".

Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he co-founded in 2001, are seeking another mandate ahead of snap parliamentary and presidential polls on June 24.

The Turkish president imposed a state of emergency following an attempted coup in July 2016 which has sparked a crackdown affecting "hundreds of thousands of people", including killings and torture, according to the UN rights office.

The report in March this year also warned about "a continued erosion of the rule of law and deterioration of the human rights situation", including the arrests of hundreds of journalists and opposition members.

Ankara slammed the findings as "biased" and "unacceptable".

'Unacceptable breach'

Christophe Deloire, the head of media freedom group Reporters without Borders, said that the incidents in France were "isolated but have a strong symbolic resonance."

One of the leading figures in France's ruling Republic on the Move party, Richard Ferrand, called the protests in southern France an "unacceptable breach of the freedom of expression."

"We are not going to tolerate in France that the front cover of a magazine be somehow censored under pressure," he told the France 3 channel on Sunday.

Many European countries are home to large Turkish-origin or migrant communities, but Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have barred Turkish politicians from electioneering in their countries.

Around three million expatriate Turks are allowed to vote in the elections next month, including 1.4 million in Germany, and they are seen as a valuable source of support by Erdogan's party.

A year ago Germany and other European countries also banned a series of planned Turkish campaign events for a referendum that extended Erdogan's powers.

Erdogan at the time denounced Germany's "Nazi practices" and accused it of harbouring Kurdish "terrorists" and plotters of the failed coup against him.
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Linkedin News Desk (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Tue, May 29, 2018 11:00 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e68f8e6 1 Business Iman-Pambagyo,APEC,Trade-Ministry,Asia-Pacific,digital-economy,inclusive,economic-growth,Enggartiasto-Lukita,free-trade,regional-economy Free

A recent meeting of ministers from Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) countries in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea (PNG), highlighted the optimization of technology and importance of inclusivity in economic growth.

The meeting resulted in various agreements, including expanding access for all layers of society in the Asia-Pacific region to participate in economic and trade activities; optimizing the use of digital technology; the internalization of micro and small and medium enterprises (SMEs); increasing connectivity in the region; as well as creating inclusive and sustainable growth.

The Trade Ministrys international trade negotiations director general, Iman Pambagyo, who attended the meeting to represent Minister Enggartiasto Lukita, said Indonesia welcomed APECs initiative and stressed the importance of inclusivity in economic growth.

The development of internet and digital technology has changed the pattern of global activities, including trade. We want all of Indonesia to enjoy as much economic benefits as possible because this change can promote equal welfare distribution, Iman said in a statement recently.

He acknowledged that the digital economy posed both challenges and opportunities for all APEC countries.

Indonesia is aware of the digital-based economy phenomenon. Going forward, we want to prepare various policies which are not only profitable but also provide certainty and safety, Iman said.

The meeting also discussed regional economic integration through the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). Member countries are still discussing several issues such as tariffs, services, investment, digital trade and micro and SMEs, among other topics. (dwa)
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Linkedin Thomas Mulier (Bloomberg) Geneva, Switzerland  Tue, May 29, 2018 21:15 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e6a43dc 2 Business Nestle,lay-off,switzerland,headquarter Free

Nestle plans to cut as many as 500 computer-service jobs in its home market of Switzerland as Chief Executive Officer Mark Schneider aims to boost profitability at the worlds largest food company.

Nestle is shifting information-technology jobs to locations including a tech hub in Spain, the company said Tuesday. Its Nespresso coffee unit is also moving jobs to Spain and Portugal and will offer positions to 80 employees affected by that reorganization. The unit will also open a site in Italy to develop Nespresso boutique stores.

Schneider is starting Nestles biggest restructuring program in Switzerland, reducing staff there by 5 percent after having faced pressure from investors such as Dan Loeb to cut costs. The strength of the Swiss franc in recent years has ramped up the companys expenses. Chief Financial Officer Francois-Xavier Roger has accelerated Nestles five-year restructuring plan and predicted 700 million francs ($706 million) of reorganization costs this year.

Nestle remains fully committed to its home base, Peter Vogt, head of human resources, said in a statement. The company said its investing 300 million euros ($346 million) in the country this year. The relationship between Nestle and Switzerland is mutually beneficial.

The stock traded 0.4 percent lower at 2:37 p.m. in Zurich. It has dropped about 7 percent since last June, when Loebs Third Point LLC announced a stake of more than $3.5 billion.

The government of the Swiss canton of Vaud, where Nestle is based, said it has requested a meeting with Nestle management this week to discuss ways to reduce the impact of the restructuring. Nestle officials also assured the government that the company has no further plans to cut jobs in Switzerland, according to a statement.

Nestle said it plans to make the cuts in Switzerland over the coming 18 months. The company will offer employees training and help to switch to other positions and accept voluntary departures.

In recent weeks, Nespresso workers in Lausanne, Switzerland, have protested against a plan to add more weekend shifts and lengthen workweeks to 43 hours from 41 at its capsule factories.

Separately, Nestle also said Tuesday it plans to close the headquarters of its Equatorial Africa unit in Nairobi, Kenya, as costs to maintain it have been too high over the past decade given the size of the business.

The company had 323,000 employees worldwide in 2017, ranking sixth among European employers. Nestles Swiss staff has swelled to more than 10,000 last year from about 6,700 in 2003.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Ascuncion, Paraguay  Tue, May 29, 2018 20:43 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e6a2937 2 World Paraguay,Women,woman-leader,women-in-politics,women-empowerment,president Free

Paraguay will have a woman president for the first time in its history, at least temporarily, after outgoing leader Horacio Cartes stepped down Monday ahead of schedule.

Vice President Alicia Pucheta, 68, will complete Cartes's mandate after he resigned to become a senator.

On August 15, fellow conservative Mario Abdo Benitez, elected in April 22 polls, will begin his five-year term as president of one of Latin America's poorest countries.

The parliament is due to confirm Cartes's resignation and proclaim Pucheta as interim president on Wednesday.

Opposed to the legalization of abortion, Pucheta is from the right-wing Colorado Party, which has been in power in Asuncion for decades.

Opposition Senator Desiree Masi said she does not see Pucheta's nomination as an advance for women in Paraguay.

"A woman who has shown her complete submission to those in power does not represent us," she said. "One day, a woman will be come to power as she should, through the ballot box."

But Lilian Samaniego, a senator from the Colorado Party, hailed the former lawyer's accession to the position as an example to "motivate Paraguayan women to continue to fight for real equality of opportunity with men."

Paraguay has just eight women among its 45 senators, and 11 among the 80 members of the lower house.

Cartes's resignation had been expected since he was elected to the Senate in the April elections. The new senators are to be sworn in on June 30.

Landlocked Paraguay -- sandwiched between Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil -- enjoyed consistent economic growth during tobacco magnate Cartes's five years in power, but failed to shake off persistent poverty, corruption and drug trafficking.

It remains a land of contrasts, still marked by the 1954-1989 dictatorship of general Alfredo Stroessner.

Despite an official campaign against endemic corruption, Paraguay remains 135th out of 180 countries on the 2017 corruption index of Transparency International.
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Linkedin Archana Chaudhary, Saritha Rai and Dhwani Pandya (Bloomberg) New Delhi/Bangalore/Mumbai, India  Tue, May 29, 2018 10:19 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e68e3ed 2 Business India,sexual-abuse,sexual-violence,economic-growth Free

There are two things New Delhi marketing executive Khyati Malhotra never leaves home without: Her taser and a pepper spray.

Its just part of the investment she makes to stay safe in a country where crimes reported against women have surged over 80 percent in a decade and deadly cases of sexual violence often roil cities and villages. So a chunk of Malhotras salary goes into a car and driver to avoid the dangers of public transport, where women are cat-called, groped and assaulted.

In Bangalore, Vidya Laxman, an executive at a multinational in India, pays for a battalion of household help and security cameras to keep her children safe. Sajna Nair of Delhi figures shes lost almost US$200,000 in earnings after quitting a bank job because she couldnt find safe childcare for her daughter.

In recent months, the rape, torture and murder of an eight-year-old girl in the state of Jammu, an 11-year-old in Gujarat and the rape of 16-year-old in Uttar Pradesh have laid bare how India treats its women and children. Lawmakers have said they will push for more stringent punishments to deter such crimes. Meanwhile, dozens of interviews reveal a less acknowledged economic effect: Increasingly afraid for their own and their children's safety, many women are simply leaving the workforce or taking lower-paying jobs.

In the eight years from 2004, about 20 million women (the size of the combined populations of New York, London and Paris) vanished from Indias workforce, the World Bank estimates.

Theres no place where I could leave my child without worrying about safety, said Indu Bhandari, who quit a lucrative corporate career to teach because of those worries. Having been a target of sexual abuse as a child, I knew first-hand what I could be exposing my child to.

Decisions like hers are a blow to foreign and local companies looking to hire more women in Asias third largest economy. They also threaten Prime Minister Narendra Modis agenda as he pushes to attract foreign investment and boost Indias economic heft globally. India shows just how much violence and sexual assault against women can hold back communities  and an entire nation.

India could increase its GDP by $770 billion by 2025 by getting more women to work and increasing equality, according to McKinsey Global Institute. Yet, only 27 percent of Indian women are in employment. Thats the lowest among the major emerging nations and G-20 countries, and better only than Saudi Arabia, according to the publication IndiaSpend.

If we are able to establish a safer environment, definitely more women will step out for jobs, adding to the workforce, said Anjali Verma, an economist at PhillipCapital in Mumbai. In a decade this may contribute to higher overall consumption, savings, and economic growth. Girija Borker, a Ph.D. candidate in economics at Brown University, in a study of more than 4,000 women at Delhi University found female students willing to pay almost $300 more than men for a safer travel route because most faced some form of street harassment. With the rapid urbanization, India needs better policies for women's safety, Borker said.

In India, preference for male children has skewed the gender balance, leading to a whopping 37 million more men than women. Two-thirds of the country live in villages that follow feudal, caste and gender hierarchies. That means many women never make formal complaints when they are harassed, and perpetrators often go unpunished. It also makes it hard to draw international comparisons.

Crimes against women surged 83 percent from 2007 to 2016, government data show, resulting in 39 crimes every hour.

Public pressure forced lawmakers to recommend the death penalty for child rapists and they are debating a similar punishment for the rape of women. Many businesses are spending more on transport and other benefits to women. Yet filling all the gaps is hard.

In most advanced economies there are social structures, better travel infrastructure, better creches, said Nanda Majumdar, who heads intellectual capital and professional development at law firm Nishith Desai Associates.

Nair said she could have invested earnings from her more lucrative financial career in the property or stock markets. She now runs a public relations business.

In New Delhi, Zeba, 25, is heartbroken after male family members refused to let her go to nursing school after a rape nearby. Things would have been so different if I was a man, said Zeba. I would certainly have been richer.
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Linkedin (Agence France-Presse) Brussels, Belgium  Tue, May 29, 2018 17:43 1232 a7124a1e87885b91d244660f9e69d471 2 World Belgium,terror-attack,suspect,death Free

A gunman shot dead three people, two of them policemen, in the eastern Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday before being killed by elite officers, prosecutors told AFP.

The shooting occurred around 10:30 am (0830 GMT) near a high school on a major artery in the city, which lies some 90 kilometres (55 miles) east of Brussels.

But the attacker's motive was not immediately clear, with Catherine Collignon, spokeswoman for the Liege prosecutors office, telling AFP: "We don't know anything yet."

Media reports said the gunman shot dead two police officers at a cafe before fleeing to the Lycee Waha school, where he took a cleaning lady hostage.

The gunman was shot dead by an elite police unit, prosecutors said.

Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon said Belgium's Federal Crisis Centre was monitoring the situation.

"Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of establishing an overview of exactly what happened," Jambon wrote on Twitter.

The crisis centre said a security cordon had been set up around the area and urged people to stay away.

Belgium has been on high alert since the smashing of a terror cell in the town of Verviers in January 2015 that was planning an attack on police.

The Verviers cell also had links to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the November 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris that killed 130 people.

Belgium further raised its terror alert level after the Paris attack, and placed the capital Brussels on lockdown for a week.

Belgium was then hit by its own IS suicide attacks on Brussels airport and a metro station which killed 32 people.
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Linkedin Ida Indawati Khouw (The Jakarta Post) Almaty, kazakhstan  Wed, May 30 2018

Regaining trust: Founder and chairperson of the Eurasian Media Forum organizing committee Dariga Nazarbayeva addresses the 15th Eurasian Media Forum in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on May 23. The two-day event attracted 600 delegates from 60 countries. (JP/Ida I. Khouw)

Some 600 delegates of the Eurasian Media Forum came to the Kazakshtan city of Almaty to contemplate on how the fast-changing world entered an era in which people trust nothing and no one, thanks to the rise of social media.

The world is overloaded with information noise. This is a time when facts lose their primary importance, turning into an endless stream of arguments and opinions, generating a distorted vision of reality, said Dariga Nazarbayeva, founder and chairperson of the Eurasian Media Forum organizing committee.
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Linkedin Poonam Sagar (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Wed, May 30 2018

Flying colors: Members of the Indian community in Indonesia celebrate Holi (Festival of Colors), take Indonesian friends along to the lively celebration, where people rub colorful powders on each others faces.

Indians are not strangers in Indonesia. They have long been drawn to Indonesia,  a name derived from the Latin Indus, meaning India, and the Greek Nesos, meaning island. From the 4th and 5th centuries onward, Indian cultural influences became more visible and various Indian people settled in Indonesia, mixed and assimilated with the local population. The first Indian migrants came primarily from Gujarat in India during the first Christian era. This followed the introduction of the Sanskrit language, which led to the development of the Kawi language and script in Indonesia. Early trade relations were established between India and the islands of Sumatra, called Swarna Dwipa or the island of gold, and Java Dwipa or the rice island. The influx of Indian settlers continued till the 16th century and this period is historically referred to as the Hindu-Indonesian period. The underlying philosophical concepts introduced since the 5th century by the Brahmin priests have had a profound effect in shaping every facet of Indonesian society, till date.

Indians were later brought to Indonesia by the Dutch in the 18th century to work on plantations located around Medan in Sumatra. These included Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, who are now assimilated with the local society over four generations, while still maintaining their cultural traditions.
Garuda Indonesias newly introduced eco basic subclass tickets will be made available starting in May. Ticket prices are reportedly 15 to 20 percent lower than economy class tickets.

Garuda Indonesia CEO Pahala Mansury told kompas.com on Monday, Everyone can fly Garuda Indonesia as we introduce a new ticket class, which is priced under economy class, with several restrictions. The point is to invite those who have yet to fly Garuda Indonesia.

Here are the things you need to know before flying on Garuda Indonesia's eco basic class:

Limited seats

According to Pahala, each Garuda Indonesia flight will be allocated 12 eco class seats.

ATR 72-600 and CRJ Bombardier routes available

Routes served by the ATR 72-600 and CRJ Bombardier planes offer eco basic tickets for passengers, among the 21 routes offering the subclass tickets.

No picking

Passengers with eco basic tickets are not allowed to pick their seats, as they will be pre-determined by Garuda Indonesia.

No extra baggage

Eco basic ticket holders will only get the standard 20-kilogram baggage allocation. Sporting goods are not included.

Use of overhead compartment prohibited

Passengers with eco basic tickets are only allowed to store one cabin luggage under their seat.

No Garuda Miles

Eco basic ticket holders are not eligible to claim Garuda Miles.

Several amenities are not allowed to be used

Premium check-in, priority boarding, fast track and lounge access are off limits for eco basic ticket holders even when they are already members of the Garuda Miles Platinum and SkyTeam Elite Plus.

No special meal

An eco basic ticket will not deprive passengers of food, however, special meals cannot be requested.

No babies allowed

Those who plan to travel with babies are not allowed to book eco basic tickets, as infants (zero to 23 months) are not allowed in the subclass.

No children discounts

The eco basic subclass tickets dont offer a childrens discount. Those traveling with children must pay the regular fare.

Only check-in at airport

Passengers with eco basic tickets can only check-in at the airport counter. (asw)
Now that summer is unofficially here, its about time you walked down East Broadway to check out The Little One, where some of the most interesting desserts on the Lower East Side are being prepared (and devoured).

Pastry chefs Eddie Zheng and Olivia Leung are Chinatown kids with some serious culinary credentials. They opened The Little One in December after stints at Wd~50, The Elm, Cafe Clover, La Sirena (him) and Dominique Ansel Bakery (her). The space at 150 East Broadway has just five tables. The stripped down, minimal spot is located right across the street from the newly expanded Malaysian cafe, Kopitiam, which will be reopening soon.

Zheng and Leung are bringing their fine dining expertise and a dedication to sourcing high quality ingredients to The Little One. The inspiration for the cafe came during a trip to Japan, where they experienced traditional desserts with ingredients that are largely unknown in America. As Zheng told AM New York earlier this year, We brought back some Japanese influences  the base of Japanese desserts  and put in our own culinary experiences.

The menu is divided into three categories. On the left-hand side, youll find Dorayaki, a fluffy pancake traditionally stuffed with a red bean paste. At The Little One the fillings have been switched up. During our visit in late April, there was a pineapple filling, Zheng and Leungs take on classic Taiwanese pineapple cakes. There were also versions with chocolate-coconut with red bean/matcha cream.

In the center column, youll find a selection of ice cream sandwiches made with monaka (a crispy rice flour shell). Flavors include chrysanthemum, corn with toasted coconut and lime zest, white sesame, buckwheat with chocolate fudge and cashew. That last one  featuring extra virgin olive oil and Maldon sea salt  is part of a collaboration with Jesus Perea, the acclaimed former pastry chef at Cosme.

On the right-hand column, The Little One offers kakigori, a kind-of Japanese shaved ice. Zheng referred to kakigori as a no fuss dessert, because its really meant to emphasize seasonal ingredients (strawberry, matcha, Hojicha (Japanese green tea). Theres a purple horchata version, also part of the collaboration with Chef Perea.

Zheng knows the neighborhood well. Both of his parents have businesses just up the block on East Broadway. He lives on Division Street. Hes well aware of the changes happening throughout Chinatown, East Broadway included.

The goal at The Little One, he said, is to create desserts rooted in tradition, that allow the chefs to elevate unusual and very high quality ingredients. Even though the initial concept has its foundation in Japan, theyre planning to expand the menu beyond traditional Asian flavors. (The kitchen now has an oven, which will open up a lot of possibilities).

The Little One is open during the week from 1-8 p.m. On Fridays and Saturdays, its open noon-9 p.m. If you want to experience the collaboration with Jesus Perea, you only have a couple of days (it wraps up at the end of this month).
As the end of the year creeps ever closer, make sure to go out with a bang.

This time of year can always be a strange one. You are studying and trying to finish essays or revision for exams, yet at the same time preparing for next year - whether that be at university or in the wider world.

Whether you know where youll be and what youll be doing in September or not, its important to take advantage of the time you have left this academic year. You need to get your work done, but its also important to spend time with friends, make lasting memories and, potentially, pack up and move on.

Regardless of whether youre a first year or in your last year, the end of the year can be exciting, sad and confusing. You have enough on your plate without trying to figure out what you should be making time for this semester. Dont worry though, we have you covered!

Read our list of musts for the end of the year below:

1. Work

So were going to be good and start off with the boring part. Yes, revision and essay writing can be the worst part of the year, but its still something you have to do. It might seem painfully boring or stressful now, but it will be worse if you have to retake exams over the summer because you didnt do your work well the first time. Save yourself the hassle and start as early as you can. Spread the work out over days or weeks and it won't seem so overwhelming. Plus, spreading your work out will save you from pulling all-nighters or living in your room with your head in a book, meaning you can go out and do some of the more fun things on our list!

2. Spend some quality time with friends

While partying and going wild with alcohol is what typically springs to mind when you think of the end of an academic year, especially if its your last, its often nicer to just hang out with friends. Spare yourself the hangover and overdrawn bank account by just staying home with friends instead. Order a takeout, watch a movie or play games and let the fun begin. Trust us, youll make far more memories than a drunken night out - nights in can actually be a lot of fun.

If that doesnt sound like your cup of tea, how about going out for a group dinner, rocking out at a local karaoke spot or checking out your local pubs quiz night? Youd be surprised how much fun youll have! Plus, you have the added bonus of bonding more with your friends and creating more lasting memories. You might even wind up creating a new tradition for years to come.

3. Partay

Dont worry, were not trying to convince you to abandon the clubs altogether. Even we recognise that sometimes you just want to party with your friends. This is especially true when the year is winding down and you can almost taste freedom. Nights out can be a blast so grab your friends, dress up and head out to your favourite spot. Whether you are into house, techno or cheesy music, were sure youll have a wild time. If youre lucky you might even remember some of it the next day.

4. Give the end of year events a chance

Yes, we know it will be awkward at first. Youll all be dressed up and stuck on a boat or in some hotel posing for photos while you cluster in your groups of friends. The music wont be on and first and the sound of whispers will be slightly uncomfortable, however, it will soon get much better. Once the initial discomfort fades youll be left surrounded by friends and classmates, all having a good time. Once the DJ starts his set you might even surprise yourself and start rocking out on the dance floor, cheesy moves and all. Even if the music sucks, the company will be worth it! Plus, its always fun to dress up and get some nice photos taken with friends. No matter how long your time at university seems, it will eventually end, so its worth putting in some effort to make the best memories and have some photos you can look back on years later.

This one is especially important for those in your final year! Your essays and exams are incredibly important, and its right that you prioritise them and work hard, however, dont forget to make the most of the time you have left as well. Even if its just once, make sure to dress to impress and head to one of the balls your university is hosting. Grab your friends, hit the dance floor and work off some of that stress!

5. Make the most of summer

Its rare to get good weather in England, so when you have a nice day, take advantage. Heat up a barbecue or pack a picnic and hit the park. Whatever you do, get out, leave the work at home and spend some time being young and silly with your friends. Youll regret the opportunities you missed and the days you could have made more of, especially once you leave university. If you split the cost of the picnic or barbecue you wont need to feel guilty about spending more. Better yet, grab a ball or some other equipment and play a game wherever you find yourself. Not only will it be a good laugh, but itll work off some calories so you can justify that cake as well.



6. Show gratitude

One thing that many dont think of, or get uncomfortable about, is showing teachers gratitude. We can understand why this might be awkward, but if a teacher has made a class really enjoyable, helped you out with an essay or shown some support when youve struggled with personal issues, it always nice to say thank you. Whether you splurge for a treat (cupcake anyone?), tell them in person or send them a quick email, it can mean a lot for them to hear they had an impact.

7. Pack up

One of the hardest parts about the end of the year is packing up your house. If youre lucky you will be moving back into the same house in September, so you wont need to pack away all your belongings. However, many students will be moving house, and some will be leaving university for good.

Make sure to pack up all your belongings and throw away what is no longer useful. Recycle anything you can, give old clothes, toys and other belongings you no longer want to charity shops, and make sure the rest is ready to go home. Trust us, leaving things until the morning of your move is nothing but a headache.

When packing, dont forget you also need to clean the house. If you ever want to see your deposit again its important that you clean your room, bathrooms and all common areas. Dont leave food in the fridge or dirt on the floor. You would want to move into a clean house, so make sure you leave your house that way for the next tenants.

8. Say goodbye

The last thing to do before you head off for the summer holidays, and perhaps the most difficult. Leaving friends you see every day for months can be hard, so make sure to leave enough time to do it at your pace. Moreover, those in their last year should make sure they have lots of time for the emotional goodbyes which will likely occur.

Seriously, the last thing you want is to end your final year being dragged into the car by your parents without having said goodbye to all your friends. It wont be the end of the world, of course, and youll likely see them again, but its not the ending you or they wanted, and it would be a shame to finish the year that way.
Recognised widely for his aggressive and stylish neon-drenched films, there is more than what meets the eye to Nicolas Winding Refns complex stories.

Beginning by making short films after attending various film schools, Winding Refn emerged as both a writer and director at the young age of twenty-four, producing highly stylised and controversial films, ones that today are noted by many as cult favourites.

His most recent film, The Neon Demon (2016), showcases his distinctive style, exploring the lives of mysterious and enigmatic characters in a gritty yet vibrantly neon film noir, partnered with a pulsing heavy synth score.

Along with other notable fan favourites, including Drive (2011), and Bronson (2008), it doesnt come as a shock that Winding Refn has attracted a sizeable fan following for his undeniably gripping works.

With a varied collection of critically acclaimed films, alongside lesser known work, lets break down some of his most engrossing projects to date.

1. Bronson (2008)

In 2008, Winding Refn released Bronson, a fictionalised, biographical crime drama based on the life of notorious criminal Charles Bronson, hailed as the most violent prisoner in Britain. Starring Tom Hardy as eponymous character, the film blurs the line between comedy and horror, depicting the criminal's disoriented life with gritty visuals and humorous moments amongst the expected violence and brutality.

2. Drive (2011)

Probably Winding Refns best-known film, the trailer for this work of art doesn't do it any justice. Based on James Sallis' 2005 novel of the same title, Drive is an American neo-noir crime thriller that follows a mysterious Hollywood stuntman, played entrancingly by Ryan Gosling, as he attempts a getaway drive that goes wrong.

With slick and stylishly vibrant visuals, backed by composer Cliff Martinez's punchy and hypnotising synthwave score, Drive is undeniably one of the director's most captivating films.

A highlight in Winding Refns career, it comes as no surprise to learn that his adaptation won him the Best Directors Award at the 2011 Cannes film festival.

3. Only God Forgives (2013)

Ryan Gosling and Winding Refns second collaboration, Only God Forgives tells a story of revenge and redemption. Gosling plays Julian, a drug trafficker in Thailand, whose mother sends him on a mission to avenge his brother, who was killed for beating someone to death.

Identified as a neo-noir psychological thriller, this film is easily some of the director's most graphic work yet, with some of the film's most explicit fight scenes made difficult to watch. Despite this, Winding Refn's distinctively vivid and glowing visuals, accompanied once again by Cliff Martinez's intense synth, it is also hard to look away.

4. The Neon Demon (2015)

Winding Refns most recent work, The Neon Demon is a psychological horror film set in Los Angeles that follows an aspiring model, played gracefully and hypnotically by Elle Fanning, whose beauty and youth generate intense fascination and jealousy within the industry.

Horror, violence, bittersweetness, jealousy, melancholy... This film demonstrates a surprising array of themes, along with all of the expected elements of the director's work: immersive, bold cinematography, ambiguous characters, mesmeric music, and the exploration of complex issues. In this case, the meaning of beauty within the modelling industry.

With various twists and turns, not to mention the numerous high-profile supporting roles by Karl Glusman, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote, Abbey Lee, Desmond Harrington, Christina Hendricks, and Keanu Reeves, The Neon Demon is one of the director's most intriguing films.

Other honourable mentions of the daring director's work would include The Pusher Trilogy, Fear X (2003), and Valhalla Rising (2009).
A transgender man has gone viral after his friends threw him an its a boy party to celebrate him starting hormone replacement therapy  and he hopes it will encourage others to show support to people who are transitioning.

Friends of Corey Walker, who is transitioning to male, decorated the party with paraphernalia usually seen at a baby shower and syringes filled with drink, in reference to his testosterone injections.

(@cdubya18/Twitter)

(@cdubya18/Twitter)

Photos of the party posted to Twitter by the 27-year-old have been shared thousands of times, with his initial tweet receiving more than 55,000 likes and hundreds of messages of support.

These are the gender reveal parties I want more of. Congratulations!  supreme feminist goddess (@blowticious) May 26, 2018

this party is so cute and wholesome i actually teared up because of how supportive and fun your friends are  gothicc (@__caitlinmay) May 26, 2018

I actually came up with the idea a few years ago when my partner at the time came out as trans, Corey, from Florida, told the Press Association. I thought it would be a cute surprise for him to come home to after he went to the doctor to get his first shot of testosterone.

My friends thought I deserved the same for me and they went all out! We even had syringes filled with Jell-O shots!

My friends threw me an "it's a boy" party to celebrate me starting testosterone. I'm blessed af to have so much support!!! pic.twitter.com/EcFWzg2rbO  Corey (@cdubya18) May 25, 2018

I hope others see this idea and use it for their trans friends, added Corey. It makes everything so much easier and better when you have support!"
A Waterstones store has responded to a backlash after claiming some male customers refuse to read books by women.

The branch in Uxbridge, west London, described men as being ridiculous creatures in a series of tweets, saying that at least once or twice a month they come across a man who says he does not read a book by a female author.

I've worked here for well a very long time.In all that time, never has a woman said to me,"I don't read books written by men."However, at least once or twice a month, a man will say that he'll not read a book by a female author.Men are ridiculous creatures.  Waterstones Uxbridge (@WaterstonesUxbr) May 24, 2018

The post, published in a series of threads, read: Ive worked here for well a very long time. In all that time, never has a woman said to me, I dont read books written by men.

However, at least once or twice a month, a man will say that hell not read a book by a female author. Men are ridiculous creatures.

The book retailer then added to say the men in question are of a certain age.

Of course, these men are of 'a certain age'  Waterstones Uxbridge (@WaterstonesUxbr) May 24, 2018

The tweet has since received more than 10,000 likes and more than 3,000 shares.

It continued: Naturally, we booksellers see this as our chance to suggest as many fantastic female authors as we can think theyd actually enjoy.

Most times, they do consider it. Which is nice.

After the backlash, the store clarified to say this doesnt apply to all men.

Of course, I apologise  not ALL men are 'ridiculous creatures'.Hope that helps clear things up.  Waterstones Uxbridge (@WaterstonesUxbr) May 24, 2018

Some commentators accused Waterstones of causing a PR fail.

@Waterstones do you sanction these tweets? All men are ridiculous? Well I now feel all Waterstones stores are ridiculous and Ill take my business elsewhere. Oh and by the way Im a man and I do read books by female authors. #sexist #boycott  Kempy (@kempynofear) May 25, 2018

please dont tar all men with the same brush. I read all authors Very disappointed to see such a viewpoint thrown around so haphazardly.  Mark Allen (@markallenmobi) May 27, 2018

Others, meanwhile, appeared to respond more positively.

Almost 10k of likes and over 2k of retweets doesn't strike me as bad PR. Quite the opposite, in fact  Melinda Salisbury (@MESalisbury) May 26, 2018

Just tell em Frankenstein was written by a woman-watch their faces melt.  Sean Carmody (@ReaperGrim2012) May 25, 2018

Im ashamed at men by reading this, how sad we havent left the dark age I hate my male privilege and I never thought Id say that, but if this is true I say it  steven morgan (@twistedsteve76) May 26, 2018

A few even managed to see humour in the situation.

I prefer male writers. Like George Elliot, Harper Lee or Julian May  Jon Chadwick (@JonD_Chadwick) May 25, 2018

That one by Acton Bell is a belter  Kat Harbourne (@KatHarbourne) May 25, 2018

Waterstones did not immediately respond to a request for further comment.
Bill Buchanan, Edinburgh Napier University

Most of us have been bombarded recently by a barrage of emails from companies begging us to stay in touch or opt in or informing us of a policy update. On May 25, an historic date for the internet, the EUs General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) came into force. For some, it is the start of a more citizen-focused world, for others it will see the collapse of their digital marketing strategy.

The number and scope of serious data breaches have dramatically increased in the last few years. In 2013, around three billion Yahoo user accounts were affected by a hacking attack . Recently it was revealed that 143m customers of the credit score agency Equifax were hit by a similar breach. And on top of this, we see breaches of privacy in the mass harvesting of data from Cloud service providers, as highlighted by the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica debacle. No wonder there is an increasing lack of trust in how companies capture and process our data.

A new dawn

GDPR replaces the EUs 1995 Data Protection Directive , which set out minimum standards for processing data. With the new regulations, individuals are afforded the power to compel companies to reveal (or delete) any personal data they hold, and failure to adhere to the new rules will result in stiff penalties , with a maximum fine of 4% of a companys turnover. For a company like Facebook, this could mean around US$1.6 billion.

Many companies already work within audit/compliance regimes. In the finance industry, for example, this is typically the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS). But these regulations have often failed to stem the tide of data breaches within companies, necessitating more robust standards. At the core of GDPR there are four foundation elements:

Consent and how your data is used

As GDPR ensures that consent is explicit, the days of consent by default are over, and the need for users to opt out of mailing lists will become a thing of the past. Individuals have the right to withhold consent, request access to their personal information or delete it altogether from a site. Currently the general feeling is that few users are actually following up on the consent request emails, which means companies may experience problems with their current digital marketing strategies, as they see their contact lists collapse.

Response to breaches

In the past, companies have failed to respond promptly to data breaches, especially in the time taken to inform users, and are guilty of being vague about what they report. GDPR aims to overcome this by forcing companies to report within 72 hours, and have faster methods of investigating a breach. This is likely to see the rise of 24/7 security operation centres (SOCs) which continually monitor the data infrastructure for signs of a breach. With the current average time to detect a data breach measured in months, this will be a significant challenge for many companies.

Author Provided

Encryption

The real wake-up call for new regulation is that much of the internet is not trusted by users, who are concerned it does not embed security properly. Data must now be protected within encryption  encoding information so that it can only be accessed by an authorised user  wherever it relates to personally sensitive data. Companies must understand the scope of a data breach in terms of the information that can be extracted from a leak. If the data is encrypted, it will make it much more difficult to reveal the information.

In the past, the industry has generally struggled to implement encryption and rights protection on documents, but GDPR will force a move towards encryption by default and demand tighter controls on devices that access sensitive documents. The recent moves by Google and Microsoft to lock down their email systems with improved security sees some of the first proper attempts to integrate encryption and access control into documents accessed over the Cloud.

Protecting your privacy

Under GDPR, a particular challenge for many companies will be the separation of personally identifiable information (PII)  name, date of birth, phone number  from other elements of data. If we take the example of health records, a patients community health index number (CHI) will be stored under a pseudo-anonymiser  an identifier that disguises the connection between someones identity and their information.

This involves not just electronic separation on different databases, but physical separation on different systems. The merging of this information must then take place on a different system, and one that is highly trusted. But many see the concept of pseudo-anonymisation as weak from a privacy point of view, as details can often be mapped back to a particular ID if additional information is known.

So will we see an improvement in our online world in terms of protection and security? Well, definitely some, though many of the changes will happen behind the scenes with improved processes and security methods. But what we should notice is companies taking computer security more seriously. We should see simpler terms and conditions, better reporting on data breaches and companies demonstrating a more reassuring and responsible attitude to our data.
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Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2018 4:05 am

Earlier this month, Smokey Bear visited Woodland Primary School to teach students the importance of fire safety and how to prevent forest fires. He was joined by Amanda Dales, School Instructor for the USDA Forest Service.

Smokey and Dales also taught the students how to put out forest fires, the importance of taking everything with you when you leave a forest, and what to do if they come across a forest fire.

Dales taught students the concept of packing in and packing out, which is the practice of taking everything out of the forest that you bring into the forest. She also gave the rules around campfires and fire safety.

Students learned the drown, stir, feel technique for extinguishing campfires:

 First, drown the campfire using a full bucket of water.

 Second, stir the ashes using a shovel or a stick.

 Third, have an adult feel for heat from the ashes using the back of the hand.

 Repeat until no heat is felt from the fire.

Dales told the origin story of Smokey Bear, a baby bear who was found clinging to a tree following a massive forest fire started by a visitor to the park. Firefighters found the bear and took him to a local veterinarian office who treated the bears burns and other wounds. From that point on, the Forest Service used Smokey Bear as a mascot to teach children and adults the importance of being aware of the causes of forest fire and how to prevent them.

Students learned that nine out of 10 forest fires are started by humans with only 1 out of 10 started naturally by lightning strikes. Dales explained that the Eagle Creek Fire from the beginning of the school year was started by one child playing with one firework. Dales taught students that if they ever come across a forest fire, they should immediately leave the area, tell an adult, and call 911.

Children are more responsible than their parents in most cases, said Dales. Kids will actually hold their parents accountable for putting out fires. Its fascinating.

Following Dales presentation, Smokey Bear greeted students and quizzed them on their lessons through the help of a translator, Vicky Black, a volunteer who has worked with the Forest Service for more than five years. Each student received a Smokeys Friend bracelet and had the opportunity to either hug or high-five Smokey on their way out of the classroom.

I happened to be in Amboy Market one afternoon and saw a sign looking for volunteers for the Forest Service, said Black. Theres just something about nature that interests me and I love being around people.

Dales, based in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest, has worked for the forest service as a firefighter for more than 15 years, spending the last three years teaching students throughout Washington state where she teaches more than 1,500 students a year.

My dad was a fire chief and I started volunteering as a firefighter when I was 16 years old, she said. I love traveling all over the United States and seeing places where no one else will ever step foot.
Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2018 4:44 am

Members of a group formed in 1993 to share public works equipment and resources met in reunion earlier this month, 25 years after the Grounds Equipment and Maintenance (GEM) cooperative was formed.

The cooperative continues to function as public agencies in Clark County to share equipment and services.

The purpose of the inter-agency cooperative is to save taxpayer money through the sharing of equipment and labor.

The May 18 reunion attracted 20 people who represented 11 agencies. Of those attending, 13 have retired from public service, 6 are still currently employed, and one, Pat McDonnell, now works in the private sector. The gathering was held at Izzys Pizza in Hazel Dell.

Each attendee provided a self-introduction along with a success story of saving money or making local government more efficient through the GEM cooperative. The 20 attendees represented over 300 years of GEM involvement during their careers.

Following its inception, GEM grew from five charter members plus 11 more soon thereafter, to encompass over 30 public works agencies including Clark County, the state of Washington, Vancouver, Battle Ground, La Center, Ridgefield, C-TRAN, Camas, Washougal, several school districts and others.

The effort to form the cooperative was spearheaded by Bruce Cross, then the deputy director of Clark County Public Works and a Battle Ground resident.

Cross, who has retired from public service and now lives in Texas, said GEM was formed for the sharing of public works equipment and services in order to save taxpayer money.

Maintaining roads and public lands can be very costly, said Cross. It is very difficult for a single public agency to have all the equipment, facilities or labor necessary for every job that comes their way.

The goal of GEM was described by their mission statement: Providing a cost efficient result to the community by sharing services and facilities.

Cross provided examples of cooperative work performed through GEM:

 When Clark County needed to paint their very large snow blower, they used a paint booth at C-TRAN, allowing a county crew to prepare and paint the vehicle themselves.

 Clark County went to bid for an air compressor. Camas tagged onto the bid and got the same equipment without having to write specifications and bidding materials.

 Before GEM was formed, C-TRAN sent a truck 13 miles to plow one block at a bus stop in Camas. Camas now plows that block as needed, saving C-TRAN the time and mileage.

 Clark County and the Battle Ground School District take turns mowing school grounds and parks in the Battle Ground area.

The GEM cooperative also resulted in increased trust among the several agencies, said Cross, especially when one agency loans a very expensive piece of equipment to another. But the sharing of equipment helps get the maximum use out of each device.

Those attending the reunion honored Theresa Baker who created the original GEM website and managed it for over 10 years as a volunteer.

Some union issues complicated the operation of the cooperative, said Cross, and the workings of the ongoing GEM effort have become more intricate. But equipment is still being exchanged, he said, and agencies are still saving money.

The GEM organization is currently headed by co-chairs Scott Wilson with Clark County and Eric Schadler with the city of Vancouver.
Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2018 5:07 am

For every one hundred authors who rack their brains and snap their pencils as they make doomed attempts to plot the perfect setting for their fledgling stories, there is one Jon Gosch.

Gosch, who was raised in Longview, needed only to peer eastward out the window of his childhood home in order to recognize the prospects of southwest Washingtons definitive motif that has a sneaky habit of hiding in plain sight  Mount St. Helens.

Goschs most recent literary creation is a novel titled Deep Fire Rise. Goschs second published book is set in the morning shadow of Mount St. Helens back in 1980 during the months that bookended the mountains most famous eruption. As such, the books official publication date was May 18, in order to coincide with the 38th anniversary of that momentous blowout.

Although the book hasnt been distributed widely yet, the reviews are already rolling in like a pyroclastic flow of positivity. According to Robert Michael Pyle, a two-time winner of the Washington State Book Award for his works Wintergreen and Where Bigfoot Walks, Goschs latest work manages to match the epic nature of his chosen backdrop.

The greatest geological event of our times finally has the novel it deserves, wrote Pyle. While the literature of Mount St. Helens is rich in documentation and description, Deep Fire Rise is the first fiction of note to come out of that earth-shattering eruption. And fine fiction it is, melding Jon Goschs taut, fresh style with an unforgettable cast and a riveting plot that gathers with all the tension and inexorability of the very eruption itself.

According to Gosch, his sophomore production didnt come to fruition without his fair share of writers struggles along the way. However, he says he never wavered in his belief that the wildlands of Southwest Washington, and the ever looming mountain, would serve as the perfect setting for his literary labor of love.

I just grew up with stories about Mount St. Helens in my family. My dad was a police sergeant in Longview in 1980, so he was pretty involved with some of the arrangements in town and he helped arrange President Carters detail when he came through, so I always heard a lot of stories there, explained Gosch. And (I) went up to the visitors centers, and my family hunts in that country, so its always been a fascination for me.

Just as the setting of Deep Fire Rise is woven from the contents of Goschs deep memory bank, the plot is also written largely from a place of familiarity. Deep Fire Rise follows the day-to-day patrols of a backcountry sheriff as he tends to the disparate, and sometimes desperate, folks who make their home at the base of an active volcano. Just as Goschs father was a police sergeant in southwest Washington when the mountain blew its top, Goschs brother is now the sheriff assigned to keep the peace in the timberlands of Clark County that includes forgotten dusty crossroad depots like Yacolt, Cougar and Amboy.

In order to find background information for his book Gosch began riding along with his brother, Tim, on his patrols along the southwest foothills of Mount St. Helens. Adding to Deputy Sheriff Tim Goschs backcountry lawmen bonafides is his recent reception of the National Grange organizations Law Enforcement Officer of the year award.

I just thought, what would it have been like to be a deputy sheriff out in this country, all by yourself, with this mountain rumbling above you?  Gosch explained as the impetus for his book.

Gosch noted the stark differences in policing tactics that he observed in his brothers patrols as opposed to the urban policing more commonly depicted in popular media. Interpersonal skills top the list of assets that Gosch says are needed to negotiate the moonshine politics of volcano country.

You really have to forge those relationships, insisted Gosch.

In addition to tagging along with his brother on patrols and mining his fathers recollection for fascinating factoids, Gosch also explored the caverns of the Longview Public Library in order to dig up forgotten history from the months surrounding the May 18, 1980 eruption.

It was just interesting to get into the day-to-day news, explained Gosch, who noted that the Iran hostage situation was one of the headlines of the day sharing ink on newspaper pages along with the growing threat of Mount St. Helens angry magma chamber.

In writing the book, I was pulling in as many of those relevant details as possible to add texture to the book. And not only would I read the front page but I would read the police blotter and sometimes it would just be two sentences, but the stories were so bizarre, said Gosch.

One recurring theme of Deep Fire Rise is the red zone implemented by authorities around the mountain in order to keep the public away from the dangers of the blast zone. One local that Gosch spoke with for the book was Mark Smith. Smiths family owned the Spirit Lake Lodge situated next door to the Mount Saint Helens Lodge owned by infamous rebel, and humble human offering to the mountain, Harry Truman. Smiths brother was allegedly the last person to speak with Truman before he was buried by the flowing guts of the mountain.

To hear Mark talk about having that property and not being able to access it because they had drawn this red line to keep citizens out but yet they were letting Weyerhaeuser log in there and they were letting Harry Truman stay in there, so that still hits very close to home for people, explained Gosch.

In Deep Fire Rise, Gosch references bootleg maps sold in hushed tones at service stations to adventurous types who were dead set on getting as close to the tumultuous mountain as possible.

That was a real thing and they were really selling them under the counter because they had the road blocked on Spirit Lake but there was no way the authorities could block off all the logging roads so if you could figure out the way you could get nearly all the way up to the mountain, said Gosch.

While Gosch understands the pull those folks felt to get close to the volcano, he also realizes that the eruption was not just a seismic adrenaline rush. Instead, it was a blast of devastation with consequences that are still rippling outward in every direction nearly four decades later.

You think about the tragedy of the people who didnt make it out of there. They have friends and family who missed them, and in some cases are still missing them, said Gosch, who noted the mountain blew its top on a Sunday when most loggers were at home with their families. If it had blown on any other day it would have taken out far more people.

Gosch, whose great uncle Russ Mohney was the long time outdoors columnist for The Chronicle in Centralia, describes his first novel, If We Get There, as a coming of age novel that tells the tale of two young men making a cross country trek by motorcycle. He says his next book will dive into the world of the Wobblies and their bloody union squabbles. That high-stakes subject is another area where Gosch has a well of family experience to draw from as his great-great grandfather was a Wobbly present during the Centralia Massacre of 1919. He expects that work to be completed sometime in 2020.

Additional information on the author can be found online at jongosch.com.

Copies of Deep Fire Rise can be purchased at latahbooks.com/store, on Amazon, and at some local stores that carry books.
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Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2018 4:54 am

The old Lakeside Motel in Woodland is coming down.

The crunches of a crane bucket tore into the roof and walls of the former lodging business during a ceremonial start of demolition May 23, well attended by members of the local community. Cheers erupted following the cranes first rip into the building, piloted by Landon Johns, 7, with the help of a worker with West Coast Training.

As the demolition continued, several other Woodland youth got in on the action taking down the dilapidated building. The event heralded the start of work on a YMCA to be built on the site, part of ongoing efforts by a group of Woodland residents who have been pushing for the facility, and eventually a pool, for years.

Several community leaders spoke at the ceremony, including Woodland mayor Will Finn, Woodland Chamber of Commerce Treasurer Darlene Johnson, State Rep. Ed Orcutt, R-Kalama and Woodland Public Schools Superintendent Michael Green.

Also speaking was Benno Dobbe, president and chairman of the Woodland Community Swimming Pool Committee (WCSPC). Ostensibly named for the committees goal to bring a pool to the city, the WCSPC has recently switched gears to throw their support behind bringing a YMCA facility to Woodland first, following a failed bond that would fund construction of a facility complete with a pool.

For now, the YMCA wont have a pool, but there is hope that down the line that goal could be met. Dobbe said in his speech that after funding was secure for the facility the committee could come back with a pool proposition to be built on land adjacent to the motel currently owned by him and his wife, Klazina.

But first things first, lets get this YMCA facility built ASAP, Dobbe said in his speech. He said that of existing donors for the WCSPCs project, all were on board with having their dollars go to finance the facility first, allowing for the project to move forward in its tweaked plan.

Though a crane has been taken to Lakeside Motel, the full demolition is slated for June 15. Coinciding with Planters Days, Dobbe said that donors for the YMCA project will have a chance to knock down their own chunk of the building.

The current plan for the YMCA differs from the proposal put in front of voters in November as building the facility will not require funds by way of property taxes, instead utilizing a variety of sources including state grants, a new market tax credit, foundation funding, gifts in kind and philanthropy, Dobbe listed.

We should be able to receive enough solid financial commitments in a reasonably short period of time, allowing us to start construction in 2020, Dobbe said.
Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2018 5:02 am

The then-girlfriend of Brent Luyster, a convicted triple-murderer, received a year in prison for buying firearms for the felon, the U.S. Department of Justice reported last week.

Andrea Sibley, 29, of Longview, received her sentence in U.S. District Court in Tacoma May 21, according to a DOJ release that day. Her year in prison and three years of supervised release was for abetting a felon in possession of a firearm and making a false statement during the purchase of firearm.

According to the DOJ, Sibley lied on federal forms and purchased at least nine firearms for Luyster.

Luyster, who the federal department described as an avowed violent white supremacist, was convicted in November of three counts of aggravated murder and one count of attempted murder, among other charges. The conviction follows the deaths of three people in Woodland in July 2016 which led to a manhunt for Luyster.

Guns are being used to take lives of innocent people at an alarming rate. So it is a serious crime when a person is helping someone who shouldnt have guns get guns, U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said to Sibley at the sentencing. [You] had to know someone was going to get hurt by these firearms but that did not deter you.

Sibleys conviction stemmed from charges dating back to May 2016 when Luyster and Sibley lured one of his ex-girlfriends to their home in Longview, where Luyster assaulted her.

Sibley denied any violence when stopped by police after leaving the scene. But when deputies arrived at the home, they heard gunshots coming from a wooded area behind the house and ultimately Luyster surrendered.

Officers found three firearms near where Luyster had been, the release stated; six more firearms were inside the home. The Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents determined that Sibley had purchased all of the firearms using her parents address, making false statements on the purchase forms.

Luyster was charged with assault, reckless endangerment and unlawful possession of a firearm, the release stated. His bail was reduced and he was released in June 2016, in part due to a letter Sibley wrote on his behalf.

It was just over a month later, July 15, 2016, that Luyster would kill three individuals in Woodland.

According to the release, the firearm used in that crime was never found. Sibley was with Luyster when the suspect was eventually found off Ocean Beach Highway in Cowlitz County the day after the murders.

Andrea Sibleys criminal conduct during which she purchased the firearms for a convicted felon and white supremacist led directly to three tragic murders, ATF Seattle Field Division Special Agent in Charge Darek Pleasants stated in the release. While our heartfelt condolences go out to the families of those lost due to this criminal conduct, ATF is proud to have been able to work alongside our partner agencies to identify and bring Sibley to justice.

This defendant lied repeatedly to provide multiple powerful firearms to a man with a horrible history of violence, U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes stated in the release. Each time she walked into a gun store and lied she let herself become part of a terrible crime. We will hold accountable all those who fail to comply with the laws meant to keep guns out of the hands of prohibited and dangerous persons.

Alongside the ATF, the FBI and the Cowlitz County Sheriffs office assisted in the investigation, with the case being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bruce Miyake.
Posted Tuesday, May 29, 2018 4:24 am

The decision to cut the arts from BGPS middle schools is not a cost saving move. Instead the decision to cut the arts will cost more money. The number of students participating in these programs is huge. The average music teacher has 60-70 more students in the total class load than the regular classroom teacher. This fact gives the music teacher a full-time equivalent (FTE) value 60 percent greater than other teachers. The district is doing everything it can to rehire these instructors to teach core classes throughout the elementary, middle school and high school levels, district superintendent Mark Ross said after the cuts.

Mr. Ross, the arts are core in the state of Washington. Why are you trying to rehire them to teach core classes when music is already a core class? So much time, effort, and funding is spent on students at risk. By cutting the arts, you are not only hurting at-risk students, you are hurting the students who are the brightest stars in our schools.

The arts enhance the process of learning. The systems they nourish, which include our integrated sensory, attentional, cognitive, emotional, and motor capacities, are, in fact the driving forces behind all other learning, Eric Jensen states in his book Arts with the Brain in Mind.

The arts provide learners with opportunities to simultaneously develop and mature multiple brain systems, none of which are easy to assess because they support processes that yield cumulative results. The arts reach students not ordinarily reached, in ways not normally used. This keeps tardies and truancies and, eventually dropouts, down. Students connect to each other better  greater camaraderie, fewer fights, less racism, and reduced bullying. Music changes the environment to one of discovery. This can reignite the love of learning in students tired of being filled up with facts and state mandated testing. Arts provide challenges for students at all levels, from delayed to gifted. It is a class where all students can find their level, automatically. Arts connect learners to the work of real work where theater, music, and products have to appeal to a growing consumer public. Students learn to become sustained, self-directed learners, not a repository of facts from direct instruction for the next high-stakes test. Students of lower socioeconomic status gain as much or more from arts instruction than those of higher socioeconomic status. This suggests the gifted programs need to expand their target audiences. Therefore, the arts should be taught not only because there is some science that argues for their inclusion. We should support the arts in education because of their dynamic and broad-based value as peers of every other widely accepted discipline.

All of the above facts and more can be read in Eric Jensens book Arts with the Brain in Mind.

Mr. Ross you state I understand the emotions and the difficulty of someone whos there in the moment with that program. If you really understood the emotions, you would not support the cut to the middle school programs. This is not just whos there in the moment with that program, these classes save kids. Mr. Ross, you are simply wrong.
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Before the clock struck 6:00 AM, nearly fifty dedicated men and women hit the road to attend Agudath Israel of Illinois (AIOI) annual Springfield Mission on Wednesday, May 9. According to all accounts, this years mission was productive, enjoyable, and provided a fascinating behind-the-scenes-look into Agudath Israels relationship with state government.

A primary focus of this years agenda was to protect Illinois new $100 million Tax Credit Scholarship Program. This new program allows Illinois taxpayers to claim tax credits for donations made to organizations that award scholarships to low- and middle-income students attending private school. Agudath Israel played a central role last year in helping to pass the program as part of a bi-partisan compromise on education funding, and many children attending Jewish schools have already been awarded full scholarships for the upcoming school year. The program is currently under threat from the proposed Senate Bill 2236 that would prevent donors from receiving tax credits and students from receiving scholarships until the state meets the minimum funding level for public education. AIOI delegates lobbied legislators not to use children as leverage in the political process, nor to have them penalized should there be a budget stalemate.

Agudath Israel also advocated for funding of a security grant program for nonprofit organizations that was introduced last year at the request of AIOI. Although the bill was signed into law, it has yet to be funded. AIOIs delegates articulated the concerns of the community, illustrating how funding would provide organizations with the ability to protect themselves against real and imminent security threats.

Additionally, Agudath Israel lobbied for the renewal of a school transportation grant which has serviced over 2,000 students in the past year alone. The last item on the agenda was a bill to protect Hatzalah volunteers from financial harm. House Bill 1336 would safeguard the insurance policies of volunteer EMS providers that are involved in an accident while responding to emergencies.

At 9:30 AM, the first round of breakout meetings began. The delegates were divided into a number of groups for concurrent conversations with various lawmakers. By both pre-arrangement and providence, several meetings with legislators took place. After a series of productive conversations, the group moved on to meet with Republican leadership. The participants were fortunate to be able to meet as a group with Senate Republican Leader Bill Brady (R-Bloomington), and House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs). Also present was Senator Jason Barickman (R-Bloomington) who was a key negotiator that brought about the Scholarship Tax Credit Program and worked very closely with Rabbi Shlomo Soroka, AIOIs director of government affairs, on the programs policy. The Republican representatives expressed an interest in developing a closer relationship with the Orthodox community and listened attentively to the issues brought up by the group.

Next, the Springfield Mission members met with Governor Bruce Rauner, who graciously made himself available to spend some time with the group. They received a warm reception from the Governor, who was eager to share his experiences and thoughts from his recent trip to Poland where he had visited the Auschwitz concentration camp and Jewish memorial sites in Warsaw. He expressed his resolve to find a way to fight anti-Semitism and asked the group for ideas on how to address recent issues that he is grappling with. He pledged his support for all agenda issues that were discussed. As a whole, participants left the session feeling positive and productive.

Following this meeting, the delegates again divided up to meet with various senators and state representatives, as well as Empower Illinois, the largest scholarship granting organization in the state through which the tax credit program is being administered. Along with the Catholic Conference of Illinois, AIOI has worked hand in hand with this organization for years in advocating for the program and has collaborated in its implementation. The meeting was mutually beneficial as important information, developments, and ideas were exchanged.

The final legislative meeting was scheduled to take place with Speaker of the House, Michael J. Madigan (D-Chicago), a longtime friend of Agudath Israel, along with Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago), a staunch supporter of AIOI. Deputy Majority Leader Lou Lang (D-Skokie), who faithfully represents the majority of the Orthodox Jewish community was also invited to join. With frenzied activity constantly disrupting routine late in the legislative session, its not uncommon for conflicts to occur, and unfortunately, an emergency caucus meeting delayed Speaker Madigan, President Cullerton and Representative Lang until the group had left Springfield. During lunch, held at the historic Old State Capitol, participants enjoyed a delicious and elegant meal while listening to an address by Associate Director at the Illinois Department of Revenue Chimaobi Enyia, the agency administering the new Scholarship Tax Credit Program.

Members of the Springfield Mission returned after a long day, exhausted, but thrilled with all they had accomplished. Although time will tell as to the full and final impact of the mission, the first sprouts of positive change were seen throughout the following days. Some lawmakers who were unaware of, or undecided on, certain bills and issues, were receptive to AIOIs perspective. Legislators who were already proponents of Agudath Israels agenda were encouraged and enthused, and promises were made to try to push certain items in the coming months. This past year, very significant achievements that directly benefit our community have come about through working together with state government, commented Mindi Zissman, a veteran mission participant. It was apparent that none of this would have been possible without the tireless efforts and close relationships that Rabbi Shlomo Soroka and his predecessors have cultivated.

After meeting and interacting with nearly 30 legislators, participants of the mission were impressed by the respect which they were treated, a testament to the strong relationships that AIOI has built and the value they place on this unique form of communal engagement. Their intimate familiarity with, and respect for, Rabbi Soroka was apparent and facilitated access to offices on both sides of the aisle, something that is unfortunately increasingly rare in Springfield. Overall, it was a great day for both lawmakers and participants, and Agudath Israel is optimistic that the impact made will lead to the sustainment and growth of prior accomplishments, as well as to new achievements for the entire Jewish community.

Perhaps the most important benefit is that legislators understand that Agudah acts as the ambassador of an engaged constituency, said Rabbi Soroka. When Agudah speaks, its not an individual they hear, its the vibrant voice of an entire community.

(YWN World Headquarters  NYC)
ZAKA Search and Rescue was selected as one of four Israeli NGOs to participate in a special session of the UN Committee on NGOs, hosted by Israels Mission to the United Nations. The forum, which took place last week, celebrated seventy years of Israeli civil society innovation and their contributions to the world. Ambassador Danny Danon opened the event with celebratory remarks, followed by presentations from four Israeli NGOs that are bettering the world.

ZAKA International Rescue Unit Chief Officer Mati Goldstein presented the far-reaching scope of ZAKAs humanitarian international rescue work at mass casualty incidents (MCI) around the world, from major natural disasters in, among others, Haiti, Japan, Nepal and Mexico, and at international terror attacks including, among others, Mumbai, Istanbul and Paris. As a UN-recognized NGO with trained and equipped volunteers in over 20 countries around the world, ZAKA is able to send a swift and professional response to a MCI, as well as share best practices with international search and rescue teams.

As we mark seventy years since the founding of the State of Israel, we recall with great pride our countrys commitment to helping others live a better life. We have committed ourselves to this cause since the birth of our state, Ambassador Danon said in opening the event. We recognize these organizations valuable contribution to the work of the UN and the realization of its 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, Ambassador Danon said.

ZAKA International Rescue Unit Chief Officer Mati Goldstein: It was a great honor for ZAKA to be selected among four Israeli NGOs to celebrate Israels contributions to civil society in its 70th anniversary year. Guided by our belief that all mankind was made in the divine image, we are committed to saving lives and honoring those who cannot be saved  regardless of religion, race or creed  wherever and whenever disaster strikes.

Goldstein ended his presentation with a call to all humanitarian NGOs to join ZAKAs campaign to ensure the immediate return of the bodies of Lt. Hadar Goldin and Sgt. Oron Shaul (as well as the return of Avera Mengistu), in keeping with international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions. This is a purely humanitarian issue, completely devoid of politics or other interests, noted Goldstein. This is the most basic of needs  for a parent to bury a child, with love and dignity. As a leading UN-recognized international humanitarian volunteer organization whose main goal is to honor victims with a dignified burial, ZAKA is planning a mass rally in the coming months, aimed at increasing public pressure on the UN to demand the return of the two soldiers remains.

In addition to ZAKA, which provides lifesaving search and rescue assistance in mass casualty emergencies worldwide and holds consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) the other NGOs included Save a Childs Heart, an NGO dedicated to improving pediatric cardiac care for children in developing countries; Innovation Africa, a non-profit using solar energy to provide clean water, light and refrigeration for vaccines and medication to schools, orphanages and medical clinics; and ISRAID, Israels life-saving disaster relief organization that offers long-term support for refugees.

Photo: ZAKA International Rescue Unit Chief Officer Mati Goldstein (left) Israel Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon (right). Courtesy

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
Israels military says a tank fired at a Hamas position in the Gaza Strip after Israeli troops came under fire on the frontier while apprehending two armed Palestinians.

The Palestinian Health Ministry said the Israeli shelling on Monday killed a man and seriously wounded another in the northern Gaza Strip. Hamas said the deceased, 25, was a member of its armed terror wing.

The border area has been tense in recent weeks as the Palestinians have held violent mass protests aimed at lifting a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized power in 2007. Israeli fire has killed more than 110 Palestinians, most of them during the Hamas-led protests, which climaxed on May 14.

On Sunday, Israeli shelling killed three terrorists from the smaller Islamic Jihad terror group, which vowed retaliation.

(AP)
It has been a day of rocket fire from Gaza, the worst since Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014. There has also been heavy machine gun fire directed into Gaza border communities from Gaza.

More than 50 mortars and rockets were fired from Gaza towards Israel throught the day Tuesday, 15 Sivan, and the IDF retaliated, as it warned it would.

[LATEST UPDATES: More than 100 rockets have been fired into Israel]

The Iron Dome has intercepted many incoming rockets, while others landed in open fields. However, some landed in a school yard in Sderot while parents and children were present, while another struck a kindergarten yard earlier in the day, before children arrived. The Yad Hashem is present throughout the day.

Bchasdei Hashem, despite the ongoing and heavy rocket fire, there has been no loss of life and only three injuries reported, with the most serious being a young male in moderate condition with shrapnel injuries to his lower extremities. All three have been identified as IDF Soldiers. The army says in a statement the three were airlifted to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. One suffered moderate injuries to his legs, and the other two sustained light wounds.

10 News reports the IDF is preparing for some kind of operation, but without saying if this is a limited or broader scope counter-terrorism operation. In addition, there is no word if Prime Minister Netanyahu or Defense Minister Lieberman have given the green light for such an operation.

The IDF Spokesmans Office continues to release messages that there will be retaliation to each and every rocket fired at Israel.

As the rocket-fire intensifies, fewer residents are seen outside, as more prefer remaining near safe rooms as instructed to do by the IDF. This is a critical time as many children are being picked up from and returning from schools in areas that schools were no canceled today.

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu warned the retaliation would be one of significant force. Minister Aryeh Deri warned Hamas, that retaliation would strike in the most painful and sensitive areas.

The air force has retaliated, striking over 35 terrorist objectives throughout Gaza, including targets aligned with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

MDA announced it has moved to heightened operational status in the south. Senior government ministers are conferring with military and intelligence community leaders. There are reports the IDF is preparing for a limited operation in Gaza, however these reports are yet unconfirmed. Residents of Gaza border communities have been instructed to remain close enough to safe rooms and bomb shelters to run for cover when the Red Alert is sounded.

There are reports of damage to some vehicles and buildings, but once again, considering the number of rockets fired, this too is minimal.

Hamas has reportedly sent messages to Israeli leaders via an Egyptian mediator, telling PM Netanyahu it is not behind the attacks, but rather the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Israels position is clear, Hamas rules in Gaza and is therefore responsible for attacks over its border into Israel.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus is reporting from the Israeli kindergarten that was hit by several mortars earlier this morning. The kindergarten is located in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip pic.twitter.com/vZBa0y0UJm  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 29, 2018

Meanwhile, fishing boats were also seen around Gaza, reportedly an effort to break the IDF Navys blockade of Gaza from the sea. There is no confirmation on this however.

 :      pic.twitter.com/fbQLzvMO32  matan tzuri   (@MatanTzuri) May 29, 2018

             

    pic.twitter.com/W4n4gyNvZT   . (@AmnaKuhail) May 29, 2018

The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted most of the mortar rounds that were fired this morning by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip at Israeli communities near the border. pic.twitter.com/qMndJIQlb7  Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) May 29, 2018

These are 2 of the 27 mortar rounds that were fired this morning by Palestinian terrorists from the Gaza Strip at Israeli communities. One of them exploded inside a kindergarten! This demonstrates the savageness of Palestinian terrorism in Gaza that bombards civilians. pic.twitter.com/yNlIC5AJsJ  Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) May 29, 2018

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem / Video Credit: :  )
Four fishing boats and one large vessel left the Gaza port on Tuesday morning, 15 Sivan with the intentions of breaking the IDF embargo on Gaza. The flotilla was intending to reach Cyprus. The navy was rather calm in its response, but the vessels received the notice, which they realized was not a bluff, that they would not be permitted to pass the no-fishing zone.

The vessels continued calling the navys bluff, but at some point, the boats, carrying 25 Palestinians, was transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod on Tuesday, according to the Israeli army.

The boat had crossed nine nautical miles (16km) before four Israeli warships flanked the vessel.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
After a day that saw an immense barrage of rockets and mortars fired at Israel from terrorists in the Gaza Strip, red alert sirens have continued late into the night, forcing tens of thousands of Israelis to sleep in protective shelters. The IDF has resumed its strong retaliatory strikes on Gaza.

Sirens sounded in the Eshkol Regional Council. More details to follow  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 29, 2018

The target strikes included sheds of drones used for terror purposes, a rocket manufacturing workshop, advanced naval weaponry, military compounds, training facilities, and a munitions manufacturing site  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 29, 2018

Sources within the Islamic Jihad terror group claimed on Tuesday night that they have reached a cease-fire deal with Israel based upon the understandings established at the end of Operation Protective Edge in 2014. The cease-fire was brokered by Egypt who has been pressuring all parties to restore calm to the area. Moments after the report surfaced, other reports quoting high-level Israeli sources denied any such agreement.

A few moments before the announcement came, additional air raid sirens were heard in Ashkelon, Netivot, and all of the towns in the Gaza periphery as another barrage of missiles swept the area. The sirens sounded at 10:25 p.m. and were the first ones to sound in Ashkelon and Netivot, as most of the rocket fire during the day had been focused on the towns in the immediate proximity to the Gaza Strip.

[Hamas Rocket Fire Reaches Netivot  IAF Pounds Gaza Terrorist Targets]

Since 2:40 p.m. sirens sounded in the Gaza Periphery towns at least once an hour throughout the day. According to the IDF more than 100 rockets were fired at Israel, most of which were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.

Due to the barrage of rockets being fired at Israel, the United States has called for an emergency meeting of the Security Council of the United Nations. The meeting is set to take place Wednesday.

Today, over a 100 mortar rounds and rockets were fired at Israel by these Palestinian terrorists from #Gaza, putting Israeli lives in danger. Thats why the IDF destroyed today 40 terrorist facilities and assets in the Gaza Strip. We will always defend our country & our people. pic.twitter.com/bo6pYdL9bZ  Ofir Gendelman (@ofirgendelman) May 29, 2018

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations commited acts of terrorism against Israel throughout the day pic.twitter.com/LjqzOrur92  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 29, 2018

Israels Homefront Command announced that schools will continue as scheduled tomorrow for all buildings that have protective shelters that students would be able to arrive at in the allotted time for each region. Agricultural work is being permitted in the area only with special coordination and permission being granted by the ranking IDF commander in the area.

Both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad are claiming responsibility for the rocket barrage. Hamas sources said: Our military wing has picked up the struggle and we want to let our leaders know that all options are on the table. This is the first time Hamas has claimed responsibility for shooting rockets at Israel since the 2014 war.

A statement issue by the Islamic Jihad said that: Egypt has requested a calming of the situation. We responded and told the Egyptians that we w ill respond with violence to any act of Israeli aggression.

The IDF rejected that notion that a cease-fire had been reached. IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ronen Menlis, told journalists in Tel Aviv that: What we have seen today from the early morning hours and onwards is a serious wave of terror being aimed at Israel. We will simply not allow this to continue. This is clearly Hamas losing control of the situation in the Gaza Strip after their attempts to cross the border fence and carry out terror attacks in Israel for the past few months have failed.

The IDFs response thus far has been the most aggressive and comprehensive against the Gaza Strip since Operation Protective Edge, with over 35 airstrikes on seven sites in its first retaliation on Tuesday afternoon. Some of the targets destroyed by Israeli forces included; Head offices of terror organizations, locations in which weapons were being manufactured, training facilities for Hamas insurgents, and one terror tunnel.

On Wednesday morning (1:00AM IL), the IDF announce that Israeli aircraft hit approximately 25 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, in a second bombardment.

The military says fighter jets, helicopters and other aircraft bombed a Hamas drone facility, advanced naval weaponry, rocket manufacturing plant, military compounds, training camps and weapons factories.

This is the second round of strikes carried out by the IDF in response to mortar and rocket fire from Gaza. On Tuesday, Israeli aircraft targeted approximately 40 positions in the Gaza Strip belonging to the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups.

Our responses will only increase in strength and severity should Hamas keep up their barrage of rockets, the IDF Spokesperson told the media. The reason why the heads of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad went into hiding this morning, is because they know what our capabilities are.

Video footage of the strike on a Hamas terror tunnel near the Kerem Shalom Crossing and terror sites in the Gaza Strip: pic.twitter.com/XLyOveHXNA  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 29, 2018

One of the rockets fired from Gaza struck equipment that provides electricity to the southern Gaza Strip, a spokesperson for Israels Electric Company says.

The damage is preventing the flow of electricity to the beleaguered coastal enclave.

The electric company says the repairs are expected to take several days.

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz orders the company to hold off repair work until the situation is calm in order to not endanger its workers.

Bchasdei Hashem, despite the ongoing and heavy rocket fire, there has been no loss of life and only three injuries reported, with the most serious being a young male in moderate condition with shrapnel injuries to his lower extremities. All three have been identified as IDF Soldiers. The army says in a statement the three were airlifted to the Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba. One suffered moderate injuries to his legs, and the other two sustained light wounds.

Since the rocket fire began, United Hatzalah Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit volunteers have treated 10 people so far in various communities in the Gaza periphery who have suffered emotional shock due to the barrage of rockets being shot from the Gaza Strip and the resulting iron dome interceptions. Just before 5:oo p.m. a mother and daughter who suffered emotional shock after the iron dome shot down a rocket in their vicinity.

Psychotrauma and Crisis Response Unit volunteers in the entire south are on high alert and will be ready at a moments notice to respond to any emergencies. Director of the Psychotrauma Unit Miriam Ballin said: We strongly encourage anyone who is suffering emotional or psychological trauma to the tense situation currently developing in the south to call United Hatzalahs dispatch and command center at 1221 and request assistance. Our volunteers are highly trained and at the ready to assist anyone in need of assistance.

(YWN Israel Desk  Jerusalem)
A pub chain owner who played a leading role in campaigning for Britain to leave the EU has told Theresa May to be bolder in her Brexit demands.

Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin said the Prime Minister needed 'alternatives' and must be willing to walk away from the EU without a deal.

Outlining his four-point plan for a successful break with Brussels, Mr Martin said: 'To get a good deal, you need options. If there's only one pub or supermarket in town, you'll pay over the odds.

Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin said the Prime Minister needed to 'alternatives' and must be willing to walk away from the EU without a deal

'For the UK to get a good deal from the EU, there must be an alternative to show we are serious.

'A "no-deal" alternative would leave the UK much better off than it is today.'

Mr Martin urged the Prime Minister to leave the single market and customs union next March and abolish import taxes on non-EU products, which would 'immediately reduce prices in pubs and shops across the country'.

He added the government should also canceled the 39 billion Brexit bill, which he dubbed a 'leaving gift', and invest the money on local projects. He said each 650 parliamentary constituency would receive around 60 million.

Theresa May must be bold and 'show some steel' in talks with the EU, according to Tim Martin

The other two points involved in Mr Martin's plans involved taking back control of Britain's territorial fishing waters and granting UK citizenship to EU migrants who had moved to Britain legally.

He added EU bureaucrats had taken advantage of the Prime Minister's 'desperation' and called on her to 'show some steel', as he claims it is the EU who need a deal more than the UK.

He told the Daily Express: 'Theresa May is a decent person, but has boxed herself in. She has made the UK appear weak by listening to the fanatics who advocate a deal at all costs.'

Philip Hammond was accused last night of failing to prepare for the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal

It comes after the Chancellor was accused last night of failing to prepare for the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal and of wanting to keep the City too closely tied to Brussels.

Tory MPs demanded last weekend that ministers step up preparations for a no deal Brexit to give Theresa May the ability to walk out of negotiations if Brussels refuses to agree satisfactory terms.

Eurosceptics raised fears that contingency planning had ground to a halt in Whitehall, making it almost impossible for the Prime Minister to follow through on her threat to walk away if necessary.

Meanwhile, former civil servants warned that contingency planning for Brexit was far from where it should be for Mrs May to say realistically that Britain could exit the EU without a deal in March 2019.

Tory MP James Duddridge said last night: Preparations for no deal are essential. Without no deal as a credible option we have little negotiating power.

Fellow Tory Andrew Bridgen added: Not preparing for no deal undermines our position and makes no deal more likely.
MBABANE  The Small Enterprises Development Company (SEDCO) and FNB Swaziland will this Thursday bring together all Entrepreneurs of the Year Award (EYA) winners to a networking event dubbed EYA/FNB Winners Premium Cocktail.



SEDCO Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Dorrington Matiwane has invited all previous EYA winners to the Happy Valley Hotel in an effort to provide a platform to share experiences and challenges.



The other key discussion topic will be centred on understanding bottlenecks for access to finance to propel SME growth. Matiwane mentioned a deep desire from the sponsors, who include the lead sponsor, FNB, to have continuity in the engagement of winning entrepreneurs.



In highlighting the essence of the event, the SEDCO CEO said the significance of platforms such as these cannot be overstated. Hence, we are excited to have all the winners from the past Entrepreneur of the Year Awards in one room, where the conversation not only focuses on challenges faced but also is solutionist as we all forge a way to creating high growth entrepreneurs.



The past and present winners of the competition are excited about the platform to network with other businesses this Thursday.FNB, as the lead sponsor, has aligned itself with the event under its FNB MARKETPLACE SERIES banner, which aims to provide platforms for creating meaningful conversation among business and thought leaders to ensure growth in all sectors of the economy.



The 2010 and 2015 EYA winners said they believed this session would empower and develop their businesses as they would get a chance to learn from each others journeys.



Joseph Mgabhi, Director of Manzana Engineering, said during the session he hoped to also learn from the other winners how they overcame challenges as business had good and bad times.

When you run a business, you cannot expect to have all the solutions alone, it is essential to network and learn from others, he said.

Director of Envirowise Waste Management Mcebo Ginindza said such a platform was welcome and long overdue.
PIGGS PEAK  A popular panel beater, Abdulah Dulafatsi Dlamini, fears he may not vote this year.



A fingerprints scanner used by the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) thjeir time in Piggs Peak town centre has not been able to detect Dlaminis fingerprints.



Fingerprint scanning is crucial when registering to vote but for some people like Dlamini, who spend most of their time doing manual work, getting their fingerprints scanned is said to be an impossible task.

Dlamini said he tried to register at least three times since the exercise

started.



He said officials told him his type of work may be contributing to this.

Dlamini said officials advised him that his hands would need to be cleaned thoroughly to remove any particles which were making it difficult for the scanner to read his fingerprints.



He also alleged he was advised to take at least four days off from work as part of the process to keep his fingers free from unwanted substances.



He said he was still willing to go back for the fourth time but feared he would be rejected again.

Though he said he was advised to take a break from work, Dlamini said doing so would result in him not getting paid.

If I stay away from work, I may lose out on my earnings, he said.



He conceded that his type of work contributed to the problem but said he had no other means of earning an income.
MATSAPHA  Come July 2018, the country will be able to ship goods to the United States of America (USA) through AGOA.



This was revealed by USA Embassys Mich Coker during a site visit at Fashion International, where they inspected a mobile clinic for Matsapha residents and textile workers.



Coker said as an embassy they were aware that when the country the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) benefits in January 2015, a number of textile workers became jobless. He said some of them went to seek jobs out of the country while others ended up being sex workers, something which was a problem in the country because it spreads sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and HIV/AIDS among other illnesses. Coker said they were happy that the Government of Eswatini finally provided the required documents to the USA on April 27.



The USA government is currently completing its review of those documents, and we expect an apparel visa to be issued in the coming weeks.

He said after the review of the documents, the country will be put on a 30-day waiting period before getting the apparel via to allow it to export goods to the USA through the Act.

Coker said they hoped that the readmission of the country back to AGOA will go a long way in addressing the issue of unemployment in the Kingdom of Eswatini.

He then challenged the Matsapha Town Council to be ready to accommodate people who would be hired in the textile sector when the country gets the apparel visa from the USA.
MBABANE  Daggers have once again been drawn between senior columnist, Vusi Sibisi and the Prime Minister, Sibusiso Barnabas Dlamini.



This time, Sibisi has been lambasted by government for his strong criticism of the PM in his column, which is published every Monday by this newspaper titled As I See It.



In yesterdays article, Sibisi accused the PM of an alleged ruinous legacy which he said was one that would be impossible to undo. Just a few months ago, the PM found himself publicly responding to Sibisi after the columnist had criticised his book.



Through a statement issued by Government Spokesperson Percy Simelane, government said normally it did not respond to published or broadcast opinion pieces or newspaper columns, but found itself convinced that certain authors were continuously abusing the platform provided by the media to push personal vendettas against it and certain personalities.



The statement stated that the alleged continuous onslaught on the prime minister by Sibisi in his column, left government wondering whether such utterances had not become personal, knowing the history of the author.



To assume that the PM has used his position to extract maximum benefits for himself, cannot just be left as an opinion which anyone has a right to voice without providing supporting evidence and a conviction of guilt by a court. Otherwise it remains an undue personal attack for which the prime minister reserves his right to action legally, reads part of the statement.

The statement said Sibisis view that the KMIII International Airport should already be making profit within four years of operation was nothing but a fallacy born out of ignorance more than a concern, as no one expected the airport to make an instant profit.
'Up Next!' - Where You Trekking Outside in June? | HeSaysSheSaysKC For June's "Up Next!" we thought we'd trek outdoors. In our curated blog series, we pose a question to people and ask them to answer in 100 words or so. See what to do this summer and what outdoor destinations have people buzzing.

Kansas City family life doesn't mean that good times are over and this glimpse at upcoming booze, music and tourist destinations shows at least one local fam & their friends ready to share adventures and a welcomed guide to the wholesome local good life.Take a look:
"Did you know your blog is "content-banned" on the KCI wi-fi?"

After all, Mayor Sly led a protest at the airport and didn't suffer any negative consequences and actually garnered police protection while obstructing travelers.

This one continues to come up from time to time . . .Today anreader notes:Actually, yes we did, it's a sad situation that the airport continues to block this blog for no good reason and simply because we have been critical of their tactics . . .Thankfully, travelers who aren't carelessly hookup up to sketchy public wi-fi can continue to access our content as KCI plays favorites.So, TKC continues our blog journey whilst the construction for the new airport is delayed amid an ongoing fight over contracting the pending glass & plastic structure.Developing . . .
Global wine production is as low as it's been in six decades, but in the United States, wine output is as healthy as ever. Midwestern grapes once helped save the European wine industry and a vineyard in Missouri is trying to preserve them.




- Some captivating confessionals from the denizens of our blog community.





- TKC new journalism blogging goodness in even more formats.





- A few more MEGA post pix.





- Ongoing insight into the KCMO Water crisis.





- Continually the dominant ALTERNATIVE news, opinion and discourse in Kansas City.

Whilst, here at TKC our ambition and readership for the blog continues to burst at the seams in typically American fashion.We've got a lot of things on deck for the very near future and for the most loyal of all TKC holiday readers, we want to offer a late night preview.A few thing we're teasing tonight and already starting to roll out . . .And for tonight, this video ofHopefully, more for the morning update . . .
"Finally, after a decade of planning our new bus transit station  3-TRAILS STATION  at Blue Ridge Blvd/and Bannister is finished and ready to be dedicated -- This important project to the future of South Kansas City has been a long time in arriving.."

3-Trails Transit Center To Celebrate Opening With Dedication

Dedication of the historic 3-Trails Transit Center and recognition of the site as the official national historic trailhead

THIS KANSAS CITY TRANSIT HONOR AND COMEBACK IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE SOUTHLAND TRAILS ARE FAR MORE NOTORIOUS AS THE HANGOUT OF AN ALLEGED RACIST SERIAL KILLER!!!

NOW WITH THE WHITE-GUY-KILLER-SUSPECT APPREHENDED . . . WILL GOOD NEWS FOR SOUTHLAND TRAILS BRING MORE EXCITEMENT FOR KANSAS CITY BUS TRANSIT ENTHUSIASTS?!?

There's objectively good news for the Southland on the way in the shadow of horrific Kansas City killing.First, to be fair, let's celebrate the good.One insider tell us:Even better, the Feds are getting in on the act and supporting the Kansas City transit power play.Check the note:The Kansas City Area Transportation Authority, 3-Trails West, Inc. and the National Park Service will dedicate a major transit hub which is both high-tech and historic at 12:30 P.M., May 31. The 3-Trails Transit Center is at 9449 Blue Ridge Blvd. in South Kansas City.The new hub will be a major stop for sex bus routs connecting riders to downtown Kansas City, Waldo, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, Hospital Hill, Raytown and other sites in the region.The station hosts KCATA's first citypost smart digital kiosk. Riders will be able to touch a screen for real-time bus information and historic trail information. The kiosk will feature a constant flow of information about city and community events.The National Park Service will recognize the stop as an official national historic trail trailhead marking the area nearby where the California, Oregon and Santa Fe national historic trails converged. This event is also being held in honor of the 50th anniversary year for the National Trails System. The trail head has custom interpretive panels designed by 3-Trails West, Inc and the National Park Service that illustrate the historic significance of the trails and stories of trail travelers with ties to the area. This trailhead is one of the first identified along a 47-mile national historic trail experience being planned that retraces the path of the three national trails in the Kansas City area from Sugar Creek, MO, to Gardner, Kansas.##########Now, TKC perspective . . .Remember:Thesuspected in five murders along Kansas Citys popular Indian Creek Trail came down to DNA pulled from a Brisk Iced Tea bottle and a cigarette butt.In fact, police obtained clues for DNA evidence by searching bus stop spy cam video.Even the media acknowledged that there was speculation of a serial killer, especially after police said there were obvious similarities among four killings of older white men along the Indian Creek and Blue River trails. Still, nobody mentioned that all of the dudes were single amid even more speculation about rando hookups with even more nasty DNA evidence . . . But that'll probably be buried somewhere in the case files.More titillating than unsexy backstory was sketchy testimony claiming:More importantly . . .There are a lot of people who hope to clean up the SKC image in spite of rising local crime and this is as good of a place as any to start.You decide . . .
EXCLUSIVE!!! TKC BUSTS MEDIA MATTERS MISTAKENLY LISTING GREG KNAPP IN THE RECENT SCHOOL SHOOTING GUN DEBATE DISCOURSE DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE'S NOT ON AIR ANYMORE!!!

AGAIN, MEDIA MATTERS IS COMPLETELY MISTAKEN!!! AND WE'VE GOT A QUOTE ON THE TOPIC RIGHT FROM THE SOURCE!!!

"Alex Kaplan from MM tweeted this a while back and I told them I haven't been on the air on KCMO since 11/17. So, it would have been impossible for me to have said what they are claiming. He apologized to me in a twitter dm, but it looks like they're still pushing this lie.





"I don't know who said it on KCMO at the time. I think they were trying out various new hosts and hadn't changed the website. So, I guess Media Matters assumed it was me."

Greg Knapp: "I have NEVER said anything about David Hogg not being at school that day. Media Matters owes me a big apology."

is doing great work as a motivational speaker and working with some of the top companies in the region following the conclusion of his work at 710AM KCMO.A while agoHowever, that didn'tAlready, we noted thatAnd now . . .Again, Mr. Knapp was part of a pretty big listing but the argument against him was fierce."Radio host Greg Knapp on Missouri talk station KCMO-AM pushed a false story that Parkland, FL, mass shooting survivor David Hogg was not at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting."Here's the fact check from Greg Knapp who graciously cleared things up after we reached out . . .And here's the truth of it:And so . . .. However, when we drill down to the local level and look at their "watchdog" efforts we see that they're playing fast and loose with the facts and unfairly targeting KC area Conservatives for things they didn't even say.In this case, it's important that our blog community rely on the people who have an interest in our community no matter their political agenda. We may not have agreed with every opinion Mr. Knapp declared but his reputation for relying on facts in his arguments has always been impeccable. Meanwhile, what we now see from bigger organizations like Media Matters is that they aren't prepared to drill down on details when it comes to local players mentioned whilst they're trying to prove a point about so-called conservative "fake news" overall.You decide . . .
How relevant and influential is the legacy of the ancient Greeks to the western civilisation even today, is a question that has often been asked by many. The truth is the effects of the ancient Greek world have been ingrained so deeply into the Wests collective unconscious that we do not even notice it. The recognition of the impact of the ancient Greeks was once more highlighted by a BBC poll about the 100 stories that shaped the World. Homers Odyssey topped the poll of 100 Stories that Shaped the World, with the other famous Homeric epic poem The Iliad coming in 10th spot. Natalie Haynes of the BBC looks at why the epic poem has survived for millennia.

If any story can be considered the greatest tale ever told, Homers Odyssey has a better claim than most. Twenty-four books long, it runs to more than 12,000 lines of hexameter verse (the poetic form used in Greek epic and Latin epic after it) and follows the adventures of the wily, complicated Greek hero, Odysseus, in the aftermath of the Trojan War. The Odyssey has been appreciated as a cultural highpoint for millennia: in the 5th Century BCE, the Athenian playwright Aeschylus referred to his tragedies as slices from the banquet of Homer.

Writers from Dante to James Joyce to Margaret Atwood have drawn inspiration from this original quest story. But Odysseus quest itself is an almost mundane affair, amid the gods and monsters which populate the poem. Because it is not about sailing off to find something wondrous and new (a golden fleece, for example, or an undiscovered land). Its about a man trying to get home at the end of a 10-year war.

These are the top 10 book that changed the world:

1. The Odyssey (Homer, 8th Century BC)

2. Uncle Toms Cabin (Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1852)

3. Frankenstein (Mary Shelley, 1818)

4. Nineteen Eighty-Four (George Orwell, 1949)

5. Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe, 1958)

6. One Thousand and One Nights (various authors, 8th-18th Centuries)

7. Don Quixote (Miguel de Cervantes, 1605-1615)

8. Hamlet (William Shakespeare, 1603)

9. One Hundred Years of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1967)

10. The Iliad (Homer, 8th Century BC)

Read more at protothema.gr

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Botaurus License: CC-BY-SA
Greek journalist and director Athina Krikeli has been working on a series of documentaries with the goal of making the famous mountain  the tallest in Greece  known worldwide

Many Americans believe that Mount Oympus  like Atlantis  is a mythical location that exists only in Greek mythology, according to Greek journalist and director Athina Krikeli.

Krikeli, who has lived in the United States for the past 25 years, spoke about her experience on the subject, to the Athens News Agency radio station 104.9 FM. During the past three years, Krikeli has been working on a series of documentaries with the goal of making the famous mountain  the tallest in Greece  known worldwide.

The journalist and director and her associates in the production company Ellopia Films USA, have completed five documentaries on Mount Olympus; three of which have won awards in international competitions.

On Saturday, March 12, an event was held in Plaka of Litohoro in Pieria, to celebrate winning 13 gold statuettes for the first three documentaries of Mt. Olympus the Series.

Macedonia the official gate to Mount Olympus

The fifth documentary; which has recently been finished, is called Macedonia the official gate to Mount Olympus.

Our aim is to create a total of 12 documentaries, as many as the gods of Olympus. In early July, the shooting of the sixth documentary called My Olympus, begins, Krikeli told 104.9 FM.

I have been living in America for many years and I have been working with National Geographic and Ive traveled a lot across the planet. I have realized that Olympus is generally a very controversial subject around which there is a cloud of confusion. Most believe it is a mythical mountain that does not exist. That it is something like Atlantis, the director stressed.

After showing the first short documentary about Olympus, initially in New York and then in some universities in America, I realized that the reaction everywhere was the same: But does Olympus exist? Is it not a mythical mountain?

Read more at greekreporter.com

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons Copyright: Cristo Vlahos License: CC-BY-SA
From the EditorFriday Reflections Stones of Glory War Memorials & Cemeteries Point Up Tweet



May 25, 2018

Memorial Day, an American observance, is May 28 this year. In my childhood, Memorial Day usually meant a visit to the cemetery on Woodward Avenue in Detroit, to visit and remember family members who had died, especially my grandpa James, who died when I was four.

Memorial Day began especially for the remembrance of those slain in war, a day on which graves were decorated, hence its original name, Decoration Day.

In 1998, while visiting my ancestral home Scotland, I paid my respects at the Scottish War Memorial, in Edinburgh Castle. In the regimental book of the Royal Scots Fusiliers I found the names of two relatives killed in action. One, James, was killed at Loos in 1915, the other, Donald, at Caen in 1944. James was a private, Donald, a lieutenant. James's body was never found; his name is listed with thousands of others on the war memorial at Loos. Donald's remains are buried in a military cemetery in Normandy in a grave tended by a French citizen.

My grandpa James served in WWI as part of the RAF, but stationed in Northern Ireland, he saw no battle. But the war was not as far away as I had imagined. In February 1918, in the waters between Northern Ireland and the Isle of Islay, Scotland (population 6,000), an American troop ship, the SS Tuscania, was sunk by a German U-boat. (Details are from a BBC story.)

Survivors of the sinking found safety on Islay. But there were hundreds of bodies to be buried. The island had no electricity, no air service, few motor vehicles, and one civil authority-a police sergeant on a bicycle, with three constables. After the first sinking, they recovered, identified, and buried the remains of nearly 200 Americans. The islanders "worked tirelessly to bury the dead with dignity."

"They did not have an American flag for the funerals, so a small group of locals hand-stitched one from materials they hadworking late into the night."

There was more to come to Islay. In November, HMS Otranto carrying American soldiers, many of them from Georgia, sank after a collision in a storm. Hundreds of victims were never recovered, and hundreds more were painstakingly identified and buried by the islanders.

All but one of the soldiers' bodies were exhumed after the war and returned for burial in the States. Private Roy Muncaster "was left to rest where the people of Islay buried him," at the request of his family.

In the summer of 1944, Marine veterans of Guadalcanal, on a return trip there to prepare for the invasion of Peleliu, wanted to visit the cemetery to pay respects to their comrades who died fighting alongside them. E. B. Sledge records in his memoir With the Old Breed that the veterans he knew (for some unspecified reason) "were not allowed to make the trip to the cemetery, and there was a great deal of understandable bitterness and resentment on their part because of this."

The interment of our soldiers and the building of memorials spring out of deep place in the soul, where we stand in silent reverence for those who willingly gave of their lives for their nation, their comrades, their families.

It's been 9 years since I took my father to D.C.'s WWII Memorial. I remember him slowly walking around, but only now do I realize that he must have been thinking of his comrades who never came home alive. Some are buried in Nettuno, Italy, others in France. He alone could walk the stones of the memorial with those comrades in his memories. I could only watch.

What strange creatures we are that we journey to a field of cut stones, engraved with the names of those who lie beneath the grass, buried in the earth and stand in reverence, in memory and prayer. We remember, but more importantly, the Lord of all remembers, even those whose bodies have not been found-yet.

In Christendom, it became the rule to treat the bodies of our dead with great respect without a thought of ritual uncleanness. For Christ overturned the uncleanness of death, making our cemeteries into hallowed ground, bearing many signs of hope pointing to his Final Victory.

Yours for Christ, Creed & Culture,



James M. Kushiner

Executive Director, The Fellowship of St. James

James M. Kushiner is Executive Editor of Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, and Executive Director of The Fellowship of St. James.




Al Salam Bank-Bahrain (ASBB), one of the pioneering Sharia-compliant banks in Bahrain, has launched the countrys first Signature and Platinum contactless credit cards with Visa, a leader in digital payments.



The banks new Visa payWave contactless credit cards allow customers to pay by simply waving their card over a Near Field Communication (NFC)-enabled card reader for quicker and easier payments in places where cardholders need to pay on the go, such as shopping outlets, fast food restaurants, grocery stores, and more, said a statement from the firm.



In addition to earning free Gulf Air Miles on every BD spent locally or internationally, the card also allows easy access to a diverse selection of travel, dining, shopping, access to airport lounges around the world, travel insurance coverage amongst other benefits, it said.



Online payments are secure, with each transaction accompanied by a one-time password (OTP) that protects cardholders payment information, it added.



Anwar Murad, first deputy CEO of Al Salam Bank-Bahrain, said: We are pleased to roll out Visas first Signature and Platinum contactless credit cards in the kingdom that will further enhance our customers experience with us whilst rewarding them for their loyalty.



The new contactless credit cards are in-line with our commitment to consistently deliver premium products to our valued clients with the finest banking services, he said.



The credit cards will focus at creating a new benchmark to help customers meet their lifestyle aspirations by taking advantage of our special rewards programme with Free Gulf Air Falconflyer loyalty miles and offering unmatched features that come equipped with a range of value added services including free real time SMS alerts on transactions made using the card, purchase protection insurance, extended warranty and secured wallet insurance, he added.



Murad continued: We will continue in leveraging the strengths of our strategic partnerships with Visa to deliver innovative and dynamic Sharia-compliant products and services to meet the needs of our clients.



Shashank Singh, general manager, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman, Visa, said: We are delighted to partner with Al Salam Bank-Bahrain to bring Visa payWaves contactless payment technology to Bahrain.



Visa payWave works using the NFC technology which stands as an outstanding innovation in the digital payments industry. It allows cardholders to make their payment at contactless-ready POS simply by waving their cards, promising the swiftness and convenience of a faster method of payment, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Aluminium Bahrains (Alba) chief executive officer, Tim Murray, paid a scheduled visit to Ahmed Mansoor Al Aali (AMA Group), one of the major Bahraini contractors for its Line 6 Expansion Project, to celebrate the successful fabrication of 427 pot shells.



Alba is one of the largest and modern aluminium smelters in the world.



AMA Group was awarded the contract to manufacture 427 pot shells (each weighing 44 metric tonnes) for Albas Line 6 Expansion Project wherein the progressive delivery is aligned with the construction schedule, said a statement from Alba.



Murray was accompanied by Line 6 Project director Shawqi Al Hashmi and a delegation of Line 6 owners team and managers from Bechtel, the project's engineering, procurement, and construction management (EPCM) contractor..



Murray said: AMA Group expertise was fundamental to complete the fabrication of pot shells safely and ahead of time.



This achievement is a milestone for us as we bring to close the construction and delivery of Line 6 Expansion Project, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
The UAEs Ministry of Climate Change and Environment (MoCCAE) has banned the import of fruits and vegetables from Kerala (India) and animal products from South Africa, said a report.



All live animals, including sheep, goats, cattle, buffalos, camels, gazelles, and their non-heat-treated by-products from the Letsemeng province in South Africa have been banned, reported state news agency Wam.



The ministry noted that these measures are aimed at ensuring healthy and safe food for consumers, enhance biosecurity levels, and eliminating pathogens before they enter the country.



The first decision came based on the information received and published by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on the registration of a Nipah virus (NiV) outbreak in Kerala.



Additionally, Bahrain has also imposed a temporary ban on imports of fruits and vegetables from Kerala as fears grew over an outbreak of the deadly virus in the Indian state, added another news report.



Preliminary information indicates that the primary host of the disease is the fruit bat, where the virus is transmitted through secretions from the bat to the fruit that it feeds on or touches. Mangoes, dates and bananas are the bats most preferred fruit. There have been cases of transmission of the disease among humans and between humans and animals as well, the Wam report said.



Based on UAE Federal Law No. 10 of 2015 on food safety and through its management of the fast food alert system, the ministry banned the imports of fresh vegetables and fruits from Kerala. It also issued a circular to the concerned local authorities including the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority and the municipalities of Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah to prevent the entry of all kinds of fresh vegetables and fruits from Kerala, added the report.
Over 1,000 delegates from across the world including institutional and individual investors from the Middle East will attend the Blockchain Investment Technology Conference Middle East (BITConME) to be held next month in Dubai, UAE.



The conference will take place on June 25, at Atlantis, The Palm Dubai.



Investors from the Middle East, including new joiners in the pool of blockchain investors from Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain and Lebanon, will the take part in the event, said a statement from the organisers.



The unique case study based event that promises to provide both real time knowledge and numerous business development and investment opportunities will have representation from government authorities, blockchain service companies, investment firms, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and blockchain enthusiasts in general, it said.



Some prominent names delivering outstanding projects at the event include Dr Zaharuddin Adb Rahman from Bayan Token, Iman Mutlaq from Ingot Coin, Henri Harland of Fliptech SAS and Victor Ilofuan of 9Pay.



Ari Zoldman of Quantum Group Media has also been confirmed as the official event moderator. He is also chief marketing officer of Optherium Labs and a commentary expert on technology with regular appearances on CNN, CNBC and FOX News.



Mutlaq, founder of Ingot Coin and a BITConME speaker, said: Relevant business events and meet-ups are crucial to build credibility with investors for my ICO. It's an opportunity to showcase my project and how it can help change business processes.



Ingot Coin seeks to bridge Crypto and traditional markets by integrating a digital bank, exchange, wallet and brokerage firm. Ingot Coin also seeks to provide a certifier for education and an ICO Accelerator.



Another speaker, Harland, CEO of Fliptech, said: FlipNpik fills the technology gap and the lack of visibility that are facing small businesses.



Thanks to a blockchain-based ecosystem, merchants, customers and creators can now collaborate to promote local consumption and share the value created. This should no longer be reserved for insiders, he added.



Blockchain, a digitised, decentralised, public ledger of all cryptocurrency transactions found early support in the UAE with the Dubai Blockchain Strategy being launched by Sheikh Hamdan.



The demand for Blockchain Technology remains on the rise and this is owed to the growing adoption of distributed ledger technology across multiple industries globally.



The UAE's 'Emirates Blockchain Strategy 2021' recently announced in April, also sends a clear statement that even government entities now see value in the adoption of blockchain technology as the Middle East continues to gain steady momentum in the wide spread adoption of the technology, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Samsung Gulf Electronics announced the launch of the Galaxy A6 and A6+ featuring a powerful front and rear camera, a sleek premium design, super AMOLED screens and Samsungs signature Infinity Display in Bahrain.



Here in Bahrain, consumers are always looking for more from their smartphones. They are quick to adopt the best technology on the market, and we take pride in being able to consistently bring them the advanced devices theyve come to expect, said Tarek Sabbagh, head of IT and Mobile (IM) Division at Samsung Electronics Gulf.



With the Galaxy A6 and A6+, we aim to provide a premium smartphone experience while still delivering on consumers needs for practicality and convenience at affordable prices. Whats more, we have added an impressive camera to the Galaxy A6 and A6+ that lets users capture, personalize, and share their most memorable moments.



With the Galaxy A6 and A6+s powerful front and rear camera, taking beautiful shots or selfies anytime, anywhere has never been easier. Featuring an adjustable front LED flash, Galaxy A6 and A6+ users can snap stylish and glamorous selfies, from day to night, even in low light conditions. The rear cameras low-aperture lenses ensure that users can also capture sharp, clear photos in low light conditions, without sacrificing image quality no matter what time of the day.



The Galaxy A6+s Dual Camera can even further enhance the pictures and moments that matter with Live Focus mode, meaning that users can control the depth of field and bokeh effect before or even after the shot is taken. Users can enrich their pictures with unique background blur patterns in a range of shapes including hearts, stars and more.



Users can experience a richer surround sound experience to enjoy movies, music and more with Dolby Atmos optimized audio .The Galaxy A6 and A6+ provide a full range of sound from highs to lows, with outstanding clarity and true-to-life detail for a more powerful and immersive audio experience. Users can choose to turn on the Dolby Atmos effect to transform their audio with breathtaking moving sound that flows around them.



The Galaxy A6 and A6+ continue to set the standard for the ultimate uninterrupted viewing experience on the 5.6-inch HD+ super AMOLED screen of the A6 and the 6.0-inch FHD+ super AMOLED screen of the A6+. Samsungs signature Infinity Display goes beyond the bezel, featuring an impressive 18.5:9 screen ratio. Its sleek smooth curves and metal design have been engineered to offer improved durability and comfortable grip for maximum usability, without compromising on style.



Designed with practicality and everyday convenience in mind, the Galaxy A6 and A6+ integrates several popular features from Samsungs flagship, including hassle-free security with Face Recognition and Fingerprint scanning for a quick and effortless way to unlock the device.



Both devices make multitasking fast and easy with App Pair, fully utilizing the Galaxy A6 and A6+s large ergonomic screens by allowing users to pair two apps, halving time and doubling enjoyment. With the Always on Display users can get information at a glance without unlocking their phone, saving on time and battery life.



The Galaxy A6 and A6+ also support Bixby Vision, Home and Reminder. Samsungs Bixby can assist users in completing a range of everyday tasks, making the Galaxy A6 and A6+ smarter and more helpful.



The Galaxy A6 and A6+ are available across major retailers and Samsung brand shops in Bahrain, as well as online starting at BD129 ($340) for the Galaxy A6 and BD149 for the Galaxy A6+. The Galaxy A6 and A6+ will be available in Black, Gold and Blue.  TradeArabia News Service
BUY-SIDE SNAPSHOT: Dan Royal, Janus Henderson

Dan Royal won Buy-Side Trader of the Year at the 2018 Markets Choice Awards. Markets Media recently caught up with Royal to discuss his career thus far and thoughts on the future.

Talk a little about your career background and current role and responsibilities.

I'm Global Head of Equity Trading for Janus Henderson, which has about $370 billion in assets under management. Were about a year into the Janus-Henderson merger. Prior to that, I had the same role at Janus Capital. I started with Janus in 2001, and I took a two-year hiatus from 2006 to 2008 when I went to Artisan Partners to run trading and operations globally.

My role has expanded with the merger. From a responsibility perspective, it's as you'd expect with a global head role -- we have a team of six traders including myself here in Denver, plus teams of six and five in London and Singapore. We have centralized dealing in each of the regions. We trade largely equity -- we do a bit of FX here and there, plus some equity derivatives and some futures. We handle a multitude of different strategies and PM needs. Janus was largely a U.S.-focused manager, while Henderson was largely European-focused, but both were global. The merger certainly gave us a bigger presence in each of those regions collectively.

I try to trade as much as I can, but that can be a little challenging because I get pulled a lot of directions.

What have been some key takeaways from different organizations youve worked at?

I've had the privilege to work for some great firms. I started with Cargill back in 1984, on the floor of the CME. I spent 11 years with Cargill, which is a very large, privately held, commodity-based business that prides itself on integrity and doing the right thing. So making sure that our footprint was completely compliant, and our actions were in the best interest of the marketplace and our client, was how I was raised.

From there, I worked for two different commodity trading advisors -- SJO Asset Management in Chicago and John W. Henry and Company in south Florida.

By working for a number of different places, you get to see what works and what doesn't, which is valuable experience in trying to build out an operation that works. My role right now is to make sure we have an environment and platform that allows the team to succeed. That entails making sure we've got the right policies, people, systems, and support network. Ultimately, its the people that make the company successful.

I don't know if there's any one person I can point to to say that they were a huge influence on my career. But I've worked with great people throughout, which I think gives you the DNA to know to do the right thing.

Who are some key members of the JH trading team?

1 2 next

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DLT Gets Vote of Confidence

While the scene at Blockchain Week New York City was all about hype, glitz and swag, an actually important milestone in distributed ledger technology recently occurred, quietly, in Toronto.

Attendees at #Consensus2018 found airport-sized registration lines, a blockchain-enabled beer machine, and Snoop Dogg on stage. But a week earlier, at the Payments Canada Summit, a working group experimenting with an integrated securities and payment settlement platform based on DLT proclaimed the concept indeed feasible.

Project Jasper is a two-year-old collaborative research initiative between Payments Canada, the Bank of Canada, TMX Group, Accenture and R3. The third phase  confirmed that instantaneous clearing and settlement of securities on-ledger is indeed feasible, as Jasper III completed an instant, end-to-end equity settlement for tokenized securities on DLT for the first time, exchange operator TMX said in a release.

Many market participants consider post-trade a relatively antiquated part of the trade lifecycle, one that is ripe for disruption. DLT, of which blockchain is a type, might be that disruption.

Due to changes in market conditions, whether it is the need to reduce clearing and settlement cycles, (or) add new products  for example the Margin Transit Utility introduced by DTCC  securities lending and collateral management products, even Cryptocurrencies, it is absolutely necessary to examine new technology to reduce cost and market risk, Suresh Kandula, director of technology at Publicis.Sapient, said in a statement provided to Markets Media. The question remains whether blockchain is the most appropriate method to meet those requirements and deliver the next iteration of market infrastructure.

Weve seen with the ASX CHESS and Digital Asset Holdings announcement that the industry has moved beyond experimenting with DLT and is now looking at how to implement the technology, Kandula continued. Based on work done with DLT platforms by large intermediaries to date, for example the DTCC efforts around Trade Information Warehouse (TIW), implementations will be incremental, streamlining bits and pieces of post-trade processing starting two plus years from now and likely taking at least five years, or more, to be ubiquitous.

The Jasper project marks a growing body of work that has moved from ideation to proof of concept, identifying the potential impact and key benefits of DLT on broader Canadian financial market infrastructure, according to the TMX release.

"This is an impressive achievement and financial technology milestone for Canadian capital markets," said John Lee, Managing Director, Enterprise Innovation and Product Development, TMX. "That said, more work is needed to closely address remaining complexities as the group moves forward with the crucial tasks necessary to effect substantive, transformative change in global markets."

Jasper III is currently the only proof of concept that maintains privacy for market participants and their transactions by giving only the parties involved in specific transactions the ability to view the transaction history, without providing the same visibility to other participants on-ledger, TMX said. Previous phases focused on the clearing and settlement of high-value interbank cash payments using DLT. Phase III explores an integrated payments and securities infrastructure.

The proof of concept allowed clearing and "delivery versus payment" settlement immediately, demonstrating that it's possible to complete post-trade settlement on a DLT platform. The ability to settle transactions immediately significantly reduces counterparty risk and frees up collateral.

Said Sapients Kandula, It will be a stretch to imagine that entire post-trade lifecycle would be using DLT, but it will be an evolutionary process over many years."

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Search News Archive : Fast Travel News Promotion Via Search, Social Media + Email Follow Us On : TOURISM AND RELIGION UNITED IN SAINTS EPICTETUS AND ASTION CELEBRATION YEAR Industry: Events

A new program of Cultural Pilgrimage for 2018/2019 was launched on the occasion of SAINTS EPICTETUS AND ASTION celebrations by Global Tourism Institution of European Council on Tourism and Trade. The program is a reflection of the potential and the role of religious tourism and sacred places as a tool for socio-economic and cultural development of destinations.



(TRAVPR.COM) BELGIUM - May 29th, 2018 - The Academic Council of European Council on Tourism and Trade has decided that: 2018/2019 will be a year dedicated to the celebration of the Christian heritage of Europe and also of the unity of the continent and will subsequently mark the Latin continuity and the two millennia of Christian life on Dobruja and Balkans and Asia Minor (today`s Turkey) by presenting the sacred heritage of Holy Martyrs Epictetus and Astion.



Saints Martyrs Epictetus and Astion are perfectly representing the values of today Europe as their life and sacrifice is creating a pilgrimage of faith that is uniting Turkey with Balkans and Eastern Europe.



During their life and priesthood they spread the Christian light from Asia Minor (nowadays Turkey) through Balkans and obtained their crown of immortality in today Romania-Dubruja/Dobrogea.



By their life work and sacrifice they united Asia and Europe , East and West.



They also united Orthodox Christian and Catholic Church as they are celebrated in both rites and are speaking about the unity of Christianity in the world of today, they are the bridge that can and will unite the two Christian Churches.



They are also a perfect example of sacrifice and life offered in the service of Our Savior Jesus Christ, has highlighted their significance Professor Dr. Anton Caragea  ECTT President.



Europe of our days needs to be remembered his Latin/Roman and Christian roots and we must not overlook that we are the beneficiaries of two millennia of Christian legacy this are fundamental dates of the historical evolution of European culture.



In this perspective, the Saints Martyrs Epictetus and Astion role is a fundamental one as we are speaking of the oldest historically proven martyrs of the Church on the territory of Eastern Europe, they are not only teaching us on the uninterrupted continuity of civilization on the banks of Danube, but also are offering us a lesson on the love for Christ of our people, even more resounding as we are having here saints registered in the Catholic and Orthodox pantheon so truly universal saints testifying for the Holy Church in his wholeness, saints that are making Europe proud of her legacy, concluded the historical presentation of the moment President Professor Dr. Anton Caragea.



The focal point of the celebrations for 2018/2019 THE YEAR OF SAINTS MARTYRS EPICTETUS AND ASTION will take place on July 8, 2018 and on July 8, 2019 (dates marking the beginning and the end of the celebrations) on Murighiol (former roman city of Halmyris) in the cathedral of Saints Epictetus and Astion with a special mass taking place in the honor of the holy martyrs of Christian faith and of European Christian legacy and heritage: Saints EPICTETUS and ASTION.



The celebrations will be lead by European cultural, religious and political personalities and by representatives of all Christian faith denominations leaders and will also have European Council on Tourism and Trade President-Professor Dr. Anton Caragea in attendance.



The proposal for an European wide celebration of Saints EPICTETUS and ASTION was made by Romania and unanimously approved by European Council on Tourism and Trade as an European Cultural Pilgrimage Program dedicated to highlight the cultural richness and potential of heritage to unite peoples and traditions. ### Please contact the person or company listed above for information regarding the content of this press release. TravPR.com are not the issuers of this press release and are not responsible for the accuracy of the content. Share Release :



CONTACT INFORMATION Name: Radu Alexandru Company: European Council on Tourism and Trade Phone: 0040213157730 Email: office@eucir.com Web: PRESS RELEASE TAGS
harinder@tribunemail.com

New Delhi, May 29

The CBI has booked Air Asia Group CEO Tony Fernandes for allegedly trying to manipulate government policies through corrupt means to get international licence for its Indian venture Air Asia India Ltd, officials said today.

Along with Fernandes, Tharumalingam Kanagalingam also known as Bo Lingam, former Deputy Group CEO of Malaysia-based Air Asia Berhad, and R Venkataramanan, Director Air Asia India Ltd, Bengaluru, besides companies Air Asia India Pvt Ltd and Air Asia Berhad, have also been named as accused in the case.

The case has been registered under 120-B (criminal conspiracy) under the IPC and sections 13(2) read with 13 (1) (d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The searches took place at five locations in Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru, CBI spokesperson RK Gaur said here today.

The agency has alleged that Venkataramanan was lobbying in the government to secure mandatory approvals, some of them through non-transparent means, including the then Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) clearance, no-objection certificate and the attempt for removal or modification of 5/20 rule.

It is alleged that to be eligible for global operations, the company was required to have five years of experience and fleet of 20 aircraft as per 5/20 rule. The company is yet to get international flying permit as it currently has only 18 aircraft, they said. Fernandes wanted it to fly internationally from the day of getting flying permit granted in May, 2014, it alleged.

He and his local Indian partner Tata Sons through their nominee Venkatramanan would lobby in government to get all approvals including FIPB clearance and amend or removal of existing 5/20 rule for international operations, the FIR has alleged.  TNS & PTI
harinder@tribunemail.com

Vijay C Roy

Indias apparel exports, particularly from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, have seen a steep decline due to high input cost, delay in Goods and Services Tax refund and stiff competition from Bangladesh, Vietnam, Pakistan and China.

The three states have been the worst sufferers in the declining apparel exports, which continues to fall for the seventh month in a row. The country has experienced about 23 per cent decline in apparel exports in April 2018 compared to April last year.

The decline in exports is giving sleepless nights to around 200 exporters in Punjab and Haryana, said Harish Dua, managing director of Ludhiana-based KG Exports. He said the input cost in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh was much higher compared to the Tiruppur cluster in Tamil Nadu.

Concerned over the steep fall in exports, apparel exporters met Finance Minister Piyush Goyal and Textiles Minister Smriti Irani recently. The Finance Minister has assured exporters that the government will expedite the refund of the GST and remission on state levies (RoSL) in a time-bound manner and has directed the bureaucrats to do the needful, a member of the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC) said. Declining business is a major concern for exporters. The government should swing into action and must do something to boost the exports, otherwise many units would be forced to close down operations, said Dua.

Total readymade garment exports in April this year were around $1.34 billion while it was $1.74 billion in the same month last year. In rupee terms, exports in April 2018 were around Rs 8,860 crore, a decline of 21.4 per cent compared to the corresponding period last year.

Previously (2016-17), the industry had witnessed a strong growth, but now exports are in a negative territory since October last year. It is because of the continued backlog in the GST and RoSL, which is affecting the business sentiments, AEPC chairman HKL Magu said. According to garment sector experts, due to the increasing un-competitiveness of Indian apparel exporters in the international market, many exporters have increased their exposure in the domestic market. This will not be good in the long run for India, which used to be a dominant player in the international apparel export market, Dua said.

Indias readymade garments export to the international market in the previous financial year was around $16.71 billion, compared to $17.38 billion in 2016-17.

Total readymade garment exports

APRIL 2017 $1.74 billion

APRIL 2018 $1.34 billion
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Ishrat S Banwait

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 28

Yet another man was convicted by a court on Monday of raping his seven-year-old daughter. On May 25, a 45-year-old man was convicted of raping his two minors daughters, aged seven and 16.

On Monday, a 29-year-old dhol player was sent to 15-year-jail and fined Rs 1.05 lakh for raping his seven-year-old daughter in October last year.

The complainant in the case was the victims mother, who turned hostile in the court. However, the seven-year-old, in her statement, maintained that her father had molested and raped her. The incident took place on October 16, 2017, when the victim, a student of Class 1, complained of stomach ache and pain in her private parts and was taken to the PGI for a check-up.

According to the FIR, the 27-year-old mother told the police that she had two children, an eight-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter. While she had a private job, her husband used to stay at home during the day and leave in the evening. On the said day, she was on leave and her daughter complained of pain. On the way to the PGI, the victim told her mother that two days ago, when she was alone at home with her father, he molested and raped her.

However, the mother, while talking to the media after the conviction, claimed that the call to the police was made by a doctor at the PGI. She said she did not file any such complaint, but was made to sign some papers by the police.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, May 28

In view of the heat wave conditions prevailing in the region, the district administration has changed the timings of all government and private schools. According to a letter issued by District Education Officer HS Saini, the timings of all schools will be from 7.30 am to 1 pm, beginning Tuesday. The administration has asked the school heads to comply with these orders.
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 28

Class XII pass-out students and their parents protested over marking of the CBSE English exam outside Bhavan Vidyalaya School in Sector 27 on Monday.

Tanuj Sharma of Bhavan Vidyalaya, Sector 27, was one of the protesters. He has scored 100 in economics, 98 in mathematics, 97 in business studies, 95 in accountancy, but only 55 in English. I want the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to conduct re-evaluation of my English exam, he said.

The results of CBSE Class XII exams were declared on May 26. Another student Phaguni Gupta claimed that she used to top in English, but has scored just 75.

Her father Navin Gupta said: The CBSE has stopped the re-evaluation of papers. In English, students are scoring in 50s or 70s, but have scored more than 90 in other subjects. It is beyond our comprehension.

Another parent Gagan Verma said: My daughter Parul has scored more than 95 in all subjects, but she has been given just 73 marks in English. She is upset over this.

Timsy Goel, a parent, said: The marks in English have spoiled the overall percentage. It will be difficult for children to get admissions to Delhi University (DU).

After raising slogans against the CBSE, the parents and students went to submit a memorandum at the CBSE office in Panchkula. However, CBSE office Regional Officer RJ Khanderao refused to meet them.

Bhavan Vidyalaya School has also written to the CBSE Panchkula regional office over poor marking in English and has demanded re-evaluation. There were 209 students in Class XII, but only 40 got more than 90 marks in English. The affected students will not get admissions to the colleges of their choice. We have written to the CBSE office and are expecting a reply, said Suparna Bansal, Vice-Principal, Bhavan Vidyalaya.

English teacher Neera Puri said, Last year, six students had scored 100 in the subject and more than 70 per cent students had scored above 90. These students used to do well in school exams.

Similar sentiment was expressed by St Johns High School, Sector 26, Chandigarh. Most of the students scoring more than 90 in other subjects are scoring 60s or 70s in English. It is not a problem of one particular school. We all will take up this matter as even a difference of half per centmakes a difference in admissions, said Sandhya, English in-charge, St Johns High School.
Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Paranjoy Guha Thakurta

Senior journalist

The sting operations conducted by CobraPost, among other things, highlight how pervasive the phenomenon of paid news is at present in much of the mainstream media in India. Corruption in the media is hardly new or unique to India. Over the last decade or so, in the wake of the Great Recession worldwide, there has been a squeeze in the flows of advertising income to many media organisations across the globe. This period has also coincided with the exponential growth of the internet, a platform on which readers, viewers and listeners are reluctant to pay for what they read, watch or listen to.

In India as well, the "double whammy" of the recession and the growth of the worldwide web has upset the revenue models of most large media groups, many of which have downsized. With the growth of advertising and sponsorship incomes from the private sector coming down, stagnating or decelerating, these media groups have become relatively more dependent on government bodies and the ruling dispensation for their earnings. Consequently, they are displaying a willingness to bend over backwards not only to earn money but also to accommodate the ideological interests of those wielding political power. These aspects of the political economy of the media in India have come into sharp focus because of the CobraPost expose.

The sting operations draw attention to the report of the sub-committee of the Press Council of India (PCI) titled "Paid News: How corruption in the Indian media undermines democracy." Paid news is not easy to identify simply because black money transactions are involved, more often than not. Though some of those "stung" in CobraPost's clandestinely recorded videos claim that they were not involved in passing off advertisements as news, the occurrence of paid news can be reliably established only by its participants and players and that too, by admitting that they have violated various laws, including laws relating to fraud, deception, election of representatives of the people and non-payment of taxes. This is why the "evidence" obtained by CobraPost could only have been obtained through deception and in a clandestine manner.

Journalist P. Sainath reported on the problem of paid news as it manifested itself on the eve of October 2009 assembly elections in Maharashtra. He highlighted a series of complimentary reports on the then Chief Minister of the state, Ashok Chavan. A total of 15 separate editions of three large newspapers carried absolutely identical content as news reporting, with each newspaper attaching a different byline of its correspondent to it. The three newspapers in question, the Lokmat, Pudhari and Maharashtra Times, were competitors.

In July 2009, the PCI constituted a two-member sub-committee (of which one was this author) to examine the paid news phenomenon. After considering written and oral representations made by over 100 persons over more than six months, a report was presented to the council. It mentioned scores of instances of paid news, named names and detailed the phenomenon, before making several diverse proposals that could curb the malpractice.

The intent was to present circumstantial evidence and name and shame those apparently engaged in the practice of paid news. Among those named were some of the most widely circulated daily newspapers, such as the Times of India, the largest circulated English daily, the Dainik Jagran and the Dainik Bhaskar, the first and second most widely circulated Hindi dailies, Lokmat, the most widely circulated Marathi daily, Punjab Kesri, the most widely circulated Punjabi daily and Eenadu, one of the most widely circulated Telugu dailies. All the allegations in the sub-committee's report were attributed and opportunities provided to those against whom allegations were levelled to exercise their right to reply. It is a separate matter that some media organisations chose not to respond to the PCI.

The events that followed the submission of the PCI sub-committee's report in April 2010 need to be recounted. The council's then Chairman, Justice GN Ray, appointed a "drafting committee" which prepared a shorter report that, mostly, contained the concluding observations and recommendations in the report of the sub-committee. On July 31 that year, the council decided by a show of hands of the members present and voting that the full report of the sub-committee would not be appended with the report that would be presented to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The voting process itself left much to be desired. No formal record of it was made and no votes for or against were recorded. Twenty four of the 30 members in the PCI (including its chairman and secretary) attended the July 31 meeting- making it one of the most well-attended meetings of the council. Twelve members opposed the sub-committee's report being attached to the final report, and three abstained. Only nine members of the PCI, less than a third, voted in favour of the proposition. The result was that the 36,000-word-long indictment of the corrupt practices of a section of the Indian media contained in the sub-committee's report was sought to be reduced to a footnote, as a document for "reference."

Despite the best efforts of certain vested interests in the PCI, the report of the sub-committee entered the public domain because at least 30 copies of the document were in cyberspace since copies of the report had been e-mailed to all members of the council. In fact, the report probably gained more attention than it otherwise would have if it had been made public by the PCI in the first place. Nevertheless, the report was not an "official" document and did not remain one for around 14 months, that is, till the Central Information Commission, acting on a complaint by Manu Moudgil under the Right to Information Act, ordered the council to make the report available on its website by October 10, 2011, which it did.

Much of India's "mediascape", dominated as it is by corporate conglomerates, is constructed and maintained with a single imperative: maximisation of profits. The "fourth estate" in the world's largest democracy often emphasises commercial considerations rather than search for the truth and hold accountable those in positions of power and authority. The independence of the media and its ability to bring about transparency in society by playing an adversarial role against the establishment get compromised because of corruption within the folds of the media itself. These facts have been emphasised by the recent revelations made by CobraPost.

PS: A few paragraphs of the article have been reproduced from Journalism: Ethics and Responsibilities; Copyright: Prem Bhatia Trust.
shalender@tribune.com

The University of Strathclyde, Glasgow has recently launched the new Advanced Mechanical Engineering with Industrial Placement programme. Applicants are invited from International students for the September 2018 entry. This 18-month MSc course has been developed to provide high-calibre mechanical engineering graduates with an in-depth technical understanding of advanced mechanical topics. Students will gain the specialist and generic skills necessary to contribute effectively in developing company capabilities, with practical experience provided by the industrial placement.

The MSc in Mechanical Engineering with Industrial Placement has four optional specialist streams: Aerospace, Energy Systems, Materials, Power Plant Engineering

Fee- 23,440? for international students for 2018/ 2019 entry. Eligibility: Degree in engineering or physical sciences or equivalent professional qualification. Preferably a first or upper second-class honours degree, equivalent to a UK 2:1 degree.

IELTS - minimum overall band score of 6.5 (no individual test score below 5.5).

Checkout: www.strath.ac.uk/courses/postgraduatetaught/advancedmechanicalengineeringwithindustrialplacement/

New courses at UPES

Dehradun-based University of Petroleum and Engineering Sciences (UPES) has launched six courses for academic year 2018. The new UG courses have been designed to help students develop contemporary thinking and provide multi-dimensional problem-solving skills in each domain. These include BCom. (Hons.); BCom. (Hons.)- Banking Management and Insurance; BCom. (Hons.)- Taxation; BSc chemistry, maths and physics

The BCom (Hons) offers a cutting-edge industry-led curriculum. The programme has been specially designed to provide the knowledge of trade and commerce, besides, building competence in specialised area of business. UPES has tied up with National Associations like SIDCUL and International Bodies like BRICS Chamber of Commerce and Industry, CIMA (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) and ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) for the course.

Eligibility: For BCom (Hons) and other BCom courses: Science, commerce or arts students with 50% in Class XII

For B.Sc (Hons): Science student with 50 per cent marks in PCM in Class XII.

To apply, visit www.upes.ac.in
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Tribune News Service/ PTI

New Delhi/Lucknow, May 28

Allegations of EVM malfunctioning returned to haunt the Election Commission as four Lok Sabha seats and nine Assembly constituencies across 10 states went for byelections on Monday amid a prestige battle between the BJP and the Opposition parties ahead of the 2019 General Election.

The EC maintained that reports of large-scale failure of EVMs were exaggerated even as complaints mounted in Uttar Pradeshs Kairana, where the BJP is trying to retain the Lok Sabha seat against a united Opposition in a communally-charged bypoll.

Sources in the poll panel, which has in the past too faced allegations about EVMs, blamed inept handling of the paper-trail machines (VVPATs) by the ground staff for the malfunctioning.

Amid long disruptions in voting due to the breakdown of EVMs, Kariana recorded over 54 per cent polling, while 62 per cent cast their vote in the Noorpur Assembly constituency. There were reports of clashes between BJP and the RLD-SP supporters in both constituencies.

Polling was held up in 30 Kariana booths for more than two hours because of malfunctioning EVMs and VVPATs, which the Chief Electoral Officer blamed on the intense heat. In a complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner, Kairana RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan demanded re-polling in 238 booths spread over five Assembly constituencies. She described the breakdown of EVMs as a conspiracy to prevent the Muslims from casting their vote. She wondered why voting machines in only Muslim booths had developed snags.

In the evening, a delegation led by RLD president Ajit Singh and SP general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav met Election Commission officials in New Delhi in this regard. In Lucknow, delegations of both the RLD-SP and the BJP met CEO L Venkateshwarlu to complain about the glitches in the voting machines. As the polling commenced at 7 am, within minutes reports of faulty EVMs and VVPATs started pouring in. By the end of the day, the number of faulty EVMs in Kariana had risen to 238. The CEO admitted to have received 384 such complaints but categorically blamed the rising mercury for the malfunctioning.

To this, SP president Akhilesh Yadav tweeted: Today, heat is being blamed for the malfunctioning of EVMs, Tomorrow it would be the rain or the cold... I would repeat the demand for return to paper ballots. The CEO, however, said they had 25 per cent extra machines to replace the faulty ones. He said polling booths would not be shut before 6 pm. But Kairana voters on fast demanded that they be allowed to return to vote after breaking their fast at 7 pm.

Earlier in the day, Samajwadi Party chief spokesperson Rajendra Chadhury alleged massive misuse of government machinery to influence the polls. He demanded that the polling deadline be extended or the byelections be cancelled. He charged the EC with being hand in glove with the ruling party to ensure the victory of BJP candidates.

We have reports that liquor and money were freely distributed by the ruling party late Sunday night after it became clear the PMs rally had little impact on the voters. Shocked by its defeat in Gorakhpur and Phulpur, the BJP is making a mockery of democracy by using every trick in the trade to retain the Kairana and Noorpur, Chadhury alleged.
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Ajay Banerjee & Smita Sharma

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 29

In what will bring much relief to residents of border areas of India and Pakistan, the Armies of the two countries on Tuesday agreed to maintain ceasefire along the borders in Jammu and Kashmir.

They agreed to ensure peace and avoid hardships to civilians.

In the past two weeks, continuous firing across the acrimonious divide has affected villagers on both sides. Thousands have had to be relocated and moved to safer places.

The Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan, Maj Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza called up his Indian counterpart Lt Gen Anil Chauhan on the existing telephonic hotline mechanism at 6 pm today. The hotline connects Indian Army headquarters at south block here with Pakistan Army headquarters at Rawalpindi.

An Indian Army statement tonight said "the DGMO's reviewed the prevailing situation along the Line of Control (LoC) and International border in J&K".

Indian Army DGMO agreed with the proposal to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation.

Both the DGMOs agreed to fully implement the Ceasefire Understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit forthwith and to ensure that henceforth the Ceasefire will not be violated by both sides.

It was also mutually agreed that in case of any issue, restraint will be exercised and the matter will be resolved through utilisation of existing mechanisms of Hotline contact and flag meetings at the border at the level of local commanders, the Indian Army said.

On May 23, the Ministry of External Affairs gave out figures that Pakistan carried out more than 1,088 ceasefire violations along the LoC and International Boundary during 2018. Thirty-six people have died on the Indian side and more than 120 injured.

Pakistan's foreign office on May 25 said during 2018 Indian forces have already carried out more than 1,050 ceasefire violations resulting in the killing of 28 innocent civilians, while injuring 117 others.
Credit: Olivia BeeSmashing Pumpkins have added a special 30th anniversary concert to their Shiny and Oh So Bright tour. The show takes place August 2 at PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel, New Jersey.

Tickets go on sale this Friday, June 1 at 10 a.m. local time via SmashingPumpkins.com.

The New Jersey show will be the first in a series of dates celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Pumpkins' inception in 1988. A press release promises the concert will feature "special guests, a career-spanning set list, never before seen production, and more surprises." More anniversary dates will be announced.

Smashing Pumpkins will kick off their Shiny and Oh So Bright tour, which will feature reunited original members Billy Corgan, James Iha and Jimmy Chamberlin, July 12 in Glendale, Arizona.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
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rchopra@tribunemail.com

Johannesburg, May 29

A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl was killed after being shot during a botched carjacking in South Africa, outraging the community members and sparking angry protests in Durban.

Sadia Sukhraj, a grade four student from Chatsworth, was on her way to school with her father on Monday when three armed men allegedly accosted their car. They allegedly forced her father out of the car and sped away with her.

In an ensuing chase, the carjackers and community members shot at each other. The suspects later crashed the car near a park. The girl was found shot and critically injured while one of the suspects tumbled out of the car dead.

Sadia was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her injuries.

A second carjacker was arrested by an off-duty policeman. A third suspect remains at large.

KwaZulu-Natal police spokesperson Captain Nqobile Gwala confirmed that one of the hijackers was killed.

Following the incident, more than 3,000 members of the community gathered outside Chatsworth police station demanding swift police action.

As the small contingent of officers at the police station allegedly came under severe verbal abuse and threats of physical action from protesters, they resorted to firing rubber bullets, teargas, and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, which included scores of children.

Chatsworth is an Indian township in Durban.

Mahendra Lillkan, chairperson of the local Crime Forum, said there had been a spike in crime in the area despite community patrols at night.

It seems that the criminals have now resorted to striking at soft targets, such as parents taking their children to school, as we have seen with this tragic incident.

Police and community leaders have appealed for calm amid fears that the protests would escalate as the distraught family prepared for the funeral.

Tributes for the little girl have poured in on social media as news of her shooting went viral. PTI
ROBINSINGH@TRIBUNE.COM

New Delhi, May 29

The southwest monsoon on Tuesday hit Kerala, three days before its scheduled arrival, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.

The conditions are favourable for further advance of the monsoon into some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, parts of coastal and south interior Karnataka, parts of east-central and northeast Bay of Bengal, and some parts of northeastern states during the next 48 hours, it said.

The onset of monsoon over Kerala marks the commencement of the four-month rainy season in the country.

Today, the southwest monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, ComorinMaldives area, entire Lakshadweep, most parts of Kerala, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of southwest, central and northeast Bay of Bengal. Thus, the southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala, today, the 29th May 2018, three days ahead of its normal date, the IMD said.

June 1 is the official onset date for arrival of monsoon in the country and it takes more than a month-and-half to cover the entire country. The usual date for the monsoon over Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, its last post, is July 15. This is the second consecutive year when the monsoon has made an early arrival. Last year, the annual rainy season commenced on May 30.

Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency, said owing to the arrival of monsoon, isolated places over Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are expected to receive heavy to very heavy rain on Wednesday. But there will be no respite from hot weather conditions in parts of north and central India.  PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Lucknow, May 29

Nine people were killed and six others injured in incidents of thunderstorm and lightning in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

As many as five people were killed and four others injured as lightning struck some parts of Unnao district on Monday night, Principal Secretary, Information, Avinish Awasthi, said.

There are also reports of two people each being killed in thunderstorm in Kanpur and Rae Bareli, he said.

Respective district magistrates had been directed to undertake rescue works and ensure distribution of relief in 24 hours, Awasthi added. PTI
amansharma@tribunemail.com

Jakarta, May 29

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday arrived here in the Indonesian capital on the first leg of his three-nation tour to East Asia during which he will also travel to Malaysia and Singapore to further boost India's Act East Policy.

Modi, who is here on his first-ever official visit to Indonesia, will meet President Joko Widodo tomorrow and discuss bilateral cooperation in a broad range of areas, including maritime, trade and investment.

The two leaders would attend some events, including a CEO Business Forum organised by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and the Industry, and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Prime Minister Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome on his arrival here.

"This is my first visit to Indonesia as Prime Minister. I am looking forward to my discussions with President Widodo on 30 May, as also to our joint interaction with the India-Indonesia CEOs Forum. I will also address the Indian community in Indonesia," Modi said on the eve of his visit.

He said India and Indonesia enjoyed strong and friendly ties and shared deep historical and civilisational linkages.

"Both countries are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, plural and open societies. I am confident that my visit to Indonesia will create greater synergy between Asia's two largest democracies and further elevate our bilateral ties," he said.

He said, on May 31, on his way to Singapore, he will make a brief halt in Malaysia to congratulate the new Malaysian leadership and looks forward to meet Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

In Singapore, Prime Minister Modi will deliver the keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security meet, on June 1.

"This will be the first time that an Indian Prime Minister would deliver this address. It would be an opportunity to articulate India's point of view on regional security issues and maintenance of peace and stability in the region," he said.

He will also meet Singapore President Halimah Yacob and hold delegation level talks with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

On June 2, he will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Gandhiji's ashes were immersed in sea on March 27, 1948. He would also visit some places of worship that have civilisational linkages with India. PTI
gspannu7@gmail.com

New Delhi, May 29

Former President Pranab Mukherjee accepting an invite from the RSS to be the chief guest at a function at the Sangh headquarters on June 7 snowballed into a row with a former union minister urging him to reconsider his decision in the interest of secularism.

While the Congress refrained from making a comment on the issue, a party leader asked if the RSS accepted what the former president said as a minister and Congress leader about the Sangh being the worst outfit which was communal, anti-national and unpatriotic.

While a union minister defended Mukherjees decision saying the RSS is not Pakistans ISI and an untouchable and it was a good beginning.

The RSS, on its part, claimed even Mahatma Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan attended their functions and former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had invited its workers for the Republic Day parade in 1963 after being impressed with its work.

Former Union Minister CK Jaffer Shareif, in a letter to Mukherjee, expressed surprise over the move and said he like other secular people was stunned to hear about his attending the RSS function.

I personally think that a person of your stature, being secular and in politics for decades, having served in various capacity, including the highest position of Rashtrapati, visiting Sangh Parivar at this point in time before Parliament elections is not proper.

Congressmen besides secular people are stunned to hear the news and are agitated on the situation and are hopeful that yourself will reconsider the idea.

I once again request you to reconsider and avoid visiting Sangh Parivar in the interest of secularism and the country, Shareif said in his letter which was also signed by former MP H Hanumanthappa.

No comments, was Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkans response when asked about Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters.

He said since the event is yet to happen he would not comment on it and the Congress will formulate its thoughts once the event takes place.

The event has not happened. I have come to know about it from media reports and am collecting further details. At present I have no comments to offer till the event takes place, he told reporters at the AICC office.

Former MP and Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said as a Congress leader and minister, Mukherjee has spoken about the RSS and the BJP many times on various issues and dubbed it as bad and worst outfit, which is communal and anti-national.

Pranab Mukherjee used to say that the RSS is the worst organisation in the country. Its leaders have no morals and RSS is corrupt and spreads lies. He (Mukherjee) has also said that the RSS is anti-national, unpatriotic and communal.

If the RSS has invited a person with such views, does this mean that the RSS admits that his (Pranabs) views about the organisation were correct, Dikshit asked.

Dikshit is the son of former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit.

Earlier, at a press conference in Mumbai, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said, The RSS is not Pakistans ISI. The RSS is an organisation of nationalists.

Mukherjees acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good, he said.  PTI
editorial@tribune.com

Saurabh Malik

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 28

Just about three months after show-cause notices were issued to private bus operators for cancellation of stage carriage permits, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has set aside the same after ruling that the State Transport Commissioner misinterpreted a high court judgment while initiating the action.

The court also set aside the basis on which the notices were issued. Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain ruled that the high court in Vijayant Travels' case had only struck down a proviso in a scheme that empowered extension of operation in case of existing permits to an unlimited extent.

As such, withdrawal of diversions and curtailments, besides increase and decrease in trips by State Transport Commissioner vide his impugned order was totally unwarranted and uncalled for.

The judgment is significant as the Punjab Government had earlier made clear its intent to cancel around 13,000 bus permits in compliance with the high court judgment.

Justice Jain added the State Transport Commissioner, in his considered opinion, had totally misinterpreted the judgment, while issuing instructions to all regional transport authorities for issuing show-cause notices to private bus operators not only for repeated extensions, but also for curtailments, diversions and increase/decrease of trips etc.

The judgment came on a bunch of seven petitions. In one of the petitions, M/s Rajguru Transport, through senior advocate Puneet Bali and Vibhav Jain, said it was aggrieved by memo dated February 16, issued by the office of the State Transport Commissioner to the Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, regarding implementation of court order passed in case of Vijayanta Travels versus the State of Punjab and others.

The petitioners had also challenged notice dated February 21 by which the office of the Secretary, Regional Transport Authority, issued show-cause notice. The Bench was told that an offending proviso to Clause 10 in the scheme notified on December 20, 2011, was struck down by the high court in December 2012. The proviso to Clause 10 empowered extension of operation of existing permits to an unlimited extent.

The Bench was told the respondents issued memo dated February 16, misinterpreting the high court order regarding the validity of the proviso to Clause 10. It was mentioned that the court had struck down all illegal extensions, diversions, curtailments, increase in trips/decrease in trips etc.

Bali submitted the proviso pertained only to the extension of trip and had nothing to do with the increase, decrease or curtailment of trips. All these things have been added on their own by the respondents as it does not find a mention either in the proviso to Clause 10 or anywhere in the order passed in the case of Vijayanta Travels, Bali added.

The Bench set aside paragraph in the February 16 order, which said proviso to clause 10 of the transport scheme modified on December 20, 2011, has been struck down by the high court. Therefore, all illegal extensions, diversions, curtailments, increase in trips/decrease in trips etc. by the Regional Transport Authorities in the state beyond the permissible limit of 24 km, both prior and after December 20, 2011, deserve to be withdrawn/cancelled.
editorial@tribune.com

New Delhi, May 28

I have no desire to live...all I pray for is death," Sunanda Pushkar wrote in an e-mail to her husband Shashi Tharoor nine days before she was found dead in a luxury hotel room here, the police has told a city court.

The police also told the court that Sunandas death was due to poisoning and 27 tablets of Alprax were found in her room, but it was not clear how many pills she had consumed.

Sunanda's mail and messages on social media have been taken as a "dying declaration", Delhi Police told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal, who on Monday reserved for June 5 its order on whether to summon Tharoor as an accused in the case.

The Delhi Police had on May 14 accused the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram, of abetting Pushkar's suicide and urged the court that he should be summoned as an accused in the four-and-half-year-old case, claiming there was sufficient evidence against him.

In a nearly 3,000-page chargesheet, the police have named Tharoor as the only accused while also alleging that he had subjected his wife to cruelty.

The couple's domestic servant, Narayan Singh, has been named one of the key witnesses in the case.

Pushkar was found dead in the suite of a luxury hotel in south Delhi 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 IPC.

The chargesheet, which includes several annexures including medical reports, said Pushkar died within four years of her marriage with Tharoor. The couple had entered the wedlock on August 22, 2010.

The suite of the South Delhi hotel, where Pushkar had died, was sealed by the police on the night of her death for investigation. An FIR was registered by Delhi Police on January 1, 2015, against unidentified persons under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC.  PTI
rchopra@tribunemail.com

Jitendra K Shrivastava

Tribune News Service

Patna, May 29

As many as 21 people were killed and several others injured by thunderstorm and lightning at various places in Bihar on Tuesday.

The state disaster department has confirmed only 17 deaths. The state government has announced ex gratia of Rs 4 lakh to the next of kin of each deceased family.

According to reports, five people were killed in Gaya, four in Munger, three in Aurangabad, three in Katihar and two in Nawada districts. The toll may rise as the information from other parts is yet to be received, said Pratyay Amrit, principal secretary at the state disaster department.

Expressing grief over the deaths, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar announced the compensation. He also directed the health officials to extend assistance to the injured.

The loss of property is yet to be gauged.
vermaajay1968@gmail.com

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Shahkot, May 28

Polling in Punjabs Shahkot Assembly byelection remai-ned largely peaceful on Monday, with an impressive 76.6 per cent voter turnout. There were long queues outside all polling stations in Gidderpindi, Malsian and Shahkot in the morning, but the number began to dwindle in the afternoon as the mercury soared.

Congress booths were abuzz with activity at Shahkot and Malsian throughout the day while those of the Shiromani Akali Dal drew crowds in Lohian and Mehatpur. As many as 29 VVPAT machines reportedly developed snags during the polling. There was a group clash at a polling station in Umrewal Billa village in Mehatpur. Two persons were hospitalised.

The SAD cried foul as former Home Minister Brij Bhupinder Lalli, who quit the Congress and joined the Akalis on May 18, was arrested. Allegedly carrying a gun, he reportedly barged into the Sallah Nagar polling station where Congress candidate Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia had cast his vote in the morning. He was brought to the Malsian police post at 3 pm and booked under Section 188 of the IPC and Sections 132 and 134-B of the Representation of Peoples Act.

Livid, SAD spokesperson DS Cheema called his arrest a deliberate Congress and police ploy to curtail the movement of their polling agent in the crucial last three hours of voting.

Lallis lawyer Karampal Gill denied he had carried a gun inside the polling station. Lalli himself handed over his gun to the security personnel before going inside, he claimed.

He said the offences for which Lalli had been booked were bailable but the tossing of my clients turban by his opponents was a serious offence and they would lodge a counter-complaint.

Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP-Rural, said the police had acted on the complaint of presiding officers Ram Gopal and Harish Kumar Beri (polling booths 90 and 91).

Lalli had vigorously campaigned for SAD candidate Naib Singh Kohar. He particularly helped the SAD in the Lohian belt to which he belongs. The seat fell vacant following the death of Naib Singhs father, Ajit Singh Kohar, in February.

Congress candidate Ladi had lost to Kohar by 5,000 votes in February 2017. The third candidate is AAPs Rattan Singh. The counting will take place on Thursday.
gspannu7@gmail.com

Washington, May 29

From President Donald Trump visiting the main US military cemetery to parades and solemn remembrances, Americans have honoured their fallen war heroes for the Memorial Day holiday.

Across the country, relatives, friends and members of the general public placed American flags and flowers on the tombs of soldiers who gave their lives for the country.

During his second Memorial Day as commander-in-chief, Trump placed a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

He was joined by US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford for the ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery, whose rolling hills of greenery just outside the US capital are the final resting place for more than 400,000 veterans.

"Our fallen heroes have not only written our history  they've shaped our destiny," Trump said.

"They fought and bled and died so that America would forever remain safe and strong and free." Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti was among the speakers during an observance at his city's National Cemetery.

Besides Washington, some of the largest parades took place in Chicago and New York, with veterans' groups and bands among the participants. Chicago's celebrations have taken place since 1870.

In contrast to Veterans Day, which honours all who have served in the armed forces, Memorial Day pays tribute to fallen military staff.

On Sunday, tens of thousands of bikers in bandanas, cowboy hats or gleaming helmets descended on Washington to parade from the Pentagon past the military cemetery and ending at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in honour of US soldiers missing in action in foreign wars, a now 30-year-old tradition by motorcyclists who dub themselves Rolling Thunder.

Among them are many Vietnam War veterans. Some of the bikers stopped by the National Cathedral for a "blessing of the bikes" service before they set about their humming business.

This year, there was also an effort to expand awareness of the Korean War and the Americans killed in that conflict.

A massive display of 645,000 poppies was placed behind glass on the National Mall  the expansive grassy esplanade home to many of the city's monuments  near the Korean War Memorial.

The display honours fallen military members and aims to raise awareness about the impact of war.

Memorial Day originated after the American Civil War that ended in 1865.  AFP.
laxmi@tribune.com

Jalalabad, May 29

Afghan special forces have killed nine civilians in an apparently botched operation in the eastern province of Nangarhar, officials said today. The victims were related to Afghan Senate chairman Fazel Hadi Muslimyaar, provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP. A delegation from Kabul has been sent to Nangarhar to investigate the incident, he added.

The provincial health director confirmed the dead and wounded were brought to local hospitals in Jalalabad.

Details of the attack late last night in Chaparhar district remained unclear and there was no immediate comment from the defence ministry. The Senate is parliaments upper house.

Civilian casualties remain high in Afghanistans grinding conflict with more than 10,000 killed or wounded in 2017, according to the UN.

The majority of casualties were caused by the Taliban and other militants.

But pro-government forces, including international troops, were responsible for 20 per cent of the civilian casualties last yeara seven per cent increase from 2016.

The increase was partly due to a growing number of aerial bombings by Afghan and foreign forces, the UN said.

The US is the only international force known to be carrying out air strikes in Afghanistan. Earlier this month President Ashraf Ghani apologised after the UN released a blistering report into an Afghan Air Force strike in Kunduz on April 2 which killed 36 persons, including 30 children.  AFP
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the Government of Hungary to withdraw a package of laws set to be introduced in the Hungarian Parliament that would significantly restrict the ability of NGOs and individuals to support asylum-seekers and refugees. UNHCR is seriously concerned that these proposals, if passed, would deprive people who are forced to flee their homes of critical aid and services, and further inflame tense public discourse and rising xenophobic attitudes.

Seeking asylum is a fundamental human right, it is not a crime, said Pascale Moreau, Director of UNHCRs Europe Bureau. We are particularly concerned that the Government is targeting those who, in a purely humanitarian role, help people who are seeking asylum. We are calling upon the Government to halt any measures that would further increase the vulnerability of people who are simply looking for a safe haven.

The Government of Hungary today announced its intention to add further concerning restrictions to a package of laws first introduced to Parliament in February.

UNHCR appeals to Hungary to remain committed to protecting refugees and asylum-seekers, including by facilitating the essential role and efforts of qualified civil society organizations, Moreau said. Without their work, many refugees and asylum-seekers will inevitably suffer serious hardship as they would be deprived of important services such as medical and psycho-social care, housing, education, employment, access to information and legal aid. This will also ultimately negatively impact on the host communities.

Since January, Hungary has effectively closed its borders to almost all people wishing to seek international protection. On average, only two asylum-seekers a day are allowed to enter the country through the two transit zones at the border with Serbia and any asylum-seeker who attempt to cross the razor-wire border fences is automatically removed.

Through border restrictions and limiting access to the asylum system, Hungary has made it almost impossible for people to file a claim for asylum or obtain refugee status, said Moreau. However, there is still time, and we would urge Hungary to reconsider these measures and ensure asylum-seekers and refugees have access to the asylum system and critical support services.

Last year Hungary, with a population of just under ten million, granted refugee status to just 1,216 people.

For more information on this topic, please contact:
UW Grad Student Selected for Summer Research Seminar

Rick Fisher

A University of Wyoming College of Education Ph.D. student in literacy education has been accepted into the prestigious annual Dartmouth Summer Seminar for Composition Research.

Rick Fisher, of Newcastle, is pursuing his Ph.D. in literacy education and also is an associate lecturer in the Department of English. The seminar welcomes writing researchers, teachers and writing program administrators who are looking to expand beyond qualitative work to incorporate data-driven approaches into their research.

Fisher applied to the seminar last year but was not selected. The competitive program selects only 25 participants each summer. After much encouragement from his faculty mentors in the literacy program and faculty colleagues in the Department of English, he reapplied this year. The additional year of work allowed Fisher to narrow his research focus. This proved to be effective, and he was accepted into the program this year.

Fisher learned about the seminar through his doctoral committee co-chair, Associate Professor Kelly Kinney, who is the Department of English co-chair. Because Fishers research involves disciplinary literacy and composition/rhetoric, it straddles fields in both the College of Education and the College of Arts and Sciences.

The Dartmouth Summer Seminar is a huge asset for helping me better understand the overlap between research traditions in these two fields, Fisher says. I see my participation in the seminar as a type of cross-disciplinary experience that helps me supplement the research methods exposure that I got through coursework in the College of Education.

The theme for this years program is Data-Driven Inquiry: Process, Methods, Results. The seminar provides a venue for researchers who would like to use data-driven approaches in their research to gain expertise in this area.

Those attending the seminar with Fisher will be exposed to coding-based qualitative analysis, where they will learn to organize and sort their data. This skill will help researchers summarize their results and begin developing a picture of what is happening in the data. Some forms of quantitative analysis also will be covered, especially methods that allow researchers to gather and analyze large sets of data. Additionally, attendees will learn how to use statistical software to critically analyze their data in preparation for publication.

Participants in the seminar each take a project with them to the workshop. Fisher will work on his dissertation research, Genre in the Capstone Course: Roles, Purposes and Disciplinary Impacts. Through this project, Fisher hopes to learn more about the effects writing, reading and other classroom activities have on advanced undergraduate students development of disciplinary identities.

I look forward to the chance to interact with some of the top experts in the field and to refine my approach to coding qualitative data, Fisher says. Additionally, because the program includes workshops related to quantitative analysis as well, I also am excited to broaden my understanding of those techniques.

The two-week seminar will take place July 29-Aug. 10. Fisher will travel to the Dartmouth campus in Hanover, N.H., to participate. The program is offered by Dartmouth Colleges Institute for Writing and Rhetoric, in collaboration with the National Council of Writing Program Administrators.
Vo Quoc Binh's Ford Focus. Photo: zing.vn

In the afternoon of May 28, 76 Ford owners using Powershift gear-boxes filed a lawsuit against Ford Vietnam Ltd. at the Hai Duong Peoples Court for the defective powershift gear-boxes and bad after-sales services at official dealers.

Vo Quoc Binh (District 1, Ho Chi Minh City) on behalf of the 76 owners of Focus, Fiesta, and EcoSport vehicles, sued the car manufacturer.

These 76 people have purchased Ford vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2017 by Ford Vietnam.

These cars feature Powershift gear-boxes which developed common defects, including shaking, bucking, and delayed acceleration, and lurching.

This also led to alarm signals displayed on the dashboard, such as Transmission hot, wait five minutes, Transmission overheating, Stop safety, and Transmission malfunction service now.

According to the lawsuit, the Ford vehicle owners claim that Ford Vietnam falsely advertised the gear-boxes quality, potentially endangering drivers and passengers.

laodong.vn quoted the content of lawsuit: Despite Ford Vietnam releasing statements to repair these vehicles and extending gear-box warranties, Ford dealers consultants found ways to blame customers for these errors and forced customers to pay for the warranty. In addition, repair services by Ford Vietnam have not fixed these errors completely.

The 76 vehicle owners asked the Hai Duong Peoples Court to order Ford Vietnam to recall these cars, repair and replace the Powershift gear-boxes of EcoSport, Fiesta, and Focus vehicles in Vietnam free of charge; make a commitment to assure quality in accordance with regulations; compensate customers who suffered damage from gear-box failures; publicly apologise to all customers who suffered damage; and return the warranty payments demanded by the dealerships.

"Transmission malfunction service now" (Photo: vnexpress.vn)

On the same day, these 76 car owners also sent complaints with similar contents to the prime minister, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Transport and the Vietnam Register.

Regarding Binh's complaints, Ford Vietnam's representative confirmed to VIR that: "We have many times worked with Binh to resolve the issue, but failed. In addition, Binh also asked for an unreasonable compensation of up to 10 times of his car's current value."

The representative also said that customers suffering from gear boxes' damage should bring their cars to Ford Vietnam's dealers as soon as possibile so that they can be properly consulted, and thus their car problems can be fixed.

Besides, bangkokpost.com also stated that the Thai Civil Court on May 22 received a class-action lawsuit of 308 Thailand owners of Ford EcoSport, Fiestar, and Focus vehicles against Ford Thailands branchesincluding Ford Motor, Ford Sales and Services, Ford Operations, and Ford Servicesrequiring the firm to compensate THB24 million ($752,000) for the defective Powershift gear-boxes.

On April 29, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) proposed a fine of AUD10 million ($7.565 million) for unconscionable conduct in the repair and replacement of Powership gear-boxes of 10,500 Ford vehicles manufactured between 2011 and 2015, including EcoSport, Fiestar, and Focus vehicles.

The issue quickly spread to Vietnam and made local car owners worried. zing.vn quoted Ford Vietnams representative as saying that ACCCs decision only related to Ford branches in Australia and the countrys regulations.

Regarding the gear-box failures in Vietnam, Ford Vietnams representative said: We are continuing to work in accordance with the companys policies to resolve any customer's complaints.
Serge Dassault with the newspaper he owned, (AFP/JOEL ROBINE)

Dassault, head of aviation, media and software giant Dassault Group, was a titan of the French business world who served as a right-wing senator and a scandal-plagued mayor of a town south of the capital.

France's third wealthiest person in 2016 - with a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine at US$14.8 billion (12.7 billion) - died in his Paris office on the Champs-Elysees on Monday afternoon, his family said.

Dassault is best known as the principal stakeholder of Dassault Aviation, which has made a series of famed French planes, including the Falcon business jet, the Mirage fighter and the country's most cutting-edge military jet, the Rafale.

"France has a lost a man who dedicated his life to developing a jewel of French industry," French President Emmanuel Macron said in a statement that came amid a flurry of tributes.

Nicolas Sarkozy, whom Dassault strongly backed when as France's president, paid tribute to a "friend" who he said was a "visionary able to anticipate the world to come without losing the meaning of the present."

Dassault, a workaholic who is survived by four children and his wife Nicole, also owned France's biggest-selling right-wing newspaper, Le Figaro.

WEALTH FROM WAR

The Dassault family's business empire was founded by his father Marcel, an aeronautical engineer and celebrated inventor who developed a propeller used in French planes during World War I.

Marcel survived the Buchenwald death camp during World War II after being sent there by occupying Nazi forces because he refused to put his skills at their disposal.

Arrested along with the rest of his family by the Gestapo as a teenager, Serge narrowly avoided deportation and would go on to pursue studies at elite French universities before entering the family business in his twenties.

He finally succeeded his father after his death in 1986, taking the helm of the family group at the age of 61 when most people are thinking of retiring.

Defying opposition from the French government, which doubted that he was up to the task, he developed Dassault at a time of consolidation in the European aerospace industry and severe competition from US manufacturers.

The Rafale plane, in use in the skies above Iraq and most recently during French strikes on chemical weapons installations in Syria, is considered one of the world's most advanced fighter jets.

SCANDALS AND CORRUPTION

As well as his business interests, Dassault pursued a political career like his father - leading to scandal.

In February this year, he was convicted of tax fraud for hiding millions of euros in Luxembourg, Liechtenstein and the Virgin Islands.

Dassault was spared jail because of his advanced age, but he was fined two million euros and barred from holding elected office for five years.

In April 2014, he was also charged with vote-buying, complicity in illegal election campaign financing and exceeding campaign spending limits over his terms as mayor in the Parisian suburb of Corbeil-Essonnes.

The case revealed a shocking series of allegations including extortion, cash circulating in plastic bags and even shootings.

Dassault, a social conservative who once called gay marriage "an enormous danger to the country", was mayor of the town from 1995 to 2009.

In 1998, Dassault received a two-year suspended prison sentence in Belgium for bribing members of the country's Socialist Party to win an army helicopter contract in what became known as the Agusta scandal.

His death will lead to speculation over who in the family will succeed him as head of his company.

His son Olivier is a rightwing lawmaker in parliament but Dassault has had often strained relations with his offspring - again like his father Marcel who was often harsh with his sons.

"When I started in the company I sensed that it irritated him," Dassault once said of his father in an interview with VSD magazine.
Hanoi City Tour Hop on-Hop off's double-decker buses have a seating capacity of 80 people

The tourist buses are developed by Hanoi Transport Corporation (Transeco) and Anh Viet Hop on-Hop off Vietnam Co., Ltd.

Hanoi City Tour Hop on-Hop off is a flexible and convenient means of travel, offering a combination of travelling and sightseeing Hanois attractions by double-decker buses, said Transecos representative.

An expert in the travel business said that with the flexible Hop on-Hop off city tours, arrivals could get in and get off at any stops and do not need to follow a pre-set route by a travel agency. The buses will arrive to the stops in every 30 minutes, which will make it easy to travel to new destinations.

The representative added that route 01 of Hanoi City Tour Hop on-Hop off will cover 25 streets and 13 stops, allowing tourists to enjoy Hanois 30 unique attractions.

In addition, Hop on-Hop off city tour buses are also equipped with LCD panels that provide information on attractions in many different languages. Therefore, holiday goers could refer to these helpful guides to decide whether to stay on or get off at the sightseeing stations.

The Hop on-Hop off city tour is a type of travel featuring buses cruising between the citys popular attractions. This type of travel is quite common in the worlds larger cities, including London, New York, Vancouver, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur.

In July 2017, Empire Group, the developer of the Cocobay complex, entered in to a cooperation with THACO Group to launch Coco City Tour with 12 double-decker buses with the capital of VND72 billion ($3.17 million).

Two years ago, Vietnams first Hop on-Hop off city tour with double-decker buses was launched in Ho Chi Minh City. These buses were also developed by Anh Viet Hop on-Hop off Vietnam Co., Ltd.
Deputy Director General of the Japanese Foreign Ministrys Bureau of Asian and Oceanian Affairs Fumio Shimizu (Photo: VNA)

During an interview recently granted to Vietnam News Agency on the occasion of the Presidents visit to Japan from May 29  June 2, Shimizu expressed his delight at the development of Vietnam  Japan ties, evidenced by exchange activities in diverse areas via the legislature, business community and people-to-people channel.

Since the resumption of official development assistance (ODA) provision for Vietnam in 1992, Japan has always been the largest supporter of Vietnams economic growth, with focus on infrastructure such as roads, ports and electricity, thereby improving the countrys business climate.

Over 1,700 Japanese enterprises are operating in Vietnam, the largest in Southeast Asia.

Cultural and people-to-people exchanges have also progressed. Tourist arrivals in the two countries surpassed 1 million last year. More than 260,000 Vietnamese people are living and working in Japan, around 700 of them are candidates for the nurse training programme under the Economic Partnership Agreement.

Shimuzu said the two economies are mutually beneficial with increasingly strengthened friendship and trust between the two peoples.

As a gateway of the region, Vietnam is an important partner of Japan on the basis of shared strategic interests. Under Japans Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy, Southeast Asia links the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and the strengthening of the regional connectivity is key to Vietnams sustainable development.

Japan wants to cooperate with Vietnam in improving industrial competitiveness, human resources training, administrative reform to fuel Vietnams development, he said.

In order to boost Vietnam  Japan strategic partnership, bilateral collaboration in regional and global issues play an important role, he said, adding that the two nations have worked closely together on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. From this August, Vietnam will serve as a coordinator within the ASEAN framework, together with Japan.

As rotating Chair of ASEAN in 2020, Vietnam will increasingly improve its position on the international arena. On the basis of further strengthening trust between Vietnam and Japan, bilateral ties in regional and global issues will produce better results in the near future, he said.

As coastal countries, Vietnam and Japan share interests brought about by sea, he said, adding that efforts to maintain an open and free maritime order in line with the law will play a significant role in the near future.

Shimizu said that the visit will reaffirm the development of cultural exchange and bilateral cooperation over the past 45 years, affording both sides a chance to discuss their ties amidst complicated developments in the region, towards an open and free world order and strengthening bilateral trust.
The F&B sector has been attracting a great number of foreign investors, causing concerns for local players

Efforts to increase market share

Vietnam has seen sustained growth in the F&B sector, with the entry of both local and foreign firms. According to statistics from Euromonitor, the F&B sector will reach an average growth speed of 18 per cent per year in 2014-2019.

Amidst this strict competition, and especially reacting to the threat of foreign firms, local F&B firms are developing their factories to expand manufacturing operations.

According to Pham Cao Vinh, chairman of Redsun-ITI Corporation, the firm has invested VND250 billion ($10.8 million) into building a food processing plant in Hiep Phuc Industrial Zone in Ho Chi Minh City. The capacity of the first phase is expected to reach 15,000 tonnes of products per year.

Along with Redsun-ITI, Golden Gate Restaurant Group, which owns a series of restaurant chains, namely Gogi House, Sumo BBQ, Cowboy Jacks, and Vuvuzela, with more than 200 restaurant units in 2017, plans to expand its operations.

Nguyen Cao Tri, CEO of Golden Gates Ho Chi Minh City branch stated that the firm expects to increase the number of its restaurants to 400 or more in a short time.

James Duong Nguyen, CEO of Dcorp R-Keeper Vietnam, said that the F&B sector in Vietnam has great potential. In the last five years, numerous local firms increased investments in the sector, along with a growing number of foreign investors making a landfall.

In the F&B industry, modern management technology plays an important role in contributing to the development of firms. It is the reason why more and more firms are starting to pay attention in upgrading this technology.

In 2017, Dcorp R-Keeper Vietnam introduced its professional management solution to more than 1,000 large- and medium-sized restaurant chains. Besides, numerous other large- and medium-sized restaurants plan to upgrade their management and operation solutions.

The potential of the F&B industry

In general, with a population of more than 93 million, more than half of whom are under the age of 30, the Vietnamese F&B industry has been getting great attention from foreign investors, according to experts.

A report of Business Monitor International forecast that the growth of the F&B industry will maintain an annual double-digit growth of 10.9 per cent in 2017-2019 and consumption demand will focus on food and necessities, thanks to peoples increasing income and a trend of using high-value products.

Food production and processing, especially milk, beverages, confectionery, and cooking oil, are seen as the most lucrative market segments. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT), fresh milk consumption is forecast to reach 27-28 litres per person per year in 2020; confectionery consumption will increase by 10 per cent per year; cooking oil consumption will hit 17 kilogrammes by 2020 and 20 kilogrammes by 2025; beverage consumption will hit 6.8 billion litres in 2020 and 9.1 billion litres in 2025.

One business deal which attracted a lot of media attention in 2015 was the successful call for capital by Kafe Group.

Notably, restaurant-coffee chain Kafe received $5.5 million from Cassia Investment from Hong Kong which has invested in many F&B chains in Asia.

According to Chad Ovel, CEO of Mekong Capital, restaurant chains attract investors because almost all restaurants in Vietnam are individual ones, not parts of chains. There are only several well-known F&B chains (not including franchised ones) run by Nam An Group, Huy Viet Nam, Golden Gate, and TNG Holdings.
President Emmanuel Macron (left) offers Mamoudou Gassama, 22, from Mali, French citizenship after he scaled a Paris building to save the life of a four-year-old child dangling from a balcony AFP/Thibault Camus

Two days after his daring rescue - viewed millions of times online - Mamoudou Gassama, nicknamed "Spiderman" by French media for his astonishing climbing abilities, met with Macron in the splendour of the Elysee Palace.

"You have become an example because millions of people have seen you. It is only right that the nation be grateful," Macron told the 22-year-old, adding that his immigration status would be "put in order".

Macron, who presented him with a medal for bravery, also offered him a job with the fire service.

"I did not think twice. I went straight up," the sporty youth, who wore jeans and a short-sleeved shirt, said, explaining his climb.

Gassama was also congratulated by Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who phoned him at the Paris embassy to congratulate him "for honouring all of Mali," the embassy said.

His act of heroism, the top news item in France, comes as lawmakers debate a controversial bill that would speed up the deportation of economic migrants and failed asylum-seekers.

Gassama has been living illegally in France and working in construction after arriving in September last year following a perilous journey from his homeland to Libya then Italy.

Macron, a centrist, has taken a tough line on economic migrants fleeing poverty rather than refugees escaping war or persecution.

But Gassama's "exceptional act of heroism" warranted an "exceptional decision", he said Monday.

He leapt into action on Saturday evening on seeing the child dangling from the fourth-storey balcony of an apartment in the 18th district.

The video shows Gassama swiftly pulling himself up from balcony to balcony to reach the boy, to the cheers of onlookers.

Firefighters arrived at the scene to find the child, whose parents were not at home, had already been rescued.

A shy figure who was accompanied to the Elysee Palace by his older brother, Gassama said he had acted instinctively.

'INCREDIBLY BRAVE ACT'

"I saved the child and then went inside the building and I was shaking," he told Macron.

Reacting to his awards he said later: "I'm pleased because it's the first time I've received a trophy like that."

Mamoudou Gassama from Mali displays a certificate of courage and dedication signed by Paris Police Prefect Michel Delpuech for saving the life of a four-year-old child dangling from a Paris appartment balcony AFP/Thibault Camus

Gassama's story instantly drew comparisons with that of another Malian migrant who was feted as a hero and given citizenship for helping save lives during a January 2015 terror attack.

Lassana Bathily helped hide hostages in the freezer during a jihadist attack on a Jewish supermarket in Paris, in which four people were killed.

Confirming to Gassama that he would be made a French citizen, Macron said: "Even if you did not think about what you were doing it was an act of courage and strength that won the admiration of all."

But in a warning to other African migrants he said he "can not give (papers) to all those who come from Mali or Burkina Faso" - two of the countries from where thousands of migrants set out each year for Europe on a perilous journey across the desert and Mediterranean Sea.

Across the political class Gassama received plaudits.

But a senior member of the anti-immigration National Front, Nicolas Bay, said that while he supported Gassama becoming French all other illegal migrants should be deported.

DREAMS OF A BETTER LIFE

Passers-by raised the alarm Saturday on noticing the little boy hanging in mid-air.

"Luckily, there was someone who was physically fit and who had the courage to go and get the child," a fire service spokesman said.

The boy's father, who was reportedly out shopping, was arrested for leaving him unattended.

The boy's mother was not in Paris at the time of the incident.

The Socialist mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, was among the politicians lining up to phone Gassama to thank him.

"He explained to me that he had arrived from Mali a few months ago dreaming of building his life here," she said.

On Monday, he was made an honorary citizen of the eastern suburb of Montreuil, where he had been sleeping on the floor in a cramped room shared with relatives at a migrant hostel.

The fire department said it looked forward to him joining the ranks. "We are ready to welcome him on board!," it said.
Airline company Ryanair could face strike action on European routes over the summer. (AFP/Alberto PIZZOLI)

After a meeting in Madrid, the unions reiterated demands that Ryanair staff be employed according to the national legislation of the country they operate in, rather than that of Ireland as is currently the case, Spain's USO union said in a statement.

They also asked that the airline give contractors the same work conditions as its own employees.

Finally, they demanded that Ryanair recognise unions for pilots and cabin crew and that it negotiate with a representative chosen by the unions and not the company.

So far, the airline has only recognised two unions - Britain's Balpa pilots' union and Italy's Anpac, which represents pilots and cabin crew.

"If Ryanair refuses to meet these demands, and setting Jun 30 as a deadline, the unions will start all necessary procedures to mobilise at a European level for the summer, including calling a strike," USO said.

Antonio Escobar, from Spain's Sictpla union that represents part of Ryanair's crew, told AFP another meeting would take place on Jul 3 and 4 in Dublin if the airline refuses to accede to their demands, in which they will announce a date for a strike.

The airline was not immediately available for comment.
This step once more confirms SCG's determination to implement the petrochemical complex that has been delayed for more than 10 years now.

According to Roongrote Rangsiyopash, president and CEO of SCG, the group has been investing in Vietnam for more than 20 years.

Long Son Petrochemical Complex (LSPC) is our latest investment in Vietnam and is also positioned as Vietnams first petrochemical complex. LSPC will produce an important supply for the manufacturing industry which will in turn support Vietnams industrial and economic development. This will also be in line with the national economic development plan, Rangsiyopash commented.

The Vietnamese economy, according to Rangsiyopash, is on an impressive growth path and LSPC is expected to encourage long-term investment in related industries throughout the value chain, as well as improving a competitive standard of products that will lessen the need to import petrochemical products.

Moreover, SCG also believes that this project will support the growth of downstream businesses in Vietnam and play a vital role in supporting long-term economic growth, as well as improving the quality of life for people in Vietnam and across the region. LSPC was initiated by PetroVietnam in 2008 with the participation of SCG, Qatar Petroleum International, and state-run chemical group Vinachem.

However, it was not until February 2018 that the project officially started construction by the remaining two investors, PetroVietnam and SCG. The Thai investor also increased the total investment capital of the complex to $5.4 billion from the previous $3.8 billion.

According to SCG, the engineering, procurement, and construction contract of the complex will be implemented from the third quarter of this year and the whole project is expected to be put into operation in 2023.

LSPC is located in Long Son commune of Ba Ria-Vung Tau province, 100 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City. This integrated petrochemical complex will have a total olefin production capacity of 1.6 million tonnes per year.

The complex is designed to produce various petrochemical products, including essential plastic materials such as polyethylene, polypropylene, and other products in excess of two million tonnes per year, enabling it to substitute imported polyolefin products. Non-petrochemical supporting infrastructure, such as a deep sea port and other facilities, are also included.

The breaking ground ceremony in February 2018

The project will create more than 20,000 jobs during construction, including more than 1,000 skilled labourers, and is expected to contribute around $60 million per year to the annual budget.

SCG began expanding its business in Vietnam in 1992. So far, the group has 23 subsidiaries and affiliates with over 8,300 labourers working in Vietnam.
Local steel makers should follow laws and requirements on origin when exporting their products to the US.

Thats the message from Ho Nghia Dung, chairman of Vietnam Steel Association (VSA) after the US Department of Commerce (DoC) decided to levy import tax on steel produced in Vietnam using Chinese-origin substrate.

The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) will continue to collect anti-dumping (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) cash deposits on imports of corrosion-resistant steel (CORE) produced in Vietnam using Chinese-origin substrate at the rate of 199.43 per cent and 39.05 per cent, respectively.

CBP will also collect AD and CVD cash deposits on imports of cold-rolled steel produced in Vietnam using Chinese-origin substrate at the rate of 199.76 per cent and 256.44 per cent, respectively. Dung said the Vietnams steel exports to the US would be sharply reduced with the decision.

Statistics showed that the Vietnams steel exports to the US were reduced from more than 900,000 tonnes in 2016 to 500,000 tonnes in 2017.

After the DoCs decision, VSAs members have been quick to seek material for steel production from other countries or local ones instead of importing from China.

He said a big amount of hot rolled steel  the material for colour coated steel and galvanised steel production - was provided into the market after Formosa came into operation.

The amount of imported steel from China in the first quarter of the year was 1.1 million tonnes, half as much from the same period last year and a 29 per cent decrease in term of value.

The US, however, is still the third largest steel importer of Vietnam despite of the tax levy. In the first three months of the year, the amount of steel exports to the US reached 217,000 tonnes, accounting for 15 per cent of Vietnams total steel exports.

The chairman said the countrys steel sector has seen strong growth of construction steel and flat steel. Vietnam has been able to produce construction steel products, from ore, steel scrap to hot rolled steel. Previously, Vietnam had to import hot rolled steel from foreign countries including China, South Korea and Japan.

VSA said they co-operated with ministries, sector and businesses to clarify two issues relating to DoCs investigation on steel produced in Vietnam using Chinese-origin substrate.

They would clarify that not all Vietnamese steel originates from China. In addition, Vietnam has been investing in large and modern scales of final production stages to produce galvanised and cold rolled steel.

The latest information from the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) revealed that the DoC would remove the tax levy on Vietnamese steel exporters if they prove that their products were not used material from China.

The ministry would continue to co-operate with relevant steel producers to resolve the requirements from the DoC.

Chu Thang Trung, deputy director of the ministrys Department of Trade Defence, said they suggested producers study and meet conditions from the DoC to be exempted from the tax levy.

The ministry has closely co-operated with VSA and businesses to follow the case from the initiating of the investigation in June 2016.

MoIT asked the DoC to implement investigations objectively and in line with WTOs regulations as well as the USs norms. They also asked the DoC not to impose the tax on Vietnamese steel exporters.

VSA and Vietnamese steel producers have also closely co-operated with the US to clarify the material origin for steel production in Vietnam.
The White House said Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (left) and President Donald Trump will meet ahead of a much anticipated summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un. (AFP/JOE RAEDLE)

The US and Japanese leaders will meet ahead of a much anticipated summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un back on schedule for Jun 12 in Singapore just days after Trump announced he was canceling it.

The American president said the summit could go ahead as planned following a more appeasing statement from Pyongyang and productive talks with North Korean officials.

Japan, which has by far the hardest line compared to neighbours China and South Korea, has been left uneasy by the pace of events, and by what it sees as an unwarranted softening toward an untrustworthy Pyongyang.

Abe and Trump spoke by telephone a day after American and North Korean officials met at a border truce village to prepare for the summit.

During a telephone call, the pair "discussed recent developments in North Korea and confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea," a White House statement read.

"The president and prime minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programmes."

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.

Pyongyang has a different view of denuclearisation and remains deeply worried that abandoning its deterrent would leave the country - and its leader - vulnerable, especially while the United States maintains a robust military presence in South Korea.
President Tran Dai Quang and his spouse will pay a State-level visit to Japan from May 29 and June 2. The visit aims to bolster the close relationship and political trust between senior leaders of Vietnam and Japan, contributing to strengthening the bilateral extensive strategic partnership.

Vietnam - Japan Extensive Strategic Partnership VNA
The centre right Israeli daily newspaper, Maariv declares that last week, Israel and Iran took part in secret negotiations in Jordan.

According to Maariv, the negotiations took place in a plush hotel in Amman, the capital of Jordan. It appears that the Israeli delegation included several higher officials and the Vice-Director of Mossad. As for the Iranian delegation, it was headed by Irans ambassador to Jordan.

The two delegations never actually managed to meet face-to-face: a Jordanian was tasked with going to and fro between the rooms of the Israeli and the Iranians. Maariv did not specify whether Syria was represented in these negotiations.

Maariv also declares also that the parties have sketched out an agreement that it appears, would:

 require Iranian forces and the Hezbollah to withdraw from the south of Syria;

 require the Syrian Arab Republic to give a guarantee that Iran will not intervene in the areas around Israel

 require Jordan to stop jihadists from entering Syria from its territory and

 require Israel to put an end to all intervention in Syria.
Steve Bannon  Donald Trumps former strategist and theorist of national-populism - expressed his enthusiastic support for the alliance of the Lega with the 5 Star Movement for "the government of change." In an interview he stated: "The fundamental question, in Italy in March, was the question of sovereignty. The result of the elections was to put into office those Italian citizens who want to regain sovereignty and control over their country, and to put an end to the rules coming from Brussels. (Sky TG24, May 26)

However, it does not say Put an end to the rules coming from Washington.

It is not only the European Union, dominated by the powerful economic and financial circles, particularly in Germany and France, that is exerting pressure on Italy to guide its political choices, fearing a break in the rules that serve their interests.

Strong pressure is also being exerted on Italy, in a less evident but no less intrusive way, by the United States, which fears a break in the "rules" that subordinate Italy to its economic and strategic interests.

This is part of the policies Washington has adopted towards Europe, through different administrations and with different methods, pursuing the same objective - to maintain Europe under US influence.

NATO is a key instrument of this strategy. In Article 42 of the Treaty of Maastricht, it is established that EU shall respect the obligations of certain Member States, which see their common defence represented by the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO). And Protocol 10, concerning cooperation, states that NATO "shall remain the foundation for the defence" of the European Union.

Today, 21 of the 27 countries of the EU, totalling about 90 percent of the population of the Union, are part of NATO, whose "rules" have allowed the United States to maintain the position of Supreme Allied Commander in Europe and all other key commands since 1949. They allow the United States to determine the political and strategic choices of the Alliance, with agreements made under the table especially with Germany, France and Great Britain, and then have them approved by the North Atlantic Council, where according to the "rules" of NATO there is no voting or majority decision, but decisions are always taken unanimously.

The entry of Eastern European countries into NATO, including Ukraine and Georgia - once members of the Warsaw Pact, the Yugoslav Federation and also the USSR - has allowed the United States to exert control over these countries, and in fact they are already members of NATO, contracted more to Washington than to Brussels.

Washington has thus been able to force Europe into a new Cold War, making it the front line of an increasingly dangerous confrontation with Russia, which functions in the political, economic and strategic interests of the United States.

Emblematic is the fact that, in the week during which Europe was bitterly debating the "Italian question", the 1st Armoured Brigade of the 1st US Cavalry Division from Fort Hood in Texas, landed in Antwerp (Belgium), without provoking any significant reaction. Some 3,000 soldiers landed, with 87 Abrams M-1 tanks, 125 Bradley combat vehicles, 18 self-propelled Paladin cannons, 976 military vehicles and other equipment, which will be deployed at five bases in Poland and sent from there close to Russian territory.

This continues to "improve the readiness and lethal power of US forces in Europe," which has received 16.5 billion dollars since 2015.

Just as the tanks sent from Washington landed in Europe, Steve Bannon encouraged Italians and Europeans to "recover their sovereignty" from Brussels.
British Airways Launches New London Gatwick  Gibraltar Route

Gibraltar Airport last Friday welcomed the inaugural British Airways service from London Gatwick.

The aircraft was welcomed by a water cannon salute, provided by the Airport Fire and Rescue Service, and arriving and departing passengers were treated to a guard of honour provided by the Gibraltar Re-Enactment Society.

Operating up to six times per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, the service will operate between the 25 May and 30 September and be flown by Airbus 320 aircraft with 177 seats. It will operate to and from London Gatwicks South Terminal.

The Hon Gilbert Licudi QC MP, Minister for Tourism and Commercial Aviation said: We welcome British Airways addition of services to London Gatwick, providing a new option for travel to Gibraltar, and complementing their already existing 11 weekly services to London Heathrow. The addition of approximately 30,000 extra seats for this summer season will provide much needed capacity to the Rock for business and leisure travel during the peak travel period.

Flights are available to book on www.ba.com
University Welcomes New Members to its Board of Governors

The University of Gibraltar says it is delighted to welcome Professor Clive Finlayson MBE and Professor Ian Peate OBE to its Board of Governors.

The University also commented that both members will bring a wealth of experience with them that will enrich the University and contribute to its future direction.

Professor Finlayson, who is already the Director of the Institute of Life and Earth Sciences at the University, is also Director, Chief Scientist and Curator at the Gibraltar Museum. He has a first class Honours Degree in Zoology from the University of Liverpool and was awarded a doctorate from the University of Oxford in 1980. In 1991 he completed an MSc in Museum Studies at the University of Leicester and he was awarded an MBE in 2003. On his appointment, Prof Finlayson said, I am honoured and delighted to have been asked to join the Board of Governors and look forward to working towards the development of the University of Gibraltar.

Professor Peate is currently the Head of the School of Health Studies at the Gibraltar Health Authority. Widely published, he has worked in nurse education since 1989 and holds a BEd (Hons), MA in Social Anthropology and LLM Masters of Medical Law. In 2016 Prof Peate was awarded an OBE in the Queens 90th Birthday Honours list. In 2017 he became Nursing Fellow at the Royal College of Nursing and earlier this year was named Visiting Clinical Fellow of the University of Hertfordshire. Professor Peate said, Without reservation I will commit to the University of Gibraltar and I shall work diligently to support the University, to work across the University community to further its undertaking and ensure that the student is at the centre of all that we do.

The two appointments come at a time of change at the University. Last week, the Universitys Vice-Chancellor Professor Daniella Tilbury was appointed Commissioner of Sustainable Development for the Government of Gibraltar. While the recruitment process for a new Vice-Chancellor has not yet commenced, Professor Catherine Bachleda has been named Acting Vice-Chancellor in the interim.

Mr Jose Julio Pisharello, Chairman of the Universitys Board of Governors said, We are honoured to welcome Professor Finlayson and Professor Peate to the Board of Governors. Both are recognised internationally in their respective fields and both will bring invaluable experience with them. In order to further build a culture of diversity and inclusivity, in due course we will also be welcoming University staff and student representatives onto the Board.

Talking of recent changes at the University, Mr Pisharello said, The Universitys Board of Governors gratefully acknowledges the contribution by Professor Tilbury who has led the institution during its important initial phase. We thank her for her commitment and leadership as the Universitys first Vice-Chancellor and we wish her every success in her new role. In order to maintain the momentum at a crucial point in the Universitys development, we are delighted that Professor Bachleda has been appointed Acting Vice-Chancellor. Her international academic experience and understanding of higher education quality standards will be great assets to the University.
Oxygen Co-Founders in Gibraltar

Minister for Commerce Albert Isola met with Alex Grebnev and Alex Melikhov Co-Founders and respectively CEO and COO of Oxygen. Mr Grebnev and Mr Melikhov were visiting Gibraltar on business in relation to DLT venture Oxygen that is establishing in Gibraltar.

The meeting provided an excellent opportunity to discuss the exciting plans for the development of the Oxygen project and the support provided by HM Government of Gibraltar in this nascent industry.

The visit to Gibraltar included a scheduled meeting with the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission as Oxygen is in the advanced stages of applying for a license in Gibraltar under the DLT Regulatory Framework.

Alex Grebnev, who previously worked at Goldman Sachs for almost a decade in various roles in equities and derivatives structuring before joining Merrill Lynch, is working with an existing cryptocurrency exchange called Changelly. He plans to launch a platform for digital currencies later in 2018 that will allow private or institutional investors to strike so-called repurchase agreements (repos) with one another.

The platform, called Oxygen, will provide an opportunity for investors to generate revenue by lending out their crypto assets, raise liquidity against them or borrow crypto assets to go short. It will initially target Changellys existing 2 million clients on the B2C side and leading OTC desks, crypto exchanges and market-makers on the B2B side.

Accompanying Mr Grebnev and Mr Melikhov was Olena Clayton together with Patricia Risso and Karan Aswani both of Gibraltar law firm Isolas LLP. Paul Astengo Senior Executive with Gibraltar Finance and who leads on technology initiatives was also present.
Arrested Development Family Leave Season 5 Episode 1 Editors Rating 2 stars * *  Previous Next  Photo: Saeed Adyani/Netflix

Given the current controversy surrounding Arrested Development, perhaps its fitting that the first episode of this new season tries desperately to smooth over past mistakes, only to dig itself into an even deeper hole. All too aware that viewers disliked the single-character episode structure of season four, the premiere tries to ensure every Bluth gets at least a little screen time. But resurrecting all of the previous seasons complicated plotlines in one episode comes with its own consequences. Check your lease, Netflixers, because youre living in Flashback City.

If youve been reacquainting yourself with the Bluth familys 2013 antics via the remix of season four, the premieres heavy use of convoluted, two-plus-minute plot regurgitations will have an all-too-familiar flavor. If you havent, well, youre probably not feeling any less confused. But Ill do my best to recap an episode that is itself 50 percent recap.

We open, as always, on Michael Bluth, whos embracing a new family at Google, a tech company famous for providing access to any information in the world except its own name. But from the moment he mistakenly enrolls in a family self-defense class that isnt actually about defending oneself from family, were on our way back to the past, replaying the moment where George Michael/Maharis socked his dad in the face after discovering he was also dating Rebel Alley. As Ron Howard notes, its the kind of earthquake in a family that shatters both members notions of themselves, with father and son each reluctant to empower the other by apologizing for their behavior.

But while George Michael frets over making amends with his dad, Michael has other problems. He still owes $700,000 to Lucille 2  and thanks to a forced dose of Gobs forget-me-nows, has completely forgotten that he hooked up with her in an attempt to repay the debt. And now Newport Beach cop Lt. Toddler (Key & Peele alum Rebecca Drysdale) is fishing around the Balboa Towers, investigating Lucille 2s sudden disappearance. Michael doesnt help himself by leaving a suspicious love you note for Lucille 2, though he awkwardly manages to pass that off as a tribute to Pete the Mailmans dying credo of Love Each Other.

Yet Lt. Toddler isnt a very keen detective  she completely misses Maeby, who manages to escape Lucille 2s condo with all the naughty evidence of her hookup with teenager-playing-undercover-cop-playing-teenager Perfecto. (George Michael assures her that he understands this complicated situation all too well, thanks to his sex-offender neighbors in Sudden Valley.) The highlight of the episode is a sharply written scene in which the pair debate what George Michael should do about the situation, reflecting on some pearls of wisdom from their grandmother: forget, but never forgive; a friend in need is no friend indeed; and they should take all the rapists and all the murderers and put them all together on an island and all the murderers can be raped and all the rapists can be murdered until youre down to only two rapists or one murderer-rapist, but who cares about him.

George Michael and Maebys reunion may be brief, but they still log a fair bit of screen time compared to the remainder of the cast, who are each relegated to one non-flashback scene. Tobias and Lucille, having made their escape from Austerity, arrive in Mexico to get down to some serious one-on-one therapy. But when Lucille finally opens up, she quickly realizes that hes yet another in a long line of men who will desert her.

Meanwhile, George Sr., seeking a forget-me-now to blur out his breakup with Lucille and Dr. Normans news that hes running on zero testosterone, walks into Gobs favorite convenience store just as Gob is set to begin a presumably Tony Wonderinspired roofie circle. The pair quickly and ill-advisedly decide to fuck their way through Mexico, and away from their respective crises of masculinity. (Gob, as committed to this plan as he was to his Jesus magic act, again signs on for two whole weeks!)

Busters Milford-man skills are clearly rusty, as a fumigation-ready Steve Holt informs Michael that hes squatting in the attic of the model home, using Michaels old scuba gear as an oxygen source. And Lindsay, having set herself up as a pro-border-wall political campaigner, is seen approaching the Mexican border in a limo sans passport  and confusing soy Americano with the beverage.

Why are any of the above things happening? Who knows. The episode is way too preoccupied with catching viewers up to date with any current character motivations, and even as someone whos just watched all of season four, Im still not entirely clear on why Buster is hiding in the attic, why Steve is fumigating the house, or where Lindsays going in that limo. Putting together a basic 20-minute season-four recap for viewers would probably have been a lot simpler than recutting the entire previous season and then feeding leftover chunks into this episode.

The good news is that the cast is still uniformly sparkling, and there are enough funny lines sprinkled into the non-flashback material to indicate that we could just be racing to clear the decks for new story lines. But for a show that turned off a lot of loyal fans with an excessively complicated, sliced-and-diced season of TV, this isnt a first outing thats going to inspire a lot of confidence.

Other Notes

 Maeby is a fan of Dadfights, a website in which sons punch their dads while yelling Guess what, Dad? (and the appropriately named dads-punching-sons sequel, Thats What, Son). Has George Sr. continued to expand the Boyfights empire?

 I will never stop loving Michaels little asides to himself when he encounters pure familial insanity. (When Buster deems dressing up as Jackie and JFK Jr. with Lucille not a regret, his response of Huh, should be is the funniest line of the episode.)

 After detailing her promiscuous behavior with multiple Bluths, Ron Howard would like to make it clear that Rebel Alley was raised by a different mother than Rons other kids. Its just a whole different thing over there.

 Michael notes that the goings-on in Lucille 2s apartment are like the Weimar Republic. Life is a cabaret!

 No one continues to recognize poor Steve Holt, even after he gives a Steve Holt salute to George Sr. (Michael: Wow, this bug guy really knows our family!)
Blake Bailey. Photo: Allen J. Schaben/LA Times via Getty Images

When Blake Bailey met with Philip Roth to interview for the job of his official biographer, the great author asked him how on earth a Gentile from Oklahoma could understand him. Roth, a famously tough customer, had already backed out of a deal with biographer Ross Miller after the project went in a direction he didnt like. But Bailey  the author of three definitive books about John Cheever, Richard Yates, and Charles Jackson  persisted. By the time Roth died last week at 85, almost exactly six years after their first meeting, Bailey had completed the lions share of his work. In the subsequent days, everyone (including me) wanted to talk to Bailey about Roth. I also had other questions: about how the job changes when the subjects no longer around; how close Bailey got to his prickly subject, and how hes dealing with Claire Blooms extremely unflattering portrait of her ex-husband in the 1996 memoir Leaving a Dolls House.

What stage has your project reached?

I started writing in December, and I am about 35 percent of the way through. I dont write a word of finished prose until everything else is in place. I do all the research, and then I spend at least a year organizing things in chapter files and so forth.

But dont you discover little gaps as you write, and wish you could still call your subject?No, Im very, very meticulous. I have a 35-page outline, and I really know what every paragraph, more or less, is going to look like. I dont find that Ive left anything out, and that makes me very happy. I have too much information. For one, Philip was very proactive; he buried me in boxes of papers  almost up to the ceiling in my office at one time. Theres a warehouse of Philip Roth stuff at the Library of Congress. And I had a predecessor, Ross Miller  bless his heart  so I inherited all of his interviews, and I interviewed 150 people. Plus Philip, many, many times.

Was Roth a saver?

Not in the sense of being a pathological hoarder. He relinquished a lot to the Library of Congress, but things of particular personal nature, he hung onto. Medical records, appointment books  thats the kind of thing he sent me. As well as three very important items entirely for the biographer: a 300-page chronology, written as casual prose by Philip Roth and read by one person, me. Then there was Notes for My Biographer, which Philip was going to publish. Its really his last book  a rebuttal of Claire Blooms memoir practically syllable by syllable. There are two copies in the world. One is in a safe, and one is in my possession. And finally, theres notes on  can we go off the record for a moment? [Discusses a juicy document.]

While gathering information, were you in touch with Ross Miller, the earlier biographer?

Hes completely dropped out of sight. He would not respond to any of my queries.

The two of them must have fallen out pretty badly.

Oh, yeah.

You said you interviewed Roth many times. Had you become close?

Yes, we had. After we had our first meeting in New York, I went out to Connecticut and stayed for a week, and we had six-hour interview sessions every day. I explained to him that its not a good idea to have an intimate friend become your biographer, which is what happened with Ross Miller. There are all sorts of pitfalls, especially when you want to use your biography to get revenge on someone who smeared you in a scurrilous memoir, if youre following me.

Right.

I explained all the things that on the face of it strike me as disturbing about his relationship with Ross Miller. We had a written agreement, the same agreement that I have with the estates of my previous subjects. And that is that he must cooperate in every reasonable way. He has to allow me to quote freely from letters and other documents. In exchange for which he or his proxies are able to vet my manuscript for factual accuracy  factual accuracy, not for any sort of interpretive stuff.

He has a reputation for ferocity.

Philip doesnt suffer fools, and Philip is most certainly not a fool himself. But you cannot be around Philip a lot without becoming sentimentally involved, because hes a very charming, and in many ways a very vulnerable person. So I became very fond of him.

Vulnerable?

He is flayed. The tough-guy public persona was because hes experienced so much adversity from women, from the Jews, from Claire Bloom, from his best friend Ross Miller, et cetera. And he wants to keep the public at arms length. But Philip takes things very, very hard.

When did you last speak with him?

During the first, say, two-and-a-half years of our work, we were in very close touch. Then that tapered off, because hed given me all he had. The last thing that we really collaborated on was going through tons of photographs from an exhibition at the Newark Public Library for his 80th birthday. It was delicious work to him, a trip down memory lane.

Did you feel at all like you were being nudged or guided into his preferred narrative?

Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely.

I dont want to use the word manipulated, but 

Thats exactly it. In a given box of stuff that he sent me, and Im talking a box full of files, each file has a single-spaced, typed memo clipped to it explaining the contents. Bob Baker and I met at the University of Chicago in 1955, et cetera. This is how our friendship progressed and ended, all that kind of stuff. All of it is skewed toward a self-advocacy, lets say. I mean, hes essentially writing his biography by proxy. But in the meantime, Im also talking to 150 other people, and never mind those who were interviewed before they died by Ross Miller or [Roths close friend] Judith Thurman or [oral historian] Harry Maurer. I have all those tapes, and all the letters. I think Philip was making that mighty effort  the effort he brings to everything  to make it come out his way. But I was quietly going my own way.

Did Claire Bloom talk to you?

We emailed and she replied, All I had to say, I said in my book. It is absolutely accurate. I noticed, by the way, that last week she appeared on a talk show with her undertakers face lamenting the death of Philip Roth. But we agreed I would ask six basic questions. The only one she responded to at all substantially was as follows: When Philip first moved to London in 1977, he came to her townhouse, and he really didnt know her daughter, Anna Steiger, at all. Well, she had disappeared for three days. Theyd called the police, and so on. Finally she shows up, pretends nothing much is amiss. They sit down for their first dinner and all hell breaks loose. And you have to underline this: This is Philips version only  and, by the way, its in [Roths novel] I Married a Communist. So they immediately get in this terrible argument, and Anna begins to pummel her about the head and call her the worst thing she could call her. Whereupon Philip separated them and said, You cannot ever say that again in my presence.

So I said [to Claire Bloom] Did that happen? Did it happen that way?, the way Philip had reported it. She was furious and categorically denied it. Anna Steiger categorically denied it. And Philip was furious at their denials. He wrote notes about it, which I have, so he wouldnt forget.

I have one last question for you, a little off topic. Ive written one biography, and another book that largely centers on one guy. And in both cases, when bad stuff happens in the subjects life, the act of writing about it was upsetting to me. Im wondering if you have experienced that.

Yeah, I remember in my Cheever book  poor Cheever cultivated this carapace of affability, and he was all persona toward the end. And he gets cancer. He sits down with his old friend Don Ettlinger  they have this sort of jaunty, joshing friendship  and Cheever blurts out something to the effect of, I woke up last night and I said, Daddy, Daddy! Help me! And I didnt even have a father when I had a father. That desperation breaking through  I remember bursting into tears as I was writing that.
New York, June 8, 1970.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. These are nice, begins an early scene in Tom Wolfes Radical Chic: That Party at Lennys, published in New York Magazines issue of June 8, 1970. He was talking about the Roquefort hors doeuvre rolled in nuts, which were indeed nice, but what was going on that night was flat-out spectacular. Wolfe had crashed a fund-raiser at Leonard and Felicia Bernsteins apartment, and there he found the cream of New Yorks cultural elite making small talk with, and donating to, the Black Panthers. Within days, the party became notorious; weeks later, after many, many drafts, Wolfe published his 25,000-word, high-proof social comedy about the collision of cultures. The party chatter, which Wolfe took down in shorthand rather than with a tape recorder, constitutes a large portion of the story.

Illustration: Joe McKendry

Which hit like an earthquake the week it was published. Wolfe and his editors were praised, denounced, and most of all, talked-about. Wolfe, already a star, was henceforth perhaps the most in-demand journalist alive; New York, a shoestring operation barely two years into its existence, was off and running. And the story of the story (much of it appearing in these documents from the Tom Wolfe Papers on deposit at the New York Public Library) is almost as epic as Radical Chic itself.

Crashing the Party

Tom Wolfe, in a 2006 Q&A: I started out at the New York Herald Tribune, which was fighting for its existence and was willing to take a lot of chances. I had come from the Washington Post, where stories were assigned by the inch. So the first night  I went over to the city desk, and said, How long do you want this to be? And the editor said, What do you mean, how long? Until it gets boring! 

Wolfe, in New York in 2008: One day I was hanging around a hallway at Harpers  I wandered next door into the office of David Halberstam, who wasnt there. Nosily I noticed a rather fancy card on his desktop  It was an invitation from Leonard Bernstein and his wife, Felicia, for a reception at their apartment at 895 Park Avenue, corner of Park and 79th Street, in support of the Black Panthers. Now, there was a match made on Donkey Island for you  You were supposed to RSVP to a certain telephone number. So I called it, using David Halberstams telephone, and said, This is Tom Wolfe, and I accept 

Felicia Bernsteins invitation, filched by Wolfe from David Halberstams desk at Harpers.

At a desk outside the [Bernsteins] door  I said, Tom Wolfe, and sure enough, there he was, Tom Wolfe, listed on a yellow legal pad  Like any boy who has been instructed at cotillion to pay his respects to the host and hostess first  I sought out Leonard and Felicia Bernstein and introduced myself.

The evenings cast of characters  [included] three fiercely-turned-out Black Panther dudes and the Panther women, as they were referred to, a couple of organizers in gray suits who had Engineers on the Freight Train of History written all over them, the two dozen or so celebrities (e.g., Barbara Walters, Otto Preminger), socialites (e.g., Jean vanden Heuvel, Cynthia Phipps), and intellectuals (e.g., Robert Silvers, Harold Taylor)  pure gold for any writer.

The Next Few Days

Wolfe, 2006: I think they assumed that if I was there, it was for the cause. And they were very proud of what they were doing. If they had remained proud, despite what I or anyone else wrote, they could have pulled it off. But I was there and had a notebook, and it so happened that the society writer for the New York Times, Charlotte Curtis, was there with her notebook  And she was for the cause, but she was so good a reporter that she put a lot in there that showed the essentials of the situation.

From Radical Chic: That Party at Lennys, June 8, 1970: Lenny and Felicia  had no idea of the furor that was going to break the next day when Charlotte Curtis account of the party would appear in the New York Times. The story appeared in two forms  a preliminary report rushed through for the first edition  and a much fuller one for the late city edition  Neither account was in any way critical of what had gone on. Even after reading them, Lenny and Felicia probably had little inkling of what was going to happen next.

Wolfes early handwritten draft.

From Curtiss story in the Times, January 15, 1970: The conductor laureate of the New York Philharmonic did most of the questioning. Donald Cox, the Panther field marshal and a member of the partys central committee, did most of the answering, and there were even moments when both men were not talking at the same time.

 Now about your goals, Mr. Bernstein said from the depths of an armchair. Im not sure I understand how youre going to achieve them. I mean what are your tactics?

Mr. Cox, a tall, handsome man in a black turtleneck sweater and gray pants, nodded his head.

 If business wont give us full employment, he said slowly, then we must take the means of production and put them in the hands of the people.

 I dig absolutely, Mr. Bernstein said.

Felicia Bernstein, in a letter to the Times, January 21, 1970: The frivolous way in which it was reported as a fashionable event is unworthy of the Times, and offensive to all people who are committed to humanitarian principles of justice.

In Womens Wear Daily, February 18, 1970: Lenny is supposed to have said he invited Charlotte Curtis (of the New York Times) because he thought she was pro-Panther. Even worse, Tom Wolfe was also at the party, and his article has not yet appeared. Lennys in a state waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Wolfe, 2008: I kept my National Brand shorthand pad and ballpoint pen in plain view. I mention that because afterward I cant tell you how many people accused me of perfidiously turning on my hosts.

Typescript with his edits.

Reporting the Story

Wolfe, 2006: I didnt know what the hors doeuvres were, and I called Charlotte Curtis and asked  and then I began calling up people. I began calling up Leonard Bernstein, and he was furious at Charlotte Curtis  thats all I got out of him.

In the New York Post, January 23, 1970:  In the first place, it was not a party, [Leonard Bernstein] said. We dont have parties. It was a meeting, a very serious meeting, involving civil liberties. 

Wolfe, 2006: And I got ahold of some of the Bernsteins friends who told me how they loved to ignite the [candles at the] dinner, with sparkling lights and a glass-top table that mirrored the lights, and they thought they were in a universe of stars. And of course, at their dinners, it was a universe of stars, from music, movies, and comedy. So I really lingered on all of this stuff, and I think it turned out to be very important to the story.

Galley proofs with his final corrections.

From Radical Chic, June 8, 1970: Lenny  looks up at Cox and says, When you walk into this house, into this building  and he gestures vaguely as if to take it all in, the moldings, the sconces, the Roquefort morsels rolled in crushed nuts, the servants, the elevator attendant and the doorman downstairs in their white dickeys, the marble lobby, the brass struts on the marquee out front  when you walk into this house, you must feel infuriated!

Cox looks embarrassed. No, man  I manage to overcome that  Thats a personal thing  I used to get very uptight about things like that, but  

 Dont you get bitter? Doesnt that make you mad?

 Noooo, man  Thats a personal thing  see  and I dont get mad about that personally. Im over that.

 Well, says Lenny, it makes me mad!

And Cox stares at him, and the Plexiglas lowers over his eyes once more 

Reaction

Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, in the Times, November 25, 1970: One had certain questionsthe usual Tom Wolfe questions  At exactly what points did Wolfes imagination impinge on his inferences, and his inferences on his facts?

Letter from Barbara Walters, June 19, 1970: Thank you for writing about me with such accuracy. Your excellent article brought the whole extraordinary evening back. Wow!

Wolfe, 2008: Bernsteins sister wrote a letter enumerating my sins.

Letter to Wolfe from Shirley Bernstein, ca. June 1970: My revulsion at your current New York piece continues  You took two people, whom you know full well to be good people, and with your cleverest prose (and the aid of an uninvited tape-recorder) set out gleefully and maliciously to humiliate and divide them.

Wolfe, 2008: I took that as a great compliment, since in this life one should take his satisfactions where he can. It meant that my shorthand recording of the evenings dialogue, which I did quite openly, must have struck Leonard Bernstein as a bulls-eye.

The Nixon administration weighs in.

Letter on White House stationery from Raymond K. Price Jr., special assistant to President Nixon, June 11, 1970: Ive seldom enjoyed a magazine article as much.  Truly a classic. Incidentally, since New York is pretty much the house organ of radical chic, it must have taken a certain measure of courage for Clay [Felker, New Yorks editor] to run it. A tip of my hat to both of you.

Letter from Norman Podhoretz, June 4, 1970: A masterpiece.

Congratulations.

Letter from Elizabeth Thompson Ortiz, June 4, 1970: Please cancel our subscription. We have been increasingly offended by your chic handling of Puerto Ricans and Blacks, and this is the last straw.

The Panthers Don Cox speaks to the assembled crowd. Photo: Steven Salmieri

The Aftermath

Don Cox, Black Panthers field marshal, to documentarian Roz Payne: Those media freaks and that bloodsucking Tom Wolfe  tried to ridiculize it.

Leonard Bernstein, in the Times after his FBI file was released, October 22, 1980: I have substantial evidence now available to all that the F.B.I. conspired to foment hatred and violent dissension among blacks, among Jews and between blacks and Jews. My late wife and I were among many foils used for this purpose, in the context of a so-called party for the Panthers in 1970  [with] floods of hate letters sent to me over what are now clearly fictitious signatures, thinly-veiled threats  plus innumerable other dirty tricks.

Jamie Bernstein, interviewed by SFist, 2008: That damn Radical Chic thing is the albatross around our familys weary neck  It was my mothers fund-raiser  crashed by (a) Charlotte Curtis, society editor of the NYT; (b) Tom Wolfe  there had specifically been no press invited to the event; and (c) my father, who burst in all cranked up from his Fidelio rehearsal at the Met, and took over the room, as was his wont  and the rest is dreck.

Jamie Bernstein, at Carnegie Hall, 2008: Our mother never recovered from the heartbreak and shame of this incident. No one was all the way to happy again.

Letter from David Halberstam, ca. August 1970: That is just a fine piece. Just fine. My only objection is that I wish I had written it.

*This article appears in the May 28, 2018, issue of New York Magazine. Subscribe Now!
Wanda Sykes. Photo: Bruce Glikas/Bruce Glikas/WireImage

Rosanne Barr posted a tweet early Tuesday comparing former Barack Obama aid Valerie Jarrett to an ape, and now Rosanne consulting producer Wanda Sykes has announced that shes leaving the show. In a since-deleted post, Barr said, Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj. A short time later, the namesake star of Roseanne  who has used the same racist comparison for other people on Twitter before  apologized to Jarrett and to all Americans for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks before saying she was leaving Twitter in a separate post. About an hour and a half after that, Sykes made her own social-media announcement about leaving the show.

I will not be returning to @RoseanneOnABC.  Wanda Sykes (@iamwandasykes) May 29, 2018

ABC has yet to issue a statement about Barrs latest remarks (she also started the day calling Chelsea Clinton Chelsea Soros Clinton and tweeting at the former First Daughter about how George Soros was a Holocaust profiteer). Roseanne was given an early season-two renewal after the revival premiered earlier this year. Co-showrunner Whitney Cummings also departed the show earlier this month.
An Athens teacher is facing a charge of using a forged prescription to get hydrocodone pills.

Casey Little, 35, was arrested May 22 and charged with attempting to commit a controlled substance crime. Little is a teacher at Athens Renaissance School, district officials confirmed to WAAY 31.

Decatur police said Little tried to use a forged prescription at the CVS on Beltline Road in Decatur. The forged prescription was for 10-milligram hydrocodone pills, according to her arrest warrant.

Athens City Schools Superintendent Trey Holladay said they were aware of Little's arrest and had spoken with her, but the district could not comment on the situation until after the board of education's next meeting on June 7.

"Since school is out, we can patiently wait on the situation to go through the proper lawful steps and we will make the proper decision for our children first and then our employees," Holladay said in an email.

Online records indicate Little posted a $1,000 bond the same day she was arrested.
The Limestone County community is remembering the service men and women who died in the line of duty. Veterans said this holiday allows them to take the time to remember their comrades who sacrificed their lives.

"The effects of going to war still hits us when we get back," said Gabe Palacios.

Gabe Palacios served 8 years in the United State Marine Corps as an engineer equipment operator.

He said he'll never forget the time he spent in Afghanistan in 2010.

"I was attached to a 17 which is a battalion. And also 35 in the district in Afghanistan during the offensive and a few of my friends ended up not coming back home," Palacios said.

Not a day goes by when Palacios doesn't take time to remember his fallen comrades. He stays in contact with their family members and the soldiers who served along side him.

"We don't want them to commit suicide. We lost quit a few to suicide after conflict. I've lost about 3 or 4 during and about 15 after," Palacios said.

Brigadier General Robert Rasch with Redstone Arsenal was the guest speaker at the Limestone County event. He said Memorial Day is personal to him because his grandfather fought in World War I. He didn't die in battle, but still made safrifices.

"It's important to just stop and reflect upon their service to our nation and everything they've done to allow us to enjoy the freedom and everything we enjoy," said Brigadier General Robert Rasch.

"A roll call of the North Alabama veterans who passed away this year allowed people to remember, and thank those who sacrificed their lives for this country," Rasch said.

"All of our fallen comrades in arms have heeded that call and have selflessly served in support of this thing we call the United States of America," Rasch said.

Those who attended the service had the chance to tour the Alabama Veterans Museum afterwards.
A 21 year-old man is accused of stabbing his 61 year-old room ate to death at their home in Nashville, Tennessee.

Sunday, police forced themselves into the home and found Clint Osborn and his female friend surrounded by blood, along with an 'odor of decomposition', in the home.

The police detained the pair and obtained a search warrant. The found the body of Alan Edwards in a large plastic container.

]News outlets report a friend of Edwards asked Metro Nashville police to check on him after receiving an 'odd' message. Osborn had sent the messages.

Osborn is charged with criminal homicide. It is clear whether he has a lawyer.

It is unclear whether the woman was also charged.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House says President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plan to meet in advance of the "expected meeting" between Trump and North Korea's leader. The White House said Trump and Abe spoke Monday. They discussed their shared goal of achieving "the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs." The call came amid a whirlwind of activity over the possible June 12 summit in Singapore.
A North Carolina family told WAAY 31 they were staying at a hotel in the Shoals over the weekend when they were kicked out because of their service dog.

Larry Burke says he served as a Marine for eight years and did two tours in Iraq during that time. He was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. Five years ago he and his family decided to get Isis, a service dog who is trained to help Burke with flashbacks and PTSD.

"She will get on top of me and lay on my chest, do the deep compression thing and start licking me and get me to come out of it. Between her and my wife that's the only way I come out of it," Burke said.

Isis's trainer lives in the Shoals. Every year they all gather to celebrate Memorial Day and see how the dogs and handlers are doing. The Burke family drove down to the Shoals from North Carolina on Friday.

They were staying at the Comfort Inn and Suites along Highway 43 in Tuscumbia, where they said hotel staff discriminated against them. The family says they've stayed at the Comfort Inn and Suites before with Isis, but the hotel would not confirm that with WAAY 31. The Burke family also said they called ahead to tell the hotel they would have their service dog with them, which hotel management denies.

After staying at the hotel for one night, the family said staff members started questioning them about Isis.

"We've had access issues before, so in my head the first thing was stay calm and educate," said Larry Burke's wife, Natasha.

According to the American's with Disabilities Act service animals are defined as "Dogs that are individually trained to do work or perform tasks for people with disabilities".

The law also lays out that PTSD dogs are considered service animals. Under the law, if a service animal is in question, staff members can only ask if the service animal is required because of a disability, and what work or task has the dog been trained to perform.

"We answered those two questions. In my head at that point, I thought it was done and over but then he proceeded to ask more questions he shouldn't have," said Natasha Burke.

Larry, Isis, and the couple's son were at the movies when all of this happened at the hotel. Under ADA laws it says, "Dogs whose sole function is to provide comfort or emotional support do not qualify as service animals under the ADA." Burke said the staff members continued to ask her questions about Isis.

"I got angry, because you're discriminating against my husband because of the service dog," said Burke.

The Burke family was forced to leave the hotel. Staff members called Muscle Shoals Police and had Natasha banned from the site. The family was allowed to go in and gather their belongings before finding another hotel to stay at with Isis.

"Terrible, all of this was going down in front of my kids," said Burke.

The hotel manager told WAAY 31 the family never told them they were traveling with a service dog, and when they checked in they didn't tell them about the dog. The manager said their staff is trained to follow the law and did not believe the dog was a qualified service animal.

"It's not right. It's not legal," said Burke.

The Burke family said they plan to file a complaint with the Department of Justice. The hotel manager said he did not want to do an on-camera interview until he reviewed surveillance footage as he continues to review this incident.

Currently there is no federally recognized registration database for service animals in the United States.
The Nigerian Customs Service (NCS), in collaboration with the WCO, hosted a SAFE AEO sensitization Workshop from 23 to 25 May 2018. The Workshop was held at the Customs Command and Staff College, Gwagwalada - Abuja, the WCO Regional Training Centre (RTC) for the Western and Central Africa (WCA) region. The first one and a half days were open to all the relevant stakeholders, while the rest of the Workshop was intended for Customs delegates only. The event was funded by the Korea Customs Cooperation Fund (CCF).

In his opening remarks, Mr. Chidi Augustine, Deputy Comptroller General of NCS, encouraged all stakeholders to actively participate in the discussions, in order to ensure they have a full understanding of the requirements and benefits of the AEO Programme to be implemented by NCS. The AEO programme is expected to assist Customs to not only secure and facilitate trade, but to also provide the compliant private sector entities with benefits, including simplified Customs formalities, that would ultimately lead to reduced costs of trading.

While there are 77 functioning AEO programmes to-date, the WCA has three other programmes under development. The sensitization workshop brought together the different private sector entities and a number of government agencies together with NCS to discuss the benefits of AEO and the challenges of implementing the programme in Nigeria. During the Workshop, the participants expressed their support and interest in the programme, while indicating the need to get other relevant government agencies to buy-in into the programme, to ensure the full benefits.

Following the Workshop, the WCO team met with the NCS personnel, and it was agreed that an AEO pilot should commence before the end of 2018. In view of the envisaged pilot, an implementation plan was developed.

In his closing remarks, Mr. David Chikan, Assistant Comptroller General of NCS, congratulated all attendees on their contribution and invited the stakeholders to continue engaging with Customs for the benefit of the programme. While applauding their commitment, especially in developing the implementation plan, he encouraged the NCS officials to continuously work on fulfilling the goal of a full fledge AEO programme in the near future.
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Virginia Advances Climate Action, Must Address Energy Efficiency

Passage of Loophole-riddled Virginia Clean Economy Act Misses Opportunity to Truly Address Climate Change

EWG News Roundup (3/6): PFAS Resemble Carcinogenic Chemicals, Nitrate Taints Minnesota Drinking Water and More

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Headlines for March 6, 2020

Conservation Groups Argue in Federal Court That Trumps Keystone XL Pipeline Approval Was Illegal
Hunting aliens from space

Wits researchers are using high-tech imagery and biological agents to save our water resources and economy from invasive alien plants.

Lerato Molekoa scans satellite images from high-definition cameras and sensors orbiting Earth. She is hunting for aliens. Not little green men with three fingers. Molekoa, an MSc student in the School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences (APES) at Wits, is hunting for alien vegetation here on Earth. She calibrates the satellite data to detect subtle light changes reflected in the leaves of salt cedar trees. This helps identify alien plants that are using our water.

Molekoa is trying to work out the distribution of three different species of salt cedar trees. One of the trees, Tamarix usneoides, is indigenous while two other close relatives are exotics. The problem is that, up until now, only genetic analysis of the three different species can differentiate them.

Alien invasion

Mining houses use all three species to rehabilitate mines by removing contaminants from the soil and water  a process called phytoremediation. Salt cedar trees planted in paddocks at the base of storage dams leech sulphates and heavy metals from the water, and are important to combat acid mine drainage.

The mines have been using the alien species, which we are not happy about, says Professor Marcus Byrne from APES. Then we got drawn into finding out how to identify an alien species and what is not.

The two exotic types of salt cedar are invasive alien species, which severely affect South Africas water resources by consuming 4% of the annual mean water runoff.

This is the water that makes its way off the land into rivers and dams, for our use, and instead it is used up by invasive species, says Byrne.

Invasive species also influence the economy, with an estimated annual cost of around R6.5 billion in 2007.

A further problem specific to the genus Tamarix is that the exotic species interbred with the local species, resulting in hybrids. This reduces the local biodiversity by diluting the genetic integrity of the native species.

We knew we had these three species, but we didn't know how to identify them until we did the genetics, says Byrne. Working out the distribution of the three species would be harder work without satellite imagery.

DNA is very expensive and time consuming, but with satellites you can basically tell the image to go and find where the species is located within a certain region, says Molekoa, who downloads satellite images free and then uses software to set search parameters to find the colour signature of the trees within the image.

The jurys still out whether it is the exotics or the local species of Tamarix that are best at phytoremediation. Sipho Mbonani, an MSc student in APES, believes it is the local species.

I remember going into the field to look at phytoremediation and we noticed that there were indigenous and alien plants together, and we could tell the aliens by the way their leaves were yellowish in colour. So I dont think they are doing so well, says Mbonani.

Put a bug in it

The next step to control alien species is to introduce insects as biocontrol agents. The search is on for an insect that eats only the exotic and not the local species. Satellite data also help scientists fight invasive aquatic species like water hyacinths, which choke waterways across Africa.

A blanket of water hyacinth across a water body blocks out light and oxygen, and uses water. Consequently, the whole nature of the water system changes, and many native animals and plants disappear from that system, says Byrne.

Eight biocontrol agents have been introduced to control water hyacinth, but no one knows how effective these agents are and how local conditions influence their lifecycles and efficacy.

Water pollution, for example, affects one of these agents, the water hyacinth weevil, Neochetina eichorniae. Jeanne DArc Mukarugwiro, a PhD student in APES, uses satellites to monitor the extent and movement of water hyacinth, and the wellbeing of the water hyacinth weevils in rivers with high turbidity, in Rwanda. Turbidity is the cloudiness of a fluid. High turbidity results from the suspension of tiny soil particles in water, which might affect weevils living on the plants.

Scientists theorise that the high concentration of particles suspended in the water suffocates the weevil in its underwater pupal state. Further research is required to establish if the weevil faces the same problem in South Africa. Byrne points out that, despite the effectiveness of biocontrol agents (because insects dont make mistakes), only 2% of South Africas weed control budget is allocated to research in this field.

The water hyacinth might have the upper hand over its biological control agents currently, but the poster-child of biological control in South Africa is Stenopelmus rufinasus, the frond-feeding weevil that eradicated red water fern.

Death by mail

In the 1940s, the red water fern came from South America, just like the water hyacinth. By the 1980s, red water fern had become a widespread problem. Wits University, the Agricultural Research Council, and Rhodes University collaborated to find a solution. By 1997, they had found the bug that they thought would do the business.

Death came to the red water fern via the post.

Farmers who suspected a red water fern infestation sent a photograph to the researchers. On confirmation of red water fern, the scientists posted a polystyrene box containing the weevil.

We would tell them to open the box and just throw it in the dam, and in six months it will be gone, and we promised if it was not gone, we would come and clear it from them. It worked every single time, says Byrne, of what is considered one of the worlds most successful biological control programmes.

Back then, the postal service helped eliminate one invasive species that threatened South Africas water systems. Now, with the help of satellites and their software, the fight has become high-tech.

My dream one day is that we have such fine resolution that we will be able to tell from the satellite photo whether the plant has biocontrol agents or not.

Read more about the research conducted across faculties, disciplines and entities to help secure humanitys most important resource for survival: water, in the fourth issue of Wits' new research magazine, Curiosity.
UTICA - A Rome man arrested earlier this month for having sexual contact with a child has pleaded guilty.

The Oneida County District Attorney's Office says 25-year-old William Lighthall Jr. entered a plea of guilty to third degree criminal sexual act, a felony, in Oneida County Court Tuesday morning. Lighthall was accused of engaging in a sex act with a male child younger than 17 in Rome on April 29.

Lighthall is scheduled to be sentenced on July 24.

An order of protection was requested on behalf of the victim, who has also been offered services through the Oneida County Child Advocacy Center.





Previous coverage: Rome man accused of sexual contact with child
More than 228,000 pounds of Hormel Spam and other canned meat products are being recalled because they might contain shards of metal, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

The department's Food Safety Inspection Service said Saturday that the problem was discovered after four customers complained of metal objects in canned Hormel products. The FSIS did not say how the pieces of metal might have gotten into the products.

Throughout the US, 12-ounce metal cans labeled "SPAM Classic" with the designation "EST. 199N" should not be eaten because of a risk of minor oral injuries, FSIS said. The cans have a "Best By" date of February 2021 and carry the following production codes: F020881, F020882, F020883, F020884, F020885, F020886, F020887, F020888 and F020889.

Possibly contaminated cans of meat were also distributed in Guam. These 12-ounce metal cans contain "Hormel Food Black-Label Luncheon Loaf." The recalled cans are marked "Best By" February 2021 and carry the production codes F02098 and F02108.

The products should be immediately thrown away or returned to the place of purchase, FSIS said. In a statement, Hormel said it was recalling the products "out of an abundance of caution," and that "the health and safety of consumers is our top concern."

In 2016, Hormel voluntarily recalled 40 cases of Dinty Moore Beef Stew -- also because of possible contamination by "extraneous materials."

The U.S.-based Hormel Foods Corporation sells products in more than 70 countries.
NEW HARTFORD NY  The community of New Hartford paid tribute to the men and women who sacrificed their lives for their country.

The annual Memorial Day parade made its way from the New Hartford Shopping Center, along Genesee Street, to the New Hartford Fire Department on Oxford Road.

Local bands played patriotic tunes as they marched by, and little children waited eagerly for candy to be thrown from the fire engines as they drove by.

Also watching the parade was World War II Veteran Don Matthews.

Matthews made it a point to stand and salute the various parade units that passed by as often as he could.

"I'm proud of the military. So if there was any military going by, of course, I wanted to contact them with a wave. I think it's very nice to hear a lot of this stuff. I served over 70 years ago and whatever comes along now, you have to be proud of."

Matthews served in the infantry during World War II.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Some local lawmakers are revisiting school safety laws in the aftermath of Friday's school shooting in Noblesville. One student and one teacher was injured in the incident. The suspected shooter is in custody but officials have yet to release his name.

"You never expect it to hit home," said State Rep. Sheila Klinker.

But it did hit home Friday when a school shooter opened fire at Noblesville West Middle School. Thanks to seventh grade teacher, Jason Seaman, more students were not injured. Witnesses say Seamon was shot while tackling the student shooter.

"My actions on that day, in my mind, were the only acceptable actions I could have done given the circumstances," said Seaman.

Ella Whistler, 13, was also shot in the incident.

"We should all continue to keep her in our minds as she continues to recover," said Seaman.

Whistler is on the minds of local lawmakers. They're already thinking of more ways to improve school safety in Indiana.

"I think we are going to have to make some dramatic increases. We put 5 million dollars into school safety but we also put 35 million dollars in for loans. But we are charging 1-4 percent interest," said Klinker. "I think what we are going to have to do is have interest free loans and then be willing to go a little bit higher than five million with what we see happening."

"One of the things we need to do is make adults responsible if they don't secure weapons or ammunition in their home," added State Rep. Sally Siegrist.

"I'm not sure Indiana is to the point that we need to legislate that, some of this is common sense," responded State Senator Ron Alting. "But it's certainly something I'm sure that we will address."

All three lawmakers agree, gun safety awareness is important.

"Obviously what we are doing is not working," said Siegrist.

There are a lot of questions about what lawmakers should do.

"Are we to the point in society that we need metal detectors in our schools? Are we to that point?" asked Alting.

These legislators are confident the Indiana General Assembly will find answers in both summer studies and future sessions.

"This is a lesson to be learned for all of us," said Klinker.
FRANKFORT, Ind. (WLFI) - In light of the Noblesville school shooting, Frankfort leaders are now taking proactive steps to protect their students.

To increase school security, Mayor Chris McBarnes is working on a plan to put armed police officers in all Frankfort schools - permanently. He said he's also hoping to add in metal detectors.

McBarnes is working with Frankfort police and the Frankfort Community Schools superintendent on the initiative.

McBarnes said the Noblesville tragedy hits too close to home and something needs to be done to protect students and staff.

"I know that our school board has done all they can and they need help," said McBarnes. "And so my commitment is, I am going to be rolling out a plan - I am going to suggest that we put hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table of tax dollars - to protect our most vulnerable. And that is our children."

McBarnes said he's writing up the proposal and is expected to present it to the Frankfort City Council. If it's approved, he hopes the metal detectors can be installed over the summer.
MIAMI COUNTY, Ind. (WLFI)  One of the two suspects in a Miami County homicide investigation have been taken into custody in California. Arrest warrants for Ethan D. Cain, 21, Marion, IN, and Joshua C. Kean, 23, Lafontaine, Indiana were issued after an investigation into a body found in a wooded area on the Okie Pinokie Trail, near State Road 124 and Miami County Road 510 East.

According to Indiana State Police, 21-year-old Ethan Cain was taken into custody after the Imperial County Sheriffs Department SWAT Team raided a campground to arrest Cain and Kean on the warrants from Indiana.

Cain was taken into custody but Kean was not captured. Earlier, the pair had been seen together when they had contact with an Imperial County Sheriffs Deputy. They were not taken into custody at that time because the officer received a delayed response revealing the warrants for their arrests.

Cain faces criminal charges for murder, obstruction of justice, and theft. Kean faces charges for assisting a criminal, obstruction of justice, and theft. Cain is incarcerated in the Imperial County Jail awaiting extradition proceedings.

The Indiana State Police is seeking the publics help in locating Joshua Kean: Kean is a six foot tall and weighs approximately 250 pounds. He has blonde hair and blue eyes.

Kean should be considered armed and dangerous. If he is sighted do not approach him, call law enforcement and report his location.

Anyone with information about this case is encouraged to contact Indiana State Police detectives by calling the Indiana State Police Peru Post at 1-800-382-0689 or 765-473-6666.

On May 19, 2018 around 10:20 a.m., officers from the Indiana State Police, the Miami County Sheriffs Department, and conservation officers from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources responded to a possible death, on the Okie Pinokie Trail, near the area of State Road 124 and Miami County Road 510 East.

The preliminary investigation by Indiana State Police detectives revealed that two men were mushroom hunting, in a wooded area on the Okie Pinokie Trail, near State Road 124 and Miami County Road 510 East. The men allegedly found the body of a deceased male. The deceased male was identified as Drake Allan Smith, 22, Summitville, IN. An autopsy revealed that Smiths death was a homicide.
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Lafayette police are looking for a man who robbed a Cash Advance store at gunpoint Tuesday morning. Lt. Scott Galloway said police were called to the Advance America Cash Advance Store on Elmwood Ave around 10:20 Tuesday morning.

Galloway said a man walked into the business with a handgun and demanded money then fled on foot with an undisclosed amount.

Right now police are inside the business collecting evidence. K-9 officers are also out searching for that man who is still believed to be armed. No injuries were reported.

Anyone with more information about this robbery is asked to call LPD at 807-1200 or 9-1-1.

Well continue to follow this story and will have the latest tonight on News 18 at 5 and 6.
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI)  Firefighters and police officers from West Lafayette and Purdue are training for active shooter situations at West Lafayette High School this week.

Active shooter training is nothing new for Purdue and West Lafayette emergency responders but this session hit a little close to home for some.

West Lafayette Police Lt. Stason Wiete organizes the drills. Noblesville is his hometown. He wants to make sure the place he now calls home, is prepared.



"This school is a maze," said Lt. Wiete.

Training allows police and firefighters to get familiar with schools they'd likely respond to in the event of a shooter.

"A lot of the situations that happen, there's kind of a trend that you can see," said Wiete. "We used a scenario recently where some firefighters were shot responding to a routine fire alarm which has happened in the United States."

It's important for police and fire to train together because each department plays a critical role.

"We're there to help the victims," said West Lafayette Fire Lt. Ben Jones.

Police are there to keep people safe from the shooter.

"We try to get our guys to do precision shooting to take on those hostile targets when they present themselves," said Wiete.

Not every training scenario went according to plan. A black target that represented a victim was shot twice and a pretend victim hiding inside a bathroom was never found during one drill.

"Communication is critical," said Jones. "If communication breaks down, everything breaks down with it."

"The best thing that we could do is make the mistakes in training and learn from them in training so that way we don't make them in the real world," added Wiete.

Active shooter training is proving to be successful in both responding agencies and school staff.

"What's unique about Noblesville is how that shooter was apprehended and that was the school teacher that got involved who saved lives," said Wiete. "You're starting to see more and more of that with training that schools are doing and giving power to their teachers."

Lt. Wiete takes comfort in that training and hopes you will too.

"We are modernized, we are up to standards across the United States and have been for the past few years," said Wiete. "There's nothing really more that we can do other than just train."

Tuesday's training was scheduled prior to the Noblesville school shooting Friday.

However, Wiete said he did incorporate some aspects of it this session.




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VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DOSarrest Internet Security announced today that they have begun offering a comprehensive Cyber Attack Readiness Certificate program. This certification is to give website operators the peace of mind that theyre website can survive a real world cyber attack. Enterprises can now have DOSarrest Internet Security professionals run a series of cyber attacks on their websites, the testing consisting of several TCP volumetric attacks up to 100Gb/sec, as well as multiple Layer 7 type DDoS attacks. Also included in the certification process is a layer 7 Vulnerability scan and risk assessment audit report.



During the testing process customers can monitor their websites performance and reaction to all of the test attacks. An engineer will then point out critical weak spots and provide insights and help on how to close any weak points discovered, and then retest to ensure the site is fully protected. More information on this service click here.

Jenny Wong, Director of Customer Care at DOSarrest, states, Almost every week, we have an inquiry from someone who tells us they have DDoS Protection from their hosting provider but their website still went down due to a DDoS attack. This new service offering allows customers to test their attack defenses. Wong adds, Its obvious there are a number of Hosting/ISPs masquerading as Internet Security specialists.

Jag Bains, CTO at DOSarrest, explains, We have had a globally distributed botnet with a self serve portal available to customers for almost a year now that can launch some very large volumetric attacks, plus approximately 25 different sophisticated attacks, this is merely a managed service extension of our Cyber Attack Preparation Platform (CAPP).

About DOSarrest Internet Security:

DOSarrest founded in 2007 in Vancouver, B.C., Canada is one of only a couple of companies worldwide to specialize in only cloud based DDoS protection services. Additional Web security services offered are Cloud based Web Application Firewall (WAF), Vulnerability Testing and Optimization (VTO), DataCenter Defender - GRE, cloud based global load balancing as well as a Cyber Attack Preparation Platform (CAPP).

More information at www.DOSarrest.com



Media Contact: Julie Trudel

Toll free CAD/US 1-888-818-1344 ext. 208

UK Freephone 0800-086-8812 ext. 208

CR@DOSarrest.com
Hospital grounds, school grounds and playgrounds in Wales to be smoke-free by summer 2019

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, May 29th, 2018

A ban on smoking in school and hospital grounds and playgrounds in Wales will be in force by next summer, the Welsh Government has said.

It is hoped that the tougher laws will de-normalise smoking for children and young people  along with reducing passive smoking.

Wales will become the first UK country to ban smoking outside hospitals and schools, as well as near playgrounds.

While most hospitals already have no smoking policies in their grounds, it is currently difficult for staff to enforce this. However the new changes will make it illegal to smoke in the hospital grounds, with fines issued to smokers breaking the rules, therefore improving the environment for patients, visitors and staff.

Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething, visited the maternity unit at Glan Clwyd Hospital, where staff told him they had received complaints from mothers about people smoking outside the hospital when they enter and leave with their young babies.

The Hospital Management Team has also received complaints about people smoking at the newly refurbished main entrance and at other entrances across the site.

Vaughan Gething said: I am proud that Wales continues to be at the forefront of UK action to reduce smoking and prevent young people from taking it up in the first place.

We have seen significant changes to the attitudes to smoking since 2007. Back then we received some resistance to change, but we have seen a remarkable culture-change and I am pleased our plan to extend smoke-free areas to outdoor public spaces has received overwhelming public support.

This is another step in the right direction to de-normalise smoking in Wales.

Smoking contributes most to the current burden of disease in Wales, causing approximately 5,450 deaths each year and costing the NHS an estimated 302m annually.

Teresa Owen, executive director of public health at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, added: A hospital is no place for smoking and the Health Board is determined to create a smoke-free environment.

We receive numerous complaints about people smoking around the hospital, particularly near the main entrance. We need to find a way of ensuring our site is smoke free, while also supporting more patients, visitors and staff to quit.

The changes to the smoke-free legislation will be introduced under the Public Health (Wales) Act 2017, which was passed by Assembly Members last year.
Three vehicle collision near Bellevue Park

This article is old - Published: Tuesday, May 29th, 2018

A road near a town centre park was temporarily blocked off by police following a three vehicle collision.

Ruthin Road, running alongside Bellevue Park, was blocked off at the Victoria Road and Pen Y Bryn ends.

A spokesperson for North Wales Police said they were called to the area following a collision involving a Vauxhall, Toyota and Ford Transit near Bellevue Park at 1:50pm.

The spokesperson added that there were no injuries as a result of the collision.
NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO US NEWSWIRES OR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES

TORONTO, May 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Malbex Resources Inc. ("Malbex" or the "Company") (TSX-V:MBG) is pleased to announce that it has received conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (the "Exchange") in respect of its change of business transaction (the "Transaction") with Samara Capital Inc. ("Samara"). Pursuant to the Transaction, Malbex is expected to become a merchant banking and financial advisory company focused on the small-cap market, with investments in cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.

In connection with the Transaction, the Company has filed a filing statement dated May 28, 2018 under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com (the "Filing Statement"). Additional information about the Transaction can be obtained from the Filing Statement.

The Company is further pleased to announce that, in connection with the Transaction, it has entered into a management services agreement with Samara (the "Management Services Agreement"), pursuant to which Samara will provide the services of Ben Cubitt as the new Chief Executive Officer of Malbex. Further information about the Management Services Agreement and related matters can be found in the Filing Statement.

The Company also wishes to announce that in connection with the Transaction, the current board of Malbex, consisting of Terry MacGibbon, Joe Hamilton, Frank Davis, and Robert Low, is expected to resign, to be replaced by Ben Cubitt, Josh Crumb, Stefan Wieler, and Justin Oliver. The Company thanks the resigning directors for their service. Further information about the new board and management of the Company and related matters can be found in the Filing Statement.

The Company will issue a further comprehensive press release announcing closing of the Transaction and the date on which trading in the Company's common shares will resume in due course.

The closing of the Transaction remains subject to the satisfaction of a number of customary closing conditions, including the satisfaction of Exchange conditions. Subject to satisfaction or waiver of all necessary closing conditions, the Transaction is currently scheduled to be completed before June 15, 2018.

About Samara

Samara Capital Inc. is a Toronto based, OSC registered Investment Fund Manager that focuses on small cap companies across North America. The fund it manages, the Samara Fund Ltd., launched in 2012 and has been among the most successful hedge funds in Canada since inception.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Samara Capital Inc.

Ben Cubitt

President

(416) 479-5408

bcubitt@samarafunds.com

DISCLAIMER & READER ADVISORY

The TSX Venture Exchange Inc. has in no way passed upon the merits of the proposed Transaction and has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) has in any way passed upon the merits of the Transaction and neither of the foregoing entities accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release or has in any way approved or disapproved of the contents of this press release.

Certain statements contained in this press release constitute forward-looking information. These statements relate to future events or future performance. The use of any of the words "could", "intend", "expect", "believe", "will", "projected", "estimated" and similar expressions and statements relating to matters that are not historical facts are intended to identify forward-looking information and are based on the parties' current belief or assumptions as to the outcome and timing of such future events. Actual future results may differ materially. In particular, this release contains forward-looking information relating to the business of the Company following completion of the Transaction. Various assumptions or factors are typically applied in drawing conclusions or making the forecasts or projections set out in forward-looking information. Those assumptions and factors are based on information currently available to the parties. The material factors and assumptions include the parties being able to obtain the necessary corporate, regulatory and other third parties approvals to complete the Transaction; risks associated with cryptocurrency and block-chain investments; and completion of satisfactory due diligence. The forward looking information contained in this release is made as of the date hereof and the parties are not obligated to update or revise any forward looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable securities laws. Because of the risks, uncertainties and assumptions contained herein, investors should not place undue reliance on forward looking information. The foregoing statements expressly qualify any forward-looking information contained herein.

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any of the securities in the United States. The securities 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. Not for distribution to U.S. Newswire Services or for dissemination in the United States. Any failure to comply with this restriction may constitute a violation of U.S. Securities laws.
The wave of strikes and protests by educators in the United States is continuing. Just days after the Arizona Education Association (AEA) called off the strike by nearly 60,000 teachers in the southwestern US state, new struggles have emerged from California and Colorado to North and South Carolina.

More than 53,000 university service workers, nurses and other hospital workers began a three-day strike Monday at ten University of California (UC) campuses, medical centers and research labs across the state. The UC workers are demanding a six percent annual raise, a freeze on health care premiums and an end to the contracting out of jobs.

Also on Monday, 900 teachers in Pueblo, Colorado walked out to demand pay increases after working without a contract for more than a year. Less than two weeks ago, thousands of teachers in the state, which is run by the Democratic Party, carried out sickouts and rallied in the state capitol in Denver to demand improved wages and pensions and the restoration of a decade of school funding cuts.

On May 15, 30,000 school bus drivers, custodians, special education assistants, cafeteria workers and other support staff employed by the Los Angeles Unified School District are expected to launch a one-day strike in the second largest school district in the United States.

Thousands of teachers throughout North Carolina are expected to demonstrate on May 16 in Raleigh, as the state legislature begins its session. Teachers in neighboring South Carolina have called for a May 19 demonstration at the state capitol in Columbia to protest low pay, high class sizes, excessive testing and lack of preparation time.

Teachers are giving expression to a much broader oppositional sentiment among workers. Last Friday, nearly 1,500 workers at Fords Flat Rock Assembly plant, just south of Detroit, refused company demands that they resume production and walked out after a worker was trapped in machinery and severely injured. An incipient rebellion by rank-and-file workers is brewing against the United Auto Workers union, which functions as a cheap labor contractor and labor police force for management.

The growth of class struggle in the US is part of an international movement, which has seen mass demonstrations and strikes throughout Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America this year.

In France, the week opened with continuing strikes by French workers at Air France and the state-run SNCF rail system. Fifty years since the revolutionary upheaval of May-June 1968, the clash between the French working class and the government of Emmanuel Macron, the president of the rich, is intensifying. Last Friday, airline workers overwhelmingly rejected an insulting pay offer of 7 percent over four years. Macrons economy minister, Bruno Le Maire, responded to the vote by threatening workers with mass sackings.

These developments make clear that the strikes that have erupted so far this year are initial expressions of a powerful, objective social movement. The class struggle, artificially suppressed by the unions for decades, is erupting once again, decisively refuting all claims that the conflict between classes has been superseded by conflicts over race, gender and sexual orientation.

The resurgence of class struggle raises basic political issues for all workers. First, it has demonstrated the anti-working-class character of the organizations that call themselves unions, which in fact function as instruments of the corporations and the state. In the US, every strike by teachers this year has been initiated by the workers, with the unions acting as strike-breakers called in to isolate the struggles in West Virginia, Oklahoma and Arizona and shut them down as quickly as possible.

The unions perform the same basic function in every country. In France, the unions have coordinated closely with the state in an attempt to suppress mounting opposition and have already agreed with the Macron government to enforce the policies demanded by the ruling class.

The growth of working-class resistance raises the necessity of organizing and coordinating these struggles not only within countries, but internationally.

New organizations of struggle, rank-and-file factory and work-site committees, must be built, independent of the corporatist unions, to unite workers and prepare an industrial counter-offensive, including a general strike.

Moreover, workers are entering into a struggle not just against one or another employer, but against the entire capitalist system and all of its political instruments. In the United States, the teachers strikes are the product of the policies of successive Democratic and Republican administrations, from Bill Clinton and George Bush to Barack Obama and Donald Trump, which have funneled money from public schools to charter businesses and other for-profit schools.

This is part of a policy of social counterrevolution, bank bailouts and corporate tax cuts that has produced a massive redistribution of wealth from the working class to the corporate and financial elite. All over the world, the capitalist class is on the offensive, determined to preserve its social and economic system through the ever greater exploitation of the working class, the vast majority of the population.

The ruling class will not respond to workers' strikes and protests with a program of social reforms, but with state repression. This is seen in the moves by the government and tech giants like Google and Facebook to censor the Internet, in the first instance the World Socialist Web Site and its worker newsletters, which have become the center of working class opposition.

As David North, the chairman of the International Editorial Board of the WSWS, said in his opening remarks to the 2018 May Day International Online Rally sponsored by the International Committee of the Fourth International, The claims by decrepit reformists like Bernie Sanders and Jeremy Corbyn that the capitalist oligarchs can be persuaded with sweet phrases to accept a more equitable distribution of wealth is nothing less than delusional There is no way to settle accounts with the class that owns and controls the means of production and the global financial networks, along with gigantic military machines, intelligence agencies and police forces except through socialist revolution.

Two hundred years after the birth of Marx, the principles of Marxism are being confirmed in the growth of the class struggle throughout the world. However, the Marxism of the 21st century, as the May Day rally expressed, is Trotskyism, embodied in the International Committee of the Fourth International. The ICFI is the only organization fighting on the basis of genuine Marxism and the program of world socialist revolution.

The urgent task is to develop in every section of the working class, in the United States and internationally, a socialist political leadership. We call on all workers and young people to draw the necessary conclusions from their experiences by joining and building the ICFI and its affiliated Socialist Equality Parties throughout the world.
The Socialist Equality Party has called a demonstration in Sydney on Sunday June 17 to demand that the Australian government act immediately to secure the freedom of WikiLeaks editor and Australian citizen Julian Assange. We call on all workers, students and organisations that defend freedom of speech, democratic rights and civil liberties to take part. The grave danger facing Assange requires the broadest mobilisation.

Assanges situation stems directly from the Australian governments refusal to protect one of its citizens from persecution by other governments. Canberra has instead trampled on Assanges rights in the most reprehensible manner.

The American state accuses WikiLeaks and its personnel of espionage for publishing leaked data in 2010 that exposed the extent of its war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and its sinister intrigues around the world. Last year, WikiLeaks published further material that exposed CIA operations to hack and spy on Internet and other communications.

If Assange were put on a show trial in the US, he could face decades of imprisonment, or even the death penalty, for doing what a journalist should do: provide the world with the truth.

In late 2010, the Australian Labor government of Prime Minister Julia Gillard took no action when a Swedish prosecutor initiated a politically-motivated investigation into allegations that Assange may have been involved in sexual assault. Under conditions of a furious campaign against WikiLeaks for the damning information it was publishing about US war crimes, the aim of the slander was to both discredit Assange and justify a warrant for his extradition to Sweden for questioning. If he were detained in Sweden, Assange and his lawyers rightly feared he could have faced rendition on to the US.

Instead of defending Assange, Gillard and her Labor ministers denounced WikiLeaks for illegal actions and declared they would assist the US to prosecute him.

Denied any protection by Australia, Assange was forced to seek political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on June 19, 2012, after a British court rejected his last legal appeal against extradition to Sweden. For six years, he has been effectively imprisoned in the embassy by the insistence of the British government that if he leaves the building it will arrest him on a charge of absconding on bail. The British government, moreover, has refused to give any guarantee that it would not facilitate his extradition to the US.

This was despite the finding of a United Nations working group in February 2016 that Assange had been arbitrarily detained in contravention of his human rights, and should be allowed his freedom.

In May 2017, Swedish authorities, after finally agreeing to question Assange in Britain, dropped their investigation. No charges were ever laid against the WikiLeaks editor.

The Australian government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, however, refused to intervene and demand that Britain drop its pursuit of Assange over bail-related issues and allow him to leave the London embassy.

Instead, all evidence would suggest that Australia is part of the gang of major powers that has pressured the Ecuadorian government to turn against Assange. On March 28, the Ecuadorian embassy cut off his ability to communicate with the outside world or even receive personal visitors, apart from his lawyers.

After six years of confinement inside a small building, with no direct sunlight and deprived of necessary medical treatment, Assanges health was already severely compromised before the immense pressure of almost total isolation was inflicted on him. Reports indicate that Assange is being pressured by Ecuador to leave the embassy, or that the Ecuadorian government may even renege on its grant of asylum and hand him over to waiting British police.

Under conditions in which the British government will not relent on its determination to charge Assange, or guarantee he will not be extradited to the US, the full culpability of the Australian government and the broader political and media establishment is evident.

The Australian state has undeniable means at its disposal to extricate an Australian citizen and journalist from persecution. It can act to return him to Australian territory and provide him with an unconditional guarantee that he will not be extradited.

There are obvious recent precedents.

Australian journalist Peter Greste was arrested by Egyptian authorities in December 2013, along with other Al Jazeera employees, on framed-up charges of damaging national security. He was subjected to a show trial and sentenced to seven years imprisonment.

In response to immense public outrage in Australia, the government, backed by Washington and the United Nations, called for Grestes release. Intense diplomatic pressure was applied on Egypt. On February 1, 2015, Greste was released and deported back to Australia.

Earlier, in 2007, under the pressure of widespread anger over the imprisonment of Australian citizen David Hicks in the US concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay, the government entreated the Bush administration to release him.

If the British government continues to insist on railroading an Australian citizen into an American prison or worse, then there are a wide range of actions that the Australian government can take to secure his return to Australian jurisdiction.

It would only do so, however, under conditions of the greatest pressure produced by the mobilisation of the working class. Under both Labor and the Liberal-National Coalition governments, the Australian state has demonstrated its hostility to Assange and WikiLeaks.

Canberras priority is defending the US-Australia military alliance and its network of relations with the American and British political, military and intelligence establishment. Australian governments have supported or participated in every criminal US-led war in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere, and no less support the suppression of media organisations such as WikiLeaks.

The attack on Assange and WikiLeaks is a particularly sharp expression of the broader campaign to censor or outright silence all opposition to social inequality, repression, the militarist policies of the imperialist states and the ever-mounting danger of war between nuclear-armed great powers.

The fight to defend Assange is an essential part of the fight to defend all democratic rights against the lurch toward dictatorial forms of rule in country after country. It is part of the fight for the international unity of the working class in a common struggle for its mutual interests.

In stark contrast to the hatred of Assange and WikiLeaks in the establishment, millions of workers and youth internationally consider their actions to be courageous and noble efforts to expose the lies that surround US-led wars and political intrigues.

In 2010 and 2011, numerous organisations and thousands of individuals across Australia, reflecting this global sentiment, issued public statements of support for Assange and WikiLeaks as the US-led persecution developed.

The demonstration on June 17, called at this critical moment, provides such organisations and individuals with an opportunity to step forward again. We urge all defenders of democratic rights to add their voices to those of the SEP and WikiLeaks defenders such as journalist John Pilger, and join a fight to build the mass political campaign that would be necessary to compel the Turnbull government to secure Assanges freedom.

Organisations that endorse and intend to participate in the June 17 demonstration should inform the SEP at sep@sep.org.au.

Free Julian Assange! Return him to Australia!

Sunday, June 17, 1:00pm

Sydney Town Hall Square
A federal government expert health panel report earlier this month dismissed the need for compensation for those exposed to toxic foam and other poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS).

The findings make clear that the Liberal-National governments aim, in calling the review, was to scuttle calls for property buybacks and financial assistance for residents in high-exposure zones, where property values have plummeted and a health crisis has emerged.

Up to 18 airports and defence bases across the country were investigated after soil and waterway tests near the Williamtown air force base, just north of Newcastle, New South Wales (NSW) in 2012. The chemicals are found in fire-fighting foam, which seeped into drains and waterways.

For decades the Defence Department knew the material was potentially harmful to human health and the environment. As was revealed last year, it ignored warnings as early as 1987 that the foam should be treated as toxic waste.

The PFAS crisis has potentially exposed the federal government to hundreds of millions of dollars of liability.

After the contamination was discovered in Williamtown, a management area known as the red zone was established. A number of other contaminated sites were identified nationally, including at Oakey in Queensland and Darwin and Katherine in the Northern Territory.

The Expert Health Panel report acknowledged many of the PFAS health risks. It noted that international studies showed fairly consistent reports that PFAS exposure could be linked to problems such as higher cholesterol, increased uric acid, reduced kidney function, altered markers of immunological response, impacted thyroid and sex hormone levels, later menarche and earlier menopause, and lower birth weight.

The panel also stated that because of the weak and inconsistent evidence, some important health effects could not be ruled out.

A number of international organisations, including the US Environmental Protection Authority and the Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry, have warned of possible links between PFAS chemicals and dozens of diseases and cancers.

The panel nevertheless advised the government not to carry out disease screening or health interventions for highly exposed groups (except for research purposes). It recommended research on the potential ties to rare types of cancer.

The report suggested ways for the government to save money on this research. The best value for money would be adding PFAS exposure analysis to existing large cohort studies.

This set the tone for the report. At every turn, it sought to exploit gaps in scientific knowledge, effectively elevating the governments budget considerations above the health and safety of those living in highly-exposed areas.

The report has been met with outrage in the affected communities. Oakey resident Mark Hogg told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Its just another whitewash, a minimalisation of PFAS contamination.

Many residents have asked why the governments health department has told them to continue to limit their exposure if the chemicals pose little threat.

In the same week that the panel delivered its report, the NSW state Valuer General told residents living in the Williamtown red zone their property prices had dropped by an estimated 15 percent. This includes 183 properties that were added to the red zone last November.

Some residents believe the falls in value may be more severe. Many continue to live in the area because they cannot afford to sell.

Last year, a Newcastle Herald investigation discovered 50 cases of cancer on the sparsely-populated Cabbage Tree Road near the Williamtown air force base.

The cluster area has several drains that carry water runoff from the base. The investigation tallied cancers of residents and former residents over decades, including the rare cancers that have been linked with the chemicals.

Forced to act on the findings, the NSW Health Department carried out its own investigation into the cluster. In February, it released a report claiming there was no evidence of a cluster.

The department came to its conclusion by sampling people who lived up to 20 kilometres away from the management area, and only included cancer incidences between 2005 and 2014. This excluded at least 18 of the 50 cases uncovered by the Herald .

The federal government has tacked an insulting $17.9 million onto its original $55 million funding package for PFAS. The package does not include financial assistance for residents. It has been used to cover bare minimum initiatives, such as providing drinking water and free blood tests. These programs have been poorly managed and delayed.

The health panel report was released the day before the federal government handed down its May budget, promising tax cuts worth billions of dollars to the banks, big business and high-income individuals over the next decade. It also brought forward $500 million of military expenditure, taking the total for 2017-18 to $36.4 billion. Yet, there is no money for the toxic foam victims.

The federal and NSW reports underscore the determination of government authorities to wash their hands of a deepening health emergency, caused by a decades-long cover-up of the risks posed by the foam contamination.

Residents seeking justice confront a political struggle against the entire official political set-up, including the Labor Party opposition, which allowed the contamination to continue while it was in office.

The author also recommends

Australia: Residents denounce government response to PFAS health disaster

[29 May 2018]

Toxic contamination zone expanded around Australias Williamtown air force base

[27 December 2017]
The first week of commemoration tributes by family and friends to the 72 victims of the Grenfell Tower fire ended last Friday, in the opening stages of the official government inquiry.

So far, tributes have been given for 47 of those who died in last years June 14 inferno.

The tributes continue today and are expected to conclude this week.

This writer was present during the session Friday, in which tributes were heard for Vincent Chiejina, 60, Ligaya Moore, 78, and the El-Wahabi familyAbdulaziz, 52, Fouzia, 42, and their three children, Yasin, 20, Nur Huda 16, and 8-year-old Mehdi. Tributes were presented for Khadija Khalloufi, 52, and Jessica Urbano Ramirez, 12. A commemoration was heard for the Kedir familyHashim, 44, Nura Jemal, 35, and their three children, son Yahya, 13, daughter Firdaws, 12, and son Yaqub, 6.

Finally, a tribute was heard for Steve Power, 63.

Family members frequently broke down as they remembered their loved ones in moving and emotional scenes. Close relatives and friends were often shaken and in tears. Children have given tributes to family members and friends, including the 18 children who died. Sara Chebiouni, just nine years old, spoke of her memories of her eight-year-old cousin, Mehdi El-Wahabi.

Such has been the toll on those giving tributes and those listening that people have collapsed and required medical assistance.

The enormity of the crimes committed by the authorities against those who suffered the most gruesome deaths imaginable is made clear in the tributes given.

On Wednesday, Marjorie Vital, 68, and her son Ernie, 50, were remembered in a video narrated by Marjories surviving son. He says, You can see people downstairs in the building, the crowd building and whatever. It got worse and an hour later they are still in the building. I can see my mother and brother now making secondary plans for survival and going out of the windows is not an option. They went to the top floor of the tower itself.

Footage is shown of the stairs leading to the top of the 24-storey tower. I imagined my mother practically being carried by my brother to that top floor. Amidst all that smoke, and there they are, fortunate to have an open door. We dont know if it was already abandoned or whatever.

They entered the flat and they made their way to the bathroom. I imagine myself as my brother in that bathroom, filling the bath with water. We are now in the bath and theres no way Im leaving my mother and my mother wouldnt leave me. And also theres the sense of the security in that last moment knowing youre not alone.

The remains of Marjorie and Ernie were found in the tub, with the narration explaining, We now have the evidence that their bodies were fused together in the intensity of the fire. 

The bereaved continue to castigate the government and local authorities, holding them responsible for the deaths.

The testimony of Assema Kedir Habib, sister of Hashim Kedir, was read out by her lawyer, Mark Scott.

The Grenfell Tower fire has taken even more from me and my family. It has also stolen our father, my hero, the main reason for whatever good is inside me. Our father died only 12 days after he was told that his beloved child has perished with his whole family. He persistently denied at the beginning that something this horrible could happen to his generous, devout and loving son and that he could survive his own beloved grandchildren.

He died when he finally realised that they were in fact gone after only three days in a hospital bed. How can one make sense of losing six family members at the same time?

We as a family are left with nothing. Absolutely nothing. Grenfell Tower was on fire for more than 24 hours. We were literally watching our loved ones turn from alive, waving and begging for help from windows, to ashes. We were watching all the time. 

I still have a problem of accepting the fact that the UK, one of the most powerful countries in the world, couldnt do anything more in the year 2017 to save them, to save what was left of them. Why wasnt more done to save our loved ones? Why didnt the UK as a government try to do more that night? Why wasnt more done to at least save their dead bodies? Was it because the lives of the victims of Grenfell Tower didnt matter? Was it because our pain doesnt matter? Was the cost of trying to do more, higher than the lives of our loved ones? Was a price set for the precious, unfairly short-lived lives of Yaqub, 6, Firdaws, 12, and Yahya, 13?

Dying is one thing, how to die is another thing, and how you were treated after you died is a third thing. Our family members were let down on all three levels. They were made to live in a chimney with a stay-put instruction hanging on their wall long before the fire. They were instructed repeatedly, and for a long time, to stay in their flat, although everyone understood, starting from the first 20 minutes of the fire, that the fire was far from usual. They were cremated unwillingly.

Move on. To move on is to put something behind you, forget about it and never look back. Go on. To go on is to forever carry it forward with you and never forget. We promise never to move on, but we will try to go on.

In her commemoration for Steve Power, who had lived in Grenfell Tower for 32 years, his daughter Sherrie told the inquiry I do know that my dad wasnt in the tower when the fire started, but he came back to wake me up out of my sleep. 

Like everyone else, we were told to remain in our homes by authorities, so we did. It wasnt a peaceful night; there was panic and drama. He didnt die peacefully in his sleep. In his last moments, I dont know what he was feeling; I dont know if he was scared, waiting for someone or simply waiting to die.

His former partner, Claudia Davis, said he was my first love and the father of my first son, Wayne.  This can never, ever, ever happen again, and its got to be justice for Grenfell.

Addressing Justice Martin Moore-Bick, heading the inquiry, she said, So I have to say this to you because for a year I want to scream at someone, I want to argue with someone, I want to deal with things like we deal with things on the street, whatever it is. So, what Im saying, Sir Martin, you do right by us all and you will do right by mymy children. Everybody elses, yeah, but you will do right by my children, because I cant fight you, I cant argue with you and I cant turn up and knock on Theresa Mays door, yeah?

The transcripts for each day of the Inquiry proceedings, including the livestream with video tributes are available at the Grenfell Tower inquiry web site https://www.grenfelltowerinquiry.org.uk/proceedings.
Dozens of prominent liberal activists and a former Obama administration official attacked the Trump administration on social media late Sunday, posting pictures showing immigrant children sleeping in enclosed cages in US detention centers. Those sharing the images incorrectly assumed they were taken of children affected by Trumps new barbarous policy of separating parents and children when they cross the border illegally. Within hours, however, it was revealed that the photos were in fact taken in 2014, during the Obama administration.

Former Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, reporter Shaun King, and Womens March co-organizer Linda Sarsour were among the most well known figures who shared the photos and condemned the Trump administration over social media for neglecting children.

Shaun King, who twice voted for Obama, and campaigned heavily for him in 2008 and again in 2012, wrote, I saw this photo floating around and didnt know if it was real, It is. Children of immigrants are being held in cages, like dogs, at ICE detention centers, sleeping on the floor. Its an abomination.

Favreau reportedly wrote before deleting the tweet, This is happening right now, and the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible.

Neither acknowledged that the harrowing scenes took place under the administration they supported. The incident is a damning exposure of the hypocrisy and cynicism of the Democratic Party and the entire US liberal establishment who were silent while the Obama administration carried out a full scale assault on immigrants throughout his eight years in office.

The episode comes only days after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) released a detailed report on the systematic brutalization of unaccompanied immigrant children captured by Customs and Border Protection (CBP) from 2009 to 2014 at the US-Mexican border. Under the Obama administration, methods employed against these youth echoed those practiced by the CIA and US occupation forces at black site torture centers and Iraqs Abu Ghraib prison.

The reports exposed the routine rape and sexual assault of children by officers, who deprived the immigrant youth of food, water, and medical attention, among other inhumane behavior.

The disturbing photos of the caged children accidentally circulated by these Democratic Party operatives were taken in a holding cell where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children were being processed at US Customs and Border Protection in Nogales Placement Center in Arizona after a surge of unaccompanied child migrants in 2014.

In response to the surge of migrants, the Obama administration rushed to open a new detention facility in Dilley, Texas, which became the largest family detention center in the US, able to hold 2,400 people. The facility was owned and operated by Corrections Corporation of America (CCA)the worlds largest private prison company. After dozens of reports of prison-like conditions for children, including sexual, mental and physical abuse, a judge invalidated the centers license in December 2016.

In a pathetic and unsuccessful attempt at damage control, Favreau tweeted the true source of the photos had been exposed, These awful pictures are from 2014, when the governments challenge was reconnecting unaccompanied minors who showed up at the border with family or a safe sponsor. Today, in 2018, the government is CREATING unaccompanied minors by tearing them away from family at the border.

This statement is a complete falsification of the reality of the Obama policy, which was to warehouse immigrant youth in detention centers and rapidly deport them, often without legal representation. By the end of Obamas eight years in office, his administration had deported more immigrants than any in history. The administration regularly detained children who arrived with a parent even if they had another parent or relative to whom they could be released, in blatant defiance of federal law.

In July 2015, Judge Dolly M. Gee of the Federal District Court for the Central District of California issued a ruling against this policy. The US government argued against this move, claiming previous legislation did not cover the conditions of children who were housed with a parent, thus making them not entitled to the protections of youth found alone.

The new measures introduced by the Trump administration earlier this month, to immediately separate children from their families and even detain them on military bases, marks a new stage in the war on immigrants. However, what the Democratic Party is determined to obscure is that these measures flow seamlessly out of the policies pursued under the Obama administration. In fact, the ease with which Trump is able to carry out its assault on immigrants was made directly possible by the Obama administration and is continually aided by current congressional Democrats.

When leading Democratic Party members such as Bernie Sanders, state that they are willing to work with Trump to make sure we have strong border security, it is exactly these policies, carried out by Obama and escalated by Trump, to which they are referring. What is strong border security if not a code word for bolstering those law enforcement agencies, such as ICE and CBP, who patrol the border and apprehend, detain and deport immigrants?

Trump's chief of staff, retired General John Kelly, who defended separating families in an NPR interview this month, saying that the children will be taken care ofput into foster care or whatever, was appointed to address the issue of Central American immigration in 2012 by the Obama administration. In this role he called for the US to detach fair labor and human rights standards from arms sales in Central and South America, and explained that homeland defense does not begin at the one yard line of our Southwest border, but instead extends forward, throughout the hemisphere, to keep threats far from our nations shores.

On this basis Kelly oversaw the persecution of thousands of Central American immigrants traveling throughout Mexico, in an attempt to detain and deport them before they ever reached the US border. Senate Democrats overwhelmingly voted with their Republican counterparts to confirm Kelly to head the Department of Homeland Security, including the leaders of the supposed liberal Democrats, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.

Just seven weeks before Trump took office, the Obama administration went before the US Supreme Court to defend its power to indefinitely detain immigrants facing deportation proceedingsmany of them legal US residents and asylum seekerswithout granting them the right afforded to virtually anyone facing criminal prosecution to appear before a judge for a bond hearing to determine whether or not their imprisonment is justified.
TORONTO, May 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Lingo Media Corporation (TSX-V:LM) (OTC:LMDCF) (FSE:LIMA) ("Lingo Media" or the Company), a global provider of digital and print-based English Language Learning solutions, announces its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2018. All figures are reported in Canadian Dollars and are in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards unless otherwise noted.



During the first quarter of 2018, we invested $257,434 in our digital content library and learning management system to position the Company for future growth. Due to longer than expected sales cycles, we did not generate significant revenue this past quarter, said Khurram Qureshi, CFO of Lingo Media. We believe we are on the right track with a very deep and active sales pipeline and its now a matter of contract conversions. In addition, the Company is pursuing various corporate development initiatives and M&A opportunities to unlock value for shareholders.

Q1 2018 Operational Highlights

completed the development of a Learning Access Point (ELL LAP)

advanced the development of ELL Technologies online Spanish course

continued to market and sell, English For Success, a series of lessons and activities derived from ELL Library as a premium solution for governments and educational institutions

Subsequent Events

completed the first installation of the ELL LAP under the strategic alliance with HP Inc. at the Universidad Autonoma de Chiapas in Mexico

closed sales contracts with Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, with universities in Thailand & Japan, expanding the Companys reach into Asia

closed sales contract with the municipality of Floridablanca in Colombia, secured through the distribution partnership with E-Training SAS

Financial Highlights for the First Quarter Ended March 31, 2018

First Quarter Ended March 31st 2018 2017 Revenue $ 80,355 $ 597,977 Operating expenses 349,085 269,618 Development costs 257,434 - Income before amortization, share-based payments, depreciation, finance charges and taxes (526,164 ) 328,359 Amortization, share-based payments, and depreciation 25,061 295,661 Finance charges, taxes, foreign exchange (7,132 ) 28,753 Total expenses 624,448 594,032 Net profit (544,093 ) 3,945 Total comprehensive income (544,311 ) 3,727 Earnings per share $ (0.02 ) $ 0.00

Revenue for the period ended March 31, 2018 totalled $80,355 as compared to $597,977 in 2017 due to extended sales cycles

Operating expenses for the period ended March 31, 2018 totalled $349,085 compared to $269,618 in 2017

Development costs for the period ended March 31, 2018 totalled $257,434 compared to $nil in 2017 as the company previously capitalized all development costs as intangible assets

Net loss for the period ended March 31, 2018 was $544,093 or $(0.02) per share (basic) based on 35.5 million weighted average number of common shares as compared to net profit of $3,945 for the same period 2017 or $0.00 per share (basic) based on 35.5 million weighted average number of common shares

Loss before amortization, share-based payments, depreciation, finance charges and taxes were $526,164 for Q1-2018 compared to income of $328,359 for Q1-2017

The unaudited condensed interim financial statements for the quarter ended March 31, 2017 and Management Discussion & Analysis are available at www.sedar.com.

About Lingo Media

Lingo Media is a global provider of best-in-class digital and print-based English language learning solutions that are Changing the way the world learns English.



Developed for learners of English at every level, Lingo Medias ELL Technologies products combine a vast content library with proprietary technology. ELL Technologies intuitive dashboards enable students to track and manage their progress, and allow teachers to organize and interact with students, providing ongoing support. Lingo Medias Lingo Learning division is a print-based publisher of English language learning programs in China.



Lingo Medias product and program are marketed through established sales channels to key education, government and business organizations in Latin America and China and continues to extend its global reach and expand its product offerings.

Follow Lingo Media On:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LingoMedia

Twitter: @LingoMediaCorp

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/lingomedialm

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lingo-media-corporation

RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LingoMedia

For further information, contact:

Lingo Media

Kim Nguyen, Director of Corporate Communications

Tel: (416) 927-7000

Email: knguyen@lingomedia.com

To learn more, visit us at www.lingomedia.com

Portions of this press release may include "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of securities laws. These statements are made in reliance upon Sections 21E and 27A of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties or other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results, performance, or expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on management's current expectations and involve certain risks and uncertainties. Actual results may vary materially from management's expectations and projections and thus readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Lingo Media has tried to identify these forward-looking statements by using words such as "may," "should," "expect," "hope," "anticipate," "believe," "intend," "plan," "estimate" and similar expressions. Lingo Medias expectations, among other things, are dependent upon general economic conditions, the continued and growth in demand for its products, retention of its key management and operating personnel, its need for and availability of additional capital as well as other uncontrollable or unknown factors. No assurance can be given that the actual results will be consistent with the forward-looking statements. Except as otherwise required by US Federal securities laws, Lingo Media undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or any other reason. Certain factors that can affect the Company's ability to achieve projected results are described in the Company's filings with the Canadian and United States securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or www.sec.gov/edgar.shtml.



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




The overwhelming Yes vote in the Irish referendum on abortion rights, by a margin of 1,429,981 votes for to 723,632 votes against, is a landmark victory both for the Irish working class and for the defense of democratic rights internationally. In a country that for centuries has been synonymous with domination by the medieval backwardness of the Roman Catholic Church, where as recently as 20 years ago both contraception and divorce were illegal, two-thirds of those voting in a heavy turnout supported the legalization of abortion. It is a demonstration that, while the official parties of bourgeois Europe are all moving to the right, the working class and sections of the middle class are moving to the left.

Last Fridays vote is an exact reversal of the 1983 referendum that enacted the Eighth Amendment to the Irish constitution, formally prohibiting abortion by giving the unborn fetus legal rights equal to those of a pregnant woman. That referendum, backed by the Catholic hierarchy and Irelands major parties, passed by a two-to-one margin. The referendum to repeal the Eighth Amendment was opposed by the hierarchy, but the bishops avoided a prominent public role because of a series of major scandals that have shattered the Churchs claims to infallibility and moral superiority, involving sexual abuse by priests, enslavement of women in convent enterprises, and the discovery of a mass grave of at least 800 children born out of wedlock over many decades in rural Tuam, dumped in the septic tank of a Catholic home for unwed mothers.

The main bourgeois partiesFine Gael, Fianna Fail, Labour and Sinn Feinall officially endorsed a yes vote, although the two largest, Fine Gael and Fianna Fail, were deeply split. In any case, as observers noted, these parties were not leading the campaign to legalize abortion. They were trailing behind a popular movement that was manifested in a major influx of new voters, the Internet-based crowd-funding of the yes campaign, and enthusiastic participation among youth, and particularly young women.

Vote tabulations found that only one district out of 40, Donegal, on the border with Northern Ireland, reported a majority no vote, and that by a narrow margin. Even the most rural and conservative areas, such as Roscommon and Mayo, posted majorities for yes. Exit polls revealed that support for abortion rights won a majority among every age group except those over 65 (with 80 percent or more among young people voting yes), and among urban, suburban and rural voters. Irish farmers voted by 52.5 percent to defy the Catholic Church, which had branded every yes vote a sin requiring confession and repentance.

There are both short-term and long-term social factors at work in the shift in public opinion in Ireland. As one Irish commentator noted, the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment was spearheaded by the youth: [T]his campaign has been largely won by a generation that had good reason to give up on Ireland. It is the generation of 2008, the generation that was handed a massive bank debt, that was told there were no jobs, that had its wages and welfare payments cut, that was informed, in so many words, that it would be greatly appreciated if it would kindly remove itself to somewhere else.

Real wages plummeted after the 2008 financial crash, which put an end to widespread illusions in Ireland as the Celtic Tiger, but have recovered somewhat since 2012. Meanwhile, the cost of living has continued its relentless rise. Dublin, which accounts for one quarter of the countrys population, is now a more expensive place to live than London. Economic inequality in Ireland, as in all the major capitalist countries, has risen to previously unheard-of levels. Not since Anglo-Irish landlords feasted while their peasant tenants starved during the Great Famine of 184748 has the gap between the wealthy and the rest of the population been so vast.

But there is another social transformation, of a longer-term and more profound character, that is manifested in the Irish vote. Once a country consisting overwhelmingly of poor farmers, usually tenants at the mercy of the landlord and priest, Ireland has undergone an industrial development and economic modernization over the past half century. In 1960, only 46 percent of Irelands 2.8 million population lived in urban areas, while 54 percent were rural. In 2018, 67 percent of Irelands 4.8 million population lives in urban areas, with only 33 percent rural. The transformation in raw numbers is even more remarkable: Irelands urban population has risen 150 percent, from 1,288,000 in 1960 to 3,216,000; the rural population has risen by only 5 percent over the same period, from 1,512,000 to 1,584,000.

What the influx of capital investment in factories, offices and research centers means in class terms is unmistakable: the urban working class, once a relatively small minority in Ireland, albeit with a remarkable revolutionary history, is now the largest social force in the country. The rural tenantry and farmers, long dominated by the Catholic Church, have become a minority. And it is the working class, of all classes in modern capitalist society, which is the bedrock for the defense of democratic rights.

Over the past quarter-century, in a series of referendums that have allowed the people to override the bourgeois parties that kowtow to the Church, Ireland has legalized contraception, divorce, gay marriage and now abortion. As the New York Times noted Monday, The culture of silence and deference to religious authority that long dominated Ireland is gone.

It is instructive to contrast the advances in democratic rights recorded in what was once the most backward country in Western Europe with the frontal assault on those rights in the United States, the richest and most powerful capitalist country in the world. Once legislation is enacted by the Irish parliamentalready presented in draft form before the referendumwomen in small towns and rural areas of Ireland will have greater access to reproductive health care, including abortion, than their counterparts in similar areas of the United States.

In 2014, according to the Guttmacher Institute, there was no abortion provider in 90 percent of US counties, accounting for 39 percent of the women of reproductive age. This included 99 percent of counties in Missouri, 98 percent in the Dakotas and Kentucky, 97 percent in Arkansas and 96 percent in Wisconsin. One-quarter of women who needed abortion services had to travel at least 25 miles to find a clinic. In parts of Texas and the Great Plains, the distance to be traveled comes to hundreds of miles each way.

The right to abortion is being destroyed by stealth, through a combination of state harassment of clinics, such as requirements that they be affiliated to hospitals (even when the only local hospital is Catholic), and obstacles placed in the way of women, such as the requirement for multiple visits to receive counseling before they obtain the procedure. Heavy pressure has been placed on insurance companies, most recently by the Trump administration, not to cover abortion services in any government-linked insurance plan, such as Obamacare. Medicaid will not pay for the procedure, and funding for the largest provider of abortion services, Planned Parenthood, is under systematic attack.

This assault on democratic rights affects primarily women of the working class. Women of higher income and social position have no problem obtaining abortion and other reproductive health services when they need them. That accounts for the indifference with which the well-heeled advocates of the #MeToo campaign treat the destruction of abortion rights in America. While the New York Times, the New Yorker, the television networks and Hollywood obsess about the supposed crimes against millionaire actresses and television personalities, they have no time for the plight of women workers who are denied this fundamental right to determine what happens within their own bodies.

This indifference carries over to the media coverage of the Irish referendum. It has dropped from the newspaper headlines after one day. It barely registered in the network news broadcasts. The World Socialist Web Site sees this issue differently. We hail the actions of the Irish people, who have dealt a blow to reaction. This vote reinforces our conviction that the defense of democratic rights, and of all progressive developments in modern society, requires the mobilization of the strength of the working class as an independent political force.
Internationally-acclaimed investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker John Pilger has issued the following statement endorsing the June 17 demonstration at Sydneys Town Hall Square, to demand that the Australian government immediately act to secure Julian Assanges unconditional freedom and return to Australia. The demonstration will begin at 1:00 p.m.

John Pilger

The demonstration called for Sunday, 17th June, in support of Julian Assange, is one of the most important and urgent for many years. Two days later, it will be six years since Julian was forced to take refuge in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

If he steps outside the embassy, its more than likely he will face extradition to the United States on concocted charges of espionage. What this means is that he and WikiLeaks have performed an extraordinary public service by revealing the lies and crimes of great power. This is true journalism.

Julian is a courageous editor persecuted for exercising a right enshrined in the United States Constitution. Today, he has never been more isolated, with communication and his right to visitors cut off. Here, in his homeland, we must let him know he is not alone, and we call on the Turnbull government to fulfill its responsibility under international law and to bring Julian home.

Organisations that endorse and intend to participate in the demonstration should inform the Socialist Equality Party (Australia) at sep@sep.org.au.
Mass support for strike action is growing among workers at United Parcel Service (UPS), where the current contract with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) covering 280,000 hourly workers is set to expire on August 1. A strike authorization, which is being held through June 3, is widely expected to provide an overwhelming yes vote.

The impending struggle at one of the largest private employers in the United States, with 434,000 workers, comes in the midst of a resurgence of the class struggle in the United States, where man-hours lost due to strikes have already eclipsed totals from all of last year.

Strikes by teachers, which acquired mass support throughout the country and internationally, particularly after teachers rebelled against the attempts by the unions to shut them down, point to the potential that exists for a broader struggle. Approximately 200,000 US Postal Service workers in the American Postal Workers Union also face the expiration of their national contract on September 20.

UPS workers confront as an enemy not only the company, but the Teamsters union. The union bureaucracy, headed by James Hoffa, son of former president Jimmy Hoffa, is working hand-in-glove with UPS through secret contract talks to impose massive givebacks. Leaks from the Teamsters negotiating committee revealed that the union has proposed the creation of a lower-paid second tier of package delivery drivers, who would start out at only $15 an hour, a fraction of the current rate.

According to the Wall Street Journal, these hybrid drivers would be scheduled Sunday through Thursday or Tuesday through Saturday to avoid weekend overtime rates currently paid to senior, full-time drivers. The company has also floated a proposal for a mandatory six-day, 70-hour workweek during busy periods or whenever the company deems it necessary.

As with the treachery of the teachers unions earlier this year, the Teamsters preparations for a sellout demonstrate that the unions are not workers organizations, but agencies of management which see their role as the suppression of the class struggle and the promotion of the interests of management. As a union lawyer told Supreme Court judges considering the Janus v. AFSCME case earlier this year, Union security is the tradeoff for no strikes. If public employee unions were denied agency fees from workers who opted out of the unions, he warned, you can raise an untold specter of labor unrest throughout the country.

For UPS, shedding labor costs is seen as indispensable. Even though the company made $4.9 billion in profits last year, operating profits declined by 2.4 percent in the United States due to rising costs. The company also faces pressure from Amazon, whose order fulfillment centers set the standards for low wages and technological efficiency. Amazon is planning to introduce a package delivery service later this year, Ship with Amazon, that would directly compete with UPS and FedEx, cutting into their market share of the growing e-commerce delivery business.

UPS was one of the pioneers of the multi-tier wage system in the late 1970s, when it began hiring part time employees to work in their facilities for significantly less than their full-time counterparts. Today, roughly 70 percent of the companys workforce is part-time.

Conditions have worsened significantly since then. In 1978, a part timer in New York City would have been paid around $7.50 per hour. Today, UPS part time workers start out at $10 per hour, a decline in real terms of more than 65 percent.

Two part-time UPS workers in Portland, Oregon, who spoke to the World Socialist Web Site described the physical and emotional toll of working at a UPS hub. I lost 20 to 25 pounds the first year there working part time. In peak season, its a lot more hours, one said. When I was hired, there was a girl who dropped out in the first week, she couldnt handle it, just left, crying. Turnover at the hub is astronomical, as high as 90 percent, the second worker said.

For drivers, UPS routinely flouts state law limiting working hours to 11 hours per day, opting instead to pay the paltry fines. We had one driver literally work himself to exhaustion this past week. He was delivering packages and he collapsed in the lobby of a business where he was delivering.

For most people, the rule is dont cry until you get to your car, the second worker said. But, its abnormal if someone doesnt cry on their shift. And that is regular.

The ongoing strike authorization vote conducted by the notoriously corrupt, gangster-ridden Teamster bureaucracy will likely return an overwhelming mandate for a strike. However, the union will do everything that it can to prevent a strike, or, if that becomes impossible, to limit its scope and shut it down as quickly as possible.

Teamsters for a Democratic Union (TDU), a faction of the trade union bureaucracy, has criticized Hoffa and the secretive and undemocratic maneuvers by the negotiating committee. Its members on the negotiating committee were also responsible for leaking the Teamster proposal for hybrid drivers, for which they were expelled by Denis Taylor, head of the IBT package division.

However, TDU are not political innocents. They were brought into the Teamsters leadership in the mid-1990s under president Ron Carey, who was hailed at the time as a great reformer who would sweep away the mafia-infested old guard under the Hoffa dynasty.

This was exposed as a sham in the 1997 UPS strike, when Carey enforced a sellout-deal, which included wage increases below the national average, sending strikers back to work without a vote. Only days later, Carey was indicted on federal corruption charges stemming from his funneling nearly $1 million from the Teamsters treasury into his own re-election campaign, in an illegal scheme that involved the Democratic National Committee and top AFL-CIO leaders, including current president and then-secretary-treasurer Richard Trumka.

The TDU, which was initiated by pseudo-left organizations affiliated with the Labor Notes publication, including Solidarity, explicitly opposed any struggle to politically arm the working class against the pro-capitalist and nationalist program of the unions, and their political subordination of the working class to the Democratic Party. Instead these organizations promoted union reform in the Teamsters, the United Auto Workers and other unions.

The TDU, like Labor Notes as a whole, is nothing more today than a faction of the union bureaucracy. There is deep hatred among rank-and-file to the Teamsters, which has the well-earned reputation of being particularly brutal and shameless in its suppression of rank-and-file opposition. The aim of the TDU, however, is not to articulate this opposition, but to capture it before it escapes the control of the union and begins to develop into a broader class movement.

The TDU and Labor Notes insist that workers obey the authority of the unions. Above all, they are opposed to the fight by the Socialist Equality Party for UPS and other workers to form rank-and-file factory and work place committees, controlled democratically by workers themselves, to take the conduct of the struggle out of the hands of the Teamsters and other unions.

A crucial element in the ability of the unions to force through betrayals in the recent teacher strikes was the role played by various dissident figures, such as Oklahoma Teachers United founder Larry Cagle and Arizona Educators United leader Noah Karvelis, who promoted the fiction that the unions could be pressured through rank and file militancy into leading a genuine struggle. This perspective of reform left the teachers unprepared when the unions ended the strike at precisely the point where the mobilization and support for the teachers was at its highest.

The Labor Notes and Democratic Socialists of America aligned Jacobin publication, which promoted these figures during the teacher strikes, are now promoting the TDU. Functioning as advisors to the union apparatus, these publications have argued that a deal the union could sell as a victory with UPS would help the Teamsters make headway unionizing Amazon workers.

UPS workers must oppose the company-union conspiracy and elect independent rank-and-file committees, separate from and in opposition to the Teamsters union. This must form the basis for appealing to broader sections of the working class including USPS, FedEx and Amazon workers, and making their fight the center of a broader offensive by the entire working class against poverty wages, joblessness and inequality. Above all, it must be guided by an understanding that they face not only the intransigence of a particular employer or trade union bureaucrat, but the entire capitalist system, which is incapable of utilizing great advances in communications and transportation technologies to meet the needs of a complex, globally integrated society. Instead workers must fight for a socialist alternative, including the transformation of UPS and Amazon into publicly controlled and collectively owned enterprises, so the vast wealth created by the working class can be controlled by workers themselves.
At a media roundtable last Thursday, United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams spelled out the unions support for the recent announcement by the Trump administration that it is ordering a national security investigation into auto imports. The move could result in tariffs of as high as 25 percent under section 232 of 1962 legislation invoked by the White House to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum earlier this year.

In response to a question from a reporter, Williams declared his support for Trump when he is working within the best interests of working men and women in this country, such as trade 

He continued, The US has become a dumping ground for a lot of countries  I thought we should be looking at imports a long time ago.

The line-up of the UAW behind the viciously anti-working class Trump administration is hardly surprising. The extreme economic nationalism promoted by the UAW, the United Steelworkers (USW) and other unions dovetails with the fascistic America First nationalism of the far-right, including forces such as former Trump advisor Stephen Bannon.

The protectionist policies being pursued by the Trump administration against international rivals of US corporations have provoked warnings from sections of the ruling class of a descent into all-out trade war and the kind of beggar-thy-neighbor policies that preceded the outbreak of the Second World War. This includes pitting the US against supposed allies such as Germany and Canada.

Williams and other union leaders are in the camp of the most right-wing, fascistic ruling class advocates of economic nationalism and militarism.

Responding to another question, Williams said he agreed with the assertion by Trump that protectionist measures were an issue of national security, implicitly acknowledging the connection between trade war and military war. I do know, he said, there has always been a question, do we have the kind of technology and equipment to protect our country and our allies?

He added, I do support anytime we look at these things. I do think they ought to evaluateare they dumping or saturating the market so that its a detriment to our industries? I think thats important to us as a nation, important to our sovereignty. People are free traders to the detriment of our country.

Workers should recall that Williams appeared with Trump and then-Ford CEO Mark Fields at a former bomber factory outside Detroit, Michigan last year. At the event, Trump praised the World War II alliance between the corporations, the unions and the Roosevelt administration for the purpose of ramping up war production.

Williams line-up with Trump follows similar statements by United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, who praised Trumps proposed tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, claiming they would be a boon for US steelworkers.

The public backing of the UAW and USW for the policies of the Trump administration comes as social tensions are intensifying, evidenced by the recent teachers strikes and signs of growing restiveness among autoworkers. The UAW is ramping up its efforts to deflect the anger of autoworkers outward, against workers overseas, with the claim that they are taking American jobs.

The other side of the economic nationalist coin is corporatismthe complete subordination of workers to the profit interests of their American bosses. This reactionary perspective has produced decades of factory closures, mass layoffs and wage and benefit concessions, imposed with the indispensable assistance of the UAW. It is the basis on which the UAW and the rest of the unions have been transformed into industrial police and labor contractors for American big business.

The anti-working class character of the UAW has been further exposed by a widening corruption scandal involving company bribes to top union negotiators in exchange for pushing through pro-company contracts, such as the 2015 Big Three agreements that reinforced the hated two-tier wage and benefit system and expanded the use of brutally exploited temporary part-time autoworkers.

While generally praising Trump, in the course of his remarks Williams claimed to be opposed to Trumps termination of the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, which protects some undocumented immigrants from deportation, calling it inhumane. Here Williams is talking out of both sides of his mouth.

There is a direct and inseparable connection between the promotion of nationalism and militarism and the cultivation of xenophobia and anti-immigrant racism. World War I and World War II saw the witch-hunting of immigrants, including the round-up and internment of 100,000 Japanese-Americans by the Roosevelt administration. In 1982, the UAWs promotion of anti-Japanese chauvinism played a major role in the beating death of Chinese-American Vincent Chin by a Chrysler foreman and his unemployed son.

The UAW is in direct contact with the White House over terms for the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), pressing for a border tax and tariffs on Mexican imports.

In an attempt to cover up its scape-goating of Mexican workers, the UAW has claimed to be in favor of independent unions and higher compensation for Mexican workers, calling for penalties to be imposed on the Mexican auto industry unless it raises wages to $16 an hour. The cynicism of this demand is breathtaking under conditions where large sections of US autoworkers, including some temporary part-time workers at UAW plants, make considerably less than $16. Wages of $11 an hour or less are common in parts plants.

The miserable wages and pervasive poverty in Mexico and all across Latin America are the product of more than a century of oppression by US imperialism. US corporations have drained the resources of all the lands south of the border while propping up right-wing regimes to suppress the masses.

As for independent unions, there is not an ounce of independence in the UAW, which serves as a tool of the auto bosses for maintaining labor peace and imposing wage and benefit concessions and speedup.

The fraud of Williams claim to sympathize with the plight of Mexican workers is further exposed by the refusal of the UAW to support strikes and protests by Mexican autoworkers or organize any coordinated action between US and Mexican workers. Williams is well aware that any attempt to significantly raise the wages of Mexican autoworkers, or, for that matter, US autoworkers, would trigger ruthless opposition from the transnational car companies and threaten the unions cushy relationship with management.

The attacks on autoworkers are not the result of unfair trade. They are the result of the capitalist economic system.

Private ownership of the means of production is incompatible with a decent life for workers in any part of the globe. A serious fight to raise wages and defend jobs requires a struggle by American workers in unity with their brothers and sisters in Mexico, Canada and around the world against the transnational monopolies.

This requires a break with the UAW and the building of independent rank-and-file factory committees as the genuine voice of autoworkers.
The World Socialist Web Site invites workers and other readers to contribute to this regular feature.

Latin America

Maquila workers in Mexico protest attacks on militants

On May 23, workers at the Rintex company in Jiutepec, in the south-central state of Morelos, rallied at the plant to condemn the firing of workers seeking to form the Independent Workers Coalition of Rintex Workers to fight the daily violation of workers rights by this giant textile firm.

Picketing workers at the plant pointed out that as soon as they began organizing their workers coalition the company initiated a campaign of harassment and humiliations, leading to the sacking, on Monday, May 21, of the militant workers, allegedly for lack of work. Security personnel immediately escorted the workers out of the plant, preventing them from communicating with anybody inside the plant.

At the Wednesday rally, the demonstrators insisted on the immediate rehiring of the six sacked workers, an end to the victimization of Rintex workers, and the right to form an independent union at Rintex.

The Rintex plant, with 800 workers, manufactures T-shirts for the export market.

Argentine utility workers protest

On Thursday, May 24, over 2,000 utility workers marched in Cordoba, Argentinas second largest city, denouncing the increases in utility rates and attacks on wages and working conditions. The marchers, members of the Luz y Fuerza (Light and Power) union, also called for a rejection of the impending agreement between the administration of President Mauricio Macri and the International Monetary Fund, which many fear will bring in higher unemployment and an attack on real wages.

The trigger for the march was the decision by the Provincial Electric Energy Company to end benefits included in the current labor contract. The companys actions are now legitimized by recent labor reform legislation.

Furthermore, in a media campaign, company executives blame increases in electricity rates on the costly benefits that workers enjoy at the company.

Steel workers in Brazil mobilize and strike against corporate attacks

On Thursday last week, the workers at the Companhia Siderurgica Nacional (National Steel Company, CSN) in Volta Redonda, Rio de Janeiro State, rallied, mobilized and walked off their jobs. The workers are fighting for a six-hour workday and pay distribution under the Profit Sharing Program (Participacao nos Resultados, PPR).

The steelworkers demand what is due them in a lump sum while management is proposing those workers that earn less than R$3.2 thousand (about US$860) receive a bonus in two payments, each corresponding to half what is owned to them. Those workers that earn more would receive two bonuses, each corresponding to 90 percent of their wages.

CSN management is also attempting to impose a longer 12-hour workday, taking advantage of so-called flexibilities legislated into the new labor reform.

The United States

Chicago-region beverage delivery drivers strike over wages and company intimidation

More than 150 Teamsters delivery drivers went on strike May 22 against the American Bottling Company facilities in Northlake and Harvey, Illinois, over wages and unfair labor practices. American Bottling Company, which is a division of the Dr. Pepper Snapple Group, pays members of Teamsters Local 727 some two dollars less than drivers at Coca-Cola and Pepsi.

The Teamsters have filed a number of unfair labor practices charges, including company retaliation against workers involved in union activity and denying requests for union representation during disciplinary meetings. The most recent charge is over the companys hiring of armed security guards to patrol and intimidate our members.

In a press release, the union has warned of a long fight. But its only concrete action was to call on its supporters to boycott beverages made and distributed by American Bottling and Dr. Pepper Snapple. Northlake is considered one of Dr. Pepper Snapples largest facilities, employing some 800 workers.

Canada

Canadian Pacific Railway workers set to strike

Over 3,000 train operators and signal workers at Canadian Pacific Railways (CP) will go on strike this week as announced by their unions, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW).

Union negotiators say they were forced to call a strike due to CPs refusal to improve its latest contract offer. One outstanding issue for workers are the schedules that drive workers to exhaustion. Numerous operators that are dependent on rail lines owned by CP, such as Via Rail and Ontario transit company Metrolinx, have said they will face serious disruptions from a strike while CP has implemented its own strike contingency plan.

Workers in both unions had voted nearly unanimously against the latest company offer and in favor of strike action in recent days. This comes in the wake of a vote on a contract offer, as required by the federal government, that concluded mediated talks last month.

B.C. miners strike

Two hundred workers at Mount Polley Mining Corporation in central British Columbia went on strike last week after a three-hour lockout that management claimed was intended to speed up stalled negotiations.

The strikers are members of the United Steelworkers union (USW) and have been without a contract since the end of last year. This job action comes in the wake of layoffs announced in January that will ultimately eliminate at least 78 jobs.

Mount Polley is an open-pit copper mine owned by Imperial Metals based in Vancouver. The union has appealed to the company to resume negotiations, but that offer was rejected.

Ontario municipal strike grows

The two-week old strike by 230 outside workers in the city of Cornwall in eastern Ontario was joined last week by another 150 inside workers in the same union, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).

The strike now includes bylaw officers, building inspectors, childcare and water service workers, among others, who are fighting a range of concessions being demanded by the city. The strike has meant a reduction of services in a number of departments, including ambulance service, with the city asking patients to take taxes or make their own way to hospital except in the most urgent cases.
Beijing's push to isolate Taiwan is gathering pace, with two of the island's few remaining allies switching allegiance to China in the past month.

Taiwan isn't just taking heat from China diplomatically. Multi-national companies are being pressured over how they describe Taiwan, with Beijing insisting they follow its line that the island is an integral part of China. Shows of force by the Chinese military in the Taiwan Strait, the narrow strip of water that divides the two, are also becoming more commonplace.

This ratcheting up of tensions between China and the self-governed, democratic island opens up another fault line for Washington in its dealings with Beijing, with the Trump administration already at odds with China over trade, North Korea and the South China Sea.

Washington has signaled closer support for Taiwan and a high-profile demonstration of solidarity comes in June when the United States opens a new complex to house its de facto embassy in Taipei that's three times the size of the original building.

Here's what you need to know about the potential flashpoint.

How has China been piling on the pressure?

While Beijing has been chipping away at Taiwan's shallow bench of diplomatic allies for years, the loss of two -- Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic -- in the space of a month is unprecedented.

Taiwan accuses Beijing of "dollar diplomacy," enticing countries to switch allegiance with cash or other incentives -- a strategy that's become easier as China's grown richer and its pockets deeper.

Beijing has also focused its attention on companies that don't toe its line on Taiwan. Some 44 airlines were recently warned not to list Taiwan separately from China on their websites and given a deadline to comply, a move the US government has described on May 5 as "Orwellian nonsense."

Most recently, Japanese retailer Muji has been fined for coat-hanger packaging that described Taiwan as a country.

China has also prevented Taiwan from attending, even as an observer, the annual meeting of the World Health Organization's decision making body for two consecutive years, a move that excludes the island's 23 million people from information that helps prevent outbreak of global diseases.

No target is too small. In the small Australian town of Rockhampton, tiny fish-shaped Taiwan flags featured on a children's art project displayed in public were painted over, reportedly at the behest of Beijing.

What's China's goal?

China and Taiwan -- officially the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China, respectively -- separated in 1949 following the Communist victory in a civil war that saw the Nationalists flee to the island.

The two sides have been governed separately since, though a shared cultural and linguistic heritage mostly endures -- with Mandarin spoken as the official language in both places.

Bringing Taiwan back to the fold has eluded China's Communist leaders for nearly seven decades and would be a huge achievement for President Xi Jinping, who now has the option to rule for life.

Chong-Pin Lin, a former deputy defense minister in Taiwan, said he believes reunification is still a long-term goal for Xi. For now, he says, Beijing is focused on deterring Taiwan from making a declaration of independence -- something that would be a huge embarrassment for Xi.

"Beijing is skillful at applying psychological pressure on Taiwan," he says.

President Tsai Ing-wen's Democratic Progressive Party has traditionally leaned in favor of formal independence from China, compared to Taiwan's other main political party, the Kuomintang, as the Nationalists are known locally.

Although Tsai has been "very prudent" since being elected in 2016 and tried to restrain the more radical wing of her party, says Lin, Beijing may feel that she will look to appeal to her base as mid-term elections near.

However, it's not just about the stick for Beijing. China has also been encouraging integration. In February, China's Taiwan Affairs Officer revealed 31 new measures to promote exchange and cooperate with Taipei, many of which make it easier for those from Taiwan to work, do business and study in mainland China, including teachers and doctors.

How does the US fit in?

Despite their unofficial nature, Taiwan's ties with the US, which provides arms to the island under the Taiwan Relations Act, appear strong.

Defying strong pressure from China, Congress passed the Taiwan Travel Act, which US President Donald Trump signed into law in March, by unanimous vote in both houses. It aims to make it easier for US officials to visit the island and Taiwan officials to visit the US.

Another bi-partisan bill aimed at ensuring Taiwan's space in the world stage isn't diminished further was launched on Friday by Republican Sen. Core Gardner and Democratic Sen. Edward Markey.

"This bipartisan legislation will help ensure that major international organizations do not turn a blind eye to our ally Taiwan simply because of China's bullying tactics," the senators said.

And when the Trump administration opens the new American Institute in Taiwan, as the unofficial embassy is called, on June 12, it's possible that high-ranking members of the Trump administration will attend.

However, in Taiwan, some analysts fear that an erratic and unpredictable President Trump may use Taiwan as a bargaining chip to extract concessions in his dealings with China on North Korea or trade.

"Taiwan-US relations are pretty good right now, but we don't know what the future holds," said Lin.

What's Taiwan doing about it?

Taiwan has long been used to operating in China's shadow.

In 1971, the Republic of China was forced to withdraw from the United Nations after a motion was passed recognizing the People's Republic as the only lawful representative of China to the UN. Many other countries followed suit, including the United States, which switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing 1979 but has maintained unofficial ties with Taipei.

Its unofficial relationships, especially with the United States, ultimately carry greater weight than its smaller, formal allies. Taiwan has representative offices, which act as de facto embassies, in more than 100 cities and a passport issued in Taiwan allows visa-free access to 148 countries, compared to 70 for China.

Many people in Taiwan barely bat an eyelid when a diplomatic ally is lost -- seeing the money the government spends on maintaining and cultivating these small countries as a waste.

What will be key is if Beijing's pressure has an impact on the island's more powerful allies, like the US, EU or Japan or on the companies that do business there.

As Beijing has ramped up pressure, Taiwan's government has been more vocal in calling out Beijing's tactics.

It has publicly criticized some companies who have bowed to Beijing's pressure. And Tsai warned of a red line in a statement issued last week in the wake of Burkina Faso's decision to ditch Taiwan.

"China's efforts to undermine our national sovereignty are already challenging Taiwan society's bottom line. This we will no longer tolerate," said President Tsai.

"We will simply redouble our resolve and continue to engage with the world."
No holiday from violence. Milwaukee police are investigating seven separate shootings that all happened in less than 12 hours on Monday, May 28. One person is dead and six others were injured as a result of the shootings.

The first shooting happened near Servite Drive and Manor Lane at around 10:15 a.m. Monday morning.

Police say a 19-year-old woman was walking with a friend when an unknown suspect fired a gunshot from an unknown location. The victim received a non-life threatening gunshot wound. She was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.

The second shooting happened around 12:10 p.m. near 1st and Ring Streets.

According to police, an 18-year-old man was walking when a suspect fired several gunshots at him. The victim received a non-fatal gunshot wound. He was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.

The third shooting happened near 38th and Hadley at around 12:40 p.m.

Officials say a 17-year-old boy became involved in a confrontation with two others. During the confrontation, one of the suspects pulled out a gun and shot the victim. The victim was taken to the hospital for his non-life threatening injury. He is expected to survive.

The fourth shooting happened around 1:30 p.m. at Kern Park.

Authorities say a 21-year-old man collapsed after exiting a vehicle and running a short distance. Responding officers found that the victim was suffering from a serious gunshot wound and was unresponsive. Milwaukee fire crews administered life support efforts, but unfortunately the man died from his injuries.

The fifth shooting happened near 20th and Cleveland at around 2 p.m.

Police say a 41-year-old man was walking in the area when he heard several gunshots being fired. He felt pain and realized that he was shot. The victim was taken to the hospital and is being treated for a non-life threatening gunshot injury.

The sixth shooting happened at around 5:30 p.m. near 69th and Fiebrantz Avenue.

According to police, an 18-year-old man was involved in an argument with another person that quickly escalated into a fight. After the fight, the victim was driving away when the suspect fired gunshots at him. The victim was struck by gunfire and stopped his car near 73rd and Capitol. He was treated by MFD and taken to the hospital. He is expected to survive.

The seventh shooting happened near 39th and Vliet Street at around 8:15 p.m.

Officials say a couple had been arguing off and on throughout the day. The argument escalated and the suspect got out a firearm and shot the victim. The victim, a 32-year-old woman, received a non-life threatening gunshot injury. She was taken to the hospital. MPD is seeking the known suspect.

Seven other shootings took place Saturday, May 26 and Sunday, May 27.

A 43-year-old man was fatally shot near 19th and Hadley on Saturday morning.

A 53-year-old man was non-fatally shot near 15th and Lloyd Saturday night.

A 21-year-old man was non-fatally shot near 39th and Hopkins Saturday night.

A 41-year-old man was fatally shot near 26th and Roosevelt Saturday night.

A 22-year-old man was non-fatally shot near 14th and Madison Sunday morning.

A 27-year-old man and a 15-year-old boy were non-fatally shot near 19th and Grant Sunday night.

A 31-year-old man was non-fatally shot near 42nd and Ruby Sunday night.

Taking a look at the numbers:

7 separate shootings on Saturday and Sunday.

7 additional shootings on Monday.

The victims are 13 men and 2 women.

They range in age from 15 to 53 years old.

3 of the victims have died.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - A heavily traveled road has reopened.

On Tuesday, News 10 spoke with the Terre Haute Engineering Department.

They told us after being closed for a week, Ohio Street from 3rd to 7th Street is now fixed.

Crews had to shut down the road for emergency sewer repair work.

Moving a little further east onto Ohio Boulevard, crews will close Ohio from Fruitridge to Brown starting on June 1st.

The road construction is expected to last through June 7th.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - We have new details on the murder of Alice "Anita" Oswald.

She's the woman who was reported missing on November 10th of last year.

Three days later, police say an arsonist burnt her house down.

Moving forward to last Friday, the Las Vegas Police arrested Kenneth Pitts, Jr.

LINK | ARRESTED: LAS VEGAS POLICE ARREST KENNETH PITTS, JR. IN NEVADA CAMPSITE

He has now been charged with Oswald's murder.

Back in January of 2017, police arrested Pitts on theft charges.

He was accused of stealing cash from Oswald.

Oswald called police often to receive updates on the case, telling police she now carried a gun and wasn't afraid to use it.

According to the report, Oswald would back up those words in what turned out to be her final actions.

According to the probable cause affidavit filed in Pitts' murder case, Terre Haute Police believe Oswald came home on November 9th to find at least three people in her basement, and one on lookout.

Police believe Oswald confronted Pitts and shot him in the face, but she did not kill him.

LINK | YOU MAY HAVE HEARD THE NAME KENNETH PITTS BEFORE, HERE'S WHY

That's when police say they think Pitts beat Oswald to death with a hatchet handle.

Pitts allegedly put Oswald's body in her maroon Honda CRV and dumped both into a rural pond in eastern Vigo County, not far from his home.

Another witness told police that back in April, he last saw Pitts driving a maroon van that was missing a rear window.

He was said to also have changed his appearance and had fake identification.

Pitts reportedly said he was planning to leave town because the police were onto him.

In the end, the Las Vegas Police were the ones who found him.

Pitts was set to go before a fugitive judge on Tuesday morning, but court records have not updated.
PARKE COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) - You might use these hot days to have some fun in the water, but if you're not watching your children closely enough, the fun instantly disappears.

A scary situation unfolded on Memorial Day at Turkey Run State Park. Thats where Whitney and Kenny Bower spent their holiday on the water. But their day trip from Illinois quickly turned into more than they bargained for.

Whitney shares, "We ended up paddling down river, we got off for a little while and we played in the sand and we played on the banks. And then, we got back in, and that's when we ran into the children."

Their relaxing family canoe trip turned dangerous in minutes.

Kenny says, "She said, Kenny look, help, help!' She heard somebody yelling. I didn't see the baby, I was on the back of the boat, I saw everybody that was over there, they all looked of age. They all had their heads above water."

But Whitney had spotted a baby with the group of kids, which was under water.

Whitney shares, "He instantly jumped in and the second he jumped in all 5 children like ran to him and like swarmed to him and pushing him under which scared me. And Im like no, the baby's drowning, he has to get the baby."

The rescue unfolded right before Whitneys eyes.

Whitney recalls, "He finally got her to me she was lifeless as he grabbed her and kept her above water. But when I was able to get her upright, she immediately started coughing and crying and I was so concerned with her I wasn't fully paying attention. He threw the four-year-old in the boat as well and was able to push us to the side.'"

Most safety officials say that you're actually supposed to try and throw a rope or reach out to somebody before jumping in. But the bowers say that it happened so fast, that they couldn't help but just go after the kids.

Kenny shares, "Afterwards I told Whitney, I should've just thrown my life jacket out there. I didn't think about it though because there was no time."

Whitney says, After that happened, I told Kenny, I said, 'God had us here for a reason. He wanted us to be here. He wanted us so that we could save that child.' Because I fear that if we weren't there, I really do not believe that she would've made it out alive."

Whats most shocking about the incident is the kids were not under parent supervision. The situation rattled both Kenny and Whitney. They walk away thankful they could help, but with a message for all.

Kenny says, "Watch your kids. I have two, and I can't believe that the parents werent even anywhere near. Like I said, if I wasn't there, I feel like those babies could've, would've died."

Besides keeping an eye on your children, officials say one of the easiest things is to make sure your kids are wearing life jackets that are the right size. The Bower's say that none of the children in the incident were wearing life jackets.
MONTREAL, May 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maya Gold & Silver Inc. (Maya or the Corporation) (TSXV:MYA) has released its unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements accompanied by the management's discussion and analysis (MD&A) for the three-month period ending in March 31, 2018.



The documents have been filed electronically with SEDAR and will be available on the Corporation's website at www.mayagoldsilver.com.

Noureddine Mokaddem, President & CEO of Maya stated, Maya saw strong market support in the first quarter mainly due to the positive PEA and the quality of our Zgounder Silver mine. This confidence in the project our management team allowed us to raise $28.3M, a 32% premium to market to accelerate the building of the second Zgounder mine. Due to severe weather conditions and unprecedented snowfall we did experience a reduction in silver production for Q1 but with the commissioning of the flotation cells in the coming months we fully expect to see production increase to 500 Tpd with the declaration of commercial production. At the same time, we continue to move ahead with our drilling campaign on the Boumaadine polymetallic property and expect to have a PEA results during Q3 2018.

Highlights of the three-month-period ending March 31, 2018

Total assets of S42,562,768 as of March 31, 2018;

Working capital of $8,511,349 versus a working capital of $3,135,362 for the same period in 2017;

Cash position $11,399,526 as of March 31, 2018;

Loss from operations was $522,843, a decrease of 38% from $842,326 for the same quarter of 2017.

Highlights of the Zgounder Silver mine activities

Zgounder Silver mine production highlights during the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 include:

Silver production of 69,578 ounces

Revenue from silver in the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 totalled $2,091,046 (2017 - $3,599,146) and the development cost incurred during the period, excluding capitalised interest, amounted to $2,358,493 (2017  $3,019,635).

The average silver price realised during the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 was US$16.44 (2017 - US$17.50).

On February 22, 2018 the Corporation filed a technical report on its positive PEA of the Zgounder Sliver Mine.

Highlights of the Boumaadine Polymetallic Property

Boumaadine Polymetallic Property highlights during the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 include:

The Corporation began its planned drilling program and its first verification hole intersected polymetallic sulfide mineralization.

In spite of severe weather conditions, affecting the exploration operations, the company completed 1756.9m of drilling as of February 26th 2018.

Operating and Financial Highlights

Quarter ended March 31,

2018

(unaudited) March 31,

2017

(unaudited) %

Variation Material Processed (tons)



8,770 14,358 (39 ) Average Grade (g/t Ag)



327.52 380.53 (14 ) Mill Recovery (%)



75.34 86.08 (12 ) Silver Ingots (kg)



2,164.13 4,703.3 (54 ) Silver ounces produced (oz)



69,578 151,214 (54 ) Sales of silver (oz)



61,547 161,088 (62 ) Sales of silver ($)



2,091,046 3,599,146 (42 ) Development expenses (excluding interest) ($)





(2,358,493 ) (3,019,635 ) (22 ) Cash flow generated from the activities at the mine

(excluding interest ($) (1) (267,447 ) 579,511 (146 )

(1) Cash flow generated from the activities at the mine is non-International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) performance measures, and may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. The Corporation believes that, in addition to conventional measures prepared in accordance with IFRS, the Corporation and certain investors use this information to evaluate the Corporation's performance. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. The cash flow generated from the development activities at the mine derived from the Corporations cash flow from investing activities, acquisitions of property, plant and equipment, less Silver sales.

ABOUT MAYA

Maya Gold & Silver Inc. is a Canadian publicly listed mining corporation focused on the exploration and development of gold and silver deposits in Morocco. Maya is initiating mining and milling operations at its Zgounder Mine owned by Zgounder Millenium Silver Mining, a Maya 85% owned joint venture with lOffice National des Hydrocarbures et des Mines of the Kingdom of Morocco (15%).

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Forward-looking statements

This news release contains statements about future events or future performance and reflects managements current expectations and assumptions. These are "forward-looking" because we have used what we know and expect today to make a statement about the future. Forward-looking statements usually include words such as may, intend, plan, expect, anticipate, and believe or other similar words. We believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable. However, actual events and results could be substantially different because of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business or events that happen after the date of this news release. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. As a general policy, we do not update forward-looking statements except as required by securities laws and regulations. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in the Corporations filings with SEDAR.

CONTACT INFORMATION

Maya Gold & Silver Inc.:

Noureddine Mokaddem

President & CEO

+1 514-978-6111/+212 661-196-111

nmokaddem@mayagoldsilver.com

or

Maya Gold & Silver Inc.:

Sophy Cesar

Investor Relations

514-866-2008

scesar@mayagoldsilver.com
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI)- Many people consider Memorial Day weekend as the unofficial start to summer. But, above all, it's a time to remember the lives of those who served in the American Armed Forces.

Highland Lawn Cemetery holds an annual Memorial Day service. A ceremony began at 11 a.m. An American flag was lowered to half-staff, to honor the fallen soldiers. The graves of former soldiers surrounded the ceremony. Each of the graves had small United States flags.

Mayor Duke Bennet was there as well as various veteran organizations. A 21-gun salute was followed by the national anthem and patriotic music.

John Julian Sr. said he served in U.S. Army from 1953 to 1955 during the Korean War.

"It just chokes me up so much to honor everybody that is here today," Julian said. He is the American Legion color guard commander for Post 346 in Terre Haute, Indiana.

"It's just an honor to be out here and serve for the veterans," Julian said.

The holiday is a day to remember the red, white, and blue. But, it's also a day to remember the service from the men and women who gave the ultimate sacrifice.

John Goings served for three years in the United States army. On Monday, he laid nearly 200 pennies on deceased solider's

headstones.

"I am letting them know I was here," Goings said.

Coins have a distinct significance for those who lost their life while serving in America's military. A penny signifies a person visited the grave and paid their respects.

Next time you pay a visit to a cemetery, take notice to the heads of the gravestones. A nickel means that person had trained with the deceased at a boot camp together. A quarter means that individual was with the solider when he or she was killed.
VINCENNES, Ind. - Dr. Laura J. Treanor has been appointed as Vincennes University Provost and Vice President of Instructional Services/Dean of Faculty, according to an announcement by VU President Chuck Johnson. She will begin her duties on June 25 to allow her to work closely with Dr. Laurel Smith, outgoing provost, who will retire on July 27. Smith has served as interim provost since August 2015.

Treanor most recently served as the System Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness at the Baker College System Headquarters in Flint, Michigan, where she was instrumental in institutional Higher Learning Commission accreditation and AQIP efforts.

Previously, Treanor served as the Vice President for Academics at the Baker College, Clinton Township campus. In that role she managed a multimillion dollar budget and provided strategic and visionary leadership for 4 deans, 31 program directors, 30 full-time faculty, and approximately 400 adjunct faculty as well as academic support services personnel, the registrar, advisors, and administrative support staff.

Earlier positions include associate professor at Roanoke College, assistant professor at West Virginia University, and associate professor at Barton College. Treanor earned a Bachelor of Science at Virginia Tech University, a Master of Arts at Ohio State University, and a Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Virginia Tech University.

Treanor has served her community in various roles, including as a speaker for Leadership Macomb, member of the Port Huron Rotary Club, participant in over 25 community based 5K and 10K events for local organizations and charities, and as a volunteer for the YMCA, United Way, and Macomb Postal Service Food Drives.

I was initially drawn to Vincennes University for its excellent reputation and quality academic programming, but it was the dedication and kindness of the campus community that assured me that Vincennes University was where I wanted to be, Treanor said. VU offers innovative programs that serve the needs of communities across the state of Indiana. With its strong vision and mission, I believe that VU is ideally positioned to further expand its positive impact across the industries and communities it serves. Its an honor and a privilege to have been selected as VUs next provost. I am passionate about helping students reach their full potential and look forward to working with my campus partners to identify opportunities to support student success and enhance the excellence of the VU educational experience.

VU President Chuck Johnson said that Dr. Treanor will bring a great background to VU, including experience at both small and large public and private institutions and in a multi-campus system. Dr. Treanor's experience at both the campus and system level will be invaluable to VU as we continue to identify new opportunities for offering a high-quality VU education through new and innovative partnerships and programs, stated Johnson. I am impressed by Laura's understanding of the VU mission and her enthusiasm for helping students succeed.
TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Headlines of school shootings across the country continue to hit home for many parents.

"There's really no way to describe that feeling when you're afraid you might not see your kid come home," said Cetta DePaolo.

After a student opened fire inside a Noblesville, Indiana middle school on Friday, unanswered questions remain for DePaolo and Angie Hudgens.

"How did a 13-year-old get his hands on two firearms?" asked DePaolo.

"As a teacher, I kind of wonder what could've been done," said Hudgens, "Could somebody have reached out to him? Could this have been avoided? Not to blame anybody in that school corporation because I'm sure they did everything they possibly could, and sometimes we just don't know."

Hudgens and DePaolo head up the Terre Haute chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a group they say focuses on promoting common sense gun legislation.

"I'm actually a gun owner, so I don't want to see guns taken out of homes and away from people," said Hudgens, "but at the same time, I think many gun owners out there want to see common sense legislation."

"You don't want these guns to fall in the hands of people who shouldn't have them," she added.

As the national debate on gun control continues to heat up, Hudgens says people often form misconceptions about their group and what they stand for.

"Any time you hear the word gun control, that's the big buzzword, that sends lots of people off into a frenzy," Hudgens said, "Especially in social media you get so wrapped up in the term gun control. 'We want to take your guns, we want to take your guns,' that's not what Moms Demand Action stands for at all, but unfortunately we get lumped into the gun control movement."

"We want to make sure that universal background checks are actually implemented," said DePaolo, "we want to make sure the gun show loophole is closed, we want to make sure kids are safe by not having access, we want to promote using gun locks. I think our members all have agreed that there is not enough being done to protect our people from violence that doesn't need to happen."

While Terre Haute Moms Demand Action is small in numbers, DePaolo and Hudgens say they're continuing to play a role in a nationwide impact. They're hopeful the conversations will turn into actions so that tragedy doesn't repeat itself any where else.

"We just need it to stop, one of our moms members said that," said DePaolo, "Make it stop, I just need to make it stop."

This weekend, Terre Haute Moms Demand Action will host its first public event.

It's called Wear Orange for Gun Violence Awareness. This is in honor of victims and survivors of gun violence. It begins Saturday, June 2nd, at 1 p.m. The event is free to attend and will only about an hour. It will take place outside of the Vigo County Courthouse.
An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo rages on.

All eyes have turned to the northwestern part of the country, where cases of Ebola virus disease emerged this month, leading to an outbreak declaration and quickly posing a "very high" public health risk.

The world turns to an experimental vaccine and drugs in development A "clear difference that I see between this outbreak and the 2014-2016 outbreak is the more robust response," one expert says

Though it's too early to determine what the outcome of this outbreak could be and how wide it could spread, there is one aspect that many experts agree on: The world seems better prepared than ever to fight this outbreak.

"We are hearing about this and supporting a response to it much more quickly than the three-country outbreak in 2014-16," said Dr. Anne Schuchat, principal deputy director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 was the largest and most complex on record since the virus was discovered in 1976.

That outbreak, which started in Guinea and spread to Sierra Leone and Liberia, saw more cases and deaths than all other Ebola outbreaks combined, according to the World Health Organization.

During that outbreak, a total of 28,616 cases of Ebola virus disease and 11,310 deaths were reported in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone -- as well as an additional 36 cases and 15 deaths that occurred when the outbreak spread outside of those three countries, according to the CDC.

Then, "there were lots of criticisms of the WHO response," Schuchat said. Now, however, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus already has visited the affected areas.

"The political level at the national, regional and global level is committed to support this," Schuchat said of WHO's response this year.

Additionally, "the Democratic Republic of Congo has had Ebola outbreaks before. This is the ninth one. This is a serious one in that it's not just in a rural area but has reached an urban area, but there is more familiarity with the disease and syndrome than there was in West Africa," Schuchat said. Also, in the 2014-16 outbreak, research was just beginning to test Ebola vaccines and drug candidates in humans.

"We now have very good experience with one of the vaccines that was tested in the ring vaccination trial in Guinea and was also tested in large studies in Sierra Leone and Liberia, and appears to be very effective and very safe," she said. "We don't have licensed vaccines or drugs yet, but we have very promising vaccine and drug candidates."

'We now have tools'

Authorities are distributing the experimental Ebola vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV in Mbandaka, a city of nearly 1.2 million people in northwestern Congo's Equateur province.

In the 2014-16 outbreak, researchers were in the very early stages of developing possible vaccines, and testing began only in the final days of that outbreak.

Between 2015 and 2016, the rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine was given to people in Guinea who were in contact with patients who had recently confirmed cases of Ebola virus disease, according to a study on that trial published in the journal The Lancet.

"The rVSV vaccine was used in the ring vaccination program in Guinea," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who oversees an extensive research portfolio that includes studies on the Ebola virus.

"Ring vaccination means you identify someone who has Ebola, and you identify the contacts of that person and the contacts of the contacts, and you vaccinate them with the rVSV vaccine. That is the major difference between the beginning of the outbreak in West Africa and what we're seeing now," Fauci said.

"We had no tools then, and by the time we had the vaccine ready to test, most of the cases had burned out," he said. "We now have tools."

There are five known Ebola virus species, named after the regions where they originated, and three have been responsible for the larger outbreaks in Africa: Zaire ebolavirus, Bundibugyo ebolavirus and Sudan ebolavirus. The rVSV-ZEBOV vaccine, from the pharmaceutical company Merck, covers the strains in the Zaire group.

The doses that Merck sent to WHO to help in the current outbreak were donated. Spokeswoman Pam Eisele said Tuesday that the company plans to file for licensure of the vaccine next year.

"We can now give this vaccine to people at most risk of getting Ebola, such as health care workers treating Ebola patients and contacts of Ebola cases. The hope is that this would contain the spread of the virus. The key difference in this latest outbreak here is that the vaccine is being used in the early stages of the epidemic," said Connor Bamford, a postdoctoral research assistant with the Medical Research Council at the University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research in Scotland.

On the other hand, "vaccines aren't so effective at curing you of a disease if you are already infected," he said. "There are no such licensed antiviral medicines against Ebola. There are, however, experimental drugs available."

The experimental drugs that offer hope

Experimental Ebola drugs -- including ZMapp, favipiravir and GS-5734 -- are available for Congo's Ministry of Health to access if needed to treat patients in the current outbreak.

In 2014, ZMapp was used to treat two American missionary workers, Dr. Kent Brantly and Nancy Writebol, who contracted Ebola in Liberia. Previously, the experimental drug had been tested only in monkeys.

That year, Teresa Romero Ramos, a nurse's aide who contracted the virus while caring for Ebola patients in Spain, was treated with an IV drip of antibodies from an Ebola survivor as well as favipiravir.

A study published last year in the Journal of Infectious Diseases reported a case in which a newborn contracted an Ebola virus infection from its mother; the baby was treated with both ZMapp and GS-5734 and survived. The patient was the first newborn known to survive a congenital infection with Ebola virus.

GS-5734 "is a drug that we have experience with because we have a protocol that we implemented in West Africa where we tried to suppress or eliminate the residual Ebola virus in the semen of survivors," Fauci said. That protocol is still being used in West Africa.

He added that at the National Institutes of Health's Vaccine Research Center, another drug was developed: mAb114, which is in a phase one trial.

"The minister of health of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has requested accessibility to that antibody," Fauci said. "We are willing to provide mAb114 to them, and we are working with the health authorities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in coordination with the WHO to determine if this is feasible."

Bamford pointed out that these experimental drugs are offering hope for controlling not only the current outbreak but outbreaks to come.

"We should strive to get antivirals for Ebola licensed not only to save lives but to offer more to communities who might fear that Ebola is incurable and would otherwise not report their infection to authorities," he said. "Antivirals provide hope to those infected, and perhaps ZMapp, favipiravir and GS-5734 are those medicines, but we don't know yet."

Though many of those drugs were used in the 2014-16 outbreak and showed promise, questions remain about their clear effectiveness in decreasing either symptoms or likelihood of death, said Dr. Bruce Ribner, a professor at the Emory School of Medicine who led the university's team in treating Ebola patients in 2014. He was among the five Ebola doctors listed that year as Time magazine's Person of the Year.

"The only clear difference that I see between this outbreak and the 2014-2016 outbreak is the more robust response to this outbreak that was lacking in the spring of 2014, with the earlier introduction of vaccines, therapeutics and outside health care workers to assist," Ribner said. "We are also somewhat more fortunate in that the Congo has lived with Ebola."

'Each new outbreak teaches us a new lesson'

Ebola is endemic to Congo, and this is its ninth outbreak of Ebola virus disease since the discovery of the virus near the country's Ebola River.

"So they are extensively experienced in how to handle an Ebola outbreak," Fauci said.

Compared with the 2014-16 outbreak, "that's a big difference, because in West Africa -- in Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea -- that was the first time that they had ever experienced Ebola," he said.

Many experts -- including Dr. Susan Kline, an associate professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School -- hope that the lessons of the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak will not be forgotten.

"During the last outbreak, it was felt in retrospect that probably the local, national, international response to the outbreak was not as rapid and as widespread as it needed to have been to prevent the outbreak from becoming so large," said Kline, a member of the Infectious Diseases Society of America's Public Health Committee.

"I think people have learned from that experience, that to get an outbreak under control, you really have to work quickly, not only to identify and isolate in Ebola treatment centers and treat patients, but then also do the community outreach work to identify contacts," she said.

In response to the Congo outbreak, the US has deployed some Ebola experts from the CDC to help with control efforts, such as screening and tracing Ebola cases, Schuchat said.

She added that the CDC has an office in Congo, where workers have shifted their duties to assist in the outbreak. Other organizations also are leading efforts in clinical care and outbreak control, she said, such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), UNICEF and USAID.

All in all, "we know that we have the tools available to control outbreaks now and in the future. We know that we cannot be complacent," Bamford said.

"We still do not know all there is to know about the Ebola virus, and each new outbreak teaches us a new lesson, such as the virus' ability to lie dormant in some rare patients where it may flare up years later," he said. "With Ebola, we must expect the unexpected."
JACKSON, Miss. (AP)  In an effort to combat wild hog populations, Mississippi's Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks has approved a rule change that will allow trapping of wild hogs on some wildlife management areas.

The Clarion-Ledger reports hog populations are increasing on some WMAs. Russ Walsh, the executive staff officer for the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, says the trapping recommendation grew from public interest and will help the department's own trapping efforts.

"This statement will allow hog trapping as needed by permit," Walsh said. "The new language will be in the basic regs. Each WMA will have specific regs. Wildlife management areas will not automatically be open for hog trapping. We will allow hog trapping based on need."

How, where and when public trapping will be allowed has yet to be determined.

"The first step was getting it in the regs so we can go down the road to allow it," Walsh said. "We've had discussions about how it may work, but it may have to be refined and retooled.

"We'll probably open it on our state-owned WMAs first and then look at other WMAs. Those will have to be looked at differently."

When trapping will be allowed hasn't been set in stone, either.

"More than likely it would be outside of hunting seasons due to baiting issues," Walsh said. "It will probably be outside of your big game hunting seasons

Wild hogs are an invasive species and have become a nightmare for some farmers and land managers. Food plots and crops are destroyed and the costs add up. According to the Mississippi State University Extension Service, wild hogs cause roughly $1.5 billion in damage in the United States annually.

They also out-compete native wildlife such as white-tailed deer for food resources. Wild hogs can consume up to five percent of their weight in food daily, which means a 250 pound pig can eat 12 pounds a day or over 4,500 pounds annually.

And they are prolific breeders. They can reach sexual maturity at an early age, birth multiple piglets in each litter and can have two litters in just over a year. Because of that, most estimates indicate 80 percent of the population must be killed each year just to keep the population at its current level.

The spread of disease to other animals is yet another concern.

"Wild hogs are such a reservoir for so many diseases," said Anthony Ballard, MDWFP nuisance animal biologist. "Hogs are hosts to about 30 types of bacterial and virulent diseases and 37 parasites. They can contract things and live with it that will kill other animals. They can carry on, do their thing and basically be unaffected."
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP)  Alabama's largest electrical utility says about 20,000 homes and businesses are without power as the remnants of Alberto move through the state.

Alabama Power Co. says most of the outages, about 11,000, are in the state's most populous area around Birmingham. About 6,000 more customers are without power around Montgomery.

Soil is saturated by rainwater, and winds blowing 25 mph with higher gusts are topping trees.

Alabama Power says damage is widespread.

The storm's remnants doused the Deep South with waves of rain Tuesday as the vast, soggy system pushed northward toward the Tennessee Valley. Forecasters said the subtropical depression swirling near Birmingham could dump as much as 6 inches (15 centimeters) of rain on central Alabama.
PRENTISS COUNTY, Miss. (WTVA) - An undercover drug investigation landed a Corinth woman behind bars in Prentiss County.

Corie Danielle Nanney, 25, was arrested on Sunday, May 20 by Prentiss County deputies.

Prentiss County Sheriff Randy Tolar says this arrest was the result of a long investigation by the sheriff's department, Booneville police and the North Mississippi Narcotics Unit.

Nanney was arrested on a secret indictment, Tolar said, after having been indicted by a previous Prentiss County grand jury.

Tolar says the investigation netted several suspects. He says Nanney was one of the last to be located and arrested.

She was charged with the sale of meth, possession of meth and contempt of court.

She was released on a $10,000 bond.
TORONTO, May 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION TO UNITED STATES NEWSWIRE SERVICES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION IN THE UNITED STATES

Pinetree Capital Ltd. (TSX:PNP) (Pinetree) today announced the results of the election of directors at its annual general meeting held earlier today (the Meeting). At the Meeting, all of the nominees listed in Pinetrees management information circular dated April 13, 2018 were elected as directors of Pinetree. Each director was elected by a majority of the shareholders present in person or by proxy at the Meeting. The results of the shares voted by proxy at the Meeting in respect of the election of each director are set out below:

Nominee Number and Percentage of

Shares voted For Number and Percentage of

Shares Withheld Ian P. Howat 4,619,727 (99.65%) 16,189 (0.35%) Damien Leonard 4,625,734 (99.78%) 10,182 (0.22%) Craig Miller 4,621,344 (99.69%) 14,572 (0.31%) Howard Riback 4,617,824 (99.61%) 18,092 (0.39%) Peter Tolnai 3,977,669 (85.80%) 658,247 (14.20%)

The complete voting results of all matters voted on at the Meeting is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About Pinetree Capital Ltd.

Pinetree is a diversified investment and merchant banking firm focused on the small cap market, with early stage investments in technology, and resource companies. Pinetrees common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) under the symbol PNP.

For further information:

Damien Leonard

Chief Executive Officer

416-941-9600

ir@pinetreecapital.com

www.pinetreecapital.com
TIFT COUNTY, Ga. (WTXL) - Tift County homeowners who experienced flooding are being advised to take certain measures for their health.

It's going to be days before the region dries out after all this rain.

With the possibility of flooding in southwest Georgia, one business, Professionals at Bishop Clean Care, says it's important for homeowners to fix any existing issues.

They say many people don't find out they have problems with their roof or drainage around their homes until after a heavy rain system.

The possible contaminations in floodwaters can also cause many health problems, so it's important to get things checked out immediately.

The cleaning company reminds folks that mold can grow in between the walls and cracks of our home. So it's important to have a professional come check out your home even if you can't see any problems on the surface.
GADSDEN COUNTY, Fla. (WTXL) - Two Gadsden County business owners are challenging students to make the most of their summer.

Their reward is more of a resource than a gift.

The school year is just about over. No more time in the classroom, but that doesn't mean education takes a vacation.

"We want them to still have that mindset of learning, so they won't have a break," said Charles McMillon, one of the co-founders of R.E.D. Non-Profit Corporation.

Charles McMillon and Charles Gee created the "R.E.D Non-Profit Corporation" last year. They bought 50 Amazon Fire 7 tablets with their own money.

"We just try to challenge kids to use technology as a tool before a toy," said Gee.

They're not just giving away the tablets. They're asking students about their goals.

"Tell us one thing you want to learn or a book you would like to read in the summer," said Gee.

These tablets aren't cheap. Amazon starts pricing the Fire 7 at $49.99. The corporation says this is an investment into the next generation of leaders.

"They can start with something as small as these tablets, focus on something and they can reach potential goals outside of just the norm in our county," said McMillon.

"Our kids are brilliant, and sometimes, it takes just a little boost or maybe just a small resource to help bring forth that potential -- and what we're trying to do is just provide that support, those resources, that mentorship that can kind of foster their learning capabilities," said Gee.

The 50 students will be selected in a week or so, and there's still time to apply. To sign up:
WORLAND  Memorial Day weekend weather was not kind to Wyoming, bringing tornadoes to the southeast of the state and strong winds and flooding to the Big Horn Basin.

According to the National Weather Service a flood watch that began last Thursday continued all day Monday for portions of north central Wyoming and northwest Wyoming, including the Big Horn Mountains, southeast Big Horn Basin and northwest Wyoming.

Several tributary creeks and streams that flow into the Big Horn and Powder River have the greatest potential for moderate flooding. Medicine Lodge Creek, Ten Sleep Creek, Rock Creek and Clear Creek were expected to flow at very high levels by early Monday morning.

At 9:37 a.m. Monday, Wyoming Highway Patrol was requesting assistance from the Ten Sleep Fire Department for flooding across U.S. Highway 16 at milepost 29.

According to Washakie County Emergency Management/Homeland Security Director Jeff Schweighart the rising water levels along Tensleep Creek were bringing downed timber that was plugging up culverts, contributing to some of the flooding.

He said there were tree limbs and water splashing across the road and water was rising near a residence in the area.

Flood stage for Tensleep Creek is 4.5 feet. Monday morning the level was at 4.78 feet according to National Weather Service gauge.

Monday morning Schweighart said the flood watch was expected to end Monday evening but that would depend on the weather. Weve seen 2 to 2.25 inches coming down in an hour with some of these storms have put down, he said.

He added if debris doesnt plug up the flow of the creek somewhere again, and if there are no more severe thunderstorms with rain, we should be OK. According to the National Weather Service, in Worland at the municipal airport, Worland received .32 inches of precipitation on Sunday, well above the average for this time of year at .04 inches.

For the month of May, according to the NWS, Worland has received 1.99 inches, above the normal range of 1.22.

Winds also downed limbs in town with gusts at the airport measured at 47 mph. A severe thunderstorm warning issued by the NWS on Sunday afternoon said areas could expect up to 70 mph. The South Big Horn County Airport near Greybull measured 78 mph.

Facebook posts from Basin residents showed downed trees and one shed that had blown apart.

The Big Horn River in Worland peaked at 6.5 feet last week and was just under 6 feet on Monday morning, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.

Medicine Lodge Creek also went above the flood stage Monday. According to the NWS, the levels for Medicine Lodge Creek near Hyattville were at 3.67 feet, with flood stage at 3.5 feet.

Forecast shows a 20 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms for today. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 71. Light and variable wind becoming north northwest 5 to 10 mph in the morning.
JOHANNESBURG, May 28 (Xinhua) -- A group of 50 South African special economic zones (SEZ) practitioners and supporting sector specialists will receive some training in the filed in China from May 31 to June 7.

The officials from South Africa's Department of Trade and Industry, provincial departments and local municipalities and agencies responsible for the implementation of the SEZ will participate in the capacity building program on the SEZs in Tianjin.

Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry Bulelani Magwanishe said the training is to equip practitioners with the technical know-how on the planning, development, management and operations of special economic zones.

"The program is important to ensure that all stakeholders have the technical know-how required for the successful development of the SEZs in South Africa," said Magwanishe.

"One of the major challenges that government has identified in relation to the development of the SEZs as part of the implementation of our SEZ program is the capacity constraint," said Magwanishe.

"This is the fifth group of our officials to be trained in China as part of the implementation of our agreement on the SEZ program," said Magwanishe.

The South African government has expressed gratitude to the Chinese government for the opportunity to equip their officials with knowledge, information and skills related to the roll-out of the SEZ program.

Magwanishe said it is necessary for the country to have a pool of skilled and trained officials to successfully implement the SEZ program.

South Africa wants to use the SEZs to accelerate industrialization and promote economic growth, address unemployment and poverty.
NOT FOR DISSEMINATION IN THE UNITED STATES OR FOR DISTRIBUTION TO U.S. NEWSWIRE SERVICES AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER OF THE SECURITIES DESCRIBED HEREIN.



MONTREAL, May 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Maple Gold Mines Ltd. (Maple Gold or the Company) (TSX-V:MGM) (OTCQB:MGMLF) (Frankfurt:M3G) is pleased to announce that it has arranged a non-brokered flow-through financing for aggregate gross proceeds of up to C$2,500,000 (the Offering) through the issuance of up to 8,333,333 common shares (the Shares) at a price of C$0.30 per share.



Maple Golds President and CEO, Matthew Hornor, stated: This small flow-through raise at a premium to market will allow the Company to conserve hard-dollars with the new flow-through capital covering upcoming exploration expenditures. We look forward to additional drill results from the recently completed campaign in the weeks ahead.

The Shares will be flow-through shares pursuant to the Income Tax Act (Canada) and will be subject to a statutory hold period of four-months plus one day from the date of closing. The Company intends to use the net proceeds from the private placement to continue advancing the Douay Gold Project. The Company will pay finders fees of up to 6% cash and 6% broker warrants of the gross proceeds of the Offering.

The Offering is anticipated to close this week and is subject to the receipt of all necessary approvals, including the approval of the Exchange.

The securities offered 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 U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, United States persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This news release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of any offer to buy securities in the United States, nor in any other jurisdiction.

About Maple Gold

Maple Gold is a gold exploration company focused on advancing a district-scale gold project in one of the worlds premier mining jurisdictions. The Companys 370 km Douay Gold Project is located along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northern Quebec, Canada. The Project has an established gold resource that remains open in multiple directions, with excellent infrastructure and several large scale operating mines within this prolific mining district. Maple Gold has a significant drill campaign under way to expand on the known Resource Areas and test new discovery targets within the Companys 55 km of strike along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone. For more information please visit www.maplegoldmines.com.

ON BEHALF OF MAPLE GOLD MINES LTD.

Matthew Hornor

B. Matthew Hornor, President & CEO

For Further Information Please Contact:

Mr. Joness Lang

VP, Corporate Development

Office: +1 416.306.8124

Email: jlang@maplegoldmines.com

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 PRESS RELEASE.

Forward Looking Statements:

This news release contains forward-looking information" and forward-looking statements (collectively referred to as forward-looking statements) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and managements best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Companys expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding timing and completion of the private placement. When used herein, words such as anticipate, will, intend and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.
HARARE, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Former Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe failed to appear before parliament for the second time on Monday to clarify a statement he made in 2016 that Zimbabwe could have been prejudiced of 15 billion U.S. dollars through diamond revenue leakages.

The parliamentary portfolio committee on mines and energy initially wanted Mugabe to appear before it on May 9 but postponed this to May 23. Mugabe did not come on May 23, resulting in parliament postponing the hearing to May 28.

Committee chairperson Themba Mliswa told journalists on Monday that parliament would now write the third and final letter to Mugabe inviting him to attend, failure of which he would face contempt of parliament charges.

"The committee unanimously agreed that we write to the former president inviting him to appear before us on June 11, 2018 at 2 O'clock," Mliswa said.

"If he fails to attend, we will have no choice but to summon him and it's something that we regret. We hope we will not get to that stage of summoning him as his legacy needs to be protected."

Mliswa said Mugabe had not responded to any of their invitations so far.

The meeting, if it happens, will be Mugabe's first public meeting since he resigned in November last year following a military intervention.

Mugabe said in 2016 that Zimbabwe could have lost 15 billion dollars through diamond revenue leakages from mining operations in Chiadzwa diamond fields in eastern Zimbabwe.

Over the past months, the committee has been trying to get more information on the matter and has since received oral evidence from several serving and former cabinet ministers, security chiefs and mining officials.

Mliswa said they were waiting for Mugabe's oral evidence so that they can conclude their report on the alleged 15 billion dollars.
BUCHAREST, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The volatile security situation in the Black Sea Extended Region, marked by the existence of conflict potential, would persist on the short and medium term, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis underscored in a message on Monday.

Iohannis sent the message on the occasion of launching the 2018 edition of the "Security in the Black Sea Region. Common Challenges, Sustainable future" program.

The message was read by Mihai Somordolea, state adviser with the National Security Department and secretary of the Supreme Council for National Defence, according to official Agerpres news agency.

According to the message, the regional geostrategic landscape is also influenced by a series of current threats and challenges, such as international terrorism, hybrid war, frozen conflicts, migration crisis, cyber and communications attacks, and the transnational nature of those threats to security requires the cooperation of the riparian states in the Black Sea area.

"No country has the power or resources to solve on its own the complex issues the contemporary world is confronted with," said Iohannis, voicing his support for the efforts to promote regional partnerships and initiatives devoted to identifying and efficiently approaching the security challenges the Black Sea region is confronted with.

The Black Sea represents a significant connecting bridge between Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia, with the possibility to capitalise on the Danube as transit corridor to Central Europe, the Baltic Sea region and towards the Mediterranean Sea, Iohannis added.
HELSINKI, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Finland's liberal politicians censured Foreign Minister Timo Soini on Monday for his blog posting that criticized the result of the recent pro-abortion vote in Ireland.

Following the Irish referendum to overturn the abortion ban, the Finnish foreign minister wrote on his blog on Sunday that the world would become "odd" if people have to find reasons to defend life. He said he would defend life at any time.

In response to Soini's view, two ministers from the conservative National Coalition Party took to Twitter on Monday to declare that Soini's attitude did not represent that of the Finnish government.

"Timo Soini's opinion is not Finland's official position on abortion," said Minister of Interior Kai Mykkanen. The former Development Minister added that as development minister, he would have increased funding for sexual and reproductive health as well as support for reproductive rights including access to safe abortions in developing countries.

Foreign Trade and Development Minister Anne-Mari Virolainen echoed the words of Mykkanen, saying that Finland promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights in all of its interactions.

Soini responded later on Monday that there should be no surprise to anyone that he has such a position, as he has had the same position for 30 years as a politician. "I'm not ashamed of it, and I'm never ashamed," he was cited as saying.

Soini used to be the chairman of the populist Finns Party before the key members of the party defected and formed Blue Reform, a center right movement, last year.

The outcome of the Irish referendum on abortion rights has been echoed by many in Finland. Milla Pyykkonen, Secretary General of Finnish Women's Union, said Saturday that she was happy about the result.

"Abortion law has been the cornerstone of the women's movement from the beginning," Pyykkonen was quoted by Finnish national broadcaster, Yle, as saying.
In this file photo taken on Nov. 11, 2017, U.S. President Donald Trump (R) and Russian President Vladimir Putin talk as they make their way to take the "family photo" during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders' summit in the central Vietnamese city of Danang. (Xinhua/AFP)

MOSCOW, May 28 (Xinhua) -- A total of 245 Russian citizens and 439 legal entities are currently under U.S. sanctions, a senior official from the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

Since 2011, the United States has imposed 52 rounds of sanctions on Russia, Georgy Borisenko, director of the North American Department of the ministry, told a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament.

The committee is discussing a bill, recently passed by the State Duma, the lower parliamentary house, authorizing Russian President Vladimir Putin to impose sanctions in response to restrictions adopted by the United States and its allies.

The upper house is scheduled to examine the bill at its plenary session on Wednesday.

The bill has to be endorsed by the Federation Council before being signed into law by Putin.
LOS ANGELES, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Two U.S. Flight training school employees were arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a Chinese student in Redding, California, authorities said.

Jonathan McConkey, 48, a flight instructor worked at the IASCO flight training school, and his assistant Kelsi Hoser, 50, were both arrested and booked for conspiracy and kidnapping after they allegedly kidnapped a student pilot in training, who was identified as Tianshu Shi, and tried to send him back to China on Friday, according to the Redding Police Department.

McConkey and Hoser were still being held on bail as of Monday, Sgt. Danny Smetak of the Redding Police Department told Xinhua by telephone.

Police officers responded to the reported kidnapping at 1400 block of Trudie Trail in Redding. The victim's brother, who lives in Shanghai, China, spoke to Shi Friday morning. Shi told him somebody was at his apartment to take him away.

When Shi's brother did not hear back from him a short time later, he called and spoke to another flight student who told him Shi was just assaulted and taken away. Shi's brother subsequently called the Redding Police Department to report the kidnapping, according to a news release of the Redding Police Department after the incident.

During the investigation, officers learned McConkey and Hoser went to Shi's address Thursday night to advise him they are sending him back to China. They went to Shi's residence Friday morning to carry out this action. When Shi refused, McConkey battered him, and threatened physical violence if he did not go with them. Shi ultimately left with them in fear for his safety and was transported to the Redding Municipal Airport to be sent back to China. Officers located Shi, McConkey and Hoser at the airport.

Shi sustained only minor injuries and was later released by Police.

During an exclusive interview with the Record Searchlight, a local newspaper serving Redding, on Saturday, 21-year-old Shi produced an audio recording he said he made in the early hours on Friday when McConkey and Hoser showed up at his home. McConkey is reportedly the IASCO general manager.

In the audio recording, the McConkey and Hoser could be heard threatening Shi and tried to force him to follow them to the airport, the Record Searchlight reported.

According to the Record Searchlight, Shi has been in the United States approximately seven months. He arrived on an M-1 visa, which is given to students who enroll in vocational programs. He said his visa is valid for one year. But for the past two months, he had been "grounded," unable to fly or train. He said he had never had an issue with his flight skills, but suspected he was removed from training because of his English.

Another IASCO Flight Training student, Zhang Xun Yi, 24, also told the Record Searchlight in a report published on Sunday that he was confronted in his home by the program's manager and told he'd be sent home to China immediately over what he said was a small infraction of rules.

Shi told the Record Searchlight that he planned on hiring an attorney, while Yi planned on calling on the Chinese Embassy for help.

IASCO Flight Training currently offers training programs designed for international airline-sponsored student pilots. The programs provide ground and flight training for students to obtain FAA pilot certificates and then return to their country to become pilots at their sponsoring airline.

International students at IASCO Flight Training are required to use English in all their communications to better prepare them for their pilot careers.

IASCO approached the Chinese market and obtained new contracts that began in 2008. The Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) has approved the school for a capacity of 180 students in their approved training program, according to the school's website.
By Eric J. Lyman

ROME, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The head of Italy's largest political party has called for the country's president to be impeached, a complex and infrequently used process that could assure that the current spate of political instability could drag on for months.

No Italian president has ever successfully been impeached, though impeachment cases have been opened against four presidents since the end of World War II.

Luigi Di Maio, the 31-year-old head of the populist Five-Star Movement (M5S), would like to bring the fifth case, accusing President Sergio Mattarella of triggering an "institutional crisis" by refusing to accept the nomination of Paolo Savona, a deeply euro-skeptic economist, as minister of finance.

Of the four previous impeachment cases, the first three were sparked by allegations of malfeasance not directly related to the presidency, according to Vera Capperucci, a professor of contemporary history at Rome's LUISS University. But the fourth, Capperucci said, emerged in 2014 against Mattarella's predecessor Giorgio Napolitano and was politically motivated.

Like the threatened case against Mattarella, the case against Napolitano was also brought up by the Five-Star Movement.

"A lot has changed since 2014, including the fact that the Five-Star Movement is now much stronger and the office of the president is weaker," Capperucci told Xinhua. "But that still doesn't mean impeachment is likely."

The impeachment process in Italy is long and complex, requiring approval from an absolute majority in both houses of parliament and an OK from the Constitutional Court, according to Barbara Randazzo, a constitutional law professor at the State University of Milan.

"If it did happen, and if it happened quickly, it would still take months to conclude," Randazzo said in an interview.

Oreste Massari, a political scientist with Rome's La Sapienza University, told Xinhua he doubted a move to oust Mattarella would be able to approach a majority in parliament.

"If you have the Five-Star Movement and the small, allied parties like Fratelli d'Italia you would fall far short of a majority," Massari said. "I don't think any other parties would support the move."

Is that is indeed the case, then why is Di Maio pushing for impeachment? Some analysts told Xinhua there was a risk that after failing to form a government after 12 weeks of negotiations and then pushing for an impeachment process that falls short, Di Maio could start to be seen as an ineffective politician.

But LUISS's Capperucci said she believed Di Maio could be pushing the impeachment agenda specifically for political reasons.

"Di Maio knows the impeachment movement will not be effective, but I think we're seeing part of a battle between the Five-Star Movement and the League," Capperucci said, referring to the second party that nominated law professor Giuseppe Conte as prime minister. Conte abandoned hopes for the job on Sunday after Mattarella nixed Savona's nomination as minister of finance.

"Mattarella seems to fear the League more than the Five-Star Movement so far, and so far the League has been more effective despite earning around half as many votes," the professor went on. "Maybe Di Maio is trying to show his strength."
ROME, May 28 (Xinhua) -- For the second time in a week, Italian President Sergio Mattarella has given a mandate to form a new government to an obscure and low-key figure with an impressive curriculum vitae.

The latest is Carlo Cottarelli, a 64-year-old economist who until the last few days was best known as a former executive director of the International Monetary Fund's board. He is currently the director of the Observatory on Italian Public Accounts, a position he would leave if confirmed as prime minister.

Cottarelli is a less controversial choice for the job than Giuseppe Conte, the attorney and law professor who was prime minister-designate for less than a week.

Conte, 53, attracted headlines after reports he lied about his educational background, and then he abandoned efforts to get the job on Sunday after Mattarella rejected his polarizing choice of finance minister.

The biggest difference between the two nominations is that while Conte was picked to head a political government -- he was the choice of two parties that performed well in the March 4 general election, Cottarelli is Mattarella's pick to head a technocrat government that will lead the country until the next election.

According to political scientist and analyst Marco Neri, a technocrat government is charged with keeping the government operating until a new political government can be selected, though a technocrat government can also be given a specific mandate to pass a specific reform or measure.

"In one way, the influence of a technocrat government is more limited because it cannot make political decisions," Neri, who was an advisor to Mario Monti, who headed a technocrat government that ran Italy for 18 months ending in April 2013, told Xinhua. "In another way, it can have more influence because it is not political. It can gain support from different parties."

The Monti government was unusual because at the end of its mandate, Monti, a former European Commissioner, decided to stand as a candidate in the 2013 general election. Most likely in response to that, Mattarella said Monday that Cottarelli and any ministers in his government would be barred from standing as candidates.

"Staying out of politics is a fair request because Mattarella wants to be sure that whatever the Cottarelli government does, it will not be as a way to further political ambitions," Ugo Arrigo, a professor of economic sciences and statistics at Milan Bicocca University, said in an interview.

Arrigo worked alongside Cottarelli on the Spending Review, a government program tasked with reducing government expenditures: Cottarelli headed the initiative and Arrigo was one of his lieutenants.

Arrigo told Xinhua his former colleague was "friendly, confident, and experienced" as well as a "perfect choice" in the role of a technocrat prime minister.

"He is not at all political, and his economic background will give him the capacity to understand what the economic problems are and how to fix them," Arrigo said. "It's not obligatory that a political leader have a detailed understanding of economics but in a country like Italy, maybe it should be."

Once Cottarelli gains Mattarella's approval for his slate of ministers -- that is the step where Conte's nomination derailed, though few expect any controversy around Cottarelli's ministerial picks, the new government will face a confidence vote in parliament.

Mattarella can still appoint Cottarelli even if the new government loses the confidence vote, but with the approval of parliament, the new government could be given a mandate to pass an electoral reform that could make lengthy stalemates like the ones that emerged after the general elections this year and in 2013 less likely going forward.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 06:44:49|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BOGOTA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- At least 11 guerrilla fighters have been killed and two others injured by the Colombian army in the southern department of Caqueta, the authorities announced on Monday.

The guerrilla fighters were the dissident former members of the Colombia's disbanded Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC).

According to Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas, "11 members of this leftover armed group, led by the alias 'Cadete', were shot dead and two more were injured, including a minor forcibly recruited."

The minister said the clashes took place in a rural area of the La Montanita municipality.

The authorities alleged that the breakaway group from the FARC, which refused to honor the peace deal with the government, had come to "demand extortion money" from local businesses.

Villegas said that the operation was of "great importance in dismantling these leftover organizations."

He added that Colombia held its presidential elections on Sunday and that no acts harmed public order.

"This achievement is for our armed forces and police, who guaranteed normality in these elections at 100 percent of the voting stations," explained Villegas. "This was the first time we had presidential elections in the post-conflict era and for the first time with the FARC as a political party."

The FARC signed a peace deal with the government in 2016 and has since renounced violence and transformed into a political party. But a small number of soldiers refused to give up their criminal activities.
U.S. President Donald Trump (L) meets with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe upon his arrival at the Kasumigaseki Country Club in Kawagoe, near Tokyo, Japan, Nov. 5, 2017. (Xinhua Photo)

WASHINGTON, May 28 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump spoke over phone with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, with the two agreeing to meet ahead of the expected meeting between the leaders of Washington and Pyongyang, said the White House.

During their phone conversation, the two leaders discussed recent developments for a possible meeting between Trump and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un, according to a statement released by the White House.

Trump and Abe also agreed to meet again to "continue close coordination" ahead of the expected summit, which was originally scheduled on June 12 in Singapore, said the statement.

Trump on Sunday confirmed that a U.S. official team had arrived in the DPRK to talk about the preparation for the summit.

Earlier, Trump canceled the scheduled meeting on Thursday, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed by Pyongyang recently. However, he reversed course on Friday, saying both sides wanted the meeting to happen and it could still go ahead after productive talks.
ISLAMABAD, May 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people including four policemen were injured as a bomb went off in Pakistan's southwest Balochistan province, local media reported.

A police vehicle, which was on its routine patrolling across the city, was targeted by a roadside planted bomb on the outskirts of Naseerabad district, Dunya News said late Monday.

The injured people were shifted to a nearby hospital where at least two of them were said to be in critical condition.

No individual or group has claimed the attack yet.

The security forces cordoned off the area for investigations.
English Norwegian

The nomination committee in Equinor (OSE:EQNR, NYSE:EQNR) recommends that the company's corporate assembly elects Anne Drinkwater and Jonathan Lewis as new members to Equinor's board of directors.

Furthermore, the nomination committee recommends a re-election of Jon Erik Reinhardsen as chair and Roy Franklin as deputy chair of the board, in addition to Jeroen van der Veer, Wenche Agerup, Bjrn Tore Godal and Rebekka Glasser Herlofsen as shareholder-elected members of the board of directors.

Anne Drinkwater was employed with BP in the period 1978 to 2012, holding a number of different leadership positions in the company. In the period 2009 to 2012 she was chief executive officer of BP Canada. A British citizen, she has extensive international experience, including being responsible for operations in the US, Norway, Indonesia, the Middle East and Africa. Through her career Drinkwater has acquired a deep understanding of the oil and gas sector, holding both technical roles, and more distinct business responsibilities.

In recent years she has served on the board of Tullow Oil plc in England and Aker Solutions ASA in Norway. She has now stepped out of these boards. Through her role as managing director of BP Norway and board position at Aker Solutions she has acquired a good understanding of the Norwegian oil and gas sector.

Jonathan Lewis joined as Chief Executive Officer to Capita in December 2017; having previously spent 30 years working for large multi-national companies in technology-enabled industries. Lewis came to Capita from Amec Foster Wheeler plc, a global consulting, engineering and construction company, where he was CEO from 2016-2017. Prior to this, he held a number of senior leadership positions at Halliburton, where he was employed in the period 1996 to 2016. Lewis has a PhD, Reservoir Characterisation. A British citizen, he has broad international experience, including from Norway.

Lewis has previously held several directorships within technology and the oil and gas industry and has an existing board membership with Heriot-Watt University, Industrial Advisory Board.

The election to Equinor's board of directors takes place in the company's corporate assembly meeting Tuesday 5 June 2018. It is proposed that the election enters into effect from 1 July 2018 and is effective until the ordinary election of shareholder-elected members to the board of directors in 2019.

Contacts:

Tone Lunde Bakker, chair of the nomination committee

All enquiries to be directed through Equinor Corporate Press Office, Bard Glad Pedersen, +47 918 01 791.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
BRUSSELS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The trade committee of the European Parliament (EP) on Monday approved draft rules to screen foreign direct investment (FDI).

The aim is to ensure that foreign investments do not pose a threat to critical infrastructure, key technologies or access sensitive information,EP said in a statement.

The draft rules were approved by 30 votes to 7.

"We are not against foreign investment, but against strange investment," said Parliament's rapporteur Franck Proust.

"We hope to finalize new rules before the end of Parliament's term and look forward to fruitful negotiations with the (European) Council under the leadership of the Austrian Presidency," added the trade committee chair Bernd Lange.

Currently 12 of the 28 European Union (EU) member states each has a screening mechanism that examines FDI on grounds of security or public order. But the systems vary widely, and member states do not coordinate well.

The EP's trade committee stipulated that a member state who decides to screen an FDI should inform other member states and the European Commission (EC) of the fact within five working days and be open to comments.

Civil society organizations and trade unions would have the right to ask for screening procedures to be launched, and the Parliament could ask the Commission to issue an opinion on a FDI that is planned or has been completed in a member state.

The draft rules are part of a trade and investment proposal package the EC announced in September 2017.

The proposal does not seek to harmonize a national screening mechanisms, but to enhance "cooperation among member states and the Commission."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 09:20:11|Editor: Li Xia

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Photo taken on May 28, 2018 shows the Sharqpur-Rajana Section of Lahore-Abdul Hakeem Motorway in eastern Pakistan's Rajana. The 138-km Sharqpur-Rajana Section is a vital part of the 230-km M-3, which is funded by the Pakistani government and built by China Railway 20th Bureau Group. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

FAISALABAD, Pakistan, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and cooperation from China helped Pakistan emerge as a rising economy in the world.

The prime minister said on Monday that projects under CPEC, including road infrastructure, energy projects and Gwadar port would accelerate economic development and would further open Pakistan to China, Central Asia and other parts of the world.

"The government has laid the basis for national development, and the country is no more concerned about load shedding or terrorism rather it is now on its journey of development," said Abbasi.

The prime minister was addressing an inauguration ceremony of Sharqpur-Rajana Section of Lahore-Abdul Hakeem Motorway, or M-3, in Rajana Town near the textile city of Faisalabad in eastern Punjab province.

The 138-km Sharqpur-Rajana Section is a vital part of the 230-km M-3, which is funded by the Pakistani government and built by China Railway 20th Bureau Group.

The superhighway will connect the country's business hub and the second most populated city Lahore with the Motorway-4, the main artery connecting the southern port city of Karachi with the northwestern Peshawar.

The prime minister said the motorway would unleash an unprecedented development in the area and will bring great and long-lasting benefits to the people.

The motorway will have a positive social impact and promote economic development of Pakistan by stimulating the economic activities in the entire area along its alignment, said Abbasi, adding that the motorway will connect major cities and will ensure efficient and safe transportation of passengers and goods to and from big industrial and economic hubs of the country.

The motorway is expected to reduce the traffic congestion drastically, particularly the heavy traffic on other roads and will attract maximum passenger and cargo movements, the National Highway Authority of the country said on Monday.
VILNIUS, May 28 (Xinhua) -- Lithuania on Monday increased penalties for tax avoidance amid efforts to curb the frequency of breached tax laws.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite signed the amendments of the Law on Tax Administration, and strengthened penalties for individuals who failed to pay their taxes.

The amendments stipulate that those individuals would be charged with a penalty equaling from 50 percent to 100 percent of their calculated personal income tax.

Currently, the fines range from 10 percent to 50 percent of unpaid taxes, and the courts often impose minimum penalties of 10 percent, according to the Lithuania's State Tax Inspectorate.

"Penalties for tax breaches will no longer be symbolic, therefore it will be not worth avoiding taxes," the president's office said in a statement.

Penalties for repeated tax violations would twofold, according to the amendments, which come into force as of 2019.

Inspections carried out by the tax inspectorate have shown that income of unclear origin accounts for almost one third of the total personal income in the country.

The president's office said the practice of stricter penalties for tax breaches reflects the policies implemented throughout the member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which Lithuania is to join in the coming days.

Currently, Lithuanians are taxed by the standard 15 percent rate of their personal income.
TRIPOLI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) on Monday called for immediate release of two Libyan journalists detained without an arrest warrant since the end of April.

"UNSMIL calls for the immediate release of Head and ED of Septimius Award for journalist -- Suliman Gashout & Mohamed Yaghubi-- who were arrested without a warrant on 29 April & remain in arbitrarily detention, with no access to judicial authorities and at risk of torture and ill-treatment, " the mission said in a statement later on Monday.

The Special Deterrent Force of the Libyan Interior Ministry arrested the two journalists for their alleged involvement in "ethical violations and sexual assault."

The arrest angered the journalism and arts communities in Libya. A number of journalists and artists protested outside the government headquarters in Tripoli.

The Septimius Award, established since 2012, honors distinguished journalists, media professionals and artists in Libya.
WASHINGTON, May 28 (Xinhua) -- The Trump administration's recent investigation into automotive imports has provoked widespread opposition from U.S. lawmakers, business groups and major trading partners, as they think the unilateral move threatens to disrupt global supply chains and kill American jobs.

Under instruction from President Donald Trump, the U.S. Commerce Department last week initiated a so-called Section 232 investigation into the national security implications of automobile imports, including sport-utility vehicles, vans and light trucks, and automotive parts.

The investigation was based on a rarely-used Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act from 1962, which could lead to as much as 25 percent of tariffs on automobile imports.

The Trump administration had used the same domestic law to impose additional tariffs on steel and aluminum imports in March amid mounting dissent from business groups and trading partners around the world.

"The Section 232 tariffs on steel and aluminum imports have harmed the U.S. economy, resulting in higher costs on U.S. businesses and consumers, and exposing U.S. exporters to foreign retaliation," the Business Roundtable, an association of chief executive officers of America's leading companies, said Thursday in a statement.

"Imposing such tariffs on automobile and automotive parts imports would only make things worse," the business association warned, adding it would also double down on a bad precedent for U.S. trade policy.

"It undermines our nation's credibility in the global community, weakens the international trading system, and emboldens other countries to use national security to limit U.S. goods and services exports to their markets," said the Business Roundtable.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the largest business group in the country, also strongly opposed the Trump administration's threat to impose tariffs on auto imports in the name of national security.

"If this proposal is carried out, it would deal a staggering blow to the very industry it purports to protect and would threaten to ignite a global trade war," Thomas J. Donohue, president and CEO of U.S. Chamber of Commerce, said in a statement.

Auto manufacturers have argued that the U.S. auto industry doesn't need tariff protection and such restrictions would adversely impact the industry and American consumers.

"Contrary to the assumption underlying the investigation on import vehicles, the U.S. auto industry is thriving. To our knowledge no one is asking for this protection," said John Bozzella, CEO of Global Automakers, which represents foreign automakers doing business in the United States.

"If these tariffs are imposed, consumers are going to take a big hit because they will have fewer vehicle choices and higher car and truck prices," Bozzella said, adding this course of action will undermine the health and competitiveness of the U.S. auto industry.

Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, also worried that such auto tariffs would hurt American consumers and probably have a negative effect on American jobs, according to U.S. news website Axios.

"He (Kudlow) pointed out that foreign automakers employ Americans in states like Alabama and Kentucky. And he said domestic auto dealers, factories and auto servicing businesses in the U.S. would potentially be hurt by these tariffs," Axios reported Sunday, citing sources with knowledge of the sensitive discussions inside the Trump administration.

Influential Republican lawmakers, including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, have urged the administration to drop such investigation into automotive imports.

"There is no reason to use this provision to consider imposing tariffs on the automobile industry ... This is a dangerous course and should be abandoned immediately," Corker said in a statement Thursday.

American major trading partners have also expressed concerns that tariffs would hit auto manufacturers as well as parts suppliers based overseas, disrupt global supply chains and violate rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"We oppose abusing the clause on national security, because such an abuse would sabotage the multilateral trading regime and disrupt the normal international trading order," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said last week.

European Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen said "it's very difficult to understand" the U.S. investigation into vehicle imports under the Section 232.

"If now U.S. would unilaterally raise car tariffs for instance, it obviously would be against the WTO (rules) and it's very difficult to imagine it to create any sort of threat to national security," he told a news conference Thursday.

Japanese Trade Minister Hiroshige Seko also warned that Washington's latest move towards unilateral protectionism would "plunge the global market into turmoil," noting any trade measures must be consistent with the WTO's multilateral trade system.

Phil Levy, a senior fellow on the global economy at The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, believed that other countries will retaliate if the U.S. moves forward its tariff plan on imported automobiles.

"If the Trump administration hits a large fraction of those imports with tariffs there is the potential for a very sizeable retaliatory backlash," Levy said, adding countries are likely to target those American sectors they consider vulnerable or politically sensitive, including American agriculture.

U.S. imported 193 billion U.S. dollars of new passenger vehicles in 2017, 24 percent of which were from Mexico, 22 percent from Canada, 22 percent from the Europe Union (EU), and 21 percent from Japan, according to Chad Bown, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

In terms of U.S. unilateral tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Japan, the EU and other U.S. trading partners have challenged it at the WTO. The United States is likely to face similar legal challenges at the WTO for its potential tariffs on auto imports, according to trade experts. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 10:40:28|Editor: zh

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ULAN BATOR, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia and Russia have agreed to work toward a free trade agreement (FTA) to expand bilateral economic cooperation, Mongolia's Foreign Affairs Ministry said Tuesday.

The agreement was reached during a recent meeting between Mongolian Foreign minister Damdin Tsogtbaatar and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

Tsogtbaatar made an official visit to Russia on May 16-18.

The two nations have already begun joint research on an FTA outline.

Mongolia and Russia expect the free trade agreement to bolster two-way trade and investment, and deepen bilateral ties.
TRIPOLI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Libya has won two international lawsuits against a Portuguese company and a Lebanese one respectively, demanding financial compensation totaling 88 million Euros (102 million U.S. dollars).

The justice ministry's lawsuit department said in a statement Monday that it won an lawsuit before the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris filed by Portuguese company Way 2 B against the Libyan Department for Development of Administrative Centers, claiming a financial compensation of 60 million Euros (69 million dollars) for damages suffered in Libya during the 2011 uprising.

The Portuguese company claimed the contracting authority had violated the terms of a contract to build two university complexes. The Court rejected the company's claims against the Libyan department.

The Department for Development of Administrative Centers is the largest Libyan institution responsible for implementation of infrastructure projects in the country.

The lawsuit department also said that it won another lawsuit filed by a Lebanese company seeking 28 million Euros (32 million dollars) of compensation. The company claims to have supplied a Libyan field hospital in 2011 without any proving documents.

The lawsuits department of the Libyan ministry of justice was established under Law No. 87 of 1971. The department represents the government and handles lawsuits filed against the country inside and abroad.

The Libyan audit bureau a few days ago said foreign companies abroad have filed 142 lawsuits against Libya since 2011, demanding compensation of 9 billion Euros (10.5 billion dollars).
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 10:45:29|Editor: Chengcheng

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by Xinhua Writers Jin Jing, Liu Xiang and Wang Tengfei

VIENNA, May 28 (Xinhua) -- China on Monday welcomed all member states of the United Nations to jointly utilize its future China Space Station (CSS), a move further demonstrates China's unwavering belief that outer space is a common home for all humanity rather than a new battlefield.

All countries, regardless of their sizes and levels of development, were invited to explore their cooperation with China aboard the CSS ranging from growth of a space plant to accommodation of an astronaut, said Shi Zhongjun, China's ambassador to UN and other international organizations in Vienna.

The announcement was more than a friendly gesture. It is the strongest message so far against the worrying rhetoric that outer space is a new front line for competition and confrontation.

China's exploration into outer space has been at the core of global attention since the launch of the first Chinese satellite in 1970.

Following the launch of space laboratory, Tiangong-1, in 2011, the CSS is expected to be launched by 2019, and brought into operation by 2022. It will be the world's first space station that is developed by a developing country and open for cooperation with all UN member states.

China's peaceful commitment to outer space has always been crystal clear and consistent.

Yang Liwei, China's first "taikonaut," exhibited the UN flag to the whole world on China's first space safari in 2003.

A white paper published in 2016 stated that China adheres to the principle of using outer space for peaceful purposes, and opposes the weaponization of or an arms race in outer space. The core module of the CSS is named Tianhe, or "Harmony of the Heavens" in the Chinese language, which conveys China's sincere hope to promote mutual trust and peace through cooperation aboard the CSS.

In a most indisputable move, China sealed a partnership with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs in 2016 to offer its space-related technological and innovative skills and experiences to allow UN member states, in particular developing countries, an "Access to Space" to address all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

Guided by the idea of a shared future for humankind, China considers its space dream to be a part of the dream of all humankind, and the CSS, therefore, a common home in space for everyone. Just as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 proclaimed, the exploration and use of outer space shall be a common province for humankind.

In a broader sense, Monday's announcement is a hearty message sent across the globe that China remains committed to tackling global challenges through cooperation rather than confrontation.

Take the invitation and take off with the CSS. China's peaceful development and its call to build "a community of shared future for mankind" will make it easier for a more secure world to take root.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 10:50:30|Editor: Chengcheng

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Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko (L) meets with Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan at the presidential palace in Belarus, May 28, 2018. Wang paid a visit to Belarus from May 27 to 29. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

MINSK, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan on Monday met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on bilateral ties and regional cooperation.

Wang conveyed to Lukashenko Chinese President Xi Jinping's sincere greetings and best wishes, saying that Xi looks forward to his attendance at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China and meeting him again, which will give a new big boost to the development of China-Belarus relations.

Xi attaches great importance to the relationship between China and Belarus, said Wang, adding that guided by the two heads of state, bilateral relations have been running at high levels over recent years.

Wang noted that the two countries have forged a comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual trust and win-win cooperation, which has opened broad prospects for bilateral cooperation in various areas.

China and Belarus, he said, enjoy continuously strengthening political mutual trust, hold the same or similar stances on major global and regional affairs, and steadfastly support each other on issues related to their respective core interests and major concerns.

Beijing respects the development path Belarus has chosen in accordance with its national conditions, and is glad to witness the remarkable achievements Minsk has made in maintaining political stability and boosting socio-economic development under Lukashenko's wise leadership, he said, adding that China supports Belarus playing an important role in promoting regional security and stability.

Thanks to the two countries' joint efforts, bilateral win-win cooperation is growing steadily both in breadth and in depth, covering such areas as economy, security and people-to-people exchanges and expanding at both national and local levels, said Wang, adding that the rich fruit of bilateral collaboration has further enriched the China-Belarus partnership.

The two sides, he suggested, should continue to strengthen political mutual trust and join hands to build a community with a shared future, and should also integrate their interests more tightly and dovetail their economic development plans more closely, so as to achieve common development and prosperity.

The China-Belarus industrial park, a special economic zone jointly developed by the two countries in the Minsk Region, is a key project personally promoted by the two presidents, and has so far made encouraging progress, he said, calling for concerted efforts to build it into a landmark cooperation project within the framework of the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative.

China, he added, welcomes Belarus' participation in the China International Import Expo to be held later this year in Shanghai.

On the SCO mechanism, Wang said China appreciates Belarus' involvement as an SCO observer and will continue to support Minsk playing a constructive role in pushing forward the organization's development.

For his part, Lukashenko asked Wang to convey his sincere greetings and best wishes to Xi, saying he looks forward to attending the SCO summit and meeting the Chinese president once again.

The two countries enjoy a time-honored friendship, trust each other and treat each other equally, said the president, adding that Belarus is a strategic partner China can fully trust.

The Belarusian side, he said, highly appreciates and supports Xi's vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind as well as the Xi-proposed B&R Initiative, and stands ready to join hands with China to align their development strategies and turn the China-Belarus industrial park into a pearl on the Silk Road Economic Belt, the overland part of the initiative.

Belarus is actively preparing for its participation in the upcoming import expo in China and is willing to step up cooperation with China within the SCO framework, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 10:55:31|Editor: zh

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RIO DE JANEIRO, May 28 (Xinhua) -- As a nationwide strike by Brazilian truckers against diesel price hikes enters the second week, chaos continues to cripple key sectors of the Latin America's largest economy.

President Michel Temer on late Sunday has announced concessions worth 2.5 billion U.S. dollars to truck drivers, who have been keeping products from reaching supermarkets and gas stations, with over 500 blockade points on roadways across the country.

In other hundreds of highways all over the country, state government sent police and armed forces to escort trucks carrying fuel to major cities, as gas stations and airports ran out of fuel.

But the process is slow. Several airports continued to suspend all flights due to a lack of fuel. By Monday evening, 10 of them were still short of fuel, the state-owned airport company Infraero said.

Urban transportation was paralyzed in most major cities. Reduced number of buses on the streets caused much delay and made it harder for people to commute to work. In several states, classes in public schools and universities were suspended.

Consumers also had difficulties finding fresh products in supermarkets and restaurants. Several sellers increased prices significantly to take advantage of the food shortage. In a number of cities, the prices of normally cheap and easy to find products like tomatoes and potatoes skyrocketed.

The economic losses caused by the strike across Brazil since Monday have already exceeded 10.2 billion reais (2.8 billion U.S. dollars), according to initial estimates from various sectors published on Sunday by the daily Folha de Sao Paulo.
HOUSTON, Texas, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aziel Corporation today announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Abacus Research, Inc. Aziel Corporation provides Insurance Claims Adjusting and Consulting services to Insurance Carriers, Attorney Firms and Oil Companies internationally. Abacus Research, Inc. provides Private Investigative services nationally in support of Insurance Defense, Attorney Support, Corporate Investigations, Deep Background Checks, Training, as well as Risk Management, Loss Control and Security Consulting Services.

Clyde Veltmann, CEO of Aziel, and Paul Seguin, President of Abacus, stated that together, we can expand our services nationally and internationally for our current clients by creating an integration of licensed Private Investigators and Licensed Adjusters utilizing their specific talents where needed in the field while expanding our size and scope of services to our current clients and make us very attractive for new clients. Both stated that Insurance Claims Fraud and Corporate Fraud is on the rise across the nation and our clients need help in the field. Clyde also stated, Another area we are looking at is developing a program using our Military Veterans to safeguard our children at schools across the nation starting in Texas. All personnel will be properly trained and credentialed.

Forward-Looking Statements Disclosure: This press release may contain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the federal securities laws. In this context, forward-looking statements may address the Company's expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipates," "beliefs," "estimates," "expects," "intends," " plans," "seeks," "will," and other terms with similar meaning. These forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. Although the Company believes that the assumptions upon which its forward-looking statements based are reasonable, it can provide no assurances that these assumptions will prove to be correct. All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified by such cautionary statements, risk, and uncertainties, and by reference to the underlying assumptions.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 10:55:31|Editor: Chengcheng

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Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) Simonetta Di Pippo speaks during an interview with Xinhua in Vienna, Austria, on May 28, 2018. That China opens its future space station to the world will reinforce international cooperation for the peaceful use of outer space, said Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Simonetta Di Pippo, on Monday. (Xinhua/Liu Xiang)

VIENNA, May 28 (Xinhua)-- That China opens its future space station to the world will reinforce international cooperation for the peaceful use of outer space, said Director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA), Simonetta Di Pippo, on Monday.

China Space Station (CSS), expected to be launched by 2019, and complete and brought into operation by 2022, will be the world's first space station that is open for cooperation with all UN member states.

In cooperation with the UNOOSA, China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) is to utilize the CSS to promote international cooperation in manned space flight and space exploration, providing flight experiment and space application opportunities on board the space station for UN member states.

"This is an agreement which will allow the entire world to use, for scientific purposes, the China Space Station when it will be ready," Di Pippo said.

"It's the first time it is open to all member states," she hailed in an interview with Xinhua.

The space station could carry laboratories for scientific experiments. All UN member states, even research entities could apply to use it for scientific research, China would help launch related facilities to the station and operate them.

"Opening up of China Space Station, China's facility to everyone will reinforce international cooperation for the peaceful use of outer space," said Di Pippo.

"This is really an outstanding project, it's showing that China is really trying to open up the possibility for everyone in the world to use the facility that China is developing," the UNOOSA chief noted.

"The space program of China is not only well established but one of the most important in the world," she added.

She believes the project is also a breakthrough for the cooperation between the UNOOSA and the Chinese government.

It's the first project the UNOOSA cooperates with a member state's space station, while offering equal opportunities for all the UN member states with great transparency.

"China is currently the first contributor to our activities in terms of voluntary contributions, this is quite important, it's a sign of the strong interest of China of collaborating with us, opening up to the entire world the possibility of utilize your facilities," said the UNOOSA chief, who said she hopes to see more cooperation projects to come.

"This will even be reinforced in the future," she said.

In addition, she said, "The more we could support the cooperation between countries, or between entities the more we contribute to what we call space diplomacy."

Promoting cooperation in the peaceful use of the outer space is becoming an important consensus of the international community, with more and more UN member states joining the UNOOSA over years.

Di Pippo, who is quite familiar with China's space project, says China's contribution will boost this trend.

"I believe that China's program is really well conceived," she said,noting that her office is also discussing with China over potential cooperation in the future, especially on China's program for a return to the Moon.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 11:10:35|Editor: Chengcheng

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- More than 1,300 companies from all over the world have confirmed they would attend the China International Import Expo (CIIE) due in November, the organizing committee has said.

The companies are from more than 120 countries and regions, including over 100 Fortune Global 500 firms and leading enterprises in various industries, the People's Daily quoted Ning Feng, deputy head of the National Exhibition and Convention Center (Shanghai), as saying.

Of the signed companies, 34 percent are from developed countries, while 10 percent are from the least developed countries. Belt and Road countries account for 34 percent of the signed companies.

Up to 150,000 professional purchasers from both China and abroad were expected to participate in the CIIE in Shanghai from Nov. 5-10.

The organizing committee said the exhibition area will exceed 240,000 square meters, including trade and investment pavilions for different countries and corporate business exhibition halls.

"It is a significant move for the Chinese government to hold the CIIE to firmly support trade liberalization and economic globalization, and actively open the Chinese market to the world," according to the website of the organizing committee.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 11:15:37|Editor: zh

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CANBERRA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Australia's indiscriminate forest clearing action has neutralized more than 754 million U.S. dollars spent on cutting greenhouse gas emissions since 2015, a federal government data showed on Tuesday.

The money invested into providing incentives for lower carbon releases, planting trees and restoring Australia's wildlife habitats under the Coalition's Direct Action climate policy has been cancelled out by two years of forest-clearing elsewhere in the country.

Figures released by the Australian government on Tuesday showed the clearing of forests across the nation has released more than 160 million tonnes of carbon dioxide since 2015.

The government had previously signed a contract to provide rewards for companies and landowners who avoided carbon releases, which prevented 124 million tonnes of emissions over the same period of time.

The Climate Campaign Manager for Australia's Wilderness Society, Glenn Walker, said the figures were alarming and might only get worse unless the government made changes.

"It's a disgrace that there is a massive public investment going into tree planting while the government sits back and not only watches but encourages the mass destruction of forests," Walker told the Guardian newspaper on Tuesday.

Australian Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg said on Tuesday that a government review last year confirmed that Australia had a comprehensive set of emissions reduction policies.

Frydenberg also said that the carbon dioxide reduction fund was internationally recognised as one of the world's largest domestic carbon offset markets.

However, Australia's total release of carbon gases has continued to rise in recent years, according to government research. In 2018 so far, there has been a 1.5 percent increase on CO2 emissions compared to the same period of time last year.

The Australian government said it remains confident of cutting greenhouse gas releases by 26 to 28 percent by 2030.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 11:20:38|Editor: Chengcheng

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MACAO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Eighteen people were arrested during the weekend in China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) as part of a crackdown on people smuggling, the Judiciary Police (PJ) said at a press conference Monday.

They were arrested on suspicion of being involved in a people smuggling gang which assisted foreigners in illegally entering and working in the Macao SAR, a PJ spokesman said.

The PJ was in collaboration with the Macao's Customs Service and relevant local authorities of the Chinese mainland, the spokesman added.

The 18 people are detained for further investigation.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 11:20:39|Editor: Chengcheng

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XI'AN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A procuratorate in northwest China's Shaanxi Province has filed a case against a man for allegedly killing nine students in a knife attack a month ago.

The case against Zhao Zewei was filed Monday by the people's procuratorate in Yulin City to the city's intermediate people's court, according to the procuratorate.

Zhao allegedly went on the rampage at around 6:10 p.m. on April 27 near the No. 3 Middle School in Mizhi County. He is accused of killing nine students and injuring 10 others.

He was arrested the following day.
SYDNEY, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The New South Wales (NSW) government in Australia announced on Tuesday they will beef up the state's annual police budget by shelling out a record 3.9 billion Australian dollars (2.94 billion U.S. dollars) this year.

With a 14 percent increase in the state's population over the past decade, more than 1,000 extra officers have been added to the police force since 2011 and this year 100 more are set to be deployed as part of the budget increase.

In addition of the upturn in personnel, six more police stations will also be built across the state.

"The NSW Police Force plays an integral role in keeping communities safe and this record investment will enable its officers to put even more criminals behind bars," NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian said.

"We are proud to make this record investment but our work doesn't stop here -- we will continue to support our police with funding and the tools they need so they can keep our communities safe."

Following on from last year's move to bolster counter-terrorism capabilities with new high powered, semi-automatic military assault rifles, the state has looked to implement a number of radical changes which minister for police Troy Grant described as the "NSW Police Force's biggest organisational transformation in 20 years."

Some of the programs include plans to enhance post-sentence detention and supervision for high-risk offenders and further investment in advanced facial recognition technology under the new National Facial Biometric Matching Capability Service.

The police force have also doubled the state's mobile drug testing program to combat dangerous driving on NSW roads.

Despite the high costs, however, the most recent crime statistics indicate the measures are paying off with 16 of the 17 major crime categories shown to be stable or falling in the past two years to December 2017.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 12:00:50|Editor: ZD

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TOKYO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks lost ground Tuesday morning as investor sentiment was dented by political issues in both Italy and Spain, with a firm yen contributing to a risk-off mood.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average dropped 235.86 points, or 1.05 percent, from Monday to 22,245.23.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, lost 14.21 points, or 0.80 percent, to 1,756.21.

Pulp and paper, nonferrous metal, and iron and steel-oriented issues comprised those that declined the most by the morning break.
Photo taken on May 28, 2018 shows the Sharqpur-Rajana Section of Lahore-Abdul Hakeem Motorway in eastern Pakistans Rajana. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

FAISALABAD, Pakistan, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and cooperation from China helped Pakistan emerge as a rising economy in the world.

The prime minister said on Monday that projects under CPEC, including road infrastructure, energy projects and Gwadar port would accelerate economic development and would further open Pakistan to China, Central Asia and other parts of the world.

"The government has laid the basis for national development, and the country is no more concerned about load shedding or terrorism rather it is now on its journey of development," said Abbasi.

The prime minister was addressing an inauguration ceremony of Sharqpur-Rajana Section of Lahore-Abdul Hakeem Motorway, or M-3, in Rajana Town near the textile city of Faisalabad in eastern Punjab province.

Photo taken on May 28, 2018 shows the Sharqpur-Rajana Section of Lahore-Abdul Hakeem Motorway in eastern Pakistans Rajana. (Xinhua/Ahmad Kamal)

The 138-km Sharqpur-Rajana Section is a vital part of the 230-km M-3, which is funded by the Pakistani government and built by China Railway 20th Bureau Group.

The superhighway will connect the country's business hub and the second most populated city Lahore with the Motorway-4, the main artery connecting the southern port city of Karachi with the northwestern Peshawar.

The prime minister said the motorway would unleash an unprecedented development in the area and will bring great and long-lasting benefits to the people.

The motorway will have a positive social impact and promote economic development of Pakistan by stimulating the economic activities in the entire area along its alignment, said Abbasi, adding that the motorway will connect major cities and will ensure efficient and safe transportation of passengers and goods to and from big industrial and economic hubs of the country.

The motorway is expected to reduce the traffic congestion drastically, particularly the heavy traffic on other roads and will attract maximum passenger and cargo movements, the National Highway Authority of the country said on Monday.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 12:35:57|Editor: ZD

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HANOI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam received nearly 2.2 million Chinese visitors between January and May, or 32.1 percent of the total international arrivals, recording a year-on-year increase of 37 percent, the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism said on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Vietnam received a total of more than 6.7 million international arrivals, up 27.6 percent on-year, with the highest growth of 62.1 percent in the number of visitors from South Korea, followed by Finland, up 39.1 percent, and China, up 37 percent.

Of the foreign visitors in the first five months of this year, nearly 5.4 million came to Vietnam by air, up 23.5 percent; roughly 1.2 million by road, up 59.9 percent; and 157,600 by sea, down 6.1 percent.

Meanwhile, nearly 5.1 million visitors were from Asia, up 33.3 percent; 976,900 from Europe, up 11.8 percent; 421,100 from the Americas, mainly from the United States, up 13.8 percent; 193,200 from Oceania, up 12.1 percent, and 18,000 from Africa, up 20.9 percent.

Vietnam plans to receive 16-17 million foreign visitors and 78 million domestic ones, and gain tourism revenues of 27.5 billion U.S. dollars in 2018, said the administration.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 12:45:59|Editor: ZD

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UNITED NATIONS, May 28 (Xinhua) -- China is providing the world with solutions to global challenges such as on maintaining peace and security, development and climate change, UN officials have said.

China has been very active in global governance and become a pillar of the multilateral system, said UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres ahead of his trip to China in April.

As China has undergone great economic development, its participation in global governance has never been more relevant to the economy and development in a global context. The United Nations welcomes China's positive contribution as it brings the world equilibrium and harmony, he said.

China is also a contributor to global development.

China has been totally committed to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) not only at the Chinese level but also in cooperation with other countries, especially developing ones, said Guterres.

China plays a very important role in SDGs and in South-South Cooperation, Guterres said. He called China's Belt and Road Initiative a solid good example in this regard.

Rapid development in 40 years since the introduction of the reform and opening up policy has made China a leader in promoting South-South Cooperation, said Wang Xiaojun, deputy head of the UN South-South Cooperation Office.

Although a developing country, China in the past four decades has made remarkable achievements in eliminating poverty, and in this process contributed to more than 70 percent of global poverty reduction targets, Wang noted.

China's own efforts to eradicate poverty have played a positive role in the development of the global economy, she told Xinhua earlier this month.

Moreover, the Chinese government has set a new goal to ensure the rural poor are alleviated from poverty based on current standards by 2020. In other words, 55.75 million people will be lifted from poverty in the next few years, she said.

Besides poverty reduction at home, China is also helping other countries.

She took China's Belt and Road Initiative for example. "This Initiative has received a positive response and support from more than 100 countries and international organizations around the world."

China's concept of building a community of shared future for mankind has manifested China's idea for South-South Cooperation and global governance, she said.

A major contributor to UN peacekeeping operations, China is making a very strong commitment to world peace and security.

"China is today a very important pillar in our peacekeeping operations," said Guterres.

China is now the second-largest financial contributor to the UN peacekeeping budget and one of the countries with a very meaningful number of peacekeepers on the ground, Guterres said.

About 2,500 Chinese troops and police are conducting a dozen peacekeeping missions, he said.

Achim Steiner, chief of UN Development Program, said China's development is benefiting the world.

China embraces the notion of being partners to other countries and addresses sharing its success with other countries, the UN official told Xinhua last August.

China's renewable energy technology and mass production ability have lowered the threshold for many African countries in getting their clean energy. This, again, is a good example of what China has been doing in South-South Cooperation, Steiner said.

China, with its economic size and development priories, is leading the world in South-South Cooperation, which is very important for UNDP in accomplishing its goals, he said.
BELLEVUE, Wash., May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Voip-Pal.com Inc. (Voip-Pal, Company) (OTCQB:VPLM) has filed a second patent infringement lawsuit against Apple, Inc. in U.S. District Court (Nevada), based on four additional patents granted by the U.S. Patent Office, namely, U.S. Patent No. 9,537,762, U.S. Patent No. 9,813,330, U.S. Patent No. 9,826,002, and U.S. Patent No. 9,948,549, each belonging to the Companys RBR patent family, which relates to various aspects of routing, billing and/or rating of network-based communications. This latest legal action is separate and independent from the previously filed ongoing lawsuit against Apple.



In 2016, the Company sued Apple, AT&T, Twitter and Verizon for patent infringement based on its U.S. Patents 8,542,815 and 9,179,005. Even as the original litigation is proceeding, these four new patents are being asserted against specific communication features provided by Apple products and services including Apples iMessage and Facetime services operating with Apple devices such as iPhone, iPad and Mac computers. The lawsuit asserts that Apple systems, processes and devices, using Voip-Pals patented technologies, conduct voice/audio, video and/or messaging communications with other communication devices by relying on attributes associated with a user profile in order to classify and/or route the communications.

iMessage is Apples highly popular built-in instant messaging (IM) service, which allows the user to send text, picture, video, and audio messages from iPhones, iPads, Mac computers and Apple watches. According to Apples senior vice president of Internet Software and Services, Eddy Cue, the scale and usage of Apple products and services such as iMessage is truly amazing: We peak out at 200,000 messages a second that are sent on messages, for example. (Source: February 12, 2016 podcast at https://daringfireball.net/thetalkshow/2016/02/12/ep-146 (accessed May 28, 2018)).

As previously announced, Voip-Pal is in the process of engaging expert witnesses to prepare damages analyses for submission to the District Court in connection with the Companys infringement cases.

Emil Malak, CEO of Voip-Pal, stated, We have long believed that the subject-matter of Voip-Pals patents is being incorporated into many aspects of social media and network-based communications. Our technical and legal teams have been working on procuring patents for our innovations since our original routing, billing and routing (RBR) parent patent, U.S. Patent No. 8,542,815, was issued in 2013. After further analysis of Apples products, systems and processes, we have concluded that these four additional patents are also being infringed by Apple and so, the Company is seeking to be fairly compensated in the new lawsuit. The four patents at issue each have more than nine years of patent term remaining. This is a significant period of time during which others cannot lawfully use our patented technologies without a license.

Mr. Malak continued, We hope to reach a fair and amicable settlement with Apple for their use of our intellectual property. While we have the utmost respect for Apple and recognize their tremendous technological and financial accomplishments, we feel we have a duty to our shareholders to pursue any legal action necessary to protect their investment and monetize our patents. We are confident those using our patented technologies will recognize their legal obligations to fairly compensate the company for their use. We believe it will take time, effort and much patience, but sooner or later, those who are using our technology will have to deal with Voip-Pal. The Company is committed to seeing these matters through to the end. As I always say, patience is a virtue.

About Voip-Pal.com Inc.

Voip-Pal.Com, Inc. (Voip-Pal) is a publicly traded corporation (OTCQB:VPLM) headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. The Company owns a portfolio of patents relating to Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology that it is currently looking to monetize.

Any forecast of future financial performance is a forward looking statement under securities laws. Such statements are included to allow potential investors the opportunity to understand managements beliefs and opinions with respect to the future so that they may use such beliefs and opinions as one factor among many in evaluating an investment. While the Company believes in the circumstances that legal action is needed to monetize its patents, patent litigation involves various risks and uncertainties that could affect its ability to monetize the patents. We recognize that it is impossible to predict the specific outcomes of litigation.

Corporate Website: www.voip-pal.com

IR inquiries: IR@voip-pal.com



IR Contact: Rich Inza (954) 495-4600
SEOUL, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) headed for the United States for working-level talks, Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.

Senior DPRK official Kim Yong Chol is headed to the United States presumably for talks with the U.S. side on a possible summit between DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, it said.

It is believed that the visit of Kim Yong Chol indicates the advancement of preparations for the DPRK-U.S. summit, according to the report.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 12:56:02|Editor: ZD

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MINSK, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan rounds off a visit to Belarus on Tuesday with a stronger consensus on further cementing bilateral ties and deepening mutually beneficial practical cooperation.

During his stay, Wang met with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and held talks with Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov, who held a welcoming ceremony for the visiting Chinese vice president.

When meeting with Lukashenko, Wang conveyed to Lukashenko Chinese President Xi Jinping's sincere greetings and best wishes, saying that Xi looks forward to his attendance at the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in China and meeting him again, which will give a new big boost to the development of China-Belarus relations.

Xi attaches great importance to the relationship between China and Belarus, said Wang, adding that guided by the two heads of state, bilateral relations have been running at high levels over recent years.

Wang noted that the two countries have forged a comprehensive strategic partnership featuring mutual trust and win-win cooperation, which has opened broad prospects for bilateral cooperation in various areas.

China and Belarus, he said, enjoy continuously strengthening political mutual trust, hold the same or similar stances on major global and regional affairs, and steadfastly support each other on issues related to their respective core interests and major concerns.

Beijing respects the development path Belarus has chosen in accordance with its national conditions, and is glad to witness the remarkable achievements Minsk has made in maintaining political stability and boosting socio-economic development under Lukashenko's wise leadership, he said, adding that China supports Belarus playing an important role in promoting regional security and stability.

Thanks to the two countries' joint efforts, bilateral win-win cooperation is growing steadily both in breadth and in depth, covering such areas as economy, security and people-to-people exchanges and expanding at both national and local levels, said Wang, adding that bilateral collaboration has further enriched the China-Belarus partnership.

The two sides, he suggested, should continue to strengthen political mutual trust and join hands to build a community with a shared future, and should also integrate their interests more tightly and dovetail their economic development plans more closely, so as to achieve common development and prosperity.

The China-Belarus industrial park, a special economic zone jointly developed by the two countries in the Minsk Region, is a key project personally promoted by the two presidents, and has so far made encouraging progress, he said, calling for concerted efforts to build it into a landmark cooperation project within the framework of the Belt and Road (B&R) Initiative.

China, he added, welcomes Belarus' participation in the China International Import Expo to be held later this year in Shanghai.

Regarding the SCO, Wang said China appreciates Belarus' involvement as an observer and will continue to support Minsk playing a constructive role in pushing forward the organization's development.

For his part, Lukashenko asked Wang to convey his sincere greetings and best wishes to Xi, saying he looks forward to attending the SCO summit and meeting the Chinese president once again.

The two countries enjoy a time-honored friendship, trust each other and treat each other equally, said the president, adding that Belarus is a strategic partner China can fully trust.

The Belarusian side, he said, highly appreciates and supports Xi's vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind as well as the Xi-proposed B&R Initiative, and stands ready to join hands with China to align their development strategies and turn the China-Belarus industrial park into a pearl on the Silk Road Economic Belt, the overland part of the initiative.

Belarus is actively preparing for its participation in the upcoming import expo in China and is willing to step up cooperation with China within the SCO framework, he said.

During his talks with Kobyakov, Wang conveyed to the Belarusian prime minister Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's sincere greetings and best wishes, and pointed out that practical cooperation serves as the ballast of bilateral relations.

Noting that bilateral cooperation and exchanges in various areas have kept moving forward and borne rich fruit, he said the two sides should continue to implement the consensuses reached by the two presidents, give full play to such mechanisms as the intergovernmental cooperation committee, and jointly determine the priorities and key areas.

They need to expand two-way trade in a more balanced manner, enhance cooperation in investment, finance and innovation, and earnestly push forward the major projects so as to give play to their demonstration effect, he added.

In addition, the Chinese vice president called for more people-to-people and local-level exchanges, so as to deepen the mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples.

For his part, Kobyakov asked Wang to convey his sincere greetings and best wishes to the Chinese premier, and stressed that the two countries have huge potential in economic and trade cooperation.

Belarus, he said, is committed to deepening bilateral practical cooperation, joining China to boost two-way trade and improve its economic structure, and facilitating Chinese enterprises' investment in the country.

Wang arrived in Minsk on Sunday for the second leg of his first overseas trip as vice president. Earlier in the two-nation tour, he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and attended the 22nd St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in Russia's "northern capital."

During his stay in the Belarusian capital, he also visited Victory Square and laid a wreath at Victory Monument.
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A domestic shooting incident left four dead Monday in the U.S. state of Tennessee, according to local authorities.

Sheriff Mike Fitzhugh of Rutherford County said a 38-year-old man shot his wife, her father and her stepmother, before committing suicide.

The bodies were found by police who responded to gunshot reports.

Fitzhugh said the shooter was taken to a local hospital Friday after expressing suicidal thoughts, and all firearms were removed from the residence. But it is unclear what had happened over the weekend.

The case is under further investigation.
CANBERRA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A breeding experiment monitoring the Northern Quoll's ability to recognise the dangers of poisonous prey such as cane toads could lead to other endangered species being saved across Australia, according to scientists.

Biologists at the University of Melbourne are looking to identify if the "toad-smart" gene, which has allowed some Queensland quolls to learn not to eat cane toads, can be passed on genetically to quolls from the Northern Territory (NT).

Fifty-four quolls - small carnivorous marsupials which belong to the same animal family as the kangaroo - from Queensland and the NT have been released on Indian Island, off the coast of Darwin, to see if their offspring can survive living alongside toxic cane toads.

A cane toad looks an appetising meal to a quoll, but just nibbling at one is enough to kill the marsupial, and whole populations are being wiped out across northern Australia as the cane toads continue their inexorable spread. But some quolls in Queensland that have lived alongside the toads for over 80 years, have evolved somehow to recognise not to eat them.

Scientists are looking to determine if quoll offspring can genetically adapt to resist eating toxic prey such as cane toads and learn to live alongside them.

The results could have implications for species such as the Tasmanian Devil, which has faced extinction from an infectious facial cancer, or Great Barrier Reef corals that are being wiped out by warming temperatures.

"It is one of the first projects to look at the idea of actually using targeted gene flow for conservation purposes by moving adapted individuals into areas where populations are at risk of threats like new diseases, invasive species or climate change," a University of Melbourne Bioscience PhD candidate, Ella Kelly, said on Tuesday.

Kelly said that the population of quolls on Indian Island has declined since the study commenced in May last year, but it is too early to determine whether the cane toad is responsible.

"It is disappointing that when we went back we didn't catch as many quolls as we thought we might, but it is really exciting that there are young quolls on the island living with cane toads," Kelly said.

"It is now a matter of biting our nails while we wait another year to see if the population can grow and thrive with the cane toads."

Cane toads were almost singlehandedly responsible for the Queensland quoll population declining by 95 percent since 1935.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 13:41:09|Editor: Chengcheng

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Land sales gained significantly in major Chinese cities as the country increased land supply to stabilize home prices.

Land sales in 50 big cities monitored by real estate agent Centaline Group jumped 48.6 percent year on year to 1.32 trillion yuan (more than 205 billion U.S. dollars) by the end of the third week this month. Hangzhou, in east China's Zhejiang Province, saw the biggest increase of 270 percent.

A total of 46 first- and second-tier cities had their land sales exceed 10 billion yuan, including Wuhan, Fuzhou, Guangzhou and Zhengzhou, the Centaline report showed.

The land premium rate, which measures the extent to which highest-bidding property developers pay in excess of the starting price for land, remained tame at around 10 percent on average, much lower than the 30 percent during the past three years.

China's property market, once deemed a major risk for the broader economy, cooled in 2017 amid tough curbs such as purchase restrictions and higher downpayment requirements as the government sought to rein in speculation.

For 2018, the government vowed to maintain its property regulation and introduce a long-term mechanism for the real estate market, with differentiated land supply policies for varying cities considered an important part.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 13:51:12|Editor: Chengcheng

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China's carbon dioxide monitoring satellite TanSat has 75 data users worldwide, according to the website of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The 620-kg satellite received 11,000 data orders and 27,478 GB of data downloads.

TanSat, launched last December, was China's first satellite to monitor greenhouse gas emissions.

As part of its three-year mission, TanSat thoroughly examines global carbon dioxide (CO2) levels every 16 days, accurate within 4 ppm (parts per million).

The satellite can observe the sun, moon, solar flares and objects on the ground.

The satellite has different modes for observing oceans and land, and can constantly adjust its orientation and position. To ensure the accuracy of TanSat, six ground-based observation stations will calibrate and examine observational data.

China is the third country after Japan and the United States to monitor greenhouse gases using its own satellite.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 14:06:16|Editor: Chengcheng

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XI'AN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A Chinese local prosecutor on Monday charged a knife attack suspect with intentional homicide as the death toll in the attack on middle school students rose to nine in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

The Yulin Municipal People's Procuratorate initiated public prosecution with the city's Intermediate People's Court against Zhao Zewei on charges of intentional homicide.

Zhao allegedly attacked 19 students near the No. 3 Middle School in Mizhi County at 6:10 p.m. on April 27. By Monday, nine of the students had died and another 10 remained hospitalized.

Zhao, 28, was detained by police in the evening on the same day of the attack. He has been identified as a local man in Mizhi. No details on a motive for the attack have been made available.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 14:11:17|Editor: Chengcheng

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 76.8 percent of Chinese say they are greatly influenced by peers, according to a survey.

The survey,reported by Tuesday's China Youth Daily, polled 2,015 people born between the 1960s and the 2000s. The respondents said peers exert influence on their personal interactions (56.6 percent), their outlook on the world, life and values (47.3 percent) and social cognition (42.8 percent).

Zhang Peng, born in the 1990s, said he chose engineering as his major at university because many senior schoolmates had also chosen the major.

Cai Bin said he used to be introverted until he joined a dance club at his university upon the recommendation of one of his schoolmates, and later made friends in the club.

"I was greatly influenced by my peers at university and became more outgoing," Cai said.

According to Wei Qingwang, associate professor of the psychology department of Renmin University, it is inevitable for children to go through a period when they feel greater influence from peers and teachers than from parents.

"It is not necessarily a good thing if a young person is always mainly influenced by parents and teachers. It is harmful to a person's self-esteem and confidence if the person receives no recognition or has nothing in common with peers," Wei said.

A total of 54.6 percent of interviewees said peers can better motivate each other, while 57.8 percent pointed out potentially vicious competition among peers.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 14:46:21|Editor: zh

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SEOUL, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is headed for the United States for working-level talks, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.

Citing an unidentified source, Yonhap reported that Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee, will fly to the United States Wednesday for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on a possible summit between the DPRK's top leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump.

Expectations are running high for the Kim-Trump summit to be held in Singapore on June 12 as scheduled.

Trump abruptly canceled his meeting with Kim last week, but the DPRK said it was ready to sit down with the U.S. side at any time.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise summit with Kim at the border village Panmunjom Saturday, confirming the willingness of both Kim and Trump to hold the first-ever DPRK-U.S. summit as scheduled.

Before the inter-Korean summit on Saturday, Moon met with Trump in Washington to discuss the DPRK-U.S. summit.
GHAZNI, Afghanistan, May 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 16 militants were killed and 12 others injured since security forces waged an operation in Ghazni province, east of Afghanistan, a local official said Tuesday.

"Afghan National Defense and Security Forces launched a military operation in Gilan district of Ghazni province on Monday. Separate clashes occurred during the raid as a result, 16 insurgents were killed and 12 others injured," Arif Noori, spokesman for provincial government, told Xinhua.

An insurgents' vehicle, a heavy machine gun and 20 rounds of landmines and roadside bombs were also destroyed following the operation, he said.

Taliban militants have yet to make comments on the report.
Kipushis unmined Big Zinc Deposit has an estimated 10.2 million tonnes

of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources grading 34.9% zinc, 0.65% copper, 19 grams per tonne silver and 51 grams per tonne germanium

Updated mineral resource estimate expected in June;

definitive feasibility study scheduled for release later this year

KIPUSHI, Democratic Republic of Congo, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Robert Friedland, Executive Chairman of Ivanhoe Mines (TSX:IVN) (OTCQX:IVPAF), and Lars-Eric Johansson, Chief Executive Officer, announced today that a large-capacity rock crusher now has been successfully installed 1,150 metres below surface at the upgraded Kipushi zinc-copper-silver-germanium mine in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

The Sandvik jaw crusher has a maximum capacity of 1,085 tonnes an hour. After the 54-tonne machine was disassembled on surface, the pieces were lowered down Kipushis main production shaft  Shaft 5  and installed in the crusher chamber. Reassembly of the crusher is underway and commissioning is expected to begin in June.

The installation of the massive new rock crusher at the bottom of Shaft 5 is a noteworthy engineering accomplishment, said Mr. Friedland. It marks the final, major underground infrastructure upgrading project needed to resume underground mining, crushing and hoisting operations at Kipushi.

Mr. Friedland said negotiations are ongoing with government agencies  Gecamines, the state-owned miner and Ivanhoes partner at Kipushi, and Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo (SNCC), the DRCs national railway company  and potential project financiers to advance agreements to launch a new era of commercial production at Kipushi.

Since acquiring our 68% interest in the Kipushi Project in 2011, our team has worked with Gecamines to achieve our shared objective of resuming commercial production, Mr. Friedland added. In parallel with ongoing mine upgrading work and completion of the definitive feasibility study, we are evaluating a number of proposals we have received to fund the remaining infrastructure construction.

Ivanhoes planned resumption of production at Kipushi focused on mining

the high-grade Big Zinc Deposit

The Kipushi Mine is owned by Kipushi Corporation (KICO), a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines (68%) and Gecamines (32%). Kipushi is on the Central African Copperbelt in the province of Haut-Katanga, approximately 30 kilometres southwest of the provincial capital of Lubumbashi and less than one kilometre from the international border with Zambia.

Built and then operated by Union Miniere for 42 years, Kipushi began mining a reported 18% copper from a surface open pit in 1924. Then it transitioned to become a high-grade, underground copper, zinc and germanium mine. State-owned Gecamines gained control of Kipushi in 1967 and operated the mine until 1993, when it was placed on care and maintenance due to a combination of economic and political factors. The planned restoration of production at Kipushi is based on initial mining that will be focused on the Big Zinc Deposit.

Before Kipushi was idled in 1993, Gecamines discovered the Big Zinc Deposit at a depth of approximately 1,250 metres below surface and adjacent to the producing Fault Zone (see Figure 1). No mining ever has been conducted on the Big Zincs mineral resources.

Ivanhoes drilling has upgraded and expanded the Big Zinc Deposits Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources to an estimated 10.2 million tonnes grading 34.9% zinc, 0.65% copper, 19 grams/tonne (g/t) silver and 51 g/t germanium, at a 7% zinc cut-off  containing an estimated 7.8 billion pounds of zinc.

During a span of 69 years, Kipushi produced a total of 6.6 million tonnes of zinc and 4.0 million tonnes of copper from 60 million tonnes of ore grading 11% zinc and approximately 7% copper. It also produced 278 tonnes of germanium and 12,673 tonnes of lead between 1956 and 1978. There is no formal record of the production of precious metals as the concentrate was shipped to Belgium and the recovery of precious metals remained undisclosed during the colonial era. However, drilling by Ivanhoe Mines has encountered significant silver values within Kipushis current deposits that are rich in zinc and copper.

Most of Kipushis historical production was from the Fault Zone, a steeply-dipping ore body rich in copper and zinc that initially was mined as an open pit. The Fault Zone extends to a depth of at least 1,800 metres below surface, along the intersection of a fault in carbonaceous dolomites (see Figure 1).

Key steps toward the start of a new era of mining at Kipushi

Excellent progress has been made by KICO in modernizing the Kipushi Mines underground infrastructure as part of preparations for the mine to resume commercial production. With the underground upgrading program nearing completion, KICOs focus now will shift to modernizing and upgrading Kipushis surface infrastructure to handle and process Kipushis high-grade zinc and copper resources.

The current mine redevelopment plan, as outlined in the December 2017 independent, pre-feasibility study (PFS), has a construction period of less than two years, with a life-of-mine average annual production rate of 225,000 tonnes of zinc and cash costs of US$0.48/lb of zinc over an 11-year initial mine life.

The 2017 PFS estimated that Kipushi would have an after-tax NPV of US$683 million and 35% IRR, based on long-term zinc price of US$1.10/lb, with pre-production capital of US$337 million. At the current zinc price of approximately US$1.40/lb, the PFS estimated that Kipushi would have an after-tax NPV of US$1.2 billion and IRR of 51%.

A definitive feasibility study (DFS) is underway to further refine and optimize the projects economics, taking into consideration the significant capital already invested to date on critical rehabilitation work. Ivanhoe expects to complete the DFS later this year.

Since the PFS was issued six months ago, we have continued to make important strides toward completion of the underground infrastructure upgrading program, Mr. Johansson said. Our goal is to establish Kipushi as one of the worlds major zinc mines.

Highlights of the 2017 PFS, based on a long-term zinc price of US$1.10/lb, include:

After-tax net present value (NPV) at an 8% real discount rate of US$683 million.

After-tax real internal rate of return (IRR) of 35.3%.

After-tax project payback period of 2.2 years.

Pre-production capital costs, including contingency, estimated at US$337 million.

Existing surface and underground infrastructure allows for significantly lower capital costs than comparable greenfield development projects.

Life-of-mine average planned zinc concentrate production of 381,000 dry tonnes per annum, with a concentrate grade of 59% zinc, is expected to rank Kipushi, once in production, among the worlds largest zinc mines.

Life-of-mine average cash cost of US$0.48/lb of zinc is expected to rank Kipushi, once in production, in the bottom quartile of the cash cost curve for zinc producers globally.

The 2017 PFS was prepared by OreWin, MSA Group, SRK Consulting, Murray & Roberts, Golder Associates and MDM Engineering, a subsidiary of Amec Foster Wheeler. The PFS was prepared in compliance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101  Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101).

Upgrading of existing underground infrastructure nearing completion;

focus now turns to upgrading surface infrastructure, including the rail siding

and line from the mine to the existing network at Munama

KICO has completed the refurbishment of a significant amount of underground infrastructure at the Kipushi Project, including a series of vertical mine shafts, with associated head frames, to various depths, as well as underground mine excavations. A series of crosscuts and ventilation infrastructure still are in working condition. The underground infrastructure also includes a series of pumps to manage the influx of water into the mine. A schematic layout of the existing development is shown in Figure 1.

The main production shaft for the Kipushi Mine, Shaft 5 (labelled as P5 in Figure 1), is eight metres in diameter and 1,240 metres deep, and has been upgraded and re-commissioned. The main personnel and material winder has been upgraded and modernized to meet global industry standards and safety criteria. The Shaft 5 rock-hoisting winder, which had an annual hoisting capacity of 1.8 million tonnes, also has been upgraded to international standards and is fully operational.

The main haulage way on the 1,150-metre level between the Big Zinc access decline and Shaft 5 rock load-out facilities has been resurfaced with concrete so the mine now can use modern, trackless, mobile machinery.

In October 2017, Ivanhoe Mines and the DRCs state-owned railway company, Societe Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo (SNCC), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to rebuild 34 kilometres of track to connect the Kipushi Mine with the DRC national railway at Munama, south of the mining capital of Lubumbashi.

Under the terms of the MOU, Ivanhoe has appointed R&H Rail to conduct a front-end engineering design study to assess the scope and cost of rebuilding the spur line from the Kipushi Mine to the main Lubumbashi-Sakania railway at Munama. The study is underway and construction on the Kipushi-Munama spur line could start later this year. Ivanhoe will finance the estimated US$32 million (plus contingency) capital cost for the rebuilding, which is included within the overall Kipushi 2017 PFS capital cost.

The proposed export route is to utilize the SNCC network from Kipushi to Ndola, connecting to the north-south rail corridor from Ndola to Durban. The rail corridor to Durban via Zimbabwe is fully operational and has significant excess capacity.

Optimized zinc processing methodology for the PFS

The optimized plant design used for the PFS utilizes dense media separation (DMS), followed by milling and a flotation recovery plant. The addition of milling and a flotation recovery plant resulted in an overall recovery of 89.6%, producing a consistent, high-grade concentrate of 58.9% contained zinc. DMS is a simple density-concentration technique that preliminary test work has shown yields positive results for the Kipushi material, which has a sufficient density differential between the waste rock (predominantly dolomite) and mineralization (sphalerite). Furthermore, the addition of a milling and flotation circuit to DMS is expected to improve the project economics as a result of higher concentrate grades.

Given the significant, very-high-grade zinc resource at Kipushi, which is rich in potential by-product credits including copper, silver and germanium, Ivanhoe and the Gecamines technical team are continuing to investigate additional downstream processing options.

Germanium is a strategic metal that is a key component of fibre-optic systems, infrared optics, high-efficiency solar-cell applications, and light-emitting diodes. The current spot price of germanium is approximately US$2,300 a kilogram.

New Mineral Resource estimate for Kipushi expected in June

Ivanhoe initiated a second phase of underground drilling at Kipushi in April 2017 with the goal of upgrading Inferred Mineral Resources on the Southern Zinc and Fault zones to Indicated Mineral Resources, expanding Mineral Resources in the Serie Recurrent Zone and collecting additional sample material for metallurgical flotation testing.

Logging and sampling of the holes was completed at the end of 2017 and the final assays have been received. Geological interpretation of the results is ongoing and a new resource update is planned for release in June. The updated Mineral Resource will be used in the preparation of the Kipushi DFS.

The DFS will focus on the mining of Kipushis Big Zinc Deposit, which has an estimated 10.2 million tonnes of Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources grading 34.9% zinc. This zinc grade is more than twice as high as the Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources of the worlds next-highest-grade, major zinc project, according to Wood Mackenzie, a leading, international industry research and consulting group.

In addition to the Big Zinc Deposit, Kipushi has several copper-rich zones that also contain silver, germanium and zinc. Measured and Indicated Mineral Resources contained in the copper-rich Serie Recurrente Zone, Fault Zone, and Fault Zone Splay total 1.63 million tonnes at grades of 4.01% copper, 2.87% zinc and 22 g/t silver, at a 1.5% copper cut-off, containing 144 million pounds of copper. Inferred Mineral Resources in these zones total an additional 1.64 million tonnes at grades of 3.30% copper, 6.97% zinc and 19 g/t silver.

About the Kipushi Mine

Kipushi is a historic, high-grade, copper-zinc-sliver-germanium mine that operated from 1924 to 1993 in the DRCs Central African Copperbelt, adjacent to the town of Kipushi.

After being placed on care and maintenance in 1993, the lower levels of the mine flooded in early 2011 due to a lack of pumping maintenance over an extended period. Ivanhoe Mines acquired a 68% interest in Kipushi in November 2011 and assumed responsibility for ongoing redevelopment, dewatering and drilling. In December 2015, Ivanhoe achieved a major milestone in its upgrading of Kipushis underground infrastructure when the water level in Shaft 5 was pumped below the mines main pumping station 1,210 metres underground. The water level now is maintained below the 1,210-metre level and the mine has clear and safe access to all of the main underground workings, including the Big Zinc Deposit.

Qualified Person, Quality Control and Assurance

The scientific and technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Stephen Torr, P.Geo., Ivanhoe Mines Vice President, Project Geology and Evaluation, a Qualified Person under the terms of National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Torr is not independent of Ivanhoe Mines. Mr. Torr has verified the technical data disclosed in this news release.

Ivanhoe has prepared and filed a current independent, NI 43-101 technical report for the Kipushi Project, titled Kipushi 2017 Prefeasibility Study, with an effective date of January 25, 2018, which is available under the companys SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com and on the companys website at www.ivanhoemines.com. The technical report includes relevant information regarding the effective dates and the assumptions, parameters and methods of the mineral resource estimates on the Kipushi Project cited in this release, as well as information regarding data verification, exploration procedures, sample preparation, analysis and security, and other matters relevant to the scientific and technical disclosure contained in this release in respect of the Kipushi Project.

About Ivanhoe Mines

Ivanhoe Mines is advancing its three principal projects in Southern Africa: 1) Mine development at the Platreef platinum-palladium-gold-nickel-copper discovery on the Northern Limb of South Africas Bushveld Complex; 2) mine development and exploration at the tier one Kamoa-Kakula copper discovery on the Central African Copperbelt in the DRC; and 3) upgrading at the historic, high-grade Kipushi zinc-copper-silver-germanium mine, also on the DRCs Copperbelt. For details, visit www.ivanhoemines.com.

Information contacts Investors Media Bill Trenaman +1.604.331.9834 North America: Bob Williamson +1.604.512.4856 South Africa: Jeremy Michaels +27.82.772.1122 Website www.ivanhoemines.com

Cautionary statement on forward-looking information

Certain statements in this news release constitute forward-looking statements or forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Such statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements of the company, the Kipushi Project, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or information. Such statements can be identified by the use of words such as may, would, could, will, intend, expect, believe, plan, anticipate, estimate, scheduled, forecast, predict and other similar terminology, or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements reflect the companys current expectations regarding future events, performance and results, and speak only as of the date of this release.

Statements in this news release that constitute forward-looking statements or information include, but are not limited to: (1) statements regarding commissioning of the crusher is expected to begin in June; (2) statements regarding the redevelopment plan to bring Kipushis Big Zinc Zone into production in less than two years; (3) statements regarding successful restoration of production would establish Kipushi as the worlds highest-grade major zinc mine; (4) statements regarding the Kipushi Project having an after-tax NPV of US$683 million and an IRR of 35.3%; (5) statements regarding Kipushi has an after-tax NPV of US$1.2 billion and IRR of 51% at the current zinc price of approximately US$1.40/lb; (6) statements regarding pre-production capital estimated at US$337 million; (7) statements regarding annual production of an average of 381,000 tonnes of zinc concentrate over an 11-year initial mine life at a total cash cost of approximately US$0.48 per pound of zinc; (8) statements regarding independent research by Wood Mackenzie concludes that the Kipushi Project could rank among the worlds largest zinc mines; (9) statements regarding that Kipushi has the resources to become one of the worlds largest and lowest-cost zinc producers, plus the potential to also produce significant quantities of copper, silver and germanium; (10) statements regarding that the planned life-of-mine average annual zinc production is 225,000 tonnes and zinc head grade is 32%; (11) statements regarding that the project life-of-mine average cash cost of US$0.48/lb of zinc is expected to rank Kipushi, once in production, in the bottom quartile of the cash cost curve for zinc producers globally; (12) statements regarding the proposed rail export route for zinc concentrate to the port of Durban, South Africa; (13) statements regarding construction on the Kipushi-Munama spur rail line could start in late 2018; (14) statements regarding expected methods of mining and processing; and (15) statements that an updated Mineral Resource statement for Kipushi is expected in June 2018.

The forward-looking information and statements also includes metal price assumptions, cash flow forecasts, projected capital and operating costs, metal recoveries, mine life and production rates, and other assumptions used in the Kipushi December 2017 PFS. Readers are cautioned that actual results may vary from those presented.

All such forward-looking information and statements are based on certain assumptions and analyses made by Ivanhoe Mines management in light of their experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors management believe are appropriate in the circumstances. These statements, however, are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information or statements including, but not limited to, unexpected changes in laws, rules or regulations, or their enforcement by applicable authorities; the failure of parties to contracts to perform as agreed; social or labour unrest; changes in commodity prices; unexpected failure or inadequacy of infrastructure, or delays in the refurbishment or development of infrastructure, and the failure of exploration programs or other studies to deliver anticipated results or results that would justify and support continued studies, development or operations. Other important factors that could cause actual results to differ from these forward-looking statements also include those described under the heading "Risk Factors" in the company's most recently filed MD&A as well as in the most recent Annual Information Form filed by Ivanhoe Mines. Certain of the risks that could cause the actual results to differ materially also are presented in the technical report for the Kipushi Project titled Kipushi 2017 Prefeasibility Study with an effective date of January 25, 2018, available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and on the Ivanhoe Mines website at www.ivanhoemines.com.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information or statements.

This news release also contains references to estimates of Mineral Resources. The estimation of Mineral Resources is inherently uncertain and involves subjective judgments about many relevant factors. Mineral Resources that are not Mineral Reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The accuracy of any such estimates is a function of the quantity and quality of available data, and of the assumptions made and judgments used in engineering and geological interpretation, which may prove to be unreliable and depend, to a certain extent, upon the analysis of drilling results and statistical inferences that may ultimately prove to be inaccurate. Mineral Resource estimates may have to be re-estimated based on, among other things: (1) fluctuations in zinc, copper, or other mineral prices; (2) results of drilling; (3) results of metallurgical testing and other studies; (4) changes to proposed mining operations, including dilution; (5) the evaluation of mine plans subsequent to the date of any estimates; and (6) the possible failure to receive required permits, approvals and licences.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this release are based upon what management of the company believes are reasonable assumptions, the company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this release and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Subject to applicable securities laws, the company does not assume any obligation to update or revise the forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect events or circumstances occurring after the date of this release.
SYDNEY, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A deadly virus is threatening Tasmania's lucrative salmon-farming industry, with the Australian State's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) confirming on Tuesday that 1.35 million salmon have died since October last year.

Believed to be transferred from wild populations in the Macquarie Harbour, the disease known as pilchard orthomyxovirus (POMV) has had a severe effect on a number of commercial fish-farms operated by Huon Aquaculture, Petuna and Tassal.

"It hit all three companies across the majority of leases, so that is troubling from the point of view of the management of that disease," EPA director Wes Ford told local media.

At the moment, the area's salmon producers are investing heavily in the search for a vaccine.

But in the immediate time frame, the EPA has announced a policy to reduce Macquarie Harbour's biomass limit by over 20 percent over the next two years, in an attempt to ease the spread of the virus.

"POMV can be exacerbated by stress caused by heat, low oxygen, and I think this summer we've seen some elevated temperatures and clearly some concerns about oxygen," Ford said.

"My view is that it is prudent to adopt an approach which reduces the biomass for a sufficient time to allow harbor response to be monitored and interpreted meaningfully."

"This further reduction is warranted to reduce the pressure on the harbor and allow for further recovery."
COLOMBO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Center (DMC) on Tuesday said the tri forces along with the police and relief teams had begun a massive clean-up campaign in several districts affected by the monsoonal rains as water levels receded.

DMC spokesperson Pradeep Kodippili said 24 people had been killed and over 75,000 displaced, as heavy winds and rains lashed out across the island over the past 10 days.

Deaths had been reported due to lightening and drowning.

Those displaced were all housed in safe shelters and with more heavy winds and rains expected in some districts in the coming days, Kodippili said, adding that those evacuated were urged not to return home.

A landslide warning issued by the National Building and Research Organisation remained for the districts of Kalutara and Galle, in the south, Ratnapura and Kegalle in south central and in the Central Hills of Nuwera Eliya.

Kodippili also warned the naval and fishing communities against going out to sea as wind speeds from Mannar, in the north to Colombo and Galle in the south, was expected to increase.

More than 4,000 houses have been partially or fully damaged or inundated by the rains.

Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Ministry said it would compensate the families of those who had been killed and affected by the floods.

The Meteorological Department in its latest weather alert said windy conditions over the island and around the sea areas could be expected until May 31.

Fairly strong gusty winds up to 50 km per hour could also be expected over the island, particularly in the Western, Sabaragamuwa, Central, North-Western and North-central provinces and in Galle and Matara districts.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 16:06:39|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A senior official at the Chinese securities watchdog has called for new achievements in reform and opening-up of the capital market to mark the 40th anniversary of the policy.

Fang Xinghai, vice chairman of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), made the remarks Tuesday when addressing a forum on derivatives market in Shanghai.

"The CSRC is stepping up efforts to launch the first product for the Shanghai-London stock connect program by the year end, in what will be the first step for the world's largest emerging market to get connected with the mature international market of the longest history," Fang said.

The stock trading link is a fraction of China's broader opening-up in the capital market, according to Fang.

China launched crude oil futures, the first futures contracts open to overseas investment, in March, and allowed foreign investors to trade in domestic iron ore futures earlier this month.

A total of 234 mainland-listed firms will be included into the stock indices of global index provider MSCI from June.

China will also complete its H-share full circulation trial soon, and anticipate overseas-listed Chinese tech firms to issue shares in mainland markets via China Depositary Receipts.

A month ago, the CSRC published documents allowing foreign investors to own up to 51 percent of shares in securities, funds joint-ventures, and will expand the policy to futures companies.

A fully open Chinese capital market has taken shape, Fang said, promising continued opening-up measures of greater depth and broader scope to serve the country's high-quality development and overall opening-up strategy.

"As wider opening will bring in more foreign investment, China will strive to prevent price bubbles in all types of financial assets including stocks, bonds, loans and derivatives," Fang said.
TOKYO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Tokyo stocks closed lower on Tuesday as investor sentiment was dampened by political uncertainty in Europe, with the yen's rise contributing to a rise averse mood.

The 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average lost 122.66 points, or 0.55 percent, from Monday to close the day at at 22,358.43.

The broader Topix index of all First Section issues on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, meanwhile, dropped 8.57 points, or 0.48 percent, to finish at 1,761.85.

Pulp and paper, nonferrous metal and financing business issues comprised those that declined the most by the close of play.
People stand in a kindergarten yard damaged by mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip that landed near it, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border, May 29, 2018. (Reuters photo)

JERUSALEM, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel's military said on Tuesday morning that a mortar shell attack from Gaza had hit southern Israel, causing no injuries.

At around 7:00 (around 4:00 GMT) a barrage of 25 mortar shells was launched at Israel, with most of them intercepted by Israel's Iron Dome anti-rocket system, a military spokesperson said in a statement.

According to Israel's Ynet news site, one of the rockets fell near a kindergarten that was empty at the time.

Later, three more mortar shells were launched towards several sites in southern Israel, the spokesperson said.

"Most of the launches were intercepted by the Iron Dome aerial defense system," the spokesperson said.

The statement added that there were at the moment no special instructions for civilians living in the area of the Gaza Strip. "They should continue listening to Home Front Command instructions," the statement read.

No organization immediately assumed responsibility for the incident but local media cited a security official saying the mortars were likely launched by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a Gaza-based Islamist group which lost three fighters on Sunday when Israel attacked a military observation position in Gaza.

The European Union Ambassador to Israel Emanuele Giaufret condemned the attack. "I know the resilience of communities in southern Israel but indiscriminate attacks are totally unacceptable and to be condemned unreservedly," he tweeted on his Twitter account.

Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman convened a special meeting with the heads of the security forces "to asses the situation," according to a statement released on his behalf.

The incident followed a serious escalation in the area of the fence separating between the besieged Palestinian enclave and Israel over the past months. Israeli soldiers have killed at least 100 Palestinians in Gaza since weekly demonstrations started on March 30.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 16:16:42|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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PYONGYANG, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday urged the United States to stop its large-scale joint military exercises with South Korea to create a favorable atmosphere for dialogue.

Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the DPRK, said in a commentary that the U.S. Department of Defense and the White House said the U.S.-South Korea joint military exercises are "defensive" in nature and that the "annual" joint military drills would continue and their scale would not be reduced.

"The U.S. maneuvers which have been conducted in South Korea every year are the root cause of disturbing the peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula as they are staged under the simulated conditions of a preemptive attack and total war against the DPRK without exception," said the newspaper of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea.

The commentary also said that when the DPRK and the United States are coming for "face-to-face dialogue with the will to solve the pending issues," it is unnecessary and improper to stage the joint military exercises.

"At present the issue of the joint military exercises serves as a touchstone showing whether the United States wants peace or pursues war," it said.

"If the United States sincerely hopes for the talks, it should stop the acts of threatening its dialogue partner by force," it added.

The United States and South Korea have said they would hold their joint annual military exercises as scheduled, despite their ongoing dialogue with the DPRK.
PHNOM PENH, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia's National Election Committee (NEC) on Tuesday drew random numbers for political party positions on election ballots, with the ruling party taking the last spot among the 20 parties contesting in the forthcoming national poll.

The draw was conducted under the presidency of Great Supreme Patriarch Tep Vong, leader of the Mohanikaya Buddhist sect, and Supreme Patriarch Bou Kry, head of the Thammayut Buddhist sect.

Participants also include representatives of political parties, non-governmental organizations and donors.

According to the result, the Khmer National United Party of ex-Deputy Prime Minister Nhek Bun Chhay will appear first on the ballots, the Grassroots Democracy Party of agronomist Yang Saing Koma No. 7, the Funcinpec Party of Prince Norodom Ranariddh No. 13, and the ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP) of Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen No. 20.

Usually, political parties can campaign by using the numbers to earn votes.

Hun Sen said on his Facebook page that the CPP's No. 20 at the bottom spot of the ballots would be "easy for the voters to recognize."

The Southeast Asian nation is scheduled to hold a national election for the 125-seat parliament on July 29, 2018. NEC's Chairman Sik Bun Hok said 20 political parties will contest in the election, which will see some 8.3 million people cast their ballots.

According to the NEC, the three-week election campaign will start from July 7 to 27.

In the last election on July 28, 2013, eight political parties joined the race. As a result, the CPP won 68 seats against 55 seats for the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) in the then-123-seat parliament.

The CNRP was dissolved by the Supreme Court in November last year after its leader Kem Sokha was arrested in September last year and charged with treason for conspiring with a foreign power in an attempt to overthrow the government.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 16:26:45|Editor: Yamei

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SHANGHAI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Silvia Guatelli, a fresh biology graduate from the University of Milan, decided to come to Shanghai to look for a job after the city stepped up its search for more overseas talent in April.

Guatelli went to a job fair for foreign applicants in Shanghai Free Trade Zone (FTZ) last Thursday looking for a position in bio-tech or engineering.

"I want to start my career in China," she said. "China has invested a lot in bio-tech research."

Guatelli is among the first group of graduates from top-ranked universities benefitting from Shanghai's new policies.

Graduates can apply for jobs in Shanghai FTZ directly after graduation. Previously, two years of overseas work experience were required.

Christy Kwon Sohyun became the very first foreign employee in Shanghai hi-tech company DFRobot after he graduated from Shanghai University of Finance and Economics last year with a master's degree in international business.

Working as an overseas community operator, Kwon said it took two months to obtain his work visa. "Many of my classmates spent longer applying for a work visa in some European countries."

"Those who have out-of-the-box ideas and innovative thinking, as well as being multi-lingual are definitely popular in the job market," said Kwon.

At the fair, some 53 companies in Shanghai FTZ offered a total of 478 positions in finance, marketing, engineering, and education, attracting 150 graduates from 14 overseas universities.

Since April 3 when Pudong New Area announced policies to attract "foreign brains," 54 work visas have been issued, said the overseas talent bureau in Shanghai Pudong New Area.

Allowing top performing overseas graduates to apply for permanent residency after they have worked for three years and introducing part-time opportunities with companies operating in the FTZ were the highlights of the new policies.

Zhang Wei, a Chinese German expert in optoelectronics, obtained a business license last month to set up a tech company in the FTZ.

"Previously it would have been time-consuming and costly as a foreign applicant," said Zhang. "But it only took me five working days to get the license rather than two months, and required fewer application materials."

The Shanghai Pudong New Area, where the FTZ is located, is home to 36,000 foreign professionals. Its government plans to spend at least 2 billion yuan (312 million U.S. dollars) to attract overseas talent in the next three years.
KATHMANDU, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The 11th Sagarmatha Day was marked on Tuesday in Nepal, where Sagarmatha means Mount Qomolangma in the language.

The Himalayan nation has been marking the day every year on May 29 commemorating the first ascent of the world's highest peak by Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay Sherpa in 1953.

The celebration came at a time when the spring climbing season just ended with hundreds of ascents to the 8,848-meter high peak from southern face, with a collection of millions as revenue from the permits.

Addressing a function organized by the government, a Nepali minister said that Nepal places a high priority to the word's highest peak but needs many more to be done for its preservation, especially for the high-altitude Sherpa guides.

"Sherpas are the backbones of Everest (Mt. Qomolangma), who give lives to any expeditions. So, it's our responsibility to retain them for sustainable tourism of Nepal," Bina Magar, a government minister, who herself is a climber, said.

On the occasion, the government honored Nepali climbers for their ascents to the roof of the world with successful world records.

48-year-old Kami Rita Sherpa was honored for being the only man on earth with 22 summits to Mt. Qomolangma, while 44-year-old Lakpa Sherpa was honored for being the female climber with maximum nine ascents.

"Climbing Everest (Mt. Qomolangma) is my profession so I will continue the job as the chief guide for a few more years, "Kami Rita Sherpa told Xinhua.

Lakpa Sherpa said, "I will climb the mountain next year too making it for at least 10 ascents."

Similarly, the government honored the seven brothers, who set a Guinness World Records for the 61 combined ascents of Mt. Qomolangma by siblings. The seven Sherpa brothers from a single family conquered the tallest mountain between 1992 and 2017.

According to Nepal's Department of Tourism, the official government body which issues climbing permits for the Qomolangma expedition, 346 mountaineers from Nepali and foreign teams had taken the permits for expedition this year.

The expedition that began on May 13 this year ended last week along with the closure of favorable weather-window. This spring season, the mountain recorded at least five deaths including three Sherpa guides and two foreign climbers.

Mt. Qomolangma has not only been an identity of Nepal but also a major source of revenue collection.
SEOUL, May 29 (Xinhua) -- An explosion at a South Korean munitions factory in the country's central region killed at least two workers and seriously injured three, Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.

The fire broke out at about 4:17 p.m. local time from an explosion from a Hanwha munitions factory in Daejon city, Chungcheong province.

Two workers inside have been confirmed dead, with three others taken to nearby hospital with burns.

The firefighting authorities sent 29 firetrucks and 53 firefighters to the scene to bring the blaze under control.

The fire has been extinguished, and the authorities were investigating an exact cause of the explosion.
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TORONTO, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Intact Financial Corporation (TSX:IFC) announced today that it has closed its previously announced bought deal offering (the Offering) of Non-cumulative Rate Reset Class A Shares, Series 7 (the Series 7 Preferred Shares) underwritten by a syndicate of underwriters (the Underwriters) led by TD Securities Inc. together with BMO Capital Markets, CIBC Capital Markets and National Bank Financial, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds (including the proceeds resulting from the exercise of their option) to IFC of $250 million. The net proceeds from the Offering will be used by IFC for general corporate purposes.



The holders of Series 7 Preferred Shares will be entitled to receive fixed non-cumulative preferential cash dividends, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of IFC, on a quarterly basis (with the first quarterly dividend, covering the period from issuance to September 30, 2018, to be paid on September 28, 2018), for the initial fixed rate period ending on June 30, 2023, based on an annual rate of 4.90%. The dividend rate will be reset on June 30, 2023 and every five years thereafter at a rate equal to the 5-year Government of Canada bond yield plus 2.55%.

Holders of the Series 7 Preferred Shares will have the right, at their option, to convert their Series 7 Preferred Shares into Non-cumulative Floating Rate Class A Shares, Series 8 (the "Series 8 Preferred Shares"), subject to certain conditions, on June 30, 2023 and on June 30 every five years thereafter. The holders of Series 8 Preferred Shares will be entitled to receive floating rate non-cumulative preferential cash dividends, as and when declared by the Board of Directors of IFC, at a rate equal to the 90-day Canadian Treasury Bill rate plus 2.55%.

DBRS Limited has assigned a rating of Pfd-2 with a Stable trend for the Series 7 Preferred Shares.

The Series 7 Preferred Shares will commence trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on May 29, 2018 under the symbol IFC.PR.G.

The Series 7 Preferred Shares have not been and will not be registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirements. This news release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the Series 7 Preferred Shares in any State in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About Intact Financial Corporation

Intact Financial Corporation (TSX:IFC) is the largest provider of property and casualty (P&C) insurance in Canada and a leading provider of specialty insurance in North America, with close to $10 billion in total annual premiums. The Company has over 13,000 full- and part-time employees who serve more than five million personal, business, public sector and institutional clients through offices in Canada and the U.S. In Canada, Intact distributes insurance under the Intact Insurance brand through a wide network of brokers, including its wholly-owned subsidiary BrokerLink, and directly to consumers through belairdirect. In the U.S., OneBeacon Insurance Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary, provides specialty insurance products through independent agencies, brokers, wholesalers and managing general agencies.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. When used in this press release, the words "may", "will", "would", "should", "could", "expects", "plans", "intends", "trends", "indications", "anticipates", "believes", "estimates", "predicts", "likely", "potential" or the negative or other variations of these words or other similar or comparable words or phrases, are intended to identify forward- looking statements. This press release contains forward-looking statements with respect to, among other things, the use of proceeds of the offering.

Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and assumptions made by management based on management's experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments, as well as other factors that management believes are appropriate in the circumstances. Many factors could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements or future events or developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.

All of the forward-looking statements included in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements, those made in the "Risk Management" sections of management's discussion and analysis of operating and financial results for the year ended December 31, 2017 and the three months ended March 31, 2018 and those that may be made in the prospectus supplement dated May 22, 2018 in respect of the Offering. These factors are not intended to represent a complete list of the factors that could affect the Company. These factors should, however, be considered carefully. Although the forward- looking statements are based upon what management believes to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. When relying on forward-looking statements to make decisions, investors should ensure the preceding information is carefully considered. Undue reliance should not be placed on forward-looking statements made in this press release. The Company has no intention and undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

Media Inquiries:

Stephanie Sorensen

Director, External Communications 416 344-8027

stephanie.sorensen@intact.net

Investor Inquiries:

Ken Anderson

Vice President, Investor Relations & Treasurer 855 646-8228 ext. 87383

kenneth.anderson@intact.net




Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 16:56:52|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The All-China Women's Federation has invited about 100 females business leaders in innovation and entrepreneurship to share their life experience and give suggestions to female college graduates, according to a statement from the federation Tuesday.

The first event was held in Renmin University of China in Beijing on Monday night, when female representatives across the country discussed with female students on how to start up a business, be innovative, and how to create a colorful life.

The federation also provided professional training classes for women who want to improve their innovation abilities or start businesses. Students can learn to better understand business policies, receive lessons from experts in different areas and visit model companies.

Since 2015, the federation has helped more than 1.3 million women to take out start-up loans of 110 billion yuan (17.1 billion U.S. dollars) and provided training courses for about 5.52 million women.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 16:56:52|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Lawyers associations across China received more than 300 complaints on rights protection in April, according to a news briefing held by the All China Lawyers Association (ACLA) on Tuesday.

Most of the complaints have been dealt with or are being handled, ACLA spokesperson Jiang Min said at the news briefing.

Lawyers are accused of failing to fulfill their duties, accepting cases and money illegally, or handling the cases in an improper way, Jiang said.

There are also complaints related to the infringement of lawyers' rights, the spokesperson said.

Jiang, also deputy president of the ACLA, said the association will strengthen Party building among lawyers this year.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 17:16:55|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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TAIYUAN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Beatrice Barna has little spare time to travel around the city of Taiyuan, north China's Shanxi Province, at the weekend as she is busy studying Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM).

Barna, from Romania, is among 32 foreign students from 14 countries who are currently attending a government-sponsored training program in China.

Aged from 23 to 47, they will spend 56 days in a training center in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi, studying TCM, acupuncture theory and clinical practice.

Barna said she first knew of acupuncture when she suffered from facial neuralgia many years ago. After western medicine failed to ease the severe pain, she tried acupuncture and the pain disappeared.

After studying western medicine for six years as an undergraduate, Barna chose to learn TCM for her postgraduate study. She has been a TCM doctor for more than 10 years and runs a TCM clinic in Romania.

"TCM is an affordable choice, which has very little side effects on the body. So, TCM is becoming very popular in my country," Barna said.

Barna is now studying the Chinese medical classic "Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon," which has been included in the UNESCO Memory of the World.

"It is the first time that I have come to China to receive training. I've learnt a lot. I'm planning to study in China in the future," she said.

Wang Haijun, associate professor with the Shanxi University of Chinese Medicine, said TCM was very difficult for Chinese students, let alone foreign students who cannot speak Chinese.

But the training center provides English courses from basic theories to practices to ensure they help all learners.

"All of them are very studious. They have so many questions that I don't even have time to use the toilet during the break," said Wang, who has been teaching foreign students for more than 10 years.

For Vera Garcia, who comes from Mexico and is already a senior TCM doctor, the short-term training can consolidate his basic TCM knowledge. He shared his experiences with other students.

"Understanding the basic theories, keep practising and learning the philosophy of Chinese people's lives, that's the key to success," he said.

"With growing attention from the world, TCM has an infinite potential for passing on and development," said Yang Youshuai, director of the international communication center of Health and Family Planning Commission of Shanxi Province. "TCM can not only serve the Chinese, but also people across the globe. It also becomes an important carrier of Chinese culture which can strengthen the friendship between China and other countries."

According to Yang, nearly 2,000 students from 121 countries and regions have received TCM training at the center over the past two decades.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 17:26:57|Editor: Li Xia

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Kim Chang Son (1st L), a senior official at the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), steps out of the Fullerton hotel in Singapore on May 29, 2018. Officials of the United States and DPRK met in Singapore on Tuesday. The leader of the U.S. delegation is Joseph Hagin, a deputy White House chief of staff. The officials from both sides were reportedly to discuss the security and protocol issues for the potential summit between the U.S. and the DPRK leaders, and make decisions on the arrangements for the summit. (Xinhua/Then Chih Wey)

SINGAPORE, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Kim Chang Son, a senior official at the State Affairs Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the leader of DPRK's official delegation, showed up in Singapore on Tuesday.

Xinhua photographer watched him step out of Singapore's Fullerton hotel and leave in a black Benz car. Other delegation members left the hotel in a white minibus.

Officials of the United States and DPRK met in Singapore on Tuesday. The leader of the U.S. delegation is Joseph Hagin, a deputy White House chief of staff. The officials from both sides were reportedly to discuss the security and protocol issues for the potential summit between the U.S. and the DPRK leaders, and make decisions on the arrangements for the summit.
SEOUL, May 29 (Xinhua) -- If top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump can sit down for talks, the fact itself would become a great change of history, South Korea's ruling party chief said Tuesday.

Choo Mi-ae, chairwoman of the Democratic Party, said at a press conference with foreign correspondents in Seoul that if Kim and Trump sit over the same table, the fact itself will mean a great historical change.

Trump abruptly cancelled his meeting with the DPRK leader, originally scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, last week, but the DPRK said it was ready to talk at any time with the U.S. side.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday with the DPRK leader in the border village of Panmunjom for a surprise second meeting with Kim, just a month after their holding the third-ever inter-Korean summit on April 27.

Moon said Sunday that both Kim and Trump were willing to hold a first-ever DPRK-U.S. summit as scheduled. The South Korean president met in Washington with Trump last week to discuss the DPRK-U.S. summit.

"North Korea (DPRK)-U.S. summit is not a matter of possibility, but a must-have," said the Democratic Party chair. "Peace and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula is not just a matter of one country, but of the entire world."

Choo said the DPRK-U.S. summit must be held as peace-loving people all around the world wished peace settlement on the peninsula.

Though the Kim-Trump summit was to be held as scheduled, Choo said, there remained a possibility for all issues not to be resolved at a time. She noted that one step cannot resolve everything at once.

Choo emphasized the importance of obligations that bind the concerned parties to implement a possible agreement, which can be reached at the DPRK-U.S. summit.

Citing U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Choo said the U.S. side mentioned the complete, verifiable, irreversible peace regime (CVIP) in return for the complete, verifiable, irreversible denuclearization (CVID), which Pompeo said can be ratified by the U.S. Senate if the DPRK-U.S. summit successfully ends.

She said President Trump also promised to guarantee the DPRK's regime security if the DPRK leader determines the denuclearization, noting that the U.S. Senate ratification will mean no change in the possible DPRK-U.S. agreement regardless of political situations.

After the April 27 summit, Moon and Kim signed the Panmunjom Declaration, agreeing on the complete denuclearization and the turn of the current armistice agreement into a peace treaty by the end of this year. The peninsula remains technically at war as the 1950-1953 Korean War ended with an armistice.

The National Assembly of South Korea failed to pass the resolution to support the Panmunjom Declaration through the unicameral parliament as the main conservative opposition Liberty Korea Party objected to it.

"The Panmunjom Declaration refers to preventing a nuclear war and building a peace regime (on the peninsula). It is an unimaginably valuable thing that cannot be valued in terms of money," said Choo.

Choo urged politicians to make bipartisan efforts to pass the Panmunjom Declaration resolution as there remained a long way to go toward achieving the eventual goal of permanent peace and denuclearization.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 17:41:59|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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RIYADH, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Saudi Arabia on Tuesday rejected claims by French President Emmanuel Macron that the kingdom once detained Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri, Al Arabiya TV reported.

The rejection against Macron's remarks in an interview with France's BFM TV came from the Saudi foreign ministry on its Twitter account.

"We are looking forward to working with France's Macron to confront forces of chaos and destruction in the region, mainly Iran and its proxies," the ministry said.

It also vowed Saudi Arabia's continued support for the stability and security in Lebanon.

In November 2017, Hariri abruptly announced his resignation in a televised address from Saudi Arabia, dragging his country into a political crisis.

During Hariri's 17-day stay in the kingdom, Lebanese President Michel Aoun accused Saudi Arabia of standing behind his resignation.

However, the Lebanese prime minister later withdrew his resignation upon arrival in Lebanon.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 17:57:00|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenyans have lauded their government as it takes decisive action against public workers and business people accused of corruption.

The government on Monday arrested 40 people accused of corruption as it hunts for 14 others still at large.

The individuals include a senior official in the Ministry of Public Service and Youth Affairs and several other senior servants linked to a 90 million U.S. dollar scandal at the National Youth Service.

The suspects are said to have engaged in fraudulent dealings that include payment for goods not supplied.

They are to be arraigned in court on Tuesday and charged with various corruption-related offenses.

Kenyans have rejoiced the swoop, noting it reaffirms President Uhuru Kenyatta's quest to stem the vice that had dogged his administration since he took office in 2013.

Public anger has been rising in the last few days as claims of corruption surface from key government agencies.

Other organizations under investigation include Kenya Power, Kenya Pipeline Company, National Cereals and Produce Board, Youth Fund and Kenya Forest Service.

Millions of dollars in public funds are said to have been lost in the scams in the public service organizations.

"I am very happy for the swift action from the government. These people must pay for the looting," Asbel Kinyua, a motorbike rider in Nairobi, said on Tuesday.

Kinyua noted that corruption had become endemic in the country that it is seen as a way of life.

"People have been stealing without any consequences and in the process destroying lives of the sick, the elderly, children and the youth. In fact, if you don't steal, you appear to be the bad one," he added.

Tracy Anabwa, a vegetable seller in Nairobi, hopes the current arrests would lead to prosecution and jailing of the corrupt.

"We have seen people arrested before, taken to court and the cases drag on for years and they are let off the hook. It happened in the first National Youth Service scandal," she said. "This should not happen this time."

Social media has been alight with discussions on corruption in the last two weeks, with the issue trending under various hashtags, including #stopnysthieves and #namerealnysthieves.

"Light fears darkness. The antidote to corruption is transparency. Let all ministries, counties and state corporations have functioning websites with names and ranks of their top management and board members and their salaries. The public will be doing public auditing of their lifestyles," lawyer Donald Kipkorir offered on Twitter on Tuesday.

"If we are to deal with corruption, just do lifestyle audit of all public officers and you will wonder how some who recently joined county and national governments are driving latest cars and live in mansions with little salary as 400 dollars a month," said Nickton Chesaina.

With past wars on corruption having yielded scant results, some social media users have cast doubts on the current one.

"Have you ever asked yourself why nearly all corruption scandals only come to the light after execution? Why aren't they busted during or just after? Maybe the whole intention isn't stopping corruption after all. Corruption networks exists in known places but cells are left," said Kinyan Boy on Twitter.

"Instead of going for the big fish, the small fish becomes the soft target in the so-called fight against corruption," said Joel Mwendwa. "This is another hot air."

On Tuesday morning, nearly all radio and TV talk shows were about corruption, with citizens expressing their anger.

"The police should also go for the cabinet secretary in the ministries involved because they carry the biggest responsibility. This is the only way to eliminate graft," said Samuel Okusimba on a morning radio talk show.

President Uhuru Kenyatta has backed the current arrests and prosecution of the corruption suspects as he seeks to redeem his legacy in the second and last term.

"We will not tolerate unethical people in government. People with responsibility must be ready to serve and not to be served or loot from the public," said Kenyatta.

Ernest Manuyo, a business management lecturer in Nairobi, noted that lots of money is lost through corruption in Kenya, curtailing economic growth.

"Kenyans are paying for the economic crimes dearly. When money budgeted for road construction is looted, it is the public that suffers because of poor road network," said Manuyo.

A survey released in 2016 by the East African Institute showed that 50 percent of youth in Kenya do not care what means one uses to make money as long as they don't land in prison.

Some 30 percent of those polled noted that corruption is profitable, with 35 percent being ready to give or receive a bribe to achieve any goal, statistics that Manuyo say should worry the Kenyan society since the social fabric is in shreds.
GARDEZ, Afghanistan, May 29 (Xinhua) -- At least four Afghan border policemen were killed and nine others wounded, following a Taliban offensive in eastern province of Paktia, an official said Tuesday.

"The incident took place at 02:00 a.m. in Dand Wa Patan district of the province, when a group of militants loyal to the Taliban attacked a border checkpoint, leaving four guards dead and nine others injured," Gulab Shah, the district police chief, told Xinhua.

Militants fled the scene after receiving fire by police and sustaining heavy casualties, said the source.

The Taliban militants are yet to comment on the report.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 17:57:01|Editor: huaxia

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CAIRO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian armed forces killed eight terrorists over the past few days in the Sinai Peninsula as part of the country's anti-terror military operation "Sinai 2018," the Egyptian military spokesman said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The militants were killed in a shootout with troops during combing and manhunt operations in Central and North Sinai," the military said.

Also the raids destroyed 20 vehicles, 79 motorcycles, 80 hideouts containing ammunition, explosive devices and books that promote the extremist ideologies.

Meanwhile, the air force destroyed two vehicles laden with weapons and ammunition before they infiltrated the strategic western border of Egypt, the statement added.

The border guards have detected an underground warehouse full of ammunition in the western desert area.

As many as 578 people attempting to sneak the western border in an illegal immigration operation were arrested.

More than 286 terrorists and at least 37 soldiers have been killed in the massive operation launched on February 9.

Egypt's North Sinai province has been the center of terrorist attacks that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers following the military ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 in response to mass protests.

Most of the terror attacks were carried out by a Sinai-based group affiliated with the Islamic State (IS) regional terrorist group. Enditem
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 18:12:05|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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NANNING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A year ago, Chu Van Phong moved from Vietnam to Pingxiang on the Chinese side of the border to work as a loader for a fruit retailer.

"Not only do I make more money, but now I have insurance, which makes me feel more secure," said Phong.

Like Phong, a large number of Vietnamese have crossed the border looking for jobs as day laborers or long-term employees.

Since the two countries began labor cooperation in February last year, nearly 100,000 Vietnamese workers have come to China.

"Vietnamese laborers who used to enter China illegally now go through the proper process, which protects their rights," said Zhang Tianjun, a human resources official in Pingxiang.

Cities in southern China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region have lost a lot of their labor force to more developed costal regions.

In Chongzuo, a city that produces more than one fifth of China's sugar, the labor shortage could reach 50,000 during the sugar cane harvest. The situation is compounded by the city's booming manufacturing industry.

"The influx of Vietnamese laborers has gradually eased the shortage in Guangxi," said Zhang.

The labor program has not only helped Vietnamese workers earn better wages, but has contributed to better relations between the two countries, said Sun Xiaoying, a researcher with the Academy of Social Sciences in Guangxi.

Vietnam has benefited a lot from China's growth since the late 1970s, especially through border trade, said Phung Thi Hue, a researcher on China with Vietnamese Academy of Social Sciences.

"Each year, up to 1.5 million Vietnamese enter the job market," Hue said. "The growth in border trade and closer relationship will attract more Vietnamese to seek jobs in China."

Donglin, a manufacturer in Dongxing city in Guangxi, employs several dozen Vietnam workers.

"Vietnamese are hard-working and very efficient. My company plans to install a new production line and hopes to employ more workers from Vietnam," said Chen Lizuan, chairman of the company.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Evolving Gold Corp. (CSE:EVG) (FSE:EV7) (OTCB:EVOGF) (the Company) is pleased to report that it has received complete analytical results of its most recent Nicobi Project geochemical sampling program, which was conducted on the property in the summer of 2017. It included a total of 12 rock samples and 43 till samples. A small field program conducted in 2016 had revealed anomalous gold and base metals in a contiguous series of 11 till samples taken alongside a logging road. These preliminary results, along with evidence for similar geological structures associated with a number of known gold and base metal showings located west of the Property, including Metanor's producing Bachelor Mine, led to the staking of a block of 57 contiguous claims called the Nicobi Project. (Please refer to the Company's June 13, 2017 press release for further information.)



The Nicobi Project follow-up work completed in 2017 identified two target zones to be the subject of additional ground exploration work in 2018. Zone A is glacially up-ice from copper and zinc anomalies in both till and rock samples. Zone B is associated with anomalous gold in till samples from both the 2016 and 2017 surveys. The Zone B-associated results led to the staking of 7 additional claims to fully cover the probable target area, glacially up-ice from the gold-anomalous till sample locations. Both target zones are accessible from a network of logging roads which cross the Nicobi Project claims.

The Zone A till sample results are consistent with volcanic-hosted massive sulphide deposits known from numerous regional showings associated with the Doda shearing corridor, an off-shoot of the Casa Berardi Fault Zone. The local geology can be seen in the figure which accompanied the June 13 press release (https://www.evolvinggold.com/images/Figure_Geology.jpg). Zone A is superimposed on a probable fault intersection within the Doda shear zone, interpreted from regional aeromagnetic data. Zone A is depicted in Figure 1 at https://www.evolvinggold.com/images/nicobicuzn.jpg.

Zone B is glacially up-ice from anomalous gold found in the 2016 till samples, as was confirmed with the 2017 till sampling survey. The gold source is expected to be located NE (up-ice) from these till anomalies, as seen on Figure 2 at https://www.evolvinggold.com/images/nicobiau.jpg. The Zone B exploration target zone is proximal to the contact between the well-mineralized volcanic Obatogamau Formation and the later-stage intrusive Lichon Pluton, and associated with magnetic lineaments which may be related to faulting. Please refer to the previously referenced map of the local geology for further information.

Qualified Person

Steven Lauzier, P.Geo OGQ 1430, A Qualified Person (QP) as defined by National Instrument 43-101 guidelines, has reviewed and approved the technical content provided in this news release.

About Evolving Gold

Evolving Gold recently acquired the 31.93 square kilometre (total area) Nicobi property, located next to Osiskos Quevillon Property and about 18 km southeast of Metanors Bachelor gold mine. The Companys exploration goal is to find precious and base metal deposits suitable for further development.

Evolving Gold is exploring the 72.5 square kilometre (total area) Lithium Lakes property in Quebec, located about 10 km north of the Route du Nord and between eight and 30 km from Nemaska Lithium's Whabouchi Project. The Companys exploration goal is to discover economic quantities of lithium mineralization hosted in pegmatite.

Evolving Gold is also exploring the 172.82 square kilometre (total area) Toro Project, in the vicinity of the Lithium Lakes property. The Company's immediate exploration goal is to assess numerous geochemical anomalies in till samples collected down-ice from large magnetic anomalies.

On Behalf of the Board of Directors

EVOLVING GOLD CORP.

R. Bruce Duncan

President, CEO & Director

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Investor Relations:

Tel: 604.685.6375

TF: 866.604.3864

Neither Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Market Regulator (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS: This news release contains forward-looking statements, which relate to future events or future performance and reflect management's current expectations and assumptions. Such forward-looking statements reflect management's current beliefs and are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the Company. Investors are cautioned that these forward looking statements are neither promises nor guarantees, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause future results to differ materially from those expected. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and, except as required under applicable securities legislation, the Company does not assume any obligation to update or revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and by those made in our filings with SEDAR in Canada (available at www.sedar.com).
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 19:22:25|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 6.5 million foreigners took Chinese language tests in 2017, up 8.33 percent from 2016, according to the Ministry of Education Tuesday.

The growth indicates that the Chinese language has become more international, said Tian Lixin, a senior ministry official, at a press conference.

China has now hosted Chinese language tests in about 1,100 localities in 130 countries and regions, of which 34 were newly added in 2017, Tian said.

In addition, the number of Confucius Institutes across the world increased by 14 to a total of 526 in 2017, while 40 "Confucius classrooms" were added making a total of 1,113.
Trump confirms senior DPRK official heading to New York to discuss Trump-Kim meeting Source: Xinhua 2018-05-29 19:22:25 WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a top-level official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is heading to New York for discussions about a possible meeting between U.S.-DPRK leaders. Editor: Li Xia
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 19:32:26|Editor: Yamei

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Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with visiting British Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, capital of China, May 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Rao Aimin)

BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called on China and the United Kingdom to strengthen cooperation in scientific and technological innovation.

Xi made the remarks when meeting with visiting British Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.

China-UK cooperation in strengthening scientific and technological innovation is conducive to mutual benefit and win-win results, and will further substantialize the "Golden Era" of bilateral relations, he said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 19:32:26|Editor: Li Xia

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GAZA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Israeli war jets on Tuesday carried out a series of intensive airstrikes on military posts and facilities that belong to Islamic Hamas movement and Islamic Jihad (Holy War) in the Gaza Strip, causing no injuries, security officials said.

The security officials said that Israeli war planes and drones hovered over the Gaza Strip and started firing air-to-ground missiles on Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facilities all over the coastal enclave.

Rescue teams, firefighters and ambulances rushed to the scene or the targeted posts; no casualties were recorded.

The Israeli airstrikes targeted three posts that belong to Islamic Jihad and one post that belongs to Hamas armed wing al-Qassam Brigades.

The intensive airstrikes and escalation of military conflict between Israel and Gaza militant groups came few hours after Palestinian militants fired a barrage of mortar shells at southern Israel on Tuesday morning.

No organization immediately assumed responsibility for the incident. However, both Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders hailed the mortar attacks on Israel.

Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawood Shihab said in a short text message sent to reporters that the Islamic Jihad "is blessing today's response of the armed resistance which defends our people and faces the terrorist occupation."

Hamas spokesman in Gaza Fawzi Barhoum said in an emailed press statement that "what the armed Palestinian resistance has done today morning came as part of the natural right of defending our people."

"The attacks are a response to the crimes of Israeli killing and the operations of targeting and assassinating our fighters in Rafah and in northern Gaza Strip in the past two days. The Israeli occupation is bearing full responsibility for any upcoming escalation," said Barhoum.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 19:37:27|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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Policemen are seen on the site of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, on May 29, 2018. A gunman shot dead two police officers and a passenger in a car Tuesday in Liege, a city some 100 km east of the Belgian capital Brussels, authorities said. (Xinhua)

BRUSSELS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A gunman shot dead two police officers and a passenger in a car Tuesday in Liege, a city some 100 km east of the Belgian capital Brussels, authorities said.

The Federal Prosecution has decided to "federalize" the case, because there is strong suspicion that the case is a terrorist act.

Around 10:30 a.m. (GMT 0830), loud gunshots were heard in the center of Liege. During a routine check near the Cafe des Augustins, an individual managed to disarm a police officer and open fire, killing two police officers and a passenger in a car.

Two other police officers were also injured in the shooting.

He then fled from the scene and held a housekeeper hostage at nearby Waha High School. Security forces were called to the scene and killed the attacker around 11 a.m.

According to some reports, the gunman was released from a Belgian prison on Monday.

Belgium's Interior Minister Jan Jambon tweeted that the federal crisis center is closely monitoring the situation for further clues.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel in a tweet condemned the shooting as "cowardly and blind violence in Liege."

"All our support for the victims and their loved ones. We follow the situation with the security services and the crisis center," he tweeted.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 19:47:29|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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MAPUTO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were beheaded by armed men in the district of Palma, Cabo Delgado province, in northern Mozambique, over the weekend, local officials said on Tuesday.

The murder was committed by Islamist extremists who have been vandalizing homes and torturing civilians since October last year, officials said.

According to David Machimbuco, administrator of Palma, the barbarities may have occurred during the day, but so far no one has been taken into custody in connection with the crime.

The bodies of the victims were discovered by nearby residents.

"The case has already been submitted to the provincial police commander of the Republic de Mozambique in Cabo Delgado, who is likely to be able to give more details of the matter," Machimbuco told reporters from the district of Ulumbi, Cabo Delgado.

According to a study released last week, the Islamist group terrorizing Cabo Delgado emerged in 2015, with members coming from Tanzania, Somalia and Kenya.
ANKARA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday discussed developments in Syria and economic and energy cooperation over the phone.

The two leaders highlighted the achievements in the Astana talks for a political solution in Syria, saying the government and the rebels should work out a constructive progress within the UN, state-run Anadolu Agency cited presidential sources as saying.

During the phone conversation, Erdogan and Putin agreed that Syria should not become a conflict zone between Israel and Iran, while the territorial integrity of Syria should be maintained by international parties.

Erdogan also said the political process in Syria should not include groups linked to People's Protection Units or groups under the control of terrorist organizations.

On bilateral ties, both sides expressed satisfaction over the progress of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant and the TurkStream natural gas pipeline projects.

They also stressed the use of local currencies in bilateral trade.

Last month, Erdogan and Putin attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Akkuyu Nuclear Power Plant in Turkey's southern province of Mersin, which is built by Russia's state nuclear energy corporation Rosatom and scheduled to come on stream in 2023.

TurkStream is the project for a transit-free export gas pipeline stretching across the Black Sea from Russia to Turkey, and then to Turkey's border with neighboring countries.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 19:52:31|Editor: Yamei

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BERLIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese auto supplier Ningbo Jifeng Auto Parts Co. is in advanced negotiations to buy out its German partner Grammer AG, Grammer said Tuesday in a statement.

According to Grammer, Jifeng's indicative offer valued the German auto seats manufacturer at around 772 million euros (893 million U.S. dollars) including dividends. The proposal price is 17 percent higher than Grammer's closing price on Monday.

Grammer added: "At this stage it is uncertain whether the negotiations will be concluded successfully and a takeover offer will be launched," and adding that it's "assessing strategic options in the best interest of the company."

Jifeng has already been Grammer's largest shareholder with a 25 percent stake since 2017. Back then, the Grammer took Jifeng's investment to fend off stock purchases by Bosnian billionaire Hastor family.

Hastor family is Grammer's second largest shareholder with a 19 percent stake.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 19:52:32|Editor: Yamei

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CHENGDU, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A captive-bred giant panda gave birth to the first twin cubs of the year in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province, local authorities said Tuesday.

The female twins, weighing 149.9 grams and 110.7 grams, respectively, were born on May 23 at Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, the base said.

They are the world's first set of captive-bred panda twins born in 2018.

It was the third birth for their mother Meng Meng, who base staff describe as an "experienced mother." The delivery was smooth and she immediately grasped and licked the babies, they said.
BERLIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The JAB Holding controlled by the German Reimann family is set to acquire "Pret a Manger" chain of international sandwich shops from the private equity group Bridgepoint, the companies told the press on Tuesday.

According to the newspaper "Financial Times", JAB Holding is offering 1.7 billion euros (1.96 billion U.S. dollars), including debt, in the deal. The take-over marks the latest in a series of moves by the billionaire Reimann family to build a global food retail empire following its recent acquisition of the U.S. "Panera Bread" chain for 7.5 billion dollars in 2017.

"Pret a Manger" operates 530 stores across the world and is scheduled to open its first German location in Berlin this fall. The company was founded in London in 1986 and recorded gross revenue of just over a billion euros in 2017.

The Reimanns made their fortune with the cleaning products company Benckiser which came under Ludwig Reimanns' ownership in 1851. The Mannheim-based family went public with Benckiser after a North-American growth spurt in 1993 and are considered to be amongst Germany's richest families.

The JAB Holding (which stands for "Joh. A. Benckiser") still retains a minority stake in the Reckitt-Benckiser consumer goods company in its broad portfolio of investments. The conglomerate became the world's largest coffee company in 2015, owning brands such as Jacobs, Senseo, Tassimo and Keurig Green Mountain.
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Tech CU (Technology Credit Union) announced today that it is providing a $5.36 million construction loan to Panoramic Interests. This loan will fund the development of a four-story, modular designed, 22-unit studio apartment building to be located at 2711 Shattuck Ave in Berkeley, California.



Affordable housing is a significant problem facing our region and Tech CU is committed to trying to help alleviate this problem. The principals at Panoramic Interests are bringing an innovative and cost-effective approach to development by using modular construction techniques, said Joe Anzalone, Chief Commercial Banking Officer at Tech CU. Panoramic Interests has a great track record of developing high quality projects to help to address the sizable need for 'work force' housing. Modular designed projects are a great way to address this issue, given they tend to be less expensive to build than conventional 'site built' projects, and they can be developed at a faster pace. Were excited to be able to offer financing for this project.

At roughly 365 square feet each, the studio apartments will come fully furnished. They will also feature nine-foot ceilings, stainless steel energy star appliances, bike storage for residents, high-efficiency lighting, low-flow plumbing fixtures and enhanced indoor air quality. Four of the units will be below market rate to appeal to those meeting the median household income thresholds.

This modular designed project will feature sustainably sourced building materials and will be close to public transportation including the Ashby and Downtown Berkeley BART stations.

By employing modular construction for this project, we were able to cut eight months off the project schedule. With the current housing crisis and rising construction costs, fabricating the building offsite has led to lower costs and placing the building in service quicker than a conventional building  both of which are critical to solve the housing crisis, said JP Walsh, the Director of Finance at Panoramic Interests. Tech CU understood our vision immediately and has been extremely flexible  helping us to focus on what we do best  build.

Tech CUs commercial real estate loans can be used for acquisition, construction and refinancing. For more information, visit techcu.com/business/ or contact Tech CU at (800) 448-1467. To learn more about the Panoramic Interest project, please visit: https://www.panoramic.com/cityspaces-location/shattuck-berkeley/.

About Panoramic Interests

Since 1990, Panoramic has completed 15 mixed-use, infill projects in and around downtown Berkeley and San Francisco  adding more than 689 new units of housing, and 100,000 square feet of commercial space. The Berkeleyan Apartments, a mixed-use project built in 1998, was the first new rental housing project by a private developer in downtown Berkeley since World War II. From 2004-2007, Panoramic was the largest private landlord of UC Berkeley students. It also provided more affordable housing in its 7 mixed-use projects than the Berkeley Housing Authority. To learn more, visit https://www.panoramic.com/.

About Tech CU

Tech CU (Technology Credit Union) is a $2.5 billion credit union, making it one of the 20 largest credit unions in California. It serves more than 100,000 members throughout the San Francisco Bay Area  including employees of such companies as Tesla, eBay, Applied Materials, Nvidia and Facebook. As a federally insured not-for-profit organization, instead of maximizing profits to pay company stockholders, we invest our resources to deliver lower rates, outstanding service and member benefits. Founded in 1960 by the innovative employees of Fairchild Semiconductor, today we continue to be an industry leader, providing convenient and easy-to-use financial products for all stages of our members lives, including personal banking, wealth management, private banking, commercial lending and business banking. In 2018, Tech CU was named the best performing credit union in CA, and third top-performing credit union in the U.S. among 538 credit unions by S&P Global Market Intelligence. To learn more, please visit: www.techcu.com.

Contact:

Linden Kohtz

Public Relations, Tech CU

lkohtz@techcu.com
BERLIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- German chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has proposed introducing a new tax on data in the digital economy on Monday night.

Speaking at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin, Merkel highlighted that intermediary physical goods were already assigned a financial value and taxed accordingly. She argued that digital data used by companies for commercial purposes needed to be "considered in our taxation system" as well.

The chancellor urged scientists to make concrete suggestions for a reform, including how to price data.

She warned that failure to address existing loopholes would create a deeply unfair world where some people delivered their data for free and others earned a profit from this resource.

The idea to offer online users some form of financial compensation for their data, which constitutes the key value-added for social media companies like Facebook, is not new. However, Merkel's comments marked the first time that a global leader has publicly taken up the cause.

"The pricing of data, especially that of consumers, is the central injustice issue of the future," the chancellor said. She emphasized that such data had become fundamental to the business model of many companies in the digital economy which generated income with targeted advertising.

According to Merkel, ongoing discussions in the European Union (EU) over how to tax large U.S. companies like Google and Amazon only underscored the urgency of problems in the current regulatory regime governing e-Commerce. The situation raised the question of whether traditional corporation tax models were still appropriate, or whether policymakers should instead resort to revenue-taxing to ensure a level playing field between digital and non-digital companies.

Many online businesses pay considerably less tax in Europe than traditional industrial manufacturers or high street retailers. The digital companies hereby benefit from their non-locational character which allows them to channel European profits through low-tax jurisdictions such as Ireland and Luxembourg.

The EU Commission has already announced tentative plans to tax the revenue of large digital companies with at least 750 million euros (866 million U.S. dollars) in annual global revenue and online sales worth 50 million euros in Europe at a 3 percent rate. The taxes would be levied in the countries where users are physically based and hence where the individual sales are actually achieved.

But the plans also require unanimous consent from EU members which remains elusive on the issue. While Germany and France are seen as the major driving forces behind the changes, low-tax countries like Ireland, Luxembourg and Malta have warned that the reforms could open a new front in a trade war between Brussels and Washington.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 20:23:18|Editor: Yamei

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People interact at a public lecture on Chinese teaching in Dublin, Ireland, May 28, 2018. A public lecture on international Chinese teaching, organized by the University College Dublin (UCD) Confucius Institute for Ireland, was held here at UCD on Monday night, attracting nearly 200 participants including foreign language teachers from over 60 Irish high schools. (Xinhua)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 20:32:40|Editor: Li Xia

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NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Former Olympic steeplechase bronze medalist Paul Kipsiele Koech says he is under no pressure to run a world record time on his return at the Rome Diamond League meeting on Thursday.

The 36-year-old Kenyan threatened the steeplechase world record in Rome back in 2012 when he clocked a jaw dropping time of 7:54.31, which was just a second slower than the world record. Speaking on Monday evening in Nairobi, Kipsiele said he will be content with victory in the Italian capital as the Diamond League makes its fourth stop this season.

"What I want most is to win the race again. The world record may not be viable for me to break. I have the potential and despite my vast age, I believe I can still run a fast time," Kipsiele said.

Back in 2012, there was little doubt that Kipsiele was the premier

steeplechaser in the world, but the Kenyan has often struggled more than most when running at altitude in Nairobi, which cost him Olympic berths in both 2008 and 2012 when he lost out at the Kenyan trials.

"I don't believe I will get another chance to compete for Kenya in steeplechase. I have started focusing on road races, but I want to run a fast time in Rome," he added.

In the six years since the 2012 IAAF Diamond League meeting in Rome, no one has come within four seconds of the 7:54.31 he clocked for the 3000m steeplechase that night. Of course, what Kipsiele was truly after was the world record of 7:53.63, set by Saif Saeed Shaheen in 2004.

From there, he put on an exhibition, leaving multiple time world and Olympic champion Ezekiel Kemboi far behind. He covered his final lap over the barriers in 62 seconds as almost 60,000 fans urged him home. In the end he fell short, but his 7:54.31 moved him to third on the world all-time list and secured his place among the greats.
LISBON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese parliament will debate the decriminalization of medically-assisted death on Tuesday, followed by a roll-call vote that could go either way, local media reported.

Members of parliament will debate four separate euthanasia motions, tabled by four left-leaning parties: the People Animals and Nature Party (PAN), the Left Block (BE), the Socialist Party (PS) and the Greens (PEV).

Each proposal is slightly different, but all advocate that people of adult age (over 18) declared to be sound of mind can request, through a doctor, medically-assisted death if suffering from an incurable illness.

The BE (with 19 members of parliament), PEV (2 members) and PAN (1 member) will vote yes.

The right-leaning Central Social Democratic-Popular Party (CDS-PP, 18 members) and the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP, 15 members) have announced they will vote no.

With Portugal's parliament comprising 230 lawmakers, that leaves the two main parties, the PS (86 members) and the center-right Social Democrats (PSD, 89 members). Both parties have been granted a free vote by their party leaders.

The majority of PS members are expected to vote in favor, while most PSD members will likely vote against. But there are a number of rebels on either side, not least Rui Rio, leader of the PSD, who has declared that he will vote yes.

Portugal's prime minister and leader of the PS Antonio Costa has also announced he will vote yes.

The final result will be close and may boil down to the number of abstentions. If one of the four motions is approved, it will be redrafted by a parliamentary committee and voted on again. If passed, it will then be submitted to the president for approval.

In Europe, euthanasia (when a doctor ends a patient's life at the patient's request)) is legal in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg. Physician-assisted death (typically assisted suicide, whereby a doctor facilitates the patient taking his or her own life) is permissible in Switzerland, Germany, Finland and Austria under certain circumstances.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 20:42:42|Editor: Yamei

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HEFEI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China will create a national unified system for drug detoxification and rehabilitation as part of efforts to help drug addicts get clean, Vice Minister of Justice Liu Zhiqiang said Tuesday.

Liu made the remarks at a national symposium on drug detoxification held in Hefei, capital of east China's Anhui Province.

The ministry recently issued a guideline requiring authorities to focus on professional rehabilitation centers, scientific drug detoxification and supportive measures.

The ministry will increase efforts to develop technologies and create technical norms and a standardized system for drug detoxification, Liu said.

The official said that the ministry will continue to support and guide community-based drug detoxification and rehabilitation programs.

China is home to 361 drug detoxification centers that are able to accommodate 320,000 drug addicts.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 20:42:44|Editor: Yamei

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Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, is briefed about the history, water system management and landscaping of the subsidiary administrative center in Tongzhou District in Beijing, capital of China, May 28, 2018. Han made an inspection tour in Tongzhou Monday. (Xinhua/Wang Ye)

BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Vice Premier Han Zheng has called for the high-quality development of the subsidiary administrative center of Beijing in suburban Tongzhou District.

Han, also a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, made the remarks during an inspection tour in Tongzhou Monday.

"Development of the center is a major strategic move to phase out non-capital functions from Beijing and promote the integrated development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region," Han said. "It is of national significance and lasting importance for the millenium to come."

"The subsidiary administrative center should be developed with high standards into an example of a world-class residential area, a showcase of China's new urbanization and a model of the integrated development in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region."

Han also called for better planning of the sub-center with people-oriented city design.

"The relocation of the Beijing municipal government agencies and public institutions to the sub-center must be done in an orderly and smooth way," Han said."Policies and measures should be prepared to attract young people to work and start businesses in Tongzhou to make the sub-center thrive with dynamism."

Development of the sub-center in Tongzhou, about a 40 minute drive from the center of the Chinese capital, is one of several moves taken to cure "urban ills," including overpopulation, traffic congestion and smog.

The area is expected to receive 400,000 residents from the city center.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 20:47:46|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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DUBAI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be able to travel to Canada without procuring a visa from next month, UAE state news agency WAM reported on Tuesday.

The announcement came during a meeting between UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen in Ottawa, capital of Canada, said WAM.

Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said this move affirmed the "distinguished ties" between the UAE and Canada.

According to the decision taken by the Canadian government, UAE citizens will no longer need a visa from June 5 to travel to Canada for short stays up to six months.

However, UAE citizens will still need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) to fly to, or transit through a Canadian airport. The eTA allows Canadian officials to screen travelers for admissibility before they board their flight to Canada.

Around 40,000 Canadians live and work in the UAE, with some 150 Canadian companies operating in the country.

On Monday, the UAE said its citizens will be allowed to travel visa-free to Guyana, located on the northeast coast of South America.
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is heading to New York for talks about a possible meeting between U.S. and DPRK leaders.

Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee, is "heading now to New York."

Trump misspelt Kim's name as "Kim Young Chol" in his tweet announcing the visit.

"We have put a great team together for our talks" with DPRK, said Trump, "meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, the U.S. president added.

Trump on Sunday confirmed that a U.S. official team had arrived in the DPRK to talk about the preparation for talks between the DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un and himself, which was originally scheduled on June 12 in Singapore.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 20:47:46|Editor: Yamei

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Chen Xi (R), a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee Organization Department, meets with an Vietnamese delegation led by Nguyen Xuan Thang, secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPVCC) and Director of the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, in Beijing, capital of China, May 29, 2018. (Xinhua/Zhang Ling)

BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Senior Communist Party of China (CPC) official Chen Xi on Tuesday called on China and Vietnam to strengthen solidarity and cooperation.



Chen, a member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and head of the CPC Central Committee Organization Department, made the remarks during a meeting with a visiting delegation led by Nguyen Xuan Thang, secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam Central Committee (CPVCC).

Chen said China and Vietnam have deepened bilateral comprehensive friendly cooperation under the leadership of General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping and General Secretary of the CPVCC Nguyen Phu Trong.

He called on both the CPC and the Communist Party of Vietnam to implement the important consensus reached by the two leaders, enhance solidarity and cooperation, and cope with challenges jointly.

Nguyen Xuan Thang said Vietnam hopes to learn from the CPC's experience in ruling the Party and the country so as to promote the national development.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 20:47:46|Editor: Yamei

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HARBIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A cargo air route connecting Harbin in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province with Los Angeles opened Tuesday.

Flight CZ448, operated by China Southern Airlines, was the first cargo flight to travel from Heilongjiang to the United States.

The flight, operated by a Boeing 777-200F with a maximum load of 105 tonnes, takes about 11.5 hours and is scheduled as once a week, according to China Southern Airlines.

The air route was opened to meet the increasing demand for faster logistics and more efficient e-commerce, according to the airline.
WASHINGTON, D.C., May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) today announced it will co-host a webinar titled RMAT Designation  Impact on the Regenerative Medicine Sector & How it Compares to Other Accelerated Approval Programs. During this one-hour live event, Michael Werner, Co-founder and Senior Policy Counsel for ARM will be joined by Tim Miller, President & Chief Scientific Officer of Abeona Therapeutics; Gil Van Bokkelen, CEO of Athersys; and Alvin Shih, CEO of Enzyvant Therapeutics to discuss the Regenerative Medicine/Advanced Therapy (RMAT) designation and its significance. Each company will detail its experience in obtaining the designation and its impact on their product development program. The discussion will be moderated by Amanda Micklus, Principal Analyst of Pharma Intelligence at Informa. Patricia Reilly, VP of Pharma Intelligence, will introduce the topic with a primer on the RMAT designation.



The RMAT designation was created as a part of the 21st Century Cures Act, passed in December 2016. The RMAT product designation, which was launched in November 2017, provides an expedited pathway to approval for regenerative medicine products that have preliminary clinical evidence indicating that the therapy addresses an unmet medical need. Since its introduction, the FDA has granted 19 RMAT designations, 14 of which focus on rare diseases.

This webinar will compare the RMAT designation to other accelerated approval designations, discuss the benefits of an RMAT designation, and include companies perspectives on obtaining the designation.

A live Q&A will follow.

The event will be held on Wednesday, June 13, 2018 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. ET. Participant capacity is limited to the first 500 registrants.

To RSVP, please visit: http://www.workcast.com/register?cpak=1195936758062010. If you have any questions, please contact Lyndsey Scull at lscull@alliancerm.org.

About The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine

The Alliance for Regenerative Medicine (ARM) is an international multi-stakeholder advocacy organization that promotes legislative, regulatory and reimbursement initiatives necessary to facilitate access to life-giving advances in regenerative medicine worldwide. ARM also works to increase public understanding of the field and its potential to transform human healthcare, providing business development and investor outreach services to support the growth of its member companies and research organizations. Prior to the formation of ARM in 2009, there was no advocacy organization operating in Washington, D.C. to specifically represent the interests of the companies, research institutions, investors and patient groups that comprise the entire regenerative medicine community. Today, ARM has more than 290 members and is the leading global advocacy organization in this field. To learn more about ARM or to become a member, visit http://www.alliancerm.org.




by Alessandra Cardone

ROME, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Two Italian populist parties are calling for protests to be held in the next days, as prime minister-designate Carlo Cottarelli is at work to outline a technocrat cabinet to lead the country until early elections.

Anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and far-right League appealed on their base of supporters to take to the streets across the country, after their bid to form a government failed over the weekend.

Their attempt collapsed after president Sergio Mattarella refused to confirm Paolo Savona, a Eurosceptic economist, as finance minister, as the two parties had proposed.

That veto brought about the resignation of the M5S-League's PM-candidate, law professor Giuseppe Conte, and Mattarella gave mandate to Cottarelli to form a technical cabinet, in order to end a stalemate that lasts since inconclusive elections on March 4.

This step sparked the furious reaction of the two political forces, which run as rivals in the campaign, but then tried to forge an alliance as the two most voted parties in the election.

Both accused president Mattarella to be at the service of financial lobbies, credit rating agencies, and major countries in the European Union (EU) such as Germany and France.

"We cannot just stand by and watch," an angry Luigi Di Maio, the 31-year-old M5S' leader, said in a video message on Facebook.

"It is important to mobilize, and make ourselves seen and heard... We are going to organize peaceful, symbolic demonstrations in the Italian cities," he said.

Di Maio appealed on supporters to especially join a major rally in Rome on June 2, a date that marks Italy's Republic Day and is usually devoted to official celebrations.

He also pledged to push for the president's impeachment according to Article 90 of the constitution, a procedure that would involve both parliament and constitutional court.

"After what has happened, Italy needs a president that chooses (to stand by) the citizens, and not the rating agencies, the banks, or Germany's interests," Di Maio said.

The leader of anti-immigrant League, Matteo Salvini, accused the president and Italian mainstream media of obstructing the popular will.

"In the last three weeks, some 90 percent of the news media has attacked and insulted our government, before it was even born," Salvini told state radio broadcaster RAI Radio 1.

"These things happen in a regime, and I wonder whether someone did not want our government to start whatsoever."

Salvini did not openly endorse the call for a presidential impeachment launched by his ally. Yet, the League had already planned happenings with supporters in many Italian cities on June 2-3.

"I thought I would be there explaining the program of our new government in charge. Instead, I will discuss what has happened in these days," Salvini said.

Both League and M5S were adamant about rejecting Carlo Cottarelli's current attempts to form a technical cabinet to manage the country's current affairs until snap elections are called.

The two parties, holding the majority of seats in both houses of the parliament, said they would not vote the confidence to Cottarelli's team.
ISLAMABAD, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD) issued a fresh three-day heatwave alert for Pakistan's southern port city of Karachi starting from Tuesday to Thursday, as the mercury is expected to hit a maximum temperature of 44 degrees Celsius, local Urdu TV channels reported on Tuesday.

The weather office said that a new heatwave of moderate to severe intensity would engulf Karachi and its suburbs for three days and day temperatures will remain 40 to 44 degrees Celsius. Sea breeze will remain cut-off, said the department.

The city's administration has advised the citizens to stay indoors during the period and take extra precautionary measures for outdoor activities.

Local medics advised people to drink plenty of water, eat hydrating foods, avoid direct sunlight and wear light clothes to prevent themselves from the risk of heat stroke.

The heatwave in the city coincides with the long hours of load shedding and the month of Ramadan, when millions of Muslims in Pakistan refrain from food and drink from dawn till dusk.

Last week, a welfare organization, the Edhi Foundation, operating morgues and an ambulance service in the country, claimed that it had received over 65 bodies who had died of heat stroke. However, the provincial health authorities denied the claim.

A severe heatwave in 2015 killed at least 1,200 people, mostly elderly, sick and homeless mainly in Sindh province.
ROME, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Italian Prime Minister-designate Carlo Cottarelli is expected to select and unveil the line-up of his technocrat cabinet on Tuesday, according to local media.

Cottarelli, a former official of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was conferred the mandate by President Sergio Mattarella on Monday, some 24 hours after a bid by two populist parties to form a government failed.

His cabinet would be made by up to 12 ministers, mostly professionals, Ansa news agency reported.

They would only temporarily serve for the country, but not run in the snap elections that were likely to be held in autumn, or in spring 2019 at latest.

Among the names suggested by media reports were those of director general of the Bank of Italy Salvatore Rossi, and president of the Italian Institute of Social Security Tito Boeri for key economic ministries.

Secretary general of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and International Cooperation Elisabetta Belloni and Italian ambassador to Moscow Pasquale Terracciano were among the possible candidates as foreign minister, Ansa reported.

The president of Italy's anti-corruption agency Raffaele Cantone might serve in the Ministry of Infrastructures, while former Constitutional Court judge Sabino Cassese and rector of Rome's LUISS university Paola Severino were two likely names for the Ministry of Justice, according to La Repubblica newspaper.

None of the ministers in the technocrat cabinet, nor the PM-designate, would run in the next campaign, Cottarelli specified in a short message from the presidential palace on Monday, after accepting the mandate.

The PM-designate's plan was to present a government program that would include the approval of the 2019 budget law, one of the country's urgent commitments this year. After achieving this task, Cottarelli said he would lead the country to snap elections in early 2019.

Yet, the chances for his technocrat cabinet to win confidence votes in both houses of the parliament -- as required by constitution -- were very low.

So far, only the center-left Democratic Party (PD) has confirmed its support to Cottarelli, while all of the other major parties -- and especially M5S and League, which together hold the majority of seats -- said they would vote against.

If this was the case, Cottarelli explained his cabinet would "immediately resign" and stay in charge for current affairs only, bringing the country towards elections "after August."

The current crisis was triggered by president Mattarella's refusal to confirm a euro-skeptic economist as finance minister, as proposed by anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) and far-right League.

The economist, 81-year-old Paolo Savona, has in the past described the euro as a "European straitjacket" and suggested Italy should leave the single currency if "the future of the country was in jeopardy."

Refusing to bend to the president's suggestions to choose another candidate from their own lists, M5S and League dropped their bid to form a government.

In a later message to the country, President Mattarella explained he had accepted all of the M5S-League proposals for the cabinet, but could not give the green light to a finance minister who "would likely, or almost certainly, bring Italy's exit from the euro-zone."

This would have been contrary to the political campaign run by the two parties in the 2017 elections, which -- although critical towards some European Union (EU9 policies -- did not contemplate, not discuss such a radical perspective, Mattarella said.
KUWAIT CITY, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Kuwait Red Crescent Society (KRCS) will deliver the first batch of relief aid to Yemen on Wednesday for those affected by Cyclone Mekunu, the Kuwait News Agency reported Tuesday.

KRCS will also send a volunteer team to Yemen in addition to the aid including food parcels and blankets, according to KRCS Chairman Hilal Al-Sayer.

On May 24, the Yemeni government declared the archipelago province of Socotra a disaster area, after Cyclone Mekunu struck the island.

The devastating tropical cyclone has killed 18 people, and displaced more than 200 families, local officials told Xinhua.

Meanwhile, four ships sank off the island, several vehicles were washed away by floods, and communication was cut off in most areas of Socotra, they added.

Located 380 km south of the Arabian Peninsula, Socotra has a population of 50,000, and boasts hundreds of rare plant species unique to the island.
LAMU, Kenya, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's security officers in coastal Lamu County have started an operation to flush out al-Shabab returnees who have secretly come back and refused to surrender to authorities for rehabilitation.

Lamu County Commissioner Joseph Kanyiri said on Tuesday that relatives and other community members who are found guilty of hiding the returnees are also targeted in the new operation.

"We are glad that a considerable number of communities have cooperated with security officers, but it's unfortunate that there are some communities that have been hiding and aiding al-Shabab," Kanyiri told journalists in Lamu.

"These communities have also remained tight-lipped whenever al-Shabab returnees come back from Somalia," he added. "We told them to surrender such people to us for rehabilitation. Investigations are a critical stage and people shall be prosecuted soon enough."

The authorities insist that the normal procedure is for the community to surrender any returnees to the police for rehabilitation after which they can be incorporated back into society.

The east African nation has announced amnesty for all al-Shabab returnees who shall surrender to the police.

Despite the assurance, not many have heeded as fears rise that it could be a trick by police to capture and eliminate the returnees.

Kanyiri said the government has adequate intelligence that many of those posing as returnees are in fact spies for the militant group.

In addition to Lamu, the coastal county of Tana River and Garissa county in northeastern Kenya are also notorious for hiding al-Shabab returnees, Kanyiri said.

Some community members in those counties have been working with militants by giving them such information as movements of security officers, he said.

Kanyiri insisted that the returnees have in fact been helping militants launch terror attacks across the region.

He warned that anyone found culpable of aiding terrorism shall be treated like a terrorist and face the full force of the law.

The militants' spies are also responsible for spreading propaganda leaflets across the region with the intent to mislead, intimidate and instill fear in residents, he said.

Locals have been asked to stay put and not allow themselves be divided along religious or tribal lines.

"People wake up to propaganda leaflets strewn all over villages in which the militants claim they have no issues with Muslims and that their main target are the Christians and tribes from outside the coastal region. We must be aware of such intentions and vow to remain sober-minded and united so we can win against them," said Kanyiri.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 21:17:56|Editor: Yamei

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HEFEI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China Tuesday exported three Chinese alligators bred in captivity to Japan, according to a local alligator breeding center.

After passing quarantine checks, the three adult alligators, one male and two female, left the breeding center in Xuancheng, east China's Anhui Province, Tuesday afternoon for a Japanese zoo.

The alligators, which range from 1.6 to 1.9 meters in length, have lived at the center for nearly 10 years.

China listed the Chinese alligator, also known as the Yangtze alligator, as a first-class protected animal in 1972. The species is endemic to eastern China and is listed as critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) with a population of only about 150 in the wild.

Anhui succeeded in breeding the alligators in 1982 and currently there are about 15,000 Chinese alligators living in captivity.

China allowed trade of captive-bred alligators in the early 1990s.

In November last year, four Chinese alligators from the center were exported to Japan.
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is heading to New York for talks about a possible meeting between U.S. and DPRK leaders.

Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee, is "heading now to New York."

Trump misspelt Kim's name as "Kim Young Chol" in his tweet announcing the visit.

"We have put a great team together for our talks" with DPRK, said Trump. "Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit," the U.S. president added.

Trump on Sunday confirmed that a U.S. official team had arrived in the DPRK to talk about the preparation for talks between the DPRK top leader Kim Jong Un and himself, which was originally scheduled on June 12 in Singapore.

Trump also trumpeted in his tweet that Kim's trip to New York a new sign of progress for the leaders' meeting, was "solid response" to his letter.

He referred to a letter he wrote to Kim, released by the White House on Thursday, in which Trump canceled the scheduled meeting, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed by Pyongyang recently.

However, Trump reversed course on Friday, saying both sides wanted the meeting to happen and it could still go ahead after productive talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Sunday confirmed the willingness of Kim and Trump to hold the first-ever historic DPRK-U.S. leaders' meeting as scheduled.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 21:28:01|Editor: Li Xia

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NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua)-- Kenya's junior girls and boys teams will now focus on the 2019 All Africa Games in volleyball after they were bundled out of the qualifiers for this year's Africa Youth Games.

Waithaka Kioni, the Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) chairman said the team will not be disbanded but will continue to train together in a bid to get more experience and fight for medals at the premier continental games.

"Our team was young with no experience at the international level and we suffered the loss to Egypt. But they will learn from it and develop into a strong team for the All Africa Games," Kioni said on Tuesday in Nairobi.

Only three teams showed up in Kampala for the Zone Five qualifiers. Hosts Uganda, Kenya and Egypt battled for the one spot at the Africa Youth Games. Sudan and Rwanda pulled out of the competition citing financial constraints. Egypt's boys and girls teams will represent Zone Five in the Africa Youth Games slated for July 17-27 in Algiers, Algeria.

In other pools, Nigeria's teams booked their tickets to the 2018 Africa Youth Games following their victory in Zone 3 qualifiers held in Porto-Novo, Benin. The qualifiers featured two teams in each gender as Nigeria and hosts Benin took part in the tournament.

Other teams that will make the finals are Tunisia as well as Cameroon, representing Zone four. Zone two, Six and Seven are yet to stage their qualifiers.
KIEV, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Ukrainian government on Tuesday signed an agreement to purchase 55 helicopters from France, said the Ukrainian Interior Ministry in a statement.

The contract worth about 551 million euros (635 million U.S. dollars) states that Ukraine will buy choppers of H145, H125 and H225 types produced by Airbus.

The choppers will be employed in Ukraine's rescue and anti-terror operations, as well as in border security, traffic control and evacuation missions.

After finalizing the deal, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsene Avakov said on Twitter that the helicopters will significantly strengthen rescue services in Ukraine.

Avakov signed the contract in Paris with Delphine Geny-Stephann, State Secretary of the French Economy and Finance Ministry.

The first four helicopters will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of this year.
BRUSSELS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The knife attack and shooting that left two patrolling police officers and one passenger in a car killed in eastern Belgian city Liege on Tuesday is being investigated as a suspected terrorist attack, according to authorities.

At about 10:30 a.m. local time (GMT 0830), two police officers performing routine patrols in the center of Liege were attacked by a knife-wielding man, who snatched the gun from one of the police officers and proceeded to kill them both, Liege's prosecutor Philippe Dulieu told a press conference.

During his escape, the man attacked a vehicle and shot dead a young occupant in the car. He then went on his way and went into a local high school where he took hostage a lady who works there.

Then the security personnel intervened and the assailant made an exit from the building by firing on the police and was shot dead. During the exchange of fire, two police officers were injured.

The investigation has been taken over by the Belgian Federal Procuratorate, as the evidence clearly indicated that it was a "terrorist attack", according to officials.

Local media reports identified the attacker as a man who was born in 1982 and had just taken leave from prison on Monday evening. He had been sentenced to prison for numerous crimes such as theft and drug trafficking, according to reports.

Reports said since the man had no affiliation to terrorist groups prior to his incarceration, he is likely to have been brainwashed with extremist ideology while serving his time in prison.

In an interview with the media, Belgian Prime Minister Michel expressed condolences and sent his warmest wishes to the victims and their families.

The Belgian threat assessment coordination agency (OCAM) announced on the same day that the Belgian national security alert level will remain unchanged until further notice.
English Danish

Bagsvrd, Denmark, 29 May 2018 - Novo Nordisk today announced the headline results from PIONEER 2, the second phase 3a trial with oral semaglutide for treatment of adults with type 2 diabetes. Oral semaglutide is a new GLP-1 analogue taken once daily as a tablet. The 52-week, open label trial investigated the efficacy and safety of 14 mg oral semaglutide compared with 25 mg empagliflozin in 816 people with type 2 diabetes, inadequately controlled on metformin. The confirmatory endpoints were defined after 26 weeks of treatment.

Two distinct statistical approaches to evaluating the effects of oral semaglutide were applied in the PIONEER 2 trial; a primary statistical approach required by recent regulatory guidance evaluating the effect regardless of discontinuation of treatment and use of rescue medication, and a secondary statistical approach describing the effect while on treatment and without use of rescue medication.

The trial achieved its primary objective according to the primary statistical approach by demonstrating a statistically significant and superior improvement in HbA 1c with oral semaglutide compared to empagliflozin at 26 weeks. Difference in weight loss at 26 weeks between oral semaglutide and empagliflozin was not statistically significant when applying the primary statistical approach.

When applying the secondary statistical approach, people treated with 14 mg oral semaglutide achieved a statistically significant improvement in HbA 1c of 1.4% at 26 weeks and 1.3% at 52 weeks, compared to an improvement in HbA 1c of 0.9% and 0.8% with 25 mg empagliflozin at 26 and 52 weeks, respectively. The 14 mg dose of oral semaglutide demonstrated weight loss of 4.2 kg at 26 weeks and 4.7 kg at 52 weeks versus 3.8 kg with 25 mg empagliflozin at both 26 weeks and 52 weeks. The increased weight loss with oral semaglutide was statistically significant compared to empagliflozin at the 52-week time point.

In addition, applying the secondary statistical approach, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) treatment target of HbA 1c below 7.0% was achieved by 72% of people treated with 14 mg oral semaglutide compared with 47% of people treated with 25 mg empagliflozin at 52 weeks.

In the trial, oral semaglutide was well-tolerated and with a profile consistent with GLP-1-based therapy. The most common adverse event for oral semaglutide was mild to moderate nausea, which diminished over time. In PIONEER 2, 20% of people treated with oral semaglutide experienced nausea during the trial. The proportion of subjects who discontinued treatment due to adverse events was 11% for people treated with 14 mg oral semaglutide compared to 4% for people treated with 25 mg empagliflozin.

"We are very excited about these results, which demonstrate that people treated with 14 mg oral semaglutide for one year achieved statistically significant reductions in blood glucose and body weight compared to people treated with 25 mg empagliflozin," said Mads Krogsgaard Thomsen, executive vice president and chief science officer of Novo Nordisk. "PIONEER 2 is an important milestone in the clinical development of oral semaglutide and we look forward to further understanding the clinical profile of oral semaglutide in the remaining PIONEER trials."

About PIONEER 2 and the PIONEER clinical trial programme

PIONEER 2 was a 52-week, randomised, open-label, active-controlled, parallel-group, multicentre, multinational trial with two arms comparing the efficacy and safety of oral semaglutide with empagliflozin in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, inadequately controlled on metformin. 816 people were enrolled in PIONEER 2 and randomised 1:1 to receive either 14 mg oral semaglutide or 25 mg empagliflozin once daily. The confirmatory endpoints were change in HbA 1c and body weight from baseline to week 26. Key secondary endpoints included change in HbA 1c and body weight from baseline to week 52.

The PIONEER phase 3a clinical development programme for oral semaglutide is a global development programme with enrolment of 8,845 people with type 2 diabetes across 10 clinical trials, which are all expected to complete in 2018.

Further information

Media: Katrine Sperling +45 3079 6718 krsp@novonordisk.com Ken Inchausti (US) +1 609 786 8316 kiau@novonordisk.com Investors: Peter Hugreffe Ankersen +45 3075 9085 phak@novonordisk.com Anders Mikkelsen +45 3079 4461 armk@novonordisk.com Christina Kjr +45 3079 3009 cnje@novonordisk.com



Company announcement No 47 / 2018
ADDIS ABABA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Reforms instituted by Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed could lead to national consensus and long-term stability of Africa's fastest growing economy, an Ethiopian expert said on Tuesday.

Ahmed's call for open dialogue with local and exiled opposition groups will help lessen political tensions in Ethiopia. Abebe Aynete, senior researcher at Ethiopian Foreign Relations Strategic Studies (EFRSS), a local think thank, told Xinhua.

The country's two most populous regional states, Amhara and Oromia, accounting for about 65 percent Ethiopia's estimated 100 million residents, have witnessed persistent protests since 2016, over allegations of political and economic marginalization.

Since the swearing-in of Ahmed on April 2, several thousand prisoners, including prominent opposition figures and activists, have been released to facilitate national consensus and reconciliation.

"I hope the PM's promise to open up Ethiopia's political space will persuade those currently in the bush and those opposing the government locally or abroad to be constructive players in Ethiopia's ongoing rapid economic development," Aynete said.

"The return of exiled opposition group Oromo Democratic Front (ODF), and a desire by other exiled groups to return to Ethiopia to conduct legal and peaceful political activities is positive for the country," he said.

Recent suggestions by the ruling coalition, Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), to open up Ethiopia's political space for opposing sides is a sign that it's willing to concede seats in the upcoming 2020 general elections, Aynete said.

EPRDF and allied parties now control all the 547 seats in parliament and are overwhelmingly dominant in regional and local government structures.

Aynete acknowledged that there are legal obstacles that need to be cleared if all Ethiopian opposition groups are to be included in Ahmed's call for national dialogue and reconciliation.

"Outlawed groups like OLF and Ginbot 7 need to be taken from the terror list by the Ethiopian parliament, but first these groups have to renounce armed struggle and accept the Ethiopian constitution," he said.

Nevertheless, Aynete is cautiously optimistic that the prime minister's call for dialogue with all opposition groups can lead to the creation of a national consensus and stability in east Africa's largest economy.

"The Ethiopian PM has made promises to have dialogue with all local and exiled opposition groups," he said. "All opposing groups in Ethiopia have the opportunity to be part of Ethiopia's transformation by accepting the call."
BERLIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Several senior policymakers in Germany on Tuesday issued statements against racism and right-wing extremism to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Solingen terrorist attack.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier appealed to citizens to remember the date as a warning against the devastating consequences of intolerance which continued to pose a risk in the present day. According to Steinmeier, the attack demonstrated the "responsibility of our community and institutions to protect citizens regardless of their origins."

Four right-wing extremists set fire to the house of the Turkish Genc family in the town of Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia on May 29, 1993, killing five. The incident entered the history of the still young German Federal Republic as one of its deadliest terrorist attacks.

Speaking to the newspapers of the Funke media group on Tuesday, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas expressed concern that xenophobic sentiments were still harbored against the country's Turkish community. "It is shameful that many of those who came from Turkey to Germany themselves, or whose parents or grandparents did so, still face everyday discrimination," Maas said.

Similarly, Justice Minister Katarina Barley (SPD) cautioned that the menace of intolerance had not yet been overcome in Germany. "25 years after (Solingen), people in Germany are still threatened and attacked because of their ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation," Barley told Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland.

Annette Widmann-Mauz (CDU), the official integration commissioner of the federal government, urged policymakers and society to show more assertiveness in combating racism and right-wing extremism. "We need a culture of objection when people are discriminated and degraded. We need a culture of zero tolerance when people are attacked," Widmann-Mauz said.

A host of events has been scheduled throughout North Rhine-Westphalia on to mark the 25th anniversary of the Solingen attack. German Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and survivor Mevluede Genc will both hold speeches in the regional capital of Duesseldorf.

Additionally, thousands of people are expected to join a public ceremony held in Solingen which will be attended by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevluet Cavusoglu and Germany's Maas among others.
BERLIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- European police forces are conducting a coordinated large-scale raid in connection to the 2017 G20 summit in Hamburg, state prosecutors and police in the Northern German city confirmed on Tuesday.

German media reported that police in Italy, Spain, France and Switzerland had begun to raid several premises associated with far-left activists in the early morning. They hereby responded to a formal request from their German colleagues to offer assistance in the course of investigations into violent riots which accompanied the G20 summit.

A special investigatory commission in Germany called "Schwarzer Block" (a reference to the name of a radical subgroup of demonstrators) is being supported by a multinational police force, as well as the European Union's Eurojust agency in Den Haag.

The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) recently launched a European-wide investigation into 24 key suspects, asking security forces in 15 countries to help authorities in Germany to identify the suspects in question.

Hamburg's state interior minister Andy Grote (SPD) has likened some incidents of rioting during the G20 summit in the city to terrorism. "This was a concerted criminal operation which approaches the patterns which we would usually describe as terrorist," Grote said. The SPD politician highlighted that some left-wing extremists had demonstrated a willingness to put human lives at risk in the escalating demonstrations.

According to Jan Hieber, director of the "Schwarzer Block" special investigatory commission, around 220 individuals clad in paramilitary gear succeeded in causing 1.5 million euros (1.7 million U.S. dollars) of damage in only 19 minutes during the most notorious of the summit's riots in the Elbchaussee part of Hamburg. The group set cars on fire and attacked police vehicles as well, leading one security officer to draw his weapon. "It could have easily ended with fatalities," Hieber said.

The German public broadcaster NDR reported on Tuesday that the European-wide raids in connection to the Elbchaussee riots were conducted following detailed analysis of live video footage which provided police with a list of key suspects. Additionally, investigators had succeeded in proving the participation of some suspects in violent riots on the basis of DNA probes.

NDR cited information that Italian police searched the flat of a man who has already been sentenced for attacking a police officer during the G20 summit and is also believed to have participated in the Elbchaussee riots. A 27-year-old man was arrested in Switzerland, while French police continued with their hunt for a wanted individual for whom German state prosecutors have issued a European arrest warrant.

Hamburg police estimate that between 5,000 and 6,000 individuals participated in riots over the course of several days, plundering local stores and setting fire to cars, prior to and during the G20 summit of political leaders from the world's major economic powers. 3,200 related investigatory cases are still ongoing, including more than a hundred cases involving allegations of excessive violence used by police.
HELSINKI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A Helsinki court of appeals said on Tuesday it gave a man known as serial strangler a two-and-half-year prison sentence for preparing to strangle a 17-year-old girl.

A lower court had ordered him be released last October for insufficient proof for the same charge.

The case got wide publicity in Finland as the man's neighborhood feared new crimes, but the court system said there was no way of locking him up while the case was being dealt with in the court of appeals. He was then detained in early May as a suspect of another murder elsewhere in Helsinki.

The case has drawn discussion over the problem that Finland has in dealing with criminals prone to commit serious crimes again.

Prisons have to release the criminals upon completion of a verdict and medical care should take over, but quite often there is not enough diagnostic basis.

The man, born in 1965, has been convicted earlier for strangling her mother, another adult woman and a 12-year-girl. Most of his nine other convictions so far have involved strangling.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 22:00:32|Editor: Yamei

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Children participate in a household skills contest at a kindergarten in Huaying, southwest China's Sichuan Province, May 29, 2018. Various activities were held across China to celebrate the upcoming International Children's Day. (Xinhua/Qiu Haiying)
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 21:58:09|Editor: Yamei

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping's recent speech reaffirms strong political will and policy support for developing China into a world leader in science and technology. It gained appreciation from many foreign scholars and overseas Chinese researchers.

Xi made the remarks Monday at the opening of the 19th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the 14th Meeting of the Academicians of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE).

Foreign CAS and CAE members said it's inspiring that Xi paid high attention to the role of their institutions in promoting technology and innovation.

"I admire very much President Xi's leadership in China's implementation of correct policies of developing science and technology, and his support for the research work of the two academies," said CAE Russian member Yuri Gulyaev.

The Chinese leadership has provided a very strong support for developing technology, with a research budget ranked among the lead in countries, he said.

Xiao-Fan Wang, a CAS American member and chair professor at the Duke University, said, "Innovation runs through President Xi's speech, and this shows his insights into technological innovation, which is at the core of competitiveness in economic transformation."

"The speech is well balanced, invigorating with regard to the achievements, while mindful of the long way ahead for China in its development of science and technology," he further commented.

Nicholas Peppas, a CAE American member and professor at the University of Texas at Austin, said, "It was a visionary speech outlining how China could continue improving in engineering, science and advanced technology."

"We were impressed with his deep understanding of global issues. I believed he touched upon all aspects of international scientific cooperation," he added.

China leads in the world in several areas of science and technology and the number of Chinese technical people working at the world frontiers of research and development is increasing, said Vasily Kashin, a researcher from the Far Eastern Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

One major advantage of China in science and technology development is that its relevant policies pushed by the Chinese leadership always could be implemented, and some major research and development projects have strong support from the Chinese leadership, Kashin said.

"After listening to the speech, I deeply felt that China is indeed eager for innovation and talents," said Li Ruidong, secretary general of a Chinese scholars' organization in Japan.

As a researcher working overseas, he said that he was greatly inspired.

In recent years, the level of China's scientific research has been enhanced rapidly and the environment for scientific research is increasingly improving, offering more and more opportunities to scientific researchers overseas, said Prof. Hao Ling with Britain's National Physical Laboratory.

More and more young people will return to China in the future, Hao believed.

Zhao Yuxuan, an expert specialized in agriculture at the World Bank, said that Xi's speech indicates the roadmap to turn China into a world-class science and technology leader, firmly believing that China will sure gradually narrow its gap in science and technology with the developed countries.

Gulyaev said that China has integrated various assets for advance, like its technical people, economic growth and policy guidance, and Chinese leaders' achievements in advancing economy, science and technology are well witnessed.
BERLIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas (SPD) has sharply criticized plans by the U.S. Trump administration to raise tariffs on imported cars on Tuesday.

Speaking at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin, Maas revealed to his audience that he reacted with disbelief when he first learned during a visit to Washington that Trump was resorting to a 1960s law to justify punitive tariffs on the grounds of national security.

At the time, the German foreign minister asked his U.S. counterpart Mike Pompeo whether he "seriously" thought that "German cars endanger national security." To the contrary, "German cars make American roads safer," Maas added in a mocking reference to a series of recent accidents caused by self-driving vehicles of the U.S. companies Tesla and Google.

U.S. import tariffs on foreign-manufactured vehicles could rise to 25 percent under new protectionist legislation compared to a relatively low duty currently levied on most passenger vehicles brought to the country of 2.5 percent. The change would consequently lead to a significant rise in cost shouldered by the German automotive industry in the U.S. market.

Maas warned on Tuesday that it was "obvious" that such a measure would be "especially targeted at German cars." Germany has been repeatedly chastised by U.S. President Donald Trump, as for allegedly contributing to global imbalances with its export-driven growth model.

The foreign minister complained that protectionism consequently increasingly dominated discussion between Berlin and Washington. He argued that Trump was making a mistake by allowing the balance of trade to "become the yardstick for political relations" between two states.
PARIS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- France on Tuesday announced it had signed an inter-governmental agreement with Ukraine to provide it with 55 Airbus helicopters valued at 555 million euros (641.69 million U.S. dollars).

"France plans to financially support this operation with public guarantees and a treasury loan," the French economy and finances ministry said in a statement.

The ordered helicopters will be used by the police and border guards "for civil security operations," it added.

Under the accord, the eurozone's second largest power will help Ukraine to establish a maintenance and training center.

"This agreement is a decisive step towards the achievement of this bilateral project, which would be the most important between the two countries since the independence of Ukraine in 1991," said the ministry.

Ukrainian parliament was expected to ratify the accord "in the coming weeks," according to the statement.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 22:18:13|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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JERUSALEM, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel launched a massive airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, hitting 35 targets and a tunnel crossing into Egypt and Israel, said the Israeli military in a statement.

The statement said the airstrike was in response to a barrage of 28 mortar shells that Gaza militants fired at Israel on Tuesday morning.

The attack from Gaza caused no major damage except for a man who was slightly injured in the hand, the statement said.

The airstrike was carried out by Israeli fighter jets and aircraft which struck over 35 targets in seven terrorist sites, said the statement.

The sites belong to the Hamas movement, the Islamist Palestinian organization that runs Gaza, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a local Islamist group, it claimed.

"The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) targeted six military compounds, munition storage warehouses, naval targets and terrorist headquarters," it said.

As part of the strike, the army also hit "an offensive terror tunnel" belonging to Hamas in the area of the Kerem Shalom crossing near Rafah, the military said.

The tunnel started within the Gaza Strip, crossed into Egypt's Sinai Desert before stretching into Israeli territory, it added.

But media reports from Gaza said what was hit by Israel was in fact a smuggling tunnel used to transfer goods to the besieged Palestinian enclave.
KIEV, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman on Tuesday reiterated that Kiev supports the deployment of the full-fledged United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas.

"To achieve its goals, the UN peacekeeping mission should have broad powers and should be stationed throughout the conflict zone, in particular in the uncontrolled section of the Ukrainian-Russian border," Groysman said in a statement published on the Ukrainian government website.

Ukraine is determined to continue advocating its position in terms of the possible UN mission in Donbas, Groysman said.

On Sept. 5, 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow would ask the UN Security Council to send peacekeepers to patrol the contact line in Donbas, where the conflict between Ukrainian government troops and pro-independence armed groups has been underway since April 2014.

Meanwhile, Kiev said it would agree to the deployment of the UN patrol only if the troops would be stationed across the whole area controlled by the armed groups, including the Ukrainian-Russian border.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sonoro Metals Corp., (Sonoro) (TSXV:SMO) (OTCQB:SMOFF), announces that its Mexican subsidiary, Minera Mar De Plata, SA de C.V. has executed a formal option agreement (the Tres Amigos Option Agreement) with two residents of Magdalena de Kino, Sonora, Mexico (the Vendors), to acquire a 100% interest in the 20 hectare Tres Amigos concession (Tres Amigos) located contiguous to the recently-acquired Cerro Caliche concessions in the prolific Cucurpe Sonora Mega-district of Sonora, Mexico. The option agreement increases the land holdings under option to Sonoro in this important gold mining district to 1,455 hectares.

The Tres Amigos Option Agreement provides for Sonoro to acquire a 100% interest in Tres Amigos for total consideration to the Vendor of US$130,000, payable in nine equal cash installments over 48 months. The initial installment of US$14,444.44 was paid on execution of the Tres Amigos Option Agreement.

The Cerro Caliche concessions, which now incorporate Tres Amigos (collectively Cerro Caliche) were the subject of earlier drill programs by Cambior Gold, Corex Gold Corp., with the most recent drilling conducted in 2011 by Paget Southern Resources (Pembrook Mining). Total drilling by those companies in the last 20 years exceeding 10,000 meters in more than 100 drill holes, reportedly outlined large areas of mineralized material that may in future programs assist in defining a resource with significant gold mineralization. A historic non-published report completed by Corex (Flores, 2008) includes a non NI 43-101 resource estimation.

The Tres Amigos concession contains a strongly mineralized quartz vein system oriented northwesterly with common sheeted and stockwork quartz veining in the host rock that is part sedimentary rock and part rhyolitic intrusive rock. The rhyolite dike appears to grade upward into a more volcanic rhyolite unit that also contains veining with gold bearing veinlets. Tres Amigos is located over the historic Espanola mine that was artisan mined around 1955 by using pack burros to haul high grade material to the running river below for processing.

Our Hermosillo-based exploration team, headed by noted geologist Mel Herdrick, is currently defining targets throughout the Cerro Caliche concessions for a reverse circulation drilling program scheduled to begin during the second half of 2018, said Kenneth MacLeod, President and CEO of Sonoro. The drilling program is being designed to verify the earlier data and to expand the scope and scale of the gold resource indicated in the Corex report.

The Cucurpe Sonora Mega-district includes Premier Golds Mercedes gold mine; Goldgroup Minings Cerro Prieto gold mine; Agnico Eagles recently purchased Santa Gertrudis gold mine; and other gold mineralized prospect areas.

Stephen Kenwood, P. Geo. is a Qualified Person within the context of National Instrument 43-101 and has read and takes responsibility for this news release. Readers are cautioned that the presence of mineralization on properties adjacent to or in proximity to Cerro Caliche is not necessarily indicative of mineralization on Cerro Caliche.

About Sonoro Metals Corp.

Sonoro Metals Corp. (TSXV:SMO) (OTCQB:SMOFF) is an exploration and development company with a portfolio of precious metals properties in Sonora, Mexico and Alaska, USA. Sonoros skilled exploration team in Mexico is headed by Hermosillo-based geologist Melvin Herdrick, with 45 years of mine related experience, including 10 years as Chief Geologist for Phelps Dodge, Mexico and 7 years as Vice President, Exploration for Pediment Gold in Mexico until its takeover by Argonaut Gold in 2011. Sonoros Chief Geologist and Qualifying Person is Stephen Kenwood, with over 20 years of experience in mineral exploration and development.

On behalf of the Board of SONORO METALS CORP.

Per: Kenneth MacLeod KENNETH MACLEOD President & CEO

For further information, please contact:

Sonoro Metals Corp. - Tel: (604) 632-1764

Email: info@sonorometals.com



Forward-Looking Statement Cautions: This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, relating to, among other things, the Company's plans for the acquisition of the above-described Tres Amigos and Cerro Caliche Concessions, located in the municipality of Cucurpe, Sonora, Mexico, and the Companys future exploration plans for those properties. Although the Company believes that such statements are reasonable based on current circumstances, it can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts; they are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "intends," "estimates," "projects," "aims," "potential," "goal," "objective," "prospective," and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will," "would," "may," "can," "could" or "should" occur, or are those statements, which, by their nature, refer to future events. The Company cautions that forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the possibility of unfavourable interim exploration results, the lack of sufficient future financing to carry out exploration plans, and unanticipated changes in the legal, regulatory and permitting requirements for the Companys exploration programs. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company 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 required by law or the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange. Readers are encouraged to review the Companys complete public disclosure record on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

THIS PRESS RELEASE DOES NOT CONSTITUTE AN OFFER TO SELL, OR THE SOLICITATION OF AN OFFER TO BUY, NOR SHALL THERE BE ANY SALE OF SECURITIES OF THE COMPANY IN ANY JURISDICTION IN WHICH SUCH OFFER, SOLICITATION OR SALE WOULD BE UNLAWFUL PRIOR TO REGISTRATION OR QUALIFICATION UNDER THE SECURITIES LAWS OF ANY SUCH JURISDICTION.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 22:28:15|Editor: Shi Yinglun

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PYONGYANG, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Tuesday urged South Korea to scrap its agreement with Japan on military intelligence cooperation signed several years ago.

There are some hurdles for the implementation of the Panmunjom Declaration on Peace, Prosperity and Reunification of Korean Peninsula signed by the two Koreas in April, the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

"Such dangerous hurdles should be removed without fail as they harm the improvement of the inter-Korean relations and create a war crisis on the Korean Peninsula," it said.

The South Korea-Japan agreement on protecting military intelligence is "a criminal product" signed by former South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe under the pretext of the "threat from the north," said the KCNA.

"It is an extremely dangerous and treacherous war agreement as it ferments distrust and confrontation among the fellow countrymen and opens the door to the Japanese reactionaries bent on the revival of militarism for the re-invasion of the Korean peninsula," it said.

Pyongyang has also asked Seoul to repatriate 12 DPRK women "kidnapped by South Korean intelligence" two years ago in a third country where they were working, and demanded a halt to joint military exercises with the United States, so as to implement their joint declaration issued in Panmunjom.
NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Kenya is to strengthen fruits, vegetables and flower growing cooperative societies to empower them to export directly to China and the Middle East, a government official told Xinhua in Nairobi on Tuesday.

"Cooperatives will enable us to create efficiency in supply. We want to empower these cooperatives to supply fruits and vegetables to supermarkets in China and the rest of the world," said Zakayo Magara, managing director of Horticultural Crops Development, a state agency under Kenya's Agriculture, Fisheries and Food Authority (AFFA).

He said experience from Kenya's direct exports to European Union countries shows that those farmers who sell directly to foreign buyers without going through brokers or auctions are earning double the price.

"This is the best option for the small-scale farmers as it offers a better price discovery," said Magara. "We are turning our focus on supporting and marketing of fruits and vegetables by small-scale farmers to enable them benefit from emerging international markets of Asia and the Middle East."

Among the fruit crops which have started being populated by the cooperative societies are avocados, which officials said is growing to become one of Kenya's top exports.

"Recently we had a huge supply of avocados for export, resulting in congestion at the Port of Mombasa. This is a good sign that fruit growing by small-scale farmers is taking root," said Magara.

"Kenya has a huge option on the types of fruits it can grow for export because of the different weather conditions across the country. We can also supply different fruits to the world market throughout the year," he said.

Magara said rising interest in growing fruits and vegetables has created opportunities for the private sector to invest in cold rooms.

"We need to increase our cold rooms capacity in order to ensure that we adequately preserve the rising volume of fruits and vegetables. This is an area we would also want to see private local and international investors take interest in," he added.

Export of fruits and vegetables earned Kenya about 90 million U.S. dollars and 240 million dollars respectively last year, according to a report released by Fresh Produce Consortium Kenya in April.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 22:48:23|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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JERUSALEM, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel launched a massive airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, hitting 35 targets and a tunnel crossing into Egypt and Israel, said the Israeli military in a statement.

The statement said the airstrike was in response to a barrage of 28 mortar shells that Gaza militants fired at Israel on Tuesday morning.

The attack from Gaza caused no major damage except for a man who was slightly injured in the hand, the statement said.

The airstrike was carried out by Israeli fighter jets and aircraft which struck over 35 targets in seven terrorist sites, said the statement.

The sites belong to Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian organization that runs Gaza, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a local Islamist group, it claimed.

"The IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) targeted six military compounds, munition storage warehouses, naval targets and terrorist headquarters," the statement said.

As part of the strike, the army also hit "an offensive terror tunnel" belonging to Hamas in the area of the Kerem Shalom crossing near Rafah, it said.

The tunnel started within the Gaza Strip, crossed into Egypt's Sinai Desert before stretching into Israeli territory, it added.

But media reports from Gaza said what was hit by Israel was in fact a smuggling tunnel used to transfer goods to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli military insisted that the tunnel was "dual-purposed - designated for terror purposes, as well as to transfer munitions to Egypt."

During the airstrike, more projectiles, mortars and rockets were fired from Gaza at Israel, triggering sirens in the regional councils of Hof Ashkelon and Sha'ar HaNegev, as well as the Ashkelon Industrial Area and the city of Sderot.

There were no further reports of injuries or damage as result of the strikes from both sides.

The Israeli army blamed the Islamic Jihad for carrying out the mortar attack on Tuesday morning. It was believed to be in retaliation for an earlier Israeli attack, which killed three Islamic Jihad fighters in Gaza on Sunday.

An Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement that the mortar attack was "a severe, dangerous and orchestrated act of terror, aimed at civilians and children."

The spokesperson accused Iran of funding the group, citing that the Tuesday's attack used Iran-made ammunition.

"The IDF will not allow any harm to the safety of Israeli civilians or Israeli sovereignty, and will continue to operate with determination against all kinds of terrorism," said the spokesperson.

Israeli civilians in the areas surrounding the Gaza Strip were instructed to stay close to shelters.

The violence followed a serious escalation in the border area between Gaza and Israel over the past months. Israeli forces have killed at least 110 Palestinians in the weekly Palestinian demonstrations starting from March 30.
VILNIUS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Number of Lithuanian residents has been constantly decreasing in recent years, from 2,921,920 in 2015 to 2,810,100 in the beginning of 2018, Lithuania's Ministry of the Interior announced on Tuesday.

Presenting a new report on migration, the ministry said the main reasons behind the shrinkage of Lithuanian population remain unchanged.

"Dissatisfaction with economic situation, social exclusion and insecurity, limited prospect of self-presentation and a number of other reasons, such as growing Lithuanian communities abroad, are on the list," the ministry said in a statement.

The report shows that emigration rate slightly decreased in 2017, when 47,900 Lithuanian residents emigrated, 4.8 percent less than in 2016.

Nevertheless, the ministry points to declining repatriation rates as 10,200 emigrants returned to Lithuania last year, compared to 14,200 in 2016.

"One of the main measures to encourage repatriation is the state's sufficient attention for emigrants and their awareness (about the possibilities to return), however, only 25 percent of Lithuanians living abroad stated that they had sufficient information about returning and reintegration," the statement reads.

Mostly people of working-age are leaving Lithuania while emigration is seen as a positive trend among youth, the ministry underlined.

"It shows that not enough attention is being paid for promoting of awareness and public spirit during the school years," the ministry stated.

Meanwhile, number of foreigners living in Lithuania has been growing in recent years. In 2017, Lithuania hosted 49,387 foreigners, compared with 40,284 in 2015.

The ministry's report will be discussed by Lithuanian government on Wednesday.

Earlier this year, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) urged Lithuania to tackle emigration challenges as the country is losing many working-age people.

According to OECD, around 10 percent of Lithuania's residents have emigrated since 2004, a rate that is among the highest of OECD countries. Emigration rates of young people are particularly high.

Lithuania will officially become the 36th member of the OECD on Wednesday.
ATHENS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 69 refugees and migrants who were located on board a vessel off Crete were safely transferred on Tuesday to the western port of Kastelli on the island, Greek national broadcaster ERT reported.

The 53 adults and 16 minors received first aid and food from local authorities and with the exception of two cases of minor injuries were in fair condition, Theodoros Stathakis, Mayor of Kissamos, said.

The refugees and migrants told Greek police and Coast Guard officials that in their vast majority were from Iraq and Iran and they were five days on board the sailing boat before a mechanical failure left it adrift off between the coasts of Kythera island and Crete on Monday night.

The boat was initially located by a Greek Coast Guard helicopter and a European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) vessel and was escorted to the port of Kastelli by three Greek Coast Guard vessels, authorities said.

Strong winds of up to 9 on the Beaufort scale were blowing in the area during the rescue operation, according to the Greek meteorological service.

Greek Coast Guard has rescued more than 100,000 lives in the Aegean Sea since the start of the refugee crisis in early 2015, according to their official statistics.
LUSAKA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Zambian government on Tuesday denied reports that it has authorized the culling of 2,000 hippopotamuses in a national park with a high population of the mammals.

Born Free, a conservationist organization which two years ago led protests against plans by the government to cull elephants in the famous Luangwa Valley, in eastern Zamiba, has reported that the government plans to reinstate the culling program which was halted after protests in 2016.

According to the organization, the government has agreed to conduct the culling with a South African base hunting firm of up to 2,000 hippos over the next five years.

But Minister of Tourism and Arts Charles Banda, while acknowledging that the culling will take place, said it was not 2,000 hippos that will be killed.

He told reporters during a press briefing that the government has agreed with the South African firm that not more than 250 hippos will be culled in a year and that the figure may vary depending on the environment.

The culling has been necessitated by the growing population of the hippos on the Luangwa River and that the killing will be done to maintain a suitable habitat for other aquatic species, Banda said.

He said the ministry has taken interest in the program to ensure that it is done in the interest of the country and that consultations with the attorney-general have been done on the validity of the agreement with the South African firm.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 23:18:34|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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TEHRAN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Iranian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday condemned a recent U.S. court ruling on Iran's role in the 2001 terror attacks as "biased, politically-motivated and baseless."

Tehran rejects such cross-border and illegal verdicts, the ministry's spokesman Bahram Qasemi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency.

Earlier this month, a court ruling by a federal judge in New York ordered Iran to pay more than 6 billion U.S. dollars to the families of the victims of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks in New York.

Such verdicts were issued without any solid evidence on Iran's role in the 9/11 attacks, and in defiance of even U.S. official reports which confirm that the organizers and culprits of the terrorist catastrophe were from the U.S. regional allies, Qasemi said.

Iran has lodged its strong protest against the U.S. administration through official channels, he added.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 23:18:35|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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HONG KONG, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Zhu Ting snatched game-high 16 points to empower China crash Argentina 3-0 at the 2018 FIVB Women's Volleyball Nations League here on Tuesday.

The 23-year-old wing spiker had 11 kills, four blocks and one ace and Liu Xiaotong added 9 points as the world's number one ranked team claimed their 25-22, 25-16 and 25-12 victory.

Anahi Florencia Tosi got the team-high 10 points for Argentina as they came into the match having never beaten China, while Florencia Natasha Busquets Reyes contributed 6 points.

Earlier on the day, Japan defeated Italy 3-2 by 20-25, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23 and 15-11.

China will face Japan on Wednesday, while Argentina are to take on Italy.

The Volleyball Nations League is a new idea from the FIVB, the sport's international governing body. The annual women's international volleyball tournament is contested by 16 national teams and replaces the World Grand Prix.
GENEVA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Switzerland's Energy Ministry said Tuesday it aims to increase the proportion of new electric vehicle registration from the current 2.7 percent to 15 percent by 2022.

The ministry has released a roadmap for the promotion of electric vehicles and the government said it will continue to support the expansion of the recharging network infrastructure within Switzerland.

At the invitation of Energy Minister Doris Leuthard, a delegation from the electric mobility sector met on Monday in a roundtable with government representatives, the Swiss cantons, and cities to define how to increase the share of electric vehicles.

"All agreed to jointly establish a roadmap in the coming months, which will aim to increase the share of electric vehicles in new registrations to 15 percent by 2022," the ministry said in a statement.

It said electric vehicles make an important contribution to achieving Swiss energy and climate goals.

The ministry noted that the Association of Swiss Car Importers recently announced that it wants to ensure that the share of electric vehicles in new registrations reaches 10 percent by 2020.

Under the SwissEnergy program, Switzerland plans to finance awareness-raising campaigns on electric mobility targeting local municipalities and the broader public.

Several cantons and municipalities have already embraced this technology.

For example, it is already possible to recharge electric vehicles all over Switzerland in both public and private car parks, the ministry said.
GENEVA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Global food giant Nestle said Tuesday it plans to cut as many as 500 computer-service jobs in Switzerland as part of a restructuring plan to increase profitability.

The Swiss-based company said in a press release it will outsource the IT jobs to Spain.

The company said also that its coffee unit, Nespresso, is also moving Swiss jobs to Spain and Portugal.

This move will impact an additional 80 employees, although the people affected by this reorganization will be offered jobs in the new locations

"We understand that this a difficult time for our employees," said Peter Vogt, head of Nestle's Human Resources.

The cuts will be implemented over the next 18 months.

"Nestle remains fully committed to its home base in Switzerland. The relationship between Nestle and Switzerland is mutually beneficial," Vogt said.

The plans do not affect any of the company's production sites in Switzerland, said Nestle.

The company said Nestle employees in Switzerland rose from around 6,700 in 2003 to over 10,100 in 2017.

"The company has made several important investments in this country over the past years. Nestle is currently strengthening its research entities in Lausanne, which is the focal point of its global research and development activities," Nestle said.
Mexico, May 2018., May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Mexican Center for Philanthropy (Cemefi) awarded Lacthosa the recognition Commitment to its Corporate Social Responsibility 2018", due to its public and voluntary undertaking of a socially responsible management in Honduras.

To apply for the award, Lacthosa submitted evidence of their commitment to continuous improvement in the areas of quality of life at the company, ethics and business governance, links with the community and protection and preservation of the environment; these evidences were evaluated by a committee of experts at Cemefi, among other Mexican organizations and institutions.

The award ceremony was held within the framework of the XI Latin American Meeting of Socially Responsible Companies "Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development Goals" in Mexico City, where leading companies from the Latin American region received awards, among them, Lacthosa was the only company in the dairy sector in Honduras to receive this honor.

"As a proud Honduran company we are happy to know that our corporate social responsibility actions are generating a positive impact in our country, for years we have invested effort, volunteer community hours and economic resources that contribute to society projects and benefit thousands of Hondurans. Our founder Schucry Kafie has always promoted this type of initiatives as a way of giving back to society said Marianne Kafie, representative of Lacthosa.

Lacthosa promotes the development of Honduras by taking the objectives of sustainable development as a pillar of its corporate social responsibility strategy. Lacthosa's annual investment in social programs amounts to more than a million dollars per year, benefiting more than 140,000 people and 115 communities in Honduras.

Lacthosa bases its strategy on three fundamental pillars that are: health and nutrition that help reduce poverty and hunger, the development of the value chain in the countryside and the protection and conservation of the environment.

It should be noted that Cemefi is a private, non-profit institution, with 30 years of operating in the social field to promote and articulate the committed and socially responsible participation of organizations and companies that seek to achieve a more equitable, supportive and prosperous society.

About Lacthosa

It is the leading company in Central America in the production and distribution of dairy products, juices and soft drinks. It generates more than 3,000 direct and 60,000 indirect jobs, thus benefiting a large sector of the Honduran population. www.lacthosa.com

Attachments
MOSCOW, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday once again emphasized the importance of a political settlement of the Syrian crisis.

The two leaders discussed the situation in Syria and expressed their commitment to the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity in a phone conversation, according to the Kremlin.

They said that the solutions proposed at the Astana talks should be fully considered.

Parallel to the UN-sponsored Geneva process, nine rounds of intra-Syrian talks have been held in the Kazakh capital of Astana since January 2017, with Russia, Turkey and Iran as the mediators.

During Tuesday's phone call, Putin and Erdogan also discussed the development of Russian-Turkish relations and expressed satisfaction with the implementation of joint energy projects, the Kremlin said.
SARAJEVO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) main Serb party, the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), on Tuesday elected its leader Milorad Dodik as the candidate for member of BiH tripartite presidency at the upcoming general elections.

Dodik, the incumbent president of the Serb-dominated entity, Republika Srpska (RS), will run as a Serb candidate to become a member of BiH tripartite presidency, which represents the three major ethnic groups of Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats.

After the party's session, Dodik addressed members by saying that the priority of his politics in the future will be strengthening of RS, adding that the goal of the SNSD is to achieve a "historic result," under the unity of the people of RS.

BiH will hold general elections on Oct. 7, 2018, the Central Election Commission announced earlier this month.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-29 23:43:47|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China will accelerate the formulation of measures to provide more financial support to small and micro businesses, central bank governor said Tuesday.

To ease the credit strain and high financing costs on small and micro enterprises, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) will work with other authorities to accelerate the formulation of relevant policies, PBOC governor Yi Gang said.

Yi said small and micro businesses have played a crucial role in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship as well as improving employment and people's livelihoods. Enhancing financial support for small and micro businesses represents the basic requirement for the financial sector to serve the real economy and prevent major risks.

The country will step up financial support for these companies, focusing on pushing forward supply-side structural reform and high-quality economic development, he said.
by Qiao Jihong, Xu Yang

BERLIN, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The German region of Ruhr in North Rhine Westphalia has traditionally been a key industrial region of Europe. However, starting from the 1970s, coal mining in the region was threatened by cheap oil, causing a steep decline in the local economy.

In recent times, authorities have tried to revive the economy of the Ruhr region, as part of what has been described as "an extremely long process" by Axel Schoelmerich, rector of Ruhr University Bochum.

In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua, Schoelmerich said he saw structural change in the Ruhr area "as an ongoing process."

"We (Ruhr area) are still behind of the rest of Germany in terms of economic productivity. We still have lower economic growth rate," said Schoelmerich, "The process (of transition) isn't over."

GOV'T SUBSIDIES

Over the last 40 years, the German government has been propping up the declining coal mining industry despite intense criticism.

In 2017 alone, the German government spent 2.6 billion euros (3.01 billion U.S. dollars) on subsidies to promote coal sales, according to a study by German think tank Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

According to the rector, 600,000 jobs in the Ruhr region are at risk of being lost -- a staggeringly high figure for an area with 4 million inhabitants.

The last mine in Germany -- also located in Ruhr -- will operate until the end of this year.

"We cannot let the Ruhr area fall apart completely, so we need to take tax money and invest it into a gradual and slow process of change," Schoelmerich said.

Government subsidies may help achieve a "soft" structural change, but are of course "very costly," he added.

"But good thing for Ruhr is that it [the subsidies] have managed to save and create jobs with relatively low social unrest and managed to build a science-based economy," Schoelmerich said.

ECONOMIC TRANSITION

The economy in Ruhr has shifted largely from a coal and steel-dominated one to the one with a lot more start-up culture.

"Before, if your father worked in a factory, you would probably also work in the same one. But, nowadays, you could start your own company," which in the rector's opinion signals a huge shift in the region and its mindset.

"If somebody thinks about founding a startup, having universities nearby is very helpful," he added.

Founded in 1962 as the first new comprehensive public university after WWII, Ruhr University Bochum offers degrees in different fields of science, coupled with engineering, which typical traditional German universities do not have.

Some 43,000 students study in the region, and have contributed to improving the educational level and catalyzing the structural transition in the area.

"Back in the 1960s, there were simply no university graduates who were local," Schoelmerich said, adding that now, many local school graduates have access to colleges.

SPARKING CHANGE

Universities like Ruhr University Bochum not only serve as big employers, but also spark innovation to help talents find scientific solutions to aid the process of economic diversification.

Schoelmerich said his university worked very closely with Bochum city in IT security cooperation. Every year, the university supplies at least 250 graduates with majors in IT security, who help the city develop IT security.

Ruhr University Bochum, together with other two universities in the area, is a member of InitiativKreis Ruhr, an association with 75 firms that aims to create more economic opportunities in the area.

"They made us members because they understood that for the future you need science to be able to compete with the rest of the world," the rector said.

Talking about his university's special connection with small and middle-sized enterprises, Schoelmerich said the university can help companies with digitalization and attracting the right personnel.

"It's promising when you have industry and science graduates work together in the process of economic transition," the rector said.
PARIS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Rival Libyan factions on Tuesday agreed to hold "credible" presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 10 after they met here, according to a communique issued after the one-day conference on the Libya crisis.

In a joint statement, Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar and the leaders of rival parliamentary assemblies, Aguila Saleh and Khaled al-Mechri pledged "to work constructively with the UN to hold credible and peaceful elections and to respect election results."

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed "a key step for reconciliation" in Libya which had plunged into chaotic conflicts since the 2011 unrest led to the ousting of former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"There has been a common commitment to take measures that will allow the organization of a satisfying election process either on the basis of a new Constitution or on the basis of the election law that has already been passed," Macron told reporters.

He added that Libyan rivals had to finalize the constitutional base for elections by Sept. 16.

"We have clear and precise engagements, a calendar officially approved by all the parties and supported by the international community. We have only to act with a single objective of the interest of the Libyan people," the French president said in joint press meeting with Libyan premier and UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame.

Twenty countries attending the Paris conference "showed a willingness to commit to specific points and a consensus for the need to bring together governmental, economic and security institutions," Macron added.

The oil-rich North African country has been struggling for seven years to make a democratic transition. It suffers a political division with two rival parliaments and governments battling to legitimacy.

Starting work in March 2016, Sarraj, head of Libya's U.N.-backed government in Tripoli is struggling to impose its authority after military commander Haftar, based east of Libya, refused to recognize it.

Based in the eastern town of Tobruk, Aguila Saleh, the parliament speaker opposes the UN-backed administration, defeating Khalid Al-Mishri, the newly elected head of the High Council of State.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed attends a joint press conference with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir (not in the picture) in Khartoum, Sudan, on May 3, 2018. (Xinhua/Mohamed Khidir)

ADDIS ABABA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Reforms instituted by Ethiopia's new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed could lead to national consensus and long-term stability of Africa's fastest growing economy, an Ethiopian expert said on Tuesday.

Ahmed's call for open dialogue with local and exiled opposition groups will help lessen political tensions in Ethiopia. Abebe Aynete, senior researcher at Ethiopian Foreign Relations Strategic Studies (EFRSS), a local think thank, told Xinhua.

The country's two most populous regional states, Amhara and Oromia, accounting for about 65 percent Ethiopia's estimated 100 million residents, have witnessed persistent protests since 2016, over allegations of political and economic marginalization.

Since the swearing-in of Ahmed on April 2, several thousand prisoners, including prominent opposition figures and activists, have been released to facilitate national consensus and reconciliation.

"I hope the PM's promise to open up Ethiopia's political space will persuade those currently in the bush and those opposing the government locally or abroad to be constructive players in Ethiopia's ongoing rapid economic development," Aynete said.

"The return of exiled opposition group Oromo Democratic Front (ODF), and a desire by other exiled groups to return to Ethiopia to conduct legal and peaceful political activities is positive for the country," he said.

Recent suggestions by the ruling coalition, Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), to open up Ethiopia's political space for opposing sides is a sign that it's willing to concede seats in the upcoming 2020 general elections, Aynete said.

EPRDF and allied parties now control all the 547 seats in parliament and are overwhelmingly dominant in regional and local government structures.

Aynete acknowledged that there are legal obstacles that need to be cleared if all Ethiopian opposition groups are to be included in Ahmed's call for national dialogue and reconciliation.

"Outlawed groups like OLF and Ginbot 7 need to be taken from the terror list by the Ethiopian parliament, but first these groups have to renounce armed struggle and accept the Ethiopian constitution," he said.

Nevertheless, Aynete is cautiously optimistic that the prime minister's call for dialogue with all opposition groups can lead to the creation of a national consensus and stability in east Africa's largest economy.

"The Ethiopian PM has made promises to have dialogue with all local and exiled opposition groups," he said. "All opposing groups in Ethiopia have the opportunity to be part of Ethiopia's transformation by accepting the call."
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 00:13:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The top UN official for humanitarian affairs on Tuesday expressed concern over the security and humanitarian situation in Syria's Idlib.

"The situation in Idlib is alarming, with airstrikes, clashes between armed groups, overcrowding and severely stretched basic services deepening the suffering of both displaced people who have fled there and host communities," Mark Lowcock, UN undersecretary-general and emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council.

More than 80,000 newly displaced people have arrived in Idlib since March. Keeping pace with the increase in needs in the northwestern governorate has involved redirecting resources from other activities, he said.

Many of the most recent new arrivals in Idlib have come from northern rural Homs. Some 35,000 people were evacuated from this area in the south earlier this month, after a significant escalation of conflicts, said Lowcock.

An inter-agency convoy -- the first in more than two months -- is due to go to northern rural Homs on Wednesday with assistance for nearly 93,000 people, following receipt of facilitation letters from the Syrian authorities on Sunday.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 00:13:56|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Israel and the Gaza Strip witnessed a new round of escalating tensions on Tuesday, as Israel launched a massive airstrike in response to rockets' firing from Gaza and intercepted a Palestinian boat attempting to break Israel's maritime blockade.

On Tuesday afternoon, Israeli fighter jets carried out a series of airstrikes on a cross-border tunnel and over 35 targets in Gaza, most of which belong to the Islamic Hamas movement, which rules the enclave, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an Islamist group in Gaza.

Palestinian security sources in Gaza told Xinhua that the targets were mostly training posts and military facilities, and the Israeli attack was in response to the firing of 30 mortar shells from Gaza into southern Israel on the morning.

The sources said the Israeli airstrike also targeted a site of the Hamas-run police and destroyed a tunnel which was under construction between southern Gaza and Israel.

The Education Ministry in Gaza confirmed that a school was also damaged due to the Israeli airstrike in central Gaza while students were having final exams. No injuries were reported.

It said in a statement that "Israel has to be punished for its crimes against the Palestinian people."

No one has claimed responsibility for the mortar shells fired from Gaza into Israel in the morning, however, Israel held the Islamic Jihad responsible.

Spokesmen of both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad hailed the mortar attacks on Israel, justifying them as "a natural response to the Israeli crimes in Gaza."

The Islamic Jihad "blesses the response today of the armed resistance which defends our people in the face of the terrorist occupation," said Dawood Shihab, spokesperson of the Islamic Jihad.

However, the group does not intend to go into war with Israel, and only responds to Israel's blockade and occupation of Palestinian territory, Shihab said.

Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas' spokesman in Gaza, said in an emailed statement that "what the armed Palestinian resistance has done today morning came as part of the natural right of defending our people."

"The attacks were a response to the crimes that Israel has committed towards our fighters in Rafah and in northern Gaza Strip in the past two days," said Barhoum, adding that Israel is responsible for any upcoming escalation.

The international community has called for restraint by both sides to avoid further escalation of violence.

An Islamic Jihad official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Xinhua that Egypt contacted his group in the afternoon in an effort to prevent further deterioration of the situation between Gaza and Israel.

For his part, Nickolay Mladenov, United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, called on the Palestinian factions and Israel to exercise restraint and avoid escalation between the two sides.

"Palestinians and Israelis must act to prevent life-threatening incidents," Mladenov said in a press release sent to Xinhua.

Mladenov expressed his deep concern over the indiscriminate firing of rockets from Gaza towards communities in southern Israel, saying that "the attacks are unacceptable and undermine the serious efforts of the international community to improve the living situation in Gaza."

Also on Tuesday, Israeli naval gunships forcibly intercepted a Palestinian boat carrying 20 passengers on board in an attempt to break the 11-year maritime blockade imposed by Israel on the enclave, according to the Palestinian National Committee, organizer of the voyage.

The passengers included patients who seek medical treatment abroad, college students studying in foreign universities, and people attempting to seek jobs overseas.

The vessel planned to sail out of the blockade zone of 6 nautical miles (11 km), but was stopped by four Israeli gunships after travelling for 12 nautical miles, said the committee in a statement.

It added that it lost contact with the boat 30 minutes after it was seized, calling on the international community to protect the Palestinians on board.

Meanwhile, an Israeli military spokesperson said in a statement that the boat was apprehended after it "attempted to breach the legal naval blockade."

"After a search of the boat and the Palestinians, the boat will be towed to the Israeli navy base in Ashdod," the spokesperson said.

Israel accused Hamas of standing behind the sailing and "trying to carry out propaganda operation whilst cynically using its people."

Several international flotillas have tried to break the blockade but were stopped by the Israeli navy. In 2010, six ships, carrying humanitarian aid and construction materials to Gaza, were blocked by Israel's navy commando unit in international waters off Gaza. Ten Turkish activists were killed in the raid.

Israel has imposed a blockade on Gaza since 2007, shortly after Hamas took over the enclave.

Under Israel's restrictive policy, Palestinians are not allowed to leave or enter the Gaza Strip. Israel allows access of only a few goods to the enclave and most imports are banned too.

With the collapse of the infrastructure, Gaza residents have only four hours of electricity per day, and 97 percent of the drinking water is polluted, according to official Palestinian figures.
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The White House said on Tuesday that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Washington on June 7, ahead of the expected meeting between the leaders of Washington and Pyongyang.

U.S. President Donald Trump will meet with Abe on June 7 at the White House, said the White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders in a tweet.

The announcement came one day after Trump spoke over phone with Abe, with the two agreeing to meet before a possible meeting between Trump and top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) Kim Jong Un.

Sanders also said in the tweet that Washington continued to "actively prepare" for the expected summit.

Trump tweeted on Tuesday morning that a senior official of the DPRK is heading to New York for talks about the meeting between him and Kim.

The latest positive progress for the summit came after Trump canceled the scheduled meeting last Thursday, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed by Pyongyang recently.

Trump reversed course on Friday, saying both sides wanted the meeting to happen and it could still go ahead after productive talks. He also confirmed on Sunday that a U.S. official team had arrived in the DPRK to talk about the preparation for talks.
HARARE, May 29 (Xinhua) -- South Africa has returned Cabinet files and other State papers dating back to 1927 that former Rhodesian Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith took to that country following the collapse of his government.

The documents will be officially handed over to President Emmerson Mnangagwa at State House on Wednesday, director of media services in the Ministry of Information, Media and Broadcasting Services Anywhere Mutambudzi told Xinhua on Tuesday.

The files are important because they form part of the country's history and are needed by researchers and scholars.

The majority of the papers cover the period from 1964 to 1978, but older papers go back as far as 1927.

"The Cabinet files were taken to South Africa by Smith when the Rhodesian Front had collapsed and were deposited as his personal documents at Rhodes University," Mutambudzi said.

"These were State documents and reveal sensitive issues on the decision-making processes by the Rhodesian system," Mutambudzi said.

He added that the documents were repatriated following negotiations between the governments of Zimbabwe and South Africa.

Zimbabwe, formerly Rhodesia, was under colonial rule from 1890 to 1980 with Smith declaring unilateral independence from Britain in 1965.
HAMILTON, Ontario, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Agility Health, Inc. (TSXV:AHI) (Agility Health or Corporation), a leading provider of orthotics, prosthetics and foot care services in Canada, announces that it expects a delay of approximately 30 days in filing its first quarter financial statements, managements discussion and analysis and related officer certifications for the quarter ended March 31, 2018 (collectively, the "Quarterly Financial Filings") which are required to be filed on May 30, 2018 (the Filing Deadline). Due to the current delay in filing its annual financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2017 (the Annual Financial Filings), as announced in a press release dated April 27, 2018, the Corporation is unable to complete the Quarterly Financial Filings by the Filing Deadline while concurrently working with its auditors to complete the Annual Financial Filings. The Corporation continues to work diligently with its auditor to ensure that it has all the necessary information to complete the audit of the Annual Financial Filings.



The Corporation is providing this default announcement and status update in accordance with National Policy 12-203 - Management Cease Trade Orders (NP 12-203). The Ontario Securities Commission issued a management cease trade order (MCTO) under NP 12-203 on May 1, 2018 in connection with the late filing of the Corporations Annual Financial Filings. The MCTO restricts trading in securities of the Corporation by the Corporations Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer. The issuance of the MCTO generally will not affect the ability of persons who have not been directors, officers or insiders of the Corporation to trade in their securities. The MCTO will be in effect until the Corporation has completed its Quarterly Financial Filings.

The Corporation intends to satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out in sections 9 and 10 of NP 12-203 so long as the Quarterly Financial Filings are outstanding, including the issuance of bi-weekly default status reports in the form of news releases.



The Corporation confirms as of the date of this news release that there is no insolvency proceeding against it and there is no other material information concerning the affairs of the Corporation that has not been generally disclosed.

About Agility Health

Through its Canadian subsidiary and principal operating entity, Medic Holdings Corp., Agility Health operates eleven (11) foot care clinics in Ontario and Quebec and manufactures orthotics and prosthetics.

Forward-Looking Information

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.

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding Agility Health and its business. Such statements are based on the current expectations and views of future events of Agility Healths management. In some cases the forward-looking statements can be identified by words or phrases such as "may", "will", "expect", "plan", "anticipate", "intend", "potential", "estimate", "believe" or the negative of these terms, or other similar expressions intended to identify forward-looking statements. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release, including the anticipated future growth of Agility Health, may not occur and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the company. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements and information by their nature are based on assumptions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statement or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements or information. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and Agility Health undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

For further information please contact:

Wayne Cockburn

Interim Chief Executive Officer

(905) 505-0770

Wayne@medicholdings.com
A picture taken on April 30, 2018 in a camp for displaced Syrians from villages and towns around Abu Duhur on the edge of the southern Idlib province, shows children sitting as they attend classes provided by local teachers to some 300 boys and girls at the camp on the outskirts of the city of Sarmada in northern Idlib. (Xinhua/AFP)

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The top UN official for humanitarian affairs on Tuesday expressed concern over the security and humanitarian situation in Syria's Idlib.

"The situation in Idlib is alarming, with airstrikes, clashes between armed groups, overcrowding and severely stretched basic services deepening the suffering of both displaced people who have fled there and host communities," Mark Lowcock, UN undersecretary-general and emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council.

More than 80,000 newly displaced people have arrived in Idlib since March. Keeping pace with the increase in needs in the northwestern governorate has involved redirecting resources from other activities, he said.

Many of the most recent new arrivals in Idlib have come from northern rural Homs. Some 35,000 people were evacuated from this area in the south earlier this month, after a significant escalation of conflicts, said Lowcock.

An inter-agency convoy -- the first in more than two months -- is due to go to northern rural Homs on Wednesday with assistance for nearly 93,000 people, following receipt of facilitation letters from the Syrian authorities on Sunday.
TIRANA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Albania is holding a Puppet Theatre Festival this week welcoming theatre troupes from five countries that will introduce different forms of use and communication through puppets, exchange of experiences, traditions and cultures of different countries.

From May 27 to June 1, the participating theatre troupes and companies from China, Spain, Turkey, Romania and Albania will perform their theater works, valued at international awards.

Albanian troupe will perform on Tuesday with the show Don Quixote.

"Seeing in the context of a novelty of classical literature implemented for different ages for families, we think it was the best choice to be represented at the international puppet festival," says Klajd Ymeri, director of the performance and of the festival.

Through the cultural exchange, this project aims to recognize the spectator and artists of this genre in the country, with new forms and contemporary concepts of different countries in the world, creating the possibility of qualitative cultivation of this artistic and educational genre.

Sonila Kapidani, director of the "Metropolitan Theater" in Tirana, said, "We have seen this festival as a strong point of meeting, inter-cultural exchange of experiences."

On the closing day, the festival will be opened with an ethnographic exhibition of works by different authors from Albanian-speaking lands at the Albanian National Museum.

Appearances are given on an open stage for the afternoon public even in main "Skanderbeg" square of the capital.
CAIRO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Egyptian top prosecutor agreed on Tuesday to provide Italy with the CCTV footage of a Cairo metro station associated with the investigation into the murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, official MENA news agency reported.

Regeni disappeared in Cairo on Jan. 25, 2016, and his tortured, half-naked body was found nine days later in a ditch on the outskirts of the Egyptian capital city.

Egypt's Prosecutor-General Nabil Sadeq also agreed to provide Italian prosecutors with new documents of the recent investigations done by the Egyptian prosecution over the kidnapping and killing of the 28-year-old Italian PhD student.

Italian Ambassador to Cairo Giampaolo Cantini told an Italian TV Tuesday that the retrieved recordings of the Cairo metro station, where Regeni was spotted before his disappearance, have already been handed to the Italian side, according to Italian ANSA news agency.

Cantini was appointed as new ambassador to Cairo in September 2017, more than a year after Rome withdrew his predecessor over Regeni's murder.

Regeni's disappearance and death took place amid intensive security deployment in Cairo and other major cities in Egypt ahead of the fifth anniversary of the Jan. 25 uprising that toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

A few weeks after Regeni's body was found, the Egyptian police said they busted and killed a five-member gang in Cairo and found Regeni's handbag, passport and student ID card at the residence of a gang member's relative.

Rome's chief prosecutor said that the young researcher was under Egyptian surveillance before his death due to his research into Egypt's independent labour unions, according to an article published by an Italian newspaper on the second anniversary of Regeni's disappearance.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi repeatedly vowed to bring Regeni's murderers to justice, blaming "conspirators" who attempt to cause tension in Egypt's ties with Italy for the tragedy.
WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The White House announced on Tuesday that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with a visiting senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) later this week.

Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee, is traveling to New York and will meet with Pompeo later this week, said White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders in a statement.

The announcement followed a tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday morning, saying that Kim Yong Chol is "heading now to New York."

Sanders also revealed in the statement that a U.S. delegation, headed by U.S. veteran diplomat Sung Kim, was meeting with DPRK officials at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), with more meetings expected later this week.

Sung Kim, now serving as U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, was a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

The spokeswoman also said that a U.S. pre-advance team, led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin, was currently in Singapore coordinating the logistics of the expected summit.

John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, has had calls with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts "virtually every day," and these calls have been ongoing over the last couple of weeks, Sanders added.

The latest positive progress for the summit, originally scheduled on June 12 in Singapore, came after Trump canceled the meeting on Thursday, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed by Pyongyang recently.

Trump reversed course on Friday, saying both sides wanted the meeting to happen and it could still go ahead after productive talks. He also confirmed on Sunday that a U.S. official team had arrived in the DPRK to talk about the preparation for talks.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 01:49:24|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Tuesday that the U.S. statement is contrary to the consensuses the two sides have previously reached in Washington.

The ministry said the White House tactical statement is both unexpected and within expectation.

"Whatever measures the United States takes, China has the confidence, capability and experience to defend the interests of Chinese people and the core interests of the country," the MOC said on its website.

China urged the United States to act in accordance with the spirit of recent bilateral joint statement, the MOC said.
File Photo: Photo provided by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 10, 2018 shows Kim Jong Un (R), top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), shaking hands with visiting U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on May 9, 2018. (Xinhua/ KCNA)

WASHINGTON, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The White House announced on Tuesday that U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with a visiting senior official of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) later this week.

Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) Central Committee, is traveling to New York and will meet with Pompeo later this week, said White House Spokesperson Sarah Sanders in a statement.

The announcement followed a tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump Tuesday morning, saying that Kim Yong Chol is "heading now to New York."

Sanders also revealed in the statement that a U.S. delegation, headed by U.S. veteran diplomat Sung Kim, was meeting with DPRK officials at the demilitarized zone (DMZ), with more meetings expected later this week.

Sung Kim, now serving as U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, was a former U.S. ambassador to South Korea.

The spokeswoman also said that a U.S. pre-advance team, led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin, was currently in Singapore coordinating the logistics of the expected summit.

John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, has had calls with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts "virtually every day," and these calls have been ongoing over the last couple of weeks, Sanders added.

The latest positive progress for the summit, originally scheduled on June 12 in Singapore, came after Trump canceled the meeting on Thursday, citing "tremendous anger and open hostility" displayed by Pyongyang recently.

Trump reversed course on Friday, saying both sides wanted the meeting to happen and it could still go ahead after productive talks. He also confirmed on Sunday that a U.S. official team had arrived in the DPRK to talk about the preparation for talks.
CAIRO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Four Egyptian officials in the Ministry of Supply were arrested Tuesday over receiving bribes of up to 2 million Egyptian pounds (112,000 U.S. dollars) to facilitate food import deals in favor of some major companies.

The four officials busted by the Administrative Control Authority (ACA) included the supply minister's media adviser and spokesman, the minister's adviser for political communications with the parliament, the head of the ministry's Food Industries Holding Company and his office manager.

Egypt has been launching a massive anti-corruption campaign over the past few years that led to the arrest and imprisonment of several officials and senior employees and the retrieval of large amounts of public funds.

Over the past couple of years, the ACA arrested the former governor of Minufiya province north of the capital Cairo, along with two businessmen, a female deputy governor of the coastal province of Alexandria, along with five businessmen, and a former advisor of the finance minister over similar charges.

In February 2017, an Egyptian court sentenced a former irrigation minister to seven years in prison over corruption related to illegal sales of agricultural lands for construction.

Similarly, a former agriculture minister and his deputy were sentenced to 10 years in prison over receiving bribes to grant state-owned land licenses to a business tycoon in 2016.

An Egyptian top court also upheld a three-year jail term for a former housing minister in December 2016 and ordered him to refund more than 255 million Egyptian pounds for selling vast areas of state-owned lands to a real estate mogul below market prices.
NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- China Southern Airlines has announced the launch of a new flight between Nairobi and the Chinese city of Guangzhou in a move expected to increase volume of trade and cultural interactions among the two countries, airline officials said in Nairobi on Tuesday.

The airline currently has scheduled two weekly flights between the two cities, departing on Monday and Friday, Wu Weijun, the general manager of China Southern Airlines, told journalists in Nairobi.

"Starting July 9, we shall introduce a third weekly direct flight from Nairobi to Guangzhou," said Wu.

He said Nairobi acts as the airline's hub for Africa, benefiting from Kenya Airways' extensive network across Africa.

"With the launch of Guangzhou Nairobi direct flight in 2015, we have so far transported 120,000 passengers. We are proud of building a flyover between Africa and China," said Wu.

He said the airline has partnered with Kenya Airways to ensure that most passengers from across Africa have a smooth connection to China Southern Airlines by first coming to Kenya.

The airline also has extensive network across Southern Asia, enabling passengers from Africa whose destination is not China to get seamless connections across the region.

Increased flights between Africa and China is an indication of growing trade and cultural exchanges between the two, with Nairobi emerging as the connecting hub for China and Africa, said Wu.
JUBA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The South Sudanese government and the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDs) on Tuesday agreed to work together to combat HIV among young people.

The ministry of health and UNAIDs have also signed a memorandum of understanding that seeks to enhance sexual and reproductive education among the youths and also strengthen access to information about HIV prevention.

The package would allow UNAIDs to partner with South Sudan in the areas of resource mobilization, advocacy and technical expertise.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibe said the pact would help in scaling up youth-friendly services across South Sudan.

"This memorandum will be a tangible demonstration of your commitment to break the cycle of youth infections in the most critical age group because that is where we are having a big problem," said Sidibe.

Esterina Novello Nyilok, head of South Sudan HIV/AIDS Commission said lack of access to HIV services, stigma, and gender based violence and the ongoing civil war are major contributors to the spread of HIV in the East African country.

According to Nyilok, an estimated 180,000 people live with the virus, with the national prevalence rate standing at 2.4 percent.

Nyilok said about 14,000 young people got infected with the HIV virus 2017, down from 18,000 the previous year, adding that the partnership with UNAIDs seeks to reduce new infections among youth.

Victoria Anib Majur Achut, HIV/AIDS Program Manager at the ministry of health, said the government will work with UNAIDs and partners to introduce sexual and reproductive health education in the country's education curriculum in a bid to raise awareness.
BRATISLAVA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A new cycle bridge will be built over the Danube's old riverbed, connecting the Slovak village of Dobrohost with the Hungarian village of Dunakiliti, Dobrohost mayor Jozef Boraros announced on Tuesday.

The recent signing of the decision will be followed by approval and implementation of public orders and construction work on the bridge. Its completion is scheduled for August 2021.

"More than 10 million euros (11.5 million U.S. dollars) should be allocated for the cycle bridge's construction with major portion being covered from EU funds. On one hand, the bridge will ensure regular transport between Slovakia and Hungary and on the other hand, it can help boost tourism," stressed Boraros.

In line with the inter-governmental agreement between Slovakia and Hungary, the bridge will serve pedestrians, cyclists, as well as rescue forces and maintenance vehicles. Heavy vehicles, such as fire engines could also use the bridge while helping in potential disasters like floods.
Spring Grove, Illinois, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Head lice infamously cause stress, disgust, and embarrassment for millions of parents whose kids get infested each year. But thanks to the opening of a new Lice Clinics of America clinic, parents in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin no longer have to worry about treating the icky bugs themselves.

For Erin Hawn, a case of head lice with her fifth child was a life-changing experience. My husband and I have four girls and one boy, and when my fifth child was three weeks old, all of us girls had head lice, she said. After unsuccessfully battling at home, we stumbled upon Lice Clinics of America and were all lice-free in hours. What a relief!

My husband had always wanted to start a business, Erin said. We knew this was it. Six months later we opened our first clinic in Vernon Hills. The Vernon Hills clinic has been so successful that the couple is opening a second one in Spring Grove.

Lice Clinics of America is the exclusive provider of lice treatment using the FDA-cleared Class I AirAlle medical device. clinically proven to kill live lice and more than 99 percent of eggs (nits) using carefully controlled warm air to dehydrate the lice and eggs. Most treatments take about an hour, and the service is guaranteed effective.

The battle against head lice has gotten more difficult in recent years as head lice have become immune to the chemical pesticides in the most popular lice products. The most recent study found that so-called Super Lice comprise 98 percent of head lice in most states. The pesticides used in lice products have also been linked to developmental and behavioral problems in children.

Were excited to bring this fast, safe, chemical-free service to Spring Grove, Erin said. I want every family struggling with head lice to have the same experience I didto leave our clinic lice-free and totally relieved.

Lice Clinics of America  Spring Grove is located at 2503 Spring Ridge Rd Suite C1. The clinic is open seven days per week by appointment. The AirAlle device treatment comes with a 30-day guarantee when all family members are treated or screened for head lice.

The new clinic is one of more than 350 clinics in the Lice Clinics of America network worldwide. With clinics in more than 33 countries, Lice Clinics of America (www.LiceClinicsOfAmerica.com) is the largest network of professional head-lice-treatment centers in the world. Lice Clinics of America and AirAlle (www.airalle.com) are brands owned by Larada Sciences, Inc.
CAIRO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi will be officially sworn in at the parliament for a second four-year presidential term after he won the recent election in April, Egypt's state-run Al-Akhbar newspaper said Tuesday.

It will be the first presidential swearing in to be held in the parliament in 13 years, since ousted President Hosni Mubarak was sworn in for a fifth presidential term in 2005, according to Al-Akhbar.

In early April, Sisi was announced winner of the presidential election by getting over 97 percent of valid votes amid some 41 percent turnout of nearly 60 million eligible voters.

His sole rival in the presidential race, a little-known liberal party chief, garnered less than 3 percent of the valid ballots.

Sisi's re-election came five years after he, as the army chief then, led the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, currently in jail, in response to mass protests against Morsi's one-year rule and his now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

Since Morsi's ouster, Egypt has been suffering terrorist activities that killed hundreds of policemen and soldiers as well as civilians, with most of them claimed by a Sinai-based group affiliated with the regional Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces have killed hundreds of terrorists and arrested thousands of suspects during the country's anti-terror war declared by Sisi following Morsi's ouster.
Syrian civil Defence volunteers and Red Crescent members evacuate survivors following an explosion in the rebel-held city of Idlib on late April 9, 2018. (AFP Photo)

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The top UN official for humanitarian affairs on Tuesday expressed concern over the security and humanitarian situation in Syria's Idlib.

"The situation in Idlib is alarming, with airstrikes, clashes between armed groups, overcrowding and severely stretched basic services deepening the suffering of both displaced people who have fled to Idlib and host communities," Mark Lowcock, UN undersecretary-general and emergency relief coordinator, told the Security Council.

More than 80,000 newly displaced people have arrived in Idlib since March. Keeping pace with the increase in needs in the northwestern governorate has involved redirecting resources from other activities, he said.

Many of the most recent new arrivals in Idlib have come from northern rural Homs. Some 35,000 people were evacuated from this area in the south earlier this month, after a significant escalation of conflicts, said Lowcock.

The UN special envoy for the Syria crisis, Staffan de Mistura, has warned against escalation in Idlib as clashes between Syrian government forces and rebel militias became imminent.

If Idlib repeats what has happened in Eastern Ghouta, the consequences would be much worse, de Mistura told the Security Council on May 16.

The Syrian government's offensive on the rebel-held enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus resulted in massive displacement of people before government forces recaptured the territory last month.

"If we see a Ghouta scenario in Idlib, this could be six times -- I repeat -- six times worse, affecting 2.3 million people there, of which half of them are already IDPs (internally displaced persons), who will have nowhere to go because there is no other place to go once they are up there," said de Mistura.

He also warned that escalation in Idlib or in other areas of the northwest may incur risks not only to Syrian civilians but also to international peace and security, as many of the areas contain external, international forces.

Lowcock said Tuesday that the humanitarian situation in and around Afrin in Aleppo governorate remains "highly complex." The United Nations and others continue to provide assistance, including food, nutrition, shelter, water, sanitation, hygiene and protection services, to people displaced from Afrin to Tal Refaat and elsewhere.

Inside Afrin, humanitarian assistance provided from across the border has been critical for many people. Findings from a recent needs assessment show that most health facilities in rural areas remain closed, many medical personnel have fled, and many schools, markets and bakeries are not functional, said Lowcock.

Yarmouk Camp and surrounding areas in southern Damascus saw fierce fighting last month, resulting in loss of life and the displacement of an estimated 6,000 people -- most of them Palestinian refugees, he said.

Last week, combatants and civilians began to be evacuated from Yarmouk. The UN aid agency for Palestiniann refugees (UNRWA) reports that as few as 100 refugees may now remain in the camp, said Lowcock.

Humanitarian organizations have not been able to access Yarmouk, but UNRWA was allowed to carry out a rapid needs assessment in neighboring Yalda on Monday. An inter-agency convoy to the area is now a key priority, said Lowcock.

He highlighted attacks on medical facilities and medical workers.

"Violence against health care and health personnel remains a grim hallmark of the conflict in Syria," said Lowcock, noting that 92 attacks have been documented over the first four months of 2018 that led to 89 deaths and 135 injuries.

He stressed the need to help more than 2 million people in hard-to-reach areas. People in places like northern rural Homs, Douma and southern Damascus are some of the most desperate in the country, he said. "Just six inter-agency convoys have reached those areas so far this year, helping 169,000 people. That is less than 20 percent of the people we would like to be reaching."

Lowcock also asked for humanitarian access to Eastern Ghouta, which has returned to government control.

The United Nations is providing assistance through the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, but the world body itself has not received authorization to visit Eastern Ghouta since mid-March, he said.

The authorities report that more than 10,000 people have returned to Eastern Ghouta. This, and the needs of almost 200,000 people believed to have remained throughout the violence, makes access to the area even more critical, he said.

The Syrian government has already approved an inter-agency convoy to bring assistance to 70,000 people in Douma, Eastern Ghouta. But that convoy has not gone, because facilitation letters have not been provided, he said. "So, I reiterate our request to the government of Syria to facilitate access to Eastern Ghouta, so that needs can be assessed, and assistance and protection scaled up."
NAIROBI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Chinese firm Shenzhen JCN New Energy Technology said Tuesday it is seeking to introduce financial technology (fintech) in Africa that will boost solar power uptake by targeting low income households.

Amdy Luo, the Sales Director, told Xinhua in Nairobi that the firm has developed proprietary technology that enables households to purchase a solar kit and make small mobile monthly payment towards the cost of the power kit.

Luo said that its technology links customer monthly payments to system function.

"If a customer doesn't make the required monthly pay, their system turns off and this reduces risk of non-payment," Luo said during the Seventh Oil and Gas, Africa and Power and Energy 2018 Expo.

Once the customer makes a payment, he or she receives a code on the mobile phone which is entered via a touch pad to activate the solar home system.

The PAYGO solar kits are available for as little as 80 U.S. dollars for 20 watts systems that can light up to two bulbs and charge mobile phones.

The more expensive kits retail for 120 watts and can light up to four bulbs, a charge mobile phones and a television set.

Shenzhen JCN New Energy Technology hopes to accelerate the uptake of solar usage in Kenya by allowing the bottom of the pyramid consumers to make a small deposit of 10 percent of the value of the kit and thereafter make small monthly payments of between five and 20 dollars until they complete the payments.

In order to increase uptake of the kits, solar companies can buy the units in bulks and provide loans to poor households in order to improve their accessibility.

The PAYGO Platform has been designed alongside hardware, for seamless integration and field-tested over five years.

It can handle contracts with consumers, generate invoices and receive payments automatically, monitor customer's system data through the mobile phone network (GSM) as well as manage sales.

Luo said that a key impediment to use of the solar for lightning homes is the high cost of the equipment.

"With our technology we enable families to acquire a modern solar kit and make monthly payments and thereby avoid high upfront cost associated with solar power," he added.

The PAYGO solar kits targets rural households with small daily incomes, no access to finance as well as those currently using fossils fuels for lighting and phone charging or those currently using expensive battery-charging systems.

The lightning system is ideal in Africa because it offers remote monitoring and maintenance. The solar home system has already worked successfully in Cambodia where over 220,000 lives have been positively impacted.

An estimated 600 million households in Africa have no access to electricity and are forced to use biomass for household cooking and kerosene for lightning.

Use of firewood has been associated with respiratory diseases due to the smoke. Luo said that the PAYGO kits will enable Africa to tap into its abundant sunshine that is available throughout the year.

He said that solar is a form of renewable energy that has little or low carbon footprint.

The sales director urged the continent to take advantage of the reducing cost of solar panels to embrace green energy.
MOGADISHU, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The UN on Tuesday pledged 2.7 million U.S. dollars to help Somaliland communities affected by cyclone which left at least 25 people dead and displaced thousand others.

Peter de Clercq, the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia who visited the self-declared semi-autonomous region, said the response to the combination of events- storm, floods, drought- highlighted the need for a response which addresses both the short- and longer-term needs of humanitarian events.

De Clercg said in a statement released in Mogadishu that the short-term should focus on the immediate emergency and the longer-term centred on building the resilience of communities like that of the Awhal region.

The recent landfall of Cyclone Sagar on the northern Horn of Africa has affected some 160,000 people, killing dozens and causing severe damage to infrastructure and economic loss, especially for those with a traditional pastoral livelihood, according to the UN.

It said the cyclone's impact has compounded an already-difficult humanitarian and development situation in the area due to recent heavy flooding and a years-long drought.

De Clercq had been in Somaliland to see its impact first-hand, as well as meet with local partners, including government officials, representatives of non-governmental organizations, community elders and people directly affected by the storm.

The cyclone comes after a powerful tropical cyclone with winds in excess of 120 km/per hour and an entire year's worth of rain which landed in Somalia on May 19 left destruction and death in its wake in Somaliland, endangering the lives of thousands of children in the region.

Cyclone Sagar tore through the coastal north of the country, destroying homes and livelihoods in its wake.

According to Somaliland authorities, at least 25 people have been killed, 27 others are missing and hundreds of homes destroyed following tropical cyclone Sagar that caused heavy rains and flooding in Somaliland.
VALLETTA, 29 May (Xinhua) -- The European Commission could slash Malta's EU Cohesion plans in its upcoming budget, according to a proposal published on Tuesday.

In a statement the Commission described the proposal as a modernization of the Cohesion Policy, which is EU's main investment policy.

According to the proposal, Malta would be entitled to 597 million euros, 179 million euros less than the 776 million euros obtained for the 2014-2020 budget.

In reaction, the government said it had taken note of the proposal, adding that economic, social and territorial cohesion was one of the biggest EU policies in terms of budget.

It said that today's proposal needed to be viewed within the context of an already reduced share of Cohesion Policy with the next EU budget.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 04:00:02|Editor: mmm

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BEIJING, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A China-Russia think-tank forum kicked off in Beijing Tuesday.

The forum, jointly held by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) and Russian International Affairs Council (RIAC), will be hosted in turns in China and Russia.

This year's forum has attracted over 300 people to attend. The topics discussed include domestic and foreign affairs of both countries, coordination in a changing world, as well as cooperation on security, energy and culture.

China-Russia relations have become healthy and mature new-type relations between major countries through development over the years, which boosted development and forcefully safeguarded the sovereignty, security and development interests of the two countries, said Dai Bingguo, Chinese chairman of the China-Russia Friendship Committee for Peace and Development.

Looking forward, China-Russia relations should scale new heights, to raise the comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination between the two countries to a new higher level, Dai said.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Igor Morgulov, who is also a RIAC member, said China-Russia cooperation has been fruitful over the past years and the two countries have deepened economic and trade cooperation.

Looking ahead, building a new international order of diversity, inclusiveness, equality and mutual trust will be an important direction for bilateral cooperation, he said.

CASS and RIAC will jointly release a think-tank report at the forum. The Institute of International Studies at Fudan University, RIAC and the Institute of Far Eastern Studies at Russian Academy of Sciences will jointly release a research report.

The findings of the reports will provide reference for further development of China-Russia relations and synergy of strategies under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative.
HELSINKI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Some officers of the Finnish crisis management troops in Iraq have been suspected of bribery and official misconduct, announced the Finnish National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) on Tuesday.

NBI said the case related to an extension work of the Finnish crisis management troops' military base in Erbil, northern Iraq.

A transport officer was suspected of having received minor gifts from the contractor of the extension project and doing some actions related to the construction work that did not belong to his duty.

The police suspected the officer of committing a crime of service offence and a crime of bribery.

NBI also suspected that the officers involved in procurement as technician and commercial attorney committed a negligent breach of official duty. They were suspected of failing to comply with the procurement obligations.

The police have completed pre-trial investigation and transferred the case to the procuratorial authority, according to NBI.

Finland has participated in crisis management operations in Iraq together with about 60 other countries since 2014. In the mission against the militant group IS, the task of the Finnish troops was mainly training Kurdish troops and Iraqi security forces.
By Yang Shilong, Qiu Junzhou

NEW YORK, May 29 (Xinhua) -- As one of the world's great fashion capitals, New York City boasts many stylish photo studios in every corner of its five boroughs.

Yet most of them are providing services to professionals such as stylists, shutterbugs and posh editors.

Ashley Chui, a student of nonprofit management at Columbia University, attempts to make a difference by launching her Cara Vision, a studio devoted for fans of qipao, traditional Chinese one-piece, form-fitting dress for women, in downtown Manhattan.

FOR LIFE STYLE, NOT COMMERCIAL

"My idea is to create a space that serves people for lifestyle purposes, instead of commercial purposes," said Chui, who dressed in a stunning dark violet qipao dotted with flowers, in an interview with Xinhua at the studio's opening ceremony last week.

She visualizes this space to be more than just a photo studio, "As I have a background in nonprofit management, I want to use my limited resources to help nonprofit organizations."

"The ultimate goal here is to serve and connect with people," she said.

Chui plans to host events and workshops for nonprofit organizations regularly in her studio, which she explains is her way to "fully utilize this space for arts and meaningful purposes."

The interior design of this studio, credit to Junggle Arts, is laidback but stylish.

"We adapted the industrial style to give the space a modern look," Chui explained. "The walls were painted with colors that give the space a bright and open feeling."

"I put a lot of thoughts in designing the interior. Most of the photo studios in New York put minimal interior design efforts, as they focus mainly on the practicality of the space," she said.

MAKE EVERYONE LOOK BEAUTIFUL INSIDE OUT

"My goal is to make everyone feel and look beautiful inside out," Chui said. "Even though you are not a model, you can still feel comfortable and confidence to take photos in a fully equipped photo studio."

Other than make up and styling services, Chui and her team get special treats for potential customers -- over a hundred hand tailored, contemporary designed qipaos from China.

"When I was thinking about garments that can bring out people's beauty, I immediately thought of qipao," said Chui, who grew up watching "Old Hong Kong" movies in which heroines all wear beautiful qipaos and was always stunned by the garment's elegant cut and design.

"That is where the idea of incorporating qipao in my studio comes from. Whenever my American friends see photos of myself in qipao, they always ask me where I got the dress. I figured that there is a demand in New York," she said.

Whenever people mention qipao, they often think of "Old Hong Kong" or "Old Shanghai," because of the vintage image of qipao, but Chui wants to the other side of the Chinese costume.

"Qipao could be trendy and modern," she said. "I want to introduce this traditional clothing to New York city and provide an access point to the locals. If there can be rental service for gowns and cocktail dresses, there should be qipao rental service!"

"Styling in qipao could be intimidating for people who wear qipao for the first time," she said. "Just like wearing a kimono (traditional Japanese garment), there are some particular styling techniques for qipao. Our professional team is here to help anyone who is interested in qipao."

It is "very refreshing" to see the Chinese fashion trend of nearly a century ago come alive again here in New York, noted one of the 130-odd guests at the opening ceremony, "This spark of authenticity adds new flavor in the melting pot of cultures" in the Big Apple.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 04:50:14|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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GAZA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement and the Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility in a joint statement Tuesday for firing barrages of mortars and rockets from the Gaza Strip into Israel.

"Al Qassam Brigades and al Quds Brigades claim join responsibility for striking military posts and Zionist settlements near Gaza with dozens of projectiles during Tuesday in response to the Zionist entity aggression and its crimes against our people and our militants."

The two groups said in a joint statement emailed to reporters that "Firing mortars and rockets was a response to the Israeli aggression and its crimes against the Palestinian people and their men of resistance."

The two militant groups, which accused Israel for starting this round of escalation to escape from paying the price for its crimes it committed against civilians, said "strikes for strikes and blood for blood and we won't let the enemy to create new equations on the ground."

During Tuesday, Islamic Jihad and Hamas militants fired dozens of mortars, projectiles and rockets from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, where Israeli war jets launched intensive successive airstrikes on the two groups' military facilities.

The Israeli army said in an official statement that 116 rockets and projectiles were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israeli communities close to the borders between the Gaza Strip and Israel, while Israeli war planes carried out around 80 separate successive airstrikes on militants' facilities.

Tension in the Gaza Strip between Israel and the Palestinians has been escalating since March 30, when the Palestinians organized rallies and protests and called it the "Great March of Return," calling on Israel to lift 11 years of a blockade imposed on Gaza.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 04:55:16|Editor: ZD

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Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike on the Palestinian coastal enclave in Gaza City, on May 29, 2018. Israel launched a massive airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, hitting 35 targets and a tunnel crossing into Egypt and Israel, said the Israeli military in a statement. The statement said the airstrike was in response to a barrage of 28 mortar shells that Gaza militants fired at Israel on Tuesday morning. (Xinhua/Stringer)

JERUSALEM, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian militants fired dozens of mortars, projectiles and rockets into Israel throughout Tuesday before Israel launched a wide-scale airstrike on Gaza, as tensions rise following weeks of lethal Israeli fire at Gaza protestors.

The Israeli military said in a statement that most of the mortars, projectiles and rockets were intercepted by its Iron Dome anti-missile system.

Later on Tuesday, Israel reported that four people were injured. One of them is a civilian in his forties who was injured in his shoulder and ear by shrapnel. The other three are soldiers wounded by shrapnel outside their military position of Sufa near Gaza. One of them sustained moderate injuries and two were lightly wounded.

One of the mortars, launched early in the morning, fell in the backyard of a kindergarten in the Eshkol Regional Council in southern Israel.

Speaking to journalists, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus, a spokesperson for the Israeli military, said that the kindergarten was empty at the time of the attack.

"Fortunately, the attack was at seven in the morning so the kids were not there. Had the kids been there, there's no doubt they would have been injured because the yard was full of shrapnel," he said.

The incident triggered angry responses by Israeli leaders, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowing to "exact a heavy price" and Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked from the ultra-nationalist Jewish Home party saying Israel might reoccupy Gaza.

Within hours, Israeli fighter jets and aircrafts struck at least 35 sites in Gaza. A military statement said they were sites belonging to the Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian organization that runs Gaza, and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a local Islamist group that Israel blamed for Tuesday's mortar barrage.

As part of the strike, an "offensive terror tunnel" belonging to Hamas was neutralized in the area of the Kerem Shalom Crossing, near Rafah, the military said. The tunnel started within the Gaza Strip, crossed into Egypt's Sinai Desert and then continued into Israeli territory.

A media report from Gaza said the construction hit by Israel was a smuggling tunnel to transfer goods to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

According to the Israeli military, the tunnel was "dual-purposed -- designated for terror purposes, as well as to transfer munition to Egypt."

This is the second tunnel neutralized in the area of the Kerem Shalom Crossing, and the tenth since last October.

Conricus also said Tuesday's launches used Iran-made munition. "There's no doubt the Iranians are involved, the question is how much and in what volume," he said.

The military issued a statement warning that "the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) will not allow any harm to the safety of Israeli civilians or Israeli sovereignty, and will continue to operate with determination against all kinds of terror."

Civilians in the area surrounding the Gaza Strip were instructed to stay in close vicinity of shelters.

The violence followed a serious escalation in the area of the fence separating between Gaza and Israel over the past months. Israeli forces have killed at least 121 Palestinians in Gaza since weekly demonstrations started on March 30.
LOS ANGELES, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pat Harris, whose grassroots progressive agenda for U.S. Senate/CA has been gaining lightning momentum in recent weeks, is now tied for second place according to the newly released, widely respected Emerson poll in the hotly contested primary race to unseat incumbent Dianne Feinstein.



With 32% (Emerson poll) of voters still undecided, Harris is now poised in the homestretch to move on to the general election as one of the top-two candidates receiving the most votes June 5th.

In commenting Harris said: "People laughed at us when we promised we would not accept one single corporate donation. They said you couldn't possibly win. We are now proving them wrong -- individuals do have more power than corporations!"

Harris, one of the only true progressives in this race, was an early challenger to Dianne Feinstein and one of three on the ballot at the California Democratic Convention who contributed to denying her the partys endorsement. Harris has been getting wide support and recognition for his recent Progressive Americans Together Voter Guide, which he introduced at the 2nd Anniversary of Bernies Diner May 19 with actress/activist Frances Fisher. In the final stretch, Harris continues with his statewide television commercial campaign on MSNBC and CNN along with a comprehensive social media blitz, billboards and grassroots canvassing throughout the state.

Pat Harris is an unapologetic progressive running for US Senate from the State of California in the 2018 election against incumbent, Dianne Feinstein. He entered this race because he strongly believes that it is time for fresh leadership representing all people of California, not just the 1%. To achieve this, Pat firmly believes the first order of business is to get corporate money out of politics. He supports overturning Citizens United and will fight to ensure that our elections and politicians can no longer be bought by PACs or big lobbying groups like the NRA, Big Pharma or Big Oil. Pat recognizes a once-in-a-generation opportunity for progressives to rise up and lead a real political revolution in this country.

Contact: Sheryl Feuerstein, 310-650-8668, sheryl@eastwestmedia.net

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/1743857b-9c57-47f5-8e2c-4ef22069bf7d
TRIPOLI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salame on Tuesday welcomed a meeting held in France's Paris on Libya, which gathered the Libyan political parties and discussed solutions to the current Libyan political crisis.

The UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) said in a statement that Salame, the special representative of the UN secretary general and head of the UNSMIL, "thanks France and the international community for their efforts and commitment to support Libya towards unity and stability."

During the Paris meeting, Salame called on Libyans to collect efforts for the transition to "stable, legitimate and permanent institutions" in Libya.

The rival Libyan factions also agreed at the meeting to hold "credible" presidential and parliamentary elections on Dec. 10, according to a communique issued after the one-day conference.

In a joint statement, the UN-backed Prime Minister Fayez Serraj, head of the Libyan High Council of State Khalid al-Meshri, the eastern-based Parliament Speaker Agila Saleh, and the eastern-based army commander Khalifa Haftar pledged "to work constructively with the UN to hold credible and peaceful elections and to respect election results."

The North African country has been struggling for seven years to make a democratic transition. It suffers a political division with two rival parliaments and governments battling to legitimacy.

Ghassan Salame proposed an action plan in September 2017 to end the Libya political crisis, which includes holding presidential and parliamentary elections before the end of 2018.
ADDIS ABABA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Ethiopia released on Tuesday a prominent rebel leader, Andargachew Tsige, and 575 others in a bid to foster national consensus and reconciliation.

Tsige, a British citizen of Ethiopian origin, has been serving a prison sentence since June 2014, for leading and directing an outlawed rebel group Ginbot 7, based mainly in Ethiopia's arch-foe Eritrea. Ethiopian law doesn't allow dual citizenship.

Another 575 individuals serving time on various other criminal charges were also released.

Prisoner releases are part of the Ethiopian government's promises to institute political reform and affirm commitment to good governance.

Since the swearing of new Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed on April 2, several thousand prisoners including prominent opposition figures and activists have been released.
DAR ES SALAAM, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The government of Tanzania said on Tuesday it has embarked on a nationwide survey aimed at establishing damage to property and infrastructure caused by ongoing heavy rains.

Elias Kwandikwa, the east African nation's Deputy Minister for Works, Transport and Communications, told the National Assembly in the capital Dodoma that the focus of the assessment will be on the extent to which roads and bridges have been damaged by the rains.

Kwandikwa told the House that the assessment being done by the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS), a state-owned agency overseeing construction and maintenance of roads, will establish the amount of money that will be required to rehabilitate the damaged roads.

The rains, which began in March, have killed more than 20 people in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's business capital, Arusha, Manyara, Tabora and the Zanzibar archipelago.

The rains have also left hundreds of people homeless, damaged hundreds of hectares of food crops and destroyed property and infrastructure, including schools.
HELSINKI, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Finnish government announced on Tuesday the decision to allocate 1.5 million euros to the privately owned Finnish national news agency, STT.

Anne Berner, the minister for communications and transport, said in a press release that the one-time assistance will be proposed as part of a supplementary budget to be submitted to the parliament this week.

Mika Petterson, editor in chief of STT, said the government funding balances the economy of the agency for this year. "Without this assistance, the possibility of closing down the news service could have been considered."

STT is owned by leading Finnish newspaper houses. Sanoma, the publisher of Helsingin Sanomat, has one third shares.

The agency has been losing customers in recent years as media houses have relied more on their own production. The national broadcaster Yle ceased being a client 10 years ago, but returned last year.

The decision to bail out STT follows a comparable assistance to Finnish commercial television, MTV last year.

The government gave the Swedish owned MTV 3 million euros to ensure continued quality news service. The decision was justified by the need of having two national television news services, not only Yle.

Berner said on Tuesday that STT must prepare a plan on how to stabilize its economy. It should also consider development of robotics and AI, "for the wider development of the media scene", the minister said in a press release.

Tapio Sadeoja, chairman of STT, considered it possible that this one-time aid would later become permanent. He said it could be justified on the basis of the special position of STT in Finnish society.

"Survival of STT is extremely important. We only have to find a solution how it is done in a sensible way," said Sadeoja.

Sadeoja is the editor in chief of Ilta-Sanomat, one of the papers published by Sanoma Group.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. largest seafood company, Trident Seafoods, is changing its strategy to sell Alaska seafood directly to China, a media report said Tuesday.

Trident Seafoods has been selling fish in China for 20 years, but many Chinese consumers don't recognize the company's three-pronged logo nor know its products as a brand, according to an online report by Alaska's Energy Desk.

The company is working on a new strategy to change its way of selling Alaska seafood only as a commodity in China, and instead wants to bring wild Alaska seafood directly to Chinese consumers via stores or markets to boost the presence of its own brand.

Jeff Welbourn, senior director of the Chinese Business Office for Trident Seafoods, made a recent trip to China to talk with Chinese business partners about getting their products into some new markets.

Per capita consumption of seafood in China is mind-boggling, as the Chinese people consume an estimate of only 40 kilograms of seafood per person every year, he said.

A lot of Alaska pollock is already being consumed in China, but Chinese citizens likely don't realize that it is wild and from Alaska, Welbourn noted.

Welbourn and his team were cooperating with Chinese e-commerce giant JD.com, which has about 300 million active users, trying to expand the sale of Trident's seafood on its website, where Chinese consumers can get their order of wild seafood from Alaska with only clicks of the mouse.

Trident Seafoods has already sent a team with Alaska Governor Bill Walker's trade mission to China, which began on May 26, to explore more business opportunities.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 06:20:41|Editor: ZD

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UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo (Front) addresses a Security Council meeting on Ukraine, at the United Nations headquarters in New York, May 29, 2018. Rosemary DiCarlo on Tuesday deplored the stalemate in eastern Ukraine, reminding the world that the conflict is very much alive. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- UN Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo on Tuesday deplored the stalemate in eastern Ukraine, reminding the world that the conflict is very much alive.

"The conflict in eastern Ukraine is now is in its fifth year. It may no longer make major international headlines, but it is neither dormant nor frozen. It is very much alive, and requires our attention, particularly to alleviate the human cost of the conflict," DiCarlo told the Security Council.

While there has been an overall reduction of violence and casualties since 2015, the killing, destruction and immense suffering continue, she said.

The civilian death toll of the conflict between separatist forces and government troops is over 2,700 with up to 9,000 injuries, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, she said.

In addition, 1.6 million people are estimated to remain internally displaced, the largest uprooted population in Europe, said DiCarlo.

The Minsk Agreements remain the foundation for the international community's commitment to restoring peace in eastern Ukraine. However, the agreements remain largely unimplemented, she said.

Negotiations appear to have lost momentum, with the main stakeholders unable to reach agreement on key steps, she noted.

Except for the exchange of detainees during the Christmas period in 2017, efforts to move the talks forward have achieved little progress, she said.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 06:20:42|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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UNITED NATIONS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Netherlands on Tuesday asked Russia to accept responsibility for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.

It has now been established that the missile that downed Flight MH17 was launched by a Buk TELAR missile that came from the Russian army, Dutch Foreign Minister Stef Blok told the Security Council. "This conclusion was not taken lightly. It is the result of intensive, in-depth study and analysis."

On Thursday, the Joint Investigation Team released additional findings -- based on legally sound and compelling evidence -- that the Buk missile system which downed the plane belonged to the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade of the Russian army, he said.

"On that basis ... Australia and the Netherlands announced last Friday that we hold the Russian Federation accountable for its part in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17. As a consequence, the Netherlands and Australia now call on the Russian Federation to engage seriously and constructively with us in this matter and accept its responsibility," said the Dutch foreign minister.

"Along with this, the Russian Federation needs to start cooperating fully with the Joint Investigation Team's ongoing criminal investigation," he added.

When it comes to establishing truth and accountability for what happened to Flight MH17, no state has the right to remain silent. Quite the contrary, it has a duty to cooperate constructively, to shed light on the truth, not to obscure it with continuous mist, said Blok. "I call on the Russian Federation to take this responsibility."

Blok was making the demand at a Security Council meeting on the situation in eastern Ukraine, where separatist forces are fighting government troops.

The downing of Flight MH17 is a stark reminder of how an armed conflict in one part of the world can impact anyone, at any time. This is another reason why the international community cannot allow this conflict to persist, said Blok.

Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia told the same Security Council meeting that his country does not accept the conclusions of the Dutch-led Joint Investigation Team.

The Russian Defense Ministry Friday refuted the accusation, saying that no new anti-aircraft missiles crossed the border to Ukraine since 1991.

Flight MH17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014, en route from the Dutch capital of Amsterdam to Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur. All 298 people aboard were killed, including 196 citizens of the Netherlands.
MOSCOW, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday asked the Ukrainian authorities to "make every effort" to promptly investigate the murder of Russian journalist Arkadiy Babchenko in Kiev.

"The level of physical violence and murders of media employees in Ukraine is steadily growing, and their investigations do not lead to the punishment of criminals," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry expressed condolences to the relatives and friends of Babchenko.

Earlier on the day, Ukrainian lawmaker Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Facebook that Babchenko, who was working for the Ukrainian TV channel ATR, was shot in the back on the stairwell of his house and died in the ambulance on the way to hospital.

Kiev police chief Andriy Kryschenko told local media that Babchenko's professional activities as a journalist would be examined in the investigation to seek the motive of the murderer.

Babchenko, 41, had worked as a war correspondent in Moskovsky Komsomolets and several other Moscow-based media.

He moved from Moscow to Prague, capital of Czech Republic, in February 2017, citing unspecified threats. In August 2017, Babchenko moved to Kiev.
Source: Xinhua| 2018-05-30 06:25:43|Editor: Mu Xuequan

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DAMASCUS, May 29 (Xinhua) -- A total of 2,900 civilians have been killed since the Islamic State (IS) announced its "caliphate" in Syria, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Tuesday.

The civilians are among 5,170 people, including rival militants and army personnel, the IS militants killed in Syria since declaring it's self-styled caliphate in June, 2014, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Observatory said that the IS control in Syria has shrunk to 3 percent after losing large swathes of areas to the Syrian army and the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF).

IS now controls scattered pockets in the eastern countryside of Homs province, the southeastern desert of Deir al-Zour province, an area on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River and a pocket in the northern countryside of Deir al-Zour in eastern Syria.

IS also controls pockets in the Yarmouk area in the countryside of the southern province of Daraa as well as pockets in the southern countryside of Hasakah province in northern Syria.

Despite losing areas measuring tens of thousands of kilometers, IS continues to shade blood in Syria, said the Observatory, adding that the group carried out executions of civilians and rival fighters over the past two months.

IS was recently defeated in southern Damascus when the Syrian army captured its latest strongholds in the Hajar al-Aswad and Yarmouk Camp.

The SDF has also recently launched an offensive on IS east of Euphrates, but the Observatory said the SDF failed to storm Hajin area, the last IS stronghold east of Euphrates and moved the military operation to the southern countryside of Hasakah.

The Syrian army said it had foiled an attack last Wednesday by the IS group on a Syrian military site in Deir al-Zour, killing 43 IS militants, while four Russian experts were also killed in the showdown.

The Observatory, which says it relies on a network of activists on the ground, said intense battles raged between the Syrian army and IS in the countryside of Deir al-Zour, as the terror-designated group has attempted to distract the army by waging sudden attacks.
RABAT, May 29 (Xinhua) -- Morocco sent on Tuesday humanitarian aid and medical team to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, Ramallah and Jerusalem.

Equipment for a field hospital planned by Morocco in the Gaza Strip is also sent.

Morocco's King Mohammed VI chaired the loading of the humanitarian aid onto the plane at Mohammed V Airport in Casablanca.

The aid consists of 113 tons of foodstuffs and 5,000 blankets.

A medical team will work in the medical-surgical field hospital, and is composed of 97 staff, including 13 doctors and 21 nurses in various specialties.

The North African country also sent with the medical team some 25 tons of medical aid.

The Moroccan foreign ministry said on Sunday that the setting up of the hospital is meant to provide the necessary medical care to the Palestinian civilians wounded during recent clashes in the Gaza Strip.

This initiative, which comes during the holy month of Ramadan, is in line with the king's commitment to the Palestinian cause and shows effective solidarity with the Palestinian people, the ministry said.
English French

MONTREAL, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc. (MOBI724 or the Company) (TSX-V:MOS) (OTCQB:MOBIF), a global Fintech company offering a fully integrated suite of multiple EMV payment Card-Linked, Digital Marketing and Business Intelligence Solutions, today announced that Sylvain Tasse has joined the Company as its Chief Operating Officer.



Sylvain has more than twenty-five years of experience as a senior officer in various technology firms. Most recently, Mr. Tasse was CEO and shareholder of Ozone Wireless Inc., Barbados. His career is distinguished by a successful track record of increasing sales, launching new products and improving operational efficiencies. He is also comfortable in mastering the challenges of young technology companies, as demonstrated by his founding of Bi2U Inc., a distributor of sophisticated visual analytics solutions. Mr. Tasses focus at MOBI724 will be to increase sales, to optimize and expedite product implementation once contracts are signed, and to oversee the launch of new products as well as the implementation of new ventures.

Marcel Vienneau, CEO of MOBI724, said, "I am delighted to welcome Sylvain to MOBI724s executive team. Sylvains unique combination of technical expertise, operational understanding and entrepreneurial experience is an ideal fit for MOBI724. Sylvain will ensure the Company drives revenues quickly from sales while ensuring superior delivery of our multiple products. As COO, Sylvain will assume many of my previous responsibilities, and I will now be able to focus the majority of my time on sales activities of various kinds in multiple countries, business development, and the execution of our long-term growth plan.

This appointment is subject to TSX Venture Exchange approval.

About Mobi724 Global Solutions Inc.

We enable smart transactions anywhere

MOBI724, a global Fintech company, offers a fully integrated suite of multiple Payment Card-linked, Digital Marketing and Business Intelligence Solutions, which work with any payment card, on any mobile device and at any Point of Sale; and a mobile EMV compliant payment platform. MOBI724 provides turn-key solutions for card associations, card issuers, banks, retailers, manufacturers, offer providers, to create, manage, deliver and track and measure incentive campaigns worldwide in real time. The company captures value from big data to deliver seamless and personalized user experiences for the benefits of all parties in the ecosystem. MOBI724 headquarters are in Montreal, Canada, and the company presently has operations in North and Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia Pacific.

Legal Disclaimer

Certain statements in this document, including those which express managements expectations or estimations with regard to the Companys future performance, constitute forward-looking statements as understood by applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are, of necessity, based on a certain number of estimates and hypotheses; while management considers these to be accurate at the time they are expressed, they are inherently subject to significant uncertainties and risks on the commercial, economic and competitive levels. We advise readers that these forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and other known and unknown factors that 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 in these forward-looking statements. Investors are advised to not rely unduly on the forward-looking statements. This advisory applies to all forward-looking statements, whether expressed orally or in writing, attributed to the Company or to any individual expressing them in the name of the Company. Unless required by law, the Company is under no obligation to publicly update these forward-looking statements, whether to reflect new information, future events, or other circumstances.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This news release does not constitute a solicitation to buy or sell any securities in the United States.

For further information, please visit www.MOBI724.com or contact:





Investor Relations:

Mr. Andreas Curkovic

Proconsul Capital Ltd.

T: 416-577-9927; E: andreascurkovic@sympatico.ca

Mr. Derek Lindsay

MOBI724 Global Solutions Inc.

Chief Financial Officer

T: 514-394-5200; E: derek.lindsay@mobi724.com
The Brain Bar line-up for 2018 is as impressive as ever, gathering together some of the greatest minds from all over the globe in Budapest to discuss and debate what the future holds.

The full list of speakers is available by clicking here.



From the organisers: "The Future Starts Here"



Brain Bar welcomes Sophia, the worlds first robot citizen among the masterminds of 2018 festival in Budapest.

Europes biggest festival on the future walks the talk and presents its first robot star, Sophia, who was recently granted Saudi citizenship. Besides her, visitors will meet Hollywoods most daring production designer and find out what the downsides of the worldwide startup frenzy are.

Brain Bar doesnt like waiting for what the future brings: they explore it themselves. Masterminds from the field of science, technology, business, arts and politics will gather at Corvinus Campus Budapest between 1 and 2 June, 2018.

Organizers have already announced the festivals speakers. What they have in common is the understanding that future is not simply about applying technologies, but also how these will affect our societies and humanity as a whole. Brain Bar Masterminds will cover a wide range of topics ensuring everyone finds something for their taste.

Sophia, the humanoid robot who makes fun of our deepest fears

Breakfast at Tiffanys 21st century style? Instead of Audrey Hepburn we get to meet the robot designed in her image. The creation of Hanson Robotics is capable of expressing emotions, recognizing faces, keeping eyecontact, making conversations and even cracks jokes from time to time (no matter how creepy they may be).



She was granted Saudi citizenship in October, making her more privileged than flesh and blood Saudi women. She challenged Jimmy Fallon to a game of rock, paper, scissors, and was featured on the cover of Elle magazine. We wouldnt be surprised if she soon ended up on the silverscreen.

Visionary production designer Nathan Crowley, who cherishes human imagination over artificial simulation

He climbs to the top of a smoking volcano or sinks in ice cold water; whatever is necessary to catch the best angle. Inspired by current scientific thinking, one of Hollywoods most sought-after and daring production designers imagination is fuelled by black-holes, wormholes and space-time distortions. As a result, he creates spectacular futuristic worlds. His filmography includes Dark Knight trilogy, Dunkirk, Interstellar and HBOs Westworld.

EU Commissioner Margrethe Vestager, whos not afraid to oppose rule-breaking giants

Chances are that those summoned to her office will have a hefty price to pay, as implied by the upraised middle finger statuette on her coffee table. The Danish politician made major league multinational giant companies pay billions of euros for breaking the rules of fair competition. The daughter of evangelical priests was brought up to believe in transparency, openness and equal chances. The successful politician is also the mother of three.

Yoga teacher Kino MacGregor who uses the power of 21st century social media to spread traditional teachings of India

Ive been called an Ashtanga cheerleader, a slutty yoga teacher (Im married), a good businesswoman (as if thats a derogatory term for a yoga teacher) and a sell-out for fame and fortune, says Kino, one of a select group of people to receive the Certification to teach Ashtanga yoga by its founder. You can find her online with millions of followers across all her social media channels. She speaks openly about her fears, doubts, flaws and encourages us all to embrace our imperfections and bring out the best in us.

The 2018 Brain Bar Festival will also welcome writer Iranian-American bestselling author Azar Nafisi, who examines the relationship between literature and democracy, economics writer Jeffrey Tucker, an advocate of anarcho-capitalism and Bitcoin, Shem Magnezi, who gained worldwide popularity with his rant against startup culture, IEA Chief Economist Laszlo Varro who debunks the myth of cheap nuclear energy, and practical philosopher granted , who implements theory to action by consulting Silicon Valley business executives about the nature of a good life and how it can be attained.

The festival will take place on Corvinus Campus Budapest, Hungary, where grandeur meets Brain Bars innovative modernity.



More: Brain Bar Budapest
The opposition Democratic Coalition (DK) has stated its objection to the blacklisting of court employees who have participated in training courses organised by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, courses that the ruling Fidesz sees as an attempt to soften them up on the issue of migration.

DK lawmaker Gergely Arato said Fidesz is trying to dismantle the constitutional state and the judiciary, the last bastion for the administration of justice.

All judges that pass rulings Fidesz does not like will be branded as Soros agents in the next few weeks and months, Arato told a press conference. There will be a return to the days of the communist regime when courts acted on political orders instead of administering justice, he said.

Istvan Hollik, a spokesman for the ruling parliamentary group, said on Saturday that the Helsinki Committee holds pro-migrant training for court employees with a view to making them sympathetic to migrants and their interests.

MTI Photo: Bruzak Noemi
Hungary has moved up five spots to 47th place in this years IMD World Competitiveness Ranking. Hungarys competitiveness was boosted in part by a reduction in corporate taxes and growth in overall productivity, IMD said.

IMD noted investments, the cost of living and exports among Hungarys economic strengths. In terms of the corporate tax rate alone, Hungary was ranked first among the 63 economies covered by the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook.

Among the challenges facing Hungary in 2018, IMD listed uncertainties over the structural reform plans of the new government, a high dependency on European Union funds, administrative burdens over the EU average, and a shadow economy with a high volume of GDP.

Among Hungarys regional peers and co-members of the Visegrad Four, the Czech Republic appears in 29th place on the new World Competitiveness Ranking, Poland in 34th, and Slovakia behind Hungary in 55th.

The top five most competitive economies in the world in the IMD ranking remain the same as in the previous year, but their order has changed. The United States returns to top spot, followed by Hong Kong, Singapore, the Netherlands and Switzerland. The Netherlands moves up one place to 4th, swapping with Switzerland which moves down to 5th.
Albany, New York, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge  the Capital Regions largest annual road race  raised record-breaking funds for two local charities. Race organizers presented $45,000 in donations today to this years charities of choice, the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York and the Albany Public Library Foundation.



Year after year, I continue to be amazed by the generosity of CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge participants, said John D. Bennett, MD, president and CEO of CDPHP. What started out as a way for businesses to come together to engage in some healthy, friendly competition has truly turned into a source of hope for so many Capital Region charitable organizations."



The Albany Public Library Foundation will use their portion of the record-breaking $45,000 in donations to support Raising a Reader  the Albany Public Librarys early literacy program.



"The Albany Public Library Foundation is thrilled to receive this generous donation from CDPHP and the Hudson-Mohawk Road Runners Club through the CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge charity of choice program, said Holly McKenna, board president of the Albany Public Library Foundation. The funds will go to Albany Public Library's Raising a Reader early literacy initiative, which encourages and supports families as they introduce their infants and toddlers to language, vocabulary, and reading before they enter kindergarten. Today's donation will enable Albany Public Library to support Raising a Reader in full for 2018."



The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York will use funds to support their Patroon Land Farm. Located in Voorheesville, the farm supplies the food bank and its participating agencies with fresh, diverse produce.



It has been an honor and privilege for the Regional Food Bank to be one of the charities of choice for this years CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge, said Mark Quandt, executive director of the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York. It brought great attention to our work, along with new friends and valuable financial support. We are very grateful to CDPHP for sponsoring such a wonderful event, and the Hudson-Mohawk Road Runners Club for organizing the race and making everything run so smoothly.



The CDPHP Workforce Team Challenge is organized by and serves as an important fundraiser for the Hudson-Mohawk Road Runners Club (HMRRC). In addition to raising funds for local charities, the race also helps to fund HMRRCs college scholarships, grants, and free running programs.



About CDPHP

Established in 1984, CDPHP is a physician-founded, member-focused and community-based not-for-profit health plan that offers high-quality affordable health insurance plans to members in 24 counties throughout New York. CDPHP is also on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.



About the Albany Public Library Foundation

The Albany Public Library Foundation provides critical financial support to the Albany Public Library in order to help the Library provide education, literacy, career development, cultural enrichment and lifelong learning.



About the Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York

The Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that collects donated food from the food industry and distributes it to 1,000 charitable agencies feeding the hungry in 23 counties of northeastern New York. The food provided by the Regional Food Bank helps to feed over 40,000 people each week. In 2017, the organization distributed nearly 38 million pounds of food to the hungry. The Regional Food Bank is a member of Feeding America. The organization is supported by foundations, private contributions and fundraising events. For information on services offered by the Regional Food Bank, call (518) 786-3691 or log on to www.regionalfoodbank.net.
Washington: The US on Tuesday expressed concern over the lack of religious freedom in Pakistan where some 50 individuals are serving a life sentence for blasphemy and 17 are awaiting execution.

According to the data provided by civil society organisations (CSOs), police registered at least ten new blasphemy cases against 17 individuals. The CSOs reported lower courts often failed to adhere to basic evidentiary standards in blasphemy cases.

Throughout the year, the report said visiting US government officials met with madrassa board leaders and members of the National Counterterrorism Authority to discuss plans for curriculum reform in the public and madrassa education systems.

"We remain very concerned about religious freedom, or the lack thereof, in Pakistan, where some 50 individuals are serving life sentences for blasphemy, according to Civil Society reports; 17 are awaiting execution," said Sam Brownback, the Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom.

Brownback said this in a briefing with reporters after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released the annual report of the State Department on International Religious Freedom.

Pompeo and Brownback also met with minority community representatives, parliamentarians, human rights activists, and members of the Office of the Prime Minister to highlight concerns regarding the treatment of the Shia, Ahmadiyya, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, and other minority communities, the application of blasphemy laws, and other forms of discrimination on the basis of religion.

According to the 2014 government registration documents cited by the press, there are approximately 1.4 million Hindus, 1.3 million Christians, 126,000 Ahmadis, 34,000 Bahais, 6,000 Sikhs, and 4,000 Parsis.

Taking account of the Ahmadi boycott of the official census, however, community sources put the number of Ahmadiyya Muslims at approximately 500,000-600,000.

Estimates of the Zikri Muslim community, located in Balochistan, range between 500,000 and 800,000 individuals. Most of the historic Jewish community has emigrated.

The report noted that in March the government enacted legislation codifying the legal mechanisms to register Hindu marriages and to prove the legitimacy of Hindu marriages under the law, a move which proponents state could help reduce the frequency of forced marriages and conversions of Hindus. The law allows for the termination of the marriage upon the conversion of one party to a religion other than Hinduism, it said.

"Members of religious minority communities stated the government was inconsistent in safeguarding minority rights, and official discrimination against Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, and Ahmadiyya Muslims persisted," the report said.

A bill passed by the Sindh Assembly in November 2016 criminalising forced conversions stalled when the governor declined to ratify it, disappointing religious minority activists, it added.
Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday reiterated his party's demand of awarding special category status to the state. He said that it will enhance the availability of resources by lowering the state's contribution in centrally sponsored schemes, improve access to external resources, act as a catalyst for private investment based on tax breaks and concessions and also act as a spur to employment generation and improve life quality.

Finance Commission should look into the differentiated needs of Bihar and backward states with a special perspective.https://t.co/fr2BnzTOsN  Nitish Kumar (@NitishKumar) May 29, 2018

Following is the full text of his note:

The Fifteenth Finance Commission (XV FC) of India has been constituted in November 2017 and in December 2017, it has set the ball rolling by seeking views and specific suggestions on the general approach of the Commission in relation to its Terms of Reference (ToR). Though we have sent our preliminary suggestions on some substantive issues pertinent to Bihar in February 2018, I would like to raise some important issues.

The development of Bihar has been impeded historically due to lopsided policies, social and economic reasons. As a matter of fact, the Planning Commission and successive Finance Commissions have not been able to address the issue of inequality of growth among the States through fund transfers, leading to increase in regional disparities and Bihar has been a major sufferer. There has been a concerted effort by state government to turn the tide of underdevelopment and initiate the state towards a promising future of growth, prosperity and harmony in the last 12-13 years. In spite of unhelpful conditions and an inherent bias, Bihar has witnessed a double-digit growth in these years. The state government has firmly laid the foundation of growth with justice.

However, in spite of rapid growth, the per capita income in Bihar along with per capita expenditure in the field of education, health, social and other economic services still lies much at the bottom. After the bifurcation of the State, no major industries were left in Bihar and this adversely affected both public and private investments. Furthermore, no special treatment was given to Bihar by the Central government for covering the widening regional disparity after the bifurcation. Thus, development of the state was negatively impacted, resulting in a lower per capita income, to a level which is presently 68% lower than the national per capita income. Therefore, XV FC approach, first and foremost, should be to abridging this wide gap in per capita income within a realistic timeframe.

I have continuously raised the issue that the recommendations of the XIV FC, which envisaged an increase in transfers to the states from 32% to 42% were merely a compositional shift. The increase in tax transfers was negated to a large extent by the reduction in allocations by the Centre for the central plan schemes and the centrally sponsored schemes to the States and Union Territories. Furthermore, the state-wise distribution pattern also led to a decrease in Bihar's share from 10.917 percent (XIII FC) and to 9.665% (XIV FC). In fact, in the recommendations of the last four Finance Commissions, our share in the divisible pool of taxes has steadily gone down - from 11.589 percent (XI FC) to 11.028 percent (XII FC) to 10.917 percent (XIII FC) and then to 9.665% (XIV FC). The XIV FC accorded importance to the total area and area under forest cover, while high population density, unavailability of natural resources and problems peculiar to land-locked states like Bihar were over-looked. Instead of lauding the effort of the state government to promote afforestation in the state, the same were ignored.

The Hariyali mission under the Agriculture Road Map has led to an increase in green cover of the State from 9.79 percent to almost 15 percent. Now we have a target to take it to 17 percent by 2022, which is the maximum that can be achieved for a densely populated state like Bihar. Thus, it would in the larger national and state interest to recommend state specific incentive for encouraging efforts towards increasing green cover. Further, the loss of the physical and social infrastructure as a result of annual visitation of floods from rivers originating in Nepal and other states accrues additional financial liabilities on Bihar.

A substantive expenditure is made annually on relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction on account of these floods caused due to factors beyond state's control. Construction of dams, barrages and other structures in the upper riparian states of Ganga Basin, has reduced the flow of the river. Deforestation and mining activities in the hills have also adversely affected the free flow, with a larger quantity of silt reaching the plains. Thereby increasing the intensity and extent of floods in Bihar. Even in case of Sone river, the neighbouring states of MP and UP have never adhered to Bansagar Agreement of 1973 on water sharing. But every time there is rain in the Sone basin, excessive water is released 'untimely' from the Bansagar and Rihand dams causing floods and damage in Bihar.

These externalities must be factored in while deciding the criteria for state-wise distribution. As regards population criterion, the XIV FC accorded a higher weight to population, distributed between 1971 population (17.5 percent) and 2011 population (10.0 percent). It is our firm view that latest population data is of utmost importance to capture the demographic change and it helps to assess the needs of the people quantitatively. Ultimately, basic entitlements are to be ensured to every citizen or else only "islands" of development would be created. Therefore XV FC's term of reference to consider the population of 2011 for horizontal and vertical distribution is a welcome step and was long overdue.

Some of the states are opposing this but their disagreement is not logical as the ToR recognizes the efforts of states in population control by specifically including that XV FC will consider "efforts and progress made in moving towards replacement rate of population growth". This will balance both the 'needs' represented by latest population and 'progress made by states towards population control'. Grants-in-aid for some state-specific needs, as recommended by the XIII Finance Commission, should also be considered by XV FC. This will encourage backward states to develop and catch up with the developed states. The XIV Finance Commission by way of its recommendations had suggested that "to the extent that formula-based transfers do not meet the needs of specific states, they need to be supplemented by grants-in-aid on an assured basis and in a fair manner." This was not implemented. Thus XV FC must look at the special and specific disadvantages of backward states like Bihar. The regressive permanent settlement regime in pre-independence era restricted the social and infrastructural growth of the State and the policy of freight equalization in post-independence period negated the abundant availability of raw-material and eroded the cost advantages of the erstwhile Bihar.

As a result, southern and western States of India along the coast industrialised but Bihar languished. This became more profound when Bihar was bifurcated with all the major industries and mines going to Jharkhand. Despite rapid strides of development in recent years, Bihar is still extremely backward on physical and social infrastructure parameters. The Bihar State Reorganisation Act, 2000 provides for constitution of a special cell under the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission to look into the special financial needs of Bihar arising out of the reorganization of the State. As per this provision, some assistance has been provided to address the needs of Bihar. Now that the Planning Commission has been replaced with NITI Aayog, this legal requirement, both in letter and spirit, should be fulfilled by NITI Aayog. Analysis of data on inter-regional and interstate variations on levels of development suggests that some States are far below the national average on multiple parameters of development like per capita income, education, health, electricity, institutional finance and other indices of Human Development. Any rational economic strategy should foster both investment and devolution patterns which would enable these states to reach the national average within a stipulated time frame.

Our demand for Special Category Status for Bihar emanates from this very premise. We have repeatedly raised the demand to the Central Government to accord Special Category status to Bihar, as it will enhance the availability of resources by lowering the State contribution in centrally sponsored schemes, improve access to external resources, act as a catalyst for private investment based on tax breaks and concessions and act as a spur to employment generation and improve life quality. Bihar is a land-locked state and categories of Land Locked and Least Developed States are internationally eligible for special and differentiated treatment. In this context, the XV FC must locate the resource gaps and support backward states like Bihar in their efforts to catch up with the developed states.
In the summer of 1991, I witnessed large-scale rigging in a Lok Sabha election with my own eyes. I saw dead bodies. I heard bullet shots. I witnessed goons stuffing ballot boxes with their friends stamping ballot papers and giving it to them. A day earlier, we did not believe it could happen when we were told by friends in Lucknow that we should go to Etawah because "dumping" (the local slang for a mix of "booth capturing" and "stuffing votes") was going to happen. We thought you could not plan to see poll rigging as if it was a picnic. We were wrong.

But when Delhi's media turns up in the boondocks of Uttar Pradesh, everybody has to take note. It was not surprising therefore that the then chief election commissioner, T.N. Seshan, countermanded (cancelled) the election and ordered fresh polling. Not in one or two booths or centres but the whole constituency.

We have come a long way since then. We now have electronic voting machines (EVMs) that enable more secure, easier to measure ballots. But technology can scare people who cannot understand or control it. The fact is that you can hack a machine just as you can capture a booth, but for those who can wield lathis to complain about vote rigging in a paper-based election get confused when it comes to EVMs. So they simply cry foul, despite assurances from authorities that the best measures have been taken. Those politicians who cannot understand technology simply end up rejecting it.

But what happens when such leaders (if one could call such politicians by that dignified term) actually hear an admission that there can be some vulnerability to high technology? That is what happened this week.

Take a look at what Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad said as by-elections took place for four Lok Sabha seats and 10 assembly constituencies across 10 states: "They have been doing it for a while now, they do it purposely. They first create a problem with the EVM Machines and then get new ones which already has votes registered. The people have never voted for them. They do it in general elections, by-elections, and assembly elections. The EC should take strict action against the BJP. It's high time that the EVMs are scrapped and we go back to basics like many other countries have done in the world."

To be fair to him, the Election Commission admitted that the VVPAT (voter verified paper audit trail), which gives a printout to the voter to make sure the vote he/she cast has gone to the intended symbol, malfunctioned because of first-time use by polling staff or extreme heat or mishandling.

Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav said the VVPAT malfunctioned in areas where the anti-BJP coalition was strong. The level of mistrust in Indian politics is so deep, and sweeping allegations are so prevalent, that we do not realise that paper ballots are no guarantee that there will be no malpractices.

Now is the time to inform that the rigging I witnessed in 1991 was in the constituency of Mulayam Singh Yadav, Akhilesh's father and his party's supremo. So, what should have Seshan done that year? Go further back from paper to some other form of voting -- such as palm leaves with iron casing?

It is true that the EC can do a better job of introducing new technologies by a combination of prior training of staff and dry runs that ensure practice that makes perfect. But it is sad commentary on a nation aiming to be a technology superpower when we are asked to go back to paper ballots. Will Mr. Azad take a horsecart to Srinagar because there have been air crashes or train accidents?

It is important for the Election Commission of India to get its act together on electronic voting and minimise errors. We need to remember that flights can be hijacked and computers can be hacked but we do not go back to bullock carts or postcards because they do. Elections are no different. The best course is for the Election Commission to create an audit trail to track the movement of EVMs as transparent as possible and lay down verifiable alternatives where malfunctioning can take place. Abandoning technology is not the answer. In fact, we are now heading for exciting new network technologies that can address key problems in the current electoral system. That would make democracy more authentic and exciting.

(Madhavan Narayanan is a senior journalist who has covered politics, diplomacy, business, technology and other subjects in a long career that has spanned organisations including Reuters, Business Standard and Hindustan Times. He is currently an independent columnist, editor and commentator. He is listed among the top 200 Indian influencers on Twitter. He tweets as @madversity)

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed above are the personal views of the author and do not reflect the views of ZMCL.)
Mumbai: Superstar Salman Khan has dismissed the Twitter backlash against the trailer of his next big ticket film Race 3, saying comments by people with "one or two" followers do not qualify as "trolling".

The Race 3 trailer, released earlier this month, attracted jokes and memes galore on social media.

On Monday, at the launch of the new season of Dus Ka Dum, Salman was asked about the buzz around Race 3.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said the actor, urging the scribe to mention the trolling.

Salman counter-questioned: "Are you trolling it? You know who is trolling it?"

When the scribe said "a lot of people", Salman said: "Those guys with one follower or two followers? That's trolling? Who's controlling that trolling, you know? No? How sad.

"So, when guys with one, two, three, four followers troll, it's not trolling."

Salman was in a witty mood as he also remarked on the response to the Race 3 song Selfish, penned by him. He chose a musical way to respond to a reporter, and joked: "This song is also written by me. It hasn't been released. It will be released soon and then get trolled."

The actor has sung the title track for Dus Ka Dum, which will premiere on June 4.
New Delhi: Adani Wilmar has reportedly increased its bid to acquire bankruptcy-hit Ruchi Soya. Adani has revised its bids upwards to about Rs 4,350 crore and a fund infusion of Rs 1,700 crore following Patanjali's bid of Rs 4,300 crore and fund infusion of Rs 1,700 crore, a report in CNBC TV 18 said.

Haridwar-based Patanjali group had emerged as the front runner with a bid of over Rs 4,000 crore to acquire Ruchi Soya. However it revised its bid by upwards of 30 percent following Adani's group's offer.

As per news agency PTI Sources said that the CoC is likely to meet on May 30 to consider both the bids and decide on voting.

Apart from Patanjali and Adani, the other companies which have shown interest in acquiring Ruchi Soya are Emami Agrotech and Godrej Agrovet.

Patanjali Ayurveda already has a tie-up with the Indore-based Ruchi Soya for edible oil refining and packaging.

Ruchi Soya, facing the insolvency proceedings, has a total debt of about Rs 12,000 crore. The company has many manufacturing plants and its leading brands include Nutrela, Mahakosh, Sunrich, Ruchi Star and Ruchi Gold.

Earlier, Patanjali spokesperson had said that the company has bid for Ruchi Soya as it aims to be a major player in edible oil segment, particularly soybean oil. It also wants to work for farmer's benefit.

With PTI Inputs
NEW DELHI: Throwing a challenge to Delhi Police, some miscreants opened several rounds of fire in Delhi's Yamuna Vihar locality late on Monday, triggering panic among the local residents.

According to reports, a group of four or five people parked their car outside a house in Delhi's Yamuna Vihar locality and started drinking inside their vehicle late on Monday. While they were partying, they also hit some cars parked nearby.

One of the cars hit by them belonged to Pramod Nagar, the president of Shahdara Bar Association.

After noticing that their car was hit by the car in which the group was partying, Nagar's sons approached them and asked them to leave the place.

The two sides were soon engaged in a heated argument after which the men left the area, threatening Nagar's sons of dire consequences.

The group soon returned along with 40 to 50 people carrying sticks, iron rods and pistols. Waving their weapons in the air, they miscreants fired several shots targeting Nagar's residence.

The mob even smashed Nagar's car, broke its window panes, damaged other vehicles parked nearby and fired several shots at his residence.

The miscreants hurled abuses and dared Nagar and his sons to come out and soon fled from the scene. It has now emerged that the miscreants belonged to Minto Walia.

Nagar's entire family was locked inside their house when the miscreants attacked his house. Though no one was injured in the firing, the indiscriminate firing by the miscreants triggered panic among the local residents.

The incident took place on main road in the Yamuna Vihar locality where there is a heavy traffic movement till 11 pm every day. Although a case has been registered and the police have begun its probe into the matter, the incident has raised questions over Delhi Police's claim of 'Safe Delhi'.
New Delhi: The two-day nationwide strike called by employees and officers of various state-run banks from May 30 (Wednesday) to May 31 (Thursday) is likely to hit banking operations.

The strike may hit ATM services badly as monthly salary credits are expected on Thursday. Though online transaction will not be impacted, ATM closures could affect cash withdrawals.

Bank unions have called for a strike to protest a nominal 2 percent wage hike offered by the Indian Banks' Association (IBA). In the wage negotiation meeting held on May 5, 2018, IBA made a propositions to offer 2 percent hike in the wage bill cost as on March 31, 2017.It also maintained that the negotiations on officers demands would be restricted up to scale III officers only.

As per further reports, ATM guards are also expected to participate in the strike. Hence, even if banks replenish ATMs with third party, the security of the ATMs can not be ascertained, impacting the cash withdrawals.

Banks, however, have said that they will replenish the ATMs before employees go on strike to make sure that ATMs don't go dry. Banks have also reiterated that online transactions will continue to work even as employees go on strike.

United Forum of Bank Unions' convener Devidas Tuljapurkar said that in the last two-three years, bank employees have worked tirelessly for implementation of government initiatives such as Jan-Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra and Atal Pension Yojana, among others.

In the last wage settlement, which was for the period November 1, 2012 to October 31, 2017, IBA had give a wage hike of 15 percent. Bank employees have organised a demonstrations on May 29 at State Bank of India branch main branch in Mumbai.

UFBU is an umbrella body of nine unions, including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).

With PTI Inputs
New Delhi: Union Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday said that the government is deliberating on a permanent solution to deal with rising fuel prices.

In an exclusive interview with Zee Media, Pradhan said, We don't want a cosmetic solution. We are looking at a long-term solution.

With consumers feeling the heat of surging fuel prices, there have been demands and suggestions from various quarters, including from within the government as well as opposition, for immediate action to curb the prices.

(Also read: Petrol, diesel price on 29th May 2018)

Taking a dig at senior Congress leader P Chidambaram, Pradhan said that the solutions are not made over night. Chidambaram can argue with me along with four economists. We are not running away from our responsibilities. Prices won't come down in the next 4-5 days, he added.

Couple of weeks ago, P Chidambaram had claimed that it was possible to cut up to Rs 25 per litre in petrol prices but the government will not do so.

(Also read: Soaring fuel prices increase demand for CNG vehicles across NCR)

On being asked as to what measures the BJP-ruled states are taking to curb rising fuel prices, he said that there can not be a one stop solution to all. Various states have various revenue and expenditure models. The taxation in Assam can not be similar to that in Maharashtra, he added.

The central government levies Rs 19.48 a litre of excise duty on petrol and Rs 15.33 per litre on diesel. State sales tax or VAT vary from state to state. In Delhi, VAT on petrol is Rs 15.84 and Rs 9.68 a litre on diesel.

Meanwhile, fuel prices continued to touch another peak for the 16th consecutive day, with petrol being sold at Rs 78.43 per litre in Delhi and Rs 86.24 per litre in Mumbai.

The cost of diesel per litre has also been increased to Rs 69.31 per litre in Delhi and Rs 73.79 a litre in Mumbai.

In April, Pradhan had said the Centre and the state governments have been considering bringing the petroleum products under the ambit of Goods and Services Tax.

State-owned oil companies in June 2017, 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.
Chandigarh: Haryana Cabinet Minister Anil Vij, who is known for making controversial statements, has now compared Congress president Rahul Gandhi to deadly Nipah virus, which has claimed many lives across the country.

"Rahul Gandhi is similar to Nipah Virus, whichever party he comes in contact with, that party will be finished. They (parties) are trying to come together (in alliance) but they will be finished off,'' Anil Vij said in a tweet.

Rahul Gandhi is similar to #NipahVirus, which ever Party he comes in contact with, that Party will be finished. They (parties) are trying to come together (in alliance) but they will be finished off: Haryana Minister Anil Vij pic.twitter.com/wt01o8npmc  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

This is not the first time that the controversial Haryana minister has targeted Rahul Gandhi. Last year, he had said that the decision to make Rahul Gandhi Congress president would help Prime Minister Narendra Modi achieve his dream of a ''Congress-Mukt Bharat'' (Congress-free India).

Vij had also earlier alleged that Rahul Gandhi uses the same plate to feed his dog and those who visit his home, for he doesn't discriminate between his dog and Congress workers.

Earlier this month, Vij had reportedly said that freedom fighters Bhagat Singh and Lala Lajpat Rai made supreme sacrifice for the country, unlike Nehru and Gandhi, who did not bear even a single stick.

Last year, Vij had attacked the West Bengal Chief Minister too, saying Mamata Banerjee should jump into the sea if she is ashamed of being born as an Indian'.

His remarks on Congress chief have come at a time when the deadly Nipah virus has claimed at least 14 lives in Kerala alone.

It has now been close to a week since the dreaded Nipah virus outbreak hit Kozhikode in north Kerala.

Nipah Virus (NiV) infection in humans has a range of clinical presentations, from asymptomatic infection to the acute respiratory syndrome and fatal encephalitis, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The Kozhikode Health Department and the state governments are maintaining a strict vigil in the wake of several deaths reportedly due to the virus. Two more persons, who were allegedly in contact with the deceased, are believed to be in a serious condition. The Health Ministry has also taken several preventive steps to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

(With Agency inputs)
LUCKNOW: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said that the anti-terror operations will continue against terrorists as part of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government's zero compromise policy against the enemies of the country.

Addressing media persons, the BJP leader also presented statics regarding the number of terrorists killed by the security forces in various anti-terror operations.

''A total of 619 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir had been killed in gun battles with security forces,'' he said.

Singh also clarified that the operations against terrorists had not been stopped during the holy month of Ramzan but had just been suspended.

"It is not a ceasefire but a temporary suspension of operations," he said, adding that the Army is free to respond to any terrorist attack.

The veteran BJP politician also said that the number of terrorists killed in the previous UPA-II government was 471 as compared to 619 killed during four years of the BJP rule.

Singh also highlighted the all-round improvement in internal and external security under the Narendra Modi government during the past four years.

"There has been no compromise on the unity and integrity of the nation and we are pro-actively pursuing operations against the terrorist groups and subversive elements," Singh said.

However, the Home Minister stopped short of responding to a query on how many security personnel were killed in this period.

Singh also informed that respecting the supreme sacrifice made by the security personnel in the line of duty for the nation, the Union Government had scaled the ex-gratia sum from Rs 50 lakh to Rs one crore for their families.

Rajnath Singh also said that incursions had also decreased during the four years of the Modi government and it had come down by 85 percent in the north-east.

Compared to a high number of 2,418 Maoist-related incidents registered under the UPA regime, only 1,481 incidents have taken place in the NDA rule, he said.

"In 2013, Maoists were active in 76 districts but their area of influence and operations has shrunk to 58 districts in the last four years," he added.

He also said that to secure the country's boundaries, a new border security system was being started under which LED lights would be installed along with new technique radars on the borders.

(With IANS inputs)
VANCOUVER, B.C. and JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Platinum Group Metals Ltd. (TSX:PTM) (NYSE American:PLG) (Platinum Group, PTM or the Company) announces that work on a Definitive Feasibility Study (DFS) being completed by Waterberg JV Resources (Pty) Ltd. (Waterberg JV Co.), with the Company serving as operator, and with input from Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. (Implats) and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), is proceeding according to plan. The latest phase of 38,000 meters of infill drilling has been completed safely and on budget, bringing the total drill testing completed on the project to approximately 346,000 meters. The Company plans to publish an updated resource model and technical report for the Waterberg Project, including results from the latest drilling, in calendar Q3 2018. This new resource model will form the basis for mine planning and reserve estimation in the DFS. The DFS remains on-track for completion at the end of calendar Q1 2019. Independent engineering for the DFS is underway as planned by the jointly appointed engineering firms Stantec Consulting International LLC and DRA Projects SA (Proprietary) Limited along with input from technical specialists from each of the joint venture partners.



R. Michael Jones, CEO, said, We have successfully completed the infill drill program and we are working very closely with all our partners, stakeholders and engineers to maximize the value of this extraordinary deposit  all at a time when the interest in palladium, the projects primary metal, is increasing.

Recent infill drilling as described above has intersected areas of 40 to 100 meters of vertical thickness with palladium, platinum, gold and rhodium mineralization as anticipated in the Super F areas of the current resource model. The recent intercepts compare favorably to the mine plan in an independent Pre-Feasibility Study1 for the project published in October, 2016. Assay results from the latest drilling continue to be received.

Current Platinum Group Element probable reserves at the Waterberg Project (100%)1 are 12.3 million ounces, consisting of 61% palladium, 30% platinum, 8% gold and 1% rhodium plus 191 million and 333 million pounds of copper and nickel respectively. At a 2.5 gram per tonne (g/t) cut-off grade, probable reserves are comprised of 102.7 million tonnes at 3.73 4E g/t, consisting of 2.29 g/t Pd, 1.11 g/t Pt, 0.29 g/t Au, 0.04 g/t Rh, 0.08% Cu and 0.15% Ni. Much of the Waterberg Project area still remains to be drilled and assessed. The Waterberg deposit remains open down dip and along strike. The reserves are a subset of a larger indicated resource.

Platinum Group currently holds an effective 50.02% interest in the Waterberg Project. Implats owns a 15% interest and Mnombo Wethu Consultants (Pty) Ltd. (Mnombo), a black empowerment company, holds a 26% interest. The Company owns a 49.9% interest in Mnombo. JOGMEC holds a 21.95% interest in the Waterberg Project and is planning to transfer a 9.755% interest to their partner Hanwa Co., Ltd. Hosken Consolidated Investments Limited, a South African black empowerment investment holding company listed on the JSE with a US$1.1 billion market capitalization, recently purchased a 14.11% stake in Platinum Group. All partners are active in the oversight of the project. Implats holds an option to increase their stake to 50.01%.

NYSE American Noncompliance Notice

On May 23, 2018 the Company received a letter from NYSE American LLC (NYSE American) stating that it is not in compliance with the continued listing standards as set forth in Section 1003(f)(v) of the NYSE American Company Guide (the Company Guide) due to the low selling price of the Companys common shares. In order to maintain its listing, the Company must demonstrate sustained price improvement within a reasonable period of time, which the NYSE American has determined to be no later than November 23, 2018, or the Company must effect a reverse stock split of the Companys common shares by November 23, 2018.

Qualified Person

R. Michael Jones, P.Eng., the Companys President, Chief Executive Officer and a shareholder of the Company, is a non-independent qualified person as defined in National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (NI 43-101) and is responsible for preparing the technical information contained in this news release. He has verified the data by reviewing the detailed information of the geological and engineering staff and independent qualified person reports as well as visiting the Waterberg Project site regularly.

About Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

Platinum Group is focused on, and is the operator of, the Waterberg Project, a bulk mineable underground deposit in northern South Africa. Waterberg was discovered by the Company.

On behalf of the Board of

Platinum Group Metals Ltd.

R. Michael Jones

President, CEO and Director

For further information contact:

R. Michael Jones, President

or Kris Begic, VP, Corporate Development

Platinum Group Metals Ltd., Vancouver

Tel: (604) 899-5450 / Toll Free: (866) 899-5450

www.platinumgroupmetals.net

Disclosure

The Toronto Stock Exchange and the NYSE American LLC have not reviewed and do not accept responsibility for the accuracy or adequacy of this news release, which has been prepared by management.

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities laws and forward-looking statements within the meaning of U.S. securities laws (collectively forward-looking statements). Forward-looking statements are typically identified by words such as: believe, expect, anticipate, intend, estimate, plans, postulate and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements that are not statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, statements regarding compliance with NYSE American continued listing standards, the completion of a new resource model, new technical report and DFS for the Waterberg Project and the bulk mineable nature of the Waterberg Project. Estimates of mineral reserves and mineral resources are also forward-looking statements because they reflect estimates of mineralization that may be encountered in the future and potential future revenues and expenses. Although the Company believes the forward-looking statements in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that the expectations and assumptions in such statements will prove to be correct. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including additional financing requirements and the uncertainty of future financing; the Companys history of losses; the Companys inability to generate sufficient cash flow or raise sufficient additional capital to make payment on its indebtedness, and to comply with the terms of such indebtedness; the Companys secured loan facility (the LMM Facility) with Liberty Metals & Mining Holdings, LLC (LMM) is, and any new indebtedness may be, secured and the Company has pledged its shares of PTM RSA, and PTM RSA has pledged its shares of Waterberg JV Co. to LMM under the LMM Facility, which potentially could result in the loss of the Companys interest in PTM RSA and the Waterberg Project in the event of a default under the LMM Facility or any new secured indebtedness; the Companys negative cash flow; the Companys ability to continue as a going concern; completion of the DFS for the Waterberg Project, which is subject to resource upgrade and economic analysis requirements; uncertainty of estimated production, development plans and cost estimates for the Waterberg Project; discrepancies between actual and estimated mineral reserves and mineral resources, between actual and estimated development and operating costs, between actual and estimated metallurgical recoveries and between estimated and actual production; the Companys ability to regain compliance with NYSE American continued listing requirements; fluctuations in the relative values of the U.S. Dollar, the Rand and the Canadian Dollar; volatility in metals prices; the failure of the Company or the other shareholders to fund their pro rata share of funding obligations for the Waterberg Project; any disputes or disagreements with the other shareholders of Waterberg JV Co. or Mnombo Wethu Consultants (Pty) Ltd. or former shareholders of Maseve; the ability of the Company to retain its key management employees and skilled and experienced personnel; contractor performance and delivery of services, changes in contractors or their scope of work or any disputes with contractors; conflicts of interest; capital requirements may exceed its current expectations; the uncertainty of cost, operational and economic projections; the ability of the Company to negotiate and complete future funding transactions and either settle or restructure its debt as required; litigation or other administrative proceedings brought against the Company; actual or alleged breaches of governance processes or instances of fraud, bribery or corruption; exploration, development and mining risks and the inherently dangerous nature of the mining industry, and the risk of inadequate insurance or inability to obtain insurance to cover these risks and other risks and uncertainties; property and mineral title risks including defective title to mineral claims or property; changes in national and local government legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and South Africa; equipment shortages and the ability of the Company to acquire necessary access rights and infrastructure for its mineral properties; environmental regulations and the ability to obtain and maintain necessary permits, including environmental authorizations and water use licences; extreme competition in the mineral exploration industry; delays in obtaining, or a failure to obtain, permits necessary for current or future operations or failures to comply with the terms of such permits; risks of doing business in South Africa, including but not limited to, labour, economic and political instability and potential changes to and failures to comply with legislation; and other risk factors described in the Companys most recent Form 20-F annual report, annual information form and other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Canadian securities regulators, which may be viewed at www.sec.gov and www.sedar.com, respectively. Proposed changes in the mineral law in South Africa if implemented as proposed would have a material adverse effect on the Companys business and potential interest in projects. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise.

Estimates of mineralization and other technical information included herein have been prepared in accordance with NI 43-101. The definitions of proven and probable reserves used in NI 43-101 differ from the definitions in SEC Industry Guide 7. Under SEC Industry Guide 7 standards, a final or bankable feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical average price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis to designate reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority. As a result, the reserves reported by the Company in accordance with NI 43-101 may not qualify as reserves under SEC standards. In addition, the terms mineral resource and measured mineral resource are defined in and required to be disclosed by NI 43-101; however, these terms are not defined terms under SEC Industry Guide 7 and normally are not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Investors are cautioned not to assume that any part or all of the mineral deposits in these categories will ever be converted into reserves. Accordingly, descriptions of the Companys mineral deposits in this press release may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements of United States federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

_______________________

1 NI 43 101 technical report entitled Independent Technical Report on the Waterberg Project Including Mineral Resource Update and Pre-Feasibility Study  Project Areas located on the Northern Limb of the Bushveld Igneous Complex, South Africa dated October 19, 2016 (the Waterberg PFS).




A tribal girl has committed suicide allegedly after she was harassed by the employees of a shopping mall in Barkathal area of Tripura. Before taking the extreme step, the girl was allegedly harassed at the mall on suspicion of shop-lifting. However, her mother denied any wrongdoing on the part of her daughter.

The suicide of the girl has triggered protests against the authorities of the mall. A student of Auxilium Girls higher secondary school, the girl was accused of shop-lifting and later allegedly harassed on May 24. She was later even expelled from her school over charges against her.

Speaking to news agency ANI, the girls mother alleged that employees of Big Bazaar outlet in the mall harassed her daughter, accusing her of stealing stuff from the store. She rang me up and said mother come with Rs 4000, release me and take me home. She said this from Big Bazaar, said her mother.

I asked for what they fined Rs 4000, she said that they have kept her in their custody as a thief. My daughter never did such thing, even if she needed five or ten rupees, without my permission she would never touch my purse. Even from my neighbours she would never take anything without my permission. This was the nature of my daughter and she never quarrelled with anyone," she added.

According to reports, a police complaint of unnatural death has been registered, but no action has been taken in connection with the case till now.

The girl, along with three of her friends, had gone to the mall for shopping, but while coming out she was reportedly charged with stealing and made to wait even though no CCTV footage was produced to prove her guilt.

Unable to bear the public insult, the girl committed suicide by hanging herself at her residence. Her mother tearfully demanded justice for her daughter.

Meanwhile, politics has also begun on the issue, with youth wing of Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura (IPFT) and National Students Union of India (NSUI) protesting against the incident. The IPFT had called for a silent candle rally, but was denied permission by the police.

The NSUI, however, staged protest in front of Big Bazaar, demanding that the CCTV footage of the entire incident must be made public. They demanded that the culprits, who allegedly abetted the suicide of the girl, must be booked.

The mall and Auxilium school authorities have refused to comment on the incident.

(With ANI inputs)
New Delhi: The Delhi police has sent to the CBSE a list of students, who had allegedly received the leaked class 10 mathematics and class 12 economics question papers, after the board sought it from the crime branch, an official privy to the probe said.

In the report, the police also mentioned that the principal of a school in Bawana whose teachers were arrested for allegedly leaking the papers a few hours before the exam, was not co-operating in the probe.

The principal of Mother Khazani Convent School at Bawana was quizzed many times in connection with the case earlier.

A senior Crime Branch officer said the CBSE had requested them to provide details of students who had received the leaked papers.

Last week, the police sent an investigation report to the board mentioning the names of over 60 students, he said, adding, these students were quizzed by the Crime Branch while it was probing the case.

Two modules were allegedly involved in leaking the CBSE question papers. Other than the class 12 economics paper, the class 10 mathematics paper had also surfaced online before the scheduled examination.

One of the modules was busted in Una town of Himachal Pradesh last month and six people, including a woman, were arrested in connection with leaking the question papers.

The Bawana module was busted in March, and three people, including two teachers of a private school, were arrested.

The teachers had taken photographs of the economics paper and sent it via WhatsApp to Tauqeer, who gives private tuition. Tauqeer, in turn, circulated the paper among his students about an hour before the examination started, police said.

The CBSE had announced the class 12 results on May 26 while the class 10 results will be declared today.

The Delhi Police has registered two cases in connection with the paper leaks. The first case related to the leak of economics paper was registered on March 27, while the other pertaining to the leak of mathematics paper was filed on March 28.

The retest for class 12 economics paper was held on April 25, but the board decided against a re-test of the Class 10 paper, saying the examination was "largely an internal segment" of the school education system.
Vijayawada: The N Chandrababu Naidu-led Telugu Desam Party (TDP) of Andhra Pradesh adopted a new political resolution on Tuesday in which it lambasted the Narendra Modi government for its "dictatorial" attitude and vowed to unite regional parties to take on the saffron brigade in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

"The Centre is weakening the financial condition of states... The unilateral style of functioning of the Modi government has led to a loss of trust of states in the central government. The states feel that the concept of federalism is only on paper," the TDP resolution said.

The "dictatorial" attitude of the Narendra Modi government, its "unilateral and anti-people decisions, misuse of central intelligence agencies and regulatory agencies to suppress political opponents have become a matter of grave concern in the Indian polity", it said.

"On the occasion of the swearing-in ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy, leaders of various political parties had assembled in Bangalore as a token of solidarity among regional political parties. N Chandrababu Naidu was a tall leader in this meet and it was a clear indication that regional political parties are going to be a power to reckon with in the 2019 elections as an alternative to national parties to form a government in Delhi," the TDP resolution stated further.

TDP adopted a political resolution in its annual conclave "Mahanadu" in #AndhraPradesh's Vijayawada.Resolution stated,"on occasion of oath ceremony of Kumaraswamy,leaders of various political parties assembled in Bangalore as token of solidarity of Regional political parties 1/2 pic.twitter.com/e3FJeaYxIO  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

N Chandrababu Naidu was a tall leader in this meet and it was a clear indication that regional political parties are going to be a power to reckon with in the 2019 elections as an alternative to the National parties to form a government in Delhi" 2/2  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

The TDP resolution also shed light on the party's decision to sever ties with BJP-led NDA.

"We ended the alliance with the NDA only in the interests of the states... The BJP is resorting to conspiracy to destabilise us. We are not afraid of anyone. Ready to sacrifice everything. We will not stop until Andhra is given special status and the Polavaram project completed," Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said in his concluding address at Mahanadu, the TDP's three-day annual conclave here.

Naidu accused the Centre of not releasing funds for the development of his state.

"The Centre has not been releasing funds for Amaravati because it does not want a world-class capital city to come up in Andhra Pradesh. Then why should we pay taxes to the Centre at all?" he asked.

The TDP chief also rubbished the Opposition's criticism that his government was spending all the money at its disposal on developing Amaravati, the proposed ultra-modern state capital, at the cost of other developmental works.

Ratcheting up his attack on the Centre, he said, "In 2014, the unemployment rate was 3.4 percent and now it is 6.23 percent. Where is the 'sabka sath sabka vikas' that Modi promised to the people of the country."

The veteran Andhra politician also did not spare Congress and slammed the party for "not doing justice to the people of Andhra and Telangana" at the time of the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

"We asked the Congress to do justice to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, but they did not do it. They lost in both the states," he said.

Naidu exuded confidence that his party will ''bring drastic changes in national politics and win all 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2019 elections.''

''The BJP-led NDA won't come to power in 2019," Naidu said.

Speaking earlier, State's Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said the Modi government was taking "dangerous steps" against constitutional values and that it would be "dethroned by united regional parties" in the 2019 general elections.

He also said that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP veteran LK Advani respected the Constitution, but Modi and party chief Amit Shah were "destroying the democratic system" in the country.

"The Modi government's policies are against secularism. The ruling party uses RSS cadres, who have a fascist mentality. It is also spoiling fiscal and political values," he alleged.

"There's no democratic system under the Modi government. We respected Vajpayee and Advani who revered and protected the Constitution. But then came the Modi-Shah duo. They destroyed the entire democratic system," the minister alleged.

The Centre is interfering in the working of the 15th Finance Commission, he told reporters.

The Modi government is taking "dangerous steps against constitutional values and the TDP will unite all regional parties to stop it in 2019", Ramakrishnudu alleged.

The BJP government would be "dethroned" by an amalgamation of regional parties, he said but parried a query on who would be the prime ministerial face if a united front comes into being.

Declaring Yeddyurappa, who was implicated in corruption cases, the chief minister of Karnataka, supporting people such as "mining mafia" Gali Janardhan Reddy and YS Jaganmohan Reddy and preaching against corruption is a joke by the BJP government, the TDP leader said.

"Yeddyurappa, Janardhan Reddy and Jaganmohan Reddy, who returned from jail, appear to be role model for BJP leaders," the TDP said.

Open support to Jaganmohan Reddy to "weaken the court cases against him is a glaring example of the BJP's encouragement for the people who are causing hindrance in the projects of the Andhra Pradesh government", it said.

Approaching the NGT on flimsy grounds, false cases against the Polavaram project and delays in the release of funds by the government are examples of collusion between the BJP with the YSRCP, Naidu's party alleged.

The "political manipulations" witnessed in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh at present are glaring examples of the BJP's conspiracy to weaken efficient leaders in the state, the TDP alleged.

''By using the Finance Commission, the Modi government started "causing losses the progressive states," the TDP said in its resolution.

(With PTI inputs)
Former Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) chief Amarjit Singh Dulat has come out in defence of former ISI chief Asad Durrani, with whom he recently co-authored a book on various aspects concerning ties between India and Pakistan. Reacting to the book The Spy Chronicles, Pakistani authorities have put Durrani on Exit Control List, due to which he is not allowed to leave the country.

Backing Durrani over the content of the book, Dulat told news agency ANI, Things written in book are his (Asad Durrani) memories. Even former foreign secretary of Pakistan, Riaz Mohammad Khan, said that 26/11 Mumbai attacks destroyed Pakistan's credibility in Kashmir. If a former foreign secretary can get away with it, why not ISI chief?

Terming the move by Pakistan to place Durrani on Exit Control List as unfortunate, Dulat said that the book does not make any fresh revelation. His views are well-known. There are no new things in the book (The Spy Chronicles). This is very unfortunate that such things are being done to Asad Durrani, he said.

This came even as Pakistan-based Dawn News reported that the Pakistan Army has set up a court of inquiry to probe the collaboration between Durrani and Dulat for the book.

Official spokesperson of Pakistan armed forces, Major General Asif Ghafoor also confirmed in a tweet that Durrani was asked to explain his position on the book. He posted on microblogging site Twitter, Lt Gen Asad Durrani, Retired was called at GHQ today to explain his position on recently launched book Spy Chronicles. A formal Court of Inquiry headed by a serving Lt Gen has been ordered to probe the matter in detail. Competent authority approached to place his name on ECL.

The former heads of the intelligence agencies of both the countries have talked a range of issues between India and Pakistan. Among the sensitive issued touched upon by them in their book are Kashmir, 26/11 Mumbai attacks and role of ISI and RAW.
New Delhi: An undertrial named Dinesh was allegedly shot at by a minor just as he was getting off a bus to be produced at Delhi's Tis Hazari Court on Tuesday afternoon.

According to reports, a 15-year-old minor opened fire at Dinesh - accused of murdering a woman - who was being escorted for a hearing. The incident occurred at the court's Gate No. 2 and security personnel immediately rushed in to apprehend the accused and bring the situation under control. Dinesh was rushed for treatment to a hospital nearby.

Dinesh was brought for hearing from Haryana's Rohtak and is learnt to have been a sharpshooter for a gang called Gogi. Encounters between Gogi and a rival gang called Teelu may have led to the firing incident.

While the motive has not yet been ascertained, the minor was immediately apprehended and taken into custody.
New Delhi: In a special hotline contact established between the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of India and Pakistan on Tuesday, the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and Working Boundary was reviewed. It was mutually agreed to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation ensuring peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders.

They agreed to fully implement the ceasefire understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit and to ensure that the ceasefire agreement will not be violated by both sides from now on. The officials also agreed that in case of any issue, restraint will be exercised and the matter will be resolved through utilisation of existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and border flag meetings at local commander's level.

Earlier, on Monday, India had conveyed to Pakistan the need for instituting a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for immediate release and repatriation of fishermen who inadvertently cross the international maritime boundary. The emphasis on the SOP was given during the talks between the Coast Guards of the two countries, where issues pertaining to boundary violations by fishermen and enhancing cooperation in the area of maritime search and rescue and combating pollution at sea, were discussed.

"A lot of focus of the meeting was on (violation of maritime boundary by) fishermen," Coast Guard Director General Rajendra Singh had said, as per PTI. An official statement had said, "During the meeting, the Indian side reiterated the need for instituting Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for immediate release and repatriation of the fishermen who cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IMBL) inadvertently as the issue needs to be approached in a humanitarian context."

Several fishermen from both countries are languishing in each other's jails.

The four-member delegation of the Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) was being led by its Director General Rear Admiral Zaka Ur Rehman. Rehman was accompanied by Director (Operations) of the PMSA, an official each from Pakistan's Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Two members - a defence attache and a political secretary - at the Pakistan High Commission had also participated in the talks. The high-level meeting was conducted under the provisions of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two agencies in 2005.

A meeting between the two maritime security agencies was scheduled for October 2017, but was called off amid tension between India and Pakistan following the Kulbhushan Jadhav episode.

Jadhav, an Indian national and former navy officer, has been sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on the charges of alleged spying. India has denied the charges and approached the International Court of Justice against the sentence.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: As India gets set to purchase S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for the Indian Air Force from Russia, all may not be well for Indo-US defence cooperation with questions being raised in Washington about New Delhi-Moscow bonhomie.

India on Monday put finishing touches on price negotiations with Russia in what is a nearly Rs 40,000 crore deal for the ballistic missile shield system. Shortly afterwards, William Thornberry, the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee raised the matter and the consequent possibility of re-checking sale of defence equipment to India - especially that of Predator drones. "The acquisition of this technology (S-400) will limit, I am afraid, the degree with which the United States will feel comfortable in bringing additional technology into whatever country we are talking about," Thornberry told news channel NDTV in an interview.

India and the US have been increasing defence co-operation and Predator Drones are one of the most eagerly anticipated acquisitions - especially because of its use in anti-terror operations. And while the US has not minced words in expressing its displeasure with the possibility of a deal for S-400 systems, Thornberry - head of all US Military Services and US Department of Defence agencies - has said there is room for flexibility despite the looming deal, possibly because India and Russia have a long history of bilateral arms trade.

And while Predator Drones may be crucial if and when deployed for anti-terror operations targeted at Pakistan, it is reported that the need for S-400 missile shield is no less important and can be crucial in strengthening India's air defence abilities - especially along the Sino-Indian border.
A minor girl, who was allegedly attacked by a pack of stray dogs on Monday, succumbed to her injuries a day after. The incident was reported from Modinagar, between Ghaziabad and Meerut, in Uttar Pradesh.

A minor girl died after being attacked by stray dogs in Ghaziabad district's Modinagar yesterday. pic.twitter.com/atmTsTJ19y  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 29, 2018

Incidents of stray dog menace have been reported in recent past from several parts of Uttar Pradesh. It was recently reported that stray dogs had attacked around 3000 people in the past five months in Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh and no action had been taken by the administration in this regard.

The situation has been worse in Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh as at least 14 children have lost their lives in attacks by pack of stray dogs. The situation has worsened so much that Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath-led BJP government in the state has formed a committee to look into the issue and tackle the menace.

Taking cognisance of the matter, Chief Minister Adityanath had asked police, civic body officials and veterinary doctors to jointly investigate the issue and take measures.

As many as 18 teams were reportedly deployed by the Sitapur district administration for carrying out operations to nab stray dogs in the region. The villagers have also formed teams to keep a check on dogs attacking more people. The residents have armed themselves with rods, sticks and swords.

Media reports suggest that the administration will soon initiate sterilisation of stray dogs. The canines will be brought to city hospitals for the sterilisation process.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal mocked Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led NDA government at the Centre on Tuesday with a cartoon he posted on microblogging site Twitter. The cartoon tweeted by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief suggests that while his government has delivered on various fronts such as education and healthcare, the BJP-led central government is yet to show result on any front.

Among the various achievements of the AAP government highlighted by the Delhi Chief Minister on Twitter are Mohalla clinic, cheap electricity, free water, free medical treatment and modernised government schools.

Kejriwal has mocked Prime Minister Modi-led BJP government by showing a barren plot of land, with boundaries intact and a signboard saying, Nirman karya pragati par hai (construction under process).

While the achievements of the Aam Aadmi Party government in the national capital has been shown in the form of a highrise, the barren plot of land suggests the alleged failure of the Modi government.

This comes less than a fortnight after Kejriwal sought the intervention of Prime Minister Modi in the issue of water sharing between Delhi and Haryana. In a letter to the BJP leader, the Delhi Chief Minister urged the Prime Minister to ask Haryana to not cut down on the water supplied to the national capital.

In his letter to the prime minister, Kejriwal said the city has been receiving 1,133 cusecs of water from Haryana since 1996, but recently, for the first time in 22 years, the neighbouring state has contested Delhi's right over this water and partially stopped the supply to the national capital.

"The Supreme Court has directed Haryana to keep supplying the earlier quantity of water till May 21, which means the state could reduce water supply after Monday," he said.

If that happens, it would create an "unprecedented shortage of water" in Delhi and could lead to "serious" law and order situation, the chief minister said.

"I would urge you (PM) to kindly use your good offices to persuade Haryana to continue supplying same level of water that it has been supplying for last 22 years and not to disrupt it till the issue is finally decided by the courts," Kejriwal said in the letter.
New Delhi: In a major development, the Government of India on Tuesday appointed senior diplomat Pankaj Saran as Deputy National Security Advisor. Saran is currently serving as India's Ambassador to Russia.

''The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Saran's appointment as the deputy NSA for a period of two years, on deputation basis initially till the date of his superannuation, ie November 30, 2018, then on re-employment on a contract basis,'' an order issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions said.

The 1982 batch officer of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) was in November 2015 appointed as India's envoy to Russia.

He had held various positions in India and abroad including the country's High Commissioner to Bangladesh.

He also served as the Joint Secretary in the Prime Minister's Office between 2007 and 2012.

Saran also worked as the Counsellor (political and commercial), Embassy of India in Cairo during 1999 and 2002 and as the First Secretary (political) in the country's mission in Washington between 1992 and 1994.

His wife Preeti Saran is Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, Ajit Doval is the National Security Adviser. He is assisted by Deputy National Security Advisers.

Ex-chief of India's external intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Rajinder Khanna was in January this year also appointed as the Deputy NSA.

(With PTI inputs)
CINCINNATI, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- First Commonwealth Bank, a wholly owned banking subsidiary of First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF), today announced the appointment of David J. Folkwein as regional president for Cincinnati effective May 29, 2018.



We are pleased to welcome David Folkwein to First Commonwealth Bank. His extensive experience in commercial and retail banking, coupled with his customer focus and values-driven philosophy will serve us well as we grow this market, said Mike Price, President and Chief Executive Officer of First Commonwealth Financial Corporation.

I am very proud to join First Commonwealth Bank, said Folkwein. First Commonwealth is a strong franchise with an excellent corporate culture. This bank is large enough to provide the necessary products and services, but small enough for a personal touch and relationship with the customers and communities. I look forward to being a part of the growth of those relationships.

On May 1, 2018, First Commonwealth announced the completion of its acquisition of Cincinnati based Foundation Bank. This acquisition represents First Commonwealths fourth strategic transaction in the state of Ohio since 2015, and its first in the Cincinnati area.

Folkwein joins First Commonwealth Bank from GBQ Partners, LLC, where he held the title of Director of Business Development. In that role, he was responsible for developing new business relationships with middle market and family owned businesses.

Prior to joining GBQ Partners, Folkwein was Executive Vice President/Head of Commercial Division in Northeast Ohio for Fifth Third Bank. A 30-year veteran of the financial services industry, Folkwein has also held leadership positions at DCB Financial Corp, Irwin Union Bank and Bank One/ JP Morgan.

Folkwein holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Toledo and a Bachelors degree in accounting from Bowling Green State University.

About First Commonwealth Financial Corporation

First Commonwealth Financial Corporation (NYSE:FCF), headquartered in Indiana, Pennsylvania, is a financial services company with 140 banking offices in 22 counties throughout western and central Pennsylvania and Ohio, as well as Corporate Banking Centers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio. We also have mortgage offices in Wexford Pennsylvania, as well as Hudson and Dublin, Ohio. First Commonwealth provides a full range of commercial banking, consumer banking, mortgage, wealth management and insurance products and services through its subsidiaries First Commonwealth Bank and First Commonwealth Insurance Agency. It is through these services that we execute our mission to improve the financial lives or our neighbors and their businesses.

Media Relations:

Kristine N. Levan

Vice President / Marketing and Communications Manager

Phone: 724-463-4777

E-mail: KLevan@fcbanking.com

Investor Relations:

Ryan M. Thomas

Vice President / Finance and Investor Relations

Phone: 724-463-1690

E-mail: RThomas1@fcbanking.com
Petrol and diesel prices saw yet another rise on Tuesday. While the price of petrol was increased by 16 paise per litre, diesel price was hiked by 14 paise per litre. The prices of fuel have been hiked for the 16th consecutive day.

With the latest hike, petrol price touched Rs 78.43 per litre in Delhi and Rs 86.24 per litre in Mumbai. Prices of diesel in Delhi now stands at Rs 69.31 per litre while that in Mumbai is Rs 73.79 per litre.

This comes a day after the Oil Ministry gave its in-principle approval for futures trading in petrol as well as diesel. A final clearance in this regard is expected from regulator Sebi soon. The development comes at a time when state-run oil marketers have hiked petrol and diesel prices continuously for the past two weeks.

"The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has given an in-principle nod to launch petrol and diesel futures contracts and we are hoping that Sebi will give final approval in this regard soon," said ICEX managing director and chief executive officer Sanjit Prasad on Monday.

The Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX) had approached Sebi seeking its nod to launch petrol and diesel futures contracts. Following this, the capital markets watchdog had sought views from the ministry in this regard.

ICEX was asked by the ministry to give a detailed presentation on petrol and diesel futures contracts to oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan, senior bureaucrats and oil marketing companies.

Petrol price has been hiked by Rs 3.80 a litre and diesel by Rs 3.38 in Delhi since state-owned oil firms ended a 19-day pre-Karnataka poll hiatus to resume daily price revision on May 14.
Jakarta: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday arrived in Jakarta in the Indonesian capital on the first leg of his three-nation tour to East Asia. "Landed in Jakarta. India and Indonesia are friendly maritime neighbours with deep civilisational links. This visit will further the convergence of our political, economic and strategic interests," he tweeted soon after his arrival.

Following is the PM's itinerary:

- PM Modi, who is on his first-ever official visit to Indonesia, will meet President Joko Widodo on Wednesday (May 30, 2018) and discuss bilateral cooperation.

- The two leaders would attend some events, including a CEO Business Forum organised by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and the Industry and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

- Wreath laying ceremony at Kalibata National Heroes' Cemetery from 7:45 am - 8 am.

- The official welcome ceremony, signing of the guest book and photo opportunity from 8:35 am - 9 am.

- Joint inauguration of the kite exhibition and kite flying session (National Monument Monas) from 10:55 am - 11:15 am.

- Visiting Arjuna's Chariot from 11:30 am - 11:40 am.

- Visiting Istiqlal Mosque from 11:45 am - 12:20 pm.

- Interaction with eminent persons and 'friends of India' (Jakarta Convention Centre) from 2:50 pm - 3:00 pm.

- Community event ( Jakarta Convention Centre) from 3 pm - 4 pm.

- India- Indonesia CEO forum meeting from 5:30 pm - 5:45 pm.

- Oficial banquet hosted by President Widodo (Istana Negara) at 5:50 pm.

- On May 31, on his way to Singapore, PM Modi will make a brief halt in Malaysia to congratulate the new Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

- In Singapore, he will deliver the keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security meet on June 1.

- PM Modi will also meet Singapore President Halimah Yacob and hold delegation level talks with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

- On June 2, he will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Mahatma Gandhi's ashes were immersed in the sea on March 27, 1948.

- PM Modi would also visit some places of worship that have civilisational linkages with India.

(With Agency inputs)
The CBSE 10th result was declared on Tuesday afternoon. This time, the board has got as many as four toppers, who have scored 499 out of 500 each. The names of the toppers are - Prakhar Mittal (DPS Gurgaon), Rimzhim Agarwal (RP Public School Bijnor), Nandini Garg (Scottish International School Shamli) and Sreelakshmi G (Bhavan's Vidyalaya Kochi).

The students who appeared for the CBSE Board Class 10 exam 2018 can check their result on the official website of the CBSE Board - www.cbse.nic.in. The National Information Centre (NIC) will also host the result on www.cbseresults.nic.in. Other websites that will show the CBSE Class 10 results 2018 are - Google search page, Bing search page, SMS Organizer app and UMANG app.

Thiruvananthapuram tops the list of districts with the highest pass percentage. The pass percentage in the Kerala capital is 99.60%. The second in the list is Chennai with 97.37%, followed by Ajmer, which recorded a pass percentage of 91.86%.

Soon after the results were declared, Union HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar congratulated the students saying, "Congratulations to those who've succeeded. 10th CBSE board exam was conducted after 10 years. This is basically preparation for 12th board. Those students who've got compartment should prepare again and I'm sure they'll do well."

The examinations were conducted between March 5 to April 4, 2018.

Here is how to check CBSE Class 10 Results 2018:

- Log on to the official websites of the board.

- Click on the link 'class 10 exam results'.

- Enter roll number and other required details.

- Click on submit.

Candidates are advised to download their results and take a printout of the same for future reference.

CBSE was founded on November 3, 1962. Its primary function includes preparing academic programmes and organising examinations, especially for Class 10 and Class 12 students.
New Delhi: Unidentified men pelted stones at Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani Express at Manpur Junction late on Monday night, injuring at least six passengers.

News agency ANI reports that miscreants hurled stones at two bogeys of the train, shattering the glasses and injuring six passengers. While the injured were given first-aid and the glasses replaced at Gaya, the exact cause of the stone pelting is currently being investigated.

Local authorities, it is reported, attempted to apprehend the people responsible for the incident immediately after they pelted stones but they managed to escape under the cover of the night sky. Personnel from the Railway Protection Force are now looking into the matter.
Members of the DMK, including partys working president MK Stalin, came to the Tamil Nadu wearing black clothes on Tuesday as mark of protest against the death of at least 13 people in police firing in Tuticorin.

Chennai: MK Stalin & other DMK MLAs arrive in #TamilNadu assembly wearing black clothes as a mark of protest against police firing on anti-Sterlite protestors in #Thoothukudi. 13 people had lost their lives in the incident. pic.twitter.com/gVEWbbmPGs  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Meanwhile, State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) land allotted by the Tamil Nadu government to Vedanta Sterlite, for phase 2, has been cancelled.

The police had allegedly opened fire on those protesting against Vedanta Groups Sterlite Copper plant in Tamil Nadus Tuticorin on May 22.

The mark of protest by DMK lawmakers in Tamil Nadu Assembly comes a day after the state government on Monday ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and 'permanently' close the Vedanta group's copper plant.

Chief Minister EK Palaniswami told reporters in Chennai on Monday that the "plant has been permanently closed". Asked what he had to say to the people of Tuticorin, he said, "Peace has returned to the town and it must continue, and people should cooperate with the government. Their demand has been fulfilled by Amma's government."

Reacting to the closure, Vedanta Ltd termed it "unfortunate" and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development. "Closure of Sterlite Copper plant is an unfortunate development, especially since, we have operated the plant for over 22 years in most transparent and sustainable way, contributing to the Tuticorin and state's socio-economic development. We will study the development and decide on the future course of action," Vedanta Ltd said in a statement, as per PTI.

Earlier on Monday, Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam had asserted that the government would take resolute steps for the permanent closure of Vedanta group's copper plant. "Today, the main demand of the people is that the copper plant should be permanently closed. In keeping with their demand, it is shut now. I would like to make it clear that Sterlite plant will be permanently shut," he had said.

Describing the deaths of 13 people in the police firing as an "incident of grief which melted the hearts of everyone," Panneerselvam had expressed his condolences to the kin of the dead and had wished the injured a speedy recovery.

(With agency inputs)
New Delhi: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday apologised for saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed lakhs of "Indians" in Nepal's Janakpur recently. She posted an apology on Twitter after people on the microblogging site, including a Parliamentarian from Nepal, pointed out that Modi addressed Nepali people in Janakpur earlier this month and not Indians.

"This was a mistake on my part. I sincerely apologise for this," Swaraj tweeted on Monday night along with a video of her comments about Modi's efforts to reach out to Indian diaspora abroad, including in Nepal.

Earlier addressing a press conference on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the NDA government, Swaraj said no prime minister before Modi had tried to reach out to the Indian diaspora at such a large scale.

"Narendra Modi is the first prime minister of the country who has from America's Madison Square to Janakpur (in Nepal) addressed lakhs of Indians and reached out to them," Swaraj had said.

Nepali Congress leader and Parliamentarian Gagan Thapa criticised Swaraj for the comments and wondered whether it was a "casual undermining of Nepal's sovereignty".

"Regrettable that India's External Affairs Minister @SushmaSwaraj described Janakpur's population that @narendramodi greeted as Indians. One wonders what the confusion was, or if this was casual undermining of Nepal's sovereignty," he tweeted.
Patna: Thunderstorms across Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh on Monday left as many as 38 dead and many more injured across the three states. While all three states have pressed emergency services into action, local reports suggest that the eventual death toll could rise.

Of the total number of deaths reported from the three states, 17 deaths were reported from across Bihar alone. Four deaths were reported from Gaya while Munger, Aurangabad and Nawada saw three, five and two deaths respectively. Local media reports suggest three members of a family died in Pekha village of Katihar.

News agency ANI reported that there were 12 deaths in Jharkhand with at least 28 injuries reported. Of the dead, three lost their lives in the state capital of Ranchi alone.

The thundershowers also took a toll on lives in UP where nine people lost their lives. News agency PTI quoted a senior government official as saying that district magistrates of affected areas have been directed to undertake rescue works and ensure distribution of relief in 24 hours. (Read full report here)

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued another warning of a thunderstorm for Tuesday afternoon for areas close to Hardoi, Sitapur and Farrukhabad in UP. Local officials here have been put on high alert.
The West Bengal Board of Secondary Education (WBBSE) is expected to declare the results of class 10 and class 12 board Madhyamik examinations in the first week of June on official websites wbresults.nic.in and wbbse.org. The WBBSE was earlier expected to declare class 10 results on May 29 and class 12 results by May 31.

The examinations were conducted across West Bengal between March 12 to March 21 with more than 11,02,900 students appearing for the same.

According to reports, while 6,21,366 girl students appeared for the Madhyamik examinations, more than 4,81,500 boys appeared for the West Bengal board examinations.

Heres how to check the results:

- Visit West Bengal Board of Secondary Education official websites  wbresults.nic.in and wbbse.org.

- click on the link to check results

- enter required details such as roll numbers

- the results will be displayed and a printout of the same can be taken for future reference

The results can also be accessed by the students through SMS:

For checking WBBSE class 10 results, students need to type WB<space>10<space>roll number and send the same to 54242, 56263 or 58888.
The Janata Dal Secular (JDS) and the Congress party, who have formed an alliance government in Karnataka, are yet to reach a consensus on allocation of portfolios. Sources have told Zee News that the parties have not been able to reach an amicable solution despite holding several rounds of meetings.

According to sources, the bone of contention are key ministries like Home Affairs and Finance. While the Congress wants to keep the Finance portfolio, the JDS wants the ministry under Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.

The Congress also wants to keep Home Ministry with one of its minister.

Notably, Chief Minister Kumaraswamy had said on Sunday that he was at the "mercy of Congress" and could not take any decision without consulting the alliance partner. "The people of the state rejected me and our party. I had sought an absolute majority. I have heard the statements of farm leaders too and how much they supported me," he had said.

"Mine is not an independent government. I had requested the people to give me a mandate that prevents me from succumbing to any pressure other than you. But today I am at the mercy of the Congress. I am not under the pressure of the 6.5 crore people of the state," said Kumaraswamy.

Kumaraswamy-led JDS-Congress government in Karnataka had last week won the trust vote comfortably amid a walkout by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Vidhana Soudha.

The motion expressing confidence in the Kumaraswamy government was adopted by voice vote in the presence of JD (S)-Congress coalition MLAs and other lawmakers supporting the government. As many as 117 MLAs voted in favour of the Congress-JDS alliance government.

The floor test has brought an end to the 10-day political uncertainty in the state that began after the state gave a fractured mandate in the assembly elections. While the Congress has 78 MLAs, Kumaraswamy's JDS has 37 seats, along with two independent candidates. Kumaraswamy had won from two constituencies. After a high drama, 58-year-old Kumaraswamy was sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Karnataka at a grand assembly of leaders of the non-BJP parties on Thursday last.
Mangalore: Heavy rains lashed Karnataka's coastal districts on Tuesday, with waterlogging reported in many parts of Mangalore and Udupi. Schools and colleges will remain shut on Wednesday in these places due to rains.

Water-logging in streets of Mangalore after heavy rain lashed parts of the city. #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/OWETt4Nc9p  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Rescue operations underway in #Mangalore as streets are water-logged following pre-monsoon rain in parts of the city; #visuals from Panambur #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/MT8BFdbLLg  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Nalin Kumar Kateel, BJP MP from Dakshina Kannada, visits the affected areas of #Mangalore following pre-monsoon rain in parts of the city #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/mgFldYkMQX  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

#WATCH Rescue operations underway in Mangalore's Panambur as streets are water-logged following pre-monsoon rains pic.twitter.com/7zNI4v0RNT  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

"For any assistance related to heavy rains in Mangaluru and Udupi kindly tweet with hashtag #SOSMangaluru #SOSUdupi tagging our handle, " Karnataka government's State Emergency Operation Centre, Revenue Department (Disaster Management) tweeted. "We have instructed all telecom and mobile service providers to maintain optimum connectivity in Mangaluru and Udupi in light of heavy rainfall. Quick response team formed by mobile service providers to restore connectivity immediately in case of disruption," it added.

Heavy rains in Mangaluru and Udupi @NDRFHQ army alerted. @KarFireDept in ground, SRDF and QRT civil defence will join if required  Revenue Secretary-DM (@SEOC_Karnataka) May 29, 2018

For any assistance related to heavy rains in Mangaluru and Udupi kindly tweet with hastag #SOSMangaluru #SOSUdupi tagging our handle. NDRF team is on its way to Mangaluru to assist District Administration @DDChandanaNews @PIBBengaluru @KarnatakaVarthe  Revenue Secretary-DM (@SEOC_Karnataka) May 29, 2018

We have instructed all telecom and mobile service providers to maintain optimum connectivity in #Mangaluru and #Udupi in light of heavy rainfall, Quick response team formed by mobile service providers to restore connectivity immediately in case of disruption @ndmaindia @DoT_India  Revenue Secretary-DM (@SEOC_Karnataka) May 29, 2018

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the situation in Mangaluru and other areas and asked the Home Secretary to rush more NDRF teams there if required.

HM Shri @rajnathsingh has reviewed the situation in Mangaluru and other areas after the reports of heavy rains in coastal Karnataka. He has asked the Home Secretary to rush more NDRF teams to Mangaluru, if required. MHA is closely monitoring the situation in coastal Karnataka.  HMO India (@HMOIndia) May 29, 2018

All the Deputy Commissioners of coastal Karnataka that is Mangalore, Udupi, Karwar have been alerted;Rescue & rehabilitation work has been initiated as per request of Deputy Commissioner. #Mangalore Battalion NDRF team is deployed as a standby support to district administration.  NDMA India (@ndmaindia) May 29, 2018

PM Narendra Modi also tweeted, saying, "I have spoken to officials and asked them to ensure all possible assistance in the affected areas in Karnataka."

I pray for the safety and wellbeing of all those affected by heavy rains in various parts of Karnataka. Have spoken to officials and asked them to ensure all possible assistance in the affected areas.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) May 29, 2018

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Tuesday announced that the southwest monsoon had hit Kerala, three days before its scheduled arrival. The conditions are favourable for further advance of the monsoon into some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, parts of coastal and south interior Karnataka, parts of east-central and northeast Bay of Bengal, and some parts of northeastern states during the next 48 hours, it had said.

"Today, the southwest monsoon has further advanced into remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, Comorin, Maldives area, entire Lakshadweep, most parts of Kerala, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of the south-west, central and northeast Bay of Bengal. Thus, the southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala, today, the 29th May 2018, three days ahead of its normal date," the IMD had said, PTI reported.

June 1 is the official onset date for the arrival of monsoon in the country and it takes more than a month-and-half to cover the entire country. The usual date for the monsoon over Sri Ganganagar in Rajasthan, its last post, is July 15.

Owing to the arrival of monsoon, isolated places over coastal and south interior Karnataka, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Nagaland, Manipur, Mizoram and Tripura are expected to receive "heavy to very heavy rain" on Wednesday.

But there will be no respite from hot weather conditions in parts of north and central India, the weather department said.

(With Agency inputs)
HOUSTON, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GulfSlope Energy, Inc. (OTCQB:GSPE) (the Company) today announced that Clint Moore, Vice President, is scheduled to participate on a panel discussion at the 2018 Louisiana Energy Conference to be held at 8am CDT, Wednesday May 30, 2018, at the Westin Canal Palace Hotel in New Orleans. In addition, GulfSlope executive management anticipates meeting with investors and analysts attending the conference.



The panel discussion is titled Deep Water Gulf of Mexico Exploration and Development: The Economics Are Better Than You Think and will be moderated by John Herrlin, Head of Oil and Gas Equity Research at Societe Generale. During the discussion, the Company expects to discuss its strategy of applying state-of-the-art technology to unlock opportunities in a rebounding offshore oil and gas environment. Associated slides can be accessed by visiting the investor relations section of the Companys website at www.gulfslope.com.

To register to attend the Louisiana Energy Conference, please visit www.LouisianaEnergyConference.com. Registered guests are given the opportunity to request one-on-one meetings with the Companys senior management. For questions or assistance with registering or requesting one-on-one meetings, please email info@LouisianaEnergyConference.com or call 504-799-1953.

About the Company



GulfSlope Energy is an independent oil and natural gas company focused on exploring offshore U.S. Gulf of Mexico. To learn more, visit the GulfSlope Energy website at www.GulfSlope.com.

Investor Relations Contact

John H. Malanga

Chief Financial Officer

GulfSlope Energy, Inc.

Phone: 281-918-4103

Email: john.malanga@gulfslope.com
An official of the anti-terrorist squad in Uttar Pradesh allegedly committed suicide inside his office in Lucknow on Tuesday. The officer, ATS Additional Superintendent of Police Rajesh Sahni, was found dead under mysterious circumstances in his office, but later reports said he might have shot himself dead.

As soon as reports of the incident came in, senior officials of Uttar Pradesh rushed to the ATS office. The area was cordoned off by security personnel.

According to sources, the senior anti-terrorist squad official allegedly shot himself dead with his official pistol.

Notably, Sahni had played a major role in nabbing a spy of Pakistans ISI in Uttarakhand recently.

The reason behind Sahni taking the extreme step is yet to be ascertained.
Mumbai: Megastar Amitabh Bachchan says he shook 150 hands in just a few hours at the graduation ceremony of an institute.

Amitabh, 75, says he feels honoured and privileged by shaking hands with the "future of India".

"How many handshakes do we do in a day? I did around 150 in a few hours! No regrets. I was shaking the hands of the future of India, at the graduation ceremony of DAIS. A privilege and an honour!" Amitabh tweeted on Tuesday.

On the acting front, Big B will next be seen in "Thugs Of Hindostan".
New Delhi: Bollywood's 'Queen' Kangana Ranaut is busy shooting for her upcoming 'Mental Hai Kya' along with Rajkummar Rao. There is much excitement in the air regarding the film, especially after the intriguing posters were revealed. Kangana will also be seen in 'Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi'. The actress recently watched Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal starrer 'Raazi' and gave a thumbs up to the film. Upon being asked about her reaction, Kangana said that director Meghna Gulzar had done a splendid job and that everyone liked the film.

The actress also said that 'It is Alia's world and we are just living in it'. Kangana revealed that she was called for a trial of the film but she couldn't attend it as she was busy shooting. However, the actress had promised both Alia and Meghna that she would watch the film soon.

The video was posted on the official Instagram page of the actress. Since Kangana is not on any social media platform, the Instagram handle is managed by her team.

Check out the video right here:

'Raazi' narrates the tale of an ordinary Indian girl (played by Alia) who was married to a Pakistani man (played by Vicky) in the 1970s. The film is based on Harinder Sikka's novel Calling Sehmat and is inspired by a true event. Alia has definitely evolved as an actor and her role in Raazi proves that she can do justice to serious roles in a perfect manner.

Also starring Rajit Kapoor, Soni Razdan, Shishir Sharma and Jaideep Ahlawat, the spy-thriller is set in the backdrop of the Indo-Pak relationship in the 1970s.
Mumbai: Actor John Abraham, who is celebrating the success of his recently released film "Parmanu - The Story of Pokhran", has said that "we don't value soldiers of our country".

John was interacting with media along with director Abhishek Sharma after the success of "Parmanu" on Monday in Mumbai.

Talking about soldiers of the country who deal with difficulties in their life, John said: "I always say that they are the real-life heroes and we are just reeling life heroes.

"I think they should not face any kind of difficulties. They protect us on borders and here by sitting in an air-conditioned room, we complain about petty issues in life."

"In Siachen (Glacier), they survive in -50 degree Celsius and in Jaisalmer, they survive in +50 degree Celsius so, I think we don't have any right to complain, whatever we can do for them as a country, we must do for them," he said.

Talking about the success of the film, John said: "I am thankful to audience and media because they have appreciated our film. Abhishek (Sharma) and me, both of us are feeling very relieved and happy that this film worked at the box-office.

"This film not only has garnered a positive response from the critics and audience but, I think everything in this film has come together. I think the direction of Abhishek, my and other actor's performances has worked in the favour of the film, so it feels amazing."
Google's latest Doodle - on Tuesday - paid rich tributes to Danish biochemist Sren Peder Lauritz Srensen who is credited to have been the first to introduce the concept of pH.

pH is a scale for measuring acidity and alkalinity of a substance, and stands for power of hydrogen.

While now it is commonly referred to in cosmetic products among other items, it was first introduced by Srensen. Born in 1868, Srensen first introduced the concept of pH in 1909 for simplifying the manner in which the acidity and alkalinity of products can be described.

In its doodle tribute to him, users can play a small quiz with random products to be placed according to their pH levels. A caricature of Srensen provides 'mentoring' and either shows a thumbs up or shakes his head depending on whether the products are categorised right or now.
New Delhi: The Indian telecom regulator on Tuesday notified the draft regulations to curb pesky calls and text messages by using blockchain technology, an official statement said here.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said "unsolicited commercial communication, or spam, is a major nuisance to telecom subscribers", and to curb the menace, TRAI established a "Do Not Disturb" (DND) registry under regulations made in 2010.

It said 23 crore subscribers have registered themselves on the DND registry since then. "But the problem was not fully contained because unscrupulous elements started obtaining customers' consent, often surreptitiously, or resorted to use of unregistered telemarketers that call or message from a 10-digit number. In more recent times, the incidence of fraud calls has also been on the rise."

The new features of the regulation are adoption of Distributed Ledger Technology (or blockchain) as the RegTech to enforce regulatory compliance while allowing innovation in the market.

"Blockchain has proven useful where the objective is to cryptographically secure information and make it available only on need to know basis. Yet none may deny their actions or tamper with records, once recorded on the distributed ledger, which uniformly enforces compliance," the TRAI statement said.

The new norms will co-regulate where Telecom Service Providers/Access Providers establish and arrange framework, which is legally backed by regulation.

"Since the telcos can be expected to guard the interests of their subscribers, TRAI has opted for co-regulation to develop the solutions that can better serve the needs of all stakeholders. This would, of course, be allowed only within the framework prescribed in the regulations," the statement said.

The new rule will enable compliance through innovation in technology solution that are demonstrated in a regulatory sandbox.

It will also provide for better control over all entities in the ecosystem and in the flow of commercial communications, beside detecting unregistered telemarketers through collaboration.

The draft regulation issued today shall be open for comments up to June 11, 2018.
Johannesburg: A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl was on Monday killed in a botched car hijacking, leading to angry protests by the community members in the Indian township of Chatsworth in Durban.

The girl, Sadia Sukhraj, was on her way to school with her father when three armed men allegedly accosted and hijacked the car she was in and sped away with her.

In an ensuing chase in which the hijackers and community members shot at each other, the hijackers crashed the car they were in. The girl was found shot and critically injured while one of the hijackers tumbled out of the car dead. She was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her serious injuries.

A second hijacker was arrested by an off-duty policeman, while the third one escaped.

Following the incident, more than 3,000 members of the community converged outside Chatsworth police station calling for urgent police action.

As the small contingent of officers at the police station allegedly came under severe verbal abuse and threats of physical action from protestors, they resorted to firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, which included scores of children.

Mahendra Lillkan, chairperson of the local Crime Forum, said there had been a spike in crime in the area, despite community patrols at night.

"It seems that the criminals have now resorted to striking at soft targets, such as parents taking their children to school, as we have seen with this tragic incident."

Police and community leaders have appealed for calm amid fears that the protests would escalate on Tuesday as the distraught family prepared for the funeral.
Gazprom had "agreed to play by European rules" and was now locked into "a structured process

Russian firm Gazprom is a reformed character, the European Commission has said, improving the climate for new pipelines to Europe.

"Cher Vladimir [Putin]", the Russian leader, is also a European "partner", France said the same day, amid extravagant diplomacy in St Petersburg.

When commission sleuths raided Gazprom offices in 10 EU capitals seven years ago on Lithuania's tip-off, few doubted what they would find - evidence that it had screwed clients in eastern Europe with excessive prices and blocked them from sharing gas.

Find it they did, as the commission later spelled out in a statement of objections.

But on Thursday (24 May), anti-trust commissioner Margrethe Vestager said there was no fine to pay because the Russian firm had agreed to play ball.

Gazprom had "agreed to play by European rules" and was now locked into "a structured process", she told press in Brussels.

She spoke of "obligations that bind and that will bite". "We can impose a fine if the obligations are broken," she said, referring to multi-billion euro penalties.

Those obligations included letting EU clients resell Russian gas and take delivery of it where they like. They also included linking Russian gas prices to market prices in Germany.

Russian aggression in Europe has raised tension to levels reminiscent of the Cold War.

Dutch investigators underlined that when they concluded, also on Wednesday, that Russian forces supplied the missile which shot down flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014.

But the commission was guided purely by thoughts of EU consumers when it declined to fine the Kremlin gas firm, Vestager said.

"This is about what rules to play by no matter your flag, no matter your ownership," she said.

"I know some [EU states] would have liked to see us fine Gazprom no matter what the solution on the table. A fine would not have achieved our competition objectives," she added, alluding to Lithuania and Poland, who say Putin uses gas as a foreign policy weapon.

NS 2 climate

The settlement mends Gazprom's image, with its chiefs, Alexei Miller, who is on a US blacklist, and Alexander Medvedev, welcoming the "reasonable" EU decision.

It comes amid the firm's plan to build a controversial pipeline from Russia to Germany this year.

The Nord Stream 2 (NS2) pipeline would make it easier for Putin to cut-off Western allies, including Ukraine, for strategic reasons, and to gouge prices, Poland and Nordic states have said.

It would also help Putin to line the pockets of his friends, such as Gennady Timchenko and Arkady Rotenberg, whose firms build pipelines for Gazprom, hardening the Russian leader's grip on power.

Vestager's decision removed an obstacle from NS2's path, according to Anders Aslund, a Russia expert at the Atlantic Council, a Washington think tank.

"That the EU competition case against Gazprom had not been concluded was a strong argument against NS2, which now has disappeared," he told EUobserver.

The decision would "heat up" the NS2 debate, according to Stefan Meister, from the German Council on Foreign Relations, a think tank in Berlin.

"It will make the countries who are against NS2 even more aggressive and angry with the commission," he said.

But those countries have no power to stop the pipeline from being built.

They also have little power to stop Russia from reverting to abusive behaviour after NS 2 is laid in steel.

"This decision  will not do away with the alleged political agendas coming with Gazprom," Andreas Goldthau, a Russia expert at Royal Holloway University in London said.

"I have my doubts," Meister said, "if that [Vestager's 'obligations'] will change Gazprom's policy. It'll take time to decide on penalties and that'll give opportunities for the Russian side to influence the process."

Bouquet diplomacy

Russia has about 140 diplomats and at least 14m a year worth of lobbyists who seek influence in the EU capital.

The French and German leaders are also prepared to make Putin look good for the sake of grand diplomacy and for national energy interests.

France's Emmanuel Macron met the Russian president in St Petersburg the same day the commission ruled on Gazprom.

They met in a palace and ate caviar. Macron addressed Putin as "cher Vladimir" and quoted Russian writers, while Putin gave his wife flowers in what Russian media called "bouquet diplomacy".

France and Russia disagreed on various things, Macron said, but called for "strong multilateralism" on Iran nuclear non-proliferation.

"I hope Russia understands France is a credible and trustworthy European partner," he said.

The visit focused on Iran and was not linked to the Gazprom decision, but Macron brought a business delegation, including French energy firm Total, who invested $2.5bn in Russian gas projects.

French firm Engie is among EU backers of NS 2, along with Anglo-Dutch company Shell, Austria's OMV, and German firms Uniper and Wintershall, who also sent top men to meet Gazprom in St Petersburg on Wednesday.

The St Petersburg crush came one week after German chancellor Angela Merkel met Putin and agreed to build NS2 .

With Gazprom preparing to extend its power in Europe, Meister, from the Berlin think tank, said Vestager's settlement might help despite its clunky mechanisms.

"It's a step forward, because it gives the EU the opportunity to punish Gazprom for misbehaviour," he said.

Gazprom's nature

Vestager made a "smart choice" even if the deal did not change Gazprom's nature, the London university's Goldthau said.

"Whatever the Kremlin thinks Gazprom is, the EU will treat it as a dominant market player  and it has a track record in forcing big corporations to adhere to the EU market regime," he said, referring to aggressive EU fines on US corporations.

"The task will be to  make Gazprom live up to its commitments," he added.

Europeans ought to be building their own energy security instead of relying on Russia's word, Berlin's Meister also said.

"Only a truly competitive market, with alternative suppliers, LNG [liquid gas] terminals and interconnectors will protect member states" from Russian machinations, he said.

Read the original text at euobserver.
Video of questioning of the missing soldier of the 30th Individual Mechanized Brigade of Ukraines Armed Forces Volodymyr Voskoboinik was posted on May 28 by the "Ministry of State Security of DPR"

Open source

A serviceman of the 30th separate Novohrad-Volyn Rivne Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who disappeared in Donbas area on May 24, was captured by the Russian occupation forces. This was reported by the press service of the brigade.

The brigade found out the location of the missing soldier from the video of questioning.

"From video of questioning it can be concluded that a soldier has undergone severe psychological influence and is in a state of stress, confusion, has a tired look - probably because of a long lack of sleep, or physical torture," the brigade commented.

On the video that appeared on the network, the man claims an absolute absence of Russian troops on the territory of Ukraine.

As the Armed Forces explained, this indicates that representatives of Russian Special Services worked with a 19-year-old boy.

"The statements that the prisoner was forced to make is an attempt by Russian propagandists to persuade the Ukrainian and world community in the absence of Russian occupation troops on a temporarily uncontrolled territory of Ukraine," the brigade added.

The brigades command promises to do everything possible to release the soldier from captivity and return him to the family.

As it was reported earlier, Ukraine's state security service, the SBU, took casualties in the combat area in Donbas on May 28. As the group of SBU operatives was on a combat mission in Luhansk region, the enemy conducted an artillery attack. According to her, Lieutenant Colonel Ruslan Mulyar and Warrant Officer Yuriy Zhuravlyov lost their lives in the attack. One more serviceman was severely wounded.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian militants violated the ceasefire 28 times; specifically, they used mortars to shell the positions of Ukrainian troops.
A mine exploded near the vehicle of the observing mission

The OSCE SMM in Donbas reported an attack on their observers in Donetsk region.

According to the Facebook post on the official page of the OSCE, two incidents occurred on Tuesday.

'The adversary rudely violated the international agreements, opening fire on the observers of SMM of the OSCE in Ukraine. When OSCE representatives launched a drone near Nelipovk, not far from Toretsk (Donetsk region), a mine exploded not far from OSCE transport - about 250 meters away,' the message said.

No causaltes were reported. According to the OSCE, the fire was opened from the residential quarters in Horlivka, Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian side insisted it never fired on the inhabited localities.
TORONTO, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AIM1 Ventures Inc. (AIM1) (TSXV:AIMI) is pleased to announce that it has received conditional approval from the TSX Venture Exchange (the TSXV) in respect of its qualifying transaction (the Transaction) with James E. Wagner Cultivation Ltd. (JWC) pursuant to Policy 2.4 - Capital Pool Companies of the TSXV.



In accordance with the previously announced business combination agreement dated April 10, 2018, 2622627 Ontario Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of AIM1, will amalgamate with JWC. The amalgamated entity will continue under the name James E. Wagner Cultivation Ltd. and will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of AIM1. Prior to closing of the Transaction, it is intended that AIM1 will change its name to James E. Wagner Cultivation Corporation. The transaction is expected to close on or before June 6, 2018.

Filing Statement

In connection with the Transaction and pursuant to TSXV requirements, AIM1 has filed a filing statement dated May 29, 2018 on SEDAR (www.sedar.com).

This press release does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction.

Notice regarding forward-looking statements:

This release includes forward-looking statements regarding AIM1, JWC and their respective businesses, which may include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the completion of the Transaction, the ability to obtain regulatory approvals and other factors. Often, but not always, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as plans, is expected, expects, scheduled, intends, contemplates, anticipates, believes, proposes or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results may, could, would, might or will be taken, occur or be achieved. Such statements are based on the current expectations of the management of each entity. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this release, including completion of the Transaction, may not occur by certain specified dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting the companies, including risks regarding the cannabis industry, failure to obtain regulatory or shareholder approvals, economic factors, the equity markets generally and risks associated with growth and competition. Although AIM1 and JWC have attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date on which they are made and AIM1 and JWC undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

AIM1 is a capital pool company governed by the policies of the TSXV. The principal business of AIM1 is the identification and evaluation of assets or businesses with a view to completing a qualifying transaction.

For more information, please contact Aaron Salz, the Chief Executive Officer and a director of AIM1.

Aaron Salz, CEO

info@stoicadvisory.com

416-565-4457
According to intelligence, three occupants were eliminated and five were wounded

Open source

For the past 24 hours, militants violated ceasefire regime in Donbas 37 times. As a result of the hostilities, six Ukrainian servicemen were injured. This was reported by the press center of the Joint Forces Operations on Facebook.

"The Russian occupants violated the regime of silence 37 times during the day and night, of which nine times 82 and 120 mm mortars were used. During the hostilities, six of our soldiers were injured, they were immediately taken to the hospitals," the message reads.

At around 5:00 AM, enemy forces fired at Chermalyk town from grenade launchers. And at about 11:40, hiding behind the residential blocks in Horlivka, they shelled from mortars the village of Zalizne, resulting in the death of a 15-year-old girl.

Also, militants opened a fire in Pivdenne and a civilian resident got a shrapnel wound.

According to intelligence, three occupants were eliminated and five were wounded.

As it was reported earlier, Ukraine's state security service, the SBU, took casualties in the combat area in Donbas on May 28. As the group of SBU operatives was on a combat mission in Luhansk region, the enemy conducted an artillery attack. According to her, Lieutenant Colonel Ruslan Mulyar and Warrant Officer Yuriy Zhuravlyov lost their lives in the attack. One more serviceman was severely wounded.

Over the past 24 hours, Russian militants violated the ceasefire 28 times; specifically, they used mortars to shell the positions of Ukrainian troops.
Ukrainian soldier who went missing on May 27 after military clashes with the militants in Mariupol sector in Donbas, is still not found, as Victor Shubets, the representative of the press office of the Joint Forces Operation, informed 112 Ukraine. He denied his information that the soldier has allegedly returned to the military base.

As at 08:00 there was information that the soldiers who went missing, was found and nothing threatened his life. Unfortunately, another information emerged in an hour. We have not found him and we do not know where he is, he noted.

Earlier, the representatives of the brigade informed that its soldier went missing during battle actions near Mariupol on May 27. Next morning, Shubets informed that a sea soldier lost connection with the unit during the battle and returned to the brigade soon.
Ukraine will urge the world community to work actively on the deployment of UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas conflict area. This was stated in the address of Ukraines Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman on International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers, reports the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Unfortunately, the question of UN peacekeepers is actual for our country as well. The military, informational, cyber and economic aggression of Russias ruling regime, long-lasting hostilities in the east of our country make us declare the necessity of deploying the peacekeeping mission in some areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, the address says.

According to Groysman, the situation is complicated by the fact that in order to deploy peacekeepers in Donbas, the approval of the aggressor-state in the UN Security Council is needed.

However, Ukraine is determined to continue standing on its position. We will urge the world community to work in this direction actively, as every day of delay costs us the lives of our defenders," the prime minister said.

Groysman is convinced that the UN peacekeeping mission must have broad powers to achieve its goals and be deployed throughout the conflict zone, including the uncontrolled section of the Russian-Ukrainian border.

"I am convinced that with the support of the international community and due to the courage of our fighters, we are able to bring peace to Ukraine and restore the country's territorial integrity," the prime minister said.

In its turn, the press service of the President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that at present more than 30 military servicemen of Ukraines Armed Forces have died, carrying out a high peacekeeping mission and defending UN goals and principles.

As it was reported earlier, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will officially visit Ukraine on May 29-30. According to the message, the politicians will discuss the issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, as well as ways of Germanys further support for Ukraines European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Special attention will be paid to the situation in Donbas and the question of deploying the UN peacekeeping mission in the conflict zone.
Read the original text at 112.ua.

Open source

Do you remember how at the beginning of 2018 PM Groysman confidently declared that everything was under his control, and even he was not embarrassed by the external state debt that had reached 83% of Ukraine's GDP? And this is about $ 2,000 for every Ukrainian! However, despite these statements, the aggregate state and publicly guaranteed debt of Ukraine in February this year rose to $ 76.76 billion, and to $ 77.37 billion in March.

What do we see now? The Cabinet of Ministers and the Verkhovna Rada are ready to meet all the requirements of the International Monetary Fund in order to receive the fifth tranche of the loan in the amount of $ 1.9 billion in 2018. Also, at the stock market, the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine continues to raise the yield on domestic government bonds (YDGB), reaching almost 17, 5% per annum without taxation. Ukrainian banks entered into a tough competition for clients money. Although it is fair to admit that in recent weeks some commercial banks have sharply raised the maximum rates on deposits of individuals, while others have reduced the yield on deposits.

As a result, bank deposits are now formed from 210 to 364 days and from 366 to 450 days with a maximum yield in the first case of 16.5% per annum, in the second - 15.5% per annum. At the same time, it should be taken into account that the tax is to be paid at the rate of 18% from the income received, plus 1.5% of the military duty. And this is in conditions of instability in the Ukrainian financial market. This means that, in order to attract new investors to government securities and depositors of banks to keep the financial and economic bloc afloat, the government will have to pick up interest yield on short-term government bonds and the National Bank (NBU) discount rate to those record levels, not affordable for our financial authorities.

Then this process in the Ukrainian market, in general, can become irreversible, and the expected slowdown in economic recovery and the growth of public debt in this connection can accelerate even greater financial upheavals. Therefore, unfortunately, now the experts have the feeling that the time when the Cabinet without IMF loans will not be able to service this record national debt comes very quickly.

At the same time, Western investors and analysts constantly warn us: they say that the credit crisis cannot be treated only by new loans since new lending is a further growth of debts. And if Ukraine continues to build up its debts, it will thereby inflate the debt, or credit "bubble", which burst at some moment. I have a feeling that this "bubble" is already big enough to burst. When it bursts, the financial authorities will not have anything that they could still inflate in order to disguise the problems. And this means that we do not have the capacity to continue accumulating debt without stimulating economic growth and the inflow of direct investment.

From the point of view of the majority of macroeconomic indicators, we will have to begin negotiations with the creditors about debt restructuring again. But do not repeat the bitter experience of ex-Minister of Finance Natalia Yaresko! After all, after her arrangements, it did not become easier. Moreover, the burden on the budget-2018 is only growing due to the servicing of public debt. Currency debt in 2018 is $ 7.1 billion against $ 6.9 billion in 2019. And about 50% of this debt load of the current year falls on the currency YDGB, placed by the Ministry of Finance on the Ukrainian stock market.

In this regard, it should also be noted that for 2019-2020, without taking into account the repayment of Eurobonds, the Cabinet still has to return two Eurobonds under US state guarantees of $ 1 billion each. That is why such contractual obligations as the cost of debt servicing and the terms of their repayment are very important for us. Especially in conditions when the deficit of the state budget continues to grow. So, the revenue part of the state budget-2018 for the first four months of 2018 was 10,4 billion USD, which is 200 million USD less than planned. Plus, the tax reform of Nina Yuzhanina, head of the parliamentary committee on tax and customs policy, can increase the budget hole.

What should we do? First of all, we must honestly say that now no one has universal means to resolve this debt problem in the near future. However, the leading Western analysts and foreign investors argue that an effective socio-economic policy of the Cabinet of Ministers and fair competition principles could become a powerful driver of economic growth in Ukraine so that reliable sources for debt servicing are formed inside the country. We need structural and institutional reforms, new opportunities and incentives for the development of small and medium-sized businesses.

During such business meetings with foreign colleagues they often pay attention to the need to increase the real incomes of the entire population of Ukraine, they say, if the incomes of the richest people in the country grow by 1%, then on average for 5 years the gross domestic product falls by 0.1% , and when the incomes of the least well-off citizens increase by 1%, the GDP grows by the same amount. In fact, our big capitalists have not created new jobs for a long time. On the contrary, labor migration from Ukraine to the EU countries is growing uncontrollably. And we should not forget about our labor migrants and their share that in the first quarter of this year industrial production in Poland increased by 6.4%. For example, in March of this year, Ukraines industrial production grew by only 1% compared to March 2017 (if we take into account the effect of a low base).

Over the past two years, the share of entrepreneurial incomes of small and medium-sized businesses in the incomes of the population has almost halved. Accordingly, Ukrainian business cannot work effectively under the current institutional conditions. But what can legislators and the government offer us now? The main thing is that we, first of all, rely on our own financial resources and production potential. After all, the US and the EU no longer have budgetary opportunities to give us free credits. If we do not start real economic reforms and conduct an effective fight against corruption, there will be no money.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.
Read the original text on Facebook

Open source

According to the US Department of Agriculture, Ukraine is among the top 10 countries, whose citizens spend the most on food. If we combine the expenditures for food, cigarettes, and alcohol, our country will even enter the top 5 countries of the world with the highest costs. According to the United States data, in 2016, Ukrainians have spent 38% of their income on food and 8.1% on alcohol and cigarettes. That is, the total cost of these two groups was 46.1%.

The country, where the citizens spend on food and bad habits the least, is the United States. Last year, Americans have spent only 6.3% of their incomes on food and 2% on alcohol and cigarettes, which in general is 8.3%. In Europe, the lowest costs are among the British - only 8.1% for products and 3.8% for whiskey and cigars. According to this research, Nigeria took the last place, whose citizens spend almost 60% on it all.

Our neighbors, the Poles, spend 16.5% on food and 6.2% on alcohol. The Chinese eat 22.5% and another 2.3% pay for pernicious habits. In Egypt, where many Ukrainians go on vacation, 36.7% of income is spent on food and 4.5% on tobacco. As one famous person in our country would say, only Nigerians, Kenyans, and Cameroonians eat more than Ukrainians. However, this could be concluded only at the expense of food, since the costs of alcohol and tobacco are lower.

As it turned out that we are not food lovers, but drink and smoke lovers as well. In terms of the amount of money that families spend on bad habits, Ukrainians are also among the top five countries with the greatest expenditure. Estonia, Belarus, Hungary, and the Czech Republic are ahead of us.

The study for 2016 was published only at the end of 2017; therefore these are not the most recent data. The study of expenditures included 92 countries. There are no significant changes in the expenses of citizens main needs. For five years, Americans cut their spending by 0.5%, the Germans increased them by 0.5%, and Ukrainians increased by 1.1%. That is, according to the US agrarian department, in 2012, citizens of our country spent an aggregate 45% on meeting the needs for food and alcohol.

Since such trends are permanent, this means that in the coming years the expenses of Ukrainians, in comparison with their incomes, will not decrease (even if our financial situation improves). Well, let us drink for this, and it leads to an increase in costs again.

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.
Read the original text at 112.ua.

May 24 was a historic day for Ukraine: the Verkhovna Rada has been deciding on the fate of the Anti-Corruption Court. The key moment was the struggle for the role of the council of international experts in the selection of judges. They talk about the manipulations concerning state sovereignty and respect for the citizens of Ukraine from our partners, in particular, the IMF. Let us articulate the meaninglessness of this manipulation in three points.

Why international institutions?

In this matter, we should clearly separate the Ukrainian people from those who are robbing these people, under the guise of the monopoly right to justice. We demand that international organizations have the right to determine the expert council when electing judges of the Anti-Corruption Court, not because we do not trust our Ukrainian experts. I know many experts, lawyers, prosecutors and even judges. But I am sure that, without the support of the international community, such people will not get into the expert atmosphere. Show me, please, a group of young lawyers, judges or prosecutors, which has been supported in the last 3 years? What is happening to Horbatiuk (Serhiy Horbatiuk is Head of the Special Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General's Office  Ed.)? What is happening to the State Research Bureau, National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP), National Police?

Taking money for anti-corruption reforms does not mean humiliation, but control over these reforms is humiliation?

Ask representatives of the President Administration and the government who paid an electronic declaration for our country, please. Perhaps the MPs have received money, perhaps they reduced their salaries, perhaps they reduced the cost of the singing competitions? No! They were following some several hundred thousand dollars, humiliating themselves and the country. These are not billions. UN, give us money, please, because we cannot suffer. Maybe, some oligarch has donated his business and gave us money to reform the police? No. The United States was forced to give us this money, and this is the real humiliation for the country. The corruption is not just somewhere, but in the authority buildings. When, on the one hand, the estates are shown, and at the same time, an ordinary American, who pays all the taxes, is sitting somewhere in Connecticut and sees what is happening here with our government (again, not the Ukrainian people are doing this). Biden did not do it, this is done by specific people in the government bodies who subsidize the business of specific businessmen. What should American think? He paid taxes to Ukraine. For this money, the Anti-Corruption Court and the Anti-Corruption Bureau were created here, police reform and electronic declarations project were implemented. Then representatives of Poroshenko and Yatsenyuk introduce a law that they want to destroy the Anti-Corruption Bureau. Tell me, what should this American think? That this is not done by the Ukrainian people, there is no need to humiliate the people and the country. This will not happen if we have another authority. These people are destroying us, our sovereignty, that is why, different kind of Bidens exist, who conduct business with our corrupt officials and dictate to the president what prosecutor general to appoint.

We have already been trapped in this way during Yanukovychs rule

When they say that the IMF is punching in an arm, it does not punch the Ukrainian people, but rather those who are stealing the money. We know the names of these people. And do not confuse them with the Ukrainian people. This is disrespect for the people. And secondly, this is exactly what Yanukovych did. With all my respect to the incumbent president, what is happening here reminds me of what happened in 2012. When President Yanukovych in his office issued an order to arrest Yulia Tymoshenko, her and then the imprisonment of Yuriy Lutsenko took place. Remember, what happened to the media and freedom of speech. Then international experts came and he replied: "What should I do? This is the competence of the independent courts; the parliament cannot pass a law to release Tymoshenko, you know!" And then they continued to say that Tymoshenko was a stealer... And the main goal is to funnel something into society and whitewash yourself and calm the international community like: "Look, I am doing everything possible, but it does not work."

This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or 112.International and its owners.
Such decision is the response to Syria's recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Georgia has officially begun the procedure of the severance of diplomatic relations with the Syrian Arab Republic as the Foreign Ministry of Georgia reported.

The Syria's recognition of the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia that are intentionally treated as the part of Georgia became the reason of such decision.

The decision on the recognition of the independence and establishment of the diplomatic relations with Abkhazia and South Ossetia was treated by the Foreign Ministry as the violation of the international law and support of the Russian aggression in Georgia.

'Through this step the Syrian regime disregarded the international legal obligation to respect the territorial integrity and the inviolability of internationally recognized borders of the sovereign state. Considering the aforesaid, Georgia initiated the procedures to break off the diplomatic relations with the Syrian Arab Republic', the message said.

The Georgian Foreign Ministry also urged the international community to properly access the actions of the Syrian authorities and respond to them.

As we reported Syria has recognized the independence of the unrecognized republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia and also agreed to establish diplomatic relations.

As it was reported earlier, South Ossetia self-proclaimed its independence on May 29, 1992 in the course of the military aggression with Georgia. Abkhazia has self-proclaimed its independence after the war with Georgia in 1992-1993.

Also, President of Russia Vladimir Putin signed the law ratifying the agreement between Russia and unrecognized South Ossetia as to the order of certain departments of the unrecognized South Ossetian army integrating into Russian Armed Forces. The agreement was signed on March 31, 2017. It envisages that when signing a contract for serving in the Russian army, a citizen must be discharged from service in the so-called 'armed forces of South Ossetia'.
Even if Russia agreed to cooperate, it would not recognize itself as a warring side, offering to negotiate with leaders of the self-proclaimed 'republics' in eastern Ukraine

It is unlikely that UN member countries will be able to start working on the mandate of UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas until the middle of summer of 2018. Volodymyr Yelchenko, the permanent envoy of Ukraine in the UN said this as quoted by the Voice of America.

'I don't think we can expect the beginning of work on the mandate for this operation', he said.

The Ukrainian diplomat added that even if Russia agreed to cooperate, the Kremlin still would not recognize itself as a warring side, offering to negotiate with leaders of the self-proclaimed 'republics' in eastern Ukraine.

'The UN General Assembly's decision is not obligatory. So I don't think it will do any good, except for moral pleasure. I'm not saying this is the road to where. But this is not the way of practical implementation of the idea of the Ukrainian president to create and place the UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas', he said.

According to Yelchenko, even if all these problems are solved, there's still a mission that needs to be shaped. 'What kind of country would send the troops to a hot spot, where they use tanks, cannons and artillery? Who would go there? Of course, it won't happen,' he said.

Russia has been protesting against Ukraine's demand to deploy the UN peacekeeping mission across the entire division line in Donbas, as well as on the militant-held section of the Ukrainian border.
The representatives of Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service assure that within the hunger strike, Sentsovs health did not worsen

Open source

Oleg Sentsov, Ukrainian political prisoner, who is on a hunger strike for a 15th day, agreed to undertake the supportive therapy, as the message on the website of Russias Federal Penitentiary Service.

We inform that for now the convicted Sentsov, who refused to consume food, is under the care of the health workers of the facility he is serving his sentence. At present, Sentsov started receiving a supporting therapy, to which he gave his consent, the message says.

At the same time, the representatives of Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service assure that within the hunger strike, Sentsovs health did not worsen.

For today, his health condition is satisfactory. We talk to the convicted regularly about the negative consequences a long hunger strike causes to the body, the representatives of Russias Federal Penitentiary Service.

As it is known, Ukrainian movie director Oleg Sentsov and Crimean activist Oleksandr Kolchenko were detained by the Russian FSB in the annexed Crimea. Both were taken to Russia. Sentsov was charged with preparing a terrorist act in Crimea and sentenced to 20 years in the high-security penal colony. Kolchenko was sentenced to ten-years-long imprisonment.

In his turn, Sentsov said he was ready to die if his demands are ignored.

Apart from Sentsov, Volodymyr Balukh, another Ukrainian political prisoner, went on a hunger strike. Former safeguard of Dmytro Yarosh Oleksandr Shumkov joined Sentsov.
Open source

The bilateral trade between Ukraine and Germany grew almost by 23% in 2017. Petro Poroshenko, the President of Ukraine claimed this at the joint briefing with Frank Walter-Steinmeier, the President of Germany as 112 Ukraine broadcasted.

'It is possible to say that we have worked well either in the economy. The giant growth of the bilateral trade took place last year, it is almost 23%. It is one of the record levels among many countries and I think, it is a result of the implementation of the Association Agreement, including the full and overall free trade zone, when the Ukrainian and German producers have the unhindered access to the markets and it leads to the significant growth of the trade volumes and, as the first vice-prime-minister of Ukraine reported, reaches eight billion euro', he said.

As we reported German President Frank Walter-Steinmeier pays an official visit to Ukraine today. He has already met Petro Poroshenko and they discussed the Donbas situation and the deployment of the UN peacekeepers.
WASHINGTON, DC., May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Xalles Holdings Inc. (OTC: XALL), a company focusing on accelerating Fintech companies, leveraging Blockchain technology for financial reconciliation, and payment auditing solutions, today announces a significant step in its business strategy through creating additional investor opportunities and liquidity.

During the month of June Xalles will be working with its third party PCAOB certified Auditor (Public Company Accounting Oversight Board) to audit the historical financial statements of the companies that Xalles has recently acquired during the past 6 months in addition to the Xalles Holdings financial statements.

The goal of the auditing work that will begin in early June is to enable the company to return to its previous status of fully SEC Reporting. This step will be taken in preparation for the companys plan to Uplist Xalles to the OTCQB (OTC Markets Quotation Board). The companys specialized SEC counsel is working with the Xalles management team to prepare the appropriate registration statements and other required documentation. The OTCQB market includes higher standards of transparency and will help Xalles accomplish two of its goals of shareholder liquidity and attraction of new investment capital. The company expects the Uplist process to be completed by August 2018.

The company is also exploring the options for a dual listing on an international exchange once the OTCQB Uplisting process has been completed. This will provide greater global investor access to the companys securities.

Xalles Holdings will continue to work in parallel to the auditing and Uplisting processes by acquiring new assets and assembling a team of skilled operators.

About Xalles Holdings Inc. (OTC: XALL)

Xalles Holdings Inc. is a holdings company that focuses on direct investments in disruptive Fintech companies. The company actively seeks acquisition targets with solid management teams and business models, large total attainable markets (TAM), and lucrative exit opportunities to invest and accelerate growth in. Recently, the company has placed emphasis on leveraging Blockchain technologies to provide industry-leading financial reconciliation and auditing solutions, which will allow for the capture of recurring revenue streams over time. For more information visit: http://xalles.com

Visit us at Investors Hangout: https://investorshangout.com/Xalles-Holdings-Inc-XALL-91200/

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Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer:

This press release contains 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. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "ongoing," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would," or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements are not a guarantee of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of the times at, or by, which such performance or results will be achieved. Forward-looking statements are based on information available at the time the statements are made and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainty and other factors that may cause our results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements in this press release. This press release should be considered in light of all filings of the Company that are contained in the Edgar Archives of the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and in OTC Markets at www.otcmarkets.com
The Foreign Ministry of Ukraine has confirmed the car accident with the Ukrainian tourists in Budapest, Hungary. Mariana Betsa, the spokeswoman of the Foreign Ministry reported this on Twitter.

'The car accident took place in Budapest. Unfortunately, the Ukrainian tourists suffered', she wrote.

According to Betsa, preliminary, 28 victims are reported; eight of them were severely injured. The Ukrainian consul provides assistance to the victims.

As we reported a bus with the Ukrainians got in the car accident in Budapest, Hungary. It is stated that the night before a double-decker bus Setra from Ukraine ran into the 3.5 meters height-protector at the speed. As a result, the upper deck was almost destroyed and there were about 20 people.

Earlier the driver of Nissan car, despite the light and sound signaling, drove to the crossing and collided with the train Odesa-Kyiv, which was moving at a speed of 115 km / h. As a result of the incident, one person died and several- were injured.
The politicians will discuss the cooperation, situation in Donbas and UN peacekeeping mission in the conflict zone

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will officially visit Ukraine on May 29-30. This was reported by the press service of the Administration of Ukraines President.

The President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier to Ukraine will officially visit on May 29-30 upon the invitation of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, the message says.

According to the message, the politicians will discuss the issues of bilateral and multilateral cooperation, as well as ways of Germanys further support for Ukraines European and Euro-Atlantic integration.

Special attention will be paid to the situation in Donbas and the question of deploying the UN peacekeeping mission in the conflict zone.

Also, it is planned that Steinmeier will also visit Lviv.

As it was reported earlier, the construction of the German part of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline has begun in Germany. It is noted that the works on the re-excavation and laying of the foundation for the gas receiving stations and the maintenance building have already begun at the docking point of the future pipeline in Lubmin, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern land, at the square of about six hectares.

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.
Chief Military Prosecutor of Ukraine Anatoly Matios has noted at the briefing dedicated to the military justice and the perspectives of its reforming in Ukraine that it is extremely important to create the State Military Justice Bureau (SMJB) as 112 Ukraine broadcasted.

Matios claimed that the creation of the SMJB is the necessary and relevant reform. According to him, it should become the defense of the soldiers in the terms of war.

According to Chief Military Prosecutor, there are about 400, 000 armed people in Ukraine who must die for the motherland, however, they cannot defend their rights, unlike the civilians.

'Any army of the world discusses the direct orders of the commanders and any commander in chief can consult with every corporal on the strategy and tactic of the war. Taking into account the imbalance and controversial, unacceptable situations take place, I should conclude that not the front but home front is rotting in Ukraine', Matios noted.

'As much as it saddens me, but the state is unable to protect people both, at the streets and at homes. Who is defending the civilians? We all see on the TV that they are the public militarized communities, excess power young people who fought for the Ukrainian state or other communities of the underclass people who speak out in the name of democracy whom we recently have seen near the Ukrainian parliament blocking the movement', he added.

According to his convictions, such peaceful rallies of these 'underclass people' can be heavily armed with weaponry and explosives that was illegally taken from the zone of the Donbas Conflict.

Matios also stood for the urgent creation of the military courts' system that should operatively consider the proper criminal cases.

According to Matios, the soldiers should possess a right to be judged not by the civilian courts and the SMJB can become the analog of the military police.

The proper draft law was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on May 21, 2018. According to it, the bureau will expose and put the information about the crimes to the United Register on crimes and hold the pretrial investigation.
The police have detained 52-year-old Ukrainian who was at the wheel of the bus that got in the car accident in Budapest, Hungary as Index reported.

The Budapest police also reported that the criminal proceeding is opened due to the accident.

As we reported a bus with the Ukrainians got in the car accident in Budapest, Hungary. It is stated that the night before a double-decker bus Setra from Ukraine ran into the 3.5 meters height-protector at the speed. As a result, the upper deck was almost destroyed and there were about 20 people.

Later Ukraine's Foreign Ministry confirmed that 28 Ukrainians have suffered in this car accident. The Ukrainian consul provides assistance to the victims.

Earlier the driver of Nissan car, despite the light and sound signaling, drove to the crossing and collided with the train Odesa-Kyiv, which was moving at a speed of 115 km / h. As a result of the incident, one person died and several- were injured.
The Security Service of Ukraine investigates the broadcasting of the military parade on May 9 in the temporarily occupied Donetsk by korrespondent.net

Open source

The Security Service of Ukraine investigates the broadcasting of the military parade on May 9 in the temporarily occupied Donetsk by korrespondent.net. Viktoria Syumar, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Freedom of Speech and Information Policy claimed this on Facebook.

'The SBU will investigate the broadcasting of the ' Victory Parade 2018 in Donetsk People's Republic' from occupied Donetsk. It is an important precedent', she wrote.

Earlier Oleksandr Turchynov, the National Security and Defense Secretary appealed to the SBU with a request to put the mass media that broadcasted the military parade in Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) on the sanctions list.

As we reported Ukraine has suspended the work of the agency RIA News-Ukraine for three years. Ukraine obliged Internet providers to block access to the internet resource of the agency - rian.com.ua.

According to the document, assets of the agency will be blocked within the sanctions - temporary restriction of the right to use and handle property will come into force.

In addition, according to sanctions, the restriction or termination of telecommunication services and the use of public telecommunication networks will take effect.
Four helicopters for rescuers Airbus Helicopters will be delivered from France to Ukraine by the end of 2018. This was provided by the intergovernmental agreement between the countries, the second stage of which was signed by Ukrainian Interior Minister and Secretary of State to the French Minister for the Economy and Finance Delphine Geny-Stephann. This was reported by Ukraines Interior Minister Arsen Avakov on Twitter.

I have signed on behalf of the government the second stage of the agreement on the purchase of Airbus Helicopters together with the Secretary of State to the French Minister for the Economy and Finance Delphine Geny-Stephann. By the end of 2018 we will receive 4, and in total  55 of modern helicopters and the service center for them in Ukraine, Avakov said.

As it was reported earlier, president Petro Poroshenko reported that Ukraine would buy new helicopters for rescuers from France. In particular, the countries representatives signed a statement on intentions on March 23. He also promised that the state will offer the significant support of the rescuers for the improvement of their work efficiency. It was reported, that Ukraine will get 55 Airbus Helicopters for the needs of the Interior Ministry within the cooperation.

The State Emergency Service, the National Guard, the National Police and State Border Guard Service will get new helicopters. According to Interior Ministry, the helicopters will be of three models, H125 for the work in the high mountains, H145 for wok in the hot climate and H225 with the highest indexes of the speed, flight distance and carrying capacity.
The military prosecutors of this department served charges, got the permission for the arrest of Russia's Defense Ministry Sergey Shoigu, his two deputies, Head of Russia's General Staff Valery Gerasimov and his deputy

Since the beginning of the work, Department of Recording of Aggression Crimes against Ukraine of the Military Prosecutor's Office has prosecuted 32 citizens of Russia who fought on the side of the Donbas militants. Anatoly Matios, the Chief Military Prosecutor of Ukraine claimed this as 112 Ukraine broadcasted.

'Since the beginning of the work, Department of Recording of Aggression Crimes against Ukraine of the Military Prosecutor's Office has prosecuted 32 citizens of Russia who fought on the side of the Donbas militants or directly like Russian officers', Matios said.

According to him, the military prosecutors of this department served charges, got the permission for the arrest of Russia's Defense Ministry Sergey Shoigu, his two deputies, Head of Russia's General Staff Valery Gerasimov and his deputy.

'This department of the Military Prosecutor's Office served charges to the chairman and 18 judges of the Russian Constitutional Court for the assistance in the annexation and seizure of Ukrainian Crimea', Matios noted.

Earlier Matios claimed that agents of Russian special services designed and conducted terrorist acts, aiming to kill 1,600 Ukrainian law enforcers and high-ranked officials.
President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier has commented the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline at the German territory. He assures that the concerns of Ukraine are groundless. Steinmeier claimed this at the joint briefing with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko as 112 Ukraine broadcasted.

'You should not accuse us even if we talk about the Nord Stream 2; we also talk about the future and safety of Ukraine. you have seen that Germany make the efforts to provide the transit of the natural gas through Ukraine and the meetings take place in the EU for this; I hope that they will yield the results in the future. The concerns of Ukraine that it will stop to be the transit state in the future are groundless', he said.

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.

On May 18, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Russia's President Vladimir Putin met in Sochi. There Putin claimed that the transit of the Russian gas through Ukraine will be continued after the establishment of the Nord Stream 2 if it is economically reasonable.

At the same time, Angela Merkel stated that after the construction of the Nord Stream 2 Ukraines role as a transit state should be preserved.

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.
PLEASE NOTE!

Due to the March 23, 2020 NM DOH Public Health Order, These Event Listings Are Not Accurate!

All non-essential businesses are closed, public gatherings are prohibited!

(One day some of these events will be rescheduled or will resume, but they are not happening now!)
Vessels travel from Puerto Rico to the Dominican Republic and on to the Virgin Islands.



Crowley Maritime Corp. announced Tuesday that it has launched a feeder shipping service connecting San Juan, Puerto Rico; Rio Haina, Dominican Republic; and St. Croix and St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

With the new service, vessels depart Rio Haina on Sundays and arrive in San Juan on Tuesdays. After departure on Thursdays, cargo arrives in St. Thomas and St. Croix on Fridays, before the vessel moves to the Dominican Republic again for Sunday operations.

Customers can ship cargo in all types of equipment, including 20- and 40-foot refrigerated and dry containers, 45-foot-by-102-inch dry containers; and flat racks. Supporting the ocean freight services are employees at the companys San Juan, Rio Haina and Virgin Islands facilities who can streamline the handling and delivery of goods to their final destinations using a full portfolio of supply chain services, including warehousing, Customs clearance and trucking.

Earlier this month Crowley announced a new, direct northbound sailing connecting Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic and Port Everglades, Fla.
CALGARY, Alberta, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- West High Yield (W.H.Y.) Resources Ltd. ("West High Yield" or the "Company") (TSXV:WHY) is pleased to announce that it has submitted the Project Description for the Record Ridge Industrial Mineral Mine Application to the British Columbia Ministry of Energy Mines and Petroleum Resources (MEMPR). This submission initiates the permitting engagement and review process, which will be led by MEMPR and include other government agencies including the British Columbia Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and Ministry of Forests, Lands Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development, together with First Nations.



The Company is seeking permits authorizing construction, operation, closure and reclamation of an Industrial Mineral Mine with annual extraction of up to 249,000 tonnes/year of Magnesium-rich serpentinite for a two-year period. Magnesium-rich material would be transported off-site to a processing facility to produce magnesium oxide.

Magnesium oxide and magnesium metal are used in many industries including automotive, aerospace, agriculture, consumer goods, health care, construction and has industrial applications, including steel production, aluminum alloy, and as a soil additive. Magnesium metal is lightweight (33% lighter than aluminum) with high strength properties, ideal for automotive weight reduction design and is also currently in design testing for electrical batteries.

The permitting engagement and review process is expected to be complete within six months. The Company is seeking key authorizations under the BC Mines Act and BC Environmental Management Act.

The Company also announces the release of its financial results and Management Discussion and Analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2018 which have been filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

About West High Yield

West High Yield is a publicly traded junior mining exploration company focused on the acquisition, exploration and development of mineral resource properties in Canada with a primary objective to locate and develop economic gold, nickel and magnesium properties.

For further information please contact:

Frank Marasco

President and Chief Executive Officer

West High Yield (W.H.Y.) Resources Ltd.

Telephone: (403) 660-3488

Facsimile: (403) 206-7159

Email: frank@whyresources.com

Dwayne Vinck

Chief Financial Officer

West High Yield (W.H.Y.) Resources Ltd.

Telephone: (403) 257-2637

Facsimile: (403) 206-7159

Email: vinck@shaw.ca

Reader Advisory

This press release contains forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. The use of any of the words "expect", "anticipate", "continue", "estimate", "objective", "ongoing", "may", "will", "project", "should", "believe", "plans", "intends" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking information or statements. More particularly and without limitation, this press release contains forward looking statements and information concerning the Companys Industrial Mineral Mine application process, the Companys proposed business operations and the timing regarding the permitting engagement and review process. The forward-looking statements and information are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the Company. Although the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking statements and information are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward looking statements and information because the Company can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct.

Forward-looking information is based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made, and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking information. Some of the risks and other factors that could cause the results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information include, but are not limited to: general economic conditions in Canada and globally; industry conditions, including governmental regulation; failure to obtain industry partner and other third party consents and approvals, if and when required; the availability of capital on acceptable terms; the need to obtain required approvals from regulatory authorities; stock market volatility; competition for, among other things, skilled personnel and supplies; changes in tax laws; and the other factors. Readers are cautioned that this list of risk factors should not be construed as exhaustive.

Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on this forward-looking information, which is given as of the date hereof, and to not use such forward-looking information for anything other than its intended purpose. The Company undertakes no obligation to update publicly or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law.

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 press release.
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenias minister of transport, communication and information technologies Ashot Hakobyan received General Director of the South Caucasus Railway CJSC Sergey Valko, the ministry told Armenpress.

During the meeting minister Hakobyan highlighted the role and significance of the railway for the economic development and in particularly emphasized the necessity to promote the railway transportation field, as well as expand the ongoing activities and projects.

In his turn Sergey Valko congratulated the minister on assuming office and introduced the activities which contributed to increasing the speed of trains by cutting the duration of the traffic.

At the meeting the officials attached importance to the ongoing works aimed at increasing the cargo transportation volumes and developing infrastructures.

The sides also exchanged views on the upcoming programs, expected investments in railway transport field and a number of other issues.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. A group of students have launched a demonstration outside the Yerevan State University (YSU) in downtown Yerevan demanding the resignation of the rector  Aram Simonyan. The students also demand a financial audit to be carried out in the university, a temporary suspension of the student council and the union and the dissolution of the board of trustees.

The students are calling on their fellow students and lecturers to join them and declare a strike.

One of the initiatiors of the rally - Davit Petrosyan  a member of the For Academic Development initiative, says that the university has serious problems, such as low level education, poor building conditions, inefficient spending, absence of academic environment and others.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. The interim agreement between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran can be initiated already from 2019, EEC Chairman of the Board Tigran Sargsyan told TASS.

We signed an interim agreement at the Astana conference, which is leading to the creation of the free trade zone with Iran. Now we have launched the ratification process in our countries, we hope that this agreement will come into force already from New Year, he said.

The agreement is signed, now it needs to be ratified in the parliament. Our experts say that it might take approximately six months. It will come into force after ratification. The same goes for China, Sargsyan said.

Sargsyan reminded that the EEU is currently negotiating on creating free trade zones with Israel, Singapore, India, Egypt and Serbia.

English translator/editor: Stepan Kocharyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan introduced new head of the State Oversight Service Davit Sanasaryan to the staff, the government told Armenpress.

PM Pashinyan said the State Oversight Service has quite broad powers by law and expressed hope that Davit Sanasaryans activity will be productive.

The main task of the Service is to keep under control the effectiveness of state expenditures, the implementation process of the governments decisions and the PMs instructions, including also in the anti-corruption field. I am convinced that the State Oversight Service will play a great role for the implementation of our political goal which is to eradicate corruption in Armenia. This is a very important issue and is inter-related with the efficiency of the state expenditures and implementation of decisions, PM Pashinyan said. He stated that in order to achieve quick results, its first of all necessary to adopt right decisions and then to implement them. The PM attached importance to the increase of state revenues and stated that tangible and noticeable changes are needed in Armenia. Davit Sanasaryan is one of the active participants and leaders of the peaceful, velvet and national revolution in Armenia. I think the breath of that revolution should be expressed in the state oversight field. Mr. Sanasaryan, I wish you success. Our people are waiting for results from us, and we should not disappoint them in any field of our activity, the Prime Minister said.

In his turn Davit Sanasaryan thanked the PM for the high trust and considered honor to take part in the process of promoting the states foundations. Authorized by the Constitution and laws the Service will carry out a serious activity, and I assure that the state will only benefit from this. The main mission of this newly-established State Oversight Service should be conducting control on the decisions and instructions of the government, the prime minister, contributing to effective expenditure of state resources, discovering and eradicating corruption which is important, and our citizens are waiting for this, Davit Sanasaryan said, adding that the State Oversight Service will focus on increasing the efficiency of the state bodies, installing new culture in citizen-state relations and etc.

The PM summed up his remarks, emphasizing the correct interpretation of instructions and messages. We often face cases when broad, creative comments are given to the instructions which have nothing to do with the essence of the problem. Our political statements often are being interpreted wrong. In particular, what we have said, now we again say and will continue stating that there should be no vendettas in Armenia: many interpret this as a green light for the continuation of old traditions. This record is very important: we have conducted a revolution of love and solidarity, but if anyone tries to describe our position as weakness, he/she will feel the power of that revolution, state and law. In other words, no one should dare to describe our positivism as weakness, PM Pashinyan stated.

The PM added that all those who will try to keep the Republic of Armenia and its people in the swamp of corruption, permissiveness and illegal acts, will face a crushing counter response.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Human Rights Defender of Armenia Arman Tatoyan on May 28 met with Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe (CoE) Dunja Mijatovic in Strasbourg, the Ombudsmans Office told Armenpress.

Arman Tatoyan congratulated Dunja Mijatovic on assuming office and introduced his staffs activity during the May-April events in Armenia. During those days the CoE Commissioners support and constant contact with the Armenian Ombudsman was specifically important.

During the meeting the Ombudsmans work in connection with the protection of rights of peaceful protest participants, discussion of protests against the Police actions and etc were discussed.

The CoE Human Rights Commissioner attached importance to the Human Rights Defenders role, as well as the effective work in the protection of rights and assessments.

At the end of the meeting the sides agreed to strengthen the cooperation and further intensify the joint work.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Finance minister of Armenia Atom Janjughazyan informs that the state debt has stabilized thanks to the restraining fiscal policy, reports Armenpress.

During the introduction of the 2017 state budget performance at the joint session of the parliamentary standing committees, the finance minister said at the moment the state debt comprises 6.8 billion USD, from which the foreign debt comprises more than 4 billion USD.

The level of overall debt is 58.8% of the GDP, there is a certain increase in dynamics. This is conditioned by the fiscal policy that aims at stabilizing the debt, he added.

Commenting on the issue of the management of the foreign debt, the minister said the state debt-GDP ratio is assessed as manageable if it is less than 50%: in Armenias case it comprised 47.5% last year. The next is the net current value-GDP ratio of the state debt: in this sense Armenia had 40.9% increase for that figure in 2017 which continues to classify Armenia as a country with a low debt burden, the finance minister stated.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. The roads are open, the infrastructures are mainly improved in Syrias Aleppo, the life has returned to its normal course, Jirair Reisian  ethnic Armenian lawmaker of the Syrian parliament, told a press conference in Armenia, stating that now the situation has significantly improved in the city compared to the past.

There were days when we had no water, electricity for a long time. Today the situation is different, we have electricity more than 10 hours a day, the issue of the water supply has been solved. The city authorities have carried out significant works on cleaning the city from stones and garbage. In other words, we can state that the life has returned to its normal course, the MP said.

The ethnic Armenian lawmaker stated that during the Syrian war the country suffered great damages, today the government faces major material duties. Nevertheless, the government together with the people carries out activities to restore the country. As for the achievements of the Syrian Army, the lawmaker said today the countrys most important territories are liberated.

Talking about the movement of Syrian-Armenians in Aleppo, Jirair Reisian said there are already positive trends, a lot of families have taken practical steps and returned to the city. The returnees are both from Lebanon and Western countries. Some of Armenians restore their previous activities and some of them launch new ones. The Armenian community with its national centers has launched the restoration process of Armenian centers and structures.

Aleppo was liberated on December 12, 2016.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Armenias Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on May 29 received EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, the PMs Office told Armenpress.

During the meeting PM Pashinyan attached importance to the constant development of relations and the constructive dialogue with the European Union in all spheres. He highlighted the need for the ratification of the Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by the EU member states as soon as possible and expressed confidence that it will enable to give new impetus to the mutual partnership and will contribute to making reforms in different fields in Armenia.

Toivo Klaar highlighted the necessity to boost the Armenia-EU ties and expressed hope that before the completion of the final ratification process of the agreement, the bilateral mutual partnership will continue expanding also by the temporary implementation of the agreement.

During the meeting the officials discussed a number of issues relating to the Nagorno Karabakh conflict. PM Pashinyan said Armenia is committed to the peaceful settlement of the conflict within the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairmanship format and attached importance to the Artsakh civil societys engagement in trust-building actions which will contribute to forming a constructive atmosphere and the negotiation process.

Nikol Pashinyan and Toivo Klaar exchanged views on a number of issues of bilateral interest during the meeting.

English translator/editor: Aneta Harutyunyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. President of Armenia Armen Sarkissian received on May 29 EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar, ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Presidents Office.

President Sarkissian highlighted the continuous development of relations and constructive dialogue with the EU. He noted that the CEPA creates new opportunities for partnership.

The interlocutors exchanged ideas over the settlement process of Nagorno Karabakh conflict. The President said that Armenia is committed to the negotiation process brokered by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-chairs and is interested to continue the talks for reaching a peaceful settlement of the conflict. The sides also spoke about the necessity of establishing an atmosphere of peace and highlighted the involvement of civil societies in the actions aimed at the establishment of an atmosphere of mutual confidence.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
PARKER, Colo., May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Assure Holdings Corp. (the Company or Assure) (TSXV:IOM) (OTCQB:ARHH) is providing an update relating to the appointment of its new auditor and an update relating to the Management Cease Trade Order (MCTO), effective May 1, 2018, previously applied for and granted by the British Columbia Securities Commission (the BCSC) in anticipation that the Company would not meet the filing deadline for its audited annual financial statements, management discussion and analysis (MD&A) and CEO and CFO certificates for the year ended December 31, 2017 (the Required Annual Filings) in accordance with National Instrument 51-102 Continuous Disclosure Requirements.



Update relating to Appointment of Auditor

As previously disclosed on May 15, 2018, the Company appointed Squar Milner LLP (Squar Milner) as its new independent registered public auditing firm for its Required Annual Filings. Audit field work commenced the week of May 21, 2018.

In accordance with National Instrument 51-102  Ongoing Requirements for Issuers and Insiders (NI 51-102), the notice of change of auditor, together with the required letter received from Squar Milner LLP (the Reporting Package) have been reviewed and accepted by the board of directors (the Board) on May 29, 2018 and filed on www.sedar.com. Although the Company requested the letter required by Section 4.11(6)(ii) of NI 51-102 from its former auditor, EKS&H LLLP (the Former Auditor), it has yet to receive the same.

As disclosed in the Reporting Package, the Former Auditor previously advised the Company that there was a reportable event with respect to unresolved issues (as those terms are defined in NI 51-102) in connection with their resignation, the details of which are set out below:

The former President and director of the Company, Matthew Willer, failed to provide a draft of the financial statements of the Company for the quarter ended September 30, 2017 (the Q3 Financial Statements). The Former Auditor did not advise the audit committee (the AC) or the Board of Mr. Willers apparent repeated failure to respond to their requests. For reasons that are not clear, the Former Auditor decided not to contact an alternative executive in the Company who could have provided the Q3 Financial Statements.

Mr. Willer used his position as a fiduciary within the Company to access funds in excess of those due and owing to him. The Board became aware of Mr. Willers unauthorized use of Company funds and created an independent special committee (IC) to undertake an internal investigation. The amount of the Company funds accessed by Mr. Willer was not material financially. However, Mr. Willers breach of his position as a fiduciary was and is of material concern to the IC, the AC and Board. As a precautionary measure pending completion of the internal investigation, the IC recommended the Board to remove Mr. Willers access to Company funds. The Board did so.

Shortly prior to commencing the audit fieldwork with the Former Auditor, the AC disclosed to the Former Auditor the results of the internal investigation and specifically Mr. Willers unauthorized use of Company funds. Unfortunately, the Former Auditor did not provide the AC with an opportunity to consider or respond to their concern prior to the delivery of their resignation letter dated March 7, 2018.

In addition to Mr. Willers unauthorized use of Company funds, Mr. Willer engaged in actions apparently designed to conceal other inappropriate conduct. For example, Mr. Willer concealed from the Company the service of a garnishment order arising out of a settled litigation claim unrelated to the Company. The steps taken by Mr. Willer prevented the Company from discovering the existence of, and responding in a timely manner to, the garnishment order.

The Former Auditors concern regarding the significant increase in amounts owed to the Company by Preston Parsons, the founder and a director of the Company, and Mr. Willer, as presented in the December 31, 2017 preliminary trial balance and as previously disclosed in the Q3 Financial Statements. These amounts include a commingling of personal and business expenses charged to the Companys credit card, the majority of which are owed by Mr. Parsons. The amounts owed by Mr. Parsons, calculated as of May 15, 2018, and subject to adjustment based on further analysis, were disclosed in the Companys news release disseminated on May 15, 2018. Mr. Parsons has agreed in writing to repay all amounts owed to the Company and is working with the Company to finalize a debt settlement agreement and repay the Company in the short term. The Company is also endeavouring to recover all amounts owed by Mr. Willer. Controls have been implemented, and as appropriate additional controls will be implemented on an ongoing basis, to prevent commingling and/or other improper use of Company funds in the future.

The AC requested an opportunity for a representative of the Company to first inform the recently appointed Chief Financial Officer, Peter Csapo of the results of the internal investigation pertaining to Mr. Willers conduct prior to the Former Auditor discussing such details with Mr. Csapo. To that end, the AC requested that the Former Auditor allow them a reasonable period of time to do so. The Former Auditor interpreted the ACs request as a direction to withhold the results of the investigation from the new Chief Financial Officer for an indeterminate amount of time. The AC rejects this position.

In addition to the appointment of Squar Milner, Assure continues to evaluate the forensic accountant review conducted by Rubin Brown LLP; the initial results of which were disclosed on May 15, 2018 by way of a press release. The Company also previously announced the appointment of John A. Farlinger (CPA, CA) as Executive Chairman and Interim Chief Executive Officer of the Company effective as of May 15, 2018. The Company remains committed to remediating its control environment over financial reporting and has committed to resolving the material weaknesses leading to the errors mentioned above.

Update relating to Management Cease Trade Order

The MCTO will remain in effect until the Company is no longer in default with respect to its filing requirements and the BCSC lifts the MCTO. The MCTO restricts all trading in securities of the Company, whether direct or indirect, by management of the Company until such time as the Required Annual Filings have been filed by the Company. The MCTO does not generally affect the ability of shareholders who are not insiders of the Company to trade their securities. The audit process is now underway and the Company is working closely with Squar Milner and expects to provide a further update regarding when it can expect to file the Required Annual Filings.

The Company intends to satisfy the provisions of the alternative information guidelines set out in National Policy 12-203  Management Cease Trade Orders by continuing to issue by-weekly default status reports in the form of further news releases which will be filed on www.sedar.com, until the Required Annual Filings have been filed. The Company intends to file, to the extent applicable, its next default status report on or about June 12, 2018.

About Assure Holdings Corp.

Assure Holdings Corp. is a Colorado-based company that works with neurosurgeons and orthopedic spine surgeons to provide a turnkey suite of services that support intraoperative neuromonitoring activities during invasive surgeries. Assure employs its own staff of technologists and uses its own state-of-the-art monitoring equipment, handles 100% of intraoperative neuromonitoring scheduling and setup, and bills for all technical services provided. While Assure focuses primarily on supporting spinal and vascular surgeries, plans are in place to support other classes of medicine that rely on the standard of care that intraoperative neuromonitoring provides. For more information, visit the Companys website at assureIOM.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains certain statements that may constitute forward-looking information under applicable securities laws. All statements, other than those of historical fact, which address activities, events, outcomes, results, developments, performance or achievements that Assure anticipates or expects may or will occur in the future (in whole or in part) should be considered forward-looking information. Such information may involve, but is not limited to, comments with respect to strategies, expectations, planned operations and future actions of the Company. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or variations (including negative variations) of such words and phrases, or statements formed in the future tense or indicating that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" (or other variations of the forgoing) be taken, occur, be achieved, or come to pass. Forward-looking information is based on currently available competitive, financial and economic data and operating plans, strategies or beliefs as of the date of this news release, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Assure to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking information. Such factors may be based on information currently available to Assure, including information obtained from third-party industry analysts and other third-party sources, and are based on management's current expectations or beliefs regarding future growth, results of operations, future capital (including the amount, nature and sources of funding thereof) and expenditures. Any and all forward-looking information contained in this press release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement.

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.

The securities of the Corporation have not been and will not be registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended and may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration or an applicable exemption from the registration requirement. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy nor shall there be any sale of the securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

Contacts

Peter Csapo, Chief Financial Officer

Assure Holdings Corp.

(720) 287-3093

Peter.Csapo@assureiom.com
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Defense Minister of Armenia Davit Tonoyan received the delegation led by EU Special Representative for the South Caucasus and the Crisis in Georgia Toivo Klaar. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia, the main topic of discussions was the situation over Nagorno Karabakc conflict.

The Defense Minister informed the EU Special Representative about the developments and the current situation on Artakh-Azerbaijan contact line and the state border of Armenia and Azerbaijan. As an important factor for productive talks on the conflict settlement Davit Tonoyan highlighted implementation of confidence building measures on the front line.

Toivo Klaar reaffirmed the EU position on supporting an exclusively peaceful and negotiated settlement of the conflict.

The interlocutors exchanged views on the possibility of activating defense cooperation between Armenia and the EU.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
YEREVAN, MAY 29, ARMENPRESS. Foreign Minister of Armenia Zohrab Mnatsakanyan sent a message on the occasion of the Europe Day. As ARMENPRESS was informed from the press service of the MFA Armenia, the message runs as follows,

Distinguished Ambassador Switalski,

Excellences,

Dear all,

I would like to congratulate all of us on the occasion of Europe Day and thank the Delegation of the European Union to Armenia for putting together this celebration concert.

Europe Day symbolizes peace and unity, which the modern Europe embodies the best. Indeed, lessons learned by Europe, which experienced two devastating world wars, can be a guiding way forward for the entire humanity. A stable, peaceful and developing society and a true citizen can be shaped only through respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, tolerance, democracy and other common values.

Since ancient times, Armenia has been a part of European civilization and tried to make its modest, but visible contribution to the latter's development. Today, Armenia continues expanding its ties with the European Union and EU member states, strengthening its position in European structures, in particular in the Council of Europe, and contributing to the work of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Significant developments have been taking place in our relations with the EU since last years celebration of the Europe Day. Armenia-EU Comprehensive and Enhanced Partnership Agreement (CEPA) was signed in November, 2017 and was ratified by Armenia in April of this year. It is not just a new legal instrument regulating relations between Armenia and EU, but an expression of partnership based on the common system of values. In February, we signed the Armenia-EU Partnership Priorities document, which along with the CEPA is the main guideline for further development of bilateral cooperation.

I can certainly say that the new agreement is a unique development plan with its clear goals and timetable, and its successful implementation will have a profound impact on almost all areas of public life.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the interest around Europe Day events held in Yerevan and in our regions is evident. I want this interest and the approaches to spread across the whole spectrum of Armenia-EU relations, our entire agenda and its successful implementation.

Armenias new government, formed on the wave of the nationwide love and solidarity movement, is determined to continue close partnership with the European Union, remains committed to the established agenda, our commitment and vision to regional stability, peace and sustainable development.

Happy Europe Day!

Thank you.

English translator/editor: Tigran Sirekanyan
Nicaraguan rights activist and actor Bianca Jagger accused President Daniel Ortega of waging a "dirty war" against his own people Tuesday in unrest that has killed at least 87 people. Jagger was visiting Managua to publicize the launch of an Amnesty International report which said the government was using paramilitary mobs to suppress opposition protests. Jagger, who witnessed an attack on university students on Monday, said government security forces "that are prepared for war" were killing young people "like dogs." "What we have here is a dirty war" against students and an unarmed civilian population, Jagger told a news conference. "Here we do not have a Sandinista revolution, we have a civic demand" for justice and democracy. At least 87 people have been killed and almost 900 wounded since protests began on April 18 against Ortega and his party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN). The government and opposition agreed overnight Monday to resume Church-mediated peace talks that stalled amid fresh violence last week. - 'Shoot to kill' - The Amnesty report, entitled "Shoot to Kill: Nicaragua's Strategy to Repress Protest," said the armed mobs were often made up of pro-government students and motor bikers, sometimes identifiable by clothing linking them to the authorities. "These pro-government armed groups were apparently used by the government to generate disorder, make threats and carry out attacks, including some that may have proved fatal," said the report. Jagger told the news conference that young people protesting in the streets and universities "are willing to die so that we have free elections." "The time has come for us to ask for an obtain justice...today I say that the only solution that exists for Nicaragua is for Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo to leave" and allow free elections to be held. Jagger was visiting the rector of Managua's University of Engineering on Monday when student protesters there came under attack from security forces. "We heard mortars, bullets and then saw member of the population who came to help students on motorcycles," she told reporters. - 'Violent and Radicalized' - Amnesty's Americas director Erika Guevara-Rosas told AFP that while repression had become the "common denominator" of the government's response to protests, "we had never documented such a violent and radicalized situation, with groups that are clearly in collusion with the state authorities." "Sadly, we see a perverse parallel in that a president who in the 1980s fought against the dictatorship of (Anastasio) Somoza -- which also used repressive measures that cost many lives -- is now a political leader using a systematic policy of violence against a citizenry that opposes him," she said. The Amnesty report said that on the very first day of protests, security camera footage appeared to show riot police bringing in two truckloads of rocks and distributing them to pro-government groups to hurl at demonstrators. The protests that broke out in April were initially triggered by now-aborted reforms to the near-bankrupt social security system, but the unrest quickly broadened into a rejection by many Nicaraguans of Ortega and his wife and vice-president, Rosario Murillo, who are seen as autocratic. Ortega, a former guerrilla who first ruled between 1979 and 1990 before returning as president 11 years ago, has kept power by maintaining leftist rhetoric while ensuring an accommodation with powerful private industry and keeping up trade with the United States. Bianca Jagger, who witnessed an attack on university students on Monday, said government security forces "that are prepared for war" were killing young people "like dogs" A supporter of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and his Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) party, fires a home-made mortar during a gathering to show their support to the president
Nguyen Truong Chinh proudly holds up intricately crafted animals, flowers and hearts -- secret gifts made from plastic bags by a son on Vietnam's death row. The palm-sized creations that his son and other inmates have furtively made and smuggled out of their solitary cells offer a rare glimpse of prison life in Vietnam, believed to be one of the world's leading executioners. They're also an emotional lifeline for desperate parents fighting to free the children they say have been wrongly convicted. "Any time we receive the gifts from my son I feel like he's here with me, like he's come back home," Chinh told AFP, clenching his jaw to hold back tears. His 35-year-old son Nguyen Van Chuong, convicted of murdering a police officer a decade ago, is one of a handful of prisoners known to have made the artwork that is officially banned on death row. The families suspect they made the pieces with discarded plastic bags passed on by fellow prisoners, shredded and woven into figurines. They were once smuggled out by prisoners released after serving their terms but relatives stopped receiving them a few years ago, leading Chinh and other parents to fear guards have cracked down on the forbidden prison pastime. They're too scared to ask about the practice during brief monthly visits closely monitored by prison staff. But Chinh says the art still drives his decade-long fight to free his son, who he insists was nowhere near the scene of the crime he was convicted of. "When I see the animals, I know somehow that my son is stable enough to create these things, that he is mentally strong," said Chinh, sitting with a bag full of documents on his son's case. "They motivate our fight for justice." - Leading executioner - Little is known about Vietnam's prison system, but in a rare report last year the Ministry of Public Security said 429 people were executed between August 2013 and June 2016. That is an average of 147 per year -- putting Vietnam among the world's top executioners along with China and Iran. Details about prison conditions are scarce and media access heavily restricted. But the law requires death row inmates to be held in solitary confinement and monitored around the clock. Prisoners deemed "dangerous" have one foot shackled for most of the day, released only for 15 minutes to bathe inside their cell, where they also eat and use the toilet. "In many cases, acts of torture, coupled with the denial of medical care, have resulted in deaths in custody that are almost never investigated by the authorities," Andrea Giorgetta from International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) told AFP. The MPS report said 36 death row inmates died behind bars between 2011 and 2016, without saying how. In letters to his family, Chuong said he was tortured in custody: hung upside down and naked with a dirty sock in his mouth and beaten during interrogation. Police electrocuted his genitals and prodded him with needles until he confessed under duress, he wrote. Vietnam's foreign ministry rejected allegations of torture as "false information" in a statement to AFP and said it does not do anything to harm the "honour and dignity" of inmates. - Determined to fight - Relatives of the death row artists say their work offers a necessary diversion from constant fear of execution. Prisoners are given little notice before their execution, which since 2010 has been carried out by lethal injection. Before then, inmates were awakened before dawn, given a final meal and a cigarette, tied to a post and shot by five officers, with one final "humane shot" to the head, according to a 2016 report by the Vietnam Committee on Human Rights. Today locally manufactured drugs are used to kill prisoners, though advocates complained of inhumane deaths after a man reportedly took two hours to die in 2011. It's an unimaginable end for the families who refuse to give up hope their sons will one day be freed. Nguyen Thi Loan has sent more than 1,500 letters to the government proclaiming the innocence of her son Ho Duy Hai, 32, and gave up her land, home and job as a vendor to fight for his release. "I'm determined to seek justice and fairness for Ho Duy Hai until my last breath," she said of her son who was jailed over the murder of two women in 2008. His scheduled execution was called off at the 11th hour in 2014 by the president, raising hopes his case could be reopened. In his earlier years in prison, Hai sent shrimp, fish and miniature horses as gifts to his lawyers, former teachers and relatives. But she hasn't received one in years and fears jailers have banned the practice. "Making those gifts didn't harm anyone. Why won't they let my son do it?" she told AFP in tears. Supporters hope to raise awareness about Hai's case through his artwork, which was put on display alongside Chuong's pieces earlier this year at an underground show by activist artist Thinh Nguyen. He started collecting the pieces from families years ago after he met them outside government offices calling for their sons' release. "When I put these animals on show, their stories are known," Thinh said. "I look at these and I see a lot of hope." Nguyen Truong Chinh shares some of the intricately crafted animals made by his son on death row The artworks are believed to be made from discarded plastic bags passed on by fellow prisoners, shredded and woven into figurines Vietnamese artist Thinh Nguyen with a deer made by an inmate on Vietnam's death row at his studio in Hanoi Nguyen Truong Chinh says the art drives his decade-long fight to free his son, who he says was nowhere near the scene of the crime he was convicted of 'When I see the animals, I know somehow that my son is stable enough to create these things, that he is mentally strong,' says Nguyen Truong Chinh
French magazine Le Point said it had suffered harassment and intimidation by supporters of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after it labelled him "The Dictator" on its front cover. Police were deployed in the southern city of Avignon over the weekend after a group of pro-Erdogan activists attempted to remove, then cover up advertisements for the magazine at newsstands. Another poster of the front cover -- a portrait of Erdogan above the headline "The Dictator. How far will Erdogan go?" -- was targeted at a newspaper kiosk in the town of Valence on Sunday, Le Point said. "After a week of harassment, insults, intimidation and anti-Semitic slurs and threats towards us on social media, now has come the moment when supporters of the AKP (Erdogan's party) are attacking symbols of freedom of expression and diversity in the press," Le Point said on its website. President Emmanuel Macron rallied behind the magazine Monday calling the harassment "totally unacceptable". "You cannot put a price on freedom of the press, without it, it's dictatorship," he tweeted. The left-leaning weekly, one of France's most popular news magazines, published an investigation into the Turkish strongman in its latest edition which also included an editorial asking: "Is Erdogan a new Hitler?". Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he co-founded in 2001, are seeking another mandate ahead of snap parliamentary and presidential polls on June 24. The Turkish president imposed a state of emergency following an attempted coup in July 2016 which has sparked a crackdown affecting "hundreds of thousands of people", including killings and torture, according to the UN rights office. The report in March this year also warned about "a continued erosion of the rule of law and deterioration of the human rights situation", including the arrests of hundreds of journalists and opposition members. Ankara slammed the findings as "biased" and "unacceptable". - 'Unacceptable breach' - Christophe Deloire, the head of media freedom group Reporters without Borders, said that the incidents in France were "isolated but have a strong symbolic resonance." One of the leading figures in France's ruling Republic on the Move party, Richard Ferrand, called the protests in southern France an "unacceptable breach of the freedom of expression." "We are not going to tolerate in France that the front cover of a magazine be somehow censored under pressure," he told the France 3 channel on Sunday. Many European countries are home to large Turkish-origin or migrant communities, but Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have barred Turkish politicians from electioneering in their countries. Around three million expatriate Turks are allowed to vote in the elections next month, including 1.4 million in Germany, and they are seen as a valuable source of support by Erdogan's party. A year ago Germany and other European countries also banned a series of planned Turkish campaign events for a referendum that extended Erdogan's powers. Erdogan at the time denounced Germany's "Nazi practices" and accused it of harbouring Kurdish "terrorists" and plotters of the failed coup against him. Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was described as "The Dictator" on the cover of a French weekly, to the ire of his supporters
Conservative former president Alvaro Uribe, who opposed the FARC peace deal, exerts a powerful influence on voters in Colombia, but the left was still able to achieve a record score in Sunday's first round of the presidential election, in which turnout was sharply higher than usual. Here are five factors that could influence the June 17 runoff between Uribe-backed conservative Ivan Duque and leftist Gustavo Petro. The winner succeeds Juan Manuel Santos, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who leaves office in August. 1. The power of Uribe Duque garnered 39.14 percent of the vote on Sunday, making him the top vote-getter but still short of an outright win. His success is based in part on the popularity of his mentor, the former president and now senator Alvaro Uribe. The vote "again shows the importance of Uribismo," said analyst Andres Macias of the Externado University. It was the third time that Uribe, who waged an all-out war against the FARC as president from 2002 to 2010, has found himself at the center of a presidential race. In 2010, Uribe backed Santos, his former defense minister, to succeed him as president. After Santos won the presidency, the two men had a bitter falling out and in 2014 Uribe threw his support to Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, who lost to Santos in a runoff. Now, Uribe is championing Duque's presidential bid, and appears on the brink of reclaiming power through his new protege. 2. Alliances will be crucial Alliances will play a key role in the second round. Duque ran with conservative former minister Marta Lucia Ramirez as his vice presidential candidate, with the support of evangelical Christians as well as the far-right. On Sunday night, he appeared to extend a hand to the former center-right vice president German Vargas Lleras, who came fourth with just 7.2 percent of the vote, and whose party is the third largest in Congress. Petro, who came in second with 25.08 percent of the vote, hopes he can draw on support from divided centrists when he faces off against Duque. But neither the ex-mayor of Medellin, Sergio Fajardo (third with 23.7 percent), nor former peace negotiator Humberto de la Calle (2.06 percent) have come out to support him. Petro may also be able to lure votes from the 47 percent of the electorate that did not turn out in the first round. Typically, participation increases in the second round. The turnout in the first round was an already high 53 percent. "The alliance that Duque will very soon be seeking will be with Vargas Lleras, while Fajardo and De la Calle will be difficult to convince," said political analyst Sebastian Bitar of Andes University. 3. The peace factor The future of the historic peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a guerrilla group turned political party, has emerged as a key and divisive issue in the elections. Duque has vowed to rewrite the accord if elected, arguing that rebel leaders got off too lightly and calling for a "Colombia where peace coincides with justice." For that, he would be able to count on the support of Uribe's Democratic Center party, which swept legislative elections in March and now enjoys a near majority in the Congress. Key aspects of the peace accord, including a system to judge ex-guerrillas and military officers responsible for crimes during the conflict and agrarian reform, have yet to be implemented by the Congress. Duque also wants to review the dialogue launched with the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas. Petro has said he would honor the FARC accord and supports talks with the ELN but he lacks a base of support in Congress. 4. The success of the left The left on Sunday scored its best ever performance in a Colombian presidential election, a significant achievement in a country traditionally governed by the right. Petro, an ex-mayor of Bogota and a former member of the M-19 guerrilla group, picked up 4.8 million votes, enough to send him into the runoff with Duque. That beat the previous best by a leftist presidential candidate, in 2006, when Carlos Gaviria received 2.6 million votes but was defeated in the first round by Uribe. But Petro's sympathies for the leftist policies espoused by Hugo Chavez, the late Venezuelan leader, has hurt him with Colombian voters at a time when Venezuela is in deep turmoil. 5. Turnout at over 50 percent Turnout rarely surpasses 50 percent in the country of 49 million people. But on Sunday, 53.29 percent of eligible voters, or 19.6 million people, cast ballots. In the first round in 2014, that figure was 13.2 million, then 15.7 million in the second. "There was an increase in turnout, but the abstention rate was still high. It remains to be seen if that can work in Petro's favor," said Medofilo Medina of National University. Former president Alvaro Uribe still has a powerful influence in Colombia Ivan Duque won the first round of voting but will face a runoff in June Gustavo Petro was once a member of the M-19 guerrilla group Turnout was 53 percent in the first round
Talks to end a decades-old row between Greece and Macedonia over the name of the former Yugoslav republic are in "the final stage", the Macedonian foreign minister Nikola Dimitrov said Monday after negotiations in Brussels. Dimitrov made the comment to the Greek state agency ANA after meeting his Greek counterpart Nikos Kotzias on Sunday on the sidelines of EU foreign ministers' talks. "Negotiations will continue between experts on legal and technical issues," said Dimitrov, saying that the deal was in its "final stage" and could be agreed before a scheduled EU summit at the end of June. The name dispute between the two countries dates back to 1991, when Skopje declared independence from war-torn Yugoslavia. Athens objects to the neighbouring state's constitutional name, Republic of Macedonia, because Greece has its own northern province called Macedonia, and fears it may imply territorial ambitions. Greece wants the change of name to be backed with a constitutional amendment and for it to be applied on the "erga omnes" ("towards all") legal principle, meaning universal use inside and outside Macedonia. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said she held an "informal working breakfast" with Dimitrov and that discussions were moving forward. "We are all very encouraged by the progress made especially on the negotiations between Skopje and Athens on the (Macedonia) name issue. We will all work to support and accompany, hopefully, a positive outcome of these important negotiations," Mogherini told media before attending the EU foreign ministers meeting. Names already put forward and in discussion include "New Macedonia" and "Upper Macedonia". A telephone conversation could take place this week between Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev to finalise the deal, Dimitrov said. Kotzias said that the two foreign ministers had "finished the work that their prime ministers had entrusted to them". "When the legal and technical issues will be clarified, the texts will be returned to both prime ministers, who must discuss and finalise the agreement," he said in a statement. The name dispute has slowed Macedonia's hopes of joining the European Union and NATO, as Greece can veto the country's membership bids. Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov (L) and Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Kotzias shake hands prior to their meeting to discuss a possible solution for the name dispute between Greece and Macedonia on April 25, 2018
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As a decorated war hero who once took out three machine gun nests with nothing but grenades, Choi Deuk-soo knows first hand what is at stake should US-North Korean peace talks fail -- and he is doubtful of an imminent breakthrough. The wizened 91-year-old is one of just five people still alive to have been awarded South Korea's top military medal, the Taeguk, given for a suicidally brave charge he made up an enemy-held hill in the end stages of the 1950-53 Korean War. "I hate any war," he told AFP from his apartment in Incheon, west of Seoul, apologising for his poor hearing, the result of firing a heavy machine gun for hours during a battle to repel Chinese troops that had come to the aid of North Korea's communist forces. That war led to an armistice and the two Koreas divided by the demilitarised zone. It is a festering Cold War sore that lives on today, and US President Donald Trump has vowed to combat the threat posed by the authoritarian, nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang either by talks with his North Korean opposite Kim Jong Un or "fire and fury". Choi -- who was speaking to AFP before Trump cancelled an upcoming summit with Kim only to suggest it might be back on -- is not convinced by the recent flurry of diplomatic detente. "Another war might have to break out sometime in the future, maybe hundreds of years from now, for the two sides to be reunified," he said. "I doubt whether any deal with Kim Jong Un would hold long because all the North is interested in is material rewards," he added, questioning whether Pyongyang was really committed to giving up its nuclear weapons or genuinely seeking peace. - 'No retreat' - The nonagenarian's cynicism was forged in the crucible of the Korean War and nurtured by decades of failed peace attempts that have seen North Korea's regime remain steadfastly in power and oversee its metamorphosis into a nuclear armed state. Breathing repeatedly through an inhaler to ease his asthma, Choi recalled his own horrifying experience the last time full-scale war broke out on the Korean Peninsula. The memory that sticks with him the most was the night that won him the Taeguk. On 30 June 1953 his unit was ordered to take back Hill 938 from a brigade of Chinese volunteers who had seized the strategic position earlier that month. Choi's battalion was so depleted its ranks had dropped from 500 to just 30 men. "The top commander gathered us together and handed out cigarettes. He then said: 'You only move on. No retreat'. The company installed a machine gun, threatening to shoot us if we tried to retreat," he recalled. To improve their agility, the soldiers were told to ditch their helmets and take only grenades -- the commanders noted that if they needed a rifle they could always grab one from the hundreds of bodies littering the hill side. Under cover of darkness and a smoke screen Choi and his comrades inched towards the enemy. "I crawled up to a machine gun post and hurled the first grenade. I finished a second one with another grenade and silenced a third machine gun nest with the remaining two grenades," he said. With the enemy machine guns silenced, reinforcements successfully stormed uphill, bringing an end to the hour-long battle. Somehow Choi emerged unscathed. But only five men from the original 30 survived the night, he recalled. The war ended a month later with the armistice, though the two Koreas remain technically still at war. - 'How long will it last?' - Choi said he welcomes the fact that Trump was willing to talk to Kim. But he worries about the more bellicose members of the US administration, particularly National Security Advisor John Bolton, a known North Korea hawk. Earlier this month Bolton -- and later Vice President Mike Pence -- raised the spectre of Libyan leader Moamer Khadafi, who gave up atomic weapons only to die years later at the hands of US-backed rebels. That comparison drew angry responses from North Korea. "That guy with the thick moustache almost blew it up with reckless, unnecessary statements," Choi fumed, referring to Bolton. His hopes for peace are tempered by a cynical realism that comes from decades of witnessing the Korean conundrum, one of geopolitics' stickiest issues. Last month, like millions of others, Choi watched on as South Korean president Moon Jae-in met Kim in the heart of the DMZ. They shook hands and, at the invitation of Kim, Moon briefly stepped into North Korea. "I thought this was a good thing," Choi recalled thinking about the current detente. "But then the next moment, I wondered how long it would all last this time around." Choi Deuk-soo, 91, is one of just five people still alive to have been awarded South Korea's top military medal, the Taeguk, given for a suicidally brave charge he made up an enemy-held hill in the end stages of the 1950-53 Korean War "Another war might have to break out sometime in the future, maybe hundreds of years from now, for the two sides to be reunified," said Choi Deuk-soo, a South Korean war hero South Korean war hero Choi Deuk-soo questions whether Pyongyang is really committed to giving up its nuclear weapons or genuinely seeking peace The Korean war ended in an armistice with the two Koreas divided by the demilitarised zone. It is a festering Cold War sore and US President Donald Trump has vowed to combat the threat posed by the authoritarian, nuclear-armed regime in Pyongyang "That guy with the thick moustache almost blew it up with reckless, unnecessary statements," South Korean war hero Choi Deuk-soo fumed, referring to US National Security Adviser John Bolton South Korean war hero Choi Deuk-soo welcomes the fact that Trump was willing to talk to Kim but worries about the more bellicose members of the US administration, particularly National Security Advisor John Bolton, a known North Korea hawk
Two parents have been charged over the death of their eight-month-old baby who died following a cocaine and fentanyl overdose.

David Williams Chappele Jr, 29, and Jessica Marie Strickland, 27, have been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child following the babys death on September 6, 2017.

Officers from the Brevard County Sheriffs Office were called to an address in Cocoa, Florida, following reports of an unresponsive eight-month-old baby.

The child was taken to hospital where the baby was later pronounced dead.

A judge issued arrest warrants on May 24 for the pair, charging them with aggravated manslaughter of a child.

David Williams Chappele Jr, 29, (right) and Jessica Marie Strickland, 27, (left) have been charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child following their childs death caused by a drug overdoese. Source: Brevard County Sheriffs Office

Officers arrested Chappele and Strickland before transporting them to Brevard County Jail Complex.

An autopsy conducted by the Brevard County Medical Examiner determined the death was caused by an overdose of fentanyl and cocaine.

The investigation revealed on the night of the incident, Strickland and Chappele placed a mattress on the floor of the living room, planning to sleep with the infant in the middle of the bed.

Strickland awoke, finding the infant unresponsive and called emergency services.

It is alleged Chappele was wearing multiple fentanyl patches, which had been cut in half, where a lethal amount of fentanyl residue was then transferred to the infant.

It is also alleged the baby ingested cocaine as Strickland was using the drug while caring for the infant.

Chappeles charges are related to allowing the infant to be in direct proximity of a dangerous narcotic that caused the babys death.

Strickland is being charged for failing to protect the infant even though she knew the possible danger to the child from the drugs that were being used by both parents.

Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey thanked the investigation team for their work which led to the couple being charged.

It truly takes special and dedicated people to investigate and prosecute these types of cases all in an effort to protect our children, he said.

My heart and appreciation goes out to them for all they do each and every day to protect our most precious of citizens, our children.
Poland's prime minister on Tuesday asked justice and security authorities to look into dozens of blazes at landfills this year amid allegations that a "mafia" has boosted garbage imports after China banned them. Poland imports waste from Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Austria among others. "The Internal Security Agency has been notified and... I asked the prosecutor general to take decisive action to investigate the matter," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters as several blazes sent up thick, toxic smoke near residential areas in various parts of Poland in recent days. Interior Minister Joachim Brudzinski said he believed the blazes were "clearly linked with China's decision to close its own garbage market" this January, leaving nations scrambling to find new dumping grounds for growing piles of garbage. For years China was the world's top destination for recyclable trash, but the new ban bars imports of 24 categories of solid waste, including certain types of plastics, paper and textiles. Poland's environment minister Henryk Kowalczyk said Tuesday he thought that a "garbage mafia" was responsible for over-stocking Polish landfills. But he also blamed the situation on loopholes in legislation that allow waste to be stored "in an unlimited way, only to fill the landfill" and then close the company. "We can't become an illegal garbage dump for Europe," Kowalczyk told reporters in Warsaw. According to data from the Polish Health Inspectorate, some 733,000 tons of waste entered Poland last year, compared to 367,000 tons in 2015. The government also announced inspections of the waste disposal companies where the blazes occurred. It said it would look at legislative measures to better control waste handling and to prosecute infringements. A man walks on a landfill site on the outskirts of Polish capital Warsaw on May 24, 2013
Poland has a proposal to welcome a permanent deployment of US troops to the country, including helping to defray the costs, the defence ministry confirmed Tuesday, amid fears over recent aggression by neighbouring Russia. Pawel Soloch, head of the office of national security at the Polish presidency, had revealed in a television interview that a defence ministry "information document" showed that Poland could spend between $1.5 to $2 billion (1.3 to 1.7 billion euros) to help cover the cost of a US tank unit. "Yes, we are interested in the presence of American forces in our country and we have submitted -- including to think tanks -- some options that we could offer if such decisions were adopted," Soloch said. Contacted by AFP, the defence ministry confirmed the "Proposal for a US Permanent Presence in Poland", which has been passed on to several governmental institutions, Congress and main think-tanks. Moscow's annexation of Crimea and involvement in the insurgency in eastern Ukraine have raised concerns among NATO member countries like Poland which border Russia about increased aggression. The proposal published in the Polish media triggered an immediate response from Moscow. Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that "the progressive expansion of NATO military structures near our borders... will not benefit in any way the security and stability on the continent" and will lead "to reciprocal measures by Russia to restore the balance (of power) each time it is violated". According to the document published by Onet.pl, the Polish funds would be used to improve infrastructure ahead of the potential arrival of American soldiers. Some elements of a US tank brigade were deployed to Poland on a temporary basis in January 2017 as part of measures to reassure countries in the region bordering Russia. Poland has also received the support of a multinational NATO battalion under US command. US soldiers were among troops in NATO battalions deployed to Poland and the Baltic states in 2017
Police have defended officers filmed subduing and punching a teenage boy in the ribs, saying it is a tactic used to apply handcuffs.

Vision shared to Facebook by the 13-year-old boys furious father shows a large group of teenagers gathered near the Pakuranga Highway in Auckland on Sunday afternoon when two police officers enter the scene.

After a brief chase, one officer can be seen tackling the 13-year-old boy off the bike prompting a scuffle on the ground, before his colleague joins in, striking the boy in the ribs and eventually cuffing him.

But despite the fathers anger over the heavy-handed approach, police said the officer in question did nothing wrong.

One officer can be seen tackling the teen from his bike before attempting to detain him. Source: Facebook

A second officer can be seen punching the boy in the ribs, in what police described as a tactic used to help apply hand cuffs. Source: Facebook

The officer is shown carrying out a tactic that can be used to get an offender to release their arm so that we put handcuffs on them, Counties Manukau East Area Commander Wendy Spiller told Yahoo7 News.

Ms Spiller said that the officers were called to the scene after reports the boys had been trying to fight people in Highland Park about 3.30pm.

Police staff quickly attended and tried to speak with the teenagers, however the main aggressor, who was 13-years-old, quickly tried to get away from police on a pushbike and was biking into traffic and ran through a red light.

The officer managed to borrow another bike and following him for several minutes and caught up to him.

The boy has now been charged with a string of offences. Source: Facebook

The boys father said he initially questioned his sons version of events until he saw the footage.

What is New Zealand Police coming to? he wrote on Facebook.

This is my 13-year-old son riding his bike in Highland Park, and look what the NZ police do to him!

He told the NZ Herald that the arrest was the result of the teen not wearing his helmet.

He is normally a good kid if he does something wrong then fair enough but he was just riding on a bike, he said.

They put him in a cop car and they brought him home. He was cuffed and put in the back of the car.

The 13-year-old has been charged with disorderly behaviour, failing to stop, dangerous driving and resisting police.
The United States led protests Monday as Syria took over the rotating presidency of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) at a time when Damascus is widely accused of using chemical weapons. "Monday, May 28 will be one of the darkest days in the history of the Conference on Disarmament with Syria beginning its four-week presidency," tweeted US ambassador to the CD Robert Wood. The CD chair rotates alphabetically every four weeks and Syria's turn came round on Monday, although the conference will meet in full session only from Tuesday. "The Damascus regime has neither the credibility nor moral authority to preside over the CD. "The international community must not be silent," Wood wrote. "A regime that has used CW (chemical weapons) against its own people has no place presiding over the CD's work." Britain also protested against the move. "The UK deplores the fact that Syria will assume the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament, given the regime's consistent and flagrant disregard of international non-proliferation and disarmament norms and agreements," British ambassador Matthew Rowland said in a statement. But he pointed out that all CD members including Syria had to agree to change the rotating system. After hundreds of people died in chemical attacks near Damascus in 2013, a deal with Russia was struck to rid Syria of chemical weapons, staving off US air strikes. A suspected chlorine and sarin attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 this year triggered punitive missile strikes against alleged chemical weapons sites in Syria by the US, Britain and France. Other permanent missions to the Geneva-based CD support the US and Britain and would protest against Syria's lack of "political legitimacy" and "moral authority" at the conference, a diplomatic source said. Syria's role would not be allowed to damage the proper working of the CD, the source added. Some ambassadors were not expected to lead their delegations at the conference in a sign of protest. UN secretary general Antonio Guterres, who put his own disarmament proposals to the CD last week, said he had "no power" over the rotation system. He said he hoped Syria's presidency would not have a "negative impact" on the important work of the conference. The CD is a multilateral disarmament forum that meets in three sessions a year in Geneva. It negotiates arms control and disarmament accords and focuses on the cessation of the nuclear arms race. The CD is a multilateral disarmament forum that meets in three sessions a year in Geneva; it negotiates arms control and disarmament accords and focuses on the cessation of the nuclear arms race


The Trap in Japans National Strategy



By George Friedman





Since World War II, the foundation of Japanese national strategy has been reliance on the United States to protect Japans national interests. The U.S. ensures that sea lanes supplying Japan with essential raw materials stay open. It guarantees Japans physical security  against threats from the Soviet Union during the Cold War, and from China thereafter. And it gives Japan access to American markets, first during its financial recovery from the war and then as part of its development into the worlds third-largest economy. In return, the Japanese accepted the presence of American forces in Japan, providing a base of operations designed to preserve the control of the Northwest Pacific that the U.S. attained during WWII. From those bases, the U.S. could block the Soviet fleet in Vladivostok, support operations in South Korea and so forth.

Those were the direct benefits, but indirectly Japan received an additional perk: absolution from participating in U.S. conflicts. The U.S. had crafted a post-war constitution for Japan that prohibited it from developing a military. Much as with Germany, the sense was that the permanent disarmament of Japan was essential to prevent the re-emergence of a militaristic country. And as with Germany, the U.S. came to regret this principle. As the American strategy of containment took shape against the Soviet Union, the U.S. wanted a rearmed Germany to block Soviet moves in the west. Similarly, as the Korean War broke out, the U.S. wanted Japanese military force to assist it. Japan helped with essential military production  trucks, for example  but it held on to Article 9, the provision in its constitution that prevented it from forging a military to fight in Korea.

Later, Japan reinterpreted Article 9 from an absolute prohibition on military force to an absolute prohibition on an offensive military force. Then, as its military force developed, Japan redefined the meaning of an offensive force to focus not on the nature of the force but on the nature of its utilization. A destroyer or fighter plane is by its nature an offensive weapon, but Japan decided that so long as such weapons were not used offensively, their existence was constitutional. Using this logic, Japan has developed a substantial military force that it withholds from any offensive operation, although it has used it in some peacekeeping operations.

Japan has therefore avoided operational deployment in U.S. wars, from Korea and Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. At the same time, it has developed a significant naval and air force, and it is capable of becoming a nuclear power at will, given that it has one of the most sophisticated civilian nuclear programs in the world. One joke goes that Japan does not have a nuclear weapon because a single screw needed to enable it has not been tightened. That may overstate the hurdles but it captures the principle. The limit of Japanese military power is Japans will.

On the whole, the U.S. has been content with this arrangement, even if it is occasionally frustrated by Japans posture as an ally. The strategy worked great for Japan for more than 70 years, until the balance on the Korean Peninsula showed signs of changing. At first, as the nuclear threat in North Korea grew, the United States became more alert and aggressive toward the threat. The South Koreans supported an aggressive American policy, and the pro forma call for the Chinese to reason with North Korea did not yield a solution. The U.S. threatened military action to destroy the North Korean weapons, and though Japanese bases might be used, Japan would not be involved militarily.

But Japanese strategy began to go off the rails recently with an attempt at rapprochement between North and South Korea . In its pre-World War II strategy, Japan had long viewed the Korean Peninsula as a buffer between itself and the mainland. The Japanese occupied the peninsula to ensure that this buffer remained. After the war, the division of the peninsula and the American presence in the south guaranteed the buffer. But then last years Olympic rapprochement happened, and it altered a significant strategic assumption of the Japanese: that the status quo was a given. There suddenly existed the potential for an accommodation between North and South and even potentially, over time, increased Chinese influence there. Even as a distant and unlikely possibility, this was a serious problem for Japan. If the U.S. would accept an understanding between the North and South, and if that understanding included the withdrawal of some or even all U.S. troops from Korea, then the strategic balance would shift.

Japan would lose its buffer against China. The Sea of Japan, not the Yellow Sea, would become the naval focus, and with U.S. interest in the region declining, it would be the Japanese navy that would have the primary mission of controlling the Sea of Japan. North Korea could give up its intercontinental missiles, which threaten the U.S., but keep its shorter-range missiles capable of reaching Japan, and thus Japan would have to openly create its own nuclear deterrent. And depending on the extent of the U.S. retreat from the region, Japan may no longer be able to rely on the U.S. to guarantee its access to raw materials.

And Japans concerns are not utterly far-fetched. South Korea has an overriding imperative to avoid another war on the peninsula. The U.S. does not want intercontinental ballistic missiles in North Korea, but it might accept a deal permitting short-range missiles . And though neither North nor South Korea really trusts the Chinese, a U.S. retreat from the region might require some accommodation with China.

Obviously, this scenario has yet to play out, but the Japanese have made it clear to anyone who will listen that the direction of accommodation is unacceptable to them.



And this is where Japan runs into the trap embedded in its national strategy.



Depending on its relationship with the U.S. to both protect it from major threats and excuse it from significant offensive action, the Japanese force, though far from insignificant, does not give Japan the weight to change the course of the negotiation. China has the potential to do so. The U.S. does as well. Japan does not .

Charles de Gaulle warned the world of this type of problem. The ultimate guarantee during the Cold War was that, if needed, the U.S. would escalate to nuclear war to block Soviet advance. De Gaulle argued, however, that the U.S. would not trade New York for Paris. Now Japan must ask itself how far the United States would go to maintain its position in the Northwest Pacific. The region is important to the U.S., but likely not important enough to warrant a nuclear exchange. The U.S. can exit and survive. Japan does not have the luxury.

For the first time since World War II, Japan must consider whether the strategic reality in its region could evolve in a direction not necessarily to Japans advantage, to quote Hirohitos surrender speech in 1945. Such a shift would require Japan to rethink how it sees itself and its role in the world. Nothing may change.
Four Libyan leaders agreed Tuesday to hold elections on December 10 after a peace conference in Paris aimed at unifying the war-torn north African country. The four men, who represent most but not all of Libya's rival factions, also agreed to "accept the results of elections, and ensure appropriate funds and strong security arrangements are in place". The commitment to holding parliamentary and presidential polls this year came after four hours of talks in Paris where the leaders faced pressure to agree on a political roadmap to end seven years of conflict. European leaders see stabilising Libya as key to tackling jihadist threats and migration from the fractured country, which has become a departure point for hundreds of thousands of Africans trying to reach Europe. "I'm optimistic," UN envoy Ghassan Salame told AFP at the end of the talks which he called "historic" because they had brought together the main Libyan protagonists as well as regional countries for the first time. The Libyan invitees were Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, and 75-year-old military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose rival Libyan National Army dominates the country's east. Also present were Aguila Saleh Issa, the parliament speaker based in the eastern city of Tobruk, and Khalid Al-Mishri, the newly-elected head of the High Council of State. "There is no solution other than via you," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi told the Libyan leaders at the opening of the talks. "If things go badly, it's your responsibility." - Implementation doubts - Despite the French-led efforts to seek a political settlement, many analysts and diplomats were sceptical that a statement that was verbally agreed -- but not signed -- could lead to real change on the ground. Some have voiced doubt whether the country, which is swamped by weapons and controlled by a patchwork of political groups and armed militias, will be able to hold credible elections. "I believe that elections are a big risk in a country armed like Libya," Federica Saini Fasanotti, an analyst with the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told AFP. Other countries, including former colonial power Italy and some Gulf states, had also argued that Libya needed to agree on a new constitution before holding elections. In a further complication, the main political and military representatives from the western city of Misrata boycotted proceedings after not being offered the same status as other invitees in Paris. "There are some positive points in this agreement, which ultimately is not worth anything because it hasn't been signed," a senior military figure in the Misrata militia, Ibrahim Ben Rjab, told AFP. Instead of signing the deal, the leaders in Paris gave their approval for a joint statement to be issued and later committed verbally to implementing it when explicitly asked to do so by Macron during a group photo. "So we are all working on this common basis, bravo!" Macron told them. Years of mediation by the United Nations, as well as Italy, have failed to bring stability to the nation which descended into chaos after the ousting of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Previous peace agreements have come to nothing. "It went well. Afterwards, it depends on the implementation," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. - Regional competition - Representatives from 20 countries including Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, attended the talks, as well as Libya's neighbours Algeria and Tunisia. Stabilising Libya has been complicated by diverging interests among Middle Eastern countries, which have sometimes backed opposing sides in the fighting, as well as the competition between Europeans. Macron referred to foreign countries "pulling strings behind a curtain" but claimed that Tuesday's agreement had put everyone on the same page. Karim Bitar, an expert at the Paris-based French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS) think-tank said France would "need to convince the Sunni powers in the Gulf to stop their proxy wars in Libya, which won't be easy". He also said voiced scepticism about the elections as the way to unify the country, which currently operates with two parliaments, various armed forces and different central banks. "Generally speaking the West sometimes tends to place too much emphasis on the ballot box and the voting slip," he said, explaining that polls could sometimes be counter-productive. Macron threw himself into finding a solution in Libya shortly after his election in May 2017, inviting Sarraj and Haftar to Paris in July -- a move that irked Italy. Some in Rome suspect Macron of organising the conference at a time when Italy, which has major oil interests in Libya, is embroiled in a deep political crisis. burs-adp/txw (From left) Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, French President Emmanuel Macron and UN special envoy for Libya Ghassan Salame hold a press conference after four Libyan leaders agreed to hold elections in December French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, right, with Libyan military strongman Khalifa Haftar, who has fought Islamist militias and was recently treated in Paris for an undisclosed ailment
Carb lovers have been left dissatisfied after getting their Coles garlic bread home, only to find its missing the key ingredient.

A number of Aussies expecting to fill their bellies with a hearty bread roll covered in butter, garlic and herbs, were disappointed to tuck into the loaves to find something amiss.

In recent weeks, a handful of Coles customers have complained of plain white bread, without the signature butter, garlic and herbs.

In recent weeks, a handful of Coles customers have complained of plain white bread, missing the signature butter, garlic and herbs. Source: Rebecca Mawhinney / Facebook

Sydney woman Rebecca Mawhinney discovered a lacklustre loaf while heating up a garlic baguette for dinner on Sunday night, after picking one up from the Revesby store.

Im having a hard time locating the garlic and parsley butter that its apparently filled with, she wrote on the Coles Facebook page.

The garlic thief appeared to have struck elsewhere the same day, with Ricki Wickson sharing a picture of her loaf on May 27, asking Did [you] run out of garlic when making this loaf of garlic bread!?!?.

Another customer found something amiss with her loaf. Source: Linda Adnil / Facebook

Earlier this month, Linda Adnil found barren bread in the loaf she bought at a Coles store at Thornton, in Maitland, NSW.

I think your Coles garlic bread is missing something, she wrote on the Coles Facebook page on May 10.

Dam it! I guess i got what I paid for.

One customer wondered if there was a shortage of garlic butter. Source: Ricki Wickson / Facebook

Coles told Yahoo7 it was aware of the complaints and was looking into the issue.

Coles takes the quality of all our products seriously. We have contacted the customer and will follow up with our supplier to investigate the matter, a Coles spokesperson said in a statement.

We encourage customers to return any item that theyre not 100% happy with, to their nearest store for a full refund or replacement.
The Conversation

(AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)Long lines of ambulances idling outside hospitals have shocked the public in recent news reports, especially in states with high COVID case numbers and increased hospital admissions. Mick Stephenson, executive director of clinical operations at Ambulance Victoria told ABC radio hed never seen the health system under the pressure it is under at the moment and he expected worse to come. In fact, ambulance ramping is an issue even in states with low or no COVID cases,
Germany will hold memorial events on Tuesday for five ethnic Turkish victims of a neo-Nazi arson attack 25 years ago, at a time of resurgent xenophobia and simmering bilateral tensions ahead of Turkish elections. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will attend ceremonies along with Mevlude Genc, 75, who lost two daughters, two granddaughters and a niece in the 1993 house fire in the town of Solingen. Despite her huge personal loss in one of post-war Germany's most notorious racist hate crimes, which sparked days of rioting, Genc went on to call for reconciliation, for which she later received Germany's highest civilian honour. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, after meeting Genc last Friday, praised her "as a role model for everyone who fights against discrimination, racism and violence" and warned that "the memory of this cruel act must not fade". Germany has struggled with a new upsurge of racist attacks and far-right activism, including the entry into parliament of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, after an influx of more than one million asylum seekers since 2015. Turkey's foreign ministry Monday voiced concern that "racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia are on the rise" again in the EU country and called on politicians and media there to "use prudent language". AfD co-leader Alice Weidel this month received a formal rebuke from the parliamentary speaker for describing immigrants as "headscarf girls, welfare-claiming, knife-wielding men and other good-for-nothings". - Campaign ban - While both Germany and Turkey will voice their common sorrow over the tragic deaths, tensions linger between the governments of Merkel and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces elections on June 24. Berlin has barred Turkish politicians from campaigning in the country home to three million ethnic Turks -- the largest diaspora abroad -- some 1.4 million of whom can vote in their ancestral homeland. Several German politicians have cautioned that Cavusoglu must not use the memorial event to campaign for Erdogan's AKP party or deepen divisions in the Turkish-German community. After Erdogan last year slammed Germany's "Nazi-style" ban on Turkish campaign speeches, Berlin imposed a blanket ban on political events by non-EU politicians within three months of elections in their countries. Police at a Kurdish rally in Cologne last Saturday prohibited two former lawmakers of Turkey's opposition HDP party from addressing the crowd. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday reiterated Berlin's position, while stressing that Cavusoglu's speech would "not constitute election campaigning but commemorate the victims of this terrible attack". - 'Remembrance, not disputes' - The issue is highly sensitive, given the horrific nature of the crime a quarter-century ago, and in view of both countries' recent efforts to overcome a rift that deepened especially following Erdogan's crackdown after a failed 2016 coup. The deadly Solingen blaze was set by four males, aged 16 to 23, from the far-right skinhead subculture that flared in the early 1990s amid an influx of eastern European asylum seekers. Two women and three girls died, the youngest just four years old, and 14 others including several children suffered injuries. All perpetrators received maximum jail terms, of 15 years for the adult offenders, and all were released from prison years ago, some early because of good behaviour. The space where the charred remains of the Genc family house once stood is now a vacant lot where five chestnut trees have been planted to honour the victims. Merkel, the two foreign ministers and victims' relatives will from 1000 GMT attend a ceremony at the North Rhine-Westphalia state chancellery in Duesseldorf. From 1400 GMT, Cavusoglu and Maas will join a ceremony in Solingen organised by the town hall, the Genc family, and local Muslim, Christian and civic organisations. State premier Armin Laschet criticised as "shameful" that the state parliament will not also hold a ceremony in which Cavusoglu could have spoken, saying the focus must be on "remembrance, not political disputes". Some 400 leftist activists marched in Solingen last Saturday, warning against Germany's newly emboldened far-right. "Back then they spoke of a 'flood of asylum seekers', today they speak of a 'refugee wave', an equally stupid term," demonstrator Robin Rau told public broadcaster WDR. "When you look at how the mood was back then and how it is turning again now, I believe it's important to rally in the streets and to speak out against it." Two women and three girls died, the youngest just four years old, and 14 others suffered injuries in the Solingen attack in 1993 Mevluede Genc, pictured right next her to husband Durmus and her granddaughter Oezlem, met with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier ahead of the 25th anniversary of the attack The five Turkish women who were killed in the arson attack are remembered on a memorial stone in the city
Germany and Turkey put aside their diplomatic tensions Tuesday to jointly remember the five ethnic Turkish victims of a murderous neo-Nazi arson attack a quarter century ago and warn against resurgent xenophobia and racist violence. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, both speaking at a solemn ceremony, said the lesson of the deadly 1993 blaze in the German city of Solingen was to resist a new wave of anti-immigrant hatred. The attack "wasn't the first and won't be the last" in Germany or Europe, said Cavusoglu, listing other far-right murders since then and cautioning that "politicians and media have a responsibility not to spread discrimination". The anniversary came as Germany struggles with a new upsurge of assaults and far-right activism, including last year's entry into parliament of the anti-Islam party Alternative for Germany (AfD), following an influx of 1.2 million asylum seekers since 2015. The arson attack 25 years ago, one of post-war Germany's most notorious racist hate crimes, also occurred at a time when a large influx of migrants, then from post-Soviet eastern Europe, sparked a rise in tensions that saw mobs raid and torch refugee homes. In the Solingen attack, four right-wing extremist skinheads aged 16 to 23 set fire to a Turkish family's home -- targeting Germany's largest minority group of about three million, the legacy of a 1950s and 60s era "guest worker" programme. The blaze killed five women and girls, the youngest just four years old, and injured 14 other people. - 'My children's grave' - Bereaved family matriarch Mevlude Genc, 75, who lost two daughters, two granddaughters and a niece, earned widespread admiration for urging reconciliation amid the street violence that followed. Genc recalled Tuesday how, after the massive personal loss, "I cried at night, but during the day I smiled at my surviving children to ensure that hatred doesn't enter their hearts. "I do not want revenge and I bear no hatred, except for the four persons who turned my family home into the grave of my children." Merkel told Genc, who has received Germany's highest civilian honour, that "you responded to an inhumane act with great humanity. For that we admire you and thank you." The four juvenile and adult offenders received maximum jail terms of 10 to 15 years and all left prison years go. The space where the charred remains of the Genc family house once stood is now a vacant lot where five chestnut trees have been planted in memory of those who died in the flames. - 'Seeds of violence' - Merkel -- who has received both plaudits and hatred for opening German borders to refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan -- also warned that "right-wing extremism is not a thing of the past". Especially in Germany, with its responsibility for the Holocaust, racism and violence are "a shame for our country", she said. Without mentioning the AfD, Merkel warned that some were once more "breaking taboos" and "using language that sows the seeds of violence". AfD co-leader Alice Weidel this month earned a formal rebuke in parliament when she described immigrants as "headscarf girls, welfare-claiming, knife-wielding men and other good-for-nothings". The day of remembrance, also including rallies, prayers and memorial events organised with Muslim, Christian and civic groups, came as Germany and Turkey have worked to normalise relations after a deep crisis. Germany has repeatedly voiced concerns about deteriorating civil rights in Turkey, especially after mass arrests following a failed 2016 coup against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who now faces June 24 elections. Ankara has been angry over Berlin's decision to bar Turkish politicians from campaigning among the 1.4 million ethnic Turks eligible to vote in their ancestral homeland -- a move Erdogan last year slammed as a "Nazi-style" ban. Some German commentators had voiced fears that Cavusoglu could misuse the memorial events to campaign or deepen divisions in the Turkish-German community. But Cavusoglu stressed that "the only reason I am here today is to condemn racism against refugees and Muslims" and support German efforts to integrate the ethnic Turkish community. German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said the fact that "Turkey and Germany have different positions on some points" must not prevent a "joint remembrance of a crime that united our citizens in pain, grief and a resolute rejection of violence and racism". The anniversary of a murderous neo-Nazi arson attack against a Turkish family 25 years ago comes as Germany struggles with a new upsurge of attacks and far-right activism This picture taken on June 3, 1993 in Solingen, Germany, shows the coffins of five Turkish women and girls in front of the burned-out house where they died in a neo-Nazi arson attack. German Chancellor Angela Merkel met bereaved family matriarch Mevlude Genc during the ceremony
Belgian police were Wednesday investigating how a gunman on their own watchlist for contacts with Islamist extremists came to launch a brazen suspected terror attack, shooting dead two female officers with their own weapons before killing a bystander. The bloodshed in the eastern industrial city of Liege began around 10:30 am (0830 GMT) Tuesday when the attacker armed with a knife repeatedly stabbed the two policewomen before using their own firearms to kill them. Federal prosecutors said they had launched a terror investigation into the incident and would hold a press conference later Wednesday. "The signs are pointing towards a terrorist act," prosecutor spokesman Eric Van Der Sypt told AFP. Amateur footage picked up by AFP showed the gunman shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") as he walked through the streets during the rampage. In another video, a short and intense burst of gunfire is audible, after which the man lies on the ground. "Armed with a knife, the suspect followed and attacked two police officers, and used their own firearms to kill them," prosecutor Philippe Dulieu told a news conference. "He continued on foot, attacking a parked vehicle where he opened fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat. The young man died. "He then continued and entered the Leonie de Waha school. He took a woman working there as hostage. Police intervened, he came out firing on the police officers, wounding several before he was killed." Belgium remains on high alert after a string of attacks including twin suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State group. A source close to the investigation told AFP that the gunman was on a special police watchlist because of his contacts with radical Islamists. The source named the attacker as Benjamin Herman, born in 1982, saying he had past convictions for robbery, violence and drug dealing. Herman was "already on the run" after committing another murder on Monday night in the town of On, in southern Belgium, the source said, though local prosecutors said they have not yet established a link with the Liege incident. Belgian broadcaster RTBF reported he had been released from prison on Monday. "He is suspected of having been radicalised (in prison)... He has been reported or presumed to be belonging to the entourage of an Islamist recruiter," the source said on condition of anonymity. Liege police chief Christian Beaupere said it was "clear that the assassin's objective was to attack the police". One of the four officers wounded had suffered a serious leg injury, he added. Liege, a major city in Western Europe's former industrial heartland, was the scene of another bloody shootout in 2011 when a former convict killed six people and wounded more than 120. - 'Cowardly violence' - Prime Minister Charles Michel denounced what he called the "cowardly and blind violence" of Tuesday's attack. "All our support for the victims and their loved ones. We are following the situation with the security services and the crisis centre," Michel tweeted. There was support from other European countries, with French President Emmanuel Macron condemning the "terrible attack" and expressing the "solidarity of the French people". British Prime Minister Theresa May said the UK "stands resolute with our Belgian allies against terror". A major security cordon was set up around the area, while panicked parents came to collect their children from the school complex. The governor of Liege province said all the children and staff were safe and unhurt. "All the children are fine, those of the primary and kindergarten saw nothing, they were evacuated through the back of the school," Julie Fernandez, mother of a seven-year-old at the school, told AFP. "They were cared for by staff and psychologists and high school students were cared for in a nearby park," added Fernandez, who is also an MP. - Terror alert - Belgium has been on high alert since authorities in January 2015 smashed a terror cell in the town of Verviers that was planning an attack on police. The cell also had links to Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the mastermind of the November 2015 Islamic State attacks on Paris that killed 130 people. Belgium further raised its terror alert level after the Paris attack and placed the capital Brussels on lockdown for a week. IS suicide attacks then targeted Brussels airport and a metro station, which killed 32 people in March 2016. In August that same year, a machete-wielding man shouting "Allahu Akbar" attacked two policewomen in the industrial town of Charleroi before being shot dead. The country's law enforcement agencies and intelligence services came under intense scrutiny for apparently missing a series of leads after the Paris attacks that could have led to the Brussels bombers. Forensic police worked at the scene of the in shooting in Liege, Belgium, where a gunman shot dead two policewomen with their own weapons before killing a bystander Hearses came to the scene of the shooting in Liege, where the attacker shot dead three people Police said the Liege attacker deliberately targeted police Panicked parents came to collect their children from the school where the attacker took a hostage
Defense Secretary Jim Mattis vowed Tuesday that the US would keep confronting China over its territorial claims in the South China Sea, where Beijing has established a significant military presence on contested islands. Mattis's remarks came after Beijing voiced "strong dissatisfaction" Sunday after two US warships sailed by an island in the disputed Paracel Island chain. "You'll notice there's only one country that seems to take active steps to rebuff (such operations) or state their resentment of them, but it's international waters and a lot of nations want to see freedom of navigation, so we will continue that," Mattis told reporters as he flew to Hawaii. The US Navy periodically conducts "freedom of navigation" operations in the contested waterway, where it sails close to island features China has built into military facilities as a way of showing it rejects any territorial claims. "We are going out of our way to cooperate with Pacific nations, that's the way we do business in the world, but we are also going to confront what we believe is out of step with international law," Mattis said. Sunday's operation was conducted just over a week after Beijing flew nuclear-capable bombers to a disputed island, drawing immediate criticism from the US. Last week, the Pentagon pulled its invitation to China to join maritime exercises in the Pacific over Beijing's "continued militarization" of the South China Sea. Beijing has been building artificial islands to reinforce its claim over most of the resource-rich South China Sea, despite protests from Southeast Asian countries. Its neighbors, particularly some of those involved in maritime disputes over the waters, have expressed fears China could eventually restrict freedom of navigation and overflight. "Our diplomats are robustly engaged on this," Mattis said. "The concerns have come to me not just from American government circles, but also from foreign nations that are concerned, very concerned about this continued militarization of features in the South China Sea." Mattis was heading to Hawaii to attend a change-of-command ceremony for the US military's Pacific Command. The current head, Admiral Harry Harris, has been nominated to be the new ambassador to South Korea. He will be replaced by Admiral Philip Davidson. Mattis is then due to attend a regional security conference in Singapore. US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis speaks to reporters aboard a US military plane on May 29, 2018
A private search for Flight MH370 will end in the coming days, an exploration firm said Tuesday, some four years after the plane disappeared in one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries. The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished in March 2014 with 239 people -- mostly from China -- on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No sign of it was found in a 120,000-square kilometre (46,000-square mile) Indian Ocean search zone and the Australian-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January last year. After pressure from families, the Malaysian government struck a deal with US exploration firm Ocean Infinity to restart the search in January on condition it would only be paid if the Boeing 777 or its black boxes were found. The firm stood to make up to $70 million if successful but found no sign of the airliner despite scouring the seabed with some of the world's most high-tech search equipment. The hunt was officially meant to end in late April but was extended. However, the new Malaysian government of Mahathir Mohamad, which came to power after a shock election win this month, announced last week the search was set to end. Texas-based Ocean Infinity said in a statement Tuesday that "its current search for the wreckage of... Flight MH370 is shortly coming to an end". A spokesman added the hunt would end in the coming days, without giving a precise date. - 'Nothing hidden' - Ocean Infinity chief executive Oliver Plunkett said the failure to find the wreckage was "extremely disappointing" but he hoped that his company would be able to "again offer our services in the search for MH370 in future". Malaysia's new government has not indicated that it wants to revive the search but has pledged to be more open about the mystery. Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Monday that a full report into MH370's disappearance would be published soon. "There will not be any edits, nothing will be hidden," he told reporters. Ocean Infinity said it had scoured over 112,000 square kilometres of seabed, including 25,000 square kilometres north of the original search zone which scientists later identified as the most likely crash site. The ship conducting the hunt, Seabed Constructor, was a Norwegian research vessel carrying 65 crew, including two members of the Malaysian navy as the government's representatives. It used eight autonomous drones equipped with sonars and cameras, able to operate at depths up to 6,000 metres (20,000 feet). Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon. The jet's disappearance remains one of the most enduring aviation mysteries of all time and has spawned a host of theories, with some blaming a hijacking or even a terror plot. US firm Ocean Infinity used the Norwegian research vessel Seabed Constructor to scour for MH370 wreckage in the Indian Ocean
At least two New Jersey police officers have been reassigned to desk duty in the wake of a viral video showing them repeatedly punching a young woman in the head, then putting her in a chokehold, on a Wildwood beach over the weekend. The womanidentified by local authorities as 20-year-old Emily Weinmanfaces multiple charges, including aggravated assault against a police officer and possession of alcohol.

The violent arrest was caught on video on Saturday and posted to social media, and has since been viewed over six million times.

I was sleeping on the beach and I woke up to this.. i cant believe it.. pic.twitter.com/UJE5Sy7E4G  Lexy (@HewittLexy) May 26, 2018

In a statement posted to Facebook on Sunday, the Wildwood police department said that an Internal Affairs Investigation had been initiated into the matter, and that "the involved officers have been reassigned to administrative duty pending the outcome of a full and thorough investigation."

Police Chief Robert Regalbuto added that he found the video "alarming," but did not want to make any judgements until the investigation was completed. Regalbuto told Philadelphia's ABC affiliate that the officers' body camera footage would be released in the coming days.

According to the outlet, Weinman admitted in a since-deleted Facebook post that she'd been caught by cops with unopened booze on the beach, but had passed a breathalyzer test. "I asked them don't they have something better to do as cops than to stop people for underage drinking on the beach...there's so much more serious stuff going on," she reportedly wrote. "The cop said, 'I was gonna let you go but now I'll write you up' and he asked my name."

Weinman then refused to provide her name, leading the cop to initiate an arrest, according to her post. It continues:



"He told me hes arresting me and started coming towards me to put handcuffs on me. I cautiously was backing up from him (facing him) and yelled for my daughters father. (he was playing in the ocean with our daughter at the time). I tripped and fell and the cop tackled me to the ground and smashed my head into the sand. At that point I blacked out and fought any way possible trying to get up and push him off me. Thats when he head locked me me by his arm around my neck, punched on me in my head and then he head locked me again but this time choking me, I was gasping for [air].



In the video, bystanders can be heard telling Weinman to "stop resisting," as she shouts "Get the fuck off of me!" and "You're not allowed to hit me and choke me like that!" The 54-second clip ends with the woman exclaiming, "I didn't do anything wrong," as cops attempt to handcuff her.

Though he hasn't seen the body camera footage, Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano, Jr. told NJ.com that, "when push comes to shove, I think our police officers did what they had to do."

"She refused to comply," he added. "Unfortunately, this is what happened."

According to police, Weinman has been charged with two counts of Aggravated Assault on a Police Officer, Aggravated Assault by Spitting Bodily Fluids at/on a Police Officer, Disorderly Conduct, Resisting Arrest, Obstruction and Minor in Possession of Alcohol.
The UN Security Council will meet Wednesday to discuss Palestinian rocket strikes on Israel, at the request of the United States which wants the top UN body to strongly condemn the attacks. The rocket and mortar firings from the Gaza Strip were claimed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, prompting Israel to respond with air strikes on bases of the militant Palestinian groups. It was the worst flareup since the 2014 war between Israel in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. "Mortars fired by Palestinian militants hit civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten," US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement on Tuesday. "The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, and the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for what they're allowing to happen in Gaza." The United States circulated a draft statement calling on the council to condemn "in the strongest terms the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants in Gaza" toward Israel, according to a copy of the text seen by AFP. The council will hear a report from UN envoy for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov during the meeting scheduled for 3:00 pm (1900 GMT). Israel's military has said it was not seeking an escalation, but warned Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, to rein in its fighters. Three Israeli soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire. Islamic Jihad announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel. The confrontation followed weeks of deadly demonstrations and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border. Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the unrest. The US-drafted council statement would demand that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups "cease all violent activity and provocative actions, including along the boundary fence, and cease putting civilians at risk through their actions." The council has been divided over the violence in Gaza and it was unclear whether the US-proposed statement would win full backing. Security Council statements are adopted by consensus by all 15 members. Separately, council diplomats are negotiating a draft resolution, put forward by Kuwait, that calls for an "international protection mission" to be deployed for the Palestinians. Diplomats said the United States is likely to use its veto to block adoption of that measure, but Kuwait is hoping to win backing from the 14 other council members to highlight Washington's isolation on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Smoke billows after a mortar fired from the Gaza Strip hit near a railway track near Sderot in southern Israel on May 29, 2018
A major U.S. Senate bill contains authorization for a Great Lakes coastal resiliency study, U.S. Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer said Tuesday.

The Senate's Water Resources Development Act would allow the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to study how to upgrade infrastructure to protect against flooding and high water levels that Lake Ontario communities experienced last year.

The cost of the study is estimated to be $9 million. The senators pledged to work with the Army Corps of Engineers to ensure the study is fully funded.

Gillibrand and Schumer, both New York Democrats, have been advocating for a study this year. They believe it will give communities the ability to plan for future floods and protect against rising water levels.

"New Yorkers shouldn't have to worry about whether their shoreline protections are strong enough to withstand flooding from rising water levels or storm surge," said Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. "With this provision, we are one step closer to putting the right protections in place and making sure that the damage caused by last year's high water levels does not happen again."

Schumer added, "The Great Lakes Coastal Resiliency Study will help shed light on solutions and projects that can be implemented to protect communities throughout the Great Lakes. In the past, devastating waters have eroded shorelines of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River  ruining homes, business and infrastructure. I fully support this study and I will keep pushing to have funding allocated towards it."

There are 5,200 miles of coastline along the five Great Lakes, which is an economic generator for many communities. The maritime economy is valued at $17.3 billion and supports 293,000 jobs. The Great Lakes also boasts a $14 billion tourism industry.

The study is a top priority for the Army Corps of Engineers' Buffalo, Chicago and Detroit districts, according to Gillibrand and Schumer. The senators have urged the agency to prioritize funding in its 2018 work plan and fiscal year 2019 budget plan for the study.

Gillibrand and Schumer also announced Tuesday that the Water Resources Development Act includes a funding boost for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program that aims to protect the lakes. The initiative was authorized for $300 million annually over a three-year period in 2016.

The new legislation would increase funding for the initiative to $330 million in 2019, $360 million in 2020 and $390 million in 2021.

The Water Resources Development Act has passed out of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved its version of the bill last week.

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The Attorney General's Office and New York State Police have taken down an elaborate telephone extortion scheme that operated in and around Cayuga and Onondaga counties.

According to a press release, police arrested ringleader Giovani Ayala-Rodriguez (aka "George Peters"), 27, of Puerto Rico, and co-conspirators Eligio Jiminez-Correa, 40, and Orlando Gonzalez-Rivera, 26, both of Syracuse. Each was charged with several felonies, including second-degree grand larceny, second-degree attempted grand larceny, first-degree coercion and fourth-degree conspiracy.

Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood and State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II said the defendants extorted money from victims by threatening to shoot their relatives if they did not pay ransom. An investigation identified more than 55 victims across the state, some of which were in Cayuga and Onondaga counties.

"As we allege, the defendants engaged in a shameful scheme to terrorize and rob New Yorkers," Underwood said. "Today's takedown should send an unmistakable message to those who seek to extort New Yorkers: you will not get away with it."

According to an indictment filed in Onondaga County Court, Ayala-Rodriguez called victims and claimed their close relatives were in a car accident that injured his nephew. He then said he would harm the victim's relatives if a ransom was not paid, stating his nephew did not have insurance. Prosecutors said Jimenez-Correa and Orlando-Rivera often picked up the ransom money from victims.

"Our investigation uncovered a ruthless scheme designed to extort money from the victims through fear and intimidation, and this type of criminal activity simply will not be tolerated," Beach said.

If convicted, Ayala-Rodriguez and Jimenez-Correa could face up to 10 to 20 years in prison and Gonzalez-Rivera could face up to 7 1/3 to 20 years in prison. The investigation of additional crimes related to this scheme is ongoing.

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Theres no doubt about it. Americans love a parade today as much as they ever have. This was evident during Memorial Day observances on Monday in the villages of Elbridge and Jordan. It was a perfect day for a parade ... or two.

Parade participants with American flags held high were enthusiastic as they passed by huge crowds of all ages through the main streets of the two villages. One band participant who had marched with a local fire department for many years, said, its been a long time since weve seen such an enthusiastic audience lining the streets.

Preceding the parades there were brief memorial services in front of Elbridge Elementary School and Veterans Memorial Park in Jordan. Elbridge Village Historian Myrna L. Sullivan outlined the history of the observance originally called Decoration Day that started in the village of Waterloo. That village still officially observes the event on the traditional date of May 30.

Sullivan said Decoration Day was first observed in the villages of Elbridge and Jordan on May 30, 1888. Incidentally, Alfred E. Stacy, a Civil War veteran, was commander of the New York State unit of the Grand Army of the Republic (Civil War veterans organization) in 1903-1905, and of the U.S. in 1934 and 1935.

Also speaking at the Elbridge ceremony were Anthony Zogourski, who read Kelly Strongs poem, Freedom is Not Free." Madelyn Maldonado presented In Flanders Field," Peyton Bates recited Abraham Lincolns Gettysburg Address and Sophia White read the The American Hero.

The parade then assembled and marched to Mount Pleasant Cemetery for graveside services and the wreath-laying ceremony honoring deceased veterans. A rifle squad gave a three-gun salute. Earlier in the morning, American Legion services were held at other local cemeteries.

Services preceding a lengthy parade in Jordan included brief remarks by State Sen. John DeFrancisco on the importance of honoring veterans. Parade participants included groups from as far away as Savannah, Clyde and Palmyra. Related events included a sold-out chicken barbecue at First Baptist Church, an ice cream social at Jordan Free Library and an open house at the Jordan Historical Society history room at the library.

This years parade marked the 55th anniversary of the Jordan-Elbridge High School Marching Eagles. Several former members participated.

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AUBURN  Last fall, authorities said Eric Simmons parked a red tractor in a family's driveway in the town of Owasco, placed a large cutout of a black bear in the front yard and fired a shotgun before fleeing the scene with his 14-year-old son. And while Simmons said most of that was true, he disputed some of the details during a court appearance Tuesday.

Simmons, of 4286 Baptist Corners Road, Owasco, pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree criminal possession of a weapon, a class D felony, and one count of second-degree menacing with a weapon, second-degree obstructing governmental administration and endangering the welfare of a child, all class A misdemeanors.

According to the Cayuga County Sheriff's Office, at around 10:50 p.m. Nov. 5, Simmons harassed a family on North Road over a "landlord-tenant dispute." At the time, deputies said Simmons was a friend of the landlord, who had a rent disagreement with the family.

Citing court papers, Judge Mark Fandrich said Simmons had pointed a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun in the family's direction and discharged the weapon.

However, during his appearance in front of the judge, the 51-year-old shared a slightly different version of events. Simmons argued that he accidentally fired the shotgun into the air. Regardless of how or where it discharged, he admitted his intent to frighten the family and said he possessed the weapon illegally. He also said he illegally possessed additional weapons at his home.

Next, Fandrich said Simmons had refused to comply with law enforcement, who had to physically remove him from his vehicle upon his arrest. Again, Simmons disagreed, stating he was physically unable to exit the vehicle, which had crashed into a ditch.

"I wasn't trying to give them a hard time," he said. "This all happened in a second or two."

In response, Cayuga County District Attorney Jon Budelmann said the vehicle crashed following a pursuit with police, a pursuit that inherently tried to impede the investigation. Simmons admitted to obstructing officers by fleeing.

Finally, the court said Simmons endangered his son, who he forced to drive to and from the scene. While Simmons admitted that his son drove his truck, he claimed the two were "practicing driving," not fleeing from police.

"Give me a break," Fandrich said, shaking his head.

Budelmann stepped in, saying Simmons had been intoxicated and was not practicing driving with his 14-year-old son at 11 o'clock at night. Simmons then agreed he had put his son in danger by making him witness and participate in the crime.

In exchange for his pleas of guilty, Fandrich said he would sentence Simmons to no worse than one to three years in prison and no less than shock probation. Simmons could have faced up to seven years in prison on each felony. He will remain free on $10,000 cash bail pending sentencing July 31.

The case drew attention late last year when local community leaders asked the sheriff's office to further investigate the possibility that a hate crime had been committed, as one of the victims was black. However, New York State Police confirmed there was not enough evidence to charge Simmons with a racially motivated hate crime.

Staff writer Megan Blarr can be reached at (315) 282-2282 or megan.blarr@lee.net. Follow her on Twitter @CitizenBlarr.

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SODUS, N.Y. (AP)  Authorities are continuing to search for a 14-month-old boy whose mother's body was found in western New York.

But Wayne County Sheriff Barry Virts noted Monday it would be very difficult for a child so young to sustain himself.

Virts says searchers are proceeding with the awareness that little Owen Hidalgo-Calderon might not be alive, but they hope he is.

Over 170 people combed a 350-acre (142-hectare) farm in the town of Sodus on Monday.

Owen has been missing since May 16. His 18-year-old mother, Selena Hidalgo-Calderon, was found dead Wednesday on the farm where she and her boyfriend worked.

The 25-year-old boyfriend was arrested Wednesday on evidence-tampering charges. Virts says Reyes admitted burying the mother but not killing her.

Reyes is due in court Tuesday.

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In 2014, the Supreme Court unexpectedly cleared the way for a dramatic expansion of gay marriage in the United States, and more events that ha
A Manhattan man was caught on video driving into several police officers during a traffic stop that occurred over Memorial Day Weekend.

The incident happened around 4 a.m. Sunday morning when officers say they observed driver George Lopez, 27, driving erratically. He was pulled over at Dyckman Street and Payson Avenue in Inwood. As you can see in the video below, Lopez refused to comply with officers, and instead revved his car into a police vehicle, then started doing donuts backwards, striking several NYPD vehicles and parked cars while doing so (as well as knocking off his own bumper).

BREAKING VIDEO: man caught on video attempting to run over multiple NYPD officers during a traffic stop In Manhattan. pic.twitter.com/Vl0fnCVnCi  New York City Alerts (@NYCityAlerts) May 27, 2018

After the video, police say Lopez drove on the sidewalk of Dyckman, then north in the southbound lane on the Henry Hudson Parkway while being chased by police. He exited the wrong way on the Moshulu Parkway exit in the Bronx, then crashed into a parked Toyota RAV4.

Lopez was taken to a local hospital with non-life threatening injuries; three officers were also treated for minor injuries, including bruised knees, bruised hands and sprained wrists.

Lopez was arrested and charged with reckless endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident, operating a motor vehicle while impaired by drugs, reckless driving, and driving without a license.


LOS ANGELESJessica Drake for the second time has publicly backed what is perhaps the most explosive and chilling claim made by Stormy Daniels in Daniels lawsuit against Donald Trump and Trumps fixer Michael Cohen: that in 2011, a man approached her and threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot in front of her then-infant daughter, warning Daniels to leave Mr. Trump alone. Now Drake says she is willing to back Daniels in court testimony if called upon.

At the time in 2011, Daniels was negotiating with the tabloid InTouch Weekly to tell the story of her 2006 sexual encounter with Trump, after the magazine approached her and pledged to run the story of her affair with Trump whether she cooperated or not, according to Daniels attorney, Michael Avenatti.

Trump in 2011 was best-known as the star of the NBC reality competition show The Apprentice, but was also already publicly considering a run for president, and Cohen had already created a web site, ShouldTrumpRun.com, promoting his client's potential presidential bid. The possibility that Trump would run for president in 2012 was taken so seriously that in March of 2011, one poll showed him as the Republican frontrunner, topping even former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who eventually earned the partys nomination.

Drake herself in October of 2016 accused Trump of sexually abusing her, allegedly forcibly kissing her without her consent, then pursuing her, demanding to know how much she would charge him for sex.

Drake first made public statements corroborating Daniels claim of the threat last month during an appearance on the ABC TV program Good Morning America. But this past Friday, May 25, The Washington Post published a new interview with Drake, in which she repeated her support for Daniels threat story, adding through her lawyer Gloria Allred that she was willing to repeat her statements under oath.

Drake told the Post that Daniels told her about the threat in 2011, long before she had ever made the allegation public. She also said that Daniels told her again about the threat incident in October of 2016, following Drakes own public sexual assault allegations against Trump.

She was warning me, I needed to be very careful, Drake told the Post, adding that Daniels cautioned her, Dont be alone.

Daniels first made the threat allegation public during a CBS 60 Minutes interview that aired on March 25.

In the Washington Post interview, Drake said that she did not consider herself friends with Daniels, but has chosen to speak out publicly in support of her former co-star, because women need to be heard and believed.

Drake is prepared to give her account in court to corroborate Danielss story, according to Allreds statements to The Post.

Photo by Jimi Photog / Wikimedia Commons
Moving in the opposite direction from the United States, where the Federal Communications Commission plans to dismantle rules ensuring net neutrality starting on June 11, Canadas House of Commons last week voted to strengthen that countrys rules guaranteeing an open internet.

In fact, all 277 House of Commons members who cast votes on the measure last week gave the thumbs up to a motion establishing net neutrality as a guiding principle of telecommunications regulation in Canada. But 61 members cast no vote on the bill, meaning that technically, the net neutrality legislation did not pass unanimously.

Under net neutrality rules, ISPs may not charge consumers more for certain types of content  for example, porn sites  compared to others. While Canada already has strong regulations that favor an open internet  one in which internet service providers must allow equal access to the net for all sites and content providers without blocking or slowing data from any site  no Canadian law specifically mentions the phrase net neutrality.

The motion voted on last week and authored by Liberal Party Member of Parliament John Oliver, however, did exactly that. The motion, however, does not carry the force of law, even with the 277-0 vote in favor. Instead, it calls on Canadas government to further enshrine in legislation the principles of net neutrality.

Im thrilled that after debate, my colleagues from all parties agreed that this is a critical issue of our times, Oliver said following the vote. It was very rewarding to see that work can be done across the aisle, and to have unanimous support of the House is amazing. I think it sends a very clear signal that this is something that Canadians believe in. It signals a clear commitment to placing consumers and content creators first.

In the United States, under Donald Trump-appointed FCC head Ajit Pai, exactly the opposite approach has become the guiding principle of the Trump administration and the Republican Party when it comes to the telecom industry. But three Republican Senators joined 47 Democrats and two independents last week on Wednesday  the same day of Canadas House of Commons vote  in a vote to keep Obama-era net neutrality rules in place. But the House must also pass the measure, and Trump must sign the bill rather than veto it, in order to preserve a U.S. open internet.

According to Laura Tribe, director of the advocacy group Open Internet, the end of net neutrality rules in the United States will directly affect Canadians.

There will be impacts for us here in Canada. So the first one which, is probably going to be the most immediately felt is that the costs are going to go up for some of the services that we love, Tribe told the Canadian Broadcasting Company. So if Netflix has to pay extra to make sure that it's in internet fast lane in the U.S., they're going to have to pass those fees onto their customers. And it's really unlikely that the limit that to just their American customer base.

Image by Camilo Sanchez / Wikimedia Commons
LOS ANGELESCalling attention to bias and discrimination against sex workers, marches for International Whores' Day will be held on Saturday, June 2, in Los Angeles, New York, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Austin, and Las Vegas.

Along with Gizelle Marie, Kristen Diangelo, Maria Louise Roman, Tara Coccinelle and others, Wicked Pictures contract performer and activist Jessica Drake will speak at the Los Angeles "Let Us Survive" Rally at 3:30 p.m., in front of Boardners ,1652 N. Cherokee Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90028.

Sex workers have waited far too long for this moment, but time is officially up for the violence the United States Government has brought to our workplace," declared Siouxsie Q, writer, performer, APAC Secretary and event coordinator of the march. "The current administration has signed into law a piece of legislation that has taken away the most important tool our community had for survival in this country. We can stay silent no longer. Sex workers everywhere, allies, advocates and anyone who has ever enjoyed or profited from our industry: we need you to show up on June 2, and most importantly after June 5 and every election moving forward. Sex workers vote. We deserve better than the folks who are currently in office.

This issue is very personal to me and so many others who depend on sex work to survive, Drake said. I am thankful to Antonia Crane, Siouxsie Q, Ian OBrien, Bella Bathory, Mia Little, Riley Reyes, Lotus Lain, and all the organizers of the International Whores' Day March for raising awareness about the dire issues facing sex workersmost recently, SESTA/FOSTA. This is the perfect time for allies to show up and lend their support. Sex work is work, and sex workers' rights cannot be denied.

On that same day, the Erotic Service Providers Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP) will be protesting at Clusterfest.com in San Francisco, to let the audiences of comedians like Amy Schumer know that sex workers are not just cheap punchlines!

As anyone who's familiar with comedy since the days of Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Sid Caesar and even Bob Hope knows, sex is one of the mainstays of comedybut Amy Schumer, like many other comedians, often uses sex workers as punchlines. For example, she recently had a skit on her show where she joked about burying a dead stripper after partying with her co-workersin other words, using violence against women to make the point that women do more work than men and get paid less. She is also a prominent supporter of the recently enacted Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA), which forced many internet platforms used by sex workers to close and/or self-censor, so that sex workers who advertised online through those sites lost their ability to screen clientsin fact, lost their online community altogether, and in some cases were forced back onto the streets. Sex workers will die because of FOSTA, so as far as ESPLERP is concerned, Amy Schumer has blood on her hands.

Among the organizations marching with ESPLERP are SWOP Bay (SF Bay Area chapter of Sex Workers Outreach Project), and the US PROStitutes Collective.

The San Francisco march will take place between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on June 2, in front of the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 99 Grove Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.

The Erotic Service Providers Legal Education and Research Project (ESPLERP) is a diverse community-based coalition advancing sexual privacy rights through litigation, education, and research. Contributions to support their court case to legalize prostitution in California can be made here.

The marches will bring together sex workers, sex worker rights advocates, civil rights advocates, freedom of speech advocates, members of the ACLU, the Adult Performer Advocacy Committee, Sex Workers Outreach Project, Free Speech Coalition and many others in an effort to combat bias, discrimination and hate toward sex workers and others who face discrimination.

Sex workers can be adult film stars, dominatrices, strippers, escorts, madams, exotic dancers, webcam models, phone sex operators, and many other workers who engage in consensual sex work.

For more information about the march in Los Angeles and other cities, click here .

The march comes in support of International Whores' Day, which commemorates the occupation of Eglise Saint-Nizier in Lyon, France by more than 100 sex workers on June 2, 1975 in protest of their inhumane working conditions. Today, the day is recognized in marches around the world to call attention to sex workers who face violence, discrimination, harassment, abuse, assault, detainment without due process and basic civil rights violations on a regular basis.

Sex workers are often denied housing, medical insurance, credit, even the ability to open a bank account because of the source of their livelihood. Sex workers are also often at risk of losing their children in custody battles due to the nature of their profession. Legislation is often passed under the guise of protecting sex workers and stopping human trafficking yet in practice, those laws can put an already marginalized population at further risk.

To learn more about the International Whores' Day March, click here.
Parents and school-aged children are the target audience of National Bread Week 2018 in Ireland, which will be celebrated from 10-16 September.

The campaign, which is returning for its fifth year, is organised by the Flour, Confectioners and Bakers Association (FCBA) in association with the Northern Ireland Bakery Council. It is aiming to educate parents on the benefits of bread.

The Love Your Loaf branding will return and be used on all point-of-sale material available to participating bakers, sponsors and stakeholders.

Businesses across the supply chain are urged to get involved, from bakers to millers as well as suppliers and retailers.

There are lots of ways to get involved with the campaign, which last year achieved a record reach and really brought to life the many benefits of all bread, in a positive and engaging way, said FCBA president Gerald Cunningham.

The focus on online engagement is increasing, he added, with a raft of new content, including videos and recipes, available for supporters to share.

There will be a widespread media campaign and supporters and sponsors have access to the campaign logo and other assets. With so many misconceptions about bread, it is vital that, as an industry, we unite to remind consumers of all there is to love about bread.
Ten food and drink manufacturers including crackers and biscuits supplier Rakusens have taken part in a trade mission to Singapore.

With Singapore already importing 4.7bn-worth of consumer-orientated food in 2017, the week-long mission was designed to build relationships and open up further opportunities.

Businesses that took part in the trip were: Burts Snacks, Creme dOr, Eat Natural, Franklin & Sons, Millennium Group, Paramount, Rakusens, Somerdale, Taylors of Harrogate and Tiptree.

The businesses met some of the countrys largest supermarket chains and attended the Food & Hotel Asia Tradeshow during the trip, which was organised by Santander Corporate & Commercial, Singapore bank UOB, British Chamber of Commerce Singapore and the Department of International Trade.

Santander said meeting the needs of a diverse population and workforce meant a large share of Singapores food must be imported. It added that this was an opportunity for UK firms to tap into a desire for high-quality traditional British produce.

Singapore and the wider south-east Asia market represents an excellent opportunity for dynamic UK firms to meet the high demand for quality food and drink produce, said Richard Cuda, head of strategic alliances at Santander Corporate & Commercial.

Established in 1900 as a supplier of kosher foods to the Jewish community, Rakusens products now include a wide range of crackers and biscuits.
An argument over subway etiquette spiraled into a shouting match about racism and religion aboard a 4 train last week.

The incident happened aboard a Bronx-bound train just before 9 a.m. on Thursday morning. Straphanger Chris French captured the escalation of the argument between an orthodox Jewish man and a black woman on video. "You said I'm being racist, so you tell me who I'm being racist towards," the woman shouts in the video below. "Because you're Jewish, and I said if a Jewish family got on here, somebody would have gotten up. That's not a racist statement! That is a factual statement!"

"You need to learn the difference between race," the woman continued. "Judaism is not a race. It is a religion." When the man asked her to calm down, things escalated: "No," the woman responded. "I need to calm down because I'm schooling your ass? You guys think you're so fucking smart, but I'm going to teach you a lesson on this fucking train."

The man countered, "No 'you guys.' I'm a person, you're a person." "No, we're different. Understand that. We are different," the woman yelled. "You know why we're different? We're different because your people treat my people different in our community...You treat us differently in our community. You don't even rent to us. What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I don't even own a house," the man replied. "'Your people!'" the woman responded. "You said I was racist, so I'm addressing your people. You said I was a racist, right? Because I brought up Judaism, right? You wouldn't have called me racist if I said a Mexican family came on here, right? You wouldn't have called me a racist then, right?" When the man called her "hateful," she responded, "I'm not hateful. Let me school you...did I say Jews are dirty? Did I say they stink?"

The man in the video has since been identified as Yossi Wolfe, a 31-year-old software engineer for the Wall Street Journal who lives in Brooklyn. He spoke to Israel National News and offered some important context for how the argument started:

"An African-American lady got on with three kids, and then another African-American lady got on. I was standing, and no one was really getting up for this lady with her three kids. So this other lady started screaming at everyone around her, saying 'Why are you guys not getting up? This lady's here with her three kids,' and then she finally said, 'If it was a Jewish family y'all would have gotten up!', at which point I said to her, 'Can we please not make this a racist thing?' And then she started going on a tirade about how it's not racist. She was yelling for a good amount of time, and we were going back and forth and I said, 'We're individual people. You can't say these things apply to all Jews' as she was yelling. Eventually after a while an elderly African-American lady tapped me on the shoulder and she said to just put my headphones back in and it wasn't worth arguing with her about it."

Wolfe said that someone explained the woman was having a bad day before the argument started: "Before that lady who was yelling had gotten off the train, she said the reason she was in such a bad mood was because her husband had just gotten arrested the day before. I did feel a little bad for her after that, but at the same time it doesn't excuse anti-Semitism, just because you're having a bad day."

I ask you all, is Anti-Semetism a real thing? Yes. Is being human a real thing? Yes. Is gentrification a real thing? Yes. Is prejudice a real thing? Yes. Lets ask ourselves these tough questions before hitting send on a tweet. Be blessed yall.  Harry Plotter (@chrisfrench_) May 29, 2018

Wolfe added that he is glad he spoke up and the incident was captured. "A lot of people in Brooklyn have told me, 'We always just kind of sit on the sidelines when we hear something like that, and we have this mentality like we don't want to say anything because there could be cameras' blah blah blah," Wolfe said. "But they said, 'Thank you for doing this, Yossi; not a lot of people would do that.' And to me it just seems like a no-brainer, when someone is attacking your people you have to do something about it. We say 'Never Again' but do we mean it? That's something that's stuck in my mind."
Pladis is hoping to woo younger consumers to the cake category with the Moments cakes range.

Rolling out to grocery and convenience stores in June, the cakes have been inspired by cafe culture, according to the manufacturer.

Available in five flavours in a range of pack sizes, the products are described as moving away from traditional sponge-based formats and offering multi-dimensional textures. The range comprises:

Cookie Doughlicious  a tiffin made of digestive biscuits, cookie dough fudge flavour pieces, topped with milk chocolate and a white chocolate drizzle (nine-pack rsp 1.50/10-pack rsp 1.60);

Chocolate Caramelting Flapjacks  made of rolled oats baked with cookie pieces and syrup, topped with caramel and, milk chocolate (nine-pack rsp 1.50/10-pack rsp 1.60);

Choccy Rocky Road  comprised of digestive biscuit pieces, cherries and marshmallows (four-pack rsp 1.60);

Salted Caramel Billionaire  made up of a digestive biscuit base, topped with salty-sweet caramel and milk chocolate (four-pack rsp 1.60);

Honeycomb Crunch (four-pack rsp 1.60).

Significant investment has been made across shopper channels, with impactful displays and sampling across the major retailers, added Pladis.

Were thrilled to launch McVities Moments and believe it will be the biggest innovation in the cake category in 2018, said Claire Hooper, head of marketing at Pladis UK and Ireland for McVities Cake Company.

Were confident the range will bring new excitement and growth to the category as a whole, giving younger consumers a new snacking experience and responding to the demand for smaller, but more indulgent snacking moments.
Now that it is fully apparent, to all who have the ability to pay some modicum of attention, that Imposter President Biden has extreme cognitive issues, in addition to being an inveterate liar: Can OUR Republic continue with this Executive Office that has completely failed, so many times, on far too many issues here at this early date in this abysmal presidency?

No, Joseph R. Biden is completely unqualified, morally and cognitively, to represent real Americans, and lead this Republic of disparate peoples.

Yes, Joseph R. Biden has started whispering again, even softer now than before; so, I know he still cares, plus, OUR media will soon stop reporting on Afghanistan in favor of OUR Socialist ideals.
First, I want to express my gratitude to Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest and his staff, the General Assembly, and the people of the state for the passage of House Bill 527, the North Carolina Campus Free Speech Act, into law. Four states, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Georgia have now adopted regulations based on the Goldwater Institute's model campus free speech legislation , of which I was a co-author. I expect bills based on the Goldwater proposal to be introduced in several more states during the 2019 legislative session.But North Carolina was the first. And again, that was largely due to the leadership of Lieut. Gov. Forest, who worked with me on this proposal even before I connected with the Goldwater Institute. Had it not been for the Lieutenant Governor's commitment to this issue, I'm not sure there ever would have been a Goldwater proposal.I'm grateful to the Martin Center for the opportunities it has given me to speak and to write. A year and a half ago, I presented the first public account of the model campus free speech legislation at a Martin Center event in Chapel Hill for members of the Board of Governors. Just days after that proposal went public, the University of California at Berkeley was hit by a riot intended to prevent a scheduled lecture by Milo Yiannopoulos. We had no way of knowing when we first floated the Goldwater proposal that the campus free speech crisis would kick into high gear days later.Since then, we've entered what I believe to be a new era of state-level legislation on campus free speech. Earlier this month, for example, Arizona, which had already banned free-speech zones in 2016, enacted legislation based on the more ambitious Goldwater proposal, which is the only model legislation that deals systematically with the issues of discipline for speaker shout-downs and institutional neutrality.As the campus free speech crisis plays out, I think we'll see multiple rounds of legislation within a given state, as in Arizona. If, for example, shout-downs continue to proliferate, it will become evident that merely banning so-called free-speech zones isn't enough. So the limited legislative efforts we've seen in some states are likely to be expanded in the coming years.My focus today is on the implementation of the North Carolina Campus Free Speech Act. How you go about implementing the Act could set the national standard. In particular, North Carolina will be the first state to issue an annual oversight report, another distinctive feature of Goldwater-based bills. Other model campus free speech bills either have no oversight system at all or depend on administrators to report on themselves. Obviously, they're going to give themselves a hearty pat on the back. But Goldwater-based bills create oversight systems run by university trustees, the bosses of administrators.In the narrow sense, the annual oversight report has only the power of sunlight and persuasion. By itself, that report cannot mandate anything. Yet because it comes from a committee controlled by the university's Board of Governors, administrators will have to take it seriously. And because the oversight committee must issue its report to the governor, the general assembly, and to the public, the oversight committee will be liable to criticism should they whitewash genuine problems in the administrative handling of campus free speech.Potentially, the annual oversight report has tremendous power.First, there is the power of sunlight and persuasion. Second, should the annual oversight report criticize the administrative handling of campus free speech, we would expect to see some reaction. Either administrators will respond to suggestions for reform by their bosses, or they'll have to worry about consequences for themselves. Third, a negative annual oversight report would provide legislators with reason to reconsider the level of their appropriations for the university, at least in the absence of action by administrators to meet the report's concerns.Put that all together, and I believe the annual oversight report could be a powerful tool to strengthen the administrative handling of campus free speech in North Carolina.Now I want to focus in on the most misunderstood aspect of the law-the question of institutional neutrality. Because one of the original provisions of the bill covering institutional neutrality was struck before final passage, an impression has developed that the law has been significantly weakened in that respect. That is not so. The Act covers all aspects of institutional neutrality, and the key passages of the original proposal were enacted.Let me explain.The central role played by institutional neutrality in the protection of campus free speech was articulated by the University of Chicago's Kalven Commission Report of 1967, named for its chairman, law professor and First Amendment scholar, Harry Kalven Jr. It argued that freedom for faculty and students to participate in political action and social protest depends upon the political neutrality of the university at the official institutional level.If the university, as an institution, were to take an official position on a controversial issue like the role of the government in healthcare or American foreign policy in the Middle East, that would put pressure on individual faculty and students to toe the official university line. So freedom of speech requires institutional neutrality from the university. But there has never previously been an attempt to legislate institutional neutrality at public universities. It is simply impossible to legislatively mandate complete institutional neutrality. For example, a public university must take a stand on its own funding from the legislature. You cannot bar a university from advocating an increase in its yearly appropriation.Ultimately, however, where we draw the line between institutional neutrality and those few issues upon which the university must express an opinion is a judgment call. The precise boundary line cannot be legislated.Both the Goldwater proposal and HB 527 as originally proposed took that into account. The neutrality provision of HB 527 that was struck before final passage read:Notice the word "strive." In other words, the university must try to remain neutral. The passage never said simply, the university "shall" remain neutral. Thus, the provision that was struck was merely an aspirational expression of the institutional neutrality principle. We said that clearly in the white paper that was published along with the model bill.The Act does flatly prohibit any attempt by public universities to require students, faculty, or administrators to publicly express a given view of social policy. Sadly, universities nowadays sometimes attempt to do that, and the law rightly prohibits it. But institutional neutrality in the broader sense is also strongly protected by this new law, in a limited and proper way. This is because a powerful provision on institutional neutrality remained in the bill, although it has been largely neglected. The Act charges the university's Committee on Free Expression, which authors the annual oversight report, with including in it a section that consists of: "A description of substantial difficulties, controversies, or successes in maintaining a posture of administrative and institutional neutrality with regard to political or social issues." The committee is also charged with offering "assessments, criticisms, commendations, or recommendations" on these issues, as it sees fit.I cannot imagine a provision more perfectly crafted to inspire consequential work from the Martin Center. What, after all, does the Martin Center do if not write thoughtfully on the problems of institutional neutrality within the University of North Carolina system? The Center has often taken up the issue of institutional bias expressed in the choice of freshman common readings, as well as violations of neutrality in the conduct of freshman orientation, violations of neutrality in the administration of campus sustainability programs, and violations of neutrality in the conduct of offices of diversity and inclusion, and other related issues.All of this is now grist for the mill of annual UNC oversight reports.If the Martin Center generates a controversy over some alleged failing of institutional neutrality at any UNC system school, the oversight report is obligated to comment upon it, since the oversight committee is charged with commenting, assessing, and even making recommendations on any controversies over neutrality that occur.Here's an example of an area in which the annual oversight report might address the issue of institutional neutrality, in a way that might set a national precedent. The Martin Center has done a tremendous job of pointing to problems with freshman common readings within the UNC system. Freshman common readings directly raise the question of institutional neutrality, because they aren't assignments in a given professor's course. Rather, they are assignments from the institution itself.When the institution tells all entering freshmen to read only a single book that clearly takes a particular stand on an issue of public controversy, the neutrality principle has arguably been violated. When the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assigns as its sole freshman summer reading Bryan Stevenson's Just Mercy, a brief against capital punishment, at a moment when capital punishment is a controversy in North Carolina, I'd suggest that we have a violation of institutional neutrality.At a minimum, the annual oversight report is obligated to comment on such controversies, and it's also charged with making recommendations regarding their resolution.The oversight report might, for example, recommend the adoption of a specific common reading for a year, or even continuously until further notice. A good choice would be the second chapter of John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, the greatest brief for freedom of speech ever written. That would teach incoming freshmen the reasons to give a hearing to all sides of our political controversies. The Board of Governors could mandate that. Or it could do away with assigned summer readings altogether, among other options.And if there are controversies over violations of institutional neutrality by administrative offices of sustainability or diversity and inclusion, the annual oversight report is obliged to address these issues as well.UNC's Board of Governors has always held the power to speak to, and govern on, questions of institutional neutrality. So think of the NC Campus Free Speech Act as directing the Board of Governors to exercise the powers it has held from the beginning.Stanley Kurtz is a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact: White House

White House Press Office

Thank you very much, everyone. Thank you very much. What an honor. Secretary Mattis -We love you!And I love you, too. (Laughter.) General Dunford, Joint Chiefs, members of the Armed Forces, members of the Cabinet, members of Congress, and distinguished guests: Thank you for joining us on this solemn day of remembrance. We are gathered here on the sacred soil of Arlington National Cemetery to honor the lives and deeds of America's greatest heroes: the men and women who laid down their lives for our freedom. Today, we pay tribute to their service, we mourn alongside their families, and we strive to be worthy of their sacrifice.The heroes who rest in these hallowed fields - in the cemeteries, battlefields, and burial grounds near and far - are drawn from the full tapestry of American life. They came from every generation, from towering cities and windswept prairies, from privilege and from poverty. They were generals and privates, captains and corporals, of every race, color, and of every creed. But they were all brothers and sisters in arms. And they were all united then, as they are united now forever, by their undying love of our great country. (Applause.)Theirs was a love more deep and more pure than most will ever know. It was a love that willed them up mountains, through deserts, across oceans, and into enemy camps and unknown dangers. They marched into hell so that America could know the blessings of peace. They died so that freedom could live.America's legacy of service is exemplified by a World War II veteran who joins us today - Senator Bob Dole. (Applause.) Earlier this year, I was fortunate to present a very special award to Bob - the Congressional Gold Medal. (Applause.) Bob, thank you for honoring us with your presence, and thank you for your lifetime of service to our nation.Today, we remember your fallen comrades who never returned home from that great struggle for freedom.We are also proud to be in the company of another American hero - Navy veteran Ray Chavez. (Applause.) At 106 years of age - (applause) - and he was in the Oval Office two days ago, and he doesn't look a day over 60 - (laughter) - he's the oldest living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Applause.) What a guy. And, Ray, you are truly an inspiration to all who are here today and all of our great country. Thank you, Ray, for being with us. Thank you. (Applause.)Most importantly, we're joined today by the families of the American heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice. We cannot imagine the depth of emotion that this day brings each year - the grief renewed, the memories re-lived, those last beautiful moments together cherished and always remembered. And you also feel that incredible pride - a pride shared by one really and truly grateful nation. (Applause.)To every parent who weeps for a child, to every child who mourns for a parent, and to every husband or wife whose heart has been torn in two: Today we ask God to comfort your pain, to ease your sorrow, and to wipe away your tears. This is a very special day. And today, our whole country thanks you, embraces you, and pledges to you: We will never forget our heroes. (Applause.)Joining us today is the family of Marine Lieutenant Colonel David Greene, who rests here at Arlington. (Applause.) Dave grew up in Upstate New York, dreaming of attending the United States Naval Academy. In 1982, that dream came true. Soon another dream came true when Dave met his eternal soulmate, Sarah, who is here with their two beautiful children, Jena and Wesley. (Applause.) He's looking down on you right now. You know that, right? He's looking down on you, and he's so proud and happy.After 10 years of service as a Marine helicopter pilot, Dave left active duty to spend more time with the people who truly filled his heart. Those are the people you just met. But Sarah knew the man she married - she knew he couldn't live without serving. Couldn't do it. So she suggested he join the services in the form of reserves, and that's what he did.In January 2004, Dave deployed to Iraq. That summer, just a few weeks before he was scheduled to return home, he was called in to provide air support for ground troops who were in very serious danger. They were in very serious trouble. He immediately raced to the scene. As he covered his troops, he was shot by ground fire, giving up his life for his comrades and his country.Lieutenant Colonel Greene remains one of the highest-ranking Marines to have been killed in Iraq since 2003. But for him, it was never about rank or title. Like all of his fellow warriors, it was only about duty. He served to defend our flag and our freedom.And now his son Wesley, who is a senior at Liberty University, plans to follow in his father's footsteps and join the military. (Applause.) Wesley, I just want to congratulate you and your entire family. Great, great family. Thank you very much, and thank you for being here with us. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Beautiful. You're going to love the military. These are incredible people.We're also honored to have with us today the family of Army Captain Mark Stubenhofer, and his wife Patty, and their children, Lauren, Justin, and Hope. (Applause.) Please. Thank you for being with us. Thank you very much. Such an honor.Mark grew up not far from here, in Springfield, Virginia. Every year, he visited these grounds and hoped to someday serve here as a member of that very, very famous Old Guard.In 2004, Mark deployed to Iraq for the second time. While he was there, Patty went into labor with their third child, and Mark was with her by phone when their beautiful baby girl was born. Together, they named her Hope.Just a few months later, Mark was on a mission near Baghdad when he was tragically slain by a sniper's bullet.Today, Hope is 13 years old. Although she never had the chance to meet her great father, she can feel his love wrapped around her every single day. And when Patty puts her children to bed, and kisses them goodnight, she can see Mark's legacy beaming back at her through their bright and glowing eyes. Thank you so much. (Applause.) Really beautiful. Thank you. You know that, right?Also joining us today is a very special friend: Seven-year-old Christian Jacobs, who is here with his mom Brittany.I met Christian exactly one year ago today. Last year, after the wreath-laying ceremony, Christian walked over to me with great confidence, shook my hand, looked me straight in the eye, and asked if I would like to meet his dad. He loved his dad - Marine Sergeant Christopher Jacobs, who died when Christian was just eight months old.Next, Christian, looking as sharp as you could look dressed in a beautiful Marine outfit - I've never seen a Marine look that good in my life, Christian. (Applause.) He wanted to look good, he told me, as a tribute to his father. And he led me to his dad's grave, and we paid our respects together. It was a moment I will always remember.Christian, I want you to know that even though your father has left this world - he's left it for the next - but he's not gone. He'll never be gone. Your dad's love, courage, and strength live in you, Christian. And as you grow bigger and stronger, just like him, so too does your father's incredible legacy. So thank you both. That's so beautiful. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you. Thank you, Christian. Good to see you. He's become my friend, I will tell you. Special young man.To every family member of the fallen, I want you to know that the legacy of those you lost does not fade with time, but grows only more powerful. Their legacy does not, like a voice in the distance, become a faint echo. But, instead, their legacy grows deeper, spreading further, touching more lives, reaching down through time and out across many generations. Through their sacrifice, your loved ones have achieved something very, very special: immortality.Today we also remember the more than 82,000 American servicemen and women who remain missing from wars and conflicts fought over the past century. We will never stop searching for them. (Applause.) And whenever possible, we will bring them home. We pledge to remember not just on Memorial Day. We will always remember them. We will remember them every day.Moments ago, I laid a wreath in tribute to those resting "in honored glory." For more than 80 years, the Sentinels of the Old Guard have kept watch over the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Serving in this elite unit is among the most prestigious honors in the United States military. While the rest of us sleep, while we go about our lives, through every minute, through every day, through freezing cold, scorching heat, and raging storms, they stand watch.Even when the Earth shook beneath their feet on 9/11, and smoke from the Pentagon darkened the sky above these tree-lined hills, here they remained, faithful at their post, eternal on guard. They never moved.The Sentinel always stands, because America never forgets it's our heroes who make us who we are and who determine what we will be. (Applause.)Our fallen heroes have not only written our history - they've shaped our destiny. They saved the lives of the men and women with whom they served. They cared for their families more than anything in the world. They love their families. They inspired their communities, uplifted their country, and provided the best example of courage, virtue, and valor the world will ever know. They fought and bled and died so that America would forever remain safe and strong and free.Each of the markers on that field - each of the names engraved in stone - teach us what it means to be loyal and faithful and proud and brave and righteous and true.That is why we come to this most sacred place. That is why we guard these grounds with absolute devotion. That is why we always will remember. Because here - on this soil, on these grounds, beneath those fields - lies the true source of American greatness, of American glory, and of American freedom.As long as we are blessed with patriots such as these, we shall forever remain one people, one family, and one nation under God. (Applause.)It's been my great honor to be with you today. I want to thank you. May God bless the families of the fallen. May God bless the men and women who serve. And may God bless the United States of America - our great country. Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much.
Mr. Cecil Waite Bradley of 310 Lawson Road, Washington, N.C. went home to be with the Lord on May 24, 2018.Cecil was born in Parkman, OH, son of the late Ralph R. and Rose Kedzuch Bradley. He served in the U.S. Naval Aviation Ordinance Test Group and later attended college and received a degree in Traffic, Transportation and Interstate Commerce Law. He held various positions with transportation including a management position at Texasgulf of Aurora, N.C., Everette Truck Line, and C & R Freight of Washington, N.C.In 1977, he married Rita Everette of Washington, who survives. He loved to speak of Rita changing his life by leading him to the Lord in 1974. Cecil loved the Lord!Also surviving are sons, Cecil Flex Bradley (Suzanne) of Tallahassee, FL; Rex Alan Bradley (Carrie) of Chapel Hill; and his granddaughter, Kristina Lestina (John) of Columbus, OH. Surviving siblings are Orrin Bradley (Amy) of Clifton Forge, VA; Marcia Boytar of Chardon, OH; and Austin Bradley of Huntsburg, OH and special nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his sister, Erma Brown.Cecil was blessed with musical talent which he used to serve the Lord in churches, revivals and nursing homes. He directed church and choir music for many years at Second Baptist Church, Emmanuel FWB Church, and Faith FWB Church. He was a faithful member of First FWB Church and was distressed when he became homebound and could no longer attend. Cecil enjoyed aviation, obtaining his pilot's license, and had been a member of the airport commission and the N.C. Air Museum in Asheboro, N.C.Cecil loved his family and his greatest prayer was for all his loved ones to be saved. He always had a smile that would light up a room and was a wonderful witness for Christ. Rita was the love of his life, their union becoming an example of oneness in marriage.The family will receive friends at 1:00 PM on Tuesday, May 29 at Paul Funeral Home & Crematory and other times at the home. At 2:00 PM, a celebration of his life will be held at a graveside service at Oakdale Cemetery, officiated by Darren Walker and Bruce Kimbrel.The following will serve as pallbearers: Todd Everette, Greg Everette, Woody Everette, Aaron Edwards, Marty Martin and Jerry Woolard.Flowers are appreciated or memorial contributions may be made to First FWB Church, 901 N. Bonner Street, Washington, NC 27889, c/o Darren Walker for the youth missionary program.Rita Would like to thank everyone who prayed for them and helped them during Cecil's illness. Very special thanks go to his caregivers, Brenda, Marie and Raymond for being a blessing to Cecil and heartfelt appreciation to her sweet sister Carol, and her brothers, Steve and Larry, for their love and help.Online condolences may be sent to the family by visiting www.paulfuneralhome.com Paul Funeral Home & Crematory in Washington is honored to serve the Bradley family.
A 25-year-old woman died after passing out at a downtown Manhattan bar on Saturday.

The woman, identified by the NY Post as Emily Fayssoux, had been at the No Fun bar at 161 Ludlow Street when she passed out on a couch around 9 p.m. The Post reports, "A friend discovered the unresponsive woman and called 911, cops said. When police arrived, the concerned caller told them Fayssoux had been drinking and using cocaine earlier in the day, but no drugs were found on Fayssoux, according to sources."

She was taken to Beth Israel Hospital, where she died at 10:20 p.m. The NYC Medical Examiner did not immediately respond to an inquiry about the woman's cause of death.

A No Fun worker, who was not at the bar at the time of the incident, told the Post, "Ive been working bars for a long time and Ive never seen anything like that. Its a tragedy."

No Fun has been, as Bowery Boogie put it, "basically... a thorn in the Lower East Side since its debut almost seven years ago." Originally the venue told the local community board they would be a "full service tapas restaurant" but many feel betrayed as it's been more of a bar. No Fun actually sued a local community groupwho voiced many complaints about the crowds and brawlsfor defamation, but a judge recently sided with the community group, noting it was a "strategic lawsuit against public participation."
In North Carolina and across the country, rank-and-file Democrats are counting on a big blue wave to wash over congressional, legislative, and local elections this year, as well as over gubernatorial contests in the majority of states that, unlike ours, elect their governors in non-presidential years.Is this scenario possible? Sure. Its probability has declined in recent months, however, in large measure because people are feeling increasingly positive about the economy as a whole and their own prospects in particular.On paper, it makes sense to imagine Democrats taking control of the U.S. House of Representatives and perhaps the U.S. Senate, breaking the Republican supermajorities in the North Carolina General Assembly, and winning lots of other races. Midterm elections usually go against the party occupying the White House. President Donald Trump has had net negative ratings since early 2017.But right now, there is scant evidence of an impending Democratic tsunami. The polls aren't consistent with it. Neither are the insights of Democratic insiders I know. They still expect to win races. They just don't expect to blow out the Republicans, the outcome they had previously assumed (and the latter had previously feared).The national polling on congressional races currently shows an average Democratic edge in House races of about three to four points. That's better than a deficit, but not very impressive. At this point in the 2006 cycle, which culminated in Democratic takeovers of both houses of Congress and most state governments, the party typically led Republicans by double digits.Here in North Carolina, generic-ballot tests range from roughly even for congressional and legislative races (in the latest survey commissioned by the Civitas Institute ) to Democratic advantages of three and seven points, respectively (in the latest Survey USA poll for Spectrum News). Averaging all the polls conducted so far this year shows only a modest Democratic edge in the Tar Heel State.As for the White House effect, at this point in the 2006 cycle President George W. Bush had an average approval rating of 37 percent and an average disapproval rating of 59 percent. Trump's current spread is approximately 44 percent approval, 53 percent disapproval. That's a negative spread, obviously, but not nearly as heavy a weight as GOP candidates were bearing in 2006.It's not because Trump's personal failings are going unnoticed. In a recent Ipsos Public Affairs survey of 1,080 registered voters, conducted for Reuters, fewer than 40 percent of respondents said they approved of Trump's performance on government corruption, Russia, and "the way he treats people like me." Yet his overall approval rating was 47 percent, vs. 51 percent disapproval.Why? The difference consists of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who dislike Trump's behavior and character but agree with his handling of the issues they deem most important. Indeed, his overall approval is about 60 percent on both the economy and fighting terrorism.I know I'm repeating myself here, but our politics has become intensely polarized by party. Most Republicans who didn't much like Trump in 2016 voted for him, anyway, because they were repulsed by Hillary Clinton and the left-wing philosophy she represented. Most Democrats did the reverse. It takes a great deal - not just antipathy to the nominee of one's "home team" - to dislodge people from their normal voting patterns.It's much, much harder to do that when there is neither a bad economy nor an unpopular war to run against. At the moment, North Carolina's unemployment rate of 4.4 percent is the lowest since the beginning of the 21st century. Incomes are rising. Reflecting a combination of strengthening economic conditions and one-time adjustments related to federal tax reform, North Carolina's state budget is headed for another significant surplus , which will allow lawmakers to continue reducing the tax burden while also providing substantial pay raises to teachers and other public employees.Democrats have a message of change. They have resources and, in some cases, talented candidates to deliver the message. But to an increasingly optimistic electorate, it may end up sounding off-key.
Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is a huge Yankees fan, so it's no surprise that he'd want to celebrate his birthday at the House That Jeter Built. However, when an announcer told the crowd that it was the Trump lawyer's birthday, they responded with an unequivocal message for Rudy (go to the 16 second mark):

The Yankees, by the way, lost to the Houston Astros, 5-1.

Giuliani turned 74 on Monday. His super Yankees fandom has had some eyebrow-raising moments, like when he claimed he supported the Red Sox (!!!!) in 2007 during his ill-fated presidential campaign.

Trump nemesis Michael Avenatti, the lawyer representing adult film star Stormy Daniels in her settlement battle with the president over an affair in 2006, shared a Tweet about Giuliani's birthday booing, commenting, "Ive never seen two guys in my lifetime that are so disliked in their own hometown. Truly remarkable. #Basta."
The Biodiversity Heritage Library is pleased to welcome the Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin (MfN) as a new Member. MfN is the first German museum to join the Biodiversity Heritage Library as a Member.

The Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin has been a part of the BHL global family for nearly a decade through BHL Europe. Launched in 2009 and coordinated by MfN, the three-year BHL Europe project aimed to improve the interoperability of European biodiversity digital libraries and bring together the digitization activities of institutions across the EU.

The Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin and BHL have been working together for many years towards a shared vision of global open access to worldwide biodiversity collections, affirms BHL Program Director Martin R. Kalfatovic. We are excited to strengthen our collaborative efforts through membership and look forward to working with our MfN colleagues to realize our shared vision, expand our international research impact, and pursue further partnerships within Germany and across Europe.

As a BHL Member, Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin will provide technical, digitization, and data management expertise and contribute rare and unique materials from its significant collections. The Museum will also explore opportunities to facilitate participation and contributions from other German organizations and societies. Ongoing participation in the Biodiversity Heritage Library will allow MfN to further its commitment to making biodiversity literature as freely and openly available as possible.

We believe that the library collections of the Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin are of high value for both the scientific community as well as other users like citizen scientists and the general public, asserts Dr. Jana Hoffmann, Head of the Digital World and Information Science programme at the Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin. BHL supports our efforts in the science programme Digital World and Information Science to open our library physically and digitally, thus positioning the museum as a global and active player For Nature.

About the Biodiversity Heritage Library

BHL is a consortium of major natural history, botanical and research libraries that seek to contribute to the global biodiversity commons by digitizing and providing free and open access to biodiversity literature and archives from across the globe. For more information, visit the Biodiversity Heritage Library website: www.biodiversitylibrary.org.

About Museum fur Naturkunde Berlin

The Museum fur Naturkunde  Leibniz-Institut fur Evolutions- und Biodiversitatsforschung (MfN) in Berlin is an integrative research museum in the Leibniz Association, a union of non-university German research institutions dedicated to addressing scientific issues of societal importance. Consisting of over 30 million specimens, the Museums collections constitute a research infrastructure of worldwide importance. The MfN Library holds 374,000 items representing multidisciplinary fields within the natural sciences and the history of science. With the credo Fur Natur (For Nature) driving all of its work, MfN is dedicated to tackling the major biodiversity and environmental challenges of the 21st century through its operations, research projects, exhibitions, and targeted collaborative efforts.
The OIE recommendation is significant because it strikes a blow against the use of gestation crates, which are narrow cages used to confine millions of breeding sows all over the world. Photo by The HSUS

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The World Organization for Animal Health, an international body that sets standards for animal health in international trade, says that sows should be housed in groups because they are social animals. The recommendation is significant because it strikes a blow against the use of gestation crates, which are narrow cages used to confine millions of breeding sows all over the world.

On May 24th, veterinary delegates to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) in Paris, which has 181 member countries, voted to include a new chapter on the welfare of pigs in the organizations Terrestrial Animal Health Code. The code is not binding on member countries, but recommendations may be used as a basis for animal welfare legislation, and are referenced as an authoritative source of animal welfare information by governments. They have the potential to influence OIE member countries such as China, where half of the worlds pigs are located. In many of these member countries, industrial farming is rising sharply, but animal welfare is still a new concept.

In 2016, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimated that more than half of the nearly 1.5 billion pigs in the world are raised in intensive production systems, including gestation crates, which are cages so small that the animals cannot even turn around.

Sows and gilts, like other pigs, are social animals and prefer living in groups, therefore pregnant sows and gilts should preferably be housed in groups, according to new language in the chapter. The chapter further advises that animal handlers be trained and skilled, and that daily animal inspections be conducted. It acknowledges that routine procedures like surgical castration, tail docking, teeth clipping and identification methods (which often involve cutting pieces of flesh from the ears of pigs) are painful, and suggests options for replacing or refining these procedures. The chapter recommends the pigs be provided with environmental enrichment, such as straw bedding, allowing them to perform their natural foraging and rooting behavior.

Humane Society International contributed to the development of the draft chapter through our membership in the International Coalition for Animal Welfare, the official body of animal protection organizations recognized by the OIE.

A number of nations, including New Zealand, Israel, India, Sweden and the United Kingdom, have banned gestation crates and their use is restricted in the European Union and Canada. The industry is phasing out their continual use in South Africa and Australia, and in Brazil, one of the worlds largest pork producers and exporters, HSI has worked with many of the countrys most prominent producers to move the industry toward group housing for sows, which is more humane.

Stateside, the Humane Society of the United States has helped grocers, restaurants, hospitality and food service retailers and other corporations enact purchasing policies that dont allow gestation crates. We have led successful campaigns to pass legislation banning or phasing out the use of gestation crates in 10 states, and in California, we are poised to place a measure on the November 2018 ballot that would end the intensive confinement of breeding sows, hens and calves and the sale of products that come from these animals.

Related: California ballot measure would set a new precedent for farm animal welfare across the globe

The United States, as a voting member of the OIE, could play an important role in sending a strong set of recommendations, but unfortunately the U.S. Department of Agriculture has not been a vocal advocate for animal welfare at the OIE. In the national position sent to the OIE prior to this years assembly of delegates, the United States actually proposed language that would have weakened the chapter on pigs and other animal welfare sections of the OIE code, going so far as to suggest that abnormal behavior patterns (repetitive, stereotypic bar-biting, for example) displayed by pigs in barren, intensive confinement have a purpose and are not a consistent indicator of negative welfare. There was even an unsuccessful attempt by the United States to remove the line recommending group housing from the chapter.

Given that major U.S. producers like Smithfield Foods, Hormel, Cargill and Clemens Food Group have already taken steps toward group housing, its time for our government to stop clinging to outdated practices. The market is shifting toward higher welfare systems and failing to keep up serves neither the animals nor the farmers.
Emily Weinman, a smidge under drinking age at 20 years old, went to the beach in Southern New Jersey to enjoy Memorial Day with her daughter, her daughter's father, and a friend. A police officer suspected her of underage drinking, and he didn't take kindly to her screaming when he tried to arrest her, so he punched her a couple of times.

From ABC13:

"Two cops approach me on their four-wheelers and ask me and my friend how old we are. We gave them our ages. Then, we got breathalized, and it came back negative. I told them I wasn't drinking and the alcohol was clearly closed/sealed, which the cops seen." Weinman then writes that she walked away from the officer, attempting to make a phone call. "I asked them don't they have something better to do as cops than to stop people for underage drinking on the beach, saying to that there's so much more serious stuff going on. The cop said, 'I was gonna let you go but now I'll write you up' and he asked my name. I did not do anything wrong and anything could've been written down on that paper so I wouldn't give it to him. At that point I was told if I don't give it to him he's going to arrest me." Within the first few seconds of the cell phone video, you can see a Wildwood police officer punch Weinman in the head and then put her in a headlock.

Weinman "was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct, minor in possession of alcohol, two counts of aggravated assault on police and obstruction."

In response to the public reaction after this video was posted on social media, The City of Wildwood Police Department put out this statement:

This City of Wildwood Police Department has received reports of a video on various social media sources, regarding an incident that occurred on the Wildwood beach yesterday afternoon, with our officers.

An Internal Affairs Investigation was immediately initiated into this matter and the involved officers have been reassigned to administrative duty pending the outcome of a full and thorough investigation.

Chief Regalbuto stated that while he finds this video to be alarming, he does not want to rush to any judgement until having the final results of the investigation.

Anyone that may have been present during this altercation and has supporting video that could assist us with this investigation are strongly encouraged to contact Detective Lieutenant Kenneth Gallagher at 609-522-0222. The Cape May County Prosecutor's Office, Professional Standards Unit will also be assisting in this investigation.
With the invention of things like Airdrop, cloud sharing, and Bluetooth, whipping out photos from your wallet and sharing them with the world has become a thing of the past. Sure, technology has done some pretty amazing things, but the novelty of being able to physically show someone a picture of Fluffy or Fido doing that READ THE REST
BookLife Talks with Carole P. Roman

A sponsored Q&A with Carole P. Roman

Roman, author of the award-winning Captain No Beard books, discusses her instructional series about life in other countries.

How did you come up with the idea for the If You Were Me and Lived In... series?

I was in Las Vegas on a family vacation and my four-year-old grandson noticed the Eiffel Tower on the strip. He wanted to know what it was and why it was important. I couldnt find a book that was suitable for him. That night, I wrote the first of five books.

I was working with illustrator Kelsea Wierenga, and I wanted the series to be respectful, not stereotyped. In addition to filling the books with fun facts to familiarize readers with life in another country, I chose to write from the perspective of a child in that nation.

I then expanded the series and wrote ten more books for older children about different eras in history. These start with ancient Greece and include ancient Mali, Elizabethan England, the Mayans, and the Vikings. The last one travels into the future to explore life in a colony on Mars.

How did you do research for this series?

I did most of my research in my own neighborhood. My dry cleaner was thrilled to offer details about his life in Egypt. The women in the nail salon told me stories about South Korea. My doctor was happy to share the food of his native Scotland. And the man at the car wash told me about his native Peru.

Can you say a bit about how you hope these books will help children understand life in other countries?

We live in a global village. If children can appreciate the similarities and differences of our diverse world, society is enriched. Intolerance is bred from ignorance. I believe everyone should know what languages others speak, what currency they use, and where they are located in the world in relation to us.

What do you think is the role of a childrens author?

Writing a book is intimate; its a direct line to someones heart. Sometimes a book can reach a child when a parents words cant. Convincing a child that a book can change their life, or stay with them forever, is the best gift of all.

Who is your ideal reader?

As an author, you can impact someones life. When you share a story, you may end up taking someone on the journey of their lifetime. Perhaps your story will ignite the imagination of someone who will change the world.

For more information, visit Roman's BookLife author page.
News / National

by Staff rpeorter

Demonstrations, petitions and threats of 'bhora musango' have engulfed Chirumanzu - Zivagwe Constituency after First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa allegedly imposed a candidate who came fourth in the just-ended Zanu PF primaries to take over the seat she left when she stepped down early this year.Chirumanzu - Zibagwe is one of the most famous constituencies in the country after it changed hands between members of the First Family; President Mnangagwa and his wife Auxillia.Angry demonstrators accused Mnangagwa of imposing Prosper Machando, her close ally as the candidate ahead of successful business Crispen Thomu who is said to have won the primaries with an overwhelming majority.This came after the party declared Machando as the Chirumhanzu-Zibagwe candidate at a PCC meeting held at the Zanu PF Winery offices in Gweru on Saturday.Party supporters said they knew it was Mnangagwa who imposed Machando because the two were close and Machando allegedly used the First Lady's truck during his campaign for the primary.Machando also opely bragged that he was the First Lady's choice for party candidature, said the protesters.The protesters likened Mnangagwa to disgraced former First Lady Grace Mugabe. Efforts to get a comment from the First Lady were fruitless.The demonstrators vowed to derail Zanu PF victory in the constituency held by President Emmerson Mnangagwa from 2008 to 2014 and his wife from 2014 to 2018 when she stepped down after becoming First Lady. President Mnanngagwa handed over the constituency to his wife when he was appointed Vice President by former President Mugabe.Party members including war veterans expressed fear that MDC T was going to win the seat after Zanu PF dumped Thomu, a very popular candidate.Zanu PF Midlands provincial spokesperson Cornelius Mupereri confirmed the debacle and public anger but said the situation was caused by confusion in the voting process that initially saw Thomu being declared the winner. He said Thomu was declared winner before voting was done in three wards that are close to the City of Kwekwe.Tremendous Musara who is Thomu's chief elections officer said the elections went on well and Thomu was the winner according to the results posted at all polling stations. He said party members were shocked when Machando was declared the winner.A petition written by war vets to Zanu PF headquarters in Harare also likened the First Lady's behaviour in the matter as to that of Grace Mugabe. The petition alleged that Machando was a violent man, who owned nothing and did not deserve to become an MP in Chirumanzu - Zibagwe.The petition also said that Machando who allegedly drives around the First Lady's truck has been using the First Family's name to intimidate party supporters including candidates who stood against him."I am filling complaints with the party and if the decision is not changed, I will decide later to stand as an independent candidate or focus on my business," said Thomu.A war veteran who spoke on condition of anonymity alleged that there has never been democracy in Chirumanzu since the arrival of President Mnangagwa after his defeat by the MDC T in Kwekwe urban. He said the constituency had never held primary elections since Mnangagwa became MP in 2008.The meeting at the party's Winery offices in Gweru had to be stopped for 30 minutes after hordes of party supporters became rowdy on the announcement of Machando as the party candidate for Chirumanzu. It took senior party officials July Moyo and Joram Gumbo to calm down the angry crowd.
News / National

by Simbarashe Sithole

A 32-year-old Guruve man was convicted for lifting his sister in-laws dress up there by leaving her undergarments exposed.Vengai Mushongahande of Mushongahande village in Kachuta Guruve pleaded guilty to indecent assault before Guruve resident magistrate Mr Shingirai Mutiro who slapped him with $150 fine.According to state prosecutor Miss Spiwe Makarichi, On the 15th of May 2018 Mushongahande met a 55 year old widow who is her sister in-law at Kachuta growth point and greeted her before grabbing her and lifting her dress upwards leaving her under garments exposed.The widow tried to confront Mushongahande who threatened to have s*x with her in the eyes of the public.She then filed a police report leading to the arrest of the accused.However during mitigation Mushingahande told the court that the two always played that way since she does not have a husband but surprisingly she filed a report against him."Your worship this woman is my in-law and is a widow we always play that way for seven years but it is very surprising that today she has reported me to the police," he said.
News / National

by Staff reporter

TENSIONS appear to be rocking the opposition MDC Alliance with a key coalition partner complaining that "we have been hoodwinked and taken for fools by those who think they own the electorate simply because they have a leader who is 'youthful'".According to NewZimbabwe.com, former finance minister Tendai Biti's People's Democratic Party (PDP) demanded Monday that bullying in the Alliance must stop".In a social media post, PDP's Harare province raged at Chamisa's MDC-T party, accusing the latter of reengining on a constituency-sharing agreement which was reached as part of the Alliance agreement."As the PDP led by Adv. Tendai Biti, we have noticed with great disgust the manner in which we have been treated in the MDC Alliance by members of the MDC-T led by Nelson Chamisa. We will not stand for it," PDP said."MDC-T (Chamisa) promised to stay away from constituencies that our members would be taking part in. However, this is not what is happening on the ground," the province complained."We now have MDC-T (Chamisa) candidates who think they are superior to ours and are trying to renege on their party's assurances to let our members go unopposed by other Alliance members."A case in point is that of Wilson Makanyaire who has reportedly displaced PDP Hurungwe West aspiring candidate, Severino Chambati, and imposed himself to contest in that. We will not stand for it."
News / National

by Staff reprter

THE Lovemore Madhuku-led National Constitutional Assembly (NCA) party has capped two terms as the limit for all party members who are contesting parliamentary seats.In an interview with NewZimbabwe.com in Harare on the party's preparedness for the harmonised elections due in few months' time, NCA spokesperson Madock Chivasa said they had brought a new wave of democracy in the country's politics.The NCA has had only Professor Madhuku as its leader since it was a civil society organisation. However, Chivasa said they were now a political party which is different from what "we were before".Chivasa said they had selected 210 candidates to contest all the house of assembly seats. The party also said it had selected candidates for all the local government positions in all wards nationwide.NCA also said it would not hold primary elections, adding that they field the same candidates the party used to test the electoral play field in by-elections which have taken place since 2013.
News / National

by Staff reporter

MDC Alliance presidential candidate Nelson Chamisa has claimed a hand in turning around of genocide-ravaged Rwanda which is, today, one of the fastest growing economies in the world.Addressing supporters at a campaign rally in Beitbridge Saturday, Chamisa - who was ICT minister in the former coalition government - said he had helped the Rwandese leader turn his country around."Look what my brother Paul Kagame (Rwandan leader) is doing for his country," he told the cheering supporters."I helped him on his ICT policy, on how to turn around the country when we met in Geneva, Switzerland and he was happy with my presentation."He (Kagame) asked and enquired about me from former president Robert Mugabe and he told him that I belonged to his party Zanu-PF, but I told him (Kagame) there and there that I belong to MDC party led by the late Morgan Tsvangirai."So Kagame is doing a wonderful his job for his country because he started his planning from a local level and, because of that, Rwanda has never been the same; it has changed completely."
News / National

by Staff reporter

A nurse and four healthcare assistants have been convicted for their involvement in a fraud conspiracy that was masterminded by a recruitment agent.Registered nurse Violet Nhende and the others were sentenced at Kingston-Upon-Hull Crown Court on 18 May for conspiracy to defraud.Charles Elad, 46, was working as a recruitment officer for ID Medical at the time of the offences. Each of the five healthcare workers was convicted of separate fraud conspiracies with Mr Elad. His wife, Tanyi Elad, was convicted of a money laundering offence.The total loss to the NHS was 72,991, according to the NHS Counter Fraud Authority. Various NHS hospitals around England were targeted, including Scunthorpe General, Royal Blackburn, Shrewsbury and Darlington.Mr Elad enlisted Ms Nhende and HCAs George Kiberu, Abosede Amusan, Ernest Anonyo and Rilindis Bessem to submit large numbers of fraudulent timesheets to the recruitment agency, who were unaware of the fraudulent activity taking place.The agency workers were subsequently paid for the unworked shift. The agency then unknowingly invoiced the various trusts for these shifts.Once an agency worker had been paid for the "ghost shifts", Mr Elad would then request they make a payment to him, using his wife's bank account to hide the transactions.NHS Counter Fraud Authority investigators were able to prove in court both that Mr Elad had conspired with the other defendants, and how he had been the orchestrator of their activity.The trial began on 23 April. Ms Nhende, Mr Kiberu and Mr Anonyo pleaded guilty to their charges, while the remaining defendants entered not guilty pleas.Mr Elad subsequently received three years' imprisonment. He was convicted of four counts of conspiracy to commit fraud and one count of fraud, with a further conspiracy count left to lie on file.Ms Amusan, 38, and Ms Bessem, 39, received 16 month and six month prison sentences, respectively. They each denied one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation but were convicted by the jury.Ms Nhende, 49, Mr Kiberu, 50, and Mr Anonyo, 40, received suspended prison sentences. They each admitted one count of conspiracy to commit fraud by false representation.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Candidates who lost in the Zanu-PF primary elections should desist from their moves to sabotage the party out of bitterness in a campaign codenamed "Bhora Musango" as the move will be costly, Vice President Retired General Constantino Chiwenga told delegates at a healing and reconciliation workshop in Harare on Tuesday.He was speaking . The healing and reconciliation workshop's thrust is to preach the gospel of unity and reconciliation to the winning and losing candidates is spearheaded against the backdrop of the need to tackle the "bhora musango" mantra particularly from the losing candidates.The workshop came amid threats of "bhora musango" and demonstrations in several provinces with losing candidates claiming irregularities and rigging."To be honest with ourselves, we have to acknowledge that the entire process was a learning curve hence challenges were encountered in both cell verification exercise and primary elections," Chiwenga said."Our main challenge was anchored on our quest to ensure that as many candidates as possible participated in the elections. In this regard over eight thousand candidates participated in the elections."President Emerson Mnangagwa is expected to address the workshop on Wednesday.
News / Press Release

by Zimbabwe Social Democrats

Dear Mr Bishow Parajuli, UN Resident Co-ordinatorMany thinking Zimbabweans out there are asking: What organisation is Mr Bishow Parajuli working for?On paper, you are the "UN Resident Co-ordinator for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Zimbabwe" but it is impossible to see how you can be working for the UN because your assertion that Zimbabwe's elections are "free and fair" contradicts everything the UN says it stands for!"The mission of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is to work for the protection of all human rights for all people; to help empower people to realize their rights; and to assist those responsible for upholding such rights in ensuring that they are implemented," we understand. Instead of working to protect and empower the ordinary Zimbabweans to realize their democratic right to free, fair and credible elections you are doing the exact opposite by falsifying the political reality in Zimbabwe. "As far as we see it, there are some good signs because the new voters' rolls are being developed, with 5,4 million in new voter registration," you said, according to report in Bulawayo 24."There is a lot of engagement between political parties and the ruling faction; engagement between the election commission, civil society and others. The political parties themselves are getting together to agree on a code of conduct for holding peaceful elections. So, all these signs are positive."As the UN Representative in Zimbabwe, Mr Parajuli, you should know that many Zimbabweans will be denied a meaningful vote in these elections. The voter registration exercise, for example, was started very late, September 2017 when it should have started in January 2015 at the very latest, and so only 5.4 million were registered instead of the expected 7 million. So, nearly 25% of the voters have already been denied the vote for no fault of their own!The 5.4 million registered voters have been given 10 days to check their details in the provisional voters' roll. After the first five days only 694 030 voters had done so physically. The authorities say over 3 million others have done so using text messages, this is wilfully inadequate since this is supposed to be purely a biometric voting system and not a name, ID, etc. system. It is clear these elections are going ahead with no verified voters' roll.In the past Zanu PF has blatantly rigged the elections but it was impossible to prove this without a verified voters' roll, it was the missing smoking gun. Since there is no verified voters' roll again, it is clear the elections will be blatantly rigged as before and, once again, there will no smoking gun.Zanu PF has pointedly refused to implement the democratic reforms to ensure a free public media, to ensure the Police is free and independent, etc. It is laughable that anyone would agree with President Mnangagwa's suggestion that a code of conduct agreed between political parties can ever be a substitute to implementing the reforms.SADC leaders wanted Zimbabwe's 2013 elections postponed so the democratic reforms agreed at the onset the GNU could be implemented. "If you go into next month's elections, you will lose; the elections are done!" they warned Morgan Tsvangirai and his fellow MDC leaders.As we know, Zanu PF went on to blatantly rig the 2013 elections and, still with no reforms implement since the last elections, the party will likewise rig this year's elections. As the UN representative one expected you, Mr Bishow Parajuli, to be "assisting those responsible for upholding such rights (Zanu PF) in ensuring that they (reforms) are implemented!" Instead you are helping the regime dodge its obligations to the common people!Zimbabwe is in this economic mess and political chaos because, for the last 38 years, the nation is stuck with this corrupt and tyrannical Zanu PF dictatorship that has rigged elections to stay in power. The people of Zimbabwe are fighting for the country to hold its first ever free, fair and credible elections as their only hope to get out of this hell-hole.Mr Bishow Parajuli, if you are not going to speak truth to power then, please, please shut up!Yours truly,Secretary GeneralZimbabwe Social Democrats.
Opinion / Columnist

The ruling by the Supreme Court that the MDC-T legal dispute between Dr Thokozani Khupe and Advocate Nelson Chamisa be resolved by way of the trial means that for the first time the MDC-T supporters and the public will get to understand during cross-examination the material facts. Legitimacy will now be decided through the correct and current MDC-T constitution not the political rhetoric, claims, popularity or minutes of the MDC-T National Council.This issue of which MDC-T constitution was used by the National Council to anoint Chamisa as a replacement of the late Morgan Tsvangirai as President of the MDC-T remains the most curious points of interest which will potentially test the integrity of Nelson Chamisa as a politician and fitness to govern. MDC-T supporters and sympathisers took exception to Chamisa being portrayed as being conservative with the truth during the Hard-Talk interview, and now it seems that he will be having a harder task if called as a witness and lawyer as to his interpretation of the constitutional clause that he used to get into power.The authentic MDC-T constitution, fortunately, will have the late Morgan Tsvangirai's signature so it cannot be forged as he died before the dispute. Douglas Mwonzora as Secretary General of the MDC-T would have a copy and as a lawyer, he will not lie under oath as to the authentic document. Dr Khupe would be having a copy as well because she had issues with the appointment of Mudzuri and Chamisa as Vice Presidents in terms of the constitution by the late Tsvangirai.As to what Mwonzora will say if called as a witness is already in the public domain. On 19th February 2018, Mwonzora told the Newsday that, "The issue of who fills the vacancy in the presidency cannot be determined by the national executive or national council, but this can only be done by an extraordinary congress. This has to be before the election and before the 15th of March... In order for the chosen person to have legitimacy, we have to follow the law to the letterWe have no choice but to show our supporters, the country and the world that we respect the law and live our word"The trial will expose governance challenges within the MDC-T faction led by Nelson Chamisa. The MDC, Chamisa faction, was represented by Mr Morgan Komichi in seeking an Interim Interdict / Injunction to stop Dr Khupe's faction from unauthorised use or exploitation of the registered trademarks of the MDC-T. This role was supposed to be performed by Mwonzora as the Secretary-General - and he was out of the country in Switzerland at the time. Administrative issues fall under the purview of the Secretary-General. Was Mwonzora consulted, if not is this usurpation of the SG's role by the Chairman? Did Morgan Komichi have the loci standi to make the application and why did Chamisa not do so? The trial will be a "Harder-Talk" if Chamisa is called in by Professor Madhuku for cross-examination he better be prepared.The real game changer will be the High Court judgment. This trial cannot be dragged anymore since the Supreme Court ruled that it is an urgent matter so we expect the judgement to come soon, at least before the nomination court. Therein lies the obvious trouble for whoever is found to be improper in terms of the MDC-T constitution. An illegitimate leader will naturally not be allowed to use the MDC-T, period! That could be Nelson Chamisa or Thokozani Khupe - and that person and his or her followers will have to find a party - very close to the nomination court.It might be the case that both Nelson Chamisa and Khupe have their plan B - otherwise, they will be the most naive outfits to ever enter politics in modern history unless #Godisint . The real drama will be if Khupe wins the case. She will naturally immediately institute disciplinary proceedings to recall those party members including MPs who went along with the renegades. Bearing in mind that parliament is not yet dissolved and we still have some motions going in parliament those recalled will not be able to stand as MDC-T candidates which is why the matter is urgent.Some people are wondering, is Tsvangirai's ghost haunting those who disrespect him in death or those who disagreed with him openly when he was alive? The drama at Tsvangirai's death was a bad omen in the African tradition. Let the courts decide for now and interpretation will come later.
Opinion / Columnist

Women's breakthrough in politics will certainly remain a dream if the machinations by National People's Party (NPP) leader, Dr Joice Mujuru, to join the MDC-T are anything to go by. For a moment the better part of the country was made to believe that Dr Mujuru is finally joining forces with chucked MDC-T Vice President, Dr Thokozani KHUPE, to demonstrate the power of the fairer gender.A paradigm shift is thus unveiled, courtesy of Dr Mujuru, that power wrangles and backstabbing are also a women's game. Perhaps it was too much of faith to regard Dr Mujuru as an angel of hope after all the episodes of her Royal Rumble' with Didymus Mutasa, Rugare Gumbo and Jealousy Mawarire, dating back from Zimbabwe People First (ZPF).Even to date, people continue to jump ship from her NPP project, leaving one to wonder on the extent of her ambition and insatiable appetite for power.Clearly, the writing is on the wall that she is an unrepentant disciple of former President, Robert Mugabe, whose hard and hot headedness has thrown Zimbabwe into isolation from the international community. In the same manner, Dr Mujuru has been refusing to join hands with the late Morgan Tsvangirai over the name of the MDC Alliance.She however, ran out of luck because there wasn't a Mugabe to help her dribble and manoeuvre the political field where kuoma musoro' does not apply.Now that she has decided to swallow her pride or climb down from her egos to join Chamisa, it remains to be seen how the MDC-T leader will work a way with Teurai Ropa' (Dr Mujuru). Why she has suddenly decided to come back to the drawing board when there has not been a change in the name of the MDC Alliance also stand to be queried.As apparent as it is to a common individual that Dr Mujuru has no bargaining ground in her latest overtures, it boggles the mind what she could be up to. She has lost people and stood better chances by riding on the gender card, but alas she is going against the odds.Such amount of confusion is likely to throw the opposition into a vicious cycle of going in circles until the day of the election. A lot of things are not adding up as far as the actions of the former Vice President of Zimbabwe are concerned.Perhaps it is not worth it to be paying such attention to a political dwarf of Dr Mujuru's nature. She claimed to know a lot of secrets about ZANU PF, but up to now she hasn't coughed a cat on the claims. Dr Mujuru boasted of commanding ZANU PF elements from outside and again there is no evidence to the proclamations.Having been in Government since independence and then fail to come up with anything tangible to help her political peers simply portrays Dr Mujuru as a useless and failed political messiah who has nothing to offer in whatever endeavour to bring down ZANU PF.
Ireland Says "Yes" To Abortion Rights: Link Roundup

Ireland Says "Yes" To Abortion Rights

On Friday, Ireland voted on whether or not to repeal the Eighth Amendment, which made abortion illegal. The results came in on Saturday, and abortion rights won in a landslide, 66.4% to 33.6%. Read more at the Irish Times.



The Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Case On Arkansas Medication Abortion Ban



Today, the Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to an Arkansas law restricting abortion rights. The law will make medication abortion illegal in the state and close two of the states three abortion providers. This dangerous law also immediately ends access to safe, legal abortion at all but one health center in the state. If thats not an undue burden, what is? This law cannot and must not stand. We will not stop fighting for every persons right to access safe, legal abortion, said Planned Parenthood Federation Of America vice president Dawn Laguens. Read more at the Washington Post.



Roseanne Barr Tweets Racist Hate About Obama Adviser, Quits Twitter In Response



Roseanne Barr sent a racist tweet about former Obama adviser Valerie Jarett: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj, she wrote, invoking a long and incredibly racist history. In response to tweets calling out her racism, Barr apologized and quit Twitter. Read more at the Hollywood Reporter.

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UPDATE: ABC has cancelled Roesanne in response to Barr's racist tweetsgood! Read more at the Hollywood Reporter.



Hurricane Marias Death Toll Is 70 Times Higher Than Estimated



A research team led by scientists at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that at least 4,645 people died in Puerto Rico for reasons related to Hurricane Mariaa huge difference from the official death toll of 64. Read more at CBS.

ACLU Documents Abuse Of Children By Immigration Authorities

The ACLU has released a report documenting hundreds of cases of abuse experienced by children detained by immigration authorities, including physical, sexual, verbal and psychological abuse; denial of clean drinking water and food; denying a pregnant minor medical attention preceding a stillbirth; running over a minor with a patrol vehicle; and the sexual assault of a minor disgused as a "strip search." Read more at NPR.

1,500 Children Lost By US Immigration AuthoritiesBut Its More Complicated Than The Headline

In April, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) reported that 1,475 children who arrived at the Mexico-US border without parents were unable to be accounted for. Last week, the story gained traction on social media. Quartz notes that the story is more complicated than its headline, and that many of the missing children are with family members who are understandably wary of communicating with immigration authorities. Fair Justice Project lawyer and reporter Josie Duffy Rice tweeted, Youre asking immigration authorities in TRUMPS AMERICA to BETTER MONITOR UNDOCUMENTED CHILDREN AND THEIR FAMILIES. You dont want this. I promise you dont. Read more at Quartz.

Saudi Arabia Womens Rights Activists Arrested

Human rights groups say at least 11 womens rights activists in Saudi Arabia have been detained; the arrests come just weeks before the ban on womens driving is scheduled to be lifted. Read more at the BBC.

What Happens When A Woman Criticizes Elon Musk



Reporter Erin Biba documented some of the sexist and anti-Semitic hate tweets, emails and DMs she received after Elon Musk responded to her tweets criticizing him. Read more at the Daily Beast.

I Like It: Cardi Bs New Music Video



To make your Tuesday a little brighter, Cardi B has released a new music video called I Like It. I like it!

published May 29, 2018

top photo via Twitter/the Repeal Project

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Erika W. Smith is BUST's digital editorial director. You can follow her on Twitter and Instagram @erikawynn and email her at erikawsmith@bust.com.
Premier Rachel Notley apologized to Sixties Scoop survivors on behalf of the Alberta government in the legislative assembly Monday afternoon.

"From me, as premier of Alberta, from all of us here as the elected representatives of the people of Alberta, and on behalf of the government of Alberta, we are sorry," Notley said, as survivors and leaders of Indigenous communities watched from the public gallery.

"For the loss of families, of stability, of love, we are sorry. For the loss of identity, of language and culture, we are sorry. For the loneliness, the anger, the confusion, and the frustration, we are sorry.

"For the government practice that left you, Indigenous people, estranged from your families and your communities and your history, we are sorry. For this trauma, this pain, this suffering, alienation and sadness, we are sorry. To all of you, I am sorry."

During the Sixties Scoop, provincial child welfare workers across Canada took thousands of Indigenous children from their families, placing them in mostly non-Indigenous homes from the 1960s to the 1980s.

Adam North Peigan, a survivor and president of the Sixties Scoop Indigenous Society of Alberta (SSISA), worked with the government on the apology and the consultations that led to it.

"I think what we heard today was a meaningful apology," he said. "It wasn't just saying an apology and crossing it off on the box, and saying 'OK, it's done.' There was meaningful engagement. There was meaningful thought. There was meaningful partnership that happened."

However, he said the premier's apology was just the start. More needs to be done on reconciliation and healing.

Survivors Suzanne Wilkinson, 47, and Sharon Gladue, 49, said they were pleased with Notley's words. Both women were taken from their birth families when they were very young and placed with non-Indigenous families.

"The apology was more from the heart," Gladue said. "She hit almost every nail on the head."

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A chair wrapped in a traditional blanket was placed in the legislature to represent the survivors who couldn't make it to the ceremony, and Gladue said she wished Notley had mentioned that chair.

Wilkinson said the apology could have made more mention of the parents who had their children taken from them.

"Again, it was a beautiful apology," she said. "I don't want to undermine the hard work that SSISA has done for all of this."

Wilkinson, who flew from Victoria to hear the apology in person, hoped governments across Canada could provide funding so survivors like herself could meet each year. She said sharing stories is a crucial part of healing.

"Every time we tell our story, parts of our heart and souls and our spirits mend back together," she said

Consultations with survivors

The apology was the work of North Peigan's group, which started meeting with the government last year.

Before issuing an apology, the government asked to hear from survivors on what would make it meaningful and sincere.

Children's Services and Indigenous Relations ministries and SSISA held consultation sessions in six communities across the province earlier this year to gather feedback.

About 575 people took part in the consultation sessions and another 286 made submissions by mail and online.

The official Alberta government apology to the survivors of the Sixties Scoop started with a procession and smudge ceremony inside the legislature.

Children's Services Minister Danielle Larivee and Indigenous Relations Minister Richard Feehan took part in the smudge inside the doors of the legislature.
The Hawaii National Guard escorted members of the media into Leilani Estates on Saturday, May 26 to witness the lava flows that have destroyed scores of homes in the Big Island community.

According to Hawaii Tribune Herald, lava has destroyed 41 homes and covered over 2,200 acres of land since the Kilauea volcano erupted on May 3

This video shows media observing the lava at an active fissure near Leilani Estates. Credit: Hawaii National Guard via Storyful
A Florida police officer is facing backlash over a Facebook comment in which he seemingly wished violence upon Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg and other young gun control activists. The now-deleted post was a response to the "die-in" protests held Friday in the parking lot of supermarket-chain giant Publix, which previously made large donations to the political campaigns of National Rifle Association (NRA) supporters.

"Hope some old lady loses control of her car in that lot. Jus saying.. Coconut Creek police officer Brian Valenti allegedly wrote on the Coral Springs/Parkland Facebook page, according to screenshots obtained by the Sun-Sentinel.

The comment was posted under a picture of Hogg and two other #NeverAgain activists standing in the parking area of a Coral Springs Publix store, where they had just finished painting body outlines in chalk to represent the 17 people killed in February at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, located only a few miles away.

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The demonstration was enacted in several locations across Florida on Friday. The Coral Springs iteration specifically targeted Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, a major NRA supporter who counted Publix as one of his top campaign contributors.

A representative from the Coral Springs Police Department told Newsweek that Valenti would be disciplined, although he did not go into detail. According to the Sun-Sentinel, the police officer has since apologized.

The officer admitted that it was in poor taste, and indicated that it was meant as a joke, but certainly didnt come off that way, wrote Police Chief Butch Arenal in an email to the newspaper. It is for that reason that he thought it better to remove the post. He will be offering an apology, as he has indicated that he wants to do whatever he has to do to make it right.

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Rod Skirvin, a police union leader, said that Valenti, who has been with the department for 23 years, would face disciplinary consequences. He feels terrible and is very willing to apologize in person, Skirvin told the Sun-Sentinel. We are going to speak to the chief on Tuesday when he goes back to work. There will be disciplinary repercussions for him.

Meanwhile, Hogg's campaign seemed successful. Publix has halted donations to political campaigns, a decision that roiled NRA supporters.

"At Publix, we respect the students and members of the community who have chosen to express their voices on these issues," the grocery store said in a statement just prior to last week's demonstration. "We regret that our contributions have led to a divide in our community. We did not intend to put our associates and the customers they serve in the middle of a political debate. At the same time, we remain committed to maintaining a welcoming shopping environment for our customers."

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The statement continued, "We would never knowingly disappoint our customers or the communities we serve. As a result, we decided earlier this week to suspend corporate-funded political contributions as we reevaluate our giving processes."

Valenti is hardly the first official to face backlash for insensitive remarks directed at school shooting survivors. A TV host at a local Missouri station tendered his resignation after launching into a tirade against Hogg on Twitter, telling his followers he was preparing to "ram a hot poker up David Hoggs ass tomorrow." Another officer in Florida was reassigned after alleging that the student activists were "paid actors." Several candidates for public office quit races or lost elections after making insensitive and offensive remarks about school shootings.

But some who slammed Hogg and fellow activists faced less serious consequences despite public outcry. National Rifle Association board member and former rock 'n' roller Ted Nugent continues to make controversial remarks about the students with seemingly no repercussions. Fox News host Laura Ingraham weathered an advertising boycott after she joked about Hogg not getting into his chosen college, returning to high ratings after a weeklong vacation. Similarly, several conservative lawmakers have come out relatively unscathed after criticizing the students, although most have issued apologies.

GettyImages-949097194

John Raedle/Getty Images

This article has been updated with a statement from the Coral Springs Police Department.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
By Aditi Shah NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Uber's India President Amit Jain has been promoted to head of the global ride-hailing firm's Asia Pacific operations, which includes Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Hong Kong and India, the company said in an emailed statement. Jain will continue to lead India until a successor is found, an Uber spokeswoman said in the statement. India is one of Uber's fastest-growing markets and accounts for 10 percent of its total rides. The move comes weeks after Uber sold its business in Southeast Asia to rival Grab Holdings, which gave rise to speculation about talks on a similar merger in the high stakes India market, where it competes with local rival Ola. Uber and Ola are both backed by a common investor, SoftBank, which pushed behind the scenes for the merger between Uber and Grab. But it is not clear that SoftBank intends to spur another consolidation in India, an under-penetrated market with a population of 1.3 billion people. Uber has said it will double down on its investments in India and, while it is open to having conversations with potential partners, it had no interest in entering into minority deals in India or any other country it operates in. (Reporting by Aditi Shah; Editing by Alex Richardson)
A Liberal MP ramped up a testy running debate with former Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier Monday, dismissing Bernier's latest tweets on the subject of systemic racism in Canada as "nonsense."

The dispute, which kicked off in early March, bubbled up again this past weekend when Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes gave an interview to the Globe and Mail. In it, Caesar-Chavannes criticized Bernier for not recognizing his "privilege" or recognizing the challenges faced by people of colour.

"You sit there and say you don't see it. Well, good for you, because you've never had to experience it, sweetheart," the newspaper quoted her as saying.

Bernier hit back on Twitter, saying Caesar-Chavannes was too focused on personal matters and not enough on policy.

"That's the main difference between us. You think the world revolves around your skin colour. My goal is to bring better policies to all Canadians. That's an MP's job," Bernier said. "And by the way, I'm not your 'sweetheart.'"

On Monday, Caesar-Chavannes reacted to the tweet and her own comments in the Globe, saying "there is a bigger issue there than 'sweetheart'."

"I think it's nonsense," Caesar-Chavannes said of Bernier's tweet. "I don't think everything revolves around my skin colour. I think that there are race issues that we need to deal with and, again, for someone like Mr. Bernier to not see that is foolishness.

"I think him saying that I focus on my skin colour, and making things personal, is ridiculous."

"He votes on laws that impact millions of people and some of those millions of people face significant barriers in our society that need to be addressed, and our government addresses them and he diminishes them."

Bernier's office has yet to reply to requests for comment.

Conservative MP Erin O'Toole said that difficult debates about topics such as systemic racism in Canada should be held in Parliament and not on Twitter.

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"I think certainly if any MP, whether it's Celina or anyone else, has concerns about racism, or stereotypes, or a whole range of things, this is the place to debate it," O'Toole said. "People should be willing to debate on both sides of things and if they have disagreements, don't do it just on Twitter, do it in the House of Commons."

This isn't the first time Bernier and Caesar-Chavannes have crossed swords over social media.

Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen tweeted Feb. 28 that the federal budget was historic for "racialized Canadians."

Debating racism

The budget included money for a national anti-racism plan, mental health supports for at-risk black youth and funding to collect better data on race, gender and inclusion in Canada.

On March 2, Bernier responded to say "racialized" was "awful jargon" and accused the Liberals of using it to create division.

"I thought the ultimate goal of fighting discrimination was to create a colour-blind society where everyone is treated the same," Bernier said on Twitter.

Hussen responded that the budget was about equality and growth for all Canadians and that the idea of not seeing colour may sound great in theory but wouldn't address the realities of racism.

"At best, it allows the (Conservative Party) to continue to wipe their hands of playing an active role in the work that must be done to eradicate racism (and) at worst it means you are supporting the status quo by denying the very real experiences of people who live with racism every day," he wrote.

Caesar-Chavannes chimed in after that, telling Bernier "do some research, or a Google search, as to why stating colour blindness as a defence actually contributes to racism. Please check your privilege and be quiet."

She later apologized for the tone of her tweet and offered to meet Bernier to discuss the issue. Bernier refused the invitation.
Calgary's top emergency room doctor says he's seeing an increase in illnesses dubbed "cannabis poisoning."

He expects to see more such cases once the drug is legalized in Canada, at least initially.

"I'm very concerned. Our experience with colleagues down in Colorado is that especially in the first six to 12 months after legalization, the number of cannabis-related emergency department visits increased significantly," Lang told the Calgary Eyeopener on Monday.

"However, we are also hearing that after that initial trial period ... that tends to die off."

'Paradoxical thing'

Lang said that while he hasn't collected statistics, he and other doctors have seen an increasing number of cannabis users coming in.

Some are suffering from psychological issues, such as paranoia, disturbed thinking or a triggered mental illness, or an illness called cannabis hyperemesis syndrome.

"That's cannabis extra vomiting syndrome, if you will, and this is usually in the regular users who are coming in with an uncontrollable, one- to two-day attack of vomiting where it will be unstoppable, several times an hour," Lang said.

"It's just kind of a paradoxical thing because marijuana usually controls nausea but in some people, it has this opposite effect."

The various issues are generically called "cannabis poisoning" but that's not to equate the symptoms with alcohol poisoning, which can be deadly and is much more common.

However, the cannabis-related illnesses are becoming increasingly common as new people try out cannabis, he said, and then go to the emergency when suffering strange effects.

Many chronic pain patients also are trying cannabis for the first time, as physicians and patients are more cautious about addictive opioids. These patients are more often suffering the vomiting symptoms, Lang said, whereas young patients, ages 15 to 25, are more likely to suffer psychological issues.

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Treatment

To treat cannabis hyperemesis syndrome, emergency medical teams may keep the patient under observation for up to 36 hours, provide intravenous liquids, anti-nausea medication.

They also sometimes spread hot pepper cream on their torsos to replicate the heat patients seek to relieve the symptoms, Lang said. Often he sees patients who've tried to self-treat their vomiting through taking hot showers or baths.

'More challenging'

The psychological cases "are a bit more challenging to deal with," he said. The medical team tries to glean medical history and recent events from the patient and their family.

"Sometimes we just have to admit them to the hospital and, hopefully, as the cannabis wears off, the disturbed thinking and the paranoia fades away and we encourage them not to use it again," Lang said.

Sometimes it's a matter of the effects of cannabis revealing a developing mental illness, he said. Other times, the patient is using cannabis to treat an underlying mental illness, such as anxiety, and then when they don't take it, they may end up in a crisis.

Treatment can require hospitalizing the patient for up to 72 hours, which is a great draw on resources, Lang said.

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.
Canada, Greenland and Denmark are inching toward settling the remaining grey areas along their Arctic boundaries.

There's a 1.2-square-kilometre rock near the tip of Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, called Hans Island. Denmark says it's theirs, while Canada is pretty convinced it belongs to them.

In the 1970s, the countries agreed to disagree  stopping the maritime boundary at the water line on the south shore, hopping the island and starting the line again on the north side.

Since then, visiting military ships have battled it out, placing their flag and a bottle of rye whiskey or Danish schnapps to stake their claim.

"Whenever you get people together, especially people who are friends and neighbours and like a drink or two, they come up with ingenious ways of indicating what's theirs or not," said Alan Kessel, a legal expert with Global Affairs Canada.

Swapping bottles for formal agreement

The countries recently convened a joint task force to hammer out a more official agreement than swapping bottles.

It will be made up of lawyers and experts from a range of federal departments including Global Affairs, Fisheries and Oceans and Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs.

Kessel will head up the Canadian delegation, which will meet with its counterparts from both Denmark and Greenland, virtually and during set meeting times.

The task force was announced during the 10th anniversary meetings of the Ilulissat Declaration.

In 2008, the declaration by the five states that border the Arctic Ocean (Canada, the United States, Denmark, Norway and Russia) was made in response to concerns that sovereignty issues might raise the conflict level in the Arctic.

It said the signing states would resolve the boundary issues peacefully. This is the follow-through on that declaration, Kessel said.

'We do things using the rule of law'

"This is about getting the line right," said Kessel. "This part of the world called Canada ... working with Denmark, we do things using the rule of law and we will abide by our agreements."

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The task force will consider all options for Hans Island, including a proposal made by academics in the mid-2000s suggesting that Denmark and Canada share ownership.

It will also finalize an agreement announced in 2012 by the countries' foreign ministers, in the form of an international treaty.

The agreement divided the Lincoln Sea  north of Ellesmere Island  along a continuation of the initial line drawn in the 1970s. That line stopped at the end of the Nares Strait, which runs between Ellesmere Island and Greenland.

The task force will also look at an area of water in the Labrador Sea that both Denmark and Canada are interested in. The area is interesting, according to Kessel, because of fishing and the potential to develop hydrocarbon resources there.

Kessel said the countries might come to a provisional agreement in the area well before anything is finalized, as he suspects it might take up to 10 years to sort out all the details of the boundary.
jumpsuit, also love this one and this one | heels (50% off) | earrings

Last week I shared my first post from Hawaii here, and this week I wanted to share our time spent in another part of the island, Wailea. This was our second visit to this area (first guide from 2015 here)- we loved it that much! Christian and I love to visit new places together, so I was hoping that going back to the same area as last time wouldnt feel less adventurous.

Turns out  being a repeat visitor was a dream! As a part of my job (and just the Type A person I am), whenever I visit a new hotel I try to spend the first few hours checking out the property to make sure I know whats available, where everything is, etc. I actually loved already knowing the property, amenities, restaurants in the area, etc. I really got to spend all of my time relaxing and enjoying the hotel.

We watched sunsets from the balcony, took advantage of the open-air gym, lounged in cabanas for hours and read books from chairs sitting in the pool. Total bliss. Scroll down for all of my recommendations!

tee, also love this one for half the price | slip dress (on sale!), also love this one (50%) off and this one | heels | bag (can also be worn as a belt bag!)  on sale | similar hoop earrings

swim top (40% off) | bottoms, also love these | kimono  Hale Bob, love this sarong and this kimono | bag | sunglasses

full blog post here

full blog post here

And on Instagram 

photos by Kathleen and Christian Barnes

Where We Stayed

Hotel Wailea | This was our second visit to this hotel, and its pretty obvious why its voted #1 in Hawaii by Conde Nast Traveler and was giving a Travelers Choice Award by TripAdvisor. Its adults-only and so peaceful and relaxing. The pool food actually remains one of our top three meals from the entire trip! Kalua pork quesadilla, truffle fries, and ahi were so good we ordered them twice.

Another thing I really love about this hotel is they have several giant pool cabanas. They have ceiling fans, sofas, board games, etc. While they could charge for using these they dont. Its first come, first serve. On our first full day at the property C and I settled in a cabana and it was one of our favorite days of the trip.

BUT if you opt for the beach in the morning (which I think is the best time to visit, snorkel, paddleboard, etc.), youre probably not going to find a cabana available after lunch. Just note to self!

Where We Ate

Pizza Madness | Call me crazy  but this was definitely one of my favorite nights of the trip. We wanted to stay at the pool until it was dark, playing board games in the cabanas and just enjoying our time. Then we ended up watching the sunset from the gym that overlooked the ocean (I got to take my first ride on a Peloton! It was awesome).

When we realized it was already late, I suggested grabbing a pizza and watching a movie in our little den. We found this place as a recommendation from one of the pool servers. It was delicious, and eating pizza in a hotel robe is what I call a 10 out of 10 on my happiness scale.

Bistro Molokini | This is a great casual spot at Grand Wailea. We ate here for lunch in 2015 and returned for dinner this time on a casual night. I typically eat about 90% vegetarian/pescatarian, but I had half a beef burger here and it was amazing.

Cinnamon Roll Place | One of my high school best friends told me to visit this spot on our last visit, but we didnt get around to it. Well this time we did twice. Seriously! Theyre photographed above and they were incredible. Be sure to get the macadamia nuts on yours  heaven!

Mamas Fish House | Unfortunately, on this trip there were no dinner reservations available for the entire month of May. Seriously! We thought up about showing up for an early dinner and just trying to snag a seat at the bar, but its a little bit out of the way (about a 40 minute drive) and ultimately we chose to spend more time on the beach.

If you can snag a reservation  this restaurant is definitely worth the visit! I felt like I was transported back to 1960s Hawaii in the best possible way.

Ko | This is one of the restaurants at the Fairmont Hotel. The atmosphere was nice. I would say it was good not great but the fresh catch with lemongrass coconut broth did rock my world. So much so that I overate and had to put back on a robe as soon as I got back to our hotel!

Humu Humu | This is another restaurant at Grand Wailea. It has a great atmosphere and menu (including cocktails!). A great date night.

Activities

Road to Hana | We definitely took advantage of this on our first trip to Maui. Its breathtakingly beautiful and SO much fun if youre in a convertible or Jeep! We were torn whether or not to do again on this trip and ended up doing the sailing excursion instead, mostly because its kind of an all-day commitment.

Paddleboarding | I knew I wanted to paddleboard in this area again because the last time we did, I saw a giant sea turtle! Hotel Wailea offers paddleboards, snorkeling, sailing and several other water activities down on the beach. Christian went with me this time to see what we could find.

Lo and behold, this time C was the one to spot like 7+ sea turtles! They were swimming around near the coral, with their heads above water, not even phased by all the people snorkeling and paddleboarding around them. It was amazing! I love turtles.

Snorkeling | We didnt snorkel in this area after spending so much time snorkeling in Lanai, but I think the snorkeling on Wailea Beach may have been even better. From what we could see on paddleboards, there were fish and turtles everywhere! Mannarays are also known to be around this beach.

Surfing | Christian had a little less luck surfing in this area. We spent one morning hopping around a few different beaches trying to see where some good waves were and once he was ready to throw in the towel I was like, lets go back to the hotel and relax in some #cabanalife. Ya feel me?

If youre heading to Maui anytime soon, I hope this info will be helpful to you! You can find our Kapalua guide here, and thank you so much to all of you who sent your recommendations! Thanks for reading  XO 
What do David Beckham, Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp have in common? Tattoos! (At the last count David Beckham has 34!)

Megan Fox, Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao, Mike Tyson and Drew Barrymore are also in the tattoo team.

"So why do 'normal' people get tattoos?" the BBC asked. "Would-be prime ministers' wives have them. Lawyers have them. Doctors have them." Tattoos are well and truly out of the closet!

Tattoo talk on Twitter is high on the tweeter-meter."Juicy: Arguing with my mom about me getting blasted with tattoos in the future!" Lando: "My granpa and Uncle arguing about tattoos is the funniest thing I've ever heard!" Mary Ann: "They have so many face tattoos I can't see them!" Aims: "Arguing with my Grandpa over tattoos, lol, I'm still getting one."Riz: "Awkward silence in the car after arguing with my mom about tattoos." We could go on but the point is clear, tattoos are very topical, reactionary and growing in demand.

A 2010 Pew Research study said nearly 40 percent of people between 18 and 29 have tattoos 'and of those, half have two to five tattoos.'

They are not new. "The Greeks used tattoos primarily as a punishment for slaves and criminals, a custom they apparently learned from the Persians and hence it was a mark of disgrace." - (World Bible Commentary)

The Old Testament specifically refers to tattoos. "And you shall not make a slash in your body for a dead person, nor shall you make on yourselves a tattoo's mark; I am Yahweh" (Leviticus chapter 19 verse 28). This instruction was specifically directed to the Israelites who were warned not to emulate practices considered pagan.

"One of the physical characteristics of the pagan communities around Israel was that they marked themselves with tattoos and engaged in physical, religiously-motivated superstitious practices that included the disfigurement of their bodies. In forbidding tattoos, God was telling Israel He did not want them to possess any physical marks or characteristics that externally resembled pagan nations." (The Confident Christian, Robin Schumacher)

Makes me wonder how easily we pick up marks of the world and its influences? I have family members who proudly display tattoos. I notice I do not assesstheir ink, but rather the heart and their character is my measuring stick. I remember when rock and roll was said to be 'of the Devil.' Christian rocker Larry Norman defied that argument with "Why Should the devil have all the good music?" Of course others followed.

When Marlon Brando starred in 'The Wild One" many Christians declared motorbikes were the devil's transport. John Smith and the God Squad fixed that!

Bacon Banned!

Read through Deuteronomy chapter 14, verses 8 to 10.

"The pig is also unclean; although it has a divided hoof, it does not chew the cud. You are not to eat their meat or touch their carcasses.Of all the creatures living in the water, you may eat any that has fins and scales. But anything that does not have fins and scales you may not eat; for you it is unclean." (Deuteronomy chapter 14, verses 8-10) These verses ban bacon, pork, shrimp, crab, lobster, clams and mussels. Jesus came to set us free from such restrictions and I am thankful.

Dr Reef Karim is the UCLA Assistant Clinical Professor, a Psychiatrist. He wrote: "People get tattoos for many reasons: for attention, self-expression, artistic freedom, rebellion, a visual display of a personal narrative, reminder of spiritual/cultural traditions, sexual motivation, addiction, identification with a group, or even drunken impulsiveness."

Motivation for a tattoo might be a call for help or it may have personal significance. 'My body is my journal and my tattoos are my story," Johnny Depp said.

Tattoo regret is a trend. A clinic near Sydney, NSW, says women aged 20-25 are paying to have tattoos removed. What was a buzz as a teenager may become an issue for a young woman. Any number of reasons could make a past tattoo an embarrassment. A love-heart for an old flame might be a problem for a prospective husband!

This is a great advice: "Permanent tattoos are forever. So 'think before you ink.' Real tattoos do not come off with soap and water or rubbing alcohol like temporary tattoos. There are a couple of methods that remove permanent tattoos but they are costly and painful."  The Centre for Young Woman's Health.)

The Cross

The Coptic Christian minority in Egypt have embraced a tattoo of the cross as their mark of faith. At the Cave Church formerly known as St. Simon the Tanner, high in the Mokattam hills, you will worship with the garbage people, the Zabbalean. Around 50-70,000 of them spend their week collecting trash. On the wrist they display a small cross. Some say the tradition dates to the 8th century, when monks wore the cross on their arms.

"Tattoos aren't just a fashion statement for Egypt's Copts' is an article written by Ines San Martin published by cruxnow.com. She wrote: Andraous Oweida, a 44 year old Copt construction worker and father of two, survived a notorious 2011 assault by military police on a Coptic demonstration known as the 'Maspero Massacre.'

"Yet he told Crux that he never considered hiding his tattoo with a shirtsleeve if he fears he's about to run into trouble.'

"When you're in the streets, you can't always say who's a fundamentalist or not,' Oweida said, "Anyway, I can't deny Jesus!"

The Copts today are the largest Christian group in the Middle East. "Coptic scholar Theodore Patrick asserts that while Arabic prevailed and Islam expanded, it was predominantly Coptic laypeople practicing their traditional faith who kept Egyptian Christianity alive: It was largely their sense of being different that saved the Copts as a group from the various pressures of the majority." (Tattos of the Cross, Jennifer A. Johnson, Christianity Today)

Their difference was proudly proclaimed with the tattoo of the cross and that testimony continues. Their display is a show of humility and dedication shown to the One who, on His body, bore the scars of mercy, grace and truth.

Ron Ross is a Middle East consultant for United Christian Broadcasters (Vision FM). Previously he was radio news editor for Bridges for Peace in Jerusalem, Israel.

His career started at WINTV (Email: ronandyvonne@mac.com)

Ron Ross' previous articles may be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/ron-ross.html
Tatuaje  The Michael is the twelfth blend to be released in Tatuajes Monster Series. In 2017, Tatuaje Owner Pete Johnson announced that Tatuaje  The Michael and Tatuaje  The Bride were slated to be the 12th and 13th installments of its annual Monsters Series. Johnson also said these two blends would be the final installments of the Monster Series with The Michael released later in 2017 and The Bride scheduled for release in 2018. Tatuaje Monsters was created by Tatuaje founder Pete Johnson as a tribute to monster and horror movies. Each October (around Halloween) since 2008, a new character was unveiled. Tatuaje  The Michael it pays homage to the character of Michael Myers from the Halloween movies. The new character has a unique blend and a unique size. Over the years, Tatuaje enthusiasts anxiously look forward to the release of a new installment of the series. While there have been several offshoots, the October release is still considered to be the flagship Monsters release. Today we take a closer look at look at Tatuaje  The Michael.

The October releases have two common threads. First up, they typically are larger cigars  usually in the Churchill or Double Corona size  although The Michael is considered to be more of a Toro Extra size. Secondly, the packaging is highly sought after. Each October release has been made available in a limited edition dress box themed around the Monsters character. These boxes have are highly prized by some collectors. Over the past few years, Johnson has selected 13 Unlucky retail partners to carry these boxes . Because the dress boxes sell quickly, Johnson also has created plain cedar  non-dress boxes. These non-dress boxes are made available to most Tatuaje retailers and while they are also limited, the allocations tend to be higher. Like each October release, Tatuaje  The Michael had dress and non-dress boxes.

Since the first installment of the October Monsters Series, The Frank; the Monsters series has grown to be so much more. Other sizes have since been added  and there have even been two blends that have not been October full-size Monsters releases (Chuck and Tiff). When the 2018 release of The Bride is released, the Tatuaje Monsters Series will have 13 blends spread across six different size formats for a total of 54 facings.

The grid below maps each monster/horror film character blend to the cigar that was released in each of the Monster Series collections. A blank indicates the blend was not released in that collection. The Little Monsters, Pudgy Monsters, Skinny Monsters, Skinny Monsters Cazadores, and Skinny Monsters Lancero were released in samplers. The Skinny Monsters releases were also made available in individual 25 count boxes.

* Widespread release still to come

SPECIFICATIONS

Blend Profile and Vitolas Available

Tatuaje  The Michael consists of a natural-colored Ecuadorian Habano wrapper over Nicaraguan binder and filler. It has been released in one size, a 6 1/2 x 52 Toro. This is the shortest of the full-size Monster releases to date. As with all of the Monsters Series releases, the Michael is produced at the My Father Cigars factory in Esteli, Nicaragua.

Wrapper: Ecuadorian Habano

Binder: Nicaraguan

Filler: Nicaraguan

Country of Origin: Nicaragua (My Father Cigars S.A.)

Toro Extra; 6 1/2 x 52.

Not every Monsters blend has been released in every format. The Krueger, The Michael, and The Bride have only been made in the full size October releases.

The Michael is also the third Monsters Blend to use Ecuadorian Habano for the wrapper. The other two releases that use this wrapper are The Drac (an Ecuadorian Habano Maduro) and Chuck (a Natural Ecuadorian Habano).

Appearance

The Michaels Ecuadorian Habano wrapper had a medium brown color to it with a slight cinnamon tint. There was some oil on the surface of the wrapper. While there were some thin visible seams and visible veins, this was a wrapper that was on the smooth side.

The band is based on the standard Tatuaje scripted logo. The script on each band is the name Tatuaje on a dark blue background. To the left of the Tatuaje scripting is the text HALLOWEEN in the white font. To the right of the script, it says MONSTER in the white font. There is one white pinstripe above the text and one below the text. There is a white Tatuaje tattoo logo on the far of the band.

PERFORMANCE

Preparation for the Cigar Experience

Prior to lighting up The Michael, I used a straight cut to remove the cap. Once the cap was removed, I commenced the pre-light draw. The cold draw was pretty straightforward  producing sweet natural tobacco notes. Overall, this was a pre-light draw that was still satisfying to me. At this point, I was ready to light top my Tatuaje  The Michael and await what the smoking phase would have in store.

Flavor Profile

Tatuaje  The Michael started out with a nice array of favors. The Michael kicked off with notes of natural tobacco, black pepper, cedar, floral, and bakers spice. Early on I found the natural tobacco delivered a nice sweetness. The natural tobacco moved into the forefront early where it was joined by a milk chocolate component that was heavier on the milky component. The other flavors settled into the background. Meanwhile, there was a layer of back pepper and sweetness on the retro-hale.

During the first third, the natural tobacco and milk chocolate components alternated in intensity. In the background, the cedar, floral, pepper, and bakers spice notes continued to deliver complementary favors. During the second third, both the cedar and pepper notes began to increase in intensity. The cedar notes increased at a much more rapid rate than the pepper. Concurrently, the milk chocolate notes diminished in intensity.

The last third saw the cedar notes take over as primary note. The natural tobacco lost some of the sweetness it had early on and was more of a close secondary note. There definitely was more black pepper on the tongue, but it wasnt something that overpowered the palate. Meanwhile the milk chocolate, floral and bakers spice still made some contributions to the overall flavor profile. This is the way Tatuaje  The Michael came to a close. The resulting nub was slightly soft to the touch and cool in temperature.

Burn and Draw

The burn of The Michael maintained a straight burn path and a relatively straight burn line. While there was some curvature from time to time on the burn line, this didnt prove to be problem-some and The Michael was never in danger of canoeing. This was a burn that had a darker ash. This wasnt the firmest of ashes, but it wasnt loose or flaky either. Meanwhile, the burn rate and burn temperature were both ideal.

While it wasnt a loose draw, the draw had a little more openness than I preferred. This didnt have any adverse effects on the smoking experience other than just the fact it was a little looser than I like.

Strength and Body

From a strength perspective, Tatuaje  The Michael begins right in the middle of the medium range of the spectrum. The strength level remained pretty constant for the most of the first two-thirds. Just before entering the final third, there was a spike in the strength and The Michael moved into medium to full territory.

As for the body, The Michael started out medium to full. Nearly at the same point the strength level increased, the body of The Michael also increased. However, this was a much smaller spike and The Michael didnt progress into full territory.

In terms of strength versus body, I found the body had the edge, but in that final third the gap closed between the two attributes.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

Final Thoughts

The past couple of years, I had been underwhelmed by the Monster Series releases. While its not a return to the heyday of the epic releases the Monsters Series had between 2008 and 2012, The Michael is probably the best release since 2015s Tatuaje  The Jekyll. While there was a nice amount of complexity and good flavor to this cigar, there was just something intangible this cigar lacked to take it to the next level. I would be curious to see how this cigar blend would perform in the Little, Pudgy, and Skinny formats.

This is a cigar that I would recommend for a seasoned cigar enthusiast. While its not something I would position for a novice, I wouldnt discourage one from trying. As for myself, while The Michael is a limited cigar, its one I would buy and smoke again.

Summary

Key Flavors: Natural Tobacco, Milk Chocolate, Cedar, Pepper, Floral, Bakers Spice

Burn: Very Good

Draw: Very Good

Complexity: Medium to High

Strength: Medium (1st 2/3), Medium to Full (Last Third)

Body: Medium to Full

Finish: Very Good

Rating

Value: Buy One

Score: 90

References

News: Tatuaje The Michael Unlucky 13 Retailers Announced

Price: $13.00

Source: Purchased

Brand Reference: Tatuaje

Photo Credits: Cigar Coop, except where noted
India and Pakistan held meeting of their coast guard officials (Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency) held in New Delhi. They addressed issues pertaining to boundary violations by fishermen from both sides and enhancing cooperation in area of maritime search and rescue and combating pollution at sea.

Background

Indian Coast Guard and Pakistan Maritime Security Agency (PMSA) had signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in October 2005 for envisaging cooperation between ICG and PMSA. The MoU was extended for five years in 2016.The MoU envisages cooperation through exchange of information on Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) violations, marine pollution, apprehended vessels, natural disasters and calamities, combating smuggling, illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs and piracy and coordination in search and rescue and return sea passage. It also established communication link between coast guards of both counteries which is operational. Under provisions of MoU, directors general of PMSA and ICG meet periodically. This annual meeting is significant link between coast guards of two neighbouring countries for addressing issues pertaining to maritime security
  :                ,      NTPC   
Brian Schatz: Tax Reform Was A Conspiracy To Make People Lose Their Jobs

by Julia Cohen, Daily Caller, May 27, 2018

The goal of the 2017 Tax Cuts And Jobs Act was to make more people unemployed, according to Hawaii Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz on Sunday.

The tax cuts are working exactly as intended, Schatz tweeted Sunday evening in response to an Axios article , which has a Twitter headline suggesting companies would soon be slashing their work forces. The Axios article cited the CEOs of two major companies  Coca-Cola and AT&T.

The CEOs suggested they would reduce their work force over time, according to Axios. Absolutely not in my business, Coca-Cola CEO Troy Taylor said, regarding potential staff wage growth. AT&Ts staff is 20 percent call center workers  a number CEO John Stephens said he is looking to reduce.

This isnt the first time Schatz suggested the tax cuts were a conspiracy. They knew the tax cut would benefit the wealthy and not normal folks  Telling the truth now is not a profile in courage; it is a confession, the senator wrote in a May 1 tweet .

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IRAN HUMAN RIGHTS (MAY 28, 2018): On Monday, May 10, 2018, Iran Human Rights (IHR) reported the execution of Kiomars Nasouhi, a prisoner sentenced to death for drug offenses. This execution is the first drug-related execution registered by IHR since the latest amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Law was enforced on November 14, 2017.





According to reports by IHR, at least 77 people, among them three juvenile offenders have been executed between January 1. and May 20, 2018. Four were hanged in public spaces. Of the reported executions 62 were sentenced to death for murder, seven for Moharebeh (being an enemy of God), seven for rape, and 1 for drug offenses. For comparison, it is reported that during the same period in 2017, at least 203 people were executed, 112 were executed for drug offenses. The significant reduction in the number of executions in 2018 seems to be due to a temporary halt in drug-related executions as the number of executions for murder charges were nearly the same as in 2017.





IHR has not received any execution reports related to drug offenses from the enforcement of the new amendments to the Anti-Narcotic Law on November 14, 2017, until May 10, 2018. The occurrence of the first death sentence for drug offenses may indicate that review of death sentences for drug offenses has been finalized at least in some provinces of the country.





The present report shows that the process of reviewing the cases of those sentenced to death for drug offenses has resulted in the commuting of many death sentences. Although these numbers may seem positive, there are still concerns that need to be addressed. Commenting on this report, Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, the spokesperson of IHR said: We welcome the significant reduction in the use of the death penalty and hope that this trend will continue towards complete abolition. However, we have several serious concerns regarding the process of implementation of the new amendment [to the Anti-Narcotics Law] including bribery in the Judicial system, insufficient capacity to handle a large number of cases, and lack of a monitoring organ overlooking the process. He continued: Several thousand lives are at stake and we, therefore, call for an international commission monitoring this process. We demand that the review also include the question of due process. For instance, did the prisoners have access to a lawyer after their arrest and were the prisoners subjected to torture to give confessions?





Background:





The new amendment to Iranian Anti-drug law which was enforced on November 14, 2017, includes a mechanism to limit the use of the death penalty and reduce the sentences of those sentenced to death or life imprisonment.





According to the amendment, the minimum possession of drugs, including their production or distribution, which results in a death sentence, has been changed from 30 grams to 2 kilograms for industrial narcotics, e.g., heroin, cocaine, and amphetamines, and from 5 to 50 kilograms for traditional drugs such as opium and hashish.





According to the law, the punishments of those who were already sentenced to death or life imprisonment will be reduced to imprisonment plus mulct (fine).





The amendment specifies that the death penalty should be limited to those who have been carrying or have used weapons while trafficking, sponsoring or organizing narco gangs and inducting children under the age of 18 or people with intellectual disabilities into such gangs. Those with a prior prison term of more than 15 years would also be excluded from the commutations under the amendment.





The amendment was the outcome of a lengthy process of discussions between the Parliament and the judiciary, and between the Parliament and the Guardian Council, and was eventually enforced on November 14, 2017. At the same time, the spokesman for the Parliament's judicial and legal committee, Hassan Nowroozi, who was one of the main MPs behind the adoption of this law in Iranian Parliament, said: "There are currently about 5300 prisoners sentenced to death for drug-related crimes. 90% Of those people did not have any criminal records, and their age range is between 20 and 30."





"This means that," he argued, "the new amendment to the Anti-Narcotics Law could potentially save more than 4,700 lives. Thus, if this law is implemented properly, we will witness one of the most important measures to reduce the use of the death penalty in recent years."





Explaining the necessity for adoption of this law, Vice-chairman of the Parliament's Legal and Judicial Commission, Yahya Kamalipour, said on October 30, 2017, that 90% of drug abusers in recent years have been forced into drug trafficking because of poverty: "Being a judge and judicature chief for 20 years, I am well aware of the conditions of the prisoners and their families. 90% of those who were executed in past years, were just carriers of the drugs to earn some money, for instance, to afford the daughters wedding expenses or to pay for their mothers surgery bill. They even did it for a million Tomans (around 140 USD), and were eventually sentenced to death for this amount."





Interviews with the prisoners and their families





The report examines the status of a case study of prisoners sentenced to death or life imprisonment related to narcotics over the past six months following the implementation of the new anti-narcotics law. The report is based on interviews conducted by IHR researchers with several prisoners sentenced to death for drug offenses in five different prisons, or their families. The report provides a brief overview of some of the interviews that refer to the process of reviewing the cases that are subject to the new law:





Some judicial authorities take bribes to process the cases more quickly





The families of some prisoners who are sentenced to death or life imprisonment for drug-related crimes told IHR that the issue of reviewing the cases of these prisoners began in early December 2017. However, most families complained about the slowness of the process. Some also believed that there was no proper order and equality in reviewing the cases, and some reported that judicial authorities were asking for bribes to prosecute cases more quickly. Reports on the reaffirmation of the death penalty for some prisoners have also been reported to the IHR.





The family of a death row prisoner in the Urmia Central Prison claimed: "The case of prisoners sentenced to death in Urmia goes well, and most of the death sentences have been commuted [to prison terms]. Only Branch [...] of the Urmia Revolutionary Court headed by the judge [...] approved the death sentence for several cases, because the judge asked the family of the prisoners to pay bribes, and they did not pay. Now, the families of the prisoners who have been sentenced to death do not know what they can do and whether they have the right to object?





The source continued: Our prisoners sentence changed from execution to 30 years of imprisonment plus 200 million tomans fine.





"In the judge's room, there were folders of the cases from floor to the ceiling."





"My brother was sentenced to death before the implementation of the new law. Fortunately, the Supreme Court did not endorse the verdict, and his case was returned to the Revolutionary Court for review, a family member of another prisoner in Tehran said, when I went to visit the judge, he said that the courts are very busy reviewing the cases.





The interviewee continued, I begged the judge to handle my brother's case as soon as possible, and he said that he is going to handle the cases on the basis of quantity (of the drugs). Therefore, he is currently reviewing cases that have 70 grams of drugs and reaching my brother in the meantime.





The eyewitness told IHR that in the judges room there were folders of the cases from floor to the ceiling.





He also said that prisoners who were sentenced to death before, usually receive the new verdict including 30 years term in prison and 200 million tomans in fines. Those who were convicted to life imprisonment previously, typically get 15 years jail term. One of our neighbors who was sentenced to death was released recently after 11 years in prison. However, there are cases of bribery and other violations of law which are normal in the Revolutionary Courts.





One of the prisoners who was sentenced to death in Tehran's Revolutionary Court in this regard told IHR: In January, my case was sent to Branch 28 where my death sentence was issued before, but I havent heard from them yet. Judge Moghiseh and Judge Teyrani have not processed any cases. Apparently, Judge Teyrani is about to be retired in few weeks.





The mother of another prisoner who was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Tehran said, My sons new verdict has not been issued yet. We neither have a lawyer nor money, and we are very concerned. Many prisoners with a higher quantity of drugs received a verdict or were released. My son had 600 grams of heroin, and he didnt have a prior criminal record.





Reaffirmation of several death sentences despite the absence of prior criminal record





Furthermore, the mother of another prisoner who was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Urmia said, Now, the death sentence is reduced to 30 years imprisonment and 200 million Tomans fine; however, the sentences of some prisoners have been reduced to 25 years and one day. Those who were sentenced to life imprisonment are mostly sentenced to 15 years and one day. So far, 6 or 7 people have been sentenced to death again by Judge Sheikhloo at Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court. Some of the prisoners did not have a prior conviction.





A prisoner who was sentenced to death in Urmia, told IHR: "I know at least four people without a prior criminal record whose death sentences have been upheld in Branch 2 of the Revolutionary Court (Sheikhloo). The four prisoners are all in jail for more than five years. For two of them, the verdicts were issued for the accusation of the establishment of a narco gang, one person for investing on the narco business and the other one for hiring other people for the drug gangs.





Disproportionation between crime and punishment: 30 years in prison, for both 200 grams and 40 kilograms





A family member of a prisoner who was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan also said to IHR, My brother was arrested and sentenced to death on the charge of 40 kilograms heroin two years ago. Fortunately, his sentence was reduced to 30 years in prison and 200 million Tomans fine without him or his lawyer asking for an appeal. In response to the question whether any death sentences had been upheld, he said, No death sentences have been upheld in Isfahan so far, most sentences are reduced, and the rest of the defendants are still waiting for the result.





The wife of a prisoner who had been sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Mashhad said, My husbands sentence has been reduced. He was sentenced to death for 200 grams of heroin, but now his sentence is reduced to 30 years in prison and 200 million Tomans fine. Its not fair that the same punishment is issued for both 200 grams and 40 kilograms.





A family member of a prisoner who was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Sari told IHR, Most new verdicts are issued by the request of prison wardens. Most of the prisoners are now sentenced to 30 years in prison and 200 million Tomans fine. My nephew also received the same sentence and he is allowed to have a furlough or be transferred to his hometown by law because hes been in prison for five years now, but they havent approved it yet.





In response to the question of whether any death sentences were upheld by the Revolutionary Court of Sari, he said, No death sentences have been upheld or carried out in Sari after the new law was enforced.





He counted the replacement of the prosecutor of Mazandaran, Sheikh Jafari a reason for improvement of the situation.





The wife of a prisoner who was sentenced to death by the Revolutionary Court of Isfahan said, I dont know on what basis they issued my husbands sentence. He was sentenced to 26 years in prison and 122 million Tomans fine for 350 grams of heroin by Judge Pour-Rezaei. The same judge sentenced another prisoner who was charged with possession of 76 kilograms of heroin to 30 years in prison and 200 million Tomans fine. Why cant we object to the decision?





A prisoner at the Ghezelhasar prison in Karaj, who had previously been sentenced to death in Tehran's Revolutionary Court and now sentenced to 30 years in prison and fined 200 million tomans, told IHR: "Of course, substitution of death sentence to prison terms, has a psychological effect and already has made the prisoners and their families relieved, but at the end of the day, one should look at the real outcome: most of the prisoners were given prison terms of nearly 30 years. It is good, only if they can expect a pardon in future. It is unclear if it is possible to appeal to these verdicts, or not.





Conclusions and recommendations





Despite the fact that the death sentences of many prisoners changed to prison terms and fines, there are still serious concerns. This brief report, which has been provided through interviews with prisoners and their families, reveals some facts:





1. The problem of corruption and bribery in the Iranian judicial system: This problem can lead to the violation of the rights of prisoners who are among the poorest sections of society.





2. Insufficient resources put into this process by the Judiciary: This is especially true in large cities and areas where the number of drug prisoners is high. Eyewitnesses have said that in some of the judge's rooms, there were folders of the cases from floor to the ceiling." This problem can potentially lead to inaccuracies in handling the cases.





3. Lack of independent supervision of the process of reviewing the cases and lack of transparency. This problem, along with the lack of capacity in the justice system, corruption, and bribery, can lead to severe injustices in the process of reviewing cases.





4. The lack of the chance of a fair trial during the review of cases: Since many of the death sentences have been issued on the basis of confessions extracted under torture, the initial confessions must be ignored entirely. During the review of these cases, the defendants should have lawyers -which they do not- and many other pillars of a fair trial are not present in the process.





5. Disproportion between crime and punishment: Most prisoners whose death sentences were commuted have been sentenced to 30 years in prison, regardless of the type and degree of the crime.





Although the new law is likely to reduce the number of executions related to drug crimes, it is important to remember the problems mentioned above.





Meanwhile, the international community should monitor the process of reviewing the cases, and call for the Iranian authorities to be transparent in this regard. Also, there is an urgent need for an international observer delegation, and it is essential to put pressure on Iranian authorities to accept and establish such a system. In the current mechanism, the same judges who once issued the death sentences, are responsible for the reviewing of the same cases. Moreover, the bribery and corruption problem in the Iranian judicial system must be adequately addressed.





IHR also calls for establishing a system for regularly reporting about the process, to an international observer delegation. The Iranian judiciary and authorities should also provide the United Nations with a list of all those who are sentenced to death so that the UN can have more transparent monitoring ability.





The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, which has collaborated with Iranian counter-narcotics authorities, should have access to the list of all prisoners sentenced to death for drug offenses, and to monitor the process of conversion of death sentences.





Similarly, the European Union and countries involved in UNODC projects in Iran should not resume their financial assistance until these reforms are fully implemented. Moreover, the issue of having a fair trial for detainees arrested in connection with drugs should become a priority in the discussions with Iranian authorities in the future.





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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
British Army personnel have been working with rangers in Gabon and Malawi to put an end to gangs selling ivory for funding terrorist activities in the continent (Photo: AFP)

Nature has a lot of beauty to offer in form of spectacular creatures as part of a diverse wildlife. But several species have been extinct or are endangered because of poaching and illegal trade of their body parts.

The black rhinos of Africa are also at risk of being wiped out and this is what governments and organisations across the globe are trying hard to prevent. Britain seems to have declared war on the blood ivory trade as it is set to send troops to Malawi for keeping poachers at bay.

Counter-insurgency tactics developed in Afghanistan and Iraq will be used as they train rangers to hunt down poachers. The trade posing a threat to this mammal is worth around 17 billion pounds.

The administration also fears that money from the ivory trade ends up funding extremism through criminal and terrorist gangs. This move comes after the Duke of Cambridge called the destruction of animal life an almost unthinkable travesty.

Several British Army personnel have been working with rangers in Gabon and Malawi to put an end to gangs selling ivory for funding terrorist activities in the continent.
On the occassion, Swaraj also released a book on the achievements of the Ministry of External Affairs over the course of her tenure. (Photo: ANI | Twitter)

New Delhi: Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj on Monday addressed the media on completion of 4 years of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.

On the occassion, Swaraj also released a book on the achievements of the Ministry of External Affairs over the course of her tenure.

"90,000 people from Indian community have been rescued from various places. In his visits to many countries, PM has saved many people from severe punishments. Today, Indians living overseas are living peacefully," Swaraj said, also pointing out that it was shocking how the previous government did not visit any countries.

"When we formed our govt, we thought that we will cover all the 192 countries present at the UN, for ministerial level talks. And, we have covered 186 countries already," she added.

On relations with Pakistan and possibilities of peace, she said that its not like India is not ready for the talks, but it is not possible to do so if the terror on the border continues.

"Terror and talks cannot go together, be it post elections (Pakistan general elections scheduled for July 25) or even before. Jab seema par janaze uth rahe hon,to baatcheet ki awaaz acchi nahi lagti (When soldiers are dying at the border, voices calling for discussion do not seem fit)," she said.

Swaraj also responded to questions on Pakistan's Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018, which alters the status of the region.

Also Read: Pak PM rejects opposition protest over Gilgit-Baltistan control order

"The answer we got in response of what happened with Gilgit Baltistan Order 2018 was laughable. They tried to teach us history. Pakistan always distorts history & doesn't believe in law. Only thing thing I felt while reading their answer was, 'look who's talking'," she said.

The External Affairs Minister also spoke on relations with China, especially after the infamous Doklam faceoff.

"I am repeating again, at the Doklam faceoff site there is no change in the situation, status quo is continuing," she said.

Swaraj also addressed some grievances that she received over Twitter.

"I got a tweet from someone who was visiting Mansarovar that they were not being allowed to take holy dip in the Mansarovar jheel. This wasn't the situation. There is always a designated place where you can take a bath, you cannot take dip just anywhere in the river," she said.

The senior BJP leader also slammed Congress for alleging detoriation in relations between India and Russia.

"Only recently PM Modi and President Putin held a successful informal summit," she said.

While responding to a question on Vijay Mallya's extradition from the, Swaraj said that PM Modi has informed British Prime Minister Theresa May that these UK courts questioning condition of jails in India is not correct as "these are the same prisons where they had jailed our leaders like Gandhi and Nehru."
Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said New Delhis position was independent of any other country. (Photo: ANI/Twitter)

New Delhi: India said on Monday it abided by sanctions imposed by the United Nations but not those imposed by any other country, such as those announced by the United States against Iran.

US President Donald Trump this month withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and ordered the re-imposition of US sanctions suspended under the 2015 accord.

Indian foreign minister Sushma Swaraj said New Delhis position was independent of any other country.

India follows only UN sanctions, and not unilateral sanctions by any country, she said at a news conference.

India and Iran have long-standing political and economic ties, with Iran one of Indias top oil suppliers.

Swaraj on Monday met Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, in New Delhi to build support against the US rejection of the nuclear accord.

Zarif briefed about the discussions that Iran has undertaken with parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action following the US decision to withdraw from the Agreement, said an Indian government statement, without elaborating.

India continued trade with Iran during previous sanctions but had to cut oil imports as the sanctions choked off banking channels and insurance cover for tankers.
Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajeds two-day India visit  to Santiniketan, Asansol and Kolkata  was an exercise in exceptional courtesy. At no point were the hosts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, made uncomfortable by Bangladeshs disappointment that the promise of fair and equitable sharing of waters from the Teesta river, which is politically perhaps the most important unresolved bilateral problem between the two neighbours, is no nearer a solution. For Bangladesh and for West Bengal, a solution for sharing the Teesta waters is as much an international issue as it is a regional and, above all, a domestic problem. The stakes for India, however, have changed. For as long as West Bengal was a state where past ruling parties at the Centre had no targets for ejecting the party in power, negotiating issues of concern with Bangladesh was a relatively easier task. Ever since the BJP has made taking over West Bengal from the Trinamul Congress a part of its pan-India domination plans, the water-sharing issue, Rohingya refugees, illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, specially in Assam, have all become high-stakes issues of domestic political turf wars.

Intense as the pressure on Sheikh Hasina is to declare that a solution has been found on the sharing of Teesta waters, as a veteran at handling it over two terms in office, she was remarkably restrained during her visit. Evidently unfazed by the certainty that her principal opposition, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, would start a huge furore over her failure and her proximity to India, Sheikh Hasina talked about many things, but not Teesta. This is a position that she adopted after 2011, when Bangladeshs interests had to yield place to Mamata Banerjees obduracy on the terms of the water-sharing deal. The one thing that she did talk about was her overall vision for Bangladesh, which holds topmost priority, of driving the country to become a small but developed economy by 2041. The success of Bangladesh in moving rapidly up the Human Development Index rankings after starting out as one of the poorest countries in 1971, is a story that should make India squirm, if it chose to be sensitive about its lack of progress.

And Sheikh Hasina recalled the role of India and Indira Gandhi in Bangladeshs liberation movement, and after the assassination of her father Sheikh Mujibur Rehman and much of her family. By separating bilateral relations from the immediate problems of water-sharing, she demonstrated that Bangladesh has other dreams and can afford to wait. With elections coming up both in India and Bangladesh, the need to be seen working on finding a solution was important, but not urgent. Both sides appeared to have agreed that nothing could be done in haste, because whatever commitments are eventually arrived at, those would have to be implemented and that would have implications and consequences over a very long period. A water-sharing agreement would be a short-term solution, whereas it is being argued that a lasting fix should be on a management plan for shared waters between the two countries. In other words, India, meaning West Bengal, would need to propose a solution, which Bangladesh could then either accept or reject.

This alters the relationship between the two neighbours and the relative significance of the pending problems between them. It places the onus of finding a suitable formula for sharing the Teesta waters on India. On its part, Bangladesh has delivered on most of the issues that were important for India, such as closing access to insurgents on the run from the Northeast and dealing with fundamentalist Islamist militants with cross-border links. In many ways, Bangladeshs efforts, at considerable political cost to Sheikh Hasina, on dealing with Islamist fundamentalists has been a relief for India; its troubles have been largely confined to the western front. Of the remaining unfinished business with Bangladesh, almost all of it is a critical matter for Indias domestic politics. Besides water-sharing, the politics of illegal immigration in Assam is also a key issue for the BJP government in that state. Assam has initiated the process of identifying individuals who can stay and those whose claim to residence are being investigated under the amended National Register of Citizens. What happens in Assam is of concern for Bangladesh as the identity of the allegedly illegal migrants or non-citizens is described in political discourse as Muslims from across the border.

It is significant that Sheikh Hasina made the time to meet Mamata Banerjee separately and alone. On the face of it, Sheikh Hasina has effectively made West Bengal responsible for delivering the solution. While both the leaders did not reveal what had transpired at the meeting in Kolkata, it is understood that an exchange on political compulsions, including finding a solution on the sharing of Teesta waters and other matters, did take place. The change in Mamata Banerjees status from a regional leader to a person of significance on the national political scene as a challenger to the BJP has clearly not been missed by Bangladesh. The time the two leaders spent together is an indication of the emerging political dynamics in India, where Mamata Banerjee has been busy spearheading the formation of a collective of regional parties, often described as a federal front, making her a frontrunner in the formation of a multi-party government at the Centre should the combined efforts of the emerging front succeed in ejecting the Narendra Modi-led BJP from power.
The substance and the tone at external affairs minister Sushma Swarajs Monday press conference appeared defensive. It betrayed the anxiety that the minister must not step beyond parroting the banal, for its a higher authority that visualises and runs this countrys foreign affairs, not the minister appointed for the job. Thus, Ms Swaraj, who is otherwise perfectly capable and gifted with oratorical skills that easily surpass those of many powerful individuals in the BJP setup, spent her time in tiresome reiteration of what her partys spokesmen have been retailing on cringing television channels for a year or more  that terror and talks cannot go together (in respect of Pakistan); and that in Doklam, the status quo is maintained and that the Chinese are in no way undermining our position. If there was anything else relating to any subject of value, then Ms Swarajs ministry needs to inform Parliament in the coming Monsoon Session  or issue a press release for the soft-headed.

The external affairs minister holds an annual press conference, but these are, in reality, events without updates. Ms Swarajs successful Twitter interventions in favour of beleaguered Indians stuck overseas (and the occasional Pakistani national in need of medical attention in this country) are by now known to be hardy perennials of this yearly meeting with the press corps, and this year was no exception. The minister is kind-hearted. That much is clear. But does humanitarian outreach to a few souls in need constitute foreign policy, no matter how people-centric our policies may need to be? And how has Indian foreign policy gone in the past four years, now that the next Lok Sabha election is looming? Leave aside China and Pakistan, how has the Narendra Modi government, touted by the faithful as Indias first Hindu government, fared in relation to Hindu Nepal? Whats the score with tiny Maldives, which until recently was Indias staunchest ally? Ms Swaraj didnt broach these at all.

For some years India has paid attention to economic and commercial diplomacy. Where have we got on that front and what are the gains, considering relations with the Asean bloc have been sought to be upgraded (by virtually trying to steal the authorship of the Look East policy from late PM P.V. Narasimha Rao)? To the west, the Modi government has sought to continue our traditional policy to be friends with regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia. The external affairs minister owes it to the country to explain what gains have accrued  on the economy side as well as political. This government has put all its eggs in the American basket. When old strategic ally Russia began to sound gruff, Mr Modi rushed to meet President Vladimir Putin in Sochi recently and signed a deal to buy S-400 missiles. This has got Washington uptight. If Ms Swaraj is familiar with the contours of Indias dynamics in relation to the great powers, she didnt have much to say. Perhaps her remit includes mulling things over.
Iran is currently an observer member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, though it has long sought full membership. (Photo: File)

Beijing: China will host Iranian President Hassan Rouhani next month at a regional summit aimed at avoiding disruption of joint projects, its foreign ministry said on Monday, as major powers scramble to save Iran's nuclear deal after the United States pulled out.

Rouhani will pay a working visit to China and attend the summit of the China and Russia-led security bloc the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, the ministry said.

It did not give exact dates for his visit, but the summit is scheduled to be held on the second weekend of June in the northern Chinese city of Qingdao.

Iran is currently an observer member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, though it has long sought full membership.

"Our hope is that China and Iran will have a close consultation on the basis of observing the deal and push forward development of bilateral cooperation," Chinese deputy foreign minister Zhang Hanhui said at a briefing.

"We should together look into how to avoid major disruption of joint projects between the two sides," he added.

Russia has previously argued that with Western sanctions against Tehran lifted, it could finally become a member of the bloc which also includes four ex-Soviet Central Asian republics, Pakistan and India.

The 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers lifted international sanctions on Tehran. In return, Iran agreed to restrictions on its nuclear activities, increasing the time it would need to produce an atom bomb if it chose to do so.

Since U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew the United States this month, calling the agreement deeply flawed, European states have been scrambling to ensure Iran gets enough economic benefits to persuade it to stay in the deal.

China has also strongly supported the deal and is one of its signatories.
An acclaimed linguistics expert seems to be the energy giant's last resort in the case.

Gazprom submitted an application for a complete reversal of the decision taken by the Stockholm Arbitration in the dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz of Ukraine over the gas transit contract to the Svea Court of Appeal, the Russian gas holding said on Monday.

"An extra examination of the text of the decision with engagement of a globally recognized expert linguist showed that a considerable portion of the arbitration award was written by another person, rather than by arbitrators. Obviously, nobody has a right to substitute arbitrators. Direct decision-making by arbitrators is of critical significance for parties to the dispute and interference of a third person in the decision-making process is a gross violation of the arbitration agreement," Gazprom said, according to TASS.

The conclusion of the expert linguist on the authorship of the arbitration decision on transit is a "new evidence of serious violations of the Swedish law and arbitration regulations of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in consideration of this case, providing grounds for its complete reversal," Gazprom noted.

Earlier, Gazprom already filed an appeal against the court's decision on the gas dispute with Naftogaz claiming substantial procedural violations committed by the arbitrators.

Read alsoNaftogaz CEO, NATO officials talk Ukraine's energy security

On February 28, 2018, the Stockholm Arbitration Court satisfied Naftogaz's claims for compensation for gas transit volumes that Gazprom had failed to supply. The arbitrators ruled that Gazprom pay to Naftogaz $4.63 billion for the shortage of agreed gas transit volumes. Following two arbitration proceedings, Gazprom has to pay Naftogaz a total of $2.56 billion.

Late March, Gazprom deputy chief Alexander Medvedev said that his company had launched negotiations with Naftogaz on the termination of contracts both for the supply and transit of gas.

Gazprom also said that they can retain gas transit through Ukraine at 10-15 billion cubic meters per year if the Ukrainian side proves the economic feasibility of the new contract.

Naftogaz said that Gazprom went on refusing to implement the final, and binding, decision of the arbitrators in two commercial disputes with Naftogaz and that the Russian company proposed amending or terminating the contracts, thus canceling the tribunal's decision.

Read alsoUkraine's Naftogaz to go after Gazprom assets in EU, not gas transit

Chief Commercial Officer at Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, said that the company planned to appeal to European courts to ensure seizure of Gazprom's assets as the Russian energy monopoly does not comply with the Stockholm Arbitration award.

On April 20, Gazprom submitted to the Stockholm Arbitration Court documents for the termination of contracts with Naftogaz for the delivery of gas and its transit via Ukraine.
Just look at that list of investors in Foxconn Industrial Internet Co.s IPO.

Forget BAT. It was obvious that Baidu Inc., Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. would take minor stakes in the Foxconn Technology Group affiliates blockbuster Shanghai listing. Those three are in the bottom tier of cornerstone buyers anyway.

Leading the lineup is the Shanghai State Development & Investment Corp., which is subscribing for 73 million shares, or 3.7 percent of those expected to be sold. Central Huijin Investment Co., China Railway Investment Co., China Structural Reform Fund and China Life Insurance Co. round out the top five.

Note the pattern: All are state-owned enterprises. In fact, the list of 20 strategic placements is dominated by state-affiliated investors. The top 14 have shorter lockup periods  half of the shares can be sold after 12 months, half at 18 months. Those lower on the totem pole, like Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group Co. and the BAT collective, are stuck for 36 months.

I dont imagine Foxconn boss Terry Gou had a lot of choice in the allocation, but hes a savvy political operator and would probably have come up with a similar list himself.

This isnt so much a case of companies being called in for national service  Taipei-based Foxconn and its FII listing would have done just fine without state help  as ensuring Chinese flag bearers join the spoils, and maybe even learn a thing or two about the business of technology.

Foxconn is pitching FII as a leading-edge company at the forefront of future trends. In reality, its a more mundane manufacturer whose bread and butter is making metal iPhone casings and internal frames, while industrial robots barely show up in its revenue data.

Nevertheless, maybe just standing close to a Foxconn unit will allow SOEs to be sprinkled with some of that high-tech fairy dust. It does make Apple Inc. phones, after all, not to mention supplying to Amazon.com Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc.

China needs a few more hardware heroes, so co-opting one from across the Taiwan Strait plays well into two core Xi Jinping policies: building technological capability, and limiting Taiwans independence.

The billions of dollars China has thrown at the technology hardware industry  notably semiconductors  has done little to dent the dominance of U.S., Japanese, Korean and Taiwanese companies. Huawei Technologies Co. is a notable exception, while the case of ZTE Corp.  whose survival was threatened by a ban on buying U.S. components  merely highlights the gap.

Foxconns Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. is Taiwans second-largest company, behind Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Luring FII to list in Shanghai, with a Shenzhen domicile, is a great coup for China. It allows Beijing to claim FII as a Chinese company  not unlike the approach taken to Taiwan as a whole.

Cries of hollowing out are a little overplayed: Taiwan gave up on manufacturing decades ago. China may assemble most electronics devices, but dont forget that all of Apples assemblers are Taiwanese companies with Taiwanese executives dominating the top layers of management.

FII shows the closest Beijing can get to matching Taiwan in technology is to buy into a rare mainland IPO and hope to find some leverage, while picking up some business tips along the way. Dealing with Terry Gou though, it may learn that you cant outfox the Fox.
Recently, Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman underlined the importance of the country's IT sector, calling it a bailout for the economy. According to the top official, by 2025, export revenues from the IT sphere will more than double, to $8.4 billion a year. At first glance, such predictions are flattering, but what if we read between the lines?

Today, Ukraine has already established itself as one of the world's major IT outsourcers. Every year, Ukraine is among top-rated freelance markets in terms of the volume of orders executed and the number of employees involved. Moreover, the country has its own serious players of European scale who are searching for and hiring for foreign clients whole teams numbering hundreds of people. This is already not some remote job from home but quite a wealthy business generating hundreds of thousands of dollars a month's turnover for a medium-sized company.

Many in Ukraine seem to not be completely aware why the IT sphere is growing so rapidly

However, IT outsourcing is the most unreliable way to earn money on the digital market. To understand this, you don't need to go far enough, just look at India, the global leader in the sector. The country has grown a whole class of people living in large cities and working in big companies serving a variety of foreign firms. This is both IT-start-ups and the FMCG sector - all who need commercial systems or other software products. Nevertheless, programmers in India are already experiencing considerable difficulties due to job cuts. At some point, it turned out that simple scripts and other typical tasks can be copypasted while service functions are becoming more and more automated. Soon, even the development of uncomplicated software for specific purposes will be entrusted to neural networks. For the most low-skilled IT specialists from India, this means they need to up their skills to be able to work on full-fledged software components, or to become part of the country's unemployment records.

Many in Ukraine seem to not be completely aware why the IT sphere is growing so rapidly. First, it is due to the general development of the industry. Now we are seeing development not only of online commerce, social networks or messengers that we can witness as users. At the same time, the demand for IT products in the B2B segment is also increasing. And many entrepreneurs already know, that in the growing market it is difficult to fall, even if you are not really effective.

The second point is cheap workforce. Today, Ukrainians can compete even with Indians, because they are often ready to work for a rate of 1.5-2 times lower. On the one hand, income at the level of $2,000 a month for relatively simple tasks is a good offer on the Ukrainian labor market, and no one will be asking for more. However, cheap labor cannot be an eternal advantage - the China case shows that even in a large economy with stable population growth, this factor is gradually drying up.

And so, we are returning to the growth trends of the IT industry as a source of foreign exchange earnings for the country. It is obvious that today, and even tomorrow, the sphere will keep growing, no matter the regulations on the market. However, it is worth realizing that, like in other industries, Ukraine also sells "raw material," albeit specific, because this is about man-hours. Such a trade is able to bring benefits in the short term, but it certainly cannot be effective long-term.

Recently, Apple released its quarterly report showing that they generate $1,300 of profit per second. For a year, they earn an amount roughly equal to half of Ukraine's GDP. This single company with a staff of about 125,000 employees earns half of what an entire country does, with a population of about 40 million people. The main reason for such gap is the focus on the production of the final product. Alas, one cannot say that Ukraine is a full-fledged player in the global IT market until we launch at least one "unicorn," a start-up that will grow to a capitalization of one billion dollars.

Today, Ukraine can and should focus on the IT sector. However, in parallel lines with this focus, it is also necessary to shift accents and start giving the world specific software products and technological solutions rather than trading in raw materials in the form of man-hours

And if we really want to make of our country a global IT hub, it is not enough for the government "not to interfere." It is necessary to actively assist technology companies. First, it is about a set of adequate, understandable and simple mechanisms for registering and doing business. Unfortunately, brilliant programmers are rarely keen in bureaucratic nuances. Ideally, they seek to register their business online and work for at least a few years without checks and much paperwork. Also, special tax conditions for IT-firms are needed. Here, a good tool could be a tax on the withdrawn capital, which business owners will not pay if they decide to reinvest their profits. Because, if companies don't take their money today, then tomorrow the country will potentially receive much more money.

For example, The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the average salary in Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is $197,000 a year. The holding employs about 90,000 people. If you take the risk and assume that a similar company would appear in Ukraine, even with half the pay for its staff, the salaries alone would bring about $133 million in military tax annually. That's not to mention the VAT that people would pay when buying goods and services within their own country - one can safely assume that this would not be another $1 billion a year. And this is not yet taking into account the single social contribution, profit tax and other positions. As a result, the total profit for the budget from the operations of a single company of this scale would have been measured in tens of billions of dollars. But in order for a garage startup to grow into such a corporate monster, appropriate conditions must be created.

Today, Ukraine can and should focus on the IT sector. However, in parallel lines with this focus, it is also necessary to shift accents and start giving the world specific software products and technological solutions rather than trading in raw materials in the form of man-hours. Because even the optimistic $8.4 billion of export earnings from IT by 2025 is not so much showing a prospect as it is a shortage of billions in profits.

Maksym Prazdnikov is an economic expert
Ukraine ranks 13th among steel producers in April

At the same time, in January-April 2018, Ukraine reduced steel production by 0.2% y-o-y.

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Ukraine, France agree on supply of 50 Airbus helicopters for Interior Ministry

The agreement between the French and Ukrainian sides is worth about EUR 551 million.

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The Stockholm arbitration ruling ordering Gazprom to pay $4.7 billion to Naftogaz Ukrainy was interfered with by an outsider, the Russian gas giant claimed in a new court filing.

On Monday, Gazprom filed in Sweden's Svea Court of Appeals a declaration on full cancellation of the Stockholm arbitration ruling in the dispute with Naftogaz Ukrainy over their gas transit contract.

"Additional study of the text of the ruling by internationally acknowledged linguistic experts show that a significant portion of the text of the arbitration ruling was not written by the arbiter but by some other person. Clearly, no one has the right to replace the arbiters. The direct pronouncement of the ruling by the arbiters has extraordinarily great import for the parties to the dispute, and interference by outside persons in the process of rendering the decision is a blatant violation of the arbitration agreement," Gazprom said.

"The linguistic expert's conclusion concerning the authorship of the arbitration ruling on transit is fresh proof of serious violations of Swedish law and the arbitration rules of the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce in examining this case, which gives grounds for its complete cancellation," it said.

On December 22, 2017, Stockholm arbitration issued a final ruling in the dispute between Gazprom and Naftogaz Ukrainy over their gas supply contract and, on February 28, 2018, issued its ruling concerning the contract on gas transit through Ukraine.

"In connection with the substantial procedural violations allowed by the arbiters over the course of the arbitration process, Gazprom has appealed to the Svea Court of Appeals with declarations on the partial cancellation of the interim ruling on the supply contract and of final rulings on the contracts for supply and transit," Gazprom said.
President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko at a meeting with Chief Executive Officer of DP World Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem has discussed the prospects of investing in Ukraine.

According to the presidential press service, Poroshenko noted the participation of the DP World official in a meeting of the National Investment Council and thanked him for his efforts to improve the investment climate in Ukraine.

The head of state noted the importance of increasing opportunities for investment in Ukraine and invited DP World to invest not only in the development of port infrastructure facilities.

In addition, the parties discussed the company's plans to participate in the privatization program in Ukraine and continue investing in the state economy in the field of railway transport and agriculture.

Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, in turn, thanked the president of Ukraine for the opportunity to participate in the meeting of the National Investment Council, noting the benefits of such meetings for business representatives.

DP World is one of the world's largest port operators.
All countries of the European Union (EU) support the outcome of an investigation into downing of Flight MH17 of Malaysian Airlines over Donbas in 2014 and call on Russia to contribute to the efforts to establish accountability, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini told reporters on Monday.

"The outcome of the investigation has been a very important moment for us. You know that the European Union has always been fully supportive of the investigation exercise and we, together at 28, reaffirmed our full support to the outcome of this investigation and to the efforts to bring accountability. And we call upon Russia to take its responsibilities and contribute to the efforts to establish accountability," she said.

As reported, Boeing-777 of Malaysia Airlines, carrying out the flight MH17 Amsterdam (the Netherlands) - Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), was shot down in the sky over Donetsk region on July 17, 2014. All 298 passengers on board died.

The Joint Investigation Team (JIT), which includes prosecutors and representatives of other law enforcement agencies in Ukraine, the Netherlands, Belgium, Australia and Malaysia, as well as representatives of Eurojust, presented the results of a criminal investigation into the causes of the disaster in the Netherlands on September 28, 2016.

According to the findings, the airliner was shot down by a 9M38 missile launched from the BUK-TELAR self-propelled gun from an agricultural field in the area of Pervomaisk. At that time, the region was under the control of Russian occupation forces. It also follows from the investigation that the self-propelled fire unit BUK-TELAR was delivered to Ukraine from Russia and after its use for an attack on the airliner of the MH17 flight was again returned to Russia.
Russian-led forces in Donbas on May 28 mounted 37 attacks on the positions of the Ukrainian joint forces, including nine attacks with the use of heavy weapons, as a result of which six Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in action and a 15-year-old girl was fatally injured, the press center of the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) has reported.

"During the past day, on May 28, the intensity of hostilities remained high in the JFO area, the situation is complicated but is under control (...) The Russian occupation forces violated the ceasefire 37 times in the past day. They mounted nine attacks with the use of 82mm and 120mm mortars," the press center said on Facebook in an update as of 07:00 local time on Tuesday, May 29.

Severe fighting continued in the areas of Krymske, Novotoshkivske, Zolote in the Luhansk sector. Other hot spots were Svitlodarsk, Novoselivka Druha, Maryinka, Novomykhailivka, Starohnativka, Vodiane, and Shyrokyne.

"The JFO units fired back, using mortars and small arms. In the past day, six of our servicemen were wounded in action, they were immediately evacuated to hospital," the press center said.

In addition, during the past day the enemy forces violated the international humanitarian law three times by shelling civilians.

"At about 05:00 in the morning, the invaders opened fire from a grenade launcher at the village of Chermalyk. At about 11:40, hiding behind residential areas of Horlivka, they were firing mortars at the village of Zalizne, resulting in the death of a 15-year-old girl. At about 15:00, the terrorists opened fire on the village of Yuzhne, causing shrapnel wounds to the civilian," the report says.

Ukraine's authorities opened criminal cases on the facts of the attacks on the civilians.

Since the beginning of the current day, May 29, there had been no casualties among Ukrainian servicemen as of 07:00 local time.

According to Ukrainian intelligence reports, three enemy fighters were killed and another five were wounded.
A double-decker passenger bus transporting Ukrainian citizens has crashed in Budapest, Hungary, seriously injuring eight passengers and lightly injuring 20 more, Hungarian media have reported.

Hungarian media say the tourist bus with Ukrainian license plates was en route to Budapest Ferenc Liszt International Airport, formerly known as Budapest Ferihegy, outside Budapest when it rammed into 3.65 meters high gates, ripping off the top tier of the bus.

Police said eight people were seriously hurt and were hospitalized, with some 20 more receiving light injuries. Four passengers had to be pried out of the bus with the help of emergency workers. No children were among the injured.

Media report there were 48 people aboard the bus. Police are establishing the cause of the crash and have opened a criminal case.

Speaker for Ukraine's Foreign Ministry Mariana Betsa has commented on the tragedy.

"Unfortunately, Ukrainian tourists have been hurt. Preliminarily, 28 passengers, with eight receive serious injuries. Ukraine's consul in Hungary is assisting," she wrote on her Twitter page on Tuesday morning.
Poroshenko orders aide to leave for Berlin on June 1 to prepare for talks in Normandy format

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has instructed a deputy head of the presidential administration to leave for Berlin on June 1 to hold talks on preparations for a meeting in the Normandy format at the highest level.

"We very strongly expect that the decision on peacekeepers will be adopted in the near future, and we agreed in Aachen that we will try to organize a summit in the Normandy format as soon as possible. On this occasion, at my request, the deputy head of the presidential administration will leave for Berlin on June 1 for respective negotiations," Poroshenko said at a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Foreign policy issues in Ukraine's Presidential Administration are supervised by Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Kostiantyn Yeliseyev.

Poroshenko said Steinmeier and he had discussed the implementation of the Minsk Agreements, including the deployment of a peacekeeping mission with a UN Security Council mandate as an essential security element.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin has gone to New York on the president's orders to attend a UN Security Council session dealing with Ukraine.

"We thank Germany for its engagement, and it will be very important to hear the Russian representative's position. Certainly, we very firmly expect that a decision regarding peacekeepers might be made in the near future," Poroshenko said.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on May 18 that foreign ministers were already preparing for a possible top-level Normandy-format meeting, although the date had not yet been set.

Putin also said Russia and Germany would continue working together within the Normandy format.
The court in the case of former Deputy Interior Minister Serhiy Chebotar took a break until June 1. Judge Maxim Vishnyak made the decision at the request of the prosecution, which asked to give time to examine the materials provided by Chebotar's defense.

"The Chebotar defense provided all the evidence of his innocence and the inconsistency of the lawsuit initiated the NABU [National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine]. We have received all the expertise papers and the required evidence and today we ask the court to attach them to the case," the defending lawyer of the former deputy minister Ihor Yudin said in court.

On the binding of the defense, the results of the examinations, which, in the opinion of lawyers, totally refute the evidence provided by NABU, were appended to the case. Among the documents, in particular, is an examination of the sound recording made by the NABU.

In this regard, representatives of the prosecutor's office and the NABU asked the court to give them additional time to get acquainted with the new case materials.

The court granted the prosecution's motion and scheduled the next hearing for 1:30 p.m. on June 1.

Chebotar considers his innocence is fully proved.

Head of the Socialist Party of Ukraine, combat veteran of the ATO held in the east of the country, Illia Kyva is also convinced in the innocence of Chebotar.

"Those who make accusations against Chebotar are theorists. All the charges against him are empty talk of political prostitutes. And I say this as a man who put on these backpacks and these helmets. And I can say in sober earnest: this man saved my life near Debaltseve. And today they are trying to arrange a trial against him, the trial of those who helped us in the most difficult period for the country to stop the enemy and defend the country. Therefore, I am ready to testify in favor of Chebotar. The mere fact that I am alive is a testimony in his favor," Kyva said.

In July 2015, the General Prosecutor's Office opened a criminal investigation into the procurement of backpacks for the National Guard, and in April 2016 the case was transferred to the NABU.

On August 29, 2017, Kyiv's district administrative court declared lawful actions of officials of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and decided not to annul of the results of the procurement tender.
Ukrainian Sentsov, who went on hunger strike, given supportive treatment, in stable condition

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who had been convicted for terrorism and is serving his sentence in Russia, has been receiving supportive treatment, his lawyer Dmitry Dinze said.

"Oleh Sentsov is in stable condition now, I checked today. He has actually been receiving supportive treatment. I will be able to find out what this treatment entails on June 4, when I visit Oleh," he said on his Facebook account on Tuesday.

Officials of the Russian Federal Penitentiary Service cannot clarify anything, because "the medical unit of the colony," where Sentsov is being held, "administers treatment," he said.

"I cannot give further clarification," the lawyer said.

On May 16, Sentsov went on a hunger strike demanding that all Ukrainian citizens in custody in Russia be released.
The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Hungary, Pavlo Klimkin and Peter Szijjarto, plan to hold consultations with the Hungarian community in Ukraine in the middle of June.

"We will meet, perhaps in Kyiv, perhaps in Budapest, but most likely everyone prefers the town of Berehove [Zakarpattia region]. [There will be] two foreign ministers, two education ministers and representatives of the Hungarian community to finally find a solution that will work for our citizens of Hungarian origin ... We will meet, most likely, in the middle of June or a bit later," Klimkin told reporters in New York City on Tuesday following a meeting with his Hungarian counterpart.

The minister added that a meeting of representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine with representatives of the Hungarian national minority will be held on June 5.

The Hungarian side will facilitate these consultations so that they will be effective, the minister said.
Poland has recognized that consolidation and increasing the potential of NATO are necessary in order to counteract Russian aggression, Member of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's parliament (Petro Poroshenko Bloc) and chairwoman of Ukraine's delegation to NATO's Parliamentary Assembly Iryna Friz has said.

The parliamentarian reported on Facebook that during the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly/Assemblee parlementaire de l'OTAN in Warsaw, Poland, Assembly President Paolo Alli noted that Russia had identified NATO as an adversary and abandoned the language of reason and cooperation and turned to the language of intimidation and threats. "We must remain united and strong in order to confront this," Friz quoted Alli as saying.

In addition, the deputy said that President of Poland Andrzej Duda in his speech noted that Russia challenges international law, defies it.

Also, according to her, the Polish president stated the need to closely monitor the aggressive actions of the Russian Federation, in particular, the Zapad (West) military exercises at the borders of Poland, the use and development of chemical weapons, the financing of terrorism. He stressed the need to provide an adequate response to these aggressive actions against democratic states, the consolidation and expansion of NATO's capabilities.

"Duda noted that Moscow does not show interest in an open and constructive dialogue which NATO is ready for," she said.
On Thursday, May 31, at 11.00, the press center of the Interfax-Ukraine news agency will host a press conference entitled "People's Tribunal Instead of the Surrogate Anticorruption Court." Participants include ex-judge of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine, member of the initiative group Viktor Shyshkin; dissident, human rights activist, member of the initiative group Stepan Khmara; Metropolitan of the Ukrainian Apostolic Orthodox Church, member of the initiative group Metropolitan Stephaniy; participant of the initiative group Viktor Zherdytsky; military unit commander of the Revolution of Dignity, a member of the initiative group Nazar Mukhachev (8/5-A Reitarska Street). Registration requires press accreditation. Details by phone: (097) 083 4776, or at: ss.grom.ukr@gmail.com, ss-ukr.net.
Several famous Iranian actors and actresses say they will not attend the presidents iftar (breaking fast) ceremony that will take place on Wednesday, May 30.

Using the Farsi hashtag "we do not go to Iftar", the protesting movie stars said on their social media pages that they will reject Hassan Rouhanis invitation due to political, social, and economic crisis that the country is facing.

The popular and outspoken actress Mahnaz Afshar published a picture of the invitation card next to the jailed human rights activist, Atena Daemi on her Twitter account and asked the president to invite Atena instead of her who recently turned 30 in Gharchak Varamin prison and now is being held in Evin.

She is not a criminal, she has only striven for human rights, she wrote in a tweet that has been liked by more than 13000 users so far.

Due to bad economic situation and low morale of our people, some of my colleagues and I believe that such costly gatherings are unnecessary, Parviz Parastouei, another actor, famous for his roles in several blockbuster comedies, wrote on Instagram.

Actors are aware that the purpose of President Rouhanis invitation is to hear their problems. However, you know the problems better than us and it seems that the president is looking for someone who could solve them, like us, Parastouei wrote in a sarcastic post that has received more than 350 thousand likes.

Yet, the actor emphasized that if it was not for Rouhani, Instagram, like many other social media platforms had been filtered and today, he was not able to express his opinion.

I struggle with poverty, the tiniest criticism is suppressed, I cannot allow myself to attend the ceremony, an actress wrote in an angry instagram post.

Many of the movie stars who have boycotted President Rouhanis ceremony, backed him during the presidential election in May 2017. Referring to this fact, another actress named Shila Khodad asked Rouhani sarcastically whether he needs their support again?

Peoples financial hardship due to severe devaluation of the national currency and other economic failures, negligence of abused children, shortage of drugs, overflow of narcotics that easily can be accessed by the youth, are among the reasons why she has decided to reject the presidents invitation.

I will not attend this dinner because I want to be able to look into the eyes of my countrymen on the next day without being ashamed, Khodadad wrote.

In reaction to the boycott by the actors and their growing criticism, spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said on Tuesday that the government has done everything in its power to improve the economy. Tell us what we could have done that we did not, asked Nobakht his audience underlining the desperate situation of Rouhanis government.

The Iranian government hoped that the nuclear agreement signed between Tehran and six major world powers in summer 2015, will help it to create millions of jobs and improve the life of its citizens. However, the recent decision of the US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the deal, is about to ruin this desire.

Irans regional ambitions, widespread corruption, mismanagement, lack of transparency and proper supervision are some of the reasons for the countrys dysfunctional economy.
Israels National Security Advisor, Meir Ben-Shabbat left for Washington on Monday to meet John Bolton, his newly appointed American counterpart, Israels Channel 10 reported.

The meeting will reportedly take place on Tuesday and will focus on coordinating policy towards Iran. The agenda of the meeting is specifically to discuss the renewal and revamping of a joint memorandum of understanding the two sides had signed in December on how to deal with Iran.

After President Donald Trumps decision to pull out of the Iran nuclear deal, U.S. and Israel apparently see a need to adapt the December agreement to the new reality.

The secret agreement, according to sources quoted by Israeli media, covered many areas of concern, including Irans nuclear and missile programs and its activities in Syria.

Based on the memorandum, Israel and the U.S. agreed to set up joint teams to coordinate counter-measures against Iran. The teams would deal with Irans missiles, its expanding presence in Syria and nuclear weapons ambitions.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with German and French leaders next week to present his case against Iran's continued presence in Syria and ask for pressure to be put on Tehran.
AMMAN, May 28 (Reuters)

Jordan is confident that Russia will not allow President Bashar al-Assad's government to wreck a ceasefire in southern Syria, a Jordanian official said on Monday, days after Washington said it feared that the Syrian government plans an offensive there.

With Syrian government forces now in their strongest position since the early months of the seven-year civil war, the southwest is one of the few parts of the country still in the hands of enemies of President Bashar al-Assad.

The area is covered by a ceasefire sponsored by the United States, Russia and Jordan, the result of the first Syrian peacemaking diplomatic effort of President Donald Trump's administration.

The United States says it is concerned that Assad's government is planning to jettison the truce and launch a major offensive in the area to fulfill Assad's goal of re-asserting control over every inch of his country. Washington warned Syria on Friday it would take "firm and appropriate measures" in response to any ceasefire violations.

But the senior Jordanian official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that Russia, Washington and Jordan all still saw "eye to eye" on the need to preserve the ceasefire.

The de-escalation zone has produced the ceasefire that has held best in all of Syria. The parties to the agreement are all committed to preserving it, the official said.

The three countries that sponsored the ceasefire were holding discussions to ensure it did not collapse, the Jordanian official said.

Jordan has long been worried about the presence of Iranian-backed militias along its border, as has Israel.

Both Israel and Jordan have been seeking understandings with Moscow to push these Shi'ite militias away from the area. Israel has stepped up its military strikes on suspected Iranian targets across Syria in recent weeks.

"We are closely watching developments and will protect our national security," the Jordanian official said of the "fluid" situation in southern Syria.

Assad's government has recaptured all rebel-held territory near the capital this year. Areas in the southwest and the northwest are the only large parts of the country still in control of rebels seeking to overthrow him.
By RFE/RL

The United States says religious persecution continues to be widespread around the globe as it unveiled its annual report on religious freedom, with violations cited in Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, among other countries.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the 2017 International Religious Freedom Report "is critical to our mission to defend religious liberty, as he presided over the release of the report at the U.S. State Department in Washington on May 29.

The United States remains committed to protecting religious freedom around the world, both now and in the future, Pompeo said, noting that the report documents across 200 countries and territories reports of violations and abuses committed by governments, terrorist groups, and individuals so that we may work together to solve them."

In Iran, which the United States in 1999 designated as a Country Of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the penal code provides for the death sentence for proselytizing and attempts by non-Muslims to convert Muslims, as well as for moharebeh (enmity against God) and sabb al-nabi (insulting the prophet), the report notes.

Iran continued to execute people charged with emnity against God, including four prisoners at Rajai Shahr Prison in December 20, and four men charged with waging 'war on God' in Kerman Province in September [2017], the report said, adding that authorities continued to harass, interrogate, and arrest Bahai's, Christians (particularly converts), Sunni Muslims, and other religious minorities.

In Afghanistan, conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and is punishable by death, imprisonment, or confiscation of property, the report says.

In Russia, the report notes that although the constitution provides for religious freedom and the right to worship and profess ones religion, the government prosecuted individuals of many denominations for unauthorized missionary activity under the amendments to antiterrorism laws passed in 2016, known as the Yarovaya Package.

The report singles out the situation of the Jehovahs Witnesses, whose activity was criminalized, after the Supreme Court ruled in April 2017 that the sect was an extremist organization and prohibited them from operating in the country. The court upheld the ruling on appeal in July.

The sect has been operating in Russia and across the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s and claims some 170,000 adherents in Russia.

The report notes that although there were fewer instances of violence based on religious identity than in prior years, there were also reports of physical assaults on Jehovahs Witnesses and Muslims, as well as other attacks on individuals, possibly based on both their ethnicity and religion.

In Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, Russia-led forces continued to control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts and to detain and imprison religious leaders, said the report, noting that a military tribunal in Donetsk sentenced an academic specializing in religious studies to 32 months in prison. The academic was later released in a prisoner exchange with the Ukrainian government.

According to the Afghan Supreme Court, the Bahai faith is a form of blasphemy and is punishable by death. However, there were no reported prosecutions for apostasy or blasphemy, the report noted.

The Afghan branch of the Islamic State group and the Taliban continued to target and kill members of minority religious communities.

Neighboring Pakistan continued to enforce blasphemy laws, whose punishment ranges from life in prison to the death sentence for a range of charges, including defiling the Prophet Muhammad.

The report says that at least 50 individuals were imprisoned on blasphemy charges, at least 17 of whom had received death sentences.

The document singles out an incident in April 2017, when a mob shot and beat to death student Mashal Khan at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, following an accusation of blasphemy later deemed by investigators to be false, which prompted widespread condemnation in the country.


Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Elchin Mehdiyev - Trend:

NATO is ready to provide assistance in peaceful settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at the NATO Parliamentary Assemblys Spring Session in Warsaw answering a question by Malahat Ibrahimgizi, a member of the Azerbaijani parliaments delegation.

He said NATO is aware of the problem Azerbaijan is facing.

The NATO Parliamentary Assemblys Spring Session took place May 24-28. Azerbaijan was represented by the countrys MPs Malahat Ibrahimgizi and Kamran Bayramov at the session.

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 29

Trend:

Armenian soldiers' shooting at a combine harvester and its driver, who was carrying out agricultural work in the sowing area, from the positions in the direction of the occupied Gorgan village of Azerbaijans Fuzuli District, once again shows the inadmissibility of keeping the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend May 29.

Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry sharply condemns this shooting and regards it as another provocation from Armenia.

It is very easy to spot a combine harvester because of its size and appearance, Hajiyev said. However, it is obvious that the goal of the Armenian Armed Forces is to attack the civilian facilities.

He noted that Armenia intentionally targets civilians, including children, and civilian facilities, and this is of systematic nature.

This latest incident once again shows that the status quo, based on the continuation of the illegal presence of the Armenian Armed Forces in Azerbaijans occupied territories and the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories are inadmissible and continue to be a serious threat to regional peace and security, Hajiyev added. In order to change the status quo, Armenia must withdraw its troops from the occupied territories 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 20:02)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

Armenian soldiers' shooting at a combine harvester and its driver, who was carrying out agricultural work in the sowing area, from the positions in the direction of the occupied Gorgan village of Azerbaijans Fuzuli District, once again shows the inadmissibility of keeping the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hikmet Hajiyev told Trend May 29.

Hajiyev noted that Azerbaijans Foreign Ministry sharply condemns this shooting and regards it as another provocation from Armenia.

It is very easy to spot a combine harvester because of its size and appearance, Hajiyev said. However, it is obvious that the goal of the Armenian Armed Forces is to attack the civilian facilities.

He noted that Armenia intentionally targets civilians, including children, and civilian facilities, and this is of systematic nature.

This latest incident once again shows that the status quo, based on the continuation of the illegal presence of the Armenian Armed Forces in Azerbaijans occupied territories and the occupation of the Azerbaijani territories are inadmissible and continue to be a serious threat to regional peace and security, Hajiyev added. In order to change the status quo, Armenia must withdraw its troops from the occupied territories 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 29

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took part in the official opening ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor in the Sangachal terminal in Baku May 29.

President Aliyev delivered speech at the ceremony.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy Sandra Oudkirk delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.

The UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan Baroness Emma Nicholson read out Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Theresa Mays message to the participants of the event.

Turkeys ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral read out Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans message.

Then OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo, Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum Yury Sentyurin and BP Group Upstream CEO Bernard Looney delivered speeches.

Later, the video footage about Shah Deniz Stage 2 / Southern Gas Corridor projects prepared by BP was demonstrated.

In conclusion, President Aliyev pressed a button symbolizing the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor.

The 25th Anniversary International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition has opened as well. The ceremony was broadcast live in the Baku Expo Center, where the exhibition is being held.

Story still developing
Details added (first version posted on 9:33)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev took part in the official opening ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor in the Sangachal terminal in Baku May 29.

President Aliyev delivered speech at the ceremony.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Diplomacy Sandra Oudkirk delivered a speech at the opening ceremony.

The UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan Baroness Emma Nicholson read out Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland Theresa Mays message to the participants of the event.

Turkeys ambassador to Azerbaijan Erkan Ozoral read out Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogans message.

Then OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo, Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum Yury Sentyurin and BP Group Upstream CEO Bernard Looney delivered speeches.

Later, the video footage about Shah Deniz Stage 2 / Southern Gas Corridor projects prepared by BP was demonstrated.

In conclusion, President Aliyev pressed a button symbolizing the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor.

The 25th Anniversary International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition has opened as well. The ceremony was broadcast live in the Baku Expo Center, where the exhibition is being held.
Details added (first version posted on 09:48)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

Marking the opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor today, on this historic day, we see how timely and wise this step is, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

He made the remarks in Baku May 29 at the ceremony of commissioning the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which implies the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

"Azerbaijans successful oil and gas policy shows that the Azerbaijani people are able to use their natural resources only in conditions of independence," the president said.

The oil history in the world originates from Azerbaijan, President Aliyev said. In 1846, for the first time ever, oil was extracted through an industrial method in Azerbaijan, in Baku.

"The monument in honor of this historic event was erected several years ago in the center of our city, he added. Azerbaijan ensured most of the world's oil production during that period in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century."

"But could Azerbaijani people benefit from this? Of course not. It's enough to look at the pictures and statistics of that time, to see that people lived in poverty. There was no industrial development whatsoever. Azerbaijan was only a resource, and the "black gold" extracted from the country's depths didn't serve the development of the Azerbaijani people. Our oil resources were getting drained. The oil revenues were not directed towards welfare of Azerbaijani people," said Ilham Aliyev.

"At the same time, we faced big environmental problems in the Absheron peninsula. Today, these problems are being solved by independent Azerbaijan. Today, independent Azerbaijan and our successful oil and gas policy show that only in conditions of independence, during the period of independence, Azerbaijani people can use their natural resources, President Aliyev added. Azerbaijan can successfully develop only in conditions of independence.

"Today, as an independent country, we stand firmly, and successfully fulfill all the tasks set before the country. Such giant projects we realize together with our partners, and re-create the energy map of Europe," said the president.

Ilham Aliyev reminded that the term of "The Contract of the Century", signed 24 years ago, was extended in 2017 until 2050.

"This proves that there are big oil reserves in this field. "The Contract of the Century" breathed life into Azerbaijan, and served the country's revival. For the first time, the Caspian Sea opened up and became available to foreign companies," said President Aliyev.

He went on to note that today, the implementation of "The Contract of the Century" goes on very well, and after the signing of this contract, Azerbaijan's new oil strategy began to take shape.

"I remember those historical days very well, because as vice-president of the State Oil Company I was directly involved in this work. At the time, Azerbaijan's oil strategy was established, and today we see the results of this strategy and the work implemnted. After 1994, the second big contract on Shah Deniz gas field was signed. I must note that this contract was signed in early June 1996, exactly on the opening day of the "Caspian Oil and Gas" exhibition. Thus, Azerbaijan presented itself to the world not just as an oil but as a gas country as well," said Ilham Aliyev.

"I also remember well that during that period the gas factor did not play such a significant role in energy security in the world. Even the development of gas fields didn't get much of interest, because compared to oil fields, the revenues were lower. Thus, attracting investors to this project wasn't so easy," he said.

President Aliyev went on to say that in 1997 as a result of "The Contract of the Century" first oil was extracted from the Chirag platform.

"It was really a historic day. For the first time, foreign companies extracted oil from a new field in the Caspian Sea," said the president. "Today, marking the opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor, we see how timely and wise this step is. The Shah Deniz gas field is the main resource base of the Southern Gas Corridor."

Ilham Aliyev added that Azerbaijan is a country with no access to the high seas.

Therefore, oil pipelines must have been built, and the first oil pipeline, Baku-Supsa, was commissioned in 1999, he said. It shows that in a short time we carried out this amount of work, and this also requires big financial resources, these projects are also very difficult to implement in technical terms," he said.

"I must say that we didnt have a lot of money in 1999. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was commissioned after this. So, the implementation of these projects really required great efforts and great wisdom. With the launch of the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, for the first time in history, we linked the Caspian and the Black seas by an oil pipeline. After this, in 2002, expecting big volumes of oil from the Azeri-Chirag field, we laid the foundation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline exactly here, on the territory of the Sangachal terminal. It was commissioned in 2006 and serves the Azerbaijani people and all the friendly countries.

The Azerbaijani president added that presently, not only Azerbaijani oil, but also oil from other countries is transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

Oil produced on the Caspian Sea by other countries, oil produced on the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea is already supplied through this pipeline to global markets, and Azerbaijan demonstrates its capabilities to neighboring countries at the same time as a reliable transit country, Ilham Aliyev said.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline was commissioned in 2007. This is also a very important project, and the development of the Shah Deniz field would have been impossible without this project. Thus, for the first time, in 2007, Azerbaijani gas started to be transported to Georgia and Turkey. I also remember that day very well, I remember the ceremony in Ceyhan very well. When I was heading here today, all these historic moments, those days revived in my memory, and I would like to say once again that all these are truly historic achievements.

He went on to say that Azerbaijan then started taking steps regarding future development of the Shah Deniz field.

"Of course, we all knew that a gas pipeline was needed to bring large volumes of Azerbaijani gas to global markets, and thus, practical work was launched to create the Southern Gas Corridor. A very serious work was carried out and negotiations were held. Finally, in 2012, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an agreement on the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline - TANAP, and thus a powerful impetus was given to the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili has sent a congratulatory letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

It is my pleasure to extend to you my most sincere congratulations on the occasion of the 100th Anniversary of Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, Margvelashvili said in his letter.

I would like to emphasize that Azerbaijani people overcame various challenges on their path to build successful and independent state. I am pleased that nowadays, we are witnessing prosperous country with its decent place on international arena. Considering strategic partnership, I remain confident that with our joint efforts the historically friendly ties and close cooperation between Georgia and the Republic of Azerbaijan will be further enhanced and deepened for the mutual benefit of our two nations.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to extend my gratitude once again for your steadfast support of Georgias sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Georgian president said.

Your Excellency, please accept the assurances of my highest consideration along with my best wishes for peace, stability and prosperity to the friendly Azerbaijani people.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban has sent a congratulatory letter to Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev.

Esteemed Mr President, please, allow me to express my best wishes on the occasion of the National Day of Azerbaijan, the Day of the Republic and the 100th Anniversary of the proclamation of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Viktor Orban said in his letter.

It is my great pleasure that the bilateral relations between our countries are developing dynamically. Azerbaijan is our important economic and trade partner in the South Caucasus region and I assure you that Hungary stands ready to further strengthen our cooperation that had already elevated to the level of strategic partnership.

I wish you good health and every success in your highly responsible duties, the prime minister of Hungary said.
Details added (first version posted on 09:48)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

Marking the opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor today, on this historic day, we see how timely and wise this step is, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said.

He made the remarks in Baku May 29 at the ceremony of commissioning the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which implies the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

"Azerbaijans successful oil and gas policy shows that the Azerbaijani people are able to use their natural resources only in conditions of independence," the president said.

The oil history in the world originates from Azerbaijan, President Aliyev said. In 1846, for the first time ever, oil was extracted through an industrial method in Azerbaijan, in Baku.

"The monument in honor of this historic event was erected several years ago in the center of our city, he added. Azerbaijan ensured most of the world's oil production during that period in the second half of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century."

"But could Azerbaijani people benefit from this? Of course not. It's enough to look at the pictures and statistics of that time, to see that people lived in poverty. There was no industrial development whatsoever. Azerbaijan was only a resource, and the "black gold" extracted from the country's depths didn't serve the development of the Azerbaijani people. Our oil resources were getting drained. The oil revenues were not directed towards welfare of Azerbaijani people," said Ilham Aliyev.

"At the same time, we faced big environmental problems in the Absheron peninsula. Today, these problems are being solved by independent Azerbaijan. Today, independent Azerbaijan and our successful oil and gas policy show that only in conditions of independence, during the period of independence, Azerbaijani people can use their natural resources, President Aliyev added. Azerbaijan can successfully develop only in conditions of independence.

"Today, as an independent country, we stand firmly, and successfully fulfill all the tasks set before the country. Such giant projects we realize together with our partners, and re-create the energy map of Europe," said the president.

Ilham Aliyev reminded that the term of "The Contract of the Century", signed 24 years ago, was extended in 2017 until 2050.

"This proves that there are big oil reserves in this field. "The Contract of the Century" breathed life into Azerbaijan, and served the country's revival. For the first time, the Caspian Sea opened up and became available to foreign companies," said President Aliyev.

He went on to note that today, the implementation of "The Contract of the Century" goes on very well, and after the signing of this contract, Azerbaijan's new oil strategy began to take shape.

"I remember those historical days very well, because as vice-president of the State Oil Company I was directly involved in this work. At the time, Azerbaijan's oil strategy was established, and today we see the results of this strategy and the work implemented. After 1994, the second big contract on Shah Deniz gas field was signed. I must note that this contract was signed in early June 1996, exactly on the opening day of the "Caspian Oil and Gas" exhibition. Thus, Azerbaijan presented itself to the world not just as an oil but as a gas country as well," said Ilham Aliyev.

"I also remember well that during that period the gas factor did not play such a significant role in energy security in the world. Even the development of gas fields didn't get much of interest, because compared to oil fields, the revenues were lower. Thus, attracting investors to this project wasn't so easy," he said.

President Aliyev went on to say that in 1997 as a result of "The Contract of the Century" first oil was extracted from the Chirag platform.

"It was really a historic day. For the first time, foreign companies extracted oil from a new field in the Caspian Sea," said the president. "Today, marking the opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor, we see how timely and wise this step is. The Shah Deniz gas field is the main resource base of the Southern Gas Corridor."

Ilham Aliyev added that Azerbaijan is a country with no access to the high seas.

Therefore, oil pipelines must have been built, and the first oil pipeline, Baku-Supsa, was commissioned in 1999, he said. It shows that in a short time we carried out this amount of work, and this also requires big financial resources, these projects are also very difficult to implement in technical terms," he said.

"I must say that we didnt have a lot of money in 1999. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline was commissioned after this. So, the implementation of these projects really required great efforts and great wisdom. With the launch of the Baku-Supsa oil pipeline, for the first time in history, we linked the Caspian and the Black seas by an oil pipeline. After this, in 2002, expecting big volumes of oil from the Azeri-Chirag field, we laid the foundation of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline exactly here, on the territory of the Sangachal terminal. It was commissioned in 2006 and serves the Azerbaijani people and all the friendly countries.

The Azerbaijani president added that presently, not only Azerbaijani oil, but also oil from other countries is transported via the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline.

Oil produced on the Caspian Sea by other countries, oil produced on the eastern shores of the Caspian Sea is already supplied through this pipeline to global markets, and Azerbaijan demonstrates its capabilities to neighboring countries at the same time as a reliable transit country, Ilham Aliyev said.

The Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipeline was commissioned in 2007. This is also a very important project, and the development of the Shah Deniz field would have been impossible without this project. Thus, for the first time, in 2007, Azerbaijani gas started to be transported to Georgia and Turkey. I also remember that day very well, I remember the ceremony in Ceyhan very well. When I was heading here today, all these historic moments, those days revived in my memory, and I would like to say once again that all these are truly historic achievements.

He went on to say that Azerbaijan then started taking steps regarding future development of the Shah Deniz field.

"Of course, we all knew that a gas pipeline was needed to bring large volumes of Azerbaijani gas to global markets, and thus, practical work was launched to create the Southern Gas Corridor. A very serious work was carried out and negotiations were held. Finally, in 2012, Azerbaijan and Turkey signed an agreement on the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline - TANAP, and thus a powerful impetus was given to the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor.

The Azerbaijani president noted that the TANAP project is an important part of the Southern Gas Corridor.

Next month, we will also mark the commissioning of the TANAP project, he said. The foundation of the Southern Gas Corridor was laid September 20, 2014, which is also very symbolic, because the Contract of the Century was signed on September 20, 1994, 20 years prior to that. We are celebrating the official opening of this project. This is really a great and historic event. The Southern Gas Corridor is a huge infrastructure project. More than $40 billion has been and is being invested in the implementation of this project.

President Ilham Aliyev said that Azerbaijans proven gas reserves amount to 2.6 trillion cubic meters.

I am sure that we have resources in much greater volumes, and future exploration and development work will confirm this, he said. It would have been impossible to implement these projects without international cooperation. First of all, I would like to note regional cooperation. Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, implementing Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and other important projects, including Baku-Tbilisi-Kars project in the transport sector, have already created a very strong format of trilateral regional cooperation. Therefore, joint efforts of these three countries hold a special place in the implementation of these projects.

President Ilham Aliyev noted that taking this opportunity, he would like to express gratitude to the leadership of Turkey and Georgia for the cooperation.

I would like to express my gratitude to the government of the US as well, because the US provided us with great support in all the projects, helped us and rendered both political and moral support, the Azerbaijani president said. Undoubtedly, these projects require big resources and most of the financial resources is allocated by banks. The US government made great efforts here as well, and we always felt and feel this support in the implementation of Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum and the Southern Gas Corridor. This support played great role in the implementation of this project. The government of the UK also always supported us. As you know, BP is our main investor in the energy sector. The UK government always supported us in implementing these projects, and we feel this support today. Last month, another contract was signed between BP and SOCAR with the participation of Prime Minister Mrs. May and me in London. This once more reflects our strategic ties.

President Ilham Aliyev stressed that the EU played a very important role in the implementation of this project. Back in 2011, a joint declaration on the Southern Gas Corridor was signed between the EU and Azerbaijan in Baku, he added.

During these years, we always felt the support of the EU, he said. Upon the initiative of Azerbaijan and the EU, the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council meetings have been held annually in Baku for the past four years. Since 2015, the EU has been represented at these meetings at the highest level. The energy sector undoubtedly holds a very big place in the Azerbaijan-EU cooperation format. The implementation of these projects would have been impossible without the funds of financial institutions. At todays ceremony, I would like to express my gratitude to the world-famous banks that supported us. Having trusted us, they allocated financial resources. We, just like them, are sure that Azerbaijan is a reliable partner which timely returns and will return all of its debts. In short, I am sure that this project being implemented as part of broad international cooperation, will in the future serve to deepening cooperation in Europe and in our region not only in the energy sector, but in all other spheres.

Ilham Aliyev reminded that seven countries participate in the implementation of the Southern Gas Corridor.

I would like to name these countries: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania and Italy, he said. At the same time, I am confident that the three Balkan countries - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro will join this project as partners at the next stage. The Southern Gas Corridor should have branches. We want to expand our export opportunities, and we know that there is necessity for Azerbaijani gas in Europe. We want to sell more gas to Europe, because the European market is the most profitable one for us.
Details added (first version posted on 13:22)

Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has today received a delegation led by US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Energy Resources Sandra Oudkirk.

The head of state thanked Oudkirk for attending the inauguration of the Southern Gas Corridor and the 25th Anniversary International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition.

President Aliyev hailed the fact the US is represented at these events at such a high level, and also praised the US government` support to the implementation of global energy projects. The head of state pointed out very good results of long-term partnership between the two countries.

The president described the inauguration of the Southern Gas Corridor as a good indicator of successful cooperation between the countries.

President Aliyev thanked for the U.S. President Donald Trump`s letter of congratulation on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, saying the U.S. President's views on the development of energy cooperation testified to the high level of relations.

Oudkirk thanked for inviting her to the inauguration of the Southern Gas Corridor. She pointed out strong bonds of cooperation between the U.S. and Azerbaijan in the field of energy, saying these relations contribute to the expansion of regional collaboration and diversification of Europe's energy supplies.

The sides noted the successful development of Azerbaijan-U.S. relations in the fields of politics, economy, energy and security, expressing hope that the bilateral ties will continue to expand.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

Azay Guliyev, chairman of the Council on State Support to Non-Governmental Organizations under the Auspices of the President of Azerbaijan, will pay a visit to Slovenia on May 30, the Council said in a message May 29.

As part of the visit, Guliyev will attend the opening ceremony of the commemorative plaque dedicated to the Khojaly genocide on the territory of the Dobrava Memorial Park complex in Maribor city. The plaque was prepared with the financial support of the Council.

The ceremony will be held on May 31 and is organized with the direct support of the Azerbaijani embassies in Austria and Slovenia. The president of Slovenia and chairman of the Upper House of the Slovenian Parliament are expected to take part in the ceremony along with other officials and public representatives.

The visit will end June 1.

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.

On Feb. 25-26, 1992, the Armenian armed forces, together with the 366th infantry regiment of Soviet troops, stationed in Khankendi, committed an act of genocide against the population of the Azerbaijani town of Khojaly. As many as 613 people, including 63 children, 106 women and 70 old people were killed in the massacre. Eight families were totally exterminated, 130 children lost one parent and 25 children lost both. Some 1,275 innocent residents were taken hostage, while the fate of 150 people still remains unknown.

The 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 29

Trend:

Jahan Hashimzadeh, the pupil of the senior class of the Gymnasium of Natural Sciences of Sumgait city, received 700 points at the entrance exams for the second specialty group held by the State Examination Center participated in the One day at UNEC project.

Jahan Hashimzadeh noting that he wanted to study in the Finance specialty of the International School of Economics at UNEC, said that his target was UNEC since the beginning of the preparation for the entrance exams: Im closely following the UNEC achievements. There are many reasons for my selecting UNEC. I think the education is of higher quality here, the transparency and objectivity of the exams attracts me. It is great that the special scholarships are granted for everyone enrolled at the university with over 600 points and 15 students getting the highest grade points on each course at the exams without the difference in faculty. I know that I can get 2 diplomas within 4 years only at UNEC. My parents recommend UNEC, as well. In short, my dream was not only to be the student, but to be the student of UNEC. As, the choice of the high school graduates enrolled at the university with the highest results within the last years was the UNEC, I knew that the enrolment competition for my target was strong and I should get the highest result. I tried and did it!

J. Hashimzadeh also met with Javad Aliyev and Arzu Mammadova, who had been admitted to the UNEC with 700 grade points in the last academic year. The UNEC students gave him the detailed information on the international and dual degree programs, Electronic University Model and teaching process. They said that UNEC is implementing the dual degree programs with the leading universities in the world  the London University/London School of Economics and Montpelier University in France.

The friends of J.Hashimzadeh who had received more than 600 grade points at the entrance exams were the one day student of UNEC, as well. J.Hashimzadeh also said that he helped his friends who would participate in the second exams of the State Examination Center.

They attended the lesson on the subject Introduction to economics in English.

J.Hashimzadeh and his friends said that they had spent the unforgettable day at the International School of Economics and they noted that they would begin the new academic year at UNEC.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

An aircraft of Qatar Airways made an emergency landing at Baku's Heydar Aliyev International Airport May 29 due to an engine failure.

The Airbus A330 aircraft, with 137 people on board, was flying from Doha to Tunisia, the airport's press service said in a message.

The plane made a successful landing at 12:16 (GMT + 4). There are no casualties.

The Heydar Aliyev International Airport said it is ready to provide all necessary assistance to passengers and crew members, as well as necessary technical support for the aircraft.

The airport is equipped with the most modern navigation and ground equipment, therefore, it is mainly chosen in force majeure situations.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

A new electronic trading platform Osonol.uz has been launched in Uzbekistan, which allows customers to make online purchases with possibility to deliver purchased goods to a given address in the country, the press service of the company announced.

The company is positioning the service as a local alternative to the US-based Amazon and the Chinese AliExpress. The press service of Osonol noted that the website is currently operating in a test mode, but consumers are already free to make purchases and order deliveries of goods.

We set a goal to offer the same convenient and high-quality service for online purchases like Amazon or Aliexpress in Uzbekistan, but without the complexities that our customers encounter when buying goods abroad. In Osonol you can find the right product, read detailed description, compare prices and buy it online in just a few minutes, - the message of the press service read.

The online store is currently offering a variety of products from household appliances and gadgets, to cosmetics and hygiene products.

Among the advantages of Osonol, the authors of the project noted the 24/7 uptime, courier service that allows delivery throughout Uzbekistan and seasonal 5-15-percent discounts.

In recent years, Uzbekistan has adopted a number of measures to change customs procedures to open the country's market for international companies like Amazon and AliExpress.

On the other hand, a number of restrictions on purchase of goods abroad have been imposed, which, however, according to experts, will not affect online purchases that much.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

The first control flight has been carried out at the third airport in Istanbul, the General Directorate of State Airports Authority of Turkey (DHMI) said in a statement.

It is noted in the statement that, the flight was carried out under the control of DHMI.

"The testing of the first flight in the third airport was held successfully", said the message of DHMI.

The Ataturk airport will cease to operate from October 31 this year.

The construction of the third airport in Istanbul has been completed by over 88 percent.

The third airport is being built near the Lake Terkos in northern Istanbul.

Currently, flights from Turkey to 282 destinations are carried out. After commissioning of the third airport in Istanbul, the number of flight destinations in Turkey will increase from 282 to 350.

Under the project, the first runway of the new airport will be 3.7 kilometers long and 60 meters wide. The second runway will be 4.1 kilometers long and 60 meters wide.

Currently, construction and assembling work is underway to build 28 bridges and a hydrometeorological tower at the airport. More than 31,000 employees are involved in the construction.

About 300 passenger and service elevators will be installed at Istanbuls third airport.

Airport City, which will include a network of shops, logistics and exhibition centers, will be also built at the new airport. Limak-Kolin-Cengiz-MaPa-Kalyon consortium of companies won the tender for construction of the airport.

The construction will cost 10 billion Turkish liras, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications told Trend earlier. Turkeys Ziraat Bankasi allocated 1.54 billion euros for the airports construction, while Halkbank and Vakifbank  1 billion euros, Denizbank  500 million euros, Garanti and Finansbank  300 million euros each in October 2017.

The first airport in Turkey was built in 1912 and was used for military purposes.

For the first time the Istanbul airport was opened for international flights in 1953 and in 1985 it was renamed in honor of founder of the Turkish Republic Mustafa Kemal Ataturk.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Leman Zeynalova  Trend:

Lot of work has been done for the detailed feasibility study in all countries of the Eastring gas pipeline, Public Relations and Communication specialist at Slovakias Eustream company Pavol Kubik told Trend.

Eastring will transport natural gas from different areas and alternative sources. At the first stage, it will provide the Balkans and/or even Turkey with gas from the European gas market. At the final stage, when its bi-directional mode should be in place, Eastring will transit prospective Romanian Black Sea natural gas, Caspian and Middle East natural gas to Europe.

"The Eastring project continues according to the schedule. Lot of work has been done for the detailed feasibility study in all countries of the future pipeline," said Kubik.

"We closely cooperate with our partners' transmission system operators and I believe we will be able to provide more information once the study is finalized (later this summer)."

He reiterated that the pipeline capacity will be available for all shippers/sources (including natural gas transported via the Southern Gas Corridor) on the transparent and non-discriminatory basis.

The Southern Gas Corridor is one of the priority energy projects for the EU. It envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At the initial stage, the gas to be produced as part of the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Stage 2 of the Shah Deniz development, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline and Trans Adriatic Pipeline.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Ilkin Shafiyev, Azad Hasanli - Trend:

The Southern Gas Corridor project highlights the role of Azerbaijan as an international gas hub, the Secretary General of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum Yury Sentyurin stated May 29 in Baku at the ceremony of launch of the first phase of the project.

"Azerbaijan has obtained the status of the international gas hub thanks to the wise and rational policy pursued by President Ilham Aliyev. Natural gas will play a key role in meeting our future energy needs. The Southern Gas Corridor, as one of the largest gas projects in the world, is aimed at ensuring gas supplies from the Caspian Sea to Europe. It involves extensive cooperation between the public and private sector, and today, 7 states and 11 independent companies are working together to complete this major project," said Sentyurin.

"The "Southern Gas Corridor" is designed to change the energy map of the entire region, delivering Caspian gas directly to European markets for the first time in history," he said.

The Secretary General noted that, the European Union needs further diversification of import opportunities to meet its future demands for energy.

"The financial and political commitment of Azerbaijan to the implementation of the project emphasizes the important role that the country plays and will continue to play in the direction of ensuring energy sustainability," the Secretary General said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

The project for development of Azerbaijans Shah Deniz gas and condensate field is a project which indeed the world should be proud of, said OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo.

He made the remarks in Baku May 29 at the commissioning ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

It is a great honor and true pleasure for me to be here at the Sangachal terminal on the Caspian Sea to not only witness the opening ceremony of the 25th Centenary Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference, but also opening of this magnificent global undertaking, the Shah Deniz project, said Barkindo.

He went on to add that Shah Deniz is a clear evidence of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyevs visionary leadership, motivation and determination.

This project envisages a huge multi-billion dollar capital investment and is one of the largest energy projects in the world, noted Barkindo.

This is a significant added value to Azerbaijans economy. It is also a testimony to good partnership on the Shah Deniz project operated by BP and including many oil and gas companies from several countries, added OPEC secretary general.

Within the implementation of Shah Deniz Stage 2, gas production will increase from 9 to 25 billion cubic meters per year. The produced gas will be exported to Turkey and the European markets through the expansion of the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of the Trans-Anatolian (TANAP) and Trans-Adriatic (TAP) gas pipelines.

A contract for development of the Shah Deniz offshore field was signed on June 4, 1996. The field's reserves are estimated at 1.2 trillion cubic meters of gas.

The shareholders in the contract are BP (operator - 28.8 percent), AzSD (10 percent), SGC Upstream (6.7 percent), Petronas (15.5 percent), Lukoil (10 percent), NIOC (10 percent) and TPAO (19 percent).

Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Azad Hasanli, Ali Mustafayev - Trend:

The United States strongly supports the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project from the very beginning of its implementation, realizing the key role of this corridor in diversifying the energy supply routes to Europe.

This was announced by the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Energy Resources Sandra Oudkirk, who addressed the official opening ceremony of the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor in Baku May 29.

She congratulated President Ilham Aliyev and representatives of all countries and companies that worked hard on the Southern Gas Corridor.

Oudkirk further stressed that the SGC project provides new opportunities for more extensive economic integration of the Caspian countries.

She reminded that US President Donald Trump has repeatedly voiced his support for the project.

In his recent letter to the Azerbaijani President in connection with the centenary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, President Trump stressed that the Southern Gas Corridor is an incredible achievement, and one that will provide needed energy security to Europe, she said.

The US plans to continue cooperation with all participants of the Southern Gas Corridor, Oudkirk said.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @AzadHasanli, @Ali_Mustafayev
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

Azerbaijan is one of the consistently highest performing countries in OPEC deal to curb oil output, said OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo.

He made the remarks in Baku May 29 at the commissioning ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe.

Barkindo noted that Azerbaijan played a pioneering leadership role in getting OPEC and several non-OPEC countries to reach the agreement on reducing oil production.

We will continue to be grateful for that vision that you expressed several years ago that we need to come together with OPEC and non-OPEC countries. I would like to express thanks for cooperation with OPEC and for your support and commitment to voluntary production adjustments. Azerbaijan is one of the consistently highest performing countries, added OPEC secretary general.

Azerbaijan presented data on its daily oil production in April 2018 to the OPEC Joint Technical Committee as part of the Vienna Agreement.

Daily oil production stood at 785,700 barrels in April 2018, of which 755,700 barrels accounted for crude oil and 30,000 barrels for condensate.

Meanwhile, 623,600 barrels of crude oil, 30,000 barrels of condensate and 21,700 barrels of oil products were exported per day.

Azerbaijans average daily oil production stood at 781,900 barrels in 2017 under the OPEC agreement to curb daily crude output by 834,000 barrels, said the ministry.

In January 2018, daily oil production stood at 814,600 barrels, in February 2018  at 806,000 barrels and in March - 794,000 barrels.

In December 2016, at a meeting of oil producers in Vienna, 11 non-OPEC member countries, including Azerbaijan, agreed to cut oil production by a total of 558,000 barrels a day. The agreement was concluded for the first half of 2017 and was extended until the end of the first quarter of 2018 at a meeting on May 25, 2017.

At the last OPEC meeting in Vienna, the agreement was again extended until the end of 2018. Azerbaijan supported the decision.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Azad Hasanli - Trend:

BP will continue its cooperation with Azerbaijan, said Bernard Looney, BP chief executive for upstream, at the ceremony of launching the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which involves the delivery of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, in Baku May 29.

The first stage of the project involves the transportation of gas from the Shah Deniz field through the South Caucasus Pipeline and the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) to the Turkish city of Eskisehir.

Speaking about the Southern Gas Corridor, Looney noted that, thanks to it, gas will go directly to the European market in the second stage of development of the Shah Deniz field by 2020.

Looney noted that Shah Deniz is one of the biggest gas fields in the world and more than 24,000 people took part in its development.

Reminding that this month Azerbaijan celebrates the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, he quoted the head of state that if the founders of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic could see today's Azerbaijan, they would be proud of it.

Looney stressed that there are many reasons and there will be even more reasons in the future for feeling proud of Azerbaijan.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

The oil and gas industry remains the cornerstone of UKs commercial relations with Azerbaijan, the UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan Baroness Emma Nicholson said.

Nicholson made the remarks in Baku May 29 at the commissioning ceremony of the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which implies the supply of Azerbaijans gas to Europe.

As my Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan I'm delighted to be in Baku again supporting the 25th Anniversary International Caspian Oil & Gas Exhibition, she said.

It was always a great pleasure to visit Azerbaijan and I am delighted to offer my warmest possible congratulations on the anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, Nicholson stressed. The founders of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic were ahead of their time in granting rights to women.

This year marks the completion of another milestone of energy collaboration, she said. The first gas from BP's Shah Deniz-2 platform will flow through the Southern Gas corridor network of pipelines into Turkey. This is a major step forward towards realizing the vision of delivery of great energy security to Europe. And together we have created successful partnership in the solid foundation for the future.

I am privileged to having been present when BP and SOCAR signed the latest agreement in London, Nicholson said.

The deepening collaboration can only bring economic benefits for both countries and beyond, she added. That's a clear illustration of the importance the UK attaches for growing bilateral and commercial partnership.

The Southern Gas Corridor, worth over $40 billion, is considered as one of the priority energy projects for the EU, which strives for diversification of gas sources. The project envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At an initial stage, the gas to be produced in the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

The first stage of the 2,000-km Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), from Azerbaijans Caspian shores to Eskisehir in Turkey, will come on stream May 29 with a ceremony in Baku. A ceremony to commission the Trans-Anatolian Pipeline (TANAP) is scheduled for June 12, 2018.

The state and government delegations of the countries that will receive gas, as well as the heads of companies that are involved in the project will attend SGC opening ceremony.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Maksim Tsurkov, Azad Hasanli - Trend:

SOCAR Turkey Enerji has adjusted the time of the initial public offering (IPO) of shares for 2021, SOCAR Turkey Enerji CEO Zaur Gahramanov told reporters May 29.

He noted that this issue is still on the agenda of the company.

"We are preparing to start the IPO in 2021. This is not a one-day process. It is necessary to carry out all the procedures, and companies must bring in revenues, and prepare a five-year financial report which will be audited by international companies. This is a long process, and it is successfully continuing," Gahramanov said.

It is expected that in 2018, SOCAR Turkey Enerji's consolidated turnover will reach $15 billion and the company will become the second largest industrial company in Turkey with 5,000 employees and $3 billion of export potential. It aims to become Turkey's largest industrial company by 2023.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Maksim Tsurkov - Trend:

Azerbaijan supplied 1.72 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to Turkey in January-March 2018, as compared to 1.6 bcm in the same period of 2017, says the report posted on the website of the Energy Market Regulatory Authority (EPDK) of Turkey.

Azerbaijan supplied over 6.54 bcm of gas to Turkey in 2017, as compared to 6.48 bcm in 2016.

According to the report, in the first half of 2018, Turkey imported 15.4 bcm of gas, of which 10.96 bcm were imported through pipelines, and 4.57 bcm fell on LNG imports.

The share of Azerbaijan in the total volume of gas imported to Turkey for the reporting period was 11.2 percent.

Turkey imports gas from Azerbaijan via the South Caucasus gas pipeline (Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum). Turkey has signed a contract for the annual purchase of 6.6 bcm of gas from the Azerbaijani offshore gas condensate field Shah Deniz.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @MTsurkovTrend
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Ilkin Shafiyev - Trend:

The Mexican Petroleum Institute intends to establish exchange of experience and technologies with oil companies operating in Azerbaijan, General Director of the Institute Ernesto Rios Patron said at a press conference in Baku May 29.

In general, Azerbaijan and Mexico have ample opportunities for expanding cooperation in the oil and gas sector, he said.

In particular, the Institute intends to study Azerbaijans experience in the development of the Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli block of fields, and, for this purpose, it will meet BP representatives on May 30, he added.

Meetings with Total as well as Azerbaijans state oil company SOCAR are also planned and the possibilities of mutual investment may also be discussed there, Patron said.

He also noted the importance of the Southern Gas Corridor project.

"This is a major project, which is implemented very well, both economically and technically," he said. "The project provides opportunities for establishing direct energy supplies from Asia to Europe."

The Southern Gas Corridor, worth over $40 billion, is considered as one of the priority energy projects for the EU, which strives for diversification of gas sources. The project envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

The official opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Sangachal terminal in Baku May 29.

At an initial stage, the gas to be produced in the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

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Follow the author on Twitter: @IlkinShafiyev
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Ali Mustafayev - Trend:

The UK will further expand cooperation with Azerbaijan in a number of priority projects in both energy and non-energy sectors, UK Prime Ministers Trade Envoy Baroness Emma Nicholson told reporters in Baku on May 29.

Nicholson stressed that today she had the honor to read a letter from British Prime Minister Theresa May addressed to President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev, in which she congratulated the government and the people of Azerbaijan on the launch of the Southern Gas Corridor.

The UK values cooperation with Azerbaijan and is ready to expand participation in large-scale projects in Azerbaijan, Nicholson said.

She further noted that presently 500 British companies operate in Azerbaijan.

Nicholson stressed that the UK is ready to support Azerbaijan in diversifying the economy, which is an important factor in the country's development.

The future plans for developing cooperation include projects in such areas as education, healthcare, agriculture and others, Nicholson added.

She also reminded that the British Embassy supported Azerbaijan in organization of the Formula 1 and is ready to continue supporting the country in organizing similar projects.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Ali_Mustafayev
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

Russia and Kazakhstan have signed a contract for supply of four Mi-35 transport and combat helicopters, the Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation of Russia told RIA Novosti May 29.

"A new contract for supply of four Mi-35 helicopters to Kazakhstan has been signed," the FSMTC stated.

Earlier in late 2017, the Ministry of Defense of Kazakhstan told reporters about the plans to purchase from Russia two Su-30SM fighters and four Mi-35M helicopters. Subsequently, a contract for the Su-30SM fighters was signed on the sidelines of the KADEX 2018 arms exhibition.
Head of State Nursultan Nazarbayev met with the Chairman of the Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Anti-Corruption Alik Shpekbayev, Kazinform has learnt from the Akorda press service.

During the meeting, President Nazarbayev was briefed on the work done by the agency in the sphere of civil service and measures taken to curb corruption.

Nursultan Nazarbayev was also informed of how a pilot project on introduction of a merit point payment system for Kazakhstani civil servants is being carried out.

The Kazakh leader drew Mr. Shpekbayev's attention to the importance of increasing the effectiveness of the fight against corruption and pointed to the need to assume preventive measures.

"It is crucial to step up fight against corruption in all spheres. First of all, it is necessary to carry out monitoring and continue switching civil services into a digital format. Secondly, we need to make a decision on higher salaries for civil servants. And, thirdly, we need to increase responsibility of senior executives," the Head of State told Shpekbayev.

During the meeting Alik Shpekbayev also gave an insight into the measures taken to carry out anti-corruption policy and how it was appraised by international experts. Following results of the meeting, Nursultan Nazarbayev gave a number of specific instructions.
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, May 29

By Huseyn Hasanov - Trend:

Turkmenistan's extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador to Morocco Ishanguly Amanlyev has handed a letter of credence to Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Morocco Mohammed Ali Lazreq, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry said in a message May 29.

The diplomat is also leading the diplomatic mission in Turkey.

In a letter to President Berdimuhamedov, in October 2017, King of Morocco Mohammed VI expressed confidence that the existing relations of brotherhood and mutual respect between Morocco and Turkmenistan will continue to strengthen and develop on the basis of mutually beneficial cooperation in the interests of the two peoples.

Stressing the important role of cooperation with African states earlier, the Turkmen Foreign Ministry expressed its commitment to development of relations with the African Union.

The African Union, established on July 9, 2002, is an international intergovernmental organization uniting 55 African states.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Fikret Dolukhanov  Trend:

Uzbekistan is going to approve new measures for joining the World Trade Organization (WTO) soon, Uzbek media reported referring to Economy Minister of Uzbekistan Botir Khojayev.

Reportedly, experts prepared additional proposals related to the measures taken to resume Uzbekistan's participation in the WTO-joining process.

Khojayev noted that these proposals will be approved in the near future.

Uzbekistan applied for membership in the WTO in 1994. To date, there have been three meetings of a working group consisting of members of the organization. The last meeting took place in 2005. Since then, the process of Uzbekistan's accession has been passive, official authorities have not interacted with the WTO members.

During the official visit to South Korea in 2017, Shavkat Mirziyoyev announced resuming the work to join the organization. Later, the US and South Korea expressed readiness to help the republic in this regard.

Uzbekistan and South Korea have already signed a road map on this issue. The Korean side will help Uzbekistan by assessing consequences of joining the organization, examining the national legislation in accordance with the requirements of the WTO agreements. The US will also provide the necessary technical assistance in this process, including preparing the necessary documents for submission to the WTO, holding seminars and conferences.

Uzbekistan is currently participating in the work of the organization as an observer state.

In mid-May, 2018, Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Uzbekistan Adham Ikramov noted that Uzbekistan is planning to join the WTO in 4-5 years.

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Follow the author on Twitter: @FDolukhanov
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

Trend:

President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev plans to visit France this year, a source in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan told Kun.uz.

The visit is expected to take place this summer. Its exact date is not yet known.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan Abdujabar Abduvakhitov commented to Kun.uz on the possible visit of the head of state.

"We are planning a visit related to France. I think information about this can be disclosed. We are working on preparation of the visit," Abduvakhitov said.

He added that several more foreign trips of the president of Uzbekistan are planned. "Several more visits of Shavkat Mirziyoyev abroad are planned for this year," the deputy minister added.

In September last year, the French leader Emmanuel Macron sent Mirziyoyev congratulations on the occasion of Independence Day, in which Macron invited Mirziyoyev to visit France.

In the entire history of relations between the two countries, only three visits were made at the level of heads of state. The first President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov visited France twice, in 1993 and 1996. In 1994, President Francois Mitterrand of France paid a visit to Uzbekistan.

France is one of the important trade partners of Uzbekistan in Europe. In 2017, the volume of bilateral trade amounted to $251.6 million.
Tehran, Iran, May 29



By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:



A Russian metallurgical company based in Verkhnyaya Pyshma, the second largest copper producer in Russia, has expressed willingness to cooperate with Iran in the country's mining sector.



"We can cooperate with Iran in various fields by having access to Irans projects," Sergo Kurbanov, an official with UMMC (Ural Mining and Metallurgical Company) said during a meeting with Iranian Deputy Minister of Industry, Mining and Trade Mehdi Karbasian in Tehran on May 27.



Karbasian, for his part, said given the wide range of tasks this holding is capable of doing, the two sides can enhance their cooperation in the field mining and mine industries, the press office of the Irans industry ministry reported.



"At present, there are plans underway to increase the countrys reserves of copper, gold, and other rare metals," he said.



The two sides can also expand their cooperation in the sector of drilling and exploration, Karbasian said.



The Iranian mining sector was surrounded by much fanfare following the lifting of nuclear sanctions on the Islamic Republic in 2016.



Government officials and economists, expecting an influx of foreign investment, deemed mining revenues as a reliable way out of an oil-dependent economy.



Fast forward to date, the sector has staged an underwhelming performance and accounts for only 5-7% of the Irans GDP. This is while mineral trade volume and value have been continuously on the rise for the past two years, accounting for close to 30% of Irans total non-oil trade.





Mining companies account for 15-20% of the total 4.1-quadrillion-rial ($102.54 billion) value of Irans stock market, according to reports.



Their market cap is poised to increase further, following the past few months of global price growth. In fact, mining firms, and especially base metal producers were the primary drivers of Tehran Stock Exchanges growth in the second quarter of the year. The sector is also highly attractive in terms of reserves.



Iran is home to 68 types of minerals with more than 37 billion tons of proven reserves and 57 billion tons of potential reserves.



According to the US Geological Survey, Iran holds the world's largest zinc, ninth largest copper, 10th largest iron ore, fifth largest gypsum and barite and 10th largest uranium reserves. Overall, Iran is home to more than 7% of global mineral reserves.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Turkeys gas imports from Iran witnessed a fall by 16 percent in March 2018 compared to the preceding year, however the Islamic Republic, maintained its position as the second gas exporter to the neighbouring country.

Turkeys gas import from Iran amounted to 739 million cubic meters (mcm) in March 2018, compared to 878 mcm in the same month of 2017.

Natural gas imports from Iran accounted for 15.6 percent of the countrys total gas imports in the one-month period, according to the latest report released by Turkeys Energy Market Regulatory Body.

The Islamic Republic was Turkeys second gas supplier in the period, after Russia, which supplied 2,449 mcm of gas to Turkey in March.

Gas import sources March 2018 (mcm) Share (%) Y/Y change (%) Russia 2,448.94 51.83 -7.96 Iran 739.18 15.64 -15.81 Azerbaijan 591.00 12.51 18.11 Algeria 389.64 8.25 -27.03 Qatar 365.65 7.74 100.00 Nigeria 190.95 4.04 -10.67 Total 4,725.37 100 -7.00

Irans share from the countrys gas market was 17 percent in March 2017. The Islamic Republic supplied 13 percent of Turkeys gas demand in February 2018.

In January-March 2018 Iran exported 2,261 mcm of natural gas to Turkey, 6.5 percent less year-on-year (2,417 mcm in January-March 2017). 

Turkeys gas import from Iran in 2017 stood at 9.2 billion cubic meters (bcm).

Irans overall gas exports to Turkey accounted to 7.8 and 7.7 bcm in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Turkeys total natural gas import stood at 4.72 bcm in March 2018, registering a fall by 7 percent year-on-year.

Turkey also exported 29.2 million cubic meters of gas to Greece in March 2018, indicating a rise by 100 percent year-on-year.
Tehran, Iran, May 29



By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:



With the government trying to tackle contraband smartphones and devices, the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) announced new restrictions on imports of tablets with SIM card support into the county.



In a statement on May 29, IRICA said importers of tablets with SIM card support, like mobile phone importers, have an obligation to register their goods at cid.ntsw.ir to get a registration code as well as an Identity number, the official website of IRICA reported.



According to figures released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration, the value of imports of tablets with SIM to the country stood at $514,000 from March 21 to April 20 in 2018.



The main exporters of tablets to Iran were the UAE and China, the data added.



In a bid to curb smuggling of cell phones, the Telecom Ministry, IRICA, the Communication Regulatory Authority and the Industries Ministry introduced a scheme they call Mobile Registry according to which local operators are barred from offering services to contraband phones.



After more than a decade delay in implementing the scheme, its initial phase was launched on Oct. 20, 2017. In a bid to contain the market shock created in the wake of launching the scheme, its implementation has been phased.



According to a report by state radio and TV, so far 47,000 contraband phones active in local operators network have been identified.



On Jan. 4, the functioning contraband iPhones were disconnected from mobile networks. In the next phase, access of smuggled Google, BlackBerry and Motorola phones to the local network will be banned.



According to market insiders, since the scheme was launched, mobile phone prices jumped 20-35%. For flagship handsets the rise translates into a $200 to $300 hike.
India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj says New Delhi will keep trading with Iran and will only follow sanctions imposed by the United Nations and not those imposed by any other country, such as the United States, against the Islamic Republic, reported Trend with a reference to PressTV.

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, Swaraj added that her country's position was "independent" of any other country and would not make foreign policy "under pressure."

"India follows only UN sanctions and not unilateral sanctions by any country," she said when asked about New Delhi's response to the US decision to withdraw from a 2015 key nuclear agreement and re-impose sanctions against Tehran.

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany.

Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran suspended under the nuclear accord and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

However, Swaraj emphasized that India rejects "reactionary" policies and will not be dictated to by other countries.

"We don't make our foreign policy under pressure from other countries. We believe in UN sanctions but not in country-specific sanctions," she pointed out.

Iran and India enjoy deep relations in political and economic sectors. Tehran is one of New Delhi's top oil suppliers.

Swaraj is scheduled to hold talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif later on Monday.

The top Iranian diplomat is in India as part of international consultations aimed at discussing continued mutual cooperation with world countries following the US withdrawal from the JCPOA.

In a meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in February, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expressed readiness to expand mutual relations in all areas.
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas says Berlin is prepared to help Iran improve its economy and business ties while Tehran remains committed to a landmark nuclear agreement it signed with major powers in 2015, Press TV reported.

"We will continue to make efforts to fulfill Iran's hopes for economic recovery and good trade relations as long as Iran is ready and able to prove that it adheres to its obligations under the nuclear deal," Maas said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at the Global Solutions Summit in Berlin three weeks after the United States pulled out from the landmark nuclear accord, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

US President Donald Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from the nuclear agreement, which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the US, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany.

Trump also said he would reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose "the highest level" of economic bans on the Islamic Republic.

Since the US president pulled Washington out of the historic nuclear deal, other signatories, including Germany, have been scrambling to ensure that Iran gets enough economic benefits to persuade it to stay in the deal.
Tehran, Iran, May 29

By Kamyar Eghbalnejad - Trend:

Third edition of a conference on measures to ensure and improve the Caspian Seas safety ended its work on May 29 in the Iranian capital city of Tehran.

Representatives from Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan attended the two-day conference, Trend's correspondent reported from the event.

Maritime safety, promoting interaction mechanisms on inspection and rescue affairs and taking advantage of legal capacities were among the topics discussed at the event.

At the conference, the sides agreed on a draft document submitted by Tehran as a basis to discuss and prepare regulations for maritime safety in the Caspian Sea.

The parties also agreed to establish specialized expert working groups in their countries to study the issues and share the results with other littoral countries in the next edition of the conference.

It was also agreed that two working groups be formed to simultaneously work on controlling and inspecting ships and studying the international standards and conventions.

The sides expressed hope that a memorandum of understanding would be signed soon on safety regulations for vessels in the Caspian Sea.

The fourth round of the conference is scheduled to be held in early August in Tehran.

Iran, Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan participated in the second round of the conference in 2017 in Turkmenistan.

The largest inland body of water, the Caspian Sea is shared between five countries: Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Russia and Iran. The ancient inhabitants of its coast believed the Caspian Sea was an ocean, presumably due to its saltwater and vastness.

Apart from its rich resources of oil and gas and significant diversity of aquatic animals, it provides Iran with a perfect opportunity to increase its revenue through expanding maritime tourism industry on its coasts - a prospect that has not been fully explored so far.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:

Opening of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC), which envisages transportation of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, comes at right time, Cyril Widdershoven, a Middle East geopolitical specialist and energy analyst, a partner at Dutch risk consultancy VEROCY and SVP MEA-Risk, told Trend.

Looking at other options, SGC is one of the most viable, as Iran and other possible gas supplies will be constricted for the foreseeable future. At the same time, the opening of SGC comes at the right time, as it can take already market share before the new liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from Egypt will be hitting the market. Competition will be there, but a natural gas pipeline has better access to several regions in the Balkans than LNG, and commercially natural gas pipeline supplies are still much cheaper, said the expert.

Widdershoven noted that the Southern Gas Corridor will in principle increase the energy security of Europe.

Even that there is a growing tendency within European countries to look for other renewables sources, gas will be the main energy source for the coming decades. Even within the Netherlands reports are now showing that even with a total breakdown of the Groningen gas supply and production the country will be having an increased gas need for at least until 2030, some even state beyond 2040, he said.

The expert went on to add that securing additional supplies is a necessity, which is mainly commercially attractive if coming via pipeline.

More volumes can be even needed as natural gas is still the energy transition fuel of the future, he added.

Widdershoven pointed out that Azerbaijan is a very applicable, reliable and possible positive addition to available gas supplies to Europe.

Expanding commercial cooperation will increase Azerbaijans position in the European Union, he added.



The official opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor was held in Sangachal terminal, Baku May 29.

The Southern Gas Corridor, worth over $40 billion, is considered as one of the priority energy projects for the EU, which strives for diversification of gas sources. The project envisages the transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At an initial stage, the gas to be produced in the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and the construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

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Follow the author on Twitter: @Lyaman_Zeyn
We will continue supporting Georgia which has all the tools needed to become a member of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg said in Warsaw while attending the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly, Agenda reports.

He was asked by the acting head of the Georgian delegation Irakli Beraia what will be the deliverables of the upcoming Brussels summit with regard to Georgia.

"What shall the Georgian people expect  will the next summit take our country one step closer to our ultimate goal which is NATO membership?, Irakli Beraia asked, after speaking about Georgias sizable contribution to NATO operations through which the country has proved that it can take on the responsibility of collective security.

As Stoltenberg replied, NATO is going to continue providing support to Georgia which has all the tools needed for membership including the national annual plans and the NATO-Georgia commission.

"We have not decided all the elements and all the formats of the summit but I am absolutely certain that allies will find a way at the summit in July to recognise the progress Georgia is making, he replied, expressing his gratitude towards the country for the "very important and significant contributions Georgia is making for NATO operations and missions.

As Stoltenberg pointed out, Georgia is one of the biggest nations when it comes to providing troops for the NATO mission in Afghanistan.
Severe Subtropical Storm Alberto - the first named storm of the 2018 Atlantic Ocean hurricane season - is bearing down on the southeastern US, as states of emergency have been declared along coastal regions.

Flooding is said to be the greatest concern in coastal areas of the southeastern United States as Storm Alberto nears landfall on the Florida Panhandle on the afternoon of America's annual Memorial Day holiday.

Mississippi, Florida and Alabama have declared states of emergency ahead of the storm's arrival.

While the storm has not strengthened into a hurricane, it does threaten residents and vacationers across the US Southeast.

"Alberto will make landfall as a subtropical storm," reported AccuWeather spokesman and hurricane expert Dan Kottlowski.

The Accuweather spokesman observed that the weather event's classification, while not a pure tropical system, nonetheless is dangerous, and urged residents to take action to prepare their homes.

Severe Subtropical Storm Alberto "has the same impacts as a tropical storm," Kottlowski noted, adding, "that includes tropical-storm-force winds of 39-55 mph, a storm surge potential, heavy rain and the potential for isolated tornadoes."

The storm is expected to spin up multiple tornadoes as it marches inland after making landfall this afternoon.
Belgian prosecutors are investigating the killing of two policewomen and a passerby by a man in the city of Liege on Tuesday as a terrorist incident, the local public prosecutor told a news conference, Reuters reports.

He said the man attacked the two officers from behind with a knife, took one of their guns and shot them both dead. He also shot dead a young man who was the passenger in a parked car and took refuge in a school where he was killed in a subsequent gunfight during which several other police were wounded.
Israeli aircraft struck a position belonging to the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after Palestinian militants fired mortar bombs into Israel, residents said, Reuters reports.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined comment on the report.
Palestinian militants launched another barrage of rockets into southern Israel on Tuesday, hours after firing more than 25 mortar bombs across the border, Reuters reports.

There were no casualties reported in Israel after the morning and afternoon salvoes.

Several of the projectiles, the military said, were intercepted by the Iron Dome anti-missile system. Israeli aircraft were carrying out raids against militant groups facilities in the Gaza Strip in response to the attacks.
BMW, Mini and Honda Motor Co. will voluntarily recall over 2,800 vehicles to fix faulty parts, the government here said Wednesday, Yonhap reported.

It is the latest in a series of recalls by carmakers and importers to ensure their vehicles meet safety rules.

The two European carmakers and Japan's Honda plan to recall 23 different models totaling 2,806 vehicles. The models include the MINI Cooper S and BMW's X3 xDrive20d SUV, as well as the eight-seat Odyssey minivan made by Honda, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said in a statement.

The problems include the MINI Cooper S' malfunctioning circuit board that controls an assistant coolant pump and the Odyssey's faulty parts in the back seats, the statement said.

Vehicle owners can visit designated repair and service centers to have the parts replaced free of charge starting Thursday, it said.
Russia has signed a new contract with Kazakhstan on the delivery of four Mil Mi-35 transport and attack helicopters, Deputy Head of Russias Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation Vladimir Drozhzhov told TASS on Tuesday.

"A new contract for four Mi-35 helicopters has been signed. This year," he said, without specifying the timeframe of the delivery of combat choppers to Kazakhstan.

In 2016, Russia also signed a delivery contract with Kazakhstan on four Mi-35 helicopters. The gunships are expected to be delivered this year. Overall, Kazakhstan is to get eight Mi-35 helicopters from Russia, according to the latest data.

It was announced at the KADEX-2018 arms exhibition that Russia had signed a delivery contract with Kazakhstan on eight Sukhoi Su-30SM fighter jets and a battalion of Buk-M2E air defense missile systems.

Mi-35M transport and attack helicopters are designed to destroy the armor and provide fire support for land troops, transport personnel, cargoes and perform other missions. These helicopters are furnished with advanced precision weapons and are capable of accomplishing combat missions day and night in various weather conditions.
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the First Armenia Republic, Armenian President Armen Sarkissian today visited soldiers receiving medical treatment at the Defenders of the Fatherland Rehabilitation Center in Yerevan and thanked them for their service to the nation.

Sarkissian said the soldiers smooth reintegration into society was vital and that they must be granted certain employment privileges.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

At least 32 people were arrested on Monday across Turkey for their suspected links to the PKK terror group, Trend said with reference to local gendarmerie.

In eastern Van province, nine suspects were held in Ercis district, the gendarmerie said in a statement.

Separately, the local gendarmerie in southeastern Gaziantep province arrested 10 suspects, including senior members of the terror group, during operations at different addresses across the city center.

The suspects were accused of attending an unauthorized demonstration on Oct. 6-7, 2014 on the pretext of Daesh terror groups attack in Ayn al-Arab (Kobani), a northern Syrian city.

In southeastern Sirnak province, the local gendarmerie units arrested 13 suspects in Beytussebap district for allegedly aiding and abetting the terror group.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU. The group waged a terror campaign against Turkey for more than 30 years and has been responsible for the death of nearly 40,000 people, including women and children.
Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkey will start manufacturing fifth-generation fighters - TAI TFX, Turkish media reported May 29, referring to military sources.

It is reported that the production will be launched in 2023. With the commencement of the production of TAI TFX fighters, Turkey will stop using F-4 and F-16.

Turkey has invested about $35 billion in the defense industry over the recent years.

From 2011, Turkey, in the framework of strengthening the domestic defense industry, has set up the production of mobile outposts that proved effective in fight against the militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), as well as the production of Canik TP9 pistols, Anka drones and other military equipment.

Earlier, the trials of the domestic-made long-range surface-to-surface missiles have also been conducted in Turkey.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin spoke on the phone and discussed ways to resolve the Syrian crisis, Turkish media reported May 29.

The sides also exchanged views regarding the withdrawal of the US from the agreement with Iran on the nuclear program reached by the six international mediators (Russia, the US, the UK, China, France and Germany) in 2015.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump announced that the US is withdrawing from the agreement with Iran on the nuclear program reached by the six international mediators. He also announced the restoration of all sanctions, which were suspended as a result of the deal.

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Baku, Azerbaijan, May 29

By Rufiz Hafizoglu  Trend:

Construction of the Istanbul Canal, a waterway linking the Black and Marmara seas, is a strategic project, Turkish media reported referring to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on May 29.

Erdogan said that the implementation of this initiative is one of the important maritime projects that will successfully compete with other projects of this kind.

"Turkey, as in the past, will further implement important projects of global significance," Erdogan said.

The head of state also noted that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) pays special attention to development of Istanbul, as well as all major cities of Turkey.

Turkeys President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed intention to implement the Istanbul Canal project in 2011.

The depth and width of the Istanbul Canal will be 25 meters and 400 meters, respectively. The length of the Istanbul Canal will be 45 kilometers.

The aim of construction of the Istanbul Canal is to reduce the load on the Bosphorus Strait, as well as to prevent the threat of ecological and man-made disasters on one of the world's most intense sea highways.

Presently, an average of 150 vessels pass through the Bosphorus daily, of which about 30 are oil tankers. Annually about 150 million tons of oil and oil products are transported through the Black Sea straits, while the capacity of the Bosphorus is estimated at 200 million tons.

Along the Canal, it is planned to build new residential complexes that will be connected to other areas of the 15-million megapolis through the modern transport infrastructure, including the metro and high-speed trains, as well as the third airport being built in the European part of Istanbul.

A new port is also expected to be constructed within this project.

The Istanbul Canal will run parallel to the Bosphorus and in fact will turn the European part of Istanbul into an island and separate it from Europe.

Tankers with a length not exceeding 275 meters, a width of 48 meters and a carrying capacity of 14,500 DWT will be allowed to operate in the Istanbul Canal, being constructed under the government's "Goal 2023" plan.

The construction of the Istanbul Canal will continue for five years, and its minimum lifetime will be 100 years.

--

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
KYODO NEWS - May 29, 2018 - 09:00 | All, World

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono is considering visiting Singapore in early June before the Southeast Asian country is expected to host a U.S.-North Korea summit, Japanese government sources said Monday.

Preparations are being made for Kono to meet Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan to seek cooperation in sharing information about the summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, planned on June 12, the sources said.

If the first-ever summit between the United States and North Korea takes place as planned in the city-state, Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will likely meet with Trump and Kim separately as leader of the host nation of the historic event, according to diplomatic sources.

Kono, who places importance on bilateral relations with Singapore, will also likely ask for support in resolving the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korea decades ago, the government sources said.

The Japanese foreign minister plans to go to Singapore on June 9, a day after visiting Malaysia, the sources said.

Over the weekend, Trump and Kim respectively expressed their readiness to meet on June 12 as originally planned, after days of conflicting signals from both sides. The U.S. president had abruptly canceled the summit with Kim.
KYODO NEWS - May 29, 2018 - 10:09 | All, World

A Japanese atomic bombing survivor attended a memorial ceremony Monday to honor the 12 American servicemen who died in the U.S. nuclear attack near the end of World War II.

The survivor is Shigeaki Mori, an 81-year-old historian who attracted global attention for being hugged by former U.S. President Barack Obama during the latter's historic visit to Hiroshima in 2016.

Mori, known for researching and identifying the 12 American soldiers, was also reunited with a relative of one of the former POWs, Normand Brissette of Lowell.

In a speech at the ceremony, Mori said Brissette was a true patriot who risked his life to fight for his country. Brissette was a naval officer who was taken prisoner and died from radiation poisoning in the days following the bombing.

Susan Archinski, niece of Brissette, said her reunion with Mori is "emotional because he is a wonderful, wonderful man and his wife is a wonderful woman. Mori-san is best. Very pleased." She said she and Mori had met once in Hiroshima in 2015.

(Shigeaki Mori, left, and Susan Archinski, 2nd from left, at the ceremony Monday)

Mori was aged 8 at the time of the world's first atomic bombing. He was blown off a bridge near his school at 8:15 a.m. on Aug. 6, 1945, a mile and a half from ground zero.

After 42 years of research, Mori found each soldier's name and tracked down the next of kin to obtain permission to memorialize the 12 POWs on the cenotaph for A-bomb victims in Hiroshima among the more than 300,000 Japanese, Korean and Chinese A-bomb victims.

Mori is visiting the United States for the first time. He attended the screenings of the film "Paper Lanterns," a documentary about his research into the U.S. POWs, in California and will attend more screenings of the film in Boston and at the United Nations in New York.

The 2016 documentary, which the filmmakers hope to put on digital release this summer, caught Obama's attention shortly after its limited release.

Obama, who was the first serving U.S. president to visit Hiroshima, mentioned Mori in his speech at the Peace Memorial Park in May 2016 as "the man who sought out families of Americans killed here because he believed their loss was equal to his own."

Afterward, the president and the atomic bomb survivor shared an embrace that garnered international attention.
Ernakulam, Idukki, Thrissur, Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur and Kasaragod districts are expected to receive heavy to very heavy rainfall the next two days.
Yerevan State University students demanding the resignation of its rector, Aram Simonyan, continue to block the entrance to his office.

The students had declared a school strike earlier today.

Per the students demand, they met with Simonyan and raised several issues related to the actions taken by university officials during the recent anti-government protests.

One student asked why the rector allowed police to enter the university and detain peaceful protesters. Rector Simonyan responded that it was a security measure and that the doors of the university must remain open.

The protesting students are also calling for the dissolution of the universitys board of trustees, whose president is former Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan.

Simonyan said that the board is regulated by the government and that it appoints board members.

Yerevan State University (YSU) Restart initiative founder Davit Petrosyan noted that he had just learnt that the school was envisaged to serve 7,500 students but that its current enrollment is 17,000.

Petrosyan said that the overload puts a tremendous strain on the universitys finances and prevents the implementation of quality education.

The student activist called for the removal of any traces of Republican Party of Armenia influence at YSU.

Rector Simonyan was evidently ill at ease during the meeting with students, labelling it as non-constructive.

At one point, Simonyan tried to leave the auditorium but students blocked his exit. The students later let him leave and return to his office.

The rector confessed that YSU faces a number of problems but argued that nothing would be resolved through such pressure tactics.

Simonyan told reporters that serving as rector is a thankless task and that he works from morning until night. He added that he wouldnt be a candidate when his term ends.

There are only 200-300 students here, but we have 17,000. If 2,000-3,000 students demand my resignation, I will resign. If anything happens as a result of pressure tactics, the university is finished, Simonyan said.
I am a

Canna



What Flower

Are You?



table width="145">"You stand up for what you believe in, even if it gets in the way of what other people think. You are proud of yourself and your accomplishments and you enjoy letting people know that."
Description

May 29 - June 17

A New Play by Jack Canfora

Directed by Michael Wilson

Set during Hollywoods notorious Blacklist, FELLOW TRAVELERS examines the relationship between legendary theater artists Arthur Miller and Elia Kazan and their close connection to Marilyn Monroe. FELLOW TRAVELERS explores how the politics of the McCarthy era affected their friendship and how their friendship affected their work.
Per sources, Kinder Morgan Incs KMI Trans Mountain oil pipeline along with its expansion project is likely to be bought by Canada. The government intends to ride out the uncertainties over the construction of the pipeline. The project is owned by the companys subsidiary  Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.



No details were disclosed by the respective parties due to the confidential nature of the discussions. An email from the company stated that it will not divulge any details unless two of its objectives were met. The first objective includes permission to undertake construction through British Columbia. The second target comprises insurance of the companys shareholders.



It is likely that Canada will buy the pipeline outright, which is currently the most feasible option. The value of the deal will be announced today during prime minister Justin Trudeaus expected cabinet meeting.



Initially, Canada offered to cover the expenses for the expansion project but is now contemplating on buying it. Post the takeover, the government intends to sell the project to complete the construction. There is no clarity on whether other Kinder Morgan assets will be included in the sale.



In April, Kinder Morgan stated that it planned to defer bulk of work on its C$7.4-billion ($5.8 billion) Trans Mountain pipeline expansion and is likely to abandon the project if Canadas provincial and federal governments cannot reach an agreement by May 31.



The pipeline expansion continues to face criticism from various provincial governments of British Columbia as well as municipalities, native groups and environmental activists. This factor indicates the uncertainty over key energy projects in Canada.



The shortage of pipelines and rail transportations has disrupted the production schedule of the companies in Western Canada. The companies had to slow activities due to obstruction in crude transportation. In view of this, Alberta's provincial government supports the project that has also received approval from Canada's federal government.



Details related to the deal are expected to be announced by May 29, 2018.



Price Performance



Kinder Morgans shares have lost 1.9% in the past three months, against the industrys 1.2% growth.

Story continues









Zacks Rank & Key Picks



Kinder Morgan carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).



A few better-ranked players in the same sector are Nine Energy Service, Inc NINE, Equinor ASA EQNR and CVR Refining, LP CVRR. All three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.



Nine Energy Service is engaged in delivering onshore completion and production services to unconventional oil and gas resource development. The company pulled off a positive earnings surprise of 28.57% in the preceding quarter.



Equinor, based in Norway, is a major international integrated oil and gas company. It witnessed an average positive earnings surprise of 11.53% in the last four quarters.



Sugar Land, TX-based CVR Refining is an independent downstream energy partnership with refining and associated logistics properties in the Midcontinent United States. The company delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 7.05% in the last four quarters.



More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!



It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.



Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.



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CVR Refining, LP (CVRR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Kinder Morgan, Inc. (KMI) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Nine Energy Service, Inc. (NINE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Statoil ASA (EQNR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping shake hands after making joint statements at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China, November 9, 2017. REUTERS/Damir Sagolj/File Photo

By Tom Miles

GENEVA (Reuters) - China told the World Trade Organization's dispute settlement body on Monday that U.S. accusations that Beijing forced companies to hand over technology as a cost of doing business in China were groundless.

U.S. President Donald Trump has accused China of stealing American ideas and announced a plan for a $50 billion tariff penalty against Chinese goods.

Both sides launched legal complaints at the WTO over the issue earlier this year.

"There is no forced technology transfer in China," Chinese Ambassador Zhang Xiangchen told the meeting, according to a copy of his remarks provided to Reuters.

"According to the U.S.'s view, China forces the U.S. companies to transfer technologies by imposing joint venture requirements, foreign equity limitations and administrative licensing procedures," Zhang said.

"But the fact is, nothing in these regulatory measures requires technology transfer from foreign companies."

Zhang said the U.S. argument involved a "presumption of guilt". The U.S. Trade Representative believed U.S. firms in China faced an obligation to hand over technology, while failing to produce a single piece of evidence.

Some of its claims were "pure speculation", he said, adding that the USTR saw Chinese M&A activity as a Chinese government conspiracy.

"DILIGENCE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP"

Technology transfer was a normal commercial activity that benefited the United States most of all, he said, while Chinese innovation was driven by "the diligence and entrepreneurship of the Chinese people, investment in education and research, and efforts to improve the protection of intellectual property."

Legal experts say Washington needs WTO backing to implement its tariffs as far as they relate to WTO rules, while China has rejected the tariff plan wholesale and resorted to WTO action to stop it.

Under WTO rules, if disputes are not settled amicably after 60 days, the complainant can ask for a panel of experts to adjudicate, escalating the dispute and triggering a legal case that takes years to settle.

Story continues

The United States, which launched its complaint on March 23, could have used the dispute meeting on Monday to take that step. China could do so at next month's meeting.

But since the dispute erupted, U.S.-China trade policy has been the subject of high-level bilateral talks. Trump tweeted cryptically that "our trade deal with China is moving along nicely" but that it probably needed a "different structure".

The United States put China's technology transfer policies on the agenda of Monday's meeting, without elaborating. A copy of the U.S. remarks was not immediately available.

(Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Catherine Evans and Gareth Jones)
Crude oil prices continued to tumble on Monday, but volume was light due to the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, and the U.K. Bank holiday. Prices hit support levels and are holding down 2.25%.. This is the fifth consecutive session of declines from the 42-month high that was seen last Tuesday at $72.83. The low today the decline from the trend peak was 9.7%. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia indicated late last week that they are disposed to opening the supply spigots following recent steep gains and a stabilization in global oil inventories, which have now returned to near long-term average levels from the unusually bloated levels of recent years.

Technicals

Crude oil prices continued to drop but appear to have stabilized near support at an upward sloping trend line that comes in near 65.70. Resistance is seen near the 10-day moving average at 70.70. Momentum has turned negative as the MACD (moving average convergence divergence) index generated a crossover sell signal. Prices are oversold as the fast stochastic is printing a reading of 12, below the oversold trigger level of 20 and could foreshadow a correction.

U.S. rig count data of late Friday also showed that U.S. supply will continue to grow. These developments have swamped out concerns about the impact of pending U.S. sanctions on Iran exports, and the precipitous drop in Venezuelan output. WTI prices are still up 10.6% on the year-to-date. The Baker-Hughes weekly oil rig count showed a 15 rig rise to 859 up, and up 137 year over year.

Distillate Demand Could Soar

Demand for distillates will move higher ahead of the starting date for new regulations for international maritime fuel. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has set January 1, 2020, as the starting date from which only low-sulfur fuel oil will be allowed to be used for ships. The global sulfur limit on fuel oil will be set at 0.50% mass/mass in 2020, a significant cut from the 3.5% global limit currently in place. The regulation will send demand for middle distillates such as diesel and marine gasoil soaring, and refiners will have to shift some of the products they will be processing from crude oil.

Story continues

This article was originally posted on FX Empire

More From FXEMPIRE:
Zimbabwe

Restoration of cryptocurrency trading on Zimbabwe bitcoin exchange Golix will take longer than expected as the company says it is still working on having its bank accounts reopened while also awaiting finalization of regulatory issues regarding virtual currencies in the country.

Golix is one of two major cryptocurrency exchange platforms in Zimbabwe, the other being Styx24. The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) recently directed that Golix halt support for cryptocurrency trading, but the exchange applied for and obtained a High Court order setting aside the ruling by the central bank.

The directive by the reserve bank, together with an earlier ban on banks to stop processing bitcoin transactions, had grounded virtual currency dealings and trades in Zimbabwe. Many had hoped that the lifting of the ban by the High Court of Zimbabwe would trigger the immediate resumption of operations by Golix.

Alas, the Zimbabwean exchange platform said in emailed communication to clients and traders on Tuesday that cryptocurrency trading is restricted for now.

Please do not attempt to make deposits to Golix until we announce that we have resumed trading and that it is now safe to do so. Right now we are not conducting any OTC transactions, the company said in response to queries by traders and investors.

Zimbabwe

Golix facilitates bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrency deposits, withdrawals and purchases through its online exchange platform. It also has a bitcoin ATM in Harare which prior to the disruption of services allowed for purchases and withdrawal of bitcoin in exchange for physical USD notes.

Crypto traders and dealers are now withdrawing funds from their virtual currency wallets, although this is taking longer than expected. New deposits are mostly going into a suspended account, Golix cautioned.

Golix said staff members are actively working to have our bank accounts reopened and have started a separate conversation with banks to allow us to send customer funds to bitcoin and ethereum wallet holders.

Story continues

This process, however, is being frustrated by banks, which place limits on withdrawals of fiat money owing to cash and liquidity challenges in Zimbabwe. Zimbabweans had started to use bitcoin for software purchases, airline ticket payments, the importation of pre-owned vehicles from Japan, and sending money out of the country.

Also, given the circumstances, cryptocurrency withdrawals are now also being manually processed from cold storage and we can no longer process them as quickly as we used to, the company further said.

Golix is now in the process of engaging regulators in Zimbabwe to settle challenges it is facing, sources said. Engagements with the central bank have been lined up in which Golix will seek to present its position on the safety of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain technology that underpins them.

Images from Shutterstock



The post Cryptocurrency Trading Halted in Zimbabwe Despite High Court Ruling appeared first on CCN.


Heres a look at some of the companies the Yahoo Finance team will be watching for you.

Facebook (FB) is now facing a ban in Papua New Guinea. The government there is shutting down access to Facebook for one month so it can crack down on fake users and study the sites impact on the population.

Alibaba (BABA) is making some moves in health care. The Chinese e-commerce giant is selling a slew of businesses  including its online pharmacy  to a Hong Kong-based affiliate. This comes as it pledges to transform the state-dominated health care sector. Alibabas CEO calls health care a strategically important area with strong growth potential.

Apple (AAPL) is reportedly going high tech with the screens for its new iPhones. South Koreas Electronic Times says Apple is ditching LCD screens in favor of OLED panels. Those displays offer richer colors and image quality but are much more expensive and are in short supply. Its already on the pricey iPhoneX.

Pandora (P) is hoping a new streaming plan is a hit with its users. The music service is launching new $15 a month family plans. Itll let you add up to six users to the same account. Competitors Spotify (SPOT) and Apple Music already offer family plans. Pandora says it hopes the new plans will help it retain customers
George Soros

REUTERS/Nicky Loh

The European Union is in the midst of an "existential crisis" and may cease to exist, billionaire investor George Soros said.

"The European Union is mired in an existential crisis," Soros wrote in a blog for Project Syndicate. "For the past decade, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong."

President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal is partially to blame for the EU's problems.

His comments come at a time when Italy is undergoing a major political crisis, which many believe may have the ability to pull Italy out of the eurozone, and lead to the project's ultimate demise.

Billionaire investor George Soros believes that Europe is in the midst of an "existential crisis" and is at genuine risk of ceasing to exist as we currently know it, unless drastic changes are made.

"The European Union is mired in an existential crisis," Soros wrote in a blog for Project Syndicate. "For the past decade, everything that could go wrong has gone wrong."

Soros effectively argues that some in the bloc has moved so far away from its founding goals that the EU can no longer sustain itself in its current state.

"There is no longer any point in ignoring the reality that a number of European Union member countries have explicitly rejected the EUs goal of "ever closer union,'" Soros said.

The last 10 years have been crucial in this shift (emphasis ours):

"Since the financial crisis of 2008, the EU seems to have lost its way. It adopted a program of fiscal retrenchment, which led to the euro crisis and transformed the eurozone into a relationship between creditors and debtors. The creditors set the conditions that the debtors had to meet, yet could not meet. This created a relationship that was neither voluntary nor equal  the very opposite of the credo on which the EU was based.

"As a result, many young people today regard the EU as an enemy that has deprived them of jobs and a secure and promising future. Populist politicians exploited the resentments and formed anti-European parties and movements."

Story continues

The United States, for its part, has exacerbated the EUs problems," Soros said.

"By unilaterally withdrawing from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, President Donald Trump has effectively destroyed the transatlantic alliance. This has put additional pressure on an already beleaguered Europe.

"It is no longer a figure of speech to say that Europe is in existential danger; it is the harsh reality."

His comments come at a time when Italy is undergoing a major political crisis, which many believe may have the ability to pull Italy out of the eurozone, and lead to the project's ultimate demise.

Almost three months after an inconclusive election left the country without a government, Italians could be headed back to the polls imminently. That vote could very well become a de facto referendum on euro membership, and have potentially huge repercussions for the whole of the continent.

To save the EU, Soros said, it needs to reinvent itself via a "genuinely grassroots effort" which allows member countries more choice than is currently afforded.

"Instead of a multi-speed Europe, the goal should be a 'multi-track Europe' that allows member states a wider variety of choices. This would have a far-reaching beneficial effect."

This is not the first grand proclamation about the future Soros has made in 2018. In January at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he told a dinner that the "survival of our entire civilization is at stake," and warned of the realistic possibility of a major nuclear war in the coming years.

You can read Soros' full article for Project Syndicate here.

NOW WATCH: THE KRISTIN LEMKAU INTERVIEW: JPMorgan Chase's CMO explains how she deals with disruption on two fronts at once, why she's moving some ad dollars back to TV, and why it matters what your credit card feels like

See Also:

SEE ALSO: Everything you need to know about the Italian political crisis  which is 9 years in the making and could bring about the demise of the eurozone
German Chancellor Angela Merkel gestures as she speaks at the Global Solutions Summit 2018 in Berlin, Germany, May 28, 2018. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke

BERLIN (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Monday she would work with any coalition government formed in Italy, but she also warned that any discussions on economic policy would have to be within the rules governing the euro zone.

Anti-establishment forces abandoned their efforts to form a ruling coalition in Italy at the weekend after a standoff with President Sergio Mattarella, who vetoed their choice of a eurosceptic as economy minister.

On Monday, Mattarella set Italy on a path back to fresh elections, appointing a former International Monetary Fund official as interim prime minister with the task of planning for snap polls and passing the next budget.

Commenting on the situation in Italy, the most heavily indebted country in the euro zone after Greece, Merkel said: "We should talk with every government but we have principles within the euro area and of course there will be difficult questions."

Asked whether she was concerned by the situation in Italy, Merkel said during a conference in Berlin: "Look, when there were elections in Greece and Alexis Tsipras was made premier, there were many questions on the table."

"We spoke with each other over many many nights, but together we achieved something. But we have to do that task, since Italy is an important member of the EU," she added.

Germany's DIHK Chambers of Industries and Commerce said on Monday that German businesses were relieved that eurosceptics were not taking power in Italy, the third biggest economy in the 19-member euro zone after Germany and France.

Volker Treier, foreign trade chief at the DIHK, said the populist parties' decision meant their "prohibitively expensive Italian coalition agreement" was off the table for now.

"That is a relief for German businesses," he said, adding that Italy would overtake Britain this year as Germany's fifth biggest trading partner.

In Berlin, a government spokesman stressed Germany's respect for Italian democracy and political institutions and said Berlin hoped for a stable government in Italy.

In Brussels, Germany's Europe minister Michael Roth said Berlin hoped that Italy would form a stable and pro-European government soon.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt and Michael Nienaber; Editing by Gareth Jones)
Halliburton Company HAL recently inked the unconventional gas stimulation services three-year contract with Saudi Aramco, in a bid to unleash a natural gas revolution in Saudi Arabia. Per the deal, the oilfield services major will provide project management, hydraulic fracturing and well intervention services to meet Saudi Aramcos production targets and improve the economics of its unconventional resources program. The program mainly covers three regions, namely Northern Kingdom, South Ghawar and Jafurah Basin.



Deal Benefits



While Halliburton has been a major player in the U.S. shale drilling across Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana, the company has also successfully expanded its operations in Argentina, Poland, Canada, Mexico, among others. On entering into a three-year contract in Saudi Arabia, the company has further expanded its geographical footprint, along with boosting its backlog and revenue prospects.



Though Saudi Aramco is the worlds top exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia also has a huge natural gas potential, holding the worlds fifth-largest gas reserves. By 2026, the government aims to produce some 651 billion cubic meters of natural gas per day -- almost double its current output. However, much of it is difficult to recover from shale rock and tight sand. Hence, the company intends to utilize Halliburtons specialized technological services to tap into those resources.



The contract will boost Saudi Aramcos efforts to spur natural gas production for meeting the domestic needs as well as shoring up its evolving chemical industry, by providing the essential raw materials. The state-run company also intends to reduce its practice of burning oil for domestic power, thus freeing up more barrels for exports. Notably, over the past year, Saudi Aramco has awarded $4.5 billion worth contracts to international oil service companies, for increasing the countrys gas output.



The deal is also in sync with Saudi Arabias reform program Vision 3030, which has the goal of making its economy less reliant on oil prices. Under the reform plan, the country aims to fuel economic modernization and foreign investment. Saudi Aramcos plans for IPO are also part of its Vision 3030, as the company intends to diversify globally.



While the IPO offering plans have made a slow progress, the company is getting more involved with downstream efforts and aiming to maximize its value by making investments in refineries and chemical plants. Saudi Arabia is taking a keen interest in investing in Texas petrochemical plants, and the refineries in Corpus Christi and Port Arthur. In fact, it is planning to invest $18 billion in its U.S. subsidiary, Motiva Enterprises LLC's Port Arthur refinery that has a processing capacity of 603,000 barrels of crude per day.



Middle East Shale Drilling Picks Up



Although shale drilling in North America has been on a roll, doubling its production and making it a major hydrocarbon exporter, the shale revolution is still limited to a few countries. However, the interest in shale drilling has been on a gradual rise in the Middle East and North Africa lately.

Story continues

Last month, Bahrain discovered extensive oil and gas resources off its west coast and also inked a deal with Halliburton to commence the drilling of two appraisal wells, and further evaluate the potential of the reservoir. Recently, there were also reports about Algerias state energy firm Sonatrach seeking collaboration with Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM to develop the countrys shale gas. While the details of the latest Halliburton-Aramco contract are not disclosed, it aims to unlock the natural gas boom in Saudi Arabia.



Zacks Rank and Key Picks



Halliburton currently carries Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Halliburton Company Price

Halliburton Company Price | Halliburton Company Quote

Some better-ranked players within the same industry include Nine Energy Service, Inc. NINE and Select Energy Services, Inc. WTTR, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Nine Energys 2018 earnings are expected to grow 181.67% year over year.



Select Energy delivered an average positive earnings surprise of 189.58% in the trailing four quarters.



More Stock News:

This Is Bigger than the iPhone! It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.



Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020.



Click here for the 6 trades >>



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



Halliburton Company (HAL) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Exxon Mobil Corporation (XOM) : Free Stock Analysis Report



SELECT EGY SVCS (WTTR) : Free Stock Analysis Report



Nine Energy Service, Inc. (NINE) : Free Stock Analysis Report



To read this article on Zacks.com click here.



Zacks Investment Research
By Aditya Kalra, Saad Sayeed and Tom Lasseter

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Philip Morris International Inc and British American Tobacco Plc lobbied Pakistan's government to not implement bigger health warnings on cigarette packs, in what officials say was part of an industry-wide campaign that successfully persuaded Islamabad to water down a proposal designed to save lives.

In Pakistan, where the government estimates tobacco kills more than 100,000 people a year, Philip Morris launched a lobbying campaign that included letters to and a meeting with the country's prime minister on blocking larger health warnings and controlling illicit trade of cigarettes. Reuters reviewed two such letters written by Philip Morris executives to the Prime Minister's Office in 2017, and internal company documents describing a meeting in 2015 at which executives discussed "protecting the pack" in Pakistan.

British American Tobacco, through its local subsidiary, also lobbied Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with a letter and met Pakistani officials, according to government documents and a review of the October 2017 correspondence.

Two current, and one former, health officials said their ministry watered down a requirement to increase the size of health warnings to 85 percent of the surface area due to industry lobbying. One of the current officials also cited pressure from Abbasi's office.

An official at the Federal Board of Revenue said the government took a sympathetic view towards tobacco industry lobbying because of the sector's hefty contributions to the nation's finances - more than $550 million in excise taxes during the 2016-17 fiscal year alone.

Instead of 85 percent, the new rule, which comes into effect on June 1, requires warnings that cover 50 percent of the pack - up from 40 percent now - rising to 60 percent in a year's time.

Story continues

In a response to Reuters' questions, Philip Morris sent a statement from Moira Gilchrist, its vice president of scientific and public communications. "Like any global company, PMI regularly speaks with governments all over the world on a wide range of subjects, including our efforts to replace cigarettes with smoke-free products," Gilchrist said, referring to next-generation smoking devices that the company says significantly reduce the risk of disease by heating instead of burning tobacco.

A spokesperson for British American Tobacco (BAT) said in a statement: "like many companies, as part of our open and transparent engagement with governments, we regularly consult a wide range of representatives in health, trade, revenue, customs, agriculture and other relevant areas on a range of issues that affect our business. It's important that any legitimate business should be able to engage with regulators, and contribute to the development of policy that impacts it."

EXTENSIVE LOBBYING

A Pakistan government survey in 2014 found some 24 million adults, or 19 percent of the population 15 years and older, used tobacco. Of those, 15.6 million were smokers.

In February 2015, Pakistan's health ministry announced it was changing an ordinance to increase health warnings on the front and back of cigarette packs to 85 percent. The graphic photographs currently on packs depict the effects of smoking, such as a close-up image of a person's mouth ravaged by tobacco use.

The initiative by Health Minister Saira Afzal Tarar was aimed at deterring tobacco use and would have put Pakistan, alongside India, near the top of global rankings for the size of such warnings, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

The health ministry notification said the new warnings needed to be applied by March 30 that year.

On March 13, a delegation from a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd, called on the country's then-finance minister and "expressed its reservations about the notification issued" by the health ministry, according to government minutes of the meeting.

The tobacco representatives argued that the bigger health warning would lead to more smuggling of black market cigarettes and a "decrease in revenue", according to the minutes, which were reviewed by Reuters.

The industry argues that cigarette packs become indistinguishable by brand or promised quality when the packaging is covered by disturbing images. As a result, it says, consumers are incentivized to turn to alternatives without the graphic pictures. Health advocates say warnings on packs reduce tobacco consumption.

The BAT statement to Reuters said: "We agree that all tobacco product packaging should feature appropriate health warnings which are bold, easily legible and ensure clarity of message."

However, the statement said: "Evidence suggests that drastic and large increases in the size" of health warnings "can result in a number of unintended consequences, including a rise in illegal cigarettes  with a corresponding decline in government revenues - and a rise in criminality. Additionally, there is still no credible evidence that graphic health warnings reduce smoking levels."

"SOFT CORNERS" FOR TOBACCO

Within a day of hearing from BAT, Pakistan's then-finance minister, Ishaq Dar, formed a review committee that was to examine the issue and present a report within seven days, according to the government document.

Dar told Reuters that the government's decisions were not influenced by Philip Morris or BAT.

Asked about the convening of the review committee, he said it was formed to ensure consultation between ministries on the issue, a move he described as "a fundamental requirement of good policy-making".

When provided with a copy of the government minutes showing the committee was put together just after his meeting with BAT, Dar responded that Reuters should contact the finance ministry for further comment, as he no longer held the portfolio. Requests for comment to the finance ministry were unanswered.

On March 27, as the review committee began deliberating, the health ministry issued a notification postponing the implementation date for the new 85 percent health warnings by two months.

During an interview with Reuters at her office, Health Minister Tarar said the tobacco industry was one of the biggest taxpayers in the country and so the finance ministry and the federal revenue board "definitely" have "some soft corners for them".

When Reuters relayed that characterization to Dar, the former finance minister replied: "This is not true."

Health Minister Tarar said that in some of the meetings she had attended during that time, it was not easy to convince finance and revenue officials that people were dying because of smoking. She did not identify specific individuals.

Dar, the former finance minister, denied that his ministry's officials had challenged the link between smoking and mortality.

Muhammad Iqbal, a senior official at the country's Federal Board of Revenue, told Reuters that his agency "has no role in the matter of health warnings to be printed on cigarette packs. It is up to Ministry of Health to make regulations on this issue."

Still, Tarar defended the eventual outcome, telling Reuters the ministry had "stood firm" and that the increase in the size of health warnings to 50, and ultimately 60 percent, was significant. "We have undone the status quo," she said.

As BAT's Pakistan Tobacco Company launched its lobbying effort, Philip Morris also sprang into action: two internal documents related to an Asia corporate affairs meeting in Indonesia in 2015 said the company had devised a "campaign to roll-back" the stringent tobacco pack rules in Pakistan. It did not go into details.

When the government's inter-ministerial committee started to deliberate the health warning rules in 2015, Philip Morris and BAT representatives attended at least two of its meetings as industry stakeholders, according to records reviewed by Reuters.

During one meeting, a Philip Morris executive said the warning size was "too high", according to a record of the meeting held in May 2015, which was chaired by Health Minister Tarar.

In addition to Philip Morris and BAT, a constellation of smaller tobacco companies, growers and industry associations joined the lobbying effort, according to government records.

The panel's subsequent recommendation to roll back the increase in the size of health warnings, to 50 percent and then 60 percent instead of 85 percent, was sent to the finance ministry for approval in August 2015.

APPEAL TO PRIME MINISTER

The health ministry continued issuing successive notices pushing back the start date of the 85 percent requirement, which had been published in the nation's official gazette but never implemented.

Then, last October, Philip Morris International's global vice president for corporate affairs, Jon Huenemann, wrote to Prime Minister Abbasi asking him to nudge the health ministry to formally change its rules.

"We would kindly request your near term intervention to direct the concerned officials to enforce the steps mentioned in the IMC recommendation," Huenemann wrote in the letter dated Oct. 2, referring to the inter-ministerial committee set up by the finance ministry.

BAT's unit, Pakistan Tobacco Company, whose brands include John Player Gold Leaf and Benson & Hedges, made the same specific request to the prime minister on Oct. 18, according to a copy of the company letter.

In his letter, Philip Morris' Huenemann reminded Abbasi that the prime minister had spoken with his colleague the previous month at a meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan Business Council in New York.

Prime Minister Abbasi's office did not reply to questions sent by Reuters.

Huenemann mentioned, also, that he had personally met twice with the previous Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to discuss the issue of illegal cigarette manufacturing.

A request for comment to a representative of Sharif, along with officials from his political party, was not answered.

Huenemann did not respond to an e-mail sent to his company account. Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro cigarettes and local brands such as Morven Gold, said the existence of the letter had previously been reported in Pakistani media, but made no other comment.

BAT said in a statement about the letter that, "regarding the use of the words 'advise' and 'instruct' in this letter, it is customary for the Prime Minister to use such language when addressing government departments, and as such, it is equally customary for businesses and other external stakeholders to use similar language when they are writing to the Prime Minister."

According to a government office memo, the prime minister's office forwarded letters from Philip Morris and BAT to the health ministry two days later. Within two months, the health ministry issued a notification for smaller warnings.

(Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic in Islamabad; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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OPEC and Russia have historically managed to maintain tight control over oil prices, but that might be coming to an end.

Since last year, oil producing countries have cut back production in an attempt to offset dipping prices, withholding as much as 1.8 million barrels per day. Oil had reached a more than 10 year low, dropping to less than $30 a barrel.

Those efforts paid off, with prices rising to as much as $80 a barrel, or approximately $3 a gallon in the U.S.--a 25% increase from last year and the highest since 2014. But by last week, Saudi Arabia and Russia, as well as the U.S., all discussed the possibility of increasing production once again--which could ease prices and thus help head off a possible global economic downturn caused by high per-barrel costs. That talk lead to a dip in crude futures by Friday and extended into this week.

But while the OPEC countries and Russia have largely been successful in their efforts to control the oil market in the last year, this may soon be out of their hands.

Bob Parker, an investment committee member at Quilvest Wealth Management, told CNBCs Squawk Box Europe Monday that while these countries may have a "very strong vested interest" in keeping crude futures at $70-$80 a barrel, this number could soon reach $100.

With a growing economic crisis in Venezuela, the country, long a major oil producer, has dramatically decreased its crude production. Should a "complete collapse" take place, Parker suggests that $100 a barrel wouldn't be out of the question.

See original article on Fortune.com

More from Fortune.com
The Macerich Company (MAC) opens Scottsdale Fashion Square's refurbished luxury wing. The face-lift enables the mall to add an impressive tenant lineup to its roster.

Stocks ended lower on May 25 as crude prices plummeted. The immediate trigger for a decline in oil prices was reports that OPEC and Russia were discussing an increase in oil production. Consequently, stocks of energy companies suffered losses.

The energy sector has been on a dream run this year following OPEC and other major oil producers decision to extend an output controls agreement. Consequently, oil prices touched three-year highs recently. But could a reconsideration of the same agreement end crudes spectacular rally?

Oil Prices Suffer Weekly Losses

On May 25, the price of WTI crude declined by 4% or $2.83 to end at $67.88 per barrel. This was the largest daily loss for U.S. crude price since July 2017. Currently, oil is nearly 7% lower than the recent highs above $72. This was also its lowest close since May 1. Further, prices suffered a weekly decline of 4.9%.

Additionally, Brent crude lost 3% or $2.35 to close at $76.44 per barrel. This was its lowest close since May 8. Brent crude also suffered a weekly loss of 2.6%. In recent weeks, a collapse in production in Venezuela and fears that exports from Iran will fall post Trumps decision to exit the nuclear deal had boosted prices.

Reports of Output Increase Cause Decline

The decline in crude prices weighed on shares of energy companies. Consequently, shares of oil majors Exxon Mobil Corporation XOM and Chevron Corporation CVX declined 1.9% and 3.5%, respectively.

Shares of Schlumberger Limited SLB and ConocoPhillips COP Inc. also declined 3.7% and 4.4%, respectively. ConocoPhillips has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

The immediate trigger for the decline in crude prices was reports that OPEC and key non-OPEC oil producers were considering an increase in output. On May 25, Russias energy minister Alexander Novak met his Saudi counterpart Khalid Al-Falih in Petersburg to discuss the output controls agreement.

Story continues

Subsequently, reports emerged that an increase in production levels was being considered for the first time since 2016. The current agreement, which has been in force since January 2017, aims to limit output to 1.8 million barrels a day.

According to a report from Reuters, the planned increase in output is as high as 1 million barrels. Bloomberg has reported that output may be increased by 300,000 barrels to 800,000 barrels per day. Currently, global inventories are close to OPECs targeted level, another factor which has helped to boost prices to three-year highs recently.

Forecasts for Prices Remain High

Another reason for the decline in crude prices on last Friday was an increase in total active U.S. rig count. A report from Baker Hughes BHGE revealed that the number of active U.S. rigs drilling for oil increased by 15 to 859 over last week. This was the biggest weekly increase since the week ended February 9.

However, despite the losses incurred on Friday Societe Generale SCGLY revised its projections for oil prices upward. The bank now believes Brent crude will maintain an average of $72.75 in 2019, $7.75 higher than its earlier forecast. The outlook for WTI was also revised upward by $6.75 to $67.75.

The primary reason for analysts projections for a continuing uptrend is the massive decline in Venezuelan output. Analysts at the Paris-based bank now believe that monthly declines will continue at the current rate into 2019. The projected fall in crude supplies due to the United States decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal is also likely to boost prices in the medium term.

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FILE PHOTO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin following their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia May 26, 2018. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

By Leika Kihara

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday he would seek to convince President Donald Trump of the crucial role his country's automakers play in boosting the U.S. economy.

The Trump administration decided last week to begin a national security investigation into auto imports that could lead to new U.S. tariffs similar to those imposed on imported steel and aluminum.

"Japanese automakers have created jobs and made huge contributions to the U.S. economy," Abe told parliament, when asked by a lawmaker how Japan would respond to the U.S. move.

"As a country that prioritizes a rule-based, multilateral trade system, Japan believes that any steps taken on trade must be in line with World Trade Organization rules," he said.

The number of cars Japanese automakers produce in the United States is double the number it exports to the country, Abe said.

Abe also said Tokyo will continue to urge Washington to join the multi-lateral Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

"Japan has explained to the United States its stance that TPP is the best format for both countries. We will continue to talk with the United States based on this view," he said.

(Reporting by Leika Kihara; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Sam Holmes)
(Adds context, more Iran, Gulf reaction)

By Lesley Wroughton and Parisa Hafezi

WASHINGTON/ANKARA, May 21 (Reuters) - The United States on Monday demanded Iran make sweeping changes -- from dropping its nuclear program to pulling out of the Syrian civil war -- or face severe economic sanctions as the Trump administration hardened its approach to Tehran.

Iran dismissed Washington's ultimatum and one senior Iranian official said it showed the United States is seeking "regime change" in Iran.

Weeks after President Donald Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran, his administration threatened to impose "the strongest sanctions in history," and vowed to "crush" Iranian operatives abroad, setting Washington and Tehran further on a course of confrontation.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo demanded sweeping changes that would force Iran effectively to reverse the recent spread of its military and political influence through the Middle East to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.

If Washington sees tangible shifts in Iran's policies, it is prepared to lift sanctions, Pompeo said.

"The sting of sanctions will only grow more painful if the regime does not change course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen for itself and the people of Iran," Pompeo said in his first major speech since becoming secretary of state.

"These will be the strongest sanctions in history by the time we are done," he added.

Pompeo took aim at Iran's policy of expansion in the Middle East through support for armed groups in countries such as Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

He warned that the United States would "crush" Iranian operatives and proxies abroad and told Tehran to pull out forces under its command from the Syrian civil war where they have helped President Bashar al-Assad gain the upper hand.

Iran's president summarily dismissed Pompeo's demands.

"Who are you to decide for Iran and the world?," the semi-official ILNA news agency quoted Hassan Rouhani as saying.

Story continues

"The world today does not accept America to decide for the world, as countries are independent ... that era is over ... We will continue our path with the support of our nation."

Tension between the two countries has grown notably since Trump this month withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement aimed at preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

A senior Iranian official said Pompeo's remarks showed that the United States was pushing for "regime change," a charged phrase often associated with the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the overthrow of President Saddam Hussein.

Pompeo warned that if Iran fully resumed its nuclear program Washington would be ready to respond and said the administration would hold companies doing prohibited business in Iran to account.

"Our demands on Iran are not unreasonable: give up your program," Pompeo said, "Should they choose to go back, should they begin to enrich, we are fully prepared to respond to that as well," he said, declining to elaborate.

Pompeo said Washington would work with the Defense Department and allies to counter Iran in the cyberspace and maritime areas.

The Pentagon said it would take all necessary steps to confront Iranian behavior in the region and was assessing whether that could include new actions or doubling down on current ones.

NAMING NAMES

Pompeo said if Iran made major changes, the United States was prepared to ease sanctions, re-establish full diplomatic and commercial relations and support the country's re-integration into the international economic system.

Any new U.S. sanctions will raise the cost of trade for Iran and are expected to further deter Western companies from investing there, giving hardliners, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an opportunity to cement their grip on power.

Iran's ruling elite are mindful of recent protests sparked by economic hardship, which is, in part, their calculation for working with the Europeans on ways to salvage the nuclear deal.

Pompeo's speech did not explicitly call for regime change but he repeatedly urged the Iranian people not to put up with their leaders, specifically naming Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"At the end of the day the Iranian people will get to make a choice about their leadership," Pompeo said.

Suzanne Maloney, deputy director of the Brooking Institution think tank's foreign policy program, said Pompeo's speech did indeed amount to a strategy of regime change.

"There is only one way to read it and that is that Trump administration has wedded itself to a regime-change strategy to Iran, one that is likely to alienate our allies. One with dubious prospects for success," she said.

The administration's approach "explicitly puts the onus on the Iranian people to change their leadership or face cataclysmic financial pressure," said Maloney who has advised the State Department on Iran in the Bush administration between 2005-2007.

Lebanese analyst Ghaleb Kandil, who has close ties to the pro-Iran Hezbollah group, said Washington's demands have previously not worked.

"These are conditions that were tested in previous phases of American pressures, before the nuclear deal, when Iran was in more difficult circumstances than it is in these days, and it did not surrender to these conditions or accept them," said Kandil.

Pompeo outlined 12 U.S. demands for Iran including to stop uranium enrichment, never to pursue plutonium reprocessing and to close its heavy water reactor.

It also had to declare all previous military dimensions of its nuclear program and to permanently and verifiably abandon such work, he said.

Pompeo's demand that Tehran stop uranium enrichment goes even further than the nuclear deal. Iran says its nuclear work has medical uses and will produce energy to meet domestic demand and complement its oil reserves.

Washington's regional allies, the Gulf and Israel, who were strong critics of the deal, praised the administration's position on Monday.

European parties to the nuclear deal - France, Britain and Germany - are working to find a way to keep the nuclear pact in effect after Washington's exit.

Speaking ahead of Pompeo's speech, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said it would be difficult for the United States and its allies to deal with all the issues they had with Iran at the same time.

"If you try to pull all of those into a giant negotiation, a new jumbo Iran negotiation, a new treaty...that seems to be what they envisage and I dont see that being very easy to achieve in anything like a reasonable timescale, Johnson said in Argentina. (Reporting by Lesley Wroughton and Parisa Hafezi Writing by Lesley Wroughton and Yara Bayoumy Additional reporting by Parisa Hafezi in Ankara, Jonathan Landay and Idrees Ali in Washington, Laila Bassam in Beirut, Ari Rabinovitch and Dubai newsroom Editing by Yara Bayoumy and Alistair Bell)
Nearly eight months after a blanket ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs), South Koreas National Assembly has reportedly made an official recommendation to allow domestic ICOs in the country.

According to a report by Business Korea on Tuesday, the 300-member national legislature has made an official proposal to allow domestic ICOs in the country by preparing and adhering to relevant investor protection provisions.

The National Assemblys special committee on the fourth industrial revolution even accused the government of neglecting its duty in responding to the blockchain sector, the report suggests. The much-publicized ICO bans by Korea and China before it has seen an exodus of domestic companies going to friendlier jurisdictions in Singapore and Switzerland to conduct ICOs.

Discussions on blockchain and ICOs between the National Assembly and the government will accelerate, the report suggests. More pointedly, the National Assembly has put forward a legislative and policy proposal to recommend allowing ICOs.

The committee on the 4th industrial revolution also called on the government to form a task force comprising of both public officials and private experts to improve transparency of cryptocurrency trading and establish a healthy trade order.

It further stated:

The administration also needs to consider setting up a new committee and building governance systems at its level in a bid to systematically make blockchain policy and efficiently provide industrial support. We will also establish a legal basis for cryptocurrency trading, including permission of ICOs, through the National Assembly Standing Committee.

The legislative effort first came to light earlier this month when a group of lawmakers led by Rep. Hong Eui-rak of the Democratic Party of Korea  the ruling government  began drafting a bill to legalize the launch of new ICOs in the country.

The bill is aimed at legalizing ICOs under the governments supervision[], he said at the time. The primary goal (of the legislation is helping remove uncertainties facing blockchain-related businesses.

Story continues

The embracive turn follows recent remarks from the new chief of Koreas financial watchdog who has chosen to put the spotlight on the positive aspects of cryptocurrencies while suggesting authorities will relax cryptocurrency curbs in what is among the worlds largest crypto trading markets.

South Korea National Assembly image from Shutterstock.



The post South Koreas National Assembly Makes Official Proposal to Lift ICO Ban appeared first on CCN.


The overcast skies of trade conflict over the United States and China are finally showing signs of clearing up. The tensions, which commenced in March following President Trumps imposition of tariffs worth $50 billion on Chinese imports, has been the primary reason behind severe volatility in U.S. markets for the last four months. In fact, the lingering tensions kept the markets on tenterhooks on apprehensions of a full-fledged global trade war.



National Security Concerns Dominate Telecom Space



The Trump administration had barred U.S. companies from selling products to Chinese counterparts due to apprehensions of Chinese spying on Americans utilizing these high-tech products. This move is evidence of the fiercely aggressive stance that the U.S. government is taking to protect innovative next-generation products of the U.S. tech giants.



U.S. government is deeply concerned about Chinas drive to unseat the United States as the primary developer and supplier of state-of-the-art products in the fields of high-tech artificial intelligence, semiconductors, quantum computing and various other digital technology driven sectors. Notably, the Chinese government patronizes most of these big manufacturers. These companies have become serious threat to the U.S. economic and military supremacy.



Signs of Relief



On May 25, the Trump administration stated that it has reached a deal to bring back ZTE Corp. in business in the United States. ZTE needs to pay $1.3 billion in fine and make some changes in its management to get back into businesses with U.S. companies.



Last month, the U.S. Commerce Department issued an order prohibiting all U.S. tech equipment manufacturers from selling products to the Chinese telecom behemoth citing that ZTE violated the terms of a 2017 settlement. Notably, the settlement resolved ZTEs evasion of U.S. sanctions for selling to Iran and North Korea.



On May 26, The Wall Street Journal reported that China is set to approve Qualcomm Inc.s QCOM planned $44 billion acquisition of Netherlands-based NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI in the next few days.



Reuters also reported that Qualcomm is expecting to meet this week in Beijing with China's antitrust regulators in a final push to secure clearance for the deal. Notably, the proposed deal has got a nod from eight of the nine required global regulators, with Chinese clearance the only one pending.



Who Will Gain?



If the U.S. government finally withdraws sanctions imposed on ZTE and China approves NXP Semiconductors deal then the main beneficiary will be mobile chipset developer Qualcomm. The company generates nearly 28% of its revenues from China especially from ZTE and Huawei. Meanwhile, NXP Semiconductors is the largest manufacturer of high-performance, mixed-signal mobile chipsets with 14% market share. The combined entity is expected to generate annual revenues of more than $30 billion.



Additionally, worlds largest chipset developer Intel Corp. INTC will also benefit. Moreover, fiber optic component developers will also gain from removal of selling restrictions on ZTE. Major optical fiber component developers such as Acacia Communications Inc. ACIA, Oclaro Inc. OCLR, Finisar Corp. FNSR and Lumentum Holdings Inc. LITE are likely to gain if U.S. sanctions on ZTE are revoked.



Acacia Communications and NXP Semiconductors carry a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell). All other stocks mentioned above, carry a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.



Chart below shows performance of seven stocks in the last three months.

Story continues

Bottom Line



The United States and China are trying to defuse the trade war tensions by coming to a compromise with the tariffs. This week, high-level U.S. and Chinese delegations will sit for a meeting to ease trade tensions between the two countries. This will be the third such meeting within a month. Fading of trade conflict between two countries will also open business opportunities for several U.S. tech titans.



More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!



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Our Mission

The Foreign Press Centers support the Department's mission by deepening global understanding of U.S. policy, society, culture, and values through engagement with foreign media. The United States Department of State has Foreign Press Centers in Washington, D.C. and in New York, New York. We promote the depth, accuracy, and balance of foreign reporting from the U.S. by providing direct access to authoritative American information sources. *The FPCs are receiving journalists on an appointment only basis. For assistance, please contact a media relations officer or email the collective dcfpc@state.gov*
(Reuters) - Visibly annoyed, Pakistan's Chief Justice Saqib Nisar picks up a dirty steel bowl, displays it to a barrage of TV cameras, slams it against a rack, and shouts: "You serve food in it?"

The outburst was captured during a recent visit to inspect patients and their living conditions at a hospital psychiatric ward in the northwestern city of Peshawar - one of a series of trips around the country in what Nisar has termed a crusade against corruption and bad governance.

With TV channels following his every move and lapping up his verbal barbs, Nisar has become a thorn in the side of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and its founder Nawaz Sharif, whose third stint as prime minister was cut short in July when the Supreme Court disqualified him over a small undeclared source of income.

Sharif and his family now face corruption charges that could see the veteran leader jailed, and there is a growing concern within PML-N ranks that the judiciary could dent the party's electoral prospects in a general election on July 25.

"The present scenario, the way the judiciary is interfering in the executive's work ... the governments can't work like this," outgoing Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi told journalists after the election was called at the weekend.

"Suo Moto"

Nisar has used Pakistan's so-called "suo moto" provision - which allows him to take up cases on his own initiative - to launch inquiries ranging from the payment of sugar cane farmers by mills and increases in milk prices to allegations of corruption in the running of the country's railways and national airline.

He says such cases, and his frequent public appearances to inspect development projects and public facilities such as schools and hospitals - rare for a sitting chief justice - are aimed at protecting the poor.

"We have to fight for those people who unfortunately don't have means to get their rights," Nisar said, addressing lawyers early this year.

Nisar is not the first activist chief justice. Indeed, his high media profile has drawn parallels with Iftikhar Chaudhry, who initially won plaudits for helping oust military dictator Pervez Musharraf in 2008, but was later criticized for overstepping his constitutional remit.

PML-N insiders and some analysts say Nisar's assertiveness smacks of judicial overreach and hints at a return to Pakistan's past, when they say the judiciary cut politicians down to size at the behest of the powerful military, which has ruled Pakistan for nearly half its history since independence in 1947.

PML-N insiders accuse shadowy military networks of working with the judiciary to weaken the party in the run-up to the election. Some analysts say the judges would be unable to take such an aggressive stance against the civilian government without at least tacit support from the generals.

"With their specific targeting of PML-N, this would undermine fair play in election, and squeeze Nawaz Sharif," Ayesha Siddiqa, an author and political analyst, told Reuters.

"The judicial decisions are a strong signal as to where the powerful establishment will lay their eggs this time."

The military did not reply to requests for a comment. The army has previously said it does not interfere in politics.

Nisar's office did not respond to requests for comment.

Government Critic

Nisar has previously denied being a military stooge and has shown no signs of pulling punches ahead of the general election, serving contempt of court notices to senior PML-N figures who have criticized the judiciary.

While he has also taken on the opposition, his principal target has been the PML-N and Sharif himself.

During several visits in recent months to the province of Punjab, Sharif's longtime electoral heartland, Nisar has been demanding the provincial government - run by Sharif's brother Shehbaz - improve public sector institutions. In April, he inspected a new train project that the PML-N wants to showcase before the polls, which he threatened to shut down in January if the government didn't prioritize education and health.

"Punjab government did nothing in the last 10 years," Nisar said from the bench in March.

He also removed PML-N Information Minister Maryam Aurangzeb, who has been critical of the judiciary, from a parliamentary committee that regulates the media. "The committee can't be independent as long as she is a member," he said.

"De Facto PM"

Nisar's actions have delighted the opposition.

"We're happy that Supreme Court is upholding the supremacy of law in this country," Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party leader Imran Khan told reporters after the court barred Sharif from holding party office for life in April.

But many within the legal profession are unnerved.

"A considerable number of lawyers, including myself, don't see this activism as a positive step," said Ali Ahmad Kurd, former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association.

Sharif, whose second stint as prime minister was ended by a military coup in 1999, has labeled his dismissal and the corruption charges against him as a "fraud" and a witch hunt.

Last month, he said he had "grave doubts" about whether the upcoming election would be "fair and free."

The top court followed up Sharif's July disqualification by removing him as PML-N party leader in February, and lately banned him for life from holding any public office. Last month the Islamabad High Court also disqualified from parliament Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, one of Sharif's closest allies.

In recent weeks, Pakistani TV channels have been muting the sound on Sharif when he talks about the judiciary and military, prompting him to complain of creeping censorship.

But Nisar has not been immune to criticism. The top judge's growing profile has raised eyebrows, and drew ridicule after a news clip of his presidential-style motorcade, showing at least 34 vehicles, went viral.

Journalist Omar R. Quraishi shared on Twitter another video clip of Nisar flanked by several police and paramilitary commandos.

"That's more security than for the Prime Minister or President," tweeted Quraishi. "Oh wait... we are looking at the de facto PM."
Discovery Announces a New Board Director Who Will Manage the Mongolia Gold Project

LOS ANGELES, CA. , May 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Discovery Minerals Ltd. ( OTC:DSCR ) signs agreement for Mongolia Gold Project.

The Board of Directors is pleased to announce that after several months of negotiations an agreement has now been executed with Canadian company Meritus Minerals Limited.

Discovery will now embark on an intense program to bring the project into production as soon as possible. This will include refreshing the existing Geological, Metallurgical and Feasibility Reports and integrating them into a single comprehensive document leading into a full-scale Feasibility Study and Mining Plan.

The Project has already been granted a 30 year Mining Permit which will shorten the lead up time to go into bullion production.

Considerable geological field work has been carried out around this gold occurrence showing strong indications of further economic resources. Further delineation of these areas will be made easier by having a permanent camp from which to conduct such exploration activities.

Below is an excerpt from an internal Geological Report prepared for Meritus in 2016. The author, T.E.Bates MSc ( Geol ) F.Aus IMM, has given his consent for the use of this extract in this press release.

The drilled target at Gutain Davaa has a resource that has excellent potential to be expanded to about 500,000 ounces of gold and possibly more. Other targets on the mining license have potential to add resources of similar grade.

District wise there is excellent potential to locate substantial gold resources of similar nature to those at Toordogiin Shil, or possibly large tonnage lower grade resources similar to those at Boruu and Gasurt. There is a high chance of the district turning into a new gold camp.

Providing MMGL is able to work with the Soum authorities and enter into arrangements with them that are of distinct benefit to the local community, there is an excellent probability that MMGL will be able to establish itself as the preferred operator within Batshireet Soum and have advantages in obtaining new exploration titles. End of Quoted Material.

The Board of Discovery Minerals is pleased to welcome Mr. Girvan Jackson as a Director of the Company and as the Project Manager of the Mongolian gold project.

Mr. Jackson has vast experience in precious metals and base metal mining projects around the world and is renowned for bringing in complex mine development projects within schedule and frequently under budget.

At this stage Mr. Jackson plans to conduct supervision of all mine development and construction from the mine site. He states that doing so will allow him to remain focused on the rapid daily changes on site and to be available to technical consultants and construction contractors immediately when needed.

About Discovery Minerals Ltd:

Discovery Minerals Ltd., ( OTC PINK : DSCR ) is an acquisition and development company that targets natural resource properties and cutting edge technology opportunities through its subsidiaries. The Board of Directors has determined that these activities be continued with an emphasis on early positive cashflow from any projects undertaken.

Safe Harbor: This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 27E of the Securities Act of 1934. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from that projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, ability to obtain financing and regulatory and shareholder approval for anticipated actions.

Website : www.discoveryminerals.com ( under construction till Friday 25th )
MONTERREY, Mexico, May 28, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Deutsche Bank Mexico, S.A., Banking institution, Trust Division F/1616 or Fibra Inn (BMV:FINN13) (ADR OTC:DFBRY) (Fibra Inn or the Company), a Mexican real estate investment trust internally managed specializing in the hotel industry serving the traveler with global brands, announced today the following:



CALL TO AN EXTRAORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING FOR HOLDERS OF THE REAL ESTATE TRUST CERTIFICATES (CBFIs), TICKER SYMBOL FINN13, ISSUED BY DEUTSCHE BANK MEXICO S.A., INSTITUCION DE BANCA MULTIPLE, WHICH ACTS AS ISSUER FOR THE TRUST F/1616 FIBRA INN, TO BE HELD ON JUNE 14, 2018.

In accordance with Articles 68 of Mexican Securities Market Law, 217, 218, 219, 220 and 221 of the Securities and Credit Transactions Law, Clause 8, Section 8.1 of Trust F/1616 (the Trust ), the Company calls all holders (the  Holders ) of the CBFIs with the ticker symbol "FINN13", issued by the Trust, to the EXTRAORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING that will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, June 14, 2018, at the offices located in: Paseo de la Reforma, # 342, 28th floor, Colonia Juarez, Delegacion Cuauhtemoc, Mexico City, C.P. 06600, in order to discuss and approve the following:

MEETING AGENDA

Presentation, discussion and submission for approval to modify the Trust Agreement, in order to modify the current structure of the Technical Committee, so that it may be comprised in its majority by Independent Members; only two members designated by the Founders Trust and their respective alternates; Fibra Inns Chief Executive Officer and his respective alternate; as well as by other members that are designated by the Holders that own 10% of the CBFIs outstanding and that wish to exercise their right to designate one member of this Technical Committee and the respective alternate.

Appointment of Mr. Victor Zorrilla Vargas and Mr. Joel Zorrilla Vargas, as members of the Trusts Technical Committee, designated by the Founders Trust, as well as their respective Alternates.



Appointment of Special Delegates to fulfill the resolutions approved during the Meeting.

Transcription, drafting and submission for approval of the Meeting Minutes.

In accordance with Article 221 of the Securities and Credit Transactions Law, in order to attend the Shareholders Meeting, shareholders must present admission cards corresponding to their CBFIs, issued by the Common Representative. Therefore, prior to the meeting, shareholders must first present their certificates, or a receipt of deposit of certificates issued by S.D. Indeval Institucion para el Deposito de Valores, S.A. de C.V. at CIBanco, S.A., Institucion de Banca Multiple, located in Cordillera de los Andes, #265, 2nd Floor, Colonia Lomas de Chapultepec, Delegacion Miguel Hidalgo, C.P. 11000, Mexico City, to Monica Jimenez Labora Sarabia (mjimenezlabora@cibanco.com), and/or Guillermo Juarez Fuentes (gjuarez@cibanco.com) a los telefonos (55) 50633978 and (55) 50633959, respectively, in accordance with the regulations established by Mexican Securities Market Law, between the hours of 9:00am and 6:00pm, Monday through Friday, from the date of this announcement and until at least one business day prior to the date of the Shareholders Meeting. In exchange for these documents, the Company will issue admission cards, which will include the name of the Holder and the number of CBFIs represented. No one will be admitted to the Meeting without these documents present.



Shareholders may be represented at the Meeting by proxy, either by one or more persons designated by power of attorney or as otherwise authorized by law, in accordance with the requirements established by Article 49, Section III of Mexican Securities Market Law.

The information and documents related to each of items of the Meeting Agenda for the ORDINARY SHAREHOLDERS MEETING are available to Holders 10 (ten) days prior to the Meeting date, in the offices of the Common Representative and may also be accessed on the Trusts website at www.fibrainn.mx.

About the Company

Fibra Inn is a Mexican trust formed primarily to acquire, develop and rent a broad range of hotel properties in Mexico aimed at the business traveler. The Company has signed franchise, license and brand usage agreements with international hotel brands for the operation of global brands as well as the operation of national brands. Additionally, the Company has development agreements. These hotels enjoy some of the industrys top loyalty programs. Fibra Inn trades its Real Estate Certificates (Certificados Bursatiles Fiduciarios Inmobiliarios or CBFIs) on the Mexican Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol FINN13; its ADRs trade on the OTC market in the U.S. under the ticker symbol DFBRY.

www.fibrainn.mx

Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. These statements are statements that are not historical facts, and are based on managements current view and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, Company performance and financial results. Also, certain reclassifications have been made to make figures comparable for the periods. The words anticipates, believes, estimates, expects, plans and similar expressions, as they relate to the Company, are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Statements regarding the declaration or payment of dividends, the implementation of principal operating and financing strategies and capital expenditure plans, the direction of future operations and the factors or trends affecting financial condition, liquidity or results of operations are examples of forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current views of management and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. There is no guarantee that the expected events, trends or results will actually occur. The statements are based on many assumptions and factors, including general economic and market conditions, industry conditions, and operating factors. Any changes in such assumptions or factors could cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations.

In Mexico:

Lizette Chang, IRO

Fibra Inn

Tel. 52-1-81-1778-5926

lchang@fibrainn.mx

In New York:

Maria Barona / Melanie Carpenter

i-advize Corporate Communications

Tel. (212)406-3691

mbarona@i-advize.com
Amsterdam, the Netherlands - 29 May 2018 - Intertrust N.V. ("Intertrust" or "Company") [Euronext: INTER], a leading global provider of high-value trust, corporate and fund services, today announces that it has repurchased 104,348 ordinary Intertrust shares at an average price of EUR 16.3227 per share in the period from 21 May 2018 up to and including 25 May 2018.

The aggregate consideration for this repurchase was EUR 1.70 million. This repurchase was made as part of the Company's share repurchase programme, which was announced on 13 November 2017.

The total number of shares repurchased under this programme up to and including 25 May 2018 is 3,047,950 shares for a total aggregate consideration of EUR 48.63 million.

Approximately 850,000 shares will be used for employee stock ownership and incentive plans vesting in 2018 and 2019, with the remainder of the repurchased shares to be cancelled (after approval by the general meeting of shareholders). Further details on the share repurchase transactions can be found on the Company's website.

This press release contains information which is to be made publicly available under the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No 596/2014.

For further information

Intertrust N.V. marieke.palstra@intertrustgroup.com

Marieke Palstra Tel: +31 20 577 1157

Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications

About Intertrust

Intertrust is a leading global provider of high-value trust, corporate and fund services, with more than 2,500 employees located throughout a network of 39 offices in 28 jurisdictions across Europe, the Americas, Asia and the Middle-East. The Company delivers high-quality, tailored services to its clients with a view to building long-term relationships. Intertrust's business services offering is comprised of corporate services, fund services, capital market services, and private wealth services. Intertrust has leading market positions in selected key geographic markets of its industry, including the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Jersey, and the Cayman Islands. Intertrust works with global law firms and accountancy firms, multi-national corporations, financial institutions, fund managers, high net worth individuals and family offices.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Endeavour Silver Corp. (NYSE:EXK) (TSX:EDR) announces the appointment of Manuel Echevarria, P.Eng., MBA, as the Vice President, New Projects to lead the companys project development and technical services group based in Mexico.



Mr. Echevarria is a professional engineer with 34 years of experience in the mining industry, fluent in both English and Spanish, and has many years of career history throughout Latin America. Manuel brings to Endeavour a wealth of experience in mine engineering, construction, operations, management and consulting roles, having planned and executed several multi-billion dollar mine and plant projects.

Bradford Cooke, Endeavour CEO, commented, I am pleased to welcome Manuel Echevarria to the Endeavour management team. His skills and experience are a great fit with our senior group and his depth and breadth of knowledge in the mining sector will enhance our ability to become bigger and better going forward as we optimize our three current mines and develop new mines to fuel our future growth.

Mr. Echevarria graduated with a B.Sc. Mechanical Engineering in 1984 from the National University of Engineering in Lima Peru and received an MBA from IE Business School in Spain in 2007. He worked as a project engineer from 1983 to 1989 for P&V Engineers on a major underground mine expansion for Milpo in Peru, then moved to Fima SA where he designed plant equipment until 1992.

Subsequently, he was the Engineering Manager for SNC Lavalin, and held project management roles in Bechtel, Svedala, Requisite Technology, Pan American, Fluor and Ausenco until 2010, working on large mine and plant projects such as Tamboraque, Tintaya, Pierina, Santa Luisa, Cajamarquilla, Iscaycruz, Ares, Antamina, Morococha, Cerro Verde, Oyu Tolgoi, Fort Hills, Escondida and others. From 2010 to 2015, Manuel was the Project Manager of the Toromocho project for Chinalco and General Manager of Cal del Centro (Chinalcos subsidiary) and since 2013, he has been Director of Gold Projects for Maaden in charge of developing the Mansorah Mansourah and Ad Duwayhi gold mine projects in Saudi Arabia.

Manuels responsibilities will include leading the companys New Projects and Technical Services Group, ensuring engineering excellence throughout the organization, overseeing the design, permitting and construction of our development projects, supporting mine operations and acquisitions, completing optimization studies, introducing technological advances and improving operational performance.

Endeavour also announces two management appointments in Mexico to augment the Operations group, including Luis Seijas as the new General Manager of the Guanacevi mine in Durango and Francisco Gameros as the new Finance Manager based at Endeavours office in Leon.

About Endeavour Silver  Endeavour Silver Corp. is a mid-tier precious metals mining company that operates three high-grade, underground, silver-gold mines in Mexico. The Company is forecasting 20% production growth to 10.2-11.2 million oz silver equivalent in 2018. Endeavour is currently developing its fourth high-grade, underground, silvergold mine in Mexico and has a compelling pipeline of exploration and development projects to facilitate its goal to become a premier senior silver producer. Our philosophy of corporate social integrity creates value for all stakeholders.

SOURCE Endeavour Silver Corp.

Contact Information

Galina Meleger, Director, Investor Relations

Toll free: (877) 685-9775

Tel: (604) 640-4804

Fax: (604) 685-9744

Email: gmeleger@edrsilver.com

Website: www.edrsilver.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States private securities litigation reform act of 1995 and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation. Such forward-looking statements and information herein include but are not limited to statements regarding Endeavours anticipated performance in the future including changes in mining and operations and the timing and results of various activities. The Company does not intend to, and does not assume any obligation to update such forward-looking statements or information, other than as required by applicable law.

Forward-looking statements or information involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of Endeavour and its operations to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such factors include, among others, changes in national and local governments, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments in Canada and Mexico; financial risks due to precious metals prices, operating or technical difficulties in mineral exploration, development and mining activities; risks and hazards of mineral exploration, development and mining; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development, risks in obtaining necessary licenses and permits, and challenges to the Companys title to properties; as well as those factors described in the section risk factors contained in the Companys most recent form 40F/Annual Information Form filed with the S.E.C. and Canadian securities regulatory authorities.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions management believes to be reasonable, including but not limited to: the continued operation of the Companys mining operations, no material adverse change in the market price of commodities, mining operations will operate and the mining products will be completed in accordance with managements expectations and achieve their stated production outcomes, and such other assumptions and factors as set out herein. Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or information, there may be other factors that cause results to be materially different from those anticipated, described, estimated, assessed or intended. There can be no assurance that any forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements or information. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements or information.
CHICAGO, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIOLIFE4D, a biotech pioneer leveraging advances in tissue engineering to 3D print human organs viable for transplant, today announced it is now a resident company at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS (JLABS @ TMC) at the renowned Texas Medical Center.



Operating in Houston will play a critical role as BIOLIFE4D continues the development of its innovative technology and core mission of being able to 3D bioprint a viable human heart for transplant.

This is a significant step forward for BIOLIFE4D in our quest to commercialize our 3D bioprinting technology and produce alternative viable treatment options for heart disease, such as patches, valves, and eventually, a human heart for transplant, said Steven Morris, CEO, BIOLIFE4D. Combined with our presence in Chicago and the agreements we signed with Northwestern University earlier this year, we have successfully penetrated two of the leading medical hubs in the world, and further positioned ourselves for success.

Our presence in Houston furthers BIOLIFE4Ds deep relationship with the medical and scientific community within the state of Texas. A significant portion of the Companys leadership, such as Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jeffrey Morgan and Chief Science Officer Dr. Ravi Birla, have noteworthy connections within the region, including the Texas Medical Center and Texas Heart Institute. Many of the other top heart centers are also located within Houston, including Debakey Heart and Vascular Institute and Texas Childrens Hospital.

Our presence in Houston will be instrumental to the success of our research operations at BIOLIFE4D said Birla, Chief Science Officer, BIOLIFE4D. Furthermore, access to collaboration with innovative biotechnology companies in the Houston area, in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, provides access to thought leaders in the field of heart research, thereby accelerating our research towards bioprinting human hearts.

JLABS @ TMC is a 34,000-square-foot life science innovation center, located in Houston, Texas. The labs provide a flexible environment for start-up companies pursuing new technologies and research platforms to advance medical care. Through a "no strings attached" model, Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJI) does not take an equity stake in the companies occupying JLABS and the companies are free to develop products - either on their own, or by initiating a separate external partnership with JJI or any other company.

BIOLIFE4D will be able to collaborate with renowned area medical centers such as MD Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine, Methodist, UTHealth, and Rice University.

To see how BIOLIFE4Ds process starts with a patients own cells and ends with a functional human heart ready for transplant, please watch this video.

To learn more about BIOLIFE4D and to express interest in investing please watch this video or visit https://biolife4d.com/invest/.

About BIOLIFE4D

BIOLIFE4D is a pioneering biotech company laser focused on leveraging advances in life sciences and tissue engineering to 3D bioprint a viable human heart suitable for transplant  lifesaving technology that gives patients the gift of time. With BIOLIFE4D, a patient-specific, fully functioning heart will be created through 3D bioprinting using the patients own cells  eliminating the well-known challenges of organ rejection and long donor waiting lists that plague existing organ transplant methods. Financed through equity crowdfunding, BIOLIFE4D is driving a movement to transform the treatment of heart disease, the leading cause of death among both men and women globally. Learn more and invest at biolife4d.com. Connect with us on social media on Twitter (@BIOLIFE4D), Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Securities are offered pursuant to a Regulation A+. Investors are encouraged to read the Offering Circular and exhibits and consult with their tax, legal, or financial professional prior to investing.

Forward Looking Statements

We caution you that, whether or not expressly stated, certain statements made in this news release that reflect management's expectations regarding future events and economic performance are forward-looking in nature and, accordingly, are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Companys control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.

Media Contact

Matthew Bretzius

FischTank Marketing and PR

biolife4d@fischtankpr.com
Mon, 10/11 (10am ET): Why are you Stuck in GMAT Verbal while doing well on Quant?
Recap

My Original Rationale

Plan B

Quit my high paying job in SV.

Sold most of my possessions and moved away from the US.

Traveled around Asia for a bit.

Settled in Hong Kong.

Started a small software consulting company.

Joined a startup incubator in a HK university as an incubatee and part-time staffer.

Joined a team starting up a VC fund, investing in mainland China.

Entrepreneurship as an Alternative to B-School

China as an Alternative to B-School

A Backdoor into VC

Summary

On the start of a new year, I thought that I'd send out this update to folks who might be trying to figure out how b-school fits into their plans for the future.2010-2011, I did everything I could to get into an elite b-school. I earned a totally decent GMAT score http://gmatclub.com/forum/that-ll-do-pig-that-ll-do-102097.html . I have an MS and BS in technical areas and had 7 years of technical experience, mostly in bleeding-edge Silicon Valley startups.Of course, none of that added up to success for me, and I ended up in the zero admits group http://gmatclub.com/forum/2010-zero-admits-now-what-111543.html I was pursuing an MBA in large part, because I thought that I needed to move forward beyond the narrow responsibilities of my technical career path. I felt stifled and stunted, and I wanted to break out into a career path that allowed me to contribute more to the growth and success companies than I could do as a technical professional.Since I didn't get in to school but knew I still had a career problem to solve, I had to think outside of the box. Here's what I did:So, instead of moping through my day, complaining about how stuck I was in great companies with limiting roles, I'm now working with young startups in Greater China everyday. I'm also taking on interesting little software projects, based on my interest level in the project. I'm no longer bored and frustrated, just continuously challenged by the wealth of opportunities relative to my amount of available time.I get that I'm a unique case in that I'm now involved in my 4th-6th startup, depending on how you count them. Most people don't have that sort of startup experience. That said, some of the most promising companies I know (including ones I'd like to invest in, if at all possible) are headed up by guys who have never done startups before. They all have one thing in common, though: they wanted to make something happen bad enough, that they put in the work.Of course, another unique aspect of my story is that I can pick up and move to China. Despite the absurdly underinformed hype coming out of the media (and its corresponding backlash), there is a real kernel of truth to the idea that China is the land of opportunity in 2012. Of course language is a major issue: I speak Mandarin at about a pre-schooler level and can barely write. If you want to come to China, you should learn Chinese, and I'm spending my precious little free time remediating my deficient skills. But if you want to make it work, there are a mind numbingly large number of huge opportunities for motivated professionals in China, right now. Most of them don't necessarily pay guaranteed I-banker salaries out of the gate, but they might be hugely more valuable in a relatively short amount of time.Lots of people on this forum (past me included) are seriously wondering how to use b-school as a platform to VC. See these two great threads: http://gmatclub.com/forum/nink-s-guide-to-career-in-venture-capital-76833.html and http://gmatclub.com/forum/switching-into-pe-vc-67746.html . The general summary of these threads is that getting into VC is incredibly difficult and likely not worth your time trying, due to the extremely low odds. In the US, I would agree. In China, well, that's a horse of a different color. It's still the Wild West out here, and that means opportunities for people who are ambitious, fast-moving, and capable.Do I have an elite MBA? Nope.Can I decide whether or not our firm invests in your Series A? Yep.My answer to that first question really bothers me. I hate that I don't have the MBA. That said, my answer to the second question really softens the blow. I found career progress through another route, and I'm pretty damn happy with the outcome.I originally walked away from this forum more bitter than I've ever been. I was so upset at my failure that it burned in the back of my throat.But I decided to take another crack at improving my career situation.We're not yet to the point in the year where the zero-admits club will start filling up, but when they do, I'd like to offer up my experience as a point of reference.I felt like I was more than good enough to get into a great b-school and be successful afterwards. I didn't get to do the first part of that, so I had to work even harder on the second part. But it was possible. There are options beyond b-school. Really.Have a happy new year, GMATClubbers.
nemesis19007 wrote:

Hi,



Can you please review my profile to give me some idea on my chances of getting into an Ivy League school (H,S,W).



Background: Australian (naturalised citizen); Ethnicity: Indian; Age 31



Academics:

720 GMAT

Bachelors: Information Technology (Indian University, GPA 3.0)

Masters: Master of Business Information Technology (Australian University(, GPA 3.3)



Work:

Multicultural work experience of 5-6 years in 3 countries/continents:



India (New Delhi): Software Engineer 1 year

Australia (Sydney): Senior Consultant 3.5 years

US (Philly): Senior Consultant 1.5 years



Future leader recognition from my Australian/US company with good references



Preferred Universities

1. Wharton

2. HBS

3. Chicago Booth

4. Stanford



Can you please advice of my chances of getting into these Ivy league universities?



Thanks in advance for your help.

Nisha Trivedi

mbaMission Senior Admissions Consultant

35 positive reviews on GMATClub, 2020 Top 20 of admissions consultants across the industry per P&Q: https://poetsandquants.com/2020/08/26/best-mba-admission-consultants-of-2020/



Sign up for a free 30-minute consultation at https://www.mbamission.com/consult/mba-admissions/

Read our Insider's Guides to the top b-schools: http://www.mbamission.com/guides.php?category=insiders Signature Read More

Hi, and thank you for writing! The business school admissions process is very holistic, and admissions committees evaluate applicants on the basis of academics, professional experience, and personal characteristics/leadership. I would have to know more about your professional/personal experiences to evaluate your profile, but what I can say based on the info I have:- The Australian citizenship will help distinguish you somewhat, as Australia is not heavily represented among the applicant pool (unlike India)- GMAT - a 720 is a solid score, but for these top schools, the higher the better (so if you can increase it by 10-20+ points, that would be helpful, particularly to help offset your undergrad GPA, which is below the average for students admitted to these schools (generally around 3.5)I highly recommend that you sign up for a free 30-min consultation with me here, so that we can discuss your profile in more depth: https://www.mbamission.com/consult/?dis ... admissions Thanks and hope to hear from you soon!_________________
Tuck, LBS or INSEAD for career shift in IB or PE in EMEA? [ #permalink

Hello,



Looking for some useful guidance here.

I have been admitted to Tuck, LBS and INSEAD (January intake).



First, a bit of background context

Raised and worked in EMEA country for 3.5 years in audit before being recruited in Netherland as consultant for an industrial group. I have been in this position for 2.5 years.



Objectives:

I am interested in joining a PE fund dedicated to emerging markets (with a strong preference on Africa) active either in London, Paris or Geneva/Zurich or directly located in Africa. I would be totally ok to do a stint in IB before switching to PE.



As a career changer, I believe (i) academic/club training, (ii) strong brand recognition and (iii) alumni network would be critical to help me reach my goals.



So I believe it comes down to :

- Which school will provide more resources given my short term objective (should it be IB)?

- Which network could prove more useful when I will have to land a PE job matching my location and portfolio geography objectives?



If in addition, I could be with a bunch of fun people, it would be nice -though I am a neutral on city/suburb location- !



Thanks for your help!



PS: I don't know yet if (and how much) I will receive scholarship from these schools but let's assume that money is not a strong problem.
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
Image: PIB

New Delhi/Thiruvananthapuram, May 29 (IBNS): According to the the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences. the Southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala, on Tuesday.

Thus the Southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala, three days ahead of its normal date.

The Southwest monsoon further advanced into remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, Comorin  Maldives area, entire Lakshadweep, most parts of Kerala, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of southwest, central and northeast Bay of Bengal, the announcement said.

Conditions are favorable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, some parts of coastal and south interior Karnataka, some more parts of eastcentral and northeast Bay of Bengal, and some parts of northeastern states during next 48 hours, according to the ministry.




Image: Google Maps

Kabul, May 29 (IBNS): The Afghanistan government has confirmed on Tuesday that at least nine people were killed in an operation conducted by the country's special forces.

The incident took place on Monday night in Afghanistan's Nangarhar province.

Special forces attack in Dawlatzai area of Chaparhar district also injured eight others, including a woman and a girl, said provincial governors spokesman Attaullah Khoghyani.

"Nine civilians including a local police commander and relatives of the Senate chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar and eight others were wounded, he said, adding that a woman and a girl are among the wounded.

According to latest reports, an investigation has been initiated by a team assigned by the country's government.
The conditions have been described by some as additional terms for a new deal.

So, what is the Trump administration asking of Iran?

One of the criticisms about the 2015 nuclear deal is the lack of access granted to the nuclear inspectors. If the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) wanted access to a particular site, it would need to provide Iran with notice meaning that Iran would be able to delay a visit for more than 3 weeks. Obviously, this renders an inspection pointless because it gives the Iranian regime more than enough time to dispose of any evidence of wrongdoing.

There is also some uncertainly with regards to military sites  Iran claims that they are off-limits, but this is clearly something that would prove or disprove Irans compliance.

Pompeo is now asking that nuclear inspectors are given unconditional and unhindered access to all sites in Iran.

Another criticism of the 2015 deal is the lack of reference to Irans ballistic missile program. Despite Irans terrible track record in trustworthiness, the nuclear deal allowed for sanctions on Irans missile program to be withdrawn within 8 years.

Worryingly, Iran has launched more than twenty ballistic missiles since the deal was agreed. The Trump administrations demands for Iran to stop its proliferation of ballistic missiles are quite reasonable.

The Iranian economy, before the deal was agreed, had been severely weakened. The sanctions have been fine-tuned over a number of US administrations and were the fruit of decades of work. This progress was stamped out when Obama agreed to lift economic sanctions.

When sanctions were lifted, billions of dollars-worth of assets became available. Instead of putting some of this newfound wealth towards improving the social conditions in the country or making the lives of the people easier or improving services, the Iranian regime plundered it on militias, proxy groups and spreading terrorism and chaos across the Middle East.

When the deal took effect, the Iranian regime became emboldened and ramped up its aggression in the region, even provoking US Navy vessels on a number of occasions. Obama promised that the Iranian regime would become more civilised when the deal was signed, but the opposite was true. This is no doubt why the Trump administration is now demanding that Iran ends its support for terrorist groups in the region, that it ends its support for the Houthi militias in Yemen and that it withdraws its forces from Syria. Pompeo also stated that the Trump administration expects Iran to stop threatening its neighbours.

The list of conditions can be seen as a way of addressing the weakness of the 2015 nuclear deal.

Trump has made it clear that the days of appeasement are over, so we can safely presume that none of these conditions are negotiable. It remains to be seen whether Iran will comply, but it is running out of options.
Murder-convict Dhungel gets presidential pardon

Erstwhile CPN (Maoist Center) leader Balkrishna Dhungel, a murder convict, has been released from Dillibazaar prison after getting presidential pardon on Tuesday.
Babchenko has moved to live in Kyiv.

UPDATE-2, May 30. Following publication of this article, it was revealed that Arkady Babchenko had not in fact died as reported.

Full details can be found here.

Russian opposition journalist with pro-Ukrainian views Arkadiy Babchenko, 41, who has been living in Kyiv, has been shot dead.

"Arkadiy Babchenko was shot in the back, at home. [He] was rushed to hospital," journalist Ayder Muzhdabaev wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, May 29.

Ukraine's Interior Ministry reported then that Babchenko had died in an ambulance.

"Police have received a call from doctors  a woman called them and said she had found her husband in the apartment, he was in blood. The victim died of a wound, it was reportedly a wound in the back," the Interior Ministry said.

Read alsoMajor war with Russia inevitable  journalist

He was returning home from shopping, three shots were fired at his back when he was entering the flat.

The incident occurred on Mykilsko-Slobidska Street in Kyiv's Dniprovsky district.

Investigators have arrived on the scene.

Babchenko was a war correspondent from Russia. He lived in Moscow, but had to move to Prague, then to Kyiv because of political prosecution.

"He was a friend of mine. His anti-Russian position and anti-Russian activity are the only motive. He regularly spoke in support of Ukraine, against Putin, against Russia. Lately, he received frequent threats from the Russian Federation. He wrote that he had received death threats against him and his entire family," Ukrainian volunteer Myroslav Hai told the Ukrainian news outlet Obozrevatel.

Babchenko for some time was forced to live in Europe, but because of visa problems, he came to Ukraine, where he worked as a TV host. "He covered the shameful policy of the Russian Federation, this is purely a political assassination," Hai concluded.
This is Whats Trending Today

He has been called Frances Spiderman by the media. And to French President Emmanuel Macron, he is a hero.

His name, though, is Mamoudou Gassama. He is a 22-year-old undocumented migrant from Mali. He arrived in Europe in 2014 and came to France last September.

On Saturday evening, Gassama was in a Paris neighborhood with his girlfriend. He noticed a crowd of people gathered on a street. He looked up from the crowd and saw a small, young child hanging high above from a building.

Gassama immediately crossed the street and, without thinking twice, he said, he began climbing up the building. He moved from balcony to balcony. Then, he quickly and expertly pulled the child to safety.

The child, a four-year-old boy, had been left unattended by his father.

The crowd below screamed and cheered. Some took videos of the rescue, which they then put on social media. Many of those videos went viral.

Soon, Gassamas actions were known around the world.

Gassama showed no fear as he climbed. Yet, he told the VOA Bambara service, after the rescue, I was shaking and couldnt stand on my feet. I was so shaken by what I did.

On Monday, Gassama was invited to meet with Macron. He told the French leader about the rescue. He also told him about his own path to Europe.

Gassama left Mali as a teenager, crossed the Sahara Desert and made it to Libya. From there, he tried to take a boat to Italy. The first time, he said, authorities caught and jailed him before sending him to Niger. He tried one more time. This time, he made it to Italy.

He left Italy for France last year to join his older brother, who already lived in Paris.

Macron told Gassama, Because this is an exceptional act...we are obviously, today, going to regularize all your papers.

The president also said he would offer Gassama French citizenship and a job as a firefighter.

The special treatment for Gassama comes as France is preparing to remove about 2,400 migrants from temporary camps in Paris. The forced closure of the camps has led to a heated debate between city leaders and national politicians.

Another Malien, Lassana Bathily, was given French citizenship in 2015. He saved lives by hiding people in a freezer during a terror attack on a Jewish food store where he worked.

And thats Whats Trending Today

Im Ashley Thompson.

Ashley Thompson wrote this story based on Associated Press reports and an interview by the Voice of America's Bambara service. Hai Do was the editor.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

balcony - n. a raised platform that is connected to the side of a building and surrounded by a low wall or railing

authorities - n.people who have power to make decisions and enforce rules and laws

exceptional - adj. not usual : unusual or uncommon

regularize - v. to make (something, such as a situation) regular, legal, or officially accepted
The U.S. secretary of state will meet with a top North Korean official later this week to discuss a possible meeting between the leaders of the U.S. and North Korea.

The planned visit is the latest in a group of diplomatic moves among countries with ties to the issue of North Koreas nuclear weapons.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with the vice chairman of North Koreas ruling party, Kim Yong Chol. Kim is also a former intelligence chief for the North. South Koreas Yonhap news agency reports that Kim is expected to travel to New York City on Wednesday.

The development followed President Donald Trumps tweet early Tuesday. The president noted Kim Yong Chols visit, calling it a solid response to his letter. Trump was referring to a letter he sent last week to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un cancelling a planned meeting in Singapore on June 12. The meeting had been scheduled to permit Trump and Kim to discuss the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

On, off, on?

After Trump canceled the meeting, North Korean state media have reported on Kims fixed will that the summit with Trump go forward. And now, the Trump administration says preparations for the summit are continuing.

The White House press secretary said officials from both sides held talks Sunday in the demilitarized zone between North and South Korea. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said, They plan to have additional meetings this week at the border area of Panmunjom.

She added that the U.S. continues to actively prepare for the Trump-Kim summit.

Trump tweeted, We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more.

The Trump administration said that U.S. officials traveled to Singapore on Sunday to plan for the previously planned leaders meeting.

South Korean leader to meet with Trump and Kim?

The government of South Korean President Moon Jae-in also may be seeking to meet with the U.S. president and North Korean leader in Singapore. A government official in Seoul raised the possibility on Monday.

The suggestion follows a surprise meeting between the South Korean president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Moon said Kim is still committed to complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

North Korea requested the meeting between Kim and Moon after the cancellation of the U.S.-North Korea summit.

Developments after a weekend of diplomacy

In another development, Trump plans to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. The two leaders spoke by telephone on Monday.

In a statement, the administration said the two leaders share the desire to seek the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and ballistic missile programs.

U.S. spokeswoman Sanders said Trump will meet with Abe at the White House on June 7.

Both leaders are to attend the Group of Seven Economic meeting in Canada on June 8 and 9.

On Saturday, Abe traveled to Moscow to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The leaders discussed four islands in the Pacific that Russia occupies but are claimed by Japan.

The dispute over the islands has prevented Japan and Russia from formally signing a peace treaty ending World War II.

Im Mario Ritter.

Steve Herman reported this story for VOA News. Mario Ritter adapted it for VOA Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section, and visit our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

denuclearization - v. to remove nuclear weapons from a country or place

demilitarized zone n. an area where soldiers and weapons are banned

dismantlement n. the process of taking something apart in an orderly way

sanction - n. a measure designed to punish a country for failure to obey international laws or rules
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Ivanka Trumps brand continues to win foreign trademarks in China and the Philippines, adding to questions about conflicts of interest at the White House, The Associated Press has found.

This weekend, China granted the First Daughters company final approval for its 13th trademark in the last three months, trademark office records show. Over the same period, the Chinese government has granted Ivanka Trumps company provisional approval for another eight trademarks, which can be finalized if no objections are raised during a three-month comment period.

Taken together, the trademarks could allow her brand to market a lifetimes worth of products in China, from baby blankets to coffins, and a host of things in between, including perfume, make-up, bowls, mirrors, furniture, books, coffee, chocolate and honey. Ivanka Trump stepped back from management of her brand and placed its assets in a family-run trust, but she continues to profit from the business.

Noah Bookbinder, the executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said on Twitter that the recent approvals create more conflicts of interest and more potential for using the White House for self-enrichment. His government watchdog group was behind one of several lawsuits against President Donald Trump for violations of the emoluments clause of the constitution, which bars officials from accepting gifts from foreign states unless they are approved by Congress.

As Ivanka Trump and her father have built their global brands, largely through licensing deals, they have pursued trademarks in dozens of countries. Those global trademarks have drawn the attention of ethics lawyers because they are granted by foreign governments and can confer enormous value. Concerns about political influence have been especially sharp in China, where the courts and bureaucracy are designed to reflect the will of the ruling Communist Party.

Chinese officials have emphasized that all trademark applications are handled in accordance with the law.

More approvals are likely to come. Online records from Chinas trademark office indicate that Ivanka Trumps company last applied for trademarks  17 of them  on Mar. 28, 2017, the day before she took on a formal role at the White House. Those records yesterday showed at least 25 Ivanka Trump trademarks pending review, 36 active marks and eight with provisional approval.

The World Intellectual Property Organizations global brand database also shows that her company, Ivanka Trump Marks LLC, won three trademarks in the Philippines after her father took office. Two of them cover clothing, including lingerie and baby clothes, were filed on Feb. 8, 2017 and registered in June and November. The third, filed on Mar. 1, 2017, covers clothing and footwear and was registered in July.

Companies register for trademarks for a variety of reasons. They can be a sign of corporate ambition, but in many countries, like China, where trademark squatting is rampant, companies also file defensively, to block copycats from grabbing legal rights to a brands name. Trademarks are classified by category and may include items that a company does not intend to market. Some trademark lawyers also advise clients to register trademarks for merchandise that is manufactured in China, even if its not sold there.

Ivanka Trump does not have a large retail presence in China, but customs records show that the bulk of her companys U.S. imports are shipped from China.

The brands secretive Chinese supply chains have been the subject of some controversy. A year ago, three men working for China Labor Watch, a New York-based non-profit, were arrested while investigating labor abuses at Ivanka Trump suppliers in China. After thirty days in detention, they were released on bail, but continue to live under police surveillance.

Li Qiang, the groups founder, said yesterday that he hopes bail will be lifted soon and that the case will not go to trial.

Police in Ganzhou, the southeastern Chinese city where the men were detained, could not be reached for comment. The Chinese law firm that handles Ivanka Trumps intellectual property in China also did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Erika Kinetz, Shanghai, AP
HIV remains a social and cultural taboo in many cities, however, local residents have become more aware of this disease, leading to the increase in number of residents willing to take HIV tests.

Augusto Nogueira, president of Association of Rehabilitation of Drug Abusers of Macau (ARTM), said that more residents have become more concerned about their health.

Over time [the sense of taboo] has changed and people [have started] to realize that HIV is just like any other chronic disease. People care more about their health and follow medications accordingly, he told the Times.

To mark the 10th anniversary of its Needle Syringe Program (NSPs) on June 16, ARTM will be hosting a workshop, along with the Methadone Program of the Social Welfare Bureau, on the importance of the NSP program on June 15.

To be held at Clube Militar, two speakers from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS have been invited.

This program is a type of harm reduction initiative that provides access to sterile needles and syringe to reduce the transmission of HIV and other blood borne viruses from sharing injecting equipment.

NSPs program must continue and we need to continue working hard to maintain a low prevalence on HIV new infections and [ensure] zero sharing needles among injection drug users, Nogueira remarked.

One of the [foci] also is to keep a close look on the patients to see if they have other health issues that require our attention, and also to motivate them to go for treatments, he added.

The president said that over 350 residents are listed in their system, and that it is providing services to around 40 to 50 residents per month.

Nogueira noted that the program also aims to inform affected residents about the consequences of sharing needles, noting that around 80 percent of its users return used syringes.

This means that people are aware of the importance of returning the syringe back to use. We offer them some food and beverages to motivate them. [] Its a matter of public health, the president said.

We also focus [on] other issues like hepatitis C and [encourage] them to care for their own hygiene, and [provide] some other materials to use to prevent HIV infection among some wounds that people can have, Nogueira explained.

Figures from the Health Bureau show that HIV was detected in 15 patients in Macau from January to September 2017.

In 2016, 30 HIV cases were detected, of which 15 cases developed into AIDS.

Rapid test awareness was a significant factor in the decrease in HIV cases last year.
A local woman is suspected of abandoning a baby in the lobby of a shopping center at the Avenida de Tamagnini Barbosa within the Northern district, the Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson said yesterday afternoon during a joint press conference at the PJ headquarters.

The case occurred on Saturday around 7 p.m. when a passer-by sighted a baby alone in a stroller. The witness alerted the police officer on duty at the shopping center, who then transferred the case to the PJ.

According to surveillance camera footage, at 7.03 p.m. a woman entered the mall pushing the stroller. After leaving it in a corner of the lobby area, she used her mobile phone to record the baby before leaving.

The baby was taken to the Conde de Sao Januario Hospital for a check-up and is in a healthy condition. The stroller was found to contain all necessary items to feed and change the baby. In addition, police found a Hong Kong passport, presumably belonging to the baby, and other mainland travel and medical documents.

While the case is still under investigation, there are few certainties about the facts. However, police suspect that the woman who abandoned the baby is a local 34-year-old woman who previously, on May 24, entered the N.2 Police Station located in the same area with a baby in a stroller calling for help from the police.

The woman reported that she had been asked to take care of the baby by a friend with whom she had lost contact.

According to the PJ spokesperson, the woman presented documents matching those that were later found in the stroller.

The PJ is now trying to locate the woman to ascertain her motives for abandoning the child.

In a separate case, a local construction worker living across the border in Zhuhai has been accused of physically assaulting his eight-year-old son, who is also a resident of Macau.

The case was reported by the boys school after the teacher found marks on the childs back, ears and arms.

An examination conducted by the Conde de Sao Januario Hospital indicated that the marks resulted from the infliction of physical violence.

The PJ then intercepted the father at the border crossing of Border Gate and detained him for interrogation.

The man then admitted to physically punishing the child on the evening of May 23, as he allegedly was not paying attention to his studies and continued to play electronic games after being warned not to. In a moment of anger, the man said that he used his belt and hands to physically punish his child.

He has been transferred to the Public Prosecutions Office to be charged with offences against the physical integrity of another.

Man accused of rape and aggravated theft

A 33-year-old man from mainland China is being accused by a 35-year-old woman, also a resident of the mainland, of rape and theft, the Judiciary Police (PJ) spokesperson informed at yesterdays press conference.

The case was disclosed after both parties were involved in a fight in a casino in Macaus central area and were stopped by casino security, who then called the police.

The woman then filed a case against the man, saying to the police that she met him the previous day and had played in the casino with him. After that she attested to going to the mans room to rest.

On May 20 around 9.30 a.m. the woman decided to go to her room, but she was followed by the man. When she entered the room, she gave evidence that he pushed her to the bed and raped her.

The woman then stated that she fell asleep and upon waking, noticed that HKD100,000 was missing from her bag. She returned to the casino to look for him.

The man has denied all accusations against him, but the PJ says there is sufficient evidence to transfer the case to the Public Prosecutions Office.
Mario Batalis three Las Vegas Strip restaurants will shut down July 27, officials said Friday, as the celebrity chef faces sexual misconduct allegations from multiple women.

Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group partner Joe Bastianich sent a letter to nearly 300 workers about the closures of Carnevino Italian Steakhouse, B&B Ristorante and Otto Enoteca e Pizzeria at The Venetian and Palazzo resorts. He promised to visit the restaurants to speak to employees.

The letter said Las Vegas Sands Corp., which owns both properties, was ending the business relationship. Sands Corp. issued a statement confirming the closure.

The move came days after police in New York confirmed an investigation into a womans claim on 60 Minutes that Batali drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2005. Batali denies assaulting the woman.

A Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group representative said the company decided to close the Las Vegas restaurants before the 60 Minutes report aired, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal, which is owned by the family of Sands chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Batali stepped down in December from daily operations at his restaurant empire and cooking show The Chew after four women accused him of inappropriate touching over a period of 20 years.

Batali has apologized for those encounters. AP
Politicians seizing on immigrants as an election issue. Newspaper headlines calling for action. Talk of legislation to institute a ban.

If viewers of The Chinese Exclusion Act documentary end up with a sense of deja vu between the films subject, a law from 1882 that barred Chinese people from coming to the United States, and current events, thats pretty much the point, according to its filmmakers.

The A-Ha! for anybody coming to it  is oh, theres a history to how we have decided who can come and when they can come, whos a citizen and whos not a citizen, said documentarian Ric Burns, who made the film with Li-Shin Yu. It airs on the PBS television series American Experience today.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was Americas first and only immigration act that barred people from a specific country from coming to the United States. After its initial enactment for a 10-year period in 1882, it was regularly renewed and then made permanent in 1904. It was finally repealed in 1943.

Making the documentary was an eye-opening experience for Burns and Yu, who had never heard of the law and believe most of the American public isnt aware of it either, but should be.

This is the DNA of American immigration policy, Burns said. It is not A story about immigration, it is THE story about immigration and youre not going to understand any of the other aspects of it without understanding this thing: In 1848, you got off the boat and disappeared, in 1882 suddenly there was a racially invidious distinction being made.

The documentary, which Burns and Yu initially started several years ago, starts several decades before the laws enactment on May 6, 1882. The Chinese had started coming to the West Coast, primarily California, in the middle part of the 19th Century, drawn by the possibilities of the California Gold Rush and looking to escape the unrest in China in the wake of the Opium Wars over the West forcing China to open to trade.

They became targets of prejudice by white miners and other Californians as gold became more difficult to come by, as well as politicians appealing to nativist sentiments and those concerned immigrants were depressing wages. But they were also vital labor in the building of the Western half of the transcontinental railroad, forced to work for lower pay and in worse conditions that white workers.

The documentary shows how, even though estimates put the Chinese population at about 100,000 or so when the overall countrys population was about 50 million, there was a rising sentiment that the Chinese were a problem. That lead to local laws around the West Coast limiting their livelihoods as well as acts like the federal 1875 Page Act, which instituted regulations on women attempting to come to the United States from China that were onerous enough that they were almost completely excluded. There were also acts of violence, like the October 1871 massacre in Los Angeles, when a mob went to Chinatown and 18 Chinese immigrants were killed, many of them lynched.

When the exclusion act was passed, it prohibited most Chinese workers from coming, and preventing Chinese already here from ever becoming naturalized citizens.

But the anti-Chinese sentiment already stoked in the U.S. didnt abate with the law, and the documentary shows how acts of violence continued to be perpetrated against Chinese communities, as in the Snake River massacre in 1887, where almost three dozen Chinese miners were killed in Oregon.

The documentary also shows how Chinese immigrants and the next generation of Chinese Americans born in the United States fought back, filing thousands and thousands of lawsuits in the courts to push back against the limitations of the laws they were living under.

Some of the cases established principles that Americans now take for granted and assume have been part of the country since its founding, Burns said. He pointed to the case of Wong Kim Ark, born in America to Chinese immigrant parents. He was returning to the U.S. after a visit to China and was barred from re-entry. His case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the judges decided that he was a citizen because of being born here, in accordance with the citizenship clause of the 14th Amendment, thus clarifying the precedent for birthright citizenship, regardless of whether a persons parents were citizens.

The Chinese who came here and Chinese Americans saw more clearly whats best about our system and helped secure it, Burns said. Every American who is born here assumes theyre American because of something Thomas Jefferson wrote, not that Wong Kim Ark took his case to the Supreme Court.

With immigration a current hot-

button issue, Burns and Yu hope the documentary gives viewers a clearer sense of Americas immigration past, away from the romanticized notion that the country has always opened its arms to people from other nations, so that issues of today can be grappled with more accurately.

Americans are attached to an idea of a kinder, gentler understanding of an American past, Burns said. That kinder, gentler past, if its wrong, isnt going to help you steer accurately in the present and the future. Deepti Hajela, New York, AP
The first of two dental clinics that Paulo Malo pledged to open in Macau one year ago to the Times will soon be launched in Central Macau, Malo told Lusa Agency in Beijing.

The new space in central Macau will open this month or next, Malo said. This will be the first of two major projects in the region that will also include a second clinic located in Taipa Island, amounting to a total investment of MOP20 million.

According to an interview with the Times last year, Malo stated that the clinics will operate with the support of local partners. The first clinic was built in partnership with Centro Medico Pedder (Pedder Clinic) which gave an investment of over MOP2 million.

The new clinic is a continuation of the first Malo-branded clinic, located at The Venetian Macao, which was then sold and rebranded as TaivexMalo Clinic.

About six months ago, the Health Bureau suspended the clinic due to concerns surrounding illegal assisted reproductive therapy, as well as the illegal possession and administration of oncological medicines. These factors led to TaivexMalos operating license being suspended for six months and later, to its eviction from the Cotai resort hotel. The clinic is 90 percent owned by the Chinese company, PHC-Pacific Health Care (PHC)

Although the closure was not directly related to the company, as Malo mentioned at the time, the order given to PHC affected his operations as it included a dental office from Malo.

To Lusa, Malo reaffirmed his intention to return to the space at The Venetian with PHC, in order to continue working on medical tourism (including dental care, cosmetic surgery, dermatology and pediatrics). However, he mentioned that this time he will take the lead in the management of the space.

We need the space at The Venetian, which has become the largest medical tourism center in Asia, but we will not give up management control, because we have a lot to lose, as we saw by what happened this time  not only from an economic point of view, but also in [terms of our] reputation, he said.

Commenting on the case being brought by Banco Nacional Ultramarino (BNU) regarding a debt of about MOP59.6 million (EUR6.3m), Malo noted that such debt is not from his company but from PHC, and that the Malo Clinic is only the guarantor in this process.

When we sold [90 percent] of Malo in Macau to the Chinese [PHC], the sale price included the debt [to BNU]. What happens is that in the contract they [PHC] are responsible for paying the debt, and we [as guarantors] are liable [only] if they dont fulfill the payments. This was the case after the company ceased operations in Venetian.

Malo also added that in such a situation, his company will be liable for the debt. However, the payment will be directly related to the size of the share held by PHC, and, as the debt is progressively paid, Malo will gain control over a larger percentage of TaivexMalo Clinic. RM
New Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said that a planned high-speed railway that would cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes will be axed because it isnt beneficial.

Mahathir said the 350-kilometer rail project slated to be completed by 2026 is too costly.

It is a final decision, but it will take time because we have an agreement with Singapore, Mahathir said. It is not beneficial. It is going to cost a huge sum of money. We will make no money at all from this operation.

The two countries signed an agreement in December 2016 to build the rapid rail line with speeds of over 300 kilometers an hour and dubbed a game-changer that will boost connectivity and strengthen economic ties between the neighbors. Currently, it takes at least four hours to travel by car.

Mahathir said Malaysia may have to pay a penalty and will discuss the matter with Singapore, adding that we will try to manage it at the least cost possible.

Mahathirs alliance won a stunning victory in May 9 elections to oust scandal-tainted former Prime Minister Najib Razak and end his coalitions 60-year grip on power.

The new government has said it will review large-scale infrastructure projects, including Chinese investment, to cut costs after revealing that national debt and liabilities was over a trillion ringgit (USD251 billion), or 80 percent of gross domestic product, taking into account government guarantees and other payments.

The huge debt is partly due to a massive corruption scandal at the 1MDB state investment fund set up by Najib that led voters to abandon him, and sparked investigations in the U.S. and several other countries. U.S. investigators say Najibs associates stole and laundered at least $4.5 billion from the fund.

Mahathir has reopened an investigation into 1MDB that was suppressed during Najibs rule. Najib, who denies any wrongdoing, and his wife have been barred from leaving the country. AP
The security authority plans to purchase another 100 cameras for frontline police officers, the Secretary for Security, Wong Sio Chak, announced yesterday at the press conference about the crime statistics of the first quarter of 2018.

On March 14, 100 cameras were already put into operation. Until last Saturday, cameras were used in four cases, Wong reported. Not that every police officer should be equipped with cameras, but the equipment is necessary for law enforcement on some occasions. [We] will add another 100 cameras, he added.

Wong stated that the cameras will be purchased this year. In the first quarter of 2018, the Macau police force filed 3,547 criminal cases, 59 more than in the same period of 2017. An obvious increase has been recorded in robbery. In total, 23 robberies were recorded, representing a 27.8 percent growth.

However, the most significant growth was registered in the number of illegal appropriations.

In total, 691 of these cases were recorded, 281 more than that in 2017. Of these, 346 cases (up from 169 cases in 2017) were related to residents or tourists who lost their belongings in taxis, an increase of 104 percent.

Illegal imprisonment and drug trafficking offences decreased 41.9 percent and 18.6 percent respectively.

Some 6,886 mainland residents overstayed their visas in Macau, while only 373 people from other regions did so.

If we cant deport [some people] immediately, [] we will detain them for 60 days. If we cant keep detaining them [beyond the 60 day period], we will issue a temporary stay permit to them. Currently, there are ten people in this situation, said Wong. According to Wong, 188 people are presently detained at the Public Security Police Force detention center.

Regarding taxi violations, overcharging still topped all taxi infractions. In the first quarter, 1,878 taxi violations were recorded, 587 more than in the same period of 2017, with 1,192 (63.5 percent) related to overcharging.

When addressing other matters, Secretary Wong revealed that the amendment of the citys national security law is expected to be completed by the beginning of 2019.

Recently, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam mentioned she would communicate with Macaus government officials concerning entry denials to Hong Kong lawmakers, activists, and journalists.

The Hong Kong Chief Executive is very aware of the fact that every place has its own immigration policies, and she expressed her respect for that, said Wong.

Wong believes that Macaus immigration policies will not present difficulties to the Greater Bay Area plan.

On the contrary, the Greater Bay Area needs a safe environment, said Wong.

Once again, Wong noted that Macaus security situation in 2017 remained, in general, stable and favorable.
During a visit to Beijing, the Chief Executive, Chui Sai On, attended the launch ceremony the Beijing-Macau Cooperation Partnership 2018, where he called for open-minded and innovative forms of cooperation, particularly in terms of how to advance the MSARs participation in the Belt and Road initiative and in the development of the Greater Bay Area.

During yesterdays ceremony, Chui and the Chairman of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), Ji Lin, witnessed the signing of three agreements regarding respectively: vocational training; Macaus membership of the China World Tourism Heritage Promotion Alliance; and cooperation on winter sports.

The CE said since the inception in 2016 of the Beijing-Macao Cooperation Partnership program, the two places had helped encourage more frequent exchanges among young people and civil servants from both places, as well as patriotic education in Macau.

The government delegation arrived in Beijing on Sunday for a three-day visit. Prior to the launch ceremony of the Beijing-Macao Cooperation Partnership 2018, the delegation attended the 5th China Beijing International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), and the accompanying CIFTIS Global Trade in Services Summit.

The Chief Executive also held a meeting with the Secretary of the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China, Cai Qi.
The general unemployment rate (1.9 percent) and the unemployment rate of local residents (2.6 percent) both held stable in the February-April 2018 period as compared with the previous period, January-March 2018, according to the Statistics and Census Service. The underemployment rate was 0.5 percent, down by 0.1 percentage points. The total labor force amounted to 388,900 and the labor force participation rate was 70.5 percent. Total employment reached 381,500 and the number of employed residents totaled 280,800, up by 1,000 and 700 respectively from the previous period. Meanwhile, the number of unemployed dipped by 100 to 7,400 in the period, with fresh labor force entrants searching for their first job accounting for 5.1 percent of the total. In comparison with February-April 2017, the labor force participation rate and the unemployment rate dropped by 0.6 and 0.1 percentage points respectively.
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When faced with the possibility of having to undergo gynecologic surgery, women rely on the guidance of their OBGYN providers to provide the best recommendations. More than 500,000 women undergo hysterectomy each year, in addition to those who have other gynecologic surgeries. However, many gynecologic surgeons do not regularly practice the most up-to-date minimally invasive surgery.

Experts at the George Washington University (GW), led by Gaby Moawad, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, outlined some of the concerns and proposed solutions for choosing a surgeon in an article recently published in the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology.

The article identifies the difference between high volume surgeons (HVS), who meet volume thresholds, and low volume surgeons (LVS), who do not. The authors look at a database study that found that a disproportionate number of high complexity cases were being managed by LVS, even in areas where HVS are readily accessible.

"Women interact with their OBGYNs more frequently and for a longer span than most other doctor-patient pairings," said Moawad. "They should feel comfortable knowing that they will receive the best care possible whether they are undergoing surgery for hysterectomy or gynecologic cancer."

Programs have been introduced in the past to address the volume issue, but were ultimately unsuccessful across the board. The authors recommend continued education to help LVS improve their volume status, while allowing patients to see HVS for their surgical needs to ensure lower risk for complications. Moawad also proposes that the best way to help female patients in their decision making process by creating a standard, uniform, and unbiased way of reporting patient outcomes.

"The question now is 'How do we optimize patient safety and not jeopardize the practices of low volume surgeons?'" Moawad said. "Bettering the decision making for female patients matters for women and it also matters for the medical profession as a whole."

The article, titled "Ethical Considerations Arising from Surgeon Caseload Volume in Benign Gynecologic Surgery," published in the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology.

Explore further Minimally invasive hysterectomy may be underused

More information: Gaby Moawad et al, Ethical Considerations Arising From Surgeon Caseload Volume in Benign Gynecologic Surgery, Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology (2018). Gaby Moawad et al, Ethical Considerations Arising From Surgeon Caseload Volume in Benign Gynecologic Surgery,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.jmig.2018.03.009
Credit: Portland State University

The odds of an infant dying before their first birthday are higher in counties with greater proportions of conservative Protestants, especially fundamentalists, than in counties with more mainline Protestants and Catholics, according to a new Portland State University study.

The study, published online in May in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, supports the idea that the more insular, anti-institutional culture of fundamentalists can lead to poorer health outcomes.

Ginny Garcia-Alexander, a sociology professor in PSU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the study's lead author, examined the influence of religion on postneonatal infant mortality rates, or the number of deaths from four weeks through the first year, using data from 1990 through 2010.

Garcia-Alexander said a leading cause of infant death in the first 28 days is birth defects, which can be heavily influenced by advances in medical knowledge and technology. By contrast, deaths in the next 11 months of life are more often linked to external factors such as poverty, lack of insurance, social support networks and religion.

Garcia-Alexander said the findings mirror trends seen in adult mortality rates, where areas with more mainline Protestants and Catholics had better health outcomes than areas with more conservative Protestants.

The study's findings build on previous research that says that Catholicism and mainline Protestantism are civically minded, externally oriented faiths that emphasize community-level care. For example, church-affiliated hospitals and social-service providers such as Catholic Charities can bolster the health infrastructure of local communities.

"Both of those have more of a commitment to worldly pursuits," Garcia-Alexander said. "There is a concerted effort to make inroads with the community that they live in and to do good for the community, both for members and nonmembers alike."

On the flip side, conservative Protestants, including fundamentalists and Pentecostals, tend to be more insular and are more likely to reject science and health-related resources.

"This is continuing to show us that there are things that we can do in our communities to improve health outcomes," Garcia-Alexander said. "And to the extent that people who belong to religious organizations are aware of that, knowing that you are a communicator of health information, that can be a really valuable way to harness the power of the group and the community to communicate helpful practices for infant health and public health interventions."

The study suggests that efforts could be made to implement prenatal and neonatal health promotion programs within congregations. Even in conservative congregations where scientific knowledge might be viewed with some suspicion, the study said the programs can be promoted as a means of caring for mothers, the unborn and newborns.

Explore further Some faiths more likely to turn to religion for answers to science

More information: Ginny E. Garcia et al. Religion and Infant Mortality in the United States: A Community-Level Investigation of Denominational Variations in Postneonatal Deaths, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2018). Journal information: Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion Ginny E. Garcia et al. Religion and Infant Mortality in the United States: A Community-Level Investigation of Denominational Variations in Postneonatal Deaths,(2018). DOI: 10.1111/jssr.12487
Melanoma in skin biopsy with H&E stain  this case may represent superficial spreading melanoma. Credit: Wikipedia/CC BY-SA 3.0

Researchers have shown for the first time that a form of artificial intelligence or machine learning known as a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN) is better than experienced dermatologists at detecting skin cancer.

In a study published in the leading cancer journal Annals of Oncology today, researchers in Germany, the USA and France trained a CNN to identify skin cancer by showing it more than 100,000 images of malignant melanomas (the most lethal form of skin cancer), as well as benign moles (or nevi). They compared its performance with that of 58 international dermatologists and found that the CNN missed fewer melanomas and misdiagnosed benign moles less often as malignant than the group of dermatologists.

A CNN is an artificial neural network inspired by the biological processes at work when nerve cells (neurons) in the brain are connected to each other and respond to what the eye sees. The CNN is capable of learning fast from images that it "sees" and teaching itself from what it has learned to improve its performance (a process known as machine learning).

The first author of the study, Professor Holger Haenssle, senior managing physician at the Department of Dermatology, University of Heidelberg, Germany, explained: "The CNN works like the brain of a child. To train it, we showed the CNN more than 100,000 images of malignant and benign skin cancers and moles and indicated the diagnosis for each image. Only dermoscopic images were used, that is lesions that were imaged at a 10-fold magnification. With each training image, the CNN improved its ability to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions.

"After finishing the training, we created two test sets of images from the Heidelberg library that had never been used for training and therefore were unknown to the CNN. One set of 300 images was built to solely test the performance of the CNN. Before doing so, 100 of the most difficult lesions were selected to test real dermatologists in comparison to the results of the CNN."

Dermatologists from around the world were invited to take part, and 58 from 17 countries around the world agreed. Of these, 17 (29%) indicated they had less than two years' experience in dermoscopy, 11 (19%) said they were skilled with between two to five years' experience, and 30 (52%) were expert with more than five years' experience.

The dermatologists were asked to first make a diagnosis of malignant melanoma or benign mole just from the dermoscopic images (level I) and make a decision about how to manage the condition (surgery, short-term follow-up, or no action needed). Then, four weeks later they were given clinical information about the patient (including age, sex and position of the lesion) and close-up images of the same 100 cases (level II) and asked for diagnoses and management decisions again.

In level I, the dermatologists accurately detected an average of 86.6% of melanomas, and correctly identified an average of 71.3% of lesions that were not malignant. However, when the CNN was tuned to the same level as the physicians to correctly identify benign moles (71.3%), the CNN detected 95% of melanomas. At level II, the dermatologists improved their performance, accurately diagnosing 88.9% of malignant melanomas and 75.7% that were not cancer.

"The CNN missed fewer melanomas, meaning it had a higher sensitivity than the dermatologists, and it misdiagnosed fewer benign moles as malignant melanoma, which means it had a higher specificity; this would result in less unnecessary surgery," said Professor Haenssle.

"When dermatologists received more clinical information and images at level II, their diagnostic performance improved. However, the CNN, which was still working solely from the dermoscopic images with no additional clinical information, continued to out-perform the physicians' diagnostic abilities."

The expert dermatologists performed better at level I than the less experienced dermatologists and were better at detecting malignant melanomas. However, their average ability to make the correct diagnosis was still worse than the CNN at both levels.

"These findings show that deep learning convolutional neural networks are capable of out-performing dermatologists, including extensively trained experts, in the task of detecting melanomas," he said.

The incidence of malignant melanoma is increasing, with an estimated 232,000 new cases worldwide and around 55,500 deaths from the disease each year. It can be cured if detected early, but many cases are only diagnosed when the cancer is more advanced and harder to treat.

Professor Haenssle said: "I have been involved in research projects that aim at improving the early detection of melanoma in its curable stages for almost 20 years. My group and I are focusing on non-invasive technologies that may help physicians not to miss melanomas, for instance, while performing skin cancer screenings. When I came across recent reports on deep-learning algorithms that outperform human experts in specific tasks, I immediately knew that we had to explore these artificial intelligence algorithms for diagnosing melanoma."

The researchers do not envisage that the CNN would take over from dermatologists in diagnosing skin cancers, but that it could be used as an additional aid.

"This CNN may serve physicians involved in skin cancer screening as an aid in their decision whether to biopsy a lesion or not. Most dermatologists already use digital dermoscopy systems to image and store lesions for documentation and follow-up. The CNN can then easily and rapidly evaluate the stored image for an 'expert opinion' on the probability of melanoma. We are currently planning prospective studies to assess the real-life impact of the CNN for physicians and patients."

The study has some limitations, which include the fact that the dermatologists were in an artificial setting where they knew they were not making "life or death" decisions; the test sets did not include the full range of skin lesions; there were fewer validated images from non-Caucasian skin types and genetic backgrounds; and the fact that doctors may not always follow the recommendation of a CNN they don't trust.

In an accompanying editorial Dr. Victoria Mar (Monash University, Melbourne, Australia) and Professor H. Peter Soyer (The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia) write: "Currently, diagnostic accuracy for melanoma is dependent on the experience and training of the treating doctor. ..... Haenssle et al...have shown that a computer algorithm using convolutional neural networks outperformed the majority of 58 dermatologists tested .....This shows that artificial intelligence (AI) promises a more standardised level of diagnostic accuracy, such that all people, regardless of where they live or which doctor they see, will be able to access reliable diagnostic assessment."

They highlight a number of issues that would need to be addressed before AI could become standard in clinics, including the difficulty of imaging some melanomas on sites such as the fingers, toes and scalp, and how to train AI sufficiently to recognise atypical melanomas and ones that patients are unaware of.

They conclude: "Currently, there is no substitute for a thorough clinical examination. However, 2-D and 3-D total body photography is able to capture about 90 to 95% of the skin surface and given exponential development of imaging technology we envisage that sooner than later, automated diagnosis will change the diagnostic paradigm in dermatology. Still, there is much more work to be done to implement this exciting technology safely into routine clinical care."

Explore further PAs may have lower diagnostic accuracy for melanoma

More information: "Man against machine: diagnostic performance of a deep learning convolutional neural network for dermoscopic melanoma recognition in comparison to 58 dermatologists", by H.A. Haenssle et al. Annals of Oncology. DOI: 10.1093/annonc/mdy166 Journal information: Annals of Oncology "Man against machine: diagnostic performance of a deep learning convolutional neural network for dermoscopic melanoma recognition in comparison to 58 dermatologists", by H.A. Haenssle et al.
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

It's a question that has challenged scientists and physicians for years: Why do vaccines work better in some parts of the world than in others? A new study, led in part by University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Tim Schacker, MD, contributes to knowledge about why vaccines given in the developing world often are less effective than in the developed world.

The study, to be published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, finds that diseases common in the developing world might be a culprit. For example, malaria, tuberculosis and infections caused by parasites may damage lymph node structures that are crucial to developing immunity after a vaccine.

"One of the unanswered questions in vaccine research is why some vaccines work well in the developed world but very poorly in the developing worldespecially in more tropical climates. We wanted to know whether environmental factors or pervasive infections in developing areas were making vaccines less effective," says Schacker, a professor of infectious diseases and international medicine and director of the Program in HIV Medicine at the University of Minnesota. "Our research suggests that having certain diseases does affect the body's ability to prompt immune protection after a vaccine."

For the study, researchers evaluated groups of people from Uganda and the United States. They found that the Ugandans have significantly higher levels of inflammation in their bodies and a depleted supply of protective T cells. Their secondary lymph nodes, where vaccine responses happen, had fibrosis or thickening and scarring from the inflammation.

Schacker's research uncovered significant differences in the lymphoid anatomy between subjects in Uganda and the United States. Every Ugandan participant showed evidence of differences in the anatomy of their secondary lymph nodes compared to participants in the United States. These differences include fibrosis, increased immune activation and other anatomy changes that would be considered abnormal in the United States.

With this evidence in hand, researchers then explored whether such differences hindered the Ugandans' response to vaccinations. They gave Ugandans a yellow fever vaccination and monitored them for 60 weeks, seeking to determine whether their lymphoid abnormalities were associated with immune dysfunction. In addition, they found correlations between the Ugandans' limited antibody response to the vaccine and the amount of damage from inflammation and fibrosis in the lymph nodes. "We showed that the degree to which these tissues were damaged by inflammation was significantly associated with the response to a vaccine," Schacker says. "This suggests that common infections in the developing world may be an important limiting factor in the development of immune response to a vaccine."

"We believe that these data have important implications for how vaccines are designed and tested for infections that greatly impact the developing world," he adds. "This is especially true of vaccines for HIV, malaria, and TBdiseases that are responsible for the greatest number of deaths."

Explore further How intestinal worms hinder tuberculosis vaccination
In this May 24, 2018 file photo, people stand on the steps of the Portuguese parliament in Lisbon during a protest against euthanasia. After legalizing abortion and same-sex marriage in recent times, Portuguese lawmakers will decide Tuesday, May 29, 2018 on another issue that has brought a confrontation between faith and politics in this mostly Catholic country: whether to allow euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, File)

Portuguese lawmakers were holding a landmark debate Tuesday on whether to make Portugal one of only a handful of countries in the world allowing euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.

The debate in parliament was scheduled to end in a vote later in the day on four broadly similar bills tabled by left-leaning parties, including the governing Socialist Party.

Euthanasiawhen a doctor kills patients at their requestis legal in Belgium, Canada, Colombia, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In Switzerland, and some U.S. states, assisted suicidewhere patients administer the lethal drug themselves, under medical supervisionis permitted.

The outcome of Portugal's vote was uncertain and likely to be close. The two main parties, the Socialists and the main opposition Social Democratic Party, allowed their lawmakers to vote according to their conscience. The two parties have 175 of the 230 members of the Republican Assembly, Portugal's parliament.

Even if one of the four bills is approved by a simple majority, it could still be blocked by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. The head of state has no executive powers but can veto legislation. Rebelo de Sousa, reluctant to influence the parliamentary debate, hasn't said what he would do if the "yes" vote wins.

Euthanasia was forced onto the political agenda by a public petition urging its introduction in 2016.

The deeply divisive issue is the latest point of friction between faith and politics in this predominantly Catholic country. The Portuguese parliament, prodded by a series of left-leaning governments determined to bring about what they called a "modernization" of the country, has in recent times voted to permit abortion on demand and same-sex marriage.

Four political partiesthe governing center-left Socialist Party, the radical Left Bloc, the Green Party, and the People, Animals, Nature partyhave tabled bills proposing euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide. Inciting or assisting euthanasia is currently punishable by up to three years in prison.

"The Constitution says life is an inviolable right, but it doesn't say it is a duty that cannot be relinquished," said Maria Almeida Santos, a Socialist, during the debate, adding that her party's euthanasia proposal "asserts the right to a life with dignity."

Social Democratic lawmaker Rubina Berardo, an opponent of right-to-die legislation, replied, "Does sickness take away the dignity of being human? Even if it is a serious and terminal illness?"

The Socialist bill, which was likely to earn the most support, covers patients who are "in a situation of extreme suffering, with an untreatable injury or a fatal and incurable disease." Two doctors, at least one of them a specialist in the relevant illness, and a psychiatrist would need to sign off on the request to die. The case would then go to a Verification and Evaluation Committee, which could approve or turn down the procedure.

The process is postponed if it is legally challenged, or if the patient loses consciousness, and doctors can refuse to perform the procedure on moral grounds. Oversight is provided by the General-Inspectorate for Health.

To discourage people from traveling to Portugal to end their life, the bills all stipulate that patients must either be Portuguese citizens or legal residents.

The bills are similar, with slight differences. The Left Bloc, for example, wants euthanasia to go ahead even if the patient is unconscious, as long as the patient previously stipulated in writing that was his or her wish. The People, Animals, Nature party's bill, meanwhile, says euthanasia can be carried out only within the public health care system, not by private clinics.

Explore further Portugal considers allowing euthanasia, assisted suicide

 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
Credit: University of South Australia

Prostate cancer survivors taking androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), a treatment commonly used to block the release of male hormones, are at a higher risk of developing chronic diseases, according to new research published this week.

In a study analysing the pharmaceutical records of about 3,700 prostate cancer survivors from 2003 to 2014, University of South Australia (UniSA) researchers examined the development of chronic diseases over time.

The data shows that prostate cancer survivors treated with ADT were more likely to develop cardiovascular disease, depression, diabetes, gastric acid disorders, hyperlipidaemia (high blood cholesterol), osteoporosis and inflammatory/painful conditions.

UniSA Ph.D. candidate Huah Shin Ng, who undertook the study, says previous studies have shown long-term adverse effects of ADT but this is the first study to examine the development of multiple chronic diseases in the Australian setting.

The findings point to a need for better coordinated care for cancer survivors, according to UniSA Dr. Agnes Vitry, who was supervising the study.

"This data will help us to develop a needs-based approach for ensuring the optimal use of health care services that effectively address multiple chronic conditions for the increasing number of cancer survivors in Australia" Dr. Vitry says.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed among Australian men. In 2017, there were more than 200,000 men living with prostate cancer in Australia. Of these, 80 per cent are long-term survivors but many will die from other causes than prostate cancer, mainly chronic conditions, which contributes to a spiralling health bill.

There are no hard figures for Australia, but a report published in the UK showed that the hospital costs for prostate cancer survivors with comorbidities were 12,000 compared to 2800 for survivors without chronic health conditions.

The paper, "Development of comorbidities in men with prostate cancer treated with androgen deprivation therapy: an Australian population-based cohort study," is published in the Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases journal.

Explore further PSA level three months after radiation tx may predict outcome

More information: Huah Shin Ng et al. Development of comorbidities in men with prostate cancer treated with androgen deprivation therapy: an Australian population-based cohort study, Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases (2018). Huah Shin Ng et al. Development of comorbidities in men with prostate cancer treated with androgen deprivation therapy: an Australian population-based cohort study,(2018). DOI: 10.1038/s41391-018-0036-y
A new study has investigated alcohol issues faced by same sex attracted women. Credit: University of Melbourne

Same sex attracted women (SSAW) have higher alcohol and mental health problem rates than heterosexual women but many do not access or are not satisfied with treatment, a University of Melbourne-led study has found.

Published in the UK Royal College of General Practitioners' journal BJGP Open, the study involved researchers from the University of Melbourne, La Trobe University, Columbia University, Royal Melbourne Hospital and Monash University.

The study of 521 Australian SSAW found that 70 per cent of those aged 18-25 reported problematic alcohol use that exceeded national guidelines, but only six per cent accessed treatment. Overall, only 41.1 per cent of participants who needed mental health and alcohol treatment had used it.

The research found significant service access barriers included not feeling ready for help and previous negative experiences related to sexual identity.

It found enablers included having a regular GP, sexuality disclosure to the GP and LGBTIQ community connectedness. Intimate partner violence was also associated with increased access to services for mental health and alcohol issues.

Chief investigator and University of Melbourne Honorary Professor Ruth McNair said some SSAW women were reluctant to seek professional help as they worried about being discriminated against or not being taken seriously.

However, she said GPs were generally capable and interested in helping them and a supportive GP was a must.

"It's even more important for people who have suffered some discrimination and that's one of the underlying reasons for their drug or alcohol use," Professor McNair said.

Professor McNair said organisations such as the Australian Lesbian Medical Association via the Doclist and the Victorian AIDS Council could help to find LGBTIQ friendly health professionals.

She said it was important for health professionals to be aware of LGBTIQ issues and encourage patients to feel comfortable discussing them. "It often doesn't come up," she says.

The study also found that social support for SSAW women was associated with a reduction in treatment use. This meant those who felt they had a strong social support network were less likely to seek help.

"SSAW are consistently less likely than heterosexual women to use alcohol treatment services, despite reporting more problematic drinking," the study found. "Bisexual and 'mainly heterosexual' women demonstrate even higher risk than lesbian women.

"Disclosing sexual identity to a regular, trusted GP correlated with improved utilisation of alcohol and mental health treatment for SSAW. The benefits of seeking help for alcohol use, and of accessing LGBT-inclusive GPs to do so, should be promoted to SSAW."

Explore further Discrimination leaves lesbian and bisexual women facing depression, anxiety and alcohol problems

More information: Ruth McNair et al. Health service use by same-sex attracted Australian women for alcohol and mental health issues: a cross-sectional study, BJGP Open (2018). Ruth McNair et al. Health service use by same-sex attracted Australian women for alcohol and mental health issues: a cross-sectional study,(2018). DOI: 10.3399/bjgpopen18X101565
About 70 percent of all variations in health care outcomes are explained by individuals' social conditions including housing, neighborhood conditions, and income, data show. In order to establish community cultures of health where people are empowered to live healthier lives, health care providers and community sector leaders in transportation, government, schools, and businesses must collaborate to address the social conditions that affect population health.

New research points to the types of skills necessary for nurse leaders to encourage such collaborations. The study, Promoting a Culture of Health Through Cross-Sector Collaborations, has been published in the journal Health Promotion Practice.

The study focused on the experiences of members of the American Academy of Nursing's Edge Runner program, which recognizes nurses who have designed and/or are leading care models that have demonstrated positive clinical and financial outcomes. By studying the experiences of these innovative nurses who have developed cross-sector collaborations that promote a culture of health, the researchers discovered four key skills that enable leaders to successfully manage such collaborations.

"Health care providers can be important leaders and 'bridgers' in collaborations, but they must possess the knowledge, attitudes and skills of facilitators, partners, and relationship-builders," says Antonia Villarruel, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, Professor and the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), one of the authors of the study.

The four key themes discovered to be relevant to cross-sector collaborations that develop a community's culture of heath include:

Being bilingualEdge Runners found they needed to be able to speak the language of both the community and the institutions of power.

Neighborliness and trustSuccessful Edge Runners are able to demonstrate to community leaders their long-term commitment to the communities they serve and a willingness to listen and understand community needs.

Having a business senseEnsuring continued support often requires Edge Runners to make a business case for their programs, particularly in explaining how to sustain or expand these programs.

Shared vision and languageBeing able to communicate shared visions with potential collaboration partners is an essential way Edge Runners gain trust and engagement.

"The study results have a number of important implications for policy and health professional education," explains Villarruel. "It also provides initial insights into how health care providers can collaborate with both health and non-health entities, on the ground at community level and at the funder level, to benefit local communities and populations."

Explore further Community champions: Collaborating with communities strengthens nursing and leadership skills

More information: Grant R. Martsolf et al. Promoting a Culture of Health Through Cross-Sector Collaborations, Health Promotion Practice (2018). Grant R. Martsolf et al. Promoting a Culture of Health Through Cross-Sector Collaborations,(2018). DOI: 10.1177/1524839918772284
Patients who undergo inpatient surgery experience no difference in death rates, hospital length of stay or costs between admission or discharge whether their physician anesthesiologist is assisted by a nurse anesthetist or an anesthesiologist assistant, according to a new study published in the Online First edition of Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed medical journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA).

Physician anesthesiologists often work with nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologist assistants in the anesthesia care team. All states permit nurse anesthetists to practice, whereas anesthesiologist assistants may practice in 17 jurisdictions.

"Arguments against expanding the number of states where anesthesiologist assistants may practice generally focus on the possibility that health outcomes may be worse when anesthesiologist assistants provide anesthesia care," said lead researcher Eric Sun, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at the Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California. "Nonetheless, until now, it has not been known whether these concerns are warranted and whether there actually is a difference in outcomes depending on whether a physician anesthesiologist works with a nurse anesthetist or an anesthesiologist assistant."

"We found that is not the case. Being supervised by a physician anesthesiologist lessens any differences in background and training between nurse anesthetists and anesthesiologist assistants," Dr. Sun said.

Nurse anesthetists are nurses who receive additional training in anesthesiology through a nurse anesthetist program. Anesthesiologist assistants receive training through an anesthesiologist assistant program. Both providers obtain advanced training in anesthesiology. Nurse anesthetist schools typically require candidates to have a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, professional nursing experience, and a valid nursing license. Entry to anesthesiologist assistant training requires a bachelor's degree with premedical coursework. Then anesthesiologist assistants must complete a comprehensive didactic and clinical program at the graduate school level.

Both anesthesiologist assistants and nurse anesthetists practice with a physician in a physician-led, team-based model of anesthesia care. Anesthesiologist assistants always provide care under the supervision of a physician anesthesiologist. Nurse anesthetists typically practice with a physician in a team model subject to Medicare regulations, state law, or local facility bylaws. There are some practice locations where nurse anesthetists practice in a nurse-only model of anesthesia care.

In this study, researchers used national claims data for 443,000 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent inpatient surgery between 2004 and 2011. The sample consisted of 421,230 surgical cases in which the anesthesia care team consisted of a physician anesthesiologist and a nurse anesthetist, and 21,868 cases in which the anesthesia care team consisted of a physician anesthesiologist and an anesthesiologist assistant.

The study found the adjusted mortality for anesthesia care teams with anesthesiologist assistants was 1.6 percent versus 1.7 percent for care teams with nurse anesthetists. When compared to anesthesia care teams with nurse anesthetists, care teams with anesthesiologist assistants were associated with non-statistically significant decreases in length of hospital stay and medical spending.

"The article shows that anesthesia care provided by an anesthesiologist assistant or nurse anesthetist is equivalent when led by a physician anesthesiologist," Dr. Sun said. "Our results suggest that physician supervision is able to ensure the same outcomes regardless of the team member's differences in training and background."

Explore further Billing code invalid measure to identify nurse anesthetist stand-alone practice

More information: "Anesthesia Care Team Composition and Surgical Outcomes," Anesthesiology (2018). Journal information: Anesthesiology "Anesthesia Care Team Composition and Surgical Outcomes,"(2018).

Provided by American Society of Anesthesiologists
Gerardo Lucio, with his daughter Karen, said his stroke motivated him to spend more time with his two kids. Photo: Raoul Torresi/American Heart Association

Last November, two days before Thanksgiving, Gerardo Lucio collapsed after getting off a forklift at work. When he was able to get up, his right arm and leg were weak and he had trouble walking. A nephew he worked with took him to a hospital.

"I couldn't believe it," said Lucio. "I didn't know what was happening."

The emergency room staffers quickly realized he was having a stroke. They were able to stabilize him, but Lucio needed care they couldn't provide. They transferred him by ambulance to Zale Lipshy University Hospital, an advanced stroke treatment facility in Dallas affiliated with UT Southwestern Medical Center. There, the medical team immediately performed a mechanical thrombectomy to remove a blood clot that was blocking a large artery in his brain.

Two hours later, the 42-year-old father from Dallas was with his family in a recovery room. In about six weeks, he was back at work.

Lucio said his doctors were stunned by his rapid recovery.

It might not have turned out that way.

At the first hospital, said Lucio, whose native language is Spanish and speaks broken English, the teleinterpreter (interpreters available by phone or video that hospitals use when they have no interpreter on staff) couldn't understand him because he was slurring his words, a common symptom of stroke. Then, he was taken to the wrong hospital before finally arriving at the advanced stroke treatment centerwasting minutes of precious time.

A stroke occurs when blood flow is blocked in the brain, causing damage to brain cells. Lucio had some of the common symptoms of stroke, including sudden weakness, numbness on one side of his body and slurred speech.

Just under 800,000 Americans have a stroke each year. It is a leading cause of disability, and the fifth-leading cause of death in the United States.

Studies suggest Hispanic-Americans are more likely to have a stroke than whites. Although the death rate for stroke has declined overall for several decades, it has increased among Hispanic-Americans since 2013, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There are currently 166 advanced comprehensive stroke centers in the United States certified by the Joint Commission, a nonprofit organization that offers quality of care accreditation. These medical centers have neurologists, nurses and other medical personnel specialized in treating complicated stroke cases.

Dr. Mehari Gebreyohanns, the stroke neurologist who treated Lucio at Zale Lipshy University Hospital, said his former patient is lucky to not have a disability given the severity of his stroke.

When he arrived at the hospital, Gebreyohanns recalled, Lucio couldn't talk, move the right side of his body, or follow directions. But less than a day after surgery, he was talking and had almost fully regained other functions. Gebreyohanns said he attributes Lucio's "very remarkable" recovery in large part to the fact he was treated quickly.

"It's this kind of case that keeps us going," he said.

Lucio said the episode continues to haunt him, and that he's had a tough time overcoming his fear of another stroke. "Stress weakens you, too," he said. His experience also motivated him to spend more quality time with his 18-year-old son, Gerardo, and 14-year-old daughter, Karen.

The experience also rattled his children. The siblings said it scared them to see their active fatherwho went to the gym and enjoyed tinkering with carsin the hospital unable to speak.

Gerardo and Karen helped their father recuperate. Karen assisted Lucio with the physical therapy exercises he needed to do to strengthen his right hand; Gerardo drove him to his follow-up appointments and spent time with him at the gym.

"I'm grateful that he's back on his feet," said Gerardo. "I'm really happy that the doctors did what they were supposed to do and helped my dad. Hopefully it won't happen again."

Gebreyohanns doesn't want Lucio to take his good fortune for granted.

Strokes typically happen to older people, Gebreyohanns said. So when a person has a stroke in their 40s, as Lucio did, they are at high risk for a second one, especially if they have high cholesterol or are obese. For this reason, Gebreyohanns said it's important for Lucio, who was diagnosed with a heart murmur when he was treated for the stroke and has high cholesterol, to follow "a healthy lifestyle."

Lucio, who has enjoyed running for more than 20 years, said he's doing his best to follow that advice. He's making an effort to exercise more and eat healthier foods, such as baked chicken and steamed vegetables.

"It's a new opportunity for me, to live life again," said Lucio, who now works in quality control in a food distribution company. "I have to change everything and be with the people I love."

Explore further What you need to know about strokes

Copyright is owned or held by the American Heart Association, Inc., and all rights are reserved. If you have questions or comments about this story, please email editor@heart.org.
Credit: University of Nottingham

Scientists have discovered a way to create disease fighting proteins from tobacco plants which could lead to the development of a vaccine for Dengue Fever.

Currently, there is no promising treatment for Dengue Fever, a disease that infects almost 400 million people worldwide every year and is Malaysia's most prevalent infectious disease. Carried by Aedes mosquitos, the virus causes severe headaches, muscle and joint pains, swollen lymph nodes, vomiting, fever and rash and in some cases can be serious or life threatening.

A team of scientists from the University of Nottingham Malaysia are working on a project to create a plant-based vaccine, which if successful would provide a safe and cost effective way to prevent this disease.

Moving closer to an oral vaccine

Professor Sandy Loh is leading the research and says: "Vaccines are created from proteins that can be produced in many different systems and research usually focuses on mammalian cell, bacterial cell or fungus. Using plants for this process is a new platform to emerge that has the potential to provide an edible based vaccine that can be used in orally taken medicine. Other than tobacco plants, we are also working on edible plant species such as lettuce which we hope will eventually lead to an oral vaccine in the future."

"Using plants to develop a vaccine in this way offers many advantages like higher expression, lower production cost, easier distribution as there is no need for trained nurses to provide injections and better safety as there are no animal or human pathogens which increases the biosafety aspect."

Neutralising the Dengue virus

The project has produced a vaccine antigen (protein) within the plant that neutralises the Dengue virus. The uniqueness of the project is the use of a transient expression process called Agroinfiltration. During this process, a defective plant virus is combined with Agrobacterium in making an expression vector that delivers the Dengue vaccine antigen into the leaf of the tobacco plant. It is then incubated and harvested after a few days that the vaccine antigen can be extracted and purified for use as a vaccine.

The findings of the project have verified that an immune response is created using the plant-based vaccine in an animal model and the antibodies produced can neutralize the Dengue virus. The next stage of the research will involve virus challenge studies to determine the protection efficacy of the plant-based vaccine.

Quick and safe development

As well as Dengue Fever, this technique has also been used to investigate plant based vaccine for Avian Flu and has had similar success. Professor Loh continues; "For developing countries, the development of a cost effective vaccine from plants would have a significant impact as it would mean they can develop their own local vaccines to combat endemic diseases. Providing vaccines in this way would undoubtedly save many lives."

One of the unqiue aspects of this research is the speediness at which the vaccines can be created using the agroinfiltration method. Professor Loh explains: "For diseases like flu which can mutate quickly, the speed at which we could potentially develop a vaccine is as rapid as one month, this means specific vaccines can be produced to be ready for any potential pandemic outbreaks."
Ms. Christie, 61, said by telephone that receiving Lieutenant Kellys remains would provide even more closure for her family. She has now read all of the letters he wrote home during the war, she said, and his grave in Livermore, Calif., has recently taken on new significance for her.

To honor Lieutenant Kelly and the other crew members, a B-24 bomber flew over the cemetery three times on Sunday. A 21-gun salute and flag-presentation ceremony were also held.

It was wonderful, Ms. Christie said.

In his correspondence, the young bombardiers tone is often optimistic, even as he acknowledges the hardships and dangers of his assignment. In one letter, he digresses to say he took a break from writing to eat a quart of ice cream.

Ms. Christie said she was struck by how very young her uncle had been, and by his constant concern for how his family was dealing with his absence.

If we are lucky we might get home by next Christmas, but its hard to say for sure, Lieutenant Kelly wrote on Feb. 1, 1944, shortly after his 21st birthday.

How are Mom and Dad? he wrote on Feb. 29, less than two weeks before he died aboard Heaven Can Wait. Are they doing a lot of needless worrying?
In a commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Fortinet in 2017, over 400 global decision-makers across a wide variety of industries, responsible for the security of their organisations critical infrastructure, were asked about the security risks they are facing and how prepared they are to mitigate these risks.

The survey was aimed at discovering how these companies decision-makers view their progress in their security transformation in concurrence with digital transformation. Questions were also aimed at respondents governance and procedures around security, and qualifications and skills to manage threats.

According to Paul Williams, Fortinet SA Country Manager, the results showed that South Africas marketplace and maturity value, in terms of cyber security and other security threats as well as preparedness, is on par with the rest of the world.

The survey results, however, also showed that SA is lagging in its response time to security breaches. According to Williams, the lagging response rate to security breaches is the result of a skills shortage in the country.

Despite being on par with new technology to monitor, detect, and mitigate these risks, there is a limited number of people in South Africa with the specific and necessary skill set.

Top security threats in South Africa

Some of the most concerning threats for South African businesses include malware attacks, ransomware attacks, botnet attacks, as well as cyber security hacks across the board, whether it is for identification documentation, other personal information, corporate espionage, or politically orientated.

According to Williams, intelligent ransomware and malware attacks have also been surfacing as new technology now allows them to do so.

In 2018, another global occurrence weve seen is an increase in attacks on the Sandbox. Attackers block and attack the solution-set where they are trying to manipulate the Sandbox, said Williams.

The business impact of a security breach can either be minor, or it can be crippling  all depends on the type of breach and how it occurred, he added, making training and upskilling critical.

Fortinet training

In their journey to ensure that South Africa gets the skills they need to combat these threats more effectively and in real time, Fortinet together with universities, technikons, distributors, and their partners are driving internship programmes and training to graduates with an interest in IT engineering.

Fortinet has dedicated themselves to training engineers on a quarterly and annual basis with basic NSE 4 and NSE 5 training to get them grounded on what the technology can do, how to understand cyber security, threats, the security landscape, and the attack surface.

Fortinets security fabric

Fortinet also offers organisations a security fabric in combatting threats and helps them amplify their existing infrastructure.

Fortinet looks at everything across the board, from the end-point right through to the perimeter of the network, into the data centre, cloud, and even their cloud services. We protect everything end-to-end, based on Fortinet Security Fabric, said Williams.

The security fabric has been designed with multiple organisational understandings or elements of attack. We look at the perimeter, end-point, cloud and data centre, and even the multi-cloud. Everything in security is always pushed back and updated by FortiGuard Labs, Williams concluded.

For more information, visit the Fortinet website.
YOUNTVILLE  The Veterans Home of California is where more than 800 men and women, former service members and their spouses, live out their retirement years at the edge of the Napa Valley wine country. Once a year, a burial ground on the western fringe of the campus becomes a backdrop for a ceremony honoring those who fought for their country.

From the presentation of flags to a bagpipers rendition of God Bless America to the bugling of taps, the annual Memorial Day observance Monday at the Veterans Home cemetery in Yountville was a time to honor the sacrifices of military men and women past  and also the veterans of today.

We stand in the midst of patriots, and with family and friends who nobly served, said Jay Caddell, whom Gov. Jerry Brown last month appointed the Yountville homes administrator. Courage, pride, selfless dedication to duty: all of these are needed to be dedicated to a mission larger than oneself.  They are ordinary people who responded in extraordinary ways, in extreme times.

When Caddell asked the audience of 120 strong who among them had served in the military, more than two dozen men and women rose from their seats near the entry arch into the cemetery.

Thank you for answering the call to duty, he told the veterans. You have made the U.S. armed forces the most respected in the world.

An hour-long remembrance culminated in a slow procession led by five kilted, flag-carrying members of the Scottish-American Military Society, beneath the shade of live oaks and past hilly rows of gravestones that local Scouting troops had adorned with small U.S. flags on Saturday. Deeper within the cemetery, participants laid three wreaths at the base of a white stone obelisk, the marker for a tomb dedicated to unknown soldiers.

The observance in Yountville was one of several across Napa County, where remembrances for U.S. war dead also took place in Napa, American Canyon, St. Helena and Calistoga. At the Veterans Home, however, Memorial Day played out against a backdrop nearly as old as the holiday itself.

The retirement community for former troops opened in 1884, just 16 years after Gen. John A. Logan, commander in chief of the Grand Army of the Republic group for Union Army veterans of the Civil War, first advocated a national day to lay flowers and decoration on the graves of war dead, the CalVet website says. Originally known as Decoration Day and observed on May 30, it evolved into an occasion to remember deceased fighters of all U.S. wars, then in 1971 became a federal holiday marked on the last Monday in May.

On Monday, Caddell asked Napans to remember not only fallen troops but also three women who lost their lives helping guide men back from the trauma of combat  Christine Loeber, Jennifer Gray Golick and Jennifer Gonzales Shushereba, Pathway Home staffers were shot and killed by a former client March 9 on the Veterans Home grounds.

Less than three months after the Pathway tragedy, Yountville Councilmember Kerri Dorman asked Napa Valley residents not only to remember the sacrifices of service members who have died, but also to serve those who are still with us  in ways as simple as sharing a meal and ones personal time, or as involved as pitching in with veterans support groups.

We need to see this day as a day to start paying it forward, said Dorman, the daughter of an Oklahoma-born Marine Corps veteran.  We owe them; we cannot let it go unsaid. We need to let every day be a memorial day.

Words of thanks are never enough, she added. But thank you.

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ST. HELENA  As local governments throughout Napa County consider raising hotel taxes to generate money for housing, the St. Helena City Council is leaning toward a different approach.

Elected officials in Napa County and the cities of Napa and Calistoga are weighing potential November ballot measures that would increase transient occupancy taxes (TOT) in their jurisdictions by 1 percent to support workforce housing. As special taxes earmarked for a specific purpose, each ballot measure would require the support of two-thirds of voters.

St. Helena city council members talked earlier this month about instead pursuing a general tax measure that would increase TOT by either 1 or 2 percent. With no specific purpose identified on the ballot, the measure would require only a simple majority of 50 percent plus one, and the city would be able to use the revenue as it sees fit.

Its very likely that at least some of that money would be dedicated to housing, but the city would be free to use it on other expenses like the fire department, which is transitioning toward a professional model that could become significantly more expensive over the long term.

I dont think one size fits all, said Councilmember Mary Koberstein. What might work in Calistoga or Yountville might not be the best choice for us.
Firefighters put out two vegetation fires of unknown sizes that were reported late Monday afternoon, according to Napa Fire.

The first blaze was reported at 4:44 p.m. at Trancas Crossing Park at 610 Trancas St., according to Capt. Steve Becker of the Napa city fire department. Three engines were called to the park, including one from Napa County Fire, he said.

Shortly after extinguishing that fire, Napa Fire received reports at 5:41 p.m. of a second blaze a quarter-mile to the south along Shoreline Drive near the Napa River's west bank, according to Becker. Both fires were contained by 6:30 p.m., he said.

No injuries or threats to buildings were reported. The causes of both fires remained under investigation.

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Mobile home living is different than stick house living, she said.

First, its private property youre living on, renting the space, but you own the home, she said. You must abide by park rules. Its the park owners responsibility to maintain trees and driveways  thats part of what your rent pays for. There are differences between senior and family parks. There are state rules and regulations, and the next issue of the magazine will have many pages of educational stuff.

Margaret Robbins, of Vallejo is one of the groups volunteers.

Its important to get the word out, to let them know were here to help them, she said. The more people we can reach the better. Its important they know their rights. Living in a mobile home is a lot different than living in a house or an apartment. Ive never been involved in anything like this in my life. But, there are people who are being taken advantage of, especially people from other countries who dont speak the language.
The proposed boundaries somewhat resemble those of a 2011 proposal from then-Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Stone, now a Republican state senator, who complained at the time that We have a state Legislature that has gone wildThere is only one solution: a serious secession from the liberal arm of the state of California.

Stones idea didnt get far when he proposed it, even if his planned boundaries werent quite as twisty as what the new initiative proposes.

Both notions represent the current political split in California, which is less dominated by differences between north and south than by contrasts between the states inland and coastal counties.

The new measure is far less complex than a six-state idea pushed a couple of years ago by venture capitalist Tim Draper, who essentially wanted to put six more Democrats and four new Republicans into the U.S. Senate. Draper tried to qualify a ballot initiative jump-starting his idea, but it never gained traction. Draper is also behind the new three-state plan, which would likely put four Democrats and two Republicans into the Senate.
In October 2016, Supervisor Diane Dillon visited Circle Oaks and I asked what would happen if our wells went dry and we had to truck in water because of the Walt Ranch development (in watershed). She said I'd have to pay for it.

Given what has happened in the Carneros area, I have every reason to believe that it could happen to me. The same consulting firm that said there was plenty of groundwater to support the Carneros Resort and Spa development also said there's plenty of water for Walt Ranch.

The Carneros residents told the county supervisors back then that there wasn't enough groundwater in that area, yet the county approved it. Now, 10-plus years later, the city has been trucking in water to that area and just voted to start the process to connect the resort to city water pipes. Once again, another example of fixing a problem that should never have been given the green light in the first place.

I no longer trust Napa County to protect my property and water supply because I have seen how extremely solicitous they are to the wine industry. Supervisor Belia Ramos said at the Feb. 27 meeting when the supervisors voted to place Measure C on the ballot, that she felt this was the wrong way to initiate change and that the citizens should have come to the government to work out their issues.
Napa County supervisors are trying to figure out what to do with a sinking ship of a nonprofit agency that is crucial to providing money for M
St. Helena voters have until 8 p.m. Tuesday to cast their ballots in the June 5 election.

The ballot includes Measures C and D and the race for District 3 Supervisor between incumbent Diane Dillon and challenger Cio Perez.

All ballots for this election are mail-in, so there are no traditional polling places. However, voters can turn in their ballots, get replacement ballots, or ask questions at the vote center located at Napa Valley Colleges Upper Valley Campus on College Avenue.

The center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. weekends, and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Election Day.

Ballots may also be left in the drop box in front of the St. Helena Public Library. The box will be closed promptly at 8 p.m. Tuesday.

For election results, go to sthelenastar.com after Tuesdays 8 p.m. deadline.
The carcass of a wild elephant was found at Ultapani Daughangpara along Indo-Bhutan border village under Ripu Reserve forest in Kokrajhar district of Assam on Monday.

Some villagers first witnessed the carcass of the elephant and informed the department who rushed to the spot and confirmed the death of the wild pachyderm.

According to Dhiren Basumatary, ranger of the Ultapani Forest Department under Hultugaon Forest Division of Kokrajhar, who led the Forest Department team in visiting the spot suspected that the elephant might have been poisoned.

The elephants have been vising the encroached villages in the reserve forest area in search of food.

The villages of these encroached villages were having a harrowing time as these wild elephants destroy their vegetables, maize, jute and other cultivations.

Forest officials suspect that the villagers might be using medicines to poison the elephants.

Post mortem will be conducted later today and after the post mortem it will be clear whether the elephant was killed by poison or the death occurred due to some other reason.

Villagers of the Ultapani Saralpara Daughangpara encroached village said that they got a foul smell and on reaching the spot saw the carcass of the wild elephant.
Catholicos of All Armenians meets with Patriarch Kirill I of Moscow and all Russia

Erdogan's spokesperson confirms news about Ankara considering purchasing F-16 fighter jets from US

Iran says it has documents confirming transfer of terrorist groups to Azerbaijan

Armenia Parliament Speaker receives UNDP "Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia" Program representatives

Iran's Prosecutor General is in Armenia, received by Armenian counterpart

Patriarch Kirill: Political interests are disturbing parties to Nagorno-Karabakh conflict from reaching agreement

Opposition "Armenia" faction hosts members of AGBU Canada

India FM arrives in Yerevan

Ceremony commemorating National Hero of Armenia Vahagn Avetisyan was held

Global Finance Names Ameriabank the Safest Bank in Armenia

Armenia Parliament Speaker receives head of ICRC Delegation

Digest: Pashinyan is on working visit to Russia, Malkhas Amoyan declared world champion

Armenia education, science, culture and sport minister receives newly appointed French Ambassador

Putin-Pashinyan meeting kicks off at the Kremlin

Armenia high-tech industry minister receives Iran Ambassador

Dollar holding relatively steady in Armenia

Armenia Parliament Speaker sends condolence message to Georgian counterpart

Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II: Armenia will overcome difficult times with Russia's support

Putin to hold online meeting with heads of security agencies of CIS countries

Andrea Wiktorin: EU ready to be mediator between Armenia and Azerbaijan, if they wish

Armenia Parliament Speaker on opening of roads and return of Armenian POWs

Displaced residents of Karabakh hold demonstration in front of Russia Embassy in Armenia

Turkey President's spokesperson: Biden, Erdogan to discuss Nagorno-Karabakh

Taliban says NATO should speak to movement only in language of diplomacy

Armenia Parliament Speaker receives Syria Ambassador

Historical houses of Armenians in Igdir are perishing

Texas governor bans forcing residents of state to vaccinate against COVID-19

Armenia parliamentary opposition boycotts standing committee session

Speaker: Only those vaccinated against coronavirus will have right to enter Armenia legislature building

Armenias Pashinyan in Russia on working visit

Kremlin: Format of Putin-Pashinyan talks implies conversation and working lunch

Armenia delegation head: PACE called on Azerbaijan to return all Armenian POWs immediately

Armenia ex-Deputy PM and now opposition MP's attorney leaves courtroom as protest against judge's actions

Bloomberg says Erdogan will persuade Biden to allow Ankara to buy US military aircraft

Armenia former deputy PM and now MP Gevorgyan: Court is holding me captive

Armenia opposition MP: PM not guaranteeing Kashatagh, Shushi regions villages will not be under Azerbaijan control

Armenia ex-deputy PM, now lawmaker Gevorgyan's lawyer submits 2 motions to court

Armenia ex-president Kocharyan, former deputy PM and now MP Gevorgyan criminal case court hearing resumes

Pashinyan to Spains Sanchez: I appreciate your country's support for expansion of Armenia-EU partnership

Armenia, India FMs to meet Wednesday

903 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in Armenia

Artsakh displaced residents again protesting outside Armenia government building

Armenia President in Vatican, meets with head of Pontifical Council for Culture of Holy See

Russia citizen stabbed to death in Yerevan

Armenia convict, 40, dies in hospital

Russia peacekeepers escort Azerbaijan convoys via Karabakh

Armenian Assembly of America urges US to reject Turkey request to purchase F-16 fighter jets

Armenia, Russia defense ministers discuss Armenian-Azerbaijani border situation

Newspaper: Mandatory coronavirus testing of unvaccinated Armenia employees to become 3 times a month instead of 2?

Newspaper: Arrested Armenia ex-defense minister Tonoyan keeps silent to save PM Pashinyan

Armenia ombudsman: During war Azerbaijanis incurred in border area near Tsav village of Syunik Province

ECtHR denies Azerbaijan appeal on blogger Lapshins case

Armenia Journalists Union issues statement on Constitutional Court declaring law on insult/defamation constitutional

Aravot.am: Gyumri woman who killed her mother with psychotropic drugs, attempted suicide is arrested for 2 months

Spiritual leaders of Armenia, Russia and Azerbaijan to discuss peacemaking initiative in South Caucasus

Iran test-launches 'Majid' short-range and low-altitude air defense system

Putin, Merkel and Macron discuss Ukraine

Karabakh Prosecutor General's Office on case of murder of citizen by Azerbaijani side

Court renders decision on Armenia Police's unlawful actions against Armenian citizen Argishti Kiviryan

Armenia PM's Chief of Staff attends event dedicated to International Architects' Day

The ARARAT Museum of the Yerevan Brandy Company hosted the Awards Ceremony of the Golden Apricot

Participants of motorcade of six cars in Moscow start firing gunshots, Armenia citizens arrested

Political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Armenia and Denmark

Armenia ruling faction MP: Turkish textiles need to be replaced with Russian ones

Armenian deputy minister: There are companies in Armenia that manufacture items for Russian military planes

Armenia justice minister says government will remove unjust judges from the judiciary

Karabakh President signs law on making amendments to legislation on weapons

Armenia President visits St. Peter's Basilica at Vatican, lays flowers at statue of St. Gregory of Narek

Armenia President meets with Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Pietro Parolin

Armenia President meets with Pope Francis

Iran's Prosecutor General to arrive in Armenia at invitation of Armenian counterpart

Armenia high-tech industry minister receives Sweden Ambassador

Armenia Deputy PM Suren Papikyan to leave for Moscow

Digest: Pashinyan and Putin scheduled to meet, more on COVID-19 in Armenia

Armenia State Revenue Committee chief meets with UAE State Audit Institution president

Superior command inspects engineering work at Armenia army positions

Iran MFA spokesman: We have never closed our airspace to Azerbaijan

Artsakh ombudsman: Occupied Hadrut undeniable proof of Azerbaijan hatred, ethnic cleansing policy against Armenians

Azerbaijan, Turkey FMs confer on regional situation

Armenia to host French-Armenian Scientific-Medical Conference to help those affected by the war

Iran FM to visit Azerbaijan, media report

One dollar falls below AMD 479 in Armenia

Union of Banks of Armenia has new board chairman

Russian architect: Old Yerevan is about to perish, while Gyumri is being reborn

3 Azerbaijanis cause mass deaths of residents of Russia's Orenburg

Karabakh Armenian architect: It's impossible to cooperate with Azerbaijan in culture sector

UAE State Audit Institution president arrives in Armenia at invitation of justice minister

Mutalibov: Karabakh Armenians will have right to live there if they adopt Azerbaijan citizenship

Ambassador to finance minister: Sweden ready to continue assisting in Armenia reforms

Russia architect: Many monuments in Karabakh are now under threat of destruction

Turkey court orders interior ministry to pay close to $112k to Hrant Dinks family

Catholicos of All Armenians heading for Moscow, will meet with religious leaders of Russia and Azerbaijan

Armenia prosecutor's office to be consistent in investigating Artsakh residents murder, gross violation of ceasefire

Russian FM meeting with Turkish counterpart in Serbia

Armenia FM, Belarus ambassador discuss regional issues

Bitcoin price rises above $ 57,000

Armenia PM to pay working visit to Russia

Azerbaijan State Border Service calls on Iran officials to avoid to spread false and defamatory information

Gas price in Europe exceeds $ 1,100 per 1,000 cubic meters

Man, 37, found half-naked on Armenia river bank
European Union High Representative for Foreign Policy and Security Federica Mogherini said on Monday that EU "reconfirmed a strong message of unity" concerning the union's commitment to the Iran nuclear deal. She added the member states agreed to coordinate the measures and mechanisms to protect the economic investments of European businesses "that have legitimately engaged in Iran" against potential sanctions from the United States, Teletrader reported.

Mogherini stressed that individual countries are preparing their own initiatives in order to "prepare a coordinated mechanism" to accompany the measures of the EU as a whole. She stated that the union does not aim only to protect its economic interests, but its security as well, stating that "in the absence of a nuclear deal with Iran, the security of the region and of Europe would be at stake." However, she acknowledged the "complexities" of the situation affect the implementation of "serious measures" and hoped they will be put in place in the next weeks.
Foreign ministers of the EU agreed at a meeting in Brussels on Monday to start work on fresh sanctions against officials close to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The move follows Maduro's re-election in a poll boycotted by the opposition and widely criticized by international observers, DW reported.

"The EU will act swiftly, according to established procedures, with the aim of imposing additional targeted and reversible restrictive measures that do not harm the Venezuelan population, whose plight the EU wishes to alleviate," the ministers said in their formal agreement.

"We are working on a list that might include 11 more individuals," an EU official said. "This might be approved (by EU foreign ministers) in June."

The sanctions are set to be formally adopted at a meeting on June 25 in Luxembourg, EU sources told the French news agency AFP.

The EU added seven senior Venezuelan officials including the interior minister to its sanctions blacklist in January. In November, it imposed an embargo on weapons and equipment that could be used for political repression.
YEREVAN.  The Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan, on Tuesday introduced David Sanasaryan, the newly appointed head of the State Oversight Service, to its staff.

The PM noted that this service is endowed with quite extensive powers, and expressed the hope that Sanasaryans activities will be productive.

The main task of the Service is to keep under an oversight the effectiveness of the spending of public funds, [and] the course of the implementation of government decisions and the Prime Ministers instructionsincluding in the anticorruption domain, Pashinyan said, in particular. Im convinced that the State Oversight Service will have an important role in the objective we have declared as political; that is, to uproot corruption in Armenia.

Also, the PM underscored the need to increase state revenues, and stressed that tangible and noticeable changes need to be made in the country.

Davit Sanasaryan is one of the active participants and leaders of the nonviolent, velvet, peoples revolution that took place in Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan added, in particular. I believe that this revolutionary breathin the good sense of the wordshould also be expressed in the domain of state oversight.
YEREVAN.  The EU is ready to help if the Armenian authorities ask for help in organization of snap parliamentary election, head of the EU delegation to Armenia Piotr Switalski told Azatutyun on Tuesday.

The international community, the EU and the UN are ready to help, he said, recalling that 95% of financial aid was received from the EU during the previous elections. However, its not just about the finance, but also about skilled qualified specialists, and the EU is ready to help in any case.

In response to RPA MP Armen Ashotyans statement that the EUs help was insufficient, Switalski noted that Armenia should develop using its internal resources.

According to him, the main changes in Armenia should be made by the Armenian people themselves as an external assistance is only a drop in an economic development.

Armenia has never been and will never be an orphan country, which is dependent on external aid, noted Switalski adding that Armenia is never afraid to look at the outside world and benefit from it.
YEREVAN.  The EU has asked numerous questions to the head of the Delegation of the European Union concerning the personality of Nikol Pashinyan, Switalski himself told Azatutyun.

"We must understand that before the revolution the prime minister was not so well-known in the European political circles. The Prime Minister's personal role in the developments in Armenia was remarkable. Therefore, the prime minister can be sure that he will be warmly welcomed not only in Brussels, but also in other European countries," he stressed.

Speaking about Nikol Pashinyan's possible visit to Brussels, the ambassador noted that this issue is on the agenda, but one should realize that he and his entire staff are very busy, they must work out and submit the government program to the parliament.
Armenian is concerned over the latest developments connected with the Iranian nuclear deal, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in an interview with IRNA.

His remark came in response to comment on the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal.

According to him, Yerevan is concerned at the latest developments in the Iranian agreement and attaches special importance to the development of relations with Tehran, however, Armenia also has good relations with the U.S., and hopes that this crisis will be resolved via dialogue.

The Armenian government intends to take measures to expand bilateral relations with Iran, he said.

The international community needs to know that we attach special importance to our relations with Iran, and these relations are not directed against any third country, Pashinyan concluded.
Please call your State Representative and State Senator and tell them to vote against legislation repealing the Parental Notice of Abortion ...
The co-rapporteurs of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) for the monitoring of Armenia, Giuseppe Galati and Yuliya Lovochkina, have congratulated all political forces, and above all the Armenian people, on the restraint and political maturity displayed during the recent protest and subsequent change of power in Armenia, which took place peacefully and in line with constitutional provisions and principles.

The manner in which the change of power took place, and the subsequent appointment by Prime Minister Pashinyan of an inclusive and broad-based cabinet, highlights the maturity of the political system as well as the commitment of all political forces to the consolidation of democracy in the country. All political forces should be rightfully lauded for this, said the co-rapporteurs.

The co-rapporteurs noted the extremely high expectations of profound and rapid reforms in the country placed by the Armenian people in the new authorities. In that context, the rapporteurs highlighted that the appointment of a politically inclusive cabinet, and the new Prime Minister's clear intention to create a stable and democratic environment, had created the necessary conditions for on-going democratic reforms and the national security of the country.

In addition, the signals given by the new Prime Minister and his political allies that the justice system will be fully independent and will operate free from instructions and political interference should lay to rest any fears of political retribution, which we heard calls for during our visit, said the co-rapporteurs, while stressing that there can be no impunity for criminal actions by politicians, irrespective of their political colour. At the same time they reiterated their concern about hate speech against the previous authorities on social media, which they called on all political actors to condemn.

During their visit from 23 to 25 May 2018, the co-rapporteurs were informed by the authorities of their wish, and the need, to organise pre-term elections as soon as the conditions would be right for their democratic conduct. In addition, they understood that the authorities, to create these conditions, wished to amend the election code, based on a broad consensus between all political forces. While expressing their full understanding of the call for early elections, the rapporteurs highlighted the standards of the Venice Commission with regard to stable election legislation before elections, as well as the need to allow sufficient time for all political stakeholders to prepare themselves properly for these pre-term elections.

The co-rapporteurs welcomed the clearly expressed wish by the new authorities to continue furthering and deepening the human rights legislation in the country. In this context the rapporteurs expressed their hope that the adoption of the anti-discrimination law in final reading, as well as the ratification of the Istanbul and Lanzarote conventions, would soon be placed on the agenda of the National Assembly.

The co-rapporteurs stressed the readiness of the Council of Europe and the Parliamentary Assembly to assist Armenia on its path of democratic consolidation.
NTT DATA Corporation, a global IT solutions provider, and MapmyIndia, Indias leading digital mapping, navigation, and location technology company, announced today that they have partnered to develop Indias first large-scale 3D map datasets, named AW3D India. The joint undertaking will deliver unrivaled digital-elevation datasets on a fast, cost-effective basis, combining NTT DATAs expertise and international experience in mapping and 3D technologies with MapmyIndias two-plus decades of experience in mapping the Indian terrain.

What is AW3D?

AW3D is the worlds most precise, pre-produced global series of digital-elevation models covering all land spaces with five-meter resolution. AW3D also provides high- resolution 3D maps across the globe with up to 0.5m resolution. AW3D was developed and is marketed jointly by NTT DATA, a world leader in elevation data, and the Remote Sensing Technology Center of Japan (RESTEC). To date, AW3D models have been used in 500 projects in more than 70 countries, mainly emerging countries of Asia and Africa, for infrastructure development, disaster-prevention measures, and much more. Users of AW3D India will benefit from up-to-date, highly detailed 3D datasets covering extensive areas of the Indian subcontinent.

Through our collaboration with MapmyIndia, we look forward to establishing a leading position in Indias 3D mapping market, said NTT DATA Senior Vice President Shinichi Usui. Building on MapmyIndias local strengths, we will offer 3D datasets that enable our Indian customers to develop sustainable and future-capable businesses. This will be an important step in NTT DATAs plan to drive the global market for 3D mapping.

It has been our endeavor to make available to the Indian consumer the best of mapping and location technology, said MapmyIndia Executive Director Shivalik Prasad. I am happy that a leading company like NTT DATA has joined forces with us to develop AW3D maps for India, which are some of the best 3D map datasets in use across the world. With MapmyIndias new collaboration, Indian businesses will have access to the most accurate and comprehensive 3D maps of the country, which would make them even more competitive in domestic and international markets. These maps will also help the Indian government and its agencies to better plan and execute infrastructure development, resource allocation, disaster mitigation and prevention, and more.

Coverage and Benefits

To develop AW3D India, NTT DATAs 3D mapping algorithm will be combined with MapmyIndias advanced mapping technology. Initially, 3D building data will be developed for tier -one city and then gradually extended to other cities based on market demand. The datasets will be extremely useful for a wide variety of segments in the Indian economy, including telecom, automotive, construction, insurance, and government. AW3D for Indias 3D maps will enable users to make fast, informed decisions for undertakings such as 4G/5G network planning, navigation, insurance risk mitigation and smart city planning.

NTT DATAs rich background in building elevation products began with the introduction of AW3D Standard in 2014. AW3D India will be one of the newest additions to the NTT DATA Elevation portfolio, which also includes high-resolution AW3D Enhanced products. MapmyIndia produces Indias most comprehensive, exhaustive, detailed maps that offer unmatched coverage  12.50 million unique destinations (points of interest), expanded coverage of over 5.2 million kilometers of road network, 8,000 plus cities at street level with house address-level data for more than 200 cities, 600,000 villages and 3D and 2D landmarks in 75 cities. MapmyIndia is deeply integrated with various sectors and government agencies of India. Many leading global companies already use MapmyIndia maps, which will be a strong competitive advantage for the collaborative undertaking with NTT DATA.

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Wipro Infrastructure Engineering's additive manufacturing unit Wipro 3D signed an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay racing team to fabricate parts for Formula Student electric race car, the company said.

"As per the agreement, our 3D arm will provide expertise on additive manufacturing, equipment and material while IIT racing team will design the parts to be made," said the city-based company in a statement here.

As Europe's educational motorsport competition, the four-day Formula Students will be hosted at Silverstone Circuit in Britain from July 11-15 by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, in which teams from 110 European universities and 8,000 students and 2,000 professors from the world over will participate.

Held annually, the student engineering contest draws teams from the world over to design, build, test and drive a small-scale Formula 1 style racing car.

"Critical components of the race car will be fabricated and printed in our 3D unit," said Wipro 3D Vice President Ajay Parikh in the statement.

The IIT racing team has built the additively manufactured Titanium alloy automotive component in collaboration with Wipro 3D.

"We have achieved 40 percent weight reduction in the wheel component of our new electric race car EVoX by using Titanium and improved its ergonomics," said IIT Bombay Racing mechanical officer Kanishka Panda on the occasion.

The four-year-old Wipro subsidiary offers additive manufacturing solutions, products, and services to diverse industries, spanning aerospace, space, industrial, automotive, healthcare, oil & gas and heavy engineering.

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SIU offering personal trainer certification PREP course

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill.  Southern Illinois University Carbondales Student Recreation Center is sponsoring a course that will provide people with information they need to take the American Council on Exercise personal trainer certification exam and become an effective personal trainer.

Class meets twice weekly for two months

The Personal Trainer Certification PREP class begins next week at the Student Recreation Center. The class runs from June 5 through Aug. 9 and meets from 6:30 to 7:45 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Many topics covered

The course utilizes the ACE Integrated Fitness Training Model to prepare personal trainers to design individualized programs that address each clients unique health, fitness and performance goals. This comprehensive course covers everything from building a connection with clients to conducting assessments, creating individual plans and assessing results.

The key class topics include:

Human anatomy, exercise physiology, applied kinesiology and nutrition.

Principles of adherence, motivation, behavior change and health psychology.

Communication and teaching techniques.

The ACE Integrated Fitness Training Model.

Building rapport.

Health and exercise history information assessment.

Functional training, including assessments, programming and progressions for posture, movement, core, balance and flexibility.

Physiological assessments.

Resistance training  programming and progressions.

Cardiorespiratory training  programming and progressions.

Professional and legal responsibilities, scope of practice and business strategies for personal trainers.

Special exercise programming topics such as mind-body exercise, special populations and exercise implications for common musculoskeletal injuries.

Completing the course provides the groundwork for the ACE certification examination and participants will receive information on when and where the exam will be available.

Registration is open now

The course is available for anyone who is 18 years or older. Online registration is at www.online.rec.siu.edu or by visiting SIU Student Recreation Center Member Services.

The cost is $40 for Student Recreation Center members, $25 for SIU students and $55 for the general public. The course fee does not cover the cost of any additional study materials or the certification exam.
Why arent they concerned about the women in labor? Because they dont work in factories in manual labor, so they dont see the perspective of the women in labor.

The truth is - theyre not representing all women, and as they force the ERA through state legislatures, they grind down all other women in their march to a forced equality.

Those who have defended the needs of the vulnerable have also fought against it because they knew its comprehensive mandate against making any distinction based on sex would require sex-integrated prisons, require including women in the military draft and front-line combat and overturn valuable programs such as WIC and domestic abuse shelters for women. All these groups asked for and suggested better language for the amendment, but the privileged women who sought a symbolic token in the Constitution ignored their concerns as they claimed to represent and fight for all women.

Women from the labor movement spoke out against it because they knew it would strip away valuable labor protections such as restrictions on heavy lifting requirements and restrictions on mandated over time that enabled them to balance work and caring for their family. Women in the home also spoke against it because they knew it would strip away their financial protections for widows and stay at home mothers. And women who valued the life of the unborn child fought against it because they knew the ERA would absolutely strengthen abortion rights.

The Equal Rights Amendment isnt what it pretends to be. For decades women have fought against it because they knew its poorly written language would harm them.

Word in Springfield is the Illinois House Democrats will be calling the Equal Rights Amendment for a vote Tuesday at the state capitol. In order to pass, House Republicans will need to support the effort - going against decades of established policy protecting women from fraudulous claims of how it will help women. Elise Bouc answers those false claims.

Why arent they concerned about women in the home? Because they shunned that work long ago as beneath them, and they seek to force that view on all other women by removing their financial protections such as social security benefits for stay at home wives and mothers and laws that previously protected women in the event of divorce, thus forcing them into the work place where they will finally achieve true equality.

Why arent they concerned about the unborn child? Three states have used their state ERAs to strengthen abortion rights. Why arent they concerned?

Why arent they concerned about the vulnerable and disadvantaged? Because they will never go to prison to face the horrors of a sex integrated prison, nor do they believe that they or their loved one will ever be drafted. Theyll be in college, or they will travel to another country, or theyll list themselves as a conscientious objector. Some other poor girl will bear their burden of freedom and the danger it imposes upon her to be thrust into front-line combat against her will and against an enemy solider who will certainly not honor her equality. These are not issues they worry about  but why dont they care about those who will be impacted?

When women raise their voice to object, their voices are over ruled, belittled, or ignored. Many media outlets, eager to give voice to those they agree with, ignore those who have a different perspective. These women who disagree dont fit the agenda and dont speak the narrative. But they are women too  the silent majority who bear the burden of our society, and they matter.

These neo-feminists claim the ERA will remedy the pay of all women and solve all their problems, but they arent telling the truth. The ERA will provide no additional benefit to women. Federal laws (such as the Equal Opportunity Act of 1972) already exist that prohibit sex discrimination and sexual harassment in all aspects of employment including pay, hiring and promotion. Under these laws, the EEOC has successfully prosecuted claims for women against some of the largest companies in the country. Other laws exist that prohibit sex discrimination across all areas including education, housing, credit, etc. And women are guaranteed equal protection under the law through the 14th amendment (as recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court when they used the 14th amendment in United States v. Virginia [1996] to enable women to attend the previously all male Virginia Military Institute). Laws that previously discriminated against women have been rectified, and women today can do anything they set their minds to do. In legislative hearings and legal webinars, the feminist lawyers admit we wont gain much from the ERA. It is more of a symbolic token. So why pass it when it will generate so much harm?
Last year, by bare partisan majorities, this General Assembly enacted House Bill 40, which both eliminated our states longstanding prohibition against using tax dollars to pay for elective abortions, and created a program to begin providing those abortions.

Not one Republican, in either chamber of this General Assembly, supported House Bill 40, and many vocally opposed that bill, whether on this House Floor or in public. Thats because every innocent human life is a treasure of immeasurable worth.

But, predictably, in the current budget process, the General Assembly is now faced with the question of whether to fund that Democrat program of elective abortions.

This is the first year when that question will be answered, for when last years appropriations bills were passed, there was no concept that the Department of Healthcare and Family Services would later use those moneys to pay for elective abortions.

It is estimated that if the Democrat abortion program is funded, the state would pay for between 30,000 abortions on the high end and 20,000 abortions on the low end, each and every year.

The abortion clinic lobby has been salivating at the prospect of all this new money coming to them from the Democrat legislators they control.

In the wake of House Bill 40, the largest abortion provider in Illinois publicly posted its plans to open four new clinics in our state. But for any legislatorfor any Illinoisan who holds to the truth that a baby is a baby, whether born or unborn, this item is non-negotiable.

Babies are not bargaining chips. There is no price that can be put on a single innocent human life, much less 30,000 innocent human lives.

We all know the people are opposed to taxpayer funded abortion. Latest surveys show that 89% of Republicans oppose taxpayer funded abortion. 56% of Independents oppose taxpayer funded abortion. And even 43% of Democrats oppose taxpayer funded abortion.

Our Congressmen and women in Washington, for all their dysfunction, still understand and respect this deeply held belief. Despite their stances as either pro-choice or pro-life, they recognize that, while abortion may be legal, if you want an abortion, you pay for it yourself.

Each year, in the federal appropriations package, the Congress makes clear that tax dollars may not be used for elective abortions. The man who originally authored that language, Henry Hyde, began his political career in this very House Chamber, where he served as Majority Leader. And now the task falls to us, the 100th General Assembly of the State of Illinois.

If there is a majority of members who wish to fund these abortions, then go ahead and take a vote on it.

We who are pro-life are not going to be complicit in your plan to terminate 30,000 innocent little lives next year. You go to the people of this state, and you explain how you raised taxes, to make sure there was money to pay for your 30,000 elective abortions every year. But, if there is no such majority here for taxpayer funded abortion, then lets get the abortion funding off the table and out of the budget right now.

Add the federal Hyde Amendment language to the budget implementation bill, to prohibit those dollars from being used for elective abortions. Or set aside a line item for the abortions, and zero that line out. Theres nothing stopping us from doing either of these.

Theres no federal constitutional or legal requirement to fund these abortions: the funding is banned at the federal level. Theres no state constitutional limit on this General Assembly in deciding generally to fund or not fund a particular program, whether its raises for AFSCME members that were never appropriated, or broadband internet in southern Illinois, both of which we just approved this past week. There is no room in the Illinois budget for taxpayer funded abortion.

If we stop this barbaric program, the people of this state will thank us, especially those tiniest Illinoisans, in their mothers wombs, whose very survival hinges on the decisions of this General Assembly over these final three days of Legislative Session.

Thank you.
The number of new print magazines started in the U.S. fell by more than half in 2020 to 60, compared t
Courtesy Ross County Humane Society, Brittany May(CHILLICOTHE, Ohio) -- A dog with writing on her was rescued by a shelter and is now looking for her forever home.



According to Ross County Humane Society in Chillicothe, Ohio, the dog was abandoned in a nearby park and was covered in phrases written in permanent marker.



"Free," "Good home only" and "I am a gift from God" can be seen scribbled on her side and face.



The pup is a lab mix that is about 5 to 6 months old, humane society workers told ABC affiliate WSYX-TV.



Workers named the puppy "Marvella," which means miracle.



The shelter was able to get a majority of the permanent marker off the Marvella's fur.



She will be up for adoption on Wednesday.



For those interested in learning more about Marvella, visit Ross County Humane Society's website.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
chismes

Hello loves,You see my last Luis Miguel post had a good reception and it came at absurd times because I screwed up the post the first time, but NOT NOW!Here are thefacts we learned from episode 6 of Luis Miguel: La SerieA subplot over the past couple of episodes has revolved around Luis Miguel's mom, Marcela, designing costumes for an up and coming child group. On this episode, as Luisito Rey forced her to leave her successful work, it was revealed that the group was Timbiriche. Sigh, if only she had stayed, we would've been saved from stuff like thisHugo Lopez continues to be the hero on Luis Miguel, as he orchestrates an audit of Luisito Rey. We all hope it will expose the money he's been stealing from Luis Miguel and that we as the audience, get some justice for all the hate we've been brewing for Luisito Rey.So, Micky wanted to shoot La Incondicional to be a Mexican Top Gun. This presented some resistance from the label because it'd cost way too much money but Micky was determined. The officials at the Mexico's Heroic Military School demanded he went through a basic week of training. On the show, Micky trains with Cadete Tello, who later inspires him to be more responsible and apologize to Hugo Lopez but he is sadly, not real (citation needed).Nobody is talking about Fabiola this week smhLast week, talks about Fabiola were about whether or not she was a real person and if Luis Miguel really got into a car accident involving a fan, and mostly why, if it did happen, we never knew about it until now.Well this week, Micky goes to Fabiola and her family and apologizes, bringing gifts and showering her with love so they don't go to the press with the chisme. This doesn't clarify whether or not Fabiola really existed but the show is offering a reason why we wouldn't have known if it did.Luis Miguel was only 12 when his father was running him dry, filming a movie and doing multiple shows a week. To keep the kid from being exhausted, Luisito Rey bribed a doctor to drug Luis Miguel. In a lot of ways, this confirms the speculation from years of Chisme shows that says Luisito Rey was responsible for inducing Micky into drugs.
President Rodrigo Duterte

MANILA, Philippines  President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday, May 29, certified the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law as urgent following his meeting with the House and Senate leadership in Malacanang.

This was confirmed by Presidential Spokesperson Secretary Harry Roque.

After much deliberation, the President has decided to make the House and Senate versions of the BBL as urgent and copy of it is on its way to both houses of Congress, Roque said.

Roque added that once both chambers have reconciled and finalized the version, the President will sign the Bangsamoro Basic Law.  UNTV News & Rescue

The post Duterte certifies as urgent the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law appeared first on UNTV News.
Hong Kongs version of Beijing Palace Museum to open with nod to HK$3.5 billion donation from Jockey Club

Hong Kongs version of Beijings Palace Museum will open with an exhibition of ancient horse-themed relics borrowed from the capital to depict the striving spirit of the Jockey Club, which donated HK$3.5 billion (US$446 million) to the project.



Beijing Palace Museum director and chief curator Shan Jixiang on Monday said the exhibition would be an act of appreciation for the citys largest non-profit organisation, after its support getting the controversial museum off the ground.

Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, Shan said: We will send a large number of horse-related antiquities from the national museum, from ancient paintings and calligraphy to other artistic objects, to set up a special exhibition to advocate their striving spirit.

Built on 10,000 square metres (107,640 sq ft) of prime West Kowloon harbourfront land previously reserved for a performance venue, the Hong Kong Palace Museum is expected to be completed before July 1, 2022.

Officiating at the ceremony, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor said: Its often said good things are a long time coming.

Lam said she had been a driving hand behind the project, and had persevered through the pressures on her brought by an environment of politicisation in Hong Kong. She said her work on the museum had been a practically beneficial task for the city, and today is the day when the sun shines again after the storm.

Bernard Chan, Lams top adviser and chairman of the museums 14-member board, also said previous controversies surrounding the museum  including the Jockey Club donation  were the result of politicisation ahead of the 2017 chief executive election, which Lam won.

We will inform the public of the museums development progress periodically and with absolute transparency, he said.

The museum would not be an offshoot of the national one but, totally independent with Hong Kong character, Chan said.

Story continues

Shan said the Beijing museum had been in talks with its city counterpart to bring in more interactive experiences and multimedia technology.

The proposal to build the museum was announced by Lam after a surprise deal with Beijing in 2016, less than a month before the then No 2 official quit her job to take a shot at the leadership post.

Critics questioned the lack of public consultation for the project, as well as its funding model, which helped it circumvent approval by the Legislative Council. Doubts about transparency and compliance mounted when Lam later admitted she had forgone a public bidding process to hire a local architecture firm run by Rocco Yim Sen-kee to design the museum.

In January last year, Cary Lo Chun-yu, a postgraduate law student, filed a judicial review application over the decision to build the museum. It was rejected.

Last June the authority for the West Kowloon Cultural District, where the museum will be based, signed an agreement with the Beijing Palace Museum to collaborate on construction. The signing was witnessed by President Xi Jinping, who was making his first official visit to the city.

This article Hong Kongs version of Beijing Palace Museum to open with nod to HK$3.5 billion donation from Jockey Club first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.
A British-born Taiwanese was beaten up in Cambodia on Saturday by a group of Chinese men who took offence at the fact he had the word Taiwan tattooed on his forehead, according to two Taiwan-based newspaper reports.

The victim, Paul Farrell, had lived and worked in Taiwan for 14 years and became a citizen of the self-ruled island seven years ago after marrying a local woman, Taiwan News reported.

The report said the 30-something was in a bar in the city of Sihanoukville when the alleged attack took place, but did not say why he was there or who he was with.

Chinese man beaten to death after he tried to flee pyramid scheme

According to a separate report by Taiwan Observer, Farrell was in a bar when an unidentified Chinese man spotted his tattoo, which is written in Mandarin.

The man apparently shouted Taiwan, China in Mandarin, to which Farrell replied, Taiwan, Taiwan.

The Chinese men launched then allegedly their assault, which according to the newspaper report left Farrell with two missing teeth, a split lip and multiple bruises.

The report said that hundreds of people witnessed the assault, but did not mention if the police were called, or how the incident was subsequently handled.

Two men arrested over beach BBQ brawl on Hainan after Chinese tourist injured

According to the Taiwan Observer report, Farrell later wrote about his experience on Facebook, saying a group of Chinese got enraged simply because my tattoo said Taiwan, and a large group of 10 of them attacked me with metal poles, and Ive lost a tooth and two teeth [are] drastically pushed forward.

He said that he got the tattoo in October at the same time he had the Taiwan independence flag inked onto his chin. He had the latter surgically removed sometime later.

The South China Morning Post was unable to find any record of the Facebook post, and Farrell did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

This article Taiwanese citizen assaulted by mainland Chinese tourists in Cambodia, reports say first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.
A demonstrator carrying a Canadian flag protests against the expansion of Texas-based Kinder Morgan's Trans Mountain pipeline project in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada on March 10, 2018

Canada's government stepped in Tuesday to take over a controversial pipeline expansion project to ensure that it gets built in the face of stiff opposition from environmental activists and a regional government.

Ottawa will pay Kinder Morgan Can$4.5 billion (US$3.5 billion) for the Trans Mountain pipeline, which is to move 890,000 barrels of oil a day from landlocked Alberta to the Pacific coast for export overseas, Finance Minister Bill Morneau told a news conference.

The move effectively nationalizes the project in a bid to quash dozens of legal challenges and illegal protests at construction sites.

"The federal government has reached an agreement with Kinder Morgan to purchase the Trans Mountain pipeline and the infrastructure related to the project," Morneau said.

"This allows us to get rid of the political risk around (the pipeline) because we (are imposing) federal jurisdiction over the project," he said.

Kinder Morgan investors must still approve the sale, which is scheduled to close in August, but the deal will allow construction to resume immediately, the minister said.

Ottawa approved the project in 2016 after an environmental review, saying it was in the "national interest."

Currently 99 percent of Canada's oil is sold to the United States at a discount, and access to the Pacific coast is seen as key to diversifying the world's sixth largest oil producer's energy exports.

Access to new oil markets was also key to Canada meeting its Paris climate target because Albertathe nation's singled largest pollution emitteragreed to take action against carbon emissions if it gained access to new markets for its oil.

But British Columbia's social democratic government recently joined environmental activists' fight against the 1,150-kilometer (15-mile) pipeline, provoking a trade row with Alberta and leading Kinder Morgan to temporarily halt its construction until the dispute was resolved.

Amid the feuding, the pipeline has become a barometer for foreign investments in Canada, with some warning of a spillover into other sectors of the economy.

'Big, important project'

Morneau said the government's purchase of the project "will ensure that we're able to safely get Canadian oil resources to world markets where we can get a fair price for them."

"And, it will reassure investors that Canada is a country that respects the rule of law and gets big, important things done," he added.

A majority of Canadians support the pipeline, according to recent polls, but they are reluctant to see tax dollars used to backstop it.

Environmental protestors reacted to the announcement by vowing to press on, while business groups lauded the purchase.

Opponents of the pipeline are concerned about the risk of oil spills from tankers along Canada's pristine Pacific coast impacting fisheries and tourism.

But Morneau said the Alberta-British Columbia feudwhich led Alberta to boycott British Columbia wines and threaten to cut the neighboring provinces fuel supplies"cannot be allowed to fester."

He said it threatens Canada's reputation as a safe place to invest, puts thousands of jobs at risk and holds back Canada's economic growth.

"We'll get that pipeline built," Trudeau told reporters as he headed into a cabinet meeting.

His Liberals face a difficult balancing act in trying to champion climate action while supporting growth in Canada's oil sector.

Until now, his government has used kid gloves to try to persuade British Columbia to abandon its opposition to the pipeline, hoping not to alienate voters in the province ahead of next year's general election. But British Columbia has refused to yield.

Under the proposed federal plan, the Trans Mountain pipeline will be placed under the stewardship of a new Crown corporation and Ottawa will divest itself of the project at a later date.

"It's not the intention of the government of Canada to be a long-term owner of the project," Morneau said, adding that pension funds and indigenous groups have already expressed an interest in buying stakes in the project.

Alberta province also pledged to provide "emergency funding" for the pipeline's construction, if needed.

Explore further Support rises for controversial Canada pipeline

 2018 AFP
By bending a chiral superconductor out of the plane, an electric current is generated. Credit: Nordic Institute for Physics

Scientists around the world are busy looking for chiral superconductors, which are predicted to be ideal for building quantum computers. Until now, it has not been easy to determine whether a material is clearly a chiral superconductor or not. Together with their colleagues in Stockholm, theoretical physicists at Utrecht University have recently discovered that a unique effect occurs in chiral superconductors that should be easy to measure. In addition to being interesting from a theoretical perspective, this effect also simplifies the search for a chiral superconductor. The results of the research are published in Physical Review Letters.

"We show that you can generate an electric current simply by deforming this type of superconductor in the right way, so you don't need voltage or a magnetic field. It's like a kind of origami electrical device," explains research leader Prof. Cristine Morais Smith from Utrecht University. "When you bend the material in a special way, an electric current starts running, and it stops when you bend it back."

Majorana particles

The difference between an 'ordinary' superconductor and a chiral one is that the electrons not only move through the material in pairs, but that the electrons in the pairs also rotate around one another. This produces an interesting effect: so called Majorana particles can form at the ends of a wire made of a chiral superconductor. These particles are expected to be the ideal quantum bits for a quantum computer. The existence of Majorana particles was predicted in 1937 by the Italian theoretical physicist Ettore Majorana, but was experimentally observed only recently by physicists at TU Eindhoven and TU Delft.

Maglev train

An ordinary superconductor can generate an electric current when a magnet is placed nearby. This is called the Meissner effect. The current in the superconductor creates an opposite magnetic field that cancels out the field from the magnet. One of the most remarkable applications of the Meissner effect is the Maglev trains in China and Japan, which can attain speeds of 600 kilometers per hour by floating above the track.

When a thin layer of a chiral superconductor is deformed, a magnetic field emerges spontaneously in the material. Credit: Nordic Institute for Physics

The physicists in Utrecht and Stockholm have now theoretically shown that a similar effect can occur in an extremely thin (two-dimensional) layer of a chiral superconductor when it is bent as shown in the illustrations. Bending appears to create a magnetic field in the superconductor, which means that it is carrying an electric current. This is a geometric version of the Meissner effect.

"In a two-dimensional chiral superconductor, all of the electron pairs rotate on the same plane. Bending the material disturbs the course of the electrons. In order to cancel out the effect of that disruption, a magnetic field is created," explains Dr. Anton Quelle, who wrote part of his dissertation on the subject. "The general rule for this geometric Meissner effect is that in two-dimensional chiral superconductors, bending plus magnetic field must equal zero. This is comparable to the ordinary Meissner effect, in which the internal magnetic field that is generated is equal but opposite to the external magnetic field, so it cancels out the field around the superconductor."

In an ordinary superconductor, the Meissner effect prevents a magnetic field from developing perpendicular to the surface. So if such a magnetic field is seen, it is 'smoking gun' proof that the superconductor is chiral, explains Morais Smith. Although the magnetic field is extremely weak, it can be measured using a SQUID, a sensor that can detect extremely weak magnetic fields.

More information: T. Kvorning et al. Proposed Spontaneous Generation of Magnetic Fields by Curved Layers of a Chiral Superconductor, Physical Review Letters (2018). Journal information: Physical Review Letters T. Kvorning et al. Proposed Spontaneous Generation of Magnetic Fields by Curved Layers of a Chiral Superconductor,(2018). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.217002
Researchers from CWI, the Dutch national research institute for mathematics and computer science, have found that female members of the European Parliament are slightly more likely to be featured on multiple Wikipedia language editions than their male counterparts. However, the variations between language editions are large: while 10 editions over-represent women, 13 editions over-represent men. The researchers will present these findings at the 10th ACM Conference on Web Science, in Amsterdam, on 30 May 2018.

Given the scale at which Wikipedia is used as a source of knowledge, it is important to assess if biases exist in this medium. However, it's notoriously difficult to study gender biases on Wikipedia. The problem is that you can only make a fair comparison between people's representation on Wikipedia, if you can objectively quantify their actual notability in the offline world. In other words, only if you can 'put a number' on a person's offline prominence, can you check if that person is over- or underrepresented on Wikipedia.

For their project, researchers from CWI focused on a group of people where such an objective measurement of notability can actually be achieved: the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs). Their notable actions in the parliament are objectively quantified in the Talk of Europe project, and the data is publicly accessible online. The data includes, for example, information about the speeches that MEPs performed in the plenary debates of the parliament, and information on the number of chair-positions that the MEPs held within the parliament.

The researchers compared this 'notability' data with the Wikipedia presence of the members. Their analysis included all of the 3662 (past and current) Members of the European Parliament, and all language editions that correspond to 23 languages spoken at the European Parliament. "As expected, we found that MEPs who spoke a lot in the parliament or who held chair-positions have more Wikipedia presence," says first author Laura Hollink.

Gender differences

"What we were particularly interested in, were gender differences in the coverage of the Members of the European Parliament in various language editions. Surprisingly, we found that female members of the European Parliament are covered by slightly more Wikipedia language editions than male members," says Hollink. The 969 female MEPs have a median of 5 Wikipedias, whereas the 2693 male MEPs have a median of only 4 Wikipedias.

However, the researchers found that the representation of male and female members varies greatly between the language editions: while some language editions overrepresent women, others overrepresent men. More specifically, ten language editions include a higher percentage of women than men. Thirteen editions cover a lower percentage of female MEPs than male MEPs.

The inequality within a Wikipedia language edition seems to correspond to the gender imbalance among the representatives of the nations in the European Parliament: countries with Wikipedias that overrepresent women have a higher percentage of female MEPs than the countries whose Wikipedia overrepresents men. "This may suggest a larger gender inequality in the corresponding countries, but we can't be sure about this without further studies," concludes Hollink.

More information: Hollink, Laura, Astrid van Aggelen, and Jacco van Ossenbruggen. "Using the Web of Data to Study Gender Differences in Online Knowledge Sources", 2018. Hollink, Laura, Astrid van Aggelen, and Jacco van Ossenbruggen. "Using the Web of Data to Study Gender Differences in Online Knowledge Sources", 2018. DOI: 10.1145/3201064.3201108
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

A new study by Maanak Gupta, doctoral candidate at The University of Texas at San Antonio, and Ravi Sandhu, Lutcher Brown Endowed Professor of computer science and founding executive director of the UTSA Institute for Cyber Security (ICS), examines the cybersecurity risks for new generations of smart which includes both autonomous and internet connected cars.

"Driverless and connected cars are increasingly becoming a part of our world, where cybersecurity threats are already a reality," Sandhu said. "It's imperative that we support research that addresses these concerns and presents a strong, innovative solution."

Cars with internet connectivity, also known as "connected cars," offer potential for many conveniences and innovations. They could allow for real-time and location-sensitive communication between drivers or even pedestrians, which could help make the roads safer for both. The connectivity could also allow the cars to capture safety and environmental conditions around the vehicle, including road obstructions, accidents, which also enables real-time vehicle-to-vehicle interaction on road.

"Connected cars have almost infinite possibilities for creative technological applications," Gupta said. "Companies could even take advantage of the connectivity to implement location-based marketing tactics, providing drivers with nearby sales and offers."

However, the researchers caution that as soon as cars are exposed to internet supported functionality, they are also open to the same cybersecurity threats that loom over other electronic devices, such as computers and cell phones. For this reason, Gupta and Sandhu created an authorization framework for connected cars which provides a conceptual overview of various access control decision and enforcement points needed for dynamic and short-lived interaction in smart cars ecosystem.

"There are vulnerabilities in every machine," said Gupta. "We're working to make sure someone doesn't take advantage of those vulnerabilities and turn them into threats. The questions of 'who do I trust?' and 'how do I trust?' are still to be answered in smart cars."

Gupta and Sandhu framework discussed an access control oriented architecture for connected cars and proposed authorization framework, which is a key to determine what and where vulnerabilities can be exploited. They further discuss several approaches to mitigate cyber threats in this ecosystem.

Using this framework, the team at ICS is trying to create and use security authorization policies in different access control decision points to prevent cyber attacks and unauthorized access to sensors and data in smart cars.

"There are infinite opportunities in this new IoT domain but at the same time cyber threats will have serious implications in smart cars. Can you imagine if someone controls your car steering remotely, or shuts down the engine in the middle of the road?" Gupta said. "There should not be absolutely any open end to orchestrate attacks on these cars."

According to Gupta, the authorization framework can also be applied to driverless cars, noting that these vehicles may be even more vulnerable to cyber threats.

"If we're going to open the world to cars driven by machines, we must be absolutely certain that they aren't able to be compromised by a malicious attack," he said. "That it what this framework is for."

Explore further Here's how we can stop driverless cars from being hacked
Female helmeted hornbill, distinguished by her turquoise throat pouch. Credit: Sanjitpaal Singh/Jitspics.com

I'll never forget the first time I heard the maniacal cackle of a helmeted hornbill. I was standing beneath a massive fruiting fig tree in the middle of the Brunei rainforest  not exactly the heart of Borneo, but it was certainly wild enough for me  and craning my neck to catch a glimpse of the gibbons in the canopy. The ripening fruit was a magnet for all manner of other wildlife too, from wild pigs, diminutive mouse deer and tufted jungle king butterflies on the forest floor to pig-tailed macaques, barbets and, yes, hornbills in the treetops.

More often heard than seen, Brunei's resident hornbill species are readily identifiable by their characteristic calls or, in the case of the wreathed hornbill, wingbeats reminiscent of the sound of a departing steam train. But it is the helmeted hornbill's madcap laughter that stops you in your tracks. It starts innocuously enough with a few tentative 'poops', but these become increasingly urgent, rising in a crescendo towards a hysterical climax.

Back in England, a playback of this ridiculous call was the highlight of every rainforest talk that I inflicted on schoolchildren around the country, providing a suitably entertaining finale to a recording of the rainforest soundscape.

The helmeted hornbill's physical appearance isn't exactly conventional either, with its incongruously long central tail feathers and an impressively large casque  from which this bird derives its name. The latter feature in particular has made this species a prime target for illegal wildlife traders. Typically, hornbill casques are light and hollow, but the helmeted hornbill's appendage is a solid, ivory-like block, making it ideal for carving into ornamental trinkets. Increasing demand for such products, combined with rapid deforestation, poses a grave threat to the survival of the species throughout most of its range.

Credit: Fauna & Flora International

The tiny nation of Brunei is an exception to the rule; as an oil-rich country, it can afford not to sell logging or oil palm concessions to the highest bidder, meaning that its magnificent rainforests remain virtually pristine. Strict firearms controls also ensure that poaching is minimal.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, however, the situation is far less rosy. Severe hunting pressure and widespread habitat loss have led to the helmeted hornbill being officially categorised as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List. That's one small step from extinction in the wild.

As someone whose spirits were lifted by almost daily encounters with this awesome bird, I'm finding that eventuality difficult to contemplate. The good news is that helmeted hornbills are benefiting  directly and indirectly  from the work of Fauna & Flora International (FFI) and its partners in Southeast Asia.

Male helmeted hornbill in flight. Credit: Sanjitpaal Singh/Jitspics.com

In Sumatra's Kerinci Seblat National Park, the anti-poaching and forest protection activities of FFI's tiger teams are having a tangible impact on illegal wildlife trade and deforestation, disrupting the trafficking networks that deal not only in tigers and timber, but also in pangolin scales and helmeted hornbill 'ivory'.

Closer collaboration between the park authorities and provincial police departments  and the consequent improvements in law enforcement that this brings  are helping FFI and its partners to reduce wildlife and forest crime in and around Sumatra's largest protected area. Organised trade syndicates are fragmenting, black market prices for helmeted hornbill casques have fallen, and traders are less willing to fund hornbill hunting gangs. There is obviously a need for continued vigilance, but these are all encouraging signs.

Meanwhile, on the neighbouring island of Borneo, the Conservation Leadership Programme  in which FFI is a leading partner  is supporting a team of Malaysian conservationists who are addressing the shortage of suitable natural nest cavities for hornbills  the result of widespread logging of the largest trees. Nest boxes have been erected in the most promising locations and are being closely monitored for signs of activity.

Helmeted hornbill chick peering out of nest cavity. Credit: Sanjitpaal Singh/Jitspics.com

Rhinoceros and wrinkled hornbills are among the species that have already been observed using or checking out these artificial nest sites. The team hopes that continual improvements in the design of the boxes will encourage more birds  including helmeted hornbills  to use them.

It's well over 20 years since I last visited Borneo and encountered a helmeted hornbill calling in the wild, but the memory of that extraordinary sound is indelibly etched on my brain. Here's hoping that this bird's lunatic laughter continues to reverberate through Southeast Asia's remaining rainforests long into the future.
A government plan to dart wild horses with fertility control drugs ignores science and expert advice. Author provided

A proposed Kosciuszko Wild Horse Heritage Bill that rules out shooting horses is based on a flawed understanding of fertility control. Unfortunately, by ignoring scientific evidence and expert advice horses will be condemned to slow starvation.

The bill, which also proposes relocating horses within the park, or removal and domestication, intends to use fertility control for longer-term population control. But this simply isn't feasible, and is unlikely to become so in the near future.

Vaccine darts are not a panacea

Immunocontraceptive vaccines that have been used for fertility control in wild horses in North America include the gonadotrophin releasing hormone (GnRH) vaccine, GonaCon, and porcine zona pellucida (PZP) vaccines. Administration requires injection: there is no effective oral vaccine. Injection requires either trapping horses and injecting them by hand, or darting them.

Immunocontraception has only been successfully used in smaller and more isolated populations (such as islands). Population modelling has estimated that over 50% of mares would need to be treated in KNP just to slow the rate of population increase within 25 years.

Although the precise number of horses in KNP is hotly debated, even at the lowest estimates almost 1,000 mares would need to be treated to have the desired impact on population growth  and it would still take 1020 years before the population size was reduced substantially through natural mortality. And that is on the proviso that we could actually administer the vaccine to this number of mares.

Trapping enough horses across KNP (an area of about 700,000 hectares) would likely be impossible. Dart administration sounds intuitively appealing but is a complex process and will not be possible for large numbers of horses in difficult, mountainous terrain.

Staff must be extensively trained for licences before they can administer darts. More importantly, darting can only be safely performed within around 40 metres of a stationary horse, and with a clear line of vision. This must be done accurately and without causing ballistic injuries.

Injected animals must be marked (with dye, for example) so that they can be identified for booster shots as needed.

As demonstrated in a recent trial of fertility control darting for eastern grey kangaroos in the ACT, it is extremely challenging to manage all of these goals in the field. Helicopters can be used to dart animals, but this adds animal welfare impacts due to pursuit and lower levels of accuracy.

In other parts of the world where dart administration of immunocontraceptives has been successful, they have been applied to horses that are used to people, allowing staff to approach horses on foot. This is a very different situation to KNP.

Although it is possible to closely approach some horses in KNP, ongoing research has revealed that it is only possible to get within 200500m of most horses in the larger populations.

Furthermore, it would be close to impossible to both identify and locate the same horses on multiple occasions, as required for booster vaccination injections. In more densely forested areas, it can be challenging to even see horses, let alone dart them.

Darting brumbies requires getting very close, which is impossible in many parts of the Kosciuszko National Park. Author provided

There is no vehicle access to many parts of KNP where horses live, and long treks across challenging terrain would make attempts to locate all horses very labour-intensive. Furthermore, many areas of KNP are completely inaccessible in winter due to snow, making darting before the spring breeding season even more problematic.

What would we be vaccinating the horses with?

There's also the question of what exactly the horses would be vaccinated with. GonaCon and PZP are not produced in commercial quantities, are not currently available in Australia and are not straightforward to import. Australian quarantine regulations may prevent the import of reagents derived from animals, such as conventional PZP which is derived from pig ovaries.

Producing PZP in Australia brings additional challenges, without guaranteeing the same efficacy. While work on a synthetic PZP formulation is ongoing, initial results in mares were disappointing.

There are two alternative GnRH vaccines available in Australia. One has shown less effectiveness than required in a pilot trial and while the other is registered for use in domestic mares, it lasts a relatively short time and is prohibitively expensive.

Most contraceptive vaccines require an initial injection followed by a second injection about one month later to achieve maximum efficacy, and then annual booster injections. GonaCon is promoted as having 3-year efficacy after a single injection, but that significantly reduces after the first 12 months. Long-acting PZP formulations have been investigated in North America; while results appeared promising initially, more recent work showed a contraceptive efficacy of under 60% beyond one year after treatment. Furthermore, the viscous nature of these longer-acting formulations make administration by dart more challenging.

Alternative fertility control options such as surgical sterilisation or intra-uterine devices have even more practical hurdles. For all of these reasons, a recent peer-reviewed study by two Australian reproductive experts concluded that current fertility control methods are not feasible for halting the population growth of wild horses in Australia.

Although some newer technologies are undergoing investigation, realistically it will be a long time before contraception for wild horses becomes an effective reality in Australia.

'No-kill' bill means slow starvation

Without a feasible method for sterilising horses, the newly proposed bill will mean population control is mainly through food limitation.

While "no kill" is seemingly more compassionate, it may ultimately and unintentionally be crueller.

As horse populations reach the carrying capacity of their habitats, they become malnourished and their fertility declines. Horses in very poor condition will not produce foals. When malnutrition persists, many horses will die young and many will die slowly.

This was dramatically demonstrated four years ago, when researchers discovered emaciated brumbies in the Snowy Mountains cannibalising their fellows and more emerging research is further confirming that extreme malnutrition is ongoing in parts of KNP.

In time, the number of horses suffering chronic malnutrition and dying of starvation is likely to increase. Is this truly humane population control?

Explore further Brumby reprieve: Australia to ban wild horses cull at national park

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
Credit: ESA/JAXAG.Murakami

The three modules of the ESA-JAXA BepiColombo mission to Mercury are pictured here shortly after being unpacked at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

Centre stage is the eight-sided Japanese module, the Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (MMO), with its white high-gain antenna seen at the top of the module, tilted upward; the antenna will be used to communicate with ground-stations on Earth. To the right is ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO)  currently without its protective insulation blankets. Together the two science orbiters will conduct the most detailed scientific investigation of Mercury and its environment than ever before achieved.

The two orbiters will be carried to the innermost planet by the Mercury Transfer Module (MTM), which can be seen in the background to the left. The solar arrays that will provide solar power to the spacecraft will be attached later.

Following the unpacking of the spacecraft at the Spaceport, each module was examined thoroughly to check that they did not suffer any damage during the transport from Europe to South America, and that everything remains aligned and functioning correctly.

Individual units on the MPO and MTM  such as batteries and a power unit  have also been inspected and added to the spacecraft. The two modules were also connected with cables for electrical checks  they will be mechanically attached closer to launch later this year.

Explore further BepiColombo gets green light for launch site
A map showing the Tennessee River with tributaries lakes and cities. Credit: Shannon, Wikimedia Commons

Over the last century, scientists have struggled with a lingering question in geology: Why do the structure and elevation of some mountains continue to evolve long after the tectonic forces that formed them cease?

Using a new model to explore the undercurrents of mountain landscapes, Assistant Professor Sean Gallen from Colorado State University found that there is an ebb and flow of activity in these mountains, even in places that are tectonically inactive or past the point of mountain "building."

Gallen's study, which analyzed peaks in two of the most visited national parks in the United States, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains, puts to rest a century-old debate over the westward course of the Tennessee River.

Based on the findings, Gallen said this river system diverted from a more direct southerly route to the Gulf of Mexico about 10 million years ago. The river's reorganization can be traced to erosion and is reflected in the DNA of fish and salamanders in the waterway. This suggests a link between mountainous landscape dynamics and the evolution and diversity of aquatic species.

The study, "Lithologic controls on landscape dynamics and aquatic species evolution in post-orogenic mountains," was recently published online in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Mountain landscapes remain active over millions of years

Traditionally, scientists thought that rugged mountainous terrain is slowly and steadily worn away to a flat surface when a tectonic episode ends. But Gallen discovered that mountain landscapes are quite active due to variations in the strength of the underlying rock.

He used modeling techniques to uncover the impact of the erosion of harder rock in these national parks. Gallen found that when harder rocks erode, exposing softer surfaces, waterfalls form at geologic contacts.

"This increases the erosion rates and rejuvenates the landscape," Gallen, a researcher in the Department of Geosciences, explained. And when the waterfalls make their way to a watershed divide, the divide will migrate in the direction of the lower erosion rate.

"This has a cascading effect, enhancing the erosion rates of one basin but, in the other, reducing those rates," he explained.

'The river is happy'

Gallen said this novel finding helps explain the long and winding path of the Tennessee River system, which flows from the Appalachian Mountains and takes an abrupt turn to western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The river then meets up with the Ohio River and empties into the Mississippi River.

"This is one of these irregular features people have been curious about," said Gallen. "It's unusual to see a river take this long path. Something happened; it used to flow directly to the south."

The scientist also found geological evidence in the upper river basin of a relatively recent diversion of the river's coursedispersal of sediment in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Even though it's a longer travel distance, with the modern configuration and rock types, it's the path of least resistance," he said. "The river is 'happy' in this position."

Based on his analysis, Gallen is now teaming up with biologists and other scientists to delve more deeply into what he has uncovered.

"This debate about the Appalachian Mountains has been going on since 1894," he said. "I'm most interested in uncovering what's caused these disruptions."

Tennessee River biodiversity

The Tennessee River basin has the largest diversity of freshwater fish in a temperate climate in the entire world. Outside of the tropics, it's a very important place to study biodiversity, and researchers have been analyzing the DNA of small minnows known as darters found there. It is well-documented in biology, but not understood, that 10 million years ago, there was a spike in divergence of this species, along with several other aquatic species. Gallen said it's possible that the waterfalls act as barriers; fish can go down the waterfall but cannot go back upstream. This could help explain why there are so many different lineages of these species, over time.

Explore further Waterfalls offer insights into how rivers shape their surrounds

More information: Sean F. Gallen, Lithologic controls on landscape dynamics and aquatic species evolution in post-orogenic mountains, Earth and Planetary Science Letters (2018). Journal information: Earth and Planetary Science Letters Sean F. Gallen, Lithologic controls on landscape dynamics and aquatic species evolution in post-orogenic mountains,(2018). DOI: 10.1016/j.epsl.2018.04.029
n the figure we see a cross section of what happens when the material from the disrupted star is devoured by the black hole. An accretion disk is formed (disk) by the material. There is too much material for it to pass into the black hole at once. It is heated up in the process and emits vast amounts of light and radiation, visible from Earth (Double arrow). Dr. Jane Dais computer model takes the difference in viewing angle from Earth into account, which means we are now able to categorize the variations in observations correctly. This means we can study the properties of the black hole, and learn about a celestial body we would otherwise not be able to see. Credit: Niels Bohr Institute

A star that wanders too close to the supermassive black hole in the center of its galaxy will be torn apart by the black hole's gravity in a violent cataclysm called a tidal disruption event (TDE), producing a bright flare of radiation. A new study led by theoretical astrophysicists at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute and UC Santa Cruz provides a unified model that explains recent observations of these extreme events.

The breakthrough study, published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, provides a new theoretical perspective for a fast-growing research field.

"Only in the last decade or so have we been able to distinguish TDEs from other galactic phenomena, and the new model will provide us with the basic framework for understanding these rare events," said coauthor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor and chair of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and Niels Bohr Professor at the University of Copenhagen.

In most galaxies, the central black hole is quiescent, not actively consuming any material and therefore not emitting any light. Tidal disruption events are rare, only happening about once every 10,000 years in a typical galaxy. When an unlucky star gets torn apart, however, the black hole is "overfed" with stellar debris for a while and emits intense radiation.

"It is interesting to see how materials get their way into the black hole under such extreme conditions," said first author Jane Lixin Dai, assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study. "As the black hole is eating the stellar gas, a vast amount of radiation is emitted. The radiation is what we can observe, and using it we can understand the physics and calculate the black hole properties. This makes it extremely interesting to go hunting for tidal disruption events."

While the same physics is expected to happen in all tidal disruption events, about two dozen of which have been observed so far, the observed properties of these events have shown great variation. Some emit mostly x-rays, while others emit mostly visible and ultraviolet light. Theorists have been struggling to understand this diversity and assemble different pieces of the puzzle into a coherent model.

Viewing angle

In the new model, it is the viewing angle of the observer that accounts for differences in the observations. Galaxies are oriented randomly with respect to the line of sight of observers on Earth, who see different aspects of a tidal disruption event depending on its orientation.

"It is like there is a veil that covers part of a beast," Ramirez-Ruiz explained. "From some angles we see an exposed beast, but from other angles we see a covered beast. The beast is the same, but our perceptions are different."

The model developed by Dai and her collaborators combines elements from general relativity, magnetic fields, radiation, and gas hydrodynamics. It shows what astronomers can expect to see when viewing tidal disruption events from different angles, allowing researchers to fit different events into a coherent framework.

Survey projects planned for the next few years are expected to provide much more data on tidal disruption events and will help greatly expand this field of research, according to Dai. These include the Young Supernova Experiment (YSE) transient survey, led by the DARK Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute and UC Santa Cruz, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescopes being built in Chile.

"We will observe hundreds to thousands of tidal disruption events in a few years. This will give us a lot of 'laboratories' to test our model and use it to understand more about black holes," Dai said.

In addition to Dai and Ramirez-Ruiz, the coauthors include Jonathan McKinney, Nathaniel Roth, and Cole Miller at the University of Maryland, College Park. State-of-the-art computational tools were employed to solve the puzzle, and the simulations were carried out by Dai and Roth on the recently acquired large computer cluster made possible by a grant from the Villum Foundation for Jens Hjorth, head of DARK Cosmology Centre, as well as clusters funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and NASA.

Explore further Image: Star wanders too close to a black hole
Credit: CC0 Public Domain

With palm oil production exploding around the world, a new study of a leading producer has found ways to make the process easier on the environment.

Ph.D. candidate Lain Pardo, from James Cook University in Australia, studied the industry in Colombiaa country described as being on the 'tip of the spear' in terms of burgeoning palm oil production.

The researchers used a new camera trapping technique across 2,000 square kilometres of the country's most important palm oil production region and found that while palm oil plantations are not suitable for most mammals to live in, the situation could be improved.

"We found that the number and diversity of species differed significantly between oil palm plantations and their neighboring forests, with the number of species inside oil palm plantations 47% lower, on average, than in the forest," said Mr Pardo.

He said that within the plantations, the number of different species declined as the number of cattle in the plantation rose, but species numbers were helped by the presence of dense undergrowth vegetation and proximity to forest.

These factors, and canopy cover, were also linked to an improvement in mammal diversity within palm oil sites.

The scientists looked at a savannah woodland system where much of the land was already in commercial use before being converted to palm oil.

Mr Pardo said unlike Southeast Asia, most of the land in Colombia converted for use as oil palm plantations had previously been pasture, not forest, and palm oil was not the primary driver of deforestation. But he said even when planted on savannah, oil palm plantations may have a devastating impact on wildlife.

"So, it's still important to know what is going on ecologically in these areas. The Colombian government says land used to grow oil palms will double to about one million hectares by the year 2020. If unplanned, this expansion could result in a disruption of the ecosystem."

Mr Pardo said the scientists recommended oil palm growers promote undergrowth vegetation and avoid cattle presence inside plantations, along with respecting designated buffer areas that allow for the conservation and restoration of riparian forests.

"The forests are the most important factor. Even secondary riparian forest makes an important contribution to sustaining wildlife across oil palm dominated landscapes in Colombia."

He said the scientists understood that oil palm development provides social benefits in Colombia.

"Development in some areas is being partly driven by government incentives and corporate investments, and also in response to the end of a prolonged armed conflict, which has allowed access to previously inaccessible areas. So it's vital to engage relevant stakeholders to balance socioeconomic and environmental goals. If Colombia follows our guidelines it has a great opportunity to produce palm oil in a more sustainable way, compared to Malaysia and Indonesia."

Explore further Researchers evaluate certification programs as options for sustaining tropical forests

More information: Lain E. Pardo et al, Terrestrial mammal responses to oil palm dominated landscapes in Colombia, PLOS ONE (2018). Journal information: PLoS ONE Lain E. Pardo et al, Terrestrial mammal responses to oil palm dominated landscapes in Colombia,(2018). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197539
Drastic and rapid ecological changes like the drying up of the Slims River in the Yukon will get more common, say the U of A researchers who compiled an updated report on the health of mountain regions in northwestern Canada. Credit: University of Alberta

A call for policy-makers to begin planning for the inevitable disappearance of glacier-fed rivers is one of the highlights of a no-holds-barred, University of Alberta-led accounting of the health of Canada's mountains.

The 2018 State of the Mountains Report is a collection of expert summaries written to raise awareness about the ways a changing climate is transforming the alpine, put together by U of A mountain historian Zac Robinson, mountain ecology researcher David Hik and Lael Parrott from the University of British Columbia.

"Mountains are sentinels for larger global change," said Robinson. "The change is alarming, but I'm optimistic because mountains are adored by people everywhere. That's hopeful because people are paying attention to these types of things."

In a more shocking example of the ravages of climate change, the report recounts the infamous Slims River (A'ay Chu) Piracy Event in southwestern Yukon. In the spring of 2016, the Slims River, a major source of water for Kluane Lake (Lhu'aan Man), effectively ran dry after the Kaskawulsh Glacier receded to the point that its dwindling meltwaters began flowing in a different direction. By August, the 81-kilometre-long Kluane Lake was a metre lower than its previous record low.

"This is one stark example of a very big drainage system that utterly and permanently reorganized itself in a single season," said Robinson. "Kluane Lake is a massive lake that isn't being fed any longer and is seeing its levels dropping. What does that do to the ecosystem and the communities on that lake that depend on that water?"

It's the kind of event Hik said is going to happen again and again, and not just in the big glaciated regions of the St. Elias Mountains in the Yukon. Glaciologists predict the Rocky Mountains will lose 80 per cent of their glaciated terrain over the next 50 years, he noted.

"The stored legacy of water in glaciers is something we've depended on to feed the big mountain rivers that spread out across the prairies or the salmon rivers on the West Coast or feed the Arctic Ocean. That's going to change," said Hik, adding coming water shortages lead a list of pending extreme-weather calamities that includes flooding and wildfires. "What information do we need and what do we need to know to mitigate against potential problems?"

Documenting the impact

The report is a long-awaited follow-up to a similar effort put out in 2011, which summarized research being carried out across the country that highlighted the startling impacts of climate change on the alpine environment in the glaciers of southern Alberta and B.C.

"At the time it was quite jarring in a good way, but it was a one-off thing. Ever since, people have wanted more," said Robinson.

The report's revival came from a recent survey of the Alpine Club of Canada's 15,000 members, who uniformly called for the club to promote conservation and awareness around environmental issues that are happening in the alpine. In fact, the 2018 State of the Mountains Report was produced for the ACC, in partnership with the Royal Canadian Geographic Society.

Not only was the ACC's membership excited about the project, Robinson said, but mountain researchers from across the country also reached out to see how they could be of service. Besides Hik and Robinson, U of A researchers with a stake in the report include Martin Sharp and Alison Criscitiello, who are heading up the Canadian Ice Core Archive, and Stephen Slemon, who co-wrote a piece for the report titled "Mountain Writing, Film, and Digital Media in Canada."

Building an alpine research archive

But rather than a simple update on the changes of the same parameters, variables and features, Hik said the editing team opted for a project that was narrower in scope but produced annually.

He said the report is focusing on changes that are happening in mountain hydrology, tourism, avalanche prediction, birds and mammals, and treelines. Next year, a new collection of researchers will provide updates on changes to a different set of mountain characteristics and the downstream fallout.

"We're not professing to share it all or show it all, but once we start getting into it year after year, we're hoping to build up a good archive of what's going on with the sole purpose to educate the wider public and people who love and care about mountains," he said.

Hik said he hopes the report drives people to other resources, like the U of A's massive open online course, Mountains 101, and becomes a force for change.

"The advantage of having a document like this is it can be used to garner support for things like flood mitigation, limits on urban development or even the way to manage tourism across multiple jurisdictions," said Hik, adding the relevant government ministries are aware of the report and have been receptive to this relatively concise high-level format of documenting and reporting the changes in mountain places.

"We don't want to document the end of the world, but what we want to do is raise awareness about what we do know at present, and what the consequences will be. With a little lead time you can plan and adapt to change."

The report is available on the Alpine Club of Canada website. The "On the Map" pages in the May-June 2018 issue of Canadian Geographic complement the material in this report.

Explore further Climate change and its effects on Rocky Mountain alpine lakes
This mirror is a force scale that relates the force of a laser shining on it to the power (i.e., the brightness) of that laser. Scientists at NIST are developing these devices to embed into laser-based manufacturing tools for improved performance and reliability. The device in this picture is a prototype of their capacitive pressure sensor designed to measure 1,000 W lasers in the infrared with better than 1% uncertainty. The next phase of devices like this one will be standard reference instruments that report absolute power of any color laser from 1 mW up to 100 kW of power. Credit: A. Artusio-Glimpse/NIST

High-power lasers are now widely used in additive manufacturing and laser welding systems to precisely cut and weld metal, making all kinds of metal parts for medical devices, aerospace applications, automotive industries, and more. With the rise in industrial use of high-power laser processing, manufacturers increasingly seek high-accuracy, point-of-use laser power meters that can quickly report laser powers at any time in the manufacturing processa vital aspect to controlling product quality. Traditional laser power meters, however, are often bulky in size and slow in response time. Power measurements can also only be taken separately, interrupting the manufacturing process.

Now, a group of researchers from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, have developed a smaller, faster and more sensitive laser power meter in the form of a folding mirror they call a "smart mirror." The novel design uses a capacitor-based force transducer and merges optical elements, namely a high reflectivity mirror, and sensing elements into a compact cube package. The four-centimeter-on-a-side cubes can be conveniently embedded into laser optical systems or laser-welding systems for point-of-use, real-time laser power measurement and calibration. The researchers will present their innovation at the OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress, being held June 25-28 in Orlando, Florida, United States.

"Measuring laser power by measuring the pressure of a laser beam hitting a mirror is a very unique technique, [and] so far it is the only laser power measurement technique that is truly an in-situ process," said Alexandera B. Artusio-Glimpse, a scientist of NIST in Boulder, Colorado, and the primary author. "Unlike any other optical power measurement techniques, our method allows us to continue using the laser for work while a measurement is being taken."

Artusio-Glimpse explained that traditional high-power meters measure laser power by absorbing all the energy of a laser beam as heat and measuring the temperature change. The calorimetric measurement has to temporarily stop the laser beam from work for around tens of minutes.

"Using our 'Smart Mirror' laser power meter, that stop-measure-continue process is no longer needed. Manufacturers can measure the laser power continuously during every weld and monitor the laser calibration in real time, they would know right away whenever the laser has a problem and wouldn't risk wasting metal parts with bad welds," Artusio-Glimpse said.

The Smart Mirror laser power meter is also referred to as a radiation pressure power meter (RPPM), as the operating principle of this meter is based on measuring the pressure of the laser, the radiation pressure. Light has no mass, but it has momentum and when a laser beam strikes an object such as a mirror, it will exert a tiny force known as the radiation pressure on the mirror, which directly relates to the laser power. 200 watts of laser power, for example, exerts a force equivalent to 100 micrograms, which is roughly the weight of a single human eyelash.

The key part of the Smart Mirror design is a capacitor-based compact force transducer. It consists of a spiral planar silicon spring supporting a circular plate with a high reflectivity mirror on one side and an electrode on the other. An identical silicon spring with an electrode is placed close to the first spring such that the two electrodes face each other, forming a variable capacitor. A laser beam reflecting off the mirror on the first spring will push the first spring to move toward the second and change the capacitance between the two electrodes. By comparing to a fixed reference capacitor, the researchers can calculate the radiation pressure and laser power. After reflecting off the mirror, the laser beam can be used directly for work, making real-time monitoring of laser power or laser calibration possible.

According to Artusio-Glimpse, the team has been developing the novel radiation pressure power meter for years and an earlier version of RPPM employed a commercially available scale with a mirrored surface as a force transducer. The final system was about the size of a shoebox, with a measurement sensitivity of 50 micrograms and response time of five seconds.

In the new version of the Smart Mirror, the researchers improved the measurement sensitivity by 100 times and decreased the response time by 50 times. They also mitigated static sagging errors of the device caused by gravity when the device is rotated. This allows the sensor to be embedded at the end of a robotic arm or in additive manufacturing and laser welding systems where the laser head will move and rotatea key feature that the early version bulk RPPM lacks. It also meets the measurement requirements of many commercially significant applications.

Based on preliminary tests, the new meter is sensitive enough to measure 100 watts of laser power with no more than one percent uncertainty, and with a response time faster than any other absolute high-power laser meter. The researchers are now continuing to validate these results with more tests. Artusio-Glimpse said the NIST team expects to establish a primary standard version of the Smart Mirror laser power meter in the near future.

Explore further US Air Force to begin fighter-mounted laser testing this summer

More information: Hear from the research team: ATh2A.2 "Non-Absorbing, Point-of-Use, High-Power Laser Power Meter," by Alexandra B. Artusio-Glimpse, Ivan Ryger, Paul Williams and John Lehman, at 10:30 am on June 28, 2018, at the Wyndham Orlando Resort International Drive, Orlando, Florida, United States.
Credit: Stockholm University

How important is marine microbiology to clouds in the summertime high Arctic and how important is this connection for climate in the region? This is a key focus of a research expedition on the Swedish icebreaker Oden that will take place in the high Arctic this summer where Stockholm University will take a leading role.

That the Arctic climate is changing fast is clear for all to see. Indeed, the Arctic is warming at a rate of almost twice the global average. However, our understanding of what exactly controls this rapid climate change and the extent to which the Arctic climate will continue to change into the future is much more limited and a number of key questions remain unanswered. For example, what are the consequences of the dramatic loss of summer sea-ice for Arctic climate? Will the ice continue to disappear as the ocean absorbs increasing amounts of solar radiation? Or might conditions become more favorable for biological activity and associated cloud-formation, with a subsequent reduction in the amount of solar-radiation able to reach the surface ocean, possibly counteracting the ice melt? It is questions such as these that motivate a unique research expedition to the high Arctic aboard the icebreaker Oden.

"The goal is to provide unique measurements that will provide detailed information about basic processes for cloud formation in the Arctic. These results are necessary to understand the Arctic climate and its sensitivity and response to the changes in climate caused by human activity," says Caroline Leck, professor in chemical meteorology at the Department of Meteorology (MISU). Professor Leck is the chief scientist in charge of the expedition from Stockholm University together with Patricia Matrai from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science in the U.S.

Clouds play a vital role in the Arctic since they impact the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface. For clouds to be formed, a certain amount of wind, humidity and temperature is required. However, the formation of clouds also requires the presence of small particles in the air, so called aerosols, which act as embryos for the cloud-water droplets.

"Our current understanding of the role clouds play in the Arctic is not sufficient to understand how they impact sea-ice melting and a key missing link is the role that life in the oceans play in cloud formation here," says Caroline Leck. "Of course, a key challenge is trying to unpick these complex relationships in a region that is extremely difficult to access  this is a logistical and technical challenge unlike any other," says Caroline Leck.

The expedition is a combined US and Swedish effort that includes 40 researchers from around the globe. On July the 20th the icebreaker Oden will depart Helsingborg in the southern part of Sweden before heading towards the North Pole. The main research will take place at around 90 degrees north during an ice-drift operation. Here, Oden will be parked next to a heavy ice floe where it will drift freely for around five weeks so that the researchers can collect samples from the ocean, the ice and the air.

Among other things, they want to find out how the clouds are connected to the microbiological life of the sea and the ice  something that is particularly prominent in the summer. It is in this period that the ice algae and bacteria are at their most active in the open leads between the ice floes. But what links the sea to the sky? The key to solving this piece of the puzzle is bubbles  bubbles that are present in the open leads rise to the surface where they burst, ejecting material present at the water surface into the atmosphere. A critical question the researchers want to resolve is whether this process is an important source of aerosols in the region and whether it may impact the clouds above.

"In the open leads, one can observe bubbles, which burst and eject aerosols into the atmosphere above. This leads to some very important questions that are yet to be answered: What processes control how many bubbles are reaching the water surface and bursting? How many particles do these bubbles produce? How large are these particles and what are they composed of? How important is this source of particles compared to other particle sources in the region? Are these particles playing a role in forming the low-level clouds found in the region during summer?" says Matt Salter, aerosol physicist at the Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES), who is part of the team.

Credit: Stockholm University

To answer these questions the team will deploy a floating aerosol chamber in the open leads along with a bubble buoy designed to quantify the bubbles in the water. "Essentially we will deploy a floating tank in the open leads so that any aerosols coming out of the water surface following bubble bursting are trapped within it. By placing our instruments on top of the tank we will be able to suck these particles out enabling us to count them and determine their size," says Matt Salter.

In order to determine whether the aerosols in the atmosphere and clouds above the open leads have their source in the ocean the team will deploy instrumentation on the Oden and on tethered balloons to sample the clouds.

"Like a vacuum cleaner, we will suck both aerosols and clouds inside a container onboard Oden where we will use a large suite of instrumentation to study the microphysical properties and chemical composition of the aerosols and cloud droplets. One can say that we will bring the Arctic clouds back to Sweden," says Paul Zieger, atmospheric physicist and assistant professor, ACES.

Researchers from Stockholm University have been involved in several expeditions to the Arctic over the last few years, but an expedition with a focus on aerosols and clouds has not taken place since 2008.

"As our research has a focus on the use of advanced technical equipment and advanced analytical methods that have never been deployed in the region before, the expedition this summer will allow us to take giant leaps forward in our understanding of the major changes occurring in the Arctic as a result of climate change caused by human activities. To that end, the expedition will also ensure that Sweden continues its long tradition of world-leading research in the region," says Caroline Leck.

Explore further Most complete dataset ever collected helps scientists understand aerosols' impacts on clouds
Part of a SPIRou spectrum of the star AD Leonis, recorded during the instrument's first night-time observations. Credit: equipe SPIRou

SPIRou, the new planet-hunting spectropolarimeter developed for the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), has successfully recorded its first starlight. Ten years after it was first designed and following four intensive months of installation at CFHT, this international instrument in which France has played a leading role is on the point of initiating its scientific operations, namely the detection of exoplanets around nearby red dwarf stars and the study of newborn stars and planets. The design and construction of SPIRou involved a number of French laboratories. It was then integrated at IRAP (CNRS/CNES/Universite de Toulouse IIIPaul Sabatier) before being shipped to Hawaii.

After being put through its paces at IRAP, the instrument was methodically disassembled and packed by CNRS teams, before being shipped and reassembled at CFHT, requiring calibration of the spectrograph's optics to micrometer precision. After ten years of hard work, a major milestone was passed on April 24, 2018 when SPIRou recorded its first light collected by the telescope from a star, AD Leonis, located some 16 light years from Earth in the constellation of Leo. The high activity of AD Leonis, its hugely energetic flares and the resulting spectral disturbances made the star an obvious target for these first on-sky tests, during which SPIRou was able to detect and measure the magnetic field present at its surface.

During the following few nights of this first on-sky exercise, SPIRou gathered an impressive collection of 440 spectra, while demonstrating some of its new capabilities in the process. In particular, SPIRou observed stars much cooler than the Sun known as red dwarfs, a stellar population comprising most of the stars in the neighbourhood of the Solar System, which SPIRou will carefully observe during its major observation program with the aim of finding evidence of nearby planetary systems. SPIRou also observed several hot stars, whose infrared spectra mainly show telluric lines caused by the Earth's atmosphere. Identifying and filtering out such telluric lines from the collected spectra is an essential step in making sense of the light from stars and deciphering the information it contains, in particular about the possible presence of planetary systems.

Overall view of the SPIRou spectrograph and its optical components, preceding closure of its cryogenic chamber. Credit: S. Chastanet - CNRS/OMP

To detect planetary systems, SPIRou uses a technique known as velocimetry (also called the radial velocity method) that makes use of the Doppler effect to detect the tiny fluctuations in the velocities of stars that provide evidence of the presence of orbiting planets. SPIRou is expected to play a key role in future surveys of nearby planetary systems, in coordination with other ground- and space-based instruments such as ESA's TESS and PLATO satellites, the future James Webb Space Telescope (NASA/ESA), and the European Extremely Large Telescope (ELT).

After transport of the 10 tons of equipment from Toulouse to Hawaii by CNRS, SPIRou was installed and reassembled on the third floor of CFHT by a team of French and Canadian engineers and specialists, with logistical and technical support from CFHT. The operation required huge precision: cooled to a temperature of 200C below zero, the SPIRou spectrograph is thermally calibrated to a precision of one thousandth of a degree so as to be able to detect the tiny spectral signatures induced in starlight by the presence of planets. Following the installation of its next-generation infrared detector (an H4RG TIS), SPIRou was cooled down for a new intensive session of laboratory and on-sky tests, in preparation for its major exploration programme of red dwarfs and stellar nurseries that is due to begin this autumn.

Explore further SPIRou: New tool may unveil inhabitable worlds
Credit: Orla, Shutterstock

When thinking about Earth-like exoplanet discoveries, the Kepler space telescope immediately comes to mind. Yet, it is not only Kepler, but also ground-based information from the HARPS-N spectrograph, that allowed the ETAEARTH consortium to obtain information on these planets with a degree of precision never reached before.

A joint initiative between Europe and the US, ETAEARTH (Measuring Eta_Earth: Characterization of Terrestrial Planetary Systems with Kepler, HARPS-N, and Gaia), was tasked with measuring the dynamical masses of terrestrial planet candidates discovered by the Kepler mission. The project delivered beyond expectations, being responsible for most of the Earth-like planet discoveries made over the past five years.

Dr. Alessandro Sozzetti, coordinator of the project and researcher at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Italy, discusses the project's outcomes.

There is much ongoing research dedicated to Earth analogues. What makes ETAEARTH stand out?

Over the five years of the project, ETAEARTH has combined the fantastic photometric precision of NASA's Kepler and K2 missions and the unrivalled quality of ground-based radial velocity measurements with the HARPS-N spectrograph on the Italian Telescopio Nazionale Galileo (TNG) in the Canary Islands. The point was to determine the physical properties of terrestrial extrasolar planets in orbit around stars similar in size to or smaller in size than the Sun, with unprecedented accuracy.

ETAEARTH scientists had a considerable advantage over other research teams because we had access to a conspicuous Guaranteed Time Observations (GTO) program with HARPS-N@TNG, for a total of 400 observing nights over five years. Such a large telescope time investment was key to the spectacular successes of the project.

What's the added value of combining KEPLER and HARPS-N data?

Kepler and K2 exploit the technique of planetary transits: They measure the dip in the light from a star as a planet crosses it, revealing the planet's size. HARPS-N, on the other hand, measures changes in the star's speed due to the gravitational pull from an orbiting planet, allowing us to determine its mass.

From the combination of these two observations, we can calculate the planet's density and determine its bulk composition (e.g., rocky, water-rich, gas-rich, etc.) with high accuracy.

Can you tell us more about your methodology?

ETAEARTH carefully selected Kepler and K2 small-radius exoplanet candidates based on their chances of having their masses measured accurately with HARPS-N. We then designed adaptive observing strategies tailored to each system, depending for example on the magnitude of the signal sought with HARPS-N and on the orbital period of the candidate.

Once an observing campaign for a given target was completed, we accurately determined the fundamental physical parameters of the central star  that is, its mass and radius  as only precise knowledge of these quantities allows us to derive accurate estimates of the planetary parameters.

The next step in our methodology entailed a sophisticated combined analysis of the available Kepler/K2 and HARPS-N data to derive all the system's orbital and physical parameters (for both single and multiple transiting planets). Finally, our measurements of planetary densities were compared with predictions from theory to underpin the actual composition of the planet(s).

What were the main difficulties you faced in this process and how did you overcome them?

The biggest challenge we had to face arose from dealing with stellar activity. This phenomenon, produced primarily by spots on the surface of the star that come in and out of view as the star rotates (just like our Sun), introduces complications in the interpretation of the data  particularly those gathered with HARPS-N. It can sometimes mask entirely or even mimic a planetary signal. So you think you are seeing a planet, but you are instead accurately measuring the star acting up!

Our learning curve was steep, but ultimately we succeeded, using a twofold approach: First, we adapted our observing strategies with HARPS-N to make sure we could sample both stellar and planetary signals well enough. With the best-possible temporal distribution of our observations, we then developed sophisticated analysis tools that allowed us to effectively disentangle planetary signals and those produced by stellar activity.

What would you say were your most important findings?

We could learn for the first time about the physics of these objects' interiors. We have notably determined with high precision (20 percent or better) the composition of 70 percent of currently known planets with masses between one and six times that of the Earth and with a rocky composition similar to that of Earth.

Among these, we discovered Kepler-78b, the first planetary object that has a similar mass, radius and density to Earth. We have also found the two closest transiting rocky planets, orbiting the solar-type star HD219134 only 21 light years away. This golden sample of planets with well-constrained parameters allowed us to infer that all dense planets with masses below six Earth masses (including Earth and Venus) are well-described by exactly the same rocky composition (in technical terms, the same fixed ratio of iron to magnesium silicate).

Most notably, ETAEARTH provides the first-ever constraints on the density of K2-3d, a planet in a multiple transiting system that is similar to Earth in mass and orbits within the Habitable Zone of the star known to-date to be closest in mass to the Sun. K2-3d appears to belong to the still elusive class of 'water worlds', with a density somewhat lower than Earth's.

Finally, using information from the full sample of objects found by Kepler, we have determined that one in five solar-like stars host an Earth-like planet, i.e. an object with a size similar to Earth orbiting within the Habitable Zone of its solar-type parent star.

What are your follow-up plans, if any?

Our post-ETAEARTH plans will primarily focus on tapping the huge potential that is about to be unleashed by the new important player in the exoplanet arena, NASA's TESS mission which was successfully launched just a few weeks ago.

TESS will find transiting planets over most of the observable sky with radii not much bigger than Earth's, and around stars typically five to ten times brighter than those observed by Kepler. Some of these small planets will orbit at Habitable Zone distances from their central stars (typically of lower mass than the Sun).

We plan to invest large amounts of observing resources from both hemispheres whilst continuing to use HARPS-N and the new ultra-high-precision European planet hunter ESPRESSO on the Very Large Telescope in the Chilean Andes in order to measure masses and densities of the best candidates provided by TESS. Doing this could dramatically increase the sample of optimal targets amenable for investigations of their atmospheres.

Explore further Mapping the skies for Earth-like exoplanets
Dutch students due to compete in Elon Musks high-speed Hyperloop challenge this July subjected their motor module to near-vacuum conditions within ESA's ESTEC Test Centre in the Netherlands. The Delft Hyperloop team slid their test rig inside the Centres 3.5m-long and 2m-wide VTC-1.5 Space Simulator chamber to be operated for around half an hour at a time. Credit: ESAG. Porter, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Dutch students due to compete in Elon Musk's high-speed 'Hyperloop' challenge this July subjected their motor module to near-vacuum conditions within ESA's technical heart.

The Delft Hyperloop team at Delft University of Technology is one of 20 finalists selected to compete in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition 3 on 22 July.

The team visited ESA's Test Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands  normally employed for satellite testing  to see how their electric motor, battery, sensors and brakes performed while running within a vacuum chamber.

Their test rig was slid inside the Centre's 3.5m-long and 2m-wide VTC-1.5 Space Simulator chamber to be operated for around half an hour at a time.

"TU Delft has a long tradition of entering such engineering challenges," says team member Rico Hageman. "We'd already subjected individual elements to vacuum testing but the large size of this chamber lets us run everything at once."

Running this high-power system in an airless state presents some challenges, he adds: "In particular there are concerns about the possibility of electrical arcing at low pressure from our high voltage differential.

"We also want to monitor the temperature of the motor controllers as they run, as well as the performance of the carbon fibre pressure housing around our lithium polymer batteries, which are very high-density batteries but not qualified to work at low pressure."

The Delft Hyperloop team slide the test rig containing their motor module into ESA's 3.5m-long and 2m-wide VTC-1.5 Space Simulator chamber, testing it in near-vacuum conditions to preare for competing in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition 3 in California. Credit: ESA

The Hyperloop is a proposed method of high-speed transportation within near-vacuum tubes. With 99.9% of all the air removed, vehicles could theoretically attain speeds in excess of 1000 km/h.

The concept has been championed by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, and is being developed on an open source basis by participants worldwide.

This year's challenge is to run a half-sized, self-propelled Hyperloop pod at maximum possible speed through a 1.2-km low-pressure tunnel next to SpaceX's headquarters in Hawthorne, California  while also braking at the end.

The 37-strong Delft Hyperloop team submitted an initial design to SpaceX last year. In November, they found out they were one of 20 teams qualified to compete, at which point they began work on their detailed design.

The Delft Hyperloop team at Delft University of Technology is one of 20 finalists selected to compete in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition 3 on 22 July 2018. The Hyperloop is a proposed method of high-speed transportation within near-vacuum tubes. With 99.9% of all the air removed, vehicles could theoretically attain speeds in excess of 1000 km/h. The concept has been championed by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, and is being developed on an open source basis by participants worldwide. This years challenge is to run a half-sized, self-propelled Hyperloop pod at maximum possible speed through a 1.2-km low-pressure tunnel next to SpaceXs headquarters in Hawthorne, California  while also braking at the end. Credit: Delft Hyperloop

"Everything started from a blank sheet of paper, so it's been an exciting  and busy  time for us all," adds chief engineer Vlad Petrescu. "We made a lot of tests of components and systems, and have iterated time and time again. In fact we'll be returning in a few weeks to test our updated version of the system.

"Everything we ended up with has either been made by us, or else sponsored either directly or in kind  like the opportunity to test here at ESTEC. So during the challenge ESA will be one of the logos on our pod."

The aim of this challenge is to build up knowledge of Hyperloop running at high speed. For any eventual operational versions of the Hyperloop the pods will be passive in nature, propelled by the tubes themselves using magnetic induction, as in the case of rapidly accelerating roller coasters.

Sealing ESA's 3.5m-long and 2m-wide VTC-1.5 Space Simulator chamber for vacuum testing of TU Delft's Hyperloop motor module in mid-May, preparing the Delft Hyperloop team to compete in the SpaceX Hyperloop Pod Competition 3 on 22 July 2018. Credit: ESAG. Porter, CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Explore further Video: MIT Hyperloop
Figure 1: Time-evolving network of NAC proteins that regulates senescence in leaves between 14 and 26 days. (A) IBS researchers analyzed plants missing one of 49 selected NAC proteins and checked the effect on the other 48 NACs. The missing NAC could result in a greater (orange) or smaller (blue) production of another NAC. A total of 148, 140, 120 and 91 differentially expressed NACs were identified at 14, 18, 22 and 26 days of leaf age, respectively. Interestingly, the regulatory pattern shifts between day 14 and 18, as reflected by the change of prevalent color from blue to orange in that it is maintained later on the 22nd and 26th days. Some NAC proteins support aging while others hinder it and the inversion between day 14 and 18 is possibly a strategy to prevent untimely senescence before day 18. (B) The three NAC proteins with the greatest influence on this inversion at day 18 are the NAC troika: ANAC017, ANAC082, ANAC090. Credit: Institute for Basic Science

Researchers at the Center for Plant Aging Research, within the Institute for Basic Science (IBS), have discovered that a three protein hub  dubbed NAC troikacontrols the onset of leaf old age. Their systematic study, published on Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), describes protein networks that change during the plant lifespan and play a role in aging.

Yellowing of leaves is only one of the most evident signs of plant senescencethe late stage of aging which involves a sophisticated process with thousands of genes, as well as a large number of physiological, biochemical and metabolic changes. These are controlled by several different proteins that evolve during the plant life to either promote or hinder aging.

Among all the molecules that take part in the aging process, one of the largest and most important protein groups is called NAC. Technically known as transcription factors, NAC proteins are able to finely regulate the expression of other NACs and other age-related proteins. IBS researchers have identified which NAC proteins are the most influential at different stages of plant aging.

The research team used Arabidopsis thaliana plants, each lacking one of 49 selected NAC proteins, and measured the effects on other NACs. Depending on which NAC protein was missing, other NACs may be more or less expressed in the leaves of 14, 18, 22 and 26-day- old plants. Arabidopsis has a rapid life cycle of about 6-8 weeks from germination to seed production: it is mature at day 14, and displays more than 40% chlorophyll loss at day 26. Compared to a person, the plant would be similar to a 30-year-old at day 14, and starting to save for retirement at day 26.

Figure 2: Impaired NAC troika (ANAC017, ANAC082, ANAC090) leads to early leaf aging. When one of the three NAC troika proteins is removed from a plant, early aging occurs; leaves become yellow sooner (left), and cell death (blue spots, right) increases, indicating that the NAC troika regulates aging. Credit: Institute for Basic Science

Interestingly, the scientists detected a clear change between the 14th and the 18th day: a remarkable sign of passage from adulthood to senescence. In 14-day-old leaves, the deprivation of the individual NACs mainly reduce the expression levels of other NACs, but their relationships flip in the 18-day-old leaves. The researchers found that three NAC proteins (ANAC017, ANAC082 and ANAC090) play a major role in this inversion: the NAC troika hinders aging before day 18, and then it lets it happen.

When all the three troika proteins are working, aging is timely regulated, but if just one is missing, plants age earlier than normal. A total of 1,977, 1,355 and 1,907 genes are differentially expressed in plants lacking ANAC017, ANAC082 and ANAC090, respectively. Among these, more than 1,500 genes are related to aging and leaf senescence. Plants missing one or more NACs show impairment in their chlorophyll content and photosynthesis. As a consequence, yellowing of the leaves, which is a senescence symptom related to chlorophyll breakdown, also occurs earlier.

The NAC troika also inhibits other two top senescence-promoting molecular pathways. In particular, it stops plant hormone salicylic acid (chemically similar to the active component of aspirin) and oxygen free radicals from building up before senescence. It is known that increase in the concentration of salicylic acid induces expression of senescence-associated genes (e.g. SAG12) involved in cell death. The team found that ANAC090 controls several genes related to the accumulation of salicylic acid, and ANAC017 to oxygen free radicals.

Figure 3: A troika of NAK proteins (ANAC017, ANAC082 and ANAC090) controls a key stage in plants aging. NAC proteins are transcription factors, that is they control the expression of relevant genes, including other NACs, reactive oxygen species (ROS) responses, and salicylic acid (SA). They play a major role in controlling the aging progress between day 14 and 18 of the plant lifespan. Moreover, if just one of them is missing, plants age quicker. Credit: Institute for Basic Science

"A troika can be a Russian vehicle pulled by three horses, or a political organization with three leaders. We chose this term 'troika' to represent both meanings," says PARK Ji Hwan, first co-author of the study. "The deprivation of the three NACs leads to the same result; early senescence, like a Russian troika where all the horses ride in the same direction. On the other hand, each NAC has also its own specific function, for example ANAC017 and ANAC090 predominantly suppress salicylic acid and free radicals responses, respectively. For this reason, it can also be thought as a political troika, in which three leaders govern different parts of a political system."

"Leaf aging is controlled by a dynamic organization of protein networks that changes over time. During the adulthood of leaves, until day 18, a leaf hinders the onset of senescence to serve its own role: production of energy by photosynthetic process. Then the leaf decides its fate. The three NACs, that we dubbed NAC troika, work like a hub that coordinates the timely activation and inhibition of several other proteins," explains HWANG Daehee, one of the leading authors of this study. "In other words, the NAC troika suppresses leaf aging, until it is the right time. And the rite of passage between day 14 and 18 becomes the landmark of leaf senescence."

In summary, IBS scientists could pinpoint new senescence regulators, such as ANAC090, and describe a possible correlation between NACs, salicylic acid and free radicals. In the future, this approach could be useful for studying other plant transcription factor families, beyond NACs.

Explore further The mechanisms of plant aging

More information: Hyo Jung Kim et al. Time-evolving genetic networks reveal a NAC troika that negatively regulates leaf senescence inArabidopsis, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2018). Journal information: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Hyo Jung Kim et al. Time-evolving genetic networks reveal a NAC troika that negatively regulates leaf senescence inArabidopsis,(2018). DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1721523115
Xcel Energy, Inc. operates as a holding company, which engages in the generation, purchase, transmission, distribution and sale of electricity. It operates through the following three segments: Regulated Electric Utility, Regulated Natural Gas Utility and All Others. The Regulated Electric Utility segment generates, transmits and distributes electricity primarily in portions of generates, transmits and distributes electricity in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, South Dakota, Colorado, Texas and New Mexico. In addition, this segment includes sales for resale and provides wholesale transmission service to various entities in the United States. It also includes commodity trading operations. The Regulated Natural Gas Utility segment transports, stores, and distributes natural gas primarily in portions of Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan and Colorado. The All Others segment engages in steam, appliance repair services, nonutility real estate activities, processing solid waste into refuse-derived fuel and investments in rental housing projects that qualify for low-income housing tax credits. The company was founded in 1909 and is headquartered in Minneapolis, MN.

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Mathew Burciaga is a Santa Maria Times reporter who covers education, agriculture and public safety. Prior to joining the Times, Mathew ran a 114-year-old community newspaper in Wyoming. He owns more than 40 pairs of crazy socks from across the globe.
Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razaks house could possibly be worth at least RM12 million, according to estimates made by real estate experts familiar with the area and based on recent transactions of bungalows in the area.

The house has been in the spotlight lately following police searches on the property as part of its 1MDB investigations.

Ever wondered how big the house is since it took four days for 60 officers to search the property?

The home of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak. (Photo by Low Yen Yeing/EdgeProp.my)

As information on the house could not be obtained, such as the land area, built-up as well as land status, the REAL value of the house remains unknown, for now.

However, an online property listing dated March 14 this year showed that a partially furnished two-storey bungalow located at Jalan Langgak Duta with a land area of 37,000 sq ft asked for RM17.5 million.

Fernstate Realty principal Shawn Fernandez noted that transaction prices for freehold landed residential property in Taman Duta and its immediate neighbour Kenny Hills tend to follow the values of similar homes in Bukit Damansara

very closely.

Therefore, a minimum range of RM400 to RM550 psf would be reasonable for freehold land. Of course, if there is a dwelling structure on the property, then one would have to place a value on the structure, he said.

He said the exclusive location and proximity to KL city centre are the areas main draw but the steep prices and leasehold status could deter buyers.

Savills Malaysia managing director Datuk Sr Paul Khong said it is hard to estimate the actual value for the house unless valuers are given opportunity to go in the house to carry out the valuation process.

Taman Duta is on hilly terrain, although the land area may look big but the actual built-up for the houses could be varied due to the terrain, he explained.

According to him, built-up sizes of bungalows along Jalan Langgak Duta range from 7,000 sq ft to 52,000 sq ft, with some bungalows even having basements. Based on past transactions, the current price for bungalows in Taman Duta could be up to RM500 psf.

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Both noted that most of the properties there are leasehold, some with just around 50 years of lease left.

The land size of landed homes in Taman Duta are usually quite huge, making them expensive to purchase, thus making Taman Duta an exclusive area for wealthy families, said Khong.

This story first appeared on EdgeProp Malaysia

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SGX Centre in Singapore in 2017. (Photo Ore Huiying/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

By Santanu Chakraborty and Andrea Tan

Singapore Exchange Ltd. and National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. have abandoned talks on a cross-border trading link, according to people familiar with the matter, amid a bitter court battle thats soured an 18-year partnership.

The companies couldnt reach consensus on issues including timing, regulatory guidelines and the resources required for the project, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks were private. The venture would have seen traders in Singapore buy and sell derivatives on exchanges in the Gujarat tax-free zone known as Gift City. Officials from NSE and SGX declined to comment.

A months-long quarrel between the two exchanges over data and licensing rights escalated last week when NSE sued to stop SGX from launching derivatives based on Indian stocks next month. The dispute, which threatens an alliance that began in 2000, has already heralded the end of Nifty 50 Index futures in Singapore and left international investors hunting for a way to hedge their exposure to one of Asias largest markets.

Tensions between the companies erupted in January, when NSE asked its counterpart to delay plans to introduce single-stock futures that would track some of Indias largest companies. SGX rebuffed the request, and on Feb. 9 Indias three national exchanges said theyd cancel their offshore pacts, which meant that Singapore could no longer offer the popular Nifty 50 contracts, the last of which will expire in August.

Linking Singapore to Gift City could have been a compromise solution, providing offshore access to onshore markets, similar to Hong Kongs stock connects with exchanges in China. NSE wanted its Singapore counterpart to speed up its efforts for the project, but SGX chose to ready new contracts to replace the Nifty 50 futures. Officials in Singapore didnt believe the link would be ready for months, one of the people said. While NSE offered SGX a six-month extension to its Nifty 50 licensing agreement, SGX ultimately declined amid concerns over client privacy in Gift City, the people said.

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The move to launch new products in Singapore led to the NSE lawsuit, which seeks to derail the scheduled June 4 start. The next hearing in the case is set for May 31, with an injunction in place until then against SGX.

To contact the reporters on this story: Santanu Chakraborty in Mumbai at schakrabor11@bloomberg.net; Andrea Tan in Singapore at atan17@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Sam Mamudi at smamudi@bloomberg.net. Michael Patterson.

 2018 Bloomberg L.P
A riot police officer fires his shotgun towards two men during a protest against Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega's government in Managua, Nicaragua May 28, 2018.REUTERS/Oswaldo Rivas

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Nicaraguan police have used lethal force against protesters, aiming for heads, necks and chests, Amnesty International said on Tuesday in the second of two international reports condemning President Daniel Ortega's response to dissent.

At least 81 people have been killed and 868 wounded since April 18, according to the rights group, in violence "characterized by the excessive use of force, extrajudicial executions, control of the media and the use of pro-government armed groups."

More than a month after changes to the Central American country's social security system triggered student-led protests, demonstrations have morphed into a daily challenge to the rule of Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla.

Published after days of resurgent violence, the report adds five to the preliminary death count announced last week by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights following an investigation sourced in hundreds of complaints.

"The strategy for repression appears to have been directed from the highest levels of government," Amnesty International said in a statement. "President Daniel Ortega and Vice-President Rosario Murillo repeatedly demonized demonstrators and denied they were being killed."

The government acknowledged a request for comment on the Amnesty report but did not immediately respond. Earlier this month, Ortega lamented the violence and said there had been deaths on all sides.

Ortega, an ally of socialist Venezuela, has resisted protesters' demands that he resign over the killings. His government rejected a suggestion by the Organization of American States that it call early elections.

In a round of "national talks" with members of civil society last week, government representatives acknowledged the recommendations of the Inter-American Commission's report but issued no further official statements.

Clashes this week included an armed attack apparently by pro-government groups on a university campus and witnessed by Amnesty International's America's director Erika Guevara-Rosa.

The report, based on a visit to Nicaragua in early May and delivered by Nicaraguan rights activist Bianca Jagger, also documented irregularities in the way authorities investigated deaths, including the cases of two people whose families were forced to sign waivers in hospital denying them a right to autopsies as a condition of receiving official death certificates.

(Reporting by Delphine Schrank; editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Grant McCool)
Chinese man hopes his family in Burkina Faso can live in China after diplomatic ties restored

A Chinese man who moved to Burkina Faso six years ago and married a local woman said he hopes the two countries re-establishment of diplomatic ties will help him bring his family back to China, according to a media report.

Ming Lei, 31, from Wuhan in Hubei province, moved to the West African state in 2012 after he was invited to join a former high school classmate who had started his own business in the capital Ouagadougou, a social media platform run by Beijing Youth Daily reported on Monday.

Ming knew little about the country at the time and due to the lack of diplomatic ties even mainland Chinese custom officials were largely in the dark about the nation and questioned him at length before he left.

Taiwan squeezed as Beijing and Burkina Faso start diplomatic ties

Ming met his future wife Christine at a train station in 2013.

I thought at the time, this girl is so pretty, Ming was quoted as saying. I went on a few blind dates back in China, but never found a girl I liked. I feel lucky [meeting Christine].

Ming planned to bring his wife to meet his parents in China in 2015, but he was told they first had to get married so Christine could enter the country on a family visit visa.

Due to the lack of diplomatic ties between China and Burkina Faso, the couple had to travel to the Chinese embassy in neighbouring Ivory Coast to register the marriage with the Chinese authorities.

Ming also encountered difficulties when he wanted to apply for his daughter, who was born in Burkina Faso three years ago, to get a Chinese passport as there is no Chinese embassy in the country.

He finally applied for a Burkina Faso passport for her.

Taiwan president says we will no longer tolerate Beijings actions after Burkina Faso becomes latest ally to cut ties with island

Ming was quoted as saying the re-establishment of ties between the two countries would bring both opportunities and challenges for the people of both nations, but his most urgent need was to apply for Chinese citizenship for his daughter.

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Burkina Faso and China formally established diplomatic ties on Saturday, days after the West African nation broke off relations with Taiwan, a self-ruled island which Beijing sees as a breakaway Chinese province.

There are about 300 mainland Chinese living and working in Burkina Faso. Most operate small businesses in the capital.

This article Chinese man hopes his family in Burkina Faso can live in China after diplomatic ties restored first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.
In Albania, legend has it that staring into the almond-shaped eyes of the Balkan Lynx renders you blind. But today, sightings of the rare wildcat have become so unlikely that conservationists have raised a red flag about its future. Only about 40 individuals of the animal still roam the mountains of Albania and neighbouring Macedonia, according to estimates by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), which in 2015 classed the "Lynx lynx balcanicus" as critically endangered. Since 2006 a regional initiative has been under way aimed at preventing the lynx from becoming extinct. Now, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro are all part of the programme to expand protection zones for the Balkan Lynx, raise awareness, especially among youngsters, and combat deforestation and poaching. It is a challenge, but there are signs of hope. - Sightings - "This lynx was spotted on April 16 at 3:50 a.m.", says Aleksander Trajce, head of Protection and Preservation of Natural Environment in Albania. Examining the photograph of what looks like a big spotted cat with very pointed ears walking in the snow through the night, his excitement is obvious. The image was captured, he explains, by dedicated cameras, set up on the mountain of Munella, in northeastern Albania. The possible sighting of the Balkan Lynx -- an adult female -- is encouraging for those fighting to save it. "All proof documenting the presence and the reproduction of lynx, little or adult, is a hope for the survival" of the species, said Dime Melovski, of the Macedonian Ecological Society. The Balkan Lynx "is the most jeopardised lynx in the world", he added. - Patchy regional presence - The population is currently concentrated in Albania and Macedonia. "Two, or even possibly three, individuals have equally been spotted in the mountains of Kosovo," Trajce said. But he added that it was not possible to say if they originated from among those already known about in Albania and had wandered across, or were a separate line of reproduction. And Melovski said it was "currently considered unlikely" for there to be any Balkan Lynx in Montenegro and Greece. - 'Critical' - The number of Balkan Lynx has been falling strongly "for years", said Elvana Ramaj, the Albanian environment ministry's official in charge of biodiversity. She said it had now reached a "critical" point for the animal's existence. In the 1970s, the region had had about 280 individual Balkan Lynxes, according to biodiversity experts. But the impact of civil unrest, an unstable socioeconomic transition, poaching and habitat destruction have all taken a toll. Albania suffered rampant deforestation in the 1990s, destroying the habitat and hunting ground of the lynx. Poaching has been another factor in its demise, although in Albania it is becoming increasingly rare and much less socially accepted. In March 2015, a baby lynx was killed by a hunter in the Munella mountain forest, sparking a strong reaction throughout the country. As well as the IUCN, the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats has also reinforced the level of protection for the Balkans Lynx since March. - National symbol - In a zoo on northern Albania's Shkodra Lake, a yowling male Balkan Lynx is testimony to the injury that humans can inflict on animals. Trailing its left leg, whose tendons were cut in a trap nine years ago, it limps around its cage. In the wild, "he would be dead, he would not feed himself, nor withstand the cold," said Sokol Kota, the 37-year old zookeeper. Apart from behind the bars of a cage, or on the face of Macedonia's five denar coin -- the animal is the Macedonian national symbol -- it is difficult to see a lynx. As well as their rarity, the felines usually only venture out in the evening or at night to feed on squirrels and rabbits. During the day, they sleep, safely hidden away in western Macedonia's mountainous national park of Mavrovo and Albania's Munella peak. - Tracking - But to protect the species, it is also necessary to observe it in order to understand its movements. For that reason, Albanian researchers in March set up a trap to capture a lynx in the Munella region so they could put a transmitter collar on to track it. They hope to be able to intervene and rescue it, if necessary. In February last year, a female lynx named Maya was tagged -- as a result, Macedonian scientists have been able to confirm that she gave birth the following spring.
SEOUL (Reuters) - Former North Korea spy chief and senior official Kim Yong Chol is headed to the United States after stopping over in Beijing, presumably for talks with U.S. officials regarding a possible summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said on Tuesday.

Kim Yong Chol has been closely involved with talks with South Korea as well and his visit to the United States would further indicate preparations for the historic summit are moving ahead.

(Reporting by Christine Kim; Editing by Michael Perry)
Mainland Chinese woman accused of taking photos in Hong Kong courtroom remanded in custody after failing to post bail

A mainland Chinese woman accused of taking photos in a Hong Kong court was on Tuesday remanded in police custody, after she failed to post cash bail of HK$50,000 (US$6,400) as ordered by a judge.

Tang Lin-ling was told last Friday by Mr Justice Andrew Chan Hing-wai to come up with the sum within 72 hours and not to leave the city, as he granted prosecutors more time to decide whether she would face charges. The High Court learned on Tuesday Tang did not meet the deadline and a warrant was issued for her arrest.

She was found at 2.15pm outside the JW Marriott Hotel, near the High Court in Admiralty, after police officers tried visiting her reported address and found it did not exist.

Entering the dock for the first time, Tang kept her head down throughout the brief hearing.

Anything you wish to say? Chan asked.

No, Tang said quietly through a Mandarin interpreter.

Prosecutor Derek Chan Ching-lung revealed that a cautioned statement had already been taken from Tang and a warrant had been obtained to examine her phone.

[Investigators] are looking at it as we speak, he said.

A further update would be provided to the court on Wednesday, when Tang was expected to return for transfer to jail custody.

Tang came under the spotlight last Wednesday when she was spotted allegedly snapping photos while prosecutors were playing footage to open their case against five men accused of contempt for their actions during a court-ordered clearance of Mong Kok demonstrators on November 25, 2014.

Her phone was immediately confiscated by Chan. It remained unclear what images Tang had captured with the device.

Tang told the judge during subsequent inquiries she was legally trained and wanted to learn about the citys legal system, but court officers had failed to provide instructions and help.

Last Friday, Tang was told to return to court on June 15, when the Department of Justice was expected to reveal whether she would be charged.

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The incident was the fourth suspected case of courtroom photography in four months. It came days after Madam Justice Anthea Pang Po-kam had all members of the public removed during the high-profile Mong Kok riot trial of localist Edward Leung Tin-kei after a photo showing at least four of the nine jurors was sent to the judiciary.

Photography is prohibited in all Hong Kong court buildings, as is the publication of such photos. Signs are on each floor and inside each court as reminders.

Section 7 of the Summary Offences Ordinance prohibits photography in courtrooms or court buildings, an offence that could attract a fine of HK$2,000.

Those found in serious breach of the law may also be sued for contempt of court, which is punishable by a jail term.

This article Mainland Chinese woman accused of taking photos in Hong Kong courtroom remanded in custody after failing to post bail first appeared on South China Morning Post

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U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis testifies before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee hearing on funding for the Department of Defense, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 9, 2018. REUTERS/Yuri Gripas

By Idrees Ali

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said on Tuesday that the United States would continue to confront what Washington sees as China's militarization of islands in the South China Sea, despite drawing condemnation from Beijing for an operation in the region over the weekend.

Reuters first reported that two U.S. Navy warships sailed near South China Sea islands claimed by China on Sunday, even as President Donald Trump seeks Chinese cooperation on North Korea.

The operation, known as "freedom of navigation," was the latest attempt to counter what Washington sees as Beijing's efforts to limit freedom of navigation in the strategic waters, where Chinese, Japanese and some Southeast Asian navies operate.

China expressed its anger, saying it had sent ships and aircraft to warn the U.S. warships to leave.

"You'll notice there is only one country that seems to take active steps to rebuff them or state their resentment (to) them, but it's international waters and a lot of nations want to see freedom of navigation," Mattis told reporters while enroute to Hawaii, where he will oversee a change of command for U.S. Pacific Command.

While the Sunday operation had been planned months in advance, and similar operations have become routine, it comes at a particularly sensitive time and just days after the Pentagon disinvited China from a major U.S.-hosted naval drill.

Critics have said these operations have little impact on Chinese behaviour and are largely symbolic.

Pentagon officials have long complained that China has not been candid enough about its rapid military build-up and using South China Sea islands to gather intelligence.

Recent satellite photographs showed China appeared to have deployed truck-mounted surface-to-air missiles or anti-ship cruise missiles at Woody Island.

Earlier this month, China's air force landed bombers on disputed islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of a training exercise in the region.[L3N1SR08Q]

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"When they (Chinese) do things that are opaque to the rest of us, then we cannot cooperate in areas that we would otherwise cooperate in," Mattis said.

Mattis said U.S. diplomats were engaged on the issue and he had heard concerns about Chinese actions not just from within the United States government, but also from regional allies.

He will have strong words for China when he travels to Singapore for the Shangri-la dialogue, a security forum, later this week.

China's claims in the South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion in shipborne trade passes each year, are contested by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Leslie Adler)
By Lesley Wroughton

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S. State Department spokeswoman declined to say whether human rights abuses were on the agenda of meetings with North Korea, despite criticism by successive administrations and a U.S. government report on Tuesday that described Pyongyang as running a system of prison labour camps.

"I'm not saying it will be, I'm not saying it won't be. I'm just not going to get ahead of the Secretary's meetings that start this week," spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, referring to a meeting on Thursday in New York between U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean official, Kim Yong Chol, ahead of a potential summit.

Any summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un would chiefly focus on Pyongyang's nuclear programs, Nauert said.

While the United States has long criticized North Korea for rights abuses, a possible meeting in Singapore on June 12 would be the first opportunity for a sitting U.S. president to directly raise the issue with the North Koreans.

The White House was not immediately available to comment on whether North Korea's rights record would be raised.

While talks are expected to focus mainly on North Korea's denuclearisation and its security, the United Nations and other groups have urged the United States not to neglect human rights.

Human rights abuses in North Korea, including violations of religious freedom, are a "matter of discussion" for the United States, said Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, in releasing the U.S. State Department's 2017 International Religious Freedom Report.

"You've got a gulag system operating in North Korea, and it's been a terrible situation for ... many years," said Brownback. North Korea has long been designated as a "Country of Particular Concern" in the report.

Asked whether he expected the issue to be raised in the talks with Pyongyang, Brownback said: "I think they're raising all of these issues."

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The report accused North Korea of dealing "harshly" with people who engaged in almost any religious practice, through executions, torture, beatings, and arrests. It said an estimated 80,000 to 120,000 prisoners, some imprisoned for religious reasons, were believed to be held in a political prison camp system in remote areas "under horrific conditions."

Three U.S. citizens were freed from North Korean detention two weeks ago, including at least one who spent time in labour camp.

'ETHNIC CLEANSING'

The International Religious Freedom Report documented abuses in 200 countries and territories.

Brownback also named Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Eritrea and Turkmenistan as countries where suppression of religious life was a "particular concern."

And he called on countries to act to end attacks by government forces in Myanmar against the Rohingya Muslim minority. Separately, fighting between the military and ethnic minority Kachin since April has displaced more than 5,000 villagers, according to the United Nations.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), one of Myanmars most powerful ethnic minority insurgent forces, has regularly clashed with government troops in the mountainous region bordering China and India since 2011, when a 17-year-old ceasefire broke down.

The Kachin fighting has been eclipsed in media coverage by the plight of nearly 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees who have fled to neighbouring Bangladesh since last August.

"We must do more to help them as they continue to be targeted for their faith," said Brownback. "I believe it is ethnic cleansing of a religious minority that is taking place," Brownback said.

(Reporting by Lesley Wroughton, Editing by Rosalba O'Brien)
When Starbucks announced it had changed its policy on the use of its toilets following a massive public relations disaster over the arrest of two black men in one of its outlets in Philadelphia, the news made headlines around the world.

But while the US coffee chain might have felt it had no choice but to change its rules on toilet use, hundreds of companies across China are taking part in a new social initiative that will see them opening their restrooms to the public as part of the toilet revolution that has been under way for the past three years.

Wanted: Chinese city seeks university graduates for public toilet jobs

The campaign was launched by President Xi Jinping in 2015, and since then more than 70,000 new and refurbished public toilets have opened across the country.

And in recent weeks, authorities in five cities have announced plans to make thousands more available by working with their local business communities.

In Hangzhou, capital of eastern Chinas Zhejiang province, the government of Jianggan district has signed deals with 64 shops, hotels and government buildings to open their facilities to the public.

According to Kong Jiahui, who works in the districts urban management bureau, the agreements were part of a citywide drive to get 490 outlets to join the scheme by the end of the year.

Relief for foreigners amid Chinas public toilets makeover ... but theres still room to improve

Kong said that she and her colleagues met managers and owners of the properties to secure their support for the scheme.

Under the deal, the buildings are required to put up a sign advertising the fact their toilets are open to the public, and must ensure they are well maintained and open for at least eight hours a day.

In return, the government agreed to pay each venue 1,000 yuan (US$156) a year to cover the cost of the upkeep.

Chinese public toilets go hi-tech with Wi-fi and facial recognition

Kong said the long-term goal for the city was to ensure residents and visitors were never more than 10 minutes away from a public toilet, although she acknowledged that achieving this would not be easy.

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In our district there are 319 public toilets, but in some residential communities, which are old and densely populated, we cant meet the demand, she said.

Because of limited land resources there is no room for new toilets, but by borrowing them from the 64 outlets, weve eased the pressure to some extent.

Aside from the government in Jianggan, authorities across the country  from Shijiazhuang in the north to Xiamen in the southeast, Linhai in the east to Neijiang in the southwest  have all announced similar schemes to provide more toilets by working with their local business communities.

Dina Lin, a Hangzhou resident in her 30s, said she welcomed the initiative but said she was concerned about how easy it would be for people to know where the toilets were.

Toilet chiefs in, luxury loos out as Chinas public bathroom revolution rolls on

There should be clear signs on the street saying which buildings are involved, otherwise the project will be meaningless for people just passing by, she said.

Because only a small number of premises are involved at the moment, people need to be given clear guidance.

It would appear to be a valid concern. While many of the companies involved in the scheme have put up signs outside their premises, they are not always clear to see from the street  and some of them are even inside the buildings, rendering them almost useless.

In Neijiang, Sichuan province, a worker at the Baisheng Hotel, which has signed up for the scheme, said she had no idea her employer had opened its toilets to the public and had not seen any signs stating that fact.

Another problem facing foreign visitors to the cities is having to decipher signs written in pidgin English.

A sign outside a government building in Zhengding county, Hebei province, reads, in English: Inside the toilet opening to the outside world under two lines of Chinese characters that state quite clearly, Public toilet inside.

Another, in Linhai, in Zhejiang, says in English: Equipped with toilet opening.

Cheng Chao, an assistant manager at the Zhejiang Zijing Hotel in Hangzhou, said the restrooms in the lobby of her workplace had been open to the public since the hotel opened in 2008.

Many people living in the neighbourhood come to use the toilets. We just assumed they were always open to the public, although a sign was only put up last year, she said.

We dont see it as a big burden in terms of cleaning.

Its grandad to the rescue as Chinese woman finds giant snake in toilet

Zhan Dongmei, who works at China Tourism Academy, a Beijing-based research institution, said that while she supported the scheme, it should not be obligatory for businesses to take part.

The government should not force companies to bear this social responsibility, and should provide compensation and support if they do, she said.

But, as well as being a great leap forward in meeting the demand for public toilets, it could be good for local companies by increasing their brand awareness, she said.

And if every commercial building signs up for the scheme, the amount of toilet traffic will be equally spread so it wont put too much pressure on any one place.

This article Its not just Starbucks ... businesses across China are opening their toilets to the public first appeared on South China Morning Post

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Four Libyan leaders agreed Tuesday to hold elections on December 10 after a peace conference in Paris aimed at unifying the war-torn north African country. The four men, who represent most but not all of Libya's rival factions, also agreed to "accept the results of elections, and ensure appropriate funds and strong security arrangements are in place". The commitment to holding parliamentary and presidential polls this year came after four hours of talks in Paris where the leaders faced pressure to agree on a political roadmap to end seven years of conflict. European leaders see stabilising Libya as key to tackling jihadist threats and migration from the fractured country, which has become a departure point for hundreds of thousands of Africans trying to reach Europe. "I'm optimistic," UN envoy Ghassan Salame told AFP at the end of the talks which he called "historic" because they had brought together the main Libyan protagonists as well as regional countries for the first time. The Libyan invitees were Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, and 75-year-old military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose rival Libyan National Army dominates the country's east. Also present were Aguila Saleh Issa, the parliament speaker based in the eastern city of Tobruk, and Khalid Al-Mishri, the newly-elected head of the High Council of State. "There is no solution other than via you," Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi told the Libyan leaders at the opening of the talks. "If things go badly, it's your responsibility." - Implementation doubts - Despite the French-led efforts to seek a political settlement, many analysts and diplomats were sceptical that a statement that was verbally agreed -- but not signed -- could lead to real change on the ground. Some have voiced doubt whether the country, which is swamped by weapons and controlled by a patchwork of political groups and armed militias, will be able to hold credible elections. "I believe that elections are a big risk in a country armed like Libya," Federica Saini Fasanotti, an analyst with the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told AFP. Other countries, including former colonial power Italy and some Gulf states, had also argued that Libya needed to agree on a new constitution before holding elections. In a further complication, the main political and military representatives from the western city of Misrata boycotted proceedings after not being offered the same status as other invitees in Paris. "There are some positive points in this agreement, which ultimately is not worth anything because it hasn't been signed," a senior military figure in the Misrata militia, Ibrahim Ben Rjab, told AFP. Instead of signing the deal, the leaders in Paris gave their approval for a joint statement to be issued and later committed verbally to implementing it when explicitly asked to do so by Macron during a group photo. "So we are all working on this common basis, bravo!" Macron told them. Years of mediation by the United Nations, as well as Italy, have failed to bring stability to the nation which descended into chaos after the ousting of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. Previous peace agreements have come to nothing. "It went well. Afterwards, it depends on the implementation," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity. - Regional competition - Representatives from 20 countries including Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, attended the talks, as well as Libya's neighbours Algeria and Tunisia. Stabilising Libya has been complicated by diverging interests among Middle Eastern countries, which have sometimes backed opposing sides in the fighting, as well as the competition between Europeans. Macron referred to foreign countries "pulling strings behind a curtain" but claimed that Tuesday's agreement had put everyone on the same page. Karim Bitar, an expert at the Paris-based French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs (IRIS) think-tank said France would "need to convince the Sunni powers in the Gulf to stop their proxy wars in Libya, which won't be easy". He also said voiced scepticism about the elections as the way to unify the country, which currently operates with two parliaments, various armed forces and different central banks. "Generally speaking the West sometimes tends to place too much emphasis on the ballot box and the voting slip," he said, explaining that polls could sometimes be counter-productive. Macron threw himself into finding a solution in Libya shortly after his election in May 2017, inviting Sarraj and Haftar to Paris in July -- a move that irked Italy. Some in Rome suspect Macron of organising the conference at a time when Italy, which has major oil interests in Libya, is embroiled in a deep political crisis. burs-adp/txw
A top judge voiced rare criticism of Hong Kongs all-important lawyers qualification, it has been revealed, even while chairing a high-powered panel on the future of legal education.

Patrick Chan Siu-oi, a non-permanent judge on the Court of Final Appeal, aired his backing of the Law Societys controversial push for a unified exam, and even suggested a wider pool of local universities could provide the professional qualification.

Any graduate looking to practise as a solicitor or barrister has to complete a one-year postgraduate certificate in laws (PCLL) course, taught by the law schools of the University of Hong Kong, Chinese University and City University. As of 2016, the three schools provided about 780 PCLL places in total.



Before stepping down in August last year, Chan chaired the Standing Committee on Legal Education and Training (SCLET), when it commissioned a consultation on legal education in mid-2015, to decide the future of the PCLL.

However, the Law Society  the professional body of the citys solicitors  pre-empted that consultation by announcing in January 2016 it would implement a new Common Entrance Exam (CEE), to come in by 2021.

The SCLET called for preparations for the new exam to be put on hold, and revealed in its final report, published in May this year, that the Law Society refused to speak to it over the idea. The Post earlier reported the new exam, later tweaked and rebranded as the Law Society Examination, could be implemented in late 2019.

After an interview with an SCLET consultation group in December 2015, Justice Chan, still the committees chairman, filed two written submissions in January and February 2016. He criticised current PCLL admissions by three law schools, saying they lacked reliable, objective, fair and transparent criteria for admissions, since grades and honours varied between schools and courses.

He said this variation, along with a shortage of PCLL places, meant many law students will be shut out from pursuing a legal career once they have been rejected admission at the first attempt. He called it unrealistic to turn a blind eye to these problems and difficulties.

Story continues

If there were just tonnes of institutes teaching [the PCLL], there would just be no way to monitor their quality of teaching

Edward Chan, Bar Association

Despite stern opposition from law schools and the Bar Association, which represents local barristers, Chan said he supported the CEE and defended the Law Society, saying it had a duty to be concerned about the quality of the industry.

He even suggested there was strictly speaking no restriction on the number of PCLL places.

If the three law schools have difficulty in expanding their PCLL courses, it may be worthwhile considering inviting other local universities to provide more PCLL places on condition their courses could also meet the requirement and standards of the legal profession, he said.

A spokesman for the SCLET said Chans interview and written submissions covered his personal views and "not made known to SCLET or discussed at the meetings of SCLET. He said the consultants invited all members of the committee to attend interviews and make submissions.



Law schools had been sceptical that the legal market could absorb more PCLL graduates, according to responses they gave to the SCLET in May 2016. Chinese Universitys law faculty warned it would be in no ones interest to widen admissions, and could even cause resentment from students if there were an oversupply of graduates, especially as law students are reluctant to work outside the legal field.

They also said there was no evidence of varying standards between schools, particularly as the Law Society and the Bar Association sat on the examination and curriculum board for each schools PCLL.

The Bar Associations representative on the SCLET, Edward Chan King-sang, said he noted Patrick Chan was rather sympathetic to a unified qualifying exam, but said the top judge was entitled to his view.

However, he said he could not agree with extending the exam to other universities, as that could affect teaching quality.

Professional groups may easily assist the three universities [in monitoring teaching], regardless of whether they have 10 students or 100 students, Edward Chan said. If there were just tonnes of institutes teaching [the PCLL], there would just be no way to monitor their quality of teaching.

This article Top Hong Kong judge aired doubts about all-important lawyers exam  while chairing panel on its future first appeared on South China Morning Post

For the latest news from the South China Morning Post download our mobile app. Copyright 2018.
The first African American woman to have a film on widespread theatrical release, Dash has enjoyed widespread success as a director of cinema, television and music videos.

Emerging from the group of young black filmmakers dubbed the LA Rebellion which came out of the city in the 1980s, it was Dash's 1991 feature Daughters of the Dust which earned her international attention for its powerful depiction of black women's stories using an experimental narrative structure, unsubtitled dialect and distinctive use of cinematography.

The BFI is pleased to present a new restoration of Daughters of the Dust for its 25th anniversary, available in a beautiful dual format package.

For further reading, Tega Okiti places Dash's work into the wider context of the black feminine on screen here.

And Stephanie Phillips traces the lineage from Dash's Daughters of the Dust to Beyonce's Lemonade here.
Attacking the president for rising gas prices during summer road trip season is a time-honored American political tradition, the news cycle equivalent of drinking an overpriced Budweiser at the ballpark. And so last week, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stood outside of a Capitol Hill Exxon stationa longtime prop for such eventsand went through the motions of blaming Donald Trump for the pain Americans had been feeling at the pump.

Its time for this president to stand up to OPEC, Schumer said. Hes palling around with the Saudis and the UAE and all these other oil-rich countries. Why doesnt he ask them to lower their prices?

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This was a somewhat odd line of criticism, since Trump had, in fact, already done more or less what Schumer was demanding. Crude prices rose over the last year largely thanks to a historic deal to limit production between the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by Saudi Arabia, and Russia. Last month, the president tweeted out a cranky warning to OPEC, suggesting that he wouldnt tolerate prices going up any further.

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Looks like OPEC is at it again. With record amounts of Oil all over the place, including the fully loaded ships at sea, Oil prices are artificially Very High! No good and will not be accepted!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 20, 2018

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Worse yet for Schumer, Trumps friends in the Middle East appear to have listened, or are acting like it anyway. Oil prices took a tumble last week after energy ministers from OPEC and Russia suggested they would loosen up the supply restrictions in order to keep a lid on prices. And as the Washington Post reported, OPEC Secretary General Mohammed Barkindo told a panel in St. Petersberg that talks about easing production cuts were prompted by Trumps tweet. We pride ourselves as friends of the United States, he said.

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Its possible, of course, that OPEC is simply trying to flatter Trump. Some of its members, particularly Saudi Arabia, have invested a lot of energy in courting the president (never forget the orb), and probably feel they have an interest in making him look good, even if their decisions are strictly economic. Its also possible that Trumps tweet really did factor in OPECs decision making, since, as I wrote at the time of Trumps tweet, the Saudis rely on American military and diplomatic support. Either way, theyre willing to give him credit.

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This doesnt necessarily mean Trump deserves applause for lowering gas prices, since the presidents decision to 86 the Iran deal is one of the factors that drove oil higher in the first place. Nonetheless, Trump is in the rare position where he can plausibly take credit for personally keeping fuel prices in check.

This is not how attacking presidents for gas prices is supposed to go, obviously. The entire point of the exercise is that, while Americans tend to blame whoever is in the White House for the cost of their weekly commute, theres typically little the White House can do to influence the oil market. But Trump is in a slightly different position, at least for PR purposes, which makes Schumers performance seem even more performative, and ill-conceived, than usual.
Who Would Buy This Thing? is a series that spotlights particularly egregious commercial objects and tries to imagine who might indeed pay money to own them.

Another day, another sign that traditional clock faces are going the way of the sun dial.

First, U.K. schools decided to remove analog clocks from testing rooms after discovering students had trouble reading them. And now, the Swedish company Nunc is selling a bracelet featuring a blank circle of Italian marblein other words, a watch that doesnt tell time. For the low price of 160 (or around $188), you can own what the company deems more than a product, but a philosophy and a way of life. That philosophy came to the wider worlds attention after a screenshot of the company responding to a confused Facebook user went viral on Twitter. Nunc freely admits that they struggled with what to call their product: Should we call it a watch or a timepiece? It clearly doesnt tell the time. They then go on to explain that a little Greek philosophy helped them blithely continue on their path.

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Ancient Greeks had two words for time: Chronos and Kairos. Chronos is the evil god representing the passing time that we measure and try to escape, from which we get words like chronology. Kairos, on the other hand, represents the positive, qualitative time. The right time, that we live and experience. And dont measure. All watches so far represent Chronos time. With Nunc, we bring to the world a new type of watch: the Kairos watch. A reminder that time is now and we should make the most of it.

And with that bit of dubiously sourced mythology, Nunc was born. Every Nunc watch is cast in the highest grade 316 stainless steel in four different colors: rose gold, gold, silver, and carbon black. Each watch carries a prestigious [white] Carrara or [black] Marquina natural marble stone and comes in wooden packaging thats designed to transform into a pot, where you can plant the seed of Moringa, also known as the Tree of Life. The entire website is filled with the same pseudo-intellectualism of a freshman college student taking their first philosophy class, from the product descriptions to the 4,000-plus-word rambling company origin story to the wisdom pages that are quite literally blog posts discussing everything from the Greek personification of time Chronos to the Mandelbrot set. Its truly impossible to accurately capture the sophomoric faux-profound prose that Nunc employs, so heres a sample of the companys founding mythology:

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Just as external alchemy is about transmuting base metals into gold, inner alchemy is about transmuting the inner self into its best version. Stones played a key role in alchemy: the philosophers stone, the Chintamani. For this reason, the stone takes a central role on our timepieces, blending light and darkness, the black and the white.

At the very least, its fair to say Nuncs are attractive pieces of jewelry, although fundamentally useless beyond the purpose of starting conversations. I can only assume that those conversations primarily revolve around acquaintances asking Nunc-wearers for the time and them responding, Time is a social construct. Live in the now.

Price: 160 (around $188).

Who would buy this thing? An Instagram influencer with a minor in classics.
In his new book, How Democracy Ends, the British political scientist David Runciman examines a familiar topic from a new angle. Amid understandable fears about the state of democracy worldwide, and with politicians sounding like strongmen of previous eras, Runciman argues that we are misunderstanding our predicament. He makes the case that we are relying too much on the rise of fascism before World War II as a reference point and failing to grapple with the fact that democracy is likely to wither away or erode, rather than quickly fall to authoritarians.

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I recently spoke by phone with Runciman, who is also the host of the podcast Talking Politics. During the course of our conversation, which has been edited and condensed for clarity, we discussed how Trumps election proved Americans have too much faith in democracy, why comparing the U.S. in 2018 to 1930s Europe (or 1930s America) is foolish, and why modern-day Japan may actually be a good window into our future.

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Isaac Chotiner: What is it that you think people are misunderstanding about how democracy is likely to end?

David Runciman: I think they have the wrong historical framework for it. There are a lot of books with titles similar to mine, and they tend to look at past democratic failure and hear the echoes in the air now. They hear the things that politicians, particularly Trump, say, and it reminds them of the past. Then they extrapolate a picture that we all have in the back of our minds of what democratic failure looks like: a breaking point where the institutions snap, the military takes over in the worst-case scenario, or at least democracy signals its clear inability to function.

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The 1930s is the model decade. But my feeling is that our democracies wont fare like that because our societies are completely different.

I dont think people will look back on the Trump years and think either that was a complete outlier, or that was the moment when everyone realized the change.   David Runciman

What is it that makes you think our society has changed so much?

I think part of the problem here is that the United States of America thinks it has more in common with 1930s America, because its the same country, than it does with other foreign countries around the world at the moment. But actually, the past literally is another country. 1930s America is more like contemporary Egypt, because it was poor, it was young, it was violent. Per capita GDP in the 1930s in America was about 10 times lower than what it is today; half the population was 25 and younger, like Egypts; it was actually a much less educated society than contemporary Egypt. [Today] we live in old societies, so people are just so much older, and what does democratic failure look like in a society where most people are over 40, over 45, where the per capita GDP is $40,000 plus, where, for all our scare stories about violence, our actual experience of violence, particularly political violence, is very, very low? Its another world, and nothing like the 1930s.

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So then what do you think the future has in store?

We should be thinking about the ways in which our democratic institutionsfar from breaking, and far from collapsing in violencecan probably survive a lot past the point where theyre actually functioning and delivering. So the response I had to Trumps election was that it wasnt a signal that the people who voted for Trump had given up on democracy at all. It was almost a sign that they had so much faith in democratic institutions that they thought they could survive anyone. You could vote for Trump and the system would somehow protect you from him. We could continue to have faith in these institutions long past the point where they actually deliver. And then the big risk that we run is that [our challenges] run outside of democratic politics, whether its climate, whether its the coming of A.I. and automation, the digital revolutions. Those things run through and around our democratic politics; theyre not going to break it in half, but it could easily be the case over the next 50 years that democracy fails to deal with any of these challenges, and it keeps going. Thats a new kind of failure. In the past, when democracy failed, it told you it had failed because it stopped.

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Is there a model country for where we are heading?

If you want to look at what Western democratic failure looks like, its got more in common with current Japanese politics and society than with Latin America in the 1970s, or Weimar Germany.

OK but most people hear that and say that 21st-century Japan compared to almost everywhere is

Pretty good.

Thriving, comparatively, to most places in human history.

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In the great lottery of life, if you pull your name out of the hat and it tells you where and when youre going to live in human history, and it says early-21st-century Japan, youve won the jackpot. So thats part of a point: This is democratic failure in a society thats as good by historic standards of any society has ever been to live in. Its prosperous, its comfortable, its peaceful, but its aging incredibly fast. It cannot cope with immigration. It does not want immigrants. Its basically putting its faith in automation and robots to do work. Its not producing young people, doesnt have immigrants coming in. Clearly the United States is not there yet, but bits of Europe are there now. I mean bits of Europe really have become Japanophile in that way, but its not sustainable. Its fine, its completely livable, and as a system of politics, its got a shelf life. You can see the mortality of Japanese democracy because when you think 5,000 years ahead, its not going to work. Unless the bet on the robots really delivers, and in the end it becomes a completely different world.

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You said that voting for Trump was actually a sign that people had faith in democracy. One of the things that I think is really dangerous for our democracy right now is that people think our democracy is really strong. They think you can vote for Trump and that things will be OK. They say things like

They basically think its indestructible.

If he does X then this institution will stop him. At the same time, theres incredible cynicism about politicians: Theyre all crooks. And so you get this thing where people look at Trumps corruption and say, Well, all politicians are bad. Politics is terrible, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, combined with this weird faith in our system. I think that thats a pretty toxic brew.

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I completely agree and thats the bleakest part of this, which is its this weird combination of almost implicit, unthinking faith that democracy can survive anything and this rage against politics now in the moment. When you put those two things together, you have a really dysfunctional politics thats going to struggle to get anything done.

I do think that the kind of situation that were in is one that is weirdly sustainable, because if democracy still performs some of its basic functionsand of course if Trump is still president in 10 years time, Im wrongbut you still get these turns, these twists, these dramas, these scandals, and you get these outlets for the rage, then the rage moves somewhere else. What you dont get is what you got in the 20th century when democracy fell apart, which was where forces against democracy aggregated around a particular moment in a particular crisis, and broke it.

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I dont think people will look back on the Trump years and think either that was a complete outlier or that was the moment when everyone realized the change. They will, I think, look at the Trump era as part of a long story of democratic decline. So Trump for me is more symptom than the cause, and when Trump goes, democratic institutions will have been damaged and corroded.

One way people on the left and center have been responding to some scary things going on in democracies is by, for instance, wanting to have another vote to redo Brexit. Or theres the Italian president basically saying that he is not going to accept an anti-EU finance minister, and therefore not accept the coalition government between some right-wingers and some populists who won the election. How concerned are you about attempts to override the expressed will of the people, even if the people are wrong?

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I think [these examples] are different. What we had in the British case was the referendum, and referendums have pretty impeccable democratic credentials in the sense that the entire population or voting population is asked a straight question, gives a straight answer. What no one thought about and what no one knows how to do is how to fit that into representative electoral-party politics. It is, in a sense, an enhancement of democracy; its more democratic, but it doesnt mesh with existing democracy.

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So what you got in Britain is two kinds of democracy clashing and unable to be reconciled, and the evidence of just how hard it is is that Theresa May called an election. She said, I cant do Brexit through [the current] Parliament so heres your chance. If you meant what you said in the referendum, vote for me and well get Brexit done. The British people said no. They said, This is a general election, so were going to vote for Corbyn because we want better social policy. They dont go together, and Britains got to work out how its going to get out of this mess where representative politics and direct democracy are just going to rub each other the wrong way. Therell be pragmatic fixes, I think, and there wont be a second referendum, because what weve learned is you cant [undo] these things.

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The Italian case is I think much more acute, because that was basically a country that knew that elections were really bad for its politics, and it tried to avoid having them. It avoided one for as long as possible: more than five years. It finally had to have one if it was going to be a democracy, and gets a result it cant live with. Then you have a system where the president has to make a decision, which then looks completely undemocratic. No one in Britain has done anything yet that looks completely undemocratic, so the Italian case is I think closer to where you see democracy and something that is not democracy fighting. I still think in the Italian case it looks like a six-month hiatus before they have to have another election. If the next election produces an even more strong reaction in favor of populism, at some point they will have to be a populist government. I dont think in Britain were going to have a populist government, but in Italy they will, and then the Euro could start to really unravel.

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Ive heard people who talk about the health of democracy say that what would be really healthy in the United States case would not be impeachment, not the Russia investigation bringing Trump down, but him being voted out of officethat theres an incredible importance to that. Do you agree thats the proper remedy, and the others will trouble us down the road?

The essence of democracy has to still be that the thing that doesnt work gets rejected by the people in an election. The essence of democracy is that the people see something isnt working and they change it. So I think, probably for the health of American democracy, almost any scenario you can think of that involves Trump leaving office outside of an election is fuel to the conspiracy theories, the mutual suspicion, the partisanship.

But there hasnt been a lot of evidence in recent American democracy that change at the ballot box produces the kind of deep change that most people are hungering for. Its more likely to fit that story I just described in the British case, which is: Its not that we stopped having elections, but that we have all of these elections and they produce these results that pull against each other. Sure, the Democrats could sweep Congress and the presidency over the next two years, whatever it is, and then you get a fresh start. But there have been those fresh starts. Obama had a fresh start. Theres not a lot of evidence that elections actually deliver the kind of change that people say they want. Those fresh starts have done nothing in the last 20 years to take the rage away.
Two years ago, Ellicott City, Maryland, was hit by a debilitating flash flood that turned the towns historic Main Street into a raging muddy river. Scientists said the July 2016 rainstorm was a once-in-a-thousand-year event.

But on Sunday it happened again: 7 to 9 inches of rain fell in the area, 10 miles west of Baltimore, and another torrent swept cars and trees through town. More than 1,000 911 calls were recorded on Sunday afternoon, more than 300 residents were evacuated, and a National Guard sergeant died trying to rescue someone.

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This is outside right now. pic.twitter.com/IBeikcijKo  Max (feat. Serj Tankian) (@DieRobinsonDie) May 27, 2018

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This is worse, said Howard County executive Allan Kittleman, compared with the 2016 storm, which caused tens of millions in damages and lost business.

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Ellicott City isnt some postwar boomtown built inside a reservoir or a vacation community playing chicken with the ocean waves. Its a 250-year-old river town, and like many river towns, its known flooding, chiefly from the rising waters of the Patapsco, the river at the foot of town that drains into Baltimore Harbor.

But these past two stormsas well as September 2011 flooding from Tropical Storm Leehave worked differently. Instead of the water rising from the river at the base of the town, its come roaring in down two tiny tributaries, the Tiber and the Hudson, which merge just before entering the Patapsco. According to a Baltimore Sun investigation, prior to 2011, it had been 60 years since runoff on the Tiber stream produced a flash flood. Now it has happened three times in seven years.

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Its a reminder that heavy rain, rather than rising seas, may be the earliest severe consequence of climate change. Weve prepared for it in the worst way possible.

Between 1958 and 2012, according to the 2014 National Climate Assessment, the amount of rain falling in very heavy eventsthose at the top 1 percent of all rainstormshas risen by 27 percent in the Southeast, 37 percent in the Midwest, and a whopping 71 percent in the Northeast. The most extreme downpours are getting more extreme. (Coincidentally, this weekend also saw just the ninth classified storm to make landfall before hurricane season since 1851 when Alberto hit the Florida panhandle, and a virtually unprecedented Category 3 Tropical Cyclone in Oman.)

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In nog geen 24 uur valt er in Oman de hoeveelheid regen die het anders in drie jaar tijd ziet. Krankzinnige beelden. Tientallen mensen vermist https://t.co/vHnjpO7fqi  Olaf Koens (@obk) May 27, 2018

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But climate change isnt the only reason these disasters arent quite natural. Unchecked sprawl has built a concrete funnel around Ellicott City. All this natural vegetation that would act as sponges is being replaced by concrete and impervious surfaces, explains Stephen Strader, a professor at Villanova who studies environmental risk. Nearly one-third of the TiberHudson sub-watershed was covered by hard surfaces 10 years ago, according to the Chesapeake Bay Trust, and sprawling development hasnt stopped since. The result, Strader says, is a flash-flood scenario more reminiscent of the American West, where naturally impervious land creates the conditions for sudden, dramatic floods that, over time, have carved out slot canyons.

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The sprawling, asphalt-based model of American postwar planning has permanently altered the way the landscape drains water. The Federal Emergency Management Agency bases flood maps on elevations and channels but ignores the impact of the built environment. Doing so, Texas A&M professor Samuel Brody told me a few months ago, is a critical mistake. The bigger issue is that weve [completely] misconceptualized what flood risk is, he argues. Were not baking in the human element thats driving some of these flood problems. How urban floods form and move owes as much to parking lots, soundwalls, highways, railroad tracks, and sewer backups as to natural topography.

Going back to 1972, about half of all flood insurance claims in Harris Countyhome of Houstonhave been made outside the FEMA flood plain, according to Brodys research, and the rate was even higher after Hurricane Harvey dumped dozens of inches of rain there last summer. Thats in part due to the increased severity of modern storms, but also to the category error by which FEMA plans without accounting for the postwar landscape. In Cook County, Illinois, more than $773 million was paid out for urban flooding damage between 2007 and 2011.

There was no correlation between ZIP codes with FEMA flood plains and those with damage payouts.

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To further complicate matters, new development can change flooding patterns miles away. In the 1960s developers built Meyerland, one of the Houston neighborhoods that flooded for the third year running during Hurricane Harvey last year. At the time, only a sliver of it was in the flood plain along the bayou. Since then, the booming exurbs of Harris County have thrust more and more of the neighborhood into flood territory, leading to hundreds of millions in federal insurance payouts. Three-quarters of the absorbent Katy Prairie grassland has been paved over, sending water rushing downstream through obsolete infrastructure. You get flood plains moving into people, not just the other way around, says Brody.

That is what seems to have happened in Ellicott City, too: an old downtown in a new flood plain.
A new Harvard study estimates that at least 4,600 people in Puerto Rico have died from causes related to Hurricane Maria, a far larger number than the official government death toll of 64.

According to the new study, which was conducted by a group of independent researchers from Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, these deaths could often be attributed to delayed and limited health care in the aftermath of the storm, which shuttered several hospitals, crippled the power grid, knocked out cell service, and made many roads impassable.

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The study, released Tuesday, is based on researchers visits to more than 3,000 homes on the island. The residents reported that 38 people in those homes had died between the day of the storm and the end of the year, and that mortality rate allowed researchers to extrapolate a larger death toll from the overall population. They then could figure out how much higher that number was from the number of deaths during those three months the year before, giving them the number of excess deaths. The research leaves room for a more precise, exhaustive study of the death toll.

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But the study also supports charges leveled against the territorys government that the official toll had wildly undercounted the number of dead. Disaster-related deaths can be tricky to determine, according to the Washington Post, and they have to be confirmed by the governments Forensic Sciences Institute. Individual disaster-related deaths can also be difficult to label when they are indirect, as when they are a matter of poor care for an otherwise natural cause or pre-existing condition.

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According to the New York Times, the study criticized the territorys lack of transparency in sharing information about the death toll. As a result, they argued, the government had made it harder to plan for future disasters.

Donald Trump also came under fire shortly after the storm, when he boasted of the hurricanes low number of reported deaths, which, he said, meant it was not a real catastrophe like Katrina. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, roughly 1,800 deaths can be attributed to Hurricane Katrina.

News organizations soon began to disagree with the official count, and the resulting pressure caused Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rossello to recruit George Washington University researchers to review and recount deaths in the wake of the hurricane, according to the Times. Rossello promised that each death following the hurricane would be inspected, and the researchers plan to release a report in the next few weeks.

Its been eight months since the hurricane hit Puerto Rico, and the island still suffers from a damaged power grid, a short supply of clean water, and a dearth of other essential services. The stress from and effort to rebuild and recover after the storm also continues to put a strain on those suffering from medical conditions.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor gave gun rights advocates and libertarians a reason to rejoice on Tuesday morning when the most liberal member of the Supreme Court handed down her opinion in Collins v. Virginia, a modest but important case that sits at the intersection of property rights and personal privacy. Collins wasnt close; the court ruled 81 that cops generally need a warrant to search a vehicle in your driveway, a lopsided victory for champions of the Fourth Amendment. But that near-unanimity conceals a sharp divide within the court that scrambles the usual ideological lines: Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito seized upon Collins to promote their own police-friendly viewsproposing dueling visions of the Fourth Amendment that would dramatically undermine individual liberty.

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Ryan Collins, the defendant in Tuesdays case, was not a very competent criminal. Collins illegally purchased a stolen motorcycle and parked it at the house of his girlfriend and child, where he often spent the night. He then uploaded pictures of the house to Facebook with the motorcycle in view. Officer David Rhodes saw the pictures, visited the house, and observed a motorcycle-like object at the top of a driveway, covered by a tarp. Without a warrant, he walked up the driveway, lifted the tarp, and checked the vehicle identification number, confirming that the bike was stolen. When Collins arrived home, Rhodes confronted him about the motorcycle, and Collins acknowledged it was his. Rhodes promptly arrested him for receiving property he knew to be stolen.

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Collins is clearly guilty of that crime. But at trial, he filed a motion to suppress the evidence Rhodes had gathered, arguing that the officer had searched his home in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The trial court rejected his argument and convicted Collins, sentencing him to two months imprisonment. An appeals court affirmed the trial courts rejection of Collins constitutional claim, as did the Virginia Supreme Court. Rhodes search of Collins motorcycle, the court held, falls under the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment, which allows officers to search vehicles without a warrant so long as they have probable cause.

But wait: The automobile exception kicks in when police search vehicles in public, typically on the street. Collins bike was parked in the driveway of a home he shared with his girlfriend and childjust feet from the house itself, as Virginia Supreme Court Justice Bill Mims, a staunch Republican, noted in a barbed dissent to his courts ruling. Does the automobile exception really apply when a cop has to cross onto an individuals private property and futz with his personal effects to find the evidence hes looking for?

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Absolutely not, Sotomayor held. The Supreme Court has held that areas like Collins driveway are part of a houses curtilage, the area connected to and intimately linked to the home, both physically and psychologically. Because privacy expectations are most heightened in the home, the police usually need a warrant, based on probable cause, to search the area. Even a relatively minor search, like the one Rhodes conducted, triggers this warrant requirement so long as the officer physically intrudes on the curtilage to gather evidence. Thats precisely what Rhodes did here, so his search cannot possibly fall under the automobile exception. Collins thus gives us a new bright-line rule of constitutional law: Outside of an emergency situation, the cops need a warrant to search your driveway.

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Seven justices signed onto Sotomayors opinion, including Thomas. But the conservative justice wrote separately to declare that he has decided the Supreme Court has no authority to impose the exclusionary rule on the states. This rule compels the suppression of evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and the court has applied it to the states since 1961s Mapp v. Ohio. And while its not explicitly stated in the text of the Constitution, the Supreme Court has long recognized that the Fourth Amendment is of no value, and  might as well be stricken from the Constitution without it. (Some scholars have also argued persuasively that the Fourth Amendments framers did, indeed, support the rule.) Nonetheless, Thomas has decided that the court should overturn Mapp and allow prosecutors to convict suspects using evidence obtained illegally, essentially ripping the heart out of the Constitutions protections against unreasonable searches and seizures.

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Sotomayor didnt bother responding to Thomas concurrence, likely because the justice joined her opinion anyway. In Collins, the court was only asked to resolve whether Rhodes had conducted a search for Fourth Amendment purposes; it had no need to decide whether the evidence he found had to be suppressed. (Sotomayor left that analysis, which is quite messy and riddled with exceptions, to the lower courts.) Thomas agreed that a search had occurred, while laying the groundwork for a future challenge to the exclusionary rule. He wants police and prosecutors to know that once the right case hits the docket, hes eager to overrule 57 years of precedent and wipe Mapp off the books.

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If the police can trespass on their property with impunity, the concept of unlawful intrusion gets blurry.

Justice Samuel Alito didnt go as far as Thomas, but he dissented from Sotomayors ruling on rather limp originalist grounds. Alito pointed to a statute passed in 1789 by the First Congressthe same Congress that sent the Fourth Amendment to the states for approval. The law allowed officers to search vessels without a warrant, granting them an implicit ability to cross private property such as wharves in order to reach and board those vessels. In light of Congress approval of that statute, Alito asserted, Officer Rhodess conduct in this case is consistent with the original understanding of the Fourth Amendment. Really? Sotomayor dismissed this argument in a footnote by noting that the very same law that Alito cited expressly required warrants to search houses. Rhodes conducted a search on Collins curtilage, a part of his home, not his vessel or his wharves. Alitos wharf madness is wildly off point.

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Sotomayors opinion, and her emphatic rejection of Alitos arguments, will bring a sigh of relief to advocacy groups that support the rights to private property and gun ownership. The Cato Institute and the Institute for Justice both filed amicus briefs on Collins behalf, as did the NRAs Freedom Action Foundation, the groups legal arm. Gun Owners of America, the Gun Owners Foundation, and the Heller Foundation all signed onto an amicus brief as well. As the NRAs Freedom Action Foundation explained in its brief, the organization urged the court to respect the fundamental role the sanctity of the home plays in safeguarding many of our constitutional rights. That includes not only the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, but also the right to keep and bear arms in defense of oneself, ones family, and ones home.

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Gun rights groups worry that, if the court sanctioned Rhodes conduct here, it would erode the sanctity of the home, undermining not just individual privacy but also the right to self-defense. Gun owners, after all, want to protect their homes and families, using lethal force against intruders if necessary. If the police can trespass on their property with impunity, the concept of unlawful intrusion gets blurry: A cop, acting on a hunch, can do what a private citizen cannot, and a homeowner may not easily distinguish between the two as he assesses a potential threat. Equally worrisome is the possibility that police might trawl a homeowners carport for any indication of gun ownership, then use the evidence to justify a warrantless search for illegal firearms. Cops already use lawful firearm possession to infringe on Fourth Amendment rights; gun rights groups fretted that a bad decision in Collins could further undermine gun owners rights to be protected from unreasonable searches.

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Alito and Thomas present themselves as vigorous defenders of rights to self-defense and private property. But the theories they present in Collins would subvert both, expanding the states power to intrude into our homes with no judicial oversight. Sotomayor, by contrast, understands that a little case about a stolen motorcycle has major ramifications for Americans broader right to live free from obtrusive meddling by the police. David Rhodes did not have carte blanche to break the law just because he suspected Ryan Collins of doing the same. Thats the basic premise of the Fourth Amendment, and it appears to be more or less safe in Sotomayors hands.
The professionals are taking over the U.S.North Korea summit. Its a bit lateserious diplomacy usually precedes pageantry by many months, not two weeksbut if President Trump can give up his Nobel-laced daydreams of instant peace and, instead, live with a modest reduction of tension, then the summit might end in success.

Several signs of new seriousness have emerged in just the past few days. First, Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, was reassigned to lead a team of negotiators who have flown to Pyongyang for pre-summit talks with senior North Korean officials. Sung Kim has previously worked as President Obamas ambassador to South Korea and his special representative on North Korean policyas well as President George W. Bushs special envoy to the Six-Party Talks on North Korean arms control.

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In other words, for the first time, Trump has an experienced, nonpartisan Korea specialist working at a high level on his Korea policy.

Second, a U.S. travel ban was lifted on North Korean Gen. Kim Yong-chol so that he can fly to New York, presumably to discuss the summit with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Gen. Kim, his countrys top spy and vice chairman of its ruling party, accompanied Kim Jong-un to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, and has attended the key pre-summit meetings since.

Scott Snyder, senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and author of South Korea at the Crossroads and Negotiating on the Edge (the latter being one of the best books about North Koreas diplomatic style), sees the generals presence as the first sign of an attempt to address substance alongside protocol.

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Trumps decision to cancel his cancellation may have been driven more by Pompeos reassertion of authority.

It is significant, in this respect, that during their two recent meetings, Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in were both accompanied by intelligence chiefsKim by Gen. Kim, Moon by Suh Hoon. Snyder says that if Moon had brought along his national security adviser instead, then the subsequent channel with Washington would have been through Trumps national security adviser, John Bolton. Suhs presence signaled Pompeo as the appropriate link, especially since the two have had a working relationship since Pompeos days as CIA director.

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This connectionand the accelerated progress toward an actual summitmay signal a bureaucratic setback for Bolton, the Trump administrations most virulent hawk. (Just before Trump hired him in March, Bolton had argued in the Wall Street Journal that a U.S. preventive first strike against North Korea was legal and necessary.) According to the Washington Post, Bolton called Trump at about 10 p.m. on May 23, read aloud a bellicose statement from North Koreas top negotiator, and said that this was a very bad sign.

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In fact, if Trump had consulted with anyone familiar with Pyongyangs ways, he would have learned that the statement was, in style, par for the course and, in substance, a legitimate complaint about Boltons bluster. But Trump consulted with nobody and the next morning sent Kim a letter canceling the summitwithout so much as notifying Pompeo.

In reaction, Moonwho had just returned from discussing the upcoming summit in Washington with a seemingly gung-ho Trumpheld an emergency midnight cabinet meeting. The next day, Kims negotiator issued another statement, much more conciliatory in tone, expressing the hope that the summit could proceed. After that, Trump changed his mind, saying maybe the summit could happen after all. Pompeo simultaneously sent a negotiating team to Pyongyang and a logistical team to Singapore, where the summit wasand, now, still isscheduled to take place.

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What changed in Trumps mind is not yet clear. Was it the change of tone in North Koreas second statement? If so, its worth noting that Pyongyangs position on substantive matters had not changed at all. From the moment that a summit was proposed, Kim and his aides have insisted that its goal would be the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula (not just of North Korea) in phased and synchronous measures (not all at once). This was, and is, the opposite of what the Trump administration has proposed. In fact, North Koreas first, harshly toned statementthe one that threw Trump for a loopwas written in response to a remark by Bolton likening his vision of North Korean disarmament to that of Libyas Muammar Qaddafi (who was overthrown in a Western-backed coup and then killed, not long after he dismantled his nuclear program).

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Trumps decision to cancel his cancellation may have been driven more by Pompeos reassertion of authority. Pompeo is nearly as hawkish as Bolton when it comes to North Korea, but he is also the nations top diplomat and a fierce Trump loyalist. Trump wants diplomacy with North Korea, and so Pompeo is determined to give it to him. Pompeo is also determined to restore some of the State Departments luster and influence after his predecessor, Rex Tillerson, practically wrecked the placenot necessarily because Pompeo is a keen advocate of diplomacy, but simply because he wants power (as most politicians do), and one way for a cabinet secretary to get it is to elevate the department that he runs, i.e., to elevate diplomacy.

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Where all this leads, who knows? One thing nearly everyone now recognizes is that Kim is not going to give away his nukesnot anytime soon for any promise of economic aid, however lavish. This is true not only because it would take 15 years to accomplish (according to the calculations of Stanford physicist Siegfried Hecker, who knows as much about North Korean nukes as any Westerner), butmore to the pointbecause Kims nuclear arsenal is his only strategic asset: his only leverage for bargaining with other leaders and deterring them from attacking his regime.

With the pros taking over the process, one might now expect, or at least hope for, a less flamboyant agendaa retreat from fantasies about world peace, a capitalist boom above the 38th parallel, or the triumph of laurels in Oslo.

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Here are some plausible expectations of what might happen in Singapore: Trump and Kim agree on some lofty, distant goals; they announce a few dramatic, though not terribly sacrificial, short-term steps (the lifting of some minor sanctions, the destruction of a warhead or two); then they turn things over to the diplomats for the long haul. This may sound modest, but it would actually be quite significant. It might take war off the table (recall that, just nine months ago, some feared it was imminent), it could relax tensions, and it could establish a forum where a variety of disputes could be discussed.

The question is: Will Trump take this as a deal, or will he, in a fit of drama, demand moreor, in desperation, grovel for much less? In short, will Trump insist on being Trump? Will Bolton, whose desk is just steps away from the Oval Office, make his own power grab by abetting Trumps stubbornness? Will this summit, such an unlikely event in the first place, smacked by such wild obstacles along the way, really happen? This presidency is never boring. The question is, will it turn deadly?
President Donald Trumps penchant for twist and turns in his relations with foreign powers was on full display Tuesday as the White House said it would move forward with punitive trade actions against China, mere days after it seemed like tensions had cooled between the worlds two largest economies.

By June 15, the administration will release a list of some $50 billion in Chinese imports affected, and the 25-percent tariffs will be imposed shortly thereafter. In addition, the White House also said it would move ahead with restrictions on Chinese investments while imposing stronger restrictions on export controls that is part of an effort to limit access to American technology. That marks quite the change from earlier this month, when Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin said that the White House was putting the trade war on hold.

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The move will inevitably increase tensions ahead of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross arrival in Beijing later this week for talks on trade. Yet the back-and-forth on how to deal with China illustrates just how divided Trumps advisers are on the best way to fulfill the presidents campaign promise to get tough on the rising economy.

The latest signal from the White House sounds like the more hawkish wing of Trumps trade team is trying to amplify its hard line, notes Bloomberg. It is difficult not to read this latest move as a direct rebuke of Mnuchin and his confident statement earlier this month. Mnuchins trade war on hold comments look to have been repudiated this morning, and possibly his investment stance, too, said Derek Scissors, a China analyst at American Enterprise Institute. It may be the administration has shifted somewhat to appease the Congress on the lifting of the ZTE sanctions.
Legendary investor George Soros is worried that the global economy could be headed to the dumps in large part pushed downward by Europe, with a significant assist from President Donald Trump. Rising populism, the break-up of the Iran deal, a rising dollar, and investor flight out of emerging markets all mixes up to one dangerous cocktail for Europe, and the global economy as a whole. We may be heading for another major financial crisis, he said.

The billionaire didnt mince words at the annual meeting of the European Council on Foreign Relations in Paris on Tuesday, when he warned that the European Union is in an existential crisis. Why? Simple, really: Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. In his speech, which was aptly titled How to Save Europe, Soros said there was no way around the fact that European Union lost its way after the 2008 global financial crisis. That led to cutbacks and austerity in which certain countries were forced to meet impossible goals. That means many young people now see the EU as the enemy and that has been a boon for populist politicians.

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The continent has also failed to properly deal with the refugee crisis of 2015, which led to anger and resentment among voters and strengthened anti-European parties. Finally, there is Trump, who has managed to shock the whole world with his actions. His move to withdraw from the Iran deal meant he was effectively destroying the transatlantic alliance. That reality is bound to have a negative effect on the European economy and cause other dislocations, Soros warned.

As usual, Soros is putting his money where his mouth is and is shorting stocks from Stockholm to London, notes Bloomberg. His company currently has some $256 million in bets against European companies.

Soros remarks in Paris were one more piece of downbeat news on a day when markets around the world dropped in large part due to a growing political crisis in Italy that put the euro on a downward path Tuesday. The third-largest economy in the Eurozone is currently mired in a power struggle that led stocks around the globeincluding the United Statesto plunge.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to hear an appeal filed by Planned Parenthood against an Arkansas law that would place severe restrictions on medication abortions. Reproductive rights advocates have argued that the law is essentially the same as a Texas law the Supreme Court struck down in 2016, in a case called Whole Womans Health v. Hellerstedt.

Both laws hinge on a requirement that abortion providers obtain admitting privileges at nearby hospitals. Womens health care practitioners say the requirement is unnecessary because abortions are extremely safeonly about 0.23 percent of patients require hospital-grade intervention, a rate far lower than that of, say, colonoscopy patientsand hospitals will already take on any patient for care, regardless of whether her doctor has a relationship with the hospital. The Supreme Court found in Whole Womans Health that the Texas admitting-privileges law placed an undue burden on womens access to abortion care, since the law contributed to the closure of several abortion clinics after hospitals declined to grant admitting privileges to providers of such a highly politicized procedure.

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The Arkansas law is a bit different: It only applies to medical abortions, which are growing in popularity and account for nearly half of all U.S. abortions. Compared to surgical abortion, the procedure is much less expensive and much more simple for womenthey can take one of the two sets of pills at home after taking the first at a clinicand its FDA-approved through the 10th week of pregnancy. Currently, two of Arkansas three abortion providers only offer medical abortions. If the new law goes into effect, those two clinics, both Planned Parenthood health centers, will have to cease all abortion care. The only remaining abortion provider will be in Little Rock, forcing abortion-seeking women in the Fayetteville area, where one of the Planned Parenthood centers is located, to leave the state or travel 380 miles two times to get abortion care. (The state already mandates a 48-hour waiting period between a patients first appointment and her actual abortion.) The entire state of Arkansas will depend on a single clinic for all abortion services, and women who would otherwise be eligible for medical abortions will have to submit to more invasive surgical ones instead.

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For now, Arkansas has become the first state to effectively ban medical abortions. The law marks the triumph of politicians over science, and its women who will suffer as a result, said Planned Parenthood Great Plains president and CEO Brandon Hill in a statement. The organization said it will immediately begin informing patients that they can no longer come in for the procedures they had previously elected to have.

The Supreme Courts decision on Tuesday is a major blow to reproductive justice advocates. The Whole Womans Health ruling seemed to herald a new day for abortion rights, wherein the protecting women argument for targeted restrictions on abortion providers would be regarded, rightly, as a sham. None of the nine justices issued a dissent on the courts choice to let the Arkansas law stand; its possible that the more liberal of the bunch worried that swing-vote Anthony Kennedy would come down on the side of Arkansas if the case came before the court, creating a new and damaging precedent for the curtailing of abortion access.

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On the flip side, anti-abortion advocates who are counting on the conservative 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to send a possible challenge to Roe v. Wade to the Supreme Court will be buoyed by this news. The 8th Circuit, which reversed a lower courts injunction against the Arkansas law, has written that the Supreme Court should reconsider Roe with greater weight given to the states interest in promoting childbirth.

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In the Arkansas case, the appeals court ruled that the law was subject to the precedent in Whole Womans Health because the lower court judge didnt prove that a large number of women seeking medical abortions would be hampered by the Arkansas law, as pro-choice advocates did in Texas. We do not require the district court to calculate the exact number of women unduly burdened by the contract-physician requirement, the decision stated. Nonetheless  we find that this standard is not entirely freewheeling and that we can and should define its outer boundaries. Planned Parenthood said in a statement that it intends to go back to the district court for emergency relief. If the organization can prove that a large fraction of women will be unable to access abortion care under the admitting-privileges law, it stands a chance of getting it blocked again.
A New Orleans televangelist known for preaching the prosperity gospel has asked his followers from all over the world to send him donations for him to buy a $54 million jet.

Jesse Duplantis, the leader of Jesse Duplantis Ministries, is asking for a new Dassault Falcon 7X, a three-engine jet he justified in a five-minute video posted last week on his website by saying it could go farther, therefore saving on airplane fuel. Pray about becoming a partner to it, he tells viewers.

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I really believe that if Jesus was physically on the Earth today, he wouldnt be riding a donkey, he says in the video Hed be in an airplane preaching the gospel flying all over the world.

Watch "this Week with Jesse" as Jesse shows the importance of using aviation as an amazing tool for evangelizing the world! Tune in each Monday at https://t.co/hnG6BhPAvH or on our JDM App. Click to watch https://t.co/PLfSYt2A3U pic.twitter.com/sAvKskmokO  Jesse Duplantis (@jesse_duplantis) May 21, 2018

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Duplantis also said that God specifically told him, I want you to believe in me for a Falcon 7X. When Duplantis worried about the price, God told him, Jesse, I didnt ask you to pay for it, I asked you to believe for it.

The jet would actually be the fourth private aircraft for Duplantis, according to the video. He bought an airplane for the Lord in 1994, then again in 2004, and again in 2006:

I used themand just burning them up for the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, some people believe that preachers shouldnt have jets. I really believe preachers ought to go on every available voice, every available outlet to get this gospel preached to the world.

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Duplantis preaches a prosperity gospel, in which God blesses people who please him with material wealth, to an audience on Trinity Broadcasting Network, which claims to be the largest Christian TV network in the world. TBN has a lineup of famous names in televangelism, including Joel Osteen and fellow private-aircraft enthusiast Creflo Dollar (as well as Mike Huckabee), many of whom also promote the prosperity gospel. Paula White, Donald Trumps controversial spiritual advisor, also appears on the network to encourage her audienceoften low-income peopleto give money and be repaid in future success, because of God.

Advancing in life is always God's plan for you!  Jesse Duplantis (@jesse_duplantis) May 26, 2018

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A religious watchdog organization also investigated Duplantis for a $3 million tax-free house serving as a church rectory, paid for through non-taxable donations. Legally, Duplantis cannot put the donations toward any personal use. Flight records showed Duplantis took thousands of trips on his private plane, including ones to Hawaii and Las Vegas, according to the St. Charles Herald-Guide.

Duplantis once appeared in a video defending the use of private jets with Texas televangelist and fellow prosperity minister Kenneth Copeland, who bought his own $6-$12 million jet from the actor Tyler Perry earlier this year. In the video, Copeland argues that Oral Roberts, a famous televangelist had been mobbed by people wanting him to pray for them when he flew on a commercial flight. You cant manage that today, this dope-filled world, and get in a long tube with a bunch of demons, Copeland said.

And it works on your heart, it really does, Duplantis added.
President Donald Trump woke up ready to tweet Tuesday and once again the commander in chief had special counsel Robert Mueller on the brain. And while it may seem like the president is sounding like a broken record these days, he did take one smallbut significantstep forward in his attack against the special counsel, saying his team will be meddling with the mid-term elections.

Trump had previously insinuated that the ongoing investigation would have an effect on the midterms, but this is the first time he has outright accused Muellers team of seeking to play a part in the midterms. He also explained why they would do such a thing, saying their desire to meddle in the election would increase now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls.

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The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

The president wrote a series of tweets about the Mueller probe, including once again bringing the issue back to his 2016 rival. Why arent the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton, Trump wrote. Its a Rigged Witch Hunt, thats why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration! He also dedicated a tweet to quoting Fox News contributor Mollie Hemingway, expressing outrage at what the president has come to brand as spygate.

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Why arent the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton. Its a Rigged Witch Hunt, thats why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

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This investigation involved far more surveillance than we ever had any idea about. It wasnt just a wiretap against a campaign aide...it was secretly gathering information on the Trump Campaign...people call that Spying...this is unprecedented and scandalous. Mollie Hemingway  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

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Then after three tweets about the issue, Trump said he has better things to do and suggested he may just leave that issue aside for now to focus his energy on other pressing issues, including North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more.

Sorry, Ive got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

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It seems highly unlikely, though, that this will somehow mark the end of the presidents tweets about the special counsel investigation. In part, because his public relations campaign is working. As the Washington Posts Dan Balz pointed out a few days ago, Trump seems to be making progress in his apparent effort to poison the reception to whatever Muellers findings turn out to be. For now though, Trumps ongoing conflict with the Justice Department and his inflammatory tweets about the Mueller investigation have become so commonplace that it can be easy for people to forget how abnormal it all is.
There was a lot of journalistic soul-searching this weekend about how we cover Donald Trumps various scandals relative to comparable Clinton scandals, how we cover the presidents fabrications, and all the ways in which he uses distorted conspiracy theories to undermine the press, his own Justice Department, and public confidence in any institution but himself. That soul-searching must also focus on questions of law, where the media continues to fall prey to Trumps distortions. When the president makes pronouncements about what is legal and illegal, and what he believes hes been cleared of doing, we often parrot those words back as if he were saying something meaningful or real. He isnt.

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The best example of this practice is the presidents persistent use of the word collusion. Trump has insisted on dozens of occasions that he has been cleared of all charges of collusion and that the Mueller investigation is thus a witch hunt that persists despite his proven innocence. As legal experts have insisted for more than a year, there is no generally agreed-upon crime called collusion, which is shorthand for a host of different possible charges. As Ryan Goodman and Ron Fein have explained, the word is legally imprecise to the point of being borderline nonsense. The formal scope of the Mueller probe is also far broader and deeper than mere scrutiny over whether Trump or his campaign colluded with Russia to steal the election.

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Now it has recently emerged that Mueller is refining what he sees as collusion, and that the scope of his investigation has sprawled beyond collusion into other areas. (And its worth pausing to note that Mueller has indeed sought and been granted permission to expand his inquiry in precisely this way.) We can now suppose, based on leaks earlier this month, that Mueller is probing whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired James Comey, and we also know that Mueller is still investigating the possibility of coordination or conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. Jeffrey Toobin argued last month that Mueller may now be calling what he is looking at collusion for pleading purposes while describing activity he has charged elsewhere (with respect to Russians and Russian entities) as a conspiracy to defraud the United States.

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As Goodman warned last fall, focus on the term collusion has had the effect of implying precision where there is essentially none. Meeting the standard of proof of collusion isnt a matter of meeting a technical definition or thresholdit is a matter of persuading enough people that what were seeing is collusion.

Even so, some journalistsleft and rightcontinue to follow Trumps cues, arguing that collusion is some pre-defined thing, and that if Mueller turns up no collusion then Trump is exonerated, and the Mueller investigation will have been polarizing and pointless. Its important to recall that this sort of claim accepts Trumps legal framing, and Trump has been wrong on that framing for more than a year.

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Even stranger, no less a legal scholar than Kellyanne Conway has now decided to embrace the fact that collusion is a nonsense word. So much is happening that has nothing to do with this phony baloney talking about the 2016 election, she said on Fox & Friends on Tuesday. Every time people talk about this phony Russia collusioncollusion doesnt even have legal significance. Wait. Is she actually now saying, Why are you all focusing on a word that we made up last year? Theres no such thing. There never was. Now that there is next-level alternative fact work. And its the trap we fall into when we accept the presidents free-association word paintings as legal analysis. If you depend on Trumps Law Dictionary, youd better be prepared for him to change the definitions whenever he sees fit.

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If you depend on Trumps Law Dictionary, youd better be prepared for him to change the definitions whenever he sees fit.

Last week, Trump launched another legal stink-bomb when he began to allegeagain without legal or factual meritthat a criminal deep state cabal within President Obamas administration had planted a spy inside his presidential campaign to frame him and his team and to help Hillary Clinton win. He even branded this alleged plot to plant evidence against him as Spygate. As his own lawyer Rudy Giuliani admitted, this whole scandal was a ploy to sway public opinion and deflate the possibility of impeachment. The whole idea is to create a TV-style brand for a TV-style crime. This risible, made-for-TV version of events then forces lawyers and politicians to explain that counterintelligence operatives are not in fact spies and that there is no crime here. But the act of debating the thing all week has the effect of introducing doubt and fuzzing over reality, at least enough to erode confidence in the FBI and the DOJ. And that in turn allows Republican Sen. John Cornyn to blurrily tell the New York Times, I wouldnt describe it the way he described it. Confidential informant? Spy? I guess he can use his own words.

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With all due respect to Cornyn: No, the president doesnt get to use his own words when talking about the law, even if his words are the best words, because when it comes to the law (among other things) Trumps words are not attached to anything real. As Philip Bump at the Washington Post pointed out in January, Trump uses the word illegal the way small children do: to describe anything he dislikes, especially as it pertains to him.

The linguistics guru George Lakoff has been warning us for some time that the one and perhaps only thing at which Donald Trump is truly a master is using our own neural circuitry against us. Trump trains our unconscious brains to accede to his framing by using a handful of old mattress-commercial tricks: repetition of simple words and phrases; framing any acts that threaten Trump as a strong father as inherently illegal and immoral; the use of grammar and examples to sow consistent doubt about bad actors. When Trump says witch hunt and SPYgate and Deep State, he is framing legal institutions and processes as shadowy and illegitimate conspiracies against him, regardless of truth or fact.

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Trump once told Tony Schwartz, the ghostwriter of The Art of the Deal, that he calls this trick truthful hyperbole, adding, Its an innocent form of exaggerationand its a very effective form of promotion. While this may be a deft way to move Trump steaks or fake universities, its not a productive way to discuss legal claims or potential legal exposure. Lakoff warns not to repeat these claims in order to refute themit only burnishes Trumps own legal language and framing. And while Trump can call his steaks or his universities or his wines anything he likes, he cant rebrand standard counter-intelligence as deep state spying or a broad Mueller investigation that is not yet completed as a witch hunt over collusion.

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By which of course I mean that he can do precisely that, if we allow him to do it. Last week, Masha Gessen encouraged her readers to continue to assert fact-based reality, even in the face of crippling lies and distortions. Gessen quoted Simone Weil, who wrote in her journal in 1933, Never react to an evil in such a way as to augment it and Refuse to be an accomplice. Dont liedont keep your eyes shut. When it comes to legal distortions as much as any other distortions, we need to decline every day to enter into the lie. We need to keep calling legal events and ideas what they are, and not tenderize them into sides of Trump law meat. The presidents pronouncements about the law at this point should have no more linguistic or legal force than comedian John Mulaneys claim that the president is a horse in a hospital. Its a terrific bit, and a funny new frame. But it isnt truth, and it isnt law, until and unless we invite it in to dinner.
I always knew Id be the guy who replies all and causes an email disaster. Ive made similar mistakes in the past, like the time I tried to send an email to someone I chatted with at a meet-up of New York Reddit users and accidently wrote to the entire group. My email typos have occasionally extended to my own signature. Dont worry, acquaintances: I know my name isnt Eloi.

But nothing compares with what happened this past weekend, when I caused a reply-all nightmare for New York Times contributors and other vendorsand didnt even realize what Id done until an entire day later.

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In recent weeks, my inbox has been flooded with General Data Protection Regulation-related emails in which companies and others organizations asked me whether I still wanted to receive their emails. In most cases, I did not. The Times was an exceptionI had written an essay for the opinion section in December and had sent the paper the customary paperwork at the time. When it sent me an email earlier in the week with some forms, I wondered if the Times needed me to confirm Id received them. It was right before sundown on Friday when I pulled the note back up on my phone, just before I would log off the internet for 26 hours to observe Shabbat. I replied to Times email address with a simple, Thank you. Do you require any follow up signatures or something? Thats what I thought I had done, anyway. I plugged my phone into the wall charger and turned it off.

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While I spent Friday night eating dinner with a group of friends, this was happening in my inbox:

OMG I wrote an op-ed for the NYT several months ago and now I'm part of a bizarre NYT GDPR email group. A sampling of messages from this group includes just "??" and the following pic.twitter.com/z0Dp4eOw4y  Ellen K. Pao (@ekp) May 26, 2018

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The NYT sent an email about their privacy policy to everyone who has written for them, but they forgot to put us all on bcc. I'm now on a non-stop loop of people replying with questions and 10 more replying asking everyone to stop hitting "Reply All." My Friday night's complete.  Cindy Otis (@CindyOtis_) May 26, 2018

GDPR notice sent to all, emails not in bcc, someone replies all to ask question, a tide of people replying all to ask everyone else to pleaaaase stop replying all. Biting fingers not to reply all to say hi because I dont otherwise have access to all these co-workers/vendor.   zeynep tufekci (@zeynep) May 26, 2018

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I had no idea this was occurring as our post-meal discussion stretched into the early morning, nor did I realize the email chain had metastasized to include many dozens of replies as I ate Shabbat lunch with a couple Im friendly with on Saturday afternoon. It was lightwe ate poke salad and drank expensive beer. Then I met my friends roommate in his apartment and we had a six-hour conversationsomething of a relic in 2018. It was wonderful.

Meanwhile, my inbox was hosting a digital dust-up that I had kicked off.

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When I turned on my phone later that nightit was after 10I felt a little sad. I was crossing back over into the place I live six days a week, where long conversations arent possible and where phones occupy the spaces between us.

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The first thing I noticed was that my Gmail app contained an unusual amount of activity. At first, it seemed like I had been accidentally CCed on someones company email. I also saw five messages that were auto-replies. It all seemed like spam. I was still in Shabbat mode, confused and a feeling little hazy amid the onslaught of information. Faced with this challenge, I closed the app and logged into Facebook (because thats the counterproductive antidote for my information-overload problems). There, my friend Abe, also a Times contributor, had tagged me in a comment on Friday night. You caused this! And you wont even know until tomorrow evening. He then used a profane word, referencing the Big Lebowski and my Shabbat observance.

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I had done what?

To my horror, I realized countless Times contributorsmany of them prominent names who had written for the op-ed pagehad received my email asking whether the paper was looking for a signature or something. I imagined the thousands of very important people annoyingly getting my email on the Friday night of Memorial Day Weekend. Heads of state, CEOs, academics. While I was logged off, unplugged, 180 people replied to my email.

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At 8:03 p.m. on Friday, a former U.S. ambassador responded, ???

The governor of Montana responded with curiosity. At 9:33 p.m., a Harvard alum invited the group to a bar in Harvard Square. Later, a data designer and programmer wrote, new phone who dis.

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A famous musician whom I adore responded with a joke.

A few emailers valiantly implored us to stop replying all, which raises philosophical questions about sending mass emails to stop sending mass emails.

People checked in from Poland, Germany, and Istanbul. A famous adult film star who had written for the opinion section chimed in to promote her adults-only website.

The tone of the emails was light and collegial. I was not the most hated man in the world.

A meetup in New York was scheduled for that evening, as were meetings in airports in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Mexico City. These contributors were certainly far-flung and impressive. If I was on a list including their names, it felt like it was a mistake.

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Someone started a Google group of users on the list and started a thread called What are you in for? I replied via email, but received this message: The group does not allow posting through email.

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This weekend, I plan to attend a New York City meeting of the contributors on whom I inflicted this reply-all tsunami. Ive since become friends with the governor of Montana, who is helping me plan a trip this summer.

While the state of my inbox in recent weeks has suggested that new privacy regulations can be kind of annoying, I can now thank European regulators, the New York Times employee who forgot to use BCC, and my own hasty reply for bringing a bunch of people a little closer togetherwell, after a few too many emails begging each other to stop replying all.
Concerns over data privacy have driven much of the conversation around technology in the first half of 2018, with news of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, the European Unions General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the hack of Securus Technologiess location-tracking data.

Federal lawmakers have taken notice and say they are considering legislation to better protect citizens data. For example, Sens. Amy Klobuchar and John Kennedy introduced the Social Media Privacy Protection and Consumer Rights Act of 2018 in April, while Rep. Marsha Blackburn has renewed her push for the Browser Act that she initially proposed in 2017. Yet its unclear when, or if, any of these bills will get a vote. Rather than waiting for Congress, two states are charging ahead with their own data privacy laws.

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Last week, Vermont passed the countrys first law regulating data brokers, which are essentially companies that sell peoples information. Data brokers have been known to keep track of marital statuses, browsing histories, online purchases, debts, housing situations, education credentials, and other personal details, which can be useful for digital advertisers attempting to target a certain demographic, or for insurance companies setting rates for customers. By analyzing this data in aggregate, brokers can then make inferences about even more intimate aspects of a persons life. As TechCrunch points out, it is technically legal for a data broker to speculate on peoples medical conditions based on their purchases at pharmacies. In fact, Facebook just recently decided to discontinue its practice of buying data from such brokers for targeted advertising in the fallout from the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

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Vermonts new law requires data brokers to register with the government, better inform people on what is being collected and how to opt out, ensure that their security practices are up to date, and notify authorities in the case of a breach. Users can now seek legal recourse against such brokers if the data that they sell leads to illegal discrimination, such as an insurance rate being raised due to race. State regulators also have more legal remedies at their disposal and can bring charges against brokers whose data is used for fraud and other crimes.

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Consumers on the other side of the country will likely have the opportunity to vote for similar protections in the fall. The California Consumer Privacy Act has received more than 600,000 signatures in support, which should earn the initiative a spot on ballots in November. The proposed legislation is broader than Vermonts, as it would apply to all companies that gather data on people. (The Vermont law applies to any business that gathers the data of people with whom it does not have a direct relationship.)

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Much like the GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act gives users a host of new rights when it comes to controlling their data. People would have the right to demand that companies disclose what information they collect on them, to prevent that data from being sold, and to sue companies that break the law.

Consumer advocates predict that those standards may end up being adopted throughout the country since so many major tech companies are headquartered in California. Various tech trade groups, along with Google, Comcast, and AT&T, have each contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to oppose the law.
Over my years as a journalist, Ive written about many intractable problems: international conflicts, environmental crises, and culture wars. People have slaughtered one another for worshiping the wrong deity. The worlds most powerful country has fallen into the grip of a sociopath. So it kills me when scientists and science journalists fret that science is broken.

Im not disputing that science has its troubles. Slates Daniel Engber has made that case persuasively: Many recent studies cant be replicated, some have turned out to be fraudulent, and pranksters have proved that nonsense findings can get published. But put these concerns in perspective. Science examines and corrects itself. It constantly tests itself against external realities. It studies its failures and rethinks its assumptions. Science is a learning machine. For this reason, science is less broken than any other institution. Its exemplary. If religion and politics were more like science, the world would be a much better place.

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Ive been thinking about this since February, when I went to Austin, Texas, for the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. There, at a conference session on gene editing and a luncheon hosted by the AAAS program on science, ethics, and religion, I reconnected with ethicists Id met during the stem-cell wars of the George W. Bush years. I found that religion hadnt advanced much since I covered the politics of science a decade ago. But science had.

Listening to the bioethicists felt like old times. Their perspectives and worries were familiar. The ideas they proposed for why we ought to limit biotechnologyhuman dignity, consensus, precautionstill seemed vague and poorly grounded. The nightmares they projected about designer babies were still just magazine covers. In an exchange of presentations and arguments, religious ethicists, like secular ethicists, still didnt seem to take seriously their opponents scruples. The stalemate had hardly moved.

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Science, by contrast, has raced ahead, opening new possibilities. A nascent technology, CRISPR-Cas9, has accelerated gene editing. Scientists are assembling microbes the way electrical engineers design circuits. Theyre modifying mosquitos to fight Zika and malaria. Theyre engineering viruses to kill tumors. Theyre using artificial intelligence to teach surgery to humans. Scientists dont care that viruses or robots are scary; they care about what works. Its hard to fret about designer babies when you learn that in a recent experiment, reported by Gang Bao of Rice University, gene editing all but wiped out sickle-cell anemia in the target sample.

If religion and politics were more like science, the world would be a much better place.

In a session on generation of human organs in livestock animals, researchers described their work on human-porcine chimeric embryos. Yes, thats a cross between a human and a pigthough the human cells, when properly controlled, form just one nonbrain organ or another. It sounds like a horror movie, but the logic is impeccable. Pablo Ross, an animal scientist at the University of CaliforniaDavis, pointed out that in just nine months, a sheep or pig embryo conceived in a dish can grow to 200 pounds, yielding a kidney or heart of adult human size. Thats less than the average wait for a human transplant. By seeding the target organ with the DNA of the intended recipient, we can prevent the patients body from rejecting the organ as foreign. Would you rather let people die waiting for transplants? Or force them to buy kidneys on the black market?

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Science isnt here to confirm your intuitions. Its here to challenge them. In a lecture on memory research, Robert Bjork of UCLA presented evidence that when learning feels easy, its not sinking in. In another session, speakers demonstrated that higher levels of education dont correlate with belief in climate change or disbelief in conspiracy theories. (Even avid flat-earthers are as scientifically literate as the general population.) In a discussion of cognitively high-functioning octogenarians, Emily Rogalski of Northwestern University noted that nearly three-quarters of the people in her study are women. But Rogalski questioned whether women were more likely to be high-functioning or just more likely to volunteer for the study. Good science always looks for alternative explanations.

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Religious people sometimes think scientists are dogmatic. But nobody dissects the failures of science more ruthlessly than scientists do. In Austin, I watched them interrogate their own methods. Panelists debated whether rat experiments could really explain human behavior. They discussed how research could be constructed not just to measure processes in the brain, but also to learn which processes to measure. David Poeppel, a neuropsychologist at New York University, dismantled the methodological imperialism of his profession. Reductionist neuroscience, he observed, has developed parts lists, such as neurons and dendrites. But it hasnt made sense of animal behavior.

One theme came up again and again: plasticity. Through the epigenome, a layer of chemicals associated with genes, scientists are learning that stressful experiences in animals can shape their offspring. In that respect, contrary to the crude model of evolution, environmental conditions are heritable. Evolution also turns out to be complex in other ways: Animals can switch from predator to prey mode, depending on environmental cues, and this gear-shifting can be chemically triggered in the lab. Human brain structures nominally assigned to one function can adopt anotherfor example, the visual cortex, which in blind people can assume verbal and mathematical functions. And although such rewiring was thought to be limited to critical periods early in life, it now seems possiblebased on research reported by Takao Hensch of Harvard Universityto chemically reopen a window of plasticity in adulthood.

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By exploring these dimensions of complexity, science learns how to intervene more effectively. Pills, for instance, are a clumsy way to boost mental acuity. They affect your whole body, and they dont take account of the brains propensity to change through activity. Exercise is a better approach, and video games can provide it. They capitalize on human motivation: We dont like to take medicine, but we like to play. They can also integrate artificial intelligence with human intelligence, by monitoring each players performance and adjusting the task or the level of difficulty. Adam Gazzaley of the University of CaliforniaSan Francisco described a series of such games, now in research and development, to help old brains function more like young ones. He called it neuro crossfit training.

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What scares many people about science is its boldness. Hiro Nakauchi, the featured speaker at the session about growing organs in animals, recalled with sadness that in Japan, his research was blocked by rules against implanting partially human embryos in animal hosts. So, he continued blandly, I decided to move to Stanford. Nakauchi doesnt even have to worry about U.S. restrictions on federal funding of stem-cell research, since he gets his money from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

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And labs like his are just the tip of the iceberg. At another session, experts in synthetic biology reported that thanks to the plummeting cost of DNA sequencing, people around the world, unaffiliated with universities, are tinkering with microorganisms. With every rinse or flush, a new creature can enter the water system.

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Its sensible to fear that kind of power. The conferences concluding lecture on climate change, by Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University, underscored the damage technology can do. But many solutions to whats wrong in science, and in the rest of the world, can also be found in basic scientific principles. Test your assumptions against reality. Question simple explanations. Consider alternatives. Re-examine your methods. Study nature. Thats one lesson I saw again and again at the AAAS meeting: The best way to understand the perils of messing with nature is to learn how nature works. If you increase mental plasticity, one speaker observed, you can destabilize the brain. If you help people remember everything, said another, you can clutter their minds with useless things they need to forget.

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Imagine a world in which politics and religion worked this way. What if spending more money than the government takes in, or waging optional wars in faraway places, were treated as an experimentally falsifiable proposition? What if the idea of homosexuality as an illness was subject to open-minded encounters, clinical or pastoral, with people as God made them? What if we asked not just what the Bible can teach us about human origins, but what the study of human origins can teach us about how to read the Bible?

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Good people in religion and politics are already thinking this way. At lunch in Austin, I found myself sitting across from Nicanor Austriaco, a bioethicist I had met 13 years ago at a Vatican conference in Rome. Austriaco is a Catholic priest. Hes also an MIT-trained biologist at Providence College. Father Nic, who is pro-life, told me about his pastoral work with women who have had abortions. I often hear pro-lifers insist, with unshakable faith, that all such women have clinical symptoms of moral regret. But Father Nic said this was true of only 1 in 3 women. You can quarrel with his number, but the key thing is: Its a number. We can do studies to check it out. Now were talking.
What is Lucia Zitnanskas legacy?

The former justice minister has adopted several crucial measures, praised by experts.

Lucia Zitnanska was praised for her job at the ministry. (Source: TASR)

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I cannot represent this or a new government is how Lucia Zitnanska explained her decision to leave the post of justice minister. She announced it shortly after the resignation of Robert Fico, whose third cabinet ended only after a two-year tenure.

The abdication of the prime minister followed the crisis ignited by the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancee, Martina Kusnirova.

Zitnanskas performance is considered rather positive thanks to the measures she managed to adopt.

During her short term in the post, she implemented or wanted to implement many positive systemic changes in the judiciary that should contribute to increasing its trustworthiness, Kristina Babiakova, a lawyer cooperating with the Via Iuris think tank, told The Slovak Spectator.

Zitnanska introduced the mass selection procedures of new judges and made disciplinary proceedings more efficient. She also proposed rules to increase the quality in the selection of Constitutional Court justices, according to Babiakova.

Read also:

Read also: Justice Minister Gal wants more efficient courts and registers Read more

Bankruptcies more accessible

One of the biggest changes passed during Zitnanskas term in the office concerns personal bankruptcy and strengthening the position of the Legal Aid Centre, which helps clients with personal bankruptcies. Natural persons can eliminate their debts in two ways: by declaring bankruptcy and by agreeing on an instalment calendar.

The legislative change to the law on bankruptcy and restructuring was absolutely crucial for natural persons, Eva Kovacechova, head of the Legal Aid Centre, told The Slovak Spectator, adding that the new rules enabled more people to apply for personal bankruptcy.

29. May 2018 at 6:30 | Radka Minarechova
Justice Minister Gal wants more efficient courts and registers

Observers expect Gabor Gal to continue with changes launched by his predecessor.

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Changes to the map of courts, their specialisation and digitisation are among the priorities of Gabor Gal, the new justice minister in Peter Pellegrinis government. He also plans to improve the preparation of new judges.

Observers opine that Gal should focus on other areas, too. These include adopting solutions to old distraint proceedings, or the improvement of the situation in courts so that the prolongation of legal proceedings is removed.

The new minister has potential to perform well if he continues in the initiated systemic changes, Kristina Babiakova, a lawyer cooperating with the Via Iuris legal think tank, told The Slovak Spectator.

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Read also: What is Lucia Zitnanskas legacy? Read more

For them, it is crucial that he adopt changes concerning the selection of the Constitutional Court justices and the openness of the prosecutors offices to public control, which is part of the governments programme statement.

Courts in focus

When it comes to the digitisation of courts, there are several measures the Justice Ministry is continually working on. This includes new e-forms for motions to be submitted to courts, the new visualisation of e-court files, and a more efficient scanning of documents at courts. The specific measures are to be introduced already in 2018, as Gal specified for The Slovak Spectator.

He also plans to remove the deficiencies to which the analysis published by the European Commission for Efficiency of Justice (CEPEJ) pointed.

We have good laws, but the organisation and management of courts is failing, Gal said, as quoted by the TASR newswire.

29. May 2018 at 6:30 | Radka Minarechova
Unexploded WWII grenade found and detonated in Presov

Police evacuated people for safety reasons.

Builders constructing the new Forum shopping centre in Presov discovered an unexploded F-1 hand grenade of Russian origin dating back to the Second World War at the construction site on Monday, May 28. The explosive device was detonated on the scene by a pyrotechnician, as the grenade was found without a fuse and its further transport could have been dangerous, the TASR newswire informed.

Presov regional police spokesman Daniel Dzobanik informed that prior to detonation the police evacuated six people from a small block of flats on Stefanikova Street for safety reasons. The street was also closed.

Two hours later the people were allowed to return to their homes and a nearby road was reopened for vehicles.

29. May 2018 at 0:49 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Smer wants retirement age capped at 64 years

They are negotiating support in parliament with both coalition and opposition parties.

Even though experts see it as sheer populism, the main ruling party of Robert Fico, Smer, continues in its efforts to cap the retirement age in Slovakia. On Friday, May 25, its parliamentary deputies sent a draft revision to parliament which would cap the retirement age at 64 years for men. The cap for women is defined more broadly and their retirement age would be lower.

With this proposal Smer is seeking to appeal to the minor coalition party the SNS, as it originally proposed that men and childless women should retire at the age of 65, women with one child at 64 and women with two or more children at 63 years.

Smer also intends this bill to anchor the minimum wage.

Read also:

Read also: Retirement age may be capped in Slovakia Read more

The introduction of a retirement age cap when the age of people is growing significantly is a harsh populism, Vladimir Balaz, economist from the Institute for Forecasting of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, told the Pravda daily. Unfortunately, it will be the next generations who will pay for this.

Searching for support

Smer still does not yet have enough support in parliament to have this legislation passed. As the new law will be a constitutional one, they need to find at least 90 deputies in the 150-member parliament to support it. They want to use the summer for negotiations and have the bill passed in the autumn.

But the minor ruling party Most-Hid does not like the idea of capping the retirement age and have clearly said that they will not vote for it. Instead, Most-Hid is offering their own bill on social insurance, proposing that the retirement age should be published in a comprehensible and transparent manner five years in advance. The party will submit the bill at the next parliamentary session.

Our caucus has agreed that we will not vote for the constitutional law, as we do not support the retirement age cap, said Iren Sarkozy, MP for Most-Hid, as cited by the TASR newswire. We do understand the arguments of our coalition partner, but were addressing something that will happen in 2035, and we dont know what the demographic situation in the country will be at that time. Therefore, were unable to approach it in a reasonable manner today.

Most-Hid informed their coalition partners about their decision. Smer are also discussing the change with the opposition parties.

We understand that they are approaching other political parties to support the law, said Most-Hid vice-chair, Ivan Svejna.

Most-Hid claims that the idea of the retirement cap lacks factual calculations and it does not take into consideration the negative demographic development in Slovakia. It also calls for serious analyses.

Theres no getting around the facts, the demography is what it is, said Svejna during a TV discussion programme. Were facing great challenges. I havent yet seen any serious calculations.

The Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party as well as MPs around Miroslav Beblavy and Jozef Mihal reject the cap.

We arent surprised by the draft law, said MP Miroslav Beblavy, leader of the extra-parliamentary party Spolu . Since he joined politics, Robert Fico has been a thief of future pensions.

Opposition's sympathetic ear

Smer is finding a sympathetic ear with some opposition parties though. The Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) submitted a similar proposal last year.

Not one Smer deputy raised a hand for it at that time, Igor Matovic, head of OLaNO, recalled for the private broadcaster TV Markiza, adding that they are going to re-submit it. Smer deputies may not vote for it again, but they have adopted the idea as has happened in the past. So if our conditions are met, we may support it.

First of all, OlaNo demands that if the retirement age cap is set at 65, women should retire one year earlier for every child they bring up that at least completes secondary vocational school.

At the same time, they demand that for women who go into early retirement, the extra retirement years are considered years worked, so their pension for retiring earlier is not reduced.

Unlike Smer, we demand that for women, these years be counted as years worked, he said.

The opposition We Are Family party of Boris Kollar has also admitted the possibility of supporting Smers proposal.

The situation now

Slovakias old-age pension scheme changed at the beginning of 2017 so that the retirement age is annually extended depending on average life expectancy, with no fixed upper limit. This means that the retirement age of 62 years increased by 76 days in 2017 while in 2018 it has been boosted by an additional 63 days to 62 years and 139 days.

Fico has calculated that under this scheme the retirement age should increase to 65 in 2035-2037.

29. May 2018 at 0:45 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Dennik N won legal dispute with Penta

In a legal proceeding with the financial group, the daily has another effective verdict in its favour.

The Dennik N daily has learned about a valid verdict issued in its favour. This time, it concerns a dispute with the Penta financial group, the daily wrote on May 29.

The Bratislava Regional Courts senate composed of Martin Murgas, Branislav Kral and Zuzana Kucerova rejected the lawsuit concerning the stories about Black Hawks. This was submitted by Penta against two newspapers, the Dennik N and Hospodarske Noviny dailies.

Penta complained about the statement that the Defence Ministry has not said so far who will carry out the maintenance and service of helicopters, and it cannot be ruled out that over time it will be even Aero Vodochody, owned by Penta.

The financial group demanded an apology and a 5,000 in damage compensation, the former of the dailies reported.

Court arguments

The regional court found that the above-mentioned statement involves a group  which is not even a legal entity, and thus cannot its reputation cannot be harmed  and not individual persons who could feel insulted, according to Dennik N. The plaintiffs were not mentioned by name or trade name, and so their reputation could not have been impacted.

Moreover, the statement has two parts, the first of which is a matter of fact  but it did not name the plaintiffs. The second part (which includes the statement that is subject of the lawsuit) is the evaluation of the journalist, thus the biased opinion of the author, although based on some facts.

The facts mentioned  e.g. that there is a contractual relation between Penta and producer of the Black Hawk (the Sikorsky company), based on which the plaintiffs supply the latter company with cockpits. Thus due to the evaluation judgment of the story, author is not putting forth completely unrealistic information based on zero facts, the court explained. It also found that Penta received sufficient space to comment.

Disclaimer: Penta is a minority shareholder of Petit Press, the co-owner of The Slovak Spectator.

29. May 2018 at 13:51 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Lawyer Caputova will run for president

A lawyer well-known to the public as civil activist and currently vice-chair of the non-parliamentary party Progresivne Slovensko, Zuzana Caputova, announced that she would run for president.

Zuzana Caputova will join the fight for the presidential palace in next years election. Lawyer, civil activist and currently the vice-chair of non-parliamentary party Progresivne Slovensko (Progressive Slovakia) stated so at a press conference held on May 29, adding that fairness, decency and honesty need to return to Slovakia, and conditions for a dignified life need to be created.

As head of state, Slovakia needs a peaceful, calm leader able to make connections, trusting in possible change, Caputova said, as quoted by the TASR newswire. I do have this experience, and so I have decided to run.

She is well-known for her long-time fight to stop the waste dump in Pezinok and for abolishing the amnesties of Vladimir Meciar. For years, she cooperated with the Via Iuris civic association.

Professional background

My professional background so far has concerned the issues of law and justice  I would put great stress on that, she said, as quoted by TASR. Also, another strong theme is the environment and various 'forgotten' groups of citizens. By this, I mean the elderly in particular.

She noted that justice is selective and delayed in Slovakia, with law enforcement being a huge problem.

It would be good to compensate for the solely male representation in the top positions of public power with a female element that can be calming and directed more towards negotiation than the escalation of conflicts, Caputova added.

Women have their place in public life, and so I have decided to make this attempt, she explained. Only the election will show how it ends.

Who supports Caputova?

The candidate has already communicated about possible support with the Spolu-Obcianska Demokracia party and she plans to talk with other parties, excluding the extremist LSNS, Smer and SNS. Progresivne Slovensko has launched a petition to collect signatures in her support.

By May 29, she already opened a transparent account, TASR wrote.

The presidential election will take place in spring 2019, while the incumbent, Andrej Kiska, said he would no longer run. A candidate can be anyone over 40 with permanent residence in Slovakia, proposed by at least 15 MPs or 15,000 citizens.

29. May 2018 at 13:56 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Mead and rosary lure visitors to Dolna Krupa

The biggest attractions of the June 2 Open Day include the rose mead made to pay tribute to Countess Maria Henrieta Chotekova. What else can visitors expect?

More information about travelling in Slovakia

Please see our Please see our Spectacular Slovakia travel guide

Slavonic ancestors knew mead as early as the 9th century and they used it for rituals as well as in everyday life.

More recently, several producers of this traditional, natural drink have revived this ancient knowledge and recipe. One of them is the family mead-producer Apimed from the municipality of Dolna Krupa. This year, it celebrates its 20th anniversary.

What is on offer?

On this occasion, there is an Open Day arranged for visitors on June 2, between 13:00 and 20:00, with free admission and the opportunity for everyone to taste several types of mead and witness its production process. The biggest attractions include the rose mead made to pay tribute to Countess Maria Henrieta Chotekova, organisers informed.

The Ambrozia drink (Source: Courtesy of Apimed)

Another specialty is the Ambrozia aperitif, made from honey and 18 herbs, the first to be tasted on this day.

Roses and more

The work of Countess Maria Henrieta Chotekova (1863  1946), who founded and built up the biggest rosary in central Europe of its time, famous for own new species of roses, will be presented one day earlier.

video //www.youtube.com/embed/sRmQLJAwOYA

Annually, the Feats of Roses takes place in a classicist manor-house in Dolna Krupa; and this year, it will be on June 1, and it will include concerts, manor-house tours  as well as of the room where Ludwig van Beethoven stayed. The admission fee is 1-2.

The Dolna Krupa manor-house (Source: Courtesy of Trnava Tourism)

More information can be found at www.regiontirnavia.sk.

The Feast of Roses in Dolna Krupa (Source: TASR)

29. May 2018 at 14:01 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Kiska: Changes in judiciary a poor solution

President Andrej Kiska is dissatisfied with the proposed changes in election of judges.

President Andrej Kiska met with the representatives of the initiative calling for reformation of the Constitutional Court on May 29. (Source: TASR)

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President Andrej Kiska is not satisfied with the proposed changes to the election and work of Constitutional Court judges and believes that the coalition should instead draw their inspiration from the proposal of experts on constitutional law. He considers it a good opportunity to also change the requirements for judges of the Constitutional Court, he said following the meeting with the experts who submitted their solution for public debate last week.

Read also:

Read also: Minister unveils long-awaited rules for the election of Constitutional Court judges Read more

"I welcome that there is a will to change the creation of the Constitutional Court," Kiska said, as quoted by the SITA newswire. "I see the will on the part of the government and after today I also see the will on the part of the experts."

Kiska said the parliament should put that will to use and not squander it with a "below-average solution".



The lawyers propose, among other things, that judges should be elected in shorter intervals and that candidates are presented to the public much earlier than just one or two weeks before the actual election, said Marian Porvaznik on behalf of the signatories of the call. It is also important to take the burden off of the shoulders of the parliamentary constitutional affairs committee and create an ad hoc commission of experts who will dispose of sufficient time to collect all the relevant information about the candidates.

The representatives of the initiative expect to meet Justice Minister Gabor Gal soon to discuss their proposals.

29. May 2018 at 20:25 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Should the political parties follow new rules?

The draft amendment is not aimed against anyone, SNS chair Andrej Danko stressed.

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It is important that elections are democratic and all parties follow the same conditions and rules, said Andrej Danko, chair of the Slovak National Party (SNS), when presenting the draft amendment to the law on political parties and political movements.

As he stressed, the proposal is not aimed against anyone, but rather for something.

The law on political parties requires changes, Danko said, as quoted by the SITA newswire.

Danko continued that we have already lived in an era with a single political party.

No one could imagine that one day there would be parties without a registered address, like shell companies, Danko continued, as quoted by SITA. Or that they would not admit new members or have brothers or girlfriends on their candidate lists or that people would not know who is financing them.

Despite his claim that the law is not aimed against anybody, Danko pointed to Igor Matovic, Miroslav Beblavy and Martin Dubeci, whom he called on to reveal how the parties in which they have been active were financed, the Hospodarske Noviny daily reported.

New rules for elections

Danko opines that if a party wants to fight for power in a country, it needs to have democratically-set basic mechanisms so it is open to accept new members. It also needs to have transparent finances. At the same time, the representatives of abolished parties should not be allowed to enter the new movement immediately, as reported by SITA.

The amendment is expected to introduce a new regulation for the parliamentary elections and election to the European Parliament. One of the basic conditions for the running parties requires parties have the minimum number of bodies and members.

The amendment also defines the bodies and minimum number of their members. Every party will need to have a revision commission, an arbitration body and an executive body (i.e. leadership). The highest party body should be an assembly, while each will have a statutory representative. Every body will have to be composed of three members, while the executive body will have nine members, according to SNS MP Tibor Bernatak.

Parties running for the parliamentary and EP elections will have to submit a list of the number of party members, apart from the list of candidates and electoral deposit. The number of party members should be twice as high as the number of candidates, Bernatak added, as reported by SITA.

OLaNO has conditions

The opposition Ordinary People and Independent Personalities (OLaNO) movement said it would vote for the bill, but only if Danko includes three demands in the draft.

So that each party has a transparent account set up and each item in the account is published, so that each party publishes a list of its members, and that political parties have to make public documents and contracts, just as even the smallest community in Slovakia is required to do, said Matovic, chair, of OLaNO, as quoted by SITA.

However, Matovic expects that Danko will not accept the conditions. If he does, he would prove that he really sought to achieve transparency in politics in this way.

We are convinced that not quantity, but quality of members in a political party is important, Matovic said, as quoted by SITA.

29. May 2018 at 20:38 | Compiled by Spectator staff
RegioJet bought Canadian train engine

The Bombardier TRAXX engine will drive at 160 km/h.

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The private carrier RegioJet is buying four Bombardier TRAXX engines, recently made in Germany, from Canadian producers, and 16 Astra carriages from a Romanian producer for their international lines between Prague and Bratislava, Vienna and Kosice.

The first yellow train drawn by the Bombardier TRAXX engine arrived in Bratislava on Monday, May 28. The engine passed the two-week test in difficult conditions. RegioJet will start using the engines on the Bratislava-Prague route. Later, it also wants to use them on routes connecting Prague with Vienna, Kosice and Zilina, the carrier informed the SITA newswire.

RegioJet is the first carrier to use this type of engine in the Czech and Slovak republics, it claims.

What are the Bombardier TRAXXs like?

New more-system engines have been made for the speed of 160 km/hr, and are known mostly for their high reliability in operation," spokesman of RegioJet, Martin Zarnovicky, told SITA. Engine-drivers praise them for their stability on the rails, he noted, adding that during summer, two more Bomardier TRAXX engines will be added to the two that have started operating already. For the future, they may even consider buying some more engines, Zarnovicky summed up. Apart from these, RegioJet will continue to operate the current Siemens Vectron engines.

Plans to boost lines

RegioJet has also taken over from the producer of the first two of the planned 16 Astra engines and has started putting them gradually into operation, thus increasing the number of active engines from the current 10 to 26 in the future and applying them on all existing lines, SITA quoted the spokesman.

A new train is slated to be launched from September on, to ride daily from Bratislava (leaving at 8:45 from Prague, and 17:21 from Prague back to Bratislava), increasing the total number of connections between the two capitals to four a day, Zarnovicky concluded.

29. May 2018 at 22:19 | Compiled by Spectator staff
Big Brother UK star John James Parton is reportedly making a reality TV comeback on the Australian version of Love Island.

John James was a housemate on Channel 4's final series of Big Brother in 2010, known for dating eventual winner Josie Gibson.

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The pair's relationship lasted around eight months, and was documented in fly-on-the-wall show There's Something About Josie.

They went through a bitter break-up in April 2011, and things were still slightly awkward between them when they reunited on Big Brother's Bit On The Side in 2016.

Now it looks like John James is about to put Josie behind him once and for all - by finding a new reality TV romance.

The 32-year-old DJ is apparently about to join Love Island in his home country, Australia.

According to Aussie magazine NW, John will arrive on the show later this week, a few days after it began.

He apparently struggles to hold down long-term relationships - but insists he has never cheated.

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"Ex-girlfriends would say I was manipulative," he said. "They felt insecure and that they couldn't trust me  even if I hadn't done anything. I've never cheated.

"I fall for girls quite deep, quite quick. But I also get out just as quickly.

"My last girlfriend was 19, so there was definitely excitement there. It's hard to maintain a progression with someone that's so young."

While John is familiar to British viewers, Love Island will be his first major splash on telly Down Under.

Like the original, Love Island Australia takes place in Mallorca, Spain, and airs on the sister channel (9GO!) to a main broadcaster (Nine).

Of course, here in the UK, the show is seen as Big Brother's arch rival.

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After losing the ratings war last year, Big Brother appears to have delayed its upcoming series to avoid further clashes.

Love Island, meanwhile, will return to ITV2 for its fourth series on Monday 4th June at 9.00pm.
The Offspring are set to play a SOLD OUT show at Rockhal (promoted by den A) on 18th June. We've a pair of tickets that you can WIN.

Many a 30/40-something can hark back to a thousand smashed up shins and scraped elbows as The Offspring sound-tracked yet another skateboard based bailout.

Seemingly another of the Peter Pan Punk Generation (trademark SSL) The Offspring show no hint of slowing down. On a mammoth Never-Ending Summer Tour the Cali band trade Orange County for Belval.

The Offspring are Dexter Holland (vocals, guitar), Noodles (guitar), Greg K (bass) and Pete Parada (drums) and their brand of infectious punk is a worldwide smash with millions of records sold.

The Offspring have now released 8 LPs, their bio states they've performed over 1,000 shows across the globe and their many hits include the seminal "Self Esteem," classic "Come Out And Play (Keep 'Em Separated)," quasi Floyd tribute "The Kids Aren't Alright," "Hammerhead", "Pretty Fly" and "You're Gonna Go Far, Kid."

Live shows from the 'Spring are renowned for being energetic and sweaty and there's little reason to think things will be different at the Rockhal.

Support comes from Pittsburgh Punks Anti-Flag and local heroes Versus You (led by the very talented Eric Rosenfeld).

GRAB A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THE SHOW

To win tickets, head to our Facebook page like our page (as if you have not already), tag a BFF, tell us your favourite Offspring song and then wait for us inform the winner on Friday 15 June.
Investors with deep pockets have flocked to a coastal area in the south-central province of Phu Yen, offering to buy seaside land at unreasonably high prices, sparking concerns of a possible land fever that may well lead to a real estate bubble.

The buyers, reportedly hailing from Hanoi and other northern provinces, are willing to pay three to five times the market price to purchase a piece of land in the coastal town of Hoa Hiep Trung in Dong Hoa District.

Different groups of buyers have visited every house located near the beach, with the latecomers offering higher prices than the early birds, a local named Binh recalled.

Binh said local residents at first thought the buyers were joking when they made the offers with unbelievable prices.

But after seeing some of them actually made successful purchases and paid by cash, to sell or not to sell' [our land] soon became the talk of the town, he added.

Vo Thi Mi, a Hoa Hiep Trung resident, said one buyer has recently offered to buy her 266-square-meter piece of land for VND1.3 billion (US$56,875), or nearly VND5.1 million ($223) per square meter, almost three times the government rate of only VND1.8 million ($78) per square meter.

The lucrative offer has in fact given Mi more worries than joy.

I have been in two minds since they made such a suggestion, she said.

I really want to sell the land to have money to afford treatment for my illness and share the fortune with my children, but on the other hand, I am concerned if this is nothing but a fraud.

Mi said she has yet to accept any offer to buy her land as she heard that Chinese people are behind this land-buying spree.

A coastal land plot in Phu Yen, south-central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Tourism development?

In early May, a group of people, introducing themselves as coming from Hanoi and Nam Dinh Province, rented a house to open an office in Phu Tho Quarter in Hoa Hiep Trung.

A sign was then put up at the 'office,' reading Information about coastal land and houses in Phu Yen, with the contact information of the groups leader, Vu Ha.

Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper reached Ha on Monday, and was told that the investors only want to buy local land plots for tourism development.

The coastal area has emerged as an attractive destination thanks to the many tourism attractions of Phu Yen, and its close proximity to Van Phong, one of Vietnams three planned special administrative and economic zones, located in the neighboring province of Khanh Hoa, Ha explained.

Ha said she wanted to buy five to ten pieces of land to develop a homestay village, adding to the list of tourism products of Phu Yen.

However, Ha underlined that she had only managed to buy one land plot before prices began to surge.

Local residents were the first to ask higher for their land, and real estate brokers also joined in, causing prices to skyrocket, she said.

Why would we want to increase land prices?

A coastal land plot in Phu Yen, south-central Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Price manipulation

Tran Dinh Quy, member of the Vietnam National Real Estate Association, said a group of professional brokers is behind the land price surge in Phu Yen.

These brokers have formulated a sophisticated plan to create false demand for land in the area, he elaborated.

They are manipulating land prices by sending false buyers to the market, duping residents into thinking that their land is valuable and prices will continue to soar.

Other investors may jump in the race to buy land, and these brokers will make the final move  selling the properties at whopping prices and disappearing.

The bubble will then burst and the final investors to buy the land will get the biggest blow.

Nguyen Chi Hieu, deputy chairman of the Phu Yen administration, said local police and relevant agencies have been tasked with looking into the issue.
Some travel agents have expressed their concern over unaffordable admission at Ha Long Bay, one of Vietnams UNESCO World Heritage Sites, warning it would reduce package attractiveness and put off visitors.

Tourists to Ha Long Bay, located in Quang Ninh Province, spend VND200,000-250,000 (US$9-11) each for a daytime entry fee, and VND500,000-750,000 ($22-33) for an overnight one, and pay more if they use services, like kayaking and cruises, at the site.

A number of travel companies supposed that the price bracket discourages students and low-income Vietnamese workers from entering the bay.

N.T.M., local resident, said her family has not revisited the place since this pricing scheme was introduced in April 2017, as tickets for four people cost VND1 million ($44).

The entry fee is now too high compared with many other tourist destinations, according to Tran Quy Anh, representative of a Hanoi-based travel agency, who said the charge does not suit the pockets of average Vietnamese people.

Anh cited an example that the maximum admission at Lan Ha Bay, next to Ha Long Bay, is only VND40,000 ($2).

Phan Xuan Anh, general director of Du Ngoan Viet Company, said Ha Long Bay effected an across-the-board twofold increase in its charges as of 2017, with the entry fee climbing from VND120,000 (just over $5) to VND250,000 ($11), and admission fees at its various locations from VND240,000 ($11) to VND500,000 ($22).

Moreover, the bay requires payment from a tour guide and one visitor from a group of 16 tourists, who Anh said are typically waived according to a common practice.

The elevation of entry fees was already weighed up by the government in Quang Ninh, Pham Ngoc Thuy, director of the provincial Department of Tourism, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Monday.

Local authorities have hitherto received no complaints from visitors or tourism firms saying that the fee is high, Thuy underlined.

He said money collected from visitors is meant to improve service and security.

Pham Hai Quynh, general director of Van Hai Xanh Travel Company, supposed that while many people are split in their view of the entry fee, he perceived positive changes in infrastructure and Ha Long Bay employees attitude.

But Trinh Nguyen Hung Dung, director of Thien Nien Ky Travel Company, worried that the competitiveness of a tour offer to the bay could be reduced due to the new pricing.

Its tempting to think that as the number of tourists to the bay has risen steadily, heightening ticket prices wouldnt affect customers. But this is the vantage point of regulators, not of tour organizers or visitors, Dung said.

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A number of expats having lived in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City for several years gave their opinions on theft and robbery in Vietnam as requested by Tuoi Tre News.

Some of the interviewees were themselves robbed.

Be vigilant

I worked as a security consultant, and as a person who has worked in the protection of robbery of businesses for over 20 years in my home country, I see the rate of robbery on people and businesses in Vietnam as a moderate issue only. When we compare the number of robberies to that in other countries around the world, Vietnam does not have a high rate of robbery, either on local residents or tourists.

Fortunately, I have not been a victim of robbery in Vietnam. However, I used to run a restaurant on Bui Vien and have seen a number of robberies in and around the area. Phone snatching is a very common crime, especially on tourists. Also bag snatching from motorcycles has always been a common issue known by locals and international guests.

One particular crime targeted single Western men in and around the District 1 tourist area. It would usually have two females and two males. The beautiful women would see a man standing alone, especially near an ATM. They would see they have a wallet in their back pocket and a smartphone. The first woman would begin flirting with the Westerner before grabbing the Westerners body as the second one removes his wallet. The second woman got on a bike with a male and rode off. As the man turned to chase her, the first woman got on another bike and escaped.

I believe the Vietnamese government has done a lot to stem the growth of attacks on tourists and Westerns in Ho Chi Minh City. When I first came to the country six years ago, it was a real threat to be attacked whilst walking in the streets. Changes made by police have resulted in these crimes being a lot less frequent than a few years ago.

Ray Kuschert in a picture he provided Tuoi Tre News

There are a few ways to reduce these crimes:

1. Dont use your phone on the street. If you are a Westerner and use your phone a lot, consider buying a small Nokia to use on the street. Leave your iPhone in your bag.

2. Dont carry a wallet in your back pocket. If it is seen then it can be taken. Dont show people where you keep your money.

3. Dont carry a big handbag. Ladies who carry a large shoulder-type handbag are highly vulnerable to robberies. Leave all your stuff at home and only carry essential things in a small purse.

4. When walking always carry your belongings in the outside hand or outside pocket. By keeping your belongings away from the street you reduce the risk of a drive-by attack.

5. Dont use your smartphone. You must remain vigilant of who is around you and who is looking at you. A thief will not attack you immediately. They will plan the attack. This means they will follow you for 3 to 15 minutes before attacking. If you are observant you are able to make changes to your movements and even take evasive action before a crime is committed.

6. There is a study that defines the anatomy of crime. A crime of any kind has three elements, including a way to commit the crime without being identified, something to gain from the crime (money, sexual gratification, etc.), ways to escape without being caught. Studies show that if you can remove one of these three items from a potential crime scene you will prevent a crime.

Crime and scams are a major deterrent for tourists. The reputation of a country's crime rates on tourists has the potential to crush the tourism of that country. Countries such as Egypt, Greece and Brazil have all been greatly affected by the reputation developed by robberies on tourists. As beautiful as these countries are, people refuse to visit them because they are aware of the extreme risk of robbery.

Overall I feel rather safe in Ho Chi Minh City but the police and community need to continue to be active to reduce the opportunity for robberies and punish those who commit them, especially on tourists.

Ray Kuschert, Australian

Theft all over newsfeed

Living in Vietnam, while I feel safe from serious crime, one concern that is never far is the threat of theft. I can scroll my Facebook newsfeed and see motorbike thieves, dog thieves, and many creative scams. I myself also experienced a few small things like people trying to pick my pockets while another time I've come home late to a man trying to attack me and get into my home. Another time while driving home two men tried to threaten us with a knife (to cut the purse) and to my luck I hit the driver with a hamburger in the face and they fled.

Thomas Alexander Bissell in a picture he provided Tuoi Tre News

I think there are many reasons and the factors are numerous but the simple answer is because they can. The thief will very rarely be pursued and they know that. When they do get caught they just have to apologize and pay a small fine. There is also the wealth gap which can easily make desperate people do desperate things.

Solutions for this are harsher fines, community service work programs, longer jail sentences, and rehabilitation efforts that include job training and work programs and subsidies for employers who hire these people who are coming back to society. Additional patrols by police in high crime spots/tourist areas would be helpful too. A poster campaign could be set up to let tourists know that they care and where they can go to report crimes. This will also improve the image of Vietnam as the public will be getting a message directly from the government instead of the 'Negative Nancies' on the Internet who suggest that people here don't care about theft. Last but not least, we can support people who are victims of theft instead of blaming them. I think when Vietnam tackles its theft issues we will see tourist rates at higher levels than ever before.

Thomas Alexander Bissell, Canadian

Theft using a scooter

I can't speak for other cities in Vietnam, but theft and robbery in Ho Chi Minh City are a big concern of mine. One of the major reasons for theft and robbery in the city is because of the vast number of scooters and the ability to use them to flee the scene quickly. Even in my hometown of Manchester (London too), there has been an increase in the amount of theft and robbery involving a scooter, which allows for a fast getaway, up and down small streets and alleyways.

Jake Mallalieu in a picture he provided Tuoi Tre News

One night on Bui Vien, at 2:00 am, my girlfriend was almost a victim of a bag snatch from a scooter. Luckily, she turned away at the right time. The driver was out of sight within seconds. It happened so quick! Even in the daytime, I've also seen a Western woman have her phone snatched from a scooter, in Phu Nhuan District. Although most crimes against tourists happen within District 1, it can happen to anyone. Anywhere. Anytime.

The fact is theft using a scooter is an easy crime to commit and to escape from. In order to prevent these crimes from happening, we need to make it much more difficult for potential thieves. Educate citizens to avoid becoming a victim. Don't use your phone facing the road. Avoid carrying a single-strap handbag. Be careful of valuables when sitting at a cafe.

This particular crime isn't unique to Vietnam, but it will be more frequent due to the number of bikes, population density and people's lack of vigilance.

Jake Mallalieu, British

Avoid flashing belongings

Amor Garcia in a picture she provided Tuoi Tre News

This issue has gone worse since the year I first came. I remembered walking in the middle of the night and feeling safe. Everything has changed. Now Im always anxious about my surroundings. I feel like someone will take my belongings. Its just not the same anymore.

The issues once happened to me around 10 years ago. I was on a motorbike when 2-3 guys nicked my bag with two cellphones and a passport in it. I think the authority should be more vigilant and the people must be aware and avoid flashing their belongings.

Amor Garcia, Filipino
HANOI -- A Vietnamese court is set to make a key ruling in the countrys biggest-ever fraud case, in a trial that has spotlighted Vietnams ability to tackle financial crime at a time when foreign banks are heeding government calls to invest.

The Ho Chi Minh City Peoples High Court is expected to rule by Tuesday on whether to uphold a judgment that the central perpetrator of a 4.9 trillion dong ($215 million) theft is responsible for returning some of the stolen money, rather than the individuals employer at the time, state-controlled VietinBank.

The ruling comes as financial firms such as investment banks and global buyout funds flock to Vietnam, hoping to capitalize on a period of privatization and capital-raising deals in the fast-growing emerging Southeast Asian economy.

The chief executive of one victim, depositor Saigonbank Berjaya Securities JSC (SBBS) - a unit of Malaysias Berjaya Corporation Bhd - told Reuters that if the ruling was upheld, she had little hope of recouping her banks $10 million from the perpetrator, who was sentenced to life imprisonment.

We cant afford to lose the case. This represents 70 percent of our capital. Our business may get suspended, Josephine Yei said in an interview.

VietinBank, formally Vietnam Joint Stock Commercial Bank for Industry and Trade, and majority owner State Bank of Vietnam - the countrys central bank - did not respond to emailed requests for comment.

In many economies, banks can be liable for embezzlement of depositors funds if negligence of the bank is established. In Vietnam, interpretation of liability law becomes more open when the perpetrator goes beyond their responsibility, a lawyer said.

Different understandings lead to different decisions, said Nguyen Thanh Ha, chairman of Hanoi-based SBLAW. Vietnam doesnt have case laws for such cases so it depends completely on the mind of the jury.

Court documents showed indebted Huynh Thi Huyen Nhu and 22 accomplices were convicted in 2014 for misappropriation of funds from 15 victims in 2010 and 2011.

Nhu used her title as a senior VietinBank manager to encourage customers to deposit funds at a particular branch. She and accomplices used fake official documents to appropriate the funds, according to the indictment.

SBBS Yei said her company had 210 billion dong deposited at VietinBank at the end of August 2011, and was shocked when two months later just 1 percent of the money remained. She said she has spent the intervening years trying to recover the funds and that SBBS and four other victims brought the latest appeal.

The appeal covers only 1 trillion dong of the broader case.

Its judgment day for us, said Yei, whose firm employs 55 people and has 94 investors, 93 of whom are Vietnamese.

VietinBank is Vietnams second-largest listed bank by market value. It is 64.46 percent state-owned, with its next-biggest shareholder Japans Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, a unit of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc, with 19.7 percent.

This case should be handled under international practices, otherwise it could have a bad effect on Vietnams investment and business environment and then investors will lose trust, economist and former government advisor Le Dang Doanh told Reuters by phone. We have to avoid that. We have to create trust.
Check out the leading news stories of today, May 29:

Politics

-- Vietnamese State President Tran Dai Quang, the First Lady, and a delegation of high-ranking officials leave Hanoi on Tuesday morning to pay a state visit to Japan from May 29 to June 2.

Society

-- Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The has taken responsibility following four train accidents on four consecutive days, from May 25 to 27.

-- A report from the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, War Invalids, and Social Affairs showed that the metropolis currently has about 58,000 HIV patients, two percent of whom are under 16 years old.

-- The health condition of the newborn baby who was discovered being buried alive in the south-central province of Binh Thuan on Saturday has stabilized, according to doctors. Police officers are still investigating the case.

-- Police in the central city of Da Nang on Monday afternoon initiated legal proceedings against Dinh Thi Hong, the owner of a daycare center in Thanh Khe District, for torturing children after a video clip and some photos of the violence were posted to social media on May 21.

-- The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Police on Monday arrested Vu Thuy Hong Ngoc, 40, for hiring a group of armed men to attack her husband in late March. The victim is the director of a beauty clinic in District 1 and the married couple previously went through a property dispute.

-- Officers in Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City, apprehended two suspects on Monday night for stealing from a local resident and injuring two people, who were trying to catch them, with knives.

Business

-- Businesses and visitors have complained about the exorbitant prices of tours and accommodation in Ha Long Bay, a famous destination and UNESCO World Heritage Site in the northern province of Quang Ninh.

-- The Peoples Committee in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai organized a conference on Monday to call on investors from Ho Chi Minh City to invest in 29 projects on agriculture, tourism, and clean energy.

Lifestyle

-- Thousands of people flocked to Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe Canal in Ho Chi Minh City on Monday night to release lotus-shaped lanterns as a ritual to mark this years Vesak Day, also known as the Buddhas Birthday, which falls on May 29.

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A major state-funded hospital in northern Vietnam is still left incomplete supposedly over budget constraints although its construction began over a decade ago.

The general hospital in Nam Dinh Province, covering nearly ten hectares, is envisioned to be a modern multi-story medical facility with 700 beds and even a rooftop helipad.

The project started in November 2007 and was slated to provide an important hospital in provinces to the south of Hanoi in January 2011.

It initially cost VND598.5 billion (US$26 million), which climbed to VND 850.8 billion ($37 million) in 2009.

But what one can see now are old-looking buildings of multiple open-ended rooms, with rusty iron rods protruding bare from half-finished structures.

Wild plants are growing in and around the basements.

Weeds grow near the basement of the unfinished hospital in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Bare iron rods are seen at the top of the unfinished hospital in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Local residents said only a few people have worked here every day over the past many years.

The project has suffered a shortage of government funding, according to Vu Khac Dong, head of the management board for key projects in Nam Dinh.

Out of the VND850.8 billion, VND260 billion [$11.4 million] was already paid to the contractors. Itll be a huge waste if the hospital remains in such a half-done state, Dong said.

He said the provincial administration is taking steps to resume the construction.

Men work on a floor of the unfinished hospital in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Buildings of the future hospital are seen in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

A building of the future hospital is seen in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Men work on a floor of the unfinished hospital in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Part of the unfinished hospital is seen in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Buildings of the future hospital are seen in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Buildings of the future hospital are seen in Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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Villagers in a northern Vietnamese regions rural area have been plagued by a number of privately-owned aluminum factories located right in the vicinity of their homes, notwithstanding attempts to voice their complaints.

Twenty-eight facilities producing gates and fences from ingot aluminum have been working in a commune of Hai Hau District in Nam Dinh Province, sending smoke and noise to the surrounding houses.

Even a small area of the commune has two or three such factories.

Hoang Van Tinh, a villager here, said local people told the communes administration that they objected to the building of aluminum factories near their homes from the outset.

The residents sent multiple petitions, each with 50 to 60 signatures, to competent agencies.

But they felt highly dissatisfied to know that the construction was still in progress and the plants eventually came into operation.

Ngo Van Luc, another local, said his family has not enjoyed fresh air and tranquility typical of the countryside since the plants appeared.

Each factory is about four or five times larger than a house, working day and night. Theyre causing terrible air pollution and annoying noise, and we dont know where to go for a respite, Luc said.

Odors of chemicals and paints and from melting aluminum emanate from the factories in the early hours every day, causing breathing difficulties and uncomfortable feelings for villagers, according to Luong Van Thai, who usually has to close all doors and windows of his house to avoid the situation.

All the plants, owned by local residents, were built without encouragement from the government, said Dang Thanh Son, chairman of the Hai Van Commune Peoples Committee in Hai Hau District.

The committee cannot deal with the factories operations, for this is outside the limit of its authority, Son said.

It has submitted proposals to higher-level regulators so that the facilities are forced to be removed from the residential area, he added.

The aluminum factories, with around 855 workers, have neither documents of environmental risk assessment nor methods to reduce pollution, according to an inspection of the committee.

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Producers are again calling on the government to shut a loophole which allows networks to pass off New Zealand content as Australian.

It follows data from the Australian Communications and Media Authority which found in 2017 networks played plenty of NZ content.

TEN: 65.78 hours

Nine: 56.84 hours

Under the Australia-NZ Economic Trade Agreement, NZ titles continue to be qualify as local content.

TEN acquisitions included Being Me: Sam, Forensics, Coverband and The Barefoot Bandits.

Nine drew upon NZ dramas including Step Dave, The Brokenwood Mysteries, Westside and Filthy Rich.

Updated: Seven screened 290 hours in factual titles across its channels including Border Patrol, Motorway Patrol, SCU: Serious Crash Unit, Nabbed and NZ on a Plate. A Seven source maintains Seven hit all its local Australian quota in factual content.

But Matthew Deaner, CEO of Screen Producers Australia, has called on commercial broadcasters to do the right thing when it came to local content compliance.

To be honest, Im disappointed, but not surprised; the trend to undermine the system continues. In 2017, over a dozen regional broadcasters didnt meet their local content obligations. New Zealand content accounted for 25 per cent of Nine Networks drama, 25 per cent of the TEN Networks documentaries and the Seven Network broadcast 290 hours of New Zealand content. This makes a mockery of our local content system to the detriment of Australian audiences, Australian producers and the many thousands of Australian workers in the screen industry, he said.

Late last year a House of Representatives committee proposed a solution to the New Zealand content loophole.

We await the Governments response to that report. But we need timely action because the current situation is farcical and if trends continue, it will become unsustainable for the industry. If there is no change, the Australian government will have a better system for New Zealand producers than the New Zealand government.

Deaner also noted the broader context of the timing of the content compliance results.

These results come at a time when commercial broadcasters have been handed hundreds of millions in broadcast licence fee reductions, called on the Government to launch a series of measures aimed at strengthening their competitive position to the detriment of all others in the supply chain and the market. Elsewhere, $140 million has been found for international productions and $84 million has been cut from the ABC. Most gallingly, the commercial broadcasters want their childrens obligations removed. Collectively, they spent $6.7 million on childrens drama in 2016-17. SPA stands ready to work with the commercial broadcasters on a mutually acceptable solution to childrens television, but the broadcasters must come to the table.
The good news is Back Roads with Heather Ewart returns with new episodes on ABC.

The bad news is it comes at the expense of Australian Story, which will go into a mid-year hiatus for reasons unexplained.

This is the first time the show has taken a mid-year break in years -if ever.

Now in its fourth series, Back Roads takes viewers to more of Australias most interesting and resilient communities. These towns are full of colourful characters whose grit and good humour will continue to uplift and inspire.

With so many wonderful towns to visit, and double the episodes, award-winning journalist Heather Ewart is joined in this series by guest presenters, ABC News Mornings anchor Joe OBrien, foodie and farmer Paul West, and triple js Breakfast news presenter Brooke Boney.

Im delighted the success of Back Roads has led to its extension to include a winter series. Because of our high production values and the time we spend in each community getting to know it, I cant be everywhere. Im thrilled to welcome our guest presenters Joe, Paul and Brooke to our team while Im filming in other places in our vast country, said Heather.

In this series Heather takes viewers on a road trip along New South Wales spectacular Waterfall Way, the innovative former timber town of Scottsdale in North-East Tasmania, a voyage of discovery along the Murray River in South Australia, the bogan town of Nyngan in NSW and the fascinating multicultural agricultural town of Robinvale which also has a fascinating war history.

Country born and bred, Joe OBrien swaps the ABC News studio for the back roads of outback Queensland to tell the story of Thallon, a tiny community which has come up with some big ideas to save their little town, led by one remarkable woman.

Paul West, who grew up in country NSW, heads to spectacular Natimuk in Victoria, where a diverse community of rock climbers and GermanLutheran farmers have learnt to get along.

Gamilaroi Gomeroi woman and triple js Brooke Boney discovers that in the Tiwi Islands, 80 km off the coast of Darwin in the Northern Territory, theres so much more than footy. She immerses herself in this fascinating ancient culture which come up with creative ways of finding a balance between the old ways and the new.

8pm Monday June 11 on ABC.
Sonia Kruger will face a directions hearing next month over 2016 comments surrounding Muslims after failing to have a racial vilification complaint made against her dismissed.

Yesterday, the Civil and Administrative Tribunal refused an application by Nine to have the complaint dismissed without a hearing.

While discussing a newspaper article written by Andrew Bolt, Kruger said she agreed that the columnist has a point here, that there is a correlation between the number of people who, you know, are Muslim in a country and the number of terrorist attacks.

Now, I have a lot of very good friends who are Muslims, who are peace-loving, who are beautiful people, but there are fanatics.

Personally, I would like to see [Muslim immigration] stopped now for Australia.

Because I want to feel safe, as all of our citizens do, when they go out to celebrate Australia Day.

Kruger called attention to Japan, which she claimed has 100,000 Muslims in a population of 174 million: We never hear of terrorist attacks in Japan.

At the time Nine said the network believed in freedom of speech and the Mixed Grill segment on the Today show is a place where that happens.

A complaint against her July 18 comments was made by Sam Ekermawi, a Muslim living in Australia who has been involved in 32 hearings before courts and tribunals.

Nine and Kruger submitted that Mr Ekermawis track record with vilification complaints meant it would be an abuse of the tribunals processes to allow them to proceed.

The network argued the broadcast in question was a discussion about Muslim religion and migration, not race.

The matter is listed for a directions hearing on June 19.

Source: New Daily
Legendary actress Cornelia Frances, best known for The Young Doctors, Home & Away and The Weakest Link, has died, aged 77.

News Corp reports she is understood to have been surrounded by close family and friends when she died overnight in Sydney, following a battle with bladder cancer.

Frances, known for a string of classic Aussie soaps, was diagnosed during a general check-up at Royal North Shore Hospital, which was also a location for Albert Memorial Hospital in The Young Doctors.

I discovered I had bladder cancer. This then spread to my hip bone which fractured, and then I almost died from loss of blood due to an ulcer in my throat. Despite all this, I am still here, as the old song goes, she said in January.

Channel Seven said in a statement, Cornelia Frances was a unique person. Her on screen presence inspired a generation of actors. This gift was coupled with an ability to bring a sense of dignity and presence into each room she entered. Her energy and character will be missed.

UK-born Frances has been a regular on Australian TV since she emigrated to Australia in 1970.

Early credits included Dynasty, Catwalk, Boney, Ryan, Silent Number, Matlock Police, Homicide, The Lost Islands, Cop Shop & Skyways.

But it was as the sharp-tongued Sister Scott on Nines 1976 soap The Young Doctors that she became a household name, a role she continued for three years.

The role of Morag Bellingham on Sevens Home and Away would become her longest-running role, appearing first in 1988 as the sister of Alf (Ray Meagher). It was a role she would continue, at various times, for 29 years. She also played Barbara Armstrong for 4 seasons on Sons and Daughters.

Ray Meagher said: Cornie was an incredibly loved and valued member of our cast over many, many years. We had a moment of silence for her on set this morning and shell be sadly missed by both cast and crew.

But she also varied her work, whether as a reporter on current affairs show Peter Couchmans Melbourne, or famously as the matronly host of The Weakest Link, staring down contestants.

Her other credits include Prisoner, Kingswood Country, Punishment, Bellamy, GP, Pizza, and Always Greener.

Film credits included The Box, Return to Snowy River, Outback, and Ned.

Frances was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2017 before being told it had spread to her hip.

She recently spoke to A Current Affair, saying Ive been very lucky, and I thank all the producers who hired me, she said.
The world was outraged when a video surfaced of two African-American men being arrested at Starbucks cafe in Philadelphia, US on 12 April for seemingly no crime. The two men, Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson had entered the cafe where they were scheduled to have a business meeting regarding a real estate project they had been working on. They then asked if they could use the toilet but were told it was for paying customers only.

The pair sat down, without purchasing anything and waited patiently for their business partner to arrive. In that time, the manager called the police and within minutes, the police had arrived.

Both men were arrested and escorted out of the cafe but were eventually not charged with a crime. Another customer at Starbucks uploaded the video that caused the outrage and many threatened to boycott the hugely popular coffee shop.

Helping staffers react to racial or bias situations

Since the incident, Starbucks has tried its best to put the matter to rest. Starbucks CEO, Kevin Johnson published a statement where he apologised for the arrest and as part of the settlement, Starbucks will be giving the two men a chance to finish their undergraduate degree for free through a partnership with Arizona State University.

Today, the chain decided to close more than 8000 US stores for an afternoon to give its employees an anti-bias training, after meeting with activists and experts in the matter.

Nearly 175.000 Starbucks workers will attend the training, that is aimed to help them deal with any racial or bias situation that may occur. According to Starbucks, this will be the first step in the company's effort to address any racial or bias issues in the workplace.

Starbucks enact policy changes

The program will include videos of many top Starbucks executives speaking to the employees about the importance of diversity and how to understand both racial bias and the history of racial discrimination in the US.

The workers at each location will also be divided into small groups to learn together. Employees will then talk about their own experiences and work with guides, such as Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz and musician Common.

Starbucks will also enact several policy changes, such as allowing people who have not bought anything, to sit down and to use the toilet.

An issue that led to the arrest of both Mr. Robinson and Mr. Nelson, who were said to be trespassing. However, employees will be advised to step in if a customer behaves in a disruptive manner. That includes smoking, use of drugs or alcohol or improper use of the toilet.
Ahead of the 70 year anniversary of National Parks in 2019, the Environment Secretary, Michael Gove, has announced there will be a review of National Parks (NPs) and Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) in England. The review will set out to examine the impact of these areas on contemporary living and will possibly pave the way for the creation of new parks, the government press release suggests.

It was stated along with the announcement that there is no objective of the review to lower protections currently in place to protect the country's NPs and AONBs.

The review's focus will, instead, be on how to increase the benefits of these areas to the people who visit them and the animals and plants that live in them. This includes the benefits of NPs and AONBs on people's health and wellbeing. The review will also seek to find out how connections and contacts between communities, visitors, and nature can be promoted in these special areas.

Authorship of the review

Julian Glover, a writer and former advisor to the government, will lead the review aided by a panel comprised of relevant cross-discipline experts. The review will be conducted as an aspect of the government's 25 Year Environment Plan. This is an initiative to improve the British environment by making the nation greener.

Undertaking a review of NPs is one of the guarantees that was made when the Plan was released earlier this year in January.

Other parts of the Plan include aiming for the deliverance of a Green Brexit as well as extending the current policy of 5p charges on carrier bags in UK retailers.

The significance of National Parks and AONBs

Originally created in 1949 after the passing of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act, NPs are deemed to be one of the most important legacies of the Post-War government.

In England, there are currently 10 NPs including Dartmoor in Devon and The Lake District in Cumbria.

In addition to the NPs are 34 AONBs which include the Kent Downs in the South East and the Isle of Wight off the southern coast. All areas designated as AONBs have met the natural beauty criterion and together represent the majority of features of the English countryside such as forests, coastlines, hills, and wildlife.

NPs and AONBs provide excellent areas for a wide variety of recreational and leisure pursuits for all ages ranging from hiking to fishing.

Combined, NPs and AONBs are visited by 260 million people each year and support 75,000 jobs. They further bring in 20 billion for the rural economy. They are, therefore, of significant value recreationally and economically.

Margaret Paren, Chair of National Parks England, has commented on the review that: we look forward to a future where [NPs'] beauty is enhanced; they are loved and accessible for everyone, and they continue to support thriving communities in these working landscapes.
Former US astronaut Alan Bean fourth person to walk on the moon died on Saturday 26 May. Bean was born in Wheeler, Texas on March 15, 1932. He had graduated from University of Texas in 1955 with a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. Before he was an astronaut, he was a test pilot in the US Navy. Then, in October 1963 he was chosen by nasa for its third group of astronauts. He went to space twice, on missions Apollo 12 in November 1969 and Skylab in July 1973. In 1981, he retired from NASA and started to paint his memories from his missions, becoming a renown Artist.

His family said that Bean had fallen ill in Indiana two weeks before his death and died yesterday at a hospital in Houston at the age of 86.

'He was a good friend'

Alan Bean left his wife Leslie, his two children and his sister behind when he passed, as well as many friends and colleagues. His former colleagues from NASA told great things about him in the statement published by NASA. Walt Cunningham, another astronaut, who flew the Apollo 7 said that he had been friends with Bean for over 55 years. They had worked together at the Skylab mission. "We have never lived more than a couple of miles apart, even after we left NASA. And for years, Alan and I never missed a month where we did not have a cheeseburger together at Millers Cafe in Houston.

We are accustomed to losing friends in our business but this is a tough one.

Mike Massimino, an astronaut who flew to space twice to work on the Hubble Space Telescope, defined Bean as the most 'extraordinary' man he had ever met. The official statement from NASA included a quote from Massimino explaining how wonderful Bean was as a person and how grateful Mike was to be his friend.

An inspiring painter

After his retirement from NASA, Bean started to work as a painter by painting pictures of space, the Moon and the Earth. He painted pictures of astronauts and the Earth's view from the Moon, as well as a painting of lunar bootprints which even had some small pieces of Moondust -stained mission patches embedded into the acrylic paint.

Robert Z Pearlman, a space history specialist, said to the BBC "While he captured these great scenes from history, and scenes that never could be captured by a camera, and only in painting, he would also basically sprinkle them with moon dust." Another US astronaut Karen Nyberg wrote that as a person with interest in spaceflight and art, Alan Bean was her hero.

With Bean's death, only Buzz Aldrin, Dave Scott, Charlie Duke and Harrison Schmitt are left from the 12 that walked on the surface of the Moon.
Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis arrives at a news conference at government headquarters in Prague, Czech Republic, March 26, 2018. REUTERS/David W Cerny

Thomson Reuters

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Czech President Milos Zeman plans to name Andrej Babis as prime minister for a second time before the middle of June, he told Czech Television on Monday, a move to speed up the formation of a new government.

Babis's centrist ANO party struck a coalition agreement with the center-left Social Democrats this month that is still subject to approval by rank-and-file Social Democrat members.

The results of the party's internal referendum on the government are likely to be announced on June 15.

"I will certainly name Andrej Babis prime minister before June 15," Zeman told the state broadcaster. He did not specify a date.

Zeman first named Babis prime minister in December, but his minority cabinet lost a vote of confidence the following month and he has since ruled in a caretaker capacity. Babis requires another mandate from Zeman to seek a new confidence vote and become permanent prime minister.

A billionaire businessman before entering politics in 2011, Babis has struggled to gain partners while he fights police allegations that he illegally gained EU subsidies meant for small businesses a decade ago. He denies wrongdoing.

The ANO party won the most seats in an election in October but lacks a majority and the coalition with the Social Democrats will still be in a minority. With 93 of 200 lower house seats, it will require ad hoc backing from the small Communist party.

Some prominent Social Democrats have come out against joining a coalition with Babis. As a condition, the Social Democrats secured an agreement that Babis will step down if a court finds him guilty in the fraud case.

Babis has said if the deal with the Social Democrats falls through, an early election could be held next spring. Zeman, who has backed Babis in the drawn out government talks, has opposed early elections.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Peter Graff)

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At least three people, including two policemen and a pedestrian, were killed on Tuesday when a gunman opened fire in the Belgian city of Liege.

Police subsequently killed the gunman in a shootout after he entered a nearby high school and took a woman hostage. It is unclear what the motive behind the shooting was, but it is being investigated as a potential terrorist attack, according to prosecutors. The gunman had reportedly been released from prison on Monday, and police said he may have been radicalized while in jail. Police said they heard the gunman yell Allahu akbar, which means "God is great" in Arabic, during the standoff with police.

The countrys interior minister took to Twitter to express his condolences for the victims and their families and pledged that law enforcement would continue to monitor the vicinity, particularly the area near the high school.

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"The hostage-taker has been neutralized, the two police officers have died, the passenger of a vehicle passing on the boulevard has also lost their lives. Two other police officers were injured. All children are safe, the citys police said in a statement on Facebook.

Belgium has experienced numerous attacks over the past several years. In March 2016, in one of the most deadly incidents, three suicide bombers assaulted the airport and metro stations in the countrys capital, Brussels, killing 32 people and injuring hundreds of others. Investigators also say that Belgium is home to the masterminds of the deadly attack that took place in France in 2015. More young men have traveled from Belgium to fight for the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) in Iraq or Syria than from any other country in Europe.

Story continues

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Some experts say that the country is susceptible to radicalization because Muslim youth there feel marginalized. To fight radicalization, some suggest, Belgium should do more to address discrimination and the lack of economic opportunities among the countrys Muslim youth.

Liege is the third largest city in Belgium. It is a French-speaking city in the countrys east.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Tragic  the four-year-old nursery pupil, whose full name has not been given, was found dead inside a van after being forgotten there for more than seven hours (Picture: AsiaWire)

Four people have been arrested after a four-year-old boy died when he was left inside a van for more than seven hours.

The boy was one of eight pupils driven to the nursery in Central China but the driver didnt notice he was fast asleep in the back seat when he left the van in a car park.

It was only when he returned more than seven hours later that he found the four-year-old, whose full name hasnt been given, lifeless in the bus.

Teachers also hadnt noticed that the pupil was missing from their classes that day.

Asleep  the boy was asleep in the van when the driver left it in a car park, only returning seven hours later (Picture: AsiaWire)

Once he was found the boy was rushed to a local hospital but medics couldnt do anything to save him.

It is thought he suffocated inside the van under midday temperatures of 30 degrees Celsius.

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Yan Xuelian, principal of the privately-owned Xingxing Kindergarten in Wuhan, capital of Hubei Province in Central China, has been arrested, alongside the driver of the bus  her husband Dai Gongxun.

The boys teachers Mao Liji and Wang Qing have also been detained as part of the negligent manslaughter investigation.

The boys mother Wu Xuemei had seen her son off to school that morning (Picture: AsiaWire)

The boys mother Wu Xuemei, who had seen her son off to school in the morning, was informed of the tragedy in the afternoon.
Thomas Entwistle and his wife Rebekah returned from their honeymoon to find a 6ft fence had been put up outside their newly-bought dream home (Picture: SWNS)

When newlyweds Thomas and Rebekah Entwistle returned from their honeymoon, they were expecting to come back to their recently-bought dream home.

What they didnt expect was to find a 6ft fence had been erected right outside their window  just 2ft from their front door and living room.

The fence is thought to have been erected by a disgruntled farmer who is locked in a dispute with developer Persimmon Homes, which built the couples new house, and its neighbouring properties.

Dream home  the couple only moved into the house just before Christmas (Picture: SWNS)

Music teacher Thomas 27, and 24-year-old Rebekah, only moved into the four-bedroom property on Brook View estate in Blackburn, Lancashire, just before Christmas.

Earlier this month they returned from an 11-day honeymoon in the Dominican Republic to find the view from their house blocked by the new fence.

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Thomas thinks the fence was erected by the owner of nearby Upper Mickle Hay Farm in a dispute with Persimmon over land borders, but Persimmon insists that none of its development encroaches on land it does not already own.

Thomas said: This was our dream home and now its turned into a nightmare  it feels like we are imprisoned in our own house by this fence.

Berlin Wall  Thomas compared the fence to living behind the Berlin Wall (Picture: SWNS)

We are being held hostage in a land dispute which is nothing to do with us.

Rebekah and I have just started our own business and had to fight to get a mortgage and then to get this house.

We bought it because of the view which has now been replaced by a huge wooden fence nailed to our own little one.

He said his wife is now always in tears, adding: It is 2ft from our front window and front door  its like having the Berlin Wall in front of our home.

Story continues

Dispute  its thought the fence is the result of a dispute between a local farmer and developers Persimmon (Picture: SWNS)

The couple, who married in July, say they would not have even considered the property if they had known what lay ahead, and arent sure they even want to live there now.

Even if the fence gets taken down there is no guarantee it wont come back later or even be extended around the back, said Thomas. We are in fear of that.

The Entwistles, who had moved from rented accommodation, have considered employing their own solicitor.

Thomas added: At first I was tearful but now Im angry.

We specifically bought this house, beating off a lot of competition, for its beautiful views and now theyve gone.

We now keep the curtains closed in the front room and spend most of our time upstairs  Rebekah is too upset to be in the living room.

We just want it sorted out quickly and permanently so we can enjoy our new home in peace.

Dispute  Persimmon Homes says its confident the development doesnt encroach on land it doesnt own (Picture: SWNS)

A spokesman for Persimmon Homes said: We are confident none of our development encroaches on land not legitimately within our ownership.

We understand planning enforcement action is being taken against the neighbouring landowner to address the fence, which has been erected illegally and in breach of planning regulations.

The owner of Upper Mickle Hay Farm has been contacted for comment.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits iCarbonX, a start up company focusing on combining genomics with other health factors to create a digitalized form of life, in Shenzhen, China May 25, 2018. REUTERS/Bobby Yip

Thomson Reuters

BERLIN (Reuters) - Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban risks triggering a crisis in his Fidesz party's relationship with the European Union's center-right parties over laws they charge infringe civil liberties, an ally of Germany' chancellor has warned.

Re-elected earlier this year, Orban has attracted criticism for delaying accreditation for a university founded by financier George Soros, an outspoken critic of Orban.

A proposed law that would subject non-governmental organizations that receive foreign funding to strict regulation has been compared by critics to measures in non-European Union states like Russia.

Critics say the European People's Party (EPP), which includes German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU), has pulled its punches because of a need for its member's votes in the European Parliament. Fidesz's commanding position at home means it contributes a big chunk of the EPP's caucus.

But Andreas Nick, a CDU lawmaker and his party's Hungary rapporteur, has become the latest EPP figure to say Orban's latest moves on the Central European University (CEU) and the NGO law risked crossing red lines.

"Would I prefer Fidesz to stay within the Christian Democrat camp? Of course," Nick told Reuters. "But our Hungarian friends need to understand that crossing certain lines would make life very difficult for everyone."

His remarks, coming shortly after criticism by Manfred Weber, another Merkel ally and the EPP's president in the European Parliament, suggest that patience is running out for a party increasingly seen as being far outside the democratic mainstream.

The Council of Europe, Europe's human rights watchdog, is due to issue a report on the proposed NGO law next month, and Nick said Hungary's reaction to that would be a crucial test of its willingness to respond to criticism.

But Cas Mudde, an expert on Fidesz at the University of Georgia, was skeptical about whether critics would stay the course if Orban did back down.

Story continues

"This is a pre-emptive strike... criticizing Fidesz mildly, before real critique comes out, and then later either not following up or accepting marginal adjustments," Mudde said.

(Reporting by Thomas Escritt, editing by Larry King)

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Europes new privacy law comes with teeth. Within hours of the General Data Protection Law (GDPR) coming into effect, an Austrian privacy campaigner used the new EU legislation to file a legal complaint against Facebook and Google. Its too early to tell how the case will be resolved but companies that violate the law can be fined up to 4% of annual revenue. That means the two companies could be fined a total of 7.6 billion (6.6 billion).

Yet, even as most internet users were dealing with a deluge of GDPR-related emails from companies trying to follow the law, it occurred to me that what is possibly the most strident attempt by lawmakers to protect peoples privacy still wont be enough. Not even nearly. The problem is that the law doesnt protect the data that is most precious to tech firms, the inferred data produced by algorithms and used by advertisers.

The basic premise of GDPR is that consumers must give their consent before a company such as Facebook can start to collect personal data. The company must explain why data is collected and how its used. The firm also isnt allowed to use the data for a different reason later on.

All these rules naturally translated into consent boxes that popped up online or in applications, often combined with a threat, that the service can no longer be used if user(s) do not consent, observed Max Schrems, the campaigner who has filed the complaint against this take it or leave it approach.

Still, any new cases against Facebook and Google could go the way of the current enquiries into the Cambridge Analytica scandal. Addressing EU representatives during a parliamentary hearing, a suited-up Mark Zuckerberg was recently seen rehashing a familiar narrative, that hes sorry and hasnt done enough to prevent harm. Whether its fake news, foreign interference in elections or developers misusing peoples information, we didnt take a broad enough view of our responsibilities, he said.

Story continues

In other words, a highly technical challenge concerning data security and consumer privacy has been reduced to a public spectacle of remorse and redemption. And when the resolution comes in, just as with GDPR, it will arrive in the shape of email consent forms full of incomprehensible fine print and terms and conditions. The greatest danger of this is that the public will be blinded from seeing what truly matters.

Shutterstock

Where the social networking sites, search engines and big online retailers have truly succeeded so far is in defining the personal data that lawmakers say requires protection. The data that GDPR covers includes credit card numbers, travel records, religious affiliations, web search results, biometric data from wearable fitness monitors and internet (IP) addresses. But when targeting consumers, such personal data, though useful, is not paramount.

For example, if TV network HBO wants to advertise the new season of Game of Thrones to anyone reading an article about the show on the New York Times website, then all HBO needs is an algorithm that understands the behavioural correlation, not a demographic profile. And those all-knowing algorithms, the under-the-hood machine learning tools that power everything from Facebooks news feed to Googles self-driving cars, remains opaque and unchallenged. In fact they have their own protections in the form of intellectual property rights, making them trade secrets much like the Coca-Cola recipe.

But the difference between Coca-Cola and Facebook is, of course, in their business models. Facebook, Google, Snapchat and YouTube all generate revenue through advertising. Consumers pay for their Coca-Cola but they get their digital services for free. And that seemingly free service has introduced what economists call the principal-agent problem, meaning tech firms may not act in consumers best interest because they are the product not the customers. This is exactly why Sheryl Sandberg, Facebooks chief operating officer, has said Facebook users cant opt out of sharing their data with advertisers because that would require Facebook to be a paid product.

GDPR could open the way for a solution

But this is not unsolvable. Tech companies could be required to nominate independent reviewers, computer scientists and academic researchers to conduct algorithm audits to ensure any automatic decisions are unbiased and ethical.

Data scientists working at tech companies could also be required to ensure that any smart algorithm follows the principle of explainable artificial intelligence. This is the idea that machine learning systems should be able to explain their decisions and actions to human users and convey an understanding of how they will behave in the future.

What is unique about the tech world today, and remains virtually incomprehensible to those who work outside the sector, is the minimal level of reassurance and regulation of the basics it has come to expect. Facebooks shares have already recovered since the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

This shows that the biggest potential payoff of GDPR is not so much immediate protection of consumers, but the chance to open up an arena for public debate. Imagine consumers could one day voice their grievances over unfair targeting, or challenge the logic of a proprietary algorithm at a public tribunal, staffed by independent computer scientists. It is this kind of built-in scrutiny that will make a fairer and more useful internet. GDPR is the first step in this direction.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Howard Yu 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.
The eruption of the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii is spewing more than molten lava and ash. It is also putting out 15,000 tons of vog, or volcanic fog, every day.

People living as far away as the Marshall Islands, 2,300 miles from Hawaii, are experiencing vog from Kilauea blanketing the sky. Symptoms include burning eyes, headaches and sore throats, Agence France-Presse reported Monday.

"Everyone is having symptoms now on some level," emergency room physician and State Senator Josh Green told the Associated Press.

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According to the International Volcanic Health and Hazard Network (IVHHN), people with asthma or respiratory problems should stay inside. Room-air cleaners can help, but masks and ventilators do little. The network also recommends that people avoid strenuous outdoors activities and seek medical help if they experience breathing issues. In the absence of wind, vog can accumulate in one area, which people should evacuate if the pollution increases.

Vog

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Trade winds are blowing the vog west, so any area east of the eruption won't likely experience strong effects from it. Tourism on most parts of the Big Island has continued as normal.

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Water vapor, carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide are the main ingredients in vog, according to the IVHHN. When a volcano releases this combination, called SO2, it reacts with the moisture, sunlight, oxygen and other gases in the environment. This turns SO2 into fine particles which can travel far in the wind, spreading throughout the sky and potentially causing problems for those who inhale it. It is colorless but can obscure views with its soft haze over the landscape.

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Latest Photos of Hawaii's Kilauea Volcano Eruption: Residents Flee as Lava Advances Towards Homes

The weeks-long eruption of Kilauea has damaged more than 50 properties and injured one man. Geologists predicted the eruption by measuring earthquakes and other geological shifts in advance, allowing local authorities to issue an evacuation order for the area. No fatalities are known.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Talks are underway to salvage an historic summit between the US and North Korea (Pictures: AP)

A top North Korean official is heading to the United States as part of efforts to salvage an historic summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump.

Mr Trump confirmed on Twitter that Kim Yong Chol was heading to New York for talks that are hoped to put the summit scheduled for June 12 back on track.

The US President tweeted: We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

The general will become the highest-ranking North Korean to visit the United States since General Jo Myong Rok went to the White House to see President Bill Clinton in 2000.

His trip comes after Mr Trump pulled out of the planned summit for Singapore on June 12, prompting frenzied talks to salvage the historic occasion.

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On Sunday Mr Trump said the US team had arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the Summit, tweeting: I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!

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A team is also said to be in Singapore making logistical plans for the summit.

Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Koreas ruling Workers Party Central Committee, is travelling to New York for talks over next months summit (Picture: AP)

Meanwhile, Mr Trump and Japans Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are due to meet ahead of the summit.

After speaking with Mr Trump by telephone on Monday, Mr Abe told reporters in Tokyo that Mr Trump had briefed him on plans for the summit meeting and he and the American president had agreed to meet.

The White House said in a statement that the leaders had agreed on Monday to cooperate on the shared imperative of seeking the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and missile programs.
Storyful

Newly released footage from New York Citys subway system gives a closer look at the yet-to-be-identified person whom police suspect hurled paint over a memorial statue of George Floyd in Union Square on Saturday morning, October 3.This video, released just over one week later, on October 11, shows the suspect pass through a subway turnstile wearing a bright green top, dark beanie, a dark green unbuttoned shirt, dark shorts, and dark shoes. They are also carrying a light green rucksack and a skateboard. Police appealed to the public for help identifying the person.Video previously released by police on Sunday, October 4, showed a person of the same description hurling paint over the George Floyd bust at Union Square as they passed on a skateboard. Nearby busts of late Congressman John Lewis and Breonna Taylor, the Louisville, Kentucky, woman shot and killed by police in 2020, did not appear to be defaced.The defacing of the statue at its new Union Square location occurred two days after it was unveiled there. It was also the second time the statue had been defaced, having been vandalized in late June at its previous location at Brooklyns Flatbush Junction. On that occasion, four suspects spray-painted the name of a white supremacist group on Floyds head and covered up text on the statues pedestal, according to the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force.The NYPD said the suspect in the Union Square incident was wanted for criminal mischief.The footage released earlier showing the suspect throwing paint on the statue was also released through the NYPD Hate Crime Task Force, though police did not indicate if the individual was suspected of a hate crime. Credit: NYPD via Storyful
The Postal Service still won't deliver your mail to the stars, but it's done the next best thing: Last Wednesday, the agency launched a stamp honoring Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space. The stamps, which currently cost $10 for 20, are Forever stamps always acceptable for first-class mail.

Ironically, before her death in 2012, she asked NASA not to sell products with her portrait or name on them. But the stamps seem to have the approval of Ride's partner of almost 30 years.

Sally started collecting stamps when she was a girl, and she continued to do so her whole lifeespecially stamps of the Olympics and space exploration, Tam OShaughnessy said in a press release. Sally would be deeply honored to have her portrait on a U.S. stamp.

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Ride went to space in 1983, becoming the third woman and the first American woman to go to space. She flew again in 1984 before retiring from the astronaut corps.

05_25_Sally_Ride_stamp

USPS

After her flights, she sat on the panels that investigated what went wrong during the space shuttle program's two disasters, the 1986 explosion of Challenger shortly after launch and the 2003 destruction of Columbia on re-entry. Ride later turned down an opportunity to lead NASA under President Clinton.

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In addition to her work as an astronaut, she was also a physics professor and co-authored children's books about the solar system. Her research included work with Thomson scattering, a phenomenon caused when a laser beam of light hits a particle. She also co-founded Sally Ride Science, a nonprofit organization that encourages middle and high school students to explore science.

Ride died of pancreatic cancer in 2012 at the age of 61.

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The stamps are available in post offices or for order online.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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The National Weather Service issued weather warnings for parts of Alabama on May 28 as Subtropical Storm Alberto made landfall in Floridas Panhandle earlier on Monday.

This video shows dark storm clouds surrounding the city of Lincoln, Alabama.

The National Weather Service issued an alert warning that heavy rains could cause flash flooding across the western Florida panhandle and much of southwest and south-central Alabama.

Alberto made landfall on Monday near Laguna Beach, west of Panama City, according to the National Hurricane Center. Credit: James Dylon Kiker via Storyful
Abdullah Kattineh, 19, studied on a tiny mobile phone screen because his family couldnt afford textbooks (Picture: SWNS)

A Syrian teenager who studied by torchlight while his war-torn home was battered with bombs has been awarded a place at Cambridge University.

Abdullah Kattineh, 19, used a 4.5 inch mobile phone screen to teach himself chemistry as his family were unable to afford books.

He has been accepted to study natural sciences at Cambridge after an online fundraising campaign was backed by hundreds of people.

Cambridge Universitys Corpus Christi College have also offered the teenager a full scholarship  covering his fees and living costs of more than 48,000.

It is the ultimate honour to be the only Syrian student who got admitted to Cambridge University this year, said Mr Kattineh.

I cant by any language  or type of creative writing  express what this chance means to me.

I cant dismiss from my mind how difficult it was to study without electricity 18 hours a day, or how difficult it was to study all the books from a 4.5-inch mobile phone screen because we couldnt afford to buy the original books or a device with a bigger screen.

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Most of us  the Syrian people  were paralysed by the outcomes of the Syrian crisis.

From an extreme devaluation of the Syrian currency accompanied by the difficulty to afford the costs of living to the possibility of losing your best friend or family member at any moment.

To me, Ive always been a dreamer, and those circumstances made me even more determined to achieve my dreams.

The self-taught teenager took part in the Syrian Chemistry Olympiad Competition in 2015 and made it to the international level.

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He graduated from college in 2017 and immediately set his sights on a place at Cambridge, applying for the Cambridge Trust Scholarship, which provides funding for gifted students in financial need.

But after being unsuccessful, he refused to give up on his dream and set up a fundraising website asking for help.

On the site, Mr Kattineh wrote: Unfortunately, my family cant afford the university, college, and living costs to study at Cambridge.

The problem in Syria, beside the horrible economic situation, is that we dont have Visa cards or online bank accounts due to economic restrictions.

As a result, I cant receive help from anyone of my family or friends who are residents in Syria.

Within hours, Mr Kattineh, from Damascus, had received 800 from Cambridge University students and 450 people signed an open letter calling on the university to support him.

It is believed he is the only Syrian to be admitted to the prestigious institution this year.

Dr Michael Sutherland, tutor for admissions at Corpus Christi College, said: This is an exceptional case.

Abdullah has had to overcome tremendous obstacles to win the place at Corpus and we want to support him and ensure he is fully funded and able to concentrate on his studies and new life here.

The Syrian student is going to study at Cambridge University (Picture: PA)

Bursar Tim Harvey-Samuel added that the colleges contribution was raised from endowed funds given by benefactors to the Cambridge Trust to help students in need.

The immensely generous and appreciated support of our alumni and other donors has allowed us to find the funding Abdullah needs, said Mr Harvey-Samuel.

We look forward to seeing him begin his degree with us in October.

The Cambridge Trust is a grant-awarding body which provides the largest number of awards to overseas students studying at Cambridge.

Helen Pennant, director of the Cambridge Trust, said: The trust is delighted to support this student who has faced so many challenges.

His fundraising campaign was supported by the Cambridge Refugee Scholarship Campaign (CRSC) that aims to establish a support scholarships for students hindered by political or humanitarian crises.
The two female police officers and a civilian shot dead in an attack in the Belgian city of Liege have been named.

Soraya Belkacemi, 53, and Lucille Garcia, 45, were killed when a prisoner on day leave from jail stole their handguns on Tuesday.

The gunman also killed Cyril Vangriecken, a 22-year-old male car passenger on the Boulevard d'Avory, before taking a female cleaner hostage at a nearby high school.

The cleaner was released when police shot dead the attacker, who has been named by local media as Belgian national Benjamin Herman.

The 36-year-old petty criminal and drug dealer was released from prison on Monday for a few hours but he failed to return, according to media reports.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said Herman had been mentioned indirectly in state security reports on radicalisation, but was not on a terror watchlist as services had found "no reason to give him such a qualification".

Media reported that the suspect had been radicalised in prison, and an AFP source close to the investigation said he had been reported as belonging to the "entourage of an Islamist recruiter".

But justice minister Koen Geens said there was no consistent information for the claim, adding that the case was not "clear cut" and that Herman "certainly was not someone who could clearly be qualified as radicalised".

A senior official at the federal prosecutor's office has said "there are indications it could be a terror attack", but Belgium's crisis centre has said there is no reason to raise the anti-terror alert for now.

Officials said Herman approached the officers, aged 45 and 53, from behind and stabbed them repeatedly before taking their handguns and shooting them.

Prosecutor Philippe Dulieu said: "Armed with a knife, the suspect followed and attacked two police officers, and used their own firearms to kill them."

"He continued on foot, attacking a parked vehicle where he opened fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat. The young man died.

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"He then continued and entered the Leonie de Waha school. He took a woman working there as hostage.

"Police intervened, he came out firing on the police officers, wounding several before he was killed."

La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted the Arabic words "Allahu Akbar" - God is great.

The governor of Liege province, Herve Jamar, said no-one was injured during the high school hostage-taking and all students were safe.

A senior official at the prosecutor's office told reporters "there are indications it could be a terror attack".

Interior minister Jan Jambon said the anti-terrorist crisis centre was monitoring the situation which began to unfold at around 8.30am GMT.

Mr Jambon said: "Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of establishing an overview of exactly what happened."

The crisis centre said a security cordon had been set up around the area and urged people to stay away.

"It (terrorism) is one of the questions on the table, but for the moment all scenarios are open," a spokesman for the crisis centre said.

Images on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Liege's central boulevard d'Avroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background.

One video showed two police officers in body armour moving into position.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said his thoughts were with the families of the victims after what he called a "serious incident" but added he would not give further details at this stage.

Theresa May said the UK would stand together with its allies in the fight against terror.

The Prime Minister tweeted: "My thoughts are with the victims of today's cowardly attack in Belgium and their grieving families.

"The UK stands resolute with our Belgian allies against terror."

French President Emmanuel Macron voiced "solidarity" with Belgium, condemning it as a "terrible attack".

Authorities said it was unlikely the terror threat level for Belgium would be raised.

Liege is an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region.

It was the scene of a shooting in 2011 when a gunman killed four people and wounded more than 100 before turning the gun on himself.

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.
Have you watched a sheepdog gather sheep on a hillside? The sheep move in waves and pulse back and forth, the dog weaving behind and around them. Squint a bit and its like watching iron filings on a piece of paper being drawn around by a magnet underneath, or a flock of starlings darting from an approaching falcon, or a school of fish evading an oncoming penguin.

The patterns look similar between each event because the coordinated behaviour we see in sheep flocks or fish schools  where individuals are all closely packed and aligned in a certain direction  can reduce their chances of being identified or eaten by predators.

Fascinated by these patterns, we set out to investigate how these anti-predator effects work, by using GPS to track flocks of sheep and a sheepdog:

What we found supported the long-standing assertion that individual animals respond to potential danger by moving towards the centre of a fleeing group  a theory called the selfish herd that was first proposed by the great evolutionary biologist Bill Hamilton in the 1970s.

Dog rules

However, there was something even more interesting than the way the sheep were flocking  the behaviour of the sheepdog. How was the dog managing to manoeuvre and manipulate so many sheep with such apparent ease? What rules was the dog using? To investigate this we built a model of the sheep and sheepdog behaviours, and compared computer simulations to the real data we had collected:

We found that the dog appeared to be using two very simple rules. It would drive the sheep from behind, towards the target, but if the sheep become too dispersed, the dog would move towards the edge of the leaking flock. Because the sheep move away from the dog and towards each other when the dog gets too close (remember the iron filings and magnet) the result is a cohesive sheep flock and a shepherding dog that weaves behind the flock.

But we did not code weaving into our model  just the two simple rules  and yet our model shepherd still presented the same weaving behaviour as the dog. This phenomenon, where a model has properties we did not code in is what is known as an emergent behaviour.

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Read more: We need robots that can improvise, but it's not easy to teach them right from wrong

Robot shepherds

When we initially described this shepherding model based on the two rules, we said that our work suggests new ways in which robots can be designed to influence movements of living and artificial agents. This led to much media attention, and outrage that we wanted to replace sheepdogs with robots. We didnt, but we do think it is possible to build robots for collection and herding tasks, inspired by the sheepdog behaviour.

To test our claims, we recently programmed a simple robot to follow our dog rules, and had it collect little plastic (inanimate) objects. We found that the robot did an excellent job. With no help from us, the robot quickly identified and collected the objects, adapting its behaviour if we threw more objects in for it to collect. The robot was successful in all our trials:

The next step is to do all of this in the real world. Although we used a simple robot in a simple laboratory setting, our findings indicate that our approach could be used to complete a variety of collection and herding tasks.

A suitable robot programmed with our algorithms could be used to clean up oil spills, plastic or other objects from the environment. It could also keep animals away from, or herd them to, a specific location without any human assistance. To accomplish this we hope to collaborate with engineers and robotics scientists who can help take our work forward.

Read more: Future robots won't resemble humans  we're too inefficient

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

The Conversation

Daniel Strombom receives funding from the Swedish Research Council (ref: 2015-06335)

Andrew King receives funding from Natural Environment Research Council and The Leverhulme Trust.
FILE PHOTO: French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris FILE PHOTO: French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attend a press conference at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, April 10, 2018. Yoan Valat/Pool via Reuters/File Photo

PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has claimed credit for solving a political crisis in Lebanon last year and stated publicly that Saudi Arabia had held Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri for several weeks.

Lebanon was plunged into crisis in November when Hariri resigned as prime minister while in Saudi Arabia, saying he feared assassination and criticising the Saudis' regional rival Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah.

Lebanese officials accused the Saudis at the time of holding Hariri hostage. After international intervention, including by Macron, Hariri was able to leave the kingdom and eventually rescinded his resignation.

"If France wasn't listened to then there probably would be a war in Lebanon at this moment as we speak. It's French diplomacy, it's our action," Macron said in an interview with broadcaster BFM TV, visibly irritated after being asked if his foreign policy over the last year had achieved anything.

Macron said an unscheduled stopover in Riyadh to convince Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, followed by an invitation to Hariri to come to France, had been the catalyst to ending the crisis.

"I remind you that a prime minister was held in Saudi Arabia for several weeks," he said, a comment that could irk Riyadh which, like Hariri, denied he was ever held against his will.

Macron dined with Hariri and Prince Mohammed in Paris in April after a conference to rally international support for an investment programme to boost the Lebanese economy.

Hariri, who visited Riyadh in February for the first time since the November crisis, is working to form a new coalition after a May 6 parliamentary election that strengthened his rival Hezbollah and its political allies.

(Reporting by John Irish; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Drug discovery and development company ImmuPharma saw losses widen in its last trading year, but fresh analysis of results from its pivotal Phase III trial on its Lupus treatment has given both the firm and its investors some reason to be optimistic.

Losses widened 17% to 6.2m and ImmuPharma's loss per share grew 4.63% to 4.75p each in the twelve months leading to 31 December.

ImmuPharma finished the year with a cash balance of 2.7m after the 4.1m fundraising in March last year, topped up by a 10m fundraiser post-period end this January, while negotiations with potential partners for Lupuzor continued.

Research and development costs dipped 3.92% to 5.1m.

Chairman Tim McCarthy said, "As a board, we continue to be excited by ImmuPharma's future potential. Looking at the Lupuzor top-line data announced in April, the drug demonstrated a superior response rate over placebo with an exceptional safety profile, giving it, we believe, a compelling product profile."

In a separate announcement on Tuesday morning, ImmuPharma revealed that further analysis of data from its Phase III trial of its Lupuzor compound demonstrated that in the Europe cohort the drug showed a "statistically significant" reduction in disease activity compared to the placebo. However, in the US the firm said it saw just 40% of its 72 patients fall into the "antibody positive" category.

"This contrasting result in the US compared to the positive result in the Europe cohort, may be due to a number of differing factors between the two cohorts, which requires further investigation," the group said.

As of 1410 BST, Immupharma shares had gained 7.97% to 29.80p.
Kim Jong Un sent diplomats to Singapore and the US ahead of the historic summit with President Donald Trump scheduled for 12 June.

Kim Chang Son, special envoy for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, arrived on Monday night in Singapore as part of the preparations for the possible summit with Trump, according to a report from Japanese media outfit NHK.

As indicated by diplomatic sources, Kim's adviser had traveled to Singapore via Beijing where he arrived early on Monday.

In parallel, a US delegation, including Joe Hagin, head of operations at the White House, had left Yokota air base in Japan headed for Singapore.

Just last week, the US leader had announced the cancellation of the summit with Kim in Singapore.

However, over the weekend he had reportedly reconsidered his decision, with a US delegation having been dispatched to meet with representatives from North Korean on their own soil with the aim of preparing the groundwork for the meeting.

Both Trump and Kim have expressed a willingness to meet despite their differences with the issue of the North's denuclearization having been put to one side until they met, even after Pyongyang's rejection of Washington's demands to unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons programme.

At the weekend, Kim met with South Korean President Moon Jae-In in the border town of Panmunjom, where they agreed that the United States-North Korea summit should be held.

Following that, on Monday Moon announced that more talks with Kim might take place ahead of the summit.

Yet the South Korean National Assembly had recently failed to pass a vote in support of the Panmunjom Declaration, the agreement reached on 27 April by Kim and Moon to achieve peace, reconciliation and denuclearization of the Korean peninsula.
A man shot two police officers and a passerby dead in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday morning with the assailant's motives yet to be determined.

The gunman killed two police officers near a cafe and then took a female passerby as hostage from a school before being neutralised by police.

Sources quoted in local media said the man had yelled 'Allahu Akbar' before being killed. The Belgian federal prosecutor's office said there are elements that point towards a possible terrorist attack and the national anti-terrorist crisis centre is now monitoring the situation

Broadcaster RTBF reported that the man had been released from prison just the day before and that he may have been radicalised in prison.

Jan Jambon, Belgium's security minister, said: "Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of making an overview of what exactly happened."
Consumer-focussed business developer Myanmar Strategic Holdings announced on Tuesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Myanmar Strategic Services has exchanged contracts for the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of EXERA .

The London-listed firm described EXERA as one of Myanmar's leading safety and security services providers by number of guards, with the acquisition carrying a consideration of $2.2m, and completion expected to take place by the end of May.

It said the consideration would be satisfied through the payment of $2m in cash on completion funded from the group's existing cash resources, and the issue of 7,408 new ordinary shares in the company at a price of $27 per share.

Myanmar Strategic described EXERA as an internationally managed safety and security services provider operating exclusively in Myanmar.

Through its workforce of around 1,000 guards, EXERA provides guarding, protective services, transportation, training, and risk consulting to a range of international and local clients in the country.

Its customer base included multinational corporations, large oil and gas companies, established local businesses, and governmental bodies and international organisations such as WFP, UNHCR, UNICEF and the EU, Myanmar Strategic explained.

For the year ended 31 March, EXERA generated unaudited revenues of approximately$4m.

I am delighted to announce the acquisition of EXERA, a leading safety and security services provider in Myanmar, said Myanmar Strategic CEO Enrico Cesenni.

Over the past few years, EXERA has established itself as one of the best foreign operators, effectively supporting its clients with their security needs as those clients have expanded throughout Myanmar.

Cesenni explained that through leveraging its market-leading guarding practice, EXERA had commenced its expansion into cash-in-transit.

EXERA is excited to develop best-in-class cash management capabilities across Myanmar by working jointly with established conglomerates, banks and relevant institutions.

As the Myanmar economy continues to evolve rapidly, primary needs such as safety and security will become of increasing importance to sustain this pace of economic growth.

Therefore, the board believes that this acquisition demonstrates our objective not only to expand into strategically important sectors in Myanmar, but also to act as a source of responsible investment into the country.

Geoffrey Hamilton, CEO of EXERA Myanmar, added that his company was excited to announce EXERA's acquisition by Myanmar Strategic Holdings.

MSH has established itself as a credible developer and operator of consumer businesses in Myanmar.

Its ability to marshal institutional resources will be key to EXERA's strategic growth plans and, further, enable it to fully assist its clients with their growth plans in Myanmar.

Hamilton also said that EXERAs board was looking forward to contributing to Myanmar's development, by establishing best-in-class and socially responsible cash management solutions.

While mobile payment systems will flourish over time, cash will continue to play a key role in the development of Myanmar's economy, and EXERA can play a key role in its efficient circulation and allocation.
Bridgepoint Capital has agreed to sell Pret A Manger to the German investor that owns Krispy Kreme donuts and Douwe Egberts coffee in a deal said to value the sandwich chain at more than 1.5bn.

The UK private equity firm is selling Pret to JAB Holdings after a decade of ownership of owning the chain, which has expanded in Britain, where its operations focus on London, the US, China and France.

JAB, chaired by Bart Becht, the former chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, is an investment vehicle for Germanys reclusive multi-billionaire Reimann family. It has been building up investments in businesses selling coffee and other beverages while selling stakes in luxury goods brands such as Bally and Jimmy Choo.

Pret was founded in 1986 by the entrepreneur Julian Metcalfe with a single shop in Londons Victoria selling sandwiches made each day on the premises  one of Prets key selling points. McDonalds bought a stake in 2001 which it sold to Bridgepoint in 2008.

The chains sandwiches, salads and coffee have become staples for busy city workers buying breakfast and lunch. Clive Schlee, Prets CEO, said it had a ninth straight year of rising like-for-like sales in 2017.

Olivier Goudet, JABs CEO, said: "Prets management's proven track record and commitment to customer service, investment in innovation and approach to freshly prepared food position Pret well as it capitalises on evolving consumer taste and lifestyle preferences. We look forward to working with Clive Schlee and his management team, while promoting the Pret brand and supporting Pret's impressive culture for the next phase in the company's growth with JAB."

Pret has 530 shops worldwide generating 879m of annual revenue. Its reported 1.5bn price tag includes debt, marking a large return for Bridgepoint, which paid 364m including debt when it bought the chain. Bridgepoint had been considering floating Pret in New York, where it opened its first non-UK stores in 2001, before deciding to sell to JAB.

JABs focus on the coffee market, via is US Keurig Green Mountain coffee business, has turned it into the main challenger to market leader Nestle. It took control of Dr Pepper Snapple in January for $18.7bn in cash.
The EU plans to enforce strict measures to check plastic pollution. One of the first actions will be to ban plastic straws and disposable cutlery like spoons, knives, forks, and plates. These damage the environment and add to the growing menace of pollution that finally end up in the ocean and endanger the health of the planet.

According to Fortune, the European Commission will introduce a ban on single-use plastic items and it wants society to promote alternatives made from more sustainable materials. The scope of the ban will cover plastic straws and cutlery items made of plastic.

In the opinion of Commission Vice-President Jyrki Katainen, EU can lead the way to create non-plastic products that can gain global acceptance and pave the way for business to grow.

Single-use plastic must go

Thanks to the initiatives taken by environmentalists, there is a growing awareness among people about the perils of single-use plastics. Countries the world over are trying to tackle the problem in an arbitrary method but the EU wants to lay down specific guidelines for its member countries. That will ensure that the focus is not lost.

The EU is the worlds second-largest consumer market The United States is the first and it has banned such items in Seattle and Malibu. The U.K. is also tackling plastic pollution in its own way.

However, the EU wants to ensure that all its members are tuned to the same frequency and can set national targets. That way, the impact will be more positive, especially on the environment.

Actions taken by Britain

A recent report in the Independent UK indicates that considering the implications of single-use plastic items to the environment, Britain has already decided to ban such items.

More than 40 major businesses have pledged to gradually do away with such material from packaging. A few major food and non-food brands account for nearly 80 percent of the items in UKs supermarkets. Proper and attractive packaging are necessary to market these products and if the material used is made from reusable, recyclable or biodegradable material, it will make a huge difference to the final outcome.

That should be the goal.

Actions on similar lines are expected to have a positive effect on countering the menace that threatens to destroy the ecological balance and puts marine life at risk.

Incidentally, tackling plastic pollution is already on the agenda of Prime Minister Theresa Mays long-term environment plan. It was launched earlier this year, and one of the government measures to tackle this problem is the introduction of a bottle deposit scheme and a ban on microbeads.
Hillary Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, did so much more than promote her new book during her recent interview with the UK's media giant, the Guardian. Chelsea told the British newspaper that Trump is "degrading" the American people, which was discussed on Monday's "Fox & Friends" show (May 28).

Suggests not to welcome Trump

Chelsea went as far as suggesting that when Trump visits the UK that a "good old-fashioned" protest might be called for, reports Slate. She also claimed that many of the people appointed to Trump's White House are not qualified for the jobs they've been given.

The daughter of the woman whose ill-fated campaign made history also implied that Trump's administration is creating a platform for corruption and incompetence.

Cruelty and incompetence are the words of the day

The only child of Hillary and Bill Clinton told the interviewer that when it comes to Trump and his staff she has concerns. Chelsea said: "So for me, the larger question is the collision of cruelty and incompetence and corruption that we see across the administration."

'Degrade brown children?'

Chelsea said in the interview that "children are citing the president as theyre demeaning a little girl, or theyre chanting Build a wall" in an attempt to demean and degrade brown children. It was when Chelsea was asked what the folks in the UK should do when Trump arrives for his visit in July that she offered up the idea of "protests."

Nothing worse than whining women

"Fox & Friends" brought up the point that Hillary Clinton and her daughter Chelsea are not living up to their self-reported standards as strong women.

They seem to be perpetuating the stereotypes of women having the tendency to whine as they continue to mull over and over again, the 2016 election loss.

It seems that one of the guests on Monday's "Fox and Friends" show sees Hillary and Chelsea priding themselves on being strong and independent women. You can see the "Fox & Friends" segment on Chelsea's words about the president below.

Chelsea was very forthcoming with sharing her thoughts on how Trump is degrading what it means to be an American, according to Slate. She told the people across the pond that Trump and his team have not only "mainstreamed hate," but "mainlined it" as well. Both Hillary and her daughter have not made it a secret in the past that they are not fans of Donald Trump.

Two camps on Chelsea's comments

While there are two camps commenting on Chelsea's interview on Twitter, many of the tweets are not offering praise for her thoughts. Famous names were among the comments seen on Twitter about Chelsea's recent bashing of President Trump. Below is a tweet from the actor James Woods, who is well-known as a Trump supporter.

Vice Chairwoman of the #ClintonFoundation encourages foreigners to disparage an American President on foreign shores. #Democrats https://t.co/QcVLFn2nyM  James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) May 27, 2018

With Chelsea's interview becoming viral news over the Memorial Day weekend, this struck a chord with some commenters online. You can see this mentioned in the tweet below.

Others couldn't get over Chelsea actually voicing these disparaging remarks about America's president while being interviewed by a media site from another country. With that said, there were also people who chimed in and agreed with Chelsea, like the tweet seen below.

Chelsea Clinton is 100% correct. Trump is actively trying to turn the United States into Trumpistan  a nation where policies are based on bigotry, where the truth doesn't matter and American values of tolerance and pluralism are no more. My @CNN https://t.co/pHhaTl5WSG  (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) May 27, 2018

According to Fox News, Chelsea remains "focused" on getting Democrats back into office, but she also believes there is a lot of damage to repair caused by this administration.
Meghan Markle's mom has been more than gracious throughout her daughter's entrance into the Royal Family but it seems not every family member is feeling the joy for the "Suits" star's love story. Doria Ragland has been there for Meghan in anyway a mom can be for a bride, never mind a bride who is in the scope of the entire world. After watching Doria at the wedding, you can see why Meghan is proud to call her mom.

With that said, Meghan has a few other relatives who have not been anywhere near as gracious as her mom has been. It appears that riding on Prince Harry's bride's coattails has become somewhat of a sport for her half-sister, Samatha Markle Grant.

Riding on royal coattails

Samatha's last few battles have been under the pretense of protecting Thomas Markle, who is the father of both Meghan and Samatha. The latest pot-stirring at the hands of Samatha has to do with her seeing their father as being slighted by the Queen.

When Meghan married into the Royal Family, a coat of arms was created for her. This was an honor just for her and none of her family members were included. Samatha, who apparently did her homework, has found that Kate Middleton's father was given a coat of arms that he could share with his family, but not Meghan's dad.

Dishonor to her father claims half-sister

According to Fox News, Meghan's half-sister is "calling out the Royal Family" for slighting her dad.

She told reporters, "To exclude him of a coat of arms is really stripping him of an honor and its a huge insult." Samatha is becoming somewhat of a regular in the headlines since Meghan's engagement to Prince Harry was announced. She doesn't appear to have her sister's back after threatening to write a book about her sister with "Pushy Princess" in the title.

'It looks like it was drawn in kindergarten': Samantha Markle bashes Meghan's coat of arms and then attacks critics for being racist https://t.co/FHUXCEu9dv  Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) May 28, 2018

Kate's father got one, so why not Meghan's dad?

It seems that there is a very good reason Thomas Markle did not get a coat of arms like Kate Middleton's dad was awarded when Kate married Prince William.

The coat of arms given to Kate's father is one Kate and her entire immediate family can use, but the same is not going to happen for Meghan's relatives.

This time around the Queen has deemed the process too "complicated." A coat of arms is not just ordered up for someone like a logo, it entails much research to prove they have an ancestor who was once a "subject of the Royal Crown," according to the Daily Mail.

Coat of arms, not just a decorative logo

In this case, Meghan will receive her very own coat of arms, which is for her alone to use. Samatha claims that this is "extremely improper." She is indignant over Meghan's coat of arms not being shared with their father. According to Fox, Samatha considers this a "royal snub" to her family.

Meghan Markle's half-sister 'insulted' by decision not to give father a coat of armshttps://t.co/ycHJ5pnqCG  The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 22, 2018

Flew-in and stirred it up

Samatha is not the only extended family member of Meghan's to end up in embarrassing headlines.Over the Royal Wedding weekend, a few of Meghan's relatives flew into London despite not being invited to her wedding.

Her half-brother's ex-wife and her son, who is Meghan's nephew, were seen in the pubs and Meghan's nephew made headlines which were a bit on the embarrassing side. The nephew, Tyler Dooley, carried a knife into a pub and he was told to relinquish it at the door, which he did.

When the employees of the pub told him they had to call the police because he was carrying the knife, he fled.

The police found him later at his hotel. Knife carrying in London is not allowed by law and this is why the pub needed to contact the police.

Due to his willingness to give up the knife and his lack of knowledge of the laws, he was let go without being charged. This was another embarrassing headline staring Meghan in the face when it came to her family members. The nephew blamed his knife on Trump. He said that the president had said that London was a dangerous place, so he armed himself.

Gig falls by the wayside

According to the Daily Beast, Tyler was with his mother, brother, and his girlfriend in London at the time. It was reported that they were slated to be commentators during the Royal Wedding for a popular British television program.

For some unknown reason, it was canceled.

While Meghan is seemingly minding her own business while her estranged family members are coming out of the woodwork. Are they there to support Meghan or ride on her coattails of fame?
"The Young and the Restless" spoilers tease that a massive showdown between Nick (Joshua Morrow) and Victor (Eric Braeden) is about to erupt and it could change the Newman family forever. Soap Central suggests that a battle between the father and son will soon break out and it could shock Genoa City. What could the battle be about? Many "Y&R" fans believe it will center around who should have custody of Christian Newman.

Christian's paternity is an issue

Victor made a snarky remark to Nick on Tuesday's show. He let him know that Nick had no say in what kind of future Christian has at Newman Enterprises.

He pointed out that Nick isn't Christian's dad, Adam was. As you can imagine, just bringing it up and throwing the tot's paternity in his face was enough to send Nick over the edge. He was seeing red and was ready to battle his dad over the issue.

Nick tries to protect Christian

"The Young and the Restless" spoilers state that Nick knows it's too late to protect Noah (Robert Adamson) from Victor. Noah is enjoying his job at Newman and seems to be getting along well with Victor. And, it's pretty clear that Victor will never hand over the reins to Victoria (Amelia Heinle) or Abby (Melissa Ordway). In his mind, his daughters aren't capable of running his company the way he wants it run. That leaves Nick, Noah, and Christian.

While Nick realizes he can't save Noah from Victor's clutches, he refuses to let his dad have Christian.

It's setting the stage for a massive showdown and a shocking court decision regarding who gets custody of Christian.

Victor never loses

Nick's plan most likely will fail. Victor never loses. Even when everything seems to be stacked against him, he finds a way to win. This time will probably be no different. "The Young and the Restless" spoilers suggest that Nick will probably have to make a deal with Victor so he doesn't lose custody of his son.

Victor doesn't play fair and doesn't care if he hurts Nick. All Victor cares about is the end result, and, of course, winning.

It would probably be in Nick's best interest to strike up a deal with his father before this gets out of hand. Victor knows how to maneuver the legal system. In the end, if Nick continues to be stubborn, it could cost him custody of his precious boy. There's no telling what Victor has up his sleeve in the days ahead. Nick should be cautious as Victor isn't one to make an empty threat.

"Y&R" fans, do you think Victor is planning to sue Nick for custody of Christian?

Victoria is blindsided at Newman today on #YR. pic.twitter.com/YLsZv3airh  Young and Restless (@YandR_CBS) May 29, 2018

"The Young and the Restless" airs weekdays on CBS.
Tim Sands, Virginia Tech's 16th president, was recently reappointed to Virginia's Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority.

Sands was reappointed to serve an additional two-year term by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam. The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority was formed in 2009 by then-Gov. Tim Kaine.

The authority's primary charge is to accelerate the next generation of technology and technology companies to make Virginia an attractive business location.

Sands became Virginia Tech's 16th president in 2014. As president, he has engaged the university community in a visionary plan to advance Virginia Techs role as a global land-grant institution, confronting the commonwealths, the countrys, and the worlds most challenging problems.

The initiative, called Beyond Boundaries, seeks to define Virginia Techs role a generation into the future and align the educational experience with the needs and opportunities that will be created by changing world economies and the evolving landscape of higher education.

He also launched and led InclusiveVT, an initiative to provide leadership, collaboration, guidance, and resources to support and accelerate the implementation of inclusion and diversity goals throughout the university community.

InclusiveVT supports the imperative of inclusion and diversity as key components of a university ecosystem rich in opportunities for experiential learning, cross-disciplinary engagement, and the development of cultural awareness and empathy.

Sands vision for Virginia Tech embraces the universitys heritage of service and community and its motto, Ut Prosim (That I May Serve). Virginia Tech students will graduate with disciplinary mastery, technology literacy, cultural competency, resilience, empathy for others, and the passions and strengths needed for a life and career of impactful service to humanity.

Before coming to Virginia Tech, Sands served as executive vice president for academic affairs and provost of Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. He was acting president during the summer and fall of 2012. Sands is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors.



He earned a bachelor's degree with highest honors in engineering physics and a master's degree and doctorate in materials science from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined the Purdue faculty in 2002 as the Basil S. Turner Professor of Engineering in the schools of Materials Engineering and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Prior to becoming provost, he served as the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park.

From 1993 to 2002, Sands was a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, and before that, he performed research and directed research groups at Bell Communications Research (Bellcore) in Red Bank, New Jersey.
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En espanol | Since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed that fully vaccinated people can travel safely within the United States this summer, there's been an uptick in road trips. AAA has projected that 43.6 million Americans will be traveling by road this season.

While it's important to keep your car well-maintained year-round, proper maintenance is especially crucial when you're planning a road trip. Nothing is less relaxing than having your vehicle break down when you're on vacation. AAA expects to receive 9.4 million calls for help from stranded motorists. If you don't want to be part of that statistic, it's time to get your vehicle road-trip ready.

Here's what you need to check or get checked by a mechanic before hitting the road.

1. Do a visual inspection, inside and out

"Everybody's getting ready for vacations or business trips, now that things are reopening. So we're getting a lot of maintenance questions, says Marc O'Dell, an Automotive Service Excellence-certified master mechanic in Helena, Montana, and an on-call car repair expert with JustAnswer, which connects professionals with people who need immediate online help.

JustAnswer is seeing about 20 percent more car questions for its auto mechanics this summer and expects to field 6,000 questions a week through Labor Day.
Our dedicated staff and volunteers stood shoulder to shoulder and used every bit of their brain and lung power to persuade lawmakers to keep the law in place. They called, they tweeted, they wrote, and they showed up  at town halls, congressional district offices and on Capitol Hill. They demanded that Congress protect health care coverage for our nations most vulnerable citizens, including 7 million older adults who rely on Medicaid for their long-term care.

I believe that was AARPs finest hour.

It was a victory worth celebrating. But make no mistake. The time will come when we will be called upon to rise up again. When that time comes, I believe that we should issue a challenge to the nation: Instead of cutting individual health care benefits, lets reduce health care costs. Instead of denying coverage to people with preexisting conditions, lets cut excessive prescription drug costs. Instead of slashing Medicare spending, lets eliminate fraud, waste and abuse. And lets use technology to reduce health-related administrative costs, which are some of the highest in the world.

As I end my term, I offer my deepest appreciation to my colleagues on the AARP volunteer board of directors.

To my successor, Catherine Alicia Georges, who will be our incoming national volunteer president, I know I leave this position in the most capable of hands. I am certain that you will contribute all of your considerable warmth, enthusiasm and intellect to continuing to empower people to choose how they live as they age.

Thank you for allowing me to serve people age 50-plus and their families. And look for me at future AARP volunteer events. Ill be wearing a red shirt.
Aberdeen couple celebrates 75 years together

Calvin and Oriole Nelson were both born and raised in Aberdeen and married at the old Bethlehem Lutheran church in 1946.
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Benny Abruzzo says the new restaurant emerging from Sandia Crest will look like it grew out of the mountain.

Crews have nearly wrapped up foundation work on the new $7.5 million restaurant that will replace the old High Finance at the top of the Sandia Peak Tramway.

Its finally coming out of the ground, said owner Benny Abruzzo, sweeping an arm over the construction site during a recent visit.

Plans to demolish the 60s-era High Finance Restaurant and Tavern and build a bigger venue on U.S. Forest Service-owned land were first announced in August 2015.

The views at the new restaurant will be ten times better, said Abruzzo of the new building.

The development team is shooting for an early spring 2019 opening for the new 13,000-square-foot business, said Abruzzzo, who, with his siblings, came into ownership of the business in 1985 when their parents, Ben and Pat, were killed in a plane crash that also took the lives of four close family friends.

Our father was critical in the building of all of this (the tram, ski area and restaurant), so were building for the next 50 years, said Abruzzo.

We had hoped to open in the summer of 2017 but got delayed putting together the budget and drawing up plans, said Abruzzo.

The old restaurant started life as a warming hut, and later evolved into a skiers day lodge, he said. The restaurant and bar area expanded through the years.

The building was more than 50 years old and not economically feasible to remodel, Abruzzo said. Hence the tear-down, said Abuzzo, the companys senior vice president, who helped clear the site with a bulldozer, saving a few hundred thousand dollars in the process.

The development team, which includes consulting engineer Guy Jackson and general contractor Bradbury Stamm, are working with architectural firm Bull Stockwell Allen, an outfit that specializes in mountain restaurants and lodges.

Having to climb the Sandia Crest Highway and the dirt service road to the site creates some logistical challenges. Its a 35-mile trip down the mountain to Albuquerque, adding about 20 percent to construction costs, Abruzzo said.

The owners havent settled on a name for the restaurant or its menu, but they have settled on a loose theme: to serve food inspired by Italy and the American Southwest. The building will house two new restaurants  one for fine dining and one for casual  catering to tram passengers, hikers, bikers and skiers. A full bar will serve both restaurants.

The tram carries 250,000 visitors each year up to the peak, and owners are still working out ticketing details for people who may want to take the tram up just to dine or have drinks at the Crest.

The new eateries will have seating for 160 people, and the new building will be ADA compliant.

Sandia Peak Ski Co. and Peak Dining LLC have asked Bernalillo County for a $9 million Industrial Revenue Bond to overhaul the property. Companies are responsible for paying off the financing (the county incurs no liability), but IRBs usually reduce borrowing costs and provide tax breaks.

The money would also go toward a proposed mountain roller coaster, the first of its kind in New Mexico. Riders would hop in the coaster at the top of the tram, and go whizzing in and out of the trees at speeds of up 30 miles per hour, he said. The attraction would run year-round and help generate additional revenue.

The coaster still needs approval from the U.S. Forest Service, which will do an analysis of its impact on vegetation and wildlife.
There are two ways to look at the proposal to license an interim storage facility in southeast New Mexico for the nations spent nuclear fuel from power plants:

 New Mexico, a poor minority-majority state, is once again destined to be the dumping ground for dangerous items no other state will take, and those items will be vulnerable to train wrecks, container leaks and terrorist attacks.

 Or New Mexico, a state with a high level of nuclear expertise and experience, is once again partnering with a company that has a decadeslong track record in the industry and is a leader when it comes to safety and security.

After five public meetings in recent weeks regarding the Holtec International plan for a new $2.4 billion underground storage site halfway between Hobbs and Carlsbad, theres no reason to not go firmly with the latter.

The region from just east of Carlsbad north toward Hobbs and south to Eunice is known informally as the nuclear triangle for a reason. Theres the WIPP storage facility, the $4 billion Urenco USA uranium enrichment plant, as well as a planned spent-fuel storage facility run by Waste Control Specialists and French firm AREVA Inc. just across the Texas state line.

The Eddy Lea Energy Alliance  Eddy and Lea counties as well as Carlsbad and Hobbs  is partnering with Holtec on the project. It says Holtec excelled in the RFI process.

Holtec has been in business for more than 30 years. Its corporate headquarters are in Florida, but its operations span the globe, from San Diego to New Jersey, the Ukraine to Dubai. More than 100 nuclear plants worldwide are under contract to use its dry storage systems. Its containers can withstand direct artillery strikes and the potential impact of two rail cars smashing head-on into each other at 60 mph. They are stored in concrete cavities that can survive a crashing aircraft or missile attack. The proposed 960-acre site between Carlsbad and Hobbs is remote and geologically stable with no potable aquifers. It will have a 672-acre security and safety buffer zone. To date more than 25,000 shipments of 87,000 metric tons of used nuclear fuel have been made worldwide with no injury.

Yet just a whisper of this n-word  nuclear  and folks get anxious. Last week more than 100 people crammed into an hourslong meeting in Albuquerque to voice concerns to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which would license the project. (The NRC comment period ends today.) Yes, incorrectly handled and stored nuclear power and waste are the things movies and nightmares can be made of, from China Syndrome to Chernobyl, Silkwood to Fukushima. The Holtec project promises a way out of potential disasters. Right now more than 70,000 metric tons of used reactor fuel from power plants are stored in 73 different sites across 39 states, some next to rivers or atop water tables. Taxpayers pay to guard these sites, energy companies have gotten more than $5 billion in settlements because the feds have yet to open Yucca Mountain as a permanent repository, and D.C. spends $500 million to $600 million annually defending itself against such lawsuits.

And while things seem to be moving on getting the $15 billion Yucca Mountain parking garage open in Nevada, Holtec is offering a safer, more cost-effective near- and mid-term plan.

This project will free up state and federal dollars by eliminating much legal wrangling. It will add $42.4 billion in capital investment and 240 jobs  and as the alliance points out that can be on either the N.M. or Texas side of the state line.

Yes, temporary can mean permanent in a bureaucracy. But under the site licensing the multilayer storage canisters are certified to last 40 years, can be renewed for another 40 years and will be evaluated for aging; overall, they are expected to last 200 to 300 years. As for the rest, Holtec and southeast New Mexico have shown repeatedly that they have the expertise and experience to help ensure a safe and secure nuclear future.

The NRC should let them expand on that.

This editorial first appeared in the Albuquerque Journal. It was written by members of the editorial board and is unsigned as it represents the opinion of the newspaper rather than the writers.
Ron Roberts, a Vietnam War veteran, recalls how his friend, Daniel Fernandez of Los Lunas, threw himself on a grenade to save his fellow soldiers.

He was a wonderful kid, and we rodeoed together, Roberts said. War breaks things. It kills people. And it makes you hate the politicians who put you there.

Fernandez was just 22 when he died in Vietnam. He would have been 73 this year.

It was his death and that of hundreds of thousands of others that was the focus of Monday mornings Memorial Day ceremony at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial. The observance drew nearly 700 people, including numerous government officials and political candidates.

Wreaths were saluted.

Taps was trumpeted.

Bagpipes escorted the presentation of colors.

And flags were waved.

Col. Richard Gibbs, 377th Air Base Wing and installation commander at Kirtland Air Force Base, told the crowd he recalled once finding a card among his fathers possessions.

Handwritten on it was a list of names, many of them with a line drawn through.

The few names that remained unmarked were the few men who survived that combat. Those drawn through were the men who had died in the fight for right and for freedom, Gibbs said.

Memorial Day is for remembering them and their sacrifice, he said.

But in remembering the dead, it is important to not forget the living, Mayor Tim Keller said in his remarks.

The best way to honor them is to take care of those still with us, he said.

That includes coordinating more social services and economic opportunities for veterans, he said.

For the Veterans for Peace, a group of anti-war veterans, that care includes learning lessons to prevent more deaths and more suffering.

Memorial Day is for remembering. And the ultimate goal of Memorial Day should be to learn from that (remembering), said veteran Terry Riley of Albuquerque.

For veteran Mike Long, who is traveling the country to bring awareness to veteran suicide and post-traumatic stress disorder, taking care of veterans still with us means taking seriously the number committing suicide.

A federal study in 2012 found that between 18-22 veterans a day commit suicide.

Long, who traveled to Albuquerque from Texas, said that number is likely even higher than 22 if one takes into account deaths from alcohol/drug overdose and dangerous behavior.

I try to be a voice for those lost souls, he said.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

SANTA FE  A debate moderator scolded Jeff Apodaca last week when the gubernatorial candidate pulled a pocket-sized state Constitution out of his jacket.

Props werent allowed.

But it was an apt metaphor for Apodacas approach to New Mexicos $23 billion in permanent funds, the use of which is the topic of a perennial debate inside the Roundhouse.

Apodaca this year is going beyond what his Democratic rivals are proposing  so much so that he faces questions about whether his ideas would conflict with the rules that restrict use of the funds.

Theres been a great deal of misinformation in this campaign about what you can and cant do with that Land Grant Permanent Fund, state Sen. Joseph Cervantes, a Las Cruces lawyer, said in the debate, shortly before Apodaca reached for his Constitution.

Apodaca, in turn, says hes the only candidate willing to think outside the box and find creative solutions to improve the economy. And his ideas are perfectly legal, he said.

In any case, there is at least some agreement among the Democratic candidates about changing how the states two main permanent funds, which collect royalties from oil and gas production, are used.

All three Democratic candidates in the race  Apodaca, Cervantes and U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham  say they would support additional distributions out of New Mexicos permanent funds to expand early childhood education programs. Similar proposals have passed the state House but repeatedly run aground in the Senate.

The general idea is that New Mexico would withdraw, say, 6 percent out of the Land Grant Permanent Fund every year rather than 5 percent, as it does now. The measure would require voter approval to amend the state Constitution, and congressional approval might also be necessary.

But Apodaca also wants to change how the permanent funds themselves are invested, not just how much is disbursed into the state budget each year.

Apodaca is proposing to use over $1 billion from the funds  about 5 percent  to invest in local companies by providing low-interest loans and other economic help, even if the investments dont generate market-rate returns.

Were going to make a little less on our return, he said in a recent interview, but well be creating jobs  jobs we desperately need.

The state already has a similar program for one of its permanent funds, the smaller Severance Tax Permanent Fund.

But the larger of the two main funds  the Land Grant Permanent Fund  is managed with the states prudent investor law in mind.

That means the State Investment Council balances risk and reward as it tries to generate the most revenue for the beneficiaries of the fund, such as public schools.

The goal is to manage the permanent fund like an endowment  leaving the principal alone but investing the money and using the income generated by those investments to pay for public education and other services in the state. The Land Grant Permanent Fund alone will distribute about $750 million next year, about 85 percent of which goes to public education.

The fund might generate less income, of course, if some of the investments were targeted for local companies that dont generate the returns found outside New Mexico.

Apodaca says thats just fine  because investing in local businesses would help create jobs and boost the economy overall. He would push for that as a member of the State Investment Council, which is chaired by the governor.

I will make sure that we have a board that will invest back into you, he told viewers of the television debate, not just outside our state of New Mexico.

Cervantes, in turn, says that for about 25 years, the state has been doing what Apodaca has suggested. Its just limited by law to the severance tax fund, not the land grant fund.

I think its disrespectful to the Legislature, Cervantes said, for Apodaca to suggest hes the first one to come up with the idea. Itd be foolish for New Mexicans to think we ignored or dont invest that money or dont manage it well.

Lujan Grisham and Cervantes have their own ideas for the permanent funds. They both support increasing the annual distributions  at least the general concept  to pay for early childhood programs.

Lujan Grishams campaign says she would work with the Legislature to determine the right amount to divert from the Land Grant Permanent Fund, while keeping in mind the need to protect the funds long-term financial health.

But she says she would also work to find other funding that could be applied to expand early childhood programs, such as pre-kindergarten, which helps prepare children for school.

Early childhood education is the key, Lujan Grisham said in the debate, and its the cornerstone to having the educational outcomes that every New Mexico family deserves.

Cervantes said he supports additional distributions from the permanent fund to support public education, including early childhood education. But he said the state should proceed carefully because of a class-action lawsuit that alleges New Mexico is under-funding education  the result of which could be a court ruling requiring the state to spend more.

Apodaca said he, too, supports the additional distributions.

Republicans in the Legislature  and some Democrats  remain opposed.

Opponents say that withdrawing more money now would have long-term financial consequences. It would slow the growth of the Land Grant Permanent Fund and eventually mean less funding for schools and other beneficiaries than if the fund were left alone at a lower distribution rate.

About 5 percent of the land grant fund is distributed annually now to help New Mexico pay for public schools and other institutions. Under then-Gov. Bill Richardson, voters approved pushing the annual distributions to as high as 5.8 percent, before they were gradually phased back down to the 5 percent used today.

The winner of the Democratic nomination for governor in next Tuesdays primary election will face Republican Steve Pearce in the Nov. 6 general election. Early, in-person voting continues through Saturday. For early voting locations, go to nmvote.org.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

In the aftermath of an internal review of police contacts with a 7-year-old girl who the Attorney Generals Office says was sex-trafficked by her close relatives, both the mayor and the police chief have suggested increasing communication between law enforcement and child welfare agencies.

But when two APD officers and two detectives with APDs Crimes Against Children Unit looked into an allegation that the little girl had blood on her underwear in mid-November of last year, someone from APD did access the CYFD law enforcement portal, according to CYFD spokesman Henry Varela.

That means APD was likely aware of the familys lengthy history with the Children, Youth and Families Department when law enforcement officers met with a teacher at the girls school and she produced the bloodstained undergarment while expressing her concerns.

Lapel video also shows a CYFD investigator who met officer Homero Alvidrez at the school acknowledged that he had been called numerous times about the family.

Gilbert Gallegos, an APD spokesman, has not responded to questions about the case, including whether law enforcement officers should have done anything differently, given that it appears they were aware of the familys referrals to CYFD.

Albuquerque Police Chief Michael Geier said earlier that the officers followed procedures and were correct not to collect the underwear because no crime had been disclosed.

Gallegos did email a statement Friday that said: APD is continuing to review the interactions with the family. We are also conducting a thorough evaluation of policies and directives used by field officers, the Crimes Against Children Unit and the Real Time Crime Center. Since this incident occurred during the prior administration, we are also scrutinizing policy changes made in response to a task force convened in 2014.

Earlier this month, Mayor Tim Keller suggested ideas for a proactive approach to child safety, which includes use Real Time Crime Center data to identify individuals who have repeat interactions with various law enforcement and child welfare agencies.

But last May, the then-director of the Real Time Crime Center already was directing his staff to look at a childs contacts with CYFD whenever possible. On May 16, 2017, T.J. Wilham sent out a procedural order laying out the centers access to the CYFDs law enforcement portal.

According to the interoffice memorandum on the order, operators should use the portal in all cases in which a juvenile has been injured or neglected, there is a history of violence and all cases where a juvenile call originated from a school.

Wilham is no longer with the city. APD has not answered any questions about that order or whether it was followed in this case.

In response to questions about whether police should have responded differently, given that they knew about prior CYFD contacts, Kellers spokeswoman, Alicia Manzano, replied with a statement.

We share the concerns of the community and just like you, we continue to pursue answers about this disturbing case of child abuse and exploitation, she wrote. Our review is ongoing and we will continue to update the public. However we must ensure that the integrity of the Stewart case isnt jeopardized so the (people) who allegedly did this to (the) child are brought to justice.

In early May, the girls close relatives  James Stewart and his wife, Teri Sanchez, both 37  were arrested by special agents with the Attorney Generals Office who say Stewart forced her to touch his friends. Stewart is charged with human trafficking, promotion of prostitution, and other crimes, and Sanchez is charged with child abuse and contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

The November incident with the underwear came to light after a teacher testified in court that she reported her concerns about the girls well-being after finding the blood on the underwear when she was helping her change into clean clothes. She kept the underwear for officers, but an APD officer said he could not use the girls bloodstained underwear as evidence and threw it into a dumpster.

Geier has defended the officers actions but said that maybe if he had known about the familys long history with CYFD, he would have changed his mindset and been a little more in tune.

Gallegos did not respond to follow-up questions about this remark.

At the time of the investigation on Nov. 15, 2017, there already had been 22 referrals to the department about the girl and her siblings, according to court documents. The Nov. 17 call was also the third call in two weeks.

On Nov. 1, 2017, CYFD was called for educational neglect and inadequate clothing for the girl and her brother, and on Nov. 9 it was called for other neglect and physical neglect of the girl.

It is unclear whether officer Alvidrez knew how many referrals CYFD had received about Sanchez, Stewart and the girl and her two brothers. But a CYFD investigator was at the school as well.

Police say Alvidrez called a Crimes Against Children Unit detective about what to do with the underwear. After that call, the officer did not tag it into evidence, and the teacher testified he tossed it into a dumpster.

CYFD Secretary Monique Jacobson has said the departments internal investigation into its own history with the family found it missed key things. Four employees have been put on leave pending the completion of the investigation.

Although Geier has said he doesnt believe his officers made any mistakes or missed anything, he said that there is room for improvement in the department and that he hopes more training on CYFDs law enforcement portal will help officers have more information.

We have to have a threat assessment where it rises to the level so that its not just a single contact and we walk away, he said. Were going to look into it as a deeper dive of past experiences and past contacts.

CYFD spokesman Varela said the portal was set up last year as part of Gov. Susana Martinezs executive order after the December 2013 death of 9-year-old Omaree Varela.

In recent months, CYFD has held training sessions with APD officers about how they can access the portal themselves, instead of relying on operators at the Real Time Crime Center or the Crimes Against Children Unit.
WASHINGTON  Rapid-fire diplomacy played out on two continents Tuesday in advance of an expected summit between President Donald Trump and North Koreas Kim Jong Un, the strengthening resolve coming after a series of high-risk, high-reward gambits by the two leaders.

Officials wont say that the June 12 Singapore summit is back on, but preparations on both sides of the Pacific are proceeding as if it is. Two weeks of hard-nosed negotiating, including a communications blackout by the North and a public cancellation by the U.S., appeared to be paying off as the two sides engaged in their most substantive talks to date about the meeting.

Trump tweeted Tuesday that he had a great team working on the summit, confirming that top North Korean official Kim Yong Chol was headed to New York for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In addition, teams of U.S. officials have arrived at the Korean demilitarized zone and in Singapore to prepare for the meeting.

Solid response to my letter, thank you! tweeted Trump. He announced he had decided to terminate the summit last week in an open letter to Kim that stressed American military might, but also left the door cracked for future communication. White House officials characterized the letter as a negotiating tactic, designed to bring the North back to the table after a provocative statement and a decision to skip planning talks and ignore preparatory phone calls.

But aides almost immediately suggested the meeting could still get back on track. And after a suitably conciliatory statement from North Korea, Trump said the same.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that since the letter, the North Koreans have been engaging with the U.S.

Trump views the meeting as a legacy-defining opportunity to make the nuclear deal that has evaded others, but he pledged to walk away from the meeting if he believed the North wasnt serious about discussing dismantling its nuclear program.

U.S. officials cast the on-again, off-again drama as in keeping with Trumps deal-making style, and reflective of the technically still-warring leaders testing each other. In his book The Art of the Deal, Trump wrote: The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then youre dead. The best thing you can do is deal from strength, and leverage is the biggest strength you can have.

After the Norths combative statements, there was debate inside the Trump administration about whether it marked a real turn to belligerence or a feint to see how far Kim could push the U.S. in the leadup to the talks. Trump had mused that Kims attitude had changed after the North Koreans surprise visit to China two weeks ago, suggesting China was pushing Kim away from the table. Trumps letter, the aides said, was designed to pressure the North on the international stage for appearing to have cold feet.

White House officials maintain that Trump was hopeful the North was merely negotiating, but that he was prepared for the letter to mark the end of the two-month flirtation. Instead, the officials said, it brought both sides to the table with increasing seriousness, as they work through myriad logistical and policy decisions to keep June 12 a viable option for the summit.

The flurry of diplomatic activity intensified Tuesday after South Korean media reported that Kim Yong Chols name was on the passenger list for a fight Wednesday from Beijing to New York. Kim was seen in the Beijing airport on Tuesday by Associated Press Television. U.S. officials familiar with planning said he was scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday.

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling partys central committee. He will be the highest-level North Korean official to travel to the United States since 2000, when late National Defense Commission First Vice Chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Koreas Unification Ministry said.

Pompeo has traveled to Pyongyang, North Koreas capital, twice in recent weeks for meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and has said there is a shared understanding between the two sides about what they hope to achieve.

Meanwhile, a team of American diplomats is holding preparatory discussions with North Korean officials at the DMZ. The group first met with its counterparts Sunday, and was seen leaving a Seoul hotel on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether they went to Panmunjom, a village that straddles the border inside the DMZ. The U.S. officials are led by Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, who formerly was the U.S. ambassador to Seoul and a top negotiator with North Korea in past nuclear talks. It includes senior officials with the National Security Council and the Pentagon.

The White House emphasized that it has remained in close contact with South Korean and Japanese officials as preparations for the talks continue. Sanders said Trump will host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June 7th to coordinate their thinking ahead of the summit. Trump hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week.

South Korean media also reported that a North Korean delegation arrived in Singapore on Monday night, where other U.S. officials, led by White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, are preparing for the summit.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Washington and Pyongyang were engaging in working-level talks to arrange the possible summit, but it couldnt confirm specifics.

Moon, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim Jong Un, held a surprise meeting with the North Korean leader Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

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Kim reported from Seoul, South Korea. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
WASHINGTON  At a West Virginia rally on tax cuts, President Donald Trump veered off on a subject that likely puzzled most of his audience.

Nine of your people just came up to me outside. Could you talk about 202?' he said. Well be looking at that 202. You know what a 202 is? Were trying.

One person who undoubtedly knew what Trump was talking about last month was Jeff Miller, an energy lobbyist with whom the president had dined the night before. Miller had been hired by FirstEnergy Solutions, a bankrupt power company that relies on coal and nuclear energy to produce electricity. His assignment: push the Trump administration to use a so-called 202 order  named for a provision of the Federal Power Act  to secure a bailout worth billions of dollars.

Although Trump didnt agree to the plan  he still hasnt  for Miller, a presidents public declaration of interest amounted to a job well done.

How a single lobbyist helped carry a long-shot idea from obscurity to the presidential stage is a twisty journey through the new swamp of Trumps Washington. Rather than clearing out the lobbyists and campaign donors that spend big money to sway politicians, Trump and his advisers paved the way for a new cast of powerbrokers who have quickly embraced familiar ways to wield influence.

Miller is among them. A well-connected GOP fundraiser, he has served as an adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, also a close friend. He ran Perrys unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2016. And when Trump tapped Perry to lead the Energy Department, Miller shepherded his friend through confirmation, sitting behind him, next to the nominees wife, at the Senate hearing.

When Perry came to Washington, Miller did, too. He launched his firm, Miller Strategies, early last year and began lobbying his friend and other Washington officials.

Besides Perry, Miller is close to other Trump-era power players. He is among House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthys best friends, their relationship dating back decades to Millers days in California. In more recent years, Miller developed a friendship with Vice President Mike Pence adviser Marty Obst.

Hes very influential in Washington, a leading fundraiser, Obst said of Miller.

Now, after 14 months in business, the 43-year-old Miller has collected more than $3.2 million from a roster of clients that includes several of the nations largest energy companies, among them Southern Co., a nuclear power plant operator headquartered in Atlanta, and Texas-based Valero Energy, according to federal filings.

Miller also has continued to raise money for GOP politicians. He contributed nearly $37,000 of his own over the past year to Republicans, including Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and Greg Pence of Indiana, whos seeking the congressional seat once held by his younger brother, the vice president, according to federal campaign records.

He is an active supporter of America First Action, a pro-Trump super PAC that raised $4.7 million in the first three months of 2018. That work earned him a spot at dinner with Trump, McCarthy and other GOP donors in the upscale City Center complex blocks from the White House.

What happened to draining the political swamp? asks Dick Munson with the Environmental Defense Fund, who said he sees FirstEnergy and other coal operators grasping for bailouts to solve problems of their own making. It seems when you dont have solid arguments, you hire well-paid lobbyists and make huge political contributions.

Miller declined to comment for this story.

Brian Walsh, president of America First Action, said Miller raises money for the group on a volunteer basis. Miller, who lives in Texas, spent years outside of Washington independently developing an amazing network of connections, Walsh said. He described Miller as a straight shooter and rejected the notion that he is cashing in on Trumps election and Perrys ascension to energy chief.

He doesnt play games with people, Walsh said of Miller.

But Tim Judson, executive director of Nuclear Information and Resource Service, an activist group, called Millers involvement in the bailout request the ultimate Washington swamp situation.

We have a special-interest appeal by FirstEnergy, a top lobbyist dining with the president, and that same lobbyist is raising money for a pro-Trump super PAC and asking for emergency action from someone whose presidential campaign he ran, Judson said.

Miller registered as a lobbyist in Washington in February 2017, just after Trump took office. He was hired by FirstEnergy in July 2017. Lobbying disclosure records show he was paid to target the highest levels of American government: the White House  including the offices of Trump and Pence  and Perrys Energy Department. Miller has earned $330,000 from FirstEnergy since last year, making him one of the companys highest-paid outside lobbyists.

The coal industrys top priority at the time was seizing on a key Trump campaign promise  to bring back coal jobs  and ask for unprecedented federal assistance.

Ohio-based Murray Energy Corp., the nations largest privately owned coal-mining company, and its largest customer, FirstEnergy, pushed the Energy Department for an emergency order, a measure typically reserved for war or natural disasters. Among other measures, the intervention would have exempted power plants from obeying a host of environmental laws and spent billions to keep coal-fired plants open, an unprecedented federal intervention in the nations energy markets.

CEO Robert Murray and Charles Jones, CEO of FirstEnergys parent company, met with Trump in West Virginia to discuss the request, informing the president that the power company was on the verge of bankruptcy.

Despite the high-powered lobbying, Perry rejected the request in August, saying the emergency order wasnt the right mechanism. He offered another option, asking federal energy regulators to approve a plan that would reward nuclear and coal-fired power plants for adding reliability to the nations power grid. But the independent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected the plan in January, saying theres no evidence that past or planned retirements of coal-fired power plants pose a threat to grid reliability.

Soon after, FirstEnergy began pushing anew for the 202. Miller has visited the Energy Department at least twice since June, including on the day Trump delivered a speech on his energy agenda at the agencys Washington headquarters.

The company argues the emergency order is needed to prevent premature retirement of coal and nuclear plants that cannot operate profitably under current market conditions. The proposal would allocate money to subsidize the company and other coal operators  an outcome the company says would avert thousands of layoffs and help ensure reliability of the electric grid up and down the East Coast.

The Ohio-based company filed for bankruptcy in late March, days after announcing it would shut down three nuclear plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania within three years. The company also plans to close a West Virginia coal-fired plant, one of a series of closings as the coal and nuclear industries struggle to compete with electricity plants that burn cheaper natural gas.

FirstEnergys bid for the emergency request is widely opposed by business and environmental groups as an unfair tipping of the scales in favor of faltering energy sources.

An independent wholesaler that oversees the power grid in 13 states and the District of Columbia has said the Eastern grid is in no immediate danger. FirstEnergy can shut down its three nuclear power plants within three years without destabilizing the power grid, according to a report last month from the wholesaler, PJM Interconnection.

Still, the push for a bailout continues.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., recently suggested that Perry consider using a Korean War-era defense law to prevent the retirement of ailing coal and nuclear units. The Defense Production Act of 1950 is intended to prioritize industries deemed vital to national security. President Harry Truman used the law to cap wages and impose price controls on the steel industry.

FirstEnergy said it supports the premise, although it says it has not specifically urged Perry to use the defense law.

Perry said the administration is looking at the defense law very closely, one of several options being considered.

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Associated Press writer Steve Peoples contributed to this report.

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Follow Matthew Daly: http://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC and Richard Lardner: http://twitter.com/rplardner
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

With just a week to go, political activist Pat Davis shook up Albuquerques congressional race by abandoning his own campaign and urging progressive Democrats to unite around a rival candidate  Deb Haaland, a former state Democratic Party chairwoman.

Davis, an Albuquerque city councilor who never broke into the top tier of candidates himself, said progressives are splitting the vote and are in danger of allowing the most conservative candidate  former U.S. Attorney Damon Martinez  to win the nomination to represent the 1st Congressional District.

There is a wrong choice in this election, Davis said Tuesday during a joint news conference with Haaland.

A spokeswoman for Martinez, meanwhile, said the candidate remains focused on serving the community and taking on President Donald Trump.

Its unfortunate that other candidates in this race are focusing their efforts on attacking a fellow Democrat instead of holding the Trump administration accountable for its actions, campaign manager Abigail Collazo said in a written statement. In fact, this is exactly what Republicans want  Democrats at each others throats so that they are too distracted to take on the lies and disastrous policies coming out of Washington, D.C.

Martinez had a narrow edge in a Journal Poll last week that showed Haaland and retired law professor Antoinette Sedillo Lopez close behind him.

Martinez had support from 22 percent of likely voters, Haaland was at 19 percent and Sedillo Lopez was at 17 percent, according to the scientific survey by Research & Polling Inc. Davis was fourth, at 5 percent, and two other candidates trailed him.

But 29 percent of voters were undecided or wouldnt say how theyll vote. The polls margin of error is plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.

This race is still in flux, Brian Sanderoff, president of Research & Polling Inc., said in an interview Tuesday.

Davis is a former police officer and founder of the advocacy group ProgressNow New Mexico. His City Council district covers parts of the university area, East Central Avenue and Nob Hill  some of the most liberal neighborhoods in Albuquerque.

His endorsement of Haaland will probably carry some weight for some of his supporters, Sanderoff said, and in a close race, something like this could help.

Martinez has highlighted his experience as a former federal prosecutor and in the Army Reserve as he pushes to win the Democratic nomination. He has also cast himself as a worthy opponent of Trump, noting that he was among more than 45 U.S. attorneys throughout the country ousted by the Trump administration last year.

But Martinez has also faced criticism from fellow Democrats in the race  who have raised questions about possible racial profiling in a federal law enforcement operation conducted in the Albuquerques International District and whether hes overstating his clash with Trump.

Haaland and Sedillo Lopez have emerged as the strongest fundraisers in the race.

Haaland would be the first Native American woman elected to Congress. She repeated one of her signature campaign lines at Tuesdays news conference: Congress has never heard a voice like mine.

Haaland has been endorsed by more than a dozen New Mexico pueblos, two major teachers unions, Equality New Mexico and others. Indian tribes have been among her top contributors.

Sedillo Lopez, in turn, is pitching herself as a much-needed expert on the Constitution, given her background as a former associate dean at the law school and as an attorney. She also ran Enlace Comunitario, a nonprofit group supporting immigrant women who have experienced domestic violence.

Many of Sedillo Lopezs donations have come from lawyers across New Mexico and from law professors throughout the country. Shes been endorsed by the NM Building & Construction Trades Council, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus PAC and The People for Bernie (Sanders), among others.

Frankly, I understand the concerns around Mr. Martinez, Sedillo Lopez said. Having worked on social justice issues my entire career, his record as a prosecutor deserves scrutiny.

Martinezs endorsements include former U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, former Ambassador to Spain Ed Romero and the military-supporting organizations VoteVets and With Honor, both of which have donated to his campaign.

The primary election is Tuesday. Early and absentee voting is underway. Its too late for Davis to remove his name from the ballot, but he urged voters to support Haaland.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Michelle Lujan Grisham is running for the Democratic nomination for governor rather than re-election.

The winner of the Democratic primary in the 1st Congressional District will face Republican Janice Arnold-Jones and Libertarian Lloyd Princeton in the Nov. 6 general election.

Democrats have won the seat since 2008.
Copyright  2018 Albuquerque Journal

A large chunk of property at Mesa del Sol has a new owner.

MDS Funding, LLC, a newly formed investment group and a New Mexico-based company, said Tuesday that it had acquired 2,800 acres of land within the 12,900-acre master-planned community.

MDS Funding, LLC, a newly formed investment group and a New Mexico-based company, said Tuesday that it has acquired 2,800 acres within the 12,900-acre master-planned community.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed in a news release announcing the deal.

MDS Funding was established for leading the development of Mesa del Sol, and includes New Mexico business leaders Steven B. Chavez, chief executive officer of SC3 Development, the owner of the Aperture Center, a 78,000-square-foot office building at Mesa del Sol; construction company owner Rudy Guzman; Texas-based businessmen Eric Wieser, M.D.; and Dustin Ritchey.

Chavez said he is the principal investor, but he didnt provide a full breakdown.

The seller was Land Advisors, which acquired the acreage in 2016 under a court-ordered receivership. Mesa del Sol is south of the Albuquerque International Sunport.

The purchase is another Albuquerque investment by Chavez, who, along with Guzman and Pete Daskolos, are partners in Gold Mesa Investments, which owns 80 acres of commercially zoned land and two buildings previously owned by Schott Solar in Mesa del Sol. That entity will remain as is, Chavez said in a phone interview.

Chavez also is the owner of Integrated Control Systems, an energy conservation-focused, automated building controls company. He recently sold WisePies Pizza & Salad to a St. Louis-based investment group.

Mesa del Sol is key to Albuquerques long-term development plan, Chavez said in the news release, adding that the land just acquired is mostly vacant. The initial vision for Mesa del Sol was a creative and viable master-planned community for its time; however, the declining economy and numerous other factors did not allow for the execution of the vision. We have a team that is focused on renewed economic development in Albuquerque and determined to realize Mesa del Sol as a safe, smart and sustainable community.

Already developed at Mesa del Sol is Innovation Park, home to the International School, ABQ Studios, Fidelity Investments and Molina Health Care Data Center, among others. The development also includes a small residential component.

The commercial/industrial land parcels acquired by MDS are positioned for future businesses, manufacturers and newly located corporations.

For years, financial barriers kept Mesa del Sol from being considered as a serious opportunity, Chavez said. Today, we are bulldozing down those walls, and Mesa del Sol is open for business.

The 2,800 acres was previously owned by Mesa del Sol LLC, a partnership between Covington Group, a Texas firm, and Forest City Enterprises of Ohio, which began development of Mesa del Sol in early 2005.

In 2015, PNC Bank filed a complaint against the companies regarding a $25 million loan. The bank alleged Mesa del Sol LLC had stopped making payments on the loan, which had an outstanding balance of about $17 million.

Geoff Wagner, president of First American Bank, an Albuquerque community bank, provided financing support for the purchase. Land Advisors Chief Executive Officer Greg J. Vogel and broker Rick Bressan were the sellers agents for Mesa del Sol.
GRAND JUNCTION, Colo.  A man has pleaded guilty to killing a western Colorado sheriffs deputy in 2016.

Twenty-year-old Austin Holzer pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the death of Mesa County Sheriffs Deputy Derek Geer.

The Daily Sentinel reports that the plea came a week into jury selection for his trial.

Holzer also pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and a sentence-enhancing crime of violence charge. He also agreed to a 70 year prison sentence under the deal with prosecutors.

Holzer was close to turning 18 when Geer was killed and was charged as an adult.

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Information from: The Daily Sentinel, http://www.gjsentinel.com
The New Mexico Attorney Generals Office on Tuesday awarded more than $220,000 in settlement money to public institutions around the state for their requested technology proposals.

The awards included: improving local government ability to process Inspection of Public Records Act requests; providing free public Wi-Fi in public libraries and open space; and money to a community college to train coding instructors.

The money comes from New Mexicos share of a multi-state price-fixing lawsuit involving dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) litigation involving equipment such as computers and printers.

Investing in technology, especially in our rural communities, will improve the services provided to taxpayers and spur local innovation, Attorney General Hector Balderas said in a statement.

The $220,000 specifically, according to a news release, was awarded as follows:
Dabur India Ltd today announced the signing of Bollywood Diva Kriti Sanon as the new brand ambassador for its Skin Care brand Fem, the most trusted facial bleach range in India. A new campaign, featuring Kriti Sanon, will be launched shortly.

Mr. Rohit Prakash Gupta, Marketing Head  Skin Care, Dabur India Ltd said, We are very excited to appoint Kriti Sanon as Fems new face. Fem, which is the market leader in the category, has been continuously innovating in terms of product, packaging and communication. As a brand that offers its consumer the promise and satisfaction of delivering natural glow to their skin and enhances her beauty, Fem has always recognized and strived to meet the ever-evolving needs of our consumers.

Commenting on her association with the brand, Kriti said: As a consumer, I have been associated with Dabur for years now. So, it gives me great pleasure to be associated with a large beauty brand like Fem and be the face for the brand.

For generations, Dabur has been the trusted name when it came to taking care of the skin with a range of FEM products. At Dabur, we are committed to provide the safest and most effective products for your skin. Mr. Gupta Added.

Dabur had recently expanded the Fem facial bleach range with the launch of the premium Fem De-Tan Creme Bleach, which is specially formulated and enriched with the goodness of Orange Peel extracts to enhance beauty by removing tan in 15 minutes, giving your skin long-lasting radiance.
In an unusual letter to the parents, Google India today announced a fun, yet educational campaign -- #SummerWithGoogle, that is aimed at helping kids and parents spend more time learning together, make new discoveries and teach them how to become responsible explorers of the web.

Summers in India is that time of the year when the temperatures are rising, schools are closed for vacations and more often than not, kids are glued to their screens, spending those extra hours on the Internet. And while the situation is worrisome for some parents, it is also an opportunity for them to make the summers exciting and fruitful for their kids.

This June, Google will host an interactive summer camp across and the road to the summer camp will include four assignments that will make the Summer of 2018 last a lifetime for the kids. Google will entrust kids to perform a variety of activities that will keep them engaged throughout their summer vacations and will release one assignment every week for four weeks. From exploring the country that is home to all the Pandas in the world on Google Earth, to saying Gracias and Por Favor as they learn phrases in Spanish and other languages on Google Translate, to taking dramatic virtual tours of museums to make their own gallery on Google Arts & Culture; and ultimately building their very own app to share their summer experience.

Each assignment will also carry questions on the four fundamental codes of being Internet Awesome and teach the young internet explorers a lesson or two on how to be -- Internet Smart, Internet Alert, Internet Strong, Internet Kind and Internet Brave. Taking the efforts on-ground, Google has also partnered with Kidzania to set-up a Summer with Google experience zone where kids will be encouraged to take a virtual tour and learn about the essentials of being safe on the Internet.

On completing the tasks, upto 100 kids and their parents/ guardians, from across the country will get the opportunity to attend the summer camp with Google at Google Gurgaon or Hyderabad office, where they will get the first-hand experience of Google technology, indulge in fun activities and participate in quizzes.

Speaking about the initiative, Sunita Mohanty, Director, Trust and Safety, Google India, said, As a parent myself, it has always been a challenge for me to engage my kids meaningfully, summer after summer. And the struggle is real for many more parents. Therefore, we partnered with our product leaders to bring parents, a series of activities they can do along with their kids to make this a memorable summer. The entire campaign will combine real world projects with virtual learning experiences and will equip kids with the right digital skills so when they return to school post this summer, they are Internet Awesome.

To participate, all one needs is internet access over a PC, smartphone or tablet.

Heres a breakdown of what the four assignments will entail:

In the first week, the kids will be asked to answer one of the three questions to unlock a destination and explore the same on Google Earth. They will then need to answer a set of questions while exploring the country. On their journey, we will also guide them with safety tips & tricks online.

The second week will bring more excitement as the kids will be tasked with learning phrases of a new language, related to the destination they earlier explored, using Google Translate. They will then be asked to answer language specific objective and subjective questions.

In the third week, the kids will be assigned to examine the culture and art of the destination they explored on Google Earth. They will have to use Google Arts & Culture app to create their own gallery of paintings post a virtual visit to the location. As an additional ask, kids will be encouraged to visit a nearby museum or a monument and add a picture to their gallery

After exploring the geography, understanding the language and gaining knowledge about the art and culture of the country, the kids will be accredited to create a fun app using Scratch , entailing all that they have learnt over three weeks.

The assignments can be accessed on #SummerWithGoogle website and Googles social media. All the four assignments will help kids discover different aspects of a country they choose and will have a mix of objective and subjective questions, drawing out kids creativity and imagination.
Global online money transfer service Remit2India, recently gave its creative mandate to Lowe Lintas as part of its plans to re-launch in markets across the world. Remit2India is the direct-to-consumer brand of Nyuvo, which in turn is now owned by Finablr and the U.A.E. Exchange Group.

Remit2India had pioneered online money transfers to India since 2001 and has, over the years, built a strong connect with Non-Resident Indians in markets like the U.S., U.K., Australia & Canada. Now backed by the 2nd largest money-transfer company globally, Remit2India has significantly improved its customer proposition. As part of the enhanced business strategy, the brand is working with Lowe Lintas on creating clutter-breaking, digital-first communication for its audience across the world.

India receives almost $70 Billion annually from its diaspora across the world, and being a highly competitive and commoditized market, the new communication strategy is aimed at highlighting the unique brand promise to the target audience.

According to Achal Shah, Chief Business & Marketing Officer for Nyuvo, "We are a global, digital, direct-to-consumer business that enjoys a strong brand affinity with the Indian Diaspora. With the changing market dynamics that increasingly focus on the transactional aspect of the business, we wanted to couple our significantly improved proposition with a strong messaging campaign that talks about how we are more than just about getting money transferred across the globe. Given Lowe Lintas' impressive track record, we are looking forward to together creating something that's totally fresh and communicates our values and proposition to our Global Indian audience across the world."

Commenting on the win, Raj Gupta, CEO  Lowe Lintas, said We are delighted with this association to work with a global fintech company. In todays digital age consumers however far and apart, have collective clusters which are emotionally and culturally driven by their roots. For us addressing this tribe of global Indians through a digital-first approach is an interesting challenge, be it their identity or their communication.

Quotes Anaheeta Goenka, President  Lowe Lintas, "We are proud to partner and create for Remit2India. Its a great challenge as it is a category which is completely transactional, however with a consumer who is quintessentially illogically emotional about his homeland. And for a brand which is unseen except for a few seconds on a screen, we aim to create a new era of 'click and connect'".

The business will be handled by the Mumbai office of Lowe Lintas.
A film that deals with a serious and debatable topic like farmers committing suicide due to corporate encroachment, Khaaki Aur Khiladi was the highest grossing Tamil film of 2014. The story revolves around the lives of lookalikes Kathiresan and Jeevanantham and the drama that ensues when their paths meet. Directed by the celebrated director AR Murugadoss, Khaki Aur Khiladi stars Vijay in dual roles along with Samantha Ruth Prabhu, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Tota Roy Chowdhury and Sathish essaying pivotal characters. Zee Action - Indias one-stop destination for action movies is all set to air this complete entertainer on Saturday, 2nd June at 8pm.

Jeevanandham is a social activist who fights against a monstrous MNC company to restore farming in a village named Thanoothu. However, destiny has different plans when his doppelganger Kathiresan, who is a petty criminal impersonates him and gets him trapped in a jail in Kolkata. Kathiresan who plans to escape to Bangkok, drops the idea after meeting Ankitha (Samantha Ruth Prabhu), and falling in love with her. Kathir, along with Ravi (Sathish), witness Jeevanandam Jeeva (Vijay) being beaten up by some thugs. Soon enough they both realise that Jeevan and Kathir are look alikes. To escape from the police, Kathir takes on Jeevanandams identity after admitting him to a hospital. As he starts his life afresh, Kathir realizes that Jeeva had discovered groundwater in some parts of his village. But, an MNC owned by Chirag (Neil Nitin Mukesh) tricked the residents of the village into giving up their land for the construction of a factory. Kathir realises his true calling and decides to help the villagers. However, Jeeva regains consciousness in the hospital and learns that he has been trapped.

Will the farmers get justice for the losses they have incurred? Will Kathir be able to win the battle against Chirag? Or will Jeeva expose him in front of everyone?

~ Tune in to Zee Action on Saturday, 2nd June at 8pm to watch the villainous debut of Neil Nitin Mukesh in Khaaki Aur Khiladi~
Louie Palu has captured the Afghanistan war as he experienced it:

In bits and pieces.

His new book, Front Towards Enemy, comes in a cardboard slipcase that encloses four separate components. There is a series of soldier portraits printed on stiff, oversized cards suitable for thumb-tacking to a wall. (The backs of the cards indicate where the tacks should Theres a staple-bound zine titled "The Fighting Season" featuring pictures Palu shot over five years covering the war, along with an essay by Rebecca Senf, chief curator at the Center for Creative Photography in Arizona, as well as a newsprint publication.

And there is an accordion-fold set of images that unfurls as a stream-of-conscious series of memories: an Afghan soldier playing a flute at a combat outpost in Kandahar Province; rotor wash from a U.S. Army MEDEVAC helicopter blowing dust and a yellow smoke-grenade marker; a Canadian soldier standing perfectly still after surviving a blast from an improves explosive device.

Examine the memories, and they are hard to refold in the proper order. Its a deconstructed photo book that invites the reader to become an editor.

The book is like the war  its this complex thing and you have to think about you open it how you put it back together, Palu says. The chaos of the book is a metaphor for the chaos of the war.

Palu, a Canada-born documentary photographer and filmmaker who was a 2016-17 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow and a Harry Ransom Center Research Fellow in the Humanities at the University of Texas, is also the recipient of a Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Grant; his work has also been seen in a number of festivals, including the VISA Pour lImage photojournalism festivals, and exhibitions, including one at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

Ailne Smithson of the Lenscratch blog has described Palu as a rare combination of artist and war photographer, able to stand present for horrific human events and then synthesize those moments into something artful, poetic, and powerful.

He describes himself in terms of the punk rock he grew up listening to. Im more in an indie spaceif I were a band, Id be more Sex Pistols than Rolling Stones, he says.

Several years ago he decided it was time to create a book about his experiences covering the war in Afghanistan; he put together several traditional dummies but found no interest among publishers. This was after the economic meltdown of 2008 and the collapse of the publishing world, Palu notes. He also realized he but couldnt tell the story he wanted to tell in a traditional book.

With Afghanistan, I felt that there was no one photo essay that could explain what I saw, Palu says.

Palu had already been experimenting with zines and newsprint publications, inspired by photographer Will Steacys 2014 book Deadline, which documented the struggles of the newspaper business in the internet age. Then publisher Jennifer Yoffy of Yoffy Press expressed interest in working on a different type of book with Palu. Eventually Palu began collaborating with Jordan Swartz, a designer who had worked with Yoffy on other titles.

Hes a punk rock kid  he had this great aesthetic thats sort of the opposite of the perfect design, says Palu. For Yossy herself, the book became a reflection of an era where print and the web have converged and images are seen as much as words are read.

Along those lines, theres also a hidden feature in the book  in the back of the zine there is a QR code that sends readers to a short film the Palu made about Afghanistan.





The danger with the photo book as deconstruction is that it the whole effort can lack any meaningful cohesion  the parts do not add up to something greater than the whole. That is not the case with Front Towards Enemy.

I usually don't like to view unbound books, blogged curator and educator Elizabeth Avedon in March. They generally seem cooked up by the book designer trying to make a design statement, regardless of its effect on the photography. However, in the case of Front Towards Enemy, the mastery of documentary photographer and filmmaker Louie Palu's powerful images bring a cohesive message to this 'deconsrtucted' book  and I am appreciating each and every individual portion.

I have friends who have lost hope or cant get their work published, and theyre giving up, and I can say from my own experience that you cant give up. Youve just got to persist, says Palu.

Photographer Louie Palu in Afghanistan
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As always, there was more than money at stake at the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) late last week, especially as the West tries to navigate political waves generated by the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal. France's president was particularly interested in smooth sailing with Russia.

The May 25 forum wasn't French President Emmanuel Macron's first visit to Russia's cultural center. In 2013, he came with a delegation headed by President Francois Hollande for the G-20 summit as the presidents economic envoy.

Macron delivered a speech at the plenary session of this year's forum, where he was seated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe, Vice President of China Wang Qishan and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde. The forum also featured a roundtable on Russian and French business relations and another on the Trianon Dialogue, a French-Russian forum focusing on civil society. Macrons visit was supposed to give genuine impetus to French-Russian business contacts amid US and EU sanctions on Russia. More than 50 contracts were eventually signed between French and Russian companies.

Before his visit, Macron was not very positive about the trip, as his expectations regarding Russia were in fact quite low. Al-Monitor learned that in early April, Macron had decided to skip his planned visit to Moscow scheduled for right before SPIEF and go directly to St. Petersburg. The Elysee downgraded the status of Macrons visit to St. Petersburg from what was initially planned to be a state visit to a working visit. The changes were made in light of the US, French and British airstrikes in Syria in mid-April and the poisoning of a former Russian spy on British soil in March, for which much of the Western world blames Russia. Russia denies the accusation.

The stakes were high, as Macrons agenda in St. Petersburg was quite extensive. Apart from French-Russian business affairs, he intended to tackle the topics of Syria, Israeli-Palestinian relations, Ukraine and Iran in the context of US President Donald Trumps decision to exit the nuclear agreement. Prior to SPIEF, a French diplomatic source told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that among the other issues, Macron wanted to focus quasi-exclusively on Middle Eastern topics, namely Syria and Iran, in his discussion with Putin.

It's not news that Paris and Moscow are at odds over Syria. Frances frustration has grown regarding Syria since Macron was elected. In departing from his predecessors policy in Syria, not only has Macron changed the narrative by criticizing the influence of French neoconservatives over Mideast decision-making, but Paris agreed to drop the removal of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad as a precondition for political discussions over Syrias future.

Macron, who sometimes goes against some of his advisers positions, has dwelled on convergences with Moscow on the issues of secularism, Syrias future institutions and its territorial integrity. Yet Paris feels it hasn't obtained any payback from the Kremlin, especially on issues critical for France, such as chemical weapons and humanitarian relief. Beyond the enforcement of the red line outlined by Macron in Versailles in May 2017 about the use of chemical weapons, the French airstrikes in April illustrate Paris disappointment regarding Moscow in Syria.

In St. Petersburg, France might have gotten the positive signal from the Kremlin it had been waiting for. Macron and Putin emphasized their agreement on some positions on Iran and on the necessity of safeguarding the Iran nuclear deal. Nevertheless, Russia didn't entertain Paris concerns regarding Tehrans ballistic missiles program and the expansion of Iranian influence across the Middle East. On Syria, Paris and Moscow will try to coordinate the Syrian peace talks held frequently in Astana, Kazakhstan, with a subgroup of the coalition to fight the Islamic State. The latter format, or the "Small Group," as it's come to be known, was initiated in late 2017 by France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Following SPIEF, a French diplomatic source speaking to Al-Monitor not for attribution said the outcome of Macrons visit was very satisfying from this perspective.

If such coordination works, it will be a reward for Paris, which has sought to build a credible alternative to a perceived Russian monopoly over the resolution of the Syria crisis. It also illustrates an evolution in Frances stance toward the Astana talks, since Paris has been, at minimum, skeptical about it from its beginning. Iran, Russia and Turkey act as guarantors of the Astana format, and coordination between Astana and the Small Group could breathe new life into Astana.

Created originally as a neutral location to forge peace talks while developing de-escalation zones in Syria, the Astana talks could appear less relevant with the regime gradually taking over the last pockets of opposition resistance, including some of the former de-escalation areas. While being consistent with Russias approach of talking to everybody in the Middle East, coordinating Astana and the Small Group could also pave the way to a systemic evolution of the Astana forum toward a more political agenda.

Is Russia Frances best partner in this situation? French-Turkish relations, already going through hard times because of human rights concerns, have further deteriorated under Macrons tenure. Paris increasing military support to the Syrian Kurds, although limited in scale, as well as Frances criticism of Turkey's military operation in Afrin, have triggered Ankaras wrath.

In Iran's case, Paris has sought to provide Brussels with some guidelines to draft a comprehensive new European approach to the Iran deal minus the United States. Since 2015, French companies have signed contracts with Tehran worth more than $26 billion. There was some hope that Western investments in Iran would create favorable economic conditions, encourage the moderates and eventually lead to a more flexible Iranian policy in Syria. Yet with Trumps decision to withdraw from the Iran deal, not only are these investments doomed, but French companies are unlikely to sustain their activities in Iran. Today, Paris finds itself at a dead end on Iran and, given Macron's limited influence over French companies, France can't do much beyond give the Iran deal its full diplomatic support.

Macron seeks to embody a new leadership in Europe in the context of cooling French-German relations over economic issues and an unpredictable US foreign policy. After his April visit to the United States, where, beyond smiles, he obtained nothing from Trump  neither on the Iran deal, nor guarantees to shield French businesses from US sanctions  Macron needs to score points abroad to build up his domestic and international posture.

In the meantime, by attempting to cautiously build bridges with Russia regarding Syria, Paris wants to show it's not aligned with the United States on all Middle Eastern issues. In that sense, Trumps decision to walk out on the Iran deal gives France more room when it comes to Syria. Distancing itself from Washingtons regional policy is part of Frances independent stance. Nevertheless, it won't automatically translate into a genuine rapprochement with Moscow.
President Donald Trumps unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has generated a new dynamic in the relationship between Iran and the European Union. There are strong forces on both sides who wish to sustain the deal, but they also know that many obstacles will have to be overcome to meet the expectations of the other side.

Tehran now finds itself in a unique position whereby if it remains committed to the deal it can genuinely isolate the United States as the only noncomplying party to the JCPOA. Meanwhile, there are signs that Secretary of State Mike Pompeos May 21 anti-Iran narrative compelled the top leadership in Iran to work more seriously toward sustaining the deal. Indeed, the first indication of a new domestic political atmosphere in Tehran came during the May 23 policy speech by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei where the inclusion of all factions including former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former Reformist political prisoner Mohammad Ali Abtahi  and even the seating arrangements were a presentation of regime unity.

In his policy speech, Khamenei urged all forces to have realistic expectations about the potential continuation of the nuclear accord and said the Iranian economy could not just rely on what he termed a European JCPOA. To this end, he outlined a number of political and economic demands for Europe. Some of the political expectations, including the request that EU powers pass a UN Security Council Resolution to condemn the United States violation of Security Council Resolution 2231, which endorsed the JCPOA, may not be feasible, especially as Washington could veto any such resolution. Nonetheless, one needs to view Khameneis rhetoric as part of Irans negotiation strategy similar to the preconditions he laid out out in October 2015 for the planned implementation of the JCPOA.

In this light, while Tehran continues to comply with the nuclear deal, it is more appropriate to focus on the feasibility of those aspects of the speech that may be Irans red lines. These are:

European powers should protect Iranian oil sales from the US sanctions and continue buying Iranian crude. This will be a central request from Tehran, and the EU alongside Russia and China need to devise mechanisms that can guarantee the sale of Iranian crude, condensate and petroleum products. Assuming that some of the large European refinery owners will stop purchasing Iranian crude, the EU will need to shore up international buyers who are not exposed to US sanctions and incentivize and protect them to be able to guarantee the continuation of Irans petroleum exports. These buyers will also have to be prepared to enter nondollar denominated contracts to avoid the banking bottlenecks due to US sanctions. What Iran expects is a continuation of its petroleum exports and the generation of needed hard currency. The key role in this process may fall to Russia, as Tehran and Moscow already have trade patterns that rely on the export of Iranian oil in return for Russian imports. Interestingly, Khamenei also left a door open for some flexibility by demanding that Europe guarantees the sale of Iranian crude to the level that our strategy determines, as Tehran may decide to reduce its exports for strategic reasons.

European banks should safeguard trade with Iran. This is an expectation that the EU has been working on. The recent announcement by six credit unions (Volksbanken) in southern Germany that they will continue their financial transactions with Iran for the time being will be music to Tehrans ears. This outcome is not just the result of the credit unions strategic decision, but also the consequence of detailed work by the Bundesbank (Germanys central bank) to safeguard transactions between Iran and the credit unions. Such mechanisms can be devised through other European central banks, and Tehran will insist on multiple financial channels to remove one of the key obstacles to bilateral trade and investment.

The UK, France and Germany should pledge not to seek negotiations on Iran's ballistic missile program and regional activities. This is an important red line for the countrys conservative factions, especially as Irans regional security strategy is closely tied to its regional policies. As such, European leaders have to be very careful in their rhetoric toward Iran; though at a later stage, it is conceivable that they could address some of the regional issues through genuine multilateral talks addressing the security concerns of all regional parties  including Iran.

While finding workable solutions to these demands will keep European institutions busy in the next few weeks, Iran needs to understand that what Khamenei termed as European JCPOA will mean that most of the Iran-EU trade will be shifting toward European small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This will have two important consequences.

First, Iran will be deprived of the top-tier technologies that only large multinational companies can offer. The question is whether the technological solutions offered by European countries would offer the needed remedies for Irans ambitious plans in key sectors, such as the petroleum sector. The fact is that while large multinationals offer viable packages including technology, financing and markets, they are less suitable or prepared to enter into joint ventures with Iranian partners. Therefore, European SMEs may be a better fit for the Iranian demand to localize technologies through partnerships. However, experience has shown that European SMEs will mainly be interested in partnering with the genuine private sector firms to have a more balanced relationship with the Iranian party. Consequently, the needed solutions can only emerge in various joint ventures between European SMEs and Irans private sector.

Second, in order to pave the way for an efficient presence of European SMEs in the Iranian market, the countrys authorities need to improve the overall business climate and remove the current legal, structural and operational obstacles to a successful establishment of needed joint ventures. For example, private sector companies will need to have better access to financial resources and also better protection in the countrys complex competitive environment. The first sign that Iranian authorities appreciate the need for reforms emerged when Khamenei ordered the formation of a Consensus-Building Economic Council that included the heads of three branches of power as well as other key senior decision-makers with different political orientations. If this council fulfills its tasks effectively, there should be important reforms to the investment climate with a focus on an efficient presence of European SMEs engaging the genuine private sector as opposed to government or quasi-state organizations.

After a May 25 meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, senior Iranian negotiator Abbas Araghchi said there was a good deal of political will to keep the deal alive. He reported that the EU had indicated it is planning to have intensive talks with Tehran on issues such as oil, banking, investment, trade and insurance to find practical solutions. Where this new dynamic will take Iran-EU ties, especially with reference to bilateral trade and investment relations, remains to be seen. For now, what is important is that the Iranian side appreciates that it will be a two-way effort and that Iran cannot remain complacent if it genuinely wishes to attract European SMEs.
In a three-hour meeting with Iranian students May 28, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized those inside the country who infuse despair and hopelessness into society.

Khameini said, Some people ask, Why does the [supreme] leader blame all of the problems on the evil US and UK? This is a wrong interpretation, because I believe most of the problems are domestic and internal, which, of course, the enemy exploits.

Speaking of the current image of the Islamic Republic among Iranians, Khamenei said, "If the widespread and massive anti-revolution offensive on public opinion doesn't face the students and others to respond to them rightly, the country and the political establishment will surely be harmed."

He then addressed the students, saying, The establishment is amid a great campaign and you, being in the center of this all-out campaign, must sense and understand this confrontation, and by understanding the opposite side, know your revolutionary duties and implement them.

He continued, Those who infuse despair and hopelessness into society may not be the enemy, but their actions are the actions of the enemy.

During the meeting, Sahar Mehrabi, a student and a member of the central committee that oversees the journals of the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, stood before Khamenei and criticized the current situation in Iran, asking him to be held accountable in his position and calling on him to reform and democratize the country's political system.

Ayatollah Khamenei replied, "I am informed about the matters of our country and receive reports. I believe we have moved forward in every goal I named. To the young person who says our situation is very bad, I understand their feelings, but not at all their words. He added, The future of our country, which is in the hands of you, the young people who are criticizing our situation today, will be a bright future.

With regard to the performance of officials whom Khamenei has appointed, he said, The management of some institutions, such as the armed forces, rests with the [supreme] leader; however, in the case of the judiciary and the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), their management does not lie with the leader, although their heads are designated by the leader and, for example, as with the IRIB, whether under its current management or previous managements, I had and always have a critical stance on various issues.

In other news, a number of Iranian artists have turned down President Hassan Rouhanis invitation to attend an iftar, the evening fast-breaking meal of Ramadan. Though most of the artists supported Rouhani during the 2017 presidential election, they are now complaining about the country's economic situation.

Iranian actor Parviz Parastouei wrote on his Instagram May 28: Given the poor economic and mental condition of our people, I believe that such gatherings (which are not few and which require the spending of a lot of [money]), may not be necessary.

However, he implied that he didnt regret voting for Rouhani. If you were not president, this [social media network which I use] to express [my] opinions would perhaps have been filtered, and this  is the result of voting for you. We understand this and we are thankful for it, but you [should] also understand us.

Government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht reacted to the artists protests, saying May 29, We have done our best to solve the problems. We are working hard to [improve the economic condition of the people]. If [the artists] tell us what to do, we will do it. Was the [economic situation] of people [better] last year when they supported [Rouhani for re-election]?
I think the president is fundamentally uncomfortable not keeping promises, said US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman in a May 23 interview on Israels Channel 10 television news, expressing pride in his boss and former bankruptcy client, US President Donald Trump. Indeed, unlike all of Trump's predecessors who promised on the campaign trail to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, Trump has made good on his pledge. Previous presidents repeatedly signed waivers suspending the move, as mandated by a 1995 congressional act, arguing that it would be harmful to US national security interests. Trump himself signed off on two such waivers in his first year in office, in June and December 2017. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then apparently managed to convince him that not only does the embassy relocation not damage US security interests, it actually contributes to peace. At the inauguration of the embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, Netanyahu proclaimed, I believe its a great day for peace.

Netanyahu appears to believe that a decision to expand Israeli settlements in the West Bank, even as the Trump administration prepares to present its much-touted Israeli-Palestinian peace plan, also contributes to peace. Otherwise, why is such a fearless peace warrior lending a hand to promote new construction in the West Bank?

Several hours after Friedman told Israeli television viewers that Trump was determined to move forward with what he has dubbed the ultimate deal for Israeli-Palestinian peace, Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman announced that the planning authorities in Judea and Samaria, that is, the West Bank, would approve the building of 2,500 new housing units. They are to be located in the settlement towns of Maaleh Adumim and Ariel, as well as in several remote settlements outside the so-called settlement blocs. On the Facebook page of Yisrael Beitenu, Liberman pledged, We will continue developing Judea and Samaria in practice. He, too, obviously believes that developing Jewish settlements in areas where the Palestinians seek to create a state somehow contributes to peace.

Netanyahus office was quick to announce that the prime minister had spoken by phone with Maaleh Adumim Mayor Benny Kashriel and congratulated him on the upcoming plans. We are continuing the momentum to develop settlements in Judea and Samaria by authorizing thousands of new homes, Netanyahu told him. In the near future we will approve additional units.

At best, the timing of the Netanyahu and Liberman announcements is a slap in the face to Trump, who has attained Messiah status in Israel. At worst, the time has come to replace Trumps promised ultimate deal for Israeli-Palestinian peace with another marketing slogan  Clearance Sale on the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the vision of regional peace.

Upon taking office, Trump clarified his position on the Netanyahu governments settlement policy. On the eve of Netanyahus visit to Washington in February 2017, the White House released a statement asserting, The construction of new settlements or the expansion of existing settlements beyond their current borders may not be helpful in achieving  peace throughout the Middle East region. The statement went on to say that Trump would discuss the matter with Netanyahu. Briefing reporters after their meeting, Netanyahu confirmed that his host had asked him to rein in settlement expansion and said he had promised to discuss with the administration curbs on construction in the West Bank, but not in East Jerusalem.

According to Peace Now, since Netanyahu gave his word to Trump 16 months ago, the number of new homes in the West Bank approved by his government has reached three times the number approved in the 18 months that preceded Trumps January 2017 inauguration  that is, 14,454 compared with 4,476 during the administration of President Barack Obama.

The US Consulate in Jerusalem, not to be confused with the new embassy, is familiar with this data, reporting as it does on every tender issued for the construction of new homes in the Israeli-occupied territories. Trump's Middle East peace team  led by his son-in-law and White House adviser, Jared Kushner, together with Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt  knows the map of the West Bank. They know that the Israeli government is moving forward with construction in areas slated to form an inseparable part of a future Palestinian state. If Israel is not coordinating its settlement activity with Trump, he will seek revenge. After all, he makes no secret of coveting the Nobel Peace Prize, which seems to be moving beyond his reach given the on-again, off-again situation with North Korean President Kim Jong Un. Trump knows that his nemesis, the American media, will be glad to portray the pledge he made of an ultimate deal for Israelis and Palestinians as a flop. There is, however, another possibility.

Trumps administration had surely anticipated that the change in US policy on Jerusalem, recognizing it as the capital of Israel, would generate a crisis with the Palestinians. Did this change of heart reflect a US retreat from the Israeli-Palestinian peace process? The Trump administrations thundering silence on the announced settlement construction could indicate that the settlers sweethearts, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and Friedman, have stirred the pot to the cheers of Trumps evangelical preachers and donors. After all, why should American real estate tycoon Trump fall out with a country, Israel, whose denizens, chief among them Netanyahu, bestow upon him much more honor and munificence than he has ever received from his own countrymen?

Even the heads of the opposition parties in the Knesset congratulated Trump for pulling the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal and hailed Netanyahus major achievement in this regard. Everyone stood in line to shake hands with presidential daughter Ivanka Trump at the embassy inauguration. Among them was Knesset member Eitan Cabel, a senior member of the opposition Labor Party, who basically said the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer for the dead, in regard to the 1993 Oslo peace accords when he called on the government several days ago to annex the settlement blocs along with the Jordan Valley. This leaves the question of whether it is worth it for Trump to pick a fight with his best friends over a few houses being built by a bunch of Jews on Arab land on the other side of the world.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  The salaries of Palestinian Authority (PA) employees in the Gaza Strip were disrupted yet again in May, but the workers will be paid, according to PLO Executive Committee Secretary-General Saeb Erekat. Erekat gave the assurance May 23, when he clarified his statements that appeared May 21 in Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.

In the newspaper interview, Erekat said the government wasn't able to pay PA employees in the Gaza Strip because of economic and technical reasons. In his more recent statement, Erekat said the delay is due to a technical glitch, and that PA employees in the Gaza Strip will get their money. He said his words in the newspaper were taken out of context.

In April, the PA suspended the salaries of all 35,000 public employees in the Gaza Strip. Employees staged protests April 12 in front of some banks, which temporarily closed their doors as a precautionary measure. On May 2, Gaza Strip employees received only half of their salaries for that month. Furious workers protested May 10, demanding to be treated equally with their fellow employees in the West Bank, who have been paid consistently. No explanation so far has been given regarding the missing money.

Conflict between the two main Palestinian parties, Fatah and Hamas, resulted in a PA split in 2007, when Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip. Fatah controls the PA, based in Ramallah in the West Bank, and the PA holds the purse strings of its employees there and in the Gaza Strip. PA President Mahmoud Abbas has imposed sanctions on the Gaza Strip. Though the PA hasn't explicitly declared that it will gradually stop paying its Gaza employees, several political analysts expect such a measure.

Back in May 2017, the PA exerted pressure on Gaza by deducting 30-50% from the salaries of its public servants in the besieged enclave, causing the Gaza Strips markets a monthly loss of about $20 million. On average, the PA transfers around $41 million a month to Gaza Strip employees.

This year, salary suspensions have raised concerns about banking transactions being frozen and the cessation of cash transfers to and from the Gaza Strip. Banks across the Gaza Strip also noted that loan defaults increased.

Data from the Palestinian Monetary Authority (PMA)  which acts as a central bank  showed a decline in deposits in Gaza to $1.123 billion in March from $1.157 billion in February.

"The bank was generally affected by the non-payment of salaries of public employees in the Gaza Strip since borrowers from among these employees failed to pay their loan installments," Rabih Dwekat, a media officer at Bank of Palestine, told Al-Monitor. It's impossible for the bank to predict the future or take any precautionary measures, especially in light of the unstable political situation."

Doha al-Wazany, public relations manager at the Islamic Bank of Palestine, explained that the salary suspension is a national problem not limited to a specific bank or to the banking sector.

The non-transfer of salaries will surely affect financial institutions as a result of the ensuing default in payment of loan installments, she told Al-Monitor. Not only borrowers will be affected by this suspension, but also Visa card holders and guarantors.

Wazany further noted the banks cash flow depends on the salaries of its clients from among these employees. Civil servants are one of the banks most important clients, since their jobs come with various guarantees and facilities, she said. The suspension or non-transfer of their salaries, even if for a [limited] period, will affect the bank and its cash flow.

With respect to the repayment of loans taken out by the PA employees in Gaza, Wazany said the bank has taken appropriate measures to guarantee the rights of depositors and investors in accordance with local laws, the banking sector's regulatory authority and government directives. The bank will not close its doors in the Gaza Strip due to a crisis in the public sector. Banks can take the appropriate measures to deal with the situation, Wazany said.

On May 3, the PMA announced it was asking banks to deduct only 50% of the monthly loan repayments due from Gaza Strip PA employees. Al-Monitor tried to contact the PMA to get more details about that action and the Gaza Strip banking situation in general, but was unsuccessful.

Economic analyst Amin Abu Eisha told Al-Monitor the salary crisis has indeed undermined the Gaza Strips economy and its residents purchasing power. However, he said that while the salary crisis does affect the accounts of the PA employees, it doesn't affect the bank's deposits significantly.

Based on the PMA instructions, banks deducted 50% of the loan installments due from PA employees, from the currently transferred percentage of their salaries. If the crisis continues, to recover their extended loans, banks could withdraw from these employees guarantors, who may be merchants or private sector workers.

However, banks could actually benefit to some extent from the crisis. Abu Eisha explained that extending the loan repayment period would increase interest revenues. This may involve credit risks, he noted, but these risks do not threaten banks operation in Gaza.

Abu Eisha stressed that Palestinian banks are stable and abide by international standards. He added, I don't expect the salary crisis to affect banks performance. Palestinian banks have outstanding debt of $1.4 billion due from the PA, but this debt hasn't weakened their performance. No bank will shut its doors in the Gaza Strip.

Nine banks operate in the Gaza Strip, with 58 branches and 84 ATMs.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip  Cartoons have long been a tool in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, with Palestinian artists picking up their pens in the 1960s. Naji al-Ali, a bold, iconic Palestinian satirist who spared no one and nothing, including Israel and the United States, was assassinated in 1987. Today, several of Ali's fans carry on his tradition, using ink to criticize Israel and its policies toward the Palestinians.

Ismael Elbozoms drawings highlight the suffering of Palestinian mothers and the seeming indifference of the international community toward the Palestinians. He recently produced cartoons on the Great Return March held this spring in Gaza, including one about the killing of 14-year-old Mohammad Ayoub on April 20 by Israeli snipers.

Elbozom, who lives in Gaza and holds a bachelor's degree from the Islamic University of Gaza in information technology, told Al-Monitor that it was not an easy decision to become a caricaturist in Palestine. There is no support for talents and dreams, he said. Despite the financial difficulties and lack of societal support for his profession, Elbozom is determined to carry on.

Drawing is a wonderful and sophisticated method of addressing the world and conveying a message of life and love from the Palestinians, who have long been depicted as criminals and murderers, he said. This art allows Palestinians to refute Israels misleading narrative. He added that he feels, through his cartoons, that he is helping to convey the Palestinian cause through nonviolent means.

Elbozom began publishing his drawings in 2012 on social media, mainly Facebook, where he has attracted thousands of followers and fans. After that, some local newspapers and websites picked up his cartoons.

Another cartoonist, Omer Samad, a Palestinian from Gaza who now resides in Stockholm, told Al-Monitor that his aim was to expose Israeli policies and treatment of Palestinians. I was inspired by the drawings of Naji al-Ali, who has portrayed the Palestinian cause, he said in a phone interview. I am convinced that what we are doing is working. I truly believe our artistic work can expose Israel, [our] executioner.

Samad believes that the Palestinian leaderships goal of obtaining the political rights of the Palestinians should be supported and synchronized with activism by the people in all fields, including art.

Speaking of his own contribution, Samad said, First, I aim to [revive and mobilize] support for the Palestinian cause, and  to address the outside world with art in a way that reflects the extent of the injustice suffered by our people due to Israel.

He noted that cartoons and caricatures can have a significant impact on Western audiences, calling it one of the most effective ways to deliver the Palestinians' message to them.

There is a great difference between Arab and Western peoples in understanding the Palestinian cause, since [in the West] the Israeli narrative often distorts the facts. The international media has a [positive] bias toward Israel. We try to refute the Israeli narrative and convey the true story, Samad said.

Samad echoed Elbozom on the dearth of any financial reward for a Palestinian cartoonist. The majority of Palestinian cartoonists work for free, without being supported and embraced by any party, unless the artist is affiliated with a particular party, said the cartoonist, whose works can regularly be seen in a number of international news outlets, including Al Jazeera.

Mohammad Elhasani, a member of the Higher National Commission of the Great Return March, praised the role cartoonists have played in highlighting the Palestinian cause, despite the low level of financial compensation and the difficulty in getting out of Gaza to showcase their work.

Caricature is an important means of defending the rights of the Palestinian people, as it exposes the violations of rights they are subjected to, Elhasani said. These violations have increased significantly in conjunction with the Great Return March, with Israel unlawfully targeting children, civilians, and relief and rescue teams and the press.

We are trying hard to exploit all available resources and artistic capabilities of the Palestinians, because it is important for changing public opinion, he further stated. Our commission includes various committees, most notably the Culture, Arts and Heritage Committee. We also have contacts with a good number of artists. Some of them have done a great deal in raising public awareness and relaying events to the outside world.

Meanwhile, activist Mohammed Talouli told Al-Monitor that what happened during the Great Return March, in particular the bloodbath on May 14, makes it everyones duty to struggle against Israel with whatever tools they have.

Caricature is one of the important means to convey the truth and expose Israels violence and its violations of the rights of innocent people, he said. Caricature has long been a means for vulnerable people to make themselves heard and to express the injustice they are subjected to.

Talouli called for intensifying activism and the unleashing of the imagination of every painter and cartoonist to do everything possible for the sake of achieving Palestinians' national goals. He also noted that many foreign international artists are also working to advance the Palestinian cause, among them Brazilian Carlos Latuff, who produced a number of drawings on the Great Return March. We just need Palestinian official bodies to support this art, Talouli concluded.
The Donald Trump administration is set to boost Jordans special forces after financial pressures led the US ally to hollow out elite units last year.

The Pentagon notified Congress last month of a new $22 million plan for Jordanian special forces, according to congressional notifications reviewed by Al-Monitor. The United States is expected to provide night-vision goggles and American-made sniper and assault rifles to Ammans recently formed quick-reaction force.

The move is set to cement Jordans role as a hub in the Pentagons expanding fight against Islamic State networks and homegrown radicals after Amman inked a five-year, $1.275 billion-a-year memorandum of understanding with the United States earlier this year. It comes as Defense Secretary Jim Mattis seeks to refocus US military strategy on major geopolitical rivals such as Russia and China.

Jordanian units should be capable of performing those missions even if US presence draws down, said Melissa Dalton, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. It is a gradual and long-term process to build that capability, which the US and Jordan have been cultivating over a number of years.

A spokesperson for Jordans embassy in Washington acknowledged the aid from the Pentagons in-house train-and-equip fund but did not respond to requests for additional comment. Some 2,800 US troops remain in the country to train Jordanian forces.

Jordan, heavily indebted and dependent on foreign aid, is also working to reform its fledgling special operations to meet budgetary constraints. In February, Jordans debt-to-GDP ratio ballooned to 95% as Gulf donors declined to renew a five-year assistance program.

Last summer, Jordan deactivated its special operations command headquarters and stripped down the number of elite troops to a little more than 1,000, while putting an effective aviation unit back under control of the regular air force. The Pentagon aid provided in April also allows for $1 million in training on fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft for Jordans special forces.

These reforms are about cutting the wheat from the chaff, said William Wechsler, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense. In lieu of self-sufficient elite units, he said, the refinements are aimed at forcing collaboration within the military so special operations has to go to conventional units for lift support as well as encouraging coordination with law enforcement and intelligence."

Despite financial uncertainty, Jordan has used its special forces as a public relations tool to trumpet its military strength.

On Instagram, the military advertises the new 6,000-acre King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center as a full-scope facility where elite trainees practice helicopter insertions, skidding on dirt bikes and extracting dummy hostages from a full-size mock-up Airbus. Speakers pipe in the sounds of gunfire and screaming civilians, while recruits try to duck simulated explosions.

Jordans struggles are not out of the ordinary. Building sustainable special operations forces is still largely a process of trial and error, even for wealthy countries such as the United States, experts say.

Our whole modern approach to US special operations started with our failure at Desert One going into Iran in 1980. And the need to make wider reforms of the US military became clear given the range of problems that we encountered in Grenada in 1983, said Wechsler, now with the Middle East Institute. Unfortunately, too often it seems like you need to have these kinds of visible mistakes before people have the political will to fix things.

Jordan holds major non-NATO ally status, making it a leading destination for excess US military equipment. Between 2016 and 2017, however, so-called green-on-blue slayings of US trainers by Jordanian troops outnumbered similar friendly fire deaths in Afghanistan.

Jordanian officials even initially blamed American soldiers for failing to follow security protocols after a guard gunned down three US special forces troops involved in the CIAs Syria train-and-equip program at King Faisal Air Base in November 2016. A military court later found the soldier guilty of murder.

Elite troops also have a mixed track record in weeding out homegrown terror. A recent report from the Center for American Progress in Washington found that Jordanian special forces suffered serious communication breakdowns during a 12-hour raid on an Islamic State-linked residential building in the city of Irbid in March 2016.

Jordans special forces were once led by Abdullah himself. Experts say that in order to sustain its growing counterterrorism force against financial headwinds, Jordans military will now have to connect the reforms to a larger strategy.

Remember, before he became king, Abdullah commanded Jordanian special forces, said Wechsler. This is very much associated with him personally. So people have questions as to why there isnt a clear statement by him about the future of Jordanian special operations.

The Pentagon also notified Congress of nearly $30 million in April for Jordans border guards and a battalion of marines.
CAIRO  Following a 12-year hiatus, labor union elections kicked off May 23 amid accusations that the Egyptian government is excluding independent labor organizations leaders from the electoral race in a bid to have the upper hand on labor unions, which caused a headache for the regime in the wake of the January 25 Revolution.

The last labor elections were held under former President Hosni Mubarak in 2006, before being suspended due to the political unrest that followed the revolutions on Jan. 25, 2011, and on June 30, 2013.

Minister of Manpower and Immigration Mohamed Saffan said during a news conference May 24 that workers are taking part in historic elections that allow them to freely choose their representatives for the first time in 12 years. Our goal is to produce a trade union organization that expresses workers with the utmost transparency, he added.

The elections are held under judicial supervision, and they are divided into three phases: the enterprise union committees elections (one committee per governorate or city to represent enterprises, factories and companies) on May 23-24 and May 31; the trade union councils elections (one council for every profession or industry) on June 7; and the general trade union elections (one union at the national level) on June 13.

While several rights activists  most prominently Saad Shaaban, the president of the independent Egyptian Democratic Labor Congress  complained about pressure being placed on the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration in the elections to exclude independent trade union leaders from the electoral race, officials attributed these exclusions to the candidates failure to prepare the required papers.

These elections come in the wake of the adoption Dec. 19 of a new trade union law that reinforced government control over trade unions and forced both official and independent unions to regularize their position in accordance with this law.

In this context, there are independent trade union organizations that complained about harassment during the regularization process, and said that this prompted them to freeze their activity.

Independent trade unions emerged during the last years of the era of Mubarak following both the privatization of companies such as Omar Effendi S.A.E. and the layoffs that ensued. Also, they emerged following several strikes against the regime and spread after the January 25 Revolution until they overpowered government organizations. But after the June 30 Revolution, the regime started imposing restrictions on these unions. In March 2016, it refused to recognize them and went so far as to deem them illegitimate entities.

Hamdi Ezz, the president of the tourism trade union, one of the independent unions established after Jan. 25, 2011, was excluded from the election race. He told Al-Monitor that he was surprised he was banned after the elections supervisory committee did not provide any valid reasons for his removal from the race.

He explained that the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration took an intransigent attitude with them and refrained from announcing by the legal deadline the final list of candidates for the trade union elections. He noted that the ministry did not announce the results of the appeals they filed against their exclusion.

The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, which is a civil society organization, monitored what it described as a systematic exclusion process that excluded more than 1,500 active trade union leaders from the list of candidates in the Cairo governorate alone.

Some powerful labor leaders have been excluded to make room for other pro-government official unions and tend to business owners at the expense of workers, Ezz said.

He stressed that he filed a lawsuit before the Court of Administrative Justice, and that he would send a memorandum to the International Labor Organization (ILO) containing all of the violations committed against trade union leaders.

Saffan responded to the accusations of interference in the elections by saying, We shall not heed such accusations. Let those who have evidence submit such evidence.

A leader in the Egypt Trade Union Federation, which is affiliated with the regime, told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that hundreds of candidates were excluded from the elections for security reasons, including belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, which the authorities classify as a terrorist group.

When the trade union law was promulgated in December, the ILO expressed concern over its impact on the freedom of association in the country.

Kamal Abbas, the general coordinator of the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services and a member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, told Al-Monitor that the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration clearly and explicitly violated the trade union law and its executive regulations. He said that it has blatantly meddled in the regularization process of the organizations in order to reduce the chances of independent unions in the elections and prevent them from defending workers rights.

There was an abnormal and unreasonable intransigence on the part of the Ministry of Manpower directorates in Cairo and the [other] governorates, and despite the completion of the required papers in accordance with the executive regulations of the trade union law, the directorates were demanding papers not stipulated in the law in order to prevent unions from regularizing their position, he added.

However, Majdi al-Badawi, deputy chairman of the Egypt Trade Union Federation, told Al-Monitor that independent entities were causing problems to disrupt the elections, which have been repeatedly postponed by successive governments over the past 12 years.

The problems that Badawi referred to included demonstrations and protests and complaints filed with the ILO.

Badawi said, Those currently distorting the electoral process are people who failed to regularize their position. They are independent unions that have managed to regularize their position because they have a real presence on the ground. Some of these joined the Egypt Trade Union Federation after they discovered that things were moving on the right track [and reforms were underway].

He added, The aim of these unions is to highlight and internationalize problems by sending memos to the ILO in a bid to distort Egypts image before the world and achieve personal interests.

Abbas concluded, The government has controlled trade unions in those elections. We shall not give up. We resorted to the judiciary in order to invalidate the trade union law before the Constitutional Court and invalidate the exclusion of prominent leaders from the electoral race. With the emergence of independent trade unions, things need to change.
The Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) are gearing up for a new round of purges, even as they struggle to recover from the initial culling that followed the failed coup of July 2016.

Defense Minister Nurettin Canikli announced April 18 that a secret cell of 3,000 officers and noncommissioned officers (NCOs) affiliated with alleged coup mastermind Fethullah Gulen, a Sunni cleric who lives in self- imposed exile in Pennsylvania, had been identified. All of them, he promised, would be dismissed.

As of May 18, some 550 officers and NCOs had already been arrested. According to government investigators, senior leaders of the so-called Fethullah Gulen Terror Organization (FETO), a term Ankara uses to refer to Gulen followers, have switched to using land lines at markets, kiosks and cafes to avoid detection as they communicate with plants inside the military.

Prosecutors insist that despite the purging of some 10,000 suspected Gulenists in the immediate aftermath of the coup, the group retains a strong presence in the military and is trying to reorganize. The accusations, however, are raising new concerns about FETOs alleged capacity to burrow into Turkeys military structure  as well as the armed forces ability to cope with a new round of forced departures.

Ankara is tight-lipped about the impact of the purges as it ramps up military operations against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and its affiliates in Turkey, Iraq and Syria. But an analysis of government data by Al-Monitor points to worrisome shortages of generals and staff officers as well as elite operators including pilots and Special Forces troops that could be exacerbated by a new round of purges.

The most recent publicly available snapshot of the Turkish military was published in February 2017, after the initial round of purges that began on July 27, 2016. Comparison with figures from March 2016, before the coup attempt, shows a 40% reduction in the number of generals  from 325 to 201 across the army, air force and navy  and a 20% reduction in commissioned officers, from 32,451 to 25,728.

The dismissal of almost 1,400 staff officers (77% of the total) and the abolition of the staff officer system in August 2016 indicates that the officer corps was a prime target for FETO as it sought to gain influence. Staff officers are the most educated and privileged group in the officer corps, and are usually assigned to critical posts at headquarters and given priority in the selection of missions abroad.

The numbers do not include the gendarmerie and the coast guard, which have since been detached from the military command and attached to the Ministry of Interior. Since February 2017, military academies and officer schools have continued to graduate students, with the number of officers now reaching about 27,000 and the NCOs totaling about 67,000. Despite these new additions, however, the totals remain below pre-coup strengths.

Delving into the makeup of the purged forces as of January 2018 offers additional insights.

The most affected group by the purges has been the commanding elite. Out of the 325 generals and admirals in the Turkish army, navy and air force, almost half (150) have been discharged. Among them were two four-star generals, nine lieutenant generals, 30 major generals and vice admirals, and 126 brigadier generals and rear admirals. In all, nearly 44% of army generals, 42% of air force generals and 58% of admirals were formally discharged. An additional 586 colonels were forced to retire by the Supreme Military Council on Aug. 23, 2016.

The most affected officer group are air force combat pilots. The Turkish Air Force (TAF) had almost two pilots for each of the 320 combat planes  including 240 F-16s  before the coup, but the dismissal of 280 pilots reduced that ratio to less than one pilot per aircraft as of September 2017. (The air force also operates 90 transport planes, seven tankers and 105 training planes.) With 400 combat-ready pilots now back on the roster, the ratio is back up to 1.2, but getting back into pre-coup fighting form may take up to three more years of recruitment.

The army's helicopter pilots are in a similar state; about 40 of them have been dismissed. The downsizing has meant a much heavier workload for serving air force and army aviation pilots, who are stretched thin fighting the PKK, patrolling Turkish airspace and conducting cross-border operations. Faster rotation periods, heavier workloads and increased fatigue and stress are the first consequences of the lower pilot-to-aircraft ratio.

Special Forces units such as the navys Underwater Assault Unit and the air force Combat Search and Rescue personnel have also suffered a disproportionate number of dismissals. Many of the elite units battalion and team commanders were arrested and dismissed from service on charges of participating in the uprising. Similarly, there have been reports of dismissals of numerous helicopter pilots and other officers and NCOs serving in the TAF's elite search and rescue teams.

The purges suggest a very focused and deliberate recruitment effort by the Gulenists. The group apparently first sought to gain a foothold in the armed forces personnel management system to control promotions and appointments. From there, FETO seems to have targeted the staff officer system in order to infiltrate headquarters; pilots and special operation unit commanders to control the critical military cadres directly related to operational effectiveness; and the military intelligence, judicial and health systems to promote its hidden agenda. As such, purging the upper echelons of the military makes more sense than going after rank-and-file soldiers.

To make up for shortages, the TSK have been attempting to recruit directly from civilian sources. Naturally filling the ranks too quickly with civilians raises concerns about quality, discipline, professionalism and esprit de corps within the military. In addition, hundreds of military personnel who have only been suspended are waiting the outcome of investigations, another factor making the personnel deficiency harder to manage.

In the army, most of the purges are from the general staff and service command headquarters in Ankara, and from corps and brigades in Istanbul and Ankara, as those were the ones that overwhelmingly participated in the July 15 uprising. The Second Army Command in Malatya, which is responsible for combating terrorism in the southeast, and soldiers who served in Turkish operations in Syria have been the least affected so far, with a high probability of being purged later. This speaks to the governments pragmatic approach to de-Gulenification of the military. Today, about 20 brigades of the Second Army Command are operationally active with new commanders.

The navy has been the least affected service command; most of its dismissals have been from the command offices in Ankara or personnel serving in rear headquarters.

As for the air force, although it seems to be coping with the effects of the dismissals, most of its elite units will need at least three more years to return to pre-coup levels.

After the coup attempt, Turkey established a National Defense University attached to the Ministry of Defense that offers both undergraduate and graduate programs to fill the vacant slots. But these programs are far from adequate to provide the intellectual capital, particularly at the graduate level, that the military needs for its transformation.

Almost two years since the coup attempt, the TSK have yet to fully recover.

One step in the right direction is the English-language War Studies Masters program that will be offered starting this fall at the National Defense University located in Istanbuls Levent neighborhood.

The Turkish military has recently been busy with counterterrorism operations both inside Turkey and abroad, including with peacekeeping tasks in Afghanistan and the Balkans, and force projection efforts in Qatar, Somalia, Sudans Suakin Island and the Aegean Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean. Meanwhile, its institutions have been strained due to the hasty reforms and ongoing mass purges since the coup.

Several other factors  including inconsistent political directives on military reform, lack of civil-military integration, ambiguity concerning the status of the Turkish General Staff, frictions between the General Staff and the Defense Ministry, and Turkeys ongoing transition from a parliamentary system to an executive presidency  have aggravated the power struggles and the intellectual capital deficiency within the military. Worse still, all of these institutional challenges coincide with the never-ending crises between Turkey and its Western allies, particularly the United States and NATO.

Of course, if Canikli follows through on his promise to discharge another 3,000 ranking soldiers, the TSK may find it that much harder to establish a golden balance between de-Gulenification and operational effectiveness.
After an unprecedented show of unity, is Turkeys opposition reverting to its old ways? The question was raised when Meral Aksener, the presidential candidate for the right-wing Iyi (Good) Party dug her claws into Muharrem Ince, who is running on the ticket of the main opposition Republican Peoples Party (CHP).

In a May 28 interview with the independent online newspaper Duvar, Aksener claimed that nearly all the polling companies indicate that if Mr. Ince [faces President Recep Tayyip] Erdogan in a second round of balloting, Erdogan will win by a wide margin. But if I do, Erdogan will lose.

Despite her insistence, Akseners assertions are not born out by most pollsters. For now all signs indicate that Erdogan would prevail in a potential second round that would be held on July 8. But that is hardly the point. With only three weeks left before the June 24 snap parliamentary and presidential polls, the greatest thing Erdogans opponents could do for him would be to turn on each other, and that is what an increasingly shrill Aksener appears to be doing.

One survey seen by Al-Monitor suggests she would get 11.2% in a first round, little more than half Ince's 20.1%. Aksener also gets a whisker less than Selahattin Demirtas, the former leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (HDP), the largest pro-Kurdish bloc. He is running an ebullient campaign from prison via witty messages and cheerful pictures posted on social media.

Akseners outburst could well be seen as ingratitude. Her party was able to qualify for the parliamentary polls only after the CHP transferred 15 of its lawmakers and forged an electoral alliance with it for the parliamentary race. The transfusion gave Iyi the requisite quorum to run. All eyes are now on Ince, who even die-hard CHP critics concede is performing far better than expected. Over the past three weeks, Ince has crisscrossed the country promising to restore democracy, rule of law and offer better pay and education. The twinkly-eyed former physics teacher has also pledged to allow education in the Kurdish language and to solve the Kurdish problem through dialogue, not guns. Ince has steered clear of the revanchism the bane of Turkish politics  treating Erdogan with a mix of contempt and near pity. Adding to Akseners woes, the HDP has already declared that it would back Ince in a second round. Analysts say it is absolutely key that Ince not succumb to her taunts. It's a long shot but many reckon conditions have never been riper for an opposition win.

The oppositions abiding problem is that neither Aksener nor Ince has succeeded in drawing votes away from Erdogans ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP). Recent economic setbacks including the sharp decline in the value of the Turkish lira have left a swelling number of AKP supporters increasingly disaffected. Ince professes to be pious  he studied the Quran, never misses Friday prayers and his mother wears an Islamic-style headscarf. But the CHP label automatically equates him in the eyes of many AKP voters with the kind of militant secularism that treats Islam as a threat. Similarly, Akseners secular strain of Turkish nationalism has little appeal among the pious.

So where will the disgruntled go? Religious Kurds were widely expected to defect to the HDP because of Erdogans alliance with the far-right nationalist leader Devlet Bahceli, who egged on Turkeys invasion of Syrian Kurdish Afrin. But polls suggest they havent. All eyes are on Temel Karamollaoglu, the spry and refreshingly liberal leader of the pro-Islamic Saadet (Felicity) Party who is running a lively campaign. But his party is so tiny that it's hard to measure its current standing though random sampling. Felicity is also running in alliance with the CHP and Iyi for the legislature, and the halo effect may prove costly. Meanwhile, Huda-Par, a small and militantly Islamist party that is mainly active in the Kurdish-dominated southeast, announced it would back Erdogan as president, leaving the Kurdish vote pretty evenly divided between Demirtas in the first round and the rest. But as things stand, few are likely to vote for Aksener.
Lauderdale County officials say a 100,000-square-foot building taking shape in Rogersville is being built in hopes of attracting an automotive supply company for the Mazda Toyota plant.

The metal building lies in the Rogersville Industrial Park off U.S. 72 near Northwest Shoals Regional Airport, adjacent to Consolidated Tool and North American Lighting. It has a maximum height of 40 feet and a reinforced floor, according to information on the Shoals Economic Development Authority website.

Lauderdale County Commissioner Joe Hackworth, a member of the Shoals Economic Development Authority board, told the Times Daily the building could attract a company hoping to supply the $1.6 billion Mazda Toyota plant in Huntsville.

Construction is set to begin this fall on the plant, which should open in 2021 and is projected to have a capacity of 300,000 cars a year.

"Industry doesn't wait, so if we want a shot at landing one of these suppliers, we have to be ready," County Commissioner Roger Garner told the paper.

Officials are also working on a feasibility study for a possible water treatment plant on Elk River and updating a nearby substation.
On January 28, 1999, a four-pound fighter entered the world at Brookwood Medical Center in Birmingham - barely breathing, yet still exceeding expectations.

Kari Balazs was taken away from her mother, Lisa, moments after she was born. All Balazs knew prior to labor was that she was having a girl. Not a girl with Down syndrome. Pediatricians examined Kari for heart defects, which is a common issue for those who have the genetic disorder.

But Kari's heart turned out to be strong. It was a moment that foreshadowed how Kari would accomplish many things in her life like graduating from Hoover High School with a 3.5 GPA. after completing the general education requirements to receive her diploma. During the school's graduation ceremony at UAB's Bartow Arena on Thursday night, Kari, now 19, walked across the stage after years of overcoming obstacles.

In Alabama, most students with Down syndrome take the more modified education plan called the Essential Pathway or the Alternate Achievement Standards Pathway to get their diplomas. But Kari took the same route as her classmates without disabilities and completed the requirements on the General Education Pathway. Kari will continue blazing down that route while attending a four-year college this fall.

She said some people have lowered their expectations of her after they notice her small stature, low muscle tone and other features often associated with Down syndrome. But Kari doesn't like others to predict her future based on the physical appearance and asks that parents stand up for their children just like her parents stood up for her.

"If you are a parent with Down syndrome children I would say fight for them," Kari said. "Put them in the same classes as the other kids because a lot of times people judge."

Lisa Balazs (left) and her daughter Kari (right)

'Look at what you can do'

Down Syndrome of Alabama Executive Director Sue Tolle only knows of three people with the disorder who have completed the general education track. While the coursework can be hard because Down syndrome affects intellectual development, those who have the potential to finish the curriculum are not being recognized at an early age, Tolle said. She said people generally assume students with special needs cannot do the work.

All students select a pathway for their diploma near the end of eighth grade. If the special-needs students aren't prepared and supported to take on the challenging courses in the lower grade levels, then they are not going to pursue the general education pathway.

"Students with Down syndrome cannot be generalized because there are diverse learning abilities in each person," Tolle said. "Recognizing potential and investing in the goals, interests, and talents of the students at a younger age, in the lower grades, will make things easier."

Creating a place where Kari would feel equal to the rest of the non-disabled world started the moment Balazs left the maternity ward and gazed into her daughter's big, grey eyes for the first time. Balazs had a son before Kari. But just giving birth to a child with a disability felt like she was becoming a first-time mother all over again. The only knowledge she had at the time was inside a book titled "How to Raise a Child with Down Syndrome."

It was a scary realization, she said. She didn't know if she was going to be a good mother or not, but she was blessed to live near a city that had a network of hospitals and organizations dedicated to children with Down syndrome. Kari quickly started physical and occupational therapy. But at four weeks old, she still had to fight stereotypes. Even within the special needs community.

When a speech therapist told Balazs that Kari may never talk, her family refused to believe the mindset. When Balazs read out loud to her oldest child, Kari was also in the room listening. She would sit her daughter in front of the mirror and they would make expressions together to strengthen Kari's facial muscles. Kari started riding horses when she was 3 because the movement stimulates nerves and muscles.

"Her dad and I both had that attitude that this young lady is going to get the opportunity to do the things she wants to do and that we were going to fight really hard for those things," Balazs said.

As Kari's personality began to bloom, the family could tell that Kari was determined, too. Down syndrome delays motor skills like crawling and walking, but Kari found her own way of navigating her environment. Before Kari learned how to crawl at 15 months, which is about five to nine months later than non-disabled babies, she rolled. Balazs laughed at how Kari steered herself all the way down the hallway and underneath their two-tiered coffee table. Kari would pull the puzzles off the lower tier so she could play with pieces.

After Kari learned to walk when she was two, Balazs said her daughter somehow got on the kitchen counter to dump a box of Cheerios on the ground. When Balazs walked into the kitchen, she found her daughter sitting on her own throne of cereal.

"I didn't know what to expect and that has actually made this journey very joyous," Balazs said. "Every time she would do something like that - which would be what you would expect every toddler to do with a box of Cheerios when they're hungry - I do a small happy dance, 'look at what you can do.'"

When Kari's parents started to explore options for schooling, they knew they wanted to put her in an environment where she could learn from the people speaking around her. When they first explored public school, Balazs said the special needs students were in separate rooms and they were not speaking. She was enrolled in a toddler program at Hilltop Montesorri School in Mt. Laurel, a school where Kari was included into the general student population and where every child receives an individualized education based on strengths and weaknesses.

Inclusive classroom environments can improve reading and verbal development. Balazs' mother said that while Kari did need a speech therapist for her vocal needs, she was able to read around the same time as her classmates. When Kari's time at Hilltop started to come to an end in fifth grade, her family wanted to keep the progression going.

They examined a private school through their own Catholic parish, but they were afraid Kari wouldn't receive the support services she needed. She was enrolled in Simmons Middle School in Hoover after Balazs talked to the administration about the accommodations Kari would need in order to access the classroom material. For example, Kari was able to use a calculator for math tests and was given extra time during exams because it is harder for people with Down syndrome to memorize adding and subtracting.

Her sixth-grade year, her family knew there would be adjustments. She went from being with one teacher throughout the school day at Hilltop to seven teachers during different time periods. So Kari had to learn to make an organized binder. Her glasses were broken when she was being bullied on the bus by an eighth grader. She had to adjust to the hours of studying for tests and homework, which were things they didn't have to deal with at her old school.

The family even had to make sure the teachers treated her the same as the rest of the students when it came to extracurricular activities. When Kari told her mom that she would be in a play that she didn't audition for, Balazs contacted the drama teacher to find out what happened. The instructor told Balazs joyfully that all students with Down syndrome are included in the play whether they auditioned or not. Balazs said her family didn't agree with Kari receiving any special treatment.

"If her dad and I want her to be treated just like an ordinary student at the school, then the expectation from everybody is that she should follow all those same rules," Balazs said. "She gets the same punishments when she breaks the rules and she will have to do the same work, like trying out for the play if she wants to be in it."

Kari Balazs, a 19-year-old who has Down Syndrome, has been riding horses since she was three years old. She will be attending Judson College, an all-female, four year school, in the fall to study equine science.

'Don't judge me based on my face'

After three years of getting used to the organizing and communicating with teachers, it was time for Kari to select the educational pathway for her high school diploma: general education, essentials or advanced standards. Balazs felt like Kari had been studying the same coursework as her peers, thus it didn't make sense to do the other two tracks.

Kari immediately faced some pushback in ninth grade from a math teacher who wouldn't let her use her calculator. Balazs said the teacher believed Kari should master adding, multiplying and other processes before learning Algebra 1, which was one of the general education math requirements Kari had to pass. Balazs believed that making her daughter focus on adding and subtracting instead of Algebra would hold her daughter back.

"I didn't argue that it wasn't important to have mastered those skills, which Kari has (remembered) now after so many years of seeing the right answers on the calculator," Balazs said. "But that was a skill set that should have been mastered years ago. That boat had sailed, and was no longer something we could continue to focus on. We needed to keep moving forward and she had shown in middle school that she could easily do the math processes with the calculator and multiplication chart for support."

Balazs was able to get the calculator approved for Kari. She received As, Bs and an occasional C in a subject Kari calls her "enemy." Balazs said there were always people who questioned their decisions throughout Kari's life. But Balazs believes you can't predict any child's future, whether they are disabled or not.

"So my answer always was, 'We are going to do it until it doesn't work.'" Balasz said. "'When it doesn't work, we will work to find the best answer when we get there.' For us, there was never a place where it didn't work."

Along with her academics, Kari decided to juggle other extracurricular activities. She joined the choir, drama club and the Dance Foundation during her ninth-grade year alone. She volunteered at a food pantry because she has a passion to help the homeless.

In tenth grade, Kari received a flyer about National American Miss Alabama. The pageant contest allows girls with disabilities to compete against their non-disabled peers. After doing an interview, Kari was invited to be a part of the pageant. Although she was disappointed about not winning her first year, she said she wiped her tears away and started practicing harder with her speech therapist. She would look in the mirror pretending there was a microphone in her hand and rehearsed how she will introduce herself to the crowd.

"Someday, I'm going to get this crown and I'm never giving up," Kari said she told herself. "I want the crown that badly."

Kari received three awards within three years, including Miss Personality and the Spirit award. Earlier this year, she became Alabama Miss Amazing Teen and will be representing the state during the national Miss Amazing competition in Chicago in August.

Kari always becomes a little nervous whenever she walks on stage during a pageant because she said she really wants people to see her as she sees herself.

"I want them to see the strong independent woman I can be. Don't judge me based on my face," Kari said.

Never give up

During her junior year, Kari's parents asked her what life after high school would look like. Kari said she wanted to go to college not far from home to study fashion and design. Universities across the nation are now crafting programs for people with disabilities. Auburn University will be launching the Education to Accomplish Growth in Life Experiences for Success program, or EAGLES, in the fall.

The family considered Mississippi State's ACCESS and Appalachian State's Scholars with Diverse Abilities Program. Although both programs offered fashion design, Kari didn't feel comfortable with how the programs were structured. Along with the academic requirements, the programs also focus on building life skills and Kari was afraid of being seen as a child who had to be told what to do.

Even with all the inclusion she has embraced, Kari is still afraid of being separated from the public, Balazs said.

"Kari feels like her face announces to the world that she has Down syndrome," Balazs said "Once they see that, there are a bunch of things that they automatically expect and she doesn't want the world to feel like she's less competent or less smart than she actually is."

To Kari, college is a place where she can assert her independence. So the family stopped considering the special needs programs and started applying to smaller colleges that were closer to home. She was accepted into Jefferson State Community College, Brenau University in Gainesville, Georgia and Judson College, a women's college in Marion that Kari ultimately settled on. She will pursue her passion for horses by studying equine science.

Kari has been proving to her parents that she is ready for the big move to campus. During orientation, Kari ventured off on her own to register for classes and asked to join the choir. They are working to get her a tutor for her classes just in case. Luckily, she doesn't have to take any math classes for her major, Kari said with a smile. She still becomes shy when she stutters. But she remembers what all she has learned during her journey so far.

"I need to make sure to speak up and be a self advocate," Kari said. "I need to be able to speak for myself because my parents aren't always there. I have learned that I am strong and capable. It has taught me never to give up."

There is a sense of nervousness watching her daughter leave home, Balazs said. Kari now has a permit. One day, she will be driving herself to campus. It is unknown what will go wrong or right, but Balazs said they will face the uncertainty the same way they have been for a long time: determination, persistence and hope in Kari and the community that surrounds her.
Alabama voters who will be traveling or otherwise unable to go to the polls next Tuesday have until Thursday to apply for an absentee ballot.

State law sets the deadline to apply at five days before the election.

Voters can get an application online and mail it or deliver it in person to the absentee election manager in their county.

* See sample ballots for the June 5 primary

Voters can mail or hand-deliver their completed absentee ballots to the county absentee election manager's office.

If mailed, they must be postmarked no later than Monday, the day before the election. Hand-deliveries must be no later than Monday.

But some county offices will be closed on Monday because of the state holiday for Jefferson Davis' birthday.

Secretary of State John Merrill advised voters who plan to turn in their absentee ballots on Monday to contact their absentee election managers to see if they will be open.

Offices in Jefferson, Madison, Morgan and Shelby counties will be open on Monday, officials said. Morgan County plans to open on a limited scheduled, 10 a.m. to noon. Voters who can't make it during that time can call and arrange to turn their ballot in at a different time.

Here is the list of county offices.

This story was updated at 7:10 a.m. to correct the date of the election and to list some counties whose absentee ballot offices will be open on Monday.
The Alabama State Board of Education has made news over the last couple of years - and not in a good way.

Alabama's national standing is at or near the bottom of most educational rankings. One of its members set off a firestorm last year with comments about segregating special needs students from others. The state system is on its third superintendent in the past six years. And the board hasn't even begun to deal with improvement of student safety amid a national surge in school shootings.

So as half the eight state school board seats are up for re-election this year, voters have a lot to consider.

Primary

Two of the school board races have competition in the June 5 Republican Primary, both for seats being vacated by current members who are not seeking re-election.

Republican candidates Rich McAdams and Wayne Reynolds want to replace Mary Scott Hunter, R-Huntsville, in District 8, which covers parts of northeast Alabama. Hunter is running for a state Senate seat.

Four Republican candidates, Melanie Hill, Sybil Little, John Taylor, and Tracie West, are vying for Betty Peters', R-Kinsey, District 2 seat. Peters has been on the board since first being elected in 2002 and is not seeking re-election. District 2 is primarily located in east and southeast Alabama.

If no Republican candidate in District 2 receives 50 percent plus one of the vote, the top two vote-getters will face a runoff election on July 17.

The winners of the District 2 and District 8 Republican primaries on June 5 will both face Democratic opponents in the November General Election: Adam Jortner in District 2 and Jessica Fortune Barker in District 8.

District 4 board member Yvette Richardson, D-Birmingham, has no primary challengers, but will face Republican Don Wallace in the general election.

District 6 board member Cynthia McCarty, R-Jacksonville, had no challengers and will be seated for another four-year term.

The state board is comprised of nine members in total: one elected member from each of eight districts and the Governor, who serves as President. Board members are elected to four-year terms, with four districts elected this cycle, and the other four elected in 2020. The board oversees the K-12 public schools in Alabama.

Eric Mackey was appointed state superintendent in April, the third superintendent appointed since 2012, and began work on May 14.

DISTRICT 2

Melanie Hill served as a Dothan City school board member from 2013 until 2015. It was an elected position, but this is the first time she has run for a statewide office.

Hill is a Dothan High School graduate and said she was asked in fall of 2016 to consider running for the position. "There had started to be a lot going on with the board," she said. At that time, the state board of education had appointed Michael Sentance to be state superintendent, but there was a lot of controversy over the 5 to 4 vote and whether an anonymous allegation against candidate Craig Pouncey had cost him the job. Since that time, multiple lawsuits have been filed and are still underway connected to the anonymous allegations which were ultimately debunked.

She said she doesn't have all the answers but believes that the voices of those in the schools aren't listened to enough. "We don't get their opinion enough," she said. Hill said she has met face-to-face with every superintendent in each of the 26 school systems in District 2. "What I kept hearing [from them] was nobody ever comes [to visit them]," Hill said. She wants to bring their voices to the table at the state board of education, she said.

With respect to the issue of how to ensure schools remain safe places for children, Hill said there are many things that need to be considered, including school resource officers and mental health services. "I don't think there's a silver bullet that's going to solve this issue," Hill said. "Local people need to decide what is needed for their community. I think that the state should help provide some of the ideas and resources and possibly some of the funding."

Hill received endorsements from the Alabama Farmers Federation, also known as ALFA and the Business Council of Alabama's ProgressPAC.

Sybil Little has not previously run for any elected office. Little, who lives in Jack, an unincorporated community in Coffee County, said she was drawn to run for the state board of education because the quality of schools has deteriorated in recent years. "Alabama's schools used to be good," Little said. "Somehow or another that got lost."

Little wants to get rid of common core standards, saying she did not approve of the way math was taught to her then-fourth-grade daughter who was being told to count on her fingers. The following year, she pulled her daughter out of public school in Coffee County and enrolled her in a homeschool program. She has found alternative curricula and standards that could replace Alabama's standards and is already using them with her daughter's education, she said.

Little said she also believes technology should be more readily available in classrooms and has found inexpensive ways to make that happen. She also champions schools helping students find federal financial aid and other scholarship opportunities for students to enroll in college while still in high school through dual enrollment programs.

On the issue of school safety, Little said it starts simply. "I believe they should start locking the doors, "she said. "When you're in the classroom, lock the classroom." She said her experience was that doors weren't locked in her children's schools.

John Taylor is a Dothan resident who grew up in Troy. Taylor said this is his first run for statewide office, having unsuccessfully run for the Dothan school board many years ago. Taylor left his job at a local radio station, where had spent 20 years working, to run the state board of education to avoid any conflict with ensuring the station provided equal time to all candidates.

Taylor called his bid for office a personal quest. "I know how important education can be in a child's life and what happens when they don't have it," Taylor said. All five of his children went through public schools, he said, and he and his wife stayed involved all along the way. "I look at my children and the successes in their life, and I know I know that it's because they had parents that were involved."

"The theme of my campaign," Taylor said, "has been no more common core." He said replacing the standards won't be hard and doing it "piece by piece" is the best way, starting first with math. Taylor said Alabama's tumble down the national rankings started in 2010, when common core was first implemented.

When asked his thoughts about what needs to be done about school safety, Taylor said he has done a lot of research. "We need to make sure we are doing the things we already know how to do," he said, adding, "but we'll never make our schools 100 percent safe." Taylor said problems differ by school and system, and if the local school board isn't financially able to afford the solutions, there should be a "triggering mechanism" for the state to partner with local officials.

Current board member Betty Peters has endorsed Taylor to fill the board seat she is vacating. "He's been very involved at his children's school, and he is up to speed on all of the educational issues" she said. Peters has been a vocal opponent of the use of Common Core State Standards and said Taylor best represents her position.

Taylor has received endorsements from Stop Common Core in Alabama, an advocacy group that wants common core standards removed from public schools and the Alabama Republican Assembly, a grassroots organization to advance conservative candidates and causes in the Republican Party.

Tracie West is currently the President of the Auburn City Board of Education. She has been appointed to the board twice, serving concurrent five-year terms. West lives in Auburn and is a realtor. She ran for a city council position years ago while serving on the Auburn Chamber of Commerce but was not elected. This is her first run for statewide office.

West said she chose to run for a board seat after concerns that the current state board of education wasn't making decisions in the best interests of the students in the systems in District 2 and across the state. "They have not worked well together," West said. "I felt like with my nine years of experience at the local level and being a currently sitting school board member, I have the skills to bring that team approach to the state level." West said her local board is grappling with many of the same current issues the state board is, and she is prepared to bring that experience to work on the state level.

West said it's time to listen to people in the schools and on the local level and give them relief from regulations. "It's time to strip away a lot of the local hoops they have to jump through," she said, "and let them teach."

On the issue of school safety, West said Auburn continually evaluates their plans and that's what the state needs to be doing. "People that want to do children harm won't stop working to do that," she said, so adjustments must continually be considered. West said hardening schools is part of that solution, and her district is working to ensure all buildings, including the older ones, are sufficiently hardened.

West received an endorsement from the Alabama Association of Realtors.

DISTRICT 8

Rich McAdams was elected twice to serve two six-year terms on the Madison County school board, from 2000 until 2012, but this is his first run for statewide office. He was elected locally for the Madison County Republican Executive Committee in 2014 and is unopposed for this cycle, he said.

McAdams, a Hazel Green resident, said he is running for the state board seat for a simple reason: "Because I've seen the tremendous impact education can have on a kid (me) and a family." McAdams said a teacher took interest in his education, pushing him along the way, and because of that, he received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which changed his life and changed the trajectory of his entire family. He founded a cybersecurity company, ReliaONE, Inc., that provides cybersecurity services to the federal government and other companies.

Two current issues influenced him as well, he said. The first is the board itself, he said. "The board appears to have a lot of infighting both internally and with the state legislature," McAdams said, adding that education is too important for constant arguing among those making the rules.

Concern over selecting a new standardized test is the other issue, he said. Dropping the ACT Aspire, using Scantron as a temporary fill-in, he said, and then switching to a third test in a short time makes it hard to compare results year by year. McAdams said he wants to get the right test in place and keep it for at least six years.

Regarding school safety, he said, there is no one-size-fits-all solution that should be pushed on school systems because superintendents and principals are in the best position to know what is needed. "We need to come up with some net new funding specifically for safety," he said, "and then let the individual school systems determine how best to put that funding to work."

McAdams has received endorsements from ALFA, Manufacture Alabama, and the Business Council of Alabama's ProgressPAC.

Wayne Reynolds served in education nearly 30 years, and said he considers himself an educator and a businessman. Reynolds lives in Athens and currently serves as the Chief Financial Officer and National Treasurer of Vietnam Veterans of America and is in his 19th year as president of the Alabama State Council of Vietnam Veterans. He also currently serves in elected positions on the Alabama Republican State Executive Committee and the Limestone County Republican Executive Committee.

Reynolds was the superintendent in Athens City schools from 1989 until 1993 and before that was superintendent in Tarrant City schools, from 1984 until 1989. He said he is seeking the state board seat because "the state board is dysfunctional," pointing to the many changes in state superintendents since 2016. "I think that education in Alabama is in need of leadership," he said, and the state board "can and must change education."

"This is a burning opportunity to make a difference," Reynolds said. One of his concerns, he said, is the recently issued state report card. He said local systems near him earned "low Bs," which he said was "demoralizing and not representative of what really is happening there." He wants to review the criteria used to grade schools, he said.

On the issue of school safety, Reynolds said there are many things that can be done including hardening schools, using technology to create barriers to get into schools, and teaching teachers and students to report what may pose a danger in schools.

Reynolds has received endorsements from Stop Common Core in Alabama, an advocacy group that wants common core standards removed from public schools and the Alabama Republican Assembly, a grassroots organization to advance conservative candidates and causes in the Republican Party.
After spending more than two months in the DeKalb County jail in northeast Alabama, a Tennessee man escaped from work release today, authorities said.

Keith Amos Clark escaped work release in DeKalb County on May 29, 2018, the sheriff said.

The sheriff's office is asking the public for help finding Keith Amos Clark. The 43-year-old walked away from a work site at an agriculture center on McCurdy Avenue in Rainsville today, Sheriff Jimmy Harris said in a news release.

Clark is from Tracy City, a tiny Tennessee town about 75 miles north of the DeKalb County jail. He has been jailed since March 27 on charges of meth possession, receiving stolen property and attempting to elude law enforcement, records show.

Anyone with information about Clark is asked to call the sheriff's office at 256-845-3801.
Leaders over Mobile County's circuit court operations say they're on the brink of cutting services and laying off staff, move that ultimately will bog down litigation across the board, delaying "criminal cases, protection from abuse petitions, child support and custody matters and all other civil cases."

Presiding Judge John Lockett and Circuit Court Clerk JoJo Schwarzauer say the situation, driven by the impending loss of a temporary lifeline of local funding, could impact customer service by Friday as court staff quit answering the phone in order to keep up with work at hand. By the beginning next year, even the number of days available for jury trials will shrink, they warn.

Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Lyn Stuart.

The two lay blame at the feet of Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Lyn Stuart, who they say has allocated insufficient funding. Stuart and the state's Administrative Office of Courts (AOC), meanwhile, appear to have another vision for how to fix the state's circuit court needs. But it also appears that it'll be a few years before that plan bears fruit.

Lockett and Schwarzauer recently issued a joint notice to members of the Mobile Bar Association. "Despite the State Trial Court Budget receiving $2.5 million more than initially requested by the Chief Justice, we have been informed that none of this amount will be allocated to address the personnel shortages in our circuit," it begins.

State funding of courts has been an issue for years. In fall 2017, Lockett approached the Mobile County Commission, saying that the 13th circuit had reached a crisis point, and was about to begin cutting back on the staff who assist judges. The County Commission responded by providing about $400,000 in one-time supplemental funding.

"I committed to them that I would not come back," Lockett said Tuesday. He now has some regrets about making that promise, he said, but county commissioners were quite clear that they were providing a one-year Band-Aid and didn't want to fund a state function over the long term.

In their joint statement, Schwarzauer and Lockett said that Schwarzauer's office, which has a staff of 38, has 19 fewer people than it should. In addition to that ongoing shortfall, they said, judges will have to lay off 14 to 16 people from their separate staffs by September.

"Because we no longer have sufficient personnel to conduct our normal operations in a normal fashion, we are making some necessary changes to help the remaining clerks, the judges and judicial support staff process the thousands of filings made daily," they wrote. Some of those changes:

1. Effective June 1, 2018, the Circuit Clerk's Office will be closed from 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock p.m. every afternoon.

2. The Clerk's Office will no longer answer telephones until after 2:30 p.m. each day.

3. Effective January 1, 2019, the number of weeks available for jury trials will be reduced from 31 to 24. Each two-week jury term will be separated by at least one non-jury week, so the judges remaining staff can address the motions and pleadings which accumulated while the judges were in trial.

4. Due to the staff shortages, the ability to respond to incoming phone calls in the judge's offices will be severely limited. Attorneys and parties are encouraged to communicate with the courts through the AlaCourt system or through email.

"They gave her more money," Schwarzauer said of Stuart and the state legislature's 2018-19 budget. "She's just refusing to give it to Mobile."

State funding for the judicial system has risen from $118 million in 2017 to $127 million in 2019. But AOC Director Randy Helms said that doesn't mean there are available funds lying around. The $2.5 million referenced by Schwarzauer and Lockett is accounted for, he said. For one thing, circuits were allowed back in 2014 to hand out merit raises paid for with local funding. Now the state has taken on those salary increases, ensuring that the same employees don't see pay cuts as the local money dries up.

Helms said that the claim the 13th Circuit Court Clerk's office should have 19 more employees goes back to a National Center for State Courts survey on court resources. But the same survey found shortfalls in other counties, he said, and Mobile fares better than some by that yardstick. And he said that the AOC has a specific agreement to fund some court clerk positions in the 13th circuit, to the tune of about a quarter-million dollars a year. "We don't do that for any other circuit in the state," he said.

Stuart's office referred comment about the Lockett-Schwarzauer complaint to the AOC. But in her current re-election campaign Stuart has said that improving funding for the court system, and properly distributing its resources, are among her top priorities. Things are better than they have been, she said in a May interview, but more work is needed.

Stuart is looking to the state's Judicial Resource Allocation Commission, which she chairs, to do some of that work. The core idea is that Alabama has more judges than it needs in some counties (particularly Jefferson) and a shortfall in others -- so the solution is to move some judgeships around.

Alabama has 41 circuits, each of which covers between 1 and 5 counties. For each of them, the commission has calculated an "implied need" for judges, which can be compared to the actual number of judges to come up with a theoretical deficit or surplus. The commission's initial report, for fiscal 2017, paints a relatively benign picture: According to its numbers, the vast majority of the circuits, 33 of them, have a deficit or a surplus of less than one judge. As a whole, it says, the state's total of 146 circuit judges is only 10 short of the need.

But there are some catches. One is that the commission can't recommend moving anybody until it has three years' worth of data. Even then, it won't be as simple as picking up a Jefferson County judge and plunking him or her down in Mobile. Lockett said it'll more likely be a matter of waiting for a judge to retire in a "surplus" county, then hiring someone additional in a "deficit" county.

"There has to be a vacancy," said Helms. Stuart has estimated it'll take until 2030 to complete the realignment.

"It's a long-range project," said Lockett.

Yet the commission's figure do show immediate need. According to its report, Madison County has the worst deficit, with an implied need for 10.9 circuit judges and only seven serving. That deficit of 3.9 judges puts it ahead of Mobile's 3.14, the difference between the 11 judges the 13th circuit has and the 14.1 it needs.

Stuart has made some proposals that might ease the crunch a little faster in some counties. For example, if a county has a shortage of circuit judges but a surplus of district judges, the legislature might make it possible to convert a district judge to a circuit position. But Mobile and Madison are short on both, based on the commission's numbers.

Helms said using retired judges to supplement the full-time bench is another short-term measure.

Lockett said he suspects Stuart wasn't counties such as Mobile to "look to local solutions." But county support is a hard sell because "it's clearly a state obligation," he said. Raising court costs also seems like a dead end because they're "virtually uncollectible," he said.

Building your funding system "on the backs of criminal defendants" hasn't proven to be the most fiscally sound proposition, Lockett said. Schwarzauer likewise said that from her view "court costs are already outrageous" so there's little to be gained from that source.

Helms said that some other counties, including Madison and Baldwin, have in fact approved long-term supplemental funding for state courts. The AOC, meanwhile, is "doing the very best we can" to fix some long-term structural problems. Alabama's court system suffered substantial layoffs in 2003 and again in 2010, he said. Nobody wants a repeat.

Lockett and Schwarzauer said the 13th Circuit has a strategy that has worked well up until this latest funding crunch: The judges handle some of the heaviest caseloads in the state. Thanks to support staff such as judicial assistants and court attendants, they've been able to manage the load, maintaining a similarly high disposal rate.

If the staff go away, Lockett said, so do current judges' ability to keep up. With reinforcements years from arriving, it's potentially the worst of both worlds.

"What we don't understand is, the Administrative Office of Courts keeps telling us, 'Y'all need more judges,'" said Schwarzauer. "Our judges are fine. They can handle it."

"At one point I could help the judges, but I don't have enough people to run my own office," she said.

The bottom line, Lockett said, is that the bottom line has to change, for relief to come in the short term.

"Either people stop committing crimes and filing civil claims," he said, "or we find more money."
Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens is resigning over allegations of sexual misconduct and a felony charge related to possible campaign finance violations.

Greitens, a 44-year-old Republican, was charged with felony invasion of privacy charges in in February after taking a nude photo of a woman without her consent. A state judge withdrew that charge but he also was indicted with misusing his charity's donor list to raise money for his 2016 gubernatorial campaign.

A state House committee was currently considering whether to pursue impeachment proceedings against him. The resignation is effective at the end of the day Friday, Greitens said, adding that he denies the charges.

"I know, and people of good faith know that I am not perfect, but I have not broken any laws or committed any offense worthy of this treatment," he said.

Greitens admitted in January he'd had an affair with his hair stylist in 2015 but denied any criminal wrongdoing or blackmail. The woman's ex-husband told the network Greitens threatened her with photos taken during their encounter to keep the affair hidden.

In 2017, Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, also a Republican, resigned from office as part of plea deal related to campaign finance and ethics violations that emerged during an investigation into an extramarital relationship the married governor had with an adviser. Details of that relationship emerged after Gov. Bentley's then-wife recorded an intimate phone conversation between the two.
Publix has halted political contributions in the wake of complaints and calls for a boycott from a survivor of the Parkland high school massacre.

In a statement, the Lakeland, Florida-based grocery chain said it regretted that its contributions "have led to a divide in our community."

"We did not intend to put our associates and the customers they serve in the middle of a political debate. At the same time, we remain committed to maintaining a welcoming shopping environment for our customers. We would never knowingly disappoint our customers or the communities we serve.

"As a result, we decided earlier last week to suspend corporate-funded political contributions as we re-evaluate our giving processes," the company said.

The suspension comes after David Hogg, a student activist and survivor of the Feb. 14 shooting that killed 17 people, urged people to stop shopping at Publix after it donated to Florida gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam. Putnam, a self-described "NRA sellout" has received top ratings from the gun rights group.

Hogg called for a "die-in" at Publix grocery stores to protest the donations.

The Publix #NoNRASellout protest began in the early morning hours. Survivors and family of victims chalked outlines of bodies in the Parkland @Publix parking lot to deliver the message that the NRA and their enablers are blocking rational gun policy. #NoNRAMoney pic.twitter.com/UOOAVEV4yT  NoNRAMoney (@noNRAmoney) May 25, 2018

The bond that good trouble and love creates will never be broken by hate and violence. #GoodTrouble #TYPWW pic.twitter.com/lnnFU9Dmf5  David Hogg (@davidhogg111) May 26, 2018

Publix gave Putnam, currently the Florida Secretary of Agriculture, some $670,000 over the last three years, according to the Tamp Bay Tribune.
The day after an assassin's bullet crashed through Robert Kennedy's skull, President Lyndon B. Johnson wrote a letter to Congress.

"Let us now spell out our grief in constructive action," the president urged in a message on June 6, 1968. Johnson decried the availability of arms to the mentally ill. And he lamented "mail-order murder," which had allowed Lee Harvey Oswald five years earlier to purchase a $19.95 rifle from a Chicago store and train its sights on Robert Kennedy's brother John as he rode through Dallas in his presidential motorcade:

"So today, I call upon the Congress in the name of sanity, in the name of safety - and in the name of an aroused nation - to give America the Gun Control Law it needs," Johnson wrote.

In private, the president spoke with still greater urgency, calling his aides into the White House.

"We have only two weeks, maybe only 10 days," Joseph Califano, his chief assistant for domestic policy, recalled the president telling them. "We've got to beat the NRA into the offices of members of Congress."

Johnson was practiced in the art of carving political advantage out of chaos. Five days after President John F. Kennedy's death, he urged the "earliest possible passage of the civil rights bill" and got it seven months later. He used the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination to push through the Fair Housing Act. Now, the death of the upstart young senator who had risen to be Johnson's political rival presented another opportunity to advance his legislative agenda.

But gun control was not a straightforward case of righting old injustices. It tapped into the social turmoil of the 1960s, exposing cultural and political divides that cut across class and race, and rural and urban ways of life, often pitting members of the same party against one another. It reached deep into the country's historical fears of slave insurrections, as black activists sought their own right to bear arms. It stoked worries about rising crime rates, leading some to demand greater restrictions on weapons, while others sought safety by arming themselves. And it set the stage for the transformation of the National Rifle Association from a politically diverse group of sportsmen into a powerful lobby that would help dictate the terms of political debate for the following 50 years.

"1968 was a period of anxiety, with racial unrest and discord and rising crime framing the gun debate," says Kyle Longley, the author of "LBJ's 1968" and a professor of history and politics at Arizona State University. "All this resonates today."

Former NRA president David Keene says that "it was the turning point," producing the "most restrictive piece of Second Amendment legislation ever passed" and awakening concerns among gun owners that liberal politicians were trying to disarm them.

- - -

Not since the 1930s had the federal government tried to control its citizens' use of guns. The bloody rampages by outlaws such as Bonnie and Clyde and the henchmen of Al Capone prompted President Franklin D. Roosevelt to promote a "New Deal for Crime" and to sign legislation that imposed stiff taxes on sawed-off shotguns and other gangster weapons, and required gunmakers and sellers to register with the government.

The NRA, founded in 1871 by former Civil War officers who wanted to improve the shooting skills of recruits, endorsed the measure. "I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons," said then-President Karl Telford Frederick, an Olympic marksman. "I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses."

The '60s changed all that.

A new generation of buyers sought guns for self-defense more than sport.

At the same time, John F. Kennedy's assassination exposed the ease of acquiring high-powered weapons across state lines, spurring attempts at federal rather than state regulation.

The American Bar Association was unsure whether that would violate the Second Amendment. In 1965, its delegates invited the NRA's executive vice president, Franklin Orth, to debate Joseph Tydings, D, Maryland's junior senator and a hunter. Tydings's argument - that such federal measures were neither unconstitutional nor overly restrictive - won them over by a vote of 184 to 26.

But nothing about the politics of gun control was simple, least of all its intersection with race relations.

In a July 1966 telephone conversation, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley complained to Johnson about the country's descent into "lawlessness and disorder," railing against King's civil rights tactics and the rise in gang violence.

"You've got people out there, especially the nonwhites, are buying guns right and left. You got guns and rifles and pistols and everything else," Daley said. "There's no registration. There isn't a damn thing."

That August, a white student named Charles Whitman sprayed bullets from his perch in a campus clock tower in Johnson's home state of Texas, killing more than a dozen people.

Across the country, in California, when the Black Panthers asserted their right to armed self-defense by carrying rifles into the statehouse, Gov. Ronald Reagan signed the 1967 Mulford Act, banning open carry. "There's no reason why on the street today a citizen should be carrying loaded weapons," the Republican said.

The early months of 1968 brought political upheaval. After the New Hampshire primary - in which Richard M. Nixon dominated the Republican ticket and Sen. Eugene McCarthy, D-Minn., exposed Democrats' dismay over the Vietnam War by taking 42 percent of the vote - Robert Kennedy announced his candidacy: "It is now unmistakably clear that we can change these disastrous, divisive policies only by changing the men who are now making them."

The embattled Johnson decided to end his reelection bid, devoting his remaining months in office to managing a country descending into disarray, with gang warfare, student uprisings and the slayings of King in April and then Robert Kennedy two months later.

Congress passed a crime bill the day Kennedy died, with provisions to prohibit interstate trade in handguns. It did not include a proposal Kennedy's brother Edward had put forward months before to control rifles and shotguns. The same day, Johnson sent his letter to Congress appealing for further action.

- - -

Tydings, the senator from Maryland and a close ally of Robert Kennedy, saw a broader opportunity. As a hunter who said he "grew up in a duck blind" with his father, former senator Millard Tydings, the younger Tydings felt he had some credibility among gun buffs. Now he was willing to use it. On a sweltering Sunday morning, the day after Kennedy's funeral, Tydings took his dead friend's place on "Meet the Press." It was time, he said, to register all guns and license their owners.

"A person who is an alcoholic, who has a record of conviction involved in riots or a felony, they shouldn't be permitted to own a gun," he told the TV audience.

The response was overwhelming, Joseph Tydings, 90, recalled in a recent interview. The NRA offices were picketed, and members of Congress inundated with pro-gun-control letters.

But the outrage waned quickly. The NRA began calling on its members to write to their representatives, with its president arguing that the rights of sportsmen "is in the greatest possible jeopardy."

One senator said that his mail changed from 60 percent in favor of stronger gun-control laws in the week after Robert Kennedy's death to 80 percent against two weeks later, according to Congressional Quarterly.

Even as public support was waning, Tydings appealed to the president. On June 19, his assistant placed a call to the White House, and the switchboard inadvertently put it through to Johnson while he was in a meeting.

Their exchange was brusque.

"I now think that there's an opportunity with your leadership and for a historic breakthrough in this whole field . . . to do the whole job - that is to protect the people with gun registration and gun licensing," Tydings implored, according to a transcript.

The president made it clear he had more pressing concerns.

But Tydings followed up with a letter. On June 24, Johnson, who was not happy with the crime bill he had just signed, wrote back. He was ready to join Tydings's request for licensing and regulation. The president escalated his demands of Congress.

- - -

It proved to be a step too far.

Legislation soon bogged down in the Senate - sunk, Califano says, by Tydings's refusal to compromise. The president, ever the pragmatist, grew impatient.

The many delays and defeats also reflected the turmoil of the times. Edward Kennedy, still mourning his brother, was absent from key votes. The Republicans whom Tydings won over didn't compensate for the Southern Democrats who opposed him.

Senators postponed action until after a summer that erupted in further indications that authorities were losing control. Outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, police and National Guardsmen bludgeoned and tear-gassed antiwar protesters; inside, the Democratic Party itself was riven over Vietnam, with Johnson's pro-war vice president, Hubert Humphrey, beating McCarthy to the nomination.

When Congress returned from recess, the Senate spent several days in debate before approving a watered-down bill that put a stop to interstate and mail-order sales of firearms and ammunition and limited their availability to minors. But there was no deal on licensing or registration.

The NRA was split. In the American Rifleman - the very magazine in which Oswald had spotted an ad for the rifle he used to kill President Kennedy - Orth gave the legislation grudging approval: "The measure as a whole appears to be one that the sportsmen of America can live with."

Others, who soon held sway, felt threatened. "The real goal was the confiscation of firearms," Keene says today.

The growing political influence of the group was also raising questions. In October, the Justice Department requested that the FBI investigate the NRA's lobbying activities, which some politicians complained overstepped its tax-exempt educational status.

Later that month, on Oct. 22, Califano stood in the Cabinet Room watching Johnson give "the angriest signing statement I can remember." The president stared down at the lectern as he read, raising his head in anger as he lamented the security the bill did not provide to a country that now had "more firearms than families."

"If guns are to be kept out of the hands of the criminal, and out of the hands of the insane, and out of the hands of the irresponsible, then we just must have licensing," Johnson read. "If the criminal with a gun is to be tracked down quickly, then we must have registration in this country."

The president turned his anger on the NRA. "The voices that blocked these safeguards were not the voices of an aroused nation," he said, echoing the phrase he used four months earlier when Robert Kennedy was killed. "They were the voices of a powerful lobby, a gun lobby, that has prevailed for the moment in an election year."

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Johnson could not have anticipated how powerfully and how far beyond 1968 those voices would prevail. Nor could he have known how the United States' arsenal of firearms would swell, with the per capita count roughly doubling to one gun per person today, or how the provisions of his weakened bill would be rolled back in years to come.

Two weeks after the signing, on Nov. 5, Nixon won the presidential election, crystallizing the anxieties of the times in his promise to restore law and order.

In December, FBI documents show, Orth registered the NRA as a lobbying group - a tacit acknowledgment of its recent work and future aims, as it moved swiftly to create a lobbying branch, one that would change politics for the next half-century.

The political potential of the gun lobby became clear in 1970 when Tydings made a bid for reelection.

The Maryland Democrat was considered a shoo-in, although signs of opposition began appearing on brightly colored pro-gun bumper stickers in rural areas. On Election Day, Keene, then a Nixon staffer, was following returns in the White House when somebody put a call through to see how things were going in Maryland.

The report back was astonishing. Tydings was heading to defeat.

"Outside of Baltimore City," Keene recalled being told, "there were long lines of pickup trucks at polling places, with gun racks on the back."
There's currently no lieutenant governor in Alabama, but the state will elect a new one this year.

On April 10, 2017, Gov. Robert Bentley resigned amid scandal and Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey was sworn in as the new governor. That has left the office of lieutenant governor vacant for more than a year.

Three Republicans are vying for the office in the Tuesday, June 5 primary: Alabama Public Service Commission President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh; State Sen. Rusty Glover and State Rep. Will Ainsworth. If needed, a runoff would be held July 17. The winner will face the Democratic nominee, Will Boyd, in the general election on Nov. 6.

At a forum for Republican lieutenant governor candidates in March, Cavanaugh scooted up next to and chatted with Ainsworth's six-year-old daughter, Addie, like they were pals.

That didn't stop Ainsworth from ripping into Cavanaugh once the discussion started.

"She went from the governor's cabinet right to lobbying," Ainsworth said of Cavanaugh, decrying the "revolving door" from government positions into lobbying. Ainsworth has a TV commercial that also takes aim at Cavanaugh.

"We've got to have leaders who serve with integrity," Ainsworth said at the forum in Vestavia Hills. He called for term limits. "People are ready for a change," he said. "I'm from the private sector."

In response to school security concerns, Ainsworth introduced a bill proposing that teachers be armed.

Ainsworth pledged his admiration for President Trump. "I love Donald Trump," he said. "I love the fact he's wanting to drain the swamp."

Cavanaugh released a statement today noting that Ainsworth supported Sen. Marco Rubio for president in 2016 and called Trump "a con artist" during the campaign.

At the forum, Cavanaugh recited her campaign mantra of "jobs, jobs, jobs." She said she turned down many of the perks of her office and decreased staff from 119 down to 72. "I refused a state car," she said. "What I wanted to do is right-size. We need to cut the fat."

Cavanaugh said that when she takes her daughter to school, they have a prayer before she gets out of the car. "We've allowed the godless secular liberals to take God out of our schools," she said.

Glover said the office of lieutenant governor is extremely important. "The lieutenant governor presides over the senate, assigns bills and approves travel for legislators," he said. "It's very important that we take a serious look at this race."

Glover said he was a school teacher for 25 years, teaching 11th grade history, and noticed that school textbooks were becoming "left-leaning" in the 1990s, going away from a "conservative, patriotic perspective."

Boyd, the Democratic nominee, doesn't have a primary opponent, so he's been watching the Republican race to see who he'll face in November.

"I regret the fact that races have to get ugly and come down to who has the biggest Bible and who has the biggest gun," said Boyd, pastor of St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Florence, who lost to U.S. Sen. Doug Jones in the Democratic primary senate special election last year. "It should be about what we can do for Alabama."

Campaign donations in this lieutenant governor's race have reached more than $2.4 million, more than double the total for the office in the whole 2014 elections cycle, according to the Alabama Secretary of State's office.

Will Ainsworth (R)

Age: 37

Hometown: Boaz

Family: Wife Kendall, three children

Present job: Representative, Alabama House District 27; owner Dream Ranch hunting and fishing resort in Guntersville

Political experience: Elected to the Alabama House in 2014

Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh (R)

Age: 52

Hometown: Montgomery

Family: Husband Jeff, three children

Present job: President of the Alabama Public Service Commission; co-owner, Cavanaugh Bradley Animal Hospital

Political experience: Senior advisor to former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley; staffer for former U.S. Rep. Sonny Callahan, worked for Republican National Committee in Washington, D.C..; first female chairman of the Alabama Republican Party

Rusty Glover (R)

Age: 52

Hometown: Mobile

Family: Wife Connie, two children

Present job: Senator, Alabama Senate District 34; retired high school teacher

Political experience: Elected to the Alabama Senate in 2006; elected to the Alabama House of Representatives (District 102) in 2002

Will Boyd (D)

Age: 46

Hometown: Florence

Family: Wife, Vida, three children

Present job: Pastor, St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church

Political experience: City Council, Greenville, Ill., 2009-11; chairman, Lauderdale County Democratic Executive Committee, 2017-present
At this point in the election cycle, it's hard to sort through the candidates and find many appreciable differences heading into the primary on June 5th. All the candidates have done polling. They know what Alabama likes, and they're trying to dish it out by the truckload.

Here are a couple of reasons to vote for and one reason to vote against each of the candidates in the Republican gubernatorial primary:

Kay Ivey

#1: None of the allegations leveled against Ivey have anything to do with corruption. During a time when Alabamians need confidence in their governor, Ivey has proven character during her tenure in Montgomery. That's no small task, and it's a reason to support her.

#2: Business-class Republicans love Ivey and most of the grassroots conservatives get along with her just fine. Combined with relatively smooth sailing so far as Alabama's head of state, she's going to be a tough candidate to beat.

Against: Ivey hasn't had so much as a swift breeze to challenge her so far in the Republican primary. She's ducked debates, stuck to stump speeches and has an agenda that's about as thin as onionskin. It's the prescription for victory straight from her political handlers, and she isn't going against them. Leaders show up regardless of politics. Ivey hasn't.

Tommy Battle

#1: He's overseen real growth during his tenure as mayor of Huntsville including major investments by Polaris Industries, GE Aviation and Remington. Of the four large metropolitan areas in the state, Metro Huntsville is the only one rapidly growing--up nine percent since 2010. Alabama needs to capture that kind of growth statewide. The evidence suggests Battle is the best candidate to make that happen.

#2: It's hard to run a campaign about being a politician who simply ensures that government runs well without much fanfare. Battle is clearly a competent administrator and a pragmatic politician. He's not going to make extreme promises, and he realizes the importance of reasonable public investments in items like infrastructure.

Against: Battle's apparent willingness to raise taxes is his political weakness. In a climate where Alabamians expect their politicians to exercise their God-given Second Amendment right to shoot tax increases on sight, Battle refuses to swear off tax increases as a policy tool. In every other corner of the nation, he's a dyed-in-the-wool conservative. Expect a swath of Republican primary voters to label his pragmatic approach as evidence of North Alabama big government liberalism.

Scott Dawson

#1: This is the perfect political climate for populist political outsiders. Dawson fits that bill, and he has spent more time traveling across Alabama than any other candidate in the race. The evangelist turned aspiring-politician doesn't want people of faith to stay on the political sidelines. He's also banking they show up at the polls.

#2: Dawson is quick on his feet, but knows when to ask for help. Credit his years of public speaking, but he's quite comfortable in the spotlight. He also readily admits that he's going to build a team capable of addressing the state's challenges rather than trying to wing it himself. That's encouraging.

Against: After Dawson attacked Ivey for administering a grant to a questionable LGBTQ non-profit, retiring State Representative Patricia Todd escalated the barb by calling for Ivey to be outed as a lesbian. The whole incident left the impression that either Dawson is more politically Machiavellian than he portrays, or his political naivete is a liability.

Bill Hightower:

#1: Bill Hightower is the best public policy thinker in the gubernatorial field. Just check out his website, and you'll see more ideas than several of the other candidates combined. Policy doesn't usually win elections, but it's important to solve problems that have languished in Alabama for far too long. It also means he's willing to challenge Alabama's political power structure that seems to rather enjoy the status quo.

#2: Hightower brings global business experience to the table. He worked in strategy and planning for Emerson Electric in St. Louis and global acquisitions with Eaton Corp. in Pittsburgh. That's helpful in recruiting business to Alabama and generally understanding the competitive landscape among the states.

Against: Hightower is quite polished in his delivery, dress and mannerisms. In most political arenas, that's a positive. In Alabama, it's a liability. In a race where Kay Ivey reminds everyone of his or her favorite southern grandmother, Hightower feels like a corporate executive. If he could credibly rock a cutoff Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirt and jean shorts, he'd see at least a five-point jump in the polls.

Republicans have a good a field of candidates who could capably serve as Alabama's governor. Each brings a different mix of strengths to the ballot box. If none of the candidates receive a majority on June 5, the top two candidates head to a runoff on July 17.

Cameron Smith is a regular columnist for Al.com.
Second-round showdown between Ivan Duque and Gustavo Petro will likely impact a still fragile peace agreement with the FARC.

If you were once an M-19 Marxist rebel and a fan of Venezuelas deceased populist leader Hugo Chavez, it would be difficult as an elected president to convince moderate Colombians that you would not be a threat to Colombias political and economic stability.

It is precisely that fear factor, aggressively promoted by right-wing opponents, that left-wing presidential candidate Gustavo Petro must overcome before runoff elections on June 17.

And he is wasting no time.

Speaking before a large crowd of supporters on Sunday, he said he had no intention of taking from the rich to give to the poor.

No, I want to make the poor rich, to allow them to become part of the middle class that should be the majority, not the minority, Petro declared.

Petro will have an uphill battle in trying to win over votes that went to the political centre, especially to Sergio Fajardo, the centre-left Progressive Party candidate and former governor of Antioquia State, who narrowly came in second place to Petro.

I think that Petros programme is not a left-wing programme, Liberal Party politician Jaime Castro said.

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It is fundamentally a populist one, he added.

Some consider him a left-wing politician, because he was an urban guerrilla, and because for a while he was a member of the left-wing party, Democratic Pole. But today the essence of his campaign is imminently populist.

Can Ivan Duque win?

Conservative candidate Ivan Duque, who won 39 percent of the votes against Petros 25 percent, still has to fight to make it past the finish line first in the runoff.

He has little political experience and is widely seen as the stand-in for Colombias still popular, but controversial former right-wing President Alvaro Uribe.

He favours forcibly eradicating coca crops and opposes abortion and same-sex marriage. But most of all, he wants to alter the landmark peace agreement signed between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels in 2016, that put an end to half a century of civil conflict.

Its not true that I want to destroy the agreement. But we cant let the rebel kingpins make a laughing stock of our democracy and our laws. They must be held accountable for crimes against humanity and serve prison terms. Otherwise, there will never be peace in Colombia, Duque told me.

Weakness of traditional political parties

The first round of Colombias elections underscored the weakness of Colombias traditional political parties.

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Their candidates scored very poorly, defying the old maxim that their political machinery could always be counted on to get out the vote.

Still, Duque represents a regression to the staunchly anti-labour, anti-left wing and pro-big business policies of Alvaro Uribe, despite all of his efforts to paint himself as his own man.

His second round campaign is focusing on his vow to be the president who will unite all Colombians and end class warfare.

What is clear is that Colombians have narrowed down the choices for president to two candidates who represent radically different options for the countrys future.

However, many people who voted for neither one do have a third choice.

I dont want either of these two extremists to be my president, so in the runoff, I will cast a blank ballot, Juan Carlos Ramirez told me.
A vessel carrying Palestinian patients, students and activists attempted on Tuesday to break Israels imposed boundary off the coast of the Gaza Strip with the intention of reaching Limassol in southern Cyprus.

Israels crippling land, areal and naval siege on the enclave has trapped about two million Palestinians since 2006 and devastated its economy.

The group set sail in the morning, and by midday, it had crossed nine nautical miles (16km), with four Israeli warships flanking it. Shortly after, Israeli naval forces intercepted the vessel, which was searched and transferred to the Israeli port of Ashdod.

At least 17 people on board were detained and expected to be returned to Gaza.

Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Israel is obligated to permit fishing up to 20 nautical miles, but this has never been implemented.

The widest range Israel has allowed in the past 10 years is 12 nautical miles (22km), and at times, the limit was reduced to one nautical mile.

Boats are often limited to six nautical miles (11km), and Israeli forces regularly fire warning shots to boats attempting to breach it.

Tuesdays boat also carried protesters who had been wounded in the weeks-long demonstrations dubbed the Great March of Return along the fence with Israel. Hundreds of others boarded more than 30 boats in support of the main vessel, but did not cross the permitted boundary.

As documented in this series of photographs, the supporting boats, most of which were small fishing vessels, carried men and women mostly in their 20s and 30s who were determined to highlight Israels blockade.
When Mariam arrived in Mosul from Moscow in 2014, together with her husband and their kids, she could not imagine that one day she would spend months in prison and would have to answer the court on charges of being a terrorist.

I was thinking, as a Muslim, of spending a better life in an Islamic country like Iraq, Mariam said from the courts cell, holding her small child, Oussama.

Mariam is accused of being an ISIL member and risks spending the rest of her life in prison if convicted. She is not alone.

Up to 1,000 women accused of being ISIL members were detained in Iraq after the terrorist group was routed from the country. They are now being held accompanied by up to 820 infants, with some others yet to be born.

Most of the women had been widowed by the war against ISIL. They all wait for their hearings in a country where the justice system is described by rights groups as fragile.
After US President Donald Trumps withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement, there has been much talk about the future of Irans economy. Some have speculated that the negative effect of Trumps decision on the oil markets may put the survival of Irans economy in doubt.

However, in order to make a realistic prediction about what will happen after the death of the deal, one would first need to examine what happened since its birth. The reality is that Iran gained almost nothing from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

The most important sanctions that were supposed to be lifted were financial ones. Not only did the US not lift the sanctions that it had committed to, but it also imposed new ones; from the visa waiver restrictions signed by President Barack Obama to the Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act which President Trump approved.

In other words, in clear violation of the deal, the US government continuously tried to deprive Iran from the privileges the JCPOA had promised. As a result, Irans economy continued to feel the impact of the sanctions and failed to enjoy the expected benefits of the deal over the past two years.

Although Iran sold more oil, access to the petrodollars was very limited even after the deal was implemented.

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhanis economic team believed that if they maximise the profits of Western companies in Iran, they would confront the possible re-imposition of sanctions. So, after the implementation of the JCPOA, they opened Irans market to the foreign goods and services, which not only hurt Iranian suppliers and caused stagnation, but also resulted in an increase of 50 percent in the negative trade balance between Iran and its top 20 trade partners from 2016 to 2017.

Capital outflow surpassed inflow and last year Iran had a capital account deficit of $11bn. That balance used to be positive before the deal. These developments resulted in a steep slide in its currency value, something President Rouhani promised to control after the implementation of the JCPOA. Irans short-term foreign debt increased from $777m to close to $3.7bn by the end of 2017.

Given these deal-related complications, one can venture to say that with the death of the JCPOA, some of Irans macroeconomic problems will be solved.

Trumps withdrawal from the nuclear deal will unite the political forces inside Iran and encourage them to follow a different path to run the economy and solve its current problems. The demise of the deal and its economic implications proved to Iranians that the US is not worthy of their trust, that it is an enemy to Iran, and that they can never play a win-win game with it. The fate of the deal also showed that integration into the Western economy will not help Irans economic development, and may even hinder it.

President Rouhanis government will now focus on domestic measures to make sanctions ineffective. Some measures to insulate the economy against foreign shocks are already in place and more will be implemented. According to some reports, two-thirds of Iranian imports are goods that are similar to ones that are being produced at home.

Iran spends almost $30bn annually to import these similar goods (last year Iran imported $45bn worth of goods in total). Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has suggested a ban on such imports, which, if implemented, will lead to a substantial shift in the countrys trade balance. The effects of such a measure will be market expansion for domestic suppliers, decrease in unemployment rate, increase in the value of the Iranian currency, and reduction in oil revenue dependency.

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A range of tax measures in pursuit of the objectives outlined by the supreme leader to free the budget from dependence on oil revenues are also under consideration. Masoud Nili, an economic adviser to President Rouhani recently reported that the top 10 percent of Iranian society pay just three percent of all income taxes, while in the US the top 10 percent pay more than 70 percent of the total income taxes. According to Nili, if the share of the top 10 percent in total income taxes should increase.

In addition to the aforementioned trade and tax measures, some financial measures are also needed to make the US sanctions ineffective. The ability of the US to impose financial sanctions results largely from the integration of banking systems, whereby banks depend on a global network to borrow, lend, exchange, invest, and clear funds. The more Iran relies on these integrated systems, the more it will become vulnerable to sanctions and vice versa.

Tehran has already started to walk away from this US-dominated system. Iran formally signed its first currency swap deal with Turkey last October, and in April 2018 the two countries issued their first local currency letters of credit. Irans other main trade partners, such as China, are also ready to sign currency swap agreements which will de-dollar their trade.

Iran is a resource-abundant country and has gone a long way towards development after the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Of course, development is different from construction. You can have an active construction sector run by foreign companies and funded by petrodollars, but this wont guarantee development. A home-grown construction sector which meets the infrastructure and housing needs of the population is what indicates real development. And Iran very much has that.

This is what Jack Straw, a former British foreign secretary, observed in Iran when he visited in January 2014, when the country was still under the so-called crippling sanctions:

As the British Parliamentary delegation was driven early last week from Khomeini Airport to our hotel in downtown Tehran, I was struck by the amount of infrastructure building there had been in the nine years since Id last visited, with new motorways and new metro lines under construction. Sanctions notwithstanding, Tehran looks and feels these days more like Madrid or Athens than it does, say, Mumbai or Cairo.

Iran has proven that it has the physical and human resources to cope on its own, with and despite a hostile US.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial stance.
At least nine people were killed after security forces raided homes in Charparhar district.

Afghan forces killed nine people in an operation that went wrong in Afghanistans eastern Nangarhar province.

An elite unit of the Afghan special forces barged into several houses and conducted raids in Charparhar district late on Monday. Eight other people were also wounded in the operation.

Eight of those killed were civilians and one was a local police commander, Attaullah Khoghyani, the provincial governors spokesman, told Al Jazeera.

Family members of Senate chairman Fazal Hadi Muslimyar were among the dead, Khoghyani said.

Inamullah Miakhial, spokesman for Nangarhars regional hospital, told Al Jazeera a woman and a young girl were among the wounded.

Most of them who were killed are the victims of gunshot injuries, Miakhial said.

Opened fire





Eyewitnesses among the wounded said as the special forces soldiers approached their house, residents opened fire thinking the Taliban or Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) fighters were attacking them.

Last night the special forces attacked our district and some houses so residents opened fire as well, Ghulam Haider told Al Jazeera.

Everyone here wants to protect themselves because of the constant violence. Why did the special security forces attack houses of residents?

There was no immediate comment from the defence ministry.

An investigation was under way to determine the purpose of the operation and find out why the civilian casualties occurred, according to Khogyani.

Casualties rising

Civilians deaths are not uncommon in Afghanistan as fighting between the Taliban and security forces has intensified since the armed group announced its annual spring offensive last month.

In March, at least seven farmers were killed after Afghan forces carried out a raid on two villages in Chaparhar district. Two of those killed were 15 and 16 years old.

In April, rockets and heavy machine-gun fire from Afghan government helicopters killed and wounded at least 107 boys and men attending a religious ceremony near the northern city of Kunduz, a recent UN report said, underlining the risks of a new US-promoted strategy that has seen an increase in the use of Afghan air power.

The UN also expressed concern over the high number of casualties from air attacks even before the Dasht-i Archi incident, with 67 deaths and 75 injuries in the first three months of the year.

Violence has spread across Afghanistan in recent weeks with heavy fighting between security forces and the Taliban in the provinces of Badakhshan, Baghlan and Faryab in the north to Farah in the west.
Bujumbura officials quarantined the animals suspecting a subliminal message behind the gift.

Burundi has ordered the quarantine of 10 donkeys donated to a village in the East African country by France, sparking a debate if there was a subliminal message behind the gift.

The donkeys, bought in neighbouring Tanzania, were given to residents of a village in Gitega province as part of a project by a local NGO to help women and children transport agricultural products, water or wood.

However, a presidential adviser described the project as an insult to the nation.

Gabby Bugaga, spokesman for the Senate president, also wrote on Twitter the French were taking us for donkeys.

Be honest, is the donkey a symbol of a quality or a flaw, he wrote.

Donkeys are not indigenous to Burundi.

On Sunday, Agriculture Minister Deo Guide Rurema asked a local administrator to facilitate the immediate withdrawal of all donkeys that have been distributed  without respecting the technical procedure of the distribution of exotic animals.

Last Thursday, the day the project was inaugurated, French Ambassador Laurent Delahousse praised the introduction of the Land Cruiser of the animal kingdom to Burundi.

After the controversy, Delahousse said to his knowledge all procedures were respected.

A European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP news agency Burundi was hitting back at France over a statement it made criticising a referendum earlier this month. The vote reformed the constitution allowing President Pierre Nkurunziza to seek another two terms in office so he can potentially remain in power until 2034.

The diplomat said a similar project involving donkeys in Ruyigi province, financed by Belgium, had not been met with any problems.

Burundi was plunged into crisis in 2015 when Nkurunziza sought a third term in office, sparking protests and violence that killed at least 1,200 people and displaced 400,000 others.

The International Criminal Court has said it is investigating alleged state-sponsored crimes against humanity in the country.

In 2017, Burundi became the first nation to leave The Hague-based court.
Huge amounts of rain have already fallen on parts of Myanmar as an area of low pressure develops in the Bay of Bengal.

An area of low pressure in the northern Bay of Bengal is already bringing huge amounts of rain to the western part of Myanmar between Sittwe in the north, and Yangon in the south.

Some 228 millimetres of rain fell in Maubin in the 24 hours ending at about 00:00 GMT on Tuesday, and 77mm fell in Yangon.

The circulation may make landfall before it has time to be classified as a cyclone, but the rain will continue regardless.

The main focus of the rain will transfer northeastwards across the country, but in its wake, there will be further heavy and prolonged showers.

This may mark the real onset of the monsoon across Bangladesh and Myanmar. Rainfall across the region doubles between May and June.

Flooding from monsoon rain causes scores of deaths each monsoon season. As recently as 2015, 100 people died in the floods, and in 2016 more than 400,000 people were displaced by floodwaters.

The heaviest of the rain is not expected to affect the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh in the immediate future. For the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh, the monsoon season is a particularly worrying time.

The camps are often in the most flood-prone areas, and flimsy plastic sheeting and tents are vulnerable, both to heavy rain and strong winds.

In recent weeks, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has been supporting Bangladeshs largest non-governmental organisation BRAC in the training of 20,000 community outreach members in emergency preparedness.

As heavy rains and strong monsoon winds approach, it is critical that we stand firmly with the Rohingya refugees we serve, said Kevin J Allen, UNHCR Head of Operations based in Coxs Bazar.

It is equally important that we empower and train refugees to play their role in the response, working hand-in-hand with the national authorities, sister UN agencies and civil society.
AU and EU are urging an end to external interference in Somalias internal affairs by non-African actors.

The chairperson of the African Union (AU) Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, has expressed concern over increasing instances of interference by non-African actors in Somalias internal affairs.

During a meeting at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa on Sunday with Somali Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire, Faki said such actions threaten peace-building efforts in Somalia, according to a statement from the AU.

Without referring to specific countries, Faki urged all concerned external actors to refrain from any actions that might undermine Somalias progress, saying such action risks reversing the hard-won gains so far made in the country thanks to the sacrifices of African Union Mission in Somalia [AMISOM] forces and the Somali security forces.

Faki acknowledged the progress made by the Federal Government of Somalia, particularly the adoption of a Transition Plan, which provides for a gradual handover of security responsibility from AMISOM to the Somali Security Forces.

EU concerns

Similar concerns were raised in a two-day seminar by EU envoys in East Africa on Saturday, who voiced concern over the repercussions of Gulf crisis on Somalia.

The ongoing GCC crisis began almost a year ago when Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain cut diplomatic ties with Qatar over Dohas alleged support for terrorism, allegations Qatar vehemently denies.

Alexander Rondos, Europes special envoy to the region, said the fallout has had direct repercussions in the Horn of Africa where it has exacerbated already existing tensions, notably in Somalia.

Tensions have escalated steadily between Somalia and the UAE, which has sought to extend its influence there.

Although the two countries have been traditionally close, Mogadishus attempts to remain neutral over the Gulf divisions have not gone down well.

In April this year, the UAE ended support for both a military training programme and a hospital, which it ran in the Somali capital, Mogadishu.

Rondos said one of the EUs most important objectives is to make sure that East Africa is as well protected as it can be from what is a rapidly shifting geopolitical environment in the Gulf.
A boat carrying 25 Palestinians has set off from Gazas port with intention of reaching Cyprus, defying a 12-year siege.

Gaza, Palestine  A flotilla carrying at least 25 patients, students and activists have broken Israels imposed boundary off the coast of the Gaza Strip, the first time in more than a decade.

The group set sail on Tuesday morning from the besieged Gaza Strip, hoping to break Israels debilitating siege on the enclave that has trapped more than two million Palestinians since 2006.

By midday, the boat had crossed nine nautical miles (16km), with four Israeli warships flanking the vessel.

Were surrounded by Israeli warships to the left, the right, to our front and from behind. Were stuck in the middle, an activist on the flotilla told reporters.

Were all safe and request your prayers.

Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Israel is obligated to permit fishing up to 20 nautical miles, but this has never been implemented.

The widest range Israel has allowed in the past 10 years is 12 nautical miles (22km), and at times, the limit was reduced to one nautical mile.

Boats are often limited to six nautical miles (11km), and Israeli forces regularly fire warning shots to boats attempting to breach it.

The siege breaches our basic rights and dreams Zakaria Nabhan

Tuesdays flotilla carried patients, students, and protesters who had been injured in the weeks-long demonstrations dubbed The Great March of Return  all hoping to reach Limassol, Cyprus, which lies north of Gaza.

Organisers and authorities told Al Jazeera that all of those on board had valid passports, with the injured having made arrangements to receive medical treatment in Turkey.

Hundreds of others boarded more than 30 boats in support of the main vessel, but said they would not cross the permitted boundary.

The boats, most of which are small fishing vessels, carried men and women mostly in their 20s and 30s. Some families said they showed up with luggage and passports, hoping to leave Gaza for good.

One of the injured in the Great March of Return walks along the Gazas seaport to watch the boats sail off [Hosam Salem/Al Jazeera]

Life is unbearable

For 50-year-old Mona al-Araysha who was among the crowds hoping to leave Gaza, life in the enclave had become unbearable.

The mother of five said residents were yearning for a way out.

We cant just stay quiet, we have to be proactive and this is just one way of showing the world what we can do, she told Al Jazeera prior to the boat setting sail.

Following the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza, three of al-Arayshas children fled to Europe via the Mediterranean.

She had hoped to follow in their footsteps with her two youngest children.

Zakaria Nabhan, from al-Breij, had also hoped to board one of the boats, hoping to receive treatment after being shot in the knee.

Nabhan was shot by Israeli forces on March 30, while he was protesting near the fence with Israel as part of the weeklong demonstrations.

He is now on crutches and said he needed urgent medical attention, like thousands of others trapped inside the strip.

The siege breaches our basic rights and dreams, Nabhan, who also wishes to leave in order to continue his education, told Al Jazeera prior to the main vessel setting sail.

We need border crossings to leave, we need functioning hospitals and access to medicine.

Nabhan and al-Araysha were not on the main vessel, but had hoped to get on one of the supporting boats.

The move coincides with the eighth anniversary of Israels attack on the Turkish Mavi Marmara flotilla, which killed nine Turkish nationals while the boat was sailing in international waters.

Gazas coastguard was at the scene on Tuesday managing the crowds and instructed the vessels not to cross the permitted nautical boundary fearing an Israeli reaction.

Israeli forces have over the past few weeks, attacked two boats which the organising committee had intended to use for the initiative.

In 2016, there were 126 incidents in which the Israeli navy fired at Palestinian fishermen and their boats. That year, 12 fishermen were injured, and 121 were detained, according to the Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR).

Earlier this year, Israeli forces opened fire at Ismail Saleh Abu Riyala, an 18-year-old fisherman as he was preparing for a night of fishing.

Riyala was sailing three nautical miles from Gazas shore when Israeli forces opened heavy fire at it.

Break the siege

Before the boats took off on Tuesday, an opening ceremonial event was held by members of the flotillas organising committee, who are also involved in the March of Return campaign.

As a show of support, members from various factions including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Islamic Jihad movement, and Hamas  the group that governs the Gaza Strip  attended the opening event.





They told hundreds of people near Gaza Citys port that the main objective of the voyage is to break the siege until we achieve our right of return.

Ramadan al-Hayek, a 30-year-old activist, told Al Jazeera Israels signs of aggression towards the Palestinian people show no signs of ending right now.

Today, the passengers, including patients, injured people and students are going to convey their message of being Palestinian in the Gaza Strip  that we want freedom, al-Hayek said.

They are expected to be attacked by Israeli [soldiers] but they are determined to reach Cyprus no matter the circumstances, he said.

Organisers have reiterated the voyage was a continuation of the March of Return, which began on March 30 with Palestinians rallying for the right of return for refugees to the homes and villages they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.

Since then, Israeli forces have killed at least 120 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded at least 13,000 others.

In 2007, following the election victory of Hamas and the groups assumption of control over the territory, Israel imposed a strict land, aerial and naval blockade on Gaza.

And in 2013, neighbouring Egypt, which has largely closed its border crossing with Gaza, blocked tunnels connecting Gaza with Egypts el-Arish, shutting off the only other route out of the strip.
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Vessel carrying Palestinian patients, students and activists was captured by Israeli warships and taken to Ashdod port.

Israeli naval forces have intercepted a Palestinian vessel hours after it sailed off the coast of the besieged Gaza Strip.

The boat, carrying patients, students and people wounded in recent mass protests, was transferred on Tuesday to the Israeli port of Ashdod, according to the Israeli army.

The 17 people on board were attempting to break an Israeli-imposed siege for the first time in more than a decade, and had set off with the intention of reaching Limassol, a coastal city in southern Cyprus.

The intercepted boat had crossed nine nautical miles (16km) before four Israeli warships flanked the vessel.





Under the Oslo Accords signed in 1993, Israel is obligated to permit fishing up to 20 nautical miles, but this has never been implemented.

The widest range Israel has allowed boats in the past 10 years is 12 nautical miles (22km), and at times, the limit was reduced to one nautical mile (1.85km).

Boats are often limited to six nautical miles (11km), and Israeli forces regularly fire warning shots to boats attempting to breach it.

Although hundreds of people boarded more than 30 fishing boats in support of the main vessel, they did not cross the six-nautical-mile permitted boundary, Ramadan al-Hayek, one of the organisers of the voyage, told Al Jazeera

Fifteen boats attempted to cross more than nine nautical miles (16.7km) but met open fire by Israeli forces. These boats sailed in a show of support and were not aiming to reach Cyprus, al Hayek added.

Organisers of the voyage, called Break the Siege committee, also told Al Jazeera the captured boat went as far as 14 nautical miles (26km) when Israeli forces started shooting towards the vessel.

They lost contact with those on board shortly after that.

Passengers had valid passports, with the wounded having made arrangements to receive medical treatment in Turkey prior to leaving Gazas seaport.

According to al-Hayek, 17 people were detained by Israeli forces in Ashdod.

Committee members said they were working with international agencies, including Human Rights Watch and The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), to ensure the wellbeing of the boats passengers and to hold Israel responsible for their safety.

Al-Hayek also said the committee would soon announce the launching of a second boat in response to Israels actions.

The Israeli military blamed Hamas, the party governing the Gaza Strip, for the naval breach.

In a series of posts on Twitter, it said the Palestinians will be returned to Gaza and warned the move would only harm residents of the strip.

It also said Israel would continue to enforce the blockade.

Moments ago, the Israeli Navy apprehended a Palestinian boat with approximately 17 Palestinians that attempted to breach the legal naval blockade. After a search of the boat and the Palestinians, the boat will be towed to the Israeli Navy base in Ashdod  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018

The IDF will continue to enforce the naval blockade and defend the maritime borders of Israel and its civilians  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018

Organisers reiterated that the voyage was a continuation of the Great March of Return, which began on March 30 with Palestinians rallying for the right of return for refugees to the homes and villages they were forcibly expelled from in 1948.

Since then, Israeli forces have killed at least 120 Palestinians in the coastal enclave and wounded at least 13,000 others.

Last week, the Palestinian government submitted a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the first time, calling on prosecutors to open an immediate investigation into what it called Israeli crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The United Nations repeatedly warned that the effects of the blockade could make Gaza uninhabitable in the next few years.

In 2007, following the election victory of Hamas and the groups assumption of control over the territory, Israel imposed a strict land, aerial and naval blockade on Gaza.

And in 2013, neighbouring Egypt, which has largely closed its border crossing with Gaza, blocked tunnels connecting Gaza with Egypts el-Arish, shutting off the only other route out of the strip.

With severe restrictions on access to basic services, Gaza  home to more than two million people  has been dubbed the worlds largest open-air prison.
Israels military has launched a series of air strikes on Palestinian positions in Gaza after a barrage of rocket fire  the biggest in years  from the Strip amid soaring frustration in the coastal enclave over a crippling 12-year Israeli-imposed siege.

Israeli warplanes on Tuesday hit more than 35 targets belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, according to Israels military. The strikes came after the Israeli army said Palestinian fighters were behind a barrage of projectiles fired from Gaza into southern Israel.

The firing of the rockets and mortars came as Islamic Jihad vowed to take revenge after a deadly attack against its members last week.

In a statement, the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said their joint response with dozens of rockets at the occupations military positions  is a declaration that these crimes cannot be tolerated in any way.

Al-Qassam Brigades and al-Quds Brigades blamed Israel for Israels aggression against our people which it described as an attempt to shift attention away from the crimes it carried out against our peaceful civilians.

Ismail Radwan, an offical of Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, told Al Jazeera that Israel had escalated tensions.

This escalation is very dangerous from the Zionist occupation and the occupation bares responsibility for this escalation and its ramifications, Radwan said.





The occupiers should know that the crimes will be responded to with resistance.

Since March 30, at least 121 unarmed Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in protests near the fence with Israel, in which they are demanding their right to return to the homes and lands their families were expelled from during the establishment of Israel.

There is a lot of frustration here that after more than two months of protests and more than 100 people killed Palestinians here are no closer to ending Israels blockade of Gaza, said Al Jazeeras Bernard Smith, reporting from Gaza city.

Several launches

Israeli officials said on Tuesday the militarys Iron Dome aerial defence system intercepted most of the 28 rockets and mortar rounds that were fired into Israel.

There were no reports of deaths on either side. The Israeli military said three soldiers suffered minor injuries.

Just hours after the Israeli strikes on Gaza, sirens were heard in southern Israel, the Israeli Haaretz daily reported. Israeli forces said on Twitter that it had intercepted several launches.

No country in the world would or should accept such threats to its civilian population. Neither do we, Emmanuel Nahshon, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, wrote on Twitter.

Gaza has been under a devastating Israeli-imposed blockade for the past 12 years, severely restricting access to everyday essentials and materials needed to maintain infrastructure.

On Tuesday, a group of Palestinians set sail from Gaza in an attempt to breach Israels naval blockade by boat.

The vessel, carrying patients needing medical care, students and job-seeking university graduates, was later captured by Israeli warships.

Zionist aggression

The latest tensions come a day after Israeli troops killed a Palestinian who allegedly approached Gazas border with Israel, and two days after Israeli tank fire killed three people in an attack on a military observation post belonging to Islamic Jihad fighters.

An Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza said on Tuesday that as long as there is occupation, resistance is a legitimate right for the Palestinian people.

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Israel keeps up with its aggression, we stick to the two options: popular protests and resistance responding to the Zionist aggression, said Khaled al-Batsh.

More than two million Palestinians are packed into the Gaza Strip, a narrow coastal enclave.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but, citing security concerns, maintains tight control of its land and sea borders, which has reduced its economy to a state of collapse.

Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza on its border.

Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians have been stalled since 2014 and Israeli settlements in occupied territory Palestinians seek for a state have expanded.

Gaza experienced its most significant conflict in 2014, when at least 2,251 Palestinians, most of whom were civilians, were killed. At least 66 Israeli soldiers and six civilians were also killed.

Whether the current escalation will mean a return to war for Gaza depends on the Israeli side, Mukhaimer Abu Saada, political science professor at Gazas Al Azhar University, told Al Jazeera.

If this Israeli retaliation will result in further death and bloodshed among the Palestinian people I think the Palestinian resistance groups will have no choice but to respond back to Israel, he added.

The coming hours and days are very critical and it will definitely decide whether we are approaching another military confrontation between Israel and Gaza.

The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Wednesday following a request by the United States for an urgent meeting.

The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, US Ambassador Nikki Haley said.
Analysts welcome peace talks but caution they could become empty promises to please the international community.

A historic moment. Thats how French President Emmanuel Macron described a summit on Tuesday between Libyas rival factions aimed at bringing peace and stability after nearly seven years of turmoil.

Meeting in Paris at Macrons behest, leaders from the rival Tripoli and Tobruk-based parliaments agreed to hold elections later this year.

But as cameras flashed around Elysee Palace, capturing Macrons handshakes with Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj and eastern-based renegade General Khalifa Haftar, others were less optimistic.

While the optics of this meeting are very encouraging, there is no breakthrough here, said Riccardo Fabiani, geopolitical analyst at UK-based Energy Aspects.

There is once again just a promise to solve the problems through dialogue and a timeframe that looks quite unrealistic, Fabiani added, noting that the two rivals attending the Paris summit only gave their vocal support to the political roadmap without signing any agreement.

Ahead of the meeting in the French capital, the International Crisis Group had also cautioned against rushing into an agreement.

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Reaching an accord could generate a brief moment of enthusiasm but risk being followed by recriminations when signatories  facing opposition by some of their allies back home  renege on their pledges, the group said on Monday.

The Paris meeting was attended by representatives from 20 countries, as well as from the United Nations, but was boycotted by some of western Libyas most powerful armed groups.

It ended with a fixed date for setting the constitutional basis and commitments to pass the necessary electoral laws by September 16, in order to then hold both parliamentary and presidential elections on December 10.

Armed factions unrepresented

Libya splintered into rival political and armed groupings after the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011.

It remains deeply divided between factions based in the east and west that back rival governments and parliaments.

Al-Sarraj is the head of the UN-backed, Tripoli-based Government of National Accord (GNA).

Haftar, head of the self-styled Libyan National Army (LNA), is the dominant figure for factions in eastern Libya that have rejected the GNAs authority, contributing to its failure to expand its authority in the capital and beyond.

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The oil-rich countrys troubles have been amplified by outside actors vying to extend their influence, with each side now counting on external powers to prop up their military capabilities.

This is not the first time figures from Libyas main rival camps have met  Macron hosted another meeting last July, while similar summits in Egypt, the UAE and elsewhere failed to produce any meaningful progress.

In September 2017, Ghassan Salame, the UNs Libya envoy, criticised the high number of talks taking place with regard to Libya.

There are six or seven different operations in front of Libyans eyes. Too many cooks spoil the broth, he said at the time.

It is one thing to get the main political leaders to agree to a roadmap and quite another to get the people who control the territory to support it. Riccardo Fabiani, political analyst

Ahead of the Paris meeting, a western Libya-based group of 13 military councils and brigades, loosely aligned with al-Sarrajs government, issued a statement denouncing the Paris summit, saying it did not represent their interests.

They called for real dialogue centred on the aspirations of Libyan society, as they announced western Libyas readiness to host such a meeting once the war is brought to an end.

Anas El Gomati, a Libyan political analyst and founder of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute, raised questions about the impact of the Paris meeting in the absence of many key players who constitute a significant pillar of Libyas power mosaic.

How is it some of the most powerful groups in Libya are not invested in the Paris meeting and what does it say about a deal reached in less than 24 hours? said El Gomati.

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In neighbouring Tunisia  where conditions were identified as more ripe for a less troubled transition in 2013  the deliberation process took an entire year and necessitated the intervention of the countrys powerful labour unions.

Fabiani agreed, saying the absence of powerful armed groups was a major setback in any attempt to forge a transition to democracy.

It is one thing to get the main political leaders to agree to a roadmap and quite another to get the people who control the territory [militias, municipalities, tribal and ethnic groups] to support it, he said.

Without the latter, the former is just an empty promise to please the international community.

After initial celebration, Libya splintered into rival political and armed groupings after the uprising that toppled Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 [File: AP]

While western-based rebels have consistently demanded that the military fall under the authorities of a civilian administration, recent developments and the bloc of 13s decision to opt out of the talks raise doubts over al-Sarrajs control of armed groups.

Over the weekend, Tripoli-based groups displaced Libyas Presidential Guard  which answers directly to al-Serraj  from strategic outposts, including the countrys shuttered international airport.

Meanwhile, Haftars recent hospitalisation and the wave of rumours it ignited  especially over his health  has led observers to question the LNAs cohesion as a force to be reckoned with since, they say, it mostly hinges on the commanders charisma and would be hard to replicate in case of a succession.

Stakes too high

Analysts said another key issue in the event of an election is whether the winner will accept an opposition that will work to replace them in a few a years, as per democratic norms and procedures, and vice versa.

If either side loses, there is no incentive here to force them to accept the result  and for the winning camp to avoid going after the losers, Fabiani said.

He says the same problems that have undermined peace attempts in the past are still there and this agreement is only an initial step forward, which in the end might not prove sufficient to resolving the crisis.

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For some like Jalel Harchaoui, an academic with a focus on Libya, the talks in Paris could have addressed more pressing issues, like the state of the economy and human rights abuses.

Theres a very serious monetary crisis in Libya and France went into the summit with the intention of bringing this up, he said.

They talked about the reunification of the central banks but didnt go into the details of it all, which suggests that France perhaps created too much work for itself.

For El Gomati, the summit simply duplicated efforts already under way by the UN to resolve the crisis.

There has been four years of attempted dialogue led by the international community and normally these things take a lot of time, he said.

This initiative is supposed to represent strong international will behind a peaceful transition of power, yet there has been no attempt to enforce an arms embargo that is essential to ripening Libyas political factions towards a peaceful settlement, added El Gomati.

How peaceful can Libyas elections be, given individuals and countries represented on the table in Paris continue to use or pour weapons into the country?
Representatives from 20 countries met in the French capital to agree on a political plan.

Libyas rival leaders agreed to hold parliamentary and presidential elections on December 10 following a meeting in Paris.

Representatives from 20 countries  including Libyas neighbours, regional and European powers, the United States and international organisations  were at meetings at the Elysee Palace on Tuesday.

The parties have committed to set the constitutional basis for elections and adopt the necessary electoral laws by September 16, 2018, and hold parliamentary and presidential elections on December 10, 2018, said a joint statement.

Libyan Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj said he was happy with the outcome of the meeting and was keen to see the agreement ratified by all stakeholders.

We reaffirm the existence and the need for a constitutional basis to organise an election and the need for everyone to work hand-in-hand to make sure the elections are a success, Sarraj said in a press conference shortly after the meeting.

Sarraj added that he had called on other rival leaders who attended the meeting to bring an end to the civil war in the country and put an end to the bloodshed in Libya.

Libya splintered following the 2011 NATO-backed revolt that toppled Muammar Gaddafi. Since 2014 the North African nation has been divided into competing political and military factions based in Tripoli and the east.

The United Nations is leading an effort to reunify the oil-rich country and to organise national elections.





The Paris meeting, which included eastern-based commander Khalifa Haftar, Tripoli Prime Minister Sarraj, and leaders of rival parliamentary assemblies, aimed to urge them to agree to general principles for ending Libyas crisis and moving towards elections.

Positive that all Libya parties present at Paris conference agreed [to a] timeline leading to elections in December, Maltas Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said from inside the meeting. Let us hope, and help them in keeping this important commitment.

Al Jazeeras Mahmoud Abdelwahed, reporting from Libyas capital, Tripoli, explained that the elections in Libya could be part of the solution, however, the process still has a long way to go as many of Haftars opponents and other strong key players in Libya were not included in the talks.

[These] groups are very strong on the ground and they have power. Among them for example, is the armed group that defeated ISIL in the west of Libya and in the city of Sirte, Abdelwahed said.

There are so many troubled areas all over the country. For example the eastern city of Derna has been suffering for the last three years at the hands of Haftars forces [due to a siege placed on the city].

Peacemaker

Libya is split between rival governments in the east and west, each backed by an array of armed groups.

Representatives of Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates, which have backed Haftar and the rival administration in Tobruk in the east, also attended.

France is trying to play peacemaker in a country where years of efforts by the United Nations and former colonial power Italy have failed to bring stability.

French President Emmanuel Macron brought the two rival Libyan leaders Sarraj and Haftar together at a meeting near Paris last July. They committed themselves to working towards presidential and parliamentary elections.

The International Crisis Group warned the Paris conference might unintentionally undermine the UN-led peace process.

French organisers should avoid imposing too rigid a framework, the group said in a statement on Monday.
Shooter kills two police officers and a passer-by before being shot dead in eastern city.

At least three people have been killed in a shooting in the eastern Belgian city of Liege in what officials called a terrorist incident.

The dead in Tuesdays attack in the centre of the city included two police officers and a passer-by.

Spokesperson for the prosecutors office, Phillipe Dulieu, said the attacker approached the officers from behind carrying a knife and stabbed them several times.

[The suspect]  took their weapons. He used the weapons on the officers who died, Dulieu said, adding the attacker went on to shoot dead a 22-year-old man in a nearby vehicle.

The event is classed as a terrorist incident, he said.

The assailant is then believed to have taken a woman hostage before being shot dead by police.

Public broadcaster RTBF said the suspect was a 36-year-old petty criminal who had been let out on day-release from a local prison on Monday.

La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted Allahu Akbar, God is greatest in Arabic.

Videos posted on social media showed police cars rushing to the scene of the attack sirens blaring as people fled the scene.

https://twitter.com/VICTORJ_FR/status/1001386217676648448?ref_src=twsrc^tfw

Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region, was also the scene of a shooting in 2011, when a gunman killed four people and wounded more than 100 before turning the gun on himself.

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people, as well as a 2016 attack in Brussels in which 32 died.
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The death toll after more than a month of unrest reaches 84 as dissidents increasingly resort to riots and violence.
Cartes presents his resignation to Congress so that he can legally take office as a senator on July 1.

Paraguays President Horacio Cartes has presented his resignation to Congress, in a move paving the way for him to legally take office as a senator.

Cartes term officially ends in August and if Congress accepts his resignation, Alicia Pucheta, a 68-year-old former Supreme Court judge who was recently named vice president, will run the country for the coming months  and also become the first woman in Paraguay to do so.

President-elect Mario Abdo Benitez, a member of Paraguays ruling Colorado Party and winner of an April 20 election, will take office on August 15.

I present my letter of resignation as the president of the Republic of Paraguay to be able to continue serving my country in the Senate, fulfilling the peoples will expressed during the vote. May God bless Paraguay, Cartes wrote in a Twitter post on Monday.

Cartes resignation had been expected since he was elected to the Senate in the April vote. The incoming senators are to be sworn in on June 30.

According to Paraguays constitution, former presidents automatically become senators for life. They can express opinions but cannot vote.

But Cartes, 61, will become a senator with full rights after running in the elections and winning a Senate seat, a post that will help him extend his political influence.

The Supreme Court ruled Cartes Senate bid was constitutional. Former President Nicanor Duarte tried to do the same in 2008 but the Congress blocked the move at an earlier stage.





The Congress will now vote on whether to accept Cartes resignation.

Twelve legislators have already presented a petition to debate it, with the Guasu Front, a left-wing electoral alliance presided over by former President Fernando Lugo, already announcing that it would oppose Cartes move.

Under Paraguays constitution, presidents can only serve one, five-year term.

In 2017, Cartes made a proposal to introduce constitutional amendments that would allow him to run for re-election. The move triggered violent riots, with hundreds of people injured and more than 200 arrested.

Cartes later stepped back as international and local pressure mounted against his bid.

During his five years in power, Paraguay enjoyed consistent economic growth, but failed to shake off persistent poverty, corruption and drug trafficking.

Despite an official campaign against endemic corruption, Paraguay remains 135th out of 180 countries on the 2017 corruption index of Transparency International.
Kim Yong-chol, considered Kim Jong-uns right-hand man, was reportedly seen leaving for New York from China.

North Koreas former spy chief headed to the United States on Tuesday for talks on a possible summit between US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.

Kim Yong-chol, a senior official with close ties to the North Korean leader, was seen by journalists from The Associated Press at Beijings international airport who reported he was on his way to the US.

Trump later confirmed on Twitter that Kim was headed for New York City.

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

Kim Yong-chol is considered the North Korean leaders right-hand man and serves as the vice central committee chairman of the Norths ruling Workers Party.





South Koreas Yonhap news agency also reported Kim Yong-chol arrived in the Chinese capital on Tuesday morning and reserved a flight to New York City.

Yonhap said it is widely expected that Kim would travel to the US to reciprocate recent visits by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The two may meet to put final touches on the preparations for the planned summit between Trump and Kim Jong-un, according to the report.

Cyber spymaster

Chung Sung-yoon, an analyst at the Korea Institute for National Unification, said Kim Yong-chol would be the most senior North Korean official to step onto US soil since Vice Marshall Jo Myong-rok met then-president Bill Clinton in 2000.

Kim Yong-chol sat just metres away from Trumps daughter Ivanka at the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang in February  one of the first signs of a diplomatic thaw between North Korea and the US and South Korea after tensions over its nuclear weapons reached a breaking point.

The Kim-Trump summit is expected to take place in Singapore on June 12.

Trump cancelled what would be the first-ever meeting between US and North Korean leaders last Thursday, only to change his mind a day later.





On Tuesday, South Koreas foreign ministry said it will focus all efforts to lay the groundwork for the success of ongoing diplomacy with the North.

We will closely monitor the situation and play every role we can, ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

On Monday, veteran American diplomat Sung Kim led an American delegation to Panmunjom at the demilitarised zone (DMZ) for talks with North Korean officials.

Reports said that talks continued until Tuesday.

A major sticking point at the proposed summit is expected to be how to denuclearise the North.

According to reports, Trump has demanded that Pyongyang carry out a swift denuclearisation approach, while North Korea reportedly favours a gradual drawdown.

American officials are sceptical that North Korea will ever entirely abandon his nuclear weapons, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in said North Korea isnt convinced it can trust security guarantees from the US.

From 2009 to 2016, Kim Yong-chol was the director of North Koreas General Reconnaissance Bureau, the unit tasked with cyber warfare and intelligence gathering.

During that period North Korea ramped up its hacking programmes, including a hugely costly penetration of Sony Pictures that was seen as an attempt to stop the release of an American comedy film poking fun at Kim Jong-uns regime.
Russia, US and Jordan discuss need to preserve truce in Syria

The announcement of talks came as it was reported that Syrian government forces were being sent to the region in preparation for an offensive.
French magazine Le Point splashed a photo of the Turkish president on its May 24 edition calling him a dictator.

Turkeys Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has slammed French President Emmanuel Macron over his support for a French magazines cover calling President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a dictator.

The Weekly French Magazine Le Point splashed a photo of the Turkish president on the cover of its May 24 edition with words that read: The dictator. How far will Erdogan go?

Le Point said it had suffered harassment and intimidation by supporters of Erdogan after it labelled him The dictator.

Macron waded into the debate, calling the harassment totally unacceptable.

You cannot put a price on freedom of the press, without it, its dictatorship, he tweeted.

Cavusoglu hit back at Macrons comments by saying that pro-Erdogan activists in France, who attacked advertisements and newsstands featuring the image, were exercising their own freedom of expression.

Democracy is not just limited to accepting insults, curses and lies by one side but also taking into account the point of view and sensitivities of the other, Cavusoglu said in a tweet on Tuesday.

What goes beyond that is hypocrisy. And its in response to that that the Turkish community in France has expressed its civilian and democratic reaction, he added.

Police have been deployed in the southern city of Avignon since the weekend after a group of pro-Erdogan activists attempted to remove, then cover up advertisements for the magazine at newsstands.

Another poster of the front cover was targeted and replaced by an Erdogan poster at a newspaper kiosk in the town of Valence on Sunday, Le Point said.

After a week of harassment, insults, intimidation and anti-Semitic slurs and threats towards us on social media, now has come the moment when supporters of the AKP (Erdogans party) are attacking symbols of freedom of expression and diversity in the press, Le Point said on its website.

There has been a large amount of social media activity around the issue.

FRANCE | Erdogan supporters take down billboard poster of the front page cover of @LePoint that depicts Turkish president as dictator and replace it with presidential campaign photo. pic.twitter.com/EaPWfHpq5Y  Vocal Europe (@thevocaleurope) May 26, 2018

The left-leaning weekly, one of Frances most-popular news magazines, published an investigation into the Turkish strongman in its latest edition which also included an editorial asking: Is Erdogan a new Hitler?.

Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party, which he cofounded in 2001, are seeking another mandate in advance of snap parliamentary and presidential polls on June 24.

Tense ties

France and other Western European governments have repeatedly condemned the Turkish governments detentions and civil service purges of tens of thousands of people after the failed coup attempt.

Erdogans government says the crackdown follows the rule of law and aims to remove coup supporters from state institutions.

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Many European countries are home to large Turkish-origin or migrant communities, but Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have barred Turkish politicians from electioneering in their countries.

Around three million expatriate Turks are allowed to vote in the elections next month, including 1.4 million in Germany, and they are seen as a valuable source of support by Erdogans party.
Malaysia Airlines MH370 vanished in March 2014 with 239 people on board  one of aviations greatest mysteries.

The search for flight MH370 ended on Tuesday more than four years after the plane disappeared, triggering one of the worlds greatest aviation mysteries.





The Malaysia Airlines jet vanished in March 2014 with 239 people on board, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The airliner wasnt found during a 120,000sq-km sea search zone and the Australia-led hunt, the largest in aviation history, was suspended in January last year.

After pressure from family members, the former Malaysian government struck a deal with US exploration firm Ocean Infinity to restart the search in January on the condition it would only be paid if the Boeing 777 or its black boxes were found.

The company stood to make up to $70m if successful, but it did not find any sign of the plane despite scouring the seabed with some of the worlds most hi-tech search equipment.

Heavy heart

Ocean Infinity Chief Executive Oliver Plunkett said he was pleased Malaysia had made finding the aircraft a priority.

I would firstly like to extend the thoughts of everyone at Ocean Infinity to the families of those who have lost loved ones on MH370. Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected, Plunkett said in a statement.

It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim.

The new hunt was in an area of about 25,000sq km in the southern Indian Ocean, north of the former search area.

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The ship operated by the company used eight autonomous drones equipped with sonars and cameras that scoured the waters for wreckage in depths up to 6,000 metres.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said earlier the contract with Ocean Infinity was being reviewed, as his administration seeks to cut costs after accusing the allegedly corrupt former regime of leaving the public finances in bad shape.

Important for many reasons

Grace Nathan, a Malaysian lawyer, whose mother Anne Daisy was on the missing plane, said the news was not a surprise but added the government should leave the no find, no fee offer on the table in case a company wants to take on the search in the future.

We cant tell [the government] what to do but for me and the families  finding the plane is important for many reasons, she told AFP news agency.

Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.

The jets disappearance stands as one of the most enduring aviation mysteries of all time and has spawned a host of theories.

Earlier this week, Australian investigators defended their findings that the plane was out of control when it plunged into the ocean, after a theory that a rogue pilot deliberately crashed the airliner was revived in a book by a Canadian air crash investigator.
Saudi-backed fighters battling Houthi rebels on the march towards Hodeidah city, the main conduit for humanitarian aid.

After days of heavy fighting, Yemeni forces say they have advanced within 20km of the Houthi rebel-held port city of Hodeidah, a vital lifeline where millions of Yemenis get their food and medicine.

Local media reported a major retreat by the rebels on Monday, with the Houthi-appointed governor of the city purported to have fled after coalition forces seized several areas along the Red Sea coast.

The Yemeni army backed by the coalition is around 20km outside Hodeidah and military operations are ongoing, Saudi coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki told reporters late on Monday.

Saudi Arabia, together with several other Arab nations, launched a military campaign in Yemen in 2015 aimed at rolling back advances made by the Houthis after they overran much of the country in 2014, including the capital, Sanaa.





Since then, more than 10,000 people have been killed, most of them civilians.

The military coalition has launched more than 16,000 air raids since March 2015, with nearly 1,500 targeting residential areas, more than 200 on school buildings, about 60 against factories and at least 44 targeting mosques.

The fighting in Hodeidah  the countrys third-largest city and the main gateway for imports of relief supplies and commercial goods  escalated earlier this year following a flurry of missile attacks against Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh sees Hodeidah port as the entry point of weaponry for the Houthis and has accused its regional rival Iran of sending missiles to the rebels, a charge Tehran has denied.

Our goal is to cut the vein that the Houthis are benefiting from, Maliki said.

United offensive

The United Nations has warned any operation aimed at seizing Hodeidah would disrupt the entry of aid shipments to Yemen, 70 percent of which flow through the rebel-held port. The threat of mass famine continues to loom over Yemen.

The key question isnt whether the coalition can take Hodeidah, tweeted Gerald Feierstein, a former US ambassador to Yemen and a director at the Middle East Institute.

Its what they intend to do next. Can they use control of the port to ensure humanitarian supplies can get in unimpeded?

The offensive on Hodeidah is being carried out by a disparate collective of forces including the National Resistance, a group of fighters loyal to Yemens ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the Tihama Resistance, a group of fighters loyal to Yemens exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, and the Giant Brigades, an elite unit backed by the UAE.

The war in Yemen, the regions poorest country, has led to massive food shortages and the worst recorded cholera outbreak, according to the World Health Organization.

The UN says 22.2 million people are in need of aid, with at least eight million on the verge of famine.
Environmentalists vow to continue fighting after Trudeau government approves the purchase of the 1,000km project.

Canadas government has said it is buying a controversial pipeline expansion project to ensure it gets built in the face of stiff opposition from environmental activists and a regional government.

Bill Morneau, finance minister, announced on Tuesday the government will pay Kinder Morgan 4.5 billion Canadian dollars (US$3.5bn) for the Trans Mountain pipeline.

The project will duplicate an existing 1,150km pipeline, allowing it to ship up to 890,000 barrels of oil a day from landlocked Alberta to the Pacific coast of neighbouring British Columbia, in western Canada, for export overseas.

The governments move effectively nationalises the project in a bid to quash dozens of legal challenges and protests at construction sites.

The federal government has reached an agreement with Kinder Morgan to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline and the infrastructure related to the project, said Morneau.

This allows us to get rid of the political risk around [the pipeline] because we [are imposing] federal jurisdiction over the project, he said.

Kinder Morgan investors must still approve the sale, which is scheduled to close in August, but the deal will allow construction to resume immediately, the minister added.

Ottawa approved the project in 2016 after an environmental review, saying it was in the national interest.

Currently, 99 percent of Canadas oil is sold to the United States at a discount, and access to the Pacific coast is seen as key to diversifying the worlds sixth-largest oil producers energy exports.

Access to new oil markets was also key to Canada meeting its Paris climate target because Alberta, the nations singled largest pollution emitter, agreed to take action against carbon emissions, if it gained access to new markets for its oil.

But British Columbias social democratic government recently joined environmental activists fight against the pipeline, provoking a trade row with Alberta and leading Kinder Morgan to temporarily halt its construction until the dispute was resolved.

Amid the feud, the pipeline has become a barometer for foreign investments in Canada, with some warning of a spillover into other sectors of the economy.

Big, important project

Morneau said the governments purchase of the project will ensure that were able to safely get Canadian oil resources to world markets where we can get a fair price for them.

He added: It will reassure investors that Canada is a country that respects the rule of law and gets big, important things done.

A majority of Canadians support the pipeline, according to recent polls, but they are reluctant to see tax dollars used to support it.

Opponents of the pipeline are concerned about the risk of oil spills from tankers along Canadas pristine Pacific coast impacting fisheries and tourism.

But Morneau said the Alberta-British Columbia feud, which led Alberta to boycott British Columbia wines and threaten to cut the neighbouring provinces fuel supplies, cannot be allowed to fester.

He said it threatens Canadas reputation as a safe place to invest, puts thousands of jobs at risk and holds back Canadas economic growth.

Well get that pipeline built, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters as he headed into a cabinet meeting.

His Liberals face a difficult balancing act in trying to champion climate action while supporting growth in Canadas oil sector.

Until now, Trudeaus government has used a soft tone to try to convince British Columbia to abandon its opposition to the pipeline, hoping not to alienate voters in the province before next years general election. But British Columbia has refused to yield.

The Titanic of tar sands oil pipelines

Later on Tuesday, many criticised the governments move, saying it raised broader environmental concerns by enabling increased development of the carbon-heavy oil sands, as well as burdened Canadian taxpayers for a project that should be paid by the private sector.

Green Party of Canada Leader Elizabeth May called it a huge subsidy to fossil fuels on Twitter.

Kinder Morgan laughing all the way to the bank. KM gets $4.5billion and walks away. Canada to raise money to build $7.4 billion project.  Elizabeth May (@ElizabethMay) May 29, 2018

Over the last three years Kinder Morgan earned $340 million in Canada and paid just $1.1 million in taxes. Thats a 0.3% tax rate. What!? And now Justin Trudeau is offering public money to pay for the insurance for its pipeline too.https://t.co/zFGnxycgcv  Nathan Cullen (@nathancullen) May 28, 2018

Oh @JustinTrudeau, you've been mislead. I feel genuinely sad for you. Those who coaxed you into giving Kinder Morgan $4.5 billion of Canadians' tax dollars for a worthless pipeline project, have just destroyed your reputation  here at home & internationally. #StopKM #Climate  Meanwhile in Canada (@MeanwhileinCana) May 29, 2018

Indigenous leaders, who have been at the forefront of a grassroots campaign against the Trans Mountain project, have vowed that the pipeline will never be built.

Many indigenous people see the new pipeline as a threat to their lands, echoing concerns raised by Native Americans about the Keystone XL project in the US.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson called the pipeline an unacceptable risk that threatens 10,000 jobs in the harbour.





Mike Hudema, a climate and energy campaigner at Greenpeace Canada, said the government has just signed up to captain the Titanic of tar sands oil pipelines, putting it on a collision course with its commitments to indigenous rights and the Paris climate agreement.

Trudeau is gambling billions of Canadian taxpayer dollars on an oil project that will never be built  a project that Kinder Morgan itself has indicated is untenable and that faces more than a dozen lawsuits, crumbling economics, and a growing resistance movement that is spreading around the world, Hudema said.

In recent months, thousands have protested against the project across Canada.

Many activists were arrested for blocking construction on oil transport terminals in British Columbia, including May, the Green Party leader. During protests in March, 172 people were arrested in one week.

According to Hudema, the movement opposing the project will not back down following the governments purchase.

Two out of five proposed new tar sands pipelines have now been cancelled in the face of indigenous and environmental legal challenges, widespread public opposition and changing economics, Hudema said.

The Trans Mountain Expansion faces even steeper obstacles and will soon become the third, and Trudeau just put the public on the hook for the costs, Hudema said.

Under the proposed federal plan, the Trans Mountain pipeline will be placed under the stewardship of a new Crown corporation and Ottawa will divest itself of the project at a later date.

Its not the intention of the government of Canada to be a long-term owner of the project, Morneau said, adding that pension funds and indigenous groups have already expressed an interest in buying stakes in the project.

Alberta province also pledged to provide emergency funding for the pipelines construction, if needed.
Ukrainian police investigating journalists death said they suspect the murder is linked to his work.

A prominent Russian journalist and vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin has died after being shot in Kiev, Ukraines capital.

Ukrainian police said on Tuesday Arkady Babchenko succumbed to his wounds on his way to the hospital. His wife found him earlier bleeding at their apartment building and called an ambulance.

The 41-year-old had multiple gunshot wounds on his back.

Police investigating Babchenkos killing said they suspect the crime is linked to his work.

The leading and obvious line of inquiry is that of his professional activities, Andriy Kryshchenko, Kiev police chief, told Interfax Ukraine news agency.

Babchenko, one of Russias best-known war correspondents, left his country in February 2017, saying he was receiving threats and he was concerned he might be jailed.

He served in the Russian army during the first separatist war in Chechnya during the 1990s and later became a journalist. He worked as a military correspondent for several Russian media outlets.

In the autumn, Babchenko moved to Kiev, where he worked as a host for the Crimean Tatar TV station, ATR.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said in a social media posting late on Tuesday that he was convinced the Russian totalitarian machine had not forgiven Babchenko for what Groysman called his honesty.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov rejected allegations that Moscow was behind the murder of the journalist, calling it part of an anti-Russian campaign, the TASS news agency reported.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russias Federal Security Service (FSB), said Ukrainian allegations the FSB was behind the killing of Babchenko were nonsense and a provocation, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday

And so it began

Harlem Desir, the media freedom representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said he was horrified by Babchenkos death.

I call on Ukraine authorities to conduct immediate & full investigation, he said on Twitter.

Some of Babchenkos articles and posts outraged many Russians. In one Facebook post, he said he felt no regret about the deaths of Russian army choir members and others from a December 2016 plane crash as they were heading to perform before Russian troops in Syria.

He was denounced by pro-Putin politicians and some called for stripping Babchenko of his Russian citizenship.





I didnt call for anything or insult anyone. I just reminded my readers that Russia was indiscriminately bombing Aleppo, without recognising that dozens of children were dying in those bombs, their photographs making their way around the world. I also called Russia an aggressor, Babchenko wrote in an article published in The Guardian.

After all these wars and deaths, I felt only one thing when I heard that the representatives of Russias military had died: indifference. But for some, expressing this on Facebook was not patriotic enough. And so it began.

Among the plethora of threats and accusations, a pro-government ultranationalist TV channel had listed Babchenko as number 10 on its list of Top 100 Russophobes.

Two years ago Pavel Sheremet, a Belarussian journalist known for his criticism of his home countrys leadership and his friendship with the slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, was blown up in a car bomb in central Kiev.

Putins regime is aimed at those who cannot be broken or intimidated, Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker and adviser to the interior minister, wrote on Facebook.

Today in Kiev on the threshold of the apartment where he lived, a famous Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko was shot and killed, a consistent opponent of the Putin regime and a friend of Ukraine.
The two countries agree to curb cross-border violence which has killed more than 150 people since September 2016.

Pakistan and India have agreed to curb cross-border violence to comply with a ceasefire agreement signed between the two nuclear-armed neighbours in 2003.

The understanding was reached by Pakistani and Indian armies on Tuesday after reviewing a spike in violence along the Line of Control since September 2016.

The Line of Control is a de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir Valley between the two countries and the Working Boundary, which separates the two neighbours.

Both director generals of military operations reviewed the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and the Working Boundary and mutually agreed to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation ensuring peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders, a statement from Pakistan armys media wing said.

The two sides also agreed to fully implement the ceasefire understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit forthwith and to ensure that henceforth the ceasefire will not be violated by both sides, said the statement.

In case of any issue, restraint would be exercised and the matter would be resolved through utilisation of existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and border flag meetings at local commanders level, the statement added.

Rising tensions

Tensions between the two nuclear neighbours have failed to ease after 19 Indian soldiers were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir in September 2016 by an armed group India has claimed to have links with Pakistan.

Since then, over 150 civilians and troops from both sides have been killed in border clashes.

According to Indias Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) records. more than 1,250 ceasefire violations have been recorded in the first five months of this year, compared to 971 such violations in 2017, 449 in 2016, and 405 in 2015.





Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.

The two countries have fought three wars  in 1948, 1965 and 1971  since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A ceasefire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with Pakistan.

According to several human rights organisations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.
About the show

earthrise is Al Jazeeras award-winning environmental show exploring the most significant threats to our planet by highlighting eco-friendly solutions from around the world. earthrise brings you the stories of those who strive to improve our quality of life and reduce our negative impact on the earth.
The word memoir comes from the French memoire, meaning "memory" and it is an apt description of Phyllis Chesler's latest book titled A Politically Incorrect Feminist: Creating a Movement with Bitches, Lunatics, Dykes, Prodigies, Warriors, and Wonder Women. It takes Chesler's readers into her world as she remembers, reminisces, and reflects on her myriad experiences.

As a Jewish immigrant daughter, Chesler saw firsthand the degrading conditions of women in the Muslim Middle East. As one of the leaders during the heady days of mid-20th century feminism she was enthralled by the potential for change, and finally as a scarred and experienced warrior, she recounts the stinging rebukes of people she once called close friends. It is the evolution of a person who revels in a good fight and who understands that courage can come in many different ways including calling out those she once greatly admired. It is also "dedicated to the men who helped," to the "strong and fiery women" and to those who "served the cause of women's freedom."

The granddaughter of a woman who was "hacked to death by Cossacks," Chesler's book is an intimate portrait as she describes her evolution during the 1960s and 1970s when American women learned of feminists who had battled for women's rights in the 18th and 19th century. The fight against sex slavery, wage slavery, and the absence of women's legal, economic, educational, and political rights did not begin in the mid-20th century but few knew of the early feminist battles beginning as far back as the American Revolution with Abigail Adams.

Chesler recounts those feminist icons she bonded with and calls this period "wondrous." Yet it is a distressing revelation when she acknowledges that she was "blindsided and stunned" by the "incomprehensibly vicious behavior among feminist leaders." In 1967, she and others thought women were less aggressive than men, but she had to learn the hard way that some "feminists did not treat each other with respect or compassion." In fact, women can also be sexists.

Based on her diaries, correspondences, and scrapbooks, Chesler shines a light on the strictly Old Country rules in her home which caused her to rebel and break out. Interspersed with these memories are the traumatic recollections of being sexually harassed and assaulted.

Chesler relives the frustrating and anxiety provoking memories because of "constant challenges to her right to hold a formerly male-only job  the daily doses of sexism, scorn, and hostility concerning her professional accomplishments." Yet, she had no choice but to "get used to working in a hostile environment."

It is somewhat shocking to learn that every woman that Chesler knew had had an abortion, and she, too, had two abortions  both as a result of her relationship with the same Afghan man.

Utterly straightforward, Chesler admits that she often "chose men who were incapable of making a commitment."

Falling in love with an Afghanistan Muslim, Chesler married him and was subsequently held captive for five months in 1961 in Kabul. It was here that she witnessed "gender apartheid, polygamy, women in burqas who were forced to sit in the back of the bus, arranged first cousin marriages, child brides and honor killings." This experience crystallized "how things were for women" especially non-Western, tribal women  a "contempt that few Americans are willing to comprehend."

Interspersed with her keen eye is a poignancy reflecting Chesler's loyalty to those who fought the good fight and with whom she clearly has the fondest of memories. The final chapter of her book says goodbye to "sister soldiers, brave and true, near and dear." In fact, at least 100 active pioneer feminists that Chesler knew or whose "work brightened" those exhilarating days have died. They include Dr. Ruby Rohrlich, Andrea Dworkin, Buffie Johnson, Arlene Raven, Barbara Seaman, Jill Johnston, Judy O'Neil, Rivka Haut, and Kate Millett.

As cofounder of the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP), Chesler certainly challenged the status quo when she detailed the ways in which "mental health professions had psychiatrically stigmatized women, poorly serving them and totally misunderstanding them."

Chesler describes the painful life for closeted bisexual bohemians in the late 1920s and 1930s. While the word "lesbian" was never said aloud in those days, the feminist movement allowed for the expression of this kind of love  a new and daring part of the feminist movement with liberating results for many marginalized people who still did not have a voice. And Chesler writes of her "noble and steady partner of a quarter century, Susan L. Bender."

Much to her own surprise, Chesler also learned that "women could lead significant and fulfilled lives within religious communities and without paid careers; that feminism has a sacred as well as a secular voice; that not all wisdom is secular, that some people who are fortified by religion, are able and willing to take on evil."

Spurred by intellectual honesty and abiding curiosity, Chesler wonders if women are responsible for what they do or for what they fail to do if they too are victims? Do women have agency, a moral choice, even if they are being held captive?"

Never one to back down from controversy, Phyllis Chesler is an integral and outspoken free woman. She is very disturbed by the timidity of Western feminists who are "increasingly afraid to criticize" the misogynist violence that is rampant in the Muslim world.

Chesler is quite troubled that Western feminism has morphed into "a diversionary feminism that is also far more invested in blaming the West for the world's misery than in defending Western values." In fact, the "Balkanization of identity that passes for feminism in the 21st century" saddens her.

Readers also learn that "left-wing feminists view reality through the prism of class warfare, oppose capitalism and private enterprise and believe that the ends justify the means."

After being so intimately involved in the second wave of feminism, none of which she recants, Chesler asserts that "something has gone terribly wrong among our thinking classes. The multicultural canon has not led to independent, tolerant, diverse, or objective ways of thinking. On the contrary, it has led to conformity and totalitarian herd thinking."

In contrast, Chesler recounts the 1975 conference in Brussels which opened the world's eyes to the physical abuse of women, female genital mutilation, femicide, rape, forced sterilization, outlawed abortion, the persecution of lesbians, forced motherhood, prostitution, pornography, and the double and triple oppressions of immigrant women and women of color."

Yet 43 years later, Chesler asserts that Western feminists are "afraid to criticize lest they be condemned as colonialists and racists and this fear often trumps their concern for women's human rights globally." It stands in direct contrast to the universalist feminism she helped to pioneer. Multicultural diversity is not supposed to be multicultural relativism.

In an interesting juxtaposition, Chesler paraphrases a speech that Shakespeare gives to King Henry V.

[She] that outlives this day, and comes safe home

Then will [she] strip [her] sleeve and show [her] scars.

And say, "these wounds I had . . . "

This story shall the good [woman] teach [her children]

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remember'd;

This is a book that is sure to educate, irritate, stimulate and illuminate  which is precisely what it is supposed to do. That is why it is so worthwhile.

Eileen can be reached at middlemarch18@gmail.com
In A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Stephen Dedalus, the literary alter ego of Irish author James Joyce, laments: "We are an unfortunate, priest-ridden race and always were and always will be till the end of the chapter."

It would be difficult to imagine a more thunderous end to that chapter than Ireland's recent vote to "repeal the Eighth Amendment of the [Irish] Constitution  a 1983 measure that conferred equal rights on the fetus and the mother and banned abortion in almost all circumstances." The New York Times trumpets that the vote amounts to a "rebuke to Catholic conservatism."

Politically speaking, it is highly likely that the Irish people have indeed issued a rebuke to Catholic conservatism. The question is, at what cost?

First, we should note the obvious: abortion is not, strictly speaking, merely a religious issue. It is an issue of morality, but the question as to the morality of the act of killing an unborn child can certainly be fielded, discussed, and legislated in a secular forum. Consider that even the most secular nations have laws outlawing murder. Many religions are indeed against murder, but we don't consider such laws religious in nature. It, like abortion, is simply an issue of morality around which nations and peoples can craft laws.

Second, as it pertains to the morality of abortion, the advocates for repealing Ireland's abortion ban have been entirely disingenuous. During the lead-up to the vote, these advocates "focused heavily on so-called hard cases faced by women, such as rape," along with issues where the health of the mother might be in jeopardy.

Insofar as those instances where the mother's life is in jeopardy, it should be understood that the Church does not demand that a mother die to save her child. The Catechism allows for medical procedures to be performed where the act of saving the mother's life is the primary goal, and the child's death is an undesired and unintended but unavoidable outcome. This stands in stark moral contrast to an abortion, performed with the explicit purpose of ending the child's life. Additionally, consider that less than 1% of all abortions are performed in order to save the life of the mother.

And the claim that free Irish abortions are about raped women? That, too, was a lie. In America, we know this as the "rape and incest" boondoggle. Pro-abortion lobbyists argue that abortion must be legal and available so that women can abort progeny in cases of "rape and incest." Such cases account for around 1% of abortions.

If such cases were indeed the crux of the debate, there can be little doubt that most pro-life opposition would concede to an allowance of abortions in such circumstances (it could reduce abortion by as much as 98%, after all). But pro-abortion lobbyists would certainly not be satisfied with such an outcome.

Ultimately, the repeal of the Irish prohibition on abortion did not provide allowance for abortion in these, and only these, rare instances. It has opened the door for a holistic allowance, protected by the Irish federal government, for Irish women to kill their unborn children for any reason whatsoever.

And unlike America's federally assumed allowance for killing unborn children for any reason whatsoever, the Irish people voted for that outcome. This marks the willful staining of the national soul of Ireland. Whether one takes that statement in a religious sense or a simpler moral one is irrelevant.

In America, it should be noted, the people have never voted for a federal allowance for free abortion.

Roe v. Wade was arguably the most egregious act of misused authority in the history of our federal government, and there is simply no questioning that it has exacted the highest price  the death toll of unborn children in America since the 1973 ruling is over 60 million and climbing.

Our constitutional form does not grant the judicial body, comprising unelected officials, the authority to create law. Rather, the judicial body has the authority only to rule upon the lawfulness of existing laws within the context of the United States Constitution. Roe v. Wade is a horrifying subversion of the Court's true purpose. Not only did the ruling "simply fashion and announce a new right for pregnant women," as dissenting justice Byron White aptly noted, but it arbitrarily decided upon guidelines and timetables by which states might proscribe abortion.

Nowhere in our Constitution is there any evidence that the federal government has the right to issue laws allowing or prohibiting the practice of abortion, which can mean only that the right to issue any such laws would be within the jurisprudence of the states per Tenth Amendment. In other words, abortion can be both a moral evil and legally allowed at the state level. But a holistic federal allowance of this moral evil should be legally achieved only by amending our Constitution such that the federal government has such a right.

This may seem a trivial point to some, but the point remains: Americans have never chosen to be a nation with laws allowing for the frivolous murder of millions of unborn children. Furthermore, one can easily conclude that this is a course that the American people would never have chosen to take, hence the reason for the Supreme Court's usurpation of authority that does not belong to it.

The Irish people, on the other hand, just chose to become such a nation.

This does not change the 60 million murders of the unborn, and it certainly does not excuse the legal holocaust that has taken place since 1973 in America. But it does lead one to an interesting observation in terms of the political trends in Europe and America. Ireland, following progressive sensibilities of other Western European nations, just willingly vacated its soul in order to demand that the government let women kill their unborn babies with reckless abandon. America, on the other hand, never willingly did so, and what's more, we seem on the verge of some redemption for our part in what our federal overseers wrongfully visited upon us.

For the first time in my adult life, I feel that we have a president who is not only unapologetically pro-life, but is willing to fight to advance the pro-life agenda. At the recent Susan B. Anthony Campaign for Life Gala, Donald Trump told the audience and the American people:

For decades, American taxpayers have been wrongfully forced to subsidize the abortion industry through Title X federal funding, so today, we have kept another promise. My administration has proposed a new rule to prohibit Title X funding from going to any clinic that performs abortions.

This is action, and it is a stark statement about our moral trajectory. As proud as I am of President Trump for making such bold efforts, I am even more proud of the American people. As Trump said at the gala and later pointed out on Twitter, "For the first time since Roe v. Wade, America has a pro-life president, a pro-life vice president, a pro-life House of Representatives, and 25 pro-life Republican state capitals!"

This doesn't just happen. This is a signal of true moral change, driven by people who increasingly understand that abortion is not solely a woman's choice, but rather, it is the denial of the right to life of the child within her.

Most importantly, it signifies an opportunity to save our national soul in regard to the now legal mass murder of the unborn  a soul we did not willingly give, but was stolen from us decades ago.

William Sullivan blogs at Political Palaver and can be followed on Twitter.
From a purely scientific, secular perspective, abortion is the killing of a human being.

Anyone who has taken high school biology, or sex ed, knows that at the moment of conception, a new human organism is formed with a unique set of DNA that will never change.

This is confirmed by a wide range of scientific sources, one of which says:

"To accept the fact that after fertilization has taken place a new human has come into being is no longer a matter of taste or opinion... it is plain experimental evidence." (Dr. Jerome Lejeune, the "Father of Modern Genetics," University of Descartes, Paris.)

Hence, when you hear all the rejoicing on the left that Ireland has decided to legalize abortion, you need to understand that leftists are cheering for the legalized killing of the most defenseless human beings in the world.

That in turn shows that the left's claim to be caring and compassionate is a lie. Rather, leftists believe that if it takes the killing of the innocent unborn human being to enable their sexually hedonistic lifestyles, then so be it.

This is not surprising, since everything pro-abortionists say is either a lie or a distortion, starting with the term "pro-choice."

People who advocate for legalized abortion aren't advocating for choice; they're advocating for abortion. If you doubt that, ask yourself this: if someone said he is pro-choice on slavery  that is, he wouldn't own slaves himself, but he feels that others have the right to own slaves, would you say that he isn't pro-slavery?

But since it's hard to convince decent people that murdering defenseless unborn children is a good thing, the pro-abortion elite in America have to lie unceasingly in order to confuse the public.

The core lie is that the logic behind legalized abortion is at all different from that behind the Holocaust or slavery. In all three cases, organisms that science tells us are fully human  the unborn, Jews, and blacks  were declared to not be "persons" and hence not entitled to human rights.

For any of these evils to be legal, it must be assumed that the government has the power to define which biological human beings are persons worthy of human rights. But that goes directly against the founding beliefs of America  namely, that we are all endowed with certain rights irrespective of our power, wealth, or abilities, and that government can't take those rights away.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

Clearly, to legalize the killing of the unborn, pro-abortion fanatics must either believe that the unborn aren't human  and hence reject science  or believe that it's okay for the government to declare that some human beings don't have human rights.

The left wasn't able to convince many Americans to believe in its lies about abortion, which is why it had to be legalized by judicial fiat and propped up by a massive propaganda effort that ignores science and depends on lies and distortions.

How many times have you heard someone say abortion has to be legal because of some young girl who was raped? Yet according to the Guttmacher institute, a Planned Parenthood-affiliated think-tank, only 1% of abortions are due to rape. Only 12% of women said they had an abortion for health reasons  given that health reasons include being depressed, it's safe to say that this 12% number is far larger than the number of women who needed an abortion to save their lives.

Even if we use the 12% number, the reality is that 87-plus percent of abortions are due to convenience  less than 0.5% are due to incest.

Yet you will never hear a pro-abortion advocate give you an example of why a healthy mother who just doesn't want a child, or whose significant other doesn't want one, should be able to kill her unborn daughter.

In America today, it is legal to kill an unborn child for any reason at any time up to birth. While some states have put maximum ages on when abortion can occur, the Supreme Court ruling itself puts no definitive limits. The pro-abortion crowd fights tooth and nail to keep abortion legal beyond 20 weeks, when the unborn child looks like this:

While abortion fanatics call those who value human life extremists, the real extremists are the abortion-lovers who support sex-selection abortion and urge women whose babies might be less than "perfect" to kill their children. Only in the modern left could women be called "feminists" who say it should be legal to murder your unborn daughter if you want a boy.

The reality is that supporting abortion inevitably requires the rejection of either science or the core belief of Western civilization that each human life has value. As such, it's not surprising that leftists who reject the idea of human equality and firmly believe they are better than the rest of us support the right of the powerful to kill the defenseless.

Lincoln pointed out that you can't fool all the people all the time, which is why America is getting more and more pro-life. In the end, the truth shines through the leftists' propaganda. Today, nearly three quarters of Americans would limit abortion to the first trimester or more stringent restrictions.

Most Americans who say they are "pro-choice" support only the "hard" cases such as rape, incest, and threat to the life of the mother or abortions that occur in the first trimester. That's because they believe that killing the child is more compassionate than forcing the mother to go through pregnancy. In fairness to them, they rarely actually think about the fact that abortion is murder. That's because the media and the culture lie constantly and universally about what an abortion really is.

It's a leftist trope to always talk about the perpetrator in sympathetic terms and ignore the victim when trying to get society to go easy on murderers, rapists, and drug-dealers. Leftists use the same tactic when it comes to abortion. We hear about how an "unplanned" pregnancy could adversely impact a woman's career, but we never hear about how being killed in the womb will impact her daughter's life.

As a result, while the hardcore abortion-supporters, the ones who say abortion is good and not a necessary evil, are monsters, the average person who doesn't take a stand against abortion is driven by the fake news he's heard about abortion all his life and a misplaced compassion that depends on having been taught over and over that the unborn are somehow magically not human.

That's why leftists react so strongly to any attempt to discuss the truth about abortion: once people see that two human beings keep an abortion appointment, but only one leaves alive, their support for abortion for any reason at any time will decrease.

That's why leftists were so desperate to hide the fact that Planned Parenthood sold baby parts for cash and that famed abortionist Kermit Gosnell treated women horribly. If people saw through the lie that abortionists are altruists who are just in it to help women and saw abortionists for the incompetent doctors they are, who are in it only for the money, support for abortion, and funding for Planned Parenthood, would dwindle.

America fought a war to establish that all blacks are persons. It's time to fight a political war to end the execution of the defenseless unborn. If we don't, it won't be long before the all-powerful government decides that you and I aren't persons, either.

You can read more of Tom's rants at his blog, Conversations about the obvious, and feel free to follow him on Twitter.
James Clapper admits there was an "informant" in the Trump campaign, but nobody on the left hears a word he says. Goodness, how could we think the highly placed, highly moral, highly ethical leaders of the Democrat Party would do anything out of place, immoral, or unethical?

We remember when no less an authority on everything than Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren accused the DNC of rigging the 2016 nomination process. When the Massachusetts lawmaker was asked on CNN whether she agreed that party officials had conspired with Hillary Clinton, she replied, "Yes ... the Clinton campaign did rig the presidential nominating process by entering into an agreement to control day-to-day operations at the DNC."

Old news, one may suppose. Democrats cheated other Democrats. They cheated what could charitably be termed the feeble-minded Bernie Sanders branch of their own party, but rig and cheat they did.

Article after article defends the cheaters within the FBI, the DOJ, and the independent counsel. Claims that Trump has eroded public confidence in these fine, upstanding institutions without reason or cause can be found in every other political column, but these assertions ring hollow.

Clapper admits there was an informant; Warren admits that the Democrats cheat.

If confidence in the FBI is eroded, it is not because of what Trump has said. American confidence has melted away because of actions the FBI and DOJ have taken or failed to take.

It looks as though the stain of cheating has blemished every inch of the Democratic Party. It is one thing for Democrats to cheat one another. It is another thing to allow Democrats to forge their duplicitous behaviors within the arteries of institutions we rely upon for truth and justice.

Democrats love other Democrats, yet look at what one group of Ds did to another group of Ds just to gain power. They rigged and cheated, and they admit it.

Think of what the Democrats will do to you if they get away with it.
As you may have heard, abortion is now legal in Ireland. They call it "the latest in a series of stinging rebukes to the Roman Catholic Church".

On the positive side, it was a vote rather than a court decision. The people voted to legalize abortion, and that's always better than a judge pretending that he knows best. Also, abortion is legal only in the first 12 weeks of the pregnancy.

As a pro-life man, I found the vote disturbing, but Ireland is free to amend its constitution.

My biggest shock was watching some of the reactions in the news:

"It just means that women  and the men who love the women of Ireland  have spoken out and they've said times have to change. And they are going to change now," a tearful Mellet said at the Royal Dublin Society, where the count took place throughout the day. Ailbhe Smyth, a veteran campaigner and co-director of Together4Yes, the national pro-repeal group, is one of those women. As she arrived to the count, she was greeted with roars of applause from supporters, who thanked her for her longstanding efforts. Smyth told CNN that the road to get to this day had been a long and hard one, but the result marked a seismic shift for the country. "Irish people are clearly standing up and saying of course the lives of women in Ireland matter. It's a great victory for equality for freedom for dignity for human rights,  and not only for women," Smyth said. (CNN)

It gets better. One site even listed the 17 best reactions to legalize abortion. Let me share this one:

What we have seen today is a culmination of a quiet revolution that has been taking place in Ireland for the past 10 or 20 years.

It's like watching the 17 best reactions to Astros fans finally bringing a World Series to Houston or street parties celebrating the Eagles bringing the Super Bowl to Philadelphia.

Not a word in these reactions about the life being aborted. It's all about a woman's body or her right to have an abortion.

What about the little girls aborted who will never get to make a decision about their bodies or celebrate any vote?

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.
Israeli jets hit at least seven security and training facilities belonging to Islamic Jihad and Hamas after the heaviest rocket barrage fired from Gaza since the 2014 war targeted Israeli civilians.

Reuters:

There were no immediate reports of casualties from either side after the Israeli military said more than 25 mortar bombs and rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip in several salvoes in the morning and afternoon. Israeli planes attacked at least seven facilities belonging to armed group Islamic Jihad and the territory's dominant Hamas movement after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a "powerful" response. The Israeli military said several of the projectiles fired from Gaza were shot down by its Iron Dome rocket interceptor and others landed in empty lots and farmland. One exploded in the yard of a kindergarten, damaging its walls and scattering the playground with debris and shrapnel, about an hour before it was scheduled to open for the day. ... A Hamas spokesman defended Tuesday's attacks as a "natural response to Israeli crimes". In similarly phrased remarks, an Islamic Jihad spokesman said "the blood of our people is not cheap".

Many Israeli citizens must feel as though they are under siege. Hamas terrorists attack the border using human shields, Iran threatens to construct forward bases in Syria, and now a rocket barrage.

It's clear that Israel has the right man leading it. Prime Minister Netanyahu harbors no illusions about Hamas or Iran. While his policy of immediate and overwhelming retaliation for attacks on Israel may be controversial around the world, Israeli citizens take an entirely different view. They support his hard-line policy because, instinctively, they know it's the right one.

Hamas would be crazy to start another war with Israel, just as Iran would be stupid to continue challenging Israel in Syria. But war has its own logic sometimes, and anything might develop in the Middle East this summer.
International organizations are not usually known for stand-up comedy, but the Conference on Disarmament must have thought it was open mic night as Syria assumed the chairmanship of the group.

Apparently, many delegates just didn't get the humor, because many of them walked out in protest when Syria took the stage.

Telegraph:

The United States led protests on Tuesday as Syria took over the rotating presidency of the Conference on Disarmament at a time when Damascus is widely accused of using chemical weapons. The US ambassador to the UN in Geneva said it was "a travesty" that Syria would head the Conference on Disarmament, leaving briefly when the Syrian representative took the floor. "Syria's presence here is a travesty. This regime has committed countless crimes against its own people through the use of chemical weapons, and it is just unacceptable for them to be leading this body," Robert Wood said just before the session began. ... Britain also protested against the move.

What does "moral authority" have to do with it? When you have Arab countries heading up international women's organizations; brutal, repressive regimes chairing human rights groups; and countries known for enabling child trafficking involved in children's aid organizations, it hardly matters.

If the international community was so upset at Syria chairing a disarmament group, why not change the rules to prevent this kind of travesty?

"The UK deplores the fact that Syria will assume the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament, given the regime's consistent and flagrant disregard of international non-proliferation and disarmament norms and agreements," British ambassador Matthew Rowland said in a statement. But he pointed out that all CD members including Syria had to agree to change the rotating system.

This is the consequence of giving in to the principles of "fairness" and "diversity." Everyone should get a turn leading, right? Nobody should feel "left out" even if his participation is problematic.

One thing for sure: Nothing much will get done at the C.D. this month.
Last week, the United States and United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced an Open Skies deal that put an end to a years-long dispute between U.S. and UAE airlines over government subsidies. The deal demonstrates the Trump administration's willingness to overcome moneyed lobbyists and ignore cronyist rhetoric to find solutions that benefit all Americans.

Open Skies advocates support the deregulation of the international aviation industry  especially commercial aviation  in order to create a competitive free-market environment for the airline industry, which, because of the industry's peculiar economic history, is sorely lacking. Since the end of World War II, many countries have invested heavily in the creation and subsidization of domestic airlines, sometimes called legacy airlines. Because many of these airlines were government-owned, their economic activity was rarely governed by free market forces and was often supported by protectionist policies.

Since 2015, the U.S.'s Big Three carriers, American, Delta, and United, have alleged that the Gulf carriers  Emirates, Etihad, and Qatar Airways  are unfairly subsidized in violation of an earlier U.S. Open Skies agreement and petitioned the executive branch to renegotiate with Qatar and the UAE to ensure that some routes would be the exclusive domain of American legacy carriers. These routes are often referred to as "fifth-freedom flights," which U.S. carriers contend cut into their business by providing flights from the UAE to the U.S. via places such as Europe.

The new deal, which resembles one that the administration made with Qatar in January, thankfully preserves our existing Open Skies agreement with the UAE while forcing the UAE's carriers to make some beneficial concessions. Now UAE airlines will have to publish yearly reports on their finances that are up to international standards. Likewise, to the delight of American legacy airlines, the Emiratis stated in the deal that they have no plans to add new fifth-freedom routes, though the deal doesn't prevent them from doing so in the future.

Essentially, the deal increases financial transparency and ensures that American legacy carriers don't receive any more cronyist advantages, which is great. The substance of U.S. legacy airliners' claims that Gulf carriers were unfairly subsidized by their government has always been undercut by the fact that airlines in America enjoy billions of dollars in various government subsidies. Additionally, it's hard to make the case for protectionism when the benefits of Open Skies are so plentiful.

In 2016, under Open Skies agreements, Gulf carriers brought 1.7 million international visitors to the U.S. These tourists purchased a total of $7.8 billion's worth of travel goods and services, ranging from lodging and food to recreation and retail shopping. In that same year, 57 percent of total inbound traffic to the U.S. on Gulf flights originated in South and Southeast Asia, and nearly a third came from the Middle East, which is notable because less than 1 percent of inbound traffic for U.S. carriers came from those areas. This means that Gulf carriers are helping American businesses reach new customers. Even better, airfares have fallen by a third on routes affected by Open Skies agreements relatives to protected routes.

The president ran his campaign, in part, on the premise that the United States needs trade that is "free and fair." This recent agreement fits the bill. Open Skies agreements help businesses reach new customers, lower the cost of travel, and increase competition for airliners. The administration should continue to preserve existing Open Skies agreements and work to further deregulate the industry.

Shak Hill is a Republican candidate for United States Congress in Virginia's 10th District, a former Air Force pilot and combat veteran, and a constitutional pro-America conservative.
Posting a personal, tender, loving picture of herself with her young son, Theodore, on Mother's Day, Ivanka Trump was rained with vitriol by the left on Twitter. The leftist rage was then amplified by the press, reporting this garbage as straight news. For this:



Instagram screenshot from Ivanka Trump's site.

Look at these headlines:

US child migrants: Ivanka's mother and child photo sparks backlash BBC

Ivanka Trump's Photo With Her Son Has Been Criticized as 'Tone Deaf' Time

Ivanka Trump's Snuggle with Son Lands Her in the Middle of Outrage Over Lost Migrant Children People

Ivanka Trump Photo With Son Labeled 'Tone Deaf' After U.S. Border Agents Separate Children From Families Newsweek/Yahoo! News

From Gaza Deaths to Migrant Children: Ivanka Trump Slammed For Being 'Tone-Deaf' to Humanitarian Crises Ha'aretz

Ivanka Trump posted a photo with her son. Some on social media weren't too happy. Washington Post

Note that seemingly reluctant tone from the Post. "Just reportin' the facts, ma'am"  so they'd have you think.

What we are seeing here is a classic media pile-on, a hive of stingers going to work, a mau-mau, trying to bully Ivanka into submission for an issue she literally has nothing to do with and whose own views on it are unknown.

Can't Ivanka be a human being? Can't she post on Instagram like normal people? It's just amazing and appalling that the left will politicize every little thing, even treading on the sacred ground of motherhood to ram through its vicious political points and point-scorings. It shows the basic inhumanity of these vile people.

It's not surprising that Ivanka is being targeted, given that she comes off as a natural and normal person yet is also seen as the liberal member of the Trump family, and the one who wants to be respectable and blend into Upper East Side society. To the press, that makes her the weak link, the one these people think they can flip through bullying, the better to make hay on the left-wing issues they have been championing. Whether it's the Jerusalem embassy opening, where she was actually blamed for terrorists getting themselves slaughtered in Gaza, or now the illegal aliens whose illegal alien sponsors never bothered to respond to a federal survey about the kids they were housing, any sighting of Ivanka is excuse enough for the media to blame her for things she never had anything to do with, and things she never did. It's becoming a pattern.

It's a completely false news "narrative," and the press knows it, which is why journalists are trying to look so detached, reporting the rage of anonymous internet cranks and trolls as straight news. Once again, look at the fake detachment in the Washington Post's version. How many Russian bots got the ball rolling on this one (it's so classically divisive), and how much of the media bought the whole thing as a result?

That's the real story if any of them care to report it. Everything else about this false tie-in of Ivanka Trump to the latest bogus illegal alien flap is simply harassment, not news.
Close to 40 years after the establishment of the Islamic Republic, the people cry for the Reza Pahlavi. This is reality as we all have witnessed in recent protests in Iran: people have been shouting for him to come back and save them from the brutal Islamic regime.

Let's be clear on one thing, many people are under the assumption that Mr. Pahlavi's ambition is to revive the monarchy in Iran. Nothing could be farther from the truth. He has often asserted that his first and only goal is to free Iran from the hands of vicious mass killers: the mullahs and their cronies. He has no ulterior motive other than doing what he can to help his countrymen in Iran and his willingness to become the necessary catalyst to dislodge the current brutal regime.

He has been advocating a referendum for people to decide for themselves what type of government they desire. "Iranians are the ones who decide their own destiny and the future form of their government in a free and democratic referendum."

During widespread demonstrations that swept across Iran in December and January, many protesters chanted slogans in support of the Pahlavi Dynasty and particularly praised what the dynasty's founder, Reza Shah the Great, Prince Reza's grandfather, did for his country.

Mr. Pahlavi was only 17 years old when the so-called Islamic Revolution took place, the only heir to the crown of the Pahlavi Dynasty. "I left the day after my high school graduation with a couple of suitcases," Pahlavi recalls, "not at all able to imagine this would be the last day I would be in my homeland."

Many Iranians, including this author, can relate to him. I left Iran at the same age. This thuggish revolt in Iran, better known as the Islamic Revolution of Iran, did not do anything for Iran except taking Iran back 1,400 years. There were never any questions about the Islamists denigrating Iran and exulting Islamic culture.

More than four decades of rule by the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) have not only failed to achieve the security and well-being of Iran's people, but have ensnared the nation in a stifling theocracy where the rights of the governed are routinely violated for the benefit of the governing.

The revolution of 1979 that brought down King Mohammad Reza Shah, by mostly Western powers, was quickly usurped by a religious autocracy.

Today, with each passing day in Iranian streets, the popularity of Reza Pahlavi is growing. He has solidified his position as the only person capable of bringing change to Iran. People all across Iran call his name on a daily basis. They write his name on Iranian money, on the walls, on bridges, and on anything they can get their hands on to show their solidarity with this man. He has proven to be a highly knowledgeable and respected leader  not only to the Iranian population in Iran, but to many opposition groups abroad.

"What I am calling upon is a process of civil disobedience," says Pahlavi, "which is a method of change. How? By bringing domestic pressure on the system. If enough people refused to cooperate, like Indians in India during British time, when they can paralyze the system by massive sustained labor strikes across the nation, that is not shooting bullets in the streets."

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax, he stated: "America can help to empower a stable, just, and humane society for our Iranian people through moral support, and by not ignoring us. It is particularly urgent to aid us in establishing a free media and an open internet which demand government transparency. Such access to communications has driven dramatic changes in global societies over recent decades."

Mr. Pahlavi has shown by words and action that transition from the present failed Islamic regime to a democracy is the central objective of his mission. Vital to the success of the effort is the abandonment of old suspicions, parochial thinking, and scheming for special privileges for any individuals or groups. Goodwill and work for the common good is required of all. This new way of thinking is a new paradigm shift from the destructive ways of the past.

In short: The U.S. government as well as Europeans must stand shoulder to shoulder with the Iranian people to end the Islamic nightmare, which has cast a cloud of terror over the past forty years. This is a momentous era. You have two choices: stand with the freedom-loving people of Iran and the leadership of Reza Pahlavi, or step aside.

The people of Iran have already made up their mind. You should, too.
Tommy Robinson faces the near certainty of assassination while being held in the general prison population at Hull Prison, following his arrest outside the courthouse in Leeds, where he was making a video about the trial of a Muslim grooming gang underway inside. (For background, see this and this.) Thanks to the gag order preventing the British press from reporting on his case, only help from overseas can bring pressure and raise funds for his defense.

Make no mistake: the entire U.K. government and establishment are committed to cultural suicide, by surrender to jihad, allowing no criticism of the spread of sharia law in Britain, and suppressing those who dare expose the costs. Recall that talk show host Michael Savage has been banned from Britain for supposedly causing "unrest" by remarks critical of jihad. He cannot be jailed, but Tommy Robinson can.

An American Thinker contributor currently visiting London emails this morning:

I am staying in London and saw a small protest on Monday near 10 Downing Street. I have seen nothing on TV or in the papers.

FWIW, SKYNews has been running a story on Rotherham on multiple shows. Same story, same reporter but edited differently to create a different package. It's not like I am sitting in my hotel watching TV, but I have seen this three times. I am sure the most Brits know about Rotherham.

Sadly, my guess is most Brits (or at least Londoners) probably support his arrest. These people seem to value order over freedom. And the PC tone of their news broadcasts, even supposedly right-wing SKYNews, makes our MSM look right of center.

I like London. But the older I get the more I think that culturally these folks would be OK with a benign dictator running the show. It's probably no accident that some [of the] best fiction ever written about living under soft or semi-hard tyranny or dystopia  Huxley, Orwell, maybe Wells  was written by people who called London home.

At The Rebel Media, for which Robinson wrote, Ezra Levant has established a legal defense fund for Tommy and makes the case for his innocence.

You can watch the entire incident of Tommy approaching the courthouse and getting arrested below. It is complete  an hour and 15 minutes long:

On Friday, May 25, Tommy was reporting from outside the courthouse in Leeds, where an accused Muslim rape gang was on trial for repeatedly raping British girls as young as eleven years old. Tommy was broadcasting on Facebook, from his cell phone. Tommy was very careful: He did not set foot on the court precinct.

He did not call the men "rapists", but rather called them "accused rapists".

In no way did he interfere with the trial, which was on its final day.

When Tommy mentioned the names of the accused rapists, he was reading from a BBC website  so the names were clearly public information, on the state broadcaster. Tommy did nothing wrong. But suddenly, seven police officers swarmed Tommy and threw him in the back of a police van. They said he was causing a disturbance, which is absurd  he was by himself on the street, with only a cameraman and a friend. But it got worse. Much worse. Within hours, Tommy was summoned before the judge. Tommy's long-time lawyer was not informed of this. Rather, the court appointed a lawyer who didn't know Tommy and wasn't an expert in the specialized law of contempt of court. In a matter of minutes, Tommy was sent to prison  with a 13-month sentence. He is now in HM Prison Hull, a brutal facility near Leeds. A 13-month prison sentence for Tommy is tantamount to a death sentence  every Muslim criminal in prison will be trying to murder him. They've tried before. The only alternative is for Tommy to request to be put into solitary confinement  but no-one can live that way, locked up without any human contact for 23 hours a day. Not for a year straight.

There is some hope for Tommy:

The Rebel is based in Canada, but we also have a registered UK corporation, with more than 150,000 UK customers, and a UK staff. So our UK company has legal standing to go to court on behalf of the British people. We have hired an outstanding lawyer who has worked with Tommy before  Daniel Berke, the lawyer who took the case of Chelsey Wright, the girl from Sunderland who suffered so brutally at the hands of a predator. I have spoken with Daniel, and he believes this is an important case, and he is already working on the emergency application. It's shocking that it falls to us  a small, independent, Internet-based news company  to fight for freedom of the press and open courts in the United Kingdom. Where is the BBC, or Sky, or any of the tabloids that so love to skewer Tommy when it suits them? Where are the organizations like Amnesty International or Reporters Without Borders, coming to the aid of a citizen journalist who was arrested and sentenced faster than in any dictatorship? I guess it falls to us. Because Tommy's legal case isn't just about him. It's about all of us  and our freedom to have honest, public conversations about the threat of mass Muslim migration, gang rapes, and the Islamification of the west If you want to help us crowdfund this court challenge to the gag order, please make a donation below. Note that this is separate from Tommy Robinson's own case  this is simply to pay for challenging the publication ban in the UK. It is hard to estimate how much it will cost, but my experience tells me it will be approximately 20,000. Right now, Tommy's family and lawyer are still huddling and coming up with a strategy. Let us give them their space. But in the meantime, let's go to court to lift the publication ban on this horrific story. I truly believe that if the British people learned what happened to Tommy Robinson on Friday, it would awaken within them the instincts of freedom and the rule of law that has been the British heritage since the Magna Carta.

If you wish to contribute, please go to this page and scroll down.
I was just reflecting on the Papadopoulos-Australian high commissioner Downer communication, which was allegedly one of the starting points of the 2016 spying on the Trump campaign.

The point at issue was Papadopoulos allegedly saying the Russians had 33,000 Hillary emails. After that was the yada, yada, yada that the Trump campaign knew this because it was colluding with the Russians, etc., etc.

But here's the question: aren't the 33,000 emails the Russians allegedly had the emails Hillary had already deleted?



"with a cloth?"

Aren't these the emails she claims were yoga appointments and wedding arrangements?

It has not been part of the Hillary story, so far as I can recall, that the Russians stole 33,000 high-value emails from that Hillary server. Even James Comey would have to take note of that.

My point to you is, isn't there an anomaly here in these alleged 33,000 emails the Russians allegedly have been treated as high-value intelligence, whereas Hillary's whole claim is that these were trivia? If the Russians stole 33,000 high-value emails off Hillary's server, on what basis did Comey claim she had violated no statutes?

And if they were trivia, why all the concern about whether or not the Trump campaign knew about them?

Comey and Mueller can't have it both ways.
The most premium variant of the OnePlus 6 featuring 256GB of storage space sold out in the United States a week after being released, with the Chinese phone makers official stateside website now listing it as being out of stock. The other two memory configurations are still available for purchase along with a promise of immediate shipping but the company has yet to clarify when its hoping to resume sales of its top model.

The most capable version of the OnePlus 6 retails at $629, thus being at least $100 more affordable than the vast majority of other contemporary Android flagships with whom its competing. The 256GB model was only available with a Midnight Black finish, whereas the 64GB one launched as a Mirror Black exclusive. The middle variant with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage is offered along with a choice between the two colors. The Shenzhen-based smartphone maker will also be introducing a limited Silk White edition of the OnePlus 6 next week, with that particular version featuring 128GB of flash memory and the same price tag as the regular model  $579.

The OnePlus 6 continued the firms record-breaking tradition, being yet another consecutive offering from the OEM that managed to sell faster than its direct predecessor did. The handset is targeted at tech enthusiasts and consumers interested in both premium smartphones and value-oriented propositions, featuring processing capabilities that are on par with the latest advancements in the mobile industry while still being offered at a competitive price point. The Chinese company recently suggested its keen to continue sticking with its six-month refresh cycle, indicating the OnePlus 6T will be announced in the final quarter of the year. Compared to its previous releases, the OnePlus 6 appears to be more readily available, with no major stocking issues being recorded in any part of the world, save for the newly observed development in the U.S.
Five days of Facebook abstinence can significantly lower ones stress levels, according to a new study published in the Journal of Social Psychology. Lead researcher Eric Vanman studied 138 highly active Facebook users who spend three or more hours browsing the worlds most popular social network on a daily basis and asked half of them not to access the service for five days after a set period of time. Based on their levels of cortisol  the stress-inducing hormone  measured from saliva samples, the amount of stress experienced by the subjects decreased in a significant manner following their abstinence episode.

Mr. Vanman noted that theres no such a thing as an average stress level; as human bodies differ, so to their cortisol tolerance limits. Regardless, the study clearly points to a link between social networks and stress. Refraining from using Facebook also didnt yield universally positive results, with most subjects claiming they have a worse sense of well-being after not using the service for nearly a week. Mr. Vanman believes that phenomenon can be explained by a general fear of missing out on important developments in ones social circle, suggesting the negative effects of Facebook abstinence are a result of conditioned behavior. Taking mini Facebook vacations may actually help you feel less stressed and more connected in the long run, the researcher concluded during a recent interview on CNBCs Make It.

Facebook and other social networks have previously been accused of conditioning their users with digital validation and tricking them into becoming addicted to their services, thus improving engagement rates and boosting their profits by being able to display more ads. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said one of the companys 2018 goals is ensuring all time users commit to the platform can be classified as time well spent, with the firm purging its News Feed from the majority of content posted by publishers, i.e. Pages, in its efforts to do so late last year. Facebook is hence fully prepared to sacrifice its engagement rates for long-term sustainability and user happiness, the multi-billionaire said several months back. The company is presently being subjected to scrutiny over its user privacy practices, both due to the Cambridge Analytica scandal and the debut of the European Unions strict General Data Protection Regulation.
Kobo has a brand-new dedicated e-reader up for pre-orders called the Kobo Clara HD, with the product being set to begin shipping in June for just $129.99. The entry-level device is expected to replace the companys previous tablet-like e-readers as a budget option for those who want to read books on the go. It also brings significant improvements as an e-reader platform in terms of screen specs and features, which could make it a real competitor in that portion of the electronics market. Thats particularly true since the new 6-inch HD Kobo reader offers an ad-free experience as compared to some slightly less expensive options which often present readers with ads. Meanwhile, it holds on to at least a couple of features from previous Kobo-branded e-readers. Notably, that includes the ability to begin reading on the Clara HD or in the Kobo app on a smartphone or tablet and then to continue on another device. However, it can also store up to 6,000 eBooks thanks to its built-in 8GB of flash storage and its battery is expected to last for weeks on a single charge.

Obviously, claims about battery life and storage are mostly untested at this point and will depend on the user and content being stored. With that said, the Clara HD ships with a 6-inch Carta E-Ink touchscreen with a print quality pixel density of 300 ppi. At 159.6mm x 110mm x 8.35mm and weighing just 166 grams, it will arguably be one of the most portable e-reader options on the market once it begins shipping. The display is a color e-Connectivity offering available via Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n protocols or microUSB for file transfers and file support includes EPUB, EPUB3, PDF, MOBI, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TIFF, TXT, HTML, RTF, CBZ, and CBR. The fonts in those can be adjusted by font type across eleven fonts and 50 font styles, while fone weight and sharpness can be adjusted too. At the same time, Kobo has gone further to include blue light adjustment tools in the form of a new feature called ComfortLight PRO, which automatically tones down the blues with room brightness. Blue light can be harmful over long periods of time and the tone can be adjusted manually to appear warmer, in addition to the automatic adjustments.

To be sure, the Clara HD is not a monumental leap forward in terms of e-reader technologies but it is a significant improvement over previous devices. Moreover, it looks to be a fairly clean experience compared to devices that come with extra bloatware and for those who just want to read. Anybody interested in checking out the new e-reader can head over to the button below. The device will launch in the U.S., France, Canada, the U.K., Italy, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, and Turkey in June. Its set to arrive later in the year in Australia, New Zealand, and Mexico, while Hong Kong is expected to see a July launch.
Xiaomis CEO, Lei Jun, has just confirmed the design of the upcoming Mi Band 3 fitness tracker. The companys CEO was spotted wearing an unknown fitness tracker during the launch of the Black Shark gaming smartphone a while back, and that device was rumored to be the Mi Band 3 well, Mr. Jun has just confirmed that it is the Mi Band 3, so we basically have a real-life image of the device already, as you can see in the provided image.

The Xiaomi Mi Band 3 will be announced on May 31, that much has been confirmed already, and it will launch along with the Mi 8 flagship, and MIUI 10, a new version of Xiaomis Android skin. Now, the Mi Band 3 will resemble the Mi Band 2 quite a bit, but the design of its top side will be a bit different, as its glass will be curved on the sides, unlike the Mi Band 2s, which sported a flat glass panel. The Mi Band 3 will be removed from its silicone band from the top it seems, and if the leaked user manual is to be believed, the device will not only sport a touch-sensitive display this time around, but it will also support navigation gestures. A heart-rate sensor will probably be included in the package yet again, and it will be implemented in the same way as it was in the Mi Band 2. A separate capacitive key probably wont be a part of the Mi Band 3, at least we cant see one in the provided image, and one was not spotted in the official teaser image Xiaomi released a while back either.

Now, in addition to Lei Juns confirmation of the Mi Band 3s design, a price tag for the device has surfaced as well. The device was briefly listed on the companys official website, according to the provided info, along with its price tag, but the listing was removed shortly after it went live. In any case, that listing revealed a 169 Yuan ($26) price tag for the Mi Band 3, which is its price tag in China, but it will not be that much more expensive outside of Xiaomis homeland, as the Mi Band 2 was just a bit more expensive. The Mi Band 2 actually sold really great for Xiaomi, so its not surprising the company opted to manufacture the Mi Band 3, and keep it really affordable.

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OnePlus has started pushing out OxygenOS 5.0.3 update for the OnePlus 5 and 5T. This update is about 1.6GB in size, and it brings along Android security patch for May 2018, along with some new features and fixes. This update will fix the auto-rotation stability issue that some OnePlus 5 and 5T users experienced, while the Wi-Fi connecting issue will also be fixed, which is another problem that was mentioned by OnePlus users in the past.

Now, as far as fixes are concerned, this update also fixes microphone not functioning issue for AKG earphones. Thats pretty much it as far as fixes are concerned, but in addition to that, OnePlus also added the Places function to the Gallery app on the OnePlus 5 and 5T, and this feature basically lets you where were your pictures taken by location, on a map. In terms of the gallery, OnePlus also added the Recently Deleted collection to the mix, which will save your recently deleted images for a while, in case you want to restore them, think of this feature as a recycle bin on Windows OS. Both of these Gallery features ship out of the box on the OnePlus 6, by the way, in case you were wondering. On top of all that, OnePlus also added the double-tap to lock screen option to its launcher on the OnePlus 5 and 5T.

As most of you already know, this is an incremental update, every OnePlus 5 and 5T unit will get it (aside from those that have been sold in the Chinese market and run HydrogenOS), though it may take some time for it to reach some units. You can try to force the update by downloading a VPN app from the Google Play Store, and choosing either Canada or Germany as your connection countries, chances are that will push the update your way immediately, as those are the markets where OnePlus updates usually strike first. The OnePlus 5 and 5T have both been released in 2017, and theyre both still quite powerful phones, as theyre fueled by the Snapdragon 835 SoC, come with either 6GB or 8GB of RAM, Optic AMOLED display, Dash Charge, and so on.
Chinas approval of Qualcomms proposed acquisition of Dutch NXP Semiconductors valued at some $44 billion hinges on its telecom giant ZTE being saved in the United States, Bloomberg reports, citing sources with knowledge of the situation. Beijings antitrust watchdog has been probing the merger since late 2016, with the bid being increased and used as a last line of defense against a hostile takeover attempt from Broadcom in the meantime.

ZTE is still crippled by a Commerce Department-issued denial order preventing it from purchasing or licensing any kind of American hardware and software over the next seven years. The company already paid an $892 million fine in 2017 over its previous violations of Washingtons trade sanctions imposed on Iran and North Korea but failed to fully adhere to the terms of that settlement, with the federal regulator also alleging it repeatedly lied to its investigators, citing the two developments as the reasons behind the penalty. The Shenzhen-based firm described the ban as unfair and unacceptable, claiming its latest transgressions werent intentional and were self-reported to the U.S.

President Trump already confirmed reaching a preliminary agreement with the company that would replace the denial order with another $1.3 billion fine and a wide variety of concessions including management and board changes. His attempt at providing a lifeline to ZTE is still facing bipartisan opposition from Congress and could end up being blocked with a supermajority vote in the coming weeks, Florida Senator Marco Rubio suggested over the weekend. Every factual investigation into the Qualcomm-NXP deal conducted by State Administration for Market Regulation of Chinas Ministry of Commerce has now been concluded, with the San Diego-based chipmaker and the regulator resolving all of their differences, insiders claim. Procedural issues remain, with Beijing still pushing for assurances that ZTEs ban will be lifted so that the company can resume normal operations and avoid insolvency scenarios. Neither Qualcomm nor President Trump are able to provide the Far Eastern country with such guarantees. While publicly traded on two stock exchanges in its home country, ZTE is majority-owned by the Peoples Republic of China and always has been, having first been listed in Shenzhen over two decades ago.

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Beijing has jurisdiction over Qualcomms attempted NXP tie-up as China remains the worlds largest semiconductor importer, with both involved firms operating in the country on a significant scale. For similar reasons, the merger was previously reviewed by a number of other countries and political blocs, including the European Union. Chinas antitrust regulator remains the only agency that has yet to greenlight the deal. Closing the NXP consolidation is of imperative importance for Qualcomm thats now seeking to diversify beyond smartphone chips in a much more aggressive manner as its mobile technology dominance is presently being challenged by both potential rivals and its own clients unsatisfied with the companys patent licensing practices.
Sony has expanded its 4K HDR Android TV range in the Indian market by including two new screen size variants of 65 inches and 85 inches under its X9000F series. The two TVs have been positioned in the high-end market segment, with them being priced at Rs. 3,39,900 ($5,008) and Rs. 12,99,900 ($19,154), respectively. Both the Bravia KD-65X9000F and KD-85X9000F Android TVs join the existing 55-inch model in the X9000F series that was launched earlier this month at a price of Rs. 2,39,900 ($3,534). Sony has announced to make the new models available via its widespread network of offline stores across the country and all the Sony Center stores. Being the newest addition to Sonys portfolio, the series not only bears an up-to-date design language but also includes the latest software and hardware additions.

On the design front, the TVs feature a cleaner back with an option to conceal the wires, while the front has thinner bezels. Besides supporting the TVs weight, its inverted V-shaped stand is designed to seamlessly fit Sonys Dolby Atmos-enabled HT-X9000F soundbar. Sony has included its proprietary X1 Extreme processor and a 4K X-Reality PRO image engine paired with a TRILUMINOS Display to bring an improved TV watching experience. All the three screen sizes feature a 4K resolution of 3,840 x 2,160 pixels while supporting different HDR standards including HDR 10, Dolby Vision, and Hybrid Log-Gamma. The Japanese company has used a custom UI on top of Android 7.0 Nougat with support for Google Play and a number of apps both from global and local media streaming services. An internal storage of 16GB has been provided to house all these apps.

Features like Google Assistant and Chromecast built-in come standard across all models under the X9000F line of Android TVs. When it comes to connectivity, the TVs support Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1, Ethernet port, four HDMI ports, and three USB ports. A pair of speakers offering a sound output of 10W each is a part of the package. They are Dolby Digital-enabled with support for Sonys own standards including Clear Phase, ClearAudio+, and S-Force Front Surround. The company had introduced its 2018 line of Android TVs earlier this year and they are since being rolled out to different markets globally.
BarcelonaToday Barcelonas Circulo de Economia released a statement calling for the end of Spains worst crisis since the Constitution was approved in 1978 and demanding a reformed Statute that would be recognised as constitutional law within the Spanish Constitution. As well as granting Spains regional governments greater fiscal powers, the Circulo espouses a new funding system that would require Navarre and the Basque Country to make a contribution to the interregional solidarity kitty. The Barcelona-based lobby released the statement ahead of its yearly conference, which will kick off in Sitges on Thursday afternoon.

The document, which was jointly approved by the Circulos executive committee, strikes a balancing act between emphasising their utmost respect for the rule of law and urging the political powers to find the appropriate lawful ways to channel the peoples legitimate aspirations and preferences, as otherwise the law tends to be flouted. This is the formula with which they aim to warn both the secessionist parties and those who refuse to engage in talks.

The Circulos note calls for granting Catalonia greater powers through a new Statute that would be recognised as a true Catalan Constitution. Firstly a pact would be needed between the Catalan political parties and later they would seek an agreement with the central government. The Circulo de Economia believes that at the root of the current crisis is the fact that the present Statute was not voted by the Catalan people after it was watered down by the Spanish Constitutional Court. Catalonia is the only region whose most fundamental institutional law hasnt been approved in a referendum, they note.

The Circulo, currently chaired by Juan Jose Brugera, believes that with this new Statute the share of powers between the Catalan and central administrations would be enshrined in the Constitution, whereas the Catalan Statute would address the regions own home affairs, such as language, education, culture and the management of self-government. This new Statute would have to be approved in a referendum.

Greater fiscal powers

The second aspect of the Circulos proposal is a new funding deal. No reference is made to the possibility of granting Catalonia its own separate fiscal system. In fact, they propose a system that leans toward a standardisation across the regions, where Navarre and the Basque Country would be expected to give up their privileges and make a greater contribution to the interregional solidarity fund. Likewise, the document proposes a reduction of the regional differences in the yearly public spending per capita.

However, the Circulo do call for greater powers to legislate, manage, collect and inspect tax revenues by regional governments, which would share their tax bases with Spains central government. This way the regional administrations would receive their tax revenue upon being collected without having a long wait as they do now before the funds are funnelled through the system by the central government. As in the US, the proposal contemplates a dual taxation system (central and regional) for income tax, VAT and business tax.
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
By Raashid Hassan  May, 29: Where are the commissions for this case, where are their reports?Shopian, May 28: It has been almost a decade since the 2009 rape and murder of Asiya and Neelofar, two young sisters-in-law from a village in Shopian, but justice has been denied the two girls despite huge outrage and condemnation by the public, by pro-India political parties and by the resistance leadership.Shakeel Ahmad Ahangar, whose younger sister and wife were raped and murdered on the intervening night of 29 and 30 May 2009, said that they have no trust in the Indian judicial system and its institutions. Everyone knows who the culprits were, but despite that, eyewitness statements were forcibly changed after threatening and harassing the eyewitnesses, he said. Questioning whose judiciary system it is under which eyewitnesses were put behind bars for two months, he said, Even under Section 64, there is no provision to rerecord the statements of eyewitnesses, but they did that to save the culprits who were involved in this heinous crime.

Asiya was 17 years old then and a Class XI student, while Neelofar, the wife of Shakeel Ahmad, was 22. The incident, according to the family, took place as both ladies were returning from their orchard in Nagbal village, when forces caught, raped and murdered them. Shopian witnessed almost three months of protest shutdown against this barbaric crime.

Eyewitnesses first told the court and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that they saw forces vehicles (vehicles of the paramilitary and police forces) near the bridge when my sister and wife where returning from the orchard, which is situated in a nearby village, Nagbal. But they too later changed their versions after being under detention and harassment by the forces, Ahangar said.

Ahangar narrates that whosoever spoke then about justice was framed in this case. There were six advocates, six doctors, my elder brother and one of our neighbours framed in the case, who were made guilty by the so-called caretakers of judiciary and democracy, he remembers. Everyone who put forward a factual report was made guilty, he said.

He said that the protesters didnt even agitate or demand justice at the level of the protests of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which was then in the opposition. For campaigning elections in 2014, they (the PDP) played politics on the blood of my sister and wife. When they come to power, they didnt utter a word about this case, Ahangar said.

Family members of the deceased girls recalled how present Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti came to their home at the time and assured them that justice would be done. She protested everywhere she went, to any conference or public gathering, she held protests in Srinagar where the photos and magazine stories of our daughters were displayed, but when in power, she played the same role as the former government of the National Conference and Congress, said one of the neighbours of the Ahangar family.

Speaking to Kashmir Reader, the family demanded to know, Where went the commissions which were set for this case, where went their reports? Actually there is no justice for us, not at all. Whenever they (the government) have to save men in uniform, they will make anyone guilty and then, as in the past, they will save the perpetrators, said one of the family members.

On the role of the resistance leadership, Ahangar said that they are suppressed like every single Kashmiri. They played their part, but you know they are not in power. There were students, people from all over Kashmir in general and people from Shopian in particular who fought for justice, but the occupation will never let that happen.

People stood with me on every front, my father-in-law was framed in 2016 for gathering people after the killing of Burhan Wani, he was in detention for 15 days and currently he is contesting three cases lodged by the police against him in 2016, Ahangar said.

How many examples will I give, asked Ahangar. When Zubair Ahmad Turay (a slain militant) fled from police custody and joined rebel ranks, in his first video he said that he was framed for demanding justice for Asiya and Neelofar, he continued, adding that this shows how people suffered more than him in this case.

Recently a PDP worker come to me and said he wants to reopen the case, but I asked him to meet the lawyer of the case. He (the PDP worker) was the same person who tried meeting resistance leader Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. His intention was different, he wanted to divert attention from the case of the Kathua girl who was gang raped and murdered in a temple, Ahangar said.

When this incident took place, both parents of Asiya had died in 2000 and 1992 respectively.

Arshid Aziz, a university student from Shopian town, told Kashmir Reader that the State does these things deliberately. The State use rape as a war weapon in Kashmir, and in 2009, dual rape and murder was the same weapon used by them. We dont have trust in their institutions, including their judiciary. I dont believe this, but the thought does arise that if justice had been delivered then, there would have been no Asifa raped and murdered by men in uniform at a religious place in 2018. Recently, the Major Gogoi case too would not have happened, says Arshid.

Shahid Ahmad, another university student from Shopian, said that the only tribute and justice for this case is the end of the occupation. I remember when present Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti come to Goal Chowk of Shopian and said that she will not feel calm till she will hang the culprits. It was all drama what she has done now.

Muhammad Yousuf Bhat, Member of the Legislative Assembly from Shopian, who was contesting the case of Asiya and Neelofar, is among the six lawyers who were charged by the CBI as guilty of destroying the facts and forcing witnesses to give false statements. CBI framed me as guilty, I was at Shopian Court on 26th of this month for hearing of the case. Not only me, they framed several advocates, doctors, eyewitnesses and even family members of the slain girls, he said.

Bhat went on, My stand regarding this case is same as it was then. I was then on forefront for demanding justice to the family and still I am on my stand, but it was National Conference and Congress who handed over this case to CBI. The CBI not only destroyed everything but framed innocent people in this case and produced a false report.

Bhat said that he raised this issue even in the Assembly. Handing this case to CBI was a big policy by former government because state government cant intervene in it now, he said.

When asked why this case was closed, he said the case is open and around a dozen persons are still contesting it.

Asked why people allege that the PDP played a card with this case in the 2014 election campaign, and even several times staged protests in this regard, Bhat said, As I told you, handing this case to CBI limited the intervention of the state government. We still will try our best for delivering justice to the family.

Nobody asks National Conference why they handed over this case to CBI, we are suffering in this case because we were made accused. Now central government can order CBI to close their case and have reinvestigation on this, he said.

People from Shopian are left only with questions. Where has the Jan Commission report ordered in the case gone? Why were witnesses made accused? Till how long will the government continue telling lies regarding this case?
SH-AWD

SUV

AWD

At the other end of the scale, thewith the Advance Package will set you back $47,400 or $48,395. And thats a lot for a compact luxurythat isn't as luxurious as a Mercedes-Benz or BMW, nor as hard-hitting as any of its German rivals in terms of the badge on the steering wheel. On the other hand, there are many things to like about the RDX, starting with the Acura-exclusive platform.According to Hondas luxury division, the top-of-class class power-to-weight ratio yields the quickest, best handling RDX yet. This was made possible, in part, by the direct-injected and turbocharged VTEC Turbo displacing 2.0 liters and connected from the get-go to a 10-speed automatic transmission. Peak output is rated at 272 force-fed horsepower, while twisting force comes in at 280 pound-feet (SAE net). Acura makes a case for 40-percent more low-end torque than the 3.5-liter naturally aspirated V6 in the previous generation, translating to quicker acceleration both off the line and on the highway. The SH-system, which costs $2,000 according to the options list, can distribute up to 70 percent of the torque to the rear wheels.SH-AWD features torque vectoring as standard, while the steering system is of the electric type to keep the weight down and help with fuel economy. Advance trim levels are that better to drive thamks to the Active Damper System. Depending on trim, highlight equipment also includes 16-way power adjustable heated and ventilated front seats, 10.5-inch full-color head-up display, and Acura ELS Studio 3D 16-channel premium audio that makes even the lousiest music sound brilliant.Customers interested in the A-Spec pack (pictured) should know that its just an appearance package. The low-profile 245/45 R20 tires help the driving dynamics a little bit, but other than that, the A-Specs bragging rights come in the form of looks.Other than being manufactured in the U.S. of A. , the RDX has been designed and developed in Los Angeles, California and Raymond, Ohio, respectively. The engine, SH-AWD, and transmission, on the other hand, are made in Anna, Ohio, Russells Point, Ohio, and Tallapoosa, Georgia.
In fact, we're here to deliver a battle between the two velocity tools. And unlike most fights of the kind, this one involves a straight line rather than a circuit.The Porscha and the Lambo got together earlier this year, with the two meeting at a drag racing event held in Weeze, Germany.Alas, the velocity gathering didn't involve any timing equipment, so we can't tell you the elapsed time or trap speed numbers of the beasts. Gues you'll just have to trust your eyes for this one, which isn't all that easy to do, given the rather uneven start of the race.We'll remind you that the rear section of the Zuffenhausen machine is occupied by a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six, which delivers 500 hp. As for the mid-engined supercar, the Huracan 's also-atmospheric 5.2-liter V10 delivers 610 ponies.And while both toys pack dual-clutch trannies, the Lambo has the edge in a standing start drag race, thanks to its all-paw hardware.The owner of the Lamborghini was determined to see how his Italian exotic would fare against a whole range of machines, to the GT3 RS fight was just one of his battles during the said event.And the other opponents of the Sant'Agata Bolognese machine were ever further away from it than the GT3 RS, since we're talking about an Audi RS6 and an F10 incarnation of the BMW M5 Oh, and we must also mention that this Lamborghini packs a little visual and aural surprise, one that isn't exactly legal.
CubCrafters will significantly increase production of its two-place airplanes in 2019, the company said last week. Backcountry flying is increasing in popularity, said Brad Damm, sales director for the company, in a news release. CubCrafters has seen continuous growth since 2009, he said, when the Carbon Cub LSA was introduced. Sales ramped up in 2016, when the Part 23-certified XCub was introduced, he said, and the order backlog is up to two years. The company began to increase production rates at the end of last year, and plans to continue growing into 2019. Cubcrafters EX-3/FX-3 model is on the cover of AVWeb sister magazine Kitplanes July issue, on sale now.

The company said another project contributing to their growth is their builder-assist program, which enables owners to participate in the fabrication and assembly of their experimental amateur-built aircraft at the factory. CubCrafters also offers two versions of Carbon Cub kits for owner assembly and certification offsite. AVwebs Paul Bertorelli flew the Carbon Cub on floats in 2015; heres his video report.
Ocean Infinity, a technology company that specializes in collecting high-resolution seabed data, announced on Tuesday that its giving up its search for the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370. Ocean Infinity searched and collected data from more than 43,000 square miles of ocean floor in about three months of work. This was more than the original target, and almost equal to the previously searched area. I would firstly like to extend the thoughts of everyone at Ocean Infinity to the families of those who have lost loved ones on MH370, said Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinitys CEO.Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected.It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim. The search, however, is likely to continue in one form or another.

Plunkett said he hopes to offer the ships services again in the future to search for MH370 until the wreckage is found. Whilst clearly the outcome so far is extremely disappointing, as a company, we are truly proud of what we have achieved, he said, both in terms of the quality of data weve produced and the speed with which we covered such a vast area. The Malaysian flight vanished from radar in March 2014. Some aircraft pieces that are believed to part of the Boeing 777 have been found off the coast of Africa. All 227 passengers and 12 crew are presumed dead.
When I first started on the aviation beat, about a hundred years ago, I remember looking at a report about an airliner that had to turn around and land due to smoke in the cockpit. I wondered for a minute or two if that was newsworthy, but a little research quickly schooled me  these kind of emergencies happen every day. That doesnt mean its not an emergency  you wouldnt want to ignore that smoke  but its not news. Working the beat, you soon learn whats a real emergency  as in life-threatening  and whats a routine emergency, in that it must be immediately dealt with, but chances are good all will be well. This kind of distinction, though, is not clear to the traveling public.

I always feel a little guilty about that when I encounter news reports about emergency landings, where in fact there is very little risk of a bad outcome  say, a problem with one engine on a two-engine airplane thats perfectly capable of single-engine flight, or that untraceable everyday smoke  and the passengers are panicking, understandably, and calling their loved ones on their cellphones and composing their final goodbyes on their laptops. Im sure the cabin crew tries to reassure them all, but you cant blame them for ignoring that. Reality may be clear to the educated and expert, but misperception rules among the unschooled, in the uncertainty of the moment.

Our job, of course, in the aviation media, is to report the news for our savvy audience, not to educate the teeming masses who have no idea how an airplane flies. That education task, it seems, is nobodys job, and it never gets done. The same is true when it comes to educating people about gender equity. We expect everyone to know by now that humans are all essentially the same, despite our diversity. Women can be pilots, men can be stay-at-home dads, everyone can be anything they like, if they have the talent and the opportunity. Yet gender remains an issue, driven by those ingrained perceptions. A friend once told me when you run across these assumptions about womanhood, try replacing woman with a racial or ethnic modifier. For example  we saw plenty of headlines the last few weeks about the brave woman pilot who safely landed a Southwest 737 after an uncontained engine failure  how would it feel to see the same breathless headlines referring to a black or Asian or blond, blue-eyed pilot? Its all about how we perceive differences, and nothing to do with real capability.

Which brings me to another aviation accident thats been on my mind the last few weeks. Tammie Jo Shults was not the first woman to be at the controls of a damaged airliner. Thirty years ago, in April 1988, Aloha Airlines Flight 243, a Boeing 737, was flying 24,000 feet above the Pacific when a 20-foot section of the airplanes fuselage was lost in an explosive decompression. First officer Madeline Mimi Tompkins, age 36, was the pilot flying when it happened, and she assisted Captain Robert Schornstheimer throughout the ordeal, bringing the damaged aircraft in to a safe landing on Maui. One flight attendant lost her life, and eight others on board were seriously hurt. Considering the damage to the airplane, with the cabin torn open and the fuselage shredded, it seems miraculous that anyone survived. Mimi Tompkins went on to work for Hawaiian Airlines, where she was a leader in Critical Incident Stress Management work, and also worked with ALPAs Air Safety Committee, where she led the unions pilot-assistance efforts.

First Officer Tompkins is the supreme example of a pilot who turned her experience of living through a tragic aviation incident into an opportunity to help other pilots and their families who are dealing with similar challenges, said Captain Lee Moak, ALPAs president, on the occasion of giving her an award for her service, in 2011.Her compassion and commitment serve as a powerful example for all airline pilots. Mimi Tompkins showed everyone, 30 years ago, what woman pilots are capable of. Maybe its time to lose the modifier.
Europe's sweeping data privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), went into effect last Friday, triggering a flurry of multi-billion dollar complaints, the shuttering of news websites overseas and a programmatic (automated) ad-buying market crash in Europe.

Why it matters: There hasn't been any indication that enforcement will be that stringent  regulators have indicated they'll be more lenient in the beginning than businesses realize  but ominous press coverage and the fear of heavy penalties has been enough to rattle industry.

The latest:

News outlets have gone dark in Europe: News publishers  many of which were linked to newspaper holding group Tronc, like The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times  shut down access to their websites from Europe on Friday. As of Monday, those sites were still reportedly blocked.

News publishers  many of which were linked to newspaper holding group Tronc, like The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times  shut down access to their websites from Europe on Friday. As of Monday, those sites were still reportedly blocked. New paywalls are launching in Europe: The Washington Post, is reportedly adding an EU-specific paywall, that is ad and tracking-free, but is more expensive.

The Washington Post, is reportedly adding an EU-specific paywall, that is ad and tracking-free, but is more expensive. The tech giants are being slammed with complaints: Google and Facebook, the two biggest data-driven advertising companies globally, were hit with complaints filed by European privacy advocate Max Schrems just hours after GDPR went into effect. Potential penalties, Schrems argues, total up to  7 billion.

Google and Facebook, the two biggest data-driven advertising companies globally, were hit with complaints filed by European privacy advocate Max Schrems just hours after GDPR went into effect. Potential penalties, Schrems argues, total up to  7 billion. Programmatic ad buying has plummeted: Since the early hours of May 25, ad exchanges have seen European ad demand volumes fall between 25 and 40% in some cases, sources tell Digiday. "Ad tech vendors scrambled to inform clients that they predict steep drops in demand coming through their platforms from Google."

The big picture: The panicked reaction to GDPR is significant because U.S.-based attempts to clean up the advertising industry have basically been ignored by marketers.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has had native advertising guidelines around deception since 2015, but a lack of enforcement around the rules has caused many publishers to ignore them.

Be smart: Expect enforcement in the U.S. to become a bigger priority now that there has been a full turnover of the five Commissioner positions at the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces consumer protection standards.

Two former FTC Commissioners told Axios in March that they expect data privacy and security to be their top consumer protection priority.

What's next? Digital advertising giants are already lobbying the next mega European law, a new ePrivacy Regulation that protects the confidentiality of electronic communications.
The White House believes that next month's summit between President Trump and North Korean Kim Jong-un in Singapore is still happening. A statement from Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed that the administration "continues to actively prepare" for the meeting after North Korean officials "have been engaging" after Trump's letter last week effectively cancelling it.

What's happening: The statement also confirms that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Kim Yong-chol, the vice chairman of North Korea's Central Committee, in New York this week. Additionally, in the days before his Singapore meeting with Kim, Trump will host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on June 7.
The Yerevan State University (YSU) administration accused Armenias new government of exerting political pressure on its rector, Aram Simonian, on Tuesday after he was confronted by angry students demanding his resignation.

Simonian, who is affiliated with the former ruling Republican Party (HHK), has faced growing pressure to step down since the April 23 resignation of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian resulting from massive anti-government demonstrations.

Students involved in the popular revolution led by Sarkisians successor, Nikol Pashinian, accuse him of mismanagement and corruption. They also accuse him of having abused his powers to spread HHK influence on Armenias largest and oldest university during his decade-long tenure.

More than a hundred of them demonstrated outside the main YSU building in Yerevan on Tuesday morning before holding a tense meeting with Simonian in a university conference hall. They refused to leave the auditorium and began a sit-in there after he rejected their demands. The protest continued late in the evening.

We waited for about month, hoping that there will be some reforms in the university and that there will be some statements in support of the students, said Davit Petrosian, a leader of the protesting students. But the opposite happened.

Simonian insisted that the demands are not legitimate and that only a small percentage of YSUs 17,000 or students are demonstrating against him. This is not democracy, this is repression, including for my political views and party affiliation, he told reporters. I wont make any concessions under duress.

Simonian went on to accuse Pashinians government of being behind the protests. He argued that two recently appointed government officials joined the students holed up in the YSU auditorium.

In a statement released later in the day, the YSU administration likewise charged that the protests are being guided by the new government. It said that the protesters have not come up with any legal grounds for Simonians resignation and are targeting him because of his HHK affiliation.
By Rashid Shirinov

Not a single month passes without deaths of Armenian soldiers in non-combat conditions, both in the military units in Armenia itself and those located in the occupied lands of Azerbaijan.

The latest death occurred on May 26, when the body of captain Amayak Hakobyan with a penetrating gunshot wound in the chest area was found in a military unit of Armenia.

The local media reports note that a forensic medical examination has been appointed and investigative measures are being taken to clarify all the circumstances of the soldiers death.

It is noteworthy that this is the 18th death in the Armenian army over the recent months. The previous one occurred in non-combat conditions in the Armenia-occupied territories of Azerbaijan. The body of an Armenian soldier Hamlet Grigoryan with a through bullet wound in the lower jaw was found in a military unit on May 20.

A similar case happened on May 6, when the body of an Armenian serviceman Levon Torosyan was found in a military unit in North-East Armenia. The Investigative Committee claims this was a suicide, but the soldiers family does not believe in this version.

Expert of the Peace Dialogue organization Ruben Martirosyan also denied this version immediately after the autopsy. He found obvious facts of murder, such as parallel scratches on the elbows, which emerged simultaneously, and bruising on the genitals.

Yet another case occurred on the night of May 4, when the body of a 20-year-old military serviceman Arthur Gasparyan with a gunshot wound in the mouth was found at the combat position of a military unit in North-East Armenia. Later, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case under the article Incitement to suicide.

However, the criminal case was further developed and as a result, master sergeant of a defensive post where Gasparyan served was charged under the article Insult of a serviceman.

The forensic medical examination was appointed and necessary investigative and other procedural actions are conducted to establish the servicemans death circumstances and check possible versions, the statement reads.

However, Armenias population no longer believes in the statements of the government bodies, which present dozens of murders in the Armenian army as suicides.

Various human rights activists in Armenia note that hazing of conscripts has a strikingly violent form in the countrys army. Soldiers who have undergone more than six-month service bully new conscripts, while those in their last six months are regarded as senior soldiers, who enjoy various privileges, including immunity from such a treatment.

Thus, some Armenian soldiers commit suicides because of being bullied in army, while others die because of being severely beaten and shot by their fellow soldiers. This was common during the 10-year rule of Sargsyan in Armenia, and now Pashinyan and the new defense minister of Armenia will have to carry out serious reforms in the countrys armed forces in order to stop these terrible deaths.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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By Rashid Shirinov

For many years, Armenia has been suffering from a number of problems that the former government was unable to solve or just did not want to solve. The widespread corruption was in the second category, since the governments of Serzh Sargsyan and his predecessor Robert Kocharyan were the main originators of the corrupt system in Armenia.

Therefore, during the "velvet revolution" in April, the protest leader Nikol Pashinyan, who is now the prime minister of Armenia, was emphasizing that he would allegedly fight corruption in the country and bring to justice those who have made a fortune through embezzlement, corruption and monopolies.

The new director of Armenias National Security Council Artur Vanetsyan has also made similar statements. He claimed that appropriate activities have already begun and promised to disclose the names of 350 corrupt officials in the near future.

Obviously, such strong statements from the new government disturbed many of Armenias former officials from Kocharyan and Sargsyans entourage, who illegally made huge fortunes. The Armenian media have found out that several former officials began to export their illegal capital abroad after the change of power in the country.

However, time goes by but Pashinyan and Vanetsyan are reluctant to fulfill their promises. The corrupt officials are still at large, including Kocharyan and Sargsyan, whose personal wealth is estimated at $4 billion and $7 billion respectively.

For many years, these two men were the main figures of the corrupt system in Armenia. The question now arises whether Pashinyan will go for bringing Kocharyan and Sargsyan to justice or he will punish only their underlings.

If Pashinyan chooses the first option, he will raise his credibility both in Armenia itself and in the international arena. However, if Pashinyan selects the second option, he will thereby confirm the rumors that he has concluded an agreement with Sargsyan providing power to Pashinyan in exchange for security of Sargsyan and his corrupt team.

In that case, no real changes will occur in the fight against corruption, since Kocharyan and Sargsyan are still in control of the corrupt system in Armenia. The countrys population knows exactly that if Pashinyan really wants to combat corruption, he will have to start with these two persons.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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14 bridges to be built with World Bank loan

The World Bank has agreed to provide financial assistance to the Roads Department to build 14 bridges on the Muglin-Narayanghat road, the Kathmandu Valleys key supply line which is currently being upgraded from single lane to double lane.
By Rashid Shirinov

Although the ceasefire agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan was signed back in 1994, the situation remains tough on the frontline. The Armenian armed forces break the ceasefire every day and commit provocations with the use of large-caliber machine guns, mortars and other weapons.

On May 29, another ceasefire breaking from the Armenian side resulted in damaging the agricultural machinery of an Azerbaijani civilian.

In the morning, the Armenian armed units located in the direction of the occupied Gorgan village of Fuzuli region subjected to fire a combine harvester carrying out agricultural work in the sowing area, the Defense Ministry of Azerbaijan reported, noting that although there are no victims, the combine harvester was damaged.

This is another proof of Armenias hostile attitude not only to the Azerbaijani Army, but also to ordinary population, unarmed civilians who are just engaged in their daily activities. The Armenian troops often attempt to shell the Azerbaijani settlements located in the frontline regions, thus trying to threaten the lives of peaceful Azerbaijanis living there.

In general, the Armenian armed forces violated ceasefire 84 times throughout the day, using large-caliber machine guns. The military units located on nameless hills in Armenias Noyemberyan, Ijevan, Berd and Krasnoselsk regions subjected to fire the positions of the Azerbaijani Army located in Gaymagli village and on nameless hills in Gazakh region, in Agdam village of Tovuz region as well as in Goyali village and on nameless hills of Gadabay region.

Moreover, the positions of the Azerbaijani Army were fired from the Armenian military units located near the occupied Azerbaijani villages of Tartar, Agdam, Khojavand, Fuzuli, Jabrayil and Goranboy regions.

Azerbaijan has many times noted in the international arena the inadmissibility of such a conduct of the Armenian side, but the leadership of the aggressor country continues to preserve tension in the region by such provocations. The main objective of the Armenian authorities is to maintain the status quo in Nagorno-Karabakh in defiance of the four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of the Armenian armed forces from Azerbaijans Nagorno-Karabakh and other occupied regions.

Therefore, the international community must exert pressure on Armenia to ensure the cessation of armed provocations against Azerbaijan, the implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions, and the beginning of substantive negotiations with Azerbaijan on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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By Laman Ismayilova

An exhibition Teachers and students has opened at Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Fine Arts, Sculpture and Architecture.

Thesis works of the 1950-1970s from the collection of the Scientific Research Museum are presented at the Titian Room, while the works of 20th-century artists from the collection of V.F. Pustarnakov Realistic Art Foundation are showcased at the Raphael Room, said Ekaterina Sapogova, artistic director of foundation and the exhibition curator.

The project organizers include the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the Heydar Aliyev Center, Scientific-research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts, V.F. Pustarnakov Realistic Art Foundation and the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Yenicag.ru reported.

The exhibition is curated by Veronika Bogdan, Emin Mammadov, Ekaterina Sapogova and Maria Filatova.

The project Teachers and students is a unique phenomenon in the modern exhibition activity. The spectators are presented the diploma pictures from the collection of the Scientific Research Museum, independent works of outstanding artists of St. Petersburg and Moscow from the collection of V.F. Pustarnakov Realistic Art Foundation, and the work of teachers and professors of Ilya Repin St. Petersburg State Academic Institute of Fine Arts, Sculpture and Architecture, said Sapogova.

Thematic paintings, portraits, still life, landscapes, included in the catalog and exhibition exposition, give a clear idea of the time, aspirations, creative searches of more than 100 realistic artists. Temperamental, textured and colorful works tell about love to their native land, workdays, simple joys, important historical events. Participants of the exhibition are united not only by masterful performance and great skills, but also the fact that all these artists developed their own, recognizable artistic style. They brought something new to the art of realism. This exhibition is also interesting because we can trace the creative ways of teachers and their gifted students, some of whom later became not only worthy artists, but also found themselves in teaching activity. This is how the inseparable connection of generations is realized, so the best traditions of craftsmanship, professional secrets and, most importantly, the correct understanding of the meaning and depth of the meaning of art are carefully transferred from one artist to another, she added.

It's also important fact that such a large-scale exhibition is falls on the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the 90th anniversary of the outstanding artist Tahir Salahov, she concluded.

The exhibition brought together artists born in Baku, Ferghana, Odessa, Kazan, Gorky, Vitebsk who came to Saint Petersburg or Moscow to get a classical art education. Many of them devoted themselves not only to creative, but also teaching activity.

The exposition includes study and diploma works, which allow tracing the way of the formation of such brush masters as Tahir Salakhov, who is represented by a sketch of the model, 1956s watercolor painting (double setting in costumes) and the final monumental painting From Watch (1957). Among other graduates of the Surikov Moscow State Academic Art Institute are talented painters L.V. Gudskov (1922-1997) and S. L. Frolov (1924-1970).

This autumn the exhibition will be presented at Heydar Aliyev Center in Baku.

The exposition will also showcase works of Azerbaijani artists from the collection of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation.

Next year, the exhibition will be held in the Russian Academy of Arts.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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By Trend

On May 23, 2018 a historic moment ocurred in scientific, cultural and humanitarian fields between Great Britain and Azerbaijan. At the Clarendon Building the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Philosophical Society, the Academy of Social Sciences in the United Kingdom, an Honorary Member of the Royal Irish Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Professor Louise Richardson, and Head of the Oxford Nizami Ganjavi Centre on behalf of Azerbaijan, Chair of the Board of Trustees of the British Foundation for the Study of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus (BFSAC), Rector of the Baku Branch of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Professor Nargiz Pashayeva signed the contract under which, the Oxford Nizami Ganjavi Centre for the Study of Azerbaijan, the Caucasus and Central Asia will be permanently functioning at the University of Oxford as its integral part.

'The signed agreement was built on the success of five-year Nizami Ganjavi Program at the University of Oxford  a research program established in 2013 and designed to further the study of the languages, history and culture of Azerbaijan and the Caucasus. As well as providing vital support for graduate students in Oriental Studies and Archaeology, the programme has overseen the excavation of Barda in Azerbaijan, and the translation of major works of Azeri and Russian scholarship into English.

The center will enable the creation of three DPhil scholarships, as well as provides support to visiting researchers and various events and activities program'.

The prominent scientific, cultural and academic figures from Azerbaijan and Great Britain participated at the event. They highlighted the importance of the event, stating that there have never been such agreement between Azerbaijan and United Kingdom in the field of science and education.

Edmund Herzig, Masoumeh and Fereydoon Soudavar Professor of Persian Studies at Oxford, says: 'There is a long tradition of research on the Caucasus and Central Asia at Oxford, and of collecting books and manuscripts from the region in the Bodleian Library. Until now, however, there has never been a centre dedicated to the study of this region, which has tended to be overshadowed by the big empires and better-known countries around it.

'It will allow Oxford to make Azerbaijan, the Caucasus and Central Asia the focus of sustained study for the first time. It will attract the best research students and visiting researchers to work here. It also lays the foundation for further development of the field, not only in Oriental Studies, but across the University.'

Professor Nargiz Pashayeva, Chair of the Board of trustees of the BFSAC and Rector of Baku Branch of Lomonosov Moscow State University, says: 'The signing ceremony that took place at the University of Oxford is comparable to the Contract of the Century in terms of science, education and the culture for Azerbaijan. As part of the Caucasus's historical heritage, Azerbaijan will gain a permanent place to be studied at this exceptional academic institution. By applying modern methodologies and approaches, future scholars will benefit from the knowledge collected here over the past nine centuries and will be at the forefront of current academic discourse.

'This proud day is dedicated to the dear memories of the people who founded the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic almost exactly 100 years ago. The creation of the first democratic republic in the Muslim world remains one of the brightest chapters of our history.'

Director of the Bodleian Library, member of the American Philosophical Society, and Fellow of Londons Society of Antiquaries - Richard Ovenden, Masoumeh and Fereydoon Soudavar, Professor of Persian Studies at Oxford, Head of the Oxford Nizami Ganjavi Centre from UK - Edmund Herzig, one of the world`s renowned researchers of ancient Islamic history, member of the Board of trustees of the BFSAC - Professor Robert Hoyland, Oriental Studies Faculty Board Chair in the University of Oxford - Professor Mark Smith, member of the House of Lords, member of the Board of trustees of the BFSAC - Lord Malcolm Bruce, member of the House of Lords, Warden of Wadham College of University of Oxford - Lord Ken MacDonald, Acting Chief Development Officer of the University of Oxford - Professor Anthony Green, Professor of University of Oxford -Julia Bray, Head of the Bodleian Libraries Oriental Section and Indian Institute - Dr. Gillian Evison, Head of the Humanities Division at the University of Oxford - Karen O'Brien were among the influential members of the British academic community present at the signing ceremony. There were also honorary guests from Azerbaijan including the President of Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (ANAS) - Professor Akif Alizade, dean of the theology faculty of Baku State University - Professor Vasim Mammadaliyev, director of the Institute of Manuscripts of ANAS - Professor Teymur Karimli, Head of the department of general linguistics of Baku State University - Professor Nizami Jafarov.

Although the University has a long tradition of individual scholarship in this field, it has never before had the means by which to draw this expertise together. Thanks to the foundation's generous gift however, it will now be possible for students and scholars from all over the world to collaboratively investigate and discuss the history, languages and cultures of Azerbaijan, the Caucasus and Central Asia, from ancient to modern times.

One of the key items of the signed contract provides for the renaming of the Oriental Library at the University of Oxford to the Bodleian Nizami Ganjavi Oriental Studies Library. Richard Ovenden, Director of the Bodleian Library, member of the American Philosophical Society, and Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London welcomed this proposal during his meeting with Professor Nargiz Pashayeva on April 23, 2018. According to the agreement, the center will support the Subject Librarian at the Bodleian Libraries, for the Middle Eastern and Islamic Collections, making it possible for the post holder to add the Azerbaijani language to their area of expertise. A dedicated reading room will also be created for the use of the DPhil students and visiting researchers supported by the Oxford Nizami Ganjavi Centre. Furthermore, the center will enable the Bodleian Libraries to increase its archive of rare and important materials from Azerbaijan and the Caucasus.

Named after the poet Nizami Ganjavi, the new centre will be a joint initiative between the Faculty of the Oriental Studies and the Bodleian Libraries. As such, it will play a key role in transforming Oxford into a centre of excellence for the study of this important geographical region.

At the end of the signing ceremony, Professor Nargiz Pashayeva presented a book about the great Azerbaijani philanthropist Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev and a photo demonstrating the first session of the Parliament of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, in the building of Haji Zeynalabdin Taghiyev`s Girls School to the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, Professor Louise Richardson. Professor Louise Richardson also presented painting that depicts the University of Oxford to Professor Nargiz Pashayeva.

Prior to the official part of the event, the scientists and other guests of the University of Oxford visited the oldest section of Bodleian Library - the Horton Room, Weston Library and viewed a collection of ancient manuscripts and the conservation center. They were accompanied by Head of Development at the Bodleian Libraries, Elaine Gallagher. The participants then were invited to an official dinner held at the "Trapp rum" Hall of Wadham College, which was founded in 1610. Held in a frank atmosphere, the dinner party was followed by an official signing ceremony at the Clarendon Building.

The contract signed at the University of Oxford on May 23, 2018, can be titled the Contract of the Century as a landmark cultural, historical and humanitarian event in the true sense of the word. This event strengthens the belief that Azerbaijan`s scientific thought and historical legacy will make an outstanding contribution to the global scientific integration and open up new horizons and opportunities in future.

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By Trend

President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev has received the UK Prime Minister's Trade Envoy to Azerbaijan Baroness Emma Nicholson.

The president expressed gratitude to Baroness Emma Nicholson for her visit to Azerbaijan to participate in the official opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor and the 25th Anniversary International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition.

President Aliyev recalled his recent visit to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

During the meeting the sides stressed the successful development of bilateral relations between Azerbaijan and UK in the political, economic, energy and other spheres. The sides also emphasized the continuous fruitful cooperation between BP and Azerbaijans State Oil Company SOCAR.

Touching upon the importance of the official opening ceremony of the Southern Gas Corridor and the 25th Anniversary International Caspian Oil and Gas Exhibition, Baroness Emma Nicholson stressed the symbolism of the coincidence of these events with the 100th anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.

Baroness Emma Nicholson appreciated these events as significant ones and conveyed congratulations to President Aliyev in this regard.

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By Trend

Unfortunately, so far the Armenian new leaderships actions and behaviour in handling the Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno-Karabakh conflict issues have been far from inspiring optimism, Azerbaijani Ambassador to Belgium Fuad Isgandarov said in an interview with EURACTIV media platform.

The Armenian previous government made its survival through its radical destructive policy towards conflict settlement, he said.

The current Armenian government is facing the debris of this policy, Isgandarov added. They need fresh air and fresh blood to revive the economy which is in a shambles. They should strive to become an inclusive partner in projects in the region.

This is possible only through building normal relations with neighbouring countries, he said. In his early days of office, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan went to the occupied Nagorno-Karabakh region to celebrate the anniversary of occupation of Shusha, a city where ethnic Azerbaijanis constituted an overwhelming majority.

There he voiced controversial statements about annexing Nagorno-Karabakh to Armenia and introducing new conflict parties to the negotiation format which did not fit into the context and substance of negotiations mediated by the OSCE Minsk Group, Isgandarov said. There is no need to reinvent the wheel.

The new leaderships aggressive rhetoric was followed by a military provocation at the Azerbaijan-Armenia state border where an Azerbaijani soldier was shot dead in Nakhchivan, the ambassador said.

In the meantime, Azerbaijani Foreign Minister Elmar Mammadyarov met OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs in Paris where he reiterated Azerbaijans interest in pushing ahead substantial negotiations, he said.

So, you can see differences between these two approaches - continuing aggressive actions and rhetoric on the one hand, and a constructive approach on the other, Isgandarov said. I hope the international community will adequately assess it.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied 20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and seven surrounding districts.

The 1994 ceasefire agreement was followed by peace negotiations. Armenia has not yet implemented four UN Security Council resolutions on withdrawal of its armed forces from the Nagorno-Karabakh and the surrounding districts.

The European Union is not involved in the settlement of the conflict, he said. But this does not prevent the EU from promoting and international law-based solution to the conflict and supporting the territorial integrity, sovereignty, independence and inviolability of internationally recognized borders of partner countries which were identified as key principles of European security in the EUs Global Strategy.

We appreciate and value the EUs explicit and consistent position in supporting these principles in its relations with Azerbaijan, the ambassador said.

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By Trend

Azerbaijan is enhancing cooperation with South Korea on all fronts, said Azerbaijani ambassador to South Korea Ramzi Teymurov.

He made the remarks during the celebration of centenary anniversary of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) organized by Azerbaijani embassy in South Korea, The Korea Herald reported.

The diplomat noted that the Azerbaijan Democratic Republics declaration of independence on May 28, 1918, was a historic event and one of the most glorious pages of Azerbaijans history.

Following our independence in 1991, Azerbaijan has achieved dramatic growth in diverse sectors, particularly by implementing mega-projects in energy and transport. Azerbaijan is rapidly modernizing and diversifying its economy, increasing its potential in transport, logistics, tourism and agricultural developments across the South Caucasus and Eurasia, and enhancing cooperation with South Korea on all fronts, said Teymurov.

Moon Duk-ho, Korean ambassador for international security affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for his part, said that Azerbaijan is far from South Korea geographically, but it is close to the country culturally and emotionally.

There is active economic cooperation between the two countries focusing on energy and infrastructure, added Duk-ho.

The two governments established diplomatic relations in 1992.

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By Sara Israfilbayova

World oil prices during the trades change in different directions on May 29, while market participants assess the likelihood of increasing oil production by OPEC countries.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was up 0.3 percent to $75.59 a barrel on Londons Intercontinental Exchange. On the New York Mercantile Exchange, West Texas Intermediate futures (WTI) were trading down 1.9 percent at $66.58 a barrel, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on May 25 that a gradual increase in oil production under the OPEC + agreement could begin in the third quarter of this year, if such a decision is made.

Later, Novak added that the countries of the deal would work out options for mitigating production restrictions within a month, while one of the options is to reach the production levels that were at the signing of the agreement.

The head and co-owner of Lukoil, Vagit Alekperov, said he does not expect oil prices to rise to $100 per barrel.

I do not think that there will be such a high price because today the price is regulated by the reduction that was achieved by the OPEC + agreement. It is regulated by the statements that come from the U.S. to limit Irans oil exports. These are the factors that can be changed today, Alekperov told RIA Novosti.

OPEC and non-OPEC producers reached an agreement in December 2016 to curtail oil output jointly and ease a global glut after more than two years of low prices. OPEC agreed to slash the output by 1.2 million barrels per day from January 1.

Non-OPEC oil producers such as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Equatorial Guinea, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan, and South Sudan agreed to reduce output by 558,000 barrels per day starting from January 1, 2017.

OPEC and its partners decided to extend its production cuts till the end of 2018 in Vienna on November 30, as the oil cartel and its allies step up their attempt to end a three-year supply glut that has savaged crude prices and the global energy industry.

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Sara Israfilbayova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Sara_999Is

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By Trend

Completion of construction of the Trans-Anatolian gas pipeline (TANAP), through which gas supplies will be carried out to Turkey and Europe, is a very important and significant event, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said.

He made the remarks in his address to participants of the ceremony of commissioning the first stage of the Southern Gas Corridor project, which implies the supply of Azerbaijani gas to Europe, in Baku on May 29. Turkish Ambassador Erkan Ozoral read out the message.

"Dear President Ilham Aliyev and participants of the ceremony, following the implementation of such projects as Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan, Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum, as well as the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars transport corridor, TANAP gas pipeline can be considered a project that will change the future of the region. TANAP is an example of regional cooperation," Erdogan said.

Erdogan, in his address further noted that after the first gas is pumped into the TANAP system, an opening ceremony of the gas pipeline will take place in the Turkish province of Eskishehir on June 12.

Erdogan added that organization of organize the opening ceremony of the TANAP pipeline in Turkey will be an honor for Turkey.

The Southern Gas Corridor, worth over $40 billion, is considered as one of the priority energy projects for the EU, which strives for diversification of gas sources. The project envisages transportation of gas from the Caspian region to the European countries through Georgia and Turkey.

At an initial stage, the gas to be produced in the Stage 2 of development of Azerbaijan's Shah Deniz field is considered as the main source for the Southern Gas Corridor projects. Other sources can also connect to this project at a later stage.

As part of the Shah Deniz Stage 2, the gas will be exported to Turkey and European markets by expanding the South Caucasus Pipeline and construction of Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP) and Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP).

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By Kamila Aliyeva

The National Bank for Foreign Economic Affairs of Uzbekistan and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed a $50 million agreement to implement the project entitled Enhancing the Energy Efficiency of Industrial Enterprises, the World Bank representative office in Tashkent reported.

The project provides for the modernization of obsolete equipment and production processes, as well as the use of energy-saving technology in small, medium and large industrial enterprises in Uzbekistan.

It is expected that investments in the project will help save 386 GW-hours of energy and reduce emissions to 799,000 tons of carbon dioxide per year.

The project on improving energy efficiency is carried out within the framework of the program of borrowings provided by the World Bank, which was signed on May 17, 2018 during the official visit of Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev to the United States.

Earlier, the World Bank and Uzbekistan signed loan agreements totaling $940 million.

The agreements were concluded during the meeting of the World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev within the framework of his first official visit to the United States, the website of the WB said.

The allocated funds will be used to finance four new projects in Uzbekistan in the field of improving energy efficiency, fruit and vegetable production and emergency medical services. These loans have increased the WB project portfolio in Uzbekistan to $ 2.8 billion. To date, it includes projects in the field of transport, education, agriculture, irrigation and water supply.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

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By Kamila Aliyeva

Tajikistan reduced the customs duty on the import of jewelry from gold and silver.

Henceforth, importers of jewelry instead of VAT and duties will pay a single special export and import duty.

For example, the duty for one gram of gold products is 18 somoni, and for one gram of silver products  3.6 somoni, Central Asian media outlets reported.

Until recently, the volume of taxes and duties amounted to 42 percent of the total value of imported products from gold and silver.

At the last session of the lower chamber of the Tajik parliament, held on May 25, the MPs unanimously supported these amendments to the Customs Code of the country.

The measures taken are aimed at stopping the smuggling of jewelry into the country, as well as supporting local producers of gold and silver products.

The adopted amendments to the Customs Code allowed reducing the customs duty on the import of gold and silver and products from them. Prior to that, there was a high duty, which increased the risk of corruption when importing products, because traders tried to avoid payments in any way, said Olimdjon Boboev, deputy of the lower house of parliament, member of the committee on economics and finance.

The amendments apply to the export of jewelry from Tajikistan, which will help increase the demand for products of domestic jewelers.

In the republic, from year to year, the production of gold increases and this relaxation will allow local products to become competitive abroad, he believes.

Tajikistan plans to annually increase gold production by 6 percent. The authorities intend to put new capacities into operation in order to achieve this result.

Tajikistan's gold assets contain 137 deposits of industrial gold and 127 deposits of non-industrial gold. Tajikistan has registered a new record in gold production in 2017 as the country extracted 5.5 tons.

The main gold-bearing deposits with balance reserves are located in the central part of the republic.

The Central Asian nation has 10 gold producers, the biggest ones being Zarafshon (70 percent of all gold extracted in the country), Aprelevka, Tilloi Tochik, Odina Group and Pakrut.

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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Tika R Pradhan is a senior political correspondent for the Post, covering politics, parliament, judiciary and social affairs. Pradhan joined the Post in 2016 after working at The Himalayan Times for more than a decade.
The Jefferson County Courthouse was closed for two hours on Tuesday after a man called in a fake threat to "blow up" the building, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office.

Around 9:05 a.m., Beaumont Police Department received a 911 call from a male who said he was "going to blow up the courthouse," JCSO Captain Crystal Holmes said.
Lee Smith was a seventh-grader when he started working in the late 1950s as a grocery store stocker in Beaumonts north end.

Growing up, Smith said his family didnt have a bunch of money, but it didnt matter. Just be nice, his mother always said.

Now as the first African-American president of the Port of Beaumont Board of Commissioners, Smith, 76, said he attributes his successes to his mom, who encouraged him, saying, Wherever you go in life, carry a good name with you. Itll follow you  bad names and good names.

From Charlton-Pollard High School to Fort Polk during the Vietnam War and most recently president of the nations fifth largest port, Smith said hes been blessed that friends and mentors saw some good in me and helped me along the way.

After graduating from Prairie View A&M University in 1965, Smith joined the U.S. Army at Fort Polk in Louisiana, where an officer took notice of him, saying Youre a good guy, I can look at you and tell.

The officer recommended Smith stay at Fort Polk for two years as a cook instead of going to Vietnam.

I said, Yes, sir, that sounds great  A lot of folks were going to Vietnam, getting shot, it was bad, Smith recalled.

Somebody helped me and I thought about these thingshow blessed I was to do that, he said.

Ever since stocking shelves at the old Big Star Grocery on Magnolia Street, Smith said his passion has been encouraging young folks to carry a good name and get an education.

For Smith, its all about helping people, helping someone get to the next level.

After two years in the Army, Smith returned to Texas,where he said he was the first minority to work in the office of the Texas U.S. Chemical Company in Port Neches.

Great, Im going to be humble about that, Smith said at the time.

Smith became a port commissioner in 2002 after Everette Bo Alfred, now a Jefferson County Commissioner, saw Smith was campaigning for other people to get elected and told him, No, its your turn.

After 12 years, Smith was appointed vice president of the board in 2014 and president effective at the end of this month.

An active member of the community, Smith noted he is also the only minority in a few groups, including the Beaumont Main Street Board of Directors and the City of Beaumonts Adjustment Board.

My plates full, but I enjoy doing community work, said Smith, who also is a trustee of Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church, NAACP member and service officer of the Dorie E. Miller Post 817 of the American Legion.

Smith said several members of his supporting cast have guided him, including mentor and former board president C.A. Pete Shelton, who taught him to be humble, be nice to people and a lot of good things will happen.

Following Sheltons retirement as port president, Smith said he has big shoes to fill.

He said he looks forward to selling the port to the community, particularly to young people who might be looking to get a good start on life while working at the port.

Phoebe.Suy@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/PhoebeSuy
A Jasper woman who was sentenced last week to four and a half years in prison for her role in a family scheme to take hurricane relief money for personal use has asked a federal judge to appoint a new attorney for her appeal.

In the notice of appeal filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, attorney Bobby Mims wrote that Rosie Diggles "is indigent and requests the court to appoint qualified appellate counsel" for further proceedings.

Judge Ron Clark ruled last week that Rosie Diggles, 64, and her daughter, Anita Diggles, 42, should spend four years and six months in federal prison for fraud, money-laundering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Rosie Diggles' husband, Walter, 66, was sentenced to nine years in prison.

>>>RELATED: Diggles family to report to prisons by July 10

They were found guilty last August of illegally diverting federal hurricane relief funds for their own use.

Between 2006 and 2012, the family overcharged the government for services provided with federal funds intended for hurricane relief and recovery, prosecutors said. More than $1.3 million was funneled through the Deep East Texas Council of Governments, which Walter Diggles directed, to the Deep East Texas Foundation, which he founded and oversaw, to The Lighthouse Church, where he was pastor.

They submitted reimbursement requests for federal funds at rates far higher than their actual costs for hurricane relief programs, according to trial evidence.

Clark ordered Walter Diggles to forfeit $521,059.81 to the U.S. government, and ordered Anita and Rosie Diggles to each pay $225,041.88.

>>>Editorial: Diggles' sentences send strong message on fraud

The family filed for bankruptcy in January.

As the family left the courthouse last week, Walter Diggles said all three planned to appeal their convictions immediately. They pleaded not guilty to all charges.

They were ordered to report to federal prison by July 10.

LTeitz@BeaumontEnterprise.com

Twitter.com/LizTeitz
Addison, Texas-based United Surgical Partners International acquired ownership stakes in Jacksonville, Fla.-based Borland Groover's Jacksonville Center for Endoscopy in Southside, Fla., and Jacksonville Center for Endoscopy in Riverside, Fla.

Here's what you should know:

1. The acquired centers were established in 1998. As a result of the partnership, both companies will manage the endoscopy centers.

2. Borland Groover is one of the largest gastroenterology practices in the nation. Borland Groover has 17 northeast Florida-based offices.

3. Borland Groover CEO Kyle Etzkorn, MD, said, "The partnership with USPI offers many opportunities to enhance healthcare delivery for our patients. Our shared commitment to providing safe, efficient, patient-centered care will further enable us to improve the lives of those we serve."

4. USPI President Brett Brodnax praised Jacksonville Center for Endoscopy's physicians, saying, "We are honored to partner with such a reputable and prominent gastroenterology group, and we look forward to building upon this new relationship."
A large sinkhole opened up just outside the parking lot of Bayfront Health-Brooksville (Fla.), a hospital spokesperson confirmed to the Tampa Bay Times.

The spokesperson told the publication the sinkhole is about 25 feet wide and 20 feet deep. She said the hole does not pose a threat to the 120-bed hospital's buildings, emergency management services or other facility operations.

While the cause of the sinkhole is unknown, consulting firm Coastal Engineering will monitor it to ensure it does not grow, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

It is unclear when the sinkhole formed.
New Hampshire officials and the state's hospitals have worked out a deal on uncompensated care payments, according to a Concord Monitor report.

Here are five things to know about the deal:

1. The seven-year agreement was negotiated by New Hampshire Senate President Chuck Morse, R-Salem, and others.

2. It comes after a district court ruling issued in March that voided a 2017 federal rule. The ruling, which CMS has appealed, essentially determined New Hampshire and other states inappropriately applied to hospitals a federal formula used to determine uncompensated care payments, Concord Monitor reports.

3. The ruling forced New Hampshire to set aside more moneyas much as $36 million more in fiscal year 2018 and $37 million in fiscal year 2019not previously anticipated in its budget. The new deal includes lesser amounts: $22.1 million in fiscal year 2018 and $22.5 million in fiscal year 2019, according to the report.

4. The Concord Monitor reports the the state and hospitals also have found a new uncompensated care funding formula. Under the new uncompensated care funding formula, New Hampshire will pay hospitals about 90 percent of the Medicaid enhancement taxes they pay annually, according to the report. A federal match then doubles the payments. A slightly more complex formula will begin in fiscal year 2020.

5. New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu is expected to sign the seven-year agreement, which is part of New Hampshire's omnibus spending bill, according to the report.

Read the Concord Monitor's full report here.

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Achyut Wagle holds PhD in economics and is currently a professor at the Kathmandu University School of Management. He is an econo-political analyst, writing for The Kathmandu Post for many years.
In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Justine Bone, CEO of MedSec.

Ms. Bone will speak during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on "The Path to Achieving Cybersecurity Resiliency Within Healthcare Delivery Organizations," at 9:05 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 22. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.

Question: What do you see as the most vulnerable part of a hospital's business?

Justine Bone: Patient trust. Our dependency on technology to deliver trustworthy services makes the protection of technology  and those that use it  a priority. A cybersecurity incident  anything ranging from service downtime due to a ransomware attack, to the theft of health records, to more dramatic patient safety scenarios related to medical device operations  will all affect trust, and by extension, business.

Hospitals are increasing investments in cybersecurity programs, but we need to do more. Still today over one in 10 hospitals have no cybersecurity staff. This mean critical infrastructure remains unprotected. Take medical devices, for example. There are many mini-computers connected per bed, with hundreds of thousands throughout our hospitals. These are simply embedded computers that conduct specialized tasks. Many are running out-of-date software, and they are not maintained. Medical devices are only included on one third of hospital risk assessments, according to a 2018 Healthcare Information Management and Systems Society survey, and yet look at the impact a compromise of these devices would have on patient trust.

Q: What's one conviction in healthcare that needs to be challenged?

JB: This is a challenge that goes beyond healthcare: the conviction that cybersecurity is an IT problem. Cybersecurity budgets typically come from IT budgets, and as a result, staffing is then run out of an IT organization. The problem that comes from this is that the massive risk management challenge of cybersecurity does not gain exposure at a business management level where the attitude remains, "Is it fixed yet?" In fact, cybersecurity is a risk management function that is never complete. We have seen the results of this same scenario play out in other verticals, where C-level executives and board directors are now being held accountable for appropriate risk management as it relates to cybersecurity, but culturally, healthcare is far behind this approach.

Q: What's the biggest misconception about health IT?

JB: The misconception that security  confidentiality, integrity, availability  have all been addressed and built into our products and systems ahead of deployment. If we as users see a shiny black box, we want to think that every component of that black box is understood, has been tested and examined thoroughly, and that we can trust it to only perform the function that it was designed to perform. Unfortunately, the opposite is usually true and we are a very long way from secure by default." As a result, we see a false sense of security across physicians, procurement staff and, unfortunately, patients. Our regulators and manufacturers are playing catch up. Yes, certain standards for new products must be met, but these requirements are just now emerging. Many of our medical devices have very long life spans  it's not like we swap out an MRI like we upgrade a phone every few months  and so we have legacy problems that must be retroactively addressed. When it comes to health IT, quality is not where we would like to convince ourselves it is.
In this special Speaker Series, Becker's Healthcare caught up with Marco Shelby, MSN, RN, denial management coordinator for utilization management & discharge planning at University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System in Chicago.

Mr. Shelby will speak on a panel during the Becker's Hospital Review 4th Annual Health IT + Revenue Cycle Conference on "Denials, Management, Charge Capturing and Revenue Cycle," at 2:00 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 20. Learn more about the event and register to attend in Chicago.

Question: In the past 12 months, how have you adapted to new patient experience expectations in the age of consumerism?

Marco Shelby: In the age of Medicaid managed care, I have learned that patients believe because they have a commercial name, like Blue Cross, now attached to their Medicaid plan, the old Medicaid issues are now resolved. Meaning, they now believe they have the same type of access as one with a traditional Blue Cross Preferred Provider Organization, for instance. I have found that being frank, transparent and explaining to the patient that some vendors are reluctant to accept their type of Medicaid insurance has helped broker realistic expectations. I place emphasis on the word "Medicaid" to remind the patients that, although I will do whatever it takes to assist them, some aspects of discharge planning may be beyond the purview of my control. This has enabled, in my opinion, the patients to be more patient and understanding when I am attempting to find services for them post hospitalization.

Question: How has your organization improved the revenue cycle process in the past year?

MS: Here at UI Health, in addition to monthly denial meetings to discuss denials trends by payer and diagnosis, we have started to have more collaborative meetings with major stakeholders that affect the revenue cycle in a profound financial manner. Currently, we have a team that includes patient accounts, the outpatient and inpatient surgical leadership, denial coordinator for inpatient services, and the director of utilization management & discharge planning. These stakeholders have been engaged and charged with developing strategies for compliance with regulations, such as obtaining observation notices, in addition to denial avoidance by using the inpatient-only list for Medicare patients to avoid admission order discrepancies.

Question: What is your No. 1 dealbreaker when it comes to evaluating vendor partnerships?

MS: Vendors that promise more than they can honestly deliver. I have had situations where vendors have promised to take any and all of our Medicaid managed care plans. And, unfortunately, after receiving only those types of patients, they began to complain and request patients with Medicare, in particular. I found this to be alarming because this was not what the vendors promised, and it is also illegal and unethical. All patients have the right to choose their vendor, but Medicare has explicit guidelines regarding patient choice.
C.L. Max Nikias, PhD, president of Los Angeles-based University of Southern California has agreed to resign over the latest scandal involving a former university gynecologist accused of sexually abusing students, according to The New York Times.

Here are five things to know.

1. Dr. Nikias' decision to step down followed a call from students, faculty and alumni for his resignation. More than 200 high-ranking professors signed a May 22 letter to the university's board of trustees, and by May 25, nearly 500 people had signed the letter. The letter said Dr. Nikias no longer had the "moral authority to lead" and had failed to protect students and staff from "repeated and pervasive sexual harassment and misconduct," according to The New York Times.

2. The latest scandal causing the uproar and call for Dr. Nikias' resignation involves former chief gynecologist George Tyndall, MD, who continued to see patients for at least 30 years despite having numerous sexual assault complaints filed against him. USC suspended Dr. Tyndall in 2016 after a nurse reported a complaint against him. In 2017, he was forced out of USC. The university allegedly received reports of sexual harassment by Dr. Tyndall dating to the 1990s but didn't report them to the Medical Board of California until this year.

3. In the wake of the scandal and the call from the USC community, the university's board of trustees agreed to begin the process of selecting a new president.

"We have heard the message that something is broken and that urgent and profound actions are needed," a statement from the university board reads, according to The New York Times. We will rebuild our culture to reflect an environment in which safety and transparency are of paramount importance, and to institute systemic change that will prevent this from occurring in the future."

4. While Dr. Nikias agreed to step down, there was no time frame given for his departure. It is unclear if an interim president will be appointed.

5. Dr. Nikias became USC president in 2010 and served during a period of tremendous growth. However, he had increasingly come under fire in the last year for how the university handled several sexual assault scandals, which were first reported by the Los Angeles Times.

"In this case, as in prior cases  the University has kept the wrongdoing quiet, settled financially with the wrongdoer in secret and denied any responsibility on the part of the University.  Time after time, the administration has admitted to its failings only after being exposed by the Los Angeles Times."
Greenfield, Mass.-based Baystate Franklin Medical Center has reached a tentative contract agreement with nurses after two strikes and more than a year of negotiations.

Here are four things to know about the May 23 deal:

1. The tentative five-year agreement, retroactive to Jan. 1, 2017, covers about 200 Baystate Franklin nurses represented by the Massachusetts Nurses Association.

2. It addresses wages, staffing and benefits, among other issues. Under the agreement, nurses will receive 50 cents per hour for every hour paid last year and through the first full pay period after nurses ratify the agreement, according to the union. The contract also includes a 2.5 percent across-the-board raise the first full pay period after ratification, as well as other pay increases over the life of the contract. Other parts of the agreement include reinstatement of the Silver health insurance plan for nurses; the assignment of a charge/admission nurse in the mental health unit at all times; the creation of a new nurse float pool; language related to workplace violence prevention; and no patient assignment for charge nurses in the operating room.

3. Both sides were pleased with the labor deal. Baystate Franklin said the tentative agreement "continues to provide market-competitive wages, benefits and health insurance" in a statement to Becker's Hospital Review. The hospital also said it "positively supports the healthcare needs of our community," and expressed gratitude for team members' efforts during negotiations. Donna Stern, RN and senior co-chair of the Baystate Franklin MNA Bargaining Committee, called the agreement "a huge victory for Baystate Franklin patients, nurses and our entire community. The ultimate credit for this settlement goes to our 200 unified nurses and the Franklin County residents who joined with us."

4. The agreement, which must be ratified by the nurses, comes after 18 months of negotiations. Negotiations were contentious at times, with nurses going on strike in June and April.

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Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems plans to close Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center, a 116-bed hospital in Kennett, Mo., June 30. The hospital has already started scaling back services, which has left this rural area in southeast Missouri known as the Bootheel without an OB-GYN.

Here are five things to know.

1. The hospital announced April 30 it was closing. Although the facility will offer inpatient, emergency room and outpatient services until the end of June, Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center stopped providing obstetric/gynecologic services May 18, according to KAIT.

2. Nelson Perez, MD, who has been the only full-time OB-GYN in the Bootheel for years, said he stopped taking new patients May 1, and his last delivery was May 16. He told St. Louis Public Radio the nearest obstetrics unit is now in Poplar Bluff, Mo., which is an hour's drive from Kennett. This poses a major problem for many of his patients who do not own cars.

3. Dr. Perez delivers 400 babies per year on average. That's about 100 more than the average OB-GYN, according to a 2015 survey by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

4. Pemiscot Memorial Hospital in Hayti, Mo., is about 20 minutes away from Kennett. The hospital went bankrupt in 2013, and closed its obstetrics unit to save money. Pemiscot Memorial Hospital plans to hire five of Twin Rivers' physicians, which could help keep vital healthcare services like urgent care and obstetrics in the area, according to St. Louis Public Radio.

5. Twin Rivers Regional Medical Center's 259 employees will be laid off when the hospital closes, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act noticefiled April 30.

Access the full St. Louis Public Radio article here.

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The healthcare industry is riddled with opportunities to automate clinical processes.

Part of this opportunity stems from the growing prevalence of EHRs over the past decade. As of 2017, 80 percent of U.S. hospitals had adopted EHR systems through CMS' Meaningful Use program.

This article is sponsored by Change Healthcare.

"EHR adoption has moved technology forward in the healthcare arena, especially when it comes to clinical data," said Nilo Mehrabian, vice president of product management at Change Healthcare.

However, Ms. Mehrabian noted there is room for improvement. She identified utilization management in the emergency department as one such area that could benefit from automation, as the current process is both time-consuming and costly.

Ms. Mehrabian highlighted the barriers to effective utilization management and shared how hospitals can tap automation to conduct more efficient medical necessity reviews during a May 11 roundtable discussion at Becker's Hospital Review Health IT + Clinical Leadership Conference in Chicago.

Current utilization management trends

Hospitals increasingly recognize the value of certified case managers to ensure patients receive efficient, high-quality care in the most appropriate setting. The number of employers seeking certified case managers grew from 25.9 percent in 2004 to 40.2 percent in 2014, according to a CCM report.

Hospitals are also staffing case managers in the ED to better prevent inappropriate admissions, improve patient flow and decrease claim denials.

To assess the frequency and potential benefits of utilization management in the ED, Change Healthcare surveyed more than 1,200 hospital employees in April 2018. Nearly two-thirds of respondents (64 percent) reported staffing their EDs with case managers, and 24 percent said a case manager was available 24-7. A majority of respondents (87 percent) also reported positive outcomes tied to ED case management.

The ED director at a large academic medical center in the Northeast said her ED staffs utilization managers eight hours a day. However, staff members at the hospital's patient placement center are tasked with conducting the medical necessity review, which may occur after the patient has left the ED.

"I think we're missing some things by not doing [medical necessity reviews] earlier on," the ED director said. "Having worked in a number of EDs as a consultant, I find having a case manager in there 24 hours a day makes a whole lot of difference."

Barriers to effective utilization management

While case managers prove a valuable addition to the ED staff, many hospitals do not have the financial or human resources to staff these positions, let alone around the clock, according to Ms. Mehrabian. On average, certified case managers earn $75,000 to $85,000 annually, which can put a strain on hospitals' labor budgets, according to Ms. Mehrabian

"Resources have always been and will continue to be a challenge," she said. Some hospitals may struggle to find promising job candidates in the anticipated nursing shortage, as the American Nurses Association expects more than 1 million nurses to retire over the next two decades.

Time is also a major obstacle, according to Ms. Mehrabian. Medical necessity reviews can cause administrative burden, which prevents case managers from spending time on other patient care areas.

"If our case managers' time was freed up, they'd focus on discharge planning," said the system lead physician advisor of an academic teaching hospital in the Midwest.

Another challenge is the reactive nature of traditional utilization management. For example, the medical director of a nonprofit hospital in a U.S. territory said his facility is unable to staff ED case managers on the weekends. As such, a patient who visits the ED on a Saturday may be admitted as an inpatient before a utilization manager can conduct a medical necessity review Monday to decide whether the admittance was necessary. Hospitals seek to avoid unnecessary admissions, as they can drive up care costs and put hospitals at risk for penalization under CMS' 30-day readmission program.

Room for automation

"We seek to create a more proactive, versus reactive, case management process," Ms. Mehrabian said.

Change Healthcare released InterQual AutoReview, a software solution to automate the medical review process, in February 2018. InterQual AutoReview pulls necessary clinical data directly from the EHR and creates a medical review within providers' case management systems. The software also sends notification of a patient's appropriate care determination back to the EHR for clinicians to access.

The technology not only expedites the medical review process and translates into administrative savings, but also frees up case managers' time to focus on patient care. Ms. Mehrabian estimated the software saves case managers at least four minutes per medical necessity review.

The technology is designed to address the straightforward medical necessity reviews, only alerting case managers to more complex cases that require their attention. "This gives time for case managers to work on these exceptions, versus some of the lower hanging fruits the automation can tackle," Ms. Mehrabian said.

While Change Healthcare is still in the early stages of rolling out InterQual AutoReview, the company envisions its technology bridging the gap between payers and providers.

"Our goal is to create a system where this automation occurs, the data is automatically sent to the payer through our technology, which then returns the authorization," Ms. Mehrabian said. "Payers often tell us they will accept criteria points if they know the data came directly from the EHR. This is really exciting for us, and we're looking forward to partnering with payers and hospitals to make this happen."
In 2017, three patients suffered from medication errors at Boston Children's Hospital, including one patient who waited 14 hours for an antibiotic and later died, according to a state and federal inspection report cited by The Boston Globe.

Here are eight things to know.

1. The errors took place between January and November 2017 and involved two drugs. The mistakes prompted federal regulators to threaten Boston Children's with termination from the Medicare program.

2. For the patient who died, caregivers ordered an antibiotic, Zosyn, at noon on a day the patient was receiving treatment in the hospital's intensive care unit. However, the inspection report revealed a nurse did not give the patient the antibiotic until about 2 a.m. the next morning. The patient developed sepsis and died two days later. After the antibiotic was prescribed, the patient's nurse mistakenly thought someone had given a verbal order to hold the medicine for further test results.

After the patient's death, hospital leaders sent an alert to physicians and nurses in the intensive care unit to remind them all medication orders should be in writing to avoid confusion  except in an emergency. Inspectors said the hospital failed to alert caregivers across the hospital about the rule.

3. Two other Boston Children's patients received overdoses of the anesthetic Propofol. After the first overdose in January 2017, hospital leaders suggested implementing a clearer procedure for measuring doses.

Inspectors interviewed one of the hospital's pharmacists, who claimed those recommendations "never materialized," according the report. Ten months later, a physician administered an overdose to a different patient using the same potentially confusing procedure. That second patient stopped breathing and was resuscitated, but hospital executives said both overdose patients recovered.

4. After these incidents, this spring, the hospital implemented improvements for treating sepsis patients quickly and for administering Propofol accurately, avoiding CMS discipline.

5. Jonathan Finkelstein, MD, chief patient safety and quality officer for Boston Children's, did not discuss specific cases, but told The Boston Globe when there is a misstep "we set out the very next day to improve care."

6. In the 46-page report, inspectors said the hospital did not completely analyze the errors and thoroughly correct the conditions that led to the errors. Inspectors based report findings on visits to the hospital over five days in November and December 2017.

7. Dr. Finkelstein said the hospital put a new protocol in place that triggers a sepsis evaluation for any patient with a deteriorating condition. Additionally, Boston Children's sent out a hospitalwide alert that states when medications are handed off to another clinician, only a single, labeled, weight-based dose can be prepared in a single syringe.

8. In a 63-page improvement plan, Boston Children's recognized "the need to focus additional attention in our responses to specific events," including "the potential of a similar event occurring in another area."
Dick Daniels, CIO of Oakland, Calif.-based Kaiser Permanente, is charged with growing the health system's digital operations, but that growth is happening almost naturally, he told The Wall Street Journal.

Kaiser saw 131 million virtual interactions  such as online prescription refills, scheduling, laboratory result tools and video consultations  from patients enrolled in its health insurance plan last year, up from 113 million one year prior. That means 59 percent of Kaiser's total interactions were virtual, compared with 56 percent in 2015.

Here are five highlights from Mr. Daniels' interview with WSJ.

1. On the technology changes over the past few years: "Over five years ago, we were primarily interacting with businesses or commercial customers. With the Affordable Care Act, we began to have more individual consumers coming directly to us.  We began to notice more and more of our members coming to our website from mobile devices, and frankly, it wasn't a good experience initially. That led us to create an actual mobile application. What we have seen this last year is over 65 [percent] of the access to KP.org [a website for Kaiser health plan members to interact virtually with physicians] is from mobile devices or people using our mobile app."

2. On what's to come: "One example is our next-generation medical office building, where members can actually check in online for their appointment before they physically show up. They can even make their copay online before they show up. Or if there are forms or questionnaires that need to be completed, they can get those done online before they show up. After their appointment, assuming that their physician prescribes a medication, we can text them when their prescription is ready and they can go and pick it up."

3. On reimbursement: "We don't charge fees at this time for online interactions with patients. There is no cost for a call into our clinical call centers, to email your physician, nor for a video appointment at this time. We want to encourage our members to engage with us to promote their health  that leads to better outcomes for all, including the health of our members and the associated costs to our organization."

4. On patient adoption and use: "It varies by region. In Northern California, we're seeing a very serious uptake. There are some questions that we're answering as we go through this. What is appropriate for video versus what's not?  With the cameras that are on these mobile devices, the patient can show the dermatologist what they need to see and the dermatologist can have a very good experience. The other place I've seen good usage is in follow-up visits  [but] the area where I think we're still sorting it out a bit is in the area of behavioral health, psychiatry or psychology. In some cases, it works OK. In some of those instances, the doctor may want the patient to actually come in."

5. On using technology to enhance care delivery: "We're equipping our nurses and our physicians with mobile devices, so that as they are mobile throughout the hospital, they have the ability to access the information they need from their mobile device or their tablets. This really equips them so they are not always looking for a computer to sit down and access information. They can access the electronic medical record. They have access to alerts. They can receive their secure text messages that way. In some cases, they can actually do video and have a video appointment or video with another caregiver through the device as well. This is really providing them a lot more flexibility and mobility throughout the facility."

Click here to read Mr. Daniels' full WSJ interview.

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High levels of employee turnover is costly in any industry, but as the demand for talented medical staff increases, issues with employee retention and recruitment can be particularly problematic for hospitals and health systems.

This content is sponsored by B.E. Smith

Hospitals are labor-driven entities dependent on talented frontline providers for fiscal success. In order to keep operations cost-effective, administrators must successfully recruit and retain highly skilled staff members or shoulder the financial burden of high turnover. The cost of turnover for just one experienced registered nurse can reach $88,000, according to a 2017 study published in SAGE Open Nursing. When factoring in the cost of recruitment, onboarding and lost revenue, the cost of physician turnover can reach as much as $1 million per physician, according to a 2012 study published in Recruiting Physicians Today.

High costs associated with turnover are likely to become even more palpable for many hospitals as the percentage of Americans over age 65 continues to increase, driving up provider demand. According to a 2017 projection from the Association of American Medical Colleges, the United States may face a physician shortage as high as 104,900 by 2030.

"The demand for talent, particularly for clinical executive talent, has never been greater," Gail Wurtz, MSN, MBA, RN, vice president and account relationship executive with healthcare leadership solutions company B.E. Smith, told a room of more than 20 clinical healthcare leaders during a May 11 executive roundtable discussion at Becker's Hospital Review Health IT + Clinical Leadership in Chicago. "You and the clinical staff you lead are the key to providing superior patient care, which supports your organization's future success and services."

During the roundtable event, clinical leaders split into groups to discuss issues related to turnover, recruitment and retention. After these mini-discussions, designated leaders relayed the most crucial elements of their group's discourse to the larger group.

Here are seven insights from the roundtable.

"Location, location, location."

1. During the discussion, an administrator from a 300-plus bed hospital in the Midwest described physician recruitment as all about "location, location, location." While the leader's hospital is located in a city of less than 30,000, it is located within driving distance of a major metropolitan area. The hospital tries to market its proximity to the big city when recruiting top talent.

2. The CMO of a Midwestern children's hospital said his organization is not located in what is generally considered a "destination community." The hospital's location proves challenging for physician recruitment. The leader said his organization addresses these issues in a number of ways, including investment in medical residents.

"We've done some innovative things to tap into resident talent," the CMO said. "We invest in them during their training with stipend programs and three-year [employment] guarantees upon residency completion, which have worked out pretty well for us."

The CMO said the three-year mark is a critical turning point for his organization. "Within the first three years, we have a reasonably high turnover rate," the CMO said. "Once they're employed with us for three years, they get really engaged and they stay."

3. Ms. Wurtz said a B.E. Smith survey of 800 hospital leaders published in January reflect executives' comments about the importance of location when recruiting talent. In the survey, 33 percent of respondents identified location as their organization's greatest challenge to staff recruitment, making it the most identified challenge in the survey. Twenty-four percent of respondents said access to high quality talent was their organization's greatest challenge, making it the second-most identified challenge.

Prioritize retention to combat turnover

4. In the B.E. Smith survey, which participants completed in November and December of 2017, 35 percent of respondents said they were contemplating a job change in 2018. Ms. Wurtz said this finding highlights the importance of implementing retention programs within organizations to "foster a culture of continuity" and staff engagement.

5. During the discussion, a nurse leader who heads the intensive care unit at a medical center in the Southwest said her organization is piloting programs to hold onto top nurse talent. "There's been more of an emphasis on new nurse hires at my organization rather than a focus on retaining top nursing talent," the ICU leader said. "We're looking to do more to hold onto leaders that are seasoned."

6. The assistant director of clinical support for an academic health system based in the Midwest said her discussion group believes mentorship programs should receive more attention and resources to help develop leaders from within. Such programs could help mitigate potential overreliance on outside recruitment for leadership positions.

Focus on the nurse-physician relationship

7. During the roundtable, multiple leaders discussed the importance of creating an environment of inclusion and collaboration to facilitate positive relationships between providers  specifically nurses and physicians. As a nurse leader, the ICU director from the Southwest said strong nurse-physician relationships require both provider groups to keep the perspective of the other in mind.

"When we have good relationships, those can help retain talented employees," the ICU director said. "For my part, I know I think very often about, 'Do I like to work with this doctor?' But I don't often think, 'Does this doctor like to work with me?' To be successful, that kind of thinking has to go both ways."

For more insights into hospital workforce recruitment and retention trends, click here.

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Louisiana Orthopedic Specialists and Park Place Surgical Hospital, both located in Lafayette, La., unveiled a surgical spine robot, according to KLFY.com.

Here are five points.

1. The groups are the first in the state to offer Globus Medical's ExcelsiusGPS.

2. Lon M. Baronne, II, MD, orthopedic spine surgeon at Louisiana Orthopedic Specialists, told KLFY.com, the robot allows him to perform more minimally invasive surgery.

3. The organizations' surgeons commented the robot helps reduce hospital stays and recovery periods.

4. The ExcelsiusGPS is designed to cut radiation exposure, streamline workflow and help with reproducible implant placement.

5. The platform is compatible with pre-operative CT, intra-operative CT and fluoroscopic imaging modalities.
Court upholds decision to cut medical fees

The Supreme Court on Monday upheld Tribhuvan University (TU) Executive Councils decision to reduce the fees for the Doctor of Medicine (MD) programme following pressure from different medical colleges.
By 2020, medical knowledge is expected to double every 73 days, compared to every 50 years in the 1950s1. As the amount residents need to learn grows exponentially, capping the resident work week at 80 hours has lost residents about a year of training time. According to Justin Barad, MD, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon and founder and CEO of Osso VR, healthcare's biggest problem today is its training system.

Surgical education in the U.S. is based on an apprenticeship model developed by William Halsted, MD, in the early twentieth century. The healthcare landscape has since changed dramatically: inputting information into EHRs can take up 50 percent of trainees' time. Surgeons may worry about residents operating on their patients, as they are incentivized to perform surgery more quickly in a value-driven environment. As trainees, residents take longer.

Advancements in robotic surgery have further limited trainees' hands-on learning opportunities.2 According to a study in the Annals of Surgery, about one-third of general surgery residents in the U.S. are unable to operate independently by the time they graduate.

Surgical education in the U.S. involves four years of college, four years of medical school, between five to seven years of residency, and often two to three years of fellowship training. When Dr. Barad was a fourth-year resident at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, he spent the morning writing notes and then watching surgeries in the operating room. "It felt like spending years just to get the opportunity to start practicing," Dr. Barad said in an interview with Becker's Spine Review. "I wondered: what if we could cut down on residency?"

"We can make life better as a trainee," he said. "The old ways are no longer the best ways. Right now, trainees are getting more burnt out than ever. They're doing administrative work, and they're not actually mastering their craft. We need to work less hours to learn more efficiently  to work smarter, not harder."

Dr. Barad believes in harnessing technology to solve seemingly intractable medical problems. A lifelong aspiring innovator with a background in biomedical engineering, he founded Osso VR, a virtual reality training solution for residency programs focused on eliminating training gaps for orthopedic and spine procedures. "Orthopedics as a specialty is very technology-heavy," he said, "and you need to understand the mechanics behind the procedures to perform them effectively."

Virtual reality could be the way to facilitate that understanding, combat burnout and improve the quality of medical education. "It could be a real game changer for providers and patients," Dr. Barad said. "On a global scale, it could give surgeons around the world access to training resources so they can bring the safest and most effective care possible to their patients."

References:

1 Densen, P. (2011). Challenges and Opportunities Facing Medical Education. Transactions of the Clinical and Climatological Association, 122, 48-58.

2 Beane, M. (2018). Shadow Learning: Building Robotic Surgical Skill When Approved Means Fail. Administrative Science Quarterly.

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Former Gaylord, Mich.-based Otsego Memorial Hospital orthopedic surgeon Ryan Shephard, MD, was arrest May 25 for narcotic and firearm possession, among other charges, according 9&10 News.

Here are four things to know.

1. Along with his possession of narcotics and felony weapons charges, Dr. Shephard was charged with using a computer to commit a crime and engaging in prostitution services.

2. Otsego Memorial Hospital terminated Dr. Shephard's employment after learning of the charges against him. He was an orthopedic surgeon there for the past few years.

3. Records indicate Dr. Shephard was in possession of Percocet and a handgun. A former patient told 9&10 News he was shocked by Dr. Shephard's arrest. The surgeon previously appeared on 9&10 News to discuss his hip replacement approach.

4. Dr. Shephard pled not guilty and waived his arraignment. He is due back in court June 14.
Christian Athanassious, MD, of Santa Rosa (Calif.) Orthopaedics, discussed the results of a recent study on degenerative disc disease risk.

Here are five insights.

1. A recent study published in The Spine Journal revealed more than 30 percent of 1,200 people aged 40 years to 59 years showed signs of moderate to severe DDD. The researchers leveraged CT scans taken six years apart to study disc disease and spinal osteoarthritis. The patient population was from the Framingham Study, which included data from residents in Framingham, Mass.

2. The researchers also found 600-plus patients had moderate to severe spinal osteoarthritis.

3. Dr. Athanassious says DDD results in chronic pain and reduced functionality. "This phenomenon is more common in the flexible and weight-bearing areas of the spine, particularly in the lower back or lumbar region, and in the neck," he notes.

4. He serves as medical director of Santa Rosa Orthopaedics Total Spine Health Program, which leverages diagnostics testing, minimally invasive surgical techniques and therapies to enhance mobility.

5. Dr. Athanassious completed his spine surgery fellowship at Stanford University in California.
Neurosurgeon Sanjiv Bhatia, MD, died May 24.

Dr. Bhatia was a board-certified pediatric neurosurgeon and an associate professor of clinical neurosurgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. He also practiced at Holtz Children's Hospital in Miami and Nicklaus Children's Hospital in Coral Terrace, Fla. At NCH, he served as chief of the surgery department, director of the operating room and fellowship director.

Dr. Bhatia focused on intractable epilepsy, brain tumors, vascular malformations, spinal dysraphism, neuroendoscopy in the surgical management of hydrocephalus and intracranial arachnoid cysts, pediatric peripheral nerve injuries and congenital central nervous system malformations such as spinal bifida.

He received his medical degree from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi. Dr. Bhatia frequently traveled to Haiti to operate on hydrocephalic children at Bernard Mevs Hospital in Port-au-Prince.

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Belfast IT company Kainos plc has reported a 16% jump in sales to hit 96.7m in its eighth year of growth.

In preliminary results for the year ending March 2018, the firm  one of just three listed companies in Northern Ireland  said adjusted pre-tax profits were also up 7% to 15.3m.

The company, which provides digital services and platforms, said performance was in line with market expectations and was the eight consecutive year of revenue and adjusted pre-tax profit growth.

It has 1,150 employees across 11 offices in Europe and the US and is based at Upper Crescent in south Belfast.

Chief executive Brendan Mooney said: I am delighted to report another year of significant progress, with this year marking the eighth consecutive year of revenue and adjusted pre-tax profit growth.

Our digital services division continued to experience strong momentum, fuelled by demand from existing and new customers both locally and internationally.

"We continue to deliver major transformation programmes across UK government and for our commercial clients. Demand in the UK has resulted in the opening of a new office in Birmingham and in Europe we have opened offices in Frankfurt and Copenhagen, alongside the established offices in Amsterdam and Gdansk.
The Moody Boar, in the grounds of the Palace Demesne, was Armaghs first restaurant to be recommended by the Michelin Guide

The Moody Boar, in the grounds of the Palace Demesne, was Armaghs first restaurant to be recommended by the Michelin Guide

An award-winning Armagh restaurant, which operated on council land in the city, has been forced out of business by a "substantial rent increase".

The Moody Boar, which was located in the grounds of the Palace Demesne, announced the closure on social media yesterday.

It is the second restaurant in Co Armagh to close in less than two months.

In April, it emerged that historic restaurant The Planters in Waringstown would be closing as it was not economically viable.

The Planters had a history dating back to the 18th century.

Sean and Ramune Liorincaite Farnan, owners of The Moody Boar, blamed a rent hike for their decision.

In a statement, the couple said that after six years it is "no longer financially viable for the business to continue operating".

"Unfortunately, this is the end of The Moody Boar. Unfortunately, we won't be opening any new venture," they said.

"We are extremely proud of turning the Palace Stables from an empty, run-down unknown space used only by the council into the beautiful popular place that is The Moody Boar."

Food critic Joris Minne said the closure was a "great loss for Armagh".

"There are few good restaurants in the ancient capital and the Moody Boar was one you could rely on to showcase the best of local produce in an environment which reflected Armagh's Georgian heritage beautifully," he said. "It's a shame that a land owner who relies on rates from its citizenry chooses to make trading conditions for one of its tenants untenable."

The couple said it was with "much sadness" that they were closing their doors for good.

"We have always enjoyed being involved in local council events, often helping organise and partake in them such as Armagh Apple Blossom Festivals and the St Patrick's Day festivals," they said.

"It was always part of our belief to help drive Armagh into the limelight to create a destination that benefits not only Armagh City but the whole ABC Council area, in other words our food heartland.

"This was something very close to Sean's heart, starting a chefs' circle in the city but always thinking further afield by getting others involved from the whole borough, creating The Food Heartlands Hospitality Forum.

"We have enjoyed immensely carrying out The Moody Boar events, especially Dining Under The Stars 2017."

The Moody Boar was the first restaurant in Armagh to be recommended in the Michelin Guide. Awards included the Lord Mayor's 'Making a Difference' presentation and through the Restaurant Association of Ireland and Food Heartland.

It has also been listed in Georgina Campbell's The Ireland Guide, The McKenna Guide and 'Ireland the Best' by John and Sally McKenna. The couple thanked everyone who has supported their restaurant over the past six years, in particular, family, friends and staff and those involved in the Food Heartlands Hospitality Forum.

Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council was not available for comment last night.
No resolution is in sight at Stormont

Business groups are today urging Secretary of State Karen Bradley to resolve the "paralysis" in Northern Ireland affairs by giving civil servants more powers in the absence of an Executive.

In an unprecedented call to action, organisations ranging from the CBI to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry - as well as sectoral groups - are appealing to the Secretary of State to "restore stable governance".

They have written to Karen Bradley to ask her for special legislative measures to temporarily empower senior civil servants to take crucial day-to-day decisions while there is still no Executive.

The move comes after a judicial review this month overturned a decision by the Permanent Secretary at the Department for Infrastructure last year to grant planning permission to a controversial waste incinerator by arc21 in Mallusk.

In today's statement, the business groups say they have engaged with Executive departments for more than a year to request policy direction and help them make decisions.

But they say that the judicial review decision to overturn arc21's planning permission has now called into question the ability of civil servants to make decisions.

And in today's Business Telegraph, economist John Simpson writes that the judicial review decision over the incinerator threatens "paralysis" in decision making here.

Adrian Doran, chairman of the CBI NI Infrastructure Forum, said: "The business community's overwhelming priority remains the return of an inclusive devolved government. But without a political resolution in sight, it is only right that we request that the Secretary of State explore all alternative options.

"Policy paralysis is not acceptable, and we must all look for ways to remove the current handbrake on local economic and social progress. Both businesses and individuals deserve to have access to the basic everyday governance that is offered in all other regions.

"The incinerator decision exposed the fragility of current decision making arrangements in the absence of ministers.

"The longer this uncertainty presides over local infrastructure decisions, the greater the risk to jobs and investment. Northern Ireland cannot be left in a decision-making limbo indefinitely."

Ann McGregor, chief executive of NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry, added: "Our credibility as a place in which to do business is suffering intolerably because of the political impasse.

"We need the return of a functioning local executive and a ministerial team focused on helping the Northern Ireland economy to flourish."
One of the C Series planes

Aerospace giant Bombardier and its 4,000 workers in Northern Ireland have received a "tremendous endorsement" as a returning customer placed a new order worth up to $6bn (4.5bn) for 60 of its C Series planes.

Bombardier will sell fast-growing European airline airBaltic 30 CS300 aircraft - the wings of which are made in Belfast - with options to buy another 30.

And Bombardier has also unveiled two new luxury business jets which will be part-made in Belfast.

The Canadian firm's two new aircraft are the Global 5500 and Global 6500.

The plane-maker's Belfast workforce already makes a range of parts - including the forward fuselage, engine nacelles and other components - for Bombardier's Global 5000 and Global 6000 business jets.

The latest C Series deal comes as Bombardier prepares for the closure of its sale of a majority stake in the C Series to rival Airbus. Around 1,000 of Bombardiers 4,000-strong workforce here work on the C Series wings.

A spokeswoman for Bombardier in Belfast said: We are currently focused on closing the partnership agreement with Airbus.

We will communicate on that when everything is finalised but momentum continues to build with this latest order from airBaltic, which is great news for us.

The airBaltic deal is more good news for Bombardier after it defeated a US legal challenge from rival Boeing earlier this year.

Bombardier said that based on the list price of the CS300 aircraft, the firm airBaltic order for 30 of the C Series is valued at approximately $2.9bn (2.2bn). That would increase to nearly $5.9bn (4.5bn) should all 60 planes be purchased.

Analyst Addison Schonland of Airinsight.com said the deal was a tremendous endorsement and signalled airBaltics growing confidence in the narrow-bodied passenger jet.

Fred Cromer, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft, said: This significant reorder from our CS300 launch operator is a strong testimony to the aircrafts exceptional in-service performance.

Furthermore, we are proud that the CS300 has helped airBaltic maintain its position as one of the worlds most punctual airlines.

The C Series aircraft is at the forefront of the small single-aisle market and airBaltic played a key role in demonstrating its value.

In the last 18 months, we have witnessed airBaltics growing leadership in the market, and we wish the airline further success with its expanded CS300 fleet.

According to reports in Canada, Bombardier signs were being removed from the C Series assembly plant at Mirabel in Montreal at the weekend as the Airbus deal entered its final stages.

One Canadian aerospace reporter said C Series employees are now segregated from the rest of staff.

Meanwhile, Bombardier unveiled its new Global 5500 and 6500 at industry event EBACE in Geneva. It also announced that the existing Global 7000 will be renamed the 7500.

As well as its work on the Global 5000 and 6000, Bombardiers Belfast workforce also creates components including the composite horizontal stabiliser for the Global 7000.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) in Northern Ireland says the lack of an Executive at Stormont is not good for commerce.

Tina McKenzie, FSB NI policy chair, said she wanted to encourage small businesses to take on apprentices. "These aren't difficult things to do in government, but unfortunately we don't have that," she said.

"The political instability isn't good for the economy and it's only natural that we have lost investment because of it."

She spoke out as an alliance of business groups called on the Secretary of State to empower civil servants to make decisions in the absence of an Executive. Adrian Doran, of the Confederation of British Industry NI, said: "We must look for ways to remove the current handbrake on economic and social progress."
Diarrhoea outbreak in Shantinagar subsiding

The outbreak of diarrhoea in wards 3 and 4 of Shantinagar Rural Municipality in Dang district is subsiding, health officials said on Monday.
John Armstrong, managing director of the Construction Employers' Federation: "Decisions need to be prioritised and a clear and accountable way of taking these decisions needs to be established. Our preference is, of course, the establishment of a Northern Ireland Executive."

Brian Irwin, chair of the Northern Ireland Food and Drink Association: "The continued lack of certainty around decision-making in Northern Ireland is not sustainable and will in all likelihood result in the loss of jobs if it is to continue.

"In the absence of a local Assembly or even efforts to resume talks, our members and the wider business community need certainty to allow some key strategic infrastructure decisions to be made.

"The time is now for some leadership and creative thinking from the Secretary of State to move this issue forward, even if it means introducing some temporary measures like the ones we have suggested today."

Aodhan Connolly, director of the Northern Ireland Retail Consortium: "While a sitting Assembly is our preferred option, our industry needs mission critical decisions taken now on issues such as business rates and the Apprenticeship Levy.

"The current stalemate is no longer an option and further stagnation only serves to make it harder to do business in NI."

Glyn Roberts, Retail NI chief executive: "The current political limbo is nothing less than a total disgrace and we need to see new leadership, an end to the blame game and new talks beginning immediately.

"Having no government for so long is making Northern Ireland an international laughing stock and will impact on foreign direct investment. Devolution should always be the first choice for Northern Ireland.

"Failing that we need a plan B with ministers in place making the vital decisions to move our economy forward."

Seamus Leheny, NI policy manager, Freight Transport Association: "A functioning and effective local government is something we as an Industry naturally want. However, because of the current stalemate at Stormont, what we hope will be for a short time period, we would like to see key decision making around infrastructure projects to be made by appropriate senior civil servants. This will ensure projects that have been years in planning, and approvals with allocated funding, can proceed without further delay."

Colin Neill, chief executive, Hospitality Ulster: "Hospitality Ulster value our devolved government structures and the NI Assembly. However, we simply cannot continue with the current situation. Our members feel the real and tangible costs of no government, which leaves us to operate with outdated legislation as our competitors modernise to meet the demands of a fast-changing market. As hard-working, law- abiding, tax paying businesses, our members deserve the basic right to have a working government in place".

Mary Meehan, chief executive of Newry Chamber of Commerce: "The void of political leadership is having a serious impact on the NI economy and it appears that key decisions on critical issues cannot be taken by senior civil servants.

"We need to restore the local executive as a matter of urgency, especially given the unprecedented times we are in with Brexit and the gap in representing Northern Ireland at the negotiating table."

Sinead McLaughlin, chief executive, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce: "In the interest of supporting and developing the economy in Northern Ireland, it is important that the current policy paralysis is overcome.

"The best way to make progress is for politicians to return to their work as our elected legislators. However, in the absence of government, we must find innovative solutions to ensure we do not further damage our economy by preventing major projects from progressing."

Todays call for action was made by CBI NI, Construction Employers Federation, NI Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Quarry Products Association NI, Manufacturing NI, Northern Ireland Food & Drink Association, Retail NI, NI Retail Consortium, Newry Chamber of Commerce, Londonderry Chamber of Commerce, Hospitality Ulster and the Freight Transport Association
Tough funding constraints by the banks continue to keep a lid on speculative developments in the Republic's office sector, according to a new report by property agents Savills.

Four years ago the post-crisis surge in construction had fuelled concerns of a supply glut in the industry.

But a study by Savills executives Andrew Cunningham and Christopher Boyce shows the number of new buildings has consistently fallen short of expectations despite the steadily strengthening economy and rising employment levels.

In Savills' skyline survey, Mr Boyce pointed out the 2.17 million sq ft of new office space due for completion in Dublin this year represents "a 55% fall on what was estimated back in 2015".

The slower than anticipated construction pace is largely attributable to the stricter financing environment, according to Mr Cunningham.

He argues that while private developers account for more than half the office development pipeline, they struggle to land the necessary funding to start construction without substantial pre-letting agreements.

In the boom era, banks piled into speculative developments, even in the absence of indicative demand from future tenants.

Mr Cunningham says lenders now steer clear of new projects unless tenants have signed up to 25%-30% of the space.

The report pours cold water on fears of a bubble in the speculative office sector, with Mr Cunningham noting the number of projects in a two-year pipeline tend to halve in volume amid funding constraints, competition for tenants, planning disputes and legal issues.

The report shows of the 202 new office buildings planned for Dublin over the next three years only half are likely to be delivered, even as vacancy rates in completed complexes remain at 6%-7%.

Michael Healy, who launched Savills serviced office sourcing and price comparison platform Workthere, said: "Desks are being absorbed both by start-ups and established multi-nationals requiring permanent, swing and project related space."

The Savills report comes as Bank of Ireland releases its latest Economic Pulse survey, which shows business sentiment in the Republic is now at its highest in almost two years.

According to the report, the optimism chimes with the more upbeat mood among Irish consumers, with two in three households planning to spend the same or more on holidays this year.

Firms in the accommodation and food sectors are also positive about their prospects.
The contestants taking part in the 2018 Insanity Tan Miss Northern Ireland Gala Final in the Europa Hotel in Belfast

A nurse from Hillsborough has been crowned the Insanity Tan Miss Northern Ireland 2018.

Katharine Walker - Miss Horatio Todd's - took the title from last year's winner, Anna Henry from Portglenone, at a glittering gala event at the Europa Hotel in Belfast last night.

The stunning 23-year-old, a statuesque 5ft 7ins tall, impressed the panel of judges on the night with her beauty, charm and personality, giving her the winning edge over the other finalists to acquire the coveted crown from Ms Henry.

Posting on social media last week, Katharine said that she was "so lucky to be a part of something so special".

The Miss Northern Ireland final was hosted by former competition winner Zoe Salmon-Corrie as well as UTV's Marc Mallett.

Many of the finalists had been sitting school and university exams during the build-up to last night's grand final at the Europa Hotel in Belfast.

Heat winners were selected at competitions held across Northern Ireland, from Dungannon to Bangor this year.

The extensive prize package includes an all expenses paid trip to the Miss World competition which will take place in Sanya, China, on December 8.

And to help ensure that the new Miss Northern Ireland cuts a stylish figure at the Miss World competition, she will take home a wardrobe of designer dresses as part of the prize package.

Katharine will also enjoy a modelling contract with ACA Models, and treats including a year's supply of beauty treatments, a bespoke personal training package, and the use of a car for a year.

Addressing the audience at last night's awards ceremony, organiser Alison Clarke, who was crowned Miss Northern Ireland in 1982, said that this year's group of finalists had been "one of the best" that the competition had seen.
Gary Lightbody of Snow Patrol during an interview with Claire McNeilly in Belfast on May 22nd 2018 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph)

Snow Patrol has announced its UK tour dates with gigs in Belfast and Dublin on the agenda.

The band will play the SSE Arena in Belfast on December 7 and the 3Arena in Dublin on December 11.

Read More

Tickets go on sale from Ticketmaster on Friday June 8 at 9am.

The Northern Ireland band recently released their album Wildness, their first album release in seven years.

Full tour dates:

Dec 5: Newcastle: Metro Radio Arena

Dec 7: Belfast: The SSE Arena

Dec 11: Dublin: 3Arena

Jan 25: Birmingham: Birmingham Arena

Jan 26: London: O2 Arena

Jan 29: Leeds: First Direct Arena

Jan 30: Manchester: Manchester Arena

Jan 31: Glasgow: The SSE Hydro
Three years ago, when I was 28, my life changed forever when I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). When I got the news, I thought for a brief moment that my life was over. It felt like all of my dreams, and everything that I'd worked for throughout my twenties, had come to nothing.

Multiple sclerosis means 'many scars'. It affects the motor, sensory and cognitive functioning of the body. It is the most common debilitating neurological condition affecting young adults in Ireland. It is usually diagnosed at between 20 and 40 years of age. Three times more women than men are diagnosed with MS and there is no known cause or cure.

It was hard to understand why this had happened to me. Before I fell ill I had studied law and qualified as a barrister, but my real passion in life was horses and the sport of showjumping.

So in 2012, I bit the bullet, loaded up my car, got on a ferry and headed to Germany to try and make a go of it. I spent the next three years, mainly in Holland, working as hard as I could and learning as much as possible while living my dream and competing full-time.

Then, in July 2014, I lost the sight in my right eye after a bad tummy bug. I was diagnosed with optic neuritis and continued on with my life, but I just knew something wasn't right.

Although my sight came back, from this point on my health just seemed to deteriorate. I had back pain and felt permanently exhausted, but because I led such a busy lifestyle, I thought it maybe just came with the territory. Little did I know, there was actually something seriously wrong. Things got worse, right up to the point where I was hospitalised and finally diagnosed.

I had no feeling from the waist down, no power in my legs, I had a dropped foot and shooting pins and needles going down my spine into my legs. I had no use of my right hand at all, I couldn't write, hold my phone, dress myself or basically do anything without help.

I had to accept that my life had changed totally and I moved back home to Kill, Co Kildare. My sister, who is a primary school teacher, said my writing wasn't even as good as a four-year-old's, and she spent hours teaching me how to hold a pen and write again. I also had the MS hug, which feels like you are being choked around your ribcage. My balance was so bad, I couldn't walk unaided or have a shower. My mum used to have to shower me while I sat in a chair and even staying in the chair was a challenge.

I had no control over my bladder and my brain just did not function any more. Things were bad.

I was devastated to be told I couldn't ride competitively any more because it would not be safe, given all of my symptoms. And that's the moment I thought my life was over. Without horses, it wasn't worth living.

So I decided, no, I will prove them all wrong. And I began training really hard to learn how to control my body again. I started to work with Brian Murray, who is a strength and performance specialist based at the Institute of Technology in Carlow. After I left hospital, he took over my rehab and working with him was the foundation that led to me being able to walk around normally and, in turn, get back to doing what I love doing.

He changed my life by teaching me about conscious proprioception - how to be aware of my body and how it moves - and taught me to adapt and accept my new body. Without him, I never would have achieved this.

In April 2016, I returned to competitive showjumping and that was thanks to my hero and guardian angel - my uncle, the showjumper Edward Doyle. Without his support, patience and encouragement, I wouldn't be here today.

Getting back on a horse was not straightforward. I had this new body to contend with which, at the best of times, did not like co-operating. The lack of feeling in my hands and legs and my balance issues were a continuous battle for me. It was like learning how to ride all over again.

Even the simplest thing like getting up on a horse is a momentous task and something I can never take for granted.

I have to take an extra moment to ground myself and ensure I have control over my body and my balance before attempting to mount.

In November 2015, and again in November 2016, I received my immune suppressant drug to try and halt the MS. All drugs come with side-effects and this drug was very strong, so the risks were high.

In April 2017, I suffered kidney failure and was diagnosed with Goodpasture syndrome, which is another auto-immune disease. I spent a long time in hospital, but after being so critically ill and nearly dying, the time passed by very quickly. Today, I am on dialysis three days a week and when I am disease-free for six months, I can get a kidney transplant.

Life for me now is very different than it was just a few years ago. There are times I feel like I am just existing, but not really living.

But I can still ride, even though I was told that I couldn't get back in the saddle before having a transplant.

Thankfully, with the unwavering support of my family, I managed to defy the odds and a few weeks ago I competed in my first show in nearly a year.

It is a total struggle physically, but horses are what keep me fighting. I am not going to lie - I cry after every show at the moment because I am so frustrated with my body. If having to contend with the MS symptoms was not enough, I now have the added struggle of being so unbelievably weak.

When I am in the ring, I feel like I am gasping for air, because kidney failure affects your lung capacity and also your body's ability to carry oxygen to your other organs and muscles.

I feel very lucky to be back riding, but I am a perfectionist at heart, so I find this constant battle with my body very frustrating.

But the support from my uncle Edward and my dad and brother helps - they really understand how I feel, they keep me so positive and give me so much encouragement and support to keep fighting. It takes an army to keep all the broken pieces together.

Since being diagnosed with MS there are days I feel as though I have lost everything. Firstly, everything I had worked so hard for and dreamed of, and then my health.

I sometimes do not even recognise myself any more - it feels as though my body is not my own.

But there is one very important thing that I have learnt along the way. Anything is possible when you put your mind to it.

MS may have thought it had me, but it does not. I will always fight it and I will always win.

As part of the campaign for MS research and vital services, MS Ireland is calling on people to help Kiss Goodbye to MS throughout the month of May. For more information, visit kissgoodbyetoms.ie
The Alliance Party at Belfast City Hall has called on a controversial decision to give 400K of ratepayers cash to community groups for bonfire diversion to be reversed.

Two weeks ago, Sinn Fein, the DUP and the PUP supported funding a series of educational and diversionary activities associated with July and August bonfires at a council committee.

Alliance and the SDLP, who voted against the proposals alongside the UUP, have since requested a meeting with the Audit Office over the funding allocation, which earmarked 400,000 to several groups across Belfast for activities over the summer.

The Ulster Unionist Party said its group of Belfast councillors will be meeting with party legal representatives over how the controversial decision was made later this week.

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One organisation which is to receive 100,000 is the Feile festival in west Belfast, which council figures show has already received 130,000 funding this year.

Alliance council group leader Michael Long said his party will call on the decision to be reversed when it is due to be officially ratified at City Hall next Monday.

At a time when so many organisations across our city are struggling with funding cuts, it appears that Feile is doing just fine with their already substantial funding being massively increased through the deal between the DUP and Sinn Fein last week which Alliance opposed, Councillor Long said.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close William Young used a drone to take this remarkable photo of the bonfire at Sandy Row. 11/07/2017 Sandy Row Photo: William Young Sandy Row Photo: William Young Roden Street Photo: William Young Shankill Photo: William Young The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 The scene on Love Lane in Carrickfergus as the local community rebuild a bonfire after the original bonfire they build was burnt on Monday evening. Picture by Matt Mackey / presseye.com 10/07/2017 Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations takes place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations takes place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. Pacemaker Press Belfast 11-07-2017: Final preparations take place for the Bonfire on Sandy Row in Belfast .The bonfires will be lit in loyalist areas as part of Eleventh Night celebrations on Tuesday night. Picture By: Arthur Allison. SDLP MLA Daniel McCrossan posted this photo of one of his election posters on a bonfire and said he considers the action a hate crime. Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. [Photo: Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com] Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. [Photo: Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com] Masked men continue to build a bonfire at Inverary Playing Fields in Belfast. Police in Northern Ireland have warned their resources could be stretched amid growing fears of tension around the burning of Eleventh night bonfires. [Photo credit: Liam McBurney/PA Wire] PA Masked men continue to build a bonfire at Inverary Playing Fields in Belfast. [Photo: PA Wire 10/07/2017] PA A bonfire constructed across the road from a petrol station in Carrickfergus was set alight in the early hours of Tuesday morning. / Facebook

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Whatsapp William Young used a drone to take this remarkable photo of the bonfire at Sandy Row. 11/07/2017

It appears that Feile just need to write in a letter to get more money whilst other groups spend many hours filling in forms to even access small amounts of money.

At the meeting, many other groups were excluded from funding by the DUP and Sinn Fein and you have to question why the DUP are so keen to provide so much funding to a festival they spend so much time complaining about.

Since the decision was made at the councils Strategic Policy and Resources Committee almost two weeks ago, some parties have criticised the lack of use of the call-in mechanism in the process.

A call-in allows other parties to ask for an issue to be revisited if they believe it was not properly made in the first instance.

Ulster unionist councillor Jim Rodgers accused those who supported the 400K decision of abusing the council system by not allowing the call-in to be used.

In recent weeks representatives at City Hall have referred to a "string of controversial decisions" pushed through the council by some parties in which the call-in was not used, including February's reallocation of 4m of council funds for "community tourism".

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Councillor Rodgers said how both decisions were pushed through committee was an absolute disgrace.

When others criticised the funding as a "carve up", DUP council group leader Lee Reynolds said the money was not just about bonfire diversion - but was a sensible investment to deliver a good summer for our city".

"Some of these parties will stand up and condemn when the DUP and Sinn Fein don't agree, and then if we do have something that we are both willing to vote for they still find reasons to condemn us," he added.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh nightO bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Eleventh Night from above Belfast. Pic Stephen Owens. The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Lower Shankill bonfire in west Belfast. [Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye 11-07-17] Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye The 'eleventh night bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The 'eleventh nightO bonfire is lit at the Milner Street area of the Village in South Belfast as celebrations of William of Orange's victory commence on July 11th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Firefighters near a lit bonfire on Albertbridge Road, Belfast ahead of the key date in the protestant loyal order marching season - the Twelfth of July. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday July 11, 2017. PA The Lower Shankill bonfire in west Belfast. [Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye 11-07-17] Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye A quiet moment as the Sandy Row bonfire in south Belfast starts to die down. [Photo by Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye] Kelvin Boyes / Press Eye Firefighters douse nearby buildings as a bonfire is lit in Albertbridge Road, Belfast ahead of the key date in the protestant loyal order marching season - the Twelfth of July. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday July 11, 2017. See PA story ULSTER Twelfth. Photo credit should read: PA Wire PA Firefighters douse nearby buildings as a bonfire is lit in Albertbridge Road, Belfast ahead of the key date in the protestant loyal order marching season - the Twelfth of July. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday July 11, 2017. See PA story ULSTER Twelfth. Photo credit should read: PA Wire PA Firefighters douse nearby buildings as a bonfire is lit in Albertbridge Road, Belfast ahead of the key date in the protestant loyal order marching season - the Twelfth of July. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday July 11, 2017. See PA story ULSTER Twelfth. Photo credit should read: PA Wire PA Firefighters douse nearby buildings as a bonfire is lit in Albertbridge Road, Belfast ahead of the key date in the protestant loyal order marching season - the Twelfth of July. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday July 11, 2017. See PA story ULSTER Twelfth. Photo credit should read: PA Wire PA Firefighters douse nearby buildings as a bonfire is lit in Albertbridge Road, Belfast ahead of the key date in the protestant loyal order marching season - the Twelfth of July. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday July 11, 2017. See PA story ULSTER Twelfth. Photo credit should read: PA Wire PA Onlookers watch as firefighters douse nearby buildings as a bonfire is lit in Albertbridge Road, Belfast ahead of the key date in the protestant loyal order marching season - the Twelfth of July. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Tuesday July 11, 2017. See PA story ULSTER Twelfth. Photo credit should read: PA Wire PA Loyalists finish a bonfire in East Belfast in preparation for the 11th night celebrations on July 11, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 11: Loyalists finish a bonfire in East Belfast in preparation for the 11th night celebrations on July 11, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tradition holds that the bonfires commemorate the lighting of fires on the hills to help Williamite ships navigate through Belfast Lough at night when Protestant King William III and his forces landed at Carrickfergus to fight the Catholic Jacobites, supporters of the exiled Catholic King James II. The bonfires also mark the beginning of the annual 12th of July Orange parades. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 11: Loyalists finish a bonfire in East Belfast in preparation for the 11th night celebrations on July 11, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tradition holds that the bonfires commemorate the lighting of fires on the hills to help Williamite ships navigate through Belfast Lough at night when Protestant King William III and his forces landed at Carrickfergus to fight the Catholic Jacobites, supporters of the exiled Catholic King James II. The bonfires also mark the beginning of the annual 12th of July Orange parades. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 11: Loyalists finish a bonfire in East Belfast in preparation for the 11th night celebrations on July 11, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tradition holds that the bonfires commemorate the lighting of fires on the hills to help Williamite ships navigate through Belfast Lough at night when Protestant King William III and his forces landed at Carrickfergus to fight the Catholic Jacobites, supporters of the exiled Catholic King James II. The bonfires also mark the beginning of the annual 12th of July Orange parades. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images LISBURN, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: Having finished school for the summer 13 year old Tyler Reid helps guard the Lisburn bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. The bonfires, which are lit on the stroke of midnight on the 11th night, mark the beginning of the annual 12th of July Orange parades in Northern Ireland. The annual Orange marches celebrate the protestant King William of Orange's victory over the catholic English King James II at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) *** BESTPIX *** BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: A Loyalist climbs the Conway street bonfire built in preparation for the 11th night bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tradition holds that the bonfires commemorate the lighting of fires on the hills to help Williamite ships navigate through Belfast Lough at night when Protestant King William III and his forces landed at Carrickfergus to fight the Catholic Jacobites, supporters of the exiled Catholic King James II. The bonfires also mark the beginning of the annual 12th of July Orange parades. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) ***BESTPIX*** Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com Workmen board up windows of property beside a bonfire at the end of the Comber Greenway off Ravenscroft Avenue in east Belfast. Picture by Jonathan Porter/PressEye.com Masked men continue to build a bonfire at Inverary Playing Fields in Belfast. Liam McBurney/PA Wire PA Masked men continue to build a bonfire at Inverary Playing Fields in Belfast. Police in Northern Ireland have warned their resources could be stretched amid growing fears of tension around the burning of Eleventh night bonfires. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday July 10, 2017. See PA story ULSTER Twelfth. Photo credit should read: PA Wire PA Loyalists sit on the Sandy Row bonfire being built in preparation for the 11th night bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Belfast. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 Roden Street bonfire. The largest bonfire in Belfast. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 Roden Street bonfire. The largest bonfire in Belfast. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 Roden Street bonfire. The largest bonfire in Belfast. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 Roden Street bonfire. The largest bonfire in Belfast. BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: Loyalists climb The Village bonfire being built in preparation for the 11th night bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Tradition holds that the bonfires commemorate the lighting of fires on the hills to help Williamite ships navigate through Belfast Lough at night when Protestant King William III and his forces landed at Carrickfergus to fight the Catholic Jacobites, supporters of the exiled Catholic King James II. The bonfires also mark the beginning of the annual 12th of July Orange parades. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: Loyalists climb The Village bonfire being built in preparation for the 11th night bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Belfast. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: Loyalists climb The Village bonfire being built in preparation for the 11th night bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Belfast. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: The bonfires also mark the beginning of the annual 12th of July Orange parades. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: Loyalists sit on the Sandy Row bonfire being built in preparation for the 11th night bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Belfast. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: Loyalists sit on the Sandy Row bonfire being built in preparation for the 11th night bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Belfast. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: Loyalists sit on the Sandy Row bonfire being built in preparation for the 11th night bonfire on July 10, 2017 in Belfast. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images) Getty Images LARNE, NORTHERN IRELAND - JULY 10: 'Hurka' the chief architect and builder of the Craigyhill bonfire takes a break from stacking pallets to pose with his creation whilst balancing on a ladder on July 10, 2017 in Larne, Northern Ireland. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images General views of the square shaped bonfire on Milner Street in South Belfast on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph General views of the square shaped bonfire on Milner Street in South Belfast on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph General views of the square shaped bonfire on Milner Street in South Belfast on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph General views of the square shaped bonfire on Milner Street in South Belfast on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph General views of the square shaped bonfire on Milner Street in South Belfast on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Pastor Lucas Parks at his church in east Belfast close to the walkway bonfire on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Conway Street bonfire in West Belfast on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Conway Street bonfire in West Belfast on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph The Conway Street bonfire in West Belfast on July 10th 2017 (Photo by Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph) Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph Ravenscroft Avenue car park/Bloomfield Walkway bonfire site. Posters of Sinn Fein politicians are seen placed on a bonfire in the Shankill area of west Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 10, 2017, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images A wooden pallet is carried to a bonfire in the Shankill area of west Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 10, 2017, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires [Photo: Paul Faith /AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Bonfire builders Dean Neeson and Graeme Stewart carry wooden pallets to a bonfire in the Ballymacash area of Lisburn on July 10, 2017, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. [Photo: Paul Faith /AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Posters of Sinn Fein politicians are seen placed on a bonfire in Shankill. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images A bonfire in the Ballymacash area of Lisburn.[Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images A bonfire is pictured in the Ballymacash area of Lisburn. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images A bonfire towers over the housing in the Ballymacash area of Lisburn. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Children play on a bonfire in the village area of Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 10, 2017, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires The Eleventh Night refers to the night before the Twelfth of July, an annual Protestant commemoration of the famous battle were Protestant King William III of Orange defeated Catholic King James II at the battle of the Boyne on July 12, 1690. / AFP PHOTO / Paul FAITHPAUL FAITH/AFP/Getty Images AFP/Getty Images A Union flag flutters in the breeze in front of a bonfire in the village area of Belfast. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Former Bonfire builder Colin Tweedie, poses for a photograph beside a bonfire in the village area of Belfast, Northern Ireland on July 10, 2017, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Former Bonfire builder Colin Tweedie (R), inspects a bonfire in the village area of Belfast on July 10, 2017, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Bonfire builder Ryan Preston poses for a photograph on the Doonbeg bonfire in Rathcoole in north Belfast on July 10, 2017 ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Bonfire builder Ryan Preston poses for a photograph on the Doonbeg bonfire in Rathcoole on July 10, 2017, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Bonfire builder Ryan Preston poses for a photograph on the Doonbeg bonfire in Rathcoole on July 10, 2017, ahead of the traditional 11th night bonfires. [Photo: Paul Faith/AFP/Getty Images] AFP/Getty Images Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 East Belfast Bonfire at Avoniel Leisure Centre car park that has had an injunction by Belfast City Council in place to stop wood from being dumped at the site and added to the bonfire. East Belfast Bonfire at Avoniel Leisure Centre car park that has had an injunction by Belfast City Council in place to stop wood from being dumped at the site and added to the bonfire. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 Ravenscroft Avenue car park/Bloomfield walkway East Belfast Bonfire ath Ravenscroft Avenue car park/Bloomfield walkway has had an injunction by Belfast City Council in place to stop wood from being dumped at the bonfire site and added to the bonfire. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 Ravenscroft Avenue car park/Bloomfield walkway East Belfast Bonfire ath Ravenscroft Avenue car park/Bloomfield walkway has had an injunction by Belfast City Council in place to stop wood from being dumped at the bonfire site and added to the bonfire. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 Ravenscroft Avenue car park/Bloomfield walkway East Belfast Bonfire ath Ravenscroft Avenue car park/Bloomfield walkway has had an injunction by Belfast City Council in place to stop wood from being dumped at the bonfire site and added to the bonfire. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 East Belfast Bonfire at Inverary playing fields that has an injunction by Belfast City Council in place to stop wood from being dumped at the site and added to the bonfire. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 East Belfast Bonfire at Inverary playing fields that has an injunction by Belfast City Council in place to stop wood from being dumped at the site and added to the bonfire. Belfast Telegraph 09-07-2017 East Belfast Bonfire at Inverary playing fields that has an injunction by Belfast City Council in place to stop wood from being dumped at the site and added to the bonfire. / Facebook

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According to council documents seen by this reporter, a total of seven groups and events are to be funded.

Cash earmarked for Woodvale and the Ulster-Scots Agency - a combined 180,000 - is "to be taken from the European City of Culture budget".

The councils European City of Culture bid was torpedoed last year due to Brexit.
A man charged with brothel keeping as part of a police investigation into INLA activities also allegedly targeted five building sites in an extortion racket, the High Court was told.

It was claimed 60-year-old Brian Gillan visited contractors in the Crumlin and Glenavy areas of Co Antrim weekly seeking protection money.

One firm alone paid out 560 a week to ensure no property was damaged or stolen, according to the prosecution case.

Details emerged as Gillan, of Lurgan Road in Glenavy, was refused bail.

He was among two men and a woman arrested during raids in Belfast and Co Antrim last month targeting the republican grouping.

More than 200 PSNI officers took part in the operation, supported by the National Crime Agency and HM Revenue and Customs.

Gillan denies counts of keeping a brothel operating in Agincourt Avenue in Belfast, possessing criminal property and blackmail.

A Crown lawyer said he was detained in connection with suspected INLA membership and fundraising - but it was stressed that he has not been charged with any paramilitary offences.

Instead, the court was told police observations, photographs and witness statements links him to the alleged building site extortion from September 2017 until his arrest.

Prosecution counsel claimed evidence shows him attending businesses each Friday to make collections.

"Building sites and persons within them are blackmailed to pay money under the guise of protection money," she said.

"Failure to pay that money results in sites being damaged and property stolen from those sites."

Gillan, who is on disability benefits, had up to 1,000 in cash on him when he was detained.

He also allegedly acted as the "front man" for the Belfast brothel said to have been run by Florin Ghita, 32, and 22-year-old Christina-Teodora Musa - both Romanian nationals.

According to the prosecution he placed Romanian prostitutes in the property and collected 1,000 a month, from which he paid the rental lease.

During police interviews Gillan denied knowing anything about sex work going on at the address.

Defence counsel Jonathan Browne emphasised his client faces no allegations of terrorist offences.

He told the court the accused had worked in the building trade until his physical condition left him dependant on disability allowances.

Mr Browne also set out how Gillan had been in a relationship with Musa, holidaying with her in Romania and believing Ghita to be her cousin.

"He was ignorant of any other females being present at the (Agincourt Avenue) property," the barrister added.

Denying bail, however, Sir Anthony Hart cited the risk of re-offending.
A taxi driver is accused of using his car to raid supermarkets.

A taxi driver allegedly used his car to repeatedly raid a supermarket for televisions and electrical equipment, the High Court has heard.

Stephen McAuley is charged with nine separate thefts from Tesco, and also twice stealing high-value goods from a B&Q branch.

The 41-year-old, of Lancaster Street in Belfast, is charged with stealing items worth more than 7,000 between January 31 and March 4 this year.

Refusing bail on Tuesday, a judge said the alleged offences involved "a remarkable, systematic course of criminal behaviour".

McAuley and a co-accused allegedly used the same modus operandi every time they targeted a Tesco store at Newtownbreda, south east Belfast.

A Crown lawyer described one incident where security tags were removed from two TV sets valued at 658.

She claimed they were then taken out and put in the back of McAuley's taxi.

McAuley was identified after the cab firm was contacted.

CCTV footage from Tesco revealed a number of similar high-value thefts involving the same taxi, the court heard.

Two other incidents related to thefts of products worth 1,236 and 1,298 from a B&Q store in Newry.

Defence counsel Michael Ward disclosed that McAuley was dismissed by the taxi company, but is now working for another operator in Belfast.

Bail was denied due to the risk of re-offending.

The judge, Sir Anthony Hart, said: "There's clearly a good prima facie case against the applicant of having engaged in a remarkable, systematic course of criminal behaviour over a period of about five-six weeks.

"The allegations are he was taking part, providing the vehicle and driving the vehicle for himself and a co-accused to steal increasingly large amounts of electrical equipment."
A Belfast-based mother faces being split from her children over delays in the granting of Irish citizenship.

A Belfast-based mother faces being split from her children over delays in the granting of her Irish citizenship.

Megan Crowley, a US citizen who has lived in Northern Ireland's capital for 10 years, is married to Irish citizen Richard Crowley.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie, Mrs Crowley said she had assumed the application process would take six months because it was a "straightforward case".

"I well surpass any requirements for Irish citizenship," she said.

Mrs Crowley - who is a student at Queen's University - received an email before Christmas confirming her citizenship application had been approved, but was then asked for proof of permission to remain in the UK.

Complications around Mrs Crowley's application arose from proving legal status to remain in the United Kingdom with her temporary visa expiring in December 2017.

She had been in the process of renewing her visa to maintain her legal status for the United Kingdom, but had to withdraw her application when her father became sick and she required her passport to travel.

Less than a month left for Minister @CharlieFlanagan to use his discretion to help our family stay together. My husband of 12 years is Irish and we have 4 children. Irish families should be able to stay together. I have already been approved and need only to attend a ceremony. pic.twitter.com/opJ13NgWv1  Megan Crowley (@megan_m81meg81) May 27, 2018

She could face a wait of months before receiving another temporary visa for the United Kingdom.

As it stands, Mrs Crowley plans to leave Northern Ireland for the United States in less than a month's time, and does not know if she will be able to return to Belfast in August.

Megan has launched a social media campaign, and called on Irish justice minister Charlie Flanagan to intervene in her case, saying he has the discretion to allow her to remain in the country.

Writing on Twitter, Mrs Crowley said: "Separating Irish children from their mother, an Irish man from his wife of 12 years is simply unacceptable. Children need to stay with both their parents. I have never broken any laws, I am just a mother who wants to be with her family."

The first citizenship ceremony of the year was held in Killarney on May 21, where 3,500 people from more than 120 countries received Irish citizenship.

On the day of the ceremony Megan Crowley visited the Dail to raise her concern with members of the Irish senate.

A spokesperson for the Irish Department of Justice and Equality said: "The Department of Justice and Equality does not generally comment on individual cases but irrespective of the jurisdiction from which an applicant applies, the Minister cannot consider such an application unless the appropriate permission to remain is in force and we have evidence of same."
A 'one man rampage' left young families terrified in a south Belfast street when bricks were thrown for hours from the roofs of over 10 houses.

Ashley Drive, a quiet terraced street just off the Lisburn Road, was a scene of destruction yesterday morning, with a row of 11 chimneys and rooftops damaged, cars smashed below and masonry and slates covering the street.

Residents first noticed a man dressed in a green and white tracksuit on a rooftop at around 9pm, shouting and causing damage.

Police arrived shortly afterwards, along with a PSNI helicopter and a fire engine, but it would be another four hours before the man could be coaxed down.

Moving from house to house, he began to steadily tear and throw chunks from the roof.

Shockingly, some residents said that as officers escorted families out using riot shields as cover, the man continued to throw heavy masonry at them.

A 26-year-old man was arrested at the scene on suspicion of a number of charges including criminal damage.

He remains in custody assisting police with their enquiries.

Several homes were evacuated overnight, with some families staying at the nearby Morton Community centre.

One young father was at home with his wife and eight-month-old baby when the disturbance started.

Arriving back to pick up the pieces, he was greeted with two smashed cars and a demolished chimney.

"The guy on the roof started making lots of noise and it escalated quickly, throwing tiles," he said.

"The damage is pretty significant and I think both our cars have been written off. The windscreen, roof and door panels are all ruined.

"I'm not sure why this happened, I was just concerned on getting my family out.

"It was very distressing for them, but you have to get on with these things."

Clean-up crews from the Roads Service and Belfast City Council arrived to clear the debris from the street at around 11am yesterday.

With cars privately owned and most of the properties belonging to landlords, it's still uncertain what the cost of the extensive damage will be.

Keira Scott (21) and Aidan Devlin (24) had been enjoying a quiet night watching television when the carnage started.

"We looked out the window and there was a guy pushing the chimneys down. We were terrified, there were bricks flying everywhere," said Keira.

"The police handled it quite well.

"We saw one woman who had a small infant and a little baby who came running out.

"The police were saying to the man 'families live here'."

Aidan said: "He kept screaming that he wanted a drink and a smoke and said he was going to burn the houses down. He asked the police for a lighter but they said no."

Kana Yu (31) was at home with her six-year-old girl and eight-year-old boy.

"My children were running about scared, tired and crying," she said.

"My friend came to pick my children up about 12.30am. I stayed at a friend's house for a while before going to the community centre.

"This is a quiet street and I don't want my kids to come back and see it like this."

Ian Adams (22) also spent the night in the community centre.

"He was screaming at the police, throwing bricks down," he said.

"At one point we were ushered from our homes past the police line, it was pretty scary.

"Thankfully, our house isn't as badly damaged, but there's a few holes in the back roof just above our bathroom and lots of bricks at our back door. We still need to be pretty careful."

One young woman said she saw the man just as he arrived on Ashley Drive.

"He seemed to be running away from someone, he climbed up and wouldn't come down. It just seemed that the more police that arrived, the more stressed he seemed to get and that's when he started to kick off.

"It really wasn't clear why he was doing this at all, it was just anger more than anything."

Ricardo Ramos (36) has lived on the street for three years and waited till 4am in his car before police could let him back in.

"It was a very harrowing scene," he said.

"By the time I came out families were running on the street and trying to save their lives, because he was throwing things on to the road.

"He threw things at the police as people were leaving the house protected by shields.

"It was a mad, horrendous situation and I've never seen anything like it in my life."

Alan Levy (71) added: "I think he was more distressed than anything. His family and a young girl arrived to talk him down, but he wouldn't listen.

"The police had to move them on. That's when he started throwing the chimney pots here. The police were here quite quickly, they blocked the street off at both ends and a large crowd gathered."

One mother on the Ashley Drive watched the whole incident from her front door.

"It was unbelievable, he had no care for himself or anyone," she said.

"Children were having to run up the street and families with children. He was chucking it down the whole time, the police were trying to draw his attention away. It also looked like he might fall and we didn't want to sit here helpless and watch this happen.

"Even though he's troubled, we didn't want to see someone get hurt. That was such a tricky situation for everyone involved."
FDI pledges up Rs34.9b in first 8 months: Survey

International companies have pledged foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs34.91 billion in the industrial sector in the first eight months of the fiscal year, which is more than double the amount promised during the whole of 2016-17.
A terminally ill father-of-four has returned home to Co Down following an "overwhelming" online crowdfunding campaign.

Islanders in Jersey rallied behind Charles Polson after he was diagnosed with cancer just three weeks ago in order to help him cover the 10,000 cost of chartering a medical flight.

Donna Vibert, who started the JustGiving campaign, said Charles and his wife Joanne are extremely grateful for all the support they have received.

"He's back in Ulster," she said. "They are completely staggered by the level of love and generosity which has been poured out; it's just overwhelming."

Charles, who has lived on the Channel Islands with his family for the past seven years, returned home on Saturday with his wife and their youngest son, Connor (18). "The other boys are packing up the family home and will return to Northern Ireland on Tuesday," Donna said.

The mum-of-two doubled the fundraising target after it exceeded its initial 10,000 goal within just 24 hours. But it has now surpassed 20,000 and will remain live until June 6 in order to raise as much money as possible to help the family relocate.

But the success of the online campaign has been bittersweet for Donna who formed a strong bond with the "incredibly supportive" couple after her son Nathan (19) lost his life in a motorbike accident two years ago.

The teenager had been a close friend of Charles and Joanne's son, Andrew (22).

"I spent time with them before they left, to say goodbye," Donna said.

Senior mental health nurse Charles was given the devastating cancer diagnosis just 18 months after Joanne, who also worked as a mental health nurse, was diagnosed with progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

Also a volunteer clinical governance officer at St John's Ambulance Jersey, Charles took to social media before he flew home to express his gratitude to the charity's separate fundraising efforts, saying: "Thank you one and all."
A leading Northern Irish public health specialist has said that the Department of Health could have saved the lives of children who died from Hyponatraemia.

Five children (Adam Strain, Raychel Ferguson, Claire Roberts, Conor Mitchell and Lucy Crawford) died at Northern Ireland hospitals from the condition which occurs when the level of sodium in the blood becomes abnormally low.

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An inquiry into the deaths examined the role mismanagement played in the children's deaths, as well as the way the deaths were handled by health officials and whether some of the deaths could have been prevented.

In his long-awaited report, John O'Hara QC said the deaths of four of the children were preventable and caused by medical negligence and that some doctors had engaged in cover-ups following the death.

The report also offered 96 recommendations be implemented to prevent a similar situation happening in the future.

Northern Irish health expert Professor Gabriel Scally told the BBC "this is a remarkable account of lies, deceit and cover-up, of negligence and of secrecy and deliberate obstruction."

The Belfast-born Doctor said that there was a "toxic" culture amongst Northern Ireland health professionals.

"I have seen it happen before but only in individual institutions or amongst individual teams," he said.

"Here it seems to have been a widespread pattern almost across the province."

"I think the Department of Health could have, if they had been acting properly, they could have saved the lives of some of these children."

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Professor Scally said that people needed to be held to account over the deaths.

"The Department of Health is not the health service, it is a department of state. It is a department to serve the people and serving the people means holding the NHS to account. That's what they should have been doing and it doesn't look to me like they did that," he said.

Professor Scally, who is currently investigating the cervical cancer screening scandal in the Republic of Ireland, called for Northern Ireland's Chief Medical Officer Michael McBride to ensure the recommendations from the Hyponatraemia Inquiry be implemented.

Dr McBride was Medical Director at the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust between 2002 and 2006 and was involved in orchestrating the trust's response to the death of Claire Roberts.

Claire Roberts, nine, died in Belfasts Royal Victoria Hospital in 1996.

"If it was me I would say: 'I am sorry this happened and I am going to make it my professional duty for the rest of my career to make sure that this never happens again'," Professor Scally told the BBC.

"I think the chief medical officer, if he was involved, he should talk about that and be talking to the public and talking to the families about what he has learnt from that, and to take forward the recommendations and take forward change, he might very well be the best person because he knew it from the inside.

"He might well be the best person to take the whole thing forward and change things."

The Department of Health said that Dr McBride had worked to implement many of the recommendations from the Hyponatraemia Inquiry.

"It should also be noted that Dr McBride's leadership has helped deliver many of the important clinical and governance improvements acknowledged in Mr Justice O'Hara's report," a spokesperson said.

The PSNI announced in March that they would be launching their own investigation into the deaths from Hyponatraemia.
Donegal could end up with one of the highest abortion rates in Ireland despite voting against the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

There is growing expectation that the hundreds of women from Northern Ireland who travel to England every year will now stay on the island.

Official figures from the UK Department of Health show that 724 women from Northern Ireland had an abortion in 2016.

Of those, 635 travelled within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, meaning they would be eligible for abortion in the Republic once the Irish government's legislation is introduced.

Northern Ireland has the harshest criminal penalty for abortion of any country in Europe - up to life imprisonment for both the woman having the procedure and anyone assisting her.

Irish Children's Minister Katherine Zappone, who championed the referendum, said women from across the border should now be facilitated in the Republic.

"I hope that by the time that happens that the Executive will have formed, that they are able to move forward in relation to making decisions themselves in terms of this issue. If that is not the case, then we're their nearest neighbour," she said. "I think we need to look at the ways in which we can offer some supports in that regard, in the same way that other countries offered that to the women of Ireland."

The situation in Northern Ireland is governed by the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which was passed 60 years before women had the right to vote.

In the wake of Saturday's landslide result, pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Theresa May to begin the process of legalising abortion in the North.

However, Downing Street and the DUP have said responsibility for such issues lies with the Assembly in Stormont, which hasn't sat in almost 18 months.

Government sources in Dublin admitted that women who up to now have travelled overseas are likely to seek medical help in the South. Many of them, especially from Londonderry and Tyrone, are likely to travel to nearby Donegal which was the only constituency to oppose abortion.

Sixty-three women from Donegal travelled to the UK for an abortion in 2016.

Terminations are illegal in Northern Ireland unless a woman's life is in danger or there is a serious risk to her physical or mental health. Thirteen pregnancies were terminated in NHS hospitals in Northern Ireland in 2016/17 - three fewer than the previous year.

It is known that 724 women travelled in 2016. Five of them were under the age of 16.

As well as the women who travelled, it is believed 1,438 purchased illegal abortion pills online from one provider in 2015.
Detectives investigating the murder of Stefan Zait in Ardglass have renewed their appeal for information one week after the 45-year-old was seriously assaulted.

Mr Zait, originally from Romania, had been living in Northern Ireland for six years and made a living working on the fishing vessels.

He was attacked just before 11am on Tuesday suffering serious injuries. He later passed away in hospital sparking a murder investigation.

Detective Chief Inspector Corrigan said: Although a 20-year-old male suspect has been charged, we are continuing to appeal for information about the circumstances surrounding Stefans death.

"Stefan died on Thursday morning from serious head injuries he sustained during a brutal attack in broad daylight on the morning of Tuesday 22 May.

"From our enquiries, we know that Stefan was attacked outside 1 Lighthouse Cove between 10.30am and 11am on Tuesday 22nd May 2018.

"I am continuing to appeal for anyone who witnessed this attack or anyone who was in the area of Downpatrick Road or Strangford Road on Tuesday morning to get in touch with the investigation team.

"I would appeal to anyone who has captured any footage at the scene, either on devices or on dashcams, to please get in touch."
Road workers have moved in on Waterloo Park North and South. Pic Kevin Scott

Road workers have moved in on Waterloo Park North and South. Pic Kevin Scott

Road workers have moved in on Waterloo Park North and South. Pic Kevin Scott

Road chiefs in Northern Ireland have been slammed for the condition of a road - this time in carrying out work which one resident says is not needed.

Mary Johnston said her Waterloo Park road in north Belfast is "almost perfect" bar the odd blemish.

However, she was left stunned when she received notification work was to begin on ripping it up and resurfacing it for six weeks.

She said it was a "needless waste of money," and questioned why her "affluent" area was getting the work done when, it appeared, so many other areas were being neglected.

"It just isn't needed," she told the Belfast Telegraph, "But then I think - why look a gift horse in the mouth?

"You hear of so many roads in need of repair and I can't understand the justification for this.

"We've no government, we can't make important decisions on health or education, but we can resurface a road that doesn't need it?

"But if there is a good reason for the work, I can accept that."

The Department for Infrastructure said the work was costing 137,000 and it had a statutory duty to maintain the road network. It said as it was part of normal duty, there was no need for a minister to approve the work.

"The affluence of any area is not a factor taken into consideration in the decision making process for this type of work," said a spokeswoman.

Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Before the work begun. Before the work begun. Before the work begun. / Facebook

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The work is to include providing a new carriageway surface while removing return kerbs and providing a new pedestrian surface. The department said this was for the "benefit of vulnerable road users such as elderly and disabled pedestrians".

Under Article 8 of the Roads Order, the department has a statutory duty to maintain the adopted road network," the spokeswoman added.

"Waterloo Park North and South is inspected on a three month cyclical basis and anything which is considered to be hazardous to the public is identified and programmed for repair.

"In addition to these cyclical maintenance procedures the department also undertakes an annual programme of reconstruction and resurfacing works, which is implemented on a scheme priority basis.

"Inspections of Waterloo Park identified scarring caused by old utility tracks, loss of chippings from the carriageway surfacing, a mixture of concrete and granite kerbs with dropped kerbs at some accesses and higher than normal kerb defects at return kerb sites."
The Great Wall of China which Maeve will walk in the autumn

Nearly four years ago she was lying on the side of a mountain in the Mournes, in agonising pain and unable to move, and had broken her spine in two places.

Such was the extent of Co Down woman Maeve O'Neill's injuries, consultants at the Royal Victoria Hospital told her they were astonished that her spinal cord had escaped intact.

Today, and three spinal operations later, the 22-year-old is not only on her way back to full strength, but she's busy training so she can walk the Great Wall of China. Every step of the six-day journey will be for the "unsung heroes" of the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team (MMRT) who came to her aid.

Scout adventure leader Maeve, from Holywood, was volunteering on an expedition with the 10th Antrim Scout group on November 8, 2014, when disaster struck around mid-afternoon as she was attempting to descend from the summit of Slieve Meelbeg, close to the Happy Valley.

A fall caused her to tumble down the mountainside, leading her to collide with a boulder, which sent her flying over it mid-air. She eventually landed five feet below it, on her back. Two of her friends, Mark Gillespie and Conor McGeough, rushed to her aid.

"I just couldn't breathe at all," Maeve - who was aged just 19 at the time - recalls of the initial moments following impact. "There was a big group of us as it was part of a county-wide event, and they were taken off the mountain as Mark and Conor rang the rescue team.

"There was a wait of two hours before they got to us. It was a very strange feeling. On the one hand it felt like the longest wait of my life, and on the other hand it didn't feel that long at all.

"Both Mark and Conor were amazing. I felt so, so cold, even though I was told later that my temperature was fine, and they both gave me their clothes to keep me warm.

"They ended up with hypothermia."

Although she remained conscious throughout her ordeal, the Queen's University student - who is set to graduate next month with a degree in Geography - says she can remember very little of the actual rescue itself. "I was stretchered off the mountain on a spinal board. I don't remember much but I know that the team drilled into the mountain to use ropes to get me down," she said.

Fourteen members of the Mourne Mountain Rescue Team were involved in helping Maeve off the mountain, in a painstakingly slow rescue, but one that ensured that by early evening she was placed in the care of an ambulance crew, which then rushed her to hospital.

There she found out she had broken two of her vertebrae completely in two.

"Several spinal surgeons made me aware of how lucky I was to not have damaged my spinal cord. They were astonished at the fact that I had been transported from the top of a mountain with such serious injuries.

"My injuries were serious, but could have been much more life-altering."

And that's why Maeve feels such a deep sense of gratitude to her rescuers. "I've to remind myself of how much worse that day could have ended had it not been for the amazing work of the rescue team," she said.

Maeve decided she would repay them for helping her that day. Remembering that one of her past teachers had trekked along the Great Wall of China, it seemed like the perfect choice for her too. First, however, she had to focus on her own health.

"For a long time I wasn't able to do a lot myself. I couldn't even take a shower without help, so I was living with my parents. I still have a lot of pain now."

Maeve is currently building up her strength so she can take on her challenge this autumn. A JustGiving page she set up for the trek raised nearly 500 in days - although Maeve is hoping to reach her target of 1,000.

"I'm so grateful for everything the team did for me," she added.
Labour MP Stella Creasy has described the use of the petition of concern as the work of a dictatorship.

She was responding after Jim Wells - who has been disciplined by the DUP and has had the whip removed after he made public a grievance with the party - said it would use the mechanism to block a change in abortion laws if it came before the Assembly.

Ms Creasy also suggested the DUP leadership was out of step with its supporters, claiming most wanted a liberalisation of Northern Ireland's abortion laws.

"The only woman currently exercising choice over abortion in Northern Ireland is Arlene Foster," she said in a tweet.

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There had been mounting pressure on the Prime Minister to intervene after the Republic's vote to repeal its abortion laws. A spokesman for Number 10 said focus was on restoring devolution.

They added: "It is important to recognise that the people of Northern Ireland are entitled to their own process which is run by elected politicians.

"Our focus is restoring a democratically accountable devolved government in Northern Ireland so that locally accountable politicians can make decisions on behalf of the public they represent."

MP Creasy claimed more than 140 parliamentarians had already signalled support for an effort to change the law in Northern Ireland.

Ms Creasy, who played a key role in Northern Irish women being able to access free NHS terminations in England, has called for the repeal of the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861, which makes it criminal for a woman to procure her own abortion.

"That would mean that in the UK every different nation could decide on how we bring in a frame work for the 21 century," she told the BBC.

"And this would include Northern Ireland because for too long we have treated women in Northern Ireland as second class citizens and that has to change.

"We know consistently people in Northern Ireland would like to see reform.. so the politicians are behind the public."

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The Prime Minister faces a political headache over the issue because of her fragile administration's dependence on the DUP.

Ms Creasy continued: "Reforming [the Offences Against the Person Act] would not force Northern Irish women to live by the same rules of other parts of the UK. But it would give an opportunity to set those rules.

"It would force the Assembly and civil servants to recognise change needs to happen."

The Walthamstow MP said she had worked with campaigners on the ground in Northern Ireland and it was "very clear" there was a need for change with the differences in the law "further highlighted" by the weekend's referendum result in the Republic.

Stopping abortion in Northern Ireland doesn't stop abortion.

"I think it is right that we ask the UK Prime Minister to listen to every citizen in the UK.

"We have been working across parliament this is genuinely not a partisan issue there is a recognition women can not have equality unless they have control over their own bodies.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close People attend a protest calling of for provision of abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images A pregnant woman holds a sign outside Belfast City Hall, during a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA A woman holds a poster of Savita Halappanava at Belfast City Hall, during a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: A pregnant woman takes part in the campaign group Solidarity with Repeal as it holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Maeve McGaughey attends a rally organised by Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal, for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Maeve McGaughey attends a rally organised by Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal, for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker / Facebook

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Whatsapp People attend a protest calling of for provision of abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

"I am very struck that as the law stands right now in Northern Ireland - if a woman is raped and sought to have a termination as a result of that rape she would face a longer prison sentence than her attacker. I don't think that in 2018 anyone would think that a sustainable position."

'Don't listen to the liberals and the left-wingers'



A polite but firm message to Prime Minister Theresa May on the abortion debate from DUP MP Sammy Wilson. pic.twitter.com/hCtJtAk8ls  Mark Simpson (@BBCMarkSimpson) May 28, 2018

She added: "Nobody is ignoring the DUP and their views but I am very struck by the fact that the majority of DUP supporters themselves say they would like to see reform.

"It seems to me this is about Arlene Foster having a seat at the Westminster table rather than actually listening to the people of Northern Ireland and the changes they would like to see.

"Stopping abortion in Northern Ireland doesn't stop abortion - it forces women to travel oversea or seek unsafe medical procedures particularly in buying pills online.

"This is about treating women in Northern Ireland with same dignity we treat women in other parts of the UK and to making sure they are safe."

Tory MP Nadine Dorries accused Labour of "mischief making," she said: Im pro-choice but this is a devolved matter and Labour know that.

Theyre just mischief making in the hope it weakens the Prime Minister.

DUP leader Arlene Foster said the referendum result in the Republic would have no bearing in Northern Ireland, while MP Sammy Wilson said the matter was solely for the people of Northern Ireland.

"My message for the Prime Minister," he said, "just because there are siren voices from the liberals and the left wing at Westminster, she should not bow to that".

The DUP was approached for a comment.
A new flags protocol for the Ormeau Road in south Belfast has been agreed ahead on this year's traditional parading season.

The protocol will ensure flags will go up in the middle of June and be taken down no later than early September.

The flags to be displayed are the Union Flag and the Northern Ireland flag, with no flags associated with paramilitary groups being allowed.

There will be no more than one flag per lamp post and there will be no flag on the lamp post nearest the entrance to the Catholic Church near Rosetta roundabout.

DUP MLA Christopher Stalford welcomed the most as a positive step.

"Having met with those behind this initiative and talked with them I am convinced that they are about the work of trying to improve community relations in the Ballynafeigh area," he said.

"It is in everyone's interests for issues around identity and culture to be addressed in a spirit of neighbourliness and respect.

"I acknowledge that this flag protocol relating to the Ormeau Road is a positive step in creating that environment in Ballynafeigh and welcome those involved for their efforts.

Expand Close Christopher Stalford is worried by the scoping exercise Kevin Scott / Belfast Telegraph / Facebook

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He added: "I hope that the terms of the protocol will be adhered to and that people can enjoy the expression of their identity in a peaceable way.

"I believe it is a good model that will hopefully expand beyond the Ormeau Road.

"I acknowledge that for some people this protocol may not go far enough but I hope that it will be seen as an attempt to address an issue that was causing concern last year."
An Armagh priest has said those who support abortion may not be able to get married in a Catholic Church. (Katie Collins/PA)

A Northern Ireland priest has told a couple who asked him to marry them that their support for abortion could lead to them not being able to get married by a Catholic priest or married in a Catholic Church.

It was revealed on BBC Radio Ulster's Nolan Show on Tuesday that Fr Damien Quigley contacted the couple via private message.

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A Nolan Show listener then contacted the show and revealed the content of the message.

Fr Damien Quigley wrote to the couple saying: "Just a heads up, that as the priest you've asked to celebrate your wedding for you, you and I would need to have a conversation about any promotion you may do to advocate for abortion in Ireland.

"Such promotion or advocacy would impact on the appropriateness of me celebrating your wedding or possibly the wedding taking place in a Catholic Church.

"I'm sure we can have a good chat over a coffee sometime."

The couple have not been named.

Host Stephen Nolan said that his show contacted Fr Quigley who confirmed that he wrote the message and said it was private and he would not be commenting any further.

Mr Nolan said that he told the priest that although it was private it wasn't private anymore and asked what was his policy.

He claimed that Fr Quigley refused to comment any further but he did issue a statement.

In a statement the priest said: "From the outset, I wish to advise you that it would not be appropriate for me to discuss details of my pastoral support to any specific individual or couple in their preparation for the sacrament of marriage," the statement read.

"However, please be advised that I have never refused to prepare any person or couple for the sacrament."

The Catholic Church released a similar statement saying: "It would not be appropriate to discuss details of a priests pastoral support to any specific individual or couple in their preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage.

"However, please be advised that Father Quigley has never refused to prepare any person or couple for the Sacrament."

Mr Nolan said it was unclear if Fr Quigley would refuse to perform the duties in the future.

The Diocese of Armagh where Fr Quigley works issued a statement to the Nolan Show saying: "The Diocese has nothing further to add to Fr Damien's statement."

The Belfast Telegraph has contacted Fr Quigley for a response to his comments.
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.
Opinion on abortion law reform remained divided on the streets of Belfast yesterday, with pro-choice activists' strident calls for change contrasting sharply with the views of some members of the public.

Among those attending the Solidarity with Repeal rally was heavily pregnant Lucile Vanlerberghe (31), who has lived here for five years and is originally from France.

"I've been fighting for five years for the decriminalisation of abortion. I want everybody to have a choice, especially as I am pregnant," said Lucile, who is expecting her baby soon.

"If you don't want an abortion, don't get one - but let people get one if they want.

"As a pregnant woman, I can put myself in the shoes of people who have to travel to abort.

"It's a torture to leave a woman who has a fatal foetal abnormality and who wants an abortion to endure nine months of pregnancy."

Belfast woman Paula Poots (42), at the rally with her daughter George (14) and son Sam (9), said that "women here should have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies".

"I don't think that human rights are something you should ever have to vote on, but I was thrilled with the result in the South," she said. "It means women here maybe won't have to get on flights any more, maybe they can visit clinics across the border.

"You would like to see a change in attitude come over the border as well. I think there is a desire in the community for it, but the political parties are stuck in their ways. A lot of the people deciding these issues aren't even women, they are men."

Maria Lourenco (44) from Angola has lived here for 10 years. She said the law here made her feel like "a slave".

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close People attend a protest calling of for provision of abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images A pregnant woman holds a sign outside Belfast City Hall, during a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA A woman holds a poster of Savita Halappanava at Belfast City Hall, during a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: A pregnant woman takes part in the campaign group Solidarity with Repeal as it holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Maeve McGaughey attends a rally organised by Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal, for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Maeve McGaughey attends a rally organised by Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal, for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker / Facebook

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Whatsapp People attend a protest calling of for provision of abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire

"The state owns my reproductive rights, I don't have the right to choose," said Maria, who is Labour NI's ethnic minorities officer.

"Depending on her visa, a migrant woman living here may not even be able to travel to England for abortion due to travel restrictions, and that is very cruel." But on nearby Royal Avenue, Portadown woman Laura Millar (25), described the Irish referendum result as "a disgrace".

"I have Christian beliefs and I believe that the Lord gives and takes life, so I don't believe that a woman has the right to end a life because the baby isn't a part of her, it's another human life from the moment of conception," she said.

"Rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality are very, very hard times in people's lives and it is very hard to come to terms with things like that, but I do believe that God is sovereign, God's in control. I would be against abortion in all circumstances."

Lisburn woman Lynsey Smyth (22) and her mum Thelma (56) said they were "fairly disappointed" at the referendum result.

"At the end of the day there are other decisions - you can put it up for adoption or foster," said Lynsey.

"You do have to think about the mother's mental health, but she could go to a social worker or a counsellor. There's a lot of support and help."
Police dealing with a sudden death in the Bogside area of Londonderry came under attack from youths throwing petrol bombs.

Police officers attended the sudden death of a woman at a house in the Rossville Street area on Monday afternoon. As they waited for undertakers and forensic teams to arrive to investigate the incident, they were attacked by youths throwing stones, bottles, masonry, paint and petrol bombs.

Up to 50 youths, many of them masked, gathered in the Fahan Street and Rossville Street areas and also erected a barrier across the bottom of the Flyover - one of the citys busiest arterial routes - and set it alight, preventing cars from passing.

Crowds of youths have thrown missiles at police and have set fire to a barricade across Roseville Street, Bogside in #Derry this evening. Wooden pallets are currently on fire in the middle of the road. Avoid the area pic.twitter.com/Mt69Pd89gW  Leona O'Neill (@LeonaONeill1) May 28, 2018

The PSNI warned the general public to avoid the area while they dealt with "an ongoing incident" and thanked people for their patience.

SDLP MLA Mark H Durkan said the actions of the youths was "completely reprehensible".

There is a family and a community in mourning, he said. They have had the worst imaginable news today and the police had to investigate that and they have come under attack, which is completely reprehensible behaviour.

I believe that a friend of the family went to speak to the young people who were attacking the police and the rioting stopped for a short time. But unfortunately it started up again shortly afterwards. The friend had tried to make them see sense, but unfortunately they dont seem to have any, nor sensitivity.

There needs to be more parental responsibility. People need to inform and educate their children that this is not only wrong but extremely dangerous activity to being engaging in. They could hurt themselves and end up with a criminal record.
James Henry Babington and his wife Maura in 1989, the year he was murdered by the IRA in Belfast

The widow of an IRA murder victim has said she feels "greatly let down" as his case has not been given the same focus as that of a German backpacker killed in Co Antrim 30 years ago.

James Henry Babington (52) was shot dead by the IRA on the Cavehill Road in north Belfast as he walked to work on October 4, 1989.

At the time the IRA claimed it was a case of mistaken identity.

In April the previous year, German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser (18) was found murdered in Ballypatrick Forest.

A major public appeal was launched on the 30th anniversary of Ms Hauser's death and police recently arrested two men in connection with the case.

Mr Babington's widow Maura, now aged 84, has wished the Hauser family every success, but said her husband deserves the same level of attention by the authorities.

"He was not a member or connected to any terrorist organisation, nor was he or had he been a member of the security forces," she said.

"No one has ever been charged or prosecuted in relation to the murder, the allegation being that it was mistaken identity."

Noting the recent publicity for the Hauser murder, she said: "Our family fully support the commitment, resources and measures that have been put in place to apprehend the persons responsible for this terrible murder, and would want nothing more than to see justice for the Hauser family.

"We know only too well the pain that family has gone through, having ourselves lost a loved one, and we understand that their hurt is compounded by the fact that those responsible have not been brought to justice."

Despite this, Mrs Babington said her family feels "greatly let down" by the fact that similar efforts and resources have not been used to bring her husband's killers to justice.

"The 30th anniversary of his murder will take place in October 2019. I am getting no younger, I am now 84 years of age," she said.

"My husband, just like so many others over the years of the years of the terrorist campaign, was brutally murdered.

"His life had value and we continue to insist that there remains value in pursuing justice against those responsible in his case and that of so many others.

"Peace is not merely the absence of terrorism, but the presence of justice."

Her son Marcus Babington has backed his mother's plea. "I feel that murders committed during the Troubles are being put into this legacy box," he said. "But my father wasn't killed in some war - to the letter of the law he was murdered. He wasn't a member of any organisation so we should have the same rights as any other family." He continued: "I expect the authorities not to sit and wait for someone to knock their door and volunteer information - I expect them to go out and look in the community as they did for the Hauser murder.

"They do this for other non-political murders but not for us. They don't want to upset the political apple cart but they shouldn't be political. But these aren't stolen cars or burnt out wheelie bins, they absolutely have a responsibility to go after the people who did it."
The outgoing leader of Ireland's Presbyterians has said that he is "greatly heartened by the Church that is responding to the pressures and challenges throughout Ireland".

The Rt Reverend Noble McNeely will step down as Moderator on Monday at the Opening Night of the Presbyterian General Assembly. He will be succeeded by the Moderator-elect the Reverend Charles McMullen, from West Church in Bangor.

During his year in office, Dr McNeely spent 12 days in Zambia visiting Church-related projects, and he also attended the Reformation commemorations in Cairo hosted by the Protestant Churches in Egypt, at a time of attacks by Islamic militants.

He said it was important to show solidarity with Christians in the Middle East "who have suffered violence, death and general persecution on a scale that has not been witnessed in many years".

Dr McNeely and his wife also attended the anniversary commemoration of the La Mon bombing, as well as visiting the Bessbrook memorial to the victims of the Kingsmill massacre.

During a visit to Thiepval Barracks he found the name of a Boys' Brigade friend, Corporal Trelford Withers, who had been the last Royal Irish Regiment soldier to be killed before the 1994 ceasefire.

He said: "Seeing Trelford's name on an illuminated page, being at the La Mon Commemoration and visiting the memorial to the victims of the Kingsmill massacre, and experiencing the emotion and just some of the pain and loss, brought to mind the importance of the whole issue of legacy and of getting to grips with our troubled past, especially for the sake of those who still live with such pain and loss."

Writing his final blog entry as Moderator, Dr McNeely stated that during his year of office he had met "many Church members, faithful Christian people just getting on with life - being good neighbours and helping one another, recognising these demands, and being prepared to try new ways to share the Gospel".

He said it was "amazing" to see such commitment and compassion, especially in the rural areas.

"We sometimes forget their struggle, or fail to see the issues that farmers face. It has been a hard year for them, but we found a people committed to the Church, their community and their faith."
A woman was punched in the face and a man left with cuts after a burglary in Dundonald.

It happened in the Drumadoon Drive area at around 3.45am on Tuesday.

Four men attempted to forced entry to a flat in the area. One of the males was armed with a hammer and a second male was armed with what is believed to have been a metal pipe.

The man and woman inside the flat prevented the attackers from gaining entry. The woman, aged in her 50s, was punched to the face during the incident and the man, aged in his 30s, sustained a cut to his head and cuts to his arms as a result of the incident.

Police are appealing for information and can be contacted on 101. Or information can be passed to the police anonymously on 0800 555 111.
A woman who aborted her baby after being told her daughter would not survive has urged DUP politicians to "walk a mile in her shoes".

Sarah Ewart, who had to leave Northern Ireland for a termination in England in 2013 in the most "traumatic" of circumstances, was responding to the DUP saying the party would use a Petition of Concern should any change in legislation on abortion be brought before a Stormont Assembly in the future.

And Sarah revealed she has written to Prime Minister Theresa May asking for her government to intervene to help women left facing her "crisis pregnancy" situation.

Sarah was forced to travel out of Northern Ireland for an abortion because of a fatal foetal abnormality. "Nobody's talking about abortion on demand," she said. I'm talking about fatal foetal abnormality. That's my experience, so don't judge me until you've walked a mile in my shoes.

"As a family we would have been ill-informed. We were probably judgemental about abortion too until this landed at our door. We heard the word abortion and not for one minute would we have thought it was for a medical reason.

"This is a very small change we need.

"Yes, it's a relief that women can now go to Dublin. But we still need the services here, in our hospitals. It's more traumatic and devastating having to travel anywhere, so having it at home is a much better situation." She continued: "I found myself, at 19 weeks, with a fatal foetal abnormality diagnosis, so my baby wasn't going to survive - there was no procedure or medication that could have been given to her so I decided that I wanted to end my pregnancy. But unfortunately nobody could help me here and that was a very scary situation.

"I have nothing to remember my daughter by. I didn't think of those things at the time - there's no information available. We need the change here. We need help. I fully support any woman who has to go through it and I totally agree that more care needs to be available. But what people need to realise is that there are people like me who don't want to suffer going through a pregnancy. They need help and they need support.

"I had a previous meeting with Mr Wells where he said the births were not difficult, that sometimes consultants got it wrong and I could have been carrying a baby that could have survived. I find that appalling.

"This is about medical care. We need to be at home, with our family around us. If it's good enough to send us away, why is it not good enough to have these procedures here?"

Sarah has fought a long legal battle to liberalise abortion law in Northern Ireland in the face of opposition from the DUP.

Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK or Ireland where the procedure is largely outlawed after the Republic voted overwhelmingly for change in the referendum at the weekend.

Sarah said: "I'm five years down the line now and I should have had this dealt with at the time, privately in hospital in Northern Ireland. Nobody should have known about this, but here I am, still getting calls from people who want this treatment and can't get it.

"Scans have moved on, we need to trust our consultants. There is a massive difference in going to a clinic wanting to lose a baby and being sent away to a clinic to lose a baby you wanted so much.

"It is so much more traumatic than it needs to be. It is devastating.

"I was offered as much support as possible in Northern Ireland, but at the end the medical professionals had their hands tied. They could not be there when I was travelling."
Michael D Higgins used the speech to stress the urgent need to move the stalled peace deal from the 'hard shoulder' (Brian Lawless/PA)

People and societies taking the risk of forgiving may be key to forging lasting reconciliation in Northern Ireland, the Irish president has said.

Michael D Higgins reflected on the challenges of forgiving as he delivered a lecture in Belfast to mark the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

Mr Higgins also used the speech at Queens University to stress the urgent need to move the stalled peace deal from the hard shoulder and intensify efforts to restore Stormont powersharing.

Peace is a proces, not an event; one that requires persistent and dedicated attention and effort.



President Higgins speaking at @QUBelfast, delivering the Harri Holkeri lecture. pic.twitter.com/CqZrEBxSOR  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) May 29, 2018

Hailing the achievement of 1998, the president described the implementation of the agreement as a work in progress.

Indeed, as Northern Ireland continues to operate without an Executive, in some respects the Agreement is work which has been stalled, he added.

It is therefore essential that we remind ourselves and reaffirm that the Good Friday Agreement, with all its imperfections and creativity, represents the best hope for all of our people, North and South.

That is why it is now important and urgent to find a way, in Dublin and London, but above all here in Northern Ireland, to move away from the hard shoulder where the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement presently finds itself and to start moving together again along our shared journey, and to do so with generosity.

In this century our island will meet challenges and words will have to turn into actions. @PresidentIRL #LoveQUB pic.twitter.com/moPMjuGfsQ  Queen's University Belfast  (@QUBelfast) May 29, 2018

Noting the terrible and heinous acts of the Troubles, Mr Higgins said he offered his approach to forgiveness with some trepidation.

Forgiveness plays a central and necessary part in reconciliation, he said.

I acknowledge that it is very easy to say that. Some are asked to pay a very high price when they are called to forgive, a great hurt that cannot be expelled from their memory, but their achievement is all the greater.

The president was delivering the sixth annual Harri Holkeri lecture  an event named in honour of the late Finnish statesman who played a role in peace process talks in Northern Ireland. It was hosted by the universitys Senator George J Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice.

President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins is live at Queens. Tune in and join the conversation. Posted by Queen's University Belfast on Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Mr Higgins highlighted Bishop Desmond Tutus belief that forgiveness had the potential to free an individual from the confines of past hurt.

If this is true for the individual, then perhaps it can also be true for societies, and this of course was at the centre of Bishop Tutus thinking in his thoughts as to how to construct a decent future for the people of South Africa following the years of brutality and atrocities, he said.

Forgiveness cannot occur without a commitment to remember, as difficult as it may be, the actions of the past. I therefore welcome the launch earlier this month of the British Governments consultation on Addressing the Legacy of Northern Irelands Past. The full implementation of the Stormont House Agreement, of which the consultation forms part, will be an important step towards on-going reconciliation in Northern Ireland.

The president also spoke on Brexit, expressing his great regret at the UKs decision to leave the EU.

Although this is a process that did not originate on our island  the majority of people in Northern Ireland did not favour the decision  it has thrown up profound and testing questions in the context of the interests, identity and aspirations on this island, he said.

I would be dishonest if I did not express great regret at the decision of the British people in 2016. However, I wish to emphasise today that irrespective of the manner in which the challenge of Brexit is resolved it will be more essential than ever in the years ahead to work to maintain the new and deep friendships which have developed between Britain and Ireland, and between North and South, in the context of both our existing shared membership of the European Union and of the Peace Process.

I want to particularly emphasise one point regarding Brexit, because it is a point which is sometimes misunderstood or misrepresented. In the Brexit negotiations the core aim of the Irish Government relating to relationships on these islands, an aim which I share, is to preserve the provisions and principles of the Good Friday Agreement.

This is not a straightforward task because the Brexit process necessarily, in some respects, unpicks what was painstakingly woven together. My point is simply to emphasise the importance of manifesting and acknowledging good faith on this sensitive question.

There is a growing recognition that we must help one another understand a past which we share, even if our perception of that past frequently, and legitimately, differs.



President Michael D. Higgins at @QUBelfast. pic.twitter.com/I5LoS1PVfR  President of Ireland (@PresidentIRL) May 29, 2018

He added: Our Peace Process, and the Good Friday Agreement, remain extraordinary examples to the world that peace can be built and that it can, with the necessary ethical intent and purpose, be sustained.

We have a responsibility to ourselves and to others to continue that effort here on this island, to sustain British-Irish relations and to continue to promote the lessons of the Peace Process: that international agreements with all their imperfections must be respected; that the most important step towards defending our own interests is to be sensitive to the interests of others; that there can be no respect of identity or aspirations which is not mutual; that complexity in international affairs

is inevitable and is to be celebrated, not disdained; and that compromise, when forged through deliberation in the public sphere, is a virtue not a vice.

Being open to imagining, achieving the ethical purpose of remembering, taking the risk of forgiving, leads to a virtuous discourse that for future generations enjoying peace together will deserve to be in time celebrated and remembered.
Voters in the Republic delivered an overwhelming Yes vote in the abortion referendum

An Irish Bishop has told Catholics who voted in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment in the Republic of Ireland that they should go to confession.

Bishop Kevin Doran said, however, that Catholics who confessed to voting Yes in the referendum would be treated with the same compassion as "any other penitent".

"What happens in the confessional of course is absolutely between the priest and the penitent," he said.

Research from exit polls on the day of the vote showed that just 12% of people had religious views as the most important factor when it came to casting their ballots.

Some 62% citied the right to choose as the most important, while voters were also strongly influenced by the stories of women who were affected by the ban on abortion.

"What I'd say to a Catholic who voted Yes is this, if you voted Yes knowing and intending that abortion would be the outcome then you should consider coming to confession," the bishop said, speaking on 'Today with Sean O'Rourke' on RTE yesterday.

"Ultimately all sin, and sin is not just related to this area, but all sin is about decisions that impact on our relationship with God." He confirmed his belief that voting Yes in the referendum to allow a woman's right to choose was a sin. "If they knew and intended abortion as the outcome, yes, I believe so."

The bishop also suggested Catholics should confess before receiving communion, though he wouldn't turn anyone away.

"I have to say quite honestly in over 40 years as a priest I have never turned anybody away from Holy Communion because the presumption is that the people who approach the altar come in good faith."

He also expressed surprise at the result of the vote and said that he was very sad about it.

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However, Passionist priest Fr Brian D'Arcy said that the language used by the bishop was the "wrong language".

Fr D'Arcy told Sarah McInerney on RTE's 'Drivetime' that voters should follow their conscience and vote conscientiously, whether it was to vote Yes or No.

"I wouldn't like to attribute sin in this matter, at all. It's the wrong language for this because this isn't an issue about Church law at all," he said.

"The language of sin is not one I would use in this, at all."

Fr D'Arcy also said a priest of the Order does not have the right to tell people how to vote, "the insult to people is quite incredible". He stated that Catholic teaching wasn't up for discussion in this issue. He said the Catholic Church has a position on abortion but nobody was asking it to change its teaching.

Fr D'Arcy, who said he was against adding the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution in 1983, said going to confession is a good thing for people to do. But he said it would be a personal decision for those who voted Yes to decide whether or not they should go for confession.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, tweeted yesterday saying he will give thanks to those who "made such a huge effort to remind us that in pregnancy we are dealing with two lives - both in need of love, respect and protection."
Donegal alone prevented a clean sweep of counties in the Republic voting Yes to repeal the Eighth Amendment.

Determined campaigners who visited every isolated inch of Ireland's most northern county combined with Donegal's conservative Catholicism to ensure that it would be the only one of the 26 counties to say No to reform of the abortion laws.

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The turnout in Donegal was 57%, lower than the national rate of 64.5%.

And when the final tally was in, its result stood apart from the rest of the country - 52% said No and 48% voted Yes.

This was reflected on the streets of Buncrana yesterday where opinion was still divided.

Dr Ann McCloskey from Cherish All The Children Equally, an organisation inspired by the Irish Proclamation, thinks the No vote in Donegal came as a result of hard work from the Save the Eighth campaign.

She said: "A bunch of very determined volunteers led by Donegal Pro-Life canvassed every part of Donegal and worked tirelessly, getting the facts about what was at stake to people.

"All people were hearing in the media were the stories of rape, incest, fatal foetal abnormalities, and were being told women were denied cancer treatment during pregnancy which is a total lie.

"We fought hard and informed people that this is about abortion on demand to 12 weeks."

Dr McCloskey continued: "The whole of the county was canvassed - in fact someone realised Fanad Head hadn't been covered so we went there on the day before the election.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close People attend a protest calling of for provision of abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images A pregnant woman holds a sign outside Belfast City Hall, during a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA A woman holds a poster of Savita Halappanava at Belfast City Hall, during a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA People attend a People Before Profit protest calling of for provision of Abortion in Northern Ireland, at Belfast City Hall. PRESS ASSOCIATION Photo. Picture date: Monday May 28, 2018. See PA story IRISH Abortion. Photo credit should read: Niall Carson/PA Wire PA BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND - MAY 28: A pregnant woman takes part in the campaign group Solidarity with Repeal as it holds a rally calling for abortion rights outside Belfast City Hall on May 28, 2018 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The rally follows the Irish referendum result at the weekend which saw a landslide victory for the Yes campaign which sought the amendment of legislation laws regarding abortion rights in the south. Women in Northern Ireland have to travel to England, Scotland or Wales to have an abortion and can still be prosecuted under the existing laws should they buy abortion pills on the internet. (Photo by Charles McQuillan/Getty Images) Getty Images Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Maeve McGaughey attends a rally organised by Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal, for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Maeve McGaughey attends a rally organised by Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal, for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker Pacemaker Press 28/05/2018 Campaign group Solidarity with Repeal hold a rally for abortion rights in Northern Ireland at Belfast City Hall on Monday. The Republic of Ireland overwhelmingly voted to overturn the country's abortion ban in a landmark referendum on Friday. Pic Colm Lenaghan/Pacemaker / Facebook

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"I do think there could also be an element of Donegal people not kowtowing to Dublin because they have a history of voting against the government in a referendum, because they have been so badly neglected by the Irish government for so long now."

Cathie Shiels from Together for Yes also thinks Donegal's No vote came as a result of a successful pro-life campaign. She said: "We had very much the same campaign as the people in Clare and Mayo.

"Obviously Donegal voted No but it was very tight.

"I think Donegal Pro-Life, a group that has been around for quite a while, are very efficient.

"This group had ads running in the nine local newspapers since January so we were up against a machine.

"Donegal has one of the highest Mass-going populations of any county in Ireland and I think that was a factor too.

"People had a lot of concerns and it was hard to address them. There were a lot of posters up and they were designed to play on people's emotion. I wish they hadn't won but they did a grand job and that was disappointing.

"Obviously the overall outcome was to repeal and that is the main thing."

People not directly involved in the campaign are now waiting to see the changes the referendum result will bring.

Joleen Brannigan voted No and was disappointed with the final outcome.

She said: "I voted No so obviously I was pleased that the majority of people in my county did the same. But at the end of the day the overall vote wasn't No so that was disappointing.

"What concerned me was the lies being told and people didn't know what it was they were voting on which was the problem.

"I spent a lot of time to find out exactly what was at stake, and I listened to both sides, but I think abortion for disabled children up to six months and abortion on demand for 12 weeks is not acceptable."

Eugene McDonnell voted Yes.

"This is for the young people, for a woman's chance to turn around and say 'give us what we want' rather than go overseas.

"The next step I think should be if there is a Yes vote for Northern Ireland too. I wasn't disappointed that Donegal voted No but I was disappointed this wasn't a 32-county vote," he said.

Christine O'Kane wasn't at home in Donegal to vote but she wasn't surprised by the outcome. She said: "I am not for abortion per se, but for those cases where people are in a crisis pregnancy or in cases of rape or incest it's not for me to dictate to those people what they should do.

"If we had left things the way they were, it doesn't allow for those hard cases, but if you ask me if I believe in free abortions, then I wouldn't say I do.

"I was surprised by the outcome, I didn't think it would be such a wide margin but at least with a Yes vote things change."

Seamus Campbell didn't vote because he didn't feel it was a man's issue. He explained: "I'm not the one who is going to be having babies so it isn't going to apply to me. I didn't vote but I think it was a good result."

Mary Doherty voted No but had a fair idea ahead of the final tally that most people would not have shared her views.

She said: "Too many people don't want to take their responsibilities seriously these days. They want the cake and eat it.

"Abortion will allow them to have fun and games and not take responsibility for their actions.

"I worry about the parents of disabled babies who will be put under extreme pressure to have an abortion because they cost the government more - they are no better than Hitler."

Patrick Crossan didn't vote but thought the overall outcome was the right one. He commented: "I wasn't surprised Donegal voted No but I can't explain the reasons for that - maybe it's because there are more older people here or maybe there are more practising Catholics here.

"But we are just one county so it won't make any difference to what happens after this."
IFC and NRB launch guidelines for BFIs

International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, has extended support to Nepal Rastra Bank (NRB), the central monetary authority of Nepal, in developing the countrys first Environmental and Social Risk Management (ESRM) guidelines for the financial sector.
A former British champion boxer railed against Starbucks, Coca-Cola and McDonalds as he called for attacks on the West on YouTube, a court has heard.

Muslim convert Anthony Small, 36, is accused of encouraging terrorism in a seven-and-a-half-minute video published on his account on September 12 2016.

On his YouTube channel, Small described himself as a former professional champion boxer who now works to take mankind out of the oppression of democracy and liberating themselves with Islam/Sharia.

In his Eid message, the defendant began by talking about the influence of America and Israel in the world.

May we see the day when the Muwahideen then go on to conquer the White House all the way in America and 10 Downing StreetYouTube message by Anthony Small

He spoke of military and commercial influence through McDonalds and Cola Cola signs and former aerospace manufacturer McDonnell Douglas.

He said the choice was to either accept the flame-grilled burger or we are going to flame grill you from the sky.

He talked of pilgrims to Mecca being faced with commercialisation by McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Starbucks and the Hilton hotel chain.

He said it was an indication that America and their puppet masters, the Israelis, are in control of them tyrant, sellout, apostate Saudi leaders.

Calling for their removal, he said: What is great in number, three million Muslims in one place. Forget Occupy Wall Street, Occupy St Pauls Cathedral or any of the Arab uprisings.

Three million Muslims saying we are going nowhere until these tyrant, apostate rulers are removed along with their Starbucks and their McDonalds, the Hilton hotel as well.

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The defendant spoke about liberating the third holiest mosque, adding: Not only that, may we see the day when the Muwahideen then go on to conquer the White House all the way in America and 10 Downing Street.

He concluded: I am not calling for you to boycott Starbucks or McDonalds, instead buy Israeli-made Desert Eagles (a type of gun) cock them back and let them go in the sons of monkeys peoples.

In matter of fact, hijack an American-made Humvee and stick a black flag over the USA eagle.

Small, of south-east London, ended with a disclaimer saying he was in no way, shape or form calling for violence or terrorism in what he described as a little light-hearted poetry.

But opening his Old Bailey trial, prosecutor Karen Robinson told jurors the defendant knew the meaning of his carefully chosen words.

She said: The prosecution case is that in September 2016, the defendant published to his own YouTube channel a video, accessible to anyone with access to the internet, in which he spoke to camera and implored Muslims to take violent action against the West.

The former British and Commonwealth champion, who also found fame in the 2016 BBC Two programme Muslims Like Us, denies encouraging terrorism.
Labour has told Prime Minister Theresa May to prove her feminist credentials by reforming Northern Ireland's strict abortion laws.

Mrs May had already faced calls from MPs across the Commons - including within her own Cabinet - to resolve the "anomalous" situation in Northern Ireland following the overwhelming referendum result in the Republic in favour of liberalisation.

Labour said it was now "looking at legislative options" to see how that could be achieved by Westminster.

The party's shadow attorney general Baroness Chakrabarti said reform was a matter of fundamental human rights.

Shami Chakrabarti told the BBC: "We are calling on Mrs May, a self-identifying feminist, to negotiate with the parties in Northern Ireland and then to legislate without further delay. You can't have democracy without fundamental human rights. And the women of Northern Ireland have suffered for long enough.

"I think that Theresa May, really as a self-identifying feminist, needs to say 'yes, I unveil statues of suffragists in Parliament Square, but the test of my feminism will be whether I guarantee fundamental human rights for women'.

"These women in Northern Ireland, often very vulnerable, being forced to leave their homes, and their loved ones, and their country, to get this kind of treatment, that really has gone on for long enough.

"And the result in the Republic just makes the situation even more anomalous now."

Labour MP Stella Creasy claimed more than 140 parliamentarians had already signalled support for an effort to change the law here, and called on Mrs May to "say you will give a free vote on 21st-century abortion laws".

Ms Creasy, who played a key role in Northern Irish women now being able to access free NHS terminations in England, said she was "calling for the repeal of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which is what makes it criminal for a woman to procure her own abortion".

She said a woman who was raped in Northern Ireland and who sought an abortion could face a longer prison sentence than her attacker. The Walthamstow MP added: "Stopping abortion in Northern Ireland doesn't stop abortion, it forces women in NI to travel overseas or seek unsafe medical procedures, particularly buying pills online.

"This is about treating women in Northern Ireland with the same dignity as women in other parts of the United Kingdom."

But the Prime Minister faces a political headache over the issue because her fragile administration depends on the support of the 10 DUP MPs - who strongly oppose any reform to Northern Ireland's strict laws.

Downing Street believes that any reform in Northern Ireland "is an issue for Northern Ireland", a source said, adding "it shows one of the important reasons we need a functioning executive back up and running".

In a post on Twitter, Mrs May said the vote in the Irish Republic was "an impressive show of democracy which delivered a clear and unambiguous result".

She added: "I congratulate the Irish people on their decision and all of #Together4Yes on their successful campaign."

But DUP leader Arlene Foster said: "The legislation governing abortion is a devolved matter and it is for the Northern Ireland Assembly to debate and decide such issues.

"Some of those who wish to circumvent the Assembly's role may be doing so simply to avoid its decision.

"The DUP is a pro-life party and we will continue to articulate our position. It is an extremely sensitive issue and not one that should have people taking to the streets in celebration."
Diplomacy levels have accelerated ahead of a potential summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

A team of American diplomats involved in preparatory discussions left a Seoul hotel, possibly to continue talks with their North Korean counterparts.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency reported that senior North Korean official Kim Yong Chol planned to head to the United States, potentially for more talks to set up the summit over the future of North Koreas nuclear weapons programme.

He would be the most senior North Korean official to visit the United States in 18 years.

The trip could be a reciprocal visit after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo travelled to Pyongyang, North Koreas capital, twice in recent weeks for meetings with Kim Jong Un, after which he said there was a shared understanding between the two sides about what they hope to achieve in the summit.

It remains unclear whom Kim Yong Chol would meet in the United States if he goes.

South Korean media also reported that a North Korean delegation arrived in Singapore on Monday night for probable summit preparations with US officials.

Seoul did not confirm reports that the North Korean officials were headed by Kim Chang Son, Kim Jong Uns close associate, and that his American counterpart would likely be White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Washington and Pyongyang were engaging in working-level talks to arrange the possible summit, but said it could not confirm specifics.

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Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk also did not say whether Seoul knew of any US plans regarding Kim Yong Chols possible visit, such as whether he and Mr Pompeo have plans to meet.

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling partys central committee tasked with inter-Korean relations.

A visit to the United States would be the highest-level North Korean official visit since 2000, when late national defence commission first vice chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Koreas Unification Ministry said.

Stay focused. It's about the outcome. It's about keeping Americans and the world safe. #NorthKorea  Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) May 26, 2018

President Trump withdrew from a planned June 12 summit with Kim Jong Un last Thursday, citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting in Singapore could still happen.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between President Trump and Mr Kim, met with the North Korean leader in a surprise meeting on Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

In their second meeting in a month, Mr Moon said Mr Kim expressed willingness to co-operate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with President Trump.

But Mr Kim also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States over its promise to end hostile policies against North Korea and provide security assurances if the country does abandon its nuclear weapons, according to Mr Moon.
A gunman killed two police officers and a passer-by before being himself shot dead in the centre of the eastern Belgian city of Liege, public broadcaster RTBF said on its website.

Belgium's anti-terrorist crisis centre was monitoring the situation, Interior Minister Jan Jambon said on Twitter. It was unclear, however, what lay behind the incident in which the man had also taken a woman hostage, according to RTBF.

Two other police officers had been injured, Belga news agency said. A spokeswoman for the Liege public prosecutors office confirmed that two police officers had been shot dead and the gunman "neutralised" but could not confirm other details.

Images on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Liege's central boulevard d'Avroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background. One video showed two police in body armour moving into position.

Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region, was also the scene of a shooting in 2011, when a gunman killed four people and wounded over 100 before turning the gun on himself.

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.
Arkady Babchenko, 41, who had been scathingly critical of the Kremlin in recent years, has been shot dead (AP)

A Russian journalist who had been highly critical of the Kremlin has been shot dead in the Ukrainian capital, with police saying he was targeted because of his work.

Arkady Babchenko died on the way to hospital after his wife found him bleeding at their apartment building in Kiev.

Police said the 41-year-old died of multiple gunshots wounds to his back.

Expand Close The 41-year-old left Russia last year (AP) AP/PA Images / Facebook

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Kiev Police chief Andriy Krishchenko said in televised comments that Mr Babchenckos professional activities were a factor.

Harlem Desir, the media freedom representative at the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said he was horrified by Mr Babchenkos death.

I call on Ukraine authorities to conduct immediate & full investigation, he tweeted.

The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York said on Twitter that Ukrainian authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into Mr Babchenkos murder.

The 41-year-old was scathingly critical of the Kremlins policies, assailing Moscows annexation of Crimea, its support for separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine and the Russian campaign in Syria.

Horrified by report that well-known Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko was shot and killed in his home in #Kyiv. I call on #Ukraine authorities to conduct immediate & full investigation. My thoughts are with journalists family.  OSCE media freedom (@OSCE_RFoM) May 29, 2018

Ukrainian and Russian officials immediately traded finger-pointing over his death.

Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian MP who serves as an adviser to the interior minister, said on Facebook that investigators would be looking at Russian spy agencies efforts to get rid of those who are trying to tell the truth about what is going on in Russia and Ukraine.

Mr Gerashchenko said Mr Babchenkos killer was waiting for him on the staircase inside the journalists building and shot him in the back as he was going out to buy bread.

In Moscow, officials and MPs criticised Ukrainian authorities for their alleged failure to protect journalists.

Ukraine is becoming the most dangerous country for reporters, Yevgeny Revenko said in remarks carried by the state RIA Novosti news agency. The Ukrainian government cant guarantee basic freedoms.

Another renowned journalist, Pavel Sheremet, a native of Belarus who had worked for Russian media outlets in the past, was killed in a car bombing in central Kiev in July 2016. The case has remained unsolved.

In March 2017, renegade Russian MP Denis Voronenkov was shot and killed at the entrance of an upscale hotel in Kiev. Ukrainian prosecutors alleged that Mr Voronenkov, who had toed the Kremlin line while serving as a Russian MP but turned into a Kremlin critic after his 2016 move to Ukraine, was killed on orders from a Russian crime lord.

Mr Babchenko served in the Russian army and fought during the first separatist war in Chechnya during the 1990s. He later became a journalist and worked as a military correspondent for several Russian media outlets. He also published several books based on his wartime experiences.

Some of his articles and posts outraged many Russians. In one, he said he felt no regret about the deaths of Russian army choir members and others from a December 2016 plane crash as they were heading to perform before Russian troops in Syria. Some even called for stripping Mr Babchenko of his Russian citizenship.

Mr Babchenko left Russia in February 2017, saying he was receiving threats and concerned he might be jailed.

He moved to Kiev last autumn, where he worked as a host for the Crimean Tatar TV station, ATR.
President Donald Trump participates in a wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider (Evan Vucci/AP)

US President Donald Trump said he had come to the sacred soil of Arlington National Cemetery on Memorial Day to honour the lives and deeds of Americas greatest heroes.

An audience of Cabinet members, military leaders, veterans, families of the fallen and others gathered on Tuesday in the marble amphitheater near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Mr Trump said all Americans strive to be worthy of the sacrifice they made on behalf of a thankful nation.

He marked his second Memorial Day as commander in chief by laying a wreath at the tomb.

Before heading to the hallowed grounds across the Potomac River from the nations capital, Mr Trump tweeted that those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today.

In the tweet, the president veered from the somber to self-congratulatory, citing what he said was the Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!

He was criticised for his tone by a number of people, including the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Obama administration, former Army General Martin Dempsey, who tweeted, This day, of all days of the year, should not be about any one of us.

At Arlington, Mr Trump said the heroes who died for America rest in these hallowed fields, in cemeteries, battlefields and burial grounds near and far, and are drawn from the full tapestry of American life.

He said they came from every generation, from towering cities and wind-swept prairies, from privilege and from poverty. They were generals and privates, captains and corporals of every race, color and of every creed, but they were all brothers and sisters in arms. And they were all united then, as they are united now, forever, by their undying love of our great country.

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General Joseph Dunford, the current chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, honoured the more than a million Americans he said gave their last full measure so we could live in freedom and raise our children in peace.He also honoured the families they left behind and for whom every day is Memorial Day.

Those who fought and died for America, he said, shared a commitment to something greater than themselves and they were people who understand what we have in this country is worth fighting for.

Those who attended the Memorial Day tribute included Mr Trumps chief of staff, John Kelly, whose son, Marine 2nd Lieutenant Robert M. Kelly, was killed in November 2010 after he stepped on a land mine while on patrol in southern Afghanistan.

He is buried at Arlington.
Ireland is still the same country today as it was before, just a little more tolerant, open and respectful," Leo Varadkar said outside Dublin Castle on Saturday, where thousands of people chanting "Yes" gathered to celebrate.

Ireland is still the same country today as it was before, just a little more tolerant, open and respectful," Leo Varadkar said outside Dublin Castle on Saturday, where thousands of people chanting "Yes" gathered to celebrate. I'd love to rephrase that: "Ireland has more authoritarian bigots who think they're liberals than it did before."

Repealing the eighth amendment to the Irish constitution was, essentially, a victory over the Catholic Church. Feminists, non-partisans and politicians hugged each other, crying "we made it" as they shattered the illusion that the Church was their moral arbiter.

It would be great if it wasn't so righteous. All I can see is a country that isn't that different than it was before, because, ultimately, Irish people are sheep who will do anything to impress global outsiders.

One of the great paradigms of propaganda is bandwagon mentality, which was evident outside Dublin Castle on Saturday. But I don't want to rain all over their repeal parade.

I'm happy for the tireless campaigners who have been fighting for women's rights for decades and for women who no longer have to travel to the UK for abortions when their babies suffer from fatal foetal abnormality. I'm happy victims of rape, incest, or domestic violence can have abortions at home.

But will I jump up and down like a fool singing Tracy Chapman's Talkin' Bout a Revolution amid cars beeping down on South William Street in Dublin's enclave of the absolutist Left and the blue haircut? Absolutely not.

I can't bring myself to celebrate abortions. I know, what a weirdo. Anyway, the No side, who make up one-third of the electorate, has been gracious in defeat. Many expressed sadness that they couldn't do more for the unborn. For many repealers, unfortunately, it's been a disgusting gloat-fest.

This was not an easy campaign to get behind. Many of us spent years deliberating, ruminating, going back and forth. It was like Sophie's Choice. I'm pro-life, but I really don't like telling people how to live their lives. The No side voted out of conscience against the introduction of the death penalty to the unborn. Yes voters voted for women to have autonomy over their bodies.

The dichotomy was palpable. But how can you be 100% for one or the other? It's not that women haven't suffered under the eighth amendment - there are heartbreaking stories on both sides. I have two cousins who were both told their babies would have Down's Syndrome and doctors suggested they abort. Both kept their children. Both were fine.

In this age of idealistic social media obsession and positivity memes, the lack of compassion - especially from female journalists - was unnerving. Nell McCafferty was one of the few who displayed some empathy towards the embryo. That's not to say the No side didn't make mistakes. The posters were too much and the fact that many campaigners were Catholic worked against them.

But, then again, as we officially release ourselves from the shackles of the Church in front of a global audience, it's easy to forget how Irish people let priests control their lives. Mothers were complicit, not afraid to take the priest's word over that of their own child, spoiling their sons over their daughters. But, yeah, in hindsight, let's blame the Church and bang on about how awful old Ireland was.

I sometimes forget I grew up here, too. I'm not Catholic and I never went to a convent school, which is good because I was allowed to think for myself, but like many others I'm not downtrodden, abused and enslaved. From my recollection, the 1980s and 1990s were amazing in Ireland. It's important we remember that, just because women who came before us suffered, doesn't mean we can collectively ride on their coat-tails of victimhood. If you haven't been oppressed, don't make out you're oppressed. The women crying outside Dublin Castle in repeal jumpers probably haven't been to the Magdalene laundries, or even had an abortion, so why are they carrying the burden? Victim culture is dangerous for the individual and for society.

But not to worry, we're a great little country, open and modern - at least CNN and other global media outlets think so. And we're amazing at selling ourselves, even to each other.

"Under the eighth amendment, women in crisis have been told you are on your own. Today, we say that we want to stand with you," health minister Simon Harris said, after being egged on by the crowd who were donning "we fancy Simon Harris" posters. Momentum is great for governments. In the ecstatic trance of a Yes vote, people were saying things like, "I trust our government to legislate on this properly".

Forgetful much? What about the cover-up surrounding the cervical smear scandal, endemic corruption, domestic abuse, murder and the fact that women are less safe in Ireland than ever before, out-of-control homelessness, static housing, obscene rents, vulture capitalism, inequitable taxation, gangland crime, expensive childcare, soaring suicide rates, mental health, corporate largesse ... The list goes on.

Sure, once the repealers have stopped trolling pro-lifers online in a virtuous trance and thrown their repeal jumpers in the back of their wardrobes, maybe they'll see that, too. Once the smoke and mirrors are gone, life in Ireland has never been more people-unfriendly.

Trailblazer Ailbhe Smyth said "equality and justice and freedom for people" exists now that women can have abortions. But what if we can't afford to live here? Or afford abortions? With that in mind, let's make our next battle about something that really affects us all, like the rental crisis, and we'll see how much political engagement we get.
They haven't gone away you know. Those infamous words of former Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams still ring true - but not about the men of violence and those who directed them, rather the bereaved and survivors of the conflict in Northern Ireland

They haven't gone away you know. Those infamous words of former Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams still ring true - but not about the men of violence and those who directed them, rather the bereaved and survivors of the conflict in Northern Ireland.

They may not speak with one voice. Some want those who killed their relatives or inflicted injuries on survivors prosecuted; others simply want to know the facts behind the attacks and some want to continue to grieve in silence.

But however they want to proceed, every bereaved relative or survivor has an equally valid viewpoint and each can validly feel they have been shortchanged in dealing with the legacy of the Troubles.

Take the case we highlight today of Mrs Maura Babington whose husband was shot dead in north Belfast in 1989 by the IRA in an apparent case of mistaken identity.

She wonders why this murder almost 30 years ago was not investigated with the same vigour by police as was the case of German backpacker Inga Maria Hauser. Two men were questioned last week about that killing before being released on police bail, but police insist that the investigation remains live and the intent is to bring the teenage girl's murderer to justice. Mrs Babington has no evidence to suggest that her husband's death remains a priority for the police, or is even on their radar.

Chief Constable George Hamilton compellingly insists he does not have the resources to police the past and the present.

But everyone with an interest in the legacy of the Troubles - our absentee MLAs, the UK government, police and army - should read the words of Mrs Babington. She says: "Peace is not merely the absence of terrorism but the presence of justice."

That concept should over-ride all other considerations. There are many reasons why killings and maimings have not been solved and the perpetrators jailed - the reluctance of witnesses to come forward in terrorist incidents; the lack of evidence or even the loss of evidence over time and the ability of terrorists to withstand interrogation.

But like Mrs Babington and former soldier Patrick Provis who lost part of an arm, nearly all of the other hand and was peppered with shrapnel in an IRA mortar bomb attack on his first tour of duty here in 1987 the bereaved and survivors want evidence that the files are not closed on their grief and pain.
In pictures: Republic Day celebration in Tundikhel

President Bidya Devi Bhandari took part in a ceremony held to mark the Republic Day 2075 at the Nepal Army Pavilion, Tundikhel, on Tuesday.
Malaysias new government says it wants to renegotiate terms for a China-backed multibillion-dollar rail link project and has scrapped a planned high-speed rail link to Singapore, citing huge costs and a lack of return on investment.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who pulled off a stunning electoral victory this month, said his governments decision to cancel plans to build a bullet-train line between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore was final.

It's not beneficial, Mahathir, 92, told reporters Monday. It's going to cost us a huge sum of money, we'll make no money at all from this operation.

And, in a weekend interview, Mahathir said his government would renegotiate terms of a $14 billion East Coast Rail Link (ECRL)  one of the signature projects of his predecessor, former Prime Najib Razak  which would span 688 km (430 miles) and connect the South China Sea at the Thai border in the east with strategic shipping routes of the Straits of Malacca in the west.

Those moves, he said, would cut about a fifth of Malaysias national debt and liabilities.

We are renegotiating the terms, Mahathir told the business and investment weekly The Edge, explaining that doing away with mega projects could reduce the countrys national debts by $50 billion. The terms are very damaging to our economy.

The countrys new leader made the twin moves days after the new finance minister, Lim Guan Eng, said Kuala Lumpurs liabilities had ballooned to 1 trillion ringgit (U.S. $251.7 billion), or more than 80 percent of the nations Gross Domestic Product.

Najibs former economics minister, Rahman Dahlan, on Tuesday slammed Mahathirs decision to discard the bullet-train project, known as High Speed Rail (HSR), as short-sighted, saying it would deny the country of 209 billion ringgit (U.S. $50 billion) in gross national income and the opportunity to generate some 70,000 jobs.

It is too simplistic for the prime minister to say that the project would not be beneficial because its going to cost our country a huge sum of money and it will make no money at all from the operation, Rahman said in a statement.

Rahman quoted a Japanese-funded study showing that the bullet-train line would have delivered an annual 4 billion ringgit (U.S. $1 billion) economic gain for Malaysia.



He also questioned the 110 billion ringgit (U.S. $27.7 billion) figure cited by the prime minister for the project, arguing that it greatly differed from the 50 billion (U.S. $12.6 billion) to 70 billion ringgit (U.S. $17.7 billion) cost that the governments of Singapore and Malaysia had estimated in early 2018.

Responding to Rahmans statement, Mahathir said the former minister should back up his statement with facts.



Show me the proof. Do not just say it, said Mahathir told reporters Tuesday night after performing prayers with officers at the Federal police headquarters.

Mahathir said Singapore would soon be formally informed of his decision about the 350-km (218-mile) bullet-train line, which was expected to slash travel time to 90 minutes from the current the five or more hours by road.

The project, signed on Dec. 13, 2016, was aimed at providing an alternative to the Singapore-Kuala Lumpur air route, which recorded 30,537 flights between the two cities in 2017, making it the worlds busiest, according to the World Economic Forum.

With such large yearly passenger numbers, there would have been a strong case for the financial viability for the project, Rahman said.

He said the train stations in between that were relatively less developed than Kuala Lumpur or Singapore would stand to gain from development, mimicking the economic advantages experienced by smaller towns in Taiwan and Japan when the two countries built bullet-train lines.

In an interview with the Financial Times on Monday, Mahathir said that the move was necessary to avoid being declared bankrupt.

We need to do away with some of the unnecessary projects, for example the high-speed rail, which is going to cost us 110 billion ringgit (US$28 billion) and will not earn us a single cent. That will be dropped, Mahathir said. .

Mahathirs decision would impact construction companies from Japan, South Korea, Europe and China that have expressed interest in bidding for the project, which was targeted to begin operating in 2026.

Anthony Dass, chief economist at AmBank, told BenarNews he agreed with the government's decision to scrap the project.

How long would it take for this project to break even? he said in a phone interview. I think it will take a long term. And this had yet to take in other costs, such as maintenance.
Packets of methamphetamine valued at U.S. $17.8 million are displayed at the Royal Malaysian Customs office in Negeri Sembilan, May 28, 2018

Updated at 3:10 p.m. ET on 2018-05-29

Malaysian authorities said they seized more than a ton of methamphetamine disguised as food and arrested six people, including a store director, following a raid at a supermarket in Selangor state, south of Kuala Lumpur.

The methamphetamine, broken up into 1,187 packets wrapped in gold paper and each weighing a kilo, was valued at more than 71 million ringgit (U.S. $17.8 million), police said. The size of the haul, which equaled 2,617 pounds, was the largest ever in Malaysia for crystal meth in terms of amount and value, officials said.

The packets apparently were smuggled into the country from Yangon, Myanmar through Port Klang, 27 miles (43.4 km) west of central Kuala Lumpur, according to officials who conducted the raid last week and announced the bust on Monday.

Police also confiscated 750 grams of heroin valued at 120,000 ringgit ($30,000), according to Bernama, the state-run news agency.

Investigators arrested five men between the ages of 22 and 48, Customs Director General Subromaniam Tholasy told reporters.



The five suspects comprised three from Myanmar and two local men who had just received the container, Subromaniam said.

After interrogating the suspects, police arrested the supermarket director, a 31-year-old woman, that same day. Those arrested could face the death penalty, if convicted.

In addition, police confiscated more than 1 million cigarettes and 2.5 metric tons of tobacco along with 1.3 metric tons of undeclared medicines.

Investigators believe the drugs were to be distributed in Malaysia.

Drugs are often transported into a targeted area or country through shipments hidden in food cans, exported coffee bags or even food such as pickles and fruits, according to Suhana Ismail and Norhaya Jaafar, both with the narcotics section of the Department of Chemistry Malaysia.

Very often, the drug products were seized by the authorities but the responsible people for the crime often escape except the packers, the two said in a report published in the Malaysian Journal of Forensic Sciences in 2015.

Methamphetamine production increases

Last week, as it hosted a regional drug policy conference in Myanmar, the United Nations warned that methamphetamine production and trafficking in Southeast Asia was rising at alarming levels.

Asias Mekong region of Cambodia, China, Lao, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam was notorious for production of opium and heroin, but has undergone significant transformation in recent years. The U.N. reported that gangs had increased production of low-grade yaba methamphetamine and high purity crystal methamphetamine to alarming levels.

What weve seen is steady, year-on-year increases, but on top of that in the last couple years, weve seen huge cases  where you see a ton of methamphetamine at a time. And theyre being traced back to the same areas in the north of this country (Myanmar), said Jeremy Douglas, the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) representative for Southeast Asia, according to CNN.

Meanwhile, despite Malaysias tough drug trafficking law, the country remains a transit point for drugs, especially methamphetamine to Brunei Darussalam, New Zealand and Singapore, as reported by UNODC.

Speaking to BenarNews, criminologist Geshina Mat Saat attributed the prevalence of drug trafficking in the region to profit.



The amount of benefits has been weighed as to being more, compared to the probability and risk of capture, she said.



Aside from economic factors, Geshina said, Malaysias geographical position comes into play in making the country a profitable transit hub for drug traffickers.

Malaysia also has coastlines with dense mangroves and trees that grow right at the waters edge making water-to-land transfers difficult to be seen or traced, she said.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighters provide security during a civic organizations visit in Tangkal, a predominantly Muslim town in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Norte, May 28, 2018

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is expected to sign by July a law that would create an expanded Muslim autonomous region in the south, four years after the government and the largest Muslim rebel group approved a peace deal, officials said Tuesday.

Senate and House leaders likely will pass their own versions of the Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL) before Congress adjourns for a break next week, Duterte spokesman Harry Roque said.

The commitment is for both Houses to pass it and to reconcile whatever versions they may have, so that it can be enacted into law at the soonest time possible, Roque told reporters, according to transcripts released by the presidential palace.

Now of course, we would like to see the BBL enacted before Congress goes into a recess in June. But the promise is that they would do everything that is humanly possible to pass the BBL, he said.

Duterte met with leaders of both houses Monday and has certified the separate bills urgent, which means congressional leaders would have to work overtime to iron out their differences, according to Roque.

After much deliberation, the president has decided to make the House and Senate versions of the BBL as urgent and a copy of it is on its way to both Houses of Congress, Roque said. Once both chambers have reconciled and finalized the version, the president will sign the Bangsamoro Basic Law.

House Majority Leader Rudy Farinas said both the Senate and House have a week to pass a consolidated version. A bicameral conference committee would then meet during the congressional break to resolve the differences on the bill in time for July 23, when Duterte is expected to give his annual State of the Nation Address.

The BBL outlines the basic structure of a proposed autonomy in the mineral-rich but strife-torn southern island of Mindanao. It was the product of a 2014 peace agreement signed by the government of then-President Benigno Aquino III and the 12,000-member Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), which had also agreed to disarm in phases.

But the proposed law never passed through the congress dominated largely by Christians who are fearful that giving the MILF autonomy and power could lead to trouble.

A clash between MILF guerrillas and members of a police commando unit in January 2015 when 44 officers were killed as they were hunting down a wanted Malaysian terrorist bolstered apprehension among lawmakers.

But Duterte has a super majority in Congress and he promised MILF leader Murad Ibrahim in March that the legislation would be passed. He vowed to exercise his residual powers through administrative directives to fulfil the autonomy promise if the BBL failed to sail through legislation.

The MILF recently gained the governments trust, helping the army go after pro-Islamic State groups in remote Mindanao areas. This has, however, been offset by a clash last week that left nine MILF combatants dead in the governments drug war that has reached the southern regions, security analysts said.

Duterte portrays himself as a friend of minorities

Duterte, who hails from the south, has long styled himself as a friend of minority groups. Months after winning in 2016, he freed Nur Misuari, leader of the former secessionist group Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF).

The MILF split from Misuaris MNLF in 1978 over differences in beliefs. Misuari signed a peace pact with the government in 1996, settling for creation of an autonomous region where the former leader later became governor.

But despite millions of dollars poured into that region, it remained mired in poverty and failed to uplift the lives of Muslims. Aquino had called the governments deal with the MNLF a failed experiment and, instead, focused on wooing the MILF to the peace table.

Fearing that he was being pushed to the sidelines, Misuaris MNLF faction laid siege to the southern city of Zamboanga in 2013 for two weeks, leaving large swathes of the largely Christian business center in ruins. More than 200 people were killed in the fighting.

Misuari hid for three years, until the government dropped charges of rebellion against the fugitive months after Duterte became president.

On Tuesday, a regional trial court in Manila ordered the release of 96 of the 200 members of the Misuaris MNLF who were detained on rebellion charges. The majority of those freed were flown to an air force base in Zamboanga while the rest were taken to the rebel strongholds of Basilan and Jolo islands.

We were saddened by the release of the MNLF members, but we will continue to fight for justice despite the recent order, city mayor Maria Isabel Climaco-Salazar told reporters. They were freed despite our efforts before the Supreme Court with prayer for a temporary restraining order, stopping the release of the accused MNLF members.

She said the men were apparently freed after the government lessened its charge from rebellion to illegal assembly, which is punishable by a short prison sentence that the men had served.

I am still positively hoping that justice will be served to the victims of the Zamboanga siege and the remaining MNLF members accused shall be held accountable for the crimes committed, Climaco-Salazar said.

Felipe Villamor in Manila contributed to this report.
Updated at 4:24 p.m. ET on 2018-05-30

Religious minorities are under pressure in South and Southeast Asia, the United States government said in a report Tuesday, stressing that religious freedom was critical to reducing terrorism and boosting economic growth.



U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said the key objectives of President Donald Trumps administration were reduction of terrorism and economic growth, adding that with religious freedom, you get both of them.



It is also a fundamental human right under assault in much of the world, Brownback said at the launch of the annual U.S. religious freedom report, which highlighted concerns about issues affecting minority groups in about 200 countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Bangladesh.



Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in launching the report, said the United States wanted to work with other governments and its partners in the religious community and civil society to advance religious freedom.



He said Washington would host a high-level international meeting on religious freedom in July to reaffirm our commitment to religious freedom as a universal human right.



Pompeo expected the July 25-26 ministerial to break new ground.



It will not just be a discussion group. It will be about action. We look forward to identifying concrete ways to push back against persecution and ensure greater respect for religious freedom for all, he said.



The report covering 2017 highlighted concerns over religious freedom in the region.



Thailand



In its country report on Buddhist-majority Thailand, the state department pointed to how some members of the clergy who define themselves as Buddhist nationalists had used social media to call for violence against Muslims. They also criticized what they said was the states accommodation of Islam.



The Muslim community represents less than 5 percent of Thailands population but is largely concentrated in the far southern region known as the Deep South, where a Malay separatist insurgency has simmered for decades.



In September 2017, the state department reported, the Thai military arrested Buddhist monk Apichat Punnajanatho in the Deep South because he was suspected of promoting violent, anti-Muslim hate speech.



The military flew him to Bangkok, where the nations leading Buddhist clerical body, the Supreme Sangha Council, disrobed and expelled him from the monkhood, the report said. It noted that Apichat was turned over to police but they did not charge him and later released him.



The state department said there were no reports last year of calls by Muslims advocating violence targeting Buddhists in Thailand.



Malaysia



In neighboring Malaysia, the state department highlighted a lack of progress by police in investigating the February 2017 abduction of a Christian pastor, Raymond Koh, whose daylight kidnapping on a busy street in Kuala Lumpur was caught on CCTV, and who remains missing.



The chapter on Malaysia noted the arrests of hundreds of people practicing non-Sunni forms of Islam, which are outlawed in the country. It also noted efforts by Malaysian authorities to prohibit and fine Muslims for trying to convert to another religion.



In 2017, U.S. embassy officials engaged with a wide variety of federal and state government officials to discuss religious freedom issues in Malaysia throughout the year, the state department said.



The ambassador raised concerns about the disappearance of Pastor Raymond Koh and three other individuals and urged government officials to speak out against religious intolerance, particularly in the wake of high profile incidents such as the Muslim-only launderettes in two states, the report said.



Indonesia



In its section on Indonesia, the report highlighted how some conservative religious groups in the worlds largest Muslim-majority nation had put pressure on local governments and police in 2017 to close minority groups houses of worship over permit violations.



The report took note of the first-ever public canings in Aceh province of people who were convicted under its strict Sharia code for committing homosexual acts. And it prominently mentioned last years conviction of Basuki Tjahaja Ahok Purnama, a member of the Christian minority and former governor of Jakarta, on a blasphemy charge for public comments that were deemed as anti-Muslim.



The U.S. government advocated for religious freedom at the highest levels, with both government and civil society leaders, and spoke out publicly against discrimination and religious violence, the state department reported, noting that Vice President Mike Pence had discussed such issues with Indonesian officials during a visit to Jakarta in April 2017.



Bangladesh



In Muslim-majority Bangladesh, there were attacks last year on members of the Hindu and Buddhist minorities and Hindus and Christians also reported that the government failed to effectively prevent forced evictions and land seizures stemming from land disputes, according to the State Department.



In meetings with Bangladeshi officials and in statements last year, the U.S. ambassador and other embassy representatives continued to speak out against acts of violence in the name of religion and encouraged the government to uphold the rights of minority religious groups and to foster a climate of tolerance, the report said.



Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who are sheltering in Bangladeshi after fleeing military crackdowns in Myanmar were also mentioned in the Bangladesh chapter.



Sam Brownback touched on the plight of the stateless Rohingya as he helped Pompeo release the report.



The situation is dire. We must do more to help them as they continue to be targeted for their faith, Brownback told reporters at the state department.



He described his recent visit to Rohingya refugee camps in southeastern Bangladesh.



[T]here was about 20 young children that had gathered around me, and I asked randomly five of them what they had seen. Of the five, four had seen a direct close family member killed, and the fifth had seen a brother wounded. This is in a random grouping, Brownback recalled.



Its a terrible situation that requires the worlds attention. There is a lot of world attention on it, but I think there needs to be more action from the world.
Infra, energy, agriculture, tourism in budget focus

Energy, agriculture, infrastructure and tourism will be in focus as Finance Minister Yubaraj Khatiwada presents the federal governments budget for the next fiscal year in Parliament on Tuesday.
A group of seminary students were given the task of organizing the Ten Commandments in their perceived order of importance. Interestingly, these students felt that the sixth commandment, "You shall not murder," should be number-one on the list. The seventh commandment, "You shall not commit adultery," was also placed near the top. But the group relegated the first commandment, "You shall have no other gods before Me," to the bottom of the list. They didn't think it was all that important.

In God's listing, however, it is a different story. He puts this commandment at the top of the list. But why is it the number-one offense to God? It comes down to this: If you have broken this one, then everything else will fall apart.

One day a man came to Jesus and asked Him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" (Mark 12:28 NLT). Jesus responded,

"The most important commandment is this: 'Listen, O Israel! The Lord our God is the one and only Lord. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.' The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' No other commandment is greater than these." (verse 29, NLT)

With that statement, Jesus essentially summed up the Ten Commandments: Put God in His rightful place. Make Him number-one in your life.

Could this be said of us today? A survey revealed that 76 percent of Americans believed they had been completely faithful to the first commandment. In other words, they might have problems with some of the other commandments, but for them, the first commandment was not a problem. But is that true? It's hard to say.

You see, everyone has a god. Everyone, including atheists, bows at some altar. We don't all worship the true God, but we all worship. Everyone has something they believe in, some passion that drives them, something that gives their life meaning and purpose. For some, their god is possessions or money. Others worship their bodies. They worship at the church of the perfect physique. Still others worship success or pleasure or relationships. But we all worship someone or something.

With the first commandment, God was establishing the fact that He is our God and was showing us His place in our lives: "I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me" (Exodus 20:2-3 NLT). It is amazing how much can be revealed by a simple little pronoun such as "I." Only one letter long, it conveys a profound and fundamental truth about who God is. When He said, "I am the Lord," He was, in effect, refuting all other belief systems, including pantheism, polytheism, deism, and new-age thinking. When God says, "I am," He is revealing that He is a being, not a mere force of nature. He says, "I am. . . . I feel. I think. I care."

God is not an impersonal force, as pantheism would teach. Nor is He one of many gods, as polytheism claims. God said, "I am the Lord your God" (emphasis mine). As 1 Timothy 2:5 reminds us, "For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity-the man Christ Jesus" (NLT).

In contrast to the teaching of deism, which says that God has no interest in the affairs of men, the first commandment shows us that we have a God who sees and hears and cares. God reminded Israel that He had blessed and protected them up to this point: "I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery."

The Bible says that God is a jealous God. By "jealous," it doesn't mean that God is one who is controlling and demanding and flies into a rage without the slightest reason or provocation. The jealousy the Bible is speaking of is the jealousy of a loving Father who sees the possibilities and potential of His children and is brokenhearted when those things are not realized, or worse, are wasted and squandered.

Jesus said, "And what do you benefit if you gain the whole world but lose your own soul? Is anything worth more than your soul?" (Matthew 16:26 NLT). Is God number-one in your life today? Or, are you allowing other gods to crowd Him out?

Reproduced by permission from Harvest Ministries with Greg Laurie, PO Box 4000, Riverside, CA, 92514.

Greg Laurie pastors Harvest Christian Fellowship (one of America's largest churches) in Riverside, California. He has authored several books including the Gold Medallion Award winner, The Upside-Down Church, as well as Losers and Winners, Saints and Sinners and The Best Is Yet to Come. You can find his study notes in the New Believer's Bible and The Seeker's Bible.

Host of the Knowing God with Greg Laurie television program and the nationally syndicated radio program A New Beginning, Laurie is also the founder and featured speaker for Harvest Crusadescontemporary, large-scale evangelistic outreaches, which local churches organize nationally and internationally. Laurie has also appeared on CNN'sLarry King Live, ABC World News Tonight, Fox News, and MSNBC, sharing how the Bible is relevant for people today.

Whether speaking or writing, God has gifted Pastor Laurie with the ability to apply biblical principles to current events in a way that is relevant and easily understood by people of all ages, from all walks of life. The trademark of a Greg Laurie sermon, book, or broadcast is his contemporary, yet straightforward style and format. He resides in Southern California with his wife, Cathe.
The firm will use the funds to develop its artificial intelligence (AI)-based patient mobile app, expand its services and hire talent, among others.

HWell24 Plus Healthcare Pvt Ltd, which operates home healthcare aggregator under the brand HealWell24, said it has raised Rs 1.4 crore in its pre-Series A round of funding from new and existing individual investors.

Prashant Mehta, Mitali Pawar, Nikhil G and Bhavesh P, members of Indian Cooperative Oncology Network (ICON); and angel investor R Ranganathan are the new investors, Jyoti Kumar Singha, co-founder and director, HealWell24, said in a statement.

Existing investors a member of the oncology network in Mumbai, ONCOTRUST, and an executive at medical intelligence provider Medintel Services Pvt. Ltd also contributed funds, he added.

The firm will use the funds to develop its artificial intelligence (AI)-based patient mobile app, expand its services and hire talent, among others. The app is expected to be launched by October this year, Singha explained.

The Mumbai-based company, which was founded by Singha and Harddik K Patel in 2017, provides solutions to patients at home-to-hospital-to-home, which is known as a 3H model. The startup provides home nursing, home attendants and has recently added home dental care as part of its services in the city. It aims to expand to Delhi, Bengaluru, Nagpur, Kochi, and Pune by the financial year 2019-2020.

According to the news reported by VC Circle, HealWell24 had raised $100,000 in angel funding from three high-net-worth individuals in September last year. It generated revenue of Rs 1.25 crore in the last financial year through March since it began operations in June, Singha said.

The company has also started a CHHA (Certification of Home Healthcare Attendant) programme which provides certification to all attendants as the biggest challenge for any home healthcare service is to find trained people.
International Sagarmatha Day observed (In photos)

The International Sagarmatha Day main celebrations committee awarded various people and organisations having contributions to the mountaineering sector amidst a programme here today.
Disgusting Case Of A Bearded Woman Who Was Undressed To Confirm Her Gender! Pulse oi-Syeda Farah

Most of us (women) tend to quickly book an appointment at a salon even before we find the extra eyebrow or upper lip growth coming up.

Well, there are those set of women too in our society who are either too lazy to groom themselves or they just suffer from conditions which can leave them with rapid hair growth.

Here, in this article, we are revealing the details of a bizarre case where a woman was questioned about her sexuality and to prove it, the cops asked her to undress herself and widen her legs to prove the same.

Sexual Assault Expressed Through Artwork!

Read on to know more...

She Is

Teresiah Mumbi, a 31-year-old woman, who was ordered to strip by two female officers, after she was arrested for a traffic offense in Kariobangi, Kenya.

Her Sexuality Was Questioned

The cops who arrested this minibus tout had apparently told her to undress herself and also asked her to widen her legs apart to prove whether she was a man or woman.

Her Health Condition

Mumbi apparently suffers from an excessive hair growth condition, which is known as hypertrichosis. In this condition, the hair growth seems to be rapid and unwanted hair growth in seen in the least expected places.

She Had Accepted Herself

It is said that Mumbi did not like shaving because it apparently made her face turn itchy. Hence, she had decided to accept the way her body works, until this incident that shook her inner self.

She Plans To Threaten The Cops

Mumbi has now threatened to sue the officers involved, as they believed she was a man and this was just because of the beard. She also claimed that they demanded a bribe of 3, after she had been arrested with the other minibus touts for a traffic offense as well.

This Incident Has Brought Down Her Confidence

She claims that after the incident, she has even stopped working, with the fear of facing any such similar occurrences. Hence, she is keen on taking matters to the court to get herself some justice.

Her Only Question Is...

'Is this justice? if these are the officers mandated to provide security, what will happen to me in public?'

Meet The 20-Year-Old Sensation Who Is A Sex Educator!

What do you think of her case? Let us know in the comment section below.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 17:45 [IST]
Secrets To Success Given By Ravana Faith Mysticism oi-Renu

Though Ravana has been depicted as a negative character in the Ramayana, he was actually a highly respected Brahmin. He was a great scholar, a great ruler and an even greater maestro of the Veena. He was a learned Brahmin, a Sidha (versed in different forms of knowledges) and a staunch devotee of Lord Shiva.

There are many regions in India where the Brahmin community does not celebrate Diwali. Instead, they pay respect to one of the most intelligent Brahmins, ever born on Earth. He is even worshiped in Sri Lanka and Bali. They believe him to be their ancestor and, therefore, observe the day as the death anniversary of one of their ancestors.

Ravana - As A Scholar

Ravana means "the roaring". This powerful king of Lanka is often depicted with nine heads. He is believed to have had ten heads earlier, one of which he sacrificed to Lord Shiva while worshipping. As given by Lord Brahma, he had the blessing of immortality.

It is believed that Ravana was the author of Ravana Samhita and the Arka Prakasham. While the former is a book on astrology, the latter is a book on Siddha Medicine. Siddha medicine is a kind of traditional medicine much similar to the ayurveda. He overpowered the three worlds, he conquered the powerful men and the other demons.

Ravana's Only Mistake

The only mistake he did was that of having pride in himself. Pride, in Hinduism, has been described as one of those elements which leads a man to his own destruction. Overpowered by this pride in one's greatness and power, he aimed to defeat the gods, which was too high an aim to be achieved.

This aim, lead him to make further mistakes, such as that of abducting Goddess Sita; it was this aim of his, which lead him to his own defeat, though at the hands of the almighty himself.

How could such a learned man make the mistake of abducting Goddess Sita, challenging Lord Rama and inviting his own damnation? The secret lies in the very fact mentioned in our scriptures and much believed in Hinduism that; pride comes with power.

This is one of the greatest lessons that one must learn from the life of this great and learned king. This is not all, there are some other lessons too, which are highly important and must be kept in mind in order to achieve success. In fact, these secrets were given by Ravana himself.

The Secrets Given By Ravana

The story goes back to the incident when Lord Ram had finally succeeded in killing the demonic king - Ravana, and Ravana was about to die. Lying on the death bed, he was speaking about the most important lessons he'd learnt in life.

Lord Ram knew about the greatness of this scholarly king. He ordered Lakshman to go and attend to Ravana. Seeing the brother of Lord Ram having come to see him, Ravana was little satisfied.

For by then he had realized that they were divine incarnations. Lakshman was the incarnation of Shesh Naag - the serpent which stays with Lord Vishnu. When Lakshman reached close to Ravana, Ravana gave him three big lessons, very important in life. Those three lessons were:

1. Never Delay The Right Things You Must Do

Ravana said that he realized the divinity in Lord Ram too late. He should have believed that Lord Ram is the incarnation of God himself; he should have realized that defeating the gods is impossible; that they are the goodness; and goodness needs to prevail forever.

He came at the feet of Lord Ram much later, when he was just about to die. Therefore, he advised Lakshman never to be late in doing what is right; something that you must do. He further advised that one must try to delay what is not good, as mush as possible.

For example, had he not been too much possessed with the desire to abduct Sita, Lord Ram would have returned with that golden deer, and Ravana would have missed the chance of abducting her. This could have helped prevent the event altogether, which became the major reason behind him being doomed.

2. Never Underestimate Your Enemies

He further told that one should never underestimate one's enemies. He believed that the monkeys and bears would never be able to conquer him, but it were those monkeys and the bears alone, which were the major supporters of Lord Ram. He did not realize that these were divine incarnations. Goodness worked and they succeeded in bringing his pride to an end. Underestimating them was Ravana's mistake. Hence, one must never underestimate one's enemy.



3. Never Share Your Secrets With Anyone

The third big lesson shared by Ravana applies well enough in the modern times. He told that one major mistake of his life was telling Vibhishan the secret to his death, which Vibhishan revealed to Lord Rama. Hence, one should never disclose one's secrets to anyone, whosoever he may be.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 15:45 [IST]
When Sita Cursed These Faith Mysticism oi-Renu

The human ages have been divided into four Yugas, the Satyayuga, also known as the Satyuga, the Treta Yuga, Dwapar Yuga and the Kaliyuga.

Among these, Satyuga is the most righteous; it was a period when the body, the mind and the heart were all equally good. It is believed that whatever the holy men, such as a sage, a priest, a divine incarnation, said in the Satyuga, it would become true.

The blessings and the curses given in those times were highly effective. It was a time when all the life forms in the nature would understand each others' language. There were less sufferings.

Whatever that came from the mouth of a pure-hearted soul would destined to be true. That is why the curse given by a suffering or a happy man/woman was equally effective.

One such case was when Goddess Sita cursed a cow, a crow, a Ketaki flower, a Tulsi plant (Basil Plant) and a priest.

The Legend Of The Curse Given By Sita

The story goes back to the times of Satyuga. Lord Ram, along with Lakshman and Goddess Sita, was living in exile. King Dasharath was then dead and it was a day to pay gratitude to the long dead ancestors of the family.

This gratitude is paid by performing the Pinda Daan ceremony for the ancestors. It is done at the banks of a holy river. When all three of them reached the banks of the Phalgu river, in Gaya, Lord Ram asked the priest what are the Samagri (the sacred items required for the holy ceremony) that were required.

Upon the guidance of the priest, Lord Ram ordered Lakshman to go to the nearby village and get the items. Lakshman did not return for long, so Lord Ram decided to go and himself look for him.

The priest on the other hand had been continuously reminding them that the Muhurta (auspicious timings) for the ceremony might pass; hence they needed to make the arrangements soon.

Lord Ram too left. And much to Sita's worries, time was passing and Lord Ram also was nowhere to be seen. When the priest again reminded Sita of the Muhurta, she decided to complete the ceremony all by herself, taking whatever was available as the Samagri. She ordered the priest to begin with the rituals for the ceremony.

Lord Ram and Lakshman had not returned till then. She told the priest that they should complete the ceremony without them. When finally Sita performed the final ritual, of the Pinda Daan ceremony, and bowed to offer prayers, she heard a divine voice say that the offerings had been accepted and the ritual was completed.

Goddess Sita's heart was at peace to hear that Lord Dasharath had accepted her offerings and the Pind Daan ceremony was successful.

However, she also knew that Lord Rama and Lakshman would not believe her, because of the common belief, which was that the ceremony can not be completed without the presence of the sons.

The Goddess therefore asked the river Phalgu, the cow used in the ceremony, the Banyan tree, the Ketaki flower, the Tulsi plant and the priest to become her witnesses. All of them accepted to her orders.

Why Did Sita Curse Them?

Now, when Lord Ram and Lakshman returned, Lord Ram was enraged to hear that Sita had completed the ceremony in their absence. He feared the prayers might not be accepted. But the Goddess told them about the divine voice she heard, and ordered the witnesses to speak for her.

But much to her surprise, none of them spoke, fearing from the rage of Lord Ram. It was only the Banyan tree that could muster the courage and speak for her. Unhappy to see the response of the witnesses, she felt hurt and cursed all of them.

What Were These Curses?

She told the river that it would never be able to raise its water level upto the level of the ground. It would always flow under the ground.

Then, she cursed the cow, that its whole body would never be worshipped, and only the back half of the body will be considered sacred in the Hindu religion. The face of the cow would not be worshipped.

She told the priest that whatever amount he might earn, it would be less for him, and that he would never be satisfied.

The Ketaki flower was cursed that it would never be offered in the worship of Lord Shiva.

Tulsi was cursed that it would never grow in the soil of Gaya.

The Banyan tree that had stood supporting the Goddess was blessed that its presence will be highly necessary for the ceremony of the Pinda Daan.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 12:30 [IST]
Lawmakers or project managers?

MPs must stick to their job of monitoring government activities, not managing them
Anup Ojha is a reporter for The Kathmandu Post primarily covering social issues and human interest stories. Before moving to the social beat, Ojha covered arts and culture for the Post for four years.
By Oliver Mangan

The British prime minister is finding it very difficult to come up with a plan for future customs arrangements that satisfies everyone in her government as well as the EU.

The UK is looking for an arrangement that will largely maintain free trade with the EU, avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and yet allow it to negotiate independent trade deals with third countries.

There is very strong resistance in parts of the UK government to the Theresa Mays preferred option of a customs partnership with the EU.

This arrangement would see the UK collecting tariffs on behalf of the EU for any goods coming into the UK that are subsequently destined for an EU member state.

Goods could then continue to flow freely from the UK to the EU and across the Irish border without further tariffs or rules of origin checks.

However, this will require the development of technology that would be able to track goods from the point of entry in to the UK to the end consumer.

The EU has its doubts about whether such a system would work, especially for intermediate goods that form part of complex supply chains.

These goods could cross borders several times. It will also likely require the UK to maintain broad regulatory alignment with the EU.

Not surprisingly, Brexiteers in the UK see such a customs partnership as hindering Britains ability to negotiate trade deals with other countries.

They believe this is not consistent with an independent trade policy or regaining control over regulations, and thus are strongly opposed to it.

Their preferred option is called maximum facilitation or max-fac, which seeks to minimise customs procedures.

This approach aims to make the border as invisible and frictionless as possible through the use of technology.

This would include electronic customs registration, high-tech screening techniques and possibly blockchain technology.

However, it still means that there will be some form of customs border which would require some checks and controls.

It would require full compliance by all traders to work and likely adherence to designated border crossing points.

The technology required will also take years to develop, while the UKs Revenue and Customs service said that it will be very costly to administer as well.

Indeed, there seems to be a growing realisation in the UK that it will be unable to finalise a bespoke trade deal with the EU by the end of a proposed transition period that is to last until the end of 2020.

Neither will the technology be developed by that time to support any of the proposed new customs arrangements.

Thus, there is now speculation that the UK may look for a transition period that could last until 2024, during which time it will continue to adhere to EU rules and regulations.

However, this may prove unacceptable to many in the Conservative Party.

Furthermore, the EU may view it as a means of the UK maintaining the benefits of EU membership long after it has left, and thus find it unacceptable.

The UK is finding out that leaving the EU is no easy process if you want to maintain access to its markets.

With key EU summits on Brexit fast approaching at the end of June and in October, the time for obfuscation is nearing an end.

The EU has called on the UK to stop playing hide and seek on Brexit.

The UK government is going to have to make some hard choices on Brexit and soon.

Oliver Mangan is chief economist at AIB
By Padraig Hoare

Perennial favourite destinations such as Turkey and Tunisia are beginning to become popular with Irish holidaymakers once more as the threat of terrorism has receded.

That is according to the chief executive of the Irish Travel Agents Association who said prices for Turkish holidays were attracting holidaymakers in July and August as availability in Spain and Portugal reduced.

Pat Dawson said there is also a strong take-up of US holidays as the economy and disposable income has strengthened.

However, he warned that Norwegian Airs survival was integral for consumers, as it had forced other airlines with US routes to be competitive in pricing.

We have seen Turkey make a comeback in the past 12 months, with competitive prices being one of the main reasons.

"The likes of Spain and Portugal are still countries with the highest demand, but in the high season, availability can be scarce. Tunisia is also recovering but to a lesser extent, Mr Dawson said.

Tourism accounts for 8% of Tunisias GDP, provides thousands of jobs, and is a key source of foreign currency, but it has struggled since two major attacks in 2015.

The first, at the Bardo National Museum, in Tunis, left 21 tourists dead, while 39 holidaymakers were killed in the second attack, including Irish tourists, on a beach in the resort city of Sousse.

Mr Dawson said US connectivity from Cork and Shannon was vital for tourism inbound and outbound.

Dominant airlines need competition and if Norwegian was to go from the market, it would be bad for all holidaymakers.

He said there was hope that there would soon be be more routes out of Cork and Shannon, including a long-coveted Cork to New York flight.

Norwegian has failed to confirm it will retain its summer schedule from Cork to Providence, Rhode Island, on the US east coast in the summer of 2019, having scrapped the winter route from this November.

The airline said it was working to maintain the summer schedule in 2019.

Mr Dawson said: We need Norwegian back next year, or another transatlantic carrier from Cork to enter the market, if Dublins dominance is to be challenged.
The remains of murder victim Jastine Valdez are being returned to her native Philippines today.

Accompanied by her parents Danilo and Tess, the student's remains are being flown out from Dublin Airport to Manila this afternoon.

The 24-year-old is to be buried in her home town of Aritao.

Mark Congdon, the honorary consul for the Philippines in Ireland, is to travel with the family.

40-year-old Mark Hennessy is believed to have abducted and killed the student in an apparently random attack.

He was shot dead by Gardai and his funeral took place over the weekend.

Mark Hennessy

Last night, Gardai issued a new appeal for help, saying they are anxious to speak to any passengers who travelled with Jastine on the 185c bus on the evening of May 19.

They also issued more details about her missing blue shoulder bag.

They say the contents of the Next branded bag included a Bershka jacket, Nike runners, purple reading glasses and an iPad mini.

Gardai want to find out if the iPad contains any evidence that may shed light on the murder.

Digital Desk
Former Garda commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan "did not trust" press officer Supt David Taylor, the Charleton Tribunal has heard.

The tribunal is examining allegations by Supt Taylor that he was directed to brief the media negatively on whistleblower Sgt Maurice McCabe by former commissioner Martin Callinan, and that Ms O'Sullivan was aware of this. Both former commissioners deny this.

Supt Taylor was transferred from the Garda press office to the traffic section in June 2014, shortly after Ms O'Sullivan became garda commissioner.

"I did not trust Supt Taylor. I did not feel comfortable in his company," Ms O'Sullivan told the tribunal.

"I would have to have implicit trust in the press officer and I did not have that in Supt Taylor," Ms O'Sullivan said.

Ms O'Sullivan said that she did not believe Supt Taylor was doing a good job "managing the relationship with the media, and in fact it was the media managing the relationship with the garda press officer.

Questioned by Michael McDowell SC, who represents Sgt McCabe, Ms O'Sullivan said she had not spoken to others about rumours of abuse allegations against Sgt McCabe, and was not the kind of person who engaged in "idle chatter or idle gossip about individuals.

Ms O'Sullivan said that had she read correspondence from assistant commissioner Kieran Kenny regarding a Tusla notification in May 2014, she "would have directed Mr Kenny to meet with the HSE and to clarify the issue beyond any doubt.

The tribunal has previously heard how a Tusla notification, containing incorrect allegations from an unrelated case, was wrongly included in a file about Sgt McCabe.

"If that had been brought to my attention or I had read it, it would have resonated with me that it was entirely different to the 2006 allegation," Ms O'Sullivan said.

The DPP directed no prosecution following a garda investigation into a complaint from the alleged victim, Miss D, in 2006.

Ms O'Sullivan said it was "completely untrue that Supt Taylor ever briefed me one-to-one or in any way in relation to any strategy.

Michael O'Higgins SC on behalf of Supt Taylor said it was "highly improbable" that Ms O'Sullivan would have been out of the room any time that the Miss D allegation was discussed in relation to Sgt McCabe.

"If I recalled them being discussed or said, I would say so here, but I do not recall it," Ms O'Sullivan said.

Ms O'Sullivan said she was never privy to or aware of any campaign as alleged by Supt Taylor.
Chandan Kumar Mandal is the environment and migration reporter for The Kathmandu Post, covering labour migration and governance, as well as climate change, natural disasters, and wildlife.
Cabinet will discuss the timeline for new abortion laws today.

Health Minister Simon Harris will introduce legislation into the Dail before the summer recess that could be passed by the end of the year.

Other things need to be put in place at the same time - like the regulation of abortion pills and clinical guidelines for medical practitioners.

The Cabinet will discuss the issue today and the Department of Health has asked for a meeting with the relevant medical colleges to discuss guidelines.

While Ministers have been saying they want to move quickly to enact the decision taken by people in the referendum, they want to make sure they get the law right so there is a safe service for women.

Minister Harris is confident the legislation can pass all stages in the Dail and Seanad and become law before the end of the year.

Fianna Fail have called for special sittings of the Dail during the summer break to ensure it passes quickly.

Obstetricians say there needs to more clarity on some of the proposed abortion laws and are calling on Minister Harris to meet with them.

Dr. Keelin O'Donoghue from Cork University Hospital says the issue of resources also needs to be considered.

"We are sitting down to look at this, the institute has formed some expert working groups in all of the relevant areas of the legislation, and we do hope to work with the Minister and his team to ensure that we are ready," she said.
The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says it will be January 1, 2019, before new abortion laws take effect.

He has also warned that trying to change current legislation in the mean time may only delay the overall bill from passing.

The Cabinet gave Health Minister Simon Harris approval to draft the new laws at this morning's meeting.

The Taoiseach says, despite the massive endorsement from the people at the weekend, it will take a while to change the law:

He said: "We will need technical guidelines and it will be necessary to regulate and license the new medicines.

"It is still our anticipation that it will be the end of the year, 1st of January 2019, before we have the given effect of the will of the people, even with the best intentions."

Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin and other politicians have called for the Dail to sit during the summer recess in order to speed up the passage of the legislation.

Today, Deputy Martin called for a "prompt" and "proactive" response to the referendum results, saying: "Irish people have spoken emphatically. In a clear and decisive manner, the people, through the referendum, have voted for change - for new laws, which will end the cruel inflexibility of the Eighth Amendment.

"The people have given the Oireachtas the mandate and indeed the obligation to legislate for a new approach - an approach that trusts women and their doctors."

Addressing calls for an extended Dail sitting, the Taoiseach noted: "Yes, we are in agreement with your suggestion that if necessary the Dail be extended into the [summer] recess to allow that matter - that matter alone - to be legislated for."

Simon Harris yesterday confirmed legislation giving effect to the referendum on abortion will be brought before the Dail ahead of the summer recess.
The Union of Students in Ireland is supporting a Sinn Fein bill that includes student accommodation in rent pressure zones.

It comes after students in DCU and NUI Galway protested against rent increases of almost 30% in recent months.
Upskirting could become a criminal offence in the UK, after Theresa May gave her backing to MP Wera Hobhouse's campaign to have it outlawed.

upskirting is the term used to describe the practise of taking a picture or a video up a womans skirt, without her consent

The fury surrounding the act began in February when This Morning host Holly Willoughby took to Instagram calling #TimesUp.

At the beginning of the night we held white roses and walked down a red carpet full of the hope and pride that comes with the #timesupcampaign... at the end of the night, cameras were held low to get a photo up our skirts... times apparently up on #timesup, she captioned the photo.

Many celebrities have since shown their support on the matter, the most recent being Bray native Laura Whitmore.

After sharing an article about an American man who was arrested in Georgia for taking photographs up womens skirts in a Walmart store, she tweeted about the success of a petition for upskirting to be added to the UKs Sexual Offences Act 2003.

She also labelled the act as degrading and strongly believes it should be a criminal offence.

The petition calling for "upskirting" to be added to the Sexual Offences Act 2003 has been backed by nearly 100,000 people across the UK...  Laura Whitmore  (@thewhitmore) May 27, 2018

The bill will get a second reading on June 15th to make #upskirtingillegal  Laura Whitmore  (@thewhitmore) May 27, 2018

Upskirting should be a criminal offence and not supported by our media outlets. Its is a violation of privacy and degrading of women  Laura Whitmore  (@thewhitmore) May 27, 2018

Earlier this year the TV host opened up about an incident in a nightclub in which she was sexually violated.
SC seeks govt file on Dhungel pardon

The Supreme Court has sought original file of the governments decision to provide Balkrishna Dhungel, a murder convict, presidential pardon.
A standoff over the maintenance of important mining rail line has sparked warnings of a $2 billion hit to next month's Queensland budget and significant damage to the state's coal exports and prompted Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk moving to reassure international steel makers ahead of her trade trip to Japan.

Rail operator Aurizon and the Queensland Competition Authority are at loggerheads over a draft ruling from the QCA in December that would allow Aurizon to recoup only $3.89 billion from its network business from July 2017 to June 2021. That figure was $999 million less than Aurizon wanted.

In response Aurizon, which has a monopoly on the state's coal rail network, has now said it would have to change its maintenance practices, leading to a reduction of up to 20 million tonnes in Queensland coal exports a year - or about 10 per cent of total exports.

Aurizon says a QCA draft decision makes "no commercial sense".

It was expected the fight could cut about $500 million in Queensland government royalties each year, harming the budget bottom line.
New Delhi: Indian police said on Tuesday they had filed a case against AirAsia Group, the airline's CEO Tony Fernandes and its domestic entity AirAsia India over allegations of corruption and breaking rules in obtaining a flying licence.

Tony Fernandes, Malaysian entrepreneur and founder of AirAsia. Credit:Steven Siewart

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) accused the airline, some of its employees and third parties of violating India's foreign direct investment rules while obtaining the licence, and of bribing government officials in an attempt to get regulations relaxed to allow AirAsia India to fly international routes.

AirAsia India said in a statement it refuted any allegations of wrongdoing and was co-operating with all regulators and agencies "to present the correct facts".

The parent group, AirAsia, and Fernandes himself did not respond to emails seeking comment.
One of the critical areas that small-business owners need advice on is income tax. This advice is needed when the business first starts as to what type of entity to operate the business through, continues each year so that the owner maximises their income tax benefits, and when the business is sold so they can minimise the tax payable through the small business capital gains tax concessions.

Are you using the right person to handle your tax?

The problem is many small-business owners do not know whether the accountant or tax agent they are using is equipped to provide the advice they need. In general terms, tax agents tend to just process annual returns and do not provide any advice.

This problem is further compounded because there are many professionals who call themselves accountants, but just like tax agents they mainly focus on preparing the annual accounts and tax returns rather than providing advice.

A true accountant, as well as preparing accounts and tax returns, also looks ahead and provides advice on income tax and other matters that assists the business owner to maximise their income while at the same time minimising tax.
The militant Victorian construction union has signalled its members may start wearing body cameras used by police on the same day the building construction watchdog launched a landmark prosecution against the union for alleged unlawful picketing.

The court action is the first time Australian Building and Construction Commission has used unlawful picketing provisions with significantly higher penalties than were available under previous legislation.

The ABCC alleges the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) and three of its representatives allegedly blocked access to two Melbourne building sites in May last year. Cold storage company Newcold has two sites at which the union was alleged to have prevented office staff, subcontractors and workers from entering or leaving on May 8.

CFMEU Victorian officials John Setka (C), and Shaun Reardon (R) outside Melbourne Magistrates Court Credit:Joe Castro AAP

Maximum penalties for a breach under the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Act 2016 are more than three times as high than previous fines at $210,000 for bodies corporate and $42,000 for individuals.
The video by Melanie Smith flies us over the south-eastern suburb of Iztapulapa, which is a lot less interesting than the city centre, in the same way that Murrumbeena is less impressive than central Melbourne. It seems a strange way to investigate the vibrancy of one of the most populous places in the world.

At ACCA, the large hall is dominated by a moving aerial panorama of suburban Mexico City. Straight street after straight street on flat land, with blocky buildings of two storeys and little colour: it looks dire.

Mexico City Only vertical cities like Manhattan or towns with a gorgeous topography like Sydney are flattered by a view from the air. The capital of Mexico is not such a place.

Other works, however, do give us a glimpse of the city in its marvellous combination of density and relaxation. The performative video by Francis Alys of a man pushing a large ice cube through the streets  it progressively loses its mass through heat and friction  reveals a city both built-up and intimate.

Like the ice that slides by lubricating the bitumen with its own attrition, you feel that life in Mexico City is rubbed raw relative to over here. This is illustrated in a dirty video by Abraham Cruzvillegas that shows the somewhat random, higgledy-piggledy vernacular building styles known as self-mades (autoconstrucciones) interspersed with scenes of copulation. One thing on top of another, flipping as often as you like and with an instinct for improvisation!

Curated by Chris Sharp, the exhibition Dwelling poetically: Mexico City, a case study includes work by artists both Mexican by origin and not, because Mexico City has attracted many international artists who live there indefinitely.

The exhibition explores how artists make the city and how the city makes the artists. Its a complicated formula because the artists who come from elsewhere also bring ineradicable and unique experiences to the place that becomes theirs.

Durham, Melbourne

Coincidentally, an exhibition by David Gatiss at Tacit Art contemplates this very theme. Gatiss dark and brooding pieces make sombre reflections on the artists childhood in the north of England, so psychologically far from the artists long familiarity with the Australian outback.
The purists were probably sharpening their knives. Here was Jim White, celebrated Australian rock drummer, taking the traditional music of Crete back to Greece.

And being one half of a duo with George Xylouris's laouto and baritone voice, there was nowhere to hide.

George Xylouris, left, and Dirty Three drummer Jim White. Credit:Manolis Mathioudakis

"I was apprehensive," White concedes. "I didn't know how it was going to go there, but people really embraced it."

Just as the countless Greek expats around the globe have done.
Its time I apologised to all fellow parents  and confess that I tell every graduating class I address that their best wealth-building opportunity is to stay living at home and save, save, save.

But pay board  its great practice managing money and you might even be able to convince your mum and dad, if they can afford it, to stash your cash and return it to you later, I disloyally divulge.

Because, for parents, the afford it bit is the rub. And you cant have missed last week the rather entertaining story of a US couple who turned to the courts to evict their 30-year old s(p)on(ge).

Well, the collective parental cost of Australias stay-at-home adults is now $12.2 billion a year, according to a mozo.com.au survey of 1000 Australians, given exclusively to Fairfax Media. That frighteningly fat figure is calculated from ABS data and the spend reported by parents in this survey.

Almost one in three adults under 35 remain at home, analysis of ABS data indicates. (Its on the increase too: the 2016 census showed a 20 per cent jump in the number of 25 to 34-year-olds sticking around  to nearly 400,000 across Australia).
A Canberra woman reported missing earlier in the week was safe and well, ACT police said on Wednesday morning.

On Tuesday, police appealed for help from the public to find the 36-year-old woman, who had not been seen since leaving her home in Spence about 2pm on Tuesday.
The widower of acclaimed Australian author Colleen McCullough has denied he asked a lawyer to draft a fresh will because he was worried he had been locked out of his wife's estate, a court has heard.

Ric Robinson is embroiled in a bitter and drawn-out NSW Supreme Court battle with his late wife's executor and a United States university over her estate, which is estimated to be worth millions of dollars from her art collection and royalties from her 25 books, including the 1977 hit The Thorn Birds.

Author Colleen McCullough, in 2008. Credit:Danielle Smith

The late author's close friend and executor of her will, Selwa Anthony, has accused Mr Robinson of taking advantage of his late wife's ill health to change McCullough's will in the days before her death on Norfolk Island on January 29, 2015.

Mr Robinson denies the claims and believes he is the rightful sole beneficiary of the estate.
A honeymoon or expedition to the Jenolan Caves was once the pinnacle  or stalagmite  of Sydney society, drawing visiting dignitaries, governors, lords and ladies, and a retinue of servants across the Blue Mountains.

So great was the interest that the Herald reported in November, 1919 that newlywed Mrs Cecil Wilkinson left for her honeymoon at Jenolan's Cave House dressed in a cream gabardine coat and skirt with a matching hat adorned with a "jade green ornament".

Inside Jenolan Caves. Credit:Janie Barrett

People are still getting married at Jenolan, often inside the caves. While the caves, among the oldest known in the world, are still as beautiful, the premises are a bit worn, visitor numbers are steady and the property's once grand Caves House runs at about 40 per cent occupancy.

Some visitors say it is a "step back in time". Others criticise it for being too authentically Victorian with facilities that can be old and cold.
EDITOR'S NOTE: All six charges against Margaret Kingston were dismissed in May 2019.

A female primary school teacher has been charged with assault, after allegedly pinching, scratching and pushing some of her young pupils.

Margaret Kingston, 57, was arrested at her Yagoona home on Monday night, after detectives from Bankstown Police Area Command were called to Bass Hill Public School that day.

They spoke to teaching staff and a number of children aged between eight and 10.

Ms Kingston was taken to Bankstown Police Station and charged with six counts of common assault.
Lord mayor Graham Quirk has refused to rule out a rate rise for Brisbane residents while spruiking his first announcement for the 2018-19 budget.

On Tuesday Cr Quirk announced Brisbane City Council would invest almost $23 million in pool upgrades over the next year, about $5.5 million more than was committed the year earlier.

There will be an $8 million upgrade to Langlands Park Memorial Pool. Credit:Brisbane City Council

Cr Quirk would not reveal how the extra money would be covered, and, asked twice, refused to rule out the extra spend being passed onto residents by way of a rate rise.

I think what people are seeing is great improvements to the pools and they say its an increased investment on where we were last year, he said.
The man who murdered Queensland schoolgirl Jayde Kendall and dumped her body in an isolated field has lost an appeal against his conviction, but her family says life behind bars is still not enough.

Brenden Bennetts was found guilty after trial last year of murdering the 16-year-old in August 2015.

Brenden Bennetts, pictured while he was being interviewed over Jayde Kendall's disappearance, will remain in prison for murdering the teen. Credit:Supreme Court office, Brisbane

Jayde was last seen getting into his car after school, and her body was discovered 13 days later on a rural property outside Gatton, west of Brisbane.

Bennetts fought his conviction in the Court of Appeal last month, with his lawyers arguing that the trial judge allowed the jury to hear illegally obtained evidence.
Three people charged with the murder of Nambour man Bruce Saunders, 54, faced Maroochydore Magistrates Court on Tuesday.

61-year-old Gympie man Peter John Koenig, 59-year-old Deception Bay man Gregory Lee Roser and 57-year-old Sunshine Coast woman Sharon Graham were all remanded in custody.

All three were charged with one count each of murder and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

The trio will face Maroochydore Magistrates Court again on August 3.

Mr Saunders died in November after reportedly falling into a woodchipper while clearing a driveway at Goomboorian near Gympie, north of Brisbane.
Composite image of a man wanted in relation to an assault on a 17-year-old in Mill Park Credit:Victoria Police

A teenage girl has been grabbed and assaulted by a man who threatened to kill her as she was walking down a suburban bike path in Melbourne's north-east.

Police have released an image of a man connected with the violent assault which took place at 4.30pm on March 23.

The 17-year-old girl was walking west along a bike path on Border Drive in Mill Park when the man started to follow her.

When the girl reached the park she was grabbed by the man from behind.
A truck driver who allegedly used a hammer to terrorise two school teachers in a vicious road rage attack has been charged.

A Craigieburn man has been charged with multiple offences including conduct endangering life and assault with a weapon following Saturday's alleged rampage.

The truck allegedly involved in the incident. Credit:Victoria Police

Police arrested the 27-year-old on Tuesday evening after he allegedly tailgated schoolteachers Leigh Mahady, 62, and Julie Dougherty, 60, as they drove along the Tullamarine Freeway to Melbourne Airport.

The accused truck driver allegedly began tailgating their car from behind before he began repeatedly beeping the horn about 1.10pm on Saturday.
Melbourne Express, Wednesday, May 30, 2018

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The WA Police's Tactical Response Group stormed a home in Canning Vale to arrest a "dangerous" man in the early hours on Tuesday.

Police had issued a warning over the weekend about 30-year-old Malcolm Stirling Blurton, saying he was carrying a gun and was considered unpredictable and "very dangerous".

Police have arrested Malcolm Stirling Blurton at a Canning Vale home. Credit: WA Police

Inspector Mal Anderson said officers negotiated with Malcolm Stirling Blurton for a while before forcing their entry at 1.15am.

Nobody else was in the home at the time but officers recovered a shotgun and ammunition after the arrest.
A long overdue shake-up of the family courts will aim to reduce the crippling delays and backlogs that have kept families in limbo for years in the heat of divorce settlements and custody disputes.

The Turnbull government has promised up to 8000 extra cases will be resolved each year as a result of its plan to combine the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court into a new entity from next year.

It will provide a "single point of entry" for all family law matters, under a single chief justice, which the government says will enable cases to be more efficiently allocated between two court divisions.

Attorney-General Christian Porter wants to achieve the merger previous governments have floated but failed to land. Credit:Dominic Lorrimer

The merger was proposed by Labor almost 10 years ago but abandoned in the face of opposition from parts of the legal fraternity - and the Coalition. But the government has decided change is now urgent and can be pushed through with the support of all three court leaders.
Time to wind up for the day.

It's been a wild ride: Barnaby Joyce, China influence debates, Michaelia Cash, the redress scheme, family court changes and an intelligence review.

We'll be back in the morning for the final sitting day of this week.

Until then, you can find me on Facebook here and Twitter here. And thanks to Alex Ellinghausen and Dominic Lorrimer for the photos today. You can find them on Twitter here and here.

And, as always, your hot tips and feedback are welcome at fergus.hunter@fairfaxmedia.com.au.
Illustration: Andrew Dyson Credit:

Every time I go to the Byron Bay Writers Festival Im asked the same question: since theres no policy issue more important than responding to global warming, and were doing so little about it, why do I ever write about anything else?

I give the obvious answer. Though I readily agree that climate change is the most pressing economic problem we face, if I banged on about nothing but global warming three times a week, our readers would soon lose interest.

But even as I make my excuses, my Salvo-trained conscience tells me theyre not good enough. Even if I cant write about it every week, I should raise it more often than I do.

Im still combing through the budgets fine print, but Ive yet to remark that its thousands of pages make almost no mention of climate change.
Visitors to the Australian War Memorial have expressed their concern about the donations to the institution from Chinese-Australian businessman Chau Chak Wing.

On Tuesday Veterans Affairs Minister Darren Chester said he would ask the memorial for a "detailed briefing" about its donations, including the $560,000 donated by Mr Chau, who was accused by Liberal MP Andrew Hastie under parliamentary privilege of funding the bribery of former United Nations president John Ashe in 2013.

Dr Chau Chak Wing at the Australian War Memorial. Credit:Fiona Silsby

More than one million people visited the War Memorial last financial year, and it is one of the city's most popular attractions. Director Brendan Nelson has called it "the soul of the nation".

Mr Chau was awarded a fellowship of the memorial in 2015, after he had donated $560,000 to a music and education centre that bears his company's name and a education program about soldiers with diverse ethnic backgrounds.
Greens Fremantle candidate Dorinda Cox has attacked Labor's Josh Wilson over his party's support for the offshore detention of asylum seekers, accusing him of lacking compassion after a detainee died on Manus Island last week.

Former police officer Dorinda Cox has been confirmed as the Fremantle Greens candidate. Credit:Facebook

Ms Cox urged Mr Wilson to support closing offshore detention centres on Manus and Nauru and "bring the refugees to Australia".

"I know Fremantle," Ms Cox said.

"This is a progressive and caring community and we are absolutely horrified by the organised suffering going on in offshore camps that were set up by the Labor party.
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia's new government has promised to release a long-awaited report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as a privately funded underwater search ended on Tuesday.

Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, vanished en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, becoming one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

The government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said last week that US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which had scoured the southern Indian Ocean for the aircraft since January, would end its hunt on Tuesday.

The previous administration of Najib Razak, who was defeated in a stunning election upset on May 9, had promised up to $US70 million to the Texas-based firm if it found the plane within 90 days.
Such "family leave" is meant to help prisoners prepare for their eventual release, which would have been in 2020 in Herman's case after he had served the sentence he began in 2013. He had been released for two days on 13 previous occasions. Belgium's federal prosecutors office has opened an terror investigation into the murders, which come after the country was accused of being a hotbed of extremism after the 2015 Paris attacks, which killed 130 people, and suicide bombings in Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died. Belgian intelligence services have come under intense scrutiny for apparently missing a series of leads after the Paris attacks that could have led to the Brussels bombers. "[The killer] has been reported or presumed to be belonging to the entourage of an Islamist recruiter," a source close to the investigation said. Police have found a Koran and prayer mat in the convert's cell. Police trying to calm a man at the scene of the shooting. Credit:AP

Confirming that the attacker was on the police watch list, George Dallemagne, a lawmaker who sits on several Belgian parliamentary security committees, wrote on Twitter: "The supervision of radicalised prisoners remains tragically flawed." Christian Beaupere, the head of the Liege police force, said: "It is clear that the assassin's objective was to attack the police." The Liege prosecutor's office said the gunman had "hunted down" the two police officers, who were checking parking meters, before attacking them from behind with a box cutter on a boulevard in the heart of Belgium's third city at about 10.30am local time. After stabbing the officers, aged 45 and 53, multiple times, Herman took the officers' guns and shot them dead before opening fire on his next victim, who was reportedly sitting in the passenger seat of his mother's car. He was named by local press as Cyril Vangriecken, 22, a trainee teacher from Vottem, a nearby town. Herman entered a nearby high school about 100 metres away and took hostage two female employees, one a cleaning lady.

Pupils were evacuated to safety and people raced for cover in the ensuing gun battle when Herman came out firing at police. Four officers were wounded, two in the legs and two in the arms, before Herman was finally shot about 30 minutes after he launched his initial attack. The cleaner was reported to be "safe and healthy". A security cordon was set up around the area, while panicked parents came to collect their unhurt children. The national crisis centre said it had not raised its alert level - an indication the man was believed to be acting alone and so follow-up attacks were not expected. Herman was "already on the run" after committing another murder on Monday night in the town of On, in southern Belgium, a source told AFP, though local prosecutors said they have not yet established a link with the Liege incident.

The body of a man shot in the head was found after a jewellery robbery in Rochefort earlier that evening. Charles Michel, Belgium's Prime Minister, condemned the "blind and cowardly violence" in Liege and offered his support for the victims and their families. He called for restraint after images on social media appeared to show the two officers lying feet apart in pools of blood outside a cafe. Mr Michel and Philippe, the King of the Belgians, have visited the city. A minutes silence will be held tomorrow and flags flown at half-mast at Lieges town hall, where a book of condolences has been opened. Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region, was also the scene of a shooting in 2011, when a gunman killed four people and wounded over 100 before turning the gun on himself.
Kiev: A prominent Russian journalist and critic of President Vladimir Putin was shot dead in Ukraine where he had fled into exile following threats, police said on Tuesday.

Arkady Babchenko, 41, died of his wounds in an ambulance after his wife found him covered in his blood in their home, police said, adding they suspected the murder was due to Babchenko's professional activities.

Babchenko, a former soldier in the Chechen war who became one of Russia's best-known war correspondents, had left his homeland fearing for his life after criticising Russian policy in Ukraine and Syria.

He had been denounced by pro-government politicians in Russia over comments on social media about the Russian bombing of Aleppo and over his characterisation of Russia as an aggressor towards Ukraine.
Gaza City: Gaza Strip-based militants say they have agreed to a ceasefire with Israel, after a fresh round of hostilities that saw the largest exchange of missiles between the two sides since 2014.

"We are committed to this ceasefire as long as Israel is committed to it," Dawood Shihab, a spokesman for the Islamic Jihad group, said in an emailed statement, adding that the deal had been worked out with Egyptian mediation.

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Gaza City on Wednesday. Credit:AP

A less hopeful note was struck by the Israelis with one official, who declined to be named, saying: "the report about a ceasefire is incorrect".

Israel earlier said that Gaza-based militants had fired about 70 mortars, up from an earlier count of 25, from the enclave on Tuesday.
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Armandos is gone  again!

The long-time owner of beloved Armandos restaurant in Brooklyn Heights closed its doors last week after 82 years in business  a big loss for the community, said the head of the local business-boosting group.

Armandos has been a pillar in the community for 82 years, and will be dearly missed, said Kate Chura, the executive director of the Montague Street Business Improvement District.

Owner Peter Byros sold his landmarked Montague Street building  which once boasted its famous neon lobster sign out front  to a real-estate agent in February, according to city records.

Byros said he tried to work out a deal to continue leasing his old-school Italian kitchen, between Clinton and Henry streets, from the new operator so he could continue churning out his delicious red-sauce dishes that had locals, politicians, and even once-famous stars keep coming back for more, but it was too expensive and few tables were booked every night like they once were.

Business is not what it used to be, used to be flourishing, said Byros, who lives in Queens.

Byros briefly shuttered his legendary eatery in 2008 to make way for a now-closed Spicy Pickle sandwich shop in its place, but re-opened just a year-and-a-half later, to locals delight.

Byros, who ran the joint since 1981, isnt sure what the new owners have planned for the landmarked building, but wouldnt be surprised if they transformed it into a fast-food chain.

Because thats the one that pays the high rents, he said.

Byros loved nothing more than serving the community for more than three decades, he said.

I thank all my people for their support theyve given me all these years, Im very disappointed that I had to close down, but there was no other choice, said Byros.

But not everyone is sad to see the staple Italian eatery shutter  one man, whose number is just one digit off from its owners but listed in city records for the restaurant, has gotten calls meant for him for the last decade and is hoping now that will finally end.

Its been happening to me for eight years. At first I tried to be helpful but after eight years it got to be very frustrating  I got more and more agitated as the years went by, said the man from Connecticut who declined to give his name. I dont know how much business he lost, I tell people to blow off. I hope this is the last.
The Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Binani Cement on Monday voted in favour of UltraTech Cement's Rs 7,960-crore offer, according to a PTI report from Kolkata. AV Birla Group-led UltraTech Cement's bid received 100 per cent consent at the CoC meeting, sources close to the company said.

The meeting had to be pushed back several rounds due to legal hurdles. The voting overrides the previous CoC decision of going with the Dalmia Bharat-led consortium as the successful bidder.

UltraTech now becomes the H1 bidder, replacing Rajputana Properties - the bidding company for the Dalmia Bharat-led consortium.

The Letter of Intent is unlikely to be issued immediately, as the CoC will submit its plan to the resolution professional, who in turn will forward it to the NCLT Kolkata bench, CoC sources said.

The Tribunal had ordered the CoC to submit the final successful proposal, presenting an opportunity to revise the offers of both the bidders, latest by June 24. Dalmia Bharat had said it will not revise its offer, which was lower by about Rs 1,100 crore.

The company, however, had said it will contest the decision in the Appellate Tribunal and may also move the Supreme Court, if Ultratech Cement's proposal was accepted. Earlier NCLT had asked the debt-laden company's committee of creditors to evaluate a revised offer by UltraTech Cement Ltd.
Fortis Healthcare today decided to initiate a fresh, time-bound bidding process for its sale and terminated the offer from Munjal-Burman combine that was earlier accepted by the company's board.

The move comes a day after the Munjal-Burman combine had given their consent to re-open the bidding process. After its two-day meeting that began on Monday, the Fortis board has decided to initiate a fresh, time-bound process to optimise the company's and shareholders' short and long term interests, according to a regulatory filing.

"Munjal-Burman consortium's offer accepted by the board (of Fortis) on May 10, 2018 stands mutually terminated," Fortis Healthcare Ltd (FHL) said in the filing. Based on the suitability of the offers evaluated earlier, the board has also decided to invite three bidders who had put in their offers -- Munjal-Burman combine, TPG-Manipal consortium, and Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad to participate in the fresh round of bidding.

The three entities would have to confirm adherence to the new bidding process by May 31, the filing said. As per the latest timeline, binding bids should be submitted on June 14 between 8.30 am to 9.30 am. Under the offer that was earlier accepted by the Fortis board, Munjals-Burmans combine was to also invest Rs 1,800 crore.
After Swedish networking company Ericsson decided to take the fight over non-payment of dues worth Rs 978 crore with debt-ridden RCom to the NCLT, the beleaguered telecom company on Tuesday came out with a fresh offer of Rs 500-crore upfront payment to Ericsson to settle the matter. RCom on Monday moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) against the NCLT order to admit an insolvency petition filed by Ericsson against the company.

The appellate tribunal has now suggested the matter to be solved between the parties, if they wish to do so, and listed the matter for a hearing on Wednesday. RCom and its two subsidiaries -- Reliance Infratel Limited and Reliance Telecom Limited -- owe around Rs 978 crore to Ericsson. They all had entered into a seven-year agreement with Ericsson in 2013.

Ericsson provided all the operational services, including mobile towers, broadband, fixed line, wireless voice, and data, to the three companies but they failed to pay dues worth Rs 978 crore. However, the total outstanding dues now stand at Rs 1,600 crore against all three companies.

Anil Ambani's company has a total debt of Rs 46,000 crore. It was one of the casualties of the tariff war caused by Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, which offered data plans at dirt-cheap prices. After facing huge losses, Anil Ambani-led company heaved a sigh of relief as it signed a deal to sell its wireless assets to Reliance Jio Infocomm for over Rs 25,000 crore in December 2017.

However, it had consistently failed to pay up a huge pile of dues to Ericsson, which on May 15 moved the adjudicating authority of the NCLT's (National Company Law Tribunal) Mumbai Bench.

During the hearing, senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for RCom, suggested an upfront payment and the NCLAT bench headed by Chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya suggested settlement between parties. "You know the fate of operational creditors (In corporate resolution process). You may not even get 5 per cent. If you want we would give you time for settlement," the bench said, reported PTI, adding that if they wanted settlement the court could allow it.

Once the resolution process is commenced against a company under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), secured financial creditors are given the first priority over other creditors in the rights over the assets of the debtor company. So if the resolution process begins against RCom, Ericsson would be placed much down the list of priority.

During the hearing, Kapil Sibal also said RIL's Jio, which is buying RCom's assets, has offered Rs 17,000 crore of upfront payment along with spectrum dues and transfer of debts. Meanwhile, after the interim prayer of RCom to stay the NCLT order, the tribunal listed for the matter for hearing on Wednesday.
US-based cab aggregator Uber has elevated its India head Amit Jain as Regional General Manager for Asia Pacific region. After the promotion, Jain will be responsible for the operations in countries like Australia, New Zealand, and North Asia. Currently, he is the President of Uber India and South Asia.

Reacting to the elevation, Jain said: "I am really excited to be stepping up to lead Uber's ride-sharing operations in APAC. We have amazing people doing phenomenal work, here at Uber, and I am excited to work with them to grow and expand our business in APAC."

Amit Jain had joined Uber in May 2015 from US-based rent.com. During his tenure at Rent.com, Jain led all operational facets and achieved a dramatic and successful turnaround of the organization. Prior to that, he held numerous executive positions including Senior Advisor for TPG Capital, Vice President, Nexeo Solutions, and Associate Partner at McKinsey & Company.

Amit holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in Computer Science and Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and an MBA from Stanford University.
CBSE Class 10 results have been declared. Results were expected to be out today at 4 pm, as mentioned by Secretary, HRD ministry Anil Swarup. Not only the anticipation of the results, students of CBSE Class 10 also had to brave the added pressure of the paper leak aftermath. Although the paper leak affected students of both CBSE Class 10 and 12, the former were exempted from re-examination. While CBSE Class 12 kept up the encouraging trend of overall pass percentage, it remains to be seen how CBSE Class 10 fared.

Students who have appeared for the CBSE Class 10 exams could check their results on the official websites of cbseresults.nic.in, cbse.nic.in or results.nic.in. All they have to do is the following:

Go to one of the aforementioned official websites

Click on the link which says, 'Class 10 Exam Results'

Enter your roll number and submit the same

Take a printout for future use

Additionally CBSE Class 10 students can also access the results via apps and SMSes and can view their results on UMANG mobile app, available on Android, Ios and Windows phone. CBSE Class 10 students can also access the results on search engine www.bing.com as well as on Google. Not only that, results can also be accessed on Microsoft SMS Organizer app.

To access results on Microsoft SMS Organiser app, students will have to do the following:

Download the SMS organiser app

Check the notification from SMS Organiser to register CBSE results

Pre-register with your roll number, school code, date of birth and such details

Once the results are declared, click on the result notification to avail your score card

Download the score card

To access results on Google, CBSE Class 10 students will have to do the following:

Log on to google.com

Type CBSE 10 Results 2018 in the space provided

Select CBSE 10 result 2018 that will open a window

Enter your roll number, DoB and other details that are asked for

Click on 'Check Exam Results'

Results will be displayed on the screen

If students want to access their results via SMS, all they have to do is type CBSE10 (roll number) and send it to the corresponding number provided by CBSE:

BSNL: 57766

Aircel: 5800002

Idea: 54321, 51234

Tata Teleservices: 5333300

Airtel: 54321202

NIC (National Informatics Centre): 9212357123

A charge of 50 paise will be levied on each SMS.

CBSE Class 10 students can also access the results through IVRS or Interactive Voice Response System on 24300699 for Delhi subscribers and on 011- 24300699 for subscribers from other parts of the country.

To make matters easier, CBSE Class 10 students can get their marksheets through DigiLocker that is registered with the Government of India. Students would get their account details on the mobile number that was registered with the board for CBSE Class 10 results 2018. Students can access the locker on digilocker.gov.in. The locker is also accessible on Android and iOS.

In a statement CBSE asked the public not to visit the board's office for the results, since it will not be available there. Along with the results, process of marks verification will also be displayed on the website.

Around 16.88 lakh students appeared for the examinations that were conducted from March 5 to April 4. More than 28 lakh students appeared for both the exams combined that were held at 8,591 centres in India and abroad.

Anil Swarup took to Twitter to wish all the students ahead of the results. "All the best to CBSE students of class 10. You have done your bit. Let not the results make you nervous because you have no control over them. You can't do anything now. You will reap the fruits of what you have sown. Be contented with what you get. And then, build your future," he said.
New Delhi, May 28 (PTI) Chinese officials will visit India soon to hold bilateral discussions on the issues hampering the negotiations of the proposed mega free trade deal -- Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu said.

The pact, negotiations for which started in Cambodian capital Phnom Penh in November 2012, aims to cover goods, services, investments, economic and technical cooperation, competition and intellectual property rights.

"Chinese official delegation will be coming here for RCEP only. We have invited them for RCEP," Prabhu told PTI.

The RCEP bloc comprises 10 Asean members (Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Laos and Vietnam) and their six FTA partners - India, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

The meeting with Chinese officials would be crucial as Indian industry and exporters are apprehensive about the presence of China in the grouping. They have stated that lowering or eliminating duties for China may flood Indian markets with Chinese goods.

Indias trade deficit with China stood at USD 63.12 billion in 2017-18. India wants certain deviations for such countries. Under deviations, India may propose a longer duration for either reduction or elimination of import duties for such countries.

Pressure is also mounting on India for early conclusion of the proposed trade pact.

Prabhu said that during his recent visit to Cambodia, Prime Minister of Cambodia Hun Sen expressed his keenness for early conclusion of RCEP talks.

"I explained to him that we have certain issues with China. So we are talking to them bilaterally about the RCEP issues as well as with Australia and New Zealand where "we have concerns about agriculture because we want to make sure that agri imports should not happen through RCEP so that our farmers should not get affected. We explained these two things," he added.

When asked about the apprehensions and concerns raised by experts and industry on the agreement, Prabhu said the ministry is collecting feedback from all ministries and other stakeholders for preparing their positions.

About mounting pressure for conclusion talks, he said it is a comprehensive economic partnership agreement and that means inclusion of services sector.

Member countries are looking to conclude the talks by end of this year but a lot of issues are yet to be finalised including the number of products over which duties will be eliminated. Domestic steel and other metal industries wants these sectors to be kept out of the deal.

Under services, India wants greater market access for its professionals in the proposed agreement.

India already has a free trade pact with Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), Japan and South Korea. It is also negotiating a similar agreement with Australia and New Zealand but has no such plans for China. PTI RR SA SA
The CBI has booked AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes and several others for allegedly violating aviation norms. The crime branch is also carrying out searches at six locations. On Tuesday, the CBI said that they booked these officials over alleged violation of aviation norms, namely the 5/20 rule for getting international flying licenses as well as violation of Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) rules.

The 5/20 rule essentially states that in order to be eligible for international flying licenses, aviation companies would need 5 years of experience and 20 aircraft.

AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes allegedly lobbied with government servants for clearances, removal of existing 5/20 rule of aviation and change in regulatory policies, the agency has alleged.

Besides Anthony Francis 'Tony' Fernandes, Group CEO AirAsia Malaysia, the company AirAsia, Travel Food owner Sunil Kapoor, AirAsia Director R Venkatraman, aviation consultant Deepak Talwar, Director of Singapore-based SNR Trading Rejendra Dubey and unidentified public servants have been named in the FIR.

The agency is carrying searches at six locations belonging to the Malaysian airline in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru, the officials said.

This Malaysian budget airline serves a host of international destinations from India including Auckland, Bali, Bangkok, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Manila, Osaka, Perth, Singapore, Sydney and Tokyo.

(With PTI inputs)
Malaysia-based aviation entrepreneur Tony Fernandes might be in for a rude shock on Tuesday when the India's premier investigation agency CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) allegedly filed cases against him and other officials for bribing government officials to amend the once-controversial 5/20 rule that mandated airlines to have five years of experience and a minimum of 20 aircraft-fleet to fly on international routes.

The CBI has said that the payments of about Rs 12.28 crore were remitted to India to lobby with civil servants during the UPA rule. AirAsia India, which is a joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia Berhad, was started in 2013 as a low-cost carrier, and currently flies 18 Airbus A320s. AirAsia India marked the re-entry of Tata Group in the aviation sector after a long break.

Two year ago, as part of the new aviation policy, the civil aviation ministry modified the rule to 0/20 that benefitted start-up airlines like AirAsia India and Vistara, which were were no longer required to wait for five years to start international operations. Though having 20 aircraft in the fleet still takes time because ordering new aircraft has a significant time lag. The 5/20 rule, that came into effect in 2004, benefitted legacy carriers that fought hard against the removal of this rule.

The investigating agency alleged the AirAsia Group has also violated FIPB (Foreign Investment Promotion Board) and FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) norms by giving management control to a foreign entity, and making AirAsia India a de-facto subsidiary of AirAsia Group in the process. This particular allegation has been floating around in the market ever since the airline's co-founder Arun Bhatia broke its ties with the airline over the concerns of the disproportionate control of parent company in the functioning of the carrier, which he said was in contravention of the Indian laws. Later, Bhatia sold his stake and said that he would take up the matter legally.

The airline has been in news for wrong reasons for long. Two years ago, a Deloitte Touche investigation into Air-Asia India unearthed irregularities in the financial transactions of about Rs 22 crore involving its former CEO Mittu Chandilya.

AirAsia India struggles to make a mark in the Indian aviation space. Its market share stood at 5 per cent in April. Recently, the airline's CEO and MD Amar Abrol resigned from his position, and is reportedly moving back to the group headquarters in Malaysia to work on other projects.

Meanwhile, AirAsia India has refuted any wrong doing and is co-operating with all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts. "In November 2016, AirAsia India had initiated criminal charges against its ex-CEO and had also commenced civil proceedings in Bangalore for such irregularities. We hope to bring early resolution to all such issues," Shuva Mandal, Director at AirAsia India said in an official statement.
If your bank is state-run, you'd best finish off any pressing banking business before end of day today. Because, with all conciliatory efforts on the part of Additional Chief Labour Commissioner (CLC) Rajan Verma failing to work out on Monday, the employees of public sector banks are reportedly going full-steam ahead with their plans for a two-day nationwide strike starting Wednesday. Several banks, including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Canara Bank, have previously cautioned that their services and normal banking operations would be impacted by the strike.

According to The Business Standard, Verma had held a conciliatory meeting between the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), finance ministry officials and the Indian Banks' Association (IBA) in an effort to avert the strike. "The CLC tried his best to sort out the strike-related issues but there is no positive development. Though the bankers, through the IBA, said they are willing to reconsider the proposed wage hike, there was no concrete proposal. Hence, the strike stands," All India Bank Employees' Association General Secretary C H Venkatachalam told the daily.

DT Franco, general secretary, All India Bank Officers' Confederation added that about 1 million bank officers are expected to participate in the strike on May 30 and May 31.

With AIBEA president Rajen Nagar reportedly announcing that ATM security guards will be among the participants in the strike, some ATMs may remain shut over the next two days. So if your salary gets credited at the end of the month, you may not be able to withdraw it till Friday.

To remind you, last week, UFBU - an umbrella body of nine unions, including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) - had called for the strike to protest against a 'meagre' 2 per cent wage hike offered by the IBA earlier this month.

In comparison, in the last wage settlement, for the period November 2012 to October 2017, IBA had given a wage hike of 15 per cent. Hence UFBU is now demanding an expeditious and early wage revision settlement, an adequate increase in salary and improvement in other service conditions and wage revision settlement to include all officers up to scale VII, which will include divisional managers to general managers. IBA has currently decided to restrict wage negotiations to scale-III officers or up till the senior manager-level.

The report added that during the conciliation meeting, UFBU told the CLC that the proposed hike "was not at all acceptable, considering the rise in cost of living". As per the minutes of the meeting, IBA officials had stated that in view of the huge non-performing assets that banks are grappling with, the wage hike had to be capped at 2 per cent. According to a recent CARE Ratings report, NPAs of the 26 banks that have declared Q4 results so far show a 15% jump over December quarter at Rs 7.31 lakh crore.

But UFBU convener Devidas Tuljapurkar later pointed out that "It is only because of provisions towards NPA that banks have booked losses, and for this, bank employees are not responsible". He added that bank employees have worked tirelessly for implementation of government initiatives such as Jan-Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra and Atal Pension Yojana, among others, in the past two-three years, which resulted in a "huge increase in their workloads".

In light of the above, according to the daily, Verma had advised the bank management to offer a fresh wage hike, adding that "as in the past, wage settlements, the officers from scale-IV to scale-VII were also covered so this time also they may be a part of the wage negotiations because excluding them may cause a fresh controversy which may not be conducive for amicable industrial relations".

As per the minutes of the conciliation proceedings, the IBA officials had said that they were ready to negotiate further but having already waited nearly a month, the bank unions have apparently lost patience.

With PTI inputs
CSO data released today shows that the number of overseas visits to Ireland for the first four months of 2018 was over 2.8 million, which was an increase of 7.3% compared to the same period in 2017.

Minister for Transport, Tourism & Sport, Shane Ross T.D., commented on the data: The continued growth in visitor numbers reflects the on-going efforts of the tourism agencies, in collaboration with the tourism sector, to market Ireland at a range of markets with the highest revenue growth potential.

Compared with the first four months of 2017, the report shows that North America continues to perform extremely well with visitors increasing by 13.6% to 510,200.

Visits from Mainland Europe increased by 12.3% to 1,031,200, with strong performances from Germany (+24.3%) and Italy (+21.9%). Visits from the rest of the world increased by 2.9% to 158,100.

Visitors from Great Britain rose slightly by 1.1% to 1,121,000.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said:  While we welcome the fact that arrivals from Britain are up very slightly, this doesnt represent a turnaround in the long-term trend. The impact of Brexit on outbound travel from Britain, therefore, remains a concern. The fall in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors and has made Britain more affordable for visitors from many of our top markets.

He concluded: Competitiveness and value for money remain more important than ever in Britain this year.

Source: www.businessworld.ie
Dixons Carphone said profit would fall by 21% in the current year, as its new chief executive warned that he needed to fix problems at the company and close shops at a time of a contracting UK electrical market.

Dixons Carphone said it expected headline pretax profit for its 2018/19 financial year to be around 300 million, some 21% behind the 382 million it is forecasting for the 12 months ended April 28 2018.

Chief Executive Alex Baldock, who joined two months ago from online shop Shop Direct, said that he planned to cut costs to help the mobile phone and electricals retailer recover and had already started a process to simplify its processes.

As part of his cost saving measures, he said he planned to close 92 Carphone Warehouse standalone stores this year to help improve gross margins.

"Though there's plenty to fix, it's all fixable," he said in a statement on Tuesday.

The forecast for 2018/19 profit represents a significant downgrade from a current consensus forecast of 387 million, according to Thomson Reuters data. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
JAB Holdings, the private company of Germany's billionaire Reimann family, is expanding its coffee empire with a majority stake in British sandwich and coffee shop chain Pret A Manger.

Luxembourg-based JAB is buying Pret from private equity firm Bridgepoint and other minority investors for an undisclosed sum, Pret said on Tuesday.

A Pret spokeswoman declined to comment on the value of the deal, but the Financial Times reported earlier that the price was 1.5 billion including debt.

The deal marks the latest in a string of coffee industry acquisitions by JAB, including Keurig Green Mountain and Peets Coffee & Tea, as it looks to challenge Swiss food and beverage giant Nestle.

Nestle, the world's biggest coffee company, struck a $7.15 billion licensing deal with Starbucks Corp this month.

Pret opened its first shop in London in 1986 and now generates revenue of 879 million from 530 stores in countries including the United States and China.

Bridgepoint bought a majority stake in the chain a decade ago for about 345 million and had been examining a potential stock market listing before opting to sell to JAB.

"Managements proven track record and commitment to customer service, investment in innovation and approach to freshly prepared food position Pret well as it capitalises on evolving consumer taste and lifestyle preferences," said JAB Chief Executive Olivier Goudet. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
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A standoff over the maintenance of important mining rail line has sparked warnings of a $2 billion hit to next month's Queensland budget and significant damage to the state's coal exports and prompted Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk moving to reassure international steel makers ahead of her trade trip to Japan. Rail operator Aurizon and the Queensland Competition Authority are at loggerheads over a draft ruling from the QCA in December that would allow Aurizon to recoup only $3.89 billion from its network business from July 2017 to June 2021. That figure was $999 million less than Aurizon wanted. In response Aurizon, which has a monopoly on the state's coal rail network, has now said it would have to change its maintenance practices, leading to a reduction of up to 20 million tonnes in Queensland coal exports a year - or about 10 per cent of total exports. It was expected the fight could cut about $500 million in Queensland government royalties each year, harming the budget bottom line. The development came as another coal royalties drama was resolved this week, with BHP and the government reaching a confidential settlement on a $329 million dispute over a royalties reassessment. Ms Palaszczuk on Tuesday urged the independent regulator and Aurizon to resolve the issue. "I think it's very important that I reassure the Japanese government that their coal exports are secure," she said. "I think it is very important that Aurizon and the QCA sit down and try to resolve this issue as a matter of urgency." Ms Palaszczuk has asked her chief of staff to speak to representatives at Aurizon, and she will meet with the Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono in Tokyo, with the pair to discuss the problem. Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane said Ms Palaszczuk's call for Aurizon and the QCA to resolve the issue was "absolutely correct". "The QCA's regulatory process is still under way," he said. "We only have a draft decision on the table, yet Aurizon has already decided to choke coal supply to Queensland's customers, like the very worried steel industry in Japan." But an Aurizon spokesman said the QCA draft decision made no commercial sense. "They have recommended we drive our operational practices to the lowest possible cost regardless of the impact on our customers," he said. "They have also recommended one of the lowest rates of return on any regulated asset in Australia." The Aurizon spokesman said the company had to take action now because of the retrospective nature of the decision, which would be backdated to July 2017. "And the very real prospect that it could cost Aurizon jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars if we don't," he said. "However, we are trying to work with our customers and the QCA on a resolution to this matter as quickly as possible. "We would urge the Queensland Resources Council to stop playing politics, do their job and help work with industry on a solution." LNP leader Deb Frecklington said the government needed to sort out the dispute. "This means a couple of billions of dollars to our bottom line in Queensland," she said. "They need to make sure that they get the parties into a room and sort this problem out." Treasurer Jackie Trad said the QCA was the right organisation to resolve the issue. "Aurizon is a private monopoly, we need an independent statutory authority to determine what are the right charges for all users of that monopolistic infrastructure," she said. Ms Trad said the state government had no statutory basis to intervene. Aurizon has also launched an application for a judicial review in the Supreme Court, seeking to scrap the draft QCA ruling. On Tuesday afternoon, the QCA released a consultation paper, asking for comments on maintenance and operational matters, and said it was "favourably disposed" to accepting Aurizon's revised claim for direct maintenance costs. In a statement, the QCA said stakeholders had argued that greater accountability should be applied to Aurizon, in relation to its maintenance and operational activities. The QCA said stakeholders should collaborate and provide joint submissions, where possible. "The QCA encourages Aurizon Network and its customers to engage with each other in order to reach a pragmatic consensus on these matters," it said. "The draft decision sought submissions from all stakeholders and did not represent any final views... The QCA's assessment may change when it makes its final decision." Meanwhile, South32 on Tuesday announced it had signed a conditional agreement to acquire a 50 per cent interest in the Eagle Downs metallurgical coal project in Queensland's Bowen Basin. The Queensland coal sector generated $36.2 billion in export revenue in 2016-17 and delivered $3.4 billion in royalty payments to the Queensland government. Last year, Queensland exported $7.397 billion worth of coal to Japan, $9.971 billion to China and $7.724 to India and $4.139 billion to South Korea. CORRECTION: A previous version of this story incorrectly indicated Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would be meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop. However, she was referring to Japanese Foreign Affairs Minister Taro Kono.

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An accused killer strangled Andrew Carville in his own home, before rolling him in a carpet and leaving him on the tray of an abandoned car in a Sutton paddock, a court has heard. Milan Urlich, 30, is then alleged to have returned days later with his brother Marc Urlich, 45, to move the body, hiding it under boulders in a dry creek bed on Defence land in Majura. Mr Carvilles badly decomposed body was discovered by police on November 19, 2015. Milan Urlich has been charged with the November 4 murder, while Marc Urlich has been charged with being an accessory after the fact. Both men have pleaded not guilty and went on trial before Justice John Burns in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday. Shane Drumgold, ACT deputy director of public prosecutions, told the court Milan Urlich - the owner of a white Landcruiser ute - had been part of a group of people involved in helping a woman move out of Mr Carvilles Evatt home. On day two of the move, the court heard the woman became upset after finding the body of her deceased pet dog and Milan Urlich had been sent to pick her up. Milan Urlich had helped the woman into his Landcruiser before returning to the house. He returned about 20 minutes later and placed something heavy on the tray of the vehicle. The prosecution alleges Milan Urlich had killed the 52-year-old during the 20 minutes, before concealing his body by wrapping it inside a rug and some blankets, and loading it onto the car. Shortly after, the woman switched vehicles and Milan Urlich is alleged to dumped the car in the paddock of a Sutton property. The court heard Milan Urlich had been found wandering in that area on the morning of November 5 and was taken to Queanbeyan Hospital. He is then alleged to have checked himself out, stolen a van, and then driven to Marc Urlichs home on Phillip Island, Victoria. The Crown alleges the brothers then returned to Canberra where together they moved Mr Carville's body from the paddock before dumping Milan Urlich's ute at Molonglo Gorge, in Kowen Pine Forest. The court heard police later found a branded lighter from the Westernport Hotel in the paddock. The hotel is about 10 kilometres from Marc Urlich's house. The ute was found on November 14 and Mr Carville's body was uncovered during a police search on November 19. Mr Drumgold said the body had been hidden under a number of boulders, the heaviest weighed about 139 kilograms. Another two weighed 78kgs and 73kgs. Mr Drumgold said it would have taken at least two men to move the stones. An autopsy could not determine the cause of death, but jurors heard Mr Carville had suffered rib fractures and injuries to his neck consistent with strangulation. The court heard Marc Urlichs statement to police said he had been alone, asleep, in the Ibis Styles Canberra Eaglehawk on the night he is alleged to have moved the body. Defence barrister James Lawton, representing Milan Urlich, and James Sabharwal, for Marc Urlich, did not make an opening address to the jury. The trial continues on Wednesday.

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The man who died in a head-on crash on a notorious road near the NSW Riverina town of Tumut on Sunday was a 67-year-old from Canberra. NSW Police confirmed an Aranda man, who was driving a Toyota RAV4, died at the scene of the smash, which happened on Gocup Road about 8.40am. His passenger, a 48-year-old Dickson man, was airlifted to Canberra Hospital in a serious condition. The sole occupant of the other car, a dual cab ute, was taken by ambulance to Wagga Base Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Their current conditions are unknown. A NSW Police spokesperson said an investigation into the cause of the crash was ongoing. Gocup Road is a notorious two-lane road between Gundagai and Tumut, which locals have previously described to Fairfax Media as a "death trap". The NSW government has completed $65.9 million worth of upgrades since 2012, largely focused on widening and strengthening the road. Another $3 million phase of works began in January.

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Australia's adult industry has campaigned for years for changes to the nation's classification laws - standards so outdated even the Communications Department agrees they could be modernised. Legal sexual acts, including bondage and spanking, are generally banned on-screen. As is any act involving fetishes or practices deemed by classifiers "offensive or revolting or abhorrent". Zahra Stardust, a UNSW PhD candidate and former Feminist Porn Heart Throb of the Year, said the nation's classification standards were backward - and badly harming the local adult industry. "Classification and criminal laws in Australia reinforce a heteronormative and big business model for pornography, while reducing the ability of local, independent producers to produce pornography that challenges this model," she said. "While pornography is frequently accused of being homogeneous and plastic, the regulatory framework restricts the kinds of practices that tangibly illustrate that the performers are human - that they ... bleed, ejaculate and urinate, and that their skin turns pink when smacked." But the laws are not just restrictive; they're also incredibly complex. The Communications Department is ultimately responsible for classification of all content, overseeing two separate acts. Four agencies sit under the department, charged variously with looking after television, online content, films, publications and computer games, while another four agencies - two already accounted for elsewhere in the chain - are tasked with enforcing the laws. Australia's porn producers argue the existing classification system affects more than the shrinking sector. The Eros Association, the peak adult industry body, has called on the government to shift its efforts from censoring adult content to ensuring children can't access it. Many fed-up local producers have effectively circumvented local authorities' ability to act as regulators by hosting their X18+ content overseas. This can prevent agencies restricting access to content or, in worst case scenarios, issuing enforceable takedown notices for image-based abuse. Julie Inman Grant, Australia's eSafety Commissioner, labelled the existing Broadcasting Services Act 1992 - which governs television and online content - "an effective mechanism" for the investigation of offensive and illegal online material. "The Broadcasting Services Act is working as intended - to ensure that Australia does not become a safe harbour for prohibited content as defined by the National Classification Scheme," Ms Inman Grant said. But child safety remains a common concern for the industry and those usually in opposition. Indeed, Eros and eChildhood - formerly Porn Harms Kids - recently met to discuss the issue. An Australian Institute of Family Studies report released in December 2017 found 44 per cent of Australian children aged nine to 16 had encountered sexual images. Of those surveyed, 16 per cent had seen images of someone having sex and 17 per cent had seen genitals. Children aged nine to 12 were particularly likely to be distressed or upset by pornography, according to the institute. "Eros is in conversation with a variety of organisations to ensure the adult media industry is in keeping with community expectations," Eros general manager Rachel Payne said. "Although some of these organisations are critical of our industry in some respects, we are all in agreement that the current laws applying to adult media content are not working for anyone." Ms Payne said: "Eros supports the full legalisation of consensual, non-violent erotica in Australia with appropriate protections in place to ensure young people cannot access adult content." The issue - and proposed responses - are highly contentious. A 2016 senate inquiry into the effect of pornography on children attracted 416 submissions, 151 letters and "a significant number" of short statements. eChildhood has called for mandatory age verification filters on porn sites like those planned for the UK. Countless families around the country have told the organisation's chairwoman, Liz Walker, the impact the accidental viewing of pornography had on their lives, she said. We dont let tobacco industries or alcohol industries just sell their products without restriction because we recognise theres harms to children and young people," Ms Walker said. "The same sort of restriction laws should be applied here." Mandatory age verification is widely condemned by the adult industry and met with caution from privacy experts. Many voices have called for more resources, stronger parental involvement and better sex education. One suite of resources, the eSafety Commissioner's pornography advice web pages, have received more than 35,000 views in the past 18 months. Parents were the "frontline of defence" in preventing children from watching porn, Ms Inman Grant said, encouraging them to speak with their children about what was and wasn't appropriate. "Technological tools can be circumvented and can lead to parental complacency so the overriding message is that there is no substitute for active engagement and oversight in your childrens online lives," she said. A report released on the back of the 2016 senate inquiry recommended the government task "an expert panel" to make recommendations to the government regarding possible policy measures on protecting children from pornography. That document, prepared by the panel chaired by Ms Inman Grant, remains cabinet-in-confidence. A Communications Department spokesman said only that the panel had "reinforced ... protecting children from exposure to pornography requires a multi-faceted approach" involving families as "the first line of defence" but also using education, technological and regulatory measures. "The governments aim is to make all these approaches work together to make a difference in the online lives of Australian children," he said. It's government-speak, but it appears there may be movement. A 2012 Australian Law Reform Commission report recommended a new, simpler classification scheme guided by eight principles, including that Australians should be able to read, hear, see and participate in media of their choice and that children should be protected from material likely to harm or disturb them. Almost all action taken in the report's wake has related to the classification of video games. But when asked this week about the report and that of the senate inquiry, the Communications spokesman said the government was now looking at how the National Classification Scheme could be "modernised", and had reached out to states, territories and industry stakeholders to figure out the next step forward. An ACT Justice and Community Safety Directorate spokesman confirmed the territory government had been contacted by its federal counterparts. "The ACT supports an examination of the scheme," the spokesman said. For its part, Eros is well and truly ready to move forward. "Our classification laws are not keeping up with community standards," general manager Rachel Payne said. "It's time they let adults be adults."

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Senior Defence Department leader Kim Gillis will leave the agency in another change to its top ranks since its former secretary Dennis Richardson retired. Mr Gillis, a former Boeing Defence Australia executive, will depart Defence in September after being asked to stay on last year. Defence said the outgoing deputy secretary, overseeing Australia's multibillion dollar spend purchasing and maintaining military equipment and supplies, is leaving to pursue personal interests. His departure follows a series of others at the department's highest civilian ranks since Mr Richardson drew his long public service career to a close in 2017. Since June last year, Greg Moriarty left his role as Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull's chief of staff to head Defence, while former associate secretary Brendan Sargeant, former chief information officer Peter Lawrence, chief finance officer Phillip Prior and another deputy secretary, Roxanne Kelley, have left. Only chief scientist Alex Zelinsky, new associate secretary Rebecca Skinner, and another deputy secretary, Steve Grzeskowiak, remain among top civilian Defence leaders since the end of last financial year. Mr Gillis was appointed deputy secretary of the department's capability acquisition and sustainment arm, employing more than 5000 people, in August 2015. Before joining Defence, he was vice president and managing director of Boeing Defence Australia, and he previously worked in the former Defence Materiel Organisation. Defence has started looking for Mr Gillis' replacement.

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The Foreign Affairs department is avoiding rocking the boat in posts on a leading Chinese social media website, despite Australia's commitment to promote liberal values, a defence think tank says. A foreign policy paper released on Tuesday says embassies in China are self-censoring and failing to speak up when Weibo, which has more than 500 million users, censors messages posted to the platform. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has urged the Foreign Affairs department to devote more resources to speaking directly to China's web users through Weibo, and said Australia should create new, dedicated accounts for its prime minister and foreign minister to reach Chinese audiences. Author of the think tank paper, Fergus Ryan, said it was "worrying" the Foreign Affairs department was apparently trying not to "rock the boat too much" on Chinese social media. He found three occasions over three months when Weibo censored posts from the Australian embassy in China, but said finding examples of self-censorship was harder. The website disabled comments in one post commending Chinese leaders, including president Xi Jinping, for the number of times they had visited Australia, as well as one that referred to a strategic partnership formalised when President Xi visited in 2014. It also barred comments on a post describing a meeting between Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Chinese premier Li Keqiang. However, Australia would have been censored on more occasions if it wanted to pursue a 2017 foreign policy White Paper statement that it would advocate "liberal institutions, universal values and human rights", Mr Ryan said. "When it comes to Australia, we as a country have stated in our White Paper that these are our values and we will be determined advocates for them," he said. "If we wanted to action that policy and stand up for those values, then it would show up in those censorship statistics." The Foreign Affairs department said its Australian embassy Weibo account's purpose was to promote constructive relations and highlight areas of cooperation between Australia and China, focusing on posts that appealed to younger Chinese audiences. "All foreign embassies operate within Chinas legal framework," it said. The federal government "makes representations as appropriate" to the Chinese authorities about censorship of websites, a spokeswoman said. It was estimated China was spending $10 billion a year on external propaganda, but was trying to limit the reach of foreign countries inside its own borders, the strategic policy institute's report said. Australia and other "like-minded" governments should publish reports revealing the extent to which their legitimate online public diplomacy was censored in China, and should duplicate Weibo posts on Twitter to show any incidences of censorship and give alternative access to embassy messages. Foreign govenments should also publish clear terms of use for their social media accounts in China to avoid self-censorship, the report said. Weibo censored 28 posts from the United States' embassy in some form from November to January. In more than half of the cases, censorship involved disabling comments immediately, and in 7 per cent of cases Weibo deleted posts. In one example during December, the US embassy was censored after it sent a post on Weibo linking to a USGerman embassy joint statement about the sentencing of activist Wu Gan and his lawyer, Xie Yang. Four posts from the US embassy relating to North Korea were also deleted in a move Mr Ryan said suggested Beijing during the Korean peninsula nuclear crisis was "trying to regain control of the narrative in its own information space". Mr Ryan said Australia should not necessarily follow the US approach to Chinese social media, which saw its embassy post a statement accusing China of "Orwellian nonsense" and of imposing its views on Americans after the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration called for foreign airlines to use Beijing's preferred terms for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau. Other embassies had posted harmless but relatively unread posts. "In between those two extremes, there's enormous space for foreign embassies and foreign governments to play endlessly," Mr Ryan said. Australia's Foreign Affairs department should direct more resources to Weibo as other countries, including Israel, posted videos to the website that engaged better with China's culture and people. Weibo accounts for the prime minister and foreign minister would also act as another diplomatic tool, he said. The Foreign Affairs department will consider the think tank's recommendations.

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Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

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Maharashtra Police has released an employment notification calling out for aspirants to apply for the post of Assistant Intelligence 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 22400. The selection process will be through a written and a physical standard test.

The last date to apply for the government job is June 12, 2018. The hall ticket will be available from June 25, 2018 onwards. The application fees for the general category is INR 525 and concession will be provided for others.

MPSC Recruitment 2018 For Anaesthetist

Maharashtra Police Recruitment 2018 Vacancy Details

CRITERIA DETAILS Name Of The Post Assistant Intelligence Officer Organisation Maharashtra Police Educational Qualification Graduate from a recognised university Maximum Age Limit 30 years Skills Required Aptitude and physical fitness

Salary Scale INR 5200 to INR 22400 Job Location Maharashtra Industry Police Experience Desirable Application Start Date May 29, 2018 Application End Date June 12, 2018

Also Read: MPSC Recruitment 2018 For Science Graduates

How To Apply For Maharashtra Police Recruitment 2018

In order to apply for Maharashtra Police Recruitment 2018, follow these steps:

Step 1: Log on to the Maharashtra Police official website.

Step 2: The application link will be open from 12 pm today. Click on it.

Step 3: The registration form will be displayed on the screen. Enter your details in the fields provided and submit it.

Step 4: Login using your credentials to complete the application process.

Click here to read the detailed official notification.
Photo: The Canadian Press A man clear trees damaged by mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip in a kindergarten at a kibbutz near the Israel Gaza border, Tuesday, May 29, 2018.

Israeli jets bombed Gaza hours after militants from the territory on Tuesday fired more than 25 mortar shells toward communities in southern Israel in what appeared to be the largest single barrage since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

The Israeli military said no one was hurt and that most of the mortar shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system, though one of the shells landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The high volume of projectiles came as tensions have been running high along the Israel-Gaza border and a fierce Israeli response was expected.

"Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the barrage.

Shortly after that warning, Israeli jets began dropping bombs at what security officials in Gaza called Islamic Jihad militant training site. Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah in the coastal strip and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported.

Islamic Jihad was believed to be behind the attacks with a green light from Hamas, the militant Islamic group that runs the Gaza Strip.

"We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to the Zionist crimes," said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the barrage proved that the "resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes."

Israeli fire has killed more than 110 Palestinians, most of them during the Hamas-led protests, which climaxed on May 14.

On Sunday, Israeli shelling killed three Palestinian militants from the smaller Islamic Jihad group after the troops found a bomb planted along the border. The Islamic Jihad vowed retaliation.

On Monday, a tank fired at a Hamas position in the Gaza Strip, killing one man and wounding another, after Israeli troops came under fire on the frontier while apprehending two armed Palestinians.

Hamas has vowed to continue the border rallies. Israel says it is defending its border as well as its communities nearby. It accuses Hamas of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of protests.
Lafarge Malaysia expect to 'break even' despite poor 1Q18 results

29 May 2018

Lafarge Malaysia recorded its fifth consecutive quarter of net losses for the period ended 31 March this year, on weaker demand and higher competition, coupled with the increase in coal and petcoke prices.



The fall in revenue was attributable to the lower sales recorded in the cement business  the biggest revenue contributor for the group at 85 per cent  due to soft market demand, increased industry capacity and pricing pressures.

Lafarge Malaysia's CFO, Michael Lim Yoke Tuan, said, the construction company will 'break even' as and when volume and prices pick up in the industry.



"The current operating environment has seen the industry, as a whole, suffering. When the volume and pricing recover, coupled with the property market picking up and the government sorting out its long-term infrastructure pipeline, then the profits will flow," Mr Lim told members of the press after the group's AGM in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

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Ibeto Cement signs deal to receive US$850m in funding

29 May 2018

Nigerias Ibeto Cement Co Ltd has signed a deal to receive US$850m in financing from Milost Global Inc, according to the New York-based private equity firm. The binding agreement includes US$500m in equity and US$350m of debt.



The chairman of the Ibeto Group, Cletus Ibeto, has announced the companys plan to grow beyond west Africa through the acquisition of other cement businesses within the next 12 months, according to Milost Global. The cement producer is currently developing two cement plants in Nigeria, located in Ebonyi State and Cross River/Abia State.

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In July 2014, Malaysia Airlines flight 17 was shot down while flying over eastern Ukraine, killing the nearly 300 people onboard. And investigators just made a devastating discovery  it appears that the Russian missile that hit the plane originated from a Russian military unit. Russia is denying the claim, but all evidence points to them.

Believe it or not, this is far from the first commercial flight to be caught in the crossfires of governments. Unfortunately, it happens more often than you might think. These are a few of the most memorable occurrences.

The Cathay Pacific Douglas DC-4



In 1954, a Cathay Pacific flight carrying 18 passengers on their way from Bangkok to Hong Kong was shot down by fighter planes of the Peoples Republic of China. There were 19 passengers and crew onboard, and 10 of them died. The Chinese Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs wrote a letter of apology to the British government, calling it an accidental and unfortunate incident.

Next: Only five people survived this horrific incident.

Libyan Airlines Flight 114

On February 21, 1973, Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 left Tripoli and headed for Cairo, carrying 113 people. But the plane drifted into Israeli airspace, and after repeated requests to change its flight path, it was shot down. The miscommunication killed all but five people onboard.

Next: This was the second deadly crash for this airline within five months, and no one survived.

Air Rhodesia Flight 827

Air Rhodesia Flight 827 was heading to Salisbury from Kariba when it was shot down by Zimbabwe Peoples Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA) in February 1979. All 59 people on the plane died, making it the deadliest aviation incident in Zimbabwe.

Next: This doomed plane was carrying a U.S. Congressman.

Korean Airlines Flight 007

On September 1, 1983, news broke that Korean Airlines Flight 007, also known as KAL 007, had been shot down. A Soviet Su-15TM fighter was to blame. All 269 passengers and crew died, including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.

Next: A heartbreaking miscommunication led to this shootdown.

T&G Aviation DC-7

Five people were killed in December 1988 when a Douglas DC-7 chartered by the US Agency for International Development was shot down over the Western Sahara. Leaders of the Polisario Front were responsible, claiming the plane was mistaken for a Moroccan Lockheed C-130. The plane was being used to spray insecticide to control a locust outbreak.

Next: Three planes were affected by this horrible incident.

Transair Georgia



In 1993, three airliners belonging to Transair Georgia were shot down by missiles and gunfire on three consecutive days in September. The first was shot down upon landing, the second was shot a day later, also during landing, and a third one was shelled and destroyed on the ground. The missiles were fired by separatists in Sukhumi, Abkhazia, Georgia, and over 150 people died.

Next: The Ukrainian government was forced to pay the families of those who perished in this attack.

Siberian Airlines Flight 1812

All 78 passengers and crew members on Siberian Airlines Flight 1812 died when the plane was struck down on October 4, 2001, crashing over the Black Sea. Ukrainian missiles were to blame, but it was an accident  the incident occurred during a military exercise. Still, the Ukrainian Government paid out $200,000 in compensation to the families of everyone who died.

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From the moment they met, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been on a whirlwind adventure. From their fairy tale love story to their travels around the world, these two have wasted no time. And one of their most memorable trips together? Well, thatd have to be a safari in Southern Africa.

If youre curious to hear the inside scoop, read on to discover what its really like to go on safari like the royals.

They stayed at Meno A Kwena

Botswana holds a special place in Prince Harrys heart. Not only has he been visiting the country for over two decades, but he serves as President of African Parks and is a patron of Rhino Conservation Botswana. Needless to say, he really knows his way around the area.

When it comes to choosing where to stay, the prince has proven to be a repeat customer at one very special place: Meno A Kwena, a tented camp where hes also taken Markle.

Next: The camp is very authentic.

The camp isnt as luxurious as you may think

When princes travel, youd think theyd demand nothing short of five-star luxury all the way. But the young royals weve come to know and love? Well, theyre anything but the traditional stereotype. Turns out, they may even prefer camping in the bush to lounging at a resort. Although, both options sound pretty nice to us.

Meno A Kwena is one of Prince Harrys favorite places. And according to Vogue, the tented camp is far from the most luxurious camp in Botswana, but what it lacks in star ratings, it makes up for in spirit and authenticity.

Next: Go on safari, hope to see tons of animals.

The animal-spotting opportunities are endless

Naturally, any successful safari trip would include tons of wildlife spotting. But some places are more densely populated than others. Botswana, for instance, is one such place. In fact, its home to the second largest zebra and wildebeest migration in Africa. And if thats not enough, guests can spot endless herds of wild animals right from their very own veranda.

Next: Their time there was the start of something special.

It was a pivotal trip in their relationship

So, why are we even talking about Meno A Kwena in the first place? Aside from the fact that it undoubtedly tops any solid bucket list, its also the place where Prince Harry took his then-girlfriend at the start of their romance. Just a few weeks after theyd met, he took Markle to the camp for her birthday.

So, could this be the place where storybook romances are born? It seems so.

Next: The decor is everything youd hope it to be.

The decor will bring you back to the age of exploration

As mentioned, Meno A Kwena is dripping in authenticity. And if youre lucky enough to get there, youll see for yourself. As Vogue describes it,

The camp is filled with curios from the golden age of exploration. Pinned insect samples, antique maps, rickety globes, teak furniture, and burnished leather chairs accent the tents. A ceiling over the main dining table is made from little more than draped parachute silk. Theres an outdoor kitchen where yeasty bread is freshly-baked all day long. Daybeds, oriental rugs, and chintz pillows lend themselves to long and lazy naps.

Ah, we can see why the royals love this place so much.

Next: This place tops our bucket list for good reason.

The experience is truly unique, peaceful, and yours

A safari adventure is truly a one-of-a-kind experience. Breathtakingly beautiful, perfectly peaceful, and as unique as anything youd ever imagine. But dont take our word for it; theres no better time to experience it for yourself than right now.

Next: Theyre not the only royals who love to vacation in Africa.

Prince William and Kate Middleton also love Africa

While Prince Harry prefers Botswana, Prince William has as special connection to Kenya. And so does his wife. In particular, the couple love the Rutundu Log Cabins on the slope of Mount Kenya. And just as Meno A Kwena is significant in the Duke and Duchess of Sussexs relationship, so, too, is Rutundu significant in the Duke and Duchess of Cambridges  it was where Prince William proposed back in 2010.

So, are you ready to book your trip to Botswana and make like the royals do? Because we sure are.

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After tying the knot in a stunning celebration of love, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle dived head first into their royal duties. The newlyweds are delaying their honeymoon for a little while in favor of getting some work done and attending a few royal engagements. Though the royal couple nor Kensington Palace has announced where the couple will be vacationing to celebrate their union, we do know that Markle and Prince Harrys plans keep changing. Perhaps, they are just trying to keep us all on our toes (and out of their business).

Whether they head to the continent of Africa or travel down under, all of these changes will surely keep their vacation spot super secret. The latest rumored honeymoon location doesnt exactly include a warm climate (page 6).

A secret location is hard to come by

With such a swirl of cameras, media, and publicity around them, Markle and Prince Harry are using their honeymoon to get away from it all. Therefore, they are going to choose a spot that has relative anonymity. Many people speculated that they would head to Namibia, a favorite spot of Princess Dianas. However, a royal source revealed to E! News that Namibia would be entirely too obvious.

They explained, To say its taken some time to find the right location is an understatement. Going somewhere they can bring minimal security and not worry about people seeing them has been of the utmost importance.

Next: The country that bonded the couple for life.

Botswana

Since Namibia is too obvious, we think the couples favorite locale, Botswana, will also be thrown out the window. The duo fell in love under the stars in Botswana after a blind date in London. The Southern African country is so important to them that the central diamond in the Duchess of Sussexs ring is sourced from the land.

However, the couple just returned from one of the countrys exclusive safari camps last summer, where they took a mini vacation following the twentieth anniversary of the death of Princess Diana. They also celebrated Markles birthday. Though the locale is romantic and means a lot to the couple, wed think theyd want to go on a new adventure for their honeymoon.

Next: A place where Prince Harry feels most himself

Somewhere on the Motherland

Though Namibia and Botswana seem to be out of the running, we wouldnt count the entire continent of Africa out just yet. After all, if the duke and duchess are looking to get away from it all, they certainly wouldnt have to worry about the paparazzi or the media terrorizing them.

Royal expert Omid Scobie told Elle, that Africa means too much to Prince Harry for the couple not to be considering it. He revealed, [Its] the one side of the world where Harry says he feels like he can be himself. He has laid roots there and has a huge amount of love and respect for the African continent. The couple have been keen to explore other countries in Africa, and Im certain we will see them do that on this honeymoon.

Next: A vacation with a Suits co-star



Noosa in Queensland

Though they their honeymoon location hasnt been nailed down just yet, we do know that the couple will likely head down under for a vacation in the fall. Markles Suits co-star, Gabriel Macht, reportedly invited the newlyweds to Queensland in Australia for a romantic getaway.

The dapper actor has a 500,000 property in the beachside resort of Noosa. A source told The Sun, Harry and Meghan have a window free and Gabriel and his wife have invited them to their beautiful Queenslander-style house. Its an incredible place and will be perfect for them to chill out before they go on what is likely to be a fairly non-stop tour.

It looks like the duke and duchess will try and squeeze in this vacation after the Invictus Games in October 2018 just before they jet off on their first official royal tour.

Next: A continuous change in plans

Keeping everyone guessing

All of these options and massive itinerary changes certainly arent by accident. Every time the media guesses where the royal couple will be jetting off to for their honeymoon, Kensington Palace advises the pair to change their plans.

Scobie explained to Elle, The honeymoon destination has changed a few times since they started planning. If a location leaks prior to travel, it compromises their safety on the trip, and theyll be advised by their protection team to change plans.

Next: An unlikely location

Meghans second home

There has also been speculation that the couple will head to an unlikely locale for their honeymoon, Markles beloved Canada. The duchess lived in Toronto for seven years while filming the show Suits, and she absolutely adores the country.

TMZ is reporting that the couple is set to stay in Alberta, Canadas luxurious Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. The lodge is located right in the middle of Jasper National Park.

Next: A royal favorite

The Royal Retreat

If the newlyweds do head to Alberta, Canada, they will stay at the 6,000 square foot Outlook Cabin, where Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip stayed in 2005. The resorts website boasts that the cabin exudes elegance and grandeur.

The lovebirds will undoubtedly have plenty of room. Outlook might be a cabin, but it has six bedrooms, each with its own bathroom, a dining room, a conservatory, enclosed veranda, and a majestic stone fireplace.

While this all sounds lovely, we think the duke and duchess might pick a warmer locale for their time of rest an relaxation.

Follow Aramide on Twitter @midnightrami.

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Will they meet, or wont they? After some significant flip-flopping, President Donald Trump has revealed plans are still moving forward for his much-anticipated June 12, 2018 meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. A U.S. delegation was working in the demilitarized zone between the Koreas to prepare for the talks between the two men, the State Department revealed.

See why Trump recommitted to the historic summit (page 4) and the one thing that may be his ultimate motivator (page 8).

Why Trump canceled the meeting

Trump abruptly called off the historic summit on May 24, in a letter to Kim, which he shared on Twitter. The three-paragraph message was thoughtful at points, thanking the dictator for his efforts toward negotiations and for releasing three American hostages.

The president stated he was canceling the meeting, however, due to the tremendous anger and hostility displayed in Kims most recent statement. In said statement, Kim called Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy for comparing North Korea with Libya.

Next: What North Korea did that made the move so shocking

Why the cancellation was unexpected

Hours before Trump canceled the summit, North Korea blew up an underground nuclear testing site as a show of good faith. Journalists gathered to witness the act. They took a 15-hour train ride to reach the Punggye-ri nuclear test site.

Media members watched for nine hours as officials destroyed three test tunnels. They told the onlookers all they really want is peace, reported CBS News correspondent Ben Tracy, who witnessed the event. The gesture was intended to help create a smooth path for the historic meeting.

Next: How North Korea reacted

North Korea responded to the cancellation

In a response that surprised many, North Korea answered without threats or insults  instead expressing regret and a continued willingness to talk with the United States. Kim requested an immediate meeting with South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had been in Washington the previous week to meet with Trump.

After the two met in secret, Moon told reporters that both sides were still committed to moving forward.

Next: What Trump tweeted

Trump recommitted to the summit

The day after he canceled the summit, Trump tweeted it still may go on. We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date, he stated.

In a subsequent tweet on May 27, 2018, he revealed a U.S. team had arrived in the reclusive country to make arrangements for the meeting between him and Kim. I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!

Next: Some senators arent drinking the Kool-Aid.

What critics are saying

While both sides eagerness to talk may seem promising, some doubters are speaking out. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said on CBS News Face the Nation he is not very optimistic about the North carrying out total denuclearization. He predicted Kim would try to get as much sanctions relief as possible without having to give up his weapons.

Republican Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona shared similar concerns. On NBCs Meet the Press, he acknowledged that while a freeze of North Koreas nuclear weapons program would be progress, a lot of us have been skeptical that North Korea will never agree to total denuclearization.

Next: What North Korea really wants

What Kim Jong Un wants

Why the conciliatory efforts from a dictator who oh-so-recently said a nuclear launch button was always on his table? Some Washington experts believe Kim wishes in fact to cement his countrys status as a nuclear state while escaping global sanctions.

Others have predicted Kim will demand the U.S. withdraw its nuclear umbrella that protects South Korea from its adversaries. This could include instructions for the U.S. to discontinue flying its bombers in the Korean Peninsula. Its unclear whether Trump would agree to this.

Next: What Trumps goals are

What Trump wants

Trump wants a summit outcome of complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, the White House stated. However, the North has maintained it would walk away if the U.S. insisted on abandoning its entire nuclear arsenal. Is this just a stalemate waiting to happen? Only time will tell just how far each leader is willing to budge.

Next: Trumps ultimate motivator?

Trump also wants a legacy

Every U.S. president wishes to create a lasting legacy, or something for which he will be remembered and praised throughout the ages. Not only would a breakthrough with the U.S.s nuclear enemy look great in the history books, but it would also help secure Trumps reelection.

While that dream isnt over yet, things are still on shaky ground; only time will tell whether the summit really happens  and even then, whether everyone walks away feeling happy.

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Video shows Clerk and Recorder Ortiz using profanity toward constituent

A video circulating on social media shows Pueblo County Clerk and Recorder Gilbert "Bo" Ortiz telling the man filming him to "Go f--- yourself."
This month, a dozen Christian landmarks in Japanwhere just 1 percent of the population claims Christhave been officially recommended to be named World Heritage sites.

Spanning across the Nagasaki and Amakusa region, these sites represent places where believers during the Tokugawa shogunate (1630-1867) suffered the harshest persecution and martyrdom in the Asian nations history.

The list includes the Oura Cathedral in Nagasaki, which memorializes 17 Japanese Christians and 9 European priests who were crucified at the order of the ruler; Hara Castle in Minamishimabara, a battlefield during the uprising when Catholic rebels were massacred, their leader beheaded, and their faith banned; and other hidden Christian sites, where Christ-followers carried on their beliefs in secret for hundreds of years.

These landmarks, if granted recognition by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) next month, would join 14 other cultural World Heritage sites in Japan and over 800 around the world.

Japans recommendation comes five years after local leaders submitted the Christian sites for consideration. The country learned in early May that an advisory panel, the International Council on Monuments and Sites, had endorsed the hidden Christian sites for inclusion on the World Heritage List; the final decision will come out of a UNESCO meeting in late June.

This recommendation by the Japanese government on hidden Christian sites is significant for several reasons, said Makoto Fujimura, who engages Shusaku Endos novel on persecution in 17th-century Japan in his own book about faith in the midst of suffering, Silence and Beauty.

First, it recognizes the centrality of hidden Christian history in Japanese soil, affirming the instinct of [Endo] whose book Silence has been a significant contributor of Japanese understanding of her own history, he told CT. Second, it accentuates the cultural value of the resilience of Christianity even under many years of persecution.

While World Heritage sites often showcase masterful creativity and significant cultural contributionsareas of national pride and popular tourist attractionsUNESCO also awards the designation to locations that bear a unique or exceptional testimony to a particular tradition.

The Christian tradition, of course, centers around the testimony of Christs resurrection and the redemptive power of suffering. Such resilience and redemption is poignantly and tragically reflected in the churchs historical markers in Japan.

As one Catholic leader put it, We claim the places where our faith was greatest and erect the worlds most beautiful art and places of true worship.

Silence, Endos book that was turned into a 2016 Martin Scorsese movie of the same name, portrayed the otherwise little-known story of 17th-century Portuguese priests on mission among the hidden Christians of Japan. Authorities demanded they recant their beliefs or be tortured and killed; fellow Christians were burned on pyres, scalded with hot water, hung upside down, beheaded, drowned, hung on crosses on the beach and battered by high tide.

Nicknamed the Rome of the Far East, Nagasaki pays tribute to this era of church history. The city is home to one of the first churches constructed after the ban on Christianity was lifted, Urakami Cathedral, as well as a memorial to the 26 martyrs and a museum dedicated to the history of Christian persecution, which just opened this year.

As the real Rome, here in Urakami especially, it is the site of the greatest of Christian persecutions since the great emperors of Rome brutalized the primitive church, wrote Shaun McAfee, a Catholic author and blogger living in Japan. It was here in Urakami that the faith candle was lit in the Far East, and though hidden, was never completely extinguished.

Like the rest of Nagasaki, the church there also had to rebuild after the notorious atomic bomb that laid the city to ruin in World War II. It has been designated a national pilgrimage site for Catholics.

The current moves to honor the painful history of Christianity in Japan, through UNESCO and the new museum, parallel efforts elsewhere for the church to memorialize and learn from tragic or shameful periods from its past.

A 2017 CT cover story on the legacy of lynching in America previewed the recently opened National Memorial for Peace and Justice, with the late theologian James H. Cone engaging the lynching tree as a viable reality/symbol for reflection on the cross of Christ.

Historic churches have also grappled with whether or how to acknowledge past ties to the confederacy, slave-owning leaders, or other figures whose beliefs they can no longer endorse. As CT reported last year:

Some defend the markers as a heritage to celebrate, while others see them as a way to own up to past sins. Rabbis in Germany recently adopted the latter perspective when requesting that churches retain anti-Semitic sculptures tied to Martin Luther. Monuments to the early eras of foreign missions have also been called into question; last year, Williams College made efforts to contextualize the Haystack Monument, which honors students call to the global mission field in 1806. Some faculty now fear endorsing cultural imperialism associated with such efforts.

In Japan, the landmarks to Christian persecution ultimately point to the faith, strength, and resolve of those who suffered for their beliefs.

Hidden religious practices were apparently made possible for a long period of time due to tolerance of religions in Japan, despite the suppression of Christianity, said Japanese history expert Hideo Hattori, who chaired the government to review UNESCO site recommendations, according to Japan News. Political power can't fully control the human mind. This is indeed the lesson learned from Christian-related sites.
Religiously unaffiliated Americans are, unsurprisingly, less likely than their Christian countrymen to attend church regularly or say religion is important in their lives. However, on several common measures, nones in the United States exhibit nearly equal levels of spirituality as self-identifying Christians in Western Europe.

A new study by the Pew Research Center, surveying more than 24,000 individuals across 15 countries in Western Europe on their religious beliefs and practices, reveal striking disconnects between Western Christians across the Atlantic.

Equally striking is how similarly religious nones in the United States and Christians in Western Europe match up:

Only 27 percent of American nones say they believe in God with absolute certainty; only 23 percent of Western European Christians say the same.

Only 13 percent of American nones say religion is very important in their lives; only 14 percent of Western European Christians say the same.

Only 20 percent of American nones say they pray daily; only 18 percent of Western European Christians say the same.

By some of these standard measures of religious commitment, stated Pew researchers, American nones are as religious asor even more religious thanChristians in several European countries, including France, Germany and the UK.

How can it be that self-identifying Christians in Europe describe less religious behavior than Americans who dont claim any religious affiliation at all?

Part of the key to understanding this riddle may lie in semantics: What do people mean when they identify as Christian?

About 7 out of 10 Western Europeans call themselves Christians (according to the median percentage across the 15 nations surveyed). However, the majority are non-practicing, which is defined by Pew as attending religious services less than once a month. Only 2 out of 10 attend church monthly or more.

Across the 15 countries studied, a median of 79 percent of self-identifying Christians say they believe in God, ranging from 93 percent of believers in Portugal to 59 percent of believers in Sweden.

No national Christian population in Western Europe puts a high premium on evangelism, with a median of only 8 percent of believers saying they try to persuade others to adopt their religious views.

Fasting during holy times and wearing religious symbols are also uncommon practices in Western Europe. About 24 percent of those surveyed say they tithe, though this ranged from 43 percent in Portugal to 18 percent in the United Kingdom.

Among the largest segment of the Western European populationnon-practicing Christiansless than half believe God is all-knowing (34%), all-powerful (26%), or all-loving (47%). Most practicing Christians assert Gods omniscience and his all-loving nature, but barely half agree that God is all-powerful.

A separate Pew study found that American Christians are far more likely to agree on each of these three characteristics of God than their European counterparts.

The belief that God will judge all and that he communicates with them regularly are also relatively rare among Christians in Western Europe, though more common among regular church attenders.

Religion and spirituality also manifest in somewhat different ways in Western Europe than Americans are accustomed to in their own country.

In the US, spiritual but not religious is a popular creed, claimed by 27 percent of the population. Not so in Western Europe, where a median of 11 percent across the 15 nations identify as such. In contrast, 15 percent say they are religious but not spiritual.

Meanwhile, 24 percent of Western Europeans say they are both religious and spiritual, compared to 48 percent of Americans. Among the Europeans, the largest group belongs to the neither religious nor spiritual, claimed by 53 percent.

Still, if it sounds like Christian is a term with loose daily-life significance in Europe, thats not the case. The Pew study included nearly 12,000 non-practicing Christians and found that self-identifying as a Christianeven among those who rarely participate in religious serviceswas still a meaningful marker in Western Europe.

It is not just a nominal identity devoid of practical importance, stated Pew researchers. On the contrary, the religious, political and cultural views of non-practicing Christians often differ from those of church-attending Christians and religiously unaffiliated adults.

Non-practicing Christians generally do not believe in God as described in the Bible, but do generally hold positive views of church institutions. They also express nationalist sentiments, though Western European churchgoers have stronger views on both counts. Among Christians in every country analyzed, more said they are very proud to be a citizen of their nation (50% median) than said they were very proud to be a Christian (33% median).
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Last week I witnessed one of the most bizarre things in the Christian-social-media-world (other than Christians dogmatically refusing to acknowledge President Trump's various moral failures): Andy Stanley (yes, that Andy Stanley) has been deemed a "Marcionite." Having listened to a decent number of his sermons over the years I found this hard to believe. After listening to the sermon in question, I'm now convinced that calling Stanley a Marcionite is so off the mark that it amounts to slander and so, these Christians should repent of it and ask his forgiveness.

The hot-takes on the sermon are numerous, and I don't have the energy to address them all. Instead I hope to provide a counter to what seems to be the source of the comparisons to Marcion. That seems to have been an article at First Things by Wesley Hill called, "Andy Stanley's Modern Marcionism." (UPDATE: I've since learned that this post appeared the day before Hill's, as did this tweet. So, while Hill may not have been the source of the charge against Stanley, given the prominence of First Things, it seems likely he played a substantial part in it becoming widespread.)

Marcion

To begin, perhaps we should start with a brief account of Marcion. So, from The Moody Handbook of Theology:

Marcion: A second-century heretic who rejected all Scripture except ten of Paul's epistles and part of Luke. He distinguished between the Old Testament creator God, whom Marcion considered evil, and the God of the New Testament, who revealed himself in Christ.

The Thiselton Companion to Christian Theology tells us:

Marcion claimed that while the NT taught a gospel of love, the OT was to be rejected as teaching only law. Indeed, the "God" of the OT was a Demiurge, who had nothing in common with the God, the Father of Jesus Christ.

And, finally, the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church says:

Marcion's central thesis was that the Christian Gospel was wholly a Gospel of Love to the absolute exclusion of Law. This doctrine...led him to reject the OT completely. The Creator God or Demiurge, revealed in the OT from Gen. 1 onward...had nothing in common with the God of Jesus Christ...Utterly different was the Supreme God of Love whom Jesus came to reveal. It was his purpose to overthrow the Demiurge.

I'm sure scores of books have been written on Marcion, but the above should give us enough to capture some key components of his view.

The God of the Old Testament is entirely different from the God of the New Testament. While the the God of the Old Testament was the creator, this God was not the Father of Jesus Christ. One of the purposes of the God of the New Testament was to overthrow the God of the Old Testament. The Old Testament should be rejected. The God of the Old Testament was only concerned with Law, and not Love.

Everyone should be in agreement that Marcion had some pretty substantial problems with his theology. That is, after all, what we seem to mean in calling him a heretic. Given those substantial problems, I was more than a bit surprised to see Hill associate Andy Stanley with Marcion. Let's consider his argument.

Hill's Comparison of Stanley to Marcion

Hill says most of the sermon "can really only be described as an elaborate and educated flirtation with the old Christian heresy of Marcionismthe belief that the Old Testament is not authoritative in matters of Christian doctrine and morals."

Before going any further we should stop here and note two things: (1) Stanley actually never denies that the Old Testament is authoritative and (2) what Hill has just described is a far cry from "the heresy of Marcionism." Look again at the summaries above. In each we have much, much more than the denial of the Old Testament's authority in matters of Christian doctrine and morals.

Now, to be fair, Hill doesn't seem to believe that Stanley literally believes in two different Gods. Instead, he seems to qualify the accusation of Marcionism. He writes,

As the biblical scholar Francis Watson has noted, contemporary versions of the error of the early Christian heretic Marcion don't usually take the form of positing two ontologically distinct divine beings, as the historical Marcion. They instead involve 'Christian unease about the status and function of the Old Testament' and a willingness to entertain the view that 'the Old Testament is not to be regarded as part of Christian scripture.'

Without the rest of Watson's argument it's hard to know what to make of this. What is it that makes "Christian unease about the status and function of the Old Testament" and entertaining the view that "the Old Testament is not to be regarded as part of Christian Scripture" Marcionism? Once you set aside the bit about two Gods, that the Old Testament is to be rejected, that the New Testament God is not the creator of all things (and will destroy the Old Testament God), it's not clear what's left of Marcionism.1 Even more puzzling for those wondering how Stanley got mixed up with Marcion is Hill's claim that Stanley's error "is more subtle still." That is, more subtle than the version of Marcionism that sounds hardly like Marcion at all. So, what is this yet even "more subtle" error?

Well, you see, Stanley does affirm that the Old Testament is "divinely inspired." But Hill objects to Stanley's reframing "the Old Testament as narrow, exclusive, hidebound." After citing Stanley's comment that "God's arrangement with Israel should now be eliminated from the equation" Hill concludes, "A more complete supersessionism is hard to imagine."

Supersessionism this may be, but how does that end up being Marcionite? Well, given that Stanley doesn't accept any of the aspects of Marcionism noted above, it's clear that it just isn't. Hill may think this is a "more subtle" version of the error, or that it's a "Modern Marcionism" (as Hill calls Stanley's view in the title), but the reality is that we've not been given a single reason to think it's Marcionite at all.

An Objection

Here I can imagine an objection: "But look, Marcion and Stanley have something in common. Both think accepting the Old Testament as authoritative isn't necessary for salvation." Well, that may be true (with qualifications noted below), but that's a really bad reason for thinking Stanley is a Modern Marcionite.

Two positions can share things in common without being the same. The Allied forces and the Axis powers shared a lot in common. For example, soldiers on both sides fought for their respective countries, and did so wearing uniforms. But it would be a massive mistake to then conclude that the Allies were no different from the Axis. Or, to use a different illustration, it would be grossly wrong to compare a surgeon to a murderer simply because she put a knife in a person's stomach. Yes, it's true, both surgeons and murderers sometimes put knives in people's stomachs, but the reasons for doing so are important.

Marcion's and Stanley's reasons for thinking that accepting the Old Testament as authoritative isn't necessary for salvation are about as far apart as a surgeon's and a murder's reasons for putting knives in stomachs. We've already seen that Marcion's reason for rejecting the OT is that he believed it depicted a different God. Given that, of course he wouldn't think the Old Testament is authoritative. But even Hill seems to admit that's not Stanley's view.

Hill has essentially called Stanley a heretic, or perhaps more minimally that he's "flirting" with heresy. Given the seriousness of that charge, it seems he'd need pretty strong evidence to support the assertion. Unfortunately, the evidence is almost entirely lacking.

A final comment about Stanley's sermon

Recall that we considered whether Stanley and Marcion both rejected the authority of the Old Testament. This, however, isn't an accurate picture of Stanley's view. He hasn't rejected that the Old Testament is authoritative, but instead he's rejected that one must first accept that it's authoritative before coming to Christ. Stanley's affirmation that the Old Testament is "divinely inspired" strongly hints at this. Since we're not saying that he's adopted Marcion's two-Gods thesis, then that means there's only one God left to do the inspiring. The God. It would be a rather strange view to say that the same God who inspired the New Testament also inspired the Old Testament, but only the former is authoritative.

What, then, explains this misreading of Stanley? The problem, it seems, is that the initial Chrisitan Post article outlining his sermon was called "Christians Must 'Unhitch' Old Testament From Their Faith, Says Andy Stanley." Now, to be fair, he does say this in his sermon, but it seems too few have bothered to figure out what he meant by it. Listening to the sermon makes it quite clear: Stanley's concern is with those who are apart from God, or soon might be, because of difficulties they're having with some part of the Old Testament. So, if that's not you, then you don't need to "unhitch" your faith from it. You can continue on just how you have been.

However, in a different sense, Stanley's comments do still apply to you. You should avoid making others get into the same position you are in (with respect to the Old Testament) in order to become a believer. That is, those people who can't wrap their heads around the command to slaughter the Canaanites don't need to first master Paul Copan's Is God a Moral Monster? before choosing to commit their life to Christ. Not only is this notMarcionism, it's wholly sensible. How many believers have come to Jesus after going through the "Romans Road"? Yes, Paul relies on a lot of the Old Testament throughout the book of Romans, but none of those new converts needed to know that to see that they were sinners in need of redemption, and that Christ has provided the means for that redemption. That was Stanley's point.

Conclusion

Let me close to with two final comments. First, nothing I've said above requires you to accept Stanley's exegesis. Hill goes as far as saying that parts of it are just "bad exegesis" (even though the specific passage in question seems rather congruent with F.F. Bruce's commentary on Acts in the NICNT). Okay, fine. Anytime someone has a different biblical position than you, you're going to think they're using bad exegesis.2 We can argue all we want about Stanley's exegesis without associating him with Marcion. It's the same guilt-by-association trick that some Calvinists use when calling their Arminian interlocutors Pelagians, and Christians should rise above it.

Finally, because I believe that Stanley accepts the authority of the Old Testament, I also believe he would accept that it's a vitally important resource for Christians. So, I do wish he would have noted that even if accepting everything in the Old Testament isn't a prerequisite for salvation, one component of growing to be more like Christ should include the expectation that you'll eventually come to have the same view of the Old Testament that Christ did. In other words, don't get hung up on those Old Testament-related issues and come to Christ now. But once you are following Christ, don't let those issues remain unresolved. Pray and seek answers from the rich resources available within the Christian tradition. I think it would have been better for him to make this clearer, but his failure to do so doesn't make him a Marcionite, ancient or "Modern."

Footnotes

I've not read Watson on this and so genuinely don't know the rest of the argument. If there are additional reasons to connect these two ideas with Marcionism, Hill hasn't provided them.  See, for example, the exchange between my colleague Richard Davis and James White about the exegesis of John 3:16. 

Originally posted at TyndalePhilosophy.com.

W. Paul Franks, Ph.D., is associate professor and chair of the Department of Philosophy at Tyndale University College.
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If you are the pastor I met in Richmond, Virginia recently, thank you.

Thank you for your encouragement. Thank you for your faithfulness. And thank you for your wise words about pastors and struggles: "It is good to know I am not alone." Your words were meaningful. Your words were powerful.

You were speaking about the thousands of church leaders at Church Answers. You were speaking about the number one benefit you get from being in this safe community. You see the vulnerability, the lack of pretense, and the acknowledgments of struggles among other pastors and church leaders. It is a constant and encouraging reminder you are not alone.

I want to share those same words with the community who reads this blog post. I want you to know you are not alone. Ministry can be tough. Ministry can be frustrating. Ministry can even be depressing. But ministry in the local church can also be one of the greatest joys you've ever known.

Allow me to give you three reminders. It is my prayer these three brief points will be a source of encouragement and hope for you. It is my prayer they will be used by God to encourage you to keep pressing on. I simply call them the three accidents that did not happen at your church.

1. Your church address is not an accident. God placed your church where it is for a reason. You might be dealing with deferred maintenance issues in your building. You might be wishing your facility was up to 1980 standards. You might long for a faster-growing demographic. You might desire a more visible location. But God put you at your church address for very specific reasons. Celebrate your location. Celebrate your place in the world God has called you to minister.

2. Your community is not an accident. Perhaps there was a day when the community surrounding your church looked more like the people in your church. Perhaps the community was much younger than it is today. Perhaps the community members eagerly attended your church in the past, but not today. Keep in mind, the community where God has your church located today is not an accident. He put the people there, and he wants your church to embrace them, love them, and reach them. Don't bemoan your community. Celebrate your community.

3. Your calling is not an accident. God called you to salvation. God called you to ministry. And God called you to the church where you are serving. God does not have accidents. Your calling is not an accident. He has you at your church for specific and powerful reasons. Love the church you have now instead of the church you wish was there. You have been called to them. It is an incredible opportunity. It is an incredible ministry.

You are not alone in your ministry challenges. Thousands upon thousands of church leaders experience the same challenges every day and every week.

Even more, you are not alone because God is with you. Your church address is not an accident. Your community is not an accident. And your calling is not an accident. God is in it all. God is the power of it all.

Celebrate these realities. You were called to this specific church in this specific community at this specific time.

It is truly a God-given opportunity.

Originally posted at ThomRainer.com.

Dr. Thom Rainer is president and CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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I knew that President Trump was popular in Israel. I just didn't know how popular. Talk about enthusiastic support!

I asked one man if we could talk with him on camera about religious subjects. He was quite happy to do so. But since we were Americans, he first wanted to talk about Trump. "Make America great!" he shouted with a big smile. "Make Israel great!"

To be sure, Trump has his detractors in Israel. Opinions here are anything but monolithic, and divisions are fierce and intense.

One of my friends is the Israeli equivalent of an Evangelical Christian, Never Trumper. When it comes to politics, he is very liberal and normally sides with the Palestinians. Obviously, he is not a fan of Donald Trump.

Some cab drivers we spoke with, including Israeli Muslims, expressed indifference towards Trump. One was downright hostile (he happened to be a secular Israeli Jew).

He said Trump was good for nothing and that he had the support of only two people, a Texas farmer and Putin.

We asked him, "How then, did he get elected?"

He replied, "Christians didn't vote for him. Jews didn't vote for him. Blacks didn't vote for him. Mexicans didn't vote for him."

We asked again, "Then who voted for him? How did he get elected?"

He replied, "A farmer in Texas and Putin," with the strong emphasis on Putin. The Russian conspiracy lives on.

This driver even told us, "No one wants Trump. Not even his wife Melania. I saw it on Fox News. He tried to hold her hand and she pulled it away."

But he was in the clear minority among those we spoke with, and over and over, we heard the same two things.

It was not just that his slogan, "Make America great again," had reached Israel. A slogan alone is just that: words. Why be so excited about words?

But that's what separated Trump from other politicians in the minds of many Israelis. He was not just a man of words. Instead, as they said repeatedly  and with enthusiasm  Trump gets things done.

Their support for Trump, then, can be boiled down to these two things. First, when he says something, he does it. He keeps his word. Second, in doing so, he is not like other politicians. That's why they loved Trump.

It was clear that their opinion of him was based on sound bites and caricatures. He was almost an exaggeration of himself, if such a thing were possible.

But that's what travels around the world. Not subtle differences in policies. Not partisan squabbling. Not journalistic opinions.

Instead, it is the bold strokes of what a political leader says and does that carry. Who is Putin to you? What about Kim Jong Il? What about Netanyahu? What about Macron?

We know them from a distance, and we know them in simplified (or, exaggerated) form.

Here in Israel (from whence I write), political scandals are a dime a dozen. Vicious political divisions are the norm.

Like Trump, Prime Minister Netanyahu has been married three times. He even confessed to adultery in the past. And, like Trump, he presents the figure of a strong, no nonsense leader.

In a nation like Israel, surrounded by sworn, mortal enemies, strength and decisiveness are highly valued. And that's how Trump is perceived.

A Russian-born Israeli said to us with enthusiasm, "He says it and he does it! He's not a politician. He keeps his word."

Seeing that this man stood guard in front of the American Embassy in Jerusalem, it was easy to understand his enthusiasm. Trump did what Clinton, Bush, and Obama did not do. He literally made international history by keeping the same political promise many others had made.

This Russian-Israeli said to us, "Even before he was a politician, I liked him. But my friends said he was dumb."

"Yes," I replied, "dumb enough to get elected President of the United States."

And now dumb enough to have his name engraved on the wall of our historic embassy. Even dumb enough to have his face on a newly-minted "Temple Coin," along with the face of the ancient Persian king, Cyrus.

"Make America great again! Trump, Trump!"

Talk about marketing skills. The Trump brand is thriving here in Israel.
home World Irish pro-life group decries Eight Amendment repeal as 'tragedy of historic proportions'

A pro-life group that campaigned to preserve Ireland's Eight Amendment has described the landslide vote to repeal the measure that bans abortions in the country as a "tragedy of historic proportions."

On Friday, 66.4 percent of Irish voters had cast their ballots in favor of repealing the Amendment, which guaranteed the equal rights of the mother as well as the unborn baby in the womb. Only 33.6 percent had opposed the repeal of the country's abortion law, according to The Christian Institute.

The vote will allow lawmakers to introduce a law that would legalize abortions in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

Save the 8th, a group that campaigned against the repeal of the amendment, has expressed disappointment with the results.

"The 8th amendment did not create a right to life for the unborn child a it merely acknowledged that such a right exists, has always existed, and will always exist," the group stated on Saturday, according to Life Site News.

"What Irish voters did yesterday is a tragedy of historic proportions. However, a wrong does not become right simply because a majority support it," the group continued.

The organization has vowed to oppose the Irish government's efforts to introduce a legislation that would legalize abortion. It further stated that it would also oppose the opening of abortion clinics in the country.

"Abortion was wrong yesterday. It remains wrong today. The constitution has changed, but the facts have not," the group contended, as reported by The Christian Institute.

Another pro-life group called LoveBoth has expressed fears that the vote will lead to "an abortion regime which has nothing to do with healthcare and everything to do with abortion on demand."

Dr. Ruth Cullen who worked with LoveBoth's pro-life campaign vowed to hold Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar to his word that the repeal would only allow abortions in "very limited circumstances."

She asserted that many people have voted in favor of the repeal based on the prime minister's promise.

Under current law, abortion is only allowed in Ireland in cases when the mother's life is at risk.

In 2012, a woman named Savita Halappanavar, who was 17-weeks-old pregnant, had died of blood poisoning at Galway University Hospital. The 31-year-old woman's death had prompted pro-choice activists to push for a repeal of the Ireland's ban on abortions, even though she would have been allowed to obtain the procedure under the current law if doctors had been aware about her condition.

Life Site News noted that an investigation into her death by the Health Information and Quality Authority had revealed that doctors had missed 13 opportunities to save Halappanavar's life.

Irish voters had been asked to vote on the repeal of the Eight Amendment in the past, but all attempts failed. According to Life Site News, a referendum was held in 1983, three were conducted in 1992 and another one was carried out in 2002.
Just the other day my colleagues and I were discussing the unfortunate death of a toddler who had chocked on a toy. All of us are fathers and we could not imagine the devastation of losing one of our own. A comment was said I wouldnt want to keep living if I lost my child. A couple of the boys jumped in straight away and said, No you would man, you have Jesus. We are all Christian men, we love our families and we love God, but that conversation got me really thinking, would I be ok if tragedy struck, would I be ok if I hit rock bottom, if I have nothing left, will Jesus be enough for me?

That night while I was showering my almost 2-year-old daughter, I was singing some worship songs with her while shampooing her hair. There is a song that I love called Healer by Hillsong. There is a particular line in the song that goes Youre more than enough for me, Jesus youre all I need I instantly broke out into tears, I sat on the shower floor and sobbed. My daughter must have thought I was a crazy person, all of sudden daddy has gone from happily singing to uncontrollable crying.

The conversation from earlier on in the day with the boys flooded my thoughts and I held my little girl tight, not ever wanting to let her go. I cried for a couple of reasons, one I never want to lose a child and two if all I have was taken from me, will Jesus be enough? In that moment I was not sure I would have wanted to continue on.

This got me thinking about how comfortable my life as a Christian has been. Not once have I ever been in danger because of my faith, not in my adult life have I experienced the death of a close friend or family member, not once have I faced a medical diagnosis that would change the course of my life. Life for me as a Christian has been fairly cruisy, quite easy to love God and remain strong in faith. Sure, there have been some pretty hard times, but some of the things I have mentioned happen to people, good and bad, Christian and non-Christian all the time. So many people have hit rock bottom, for the believer, was Jesus enough for them?

Hope lies in those who have come before

The bible has many accounts of believers suffering, losing everything and yet their faith in God was what got them through the tough times. I think of Abraham and Sara who werent able to have children and were well passed child bearing age. Yet God asked him to have faith and promised that his descendants would be as many as the stars in the sky. The nation of Israel was born.

Joseph was hated by his brothers, sold off into slavery, falsely accused of rape and thrown into an Egyptian prison and forgotten about. Yet because of his faith, God raised him up and he eventually became second in command of Egypt.

Job lost it all, his wealth, health and family. Many of his friends had told him you must have done something wrong to have such tragedy come upon you. But never once did he blame God. God restored Jobs life because of his faith and commitment to Him.

Christians past and present have been brutally persecuted, believers murdered and tortured for their faith, yet the Christian faith continues to grow in the very countries that are trying to wipe them out. Everything I have mentioned are real things, that happen to real people every day. How such faith can come out of immense tragedy can only be explained as miraculous. But then again, we serve a miraculous God.

Why did these individuals hold on? Why did they continue to pursue God even though their lives wear left in tatters? They all had one thing in common, an eternal perspective, hope in a future where pain and suffering will no longer exist, evidence of a God who loved them and cared for them, a God who knows all too well the suffering they have gone through, a God who can relate and empathise with them.

My best friend

Psalm chapter 34, verse 18 says: The Lord is close to the broken hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. We have a God who is concerned with our wellbeing, he knows the perils that life holds for mankind, the suffering, the wars, the diseases, the death. In our short lives here, we will all experience some of the worst that life has to offer, but we are able to stand strong and carry on because of what Jesus did for us.

My best friend, my Lord and Saviour went through it all. The emotional stress of the task before him as he knew how he would die, the physical humiliation and torture of his body as he took stripe after stripe for me and you, the fear and the loneliness as he hung on the cross, the sins of the world past, present and future thrust upon him, so much so that God could not look at him and He cried. My God, My God why have you forsaken me? an eternal connection broken in an instant.

You see Jesus knew, he needed to pay the price so that mankind could have a chance to have an eternal relationship with the Father just like he does. So, the answer to the question: Jesus youre all I need? Yes, with all my heart, yes.

Jarred is an HPE and Mathematics teacher on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, he is married to Haley and has beautiful daughter named Chelsea. Jarreds previous articles may be viewed at: https://www.pressserviceinternational.org/jarred-pienaar.html
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle (Reuters)

The royal power couple

Lets face it: were swooning over them. Hes the big-hearted Prince with a social conscious, and shes the American actress with an activist soul. In their official engagement interview, Prince Harry revealed that on his first blind date with Meghan the stars were aligned when this beautiful woman tripped and fell into my life. Its the stuff of fairytales. And now the happy couple have been graffitied over walls, printed on Union Jack flags, they smile on the glistening china of cups and saucers, and then theres the life-sized cardboard cut-outs of Harry and Meghan holding hands, ready to take on the world.

I write this article on the eve of the royal wedding between Prince Henry Charles Albert David of Wales (say it slowly and you wont get tongue tied), and Ms Rachel Meghan Markle. I find it fitting that in her high-school yearbook the quote beneath Meghan Markles picture reads:

Women are like teabags; they dont realise how strong they are until theyre in hot water. (Eleanor Roosevelt)

She has traded the vanilla soy lattes of Hollywood for the English Breakfast brews of the United Kingdom. As she rides in a horse-drawn carriage from St Georges Chapel towards Windsor Castle with her new husband, its expected that 3 million kettles across the UK will boil, according to one report. Could it be anymore British to toast the royal newly weds with a cup of tea?

Over 2 billion viewers worldwide will watch this power couple say I do making this the wedding of the century. But why do we care about the romance of princes and princesses, anyway? Does the world stop to take a breath of awe when other celebrities marry? Kim Kardashian and Kanye Wests wedding photo is one of the most popular images on Instagram, with 2.4 million likes. Their wedding may have saturated the tabloid press, but did it draw thousands to the streets waving flags, and send off international waves of joy and hope for the future?

The phenomenon behind royal obsession

The idea of royalty stirs in us something much deeper than a shallow fascination with the rich and famous. In the frenzied lead up to the big day, Huffington Post asked psychologists to explain the phenomenon behind our obsession with royalty. There were some interesting points like:

- Disney fairytales program us from childhood to fantasise about princes and princesses

- Royalty provides us with a way to escape from troubling world news

- The Queen and her family help us connect with the past and through them we can witness history unfold

- The success of the Netflix show The Crown means more people are interested in royalty

Though these are valid statements, I dont think they come close to explaining royal obsession. Why did we run around the playground as kids imagining kingdoms? Why did we get so excited when a plastic tiara was placed on our head, or we wielded a knightly sword? Why does a royal wedding captivate us as adults if not to remind us who we are and what were called to?

We were crowned with honour and glorywe remember, if only faintly, that we were once more than we are now. (John Eldridge, Epic)

Youre invited

As a geeky teenager I poured over family trees, first in old books, and then on the internet, until I could finally prove that my family was descended from William the Conqueror. Bursting with excitement I raced to tell my brother the news. Hes a surfer who likes to watch the footy, skate, hang out with mates, and basically do more interesting things than research kings and queens. He couldnt care less about modern monarchies. Yet when I told him he had a king as an ancestor, he lifted his head a little higher, looked a little stronger, dare I say it a little nobler. My findings tapped into something that was already in his soul, a knowing that he wasnt ordinary. He was set-apart. The bloodline of kings and conquerors dwelt within him.

Ive since learnt that having a violent Norman king as a great-granddaddy is nothing to boast about, most people dont care and if you bring it up at dinner parties your friends will roll their eyes.

Thankfully the true King who summons us by name into His Kingdom is Christ. He is the one whose holy blood flows through your veins. He is the one who has set you apart and called you to greatness, for you are fearfully and wonderfully made in His image. He is the King who conquered sin and death to win your heart. He has invited you to the grandest wedding of them all. Its the event, not of the century, but of all eternity. And in that glorious crowning moment all that you are, and all that youve been created for, will be revealed before heavens host. For the Kings banner over you is Love, and in this divine romance you have the starring role as the one who captured His heart.

The time has come for the wedding feast of the lamb. And the bride has prepared herself. She has been given the finest of pure white linen to wearBlessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the lamb. Revelation chapter 19, verses 7-9.

Though your face might not feature on a souvenir teaspoon, you are inscribed on the heart of a King whose wild for you. We still care about royalty in the 21st century because buried within us in the knowledge that were born to bring delight to the King of kings, even as He delights over us.

He is your happily ever after.

Amy learnt from an early age the value of a good cup of tea. Her British Grandparents and UK-born mother taught her that putting the kettle on was always an appropriate action, because tea brings people together, quenches thirst, solves problems, and is the only way to toast a royal wedding. Her previous articles can be read here: http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/amy-manners.html
Christian advocacy group hit by cyber attack after calling out Turkey's human rights violations

A Christian advocacy group has claimed that it was hit by a cyber attack by someone who was believed to be acting "for or on behalf of the Turkish government" after it took part in a summit that exposed the human rights violations being committed by Turkey.

In Defense of Christians (IDC), an organization pushing for religious freedom in the Middle East, reported that its website went down on Thursday around 10:30 a.m., with a Turkish flag periodically appearing on the site for several hours.

Apart from the website, staff email accounts and private social media accounts were also compromised in the attack, according to IDC Executive Director Philippe Nassif.

The hacking reportedly took place after the advocacy group participated in a Capitol Hill briefing that focused on human rights violations in Turkey.

"The briefing specifically examined how President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his 'Neo-Ottoman' allies currently governing Turkey continue to deny centuries' old genocide, freedom of speech, and jail American citizens such as Pastor Brunson and other political dissidents, all while oppressing religious minorities," Nassif said in a press release.

Other groups that took part in the meeting were Amnesty International and Freedom House. Senators Chris Coons of Delaware and Thom Tillis of North Carolina also spoke at the summit.

The organization noted that the worst cyber attack took place around 12:30 p.m., when the website content had been replaced with a Turkish flag and a patriotic Turkish music started playing in the background.

The website was fully restored by 7 p.m. on Thursday, but Nassif noted that the attack also affected the group's email software.

Nassif recounted that there were "strange friend requests" from Facebook and LinkedIn prior to the Capitol Hill briefing. Some staff members also received email informing them that someone had attempted to login to their personal accounts.

Nassif clarified that the IDC still does not know whether the attack was carried out under the orders of Turkish leadership or if it was dispersed "among the many actors that they have that support their policies."

He said that the group has already asked its webhost to look into the trail that had been left by the hackers.

"IDC condemns this petty cyber-attack coming from a U.S. ally and NATO member. Unfortunately, this behavior reflects a pattern for the Turkish government as evidenced by the silencing of political dissidents inside Turkey and the illegal attacks on American citizens last year who were demonstrating against Erdogan in Washington, D.C.," the group stated in the news release.
Christians in Europe more likely to express anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish views than religious 'nones'

Christians in Europe are more likely to oppose immigration and express anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish views than non-religious groups, a major new survey has found.

Both regular churchgoers and non-practising Christians are more likely to say immigrants are dishonest and not hardworking than non-religious people.

The findings are based on more than 24,000 interviews across 15 countries in Western Europe by the Washington-based Pew Research Center.

The study found a strong link between religion and nationalist sentiments. Although most Western Europeans are willing to accept Muslim and Jews into their area, both church-attending and non-practising Christians are more likely than religiously unaffiliated adults to voice anti-immigrant and anti-minority views.

In the UK 45 per cent of church-going Christians say Islam is fundamentally incompatible with British values and culture, as do 47 per cent of non-practising Christians. However among religious 'nones'  those who do not identify with a particular faith  only 30 per cent agree.

Christians generally were more in favour of reducing immigration levels than the population in general, whereas religious 'nones' tended to be less supportive of reducing immigration, it found. For example in Italy, 63 per cent of church-going Christians want to cut immigration, compared to 51 per cent non-practising Christians and 36 per cent on non-religious adults. Among the overall Italian population 52 per cent want to reduce immigration.

Although the survey largely focused on attitudes to Muslims, it also unearthed strains of antisemitism in European Christianity. It found that Christians at all levels of religious observance are more likely than religiously unaffiliated adults to say they would not be willing to accept Jews in to their family. Christians are also more likely than non-religious people to agree with anti-Jewish statements such as 'Jews always pursue their own interests, and not the interest of the country they live in'.

The wide-ranging survey explores other issues around Christian identity, secularisation, attitudes toward Muslims and Jews and opinions about immigration. It said the Europe has become one of the world's most secular regions. While most adults still consider themselves Christian, non-practising Christians  which Pew defines as those who identify as Christians, but attend church services no more than a few times per year  make up the largest population share across the region. In the United Kingdom, for example, there are roughly three times as many non- practising Christians (55 per cent) as there are church-attending Christians (18 per cent).

'Vast majorities in every country surveyed say they know either "some" or a "great deal" about the Christian religion and its practices, including majorities of adults in Norway (62 per cent) and Ireland (56 per cent) who say they know a "great deal" about Christianity,' Pew's lead researchers, Neha Sahgal and Alan Cooperman, said in the report.

'But in most countries, people tend to say they know "not too much" or "nothing at all" about the Muslim religion and its practices (median of 63 per cent), or the Jewish religion and its practices (median of 67 per cent).'

The survey does not include eastern European countries such as Poland and Hungary but focuses on Western European countries including the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy.
Jimmy Carter denounces sex-selective abortion in commencement address at Liberty University

Former President Jimmy Carter has spoken out against discrimination against women and sex-selective abortions during his commencement address at Liberty University recently.

In his speech, the former president stated that the discrimination against women and girls is the biggest challenge that the world faces today.

"Recently, I've changed my mind about the biggest challenge that the world faces. I think now it's a human rights problem and it is the discrimination against women and girls in the world," Carter said.

The former president went on to cite abortion of female infants as one of the examples of discrimination.

"There are about 160 million girls and women who are not living today. Because their parents, in order to comply with laws of customs to have just male sons, either killed their daughters by strangling them at birth or they have the modern day ability to decide before the baby is born what it's going to be," Carter said. "If the fetus is female, then they abort the child".

The 93-year-old former president also denounced the instances of rape in the U.S. military and the numerous reports of sex-trafficking in the country.

Carter, a longtime Baptist teacher, opposed federal funding for abortions during his term, but he has previously expressed support for legal abortions in cases of rape, incest or when the pregnancy poses a risk to the life of the mother.

"I have had a hard time believing that Jesus, for instance, would approve abortion  unless it was because of rape or incest or if the mother's life was in danger," he said in a HuffPostLive interview.

Carter is the third U.S. president and the first Democrat to deliver the commencement address at Liberty University. President Donald Trump gave a speech at the university last year, while George H.W. Bush spoke at the school in 1990.

Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. noted that he first met Carter when they both attended a private worship service on Trump's inauguration day.

Falwell went on to cite Carter's efforts in helping the poor as one of the reasons he invited the former Democratic president to deliver the commencement address at the Christian university.

In his speech, Carter called on graduates to work together to unite Christians across the world, and expressed dismay at the political divide in the U.S.

Later in the commencement address, Carter joked that the size of the crowd that had come out to hear his speech was much larger than when Donald Trump delivered his address last year.
Leige: 'Terrorist attacker' shot dead after killing three in Belgian town

A man has been shot dead by police in the Belgian city of Liege after apparently killing three people in what is believed to be a terrorist attack.

He was named by public broadcaster RTBF as a 36-year-old petty criminal who had been let out on day-release from a local prison on Monday. It said investigators were looking into whether he converted to Islam and had been radicalised in jail.

According to public prosecutor Philippe Dulieu, he set upon two policewomen from behind with a knife before seizing one of their handguns and shooting them both dead. He then shot dead a 22-year-old man sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car.

He then went into a high school where he took a woman hostage. Armed police intervened and a gun battle broke out in which the attacker was killed. Several police officers were wounded.

Videos posted on social media showed police cars rushing to the scene of the attack with sirens blaring as people fled.

'The event is classed as a terrorist incident,' Dulieu said.

The national crisis centre, on high alert since past attacks by Islamic State in Paris and Brussels in the past three years, said it was monitoring events but had not raised its alert level.

La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted 'Allahu Akbar'  God is greatest in Arabic.

Belgium's prime minister Charles Michel expressed his support for those caught up in the shooting, interior minister Jan Jambon said: 'Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act.'

King Philippe visited Liege, the biggest city in Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia region.

An industrial powerhouse on the Meuse river, it was the scene of a mass shooting in 2011, when a man killed four people and wounded over 100 others before turning his gun on himself.

A Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and on Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died. The Brussels IS cell had links to militants in Verviers, another industrial town close to Liege, where in early 2015 police raided a safe house and killed two men who had returned from fighting with radical Islamists in Syria.

European authorities are deeply concerned about the risks of petty criminals, including those not from Muslim backgrounds, being inspired to Islamist violence while incarcerated.

Additional reporting by Reuters.
Liberty University to produce feature film 'The Trump Prophecy'

Liberty University students and faculty are helping produce an 85-minute feature film that will be shown in over 1,000 theatres nationwide highlighting one man's "Trump prophecy" and a movement of prayer that led up to the election of President Donald Trump.

The film, titled "The Trump Prophecy," will be shown at select cinemas nationwide on Oct. 2 and Oct. 4 and is a production led and funded by producer Rick Eldridge and his Charlotte-based ReelWorks Studios, which also helped produce the 2015 documentary based on the book Four Blood Moons by megachurch Pastor John Hagee.

About 56 Liberty University students and several staff members from the Virginia Christian school's cinematic arts department will also work on the project as part of the department's spring semester film project.

The film focuses on the prophecy of a retired Florida firefighter named Mark Taylor, who claims that God told him in April 2011 that Trump would one day become president. Although Taylor initially thought that meant that Trump would become president in 2012, the prophecy was ultimately fulfilled in November 2016.

Taylor's prophetic claim was described in his 2017 book, The Trump Prophecies: The Astonishing True Story of the Man Who Saw Tomorrow... and What He Says Is Coming Next.

With a budget of about $2 million, the movie claims to show viewers how a movement of prayer helped pave the way for the election of the 45th president of the United States.

"I hope it reflects an understanding that when people come together in prayer, how valuable that is not only for the people that are praying but for what they are praying for," the film's director, Stephan Schultze, the executive director of Liberty University Cinematic Arts Department, told The Christian Post on Tuesday.

"They have come together in the recognition that those prayers have value and build community and build a strong bond that allows for a president like Donald Trump to be elected. It created a bond within the Christian community."

Every year, Liberty University Cinematic Arts department tries to incorporate the production of a feature film into its curriculum for film students. According to Schultze, the department has led students in working on five feature films in its six years of existence.

Eldridge pitched the idea for the "The Trump Prophecy" to Schultze last November. After going through the process of getting the idea approved by the school's administration, filming was done in areas of Lynchburg and Bedford, Virginia, during the months of March and April.

Although the project is being led by Eldridge, Liberty students worked throughout the production and in the post-production, and received hands-on training doing credited work on the theatrical release.

"This particular semester, students get trained in two different areas, whether it be work in lighting or work in post-production or they work in the production office to learn how to produce or they work on the set or on the assistant producer's team," Schultze, who has years of experience in the film industry, explained.

Schultze said that the kind of jobs that the students are asked to do are jobs that some film professionals would have had to wait at least 10 years after graduating to even have the opportunity to do.

"It is a real credit when they graduate for working on a movie," he said.

With the film now in post-production, some students will stay on through the summer to help complete the film.

Considering that Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. is one of the most vocal evangelical supporters of President Trump, and the film will be shown one month before this year's midterm elections, some might wonder whether there is a political motive behind the project.

"My biggest concern, though, is that it [could] lead to a hyper-patriotism, one in which the president cannot be criticized, or one that associates the Kingdom of God with America, or one that leads to some kind of spiritual triumphalism," nationally syndicated conservative radio host and Messianic Jewish scholar Michael Brown told The Christian Post in an email.

But as long as those issues are "kept in balance," Brown doesn't think there's much reason for concern about the school's involvement in the film project.

"I think it's great for a Christian university to make a movie about this," he said. "I certainly don't expect Berkeley or Harvard to do it."

Schultze assured CP that there is no political motive behind the project.

"I don't think this has anything to do with any agenda related to supporting or not supporting Trump, from my perspective," Schultze said. "I have been working for about three years in building a relationship with Rick Eldridge. I have been telling him to come make a movie with the students and how rewarding it is."

"He called me over Thanksgiving and said that he thinks he found a project that we may be able to work together on," Schultze added. "He told me about it and we thought about it over Christmas. We were also talking about Hallmark movies with Rick moving forward. It really is about building long-term relationships with people. If it would have been a Hallmark movie, that is what I would have brought [to the students]."

Over 1,800 people signed in support of a Change.org petition calling for the university to cancel the project, claiming that it will only hurt the university's reputation and make it harder for students to find jobs in "more liberal work environments."

"Mark Taylor claims to have received prophecies directly from God that do not align with the Bible's message," the petition reads. "Please support this petition if you think Liberty University should focus on reflecting God's message rather than Mark Taylor's message."

Others have questioned the prophetic claims of Taylor, who said last year that he believes that Trump will release cures for serious diseases like Alzheimer's in a second term.

John Fea, a professor of American history at Messiah College in Pennsylvania, who has been critical of prophetic claims pertaining to Trump, told CP that Taylor is just one of several Pentecostal "prophets" who claim to have predicted a Trump presidency.

"These so-called prophets  Mike Bickle, Lance Wallnau, Frank Amedia and the late Kim Clement come to mind  represent an ever-growing wing of American evangelicalism," Fea wrote in an email. "Journalist Steve Strang has provided an outlet for their prophecies through his popular Christian magazine Charisma."

Fea claims that the "prophets," have "built an entire approach to political engagement around their prophecies."

"Not all evangelicals believe in prophecy, but even if you do believe that God speaks to individual people about politics, it is very dangerous to design public policy and choose political candidates based on such prophecies," Fea argued. "These so-called prophets have no real religious or spiritual authority beyond themselves and the megachurch empires that they have created and over which they preside."

"Perhaps tonight I will have a dream or a vision that Donald Trump is really the Antichrist," Fea continued. "It seems to me that my dream has just as much prophetic validity as fireman Taylor."

Brown has previously offered his take on people's prophetic claims that God will use Trump for the good of America, as the president has been compared to ancient Persian King Cyrus from the book of Isaiah. If God chose Trump for a particular purpose, he could be more like Nebuchadnezzar than Cyrus, Brown noted, meaning a bad leader sent to punish God's people for their misdeeds and set them on a right course.

"From what I can tell on the trailer, the prophecies received by the fireman seem to be the hook to draw people into a constructive discussion into what it means to make America great again, with the emphasis on the spiritual side," Brown said. "In that regard, I see nothing troubling or concerning."

Brown suggests that Christians shouldn't be surprised by prophetic claims made in the modern age because the "New Testament makes clear that the gift of prophecy was to continue until Jesus returns."

"We see that in 1 Corinthians 13:810; we see Paul encouraging believers to earnestly seek the gift twice in 1 Corinthians 14; we see Paul giving instructions for the use of prophecy in 1 Thessalonians 5; and Peter in Acts 2, clearly says that this gift will be poured out on all flesh during this period called 'the last days,'" Brown explained.

"But all prophecy must be tested, first against the Word, then against other criteria (including accuracy, etc.). We must not fall into the error of believing every spirit; but we must not fall into the error of not believing the Holy Spirit. That being said, no prophecy carries scriptural authority and is, at best, a word from the Lord, not The Word of God."
Parents should have the right to refuse treatment for their children with gender dysphoria, say Ohio lawmakers

Republican lawmakers in Ohio have introduced a bill that aims to strengthen the rights of parents who may have objections to gender dysphoria treatment for children.

According to World magazine, the bill would guarantee the parents' right to "withhold consent for gender dysphoria treatment or activities that are designed and intended to form a child's conception of sex and gender."

Additionally, the legislation also mandates schools to inform parents if their child starts showing signs of gender dysphoria. Under the proposal, schools and any other government agencies must inform the parents about possible risks of gender dysphoria treatment and obtain their written consent before any attempt to treat a child for the condition.

The bill, sponsored by Reps. Tom Brinkman and Paul Zeltwanger, was introduced in response to a recent case involving a teenage girl who was removed from her parents' custody because of their objections to gender dysphoria treatment.

A team at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center had recommended hormonal treatments for the teenage girl, who feels that she would live more comfortably as a male, as soon as possible to reduce the risk of suicide. The parents, however, reportedly wanted her to undergo Christian counseling to determine the cause of gender dysphoria.

Apart from their disapproval of the treatment, the parents also refused to call the teenager by her newly chosen male name.

In February, Judge Sylvia Sieve Hendon ruled that the 17-year-old girl should be turned over to her grandparents, who had no objections to the treatment.

According to CNN, Hendon's ruling allowed the grandparents to petition for the child's name change in probate court, as well as the right to make medical decisions for her.

Aaron Baer, president of Citizens for Community Values, said that the new bill would prevent similar situations from repeating in Ohio.

"It's absolutely horrifying that the state would remove a child from parents' custody to put the child on untested and dangerous drugs," Baer said in a statement. "Hamilton County Job and Family Services crossed the line in this case. HB 658 ensures this can't happen to other Ohio families".

Baer further noted that the bill also aims to counter the advice given by the National Education Association and the LGBT advocacy group GLSEN, encouraging schools not to inform parents if they believe a child is suffering from gender dysphoria. The proposal from GLSEN advises schools not to disclose the student's condition to parents without the child's consent.

"No school should go behind a parent's back. Schools should be supporting parents, not undermining them," Baer said.
Vietnam blocks priest & rights activist from traveling abroad for 'national security' reasons

A priest and a Catholic human rights activist have reportedly been prohibited by the Vietnamese government from leaving the country due to "national security" reasons.

Fr. Joseph Dinh Huu Thoai, who belongs to an order commonly known as the Redemptionists, was reportedly planning to visit family and friends in the U.S., but was prevented from doing so by army officers earlier this month.

When Thoai asked the officers why he was prevented from leaving the country, they insisted that they were only following orders handed down to them by their superiors. The priest has contended he has not broken any laws and that he had not been listed on any police ban order.

Thoai, who has been outspoken about human rights abuses in Vietnam, has accused the government of depriving citizens of their freedom to travel. The Redemptionist priest had been banned from traveling to Cambodia in 2011, according to UCA News. He noted that he had been allowed to leave the country back in November.

Earlier this month, Vietnamese authorities also prevented Maria Do Thi Minh Hanh from traveling to Germany.

Hanh, the president of the civil society Viet Labor Movement, was supposed to visit her mother in Germany, but officials stopped her at Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City, saying she was not allowed to leave the country for "national security" reasons.

The activist claimed that the government had previously vowed to German officials that she would be allowed to leave the country.

"The government tricked the German government and me when they allowed me to go to Cambodia, but have now barred me from travelling to Germany," Hanh said, according to UCA News.

The incident at Tan Son Nhat International Airport was reportedly the fourth time that Hanh was barred from traveling to other countries. In 2010, Hanh was arrested for "disrupting security" and later sentenced to seven years in prison, but was subsequently released in 2014.

The Vietnamese government has been known to hand down lengthy jail sentences to Christian pro-democracy activists. Last month, the People's Court of Hanoi sentenced Christian lawyer Nguyen Van Dai to 15 years in jail after he was convicted of attempting to overthrow the communist government.

The court also sentenced Pastor Nguyen Trung Ton and journalist Truong Minh Duc to 12 years each on the same charges. Activist Nguyen Bac Truyen was sentenced to 11 years, while Pham Van Troi was sentenced to 11 years. Le Thu Ha, an assistant of Dai, was sentenced to nine years.

In addition to the jail sentences, the defendants were also sentenced to house arrest ranging from one to five years in length.
Claude Debussys rediscovered score for Hymnis

Pianist Jeff Cohen and soprano Pauline Texier collaborate to bring Claude Debussy's recently rediscovered score for Hymnis  a musical love letter to his muse  back to life, ahead of its sale at Christies in Paris on 29 May

The son of a shopkeeper and a seamstress, Claude Debussy (1862-1918) became one of the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, revolutionising piano music in the process. His greatest works include Preludes, Reflets dans leau, and Clair de lune for piano, and the orchestral pieces Images and La mer. In November 2017, the Books and Manuscripts department in Paris was contacted by a client who owned a manuscript but was unsure of what it was. When we saw it and looked through the 28 pages, we were absolutely astonished, recalls Adrien Legendre, a specialist at Christies in Paris. The manuscript in question turned out to be an unpublished score by Claude Debussy, its whereabouts unknown since 1926. The score was performed for the very first time since its rediscovery in our short film, above.

Debussy wrote the music for Hymnis, a play by the French Symbolist poet Theodore de Banville (1823-1891), in brown ink and pencil, scoring voice and piano parts for the first, second, seventh and final scenes of the play. Believed to have been written circa 1881/82, when Debussy was around 19 years old, the work now ranks among the composers earliest known compositions. Legendre describes it as a piece of his youth, from which we already see the genius he will become. In a small note at the top of the cover page, Debussy dedicated his Hymnis score to his lover, the amateur soprano Marie Vasnier, who was not only already married, but also 14 years his senior. The pair had met when the 18-year-old Debussy was employed as the pianist for her vocal lessons. She would go on to educate the aspiring composer about art, literature, music  and love. Between 1880 and 1882 Debussy would score no fewer that 12 of de Banvilles poems and three of his plays, including this example. The scores are testimony to the important role Symbolist literature played in his work; he would dedicate each in turn to Vasnier, making them the equivalents of musical love letters.

There is a smell and there is a sound and there is something about [Debussy] that is there  composer and pianist Jeff Cohen

While composing this music Debussy was travelling across Italy and Russia with his patron, the wealthy Russian businesswoman Nadejda von Meck. Some scholars have suggested that the uncomfortable social triangle between the three protagonists of Hymnis might reflect the situation a jealous Debussy found himself in with the Vasnier household back in Paris. After wining the Prix de Rome in 1884 and achieving financial independence from von Meck, Debussy relocated to Rome. It did not prove to be a happy move  he despised his fellow students and the city, and was soon pining for Vasnier. Sadly for him, their relationship foundered after eight years, and after his permanent return to Paris Debussy found a new lover and muse in the socialite Gabrielle Dupont.

One of the 28 pages of music from Debussys rediscovered manuscript
Houston-based Ocean Infinity will end its search of the Southern Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. It did not find the wreckage.

"I would firstly like to extend the thoughts of everyone at Ocean Infinity to the families of those who have lost loved ones on MH370," Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said in a statement. "Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected. It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim."
The private equity-backed Houston firm Haymaker Minerals & Royalties has agreed to sell to Texas rival Kimbell Royalty Partners in a $404 million cash-and-stock deal.

The five-year-old oil and gas royalties company in Houston is supported by major equity firms Kayne Anderson Capital Advisors and Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, known as KKR, which will acquire ownership stakes in Kimbell through the deal.

The deal represents the further consolidation of energy companies growing in shale oil and gas plays in the U.S., especially in West Texas' booming Permian Basin. However, this acquisition involves firms that seek much of their revenues from royalties on acreage leases after buying the minerals rights from property owners.

The sale includes $210 million in cash with the rest coming in stock. Kayne Anderson, KKR and the Haymaker management will own a 37 percent stake in Kimbell once the deal closes in the fall.

Haymaker CEO Karl Brensike said he believes the minerals and royalties business is just starting to get the recognition it deserves as a lower risk strategy in the cyclical oil and gas sector.

RELATED: Permian land rush is over, leaving big players to gobble smaller ones

"We believe this acquisition will kick off a new phase of consolidation across the sector, as private equity looks to divest their mineral interests to longer term holders," Brensike said. "Kimbell's diversified asset base and access to capital through their proposed tax structure will position them to continue to make accretive acquisitions over the coming years."

Fort Worth-based Kimbell, which went public last year, plans to switch from its tax-friendly master-limited partnership structure, which favors growth and passing on income to its investors, to a more traditional corporate model.

Another private equity firm, Apollo Global Management, agreed to buy a $110 million stake in Kimbell to help finance the deal.
Crude fell for a fifth straight day as the market weighs the prospects of rising production from Saudi Arabia and Russia.

Futures fell 1.7 percent in New York to their lowest level in six weeks. Saudi Arabia and Russia last week signaled they may restore some of the output they've curbed since late 2016 as they sought to drain a global glut. Now the market is awaiting a meeting of OPEC and its partners in Vienna set for late June to find out if those limits will remain.

"Clearly, the commentary from Russia and Saudi Arabia popped the bubble," said John Kilduff, a partner at Again Capital LLC in New York. "There's some legitimate skepticism about whether or not they'll follow through. There is going to be nervousness right up until next month's meeting."

Talk of rising output from the world's top two oil exporters wiped out this month's rally in WTI and nearly erased Brent's, which had been fueled by concerns that supplies from Iran and Venezuela will shrink. Yet, as questions swirl around the June meeting, OPEC and its allied producers concluded that the crude market re-balanced last month.

West Texas Intermediate for July delivery dropped $1.15 to settle at $66.73 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures' fifth straight session of declines is the longest such stretch since February. There was no settlement Monday for WTI because of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday, and all trades will be booked Tuesday.

WTI closed below a key technical level Tuesday, it's 50-day moving average. This tends to be viewed as a bearish signal.

Brent futures for July settlement rose 9 cents to end the session at $75.39 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange after earlier falling as much as 1 percent. The global benchmark traded at a $8.66 premium to WTI for delivery the same month.

Energy ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait plan to meet on Saturday to discuss OPEC matters, according to people with direct knowledge of the matter. Oman's Oil Minister Mohammed Al Rumhi may join, they said.

"I'm guessing that such a meeting would lead to some sort of practical applications of production increases," said Thomas Finlon, director of Energy Analytics Group LLC in Wellington, Florida. Meanwhile, June's OPEC meeting "is around the corner," he said.

Other oil-market news:

Gasoline futures fell 1.7 percent to settle at $2.1441 a gallon, the lowest in three weeks.

Cushing, Oklahoma crude stockpiles fell 200,000 barrels last week, according to a forecast compiled by Bloomberg.U.S. crude inventories probably decreased 1 million barrels last week, a Bloomberg survey of analysts showed.

--With assistance from Tsuyoshi Inajima and Paul Burkhardt.

2018 Bloomberg L.P.
Dear Abby:

My husband and I have been married for 13 years and have two beautiful children. I recently found out that for the last two years, he has been having an affair, and his mistress is now three months pregnant.

When I confronted him, he claimed he doesnt know what to do. I have told him Im willing to work things out and be supportive of the child, but the affair has to stop. The problem is, hes having a hard time letting go. He says hes in love with both of us.

I love my husband deeply and do not want to throw it all away for a mistake that I, too, once made. I know his mistress wants to be with him and has been slowly working her way into his life. Please give me some advice.

Lost in Love in Houston

Dear Lost:

Insist that you and your husband talk with a licensed marriage and family therapist to see if you can get your marriage back on track. While it may be possible to be in love with two women at the same time, here plural marriage is frowned upon.

Texas, thank the Lord, is a community property state, so its important that you understand what that will mean to you and your children financially should a divorce become necessary. Discuss this with a lawyer, so you know your options.

Your husband knows what he should do; he just doesnt want to do it. Trust me on that.

Dear Abby:

Im a 53-year-old man, twice divorced, raising a 16-year-old son as a single parent. I have been dating a woman with the same history, but her children are grown. Both of us are alcoholics. We are best friends, or at least drinking buddies. At least, we were.

Recently, she has experienced the deaths of a sibling and her ex-husband. Now she feels I dont give her enough attention. How can I convince her that I love her more than ever, but my free time needs to go to my son? In the past, our bar time would suffice, but lately she needs more. What should I do?

She Wants More In Ohio

Dear She Wants:

I understand your drinking buddy wants more, but your first responsibility must be to your son. She may not like what I have to say, but I hope you will take it to heart. You would be a better father  and a better partner, if youre so inclined  if you were sober. Alcoholics Anonymous can help you achieve sobriety if you reach out to them. You can find a meeting online at aa.org. Then, be a best friend to your lady by telling her she could find the support and companionship shes desperate to experience by attending meetings at AA herself. Perhaps you could attend together instead of going to the bar. It would be a win-win for all three of you.

DearAbby.com

Dear Abby

P.O. Box 69440

Los Angeles, CA 90069

Andrews McMeel Syndication
Houstonians have shown time and time again that they know how to come together after a tragedy.

The city has responded with kindness and solidarity once again after suspect Demetrios Pagourtzis, 17, killed eight students and two teachers and injured 13 other people in a shooting at Santa Fe High School on May 18.

As the Santa Fe community is still reeling from the shock of the mass shooting, people across the Houston area have done what they can to show their support.

Stocks of green and gold t-shirts are running out at local stores, as dozens of people sell Santa Fe Strong t-shirts, with proceeds going to a memorial fund set up by the school district.

DIFFICULT DAY: Santa Fe HS students return for the first time since shooting

At Clear Springs High School, teachers and students worked together to make and sell 1,200 t-shirts. The shirts were made so fast that some of them were still warm from being printed when they were delivered to the school, teacher Vanessa Seghers said.

On Saturday, Santa Fe Junior High School student Dakota Mata dedicated the song "Stand by Me" to her community during a ukulele performance at the Kemah Boardwalk.

In Pearland and Texas City school districts, students arrived Tuesday wearing green and gold, to honor Santa Fe High School students returning to school for the first time since the shooting.

See the Houston-area's shows of support for Santa Fe in the photos above, and send yours to photos@chron.com to be included.
Lidia Cleveland had offered to be with her son when he walked into Santa Fe High School on Tuesday.

She wanted to make sure he felt supported, although the senior, Jacob Hinton, said he wanted to return on his own.

Still, the 17-year-old was far from alone.

Hundreds of well-wishers joined Cleveland along the side of Texas 6 in front of the high school on Tuesday morning as students returned for classes for the first time since a May 18 mass shooting that killed 10 people and injured 13 others. A 17-year-old student has been charged with capital murder in the killings.

"It's going to be tough, coming back for the first time," Cleveland said from her spot along the road, before most students had arrived. "But he needs to face it and try to move on."

Most Santa Fe High students began their school day at 10 a.m., nearly three hours after their regular start time. As 10 a.m. approached, many stood in a 150-yard line that snaked around the southeastern half of the building.

Senior Gracie Hamilton, 17, said students were scanned with metal detectors and were checked into the school by staff. Law enforcement officers from as far away as the Klein and Houston school districts helped guide traffic and escort students inside.

"Then we headed to the gym for our ceremony, which was totally heart-wrenching to see the slide show of the people who lost their lives in the shooting," Hamilton wrote in a text message. "We all came together and held each other and it was beautiful."

Gov. Greg Abbott made an unannounced appearance and promised he would work to make changes to better secure schools. Students locked arms and sang their school song as the assembly ended.

Outside, many of those gathered had dressed in hunter green and yellow in a nod to the school's colors. Some held handmade signs in one hand and shielded their eyes from the glare of the rising sun with the other.

Six school buses filled with more than 200 Alvin ISD students, who finished their school year on Friday, pulled up to the school at about 7:35 a.m. They lined up along the shaded southwest corner of the school, holding signs and clapping for law enforcement and Santa Fe students as they walked toward the main entrance.

Lee Blatt, an algebra II teacher at Alvin High School, said many Santa Fe students looked grief-stricken as they made their way into the school.

"It wasn't in them to smile, but some of them said 'thank you,'" said Blatt, who is also Alvin High's student council sponsor. "One (Santa Fe High) parent wrote on Facebook that when she returned to her car, all she could do was cry. When she first arrived at school, she wanted to turn around and go back home. But when she saw us there welcoming students, it gave them strength to go in."

Manolis Tjanis, a 15-year-old who attends Alvin High but did not travel there on one of the school buses, said he does not know anyone who attends Santa Fe High School but wanted to be part of something positive on their first day back.

"I think we don't see enough of the caring and love we need in the world," Tjanis said. "We wait for bad things to happen before we do something like this."

Eight Santa Fe High School students and two substitute teachers died in last week's massacre.

They were identified as teachers Glenda Perkins and Cynthia Tisdale, and students Jared Black, Shana Fisher, Christian Riley Garcia, Aaron Kyle McLeod, Angelique Ramirez, Sabika Sheikh, Christopher Jake Stone and Kimberly Vaughan.

Eight of the dead were buried last week and over the weekend. Vaughan's funeral was Tuesday, and Perkins' is scheduled for Wednesday May 30.

Authorities have charged a 17-year-old senior in the slayings. Police said he came into the school that morning with a Remington 870 shotgun, a .38-caliber pistol and a few faulty, homemade bombs.

The campus was closed immediately after the shooting rampage, and teachers returned to work last week on Wednesday. Counselors will be on campus through Friday to provide services to students and staff, according to Santa Fe ISD.

Abbott told returning students and teachers at Santa Fe High School on Tuesday that he was impressed with their character and spirit in how they have handled the aftermath of the mass shooting.

In a private session at an assembly, the governor consoled them and said that while he was unable to explain their individual feelings, he can relate to a life-changing event such as the shooting.

According to two participants in the sessions, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, Abbott told students that his own life was "broken in half" in 1984 when, at age 26, a tree fell on him while he was jogging in Houston. He was paralyzed and has been in a wheelchair ever since.

The governor also urged students and faculty at the school to take advantage of mental-health counseling in the aftermath of the tragedy.

After addressing the assembly, the governor met privately with parents and students and detailed some aspects of a plan he will make public on Wednesday to bolster security at schools across Texas.

Officials confirmed Abbott also gave out gubernatorial commendations to 23 first responders who were present just after the tragedy and are credited with saving additional lives.

WHY NOT? HoustonChronicle.com report shows why Santa Fe massacre isn't becoming a national icon for gun control

Graduation is still on schedule for seniors and will be held Friday. Gracie Hamilton, the graduating senior, said she was inspired by the coming together of students on Tuesday.

"It was honestly beautiful seeing everyone stand together as one," Hamilton said. "It truly shows the strength the Santa Fe community has."

Mike Ward contributed to this report.
The police officer who was almost killed confronting a school shooter in Santa Fe on May 18 is no longer in critical condition, according to UTMB Galveston officials.

John Barnes, 49, was among the officers who responded to the shooting, in which a gunman killed 10 people and injured 13 others. Barnes, a retired Houston police officer who joined the tiny Santa Fe ISD police department in January, was hit by a shotgun blast in the elbow.

NO HESITATION: How Barnes confronted the shooter





The blast caused massive bleeding and nearly killed him.

After the shooting, friends told the Chronicle Barnes' heart stopped once on the way to the hospital and once while he was in surgery. His wife, Ashley Barnes, spoke with the Houston Chronicle about the panic she felt after learning he was shot and the recognition he received in the days after.

According to officials at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Barnes' condition was upgraded to "serious" Monday, and he remains in the hospital's intensive care unit.

On Tuesday afternoon, Barnes' wife, Ashley Barnes, said she and her family were grateful for all the support they've received since the shooting.

"We have a long road ahead of us," she said. "There will be times when he will be frustrated with lack of progress or simply the new situation he has been put in without his consent. It will be those times that the words and deeds of everyone will lift him up."

ABOVE: How Houstonians are showing their support for victims of the Santa Fe school shooting
The Greater Cleveland Chamber of Commerce is getting ready to host its first Outdoor Expo on June 16 at Stancil Park with fun for both adults and children.

The Outdoor Expo is a new event for the Chamber that is a successor to the Lock-n-Load Gun Show, which was last held in 2016.

The Outdoor Expo is a free family event, said Chamber COO Jim Carson.

According to Carson, traditional gun shows are becoming less popular, which has prompted the shift from a focused gun show into a broader convention that includes a gun show along with the Outdoor Expo.

Gun shows are failing terribly, said Carson. Most people dont go to gun shows.

Carson says gun companies are not even coming out to gun shows as often as they once did. Another contributing factor is the oversaturation of gun show events.

If you missed one this week, you go to one next week, said Carson.

The expo will include outdoor activities for children such as obstacle courses, a Kids Zone, a climbing wall, a celebrity dunking booth, a BB gun range and Laser Shot simulations.

Well also have a catch and release fishing tank for the kids, said Carson.

Other items to be seen at the Outdoor Expo include craft vendors, how-to seminars, safety seminars, a hunting show, a fishing show and ATVs.

The Chamber is looking for participants to use in the Celebrity Dunking Booth. All proceeds from the booth go to the Student Ambassador College Scholarship Fund.

The Outdoor Expo is scheduled for June 16 at the Cleveland Civic Center and at Stancil Park from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Both venues are located on Peach Ave. The event is free to all visitors. Sponsors have until June 8 to sign up. Booths are available for purchase until June 8 for $50. For more information, call the Chamber at 281-592-8786.

jmcadams@hcnonline.com
Humble High School

Valedictorian: William Bowie

University attending: Texas A&M

Quote: Put one foot in front of the other, and soon youll be walking out the door.

GPA: 5.450

Salutatorian: Jenisha Patel

University attending: Texas Tech University

Quote: : To live greatly, we must develop the capacity to face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility. - unknown

GPA: 5.442

3: Erinne Palomo

University attending: The Honors College at the University of Houston

4: Alinda Mac

University attending: School of the Art Institute of Chicago

5: Jose Amaya

University attending: Texas Tech University

6: James Guerra III

University attending: University of Texas- Austin

7: Gabriela Bastidas

University attending: Oklahoma City University

8: Alexandra Trevino

University attending: The University of Houston - Central Campus

9: Stephanie Gonzaga

University attending: Lone Star College

10: Aaron Ruelas

University attending: Texas State University

Quest Early College High School

Valedictorian: David Mouton

University attending: Arizona State University

Quote: Establish comfort in the space of discomfort, for courage in the eye of uncertainty will inspire greatness

GPA: 5.542

Salutatorian: Hans Matthew Robles

University attending: UT Austin

Quote: Life is like eating an avocado; there are many ways to enjoy it, but do so before it spoils.

GPA: 5.473

3: David Chen

University attending: University of Texas at Austin

4: Andrew Thomas

University attending: Texas A&M University

5: Alejandro Abreu

University attending: University of Texas at Austin

6: Jonathan Snyder

University attending: Texas A&M University

7: Sarah Hannusch

University attending: University of Houston

8: Annie Rogers

University attending: Pepperdine University

9: Elizabeth Garrett

University attending: Sam Houston State University

10: Michelle Lin

University attending: University of Texas at Dallas

mfeuk@hcnonline.com
Humble High School student Alexandra Trevino dreams of one day starting a nonprofit organization  a goal she hopes to achieve with the help of a college education from the University of Houston.

Trevino was one of two students from Humble Independent School District who were awarded scholarship during the 2018 Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Scholarship Banquet on Wednesday, May 23.

Trevino always knew she wanted to attend college, but did not know if her goal of getting a Masters degree in Accounting was an option for her.

Growing up in a single-parent household without a huge income made me doubt I could afford college, Trevino said.

Trevino decided to apply for a scholarship through the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. Her efforts were rewarded when she received a $20,000 scholarship during the May 23 banquet.

This scholarship will fund a good portion of tuition  half of yearly tuition for four years, which will be a huge impact on my life because now the grant money that I received through FAFSA can be applied to other remaining costs like moving on campus, Trevino said.

Winning the scholarship puts her a step further toward achieving her goal of launching a nonprofit to improve the lives of others.

Ive always been passionate about helping people and one of the main things I have been super passionate and empathetic towards is the situation of homelessness, Trevino said. I would like to create a nonprofit that helps reduce the number of relapses into homelessness. I want to provide education and programs so people never find themselves back in the situation of homelessness again.

Trevino was one of 423 high school students from across Texas to receive a scholarship during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Scholarship Banquet. The HLSR distributed over $8.4 million in scholarships at this years banquet.

Trevino was not the only Humble ISD student to receive a scholarship at this years banquet.

Alexandra Huckabee of Kingwood High School also received a $20,000 scholarship. In her application, Huckabee described her experience through Hurricane Harvey during which her fathers house was damaged.

The scholarship will help relieve some of the financial burden of tuition as she pursues her degree from the University of Austin.

Helping out students like Trevino and Huckabee is exactly what these scholarships are meant for, explained Amy Moroney, the Rodeos executive director of educational programs.

Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo scholarships are extremely impactful for these students, some of which may not have had the opportunity to attend college, Moroney said. It is rewarding to be a difference-maker for these students.

mfeuk@hcnonline.com
Artwork by two Katy Independent School District students will soon be on display in Washington D.C., as part of the annual Congressional Art Competition.

Congressman John Culberson announced that Taylor High School student Soah Kims drawing, Girl with Boots, was the overall winner from his district. She will receive two complimentary airfare tickets to Washington D.C. to view her work on display at the U.S. Capitol. Congressman Pete Olson awarded Tompkins High School Mya Stalnaker and her painting Sequined Sweetheart the first runner-up recognition. Her creation will be hung in Olsons D.C. office for a year.
Memorial Day ceremonies paid tribute to the veterans at rest at Magnolia Cemetery in Katy.

Thank God for these people, said Mike Mastrangelo, commander of Katy Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9182. We are a better people because of them, he said. The country became what it is because of them.

The ceremony included a ringing of a bell as the names of each of the veterans who died within the last year was read aloud. Katy Fire Department Lt. Chad Dismukes rang the bell for 10 veterans of Katy VFW Post 9182 and for three veterans of American Legion Post 164.

Noting the cacophony of different opinions and voices in society and comments and counter-comments on social media, Mastrangelo said, We need to do a better job of instilling patriotism. We live in the greatest country in the world. The group applauded.

It was the first Memorial Day celebration at Magnolia Cemetery for newly elected Katy City Councilman at large Chris Harris.

I loved it. Its an honor to be here and to see the community come out, said Harris. It makes me proud of Katy.

Other city representatives attending the program included Mayor Chuck Brawner, who also spoke during the ceremony, and council members Janet Corte, J. Gary Jones and Durran C. Dowdle. Corte joins Harris as a new member of City Council after the May election.

Some attendees came from a little further away, such as Buddy Moye of Columbus, who was among a group of motorcyclists who visited the cemetery to pay tribute to veterans. The former Katy resident said his father served in World War II and his grandfather in World War I.
Cindy Larsen was among the Kingwood Farmers Market vendors who returned to set up their tents just two weeks after Hurricane Harvey dumped six feet of water in Town Center Park.

We were back down here only weeks after, Larsen said. I was down here and there were still two or three cars there that people had abandoned thinking they would be high enough, but werent. So, we literally set up our tents with abandoned flooded cars on the stage area.

Larsen was one of about 12 vendors at Town Center Park during the Kingwood Farmers Market on Thursday, May 24.

The Kingwood Farmers Market launched in May 2010 and is run by the Lake Houston Area Chamber of Commerce. In 2015, the Town Center Park Association added a Craft vendor market next to the Farmers Market.

According to Mike Ibanez, who manages the Kingwood Farmers Market for the LHACC, the market began with about a dozen vendors when it opened eight years ago.

Over the years, the market has peaked at around 30 vendors. After Harvey, the number of vendors has been hovering at about a dozen, more or less.

We closed for two weeks (after Harvey) and reopened with 15 Farmers Market vendors, said Tony Austin, Town Center Park Association director. There was not enough demand from the public and the vendor count started dropping, bottoming at six vendors at beginning of this year. Of course, we also had weather challenges in the first three months of the year. We still had six, or seven, in the Crafts market.

Larsen brought her business, Cindys Southern Jam, to the Kingwood Farmers Market a little over a year ago. She said regulars have tried to support the Farmers Market after Harvey, but doing so can be hard for people who may be financially burdened due to Harvey-inflicted damage.

The number of market vendors is slowly starting to increase, Ibanez said, but it will take a boost in foot traffic to bring the market back up to the speed it was at prior to Harvey. Ibanez believes the low traffic count is due in large part to the fact that many surrounding apartments and neighborhoods have not yet regained occupancy.

Even though the market over the years has not had a spectacular draw, like some other markets, its been steady at like 250, 300 people coming through; but, now the traffics not back yet and what its telling me is that a lot of the traffic may have come from the back of Kingwood, Ibanez said.

Some of the long-time vendors at Kingwood Farmers Market have built-up a loyal customer base, bringing in patrons from both inside and outside of Kingwood. One such vendor is Dustin Hoeinghaus, who drives about 90 minutes from Weimer, Texas to sell his Ungraded yard eggs, which are natural and cage-free.

There are people that still come by; I have a lot of loyal customers in this area, Hoeinghaus said. We have off and on days. Traffic is kind of slow, but were hanging in there. Its all you can do.

Hoeinghaus believes in supporting farmers markets as a proponent of local small businesses.

We all help each other and it keeps the community moving in the right direction, Hoeingaus said. Traceability of food is pretty awesome  knowing where it comes from, where its grown. There are expenses involved. Itll be a little higher in price, but also higher quality. And that money gets put back into the economy. That will be circulated back into other local businesses.

Steve Chriswell, founder of Vertere Coffee Roasters, has been at the Kingwood Farmers Market for about four years. He said his regular market customers and word of mouth are a component of the success his business has attained over the years. Although some of his regular customers still come around after Harvey, he said there was a definite dip.

Its starting to come back now, Chriswell said. Theres better weather out. Here, the apartments are coming back, there are people rebuilding in Fosters Mill and other communities around here. Its going to take a while before everybodys back and out of construction mode, but to the markets credit  Mike wanted to have the market back as soon as possible, just to give people some normalcy.

Summer is typically slow for the Farmers Market, Ibanez said, but he expects this summer will be slower than usual. One of the setbacks the Kingwood Farmers Market faced this year was the lack of a market sponsor.

This is the first time we didnt have a sponsor, Ibanez said. I think after Harvey, there was so much going on with the Chamber and everything; businesses were turned upside-down. Well see what happens next year. Sponsors are kind of critical to the market  to get some seed money, which helps it to keep going in times like this. Not having a sponsor kind of hurt.

Although the market may not be back to what it was prior to Hurricane Harvey, it is slowly picking up, and according to Austin, the market continues regaining ground with rising customer counts and on average, approximately nine Farmers Market vendors and six Craft market vendors.

It still hasnt recovered to where it was, said Steven Lengyel, soap vendor with Hustlin Clean. The place was full of vendors  at least double this number. Now, its slowly, but surely, getting back up.

For hours of operation and more information about the Kingwood Farmers Market, visit the Kingwood Farmers Market website.

mfeuk@hcnonline.com
School safety, communications and crime are just some of the topics Ray Schultz, the chief of the Memorial Villages Police Department, discussed as a follow-up to last weeks conversation about Hurricane Harvey and this years hurricane season.

Schultz said one of his top priorities is being prepared for school shootings and active shooter situations in the villages or surrounding areas. Bunker Hill Village, Piney Point Village and Hunters Creek Village, the three communities MVPD polices, do not have their own high school. But MVPD officers train in active shooter response in order to be ready to protect their lower-level schools as well as assist other departments in the event of a high school shooting nearby.

Schultz said he watched in disbelief as news of the recent Santa Fe High School shooting unfolded.

As a country, we just cannot recover quickly enough in between these senseless acts. With this incident occurring in Santa Fe, it is a strong reminder that as an organization, you must always be prepared for the worst to happen, Schultz said. You pray that it will never happen in your jurisdiction. However, you have to have a plan in place should the unthinkable happen.

He said the department has worked to improve communications with residents. He joined MVPD as assistant chief in January 2015 and has been chief since April 1, 2017. Since he joined the force, MVPD has implemented the V-LINC system, which helps to relay important messages like weekly newsletters, daily briefings during the hurricane or asking residents to help solve a crime.

Schultz said sharing more information with surrounding agencies and entities helps to link and solve cases and consolidate prosecutions because nearby communities are often facing the same types of crimes.

The Memorial villages are also considering an Automated License Plate Recognition project, which would, according to Schultz, help protect residents by reading license plates of vehicles traveling in and out of the communities.

There are only 25 ways in and out of the Memorial Villages proper, so we think that we could look at this type of technology. If a crime occurs, we could combine that technology with the technology that exists on a lot of our houses to help develop leads to identify who the criminals are, Schultz said.

The three villages have created a tri-city public safety committee, and Schultz said Hatch Engineering has been doing some work to study the costs and how the project might improve efficiencies.

Schultz said preventing crimes against property has been another focus. He said, burglaries from habitations, robberies and burglaries or thefts from vehicles [are] down about 9 percent. Some property crimes he has seen recently include thefts of commercial-grade appliances from homes during post-Harvey and other renovations, some valued at more than $15,000.

Recently, Schultz said he has seen identity theft involving criminals probably using mail theft to take out Home Depot credit cards in residents names and then making thousands of dollars worth of purchases. But he said the department has identified a suspect and is working the case.

Because MVPD has the resources, Schultz said it tries to provide services that a lot of other departments cannot.

Were just trying to improve our services and kind of look at ourselves as a concierge police department. We do a lot things other police departments dont do because we have the time and we have the personnel. We literally do thousands of house checks a month, checking on properties, he said.

In addition, during the past year, all of the MVPD officers have been trained and certified in advanced first aid so that the community is able to more quickly get a medically trained first responder on the scene during emergencies, Schultz said.

He said people move to the Memorial villages because they provide a great place to live and raise families and that his department strives to maintain that standard.

People move to the villages for the quality of life. They move here for the public safety, for the schools, the tree-lined streets. Its like youre in the middle of a major city, but youre in the country, Schultz said. So our goal is to keep that quality of life, that concierge police department. Our proactive patrol is one of the things we pride ourselves on.

tracy.maness@hcnonline.com
3 1 of 3 Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 2 of 3 Godofredo A. Vasquez/Houston Chronicle Show More Show Less 3 of 3





Houston police are investigating a possible murder scene in the Briarforest area after a body was found at a west Houston apartment complex.

Police responded to the apartment complex located near the intersection of 11980 Overbrook Land and Gray Falls Drive at about 10 a.m.
The Klein Independent School District has recognized for a while now that more funding would be necessary to keep up its services.

And, now the time is right to adopt a higher tax rate, chief financial officer Daniel Schaefer said.

The district originally considered an election for a higher tax rate in the 2016-17 school year, to coincide with the opening of Klein Cain High School.

Weve been very fortunate to be able to delay this for one year due to the $34.2 million fund balance accumulated over four years, when state funding and property value growth was stronger, Schaefer said.

Waiting another year, however, would be too long, he said.

The Klein ISD school board has agreed, calling for a Tax Ratification Election at its May 14 meeting.

The election will be held June 16 and would set the tax rate at $1.52 per $100 valuation. The existing rate is $1.43 per 100 valuation.

More Information Klein ISD 2017-18 budget by the numbers Revenues: $431 million Expenditures: $451.78 million Klein ISD 2018-19 projected budget Revenues: $466 million Expenditures: $467.4 million For more information, visit Kisd.us/tre2018. A "Let's Talk" feature allows residents to submit questions and provide feedback. See More Collapse

An election is required by the state for a district to surpass an M&O rate of $1.04. Klein is asking to bring its rate up to $1.13, an increase of 9 cents.

The district is not alone.

Our neighboring districts have gone through a similar exercise, Schaefer said. Over half the districts have already done a TRE. Clearly, theres a problem statewide. Its not a Klein ISD issue.

A number of area school districts already have M&O tax rates exceeding $1.04. Aldine is higher by 9 cents, Katy by 10.66 cents and Spring Branch by 5 cents. Humble ISD passed a TRE for 13 cents and Alief for 8.5 cents, while Pasadena and Deer Park both asked for 13 more cents.

Across the state, more than 500 districts have passed Tax Ratification Elections.

Schaefer said that funding cuts for public education are to blame for the trend.

Statewide, one of the things districts have been challenged with is that since 2008, the states contribution on a per student basis has dropped 16.25 percent, which is only behind Oklahoma, he said.

He attributed the information to the Center on Budget Policy Priorities.

Since the 2015-16 school year, he said that for Klein ISD there has been a $34.1 million decline in state funding on a per student basis.

Taxpayers are left to make up the difference, resulting in a $21.8 million increase in local funding statewide.

Still, the result is a $12.3 million decrease in per student dollars, Schaefer said.

In 2012, on a statewide basis according to the Legislative Budget Board, local property taxes accounted for 54 percent of the state funding for education, he said. Now its up to 60 percent.

He explained that state funding dropped from 46 percent in 2012 to 40 percent currently. Next year, state funding is projected to be 38 percent.

In Klein ISD, in the 2013-14 school year, revenues were 58 percent from the state and 41 percent from local taxpayers.

Weve seen a rather significant shift in a short period of time, Schaefer said.

Now, more funding comes from taxpayers, at 50.7 percent, than from the state, which covers 48 percent.

The state counted on an almost 14 percent increase in property values in order to balance the budget, Schaefer said. Districts did not see that increase, which brings us to our situation.

In Klein ISD, property values are no longer growing at the same rate as in the past few years, which means local tax revenues are down as well.

We have entered a time when our property value is normal growth rate, he said. Were seeing a trend where the growth is slowing.

Last year, the increase in property value was 6.9 percent, a significant reduction from the 11.9 percent growth rate in 2015. Schaefer said the current rate of increase is 2.765 percent, which is down from an expected 5 percent growth due to Harveys effect on property values.

In addition, Schaefer explained, the number of homestead exemptions is on the rise, resulting in an even higher amount of the property taxes that the district cannot collect.

The over-65 population is growing in our area, Schaefer said. Its growing faster than our overall growth rate.

At the same time, Kleins enrollment is expected to increase by 1.65 percent to 53,913 students.

Schaefer said that revenue for Klein was lower than its peers since 2008 and closed the gap around 2013, when property values increased in the district.

He added that the state funding formulas are calculated on a year lag. The state calculates funding formulas based on a prior year value, he said. We collect on a current year value, allowing districts to benefit from value growth for one year.

He explained that Klein ISDs revenue ended Aug. 31 and was $7,994 per student, while its peers are at around $8,334 per student, which is a little more than $300 extra per student.

Multiply that by 53,000 students, and thats a pretty big number as a funding difference, Schaefer said.

In comparison to its peer districts, Klein ISD spends 26 percent less in facility maintenance operations, 49 percent less in instructional leadership and 3 percent less in general administration. The district also spends less in transportation, facility acquisition and construction, community services and extracurricular activities.

That allows us to invest more in students, Schaefer said.

Klein spends more than its peers in direct classroom instruction, guidance counseling, curriculum and staff development, security and monitoring services

With the tax rate election, Klein would gain $544 per student.

The first two cents are considered super pennies, because they will also garner additional state funding. The result would be $13.4 million, made up by $4.2 million in local funding and $9.2 million in state aid.

Its a huge boon for the school district and the community, Schaefer said.

The seven regular pennies will be a gain of $15.4 million for Klein ISD  $14.7 million in local funding and $700,000 in state aid.

In total, the 9 cents would result in $28.8 million total for Klein.

For a $200,000 home, the rate increase would be $13.13 per month or 43 cents per day, Schaefer said.

This would allow us to maintain operations until 2021 without needing additional pennies, he said.

The district would also be able to move forward with important security upgrades, instead of waiting until the next bond cycle.

Schaefer said that 3 cents would go toward immediate security needs, including hiring additional police officers and equipment, the installation of security vestibules, adding entrance screening technology at intermediate campuses and building elementary school perimeter and playground fences. These projects total $4.3 million.

Safety and security are always a priority, Schaefer said. After recent events and input from the community we identified some areas where we could invest in some additional safety layers. We could wait for a future bond, but that could be down a ways. We want to expedite those projects.

Still, even with the 9-cent addition, Klein could face an estimated $1.4 million deficit at the end of the school year.

Schaefer said that projected revenues for the 2018-19 school year would be $466 million. Projected expenditures in the budget total $467.4 million.

The budget would provide for increased personnel needs, including $2.7 million for Klein Cains addition of 11th grade, $2.87 million for Hofius Intermediate, $3 for staffing ratios and $3.3 million for employee raises.

Schaefer said that the I&S rate would remain flat for now.

Were able to delay any increases, he said. Were at 39 cents now, and well be able to hold that for the next couple of years.

Superintendent Bret Champion said that if the measure does not pass in the election, Klein would have to cut its budget by $30.2 million.

He wants voters to understand the importance of the election and said Klein has created two informative videos online, as well as a myth busters section to provide clarity to the issue.

Klein ISD continues to be a fast-growth district so opening new schools is a necessary reality, Champion said.

He explained that the M&O budget funds daily operation costs, including for utilities, staffing, and operations.

The M&O portion of the school tax rate has been $1.04 for the last 11 years, Champion said. Increases in Klein home values continue to cause a homeowners school taxes to rise, but this increase does not benefit Klein as one would expect.

While the state budget for education does not now meet district needs, Champion said that will change if the tax ratification election passes.

When voters approve to increase their local share via a TRE, the state is required under the current school funding system to match more than double the local contribution for the first two cents, he said.
Houston-area school districts don't have nearly enough counselors to meet the needs of students, falling far short of recommended staffing levels, according to experts and an analysis of state employment data.

In the wave of the May 18 shooting at Santa Fe High School, which left eight students and two teachers dead, attention has turned to the level of counseling and mental health services provided to students at Texas campuses. Gov. Greg Abbott has stressed the importance of counselors and mental health professionals in identifying potentially troubled students.
KABUL, Afghanistan  Flattery of the U.S. president may work in North Korea and Washington, but in Afghanistan it is proving dangerous and even fatal.

An Afghan man who admired the president so much that he legally named his son Donald Trump has now said he no longer feels safe and has fled Afghanistan.

That came three days after another Afghan who helped organize the minting of a gold medal thanking President Donald Trump for his support of Afghanistan was killed by the Taliban, according to police officials in Logar province and to the insurgents themselves. A third Afghan, also involved in making the medal, said he, too, would flee the country because he no longer felt safe.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman for the Taliban, said in a statement on WhatsApp that the insurgents were responsible for the killing of Gul Nabi in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province, in revenge for his criminal role in making the medal. Shapoor Ahmadzai, a spokesman for Logar Provincial Police, said Nabi, a prominent tribal elder in the province, had been killed by a bomb attached to the underside of his car Friday.

In January, Nabi and his friend Farhad Akbari, an Afghan Local Police commander in Logar, raised funds to create a medal out of gold to thank Trump for taking a critical stance against Pakistan, something many Afghans have long demanded, blaming that country for providing safe havens to the Taliban.

The Afghan Local Police are a lightly trained, pro-government militia force. Logar province has been heavily contested by the Taliban for years.

Now the U.S. president recognizes that Pakistan plays a double game and he cut aid to Pakistan, Akbari, 38, said in an interview in January. We sent him that medal to show our unity and our appreciation.

The men said they presented it to the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Reached Sunday, Akbari said he was planning to flee to India because of the attack on Nabi.

I dont want to get killed like my friend, Hajji Gul Nabi, he said. My life is under threat.

The U.S. Embassy did not immediately reply to requests for comment on the episodes.
Margaret Blackwell sat on a walker in blistering heat, facing her late husbands tombstone.

Dozens of people moved around her, weaving among thousands of graves at the Houston National Cemetery. As they laid flowers and flags at the feet of deceased service members for Memorial Day, Blackwell tenderly placed her hand on her husbands grave marker.

He served in the Army in the Korean War and died in late 2016. Blackwell and her daughter, Jacqueline, remember the husband and fathers sacrifice and the sacrifice of all service members, not just on the holiday, but every day.

Its a special day, but its another day, said Jacqueline Blackwell, holding a black umbrella above her mothers head. You cant say, Remember, because you never forget.

Scores of Houstonians joined the Blackwells at the annual Memorial Day ceremony at the national cemetery, a 419-acre expanse on Veterans Memorial Drive in northwest Houston. Following a parade and address by Lt. Gen. Steven A. Hummer, who is retired from the Marine Corps, a constant stream of people filtered in and out through the early afternoon to pay their respects.

Betty Jones, whose husband fought in the Army in the Korean War, said she has been attending the Memorial Day ceremony for more than 15 years. While Jones husband survived the war, others didnt. Remembering those who died in the line of duty is the least she can do, she said.

They give their lives, she said. You can just give them just one day out of the whole year.

Huge cost

Memorial Days roots go back to the late 1860s, after the bloodshed of the Civil War. Historians say that Americans began holding yearly services for the fallen, and the tradition continued each spring on May 30 to remember those who lost their lives.

After World War I, the observation expanded beyond the Civil War to commemorate any service members who lost their lives. In 1971, Congress made the holiday the last Monday in May.

Each time this year, Army veteran Tony Sechelski, who served in the Vietnam War, specifically remembers several friends who died in the line of duty, he said.

A lot of people take it for granted, that what we have, it came at a huge cost, Sechelski said.

This year, Memorial Day also fell close to the 70th anniversary of the Womens Armed Services Integration Act, which permanently allowed women to serve as full members of the U.S. Armed Forces, not just as volunteers.

At a separate celebration in the Heights, Navy veteran Cmdr. Rosalind Brooks marveled at how far the military has come in allowing women to fully participate. Brooks was granted admission to the U.S. Naval Academy in 1984, just several years after women were first allowed to enter U.S. military academies.

I am humbled at the many sacrifices and hardships so many made before me to allow many of us to be here today, Brooks said.

Natalie Sieler, a naturalized American citizen who was born in Mexico, came to the Houston National Cemetery with her husband, two sons and daughter. She and her husband dont know anyone buried at the cemetery, but they have attended the celebration for years to give thanks to those who died so they could live good lives in the United States, Sieler said.

Because of where I was born and living here in America, I probably have a more realistic idea of the freedoms that we have here in the United States that we dont enjoy in other countries, Sieler said. Were free to vote, were free to worship. I just dont take any of that for granted.

She and her husband have tried to instill patriotism in their children, Sieler said. Now, her oldest son plans to enlist in the military.

Different services

Robert Gallinari, a Vietnam War veteran who served in the Air Force, lives in Guam but has been in Houston for the past several months working as a post-Hurricane Harvey contractor with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Each year, he attends different Memorial Day services in the different places where hes contracted. This years was one of the best ceremonies hes seen, just because of the sheer number of people who came out to show their respects, he said.

Im just glad to see our nation honor them, Gallinari said. This is America. This is what our country is about.

samantha.ketterer@chron.com

twitter.com/sam_kett
PARIS  The 4-year-old boy seemed to be suspended from a balcony. An adult standing on a nearby balcony seemed powerless to help. Disaster seemed the only possible outcome.

Then, to the nimble rescue on the streets of Paris on Saturday evening came a young man whom some French people have started to call the Spider-Man of the 18th, referring to the arrondissement of Paris where the episode unfolded.

With a combination of grit, agility and muscle, the man hauled himself hand over hand from one balcony to another, springing from one parapet to grasp the next one up. A crowd that had gathered before he began his exploit urged him ever upward, according to onlookers video.

Finally, after scaling four balconies, the man reached the child and pulled him to safety. And suddenly, an act of individual courage and resourcefulness began to play into Europes polarized debate about outsiders, immigrants and refugees.

The man, identified as Mamoudou Gassama, 22, is a migrant from Mali, a troubled former French colony in northwest Africa, who journeyed through Burkina Faso, Niger and Libya before making the dangerous Mediterranean Sea crossing to Italy and arriving in France in September, without documentation.

On Monday, he met with President Emmanuel Macron. Now, he will get the requisite documentation to live legally in France.

I told him that in recognition of his heroic act he would have his papers in order as quickly as possible, Macron said in a statement on Facebook after meeting with Gassama at the Elysee Palace.

Gassama will be one of a lucky few in a country with increasingly tight immigration rules.

In 2017, only five people were granted residency papers for exceptional talent or services rendered to the community, according to statistics from the French Interior Ministry.

The boy saved by Gassama was alone in the apartment while his father went grocery shopping, said Francois Molins, the Paris prosecutor.

Molins told the BFM television news channel that the father had taken a long time to return home because he had decided to play the smartphone game Pokemon Go as he was leaving the store.

The father was taken into police custody Sunday, and an investigation has been opened for failure to meet parental obligations.

The father has been released pending trial.
TOKYO  With efforts being made to reinstate the planned summit meeting between President Donald Trump and North Koreas leader, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan is not taking any chances.

After speaking with Trump by telephone Monday, Abe told reporters in Tokyo that he and the U.S. president had agreed to meet before the U.S.-North Korea summit.

Abe has been concerned that Trump might make a nuclear disarmament deal with North Korea that protects the United States but does not address Tokyos worries about the Norths short-range missiles that could hit Japan.

By offering to meet with the U.S. president before he heads to Singapore, Abe hopes to be one of the last advisers to have his ear before he meets with North Koreas leader, Kim Jong Un.

Abe told reporters that Trump had briefed him on plans for the summit meeting, although the Japanese leader did not provide details.

According to NHK, Japans public broadcaster, Abe  who was meeting with President Vladimir Putin of Russia over the weekend  conveyed both Japans and Russias support for the summit meeting to go forward.

Less than 24 hours after canceling the event with a letter to North Koreas leader Thursday, Trump hinted that it might still proceed as planned. By Sunday, diplomatic and technical experts from the United States and North Korea had met in the North Korean part of the Demilitarized Zone that separates the two Koreas in an effort to salvage the summit meeting, which was planned for June 12 in Singapore. It is unclear what has happened so far in the talks at the border.

Delegations from the United States and North Korea arrived in Singapore on Monday evening, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap. Negotiations over logistics and other issues related to the possible summit meeting are expected to begin Tuesday. The North Korean delegation is led by Kim Chang Son, a top logistics and protocol official, Yonhap said.

Besides worrying about missiles, Abe has also repeatedly asked Trump to raise the issue of Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korea four decades ago.

Of the countries seeking to influence negotiations with North Korea, Japan has remained the most hard-line, consistently calling for complete and immediate denuclearization as well as the removal of all missiles and biological weapons.

It has also remained highly skeptical about North Koreas intentions, reminding the United States that the North has signed and reneged on multiple previous nuclear deals.
After being closed by damage caused by flooding from Hurricane Harvey, the Precinct 4, Place 1 Justice of the Peace courthouse in Spring is nearing completion on repairs and plans to open to the public this summer.

We estimate that 85 percent of the repairs to the facility are complete, said Herman Sanders, spokesperson for the Harris County Flood Control District.

Although originally expected to open in the spring, the courthouse may reopen on June 25 after nearly 10 months of being closed to the public, he said.

Located at 6831 Cypresswood Drive, between three to four feet of water entered the building, damaging walls, furniture, electronics and equipment.

Currently, the court staff is located at the Precinct 4, Place 2 courthouse in Humble.

The water damaged drywall, roof, bathrooms and offices were replaced. A new sprinkler system was also added.

Currently, we have $5.1 million in repair costs associated with this facility, Sanders said.

The Precinct 4 Constables Office, which also shares space in the courthouse, returned to the building in February.

During Harvey, the constables office dispatch team was forced to leave.

The courthouse building also houses offices for the Harris County Tax Assessors Office and district 1 of the sheriffs office.

Businesses and homes along Cypresswood Drive near the courthouse also suffered from flooding due to Harvey.

The Barbara Bush Library Branch officially reopened on May 14 while the Pearl S. Fincher Museum of Fine Arts has not announced a reopening date, but expects to open during the summer.

Other neighboring businesses also reopened after months of repairs.

While the courthouse expects to reopen this summer, it may relocate to Tomball due to its higher elevation in the future.

The Tomball city council approved the annexation of a 375-acre property following a request from the county to release it from the city of Houstons extraterritorial jurisdiction.

The annexation allows the property to obtain utilities, such as water and sewage, from Tomball.

Harris County Precinct 4 is currently building a service center on the property to house trucks and tractors.

mayra.cruz@chron.com
On Memorial Day, Missouri City American Legion Post 294 veterans raised the American, Texas Flag and Legion flags at the dedication of a centennial stone marker at American Legion Park, 4015 Lexington Blvd., Missouri City.

While District 27 state Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, and Texas District 9 Congressman Al Green, D-Houston, were also present to put an exclamation point on the event; it was the uniformed Post 294 veterans who were truly visible reminders to all assembled of the sacrifice of service to ones country.

Remembering those fallen as well as all those who have and continue to serve our country is what Memorial Day is all about, said Missouri City Mayor Allen Owen. The mayor applauded the posts efforts and remarked how this event was also kicking off the Missouri City Parks Foundations inaugural project to create a City Veterans Memorial.

John Hince, Department of Texas commander, poignantly remembered a fallen comrade who had been a team member and classmate. Dave Rehbein, past national commander and chairman of the 100th Annual Observance Committee, spoke of how men and women in battle first protected their comrades in arms while defending the rights of their nation and of all the changes the Legion has witnessed in its military through the years.

Rehbein also saluted the Legions legacy and vision which has served to make America stronger as a nation. Celebrating 100 years in 2019, this year the Legion is kicking off its centennial with its continued focus on service to veterans, active service members and community. The Legion emerged from a group of World War I veterans, weary from battle, into one of the most influential nonprofit groups in the United States. Today there are over 14,000 posts worldwide and a membership of 2.4 million which collectively has not only won hundreds of benefits for veterans but also has produced many important programs for American youth. In remembering those who have given their lives and honoring those who still serve, the Legion works tirelessly improving the quality of life for all Americans.

In the dedication program was printed a Veterans Prayer, where the following line emerges as a strong reminder of why citizens honor those who have fought for the American flag and all it stands for: Ive served by County; My love for her is strong; Ive stood behind Old Glory when others thought her wrong. God Bless America!
In what was an emotional Texas State Technical College Board of Regents meeting, outgoing regent Joe M. Gurecky was recognized for his service to the college, the manufacturing industry and the community.

At that special meeting a resolution of appreciation was presented to Gurecky and in a rare and distinguished tribute the lab inside the Industrial Technology Center was named the Joe M. Gurecky Machining Laboratory.

"I am overwhelmed and moved with emotion," said Gurecky. "I never expected to have the lab named after me. It is a true honor."

Gurecky was appointed as a TSTC Regent by Governor Rick Perry on June 9, 2006, and reappointed on September 1, 2011, serving more than a decade.

It was also some 15 years ago, as Mayor of Rosenberg and sitting on the Rosenberg City Council, that he worked diligently to bring TSTC to the community.

"It is impossible to state the importance Joe Gurecky has had on TSTC," said TSTC Chancellor Mike Reeser. "And I want to note that without his contribution, TSTC in Fort Bend County may have never happened."

TSTC Board of Regent Chairman John Hatchel shared Reeser's sentiment.

"It's going to be difficult to replace Joe," said Hatchel. "He added stability and wisdom to our decisions."

A product of technical education, Gurecky knows first-hand the impact it can have on a person's life and calls it a privilege to provide the same opportunity to the community.

"The doors of opportunities that opened for me because of my technical education was remarkable," said Gurecky. "And I, along with my wife Doris, want to give the same opportunities to the students of TSTC."

Gurecky and his wife have donated more than $100,000 for scholarships and the Chancellor's discretionary fund, which is used to facilitate the institution's needs.

Gurecky always gives credit where credit is due; he said he could not have spent the last 12 years as a regent, or the last six decades pursuing his career, without the support from his wife and family.

"I couldn't have done what I have done alone," he said. "This is as much their accomplishment and honor as it is mine."

Gurecky spent 27 years working for Baroid Corporation, a Houston-based oil and gas industry production company, before using his family's life-savings in 1983 to open Gurecky Manufacturing, which operated out of his garage with only three machines.

Since then, the company has undergone significant growth and is now housed in a 40,000-square-foot-facility filled with state-of-art precision manufacturing machines.

And although Gurecky will no longer serve as regent, he said he will continue to work closely and share his experiences and advice with TSTC as a mentor for students, and assist with recruitment efforts.

"Joe and Doris are pillars of this community and to have Joe serve as a regent has been a distinct privilege for TSTC," said TSTC Field Development Officer John Kennedy. "He has brought a unique perspective to the board and we will forever be grateful for his years of service to the college."

Kennedy added, "Joe and Doris are financially vested in TSTC. As a result of their generosity more than 150 students have been able to attend classes at our Fort Bend County campus."
The Woodlands Township directors have offered their support to a proposal from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to possibly build a reservoir and dam on Spring Creek as a way to help mitigate flooding in the Greater Houston Region.

In a unanimous vote at the township board meeting on May 23, the board approved a resolution support for Abbotts plan  called the Spring Creek Reservoir Project  which was part of list of public infrastructure flood mitigation projects included in the governors Commission to Rebuild Texas report.

Township board Chairman Gordy Bunch said flooding issues are still on most residents minds, especially in light of the estimated 9 inches that fell on The Woodlands on May 20.

I think there is support regionally for a (Spring Creek) reservoir, Bunch said. I dont think the (flooding) issues are going to go away.

Board member Bruce Rieser, who is the chairman of the townships growing Storm Drainage Task Force, told the board that officials from Harris County were the people responsible for the Spring Creek Reservoir plan being placed on the governors agenda, noting that Montgomery County officials had not taken the step.

(A reservoir) is probably the only way we can get control of Spring Creek, Rieser said. This (plan) does make sense, but it is a long road. We estimate it would be 10 to 15 years (before it is built) if we could get this (deal) done.

Rieser also said one issue confronting elected officials in regard to possibly building a Spring Creek reservoir is how to fund the construction as well as the upkeep and operation of it.

It will require a taxing authority to maintain it and operate it, if it ever happens, he said. Weve had a lot of speculation in the past. We know it isnt going to be a little project.

The vote in favor of supporting the reservoir plan was one of several flooding related issued the township board heard during their May 23 meeting. Two representatives from local municipal utility districts spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting and Rieser also gave an update on the townships Storm Drainage Task Force activities.

MUD representatives speak

Two local municipal utility district officials addressed the tonwship board of directors, telling the seven member board they appreciated support from The Woodlands in all efforts to work on flood mitigation after four massive flooding events over a three-year periodthe Memorial Day floods of 2015, the Tax Day floods of 2016, the Memorial Day floods of 2016 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Rich Jakovac, outgoing president of Harris-Montgomery Counties MUD 386, said that the MUD 386 board also has voted for a resolution of support for the proposed reservoir, and he thanked Rieser for his leadership on the issue.

Were still evaluating whether there is a local solution (to flooding), Jakovac said. We dont know if there will be a local solution, but were still pursuing it.

Laura Norton, representing Montgomery County MUD 47, also thanked township officials for the creation and continued work of the storm drainage task force.

Were making great strides, she said.

Rieser: storm task force extemely busy

Rieser gave a brief update on the task forces recent action, including news from their early May meeting.

In the last nine months, weve been extremely busy, Rieser said. Weve done an enormous amount of work, but nothing is going to happen in the next 12 to 24 months. We are moving in exactly the right direction.

The task force and others in The Woodlands know now how exactly areas of the community flooded, Rieser said, due to several engineering studies of Hurricane Harvey and water flows on Spring Creek. The time lapse videos of the August 2017 event were released to officials and the public in May, he added.

jeff.forward@chron.com
With the Santa Fe High School shooting fresh in their minds, members of the Houston area's education, law enforcement and faith communities on Tuesday outlined efforts for ensuring a safe final week of the school year.

As part of Project Safe Start, a grassroots coalition of the three groups started in 1990, local leaders said there will be an increased police and clergy presence this week in Aldine, Houston and Spring ISDs. The group focuses on the final week of school because it's a time when students tend to engage in more bad behavior, looking to settle scores or pull pranks ahead of the summer break.

"This is something that's been going on for many, many years," Houston Police Assistant Chief Sheryl Victorian said. "It's just the time of year where kids are ready to start their summer vacation, they're a little antsy. There could be internal conflict or external conflict, and we want to make sure we minimize that."

In recent years, Project Safe Start leaders have reported no significant violent incidents leading up to the end of school. But law enforcement officials remain on heightened alert following the May 18 shooting in Santa Fe, where eight children and two adults were killed by a high school student who opened fire on campus, police said.

Victorian said Houston police will have a more visible presence patrolling near schools, while Houston ISD police will continue efforts to identify and stop potential threats. Houston ISD Police Chief Paul Cordova said his department has investigated about 100 threats, many of them made on social media, since the February shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 people dead.

"It's been rough since Parkland with youngsters thinking it's a joke to make threats," Cordova said.

RELATED: On heightened alert, districts report several threats following Santa Fe

A few dozen local clergy, who have been the driving force behind Project Safe Start, echoed calls for responsible behavior by students and attentive supervision by parents ahead of the school year's end. Aldine and Spring ISDs let out on Thursday, while Houston ISD wraps up on Friday.

As part of the effort, dozens of local religious leaders will be patrolling middle and high schools throughout the three districts, looking to provide a positive presence for students.

"We couldn't come to this without the burden and the concerns of the Santa Fe situation, and also some of the other concerns that are happening within school districts," said the Rev. F.N. Williams II, a Project Safe Start leader. "I think it's important for us to reclaim, as others have said, not just our communities, but remember, we must reclaim our communities with faith."

Several districts throughout Greater Houston have pledged to add law enforcement officers to campuses following the Santa Fe shooting, with some contemplating whether to keep elevated officer levels through the 2018-19 school year.

HoustonChronicle.com: Governor pushes for more counselors; districts miss staff targets

Cordova said HISD expects to maintain its current number of on-campus officers next year, despite an expected $3 million cut to the police department's budget. School officials expect to find the savings through attrition, reduction in administrative staff and less spending on equipment and supplies, among other areas. The district faces a projected $100-million-plus budget shortfall as it finishes crafting its 2018-19 budget.

Many districts have reported receiving threats or students bringing weapons to schools since the Santa Fe massacre, though it's unclear whether the number of incidents has been elevated in the shooting aftermath.

Jacob Carpenter is an education writer at the Houston Chronicle. He can be reached at jacob.carpenter@chron.com.

Editor's note: This story has been corrected to reflect Aldine ISD's last day of school is Thursday.
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A Houston firefighter has been relieved of duty after he was hit with one charge of indecency with a child.

Eric Rivera was released on $20,000 bail Sunday, two days after he was arrested by the Harris County Sheriff's Office, according to court records.
A security guard was shot in the leg late Monday in Gulfton, Houston police reported.

Just before 10 p.m., a guard working in the 5700 block of Glenmont was hit by gunfire believed to be from a passing vehicle.

It's not clear whether the guard was targeted or hit at random, police said. Afterward, he was taken to the hospital.

No one was immediately taken into custody and police did not offer any description of the shooter or suspect vehicle.

Police are continuing to investigate.
MORAN  This tiny West Texas town is fading. The Methodist church is for sale, the American Legion post is on the brink of closing and half the main drag is shuttered. Homes are falling in on themselves. The only restaurant, most days, closes at 2 p.m.

But the city of Moran also is loved. Every morning, residents gather at that one restaurant, Pizza Mark, for coffee and gossip. The mayor, unpaid, fixes the gravel roads on his own tractor. Many grew up on this harsh yet beautiful land and do not plan to leave it.

Moran is a town of yessir and yes maam, of handshakes and hollers. Its a place where people know each other by the sound of an engine or color of a truck. And like anywhere else in rural Texas, few would know it existed  if not for the fact that its home to the inventor of the bump stock.

MISPLACED DEBATE: West Texas town of Moran bears brunt of bump stock ban

Jeremiah Benjamin Cottle, known as Ben, grew up just outside this town of 250 people or so, 160 miles west of Dallas. Here, he dreamed up a device that made semi-automatic weapons shoot like machine guns, a device that made him rich and put Moran on the map.

His company, Slide Fire, transformed from a home-grown operation in a shed on his familys ranch to a multi-million dollar enterprise in a hulking beige warehouse surrounded by high fences and razor wire. Cottle patented his invention, and the business became the nations top supplier of bump stocks, which sold for several hundred dollars apiece.

Then, on October 1, 2017, a man in a room at a high-rise hotel in Las Vegas opened fire on the crowd at a music festival below. He killed 58 people in 10 minutes. Twelve of his guns were outfitted with bump stocks, according to news reports.

OBSESSED: Santa Fe shooting echoes memories of Columbine

Each mass shooting in America  which now includes the latest at a high school in Santa Fe  sparks tortured debate about how to prevent them from happening again, and that debate invariably includes placing restrictions on the rights of citizens to own the weapons they want.

Allen Breed/STF

But so far, the only real restriction that has met acceptance across the political divide is a proposed ban on bump stocks, currently in a Department of Justice public comment period. The brunt of that proposal is being borne by the little town of Moran, where residents commonly believe blame should fall not on the weapon used in a mass shooting, but on the wacko wielding it.

In Moran, people grow up with guns. Weapons are practical (shooting the turkey for Thanksgiving dinner), a matter of self-defense (killing a rabid skunk) and fun (frog hunting). Slide Fire provided jobs for an area that desperately needed them.

The company has not taken a new order since May 20, and is expected to cease operations for good.

Read more about how the tiny West Texas town is fading on our subscriber site, HoustonChronicle.com. Not a subscriber? Click here to view offers.
NASA has officially decided to use the parts of a lunar rover axed last month on other robotic missions to the moon -- one of which could launch as soon as next year.

Resource Prospector, a $250 million rover being built to learn more about the availability of water on the moon, was abruptly canceled last month because NASA officials said it no longer suited the agency's exploration campaign.

The decision stunned scientists and researchers alike, especially given the recent push by President Donald Trump's administration to return Americans to the moon as a stepping stone for a mission to Mars.

NASA immediately launched a review into the decision, at the same time saying all 90 employees working on Resource Prospector would be reassigned to "other opportunities within the agency."

The agency has completed its review and determined that the rover's scientific instruments can, in fact, be used on other missions. Those instruments include an ice drill, a system to search for hydrogen below the lunar surface and a tool to quantify water extracted from the moon.

"We conducted a thorough science and engineering assessment of Resource Prospector and determined all four instruments are at a high technology readiness level, are appropriate for science on the moon, and will make flights on future" missions, Dennis Andrucyk, deputy associate administrator of the agency's Science Mission Directorate, said in a statement.

NASA is currently searching for commercial partners for the new robotic missions. Officials will award several contracts throughout the next decade. Contract missions are expected to begin as soon as 2019, and a company's first delivery will arrive on the surface no later than Dec. 31, 2021.

Resource Prospector was slated to fly in 2022 or 2023 and much of the work on the rover was being done at Houston's Johnson Space Center. The project had been in the works for three years.

Since taking office, Trump has made it clear that returning to the moon for the first time since 1972 is a priority for his administration. He revived the defunct National Space Council last year and, later, signed Space Policy Directive-1 urging NASA to return Americans to the moon.

Earlier this year, the president released a $19.9 billion NASA budget proposal for the coming fiscal year that tasks NASA with launching the first flight without a crew for Orion -- the spacecraft meant to take humans to Mars -- by 2022, followed 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 for the rocket that will carry Orion into space.

Centers around the country, including Johnson, already are working diligently to reach these deadlines.

Additionally, Trump's proposal would allow the agency to begin working on the foundation of a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, saying it would "give us a strategic presence in the lunar vicinity that will drive our activity with commercial and international partners and help us further explore the moon and its resources and translate that experience toward human missions to Mars."

Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
Col. Don Peterson spent 24 years in the Air Force, became a NASA astronaut during the Apollo era and participated in the first spacewalk of the 30-year Space Shuttle program.

But after his death Sunday at the age of 84, his family will remember him more for his honesty and gentleness than for his stellar career.

"Don would tell you his greatest joy was caring for and spending time with his wife and family," his obituary reads. "Saying 'I love you' came easy and often from him ... He told his grandchildren, 'holding them in his rocking chair was better than floating in space.' His unconditional love for all of them will be treasured always."

Peterson was the second astronaut to die over the weekend, both in Texas. The first was Alan Bean, the fourth man to walk on the moon, who died Saturday at the age of 86.

Originally from Mississippi, Peterson became an astronaut in 1969, just a few months after the first lunar landing in July of that year. Though Peterson never reached the moon, he rocketed out of Earth's atmosphere on Space Shuttle Challenger in 1983, just two years into the 30-year shuttle program.

On Tuesday morning, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said on Twitter he was "saddened" by Peterson's death.

"Don will always be part of the @NASA family & his legacy as a pioneer in space lives on," Bridenstine wrote.

Peterson is known for participating in the shuttle program's first spacewalk, alongside astronaut Story Musgrave, during his 1983 Challenger flight. But flying was always part of Peterson's life, even as a child.

"He would later tell his own children that as a young boy he had reoccurring dreams of flying, without the aid of wings or a plane, just soaring above the Earth," the obituary reads. "This dream set him on a quest for knowledge to discover the universe and its secrets."

At 17, Peterson boarded a train bound for New York to attend the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, which he graduated from in 1955. He became a pilot and later, in 1962, received a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology at Ohio-based Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.

He became an astronaut in 1969, but remained in the Air Force for many years. He retired from NASA in 1984 following his Challenger flight, logging 120 hours in space.

Peterson is survived by Brother; Gil Peterson, and his three children. Peterson's wife, Bonnie, died last year at the age of 82. They were married for almost 60 years.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday at Crowder Funeral Home, located at 111 E. Medical Center Blvd. in Webster.

"His family is comforted knowing his childhood dream of flying has been fulfilled in this life and hereafter," his obituary reads.

Alex Stuckey covers NASA and the environment for the Houston Chronicle. You can reach her at alex.stuckey@chron.com or Twitter.com/alexdstuckey.
Ever since ELIZA the chatbot said her first hello in the mid 60s, computer scientists have been trying to mimic human intelligence and create easier ways of interacting with computers. Improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) and natural language processing (NLP) have led to some amazing advances.

Today, chatbots have proven themselves very useful in enterprise applications, such as responding to customer service requests. And as advances in AI, NLP, and other technologies continue, more sophisticated chatbots that can help companies solve complex process and operational challenges will appear.

As chatbots evolve, CIOs should carefully consider the best applications for both their enterprise and their specific business objectives.

Tony Lucas, CEO of Converse.AI, a UK-based developer of chatbot solutions recently acquired by Smartsheet, says chatbots have been the subject of the same sort of hype thats unavoidable whenever hot new tech comes along. But he firmly believes that chatbots are capable of much more than consumer-centric solutions that can only respond to a single query, such as providing the 5 weather outlook or movie times for your local movie theater.

Were still in this awkward phase thats dominated by a certain sense of disillusionment, says Lucas. Even though were still in the early days of chatbot technology, the signs are still there. Someone needs to take a bet [on the technology] and document the impacts and best practices.

Three Levels of Chatbot Conversation

Forrester Research recently released a report on the use of AI and chatbots in the enterprise, forecasting that companies will soon move beyond the hype and start adopting the technology on a broader scale. Forrester sees three levels of enterprise adoption:

Level one: Many companies will deploy internal solutions that process single-threaded queries and focus primarily on streamlining the flow of information, according to the report.

Level two: This level includes more advanced solutions, such as Converse.AIs technology, that can store data, be personalized, and sustain more complex interactions with an end user. For example, the conversational workflow engine in Converse.AI can recognize the state and stage of a conversation, and shift back and forth between a query about inventory levels and one about the weather outlook, for example, recognizing that theyre both part of the same, larger conversation.

Level three: The most advanced level involves chatbots that draw on enormous amounts of data. They are designed to be truly open-ended so they can answer virtually any question related to the data set. But chatbots of this scope and magnitude require an enormous investment, making them difficult to justify for most companies, says Lucas.

Ninety percent of the information you want to get out of a data set can be accomplished with a level-one or level-two bot, he notes.

Lucas believes advances in chatbots will come from companies using them in production settings that demonstrate the potential for chatbots to make businesses more efficient and intelligent.

6 Steps to Ensure Chatbot Success

To that end, Forrester offers some guidelines for IT leaders who want to bring this cutting-edge tech into their organization:

Identify a genuine business need. Dont arbitrarily decide that your company needs a chatbot strategy and create a solution in search of a problem. Instead, find a legitimate use case for a pre-existing problem that is narrow and well defined. Examples of where to start include improving an inefficient workflow or automating manual, repetitive tasks and the collection of data.

Build. Ship. Iterate, iterate, iterate. This isnt a 12- to 18-month project. Take more of an agile approach and recognize that the most important part is getting a chatbot out in the wild to see how people use it.

Pay attention to users feedback and interactions. People will interact with your chatbot much differently than you expected. Count on it. Its critical to hear their feedback and observe their interactions with the chatbot before the next wave of iterations.

Make sure it delivers on its promise. Check back with the workers most impacted by the chatbot to ensure it delivers on the goals outlined in the business use case. In the end, chatbots should free up employees to focus on more strategic pursuits that help to drive the business forward.

Dont make your chatbot pretend to be human. A little personality is fine, perhaps unavoidable. But weirdness ensues the moment your chatbot sounds too human.

Align with your technical and privacy requirements. There are many low-code and no-code chatbot solutions on the market, so be sure to ask about compatibility with your existing business tools. And given the recent enactment of GDPR , getting clear on the providers data security and encryption practices is essential. Is your users data being used to improve the performance of the platform? And if so, is there an option to opt out?

Lucas encourages companies to ignore the hype and focus instead on finding real-world, down-to-earth use cases. There are a lot of concerns around the implications of AI, but the key thing is for businesses to try to use chatbots and see where they can benefit.

Read on to discover how machine learning will transform business software  and IT.






Staff at major aid charities in the UK were identified as exchanging sex for food by a UN inquiry as far back as 2001, according to a story in todays Times.

The Times claims to have seen a copy of an 84-page document which says that there were more than 40 aid organisations whose workers are alleged to be in sexually exploitative relationships with refugee children.

The document was produced by research teams working in West Africa for Save the Children and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The research was conducted in 2001 and the report was published in 2002.

The Times claims that report was "wasted" and that charities have not made changes in response.

"The results have been little short of disastrous," a leader in the newspaper said. "A report wasted, a pattern of criminal abuse that has gone unpunished and an international aid sector plunged into crisis years later because of behaviour that could and should have been stamped out."

A number of UK charities were named in the report, including the Red Cross, Medecins Sans Frontieres, the International Rescue Committee, Care International and Save the Children itself.

One of several Times articles today is headlined Charity sex scandal: In this community no one gets food without having sex first. It claims that in aid camps in Guinea and Liberia, sexual abuse was so endemic that the only way for many refugee families to survive was to allow a teenage girl to be exploited.

Interviews in 2001 with 1,500 people produced 67 different complaints involving staff at 40 charities.

Report was covered at the time

The Times is the first newspaper to see the full report, as claimed on its front page today, but a summary report was published at the time.

The report had widespread coverage, and led to a UN resolution. Many charities developing improved safeguarding procedures, but in many cases action appears to have stalled.

The report was shared with charities to investigate by themselves. But only ten people were dismissed and no one was prosecuted. Charities say they took the report seriously but that it was difficult to identify individual perpetrators with the information provided.

The full report was concealed after intervention by Ruud Lubbers, then the high commissioner, who was himself dismissed over allegations of sexual exploitation in 2005.

Save the Children: 'We were shocked in 2001'

A Save the Children spokesman said it had improved its safeguarding and the number of incidents had risen from 31 in 2013 to 210 in 2017.

"We were shocked when our investigators uncovered sexual abuse by aid workers in 2001. The investigation found that far too little was being done to prevent and report abuse across the humanitarian sector.

"At the time Save the Children took immediate action against three individuals. We have since made sweeping changes. Every member of staff is now given mandatory child safeguarding training within a week of joining the organisation. We have established a dedicated global safeguarding team and 445 focal points for reporting concerns.

"Save the Children have a culture of zero tolerance for misconduct of any kind. Anyone found to be violating this policy is held to account."

Red Cross: 'It may not tell the whole story'

A spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said: "Over the past five years, IFRC has received a small number of complaints relating to staff misconduct. We are concerned that this may not tell the whole story. We know that sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation are often underreported, and that more needs to be done to address, prevent and punish such misconduct.

CARE International: 'People we serve must be safe from abuse'

A Care International spokeswoman said: "CARE believes that the people we serve must be safe from sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation of any kind. Reports like this have contributed to changes in the way that humanitarian programmes are delivered, measured and monitored.

"In 2002 CARE adopted the six principles outlined by the IASC working group on prevention and response to sexual exploitation and abuse. In 2003 the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) was developed, so that member humanitarian agencies such as CARE are held to account."

International Rescue Committee: 'We released local workers'

An IRC spokeswoman said: Since 2003 the IRC has had staff dedicated to addressing and preventing sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse. They have been supported by continued investment in systems and processes. The IRC now has a Code of Conduct, the IRC Way, which is compulsory training for all staff.



The IRC has clear policies on all forms of abuse and harassment and has strong global reporting guidelines in place, advising staff on how to report violations of these policies. All reports are followed up and may be investigated by the IRCs Ethics and Compliance Unit.



Bond: 'The sector must go further'

In a statement the umbrella body for the international development sector, Bond, said: "The events in 2002 in west Africa were shocking and shameful for the whole humanitarian and development sector. Women and children living in refugee camps who had already suffered so much should never have been in a situation where their vulnerability could be preyed upon. Important steps were taken by NGOs post 2002, however, the sector knows it needs to go much further to protect those they seek to help.

"All of the policies and processes in the world will not make the difference needed unless they are matched by a change in organisational culture and leadership. We must address the underlying issues of inequality and power imbalances which allow exploitation, abuse and harassment to take place  and this agenda needs to be owned and driven forwards by anyone who works for an NGO, but particularly those in leadership positions. The whole sector recognises this and is working together to put this into practice. NGOs must protect people from abuse, hold abusers to account and encourage those affected to come forward to report incidents."

For more news, interviews, opinion and analysis about charities and the voluntary sector sign up to receive the Civil Society News daily bulletin here.
Our weekly summary of the latest movers in the charity sector.

Chief executive

The director of Catholic aid charity Cafod, Chris Bain, has announced that he will retire from the organisation in December.

Bain has led the organisation for 15 years, and is also currently a trustee of the Disasters Emergency Committee.

He previously worked for Christian Aid, Oxfam and VSO.

Read the full story here.

Digital giving platform Neighbourly has appointed Steve Butterworth as its new chief executive.

Butterworth replaces Luke McKeever who has stepped down from the organisation. McKeever had lead the organisation since September 2015.

Butterworths new role will see him being responsible for refining Neighbourlys growth strategy and lead discussions with potential investment partners.

NHS Charities have appointed Ellie Orton as its new chief executive. She will join the organisation on 2 July 2018, replacing Amanda Witherall who is set to retire from the association at the end of May.

Orton has worked in the specialist social care, education and faith sector both regionally and nationally. She is currently chief executive of Kairos Women Working Together, and was also the interim chief executive of The Jon Egging Trust.

Fundraising and Communications

Simon Beresford has been appointed as the new director of fundraising and marketing at the Disasters Emergency Committee. He takes over in the role from Adil Husseini, who is leaving the DEC to set up his own fundraising and events agency.

Beresford will join the organisation at the end of this month, and will be leading on the organisations joint fundraising appeals and supporter engagement.

Beresford joins from Methodist relief charity All We Can, where he was head of fundraising and marketing for four years. He is also a trustee for the national childrens charity Spurgeons and is the founder and co-chair of the public fundraising group of Bond.

National homelessness charity Crisis has appointed Richard Lee as its new director of fundraising.

Lee joins Crisis from international disaster relief charity ShelterBox, where he has been director of fundraising since January 2016. Prior to working for ShelterBox, Lee was director of development at Young Enterprise UK; head of community fundraising and events at Oxfam and helped raise over 100m in his role as head of community fundraising at Macmillan Cancer Support.

Lee replaces Edward Tait in the role, after it was announced that Tait would be join ActionAid UK as its new director of fundraising in February of this year.

Read the full story here.



Non executive

John Downie, director of public affairs at the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, has been appointed as a trustee of Home-Start UK.

Downie has been in his current role with SCVO for over eight years. He previously worked in the media, with New Media Corp and TVI.

Downie will both sit on the family support charitys wider UK-board, and will also be chairing the charitys Scotland Committee, of which he has been a member since 2017.

TV presenter Chris Packham has been appointed as the education ambassador for national animal charity Blue Cross.

According to the charity, Packham will be promoting our workshops which teach young people important messages on pet welfare. He has recorded a series of videos to help promote the organisations work.

Packham said: "I feel strongly that being able to engage children in the classroom can have a huge impact for the future and how they will safeguard and protect pets and other species. I was glad to be able to record these films for Blue Cross and hope our messages can help more pets through education.

To tell us about your charity's latest appointments please email [email protected].
The weekend began with a series of tweets from the president, and, like so many times before, several of them contained factually incorrect information. The Failing @nytimes quotes a senior White House official, who doesnt exist, one began. That official does, in fact, exist, and had provided a background briefing to hundreds of reporters on Thursday afternoon.

The Times responded with an article titled, Trump Falsely Says Times Made Up Source in Report on Korea Summit Meeting. Referencing that story and another tweet in which the president misrepresented his administrations immigration policy, star White House reporter Maggie Haberman tweeted that Trump told two demonstrable falsehoods this AM. And thats where another round of lie vs. falsehood started.

Trump told two demonstrable falsehoods this AM, one about his administrations policy of separating undocumented immigrant kids inclu infants from their parents, which he tried to claim wasnt his own policy. The other was falsely claiming his own aide didnt give a bg briefing.  Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) May 26, 2018

Critics were appalled at Habermans deliberate use of a term that falls somewhere short of lie, and the argument consumed political media conversations on Twitter for much of the weekend. Some defended herand the Timessjudgment, but many (including actor John Cusack) impugned her credibility and accused her of being soft on the administration. Ive argued in the past that we need to do away with euphemisms like racially charged when the president says something demonstrably racist. But the debate over when to use the L-word is nuanced. Trump provides steady stream of untrue statements, but are all of them lies?

ICYMI: The Fourth Estate shows how far The New York Times has come

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The Toronto Stars Daniel Dale elegantly laid out the difficulties in reporting on Trumps falsehoods, noting that a lie involves intention. In some cases, its safe to say Trump is intentionally trying to deceive. In other cases, its far less clear that hes being wrong intentionallybecause, with Donald Trump, you regularly cant rule out the possibility that he is confused or ignorant, Dale writes. If we journalists are going to present ourselves as arbiters of truth, we have to stick to what we know is true. And that means not calling something a lie when we dont have a reasonable certainty that Trumps intention is deception.

In the case of Trumps claim about a source who doesnt exist, journalists dont know whether Trump was in the loop. It is not clear whether the president was simply unaware of the actions of his own senior staff or if he knowingly ignored the truth, Michael Shear wrote Saturday in the Timess follow-up on the tweet.

Whatever label journalists choose for the presidents false statements, its obvious that Trump doesnt always tell the truth. After all, the Times Opinion section, which has no compunction about calling them lies, kept a running tally of the falsehoods through the fallit numbers in the hundreds. Whether each is intentional or unintentional, the more important job for the journalist is to provide context and evidence to refute them. Calling a statement a deliberate falsehood instead of a lie isnt an attempt to excuse the behavior; its an attempt to accurately, if perhaps overcautiously, describe whats going on.

Below, more on Trumps tenuous relationship with the truth, and how journalists respond.

Whats in a name?: We need to distinguish between a deflection, an exaggeration, and a straight-up lie, CNNs Brian Stelter said on Reliable Sources.

We need to distinguish between a deflection, an exaggeration, and a straight-up lie, CNNs Brian Stelter said on Reliable Sources. Case studies: While Dale argues that there are differences between lies and falsehoods, he writes that making the right decision case-by-case means that lie should be used a lot more than almost every major US news outlet currently uses it. He provides several examples on either side of the debate.

While Dale argues that there are differences between lies and falsehoods, he writes that making the right decision case-by-case means that lie should be used a lot more than almost every major US news outlet currently uses it. He provides several examples on either side of the debate. Caught in a firestorm: Mediaites Joe DePaolo rounded up some of the reactions to Habermans initial tweet.

Mediaites Joe DePaolo rounded up some of the reactions to Habermans initial tweet. Trumps conspiracy theories: The Timess Haberman and Julie Hirschfeld Davis examine Trumps fondness of baseless stories of secret plots by powerful interests. They write that Trumps talk of conspiracies has also gained currency within a Republican Party establishment that once shunned it.

Other notable stories

RELATED: Calling Trump a liar sets a thorny precedent

Has America ever needed a media watchdog more than now? Help us by joining CJR today

Pete Vernon is a former CJR staff writer. Follow him on Twitter @ByPeteVernon.
The federal agency that investigates industrial accidents offered muted criticism Thursday of the Houston-area chemical plant that flooded during Hurricane Harvey and partially exploded.

Crews for Arkema Inc. worked to the best of their ability to keep equipment that cooled and stabilized its organic peroxides from losing power as six feet of water engulfed the plant last August, said Mark Wingard, lead investigator for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, during a news conference in Houston.

Arkemas emergency plans, however, hadnt anticipated the damage that high flood waters could cause its safety systems. Employees at the plant in Crosby, just outside Houston, told investigators they had only seen a foot or two of flood water in the past.

As a result, Arkema didnt consider flooding of safety systems a credible risk, even though the plant was inside government-designated flood zones and its insurance company warned in 2016 that it was at risk, according to the safety boards 154-page report.

Once the rain started falling and once Harvey was here, it was almost too late, Wingard said. Industry relying on personal information (from employees) about how high your flood waters could get might not prepare you for the worst-case scenario.

The agency has no authority to fine or cite companies, but instead makes safety recommendations. In its report, it urged companies and industry groups to create guidance that helps facilities guard against flooding and severe weather events, as the United Kingdom does. What the U.S. has now wouldnt have helped Arkema, the safety board said.

In a written statement Thursday, Arkema officials noted the safety board had credited it for having safeguards that likely wouldve worked if employees had more time to relocate chemicals to higher ground. Arkema, whose parent company is based in France, has previously said no one couldve foreseen Harveys unprecedented flooding, but it had taken multiple precautions and continues to study improvements.

Arkema, meanwhile, still faces an investigation by local county prosecutors, who said in a statement Thursday that they plan to present evidence to a grand jury in the coming weeks.

After Arkemas plant lost its primary and backup sources of power, its organic peroxides began heating and decomposing. The compounds, used in a range of products from plastics to paints, eventually caught fire and partially exploded, sending plumes of smoke skyward.

First responders and neighbors said they were sickened after the incident and blamed Arkemas releases. Testing performed on soil, water and ash samples detected amounts of toxic substances, according to lawsuits they filed against Arkema.

The safety board said it was impossible to analyze or draw conclusions about the health effects from the exposure, in part, because of the type of air quality testing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency used. Safety board member Kristen Kulinowski declined to elaborate during the news conference.

The safety board also renewed its call for the EPA to include reactive chemicals like organic peroxides on the list of compounds that require accident planning.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Two survivors of deadly Tennessee wildfires that began in Great Smoky Mountains National Park have sued the federal government, claiming they lost loved ones and a home because of the negligence of park workers.

The lawsuit in Knoxville was filed Wednesday by the two victims of the November 2016 Gatlinburg area fire: Michael Reed, whose wife and two daughters died, and James England, whose home burned down. They seek a combined $14.8 million in damages.

They blame their losses on claims that federal parks employees violated established fire-management policies, failed to prioritize the safety of citizens and property, and failed to notify and warn of threats posed by the fire.

The Park Service declined to comment.

The lawsuit claims that park senior leaders decided to contain, and not extinguish, the fire in the park despite extreme drought conditions. The plan to keep the fire within a 410-acre (165-hectare) area was a debacle of historic proportions, the lawsuit adds, arguing the decision not to put out the fire was taken because steep, rocky terrain posed a safety risk to firefighters.

These failures notably included their blatant disregard of mandatory requirements to monitor the Chimney Tops 2 Fire for five consecutive days and their failure to notify or warn local governments, park neighbors, local residents and visitors of the absolute and imminent danger the fire posed to them, the lawsuit states.

Hurricane-force winds blew embers from the park into Gatlinburg and downed power lines, sparking more fires. Fourteen people died and about 2,500 buildings were damaged or destroyed.

Spokeswoman Dana Soehn said the Park Service doesnt comment on active litigation.

Park officials found the fire on a Wednesday, but left it unmonitored and unattended in the overnight hours of five consecutive nights to discover the blaze had grown from less than an acre to between 250 and 500 acres (100-200 hectares), according to the lawsuit.

National Guard helicopters and air-tankers werent used for the first four days because park fire management officer Greg Salansky concluded the fire wasnt big enough to warrant that expense, and had concerns about polluting the environment and drinking water supply downstream, the lawsuit says.

On that Monday, a Gatlinburg Fire Department captain called the park to ask about thick smoke pouring into the city, according to the lawsuit. It said Salansky advised him that everything was under control and no help was needed, even as the fire sped toward Gatlinburg, the lawsuit says.

Authorities have said two juveniles started the fire in a remote section of the park. The blaze left the park five days later. Local prosecutors dropped charges against the boys in June because other fires from downed power lines contributed to the inferno in Gatlinburg.

A previous outside review ordered by the city of Gatlinburg and Sevier County found that reliance on limited information from the National Weather Service and park officials meant that the predicted speed and severity of the impending firestorm was inaccurate.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
A Tesla that crashed while in Autopilot mode in Utah this month accelerated in the seconds before it smashed into a stopped firetruck, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press. Two people were injured.

Data from the Model S electric vehicle show it picked up speed for 3.5 seconds before crashing into the firetruck in suburban Salt Lake City, the report said. The driver manually hit the brakes a fraction of a second before impact.

Police suggested that the car was following another vehicle and dropped its speed to 55 mph (89 kph) to match the leading vehicle. They say the leading vehicle then likely changed lanes and the Tesla automatically sped up to its preset speed of 60 mph (97 kph) without noticing the stopped cars ahead.

The police report, which was obtained Thursday through an open records request, provides detail about the vehicles actions immediately before the May 11 crash and the drivers familiarity with its system.

The driver of the vehicle, Heather Lommatzsch, 29, told police she thought the vehicles automatic emergency braking system would detect traffic and stop before the car hit another vehicle.

She said she owned the car for two years and used the semi-autonomous Autopilot feature on all kinds of roadways, including the Utah highway where she crashed, according to the report.

Lommatzsch said the car did not provide any audio or visual warnings before the crash. A witness told police she did not see signs the car illuminate its brake lights or swerve to avoid the truck ahead of it.

Lommatzsch did not return a voicemail message on Thursday.

Tesla referred to a prior comment that drivers are continually reminded to keep their hands on the wheel and maintain control of their vehicle at all times while using the Autopilot system.

Tesla has always been clear that Autopilot doesnt make the car impervious to all accidents, it said.

Police say car data show Lommatzsch did not touch the steering wheel for 80 seconds before the crash. She told police she was looking at her phone and comparing different routes to her destination.

She broke her foot in the crash and this week was charged with a misdemeanor traffic citation. Online court records do not show an attorney listed for her.

The driver of the firetruck told police he had injuries consistent with whiplash but did not go to a hospital.

Teslas Autopilot system uses cameras, ultrasonic sensors and radar to sense the vehicles surrounding environment and perform basic functions automatically.

Among those functions is automatic emergency braking, which the company says on its website is designed to detect objects that the car may impact and applies the brakes accordingly. Tesla says the system is not designed to avoid a collision and warns drivers not to rely on it entirely.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has said it is investigating the May 11 crash.

Tesla reached a settlement agreement in a federal lawsuit alleging that it sold Autopilot features that werent available and made its vehicles dangerous, according to court records released Thursday by the U.S. District Court in San Jose. Neither Tesla nor Seattle attorney Steve Berman, who represented the plaintiffs, would comment Friday.

But Tesla said previously that since rolling out its second generation of Autopilot, it has continued to update software leading to major improvements. The company has said that it agreed to compensate customers who purchased Autopilot and had to wait longer than expected to get all of its features.

Teslas Autopilot has been the subject of previous scrutiny following other crashes involving the vehicles.

In March, a driver was killed when a Model X with Autopilot engaged hit a barrier while traveling at freeway speed in California. NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating that case.

This week, Tesla said Autopilot was not engaged when a Model S veered off a road and plunged into a pond outside San Francisco, killing the driver.

Earlier in May, the NTSB opened a probe into an accident in which a Model S caught fire after crashing into a wall at a high speed in Florida. Two 18-year-olds were trapped and died in the blaze. The agency has said it does not expect Autopilot to be a focus in that investigation.

(AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher contributed to this story from Detroit.)

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Pacific Gas and Electric Co. power lines that came into contact with trees caused four Northern California wildfires that burned across more than 14 square miles last fall and incinerated 134 buildings, state fire officials said Friday.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection indicated three of the fires might have been prevented if PG&E had made more effort to keep trees clear of its power lines.

CalFire said it is turning those findings over to local prosecutors in the counties where the blazes occurred.

PG&E said it is reviewing the agencys conclusions, adding safety remains its paramount goal.

Based on the information we have so far, we believe our overall programs met our states high standards, the utility said in a statement.

The utility said it inspects and monitors every overhead electric transmission and distribution line at least once a year under its Vegetation Management Program.

No one was killed or injured by the four fires the agency addressed Friday.

The blazes in largely rural Nevada and Butte counties were among more than 170 that broke out across California last October, consuming more than 380 square miles of forest, farmland and vineyards. Some of those fires were deadly.

Devastating damage occurred in Californias wine country, where dozens of lawsuits seeking tens of millions of dollars have been filed against PG&E.

CalFire said it is continuing to investigate the other fires and will release its findings as they become available.

The La Porte Fire in Butte County covered 13 square miles and destroyed 74 structures. It was blamed on tree branches falling onto power lines, but investigators concluded there were no violations of state law and PG&E was not to blame in that blaze.

However, the Honey Fire, also in Butte County, was caused by inadequate clearance of tree branches near PG&E power lines, the agency concluded.

In Nevada County, which encompasses Californias Sierra Nevada Gold Rush Country, two fires burned across a mile and a half, destroying 60 structures.

In one case, fire officials said, PG&E failed to remove a tree near a power line. In the other, agency investigators said, the utility did not provide proper clearance between trees and power lines.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
1. Yes. The medical data shows it will be beneficial to get one. The sooner the better.

2. Yes. Theres no rush, but I plan to get one sometime in the next few months.

3. No. Im not sold on the need for a booster. Besides, the case numbers are falliing.

4. No. I havent been vaccinated for COVID-19, and I dont plan to get the booster, either.

5. Unsure. It may be smart to wait and see how beneficial the booster shots prove to be.

Vote

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CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Barberton man will leave the U.S. in June as part of a sentence handed down Tuesday for lying to federal immigration authorities about his work during the Bosnian conflict.

Oliver Dragic, 43, did not disclose to U.S. immigration officials his membership with the Republika Srpska's police force the early 1990s, at a time when its leadership was targeting Muslims and trying to create an ethnically pure Serbian race.

He was arrested in 2016 and pleaded guilty in December to possession and use of a fraudulently obtained green card. In his plea agreement, he agreed to deportation.

His federal public defender Darin Thompson indicated that Dragic and his mother would leave for Bosnia next month.

U.S. District Judge Dan Polster said he thought the plea agreement was fair. He also sentenced Dragic to time served for the 13 months Dragic spent in federal custody while his case was pending.

Authorities said Dragic finished police training in Serbia in 1994 and later returned to Bosnia, where he volunteered in a special police unit that joined Srpska's army.

He applied and received refugee status in the U.S. May 1998 by claiming he was a victim of the Bosnian conflict. Dragic said he never worked when he filed that application, when in fact he was a part of the war, prosecutors said.

Dragic elected not to speak at his sentencing. Thompson said Dragic lived in the U.S. as a law-abiding citizen for many years.

More than 100,000 people died in the conflict from 1992 to 1995, most of them victims of Bosnian Serb attacks.

Dragic is the second person in Barberton recently prosecuted by the federal government for lying about their involvement in the Bosnian war to enter the U.S.

Slobodan Mutic, a foundry worker, was sentenced in January 2016 to two years in federal prison for lying on forms to obtain U.S. refugee status. He did not disclose that he served as a soldier for the former Republic of Serbian Krajina and participated in the killing of a pair of dentists because he believed they were aligned with an opposing political party.

Mutic agreed to be deported to Croatia to face murder charges.

If you would like to comment on this story, please visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - Four years after Augustus Payne planted A Separate Reality in Tremont, the record shop is closing up its location at 2678 West 14th St. on June 24. But the song's not over yet. This July, it moves into a new space at 3932 Lorain Ave. in Ohio City.

The storefront, a former daycare, is about the same size at 1,2000-square-feet. But this time, a spacious patio opens up a world of possibilities for regular live music and flea markets. It's nestled near other small businesses, like Jack Flaps, The Grocery and All Things For You, the home decor resale store that moved into the former Canopy space late last year.

The store soft opens the first week of July, but mark your calendars for a huge grand re-opening party on Friday, July 13, with bands, DJs and a sale in conjunction with All Things For You.

"We knew that we loved Ohio City, And Dwight at All Things For You is just wonderful," says business manager Amy Payne. "We can't wait to actually be part of a walkable street with many new places opening and current Cleveland staples, like Old Fashioned Hot Dogs and Nick's Diner."

And don't worry - you'll still find the same vintage rock, soul, jazz and blues you love alongside an expanded stock of modern releases.

"It's going to be full-on '60s psych awesome," Amy says. "Like what Cleveland has never seen."

But they're not going out without a bang. The record shop is hosting a relocation sale June 15-16: all LPs will be 20 percent off, all $1 records will be four for $1 and all 45s and 12-inch records are 25 cents.

The owners of Buckland Museum of Witchcraft & Magick, the hidden gem tucked inside A Separate Reality's Tremont space since last spring, say they're awaiting news from the building's new owner about the continuation of the museum's lease.
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The Cleveland school district will start hearing from residents next week about how to handle a budget problem that could block some promised schools from being built.

City Council members whose wards could lose out on new or rehabilitated schools promised in a 2014 school construction tax campaign are sympathetic to the district as it fights with the state over funding for new schools.

But they are also defensive about preserving promised improvements in their neighborhoods.

City Councilman Matt Zone said work on the Joseph Gallagher Elementary School at 6601 Franklin Blvd. must continue since the school is overloaded and growing.

"The district has to figure out how to make that rennovation happen," Zone said.

City Councilman Kevin Conwell said that he and councilmen Mike Polensek and Anthony Hairston, who represent much of the northeast part of the city, plan to meet with district CEO Eric Gordon before the community meeting in their area. He promised that many residents will come to voice concerns about building updates and maintenance of other schools.

"The gym will be packed that day," Conwell vowed. "There's a lot on the plate."

The first of nine community meetings will start Tuesday, June 5 at Gallagher, then take a pause before the rest are packed in between June 18 and June 28.

See the full schedule below.

Cleveland voters in 2014 passed a $200 million bond issue to continue the district's plans to rebuild or update all of its schools. In return the district promised voters that the $200 million, when combined with funding from the state, would overhaul 20 existing schools or replace them with new buildings, as well as repair and "refresh" 23 others.

Some of that work has already happened or is about to take place at the Fullerton, Syline/Sunbeam, Waverly, Rainey Harper, Eliot/Whitney Young, H.B. Booker and O.H. Perry elementary schools, plus the JFK and new West Side high schools.

But a dispute with the state over what it will help pay for has boosted the district's costs and delayed work. It also threatens the district's ability to pay for schools in the next two construction phases, or segments.

Those include the Bolton, Case, Marion Sterling, Marion Seltzer, Joseph Gallagher, Douglas MacArthur and Valley View elementary schools, along with Lincoln-West High School, in the planned Segment 8.

Segment 9 schools include Clark, Denison, Iowa-Maple, Michael R. White and Tremont Montessori elementary schools.

At the center of the dispute is how much construction can cost in Cleveland compared to the rest of the state. Gordon says it costs 12 to 16 percent more to build in Cleveland than in other cities. The state, though, says it can only justify paying about 8 percent more, leaving a gap the district would have to pay.

The effect on the district's construction money is tripled, however. When costs are approved by the state, Ohio will pay two-thirds of the bill. But every unapproved dollar in that gap will be paid just by the district. And once spent, that money loses its chance for the two-to-one state match.

In letters to families, Gordon says the state's decision not to cover the gap amounts to "virtually eliminating allowances previously made for the Cleveland community's higher building costs."

Neither the state nor district have provided a detailed explanation of why costs here are so much higher, though Cleveland is a much more union-friendly city and district than the rest of Republican-leaning Ohio. Paying prevailing wage, which Gordon supports, adds costs to any project.

The district has also created some budget issues on its own by building several schools much bigger than enrollment and the stagnant neighborhoods around them can support.

The existing, but now-threatened, construction plan set in 2014 would also build several of the upcoming schools larger than needed for the students they have now.

Because of the past overbuilding and a desire to avoid more, the Bond Accountability Commission, the districts' construction watchdog panel, has recommended a full review of the plans.

"Most of the current schools in those (upcoming) segments have consistently low enrollment," the commission said in a recent report. "It is time to revisit what the community needs today v. nearly four years ago, and what is appropriate for the projected student population."

Detroit Shoreway - Edgewater / Cudell Neighborhood

Tuesday, June 5

Joseph M. Gallagher School, 6601 Franklin Blvd., Cleveland OH 44102

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Joseph M. Gallagher Marion C. Seltzer

Central Neighborhood

Monday, June 18

Dike School of the Arts, 2501 East 61st St., Cleveland OH 44104

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Dike School of the Arts Marion-Sterling

Ohio City - Tremont Neighborhood

Tuesday, June 19

Tremont Montessori, 2409 West 10th St., Cleveland OH 44113

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Tremont Montessori

Fairfax Neighborhood

Wednesday, June 20

Bolton School, 9803 Quebec Ave., Cleveland OH 44106

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Bolton

Clark / Fulton Neighborhood

Thursday, June 21

Lincoln-West High School Campus, 3202 West 30th St., Cleveland OH 44109

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Clark School Lincoln-West School of Global Studies Lincoln-West School of Science & Health

Kamm's / Bellaire - Puritas Neighborhood

Monday, June 25

Douglas MacArthur Girls' Leadership Academy, 4401 Valleyside Road, Cleveland OH 44135

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Valley View Boys' Leadership Academy Douglas MacArthur Girls' Leadership Academy

Glenville Neighborhood

Tuesday, June 26

Michael R. White School, 1000 East 92nd St., Cleveland OH 44108

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Iowa-Maple Michael R. White

Hough Neighborhood

Wednesday, June 27

Case School, 4050 Superior Ave., Cleveland OH 44103

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Case

Brooklyn Centre Neighborhood

Thursday, June 28

Denison School, 3799 West 33rd St., Cleveland OH 44109

Discuss Master Plan updates for: Denison
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Cleveland State University is upping its goals for graduation rates and retaining first-year students.

Trustees on Monday approved the university's College Completion Plan for 2018, a detailed report submitted to the state every two years.

The plan set goals for 2020, but also contains the latest on how on-track the university is to meet its goals for 2018.

The university hasn't met graduation or first-year retention rate goals yet, but has until the end of the summer session. CSU is on track to graduate 45 percent of students who entered as full-time first-year students in 2012. About 43 percent of freshmen who entered in the fall of 2011 graduated.

Retention rates can't be calculated until the fall. To meet goals for 2018, CSU will have to retain 73 percent of last year's freshmen.

The 2015-2016 rate was 71 percent; 2016-2017 was 70 percent.

The university already met all of its goals for fall-to-fall retention for transfer students.

In the newly-approved plan, trustee approved upping goals for the six-year graduation rate to 47 percent by 2020 and fall-to-fall retention to 75 percent by 2020.

The plan also details new actions to help improve these rates, including:
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The mother of the 13-year-old Cleveland schools student sexually abused by a teacher's aide who went on to join the Cleveland police force minced no words when she faced her son's abuser in court.

"You are a disgrace to the human race," the woman read from a written statement at Maria Velez's sentencing hearing Tuesday. "You are a disgrace to our Hispanic community, and a disgrace to the Cleveland police department that you serve."

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Brendan Sheehan went on to sentence Velez, 25, to two years behind bars.

Velez pleaded guilty on April 12 to attempted felonious assault, unlawful sexual conduct with a minor and attempted tampering with evidence.

She also agreed to hand in her badge as part of the plea agreement, and must register as a sex offender every six months for 25 years.

Velez, who was sexually abused herself and conceived a child when she was 14 years old, turned her pain around and inflicted it on someone else, Sheehan said.

"Rather than address the harm it caused you, you chose to act like a virus and contaminate the next generation," Sheehan said.

Velez, has a bachelor's degree in psychology with a Spanish minor from John Carroll University, worked as a bilingual teacher's aide at Clark Elementary School in 2015 when she developed a relationship with a 13-year-old student.

The boy, who declined to speak in court Tuesday, developed a crush on Velez. But rather than keep a schoolboy's crush on a teacher's aide in check, Velez exploited the boy and his feelings and sexually abused him.

Velez left her job as a teacher's aide to enter Cleveland's police academy and joined the force as a patrol officer.

The boy and his mother went to police in September to report the relationship, and detectives in the department's internal affairs unit launched an investigation.

When Velez learned about the investigation, Velez called the boy and his mother and told them to lie to conceal the misconduct.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Matthew Meyer played a recording of that call in court.

Velez, whose voice was frantic and sounded near tears, asked the boy how he could do this to her, and said that he and his mother were ruining her life. She said she would lose her job and her daughter.

She told the boy to tell investigators that he kissed her, she refused his advances, and he came forward with the allegations against her because he was mad.

"I need you to be on the same page as me," she said.

Velez cried in court Tuesday as she apologized to the boy.

"I know that your loss is much greater than mine," she said.

To comment on this story, please visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Homicide detectives are investigating after a man was killed late Monday night in a shooting on the West Side.

Police say the 26-year-old man was shot in the shoulder and chest. He was taken to MetroHealth Medical Center but died of his wounds.

The shooting was reported at 11:40 p.m. on the 3000 block of West 32nd Street, which is just south of Interstate 90 and west of I-71 in the Clark-Fulton neighborhood.

Police did not say if there are suspects or if there is a motive for the shooting.

To comment on this story, please visit cleveland.com's crime and courts comments section.
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Investigators arrested a suspect in a fatal shooting that happened late Monday in Cleveland's Clark-Fulton neighborhood.

The suspect is accused of shooting a 28-year-old man in the shoulder and the chest about 11:45 p.m. on West 32nd Street near Clark Avenue, police said.

Cleveland EMS took the 28-year-old man to MetroHealth, where he died, police said.

The names of the suspect and the victim have not been released.

Police did not release any information about the suspect's arrest.

To comment on this story, visit Tuesday's crime and courts comments page.
CLEVELAND - The Cleveland Orchestra appears to have crushed it in Vienna.

Reviews of the group's early "Prometheus Project" concerts at the Musikverein are in, and they are uniformly glowing. If any still doubted Austria's love for the Cleveland Orchestra at the end of its centennial season, they need worry no longer.

Below are translations of four recent reviews from Austria, covering performances of Beethoven's Symphonies Nos. 1 and 3 and Overture to "The Creatures of Prometheus.

As of Tuesday, May 29, the group had in fact completed the cycle in Vienna, performing the remaining seven symphonies and other overtures of Beethoven. Reviews of those performances are expected in the coming days. The orchestra itself also is keeping a travel diary.

Meanwhile, the orchestra is heading to Tokyo, Japan, where it is slated to repeat the "Prometheus Project" at that city's Suntory Hall. The orchestra returns to Cleveland Friday, June 8.

KULTUR

"[A]t the heart of what music lovers were waiting for was most likely the encompassing guest performance by the Cleveland Orchestra...The Cleveland Orchestra presented themselves in the form reminiscent of a dream, with a phenomenal sound, precise, nimble and extremely versatile. Welser-Most at the podium exuded the necessary gravitas without infusing heaviness...From the first to the last minute, the audience was holding on in excited anticipation of each musical phrase, each constructed idea - only to raise to their feet with enthusiastic cheers at the end." - Gert Korentschnig

DIE PRESSE

"The Cleveland Orchestra inspires ideological contemplation not only by this kind of framework but, in a cardinal sense, by their musical performance. They have a disarming brilliance about them, born from a naturally grown, and by Welser-Most consistently and carefully tended, sound culture..." - Wilhelm Sinkovicz

WIENER ZEITUNG

"The Cleveland Orchestra gave the opening allegro [of Beethoven's Symphony No. 1] a genteel polish, supported by magical wind solos...Every single heroic note was then in the Third Symphony in E-Flat Major... Thanks to Welser-Most's intensive efforts, this "Eroica" opened up without any political and historical knowledge: it told of the art of the Incarnation." - Daniel Wagner

KRONEN ZEITUNG

"Welser-Most avoids anything that may be superficially and emotionally overwhelming. Instead, he traces structures, analyzes, and lets his Cleveland Orchestra free rein to express this musically, in a slender form and with enormous virtuosity...Welser-Most immerses Beethoven's music in the light, light as bright as daylight, to expose the revolutionary attitude that surely transcends Haydn and Mozart..." - Florian Krenstetter

(Translations courtesy of the Cleveland Orchestra)
COLUMBUS, Ohio--The Ohio House will vote on an new leader next week, and Rep. Kirk Schuring is giving lawmakers two choices on what they'll do, according to a House Republican news release.

In an attempt to end a weeks-long deadlock, Schuring, who holds the number-two leadership job in the House, is giving all House members until 5 p.m. Friday to vote on whether to hold a June 6 vote on a new speaker, or alter House rules that day to allow Schuring to preside the rest of the year.

Rep. Ryan Smith and his allies have called for the former option, saying the Gallia County Republican has the 50-vote majority to be elected by the 99-member House. The latter option - allowing Schuring to become de facto leader - was proposed Friday during a meeting among Schuring, Ohio GOP Chair Jane Timken, and Rep. Larry Householder, who hopes to become speaker next session.

"In the time since our caucus convened to elect a nominee for Speaker, I have been exploring a multitude of options that could garner the necessary support," Schuring said in a statement. "As a caucus and as an institution, our top priority must be to secure a timely outcome that will make it possible for the House to return to the business of passing meaningful legislation."

Schuring, a Canton Republican, has already been the de facto leader of the House since Cliff Rosenberger resigned as speaker last month amid an FBI inquiry into his spending and travel.

In the past two weeks, Schuring has canceled three planned votes to elect Smith speaker until the legislative session ends in December, citing uncertainty over whether Smith had enough support to win. In a closed-door House GOP caucus vote earlier this month, 47 Republican lawmakers indicated they would support Smith, while 18 GOP lawmakers (most, but not all of whom back Householder) refused.

Almost all of the 33 House Democrats have refused to back any Republican for speaker.
William Lambers of Cincinnati writes frequently on world hunger and disarmament issues.

CINCINNATI -- Whether or not the planned June 12 summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un takes place, there is something both the United States and North Korea can do to strengthen the peace effort.



Let's begin with the fact that North Korea has just taken some well-publicized steps to dismantle its nuclear test site. Why not take the next step and end all nuclear testing forever on the Korean peninsula and beyond?

North Korea should ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which bans all nuclear test explosions. So, too, should the United States, which is one of the treaty's eight hold-out nations. The United States, North Korea, China, Egypt, Israel, Iran, India, Pakistan are the remaining "Annex 2" countries which are required to ratify before the treaty can take effect.

The CTBT would aid the process of verifying a nuclear-free Korean peninsula. This is the U.S. goal for the June summit, to get an agreement to disarm North Korea's nuclear program.

The regime has conducted six nuclear weapons

tests

since 2006, each time raising fears of war. The North's nuclear program has not only caused international tension, but has also come at the expense of its starving people.

More than ten million of North Korea's citizens

,

according to the U.N. World Food Program. A disarmament peace deal in North Korea should get precious resources back to the people so they can eat and overcome poverty.

There is much to gain from a nuclear-free North Korea in terms of peace and development. But this will take a highly developed verification process over many years.

The CTBT features an international monitoring system to detect secret nuclear tests. Getting the treaty into force will make this verification regime fully active. This will help the process of getting North Korea to abandon nuclear testing and its weapons program.

Lassina Zerbo, the director of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization, applauded the decision of North Korea, known formally as the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), to shut its test site down.

"As a next step, the DPRK, along with the other remaining Annex 2 countries, should consider signing and ratifying the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) to solidify this progress," Zerbo said in a statement last month.

The CTBT Organization also has formed a group of

activist

college students who are advocating for the treaty. Following North Korea's announcement, the CTBT

O

Youth Group

, "We remind the world that closing a test site is not the same as closing the door to nuclear testing, globally, once and for all. To move further in the right direction, the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) must enter into force."

The youth group is a powerful movement to end nuclear testing, and one that everyone should support.

Ending nuke tests would help create the conditions for the elimination of the arsenals themselves. We would be better off if all nations started reducing their nukes.

Instead there is a scary trend with the United States, Russia and other nuclear powers looking to upgrade and spend more on their arsenals. If nuclear testing were to resume by any nation, it would escalate any potential arms race.

This is why President Dwight Eisenhower originally proposed a treaty ending nuclear weapons testing. He saw it as a first step toward getting out of an expensive and dangerous arms race. Eisenhower said during a February 1960 news conference that, "if you could have now a ban on all testing that everybody could have confidence in, it would be a very, very fine thing to stop this -- for this very reason, if no other: it is a very expensive business."

Eisenhower and his successor, John F. Kennedy, worked hard to achieve an end to nuclear testing. This was during some of the most tense years of the Cold War. Ike and JFK's efforts led to the 1963 Limited Test Ban Treaty banning atmospheric, underwater and outer space blasts.

Underground tests could continue. So we need to finish the job of ending all nuke tests today. It's long overdue.

The United States has not tested a nuclear weapon since 1992. The current arsenal is maintained by computer technology called the Stockpile Stewardship program. Senate ratification of the CTBT and President Trump's signature should be relatively simple.

Now that a historic opportunity has arrived to disarm North Korea's program, it's the perfect time to end nuke testing forever, too.

We need to build the bridge toward nuclear disarmament in Korea and around the globe. The Comprehensive Nuclear Ban Treaty is a vital step.

William Lambers is author of the self-published "The Road to Peace," on disarmament efforts from the Great Lakes to the test-ban treaty.

****************

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Killeen, TX (76540)

Today

Mostly cloudy skies. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 84F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly to mostly cloudy with a chance of thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. Low 74F. Winds SSE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
STRONGSVILLE, Ohio -- The city is planning to build sanitary sewers on Howe Road from Falmouth Drive south to Boston Road.

The estimated $1.5 million project would cover a distance of about 2,000 feet and bring sanitary sewers for the first time to 33 households. Residents benefiting from the sewers would pay part of the cost through annual assessments over 20 years.

Erin Sullivan Lally -- who vied unsuccessfully for the vacant Ward 2 City Council seat earlier this year -- wants to slow down the sewer project. She said there are too many unanswered questions.

"This is the seventh sewer project the city has done, and in the past they have not notified people in advance and told them how they would be assessed," Lally told cleveland.com. "I would like to see that changed, because it would be fairer to residents."

City officials, without naming Lally, said she has distributed "misleading" cautionary information to Ward 2 residents about the assessments. They said they will eventually notify residents about the project, and that homeowners receiving sewers will have time to appeal the assessment amounts if they choose.

Last week, City Council placed on first reading a resolution declaring the Howe sewer project necessary. The resolution is the first step toward moving forward with the work.

Legal lingo

The resolution contains convoluted legal language about the assessments. It says the city will pay "its portion of the costs ... plus the costs attributable to pavement replacement not otherwise required as part of the sanitary sewer project, plus 25 percent of the costs of the improvement."

Residents receiving sanitary service together will pay 63.4615 percent of the remaining costs, the resolution states. Each resident's financial responsibility will be "assessed in proportion to the benefits that may result from the improvement upon any lot ..."

The resolution also states that the city "shall also assume and pay the costs of the improvement less the city portion and the assessment portion (such costs being the connection charge portion), it being the intent of this council that the connection charge portion, including interest thereon, be recouped in the form of additional connection charges ..."

"I don't know what that means," Lally said in a May 21 Facebook post a few hours before that night's council meeting. "Who determines these costs and how are they calculated? Is the taxed benefit based on frontage? Number of bathrooms? Water usage?"

The resolution states that the project cost will also include "any damages resulting from the improvement and the interest thereon ..." In her Facebook post, Lally questioned what "damages" meant in the context of the resolution.

Lally said council should place the resolution on first reading at its next meeting instead of passing it as an emergency measure, as originally planned.

"If I were on City Council, I would ask for some answers before voting, and I would also work to craft an appropriate amendment to the current resolution pertaining to damages resulting from the improvement," Lally said in her Facebook post.

"And finally, if I were on City Council, I would move to table this resolution for two weeks to have time to resolve these issues," Lally said.

'Misleading information'

At the May 21 council caucus, Councilman Matt Schonhut -- referring to Lally's Facebook post and a letter she distributed door to door in the Howe area -- said "misleading information was put out there" regarding the Howe project and assessments.

Schonhut wasn't more specific, but he may have been referring to an attempt by Lally, in her Facebook post, to calculate the assessments for property owners receiving sewer service, although she made it clear that she was guessing.

Also, Lally tried to define "damages" that might occur during the sewer project, although she asked for clarification.

During the council meeting, Law Director Neal Jamison said the city's portion of the Howe sewer project is about $916,000, leaving a balance of about $536,000 for residents to pay.

However, the $536,000 would not be divided equally among the 33 property owners, Jamison said. He said the formula for individual assessments is "complicated," and that the city's bond counsel will help calculate and prepare the assessments.

As for "damages," Jamison said that term refers to project change orders -- unforeseen problems that would add to the total cost once the project was started.

Jamison said that once council passes the resolution of necessity, the city will notify property owners of the sewer project and provide initial assessments. If even one resident objects to the amount, the city would form an ad-hoc assessment equalization board, which would hear the objections and decide if the assessments should be adjusted.

Something smells

Jamison said the Howe project is necessary, because over the past three to four years, the city has received "several" complaints of foul odors in the Howe area, due to failing septic-tank systems.

Also, Jamison said the city is under federal and state mandates to connect all households to sanitary sewers. He said the mandates date back to the 1980s, when an an amendment to the federal Clean Water Act called for elimination of pollutants in storm water.

So in 2003, the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency ordered Strongsville and all Ohio communities to make plans to connect all homes to sanitary sewers. Strongsville's sanitary sewer plan was submitted in 2007. The latest sanitary sewer project, still under construction, is on Bowman and Fetzer drives and part of Drake Road.

Jamison said if Strongsville does not go forward with the Howe project, the Ohio EPA could take the city to court and fine the city -- and the Howe project would still have to be completed.

Jamison urged council to approve the Howe resolution at its next meeting in June.
A Sikorsky helicopter lands near Marines with Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines, Regimental Combat Team 7, and Afghan National Security Forces provide security during Operation Nightmare in Nowzad, Afghanistan, June 6, 2013. US Marine Corps photo

Afghanistan is at risk of become an unintended victim of the Donald Trump administration's sweeping sanctions against Tehran, announced as part of the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal in early May. A major port complex is being developed on Iran's southern coast that is set to provide a transport corridor to Afghanistan, granting the landlocked country new access to Indian Ocean trade. But international players leading investment and financing of the Indian-backed port are now in limbo amid fears of punishment by U.S. secondary sanctions for doing business in Iran.

The Chabahar Port project, whose development is being led by India, has been touted as having the potential to boost Afghanistan's trade by millions of dollars. It also aims to lay the infrastructural foundations to develop the impoverished country's largely untapped mining industry, which is estimated to be worth billions. India relies on Iran for overland access to Afghanistan, and sees increased trade there as a way to reduce neighboring Pakistan's leverage in the country.

Nearly 17 years after the U.S. invasion to topple the Taliban, Afghanistan remains crippled by poverty, unemployment and terrorism. The Pentagon has supported for years Indian engagement with Afghanistan's debilitated economy, which relies heavily on foreign aid, even if it required operating via Iran. Imposing policies that would penalize this investment, since it requires transacting with Iran, could threaten the longtime U.S. policy objective of stabilizing Afghanistan through economic development. "This policy of isolating Iran runs directly counter to U.S. interests in Afghanistan," said Marcus Chenevix, MENA researcher at TS Lombard. By potentially forcing Afghanistan to sever links with one of its largest trading partners, he said, "the Trump administration is hitting the beleaguered Afghan economy with yet another shock at a time when the government is already struggling against a reinvigorated Taliban." A trilateral memorandum of understanding signed in 2016 between India, Iran and Afghanistan committed $21 billion to the project  $9 billion for the actual port in Chabahar, and the remaining $21 billion for developing Afghanistan's iron ore export capabilities. "This deal was all about Afghanistan," Chenevix said.

Iranian workers transfer goods from a cargo container to trucks at the Kalantari port in city of Chabahar on May 12, 2015. Chabahar, located on the coast of Sistan-Baluchistan (south-east), is open to the Oman Sea and the Indian Ocean. It is Iran's gateway to Pakistan and Afghanistan in the east, the Central Asian countries to the north, and Turkey and the Gulf countries in the west. ATTA KENARE | AFP | Getty Images

Ashraf Haidari, director-general of policy and strategy at Afghanistan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, spoke to the need for the project for security reasons, and stressed the potential for the country to become a land bridge for south and central Asia. "This would earn Afghanistan much in transit revenues, directly boosting our stagnating economic growth," Haidari told CNBC. "And that should create the job opportunities we sorely need for our youth, effectively preventing their recruitment and exploitation by terrorist networks, including the Taliban, al-Qaeda and ISIS."

Resurgent Taliban

The Taliban is more powerful now than at any time since the U.S. invasion, and is said to wield influence over two-thirds of the country. Describing the sanctions in relation to Afghanistan, David Brewster, a senior research fellow at the National Security College of Canberra, told CNBC: "It's really an own-goal by the United States."

[Chabahar] should create the job opportunities we sorely need for our youth, effectively preventing their recruitment and exploitation by terrorist networks. Ashraf Haidari Director-General of Policy and Strategy, Afghan Foreign Ministry

Afghanistan is still beholden to the illegal opium trade, which the International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates is worth $2 billion annually. It's also a major source of revenue for the Taliban. The Chabahar port and trade corridor would ostensibly create more opportunities for Afghan exporters and farmers, on whose behalf Afghan officials have been lobbying Washington for sanctions exemptions  so far to no avail. "The ripple effect on Afghanistan, India and Pakistan from much more combative U.S. policy on Iran has either not been thought through or considered merely of secondary importance," said Hasnain Malik, director of frontier markets equity strategy at London-based investment bank Exotix. "The prospects of stabilizing Afghanistan, and ultimately withdrawing U.S. troops, requires the cooperation of all regional powers, including Iran." In this respect, he said, it's in Afghanistan's interest to have access to as many ports as possible  currently it is beholden to Pakistan, with which it's had frequent disputes and border closures.

'Malign activities and behavior'

The 2015 Iran nuclear deal, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and signed between Iran, the U.S. and five other world powers including Russia and China, lifted economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. The Trump administration has long derided the deal, and now plans to inflict "the strongest sanctions in history" on Tehran in response to what it called Iran's destabilizing activity. That includes frequent ballistic missile testing, human rights violations and military involvement in foreign conflicts in Syria and Yemen, among others. A U.S. State Department official told CNBC the the sanctions "are meant to disrupt Iran's malign activities and behavior and stop funding for its nuclear activities," adding that, "We are in discussions regarding our withdrawal from the JCPOA and the re-imposition of Iran sanctions with all of our allies and partners." Iran has its own destabilizing engagement in Afghanistan, although less overtly than in other countries. Tehran has been quietly providing military aid to the Taliban for somewhere near a decade, in the form of "light arms, rifled-propelled grenades (RPGs), and even military training for Taliban forces on Iranian soil," according to a RAND Corporation report from 2014. Iran's government, particularly its Revolutionary Guard Corps, aggressively opposes any U.S. presence in Afghanistan.

President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi and President of Iran Hassan Rouhani shake hands after they signed Chabahar transit agreement in Tehran, Iran on May 23, 2016. Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The RAND report also cited Iran's billions of dollars in trade and aid with Afghanistan, although the trade balance is heavily lopsided in favor of Iranian exports, mostly due to the former's underdeveloped industrial base. Iran's support for the Taliban, meanwhile, is dwarfed by its support for anti-American Shia militias in the region, some of whom were responsible for the killing of hundreds of U.S. troops in Iraq.

Potential for backfire
Major markets in Asia closed lower on Tuesday, with Italian politics and the slide in oil prices in the spotlight. Japan's declined 0.55 percent, or 122.66 points, to 22,358.43 amid broad-based losses, with strength in the yen weighing on major exporters. The safe-haven yen traded at 108.92 to the dollar at 3:00 p.m. HK/SIN, compared to Monday's close of 109.41. Electronics stocks finished the day lower, as did steelmakers, with the broader Topix slipping 0.48 percent. Over in South Korea, the Kospi fell 0.88 percent to 2,457.25 as gains in some technology names failed to lift the broader index. Banks and most manufacturing stocks saw declines.

Elsewhere, the slid 0.88 percent by 3:05 p.m. HK/SIN, hurt by losses in the heavily weighted financials sector. Shares of insurer AIA, in particular, fell 1.79 percent before the market close. On the mainland, the gave up early gains to close 0.47 percent lower at 3,120.47 and the smaller Shenzhen composite dropped 1.07 percent. The S&P/ASX 200 was a bright spot, with the index tacking on 0.16 percent to close at 6,013.60 as large cap banks buoyed the market. Energy stocks which had been hit in the last session pared some overnight losses, with Woodside Petroleum edging up by 0.32 percent. On the whole, MSCI's broad index of shares in Asia Pacific excluding Japan was lower by 0.58 percent in Asia afternoon trade. Several markets in Southeast Asia, including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand, were closed on Tuesday for a holiday.

Watching Italy
"Consumers are making a shift in perception that dairy-free is healthy," Bailey said. "But there's no evidence to prove it."

Part of the issue is that some consumers have eschewed milk for health reasons, said Tom Bailey, the Rabobank analyst who wrote the report.

Those alternatives are still a small slice  just 3 percent of the $600 billion global dairy industry  but they are growing. Dairy alternatives increased 4 percent in the five years ended in 2017, while sales of fluid milk dropped 3.5 percent, according to a recent report by Dutch bank Rabobank.

Consumers are shying away from milk, turning instead to dairy alternatives made from soy, rice and oats, and other crops.

Dairy alternatives companies, he said, have been adept at marketing their products, using clear labeling, touting locally sourced ingredients. Milk's packaging, though, has changed little over the past decade and details of its content are similarly obscure.

"The dairy industry rightfully points to the nutritional and flavor superiority of dairy compared to plant-based beverages," said Bailey. "[But] the makers of dairy alternatives generally appear to be doing a better job of connecting emotionally with consumers who favor more dairy-free options to meet their own perceptions about health and lifestyle."

"How do our products love you back?" Califia Farms, which makes dairy-free probiotic yogurts, creamers and cold-brew coffees, asks on its website. "They love your body by being natural and GMO-free. They love your planet by being sustainably-sourced."

Similar language and goals are shared by Califia Farms' competitors. Those include Ripple, which makes dairy-free pea milk and a "Greek yogurt alternative," and NadaMoo, which makes nondairy coconut ice cream. There's even Perfect Day, which uses yeast and fermentation to make animal-free "milk."

Still, some traditional milk brands have been able to grow.

Coca-Cola, under pressure to reinvent its own drink portfolio as sales of its flagship soda face changing consumer tides, has seen success with its premium milk brand, Fairlife. It touts the high-end milk drink as having the attributes consumers are flocking to: more protein and calcium, less sugar and lactose.

"There's value to be realized in innovation and premiumizing milk products," said Bailey.

Other milk companies could follow suit, he said: They could focus on new packaging or label transparency about where they are sourcing their milk from.

Still, there remains consumer suspicion around products that companies make in mass and about how the animals that provide those products are treated.

Meanwhile, dairy companies could also continue their investment in the space, looking to buy what they cannot create on their own.

Danone acquired WhiteWave, maker of Silk-branded soy milk, for roughly $10 billion in 2017. General Mills has invested in nut yogurt and cheese company Kite Hill.

Correction: This story has been revised to indicate that Ripple's dairy-free milk is made from peas.
Some of the steps Starbucks took as part of its anti-racial bias campaign may have been a mistake, former fast-food CEO Andy Puzder argued on Tuesday.

"This policy implementation with respect to the restrooms and not having to buy anything to be in the place, they may have gone too far," Puzder, now a policy advisor at pro-Trump group America First Policies, said in a "Squawk Box" interview. He formerly was chief executive of CKE Restaurants, the company behind the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. chains.

However, he added, "There should be more openness than they had" and the company did need to "address the problems of employees kicking out people that are just sitting there waiting for a third party to show up."

Earlier this month, Starbucks announced a new policy allowing anyone to sit in its cafes and use the restrooms even if they don't buy anything.

The mandate was put in place after the April 12 arrests at a Philadelphia Starbucks of two black men waiting for a business meeting. They had asked to use the restroom. They didn't buy anything.

To try to make sure this type of situation doesn't happen again, Starbucks is set to make good on its promise and close more than 8,000 of its U.S. locations Tuesday afternoon to conduct racial bias training for more than 175,000 of its employees.

Some industry experts have questioned, and criticized, whether Starbucks can actually end racism in its stores over the course of an afternoon.

Puzder said he wouldn't doubt Starbucks' chairman, Howard Schultz, on the company's moves to address its problems because Schultz "is obviously a genius at this."

"They're really very intent on maintaining what they call their ambiance feeling when you go to Starbucks," Puzder said. "They want to appeal to a certain demographic. It's sort of a progressive, inclusive demographic, and they want people to know they are concerned about these issues."
Drug-maker Bayer, agreeing to the largest divestiture in American antitrust enforcement history, will sell agricultural businesses and assets worth about $9 billion to chemical giant BASF, clearing the way for approval of its $66 billion acquisition of Monsanto, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.

The assets include Bayer's canola, soybean and vegetable seed businesses, as well as its Liberty herbicide business, all of which currently compete with Monsanto products.

Bayer also agreed to certain "structural divestitures" and to sell off "certain intellectual property and research capabilities, including 'pipeline' R&D projects," according to the Justice Department.

In revealing the settlement it reached with Bayer, the department said the sell-off will "preserve competition threatened by Bayer's acquisition of Monsanto.

Without the divestiture, the department said, the "merger is unlawful."

Germany-based Bayer and St. Louis-based Monsanto are two of the world's biggest agricultural companies, and currently compete against one another to sell farmers seed and crop protection products, the department noted. BASF is the largest chemical producer in the world.

Bayer still is awaiting approval from the governments of Canada and Mexico for the tie-up. The company has until June 14 to close its purchase of Monsanto. After that, Monsanto has the right to withdraw from the deal or ask for a higher price.

Bayer said that it expects to receive the remaining governmental approvals for the merger "very shortly." Bayer also said that it expects to divest itself of the assets named in the settlement in about two months, after which the merger can occur.

The Justice Department said that without Bayer's sell-off of the assets, "the proposed merger would likely result in higher prices, lower quality and fewer choices across a wide away of seed and crop protection products."

Monsanto shares were trading slightly higher, up 90 cents at 127.40 per share, shortly after news of the settlement broke.

Bayer CEO Werner Baumann said, "Receipt of the DOJ's approval brings us close to our goal of creating a leading company in agriculture."

"We want to help farmers across the world grow more nutritious food in a more sustainable way," Baumann said.
George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management, speaks during an interview in London in March. Simon Dawson | Bloomberg | Getty Images

The Hungarian-born billionaire George Soros has offered a three-point plan in order to preserve the status of the European Union. Europe's alliance has been under strain as bigger more powerful countries demand that those with struggling economies rein in their spending to reduce debt. This enforced austerity has led to high unemployment in countries such as Greece and Italy. Added to the mix was a migration spike from the Middle East and Africa into many countries that were already struggling in the wake of the financial crisis. Speaking at the European Council on Foreign Relations annual council meeting Tuesday, Soros said Europe was in "an existential crisis."

In a speech titled "How to Save Europe," Soros claimed that the bloc's pressing issues can be broken down into the refugee crisis, territorial breakups such as Brexit, and economic struggles brought on by austerity. The philanthropist said the best place for Europe to begin would be to address the refugee crisis and to remove regulation which dictates the number of refugees that each country should accept. "Member states should not be forced to accept refugees they don't want and refugees should not be forced to settle in countries where they don't want to go," Soros said.

'Fortress Europe' is unrealistic

Soros wants the EU to protect its external borders but keep them open for lawful migrants. He argued that the idea of a "fortress Europe" was unrealistic. He sketched out a plan to fund better education and unemployment in Africa at a cost of 30 billion euros ($34.7 billion) a year. He claimed this would stem those seeking refuge. Soros said the crisis is a European Union one and the financing could be arranged through the EU's "largely unused" borrowing capacity. Borrowing to fund potential solutions to the migrant crisis leads Soros to address the austerity ethos which he described as a "prevailing addiction" among policymakers.

935 Migrant landing in Salerno July on 14,2017. Paolo Manzo | NurPhoto | Getty Images

The billionaire investor said geopolitical tensions and the weakening of ties with Washington meant that Europe may be headed toward another economic slowdown. He said a heavy investment in Africa could help mitigate any fresh economic woes and claimed some financial wizardry might reduce debt fears from lenders. "I want to point out that the proposal contains an ingenious device that would enable the European Union to borrow from the market at a very advantageous rate without incurring a direct obligation for itself or for its member states," he said, according to a transcript of the speech.

Brexit 'immensely damaging'
The Dassault company will continue to play a strategic role for the French armed forces, the country's defense minister Florence Parly said on Tuesday, following the death of billionaire industrialist Serge Dassault.

"This is a company in which the state cannot play down its own interests," Parly told the Public Senat channel in an interview, adding that the Dassault company represented a "strategic role" for the country's armed forces ministry.

Parly also said the French government would keep a close eye on the succession plans at the Dassault company.

Serge Dassault, whose group builds the Rafale war planes and owns Le Figaro newspaper, died in Paris on Monday aged 93.

The Dassault group which his father had created controls Dassault Aviation and Le Figaro, and holds major stakes in Dassault Systemes and Thales.

Airbus holds a 9.9 percent stake in Dassault Aviation, and the French and German governments both in turn have stakes of around 11 percent in Airbus.

Olivier Dassault, one of Serge Dassault's sons, also told Europe 1 radio on Tuesday that succession plans at the company would proceed smoothly.

"There is no need for concern, everything is in place, everything will go smoothly, and in total unity," said Olivier Dassault.

The family-owned Dassault Group had in 2014 appointed Charles Edelstenne as eventual successor to Serge Dassault, saying at the time that the succession would be automatic. Edelstenne is currently CEO of the group.
On an airplane, every inch counts. Travelers may immediately think of the loss of precious legroom over the years but Delta Air Lines is cutting an inch off of somewhere else: flight attendants' shoes. The second-largest U.S. carrier is debuting new uniforms, including "passport plum" dresses and "groundspeed graphite" vests for flight attendants and more than a dozen other pieces for 64,000 employees around the world on Tuesday.

Detail of new Delta flight attendant uniform. (Source: Delta Air Lines) So what doesn't go with the new Zac Posen uniforms, the airline's first redesign for "above wing" employees  flight attendants, lounge attendants, and ticketing and gate agents  since 2006? Four-inch heels.

Delta's new uniforms in "Passport Plum." Courtesy Delta Air Lines

The airline is shaving an inch off the maximum heel height for the footwear of its more than 22,000 flight attendants from four inches to three inches, a Delta spokesperson said.

Delta employees debuted new uniforms on May 29. Source: Delta Airlines

The decision was based on feedback from employees and advice from a podiatrist, the spokesperson added. Delta said it collected 30,000 surveys from employees about the uniforms themselves.

Delta Airlines unveils new male flight attendant uniform. Source: Delta Airlines

The minimum heel height for Delta flight attendants remains a half an inch, for when they are making their way to their aircraft, but they can change into flat shoes, including ballet flats, on board, where workdays are physical and long, from pushing heavy food-and-beverage carts through the aisle to helping passengers find coveted overhead bin space for their overstuffed carry-on bags.

Delta Airlines flight attendant uniforms circa 2006. Source: Delta Airlines

Delta flight attendants can also wear boots with pants, and opt for different footwear altogether with a doctor's note. Sales of high heels have slumped broadly, recent retail data show, amid concerns of the physical impact of these shoes as consumers consumers shift toward more comfortable apparel and footwear.

Source: Delta Flight Museum

Men have similar requirements, and shoes must be solid, smooth black leather. No hiking boots, or ornaments, such as metallic embellishments.
The pan-European Stoxx 600 closed 1.37 percent lower provisionally, with all major bourses and every sector apart from oil in negative territory.

Among national indexes, Italy's FTSE MIB fell 2.65 percent, amid renewed political pain. The euro zone's third-largest economy has been without a government since an inconclusive vote in early March, with anti-establishment political groups abandoning their efforts to form a coalition over the weekend amid a dispute with the country's head of state.

Meanwhile, Spain's IBEX 35 was also off by almost 2.5 percent following news the country's Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, is due to face a confidence vote over his leadership on Friday. The announcement compounded political volatility in southern Europe.

Europe's banking index led the losses Tuesday, off almost 3.2 percent, on pace for its worst day since August 2, 2016. Spanish lenders Banco Santander and Caixabank and Italian lender Unicredit were among the worst performers in the sector.

Looking at individual stocks, Dixons Carphone tumbled to the bottom of the European benchmark after it issued a profit warning. The British retailer said profit would fall by 21 percent in the current year, with 92 standalone stores also set to close. Its shares were more than 20.7 percent lower on the news.
It's Starbucks' own fault that it will lose money due to Tuesday afternoon's closing of thousands of its locations for anti-racial bias training, former McDonald's CEO Ed Rensi told CNBC.

"It's tragic that Starbucks is going to lose customers ... for training that should be done every day of the week, every hour of the day," Rensi said on "Squawk Alley."

Starbucks should never have gotten itself "in a position like this" in the first place, he adds.

The coffee giant will close more than 8,000 of its U.S. locations for several hours on Tuesday afternoon to conduct anti-bias training. The course  offered to its more than 175,000 employees  is aimed at addressing the issues surrounding the arrests last month at a Philadelphia Starbucks of two black men waiting for a business meeting.

The issue of any racial bias in Starbucks' stores can be easily resolved through "common sense," said Rensi, while saying Chairman Howard Schultz and CEO Kevin Johnson are good leaders.

"Treat people the way you want to be treated," said Rensi, also formerly CEO of barbecue chain Famous Dave's of America. "To have police come and roust out two black men in your facilities is unconscionable."

However, he said he would never have closed the stores for the training "because that means I'm making a lot of customers angry."

Earlier on CNBC, Andy Puzder  formerly chief executive of CKE Restaurants, the owner of the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. chains  questioned some of the steps Starbucks took as part of its anti-racial bias campaign.

Puzder, now a policy advisor at the pro-Trump group America First Policies, argued Starbucks' new policy allowing anyone, even if they don't buy anything, to sit in its cafes and use the restrooms may have been a mistake.
North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un (R) speaks with South Korea's President Moon Jae-in (unseen) as North Korean General Kim Yong Chol (L), who is in charge of inter-Korean affairs for North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, looks on during the inter-Korean summit in the Peace House building on the southern side of the truce village of Panmunjom on April 27, 2018.

Former North Korea spy chief and senior official Kim Yong Chol is headed to the United States after stopping over in Beijing, presumably for talks with U.S. officials regarding a possible summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency said on Tuesday.

Kim Yong Chol has been closely involved with talks with South Korea as well and his visit to the United States would further indicate preparations for the historic summit are moving ahead.
The anti-establishment Five Star Movement, Italy's biggest party, and the far-right League party picked euro-critic Paolo Savona as their economy minister. The two parties, both critical of Europe's single currency, had won more than half the votes in March's parliamentary elections. Mattarella vetoed the choice and instead asked Carlo Cottarelli, a former IMF official, to form a temporary government, but both parties object to him and a new vote is now expected in late July.

Bove said there would be an immediate crisis affecting Italy's banks and economy should the country try to exit the euro. Over the weekend, Italian President Sergio Mattarella blocked the formation of a government that would have been decidedly against the euro.

"It would be irresponsible," to jump in now, said Bove, an analyst with Hilton Capital Management. "You have no idea what's going to happen near-term and you understand that it's the psychology that's got to calm down first."

The U.S. financial sector led the market sharply lower Tuesday amid fears that Italy will try to exit the euro zone and leave the single currency. European banks stocks were crushed, and yields spiked on Italian bank debt. The S&P financial sector was down 3.4 percent.

It's too risky for investors to step back into major U.S. bank stocks, even after Tuesday's ripping selloff shaved more than 4 percent off of JPMorgan Chase and nearly 3.5 percent off of Goldman Sachs , says bank analyst Richard Bove.

"The first thing that happens is their banks may lose access to credit in the world market, but the banks will lose the ability to function because they have such a large proportion of Italian debt on their balance sheet. The country goes into recession or depression," said Bove. "You have to ask yourself whether the Italian citizens say, 'We think it's worth taking this depression or we're going to stick to our guns.'"

While U.S. institutions could withstand the blow of an Italian exit, Bove said they would still feel the effects. Selling also hit regional banks Tuesday, like PNC and Keycorp, but they would not be affected in the same way, and they are clearly oversold, he said.

Bove said he would not be a seller of the big banks, but now is not yet time to find bargains.

"There's too much risk to buy into the big banks at this moment unless you're absolutely convinced Italy cannot get out of the European Union. I am convinced of that and because I'm convinced of that, I think at some point you have to step up and buy these big banks because they're being oversold, but the market is not convinced of it," he said.

"If it's going to split up, clearly the big six, less so Wells Fargo than the other five, are going to get hit and they're going to get hit hard. There is so much cross-fertilization. JP Morgan has a big stake in Europe and so does Bank of America. Citigroup has a bigger stake than both of them and 40 percent of Goldman Sachs earnings come from offshore," he said.

Bank of America shares lost more than 4 percent, and Morgan Stanley was down nearly 6 percent. Citigroup was off 4 percent. The XLF, Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF, fell more than 3 percent.

If separated, Italy would no longer be able to seek assistance from the European Central Bank. Italy would have no where to turn, and its currency would become useless because it would be based on its own economic growth.

Bove said the $50 billion in U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods announced Tuesday could also have been a factor affecting the market.

"Logic would argue we're not going to see a total breakdown in world trade, that the European Union is not going to come apart because it's too costly for everyone in Europe if that were to happen," he said.

"In my personal portfolio, I'm looking for a point to get back in," he said. "It's too early for me to get back in. There's too much risk in the situation."
Tesla and SpaceX boss Elon Musk has been especially vocal about the potential negative implications of the development of artificial intelligence. Musk has said AI poses "vastly more risk than North Korea," that "competition for AI superiority at national level most likely cause of WW3," that "AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization," that governments "will obtain AI developed by companies at gunpoint, if necessary," and that "AI is far more dangerous than nukes."

Eric Schmidt, the former executive chairman of the Board of Directors of Alphabet, Google's parent company, has recently come down in direct opposition to Musk's dire point of view.

"So, I think that Elon is exactly wrong. So. My position is clear," said Schmidt on stage at the Viva Technology conference in Paris, France on Friday.

In December, Schmidt transitioned from executive chairman of the Board of Directors to technical advisor for Alphabet, while continuing to serve on the board, according to a statement at the time.

If you're not concerned about AI safety, you should be. Vastly more risk than North Korea.

According to Schmidt, the reason Musk is "exactly wrong" is that he doesn't understand the full ramifications of the potential of artificial intelligence, he said in Paris.

"And he is wrong because he doesn't understand the benefits that this technology will provide to making every human being smarter. And the fact of the matter is that AI and machine learning are so fundamentally good for humanity," said Schmidt.

"Over and over again, making people smarter is a net good. He is concerned about the possible misuse of this technology. And I am too. But today, the overwhelming benefit of this is positive."

Schmidt continued with an example: "You would not invent the telephone because of the possible misuse of the telephone by evil people. No. You would build the telephone and you would try to figure out a way to police the misuse of the telephone," Schmidt said.

One current application of artificial intelligence is Google translate, said Schmidt. In the future, artificial intelligence will be used to power self-driving cars and to improve medical care, he said.

Currently, artificial intelligence should operate in conjunction with humans, said Schmidt.

"At the moment it has too many errors to fly the airplane. Okay? So it's fine for the AI to advise the pilot but you do not want AI flying your airplane. Too many errors, too many false positives," said Schmidt in Paris. "Now, over time, these errors will become smaller, and eventually perhaps zero."
A police officer speaks with parents of children at a nearby high school in the eastern Belgian city of Liege on May 29, 2018, after a gunman shot dead three people, two of them policemen, before being killed by elite officers. - The shooting occurred around 10:30am (0830 GMT) on a major artery in the city close to a high school. 'We don't know anything yet,' the spokeswoman for the Liege prosecutors office, told AFP when

A man killed two policewomen and a woman passer-by in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, public broadcaster RTBF said, before being shot dead in an exchange of fire that sent people scattering and scurrying to take cover.

The city authorities confirmed the death toll.

The national crisis center, on high alert since past attacks by Islamic State in Paris and Brussels, said it was looking into whether terrorism might have been a motive for Tuesday's attack in Belgium's third city.

RTBF named the alleged assailant as a 36-year-old Belgian who had been released on parole from a prison near Liege, close to the German and Dutch borders, on Monday.

He was serving time for drug offences and classified as "unstable", according to RTBF. It remained unclear how the incident, during which pupils at a nearby high school were moved to a place of safety, had unfolded.

"The children in the local schools are safe," Liege city authorities said on Twitter, adding that apart from the two police officers the passenger in a car had been killed.

RTBF said the man may have attacked the police officers with a box-cutter and then seized one of their weapons.

La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar" -- God is greatest in Arabic -- and RTBF said investigators were looking into whether he might have been converted to Islam and radicalized in prison.

"(Terrorism) is one of the questions on the table, but for the moment all scenarios are open," a spokesman for the crisis center told Reuters.

Federal prosecutors took over the investigation, a further indication that a terrorist motive was possible.

Prime Minister Charles Michel, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims, said it was too early to say what had caused the incident.

RTBF said the attacker had a history of minor criminal convictions but was not on a list of possible violent extremists.

Two other police officers had been injured, a spokeswoman for the Liege

public prosecutors office said.

Images on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Liege's central boulevard d'Avroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background.

Liege, the biggest city in Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia region, was the scene of a mass shooting in 2011, when a gunman killed four people and wounded more than 100 others before turning the gun on himself.

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.

The Brussels IS cell had links to militants in Verviers, another industrial town close to Liege, where in early 2015 police raided a safe house and killed two men who had returned from fighting with radical Islamists in Syria.
The Hong Kong exchange building. Vincent Isore | IP3 | Getty Images

A slate of hot Chinese technology companies are expected to debut in Hong Kong this year, potentially making the city the top market for IPOs in the world. Advisory firm PwC has estimated total fundraising could reach as much as 250 billion Hong Kong dollars ($31.2 billion) in 2018. But some of the excitement over the potential blockbuster year has been overshadowed by ascendant competition: markets in mainland China.

Potentially undercutting Hong Kong

The government in Beijing wants more Chinese tech companies to list domestically, rather than choosing to make their market debut in New York. In March, China introduced draft rules for China Depository Receipts, which are designed to let its biggest tech firms make a form of secondary listing that can be held by Chinese investors. It's been suggested that that move from the mainland could undercut Hong Kong's own ability to compete with the New York IPO market: Chinese tech companies listed stateside may in the future issue mainland CDRs on the mainland instead of choosing Hong Kong for a secondary listing. Shares of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing initially came under pressure following the announcement of the CDR plan, although concern later diminished when more details about of the initiative were released, said Kenny Wen, a Hong Kong-based strategist at Everbright Sun Hung Kai.

People walk along an elevated walkway as an electronic ticker displays the figures of the Shanghai Composite Index, top, and the SZSE Component Index in the Lujiazui Financial District in Shanghai, China, on Monday, Feb. 26, 2018. Qilai Shen | Bloomberg | Getty Images

That's partially because meeting the requirements to be a CDR issuer doesn't look easy. According to draft rules issues by the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Chinese companies listed abroad will need a market capitalization of at least 200 billion yuan ($31.3 billion) to join. Just five listed companies  Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, JD.com and Netease  currently qualify, according to a note from DBS Group Research last month. A number of currently unlisted companies, including Ant Financial and Lufax, "should be able to meet" the requirements if they decided to participate, analysts from the bank said. Hong Kong, meanwhile, has tried to grow its own pool of potential listings. The city's exchange introduced new rules allowing listings that would never have been permitted before: companies with dual-class shareholding and biotechnology firms without revenues.

Distinct markets

Despite potential competition from the mainland, some are less worried about Hong Kong's prospects due to the different characteristics of markets there and on the mainland. Hong Kong is recognized as a place to raise money from international sources, whereas domestic retail investors feature more heavily in mainland markets. Given that stark difference, it's unlikely that Hong Kong will lose out on business to the mainland markets, said Eddie Wong, capital markets services partner at PwC Hong Kong. Instead, he said, the new rules are expected to make capital markets in Hong Kong and on the mainland more complementary. Wong said "many, many more" companies were expected to apply under Hong Kong's new listing rules in the months ahead. He added that the second half of the year has typically seen more activity when it came to companies listing in the territory. Specifically, there are now at least five large companies in the process of preparing IPOs in Hong Kong, Wong told CNBC. At least two of those companies were estimated to raise funds of around 100 billion Hong Kong dollars ($12.7 billion) between them, he said.

Pedestrians walk past the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong on May 24, 2018 in Hong Kong. S3studio | Getty Images
"Only about one-fifth of Americans said they've seen any financial benefit from the tax cuts  a not-unexpected result given that the tax benefits were aimed at corporations and wealthier Americans."

More recently, Barack Obama won re-election in 2012 when the country was still climbing out of a recession. Four years later, Hillary Clinton couldn't leverage a fully-recovered economy into an electoral victory.

For the Trump Administration, the centerpiece of its economic record is strong jobs numbers, with the unemployment rate now at the lowest level since 2000. Last year's tax cut also allows the White House and congressional Republicans to argue they're putting more money in people's pockets.

Not surprisingly, Trump has used every occasion to tout his economic record. He even marked Memorial Day by boasting that fallen soldiers would be "happy and proud" about low unemployment numbers.

The problem for Trump, however, is that strong jobs numbers don't necessarily tell the full economic story for most people in this country.

According to a recent Monmouth University poll, only 12 percent of Americans said their family has benefited a great deal from recent economic growth. A whopping 53 percent said they've been helped "not much" or "not at all" by economic growth. These figures are virtually the same as when Trump took office in January 2017.

Despite the strong unemployment numbers, the percentage of working-age Americans who are employed today is actually lower than in 2008. College graduates hitting the job market this year will find 1.3 percent fewer jobs waiting for them, compared with last year. And wages are growing at a meager 2.6 percent rate, which won't make up for a long period of wage stagnation.

As for the much-touted tax cuts, the law remains unpopular. In a troubling sign for Republican candidates, only about one-fifth of Americans said they've seen any financial benefit from the tax cuts  a not-unexpected result given that the tax benefits were aimed at corporations and wealthier Americans.

At the same time, the price for everything else is going up. Gas prices have risen over 50 cents over the past year and are now at the highest level since 2014. An average household is expected to spend $248 more on gas this summer compared to last year. For the bottom one-fifth of households, the rise in gas prices has already offset whatever windfall they received from tax changes.

The cost of other necessities is rising as well. Rent prices are soaring in cities like Orlando, Las Vegas, and Sacramento. Health care premiums for Americans on Obamacare will increase an average of 15 percent this year, largely because of Trump's actions to undermine the law. In individual states, the premium increases are much higher. One health plan has asked to boost rates by 64 percent in Virginia and 91 percent in Maryland.

For the least fortunate in this country, the Administration is engaged in a systematic effort to make Medicaid, food stamps, and federal housing assistance more difficult to receive. Overall, four in ten Americans can't cover an unexpected $400 expense without borrowing money or selling something.

When you consider all aspects of a typical household budget, it's no wonder that, despite low unemployment, only about one-third of Americans say the country is headed in the right direction, compared with 52 percent who say it's on the wrong track.

Certainly, low unemployment numbers can provide Trump with an important rhetorical weapon against a potential Democratic wave. However, unless the rosy picture presented by Trump and his allies matches the reality for most Americans, a strong overall economy won't be a decisive issue for midterm voters, especially given the constant swirl of controversy, chaos, and divisiveness surrounding Trump.

Much can change over the next five months. But if Donald Trump thinks that low unemployment alone will ensure Republican control of Congress, he'll be in for a rude awakening the morning of November 7. This year, understanding voter sentiment won't be as simple as reading a few pieces of economic data.

Commentary by Chris Lu, who served in the Obama Administration as White House Cabinet Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Labor. He is now a senior fellow at the University of Virginia Miller Center. Follow him on Twitter at @ChrisLu44.

For more insight from CNBC contributors, follow @CNBCopinion on Twitter.
The U.S. exit from the Iran nuclear deal creates the risk that Iran will drop out of a separate 50-year-old United Nations treaty meant to stop the spread of atomic weapons, according to Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets. Oil prices have recently surged to 3-year highs, fueled the U.S. nuclear deal pullout and falling output in Venezuela. However, crude prices began tumbling last week after Saudi Arabia and Russia said two dozen oil-producing nations could soon ease output caps that have been in place since January 2017. But fears of nuclear weapons proliferation in the restive Middle East could quickly reverse that drop, according to Croft. An Iranian official threatened last week to pull out of the U.N. Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which has sought to prevent the spread of atomic weapons since 1968. Iran signed the treaty that year, but the nation's leadership in Tehran is now in a standoff with the West over its nuclear program after President Donald Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal and restored punishing sanctions on the Middle Eastern country.

If they come to believe that the U.S. and the regional partners are pursuing regime change, I think we could get a very nasty Iranian response. Helima Croft RBC Capital Markets global head of commodity strategy

"I think this is the question the market is ignoring right now. I would watch very closely the Iranian announcement to pull out of the nonproliferation treaty," Croft told CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" on Tuesday. "If they pull out of the NPT, that would signal that not only are the Iranians going to resume their program, they're resuming it with a military option." "And then it would become, I think, an arms race in the Middle East," she added. In March, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince said his country would obtain a nuclear weapon "as soon as possible" if Iran, the kingdom's archrival, developed one. Israel, which has recently engaged in open conflict with Iran, is widely believed to possess nuclear weapons already. Iran came under international criticism in the early 2000s and was later sanctioned for its alleged research into nuclear weapons development while ostensibly pursuing a peaceful energy program. After years of diplomacy, Iran reached a deal with six world powers that lifted the sanctions in exchange for Tehran accepting limits on its nuclear program and allowing inspectors into the country. Under the NPT, countries without nuclear weapons like Iran vow never to acquire them. The 2015 nuclear deal  negotiated with Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the Obama administration  subjected Iran to extra scrutiny in order to re-establish trust with the international community.

An Iranian military truck carries surface-to-air missiles past a portrait of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei during a parade on the occasion of the country's annual army day on April 18, 2018, in Tehran. Atta Kenare | AFP | Getty Images

But the pressure campaign now being waged by the Trump administration could push Iran to abandon both the nuclear deal and the NPT, Croft said. The European Union is trying to preserve the 2015 deal, but America's influence over the global financial system means many European companies may toe the U.S. line, despite the EU's efforts to shield them from far-reaching sanctions. Iran's economy is already weakening, spurring protests over corruption in the banking system and other grievances. This year, Iran's currency has collapsed, and its uncertain how Iran will respond to the added pressure from a loss of international business, said Croft. "If they come to believe that the U.S. and the regional partners are pursuing regime change, I think we could get a very nasty Iranian response," she said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's first major speech last week drew speculation that the administration's policy is indeed to topple the nearly 40-year-old regime in Tehran. While Pompeo has sought to tamp down that speculation, the Iranians may not be convinced, said John Kilduff, founding partner at energy hedge fund Again Capital. "They're like playing a game of Jenga, where you push the blocks out, because they're hoping for the regime to tip over," he told "Squawk on the Street" on Tuesday. "And as much as European Union officials are trying to say that they want to have a workaround against these U.S. sanctions, all the companies, the banks and the oil companies, are all in the process of pulling out and saying we're not touching that with a 10-foot pole."

Saudis back in control
The euro tumbled to a fresh six-month low on Tuesday, while yields on Italian debt climbed  ratcheting up the extra borrowing costs or spread that Rome pays in comparison with Germany.

Carlo Cottarelli, who became known as "Mr. Scissors" for his reputation regarding cuts to public spending in Italy, is now tasked with the planning of fresh elections and passing the next budget.

Rome's latest political crisis comes at a time of elevated tensions between euroskeptic populists, who emerged victorious from the March election, and pro-EU establishment lawmakers.

Italy's power struggle is rattling global financial markets, with investors fearful the looming prospect of fresh elections could be fought over the country's role in the European Union and the euro zone. Rome's latest political crisis comes at a time of elevated tensions between euroskeptic populists, who emerged victorious from the March election, and pro-EU establishment lawmakers. The euro zone's third-largest economy has been without a government since an inconclusive vote in early March, with anti-establishment political groups abandoning their efforts to form a coalition over the weekend amid a dispute with the country's head of state.

President Sergio Mattarella, who was installed by a previous pro-EU government, refused to accept the nomination of euroskeptic candidate Paolo Savona for economy minister on Sunday. Instead, he set the country on a path to another snap vote by appointing former International Monetary Fund (IMF) official Carlo Cottarelli as interim prime minister. Cottarelli, who became known as "Mr. Scissors" for his reputation regarding cuts to public spending in Italy, is now tasked with the planning of fresh elections and passing the next budget.

Campaign mode

The decision to appoint Cottarelli to form a temporary administration prompted the Five Star Movement (M5S) and the right-wing Lega Party (League) to switch back to campaign mode. Both parties had already accused Mattarella of betraying Italy's electorate by blocking Savona's nomination. "Speaking as an economist, in the past few days tensions on the financial markets have increased Nonetheless the Italian economy is still growing and the public accounts remain under control," Cottarelli said Monday. The prospect of another election in Italy as early as September hit European markets Monday, with external observers suggesting the move could delay a future populist government determined to renegotiate key euro zone debt agreements.

The euro tumbled to a fresh six-month low on Tuesday, while yields on Italian debt climbed  ratcheting up the extra borrowing costs or spread that Rome pays in comparison with Germany. "In new elections, the radicals will likely rail even more loudly than before against Italy's pro-European 'establishment' and an alleged 'German hegemony' exercised through the rulebook of the single currency," Holger Schmieding, chief economist at Berenberg, told CNBC in a research note published Monday.



He warned that Italy's anti-establishment parties had become well-placed to fight a new election campaign on a more explicit anti-euro platform. "Especially the Lega may frame a new election as a de facto referendum on Italy's role in Europe," he added.

Why were there calls for impeachment?

Amid a deepening sense of political and constitutional turmoil in Italy, Luigi Di Maio of the populist M5S said Sunday that the actions of Italy's president had triggered an "institutional crisis." Di Maio also called for Mattarella to face impeachment charges. The Italian president, who serves as head of state and is supposed to be politically neutral, took the unprecedented step of blocking Savona's nomination on the grounds that the candidate had previously threatened to pull Italy from the single currency.
The latest political crisis was sparked over the weekend, after interim Prime Minister Carlo Cottarelli failed to win enough support from major political parties for even a stop-gap government. The country has been trying to form a new government since March; the latest deadlock could force President Sergio Mattarella back to parliament in the coming days and send Italians back to the polls as early as July 29.



Italy's central bank warned on Tuesday the nation was only "a few short steps" from losing investors' confidence, as financial markets suffered the biggest sell-off in years on fears that new elections could become a proxy vote on Italian membership in the euro.

Backlash over the idea of a unified Europe comes as European Union and United Kingdom leaders have yet to resolve the terms of the U.K.'s departure from the bloc, after British voters last year approved the so-called Brexit referendum. A similar move by Italy would strike a potentially fatal blow to the 25-year-old political and economic union.

The political stalemate in Italy intensified after a March national election which saw heavy turnout for two populist parties: the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the anti-euro League party.

Some political analysts believe that the latest deadlock over the weekend could strengthen those parties' positions, raising further doubts about Italy's continued membership in the EU and use of the common currency.

"Italy will be wrapped in a long drawn-out period of wrangling that will feature intense anti-establishment and euroskeptic tones," political analyst Wolfango Piccoli told the Associated Press.
Tuesday is National 529 College Savings Plan Day, even though many families are not likely to celebrate.

That's because only 29 percent of Americans even know that 529 plans are an education savings tool, according to a new survey by the investment firm Edward Jones. That's down from last year, when 32 percent of the more than 1,000 people polled said they understood the purpose of these state-sponsored plans.

The plans offer many tax benefits that are better than using a bank savings account.

For instance, not only can you get a tax deduction or credit for contributions (more than 30 states and the District of Columbia offer a direct state tax deduction for your contributions), earnings grow on a tax-advantaged basis and, when you withdraw the money, it is tax-free if the funds are used for qualified education expenses, such as tuition, fees, books and room and board.

The new tax law even expanded the use of plans to include private-school tuition from elementary through high school. Families now have the option to use up to $10,000 in annual tax-free 529 plan withdrawals to cover those early educational expenses. (While this addition sounds like a good idea, making early withdrawals could forfeit the benefit from long-term compounding.)

In 2017, the average account size jumped to a record high of $24,057, up 13 percent from the year earlier, according to the College Savings Plans Network.

Total investments in 529s also reached a record $319.1 billion last year, 16 percent higher than 2016 (see the chart below from the College Savings Plans Network).
Russia's Energy Minister Alexander Novak, Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister and OPEC conference president Khalid al-Falih, and OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Barkindo attend a meeting of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and non-OPEC producing countries in Vienna, Austria, May 25, 2017.

U.S. crude oil fell sharply on Tuesday, tacking on more losses as the market sold off ahead of an OPEC meeting that could see major producers lift output caps that have been in place since January 2017.

Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the world's top three producers, have recently signaled that OPEC and its allies could decide at a June 22 gathering in Vienna to begin exiting their supply cutting agreement. The prospect of lost exports from Iran in the face of renewed U.S. sanctions and falling output in crisis-afflicted Venezuela is coaxing the producers to start winding down the historic deal.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures fell as much as 3 percent on Tuesday, posting a fifth straight day of losses after hitting a 3-year high last week. The contract ended the session down $1.15, or 1.7 percent, at $66.73 a barrel.

WTI, which did not trade during the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, is down 7.6 percent since settling at $72.24 last Tuesday, its highest closing level since November 2014.

Meanwhile, futures stabilized, rising 12 cents to $75.42 by 2:29 p.m. ET. The international benchmark for oil prices tumbled 5.6 percent over the last three sessions, slipping further from a 3-year high at $80.50.

Two dozen oil producers, including Russia and the 14-member oil cartel OPEC, have been keeping 1.8 million barrels a day off the market since January 2017 in order to drain a glut that tanked oil prices in 2014.

But the oil market is now in danger of overheating amid geopolitical tension, and traders are keenly focused on how much oil OPEC agrees to restore next month in Vienna.

Helima Croft, global head of commodity strategy at RBC Capital Markets, said OPEC and its allies could decide to restore several hundred thousand barrels a day in June.
Oil begins a new week after ending the last with its worst losses in three months. Commodities traders shouldn't worry, though, says one technician  the charts suggest more good news than bad.

"At this point in time, the charts just look like a pullback within the context of a bigger uptrend," Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Jaffray, told CNBC's "Trading Nation" on Friday. "We're right back to the 50-day moving average, we're retesting that at about $67.50 ... and it looks like just a normal pullback."

Crude touched its 50-day moving average during Friday's brutal sell-off. West Texas Intermediate declined by 4 percent over the session and hit its lowest level since May 3. Over the past five sessions, crude tumbled 4.8 percent in its first negative week in a month and its worst weekly drop since Feb. 9.

Should oil continue its decline this week, Johnson has identified its next level of support.

"If this level doesn't hold, you've got really good support going back to the '15 highs at about $62," he said.

WTI is still around 8 percent higher than that level.

"The longer-term uptrend is still intact and this looks like just some normal profit-taking along the way here," Johnson said.

Gina Sanchez, CEO of Chantico Global, is also bullish on the long-term picture for oil, but says geopolitical issues are muddying the shorter-term outlook.

"There are several factors that have been pushing oil up  geopolitical factors," Sanchez said on Friday's "Trading Nation." "The renewed Iran sanctions, Venezuela sanctions, as well as the tight OPEC."

That final driver, OPEC cuts, will be the deciding factor for oil's next move, said Sanchez. Saudi Arabia, the cartel's largest producer, and non-OPEC member Russia are reportedly considering easing back on their supply cuts.

"In the short term that actually could be fairly meaningful," said Sanchez. "The long-term outlook for oil is still robust and positive and we should still see an uptrend for oil but that doesn't mean that the downdraft can't be pretty significant if in fact Russia and Saudi ease up on their oil supply cuts."

OPEC will next meet in Vienna on June 22 to determine policy.
OxyContin, made by Purdue Pharma George Frey | Reuters

Purdue Pharma, the company that planted the seeds of the opioid epidemic through its aggressive marketing of OxyContin, has long claimed it was unaware of the powerful opioid painkiller's growing abuse until years after it went on the market. But a copy of a confidential Justice Department report shows that federal prosecutors investigating the company found that Purdue Pharma knew about "significant" abuse of OxyContin in the first years after the drug's introduction in 1996 and concealed that information. Company officials had received reports that the pills were being crushed and snorted; stolen from pharmacies; and that some doctors were being charged with selling prescriptions, according to dozens of previously undisclosed documents that offer a detailed look inside Purdue Pharma. But the drug maker continued "in the face of this knowledge" to market OxyContin as less prone to abuse and addiction than other prescription opioids, prosecutors wrote in 2006. More from the New York Times:

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The baby-formula crime ring Based on their findings after a four-year investigation, the prosecutors recommended that three top Purdue Pharma executives be indicted on felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, that could have sent the men to prison if convicted. But top Justice Department officials in the George W. Bush administration did not support the move, said four lawyers who took part in those discussions or were briefed about them. Instead, the government settled the case in 2007. Prosecutors found that the company's sales representatives used the words "street value," "crush," or "snort" in 117 internal notes recording their visits to doctors or other medical professionals from 1997 through 1999. The 120-page report also cited emails showing that Purdue Pharma's owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, were sent reports about abuse of OxyContin and another company opioid, MS Contin. "We have in fact picked up references to abuse of our opioid products on the internet," Purdue Pharma's general counsel, Howard R. Udell, wrote in early 1999 to another company official. That same year, prosecutors said, company officials learned of a call to a pharmacy describing "OxyContin as the hottest thing on the street  forget Vicodin." Mr. Udell and other company executives testified in Congress and elsewhere that the drug maker did not learn about OxyContin's growing abuse until early 2000, when the United States attorney in Maine issued an alert. Today, Purdue Pharma, which is based in Stamford, Conn., maintains that position. The episode remains relevant as lawmakers and regulators struggle to stem a mounting epidemic that involves both prescription opioids and, increasingly, illegal opioid compounds like heroin and counterfeit forms of fentanyl. President Trump has declared the problem a public health emergency. Over the past two decades, more than 200,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses involving prescription opioids. States and cities continue to file a wave of lawsuits against Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers and distributors. A spokesman for Purdue Pharma, Robert Josephson, declined to comment on the allegations in the report but said the company was involved in efforts to address opioid abuse. "Suggesting that activities that last occurred more than 16 years ago are responsible for today's complex and multifaceted opioid crisis is deeply flawed," he said in a statement. In 2007, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to a felony charge of "misbranding" OxyContin while marketing the drug by misrepresenting, among other things, its risk of addiction and potential to be abused. Three executives  the company's chief executive, Michael Friedman; its top medical officer, Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim; and Mr. Udell, who died in 2013  each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor "misbranding" charge that solely held them liable as Purdue Pharma's "responsible" executives and did not accuse them of wrongdoing. The company and the executives paid a combined $634.5 million in fines and the men were required to perform community service. The head of the Justice Department's criminal division at the time, Alice S. Fisher, did not respond to emails seeking comment about the decision not to pursue indictments. That decision followed meetings with a Purdue Pharma defense team whose advisers included Rudolph W. Giuliani, a onetime United States attorney and former New York mayor. Mr. Giuliani, who was then regarded as a potential Republican presidential candidate, is now a legal adviser to Mr. Trump. The Justice Department hailed the settlement as a victory. But several former government officials said the decision not to bring more serious charges and air the evidence prosecutors had gathered meant that a critical chance to slow the trajectory of the opioid epidemic was lost. "It would have been a turning point," said Terrance Woodworth, a former Drug Enforcement Administration official who investigated Purdue Pharma in the early 2000s. "It would have sent a message to the entire drug industry." Prosecutors did not accuse any Sackler family members of wrongdoing. But they wrote that Richard Sackler was told in 1999 while he was president of Purdue Pharma about discussions in internet chat rooms where drug abusers described snorting OxyContin, which contains oxycodone, a powerful narcotic. Other family members, including Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, the drug maker's founders, were sent reports about the abuse of OxyContin's predecessor drug, a long-acting form of morphine sold as MS Contin, the report said. A spokesman for Sackler family members involved with the company, Linden Zakula, declined to comment. Richard Sackler, who is now a director of Purdue Pharma, also declined to comment. The three executives, who prosecutors described as reporting directly to the Sacklers, have always asserted they had done nothing wrong and had moved quickly to address the drug's growing abuse after they became aware of it in 2000. "Everyone was taken by surprise by what happened," Dr. Goldenheim testified in 2001. "We launched OxyContin in 1996, and for the first four years on the market, we did not hear of any particular problem."

A Powerful Marketing Claim

When the Food and Drug Administration approved OxyContin in late 1995, the agency permitted Purdue Pharma to make a unique claim for it  that its long-acting formulation was "believed to reduce" its appeal to drug abusers compared with shorter-acting painkillers like Percocet and Vicodin. The F.D.A. decision was not based on findings from clinical trials, but a theory that drug abusers favored shorter-acting painkillers because the narcotic they contained was released faster and so produced a quicker "hit." Purdue Pharma viewed the agency's decision as "so valuable" that it could serve as OxyContin's "principal selling tool," an internal 1995 company report shows. The drugmaker admitted in 2007, when confronted with evidence gathered by prosecutors, that it trained sales representative to tell doctors that OxyContin was less addictive and prone to abuse than competing opioids, claims beyond the one approved by the F.D.A. But even as Purdue Pharma aggressively promoted OxyContin as safer, prosecutors wrote, it soon learned that drug abusers were seeking out OxyContin and its other long-acting opioid, MS Contin. The reason: They had far higher narcotic levels than standard, shorter-acting painkillers, and could be snorted or injected intravenously. In May 1996, five months after OxyContin's approval, Richard Sackler and Mr. Udell were sent an older medical journal article describing how drug abusers were extracting morphine from MS Contin tablets in order to inject the drug, prosecutors reported. A Purdue Pharma scientist researched the issue and sent his findings to several Sacklers, the government report states. "I found MS Contin mentioned a couple of times on the internet underground drug culture scene," the researcher wrote in that 1996 email. "Most of it was mentioned in the context of MS Contin as a morphine source." Image Dr. Paul Goldenheim, Purdue's chief medical officer, testifying before a House Appropriations subcommittee in 2001. Credit C-SPAN By the following year, prosecutors wrote, Purdue Pharma learned that drug addicts in Australia and New Zealand were abusing MS Contin and Dr. Goldenheim was sent an article from American Family Physician, a publication, about the ease of extracting morphine from MS Contin. Then in 1998, as OxyContin's marketing campaign was taking off, Purdue Pharma learned of a medical journal study that appeared to undercut its central message  that OxyContin, as a long-acting opioid, had less appeal to drug abusers. In the study, which was published in The Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, researchers from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver interviewed local drug dealers and abusers to learn what legal drugs sold for on the black market. They found that MS Contin commanded the highest price of any prescription opioid with a 30-milligram tablet that cost $1 at a pharmacy bringing up to $40 on the street. In an accompanying editorial, a Canadian physician, Dr. Brian Goldman, wrote that the findings turned thinking about the supposed safety of long-acting opioids like OxyContin on its head by showing that drug abusers "coveted" such drugs. "This should ring alarm bells," Dr. Goldman, who was then a paid speaker for Purdue Pharma, wrote in the editorial. Purdue Pharma did not send the Canadian study to the F.D.A. or tell its sales representatives about it. Instead, one sales official testified later to a federal grand jury that the company gave him an older survey to show doctors that had concluded that drug abusers were not attracted to time-release opioids. Mr. Josephson, the Purdue Pharma spokesman, said it was not required to tell the F.D.A. about the Canadian study or editorial. He added that the company did not consider the small study's results significant because it was already known that morphine could be abused. However, in March 1998, a few months before the study's publication, Mr. Udell, the chief counsel, sent seven members of the Sackler family a memo titled "MS Contin Abuse," described by prosecutors as containing articles from Vancouver-area newspapers about the drug's abuse there and the price MS Contin was bringing on the street. Two years later, as OxyContin's abuse publicly exploded in early 2000, a Purdue Pharma executive described in an email to Mr. Friedman, the chief executive, how he was reminded of what he had seen earlier managing MS Contin sales in the Midwest. "I received this kind of news on MS Contin, all the time and from everywhere," the company's vice-president of marketing, Mark Alfonso, wrote in June 2000. "Some pharmacies would not even stock MS Contin for fear they would be robbed. In Wisconsin, Minnesota and Oklahoma, we had physicians indicted for prescribing too much MS Contin." Mr. Friedman's response, prosecutors reported, was to forward that email to Mr. Udell with a question: "You want all this chat on email?"

'We Have a Credibility Problem'

By 1997, Purdue Pharma was also aware that OxyContin was becoming a popular topic online, according to one email cited in the prosecution report previously published in Fortune magazine. As sales of the drug began to boom, prosecutors found, so did the number of reports the company received about abuse, addiction and crimes connected to the drug. During one brief period in 1999, they reported, company officials learned from articles in small-town newspapers and other sources that a doctor in Pennsylvania had stopped writing prescriptions for OxyContin because patients eager to get more of the drug were getting arrested for altering them; that a Connecticut man had been arrested for trying to illegally purchase OxyContin; that a man in Massachusetts had told the police that he preferred crushing the drug because it worked better "if he sniffs it;" and that a pharmacy in Maryland had been robbed of OxyContin. "I continue to see OxyContin increase in abuse with our doctor shoppers and sellers," a drug investigator near Cincinnati wrote in a message that was forwarded to Mr. Udell, prosecutors reported. Image The government's decision not to seek felony indictments against Purdue Pharma was viewed by some as a missed opportunity to stem the opioid epidemic. '"It would have been a turning point," a former D.E.A. official said. "It would have sent a message to the entire drug industry." Credit George Etheredge for The New York Times Mark Ross, a former company sales representative, testified during a grand jury appearance that after he warned a manager that one doctor's office was filled with drug seekers he was told his job was to sell drugs, not to determine if a "doctor was a drug pusher," according to a summary of his testimony in the report. A sales representative in Jacksonville, Fla., also questioned the company's claim that OxyContin had less abuse potential after the arrest of a doctor there on charges of illegally prescribing the opioid and other drugs, an email cited by prosecutors shows. "I feel like we have a credibility problem with our product," the sales representative, Jim Speed, wrote in a 1999 email. By late 1999, other doctors had been arrested nationwide on similar charges. But when one Purdue Pharma executive, Dr. J. David Haddox, suggested after the arrest in Jacksonville that the company adopt a crisis-response plan, Mr. Friedman responded that he did not think such action was needed, prosecutors wrote. "I simply do not want us to overreact to this specific story," he wrote, according to prosecutors. "This has not been a repetitive pattern or something new."

Settlement Talks Begin
-sources@

TOKYO, May 29 (Reuters) - A global aluminum producer has offered Japanese buyers a premium of $159 per tonne for primary metal shipments for the July-September quarter, up 23 percent from the current quarter, four sources directly involved in pricing talks said on Tuesday.

Another producer has sought a premium of $160 a tonne, up 24 percent from the premium of $129 agreed for the April-June quarter, the sources said.

Japan is Asia's biggest aluminum importer and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Tom Hogue)
OTTAWA, May 29 (Reuters) - Canada's decision on Tuesday to buy a troubled oil pipeline is a big risk that could cost Prime Minister Justin Trudeau important voter support in a major province, but insiders say failure to act decisively to boost energy exports might hurt his chances to win re-election in 2019.

Trudeau's Liberal government said it will buy Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd's Trans Mountain pipeline for C$4.5 billion ($3.5 billion) in hopes of saving a project that faces major political and environmental opposition.

"I think this could end up being the biggest gamble of his mandate," said pollster Nik Nanos, noting Trudeau came to power in late 2015 promising to do more for the environment.

"This is a very risky political move in terms of the prime minister's personal brand and the brand of the Liberal party, but weighed against the needs of the economy, the Liberals probably see this as a necessary move."

Liberal insiders hope the move will help dispel criticism that Trudeau dithers on big issues, ditching some campaign promises and consulting endlessly on others with little actual achievement after three years in office.

Party operatives dispute that Trudeau has frittered away his time in power but they concede the accusations of inaction are taking a toll.

The main opposition Conservative party is becoming more competitive in polls, and even took the lead in one Nanos Research survey released on Tuesday, which showed Conservatives at 36 percent public support and the Liberals at 33 percent.

"It is better in this case to take action - even if it turns out to be the wrong choice - than do nothing," said a well-placed Liberal source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.

Trans Mountain runs from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific province of British Columbia, and a planned expansion is a centerpiece of Trudeau's energy policy and key to helping meet carbon emission agreements.

Opposition is fierce in British Columbia, where the Liberals won an unexpectedly large number of seats in 2015, yet Trudeau says the expansion must go ahead so exporters can ship oil to global markets.

Senior Liberals play down the chances of a political massacre in the 2019 election, noting recent polls show a slim majority of people in British Columbia back the pipeline.

The pipeline's biggest supporters are in western provinces like Alberta where Liberals traditionally do poorly.

The government has "staked so much on this that if they don't come out with a deal of some sort, that will be highly problematic for them politically," said Monica Gattinger, director of the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa.

The Liberals, who promise to balance the needs of the natural resources industry with the environment, blocked one proposed pipeline to the Pacific coast in 2016. The proponents behind a similar line to the Atlantic pulled out in 2017 after the national energy regulator imposed more conditions. (Additional reporting by Leah Schnurr in Ottawa; Editing by David Gregorio)
* SSEC -0.6 pct, CSI300 -0.6 pct, HSI -0.6 pct

* HK->Shanghai Connect daily quota used 0.3 pct, Shanghai->HK daily quota used 0.1 pct

* FTSE China A50 -0.9 pct, BNY Mellon ADR China Select Index +0.9 pct

SHANGHAI, May 29 (Reuters) - China and Hong Kong stocks fell on Tuesday, as investors were concerned about credit risks amid more bond defaults, while traders took a grim view on the prospect of fresh elections in Italy.

** The CSI300 index fell 0.6 percent to 3,809.42 points at the end of the morning session, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.6 percent to 3,116.59 points.

** The Hang Seng index dropped 0.6 percent to 30,601.31 points, while the Hong Kong China Enterprises Index slipped 1.0 percent to 11,996.23.

** China Energy Reserve & Chemicals Group Co (CERCG) said it failed to repay a $350 million bond that matured earlier this month due to a "tightening in credit conditions", the latest Chinese company to default amid a crackdown on financial risk.

** It is the latest in a wave of corporate debt defaults amid a broad government-led campaign to crack down on risky financing, and follows a reminder from China's securities regulator that exchanges should monitor default risks.

** "Before any changes in (Beijing's) policies, credit risks will continue to spread and more companies will face bond insurance failure or bond defaults, which in turn will continue to dampen risk appetite," Xu Biao, chief analyst, TF Securities, wrote in a note.

* For the moment, the core concern for China's market is the liquidity problem that could be triggered by credit risks, Xu added.

** The political situation in Italy also added to pressure on sentiment, as investors feared Italy's election campaign could focus on the country's continued membership of European institutions and strengthen populist parties' hand.

** On the mainland, most sectors lost ground, led by real estate firms , whose index tumbled 3.7 percent, with Future Land hitting a five-month low as the developer flagged lawsuit risks for its unit.

** Market participants were on the defensive as they sought shelter in consumer and healthcare firms.

** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.44 percent, while Japan's Nikkei index fell 0.83 percent.

** The yuan was quoted at 6.4124 per U.S. dollar, 0.24 percent weaker than the previous close of 6.3969.

** The largest percentage gainers in the main Shanghai Composite index were Henan Taloph Pharmaceutical Stock Co Ltd up 10.1 percent, followed by Ningbo Marine Co Ltd gaining 10.05 percent and Shanghai Golden Bridge Info Tech Co Ltd up by 10.03 percent.

** The largest percentage losses in the Shanghai index were Hainan Haiqi Transportation Group Co Ltd down 9.73 percent, followed by GuangDong GenSho Logistics Co Ltd losing 9.54 percent and Guangdong Dcenti Auto-Parts Stock Ltd Co down by 9.22 percent.

* The top gainers among H-shares were China Gas Holdings Ltd up 2.25 percent, followed by Hengan International Group Company Ltd gaining 2 percent and China Shenhua Energy Co Ltd up by 0.75 percent.

** The three biggest H-shares percentage decliners were China Vanke Co Ltd , which dropped 2.39 percent, New China Life Insurance Co Ltd which slipped 2.2 percent and Anhui Conch Cement Co Ltd down by 2.2 percent.

** About 6.97 billion shares have traded so far on the Shanghai exchange, roughly 50.5 percent of the market's 30-day moving average of 13.79 billion shares a day. The volume traded was 12.88 billion as of the last full trading day.

** As of 04:05 GMT, China's A-shares were trading at a premium of 18.89 percent over the Hong Kong-listed H-shares.

(Reporting by Luoyan Liu and John Ruwitch, Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)
* Harbor Energy pursued Santos for a year, raising bid 5 times

* Discussions cordial but Santos unyielding on seeking big premium

* Santos balked at hedging requirements for debt-heavy deal

MELBOURNE, May 29 (Reuters) - Blame it on Trump, Iran or Venezuela. Rising oil prices combined with a heavy debt load killed the world's biggest private equity oil and gas industry deal last week.

Harbor Energy left Australia empty-handed after a year of chasing gas producer Santos Ltd, missing out on Santos' stakes in three liquefied natural gas projects in Australia and Papua New Guinea as it sought to become a major LNG player.

The U.S. firm, backed by EIG Global Energy Partners, was forced to bid against itself five times, including twice over one weekend, until it made a final offer of $10.8 billion, up more than 50 percent from its first approach last August.

"The grievance runs deep and it's heartfelt," said a person in the Harbour camp.

Harbor Chief Executive Linda Cook, a former senior executive at Royal Dutch Shell, was on a plane last Tuesday when she heard Santos had rejected its sixth offer, worth about A$6.95 a share. She declined to comment for this story.

Harbor's disappointed chairman, Blair Thomas, was already back in Washington, DC, and didn't mince words.

"There was insufficient engagement with Santos on valuation, no meaningful attempt by Santos to discuss a realistic price which could supported by any reasonable set of technical and commercial assumptions, and an unwillingness by their Board to explore means of closing the gap between the offer and their expectations," he said in a two-page statement.

Thomas believed by the end of a weekend of back and forth between advisers on both sides that he had a deal with Santos Chairman Keith Spence, a person in the Harbour camp said.

Harbor's team were parked in Sydney, where Harbour's backer EIG has an office and advisers at JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley and Highbury are based, according to people involved. "A couple of hundred" people were involved in analyzing data and conducting due diligence, they said.

Cook and Thomas met Kevin Gallagher and Keith Spence, their counterparts at Adelaide-based Santos, on May 18. They felt encouraged the board would facilitate an offer going to shareholders, people in the Harbour camp said.

People on both sides said talks were cordial the whole time, but the Santos board was firm on value, and Harbour failed to offer enough of a premium as oil prices marched higher.

Crude prices climbed from around $52 a barrel when Harbour made its first approach in August to $80 last week, their highest since late 2014, as U.S. President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Venezuela and pulled out of a nuclear arms control deal with Iran, both key oil producers.

What hurt Harbour was the $7.75 billion in debt they had lined up from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley, which required oil price hedging against 30 percent of Santos' oil-linked LNG sales, making the deal complex, Santos, investors and bankers said.

"The problem is when you get high-leverage deals there are a lot of terms and conditions you have to meet and it makes it inflexible," said a veteran Australian investment banker not involved in the bid.

Santos balked when Harbour tried to force the company to lock in the hedges, in order to cut costs for the banks and allow Harbour to raise its offer.

Santos said it was "resilient" to the oil price fall, as it has slashed costs to be cash flow breakeven at $36 a barrel.

The value of the Harbour bid was "simply not compelling enough" compared with Santos' own growth plan, the risks associated with the hedging and the reliance on Santos' balance sheet to help fund the deal, a Santos spokeswoman said.

FURIOUS CHINESE

Not only was Harbour jilted at the altar, but the biggest shareholders in Santos, Chinese gas distributor ENN Ecological and private equity firm Hony Capital missed out on more than doubling their combined stake to up to 40 percent in a privatized Santos.

Sources said ENN and Hony were as furious as Harbour.

"They're deeply disappointed and angry and frustrated," a person close to ENN said. "They feel that the outcome didn't reflect some of the conversations with senior Santos people."

However in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange last week, ENN, which has a director on the board of Santos, said: "The company's future cooperation with Santos is not affected."

A Santos spokeswoman said ENN is part of a united Santos board, and the company's strategic relationship with ENN and Hony remains in place.

Hony said it "will closely follow the further development."

Swiss energy and commodities trader Mercuria, which was set to contribute 10 percent of the bid, was thwarted in its ambition to use Santos to get into LNG trading, where its rivals Glencore, Gunvor, Trafigura and Vitol are already active.

"A lot of time and money went into this...so it is annoying," said a person familiar with Mercuria's thinking.

Mecuria declined to comment.

Harbor's first approach last August was swiftly rejected by the board under then-chairman Peter Coates, who had also rebuffed a $5.1 billion takeover offer two years earlier when Santos was wallowing in debt as oil prices collapsed.

The August approach was only disclosed by Santos in November after a newspaper outed Harbour. It took Harbour until March to line up funding from JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley and equity from Mercuria, ENN and Hony in order to make another approach.

Top 10 shareholder Argo Investments said the deal was too complex and would have involved Santos taking on too much risk when there was a lot of uncertainty around whether it would be approved.

Shareholders have faith in CEO Gallagher, who slashed costs and cut debt faster than expected over the past two years.

"It's fair to say that he's done a pretty good job," said Argo Investments Managing Director Jason Beddow.

"The proof will be in the pudding as to how Santos looks in a year or two's time - which is somewhat dependent on the oil price." (Reporting by Sonali Paul. Additional reporting by Julia Payne and Ron Bousso in London. Editing by Lincoln Feast.)
NEW DELHI, May 29 (Reuters) - Two Indian banks have asked exporters to complete their financial transactions with Iran by August in response to the threat of new U.S. sanctions, according to the country's main exporters' organization and bank letters seen by Reuters.

U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this month pulled out of the 2015 nuclear accord with Iran and ordered the reimposition of U.S. sanctions.

India and Iran have long-standing political and commercial ties, but New Delhi has been careful to not fall foul of U.S. sanctions on Iran.

The Federation of Indian Exporters Organisation (FIEO) said IndusInd and UCO, the two banks facilitating exports to Iran, had set August 6. as the deadline for winding up deals.

"IndusInd and UCO bank are telling exporters that you complete all Iran business by August 6," Ajay Sahai, director general of FIEO, told Reuters.

Indian exporters mostly receive payments in rupees for exports to Iran, under a mechanism devised in 2012 when banking channels were restricted due to the U.S. sanctions.

India, Iran's top oil customer after China, had implemented a barter-like scheme that allowed it to make some oil payments to Tehran in rupees through UCO Bank.

IndusInd Bank in a May 24 letter, seen by Reuters, asked Indian exporters to provide a declaration from customers that the entire export LC (letter of credit) transaction would be completed before August 6, 2018.

An Indian exporter executing Iranian orders worth 90 million rupees said he was worried because he would get some payments in the second half of August.

"How does an exporter feel safe? I don't know whether I will get my money or not," said the exporter, who did not wish to be identified. He said payment for an Iranian export order normally takes between one to one-and-a-half months.

Indian companies receive payments for exports to Iran using the oil payments held in rupee balances at UCO.

The mechanism helped India to narrow its trade deficit with Iran from about $11.3 billion in 2011/12 to about $3.5 billion in 2015/16, when the Iran sanctions were lifted.

In the fiscal year to March 2017, India's trade deficit with Iran widened to $8.24 billion, according to the government data.

UCO Bank told the exporter mentioned above that payment would be made only if the Iran account had enough money.

"Payments will also be subjected to any trade restrictions/currency restrictions being put in place by U.S.A. post 08-05-2018 and as per the Government of India guidelines on the date of claim," UCO said in its letter to the exporter dated May 29, which was seen by Reuters.

UCO Bank chairman R. K. Takkar told Reuters his bank was continuing with the rupee mechanism. He refused to elaborate on the letter issued by his bank, and said Iran had 18 billion rupees in its account with UCO.

(Reporting by Nidhi Verma; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani. Editing by Jane Merriman)
Morris, BAT lobbying@

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI, May 29 (Reuters) - Philip Morris International Inc and British American Tobacco Plc lobbied Pakistan's government to not implement bigger health warnings on cigarette packs, in what officials say was part of an industry-wide campaign that successfully persuaded Islamabad to water down a proposal designed to save lives.

In Pakistan, where the government estimates tobacco kills more than 100,000 people a year, Philip Morris launched a lobbying campaign that included letters to and a meeting with the country's prime minister on blocking larger health warnings and controlling illicit trade of cigarettes. Reuters reviewed two https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4486899-Oct-19-2017-Philip-Morris-Letter - t o - P a k i s t a n - P M . h t m l such letters written by Philip Morris executives https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4486740-Oct-2-2017-Philip-Morris-Letter- t o - P a k i s t a n - P M . h t m l to the Prime Minister's Office in 2017, and internal company documents describing a meeting in 2015 at which executives discussed "protecting the pack" https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4486739-2015-Philip-Morris-Conference-Sc h e d u l e . h t m l in Pakistan.

British American Tobacco, through its local subsidiary, also lobbied Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi with a letter and met Pakistani officials, according to government documents and a review of the October 2017 correspondence https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4486895-Oct-2017-Pakistan-Tobacco-Compan y - L e t t e r - t o . h t m l .

Two current, and one former, health officials said their ministry watered down a requirement to increase the size of health warnings to 85 percent of the surface area due to industry lobbying. One of the current officials also cited pressure from Abbasi's office.

An official at the Federal Board of Revenue said the government took a sympathetic view towards tobacco industry lobbying because of the sector's hefty contributions to the nation's finances - more than $550 million in excise taxes during the 2016-17 fiscal year alone.

Instead of 85 percent, the new rule, which comes into effect on June 1, requires warnings that cover 50 percent of the pack - up from 40 percent now - rising to 60 percent in a year's time.

In a response to Reuters' questions, Philip Morris sent a statement from Moira Gilchrist, its vice president of scientific and public communications. "Like any global company, PMI regularly speaks with governments all over the world on a wide range of subjects, including our efforts to replace cigarettes with smoke-free products," Gilchrist said, referring to next-generation smoking devices that the company says significantly reduce the risk of disease by heating instead of burning tobacco.

A spokesperson for British American Tobacco (BAT) said in a statement: "like many companies, as part of our open and transparent engagement with governments, we regularly consult a wide range of representatives in health, trade, revenue, customs, agriculture and other relevant areas on a range of issues that affect our business. It's important that any legitimate business should be able to engage with regulators, and contribute to the development of policy that impacts it."

EXTENSIVE LOBBYING

A Pakistan government survey in 2014 found some 24 million adults, or 19 percent of the population 15 years and older, used tobacco. Of those, 15.6 million were smokers.

In February 2015, Pakistan's health ministry announced it was changing an ordinance to increase health warnings on the front and back of cigarette packs to 85 percent. The graphic photographs currently on packs depict the effects of smoking, such as a close-up image of a person's mouth ravaged by tobacco use.

The initiative by Health Minister Saira Afzal Tarar was aimed at deterring tobacco use and would have put Pakistan, alongside India, near the top of global rankings for the size of such warnings, according to the Canadian Cancer Society.

The health ministry notification said the new warnings needed to be applied by March 30 that year.

On March 13, a delegation from a subsidiary of British American Tobacco, Pakistan Tobacco Company Ltd, called on the country's then-finance minister and "expressed its reservations about the notification issued" by the health ministry, according to government minutes of the meeting.

The tobacco representatives argued that the bigger health warning would lead to more smuggling of black market cigarettes and a "decrease in revenue", according to the minutes, which were reviewed by Reuters.

The industry argues https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4486737-2013-Excessive-Health-Warnings-T o o l k i t . h t m l that cigarette packs become indistinguishable by brand or promised quality when the packaging is covered by disturbing images. As a result, it says, consumers are incentivized to turn to alternatives without the graphic pictures. Health advocates say warnings on packs reduce tobacco consumption.

The BAT statement to Reuters said: "We agree that all tobacco product packaging should feature appropriate health warnings which are bold, easily legible and ensure clarity of message."

However, the statement said: "Evidence suggests that drastic and large increases in the size" of health warnings "can result in a number of unintended consequences, including a rise in illegal cigarettes with a corresponding decline in government revenues - and a rise in criminality. Additionally, there is still no credible evidence that graphic health warnings reduce smoking levels."

"SOFT CORNERS" FOR TOBACCO

Within a day of hearing from BAT, Pakistan's then-finance minister, Ishaq Dar, formed a review committee that was to examine the issue and present a report within seven days, according to the government document.

Dar told Reuters that the government's decisions were not influenced by Philip Morris or BAT.

Asked about the convening of the review committee, he said it was formed to ensure consultation between ministries on the issue, a move he described as "a fundamental requirement of good policy-making".

When provided with a copy of the government minutes showing the committee was put together just after his meeting with BAT, Dar responded that Reuters should contact the finance ministry for further comment, as he no longer held the portfolio. Requests for comment to the finance ministry were unanswered.

On March 27, as the review committee began deliberating, the health ministry issued a notification postponing the implementation date for the new 85 percent health warnings by two months.

During an interview with Reuters at her office, Health Minister Tarar said the tobacco industry was one of the biggest taxpayers in the country and so the finance ministry and the federal revenue board "definitely" have "some soft corners for them".

When Reuters relayed that characterization to Dar, the former finance minister replied: "This is not true."

Health Minister Tarar said that in some of the meetings she had attended during that time, it was not easy to convince finance and revenue officials that people were dying because of smoking. She did not identify specific individuals.

Dar, the former finance minister, denied that his ministry's officials had challenged the link between smoking and mortality.

Muhammad Iqbal, a senior official at the country's Federal Board of Revenue, told Reuters that his agency "has no role in the matter of health warnings to be printed on cigarette packs. It is up to Ministry of Health to make regulations on this issue."

Still, Tarar defended the eventual outcome, telling Reuters the ministry had "stood firm" and that the increase in the size of health warnings to 50, and ultimately 60 percent, was significant. "We have undone the status quo," she said.

As BAT's Pakistan Tobacco Company launched its lobbying effort, Philip Morris also sprang into action: two internal documents related to an Asia corporate affairs meeting in Indonesia in 2015 said the company had devised a "campaign to roll-back" the stringent tobacco pack rules in Pakistan. It did not go into details.

When the government's inter-ministerial committee started to deliberate the health warning rules in 2015, Philip Morris and BAT representatives attended at least two of its meetings as industry stakeholders, according to records reviewed by Reuters.

During one meeting, a Philip Morris executive said the warning size was "too high", according to a record of the meeting held in May 2015, which was chaired by Health Minister Tarar.

In addition to Philip Morris and BAT, a constellation of smaller tobacco companies, growers and industry associations joined the lobbying effort, according to government records.

The panel's subsequent recommendation to roll back the increase in the size of health warnings, to 50 percent and then 60 percent instead of 85 percent, was sent to the finance ministry for approval in August 2015.

APPEAL TO PRIME MINISTER

The health ministry continued issuing successive notices pushing back the start date of the 85 percent requirement, which had been published in the nation's official gazette but never implemented.

Then, last October, Philip Morris International's global vice president for corporate affairs, Jon Huenemann, wrote to Prime Minister Abbasi https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4486740-Oct-2-2017-Philip-Morris-Letter- t o - P a k i s t a n - P M . h t m l asking him to nudge the health ministry to formally change its rules.

"We would kindly request your near term intervention to direct the concerned officials to enforce the steps mentioned in the IMC recommendation," Huenemann wrote in the letter dated Oct. 2, referring to the inter-ministerial committee set up by the finance ministry.

BAT's unit, Pakistan Tobacco Company, whose brands include John Player Gold Leaf and Benson & Hedges, made the same specific request to the prime minister on Oct. 18, according to a copy of the company letter.

In his letter, Philip Morris' Huenemann reminded Abbasi that the prime minister had spoken with his colleague the previous month at a meeting of the U.S.-Pakistan Business Council in New York.

Prime Minister Abbasi's office did not reply to questions sent by Reuters.

Huenemann mentioned, also, that he had personally met twice with the previous Pakistani prime minister, Nawaz Sharif, to discuss the issue of illegal cigarette manufacturing.

A request for comment to a representative of Sharif, along with officials from his political party, was not answered.

Huenemann did not respond to an e-mail sent to his company account. Philip Morris, maker of Marlboro cigarettes and local brands such as Morven Gold, said the existence of the letter had previously been reported in Pakistani media, but made no other comment.

BAT said in a statement about the letter that, "regarding the use of the words 'advise' and 'instruct' in this letter, it is customary for the Prime Minister to use such language when addressing government departments, and as such, it is equally customary for businesses and other external stakeholders to use similar language when they are writing to the Prime Minister."

According to a government office memo, the prime minister's office forwarded letters from Philip Morris and BAT to the health ministry two days later. Within two months, the health ministry issued a notification for smaller warnings.

(Additional reporting by Drazen Jorgic in Islamabad; Editing by Alex Richardson)
LILONGWE, May 29 (Reuters) - Malawi's domestic debt is likely to more than quadruple in the next financial year as the government tries to cover falling public revenues, the finance minister said on Tuesday.

Goodall Gondwe told parliament the government planned to borrow 176 billion kwacha ($246 million) in the financial year starting in July, up from 30.7 billion kwacha in 2017/18.

Government revenues have been hit by a 45 billion kwacha bailout of state-run Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation, as well as low revenue collection and the failure to receive 55 billion kwacha in grants from donors, he said. Western donors have suspended aid to Malawi over graft allegations.

"We need to increase revenue collection and control expenditure so that our debt does not become unsustainable," Gondwe told Reuters.

However, he said current debt levels were still manageable with external debt at 23 percent of GDP against the 30 percent recommended for low-income countries.

"We plan to borrow from commercial banks and also the central bank will issue Treasury bills for the same purpose," Gondwe said.

Treasury data shows that as of last December, Malawi's public debt stood at 2.4 trillion kwacha, made up of 1.4 trillion kwacha in external debt and 1.2 trillion in domestic debt. ($1 = 716.8200 kwacha) (Reporting by Mabvuto Banda Editing by James Macharia and Susan Fenton)
overhaul@

* Australia has world's third-largest pool of pension assets

* Govt adviser recommends pension system overhaul

SYDNEY, May 29 (Reuters) - Fund managers who perform poorly should be locked out of Australia's A$2.6 trillion ($1.96 trillion) pension industry, the government's peak economic advisory body has recommended.

The Productivity Commission said in a report on Tuesday that a shortlist of up to 10 strong-performing pension products, chosen by an independent panel, should be presented to workers from which to choose when they enter the workforce.

If adopted, the Commission's model would replace a system whereby the employer chooses a fund for any worker who does not nominate a preference, regardless of the product's performance, fee structure or insurance arrangements.

"Most (fund) members are in funds that deliver good investment returns, but millions of members are in funds that persistently underperform over one in four funds," said Karen Chester, the Commission's deputy chair.

"Over an average member's working life, being stuck in a poor performing default fund can leave them with almost 40 per cent less to spend in retirement."

Becoming an employer's nominated fund, known as a default fund, is big business. Australia boasts the third-largest pool of retirement savings in the world, according to OECD data.,

The industry enjoys billions of dollars of guaranteed inflows a year, underpinned by a mandatory system where almost one-tenth of a worker's wage is deposited into a pension fund, known locally as a superannuation or "super" fund to be accessed at retirement.

About 60 percent of those inflows go to default funds, according to Jeff Bresnahan, chairman at research house SuperRatings, because most workers don't actively research and choose their own fund.

"There will be some funds that have underperformed for some time and are still getting strong flows," Bresnahan said.

He noted, however, that the Commission's proposal might not be workable, given it would be difficult to choose the "best 10" products when performance can be cyclical, and funds must also be measured on their fee structures and life insurance arrangements.

The Productivity Commission will hold public hearings next month before finalising the recommendations it sends to the government for possible implementation.

Pension assets totalled A$2.6 trillion at the end of the December 2017 quarter, according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia.

Last year, the asset pool grew in size by 10.1 per cent, driven by investment returns and new contributions.

Any move to change the default fund system would likely ignite a new battle between commercial, or retail, funds and the countrys union-backed industry funds.

Industry funds have historically dominated the default market, locking in agreements with some of Australias biggest sectors, including manufacturing and education.

Commercial funds, run by the major banks and wealth managers, have lobbied the centre-right federal government for better access to employers to directly negotiate default arrangements.

($1 = 1.3286 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Jonathan Barrett in Sydney Editing by Eric Meijer)
BRUSSELS, May 29 (Reuters) - Senior European Union officials called for discretion from their colleagues on Tuesday over political turmoil in Italy after Germany's EU commissioner said Italians should not vote for the country's leading parties.

The uproar highlighted how a possible new government run by the anti-establishment League and 5-Star movement has raised new fears that the third-biggest economy in the euro zone could quit the single currency, jeopardising the entire project.

But it also fuelled an anti-Brussels and anti-German narrative in Italy, which could benefit both parties in an election expected within the next few months. 5-Star called for Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger to resign.

"My worry, my expectation, is that the coming weeks will show that the markets, government bonds, Italy's economy, could be so badly hit that these could send a signal to voters not to elect populists from the left or right," Oettinger had told Deutsche Welle television in an interview.

Saying markets had already been hit by efforts to form an anti-establishment ruling coalition, Oettinger added: "This was linked to the possible formation of a government. I can only hope that this plays a role in the election campaign by being a signal not to hand governing responsibilities to the populists."

At the weekend, 5-Star and the League were thwarted in naming a finance minister who has opposed Italy's use of the euro. The head of state then named a technocrat premier on Monday to prepare for new elections following an inconclusive vote in March. Opinion polls put the two parties in the lead.

The European Commission's chief spokesman called Oettinger's remarks "unwise" and insisted that the EU executive was not trying to influence the Italian elections. "It is the Italians and nobody but the Italians who will decide the future of their country. Nobody else," Margaritis Schinas told reporters.

Donald Tusk, the former Polish prime minister who chairs the European Council, the separate EU body which groups national leaders, was blunt in chiding the executive Commission: "My appeal to all EU institutions: please respect the voters," he tweeted. "We are there to serve them, not to lecture them."

Though less frank than Oettinger, other senior EU officials have, in public and private, suggested that pressure from investors who fear Italy could over-extend its public finances is the strongest element in curbing new borrowing by parties who promise higher spending and lower taxes.

Oettinger, 64, a former premier of the wealthy southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, is from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. He has a record of plain-speaking, and of gaffes. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has reprimanded him in the past over heavy attempts at humour that involved slights on gays and the Chinese. (Reporting by Alastair Macdonald Editing by David Holmes)
(Recasts, updates prices; adds comment, NEW YORK dateline)

NEW YORK/LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) - New York cocoa futures on ICE extended losses to reach a seven-week low on Tuesday, pressured by rising weekly arrival estimates at ports in top grower Ivory Coast, while coffee and sugar prices were little changed.

COCOA

* July New York cocoa settled down $59, or 2.3 percent, at $2,497 per tonne, after tapping a seven-week low at $2,488.

* Prices were pressured by the weak British pound versus the U.S dollar, as well as weekly arrivals at ports in Ivory Coast that exporters estimated above year-ago levels, traders said.

* July London cocoa settled down 29 pounds, or 1.6 percent, at 1,815 pounds per tonne.

COFFEE

* July arabica coffee settled down 0.15 cent, or 0.1 percent, at $1.2025 per lb.

* Dealers said another drop in the Brazilian real had inspired producer hedging, since the weaker currency improves local returns on dollar-traded commodities.

* Meanwhile, last week's speculative buying - partly inspired by a truckers' strike in Brazil - had largely petered out, they said.

* "There's a big Brazil crop coming, so that's going to weigh on the market," one dealer said. "And the industry is not rushing to buy right now."

* July robusta coffee settled down $11, or 0.6 percent, at $1,741 per tonne.

SUGAR

* July raw sugar closed flat at 12.46 cents per lb.

* The lackluster session came after data showed on Friday that speculators had slashed their bearish bets as prices rallied.

* Focus remained on the truckers' strike in Brazil, which helped to lift prices to two-month highs last week and could threaten to disrupt output from Brazil, the world's biggest producer of sugar.

* Industry group UNICA predicted on Monday that all mills in the key state of Sao Paulo would grind to a halt in 24 hours as effects of the protests continued, even though a truckers' association said it had told drivers to return to work.

* "The market seems to be taking it in stride as they know the cane is still in the fields and will be harvested," said Michael McDougall, senior vice president of sales for ED&F Man Capital Markets.

* August white sugar settled down $1.30, or 0.4 percent, at $350.10 per tonne.

* The International Sugar Organization forecast a global sugar surplus of 10.51 million tonnes in 2017-2018 (October-September). (Reporting by Marcy Nicholson in New York and Ana Ionova in London; Editing by David Evans and Paul Simao)
DUBAI, May 29 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has banned imports of fresh vegetables and fruits from the Indian state of Kerala after an outbreak of the Nipah virus (NiV) there, the Gulf state's ministry of environment said on Tuesday.

It has also banned imports of live animals from South Africa, based on a notification from the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) of the registration of Rift Valley Fever disease, the statement said. (Reporting by Alexander Cornwell; Writing by Aziz El aakoubi; Editing by Mark Potter)
buyers -sources@

* Producers offer Q3 premiums of $159/T, $160/T, vs $129/T in Q2

* The offer, if accepted, will mark the highest in over 3 years

* Offers reflect firmer U.S. premiums amid U.S. sanction on Rusal (Adds comments and details)

TOKYO, May 29 (Reuters) - Two global aluminium producers have offered Japanese buyers a premium of $159-160 per tonne for primary metal shipments for the July-September quarter, up 23-24 percent from the current quarter, four sources directly involved in pricing talks said.

Japan is Asia's biggest aluminium importer and the premiums for primary metal shipments it agrees to pay each quarter over the London Metal Exchange (LME) cash price set the benchmark for the region.

The premium, if accepted, would be the highest in over three years and the third straight quarterly rise, reflecting premiums in the United States that have surged amid the country's tariffs on aluminium imports and sanctions on Rusal - the world's No.2 producer of the metal.

"We have received an offer at $159 per tonne from one producer and at $160 from another supplier late on Monday," a source at a trading house said on Tuesday.

"The producers claimed firmer U.S. spot premiums and tighter supplies due to U.S. sanction on Rusal as the reasons for their stronger offers, but we are not feeling physical tightness in Asia at least for now," another source at a fabricator said.

For the quarter ending June, Japanese buyers agreed to pay a premium of $129 , up 25 percent from the prior quarter to reflect the spike in U.S. spot premiums.

Spot premiums in the United States have more than doubled so far this year, underpinned by a 10 percent tariff on aluminium imports to counter what U.S. President Donald Trump has described as unfair international competition.

The United States' move in April to impose sanctions on Rusal, preventing customers with U.S. exposure from continuing to buy metal from the company, fanned further supply worries and drove up benchmark London prices to their highest in almost seven years.

But Rusal resumed shipping aluminium to some customers earlier this month following an extension of the deadline for companies to wind down contracts under the U.S. sanctions, sources told Reuters last week.

Given the uncertainty about global metal supply, all the sources said they expect "more difficult negotiations than usual" between Japanese buyers and producers.

The latest quarterly pricing negotiations began this week between Japanese buyers and smelters, including Rio Tinto Ltd , Rusal, South32 Ltd and Alcoa Corp and are expected to continue through next month. (Reporting by Yuka Obayashi; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
* Main investors include GIC, Temasek, Warburg Pincus

* Also issuing around 7 bln yuan in new shares

* Fundraising comes ahead of expected IPO (Adds more investors, yuan fundraising, IPO prospect)

HONG KONG, May 29 (Reuters) - Ant Financial Services Group, operator of China's biggest online payment platform by market share, Alipay, has closed its latest funding round having raised $10 billion from a clutch of global and local investors, five people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Ant's first fundraising targeting global money values the firm at $150 billion, the people said, compared with about $60 billion after its previous fundraising in April 2016.

A number of global sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms joined the fundraising as main investors. They include Singapore's sovereign fund GIC Pte Ltd and state investor Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd, as well as U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC, the people said.

Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd has also joined as a major investor, one of the people said.

The funding round also brought in private equity firm Carlyle Group LP and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, which typically invests in early-stage start-ups, three of the people said.

The amount and investor line-up are finalized and the transfer of funds is underway, the people said.

The funding round includes a separate tranche of around 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in new shares which has not been finalized, two of the people said.

The people spoke to Reuters on condition they not be identified as the deal details are not yet public.

Ant, controlled by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd founder Jack Ma, declined to comment. Carlyle, Temasek and Warburg declined to comment. Khanazah, GIC and Sequoia Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The capital-raising comes ahead of a widely expected initial public offering (IPO), though Ant has neither publicly set a timetable nor chosen a likely stock exchange.

A $150 billion valuation would make Ant's IPO one of the biggest ever - comparing to the $104 billion of Facebook Inc six years ago and Alibaba's $168 billion in 2014.

A fundraising document seen by Reuters showed Ant planned to list both in China and Hong Kong in 2019, and its investors joining the latest fundraising could expect to exit within one to three years. Ant declined to comment on the document.

Strong demand from investors looking to position themselves ahead of Ant's potential IPO has resulted in a much higher amount than an initial target of up to $5 billion, which Reuters earlier reported.

Four-year-old Ant, which was spun off from Alibaba when the group went public in New York, has diversified over the years into credit services, asset management and online banking, besides owning the Alipay payment platform.

After becoming a dominant in payments in China, the company has also invested in a number of internet-based startups including Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo, food delivery app operator Ele.me and Indian payment company PayTM.

The firm counts China's sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp, state lender China Construction Bank Corp , the country's National Social Security Fund and big state insurers, among others, as investors from previous funding rounds.

($1 = 6.3971 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Kane Wu; Additional reporting by Julie Zhu and Liz Lee; Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
* Ningbo Jifeng offers 61.25 eur per Grammer share

* Grammer shares rise 20.4 pct to 61.75 eur apiece

* Ningbo Jifeng offers 7.5 yrs job guarantee - sources (Recasts, adds shares, context, analyst)

SHANGHAI/MUNICH, May 29 (Reuters) - Auto supplier Ningbo Jifeng Auto Parts has made an approach to buy German rival Grammer at a time when Chinese takeovers face increased scrutiny from German and European authorities eager to protect domestic know-how.

Ningbo's indicative offer, disclosed early on Tuesday, values Grammer at around 772 million euros ($893 million), including dividends, and sent Grammer shares up 20.4 percent to 61.75 euros, above the Ningbo offer price of 61.25 per share.

The offer may result in a voluntary public takeover offer, and will test Germany's willingness to tolerate Chinese takeovers, following an unsolicited approach by Geely chairman Li Shufu to secure a $9 billion stake in Daimler .

Ningbo's offer comes as European lawmakers finalize a European proposal for greater scrutiny of investments made with state influence or aimed at transferring key technologies to a third country, a clear reference to some Chinese state-led firms that have bought European rivals.

It also comes less than a week after German Chancellor Angela Merkel, during a trip to China, called on the world's No.2 economy to open up key industries to outside markets, demanding greater reciprocity between both regions when it comes to takeovers and market access to technologies.

Grammer on Tuesday said that Ningbo Jifeng, already a major shareholder, was in "advanced negotiations" with the firm, adding it was uncertain whether negotiations would be concluded successfully and a takeover offer would be launched.

The German company added it was "assessing strategic options in the best interest of the company."

Sources familiar with the matter said that Ningbo Jifeng is offering to guarantee jobs at Grammer for 7-1/2 years as part of the proposed transaction, adding the Chinese group was currently not aiming for a domination agreement.

Ningbo Jifeng raised its stake in Grammer in October last year to 25.51 percent. Sources told Reuters around that time the Chinese firm wanted to increase its stake amid a power struggle with a rival shareholder, Bosnia's Hastor family.

Grammer's management has generally welcomed the attention of Ningbo Jifeng, another supplier of vehicle interior components, as a potential "white knight" in its conflict with Hastor.

"We would view such a bid as positive as it offers the Hastor group a good opportunity to exit," DZ Bank analyst Michael Punzet wrote in a note, keeping a "hold" rating on the stock. ($1 = 0.8644 euros) (Additional reporting by Christoph Steitz and Edward Taylor; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Alexandra Hudson)
(Adds Juncker, Moscovici, detail)

BRUSSELS, May 29 (Reuters) - Top European Union officials reassured Italy on Tuesday they would respect the right of its voters to choose their own government, after Germany's European commissioner said people should not vote for the country's leading parties.

The uproar highlighted how the possibility of an Italian government run by the anti-establishment League and 5-Star movement has raised new fears that the third-biggest economy in the euro zone would quit the single currency, jeopardising the entire project.

But it also fuelled an anti-Brussels and anti-German reaction in Italy, which could benefit both parties in an election expected within the next few months. 5-Star called for Guenther Oettinger, the German commissioner, to resign.

"My worry, my expectation, is that the coming weeks will show that the markets, government bonds, Italy's economy, could be so badly hit that these could send a signal to voters not to elect populists from the left or right," Oettinger had told Deutsche Welle television in an interview.

"This was linked to the possible formation of a government. I can only hope that this plays a role in the election campaign by being a signal not to hand governing responsibilities to the populists," said Oettinger, who is also the EU's Budget Commissioner.

At the weekend, Italy's president rejected 5-Star and the League's candidate for finance minister, who has opposed Italy's use of the euro. The head of state then named a technocrat premier on Monday to prepare for new elections. Opinion polls put 5-Star and the League in the lead.

The spiralling Italian political crisis provoked a global stock market selloff, caused the euro to fall to an 11-month low and pushed Italy's short-term borrowing costs to their highest since 2013.

FINANCIAL MARKETS

"Italy's fate does not lie in the hands of the financial markets. Regardless of which political party may be in power, Italy is a founding member of the European Union that has contributed immensely to European integration," Jean-Claude Juncker, the head of the EU's executive Commission and Oettinger's boss, said in a statement.

"The Commission is ready to work with Italy with responsibility and mutual respect. Italy deserves respect," he said, adding he was "convinced that Italy will continue on its European path."

His sentiments were echoed by the European Commissioner for Economic Affairs.

"We must respect the rules and rhythms of democracy," Pierre Moscovici said. "Italys destiny must be decided in Italy, not Brussels, even if we have a common heritage: Europe.

"We must find the right solutions together, through dialogue. I have no doubt Italy will remain at the heart of Europe and the euro area."

Juncker's chief spokesman jumped in to call Oettinger's remarks "unwise". And Donald Tusk, the chairman of EU leaders' summits, said, "My appeal to all EU institutions: please respect the voters," Tusk said. "We are there to serve them, not to lecture them."

However, Oettinger was not alone. Other senior EU officials have suggested, in public and private, that the strongest element in curbing new borrowing by parties who promise higher spending and lower taxes is pressure from investors, who fear Italy could over-extend its public finances.

Oettinger, 64, a former premier of the wealthy southwestern state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, is from Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats. He has a record of plain speaking, and of gaffes. Juncker has reprimanded him in the past over attempts at humour that involved slights on gays and the Chinese.

Italy's central bank warned on Tuesday the nation was only "a few short steps" from losing investors' confidence, as financial markets suffered the biggest selloff in years on fears that new elections would become a proxy vote on euro membership .

Sources told Reuters that Italy could go back to polls as soon as July 29. Italy's economy faces high public debt, low productivity and slow growth, which makes investors concerned about the country's ability to repay what it owes. (Additional reporting by Gabriela Baczynska, editing by Larryy King)
deepens@ (Updates throughout)

LONDON, May 29 (Reuters) - A deepening political and constitutional crisis in Italy, the euro zone's third biggest economy, fueled a sharp rise in the country's short-term borrowing costs on Tuesday and renewed selling in the euro and stocks.

Italy's president set the country on a path to fresh elections on Monday, appointing a former International Monetary Fund official as interim prime minister with the task of planning for snap polls and passing the next budget

Concerns that fresh elections could deliver an even stronger mandate for Italy's anti-establishment parties rattled investors, sending two-year Italian bond yields up around 84 basis points, as London markets reopened after a holiday on Monday.

The 5-Star Movement and far-right League have dropped plans to take power and have switched to campaign mode. 5-Star have also called for street protests against President Sergio Mattarella's rejection of their nominee for economy minister, 81-year-old Paolo Savona, who has argued for Italy to quit the euro zone.

"The spectacular rise of 2-year yields in Italy this morning reflects break-up or redenomination fears," said ING senior fixed income strategist Martin van Vliet. "Markets are increasingly concerned about Italy and we are now waiting to see if the European Central Bank says something to calm markets down."

The ECB's bond buying program has provided a powerful backstop to euro zone government debt, although moves in Italian markets in recent days suggest that this buffer may have lost its punch.

Italy's 2-year yield was last up 91 bps at 1.81 percent , having touched its highest since late 2013.

As Italian 10-year bond yields jumped 20 bps to their highest level in almost four years at 2.88 percent, the gap over German Bund yields hit 264 bps - its widest since September 2013.

"It's all driven by (Italian BTP bond) futures, there are little volumes on the cash market. (The sell-off) is linked to worries that the upcoming general election will be a referendum on the euro," said a Milan-based trader.

Another trader said the move was driven by growing worries the League could strengthen its hand in any fresh election.

The cost of insuring exposure to Italian risk in the five-year credit default swaps market rose to a 4-1/2 year high of 225 basis points, a jump of 49 basis points on the day, data from IHS Markit showed.

Italy's main stock index fell to a 9-month low as investors took flight on fears a new election could become a referendum on euro membership.

Shares in Italian banks slumped another 2.4 percent, bruised by the sell-off in sovereign bonds. Italian banks are major holders of the country's sovereign debt.

The euro dropped below the $1.16 line for the first time in 6-1/2 months on Tuesday, down 0.3 percent on the day. Against the franc, it fell by a similar margin at 1.1528 francs per euro.

Spain's bond-yield spread with Germany, pushed out also by political worries in Madrid, was at its widest in seven months at 122 bps.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of confidence in his leadership on Friday as corruption convictions handed down to dozens of people linked to his center-right People's Party threatened his six-year rule.

The political uncertainty in Italy and Spain boosted demand for safe-haven German bonds, with both short and long-dated bond yields in Europe's biggest economy falling to fresh multi-month lows.

Germany's 10-year bond yield dropped briefly to a fresh 2018 low below 0.30 percent and was last down 3 bps at 0.31 percent. Its two-year bond yield tumbled to minus 0.78 percent , its lowest level in more than a year

"Taking any position in Italian debt, long or short is dangerous right now," said David Roberts, Head of Global Fixed Income, Liontrust Asset Management.

(Reporting by Dhara Ranasinghe, Helen Reid and Saikat Chaterjee in London and to Elvira Pollina and Elisa Anzolin in Milan; editing by David Stamp)
(Adds comments from Alberta and British Columbia premiers, pipeline group, share activity)

OTTAWA/WINNIPEG, May 29 (Reuters) - Canada will buy Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd's Trans Mountain pipeline for C$4.5 billion ($3.5 billion), the government said on Tuesday, hoping to save a project that faces formidable political and environmental opposition.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said purchasing the pipeline was the only way to ensure that a planned expansion could proceed. The pipeline, running from Edmonton, Alberta, with its nearby oil sands, to Burnaby, British Columbia, would allow Canadian crude to gain greater access to foreign markets and higher prices.

Kinder Morgan Canada gave Ottawa until May 31 to come up with reassurances it could press ahead with plans to more than double the capacity of the existing pipeline amid efforts by the province of British Columbia to block construction.

"When we are faced with an exceptional situation that puts jobs at risk, that puts our international reputation on the line, our government is prepared to take action," Morneau told reporters.

He said the pipeline purchase provided the federal jurisdiction needed to overcome British Columbia's opposition, but did not say how it could force the province to allow construction.

Although Ottawa has taken stakes in struggling energy projects, Tuesday's announcement marked the first time Ottawa has bought an entire pipeline. It does not intend to own the project for long.

The move drew immediate criticism from both sides of the political spectrum, and could hurt Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's popularity in the key British Columbia battleground in a 2019 federal election.

The decision represents "a massive, unnecessary financial burden on Canadian taxpayers," Canadian Taxpayers Federation Federal Director Aaron Wudrick said.

The government will also offer federal loan guarantees to ensure construction of the expansion continues through the 2018 season as part of the deal with the company, a unit of Houston-based Kinder Morgan Inc.

Morneau sidestepped questions about how Ottawa will deal with opposition from environmentalists and aboriginal groups, who cite the risk of a catastrophic spill.

"It's a mess out there," said a Calgary industry source not authorized to speak publicly. "Given it will be stuck in court for a while, I don't think we will see this pipe built anytime soon."

Morneau said more spending would be needed to complete the expansion, and stressed he felt the project should be returned to the private sector.

Canada's oil sector has been stung in the past year as foreign energy companies retreated amid concerns about the environmental toll, high production costs and a risky regulatory regime.

Kinder Morgan Canada shares dipped 1.7 percent in Toronto after jumping as much as 8.5 percent. The parent's stock rose nearly 2 percent in U.S. trading.

"We have agreed to a fair price for our shareholders," said Steve Kean, chief executive officer of Kinder Morgan Canada and Kinder Morgan Inc.

Kean did not say why he decided to sell rather than absorb the risk of further delays. Kinder Morgan Canada will continue to own the remaining assets, including crude storage, rail terminals and a condensate pipeline, and look to expand, he said.

"I think the transaction is a win-win. It's actually better for Kinder Morgan than it is for Canada. They are getting a very good value," said Paul Bloom at Bloom Investments Counsel Inc, which owns about 300,000 shares in Kinder Morgan Canada.

"British Columbia isn't a part of the deal and while a government buy (out) makes it more likely that the project will go through, it still doesn't guarantee there won't be more protests," he said in an interview.

'CAN'T MESS WITH ALBERTA'

The fact that the federal government needed to buy Trans Mountain to ensure the project goes ahead does not bode well for the industry, said Chris Bloomer, CEO of the Canadian Energy Pipeline Association.

"We do not believe that this outcome will instill investor confidence in Canada."

Trans Mountain stirred an unusual public fight between neighboring provinces. Alberta threatened to halt crude and fuel shipments to British Columbia, where consumers already pay high gasoline prices, and briefly halted imports of the coastal province's wines.

Alberta will contribute up to C$2 billion toward unforeseen costs, payable once the project is complete, Premier Rachel Notley said. The contribution will convert into equity in the pipeline.

They cant mess with Alberta," Notley said of British Columbia's political opposition, in Edmonton, Alberta. "The investors who are behind this pipeline now will not back off."

But British Columbia Premier John Horgan said the province will push ahead with its court case to establish its right to restrict increased shipments of crude oil to its coastal waters.

"I remain concerned that the adverse consequences of a spill are not yet fully understood," Horgan told radio station CKNW. (Additional reporting Leah Schnurr in Toronto, Nicole Mordant in Vancouver and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Writing by Andrea Hopkins, David Ljunggren and Rod Nickel; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)
ABC, which broadcasts Barr's sitcom "Roseanne," canceled the show later Tuesday , citing her tweet, calling it "abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values."

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans," Barr wrote on Twitter. "I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me-my joke was in bad taste."

Actress Roseanne Barr apologized Tuesday for a tweet comparing Valerie Jarrett, a black former senior advisor to President Barack Obama , to an ape.

Here is a screenshot of the tweet taken before it was deleted:

The tweet, which has since been removed from her feed, said: "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," referring to Jarrett.

Critics immediately slammed Barr's remark as racist. Likening black people to apes is an attack commonly used by racists. The Muslim Brotherhood, meanwhile, is an Islamist political group.

In an earlier tweet, the actress appeared to defend her statement. "ISLAM is not a RACE, lefties. Islam includes EVERY RACE of people," she wrote.

ROSEANNE TWEET

She also defended her remark about Jarrett as a joke, in a tweet to a CNN reporter.

JOKE TWEET

The actress also said that she would be leaving Twitter. Her account was still active as of publication.

The sitcom "Roseanne" returned to television this year after an initial run in the 1980s and '90s. Its recent premiere shattered ratings records, although it has faced criticism for racially tinged humor. ABC is owned by Disney.

On Tuesday, consulting producer Wanda Sykes, who is black, announced on Twitter that she would not be returning to the show. She did not provide a reason, and could not immediately be reached by CNBC.

SYKES TWEET

Sara Gilbert, who plays the daughter of Barr's character on the show, said she was "disappointed" in the star and called her comments "abhorrent."

GILBERT TWEET

Barr often makes politically charged and controversial statements on her Twitter feed. She is a supporter of President Donald Trump, who called her to congratulate her for the sitcom revival's high ratings.



"You can't control Roseanne Barr," Ben Sherwood, president of the Disney-ABC Television Group, told The New York Times in March. "Many who have tried have failed. She's the one and only."

A representative for Jarrett declined to comment.
Mariano Rajoy, Spain's prime minister, gestures as he speaks in the senate in Madrid, Spain, on Friday, Oct. 27, 2017.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of confidence in his leadership on Friday as corruption convictions handed down to dozens of people linked to his center-right People's Party (PP) threatened his six-year rule.

Spain's parliament agreed on Monday that the debate and vote would take place on Thursday and Friday, although the opposition Socialists who proposed the vote may struggle to garner enough support in the fragmented legislature to unseat Rajoy.

News of the no-confidence vote helped drive the Spanish government's borrowing costs to 2-1/2 month highs, while the blue-chip stock index, the IBEX, turned lower.

Opposition parties are taking advantage of Rajoy's weakness after 29 people linked to the PP were convicted last Thursday of crimes including influence-peddling and falsifying accounts, in the culmination of a long-running corruption trial.

The PP has closed ranks behind Rajoy, who said on Friday he intended to serve out his four-year term and that the corruption convictions did not affect a single member of his government. The 63-year-old survived a no-confidence vote last June.

"We are deeply sorry that there were people who used the PP for self-enrichment," party spokesman Pablo Casado told a news conference on Monday, adding that the no-confidence vote was irresponsible and put Spain's economic stability at risk.

Spanish borrowing costs relative to Germany's rocketed to their widest differential since the start of the year, though they were also hit by concerns over political uncertainty in Italy.
Students walk on the College of the Ozarks campus.

Many families assume public colleges and universities are far more affordable than private ones. Turns out, that's only partly true. At public, four-year institutions, costs for the 2017-18 school year hit $20,770, according to the College Board. Tuition plus room and board at four-year private universities was much higher: $47,000, on average, in the current academic year. However, some colleges  both public and private  are making a name for themselves by keeping costs way down and giving students an opportunity to get a small-school experience at a reasonable price. Student Loan Hero ranked the most affordable small colleges in the country by comparing the tuition, fees and average student debt at schools with graduating classes of 500 students or fewer. Here are the top 10:

10. Cameron University in Oklahoma

Cameron University

Undergraduate enrollment: 4,444

Annual tuition and fees: $5,970

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $20,019 The first public college to make the list will put its money where its mouth is: "The Cameron University Guarantee" promises to provide additional education, at no cost, to any CU baccalaureate graduates if a future employer finds gaps in the graduate's major field of study.

9. College of Coastal Georgia

Undergraduate enrollment: 3,529

Annual tuition and fees: $4,434

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $25,455 In addition to students from its home state, the College of Coastal Georgia offers the in-state rate to all residents of Alabama, Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee who meet the requirements for admission. The beachfront school will even waive the application fee for applications submitted between May 28 and June 1.

8. Southern Utah University

Southern Utah University

Undergraduate enrollment: 8,407

Annual tuition and fees: $6,530

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $16,892 Thanks to its affordable in-state tuition, this college in Cedar City helps half its students finish without loans, and those who do borrow have balances well below average. In addition, grads have a 94 percent job placement rate, according to the school.

7. New College of Florida

New College of Florida.

Undergraduate enrollment: 861

Annual tuition and fees: $6,916

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $15,173 Although it is part of the Florida State University System, New College students leave Sarasota with less indebtedness than any of the other state schools. Even though more than 90 percent of students receive some form of financial assistance, there is a guaranteed freshman scholarship program and a wide array of both merit and need-based scholarships and grants.

6. New Mexico Highlands University

New Mexico Highlands University

Undergraduate enrollment: 2,181

Annual tuition and fees: $5,550

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $17,312 Located in Las Vegas, New Mexico, NMHU is the third-most-affordable university in the Southwest region and yet its graduates make more money on average than any other university in the state, according to the school.

5. Dixie State in Utah

Arts building at Dixie State University in Utah

Undergraduate enrollment: 8,993

Annual tuition and fees: $5,022

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $15,882 Another public college to make the list, Dixie State in St. George, has the lowest tuition of all the four-year state schools in Utah. That, coupled with a low cost of living, means students can limit the amount they need to borrow. Just 38 percent of graduates finish school with debt.

4. York College in New York

York College, New York

Undergraduate enrollment: 8,258

Annual tuition and fees: $6,747

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $4,614 This public school is part of the City University of New York (CUNY) network. In-state residents pay a low tuition of just $6,330 a year and more than 55 percent of full-time undergraduates attend tuition-free.

3. Alice Lloyd College in Kentucky

Alice Lloyd College

Undergraduate enrollment: 599

Annual tuition and fees: $2,050

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $10,714 One of the few private schools in the top 10, this college in Pippa Passes offers a tuition guarantee that students will pay nothing out of pocket for up to 10 semesters. However, to be eligible, undergrads must be from one of the neighboring counties in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

2. Berea College

Berea College Source: Berea College

Undergraduate enrollment: 1,665

Annual tuition and fees: $570

Average student loan balance among graduates with debt: $7,062 This small school in Kentucky has a singular mission: to attract underprivileged students committed to working hard. Only those who have financial need are admitted, and every student is awarded a four-year scholarship and a laptop. Tuition costs: $0.

1. College of the Ozarks in Missouri

Students walk on the College of the Ozarks campus.
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.

A top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Singapore on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said on Tuesday, the latest indication that the on-again-off-again summit with U.S. President Donald Trump may go ahead.

Kim Chang Son, Kim's de facto chief of staff, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, the report said.

At the same time, a team of U.S. government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The White House said a "pre-advance" team was traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans.

The reports indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week. A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at the Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was "going there to play," according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Meanwhile, North Korea's Kim Yong Chol, a senior official dealing with inter-Korean affairs was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said citing an unnamed source.
The congresswoman is locked in a tight race with Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Getty Images

President Donald Trump travels to Tennessee on Tuesday to aid Republican efforts to win a tight Senate race critical to the fight to control the chamber in November's midterm elections. The president will hold a fundraiser and campaign-style rally in Nashville to boost GOP Rep. Marsha Blackburn and attempt to knock down Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen. They are vying for the Senate seat currently held by Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who declined to run for a third term. Making things more complicated, Corker hasn't given a full-throated endorsement to Blackburn, and he has said he considers himself a friend of Bredesen's. Polls have shown a close contest between Blackburn, a longtime member of Congress who has run as a staunch Trump supporter, and Bredesen, a two-term governor who last won a statewide election in 2006. Bredesen hopes to win a seat in a state that last had a Democratic senator in the mid-1990s.

The Tennessee race holds major stakes for Republicans' push to keep or expand their 51 to 49 seat majority in the Senate. Winning Corker's seat could help Democrats cancel out other possible losses in 2018 Senate elections, as the party tries to defend 10 seats in states Trump won in 2016. Trump has already gotten himself involved in several of those races. He has made trips in part to damage Democratic senators such as Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Joe Manchin of West Virginia. He has repeatedly slammed red-state Senate Democrats for not supporting his agenda.

Blackburn hitches her wagon to Trump

Corker hesitates to take a side

Corker has notably hesitated to take sides in the Senate race, prompting questions about whether he could lead other Republicans to shy away from Blackburn. Last month, the senator said he would not campaign against Bredesen, whom he called a "friend." Corker said he had a stronger working relationship with Bredesen than with Blackburn. The senator was the mayor of Chattanooga when Bredesen was governor. Still, Corker said he is "supportive" of Blackburn and donated to her campaign. Bredesen, like some other Democrats running in key red state elections, has avoided criticizing Trump. "I don't want to come across as somebody who is the toy of the national Democratic Party," Bredesen told CNN in late April.

Phil Bredesen, former governor of Tennessee. T.J. Kirkpatrick | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Barbara Jones, who has been appointed as special master for a review of evidence seized from Cohen, submitted that eye-popping bill Tuesday, a day before Cohen is due to appear in US District Court in Manhattan for a hearing. Jones, whose expenses are being split by Cohen and prosecutors, billed for $47,390 for work done from April 24 through April 30.

A retired federal judge in charge of reviewing documents seized from President Donald Trump 's lawyer Michael Cohen as part of a criminal probe billed more than $47,000 for just six days of work, according to a court filing.

For most of the work, which comprised just shy of 70 hours, she billed at a rate of $700 per hour. No objection to her bill was raised by either side, Jones noted in her filing.

The Bracewell law firm attorney is tasked with checking to see that documents which should be subject to attorney-client privilege are not seen by prosecutors handling Cohen's criminal investigation.



Jones said she has reviewed 292,006 items so far from the raid and has already turned over portions of that to federal investigators.



Jones said materials have been broken into four categories:

Privileged Materials

Partially Privileged Materials

Non-Privileged Materials

Highly Personal Materials

Jones described "highly personal materials" as "medical records or similar materials."

Unless Cohen, Trump, or the Trump Organization mark the material as privileged or highly personal, she is releasing the material to prosecutors as soon as it is available.

So far Cohen, Trump (through his attorney), and or the Trump Organization have designated 252 items as being privileged.



At this point no final end date for the review has been detailed by the Special Master.

Cohen has not been charged in the case, but prosecutors are eyeing his business dealings and his $130,000 payment to porn star Stormy Daniels on the eve of the 2016 presidential election.

Daniels has said the payment was in exchange for her keeping mum about a 2006 affair with Trump, a tryst the White House denies happened. But Trump reimbursed Cohen for the payoff to Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford.

Wednesday's court hearing is set to provide Judge Kimba Wood an update on evidence seized from Cohen that is being reviewed by Jones.

Another issue expected to be addressed is a pending request by Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti to be admitted to the case to argue on Daniels' behalf, along with another local lawyer who is already representing her.

Avenatti, who practices law in California, is not admitted to federal court in New York, and therefore needs a special waiver to be granted by Wood to speak for Daniels in that venue.

On Monday, the Wall Street Journal, in an article quoting unidentified sources, said that Avenatti has "slowed down prosecutors' efforts to discuss the nondisclosure agreement with Ms. Clifford's former lawyer." The article said Avenatti has not acted on multiple requests by prosecutors to have Clifford waive her attorney-client privilege to allow her ex-attorney Keith Davidson discuss their communication about the hush-money pact.

Avenatti scoffed at that claim Tuesday.

"I speak with the US Attorneys' Office regularly about the case and we enjoy an excellent relationship," Avenatti wrote in an email to CNBC.

"We are continuing to do our part as it relates to providing information necessary for their investigation  I wish others would do the same," Avenatti wrote.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that a top North Korean official is heading to New York, indicating a historic summit between the leaders of the two countries could still happen.

"Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim [Yong] Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York," Trump said in a tweet.

Tweet

Kim Yong Chol is a former top spy and is often described as the right-hand man of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

The senior official has been closely involved with the North's talks with South Korea and the U.S. His visit to America would be a rare one for such a high-ranking North Korean official, and signals a meeting between Trump and Kim Jong Un may still be moving ahead.

On Thursday, Trump called off the highly anticipated denuclearization summit that was planned for June 12 in Singapore. "Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting," Trump said in a letter to Kim Jong Un.

U.S. stocks dropped after the cancellation announcement, but ended the week with slight gains. Stock index futures fell Tuesday morning as traders worried about political turmoil in Italy and Spain. U.S. stock markets were closed Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.

The U.S. was planning to announce new sanctions on North Korea as soon as Tuesday, but is holding off indefinitely amid talks between the two countries, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday, citing an unnamed U.S. official.

 Reuters contributed to this report.
Record crude oil volumes exported from the United States will be heading to Asia in the next couple of months to take another piece of the market away from Russia and producers in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The United States is set to export 2.3 million barrels per day (bpd) in June, of which 1.3 million bpd will head to Asia, estimated a senior executive with a key U.S. oil exporters.

Data from the Energy Information Administration shows U.S. oil exports peaked at 2.6 million bpd two weeks ago.

The record outbound volumes come as U.S. crude production hit all-time highs, depressing U.S. prices to discounts of more than $9 a barrel below Brent crude futures on Monday, the widest in more than three years and opening an arbitrage for excess supplies to other markets. <WTCLc1-LCOc1>

The difference in the key benchmarks was a chance for Asian refiners to reduce light crude imports from the Middle East and Russia after Brent and Gulf prices touched multi-year highs, traders in Asia said.

"We're diversifying a lot to other regions. If Saudi Aramco still doesn't reduce prices next month and ADNOC (Abu Dhabi National Oil Company) follows, we will increase our U.S. crude purchases," a Southeast Asian oil buyer said.
A woman uses her iPhone in front of the building housing the Israeli NSO group.

U.S.-based software company Verint Systems is in talks to merge its security division with Israeli cyber surveillance firm NSO Group in a deal worth about $1 billion, a source close to the negotiations said on Monday.

The transaction, if completed, would create one of the world's largest cyber companies. NSO would remain an independent company as a new division within Verint, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The source also said the deal would likely be signed in the coming days.

NSO declined to comment while Verint was not available outside U.S. business hours. The talks were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.

NSO is best known as a supplier of mobile surveillance tools to governments and law enforcement agencies. The company, founded in 2009 by Omri Lavie and Shalev Hulio, was in the spotlight last year amid allegations the Mexican government has used its Pegasus mobile spyware to target private citizens.

The WSJ reported that under the proposed deal, Verint has offered to pay private-equity firm Francisco Partners, which is NSO's controlling shareholder, with its own stock and assumed debt.

The newspaper said Francisco Partners, which paid $120 million to buy a majority stake in NSO in 2014, would become the largest shareholder in Verint if the deal is completed.

Israeli media reported last July that Blackstone was in talks to buy part of NSO but sources told Reuters that the U.S. private-equity firm pulled out of those discussions a month later.

Verint shares have risen more than 5 percent this year and closed at $44.05 on Friday, valuing the company at $2.82 billion.
Virgin Galactic took another step on Tuesday toward beginning commercial operations with its latest test flight, only 54 days after its last launch went supersonic.

Richard Branson's space tourism company completed the second rocket-powered flight of its Unity spacecraft  launching and landing from the Mojave Air and Space Port in the California desert. Virgin Galactic said in a tweet that the company hoped to test a critical system for commercial flights.

@VirginGalactic: Today's flight is planned to be a partial duration rocket burn that will test a rearward center of gravity closer to the commercial configuration

Unity's test flight comes not long after the company completed the spacecraft's first powered flight in nearly four years on April 5. Rapid reuse is a key part of Virgin Galactic's plan, as it has over 700 astronauts-to-be signed on to launch, with tickets priced at $250,000 per flight.

Unity was lifted into the air by the jet-powered mothership Eve. The carrier aircraft then released the spacecraft from under its wing and then Unity's rocket motor roared the life. Piloted by a two-member crew of Mark Stucky and Dave Mackay, Unity screamed into a steep climb as the engine burned for 31 seconds, pushing Unity past the speed of sound to Mach 1.9.

This test flight bested April's in altitude, with Unity hitting the top of its climb at 114,500 feet. The first test reached 84,271 feet at its peak.

Branson, who was not at the first flight in person, said in a blog post that "it felt extra special being there for another supersonic test."

This was the sixth powered test flight of the SpaceShipTwo design, and the second since the fatal crash of the Spaceship Enterprise on Oct. 31, 2014. Unity underwent extensive engine testing and seven glide tests before Virgin Galactic said it was ready for a powered test flight.

Branson is neck and neck with fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos in the race to begin launching tourists into space. Bezos has been pouring nearly $1 billion a year from his Amazon holdings into rocket-builder Blue Origin in the pursuit of reaching zero gravity conditions. Blue Origin is in the final stages of testing its New Shepard rocket, most recently launching its human-carrying capsule to 322,405 feet in an eighth successful flight on April 29. Blue Origin CEO Bob Smith told CNBC on April 18 that he hopes his company will be launching tourists to space on New Shepard this year.

Virgin Galactic has raised capital through private investment since its founding in 2004. Branson's space companies recently got a boost from Saudi Arabia, which announced intentions to invest $1 billion in Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and small rocket builder Virgin Orbit.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said on Tuesday that President Donald Trump thinks talks with North Korea are going well and is prepared for a summit with Kim Jong Un to take place on June 12, as originally planned.

Sanders said denuclearization must be on the table for the summit to proceed as planned.

"We're going to be prepared if it takes place on June 12," Sanders said. "We'll certainly be prepared if it for some reason takes place at a later date  we'll be prepared for that as well."
The White House on Tuesday said President Donald Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is still "expected" to happen in Singapore  just five days after Trump stunned the world by canceling it.

"The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

Trump wrote Kim last week, accusing his government of "tremendous anger and open hostility" in recent statements about the U.S. He also hinted at a possible nuclear showdown: "You talk about your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used."

But it appeared Tuesday that the situation had rapidly swung back the other way.

Sanders also said Tuesday that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would meet later this week with top Kim Jong Un aide Kim Yong Chol, who is traveling to New York. Kim Yong Chol is a former spy chief for the communist dictatorship and has been actively involved in talks between North and South Korea.

Trump's engagement with North Korea, the only country to test nuclear weapons this century, has been volatile. Last year, he and Kim Jong Un exchanged insults and threats, while North Korea persisted in testing missiles, some of which flew over the northern regions of U.S. ally Japan.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, however, has sought to improve relations with his country's northern neighbor, while also seeking to smooth things out between Trump and Kim. Trump's announcement last week that the summit was off came as a surprise to Moon's government, which scrambled to get things back on track.

Since then, talks between the Trump administration and North Korea have resumed, while Moon and Kim held their second meeting.

Sanders also confirmed that Trump would meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on June 7 at the White House.

Trump's meeting with Kim was originally scheduled for June 12. There was no mention of a date in Sanders' statement Tuesday.

Here are other details about summit preparation released by the White House on Tuesday:
Warren Buffett is auctioning off another chance to grab lunch with him as part of his annual charity partnership with the Glide Foundation. The winner gets to share a swanky meal with and learn life lessons from the legendary business investor. Buffett started the annual tradition to support his late wife Susie's passion for social justice and, over the past 19 years, Buffett has raised over $26 million for Glide, an anti-poverty non-profit organization based in San Francisco. Co-founders Cecil Williams and Janice Mirikitani tell CNBC Make It that the lunch auction was originally Susie's idea. "We met Susie 25 years ago, but she had actually been coming to Glide for nearly two years before that. She wanted to make sure we were not a cult," Mirikitani says with a laugh. "When she saw we advocated for inclusiveness and social justice for everyone, she started to volunteer."

When they were in their 30s, Susie inspired Warren to support social issues. "When the children were growing up, I was very involved in civil rights. I was immersed in it and I think that's what made Warren a Democrat. He would go with me to hear speakers," Susie says in the HBO documentary "Becoming Warren Buffett." Together they supported Omaha's nonviolent activists in the midst of the civil rights movement during the 1950s and 1960s, as well as late civil rights activist and icon Martin Luther King Jr. In the 1990s, Susie traveled with Williams and Mirikitani four-to-five times a year, for three years, going to different American cities to train other churches on how to start programs similar to the ones Glide offered. But when Warren first heard about Glide, he was skeptical. "My wife told me a lot about Cecil and I thought, 'This sounds too good to be true', and I am a suspicious guy by nature," Buffett tells CNBC reporter Becky Quick in a 2017 interview. "So she didn't sell me."

Susie Buffett volunteering during GLIDEs free Grocery Bag Giveaway during the holidays. Photo courtesy of the Glide Foundation

Buffett looked for, and found, the proof he needed. "But then she took me there one time to Glide and I got to meet Cecil, I got to see what happened, the kind of people he was helping and how he was helping them." At that point, Mirikitani recalls, "Warren looked at Cecil and said 'This guy is real!'" Over the years, Glide has expanded its budget from $35,000 in 1965 to $20 million today, Mirikitani says. Funds raised through Buffett's annual lunch auction now make up 10 percent of that. To this day, Glide, which doubles as a church, helps fulfill the basic needs of marginalized people by providing more than 770,000 meals, affordable health care, mental health services, substance abuse recovery programs and HIV and AIDS prevention programs, among other services.

Susie Buffett volunteering during GLIDEs free Grocery Bag Giveaway during the holidays. Photo courtesy of the Glide Foundation

In 2000, Susie came up with the million-dollar lunch auction idea, which Williams and Mirikitani say they happily welcomed. But they struggled to raise anything more than $25,000 during the in-person public auctions in San Francisco until 2003, when Warren proposed running the auction on eBay. By 2008, the auction had a $2 million-bidder for lunch with Warren. Though Susie passed away in 2004, Williams and Mirikitani say they still chat with Buffett several times a year. They say they are still in awe of how humble the investor is about his impact and how willing he is to work closely with them. "We can't overlook the fact that he's helping to raise millions of dollars for Glide, but the development of our friendship with Warren has been one of the best parts of this partnership," Mirikitani says.
The outbreak of the deadly Nipah virus has claimed at least 13 deaths in Kerala, which boasts the best healthcare system in India. The newness of Nipah  it was first identified in 1999, according to the World Health Organization  and the absence of a vaccine to combat the virus that can be transmitted to humans from animals and is hosted by fruit bats make the task of health officials daunting. Despite these challenges, the Kerala government has successfully managed to contain the virus, said health secretary Rajeev Sadanandan. This has been possible largely due to the robust healthcare system in Kerala, he told CNBC-TV18 in an exclusive interview by email.

Kerala Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan Kerala Health Secretary Rajeev Sadanandan

What is the status with regard to the containment of the Nipah virus? Media reports say the spread of the virus has been contained but the death toll continues to rise.

We believe the epidemic has been contained. There has been only one foci, no animal infections and the first wave (persons who were infected by the original case) and we are awaiting the second wave (persons who have been infected by the persons who picked up the infection from the first case). Until now, we have not seen such a wave. But a few cases will come up until the June 4  16 days after the cases were picked up.

Our virus belongs to the Bangladeshi Genome, which is much for virulent than the Malaysian variety. Our death rate has been among the highest (only three survivors from 16 cases) but all of them have been detected late. The person who was detected early, Ubeesh, is doing well.

Please explain in detail how the Kerala government and your department responded to combat the virus.

Kerala's health response always leverages the awareness of our population and the depth of our health system. We maintained total transparency issuing periodic media bulletins and advising people who have had contact with positive cases to maintain house quarantine. This had a negative impact of ostracisation of the affected families. But it helped to prevent infection. Panchayats and elected representatives all played a very supportive role.

The media in Kerala, especially the print media, took over the task of educating the population and reassuring them. The health department prepared the list of contact cases, with the location and time of contact and assigned the field staff to visit these contacts, advise them house quarantine, and began tracking them. A Command Centre was set up with the top medical officer, Director of Health Services, being posted there permanently until the end of the episode. Data of admissions, sending of samples, results, deaths and discharges were collated and made available as daily bulletins. The cases were managed in the Kozhikode medical college. Personal protection equipment was distributed to health workers at all levels.

We contacted the best international experts in the field, including the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, WHO etc and discovered that the Queensland government had stockpiled a promising Human Monoclonal Antibody for compassionate use. Using our contacts, we contacted the Queensland government, and obtained the offer for 50 vials. Indian Council of Medical Research made the formal request to the government of Australia, the Drug Controlller General of India agreed to the use of an unpatented drug for compassionate use.

What lessons do you have to offer to the rest of the country when it comes to tackling such priority diseases?

All of us need to have a robust surveillance system to pick up such diseases.

Did it help that Kerala has a robust healthcare system?

We picked up the case in time and prevented its spread only because of the health system.

"Unlike other states, we are open about our epidemics. We believe that helps us manage the epidemic even though the national media goes to town on it. It is also a sign of our confidence that such bad press does not bother us too much. Despite the existence of a robust healthcare system and an educated class of citizens, Kerala experiences a bout of diseases such as chikungunya, dengue, malaria etc every year. Please explain this paradox.

We have the problem of only dengue. All the other cases such as Filariasis, Malaria, TB and Leprosy are on the verge of elimination. We do have occasional cases of Leptospirosis and JE but the issue is not serious. Our problems are non-communicable diseases. Unlike other states, we are open about our epidemics. We believe that helps us manage the epidemic even though the national media goes to town on it. It is also a sign of our confidence that such bad press does not bother us too much.

What has been the impact of the Nipah virus on Keralas tourism economy? Media reports say there have been several cancellations of bookings for Kerala medical tourism tours.

To a tourist, any part of the state looks the same. So there were some cancellations. We issued a travel advisory listing four districts that people were advised to avoid. This may have hurt the tour operators, but it again is part of our policy of transparency.

What are the next steps the government will undertake to combat the virus?

Kerala will work with WHO and ICMR to develop drugs against Nipah. We will also carry out, with the help of the best experts from Asia, a surveillance of the fruit bat population in the state to assess the potential for recurrence.
It's that time of the year when parents usually fret about their kids spending summer holidays playing computer games and watching television.

But some parents can use the time to bond with their kids, learn together, encourage them to make new discoveries and help them be responsible explorers of the web.

And all that with the help of Google.

Google India on Monday announced a fun, yet educational summer campaign that will help children across the country spend more time learning and making new discoveries, as well as teaching them how to become responsible explorers of the web.

As part of the campaign, named #SummerWithGoogle, Google will assign kids a total of four projects -- one each week -- so that it can select the brightest from the lot and give them a taste of the "Googly" culture that is part of its colourful offices.

"From exploring the country that is home to all the pandas in the world on Google Earth, to saying gracias and por favor as you learn phrases in Spanish and other languages on Google Translate; taking dramatic virtual tours of museums to make your own gallery on Google Arts & Culture and ultimately building your very own app to share your summer experience," the company in an open letter to parents.

Each assignment will carry questions on the four fundamental codes of being Internet Awesome and teach the young internet explorers a lesson or two on how to be -- Internet Smart, Internet Alert, Internet Strong, Internet Kind and Internet Brave, the letter said.

Since assignments will be linked to the previous one, its important for the young ones to take out that one hour in a week, and carry positive marking for every correct answer they give.

At the end of four weeks, Google will host a fun filled summer camp at Googles Gurgaon and Hyderabad campus, flying upto 100 participants along with their guardians from across the country.

The assignments can be accessed on #SummerWithGoogle website and Googles social media, the statement said.
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
Fury as Italian President instals technocratic government rather than accept Eurosceptic minister

Senior Five Star MEP promises Italy will shield Britain from attempts to punish us for Brexit  Daily Telegraph

Italian two-year bond yields soar  FT

Why does everything keep going wrong for Brussels?  Politico

A surge in migrants trying to cross the sea to Spain  Daily Mail

Italys president was last night accused of an appalling betrayal of the will of his people after ignoring impeachment calls and imposing a technocratic government led by a Europhile. MEPs said the country was in meltdown and hit out at Sergio Mattarella after he appointed former International Monetary Fund official Carlo Cottarelli to lead an interim administration. Just hours earlier Mr Mattarella had faced calls to be impeached after rejecting plans from the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and League parties to install a Eurosceptic as the countrys economy minister. The populist parties had been trying to form a coalition after elections on March 4 returned a hung parliament, and wanted anti-euro professor Paolo Savona to head the ministry of the economy.  Daily Mail

Opinion

Editorials

Time for a new election  The Guardian Leader

The presidents decision is risky, but right  The Times Leader

Italy, like Britain, is tiring of the EUs infringements on sovereignty  Daily Telegraph Leader

>Today: Henry Newmans column: The EU isnt a conspiracy against democracy, but it does a pretty good job of looking like one

Brexit 1) Hammond criticised for failing to prepare for No Deal

Philip Hammond was accused last night of failing to prepare for the possibility of Britain leaving the EU without a deal and of wanting to keep the City too closely tied to Brussels. Tory MPs demanded yesterday that ministers step up preparations for a no deal Brexit to give Theresa May the ability to walk out of negotiations if Brussels refuses to agree satisfactory terms. Eurosceptics raised fears that contingency planning had ground to a halt in Whitehall, making it almost impossible for the Prime Minister to follow through on her threat to walk away if necessaryTory MP James Duddridge said last night: Preparations for no deal are essential. Without no deal as a credible option we have little negotiating power.  Daily Mail

Rees-Mogg attacks incompetent and weak approach  The Sun

Plan for every eventuality or risk failure  The Sun Says

HMRC has lost 2,000 staff since the referendum  The Times

The divorce bill is Mays strongest card; she must use it  Daily Telegraph Leader

Britain will take part in the EUs next round of budget negotiations  Daily Mail

The Commission is furious about the plan, which it believes will help the UKs negotiations  The Times

Negotiators demand the UK replicate protections for iconic food brands  The Guardian

A new Open Skies deal with the US is set to be signed  Daily Telegraph

>Today: Alastair Stewart on Comment: We expats are still under a cloud of uncertainty about our residency rights

Brexit 2) Poisonous tensions between the Treasury and the Bank of England

Tugendhat calls for Foreign Secretaries to be given more power

Some companies in Londons financial district are urging the Treasury to drop the mutual recognition proposal from a forthcoming Brexit white paper and focus on what they see as a more realistic target: helping the EU to devise an improved equivalence regime to facilitate City access to the blocs market. The current equivalence regime  offered by the EU to financial services companies in places such as the US and Singapore  is patchy and can be withdrawn at a months notice by the European Commission. Mrs May has said it would be totally unsuitable for Britain. Chancellor Philip Hammond said in March: That [equivalence] regime would be wholly inadequate for the scale and complexity of UK-EU financial services trade. However, the BoE deputy governor Jon Cunliffe fears the Treasury is about to compromise the central banks regulatory autonomy to try to secure a better equivalence deal.  FT

Tom Tugendhat suggests that bringing trade, intelligence and overseas development issues under the control of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) would provide better coordination to meet the challenges of the post-Brexit era. In a speech to be given on Tuesday to the Rusi defence thinktank, Tugendhat says his proposals will require a revolution at the heart of government. After the EU referendum, the FCO was dismembered, with the responsibility for Brexit negotiations going to the new Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU). Tugendhat argues that this shift led to a further power grab by the Cabinet Office, taking key Brexit talks closer to the prime minister. At the same time, responsibility for trade negotiations was handed to a self-standing department, diminishing the Foreign Offices clout in the commercial area of foreign relations. In his speech, Tugendhat will say: Successive foreign secretaries  including the current one  have been hobbled. Theyve had the title, but they havent had the power.  The Guardian

The Select Committee chairman is one of Johnsons most trenchant critics  The Times

Legal dispute over Turks visa status  FT

A grand deal between Trump and Kim could be the worst of all worlds  William Hague, Daily Telegraph

The search for new Tory thinking begins

Reform capitalism to avoid its overthrow  Rachel Sylvester, The Times

OBrien pushes for a turnover tax on online retailers  The Sun

MPs urge Hunt to abandon plans for a nanny state minimum alcohol price  The Sun

The opportunity costs of not paying attention  Janan Ganesh, FT

An explosion of Conservative think tanks and initiatives has erupted in an attempt to promote the partys young talent. The so-called renewal project has evolved out of a consensus that the Tories need fresh ideas and personnel. The centrists in the party set up Onward this week, a think tank that will be run by Will Tanner, a 29-year-old former Downing Street aide. The group, which seeks to revitalise the centre-right and wants to reach a new set of voters, was conceived by Neil OBrien, 39, an MP and former special adviser to George Osborne. On the right of the party two younger MPs have set up Freer, a pro-free-market offshoot of the Institute of Economic Affairs. ..Some young Tory MPs have complained privately about the proliferation of events, but many feel that they cannot afford to miss out. The new groups provide an opportunity to network and manoeuvre, which is increasingly important as intrigue grows about a leadership contest.  The Times

>Today: ToryDiary: The Tory Left: not always Out, not necessarily Loud, but definitely Proud  and a growing force

>Yesterday: Anthony Ridge-Newman on Comment: Introducing the Tory Research Impact Network

Today is Tax Freedom Day (and its the latest in over two decades)

The tax burden faced by British families is the highest for more than 20 years, according to a report last night. The Adam Smith Institute said today is Tax Freedom Day  the latest it has been since its records began in 1995 and three days later than last year. Tax Freedom Day is the first day of the year that a typical worker keeps the money they earn rather than hands it over to the taxman. British taxpayers have worked a gruelling 148 days for the Chancellor this year more than in any year under New Labour, and three days longer than last year, the report saidThe last time the tax burden was higher as a proportion of GDP was in 1969-70 when Harold Wilson was in powerThe Adam Smith Institute warned taxes would rise even further under a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn. Tax Freedom Day is a stark illustration of the UKs tax burden, said Sam Dumitriu, head of research at the think tank. It is a reminder that public services such as education, welfare, and the NHS must be paid for, either through taxes or borrowing  taxes on the next generation.  Daily Mail

RBS shares to be sold at a large loss

We want to make life easier for small businesses  Andrew Griffiths, The Times

Clifford Chance to face investigation over RBS allegations  The Times

A quarter of home buyers this year will be helped by the Bank of Mum and Dad

The Government could sell a ten per cent stake in the Royal Bank of Scotland this week. It still holds 71 per cent of the bank after a bailout during the financial crisis. Bankers reportedly expect ministers to sell off a stake worth at least 3billion. But with shares closing on Friday at 290p, compared with the 502p which was paid for them, the Treasury stands to lose billions of pounds. The Government put 45.5billion into RBS in 2008, in the depths of the financial crisis.  The Sun

New research from Legal & General suggests parents continue to be a major source of funding in helping their children buy homes. This year, 27pc of buyers will get help from friends or family to purchase property, up from 25pc last year and accounting for 316,600 property transactions worth 81.7bn. The number of property transactions funded by parents will increase by 3pc this year, with parental contributions highest in London, and lowest in Scotland. Nearly half of all buyers in London get help from their parents. That makes the bank of mum and dad the equivalent of a 5.7bn mortgage lender. Parents are, however, providing smaller sums than they had previously contributed.  Daily Telegraph

Senior Tory councillors think Mays 2 billion on low-cost rentals is not enough  The Guardian

The NHS is expected to reveal a rising overspend this week

We could deliver a better service by improving efficiency  Keith Willett, Daily Telegraph

No, the health service does not require 2,000 a year extra from every household  Phil McDuff, The Guardian

Threat of a political backlash against a ringfenced NHS tax  FT

The public support relaxed immigration rules for medics  The Times

Three cheers for private doctors  Giles Coren, The Times

680 million fund for new school places

Hospitals in England ended last year with twice as big a deficit as expected, according to sources, in another illustration of the NHSs fragile finances. NHS Improvement (NHSI), the health services financial regulator, will reveal the overspend when it releases full details on Thursday of how the NHS performed in 2017-18. Sources close to the publication of the annual health check confirmed NHS trusts ended 2017-18 about 1bn in the red. The likely overspend, double the 496m expected, will fuel claims that the government is underfunding the NHS, given the sharp increase in the number of people needing care. It would show the health service has been unable to regain the spending discipline the Treasury demanded after years of steadily worsening finances. But critics will blame the deficit on the NHS experiencing the seventh successive year of a budget squeeze and hospitals having to staff thousands of extra beds as a result of the worst winter crisis in its history.  The Guardian

Tens of thousands of new school places are to be created to cope with Englands population boom. Ministers have set aside 680million to fund 40,000 places in primary and secondary schools across the country by 2021. They are needed in part because of a baby boom fuelled by high migration under the Labour government. Earlier this year, the Government said an extra 600,000 secondary school places would be needed in England by 2023, plus almost 80,000 new primary places.  Daily Mail

Theyll be focused in the best schools  Daily Telegraph

Ten-fold rise in obesity among primary school pupils  The Times

Parents raise money for classroom air purifiers  The Times

Stop trying to force your unhinged hobby horse onto the national curriculum  Gabriel Milland, The Times

Chakrabarti says May should legalise abortion in Northern Ireland without a referendum

Contempt for democracy  Richard Littlejohn, Daily Mail

It should be for the people of Northern Ireland to decide  The Sun Says

Arlene Foster is the only woman with a choice in the Province  Stella Creasy, The Guardian

Irish minister joins calls for reform in the North  The Times

Speaking to the BBC Radio 4 Today Programme, Baroness Chakrabarti was asked directly if she wants referendum or a legislative change. She said: A legislative change  this is an issue of fundamental human rights and in fact the situation in Northern Ireland is currently putting the United Kingdom government in breach of its international human rights obligations, according to the UN. So, we are calling on Theresa May  a self-identifying feminist  to negotiate with the parties in Northern Ireland and then to legislate without further delay. She added: Theresa May, as a self identifying feminist, needs to say, yes I unveil statues of suffragists in Parliament Square, but the test of my feminism will be whether I guarantee fundamental human rights for women.  Daily Mail

>Yesterday: Rebecca Lowes column: Womens attitudes to the Conservatives  and vice-versa  are not what you may think

News in Brief
We need to make the Foreign Office the strategic engine of our foreign policy again  Tugendhats RUSI speech

This is the full text of the speech delivered today at the Royal United Services Institute, by Tom Tugendhat, MP for Tonbridge and Malling and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee.

Today Im going to offer a vision of our foreign policy.One that calls upon us to remember who we are, what we can offer, and how we can deliver it.

Thats why Im focusing on the nation state, the rule of law, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Like all truly Conservative speeches, this isnt new. This is just an exercise in remembering what works and applying it for today.

Admittedly, thats not what I had originally planned to speak about. I was going to talk about the threats to the rules-based international order, about the shared commitment to abide by agreed rules and norms, most of which were set down in 1945, that we, the United Kingdom, were at the heart of writing.

Thats the topic getting a lot of attention at the moment because the existing order is under threat. From Russia undermining the United Nations and flouting of international law, to Chinas growing assertiveness in international affairs, and questions arising from the growth of important powers like India.

But the most important challenge isnt these, its our own disillusionment.

The West, that group of nations stretching from San Francisco in the West to Seoul in the East who value the rule of law, economic liberty, and human rights, seem to be losing interest in the rules-based international order that has done so much to keep us safe since the end of the Second World War.

The rules that, as unfashionable as they are, have stood between us and the demons of our worst nature.

There are many reasons we could suggest for this disillusionment, but most seem to be the symptom, not the cause.

At root, there is, perhaps, something more human going on  a collective amnesia.

The terror and unrest of previous eras has drifted far from peoples minds, and the events that shaped the lives of past generations have become distant memories.

Today, too few have looked the devil in the face, too few have seen what can happen when the rules collapse and anarchy reigns. Too many see peace as the ordinary state of affairs, when a cursory glance at history makes clear peace is painstakingly constructed and easily lost.

Peace is the exception, not the rule.

But thats a speech I have even given many times before. Im sure youre all bored of it by now  I am too!

So, Im going to talk instead about what we should do about it. We have a diagnosis, now we need to search for a cure.

For some its obvious. Since becoming chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Ive met many experts.

Their views vary but in essence their focus is the same: we must stay close to Europe, they say. We must work more with NATO, the UN, and the OSCE, they argue. We must recognise that our strength is in leveraging others. We dont stand alone.

In other words, rebuild the old equilibrium.

I understand where theyre coming from. I even agree with much of their diagnosis. But its not enough.

It ignores the tremors of the past decade. It pretends Putin, Trump, Brexit, China and many other events are just passing phases.

It forgets the only truth in life  you cant go back. Thats why Im looking to build on the past, not copy it.

Thats hardly surprising for a Conservative. But I am also a British internationalist. Im convinced we must find new ways of working with our allies. Im looking to bring together ideas for a new Conservative internationalism, if you will.

This isnt just because Brexit changed our foreign policy, but it did. It isnt just because the global order is being reshaped by others, but it is.

Its because, for too long, we have stopped asking what do we need? What does our country want? How do our people see their place in the world?

Instead weve hidden behind treaties and organisations.

Thats not how we started.

Those who drafted the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Charter, werent frightened of our laws or politics.

They werent choosing to put foreign authorities over our own. They were projecting power.

They knew, what we seem to have forgotten: the laws that built Britain, the rules that recognise human dignity, economic liberty and political empowerment shape our world towards justice and freedom.

That doesnt make them perfect. But judges, constrained by Parliament and independent, not just from government but from group think, sets them apart. They have helped shape our nation.

They help write the rules that are an element of what our foreign policy should be  an expression of our national identity projected into the world.

That is where foreign policy must start  at home. Because a foreign policy that works for the British people is one that builds on their values and promotes their interests.

It starts with the basic unit of legitimate authority: the nation state.

Forgetting that is where the trouble has started for us. While other countries have struggled to work together, weve forgotten what it means to be a nation alone.

That matters today because the rules set down in 1945 were never going to last forever, but many of the experts who come to see me are yet to come to terms with the fact that multilateralism itself is coming apart at the seams.

Why is it failing? There are many causes but two that really affect us.

Firstly, in Europe, the EUs centralising, supranational instinct is out of kilter with the temper of our times.

As a prime minister of one of the founding member states said to me recently, Its a real shame about the European Commission. If wed just been a group of nation states in Europe, we could have made this work.

Secondly, looking further afield, the UN is struggling to keep up with a changing international order. The credibility of the Security Council is draining away as the veto has lost much of its moral authority.

How can it keep it when its used to shield brutal dictators? How can international law be defended when all that is needed to violate it is a member of the Security Council ready to veto criticism?

So, we find ourselves in the situation where two key institutions are failing to protect the very system they were created to uphold.

I believe we are living through a sea-change, not a passing storm. We would face many of these challenges regardless of Brexit but when we leave the EU the change will be greater than many expect.

Italy, about which were hearing so much today, will be the third most powerful member of the European Council. Other states, which have been recipients will become contributors. And the EUs political centre of gravity will shift south. The EU 27 will not be the same as the EU 28 minus the UK. And that will have implications across the field.

The UN, too, is changing more fundamentally than often recognised through a more assertive General Assembly and the recognition that countries like India have a legitimate claim to greater influence.

Even the Commonwealth, whose GDP now rivals the eurozone, is evolving. Its not the post-imperial club it once was but is searching for a new role.

Thats why when people come to me insistent that we should do more of the same, I disagree. Britains history should not make us curators of a crumbling international order.

Instead, it should place us, like our predecessors  at the creation of a new one.

That asks an urgent question of British foreign policy: How can we help design what is needed  an international system for todays world?

First, it means remembering who we are. In this uncertain world we need to remember that the rock breaching the choppy waters is the state.

At the end of the Cold War, there were some who said that the nation state would soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.

Call this the Davos view  that ever greater economic interconnectedness would melt borders away and make old national frontiers disappear.

You might assume that someone like me, of British, French, Irish and Austrian descent would sign up eagerly to that view. But while I am proud of my ancestry, I know who I am. I could only ever serve one country, the one I served on operations around the world. This United Kingdom.

Thats why its clear to me the Davos view is wrong. The nation state is back, if indeed it ever really went away.

We see it in Russia which is masking a declining population and a shrinking share of global GDP with swift, and decisive state power. We see it in China, whose belt and road initiative is state-led, designed to advance the interests of the state.

In the US too, we have been seeing for years an increasing assertion of American national interest.

Even here at home, it was the state that we turned to in the financial crisis to bail out the forces of globalisation.

Whatever you think of these actions, each of these shows the essential point the state is back. It is the primary vehicle of global influence and power. It comes before multilateralism. And its time we acknowledged it.

The good news is that Britain is starting from a strong position. When it comes to foreign policy, we are one of the heavyweights. Our diplomatic and intelligence networks provide us with penetrating insight. Our soft power from our trusted media, to our generous aid programme helps us project influence, and our political stability, financial markets, and reputation attract investment and enable trade.

And, of course, our membership of the many global clubs create alliances that give us reach.

Finally, and as a last resort, we can still project power through the convincing threat of force.

Insight, influence, trade, alliances and force. Five assets. Five fingers, if you like, of a foreign policy. A hand of friendship which can, if necessary, be clenched into a fist

But if those five fingers are to work effectively together, they need strategic direction. And that in turn demands a revolution at the heart of government.

Why?

Because that coordination is currently missing. Because the Foreign Office, once one of the four great offices of state, is a shadow of its former self.

Its role directing foreign policy has been gradually hollowed out. It has lost control of essential aspects of overseas influence like Europe, trade and development.

And it is obliged to take part in a tug-of-war with the Cabinet Office which subscribes to a more limited idea of national security.

This has created silos in our foreign policy and a culture in which different departments fight each other for resources at home and abroad.

The consequence of all this is that successive, talented foreign secretaries  including this one  have been hobbled. Theyve had the title, but they havent had the power.

Diplomacy can only go so far with decisions about trade, aid and defence taken elsewhere.

A new strategy matters now, more than ever.

Because the success, or failure, of our foreign policy is now more important to the future health and prosperity of our nation than it has been at any time since the end of the Second World War.

So, we need to make the Foreign Office the strategic engine of our foreign policy again as it was in 1945. To give it the authority to manipulate those five levers, just as the brain controls the fingers of the hand. To give it strategic oversight of a budget of up to five per cent of GDP to cover the needs of all the related departments. And let elected ministers make judgements on how to balance our strategic priorities.

We need to do something you might not expect me to say. We need to give Boris Johnson more power. So far, Ive talked about the challenges we face, and the danger of just carrying on as before. Ive made the case for an adjustment in the way we think about the world and the urgent need to give the Foreign Office strategic direction of our countrys foreign policy.

We need a reordering of priorities. Diplomacy. Defence. Trade. And Aid. We need to coordinate our strengths.

Theres a lot I could say about other aspects of our foreign policy but I want to finish by emphasising one important theme  the rule of law.

This goes right to the heart of who we are. Because these islands, by accidents of geography, history and war have a long, unbroken tradition of justice. Through that, we have played our part in keeping the flame of liberty alive elsewhere. That is something we can be deeply proud of.

Together with a hard-won reputation in commerce I think this helps explain why English law and British justice are prized as the gold standard around the world.

If you dont believe me look at China, where the Common Law is still used in Hong Kong. And if you think that is just some vestige of empire, look at Dubai, which has opened Common Law courts to any business that wants them.

You want more? Look at Astana, where the Kazakh president promised two years ago that its new financial centre would also be governed by English law.

And if none of these examples convinces you, then look at Russia. Vladimir Putin, the man who is doing his utmost to break the international order, is using UK jurisdictions to protect his assets.

And then tell me that British laws are not something people value.

This is where a coordinated approach, under an empowered Foreign Office, could make a huge difference.

Imagine if we turned this gift to our advantage. Consider how we might use our legal tradition to help other countries that already have strong legal connections to our own?

By lending them judges, foreign investors could be reassured, and our own companies could receive a powerful, competitive advantage.

Could we combine this with another strength  higher education? Offering scholarships to talented foreign students, to study English law here in Britain?

Could we devise a joined-up strategy that links justice to diplomacy, defence, trade and aid?

Could we use it to encourage anti-corruption efforts? To make trade deals a model of transparency?

To link aid, security and infrastructure projects to a long-term mission to promote the rule of law?

Could we be more ambitious still? Could we do more to unite financial markets around the world that already rely on English law, and create a true Commonwealth of common law?

Countries which are at once sovereign but enjoy growing business and investment opportunities by building on shared legal understandings?

As I draw to a close, I will just emphasise a few points.

I have spoken of the nation state. I have also spoken of that very traditional British strength  the rule of law

I have spoken of the place of our lawyers, and diplomats in crafting the international rule of law. It is a unique offering to the world.

But please dont infer that I mean we should act alone. We should not. I think we should act together, but more imaginatively and creatively than we have in recent years.

The British national interest is asserted, strengthened, amplified by alliances and multilateral institutions and reviving them is essential to our world.

We have a crucial, even essential, role to play to do that.

But multilateralism should never be seen as an end in itself, or a comforting return to a reassuring status quo.

For too long we have used the structures built by our ancestors as shields. The institutions they built werent defensive ramparts, but forward operating bases.

Not places to hide, but from which to project ideals, to fight for our values, and to ensure our national interest in security and the rule of law was upheld around the world.

By empowering the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and coordinating across government we can rediscover our unique role in the world and help write the rules again.
Alastair Stewart is a freelance writer, journalist, and teacher based in Edinburgh and Almeria. He regularly writes about politics, history, and culture for magazines across Europe.

I live and work in Spain and have done for the last four years. Every year, I spend three months in the UK, and the summer teaching. My family and friends are in Edinburgh and my holidays are spent there. I am and have always considered myself an economic migrant providing a service in Spain for which I am remunerated and duly taxed on.

When I left for Spain in 2014, I did so on one condition  minimal fuss. The opportunity to teach English abroad had arisen unexpectedly. I had limited Spanish proficiency and next to no knowledge of the country. It was a professional and personal gamble, and continuity of employment and negligible bureaucracy were of underlying importance.

In complete honesty, I wouldnt have taken the punt at all if I had to worry about visas and the right to work. I was 26, had never taught before, and it would have been too much of a risk and expense. If the job wanted me, terrific  if it didnt, Id go home. The lack of bureaucratic fluff made the situation infinitely easier and the rewards all the more satisfying when the whole thing worked out.

After four years, Brexit has altered this. Whatever the outcome of the negotiations its implausible that the paper load will remain light for much longer. Worse still, the Office for National Statistics has vanquished the myth that my case is peculiar or unique.

New data has revealed that two-thirds of the 784,900 British citizens recorded as long-term residents in the EU (excluding Ireland) are between 15 and 64 years old. For the first time, its been proven unequivocally that the expat in the sun cliche is more of a myth than a stereotype.

Most expats are in the prime of their working lives and have committed to a life abroad predicated on circumstances that are about to change. The same is true for the 3.7 million EU citizens living and working in the United Kingdom. They, too, are also living in the shadow of profound doubt and speculation as to what their lives will look like after March 29th, 2019.

There is an added dimension for both groups. Life, as they say, happens. I now have a Macedonian fiancee who also has a EU passport which has given her the right to come and join me in Spain with the same ease with which I first moved.

Compare this to her family as a warning of things to come. When both my fiancees parents, who only have Macedonian citizenship, wanted to come and visit us in Britain over the holiday period, they had to apply for visas. The processing time is 15 days, but three weeks before travel is advised by the Home Office. The fee is 114 per application and requires a bank statement, proof of employment or business registration and an invitation letter or hotel reservation (all need to be notarised and officially translated).

The total cost is around 150 per person, and the visitor visa is only valid for six months. In total their flights cost less, compared to my fiancees brother who hopped on a plane from the Netherlands and visited for a long weekend because he felt like it. The cost to him was only the flight.

Before she obtained EU citizenship, my future wifes life in Edinburgh  where we first met  was very different. As a non-EU citizen, not only did she need to be sponsored for work, but for six years she lived in fear of what the next incumbent of the Home Office might mean for her life and professional prospects. This, of course, is to say nothing of the astronomical costs of her education at Edinburgh University compared to students from EU countries.

Fast forward to our life in Spain, and history is repeating in reverse. We want to get married and will, eventually, want to settle in the UK. Heres the irony  while she is perfectly safe in Spain, Im now worried about what will happen after Brexit. Conversely, while I know I can return to the UK when I please, she has to worry about whether or not she will be able to at all, irrespective of our marriage.

My fiancee could have been from any one of the other 27 countries in the EU, and the situation would be the same. The same doubt, the same fear, is happening to hundreds of thousands of families. Those British and EU citizens who migrated exercised their democratic freedom of movement at a time when the prospect of an EU referendum, never mind Brexit, was not even a talking point.

Most, if not all, of those people, have moved abroad with designs on the future. Whether they were workers, young families or retirees, they based their actions on a status quo that showed so sign of changing. From buying property to sending the kids to school, they made decisions with lasting consequences in a paradigm now about to shift.

While the UK Government calls for the best deal for Britain it cannot guarantee a better arrangement for British or EU nationals than what we have now. As the instigating party of Brexit, the EU bloc will reciprocate with whatever treatment the British Government applies to European citizens in the UK.

In the wake of the 2016 Brexit vote, Mariano Rajoy reassured British expatriates that:

in the same way as Spain will defend the interests of its citizens, those British citizens resident in Spain, the millions of tourists who visit each year and the British companies established here can remain calm in this regard.

The UK Government likewise states:

we want to protect the status of EU nationals already living here and the only circumstances in which that wouldnt be possible is if British citizens rights in European member states were not protected in return.

This is an oft-overlooked fact of Brexit and worth reiterating. In the run-up to the 2014 Scottish referendum, Spanish officials were widespread in their hostility to the breakup of the UK and warned Scotland that it would fall to the back of the line for EU entry. The parallels and fears about Catalonia following a similar path as Scotland, if they believed they could secure EU membership, are clear to follow.

As the Windrush scandal has demonstrated, the UK Governments attitude to foreign nationals from outside the EU is not a kindly forbearance of what Europeans might expect after Brexit.

Reciprocation is critical, and it will be a question of who blinks first in what is now a hostage waiting game. Until then myself, my future wife, and millions of others cannot be assuaged by what the best deal means. We must wait under the shadow of quid pro quo, and worry.
Henry Newman is Director of Open Europe.

That Italy has collapsed into a political crisis wont surprise everyone. But the sense that the Italian President has vetoed the appointment of a candidate because they were too Eurosceptic is causing waves across the republic and beyond. Perhaps it shouldnt, because not too long ago Silvio Berlusconi was forced from office with the reported backing of Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy, apparently because they felt he was becoming a threat to the Euro. This time the winners of the elections in March  the Five Star Movement and the League  were blocked from putting forward a Finance Minister because he refused to rule out any circumstance when he might back leaving the Euro.

Angry calls are growing in Italy that democracy itself is under-threat. Five Star want to see the President impeached for violating the Constitution. Matteo Salvini, the Leagues leader, has said that Italian sovereignty is limited (something that wont surprise Brits used to groundhog debates here on Brexit). Salvini also complained that Berlin or Brussels were determining the Italian government, not Italians.

Of course its not quite the case that the Italian government is literally chosen by the EU. But Romano Prodi, a former Italian prime minister and ex-European Commission President, hardly helped dispel the idea of limits on Italian democracy when he insisted that EU and euro membership were irreversible conditions. Its true that the Italian constitution prohibits referendums on questions of foreign policy. But is it really impossible for an Italian parliament and government to make a sovereign decision to leave the common currency or indeed the EU itself, if it  in extremis  wanted to do so? If the Lira was reversible, why shouldnt the Euro be too?

After the Brexit referendum, I spent a long summer in Greece. One thing I heard time and again, when chatting with locals in the sleepy island backwater where my family live, was that Britain could leave the EU because we are a strong, powerful country. Greece couldnt because it is trapped. That view was shared by local entrepreneurs and university-educated businessmen.

Driving from the port, the graffiti scrawled oxi  no  was a fading reminder of Greeces referendum the year before. Then the country decisively voted to reject the bailout offered by the troika of the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the IMF. Nothing really changed. Greeces No vote seemed to have no significant effect on the course taken by the Greek Prime Minister. His combative finance minister, Yanis Varoufakis, was forced to fall on his sword, again reportedly because of demands from the EU. That whole episode did little to foster confidence in Greek, or indeed European, democracy.

Its terrifyingly common in Greece to hear idle comparisons drawn between Berlin (or Frankfurts) calling of the shots on European economic policy and the Nazi occupation of Greece. One of the sad ironies seems to be that  fairly or unfairly  the EU, despite its important strengths and achievements, hasnt always been seen as a force uniting Europe and soothing conflict. Its sometimes even seen precisely as the reverse, both because of the effects of the euro and, of course also, the decisions forced through in relation to the migration crisis.

It wouldnt be fair to call the EU a conspiracy against democracy, but it does a pretty good job sometimes of looking like one. Some like to trumpet the successes of the European Parliament, but that was somewhat undermined when Jean-Claude Juncker, the European Commission President, called it ridiculous. Despite an endless lamenting of the EUs democratic deficit, there is little serious attempt to address it. Theres the general sense that it follows the rules unless and until it decides not to follow them. And, as David Cameron rightly observed, European integration only seems to work in one direction  its a ratchet with no reverse gear.

The British people saw this when the question of membership was put to them in 2016. They decided by a sizeable margin that  despite the many benefits of membership and the significant downsides of leaving (which were repeatedly highlighted during the campaign)  they wanted out. Some thought that this would be the last chance in a generation to say no to the whole project and all the accretions of power it had collected since membership was last put to the test in 1975. As if to confirm the very concerns about the EU and democracy which many had smelled, Leave voters were then widely dismissed as stupid, gullible, ill-educated and racist. Immediately a campaign began to over-turn the result.

When Britain voted Leave, some Italian friends saw in it  counter-intuitively perhaps  a chance to save Europe. They thought: now, finally, Brussels will listen. They will recognise they have gone too far. But they didnt. If anything the reverse seems to have happened. Europes mainstream political and business elites have doubled down on Brussels. It sometimes seems compulsory for a European leader to take a pop at Britain before starting a speech or opining on Europe.

That might be changing now as Italys political landscape is reshaped by the earthquake of Marchs elections and the fallout of the crisis still unfolding today. Although Five Star are not simply a Eurosceptic party, the League certainly are. And the recent battles will likely strengthen Italian euroscepticism. In yesterdays Italian polls the League are growing in support, and chasing Five Star. The League are not yet a mainstream liberal party. They have morphed from a separatist party hoping to break away Italys northern states, to a national political force. It remains to be seen if Salvini can develop their appeal further, deal with their more outre views, and move them beyond protest politics.

One of the tragedies of contemporary continental European politics has been the absence of a serious liberal tradition of Euroscepticism, which would have checked the excesses of the EU project. Its been seen sometimes  in the Netherlands, in France, and in Denmark for example  but its generally too rare and too often voiced by the political extremes.

In Britain, Euroscepticism has had a home in the political centre-ground, both on the left and the right. In contrast, in politics across the Channel, Europe is for many a religion. And with Brexit, Britain is seen to have desecrated the church. This is precisely the problem Britain is now facing in our exit negotiations. Europes political elite  politicians, businessmen and women, ambassadors and journalists  are practically united in not just opposing Brexit, but in almost seeing in it an act of sacrilege.
James Frayne is Director of Public First and author of Meet the People, a guide to moving public opinion.

The energy with which committed Remain voters have voiced their opposition to the Brexit process, and the relative quiet of Leave voters, who were previously considered rowdy, seems to have convinced many that the latter regret their choice in June 2016. Not only is this wrong, but taking decisions on this basis, and significantly softening the settlement that the public is expecting, risks sparking a massive backlash against the mainstream parties.

In his blog last week, Dominic Cummings, the former campaign director of Vote Leave, wrote about what, in his view, will happen if the Government (this one or a future one) backtracks on Brexit  by perhaps, say, insisting on a second referendum. Further, Im told many of your committee support the Adonis/Mandelson/Campbell/Grieve/Goldman Sachs/Financial Times/CBI campaign for a rematch against the country. Do you know what Vote Leave 2 would feel like for the MPs who vote for that (and donors who fund it)? It would feel like having Lawrence Taylor chasing you and smashing you into the ground over and over and over again.

Whether you like Cummings style or not, its hard not to judge that hes right. Leave voters havent expressed remorse for their vote, even amid the backdrop of apocalyptic media coverage over the last couple of years. The number of people that think it was right to leave the EU has been stable for two whole years. This is extraordinary  and is certainly my experience from my own focus group research, in which people express bafflement that things are taking as long as they are, rather than any sort of remorse.

As Ive written many times, the immediate forces that propelled lLave voters to the polling stations last June were, chiefly, concerns about immigration and the financial costs of membership. But the backdrop to all of this was, and is, the existence of an anti-politics culture in Britain  a weariness of the political class and a general scepticism of the merits of what these people say. This has been growing since the early 1990s.

This made the Remain campaigns arguments much less powerful. When the warnings of a Prime Minister, Chancellor, Home Secretary, Bank of England Governor and even President of the United States are all discarded as if they came from B-List celebrities, you know that theres a problem with trust. Michael Gove was widely mocked for saying that people had had enough of experts. But the line played so well because it had a fundamental ring of truth to it. People are fed up with being told what to do by people with no record of success (as these voters see it).

If Brexit doesnt play out as people have been led to believe that it will, this anti-politics sentiment will move from being an important part of the backdrop to British politics to its central defining feature. Certain sections of the London and South East electorate might be pleased, but provincial England will be a scene of political chaos. Not only will the recent gains made by the Conservative Party in the Midlands and North be vulnerable, but its very status in these areas will be vulnerable, too. Every single opposition campaign, regardless of whether it was linked to the EU or not, will lead with two words: you lied.

Politicians in Westminster think UKIP is dead and buried. Not true, as Dominic Cummings implied  or, rather, not exactly true. People havent turned away from UKIP because they dont believe in the message, but because they think the job has been done: that the country is taking back control of its borders and finances. (This is why immigration is dropping down the list of public priorities too). If this looks as though its no longer the case, votes will come flooding back into UKIP and, perhaps more importantly, to independent candidates that campaign on the You Lied platform. Every town North of Watford will find one of those that can make that case well.

Established party candidates will find themselves under challenge everywhere. In every single interview with a public audience and at every single hustings, theyll spend most of their time explaining why they havent betrayed the electorate. They will struggle to make people believe any promises on any issue again. Anyone that spent any time in the 2000s and early 2010s researching public attitudes to the EU will remember the comments from older voters about Britain joining the EEC. We were told it was just about trade. If there was anger then, it will be mild compared to what will come.
We cant remember any Party member complaining to this site about being described as on the right of the Party. The same doesnt hold for those on the Partyson itsonon thenow, whats the best description?

Some Tories who are evidently not on the Partys right have an aversion to being described as on its left. They prefer other terms: modernising, liberal, progressive. This presumably flows from the fact that conservatism is a right-of-centre enterprise, and left, in Tory circles, is not always so much a description as a term of abuse. People on the right dont want to be associated with the left.

Then there are problems of categorisation. For example, Ken Clarke was one of great Thatcherite public service reformers. Is it really correct to label him as on the left of the party? Furthermore, whats left-wing and right-wing anyway? Does it make sense to categorise ideas and people by the seating arrangements of the National Assembly during the French Revolution? To pick another example more or less at random, is support for the free market more right-wing than backing for protection? Or, to choose a very topical one: is Brexit right-wing? (Or, to show how contentious these matters can be, reactionary, progressive, liberal, illiberal, progressive, regressive?)

We make these cautionary points only to dismiss them. In Conservative terms as in any other, left and right are a good rough guide to a cause or a person. Those on the left of the Party have a certain flavour: moderate, consensual, socially liberal, relatively relaxed about migration, pro-EU, uninclined to rail about liberal elites and esablishments. That there are exceptions to these rules only proves the point. The self-conscious Tory left has its own history and narrative, running back from Cameron through Major to Macmillan to Baldwin to Disraeli  and the One Nation ideal that the old magician never actually proclaimed but which his words and deeds arguably implied.

Which brings us to the Tory Reform Group, which yesterday announced a mass of new Parliamentary patrons. Heres the full list. Bim Afolami, Stuart Andrew, Victoria Atkins, Justine Greening, Nigel Huddleston, Seema Kennedy, John Lamont, Jeremy Lefroy, Rachel Maclean, Johnny Mercer, Guy Opperman, Anna Soubry, Tom Tugendhat, Robin Walker. They join Nick Boles, Nicky Morgan and Nick Soames. Part of the rationale for the appointments presumably is that a batch of the TRGs former MP patrons lost their seats or stood down last year or in 2015: Neil Carmichael, Jane Ellison, Jonathan Evans, Richard Fuller, Laura Sandys.

Some of the new patrons are, as it were, hereditary Tory lefties, with a family background in the tradition: Victoria Atkins, Robin Walker. There is a senior Minister, Guy Opperman, and one of the Prime Ministers PPSs, Seema Kennedy. It is striking that not a single sitting Cabinet member is a patron. But ambition is not necessarily a deterrent from joining the list. For example, Tugendhat is a man on the rise  already Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, having been elected to the Commons only in 2015. He makes a big speech today about foreign policy.

The TRG is not the only force on the Partys centre-left. Bright Blue has been very active in recent years, carving out distinctive positions on human rights and climate change. Its writers make a significant contribution to this site. More broadly, the left of the Parliamentary Party may be less noisy than the right, but that isnt to say that it is any less strong.

We once wrote that the Tory Left was Out, Loud and Proud. On reflection, those first two labels were questionable. But there are good reasons why it is a solid force in the Parliamentary Party. David Cameron was party leader for over ten years, and many new MPs elected during his years shared his broad outlook. There is a slipstream of MPs on the Partys centre-left who are quiet fellow-travellers. The gradual rise of Conservative women MPs has probably had a moderating influence. There is a backlash in some quarters against the ERG and Jacob Rees-Mogg. All this will count in the event of a leadership election.
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CORNWALL, Ontario  In the early 1950s, the Clercs de St. Viateur opened the Classical College in Cornwall. The College was open from 1955 until 1968, but the students who attended that school during those 13 years still have fond memories.

Those years were jewels as far as Francophone culture and education were concerned, said Andre Vermette, a graduate of the college who was one of the students who boarded at the school.

Vermette and his fellow alumni are organizing a reunion in honour of the 50th anniversary of the colleges last year.

The event will be held on Saturday, Sept. 15, 2018 at the Nav Centre.

We want to invite anyone who had any ties to the college in the community, said Vermette.

The Cornwall Classical College was located in Cornwalls East End where St. Lawrence College is now. Through a partnership program with the University of Ottawa, the college offered a classical Liberal Arts education for students from Grade 9 right up until they graduated eight years later with their Bachelor of Arts degree.

Pierre Guindon, another graduate from the college who grew up in Cornwall said that this classical education has influenced him throughout his life.

My love of classical music started there, he said. The first classical piece I heard was Bolero by Ravel.

Guindon went on to transfer to the University of Ottawa. After he graduated he played in the CFL for the Winnepeg Blue Bombers and the Montreal Alouettes before becoming Solicitor for the City of Cornwall.

The Classical College was not just restricted to male students however, female students like Madeleine Fournier were allowed in the college at the post-secondary level.

Alumni of the Cornwall Classical College or community members who supported the school are all invited to the reunion in September.

Those interested in tickets or more information are asked to reach out to Ronald Lalonde at lalonderonald@gmail.com
LANCASTER, Ontario  On Saturday May 19, community organizations came together to retrieve garbage pollution from the St. Lawrence River. Efforts started at 10 a.m. at the South Lancaster Wharf.

This is our first year in Lancaster, said Mike Seguin, who works with the Ministry of the Environment. So we chose the Wharf as a starting point. Well have divers in the water today and theyre working with the South Lancaster Fish and Game Club. The club is providing the boats. Well be working around the Wharf today and the Glengarry Carin.

According to Karen Douglas Cooper, who works with the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences, this is the third year of cleanup efforts between South Lancaster, Cornwall and Akwesasne. Lancaster was chosen for the tenth cleanup event. Since 2016, over 20 tons of garbage has been removed from the St. Lawrence River by everyone who makes the Great St. Lawrence River Cleanup possible.

People were concerned they were seeing debris in the water, said Douglas Cooper. We noticed at the River Institute too, things like shopping carts and bicycles. The shopping carts are actually killing the fish, so we are really concerned about that.

Some of the organizations and community groups present at the cleanup were the South Glengarry Fire Department, St. John Ambulance, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), the Seaway Valley Divers, the Cornwall Lunker Club, the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences and the South Lancaster Fish and Game Club. Over the last two years, over 700 volunteers have helped to clean up our river.

We all really care about the river, said Douglas Cooper.

The Cornwall Harbour cleanup will take place on July 22, and the Akwesasne cleanup will take place on Aug. 3. For more information about volunteering, contact Karen Douglas Cooper or Pam Griffiths at 613-936-6620 or email kcooper@riverinstitute.ca.
CORNWALL, Ontario  The Canadian Union of Public Service Employees (CUPE) announced in a press release on Tuesday, May 29 that the City of Cornwall had rejected their most recent offer.

Representatives of CUPE locals 234, 3251, 3251-01 and 5734 met on Thursday, May 24, and Friday, May 25, with the City of Cornwall, the CUPE press release reads. CUPE made a substantive offer to address the Citys stated concerns in bargaining. CUPE made a major move that could have ended the current strike.

The union stated that they received word from the City that they had rejected their most recent offer and had instead requested a supervised vote of their most recent offer to the Union.

According the CUPE the offer made to the union by the City on May 15 the day before the strike began contained provisions that were rejected by 93 percent of their members in the strike mandate.

CUPEs representatives remain committed to the bargaining process, said Alison Denis, CUPE National Representative. We hope the City is able to exhibit some of the same resolve to find a negotiated settlement. So far, they appear to be happy to keep people out on strike and have Cornwall residents go without vital services. We are disappointed, but we remain available to bargain if the City changes its mind.

The date for the supervised vote will be determined by the Ministry of Labour.

The City for its part said that it believed that its employees should hear the offer that their union rejected.

It is important that our employees are well informed and fully aware of the Citys fair best and final offer, said Mayor OShaughnessy in an emailed statement to the media from the City of Cornwall.

The City said that it would be preparing materials to communicate their offer directly to the employees.

The City would also like to recognize that our employees have conducted their activities with professionalism, courtesy and respect for our residents through this labour disruption, the statement reads.
SOUTH DUNDAS, Ontario  On May 24, 2018 at approximately 7:11 a.m. Stormont, Dundas & Glengarry (SD&G) Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) officer responded to a single vehicle collision on Highway 401, South Dundas Township.

Investigation has indicated that a commercial rental truck was travelling eastbound on Highway 401 when, for reasons under investigation, left the roadway coming to rest in the center median near Church road overpass. The adult male driver (lone occupant) of the rental truck driver was uninjured. Officers located boxes containing unstamped, fine cut raw tobacco in the rental truck.

Further investigation revealed that a pair of vehicles (rental trucks) were travelling in a convoy and were heavily loaded with boxes containing unstamped, fine cut raw tobacco. Three adult males, aged 28, 31 and 35 years old from Brampton, Ontario were arrested without incident for Possession of Unstamped Tobacco.

SD&G OPP received assistance from the CRTF (Cornwall Regional task Force) which is a joint forces partnership that includes the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Ontario Provincial Police, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Ontario Ministry of Finance.

The three adult males were released and will appear in Morrisburg Court on July 3rd, 2018. RCMP Charges for Possession of Unstamped Tobacco, contrary to the Excise Act (2001) are pending.

14,662 Kilograms of tobacco were seized, with an estimated value of $1,319,580.00.
While HP Inc. delivered strong results in both its PC and print segments during the most recent quarter, the company's nascent 3-D printing business is also showing much momentum, CEO Dion Weisler said Tuesday.

HP's Multi Jet Fusion 3-D printers are used for printing production-quality manufacturing parts, and use technology that HP honed in the inkjet market to control prints down to a finely detailed, precise level (known as a "voxel" level).

[Related: HP Taps New Finance Chief As Cathie Lesjak Moves To Interim COO Role]

During a conference call with reporters Tuesday, Weisler pointed to a number of positive signs in his company's 3-D printing business.

"3D print has had yet another impressive quarter. What we're seeing is really strong uptick in manufacturing printing, rather than prototyping. And that's obviously our focus," Weisler said. "We've got some of the largest manufacturers in the world now beginning to put in double digit units into their digital factories. So we're seeing a lot of repeat orders."

One customer, longtime 3D printing services firm Forecast 3D, is "expanding and upgrading its entire fleet" with HP's latest Multi Jet Fusion model, the 4210, Weisler said during a conference call with analysts on Tuesday. Forecast 3D is "expecting to produce millions of parts on Multi Jet Fusion in the coming year," he said.

Overall, "we're encouraged by that business," he said -- though adding that "it is, as I've always said, a business for the long term."

Weisler also mentioned plans to launch four new Jet Fusion 3-D printer models--which will offer color prints and will be focused on prototyping--in the second half of this year. HP is launching a separate channel program for the new Jet Fusion 3-D printers that doesn't require partners to provide servicing.

"We announced the technology, but they're not yet delivering, so that will give obviously a shot in the arm of the revenue going for quarters to come. And we also announced our move into [3D printers] around metals technology," Weisler said during the conference call with reporters.

"This is a long game for us--it's a future part of our strategy that plays out five to 10 years," he said. "But I am absolutely convinced that it is very disruptive technology to tap into the $12 trillion manufacturing market."

Weisler made the comments Tuesday in connection with HP reporting results from its second quarter of fiscal 2018, ended April 30. The quarter saw revenue grow 13 percent year-over-year, to $14 billion, up from $12.39 billion a year earlier.

The quarter saw double-digit sales growth in both the personal systems and printer segments for HP, and marked the sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for the personal systems division. Weisler said it's an important sign that personal systems "grew double digits yet again, off the back of double digits this time last year."

Q2 also marked the fifth consecutive quarter where HP's personal systems and printing businesses grew together.

During the conference call with analysts, Weisler praised the efforts of channel partners in helping to deliver the strong Q2 results. "For us the channel is a great competitive advantage," Weisler said. "We are deeply committed to listening to our partners, understanding their customers' needs and delivering innovation that drives growth."

A high point for the quarter in print was the company's commercial hardware business, which had been in revenue decline prior to the acquisition of Samsung's printer business. The addition of Samsung print, and in particular Samsung's A3 lineup, helped drive 27-percent revenue growth in commercial hardware during Q2 from the year before, HP reported.

Notably, commercial print hardware sales were also up 11 percent over the previous quarter sequentially, which had also included Samsung print, HP Chief Financial Officer Cathie Lesjak said during the conference call with reporters.

HP's supplies business grew 8 percent year-over-year during the second fiscal quarter. Overall, the print business rose 11 percent to $5.24 billion in revenue, compared to $4.73 billion during the same period last year.

Meanwhile, in personal systems, revenue climbed 14.5 percent to $8.76 billion during Q2--up from $7.65 billion a year earlier.

The growth was driven by 15-percent growth in notebooks and 16-percent growth in desktop PC sales, as well as an increase of 9 percent in workstation revenue.

Non-GAAP net earnings during the quarter rose to $798 million, or 48 cents per diluted share, up from $685 million, or 40 cents per diluted share, during the same period a year earlier.

Also on Tuesday, HP promoted an 11-year veteran of the company, Steve Fieler, to serve as its new chief financial officer. Current CFO Cathie Lesjak will become chief operating officer on an interim basis before a planned retirement in 2019.
FireMon plans to purchase cyber situation awareness provider Lumeta to help security teams identify all the assets on their network and understand how they're connected.

The Overland Park, Kansas-based vendor said its intended acquisition of Somerset, N.J.-based Lumeta will help enterprises with discovering, mapping and analyzing their on-premise and cloud connections. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. By using Lumeta's technology to identify new devices, routers, and cloud connections, customers can extend the capabilities of FireMon's platform to cover previously unknown areas of exposure.

"It's a truly unique technology. It's best in class," Satin Mirchandani, FireMon's CEO, told CRN. "Channel partners should be really excited."

[RELATED: Pushing Further Into The Cloud, FireMon Acquires Security Broker FortyCloud]

FireMon launched an analysis last year of whether the company should build, buy or partner its way into the real-time network monitoring space, Mirchandani said. While that analysis was underway, Mirchandani said FireMon was approached by a banker looking to gauge the company's interest in purchasing Lumeta, which helped jumpstart negotiations.

"Their technology is well-known to our technical team," Mirchandani said. "It's proven."

FireMon and Lumeta's offerings are complementary not only from a technology standpoint, Mirchandani said, but also from a customer standpoint. Although FireMon has some federal customers, Mirchandani said the company's core business is heavily tilted from the commercial space, while Lumeta grew up in the U.S. government space before being spun out by Bell Labs (AT&T's R&D arm).

Enterprise attack surfaces can be reduced with Lumeta's technology, FireMon said, and elements and activities that represent a security risk can be exposed. The challenge of getting a handle on network activity and communication is significantly magnified for enterprises and government agencies with large-scale network operations that extend into the cloud.

Lumeta's technology will enable FireMon customers to extend security to on-premise and cloud assets that were previously unknown, ensuring the right security measures are in place in an automated way while utilizing an organization's existing security infrastructure. FireMon said this will result in significantly improved security without adding an operational burden on security teams.

Quite a bit of overlap exists between FireMon and Lumeta's solution provider communities, Mirchandani said, and bringing the two firms together should essentially double the total addressable market for channel partners of both companies.

"I don't know a single FireMon customer that couldn't use Lumeta, or vice versa," Mirchandani said.

The deal is subject to customary closing conditions, and is expected to be completed this quarter. FireMon intends to continue operating Lumeta as a standalone business, with Reggie Best continuing as Lumeta's president as well as joining the executive leadership team at FireMon.

FireMon intends to quickly put together a joint FireMon-Lumeta offering that can be sold through channel partners of either company, Mirchandani said.

The company hopes to have a joint partner program led by FireMon global channel chief Kurt Mills in place and active around July 1, Mirchandani said, and expects to be very active bringing an integrated product offering to market through the channel in the second half of 2018.

Lumeta was founded in 2000, and employs between 11 and 50 people, according to LinkedIn. Since then, the company has raised $21.9 million in five rounds of outside equity, according to CrunchBase, with $13 million in private equity funding coming in during October 2015.

The Lumeta announcement comes kess than two years after FireMon purchased Israel-based cloud infrastructure security broker FortyCloud to boost its capabilities across all major cloud platforms. FireMon said at the time that the deal was intended to make the transition to cloud easier for enterprise clients starting to move more of their infrastructure to the cloud.
The Guangzhou Cruise Industry Alliance has been formed following the second meeting of the Guangzhou Cruise Development Roundtable.

Parties involved include the China Cruise and Yacht Industry Association (CCYIA), Nanshan Peoples Government in Guangzhou and the Guangzhou CCCC Cruise Home Port Investment Company.

Wu Qiang, co-president of CCYIA; and Cai Chaolin, member of the Standing Committee of Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee and Secretary of Nansha District Committee, and relevant leaders of Guangzhou Municipal Government attended the founding ceremony.

The alliance is aiming to promote cruise industry development in Guangzhou, bringing government entities together with private companies.

Key agenda items include port development, supply chain, cruise ship design and construction, passenger and crew sourcing and more. The alliance has 25 members, according to a statement.
Tracing its history back thousands of years, Malta has been a strategic port location in the Mediterranean for conquering navies, and now serves as a booming cruise port.

Expectations in Valletta call for just under 800,000 cruise passengers in 2018, with TUI Cruises and P&O Cruises homeporting.

Among other highlights was the christening of the Seabourn Ovation on May 11.

Expecting further expansion, the port will extend a quay in time for the 2020 season, hoping to attract even larger ships.

Located in essentially the center of the Mediterranean, Valletta offers a one-day sailing distance to key destinations in the Eastern and Western Mediterranean, and can fit into most itineraries.

Valletta played host to the 52nd General Assembly of MedCruise last week, and was one of six founding port members of the organization in the mid 1990s. Attendance for MedCruise was estimated at a strong 130 people.

The port is integrated in the city center, offering seven berths. Four of those berths are located within a 15-minute walk to the city center.

A long list of attractions cater to premium shore excursion offerings, and guests exploring on their own should be happy with no shortage of points of interest near cruise berths.

A second port on offer is also on the growth trek, as Gozo caters to small ships, offering an exclusive anchorage.

Gozo is now seeing around 20 calls a year, he said, mostly from small and premium cruise lines.

A stop in Gozo is a good compliment to calling in Valletta. They are two completely different ports, added Ivan Mifsud, managing director of Malta Cruise Services.

A local cruise network in Valletta brings together key parties involved in the cruise business, ranging from port officials to tourism agents, maritime agents, the pilots, airport officials, taxi drivers and the local police.
Canadas fourth and fifth largest bank confirmed that fraudsters stole the personal and financial information of some of the banks customers. Between the two banks, an estimated 90,000 customers have been affected.

Bank of Montreal breach

The Bank of Montreal (BMO), Canadas fourth largest bank, issued the following statement confirming the breach:

On Sunday, May 27, fraudsters contacted BMO claiming that they were in possession of certain personal and financial information for a limited number of customers. We believe they originated the attack from outside the country. We took steps immediately when the incident occurred and we are confident that exposures identified related to customer data have been closed off. We have notified and are working with relevant authorities as we continue to assess the situation.

The bank is in the process of contacting affected customers and urged customers to monitor their accounts for any suspicious activity.

A spokesman for the bank told Reuters that it believed that less than 50,000 of the banks 8 million customers across Canada were hacked. He declined to say if any customers lost money as a result of the attack. The spokesman added that the attackers threatened to make the data public.

Simplii Financial breach

Simplii Financial, a subsidiary of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, Canadas fifth largest bank, also confirmed on Sunday that fraudsters claimed to have electronically accessed certain personal and account information for approximately 40,000 of Simplii's clients.

The bank implemented enhanced online fraud monitoring and online banking security measures and is investigating and verifying the accuracy of the hackers claims. Simplii said it intends to reach out to affected customers but urged all customers to use a complex password and PIN as well as monitor their accounts for suspicious activity.

Furthermore, there is no indication that clients of the main Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce were impacted.

Simplii did not mention if attackers threatened to leak the stolen data to the public like in the case of the Bank of Montreal.

Why weren't banks using enhanced online security measures all along?

The Canadian Bankers Association told Bloomberg, This past weekends cyber security incident is an extremely rare occurrence for Canadian banks, which are known for their leading cyber-security practices. The banks involved in claims of a potential data breach acted swiftly in response, launched full-scale investigations and took immediate action to enhance online security measures to protect customers.

Yet Dr. Ann Cavoukian, the former privacy commissioner of Ontario, told the Financial Post, When youre dealing with financial information, you should have the highest level of privacy protection possible.

Granted, both banks did take steps to enhance online security measures after being contacted by the attackers, but Cavoukian asked, The question that begs is why werent you engaging in those measures all along?
David Jewberg, according to Oleksiy Kuzmenko in his interesting and entertaining dissection of Jewberg on Bellingcat, is a fictitious online persona. A persona whose creation has been attributed to Dan Rapoport, an attribution he denies.

The David Jewberg persona trolled Russian and Ukrainian media. Jewberg is allegedly an American soldier, analyst, military history specialist, officer of the U.S. Army, political consultant of the U.S. State Department, Department of Defense, and National Security analyst. The personal existed online from at least 2015-2018, when the Kuzmenko piece seemed to have caused the persona to evaporate. Facebook, gone. LinkedIn, gone.

What makes Jewberg different than past online fictions is the inclusion of real persons supporting the fiction in proper context. Who can forget the fictitious persona of Robin Sage and her online engagement with members of the Defense Department? Robin Sage used a stock photo and then evolved contacts and context directly one on one with individuals  social engineering at its best.

Kuzmenko notes how the photos of Jewberg are really Rapoports childhood friends. He also points out how individuals within the social media milieu, with knowledge of the hoax, used their own presence to provide a sound boost to the opinions of Jewberg.

Why was David Jewberg created?

It appears from this seat that Jewberg was created to socially engineer and troll the Russian and Ukrainian communities both at home and abroad. Perhaps only Rapoport can tell us, and he denies having created Jewberg.

Rapoport is an emigre from Latvia (he was a child when his parents emigrated from the USSR) to the United States. He is known to be a supporter of Putin opposition figure Alexei Navalny. The Russian annexation of the Crimea occurred in 2014; the creation of Jewberg evolved circa 2015.

Looking beyond Kuzmenko's write-up

First off, I confirmed that Jewberg was indeed a topic of conversation within the Russian expat community of activists and opposition members in the United States. Some were convinced he quit his Defense Department gig and became a public voice because of the U.S. presidential election results of 2016, while others viewed him as real as Dostoevskys Prince Lyov Nikolayevitch Myshkin in the classic "The Idiot."

While Kuzmenkos piece caused quite the stir, one should dig into a far more interesting piece that contains more grist for the mill. Advanced Training Center (Russian language) on the blog hosted by its founder, Ruslan Karmanov, was found to be far more granular.

Karmanov in a multi-part dissection of David Jewberg, aka Dasha, asked the questions: Is David Jewberg real or a bot? Who is behind Jewberg? (Karmanov also notes that Kuzmenko interviewed him for Kuzmenko's own article on Jewberg.)

Karmanov, concludes that Rapoport is behind Jewberg  providing photographic evidence and his personal analysis. He further notes that the appearance of bot-like capabilities existed given the seemingly always-on presence (I wonder if Karmanov has met a teenager?) that Jewberg exhibited on Facebook.

Karmanovs piece is worth a gander just for the screenshots that he captured during his own one-on-one engagement with Jewberg via social networks and email.

Why social engineer a dialog?

Rapoports desire to social engineer the political discussion, beginning in 2015 with respect to Russia, seems to be tied to the Crimea annexation by Russia. The Jewberg dialog was global, kicking up dust and taking inflammatory positions on a number of global issues, always with a consistent anti-Russian slant. The persona also demonstrated thin skin, using the block function to remove detractors or those who questioned the authenticity of the persona from the social network threads. Thousands of individuals followed Jewberg on his social networks. Online interviews via email were conducted with both Russian and Ukranian media organizations.

The person behind Jewberg invested significant time and energy into creating and maintaining this persona.

The creation of the persona and forgery of U.S. government IDs for the purpose of posting on social networks may put the creator in legal hot water. The likelihood that the Department of Justice and Department of Defense decides it is worth their time is, however, very low and thus we may never know the rest of the story.

Not the first, not the last fictitious online persona

Rapoport is certainly not the first to create an aggrandize persona, and Rapoports public and private documentation of his own engagement with his apparent fictitious alter-ego Jewberg leads one to wonder about schizophrenia (tongue in cheek).

The bottom line? As the Department of Justice's indictment of 13 individuals who were engaged in manipulating social networks and the narrative from the Russian Internet Research Agency shows, the creation of fake personas for a variety of purposes continues.

We are now in the era in which President Reagans famous quote, taken in a different context, demonstrates great prescience: Trust, but verify  ,    Doveryai, no proveryai.
ESSEX  The Connecticut River Museum heralds the return of the re-creation of Adriaen Blocks Onrust for public cruises on Saturday, June 2.

In 1614, the Dutch explorer and his crew investigated coastal New York, Long Island, Connecticut and Rhode Island in pursuit of developing trade partnerships with Native Americans. Block became the first known European to travel up the Connecticut River to just north of Hartford, a distance of approximately 60 miles from Long Island Sound)\.

The re-created Onrust was launched in 2009 by The Onrust Project, an all-volunteer non-profit out of New York, which built the vessel after painstakingly researching traditional Dutch shipbuilding techniques. The museum and the project have again partnered to bring the vessel to Connecticut.

Travelling from New York to the Connecticut River Museum, the vessel follows much of the same path that Block took in 1614. It departs from Kingston, N.Y., travels to New York Bay, traverses the treacherous Hell Gate, enters Long Island Sound and sails to the mouth of the Connecticut River. The Onrust then completes the last leg of its journey, sailing up the Connecticut River, which Block named the Versche, or Fresh River.

The Onrust will be a floating exhibit at the museum through early October, and will be open for dockside tours, school and Scout programs, along with public cruises and charters. Public cruises run June - October, Thursdays - Mondays at 2 p.m., 4 p.m., and 6 p.m. (sunset) on Friday and Saturday. For more information on the Connecticut River Museum and the Onrust, visit www.ctrivermuseum.org.

This year, Onrust is being brough to Hartford, joining Riverfront Recapture on Thursday, June 21 through Sunday, June 24. Visitors can experience dockside and onboard programs, informational exhibits, activity stations, and cruises. Learn more at http://www.riverfront.org/events/onrust. On Monday, June 25, at 5:30 p.m., as a celebration of the museums newest exhibit, Onrust will host a Thirsty River: 400 Years of Drink, Life, and Reform in the Connecticut River Valley themed cruise in Middletown with guest speaker Steve Gencarella. A sunset cruise is planned for 7 p.m.. Tickets for the Middletown event may be reserved by calling the Connecticut River Museum front desk at 860-767-8269.

The Connecticut River Museum is located on the Essex waterfront at 67 Main St., in Essex and is open daily from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. The museum, located in the historic Steamboat Dock building, offers exhibits and programs about the history and environment of the Connecticut River. For a full listing of Museum programs or to buy tickets for the Onrust, RiverFare, and many other events, go to www.ctrivermuseum.org or call 860-767-8269.
MILFORD  Mayor Benjamin Blake isnt exactly stopping strangers on the sidewalk to tell them about the citys latest triumph. But spend a little time with him and youll get the feeling that hed like to.

For the third year in a row, weve passed a budget with a decrease in the mill rate, he said. And one has to wonder whether thats ever been done in Connecticut. Its easy to do for one year, but three years is quite an accomplishment.

Milfords mill rate was 27.84 for the 2016-17 fiscal year, 27.79 for 2017-18 and itll be 27.74 when the 2018-19 fiscal year begins on July 1.

Granted, were not talking about very large drops in the mill rate, but at least were moving in the right direction, he said. Some towns in the state are seeing their mill rates increase by two, three, even six percent.

The Board of Aldermen recently passed a $210 million budget, one that maintains the current high level of city services, according to Blake. He said that, for example, the city is going full speed ahead with an ongoing street repaving effort.

The city is also in the process of building a new police headquarters and there are other infrastructure improvements coming soon, such as eight new pickleball courts at Eisenhower Park and a vastly improved dog park nearby.

Weve paved 20 miles of streets in this fiscal year, and were on track to repeat that in the next year, he said. Milford has about 200 miles of city streets.

Of that $210 million figure, $93.2 million will be for the school district. Town Hall says that an additional $20 million will be spent on school district employee health benefits and other so-called in-kind services for city schools, as well as paying for school debt service, about $5.5 million a year. Aldermen also added another $80,000 in final budget negotiations which will be spent on the school district.

Blake and other officials at Town Hall credited the mill rate drop to an increase in the grand list  the amount of taxable property in the city. At this time last year it was $6.538 billion and now its $6.566 billion, city officials say. In the last few months two small subdivisions were built  something that Milford hasnt seen much of of late because the city is running out of undeveloped real estate.

Theres also a new self-storage building that opened recently and another thats under construction, combined with a smattering of new construction projects here and there. The mayor said about 450 new businesses moved into Milford over the past 12 months.

Blake also said the citys triple-A bond rating has made it cheaper to borrow money for major infrastructure projects.

Stratford, the town across the Housatonic, has about the same population, number of homes and miles of streets, but its mill rate is greater  39.97. Still, this is a slight drop from last year, when it was 39.90. Stratford also has a much lower grand list, at $4.69 billion.

jburgeson@ctpost.com
Motivated to make the Democratic party more inclusive of people of color, Hartford lawyer Arunan Arulampalam ended his bid for state treasurer Tuesday.

His decision leaves two Democrats, endorsed candidate Shawn Wooden and challenger Dita Bhargava, to battle it out for their partys nomination in August.

The tone around this race had the potential to get really divisive and conversations among our community and a lot of communities of color were getting divisive, Arulampalam said in an interview Tuesday. I thought it was the best thing for me to step aside.

On the Democratic side, the treasurers bid fielded the most candidates of color of any statewide race. Arulampalam is the son of Sri Lankan refugees, while Wooden, former president of the Hartford city Council, is African American, and Greenwich head fund manager Bhargava is Indian American.

Arulampalam won solid support at the state Democratic Convention earlier this month, receiving 32 percent of the vote in a first ballot and 42 percent in a second ballot  more than Bhargava and enough to automatically qualify for the primary.

Nobody is forcing me out of this race, Arulampalam specified, although he raised the least amount of campaign contributions of any treasurer candidate, Republican or Democrat, according to April filings with the State Elections Enforcement Commission.

Instead, the attorney at Updike, Kelly and Spellacy has turned his attention to a new goal. Since the convention, Arulampalam has been pondering how to make the Democratic party more diverse, he said.

After the November election, Arulampalam now plans to work with Democratic endorsed gubernatorial candidate Ned Lamont to facilitate conversations about diversity and inclusion within the party. Lamont and Arulampalam discussed this idea in the past two weeks, Patty McQueen, a Lamont spokesman said.

I respect his desire to lead a conversation in our party about diversity among candidates and in our ranks and I look forward to joining him in that effort after the November election, Lamont said in a statement Tuesday.

Promoting diversity within the party has become a drumbeat among many Democrats in recent months. In late April, a group of New Haven ministers called for the resignation of party chairman Nick Balletto, charging that state Democrats are ignoring people of color.

At the Democratic convention May 18 and 19, Latina union organizer Eva Bermudez Zimmerman, who announced a bid for lieutenant governor days before the convention, received a wave of support from Democrats dissatisfied with having two white people, Lamont and endorsed lieutenant governor candidate Susan Bysiewicz, heading the partys ticket.

Wooden, who lead in delegates support by wide margins at the convention, said Arulampalams ideas are needed in the party in the future.

Bhargava, who also commended Arulampalams run, said his departure leaves her campaign energized.

I am confident voters will see I am the best choice for state treasurer," she said.

Republicans endorsed retired investment executive Thad Gray of Salisbury for treasurer.

The current state treasurer, Democrat Denise Nappier, announced in January she would not seek a sixth term in 2018.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
STAMFORD  A Democratic city representative who has said he may challenge his partys endorsed candidate for a state House of Representatives seat said he still is considering it.

Anzelmo Graziosi said he will make up his mind this week because the countdown began Tuesday on the 14 days the state gives petitioning candidates to gather the signatures needed to earn a place on the ballot.

I havent decided yet, said Graziosi, a member of the Stamford Board of Representatives from District 13, the Westover neighborhood. Ill have to do it in the next few days.

Earlier this month Stamford Democrats endorsed Matt Blumenthal, son of U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, over Graziosi in the race for the 147th District seat.

Graziosi cried foul, saying Blumenthal moved to the district in late March and immediately filed paperwork to run in an effort to use Stamford voters to build his political career. The Democratic City Committee did everything they could to put (Blumenthal) in a position to win, Graziosi has said, and did not take seriously his bid or those of other worthy city Democrats.

Blumenthal, 32, was born in Stamford and moved to Greenwich when he was 9. He graduated Brunswick, a Greenwich private school, Harvard University and Yale Law School. In between he joined the Marine Corps Reserve and in 2011 commanded a rifle platoon in Afghanistan. Blumenthal has said he is rooted in Stamford and committed to serving the district, which covers Springdale, Westover, North Stamford and western Darien.

Graziosi, a 46-year-old attorney and father of five, is weighing whether to petition for a spot on the ballot in a Democratic primary, which would take place in August, or go up against Blumenthal as an independent candidate.

The District 147 seat will be vacated by six-term state Rep. William Tong, who is running for state attorney general in November.

Graziosi is not the only Democrat in the city that is forcing the party to choose among candidates for a House of Representatives seat.

Former Green Party candidate David Michel and newcomer Corey Paris are challenging incumbent Terry Adams, who has represented District 146 for two terms, since 2014.

The Democratic City Committee is slated to hold its nominating convention for that race Tuesday night.

Adams, who also sits on the Stamford Board of Representatives, is a member of the city committee.

After Adams won his second term in the House in 2016, he said he would resign from the Stamford Board of Representatives. But he ran for the board last year and won, and is representing District 3 - the South End - for an eighth term.

Adams is a longtime Pitney Bowes employee and a city resident for more than four decades who has been a community leader for the South End.

Michel tried to unseat Adams in 2016 but was denied a run in a Democratic primary because not enough time had passed since his switch from membership in the Green Party.

Michel, an eyewear designer in his 40s, is known for organizing cleanups of Stamfords waterfront and other activism to protect the environment. He says his campaign is also focused on eliminating special treatment and tax breaks for big corporations and developers.

Paris, 26, is from Little Rock, Ark., and running for the Connecticut Legislature for the first time. He is development director of the Hispanic Health Council in Hartford and a parishioner of Faith Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church in Stamford, where he announced his candidacy in March.

On his Facebook page Paris says he moved to Connecticut after graduating high school and starting his post-graduate education at a community college in Kansas, finishing at Western Connecticut State University. He says his chief motivation for running is to improve education for Stamfords young people and equip them with the skills needed to succeed in the workforce.

District 146 includes Shippan, the South End and downtown. In the last election, Adams got 69 percent of the vote.

Adams, Michel and Paris will vie for votes from seven delegates at the Democrats nominating convention Tuesday. District 146 is considered safely Democratic, so whoever wins a party primary will likely get the House seat.

acarella@stamfordadvocate.com.
Each year, Entrepreneur releases its list of top 500 franchises. That list is created by measuring dozens of metrics, including price, branding, reach and longevity.

Here were the top 10 entries this year:

McDonalds 7-Eleven Dunkin Donuts The UPS Store ReMax Sonic Great Clips Taco Bell Hardees Sport Clips

All of these franchises have shown great success over time, but even among them, three stand out for their longevity: McDonalds (No. 1), Dunkin Donuts (No. 3) and The UPS Store (No. 4). All three also appeared in the top 10 of the Franchise 500 list in 1993, when the list was a relatively new thing (it started in 1980) and Entrepreneur.com didnt even exist yet. While a lot of things have changed about those franchises in the interim, the consistent high performance speaks to their being top franchise investments for the past 25 years.

If youre looking to invest in a franchise because you think its a safer alternative to starting your own business, these three successful franchises are a great place to start your research.

1. McDonalds

According to the company website, the Golden Arches was still two years away from offering McFlurrys in 1993, when McDonald's made the top 10 of the franchise 500 list. Or, if you want another landmark that shows just how much has changed since 1993, McDonalds created advertising to complement the release of the blockbuster film Jurassic Park.

Now, the fifth movie in the series, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, is slated for release this June. So, maybe not that much has changed after all.

McDonalds franchise facts

CEO: Steve Easterbrook

Steve Easterbrook Business headquarters: Oak Brook, Ill.

Oak Brook, Ill. Franchising since: 1955

1955 Initial investment: $1,008,000 to $2,214,080

$1,008,000 to $2,214,080 Initial franchise fee: $45,000

$45,000 New units in 2017: 507 units (1.4 percent)

507 units (1.4 percent) Training: 6 to 24 months on the job, 75 hours in the classroom

6 to 24 months on the job, 75 hours in the classroom Marketing support: Co-op advertising, ad templates, national media, regional advertising, social media, loyalty program/app

You can learn more about the current state of McDonalds franchises by visiting the McDonald's franchising website.

Related: Quiz: How Much Do You Really Know About McDonald's?

2. Dunkin Donuts

Dunkin' Donuts opened its 2,000th location in 1992, according to the company website. At the start of 2018, there were more than 12,000 restaurants across the globe, including 9,141 franchises in the United States. How has the company grown so much since it ranked in our top 10 in 1993?

Its improved its menu and branding, introducing coffee flavors like French Vanilla and Hazelnut, breakfast sandwiches and the America runs on Dunkin slogan.

Dunkin Donuts franchise facts

CEO: Nigel Travis

Nigel Travis Business headquarters: Canton, Mass.

Canton, Mass. Franchising since: 1955

1955 Initial investment: $228,620 to $1,691,200

$228,620 to $1,691,200 Initial franchise fee: $40,000 to $90,000

$40,000 to $90,000 New units in 2017: 346 units (2.9 percent)

346 units (2.9 percent) Training: 219 to 324 hours on the job, 68 to 73 hours in the classroom

219 to 324 hours on the job, 68 to 73 hours in the classroom Marketing support: Co-op advertising, ad templates, national media, regional advertising, social media, SEO, website development, email marketing, loyalty program/app

You can learn more about the current state of Dunkin Donuts franchises by visiting the Dunkin' Donuts franchis website.

Related: Krispy Kreme Vs. Dunkin' Donuts: Which Is the Better Franchise Investment for You?

3. The UPS Store

Want to talk about change? In 1993, The UPS Store was called Mail Boxes Etc. According to the UPS website, Mail Boxes Etc. was then acquired by the shipping company in 2001, and within two years, approximately 3,000 locations were rebranded as The UPS Store. By the start of 2017, there were nearly 5,000 franchises around the world.

The UPS Store franchise facts

CEO: Tim Davis

Tim Davis Business headquarters: San Diego, Calif.

San Diego, Calif. Franchising since: 1980

1980 Initial investment: $177,955 to $402,595

$177,955 to $402,595 Initial franchise fee: $29,950

$29,950 New units in 2017: 69 units (1.4 percent)

69 units (1.4 percent) Training: 80 hours on the job, 72 hours in the classroom

80 hours on the job, 72 hours in the classroom Marketing support: Co-op advertising, ad templates, national media, regional advertising, social media, SEO, website development, email marketing, loyalty program/app

You can learn more about the current state of The UPS Stores franchises by visiting the UPS franchising website.

Related:

The 3 Most Consistent Businesses From the Franchise 500 List

The Top 5 New Franchises of 2018

This Entrepreneur Borrowed $125,000 as a Teen, Then Used It to Build the $1 Billion Jersey Mike's Brand



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Washington, D.C., is my hometown. The message on many Washington, D.C. license plates : Taxation without Representation unfortunately has always been true; this is a grave injustice to the residents of our nations capital city, US citizens who pay taxes, serve in the military, and fulfill the obligations of citizenship. (One interesting fact is that the population of Washington, D.C., is significantly larger than the population of the state of Wyoming.)

When I questioned this state of affairs as a child growing up, I was told, Its all about politics. Surely it is.

However, the 23rd amendment, ratified in 1961, which gave the citizens in D.C. the right to vote for president, was only a step in the right direction. Without voting representatives in the federal Congress, the House and the Senate, the people of Washington, D.C., still have no voice in the important issues facing them as citizens of a representative democracy and no right to elect representatives to speak for them in the halls of power.

My parents came to Washington in the 1930s looking for work. My father served in the army in World War II. Not until 1964 could my parents vote in a presidential election.

Burchs column pointed out the fact that the bill for D.C. statehood now has sponsors in both the House and the Senate, although Connecticuts senators are not among them. How much longer will this unjust situation persist?

Patricia F. Braccio

Bridgeport
Support and information on state and federal regulations is available in one central hub with the launch of CUNA and league compliance communities. The new communities, an extension of CUNAs Compliance Community, are designed to provide an online hub for compliance professionals to connect, work together, share resources and become better informed about state-level credit union regulations.

The community is a great resource for our credit unions. They are able to network with their compliance peers and get answers to state regulatory and operational questions, said Julie Kappenman, director of association compliance services, Mountain West Credit Union Association. It is also a great way to update our credit unions with what is happening in our league and within states. The community is easy to use and CUNA staff has been great to work with and very responsive.

The MWCUA, along with the Northwest Credit Union Association and Credit Union Association of the Dakotas joined CUNA to release the new CUNA and league Compliance Communities.
As senior vice president and regulatory and compliance counsel at the Cornerstone Credit Union League, Suzanne Yashewski reviews thousands of legislative bills each legislative season.

The league represents credit unions in Texas, Arkansas, and Oklahomaand the Texas legislature alone introduces more than 7,000 bills per session.

In odd years, Yashewski adds Arkansas and Oklahoma legislation to her review queue.

Yashewski explores every bill and makes recommendations for amendments that will protect credit unions and their members. She also educates lawmakers and regulators about the unique nature of credit unions and urges them to avoid burdensome laws and regulations.

We certainly need regulation of bad actors, but time and time again regulators confirm that credit unions are not engaging in the predatory actions abusing consumers, she says.
Ecuador Spied On Assange

Ecuador spied on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange at its London embassy where he has been living since 2012, initially to support him but things changed after he hacked the mission's computers, reported the Guardian ASSAnewspaper last week.

The newspaper said Ecuador employed an international security company and undercover agents to monitor his visitors, embassy staff and even the British police at the embassy in London's luxury Knightsbridge area.

It estimated the budget spent on the operation, referred to initially as "Operation Guest" and later "Operation Hotel" at $5.0 million (4.2 million euros).The snooping was initially intended to protect Assange from the risk of being taken away by British police but later became a full-blown spying operation.

The operation had the support of then Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa, the paper reported, adding that it has since been wound down under the country's new leader Lenin Moreno who took power last year. The security team recorded Assange's daily activities and his interactions with embassy staff and visitors, including fellow hackers, activists and lawyers.

Embassy Network Hacked

The paper also cited documents showing that Assange hacked the communications system within the embassy and had his own satellite Internet access.

"By penetrating the embassy's firewall, Assange was able to access and intercept the official and personal communications of staff," the paper said.

WikiLeaks Denied Assange Hacked the Network.

Ecuador has moved to shut off Internet access for Assange in recent months by installing a jammer to prevent him from accessing email and has restricted the number of visitors he can receive. Assange took refuge in the diplomatic mission in 2012 after a British judge ruled he should be extradited to Sweden to face allegations of sexual assault there.

Assange claims the accusations were politically motivated and could lead to him being extradited to the United States to face imprisonment over WikiLeaks' publication of secret US military documents and diplomatic cables in 2010. Sweden dropped its investigation last year, but British authorities say they still want to arrest him for breaching his bail conditions.

Ecuador in December made Assange an Ecuadoran citizen and unsuccessfully tried to register him as a diplomat with immunity as part of its efforts to have him leave the embassy without risk of being detained.

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Is The US Heading Toward A Cashless Economy Via Blockchain?

The US Federal Reserve along the central banks of other nations' are exploring the creation of state-backed digital currencies that would allow consumers and businesses to have digital wallets from which they could buy, sell and trade.

A former Federal Reserve executive believes it's only a matter of time before central banks adopt a form of digital currency that could look like Bitcoin, and will offer a more convenient and anonymous way for businesses and consumers to buy and sell goods and store wealth.

What is Blockchain?

Blockchain is poised to change IT in much the same way open-source software did a quarter of a century ago. And in the same way that Linux took more than a decade to become a cornerstone in modern application development, Blockchain will take years to become a lower cost, more efficient way to share information between open and private networks. But the hype around this seemingly new, secure electronic ledger is real.

In essence, blockchain represents a new paradigm for the way information is shared and tech vendors and companies are rushing to figure out how they can use the distributed ledger technology to save time and admin costs. Numerous companies in 2017 began rolling out pilot programs and real-world projects across a variety of industries, everything from financial services to healthcare to mobile payments and even global shipping.

The Cashless Economy

The advent of a government-backed, peer-to-peer (P2P) digital currency would likely be based on a blockchain-based electronic ledger, and it could signal the beginning of a cashless economy, not unlike what's occurring today in Sweden. It also may simply complement the modern-day current cash-based system.

The percentage of cash in circulation as a function of Sweden's gross domestic product has fallen dramatically in recent years; cash now represents less than 1.2% of that nation's GDP.

"So cash is really disappearing in Sweden. It's not accepted at many businesses and many banks won't deal with cash anymore," said Rod Garrett, an economics professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Garratt, formerly a vice president with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Money and Payment Studies Division, spoke at the "Business of Blockchain" conference at MIT in Boston last month.

"I think there is a likelihood that some type of digital central bank money will become available in the reasonably near future because I think its a natural progression. Its something thats been talked about for a long time," Garratt said.

Last year, Garratt worked as a digital currency technical advisor to the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland. The BIS, whose purpose is to foster cooperation between central banks around the globe, has been exploring the role crypto-currencies could play if nations begin backing them.

While the prospect of a government-backed digital currency that also provides anonymity may seem is far-fetched, Garratt noted that cash, too, is essentially a P2P process.

"It might sound strange to think about the central bank providing something that allows anonymity from itself, but thats what cash is," Garratt told attendees at the MIT event. "So, its not such a crazy thing."

A government-backed digital currency could do away with banking fees that often target the poor who make many small, electronic payment transfers via services such as Western Union, while at the same time creating greater efficiencies. For example, the time it takes to clear and settle funds, could be greatly reduced, with crypto-graphics used to ensure privacy. Crypto-graphic keys controlling funds could be in a consumer's control; the consumer could be issued a private key associated with their electronic funds and be able to use public keys for payments.

Sweden's central bank, The Riksbank, is currently considering issuing a digital currency or crypto-currency similar to Bitcoin for mobile payments.

Called the e-Krona, the digital currency would be used for smaller payments between consumers, businesses or with government agencies, and it would create safer and more efficient transactions, the government has argued. In 2015, Ecuador created the world's first state-sponsored digital currency, called Sistema de Dinero Electronico (electronic money system), which was backed by the central bank; it allowed people to have money in accounts that could be traded on their phones. Ecuador, however, shuttered its electronic money system last year "due to lobbying by the banks," Garratt said.

"They're pushing hard, as many countries are, for using distributed ledgers  using blockchain  to implement their own domestic digital token," Brian Behlendorf, executive director of the business Blockchain collaborative.

One idea originally floated by blogger J.P. Koning is called Fedcoin, a bitcoin-like currency based on blockchain that would offer a 1:1 ratio between a US dollar and a digital token.

While blockchain is the foundation for cryptocurrency, it is not anchored to digital currencies. Blockchain distributed ledgers are used for a myriad of business applications, such as authenticating real estate transfers or for digitising supply chains or tracking international shipments in real time.

Robleh Ali, a digital currencies research scientist at the MIT Media Lab, said a government-backed digital currency wouldn't necessarily have to exist on a distributed ledger, as bitcoin does today. It could be centrally administered by the Federal Reserve and other central banks.

The question central banks need to ask themselves is what are they trying to accomplish, he said.

"Do we want a token that can integrate with this new token economy? Then they may want to use an architecture that's similar to those bitcoin tokens to issue fiat money," Ali said.

In 2013, Garratt was involved in a multi-bank proof of concept called Project Jasper, which explored the use of blockchain as the basis for a new bank-to-bank digital payments system for large monetary transfers. So, for example, if a homeowner were to sell their house, banks could use the electronic distributed ledger to settle the transfer of funds. If the Federal Reserve or other central banks were to back digital currency, it could take on many forms. For example, it could be operated as a closed system between banks for large money transfers, such as those used for daily clearance and settlement of thousands of smaller transactions. Or, it could open central bank accounts available for any consumer's use, a type of virtual bank account.

The Fed could also issue a digital coin, similar to bitcoin, that would represent the stored value of fiat money. While a government-backed digital currency offers potential, it would also complicate monetary policies because central banks would have to manage and monitor cash reserves. Creating a token economy also raises difficult questions about whether it would disintermediate commercial banks.

"Banks provide a valuable service in our economy. All productive enterprises in our economy typically work through commercial banks. We don't want to necessarily take that all away," Garratt said. "That doesn't mean that there isn't a role for central banks to provide a digital form of currency that would in some ways compete with traditional currency on equal footing. I don't think there's anything antithetical to the idea of a central bank providing this."

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For Subscribers All about York County's infamous Hex Hollow witchcraft murder

The Hex Hollow murder left York County shocked in 1928 when a farmer was murdered by three men who believed he cursed them with powwow magic.
The outbreak of the Nipah virus in Kerala is yet another reminder of how fast new viruses can travel from one country to another in a globalised world. Nipah is a relatively new virus which was discovered in 1999 in Sungai Nipah village in the Malaysian peninsula.

Within a short time, it made its way to Bangladesh which saw nine outbreaks in the year 2001 alone. The same year, Nipah struck in Siliguri, which is strategically located near international borders with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan and sees movement of migratory labour from all sides. Its tropical climate is ideal for viruses to thrive.

The virus strains isolated from Siliguri was closely linked to that from Bangladesh and not to that isolated in Malaysia. After Siliguri, Nipah killed five people in Nadia, also in West Bengal, in 2007. Now, Nipah has surfaced in Kozhikode and Mallapuram. However, it still not quite clear whether the outbreak is a result of circulating virus within India or is of imported origin.

After the 2001 Siliguri outbreak, experts had warned of outbreaks elsewhere. The team of experts that investigated the outbreak reported that 45 deaths in Siliguri were either due to Nipah or closely related Hendra virus.

There was clear evidence of human-to-human transmission, but no evidence of any occurrence in animals. The team had underlined the need for a strong surveillance system backed by modern laboratories for handling and diagnosing new pathogens.

At a scientific conference in 2008, an expert from Dhaka-based International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research in Bangladesh warned that Nipah was spreading in rural areas of Bangladesh and India and that it had high mortality rate  killing up to three-quarters of those infected.

Scientists from Bhopal's High-Security Animal Disease Laboratory reiterated a few years later that preparedness, surveillance and constant vigil would have to be mounted continuously in the country, in view of the fact that antibodies of Nipah had been found in bat populations in the Northeast as well as north-west states like Haryana. The presence of antibodies indicates that the virus may be circulating among bats.

However, scientists are still not clear about exact transmission route of Nipah because every outbreak has presented a different picture. In Bangladesh outbreaks, fruit bats contaminated palm sap which people consumed and got infected.

The involvement of pigs and even dogs in the transmission chain of Nipah cant be ruled out. Despite warnings from time to time, Nipah has resurfaced.

This means Indias disease surveillance system is still not robust enough. While the Integrated Disease Surveillance System exists, serious gaps have been found in implementation on the ground.

Studies done to assess its effectiveness have shown that its not as intense as its supposed to be and by the time new infections are likely to be detected, the disease would have already spread. Training and retraining of health workers, who are supposed to be the eyes and ears of the surveillance system, too are lacking.

Laboratory network for quick diagnosis also needs to be expanded and strengthened. Hopefully, Nipah will spur the much-needed action and investment to strengthen basic healthcare system.

(Courtesy of Mail Today)

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Pakistan is undergoing a tough time dealing with multiple problems which are largely its own creation. After former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's sensational remarks on the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks vindicated Indias stand, one more unforeseen problem has gripped Pakistan. In a recent development, former ISI chief Asad Durrani collaborated with ex-RAW head AS Dulat to co-author a book  Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace  which has led to a flurry of activities in Islamabad.

Its unthinkable that an ex-ISI chief would enter into a joint enterprise with Indias top spy to churn out a book disclosing sensational details. Durrani is likely to undergo sustained questioning by the army and the ISI, and this would give the much-needed ammunition to anti-army lobbies to target the ISI.

The release of the book and its high-voltage publicity has politicised the whole issue spelling more trouble for Pakistan. The Pakistan Army on Monday (May 28) ordered a court of inquiry and recommended Durrani's name be added to the exit control list (ECL) to prevent him from leaving the country. The army had earlier summoned Durrani to seek his explanation over Spy Chronicles. He has been accused of "violating" the military code of conduct.

Commenting on controversy surrounding the book, Sharif on Tuesday (May 29) said there is "no point in investigating just one person". According to Sharif, Durrani wrote the book but former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and former chief of general staff (CGS) Shahid Aziz also gave statements.

Spilling secrets: Asad Durrani, the former ISI chief landed in hot waters over remarks made in a book, Spy Chronicles, co-authored with former RAW chief AS Dulat.

Earlier, in a bold and forthright manner, Nawaz Sharif categorically confirmed that the 26/11 terrorists were all Pakistanis and described them as "non-state actors". Pakistan in particular, and the world in general, was taken aback by such a surprising yet unambiguous admission.

Its also being seen as a direct defiance of the Pakistani military establishment as also a straight challenge to the all-powerful ISI. The timing of Sharifs statement is intriguing. He has spoken out at a time when his detractors have been taking shots at him at frequent intervals, knowing that his disqualification means his political career is over. It also comes at a time when the country is poised to hold its next elections in July this year.

The tenor of Sharifs remarks are thoroughly provocative and consistent. His boldness at this juncture has caused worry among those men in uniform who are de facto ruling the country with an iron hand undermining the judiciary, the election commission and the accountability commission.

Sharif also lashed out at his critics who charged him for being unpatriotic. He counter questioned them to say, how could the state allow terrorists to cross over and kill more than 150 innocent people in Mumbai? In the same vein, he questioned why Pakistan was taking so long to complete the trial against the perpetrators of the dastardly terror attacks?

By these audacious charges against the government, Sharif has surely put the establishment on the back foot.

Speaking his mind: Nawaz Sharif has claimed that Sharif he will speak the truth without fearing any consequences.

While there is a sense of celebration and satisfaction in the Indian quarters on the former Pakistani PM's outburst, the ISI and the Pakistani military are believed to be seriously contemplating action against Sharif as its a "do or die" situation for them.

In a significant move, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has called for an urgent meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) on Tuesday (May 29).

According to media reports, Abbasi has summoned the meeting to discuss security and border issues.

According to Geo TV, the top civilian and military leadership is likely to review the implementation of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) reforms, regional situation and matters pertaining to eastern and western borders of the country. It is also been said that the NSC is likely to discuss the issue of Spy Chronicles.

Earlier, in an apparent damage-control bid, a segment of the ruling party, the PML(N), wanted to shift the blame to media for having "misinterpreted " Sharif's comments on 26/11. Interestingly, talking to mediapersons, Sharif claimed he will speak the truth without fearing any consequences.

According to this report, Sharif, when asked by a reporter in the same interaction around two weeks back, to comment on the impression that India has been reluctant to provide evidence in the case, responded, "There is no shortage of evidence  there is plenty of evidence."

When another reporter pointed to his acknowledgment of the presence of "non-state actors", Maryam Nawaz, who was accompanying her father, replied, "So then who was Zarb-i-Azb [military operation] conducted against?"

All this is also indicative of the fact that perhaps Sharif and his daughter are deriving support from certain quarters who may be interested in pre-empting any military move to usurp power or stage a coup to topple the civilian government.

After all, such developments are not new. We need only look back at history. Pakistan has witnessed innumerable palace intrigues since its birth. One more misadventure may not make much difference, except upsetting the geopolitical balance in the region.

Sharifs rhetoric means that in the coming months we might see an uneasy calm, keeping the ISI on its toes. Under these circumstances, the ISI too remains vulnerable as a large section of its sleuths, possibly connected to some political party, could be a part of the power games. Durranis book, therefore, remains a crucial factor in shaping future developments.

India as an immediate neighbour and target of covert operations, needs to be cautious to seize every emerging opportunity to capitalise on the likely wedge between the armed forces and the civilian government in Pakistan.

Some experts also believe that the US is keenly watching these developments and with Trumps known stance on Pakistan, we can expect something dramatic.

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EXPLAINER: Why Social Security COLA will jump next year

WASHINGTON (AP)  Rising inflation is expected to lead to a sizeable increase in Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2022. Exactly how much will be revealed Wednesday morning after a Labor Department report on inflation during September, a data point used in the final calculation. Over the last 10 years, the Social Security COLA has averaged about 1.7% annually as inflation remained low.

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C.V., NeuroTherm LLC, Normann Pharma-Handels GmbH, North Shore Properties Inc., Novamedi S.A., Novasalud.com S.A., Nutravida S.A., OJSC Voronezhkhimpharm, Omnilab Iberia Sociedad Limitada, OptiMedica, Orgenics France SAS, Orgenics International Holdings B.V., Orgenics Ltd., PBM-Selfcare LLC, PDD II LLC, PDD LLC, PT Alere Health, PT. Abbott Indonesia, PT. Abbott Products Indonesia, Pacesetter Inc., Pantech (RF) (PTY) LTD, Pembrooke Occupational Health Inc., Penagos S.A., Pharma International Sociedad Anonima, Pharmaceutical Technologies (Pharmatech) S.A., Pharmatech Boliviana S.A., Polygon Labs S.A., Quality Assured Services Inc., RF Medical Holdings LLC, RTL Holdings Inc., Ramses Business Corp., Recben Xenerics Farmaceutica Limitada, Redwood Toxicology Laboratory Inc., Rich Horizons International Limited, SC VEROPHARM, SJ Medical Mexico S de R.L. de C.V., SJM International Inc., SJM Thunder Holding Company, SPDH Inc., Saboya Enterprises Corporation, Salviac Limited, Scanax AS, Sealing Solutions Inc., Selfcare Technology Inc., Shandong Abbott Dairy Product Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Medical Devices Science and Technology Co. Ltd., Shanghai Abbott Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Shanghai Si Fa Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Sinensix & Co., Spinal Modulation LLC, St. Jude Medical, St. Jude Medical AB, St. Jude Medical ATG Inc., St. Jude Medical Argentina S.A., St. Jude Medical Asia Pacific Holdings GK, St. Jude Medical Atrial Fibrillation Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Brasil Ltda., St. Jude Medical Business Services Inc., St. Jude Medical Cardiology Division Inc., St. Jude Medical Colombia Ltda., St. Jude Medical Coordination Center, St. Jude Medical Costa Rica Limitada, St. Jude Medical Europe Inc., St. Jude Medical Export Ges.m.b.H., St. Jude Medical GVA Sarl, St. Jude Medical Holdings B.V., St. Jude Medical India Private Limited, St. Jude Medical International Holding, St. Jude Medical LLC, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings II, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings NT, St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings SMI S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Luxembourg Holdings TC S.a r.l., St. Jude Medical Mexico Business Services S. de R.L. de C.V., St. Jude Medical Middle East DMCC, St. Jude Medical Operations (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd., St. Jude Medical Puerto Rico LLC, St. Jude Medical S.C. Inc., St. Jude Medical Systems AB, St. Jude Medical Turkey Medikal Urunler Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Standard Diagnostics Inc., Standing Stone LLC, Swan-Myers Incorporated, TC1 LLC, Tendyne Holdings Inc., Tendyne Medical Inc., Thoratec Delaware LLC, Thoratec Europe Limited, Thoratec LLC, Thoratec Switzerland GmbH, Tobal Products Incorporated, Topera GmbH in Liquidation, Topera Inc., Tremora S.A., Tuenir S.A., TwistDx, UAB Abbott Laboratories, UAB Abbott Medical Lithuania, Union-Madison Realty Company Inc., Unipath Limited (dba Alere International/aka Cranfield), Unipath Management Limited, Unipath Pension Trustee Limited, Veropharm, Veropharm Limited Liability Partnership, Vida Cell Inversiones S.A., Vida Cell S.A., Vivalsol, W&R Pharma Handels GmbH, Western Pharmaceuticals S.A., X Technologies Inc., Yissum Holding Limited, ZonePerfect Nutrition Company, eScreen Canada ULC, eScreen Inc.,      ( ), and Abbott Laboratories Baltics.
The following companies are subsidiares of American International Group: AGC Life Insurance Company, AIG APAC HOLDINGS PTE. LTD., AIG Advisors S.r.l., AIG Aerospace Insurance Services Inc., AIG Asia Pacific Insurance Pte. Ltd., AIG Asset Management (Europe) Limited, AIG Asset Management (U.S.) LLC, AIG Assurance Company, AIG Australia Limited, AIG Brazil Holding I LLC, AIG CIS Investments LLC, AIG Canada Holdings Inc., AIG Capital Corporation, AIG Capital Services Inc., AIG Claims Inc., AIG Egypt Insurance Company S.A.E., AIG Employee Services Inc., AIG Europe (Services) Limited, AIG Europe Holdings S.a.rl., AIG Europe S.A., AIG Federal Savings Bank, AIG Financial Products Corp., AIG General Insurance Co. Ltd., AIG Global Asset Management Holdings Corp., AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., AIG Global Reinsurance Operations, AIG Holdings Europe Limited, AIG Insurance (Thailand) Public Company Limited, AIG Insurance Company China Limited, AIG Insurance Company JSC, AIG Insurance Company of Canada, AIG Insurance Company-Puerto Rico, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited, AIG Insurance Limited, AIG Insurance Management Services Inc., AIG Insurance New Zealand Limited, AIG International Holdings GmbH, AIG Investments UK Limited, AIG Israel Insurance Company Ltd, AIG Japan Holdings Kabushiki Kaisha, AIG Kenya Insurance Company Limited, AIG Korea Inc., AIG Latin America I.I., AIG Latin America Investments S.L., AIG Lebanon SAL, AIG Life Holdings Inc., AIG Life Insurance Company (Switzerland) Ltd, AIG Life Limited, AIG Life South Africa Limited, AIG Life of Bermuda Ltd., AIG MEA Holdings Limited, AIG MEA Limited, AIG Malaysia Insurance Berhad, AIG Markets Inc., AIG Matched Funding Corp., AIG PC Global Services Inc., AIG Philippines Insurance Inc., AIG Property Casualty Company, AIG Property Casualty Inc., AIG Property Casualty International LLC, AIG Property Casualty U.S. Inc., AIG Re-Takaful (L) Berhad, AIG Resseguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Brasil S.A., AIG Seguros Mexico S.A. de C.V., AIG Shared Services Corporation, AIG South Africa Limited, AIG Specialty Insurance Company, AIG Technologies Inc., AIG Travel Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd., AIG Travel Assist Inc., AIG Travel Assist Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., AIG Travel EMEA Limited, AIG Travel Inc., AIG Uganda Limited, AIG Vietnam Insurance Company Limited, AIG WarrantyGuard Inc., AIG-FP Pinestead Holdings Corp., AIG-Metropolitana Cia. de Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., AIGGRE EOLA LLC, AIGGRE Europe Real Estate Fund I GP S.a r.l., AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I GP LLC, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund I LP, AIGGRE U.S. Real Estate Fund II GP LLC, AIU Insurance Company, AM Holdings LLC, Ageas Protect, AlphaCat Managers Ltd., American General Corporation, American General Life Insurance Company, American Home Assurance Co. Ltd., American Home Assurance Company, American Home Assurance Company Escritorio de Representacao no Brasil Ltda., American International Group Inc., American International Group UK Limited, American International Overseas Association, American International Overseas Limited, American International Realty Corp., American International Reinsurance Company Ltd., American International Underwriters del Ecuador-Holding S.A., American Security Life Insurance Company Limited, Arthur J. Glatfelter Agency Inc., Avondhu Limited, Blackboard Customer Care Insurance Services LLC, Blackboard Insurance Company, Blackboard Services LLC, Blackboard Specialty Insurance Company, Blackboard U.S. Holdings Inc., Chartis Takaful Enaya B.S.C. (c), Commerce and Industry Insurance Company, Crop Risk Services Inc., Eaglestone Reinsurance Company, Ellipse, Fortitude Group Holdings LLC, Fortitude Life & Annuity Solutions Inc., Fortitude Reinsurance Company Ltd., Franklin Life Insurance Company, Fuji Fire and Marine, Glatfelter Insurance Group, Globe and Rutgers Insurance Group, Grand Isle SAC Limited, Granite State Insurance Company, Group Risk Services Limited, Group Risk Technologies Limited, Illinois National Insurance Co., Jefferson Eola Venture LLC, Johannesburg Insurance Holdings (Proprietary) Limited, Laya Healthcare Limited, Lexington Insurance Company, MG Reinsurance Limited, Mt. Mansfield Company Inc., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Pittsburgh Pa., National Union Fire Insurance Company of Vermont, New Hampshire Insurance Company, PT AIG Insurance Indonesia, Pine Street Real Estate Holdings Corp., Private Joint-Stock Company AIG Ukraine Insurance Company, Risk Specialists Companies Insurance Agency Inc., SA Affordable Housing LLC, SAFG Retirement Services Inc., Service Net Warranty LLC, Stratford Insurance Company, SunAmerica Affordable Housing Partners Inc., SunAmerica Asset Management LLC, Talbot Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Holdings Ltd., Talbot Underwriting Ltd., Thai CIT Holding Company Limited, The Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, The United States Life Insurance Company in the City of New York, The Variable Annuity Life Insurance Company, Travel Guard, Travel Guard Group Canada Inc./Groupe Garde Voyage du Canada Inc., Travel Guard Group Inc., Tudor Insurance Company, VALIC Financial Advisors Inc., Valic Retirement Services Company, Validus Holdings, Validus Holdings (UK) Ltd., Validus Holdings Ltd., Validus Reinsurance (Switzerland) Ltd, Validus Reinsurance Ltd., Validus Ventures Ltd., Volunteer Firemen's Insurance Services Inc., Western World Insurance Company, and Western World Insurance Group Inc..
Andeavor, through its subsidiaries, operates as an independent petroleum refining, logistics, and marketing company in the United States. The company operates in three segments: Marketing, Logistics, and Refining. The Marketing segment sells gasoline and diesel fuel through retail, branded, and unbranded channels. This segment operates a network of 3,255 retail stations under the ARCO, Shell, Mobil, and SUPERAMERICA brands. The Logistics segment gathers and transports crude oil by pipelines, as well as by trucks. It operates approximately 13 million barrels of crude oil, feedstock, blendstock, refined product, and asphalt storage tanks. The Refining segment buys and refines crude oil and other feed stocks into transportation fuels, such as gasoline and gasoline blend stocks, jet fuel, and diesel fuel, as well as other products, including heavy fuel oils, liquefied petroleum gas, petroleum coke, calcined coke, and asphalt. It also sells refined products in the bulk market principally to independent unbranded distributors, other refining and marketing companies, utilities, railroads, airlines, and marine and industrial end-users in the western United States. This segment owns and operates 10 petroleum refineries with a combined crude oil capacity of approximately 1,157 thousand barrels per day. The company was formerly known as Tesoro Corporation and changed its name to Andeavor in August 2017. Andeavor was founded in 1968 and is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Bristol-Myers Squibb: 1096271 B.C. ULC, 345 Park LLC, A.G. Medical Services P.A., AHI Investment LLC, AbVitro LLC, Abraxis BioScience Australia Pty Ltd., Abraxis BioScience Inc., Abraxis BioScience International Holding Company Inc., Abraxis BioScience LLC, Abraxis BioScience Puerto Rico LLC, Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Adnexus, Adnexus a Bristol-Myers Squibb R&D Company, Allard Labs Acquisition G.P., Amira Pharmaceuticals, Amira Pharmaceuticals Inc., Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Apothecon LLC, B-MS Generx Unlimited Company, BMS Benelux Holdings B.V., BMS Bermuda Nominees L.L.C., BMS Data Acquisition Company LLC, BMS Forex Company, BMS Holdings Sarl, BMS Holdings Spain S.L., BMS International Insurance Designated Activity Company, BMS Investco SAS, BMS Korea Holdings L.L.C., BMS Latin American Nominees L.L.C., BMS Luxembourg Partners L.L.C., BMS Omega Bermuda Holdings Finance Ltd., BMS Pharmaceutical Korea Limited, BMS Pharmaceuticals Germany Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals International Holdings Netherlands B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Korea Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Mexico Holdings B.V., BMS Pharmaceuticals Netherlands Holdings B.V., BMS Real Estate LLC, BMS Spain Investments LLC, BMS Strategic Portfolio Investments Holdings Inc., Blisa Acquisition G.P., Bristol (Iran) S.A., Bristol Iran Private Company Limited, Bristol Laboratories Inc., Bristol Laboratories International S.A., Bristol Laboratories Medical Information Systems Inc., Bristol-Myers (Andes) L.L.C., Bristol-Myers (Private) Limited, Bristol-Myers Middle East S.A.L., Bristol-Myers Overseas Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Investment Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (China) Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Israel) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (NZ) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Proprietary) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (Singapore) Pte. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb (Taiwan) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb (West Indies) Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb A.E., Bristol-Myers Squibb Aktiebolag, Bristol-Myers Squibb Argentina S. R. L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Australia Pty. Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Axia Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb B.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Belgium S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Business Services Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada Co., Bristol-Myers Squibb Canada International Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Delta Company Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Denmark Filial of Bristol-Myers Squibb AB, Bristol-Myers Squibb EMEA Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Egypt LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Epsilon Holdings Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Ltda., Bristol-Myers Squibb Farmaceutica Portuguesa S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb GesmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb GmbH & Co. KGaA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holding Germany GmbH & Co. KG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings 2002 Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Germany Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Ireland Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Holdings Pharma Ltd. Liability Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Ilaclari Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb India Pvt. Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Company Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb International Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Investco L.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., Bristol-Myers Squibb Kft., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg International S.C.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb MEA GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb Manufacturing Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Marketing Services S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb Middle East & Africa FZ-LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Norway Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Nutricionales de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb Peru S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (HK) Ltd, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma (Thailand) Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Holding Company LLC, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Ventures Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceuticals Unlimited Company, Bristol-Myers Squibb Polska Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Products SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Puerto Rico/Sanofi Pharmaceutical Partnership Puerto Rico, Bristol-Myers Squibb Romania S.R.L., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.A.U., Bristol-Myers Squibb S.r.l., Bristol-Myers Squibb SA, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Holding Partnership, Bristol-Myers Squibb Sarl, Bristol-Myers Squibb Service Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Services Sp. z o.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Spol. s r.o., Bristol-Myers Squibb Theta Finance Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Trustees Limited, Bristol-Myers Squibb Verwaltungs GmbH, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Colombia S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Costa Rica Sociedad Anonima, Bristol-Myers Squibb de Guatemala S.A., Bristol-Myers Squibb de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Bristol-Myers Squibb/Astrazeneca EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Pfizer EEIG, Bristol-Myers Squibb/Sanofi Pharmaceuticals Partnership, Bristol-Myers de Venezuela S.C.A., CHT I LLC, CHT II LLC, CHT III LLC, CHT IV LLC, CR Finance Company LLC, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals Inc., Celem LLC, Celem Ltd., Celgene, Celgene A.B., Celgene AS, Celgene Ab (Finland), Celgene Alpine Investment Co. II LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. III LLC, Celgene Alpine Investment Co. LLC, Celgene ApS, Celgene B.V., Celgene BVBA, Celgene Brasil Produtos Farmaceuticos Ltda., Celgene CAR LLC, Celgene CAR Ltd., Celgene Chemicals Sarl, Celgene China Holdings LLC, Celgene Co., Celgene Corporation, Celgene Distribution B.V., Celgene EngMab GmbH, Celgene Europe B.V., Celgene Europe Limited, Celgene European Investment Company LLC, Celgene Financing Company LLC, Celgene Global Holdings Sarl, Celgene GmbH [Austria], Celgene GmbH [Germany], Celgene GmbH [Switzerland], Celgene Holdings East Corporation, Celgene Holdings II Sarl, Celgene Holdings III Sarl, Celgene Ilac Pazarlama ve Ticaret Limited Sirketi, Celgene Inc., Celgene International Holdings Corporation, Celgene International II Sarl, Celgene International III Sarl, Celgene International Inc., Celgene International Sarl, Celgene K.K., Celgene Kft., Celgene Limited [Hong Kong], Celgene Limited [Ireland], Celgene Limited [New Zealand], Celgene Limited [Taiwan], Celgene Limited [UK], Celgene Logistics Sarl, Celgene Ltd, Celgene Luxembourg Sarl, Celgene Management Sarl, Celgene NJ Investment Co, Celgene Netherlands B.V., Celgene Netherlands Investment B.V., Celgene Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Celgene Pte. Ltd., Celgene Pty Ltd, Celgene Puerto Rico Distribution LLC, Celgene Quanticel Research Inc, Celgene R&D Sarl, Celgene RIVOT LLC, Celgene RIVOT Ltd., Celgene RIVOT SRL, Celgene Receptos Limited, Celgene Receptos Sarl, Celgene Research Incubator At Summit West LLC, Celgene Research S.L.U., Celgene Research and Development Company LLC, Celgene Research and Development I ULC, Celgene Research and Development II LLC, Celgene Research and Investment Company II LLC, Celgene S. de R.L. de C.V., Celgene S.L.U., Celgene S.R.L., Celgene SAS, Celgene Sarl AU, Celgene Sdn Bhd, Celgene Services Sarl, Celgene Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Celgene Sp. Z.o.o., Celgene Sro [Czech Republic], Celgene Summit Investment Co, Celgene Switzerland Holding Sarl, Celgene Switzerland II LLC, Celgene Switzerland Investment Sarl, Celgene Switzerland LLC, Celgene Switzerland Sarl, Celgene Tri A Holdings Ltd., Celgene Tri Sarl, Celgene UK Distribution Limited, Celgene UK Holdings Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing II Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing III Limited, Celgene UK Manufacturing Limited, Celgene d.o.o., Celgene sro [Slovakia], Celmed LLC, Celmed Ltd., ConvaTec Divestiture, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals, Cormorant Pharmaceuticals AB, Crosp Ltd., Delinia Inc., Deuteria Pharmaceuticals Inc., DuPont Pharmaceuticals, E. R. Squibb & Sons Inter-American Corporation, E. R. Squibb & Sons L.L.C., E. R. Squibb & Sons Limited, EWI Corporation, EngMab Sarl, F-star Alpha, FermaVir Pharmaceuticals L.L.C., FermaVir Research L.L.C., Flexus Biosciences, Flexus Biosciences Inc., Forbius, Galecto Biotech, GenPharm International L.L.C., Gloucester Pharmaceuticals LLC, Grove Insurance Company Ltd., Heyden Farmaceutica Portuguesa Limitada, IFM Therapeutics, Impact Biomedicines Inc., Inhibitex, Inhibitex L.L.C., Innate Tumor Immunity Inc., JuMP Holdings LLC, Juno Therapeutics GmbH, Juno Therapeutics Inc., Kosan Biosciences, Kosan Biosciences Incorporated, Linson Investments Limited, Mead Johnson (Manufacturing) Jamaica Limited, Mead Johnson Jamaica Ltd., Medarex, Morris Avenue Investment II LLC, Morris Avenue Investment LLC, MyoKardia, O.o.o. Bristol-Myers Squibb, Oy Bristol-Myers Squibb (Finland) AB, Padlock Therapeutics, Padlock Therapeutics Inc., Pharmion LLC, Princeton Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Receptos LLC, Receptos Services LLC, RedoxTherapies Inc., Route 22 Real Estate Holding Corporation, SPV A Holdings ULC, Seamair Insurance DAC, Signal Pharmaceuticals LLC, Sino-American Shanghai Squibb Pharmaceuticals Limited, Societe Francaise de Complements Alimentaires(S.O.F.C.A.), Squibb Middle East S.A., Summit West Celgene LLC, Swords Laboratories, VentiRx Pharmaceuticals Inc., Westwood-Intrafin SA, Westwood-Squibb Pharmaceuticals Inc., X-Body Inc., ZymoGenetics, ZymoGenetics Inc., ZymoGenetics LLC, ZymoGenetics Paymaster LLC, iPierian, and iPierian Inc..
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is a publicly owned asset management holding company. The firm specializes in early stage, acquisition, distressed investments, short-term financing to mid-market companies, corporate carve-outs, recapitalizations, convertible, senior and mezzanine financings, operational and capital structure restructuring, strategic re-direction, turnaround, and under-performing midmarket companies. The firm invest in attractive businesses through the public debt and equity markets or by providing financing. The firm invest in Business services, Industrials and Residential sectors. Through its subsidiaries, the firm invests in the property, power, and infrastructure sectors. Its property business includes owning and managing office properties, developing master planned residential communities, and offering clients bridge and mezzanine lending, alternative assets funds, and financial and advisory services. Through its subsidiaries, the firm operates hydroelectric power facilities, interconnections and transmission facilities in Northeast North America, and development of wind power in Canada. Through its subsidiaries, it invests in specialty funds including private equity and makes direct investments in real estate, energy, and resource assets. The firm launches and manages equity and fixed income mutual funds. It also manages real estate and hedge funds. The firm invests in equity and fixed income markets across the globe. It also invest in British Columbia, United States, Brazil, Australia, Chile, Uruguay, New Zealand. It prefers to invest between $2 million and $500 million in its portfolio companies. The firm also prefers to take both minority and majority stakes in its companies. It was formerly known as Brascan Corp. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. is based in Toronto, Canada with additional offices in Bogota, Colombia, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Calgary, Canada, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Gatineau, Canada, Hong Kong, Hong Kong, London, United Kingdom, Melbourne, Australia, Montreal, Canada, Mumbai, India, New York City, Perth, Australia, Shanghai, China, and Sydney, Australia.

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Brookfield Business Partners LP engages in owning and operating business services and industrial operations. It operates though the following segments: Business Services, Infrastructure Services, Industrial Operations, and Corporate and Other. The Business Services segment includes services such as residential mortgage insurance, healthcare, road fuel distribution and marketing, real estate and construction, entertainment, financing, and other businesses. The Infrastructure Services segment consists of services to the nuclear power generation industry and offshore oil production industry: and access, forming, and shoring solutions and specialized services. The Industrial Operations segment deals with automotive batteries, graphite electrode, and other manufacturing; water and wastewater services: natural gas production and well servicing; and a variety of other industrial operations. The Corporate and Other segment comprises cash and liquidity management, and activities related to the management of the partnership's relationship with Brookfield. The company was founded on October 1, 2015 and is headquartered in Hamilton, Bermuda.

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Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. provides software-as-a-service core systems to the property and casualty insurance industry in North America. It offers Duck Creek Policy, a full lifecycle solution for the development of products and quoting, binding, and servicing of policies across various channels from agents and brokers to end-users; Duck Creek Billing that provides payment and invoicing capabilities, such as billing and collections, commission processing, disbursement management, and general ledger capabilities for insurance lines and bill types; and Duck Creek Claims that supports the entire claims lifecycle from first notice of loss through investigation, payments, negotiations, reporting, and closure. The company also provides Duck Creek Rating that allows carriers to develop new rates and models and deliver accurate quotes in real-time based on the complex rating algorithms; Duck Creek Insights, an insurance analytics solution that allows carriers to gather and analyze data from internal and external sources and facilitate rapid analysis and reporting on a single system; Duck Creek Digital Engagement that offer digital interactions between property and casualty insurers and their agents, brokers, and policyholders; and Duck Creek Distribution Management that automates sales channel activities for agents and brokers, including producer onboarding, compliance, and compensation management. In addition, it offers Duck Creek Reinsurance Management that automates critical financial and administrative functions; and Duck Creek Industry Content that provides pre-built content, including base business rules, product designs, rating algorithms, data capture screens, and workflows for insurance lines of business. The company serves insurance carriers and leaders. Duck Creek Technologies, Inc. was founded in 2016 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.

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New Media Investment Group Inc. invests in, owns, and operates local media assets in the United States. The company's principal products include 146 daily newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 1.5 million; 323 weekly newspapers with total paid circulation of approximately 268,000 and total free circulation of approximately 1.4 million; 132 shoppers with total circulation of approximately 3.1 million; and 581 locally-focused Websites, including Internet and mobile devices with approximately 364 million page views per month. Its principal products also comprise 77 business publications; and UpCurve Cloud and ThriveHive, which provides digital marketing and business services. In addition, the company produces niche publications that address specific local market interests, such as recreation, sports, healthcare, and real estate. Further, it offers print and online products that offer local market news and information on various topics comprising local news and politics, community and regional events, youth sports, opinion and editorial pages, local schools, obituaries, weddings, and police reports, as well as commercial printing services for publishers; and prints commercial materials, including flyers, business cards, and invitations. Additionally, the company produces approximately 350 annual events with a collective attendance approximately 400,000, such as themed expo, signature event, endurance event, and white label event services; and provides digital and print advertising services. It reaches approximately 22 million people per week; and serves approximately 199,000 business customers. New Media Investment Group Inc. was founded in 1997 and is based in New York, New York.

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FBL Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries, sells individual life insurance and annuity products. The Annuity segment sells various traditional annuity products that primarily consist of fixed rate and indexed annuities, and supplementary contracts. The Life Insurance segment offers whole life, term life, and universal life policies. It also involved in the property-casualty business; and provision of wealth management, investment advisory, and marketing and distribution services for the sale of mutual funds and insurance products, as well as leasing services. The company markets its products to Farm Bureau members, and other individuals and businesses through exclusive agents and agency managers under the consumer brand name of Farm Bureau Financial Services in the Midwestern and Western sections of the United States. The company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in West Des Moines, Iowa.

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InterXion Holding N.V. provides carrier and cloud-neutral colocation data center services in France, Germany, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. The company enables its customers to connect to a range of telecommunications carriers, cloud platforms, Internet service providers, and other customers. Its data centers acts as content, cloud, and connectivity hubs that facilitate the processing, storage, sharing, and distribution of data between its customers. The company offers colocation services, including space and power to deploy IT infrastructure in its data centers; a range of output voltages and currents; connectivity services that enable its customers to connect their IT infrastructure to exchange traffic and access cloud platforms; and systems monitoring, systems management, engineering support, and data backup and storage services, as well as installs and manages physical connections running from its customers' equipment to the equipment of its telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers, Internet exchange customers, and other customers. It provides its services to telecom operators, Internet service providers, and content delivery networks; content and cloud providers; and enterprises through direct sales forces, as well as through tradeshows, networking events, and industry seminars. As of December 31, 2018, it operated 51 carrier and cloud neutral colocation data centers in 13 metropolitan areas in 11 countries. The company is also involved in real estate management/holding businesses. InterXion Holding N.V. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Hoofddorp, the Netherlands.

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Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc. provides mission-critical flow control and compression equipment; and associated aftermarket parts, consumables, and services in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the Asia Pacific. It operates through three segments: Industrials, Energy, and Medical. The Industrials segment designs, manufactures, markets, and services a range of air compression, vacuum, and blower products, as well as offers associated aftermarket parts, consumables, and services. Its products are used in process-critical applications, such as the operation of industrial air tools, vacuum packaging of food products, aeration of waste water, and others. This segment sells its products through an integrated network of direct sales representatives and independent distributors under the Gardner Denver, CompAir, Elmo Rietschle, Robuschi, and other brand names. The Energy segment engages in the design, manufacture, marketing, and service of a range of displacement and liquid ring vacuum pumps, compressors and integrated systems, and engineered fluid loading and transfer equipment, as well as offers associated aftermarket parts, consumables, and services under the Gardner Denver, Nash, Emco Wheaton, and other brands. It serves customers in upstream, midstream, and downstream energy markets, as well as petrochemical processing, transportation, and general industrial sectors. The Medical segment designs, manufactures, and markets a range of specialized gas, liquid, and precision syringe pumps and compressors for use in oxygen therapy, blood dialysis, patient monitoring, laboratory sterilization and wound treatment, and other applications. This segment sells its products under the Thomas and other brands. Gardner Denver Holdings, Inc. was founded in 1859 and is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

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IMI plc, a specialist engineering company, designs, manufactures, and services engineered products worldwide. The company operates through three divisions: IMI Precision Engineering, IMI Critical Engineering, and IMI Hydronic Engineering. The IMI Precision Engineering division develops motion and fluid control technologies for industrial automation, commercial vehicle, life sciences, energy, and rail applications. This division offers actuators, air preparation products, pressure switches, and fittings; pneumatic, hydraulic, electric, and vacuum motion solutions; solenoid valves, angle-seat valves, motorized valves, NAMUR valves, and systems for dust filters; miniature fluid control solutions; precise and accurate syringes, syringe pumps, and rotary valves; and high-pressure control valves, nuclear valves, and pressure transmitters, as well as hydraulic solutions. It provides its products under the Norgren, Bimba, Buschjost, FAS, Herion, Kloehn, Maxseal, and Thompson Valves brands. The IMI Critical Engineering division offers flow control solutions, such as specialized valves and actuators to the fossil power, oil and gas, petrochemical, nuclear, marine, and pharmaceutical markets under the IMI Bopp & Reuther, IMI CCI, IMI Fluid Kinetics, IMI InterAtiva, IMI NH, IMI Orton, IMI PBM, IMI Remosa, IMI STI, IMI TH Jansen, IMI Truflo Marine, IMI Truflo Rona, IMI Truflo Italy IMI Z&J, and IMI Zikesch brands. The IMI Hydronic Engineering division provides products for hydronic distribution systems, which deliver heating and cooling systems to the residential and commercial building sectors. This segment offers balancing and control solutions, thermostatic control and pressurization systems, dirt and air separators, and pressure step degassers under the IMI Pneumatex, IMI TA, IMI Flow Design, IMI Heimeier, and IMI Aero-Dynamiek brands. The company was founded in 1862 and is headquartered in Birmingham, the United Kingdom.

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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., Dongguan Lilly Paint Industries Ltd, Duron, EPS (Shanghai) Trading Co. Ltd., EPS B.V., Geocel Holdings, Geocel Limited, Guangdong Valspar Paints Manufacturing Co Ltd., 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, 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., Piton Paints Limited, 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., Ronseal (Ireland) Limited, SWIMC LLC, SWIPCO  Sherwin Williams do Brasil Propriedade Intelectual Ltda, 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) Coatings Technology Co. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Nantong) Company Limited, Sherwin-Williams (S) Pte. Ltd., Sherwin-Williams (Shanghai) Limited, 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 Unitary Enterprise, 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 Limited, Sherwin-Williams France Finishes SAS, Sherwin-Williams Italy S.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 UK Coatings Limited, Sherwin-Williams do Brasil Industria e Comercio Ltda., Spanyc Paints Joint Stock Company, Syntema I Vaggeryd AB, 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 (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 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 (Japan), Valspar Specialty Paints LLC, and ZAO Sherwin-Williams.
Medtronic Plc is a medical technology company, which engages in the development, manufacture, distribution, and sale of device-based medical therapies and services. It operates through the following segments: Cardiac and Vascular Group; Minimally Invasive Technologies Group; Restorative Therapies Group; and Diabetes Group. The Cardiac and Vascular Group segment consists of products for the diagnosis, treatment, and management of cardiac rhythm disorders and cardiovascular disease. The Minimally Invasive Technologies Group segment focuses on respiratory system, gastrointestinal tract, renal system, lungs, pelvic region, kidneys, and obesity diseases. The Restorative Therapies Group segment comprises of neurostimulation therapies and drug delivery systems for the treatment of chronic pain, as well as areas of the spine and brain, along with pelvic health and conditions of the ear, nose, and throat. The Diabetes Group segment offers insulin pumps, coninuous glucose monitoring systems, and insulin pump consumables. The company was founded in 1949 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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The following companies are subsidiares of Thermo Fisher Scientific: 236 Perinton Parkway LLC, 27 Forge Parkway LLC, ABR--Affinity BioReagents, ACI Holdings Inc., ARG Services LLC, ASPEX Corporation, Abgene Inc., Abgene Limited, Acoustic Cytometry Systems Inc., AcroMetrix LLC, Acros Organics B.V.B.A., Advanced Biotechnologies Limited, Advanced Scientifics (ASI), Advanced Scientifics Inc., Advanced Scientifics International Inc., Affymetrix Biotech Participacoes Ltda., Affymetrix Biotech Shanghai Ltd, Affymetrix Inc, Affymetrix Japan K.K., Affymetrix Pte Ltd, Affymetrix UK Ltd, Afora S.A.U., Ahura Scientific, Alchematrix Inc., Alchematrix LLC, Alfa Aesar, Alfa Aesar (China) Chemical Co. Ltd., Alfa Aesar (Hong Kong) Limited, Allergon AB, Alphine Mountain Limited, Ambion Inc., Apogent Denmark ApS, Apogent Finance Company, Apogent Holding Company, Apogent Technologies Inc., Apogent Transition Corp., Apogent U.K. Limited, App-Tek International Pty Ltd, Applied Biosystems B.V., Applied Biosystems Finance B.V., Applied Biosystems International Inc., Applied Biosystems LLC, Applied Biosystems Taiwan LLC, Applied Biosystems Trading (Shanghai) Company Ltd., Applied Biosystems de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Applied Scientific Corporation, Avances Cientificos de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Avocado Research Chemicals Limited, B.R.A.H.M.S. Biotech GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. GmbH, B.R.A.H.M.S. UK Ltd, BAC BV, BAC IP BV, Barnstead Thermolyne LLC, Beijing Phadia Diagnostics Co Ltd, Bender MedSystems GmbH, BioTrove Corporation, BioTrove International Inc., Bioanalysis Labsystems S.A., Biochemical Sciences LLC, Biolab, BmT GmbH Laborprodukte, Bonsai Tecnologies - Sistemas para Biotecnologia e Industria Unipessoal Lda, Brammer Bio, Bumi-Sans Sendirian Berhad, CAC Limited, CB Diagnostics AB, CB Diagnostics Holding AB, CEPH International Corporation, CHK Holdings Inc., CRS Robotics, CTPS LLC, Capitol Scientific Products Inc., Capitol Vial Inc., Cellomics Inc., CellzDirect Inc., Cenduit GmbH, Cenduit LLC, Cezanne S.A.S., Chase Scientific Glass Inc., Chromacol Limited, Clintrak, Clintrak Clinical Labeling Services LLC, Clintrak Pharmaceutical Services LLC, Cohesive Technologies (UK) Limited, Cohesive Technologies Inc., Columbia Diagnostics Inc., Compendia Bioscience Inc., Comtest Limited, Consolidated Technologies Inc., Consultores Fisher Scientific Chile Ltd, Core Informatics, Core Informatics LLC, Core Informatics UK Ltd., D-finitive Technologies Inc., DCG Systems B.V., DCG Systems C.V., DCG Systems G.K., DCG Systems GmbH, DCG Systems Korea Ltd., DCG Systems LLC, DPI Newco LLC, DSM Pharmaceutical Products Inc., Dharmacon, Diagnostix Ltd., Dionex (China) Analytical Ltd, Dionex (Switzerland) AG, Dionex (UK) Limited, Dionex Austria GmbH, Dionex Benelux B.V., Dionex Brasil Instrumentos Cientificos Ltda, Dionex Canada Ltd., Dionex China Limited, Dionex Corporation, Dionex Denmark A/S, Dionex Holding GmbH, Dionex I LLC, Dionex Pty Ltd., Dionex S.A., Dionex S.p.A., Dionex Singapore Pte Ltd., Dionex Softron GmbH, Dionex Sweden AB, Distribution Solutions International Inc., Doe & Ingalls Investors Inc., Doe & Ingalls Limited, Doe & Ingalls Management LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties II LLC, Doe & Ingalls Properties LLC, Doe & Ingalls of California Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Florida Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Maryland Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of Massachusetts Operating LLC, Doe & Ingalls of North Carolina Operating LLC, Doublecape Holding Limited, Doublecape Limited, Drakeside Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Duke Scientific Corporation, Dynal Biotech Beijing Limited, EGS Gauging Ltd., EGS Gauging Technical Services Company, EP Scientific Products LLC, Ecochem N.V., EnviroEquip Pty Ltd, Epsom Glass Industries Limited, Equibio Limited, Erie Electroverre S.A., Erie Finance Limited, Erie LP Holding LLC, Erie Scientific Company of Puerto Rico, Erie Scientific Hungary Kft, Erie Scientific LLC, Erie U.K. Limited, Erie UK 1 Limited, Erie UK 2 Limited, Erie UK Holding Company, Erie UK Senior Holding Limited, European Laboratory Holdings Limited, Eutech Instruments Europe B.V., Eutech Instruments Pte Ltd., Eutech Instruments Sdn Bhd, Ever Ready Thermometer Co. Inc., FEI Asia Pacific Co. Ltd., FEI Australia Pty Ltd, FEI CPD B.V., FEI Company, FEI Company Japan Ltd., FEI Company of USA (S.E.A.) Pte Ltd., FEI Czech Republic s.r.o., FEI Deutschland GmbH, FEI EFA Inc., FEI EFA International Pte. Ltd., FEI Electron Optics B.V., FEI Electron Optics International B.V., FEI Europe B.V., FEI France SAS, FEI Global Holdings C.V., FEI Hong Kong Company Limited, FEI Houston Inc., FEI Italia Srl, FEI Korea Ltd., FEI Melbourne Pty Ltd., FEI Microscopy Solutions Ltd, FEI Munich GmbH, FEI Norway Holding AS, FEI SAS, FEI Saudi Arabia LLC, FEI Servicos de Nanotecnologia Ltda., FEI Technologies Inc., FEI Technology de Mexico S.A. de C.V., FEI Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., FEI Trondheim AS, FEI UK Ltd., FHP LLC, FRC Holding Inc. V, FS (Barbados) Capital Holdings Ltd., FS Casa Rocas Holdings LLC, FS Mexicana Holdings LLC, FSI Receivables Company LLC, FSII Sweden Holdings AB, FSII Sweden Holdings I AB, FSIR Holdings (UK) Limited, FSIR Holdings (US) Inc., FSUK Holdings Limited, FSWH Company LLC, FSWH II C.V., FSWH International Holdings LLC, Fermentas China Co. Ltd, Fermentas Inc., Fermentas International, Fermentas Sweden AB, Fermentas UK Limited, Fiberlite Centrifuge LLC, Finesse Scientific Equipment (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Finesse Solutions AG, Finesse Solutions Inc., Finnzymes Oy, Fisher Alder S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Asia Manufacturing Ventures Inc., Fisher Bermuda Holdings Limited, Fisher BioImage ApS, Fisher BioPharma Services (India) Private Limited, Fisher BioSciences Japan G.K., Fisher BioServices Inc., Fisher Bioblock Holding II SNC, Fisher CLP Holding Limited Partnership, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 1, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 2, Fisher Canada Holding ULC 3, Fisher Canada Limited Partnership, Fisher Chimica BVBA, Fisher Clinical Logistics LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Beijing) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services (Bristol) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Colombia) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Korea) Co. Ltd, Fisher Clinical Services (Mexico) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Peru) LLC, Fisher Clinical Services (Suzhou) Co. Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services Colombia S.A.S., Fisher Clinical Services GmbH, Fisher Clinical Services Inc., Fisher Clinical Services Japan K.K., Fisher Clinical Services Latin America S.R.L., Fisher Clinical Services Limited Liability Company, Fisher Clinical Services Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Clinical Services Peru S.R.L, Fisher Clinical Services Pte Ltd., Fisher Clinical Services U.K. Limited, Fisher Emergo B.V., Fisher Germany Holdings GmbH, Fisher Hamilton China Inc., Fisher Hamilton Mexico LLC, Fisher Holdings ApS, Fisher Internet Minority Holdings L.L.C., Fisher Laboratory Products Manufacturing (Shanghai) Co. Ltd, Fisher Luxembourg Danish Holdings SARL, Fisher Manufacturing (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Maybridge Holdings Limited, Fisher Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific (Austria) GmbH, Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Fisher Scientific (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific (SEA) Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific A/S, Fisher Scientific AG, Fisher Scientific Australia Pty Limited, Fisher Scientific Biotech Line ApS, Fisher Scientific Brazil Inc., Fisher Scientific Central America Inc., Fisher Scientific Chile Inc., Fisher Scientific Colombia Inc., Fisher Scientific Company, Fisher Scientific Company L.L.C., Fisher Scientific Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Fisher Scientific Europe Holdings B.V., Fisher Scientific GTF AB, Fisher Scientific Germany Beteiligungs GmbH, Fisher Scientific GmbH, Fisher Scientific Holding Company LLC, Fisher Scientific Holding HK Limited, Fisher Scientific Holding U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific Holdings (M) Sdn Bhd, Fisher Scientific Holdings (S) Pte Ltd, Fisher Scientific International LLC, Fisher Scientific Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Fisher Scientific Ireland Investments Unlimited, Fisher Scientific Ireland Limited, Fisher Scientific Japan Ltd., Fisher Scientific Jersey Island Limited, Fisher Scientific Korea Ltd, Fisher Scientific Latin America Inc., Fisher Scientific Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Fisher Scientific Mexicana S. de R.L. de C.V., Fisher Scientific Mexico Inc., Fisher Scientific Middle East and Africa Inc., Fisher Scientific Norway AS, Fisher Scientific Operating Company, Fisher Scientific Oxoid Holdings Ltd., Fisher Scientific Oy, Fisher Scientific Pte. Ltd., Fisher Scientific S.A.S., Fisher Scientific S.L., Fisher Scientific SPRL, Fisher Scientific The Hague I B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague II B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague III B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague IV B.V., Fisher Scientific The Hague V B.V., Fisher Scientific U.K. Limited, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company 2, Fisher Scientific UK Holding Company Limited, Fisher Scientific Unipessoal Lda., Fisher Scientific Venezuela Inc., Fisher Scientific Worldwide (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Holdings I C.V., Fisher Scientific Worldwide Inc., Fisher Scientific de Mexico S.A., Fisher Scientific of the Netherlands B.V., Fisher Scientific spol. S.r.o, Fisher Servicios Clinicos (Chile) LLC, Fisher Servicios Clinicos Chile Ltda, Fisher WWD Holding L.L.C., Fisher Worldwide Distribution SPV, Fisher Worldwide Gene Distribution SPV, Flux Instruments, Fuji Partnership, G & M Procter Limited, G V Instruments Limited, GV Instruments Canada Ltd., GV Instruments Inc, Gatan Inc, General Scientific Company Sdn Bhd (M), Genomed molekularbiologische und diagnostische Produkte GmbH, Gerhard Menzel B.V. & Co. KG, Gold Cattle Standard Testing Labs Inc., Golden West Indemnity Company Limited, Goring Kerr Detection Limited, Greenville Service Company Inc., HENO GmbH i.L., Hangar 215 Inc., Helmet Securities Limited, Henogen, HighChem, HyClone International Trade (Tianjin) Co. Ltd, Hybaid Limited, I.Q. (BIO) Limited, IDnostics AG, ILS Laboratories Scandinavia AB, Inel Inc., Inel SAS, InnaPhase Inc., InnaPhase Limited, IntegenX, Intrinsic BioProbes Inc., Intrinsic Bioprobes Inc., Invitrogen (Shanghai) Investment Co. Ltd., Invitrogen Argentina SA, Invitrogen BioServices India Private Limited, Invitrogen Europe Limited, Invitrogen Finance Corp., Invitrogen Holdings LLC, Invitrogen Holdings Ltd., Invitrogen Hong Kong Limited, Invitrogen IP Holdings Inc., Invitrogen Trading (Shanghai) Co. Ltd., Ion Torrent Systems Inc., Ionalytics Corporation, JSC Thermo Fisher Scientific, Jouan LLC, Jouan Limited, Jouan SA, Kendro Containment & Services Limited, Kendro Laboratory Products Ltd, Kettlebrook Insurance Co. ltd., Keystone Scientific, KonTEM GmbH, Kyle Jordan Investments LLC, LIFE TECHNOLOGIES CORPORATION, LTC Tech South Africa PTY Ltd., La-Pha-Pack GmbH, Lab Vision (UK) Limited, Lab Vision Corporation, Lab-Chrom-Pack LLC, Lab-Line Instruments Inc., Labomex MBP S. de R. L. De C.V., Laboratoire Service International - L.S.I, Laboratory Management Systems Inc., Laboratory Specialties Proprietary Ltd., LambTrack Limited, Laser Analytical Systems Inc., Liberty Lane Investment LLC, Liberty Lane Real Estate Holding Company LLC, Life Sciences International (Poland) SP z O.O, Life Sciences International Holdings BV, Life Sciences International LLC, Life Sciences International Limited, Life Technologies AS, Life Technologies Australia PTY Ltd., Life Technologies BPD AB, Life Technologies BPD UK Limited, Life Technologies Brasil Comercio e Industria de Produtos para Biotecnologia Ltda, Life Technologies Chile SpA, Life Technologies Clinical Services Lab Inc., Life Technologies Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Czech Republic s.r.o., Life Technologies DaAn Diagnostic (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd., Life Technologies Europe B.V., Life Technologies Finance Ltd., Life Technologies Finland Oy, Life Technologies GmbH, Life Technologies Holdings PTE Ltd., Life Technologies Inc., Life Technologies International B.V., Life Technologies Japan Ltd., Life Technologies Korea LLC, Life Technologies Limited, Life Technologies Magyarorszag Kft, Life Technologies New Zealand Ltd., Life Technologies Norway Investments US LLC, Life Technologies Polska Sp z.o.o., Life Technologies SA, Life Technologies SAS, Life Technologies s.r.o, Linkage Biosciences Inc., Linkage Biosciences S.a.r.l., Loftus Furnace Company, Lomb Scientific, Lomb Scientific (Aust) Pty Limited, MTI-GlobalStem, Marketbase International Limited, Matrix MicroScience Inc., Matrix MicroScience Ltd., Matrix Technologies Corporation Limited, Matrix Technologies LLC, Maybridge Chemical Company Limited, Maybridge Chemical Holdings Limited, Maybridge Limited, Medical Analysis Systems Inc., Medical Analysis Systems International Inc., Medical Diagnostics Systems Inc., Metavac LLC, Microgenics Corporation, Microgenics Diagnostics Pty Limited, Microgenics GmbH, Microm International GmbH, Microm Laborgerate S.L.U, Molecular BioProducts Inc., Molecular Probes Inc., Molecular Transfer Inc., NAPCO Inc., NERL Diagnostics LLC, NOVODIRECT GmbH Labor- und Industrie- Megerate, Nalge (Europe) Limited, Nalge Nunc International (Monterrey) LLC, Nalge Nunc International Corporation, Nanjing WeiKangLe Trading Industrial Co Ltd, NanoDrop Technologies LLC, National Scientific Company, Navaho Acquisition Corp., Neomarkers Inc., New FS Holdings Inc., NewcoGen PE LLC, Nihon Dynal K.K., Niton Asia Limited, NovaWave Technologies Inc., Nunc A/S, ONIX Systems Inc., OXOID CZ s.r.o., Odyssey Holdings Corporation, Odyssey Luxembourg Holdings S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 1 S.a r.l., Odyssey Luxembourg IP Holdings 2 S.a r.l., Odyssey Venture Corporation, Omega Data Systems, One Lambda Inc, Onix Holdings Limited, Orme Scientific Limited, Owl Separation Systems LLC, Oxoid (ELY) Limited, Oxoid 2000 Limited, Oxoid AS, Oxoid Australia Pty. Limited, Oxoid Company, Oxoid Deutschland GmbH, Oxoid Holding SAS, Oxoid Holdings Limited, Oxoid Inc., Oxoid International Limited, Oxoid Investments GmbH, Oxoid Limited, Oxoid N.V., Oxoid New Zealand Limited, Oxoid Pension Trustees Limited, Oxoid Senior Holdings Limited, Oxoid UKH LLC, PAX - DSI Acquisition LLC, PE AG, Pacific Rim Far East Industries LLC, Pacific Rim Investment LLC, Panomics L.L.C., Panomics S.R.L., Patheon, Patheon API Inc., Patheon API Manufacturing Inc., Patheon API Services Inc., Patheon Austria GmbH & Co KG, Patheon B.V., Patheon Banner U.S. Holdings Inc., Patheon Biologics (NJ) LLC, Patheon Biologics Australia Pty Ltd, Patheon Biologics B.V., Patheon Biologics LLC, Patheon Calculus Merger LLC, Patheon Cooperatief U.A., Patheon Development Services Inc., Patheon Finance LLC, Patheon France SAS, Patheon Holdings B.V., Patheon Holdings I B.V., Patheon Holdings II B.V., Patheon Holdings SAS, Patheon I B.V., Patheon I Holding GmbH, Patheon Inc., Patheon International AG, Patheon Italia S.p.A., Patheon KK, Patheon Life Science Products International GmbH, Patheon Manufacturing Services LLC, Patheon Pharmaceuticals Inc., Patheon Pharmaceuticals Services Inc., Patheon Puerto Rico Acquisitions Corporation, Patheon Puerto Rico Inc., Patheon Regensburg GmbH, Patheon Softgels B.V., Patheon Softgels Inc., Patheon U.S. Holdings Inc., Patheon U.S. Holdings LLC, Patheon UK Limited, Patheon UK Pension Trustees Limited, Pelican Acquisition Corporation, Perbio Science (Canada) Company, Perbio Science AB, Perbio Science BVBA, Perbio Science France SAS, Perbio Science Inc., Perbio Science International Netherlands B.V., Perbio Science Invest AB, Perbio Science Nederland B.V., Perbio Science Projekt AB, Perbio Science Sweden Holdings AB, Perbio Science Switzerland SA, Perbio Science UK Limited, Phadia AB, Phadia Diagnosticos Ltda, Phadia GmbH, Phadia Holding AB, Phadia International Holdings C.V., Phadia Korea Co. Ltd, Phadia Luxembourg Holdings S.a.r.l., Phadia Malta Holdings Limited, Phadia Oy, Phadia Real Property AB, Phadia Sweden AB, Phadia Taiwan Inc., Phadia US Inc., Phadia s.r.o., Pharmacaps Mexicana SA de CV, Phenom-World B.V., Phenom-World Holding B.V, Phenom-World Innovations B.V., Phinotex, Pierce Biotechnology Inc., Pierce Milwaukee Holding Corp., Pierce Milwaukee Inc., Polychromix, Power Sweden Holdings I AB, Power Sweden Holdings II AB, Power Sweden Holdings III Aktiebolag, Princeton Gamma-Tech Instruments LLC, Princeton Security Technologies, Prionics AG, Prionics Asia Ltd., Prionics Deutschland GmbH, Prionics France SAS, Prionics Italia S.r.l., Prionics Lelystad B.V., Prionics USA Inc., Priority Air Express LLC, Priority Air Express Pte. Ltd., Priority Air Express UK Limited, Priority Air Holdings Corp, Priority Solutions International, Promedica Pty Limited, Proxeon, Proxeon Biosystems ApS, Qiagen, REP GBP I-B Blocker Inc., Raymond A Lamb Limited, Remel Europe Limited, Remel Inc., Richard-Allan Scientific Company, Robbins Scientific LLC, Robocon Labor- und Industrieroboter Gesellschaft m.b.H, Rupprecht and Patashnick, Rupprecht and Patashnick (R&P), Russell pH Limited, S.C.I. du 10 rue Dugay Trouin, SCI Inno 92, STC Bio Manufacturing Inc., Samco Scientific (Monterrey) LLC, Samco Scientific LLC, Saroph Sweden AB, Schantz Road LLC, Seradyn Inc., Shanghai Life Technologies Biotechnology Co. Limited, Shanghai Thermo Fisher (C-I) Trading Co. Ltd, Shanghai Thermo Fisher (S) Trading Co. Ltd, Southern Trials (Pty) Ltd., Specialty (SMI) Inc., Spectra-Physics AB, Spectra-Physics Holdings Limited, Spectra-Physics Holdings USA LLC, Spectronex, Staten Island Cogeneration Corporation, Sterilin Limited, Stokes Bio Ltd., Sweden DIA (Sweden) AB, SwissAnalytic Group GmbH, Systems Manufacturing Corporation, TFLP LLC, TFS Breda B.V., TFS LLC, TFS Singapore HK Limited, TFSL Financing GP LLC, TFSL Senior GP Holdings 2 LLC, TK Partnership, TKA Wasseraufbereitungssysteme, TMOI Inc., TPI Real Estate Holdings LLC, TSP Holdings I LLC, TWX LLC, Technology Design Solutions Pty Ltd, Thermedics Detection de Argentina S.R.L, Thermo Allen Coding Limited, Thermo Asset Management Services Inc., Thermo BioAnalysis LLC, Thermo BioAnalysis Limited, Thermo BioSciences Holdings LLC, Thermo CIDTEC, Thermo CRS Holdings Ltd., Thermo CRS Ltd., Thermo Cambridge Limited, Thermo Cayman Holdings Ltd., Thermo Corporation, Thermo DMA Inc., Thermo Detection de Mexico S. de R.L. de C.V., Thermo Dutch Holdings Limited Partnership, Thermo EGS Gauging LLC, Thermo Eberline Holdings I LLC, Thermo Eberline Holdings II LLC, Thermo Eberline LLC, Thermo Electron (Calgary) Limited, Thermo Electron (Chile) S.p.A., Thermo Electron (Karlsruhe) GmbH, Thermo Electron (Management Services) Limited, Thermo Electron (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Electron A/S, Thermo Electron Australia Pty Limited, Thermo Electron Export Inc., Thermo Electron Holdings SAS, Thermo Electron Industries, Thermo Electron LED GmbH, Thermo Electron LED S.A.S., Thermo Electron Limited, Thermo Electron Manufacturing Limited, Thermo Electron Metallurgical Services Inc., Thermo Electron North America LLC, Thermo Electron Pension Trust GmbH, Thermo Electron Puerto Rico Inc., Thermo Electron SAS, Thermo Electron Scientific Instruments LLC, Thermo Electron Sweden AB, Thermo Electron Sweden Forvaltning AB, Thermo Electron Weighing & Inspection Limited, Thermo Elemental Limited, Thermo Environmental Instruments LLC, Thermo Fast U.K. Limited, Thermo Finland Holdings LLC, Thermo Finland Holdings MT1 B.V., Thermo Finland Holdings MT2 B.V., Thermo Finnigan LLC, Thermo Finnigan Limited, Thermo Fisher (CN) Luxembourg Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher (CN) Luxembourg S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher (CN) Malta Holdings Limited, Thermo Fisher (CN-I) Luxembourg LLC, Thermo Fisher (CN-II) Luxembourg LLC, Thermo Fisher (Cayman) Holdings I Ltd., Thermo Fisher (Cayman) Holdings II Ltd., Thermo Fisher (Finland Holdings 2) LLC, Thermo Fisher (Finland Holdings) Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher (Gibraltar) II Limited, Thermo Fisher (Gibraltar) Limited, Thermo Fisher (Heysham) Limited, Thermo Fisher (Kandel) GmbH, Thermo Fisher CHK Holding LLC, Thermo Fisher China Business Trust, Thermo Fisher China Business Trust II, Thermo Fisher Costa Rica Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada, Thermo Fisher Cyprus Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Detection Mexico LLC, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics (Ireland) Limited, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AB, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AG, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics AS, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Aps, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Austria GmbH, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics B.V., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics GmbH, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics K.K., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Limited, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics NV, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics S.L.U., Thermo Fisher Diagnostics S.p.A. , Thermo Fisher Diagnostics SAS, Thermo Fisher Diagnostics Sociedade Unipessoal Lda, Thermo Fisher Eurobonds Ltd., Thermo Fisher Financial Services Inc., Thermo Fisher GP LLC, Thermo Fisher German Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Germany B.V., Thermo Fisher India Divestco Private Limited, Thermo Fisher India Holding B.V., Thermo Fisher Insurance Holdings Inc., Thermo Fisher Insurance Holdings LLC, Thermo Fisher Investments (Cayman) Ltd., Thermo Fisher Israel Ltd., Thermo Fisher Production et Services SAS, Thermo Fisher Project Cyprus LLC, Thermo Fisher Re Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Asheville) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Australia) C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Barbados) Holdings Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Breda) Holding BV, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Bremen) GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (CN) Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (China) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (China-HK) Holding Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (DE) Holding S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Ecublens) SARL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance I) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance II) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Finance III) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Fuji) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Guangzhou) Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Holding II) B.V. & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Hong Kong) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (IVGN) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Johannesburg) (Proprietary) Limited, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mexico City) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Milwaukee) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mississauga) Inc., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Monterrey) S. De R.L. De C.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (NK) LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) Austria Holding GmbH, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN) UK Limited Partnership, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-I) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN-II) SRL, Thermo Fisher Scientific (PN1) UK Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) B.V., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Panama) Dutch LLC, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Praha) s.r.o., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) GmbH & Co. KG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Real Estate 1) S.a.r.l., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Schweiz) AG, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Instruments Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Shanghai) Management Co. Ltd., Thermo Fisher Scientific (Suzhou) Instruments Co. Ltd, Thermo Fisher Scientific (Thailand) Co. 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Schlumberger NV engages in the provision of technology for reservoir characterization, drilling, production and processing to the oil and gas industry. It operates through the following business segments: Digital and Integration; Reservoir Performance; Well Construction; and Production Systems. The Digital and Integration segment combines the company's software and seismic businesses with its integrated offering of asset performance solutions. The Reservoir Performance segment consists of reservoir-centric technologies and services that are critical to optimizing reservoir productivity and performance. The Well Construction segment includes the full portfolio of products and services to optimize well placement and performance, maximize drilling efficiency, and improve wellbore assurance. The Production Systems segment develops technologies and provides expertise that enhances production and recovery from subsurface reservoirs to the surface, into pipelines, and to refineries. The company was founded by Conrad Schlumberger and Marcel Schlumberger in 1926 and is headquartered in Houston, TX.

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First BanCorp (Puerto Rico) is a holding company, which engages in the provision of personal, commercial, and corporate banking services through its subsidiaries. It operates through the following segments: Commercial and Corporate Banking, Consumer (Retail) Banking, Mortgage Banking, Treasury and Investments, United States Operations, and Virgin Islands Operations. The Commercial and Corporate Banking segment consists of the company's lending and other services for large customers represented by specialized and middle-market clients and the public sector. The Consumer (Retail) Banking segment includes consumer lending and deposit-taking activities conducted mainly through FirstBank's branch network in Puerto Rico. The Mortgage Banking segment focuses on the origination, sale, and servicing of a variety of residential mortgage loan products and related hedging activities. The Treasury and Investments segment deals with treasury and investment management functions. The United States Operations segment represents all banking activities conducted by FirstBank on the United States mainland. The Virgin Islands Operations segment includes all banking activities conducted by FirstBank in

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Wall Street analysts have given Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF a "N/A" rating, but there may be better buying opportunities in the stock market. Some of MarketBeat's past winning trading ideas have resulted in 5-15% weekly gains. MarketBeat just released five new stock ideas, but Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF wasn't one of them. MarketBeat thinks these five companies may be even better buys.

View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.
This article is part of a series highlighting the Dalhousie Class of 2018  the graduates of Dal's 200th year. Read more of our Spring Convocation grad profiles.

Its not all that often a graduate student  or anyone  makes the switch from neuroscience to corporate banking, but thats exactly what Karah Lee did over the past two years.



Karah, originally from Ottawa, graduates Tuesday with an MBA. She earned a BSc in life sciences from Queens University, an MSc in neuroscience from the University of Ottawa, and went straight into an MBA here at Dalhousie.



Karah spent time doing scientific research before deciding she wanted to try something different.

The Dal MBA seemed like a really good option to open doors. It appealed to me because I didnt have work experience, and a lot of other programs require multiple years, she explains.



I was open to trying out a new field, but I didnt know what that would be. For my eight-month residency, I ended up choosing corporate banking, and I enjoyed it. Karahs as surprised as anyone to find herself heading to Toronto this fall to take on a job in corporate banking at Scotiabank. Its a great place to start my career.

Eye-opening experiences



Being part of the MBA program at the Rowe School of Business has opened Karahs eyes to lots of opportunities and experiences. Just before graduation, she spent two weeks in Chile and Argentina as part of the Doing Business in Emerging Markets course with Professor Valerie Trifts. Students will meet with trade commissioners, take part in site visits, and engage in economic and cultural analyses.





Karah also participated in the CFA Institute Research Challenge, an annual global competition that gives university students mentoring and training in equity research. She worked with a team of five to research and analyze a publicly traded company and then produce a report and presentation with a buy, sell or hold recommendation. Our biggest competitor in Atlantic Canada was Saint Marys, and theyve won for the last couple of years. And we won this year. Our faculty advisor, Professor Jun Zhou, was ecstatic.



Winning meant Karahs team advanced to the Americas Regional in Boston in March along with dozens of other schools from across North and South America. Its the first time Dal has made it to this event, and the team placed second in their pool. We were beaten by Tufts University, she says. So youre competing against these amazing big American schools.



Karah reflects that her time at Dalhousie was full of experiences that led to new ways of thinking about her future. She was a research assistant for Dr. Dana Kabat-Farr, whose focus is workplace social experiences. She was also a TA, and participated in the Creative Destruction Lab where she worked alongside a startup based in Atlantic Canada.



Most of my experience here at Dal has been about firsts, and trying new things. Keep an open mind. Its important to have goals and ideas about what you like and dont like, but its super important to come in flexible and willing to try new things. Be open to anything happening!
Swedish automaker Volvo Cars on Tuesday said it has commenced pre-launch bookings of its upcoming model XC40 in India.

New Delhi: Swedish automaker Volvo Cars on Tuesday said it has commenced pre-launch bookings of its upcoming model XC40 in India.

The company expects all of its first lot of 200 units to be pre-booked before the launch as the entry level SUV, Volvo Car India said in a statement. The model could be booked at any of the company's dealerships in the country with Rs 5 lakh deposit, it added.

The company plans to launch the model on July 4. Volvo Car India established its presence in India in 2007 and currently sells S60, S90, XC60, XC90, 40 Cross Country, V90 Cross Country and S60 Cross Country models in the country.
Come July and passengers of full service carrier Vistara will be assisted by a robot at its lounge in IGI airport. (Photo: Twitter)

New Delhi: Come July and passengers of full service carrier Vistara will be assisted by a robot at its lounge in IGI airport here, helping them address their queries, scanning boarding passes and providing flight status and weather conditions of the destination city.

Capable of moving around in a predefined pathways. the robot named 'RADA' will also greet customers and interact with them using basic hand movements. Additionally, it can engage with kids and adults by playing games and other multimedia content such as songs and videos, said a statement issued by the airline.

The robot will be placed at Vistara's Signature Lounge at Delhi Airport's Terminal 3 from July 5, it said. It will be further developed over a period of time in terms of functionality and features for future use cases, after gauging customer feedback. The robot has been envisioned and incubated under Vistara's Innovation initiative.

It is conceived, designed and engineered by its team of technology experts and apprentices from Tata Innovation Lab with support from students of reputed institutions. The statement claimed 'RADA' is one of India's most economical robots completely made of indigenous components and a compelling Make in India' story.

The robot is built on a chassis of four wheels, enabling it to rotate 360 degrees, and has three in-built cameras for cognitive interaction. Combining these components with an effective voice technology, Vistara has developed the robot to provide a simple solution to cater to the emerging and future trends, the statement said.

"With RADA, we aim to change the way people interact and fly with an airline. We will be developing RADA' based on customer feedback and equipping it with the most effective features in the time to come. "Our steadfast focus remains to be on delighting customers across all touchpoints, and we're confident that RADA' will help us take the new feeling' to the next level, said Vistara's Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Leslie Thng.

Vistara is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with the Indian company holding majority stake of 51 per cent. The airline began operations on June 9, 2015 and at present has a fleet strength of 20 aircraft.
Thoothukudi: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday ordered the permanent closure of a copper smelter controlled by London-listed Vedanta Resources after 13 people protesting to demand its shutdown on environmental concerns were killed last week.

We have taken a decision to permanently shut down the plant and today issued government orders to do the same, Edappadi K Palaniswami, chief minister of Tamil Nadu said in a statement after meeting officials, including from the pollution department.

Residents and environmental activists have long demanded a shutdown of the copper smelter, Indias second-biggest with an annual production of more than 4,00,000 tonnes, citing air and water pollution. Vedanta denies the accusations of pollution.

The company on Monday called the closure of the plant it has operated for over 22 years an unfortunate development.

We will study the order and decide on the future course of action, Vedanta told Reuters in a statement.

As news of a government order to shut the plant spread, about 100 locals gathered to witness the sealing of the smelters main entrance. Fatima Babu, a long-time campaigner against the plant, arrived at the smelters entrance shouting Thank you authorities.

We are finally free, we could have been happier if so many people had not died. This is for all of them, Muthu Pandi, a driver who had come to see the plant being shut, told Reuters.

The districts main administrative officer, called the collector, supervised the sealing as the crowd whistled and cheered from behind police barricades placed 50 metres away from the entrance. They shouted Long live the collector, as the collectors car departed.

In the heart of the city, locals gathered near an electrical appliances showroom to watch the news on TV channels. The chief of Vedantas India copper business, P. Ramnath, told Reuters on Friday the company would legally fight any attempt to close the plant and it aimed to build our bridges with the community.

The plant, in the coastal city of Thoothukudi, has been shut since late March for maintenance and pending a renewal of its licence, even as residents continued largely peaceful protests demanding it be shut for good.

The opposition escalated on Tuesday when thousands of people marched towards a government office on the 100th day of the protest. Ten people were killed in police firing that day; three more died in subsequent days. Vedanta says it has already evacuated about 3,500 employees from the plant site due to the tensions.
RBI has clarified in the RTI that only those cases of fraud, involving a sum of over Rs one lakh, were included in the list.

New Delhi: Twenty-one public sector banks have lost a total of Rs 25,775 crore due to banking frauds in 2017-18, a Right to Information (RTI) reply has revealed. It comes as no surprise that scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) incurred the highest loss of Rs 6,461.13 crore due to different cases of fraud.

Chandrasekhar Gaud, who filed the RTI with the Reserve Bank of India, told PTI that the RBI in its reply on May 15 did not specify details of any particular case of banking fraud.

One of the biggest banking frauds to the tune of Rs 14,400 crore allegedly involving diamond merchants Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi and PNB officials is being investigated by the Central Bureau of Investigation. The investigating agency has filed two chargesheets in the special CBI court in Mumbai in connection with the Punjab National Bank scam.

The RTI reply stated that the State Bank of India incurred losses of Rs 2,390.75 crore due to various cases of banking fraud.

In the given period, the Bank of India incurred a loss of Rs 2,224.86 crore, Bank of Baroda's losses stood at Rs 1,928.25 crore, Allahabad Bank at Rs 1,520.37 crore, Andhra Bank at Rs 1,303.30 crore and Uco Bank at Rs 1,224.64 crore.

Post the detection of PNB fraud in February and subsequent unearthing of other similar cases and wilful defaults have created a domino effect. Both the finance ministry and the Reserve Bank of India has been tightening the noose on the state-owned banks with greater scrutiny and stringent norms.

For example, (1) Asking banks to examine all NPAs above Rs 500 million for frauds, or (2) identify & resolve any operational and technical risks in the system within 15 days and so forth.

The RBI governor in a speech in March had hit back at the government that had criticised the inability of the central bank in detecting the fraud at Punjab National Bank. The Reserve Bank of India governor Urijit Patel said that banking regulatory powers in India are not ownership neutral and called for legal reforms to empower the central bank.

The RTI reply informed that the IDBI Bank incurred losses of Rs 1,116.53 crore, Union Bank of India had losses of Rs 1,095.84 crore, Central Bank of India of Rs 1,084.50 crore, Bank of Maharashtra of Rs 1,029.23 crore and Indian Overseas Bank had incurred a loss of Rs 1,015.79 crore.

The RBI has clarified in the RTI that only those cases of fraud, involving a sum of over Rs one lakh, were included in the list. It, however, did not disclose the numbers of cases or the nature of fraud.

Other banks, as per the RTI, that faced losses due to fraud during this period were Corporation Bank with a loss of Rs 970.89 crore, United Bank of India with Rs 880.53 crore, Oriental Bank of Commerce with Rs 650.28 crore and Syndicate Bank with Rs 455.05 crore.

Canara Bank at Rs 190.77 crore, Punjab and Sind Bank at Rs 90.01 crore, Dena Bank at Rs 89.25 crore, Vijaya Bank at Rs 28.58 crore and Indian Bank at Rs 24.23-crore made up the rest of the list provided by the Reserve Bank of India as part of its RTI reply.
The government is undertaking projects worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in the North East and J&K as part of efforts to create vibrant infrastructure across the country.

New Delhi: The government is undertaking projects worth over Rs 2 lakh crore in the North East and J&K as part of efforts to create vibrant infrastructure across the country which has seen "unmatched work" in this space in the last four years, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Tuesday.

This, he said, is in addition to several big-ticket projects which are already underway such as the Rs 5 lakh crore Bharatmala for highways and Rs 14 lakh crore Sagarmala for ports.

"When I took over as a Minister at the Centre, I had seen a dream of India having a vibrant infrastructure. Slowly and gradually I see this dream taking shape," Gadkari told PTI in an interview. "Foundation has been laid with unmatched work done in the space in the last four years. We have done so much that it surpasses the work done during the Congress regime in over 50 years," he claimed.

He said the connectivity projects for Chardham and Mansarovar Yatra will be a priority this year. "We are making all-weather road for Chardham which is very important for the country. The project is worth Rs 12,000 crore. As for Manasarovar, 70 per cent work has happened. Only much difficult 30 per cent part has been left as work is done there in difficult circumstances at - 3 degree temperature," he added.

Gadkari holds portfolios such as road transport, shipping, water resources and Ganga rejuvenation. He said plans are afoot to lay a network of green alignments, which includes Rs 1 lakh crore Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, and the work on the Rs 44,000 crore first phase -- Vadodara-Mumbai stretch -- will begin shortly.

The travel distance between the two metros will be shorter by 125 km as new alignment is from Ring Road of Delhi to Jaipur to Alwar from where it will reach Sawai Madhopur to Mumbai via Vadodara.

The government plans to build Chambal expressway that would be linked to the Delhi-Mumbai expressway benefiting Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, he said.

Besides, work is likely to begin soon on about Rs 7,000 crore Dwarka Expressway project and Prime Minister Narendra Modi is likely to lay its foundation within a fortnight, he said.

On J&K and the North East, Gadkari said: "We have undertaken work worth Rs 60,000 crore in Jammu & Kashmir alone. We are building tunnels, roads there. We are doing work worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore in the North East. We are working in backward areas for people who used to think that nobody pays attention to their problems." On the Ganga project, he said about 80 per cent of the work is likely to be completed by next March.

"I want to complete the projects on Ganga that include four multimodal hubs and 60 river ports. We have decided to start dredging work from Varanasi to Allahabad This is a major work. I want to make Ganga nirmal' and 'aviral'."

He said out of 210 projects for Ganga, 47 have been completed while tenders for 35-40 projects are out. Another area of focus is electric vehicles and alternative fuels, Gadkari said.

"My focus is to bring public transport on electricity. For metrino project from Dhaulakuan to Manesar, financial bids have already come. This work is very important for us. When this will begin a new revolution will start. I think we will be in a position to issue workorder in three months," he added.
The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) expects the proposed gas trading hub to be functional by the end of the calendar year.

Hyderabad: The Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) expects the proposed gas trading hub to be functional by the end of the calendar year and Crisil has been appointed to assist the regulator and the government in framing rules for the exchange.

"We have engaged Crisil for advising us in setting up Gas Trading Hub. They will advice us on framing regulations. The time line given to them is 18 weeks from May 11," Satpal Garg member of the PNGRB said. Crisil is a global rating and research agency.

"There will many things required form the Government side also. The government and we, both of us want the gas trading hub to come into existence in the current calendar year 2018 itself," he said.

Garg was speaking on the sidelines of a roadshow for 9th round of the city gas distribution (CGD) bidding. According to him the Hub will work in the lines of Power Exchange which determines the price based on supply and demand and market forces.

"This can be a physical or virtual trading hub. It will be an electronic trading hub. The location will depend on where the major pipelines are connected."

"The major pipelines are currently connected in Gujarat, Maharashtra and Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. It will be any one of these places," he said when asked about the probable location for the Hub.

Currently, the central government fixes the price of the bulk of domestically produced natural gas. The rate, arrived at using price prevalent in gas-surplus nations of US, Canada, UK and Russia, is USD 3.06 per million British thermal unit for six month period beginning April 1.

In comparison, the cost of imported LNG into India is around USD 7.5. On the current round of CGD bidding, he said it covers 86 geographical locations for selling CNG and piped cooking gas in 174 districts in 22 states and union territories and likely to attract an investment of Rs 70,000 crore.

In addition to Hyderabad, the current bidding covers 20 districts of Telangana, he said. On the infrastructure part, he said there is about 16,000 km of pipeline existing and operating and another 12,000 km pipeline is under construction.

The PNGRBfocusseson increasing the sale of natural gas inthe overallenergy basket from 6.2 per cent to 15 per cent asmandated by the government,the official added. Responding to a query, he said the regulator will review the performance of the companies which were awarded contracts in the earlier biddings.

"The PNGRB would review their performances in terms of meeting deadlines and accordingly levy penalty for those who do not meet deadlines," he said.
The remaining amount will be funded-out of the state budget.

New Delhi: The World Bank will provide a USD 21.7 million loan for strengthening the public financial management in Rajasthan to improve budget execution and greater revenue efficiency.

An agreement for IBRD credit of USD 21.7 million was signed here, the finance ministry said in a statement.

"The project size is approximately USD 31 million, of which USD 21.7 million will be financed by the World Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded-out of the state budget," it said, adding that the Project duration is 5 years.

As per the statement, the objective of the project is to contribute to improved budget execution, enhanced accountability and greater efficiency in revenue administration in Rajasthan.

It involves strengthening of the Public Financial Management Framework; strengthening of expenditure and revenue systems; and project management and capacity building among others.
FIEO said that as much as Rs 20,000 crore is pending with the government on account of GST refund, creating liquidity crisis for exporters.

New Delhi: Despite the growing protectionism, exports are expected to record a growth of about 15-20 per cent to touch $350 billion in the current fiscal on account of number of factors including the rise in commodity prices, exporters body FIEO said on Tuesday.

Growth is looking promising this fiscal. Indian exports, which are hovering at around $300 billion, should show 15-20 per cent growth so as to reach $ 350 billion in this fiscal, said Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) president Ganesh Gupta.

The northward movement in petroleum and commodity prices would also add to export growth. The recent depreciation of indian rupee is also supporting exports though its impact varies from sector to sector and from company to company, said FIEO chief.

Mr Gupta said that although exports have recorded growth in FY18, labour intensive sectors such as carpet and handicrafts have definitely dented the job creation opportunities.

On a rough estimate, over $1 million exports create 100 jobs. Therefore, additional exports of $27 billion in FY18 should have created 2.7 million jobs in exports, he added. In FY18, exports stood at about $ 303 billion. FIEO said that as much as Rs 20,000 crore is pending with the government on account of GST refund, creating liquidity crisis for exporters.

Mr Gupta said the delay in refund is mainly impacting small exporters who provide jobs in labour intensive sectors.

Liquidity is a major area of concern particularly for MSME exporters who constitute the bulk of exports in high employment intensive sectors. The challenges on GST front are continuing though the fortnight clearance drive, which was highly successful, gave us the hope that refund will be provided on real time basis, he said.

While claims of over Rs 7,000 crore were cleared in March, the amount in April is little over Rs 1,000 crore, said FIEO chief.

As per our estimate, refund of over Rs 20,000 crore are pending on account of IGST (integrated GST) and ITC (input tax credit) and many exporters have not been able to file the refund of ITC due to technical glitches as input tax credit and exports happened in different months, he said.
Mumbai: Akshay Kumar recently finished yet another shooting schedule of producer Karan Johar's period drama based on the Battle of Saragarhi, titled, Kesari.

According to DNA report, the Bollywood superstar wrapped up a schedule in the Spiti valley in Himachal Pradesh. But due to extremely hot weather in the region, Akki got sunburnt.

However, the actor, who returned to Mumbai yesterday, is set to complete couple of brand shoots in which he will sport a tanned look.

Also read: Fire breaks out on Akshay Kumars Kesari sets

Akshay had earlier revealed the first look of his character from the film. While sharing the picture, the actor captioned it saying, "Feeling nothing but immense pride and gratitude while sharing this. Beginning my 2018 with #KESARI, my most ambitious film and a lot of passion. Need your best wishes as always  "

Feeling nothing but immense pride and gratitude while sharing this. Beginning my 2018 with #KESARI, my most ambitious film and a lot of passion. Need your best wishes as always  @dharmamovies@iAmAzure @SinghAnurag79 pic.twitter.com/NOQ5x7FKRK  Akshay Kumar (@akshaykumar) January 5, 2018

Directed by Anurag Singh, Kesari also stars Parineeti Chopra. The film will hit the screens on Holi 2019.
Mumbai: Queen of Bollywood Kangana Ranaut has heaped praises on Alia Bhatt for her performance in 'Raazi'.

"I really liked 'Raazi'. Meghna Gulzar has done a splendid job. And I have no words to express how much I liked Alia's performance. She is so good," said the 'Rangoon' star.

She further said, "I think Alia is most definitely the undisputed queen. Its Alia's world and we are just living in it."

The political thriller has become Alia's third film to enter the 100 cr-club, after '2 States' and 'Badrinath Ki Dulhaniya'.

The film's story is set against the backdrop of the Indo-Pak war in 1971, where an Indian girl (played by Alia) marries a Pakistani Army officer (Vicky Kaushal) to spy for her country.
A photo of Shah Rukh Khan and Anushka Sharma at Alabama floated on the internet last month, suggesting that the shooting of Zero climax is nearby. And the day has come, where the team is shooting for the climax.

A few days back, Aanand L. Rai shared a photo with R. Madhavan, who is part of the movies out of the world climax, thus suggesting that the shoot is on.

It is also the same reason why SRK chose to celebrate his daughter Suhana Khan (and Karan Johar)s birthday in USA.

The shoot will reportedly continue for 45 days, for which out of all, Anushka Sharma was definitely prepared as she hired a personal chef to provide her with vegetarian food there while she shoots for the movie.

A source told DNA, The films final schedule is currently on in the US. It will be a straight 45-day spell for the actor and the team. They will also be shooting at NASA.

Shah Rukh has shot at NASA already for one of his previous releases, Swades, which went on to be widely acclaimed then.
Headaches and dizziness can indicate serious medical conditions but sometimes things can be shocking beyond our wildest imagination. Revolting clips of maggots and worms being removed from bodies of people have been shared on the internet, but they never fail to surprise.

A disturbing video from Guatemala has been doing the rounds as it shows a dead cockroach being pulled out of a womans ear. A person can be seen pulling out parts of the insect with tweezers before extracting the entire body.

The woman had approached a fire station after suffering from headaches and dizziness when closer inspection revealed that there was a cockroach in her ear cavity. Cockroaches are known to be among insects that are keen to climb into peoples ears.
The judges added that due to 'social and legal developments, the time is ripe for the recognition of a third gender. (Photo: Pixabay)

A Dutch citizen for the first time won the right to register as neither a male nor a female, with judges urging lawmakers to recognise a 'third gender'.

Roermonds Limburg District Court ruled that the unnamed plaintiff can now be recorded in the Dutch birth register as 'gender undetermined' as opposed to male or female.

The judges said, At birth in 1961, this person's gender could not be determined and the parents decided to register the person as male, to make things easier at the time,' the judges said. The plaintiff then in 2001 had an operation to and change their gender to female.

The further added that eventually it also turned out that the female gender did not fit the person, whose personality is experienced as gender-neutral, feeling neither like a man nor a woman.

The plaintiff then asked authorities to include a third, gender-neutral entry in the birth register.

A similar request by a different person was turned down in 2007 by the Netherlands' highest court, the High Council.

The judges added that due to 'social and legal developments, the time is ripe for the recognition of a third gender.

An example was that Dutch railway NS now addresses travellers as 'passengers' rather than 'ladies and gentlemen' and added gender-neutral toilets.
FRANKFURT: Many Britons will have their daily milk delivered by German vans after Deutsche Post won a contract to deliver 200 electric trucks to doorstep delivery service Milk & More.

Electric milk floats, as they are known in Britain, have been a part of daily life for generations, with milkmen delivering glass bottles to peoples homes every morning. The service has recently regained popularity as public concerns over pollution caused by plastic containers has risen.

Milk & More said the Deutsche Post StreetScooter order aimed to keep milk deliveries quiet and environmentally friendly.

But it could face political noise as since Britains vote to leave the European Union (EU) there has been increased scrutiny of such deals amid concerns that British firms are losing out.

Some politicians were critical when Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto rather than Britains De La Rue recently won the contract to make UK passports.

Milk & More, which is owned by German dairy group Theo Mueller, makes more than 1.5 million deliveries a day to over 500,000 British households, Deutsche Post said on Monday.

We wanted to make this unique tradition relevant again to the requirements of todays customers, Patrick Mueller, managing director of Milk & More, said in a joint statement.

Deutsche Post developed the StreetScooter for its own deliveries after growth in online shopping resulted in increased parcel deliveries. But it has since sought to step up production and sell the vans to other customers.

This has fuelled expectation for strategic options for the business, which is also benefiting from a regulatory clamp-down on diesel vehicles. Earlier this month, Deutsche Post CEO Frank Appel said it was too early to say whether the group would float part of StreetScooter.
The excavation was carried out as a part of the 'Ychsma' project, named after the region's native people (Photo: AFP)

London: Scientists have discovered an intact mummy in Peru that is believed to have been buried between 1000 and 1200 AD.

A team from the Universite libre de Bruxelles in Belgium completed a nine week-long excavation in Pachacamac, Peru, where they have discovered the mummy in good condition.

The finding confirms Pachacamac's status as a pre-colombian pilgrimage site under the Inca empire.

"The deceased is still wrapped in the enormous funeral bundle that served as a coffin," said Peter Eeckhout, professor at Universite libre de Bruxelles.

"Discoveries like this one are exceptionally scarce, and this mummy is incredibly well preserved. Samples were collected for carbon-14 dating, but the area in which it was discovered and the type of tomb suggest this individual was buried between 1000 and 1200 AD," Eeckhout said.

The excavation was carried out as a part of the 'Ychsma' project, named after the region's native people, under the supervision of professor Eeckhout.

Three monumental structures were explored during the campaign, including a sanctuary dedicated to the local ancestors. Under Inca rule, in the late 15th century, it appears to have been transformed into a water and healing temple.

The archaeologists have discovered many offerings left by worshippers, such as Spondylus shells imported from Ecuador; these are associated with the influx of water during El Nio, and they symbolise fertility and abundance.

Before the Inca settled in the area, the sanctuary included large funerary chambers and numerous mummies, most of which were looted during the Spanish conquest.

Miraculously, though, one of the chambers was found intact during the latest round of excavations: this is the funeral chamber that held the mummy.

Due to how well it was preserved, the researchers will be able to study it without needing to unwrap the bundle.

They will soon examine the mummy using the latest techniques in medical imaging such as X-ray scans, axial tomography and 3D reconstruction. This will enable them to determine the individual's position, any pathologies they might have suffered from, but also what offerings might be inside the bundle.

The other structures that were excavated are also related to worship: the first one, an Inca monument intended to host pilgrims and rituals, was built in several phases, each identified with a series of offerings such as seashells and precious objects.

The last structure explored was probably one of the 'chapels' for foreign pilgrims, referred to by Spanish monk Antonio de la Calancha in his 17th-century description of the site.

There, the excavations also uncovered many 'foundation' offerings, including vases, dogs, and other animals, as well as a platform with a hole in the centre, where an idol was likely placed.

The complex appears to have been designed around this idol, involved in religious activities with pilgrims.

According to researchers, all these discoveries indicate that Incas made considerable changes to the Pachacamac site, in order to create a large pilgrimage centre on Peru's Pacific coast.

"Deities and their worship played a major part in the life of Pre-Colombian societies," said Eeckhout.

"The Inca understood this very well, and integrated it into how they wielded their power. By promoting empire-wide worship, they contributed to creating a common sense of identity among the many different peoples that made up the empire. Pachacamac is one of the most striking examples of this," he said.
Joseph, a Dalit Christian, was abducted on Sunday and killed by a gang of criminals allegedly engaged by his fiancee's family. (Photo: File)

Kottayam/Thiruvananthapuram: A day after a man was found dead in a case of alleged honour killing in Kerala, his fiancee's father and brother, the prime accused, were taken into custody on Tuesday, police said.

Chacko John (50) and his 26-year old son Syanu Chacko were detained as the killing of Kevin P Joseph rocked the state with a hartal hitting normal life in Kottayam and the Congress targeting Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for alleged lapse by police in the handling of a complaint by the victim's fiancee.

The two, who had gone underground after the incident, surrendered at a police station in northern Kannur district and were taken into custody, police said adding they were among 14 accused in the case.

Joseph, a Dalit Christian, was abducted on Sunday and killed by a gang of criminals allegedly engaged by his fiancee's family. His body was found in a river in Kollam district on Monday.

His relatives have alleged he was tortured and killed by the gang two days after Joseph and the woman filed a joint application for marriage registration at a sub-registrar office near Kottayam.

Three persons allegedly involved in the crime were taken into custody hours after the recovery of the body while a search was on for nine others.

Earlier on Tuesday, the father and son moved an anticipatory bail plea in the Kerala High Court claiming that they had not committed any offence.

In their plea, likely to come up for hearing on Wednesday, the two said they were willing to cooperate in the investigation.

Ernakulam Range IG Vijay Sakhare said the woman's father had a role in the crime.

The body of Joseph was buried in the cemetery of Good Shepherd Church in Kottayam this afternoon in the presence of a large number of locals.

Earlier, the body was brought to his native Kumaranellore village amid poignant scenes. After locals paid their homage, it was taken for burial.

Meanwhile, normal life was affected in Kottayam district by the dawn-to-dusk hartal called by various political parties, including Congress and BJP, and Dalit organisations to protest the "honour killing".

Former chief minister and Congress working committee member A K Antony said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan should take responsibility for the alleged lapse on the part of police in dealing with the case.

Leader of the opposition in the state assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded resignation of Vijayan.

Joseph's fiancee, whose father is a Christian and mother a Muslim, alleged laxity on the part of police when she approached the Gandhinagar police station near Kottayam with a missing complaint earlier.

The police did not move even after she appealed to the Sub Inspector that Joseph's life was in danger and he should be rescued, she told reporters in Kottayam.

Bursting into tears, the woman said she was "Kevin's wife and will stay in his residence."

Kerala Human Rights Commission has said it was suspected to be a case of honour killing and ordered the state police chief to submit a report in three weeks.

Sub-Inspector M S Shibu and Grade ASI Sunnymon of the Gandhinagar police station were yesterday suspended for laxity while Kottayam District Superintendent of Police V M Mohammed Rafique transferred following the incident.

The chief minister has described the incident as "unfortunate" and said it should not have happened.

Antony said there was a grave lapse on the part of the police in dealing with the case and it cannot be justified.

"The government and Chief Minister has to take the responsibility for this', he said.

Noting that a girl was killed in a similar 'honour killing' by her father a month ago in Malappuram, he said it was not proper for the Kerala society to remain silent over such incidents.

These honour killings actually point to the degradation of cultural and social values, he said in New Delhi.

"Casteism and primitive rituals which the state had driven away through social reforms have started to come back...Kerala is virtually turning as lunatic asylum as described by Swami Vivekananda," he said.

The general public, political leadership and social outfits also should perform their responsibilities, he added.

Chennithala demanded the resignation of Vijayan, claiming that the state police force under him had crumbled.

Suspension of a few police personnel in connection with the incident was an eye wash, he charged.
The Indian Meteorological Department on Tuesday issued a Thunderstorm warning accompanied with rain, squall and hailstones. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: Thunderstorms and lightening claimed at least 40 lives in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand since Monday evening .

Ten persons were killed and six others injured in the incidents of thunderstorm and lightning in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

There are also reports of two persons each being killed in thunderstorm in Kanpur and Rae Bareli, Principal Secretary, Information, Avinish Awasthi said. said.

The incidents also left some hutments damaged in Unnao and Rae Bareli districts.

Respective district magistrates have been directed to undertake rescue works and ensure distribution of relief in 24 hours, Awasthi added.

At least 17 people died in Bihar as the state witnessed thunderstorms and rains lashed several parts on Monday night.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, lightning killed at least 11 people while thunderstorms left over a dozen others injured in the past 24 hours in Jharkhand, taking the weather-related toll to 18 this month in the state.

The Indian Meteorological Department on Tuesday issued a Thunderstorm warning accompanied with rain, squall and hailstones that is likely to occur for three hours on Tuesday over some areas in Uttar Pradesh's Hardoi, Sitapur, Farrukhabad districts and adjoining areas.

(With agency inputs)
Around 28 lakh students registered to appear for the CBSE Class 10 and Class 12 examinations this year. (Representational Image)

Mumbai: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared Class 10 results on Tuesday.

Students can check their result on the official websites of the board: www.cbse.nic.in and www.cbseresults.nic.in

Students will also be able to check their result on Google by searching for CBSE Class 10 result. They will have to fill in the required details to login and check their results.

Prakhar Mittal from Gurugram, Rimzhim Agrawal from Bijnor, Nandni Garg from Shamli and Sreelakshmi G from Cochin, all scored 499 marks out of 500 to top CBSE Class 10th examination.

While seven students secured the second position with 498 marks, 14 students bagged the third spot with a score of 497. The top three performing regions are -- Thiruvananthapuram (pass percentage 99.60), Chennai (97.37) and Ajmer (91.86).

The overall pass percentage for Class 10 Board exams is 86.70 per cent. Girls did better than boys with pass percentage of 88.67 as opposed to 85.32.

Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said, "Congratulations to those who have succeeded. Those students who've got compartment should prepare again and I am sure they will do well."

The board exams this year were marred by controversy with question paper leaks being reported from Delhi-NCR and Jharkhand. The HRD Ministry had decided against conducting a re-examination of the Class 10 mathematics paper in the "interest of students".

This was the first batch to appear for the Class 10 board examinations after the CBSE decided to junk the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and reintroduce the board exams. Over 16 lakh students had appeared for the Class 10 CBSE exams this year.

(With agency inputs)

Steps to check CBSE Class 10 exam results 2018:

1. Visit the official websites of CBSE - cbse.nic.in or cbseresults.nic.in

2. Click on the link for result 2018

3. Enter the required details correctly

4. Click on submit

5. Result will be displayed on screen

6. Take a printout of the result
The BJP's attack on the JD(S) leader came after the latter's comments in Bengaluru on Sunday that he was at the mercy of the Congress and not the people of Karnataka as his government had not received the full mandate. (Photo: File)

Bengaluru: The BJP took a swipe at Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday, saying he was the "chief manager (CM)" of the Congress's ATM in the state and that he was lying prostrate at the feet of the Gandhi family.

The BJP's attack on the JD(S) leader came after the latter's comments in Bengaluru on Sunday that he was at the mercy of the Congress and not the people of Karnataka as his government had not received the full mandate, which his party had sought in the recently held Assembly election in the state.

"Nothing can be sadder than this. This is absolutely demeaning to the democratic fabric of the country and akin to an abuse of India's democracy," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters.

He described the current situation as a fallout of the Congress-JD(S) alliance's mockery of the popular mandate in the southern state for petty political interests.

The BJP had emerged as the single-largest party in the Karnataka Assembly election by bagging 104 of the 222 seats that went to the polls, but fell short of a majority, allowing the Congress and the JD(S) to join hands and form government in the state.

Patra alleged that for the Congress, Karnataka was its ATM and it had found a chief manager in Kumaraswamy, while the government in the southern state would be run from Janpath -- a reference to the residential address of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

"The Congress has found a new manager for its ATM in Karnataka. We can say this after his (Kumaraswamy's) statement. People are asking who is their chief minister," the BJP spokesperson said.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's words, he said for the BJP, the country was family, while for the Congress, the "first family" of the party was the country.

"Kumaraswamy is lying prostrate at the feet of a family," Patra said.

He added that former prime minister Manmohan Singh used to blame the compulsions of coalition politics in the face of allegations of corruption in his government and said there was a feeling of deja vu in Karnataka.

Patra also claimed that various opposition parties were not accepting Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the leader of an anti-BJP coalition.

To a question, the BJP leader claimed that the BJP would form the next government in Odisha, where Assembly polls will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha election in 2019.
The virus has so far claimed 14 lives in Kerala. (Photo: File)

Panaji: The state-run Goa Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) has kept under observation a 20-year-old Kerala resident who was found having symptoms of the Nipah virus.

State health minister Vishwajit Rane said the man was under observation at GMCH, located near Panaji in North Goa district, and it was not yet confirmed if he was infected with the deadly virus.

Blood samples of the patient were sent for testing to the National Institute of Virology in Pune, Rane said, adding that there was no need to panic. The patients identity was not disclosed by GMCH.

The patient was travelling alone on a train from Kerala but took ill when he reached Thivim railway station in Goa on Monday morning, Dr Utkarsh Betodkar, chief surveillance officer, Directorate of Health Services, told reporters.

He said that the patient was initially referred to the district hospital in Mapusa town from where he was admitted to GMCH. The patient is not quarantined. He has been kept in isolation as a precautionary measure, he said.

He said that there was no need to panic as it was not a confirmed case of Nipah. He also ruled out the need to notify authorities about the patients co-passengers.

Betodkar said that the results of the blood samples, which have been sent to Kerala, would be available by Tuesday evening. He added that the future course of action regarding the patient would be decided once the blood sample report arrives.

No advisory has been issued by the state government about the virus, he said.

The Goa government has formed a committee, headed by the states Health Secretary, to draw a protocol to deal with Nipah virus cases, if any, in the state.

The virus has so far claimed 14 lives in Kerala.

The outbreak of the Nipah virus infection, a newly emerging zoonosis that causes severe disease in both animals and humans, is suspected to be from an unused well at Perambra in Keralas Kozhikode district which was infested with bats.

The natural host of the virus is believed to be fruit bats of the Pteropodidae family, Pteropus genus.

So far there is no vaccine against the virus which was first identified in 1998 in Kampung Sungai Nipah, Malaysia.
An unhappy Modi also told his British counterpart that whenever Indian fugitives take shelter in Britain, it takes a lot of time to extradite them to India. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: In the context of India's efforts for the extradition of fugitive Vijay Mallya, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had told his British counterpart Theresa May on the sidelines of the recent Commonwealth Summit that British courts should not comment on the conditions of Indian jails as these were the same jails where the British had imprisoned leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and J.L Nehru before independence, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj revealed on Monday.

The comments were made in the context of reports that the British Courts are keen to send a team to inspect the conditions of Indian jails before deciding if Mallya can be extradited to India or not.

An unhappy Modi also told his British counterpart that whenever Indian fugitives take shelter in Britain, it takes a lot of time to extradite them to India.

When fugitives from India arrive here (in Britain), it takes a lot of time to send them back to India. But your courts have raised this issue in the Mallya case that they want to inspect Indian jails, so I want to tell you that these are the same jails where you had imprisoned Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other top leaders, it is not right on the part of your courts now to raise questions about these same jails, PM Modi was quoted as telling the British PM.

The comments highlight India's unhappiness at what it perceives are unjust obstacles in its efforts to extradite Vijay Mallya.
The film industry is upset with Rajini's statement that whichever government comes to power in K'taka should implement SC order on Cauvery water sharing.(Photo: File)

Bengaluru: Miffed with Tamil megastar Rajinikanth's comments on the Cauvery row, the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce (KFCC) on Tuesday decided not to allow screening of his movie Kaala, due for release on June 7.

The film industry is upset with Rajinikanth's reported statement that whichever government comes to power in Karnataka should implement the Supreme Court order on Cauvery water sharing in toto.

KFCC president Sa Ra Govindu told news agency PTI that a decision has been taken that Rajinikanth's film will not be screened in Karnataka.

"A decision has been taken that Rajinikanth's movie will neither be distributed nor screened anywhere in Karnataka," said Govindu admitting that the actor's statement on Cauvery issue made them take such a decision.

The KFCC president said the ban on distribution and screening of Rajinikanth movies will continue.

"The ban will remain because neither will he apologise for his statement nor are we going to pardon him," Govindu said.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had recently asked the actor to visit the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam to see the status of water level before passing any comments. The film star has often faced the wrath of pro-Kannada organisations for his comments on Cauvery issue.

Also Read: Rajinikanth will change his stand on Cauvery if he visits K'taka: H D Kumaraswamy

The actor has a great fan following in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru and Kolar where there is a sizable Tamil population.
'We will issue notice and stay the execution,' the Supreme Court bench said. (Photo: File)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the execution of a death row convict who along with one other person was awarded capital punishment for raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl in Madhya Pradesh in 2017.

A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and Mohan M Shantanagoudar issued notice to the Madhya Pradesh Police on the appeal filed by convict Satish, challenging the state high court's May 9 judgement upholding the death penalty awarded to him by the trial court.

"We will issue notice and stay the execution," the bench said.

Besides Satish, the high court had also upheld the death penalty awarded by the trial court to convict Bhagwani in the case. The execution of Bhagwani was stayed by the apex court last week.

The capital punishment awarded to both the convicts by the trial court was confirmed by the high court which had taken note of the "alarming increase" in the incidents of child rape and the growing anger in the society over such offences across the country.

According to the police, both of them had raped the minor girl who was residing with her family in their village during the intervening night of April 14-15, 2017. They had then killed her, it said.

The police had said that the girl had gone to attend a ceremony in the village along with her parents on April 14 last year and went missing from there.

Her body was recovered the next morning, the police had said, adding that during the probe, it was found that the duo, which was initially absconding from the village, had a verbal altercation with the victim's father a day prior to the incident.

Both of them were later arrested and the trial court had awarded them death sentence. They had denied all the charges against them during the trial as well as before the high court.
Over 16 lakh students appeared for the board exam across country from March 5 to April 4.

Chennai: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the results of class 10 exams on Tuesday evening.

Over 16 lakh students appeared for the board exam across country from March 5 to April 4. The results are likely to be announced on the following websites - www.results.nic.in, www.cbseresults.nic.in and www.cbse.nic.in.

Like class 12 results, the union education secretary Anil Swarup announced the release of results and time. The results will be declared around 4 pm on Tuesday.

Class 10 results can also be accessed through Google search engine www.google.co.in and SMS organizer app on mobile.
Rajesh Sahni was an Additional Superintendent of Police rank official. (Photo: Twitter/@dgpup)

Lucknow: A senior police officer of the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) allegedly shot himself dead with his official gun at his office on Tuesday.

According to reports, Sahni was on leave but had gone to his office in Gomtinagar on Tuesday morning.

At around 12:45 pm, he reportedly summoned one of his staff to fetch his gun from his vehicle. He later allegedly shot himself.

A 1992-batch Provincial Police Services (PPS) officer, Rajesh Sahni used an official weapon to shoot himself on his temple, ADG (Law and Order) Anand Kumar said.

UP Director General of Police Om Prakash Singh tweeted expressing grief and wrote: "He was one of the most promising officers of UP police. The reasons for his suicide are still being ascertained."

It gives us immense grief to communicate the unfortunate demise of Rajesh Sahni, Adl SP ATS. He was one of the most promising officers of UP Police . The reasons of his suicide are still being ascertained .

Our prayers with the family. May his soul rest in peace pic.twitter.com/wijPbHb5Kx  DGP UP (@dgpup) May 29, 2018

Sahni was an Additional Superintendent of Police rank official.
The mangled remains of the ill-fated RTC bus which met with an accident near Chenjerla village in Manakondur mandal in Karimnagar.

Karimnagar: Seven passengers travelling in an RTC bus were killed and 15 others critically injured when a speeding lorry coming from the opposite direction collided head-on with the bus near Chenjerla village in Manakondur mandal in Karimnagar on Tuesday morning.

The incident took place when the TSRTC bus was proceeding towards Karimnagar from Huzurabad in the morning. The speeding truck coming from the opposite direction rammed into the bus killing the passengers sitting on the right side of the bus.

The victims have been identified as Ailoni Nagaraju of Geesukonda in Warangal, Rayabar-apu Subashini of Gopa-lapuram, Warangal, Zakir Hussain from Musheerabad in Hyder-abad, Hariprasad of Jammikunta, Karim-nagar, Pilli Lachhavva of Munjampalli, Karimnagar, Perala Prabhakar from Saidapur in Karimnagar, railway employee Rajeshwar Patel of Kazipet of Warangal.

Umeer of Chenjerla village is in a coma having suffered a head injury after being hit by a rod that separated from the bus while he was passing by. Bodies were scattered on the ground. Villagers rushed to the spot first and shifted the injured to hospitals in Karimnagar. Fifteen persons including the driver of the lorry were shifted to various hospitals for treatment in Karimnagar. The condition of four of them is said to be critical.

Finance minister Etela Rajender visited the accident spot and supervised the shifting of bodies and injured to hospitals. He said the lorry driver overtook another lorry and collided with the RTC bus. He expressed his shock and grief at the tragedy and said government will provide for the survivors.

Karimnagar police commissioner V B Kamalasan Reddy who supervised the situation at the accident spot, blamed the driver who was speeding with a lorry loaded with poultry fodder.

Major road accidents have been taking place in and around Manakondur. Recently, a family travelling by car rammed into a stationary truck; four persons returning to Godavarikhani after distributing marriage cards in Hyderabad were killed. Mr Kamalasan Reddy said steps will be taken to control accidents on this road.

There is heavy traffic between Karimnagar city and Manakondur. The Manakondur road proceeds towards Warangal after cutting form Rajiv Rahadari. There was a proposal to convert this two-lane road into four-lane to avoid frequent road accidents.

Granite laden trucks frequently ply on this road on their way to Kakinada port in AP.
New Delhi: With booming guns across the India-Pakistan border becoming more the norm than being an exception in recent weeks, leading to casualties, including that of civilians, on both sides  36 deaths in India and 28 in Pakistan in 2018  it took about seven minutes in a hotline telephonic talk between the directors-general of military operations (DGMOs) of the two neighbours to defuse the situation and agree to enforce the ceasefire agreement signed in 2003.

This year itself, a huge jump in the number and intensity of cross border firings  1,088 by Pakistan and 1,088 by India  had rendered the 2003 India-Pakistan pact virtually redundant. A high-ranked Indian Army official told this newspaper: At 6pm on Tuesday, a phone call came from the Pakistani Army requesting a DGMO-level talk on the hotline. And whenever such a request comes in from the Pakistan DGMO, we never refuse. The talks not exceeding 7 minutes centred on ushering peace on the border.

Lieutenant General Anil Chauhan is the Indian DGMO while his Pak counterpart is Major General Sahir Shamshad Mirza. An Army release said the DGMOs reviewed the situation along the LoC and IB.

Experts skeptical about Pak overture

With booming guns across the Indo-Pak border becoming more of a norm rather than an exception in recent weeks leading to casualties including civilians and it took about 7 minutes of a telephonic talk between the director-generals of military operations to defuse the situation. Military strategy expert Lt Gen (retd) PC Katoch is skeptical about the Pak overture. This offer was expected. Pakistan is talking about the ceasefire now because of the impending general elections in July. If they are really sincere on peace, why is infiltration and the proxy war from across the border still continuing?
Chennai: The violence and police firing in Thoothukudi that claimed 13 lives rocked the Tamil Nadu assembly on Tuesday with Chief Minister K Palaniswami blaming the DMK, and some anti-social elements for the violence and maintaining that the subsequent police action was unavoidable. He also asserted that stern action would be taken if the Commission of Inquiry finds that anyone mishandled that situation.

Calling the Government Order for closure of the Sterlite copper plant an 'eyewash' and 'drama', DMK members staged a walkout, with their leader M.K. Stalin saying the party would boycott the House proceedings until the Chief Minister accepts moral responsibility and resigns, and Sterlite is permanently shut.

Members of DMK's ally Congress, wearing black badges, sat through the CM's speech that stretched for over an hour, before walking out saying they did not get the answer they expected from the government. The Congress legislature party leader K R Ramasamy pointedly asked if the 'incidents' were right or wrong and also demanded transfer of the probe into the violence-firing to the CBI.

To this, CM said a Commission of Inquiry, headed by Justice Aruna Jagadeesan, has been set up and based on its findings, appropriate action will be taken if anyone is found to have committed wrongs. Expressing grief over the deaths, he wondered how a comment like right or wrong can be made when an inquiry panel was seized of the matter.

Earlier, tabling a report on the Thoothukudi incidents, he said measures like tear gas and baton charge were used against those who indulged in violence. "In unavoidable circumstances, police personnel were forced to take action," he said in an apparent reference to the police firings. He urged the people of Thoothukudi not to succumb to instigations by anyone and cooperate for the continuation of peace.

Soon after question hour, Leader of the Opposition M K Stalin, attired in black, targeted the government for issuing a Government Order (GO) for closure of Vedanta group's copper plant, rather than convening the Cabinet and taking a policy decision in this regard. The GO, he said, was an "eyewash and drama," tantamount to signalling the Sterlite management to approach the court, and was much like what happened in 2013, he said.

Palaniswami hit back at Stalin, saying the protest against the unit had been going on for 22 years and it was DMK which was enacting a 'drama' on the issue.

He demanded to know why it was not closed when DMK was in power for 10 years (1996-2001 and 2006-11). Also, land allocation for Sterlite expansion was made only during the DMK regime, he said.

"DMK is trying to portray as if the (AIADMK) government has done something wrong on the issue. However, the people know who is enacting a drama," he said.

Palaniswami said the G.O for closure of Sterlite was issued only after consulting legal experts.

He said though the anti-Sterlite protest group agreed for a peaceful demonstration on May 22, some political parties and outfits joined it 'all of a sudden' to push the government to a corner and created a law and order problem. He named DMK legislator Geetha Jeevan as the one who had led a crowd of about 200 party members in a march towards the collectorate.

"Some infiltrated the demonstration (rally) and indulged in violence by hurling stones at the police, chased and assaulted them, damaged the collectorate building and set on fire government and private vehicles," he said and later showed photographs to prove it.

He said vehicles parked in the residential quarters of Sterlite were set on fire. Similarly Thoothukudi South Police State and a district industries office were damaged. All efforts were made by police to halt the arsonists and rein in violence to safeguard the lives of public and guard property who used measures like tear-gas and baton-charge, CM said.

Stalin said the firing would not have occurred had adequate police personnel been deployed. Palaniswami's remark (made days ago) that anti-socials had infiltrated the rally led to depiction of the innocent public as anti-socials, he alleged.
Four men were arrested and three juveniles apprehended for allegedly making fun of a man dressed as goddess Kali and then stabbing him to death.

New Delhi: Four men were arrested and three juveniles apprehended for allegedly making fun of a man dressed as goddess Kali and then stabbing him to death, police said on Monday.

The four arrested men were identified as Naveen, 20, Aman Kumar Singh, 20, Mohit Kumar, 25 and Sajal Kumar Maheshwari, 19, they added. On the intervening night of May 22 and 23, the body of a man was found from the NSIC jungle with multiple stab injuries on the chest, face and head.

The deceased was identified as Kalu alias Kalua. After the post-mortem, the body was handed over to his brother for the last rites.

Kalu, an orphan, was raised in a 'dharamshala' near Kalkaji Mandir, the police said.

He used to spend time with transgenders and was a devotee of 'Maa Kali'. On Tuesdays and Saturdays, he would project himself as the goddess, wearing a black salwar suit with a red chunni and anklets, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said.

On the night he was killed, Kalu was dressed as the goddess.

The police questioned several persons. On the basis of a tip-off, the accused, including the juveniles, were apprehended from Govindpuri on Sunday, the DCP added.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that they had consumed liquor and were near the NSIC jungle main gate when they saw Kalu passing by. Seeing his attire, they started mocking him.

As Kalu told them not to make fun of him, the accused caught hold of him, forcibly took him inside the jungle and started beating him up. They then stabbed him with a Swiss knife, the police said.

The deceased succumbed to his injuries on the spot and the accused fled on their motorcycles. Five motorcycles were also recovered by the police at the instance of the accused.

One of the accused, Naveen, is pursuing his graduation through correspondence from the Delhi University. He is a first-year commerce student.
Meanwhile, in another incident in the district, the suppliers had dumped around 60 kgs of spurious seed in the Ryalampadu reservoir, afraid that the cops would be raiding them too.

HYDERABAD: The Police of Jogulamba Gadwala district conducted raids and seized huge quantities of spurious seeds in Gadwala town. The district had formed a special task force to control the supply of spurious seeds to farmers. The approximate value of the material seized on Monday is Rs 10 lakh.

According to the police, based on a tip off, raids were conducted on the residence of one T Venkat Reddy at Old Housing Board Colony and huge quantities of packed spurious cotton seeds were found. 25 kgs of the seeds were mixed with colour, while 100 kg seeds were not mixed with colour.

Ms Rema Rajeshwari, Superintendent of Police, Jogulamba Gadwala said special teams were conducting thorough checks at various locations and market areas to prevent spurious seed supply. Anybody found indulging in this illegal trade will face strict actions as per the law. Awareness programmes for farmers is also being conducted in this aspect, she said.

Meanwhile, in another incident in the district, the suppliers had dumped around 60 kgs of spurious seed in the Ryalampadu reservoir, afraid that the cops would be raiding them too.
Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao on Tuesday that the governments investment support for agriculture is not aimed at getting votes in the elections.

He also criticised the promise of Congress leaders that they would waive Rs 2 lakh loans of each farmer saying that it is a gimmick to get votes in the elections and it would be an impossible task for them to do so.

He was addressing the district coordinators of farmers coordination committee at Pragathi Bhavan on Tuesday.

The Chief Minister has asked the members of the farmers coordination committee or the Rythu Samanwaya Samithi to play a key role in the distribution of pattadar pass books and investment support scheme cheques under Rythu Bandhu as well as in the implementation of life insurance scheme for the farmers.

Mr Rao said that his government had fulfilled every promise made in the TRS election manifesto for the welfare of farmers and has even gone beyond that by imp-lementing many schemes that are not promised in manifesto.

He said that the second instalment of cheques under the Rythu Bandhu scheme will be given in November.

There was a time when Telangana farmers lived with great respect and honour. The farming was fairly good occupation. Farmers were in a position to offer donations in tune with their status. The policies adopted in United States pushed agriculture into a bad shape. The farmer has become a loser on all counts. We thought that the situation should impr-ove after the formation of Telangana. Accordingly, we initiated and implemented several schemes benefiting the farmers. To begin with we waived the farmers loans, aggregating to a tune of Rs 17,000 crore, Mr Rao said.

He said his government had constructed irrigation projects and provided fertilisers and seeds on time without any delay.

We introduced an inve-stment support scheme to discourage farmers from taking private loans and are offering Rs 5 lakh life insurance cover to farmers. To make all these programmes a great success the Rythu Samanwaya Samithis must play a key role, he explained.

Speaking about the Congress promise of waiving off Rs 2 lakh worth loan for each farmer, the Chief Minister said it is just not possible.

The states income from all sources is Rs 10,525 crore. Out of this, Rs 2,000 crore are to be spent for loan servicing, Rs 6,000 crore for employee sala-ries, pensions, Aasara pensions and other subsidies. This leaves the state government with just Rs 2,500 crore for spending on government schemes and other activities.

Taking this into consideration, Mr Rao said if the government need to waive Rs 2 lakh loan of each farmer as is promised by the Congress, the government cant pay salaries to employees for 20 months. Is it possible to run a government for 20 months without paying salaries to the employees? Under any circumstan-ces, it is not possible. But the Congress is making false promises.
New Delhi: Former president Pranab Mukherjee accepting an invite from the RSS to be the chief guest at a function at the Sangh headquarters on June 7 snowballed into a row with a former Union minister urging him to reconsider his decision in the interest of secularism.

While the Congress refrained from making a comment on the issue, a party leader asked if the RSS accepted what the former president said as a minister and Congress leader about the Sangh being the worst outfit which was communal, anti-national and unpatriotic.

While a Union minister defended Mr Mukherjees decision saying the RSS is not Pakistans ISI and an untouchable and it was a good beginning.

The RSS, on its part, claimed even Mahatma Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan attended their functions and former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had invited its workers for the Republic Day Parade in 1963 after being impressed with its work.

Former Union minister C.K. Jaffer Sharif, in a letter to Mr Mukherjee, expressed surprise over the move and said he like other secular people was stunned to hear about his attending the RSS function.
New Delhi: Former president Pranab Mukherjee accepting an invite from the RSS to be the chief guest at a function at the Sangh headquarters on June 7 snowballed into a row with a former union minister urging him to reconsider his decision in the interest of secularism.

I personally think that a person of your stature, being secular and in politics for decades, having served in various capacity including the highest position of Rashtrapati, visiting Sangh Parivar at this point in time before Parliament elections is not proper.

Congressmen besides secular people are stunned to hear the news and are agitated on the situation and are hopeful that yourself will reconsider the idea.

I once again request you to reconsider and avoid visiting Sangh Parivar in the interest of secularism and the country, Shareif said in his letter which was also signed by former MP H Hanumanthappa.

No comments, was Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkans response when asked about Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters.

He said since the event is yet to happen he would not comment on it and the Congress will formulate its thoughts once the event takes place.

The event has not happened. I have come to know about it from media reports and am collecting further details. At present I have no comments to offer till the event takes place, he told reporters at the AICC office.

Former MP and Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said as a Congress leader and minister, Mukherjee has spoken about the RSS and the BJP many times on various issues and dubbed it as bad and worst outfit, which is communal and anti-national.

Pranab Mukherjee used to say that the RSS is the worst organisation in the country. Its leaders have no morals and RSS is corrupt and spreads lies. He (Mukherjee) has also said that the RSS is anti-national, unpatriotic and communal. If the RSS has invited a person with such views, does this mean that the RSS admits that his (Pranabs) views about the organisation were correct, Dikshit asked.

Earlier, at a press conference in Mumbai, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said, The RSS is not Pakistans ISI. The RSS is an organisation of nationalists.
The Tamil Nadu government has ordered the Sterlite copper smelting plant in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) be shut permanently. This will be popular with a large section of those living in the town where the factory, which produces four lakh tonnes of copper annually, is located. However, the 3,500 people employed there wont be as happy. Sterlite, owned by UKs Vedanta Resources, has a patchy record in polluting the environment and groundwater with arsenic and cadmium, and has been known to be cavalier with environmental laws despite its strenuous denials now about complying with the norms. It was once fined Rs 100 crores by the Supreme Court on the principle that the polluter pays.

The land allotted for doubling the plants capacity, which would have made Sterlite Indias top copper producer, was also cancelled. These orders will no doubt come under judicial scrutiny. There will also be economic consequences, as Sterlite produces almost a third of the nations copper requirement. Truth to tell, the copper industry was cleared for coastal Tamil Nadu in early 1990s when environmental awareness may not have been as sharply defined as now. Central governments have successively cleared the plants operations while a gas leak forced the Tamil Nadu government to bring production to a halt when the manufacturers moved the Supreme Court. The plants permanent closure will be in the hands of the Supreme Court, which would have to assess the legalities while the present scenario would suit the core group of protesters, whose lives were affected by the smelter. Finding a balance, while factoring in the loss of lives in police firing on protesters, will be tricky.
Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in early 1990s, defence and strategic experts have been shouting from rooftops that the era of the unipolar world was over. Many countries such as China, Russia, Japan, India, the Asean, the European Union, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are often touted as the significant poles of this multipolar world. The proponents of this idea claim that the only super power of the world, the US, cannot impose its dictums on the rest of the world any more. Is it true?

Yes, China has, in the last 30 years, witnessed the most extensive economic transformation the world has ever seen. It has emerged as the worlds largest manufacturer and exporter, and its GDP, which at one time was less than one-third of US GDP, has already overtaken the American GDP on the PPP basis. It holds more than $1.16 trillion in the US treasury bonds and $3.14 trillion in foreign exchange reserves. More countries today have China as their largest trading partner than the US. It has planned to invest over $1 trillion in President Xi Jinpings most ambitious project  Belt and Road Initiative (BRI)  which might connect 60 countries of the world. It underlines Chinas growing global economic and political clout. Through the New Development Bank and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, China is flexing its financial muscles too. It has developed nuclear weapons, intercontinental missiles, stealth plane, air defence system and undertaken the expansion of its Navy and modernisation of the Peoples Liberation Army at an unprecedented scale. Its pursing innovation in cutting-edge technology and artificial intelligence with a missionary zeal. Chinas assertive territorial claims in the South China Sea keep its neighbours off balance. Notwithstanding its economic, political and military power, and unmistakable global influence, is China calling the shots today? Can it, in near future? Isnt it often checkmated by the US?

It took months of painstaking negotiations and last minute personal intervention by Barack Obama, Mr Xi and Narendra Modi to make Paris Climate Agreement happen in December 2015. For the first time, 195 countries adopted universal, legally binding global climate deal. While its full implementation is still far away, it did reflect the intent of the international community to address the challenges of climate change or perish. But the billionaire businessman-turned-President of the US stands up one day and says: this agreement wasnt good for the US, so I am walking out. And he just did that. All the other signatories to the agreement could do nothing. While former US vice-president Al Gore and many American MNCs reiterate their commitment to the agreement, can major goals of the Paris agreement be achieved minus the US?

Mr Obama strongly supported Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)  trade agreement among12 Pacific Ocean rim countries. He intended to counter Chinas economic outreach in different parts of the world. Its members accounting for 37 per cent of the global GDP and a combined market of $13.7 trillion, pledged to liberalise trade and investment by removing 98 per cent trade barriers. Mr Trump called it a sell out of the American interests and withdrew. Though 11 remaining members have renamed it as TPP-11, American absence drastically diminishes its potential.

It took more than six years meticulous negotiations between the Iran and P5+1 to hammer out the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA), which capped Irans nuclear programme and lifted UN sanctions on her. Citing some claims of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Iran was cheating and enriching uranium, Mr Trump, US President closest to Israel, decides to exit from the deal. The UK, France, Germany, China, Russia and the International Atomic Energy Agency claimed that Iran has been fulfilling its contractual obligations, but Mr Trump wasnt listening. The US has put forward 12 demands, which the Iranian leadership has expectedly rejected. US secretary of state Mike Pompeo has issued an ominous warning to Iran: the sting of sanctions will only grow more painful if the regime doesnt change course from the unacceptable and unproductive path it has chosen for itself and the people of Iran. These will be the strongest sanctions in history by the time we are done. Iran has accused the US of trying to bring about the change of regime. American denials notwithstanding, there is some truth in this allegation. The US seems unmindful of hugely disruptive consequences of their sanctions: rise in international oil prices; deterioration in situation in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen and Afghanistan; temptation for Iran to pursue nuclear weapons programme, uncontrollable repercussions of a pre-emptive strike on Iran and alarm bells for North Korea not to rush in to a deal with the US.

194 UN members opposed the US decision to shift its embassy to Jerusalem. It caused celebrations in Israel but death of 50 Palestinians in Gaza. Did the US care for the world outcry?

The much-hyped summit between Kim Jong-un and Mr Trump in Singapore on June 12 was torpedoed by the provocative and ill-advised comments of vice-president Mike Pence and national security adviser John Bolt. Mr Pences reference to the Libyan model and fate of Gaddafi were trashed as ignorant and stupid by North Koreas vice minister Choe Son-hui. She quipped: Whether they will meet at the summit or at nuclear to nuclear showdown entirely depended on the US. Belatedly, Mr Trump realised that he couldnt bully Mr Kim. In his rather conciliatory letter of May 24, Mr Trump thanked Mr Kim for releasing the American hostage but called off the summit citing anger and hostility on North Koreas part.

The letter leaves the door ajar for a summit in future. Keen to make history, Mr Trump was interested in the deal but foolishly followed a recipe for unmaking the deal. Mr Kim, smarter than Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein wont commit hara-kiri. His nuclear toys are his best hedge against a Gaddafi-like end.

Referring to the threat of a Sino-US trade war, Paul Tucker, author of Unelected Power, opines that both Mr Trump and Mr Xi are playing with fire. Trade war between America and China will not only impact them; it will harm the global economic prosperity. Does Mr Trump care?

The US has control over the IMF and the World Bank. China, Russia, Iran and Turkey can conduct limited trade in their currencies, but dollar still rules.

Threatening his foes and friends alike, Mr Trump is dismantling the international trading system. The EU is a formidable economic block. But can it get away with open defiance of US sanctions on Iran? Highly unlikely! Through CAASTA (Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act) the US can mount unacceptable pressure on European countries/companies. India too will feel the heat.

Is the unipolar world really dead?

The writer is a retired Indian diplomat
Even as a direct US presidential directive relocated the American embassy from Tel Aviv to the disputed city of Jerusalem, symbolically acknowledging it as the de facto capital of Israel, thick clouds of toxic black smoke from burning rubber tires billowed over Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, ignited by crowds waving Palestinian flags surging forward towards border fences in the Gaza Strip, signalling the commencement of another Arab intifada. The Israeli responses were immediate and harsh. Smoke from volleys of rifle fire aimed into crowds by the Israeli Army, mingled with vertical contrails of teargas canisters dropped from above by Israeli drones. Media pictures of injured Palestinians being carried away on makeshift stretchers filled television screens all day. To a watching world it was a graphic demonstration of iron-fisted crowd control by the Israeli security forces, circa 2018. Other events, unconnected in themselves, also occurred almost in tandem elsewhere in the world during the same approximate timeframe.

Most significant among these was the tectonic presidential decision by the United States to unilaterally walk away from the existing nuclear agreement with Iran, and reimpose economic sanctions earlier lifted from that country, peremptorily waving off anxious remonstrations by its European allies. In Washington, sharp divisions within the US Senate emerged during the public hearings of the House Intelligence Committee examining Gina Haspel, President Donald Trumps choice as the director of the CIA. The proceedings were remarkably candid for their revelations of Americas quasi-official acceptance in the national interest of rendition and torture by its operatives at black sites in foreign countries to gather intelligence and launch covert dirty war operations against countries like Russia, Iran, China and North Korea, which are perceived as the current axis of evil. These events, whether in the Gaza Strip or the US Senate, were all disquieting to Americas allies and opponents alike, and collectively contributed to an atmosphere of heightened international tension reminiscent of the Cold War, which has undoubtedly touched India as well.

This is the background against which the Government of India, on the urgent representation from chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, ordered the Indian security forces operating against separatist militants there to ease up their operations while yet another offer was made for a month-long Ramzan ceasefire in the Kashmir Valley. In making the offer, the government had to consciously override strong objections and opposition from the Indian Army as well as its own intelligence community, who strongly felt that going by past experience, this would only offer a breathing space for jihadi groups to recuperate, rest and regroup. And this is exactly what happened. Across the Line of Control, the ceasefire was rejected by Sayeed Salahudeen and the United Jihad Council based at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. The Indian Army was also not too unhappy because it allowed opportunities to follow up hot trails before they got too cold. Successful operations had already eliminated a large number of militants in the current year and the Army wanted to continue and follow up the hunt.

The vivid media images of the Palestinian intifada in the Gaza Strip, projected on television screens worldwide, were watched by audiences on the subcontinent too, including in the Kashmir Valley. Some whose heart beat for Pakistan may choose to take inspiration from the pall of black smoke over the Gaza Strip. But the lessons to be drawn really pertain to India. The offer of a Ramzan ceasefire aside, will the Government of India respond to Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in Kashmir with a matching maximally calibrated minimum force if an escalated intifada is ordered by Sayeed Salahudeen and his cohorts, the United Jihad Council? There may also be a possibility that Pakistan will again seek to exploit the Palestine intifada and attempt to reopen the Kashmir issue with the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC). This had occurred earlier, and was bluntly rejected by India before the same body. On its own part, India must remain wary and be prepared for Pakistan attempting an updated replay of its 1965 Operation Gibraltar, combining massive intifada-style civil disobedience inside Kashmir, with trans-LoC violence by the Lashkar, Hizbul, Jaish, the newest entrant  Islamic State, together with other similar assorted derivatives.

At the other end of the spectrum was the unequivocal reiteration at the hearings by Gina Haspel, (since confirmed as the director of the CIA) that under her leadership the CIA would continue to pursue undeterred its national responsibility of protecting the American people by conducting intelligence and covert activities across the world. CIA activities within the country are of course nothing new for India, but an issue which reminds the government of the need for constant vigilance amongst Indias counter-intelligence agencies to protect the Indian people, even at a time when the countrys political leadership is desperately attempting to become a natural ally of the US. Intelligence is a black art regarded by some as almost akin to witchcraft. When spymasters of yesteryears choose to co-author a book, it is likely to be an explosive money-spinner, which the market would eagerly lap up, particularly if the authors in their time headed RAW and ISI  the opposing covert agencies of India and Pakistan respectively. Two such personalities have chosen to co-author a book, The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace. In intelligence circles, much value is placed on spycraft, but speaking from a purely Indian perspective, such bonhomie, however grudging, between opposing intelligence professionals might be difficult to explain to the ranks of the special forces who carried out the retaliatory surgical strike in the wake of the Uri incident or the Rashtriya Rifles who stalked and eliminated Burhan Wani in Sopore. There are many things which are best left unsaid.
Ye deewangi kab khatam hogi? When will this madness end? The disarming question from former Indian vice-president Hamid Ansari prompted Pakistans ex-spy chief retired Lt. Gen. Asad Durrani to agree to do a book with his friend, the former RAW chief, Amarjit Singh Dulat. The Dulat-Durrani book explores Ansaris poser from different angles. Luckily, it has found a clear constituency in India, whereas in Pakistan it has incurred censure, mostly. The duo slams right-wing hawks on both sides, usually their own. Others could find in the book a useful compendium of views and facts that are mostly known but rarely acknowledged officially. Above all, there is in it a much-needed self-criticism from both sides, without which their assessment of each other or of the Western hold on South Asia would perhaps not be nearly so credible. For Indians, there was also an occult reason of interest. The book release last week coincided with the swearing in of a new coalition in Karnataka. Look at the dramatis personae in both places. They comprised opposition to the Modi government, virtually as a theme. The book is a discussion including agreements and differences larded with riveting banter between the former spy chiefs of India and Pakistan.

Moderated by an Indian journalist, its release attracted the presence of Dr Manmohan Singh, former BJP foreign minister Yashwant Sinha and Kashmiri factotum Farooq Abdullah among other critics of the Modi establishment. The Karnataka jamboree comprised one of the largest gatherings of Opposition satraps in recent memory and it came about after foiling Modis chances of cobbling his own coalition there. It is all too well known that the book contains criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modis policy on Kashmir and Pakistan. Which is more or less what the entire Indian Opposition has been saying albeit in different decibels. In Pakistan, where the book has not been released and Im not sure why that is so, there has been mostly criticism of Durrani. He has been ordered to explain his conduct, according to reports, to the Army headquarters for joining hands with Dulat, a rare spy who has headed the Intelligence Bureau and RAW at different times. It would have been far more rewarding for Pakistani politicians and other troubled souls to read the book before taking a view one way or another.

Consider, for example, Gen. Durranis straightforward confession, which could have irked his former colleagues. The establishments in the US, Pakistan and India are usually working for their own good rather than for the good of their public. Who could disagree with that open secret, and how often do we hear such views so candidly expressed by those who have sat in the cockpit? One can understand his colleagues being miffed with something Gen. Durrani said, but why are the politicians so worked up? After the initial fuss, the Jadhav issue has gone quiet, says the mediator, Aditya Sinha. Gen. Durrani agrees. Im happy if nothing is happening, such shor-sharaba has no place. Theres a way to go about it. We should not have broached it with the poor Iranian President while he was an honoured guest. And it was embarrassing that the faux pas was committed by the Army Chief.

Mr Dulat had correctly predicted President Donald Trumps victory, admits Durrani but claims to have backed the outcome regardless. I give Mr Dulat credit that he said Trump is likely to win the election. I was wishy-washy about it though I wanted him to win because he was one of those that could shake up the establishment Two, I considered Hillary Clinton a known disaster. Get rid of the known disaster and even if the other option was to be a bigger disaster. At least thats not known yet. It soon became certain he would be a known and established disaster. The discussion about Trumps Afghanistan policy is critical to the book, and both spooks seem wary of American involvement in the country. I think somewhere in the book or during the book release someone said that if you could solve Kashmir, Afghanistan would be a cakewalk. The discussion on Afghanistan gives the opposite impression  that if we can resolve Kabul we can untangle Srinagar in no time.

Were supposed to have a strategic relationship with the US, says Dulat only to quickly question its feasibility. Probably the Americans have in mind that India will provide a counterbalance to China. This is wishful thinking. Because (a) we are not in a position to do so, and (b) no government in Delhi would offend the Chinese beyond a point. They wont play proxy for somebody else. The truth of the assertion will be tested at the Shanghai groups meeting in China next month.

The element of madness is not confined to India and Pakistan alone. As the book wonders, for example, what would be Trumps reaction if there were a major terrorist strike in the US? Gen. Durrani believes the response would be drastic if the origin was in Pakistan. However, an invasion or a spectacular attack was not likely as it is usually against a weak and indefensible country that cant retaliate. But what can Pakistan do? We need not talk about that. But seeing the power Pakistan has within the country and the region, I doubt an Afghan-type attack will take place. A few bombs here and there wed expect. If hatred of each other, real or contrived, is an aspect of their madness how mad is the idea of their coalescing into a confederation? Find out the delightful truth about that dream too in the book. Hamid Ansari deserves our gratitude for provoking this insanely candid discussion although it could have taken place less controversially had the Deep State on both sides not put the Sharm el-Shaikh agreement in the thresher.

By arrangement with Dawn
The first-generation MTvScan from ESDS has been adopted by close to 10,000 high-traffic websites belonging to banks like State Bank of India, Canara Bank, UBI etc.

ESDS Software Solution has launched MTvScan 2.0, the latest version of its Malware Threats & Vulnerability Scanner, which was already in use by Indias public-sector banks and other e-commerce websites. The new version claims to be equipped with deep-scanning technology that is designed to prevent smartphone-based phishing scams, similar to the recent Jet Airways free tickets phishing scam.

The first-generation MTvScan from ESDS has been adopted by close to 10,000 high-traffic websites belonging to banks like State Bank of India, Canara Bank, UBI, SIDBI, and MUDRA Bank, government departments and enterprises like HCL and Tata group of companies.

MTvScan 2.0 promises to tackle modern phishing attacks. The recent JetAirways free tickets scam circulating on Whatsapp was first caught by MTvScan, which immediately notified all affected users to get their passwords changed if they had opened the spoof link. The tool claims to detect more than 90 types of threats and vulnerabilities in popular online web applications. Nearly all of these vulnerabilities can be exploited by hackers to hack into a website or secure database remotely.

Further, MTvScan assures to also track new domain registrations and go-live of lookalike websites and notifies CISOs about any possible phishing attacks. The additional features of MTvScan include Content Monitoring, URL monitoring and Phishing attacks prediction.

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The free app that lets people exchange messages, stickers, photos and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people has attracted more than 200 million users since its launch by Durov and his brother Nikolai in 2013. (Photo: AFP)

Russia's communications watchdog said on May 28 that it had requested Apple help it block the popular messaging app Telegram which has been banned in the country for refusing to give the security services access to private conversations.

Roskomnadzor said it had requested that Apple both block push notifications for Telegram users in Russia, which would mean users would not receive alerts for new messages and thus render it less useful, as well as no longer make it available for download in the country.

"In order to avoid possible action by Roskomnadzor for violations of the functioning of the above-mentioned Apple service, we ask you to inform us as soon as possible about your company's further actions to resolve the problematic issue," said the regulator.

Roskomnadzor's director Alexander Zharov later told the Russian news agency Interfax that Apple had one month to reply and declined to speculate about what actions it could possibly take against the US firm if it refused to comply.

Last month, a Moscow court banned popular app following a long-running battle between authorities and Telegram, which has a reputation for securely encrypted communications, as Moscow pushes to increase surveillance of internet activities.

The app was created by maverick Russian programmer Pavel Durov, who has long said he will reject any attempt by the country's security services to gain backdoor access to the app.

The free app that lets people exchange messages, stickers, photos and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people has attracted more than 200 million users since its launch by Durov and his brother Nikolai in 2013.

Following the court ruling, Roskomnadzor has moved to block the functioning of Telegram but has acknowledged it has only succeeded in disrupting its operations by 15 to 30 per cent.

It has also ended up disrupting other services, with Zharov last week accusing Telegram of using other online services as "human shields" by using their servers.

Zharov was also quoted by Russian news agencies as saying the ban against Telegram was justified as it had been used in the planning of all the latest terror attacks around the world.

Roskomnadzor told the TASS state news agency on Monday that discussions were still underway with Google about implementing the ban.

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Hundreds of parents protested outside Presidency School in East Bengaluru's Kasturinagar on Tuesday over fee discrepancies.

They held placards aloft and bellowed slogans demanding the waiver of Rs 41,000 the school collects in addition to the tuition fee.

Gurunatha Reddy, a parent, said the school claimed to have collected the additional sums for building construction. "But the fee goes up by 5% to 10% each year from classes 1 to 10. This is a huge burden on us," he said.

Another parent claimed that they asked the school to reveal the fee structure in January to decide if they should shift their wards elsewhere.

"They said we could apply for TC in January, but didn't tell us how much the fee would be. We received the fee structure by April first week while keeping the last date to apply for TC as January 31. They did this so that the parents have no option but to withdraw their children after paying the full year's fee. The new admission for LKG costs Rs 1.72 lakh," said the parent.

The school management later invited five protesting parents for talks. But when they declined, they were forced to address all of them. "They assured us to send an email on the issue by Monday evening. If the issue continues, we'll hold further protests," Reddy said.

When contacted, the school's principal Thangadurai declined to comment on the matter.
India and Pakistan on Tuesday agreed to adhere to the ceasefire along the Line of Control and the undisputed stretch of border between the two neighbouring nations.

Indian Army's Director General (Military Operation) Lt Gen Anil Chauhan and his counterpart in Pakistan Army, Major General Sahir Shamshad Mirza, spoke over the hotline at 6 pm on Tuesday.

They "agreed to fully implement the ceasefire understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit forthwith and to ensure that henceforth the ceasefire will not be violated by both sides".

A spokesperson of the Indian Army said that the hotline contact had been initiated by the DGMO of the Pakistan Army.

The two DGMOs reached the agreement just a day after New Delhi ruled out any possibility of restarting the stalled dialogue with Islamabad as long as Pakistan would not stop exporting terror to India and its armed forces would not refrain from violating ceasefire along the LoC as well as the undisputed stretch of the border.

They "also agreed that in case of any issue, restraint will be exercised and the matter will be resolved through utilisation of existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and border flag meetings at local commander's level," according to identical press releases issued by the spokespersons of the Indian and Pakistan armies.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) recently noted that soldiers of the Pakistan Army and Pakistan Rangers had violated the ceasefire 1,088 times so far this year.

The ceasefire violations by soldiers of the neighbouring country had led to the death of 36 people and caused injuries to 127 others in Jammu and Kashmir, the MEA stated last week.

New Delhi last week lodged a strong protest with Islamabad over the recent death of an infant in Jammu and Kashmir due to ceasefire violation by Pakistan along the LoC.

"Jab seema par janaaze uth rahe hon, toh baatcheet ki awaaz acchi nahi lagti (when funerals are taking place on the border, it is not appropriate to hold dialogue)," External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said during her annual news conference on Monday.

"Talks and terror cannot go together," she added.
The Election Commission on Monday dismissed as exaggeration the reports about large-scale malfunctioning of the EVMs and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices during by-elections in three Lok Sabha and nine state assembly constituencies across the country.

News reports surfacing in the media alleging 'large-scale' failure of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPATs in the ongoing by-elections and interruption of the elections in the states of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh are an exaggerated projection of reality, the EC stated in a press release.

A joint delegation of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, the Samajwadi Party and the Congress and a separate delegation of the BJP representatives met the EC on Monday and brought to the notice of the poll panel the concerns about the functioning of the VVPAT machines in some of the polling booths during by-elections.

The commission assured them that all necessary action would be taken on the issues raised by the representatives of the political parties.

The EC also issued directions that all the electors who were in the queue in the polling booth at the time of close of poll should be facilitated to cast their votes.

The EC also assured the delegation that the concerns related to the VVPATs had been verified on the ground and appropriate actions had been taken by the district election teams. The commission had also informed that further action would be taken on the basis of reports of returning Officers, district election officers and the observers.

The EC clarified that it allocated sufficient reserves of the EVMs and the VVPATs for every General Election or by-election to the Lok Sabha or state legislative assemblies. It is pertinent to mention that during commissioning of the EVMs and VVPATs, apart from the EVMs and VVPATs required for deployment at every polling station, the adequate number of reserve EVMs and VVPATs (around 20-25%) are prepared to replace any defective machine on poll day at the polling station, it said.

The poll-panel stated that the reserve EVMs and VVPATs were kept with sector officers, who replaced the defective machines in case they received reports from the polling stations about malfunctioning of the devices

Since each sector officer is entrusted with only 10-12 polling stations, the time taken to replace any EVM or VVPAT at a polling station is normally less than 30 minutes. The replacement of defective EVMs or VVPATs during actual polls is a normal process and does not vitiate the integrity or credibility of the poll process in any way whatsoever, the EC clarified.

The poll-panel said the reports about polling being cancelled in 35 booths in 11-Bhandara-Gondiya Parliamentary Constituency in Maharashtra were not based on facts. Besides, it added that the reports emerging in some quarters about the EVMs or VVPATs were failing in 25% polling booths in the same parliamentary constituency was also incorrect.

However, as and when a report from the RO or DEO or from the Chief Electoral Officer regarding long interruption of polling is received, the commission takes a decision on those matters on the case-to-case basis.

The EC stated that it undertook a comprehensive examination and root-cause analysis of all the defects observed in the machines through the Technical Experts Committee of the Commission and necessary remedial actions were being taken for smooth conduct of the poll process.

The EC said that the factors responsible for malfunctioning of the VVPATs might include first-time use by polling staff whereas they have developed expertise in managing EVMs, extreme heat, placement of VVPAT under direct light and mishandling during use."

The EC conducts root cause analyses in such cases to improve for future, it added.
The RSS has said that it's ongoing meeting with the BJP and union ministers is not a coordination meeting but an exercise to interchange the ideas.

"These are not Samanvay (coordination) meetings neither these are decision-making meetings," RSS all-India prachar pramukh Arun Kumar said in a statement.

On completion of four years of the Narendra Modi dispensation, BJP chief Amit Shah along with six cabinet ministers yesterday met top functionaries of the RSS to deliberate on government programmes and policies, including the much-awaited education policy.

Kumar said the various RSS organisations working in the same field occasionally come together to share their experiments, experiences and observations.

To enable detailed discussions these organisations are grouped in various groups working in the same field, he said.

They are grouped as Seva (Service activities) Vaicharik (Intellectual arena), Arthik ( Economy), Shiksha (Education), Samajik (social activities) etc.

He also said such group meetings are taking place every year since 2007.

This year RSS organisations have planned their meetings from May 28-31 in Delhi.

The meeting of the Sangh, its affiliates, the BJP, and the government was chaired by RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal.

The BJP was represented by Shah, party vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, general secretary Ram Madhav and secretary (organisation) Ram Lal.

The government was represented by the six ministers -- Rajyavardhan Rathore, JP Nadda, Maneka Gandhi, Mahesh Sharma, Prakash Javadekar and Thawarchand Gehlot.
The Election Commission has ordered repolling in 123 polling stations in three of the four parliamentary constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Nagaland where polling for the bye-elections on Monday were disturbed as a large number of Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices malfunctioned.

The Election Commission on Tuesday ordered that repolling would be held in 73 polling stations in Kairana parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday. The commission also ordered repolling in 49 polling stations in Bhandara-Gondia parliamentary constituency in Maharashtra and one polling station in the lone parliamentary constituency in Nagaland  both on Wednesday.

The poll panel also acted against Collector of Gondia, Abhimanyu Kale, who was the returning officer for the bypoll in Bhandara-Gondia constituency. The poll panel received several complaints about his failure to enforce the Model Code of Conduct and hold polling according to the guidelines set by it. He was replaced with Kadambari Balkawde who has already taken over as the collector and would oversee the repolling as the returning officer on Wednesday.

Altogether, 1,202 VVPAT devices out of the total 10,365 deployed malfunctioned during bypolls in the Lok Sabha and Assembly constituencies in 10 states across the country on Monday.

Ninety-six of the total 12,695 ballot units and 84 of the 10,365 of the electronic voting machines were also replaced as they malfunctioned, the poll panel stated.

The maximum number of VVPATs malfunctioned in Bhandara-Gondia parliamentary constituency in Maharashtra. Altogether, 413 VVPATs out of 2,149 deployed in as many polling stations in the constituency had to be replaced. Forty-three malfunctioning control units and 32 ballot units of the EVMs were also replaced with functional ones kept in reserve in the constituency. Besides, altogether 355 malfunctioning VVPATs were replaced out of the 1,705 deployed in as many polling stations in Kairana parliamentary constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Only three ballot units and an equal number of control units of the EVMs malfunctioned and had to be replaced during the polling in the constituency.

A joint delegation of the Rashtriya Lok Dal, Samajwadi Party and the Congress, and a separate delegation of BJP representatives had met the Election Commission on Monday to bring to its notice concerns about functioning of the VVPAT machines in some of the polling booths during bye-elections.

The repolling in Kairana in Uttar Pradesh and Bhandara-Gondia in Maharashtra will be conducted from 7 am to 6 pm on Wednesday. The same in Nagaland will be held from 7 am to 3 pm on the same day, the EC stated.

The counting of votes will be held on Thursday.
Two fishing boats that were headed home to Tamil Nadu on Tuesday, drowned in the Arabian Sea at a distance of 21 nautical miles (39 km) from the Karnataka coast.

The two boats which drowned were identified as Angel-1 and Angel-2. They were carrying six fishermen. Locals say that the boats perhaps, had suffered extensive damage caused by the lashing waves.

According to Fisheries department sources, four fishermen were rescued and the hunt for the other two is on. One boat is completely submerged underwater, while the other floats abandoned far from the coast, at sea.

Fisheries department deputy director Santosh Koppad said that the Coast Guard was on a search for the missing two fishermen.
WYFF-TV(GREENVILLE, S.C.) -- A South Carolina TV news station is in mourning after two journalists covering subtropical storm Alberto were killed when a tree fell on their car.



The large tree -- about 3 feet in diameter -- fell at least 30 feet as anchor Michael McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were in a car on a highway in Polk County, North Carolina, on Monday afternoon, Tryon Fire Department Chief Geoffrey Tennant said.



The engine was running when rescue crews reached the car, Tennant said.



"I have never seen an event like this one," Tennant said, calling it a "freak of nature."



"I had done an interview with Mr. McCormick about 10 minutes before we got the call," Tennant said at a news conference Monday. "And we had talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe and how we wanted him to stay safe."



McCormick and Smeltzer worked for WYFF-TV, an NBC station in Greenville, South Carolina.



"Our hearts are broken," WYFF-TV anchor Carol Goldsmith wrote on Twitter. "These fine two co-workers died today when a tree fell on their news vehicle. They were covering flooding in Polk Co. Rest In Peace. May the angels lead you home."



"You will not meet a kinder, more professional, joyous and giving person than [McCormick]," tweeted WYFF-TV anchor Allyson Powell. "I am better for knowing him."



Journalists from other news stations, as well as South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, also shared their condolences.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
SALT LAKE CITY  A couple from Portland, Oregon, complained to Amazon that their Alexa device recorded a conversation and sent it to the phone of someone they knew.

As KIRO-7 reported, the couple said the recording went to someone on their familys contact list.

The couple said Amazon devices were installed throughout their house so they could control temperature, lights and security.

"My husband and I would joke and say I'd bet these devices are listening to what we're saying," the woman, named Danielle, told KIRO-7.

But Danielle said her opinion of Amazon changed when she received a call from one of her husbands employees, who said he received a recorded conversation from the couple.

"We unplugged all of them (Amazon devices) and he proceeded to tell us that he had received audio files of recordings from inside our house," she said. "At first, my husband was, like, 'no you didn't!' And the (recipient of the message) said 'You sat there talking about hardwood floors.' And we said, 'oh gosh, you really did hear us.'"

She said she felt invaded.

The couple contacted Amazon about the problem.

"They said 'our engineers went through your logs, and they saw exactly what you told us, they saw exactly what you said happened, and we're sorry.' He apologized like 15 times in a matter of 30 minutes and he said we really appreciate you bringing this to our attention, this is something we need to fix!"

Amazon confirmed the report in a statement to Ars Technica.

Echo woke up due to a word in background conversation sounding like Alexa. Then, the subsequent conversation was heard as a send message request. At which point, Alexa said out loud To whom? At which point, the background conversation was interpreted as a name in the customers contact list. Alexa then asked out loud, (contact name), right? Alexa then interpreted background conversation as right. As unlikely as this string of events is, we are evaluating options to make this case even less likely.

In March, Amazon's Alexa also faced scrutiny for randomly laughing at people, according to Business Insider.

"In rare circumstances, Alexa can mistakenly hear the phrase 'Alexa, laugh.' We are changing that phrase to be 'Alexa, can you laugh?' which is less likely to have false positives, and we are disabling the short utterance 'Alexa, laugh.' We are also changing Alexa's response from simply laughter to 'Sure, I can laugh' followed by laughter," Amazon said in a statement sent to Business Insider.

Both incidents highlight privacy concerns customers face when buying artificial intelligence devices, according to ZDNet. Its also made people question whether devices are actually listening to them.

Interestingly, Yale privacy scholar Tiffany Li said on Twitter that Amazon doesnt have a specific policy when it comes to the Amazon Echo or anything that could record information.

Reminder that there is no privacy policy for the Amazon Echo or any Amazon Alexa devices. The TOS only refers to the https://t.co/vWb98AuFFF privacy policy, which does not include details on recording, voice data security, etc. https://t.co/L2HrSUkLv0  Tiffany C. Li (@tiffanycli) May 24, 2018

Reminder that there is no privacy policy for the Amazon Echo or any Amazon Alexa devices, she tweeted. The TOS only refers to the http://Amazon.com privacy policy, which does not include details on recording, voice data security, etc.
WEST JORDAN  Officers shot and killed a man who allegedly robbed a store at gunpoint in West Jordan Monday afternoon, then was able to steal a police vehicle, crashing into several cars and injuring their occupants, police said.

West Jordan Police Sgt. J.C. Holt said officers were dispatched around 3 p.m. to an armed robbery in progress at 7-Eleven near 6200 South and Dixie Drive . A K-9 officer who happened to be nearby approached the scene, and the gunman fled.

The officer caught up with the suspected robber a couple blocks away where he attempted to stop the man, Holt said, and "there was some sort of altercation in the roadway" and the man was able to gain control of the officer's K-9 unit pickup truck.

While fleeing westbound, he drove into two civilian vehicles, injuring the occupants. Holt said two additional officers responding to the scene near 6200 South and 4000 West opened fire on the police truck, killing the man behind the wheel.

"He did display the handgun toward officers, I am being told," Holt said. "That is what led us to, the officers, using the force we did."

The dog in the stolen K-9 truck and the other officers involved in the incident were not injured, Holt said.

The civilians whose cars were damaged were transferred to local hospitals with injuries that were not life-threatening. Holt did not know how many people were injured in the two cars that were hit.

Holt said he did not have information on how the suspect gained control of the police vehicle or whether the suspect fired any shots at any time.

"The investigators are putting all that together," Holt said, adding that he expects many more details to be forthcoming.

The name of the man who was killed has not been released.

The Unified Police Department is handling the investigation of the incident, Holt said.
SALT LAKE CITY  In the final days of her life, Robin Arnold-Williams' long career in human services public policy came full circle when her hospice nurse brought in her daughter to meet her patient.

The nurse had relocated from Washington state, where Arnold-Williams had served as executive director of the state Department of Social and Health Services.

"It just so happened that we adopted our little girl during that period of time and it was as a result of regulation that Robin had put in place," the nurse told former Gov. Mike Leavitt, who was Arnold-Williams' boss when she held a similar role in Utah state government.

"I introduced her to the person that made it possible for us to be together," said Leavitt, recounting the nurse's story during a memorial service Wednesday at the State Office Building to honor Arnold-Williams.

Arnold-Williams' response?

"That is the reason I love public service so much, that it has such a powerful impact on people," Leavitt said, relating the nurse's story.

Leavitt was among a small group of people who visited Arnold-Williams shortly before she died on Oct. 29, 2017, in Durango, Colorado. She was 61 years old.

Leavitt said he has learned that if you really want to know someone, "go on a 50-mile hike with them."

As executive director of the Utah Department of Human Services, Arnold-Williams went on a number of those hikes with Leavitt, he said.

She played a key role in the reforms of the state's child welfare system in the wake of a class-action lawsuit  David C. v. Leavitt  that challenged Utah practices.

Arnold-Williams led a judicial committee that led to increased public access to certain juvenile court proceedings. She was remembered as a consummate professional who led with compassion and optimism.

Arnold-Williams was born in Flint, Michigan, the youngest of seven children raised by a single mother after her father died while she was elementary school. She earned an undergraduate degree from Central Michigan University and moved west to attend graduate school in Utah.

She earned both her master's degree and doctorate degrees in social work from the University of Utah, where she also received a certificate of gerontology. For more than two decades, she climbed the ladder of the Utah Department of Human Services, ultimately being appointed executive director of the agency by Leavitt. She served in that role about eight years before moving to Washington state.

The celebration of Arnold-Williams' life was part memorial service and part reunion for people who worked with her at government agencies and for private sector colleagues from her more recent work at Leavitt Partners.

Natalie Gochnour, who was communications director during the Leavitt administration, said "Robin gave 100 percent" to every task and project.

"In any meeting with Robin, no one was better prepared. No one had done more homework and nobody contributed more value, and that's saying a lot because she worked with Gov. Mike Leavitt and with Gov. Olene Walker," Gochnour said.

Former state Rep. Trisha Beck said Arnold-Williams helped inform and guide her legislative service. But her introduction to Arnold-Williams came years before when Beck was the young mother of an infant with multiple disabilities. Arnold-Williams became a mentor "and one of my best allies," she said.

Although Arnold-Williams' government service in Utah ended in 2005, her memorial service was well attended by former colleagues, friends and graduate school classmates.

Arnold-Williams was one of youngest students in her graduate program but classmates remembered her as bright student, a friend to all and someone they believed was going places.

"When I met Robin, I always knew she was going to be special and she was going to do great things. I admired her tremendously," said Kathy Manygoats, who met Arnold-Williams in graduate school.

She recalled a trip to Arizona among a small group of social workers to attend the wedding of one of Manygoats' friends. The group traveled at night in three cars, with Arnold-Williams and classmate Marghi Barton in one. The plan was to meet in Moab.

"So we were there and they were somewhere else. They never made it to Moab," Manygoats said.

"So here is this incredibly brilliant woman, two incredibly brilliant women, who didn't know how to read a map. They just chattered and chattered and chattered and were almost in Vegas. The rest of us were sleeping at the arches in a parking lot waiting for them," Manygoats said, the auditorium erupting in laughter.

John Williams, Arnold-Williams' spouse, noted his wife's great love for their Labrador retrievers and the polar bears of northern Manitoba, Canada. She took trips to work with researchers to study the bears in their natural environment, he said.

Williams said as he was hunting for photographs to display at his beloved wife's memorial service, he found hundreds of photographs of their dogs and polar bears.

"I had to go through all the filing cabinets to find pictures of Robin," he said.

One picture of note was a photograph of the two of them on a dog sled in Churchhill, Canada, taken in February 2014 when they traveled there to see the northern lights.

"That's me sitting behind her but you cannot tell because I'm totally covered up because it was 45 degrees below zero. She insisted on sitting in front where she'd watch the dogs, so that's a special picture," Williams said.

"So she had a lot of fun. You all know that and we'll all miss her. We're all glad we knew Robin," Williams said.
In Addie Branhams basement kitchen in Lehi, you can find a small, elegant slice of Paris.

There are Eiffel Towers everywhere  even the paper towel holder and trash can are inspired by the wrought iron tower in France. Theres a small, iron table by the window with two matching chairs, an ideal place to sit and enjoy a pastry. In cursive lettering, an oversized, hand-painted clock says Addies Boulangerie, French for bakery.

From her French haven, inspired by her love of Paris, Addie runs her new cake baking and decorating business, Miss Addies Cakes. Although several things set apart Addies business from others like it, perhaps the most impressive is this: Addie is only 12 years old.

As a 12-year-old baker and business owner, Addie designs, bakes and decorates up to five cakes a month, runs her own Instagram page and has received recognition from professional bakers throughout the country.

Better for it

From an early age, [Addie] always liked to be in the kitchen with me and bake and sit right alongside me, said Traci Branham, Addies mother.

Traci Branham remembers that Addie used to bake with her friends and pretend they were on a reality baking show.

"I would hear them in the kitchen, and they'd be like, 'Hurry! We only have 30 minutes left!' She's always done that," Traci Branham said.

Addie began to pursue her interest in baking in October 2013, shortly after her father, Matt Branham, who is in the Army was deployed to Afghanistan.

According to Traci Branham, the military offers scholarships to children whose parents are in the military to help them pass the time, and Addie chose to use her scholarship to take cake decorating classes.

It looked fun and I like learning new techniques, Addie said.

Less than six months after Addies father was deployed, her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. Traci Branham said her three kids handled the trial very differently, and Addie, who is shy by nature, held back her feelings and didnt open up.

I tell my children, I know its hard, but you've got to do hard things, and it will make you better for it, Traci Branham said.

Although it was a difficult time for Addie, she found an escape in cake decorating and other creative outlets. She would spend hours learning about cake decorating from YouTube and baking shows.

It was sad. Most of the time I just did crafts to get my mind off of it, Addie said about her mothers breast cancer.

Traci Branham said having breast cancer while her husband was deployed helped her become more laid back and open to Addies business venture, including the dishes that would pile up in the kitchen before Addie made the move to the downstairs kitchen.

Its helped me to go, Its OK. Shes doing what she loves, and its OK if its a mess for a little while, Traci Branham said. Im a pretty type A personality. But after the cancer and my husbands deployment, you just go, It doesnt matter.

Addies father returned from Afghanistan later that year, surprising his family by arriving a few months earlier than expected, and her mother has been cancer-free for four years.

Both parents, whom Addie calls her unpaid interns, help Addie substantially with Miss Addies Cakes. Her father, an engineer, helps when the cakes are logistically difficult to build. Her mother helps by taking orders and baking cakes while Addie is at school so she can come home and decorate them. Additionally, her little brother, Preston, is always eager to taste test.

The cake community

Addie consistently surprises her clients with the quality of her cakes at such a young age. In her few short years of baking, shes also managed to impress professional chefs and bakers across the country.

One example is when she went to her aunts wedding in North Carolina two years ago, when she was only 10. The mother of the groom showed some pictures of Addies cakes to the bakers, who approached her at the rehearsal dinner and invited her to work with them in the kitchen the next day.

When Traci Branham went to pick up her daughter from the kitchen, the chefs didnt want Addie to leave.

[The chef] came up to me and hes like, She really has talent. I have some adults that get out of culinary school and cant do what she does, Traci Branham said.

According to Traci Branham, Addie helped pipe icing on key lime pies, roll out cookies and work on the wedding cake.

It was really fun to see what kind of new tools they had, like a machine that rolled out fondant, Addie said. I got to help make cookies and stuff. It was really fun.

Addie got another taste of the professional cake world when she entered the San Diego Cake Show in March. She entered a cake that looked like a set of luggage (complete with an edible boarding pass to Paris) and went to classes where she learned more about baking and cake decorating.

There were a lot of people there and a lot of cakes. It was really fun," Addie said.

One of the professional cake bakers Addie met while at the Cake Show is Pepsy Garcia, owner of California-based Pepsy Cake Designs. Garcia is a professional cake designer and a baking and pastry chef. She also competed as an assistant baker in Food Networks Cake Wars.

I stopped by, I saw her cake, and I was like, Holy cow. She did not do this, Garcia told the Deseret News. Shes so young and she applies a lot of attention to detail. She gives that extra stuff that most beginners dont. Shes obviously born with the talent.

Garcia thinks that within a few years, Addie will be the next big baker. She said she sees Addie as the future Yolanda Gampp, a famous baker and one of Addie's role models.

"I honestly think that people are going to want to learn from her someday. I feel like shes gonna be the headliner at a cake show." Garcia said. "The only thing she needs to do is break out of her shell. I told her, 'The minute you break your shell, you're gonna be the one that everyone wants to see.' Itll be a few years, but she will be that person."

Garcia said the support Addie receives from her family will also help her succeed.

"If I were 12 years old and I had that support, I wouldnt be where Im at now  Id be a lot further," Garcia said. "Its really nice that she has her family to support her."

Quiet confidence

Traci Branham is impressed with how her daughter has been able to learn the difficult things about business, like charging the proper amount for her cakes, talking to adults and budgeting her time. But she thinks the most valuable part of the cake baking experience has been the boost to Addies confidence.

This has really been able to bring her out of her insecurities and not feeling confident, and realizing that she does have a lot of talents, Traci Branham said.

Addies dream is to work for famous bakers like Buddy Valastro from Cake Boss and Duff Goldman of Ace of Cakes." When the time comes, she wants to go to Paris for culinary school.

Well see where it takes her, Traci Branham said. If not, its been a journey  another journey in life.
Utah politicians, for the most part, have done a good job making Utah attractive for businesses. Tax rates are low and the barriers to starting a business are relatively few. Despite better judgment, they dole out tax breaks as incentives to certain out-of-state companies looking to relocate  a practice seen too often as necessary these days.

The state isnt a perfect bastion of free enterprise, but it typically ranks high on the list of job creators. However, all of this leads to demands in other areas of the economy, not the least of which is housing.

Utah, and the Wasatch Front in particular, faces a housing shortage. That, in turn, is leading to higher rents and home prices, which is creating a crisis for many workers, especially young ones.

More must be done. Local communities should relax zoning restrictions, allow more high-density housing projects in places where they make sense and be less restrictive about people wanting to rent out parts of their homes. Supply must catch up to demand, and that wont be easy.

Developers are trying to keep up. Last week, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that Utah led the nation in housing construction during a 12-month period spanning 2016-2017, adding about 22,000 units. In a seven-year span dating to 2010, the state finished second. New home construction increased 10 percent during that time, according to a study of permits.

Yet it isnt even close to enough to keep up with demand.

An analysis by Jim Wood, a senior fellow at the University of Utahs Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute, found that about a third of Utahs households are forced to pay at least 30 percent of their salaries toward housing, as reported by the Deseret News. One in 8 dedicates at least half his or her salary.

Naturally, this crisis hits renters and low earners the most. Rents are lower the farther one goes from downtown Salt Lake City, but much of that savings then is eaten up by higher commuting costs.

A separate study last March by the Gardner Institute, commissioned by the Salt Lake Chamber, found that home prices in Utah outpaced all but three states during a 26-year period ending in 2017. It found a significant gap between the real annual appreciation in housing prices, which was 3.32 percent during that time, and the annual increase in household income, which was 0.36 percent.

Perhaps most ominously, the study identified this growing lack of affordability as a likely constraint on economic development, if left unabated.

The median sale price of a home in Utahs two large metropolitan areas is already 20 percent higher than home prices in Boise, Las Vegas and Phoenix, three cities Utah competes with for new business expansions, it said.

That lends a special urgency to the problem. In the end, it may not matter so much how business-friendly Utahs politicians make the state through laws, policies and incentives. If it costs too much for employees to live here on an average salary, companies may go elsewhere.
COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS  A police officer on his way to work shot a man suspected of robbing two grocery stories Tuesday morning. The man was hospitalized in fair but stable condition.

Zane Anthony James, 19, of Cottonwood Heights, was wanted for allegedly robbing a Smith's Food and Drug, 2039 E. 9400 South, at gunpoint about 3:15 a.m., and then a Macey's grocery store, 7850 S. 1300 East, just as it opened at 6 a.m., according to police.

In both cases, a man with the same description riding a motorcycle was involved.

About 10 minutes after the Macey's robbery, a Cottonwood Heights police officer headed to work spotted the motorcycle. A short pursuit ended in a residential area near 6675 S. 2200 East.

Details about what transpired next were not released Tuesday. Cottonwood Heights Police Sgt. Ryan Shosted did not know if James had been pulled over. He also did not know what prompted the officer to open fire. Because the officer was just on his way to work, he had not picked up his body camera yet that was charging in the office, Shosted said.

Salt Lake police are handling the officer-involved shooting. The officer has been placed on paid administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation.

Cottonwood Heights police say James has a "signficant" criminal history with them. Last year, he was arrested in connection with a series of armed robberies in the area that happened on an almost weekly basis for five weeks, including robberies at GameStop, Subway and World Market.

Due to "evidence issues," however, two counts of aggravated robbery for incidents at the Subway and GameStop were dismissed in September, according to court records.

In February, James was charged with possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person, DUI and drug possession. A warrant was issued for his arrest on Friday when he failed to show up for a court date, according to court records.

In November, James took a plea in abeyance, pleading guilty to misdemeanor theft.

In March of 2017, James pleaded guilty to drug possession, but he failed to comply with the conditions of his probation. Several letters submitted to the court in April indicated he was doing well in treatment. But on Friday, a no bail warrant was issued for his arrest in that case after he failed to show up for a scheduled court appearance. Court records indicate neither James' attorney nor parents had heard from him.

James also had drug- and theft-related convictions in 2016, according to court records.
Heres a look at the news for May 29.

MUST-READ NEWS THIS MORNING:

Josh Holt returns home

Utahn Josh Holt returned home to Riverton Monday after spending two years in a Venezuelan prison on reportedly false charges, according to the Deseret News.

Holt returned home with his wife, Thamy, and two stepdaughters.

More than 200 people gathered at the Old Dome Meeting Hall at Riverton City Park to meet Holt upon his return

"Man, that was a long vacation. I dont recommend a two-year vacation to Venezuela," he said, jokingly.

Read more.

Tornado forms at Strawberry Reservoir

A tornado appeared at Strawberry Reservoir on Memorial Day afternoon, according to the Deseret News.

The National Weather Service said the storm was likely a non-supercell landspout tornado, the Deseret News reported.

"It started out in the middle of the lake and then crossed the highway where everyone was standing watching it," eyewitness Kyle Roland said. "As it was going into the bank, it was right where the boat ramps are where the ladder section is, so it picked up all the dust off the bank and it went across the highway and we watched it go up the mountain."

See videos of the tornado at the Deseret News.

Discovery of half mammal, half reptile is big for Utah

Scientists recently discovered a reptiles skull in eastern Utah that means a lot for geologic timelines, according to the Deseret News.

The skull belongs to a new species, called the Cifelliodon wahkarmoosuch, which was a catlike animal with a snout and buck teeth. Its discovery points to evidence that Pangea occurred 15 million years later than scientists previously thought.

"Based on the unlikely discovery of this near-complete fossil cranium, we now recognize a new, cosmopolitan group of early mammal relatives," said Adam Huttenlocker, lead author of the study and assistant professor of clinical integrative anatomical sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California.

Read more.

North Korean top official coming to U.S.

One of North Koreas top officials is coming to the United States.

According to CNN, Kim Yong Chol is heading to the U.S. to help further discussions between the U.S. and North Korea. The two sides were scheduled to meet on June 12, but discussions broke down between the two countries.

Trump confirmed Kim Yong Chols arrival Tuesday.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!"

Read more.

AROUND THE WEB:
WEST JORDAN  Police continued Tuesday to investigate how a man was able to steal a police vehicle before he was fatally shot by officers.

Michael Glad, 23, of Midvale, was shot and killed by West Jordan police Monday after officers say Glad, who was armed, stole a police vehicle and rammed two other vehicles.

The incident began about 3 p.m. when an officer responding to a call of an armed robbery at a 7-Eleven, near 6200 S. Dixie Drive (3620 West), spotted the suspect walking down the street a few blocks away, said West Jordan Police Sgt. JC Holt.

"There was some sort of altercation in the roadway," Holt said.

Somehow, Glad was able to jump inside the West Jordan police pickup truck that the officer had driven to the scene and take off. Glad hit two other non-police vehicles while trying to speed away from the area, according to investigators.

Some motorists who were in those vehicles were treated for minor injuries at the scene.

Near 6200 South and 4000 West, two officers opened fire on the police truck, killing the man behind the wheel.

"He did display the handgun toward officers, I am being told," Holt said. "That is what led us to, the officers, using the force we did."

Neighbor Lisa Miera said she knew something was wrong when she and her children saw a dozen police officers with rifles Monday.

"We saw a police officer park right down the street go running with his assault rifle. So that's not something you see every day," she said.

Miera heard gunshots right after the police truck quickly drove away.

"That's when we heard the one, two, three, four gunshots," she said. "I knew for a fact that was gunshots and I was like, 'What in the world just happened?'"

The Unified Police Department will investigate the shooting death.

Glad has a minor adult criminal history. In 2016, he was convicted of disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor, in Summit County Justice Court. He was placed on probation and ordered to "continue with treatment," court records state. A letter from Valley Behavior Health in December of 2016 noted that Glad had been "attending regular therapy" and there were "no concerns at this time."

Contributing: Jed Boal
Editor's note: The Deseret News will host two film screenings and discussions on teen anxiety: one in Park City on Tuesday, May 29, at 7 p.m., and one in Herriman on Wednesday, May 30, at 6:30 p.m. Collin Kartchner, the author of the following commentary, will sit on a discussion panel for Tuesday's event. Follow this link for registration to attend the free screening.

Two years ago when Dr. Jean Twenge released her book titled "iGen," sharing her research on how technology and social media is affecting the mental and emotional health of our youths, she said, "We are on the verge of the biggest mental health crisis our country has ever seen."

Well, that was two years ago. The verge is here. This is now a public health crisis.

Nationwide, we see an epidemic spike in the number and frequency of tweens/teens being diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression, along with terrifying trends in self-harm, eating disorders, bullying and suicide. Ten years ago the typical patient day for a pediatrician was "flu, cold, vaccination, fever, cold, fever." Today, a pediatrician's average day might be "Suicide attempt, suicide attempt, depression, anxiety, cutting, eating disorder, suicide attempt." Each day, emergency rooms are seeing more and more kids (as young as 6-7) with zero mental health history coming in after trying to take their own lives. Emergency room doctors, nurses, family doctors and even paramedics report to me stories of children they see so anxious that their body is literally shutting down. An elementary principal in Provo called me just last week to come speak to their students. Why? Because a group of fourth-grade girls have all been cutting. Nine- and 10-year-old girls.

Teenagers are reporting higher levels of social pressure than ever before, doctors are prescribing more mood stabilizers than ever before, and per capita, Utah is in the top five states in all of these categories. When did all of these trends start going into full gear? The data show the spikes starting around 2010: the year smartphones and social media became the new norm for our lives.

How is this happening to our kids? Who is the culprit? What is the thief that is stealing our kids' childhood, their innocence, their mental health, their joy?

It's the same culprit that is doing the same thing to us adults.

Social media.

As I travel all over the state and country speaking to middle school and high school kids about the negative effects of social media, one thing rings true: Giving our kids with underdeveloped brains untethered access to all social expression is like giving them a loaded gun with zero training. We are giving our children the keys to the family car at age 12 with no driver's education, and then we sit back and wonder why they keep crashing and burning.

Smartphones and social media are opening our immature children up to a world that is so far beyond their maturity to correctly process. We put a tiny machine in their pocket that, if given without adequate training, opens them up to a new life of incessant anxiety, inescapable taunting and bullying, the soul-crushing social pressures to be perfect and get the likes  and we are now recognizing that this entire lab experiment was a huge, huge mistake.

It is time we rethink the technology we hand over to our children, and that starts with having critical conversations with ourselves as parents as to the positive or negative effect social media has on our own lives. Do we remember how hard it was to be 12? Can we imagine going through middle school, with all the instability  new things and people, everyone trying to figure out their own identity, making certain to be funny at all cost, accepted at all cost and not publicly shamed at all cost? Can we imagine what Snapchat and Instagram would have done to us?

Smartphones and social media are our generations' cigarettes. Sure, when they came out, everyone loved them and even doctors endorsed them. But then the research started coming out, and we all finally realized these tiny hand-size products marketed to us as feel-good necessities, were in fact terrible, terrible things. Restrictions were created to protect the developing minds of children, and lives were saved. Will smartphones be next?

Collin Kartchner created a social media parody account to shed light on the negative social media influence on women and teenage girls. He then used his account to raise money for hurricane victims, cancer kids, orphanages and is now running the #SavetheKids campaign to spread awareness of how social media is causing teen anxiety, depression and suicide.
A Utah-based writer whose viral article slammed Fixer Upper stars Chip and Joanna Gaines earlier this year has now apologized.

In a new article for Fox News, Daryl Austin, an Orem native, specifically apologized for writing that the couple was not as family-friendly as they claimed to be.

In April, Austin wrote that the couple doesnt put family first since the pair spend so much of their time building their own business. In his original article, Austin wanted to highlight the importance of putting family first.

No matter how rich and famous, we are all limited by the same 24 hours in a day, Austin wrote in his original USA Today piece. You cannot do all theyve done (or even a fraction of it) and still have any real time left over for family. Frankly, I wonder where they even find the time to brush their teeth, let alone spend quality, one-on-one time with each child daily.

Chip Gaines responded to the original column in a tweet.

I dont know daryl, & he clearly doesnt know me, Chip Gaines tweeted. But for the record: If there is ever a need w/my family (1st), Ill shut this circus down so fast it will make your head spin. BUT jo & I believe, w/God anything is possible. Including having an amazing family AND career you love.

I dont know daryl, & he clearly doesnt know me. But for the record: If there is ever a need w/ my family (1st), I'll shut this circus down so fast it will make your head spin. BUT jo & I believe, w/ God anything is possible. Including having an amazing family AND career you love. https://t.co/3DbWIIKMnh  Chip Gaines (@chipgaines) April 28, 2018

Now, Austin penned an apology for Fox News in which he said his own perspective as a parent warped his view. But he wrote he had a change of heart during a recent trip to Mexico.

While in Mexico, Austin said he saw a mother working on Mothers Day while local children played with trash on the side of the road.

"Suddenly the parenting choices of two well-meaning American parents paled in comparison. Especially because as bad as it seemed to be for some of the children I witnessed in Mexico, I knew in that moment that many children all over the world were suffering even more," he wrote, according to Deadline.

He said he couldnt imagine how lucky any of those kids without parents would feel to have a mother and father like Chip and Joanna Gaines.

I dont know them personally, but I suspect they really are terrific parents, Austin wrote. Ive never said or thought otherwise. And just because Chip Gaines chooses to spend his time differently than I do doesnt make him any less of a father. Mine was a flawed argument that projected my if/then belief system onto another family. My intention was to start a conversation about what it actually means to put family first, but my means of doing so were way off course. If our society is ever going to have the conversations we need to be having, judging and shaming one another is a terrible place to begin, especially when there are so many more serious concerns that need addressing.

Austin said he regretted writing the original piece, according to People magazine.

Ive never backed down from anything Ive written before now, but maybe progressing in my beliefs and doing better next time is what being a fixer upper is all about, Austin said.

You can read his entire apology at Fox News.

The Gaines family has yet to respond to the apology piece.
PROVO  Lingering bad feelings from an earlier confrontation between the two candidates seeking the Democratic nomination in Utahs 1st Congressional District didnt spill over into their primary election debate Tuesday.

But Kurt Weiland and Lee Castillo have not made peace, though they both say they would support the other against Republican Rep. Rob Bishop in November if they lose the June 26 primary.

Tick, tick, tick, tick. It's a time bomb, Weiland said in response to a reporter's question after the hourlong debate at BYU sponsored by the Utah Debate Commission. "It hasn't been solved, and I regret that."

Castillo said the two haven't talked much and have "gone our separate ways" since the April 14 incident at the Davis County Democratic Party convention during which he called the police.

"I tell my clients that if something happens to immediately call law enforcement, and that's what I did," said Castillo, a social worker.

Castillo placed one of his political signs near a table Weiland had set up at the convention  too close, Weiland thought, hindering access to those interested in learning about his campaign  and the two traded sharp words, the Standard-Examiner reported last month.

Weiland put his hand on Castillos arm during the exchange, prompting Castillo to call Layton police.

Although there was some tension between the two candidates on the debate stage, they stuck to the issues and didn't take personal shots at each other. KBYU will air the debate on Thursday, May 31, at 6 p.m. and Tuesday, June 19, at 6 p.m.

Though Castillo and Weiland are dissimilar people in many ways, they're mostly on the same page politically and in their campaigns to put Bishop out of office.

Castillo, 40, is the single parent of a 17-year-old son. He works for Utah State Hospital, helping with the people suffering from mental illness in county jails.

He said he would "make history" as the first openly gay Hispanic Utahn to serve in Congress. Castillo said the divisive rhetoric in Washington, which he sees as alienating the district, motivated him to run.

A retired Army officer, Weiland, 72, has run a leadership training business the past 28 years. He and his wife of nearly 50 years, Kathy, are the parents of six children and "a bunch" of grandchildren.

Weiland said friends in the Democratic Party asked him to run. "That was a tough call, but because there was a need, I thought I should," he said.

Both candidates say they would approach the job in Congress differently than Bishop, who has held the seat since 2003. He has said he would not seek re-election after 2020.

Castillo said the biggest difference between himself and Bishop is that he wouldn't target public lands for their natural resources.

"We're rich in oil in Uintah," he said, adding "we need to make sure we are allowing those workers to continue working" but incentivize their companies to develop clean energy.

Weiland said he would offer more access to the office than Bishop does. He said he would hold monthly town hall meetings in the district.

"Your representative must listen to you," he said.

Although they agreed on repealing the death penalty, they disagreed about the state of the criminal justice system.

Castillo said it's biased against African-Americans and Hispanics. "If you dont want to look it as an issue, you're saying racism doesnt exist," he said.

Weiland said he takes issue with calling the system racist because it has worked well the way it is.

Both candidates say they favor the medical cannabis ballot initiative but don't support legalized recreational marijuana use. They lamented the Trump administration downsizing Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments. Both favor equal pay for women and paid leave for birth and adoptive parents.
SOUTH SALT LAKE  A documented gang member was charged Tuesday with leading police on a chase, crashing into another car, and being in possession of drugs, guns and ammunition.

Riziq Kuwait Abdalla, 33, of Salt Lake City, who goes by the moniker Q-Ball, is charged in 3rd District Court with three counts of possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a second-degree felony; failing to stop for an officer, a third-degree felony; failing to stop for a law enforcer and two counts of drug possession, class A misdemeanors; and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor.

On May 24, police spotted Abdalla, a wanted parole fugitive, near 2700 South and 500 East. Abdalla refused to pull over for police, even after his tires were spiked, according to charging documents. Near 2700 South and State Street, Abdalla crashed into another car, police say.

Abdalla allegedly ran away from the scene but was captured a short time later. Investigators recovered two loaded handguns he was carrying, and then seized a duffel bag containing another loaded handgun, more than 100 rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest and small amounts of heroin and meth, the charges state.

Noting his violent criminal history, prosecutors have requested Abdalla be held without bail.
Yet Another Photo Of Suhana Khan Goes Viral!

Suhana Khan eventually wants to be an actor but internet has given her star status already. We guess with Shah Rukh Khan as her dad that was to be expected. The 18-year-old was recently seen at a wedding and her photo is going viral. Mother Gauri Khan had also posted a photo with her friends from a wedding in Kolkata and the mother-daughter duo appears to have attended it together.

Suhana is the middle child of the family. She is two years younger than Aryan and 15 years older than AbRam, who is celebrating his birthday today. She is currently studying in England.

According to Shah Rukh, Suhana has made her intentions of pursuing acting clear. We have a simple rule in the family. Each one of us has to have an undergraduate degree at least. Suhana still has 4-5 years to go before she can start acting. She has to be an undergraduate first, he had said earlier.

The actor is also really possessive about her and had issued a warning for any boy who wants to date her. Get a job; understand I dont like you; Im everywhere; get a lawyer; shes my princess; I dont mind going to jail; what you do to her Ill do to you, he had said.
5 Absurd Theories Floating Around Sridevi's Death That Would Make You Lose Faith In Humanity!

It has been almost three months that iconic actress Sridevi suddenly passed away, leaving us all in grief. Her sudden death was mourned by all. But even within all the grief, we found ways to come up with bizarre conspiracy theories surrounding her death. While initially the cause of death was said to be cardiac arrest, the reason put across after her post-mortem was 'accidental drowning'. Ever since a tamasha had started on the superstar's death.

Even after 3 months have passed, the conspiracy theories have not stopped. Here are 5 most absurd theories on her death that will make you say, "just let it be":

1. The 240 crore insurance

Filmmaker Sunil Singh had come up with the information and moved Supreme Court to reinvestigate the actress' demise. His theory- apparently Sridevi had an insurance policy worth a whopping 240 crore that would be encashed only if she passes away in Dubai! SC had quashed the appeal though.

2. Dawood Ibrahim involved in Sridevi's death?

Well, that is what retired ACP Ved Bhushan had to say. He said that the star's death was not accidental but a 'planned murder' by the underworld kingpin. In fact, he claims to have stayed in the same hotel, Jumeirah Emirates Towers, with his private investigation agency and said that the hotel is owned by Dawood himself. He also plans to move the Supreme Court to reopen the case.

3. Why did Boney Kapoor visit India in between?

Some people have even found it suspicious that Boney Kapoor had flown back to Mumbai for just a day and then went to Dubai to surprise Sridevi. They had even had a chat for 15 minutes and after that, he left. When he came back, he saw the actress lifeless in the bathroom.

Many have made up conjectures on what made Boney Kapoor fly back to India for a day.

4. Cardiac arrest or accidental drowning?

The family, after the actress' death, had said that she died of cardiac arrest. But after the post-mortem, it was said to be accidental drowning. This made all suspicious as to what really happened.

5. How could Sridevi drown in a bathtub?

Sridevi's cause of death was "accidental drowning".But many questioned on how could she drown in a bathtub!
Following a successful LTE deployment supported by the government of Rwanda, South Korean operator group KT has pledged to increase connectivity in more African markets.

KT stated that it would pursue a similar strategy of working with national ICT authorities on communications infrastructure, with the goal of expediting economic development across the continent.

Last month, the Korean operator completed the deployment of a nationwide LTE network in Rwanda, achieved by partnering with the countrys government. The network delivers wholesale LTE access to businesses in Rwanda, supporting both mobile and fixed access.

KT claimed the deployment as a first for Africa, adding that it would act as a model for building out nationwide LTE networks via public-private partnerships. Kim Hyung-Joon, head of KT Global Business Unit, said that the partnership had given the operator greater insight for future Africa-based projects.

Kim noted: KTs delegation actively exchanged opinions on a wide range of matters for business cooperation between public and private sectors in major African countries with their representatives to the conference.

While construction of its Rwanda network was underway, KT stated that it intended to use Rwanda as a hub to export the technology to neighbouring markets. Its focus now appears to have broadened to expand its ICT capabilities across Africa.
American Tower has received clearance from Indias Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to acquire almost 9,000 towers from Idea Cellular for a total of INR40 billion ($584 million).

Closing the deal will see American Tower complete the second and final stage of its acquisition of 20,000 towers from Idea and Vodafone India. Last month, the government approved American Tower buying around 11,000 towers from Vodafone for a sum of INR38.5 billion.

While Vodafone India and Idea Cellular are currently in the midst of a merger, each operator signed a separate agreement with American Tower in November 2017 to sell their tower infrastructure to the US firm for a combined total of INR78.5 billion.

As part of the deal, each operator  and their merged entity  will be a preferred partner to American Tower, meaning that they will receive favourable terms if they continue to use the tower sites or other infrastructure operated by the US firm.

Vodafone and Ideas merger is awaiting final approvals from Indias regulators. The deal, which is expected to close in June, will create a new mobile market leader in the country.

Current market leader Bharti Airtel is also moving to consolidate its operations, and last month signed a deal to merge its tower unit Bharti Infratel with Indus Towers. Both Vodafone and Idea hold a stake in Indus  respectively 42% and 11.15%.
Parts of the brain have been identified that alter the capability of some people with type 1 diabetes to spot hypoglycemia, Kings College London scientists report.

Hypo unawareness, clinically known as Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycaemia (IAH), develops when a person with type 1 diabetes cannot identify symptoms of low blood sugar, leading to an increased risk of severe hypoglycemia.

The Kings College London researchers noted that conventional treatments have not focused on the emotional and cognitive elements of the brains functioning in hypo unawareness.

In a small study of 17 men with type 1 diabetes, eight of whom had hypo unawareness, tests showed those with IAH experienced significantly less brain activity in regions associated with emotional experience and memory. This meant they were not only unable to recognise hypo symptoms but also unable to recall past incidences as being unpleasant.

The researchers used a technique called Positron Emission Tomography where they radiolabelled water to spot changes in activity in the brain regionally, using radioactivity to measure changes in blood-flow. They then examined the participants as they experienced blood glucose levels, which were normal and low.

Lead author Professor Stephanie Amiel said: Severe hypoglycaemia is a life-threatening emergency and it, with IAH, can be devastating for people with type 1 diabetes and for their families.

The brain imaging studies have helped us understand why about one in ten people with type 1 diabetes struggle so much with problematic hypoglycemia and have underpinned a research programme that has led us to a novel treatment with exciting potential to help these people. It may also have implications for other conditions where failure to experience symptoms leads people to recurrent severe exacerbations of disease.

Professor Amiel and her team are now working on a study funded by the JDRF exploring a new treatment for IAH.

The study was published by the journal Diabetologia.

Editors note: Visit our Hypo Training Program for more information on hypo awareness and how to regain the ability to detect hypos.
In an effort to make an entry into China, Google has announced that it is tying up with Xiaomi to introduce its ARCore technology in the country. According to a new report by TechCrunch, the technology will first be available on Xiaomis MIX 2S phones through an app in the Xiaomi App Store. Google reportedly also has plans of adding more Chinese partners in the project, including Huawei and Samsung.

To give you a refresher, ARCore is a development platform built by Google for building augmented reality apps for Android devices. It was picked up from an earlier project theyd started back in 2014, called Project Tango and rebranded as ARCore. Although Chinas internet censors do not allow Googles core services to operate in the country, they will not disrupt ARCore apps from running because the technology works offline.

The ARCore technology works by tracking the position of the phone relative to its surroundings using the phones camera and  in Googles words  "builds its own understanding of the real world." The company also added in a blog post from last year, "With a combination of the movement of these points and readings from the phone's inertial sensors, ARCore determines both the position and orientation of the phone as it moves through space."

Here's an example of how the ARCore technology works: you could annotate a book in the real-world with the authors information, move the phone away, walk around, and return to find the information in the same place.

Lastly, Google is reportedly hosting its first Demo Day program for startups in Asia. It has planned an event in September for Shanghai and registrations for it are now open.
In November last year, the well-known Apple analyst Ming Chi Kuo reported that the company is planning on launching three iPhones in 2018, two of which will sport OLED displays similar to the iPhone X and one could be slightly inexpensive as it could feature an LCD panel. Now, a new report from Reuters suggests that Apple has decided to embed OLED panels on all the upcoming iPhone models. The report cites information garnered from multiple unnamed industry sources and hints that due to this decision, stocks of Japan Display, one of the main suppliers of iPhone liquid crystal display (LCD) screens, has tumbled by as much as 20 percent as the company was speculated to provide LCD displays for one of the upcoming iPhone.

As per a previous report, Apple is tipped to launch the three new iPhones in the second half of 2018. There will reportedly be two OLED models with 6.5-inch and 5.8-inch display-variants and the one which was expected to come with an LCD display now, going by the new report, feature a 6.1-inch OLED panel. It is speculated that the upcoming 5.8-inch iPhone will be the successor to the iPhone X, whereas the larger 6.5-inch variant could be its Plus model. Additionally, the 6.1-inch model is speculated to be priced around $550 (Rs 37,300).

Apple's current iPhone lineup includes the iPhone 8 and the iPhone 8 Plus, both of which come with LCD displays. The flagship iPhone X however, is equipped with an OLED display. A recent report also tipped that LG Display is facing manufacturing issues for smartphone OLED panels. LG Display is expected to deliver 20 percent of total displays for the upcoming Apple iPhones expects to ship with OLED panels. It is speculated that due to manufacturing issues, the company is falling behind on its production schedule, prompting people within Apple to wonder whether the company would be able to deliver the displays in time.
Vivo has launched its first smartphone in India with an in-display fingerprint sensor, the Vivo X21. Priced at Rs 35,990, the smartphone features a taller 19:9 display aspect ratio and comes with a notch on top. One will be able to purchase the device via Flipkart and the companys online store starting May 29 and it will be available in a Gold colour variant. The Vivo X21 comes with an in-display fingerprint sensor and one can unlock the device by simply pressing down on the screen. There are also different unlock animations to choose from and Vivo is bundling a special screen protector with the device so that there is no problem in the working of the in-display fingerprint sensor.

As mentioned above, the Vivo X21 is priced at Rs 35,990 and it comes with 6GB RAM, coupled with 128GB of internal storage. For launch offers, the company is offering a 5 percent cashback for SBI credit card customer and an extra Rs 3,000 off over regular exchange as well. One will also be able to purchase the device with a no-cost EMI of up to 12 months on all credit cards.

The Vivo X21 aims to take on the recently launched OnePlus 6 (review) but its seriously underpowered with the Snapdragon 660 SoC compared to the OnePlus 6's Snapdragon 845 processor. It features a 6.28-inch full-HD+ (1080x2280 pixels) Super AMOLED display with a 19:9 aspect ratio and runs on FunTouch OS 4.0, which is based on Android 8.1 Oreo. Vivo says that the devices display and the thin-bezel design allow for a 90.30 percent screen to body ratio and that the screen covers 99.5 percent of DCI-P3 Color Gamut and 99.9 percent of sRGB colour spectrum.

In terms of optics, the smartphone is equipped with a dual-rear camera setup with a 12MP primary sensor with f/1.8 aperture and a 5MP secondary sensor with a f/2.4 aperture and an LED flash. On the front is a 12MP camera as well. Vivo has touted the use of dual-pixel technology for capturing detailed images and as AI is the new buzzword, the company has used an AI HDR feature, which is said to automatically detect and correct the exposure, colour and more settings while capturing an image. It is also touted to deliver better low light images and help in faster autofocus. The so-called 'AI' is also used in a slew of other tasks like capturing AI Face Beauty that is said to recognise gender, skin colour, skin tone and more for providing customised beauty effects.

The Vivo X21 is powered by a 3200 mAh battery and Vivo says that it comes with Deepfield sound effect that allows for choosing between 360 degrees surround sound, Megabass mode and clear vocals. Vivos flagship XE710 earphones will be bundled with the smartphone as well.
India abides by UN sanctions, not by individual nations: Sushma Swaraj

India abides by sanctions imposed by the United Nations and not those imposed by individual countries, such as the one announced by the United States against Iran, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.

Swaraj said Indias decision on ties with Iran or its position on sanctions is independent of any other country.

India follows only UN sanctions, and not unilateral sanctions by any country, Swaraj said on being asked about Indias response to the US decision to impose sanctions against Iran.

The minister was responding to a question on whether the sanctions imposed by the United States on Iran and Venezuela have any impact on India's oil imports from the two countries.

Swaraj made the remarks at her annual press conference, hours before a meeting with visiting Iran foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.

Iran is the third-largest source of Indias oil imports. New Delhi is making strategic investments in the Chabahar port in Iran that connects Afghanistan to Central Asia bypassing Pakistan.

US President Donald Trump this month exited from the Iran nuclear deal and sought the reimposition of economic sanctions against Tehran that were suspended under a 2015 agreement.

The external affairs minister conveyed that all parties to the agreement should engage constructively for peaceful resolution of the issues that have arisen with respect to the agreement, a statement from the ministry said after Swaraj met Zarif.

Zarif, who had been to Moscow, Beijing and Brussels, arrived in India Sunday night. Zarif briefed Swaraj about the discussions that Iran has undertaken with parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action following the US decision to withdraw from the agreement, said the release by the ministrys press release.

The two sides positively assessed the implementation of decisions taken during the visit of President Rouhani to India. These included bilateral cooperation in the areas of connectivity, energy, trade and promotion of people to people contacts, the release said.

Swaraj also dismissed speculations that India will use Venezuelas local cryptocurrency petro in paying for oil imported from the Latin American nation, which too is facing US sanctions. Swaraj cited an order by the Reserve Bank of India saying it did not allow trade using cryptocurrency.

Venezuela, whose oil output is falling under pressure from US sanctions, is offering a discount on oil sales paid for by using the petro.
Virus genes from city pond rescue bacteria

A key question in evolutionary biology is how new functions arise. New research at Uppsala University, Sweden, shows that bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) can contribute to new functions by revealing hidden potential in their bacterial hosts.

Bacteriophages are the most numerous organisms on Earth (about 1031). Every day, they infect and kill 15-30 per cent of all bacteria in the world's oceans.

In a new study, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution, researchers have investigated how bacteriophages, instead of killing bacteria, transmit genes that help the bacterium Escherichia coli (E. coli) survive.

"We found a new, unexpected mechanism whereby genes from bacteriophages enable bacteria to use their hidden potential and establish a new function," says researcher and lead author Jon Jerlstrom-Hultqvist.

First, the scientists removed an essential gene (ilvA) from the bacterium. They then investigated whether bacteriophage genes (isolated from Svandammen, "Swan Pond", in central Uppsala) could rescue the bacteria.

The researchers identified a new group of genes that code for enzymes: S-adenosyl methionine (SAM) hydrolases. These enzymes break down SAM and, as a result, boost biosynthesis of the amino acid methionine, a precursor to SAM.

One of the enzymes required for methionine biosynthesis has a side reaction that enables the E. coli bacterium to compensate for the absence of the essential ilvA gene.

The study in question shows that, to understand how a bacterium works, the functions normally found in bacteria are not the only ones that need investigating. The hidden potential of the bacterial cell can be manifested when its metabolic state changes, for example in a bacteriophage infection. According to Professor Dan I. Andersson, who heads the study in question,

"The new function in this study is that these bacteriophage enzymes have the ability to break down an important cell component (SAM) of the bacterium. When this component breaks down, the bacterial cell resets its metabolism and a new function becomes available. Moreover, it is very important to understand the hidden potential of bacteria and whether it can affect the development of antibiotic resistance and its pathogenicity," says Professor Andersson, who heads the study.
Two-day bank strike from tomorrow to hit banking operations nationwide

Employees of state-run banks across the country will go on a two-day strike from Wednesday, in protest against the nominal two per cent increase in wages offered by the Indian Banks Association (IBA) that could affect banking services, including cash dispensation through ATMs.

Over a million employees belonging to public and private sector banks are expected to participate in the two-day strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), an umbrella organisation of nine unions, on 30 and 31 May, D T Franco, general secretary of All India Bank Officers Confederation said.

Employees of State Bank of India's main branch in Mumbai's Fort area is also holding a demonstartion today.

During wage negotiations held on 5 May, IBA is said to have proposed to offer a two-per cent increase in wages with effect from 31 March 2017 while maintaining that the negotiations on officers demands would be restricted to scale III officers.

"It is only because of provisions towards NPA that banks have booked losses, and for this, bank employees are not responsible," United Forum of Bank Unions' convener Devidas Tuljapurkar pointed out.

He said in the last two-three years, bank employees have worked tirelessly for implementation of government initiatives such as Jan-Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra and Atal Pension Yojana, among others. "This has resulted into huge increase in their workloads," he said.

In the last wage settlement for the five year period between 1 November 2012 and 31 October 2017, IBA had provided a 15-per cent hike in wages.

The UFBU is an umbrella body of nine unions, including All India Bank Officers' Confederation (AIBOC), All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) and National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW).

The volume of business and the volume of work of the employees and officers has gone up enormously in the recent years In addition, bank employees and officers are compelled to undertake so much of non-banking business and all the burden of doing various government schemes have fallen on the shoulders of the bank staff, the strike notice issued by UFBU said.
'Deforestation-free' palm oil not as simple as it sounds

Genuinely 'deforestation-free' palm oil products are problematic to guarantee, according to a new study.

Palm oil is a vegetable oil that is used in thousands of products worldwide, including an estimated 50 per cent of all products on supermarkets shelves, from food to detergents to cosmetics.

Although growing palm trees requires less land and resources than traditional vegetable oils, the cultivation of palm oil is a major cause of tropical deforestation, particularly in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Oil palm plantations replaced 2.7 million hectares of tropical forest in these two countries between 1990 and 2005, leading to a loss of biodiversity and an increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

Pressure from non-governmental organisations such as Greenpeace has led many companies to commit to only using "deforestation-free" palm oil products  those made exclusively using palm oil from plantations that have not cleared forests. However, environmentalists have criticised the action so far as taking too long and not following sufficiently strict guidelines.

Now, a study by researchers from Imperial College London has revealed some of the challenges faced by companies in guaranteeing that products labelled as "deforestation-free" have really been produced without causing deforestation. The results are published this week in the journal Global Environmental Change.

'Challenging to guarantee'

They identify the major barriers to success as highly complex supply chains, insufficient support from governments, a lack of consensus over what counts as 'deforestation', and growing markets in India and China that prefer low cost to sustainably produced goods.

However, the researchers point to some existing schemes and suggestions for tackling several of the issues that could lead to truly sustainable palm oil production.

Lead author Joss Lyons-White, from the Grantham Institute - Climate Change and the Environment and the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, says, "Deforestation-free palm oil is possible, but our study found it is very challenging for companies to guarantee at present.

"For example, supply chains are so complex that tracing palm oil back to source is very difficult  lots of trade may occur between different parties before manufacturing, where the palm oil is used in many different products for different purposes. This makes it hard to know exactly where the original oil was from  and whether it was linked to deforestation or not.

"However, simply banning palm oil is unlikely to be the answer. Instead, we need to find ways to ensure commitments can be implemented more effectively."

Defining the issues

Certification can help to overcome the problem of complex supply chains, and the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) does currently operate a certification system, which has been shown to reduce the loss of virgin forests. However, RSPO certification does not currently guarantee palm oil is completely deforestation-free.

For example, RSPO certification aims to protect virgin forest and forest of 'high conservation value', but does not cover other forests that have been logged or regrown following clearance. These forests may still make valuable contributions towards nature conservation targets, but the existing standard does not protect them from conversion to palm oil plantations.

To identify areas that posed problems for companies trying to be deforestation-free, the research team interviewed people across the palm oil sector, from growers and processors through to traders, manufacturers and retailers.

They found the complexity of a typical supply chain means there are many organisations with different functions, connected in different ways for different purposes. These organisations find it difficult to engage with one another about policies and procedures, and misunderstanding was rife between parties.

Cost is also a factor, with emerging markets in China and India demanding more palm oil at the most competitive prices, rather than paying more for deforestation-free, sustainably produced oil. This means there is often little incentive for producing deforestation-free palm oil.

Solutions beyond public shaming

Creating a market for sustainable products in these countries is one key direction for positive change, say the researchers, but there are other areas where progress is already being made. For example, there has recently been a multi-party agreement on a working definition of 'deforestation', expanding it beyond purely virgin forests, and the RSPO is considering a proposal to update its standard with this definition in late 2018.

There are also initiatives to promote collaboration between supply chain members, designed to improve coordination and reduce misunderstanding. These measures may be more likely to produce more sustainable products than external pressure placed on companies by NGOs, for example, in cases where companies lack direct control over their supply chains.

Co-author Dr Andrew Knight, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, says, "NGOs have used public shaming to compel companies to make commitments to deforestation-free palm oil. This tactic was effective in the past to obtain commitments from companies, but the context surrounding commitment implementation is problematic. Shaming may not continue to achieve positive outcomes in terms of reduced deforestation if the complex issues impeding implementation are not worked out.

"A more collaborative and supportive approach to understanding supply chains and the people and companies that comprise them is required. Based on this common understanding, more effective strategies can be developed, founded upon thoughtfully constructed certification and stronger government regulation, which will be more likely to ensure the rate of deforestation of these vulnerable and important ecosystems slows."
Petroleum ministry clears proposal for petrol, diesel futures

Amidst a continued rise in fuel prices, the union ministry of petroleum and natural gas has given in-principle nod for trading in petrol and diesel futures, ETNow reported on Monday quoting sources.

The report said market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) will take the final call on petrol and diesel futures.

Indian Commodity Exchange (ICEX), which last month launched 30-cents diamond futures contracts, had sought Sebi's approval to launch petrol, diesel futures as well.

Besides the diamond futures contract, ICEXs existing product basket also includes 1-carat and 50-cents contracts.

Fuel prices have been on an upswing in the recent past. On Tuesday, state-run oil marketing companies increased petrol and diesel prices for the 16th day in a row, despite a decline in crude oil rates. The revised price of petrol in Mumbai is 86.24 a litre.

Meanwhile, under public pressure over rising fuel prices, union minister of petroleum and natural gas Dharmendra Pradhan assured the public that the government will soon take out a solution to tackle the situation.

It is now left to market regulator Sebi to take a final decision on petrol and diesel futures.
Idea's FDI proposal likely to get DoT approval soon: reports

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is expected to clear Idea Cellulars proposal to increase foreign direct investment (FDI) in the company to 100 per cent, facilitating the merger of Idea Cellular with Vodafone India.

Both Idea Cellular and Vodafone India have submitted the necessary documents and DoT's approval for the FDI proposal is likely within a week, reports quoting senior DoT officials said.

Approval for the FDI limit hike would pave the way for the clearance of the merger between Idea Cellular and Vodafone India, leading to the formation of the largest mobile phone operator in India by revenue and subscriber market share.

They have submitted all the documents we want to clear it at the earliest, it should happen maybe within a week, a senior official said about the clearance of the FDI proposal.

The merger of Idea Cellular and Vodafone India will create a new entity with revenues of Rs63,000 crore, over 410 million customers, nearly 42 per cent customer market share and nearly 37 per cent revenue market share.

While the numbers definitely place the newly formed entity ahead of its competitors, the combined entity will also have a massive debt of Rs1,14,426 crores as per data availabe till March 2018.

The merger, which was proposed a little over a year after announcing the deal in March 2017, is almost complete and is likely to close in June.

As per the merger proposal, Vodafone Indias spectrum licences will be merged with those of Idea Cellular and Idea will have to take on the pending dues of the merged entity, which it will be liable to pay to the telecom department.

Vodafone India and Idea Cellular collectively owe about Rs18,870 crore in dues relating to a mix of pending licence fees, spectrum usage charges (SUC) and one-time spectrum charges (OTSC).

DoT had asserted in the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that Vodafone will take on the debt of the merged entity, which it will owe to DoT. DoT has made sure to include this in the approval.

The government, though, wont be able to force either the payment of their licence fee or SUC dues since the matter pertains to computation of a telcos adjusted gross revenue (AGR), an issue under dispute for more than a decade and currently sub judice.

But, since Idea Cellular is acquiring spectrum from Vodafone India, they it have to pay the market price of administratively allocated, or non-auctioned, spectrum irrespective of whether a court case is on or a stay has been granted before the merger is approved.

However, the department accepting payment after the merger doesn't hold ground. Idea can either pay up or get a court order, according to officials.

DoT is expected to take a softer view on the merger while according it utmost priority since this merger would earn the government substantial revenue, especially in a scenario where a lot of bankruptcies and M&A-driven exits of telcos have taken place, leading to several job losses.
A library is also a social element?

More and more. Today, its almost like a library-sojourn, which invites people to spend time there, to socialise, to relax. Libraries have great symbolic value, as can be seen by the postcards hanging on the walls where, in addition to greetings and main city attractions, theres also the local library.

A concrete example of this ability to aggregate?

The Community Centre of Maunula. The architects  K2S Architects  asked residents what space they wanted. Among them, a 16-year-old girl, a Muslim immigrant, asked for a place just for girls. This led to a major debate on a local level  this kind of space isnt part of Nordic culture, many believed  but the architects understood that the question came from a precise need, from religious rules. A compromise was reached and the room was built. Many architects we present have involved local communities with workshops and surveys. And this is the challenge: to design a place that is loved and used by everyone, a place thats alive and in motion and responds to changes in society, and isnt just a collection of books.
Nissans Navara-based Terra wagon has taken a step closer to an Australian debut with the brand unveiling a diesel-powered version of its Toyota Fortuner rival.

While the manufacturer previously showed a petrol version built for China, a turbo diesel brother revealed in the Philippines overnight will be built in Thailand alongside the Navara ute.

The machine will give Nissan a rugged, ladder frame-based SUV to tackle ute-based opposition including the Mitsubishi Pajero Sport, Ford Everest and Isuzu MU-X.
Tesla has committed to an expansion of its Australian Supercharger network, outlining plans for 18 high-speed charging stations set to be operational within the next 18 months.

While electric cars such as the Tesla Model X dont necessarily require dedicated charging infrastructure, the brands Supercharger network allows owners to rapidly top up batteries instead of leaving the car plugged in for several hours.

Supercharger stations encourage Tesla owners to use their cars for long-distance travel by providing half a charge in 30 minutes  adding more than 200 kilometres to a vehicles range. The service works is in addition to Teslas Destination Charging network of hotels, shopping centres and other businesses equipped with Tesla charging ports.

New Tesla customers get 400kWh of supercharging credits per year, which the brand says is enough to cover 1600 kilometres of travel. After that, customers must pay to use the supercharger network.

Tesla says customers who embark on a 3000 kilometre road trip will pay around $195 for Supercharger-sourced electricity after their free credits are used up  around $70 less than what a conventional car owner would pay for petrol over the same distance.

Canberra residents will receive a Supercharger station as part of the roll-out, which also includes new stations in Nowra, Dubbo, Singleton, Tamworth and other areas for NSW.

Victorian additions include Bendigo, Bright, Lakes Entrance and Torquay, while Queensland will see the Gold Coast, Toowoomba and Gympie get new infrastructure.

West Australia will receive a Perth supercharger to accompany one already installed in Bunbury.

Tesla has not released plans for new chargers in South Australia (which already has three), or the Northern Territory (which has no supercharger stations).
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Louth County Council will draw from a pot of 10 million to provide housing funds for first time buyers in the county this year.

The Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government recently advised the local authority that they were to receive a 10,000,000 allocation for 2018  and at the May monthly meeting held in Dundalk last year, councillors agreed to drawdown the maximum money available.

The cash will allow the council to provide loans for house purchases and builds this year. However, while the money is coming from central government, Director of Housing Services Joe McGuinness confirmed at the meeting that any subsequent default on the loan will hit the council in the pocket.

Meanwhile, McGuinness also confirmed that interest on the loans does not accrue to the council but the Government. Rates on offer range between 2% and 2.3%.

Its all risk and no reward for Louth County Council, Green Party councillor Mark Dearey said.

Banks continue to gorge on mortgages with rates that are twice that is on offer here.

39 valid applications have been received by the council for Rebuilding Ireland home loans since the new initiative came into effect at the start of February. Of these, four have been approved and two rejected  with 32 currently being processed.

The scheme is open to first time buyers only.

Applicants must be in continuous employment for two years, have received insufficient offers of finance from at least two financial institutions and combined gross income must not exceed 75,000.

The figure of 10 million was welcomed by councillors last week.

Maeve Yore called the sum fantastic, while Marianne Butler said, The sum of 10 million has to be welcomed. Years ago, Dundalk Town Council received 1 million so it is a huge jump.

Sinn Feins Ruairi O Murchu said, There is obviously still going to be a problem in terms of lack of supply, but it is to be welcomed.

Meanwhile, members of the European Parliament are to be invited to Dundalk to answer questions on Brexit. The invitation was proposed at last Mondays Louth County Council meeting by O Murchu and was supported by his fellow councillors.
Dundalk native Martin Naughton has made a 25 million donation to a new programme for students at Trinity College Dublin - the single biggest philanthropic donation in Irish history.

The Glen Dimplex founder was joined by his wife Carmel, Minister of State Mary Mitchell O'Connor and Minister for Education Richard Bruton on Friday to announce the new 60 million campus that will provide 1,800 new place for students studying STEM subjects, such as science, technology engineering and maths.

Work is set to begin on the new E3 Institute later this year, with hopes that it is completed by 2022.

Speaking at Friday's announcement, Dr Naughton said Ireland was going to need increasing numbers of engineers and scientists to work together to tackle big global challenges the world is currently facing.

Naughton said he agreed to fund the new and ambitious Trinity College project on two conditions  that it should be a world-class development, and that it would be supported by the Department of Education.

The Government is providing 15m in funding on top of the Naughtons 25m - towards a 60m cost.

Minister Bruton thanked Naughton for his service to the country as a whole.

Glen Dimplex was founded in 1973 by Mr Naughton, a former pupil of De La Salle College in Dundalk.

It is now the world's largest electrical heating business. According to the Sunday Independent, Mr Naughton is the 11th richest person in Ireland with a personal fortune of 1.65 billion
Dundalk Municipal cathaoirleach John McGahon says he wants change to the Register of Electors in light of the Eight Amendment Referendum, including having 18-year-olds automatically registered to vote.

The Fine Gael councillor wants it to be easier for younger people to vote while he has also called for online registration - a move that would remove what he calls "hoops" to register.

"Having to jump through so many hoops to register to vote in this day and age is outdated and cumbersome," he said.

The recent referendum has shown me once again that the process of registering to vote or changing address is outdated and needs to be reformed," he continued. "For example, if you want to register to vote, you need to download an RFA2 Form, go to a Garda station, have it stamped and then leave it into a councils office."

McGahon wants Ireland to follow in the footsteps of the United Kingdom, where the electorate can register to vote and change address details online using a national insurance number, the UK equivalent of a PPS number.

"By moving it online, we are making it easier and simpler for people to keep their information up to date. Equally, it helps make the register more accurate. There are huge inaccuracies in our electoral register up and down the country and its leading to a bloated and incorrect electoral register.

The Louth County Councillor also wants the Government to see 18-year-olds automatically registered, in light of the huge surge in youth turnout and participation in the 2015 and 2018 referendums in Ireland.

"In 2017 alone, over 61,000 young people celebrated their 18th birthday. The National Youth Council of Ireland has proposed for many years that all young people should be automatically registered and this will dramatically reduce non-registration," he said.

"The recent referendum has quite literally seen a revolution in terms of youth participation and if we are serious about continuing this trend we need to make the voting process easier and simpler.

Also, during the recent referendum, I had so many people ask me where they still entitled to vote if they were abroad or in hospital. In the UK you can apply for a proxy for a single election on a specific date for circumstances such as being away on polling day, having a medical issue or not being able to vote in person because of work. I think we should also consider this."
Melbourne travel and banking app Pelikin has partnered with global finance technology provider Tuxedo Money Solutions, to deliver the startups multi-currency prepaid debit card offering.

Specialising in prepaid and alternative finance solutions, Tuxedo will power the payment technology and prepaid card offered by Pelikin.

Founded in 2006 in the United Kingdom, Tuxedo has now grown through exciting partnerships, hosting transactions in over 200 territories worldwide and processing just under $2 billion in card loads.

Technical Director of Tuxedo Nicholas Holt shared that he is excited to partner with such a cutting-edge startup.

Were very excited to partner with Pelikin and be a part of their journey, as well as expanding into the growing Australian market.

Theres an enormous opportunity for distributive payment technology in Australia, as the market is more than ready for a mobile only product like Pelikin that removes the friction and big fees that are generally linked to accessing and spending money overseas.

Alongside Tuxedos experience and market knowledge, Pelikin founder Sam Brown said that the decision to partner with Tuxedo came down to their superior technological capabilities.

We headed to London earlier this year to meet with Tuxedo, and from the outset the synergies between us were clear; from payment processing to connecting with a trusted ADI partner.

Tuxedos infrastructure is going to allow us to make travel and everyday banking a more seamless experience for millenials in Australia.

At the core of it, we are just a group frustrated travellers who are trying to build the perfect travel and banking product in Australia, and gaining the trust of a major global player like Tuxedo has given us strong validation for Pelikin.

Sam also added the partnership allows Pelikin to maintain its focus on building a superior mobile banking banking experience for its future users.

Our goal at Pelikin has always been to get our product in the hand of Australians early on, listen to their feedback and make sure were absolutely perfect, before we go down the arduous and expensive path of assuming our own banking licences.
Global demand for NSW exports has put the First State in the lead with $35.7 billion worth of Australian services exported last year.

NSW contributed 52.3 per cent of the total Australian growth in services exports, which highlights the NSW Governments success in creating an entrepreneurial business environment.

Minister for Trade and Industry Niall Blair said the latest ABS figures revealed a global demand for the states expertise in education, telecommunications, ICT services, financial and other professional services.

In 2017 alone, our service exports grew in value by $3.6 billion. We have hit our 2020 target for international education exports three years early, surpassing $9 billion in exports, he said.

These figures, yet again, demonstrate the strength of the NSW economy and the global demand for our services.

China remains Australias largest market for service exports, with exports to China growing $15.8 billion.

NSWs services exports growth:
By Jon Queally

Green groups and opponents of the powerful corporate interests that dominate the global food system expressed dismay on Tuesday after the U.S. Department of Justice announced tentative approval of a merger between the U.S.-based agro-chemical company Monsanto and the German pharmaceutical giant Bayer.

Dubbed the "merger from hell" by critics, Trump's DOJ reportedly mediated and approved a deal in which the two companies agreed to shed portions of their businesses as a way to alleviate monopoly concerns.

"The settlement," reported Bloomberg, "came together after Justice Department antitrust officials pressed for significant divestitures to remedy the competition problems from combining the two companies. The companies have received antitrust approval from most jurisdictions around the world. Bayer has said it's confident the deal will close by the June 14 deadline."

Though predicted, the news was met with vocal displeasure by environmental groups and those opposed to a food system driven by consolidated corporate power, industrial-scale farming, and for-profit greed:

"This toxic mega-merger is another Trump Administration handout to an industry that's poisoning people and the planet," declared Tiffany Finck-Haynes, senior food futures campaigner with Friends of the Earth, in response to the announcement. "The Department of Justice is prioritizing corporate profits instead of listening to the 1 million Americans who spoke out against the merger. DOJ also failed to listen to more than 93 percent of polled farmers who are concerned about the merger."



The American people, added Fink-Haynes, "deserve better than corporate monopolies that drive up food prices and put family farmers out of business. The DOJ's weak divestment requirements will do nothing to stop Bayer-Monsanto from controlling more and more of our food system. This merger will damage the bargaining power of family farmers, prevent farmers from accessing diverse seed varieties, and allow seed prices to rise."

Reposted with permission from our media associate Common Dreams.
The Canadian government plans to spend $4.5 billion Canadian dollars ($3.5 billion) to buy Kinder Morgan's existing Trans Mountain pipeline and its controversial expansion project that will triple the amount of tar sands transported from Alberta to the coast of British Columbia.

The pipeline has been at the center of widespread protests by environmentalists and some Indigenous groups. The announcement was met with condemnation from 350.org organizers, who slammed Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his government for "turning Canada into a fossil fuel company."

Kinder Morgan halted all non-essential spending the pipeline project last month, citing continuing opposition in British Columbia. The company set a May 31 deadline to get assurances it can proceed with the project without delays.

Bill Morneau, the federal finance minister, said in Ottawa Tuesday that the government's purchase will guarantee the summer construction season for workers and will ensure the project is built to completion.

"Our message today is simplewhen we're faced with an exceptional situation that puts jobs at risk, that puts our international reputation on the line, our government's prepared to take action," he said.

The agreement was approved by the Cabinet this morning and is subject to approval by Kinder Morgan shareholders. The purchase is expected to close this August, he said.

Morneau said the government will eventually sell the expanded pipeline back to the private sector.

Kinder Morgan Canada CEO Steve Kean said he was pleased with the deal.

"The outcome we have reached represents the best opportunity to complete the [Trans Mountain Pipeline system and the expansion project] and thereby realize the great national economic benefits promised by that project," Kean said in a statement.

Aurore Fauret, 350.org's Canadian tar sands campaign coordinator, said in a statement that "in a single mandate, Justin Trudeau transformed from a climate champion into a Big Oil CEO."

Trudeau, Fauret said, "had an opportunity to walk away from pipeline politics and get on with the real work of leading Canada, and the world, in a 100 percent renewable energy revolution, but instead he's opted to ignore science, Indigenous rights and the voices of people across Canada and bailed out a dangerous, unwanted pipeline with public money."

Since taking office, the Liberal party leader has introduced several environmental mandates, including a national price on carbon and a $1.5 billion ocean protection plan. However, environmentalists have criticized Trudeau's support of the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. He insists that "the environment and the economy need to go together."

Oil Change International pointed out that while Trudeau has signed up to the Paris climate goals, the amount of carbon that would be transported and ultimately burned by the pipeline means that Canada would miss those goals.

What's more, The Star Vancouver reported that Kinder Morgan has reported 82 spills to the National Energy Board since 1961. The most recent spill occurred this past Sunday, when 100 liters (26 gallons) of a medium crude blend was released at the Darfield Pump Station near Barriere, British Columbia.

Opponents said the latest leak highlights the risks of the project. "We know spills happen and we know that it won't get 100 percent cleaned up," Charlene Aleck, a Tsleil-Waututh Nation councillor, told The Star, adding that the spill gave her a "sinking feeling" and "it reinforces the risk that Tsleil-Waututh has been speaking of all along."

350.org vows to continue protesting the project.

"Today is not the end of this story. Kinder Morgan abandoned this project because people organized all across the country to stop it, and we'll do it again," Fauret said. "This fight is far from over, and now that Justin Trudeau has turned the Canadian government into a fossil fuel company, it's crystal clear who we're up against."
More than 120 pregnant female minke whales were killed this year in the Antarctic Ocean as part of Japan's controversial "scientific whaling" program.

The numbers were revealed in a newly released report presented earlier this month at the International Whaling Commission (IWC) Scientific Committee meeting in Bled, Slovenia.

According to the report, Japanese whaling vessels returned to port from the annual hunt with 333 Antarctic minke whales, of which 181 were females. Of those, 122 or 67 percent were pregnant. The whalers also took 61 immature males and 53 immature females.

The Japanese government plans to hunt about 4,000 whales over the next decade despite the IWC's 1986 moratorium on commercial hunting. The country launched its scientific whaling program in 1987 as a loophole to the moratorium and insists that the marine mammals are killed in the name of research.

However, Reuters noted that Japan's ultimate goal is the resumption of commercial whaling. The government insists that most whale species are not endangered and that eating whale is part of its culture, even though most Japanese people no longer eat it.

The Australian chapter of Humane Society International expressed outrage over the new figures and called on the Australian government to intervene.

"The killing of 122 pregnant whales is a shocking statistic and sad indictment on the cruelty of Japan's whale hunt," said Alexia Wellbelove, senior program manager at Humane Society International, in a statement. "It is further demonstration, if needed, of the truly gruesome and unnecessary nature of whaling operations, especially when non-lethal surveys have been shown to be sufficient for scientific needs."

"Whales are already facing substantial threats including bycatch in fisheries and marine pollution. Significant conservation efforts are underway worldwide to address these issues, so the least Japan could do is put away the harpoons," she added.

Survey Area in the New Antarctic Cetacean Science Survey Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research

Conservation organization Sea Shepherd has long opposed Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean and has sent ships since 2005 to intercept the hunts. The group, however, did not send ships this year. Founder Captain Paul Watson told Australian Broadcasting Corp in August that Japan is "using military technology. They have real-time satellite coverage of where we are. We cannot close in on them."

"It's a waste of time and money to go down there and not be able to achieve anything," he added.

In November, Sea Shepherd released a grisly and unsettling video of a Japanese whaling fleet hunting in the Antarctic Ocean in an Australian whale sanctuary. The Australian government obtained footage of the hunt in 2008 but suppressed its release over diplomatic concerns with Japan. Sea Shepherd was only able to publicly release the film after winning a five-year Freedom of Information battle that began in 2012.

Australia's Labor party environment spokesman Tony Burke told the Sydney Morning Herald that the government "can't continue to turn a blind eye to this. It's appalling."

"There is nothing scientific about harpooning a pregnant whale, chopping it up and putting it on a plate. Japan's position on this is absurd and the Australian government must not be silent," he said.

Wellbelove added, "The continued killing of any whales is abhorrent to modern society, but these new figures make it even more shocking. We look forward to Australia and other pro-conservation countries sending the strongest possible message to Japan that it should stop its lethal whaling programs."

The next IWC meeting will be held in Brazil in September.
A surprising finding from the waters of Seattle's Puget Sound reveals that the opioid epidemic devastating human communities in the U.S. could be harming marine life as well.

Every two years, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) transplants bay mussels raised in clean waters in Whidbey Island, WA to locations around Puget Sound in order to monitor pollution levels in the water. Since mussels are filter feeders, area scientists can get a good idea of what contaminants are present in the environment by examining which have built up in the mussels' tissue after two to three months of exposure.

This year, for the first time, one of those contaminants was oxycodone.

"It's telling me there's a lot of people taking oxycodone in the Puget Sound area. The contamination is likely coming from wastewater treatment plants," WDFW biologist Jennifer Lanksbury told local news outlet KIRO7 on May 23.

King County Wastewater Management told KIRO7 that they cannot filter out drugs specifically, which end up in urine that is then flushed down the toilet.

The oxycodone-contaminated mussels were found in mussels from three of the 18 areas tested, one in Seattle's Elliott Bay and two near the shipyard of Bremerton Island.

The findings were announced by the University of Washington's Puget Sound Institute (PSI), which helped with the study, conducted May 9 and widely reported last week.

PSI researcher Andy James explained in the University of Washington release that the mussels did not pose a risk to human consumers, since they were found in very urban areas far from where commercial mussels are gathered.

"You wouldn't want to collect (and eat) mussels from these urban bays," James said.

The release further explained that the dosages found in the mussels were thousands of times smaller than the amount that would impact a human and likely had no impact on the mussels either.

However, oxycodone levels in the Puget Sound area could pose a risk to fish. Studies have found that zebrafish will get high off of opioids, and scientists are worried that salmon and other Puget Sound fish could react similarly, according to the release.

The mussels also tested positively for other drugs like antidepressants and antibiotics.

"Those are definitely chemicals that are out there in the nearshore waters and they may be having an impact on the fish and shellfish that live there," Lanksbury told KIRO7.

Of particular concern, according to the University of Washington release, is the chemotherapy drug Melphalan, which interacts with DNA in ways that might cause cancer. It was found in mussels in levels relative by weight to the recommended human dose, "levels where we might want to look at biological impacts," James said.

Lanksbury told CNN the results were made possible by extra funding, which WDFW used to test for "contaminants of emerging concern" such as prescription drugs and personal care products. Previous studies had focused on pollutants like PCBs, pesticides and toxic metals.

Other important "contaminants of emerging concern" found in the mussels were four types of surfactants from detergents and cleaning products that can have an "estrogenic effect" on organisms like fish, "feminizing male fish and making female fish reproductive before they're ready," Lanksbury told CNN.

After these results, the WDFW will seek additional funding to continue monitoring prescription drug levels in the water, KIRO7 reported.

"People should be wary," Lanksbury told KIRO7. "Hopefully our data shows what's out there and can get the process started for cleaning up our waters."
(Photo: Zambia Tourism)The Victoria Falls forms a spectacular bridge between Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Zambia's Catholic bishops and the country's main umbrella for Protestant churches have joined forces to vehemently oppose the establishment of a government ministry of religious affairs.

President Edgar Lungu speaking at St. Andrew's United Church of Zambia announced Sept. 28 that he was to re-introduce a Ministry of Religious Affairs.

On Sept. 4, while visiting State Lodge's Divine Mercy Catholic Parish, in Lusaka, Lungu told parishioners that the Church in Zambia should not be threatened by the creation of the ministry of religious affairs as he said the ministry will harmonise State-Church relations.

Under the late President Frederick Chiluba Zambia in 1997 instituted a Religious Affairs Ministry, something that never conclusively got approved by the entire population, Zambia Reports stated.

The religious ministry suffered due to unclear terms of reference and its inability to garner support and consensus from churches and eventually, it was quietly phased out, Vatican Radio said.

The Zambia Conference of Catholic Bishops together with leaders of the umbrella body of established Protestant Churches, the Council of Churches in Zambia said they strongly opposed the establishment of the new government ministry to be known as the Ministry of National Guidance and Religious Affairs.

Opposing the government's move, the two church bodies said they found the creation of a new ministry of religious affairs unnecessary and imprudent, Vatican Radio reports.

"In view of the various financial and economic challenges our country is currently facing, we neither see the creation of the said ministry as a top priority nor a prudent decision," said the two church bodies.

"After all, we believe that Zambians want their country to be a democracy rather than a theocracy," the statement notes.

PENTECOSTAL PASTOR NAMED

President Lungu, last week appointed Rev. Godfridah Sumaili, a Pentecostal pastor of Lusaka's Bread of Life Church as the new head of the ministry of religious affairs.

Sumaili was subsequently nominated as a Member of Parliament, by Lungu.

The Zambian parliament still has to ratify the appointment and the creation of the new ministry.

Although Zambia was declared a Christian nation in 1996, the constitution still retains a clause which recognizes the presence of other religions.

According to the current constitution, Zambia is a multi-faith country. However, this has divided Christians and a a third church body, the Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia, supports the idea of a new religious ministry, according to Anadolu Agency.

http://aa.com.tr/en/africa/zambian-bishops-reject-religious-ministry-plan/649412

Evangelical Fellowship of Zambia executive director, Rev. Pukuta Mwanza, on behalf of Pentecostal churches, last month, praised Lungu's initiative saying it would "promote Christian values and give more meaning to the declaration of Zambia as a Christian nation."

Zambia is a landlocked Southern African country and its neighbors include Zimbabwe in the south, Malawi in the east, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania in the north and Angola in the west.

Of Zambia's 16 million people around 75 percent are Protestants and 20 percent are Roman Catholic.
(Photo:  Peter Kenny / Ecumenical News)Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, World Council of Churches associate general secretary in Jerusalem on Feb. 10, 2016.

Churches are engaged at the grassroots level throughout the world in the response to HIV and AIDS, but the struggle against the disease and those stigmatized for being HIV positive needs to continue, say church leaders.

Two million people a year become HIV-positive and many of those infected are not even aware of their HIV status, said moderator Claus Grue as he introduced a group of panelists during the June 23-28 meeting of the main governing body of the World Council of Churches between its assemblies, its central committee.

"The billboards have been taken down, but within the WCC we realize it [HIV and AIDS] is not over, and we need to keep up the campaign to raise awareness in our member churches," said Dr. Isabel Apawo Phiri, WCC associate general secretary, referring to some African countries.

She noted that, in her home environment in Malawi, she and her immediate family have been directly impacted by the disease.

Phiri and the other panelists stressed that HIV and AIDS is a "medical condition and not a moral condition".

The panelists also agreed that social and gender justice issues are all involved in taking care of the problem.

"We don't know when it will be over. We will continue campaigning until it is over," said Phiri.

She noted that WCC involvement with HIV and AIDS goes back to 1984 when awareness was just beginning.

Phiri said that, with faith-driven affirmation of universal humanity, the WCC has worked with other ecumenical partners as well as the World Health Organization and later UNAIDS.

Metropolitan Geevarghese Mor Coorilos, Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East said, "For us, the Orthodox, our theology is centered around the notion of the Holy Trinity - within the Godhead."

Coorilos said that all life is considered holy and sacred and the characteristics within it are the values of mutuality, interdependence, dignity and justice.

'NO ROOM FOR ANY DISCRIMINATION'

"There is no room for any kind of discrimination, be it on the basis of sex, class, caste, medical status, disability, you name it," he said.

Rev. Rex Reyes Jr, general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, said the HIV and AIDS campaign in his country is in unison with the Orthodox position of dignity, humanity and the involvement of young people.

"Given the number of people with HIV in my country we have had to come out with more practical way of dealing the issues, that is, an aggressive education and we have to get the church leaders to walk the talk," he said.

The program encourages church leaders to have HIV testing in order to help encourage young people not to be afraid to get tested.

Reyes himself was photographed being tested and featured on a national billboard poster for which some people criticized him, but he said it increased national awareness on HIV and AIDS.

In the Philippines, churches have found they not only have to work together but also with allied organizations which are not necessarily faith-based organizations. He also said his church's campaign extends to people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Rev. Amin Sandewa of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania belongs to a national network of religious leaders living with or personally affected by HIV or AIDS and he has a deeply personal experience of the disease.

"I lost my two daughters and my wife to HIV," said Sandewa explaining that disclosure of the disease is vital in preventing it spreading.

"The challenge is why people are not ready to disclose," he said, affirming the campaign of Reyes.

"In my network we have more than 400 religious leaders who are HIV positive but only 10 have disclosed," he said referring to the stigma that still remains.

He said another challenge is that of sexual morality, agreeing that "this is a health issue more than a moral issue" and that, in seeking to educate people, churches have to reach out to people who may be ignored, such as sex workers.

"In Tanzania there can be clash between the religious approach and medical approach," said Sandewa, espousing more openness in dealing with the disease.

Panelists emphasized that increasing advocacy, accompaniment and service provision is critical in ending HIV. They were clear that this could only be achieved by the significant support and mobilization of the faith community.

Before the meeting the WCC reported that conversations that began at the Fifth International Eastern European and Central Asian AIDS Conference (EECAAC) in Moscow three months ago are continuing today.

'HIV NOT A CURSE'

"HIV is a call, not a curse," Bishop Methodius (Kondratiev) of Alapaevsk and Kamensk from the Russian Orthodox Church, had said, carrying a message about the role of spiritual and moral dimensions of AIDS.

"HIV-infected persons in the Orthodox environment should not be outcasts or feel themselves as lepers surrounded by healthy people. HIV is not a sign of God's rejection," he said.

He is part of a growing circle of Christian, Jewish and Muslim people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia who are sharing their experience responding to HIV to develop more coordinated cooperation among faith-based organizations, even as the number HIV infections increases in the region.

With the motto "Every Life Matters," the forum in Moscow was the largest event on HIV prevention and treatment in the region, attended by 2,500 delegates from 79 countries.

Among the participants were leading scientists, politicians, public figures, and representatives of international and religious organizations and non-government organizations.

"We need to build a bridge between scientific evidence and social transformation," UNAIDS executive director and under-secretary general of the United Nations Michel Sidibe said.

'RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS BUILD BRIDGES'

"You cannot overcome HIV just by scientific evidence; people do not understand it. Only religious organizations can build that bridge and reach people in their social circles.

"Religious organizations can fight stigma and discrimination and stand for social justice. They need to invite people to seek medical treatment, and no one should be left without treatment opportunities."

According to the latest UNAIDS data, 1.5 million people in Eastern Europe and Central Asia are living with HIV.

In 2015 there were an estimated 190,000 new HIV infections in the region, rising by 57 percent between 2010 and 2015.

(Photo: Denis Balibouse / Reuters) South African Acedemy award-winning actress Charlize Theron speaks out on fighting HIV and Aids after getting an award for her charity work at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

At the same time, new HIV infections worldwide have fallen by 6 percent since 2010. AIDS-related deaths worldwide have fallen by 45 percent since their peak in 2005. Yet in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the number of AIDS-related deaths has increased by 22 percent between 2010 and 2015.
(Photo: Courtesy Reborn Innocent Lumasi)Shyreen Mvula

Nineteen-year-old Shyreen Mvula captivated hundreds of people when she told her courageous story about how being born HIV-positive unfolded into a lifetime of struggling for justice, at the World Council of Churches 2013 10th Assembly in the South Korean city of Busan.

Invited to speak at the assembly by the WCC Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy program, Mvula emphasized that HIV is a not a curse from God but a disease and should be understood and treated in that way.

Now 23, Mvula, from the Church of Central Africa Presbyterian, continues to stand up for justice.

A graduate from the Bunda College of Agriculture, she said she has seen God working in every way possible to make the journey of her studies a success. "It was a good journey with a lot of lessons," she said.

Receiving a scholarship from Fondation pour l'aide au protestantisme reforme (FAP) for her education brought her a lot of hope, she added.

"As I was receiving support through this scholarship, there were times when my academic performance was good and encouraging," she said.

"On the other hand, there were times when I failed, and this made me feel bad about myself considering that I am from a family that could not afford to provide for my basic needs."

During these low times, a sense of courage kept her working hard because she simply couldn't afford to lose the rare and needed opportunity of that scholarship.

"Being a young person who is openly living with HIV was quite challenging as sometimes I was facing some stigma from my fellow students," she said.

"This made me feel so low, but I remembered the theory of a bouncing ball that I was using in my life: When a bouncing ball is hit, it goes down and after some time it goes back to its high position".

Mvula held her focus on her studies.

"Now that I have graduated, I would like to enhance my career in agriculture, first by working with some organizations focused on agriculture so that I enhance my hands-on experience," she said.

"And in three years' time I see myself establishing an integrated farm with different livestock species as well as rarely cultivated plant species."

She plans to sell the farm products in supermarkets in her country. "And in five years' time this farm will be a training center to equip young people in my country with hands-on experience in agriculture," she envisioned.

Currently, she is working with ActionAid Malawi as a project facilitator for the Better Extension Training Transforming Economic Returns.

This is an agricultural project aimed at strengthening agricultural extension services, increasing the capacities of smallholder farmers to adapt to adverse effects of climate change, and improving food security of smallholder farmers.

It does this through livelihood diversification and technology transfer.
(Photo:  Peter Kenny)Dr Mwai Makoka photographed at the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland on Feb. 14, 2017.

Dr. Mwai Makoka's work on health and healing at the World Council of Churches entails connecting people in churches which link with national and international health organizations in many ways.

Working as a medical doctor in his home country Malawi seems to have given Dr. Makoka ideal experience for his task of program executive for Health and Healing at the WCC.

He has experience in medical microbiology, HIV and AIDS, working for both government and church-based institutions after graduating as a doctor in Malawi, a country accustomed to working with church-run hospitals.

Prior to joining the WCC in late 2016, Makoka, a Presbyterian, was executive director of the Christian Health Association of Malawi part of the continent-wide Africa Christian Health Associations Platform and a member of ACT Alliance.

Malawi's Christian health association is responsible for 37 percent of of the southern African nation's health services, as well as training 80 percent of the southern African nation's healthcare practitioners.

Now Makoka's duties involve running an office that liaises with international organizations and nearly 350 member churches in the WCC in different parts of the world.

CHURCHES AND HEALTHCARE

"This is an old desk. Churches have been involved in health care since time immemorial. Some of my work entails liaising with the WHO (World Health Organization) and consolidating the voice of the churches and the ecumenical family there".

"We have been working with WHO since it was established (in 1948). I think we are the first faith-based organization to have a relationship with the WHO," says Makoka.

He notes that faith-based organizations, especially churches, are essential providers of health services in many countries, especially in Africa.

For example, in Malawi, churches run 11 nursing schools. Its neighbours, Zambia and Zimbabwe have similar involvement of churches in health provision.

"At the WCC we look at holistic health. Health is not medicine. Health is not purely medical. Health is complete well-being'.

"When church leaders are standing in the pulpit and they preach and talk about health issues, they are not digressing. That is the place to talk about health. Health is not just hospitals," he says showing the coalescing of the spiritual with the practical.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS

These days, however, when it comes to global public health, Makoka says it is very difficult to do anything outside the parameters of the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals), a series of clearly outlined targets for global human development set out by the United Nations for 2030.

"We want to consolidate our response to SDGs as there are many of them.

"There are many mission hospitals, training doctors, nurses and health workers. We need to have a comprehensive strategic plan to see what is unique for our response to SDGs to guide us to 2030.

At the WCC, he says, "we can't just make the plan here and run with it. We need to consult our constituencies as to how to use, coordinate and share information".

This entails "South to South" sharing within developing areas of best practices and information. There is also the sustaining and improving of relationships with other institutions that can help build capacities, working with medical and academic institutions, non-government organizations and state players.

One of the goals is to help develop models to increase universal health coverage, making sure there are not duplications within the relevant institutions forging synergies.

"For example there is ACHAP and the All Africa Conference of Churches the continental ecumenical body that has interaction with African Union," explains Makoka.

ACHAP, which focuses on health, does not have a relationship with the AU. And if the AU, which is also involved with the SDGs, gives the AACC, with which it does have relations, a health question, it can take it to ACHAP.

"Instead of the AACC feeling it has its hands tied, we can work as a unified family. Part of my job is facilitating that."

MAPPING

Dr. Makoka also notes, "Mapping of churches involvement in healthcare is high on our agenda. It has been discussed, but more progress needs to be made. There have been isolated efforts here. Now that I am here, this will be one of the first parts of my work."

Mapping of churches involvement and interaction with health care institutions is not only necessary in Africa where ACHAP met this year, but is also needed in other regions such as the Pacific, Asia, the Middle East, the Caribbean and South America.

"It will be a very important tool. Mapping is not just for prestige. It is valuable to know about your work to help in advocacy for resources mobilization and allocation," says Makoka.

"If providers of health services do not have clear data, they might not have resources allocated to them. If you have data you can more easily lobby for resources, for example, with members of parliaments."

Dr. Makoka gives the example of the enduring presence of church-run medical services in countries where the state has ceased to function effectively such as the Democratic Republic of Congo or even more recently South Sudan.

"The State may have ceased functioning in South Sudan, but the churches continue to run the medical services. The state may not be there to provide these for the people, but the church is always there."

"And when we look at fighting Ebola in Liberia and Sierra Leone [from 2014], the churches were running 50 percent of the medical services," so the WHO had to rely on their help eventually in countering the pandemic."
A homosexual couple in Malawi has split due to what one human rights advocate called "anti-gay pressure."

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga separated this week just days after Malawi's president pardoned them from a 14-year punishment for "unnatural acts and gross indecency."

Monjeza, who recently moved in with a woman named Dorothy Gulo, said that he was coerced into the gay relationship, but human rights activist Peter Tatchell thinks otherwise.

Tatchell, who campaigned for the couple's release, told BBC that Monjeza has succumbed to anti-gay pressure.

"It is a tragedy that homophobic threats and abuse have forced this couple apart," he said. "They were deeply in love. The pressure has got to Steven."

Monjeza and Chimabalanga, who identifies as a woman, were jailed last December after holding an engagement ceremony in the city of Blantyre.

While being detained, the couple was subjected to psychiatric evaluations and medical examinations to find evidence of sodomy, according to Human Rights Watch. They were also reportedly beaten and subject to booing and jeering during their trial.

In May, Chief Resident Magistrate Nyakwawa Uisiwausiwa gave them the maximum sentence 14 years of hard labor because he wanted to "stop Malawian sons and daughters from copying the same-sex marriages which are un-Malawian and not in our culture and religious beliefs."

The ruling was widely condemned by the international community who called the decision an "outrage" and a breach of international laws.

Two weeks later, the couple was pardoned by Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika shortly after he met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who praised the Malawi leader's courage.

Despite the pardon, Amnesty International expressed concerned that Monjeza and Chimbalanga would be "subject to future arrest and harassment under the same laws if they continue their relationship," and called for the country's laws to be changed.

"Malawi must live up to its obligations under international human rights law," said Michelle Kagari, deputy director of Amnesty International's Africa program. "The authorities are legally bound by these treaties to respect and protect freedom of conscience, expression and the right to privacy, without discrimination on the grounds of real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity."
Tiwonge Chimbalanga (right) and Steven Monjeza were pardoned by Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika after having been sentenced to a maximum 14 years in prison for unnatural acts and gross indecency under Malawi's anti-gay legislation. (Photo: GLAAD)

Malawi President Bingu wa Mutharika has pardoned a homosexual couple who two weeks earlier were sentenced to 14 years of hard labor for "unnatural acts and gross indecency."

Steven Monjeza, 26, and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, 20, were arrested last December after holding an engagement service together.

In May, the couple was found guilty of violating Malawi's anti-gay laws and were given the maximum penalty of 14 years of hard labor  a sentence that sparked outrage from the international community.

On Saturday, Monjeza and Chimbalanga were pardoned and released without conditions shortly after a meeting between Mutharika and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who praised the Malawi leader's courage.

Ban also urged Mutharika to amend the country's "outdated" laws on homosexuality, which were reportedly drafted during colonial times.

The U.N.'s remarks were echoed by the White House, who urged Malawi to end "the persecution and criminalisation of sexual orientation and gender identity."
(Photo: REUTERS / Ed Cropley)A Malawian hawker sells food outside a Chinese owned shop in Salima, a dusty town of 40,000 people near the shores of Lake Malawi, August 21, 2012. Malawians bill their country as the 'Warm Heart of Africa' and have a reputation for being friendly and easy-going. But merchants in a clothes market in Salima feel less than welcoming to the Chinese traders who have moved in over the past four years. Echoing a grievance heard across the continent, traders complain of Chinese businessmen with far better access to cheap imports of clothes, shoes and electronics from home, and deeper pockets that allow them to swallow lower margins. That sentiment is part of a grass-roots reaction to Beijing's creeping diplomatic and commercial clout in Africa.

Church communicators in Malawi are exploring how to use new media to build unity in the landlocked southern African nation.

Malawi's bishops' communication department hosted a meeting of communications secretaries from the eight dioceses of the nation in which Scottish doctor and missionary David Livingstone once worked. It is one of the world's least developed nations.

They met with Catholic journalists in a media symposium at Msamba Catholic Center in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, between January 12 and 15.

Prince Henderson, communication officer of the bishops conference, said the gathering sought to plot a path in enabling the Church "to embrace new forms of communication for evangelism."

"The workshop stressed increasing the visibility of Catholic communicators and to enhance coordination of Catholic diocesan secretaries and lay Catholic journalists, among others," Henderson told CNA.

In a telecast message, Bishop Martin Mtumbuka of Karonga encouraged the participants to promote the new evangelization.

He urged them to maintain unity and collaboration among Catholic journalists, while promoting vigorously the Church and embracing digital communications.

Father Andrew Kaufa, secretary of the bishops' social communications and organizer of the conference, solicited the members to "deliberate on how to help the Church encourage youths to embrace new forms of evangelization."

Kaufa praised communicators in the African region and urged the members to find ways to make themselves visible in regional and international meetings.

GOOD COMMUNICATIONS BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER

Father Emmanuel Chimombo, acting secretary general for the Episcopal Conference of Malawi, emphasized to the participants in his opening speech that "good communication could be a recipe for bringing people of diverse backgrounds together and growing unity."

"Good communication helps us grow closer, to know one another better, and ultimately grow in unity," said Chimombo. "Media can help us greatly in this, especially now when the networks of human communication have made unprecedented advances."

Chimombo noted that social media is a speedy and cheap way of exchanging information and sharing ideas, contributing to making the world a global village.

However, he also advised participants to be vigilant regarding the shortcomings of social media.

"Media may be used to disseminate inauthentic information, and ideas whose effects may be toxic to the Gospel and other values, such as truth telling," said Chimombo.

He invited journalists to be catalysts and to proactively "act as missionary disciples who can transform the world."

He suggested countering it with positive news for promoting unity in faith in the communities.

The diocesan communication secretaries sharing their vision for strengthening and mobilizing Catholic communications, underlining the need for partnership and networking among media in the region.

The workshop examined the challenges facing Catholic media in the region, including scarce financial and material resources and a lack of trained personnel.

Fr Chrisantus Ndaga, coordinator of the Association of Member Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa, pointed out that bishops, priests and religious are among the most illiterate in information communication technology in the region.

He recommended the "need to embrace ICT" and called its usage "a vital key to evangelisation."

Ndaga said communication is needed to take play a central role in the work of the digital age so that the Church could move at the same pace as the world, saying it was the responsibility of every member of the Church to defend her teachings and values.

Malawi is a nation of 16.4 million people in southern Africa, bordered by Lake Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, and Mozambique with an a per capita GDP of less than $860 annually, substantially dependent on agriculture.

Some 80 percent of the population are Christian (20 percent Catholic), and around 15 percent are Muslim.
(Photo:  Peter Kenny / Ecumenical News)African Christian Health Associations Platform chairperson Karen Sichinga from Zambia addresses a meeting looking at the role of church and faith based organizations in providing health services held at the Ecumenical Center in Geneva Switzerland on May 25, 2016.

The World Health Assembly has adopted the World Health Organization Framework of Engagement with Non-State Actors, after more than two years of intergovernmental negotiations.

It was announced on May 28, the final day of the WHA, which involved a variety of church and faith-based organizations among the many non-state actors during its week of meetings in Geneva as it grappled with the new arrangement.

"The framework on engagement with non-state actors was arguably the most difficult item to negotiate," WHO director general, Dr. Margaret Chan said in her closing remarks after grappling with corporate interests and NGOs arguing their cases.

NGOs and faith-based organizations are uncertain if this will increase the voice they have in the world health body, but international organizations are certain that the role of faith groups is vital in global health.

Members of the United Nations, international groups and non-governmental organizations came together at a panel discussion entitled "Global Public Health: The future role of faith-based organizations" held on 25 May in the Ecumenical Centre at the World Council of Churches.

WCC general secretary, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, said, "It is not a discussion of whether faith-based organizations belong to big discourse, but is one of how shall we do it, and how shall we do it in a decent way."

He said that FBOs, the acronym used to refer to religious groups in health, made up of the likes of Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Muslims and others had met at the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul the week before.

Tveit said in seeking a holistic solution to medical health, use can be made of the "commitment, capacity and networks" along with the "real faith, faith in God and faith in the gifts God has given to the church to participate" in the "healing of the world and bringing just communities together."

Representatives of UN groups and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said it was easier to deal with representative groups such as the WCC and ACHAP (African Christian Health Associations Platform) whose chairperson, Karen Sichinga from Zambia, spoke.

"It is clear that therefore our national governments cannot work alone. They will require strong partnerships and from non-state actors such as Christian health associations," said Sichinga noting, "it is estimated that 20 to 60 percent of health care in sub-Saharan Africa is provided by FBOs mainly from the Christian faith."

Sichinga said, "Governments need to transform the way they operate and need to be more cognizant of the role of our association or FBOs. FBOs' unique role has to be strengthened by national governments and by our international community.

"We have been relied upon by our national government to deliver services at low cost, high efficiency and reduced bureaucracy. We bring to the table value for money serving poor and vulnerable communities for more than 100 years."

Dr. Sam Mwenda, general secretary of the Christian Health Association of Kenya (CHAK) and vice chair of ACHAP said, "FBOs' engagement with health is a long-term commitment. Even in times of conflict in our nations we continue being there working through our extensive networks.

"We provide a wide range of health services and with compassion to those who are really disadvantaged. We have a lot of investment in infrastructure at parish, national and global levels."

Mwenda said Christian health associations embrace partnerships and in Kenya they are training doctors and nurse and are responsible for about 40 percent of medical services in the country.

The panel moderator, Dr. Manoj Kurian coordinator of the WCC's Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, noted that the transition from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has shown an unfinished agenda in global public health.

The meeting looked at transforming from the era of the MDGs to the UN's SDGs for 2030 in which medical services are clearly mapped.

Dr. Christoph Benn, director of external relations at the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria told the panel that faith communities play a fundamental role in addressing health challenges.

HOSPITAL ROOTS IN PEOPLE OF FAITH

"Many hospitals and clinics around the world can trace their roots to people of faith and are still managed by churches and other religious bodies," said Benn, noting that faith leaders and institutions have been fundamental in addressing stigma and educating communities about health.

Dr. Cherian Varghese,coordinator for the management of Non Communicable Diseases for the WHO from India explained that civil society along with FBOs are powerful in the medical health services sector.

"At the national level FBOs can be role models helping churches to promote good health in their work as providers of health care and with their community participation can influence health literacy," said Varghese.

"In the international context, the WCC is engaged in global advocacy for highlighting health needs as it participates in global dialogue and policy making."

Dr Mwai Makoka, executive director of the Christian Health Association of Malawi said that church health groups represent a structure complementary to governments for service delivery.

"They have the same goals but different mandates. The one is constitutional while the other is biblical," said Makoka.

He noted that medical institutions run by FBOs "are resilient, especially where governments are weak or nonexistent, and in emergencies and epidemics," while citing the combatting of HIV and AIDS and Ebola.

Theresa Nyamupachitu, a senior program advisor with IMA World Health in Kenya spoke about her US-based international NGO founded in 1960 by six Protestant mission organizations with a vision of health, healing and well-being for all.

"FBOs play a significant role in health service delivery  with geographic coverage, infrastructure, different services and with their community network" and are they are "first responders in emergencies such as in the Christian Health Association of Liberia," in the fight against Ebola

Dr Bimal Charles, general secretary of the Christian Medical Association of India (CMAI) explained how this group punches above its weight in many of the Indian states, serving not only minority Christians but all others in the country.

In Allied Health Science, the CMAI runs 25 Allied Health Professional (paramedical) courses through 57 training centers under the Central Education Board of CMAI and also supports many government health ventures in different aspects of health care.
(Photo:  Peter Kenny / Ecumenical News)World Council of Churches associate general secretary general Isabel Apawo Phiri in Jerusalem in February 2016 for a WCC meeting. She was deported from Israel after arriving at Tel Aviv airport for arriving for another WCC meeting Dec. 5, 2016.

The World Council of Churches has rejected as "false," accusations made by Israel after "an unprecedented move" against its leaders resulted in the interrogation and deportation by Israel of its associate general secretary Isabel Apawo Phiri.

The WCC said in a Dec. 6 statement that Israeli authorities detained, interrogated and deported Dr. Phiri, a national of Malawi and former South African university professor upon arrival in Tel Aviv the preceding day.

The WCC "deeply regrets the Israeli antagonism against the WCC's initiatives for peace with justice for both Palestinians and Israelis," said the council's general secretary Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit.

Phiri, a theologian, was travelling to attend consultations with church leaders in Jerusalem on the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, one of the many programs supported by the WCC globally.

The WCC said reason given for Phiri's deportation was "Prevention of illegal immigration considerations."

Phiri resides in Geneva, Switzerland, where she has served as associate general secretary with responsibility for Public Witness and Diakonia at the offices of the WCC since August 2012.

She was the only African member of a WCC staff delegation currently visiting Jerusalem.

All four other members were allowed entry. The WCC has instructed its legal representatives to lodge an appeal against this patently unjust and discriminatory action against Phiri immediately.

"The accusations made against the WCC and the EAPPI program in the interrogation of Dr. Phiri and published in the media today are completely false" said Tveit.

"I am very surprised and dismayed that the Israeli Ministry of Interior is apparently basing its decisions on incorrect and unreliable sources."

This is not the first time an African working for the WCC has been apprehended, interrogated and deported after arriving in Israel to take part in consultations.

In May a South African ecologist and a Swiss colleague were also deported after being accused of coming to work on the EAPPI program which involves accompanying Palestinians and Israeli, often at army checkpoints and offering them solidarity with their presence.

They were tying to enter Israel for a WCC meeting on another program.
Santa Fe, Texas

Is this inevitable?

It had been just 93 days since the last mass shooting at an American school when 10 peopleeight students and two teacherswere gunned down at Santa Fe High School.

The mass shooting on Feb. 14 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that killed 17 people had unleashed a torrent of rage and a remarkable youth-led movement to change gun laws. Lawmakers in nearly every state have been debating a range of policies to stop school shootings.

But on May 18, it happened again.

Santa Fe High, about 35 miles south of Houston, has two armed police officers patrolling a campus of 1,400 students. The staff is trained in emergency response, students practice lockdown and active-shooter drills, and the school district has been praised by Texas officials for its safety program.

Despite those security protocols, a 17-year-old junior walked into his own high school, carrying a shotgun and .38 pistol under a trench coat he was known to wear, and blasted away at classmates and teachers. Authorities say the schools police officersone of them seriously woundedconfronted the shooter, who surrendered after exchanging gunfire with police.

But 10 would be killed; 13 injured.

The massacre brings the death toll by gunfire at U.S. schools in the 2017-18 academic year to 35, according to Education Weeks school shooting tracker. Its the highest death toll in a single academic year from school shootings in recent decadesoutnumbering the years of the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings and the Columbine High School shootings, according to a Washington Post database. (In the latest shooting, on May 25, a teacher and 13-year-old girl were injured after a male student opened fire at a suburban Indianapolis middle school.)

Four days after the Santa Fe shooting, the memorials of white crosses had been erected on the schools lawn and students and community members had already held several vigils for the victims. Some Santa Fe High students said they doubt the shooting at their school will be the last.

Students Want a Voice

And they have strong opinions about what school leaders can do to protect them even as they try to make sense of why this all happened.

Metal detectors, said 18-year-old Bailey Schultz, would help. But stationing a police officer at every entrance could make school seem too much like a prison, she said. Her friend, Brooke Nelson, 18, said theres not a single solution and that the entire community should be able to contribute ideas on how to keep children safe at school.

There are mental-health issues, and its also not specifically a gun issue, Nelson said. I just want everyone to have a voice to say, This is what we want. This is what will make us feel safe. 

Dominique Rodriguez, 18, who was pulling into the schools driveway as the assault was underway, said parents must do more to spot signs of trouble in their children. The Santa Fe shooter had posted images on Facebook that should have been a red flag, she said.

My mom knows everything I am doing. She knows everything I post online, Rodriguez said. His parents should have been monitoring him online. If they were involved, it would have prevented this.

But she made clear that in a community where many people own firearms, people in other parts of the country shouldnt expect to see demands for tighter gun laws.

The majority of us around here are for guns, Rodriguez said. We still want to keep our guns, and protect ourselves.

Thats a starkly different reaction from that of many students, educators, and families in Parkland, Fla., where the demands for gun control came in the immediate aftermath of the mass shooting there.

Students and staff members at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were gunned down by a former student armed with an AR-15. Within a few hours, student survivors and the superintendent of the Broward County school district were on national television calling for tougher gun restrictions such as expanded background checks and bans on assault weapons, coupled with more money for mental-health services and other programs for troubled students.

Within days, hundreds of Florida students swarmed the state capitol clamoring for lawmakers to consider banning the sale of semi-automatic guns and large-capacity magazines. Within a month, several Parkland survivors had launched a gun-control movement that spurred national school walkouts and a wave of protest marches in Washington and other cities. And almost immediately, parents and students were asking tough questions about the police response to the shooting and whether the school district had ignored multiple warning signs from the accused shooter.

In Santa Fe, most survivors have turned inward, seeking solace from each other and from a deep Christian faith. Superintendent Leigh Wall focused largely on consoling and communicating with the Santa Fe community, bringing teachers and staff members to the districts main offices for counseling and emotional support. So far, questions of blame pointing at police or school officials have not arisen. However, the parents of one of the victims have sued the suspected shooters parents, accusing them of negligently allowing him access to weapons and failing to secure their firearms.

But a small group of Sante Fe students spoke out late last week in a news conference to say they want to see safer gun storage laws and improved background checks, including mental health evaluations before people can purchase firearms. They stressed that they did not want to take away guns.

And family members of Jared Black, one of the students killed in the shooting, said in a statement on Facebook that they will not speak out against guns or schools administrators, and they will not cast blame.

Patrick Kelly, a Santa Fe school board member whose son is a senior at the high school, said local residents dont want a divisive political debate to unfold in their town while children are grieving.

Our kids understand that this wasnt a gun that did this, he said. This was a disturbed individual.

Since the shooting, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who is a strong supporter of gun rights, has held three days of meetings to discuss school safety and mass shootings with educators, legislators, parents, and survivors, including from Santa Fe. He has expressed a willingness to look at the states gun laws, including rules for safe storage and keeping firearms out of the hands of people who shouldnt have them. Authorities said the Santa Fe shooter used his fathers legally owned shotgun and pistol in the massacre.

Always a Risk

Santa Fe High School was already using several security practices that are often proposed in the wake of school shootings. The district had volunteered to participate in a state school marshal program that arms and trains some staff members, but hadnt yet started the process.

So what else could the district have done to protect teachers and students?

Thats a tough question to answer, said Arthur Robinson, a regional director for the Texas State Teachers Association, which represents a small number of Santa Fes teachers. We do have armed campus security and [school shootings are] still on the rise. Thats something thats going to take collaboration between schools, law enforcement, and even students.

But, he said, when we have problems like this, sometimes the best source is to go to the students themselves. You might be surprised at the ideas that some of the students might come up with. A lot of the bullying is done by students, a lot of shootings are done by students, maybe you should include them in the process of trying to find solutions for those problems.

Noel Candelaria, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said most teachers dont want to be armed, but they do want armed police officers on campus. More importantly, Candelaria said, teachers want districts to improve building security, hire more counselors and psychologists, and have a staff that is well-trained in spotting and addressing bullying. Families need more support from schools to help students who are struggling with social and mental health issues.

But, Candelaria insists that safety in schools cant be fully addressed without frank discussions about guns and who has access to them.

At the end of the day, it was guns that killed 10 people in Santa Fe, he said.

Having two mass school shootings in rapid succession adds fuel to an already intense and divisive political debate about safety, but could also complicate efforts to reach a broad consensus for how to stanch the bloodshed on school grounds.

Right now, many school administrators are trying to reassure parents by pointing to visible security measures, said Kenneth Trump, a school security expert who is not related to the president.

Were seeing people who are looking for something new, something that feels emotionally more secure, but they arent doing the fundamentals, Trump said, adding its impossible to eliminate all risk.

In recent years, discussions about school safety have become discussions about gun laws, Trump said.

Too often, efforts to prevent shootings are overshadowed by putting physical security measures into place, said Kristen Harper, the director of policy development at Child Trends, a Bethesda, Md., research organization.

After the 1999 shootings at Columbine, schools and policymakers focused on school climate efforts like addressing bullying and helping students resolve conflicts, in addition to improving security practices. Students are less likely to harm themselves or others if they arent socially isolated and if they have supportive connections with adults at school, Harper said.

But over the last decade or more, grants and programs created at the federal level to help schools do that kind of work have lapsed or been replaced. And since Parkland, discussions have focused heavily on hardening schools with physical security and armed teachers.

Discussions of deterring would-be shooters by arming more adults ignore the dynamics of school shootings, which are largely committed by current and former students targeting their own schools, Harper said.

Not Immune

While Santa Fe families prepared for funerals last week, a stream of mourners, including from surrounding communities, paid their respects to victims at the row of 10 white crosses at the high school.

Each cross bore a photo of a student or teacher killed. Miniature American flags fluttered at the base. Someone had left a white frisbee inscribed with the message: Thank you for being a hero, next to a mound of flowers and teddy bears dedicated to Christian Riley Garcia, who was 15. Garcia reportedly was shot while holding shut the door to the art room.

Many people wore dark green t-shirts with the words Texas Tough on a map of the state. Small circles of mourners prayed, sometimes with chaplains whod come to provide support.

It just breaks my heart, said Sarah Castaneda, a 2nd grade teacher at a private Christian school in nearby Alief.

We just need to look into the lives of these young people, she said. I think too many times parents are ignoring the signs, the depression, and the isolation, and chalk it up to, They are teens. Its normal. Theyll outgrow it. 

To Castaneda, whose school has only one entrance that requires every visitor to report to the principals office, the suggestion from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick that schools need to reduce the number of entrances and exits is a smart one, but its not enough.

But by no means do I think we are immune. ... I would never ever say that a private Christian school is immune, she said. It can happen anywhere, to anybody.

Autumn Helm, a cafeteria worker who was working at Santa Fes junior high school when the shooting happened, saw the panic of parents who came to retrieve their children and the fear in the faces and voices of students who hadnt yet learned the fate of siblings and friends.

Standing near the memorial last week, Helm said she was worried about her childrens safety and was now thinking about home-schooling them next year.

Its not safe, she said. I should not have to worry about sending my kids to school. While I go to work to support them, I should not be worried about whether my kid is going to be OK.

Santa Fe students are scheduled to return to school May 29, with only a few days left before the school year ends. Some say its too soon to go back; the school year should just end early. But Rodriguez, who is graduating, said ending the year early would prolong the healing process. Even as her friends say that their school and community will never be the same, Rodriguez said she doesnt want the tragedy to be their last high school memory.

Even before the shooting, the school year had been a difficult one. Hurricane Harvey flooded Santa Fe in September and a false alarm in late February sent the school into a lengthy lockdown in fear of an active shooter.

We prepared the whole year for tragedies like this happening, she said. We did our best to prevent them.
Vincent Sabot, VP Europe of Sigfox: "We have now expanded the global infrastructure so that companies can build their Sigfox systems, introduce new business models, and expect a rapid return on investment."

"This year Sigfox reaches the critical mass that allows users to implement their projects quickly and above all to realize a rapid return on investment," explains Vincent Sabot, Vice President Europe of Sigfox in an interview with Markt&Technik.

Markt&Technik: Why do companies use Sigfox?

Vincent Sabot: We now have a very nice example: Louis Vuitton wanted to give customers a way to track exactly where their luggage is at the airport. It is important for air travelers that this works across borders in all countries of the world. That is why Louis Vuitton was clear from the outset: "This is the minimum requirement, because if a customer has bad experiences because the tracking system does not work, then the company achieves the opposite of what it intends. So Louis Vuitton needed reliable data transmission and worldwide functionaltiy. Sigfox can do just that: We cover all regions of the world. Other LPWAN techniques cannot. Low energy consumption in combination with global networking without roaming charges is the decisive factor for us.

How large is the installed base of Sigfox currently?

We have recently reached 3 million devices on the network, no other technology can match this figure. Sigfox is the only global network; this year we will be represented in 60 countries. Worldwide, the Sigfox network now reaches 803 million people, 30 million more every month.

Can commercial projects now be realized?

Most importantly, because we already have a presence in 45 countries - 18 of which are fully covered by our network - global companies can now build systems that will pay for themselves quickly. Above all, we also have many industrial use cases.

Sigfox is represented in many countries of the world, but it costs a lot of money to build up the infrastructure. So Sigfox would have to keep picking up speed to make a profit?

That is what is happening. For 2018, we expect sales of EUR 70 million and 7 to 8 million objects in the network.

What exactly makes you so optimistic that you can achieve this?

As the example of Louis Vuitton shows, we have won customers in the B2C sector. Louis Vuitton has developed a Sigfox tracker as an accessory for the Horizon models 50, 55, and 70, which is clipped into a bag in the cases. This is an important step for us. Above all, however, we are pleased that we have already gained many partners in the industrial sector.

How many partners are there?

These include well-known large companies such as Airbus, Bosch, and Total, but also many medium-sized companies. Much has already happened in the field of electromobility.

Like what, for example?

Bosch, for example, uses Sigfox to locate electric scooters.

The automotive sector and mobility concepts are also likely to be an interesting market in other respects.

Yes, in any case, we will soon be publishing something very interesting on the subject of logistics in the automotive industry. And another example from the field of agriculture comes to my mind: Fliegl has developed a monitoring system that monitors whether trailers are properly coupled to the tractor and where they are located. The company has even won two prizes.

Can you give another example of how a typical mid-sized company uses the system?

One of the many examples that springs to mind is Bergische Achsen, a company that produces truck axles. It is a typical German medium-sized company that has built its smart logistics system on the basis of Sigfox and is now marketing this to other interested parties. This example also shows very well how the business model can be extended via Sigfox.

So a lot has happened in secret over the last few years?

Exactly. Especially in the industrial sector it takes quite a long time until a system based on Sigfox can be implemented. For Louis Vuitton, this took 18 months, which went very smoothly and relatively quickly. Bosch's localization system for the electric scouters also took 18 months to get there. But that also makes me quite sure that the forecasts for this year are not exaggerated. Many companies have already shown in their projects that the systems work and are now rolling out the devices.

Everyone is talking about China at the moment. Is Sigfox active there?

We started in China and will cover the 20 largest cities. India is also developing now.

On the technical level, NB-IoT is now on the rise. Could this cut the ground from under Sigfox's feet?

The techniques differ and are aimed at different applications. If a high bandwidth is required, as in some Smart City projects, then NB-IoT is suitable. The coverage is not so good for that. But not all telecommunications providers rely on NB-IoT. Some don't have it on offer like Orange. There are countries and regions that have no network. This would not have been an option for Louis Vuitton, for example. We offer the complete end-to-end service, guaranteeing that the data actually arrives. A telecommunications company doesn't do that.

So the systems would complement each other?

That is my view, and that is also the view of telecommunications companies such as Telefonica. Others like Deutsche Telekom are not yet convinced. I think we still have some convincing work to do here. But there are also some other telecommunications providers with whom we are in close contact.

You basically do not see yourself in competition with these providers?

We see ourselves as an IoT service provider that builds its own wireless network to connect even the simplest things. We want to enable companies to build exactly the system based on our technology that helps them solve their problems and penetrate new business areas. An important point here is that companies retain full control over their data; data sovereignty lies with them. Because there are not so many IoT cloud providers in Europe, we see ourselves in a very good position.

An essential point is the price users have to pay to be connected. How high is it right now?

That's hard to say, depending on the system it might be between 50 cents and 7 euros. However, we are also working hard to further reduce the prices for the modules. In cooperation with the Technical University of Deggendorf, it will be possible to produce slimmed-down modules that can be used to network objects for 20 cents to 1 euro. Even disposable items, packaging, and envelopes could be networked in this way.

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Man due in court for breaching TT course closure

A man is due in court today after entering the TT course while it was closed for last night's practice session.

The 67-year-old from West Yorkshire is facing charges of obstructing or hindering the conduct of a race, failing to comply with a requirement of a marshal and being found on a road prohibited by a road closure.

The incident resulted in the start of practice being delayed.

Police warn those found disregarding the rules of closed roads will face robust action.
On the tenth anniversary of the United Kingdom Primary Immunodeficiency (UKPID) Registry, the publication of their Primary Immunodeficiency (PID) report offers the most comprehensive view to date of this small but significant group of UK patients

On the tenth anniversary of the United Kingdom Primary Immunodeficiency (UKPID) Registry, the publication of their Primary Immunodeficiency (PID) report offers the most comprehensive view to date of this small but significant group of UK patients. This report, published in Clinical & Experimental Immunology, provides valuable information on PID in the UK, especially regarding delays to diagnosis. The longer it takes for a patient to be diagnosed, the less well the patient may do in the long-term, so this information is key in helping patients in the future.

Primary immunodeficiencies are rare diseases, affecting approx. one in 16,000 to one in 50,000 people. The small numbers of patients cared for by any one centre provides challenges to effective diagnosis and patient care. UKPID have overcome these barriers by coordinating a National PID Registry which encourages collaboration and provides valuable information to doctors, researchers and health policy makers. Doctors continually strive to diagnose patients as early as possible, and to offer the best treatment options, and this data will help them achieve this.

The report was produced with input from 29 Immunology Institutes in the UK, and led by Dr Ben Shillitoe from Newcastle's Institute of Cellular Medicine and Dr Matthew Buckland from University College London's Centre for Immunodeficiency. They analysed all ten years of registry data including information on how common the diseases were, how often they were diagnosed, age of onset, diagnostic delay and what treatments patients received.

The UKPID registry recruited 4,758 patients, encompassing 97% of immunology centres within the UK. This represents a doubling of recruitment compared with the first report in 2013, with data now available for the majority of PID patients.

The registry underlies the importance of early diagnosis to future patient health. Patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) wait on average 60 days for a diagnosis, whereas patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) waiting for 4 years on average for a diagnosis. Nearly a quarter of patients presented with symptoms other than recurrent infections, for example low blood count, inflammatory bowel disease and malignancy. Increased awareness of these facts should hopefully result in reductions in diagnostic delay for future patients. Better recognition of PID and increased awareness of its genetic basis have led to a significant increase in the numbers of patients being diagnosed, with nearly 300 genes identified. Newborn siblings of affected patients are now screened for PID and this will also likely help reduce diagnostic delays. Screening for SCID on the newborn blood spot is due to start in the UK in 2018 under a pilot programme, which may offer significant long-term improvements for SCID patients.

New treatments are resulting in better outcomes for PID patients. Although the number of patients using these treatments is currently small, the registry data on these will provide essential information for doctors in planning the best future strategies for patients. For now, immunoglobulin therapy remains the mainstay of treatment in PID. The data show 59% of patients receive immunoglobulin at home rather than travel to the hospital. This highlights patient preference for receiving treatment at home and should continue to be actively offered to all patients wherever possible.

Author Dr Matthew Buckland from University College London said: "Primary immunodeficiencies are rare diseases that affect only a small number of patients in the UK. The establishment of the UKPID registry has meant that we are now able to collect data on a sufficient number of patients to enable us to address key epidemiological and therapeutic issues for these diseases. This new report shows that the UKPID registry now covers 97% of immunology centres in the UK and is starting to provide us with detailed insight into patient experience and outcomes. We now hope to continue to work with the data to improve care for people with primary immunodeficiencies."

In the future, the registry will collect even more detailed information, covering topics such as how patients' lives are affected by their conditions and in-depth reporting on new treatments. This extra detail will further help the assessment of diagnosis, treatment and outcomes with the aim ultimately to improve patient care, allowing people with primary immunodeficiency to lead longer healthier lives.

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BINGHAMTON, N.Y. - A research team led by faculty at Binghamton University, State University at New York plans to improve wireless sensor networks with a relatively new type of technology that harnesses energy from the biological photosynthetic process.

Binghamton University Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Seokheun "Sean" Choi was recently awarded a $510k grant from the Office of Naval Research for his project titled "Supercapacitive micro-bio-photovoltaics for sustainable wireless sensor networks." The project will attempt to create a micro-device that uses what is called bio-photovoltaic (BPV) technology to act as a supercapacitator capable of improving wireless sensing and communication.

Bio-photovoltaic technology stems from the idea that instead of using something like solar panels, scientists could use a cyanobacterial photosynthesis process to harness the sun's energy and convert that into usable electricity.

This novel idea could be the future of sustainable technology, and Choi's proposed plan will add to the fundamental understanding of how to harness this energy.

Once energy is harnessed via the micro-device, Choi plans to use the device as a supercapacitor this will make wireless sensor networks (WSNs) sustainable.

WSNs, also known as dust networks, consist of wireless sensors that monitor environmental conditions and base stations that collect and relay that information as needed. These networks can monitor everything from the temperature to the noise levels outside. Currently, WSNs are used to monitor temperatures in the Arctic, track vehicles, observe livestock and more.

"I hope this project will give us WSNs that are self-sustaining and serve as a way to improve the efficiency and performance levels of these networks," said Choi. "I'm also excited for what this study could mean for BPV technology in the future."

The project will provide a way to understand more about what is involved in the design of a micro-BPV device. This could lead to more researchers being able to apply BPV technology to create sustainable, innovative solutions to our energy needs.

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FRANKFURT. Even after the direct measurement of their gravitational waves, there are still mysteries surrounding black holes. What happens when two black holes merge, or when stars collide with a black hole? This has now been simulated by researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt and the Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies (FIAS) using a novel numerical method. The simulation code "ExaHyPE" is designed in such a way that it will be able to calculate gravitational waves on the future generation of "exascale" supercomputers.

The challenge in simulating black holes lies in the necessity of solving the complex Einstein system of equations. This can only be done numerically and exploiting the power oi parallel supercomputers. How accurately and how quickly a solution can be approximated depends on the algorithm used. In this case, the team headed by Professor Luciano Rezzolla from the Institute of Theoretical Physics at the Goethe University and the FIAS achieved a milestone. Over the long term, this theoretical work could expand the experimental possibilities for detecting gravitational waves from other astronomical bodies besides black holes.

The novel numerical method, which employs the ideas of the Russian physicist Galerkin, allows the computation of gravitational waves on supercomputers with very high accuracy and speed. "Reaching this result, which has been the goal of many groups worldwide for many years, was not easy," says Prof. Rezzolla. "Although what we accomplished is only a small step toward modelling realistic black holes, we expect our approach to become the paradigm of all future calculations."

Exascale Computers - as fast as the human brain?

Rezzollas team is part of a Europe-wide collaboration with the objective of developing a numerical simulation code for gravitational waves, "ExaHyPE", that can exploit the power of "exascale" supercomputers. While they have not yet been built, scientists around the world are already studying how to make use of exascale machines. These supercomputers represent the future evolution of today's "petascale" supercomputers, and are expected to be able to perform as many arithmetic operations per second as there are insects on Earth. This is a number with 18 zeros and it is assumed that such supercomputers will be comparable to the capacity of the human brain.

While they are waiting for the first "exascale" computers to be built, the ExaHyPE scientists are already testing their software at the largest supercomputing centres available in Germany. The biggest ones are those at the Leibniz supercomputing centre LRZ in Munich, and the high-performance computing centre HLRS in Stuttgart. These computers are already constructed with more than 100,000 processors and will become much larger soon.

Simulating tsunamis and earthquakes

Because of the analogies in the underlying equations, the new mathematical algorithms allow the investigation of tsunamis and earthquakes in addition to astrophysical compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars. Developing the new computer algorithms, which will be able to mathematically describe solids, liquids and gases within the theories of electromagnetism and gravitation, is the goal of the research project funded by the European Commission through the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. The Frankfurt-based scientists work closely together with colleagues from Munich (Germany), Trento (Italy) and Durham (Great Britain).

"The most exciting aspect of the ExaHyPE project is the unique combination of theoretical physics, applied mathematics and computer science," says Professor Michael Dumbser, leader of the Applied Mathematics team in Trento. "Only the combination of these three different disciplines allows us to exploit the potential of supercomputers for understanding the complexity of the universe."

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Publication: Michael Dumbser, Federico Guercilena, Sven Koppel, Luciano Rezzolla, und Olindo Zanotti: Conformal and covariant Z4 formulation of the Einstein equations: Strongly hyperbolic first-order reduction and solution with discontinuous Galerkin schemes. Phys. Rev. D 97, 084053 - Published 30 April 2018 https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.97.084053

Further information: Prof. Dr. Luciano Rezzolla, Frankfurt Institute for Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics, and Frankfurt Institute for Advanced Studies, Riedberg Campus, Tel. +49 (0) 69 798-47871, rezzolla@fias.uni-frankfurt.de.

ExaHyPE Project: http://exahype.eu/

This research was funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the project ExaHyPE, grant no. 671698 (call FETHPC-1-2014).

Current news about science, teaching, and society in GOETHE-UNI online

Goethe University is a research-oriented university in the European financial centre Frankfurt The university was founded in 1914 through private funding, primarily from Jewish sponsors, and has since produced pioneering achievements in the areas of social sciences, sociology and economics, medicine, quantum physics, brain research, and labour law. It gained a unique level of autonomy on 1 January 2008 by returning to its historic roots as a "foundation university". Today, it is among the top ten in external funding and among the top three largest universities in Germany, with three clusters of excellence in medicine, life sciences and the humanities. Together with the Technical University of Darmstadt and the University of Mainz, it acts as a partner of the inter-state strategic Rhine-Main University Alliance. Internet: http://www.uni-frankfurt.de

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A team at the George Washington University discussed the need to optimize patient safety, while improving surgeon performance

WASHINGTON (May 29, 2018) -- When faced with the possibility of having to undergo gynecologic surgery, women rely on the guidance of their OBGYN providers to provide the best recommendations. More than 500,000 women undergo hysterectomy each year, in addition to those who have other gynecologic surgeries. However, many gynecologic surgeons do not regularly practice the most up-to-date minimally invasive surgery.

Experts at the George Washington University (GW), led by Gaby Moawad, MD, assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences, outlined some of the concerns and proposed solutions for choosing a surgeon in an article recently published in the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology.

The article identifies the difference between high volume surgeons (HVS), who meet volume thresholds, and low volume surgeons (LVS), who do not. The authors look at a database study that found that a disproportionate number of high complexity cases were being managed by LVS, even in areas where HVS are readily accessible.

"Women interact with their OBGYNs more frequently and for a longer span than most other doctor-patient pairings," said Moawad. "They should feel comfortable knowing that they will receive the best care possible whether they are undergoing surgery for hysterectomy or gynecologic cancer."

Programs have been introduced in the past to address the volume issue, but were ultimately unsuccessful across the board. The authors recommend continued education to help LVS improve their volume status, while allowing patients to see HVS for their surgical needs to ensure lower risk for complications. Moawad also proposes that the best way to help female patients in their decision making process by creating a standard, uniform, and unbiased way of reporting patient outcomes.

"The question now is 'How do we optimize patient safety and not jeopardize the practices of low volume surgeons?'" Moawad said. "Bettering the decision making for female patients matters for women and it also matters for the medical profession as a whole."

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The article, titled "Ethical Considerations Arising from Surgeon Caseload Volume in Benign Gynecologic Surgery," published in the Journal of Minimally Invasive Gynecology is available at https://www.jmig.org/article/S1553-4650(18)30162-6/abstract.

Media: To interview Dr. Moawad, please contact Ashley Rizzardo at amrizz713@gwu.edu or 202-994-8679.

About the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences:

Founded in 1824, the GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences (SMHS) was the first medical school in the nation's capital and is the 11th oldest in the country. Working together in our nation's capital, with integrity and resolve, the GW SMHS is committed to improving the health and well-being of our local, national and global communities. smhs.gwu.edu
With palm oil production exploding around the world, a new study of a leading producer has found ways to make the process easier on the environment.

PhD candidate Lain Pardo, from James Cook University in Australia, studied the industry in Colombia - a country described as being on the 'tip of the spear' in terms of burgeoning palm oil production.

The researchers used a new camera trapping technique across 2,000 square kilometres of the country's most important palm oil production region and found that while palm oil plantations are not suitable for most mammals to live in, the situation could be improved.

"We found that the number and diversity of species differed significantly between oil palm plantations and their neighboring forests, with the number of species inside oil palm plantations 47% lower, on average, than in the forest," said Mr Pardo.

He said that within the plantations, the number of different species declined as the number of cattle in the plantation rose, but species numbers were helped by the presence of dense undergrowth vegetation and proximity to forest.

These factors, and canopy cover, were also linked to an improvement in mammal diversity within palm oil sites.

The scientists looked at a savannah woodland system where much of the land was already in commercial use before being converted to palm oil.

Mr Pardo said unlike Southeast Asia, most of the land in Colombia converted for use as oil palm plantations had previously been pasture, not forest, and palm oil was not the primary driver of deforestation. But he said even when planted on savannah, oil palm plantations may have a devastating impact on wildlife.

"So, it's still important to know what is going on ecologically in these areas. The Colombian government says land used to grow oil palms will double to about one million hectares by the year 2020. If unplanned, this expansion could result in a disruption of the ecosystem."

Mr Pardo said the scientists recommended oil palm growers promote undergrowth vegetation and avoid cattle presence inside plantations, along with respecting designated buffer areas that allow for the conservation and restoration of riparian forests.

"The forests are the most important factor. Even secondary riparian forest makes an important contribution to sustaining wildlife across oil palm dominated landscapes in Colombia."

He said the scientists understood that oil palm development provides social benefits in Colombia.

"Development in some areas is being partly driven by government incentives and corporate investments, and also in response to the end of a prolonged armed conflict, which has allowed access to previously inaccessible areas. So it's vital to engage relevant stakeholders to balance socioeconomic and environmental goals. If Colombia follows our guidelines it has a great opportunity to produce palm oil in a more sustainable way, compared to Malaysia and Indonesia."

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Bottom Line: Vitamin D supplementation in pregnancy and for infants and children is the focus of two studies, an editorial and a patient page.

Why The Research Is Interesting: Vitamin D is essential for building and maintaining healthy bones and research suggests it may have other potential health benefits.

What: A randomized clinical trial of 975 healthy infants in Finland reports no difference in bone strength or incidence of infections at age 24 months when infants were given a higher daily dose of supplemental vitamin D (1,200 IU) compared with the standard dose (400 IU).

Authors: Sture Andersson, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Finland, and coauthors

Want to embed a link to this study in your story? Links will be live at the embargo time http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0602

(doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0602)

What: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 24 randomized clinical trials examined vitamin D supplementation during pregnancy on several infant outcomes including small for gestational age, fetal or neonatal death, and congenital abnormality.

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Authors: Shu Qin Wie, M.D., Ph.D., of University of Montreal, Canada, and coauthors

Want to embed a link to this study in your story? Links will be live at the embargo time http://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0302

(doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2018.0302)

Related Material: The editorial, "Prenatal Vitamin D Supplementation to Improve Health in Offspring," by Hans Bisgaard, M.D., D.M.Sc., of the Herlev and Gentofte Hospital, Gentofte, Denmark, the JAMA Pediatrics Patient Page, "Vitamin D and Your Child," and a podcast also are available on the For The Media website.

To Learn More: The full studies are available on the For The Media website.

Editor's Note: Please see the articles for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
New Rochelle, NY, May 28, 2018--Diabetes in pregnant women can have serious health consequences for both mother and baby, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has identified four target areas in which increased surveillance, screening, and preventive care can improve maternal and infant health. CDC researchers provide an up-to-date review of the science related to diabetes during pregnancy and describe the activities they have implemented at different stages of pregnancy, from preconception to postpartum care, in an article published in Journal of Women's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Women's Health website.

Coauthors Shin Kim, MPH, Nicholas Deputy, PhD, MPH, and Cheryl Robbins, PhD, MS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA discuss the risks associated with preexisting and gestational diabetes and highlight four main preventive activities in the article entitled "Diabetes During Pregnancy: Surveillance, Preconception Care, and Postpartum Care." These include improved surveillance of pregnant women for diabetes, preconception care for women with preexisting diabetes, postpartum screening for women with gestational diabetes, and programs designed to prevent the progression of gestational diabetes to type 2 diabetes post-pregnancy.

"A greater awareness of the risks of diabetes during and after pregnancy and more widespread efforts to identify pregnant women with preexisting or gestational diabetes may help mitigate some of the risks, particularly through improved glucose control and the opportunity to introduce screening and lifestyle interventions as part of postpartum care," says Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Women's Health, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health.

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About the Journal

Journal of Women's Health, published monthly, is a core multidisciplinary journal dedicated to the diseases and conditions that hold greater risk for or are more prevalent among women, as well as diseases that present differently in women. Led by Editor-in-Chief Susan G. Kornstein, MD, Executive Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Institute for Women's Health, Richmond, VA, and President of the Academy of Women's Health, the Journal covers the latest advances and clinical applications of new diagnostic procedures and therapeutic protocols for the prevention and management of women's healthcare issues. Complete tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Women's Health website. Journal of Women's Health is the official journal of the Academy of Women's Health and the Society for Women's Health Research.

About the Academy

Academy of Women's Health is an interdisciplinary, international association of physicians, nurses, and other health professionals who work across the broad field of women's health, providing its members with up-to-date advances and options in clinical care that will enable the best outcomes for their women patients. The Academy's focus includes the dissemination of translational research and evidence-based practices for disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of women across the lifespan.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including LGBT Health, Transgender Health, Population Health Management, and Breastfeeding Medicine. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. 140 Huguenot Street, New Rochelle, NY 10801 http://www.liebertpub.com

Phone: (914) 740-2100 (800) M-LIEBERT Fax (914) 740-2101
AUGUSTA, Ga. (May 29, 2018) - Under the increased pressure of glaucoma, scientists want to help the neurons in our eyes better protect themselves and get better help from their friends.

They are working to see whether agents that activate the innate neuron protector sigma 1 receptor, or S1R, can do both.

Current glaucoma therapies work to reduce pressure in the eye by increasing outflow and/or reducing fluid production.

Dr. Kathryn Bollinger, ophthalmologist, glaucoma specialist and retinal cell biologist, has evidence that a good additional strategy would be directly enhancing protection of neurons in our eyes, called retinal ganglion cells, hopefully by directly activating S1R.

"We may be able to protect the retinal ganglion cells more long term," says Bollinger, a faculty member in the Department of Ophthalmology at the Medical College of Georgia and James and Jean Culver Vision Discovery Institute at Augusta University and recent recipient of a $1.5 million grant from the National Eye Institute.

S1R stimulation has been shown to protect retinal ganglion cells in other disease models, but hers appears to be the first work in glaucoma, Bollinger says of the protein that is expressed in both neurons and their astrocytes throughout our visual system. Her work over the past year, funded by a mid-career physician scientist grant from the American Glaucoma Society, has focused on the impact of activating S1R in the astrocytes.

The new grant is enabling her to also look at whether activating S1R, with existing drugs already used in patients for other reasons, also enables neurons to better protect themselves.

The high pressure glaucoma produces inside the eye seems to transform astrocytes, a type of brain cell that provides nutrition and other support to the neurons, into a nemesis that instead releases toxically high levels of things like nitric oxide and reactive oxygen species.

In a rat model of glaucoma, Bollinger's team is further exploring the impact of activating S1R with known agonists like the pain reliever pentazocine and commonly used antidepressants called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. They are looking at their impact on neuron survival and function and the level of support from protective proteins like brain-derived neurotrophic factor, which aids neuron survival as well as new neuron growth.

One question Bollinger and her team want to answer is how/if these drugs can protect and/or rescue neurons in the face of glaucoma.

They are looking again, in culture and their animal model, at what they suspect is S1R's role in mediating the reactivity of astrocytes. Astrocytes' increased reactivity, in turn, appears to prompt release of neurotoxic substances like the high levels of nitric oxide, which further raises pressure and reactivity.

But when scientists treat the usually supportive cells with S1R agonists in a dish, the cells back off their bad behavior and appear more willing to release good things like brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Bollinger notes that some astrocyte changes in response to pressure may actually be helpful to neurons while others are deleterious, which is something else she wants to understand.

"As we kind of piece together the specific consequences of astrocyte activation, we might be able to better manipulate astrocytes so they will again just protect neurons instead of damage neurons," Bollinger says. "That is our hope."

Her team already has good evidence that changes in astrocyte behavior occur rather quickly in response to increased pressure in the tight confines of the eyeball.

Now they also are looking at whether activating S1R increases the neurons' own response to negatives like oxidative stress.

"We still don't have those answers," Bollinger says. But they have seen neurons in a dish without their astrocytes garner stress protection from S1R agonists.

"We know that S1R agonists protect retinal ganglion cells in culture. If we can understand exactly how this occurs then potentially we could come up with a more effective target for treatment," Bollinger says.

While she hopes activating S1R works both ways to protect neurons, the bottom line that matters is that it works, Bollinger says.

Bollinger's team has no evidence that SIR activity is decreased by glaucoma, rather she suspects the need for SIR increases with this condition.

While patients with glaucoma may experience some level of decreased vision, a minority will experience blindness, and there is no way to predict who those patients are and no additional means to intervene.

"Given our aging population and the fact that glaucoma is prevalent, we do see blindness secondary to glaucoma," Bollinger says. Conversely, some patients may never experience any vision loss.

For the studies, the S1R agonists are injected into the abdominal cavity, but a topical application could be developed if the findings continue to hold, she adds.

Glaucoma is the second leading cause of blindness, and lost vision cannot currently be regained, according to the Glaucoma Research Foundation. Although it tends to occur in older individuals, some babies are born with glaucoma and young adults, particularly African-Americans, can have it as well.

In glaucoma, the pressure likely builds from unhealthy changes in the drainage tracts in the front of the eye that can come with aging, like reduced flexibility and increased scarring of that delicate tissue.

Lab animals with S1R deleted have slowly progressing, age- associated death of neurons in the eye similar to what happens in glaucoma.

Their efforts to rejuvenate and regenerate neurons in the eye are likely relevant as well to neurons in the brain and peripheral nervous system, Bollinger says. For example, S1R recently has been shown to have a role in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease, which affects the nerve cells that control muscles. S1R agonists have been shown to be beneficial as well in animal models of this condition, she says.

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DOWNLOADS: Click to download a high-resolution photo of Dr. Kathryn Bollinger https://augustauniversity.box.com/s/1ub9tzmpmzau00z1qzfdq8cmfq3mwpli .
On Tuesday, May 29, 2018, the National Hurricane Center issued the last public advisory on Alberto. NASA and NOAA satellites continued to provide imagery that showed the extent and strength of the storm in the southern U.S. Alberto has weakened to a subtropical depression. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an infrared image of Subtropical Depression Alberto on May 29 at 4:15 a.m. EDT (0815 UTC) showed strongest storms in three areas circling Alberto's low-level center. The most powerful thunderstorms had cloud top temperatures as cold as or colder than minus 63 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 53 degrees Celsius). Storms with cloud top temperatures that cold have the capability to produce heavy rainfall. That heavy rainfall is a concern and is part of the warning from the National Hurricane Center (NHC).

NHC forecasters said that Alberto is expected to produce 2 to 6 inches of rain from Alabama northward into the southern Great Lakes and from north Florida into the southern Appalachians through Thursday. Isolated maximum storm totals of 12 inches are possible over the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. These rains may produce flooding and flash flooding.

NOAA's GOES-East satellite provided an early morning visible picture of Alberto moving into the Tennessee Valley. The imagery showed that the center was over Alabama and powerful thunderstorms circled the center extending into eastern Mississippi. Western Mississippi was clear of clouds from Alberto in an image taken on May 29 at 8 a.m. EDT (1200 UTC). The bulk of Alberto's clouds and storms stretched from the northern to eastern and southern quadrants, blanketing Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee and Kentucky.

The NHC noted at 5 a.m. EDT (0900 UTC) on May 29, the center of Subtropical Depression Alberto was located near latitude 32.3 degrees north and longitude 86.8 degrees west. That's just 30 miles (45 km) west of Montgomery, Alabama. The depression was moving toward the north-northwest near 13 mph (20 kph). Maximum sustained winds were near 30 mph (45 kph) and continued weakening is forecast as Alberto moves farther inland. The estimated minimum central pressure is 995 millibars.

The National Weather Service Weather Prediction Center noted on Tuesday, May 29, 2018, "Alberto weakened to a subtropical depression on Mon. night. However, heavy rainfall from Alberto will spread into northern Georgia, the western Carolinas, and Tennessee on Tuesday, increasing the threat of flash flooding in those areas. Flash Flood Watches are in effect for a large swath of the South, and even as far north as the Ohio River Valley and central Appalachians."

The system is expected to degenerate into a remnant low by Tuesday evening.

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For updated forecasts on Alberto, visit: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov
The odds of an infant dying before their first birthday are higher in counties with greater proportions of conservative Protestants, especially fundamentalists, than in counties with more mainline Protestants and Catholics, according to a new Portland State University study.

The study, published online in May in the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, supports the idea that the more insular, anti-institutional culture of fundamentalists can lead to poorer health outcomes.

Ginny Garcia-Alexander, a sociology professor in PSU's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the study's lead author, examined the influence of religion on postneonatal infant mortality rates, or the number of deaths from four weeks through the first year, using data from 1990 through 2010.

Garcia-Alexander said a leading cause of infant death in the first 28 days is birth defects, which can be heavily influenced by advances in medical knowledge and technology. By contrast, deaths in the next 11 months of life are more often linked to external factors such as poverty, lack of insurance, social support networks and religion.

Garcia-Alexander said the findings mirror trends seen in adult mortality rates, where areas with more mainline Protestants and Catholics had better health outcomes than areas with more conservative Protestants.

The study's findings build on previous research that says that Catholicism and mainline Protestantism are civically minded, externally oriented faiths that emphasize community-level care. For example, church-affiliated hospitals and social-service providers such as Catholic Charities can bolster the health infrastructure of local communities.

"Both of those have more of a commitment to worldly pursuits," Garcia-Alexander said. "There is a concerted effort to make inroads with the community that they live in and to do good for the community, both for members and nonmembers alike."

On the flip side, conservative Protestants, including fundamentalists and Pentecostals, tend to be more insular and are more likely to reject science and health-related resources.

"This is continuing to show us that there are things that we can do in our communities to improve health outcomes," Garcia-Alexander said. "And to the extent that people who belong to religious organizations are aware of that, knowing that you are a communicator of health information, that can be a really valuable way to harness the power of the group and the community to communicate helpful practices for infant health and public health interventions."

The study suggests that efforts could be made to implement prenatal and neonatal health promotion programs within congregations. Even in conservative congregations where scientific knowledge might be viewed with some suspicion, the study said the programs can be promoted as a means of caring for mothers, the unborn and newborns.

The study's other authors were John Bartkowski and Xiaohe Xu from the University of Texas at San Antonio.

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Troy, N.Y. - Experimental results from the XENON1T dark matter detector limit the effective size of dark matter particles to 4.1X10-47 square centimeters--one-trillionth of one-trillionth of a centimeter squared--the most stringent limit yet determined for dark matter as established by the world's most sensitive detector.

The results, presented Monday in a seminar in Italy at the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory (LNGS), were produced using an active target volume of 1,300 kilograms of Xenon, the first search for dark matter that has monitored the equivalent of one ton of xenon for an entire year.

"We now have the tightest limit for what is known as 'the WIMP-nucleon cross section,' which is a measure of the effective size of dark matter, or how strongly it interacts with normal matter," said Ethan Brown, a member of the XENON Collaboration, and assistant professor of physics, applied physics, and astronomy at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. "With these results, we have now tested many new theoretical models of dark matter and placed the strongest constraints on these models to date."

Dark matter is theorized as one of the basic constituents of the universe, five times more abundant than ordinary matter. But because the dark matter particles known as "weakly interacting massive particles," or "WIMPs," cannot be seen and seldom interact with ordinary matter, their existence has never been confirmed.

Several astronomical measurements have corroborated the existence of dark matter, leading to a worldwide effort to directly observe dark matter particle interactions with ordinary matter. Up to the present, the interactions have proven so feeble that they have escaped direct detection, forcing scientists to build ever-more-sensitive detectors.

Since 2002, the XENON Collaboration, incorporating 165 scientists from 12 countries, has operated three successively more sensitive liquid xenon detectors in LNGS in Italy, and XENON1T is its most powerful venture to date and the largest detector of its type ever built. Particle interactions in liquid xenon create tiny flashes of light, and the detector is intended to capture the flash from the rare occasion in which a dark matter particle collides with a xenon nucleus.

The results analyze 279 days of data, according to Elena Aprile, a professor at Columbia University and project lead. During that time, only two background events were expected in the innermost, cleanest region of the detector. However, no events were detected, suggesting dark matter particles must be even smaller than previously thought. A portion of the data analysis was conducted at Rensselaer, as scientists from collaborating institutes around the world convened at the Institute late in 2018 to review data and finalize analysis routines that would eliminate irrelevant information from the collected data.

The sensitivity of the detector is a function of its size and its "silence." Although dark matter interactions are rare, interactions with other forms of matter are common, and a sensitive detector is designed to minimize those interactions. To shield it from natural radioactivity in the cavern, the detector (a so-called Liquid Xenon Time Projection Chamber) sits within a cryostat submersed in a tank of water. A mountain above the underground laboratory further shields the detector from cosmic rays.

Even with shielding from the outside world, contaminants seep into the xenon from the materials used in the detector itself and, among his contributions, Brown is responsible for a sophisticated purification system that continually scrubs the xenon in the detector. As the size of detectors have grown, so has the complexity of the purification system--not only is there more xenon to clean, but it must be kept cleaner so that light and charge may move through the greater volume of the detector. In the current phase, Brown said his team "scaled up, adding more pumps and more purifiers" to the system.

"Our work has maintained a high level of purity for the largest quantity of xenon over the longest period of time ever," said Brown. "It's an accomplishment that allows other experiments to build on the performance of this purification system."

In the next phase, Brown will introduce a new solution, a newly designed pump built with ultra clean parts in his laboratory at Rensselaer in collaboration with researchers at Stanford and at Muenster University in Germany. Where the current pumps contribute one-third to one-half of the total radon in the experiment, the new pumps will be essentially radon-free, removing one of the largest contributions to background.

Research on dark matter fulfills The New Polytechnic, an emerging paradigm for higher education which recognizes that global challenges and opportunities are so great they cannot be adequately addressed by even the most talented person working alone. Rensselaer serves as a crossroads for collaboration -- working with partners across disciplines, sectors, and geographic regions -- to address complex global challenges, using the most advanced tools and technologies, many of which are developed at Rensselaer. Research at Rensselaer addresses some of the world's most pressing technological challenges -- from energy security and sustainable development to biotechnology and human health. The New Polytechnic is transformative in the global impact of research, in its innovative pedagogy, and in the lives of students at Rensselaer.

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About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is America's first technological research university. For nearly 200 years, Rensselaer has been defining the scientific and technological advances of our world. Rensselaer faculty and alumni represent 86 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 18 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 25 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 8 members of the National Academy of Medicine, 8 members of the National Academy of Inventors, and 5 members of the National Inventors Hall of Fame, as well as 6 National Medal of Technology winners, 5 National Medal of Science winners, and a Nobel Prize winner in Physics. With 7,000 students and nearly 100,000 living alumni, Rensselaer is addressing the global challenges facing the 21st century--to change lives, to advance society, and to change the world. To learn more, go to http://www.rpi.edu.
Millions of neurons in the gastrointestinal tract coordinate their activity to generate the muscle contractions that propel waste through the last leg of the digestive system, according to a study of isolated mouse colons published in JNeurosci. The newly identified neuronal firing pattern may represent an early feature preserved through the evolution of nervous systems.

The enteric nervous system (ENS) is known as the "second brain" or the brain in the gut because it can operate independently of the brain and spinal cord, the central nervous system (CNS). It has also been called the "first brain" based on evidence suggesting that the ENS evolved before the CNS. Despite the known role of the ENS in generating motor activity in the colon, observing ENS neurons in action has been a challenge.

Nick Spencer and colleagues combined a new neuronal imaging technique with electrophysiology records of smooth muscle to reveal a pattern of activity that involves many different types of neurons firing simultaneously in repetitive bursts to activate the muscle cells at the same rate. They demonstrate how this rhythmic activity generates so-called colonic migrating motor complexes to transport fecal pellets through the mouse colon. These findings identify a previously unknown pattern of neuronal activity in the peripheral nervous system.

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Article: Identification of a rhythmic firing pattern in the enteric nervous system that generates rhythmic electrical activity in smooth muscle

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3489-17.2018

Corresponding author: Nick Spencer (Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia), nicholas.spencer@flinders.edu.au

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.
How important is marine microbiology to clouds in the summertime high Arctic and how important is this connection for climate in the region? This is a key focus of a research expedition on the Swedish icebreaker Oden that will take place in the high Arctic this summer where Stockholm University will take a leading role.

That the Arctic climate is changing fast is clear for all to see. Indeed, the Arctic is warming at a rate of almost twice the global average. However, our understanding of what exactly controls this rapid climate change and the extent to which the Arctic climate will continue to change into the future is much more limited and a number of key questions remain unanswered. For example, what are the consequences of the dramatic loss of summer sea-ice for Arctic climate? Will the ice continue to disappear as the ocean absorbs increasing amounts of solar radiation? Or might conditions become more favorable for biological activity and associated cloud-formation, with a subsequent reduction in the amount of solar-radiation able to reach the surface ocean, possibly counteracting the ice melt? It is questions such as these that motivate a unique research expedition to the high Arctic aboard the icebreaker Oden.

"The goal is to provide unique measurements that will provide detailed information about basic processes for cloud formation in the Arctic. These results are necessary to understand the Arctic climate and its sensitivity and response to the changes in climate caused by human activity", says Caroline Leck, professor in chemical meteorology at the Department of Meteorology (MISU). Professor Leck is the chief scientist in charge of the expedition from Stockholm University together with Patricia Matrai from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Science in the U.S.

Clouds play a vital role in the Arctic since they impact the amount of solar radiation that reaches the surface. For clouds to be formed, a certain amount of wind, humidity and temperature is required. However, the formation of clouds also requires the presence of small particles in the air, so called aerosols, which act as embryos for the cloud-water droplets.

"Our current understanding of the role clouds play in the Arctic is not sufficient to understand how they impact sea-ice melting and a key missing link is the role that life in the oceans play in cloud formation here", says Caroline Leck. "Of course, a key challenge is trying to unpick these complex relationships in a region that is extremely difficult to access - this is a logistical and technical challenge unlike any other", says Caroline Leck.

The expedition is a combined US and Swedish effort that includes 40 researchers from around the globe. On July the 20th the icebreaker Oden will depart Helsingborg in the southern part of Sweden before heading towards the North Pole. The main research will take place at around 90 degrees north during an ice-drift operation. Here, Oden will be parked next to a heavy ice floe where it will drift freely for around five weeks so that the researchers can collect samples from the ocean, the ice and the air.

Among other things, they want to find out how the clouds are connected to the microbiological life of the sea and the ice - something that is particularly prominent in the summer. It is in this period that the ice algae and bacteria are at their most active in the open leads between the ice floes. But what links the sea to the sky? The key to solving this piece of the puzzle is bubbles - bubbles that are present in the open leads rise to the surface where they burst, ejecting material present at the water surface into the atmosphere. A critical question the researchers want to resolve is whether this process is an important source of aerosols in the region and whether it may impact the clouds above.

"In the open leads, one can observe bubbles, which burst and eject aerosols into the atmosphere above. This leads to some very important questions that are yet to be answered: What processes control how many bubbles are reaching the water surface and bursting? How many particles do these bubbles produce? How large are these particles and what are they composed of? How important is this source of particles compared to other particle sources in the region? Are these particles playing a role in forming the low-level clouds found in the region during summer?" says Matt Salter, aerosol physicist at the Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES), who is part of the team.

To answer these questions the team will deploy a floating aerosol chamber in the open leads along with a bubble buoy designed to quantify the bubbles in the water. "Essentially we will deploy a floating tank in the open leads so that any aerosols coming out of the water surface following bubble bursting are trapped within it. By placing our instruments on top of the tank we will be able to suck these particles out enabling us to count them and determine their size", says Matt Salter.

In order to determine whether the aerosols in the atmosphere and clouds above the open leads have their source in the ocean the team will deploy instrumentation on the Oden and on tethered balloons to sample the clouds.

"Like a vacuum cleaner, we will suck both aerosols and clouds inside a container onboard Oden where we will use a large suite of instrumentation to study the microphysical properties and chemical composition of the aerosols and cloud droplets. One can say that we will bring the Arctic clouds back to Sweden", says Paul Zieger, atmospheric physicist and assistant professor, ACES.

Researchers from Stockholm University have been involved in several expeditions to the Arctic over the last few years, but an expedition with a focus on aerosols and clouds has not taken place since 2008.

"As our research has a focus on the use of advanced technical equipment and advanced analytical methods that have never been deployed in the region before, the expedition this summer will allow us to take giant leaps forward in our understanding of the major changes occurring in the Arctic as a result of climate change caused by human activities. To that end, the expedition will also ensure that Sweden continues its long tradition of world-leading research in the region", says Caroline Leck.

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More information

The expedition Arctic Ocean 2018 is funded by the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat, the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and Vetenskapsradet (VR). The project at Stockholm University is a collaboration between the Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES) and the Department of Meteorology (MISU).

More information about Arctic Ocean 2018 can be found at the Swedish Polar Research Secretariat: https://polarforskningsportalen.se/en/arctic/expeditions/arctic-ocean-2018

Contact

Caroline Leck, professor in chemical meteorology, Department of Meteorology (MISU), Phone: +46 8 16 43 54, Mobile phone: +46 70 733 38 81, Email: lina@misu.su.se

Matt Salter, aerosol physicist, Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES), Phone: +46 8 674 7222, Mobile phone: +46 70 556 60 20, Email: matthew.salter@aces.su.se

Paul Zieger, atmospheric physicist and assistant professor, Department of Environmental Science and Analytical Chemistry (ACES), Phone: +46 8 674 76 34, Mobile phone: +46 76 921 04 28, Email: paul.zieger@aces.su.se

Caption

Schematic set-up of the Arctic Ocean 2018 expedition on board the icebreaker Oden. State-of-the-art instrumentation on board will provide more information about the sources of bubbles in the open leads, the aerosol particles formed when these bubbles burst and whether there are links between these particles and the clouds above. Picture: Paul Zieger

What are the consequences of the dramatic loss of summer sea-ice for Arctic climate? The goal of the expedition is to find out more about how the clouds are connected to the microbiological life in the sea and the ice and how this connection might affect climate.
Switzerland is embracing innovation in its response to the global refugee crisis, becoming the first country to place asylum seekers in different parts of the country using artificial intelligence.

Beginning this fall, the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration and the Immigration Policy Lab (IPL) will test a new, data-driven method for assigning asylum seekers to cantons across the country. Asylum seekers in the pilot program will be assessed by an algorithm designed to maximize their chances of finding a job. The algorithm will allow officials to send individuals to the canton that best fits their profile, rather than allocate them randomly, as under the current system.

The program will then follow these asylum seekers over the next several years, comparing their employment rates to those of others who entered the country at the same time. It will include two thousand people, half placed in cantons with the guidance of the algorithm and half placed randomly. The algorithm's recommendations take into account constraints such as the limited space in a canton, and placement officials make the final decision in each case.

The placement algorithm was developed by the Immigration Policy Lab, which has branches at Stanford University and ETH Zurich, and an affiliated researcher from Dartmouth College. IPL researchers aimed to give countries around the world a tool to improve refugee integration that could easily be implemented, at low cost and without overhauling their existing systems. Their first step: harnessing many years of underused data on refugees and their outcomes.

The historical data used to develop the algorithm for Switzerland included information on where refugees were sent, whether they found work, and their age, country of origin, gender, and time of arrival. The algorithm uses this complex history to calculate refugees' probability of employment at each possible resettlement location, and then allocates them in a way that gives each person the best possible match. In Switzerland, only 15 percent of refugee arrivals from 2013 found a job within three years. Using the algorithm could have increased that to 26 percent, according to initial tests on the historical data.

As these results show, refugees' destination can be highly consequential for their long-term integration and quality of life. "It's important to carefully test and refine the algorithm before implementing it at a large scale, so the Swiss government's decision to pilot this approach is a natural next step", says Kirk Bansak, an IPL data scientist and Stanford PhD student who co-developed the algorithm.

To implement the algorithm, the IPL team designed a customized software and user interface for placement officers. The beta version of the software provides a seamless way to integrate AI into the assignment process, and it can be adapted to work with any country's unique data and allocation systems.

If successful, the pilot program could point the way toward a solution that improves refugees' lives and helps Swiss cantons and cities make the most of their resources at a time when asylum applications are projected to remain high. "The Swiss State Secretariat for Migration is taking an essential step toward breaking new ground in refugee integration policies", says Joelle Pianzola, IPL's executive director at ETH Zurich. "We are grateful for their partnership and look forward to setting it in motion." The results could also encourage other countries to take a data-driven approach to refugee integration--for example, furthering the effort by using the IPL algorithm to improve outcomes beyond employment.

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In addition to the Swiss program, IPL is working with the International Rescue Committee and Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service to design and implement a pilot of the algorithm in the United States. Both resettlement agencies are committed to responsibly incorporating AI into the refugee placement process, beginning with a rigorous evaluation before the technology is adopted at scale.

As IPL works with these partners to put its innovation into practice, the project's progress is fueled by Stanford's Institute for Research in the Social Sciences; a Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence Seed Grant, awarded by the Stanford AI Lab, Stanford School of Medicine, and Stanford Graduate School of Business; and Schmidt Futures. The IPL team is actively pursuing further funding to bring these solutions to new parts of the world affected by the global refugee crisis.
Using statistics to inform the public about racial disparities can backfire. Worse yet, it can cause some people to be more supportive of the policies that create those inequalities, according to new Stanford research.

"One of the barriers of reducing inequality is how some people justify and rationalize it," said Rebecca Hetey, a Stanford psychology researcher. "A lot of people doing social justice work wonder why attitudes are so immune to change. Our research shows that simply presenting the numbers is not enough."

If raw numbers don't always work, what might?

In a new research paper published in Current Directions in Psychological Science, Hetey and Stanford psychology Professor Jennifer Eberhardt propose strategies anyone could use to talk about racial disparities that exist across society, from education to health care and criminal justice systems.

Facts should be accompanied with context that challenges stereotypes, the researchers said, noting that discussions should emphasize the importance of policies in shaping racial inequalities.

Building on previous research

The new paper builds on research Eberhardt, Hetey and other Stanford researchers have conducted over several years about the role of race in policing and in the criminal justice system more broadly. In a 2017 study, the researchers worked with the Oakland Police Department and found that, although Oakland officers are professional overall, they spoke less respectfully to black residents than to their white counterparts.

"We are working hard to better understand the sources and consequences of this racial disparity in language use," Eberhardt said.

In 2014, the researchers also found that white Americans did not show support for criminal justice reform after being informed of statistics about racial disparities in prisons. Although nearly 40 percent of the prison population is African American, blacks make up only 13 percent of the U.S. population. Instead, the study participants became more supportive of punitive policies like California's Three Strikes law and New York City's stop-and-frisk policy. As the researchers pointed out, these laws disproportionately affected people of color and contributed to the United States having the largest per-capita prison population in the world.

When that research was first published, Hetey and Eberhardt noticed how their findings sometimes were misunderstood.

"Some people concluded that we should stop talking about race and inequality at all," Hetey said. "And that is not the answer here. The fact is that race matters, and stereotypes can be very powerful."

Offering solutions

Hetey and Eberhardt encourage providing context alongside statistics.

For example, they said it might backfire to only say that 60 percent of traffic stops made in Oakland, California, were of African Americans. They suggest providing other background information, like the fact that African Americans make up 28 percent of the city's population or that African Americans are stopped for less severe traffic offenses than whites are.

"Stripped of context, standalone statistics may simply be used as 'evidence' of the stereotype that blacks are prone to criminality," the researchers write.

It is important to offer information about the history of these disparities in the U.S. and how they came about, which might help convey that racial inequality is not natural or due to fixed stereotypical traits, the researchers said.

Another strategy is to talk about the role policy plays - especially policy change - in perpetuating or preventing inequality.

For example, research has shown racial disparities in certain types of searches that police conduct. Blacks are disproportionately subjected to consent searches compared to whites.

In response, officials have enacted policy changes that mandate officers get written consent or explicitly tell those they stop that they have the right to deny an officer's search request. In Oakland, this policy change led to a huge reduction in the number of consent searches and an overall reduction of the racial disparity, the researchers said.

"We know that persistent inequality has a lot to do with institutions and their practices," Hetey said. "If we ignore this, we become blind to the way institutions contribute to producing and continuing inequality."

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WASHINGTON--Male thyroid cancer survivors have a nearly 50 percent higher risk of developing heart disease than women within five years of cancer diagnosis, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Thyroid cancer occurs when cancerous tumors or nodules grow in the thyroid, the butterfly-shaped gland at the front of the neck. It is the fastest growing cancer in the United States, in both men and women, with more than 62,000 new cases diagnosed every year. Thyroid cancer is often diagnosed in young people and has a five-year survival rate of 98 percent. These survivors need to be aware of how their cancer treatment impacts their long-term health.

"Thyroid cancer survivors are at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD)," said one of the study's main authors, Mia Hashibe, Ph.D., of Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. "Our study found that male thyroid cancer survivors have an almost 50 percent higher risk of developing CVD than women, while thyroid cancer survivors with obesity have a 41 percent higher risk."

In the cohort study, researchers studied the medical records of nearly 4,000 thyroid cancer survivors over a 15-year period using the statewide Utah Population Database. The researchers examined potential risk factors, treatment effects, and CVD outcomes in this population. Factors like sex, baseline weight, and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) therapy were associated with higher CVD risk within five years of cancer diagnosis.

The study found male thyroid cancer survivors face a nearly 50 percent higher risk of developing CVD than women. Thyroid cancer survivors who have obesity have a 41 percent higher risk, and individuals whose TSH levels were suppressed as part of their cancer treatment have a 25 percent higher risk of developing CVD.

"Our findings suggest that thyroid cancer survivors should be continuously monitored and screened for CVD for both earlier detection and better preventative care," Hashibe said.

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Other authors of the study include: Jihye Park, Brenna Blackburn, Anne Kirchhoff, Dev Abraham and Marcus Monroe of Huntsman Cancer Institute and Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, Utah; Patricia Ganz of UCLA in Los Angeles, Calif.; Kerry Rowe and John Snyder of Intermountain Healthcare in Salt Lake City; Yuan Wan, Alison Fraser and Ken Smith of Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City; Vikrant Deshmukh, Kim Herget and Jaewhan Kim of University of Utah in Salt Lake City; and Michael Newman of Huntsman Cancer Institute and University of Utah in Salt Lake City.

The study was supported by research grants from the National Institutes of Health, the Huntsman Cancer Institute and the National Center for Research Resources, with additional support from the Utah State Department of Health and the University of Utah.

The study, "Risk Factors for Cardiovascular Disease among Thyroid Cancer Survivors: Findings from the Utah Cancer Survivors Study," will be published online, ahead of print.

Endocrinologists are at the core of solving the most pressing health problems of our time, from diabetes and obesity to infertility, bone health, and hormone-related cancers. The Endocrine Society is the world's oldest and largest organization of scientists devoted to hormone research and physicians who care for people with hormone-related conditions.

The Society has more than 18,000 members, including scientists, physicians, educators, nurses and students in 122 countries. To learn more about the Society and the field of endocrinology, visit our site at http://www.endocrine.org. Follow us on Twitter at @TheEndoSociety and @EndoMedia.
Orlando, FL - High-power lasers are now widely used in additive manufacturing and laser welding systems to precisely cut and weld metal, making all kinds of metal parts for medical devices, aerospace applications, automotive industries, and more. With the rise in industrial use of high-power laser processing, manufacturers increasingly seek high-accuracy, point-of-use laser power meters that can quickly report laser powers at any time in the manufacturing process -- a vital aspect to controlling product quality. Traditional laser power meters, however, are often bulky in size and slow in response time. Power measurements can also only be taken separately, interrupting the manufacturing process.

Now, a group of researchers from National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado, have developed a smaller, faster and more sensitive laser power meter in the form of a folding mirror they call a "smart mirror." The novel design uses a capacitor-based force transducer and merges optical elements, namely a high reflectivity mirror, and sensing elements into a compact cube package. The four-centimeter-on-a-side cubes can be conveniently embedded into laser optical systems or laser-welding systems for point-of-use, real-time laser power measurement and calibration. The researchers will present their innovation at the OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Congress, being held June 25-28 in Orlando, Florida, United States.

"Measuring laser power by measuring the pressure of a laser beam hitting a mirror is a very unique technique, [and] so far it is the only laser power measurement technique that is truly an in-situ process," said Alexandera B. Artusio-Glimpse, a scientist of NIST in Boulder, Colorado, and the primary author. "Unlike any other optical power measurement techniques, our method allows us to continue using the laser for work while a measurement is being taken."

Artusio-Glimpse explained that traditional high-power meters measure laser power by absorbing all the energy of a laser beam as heat and measuring the temperature change. The calorimetric measurement has to temporarily stop the laser beam from work for around tens of minutes.

"Using our 'Smart Mirror' laser power meter, that stop-measure-continue process is no longer needed. Manufacturers can measure the laser power continuously during every weld and monitor the laser calibration in real time, they would know right away whenever the laser has a problem and wouldn't risk wasting metal parts with bad welds," Artusio-Glimpse said.

The Smart Mirror laser power meter is also referred to as a radiation pressure power meter (RPPM), as the operating principle of this meter is based on measuring the pressure of the laser, the radiation pressure. Light has no mass, but it has momentum and when a laser beam strikes an object such as a mirror, it will exert a tiny force known as the radiation pressure on the mirror, which directly relates to the laser power. 200 watts of laser power, for example, exerts a force equivalent to 100 micrograms, which is roughly the weight of a single human eyelash.

The key part of the Smart Mirror design is a capacitor-based compact force transducer. It consists of a spiral planar silicon spring supporting a circular plate with a high reflectivity mirror on one side and an electrode on the other. An identical silicon spring with an electrode is placed close to the first spring such that the two electrodes face each other, forming a variable capacitor. A laser beam reflecting off the mirror on the first spring will push the first spring to move toward the second and change the capacitance between the two electrodes. By comparing to a fixed reference capacitor, the researchers can calculate the radiation pressure and laser power. After reflecting off the mirror, the laser beam can be used directly for work, making real-time monitoring of laser power or laser calibration possible.

According to Artusio-Glimpse, the team has been developing the novel radiation pressure power meter for years and an earlier version of RPPM employed a commercially available scale with a mirrored surface as a force transducer. The final system was about the size of a shoebox, with a measurement sensitivity of 50 micrograms and response time of five seconds.

In the new version of the Smart Mirror, the researchers improved the measurement sensitivity by 100 times and decreased the response time by 50 times. They also mitigated static sagging errors of the device caused by gravity when the device is rotated. This allows the sensor to be embedded at the end of a robotic arm or in additive manufacturing and laser welding systems where the laser head will move and rotate -- a key feature that the early version bulk RPPM lacks. It also meets the measurement requirements of many commercially significant applications.

Based on preliminary tests, the new meter is sensitive enough to measure 100 watts of laser power with no more than one percent uncertainty, and with a response time faster than any other absolute high-power laser meter. The researchers are now continuing to validate these results with more tests. Artusio-Glimpse said the NIST team expects to establish a primary standard version of the Smart Mirror laser power meter in the near future.

Hear from the research team: ATh2A.2 "Non-Absorbing, Point-of-Use, High-Power Laser Power Meter," by Alexandra B. Artusio-Glimpse, Ivan Ryger, Paul Williams and John Lehman, at 10:30 am on June 28, 2018, at the Wyndham Orlando Resort International Drive, Orlando, Florida, United States.

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MEDIA REGISTRATION: Media/analyst registration for the OSA Imaging and Applied Optics Conference 2018 can be accessed online. Further information is available on the event website, including travel details.

ABOUT OSA IMAGING AND APPLIED OPTICS CONGRESS

Imaging and Applied Optics Congress provides a comprehensive view of the latest developments in imaging and applied optical sciences, covering the forefront advances in imaging and applied optics as well as the application of these technologies to important industrial, military and medical challenges. The scope of the research presented in ranges from fundamental research to applied. General Chair for the 2018 Congress is Gisele Bennett, Florida Institute of Technology, USA.
For over a century, we have known that high altitude reduces the amount of blood the heart pumps around the body with each beat. New research published in The Journal of Physiology has unearthed why this is the case and the findings will be important for people who live, travel and exercise at high altitudes.

Over the years, several theories have been proposed to explain the reduction in the amount of blood the heart can pump; this was even of interest to the scientists involved in the first summit of Mt Everest in the 1950's. It has now been shown that this is because at high altitudes (over 3000 m), the lower amount of oxygen in the air leads to (1) a decrease in the volume of blood circulating around the body, and (2) an increase in blood pressure in the lungs. The researchers found that both of these factors play a role in the reduction in the volume of blood the heart can pump with each beat, but importantly neither of these factors affects our ability to perform maximal exercise.

This research is important because it improves our understanding of how the human body adapts to high altitude areas. This will help us make exploration and tourism of Earth's mountainous regions safer, and may also help facilitate exercise performance in a wide range of sporting events that take place at high altitude.

The research conducted by Cardiff Metropolitan University, in conjunction with the University of British Columbia Okanagan and Loma Linda University School of Medicine, involved collecting data on how the heart and pulmonary blood vessels adapt to life with less oxygen. The researchers and participants conducted the study during two weeks at a remote research facility called The Barcroft Laboratory on White Mountain, California.

It is important to note that the sample size of this study was small and the effects of these mechanisms were only compared in individuals of European descent. Furthermore, echocardiography was used to assess cardiac and pulmonary vascular function which is non-invasive and indirect.

Michael Stembridge, the chief investigator on the project commented on future research plans: "Currently, a number of the research team are ready to depart for an expedition that will focus on high altitude natives who live and work in the industrial mines of the Andean mountains. Unfortunately, a third of these individuals experience long-term ill health due to their residence at high altitude, a condition termed 'Chronic Mountain Sickness'. We hope to apply the findings of this work to help improve the health and well-being of these populations by furthering our understanding of the condition and exploring therapeutic targets".

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Teachers don't have to test everything they want their students to remember

A new study by the University of British Columbia shows that teachers don't have to test everything they want their students to remember - as long as the knowledge they want to convey fits together well, and the test questions are well-chosen.

The finding, based on an experiment with UBC pharmacy students, builds on a proven phenomenon known as "retrieval-enhanced learning" - that the very act of recalling something reinforces it in a person's memory. But that phenomenon also has stoked fears, demonstrated in a few recent studies, of "retrieval-induced forgetting" - that items not included on a test can be purged from students' memories.

The UBC study, published May 26 in Advances in Health Sciences Education, suggests a way to strengthen students' memories of new knowledge without causing "assessment fatigue."

Researchers asked more than 150 second-year pharmacy students to study a 67-slide PowerPoint file about gastroesophageal reflux disease and peptic ulcer disease - a subject relevant to their studies but not yet covered in the curriculum. Each slide contained "bullet points" typical of slides used for university lectures.

Some students were asked to study the slides for 30 minutes in anticipation of being tested on it two weeks later. Other students were asked to study the slides for 20 minutes, with the remaining 10 minutes devoted to a 10-question quiz about the material.

Two weeks later, both groups took a larger test that included the original 10 questions, plus 30 more: 10 that were about the slides, 10 about other medical conditions not covered by the slides, and 10 more general questions about basic physiology and drug characteristics (also not covered by the slides). Most questions were multiple choice, with a couple of true/false items.

As expected, the group that took the preliminary quiz a couple of weeks before did better - 22 per cent better - on the questions that were repeated in the larger test. But that group also performed 19 per cent better on other questions based on the slides even though they were not included on the preliminary quiz.

On the other questions that were not specifically about reflux disease and peptic ulcer disease, there was no statistically significant difference between the two groups' performance.

From those results, the researchers conclude that knowledge - whether it's about health, law, history or anything else - doesn't have to be tested to be remembered, if it's closely intertwined with knowledge that is being tested.

"The accumulated evidence of retrieval-enhanced learning has led some educators to assert that comprehensive testing is the best way to get students to remember knowledge," said lead author Kevin Eva, a Professor in the Department of Medicine and Associate Director of UBC's Centre for Health Education Scholarship. "But that could lead to valuable class time being eaten up by assessments, creating undue stress and strain for students."

To maximize the effectiveness of testing, Dr. Eva says, course material needs to be well-integrated - each piece should be presented as part of a larger whole, not as a collection of disconnected details. In addition, test questions should be representative of the entirety of the material that instructors want students to retain.

"Students are more likely to forget untested items in a curriculum of disassociated facts," Dr. Eva says. "So teachers need to do their homework, and make sure that what they teach comes together into a bigger, comprehensible whole."

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A star that wanders too close to the supermassive black hole in the center of its galaxy will be torn apart by the black hole's gravity in a violent cataclysm called a tidal disruption event (TDE), producing a bright flare of radiation. A new study led by theoretical astrophysicists at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute and UC Santa Cruz provides a unified model that explains recent observations of these extreme events.

The breakthrough study, published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, provides a new theoretical perspective for a fast-growing research field.

"Only in the last decade or so have we been able to distinguish TDEs from other galactic phenomena, and the new model will provide us with the basic framework for understanding these rare events," said coauthor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor and chair of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and Niels Bohr Professor at the University of Copenhagen.

In most galaxies, the central black hole is quiescent, not actively consuming any material and therefore not emitting any light. Tidal disruption events are rare, only happening about once every 10,000 years in a typical galaxy. When an unlucky star gets torn apart, however, the black hole is "overfed" with stellar debris for a while and emits intense radiation.

"It is interesting to see how materials get their way into the black hole under such extreme conditions," said first author Jane Lixin Dai, assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study. "As the black hole is eating the stellar gas, a vast amount of radiation is emitted. The radiation is what we can observe, and using it we can understand the physics and calculate the black hole properties. This makes it extremely interesting to go hunting for tidal disruption events."

While the same physics is expected to happen in all tidal disruption events, about two dozen of which have been observed so far, the observed properties of these events have shown great variation. Some emit mostly x-rays, while others emit mostly visible and ultraviolet light. Theorists have been struggling to understand this diversity and assemble different pieces of the puzzle into a coherent model.

In the new model, it is the viewing angle of the observer that accounts for differences in the observations. Galaxies are oriented randomly with respect to the line of sight of observers on Earth, who see different aspects of a tidal disruption event depending on its orientation.

"It is like there is a veil that covers part of a beast," Ramirez-Ruiz explained. "From some angles we see an exposed beast, but from other angles we see a covered beast. The beast is the same, but our perceptions are different."

The model developed by Dai and her collaborators combines elements from general relativity, magnetic fields, radiation, and gas hydrodynamics. It shows what astronomers can expect to see when viewing tidal disruption events from different angles, allowing researchers to fit different events into a coherent framework.

Survey projects planned for the next few years are expected to provide much more data on tidal disruption events and will help greatly expand this field of research, according to Dai. These include the Young Supernova Experiment (YSE) transient survey, led by the DARK Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute and UC Santa Cruz, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescopes being built in Chile.

"We will observe hundreds to thousands of tidal disruption events in a few years. This will give us a lot of 'laboratories' to test our model and use it to understand more about black holes," Dai said.

In addition to Dai and Ramirez-Ruiz, the coauthors include Jonathan McKinney, Nathaniel Roth, and Cole Miller at the University of Maryland, College Park. State-of-the-art computational tools were employed to solve the puzzle, and the simulations were carried out by Dai and Roth on the recently acquired large computer cluster made possible by a grant from the Villum Foundation for Jens Hjorth, head of DARK Cosmology Centre, as well as clusters funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and NASA.

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Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found a new way to block a root cause of pain. The key is a naturally occurring protein called apolipoprotein A-I binding protein (AIBP). AIBP binds to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a protein that sits on the surface of cells like an antenna, searching for signs of infection or tissue damage. The researchers found that treating mice with a single spinal injection of AIBP -- and thus switching TLR4 "off" -- prevented and reversed inflammation and cellular events associated with pain processing.

As reported May 29 by Cell Reports, the treatment alleviated chemotherapy pain in mice for two months with no side effects.

"Opioids and most other pain medications simply dampen a person's perception of pain. But the source of the pain is still there," said co-senior author Tony Yaksh, PhD, professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. "At the same time, opioids also impart a feeling of pleasure, which leads to their misuse and addiction. What's so special about our new approach, inhibiting the TLR4 receptor with AIBP, is that it actually modifies the pain processing systems themselves. So, if you think of neuropathic pain as a disease, then we see this as truly disease-modifying. We're blocking the underlying mechanism that causes pain, not just masking the symptoms."

Historically, Yaksh said, researchers thought inflammation and nerve injury were separate events. But a few years ago, he, co-author Maripat Corr, MD, and collaborators found that sometimes inflammation can transition to chronic pain with all the hallmarks of nerve injury -- a cellular event that involves TLR4.

This latest advance got its start three years ago when Yaksh attended a symposium where Yury Miller, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Medicine, and now co-senior author of the study, was talking about his work on lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis. Yaksh, whose lab studies pain, realized they were both looking at TLR4, but for different reasons. Out of that chance interaction, the two started working together.

"My specialty is atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of heart attack and stroke, and we had been studying AIBP as a means to treat that condition," said Miller. "And it worked -- the study is now published in the Journal of Lipid Research. But we were also surprised to find that at the same time AIBP prevented and reversed chronic pain states. When Tony saw those results, he told me it was remarkable how effective it was."

In laboratory tests, the researchers discovered that AIBP inhibited TLR4 by removing cholesterol from lipid rafts -- cholesterol-rich areas of a cell's membrane that help control how cells communicate with each other and their environments. In mice, spinal (intrathecal) injections of AIBP reduced lipid rafts in central nervous system immune cells called microglia. The injections also reduced TLR4 activation, microglial activation and inflammation in the spinal cord.

After chemotherapy, humans and animals often develop persistent states of pain in response to even the lightest touch. In this study, mice that received chemotherapy reacted to the lightest touch. But a single intrathecal injection of AIBP completely reversed the chemotherapy-induced pain state and the mice were able to endure normal levels of mechanical stimulation. This pain-relieving effect lasted for two months and the AIBP injection did not affect motor functions.

"We are working on ways to deliver AIBP systemically, but if it comes down to a choice between living with chronic pain or getting a spinal injection once every few months, we think most people would take the injection," Miller said. "As it stands now, AIBP could be developed as therapy for unremitting severe pain that only responds to high dose morphine. AIBP would remove the need for opioids, and reduce the potential for drug abuse."

According to Yaksh, of the 1.7 million patients who receive a cancer diagnosis each year, it is estimated that at least 39 percent experience pain in the course of the cancer and after treatment. If each of those patients takes an average 100 milligrams of morphine or its equivalent per day for one year, an estimated morphine burden would be approximately 24,000 kilograms per year -- and that's just for patients with cancer.

"We're not saying we shouldn't use opiates to treat chronic pain or in particular cancer pain -- that would be a tragedy," Yaksh said. "But it would also be a greater tragedy if we didn't support work to find a substitute for systemic opiates ... if for no other reason to reduce its presence in our society."

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Additional study co-authors include: Sarah A. Woller, Soo-Ho Choi, Dina Schneider, Roshni Ramachandran, Jungsu Kim, UC San Diego; Eun Jung An, Yun Soo Bae, Ewha Womans University, Korea; Hann Low, and Dmitri Sviridov, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Australia.
A University of Cordoba research group has designed a method that detects the presence of pollutants in seawater in a faster and more efficient way and also at very low concentrations. Specifically, the team from Cordoba, in partnership with the University of the Balearic Islands, focused on several substances used as preservatives in soap, lotion and deodorant, which end up in the sea. Concerns about parabens and triclosan have been voiced from different sectors, and the European Commission has been monitoring these substances and limited their use. Parabens and triclosan keep bacteria and fungi from damaging shampoo and toothpaste, but they become a real problem once they get to the sea, where they affect the marine ecosystem. Identifying their presence contributes to the design of measures that correct their effects. This is the idea behind the work on the system designed by the University of Cordoba.

The key to this new method based on nanotechnology is the system known as 'Lab-on-Valve,' used by the scientific community for sample analysis. More specifically, the research team led by Analytical Chemistry Professor Marisol Cardenas has added carbon-coated titanium dioxide nanotubes to this system. To date, the use of nanomaterials in the Lab-on-Valve system was not possible before due to their tendency to aggregate in aqueous media. In this case, the University of Cordoba research group was able to synthesize nanoparticles compatible with the Lab-on-Valve system due to their easy dispersion.

The new system was recently described in the journal Analytical Chemistry. The study's primary author, University of Cordoba researcher Maria Teresa Garcia Valverde, explains that "the combination of the Lab-on-valve system, titanium nanotubes modified with amorphous carbon as phase extraction and the measuring tool connected to the system, allows for quantifying parabens and triclosan at very low concentrations." For the most part, these pollutants come from personal hygiene products such as soap, sunscreen, toothpaste and other toiletries. All of them have very negative effects on the environment.

Garcia explained that with the Lab-on-Valve system, the nanotubes are manipulated automatically, which reduces errors in measurement and "their nanometric size makes them more efficient than other adsorbent solid materials on the market." She added, "this method is faster, more practical and more efficient."

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Garcia-Valverde, MT; Rosende, M; Lucena, R; Cardenas, S; Miro, M. Lab-on-a-Valve Mesofluidic Platform for On-Chip Handling of Carbon-Coated Titanium Dioxide Nanotubes in a Disposable Microsolid Phase-Extraction Mode. ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY.
Research led by scientists from the University of Luxembourg has shown the potential of liquid crystal shells as enabling material for a vast array of future applications, ranging from autonomous driving to anti-counterfeiting technology and a new class of sensors.

Liquid Crystals, already widely used in flat-screen TVs, are materials that are in a state between solid and liquid. Prof Jan Lagerwall and his team at the Physics and Materials Science Research Unit (PHYMS) at the University of Luxembourg have been investigating the unique mechanical and optical properties of microscopic shells that are produced of liquid crystal for several years. Now, in a multidisciplinary collaboration with IT scientists Dr. Gabriele Lenzini and Prof Peter Ryan of the University's Interdisciplinary Center for Security and Trust (SnT) as well as Mathew Schwartz, Assistant Professor at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, they published a report in the scientific journal Advanced Materials describing potentially groundbreaking future applications for the material.

Liquid Crystal shells, only fractions of a millimeter in size so they can easily be applied to surfaces, have several unique properties that could be utilized in engineering: As they reflect light highly selectively, they can be arranged into patterns that are readable for machines, akin to a QR code, adding coded information to objects. "These patterns could be used to guide autonomous vehicles or to instruct robots when handling workpieces in a factory. This could become important especially in indoors applications where GPS devices don't work," Prof Lagerwall explains.

The shells can be manufactured to reflect only certain wavelengths of light, such as infrared, that would be invisible to the human eye. As the Liquid Crystal shells reflect light "omnidirectionally" meaning that beholders see the same pattern regardless of their position and viewing angle, the patterns can even be read by moving objects.

Additionally, the shells can be manufactured in a way that they change their structure when they are exposed to certain external impacts, such as pressure, heat or specific chemicals.

Together with computers to interpret these changes, the shells could be used as sensors, for example as pressure sensors in the fingertips of robots enabling tactile feeling which is currently hard to achieve in robotic engineering. Another application could be fire exit signage on walls inside buildings that only becomes visible when the temperature exceeds a certain threshold. The big advantage of these sensors is that they passively react to external impacts and don't need electricity and batteries.

Finally, liquid crystal shells could be used to prevent counterfeiting. The micropatterns that emerge when the shells are brought together are unique and impossible to copy. These unclonable patterns could be used to create uncopiable identifiers that can be attached to valuable objects, such as art works or expensive pharmaceuticals. In combination with cryptographic tools they could be used to create a system that ensures that a buyer or user has the original and not a counterfeited product.

Prof Lagerwall makes clear that the ideas outlined in the report require further research. "Our hope is that the article can stimulate future research on liquid crystalline materials into new directions that are in line with the current societal developments," he said.

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It was only several months ago that professors Jeffrey Hall, Michael Rosbash and Michael Young received the Nobel Prize for their work on deciphering the mechanisms of our biological clock. Many other scientists around the world are also investigating this topic, including the group of researchers headed by Prof Ralf Stanewsky (a former trainee in Jeffrey Hall's lab) at the University of Munster, Germany. Although scientists have discovered a diverse array of basic mechanisms, many unanswered questions about the so-called "chronobiology" remain. In two papers recently published in the journal Current Biology, a team of Munster biologists has now presented new findings on the inner workings of circadian clocks in the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). For one, the researchers have found evidence that indicates that light and temperature stimuli play a mutual role in their synchronisation. Furthermore, they also identified yet unobserved molecular pathways in the photoreceptors which also affect the fruit fly's circadian rhythm.

For some background, one should know that all animals, plants and single-celled organisms possess an internal circadian rhythm which regulates physiological and behavioural processes, for example, the sleep-wake cycle. The term 'cirdadian' refers to the length of this cycle, i.e. approximately one day, or about 24 hours. This is defined by so-called 'clock genes', specifically period and timeless genes. "Like a wristwatch, organisms have internal clocks that have to be set on a regular basis", explains Ralf Stanewsky. This means that all organisms adjust their internal clocks to external factors that are determined by the Earth's rotation, namely light and temperature cycles, which synchronises them to the natural day-night rhythm.

While the light-dependent mechanisms of synchronisation are well understood, very little is known about how temperature influences the circadian clock, and how light and temperature stimuli are mutually processed in the brain. To this end, Ralf Stanewsky and his team investigated the role a specific gene called nocte plays in this process.

Without nocte, the brain receives false temperature signals

Fruit flies with a non-functioning nocte gene are no longer able to synchronise their sleep rhythm based on the temperature of their environment. The abbreviation "nocte" stands for "no circadian temperature entrainment". The nocte mutants were, however, still able to use light input to synchronise their circadian clock as long as the temperature around them remained constant. As soon as the light and temperature began to fluctuate simultaneously (which would normally occur at night when the temperature decreases), the circadian clock fell out of sync which in turn disrupted the flies' sleeping rhythm. "We show that the nocte gene normally regulates the transmission of information on the environmental temperature to special 'clock neurons' in the brain. When this gene is missing, false temperature signals are sent to the clock neurons which then disrupts the fly's sleep pattern," says Ralf Stanewsky.

The nocte gene provides the building plan for a protein which is found in the chordotonal organs of insects. These miniscule sensory organs are located directly beneath the skin and detect external mechanical stimuli such as vibrations. The new study indicates that the chordotonal organs might also play a role in the temperature-dependent regulation of the circadian clock.

Retinal photopigments contribute to light-dark synchronisation

In the second study, the researchers focused on a phenomenon they had observed in their earlier studies but hadn't yet been able to explain. The observation was made in connection to the photoreceptor cryptochrome. Reactive to blue light and normally found in clock neurons in the brain, it plays a vital role in the synchronisation of the circadian clock. Interestingly, the circadian clocks of mutant flies which neither possessed cryptochrome nor a visual system were able to adjust to the daily light-dark cycles, albeit at a much slower rate than healthy specimens. Researchers did not know how circadian synchronisation could function without cryptochrome and the visual system.

In the new study, the researchers showed that some of the photopigments contained in the eyes of the flies contribute to synchronisation through a previously unknown molecular cascading reaction, specifically the pigments rhodopsin 1, 5 and 6. These three photopigments play a central role in visual processes. "We were surprised to find that they transmit light signals from the eyes to the clock neurons in the brain independent of their visual functions," reports Ralf Stanewsky. This effect had not been previously detected in earlier studies because researchers had focused on the conventional visual molecular signal cascades caused by light-induced reactions in the eye.

The research team also demonstrated that the newly discovered molecular pathway was responsible for synchronising a whole group of specialised clock neurons. "These are different neurons than the ones responsible for temperature-dependent synchronisation," explains Ralf Stanewsky. "There appears to be a division of labour between the 150 clock neurons in Drosophila, whereby some neurons react more to light while others react more to temperature."

In both studies, the researchers used mutant fruit flies with alterations made to genes which were central to the focus of investigation. Specifically, these comprised nocte (which researchers had already isolated in previous studies along with the corresponding mutants) and key genes responsible for light synchronisation. It was then tested, if the mutant insects were capable of synchronising their circadian clocks and sleep-wake behaviour to the external light and temperature cycles. For this purpose, the researchers used a so-called luciferase reporter assay and brain antibody staining - two methods which make rhythmic gene activity visible in the clock neurons. To measure the sleep-wake behaviour of the flies, the researchers applied a test which automatically measured how frequently the flies passed an infrared barrier to quantify their activity.

The studies were conducted in cooperation with researchers at University College London, where Ralf Stanewsky headed his research team prior to his appointment at the WWU, and at the University of Cambridge. The research team received funding for their project from the German Research Foundation (DFG), the British "Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council" and the European Commission.

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Original publications:

Ogueta M. et al. (2018): Non-canonical Phototransduction Mediates Synchronization of the Drosophila melanogaster Circadian Clock and Retinal Light Responses. Current Biology (in press), DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.016. FREE ARTICLE

Chen C. et al. (2018): nocte Is Required for Integrating Light and Temperature Inputs in Circadian Clock Neurons of Drosophila. Current Biology 28: 1595-1605DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.04.001
Minneapolis/St. Paul (May 25, 2018) -- It's a question that has challenged scientists and physicians for years: Why do vaccines work better in some parts of the world than in others? A new study, led in part by University of Minnesota Medical School researcher Tim Schacker, MD, contributes to knowledge about why vaccines given in the developing world often are less effective than in the developed world.

The study, to be published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, finds that diseases common in the developing world might be a culprit. For example, malaria, tuberculosis and infections caused by parasites may damage lymph node structures that are crucial to developing immunity after a vaccine.

"One of the unanswered questions in vaccine research is why some vaccines work well in the developed world but very poorly in the developing world--especially in more tropical climates. We wanted to know whether environmental factors or pervasive infections in developing areas were making vaccines less effective," says Schacker, a professor of infectious diseases and international medicine and director of the Program in HIV Medicine at the University of Minnesota. "Our research suggests that having certain diseases does affect the body's ability to prompt immune protection after a vaccine."

For the study, researchers evaluated groups of people from Uganda and the United States. They found that the Ugandans have significantly higher levels of inflammation in their bodies and a depleted supply of protective T cells. Their secondary lymph nodes, where vaccine responses happen, had fibrosis or thickening and scarring from the inflammation.

Schacker's research uncovered significant differences in the lymphoid anatomy between subjects in Uganda and the United States. Every Ugandan participant showed evidence of differences in the anatomy of their secondary lymph nodes compared to participants in the United States. These differences include fibrosis, increased immune activation and other anatomy changes that would be considered abnormal in the United States.

With this evidence in hand, researchers then explored whether such differences hindered the Ugandans' response to vaccinations. They gave Ugandans a yellow fever vaccination and monitored them for 60 weeks, seeking to determine whether their lymphoid abnormalities were associated with immune dysfunction. In addition, they found correlations between the Ugandans' limited antibody response to the vaccine and the amount of damage from inflammation and fibrosis in the lymph nodes. "We showed that the degree to which these tissues were damaged by inflammation was significantly associated with the response to a vaccine," Schacker says. "This suggests that common infections in the developing world may be an important limiting factor in the development of immune response to a vaccine."

"We believe that these data have important implications for how vaccines are designed and tested for infections that greatly impact the developing world," he adds. "This is especially true of vaccines for HIV, malaria, and TB--diseases that are responsible for the greatest number of deaths."

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For more information, visit this link.

About the University of Minnesota Medical School

The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. Visit med.umn.edu to learn how the University of Minnesota is innovating all aspects of medicine.
PHILADELPHIA (May 29, 2018) - About 70 percent of all variations in health care outcomes are explained by individuals' social conditions including housing, neighborhood conditions, and income, data show. In order to establish community cultures of health where people are empowered to live healthier lives, health care providers and community sector leaders in transportation, government, schools, and businesses must collaborate to address the social conditions that affect population health.

New research points to the types of skills necessary for nurse leaders to encourage such collaborations. The study, Promoting a Culture of Health Through Cross-Sector Collaborations, has been published in the journal Health Promotion Practice.

The study focused on the experiences of members of the American Academy of Nursing's Edge Runner program, which recognizes nurses who have designed and/or are leading care models that have demonstrated positive clinical and financial outcomes. By studying the experiences of these innovative nurses who have developed cross-sector collaborations that promote a culture of health, the researchers discovered four key skills that enable leaders to successfully manage such collaborations.

"Health care providers can be important leaders and 'bridgers' in collaborations, but they must possess the knowledge, attitudes and skills of facilitators, partners, and relationship-builders," says Antonia Villarruel, PhD, RN, FAAN, Professor and the Margaret Bond Simon Dean of Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing), one of the authors of the study.

The four key themes discovered to be relevant to cross-sector collaborations that develop a community's culture of heath include:

Being bilingual - Edge Runners found they needed to be able to speak the language of both the community and the institutions of power.

Neighborliness and trust - Successful Edge Runners are able to demonstrate to community leaders their long-term commitment to the communities they serve and a willingness to listen and understand community needs.

Having a business sense - Ensuring continued support often requires Edge Runners to make a business case for their programs, particularly in explaining how to sustain or expand these programs.

Shared vision and language - Being able to communicate shared visions with potential collaboration partners is an essential way Edge Runners gain trust and engagement.

"The study results have a number of important implications for policy and health professional education," explains Villarruel. "It also provides initial insights into how health care providers can collaborate with both health and non-health entities, on the ground at community level and at the funder level, to benefit local communities and populations."

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Co-authors of the study include Grant R. Martsolf, PhD, MPH, RN, FAAN, of the University of Pittsburgh and the RAND Corporation; Jennifer Sloan, MPH, of the Rand Corporation; Diana Mason, PhD, RN, FAAN, of the George Washington University School of Nursing; and Cheryl Sullivan, MSES, of the American Academy of Nursing.

About the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world's leading schools of nursing. For the second year in a row, it is ranked the #1 nursing school in the world by QS University, and has four graduate programs ranked number one by U.S. News & World Report, the most of any school in the United States. Penn Nursing is currently ranked # 1 in funding from the National Institutes of Health, among other schools of nursing. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through research, education, and practice. Follow Penn Nursing on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram & YouTube.
PHILADELPHIA - A radiotherapy drug that treats the rare neuroendocrine cancers pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma can be both effective and safe for patients, according to the findings of a multi-center trial led by researchers in the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania. The study showed AZEDRA (ultratrace iobenguane I131) led to a significant reduction in the cardiovascular side effects that are associated with these cancers while also stopping tumor growth. The drug is designed to treat malignant, recurrent, or unresectable forms of the cancers - cases for which there are currently no approved non-surgical treatments. Progenics Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures AZEDRA, recently submitted the findings of this trial as part of an application for approval to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The study's principal investigator Daniel A. Pryma, MD, an associate professor of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, and Chief of Nuclear Medicine and Clinical Molecular Imaging at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, will present the results at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2018 Annual Meeting in Chicago as an oral abstract (Abstract #4005).

"This represents real hope for patients, since as of right now, there are no anti-tumor therapies available for patients with these tumors who are not candidates for surgery," Pryma said.

Pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma are neuroendocrine tumors that form from the same type of tissue. Pheochromocytoma forms in the adrenal gland, while paraganglioma forms outside of the gland. There are an estimated 650 to 2600 new cases in the United States each year, with between 10 and 35 percent of cases metastatic or locally invasive at diagnosis. In addition, when the disease returns, it may not be resectable surgically. The five-year survival rate of unresectable cases can be as low as 12 percent.

AZEDRA is a radiotherapy drug that attacks these tumors with a high, specifically-targeted dose. The FDA gave it an Orphan Drug designation, Fast Track status, and Breakthrough Therapy designation in the U.S.

In the Penn-led trial, 68 patients received at least one therapeutic dose of AZEDRA. Twenty-five percent of patients who received at least one dose met the trial clinical benefit endpoint, and the number jumped to 32 percent in patients who received two doses. That clinical benefit was measured by a 50 percent or greater reduction in the amount of hypertensive medications these patients took lasting at least 6 months as high blood pressure and associated cardiovascular side effects are a major cause of harm from these cancers. Additionally, 92 percent of evaluable patients who received at least one dose achieved a partial response or stable disease.

"Our data shows this therapy provides a dual benefit to patients by not only controlling the tumor, but also the debilitating symptoms caused by their excess hormone production," Pryma said.

The drug was generally well-tolerated, with the most common side effects being consistent with what a patient would experience with radiation such as decreased blood counts, fatigue, nausea, and dizziness.

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The trial was supported by Progenics Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Penn Medicine is one of the world's leading academic medical centers, dedicated to the related missions of medical education, biomedical research, and excellence in patient care. Penn Medicine consists of the Raymond and Ruth Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (founded in 1765 as the nation's first medical school) and the University of Pennsylvania Health System, which together form a $7.8 billion enterprise.

The Perelman School of Medicine has been ranked among the top medical schools in the United States for more than 20 years, according to U.S. News & World Report's survey of research-oriented medical schools. The School is consistently among the nation's top recipients of funding from the National Institutes of Health, with $405 million awarded in the 2017 fiscal year.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System's patient care facilities include: The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn Presbyterian Medical Center -- which are recognized as one of the nation's top "Honor Roll" hospitals by U.S. News & World Report -- Chester County Hospital; Lancaster General Health; Penn Medicine Princeton Health; Penn Wissahickon Hospice; and Pennsylvania Hospital -- the nation's first hospital, founded in 1751. Additional affiliated inpatient care facilities and services throughout the Philadelphia region include Good Shepherd Penn Partners, a partnership between Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine, and Princeton House Behavioral Health, a leading provider of highly skilled and compassionate behavioral healthcare.

Penn Medicine is committed to improving lives and health through a variety of community-based programs and activities. In fiscal year 2017, Penn Medicine provided more than $500 million to benefit our community.
A family of trees with high drought tolerance could be crucial in restoring the world's deforested and degraded tropical lands, according to new research involving the University of Stirling.

Experts analysed more than 40 sites across the Neotropics - which includes the tropical regions of Central and South America - and found that Leguminosae trees are critical for tropical forest regrowth in dry regions, due to their resistance to drought.

Leguminosae are herbaceous plants that people will know such as peas and runner beans, but many species in this family are canopy trees that play an important role in tropical forests.

Although the benefits of Leguminosae are well known, scientific understanding of the abundance of the species has previously been biased towards wet tropical regions. Significantly, this study found that, during the first three decades of natural forest regeneration, legume trees were twice as common in dry compared with wet secondary forests.

The findings emerged from a global study involving Dr Daisy Dent, a Lecturer in Tropical Ecology within Stirling's Faculty of Natural Sciences, who led the collection of forest census data from a site in Panama, where she has been working for more than 12 years.

Dr Dent said: "Our study shows that trees in the Leguminosae family are critical to tropical forest regrowth in dry regions.

"As global temperatures warm and dry conditions become more widespread in the tropics, this has major implications for forest recovery across the region."

Leguminosae trees are important in secondary forests - woodland areas that have re-grown after forest clearance - as they have high drought tolerance and many can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. Therefore, they are not limited by the low water availability and poor soils typical of abandoned pastures, where young forests regenerate.

The overall study - which included data from 42 sites spanning the Neotropics - was led by Dr Maga Gei and Jennifer Powers, both of the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behaviour at the University of Minnesota. Dr Dent commented: "This is a huge collaborative effort that indicates the benefits of collating data to generate broad-scale regional datasets that have significantly greater impact than studies from individual sites."

The findings could play a key role in achieving the goals set out by the Bonn Challenge, a global effort to bring 150 million hectares of the world's deforested and degraded land into restoration by 2020, and 350 million hectares by 2030. Dr Dent said: "In light of the goals of the Bonn Challenge, our study will directly influence how we match tree species to site conditions to maximise the effective restoration of degraded tropical lands."

The paper, Legume abundance along successional and rainfall gradients in neotropical forests, is published in Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Each of the 42 sites received their own funding to support forest censuses. The Panama site is funded through an international collaboration grant from the Panamanian Secretariat for Science and Technology, and the Carnegie Trust for Scottish Universities.

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Academics in the Surrey Business School at the University of Surrey have received a research grant from the Department of Health and Social Care to study causes of the gender pay gap in the medical profession

The aims of the project are to identify the causes of the gender pay gap in medicine through the interrogation of datasets, along with the development of qualitative evidence identifying the impact of cultural, practical and psychological issues contributing to the gender pay gap in medicine. The project was triggered as a result of an independent report commissioned by Jeremy Hunt, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. Devised in 2016 after the junior doctors contract negotiations, the report called for the reduction and elimination of gender pay gaps in the medical profession.

Professor Carol Woodhams, Surrey's newly appointed Chair of Human Resources Management, will lead the project team and aims to use the evidence obtained to offer a series of actionable recommendations that will inform future decision-making by the Doctors' Pay Review Body.

Professor Woodhams said: "We are delighted to have been awarded the Department of Health and Social Care contract to investigate this important issue. Gender pay gaps are as pervasive in medicine as in other occupations, impacting on the recruitment, retention and morale of women medics. We have built a strong team that will investigate evidence of the causes of the problem leading to targeted recommendations on ways to reduce pay gaps."

Ansgar Richter, Dead of Surrey Business School, said: "The gender pay gap in the medical profession is a real cause for concern. However, our understanding of why women are being paid less than men in this and many other professions is still quite incomplete. This study will identify the causes of the gender pay gap in this sector and thus serve as a basis for making effective policy decisions."

The project is worth 117k, with 85k coming in directly to the University of Surrey.

The team is led by Professor Woodhams and she is joined by Dr Mark Williams, Senior Lecturer in HRM and Employment Relations, Dr Ioannis Laliotis, Research Fellow, and Dr Jo Blanden, Reader in Economics and Research Director of the School of Economics. The team will be working in close collaboration with Dr Duncan Brown of The Institute of Employment Studies, Professor Carol Atkinson of Manchester Metropolitan University and Sheila Wild at EqualPayPortal.

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Find out more about research at Surrey Business School.
According to research, the combination of food, lighting, colours, furniture, table setting, atmosphere, sound and environment create a multisensory experience that has an effect on consumers' behaviour and general feeling of comfort. The preliminary results show that sounds of nature that were played in the fruit and vegetable section of a grocery shop had a clear impact on the shop's sales. The sales of fruit and vegetables showed an increase of 20% compared to the previous week and 13% compared to the week that followed.

A two-year project was conducted in Finland to find out how different factors such as presentation of the food, the built environment and characteristics of the space can influence customers' experiences and choices of foods in restaurants and grocery shops. The research combined methods from the fields of music research, food science, sociology, architecture and business economics. The project aimed at producing results that could be utilised for business purposes in the nutrition industry and in the planning of different food and eating environments.

The Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki (Uniarts Helsinki) was in charge of examining how music and environmental sounds could be used in supermarkets, fine dining restaurants and in a lunch restaurant.

"By determining the optimal sound design for a grocery shop, we were able to influence consumers' personal and social behaviour. We assessed the premises and the appliances together with the customers to see if there was something that was lacking or in need of improvement in terms of acoustic design", says researcher Heikki Uimonen, who was in charge of Uniarts Helsinki's contribution in the research consortium.

Researchers discovered that the volume of music and the acoustic features of the space, the multisensory experience involving the space and sounds, the interaction between the senses, and emotional experiences induced by music performances played a major role in the sound design for a restaurant. The research also showed that lunch time is largely defined by its social aspect, which can be either boosted or reduced by different features in the surroundings - such as music.

The research report, titled Ei ainoastaan leivasta - Ruoka, kokemus ja moniaistisuus (In English: It is not on Bread Alone - Food, Experience and Multisensoriality), was published on Monday, 5 March 2018. The report was based on the research done for a project titled Health Supporting Multisensory Food Environment. The project was a collaboration between Tampere University of Technology, University of Turku, Uniarts Helsinki's Sibelius Academy, and Seinajoki University of Applied Sciences. The multi-disciplinary research was funded by TEKES/Business Finland.

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The American College of Veterinary Dermatology has honored Dr. Linda Frank, a board-certified specialist in veterinary dermatology, with the 2018 Award for Excellence for Outstanding Contributions to Science and Education. As a professor of dermatology in the Department of Small Animal Clinical Sciences at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine, Frank excels as a clinician, teacher and researcher. She receives frequent invitations to speak at international conferences.

Frank's primary research interests include endocrine and other noninflammatory alopecic disorders of dogs and epidemiology and treatment of methicillin-resistant staphylococcal infections. Frank and colleagues have developed a new vaccine to treat or prevent skin infections and other diseases caused by a certain type of staphylococcal bacteria. This organism, S. pseudintermedius, has developed widespread resistance to antibiotics. A clinical trial is currently underway to test the vaccine to determine if it stimulates an immune response in dogs with skin infections and assists their immune systems in destroying the bacteria.

Frank also serves as codirector of the college's Veterinary Scholars Research Summer Program that provides an opportunity for veterinary students to explore careers in research through participation in a hypothesis-driven project and associated training activities during the summer under the guidance of a mentor.

Frank has also received the 2014 Zoetis Animal Health Award for Veterinary Research Excellence, the 2016 Oxford Laboratories Award for Excellence in the advancement of knowledge concerning small animal endocrinology for best paper in basic science and best paper in clinical studies, and a recent UT Research Foundation Innovation Award.

Frank earned her Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in 1985.

Frank received the award at the North American Veterinary Dermatology Forum in Maui, Hawaii, where she also presented an abstract about the new vaccine.

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One of 30 veterinary colleges in the United States, the UT College of Veterinary Medicine educates students in the art and science of veterinary medicine and related biomedical sciences, promotes scientific research and enhances human and animal well-being.

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.
Though you might read about deep, dark woods in fairy tales, the prevailing story today is that very little European old-growth forest remains. But now a new study--and map--shows that a surprising number of these primary forests still stand.

"What we've shown in this study is that, even though the total area of forest is not large in Europe, there are considerably more of these virgin or primary forests left than previously thought--and they are widely distributed throughout many parts of Europe," says Bill Keeton, a forest ecologist at the University of Vermont. "And where they occur, they provide exceptionally unique ecological values and habitat for biodiversity."

Keeton was a part of a team--led by researchers from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany--who created the first map of Europe's last wild forests. The map identifies more than 3.4 million acres in 34 European countries--and was published in the journal Diversity & Distributions on May 24, 2018.

PRECIOUS PATCHES

"It is not that these forests were never touched by man. This would be hard to believe in Europe," explains Humboldt University scientist Francesco Maria Sabatini, lead author of the study. "Still, these are forests where there are no clearly visible indications of human activities. Maybe that's because they were blurred by decades of non-intervention, where ecological processes follow a natural dynamic."

The compilation of the map was a huge task. "We contacted hundreds of forest scientists, experts, and NGO activists from all over Europe asking to share information on where to find such forests in their country," says Sabatini, a post-doctoral researcher at Humboldt. "Without their direct engagement, we could have never been able to build our database, which is the most comprehensive ever compiled for Europe."

The study highlights that primary forests in Europe are generally very rare, located in remote areas, and fragmented into small patches. "The European landscape is the result of millennia of human activities, so it is not surprising that only a small fraction of our forests are still substantially undisturbed," explains Tobias Kuemmerle, director of the Conservation Biogeography Lab at Humbolt University and the senior author on the study. "Although such forests only correspond to a tiny fraction of the total forest area in Europe," he says, "they are absolutely outstanding in terms of their ecological and conservation value."

Primary forests are often the only remaining harbor for many endangered species, Kuemmerle says, and scientists consider them as natural laboratories for understanding people's impact on forest ecosystems. "Knowing where these rare forests are is therefore extremely important," he says, "but, until this study, no unified map existed for Europe."

CUTTING CONTINUES

"Europe has really been at the forefront of establishing continent-wide protected areas networks," says UVM's Bill Keeton, who has studied forests in Europe for more than a decade and chairs a working group on old-growth forests for the International Union of Forest Research Organizations. But the new study also shows that the preservation of these remaining fragments of primary forest cannot be taken for granted, not even in Europe. The majority of these forests are small and interspersed in human-dominated landscapes, which makes them particularly prone to human disturbance.

The new study reports that most--89 percent--of the primary forest mapped is in protected areas, but only 46 percent of this land is under strict protection. This means that, at least in some European countries, timber harvesting or salvage logging may jeopardize the wild nature of these forests.

"Wide patches of primary forest are being currently logged in many mountain areas, for instance in Romania and Slovakia and in some Balkan countries," says Miroslav Svoboda, a scientist at the University of Life Science in Prague and a co-author of the study. "A soaring demand for bioenergy coupled with high rates of illegal logging, are leading to the destruction of this irreplaceable natural heritage, often without even understanding that the forest being cut is primary."

It's an irony, Svoboda says, that in many cases logging is done legally, even within national parks. "Primary forests have an exceptional value, both environmental and cultural," he says, "and preserving their integrity should be a priority of any EU environmental strategies."

MAP TO PROTECT AND RESTORE

The scientists are confident the new map can help protect Europe's remaining old-growth forests. "We clearly demonstrated that the distribution of remaining primary forest is the result of centuries of land use and forest management," said Sabatini. In his view, understanding the human-caused pressures behind the current distribution of primary forests can inform future protection and restoration efforts.

"We used the new map to calibrate a model highlighting areas where land-use pressure is low," says Sabatini, "to predict where other patches of primary forest, not yet mapped, are likely to occur." Even if these areas turn out to not hold primary forest, he says, they still may be good places for forest restoration initiatives at relatively low cost.

In other words, the new research may point toward "hundreds of additional sites that are worthy of consideration for possible protection," say Bill Keeton who co-directs the University of Vermont's Forestry Program and serves as a Gund Fellow in UVM's Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources. "We may find areas that are good to include in an expanded World Heritage Network or given other conservation status."

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Scientists at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute have added a new dimension to the understanding of how cells alter their communication with one another during development, wound healing, and the spread of cancer.

The researchers published their results in Molecular Biology of the Cell, a journal published by the American Society for Cell Biology.

"We have gained a new insight into how an individual cell can dynamically modulate its synthesis of proteins from existing genetic instructions," said James Smyth, an assistant professor in the VTCRI Center for Heart and Regenerative Medicine Research at the VTCRI and lead author on the study. "This understanding of fine-tuning is new to the field."

When tissue grows or heals, its outer layer of epithelial cells takes on characteristics that allow cells to migrate, change their size and behavior, and act as other cell types, specifically multipotent mesenchymal cells that are useful for making repairs. The process is known as the epithelial mesenchymal transition, or EMT.

"The problem is that EMT is also activated in various disease processes, such as fibrosis and cancer metastasis," said Smyth, who is also an assistant professor of biological sciences in Virginia Tech's College of Science. "Fortunately, these cells are very amenable to manipulation. We've developed a powerful new tool to study this process to help us get to the heart of cancer metastasis. We can observe cancer cells change their communication with each other to become more invasive, to separate, and to disperse throughout the body."

Smyth said researchers will also be able to use their techniques to better understand cellular responses to injury and disease in other pathologies, such as cardiac disease, as well.

Smyth normally studies communication between cardiac cells, with a specific focus on the role of a type of protein called connexin 43. Connexins are found in every tissue of the body. When six connexin 43 proteins come together, they form channels called gap junctions through which cells communicate.

Historically, people thought that the more connexin proteins in the cell, the more gap junctions the cell would make, thus enriching cellular communication.

Like all proteins, Connexin 43 is synthesized from the message encoded in RNA that has read out the DNA code. The RNA can also encode for smaller pieces or fragments of connexins 20k, that ensure gap junction formation.

"It was thought that the amount of RNA correlated with the amount of connexin protein, but we now know that it's much more complicated than that," Smyth said. "The point of protein synthesis for translation is tightly regulated by the cell, and it is dynamic, changing with development and with disease."

In this study, Smyth found that RNA and protein synthesis of connexin increased during EMT, but the amount of gap junctions on the surface of the cell did not increase as expected.

In an effort to understand why, Smyth collaborated with Samy Lamouille, a research assistant professor at the VTCRI. Lamouille is an expert in EMT and the cellular signaling involved in protein translation, which he has studied since he was a postdoctoral associate at the University of California San Francisco.

Lamouille, who is also a research assistant professor of biological sciences in Virginia Tech's College of Science, focuses on understanding the mechanisms that regulate cell-to-cell interaction in cancer and how deregulated intercellular communication can lead to cancer progression through EMT.

"In this study, we found the formation of gap junction structures that allow cells to communicate was disrupted during EMT despite an abundance of connexin 43," Lamouille said.

Normally, the cell makes the 20k connexin fragments to direct the full-length connexin 43 to the surface of the cell -- a process that becomes altered to the detriment of gap junction formation.

Smyth and Lamouille hypothesized that the connexin (20k) fragments were being suppressed during the internal translation process of protein synthesis.

"We had this increase in proteins, but they weren't going to the cell membrane surface," Smyth said. "Could it be that the connexins were getting stuck somewhere?"

The researchers used the VTCRI's super resolution microscope to examine individual molecules and to analyze the connexins within the cells. They found that the full-length connexins were arrested in the cell's Golgi apparatus, which acts as a packaging plant for proteins heading to the surface of the cell.

To counteract the suppressed expression of 20K connexin fragments, Smyth used a lentivirus vector to cause the cells' RNA to make 20k connexin, thereby rescuing the full-length connexin 43, the formation of gap junctions, and normal cellular communications.

Smyth is now applying the information he learned in this research to cardiovascular disease, where he's seen the same cellular communication issues.

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Other contributors include co-first author Carissa James, a doctoral student in Virginia Tech's Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health graduate program; co-first author Michael Zeitz, a research scientist in Smyth's laboratory at the VTCRI; and Patrick Calhoun, a graduate student in Smyth's lab at the VTCRI who is earning his doctorate from the Department of Biological Sciences in Virginia Tech's College of Science.

The work was funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the VTCRI.
Just because you stopped smoking years ago doesn't mean you're out of the woods when it comes to developing lung cancer. That's the "bad" news. The good news is your risk of lung cancer drops substantially within five years of quitting.

These are the main findings of a new analysis of the landmark Framingham Heart Study by researchers at Vanderbilt University Medical Center published May 16 by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

"If you smoke, now is a great time to quit," said first author Hilary Tindle, MD, MPH, the William Anderson Spickard Jr., MD Professor of Medicine at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and director of the Vanderbilt Center for Tobacco, Addiction and Lifestyle.

"The fact that lung cancer risk drops relatively quickly after quitting smoking, compared to continuing smoking, gives new motivation," she said.

Tindle and her colleagues examined the health records of residents of Framingham, Massachusetts, who have been followed for decades by the Framingham Heart Study.

The study, which is supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, helped establish high blood pressure and high cholesterol as key risk factors for cardiovascular disease. But it also tracked cancer outcomes.

The current study looked at 8,907 participants who had been followed for 25 to 34 years. During this period, 284 lung cancers were diagnosed, nearly 93 percent of which occurred among heavy smokers, those who had smoked at least a pack of cigarettes a day for 21 years or more.

Five years after quitting, the risk of developing lung cancer in former heavy smokers dropped by 39 percent compared to current smokers, and continued to fall as time went on. Yet even 25 years after quitting, their lung-cancer risk remained over threefold higher compared to people who had never smoked.

The Framingham study is unique because it asked people about their smoking every two to four years, and could account for increases or decreases in smoking over time.

Current federal guidelines, which mandate insurance coverage of lung cancer screening for current and former smokers, exclude those who haven't smoked for 15 years or more. Yet four of 10 cancers in heavy smokers in the current study occurred more than 15 years after they quit.

Further study is warranted to determine whether extending the cut-off point for mandated screening would be cost-effective and save lives, the researchers concluded.

"While the importance of smoking cessation cannot be overstated, former heavy smokers need to realize that the risk of lung cancer remains elevated for decades after they smoke their last cigarette, underscoring the importance of lung cancer screening," said senior author Matthew Freiberg, MD, MSc, professor of Medicine.

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Freiberg is founding director of the Vanderbilt Center for Clinical Cardiovascular Outcomes Research and Trials Evaluation (V-CREATE).

Other Vanderbilt co-authors were Pierre Massion, MD, Cornelius Vanderbilt Professor of Medicine; Robert Greevy, PhD, associate professor of Biostatistics; Meredith Stevenson Duncan, MA, V-CREATE database administrator; and Suman Kundu, DSc, MSc, associate database administrator in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine and V-CREATE.

Vasan S. Ramachandran, MD, principal investigator of the Framingham Heart Study and professor of Medicine at Boston University, also contributed to the study.
May 29, 2018 - A study showing that pneumococcal vaccination produces a lasting antibody response in preterm infants has been named winner of the inaugural ESPID-PIDJ Award, recognizing the best paper submitted to The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (PIDJ) by a member of The European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID). The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal, the official journal of the ESPID, is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

The lead author of the winning paper is Federico Martinon-Torres, MD, PhD, of Healthcare Research Institute of Santiago, Santiago de Compostela, Spain. Dr. Martinon-Torres will receive the ESPID-PIDJ Award and briefly discuss his work at a ceremony during the 36th Annual Meeting of the ESPID (ESPID 2018), held this week in Malmo, Sweden.

Winning Paper Shows Persistent Response to PCV-13 in Preterm Infants Dr. Martinon-Torres and colleagues evaluated the persistence of antibody response to the recommended four-dose course of 13-valent PCV vaccine in formerly preterm infants, compared to term infants. The researchers found that immune responses persisted up to two years after the "toddler dose" (scheduled for age 12 months) of PCV13.

For most serotypes, IgG-binding antibody levels were lower for preterm infants, compared to term infants, at both one and two years after the toddler dose. However, antibody levels in the two groups of children appeared "functionally comparable."

The findings have important implications for reducing the elevated risk of invasive pneumococcal disease in preterm infants. Dr. Martinon-Torres and coauthors conclude, "The routine (3 + 1) vaccination schedule is likely to offer long-term protection against invasive pneumococcal disease in preterm infants and should be initiated regardless of gestational age or weight at birth, without delay of the toddler dose."

Steven Black, MD, Editor-in-Chief of PIDJ, comments: "These findings underscore the importance of current PCV recommendations for maximizing protection against invasive pneumococcal disease in preterm infants at high risk."

Presented this year for the first time, the new ESPID-PIDJ Award recognizes the best original research paper submitted to PIDJ by an ESPID member during the preceding year, as determined by the ESPID Awards Committee. Prof. Adam Finn, President of ESPID, comments, "The goal of this new award is to highlight the partnership between ESPID and PIDJ, and to recognize the excellence of the scientific work being performed by ESPID members."

Dr. Black adds, "When it's time to publish their research, we encourage all ESPID members to consider submitting to PIDJ, their subspecialty society journal." To learn about submitting your manuscript, visit http://www.editorialmanager.com/pidj/default.aspx.

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About The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal

The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal (PIDJ) is a complete, up-to-the-minute resource on infectious diseases in children. Through a mix of original studies, informative review articles, and unique case reports, PIDJ delivers the latest insights on combating disease in children -- from state-of-the-art diagnostic techniques to the most effective drug therapies and other treatment protocols. It is a resource that can improve patient care and stimulate your personal research. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal is the official journal of the European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases.

About The European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases

Now in its 36th year, The European Society for Paediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID) forms the basis for European investigators interested in infectious diseases in children and infection prevention in childhood. The society is engaged in a number of activities including the organisation of multicentre trials, international exchange of infectious disease fellows, and an annual meeting. Membership includes subscription to The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal in addition to many other benefits.

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.
DETROIT - In Detroit and across the nation, the need for nurses who practice on community-based primary care and public health teams is growing. As health care moves from hospital settings to the community, these teams will need RNs working to the full scope of their license, particularly in an urban setting.

Wayne State Associate Dean for Academic and Clinical Affairs and Associate Professor Dr. Ramona Benkert and colleague Belinda Aberle were recently awarded a $2.6 million Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR) grant to help do just that. Benkert's proposal, "Primary Care-Community Health Immersion Program in Detroit (PC-Chip in the D)," received four years of funding to address these training gaps. The proposal includes a sustainability plan that will ensure the continuation of activities beyond federal funding.

Wayne State's College of Nursing will work collaboratively with three of its longstanding community/practice partners, including two federally qualified health centers, Detroit Community Health Connection, and Covenant Community Health Center, and the Oakland County Health Division. These partners are located in Detroit as well as Pontiac. Together, they will create a replicable primary care nursing workforce training program for senior-level BSN students and current RNs.

"Wayne State College of Nursing is known for its commitment to community health," said Dean Laurie M. Lauzon Clabo. She continued, "This prestigious grant will further our impact on urban health and enhance student learning with an eye toward serving diverse populations and promoting community and urban health." In fact, students will work side by side with RNs in these community settings in an immersion clinical experience for 150 hours.

Benkert explained, "The clinical immersion experiences in a primary care or public health environment will enhance our BSN curriculum as well as our faculty's knowledge of these concepts." Ultimately, this could lead to a distinct hiring advantage for WSU nursing graduates. Benkert said, "It will expand nursing role options post-graduation as it will enhance student knowledge of case management roles, quality management and other primary care concepts."

Equally important, the three community partners will have an opportunity to hire graduates with the exact skills necessary to work in a community setting.

This innovative, collaborative, community-based care model will provide students with an exceptional training experience; however, patients who may otherwise go untreated will be the ultimate beneficiaries of this high-quality, no-cost care.

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The Wayne State University College of Nursing is committed to providing a world-class educational experience. Our faculty aid in the development of new nursing knowledge through the conduct of research that focuses on urban health, symptom science and health promotion.

Wayne State is a nationally recognized urban center of excellence in research. We are proud to be one of only 10 U.S. public universities in major cities holding the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching's designation as an institution with "very high research activity," as well as the foundation's most comprehensive classification for community engagement. WSU is among the nation's top public universities for total research expenditures ($221.5 million) according to the National Science Foundation.

Health Resources & Services Administration: The purpose of this four-year Nurse Education, Practice, Quality and Retention (NEPQR) - Registered Nurses in Primary Care (RNPC) Training Program is to recruit and train nursing students and current registered nurses (RNs) to practice to the full scope of their license in community-based primary care teams to increase access to care, with an emphasis on chronic disease prevention and control, including mental health and substance use conditions. The program aims to achieve a sustainable primary care nursing workforce equipped with the competencies necessary to address pressing national public health issues, even the distribution of the nursing workforce, improve access to care and improve population health outcomes by strengthening the capacity for basic nurse education and practice and addressing national nursing needs under three priority areas: education, practice and retention, as authorized by PHS Act sections 831(a)-(c) and 831A(a)-(c).
The EU's top court ruled Tuesday that animal slaughter without stunning can only occur in approved abattoirs, saying a ban on temporary slaughter houses does not violate Muslim religious freedom.

In its ruling, the European Court of Justice upheld a 2014 ban in Belgiums Flanders region against temporary abattoirs set up to cope with increased demand during Eid al-Adha, the Muslim feast of sacrifice.

The Court confirms that ritual slaughter without stunning may take place only in an approved slaughterhouse, the Luxembourg-based court said in a statement.

That obligation does not infringe freedom of religion as it is only intended to organise and manage the freedom to practise ritual slaughter, taking into account the fundamental rules on the protection of animal welfare and the health of consumers of meat.

Ritual slaughter without stunning is also practised by Jewish communities.

The court said EU laws have reconciled ritual slaughter with guarantees for animal welfare and consumer health.

In 2016, Muslim associations and an umbrella organisation of mosques had challenged the Flemish region on grounds that it breached freedom of religion.

But the court said: An occasional problem of lack of slaughter capacity in one region of a Member State is the result of a combination of domestic circumstances which cannot affect the validity of the regulation.

It referred to the increase in demand for ritual slaughter over several days during Eid al-Adha.
The police and military have become regular targets of attacks in Europe since 2015 as in Belgium where two female police officers were among three people killed Tuesday.

Here is a recap of the main such incidents, most which have been carried out in the name of jihad.

 France: repeated attacks 

 Two police officers are among the 12 victims of a jihadist attack in January 2015 at the offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris.

A jihadist kills a policewoman in a Paris suburb the next day.

 In June 2016 a police officer and his partner, who also works for the police, are killed in front of their young son at their home in Magnanville, west of Paris.

 In April 2017 a gunman shoots and kills a policeman and wounds two others on Paris Champs Elysees.

 Two months later, on the same avenue, a radicalised Islamist who has sworn allegiance to the Islamic State (IS) is killed when he rams a car loaded with guns and a gas canister into a police van. No one else is hurt.

 In June 2017 an Algerian shouting This is for Syria tries to attack a policeman with a hammer outside the Notre Dame cathedral in Paris but is shot and wounded.

 In March 2018 policeman Arnaud Beltrame is killed after offering himself as a hostage in exchange for a woman being held by an Islamist attacker as a human shield during a supermarket siege at Trebes in southwestern France.

Three other people die in the incident and the attacker is eventually shot dead by anti-terror police.

 Soldiers in Frances anti-terror Sentinelle operation, deployed since the 2015 attacks, have been targeted on several occasions with knives, machetes and vehicles, leaving some of them wounded.

The attacks have been at diverse locations including a Jewish community centre in Nice, Orly airport south of Paris and the Louvre Museum and Chatelet metro station in the capital.

 Britain: stabbed to death 

 In March 2017 a police officer is fatally stabbed outside parliament in central London after four other people are killed when a man rams a car into pedestrians on Westminster Bridge.

The attacker, a Briton converted to Islam and known to the police, is shot dead. The attack is claimed by IS but the police do not find proof of such a link.

 In August 2017 a man armed with a four-foot sword and yelling Allahu Akbar (God is Greatest) injures three police officers in front of Buckingham Palace.

 Belgium: several attacks 

 In August 2016 a machete-wielding man attacks two policewomen in Charleroi, southern Belgium, badly injuring one before being shot dead by a third officer. The IS claims the attack.

 In October 2016 two police officers, a man and a woman, are attacked and wounded with a knife in a Brussels suburb. The incident is qualified as a terrorist.

 In August 2017 a Belgian of Somalian origin attacks soldiers with a knife in Brussels shouting Allahu Akbar, before being shot and dying. One of the soldiers is slightly injured.
Swiss food giant Nestle plans to cut as many as 500 computer-service jobs in Switzerland as part of a restructuring plan to increase profitability, the company announced on Tuesday.

Nestle will be outsourcing the IT jobs to Spain, according to a press release published on the companys website.

We understand that this a difficult time for our employees, said Peter Vogt, head of Nestles Human Resources.

Nestlescoffee unit, Nespresso, is also moving Swiss jobs to Spain and Portugal. This move will impact an additional 80 employees, although the people affected by this reorganisation will be offered jobs in the new locations.

The cuts will be implemented over the next 18 months. Nestle remains fully committed to its home base in Switzerland. The relationship between Nestle and Switzerland is mutually beneficial, Vogt said.
Imam Muris Begovic and Rabbi Noam Hertig have been honoured for their commitment to the religious exchange between Jewish and Muslim communities in Switzerland.

The prize is awarded by the Swiss Federation of Jewish Communities (SIG) and the Platform of Liberal Jews in Switzerland (PLJS). It is given to people who make a significant contribution to social cohesion and religious peace in Switzerland.

The awards ceremony took place in Bern on Tuesday evening. The two Zurich prize-winners have been committed to fostering Muslim-Jewish dialogue for years.

Muris Begovic is the secretary of the Association of Islamic Organisations in Zurich (VIOZ), and a former deputy imam of a local Bosnian mosque. He is also the managing director of the Muslim Hospital and Emergency Pastoral Care project.

Rabbi Noam Hertig is a prominent member of the Zurich Jewish community  the largest one in the country.

Both men support the project Respect which facilitates cultural exchanges between the two communities. By hosting various workshops, the project encourages an active dialogue with the aim of dismantling mutual prejudices.

They also served as spiritual representatives of the first official joint dialogue event held between the Swiss Jewish and Muslim umbrella organisations.

Government councillor Jacqueline Fehr congratulated the winners, saying that their work was key to combatting prejudice within society and promoting mutual understanding.

I am convinced that cooperation and dialogue contribute more to religious and social peace than exclusion, Fehr said.

The Swiss Jewish Dialogue Prize was presented for the first time this year. An additional two winners from French-speaking Switzerland include the Protestant deacon Maurice Gardiol and the Jewish prayer leader Eric Ackermann.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier sought Tuesday to relieve Ukraine's concerns about the Nord Stream II pipeline, saying it would continue to play its role in gas transit to Europe.

During a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko in Kiev, Steinmeier underlined that Germany was making efforts to guarantee the future transit of gas by Ukraine.

According to Steinmeier, there are ongoing discussions on this subject not only between Germany and Ukraine, but also with the European Union.

I hope () that the great fear of Ukraine  that Ukraine will no longer play its role as a transit country in the future  this fear will be groundless, Steinmeier said.

Meanwhile Poroshenko said Ukraine was making every effort to convince, including some European partners, that (Nord Stream 2) is a purely political rather than economic project aimed at breaking up the unity of the EU.

He said the proposal was aimed at harming the level of security of the entire region, not just the competitiveness of the European economy.

Germany has supported plans by Russias Gazprom to build Nord Stream 2, for which preparatory work has begun and should be completed in 2019.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel met in Russias Black Sea resort of Sochi on May 18 to discuss the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, criticised by Ukraine and threatened by US sanctions.

The pipeline would call further into question Ukraines role as a key transit nation for Russian gas to Europe, but Putin sought to reassure shipments would continue in any case.

We will continue gas shipments (via Ukraine) as long as they are economically justified, Putin said during a press conference with Merkel.

For her part, Merkel said that Germany believes Ukraines role as a transit country should continue after the construction of Nord Stream 2 it has a strategic importance.
A comprehensive guide to childrens healthcare in Spain, including mental, physical, and dental care, when using the public and private healthcare systems.

Spain offers free healthcare services to all children residing in the country, as well as additional private healthcare options. This guide explains what you need to know, with sections on the following topics:

Globality Health Globality Health is an expat-friendly international health insurance provider. They tailor their range of expert premiums to the needs of you and your family, including eye care, dentistry, family doctors, and more. So, see your health care options more clearly with Globality Health. Look into healthcare cover in Spain

Childrens healthcare in Spain

If youre a parent moving to Spain, youll be pleased to hear that the Spanish healthcare system ranks highly in global terms. Spain is 19th on the most recent Healthcare Access and Quality Index with a score of 92 out of 100. 98.1% of Spanish children are in good health and only 0.4% are in poor health. Both scores are better than the EU average.

Spain has a public health system that offers universal coverage to all. This is mostly covered by health insurance payments. All children who are residents of Spain receive free state healthcare that covers most standard services.

The Ministry of Health, Consumer Affairs, and Social Welfare (Ministerio de Sanidad, Consumo, y Bienestar Social) regulates healthcare in Spain, providing a variety of information, including annual reviews of vaccination schedules, assessments of emerging diseases, and educational materials. However, each autonomous community in Spain has its own regulations relevant to residents of that region.

How to access childrens healthcare in Spain

Public healthcare for children in Spain

You can access public healthcare in Spain if you live or work in the country or register with Spanish social security. All children in Spain receive public healthcare. As long as you register for state healthcare with the Spanish authorities, your children enjoy the same healthcare rights.

General healthcare services are free for children in Spain. These include the following:

Pre-natal and post-natal care

Pediatric care up until age 15 (and standard care from a general practitioner after)

Free vaccinations until age 14

Dental care in Spain until age 15

Access to 23 different types of specialty practitioners

Prolonged benefits in both standard healthcare and dental care for children with physical or mental disabilities

Dental and physical health education, including information on nutrition

Free emergency services, including free emergency dental care

Private healthcare for kids in Spain

Many families residing in Spain opt for private healthcare. This is because package deals are offered, giving a range of benefits to both parents and their children. In particular, private health insurance allows access to multilingual services, extended dental packages, and reduced waiting times for specialists in comparison to the public service.

The following private international companies provide insurance packages including childrens healthcare that are suitable for expats in Spain:

Pediatricians in Spain

Children in Spain see a pediatrician for general healthcare until the age of 15. Spanish pediatricians work mainly in health centers (centros de salud) and pediatric clinics. Some work in private practices; however, this is more common among private pediatricians.

Most Spanish hospitals have pediatric departments, although these deal mainly with specialist care and are usually accessed through referrals.

You can register your child with a pediatrician if you are entitled to access public healthcare. This means that your child gets free healthcare. Alternatively, you can access private pediatric care through private health insurance.

You can find pediatricians in Spain through your local health authority. They will be able to provide details of local pediatricians who are members of the Spanish Medical Association (Organizacion Medica Colegial de Espana) or the Spanish Association of Pediatrics (Asociacion Espanola de Pediatria). You can also search for English-speaking professionals on the UK government website.

Routine checkups for children in Spain

Spanish pediatricians look after the health and development of your child until the age of 15. This includes carrying out post-birth exams, performing preventative screenings and vaccinations, monitoring development, and referring to specialist services if necessary.

Checks and screenings will be done to monitor the following:

height and weight

hearing and vision

cognitive, mental, and psychological development

birth injuries or health issues developing within the first 24 hours of life

the general state of health, ensuring that your child is free from infectious diseases and serious health conditions

Your child will usually see a pediatrician at the following times:

once a month for the first six months

every three months from the age of 612 months

every four months from the age of 12 years

twice a year from ages 26 years

at least once a year from the ages 615 years

Vaccinations for children in Spain

Immunizations are not a legal requirement for childrens healthcare in Spain; however, it is highly recommended. Spain has 17 autonomous communities and two autonomous cities, each with their own vaccination schedule. Additionally, the Advisory Committee on Vaccines of the Spanish Association of Paediatrics updates the immunization schedule every year.

Currently, children up to age 14 get the following vaccinations in Spain for free under the Spanish national health service:

Hepatitis B, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, polio, measles, mumps, rubella, Haemophilus Influenzae type B, meningococcus C, and human papillomavirus (HPV).

Certain risk groups can obtain vaccines for chickenpox, pneumococcus, and influenza.

Taking your child to see a doctor or specialist in Spain

Children in Spain tend to see pediatricians rather than general doctors in the early years of their lives. However, you can take your child to see a doctor in Spain. In order to do this, you must register with a local practitioner. Doctors are available in health centers, individual practices, and hospitals in Spain. Some doctors provide treatments through both state and private services.

There are 23 branches of pediatric specialties in Spain. In order to see a specialist through the state system, your childs pediatrician or primary care physician must provide a referral. However, waiting times can be long for diagnostics and other specialist services.

Private healthcare insurance often allows you to visit specialist clinics directly. It generally has much shorter wait times for specialist care in comparison to the state service and also provides medical services in multiple languages.

Read even more in our informative guide to doctors in Spain.

Childrens hospitals in Spain

Most Spanish hospitals have pediatric wards where you can get specialist treatment for your child with a referral. This is usually free if it is a public hospital and you have state health insurance. Otherwise, youll need private health insurance to cover costs.

You can take your child to the accidents and emergencies (A&E) department of the nearest Spanish hospital in the event of an emergency. The hospital should provide treatment even if you are not covered by insurance.

You can find specialist childrens hospitals in some of the big Spanish cities. These include:

You can search for hospitals via the Spanish Ministry of Health.

See even more details on hospital care in our guide to Spanish hospitals.

Dental care for kids in Spain

Although the Spanish healthcare system doesnt include free dental treatment for adults, dental care for children is free under the Spanish healthcare system until the age of 15.

Dental treatments are available to children between ages 615 in Spain. However, this varies across the autonomous regions. For instance, Madrid offers free dental care to children aged 6-16, while Catalonia treats children aged 717 for free.

Free dental care for children in Spain includes the following:

annual or twice-yearly checkups

cavity fillings

emergency treatment

tooth removals

preventative care

Other treatments such as implants or being fitted for braces are generally not free. Costs vary across Spains different regions. Private healthcare is a popular option when seeking dental care in Spain as it guarantees complete coverage, regardless of regional residency.

You can search for registered dentists in Spain through the General Council of Dentists (Consejo General de Colegios Oficiales de Dentistas).

Mental healthcare for children in Spain

Childrens mental healthcare in Spain is good in comparison to other countries. All regions provide standard services such as access to child psychologists and psychiatrists. In a 2018 World Health Organization study of children aged 1115, Spanish children reported high levels of well-being and among the lowest levels of feeling low, irritable, or being bullied.

Child mental health services are delivered differently under each regions health system. In general, pediatricians will monitor the psychological development of children and refer to specialists if necessary. Hospital pediatric departments include both in-patient and outpatient care. Specialisms including eating disorders, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, and addictive behavior.

Children in Spain with long-term mental illnesses receive extended free healthcare coverage. This includes, for example, dental care and GP treatment beyond the age of 15.

Preventative healthcare programs for Spanish children

Preventative programs for childrens healthcare in Spain that focus on promoting healthy living (for example, healthy eating or arts-based health projects in schools or community groups) tend to vary across the autonomous regions.

Centrally, the Spanish government has become more involved in healthy lifestyle promotion in recent years. The Ministry of Health launched a Health Promotion and Prevention Strategy (HPPS) in 2013, which includes positive parenting training to improve child health as well as advice on improving health and wellbeing.

Part of the HPPS launch in 2015 was a healthy lifestyle section on the Ministry of Health website. Here, the HPPS provides parents with information on healthy eating, physical activity, emotional wellbeing, tobacco prevention, and reducing alcohol consumption. There are sections that children and adolescents can explore themselves. The Ministry of Health also has health promotion information for both children and adolescents.

Useful resources
Since the 2011 ousting of dictator Moamer Kadhafi, Libya has been divided by a multitude of rival factions seeking to gain dominance in the North African nation.

Four key players were in Paris on Tuesday for a peace conference, where they agreed to work together to hold elections on December 10.

Fayez al-Sarraj

Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj is head of the UN-backed Government of National Accord in Tripoli.

He has been in the post since March 2016 and the GNC has the backing of numerous cities in the west, although it has failed to gain the confidence of parliament based in the eastern city of Tobruk.

Sarraj is supported in the Libyan capital by three militias, which are in charge of security in Tripoli and its surroundings.

Khalid al-Mishri

Khalid al-Mishri is the newly elected head of the High Council of State in Tripoli.

The body was part of the UN-sponsored deal signed in Morocco in 2015, which also led to the creation of the GNA.

The High Council is made up of ex-members of the Tripoli-based General National Council  who had been appointed in 2012 elections  and it is hostile to military strongman Khalifa Haftar in the east.

Mishri is a member of the Justice and Construction Party, the countrys wing of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Khalifa Haftar

Marshal Khalifa Haftars self-styled Libyan National Army dominates the countrys east and also has a presence in the south.

On May 7 Haftar announced an offensive for the liberation of Derna, the only part of Libyas east out of his control.

The military figure is accused of wanting to impose a dictatorship and of being backed by foreign forces from Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and France.

Aguila Saleh Issa

Aguila Saleh Issa was elected parliamentary speaker after 2014 polls. The same year militias seized control of the capital, prompting the assembly to flee to the eastern city of Tobruk.

In the west, the General National Council has refused to step down to allow the exiled lawmakers to take up their seats.

Haftar says he takes his legitimacy from the Tobruk-based parliament.

Saleh is a former judge and has the support his tribe, al-Obeidat, one of the most powerful in eastern Libya.

Other actors

Observers have noted that numerous important actors who were not present in Paris.

 Misrata

The city of Misrata, which boycotted the peace conference, includes the most influential politicians and the most powerful militias of western Libya.

The militias are against Haftar, but divided in their approach to Tripolis Government of National Accord.

 Zintan

Fighters from Zintan, south-west of Tripoli, were driven out of the capital in 2014.

They are hostile to Islamists and have made clear their support for Haftar.

Zintan militias control the oilfields of western Libya.

 The Benghazi Defence Brigades (BDB)

The group is composed of Misrata militias and Islamist fighters who were driven from Benghazi by Haftars forces.

 The Amazighs

Areas under their control include the Ras Jedir and Dhehiba border posts on the frontier with Tunisia. They regularly protest their marginalisation by transition authorities.

 The Tuaregs

They control the borders with southern Algeria and part of the frontier with Niger.

 The Tubus

Present in Sebha, 600 kilometres (370 miles) south of Tripoli, the Tubu people also operate along parts of the borders with Niger, Chad and Sudan.
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday rejected French President Emmanuel Macron's comment that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri had been held against his will in the kingdom in November.

Hariri announced on November 4 that he was stepping down in a televised address from Riyadh, only to rescind it the following month after Macrons intervention.

In an interview broadcast Friday by French broadcaster BFMTV, Macron described how he waded into the crisis after Hariri resigned, allegedly under pressure from the Saudi crown prince.

Lebanon has since emerged from a serious crisis where, as I recall, a prime minister was held in Saudi Arabia for several weeks, Macron said.

On Tuesday, a Saudi foreign ministry spokesman denied that Hariri was held against his will.

What the French president said in an interview with channel BFMTV that the kingdom had held Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is incorrect, he was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was and still supports the stability and security of Lebanon and Prime Minister Hariri, he said.

The spokesman went on to accuse Saudi regional rival Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, of stoking instability in Lebanon.

Macrons mediation in the crisis, which led Hariri to travel to Paris and then rescind his resignation, was seen by analysts as exposing the limits of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salmans authority.

During a his first visit to France in April as the heir to the Saudi throne, the prince and Macron hailed a warming of ties between Paris and Riyadh but conceded some differences over Iran.

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By Ruth Anderah.

Former LRA commandant Dominic Ongwen is set to begin his defence in August this year at the Hague-based International Criminal Court.

This has been confirmed by Dahirou Sant-Anna an international cooperation advisor from the office of the prosecutor at the ICC.

She was briefing the media in Kampala on the update of the Ongwen trial which started in January 2017.

Sant-Anna says prosecution closed its case in April this year with evidence from 116 witnesses who also included victims of the atrocities allegedly committed by Ongwen.

Among them were 7 women forced by Ongwen to Marry him, ten UPDF soldiers, former LRA fighters who were under Ongwens Brigarde, child soldiers who were abducted and enlisted into rebel activities and expert witnesses who testified about Ongwens mental status.

Sant-Anna further explained that some of the witnesses gave their evidence by way of recorded statements while others physically traveled to testify at the Hague.
Portugal's parliament was set to vote Tuesday on the divisive issue of euthanasia, with the result of the bill's first reading in the balance in the predominantly Catholic country.

The text, proposed by the ruling centre-left, seeks to set special conditions under which euthanasia would be allowed.

In all, four separate propositions were under consideration, one each from the governing Socialist Party, the radical Left Bloc, the Green Party, and the People-Animals-Nature party.

All are in favour of euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.

However Lisbon Cardinal Dom Manuel Clemente, head of the Catholic church in Portugal, has called on all members of parliament to vote against the legalisation of euthanasia.

The Socialist bill, which has the biggest chance of becoming law, covers patients in a situation of extreme suffering or with a fatal injury or incurable disease.

At the moment euthanasia is not legal in Portugal, though an ethical council has approved the halting of medical treatment in certain cases.

If one of the proposals is adopted later Tuesday it will go on to be considered by a special parliamentary committee before returning to parliament for a definitive vote. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa could however then veto the legislation.

Its too early to speak of a presidential veto, Socialist deputy Pedro Delgado Alves told AFP, confirming that the result of Tuesdays vote remained difficult to predict.

The head of state, a practising Catholic, has refused to take a public stance on the euthanasia issue, but the Expresso weekly reported Saturday that he is prepared to use his veto if euthanasia is depenalised by only a small parliamentary majority.

Since 2015 there has been a leftist majority in the Portuguese parliament, but the Communist party has already announced that it will reject all four proposals, as has the conservative CDS-PP party.

The result of the vote is also uncertain as some Socialist MPs may abstain or even vote against the move, even though Prime Minister Antonio Costa said at the weekend that he was in favour of legalising euthanasia.

Opposition leader Rui Rio, of the Social Democratic Party, has also backed a law change, while giving his partys deputies the freedom to vote with their consciences.

Earlier this month the lower house of parliament in neighbouring Spain voted in favour of examining a bill on legalising euthanasia.

Voluntary euthanasia was first legalised in Belgium and the Netherlands in 2002.
A Russian group helping diabetics said Tuesday a court had ruled it was a "foreign agent", a controversial designation seen as used to quash dissent, for having accepted donations from international pharmaceutical firms.

Once we get the written ruling, human rights defenders will prepare an appeal, said Larisa Saigina, head of the civic group that helps diabetics in the southern Saratov region.

I want to say right away that we dont plan to close down the organisation yet, she told AFP by telephone.

We are going to fight to the end, she added, but acknowledged the groups activities had already been affected.

Following a series of protests against his re-election for a third term as president in 2012 that Vladimir Putin insisted were supported by the West, authorities rushed through legislation that allows NGOs that receive foreign funding to be branded foreign agents.

A term used during the Stalinist era against enemies, real or imagined, of the Soviet regime, it was then applied in the 1970s and 1980s against dissidents accused of working in the interests of the West.

The law subjects groups to arduous quarterly financial and other checks that effectively paralyse their activities, while those who refuse to register are subject to stiff fines.

The Saratov diabetics group was fined 300,000 rubles (4,150 euros, $4,800).

According to Russian media reports, the legal problems of the Saratov group began after a local medical student, who went on to lead a students group supporting Putins re-election, sent in a complaint that the organisation had taken donations from foreign pharmaceutical firms and was counselling people against taking domestic insulin.

The liberal Novaya Gazeta newspaper said an investigation ordered by the court found the group had engaged in political activities by contacting and complaining to local officials about problems encountered by diabetics.

By publicly raising doubts about the quality of Russian-made insulin the group had harmed the governments image, the newspaper said the investigation had found.
Syria on Tuesday recognised the Russian-backed breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia as independent from the former Soviet state of Georgia, prompting Tbilisi to cut diplomatic ties with Damascus.

A deal has been reached between the Syrian Arab Republic, the Republic of Abkhazia, and the Republic of South Ossetia to exchange recognitions and set up diplomatic ties at the embassy level, a Syrian foreign ministry official said, quoted by state news agency SANA.

Syria has been a close ally of Russia for decades, but ties have strengthened since Moscow intervened militarily in 2015 to boost Syrian President Bashar al-Assads troops in the countrys civil war.

Its decision to recognise the two breakaway regions of Georgia prompted an outcry from Tbilisi, which blamed it on meddling from Moscow.

With this act the Assad regime declared its support for Russias military aggression against Georgia, the illegal occupation of Abkhazia and (South Ossetia) regions and the ethnic cleansing that has been taking place for years, Georgia said.

Considering the aforesaid, Georgia initiated the procedures to break off the diplomatic relations with the Syrian Arab Republic, its foreign ministry said in a statement.

Abkhazia and South Ossetia are internationally recognised as part of Georgia, which gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, but Russia and a handful of other countries say they are independent.

Russia waged a brief war with Georgia in 2008 over the two regions and has stationed thousands of troops there.

Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru were the only other countries that recognised the two regions independence before Syrias decision on Tuesday.

Most Western countries cut ties with Syria shortly after the uprising broke out in 2011, and the Arab League formally suspended Syrias membership in November 2011.

Oman is the only Gulf country that has maintained full diplomatic relations with Syria, while Egypt and others still maintain low-level ties with a charge daffaires.
Russia called Tuesday for organising as soon as possible a meeting with the United States and Jordan about the future of southern Syria, a region where Washington recently warned Damascus against launching an offensive.

Contacts are continuing with the Jordanians and the Americans about this area where different armed groups are located, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.

We support the idea of a trilateral meeting at a level suitable for our partners. The sooner the better, he added.

Washington warned Damascus on Saturday it would take firm action if the regime of Bashar al-Assad violates a ceasefire deal, after Syrian aircraft dropped leaflets on a southern province ahead of an expected offensive.

Residents of Daraa told AFP Friday that several different leaflets were scattered across the province, which borders Israel and Jordan and is expected to be among the next targets in the resurgent regimes reconquest.

Daraas location makes any broad operation there very sensitive, with Israel suspecting Damascus Iranian allies of seeking to establish a military footprint closer to its borders.

Government and allied forces control about 30 percent of Daraa, the rest of which is held by various factions, including a small contingent of fighters from the Islamic State jihadist group.

Last year Russia, Jordan and the United States joined an agreement to create a de-escalation zone in the area as guarantors.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Monday that only Syrian government forces should be located in the area.

From the beginning, the agreement creating the de-escalation zone in southwestern Syria supposed the ultimate withdrawal of non-Syrian forces from that part of the country, he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has supported Assad militarily since 2015, said earlier this month that the launch of a political process in Syria would mean foreign armed forces should withdraw from the country.
Ethiopia on Tuesday released a top member of an armed opposition group whose arrest and extradition from Yemen in 2014 was slammed by Britain.

Andargachew Tsige, a dual-citizen of Ethiopia and Britain, was among hundreds of prisoners pardoned last week who left jail, state-affiliated Fana Broadcast Corporate reported.

More than 500 inmates, including Andargachew Tsige, have been released from prison, the broadcaster said.

His release was welcomed by British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, who said he was, pleased Andargachew [Tsige] is now able to reunite with his loved ones after being separated from them for so long.

Britain had condemned Yemen for arresting Andargachew at Sanaa airport as he was travelling to Eritrea and sending him to Ethiopia the same day.

Andargachew, a top member in opposition group Ginbot 7, is the latest high-profile dissident to be released by Ethiopia since Abiy Ahmed took over as prime minister in April after months of political turmoil.

Recent moves by the Ethiopian Government send a positive signal that they remain serious about following through with promised reforms to increase political space, Johnson added in his statement.

Ethiopia, which considers Ginbot 7 a terrorist group, had accused Andargachew of plotting attacks and training opposition groups in Eritrea, its neighbour and arch-foe.

Shortly after his arrest, Andargachew proclaimed peace and vowed to calm down in an appearance on Ethiopian state television.

Ethiopias attorney general Birhanu Tsegaye said last week Andargachew was among a special group of prisoners pardoned because they had demonstrated remorse.

On Tuesday, Fana reported Birhanu had also ordered charges dropped against Ginbot 7 leader Berhanu Nega, along with two US-based opposition media outlets that had been indicted last year, Oromia Media Network (OMN) and Ethiopian Satellite Television.

Charges were also dropped against OMNs founder Jawar Mohammed, a fierce critic of the government who has promoted strikes and protests that were seen as factors in the government imposing a six-month state of emergency in February.

Berhanu, who has already been sentenced to death in a previous trial, lives outside Ethiopia as does Jawar, and neither man had been arrested.

Rights groups have criticised Ethiopia for claiming association with Ginbot 7 as a reason to prosecute politicians and journalists opposed to the one-party rule of the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front.
The financial crisis wiped out trillions of dollars of savings and capital in America, sparking an entire movement against the top 1 percent of earners and shining a bright light on income inequality and the wealth gap in the United States.

U.S. businessman Edward Conard makes the capitalists case for the importance of the unequal distribution of household wealth in his book, The Upside of Inequality.

Conard argues two main points in justifying his view.

First, we need unequal incentives to push innovation and risk-taking, the engine of a capitalist economy. Without the promise of outsized rewards, where would the desire for improvement come from?

Take away the outsized rewards through taxation and redistribution of wealth and we remove the innovative engine of the economy, writes Conard.

OK, Ill admit, Im sympathetic to that idea.

Second, Conard argues, we need concentrations of wealth in the hands of risk-taking capitalists to fund the innovative ideas of entrepreneurs who have more talent than money. Take away the piles of money in the hands of capitalists, and you remove the fuel from the engine.

OK, I find this argument of Conards plausible as well.

I dont agree with Conards view because of any ideological attachment to capitalism. But practically speaking, the miracle of lifting billions of people out of poverty in recent decades happened under market-based economies that encouraged hard work and risk-taking.

Countries that squash markets and enforce a state-driven equality  Cuba, Venezuela, North Korea, Zimbabwe come to mind  tend to have horrific poverty.

Still, I worry about inequality.

In households with children under age 18, a recent New York Times piece explained, the bottom 50 percent of households actually have negative net worth. They have more debt than savings or assets.

That New York Times piece also describes a straight-line 3-step mechanism of inter-generational poverty:

1. Wealth correlates strongly with the likelihood of attending and graduating from college.

2. A college degree correlates strongly with higher lifetime earnings.

3. No higher degree means a much harder path to attaining or maintaining a middle class life.

Those steps alone suggest that at the bottom rung of society, poverty begets poverty and inequality tends to beget more inequality.

Meanwhile, at the upper end of the economic ladder, the power of compound investment returns, reduced taxes on intergeneration wealth transfers and favorable tax rates on dividends and capital gains, tend to maintain the status quo among wealthy households.

Wealth begets wealth. I dont like the idea of stagnation at the top and bottom.

Conards book challenges some deeply held beliefs.

Traditional measurements of the lack of wealth for the bottom 50 percent of American households miss a key factor. Measuring consumption at the bottom half  due to social safety net programs including government transfers Medicare and Social Security  shows a strong reduction in poverty over the last 20 years. If we measure consumption instead of wealth, our society looks far less unequal.

Conard also makes some disturbing counter-arguments about the usefulness of investing in education to overcome economic immobility. His skeptical arguments will make people on both the left and right of the political spectrum uncomfortable.

My fondest wish on this topic is not to bash capitalism, or socialism for that matter, but to ask: Can we talk about a middle ground?

Conard worries about killing, through redistribution and taxation, the golden goose that has raised billions out of poverty. I worry about that negative median net worth of the bottom 50 percent of households in America. A hollowed-out middle class affects the economy and broader society.

Im worried that the concentration of wealth in the U.S. at the very top is too high and getting higher. In developing that view, I look to Thomas Pikettys 2014 masterpiece Capital, in which he shows were on trend to return to 19th Century Gilded Age levels of wealth-concentration in the U.S. I dont love the idea of an entrenched aristocracy in America.

While Conard celebrates the positive economic effects of that inequality  more pools of wealth encourage more innovation, which leads to economic growth  Im worried about the moral problem of an entrenched aristocracy permanently separated from the other 99 percent of society.

My view: Im OK with some inequality. Im a capitalist. To the extent that more hard work and more talent leads to more money for some people over others, Im fine with that. Thats great.

Im not OK with permanent inequality, or inter-generational inequality or inequality that suggests a fixed, rigged game. If being born into poverty is a life-sentence to an underclass, then inequality is something Im less OK with.

I want people on my side of the debate, people who think inequality is a major problem, to read more smart people on the other side of the debate, like Edward Conard. Because if you dont know where your own assumptions are weak or wrong, its hard to enact change.

Of course I also want folks worried about creeping Socialism in America to consider the moral consequences of a system in which children dont get enough to eat, and the next generations children might not either.

You can talk all you want about bootstraps, but are kids still in elementary school responsible for yanking up their own straps?

I really dont have an answer. While I disagree with Conard  more on moral grounds than economic grounds  hes also done far more reading than me on the subject.

Before you write to tell me that Im either a greedy capitalist or a lefty socialist (I admit, Im giving evidence of both here), can you instead just read Conards book? And then Pikettys?

Sometimes I think the only solution to these arguments, at the individual level, is to consciously set out to read the things well probably disagree with.

Michael Taylor is a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News and author of The Financial Rules For New College Graduates.

michael@michaelthesmartmoney.com | @michael_taylor
When Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert championed a Second Chance job fair at the AT&T Center in 2015, he didnt expect to see some 1,800 previously incarcerated job seekers walk through the doors.

It was a few months into his first term, and one of his goals was to double the number of businesses willing to consider a pool of candidates often ruled out from the first glance at their job application.

Weve more than doubled that to over 800 employers, Calvert said last week. I think that mass is talking to other employers and saying that these folks are really good workers.

Calvert said he was most proud that many are still in jobs they got from that fair.

The AT&T Center itself was in the midst of a more than $110 million-plus renovation that year and contractors and subcontractors were desperate for labor to make their schedule. In the end, about 40 percent of those who worked on the renovation were either from the beleaguered East Side neighborhood, previously incarcerated, or both.

There were literally people in tears among those previously incarcerated because they said, We didnt think anybody cared about us, we thought we were the outcasts of society, Calvert recalled.

The more people working, the less that theyre a drain on social services, so this is helping families and individuals stand up and get self-sufficiency, he said.

Three years later, job prospects for those with criminal records may be better than ever. The nations April unemployment rate was 3.9 percent, a more than 17-year low, and businesses of all sizes are saying that the strong economy has them eager to expand, if only they could find qualified workers.

A recent survey commissioned by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Charles Koch Institute found that just 14 percent of human resources professionals were unwilling to hire candidates with criminal records. Nearly half didnt feel strongly that criminal backgrounds were a deciding factor in hiring. Of those who were hesitant, concerns were around liability, regulations and co-worker and customer reactions  not whether they felt candidates had what it took to perform well on the job.

Employers said their top reasons for hiring workers with criminal records included: wanting to hire the best candidate regardless of criminal history, making the community a better place and giving individuals a second chance. When it came to making the job offer, they looked for a consistent work history, good references, job training and certificates of rehabilitation.

Among other findings of the survey:

Two-thirds of human resources professionals said their company had experience hiring individuals with criminal records.

There was a perception that co-workers are less willing then they themselves are to work with people with criminal backgrounds. Thirty-six percent of managers, 29 percent of non-managers and 26 percent of human resources professionals thought that to be the case.

Eight-two percent of managers and 67 percent of human resources professionals found the quality of hire for workers with records to be as good as or better than those without records.

While willingness to hire is high, few companies reported actively recruiting (5 percent of managers and 3 percent of human resources professionals) for those with criminal records.

The survey also uncovered disconnects between front-line hiring managers and those in the human resources department.

While older managers were more willing than younger managers to work with individuals with criminal records, there was no such age discrepancy in human resources. While more than two-thirds of human resources professionals were familiar with the ban the box campaign to remove check boxes asking applicants if they have a criminal record, only 14 percent of managers and 9 percent of non-managers reported the same.

While 93 percent of human resources professionals were sure of their companys policies regarding applicants with criminal records, 27 percent of managers and 51 percent of non-managers werent sure whether or not their company had a formal or informal policy.

San Antonios own Steve Huerta, a formerly incarcerated community activist who has spent more than two decades promoting hiring within the group, said he sees this when he talks to business owners and hiring managers around town.

The hiring person says no, and the HR person says, But this is a good candidate, he said. A lot of them arent even aware of their own companys hiring policies, And those that arent dont bother to bring it up to their superiors.

Huerta said hes also seen the disconnect between small business owners and the chambers of commerce that represent them.

The larger chamber, their response to us was that small businesses were against it, which is contrary to the truth, he said. Those small businesses are the very same businesses that are dependent on those communities for their success.

Added to all the other driving forces is that small businesses owners are now reluctant to hire undocumented immigrants, he said.

Because of fear, he said. The ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) process is depleting that workforce.

Lynn Brezosky is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | lbrezosky@express-news.net | @lbrezosky
Private equity and hedge funds have found a new way to get richer: Financing lawsuits in exchange for a cut of the winnings.

The investment funds, which have raised billions of dollars to funnel into promising cases, have become a rich source of cash for lawyers to acquire cases, buy advertising, recruit clients and underwrite litigation expenses. If the lawyers win, private equity backers can pocket up to six times their initial investments, amounting to as much as 50 percent of a settlement or trial verdict.

This large and growing pool of money has opened the door for lawyers to gamble on big cases against big companies involving thousands of victims and millions of dollars in damages, but it also raises questions of whether lawyers will act in the best interest of clients or their financiers, who might prefer a quick settlement over a lengthy trial. In addition, the cuts taken by private equity and hedge funds can be so high that clients who win big awards on paper may end up with as little as 10 cents on dollar, legal experts say.

Its like the white collar version of pay-day loans, said Houston lawyer John Zavitsanos.

Litigation finance has been around for more than a decade, but only in recent years has it taken off as private equity and hedge funds seek better returns beyond stock, bond and commodity markets, according to legal and finance specialists. By some estimates, more than one-third of U.S. law firms used litigation financing in 2017, up from 7 percent four years earlier, while private equity and hedge fund investments in lawsuits have surged to about $30 billion from $1 billion in 2011.

Burford Capital, a publicly traded litigation funder listed on the London Stock Exchange, provides a window into this mostly private world. Burford, like most litigation financiers, raises the money it plows into lawsuits from institutional investors such as pension funds and university endowments. In a recent presentation to investors, Burford estimated that it earned a 37 percent return in 2017  compared about 22 percent for the S&P 500 stock index  and more than tripled its investments in lawsuits to $1.3 billion from $378 million.

Another publicly traded litigation finance firm, Bentham IMF of Australia, opened an office in Houston last year, just days after the firm announced it raised $200 million to fund lawsuits, with most of the money coming from a large, but unidentified hedge fund. At the time, Bentham reported its investments in U.S. lawsuits returned an average of 83 percent.

Benthams terms vary from case to case, but lawyers who win typically pay up to three times the original investment to Bentham, plus a percentage of the award or settlement. We share in the recovery of damages, said Eric Chenoweth, investment manager for Bentham in Houston.

Bentham does not require lawyers who lose cases to repay the money, so the firm is choosy about which cases it funds, said Chenoweth, a long-time Houston lawyer who uses his knowledge of judges, courts and lawyers to evaluate lawsuit risk. Ninety-five percent of the firms seeking funding from Bentham are rejected, he said.

Legalist, a San Francisco litigation finance firm uses a computer algorithm to predict the likelihood of winning by weighing the type of claim, outcome of similar cases, previous rulings by the judge and the financial strength of the defendant. The company, which more than $10 million in seed capital last year, is backing a Boston-area ice cream sandwich maker suing one of its suppliers over allegations of inferior ice cream.

Software engineers make up half the staff at Legalist, said CEO Eva Shang, who started her company after receiving a $100,000 fellowship from the foundation started by Peter Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal who footed the bill for Hulk Hogans sex tape lawsuit against Gawker Media.

Investment funds solve cash flow problems for trial lawyers, who often need lots of money upfront to pursue cases. Some lawyers use private equity and hedge fund money to cover the cost of bringing complex cases such as intellectual property or anti-trust disputes that can require high-priced experts, deep research and extensive travel.

Lawyers who represent consumers hurt by car wrecks and prescription drugs often use private equity money to buy television ads to recruit potential clients, operating call centers to handle the inquiries. One of the nations biggest legal advertisers is the Pulaski Law Firm of Houston owner of the toll free number 1-800-BAD-DRUG which spent $25 million in 2016 running 98,000 television ads, according to X Ante, a firm that forecasts litigation risk.

Pulaski declined to comment.

A 2015 lawsuit brought by Amir Shenaq, the former chief business development officer of the Houston law firm AkinMears, sheds some light on the workings of litigation financing. Shenaq, a former Wells Fargo banker hired to raise the capital the firm needed to increase its revenues, sued when he didnt get the commissions he said he was promised.

AkinMears built its business through television ads that alerted viewers to health problems related to medical devices, prescription drugs and occupational diseases, such as asbestos-related cancer, and the possibility they could collect from the companies responsible. The firm acted as a kind of legal broker, operating a phone bank to sign up clients, bundling the claims and sending them to other lawyers to handle, according to the lawsuit.

AkinMears signed up tens of thousands of clients, charging each a 40 percent contingency fee  meaning it was only collected if the clients won verdicts or settlements. The fee was divided with the lawyers contracted to handle the cases.

But AkinMears wanted to grow faster and came up with a plan to acquire easy-to-settle medical device cases from other lawyers, according to Shenaqs lawsuit. Gerchen Keller Capital, a Chicago litigation finance firm since acquired by Burford Capital  agreed to provide nearly $100 million to AkinMears.

About $46 million went to buy 14,000 transvaginal mesh cases and another 900 non-mesh cases from a group of four law firms  a deal that AkinMears estimated could earn as much as $200 million in legal fees, according to court documents.

Thousands of women received mesh implants to treat pelvic conditions including urinary incontinence, and sued the manufacturers after suffering from infections, bleeding and organ damage. Several won multi-million dollar verdicts, which drove mesh makers to settle thousands of additional claims for millions of dollars. AkinMears, according to court documents, estimated that each settlement of a transvaginal mesh case would bring $14,000 to $16,000 in legal fees.

Shenaqs lawsuit was settled two years ago, but terms were not disclosed. AkinMearss lawyer, Allan Huddleston Neighbors IV, declined to comment. Shenaq also declined to comment.

Litigation finance first came into the public eye about three years ago in a case against Chevron Corp. which was sued in federal court in California after a natural gas rig exploded off the coast of Nigeria. Chevron discovered the financial backer of the case brought by Nigerians hurt in the blast was Therium Capital Management, a litigation investment firm based in the Channel Islands off the coast of France.

Therium invested $1.5 million into the case, under the terms that it would be paid $9 million, or six times what it initially invested, plus 2 percent of the total recovery if the lawsuit succeeded, according to court records. Theriums contract with the Nigerians lawyers also prohibited them from spending money on additional lawyers, forensic accountants or other experts without the written permission of the investment firm, raising questions of whether the lawyers were representing the interests of their clients or their financial backer.

Therium did not respond to a request for comment.

In Texas, lawyers have to get clients consent before they can share contingency fees with other lawyers. But lawyers dont have to tell clients if they bring outside investors aboard to fund their case, a fine line that leaves some lawyers squeamish.

Mike Doyle, a Houston personal injury lawyer, said he considered doing a deal with a private equity fund, but the financing would have cost him 20 to 25 percent a year. In the end, he didnt do it, worried that the financial pressures would influence the decisions he needed to make in the best interest of his clients.

I didnt think the juice was worth the squeeze, he said.
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration said Tuesday that it would proceed with plans to impose a series of punitive trade-related measures on China in the next month, intensifying pressure on Beijing as trade talks between the countries continue.

The White House said in a statement that the United States would move ahead with its plan to levy 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of imported Chinese goods, despite recent remarks by Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and other administration officials that the tariffs would be suspended while the countries continued their negotiations.

The administration had previously announced a list of goods that would be subject to tariffs, including flat-screen TVs and medical devices. It then held a series of hearings on the tariffs, giving the public a chance to influence the final list. The White House said it would detail the final list of goods that will subject to the tariffs by June 15 and the duties would be imposed shortly after that, the statement said.

The White House said the Trump administration would also move forward with restrictions on Chinese investment and with stronger export controls meant to limit the access that Chinese people and companies have to U.S. technology  a measure the administration said was for national security purposes.

Those restrictions will be announced by June 30 and adopted soon after that, the administration said, adding that the United States would also continue to pursue a trade case it has filed against China at the World Trade Organization involving intellectual property rights.

Trade talks between the two countries will continue, the statement said, and the United States has asked Beijing to remove all of its many trade barriers that prevent U.S. companies from doing business in China, and has also said that tariffs and taxes between the two countries be reciprocal in nature and value.

The White House has planned to send Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to China on June 2 to continue the trade negotiations. The last round of talks concluded May 19 with the countries announcing little progress toward resolving a long list of complaints U.S. negotiators had previously identified. President Donald Trump subsequently said he was not satisfied with the negotiations and that they had a long way to go.

Trump has often talked about challenging what he has described as Chinas unfair trade practices, but his advisers are deeply divided over the best course for doing so. Some, like Mnuchin, have focused on a potential compromise deal that would require China to buy huge amounts of U.S. products while still forestalling the possibility of a trade war.

Other advisers have pushed for tougher action, demanding that China make substantial reforms to its economy to end the subsidies it provides to developing industries and to allow U.S. companies equal access in the Chinese market. Those requests in particular have provoked a backlash from China, which has threatened its own potential set of tariffs on $50 billion in U.S. goods.

On Friday, Trump said he had reached a deal that would allow the embattled Chinese telecom firm ZTE to remain in business, raising criticism and fears from Congress that he was backing off from his tougher promises on trade.

ZTE has been hit with tough sanctions by the United States and its fate had become a bargaining chip in negotiations, with President Xi Jinping of China appealing directly to Trump for help.
By Ssebuliba Samuel.

The president of Uganda Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has directed the minister for education Janet Kataha Museveni to reappoint Prof. Wasswa Balunywa as the principle of makerere business school.

Professor Balunywas contract expired yesterday and consequently the university council appointed Prof. Moses Muhwezi to replace him in acting capacity.

However in a later dated 28thmay, the president ordered for reappointment of Balunywa describing him as an active academia that has always been on liberation side of ideology.

The latter describe him as declined administer whose institution has been free from strike.

For a while Balunywas appointment has been under contradiction with some academia and politicians fight his reappointment.
Back when Susan Stamberg was anchoring National Public Radios All Things Considered, she looked forward to opportunities to interview artists and talk about cultural matters.

It was always that thing that got me through the day, any heavy news day or light news day, was knowing whether Id get to interview a great writer or talk about a great painting or talk with a composer, Stamberg said in a telephone interview. The arts have always been a centerpiece of my life. When I could put down the news anchor role and do something else, what I chose to do is focus on the arts. Thats been a mission with me.

Stamberg, who went to work for NPR in 1971, is now a special correspondent who focuses exclusively on the arts. Recent pieces include an appreciation of writer Philip Roth that included her recollections of interviewing him, a conversation with people who have posed for artist David Hockney about what the experience was like and a chat with filmmaker Mel Brooks pegged to the 50th anniversary of The Producers.

San Antonio art afficionados will get an up-close look at Stamberg at work when she interviews visual artist Vincent Valdez at the McNay Art Museum.

They have both come onto each others radars fairly recently. Valdez, a native San Antonian who now lives in Houston, said in an email that he started exploring her work after a trip to Washington, D.C., where his powerful series Excerpts for John was on display at the National Portrait Gallery.

While visiting the portrait gallery for an artist talk last summer, I walked over to the National Air and Space Museum and wandered into their exhibit titled Artist Soldiers. It was a powerful exhibition and I spent several hours in there, he said. As soon as I returned home I came across an excellent article about this exhibit by Susan Stamberg. I began to look up other articles and interviews by her and then coincidentally was asked to speak in conversation with her months later at the McNay.

Im very much looking forward to visiting with her.

Stamberg started looking into Valdezs work after Texas Public Radio invited her to come interview him. The chat was the brainchild of Joyce Slocum, president and CEO of TPR. Slocum came up with the idea after learning that the first purchase that Rich Aste made when he became director of the museum was Valdezs 2013 painting The Strangest Fruit (#9), part of a series of powerful large-scale works depicting lynched Mexicans and Mexican Americans.

Aste will introduce the discussion, which will include a conversation about The Strangest Fruit (#9).

Valdez has a lot in the works. His series Dream Baby Dream  part of a group of work titled The Beginning is Near  will premiere at the David Shelton Gallery in Houston in September and will be shown at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art next year. And he will spend the fall in New Orleans, where he will be artist in residence at the Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Stamberg has been surfing the web to get a handle on his work  You can find your husbands belt measurements on Google, she said with her trademark laugh  and she has exchanged a few emails with him.

But she wont be doing too much chatting with him, virtual or otherwise, before they meet face to face.

I dont do warmup, she said. I like to do it cold.

Stamberg, who frequently visits NPR stations across the country, has been to San Antonio in the past, but its been a while.

I asked the station to arrange for somebody to take me out just to kind of zip me around and show me some of the town, she said. I always like to do that.

As for those who might wonder if retirement might be starting to look good to the 70-something broadcast legend, the answer is no.

I love my work, she said. Ive been here a long time and I feel like, why would I ever retire? Theyll have to boot me out. Im so lucky. I get to do things that I love, and I enjoy it so much.

And now, she doesnt have to get through a bunch of hard news first to get to that work.

It shouldnt just be the carrot for the day, she said. It should be the day.

Considering Art: A Conversation with Susan Stamberg & Vincent Valdez takes place at 6 p.m. Friday at the McNay Art Museum, 6000 N. New Braunfels. Tickets cost $40 general admission and $30 for members of the McNay and/or Texas Public Radio; the ticket price includes a cocktail reception after the interview. Tickets are available at brownpapertickets.com. Visit tpr.org for more information.

dlmartin@express-news.net | Twitter: @DeborahMartinEN

Deborah Martin is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | dlmartin@express-news.net | @DeborahMartinEN
In the beginning, there will be no lights.

The sanctuary of St. Ignatius of Loyola Catholic Church in Spring  shuttered since the waters of Harvey poured through its doors  will be cloaked in darkness.

As a procession makes its way through the refurbished church, past the freshly painted walls and over just-installed travertine and carpet flooring, past the restored frescoes and along the rows of gleaming new pews, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo will sprinkle holy water on the walls and the gathered faithful.

The leader of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston will offer a prayer of dedication, asking for Gods blessing, and anoint the altar with sacred chrism, a reminder of Christs role as the anointed one.

Finally, candles will illuminate the altar  followed by the lighting of the church.

The parish flock of St. Ignatius, who have spent nine months worshipping in school gyms, neighboring churches, and a parking lot tent, will at last be home.

But the rededication ceremony, scheduled for Thursday, will not erase the long journey from ruin to resurrection. As with so many churches, synagogues and mosques across Houston, the damage inflicted by the storm changed not only the buildings, but the people as well.

They are marked by the memories of the flood and everything they lost, by the months spent displaced from their spiritual home, and by faith that grew stronger after it was shaken.

***

In videos broadcast on Facebook Live the day after Harveys record rainfall drenched Houston last August, Father Norbert Maduzia makes no effort to hide his shock and pain. His face and hair are dripping wet. His eyes wide with disbelief. His voice tremulous.

The camera pans to show the interior of St. Ignatius engulfed by flood water. The pews, the potted plants, the church organ. All, soaked and sodden.

Im speechless, says Maduzia, 63, who has been pastor of St. Ignatius for 12 years. Everything is lost.

It is a line he repeats again and again. Everything is lost.

He sloshes through the church in rubber wading boots. Through the Lady Chapel, where a reflection of the stained glass window glints red and blue in the swirling eddies. Past the baptismal font, where flood water has displaced the holy water. In the entrance, where a processional cross floats face-down.

One arm of the Christ figure has snapped off. Its just broken, Maduzia laments, as he fishes the icon out. Everything is broken.

In the sacristy, Maduzia and a cadre of volunteers scramble to store vestments on top of cabinets and high shelves. Then he heaves a heavy sigh.

At that moment, Maduzia recalled recently, his heart was crushed. He thought of the familiar faces in the pews every Sunday, the work that went into the building, which always seemed suffused with natural light. He thought of all that had taken place under that roof: the weddings and funerals, the joyous times and the sad ones.

Friends, right now, we dont have a building, the pastor tells his parishioners watching the livestream on Aug. 28. We are the church.

***

Just two days earlier, Elaine Bertero had attended Saturday night service at St. Ignatius, where she has been a member for 30 years, where her children received their sacraments, and where she teaches adult Bible study. During that Mass, the readings emphasized the belief that the people  not the building  are the body of the church.

As Bertero watched Maduzias video, saw the pain in her pastors face and caught glimpses of her beloved place of worship submerged in water, she began to cry. It felt like a blow to the stomach.

How, she asked herself, do we even begin to rebuild?

The same questions flashed through the mind of Susan Heim, who was also watching the Facebook Live broadcast. Although the water had started to rise in her subdivision, somehow, miraculously, her house  just two miles away from St. Ignatius  was safe.

But her church of 25 years, she could see in the video, was not. In Maduzias glazed expression, she recognized her own emotions: devastation, sorrow, fear.

Heims children had been raised up in St. Ignatius, received their Holy Communion and confirmation there. For the last four years, she has served in the wedding ministry, helping couples getting married in the church.

Like Bertero, she wondered: What do we do now?

Yet, even as Heim stared in disbelief at the images of the flooded church, a flicker of hope rose up.

There was Maduzia, who had hitched a ride on a boat, wearing his forest green rain slicker, to get to the 14-acre St. Ignatius campus. Trudging through the downpour. Splashing through water that was waist-high in spots. Keeping his flock informed.

In the midst of the storm, she said, Maduzia was a beacon of calm, a shepherd for his parish.

He made it feel like we were all holding hands in a circle, Heim said, trying to figure it out and walking through it together.

At weeks end, on Sept. 1, Maduzia celebrated a BYOC (bring your own chair) Mass on the steps of St. Ignatius.

Hundreds of parishioners, toting lawn chairs and folding chairs, turned out for the service on a hot Friday morning. Bertero was delighted to see so many familiar faces in the crowd. Heim felt uplifted.

It was a joyful moment, a sign that the 4,000-family parish would be resilient enough to recover. No matter how long that took.

***

Nine months.

Nine months of wandering. Of Masses held in the Klein High School gym, which felt more like going to a school play than to a place of worship, and in the parking lot of St. Ignatius, inside a massive white tent, where the sound of traffic filtered through the flaps.

Nine months of makeshift Bible studies and Sunday school in borrowed offices and neighboring churches. Of mucking out the dank buildings, of ripping through sheetrock, of tossing moldy Nativity decorations and sheet music, soggy chairs and the waterlogged organ.

Nine months of mourning what had been washed away and forging a new foundation.

The attendance for weekend services, normally about 1,100, dropped to 400. Some parishioners said the tent revived too much of the trauma from Harvey. Others were still dealing with the loss of their own homes. For many, the temporary worship facilities simply did not feel right.

They needed a sacred space, said Maduzia. People want to go to a holy place where they see statues and candles, and smell the church.

Still, the months of reconstruction have also brought blessings.

After St. Ignatius added Spanish Masses to accommodate new arrivals from Venezuela and Mexico, the parish community had often been split between us and them, Maduzia noted. After Harvey, there is only an us.

The church, whose motto is a people for each other, became a more united congregation  a people for each other. When lectors were chosen for the rededication Mass, the first question was Which one will be in Spanish?  an indication, Maduzia said, of greater inclusivity.

For some parishioners, including Heim, the lack of a physical building actually deepened their faith.

It doesnt matter if its in an open field, or a shack. God is always there, she said. Its our responsibility to recognize that.

That conviction was crystalized on Feb. 10, the day Heims daughter was married. She wanted the ceremony at St. Ignatius, her home parish. But the only space available was the outdoor tent, which other couples had eschewed.

It didnt matter to Heims daughter whether the service took place in the tent, as long as it was on the St. Ignatius campus. God would be present.

***

A week before the rededication ceremony, a new video was posted on the St. Ignatius Facebook page.

Hello, everyone, its Father Norbert. Last time we came live this place was full of water  says the pastor, accompanied by Father Khoi Le. Now you can see behind me, we have pews. Now wait until you see whats in front of me.

The camera whirls around.

They are assembling the altar, Maduzia says, as the screen fills with the image of workers putting together the wooden base adorned by angels. Look at that.

He takes the viewers on a tour of the renovated sanctuary, his voice filled with wonder and awe: The rows of wooden pews, which will seat 1,700. The blue-gray terrazzo tiles. The statues, hand carved in Italy, perched in the four corners: St. Ignatius, St. Joseph, St. Katharine Drexel and the Virgin Mary who, for nine months, wore a crown placed on her head just before Harvey.

One week away. Can you believe that? he marvels. One week away, and well be back in here.

So, too, will the processional cross, which had been disfigured in the flood, and will be used in the ceremony marking the rebirth of the church.

The arm of the Christ figure is now repaired and replaced, but in the foot, a hairline crack is still visible. Like the parish of St. Ignatius, it is stronger in the broken places.

monica.rhor@chron.com

twitter.com/monicarhor
Prominent Southern Baptist leader Paige Patterson was removed from his job on Wednesday as president of his seminary amid a backlash from thousands of women, but that doesn't mean his role in the Southern Baptist Convention is over. Patterson is still set to deliver the high-profile sermon at the convention's annual meeting, which is expected to draw thousands to Dallas next month, and that prospect has alarmed many Southern Baptists, who fear it could send the wrong message to women.

Patterson was chosen as this year's sermon preacher during last year's annual meeting in Phoenix by about 5,000 Southern Baptists who were there. The only way he will not preach the sermon this year is if he personally withdraws or if "messengers" - delegates appointed by Southern Baptist churches - vote for him not to give the sermon. Messengers can make a motion on the first day of the meeting, which is June 12. Patterson is set to preach the next day.

Patterson has sent notices to some groups that were scheduled to have him speak in the future, saying he is willing to step away if it would harm their ministries, according to Ed Stetzer, a highly connected Southern Baptist who is also the executive director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College. Stetzer said he hopes Patterson will also back down from giving the sermon at the convention.

"If he speaks at the convention, the incalculable damage of the last few weeks will be exponentially magnified," Stetzer wrote in a statement to The Washington Post. Stetzer said that he hopes Patterson will step away but that if he doesn't, a motion calling for him to step down will probably pass. Charles Patrick, a spokesman for the seminary, did not respond to requests on Saturday and Sunday for comment on whether Patterson still plans to give the sermon.

Although the board removed him as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, he was made president emeritus on Tuesday, will receive compensation and has the option of living as "theologian-in-residence" at the seminary's new Baptist Heritage Center. A former president of the Southern Baptist Convention, Patterson is revered among many Southern Baptists for his role in directing the convention in a more conservative direction decades ago. The SBC, which falls under the evangelical umbrella, is the largest Protestant denomination in the country, with about 15 million members.

In recent weeks, Patterson has faced backlash for recorded remarks he made between 2000 and 2014 about women, including commenting on a teenage girl's body. He also said that women who are abused almost always should stay with their husbands. Thousands of Southern Baptist women petitioned the seminary's board of trustees to remove him, and he later apologized for his comments about the teenager but not those about abused women.

It appears that Southwestern's board did not consider Patterson's handling of a 2003 alleged rape as a key factor in its decision to remove him as president. The chairman of the board at Southwestern, Kevin Ueckert, said in an email to The Post that the board's focus was on Southwestern, but he declined to say whether events at Southeastern were discussed.

A woman contacted The Post to say that she was raped while a student at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, in 2003, when Patterson was president there. The woman has said that after the incident, Patterson told her not to go to police and instead encouraged her to forgive her alleged assailant, who was her boyfriend at the time. A seminary student who was the boyfriend's roommate told The Post that the woman shared with him details of her allegations shortly after she said the incident had occurred.

The alleged incident was also referenced in a letter to the woman from the dean of students in 2003 in which she was informed that she would be put on probation for two years for visiting a male student in his dorm against school rules. Her alleged assailant, who was never charged with a crime and did not respond to requests for comment, was expelled. The Post has a policy of not identifying victims of sexual assault. Patterson and Southwestern's spokesman have not replied to repeated requests for comment about her allegations.

The woman said she was shocked that Patterson was treated so generously by Southwestern's board of trustees given his taped comments about a teenage girl's body and women's appearances and her own allegations regarding Patterson's response, which were published by The Post the morning of the board meeting.

The woman said that while conservative Christians can still hold true to a theology that suggests women look to men for leadership in the home and in the church, "they can value and respect women in a different way that Paige Patterson has not."

The woman had initially considered coming forward at the June 12 meeting and making a motion to remove Patterson as the one who gives a sermon, which was first reported by Southern Baptist blogger Wade Burleson in a tweet on Friday. But the woman told The Post on Saturday that she had decided against going to Dallas and had decided to forgive Patterson.

After 13 hours of deliberations that went into the early hours of Wednesday morning, the seminary's board vaguely cited a "direction of new leadership" because of challenges related to the seminary's "enrollment, financial, leadership and institutional identity" as reasons for Patterson's removal without mentioning any specific incidents concerning women.

The board's statement released to the media on Wednesday said, "Evidence exists that Dr. Patterson has complied with reporting laws regarding assault and abuse," but it did not identify specific incidents. And on Thursday, Ueckert said in a statement to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, "As part of this, Dr. Paige Patterson's legal counsel shared confidential details related to a specific incident of assault, which included reporting the matter to law officials."

However, Ueckert did not state what incident he was talking about, according to the Star-Telegram.

In a statement to The Post, Ueckert said both statements were referring to another incident raised in 2015 at Southwestern in Texas, not the woman's allegations regarding Patterson's response at Southeastern in North Carolina in 2003. However, the seminary had not released the details of that incident before its earlier statement, and it is unclear who raised that incident for consideration. When asked how the 2015 incident arose, Ueckert responded, "We have no more news to share."

"Your focus has been about both Southeastern and Southwestern, which I fully appreciate and respect," Ueckert said in an email. "Our focus at the Board meeting, however, was" Southwestern.

That incident, he said in an email, was referencing allegations made in August 2015 by a female Southwestern student against a male student. "The police were involved and met with the individual making the allegations," he said.

A former Southwestern security officer, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he works in Southern Baptist ministry and feared putting his job in jeopardy, confirmed the allegations. He said a female student claimed she was raped but later recanted her accusation, saying she was upset at her boyfriend, who had broken up with her. He said that the woman had gone to Patterson directly, and that Patterson reported it to campus security, and campus security then took it to police.

In an email to The Post, Ueckert declined to respond to questions regarding the alleged assault at Southeastern and whether the details were discussed at the trustee meeting.

"I do not believe we have enough information to definitively comment on the allegations pertaining to Southeastern that were being reported as the Board was meeting," he said in an email.
Despite campaigns urging motorists to be aware of motorcyclists, intersections remain the most dangerous place for bikers, according to Marshall Munce, owner of Southwest Motorcycle Training.

Most of the time at an intersection, its the left-turning driver, Munce said. Theyre not trained to look for us.

That may well have been the case for an accident that occurred last week at Loop 1604 and Blanco Road.

Its the type of accident that Texas Department of Public Safety officials are urging drivers and motorcyclists to avoid by using the phrase, Share the road: Look twice for motorcycles, part of the states efforts during National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, which ends this week.

Police said a motorcyclist in his late 20s crashed into the side of an SUV as it turned onto the access road of 1604 about 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Neither driver was intoxicated, and police are not filing any charges in the case.

(Drivers) are looking for horizontal objects, Munce said of the moments leading to most such accidents. We (motorcyclists) tend to disappear into the background.

More Information Safety tips Here are a few safety measures for motorists and motorcyclists to reduce the chances of a fatal or serious crash: Perform a visual check for motorcycles by checking mirrors and blind spots before entering or exiting a lane of traffic and at intersections. Always signal your intentions before changing lanes or merging with traffic. Allow more following distance - three or four seconds - when traveling behind a motorcycle so the motorcyclist has enough time to maneuver or stop in an emergency. Never tailgate; in dry conditions, motorcycles can stop more quickly than cars. Wear protective gear when driving or riding on a motorcycle. Never drive while distracted. Don't drink and drive - on a motorcycle or in any vehicle. Source: Texas Department of Public Safety See More Collapse

Although the motorcyclist was not seriously injured in Wednesdays accident, 12 people have died in 255 crashes this year in Bexar County as of that date, according to Texas Department of Transportation crash data.

Last year, 501 motorcyclists were killed and another 2,101 were seriously injured in 8,726 crashes statewide, according to the agencys website. In San Antonio alone, the data shows that 16 motorcyclists were killed and 97 injured in 597 crashes.

Thats something that we discuss and practice in the classroom  being hard to see and about being proactive, Munce said. As a rider, you think ahead.

The best piece of advice Munce had came from one of his students, who told his son: Drive like youre invisible, not invincible.

When you quit paying attention, youre increasing your risk of being in an accident, Munce said. Its a physical activity, (but) its way more mental. You cant just sit down and relax and forget about things.

When motorcyclists approach an intersection, Munce said, they should slow down in order to reduce their stopping distance. They can stop more quickly by using both their brakes and tires, he said.

Its hard to control a motorcycle when the tires are not rolling, Munce said. Ive never been able to control a skidding front tire longer than a foot or two.

If you lean the bike down, youve just crashed, he said.

Munce said its important that riders maintain their ability to properly brake, even if it means finding an empty parking lot to practice the maneuver.

Texas DPS officials also remind motorists that they shouldnt tailgate motorcyclists.

Give them the room you would give a car or truck, Munce said.

Munce said most drivers will notice the motorcyclist who is speeding through traffic more than they would the rider who is following the rules of the road.

The same day as the accident at Blanco and Loop 1604, a motorcyclist traveling more than 100 mph lost control on Interstate 35 in New Braunfels, according to police there. Investigators said he laid his bike down and skidded several hundred feet before stopping.

In addition to traveling well above the speed limit, officials said the man wasnt wearing a helmet. He was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center with life-threatening injuries. An update on the mans condition was not available.

If theyre doing stupid stuff, give them room to keep away from you, Munce warned, adding, Dont think bad of the rest of us.

Both Munce and Texas DPS recommend that even with a license, motorcyclists should continue improving their skills.

Ride aware and keep learning new stuff. Youre never too old to learn something new, Munce said. Even if its just taking a practice course, or maybe youll learn something new that works better than now.

jbeltran@express-news.net | Twitter: @JBfromSA
LEON VALLEY  Fred Koechley left City Hall $75 poorer Tuesday after unsuccessfully challenging a citation generated by the red light safety camera program that went into service along Bandera Road three months ago.

I gave my side of the story and it didnt make any difference, said the 67-year-old San Antonian who learned of the citys automated traffic enforcement system only when the citation arrived in the mail.

He appealed the April 11 ticket on the grounds that the turn signals left arrow was red only after hed entered the intersection, but noted, They heard me out and didnt agree.

Despite feeling the financial bite of the initiative, Koechley said, If it makes drivers be safer, Im for it.

City leaders says accidents have decreased on the heavily traveled thoroughfare since camera enforcement began Feb. 21 at eight intersections using American Traffic Solutions, an Arizona firm, yielding more than 13,400 citations.

Its going outstanding, Police Chief Joseph Salvaggio said of the program aimed at improving public safety and freeing officers to work other kinds of cases by reducing collisions among the 60,000 or more daily motorists using Bandera Road.

Before the cameras were installed, officers were often stuck on Bandera Road dealing with accidents, he said Tuesday. If you have an accident there, it takes all three officers who are on duty because of the amount of traffic.

The city began pursuing an automated system last spring after local police logged 1,111 accidents on Bandera Road from December 2015 to February 2017.

With 93 percent of motorists involved in accidents in Leon Valley residing elsewhere, the chief said local taxpayers groused about underwriting emergency services benefiting outsiders.

That financial picture is shifting due to money generated by the camera programs citations, but city leaders say raising revenue isnt its objective.

The city pays ATS $4,500 a month for each of 11 camera systems it operates, with funds from citations earmarked for traffic safety enforcement.

Two new traffic enforcement officers were recently hired using the $385,000 in citation revenue banked to date, said Salvaggio, who plans to request a third enforcement officer in the new city budget that takes effect Oct. 1.

Between these salaries and what it will cost us to lease the cameras, you will not see a positive revenue flow yet to the city, said City Manager Kelly Kuenstler.

Most Leon Valley residents highly favor the program because of the problems on Bandera Road.she said. Any complaints we have received have been about not liking the program in general, not citation-related, and most of these are from non-residents.

The local program is modeled after one enacted in 2007 along Fredericksburg Road in Balcones Heights, where ATS is credited with helping curb collisions and driving infractions.

Nationwide ATS provides red light, speed and school bus stop arm cameras to more than 200 municipalities, said ATS spokesman Charlie Territo.

But the cameras have proved controversial elsewhere, prompting one Texas lawmaker to propose a bill to ban all red-light cameras in Texas. The bill passed in the Senate last year despite opposition from law enforcement, but it died in the House.

Houston ended its camera program in 2011 after court battles and complaints that the cameras were an intrusive money grab.

Local resident Daniel J. Duran, 85, was successful in his appeal Tuesday of an April 9 ticket that he blamed on the short duration of a yellow light.

Appearing in the courtroom before Policeman C. Chapman, who was functioning as an administrative hearing officer, Duran pleaded financial hardship after viewing a video of his car rolling through a red light.

After confirming Duran had a valid license and no prior infractions, Chapman granted a hardship ticket dismissal but told the defendant, Youve got to promise me youre going to stop.

Next time, I stop, replied Duran, clutching a cane.

The videos are reviewed by an officer to verify violations before the mailing of citations, which include photos of the subject vehicle and directions on how to view the video of the alleged infractions online.

Were trying to be as fair and as transparent as possible, Salvaggio said. We want people to stop running red lights and stop having accidents. Thats our goal. Its not about the money.

Local officers have so far rejected 347 citations, resulting in a 97.83 percent approval rate, Kuenstler said, noting about 15 percent of violations are rejected by ATS before the company refers cases to the city.

ATS can reject cases for reasons that include no offense being seen, equipment issues that include photos being out of focus, or an inability to identify the driver due to the lack of a license plate or other issue, she said.

Leon Valley resident Ronald Hernandez, 54, said he hasnt noticed any dramatic improvement in the often bumper-to-bumper traffic along Bandera Road since the launch of the camera enforcement system that was well publicized in town.

But Hernandez admitted, I know I pay a lot more attention while driving and its made me a lot more careful.

His wife, Anna Hernandez, said motorists in the targeted intersections seem to be driving more cautiously around the cameras, whose presence is announced by signs posted in each direction.

Its good for the people who travel Bandera Road because the traffic flow is so heavy, she said, adding, Its not practical to have police at every light all the time.

zeke@express-news.net
GREENWICH  A newly appointed top administrator at Sacred Heart Greenwich has an advantage in the post: He already knows his way around the campus.

David Olson, who has been named the new assistant head of school, will also continue in his current position of head of the middle school at all-girls private school.

I am excited for the new challenges and to be able to contribute to the school beyond my role in the middle school, Olson said, Im looking forward to working with teachers and departmental leaders to ensure our curriculum provides our students with the experiences and skills that they need to be successful and contribute to society, while also helping the girls understand the important role that faith will have in their lives.

He will report to Head of School Pamela Juan Hayes.

In making the official announcement Tuesday, the school credited Olson for his 30 years of experience in education and said he is uniquely positioned to lead continued academic growth and curricular innovations at Sacred Heart Greenwich.

In his new role, Olson will co-lead the schools Curriculum Committee, which is in charge of setting academic policies and designing the curricular direction of the school across its lower, middle and upper divisions.

He is well-suited for the position, the school said, because since 2005 he has led several curriculum transformations at the middle school, including adopting Columbia Universitys Reading and Writing Project, the Singapore Math curriculum program and new computer and engineering programs as well as overseeing a new distribution of the schools art and drama offerings.

In a statement Tuesday, the school called Olson a passionate advocate for teachers and faculty throughout his career. He also received high marks from the head of school at Sacred Heart Greenwich.

We look forward to having Dave step into the assistant head of school role so he can help Sacred Heart Greenwich continue to innovate academically, Hayes said. With Daves curricular expertise, we will continue to expand our course offerings and lesson plans with a focus on the critical thinking and problem-solving skills necessary for our students to make an impact as global leaders in the quickly changing world beyond our campus.

Olson said he was eager for the new responsibilities.

At Sacred Heart Greenwich, we measure our academic program based on the quality of our instruction and the level of student engagement in the learning process, Olson said in the statement. As assistant head of school, I look forward to working directly with faculty in all divisions to build on our unparalleled faith-based, all-girls curriculum. We must continue to adapt our programs and build flexible course offerings that meet the needs of our students and the society in which they live in order to successfully prepare them for the next level.

The job also includes leading the internal and external professional development programs at Sacred Heart Greenwich. He will work closely with the schools Center For Research, Training and Learning, an in-house professional development community at the school.

So there wont be too much on Olsons plate with his two positions, current Middle School Academic Dean John Zwack will also take on the responsibilities of assistant head of the middle school. In that role, Zwack will be tasked with supporting Olson in managing the day-to-day operations of the middle school.

In speaking with Greenwich Time on Tuesday, Olson said he expects the transition to go smoothly because he already understands the schools structure and culture. But he also welcomed the challenge of learning more about the lower and upper schools from his colleagues.

Thankfully, Sacred Heart is full of bright, innovative and generous people who will help me find my way, Olson said.

kborsuk@greenwichtime.com
FAIRFIELD  In a dusty wing on McKinley Elementary Schools second floor where damaged furniture was once stashed, a group of parents and staff saw potential.

If the furniture were cleared out, and if the adjoining balcony were weeded and swept, the well-lit alcove of the school could be reborn and re-purposed  or at least that was the goal of McKinleys Kindness Committee.

Jennifer Barahona and I decided we wanted to do something to aid the social-emotional learning of kids. Its been shown that cultivating kindness helps with that, said Anna Wood, McKinley Parent Teacher Association president and co-founder, with Barahona, of the Kindness Committee that has overseen several events at the school over the past year, including the redecorating of the once-abandoned wing.

In 2017, Wood, Barahona and a group of teachers and administrators collaborated to start a movement, the goal of which was to embed the idea of kindness.

They held a Kindness Night for parents and students, hosted a showing of the movie Wonder, about a boy with facial disfiguration, and expanded their annual Week of Kindness to a month-long celebration. Most recently, they created the Kindness Corner in the unused second-floor alcove and, on May 18, unveiled a Kindness Mural at the schools annual art show.

The mural includes 540 tiles  one for each member of the McKinley community, including students, teachers, administrators and parents, who helped to decorate  to create an 8-by-12-foot permanent art piece depicting two hands touching.

I think we forget that kids need to be taught about kindness. Now we have a reminder here on the wall, said Renee Grenier, a McKinley fifth-grade teacher and the PTA teacher representative for the past six years. Kindness is kind of the old new. Its always been there, but life has changed for kids with social media. We want to remind them of the humanity piece. We are all people; we have to treat others how we want to be treated.

In addition to the mural, the space will be totally refurnished with couches and bean bag chairs, an area rug and outdoor space with a picnic table. Books will be placed and inspirational quotes will adorn the walls. Next to the mural, where mounted pieces of paper bearing the names of all those involved are hung, commemorative plaques will be fastened to the wall.

We wanted it to be a place for children to reflect, said Amy Gorruso, an art teacher at McKinley, who was tasked with finding the materials required, as well as overseeing the design and construction of the mural.

I went to tiling stores to see if they could donate. I went to Lima Tile & Marble in Bridgeport. I had a whole 10-minute spiel prepared. They stopped me two minutes in and said anything for the children,  Gorruso said. New England Tile of Fairfield also donated mastic, grout and spackle and McKinley custodian Diego Arredondo donated more than 12 hours of his time helping Gorruso put the piece together.

Much of the furniture for the Kindness Corner has not yet arrived, but Gorruso said she expects it before the end of the year. The mural and the Kindness Corner are not temporary installations. The Kindness Committee and McKinley faculty intend the wing to become part of the educational experience for generations of students.

It started out as a concept and then it really blossomed and became woven into the fabric of our school. The culmination is the mural, Wood said.
GREENWICH  Jerome Shaw was a regular visitor to Greenwich, and whenever he came, he brought along the tools of his trade  a crowbar, binoculars and chisels, according to authorities.

Shaw also brought terror to a family in central Greenwich on a winter night in late 2014, forcing them to open a bedroom safe and robbing them. And he also stole hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of personal belongings from other local residents.

In a May 2015 burglary on Knollwood Drive, he was responsible for the theft of $2.5 million in valuables. In Old Greenwich in 2011, his take was just over $1 million in valuables, according to documents compiled for his sentencing.

Shaw gave some of the jewelry stolen in Greenwich to his wife to wear, court records state.

Described by a Greenwich police lieutenant as a career criminal, Shaw was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison late last week.

Greenwich police have closed out their investigations into 15 burglaries, one home invasion and an auto theft they said were committed by Shaw between 2011 and 2015.

Shaw, 57, of Inwood, Long Island, N.Y., had previously pleaded guilty to interstate transportation of stolen property; conspiracy; and receipt and sales of stolen property.

He was a prolific burglar. Through a lot of hard work and old-fashioned investigation, we were able to identify a suspect and bring a case against him, Greenwich police Lt. John Slusarz said.

Shaw was behind a home invasion on Ridge Street in central Greenwich in December 2014, according to federal court papers. The residents were confronted by three masked men wielding crowbars. The homeowners, who were not injured during the robbery, were forced to turn over belongings from a bedroom safe.

The homeowners reported to the GPD that approximately $500,000 in jewelry was stolen from their home, as well as three rare coins valued at approximately $40,000, according to the criminal complaint. The rare coins were later sold to a dealer in New Jersey, giving Greenwich police detectives a solid lead, according to the complaint. That case was categorized as a home invasion, in which a perpetrator breaks into a house with residents in it, resulting in a confrontation.

Typically, Shaw worked in the shadows, according to court filings, wearing dark clothing and breaking into houses to steal jewelry and other valuables.

Police said Shaw stole millions of dollars in property in more than a dozen other burglaries, and he was required to make restitution of $4.7 million under the terms of his sentencing.

Shaw has a record of arrests on Long Island and New Jersey, dating to the 1990s, according to court records. He also worked with his son, Jerome Shaw Jr., during his career as a burglar.

Authorities said Shaw was involved in a Pheasant Lane burglary in Greenwich in November 2015, in which the homeowners arrived at their residence and found an open door. Nearby, at another home, police found a ladder propped up against the residence.

A search by a helicopter, a canine unit and police units from around the region did not find any suspects. But a vehicle left at the scene, a Toyota Matrix  with the engine running  gave police more leads. The Toyota was packed with $16,000 in property taken from the Greenwich home where the ladder had been used, according to the federal complaint.

The criminal complaint said Shaw stole a GMC Denali that night, which had the keys inside. It was recovered a few blocks from his residence in Inwood, in Nassau County, N.Y. Inside the car was a backpack containing, binoculars, crowbars, chisels, and screw drivers, court papers stated.

Shaw was arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service in July 2016, and he has been in federal custody ever since.

According to online court records, Shaw and his son were apprehended in northern New Jersey in 2012, with a pair of black gloves, a black mask, black goggles, and a racquetball-size rock on the floorboard of their vehicle. Officers in that case later discovered a large mallet, a pipe wrench, pry bars, cutting pliers, plastic zip ties, a screwdriver, crowbars, a rubber mallet, and kneepads in a duffel bag in the car.

For the local cases, the extensive investigation included numerous interviews, search warrants and surveillance operations, according to a Greenwich police statement.

Shaw was prosecuted through the Southern District of New York. The criminal case against him involved taking stolen goods from Connecticut to New York, an interstate crime bringing federal charges.

According to his sentencing report, Shaw burglarized homes on Milbank Avenue, Doubling Road, Joshua Lane, Sylvan Lane, Zacheus Meade Lane, Saw Mill Lane and Roberta Lane. He took steps to gain entry to the homes without setting off alarms. The estimates on the value of the stolen property were compiled with the assistance of homeowners and their insurance companies.

Much of the property stolen during these break-ins was never recovered. Of the property that was recovered, a vast majority of it was found inside of the defendants home, the sentencing report said.

Shaws wife was wearing some of the jewelery stolen in Greenwich when his Long Island home was raided, the sentencing documents said.

There was no word from authorities this week on criminal charges against any accomplices who might have worked with Shaw in Greenwich.

rmarchant@greenwichtime.com
Brexit could "significantly impact" the cost and quality of food consumed in Scotland, according to a prominent Scottish minister.

Michael Russell, Minister for UK Negotiations on Scotlands Place in Europe has warned that leaving the EU will negatively impact Scotland's highly-prized food and drink sector.

Overseas Scottish food and drink exports were worth approximately 6 billion in 2017, an increase of almost 570 million more than 2016, according to new statistics.

But the Scottish government believes that leaving the single market and customs union risks access to its biggest overseas food and drink export market.

Mr Russell says there is a danger that Brexit could have a significant impact on the cost and quality of produce consumed in Scotland.

The Minister will speak at a roundtable featuring figures from across the sector and chaired by Food Standards Scotland Chair Ross Finnie.

The event in Edinburgh will focus on the practical challenges of getting products to market after the UK leaves the EU.

Mr Russell said: During my meetings with food producers over the past few months its been clear that Brexit poses significant challenges, not least in relation to the real concerns many businesses have about attracting and retaining their workforce.

There are also continuing questions about what kind of trading and regulatory relationship we will have with the EU after the UK leaves.

This underlines why the Scottish Parliament must retain control over devolved matters such as food standards, labelling and safety  to maintain Scotlands high standards  and why the Parliament voted overwhelmingly not to consent to the Withdrawal Bill as it currently stands.

He added: This roundtable is an opportunity for Scottish businesses to discuss the practical impacts of Brexit, whether that is market access, protecting employees, future customs arrangements or protecting the value and reputation of our produce.

Food Standards Scotlands view is that any change in food regulations as a result of the UKs exit from the EU should not cause Scottish consumers to experience any reduction in already high standards of food safety and food authenticity, or any change to the provision of healthy eating advice for people living in Scotland.

Ross Finnie, Food Standards Scotland Chair said: Internal markets can operate effectively with a mixture of shared and differing rules. Intervening in the market for reasons of public interest, such as the protection of public health, is a long-established principle and should not be compromised.

It is our firm belief that Food Standards Scotland is best placed to ensure the continued protection of public health in Scotland in relation to food.
Investigators ordered to look into the fipronil scandal found contaminated eggs or chicken in eight different European Union countries, it has been revealed.

Millions of eggs were withdrawn from sale and laying hens were culled last year following the discovery that the banned pesticide fipronil had been used in the Netherlands and Belgium in a treatment for red mite, an ectoparasite of poultry.

The European Commission asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to investigate the extent of the problem and EFSA has now produced a report following completion of its inquiries.

EFSA was asked by the Commission to look for evidence of fipronil and other similar substance. It found residues above legal limits in eight different countries.

The positive samples were found in the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Poland, Hungary, France, Slovenia, and Greece. "Exceedances were almost exclusively related to fipronil," said EFSA in its report.

100 farms

Last year's fipronil scandal led to more than 100 farms being shut down in the Netherlands, where the crisis emerged and eggs and products containing eggs being withdrawn from stores across Europe, including the UK.

However, although foods were taken off shelve in the UK, investigations found no evidence of fipronil on British farms.

Even so, the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) said it was introducing an approved list of pesticides that could be used on farms. It urged retailers, processors and food service companies to play safe and buy UK eggs.

EFSA said in its report that the alarm was raised last year after Belgium informed the European Commission on July 20 that it had identified eggs contaminated with fipronil.

"Since then, in many European Union (EU) countries and also in certain third countries a similar contamination of eggs was identified," said the report.

It was decided to seek a "comprehensive view" on the contamination of eggs and poultry muscle or fat. Data was sought from each EU member state and from Iceland.

Legal limit

EFSA said that a total of 5,439 samples were submitted to it from the sampling period between September 1, 2017 and November 30, 2017.

Among these samples, 742 samples contained residues exceeding the legal limit. MRL (maximum residue level) exceedances were almost exclusively related to fipronil and were associated with unprocessed chicken eggs (601 samples), fat of laying hens (134 samples), muscle of laying hens (5 samples) as well as dried egg powder (2 samples), said the report.

"Samples that exceeded the legal limit originated from the Netherlands (664 samples), Italy (40 samples), Germany (13 samples), Poland (11 samples), Hungary (6 samples), France (5 samples), Slovenia (2 samples) and Greece (1 sample)," it said.

"Among the 66 substances that were recommended to be analysed in the framework of the ad-hoc monitoring programme, the only substances found in quantifiable concentrations were fipronil (915 determinations) and amitraz (2 determinations)."

Monitoring

EFSA has recommended that in future fipronil and other similar chemicals should be included in the monitoring activities of member states.

Eggs and products made with eggs were pulled from sale across many European countries at the height of the crisis. Some 700,000 potentially contaminated eggs from Europe were thought to have been imported into the United Kingdom for use as egg product.

Four supermarkets withdrew some foods from their shelves as a precaution. Sainsbury's confirmed that all salads containing eggs were being removed from sale because there was a risk that eggs may contain small traces of fipronil.

Asda, Morrisons and Waitrose have also withdrawn some products from their shelves. Tesco said it was not affected.

Egg packers were subsequently asked by retailers to confirm in writing that no products containing fipronil had been used on their farms. Packers, in turn, sought the same assurance from the producers who supplied them.

Source British

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said early in the crisis that there was nothing to suggest that the chemical has been used on UK farms. Testing was carried out on British farms and no traces of the banned substance were found.

In the wake of the fipronil scandal, Ian Jones, chairman of British Lion Egg Processors, called on buyers to source British eggs.

He said: This is just the latest of a number of food safety issues connected to eggs produced outside of the UK in recent years.

Consumers clearly want retailers, caterers and food manufacturers to use good quality British ingredients that are produced to high standards of food safety, but in some prepared foods this is not the case.

Double standards

Whilst major supermarkets promote the fact that they source their shell eggs from British producers, he said, the withdrawals following the fipronil scandal show that many eggs for processing are sourced from overseas. Ian Jones accused the retailers of operating double standards.

The major retailers are operating to double standards when it comes to eggs. All of them stock British Lion shell eggs but they use imported eggs in many of their other foods containing eggs.

He said: As we approach Brexit, shoppers are growing increasingly concerned about the ingredients used in manufactured food and now more than ever want and deserve transparency on food packaging.

The egg industry believes that this is a great opportunity for retailers to listen to the concerns of their customers and reassure them by specifying the use of British eggs and using the Made with British Lion eggs logo on packs.

Robert Gooch, chief executive of the British Free Range Egg Producers' Association, also called for both retailers and manufacturers to buy British eggs produced under quality codes like Lion and Laid in Britain.
An educational group has called on farmers to help children learn more about food and farming with a June-wide initiative.

This June, Linking Environment and Farming (LEAF) is calling on farmers to get involved in Open Farm School Days to inform and inspire the next generation about farming and all it delivers.

Educating and engaging with young people about farming is vital for both their futures and that of British farming, the education organisation says.

The nationwide initiative aims to get children and young people out onto farms and learning about where their food comes from, how it is grown and meeting the farmers who produce it.

From how farmers grow crops for food, clothes and medicine, conserve energy and protect precious resources like soil and water, to how and why they use science and technology to farm sustainably and all they do to care for wildlife and the environment.

LEAF Director of Education and Public Engagement, Carl Edwards said that public understanding begins with good learning experiences out on farms at an early age.

Society needs individuals who are armed with the ability to make informed decisions about food and its production, Mr Edwards said.

LEAF Open Farm School Days provides exactly this  an opportunity for children and young people to experience farming at first hand and learn about its impact on their daily lives and the world around them.

Learning experience

Poultry farmers, Nick and Claire Bragg from Frogmary Farm in Somerset regularly open their farm for LEAF Open Farm School Days.

They teach children about farming and healthy food by promoting the food they produce on-farm.

The farm has a specially designed broiler house which includes a viewing area that allows the children to see just how the chicken they eat is reared.

All registered farmers receive free support and are promoted on LEAFs interactive schools map for teachers looking for farms to visit.

Annabel Shackleton, LEAF Open Farm Sunday manager added: Farms provide amazingly rich and diverse learning experiences. We want farmers to open up, share their farms with the consumers of tomorrow and enthuse them about the world of farming.
Welsh farmers are aiming to celebrate the contribution of women in the industry with this years Woman Farmer of the Year award.

In what has traditionally been a very male-dominated industry, Wales farming heroines often dont get the full recognition they deserve.

However, the NFU Cymru/NFU Mutual Wales Woman Farmer of the Year competition is now in its 22nd year, and ims to celebrate the contribution of women in the farming industry.

The winner of the NFU Cymru/NFU Mutual Wales Woman Farmer of the Year 2018 competition will receive 500 and the person who nominates the winner will receive 50s worth of local farm shop vouchers or goods. The closing date for the competition is Monday, 18th June 2018.

The Wales Woman Farmer of the Year award is there to champion the role that women make to farming businesses and wider rural life.

John Davies, NFU Cymru President said: Over the years we have seen some exceptional winners of this award and we look forward to receiving applications for the 2018 title.

Cathy Davies NFU Mutuals Agent and NFU Group Secretary in Aberystwyth added: Weve seen a fantastic rise in the number of women farmers in the industry, many running farms themselves and leading diversification enterprises to increase farm income.

We are proud to recognise the critical role these women play in Welsh agriculture and hope that this award will inspire other women in Wales to take centre stage and influence farming in the future.

If you are interested in entering, or know someone who you think is worthy of being Wales Woman Farmer of the Year 2018, contact NFU Cymru for an application form by telephoning 01982 554200.
New rural crime survey seeks to gain insight from farmers

It asks what farmers think of policing in their area
When Arjun's Words For Sussanne Grabbed Eyeballs

Mumbai Mirror reports, in 2008, Arjun wrote a first-person account of things that interest him' for a men's magazine. "One girl who makes smoking look feminine is Sussanne," wrote Arjun.

Mehr Got Insecure Of Sussanne

"When Arjun Rampal's equations with many industry friends were worsening, his friendship with Sussanne only strengthened over time and Mehr grew extremely insecure. It led to several fights between the couple," revealed a close friend.

A Public Spat Between Mehr & Sussanne

Mumbai Mirror also quoted the close friend of Arjun as saying, "At a bash hosted by Fardeen Khan, Mehr and Sussanne yelled at one another before Mehr stormed out of the party. The two have not spoken to each other since."

Sussanne Released A Statement Over Her Proximity With Arjun

Post her divorce with Hrithik Roshan, Sussanne released an official statement as saying, "Arjun and Mehr are my friends and have been for years. To poison a relationship such as this is malicious behaviour. I have, with Mehr, earlier stated that there is no truth to the claim that Arjun and I are anything more than friends."

Mehr Gave A Last Chance To The Marriage But...

Mumbai Mirror reports, their common friends reveal that Arjun and Mehr tried to make the marriage last but couldn't. "In 2017, Mehr, who routinely visits Mount Mary church in Bandra, had to be escorted home by a family friend after a breakdown in the church."

Arjun Was Meeting Sussanne Secretly

"Mehr had learnt that Arjun and Sussanne were still meeting secretly and were close friends. She was traumatised as she had believed Arjun when he said he was a changed man and that everything would be fine," the source said.

Arjun & Mehr Were Caught Fighting Loudly As Well

"They were fighting so loudly and throwing things at each other that the neighbours threatened to complain to the police as it wasn't the first fight of its kind. Mehr apologised profusely to them and immediately after that, Arjun moved into a five-star service apartment for a week," the source informed.
Dulquer Salmaan did make a swashbuckling debut in Tollywood with the film Mahanati, by portraying the role of Gemini Ganesan, for which he has already received a lot of praises from various quarters.

Reportedly, Mahanati is doing an amazing business in the theatres at present. Meanwhile, popular actress Rakul Preet Singh, who had watched the film recently, took to Facebook to write a few words about the film.

Rakul Preet Singh's Facebook post regarding Mahanati read as "Finally saw #Mahanati n it's a "MASTERPIECE".. kudos 2 d entire team 4 making a film like this. Savitri garu will be remembered forever! #KeerthySuresh what a lovely performance ! Take a bow ..#Samantha #VijayDevarkonda".

The above comments haven't gone well with the fans of Dulquer Salmaan. The actress who mentioned Keerthy Suresh, Vijay Devarakonda and Samantha's names on the review, has missed Dulquer Salmaan's name on the short review that she sent out. This has definitely irked some of the fans of Dulquer Salmaan and the post has been flooded with comments asking how she had missed out the name of Dulquer Salmaan, who played a crucial role in the movie.

Take a look at the Facebook post of Rakul Preet Singh here..

Dulquer Salmaan has rightly emerged as one of the top stars of the South Indian film industry. He has a fan base, which has crossed the barriers of the Malayalam speaking regions with the actor establishing himself in Tamil and Telugu film industries as well.
Of late, we have seen a lot of actors and directors venturing into film production. The latest one to join the list is popular young actor Sunny Wayne, who has officially launched his production company named as Sunny Wayne productions.

Sunny Wayne himself took to his official Facebook page to share this happy news. Sunny Wayne wrote that it has been his long time ambition to start a production house of his own.

Meanwhile, the actor also announced the first project of the production comany, which will be a theatre drama. Titled as Moment Just Before Death, this play will be helmed by Liju Krishna. The play will be performed on June 10, 2018 at JT Pac theatre in Kochi. Take a look at the Facebook post of Sunny Wayne regarding the same.

Wishes have been pouring in for Sunny Wayne from various quarters. The actor definitely requires a big round of applause as he has dared to kick-start the production company with a drama. We wish the actor all the very best on his new venture.

On the acting front, Sunny Wayne was previously seen in the blockbuster movie Aadu 2, which had hit the theatres by the end of December 2017. The actor will be next seen in the film French Viplavam, directed by Maju. He also essays a crcuial rule in the upcoming big budget venture Kayamkulam Kochunni, starring Nivin Pauly in the lead role.
When Will The Movie Go On Floors...

According to a recent report by Times Of India, the director of the film Major Ravi has confirmed that the team is waiting to finalise the dates of Nivin Pauly and they will begin the shoot once that is done.

The Scriptwriter

The report also suggests this upcoming film of Major Ravi and Nivin Pauly will have its script penned by Benny P Nayarambalam. It will be for the first time that Major Ravi will be associating with Benny P Nayarambalam. The film-maker has added that the writer is working on the script at present.

The Producers Of The Movie

Earlier, reports had surfaced that Jomon T John will be making his debut as a producer with this upcoming film of Major Ravi and Nivin Pauly. Now, while speaking to Times Of India, the film-maker has confirmed that the film will be jointly produced by Jomon T John and Vinod Shoranur.

Nivin Pauly's Upcoming Movies..

Meanwhile, Nivin Pauly has completed the shoot of his upcoming film Moothon. The actor's next big release in Malayalam is expected to be Kayamkulam Kochunni, directed by Rosshan Andrrews. Meanwhile, the shoot of the actor's upcoming film Love Action Drama is expected to commence in the month of June.


NEW BRUNSWICK (dpa-AFX) - In the battle between Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) and plaintiffs' lawyers over alleged dangers in its signature baby powder, juries cut both ways last week.



A trial in South Carolina over whether Johnson's Baby Powder caused a young woman's mesothelioma ended in a hung jury Friday, days after a California jury awarded a woman $25.75 million in a similar case.



The Wall Street Journal reported Johnson & Johnson has lost two of four trials since November claiming inhalation of its talcum-based baby powder is to blame for plaintiffs' mesothelioma, the deadly cancer tied to asbestos exposure.



The mesothelioma cases represent a growing share of the more than 9,000 claims Johnson & Johnson faces over its talcum powder. Most allege the powder caused ovarian cancer in women who regularly used the product for feminine hygiene.



The new trials come months after Johnson & Johnson notched a few wins in ovarian-cancer cases, including persuading judges to toss a $72 million verdict in Missouri and $417 million verdict in California.



In the mesothelioma cases, plaintiffs claim the talcum used in Johnson & Johnson's powder is intermingled with asbestos, a known carcinogen, and that the company has known about the danger for decades. Johnson & Johnson asserts its powder has always been safe and asbestos-free.



A jury in Los Angeles Superior Court returned a $25.75 million verdict last week in a case brought on behalf of Joanne Anderson, a 66-year-old Oregon woman who has been fighting pleural mesothelioma, a cancer in the lining of the lungs. Of the $21.7 million in compensatory damages, the jury assigned 67% of the blame to Johnson & Johnson.



Ms. Anderson's lawyers told the jury she used Johnson's powder an estimated 10,000 times, both on her children as babies and over years as an avid bowler, to dust her hands and shoes.



Johnson & Johnson said it would appeal and 'continue to defend the safety of our product because it does not contain asbestos or cause mesothelioma.' The company said over the past 50 years, multiple scientific evaluations, including from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, have been conducted and 'none have found that the talc in Johnson's Baby Powder contains asbestos.'



In April, a New Jersey jury awarded $117 million to resident Stephen Lanzo in a mesothelioma case, split between Johnson & Johnson and one of its talc suppliers, Imerys SA.



A fourth jury in Los Angeles Superior Court in November found in favor of Johnson & Johnson.



Plaintiffs' lawyers point to internal Johnson & Johnson documents such as one from 1973 looking at strategies for testing asbestos-type fibers at its talc mine and in baby powder, and another from 1974 suggesting ways to suppress the English-language publication of an Italian pamphlet discussing impurities in talc.



Some lawyers also hired an expert to do their own analysis of Johnson's powder, and released findings showing eight of 11 tested bottles contained tremolite, a type of asbestos.



In South Carolina, the judge declared a mistrial late Friday after a jury failed to reach consensus in the case of Bertila Boyd-Bostic, a lawyer who died last fall at age 30 from mesothelioma. Her lawsuit claimed her disease stemmed from her lifetime use of Johnson & Johnson's baby powder.



In closing arguments in the case, Motley Rice attorney Christopher Swett, who represented the plaintiff, told the jury Johnson & Johnson 'had a safer alternative' including switching to cornstarch baby powder. 'They chose to continue to use the tainted talc,' he said, according to a broadcast of the trial on Courtroom View Network.



Michael Brown, a Nelson Mullins partner representing Johnson & Johnson, countered in his closings that while the plaintiff had a tragic end of her life, the company shouldn't be accused of causing that death. 'That's not what justice is,' he said.



Ms. Boyd-Bostic's lawyers said Friday they look forward to retrying the case. Johnson & Johnson said it is disappointed the jury didn't reach a unanimous verdict.



Johnson & Johnson faces an ovarian-cancer trial starting next month in Missouri, and other talcum-powder trials scheduled for July and September.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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11.2 Metres of 24.7% Zinc and 4.5 Metres of 36.1% Zinc

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Zinc One Resources Inc. (TSXV: Z) (OTC Pink: ZZZOF) (FSE: RH33) ("Zinc One" or the "Company") is pleased to announce additional results from its drill program at the southern area of the Mina Grande Sur zone, part of the Bongara Zinc Mine project located in north-central Peru. Drilling in this area of Mina Grande Sur has been focused on the delineation of near-surface, high-grade mineralization. To date, results from 50 drill holes for a total of 803.6 metres at Mina Grande Sur have been reported with results from the 45 remaining holes to follow upon receipt. The drill program at Mina Grande Sur has now been completed and included a total of 2,328.4 metres from 95 holes (see map below in Figure 1.). Results of the drill program will contribute to the overall understanding of the area and provide data in support of the upcoming technical report expected to be released in Q3 2018.

Jim Walchuck, President and CEO of Zinc One commented, "These results from the completed drill program at Mina Grande Sur continue to demonstrate that the Bongara Zinc Mine project is an exceptional zinc-rich deposit. We fully expect that the data collected from Mina Grande Sur will become part of the upcoming resource calculation for the entire project. While we wait for the remaining results from Mina Grande Sur, the drill program will be focused on the Mina Grande Centro zone, where drilling has now commenced, and then continue in the Mina Grande Norte zone."

Mina Grande Sur Additional Drill Results Highlights:

Results from 24 holes were reported previously (see news releases from March 29, 2018 and May 7, 2018).

Significant new intercepts include: MGS18047 - 11.2 metres of 24.7% zinc, from 1.8 metres drill depth True vertical thickness of 9.7 metres from true vertical depth of 1.6 metres MCH18026 - 5.5 metres of 25.0% zinc, from surface True vertical thickness of 3.9 metres MGS18046 - 4.5 metres of 36.1% zinc, from surface True vertical thickness of 3.2 metres

Mineralization at Mina Grande Sur includes zinc oxides, carbonates and silicates hosted by soils, highly-weathered carbonates, and fine- to coarse-grained dolomites.

Mina Grande Sur is one of three known zones of high-grade, near-surface zinc-oxide mineralization along a 1.4 kilometre mineralized trend that is being tested by this drill program. Results from the 36 holes drilled have been reported at Bongarita, which lies approximately 1.3 kilometres northwest of Mina Grande Sur. A significant high-grade zinc deposit was discovered during the drill program at Mina Chica, which is approximately 1.2 kilometres northwest of Mina Grande Sur. Results from 35 of 53 holes drilled at Mina Chica, for a total of 2,370.9 metres, have been reported to date.

Geology and Discussion of Results

The zinc mineralization at Bongara is hosted by carbonate rocks and is classified as a Mississippi Valley-type deposit. The mineralization is stratabound and is basically a tabular body with irregular boundaries. Hydrozincite, smithsonite, hemimorphite, and a zinc-aluminum-iron silicate are the primary zinc minerals that are hosted primarily by soils, heavily-weathered fractured dolomites and dolomite breccias. Given that the strike and dip of the mineralization is not known, the intercepts do not necessarily represent true thicknesses; moreover, long intercepts, e.g., MGS18-003, most likely drilled subparallel to the dip of the tabular mineralized body. At Bongarita specifically, mineralization is exclusively hosted by soils. Overall, the mineralization is focused along the axis of a doubly-plunging anticline as well as within the eastern flank of the anticline.

Table 1: Mina Grande Sur - Additional Drill Results

Drill Hole Easting* Northing* Azimuth Inclination Total

Depth From

(m) To

(m) Total

(m) True

Vertical

Thickness

(m) Zn (%) MGS18025 171600 9367660 0 -90 15.2 0.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 26.8 MGS18026 171600 9367660 45 -45 15.0 0.0 5.5 5.5 3.9 25.0 MGS18027 171598 9367658 225 -45 17.0 0.0 3.0 3.0 2.1 19.9 MGS18028 171628 9367668 0 -90 16.3 1.5 8.7 7.2 7.2 21.7 MGS18029 171628 9367668 45 -45 14,6 1,5 5.6 4.1 2.9 14.6 MGS18030 171628 9367667 225 -45 16.5 6.0 9.8 3.8 2.7 25.2 MGS18031 171635 9367711 0 -90 15.5 6.0 7.2 1.2 1.2 10.1 MGS18032 171635 9367711 90 -45 16.5 1.5 3.7 2.2 1.6 11.9 MGS18033 171632 9367712 270 -45 16.5 No intercepts of interest

MGS18034 171569 9367688 275 -60 13.5 No intercepts of interest

MGS18035 171569 9367688 0 -90 15.0 No intercepts of interest

MGS18036 171571 9367685 180 -45 12.0 No intercepts of interest

MGS18037 171561 9367714 290 -60 15.0 0.0 1.5 1.5 1.3 15.7 MGS18038 171561 9367714 0 -90 15.0 0.0 1.5 1.5 1.5 16.3 MGS18039 171562 9367711 225 -45 14.6 0.0 1.1 1.1 0.8 14.7 MGS18040 171566 9367742 315 -60 15.0 No intercepts of interest

MGS18041 171566 9367742 0 -90 12.0 No intercepts of interest

MGS18042 171566 9367742 135 -60 15.0 No intercepts of interest

MGS18043 171520 9367724 0 -90 15.0 0.0 3.0 3.0 3.0 13.0 MGS18044 171520 9367724 225 -45 15.0 3.0 5.2 2.2 1.6 14.2 MGS18045 171451 9367743 0 -90 15.0 0.0 4.5 4.5 4.5 18.1 MGS18046 171451 9367743 320 -45 15.0 0.0 4.5 4.5 3.2 36.1 MGS18047 171451 9367742 140 -60 19.5 1.8 13.0 11.2 9.7 24.7 MGS18048 171428 9367717 0 -90 15.4 No intercepts of interest

MGS18049 181428 9367717 320 -45 13.5 No intercepts of interest

MGS18050 171427 9367716 140 -60 15.2 No intercepts of interest



*Preliminary coordinates; and survey pending

Figure 1.: Drilling and Pit/Surface Sampling - Mina Grande Sur





To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/4668/34865_a1527547504418_31.jpg

Sampling and Analytical Protocols

Zinc One follows a systematic and rigorous Quality Control/Quality Assurance program overseen by Dr. Bill Williams, COO and Director of Zinc One.

The sample from each core run is placed in a 60-centimetre long, plastic core box that has five columns. Core recovery, rock quality designation ("RQD"), and geologic features are logged and sample intervals, which are generally <2 metres, are chosen. Each core box is photographed and then sampled with a spatula (soil and heavily-weathered rock) or cut with a core saw, 50% of which is placed in a sample bag and stored on site in a secure location. The Company independently inserts certified control standards, blanks, and duplicates, all of which comprise at least 20% of the sample batch, to monitor sample preparation and analytical quality. The samples are stored in a secure area until such time they are shipped to the CERTIMIN laboratory in Lima (ISO 9001 Certified) for preparation and assay. At the laboratory, samples are dried, crushed, pulverized and then a four-acid digestion is applied. This is followed by the ICP-AES analytical technique for 33 elements, including lead. The same method is used to assay zinc for values up to 20%. If zinc exceeds 20%, it is then analyzed using a titration method. The laboratory also inserts blanks and standards as well as including duplicate analyses.

Qualified Person

The technical content of this news release has been reviewed, verified and approved by Dr. Bill Williams, COO and Director of Zinc One, a qualified person as defined by NI 43-101.

About Zinc One Resources Inc.

Zinc One is focused on the exploration and development of prospective and advanced zinc projects in mining-friendly jurisdictions. Zinc One's key assets are the Bongara Zinc Mine Project and the Charlotte Bongara Zinc Project in north-central Peru. The Bongara Zinc Mine Project was in production from 2007 to 2008, but was closed due to the global financial crisis and concurrent decrease in the zinc price. Past production included 20% zinc grades and recoveries over 90% from surface and near-surface zinc-oxide mineralization. High-grade, zinc-oxide mineralization is known to outcrop between the mined area and the Charlotte Bongara Project, which is nearly six kilometres to the NNW and where past drilling intercepted various near-surface zones with high-grade zinc. Zinc One is managed by a proven team of geologists and engineers who have previously constructed and operated successful mining operations.

Additional Information

Monica Hamm

VP, Investor Relations

Zinc One Resources Inc.

Phone: (604) 683-0911

Email: mhamm@zincone.com

www.zincone.com

Forward-Looking Statements

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. Zinc One cautions that all forward looking statements are inherently uncertain and that actual performance may be affected by many material factors, many of which are beyond their respective control. Such factors include, among other things: risks and uncertainties relating to Zinc One's limited operating history, its proposed exploration and development activities on the Bongara Zinc Oxide Project and the need to comply with environmental and governmental regulations. 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, Zinc One does not undertake to publicly update or revise forward-looking information.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
OurCrowd's European traction expands via collaboration with multinational group, focused on hazard detection and digital health

Halma, a global group of life-saving technology companies, and OurCrowd, a leading equity crowdfunding platform, today announced a new business partnership, which will help to catalyze life protection technologies focused on hazard detection and digital health. The partnership combines the strength of OurCrowd's global network, robust deal flow pipeline and growing portfolio of 150 promising startups along with the reach and business objectives of Halma to seek innovative products and services in digital health, infrastructure and environmental analytics and insights.

Dr Inken Braunschmidt, Chief Digital and Innovation Officer at Halma, said: "We're looking for the best innovations in Medtech, smart buildings and environmental analytics and Israel is the place to find them. It is one of the most vibrant innovation hotspots in the world. We're excited to collaborate with OurCrowd who is the ideal partner to help us access the talent and ideas of this unique innovation and digital ecosystem. OurCrowd will help Halma grow faster by identifying new investment opportunities within the Israeli tech ecosystem."

OurCrowd has raised over $750 million for 150 companies and funds and continues to expand its OurNetwork corporate innovation program to provide multinationals with the ability to stay ahead of the latest innovation trends globally by providing access to Israel's bustling tech startup community. Through this most recent partnership, OurCrowd will help funnel Israeli technology startups that support Halma's mission. This partnership will help Halma achieve its purpose of growing a safer, cleaner, healthier future for everyone through investment in Medtech/digital health, smart and safe buildings and infrastructure tech, and environmental monitoring tech.

Jon Medved, Founder and CEO of OurCrowd, said: "We're thrilled to enter into this new strategic partnership with Halma. It will give our portfolio companies and other promising global startups a quality gateway to world markets, with one of the most progressive technology groups on the planet. Halma wants to make the world a safer, cleaner, healthier place for everyone and that's something that we at OurCrowd believe in passionately."

About OurCrowd: OurCrowd is the leading global equity crowdfunding platform for accredited investors. Managed by a team of seasoned investment professionals and led by serial entrepreneur Jon Medved, OurCrowd vets and selects opportunities, invests its own capital, and brings companies to its accredited membership of global investors. OurCrowd provides post-investment support to its portfolio companies, assigns industry experts as mentors, and takes board seats. The OurCrowd community consists of almost 25,000 accredited investors from over 150 countries. OurCrowd has raised over $750M and invested in 150 portfolio companies and funds. To join OurCrowd as an accredited investor visit www.ourcrowd.com and click "Join."

About Halma: Halma plc is a global group of life-saving technology companies. It is based in the UK with companies all over the world which provide innovative solutions to many of the key problems facing the world today, from water security to preventable blindness. Its companies provide products to customers that have a core focus on the safety, environmental, and health markets which help save people's lives every day. Its fire protection sensors protect people across the world in public buildings and offices, including landmarks such as Buckingham Palace, the Shard and the White House. Its water monitoring sensors protect global water networks and ensure clean water for millions of people. Its medical sensors help spot preventable diseases and restore lost eyesight and their environmental sensors help measure air quality in cities and monitor the planet's health from space. Its products all have a positive impact on the safety, wellbeing and health of people around the world. Visit www.halma.com to read more

For Press Materials: http://blog.ourcrowd.com/HALMA

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180528005018/en/

Contacts:

OurCrowd:

Leah Stern, UK: +44 747 019 6826

Director of Communications

E: leah@ourcrowd.com

or

Halma:

Kitty Parkes, UK: +44 7824 366 592

Head of Content

E: kitty.parkes@halma.com
Full-year guidance confirmed

Total revenue growth of 3.9%, of which 2.9% organic growth

Adjusted EBITDA margin of 6.9%

Adjusted earnings per share of 0.33

Leverage ratio of 3.48x

Full-year guidance confirmed

Regulatory News:

Elior Group (Paris:ELIOR) (Euronext Paris ISIN: FR 0011950732), one of the world's leading operators in the catering and support services industry, today released its consolidated results for the first half of fiscal 2017-2018, corresponding to the six months ended March 31, 2018.

Commenting on these results, Philippe Guillemot, Elior Group's Chief Executive Officer, said: "The Group's first-half performance was mixed. Despite the impact of poor weather conditions, organic growth remained solid at 2.9%, fueled mainly by the United States and the United Kingdom in contract catering and the Americas, Spain and Portugal in concession catering. Our operating profitability was lower than expected, with adjusted EBITDA representing 6.9% of revenue. Our businesses continued to generate a good level of cash flow, however, with free cash flow holding firm compared with the first half of 2016-2017 thanks to careful management of working capital and despite a controlled increase in our capital expenditure. The outlook for our businesses is solid, which will be reflected in the strategic plan that we are currently finalizing and the Group's new goals for the coming three years."

(in millions) H1 2017-2018 H1 2016-2017 Year-on-year

change Revenue 3,339 3,213 + 3.9% Adjusted EBITDA 231 255 - 9.6% As a of revenue 6.9% 7.9% - 100 bps Profit attributable to owners of the parent (reported) 37 58 - 36.2% Adjusted earnings per share (in ) 0.33 0.45 - 26.7%

Business development

Business development was buoyant in the first six months of 2017-2018. At 92.2% at end-March 2018, the retention rate for contract catering was slightly lower year on year, due to a more selective approach to contract renewals in France and the termination of a contract with the Ministry of Defence in the United Kingdom. During the second quarter, a number of major contracts were signed in the contract catering services business, including with Trousseau hospital in Paris and Be Issy in France, Airbus in the United Kingdom, Clayton State University and Philadelphia Zoo in the United States, Ramon y Cajal hospital in Spain and the Ministry of the Interior in Italy.

External growth

During the second quarter of 2017-2018, the Group acquired a small business operating in the airport concession catering sector in Mexico.

Overall, the Group's acquisitions carried out in the first half of 2017-2018 contributed 25 million to its consolidated revenue figure.

Revenue

Consolidated revenue totaled 3,339 million for the first half of 2017-2018. The 3.9% year-on-year increase reflects organic growth of 2.9%, acquisition-led growth of 3.5% and a negative 2.5% currency effect.

The proportion of revenue generated by international operations rose to 56% from 55% in first-half 2016-2017.

Contract catering services revenue advanced 119 million, or 4.9%, year on year to 2,552 million and accounted for 76% of total consolidated revenue.

Organic growth for the period came to 2.9%, notably reflecting the slowdown that occurred in the second quarter, as expected, due to an unfavorable calendar effect and difficult weather conditions in Europe and the United States.

Fluctuations in exchange rates had a negative 2.6% impact.

Revenue generated by the international segment rose 8.4% to 1,391 million. Organic growth for this segment was 4.6% and recent acquisitions generated additional growth of 8.7%, whereas the currency effect shaved 4.9% off the revenue figure.

In the United States, despite the adverse impact of difficult weather conditions in the second quarter, organic growth topped 10%, propelled by the start-up of new contracts in all of the Group's markets.

In the United Kingdom, organic growth also remained strong thanks to the start-up of new contracts and good performances delivered by existing sites.

In Spain, revenue was on a par with first-half 2016-2017, despite an unfavorable calendar effect in the second quarter and a more selective sales approach.

In Italy, revenue retreated due to the combined impact of the termination of certain contracts, poor weather conditions and an unfavorable calendar effect.

In France, contract catering services revenue totaled 1,160 million, with organic growth of 1.0%.

In the business industry market, revenue was on a par with first-half 2016-2017. The strong business development in 2016-2017 and a higher average customer spend offset the negative calendar effect and adverse impact of poor weather conditions in the second quarter.

In the education market, revenue rose year on year thanks to an overall favorable calendar effect during the period.

In the healthcare market, revenue declined in first-half 2017-2018, mainly due to certain contracts not being renewed.

Concession catering revenue climbed 8 million in the first half of 2017-2018, coming in at 788 million and representing 24% of total consolidated revenue.

Organic growth was 2.9%, changes in the scope of consolidation had a 0.2% positive impact and fluctuations in exchange rates notably for the Mexican peso and US dollar trimmed 2.1% off the business's revenue for the period.

In the international segment, concession catering revenue increased 3.2% to 489 million in the first six months of 2017-2018. Organic growth was a robust 6.4%, whereas fluctuations in exchange rates trimmed 3.4% off revenue.

The motorways market felt the positive effects of higher traffic volumes in Portugal, new contracts in Spain and the fact that Spain and Portugal's Holy Week celebrations fell in the month of March.

Revenue in the airports market was boosted by (i) increasing traffic volumes, especially in Spain, Portugal and Italy, (ii) the opening of new points of sale at airports in Portugal, the United States (LAX) and Mexico, and (iii) the start-up of operations at Bogota airport in Colombia.

In France, concession catering revenue decreased 2.4% year on year to 299 million.

The motorways market saw good traffic volumes but revenue was still hampered by the termination of certain contracts.

Revenue generated in the airports market edged up, reflecting continued good air traffic volumes (especially for airports outside Paris) and the opening of new points of sale, which offset the loss of the contract for Nice airport.

The railway stations, city sites leisure market also reported a revenue decline, due to (i) the fact that certain major trade shows are only held once every two years, (ii) the termination of the contracts with the Le Bourget and Villepinte exhibition centers, and (iii) the impact of renovation work being carried out at Paris's main stations.

Adjusted EBITDA and recurring operating profit

Consolidated adjusted EBITDA contracted 9.6% year on year to 231 million and represented 6.9 of revenue versus 7.9% for the same period of 2016-2017. Fluctuations in exchange rates had a negative impact of around 6 million on the overall adjusted EBITDA figure.

Adjusted EBITDA for the contract catering services business line came to 192 million (compared with 215 million in first-half 2016-2017) and represented 7.5% of revenue, down 130 basis points.

In the international segment, adjusted EBITDA fell 9 million to 93 million, representing 6.7% of revenue compared with 7.9% in first-half 2016-2017. This performance reflects how profitability during the period was weighed down by fluctuations in exchange rates, poor weather conditions and an unfavorable calendar effect.

segment, adjusted EBITDA fell 9 million to 93 million, representing 6.7% of revenue compared with 7.9% in first-half 2016-2017. This performance reflects how profitability during the period was weighed down by fluctuations in exchange rates, poor weather conditions and an unfavorable calendar effect. In France, adjusted EBTDA for contract catering services came to 98 million and represented 8.5% of revenue versus 9.8% for the equivalent period of 2016-2017. This year-on-year decline in profitability was due to (i) the reduced CICE tax credit rate introduced by the French government, (ii) a high level of contract renewals and new restaurant openings, (iii) an increase in structural costs, and (iv) poor weather conditions in February and March.

Concession catering adjusted EBITDA amounted to 40 million (versus 43 million in first-half 2016-2017) and represented 5.0% of revenue (against 5.5% in first-half 2016-2017).

In the international segment despite a negative currency effect during the period, adjusted EBITDA for the concession catering business line inched up to 26 million and adjusted EBITDA margin held firm at 5.4%. Revenue rises posted by existing sites in Spain, Portugal and Latin America offset the start-up costs incurred for certain contracts in the airports market in the United States and Colombia.

segment despite a negative currency effect during the period, adjusted EBITDA for the concession catering business line inched up to 26 million and adjusted EBITDA margin held firm at 5.4%. Revenue rises posted by existing sites in Spain, Portugal and Latin America offset the start-up costs incurred for certain contracts in the airports market in the United States and Colombia. In France, adjusted EBITDA for concession catering came to 13 million (versus 17 million for the equivalent prior-year period). This decrease reflects the adverse impact of (i) contract start-ups in the railway stations market, (ii) lower business levels with exhibition centers, and (iii) refurbishment works carried out at motorway service plazas, which could not be offset by the higher year-on-year profitability delivered by the leisure and airports markets.

Recurring operating profit, including share of profit of equity-accounted investees, totaled 113 million, down 24.3% year on year, reflecting both the lower overall EBITDA figure and an increase in depreciation and amortization expense during the period (to 3.1% of revenue from 2.8% in first-half 2016-2017). The first-half 2017-2018 figure also includes 5 million in share-based compensation expenses and 10 million in amortization of intangible assets related to acquisitions (versus 6 million and 11 million respectively in first-half 2016-2017).

Attributable profit for the period

Non-recurring items represented a net expense of 14 million and primarily included reorganization costs, the costs of exiting operations and acquisition costs.

Net financial expense amounted to 33 million compared with 25 million for the first six months of 2016-2017. The first-half 2017-2018 figure includes 6 million in one-off charges corresponding to the write-down of several investments in start-ups. At 24 million, the Group's finance costs were stable year on year.

The Group's income tax expense decreased from 49 millionto 24 million and included the net positive one-off effect for the year of 12 million worth of adjustments to the value of deferred taxes recognized in the balance sheet following the reduction in the Federal corporate income tax rate in the United States. The Group's estimated effective income tax rate (including the French CVAE tax) for full-year 2017-2018 is 30%.

The Group reported a 1 million loss from discontinued operations in first-half 2017-2018, corresponding to the losses related to the operations sold by Areas in Northern Europe.

Attributable profit for the period declined 36.2% year on year to 37 million and adjusted earnings per share amounted to 0.33.

Cash flows and debt

Free cash flow was stable year on year, coming in at a negative 65 million, as the impacts of the lower adjusted EBITDA figure and higher level of capital expenditure and non-recurring expenses were offset by tighter control of working capital and a reduction in taxes paid.

Net debt totaled 1,783 million at March 31, 2018, up 155 million on the September 30, 2017 figure. In addition to the above-mentioned negative free cash flow position, this increase was principally attributable to (i) acquisitions carried out in the United States and Mexico (76 million), (ii) net interest paid on debt (24 million) and (iii) the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates on the Group's dollar-denominated debt.

Outlook

The Group is standing by its guidance for full-year 2017-2018 as revised on May 16, 2018, namely:

Organic growth of close to 3%

An adjusted EBITDA margin of between 7.5% and 7.8%

A decrease in adjusted earnings per share

Capex kept within a budget of 300 million

Events after the reporting period

On April 20, 2018, Elior Group's lending banks agreed to extend the maturities of almost all of its syndicated loans in both euros and dollars. The new maturity dates of the renegotiated loans are now between May 2023 and December 2024.

Also in April 2018, Elior Group launched its first international employee share ownership plan. Under this plan, Group employees purchased 1,059,846 new Elior Group shares, resulting in a 15 million capital increase.

A conference call will take place today (Tuesday, May 29, 2018) at 8:30 a.m. (CEST). To connect to the call please dial one of the following numbers:

France: 33 (0) 1 76 77 22 57 United Kingdom: 44 33 0336 9411 United States: 1 323 794 2551 Access code: 3186691

The results presentation will also be accessible by webcast by clicking on the following link

Financial calendar: June 26, 2018: Investor Day

July 25, 2018: Revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2017-2018 issue of press release before the start of trading

December 4, 2018: Full-year 2017-2018 results issue of press release before the start of trading plus press conference

Appendix 1: Definition of alternative performance indicators Appendix 2: Revenue by business line and geographic region Appendix 3: Revenue by geographic region Appendix 4: Revenue by market Appendix 5: Adjusted EBITDA by business line and geographic region Appendix 6: Adjusted EBITA by business line and geographic region Appendix 7: Free cash flow Appendix 8: Consolidated financial statements

The English-language version of this document is a free translation from the original, which was prepared in French. All possible care has been taken to ensure that the translation is an accurate representation of the original. However, in all matters of interpretation of information, views or opinions expressed therein, the original language version of the document in French takes precedence over this translation.

About Elior Group

Founded in 1991, Elior Group has grown into one of the world's leading operators in the catering and support services industry and has become a benchmark player in the business industry, education, healthcare and travel markets. Now operating in 16 countries, the Group generated 6,422 million in revenue through 25,000 restaurants and points of sale in fiscal 2016-2017. Our 127,000 employees serve 5.5 million people on a daily basis, taking genuine care of each and every one by providing personalized catering and service solutions to ensure an innovative customer experience.

We place particular importance on corporate social responsibility and have been a member of the United Nations Global Compact since 2004, reaching the GC Advanced level in 2015. The professional excellence of our teams, as well as their unwavering commitment to quality and innovation and to providing best in-class service is embodied in our corporate motto: "Time savored".

For further information please visit our website (http://www.eliorgroup.com or follow us on Twitter (@Elior_Group

Appendix 1: Definition of Alternative Performance Indicators

Organic growth in consolidated revenue: Growth in consolidated revenue expressed as a percentage and adjusted for the impact of (i) changes in exchange rates, using the calculation method described in Chapter 4, Section 4.1.4.1 of the fiscal 2016-2017 Registration Document, and (ii) other-than-marginal changes in scope of consolidation.

Reported EBITDA: This indicator corresponds to the following, as recorded in the consolidated income statement: recurring operating profit including share of profit of equity-accounted investees whose activities are the same or similar to those of the Group, before (i) net depreciation and amortization expense included in recurring operating profit and (ii) net additions to provisions included in recurring operating profit.

Adjusted EBITDA: Reported EBITDA as defined above adjusted for the impact of share-based compensation expense (stock options and free shares granted by Group companies).

Adjusted EBITDA margin: Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of consolidated revenue.

Adjusted EBITA: Recurring operating profit reported under IFRS adjusted for the impact of share-based compensation expense (stock options and free shares granted by Group companies) and amortization of intangible assets recognized on consolidation.

Adjusted earnings per share: This indicator is calculated based on consolidated profit for the period attributable to owners of the parent adjusted for non-recurring income and expenses, net of the income tax effect calculated at the Group's standard tax rate of 34%, and amortization of intangible assets recognized on consolidation (mainly customer relationships).

Free cash flow: The sum of the following items as defined in the fiscal 2016-2017 Registration Document and recorded either as individual line items or as the sum of several individual line items in the consolidated cash flow statement:

Adjusted EBITDA.

Net capital expenditure (i.e. amounts paid as consideration for property, plant and equipment and intangible assets used in operations less the proceeds received from sales of these types of assets).

Change in net operating working capital.

Tax paid, which notably includes corporate income tax, the CVAE tax in France and the IRAP tax in Italy.

Other cash movements, which primarily comprise cash outflows related to (i) non-recurring items in the income statement and (ii) provisions recognized for liabilities resulting from fair value adjustments recognized on the acquisition of consolidated companies.

Conversion rate: free cash flow as a percentage of adjusted EBITDA

Leverage ratio (as defined in the covenants in the Senior Facilities Agreement and presented for the Group's debt at a given period-end): The ratio between (i) the Group's net debt (at a given period-end determined based on the definition and covenants in the Senior Facilities Agreement as described in Chapter 4, Section 4.7.2 of the fiscal 2016-2017 Registration Document: "Senior Facilities Agreement", i.e. excluding unamortized issuance costs and the fair value of derivative instruments) and (ii) adjusted EBITDA calculated on a rolling basis for the twelve months preceding the period-end concerned, further adjusted to exclude the impacts of acquisitions and divestments of consolidated companies during the twelve months preceding said period-end.

Appendix 2: Revenue by Business Line and Geographic Region (in millions) Q1

2017-2018 Q1

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth France 579 556 4.2% 0.0% 0.0% 4.2% International 706 631 7.0% 8.9% -4.0% 11.9% Contract catering services 1,285 1,187 5.7% 4.7% -2.1% 8.3% France 155 161 -3.9% 0.0% 0.0% -3.9% International 254 246 5.8% 0.0% -2.6% 3.2% Concession catering 409 407 2.0% 0.0% -1.6% 0.4% GROUP TOTAL 1,694 1,594 4.7% 3.5% -2.0% 6.3%

(in millions) Q2

2017-2018 Q2

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth France 581 593 -2.1% 0.0% 0.0% -2.1% International 686 653 2.3% 8.5% -5.8% 5.0% Contract catering services 1,266 1,246 0.2% 4.5% -3.1% 1.6% France 144 145 -0.8% 0.0% 0.0% -0.8% International 236 228 7.0% 0.5% -4.3% 3.2% Concession catering 379 373 4.0% 0.3% -2.6% 1.7% GROUP TOTAL 1,645 1,619 1.1% 3.5% -3.0% 1.6%

(in millions) H1

2017-2018 H1

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth France 1,160 1,149 1.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.0% International 1,391 1,284 4.6% 8.7% -4.9% 8.4% Contract catering services 2,552 2,433 2.9% 4.6% -2.6% 4.9% France 299 306 -2.4% 0.0% 0.0% -2.4% International 489 474 6.4% 0.2% -3.4% 3.2% Concession catering 788 780 2.9% 0.2% -2.1% 1.0% GROUP TOTAL 3,339 3,213 2.9% 3.5% -2.5% 3.9%

1. Changes in scope of consolidation correspond to the acquisitions carried out in the United States and Europe as well as completed or planned divestments of non-strategic assets.

2. The currency effect stems from changes in the USD, GBP, MXN and CLP exchange rates

Appendix 3: Revenue by Geographic Region (in millions) Q1

2017-2018 Q1

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth France 735 717 2.4% 0.0% 0.0% 2.4% Other European countries 585 560 3.7% 1.3% -0.4% 4.5% Rest of the world 374 316 11.9% 15.4% -9.2% 18.2% GROUP TOTAL 1,694 1,594 4.7% 3.5% -2.0% 6.3%

(in millions) Q2

2017-2018 Q2

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth France 724 738 -1.8% 0.0% 0.0% -1.8% Other European countries 566 552 1.8% 1.3% -0.5% 2.5% Rest of the world 355 329 6.5% 15.1% -13.7% 7.9% GROUP TOTAL 1,645 1,619 1.1% 3.5% -3.0% 1.6%

(in millions) H1

2017-2018 H1

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth France 1,459 1,455 0.2% 0.0% 0.0% 0.2% Other European countries 1,151 1,112 2.7% 1.3% -0.5% 3.5% Rest of the world 729 646 9.2% 15.3% -11.5% 12.9% GROUP TOTAL 3,339 3,213 2.9% 3.5% -2.5% 3.9%

1. Changes in scope of consolidation correspond to the acquisitions carried out in the United States and Europe as well as completed or planned divestments of non-strategic assets.

2. The currency effect stems from changes in the USD, GBP, MXN and CLP exchange rates

Appendix 4: Revenue by Market (in millions) Q1

2017-2018 Q1

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth Business industry 569 505 5.3% 8.6% -1.4% 12.5% Education 420 385 8.7% 3.2% -2.8% 9.0% Healthcare 297 296 2.5% 0.0% -2.4% 0.1% Contract catering services 1,285 1,187 5.7% 4.7% -2.1% 8.3% Motorways 125 129 -1.8% 0.0% -1.3% -3.1% Airports 188 177 8.6% 0.0% -2.6% 6.0% City sites leisure 96 101 -5.0% 0.0% -0.1% -5.1% Concession catering 409 407 2.0% 0.0% -1.6% 0.4% GROUP TOTAL 1,694 1,594 4.7% 3.5% -2.0% 6.3%

(in millions) Q2

2017-2018 Q2

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth Business industry 563 525 0.8% 8.3% -1.9% 7.1% Education 407 421 -2.1% 2.9% -4.0% -3.2% Healthcare 296 300 2.4% 0.0% -3.7% -1.4% Contract catering services 1,266 1,246 0.2% 4.5% -3.1% 1.6% Motorways 113 113 2.1% 0.0% -2.3% -0.2% Airports 172 165 8.3% 0.7% -4.3% 4.7% City sites leisure 94 95 -1.2% 0.0% -0.3% -1.5% Concession catering 379 373 4.0% 0.3% -2.6% 1.7% GROUP TOTAL 1,645 1,619 1.1% 3.5% -3.0% 1.6%

(in millions) H1

2017-2018 H1

2016-2017 Organic

growth Changes in

scope of

consolidation

(1) Currency

effect (2) Total

growth Business industry 1,132 1,031 3.0% 8.4% -1.7% 9.8% Education 827 806 3.0% 3.0% -3.4% 2.6% Healthcare 593 596 2.5% 0.0% -3.1% -0.6% Contract catering services 2,552 2,433 2.9% 4.6% -2.6% 4.9% Motorways 238 242 0.1% 0.0% -1.8% -1.7% Airports 360 342 8.5% 0.3% -3.4% 5.4% City sites leisure 189 196 -3.1% 0.0% -0.2% -3.3% Concession catering 788 780 2.9% 0.2% -2.1% 1.0% GROUP TOTAL 3,339 3,213 2.9% 3.5% -2.5% 3.9%

1. Changes in scope of consolidation correspond to the acquisitions carried out in the United States and Europe as well as completed or planned divestments of non-strategic assets.

2. The currency effect stems from changes in the USD, GBP, MXN and CLP exchange rates

Appendix 5: Adjusted EBITDA by Business Line and Geographic Region H1

2017-2018 H1

2016-2017 Y-on-y

change (m) Y-on-y

change (%) (in millions) France 98.5 113.0 (14.5) -12.8% International 93.2 101.8 (8.6) -8.4% Contract catering services 191.7 214.7 (23.0) -10.7% France 13.3 17.4 (4.1) -23.6% International 26.4 25.8 0.6 2.4% Concession catering 39.7 43.3 (3.6) -8.3% Corporate -0.6 (2.8) 2.2 nm GROUP TOTAL 230.8 255.2 (24.4) -9.6

Appendix 6: Adjusted EBITA by Business Line and Geographic Region H1

2017-2018 H1

2016-2017 Y-on-y

change (m) Y-on-y

change (%) (in millions) France 72.2 90.4 (18.2) -20.1% International 65.1 77.8 (12.8) -16.4% Contract catering services 137.3 168.3 (31.0) -18.4% France -3.1 1.6 (4.8) -291.2% International -0.7 2.4 (3.1) -127.9% Concession catering -3.8 4.1 (7.9) -194.0% Corporate -5.0 -6.4 1.4 nm GROUP TOTAL 128.5 166.0 (37.5) -22.6%

Appendix 7: Free Cash Flow (in millions) H1

2017-2018 H1 2016-

2017 Y-on-y

change

(m) Adjusted EBITDA 231 255 -9.6% Impact of share-based compensation (5) (6) 1 Reported EBITDA 226 249 (24) Change in working capital (119) (154) 36 Net capex (150) (135) (15) Tax paid 0 (9) 9 Non-recurring cash items (22) (17) (5) Free cash flow (65) (65) 0

Appendix 8: Consolidated Financial Statements Consolidated Income Statement (in millions) H1 2017-2018 H1 2016-2017 Revenue 3,339.4 3,213.0 Purchase of raw materials and consumables (1,061.0) (996.9) Personnel costs (1,497.1) (1,417.3) Share-based compensation expense (5.3) (5.7) Other operating expenses (505.2) (500.0) Taxes other than on income (46.0) (44.2) Depreciation, amortization and provisions for recurring operating items (102.3) (89.2) Net amortization of intangible assets recognized on consolidation (10.2) (11.1) Recurring operating profit 112.3 148.7 Share of profit of equity-accounted investees 0.7 0.5 Recurring operating profit including share of profit of equity-accounted investees 113.0 149.2 Non-recurring income and expenses, net (14.0) (12.2) Operating profit including share of profit of equity-accounted investees 99.0 137.0 Net financial expense (33.1) (25.2) Profit before income tax 65.8 111.7 Income tax (24.3) (48.8) Loss for the period from discontinued operations (0.8) (0.9) Profit for the period 40.7 62.1 Attributable to owners of the parent 37.0 58.3 Attributable to non-controlling interests 3.7 3.8 Earnings per share (in ) 0.21 0.34

Consolidated Balance Sheet Assets (in millions) At March 31,

2018 At March 31,

2017 Goodwill 2,594 2,543 Intangible assets 508 449 Property, plant and equipment 706 602 Non-current financial assets 84 78 Equity-accounted investees 8 5 Fair value of derivative financial instruments 8 3 Deferred tax assets 165 198 Total non-current assets 4,072 3,877 Inventories 130 122 Trade and other receivables 893 1,083 Current income tax assets 26 31 Other current assets 98 100 Short-term financial receivables 0 11 Cash and cash equivalents 167 163 Assets classified as held for sale 6 10 Total current assets 1,319 1,521 Total assets 5,392 5,398

Consolidated Balance Sheet Equity and Liabilities (in millions) At March 31,

2018 At March 31,

2017 Share capital 2 2 Reserves and retained earnings 1,561 1,513 Non-controlling interests 58 50 Total equity 1,621 1,564 Long-term debt 1,879 2,002 Fair value of derivative financial instruments 6 9 Non-current liabilities relating to share acquisitions 21 19 Deferred tax liabilities 52 77 Provisions for pension and other post-employment benefit obligations 113 116 Other long-term provisions 24 24 Other non-current liabilities 6 6 Total non-current liabilities 2,101 2,251 Trade and other payables 774 723 Due to suppliers of non-current assets 75 29 Accrued taxes and payroll costs 580 584 Current income tax liabilities 30 37 Short-term debt 56 17 Current liabilities relating to share acquisitions 29 22 Short-term provisions 54 52 Other current liabilities 65 111 Liabilities classified as held for sale 6 8 Total current liabilities 1,669 1,583 Total liabilities 3,770 3,834 Total equity and liabilities 5,392 5,398

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement (in millions) H1

2017-2018 H1

2016-2017 Cash flows from operating activities Reported EBITDA 226 250 Change in operating working capital (119) (154) Interest and other financial expenses paid (24) (26) Tax paid 0 (9) Other cash movements (22) (17) Net cash from operating activities 61 44 Cash flows from investing activities Purchases of and proceeds from sale of property, plant and equipment and Intangible assets (150) (135) Purchases of and proceeds from sale of non-current financial assets (7) (19) Acquisition/sale of shares in consolidated companies (67) (25) Net cash used in investing activities (224) (178) Cash flows from financing activities Dividends paid to owners of the parent 0 0 Movements in share capital of the parent 0 1 Acquisition/sale of treasury shares (1) 1 Dividends paid to non-controlling interests (2) (2) Proceeds from borrowings 251 149 Repayments of borrowings (42) (12) Net cash from financing activities 207 137 Effect of exchange rate and other changes 3 1 Net increase in cash and cash equivalents 46 3

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180528005325/en/

Contacts:

For Elior Group

Investor relations

Marie de Scorbiac, +33 (0)1 71 06 70 13

marie.descorbiac@eliorgroup.com

or

Media relations

Anne-Laure Sanguinetti, +33 (0)1 71 06 70 57

anne-laure.sanguinetti@eliorgroup.com
Moneycab: Katka Letzing, you are responsible for the Fintechs in the Kickstart Accelerator Program in Zurich. When is the application deadline for the next batch and what startups are you looking for in the Fintech vertical?

Katka Letzing: We've just extended our deadline for applications to June 10th. We have received many interesting applications so far and are looking forward to seeing even more come in. We're inviting startups and scaleups with a promising technology or business model in one of our four verticals - EdTech & Learning, Food & Retail Tech and Smart Cities & Infrastructure in addition to FinTech & Crypto - to apply. This year, our general focus is on the so-called deep technologies: New, science or engineering driven technologies such as AI, IoT, Blockchain or Big Data. So, in the FinTech Vertical, we are specifically looking for mature startups that apply those technologies in the fields of open banking, smart contracts, wealth management, crypto or distributed ledger.

What support and services will startups get to successfully master the program, once they are accepted?

At Kickstart Accelerator, we strongly believe that innovation only happens in collaboration with different partners, not in isolation. That's why our main goal is to bring startups together with our corporate partners in order to initiate innovation partnerships. Therefore, the participating startups receive direct access to top executives and decision-makers at our partners such as Credit Suisse, the retailers Coop and Migros, Swisscom, the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich, the cities of Zurich and St. Gallen, and many others. In innovation workshops and collaboration training, the startups learn how to work with these partners. Additionally, the program provides high-quality mentoring from entrepreneurial experts as well as a dedicated fund to foster partnership projects.

Throughout the program, founders receive free coworking-space in the innovation space Kraftwerk in Zurich as well as stipends.

Everybody is looking for the next unicorn (startup valued at one billion USD). How likely is it, that you breed one of these in your program and which external factors foster the development of such companies?

Coming from Silicon Valley, I definitely understand the hunger for unicorns. It has been great to see increasing numbers of companies become the next potential unicorn representing Switzerland. Kickstart certainly offers a strong proposition for founders with the ability to develop very valuable companies. We don't take equity, nor do we charge any fees to the startups. Founders do not get distracted by "schooling" them in yet another startup program, but they get unprecedented access to top corporates, leading research institutions and other partners. In the deep technologies, the next unicorn will be the one to successfully collaborate with various players. And that's what Kickstart is accelerating.

However, let's also not forget that it is not all about valuations, but also about the problems that the startups are solving, the ambition to develop a great technology and the values to put one's energy to something meaningful.

One of the goals of attracting the best startups from all over the world is, that some of them might start a business in Switzerland and help grow the local startup scene. Did that already happen in the last batch?

Yes, it has. A good number of last year's participants have built up a strong bond with Switzerland. For example, the 2016 alumnus and VC-funded company, Project Rosie (formerly Tio) has brought its whole business from London to Zurich thanks to Kickstart Accelerator. Same for the breakfast delivery company Dalou.

Others are planning to open an office in Zurich in the coming months: For example, the Finnish startup ...

Den vollstandigen Artikel lesen ...
MOSCOW, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The overseas generic pharmaceutical industry from the ICH region (US, Japan, EU) and 'pharmerging' countries have good opportunities to gain profits in Russia, despite the strong governmental support of local drug manufacturers.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/628029/ARS_PharmRussia_Logo.jpg )



How can producers from ICH countries benefit?

It is expected the rules of the Eurasian Union (EAEU) on medicines' registration, examination and bioequivalence investigation will actually work in 2018. They will be very close to the EU guidelines. The legislation will allow drug makers to register a medicine based on their own clinical research data obtained in ICH countries before 2016; a reference product may originate from ICH countries, not compulsory from Russia; bio-waivers will be applicable for BCS class I and III drugs in immediate-release oral solid dosage forms; etc.

Considering the above, it becomes feasible to combine one bioequivalence study for EU and EAEU drug marketing authorization applications through placing this at a Russian clinical pharmacology unit and using bioanalytical pharmacokinetics laboratory and taking a reference drug from the EU.

What about advantages for generics makers from developing countries?

Currently, Indian companies mainly benefit from their presence in the Russian market. In 2017, they sponsored 31 of 222 local bioequivalence clinical studies approved by the Russian Ministry of Health. 151 trials were initiated by local companies, 25 projects by EU developers, and none by producers from China or Brazil.

At the same time, Russia is among the top generic drug markets in the world. In 2017, the share of generics was 64% in monetary and 88% in natural terms; GI, CNS, and CV products were in the lead in sales.

Today, Russian-finished drug makers are highly dependent on foreign APIs, commonly originating from China, India, and France. To stimulate localization of APIs production in Russia, the state plans to provide preferences to domestic producers of the full cycle. Nevertheless, presently 90% of Russian drugs are made from imported substances. Therefore, the finished drugs market remains competitive and lucrative for foreign players.

Moreover, in Russia, there are about three dozen state and private bioequivalence research units actively competing with each other, differing in cost, experience, and CRO's clinical monitoring required. In 2017, the average workload was eight bioequivalence projects per unit per year, ranging from one to 28 studies per center annually. Hence, underutilized capacities are still significant.

Relevant links:

http://www.pharmrussia.com

http://www.grls.rosminzdrav.ru

http://www.eurasiancommission.org/ru/act/texnreg/deptexreg/LS1/Pages/orls.aspx

http://dsm.ru/docs/analytics/Annual_Report_2017_rus.pdf

https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/3155968

Contacts: Ekaterina Mochalova, Director of Business Development; bd@pharmrussia.com; +7-495-3746284
Verification test flow

Mr Frank Wouters, President, Dinh Vu Industrial Zone JSC, and Mr Satoshi Oishi, Director General, KDDI Vietnam, shake hands at MoU signing ceremony on May 15 before Haiphong Mayor Nguyen Van Tung, rear center.

KDDI locations in Vietnam



HANOI, VN, May 29, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - KDDI subsidiary KDDI Vietnam held successful validation tests of an IoT-based smart metering system March 21-22 in the DEEP C Industrial Zone at Haiphong, north Vietnam. It was the first time an IoT system of this kind has been used at an industrial zone in Vietnam. On May 15, KDDI Vietnam and Dinh Vu Industrial Zone JSC concluded an MoU on implementing the IoT-based services at DEEP C Industrial Zone.Haiphong is the largest port city in northern Vietnam, and home to many Japanese companies. DEEP C was established with the Dinh Vu Industrial Zone. DEEP C HP I features the logistic advantages of the port facility and an industrial park with the tax benefits and stable utilities of the economic zone. DEEP C HP II celebrated its opening on May 15 as well, a second facility expected to attract companies from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, the U.S. and Europe.KDDI Vietnam employed a LPWA (LoRa)* system in setting up the advanced metering at DEEP C, which features IoT-enabled remote monitoring. Connecting electric power meters to LoRa devices makes it possible to transmit data to the LoRa gateway approximately four kilometers away, monitoring data in real time, eliminating the need site visits to read meters and check the operational status of hardware, and enabling more efficient use of electric power. Plans call for further collaboration in LPWA-enabled remote monitoring of smart meters, security, wind-power generation and other features.As the KDDI Group works to achieve its goal of 'Integrating Telecommunications and Life Design', it strives to be a company that is always offering exciting new ideas. We provide powerful support for the global business operations of our client companies, creating new customer experience value.*LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) is an energy-saving wide-area wireless system optimized for IoT devices, with low energy consumption, performing data transmission over long distances. LoRa (name & logo) copyright Semtech Corporation.Please contact:KDDI Vietnam, HanoiT: +84-24-3826-2001U: http://vn.kddi.com/en/E: hni-sales@kddivietnam.com*This release is an abridged translation of the full announcement:http://news.kddi.com/kddi/corporate/english/newsrelease/2018/05/16/3170.html.Source: KDDI CORPORATIONCopyright 2018 ACN Newswire . All rights reserved.
Vedanta Resources has been ordered to permanently close its Tuticorin copper smelter in India, where anti-expansion protestors were killed by police earlier in May. The FTSE 250 mining group said the state government of Tamil Nadu told its pollution control board to seal the smelter and shut the plant for good. Vedanta said: "We are further studying the order and shall keep the stock exchanges updated on any developments." A government minister suggested there was no chance of the plant ...

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.
FRANKFURT, Germany, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Outlook for 2017 fiscal year fulfilled - International business expansion achieves important milestones- Frankfurt Airport records strong growth- More efficient security screening processes required

FRA/gk-rap - At Fraport AG's regular Annual General Meeting (AGM) held today (May 29), CEO Dr. Stefan Schulte presented the results of a highly successful 2017 fiscal year (ending December 31). Commenting on the Group's positive business performance, Schulte said: "Supported by strong traffic growth, both our revenue and adjusted earnings reached new record levels. We achieved our targets in full and are well positioned to continue this growth trend." Group revenue climbed by almost 13.5 percent to 2.93 billion. The first-time consolidation of Fraport's Greek airports contributed a significant 235 million to Group revenue. The slight decline in operating earnings (EBITDA) can be attributed to extraordinary effects in the previous 2016 business year. In particular, Fraport's strong earnings in 2016 resulted from the compensation payment received for the Manila project and from the sale of shares in Thalia Trading Ltd. Adjusting for these one-off effects, EBITDA increased by around 18 percent to just over 1 billion, while the adjusted Group result (net profit) improved by 21.6 percent to about 360 million.

International business gaining momentum

Fraport's international business segment made a significant contribution to the Group's strong performance, boosting its share of total operating earnings from 24 percent in 2016 to 32 percent in fiscal year 2017 (also adjusted for special effects). A marked increase in passenger traffic at all of Fraport's Group airports worldwide triggered the growth of this segment. In the long term, Fraport's strategy is to further increase the segment's share of earnings. With the operational takeover of airports in Greece and Brazil, Fraport has reached important new milestones in expanding its international portfolio. Dr. Schulte said: "By continuously expanding our international portfolio, we are utilizing additional growth opportunities. As a result, we are giving our company an even stronger and broader business footing, and, above all, we are generating more revenue."

Frankfurt Airport sees strong growth

At Fraport's Frankfurt Airport (FRA) home base, passenger traffic increased by 6.1 percent to 64.5 million passengers in 2017. This growth trend has continued throughout the first four months of 2018, with passenger numbers rising by 8.7 percent. FRA's strong passenger growth stems, in particular, from traditional network carriers - with Lufthansa being the main growth driver. CEO Schulte stated: "Frankfurt Airport will always remain a premium hub with a clear focus on providing best transfer processes and world-class connectivity. To fulfil this commitment, however, passenger screening processes at German airports need to be streamlined. Compared to Germany, other international hub airports benefit from more efficient and simpler processes that allow about twice as many passengers to be screened per checkpoint, in the same amount of time. Therefore, we urgently need the appropriate decision-making by the responsible German Ministry of the Interior to achieve acceptable waiting times again at the security checkpoints."

Targeted infrastructure development at FRA

To accommodate the expected long-term growth in the aviation market, Fraport continues to advance its targeted infrastructure development. The construction of FRA's new Terminal 3 is proceeding as scheduled. Fraport is awaiting the construction permit from the City of Frankfurt for the new Pier G, which will be realized earlier than originally scheduled. Dr. Stefan Schulte explained: "With these investments, we are opening a new chapter for Frankfurt Airport. Our investments will ensure that, in a growing aviation market, we will be able to provide the necessary capacities to airlines now and in the future."

Outlook for 2018 confirmed

Based on the positive performance in the year to date, Fraport is maintaining its guidance for the full 2018 fiscal year. Passenger traffic at FRA is expected to reach between 67 million and 68.5 million passengers, representing an increase of more than 6 percent. Fraport expects the Group revenue to grow up to some 3.1 billion (adjusted for IFRIC 12 effects). Group EBITDA is forecast to range between about 1,080 million and 1,110 million, while Group EBIT is expected to be between approximately 690 million and 720 million. The Group result is also anticipated to rise significantly to between about 400 million and 430 million. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting a dividend of 1.50 per share for the 2017 fiscal year - the same amount as in the previous year. Fraport plans to increase the dividend for fiscal year 2018.

For further information about Fraport AG please click here: http://ots.de/7L590

Print-quality photos of Fraport AG and Frankfurt Airport are available for free downloading via the photo library on the Fraport Web site. For TV news and information broadcasting purposes only, we also offer free footage material for downloading. If you wish to meet a member of our Media Relations team when at Frankfurt Airport, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our contact details are available here.

Fraport AG

Torben Beckmann

Phone: +49-69-690-70553

Corporate Communications

E-mail: t.beckmann@fraport.de

Media Relations

http://www.fraport.com

60547 Frankfurt, Germany

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FrankfurtAirport

For further information about Fraport AG please click here.
LONDON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

HyperPod is the only IT-Pod Frame solution available in the data centre market space today.

Its flexible configuration supports all of today's rack types and can reduce CAPEX Costs by up to 15%.

It accelerates data centre deployment times by up to 21%.

Includes pre-installed power, cooling and cabling for pod-scale IT deployments.

Schneider Electric, the leader in the digital transformation of energy management and automation, has won 'Data Centre innovation of The Year' at the DCS Awards, 2018. The award, decided by popular vote, recognises the company for innovation and leadership.

Part of Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure for Data Centers architecture, HyperPod is a rack ready data centre system designed to deploy IT in increments of 8 to 12 racks. Uniquely, Hyperpod's innovative design supports all of today's rack types. Its pod architecture, with integrated power, cooling, cabling, software management and containment, enables pre-populated equipment racks to be rolled into place, significantly reducing the complexity and installation time associated with traditional IT deployments.

Receiving the award on behalf of Schneider Electric, Matthew Baynes, Colocation & Telco Segment Director, Cloud & Service Providers, said, "I'm proud to accept this distinguished award, which recognises Schneider Electric for innovation. A fundamental and key focus for our company is to improve Innovation at Every Level. By speeding deployment times by up to 21 percent faster and unlocking up to 15% savings in CAPEX, HyperPod is the perfect fit for today's data centres - especially hyperscale and colocation data centre providers looking to add capacity fast."

EcoStruxure for Data Centers is part of Schneider Electric's EcoStruxure, an open, interoperable, IoT-enabled system architecture delivering enhanced value around safety, reliability, efficiency, sustainability, and connectivity for customers. It leverages technologies in IoT, mobility, sensing, cloud, analytics, and cybersecurity to deliver Innovation at Every Level including Connected Products, Edge Control, and Apps, Analytics & Services.

Schneider Electric's HyperPod solution is available worldwide, for more information please visit the website or contact your local Schneider Electric representative.

About Schneider Electric

Schneider Electric is leading the Digital Transformation of Energy Management and Automation in Homes, Buildings, Data Centers, Infrastructure and Industries.

With global presence in over 100 countries, Schneider is the undisputable leader in Power Management - Medium Voltage, Low Voltage and Secure Power, and in Automation Systems. We provide integrated efficiency solutions, combining energy, automation and software.

In our global Ecosystem, we collaborate with the largest Partner, Integrator and Developer Community on our Open Platform to deliver real-time control and operational efficiency.

We believe that great people and partners make Schneider a great company and that our commitment to Innovation, Diversity and Sustainability ensures that Life Is On everywhere, for everyone and at every moment.

http://www.schneider-electric.com

Discover EcoStruxure

Discover Life Is On

Related resources:

HyperPod Video

White paper: Analysis of How Data Center Pod Frames Reduce Cost and Accelerate IT Rack Deployments

White paper: Specifying Data Center IT Pod Architectures

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Stocks in London fell on Tuesday as traders returned to their desks after the bank holiday weekend, dragged lower by a selloff in European markets on the back of political uncertainty in Italy and Spain. At 0850 BST, the FTSE 100 was down 0.9% to 7,664.66, with sentiment wobbly ahead of likely fresh elections in Italy and as Spanish premier Mariano Rajoy faces a vote of confidence in his leadership at the end of week. In currency markets, sterling was flat against the euro at 1.1453 and down ...

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 29, 2018) - Sunniva Inc. (CSE:SNN) (OTCQX: SNNVF) ("Sunniva" or the "Company"), a North American provider of cannabis products and services, is pleased to announce a major milestone with the receipt from Health Canada of the Confirmation of Readiness ("COR") for a License under the Access to Cannabis for Medical Purposes Regulations ("ACMPR") for the Company's wholly owned subsidiary, Sunniva Medical Inc. ("SMI"). This represents acceptance of our detailed application with the next step being an inspection upon site readiness in order to commence cultivation.

The license and the expected completion of the Sunniva Canada Campus will position the Company as a significant supplier to the rapidly growing Canadian cannabis market. Sunniva previously announced a take or pay supply agreement with Canopy Growth Corporation ("Canopy"). Under the terms of the initial two-year agreement, which includes the distribution of Sunniva branded products, Canopy will purchase approximately 45% of Sunniva's annual production capacity; representing 45,000 kgs of dried cannabis annually, commencing Q1 2019 or shortly thereafter. The agreement is subject to SMI receiving its license from Health Canada and completing the Sunniva Canada Campus.







Figure 1: Rendering of The Sunniva Canada Campus

To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/5860/34872_a1527554426830_39.jpg

The Company is also pleased to announce that SMI has received development approval from the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen for construction of the Sunniva Canada Campus, which commenced at the beginning of May, on its previously announced purchased 126-acre site in Okanagan Falls, British Columbia. Sunniva is currently finalizing the financing via bank and subordinate debt for the planned state-of-the-art 740,000 sq. ft. facility, designed to meet current Good Manufacturing Practice ("cGMP") standards.

The Company is now focused on building the facility according to the design submitted. Sunniva is leveraging its experience from their flagship greenhouse facility in California, which is already 5 months into the construction cycle. In order to confirm readiness, SMI will be required to submit information including documentation, photos, and videos of the Sunniva Canada Campus presenting evidence of all physical security measures in order to receive a cultivation license from Health Canada.

Sunniva has chosen the following vendors in respect to the Sunniva Canada Campus project:

Certhon Projects B.V. - supplier of the greenhouse superstructure, electrical, irrigation systems, lighting system and heating, cooling and CO2 systems.

- supplier of the greenhouse superstructure, electrical, irrigation systems, lighting system and heating, cooling and CO2 systems. EllisDon Corporation - engineering, construction manager and general contractor.

- engineering, construction manager and general contractor. MQN Architects - architect consultant.

- architect consultant. Urban Systems Ltd. - civil and landscape engineers.

"We are pleased to deliver on another key corporate milestone for the Company as we have made an excellent start to 2018 with significant progress on multiple fronts, executing on our strategy, and working toward our goal of creating one of the most efficient, low-cost growing operations to serve the Canadian and California cannabis market," said Dr. Anthony Holler, CEO, Sunniva. "It is our intention to forward sell an additional 30% of our production capacity in Canada".

About Sunniva Inc.

Sunniva, through its subsidiaries, is a vertically integrated cannabis company operating in the world's two largest cannabis markets - Canada and California - where we are committed to delivering safe, high-quality products and services at scale. Our vision is to become the lowest cost, highest quality cannabis producer in the markets we serve by building large scale purpose-built current cGMP designed greenhouses, offering better quality assurance with cannabis products free from pesticides, providing better patient and doctor access to cannabis education and sourcing better therapeutic delivery devices. Sunniva's management and board of directors have a proven track record for creating significant shareholder value both in the healthcare and biotech industries.

Sunniva operates through its wholly owned subsidiaries:

Sunniva Medical Inc. ("SMI") - SMI is building the Sunniva Canada Campus, 740,000 square feet of purpose-built cGMP designed greenhouse facilities in British Columbia. The facility will produce pesticide free products and will convert trim to extracted products such as cannabis oil. The oil can be used for drug delivery formats such as capsules, dissolvable strips, vaporization cartridges, tinctures and creams. As the facility is not complete, revenue and costs are not known, therefore, profitability cannot be assured.

CP Logistics, LLC ("CPL") - Through CPL, Sunniva has commenced construction of the Sunniva California Campus, state-of-the-art, purpose-built greenhouse facilities in Cathedral City, California. The Sunniva California Campus is planned in two phases and has been cGMP designed. Phase 1 is designed to be 325,000-square feet and Phase 2 will be 164,000 square feet. At this facility, it is estimated 30% of all product will be used for higher margin extracted products and all products will be produced free from the pesticides commonly used within today's industry. As the facility is not complete, revenue and costs are not known, therefore, profitability cannot be assured.

Natural Health Services Ltd. ("NHS") - NHS owns and operates a network of 7 clinics in Canada specializing in medical cannabis under ACMPR. NHS connects patients with safe and effective medical cannabis products through LPs. NHS has in-house physicians and nurse practitioners specializing in the endocannabinoid system providing expert consultation, education, and recommendations for patients. NHS' proprietary technology infrastructure assists physicians, patients and LPs to comply with the rules of Health Canada. NHS has more than 150,000 active medical documents outstanding and 95,000 active patients.

Full-Scale Distributors, LLC ("FSD") - FSD, through its brand, Vapor Connoisseur, is a provider of custom, private-label vaporizers and accessories. FSD currently serves the needs of over 80 brands in the North American marketplace. Vapor Connoisseur is recognized for its high quality and innovative vaporization devices. Products are tailored to client needs, ensuring both safety and reliability and FSD will continue to provide these services in coordination with the large supply from both Sunniva Campuses.

For the latest videos and photos of the Sunniva Canada Campus and further information regarding the Company please visit: www.sunniva.com

Neither Canadian Securities Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the Canadian Securities Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities laws. All statements that are not historical facts, including without limitation, statements regarding future estimates, plans, programs, forecasts, projections, objectives, assumptions, expectations or beliefs of future performance, statements regarding Sunniva's plan to cultivate, produce and distribute a broad range of solutions focused on patients' needs and Sunniva's plans, timing and estimates for its facilities, are "forward-looking statements." Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects" or "does not expect", "is expected", "estimates", "intends", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", or "believes", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the risk factors included in the Sunniva's continuous disclosure documents available on www.sedar.com. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. Although Sunniva has attempted to identify important risk factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements, there may be other risk factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in forward-looking statements. Sunniva assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statement, even if new information becomes available as a result of future events, new information or for any other reason except as required by law.

Contact Information:

Dr. Anthony Holler

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Investor Relations Contact:

George Jurcic

Manager, Investor Relations

587-430-0680

ir@sunniva.com

Corporate Communications Contact:

NetworkNewsWire (NNW)

New York, New York

www.NetworkNewsWire.com

212.418.1217 Office

Editor@NetworkNewsWire.com
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - German stocks fell sharply on Tuesday as investors weighed political uncertainty in Spain and the prospect of fresh elections in Italy, which could serve as a referendum on its euro membership. The benchmark DAX was down as much as 210 points or 1.63 percent at 12,654 in opening deals after declining 0.6 percent in the previous session. Volkswagen tumbled more than 3 percent. The automaker has stopped production of some of its diesel engine vehicles due to problems with the engine control lamp. Chemical firm SGL Carbon lost 3.5 percent after presenting its new brand concept to the public. Lufthansa Group dropped 1.8 percent on news that it has firmed up a previous option for six further Airbus A320neo. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French stocks tumbled on Tuesday as investors weighed political uncertainty in Spain and the prospect of fresh elections in Italy, which could serve as a referendum on its euro membership. The benchmark CAC 40 was down 88 points or 1.60 percent at 5,420 in opening deals after closing 0.6 percent lower on Monday. Aircraft maker Dassault Aviation dropped half a percent. The company announced death of Serge Dassault, Chairman and chief executive Officer of the company. Aerospace and defense major Airbus also slid half a percent despite news that Lufthansa Group has firmed-up a previous option for six further Airbus A320neo. 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.
MUMBAI, India, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Further to our announcement dated May 24th, 2018 the Company has received an order dated May 28, 2018 from the Government of Tamil Nadu directing the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to seal the Company's 'Copper Smelter Plant 1 at Thoothukkudi District, Tamil Nadu' and to close the said plant permanently.

The Company is further studying the order and shall keep the stock exchanges updated on any developments.

Also the SIPCOT vide its letter today, has informed the Company regarding cancellation of 342.22 acres of land allotted to the company for the proposed expansion 'Copper Smelter Plant 2 Project' at Thoothukkudi District, Tamil Nadu. The land price for the same shall be refunded by SIPCOT as per their norms.

About Vedanta Limited

Vedanta Limited is a diversified natural resources company, whose business primarily involves producing oil & gas, zinc - lead - silver, aluminium, copper, iron ore and commercial power. The company has a presence across India, South Africa and Namibia. Vedanta Ltd has a portfolio of world-class, low-cost, scalable assets that consistently generate strong profitability and have robust cash flows. The company holds industry-leading market shares across its core divisions.

Vedanta Limited is the Indian subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc, a London-listed company. Governance and Sustainable Development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety and environment and on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company is conferred with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 'Sustainable Plus Platinum label', ranking among the top 10 most sustainable companies in India. To access the Vedanta Sustainable Development Report 2017, please visit http://sd.vedantaresources.com/SustainableDevelopment2016-17/

Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in India. The company is in the Nifty 50 Index and has ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more information please visit www.vedantalimited.com

Vedanta Limited

Vedanta, 75, Nehru Road

Vile Parle (East), Mumbai - 400 099

www.vedantalimited.com

Registered Office:

Regd. Office: 1st Floor, 'C' wing, Unit 103

Corporate Avenue, Atul Projects,

Chakala, Andheri (East),

Mumbai - 400 093

CIN: L13209MH1965PLC291394

Disclaimer

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" - that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "should" or "will." Forward-looking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets including the London Metal Exchange, fluctuations in interest and or exchange rates and metal prices; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different that those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.

For further information, please contact:

Communications

Arun Arora

Head Communications

Tel: +91-1244593000

gc@vedanta.co.in



Investor Relations

Rashmi Mohanty

Director - Investor Relations

Tel: +91-22-6646-1531

vedantaltd.ir@vedanta.co.in



Aarti Raghavan

VP - Investor Relations



Sneha Tulsyan

Associate Manager - Investor Relations
Genoil and Pemex agree on upgrading and desulfurization demonstration procedures for upcoming testing to be performed at UFA Scientific Research Institute of Petroleum Refining and Petrochemistry

NEW YORK / ACCESSWIRE / May 29, 2018 / Genoil Inc., (OTCQB: GNOLF) announced today that it has finally received a letter of satisfaction from Corporations Canada approving Genoil's move to Curacao.

Genoil intends to now take all necessary steps to continue the corporation to Curacao on a timely basis. This continuance has been planned for some time, as it will allow Canadian shareholders to once again trade Genoil stock. Curacao has a reputation as being one of the best jurisdictions and has one of the largest NY Stock Exchange energy company domiciled there. The Curacao jurisdiction will help Genoil to do business throughout the world, save on taxes, and still be located in an important energy center. Curacao offers global companies protection from political risks associated from doing business in different areas of the world.

The move to Curacao is timely as things are progressing in Russia and Mexico. Genoil and Pemex have recently agreed on a demonstration test program at Genoil's engineering headquarters in Russia hosted by the UFA Scientific Research Institute of Petroleum Refining and Petrochemistry in Bashkortostan, to test the Pemex heavy crude oil. The company's testing procedures have been developed by Raushan Telyashev and Viktor Solovyev. Raushan, formerly General Director of all Research and Development at Lukoil, was responsible for over eight hundred engineers at Russia's number two oil company. The test includes, preparation of catalyst, loading procedures, catalyst activation, temperatures, pressures recommended by Genoil's new catalyst partners, feed rates, analyses and conclusions.

Genoil believes that the Pemex heavy crude oil test results will exceed the most recent Genoil demonstration tests done with the cooperation of China Petroleum Engineering and Construction Company (CPECC), a division of CNPC and yield improved hard data to expand a relationship with the largest EPC company in the world, one who has the necessary size to construct a large scale commercial Genoil GHU project in Mexico. CPECC is already deeply familiar with the Genoil Hydroconversion Upgrading process.

Testing is expected to commence within the next thirty days as Pemex has needed time to dispatch their engineers outside of the continent to Russia, something not typically done by their company. Additionally, Genoil is coordinating with the leading international provider of classification, compliance and consultancy services to the marine and shipping industry, based in the United Kingdom. This firm has also expressed interest in witnessing a Genoil demonstration test at UFA and has requested a copy of the demonstration program recently developed by Mr. Telyashev and Mr. Solovyev.

David Lifschultz; Chairman of Genoil stated, "Both are very significant milestones for Genoil as we prepare to become an international presence in a changing oil industry as global demand rises for lower sulfur crude oil and fuels to meet more stringent environmental regulations including International Maritime Organization 2020 specifications". Mr. Lifschultz continued, "Genoil expects its Hydroconversion Upgrader to be the leading choice of both upstream and downstream energy sectors including the Maritime Industry for compliance". "With the participation and support of the leading provider of classification, who is instrumental in shaping the industry's future through the development of novel and innovative technologies, we feel this will be a successful strategy to implement Genoil's solutions to meet upcoming IMO low sulfur fuel legislation."

About Genoil Inc.

Genoil has developed a proprietary, state of the art advanced hydroconversion process technology, the Hydroconversion Upgrader (GHU), which converts heavy crude oils and refinery bottoms into clean crude which yields a higher light end product slate which produces clean-burning fuels for transportation. The company is deeply focused on the downstream transportation refining industries especially shipping. Hydroconversion is a well-known and proven desulfurization process, proven on feedstocks ranging from crude oil to Naptha.

About The Genoil Hydroconversion Upgrader:

The Genoil Hydroconversion Upgrader (GHU), is an advanced upgrading and desulfurization technology, which converts heavy or sour crude oil into much more valuable light low sulphur oil for a very low cost. The GHU achieves 96% pitch conversion and 95% desulfurization with an operating cost of up to 75% less than the competition. For Conoco Canada Ltd, Genoil converted their bitumen of 6-8.5 API and converted it to 24.5 API. We also removed 92% of the sulphur reducing the amount from 5.14 % to below 0.24%. These results were taken by Conoco Canada Ltd, who had them analysed by Core Laboratories, one of the largest service providers of core and fluid analysis in the petroleum industry.

The UFA Scientific Research Institute of Petroleum Refining and Petrochemistry:

The State Unitary Enterprise "Institute of Petroleum Refining and Petrochemistry of Republic of Bashkortostan" is located in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russian Federation. The state of the art Institute has more than 60-years' experience in the field of hydrocarbon processing technologies and well recognized by the Industry. UFA is the only 100% governmentally owned institute specializing in refining and heavy residue processing.

About: OJS "VNIIUS" Institute in Kazan:

VNIIUS is one of the leading research institutes in Russia in the field of production and consumption of hydrocarbon feed. With 50-years of experience in practical work allows us to render assistance to oil and gas producing companies, to oil and gas processing companies and also to companies of deep oil processing and sulfur recovery. VNIIUS has cooperated with Chevron and over one hundred different companies from around the world.

For more information please contact:

David Lifschultz

Tel: 212 688 8868

Email: dklifschultz@Genoil.com

SOURCE: Genoil Inc.
Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
WALDSHUT-TIENGEN, Germany, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Outstanding start to the 2018 financial year

With an annual surplus of  9.9 million (2016:  9.5 million), 2017 proved to be another successful year for the Sedus Stoll Group.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/697767/Holger_Jahnke_Sedus_Stoll_AG.jpg )



(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/697768/Sedus_Mastermind.jpg )



Turnover was up and there was also a similarly strong increase in the order volume of 1.4% by the end of the year to hit a total of  191.2 million ( 188.5 million). Incoming orders rose by 6.6%, a figure which is more dynamic than the overall office furniture market and, as such, the Sedus Stoll Group expanded its market share even further.

The areas of the Sedus Stoll Group in detail

The Sedus Seating product area (office seating, furniture for communicating and contract furniture) reported a total growth of 3.4% in orders to  100 million compared to the previous year. At 3.5% and 3.1% respectively, the growth rates at home and abroad were similar.

In the Sedus Systems product area (office furniture, desks and cabinet systems) the order volume grew by a total of 16.8% to  76.2 million with a growth rate of 18.8% at home and 14.5% abroad.

In contrast, a 9.5% drop in orders was recorded at Klober (office seating, conference and lounge furniture).

The 2018 financial year also looks promising

2018 has also got off to a great start. By the end of April, increases in incoming orders of 8.2% and in turnover of 8.4% had been recorded to complement the already high order volume.

The economic upswing in the office furniture sector remains clearly evident this year as does positive order development in the Sedus Stoll Group. The main driving force behind this is an issue which affects virtually all companies today: the organisation of their knowledge-based and creative processes.

People and their ideas are the most precious productive capital and also central to a company's success. The clear shift from manual tasks to mental labour and knowledge-based work cannot be stopped and the generational change in office settings is now in full progress.

As a technology pioneer and office furniture expert, Sedus has dealt intensively with the "Office of the Future" by market observation and research, especially on the topic of knowledge sharing and learning environments. Holger Jahnke, Speaker for the Sedus Stoll AG Board: "Future-proof office landscapes must be flexible in order to accommodate changes in activities and requirements. Our flexible and intelligent installations provide the ideal setting for concentrating, communicating, collaboration and contemplation. We help companies to make future- proof investments. To this end, we require an analysis of working processes and methods as well as an understanding of the goals and identity of the company in question.

Only then we can focus on creating a tailor-made plan. It goes without saying that our service also includes user instructions, accompanying services, products and availability guarantees. We call this the "Sedus Future Proof" package and it includes professional advice, comprehensive services, products which can be used in the long term and the confidence of not just being well equipped for the future, but also well positioned."

2018 outlook: Sedus has reinvented the swivel chair

At this year's upcoming international office furniture trade fair Orgatec 2018, Sedus Stoll will be presenting several product innovations, at least two of which represent milestones in the company's history.

With its legendary "Federdreh", the very first spring-mounted and internationally patented swivel chair (1926), the first swivel chair to feature castors (1929) and numerous pioneering patents, including, for example, the "Similar" mechanism (1973) and the "Similar-Swing" mechanism (2012), Sedus has set international standards which continue to prevail today.

In October of this year, Sedus will be launching two swivel chairs which, up to now, have not been technically possible. The designers and engineers at Sedus were able to make the impossible possible in these masterpieces thanks to the use of state-of-the-art high-tech materials and methods and their single-minded belief in their innovative strength.

Sedus Presseagentur

Joachim Sparenberg

Tel: +49(0)7741-8355003

Email: sparenberg-pr@web.de
EVERBERG, Belgium, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Huntsman Corporation (NYSE: HUN) today announced plans to build a new polyurethanes systems house in Dubai. Located within the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone (JAFZA), the new facility will strengthen Huntsman's differentiated downstream capabilities in the heart of the Middle East.

Targeted for completion by the second half of 2019, Huntsman's investment will increase the company's systems production capacity in the region and add a new dimension to its polyester polyol capabilities. The Dubai systems house will complement the company's two existing systems houses in the Middle East, in Turkey (Huntsman EMA) and Saudi Arabia (HAPC - a joint venture with the BCI Group of Companies), forming three strong pillars for growth.

Tony Hankins, President Huntsman's Polyurethanes division, said: "This is a bold and timely investment, which will serve as a strategic platform to expand our business in the Middle East and North Africa and build our market leading position. It represents the next step in our plan to strengthen our downstream network. We now have 30 facilities worldwide, which provide innovative solutions in close proximity to our customers."

Steen Weien Hansen, regional Vice President of Polyurethanes, further commented: "The MDI-based systems market in the Middle East has delivered strong growth in the last five years and this trend is forecast to continue at estimated rates of 7% annually. The construction of the new systems house will enable us to supply traditional and high-end rigid polyurethane formulations from a local source. It will also enable us to leverage our development and production know-how in polyester polyol and polyol blends for the fast-growing flexible foam and footwear markets, as well as pre-polymers for adhesives, coatings and elastomers applications."

Gulum Kabil, General Manager of Huntsman Polyurethanes' business activities in the Middle East and Turkey, will manage the new systems house.

About Huntsman:

Huntsman Corporation is a publicly traded global manufacturer and marketer of differentiated and specialty chemicals with 2017 revenues of more than $8 billion. Our chemical products number in the thousands and are sold worldwide to manufacturers serving a broad and diverse range of consumer and industrial end markets. We operate more than 75 manufacturing, R&D and operations facilities in approximately 30 countries and employ approximately 10,000 associates within our four distinct business divisions. For more information about Huntsman, please visit the company's website at www.huntsman.com.

Social Media:

Twitter: www.twitter.com/Huntsman_Corp

Facebook: www.facebook.com/huntsmancorp

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/huntsman

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain information in this release constitutes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on management's current beliefs and expectations. The forward-looking statements in this release are subject to uncertainty and changes in circumstances and involve risks and uncertainties that may affect the company's operations, markets, products, services, prices and other factors as discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Huntsman companies' filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Significant risks and uncertainties may relate to, but are not limited to, volatile global economic conditions, cyclical and volatile product markets, disruptions in production at manufacturing facilities, reorganization or restructuring of Huntsman's operations, including any delay of, or other negative developments affecting the ability to implement cost reductions and manufacturing optimization improvements in Huntsman businesses and realize anticipated cost savings, and other financial, economic, competitive, environmental, political, legal, regulatory and technological factors. The company assumes no obligation to provide revisions to any forward-looking statements should circumstances change, except as otherwise required by applicable laws.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/457922/Huntsman_Corporation_Logo.jpg
BioTime, Inc. (NYSE American: BTX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on degenerative diseases, has been awarded a new grant for 2018 of up to 6.9 million Israeli New Shekels (approximately $1.9 million) from the Israel Innovation Authority (the "IIA"). The grant provides funding for the continued development of OpRegen, and to date the IIA has provided annual grants totaling over $13 million.

OpRegen is currently in a Phase I/IIa clinical study, which in March 2018 received authorization from the Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) to move forward with enrollment of cohort 4. The DSMB approval was based on the safety observed throughout the first three cohorts. Safety will remain the primary focus of cohort 4. The fourth cohort will include better vision patients than the previous three cohorts. These better vision patients will likely be in earlier stages of the disease and allow for a wide range of preliminary functional assessment measurements. These earlier stage patients will likely be the target patient population for this therapy and BioTime expects to share initial data from cohort 4 in the coming months.

"The IIA's continued support is encouraging and shows their commitment and confidence in our ability to continue the development of OpRegen, our lead cell replacement program," said Adi Mohanty, co-Chief Executive Officer of BioTime.

About OpRegen

OpRegen, which is being studied for the treatment of the dry form of AMD, consists of a suspension of retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells that are delivered subretinally during a simple intraocular injection. RPE cells are essential components of the back lining of the retina, and function to help nourish the retina including photoreceptors. A proprietary process that drives the differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells is used to generate high purity OpRegen RPE cells. OpRegen RPE cells are also "xeno-free," meaning that no animal products are used at any point in the derivation and production process. The avoidance of the use of animal products eliminates some potential safety concerns. Preclinical studies in rats have shown that following a single subretinal injection of OpRegen, the cells can rapidly organize into its natural monolayer structure in the subretinal space and survive throughout the lifetime of the animal. OpRegen is designed to be an "off-the-shelf" allogeneic (non-patient specific) product. Unlike treatments that require multiple, frequent injections into the eye, it is expected that OpRegen will be administered in a single procedure. OpRegen was granted Fast Track designation from the FDA, which allows more frequent interactions with the agency, and eligibility for accelerated approval and priority review. OpRegen is a registered trademark of Cell Cure Neurosciences Ltd., a majority-owned subsidiary of BioTime, Inc.

About BioTime, Inc.

BioTime is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on degenerative diseases. Its clinical programs are based on two platform technologies: cell replacement and cell/drug delivery. With its cell replacement platform, BioTime is producing new cells and tissues with its proprietary pluripotent cell technologies. These cells and tissues are developed to replace those that are either rendered dysfunctional or lost due to degenerative diseases or injuries. BioTime's cell/drug delivery programs are based upon its proprietary HyStemcell and drug delivery matrix technology. HyStemwas designed, in part, to provide for the transfer, retention and/or engraftment of cellular replacement therapies. BioTime's lead cell delivery clinical program is Renevia, which consists of HyStemcombined with the patient's own adipose (fat) progenitor cells. Renevia met its primary endpoint in an EU pivotal clinical trial for the treatment of facial lipoatrophy in HIV patients in 2017. BioTime has submitted Renevia for CE Mark approval in the EU. There were no device related serious adverse events reported to date. BioTime's lead cell replacement product candidate is OpRegen, a retinal pigment epithelium transplant therapy, which is in a Phase I/IIa multicenter clinical trial for the treatment of dry age-related macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in developing countries. There were no unexpected serious adverse events reported to date. BioTime also has significant equity holdings in two publicly traded companies, Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NYSE American: AST) and OncoCyte Corporation (NYSE American: OCX), and a private company, AgeX Therapeutics, Inc.

BioTime common stock is traded on the NYSE American and TASE under the symbol BTX. For more information, please visit www.biotime.com or connect with the company on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and Google+.

To receive ongoing BioTime corporate communications, please click on the following link to join the Company's email alert list: http://news.biotime.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this release are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Statements pertaining to product technology, clinical development, regulatory approval timelines, the success of potential cosmetic applications and potential opportunities for BioTime, Inc. and its subsidiaries, along with other statements about the future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans, or prospects expressed by management constitute forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical fact including, but not limited to statements that contain words such as "will," "believes," "plans," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates" should also be considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, risks inherent in the development and/or commercialization of potential products, uncertainty as to the results of clinical trials or regulatory approvals, need and ability to obtain future capital, and maintenance of intellectual property rights. Actual results may differ materially from the results anticipated in these forward-looking statements and as such should be evaluated together with the many uncertainties that affect the business of BioTime, Inc. and its subsidiaries, particularly those mentioned in the cautionary statements found in more detail in the "Risk Factors" section of BioTime's Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC (copies of which may be obtained at www.sec.gov). Subsequent events and developments may cause these forward-looking statements to change. BioTime specifically disclaims any obligation or intention to update or revise these forward-looking statements as a result of changed events or circumstances that occur after the date of this release, except as required by applicable law.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005261/en/

Contacts:

BioTime

David Nakasone, 510-871-4188

dnakasone@biotimeinc.com
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - SilverCrest Metals Inc. (TSXV: SIL) (OTCQX: SVCMF) ("SilverCrest" or the "Company") is pleased to announce the drill results and discovery of the Babicanora Norte Vein on the Las Chispas Property (the "Property") located in Sonora, Mexico. The high-grade Babicanora Norte Vein was discovered while drill-testing beneath recently located shallow historic workings (see attached Figures). This vein is approximately 300 metres northeast of the parallel Babicanora Vein. There are 23 known epithermal veins on the Property, including 11 which have drill-intersected high-grade mineralization and consist of the Babicanora, Babicanora Footwall, Babicanora Norte, Las Chispas, Giovanni including La Blanquita, William Tell, Varela, Granaditas, Luigi and Amethyst veins. Five of the 23 veins have been included in the maiden resource (refer to "Technical Report and Mineral Resource Estimate for the Las Chispas Property, Sonora, Mexico", effective February 12, 2018 and amended May 9, 2018).

N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng and CEO, remarked, "With this discovery of the Babicanora Norte Vein, we continue to show the increased potential for more near-surface high-grade mineralized veins. This is now the 11th high-grade vein we have discovered in the district. This vein is located adjacent and parallel to the Babicanora Vein which contains a majority of the maiden resource estimate. We recently identified this untested vein and strategically drilled it for high-grades which were discovered in our second drill hole (BAN18-02, intercepting 1.5 metres grading 9.11 gpt gold and 1,033.3 gpt silver, or 1,716 gpt AgEq*). This successful strategy required projecting the known high-grade footprint of the adjacent Babicanora Vein along with geologic constraints to the untested Babicanora Norte Vein. With six drills currently operating, we continue to aggressively drill-test the Babicanora Norte Vein and several other untested veins using the model of "Nature of Multiples"; that is, find one high-grade footprint in a vein and apply the same controls to the next nearby vein."

The most significant result for this release was returned from Hole BAN18-06, which intersected 1.5 metres (true width) grading 23.96 grams per tonne ("gpt") gold and 2,081.0 gpt silver, or 3,879 gpt silver equivalent ("AgEq", based on 75 (Ag):1 (Au) calculated using long-term silver and gold prices of US$18.50 per ounce silver and US$1,225 per ounce gold, with average metallurgical recoveries of 86.6% silver and 98.9% gold), including 0.5 metres grading 11,615 gpt AgEq. The following table summarizes the most significant drill intercepts (uncut, undiluted) for this release:

Hole ID From

(m) To

(m) Drill intercept

(m) True

Width

(m) Au gpt Ag gpt AgEq* BAN18-02 70.8 72.3 1.5 1.4 9.11 1,033.3 1,716 incl. 71.8 72.3 0.5 0.5 25.00 2,760.0 4,635 BAN18-03 95.8 97.3 1.5 1.3 5.19 726.0 1,115 BAN18-04 89.5 91.0 1.5 1.2 4.71 592.9 946 incl. 89.5 90.0 0.5 0.4 14.05 1,775.0 2,829 BAN18-06 101.6 103.1 1.5 1.5 23.96 2,081.0 3,879 incl. 102.1 102.6 0.5 0.5 71.80 6,230.0 11,615 BAN18-07 132.7 134.0 1.4 1.4 1.33 140.9 240 Weighted Average 1.4 8.47 878.9 1,514

Note: all numbers are rounded.

*AgEq based on 75 (Ag):1 (Au) calculated using long-term silver and gold prices of US$18.50 per ounce silver and US$1,225 per ounce gold, with average metallurgical recoveries of 86.6% silver and 98.9% gold.

All assays were completed by ALS Chemex in Hermosillo, Mexico, and North Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Results for drill hole BAN18-05 is below the Company's cutoff of 150 gpt AgEq. Hole BAN18-01 intercepted 0.5 metres grading 1.23 gpt gold and 194.0 gpt silver, or 286 gpt AgEq and hole BAN18-08 intercepted 0.50 metres grading 3.06 gpt gold and 169 gpt silver, or 398 AgEq.

The Babicanora Norte Vein consists of southeastward plunging high-grade mineralization similar to the adjacent Babicanora Vein. Mineralization consists of a 0.5 to 1.5 metre wide banded quartz-argentite-pyrargyrite vein, dipping at an estimated 55 southeast proximal to a rhyolite dyke. Conceptually, since the Babicanora and Babicanora Norte veins are proximal to each other, shared future underground infrastructure is conceivable and convenient.

The Babicanora Norte high-grade footprint in the vein currently measures approximately 200 metres long by 100 metres high by 1.4 metres in average true width, grading an estimated 8.47 gpt gold and 878.9 gpt silver, or 1,514 gpt AgEq (see attached Figures) and is open in most directions. Further drilling for potential expansion is ongoing and additional assays will be reported once compilation is complete.

The Company continues with its Phase III drill program of expansion drilling on several new and partially-drilled high-grade mineralized veins. A remaining 6,000 to 8,000 metres of drilling are planned up to the end of July cutoff for updated resource inclusion. Other ongoing site work includes continued underground mapping and sampling on the Las Chispas Vein, drilling test wells for site water, permitting for various additional work, and review of the maiden resource model for optimization and update.

The Qualified Person under National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects for this news release is N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng, and CEO for SilverCrest, who has reviewed and approved its contents.

ABOUT SILVERCREST METALS INC.

SilverCrest is a Canadian precious metals exploration company headquartered in Vancouver, BC, that is focused on new discoveries, value-added acquisitions and targeting production in Mexico's historic precious metal districts. The Company's current focus is on the high-grade, historic Las Chispas mining district in Sonora, Mexico. SilverCrest is the first company to successfully drill-test the historic Las Chispas Project resulting in numerous discoveries. The Company is led by a proven management team in all aspects of the precious metal mining sector, including taking projects through discovery, finance, on time and on budget construction, and production.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation. These include, without limitation, statements with respect to: the strategic plans, timing and expectations for the Company's exploration, rehabilitation and drilling programs of the Las Chispas Property, including drilling test water wells, permitting for various work, and optimizing and updating the Company's resource model; information with respect to high grade areas and size of veins projected from underground sampling results and drilling results; and the accessibility of future mining at the Las Chispas Property. Such forward-looking statements or information are based on a number of assumptions, which may prove to be incorrect. Assumptions have been made regarding, among other things: the conditions in general economic and financial markets; availability of skilled labour; timing and amount of expenditures related to rehabilitation and drilling programs; and effects of regulation by governmental agencies. The actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of risk factors including: the timing and content of work programs; results of exploration activities; the interpretation of drilling results and other geological data; receipt, maintenance and security of permits and mineral property titles; environmental and other regulatory risks; project cost overruns or unanticipated costs and expenses; and general market and industry conditions. Forward-looking statements are based on the expectations and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. The assumptions used in the preparation of such statements, although considered reasonable at the time of preparation, may prove to be imprecise and, as such, readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date the statements were made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements included in this news release if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as otherwise required by applicable law.



Figure 1: Long Section (Inclined) of Babicanora Norte Vein Las Chispas Property, Looking Southwest



To view an enhanced version of Figure 1, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1467/34877_silvercrest2.jpg





Figure 2: Las Chispas District with Babicanora Plan Map, May 2018



To view an enhanced version of Figure 2, please visit:

https://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/1467/34877_silvercrest4.jpg





N. Eric Fier, CPG, P.Eng

Chief Executive Officer

SilverCrest Metals Inc.



For Further Information:

SilverCrest Metals Inc.

Contact: Michael Rapsch, VP Corp. Comm.

Telephone: +1 (604) 694-1730

Fax: +1 (604) 357-1313

Toll Free: 1-866-691-1730 (Canada & USA)

Email: info@silvercrestmetals.com

Website: www.silvercrestmetals.com

570 Granville Street, Suite 501

Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 3P1

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - SandRidge Energy, Inc. (SD) announced its Board has strongly recommended that shareholders vote for all five of the company's directors at the 2018 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Board also recommended that shareholders vote for the addition of only two independent directors proposed by Carl C. Icahn and his affiliates. The Board has already offered to appoint John Lipinski and Randolph Read as directors in connection with a settlement proposal that Icahn refused. The Board also recommended shareholders vote for the ratification of the continuation of the short-term shareholder rights plan through November 26, 2018 to protect shareholders from unfair, abusive or coercive takeover strategies, including acquisition of control without payment of an adequate premium. 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.
Adaptive Biotechnologies, the leader in combining Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and expert bioinformatics to profile T- and B-cell receptors of the adaptive immune system, announced today that it entered into an agreement with Sanofi to utilize Adaptive's NGS-based clonoSEQAssay to assess minimal residual disease (MRD) status in response to isatuximab. This investigational anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody is in clinical development for the treatment of newly diagnosed, relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma (MM).

Through this collaboration, the parties will work together to evaluate the clinical value of monitoring MRD negativity in isatuximab-treated MM patients. Adaptive will be responsible for seeking regulatory approvals for and commercialization of the clonoSEQ Assay in MM for select geographies. Adaptive will receive upfront payments and potential future milestone payments. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"Adaptive is thrilled to apply its technology to help determine the depth and duration of response to isatuximab in MM-treated patients," said Chad Robins, CEO and co-founder of Adaptive Biotechnologies. "We look forward to kicking off our collaboration and applying our validated, highly sensitive and quantitative clonoSEQ Assay to measure MRD status as a clinical endpoint in Sanofi's clinical trials."

The use of residual disease assessment to inform drug development has steadily increased in the past few years. Currently, there are three published meta-analyses123 describing the utility of incorporating a highly sensitive MRD measurement to evaluate a patient's response to therapy. This collaboration is Adaptive's fourth collaboration with leading biopharmaceutical companies.

"MRD status is being incorporated as an important clinical endpoint to assess response to therapy in patients with multiple myeloma and other lymphoid malignancies," said Charles Sang, Adaptive's Senior Vice President, Diagnostics. "We are excited to work with Sanofi on its late-stage MM trials to help demonstrate the clinical utility of achieving MRD negativity in isatuximab-treated patients."

About Minimal/Measurable Residual Disease

Minimal/measurable residual disease (MRD) refers to cancer cells that remain in the body of a person with lymphoid cancer after treatment. These cells can be present at levels undetectable by traditional morphologic, microscopic examination of blood, bone marrow or a lymph node biopsy. Sensitive molecular technologies, such as next-generation sequencing utilized by the Adaptive Biotechnologies clonoSEQ Assay, are needed for reliable detection of MRD at levels below the limits of traditional assessment.

About the clonoSEQAssay

The Adaptive Biotechnologies clonoSEQ Assay enables physicians to utilize a molecular, NGS-based minimal/measureable residual disease (MRD) detection to inform clinical decisions in patients with lymphoid malignancies. The clonoSEQ Assay detects and quantifies DNA sequences found in malignant cells, which can be tracked in patients longitudinally on- and post-treatment. This robust assay provides consistent and accurate measurement of disease burden that allows physicians to assess response to therapy over time. Adaptive is seeking 510(K) marketing authorization from FDA for the clonoSEQ Assay. Currently clonoSEQ is not FDA cleared but is distributed as a CLIA certified service. Nothing in this release constitutes a recommendation to use clonoSEQ with respect to a particular drug therapy. This release may contain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties including but not limited to the risk that approval or commercialization of products or services will be delayed or not obtained, and the risk that future milestones will not be achieved.

About Adaptive Biotechnologies

Adaptive Biotechnologies is the pioneer and leader in combining NGS and expert bioinformatics to profile T-cell and B-cell receptors. Adaptive is bringing the accuracy and sensitivity of its immunosequencing platform to researchers and clinicians around the world to drive groundbreaking research in cancer and other immune-mediated diseases. Adaptive also translates immunosequencing discoveries into clinical diagnostics and therapeutic development to improve patient care. For more information, please visit adaptivebiotech.com.

1 Landgren O, et al. BMT. 2016.

2 Munshi NC, et al. JAMA Oncol. 2017.

3 Berry DA, et al. JAMA Oncol. 2017.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005003/en/

Contacts:

Adaptive Biotechnologies

Beth Keshishian, 917-912-7195

media@adaptivebiotech.com
"Message Me: The Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging & Artificial Intelligence" gives brands a roadmap for the changing landscape of customer service in an age of A.I., chatbots, and messaging

NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Joshua March, CEO and Founder of the leading Social Messaging platform for customer care, Conversocial, today released his debut book Message Me: The Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging & Artificial Intelligence. The social customer care expert offers brands an insider's guide to bringing customer service into the social, mobile age. It is March's first book-a culmination of years of experience and insight into how businesses navigate the changing world of customer engagement in the age of Facebook, Twitter, Messenger and Mobile Messaging.

In a world where great service is all about speed and ease, where every customer experience-good or bad-is one Tweet away from going viral, and where every customer is ready and able to engage businesses over messaging channels, a robust plan for handling customer inquiries and complaints is critical to the bottom line. In Message Me, March offers his "Six pillars for the future of customer service," an invaluable resource for executives and professionals looking to keep up with the changing digital demands of the connected customer, including:

Lean-in to the Power of Messaging

Make Effective Use of Bots for Customer Care

Deploy Artificial Intelligence Effectively

Adopt a Messaging Approach to all Digital Channels

"In recent years, we've observed huge growth in social messaging applications, the launch of bot platforms that allow deeper interactive experiences (and even payments) within messaging conversations, and huge developments in artificial intelligence," says March. "The convergence of these trends will radically transform customer service over the next five years, and companies who stay ahead of these trends will be able to deliver a faster, more effortless customer experience than their competitors, a requirement in the social, mobile age-and every executive needs to have a solid understanding of how to achieve this."

Message Me takes an insider's look at delivering customer care over social and messaging channels through the prism of technology and the way businesses interact with consumers. Using high-profile case studies, March lays out the fundamental foundations for successful customer service operations in ways that any business large or small can apply. Key takeaways include:

Make it Effortless: Focus on reducing customer effort, not on delighting them, to maximize loyalty.

Focus on reducing customer effort, not on delighting them, to maximize loyalty. Keep up with Customer Expectations: Commit to full resolution of customer service issues over social and messaging in minutes, not days- that's the expectation customers have today.

Commit to full resolution of customer service issues over social and messaging in minutes, not days- that's the expectation customers have today. The Role of Bots and AI: With the shift of customer care into digital channels, especially messaging, automation and Deep Learning can be applied to customer service with the potential to revolutionize service delivery.

To purchase a copy of Message Me, visit Amazon.

About the Author

Joshua March is founder and CEO of Conversocial, which provides the world's leading, social customer care platform to Fortune 500 companies including Google, Alaska Airlines, Hertz and more. March founded Conversocial in 2009 based on his vision that online communication and customer service were undergoing a fundamental shift, requiring businesses to invest in new processes and technologies to manage the rapidly shifting social landscape. A renowned social media expert, March previously founded leading social application company iPlatform, one of the world's first Facebook Preferred Developers, which was acquired in 2012. Based in New York, Message Me: The Future of Customer Service in the Era of Social Messaging & Artificial Intelligence is his first book.

About Conversocial

Conversocial is the leading digital care platform for social messaging for today's digital brands. Delivering a unified approach to a new generation of customer care that replaces traditional service channels, Conversocial enables hundreds of global brands including Hyatt, Tesco and Volaris to ensure they are supporting in-the-moment resolution, at scale, to drive profitable and lasting relationships through all social and digital channels. Conversocial creates a clear digital path for brand and consumer engagement that combines best-in-class technology and world-class services.



Conversocial is an official Facebook Preferred Developer, Facebook Marketing Partner and Instagram Community Management Partner. For more information, visit http://www.conversocial.com.

Media Inquiries Contact:

Cameron Lisa

North 6th Agency

conversocial@n6a.com
VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The growing use of sulfuric acid as an additive in several applications is one of the core factors behind the progress of the global sulfuric acid industry. Sulfuric acid one of the most broadly used inorganic chemicals and it is utilized in the manufacturing of a wide range of products that find application across several vertical industries. It is a highly corrosive, oily, and dibasic strong acid which is colourless in the pure form.

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Meanwhile, China is expected to be a dominant region in terms of demand, and the country's rapidly growing infrastructure sector coupled with growth of the agriculture sector has been a key regional driving force. The Indian agriculture sector also happens to be an important driving force in the Asia Pacific region for the sulfuric acid market.

Request a Sample Report with Table of Contents and Figures: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/rep-gb-6753

In order to meet growing demand from several end-use industries, leading companies are focusing on maintaining a strong foothold in the market. The market is identified as fairly fragmented with the organized sector having a fair share in the global sulfuric acid market followed by Tier 2 and small scale manufacturers. The chief aim of the manufacturers has been expansion of market footprint via expansion of product portfolio and strengthening of sales and distribution network. Recently in November 2017, BASF SElaunched a new, cesium-based sulfuric acid catalyst with unique geometrical shape, with 30% greater catalytic surface area compared to conventional catalysts. This translates into higher conversion in catalyst beds, reduction in SO2 emissions and improved performance in plants with limited catalyst volumes. Product development can be leveraged to augment the in-house sulfuric acid production efficiency and help leading companies stay on the forefront.

According to a new report published by Future Market Insights (FMI), the global sulfuric acid market is projected to witness a 2.5% CAGR from 2018 to 2028. In 2017, the market was worth US$ 8,368.4 Mn and is projected to touch US$ 11,670.6 Mn by the end of 2028.

Growing Use in Mining Operation to Augur Well for Market

Sulfuric acid finds applications in the production of various metals, such as copper, zinc and nickel. Of these, the production of copper dominates the sulfuric acid market in terms of consumption in mining application. Production of copper, zinc, and nickel metals is significantly high in the U.S. as compared to the rest of world. For instance, production of copper in 2012 was around 1,170 ('000) MT, which increased to 1,380 ('000) MT in 2015, whereas Zinc production rose from 738 ('000) MT to 825 ('000) MT during the same period. This increase in the production of metals in the North America region, especially in the U.S., has substantially affected the consumption of sulfuric acid for the leaching of metals from their oxide ores.

Preview Analysis Global Sulfuric Acid Market Segmentation By End User - Chemical Fertilizers, Metal Processing, Phosphates, Fibers, Hydrofluoric Acid, Paints & Pigments, Pulp & paper, Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sulfuric-acid-market

High Demand for Organic Fertilizers to Pose Threat to Market

In the last couple of years, there has been growth in awareness pertaining to health and environmental issues. The demand for organic food has grown manifold, especially in the U.S. and EU, over the last decade. Consumers are becoming more aware about the quality and safety of the food they eat. Consumer demand for organically produced food has exhibited double-digit growth over the past few years. As a result, there has been a substantial increase in organic farmlands under cultivation in Europe and even greater in other regions. Thus, to meet the growing demand for organic products, large amounts of organic fertilizers are required, which, in turn, is expected to hamper the growth of inorganic fertilizers. Growing demand for organic fertilizers is expected to indirectly hamper the growth of sulfuric acid market globally.

Our advisory services are aimed at helping you with specific, customised 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-6753

More from FMI's Chemicals & Materials Market Intelligence:

Fluoropolymer Films Market Segmentation By Product Type - PTFE, FEP, PFA, PVF, PVDF, ETFE and Others (ECTFE, PCTFE, Etc.); By End Use - Automotive & Aerospace, Building & Construction, Electrical & Electronics, Industrial & Equipment, Packaging and Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/fluoropolymer-film-market



Segmentation By Product Type - PTFE, FEP, PFA, PVF, PVDF, ETFE and Others (ECTFE, PCTFE, Etc.); By End Use - Automotive & Aerospace, Building & Construction, Electrical & Electronics, Industrial & Equipment, Packaging and Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/fluoropolymer-film-market Metalworking Fluids Market Segmentation By Category - Straight Oil, Emulsified Oil, Semi Synthetic, Synthetic; By Product Type - Removal Fluids, Protection Fluids, Forming Fluids, Treating Fluids; By End Use - Fabricated Metal Products, Machinery, Metal Use, Transportation Equipment and Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/metal-working-fluids-market



Segmentation By Category - Straight Oil, Emulsified Oil, Semi Synthetic, Synthetic; By Product Type - Removal Fluids, Protection Fluids, Forming Fluids, Treating Fluids; By End Use - Fabricated Metal Products, Machinery, Metal Use, Transportation Equipment and Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/metal-working-fluids-market Technical Textiles Market Segmentation By Application - Agrotech, Buildtech, Hometech, Indutech, Sportech, Packtech, Mobiltech, Meditech, Clothtech, Geotech, Protech, Oekotech; By Process - Non-Woven, Composites, Others (Braiding, Knitting, Weaving): https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/technical-textiles-market

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LONDON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

International Travel Management Company, Reed & Mackay, joins forces with Hillgate Travel.

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The two businesses are renowned for the quality of their service and industry leading technology, a combination that sets them apart in the corporate travel and events arena and will see them carve out a truly differentiated space on the global stage.

The addition of Hillgate Travel takes Reed & Mackay's global turnover past the 600m mark. With both businesses in growth phase and enjoying enviable client and employee retention, this move will see the collective business accelerate the evolution of their suite of industry leading technology, across the key international markets of their prestigious client base.

Fred Stratford, Group CEO, Reed & Mackay, commented, "This is a really exciting time for our people and our clients. There is a passion for service at the heart of both businesses that makes this a very natural fit. Together we will be even stronger."

"Both Hillgate and Reed & Mackay have invested heavily in our wholly owned, client facing technology. We are very excited about the opportunity to bring together the best features from both platforms, accelerating our delivery of industry leading technology to our clients," commented Anthony Rissbrook, CEO, Hillgate Travel.

"Our clients are increasingly looking for a level of service synonymous with the Hillgate name in key international markets. The investment that Reed & Mackay has made in their wholly owned presence across the globe and in their international partnership will bring great benefit to our client base," commented Hillgate's Chairman, Jeremy Bull.

Stratford continues, "I have great admiration for the business that Jeremy Bull and his team has built. Hillgate has an excellent reputation and has always shared our client first ethos. I am very pleased to welcome them to Reed & Mackay."

This latest chapter in Reed & Mackay's story of growth will drive further strength across their wholly owned offices in support of their client's growing footprint. Reed & Mackay's International Partnership further augments their global coverage with 4000 travel experts across 40 countries.

About Reed & Mackay

Established 50 years ago, and born from close working relationships with the Law, Insurance and Finance community, Reed & Mackay is today recognised as a global leader in the travel and event management arena. With wholly owned offices across EMEA, APAC and the US, their global presence is further augmented by Reed & Mackay's International Partnership with over 4000 experts across 40 countries. Their brand promise of extraordinary service is underpinned by best in class proprietary technology across the globe.

About Hillgate

Hillgate Travel is a leading independent travel management company with over 30 years' experience. Exceptional service and a total focus on the customer sets them apart. As a leader in travel technology, Hillgate Travel has built an enviable reputation for delivering high-quality, made-to-measure services for its clients.

For more information, please visit https://www.reedmackay.com.
Italy's main stockmarket gauge, the FTSE Mibtel, has fallen into the red for the year, amid concers the country is headed towards fresh elections which some observers believe might be a de facto referendum on the country's membership of the euro. Triggering the move, at the weekend President Sergio Mattarella shot down the appointment of a prominent Eurosceptic as Finance minister, leading to the resignation of the Prime Minister-designate, Giuseppe Conte. To replace Conte, and in a bid to ...

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.
Forbes New York Business Council Is an Invitation-Only Community for Small Business Owners in Greater New York City

NEW YORK and LONDON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Oksana Sokolovsky, Interim CEO & Co-Founder - COO, Io-Tahoe, has been accepted into the Forbes New York Business Council, the foremost growth and networking organization for small business owners in Greater New York City.

Sokolovsky joins other Forbes New York Business Council members, who are hand-selected, to become part of a curated network of successful peers and get access to a variety of exclusive benefits and resources, including the opportunity to submit thought leadership articles and short tips on industry-related topics for publishing on Forbes.com.

Forbes Councils combines an innovative, high-touch approach to community management perfected by the team behind Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) with the extensive resources and global reach of Forbes. As a result, Forbes Council members get access to the people, benefits and expertise they need to grow their businesses - and a dedicated member concierge who acts as an extension of their own team, providing personalized one-on-one support.

Sokolovsky co-founded Io-Tahoe almost four years ago, after spending 15 years in leadership roles at firms such as Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, JP Morgan Chase and United Health Group. Io-Tahoe utilizes machine learning algorithms, enabling organizations to discover data across lakes and relational data instances. The software dramatically increases the accuracy, intelligence and speed of learning of complex data elements and data relationships throughout the entire enterprise, a critical aspect in the current GDPR environment.

"Data privacy is more important than ever, to both companies and their customers," said Sokolovsky. "I am proud that our company is at the forefront of delivering solutions in this area and pleased to bring Io-Tahoe's expertise to the Forbes New York Business Council. We look forward to learning from other members and helping them learn about this vital requirement in today's business world."

Scott Gerber, founder of Forbes Councils, says, "We are honored to welcome Io-Tahoe into the community. Our mission with Forbes Councils is to curate successful professionals from every industry, creating a vetted, social capital-driven network that helps every member make an even greater impact on the business world."

About Forbes Councils

Forbes partnered with the founders of Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to launch Forbes Councils, invitation-only communities for world-class business professionals in a variety of industries. Members, who are hand-selected by each Council's community team, receive personalized introductions to each other based on their specific needs and gain access to a wide range of business benefits and services, including best-in-class concierge teams, personalized connections, peer-to-peer learning, a business services marketplace, and the opportunity to share thought leadership content on Forbes.com. For more information about Forbes New York Business Council, visit forbesnycouncil.com. To learn more about Forbes Councils, visit forbescouncils.com.

About Io-Tahoe

Io-Tahoe (www.io-tahoe.com) is a pioneer in machine learning-driven smart data discovery products that enable organizations to discover data across a wide range of heterogeneous technology platforms, from traditional databases and data warehouses to data lakes and other modern repositories, helping enterprises trace data elements across their systems in spite of outdated metadata definitions. The product utilizes machine learning algorithms to dramatically increase the accuracy, intelligence and speed of learning of complex data elements and data relationships throughout the entire business environment. Our product has been custom-built by a team with a deep understanding of data challenges, giving us first-hand insight and appreciation into our customers' diverse and complex data needs. Our product is particularly valuable to businesses with large numbers of customers and diverse data sets, such as those in the financial services, utilities, retail, transportation, insurance, healthcare and manufacturing industries.

Follow Io-Tahoe on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/iotahoe

Follow Io-Tahoe on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/9194521/

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Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Pacific Empire Minerals Corp. (TSXV: PEMC) ("Pacific Empire", "PEMC" or the "Company"), a hybrid prospect generator focused in British Columbia, is pleased to announce that reverse circulation drilling has commenced at its Wildcat Property. In addition, the Company has now received preliminary data from its recently completed airborne magnetic survey at the Moffat Property.

Wildcat Property - Reverse Circulation Drilling

An initial 10 hole reverse circulation drilling program is now underway with the objective of testing a roughly 3.5 x 1.5 kilometre area of anomalous chargeability identified by PEMC during the spring of 2017. The target area is immediately to the north of historical drilling completed by Cayden Resources in 2011 that encountered hydrothermal alteration assemblages typical of those found distal to copper +/- gold porphyry systems.



The Property is located 10 kilometres to the southwest of Centerra Gold's producing Mount Milligan Mine within the highly productive Quesnel Terrane, is easily accessible by vehicle and is close to hydroelectric power.



"We are excited to continue drilling projects within our portfolio," commented Brad Peters, President and CEO of PEMC. "By continuously drilling we are able to provide discovery exposure to our shareholders, especially with projects that are close to existing mine operations."



Property Boundary

To view an enhanced version of this image, please visit:

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Moffat Property - Airborne Magnetic Survey Completed

A 208 line-kilometre airborne magnetic survey has recently been completed and preliminary data has been received by the Company. Results from the survey will be used to prioritize drill targets for testing with the Company's reverse circulation drill in 2018. The survey was conducted by Peter E. Walcott & Associates Ltd. using a helicopter-mounted "stinger" magnetometer with lines spaced 200 metres apart.



Pacific Empire's President & CEO Brad Peters stated: "Using a "stinger" that is directly attached to the helicopter versus a "towed array" that hangs beneath the helicopter allows the helicopter to fly at greater speeds resulting in reduced survey times and associated costs. Initial results from the airborne survey show a number of areas of interest based on the presence of roughly ovate magnetic signatures on the property."









Moffat Property

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The 4,090 hectare Moffat Property is located approximately 56 kilometres east of Williams Lake and 15 kilometres to the south of Consolidated Woodjam Copper's Woodjam North and South Projects.



The claims cover the northeast portion of a prominent airborne magnetic anomaly within the Quesnel Terrane. The Quesnel Terrane is host to several large tonnage copper-gold porphyry deposits including New Gold's Afton Mine, Imperial Metals' Mount Polley Mine, Taseko Mines' Gibraltar Mine and Centerra Gold's Mount Milligan and Kemess deposits.



Additional information on the Company and its projects can be found on SEDAR at (www.sedar.com), and on the Company's website at www.pemcorp.ca. You may also email info@pemcorp.ca or call Investor Relations at (604) 356-6246.

Qualified Person

Rory Ritchie, P.Geo., Vice President of Exploration for the Company, serves as a qualified person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed the scientific and technical information in this news release, approving the disclosure herein.

About Pacific Empire Minerals Corp.

PEMC is an exploration company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, that employs a "hybrid prospect generator" business model and trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol PEMC. The Company's strong portfolio of projects is a result of continuous generative work conducted since the Company's inception in 2012.



By integrating the project generator business model with low-cost RC drilling, the company intends to leverage its portfolio by identifying, and focusing on, the highest quality projects for partnerships and advancement.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD,

"Brad Peters"

President and Chief Executive Officer

Pacific Empire Minerals Corp.

Tel: +1-604-356-6246

brad@pemcorp.ca

www.pemcorp.ca

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.

Forward-Looking Statements

Information set forth in this news release may involve forward-looking statements under applicable securities laws. Forward-looking statements are statements that relate to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "anticipate", "believe", "plan", "estimate", "expect", and "intend", statements that an action or event "may", "might", "could", "should", or "will" be taken or occur, or other similar expressions. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein including, without limitation, are forward-looking statements. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause our actual results, performance or achievements, or other future events, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following risks: the need for additional financing; operational risks associated with mineral exploration; fluctuations in commodity prices; title matters; environmental liability claims and insurance; reliance on key personnel; the potential for conflicts of interest among certain officers, directors or promoters with certain other projects; the absence of dividends; competition; dilution; the volatility of our common share price and volume and the additional risks identified the management discussion and analysis section of our interim and most recent annual financial statement or other reports and filings with the TSX Venture Exchange and applicable Canadian securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are made based on management's beliefs, estimates and opinions on the date that statements are made, and the Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements if these beliefs, estimates and opinions or other circumstances should change, except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors are cautioned against attributing undue certainty to forward-looking statements.
Accord Lays Pathway for Long Term Success

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - CVR Medical Corp. (TSXV: CVM) (FSE: B3BN) (OTCQB: CRRVF) ("CVR Medical") has reached agreement with joint venture partner CVR Global to acquire CVR Global's 50% interest in the joint venture and terminate the joint venture (the "Transaction"). The Agreement has been approved by the Board of Directors for both organizations and is now subject to the approval of CVR Medical's shareholders and (inclusive of all proposed share issuances) the TSX Venture Exchange ("TSXV").

This Agreement is a milestone driven equity distribution and royalty structure arrangement and significantly strengthens the business model of CVR Medical ahead of the eventual market release of the CSS device, and we believe it will benefit both organizations. The move from the joint venture partnership currently in place to this next structural phase, is a signal of confidence that CVR Medical is in position to successfully guide the finalization of developmental phases and seamlessly transition into marketing and sales of the CSS once market clearance/approval is received.

The Agreement will allow for the continued sharing of risk and reward with the issuance of 30MM additional shares, to be released to CVR Global upon successfully achieving four key future milestones. This new arrangement will also leverage CVR Global's R&D efforts to include any improvements on all future medical devices related to CVR Medicals existing scope of use, Carotid Arterial Health, as well as any improvements to all related IP. Upon completion of all mutually agreed upon milestones, CVR Global will become CVR Medical's largest individual shareholder. The proposed distribution of the CVR Medical shares would include:

Milestone:

- Approval & Signing of Agreement (3MM Shares)

- FDA Submission (2MM Shares)

- FDA Clearance / Approval (10MM Shares)

- Achievement of $50MM in Sales Revenue from CSS Device Sales (15MM Shares) Contingent on a maximum 36-month timeframe from initial CSS sale





Additionally, CVR Global would also be granted a 7% royalty on all CSS device sales, with a 3% royalty on all associated disposable sales.

"We at CVR Medical are preparing for this transition with vigor and excitement," says CVR CEO Peter Bakema. "Our joint venture partnership with CVR Global has provided the foundation and momentum to develop the CSS into the pioneering tool we believe it to be, and is now time to take this step to place it in the best possible position to do so. The mutual desire on both sides to put CVR Medical fully in the driver's seat with regards to the CSS speaks to the maturation of this company and hard work put in by everyone involved. We have an incredible product, and are ready to take the reigns and guide it to market with the intention of realizing its potential."

Peter Bakema, the President, CEO and a director of CVR Medical is also the President, CEO, Chairman and a controlling shareholder of CVR Global. In addition, CVR Global is the holder of approximately 9.7% of the issued and outstanding shares of CVR Medical. As a result, the Transaction constitutes a Non Arm's Length Party transaction pursuant to applicable rules of the TSX-V, and a "related party transaction" pursuant to Multilateral Instrument 61-101 - Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101"). Accordingly, the Transaction is subject to the minority approval (i.e. approval by a majority of the votes cast at a meeting of CVR Medical shareholders, excluding any shares held by CVR Global, its affiliates and joint actors) and formal valuation requirements of MI 61-101. CVR Medical expects to rely on an exemption from the formal valuation requirement pursuant to section 5.5(a) of MI 61-101.

For additional information on the organization, leadership, and current news please visit the company website www.CVRMed.com

About CVR Medical

CVR Medical is a company that is involved in an equal parts joint venture with CVR Global Inc. (the "Joint Venture"). The Joint Venture operates in the medical industry focused on the commercialization of a proprietary subsonic, infrasonic, and low frequency sound wave analysis technology and has patents to a diagnostic device designed to detect and measure carotid arterial stenosis. CVR Medical is managed by a proven technical team. CVR Medical trades on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol CVM.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD:

(signed) "Peter Bakema"

CEO, President & Director



For further information contact:

Peter Bakema, CEO, President and Director

Email: info@cvrmed.com

Telephone: (734) 718-5115

or

Marc S. Lubow.

Vice President Capital Markets, Investor Relations

marclubow@cvrmed.com

Telephone: (904) 923 - 4037

or

Brisco Capital Partners Corp

Scott Brisco, President

Telephone: (403) 262-9888

This press release contains forward-looking statements or information (collectively referred to herein as "forward-looking statements") that involves various risks and uncertainties regarding future events related to the Joint Venture and the Transaction. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, performance or developments to differ materially from those contained in the statements and are not guarantees of future performance of the Company. In this press release such statements include but are not limited to the completion of the Transaction and the associated regulatory and shareholder approval requirements. No assurance can be given that any of the events anticipated by the forward-looking statements will occur or, if they do occur, what benefits the Company will obtain from them. These forward-looking statements reflect management's current views and are based on certain expectations, estimates and assumptions which may prove to be incorrect. A number of risks and uncertainties could cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including: (1) a downturn in general economic conditions in North America and internationally, (2) the inherent uncertainties and speculative nature associated with commercialization of technology and the practice of medicine, (3) a change in health regulations, (4) any number of events or causes which may delay or cease commercialization and development of the Joint Venture, (5) the risk that the Company or the Joint Venture does not execute its business plan, (6) inability to retain key employees, (7) inability to finance operations and growth, and (8) other factors beyond the Company's control. These forward-looking statements are made as of the date of this news release and, except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, or to update the reasons why actual results differed from those projected in the forward-looking statements.

THE TSX VENTURE EXCHANGE INC. HAS NEITHER APPROVED NOR DISAPPROVED THE CONTENTS OF THIS PRESS RELEASE. 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.
Growing portfolio of regional accounts sparks need for seasoned sales professional to further capitalize on Envestnet | Yodlee success in region.

REDWOOD CITY, California, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Envestnet | Yodlee (NYSE: ENV), a leading data aggregation and data analytics platform for digital financial services, is pleased to announce and welcome Matt Cockayne, Vice President of Sales in Europe, the Middle-East and Africa (EMEA). Mr. Cockayne comes with a wealth of experience having spent the last several years at Smart DCC and SunGard FIS where he was instrumental in managing revenue, P&L and business growth. Matt's earlier experience includes scaling and running the EMEA commodities business for SunGard FIS and leading EMEA delivery organisations at OpenLink International and Allegro Development. Matt started his career at Accenture and has a Masters in Science from Imperial College London.

Matt aims to help Envestnet | Yodlee bring about innovative and flexible data aggregation solutions to both new and existing customers in the fast-paced and changing financial services environment in EMEA. Mr. Cockayne will be responsible for expanding Envestnet | Yodlee's global sales footprint and identifying opportunities which unlock new business and revenue opportunities in the region. "The opportunity presented by Envestnet Yodlee to leverage a global market leading offering in EMEA is really exciting. I am really looking forward to helping grow our business in EMEA and help our customers succeed," said Matt.

"Matt is an experienced general manager with a proven track record of identifying key trends, building high-volume sales and revenue teams, and driving transformation while accelerating business growth," said Bill Parsons, SVP, Products and Data Analytics. "With his extensive work in management consulting and financial services, Matt brings a client-focused and deep understanding of the fintech ecosystem in the UK, EU and abroad. As our new VP of EMEA, there's no one better to help accelerate our vision in the region."

Envestnet | Yodlee is excited to have Mr. Cockayne on board and looks forward to a successful future with him.

About Envestnet



Envestnet, Inc. (NYSE: ENV) is a leading provider of intelligent systems for wealth management and financial wellness. Envestnet's unified technology enhances advisor productivity and strengthens the wealth management process. Envestnet empowers enterprises and advisors to more fully understand their clients and deliver better outcomes.

Envestnet enables financial advisors to better manage client outcomes and strengthen their practices. Institutional-quality research and advanced portfolio solutions are provided through Envestnet | PMC, our Portfolio Management Consultants group. Envestnet | Yodlee is a leading data aggregation and data analytics platform powering dynamic, cloud-based innovation for digital financial services. Envestnet | Tamarac provides leading rebalancing, reporting, and practice management software for advisors.

Envestnet | Retirement Solutions provides an integrated platform that combines leading practice management technology, research, data aggregation and fiduciary managed account solutions.

More than 87,000 advisors and 3,000 companies including: 16 of the 20 largest U.S. banks, 43 of the 50 largest wealth management and brokerage firms, over 500 of the largest Registered Investment Advisers, and hundreds of Internet services companies, leverage Envestnet technology and services. Envestnet solutions enhance knowledge of the client, accelerate client on-boarding, improve client digital experiences, and help drive better outcomes for enterprises, advisors, and their clients.

For more information on Envestnet, please visit www.envestnet.com and follow @ENVintel.


WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - MGM Resorts International (MGM) and MGM Growth Properties LLC (MGP) said that MGM Resorts has agreed to acquire the real property and operations associated with the Empire City Casino's race track and casino in Yonkers, New York, for consideration of $850 million.



Further, MGM Resorts and MGP have entered into a definitive agreement whereby MGP will acquire the developed real property associated with Empire City from MGM Resorts and lease it back to a subsidiary of MGM Resorts, after which a subsidiary of MGM Resorts will operate the property.



The total consideration of $850 million includes the refinancing of Empire City's outstanding debt, which is expected to be about $245 million at the time of closing. MGM Resorts said it expects that about $260 million of the remaining consideration will be in the form of MGM Resorts common stock.



Furthermore, MGM Resorts has agreed to pay additional consideration of $50 million if Empire City is awarded a license for live table games on or prior to December 31, 2022 and MGM Resorts accepts such license by December 31, 2024.



The transactions are expected to close in the first quarter of 2019.



Jim Murren, Chairman and CEO of MGM Resorts International said, 'This acquisition represents an excellent opportunity to further solidify our presence on the East Coast, and in particular, expand our reach into the high-density New York City region. We believe this transaction enhances our free cash flow profile and presents attractive future opportunities for the Company, and we look forward to welcoming the Empire City team and guests to the MGM Resorts family.'



Subsequent to the purchase of Empire City, MGM Resorts and MGP have agreed that MGM Resorts will sell the developed real property to MGP for total consideration of about $625 million.



This will include the assumption of the about $245 million of debt refinanced by MGM Resorts, while the balance consideration will be through the issuance of operating partnership units to MGM Resorts based upon MGP's closing price of $29.38 as of May 25, 2018.



In addition, MGM Resorts has agreed to give MGP a right of first offer with respect to certain undeveloped land adjacent to the property to the extent MGM Resorts develops additional gaming facilities and chooses to sell or transfer the property in the future.



For the last twelve months ended March 31, 2018, Empire City reported about $230 million in net revenues and about $70 million in adjusted EBITDA.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

Kostenloser Wertpapierhandel auf Smartbroker.de
DETROIT, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Stratview Research announces the launch of a new market research report on Airborne Pods Market by Aircraft Type (Combat Aircraft, Helicopter, UAV, and Others), by Pod Type (ISR, Targeting, Self-Protection/Countermeasure, and Others), by Enclosure Type (Composite and Metal), by Sensor Type (EO/IR, EW/EA, IRCM, and Others), by Range Type (Short, Intermediate, and Long), and by Region (North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and Rest of the World), Trend, Forecast, Competitive Analysis, and Growth Opportunity: 2018-2023.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/660595/Stratview_Research_Logo.jpg )



This market report, from Stratview Research, studies the airborne pods market over the trend period 2012 to 2017 and forecast period of 2018 to 2023. The research report provides detailed insights on the market dynamics to enable informed business decision making and growth strategy formulation based on the opportunities present in the market.

Airborne Pods Market: Highlights

Airborne pods refer to an external pod structure, which is designed to provide a better aerial detection, recognition, identification, targeting, communication, data linking, and self-defensive capabilities to an aircraft. It is used to convert a normal aircraft into a warfare or surveillance aircraft. Previously, metals, such as aluminum and steel, were mainly used to manufacture airborne pods. But, due to their higher weight and significant maintenance cost, the industry has started shifting towards composite materials. In the last few decades, composite materials have become the perennial choice in fabricating components and structure of pods as the materials not only offer the advantages of lightweight and high strength-to-weight ratio, but also improve the overall pod aesthetics.

As per Stratview Research, the global airbornepodsmarket offers healthygrowth opportunity during the forecast period and reach an estimated value of $3,167.9 million in 2023. Growing military expenditure, especially in the developing economies including China and India, emergence of ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance, & Reconnaissance) due to security reasons, increasing demand for advanced targeting systems, and rising military aircraft upgrade are the major growth factors that are burgeoning the demand for airborne pods in various countries. Asia-Pacific and North America are the biggest demand generators with a current combined share of more than two-third of the total airborne pods market.

Based on the pod type, ISR is likely to remain the most dominant segment of the global airborne pods market over the next five years. It offers a wide array of advantages, such as precise identification, detection, and recognition of targets. Whereas, targeting pods are likely to be the fastest-growing segment of the global airborne pods market, mainly driven by increasing military aircraft procurement and upgradation of the existing fleet of military aircraft across the world.

Composite enclosure is likely to remain the more dominant and faster-growing segmentof the airborne pods market during the forecast period. It provides numerous advantages over its counterpart (metals), such as good product performance, low maintenance cost, and excellent corrosion resistance. Composite enclosure further helps in reducing the aerodynamic drag due to its smooth structure. It is expected that there would be a continuous shift from metal enclosures to composite enclosures in the coming years.

Register Here and Ask for a Free Sample on the Report

In terms of sensor type, Electro-Optical (EO)/ Infrared (IR) segment is projected to maintain its dominance in the market over the next five years. Increasing demand for ISR pods and rising emergence of ISR due to security reasons are the major growth drivers of EO/IR sensors in the global airborne pods market. Electronic warfare/electronic attack (EW/EA) sensors are likely to be the fastest-growing segment of the global airborne pods market during the forecast period 2018-2023.

As per the study, North America is projected to remain the largest market during the forecast period. The USA is the growth engine of the region's market and has the largest fleet of combat aircraft across the world. Rising military aircraft fleet size with a high focus on their upgrades is likely to further boost the overall demand for airborne pods in the region in the foreseeable future. However, Asia-Pacific is likely to witness the highest growth during the same period, driven by a host of factors including increasing defense budget of China, India, and South Korea, continuous upgrade of existing aircraft fleet, and higher investment in developing and procuring UAVs, due to rising tensions in different parts of the region.

Report Features

This report provides market intelligence in the most comprehensive way. The report structure has been kept such that it offers maximum business value. It provides critical insights on the market dynamics and will enable strategic decision making for the existing market players as well as those willing to enter the market. The following are the key features of the report:

Market structure: Overview, industry life cycle analysis, supply chain analysis.

Market environment analysis: Growth drivers and constraints, Porter's five forces analysis, SWOT analysis.

Market trend and forecast analysis.

Market segment trend and forecast.

Competitive landscape and dynamics: Market share, product portfolio, product launches, etc.

Attractive market segments and associated growth opportunities.

Emerging trends.

Strategic growth opportunities for the existing and new players.

Key success factors

This report studies the global airborne pods market and has segmented the market in six ways, keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders across the value chain. The following are the six ways in which the market is segmented:

Airborne Pods Market, By Aircraft Type

Combat Aircraft (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Helicopter (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) UAV (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Airborne Pods Market, By Pod Type

ISR (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Targeting (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Self-Protection/Countermeasure (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Airborne Pods Market, By Enclosure Type

Composite (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Metal (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Airborne Pods Market, By Sensor Type

EO/IR (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) EW/EA (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) IRCM (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Others (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Airborne Pods Market, By Range Type

Short (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Intermediate (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

, , , and RoW) Long (Regional Analysis: North America , Europe , Asia-Pacific , and RoW)

Airborne Pods Market, By Region

North America (Country Analysis: The USA , Rest of North America )

, Rest of ) Europe (Country Analysis: Germany , France , the UK, Russia , and Rest of Europe )

, , the UK, , and Rest of ) Asia-Pacific (Country Analysis: China , Japan , India , and Rest of Asia-Pacific )

, , , and Rest of ) Rest of the World (Country Analysis: Latin America , the Middle East , and Others)

Stratview Research has number of high value market reports in the global aerospace & defense industry. Please refer to the following link to browse through our reports:

Click Here for Other Reports from Stratview Research in the Aerospace & Defense Industry

About Stratview Research

Stratview Research is a global market intelligence firm providing wide range of services including syndicated market reports, custom research and sourcing intelligence across industries, such as Advanced Materials, Aerospace & Defense, Automotive & Mass Transportation, Consumer Goods, Construction & Equipment, Electronics and Semiconductors, Energy & Utility, Healthcare & Life Sciences, and Oil & Gas.

We have a strong team of industry veterans and analysts with an extensive experience in executing custom research projects for mid-sized to Fortune 500 companies, in the areas of Market Assessment, Opportunity Screening, Competitive Intelligence, Due Diligence, Target Screening, Market Entry Strategy, Go to Market Strategy, and Voice of Customer studies.

Stratview Research is a trusted brand globally, providing high quality research and strategic insights that help companies worldwide in effective decision making.

For enquiries,contact:

Ritesh Gandecha

Stratview Research

E-mail: sales@stratviewresearch.com

Direct: +1-313-307-4176


Consumer-focussed business developer Myanmar Strategic Holdings announced on Tuesday that its wholly-owned subsidiary Myanmar Strategic Services has exchanged contracts for the acquisition of the entire issued share capital of EXERA. The London-listed firm described EXERA as one of Myanmar's "leading" safety and security services providers by number of guards, with the acquisition carrying a consideration of $2.2m, and completion expected to take place by the end of May. It said the ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Cornerstone Metals Inc. (TSXV: CCC) (OTCQB: CCCCF) (FSE: 1PY) ("Cornerstone" or the "Company") is pleased to announce preliminary results of metallurgical test work being conducted on its Carlin Vanadium Project in Nevada. The initial pressure leaching tests have achieved vanadium extraction levels of between 80.2% and 83.6%.

"The Company is thrilled with these preliminary results, which signal a major technical breakthrough for this project", said Cornerstone President and Chief Executive Officer Paul Cowley, "guided by expertise of Cornerstone's metallurgists and Sherritt Technologies, an industry recognized engineering and research group with their in-house lab. Regardless of these positive results, we are continuing test work to improve upon the overall vanadium extraction from the current 80.2% to 83.6% to higher values."

Test work is being conducted on a sample composite generated from an 18.9 metre drill core intercept from the Company's recent diamond drilling verification program. Metallurgical test work will continue with the aim of developing a conceptual flowsheet.

Metallurgical test work is being conducted by Sherritt Technologies in Fort Saskatchewan, Alberta, the leader in the development and commercialization of pressure hydrometallurgical processes. Sherritt is a one-stop shop that has a proven track record of developing projects from concept-to-operation with a skilled and experienced team, including process and equipment specialists.

The Carlin Vanadium deposit is considered one of the largest, highest grade primary vanadium deposits in North America (USGS Professional Paper 1802 Critical Mineral Resources of the United States-Economic and Environmental Geology and Prospects for Future Supply dated December 18, 2017).

Vanadium's Growing Importance for Steel Manufacturing and the Energy Sector

Vanadium is growing in importance for key industrial manufacturing sectors most notably steel and renewable energy. Today, more than 85 percent of the world's vanadium is used in steel manufacturing applications. Its importance to the energy sector is also growing rapidly with more than 10 percent of vanadium production used in energy storage where its substantial cost and performance benefits make it an alternative choice to lithium ion in several areas. Vanadium pentoxide flake prices have risen over the last 2.5 years from under US$3/lb to US$13.90/lb today.

About Cornerstone Metals Inc.

Cornerstone Metals has an option to earn a 100% interest in the Carlin Vanadium Project, located in Elko County 22km by road (14 miles) from the town of Carlin, Nevada. The project is comprised of 72 contiguous unpatented mineral claims totaling 461 hectares (1,140 acres). The Carlin Vanadium Project hosts the Carlin Vanadium Deposit which is flat to shallow dipping and at shallow depths, commonly between 0-60m (0-200 ft) below surface.

ON BEHALF OF CORNERSTONE METALS INC.

per: "Paul Cowley"

CEO & President

(604) 340-7711

pcowley@cornerstonemetals.ca

Technical disclosure in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Paul Cowley, P.Geo., a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101, and President and CEO of the Company.

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 information

Certain statements in this news release constitute "forward-looking" statements. These statements relate to future events or the Company's future performance and include the Company's ability to meet the conditions required to exercise in full its option to acquire the Carlin Vanadium project and with respect to current and planned drill programs, the results of exploration programs, metallurgical test work, and changes in mineral resources. All such statements involve substantial known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results to vary from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant risks and uncertainties, they should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and they will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated due to a number of factors and risks. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes are reasonable assumptions on the date of this news release, the Company cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made as of the date hereof and the Company 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 required under applicable securities regulations.
Leaders in the Direct Care Movement Discuss Disruptive Healthcare Models that Empower Doctors

SAN FRANCISCO, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 29, 2018 / San Francisco-based Hint Health is proud to announce the second annual Hint Summit, June 8-9, a conference that for the first time unites the country's most prominent innovators working toward the shared goal of redesigning the country's healthcare system.

The 2018 Hint Summit brings together the most recognized and respected pioneers in the Direct Care movement, to share their thoughts and experiences with hundreds of attendees from the medical and tech fields through a combination of keynote talks, panels, collaborative breakout sessions and networking opportunities.

Innovative healthcare providers are increasingly harnessing the power of the Direct Care payment model to provide personalized care at very affordable prices while taking insurance companies out of the equation. The Hint Summit conference draws pioneers across all corners of the healthcare industry to share best practices and accelerate the adoption of these provider-led businesses.

Launched in late 2013, Hint Health is the leading Direct Care Administration platform, giving provider groups and health systems the administrative power of a health plan. With Hint's powerful tools and domain expertise, nascent direct care organizations are able to overcome the administrative and financial challenges inherent in launching these next generation models. Some of Hint's clients include Redirect Health, Nextera Healthcare, Wellness For Life, Peakmed, and Parsley Health. The company recently completed a $10 million Series A funding round.

Some of the speakers are listed below. For the complete lineup visit https://summit.hint.com.

ZDOGG, MD (Zubin Damania)

http://zdoggmd.com/

Forbes called ZDoggMD "The Weird Al Yankovic of Healthcare" whose hilarious YouTube skits (such as "Doc Vader"), parody songs and TED talks have been educating the public on the core systemic problems with the current U.S. healthcare model. He draws from his personal experiences as a doctor in the traditional insurance-driven model, and as founder of Direct Care provider Turntable Health, which was funded by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. His song "Readmission" (parody of R. Kelly's "Ignition (Remix)") has garnered nearly 2.4 million views. He has been profiled in nearly every major publication including Forbes, the Atlantic and USA Today.

Sally Welborn - Former SVP Global Benefits for Wal-Mart Stores

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sallywelborn/

Doctors aren't the only people driving healthcare reform. For years Sally has battled rising costs and declining access as Head of Global Benefits for Wal-Mart Stores. She currently advises companies who are engaged in improvement of the healthcare industry, and recently joined the board of directors of Truveris, Inc., which is focused on cloud-based data analytics solutions addressing fairness and value solutions for the $450 billion prescription benefits industry.

Dave Chase - Co-Founder & CEO Health Rosetta

https://healthrosetta.org/

Dave Chase is a tireless champion of Direct Care strategies seen in numerous media profiles, his columns, his books and a TED talk. The mission of his company, Health Rosetta is to accelerate the adoption of simple, practical, non-partisan fixes to our healthcare system through an open source plan based on modular components. Health Rosetta helps public and private employers and unions provide better care for 157 million Americans while reducing health benefits spending by 20-40%.

For complete information, full speaker lineup, registration and hotel details on the 2018 Hint Health Summit, visit https://summit.hint.com.

About Hint Health

Hint Health (hint.com) powers tomorrow's healthcare providers by giving them the tools they need to operate and administer their own plans, and by doing so compete directly with insurance-based models. Based in San Francisco and backed by top investors, Hint's mission is to fix the broken healthcare system by fundamentally restructuring the way that care is delivered. Hint was co-founded in 2013 by Stanford GSB alum Zak Holdsworth and CTO Graham Melcher.

CONTACT:

Matt Kalinowski

Hint Health Publicity

matt@hint.com

SOURCE: Hint Health
Biotechnology company Allergy Therapeutics announced positive new data on its wholly-owned modified house-dust mite subcutaneous immunotherapy on Tuesday. The AIM-traded firm was presenting the data at the 37th Annual Congress of the European Academy of Allergy and Clinical Immunology in Munich. It said its modified house-dust mite product sold through a Named Patient Program in Spain was the precursor to the modified house-dust mite + MPL product currently in Phase I, as announced in February ...

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.
Mobile games publisher Gaming Realms has signed a three-year licensing deal with Sony Pictures Television. Following the return of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? to British screens earlier in May, the deal will see Gaming Realms create and host the Sony-owned format appear on millionairegames.com, a new gaming website, on its proprietary platform. A version based on Gaming Realms' Slingo format is planned for later in the summer. The millionairegames.com website went live in tandem with the ...

Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.
NEUCHATEL, Switzerland, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Orolia is pleased to announce that its world-leading atomic clock solutions have been selected for the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Under contracts totaling 26M, Orolia will deliver the most stable, accurate timing solutions available today. This latest initiative builds on Orolia's long-standing role in providing the world's most precise timing technology for satellite programs.

Each satellite will carry two Rubidium atomic clocks and two passive Hydrogen Masers, the most stable clock in the world. Under these contracts, Orolia will supply its Spectratime Rubidium Atomic Frequency Standard and its Passive Hydrogen Masers physics package for an additional 12 Galileo satellites. These new satellites will reinforce Orolia's world leadership position in the number of active atomic clocks in space, including more than 100 in the Galileo system.

"We're honored to continue supporting the European Commission with precise timing for Galileo," said Orolia CEO Jean-Yves Courtois. "These new contracts further emphasize Orolia's position as the world's leading provider of resilient positioning, timing and navigation (PNT) solutions."

In addition to serving as Europe's independent PNT source, Galileo can also serve as a secondary signal source for systems such as GPS, GLONASS or BeiDou in the event of service disruption. Galileo delivers the highest accuracy of any GNSS system in operation today. The quadruple clock redundancy designed into each satellite ensures that even if a failure occurs, overall system performance will not be compromised.

More than 150 Orolia Spectratime atomic clocks are flying to support Galileo, IRNSS, BeiDou, GAIA and other missions, some for more than ten years. Orolia provides the expertise necessary to design solutions for highly reliable space applications.

Orolia is a leading designer and manufacturer of a full range of high-performance, low cost GNSS synchronized crystal solutions, Rubidium and Maser sources, smart integrated GNSS reference clocks, rugged PNT devices, GNSS simulation and clock testing systems. Orolia's PNT solutions support a variety of critical applications including defense, government, space, maritime, enterprise networks, aviation and telecommunications.

About Orolia

Orolia is the world leader in resilient positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) solutions that improve the reliability, performance and safety of critical, remote or high-risk operations. With locations in more than 100 countries, Orolia provides virtually failsafe GPS/GNSS and PNT solutions to support government and commercial applications worldwide. www.orolia.com

Press Contact

Jennifer Hewitt

Mobile: +1 (571) 388-8671

jennifer.hewitt@orolia.com
(All amounts in US$ unless otherwise noted)

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Orla Mining Ltd. (TSXV: OLA) ("Orla" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the results of a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") and a mineral resource estimate on its 100% owned Camino Rojo Project located in Zacatecas State, Mexico. The mineral resource and PEA support a technically simple open-pit mine and heap-leach operation that offers low capital and operating costs, rapid payback, and strong financial performance.

The new overall mineral resource at Camino Rojo is estimated to include measured and indicated mineral resources of 9.65 million ounces of gold and 102.4 million ounces of silver (354.9 million tonnes at 0.85 g/t gold and 8.97 g/t silver) and an inferred mineral resource of 1.82 million ounces of gold and 16.21 million ounces of silver (65.2M tonnes at 0.87 g/t gold and 7.73 g/t silver).

The PEA is based on near-surface oxide and partly oxidized (transitional) material within the overall resource that can be processed by heap leaching. All mineral resources and the proposed open pit are within Orla mineral concessions. The Company has surface rights over the entire area of proposed development in the PEA.

PEA Highlights

Production Rate per Day 18,000 tonnes Total Material to Leach Pad 42.5M tonnes Average Grade Au / Ag (g/t) 0.71 / 13.56 Contained gold / silver ounces 966,000 / 18,517,000 Average Recovery Au / Ag 67% / 15% Average Annual gold Production 97,500 ounces Strip Ratio 0.58 Initial Capex $125 million Avg. LOM production costs (per tonne of material processed) $8.02 Total By-Product Cash Cost1 ($/oz Au) $499 All-In Sustaining Cost1 ($/oz Au) $555 Pre -Tax - Net Present Value (5%) / Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") $231 million / 38.1% After-Tax - Net Present Value (5%) / IRR $121 million / 24.5% Payback 3.3 years

1 includes royalties payable

"The results of the mineral resource estimate and PEA clearly show that Camino Rojo is an excellent project with potential for very low cost, 100,000 ounces per year gold and significant silver production from a relatively simple open pit mine and heap leach," stated Marc Prefontaine, President and Chief Executive Officer. "There is also longer-term economic potential in the large sulphide resource along with the extensive area of prospective exploration ground that Orla controls. Only six months after acquiring the property we will be starting feasibility-level work with the aim of being in a position to make a production decision in the second quarter of 2019."

Chuck Jeannes, Chairman of Orla, added, "We expect the development of Camino Rojo to provide the foundation for achieving our vision of growing Orla into a premier emerging gold producer. The PEA supports a relatively short period to cash flow generation, the fuel for future success. Concurrent with the development of Camino Rojo, we will be advancing our Cerro Quema project in Panama, which includes another simple, low capital intensity, high margin heap leach opportunity, along with a very exciting sulphide copper-gold discovery at the Caballito zone. This foundation of multiple high-quality assets provides geographic and operational diversity, a key to creating shareholder value."

Opportunities for further improvement of the project include:

Entering into an agreement with the owner of the mineral concession located directly north of Orla's concession which would allow the north pit wall to extend past the Orla property line and thus go deeper and include additional leachable resources located on the property.

The potential to steepen the north pit wall slope angle.

The potential to reduce capital and operating costs by employing larger crush size, as test work to date shows only minor or no recovery decrease with larger crush size.

Increase in silver recoveries.

Metallurgical drilling has commenced to provide additional materials for evaluation of crush size and silver recoveries, and geotechnical analysis of the pit wall is underway.

Feasibility work has already started, including environmental assessment studies and work towards permit submittals. The Company expects to complete the feasibility analysis during the first half of 2019. Contingent upon positive feasibility results, commencement of construction is expected to follow the receipt of necessary permits and first gold would be expected during the first half of 2021.

The PEA is based on an open pit mine using conventional trucks and loaders transporting heap leach material to a crushing plant and waste material to a waste rock pile both located within 500 metres of the pit. Material will then be conveyed and stacked onto an adjacent heap leach pad. The site's proximity to infrastructure, low stripping ratio, compact footprint and flat pad location all contribute to the relatively low estimated production costs and project simplicity.

The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes the use of inferred mineral resources, which are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that PEA results will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

Property Description:

Camino Rojo is located in Zacatecas State Mexico. The current mineral resource is located 3 km off a paved 4-lane highway. The area is flat and there are no known social or environmental impediments to mining. Orla has water rights and a surface agreement over the mineral resource and area of proposed infrastructure. The Company has all surface and mineral rights to develop the project modelled in the PEA scenario. Pursuant to the agreement whereby Orla acquired the property, there is 2% net smelter return ("NSR") royalty in favour of Goldcorp Inc. for any material processed by heap leaching.

There is no one living directly over the proposed development area. The town of San Tiburcio is located 4 km to the east of the proposed development. Orla has a Collaboration and Social Responsibility agreement with the San Tiburcio ejido which includes a 30-year temporary occupation right and an expropriation right over the 2,487 hectares covering the proposed pit and infrastructure area. The Company has an active community and social program in San Tiburcio and the other nearby communities of El Berrendo and San Francisco.

Camino Rojo comprises intrusive related, sedimentary strata hosted, polymetallic Au, Ag, As, Zn, and Pb mineralization. The mineralized zones correspond to zones of sheeted sulfidic veins and veinlet networks, creating a bulk-mineable style of gold mineralization. Mineralization is almost completely oxidized to a depth of approximately 120 meters and then variably oxidized below (Transitional to Sulphide). The mineral resource was divided into oxide, high and low transitional and sulphide. Only the oxide and transitional material were considered in the PEA study for heap leach extraction.

PEA Project Description

The project modelled in the PEA, in which all development is on mineral concessions currently controlled by Orla, is described below. The PEA was overseen by Kappes Cassiday & Associates ("KCA") of Reno, NV.

The Camino Rojo mine will be a conventional open pit mine. Mine operations will consist of drilling holes, blasting and loading into off-road trucks with loaders. Mineralized material will be delivered to the primary crusher and waste to the waste storage facility located southeast of the pit. Pit angles are based on previous geotechnical studies and range from -45 to -53 degrees. Mineral resource within the designed pit is broken into pervasive mineralized oxide (Kp), incipiently mineralized oxide (Ki), high transitional (60 to 90% oxidized) and low transitional (30 to 60% oxidized) material. Any material with less than 30% oxidation is categorized as waste. Of the total of 42.5 million tonnes of material going to the crusher, 5 million tonnes are low grade mineral resources that will be stockpiled and then processed at the end of the mine life. Approximately 385,000 tonnes of the material going to the crusher, or 1%, is categorized as inferred mineral resources. The remainder is categorized as measured and indicated mineral resources. In addition to the mineral resource, 24.5 million tonnes of waste will be mined, resulting in a strip ratio of 0.58:1.

Run of mine resource material will be crushed at a rate of 18,000 tonnes per day to 80% passing 38 mm using a two-stage closed crushing circuit with a primary jaw crusher and secondary cone crusher. After crushing, material will be conveyor stacked on the leach pad in 10-meter lifts. Lime will be added to the material for pH control before being stacked and leached with a dilute cyanide solution. Pregnant solution will flow by gravity to a pregnant solution pond before being pumped to a Merrill-Crowe plant for metal recovery. Gold and silver will be precipitated from the pregnant solution via zinc cementation. The precious metal precipitate will be dewatered using filters, dried in a mercury retort to remove mercury values, and smelted to produce the final dore product.

Recovery predictions and key process design parameters are based on the results of 88 column tests completed by previous operators. Most test work was done at sizes ranging from -9.5 to -25.0 mm, with 6 tests at -38.0 mm. Test work does not show a significant decrease in gold recovery with larger crush sizes. The test work conducted to date is considered to be representative and is sufficient for these purposes. Confirmatory metallurgical test work will be completed on representative samples of each mineral type, specifically column leach tests on coarse crushed material.

Key design parameters from the metallurgical test work are summarized below:

Crush size of 80% passing 38 mm.

Estimated gold recoveries (including 2% field deduction) of 70%, 58%, 60% and 49% for Kp Oxide, Ki Oxide, Transition-hi and Transition-lo materials, respectively, average of 67%.

Estimated silver recoveries (including 3% field deduction) of 13%, 20%, 17% and 20% for Kp Oxide, Ki Oxide, Transition-hi and Transition-lo materials, respectively, average of 15%.

Design leach cycle of 80 days.

Average cyanide consumption of 0.35 kg/t material.

Average lime consumption of 1.25 kg/t material.

Approximately 260 process and general administrative people will be employed directly by the project and approximately 140 people will be employed by the contract miner. The PEA includes costs for a 250-person camp, but it is anticipated that a significant portion of the employees will be hired from the local area. The Company is initiating programs intended to facilitate local employment.

Environmental Assessment studies are underway with no significant issues noted to date. Initial mine waste rock studies indicate that acid rock drainage and metal leaching will not be a problem. The Camino Rojo heap leach system is designed as a zero-discharge facility.

PEA Economics

Mine operating costs were estimated by Independent Mining Consultants ("IMC") and are based on contract mining at $1.81 per tonne of material moved. The relatively low cost reflects the very short hauls to both the crusher and waste facility.

Process operating costs were estimated from first principles. Labor costs were estimated using project specific staffing, salary and wage and benefit requirements. Unit consumptions of materials, supplies, power, water and delivered supply costs were also estimated.

Life of Mine Operating Cost Summary

(per tonne material processed)

Description LOM Cost (US$/t) Mine $3.05 Process & Support Services $3.20 Site General & Administration $1.77 Total $8.02

The capital costs are based upon the ownership of all process production equipment and site facilities. Costs include surface support equipment, but mining equipment will be supplied by the mine contractor. Estimated capital costs include a 28% contingency on process and infrastructure direct costs.

Capital Cost Summary

Description Cost (US$) Pre-Production Capital $120.2M Mining Contractor Mobilization & Preproduction $4.9M Total Initial Capital $125.1M Sustaining Capital - Mine & Process $14.9M Working Capital & Initial Fills (recovered) $ 13.8M

The economic evaluation incorporates the following inputs:

Period of Analysis of 9 years (includes one year of pre-production, 7 years of production and one year for reclamation and closure).

3-year trailing average gold price of $1,250/oz and silver price of $17/oz.

Gold and silver recoveries based on metallurgical domain - average of 67% and 15% respectively.

Electric power will be provided by line power to all elements of the process.

2% NSR royalty to Goldcorp Inc.

0.5% NSR Extraordinary Mining duty to Mexican Government.

7.5% Special Mining Tax to Mexican Government.

30% Income Tax to Mexican Government.

PEA Economics

Economic Analysis (US$) IRR (Pre-Tax) 38.1 % IRR (After-Tax) 24.5 % Average Annual Free Cashflow (Pre-Tax) $60 Million NPV @ 5% (Pre-Tax) $231 Million Average Annual Free Cashflow (After-Tax) $43 Million NPV @ 5% (After-Tax) $121 Million Gold Price Assumption $1,250 /Ounce Silver Price Assumption $17 /Ounce Pay-Back Period (Years based on After-Tax) 3.3 Years Capital Costs (Excluding VAT) Initial Capital $125 Million Working Capital & Initial Fills $14 Million LOM Sustaining Capital $15 Million Operating Costs (Average LOM) Mining $3.05 /Tonne processed Processing & Support $3.20 /Tonne processed General & Administration $1.77 /Tonne processed Total Operating Cost $8.02 /Tonne processed Total By-Product Cash Cost1 $499 /Ounce Au All-in Sustaining Cost1 $555 /Ounce Au Production Data Life of Mine 6.6 Years Total Tonnes to Crusher 42,477,000 Tonnes Grade Au 0.71 g/t Grade Ag 13.56 g/t Contained Au oz 966,000 Ounces Contained Ag oz 18,517,000 Ounces Mine Throughput per day 18,000 Tonne/day Mine throughput per year 6,570,000 Tonne/year Metallurgical Recovery Au (Overall) 67 % Metallurgical Recovery Ag (Overall) 15 % Average Annual Gold Production 97,472 Ounces Average Annual Silver Production 415,981 Ounces Total Gold Produced 642,382 Ounces Total Silver Produced 2,741,485 Ounces LOM Strip Ratio 0.58

1 includes royalties payable

The following tables illustrate the after-tax sensitivity of the project economics to changes in operating and capital costs and to changes in gold price:







NPV

Variation IRR 0% 5% Gold Price 75% $938 8.9% $58,516,467 $21,406,028 90% $1,125 18.6% $134,018,397 $81,065,797 100% $1,250 24.5% $184,353,016 $120,834,790 110% $1,375 29.9% $233,731,543 $159,927,785 125% $1,563 37.5% $306,847,950 $217,846,352









Capital Costs 75% $126,305,947 33.4% $206,009,548 $143,923,225 90% $145,237,065 27.6% $193,262,389 $130,237,181 100% $157,857,811 24.5% $184,353,016 $120,834,790 110% $170,478,556 21.8% $175,244,883 $111,297,870 125% $189,409,674 18.3% $161,582,683 $96,992,490









Operating Costs 75% $255,687,582 30.6% $239,000,813 $164,121,828 90% $306,825,099 27.0% $206,592,687 $138,437,976 100% $340,916,776 24.5% $184,353,016 $120,834,790 110% $375,008,454 21.9% $161,675,682 $102,899,076 125% $426,145,971 17.8% $127,659,682 $75,995,504

Project Opportunities

Opportunities for further improvement of the project include:

Successfully negotiating an agreement with the owner of the concession north of Orla's property.

The PEA open pit is constrained by the north boundary of Orla's concessions. A pit model based on the mineral resource disclosed herein and unconstrained by the property boundary was assessed using the same recoveries and similar operating costs as the PEA. The objective was to understand the benefit of getting an agreement with the owner of the mineral concession located directly north of the Orla concession. This exercise indicated that approximately 32 million additional tonnes of the existing measured and indicated mineral resource at 0.70 g/t Au and 14.7 g/t Ag could be included in the pit model in a case where there was no boundary restriction. By definition, all resources are located on Orla's claim. The additional resources included as part of the unconstrained pit model are because the pit wall continues onto the adjoining claim, allowing deeper access to resources below the PEA mine model.

The potential to steepen the north pit wall slope angle. This would increase the amount of resource at depth that would be included in the pit.

The potential to reduce capital and operating costs by employing larger crush size as test work to date shows only minor or no recovery decrease with larger crush size.

Potential increase in silver recoveries.

Additional Project Upside Opportunities

Studies to investigate opportunities within the existing 7.3 million gold ounces of sulphide (mill) measured and indicated resources will be conducted over the coming months. In addition, a C$2 million regional exploration program including mapping and ground geophysics is ongoing.

Mineral Resources

Mineral resources were estimated by IMC based on a geological and oxidation model developed by Orla geologists. The model has domains based on stratigraphic units; Caracol and Indidura. The Caracol is the uppermost unit throughout the deposit and the primary host rock. It was further divided by alteration intensity (Kp for pervasive alteration and Ki for incipient alteration) and between an upper zone (NE) with more flat lying mineralization and a lower zone (SW) with steeper mineralization. Lithological and alteration contacts were put as hard boundaries in estimation. The NE/SW boundary was not.

Oxidation levels were superimposed onto the block model after resource estimation. Oxidation is divided by levels; oxide (+90% oxidized), Transition high (60 to 90% oxidized), transition low (30 to 60% oxidized). Any material less than 30% oxidized was considered sulphide. Oxidized and transition material is reported as leach mineral resources and sulphide material is reported as mill mineral resources.

The resource estimate was completed by IMC of Tucson, AZ. The mineral resource estimate was prepared as of April 27, 2018.

Gold Silver Lead Zinc Gold Silver Lead Zinc Resource Type Kt (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) (koz) (koz) (mlb) (mlb) Leach Resource: Measured Mineral Resource 16,147 0.794 15.44 0.26 0.39 412.1 8,014 92.1 140.6 Indicated Mineral Resource 84,692 0.723 12.15 0.19 0.36 1,969.3 33,076 363.7 674.3 Meas./Ind. Mineral Resource 100,839 0.734 12.67 0.21 0.37 2,381.3 41,091 455.8 814.8 Inferred Mineral Resource 4,858 0.772 5.60 0.07 0.24 120.6 874 7.0 25.9 Mill Resource: Measured Mineral Resource 9,818 0.864 7.45 0.08 0.28 272.6 2,352 16.4 60.1 Indicated Mineral Resource 244,251 0.890 7.50 0.07 0.26 6,992.2 58,934 385.6 1,398.2 Meas./Ind. Mineral Resource 254,069 0.889 7.50 0.07 0.26 7,264.8 61,286 402.0 1,458.3 Inferred Mineral Resource 60,342 0.875 7.90 0.05 0.23 1,696.9 15,334 68.1 310.8 Total Mineral Resource Measured Mineral Resource 25,965 0.820 12.42 0.19 0.35 684.6 10,367 108.5 200.7 Indicated Mineral Resource 328,943 0.847 8.70 0.10 0.29 8,961.5 92,010 749.3 2,072.5 Meas./Ind. Mineral Resource 354,908 0.845 8.97 0.11 0.29 9,646.1 102,377 857.8 2,273.2 Inferred Mineral Resource 65,200 0.867 7.73 0.05 0.23 1,817.5 16,208 75.2 336.8

Notes:

(1) Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

(2) Numbers may not add up due to rounding.

(3) The NSR cutoff grade for leach resource is US$ 5.06 per tonne. The NSR cutoff grade for mill resource is US$ 13.72 per tonne.

(4) Prepared by IMC of Tucson, AZ, under the direction of Michael G. Hester, FAusIMM, a Qualified Person.

(5) The quantity and grade of reported inferred mineral resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred mineral resources as indicated or measured mineral resources.

A total of 87,152 assays located in interpreted mineral zones were used in the estimation from 407 core and 493 reverse circulation holes. Gold and silver grades were capped, with capping levels dependent upon domains. Because of the large number of assays used in the estimate, the grades assays were capped to be around the 99.8 to 99.9 percentile of the grade distributions. Assays were composited into 5 meter lengths for estimation.

IMC estimated grades for gold, silver, lead, and zinc using inverse distance with a power weight of 2 (ID2) into 10 x 10 x 10 meter blocks. For Kp and Ki in the NW zone, a maximum of 15 composites, a minimum of three and a maximum of three composites per hole were used. In the SW zone, a maximum of 24 composites, a minimum of four and a maximum of eight composites per hole were used. Indidura was estimated with the same parameters as the SW domain.

Blocks with an average distance to four holes less than or equal to 25 meters were assigned as measured mineral resource. Blocks with an average distance to the nearest three holes with less than 45 meters, but greater than 25 meters from the nearest four holes, were assigned as indicated mineral resource. Blocks with an average distance to three holes greater than 45m were assigned to inferred mineral resource.

The average specific gravity from 10,000 specific gravity tests was reduced 2% to obtain an estimate of bulk density.

The mineral resources are contained within a floating cone pit shell to demonstrate "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction" as required by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Measured, indicated, and inferred mineral resources were allowed to contribute to the economics for the mineral resource cone shell.

The main economic inputs used in the floating cone are summarized in the table below. Note that these inputs are based on limited test work and order-of-magnitude cost estimates. They are used only to demonstrate reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. No inference is made that the mineral resources are economic.

Economic Parameters for Mineral Resource Estimate

Material Type Units Kp Oxide Ki Oxide Tran-Hi Tran-Low Tran-S Sulfide Waste Commodity Prices Gold Price Per Ounce (US$) 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 Silver Price Per Ounce (US$) 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 Lead Price Per Pound (US$) 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 Zinc Price Per Pound (US$) 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 Plant Production Rate (ktpy) 6,570 6,570 6,570 6,570 9,125 9,125 Mining Cost Per Tonne Total Mining Cost (US$) 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 Process and G&A Cost Per Tonne Processed



Processing (US$) 3.377 3.377 3.377 3.377 12.50 12.50 G&A (US$) 1.687 1.687 1.687 1.687 1.215 1.215 Total Process and G&A (US$) 5.064 5.064 5.064 5.064 13.72 13.72 Plant Recovery Gold (%) 70% 58% 60% 49% 86% 86% Silver (%) 13% 20% 17% 20% 76% 76% Lead (%) 0% 0% 0% 0% 60% 60% Zinc (%) 0% 0% 0% 0% 64% 64% Smelting/Refining Payables and Costs Gold Refinery Payable (%) 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 95% Silver Refinery Payable (%) 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 95% Lead Smelter Payable (%) 0% 0% 0% 0% 95% 95% Zinc Smelter Payable (%) 0% 0% 0% 0% 85% 85% Gold Refining Per Ounce (US$) 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 1.00 1.00 Silver Refining Per Ounce (US$) 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.50 1.50 Lead Treatment Per Pound (US$) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.194 0.194 Zinc Treatment Per Pound (US$) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.219 0.219 Royalties Royalty (%) 2% 2% 2% 2% 0% 0% NSR Factors Gold NSR Factor ($/g) 30.768 25.493 26.372 21.537 36.748 36.748 Silver NSR Factor ($/g) 0.0799 0.1229 0.1044 0.1229 0.4294 0.4294 Lead NSR Factor ($/%) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.753 10.753 Zinc NSR Factor ($/%) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 12.369 12.369 NSR Cutoff Grades



Breakeven NSR Cutoff Grade ($/t) 6.71 6.71 6.71 6.71 15.37 15.37 Internal NSR Cutoff Grade ($/t) 5.06 5.06 5.06 5.06 13.72 13.72 Gold Equivalent Cutoff Grades



Breakeven Cutoff Grade (g/t) 0.22 0.26 0.25 0.31 0.42 0.42 Internal Cutoff Grade (g/t) 0.16 0.20 0.19 0.24 0.37 0.37

Mineral resources are classified in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") "CIM Definition Standards - For Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves" adopted by the CIM Council (as amended, the "CIM Definition Standards") in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. Mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates reflect the reasonable expectation that all necessary permits and approvals will be obtained and maintained.

There is no guarantee that any of the mineral resources will be converted to mineral reserve. There is also no guarantee that any of the inferred mineral resources will be upgraded to measured or indicated mineral resources or to mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The project is subject to the normal risks that mining projects face including changes to metal prices, changes to government regulations, social risks, uncertainty in mineral resource and recovery estimates, permitting risks and financing risks.

The Company is not aware of any factors which would prevent a project similar to that modelled in the PEA from being carried out.

Data Verification:

The sampling data used for the mineral resource estimate was verified by IMC. A substantial portion of the database was compared with original assay certificates. There were no limitations on the verification process. IMC is of the opinion that the database is acceptable for the purpose of the mineral resource estimation.

KCA checked the metallurgical test procedures and results to ensure they met industry standards and checked metallurgical sample locations to ensure that there was material from throughout the resource area and that samples were representative. KCA also reviewed material handling characteristics of the different material types by inspection of core to ensure that the selected processing method was appropriate.

Qualified Persons

The mineral resource estimate was conducted by IMC of Tucson, AZ, under the direction of Michael G. Hester, FAusIMM. The PEA was overseen by KCA of Reno, NV. Michael G. Hester, FAusIMM of IMC was also responsible for the mining components of the PEA. KCA, under the direction of Carl Defilippi, RM SME was responsible for the metallurgy, process, general and administration and economic components of the PEA. Matthew Gray, Ph.D., C.P.G., of Resource Geosciences Incorporated of Rio Rico, AZ was responsible for the property, geology and environmental components of the PEA. Each of Messrs. Hester, Defilippi and Gray is a Qualified Person for their respective sections of the PEA and each of whom is Independent of Orla under the definitions of NI43-101. An independent technical report prepared in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101 will be available on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release.

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael G. Hester, FAusIMM, Carl Defilippi, RM SME and Matthew Gray, Ph.D., C.P.G, each of whom is an Independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101 standards.

Conference Call

Orla will host a conference call on May 29, 2018 at 9:30 a.m. eastern time, to discuss the results of the PEA:

Toll-free dial-in number (Canada/US): 1-800-806-5484

Local dial-in number: 416-406-0743

Passcode: 8332434#

Instant replay:

Toll-free dial-in number (Canada/US): 1-800-408-3053

Local dial-in number: 905-694-9451

Passcode: 5695914#

Expiry date: June 29, 2018

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Marc Prefontaine, M.Sc., P.Geo.,

President & Chief Executive Officer

About Orla Mining Ltd.

The 100% owned Cerro Quema project in Panama includes a near-term gold production scenario and significant exploration upside. Cerro Quema's 14,800 Ha concession boasts paved road access, a supportive local population and private land ownership. The Cerro Quema project is currently in the last stage of the permitting process for a proposed open pit mine and gold heap leach operation. Please refer to the Cerro Quema Project - Pre-feasibility Study on the La Pava and Quemita Oxide Gold Deposits dated August 22, 2014, which is available on SEDAR. Camino Rojo is an advanced gold and silver project located in Zacatecas State, Central Mexico. The project is 100% owned and covers over 200,000 hectares. Access and infrastructure are excellent with a paved highway and powerline nearby. A NI 43-101 Technical Report on Camino Rojo will be available on SEDAR under the Company's profile within 45 days of this news release.

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian and United States securities legislation, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the results of the preliminary economic assessment, including but not limited to the mineral resource estimation, mine plan and operations, internal rate of return, sensitivities, taxes, net present value, potential recoveries, design parameters, operating costs, capital costs, production data and economic potential; the timing and costs for production decisions; permitting timelines and requirements; requirements for additional land; exploration and planned exploration programs, the potential for discovery of additional mineral resources; upside opportunities, including the upside case, pit wall angles, larger crush size and increase in the silver recoveries; timing for completion of a feasibility study; timing for first gold production; and the Company's objectives and strategies. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements are discussed in this news release, including without limitation, assumptions regarding the price of gold and silver; the accuracy of mineral resource estimations; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required permits and approvals will be obtained; that no social or environmental issues exist; and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: risks related to uncertainties inherent in the preparation of preliminary economic assessments, drill results and the estimation of mineral resources, including changes in the economic parameters; risks relating to not securing agreements with third parties or not received required permits; risks associated with executing the Company's objectives and strategies, including costs and expenses, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's most recently filed management's discussion and analysis, as well as its annual information form dated January 26, 2018, available on www.sedar.com. Except as required by the securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

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 news release.

Non-IFRS Measures

The Company has included certain non-IFRS performance measures as detailed below. In the gold mining industry, these are common performance measures but may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers and the non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Cash Costs per Ounce - the Company calculated cash costs per ounce by dividing the sum of operating costs, royalty costs, production taxes, refining and shipping costs, net of by-product silver credits, by payable gold ounces. While there is no standardized meaning of the measure across the industry, the Company believes that this measure will be useful to external users in assessing operating performance.

All-In Sustaining Costs ("AISC") - the Company has disclosed an AISC performance measure that reflects all of the expenditures that are required to produce an ounce of gold from operations. While there is no standardized meaning of the measure across the industry, the Company's definition conforms to the all-in sustaining cost definition as set out by the World Gold Council in its guidance dated June 27, 2013. The Company believes that this measure will be useful to external users in assessing operating performance and the ability to generate free cash flow from current operations.

For further information, please contact:

Marc Prefontaine

President & Chief Executive Officer

www.orlamining.com

info@orlamining.com


Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Upco International Inc. (CSE: UPCO) (OTC: UCCPF) (FSE: U06) ("UPCO") is pleased to announce that it has signed an agreement with MLC s.r.l. owning the brand of Sorgente Tesorino to promote Upco's brand through its product distribution channels, which encompass Europe, China and other regions.

Sorgente Tesorino, based in Florence Italy, is a major bottler and distributor of mineral waters sourced from the Tuscany region and valued for their medicinal and therapeutic qualities. The company has been operating in this area since 1941, and currently distributes 10 million bottles of water per year, with a capacity of 3 million bottles per day.

Under the terms of the agreement, Sorgente Tesorino will start to promote Upco by including an advertisement in each package of 6 bottles of mineral water distributed in Italy and China. Additionally, they will include a voucher code within the package purchased, which users can enter into the E-Wallet to receive an instant cashback.

This is an exciting opportunity, which benefits both companies and their respective customer base. Based on the success of this initiative, the program with Sorgente Tesorino will be extended to other jurisdictions. Upco is also actively exploring agreement opportunities with other vendors for different product lines.

Similar press release has been submitted to a major Italian newspaper including the famous "il sole 24 ore" for publication. This is the most prominent financial newspaper in Italy and has the third highest diffusion of national newspapers (2017).

Further release has been published on Agenzia Nazionale Stampa Associata (ANSA), which is the leading wire service in Italy, and one of the leaders among world news agencies. http://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/economia/criptovalute/2018/05/29/alimentare-accordo-upco-acqua-tesorino-per-marketing-online_0dd1e9cf-ca58-43f4-89be-47653ca612f9.html

Beside newspapers and agencies, it has further been released on Controradio, a well-known radio station in Florence. http://www.controradio.it/marketing-soldi-in-blockchain-a-chi-compra-acqua-tesorino

Mr. Andrea Pagani, CEO and President commented: "Our agreement with MLC s.r.l., owning the brand of Sorgente Tesorino, represents a very important step in our marketing strategy, which will extend into other jurisdictions and product lines over time. This strategy is expected to grow our customer base in parallel with ongoing improvements in our E-Wallet payment system. Strategic alliances with marketing partners will facilitate deployment of our full-featured international invoice/payment/exchange/transfer system within a mature and growing customer base, across jurisdictions."



About Upco International Inc.

Upco International Inc. is a cloud-based mobile service company which provides high-quality voice termination to a market driven by the growing activity in online communications and commerce. Upco is a licensed Global Telecom Carrier within the international VoIP (voice over IP) wholesale business. Upco has designed a software application for Apple iOS and Android, similar to SKYPE and WhatsApp. With the forthcoming addition of the Upco E-Wallet using Blockchain Payment Services, users will be able to: send invoices, approve payments, transfer international funds, convert international currencies, and track transfers and payments.

Please visit www.upcointernational.com for further information.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Andrea Pagani, CEO and President

office@upcointernational.com

+1 (212) 461 3676

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "will" "may" "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "development", "forthcoming", "potentially" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Upco cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by Upco is not a guarantee of future results or performance.
Remote-support offering leverages video technology from SightCall

Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has deployed its remote-support offering at Airbus to help the aircraft manufacturer improve productivity and reduce costs in real-time on the final assembly line (FAL) of its A330 airliner.

Accenture's remote-support offering is a smartphone application that enables a fast, high-quality and secure video communication between a mobile operator on the aircraft and support experts in the back office. Using SightCall's video technology, the offering enables the expert in the back office to clearly understand the issue and then guide the mobile operator through a resolution quickly and securely. This helps Airbus improve operations through faster decision-making and less non-productive time, ultimately lowering assembly costs.

Historically when an issue was detected, email, photos and other forms of media shared to highlight and resolve the problem were asynchronous. As a result, the time to react to the issue increased. Accenture's remote-support now allows workers to simply click a button to reach the right person for expert help immediately, eliminating the need to spend time travelling between locations.

The application boosts productivity and provides Airbus employees with a better working environment. In fact, 96 percent of users confirmed that the remote-support offering enabled them to solve an issue more quickly, with the average time to resolve issues reduced by 60 minutes.

"We look forward to continuing to innovate and deliver new solutions that help aerospace manufacturers improve productivity and reduce costs," said Julio Juan Prieto, a managing director for Accenture's Aerospace and Defense practice.

About Accenture

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions underpinned by the world's largest delivery network Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 442,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

About SightCall

SightCall is the leading global Video Cloud platform delivering live interactions between business and customers. The Augmented Reality powered Video Assistance offered through SightCall is transforming the way companies are interacting with their customers and field teams. In a connected, mobile-first world, businesses leveraging SightCall can see what their customers see and guide them remotely. The advantages for companies include getting a better view of the problem or the damage, which leads to better and faster resolution. SightCall provides connectors that can be easily plugged into business applications and mobile apps. Learn more at www.sightcall.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005741/en/

Contacts:

Accenture

Molly McDonagh, +44 7825 023 622

molly.mcdonagh@accenture.com

or

Accenture

Charles Hartley, +1 973-590-9920

charles.hartley@accenture.com
VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / May 29, 2018 / Global Cannabis Applications Corp. ("GCAC" or the "Company") (CNSX: APP, FSE: 2FA, OTCQB: FUAPF), a leading developer of innovative data technologies for the cannabis industry, is pleased to announce that it has received an Opinion Provision from the Bank of Lithuania concluding the Citizen Green token (CGT) is not a security. The official letter received from Bank of Lithuania's Supervision Service states: Taking into account the fact that the issued tokens do not grant their holders any property and non-property rights, related to the revenues or control of the Company, and do not create any obligations with respect to token holders, such type tokens should not be deemed to be securities.

"The opinion letter from the Bank of Lithuania Supervision Service is an independent validation that our token ecosystem is a utility and not a security," said GCAC CEO Brad Moore. "We have an international team of experts working to implement a token economy that will facilitate the collection and use of medical cannabis data to benefit the global cannabis industry in a fully compliant way. Our blockchain platform is designed to collect medical data, add value to the data with artificial intelligence (AI) and then provide that data to the medical cannabis industry so they can develop better products with the goal of better outcomes for patients."

GCAC Europe, a wholly owned subsidiary of GCAC, applied to have the Bank of Lithuania analyse the GCAC token model and functions, and evaluate if the token has the features of a security or other financial instrument. The Bank of Lithuania is a part of the Eurosystem and cooperates with the European Central Bank and other Euro central banks to make decisions on monetary policy and its implementation. It examined the GCAC business model, CGT token functions, White Paper and supporting materials and deemed the token to be a utility.

GCAC is finalizing the launch of its own CGT as the basis of a medical cannabis loyalty program. The CGT is an important part of Citizen Green data platform, the world's first end to-end data aggregation and user delivery system for the medical cannabis industry. This is a unique model where the token is used to reward participants of the GCAC medical cannabis ecosystem in a verifiable and fair manner. Furthermore, the CGT will be used as an access token, enabling users to acquire AI analysed data, receive discounts on purchases and access a full range of medical cannabis services.

Lithuania is a leading European jurisdiction with respect to blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Blockchain distributed ledger technologies are being supported at senior governmental levels by the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Lithuania. The Bank of Lithuania is developing a blockchain platform and has created an infrastructure to test new technology within a well-defined environment. The Lithuanian Centre of Registers is implementing an immutable blockchain enabling companies to be remotely managed and share transactions with full transparency.

About Global Cannabis Applications Corp.

Global Cannabis Applications Corp. is a global leader in designing, developing, marketing and acquiring innovative data technologies for the cannabis industry. The Citizen Green platform is the world's first end-to-end - from patient to regulator - medical cannabis data solution. It uses six core technologies: mobile applications, artificial intelligence, regtech, smart databases, blockchain and digital reward tokens, to qualify candidates for clinical studies. These technologies facilitate the proliferation of digital conversations by like-minded people in the medical cannabis community. Managed by digital and cannabis industry experts, GCAC is focused on viral global expansion by providing the best digital experience in the cannabis market.

For more information about the Company, please visit online at www.cannappscorp.com, or review its profiles www.sedar.com and on the Canadian Securities Exchange's website (www.thecse.com ) .

To schedule an interview, please contact:

Bradley Moore

Chief Executive Officer

Telephone: 514-5619091

Email: bmoore@cannappscorp.com

For more information, please contact:

Corporate Communications Canada & Europe

Telephone: 1.855.269.9554

Email: info@cannappscorp.com

www.cannappscorp.com

Corporate Communications United States

Hayden IR

Telephone: 1.917.658.7878

Email: hart@haydenir.com

Forward-Looking Information

This news release may include forward-looking information within the meaning of Canadian securities legislation, concerning the business of GCAC. Forward-looking information is based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by the management of GCAC. Although management of the Company believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forward-looking information is based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forward-looking information because GCAC can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forward-looking statements contained in this news release are made as of the date of this news release. GCAC disclaims any intent or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise, other than as required by applicable securities laws.

The Canadian Securities Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy and accuracy of this information.

SOURCE: Global Cannabis Applications Corp.
Bringing 310W+ Modules to Wider Market

SHANGHAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Shanghai Aerospace Automobile Electromechanical Co., Ltd ("HT-SAAE") (600151.SH), the world's advanced manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) products, is displaying its latest high-efficient module technologies at the 300m2 booth (N1-510) of the 2018 SNEC PV Power Expo ("the SNEC") in Shanghai that is running now through May 30 at the Shanghai New International Exhibition Center.

HT-SAAE has been upgrading its hit PERC technology, reacting to market needs for high-efficiency modules and boosting its commercialization in a wider market across the globe.

The P-type half-cut PERC module features the company's leading half-cut cell technology, which comes out with a wide array of advantages. First, cutting the PERC cell in half reduces half of the electrical current in the main grid, makes the current electronic loss reduced to 25% of the previous, lowering the energy loss and bringing a 3% or more increase in output wattage for the module. The product line boasts excellent performance in reducing thermal resistance, good heat resistance with largely reduced instances of micro cracks and hot spot effects, increasing conversion efficiency.

In addition, the half-cut technology reduces and controls the energy loss caused by modules being covered by shadows or dust. The power output for a 60-cell monocrystal module can reach up to 315W, and for a 72-cell module, the power output can reach up to 375W. One more highlight in performance is the self-cleaning design. In addition to saving cleaning costs, this feature reduces damage on the surface of the module caused by dust, rain and snow, increasing electricity generation and reducing the risk of power seepage.

2018 marks the 20-year anniversary of HT-SAAE,a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), a Fortune 500 Global company. HT-SAAE has long been a leader in the commercialization of the PV industry in China. Starting in the late 1990s, HT-SAAE has implemented over 600 PV projects in both domestic and global markets. For 20 years, the high-performance PV modules produced by HT-SAAE have been fueling steady operation of each power stations around the world. Its PV products, well-received among the global clientele with topnotch quality and considerate after-sale service, help HT-SAAE stand out as a professional and accountable brand in the world.

About HT-SAAE

Shanghai Aerospace Automobile Electromechanical Co., Ltd (HT-SAAE) is a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), a Fortune 500 Global company. It was established in 1998 and publicly listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange (Stock Code 600151). It focuses its business mainly on New Energy PV, Auto Parts and New Material Application. As early as 1999, HT-SAAE launched commercial deployment of photovoltaic technology. To date, the company has developed a completely integrated PV industry supply chain (silicon, wafers, solar cells, PV modules & systems) and provided superior quality PV products to the global market. According to an internationally recognized third party organization, in 2014 HT-SAAE achieved a ranking amongst the Top 10 Chinese PV Module Suppliers and for successive three years the company has been recognized as a "Tier 1" Module Manufacturer by Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF).

Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/697819/P_Type_Half_Cut_PERC_Module.jpg
DALLAS, TX / ACCESSWIRE / May 29, 2018 / Alternet Systems, Inc. (OTC PINK: ALYI) today confirmed plans for an upcoming dividend distribution. The dividend distribution plans were featured in the recent Goldman Small Cap Research report on the company. Management confirms that legal counsel has been engaged to initiate an independent stock listing of Alternet's new ReVolt Electric Motorbike subsidiary to include a dividend distribution of stock from the independent listing to the shareholders of Alternet. The company intends to release specifics on the independent listing and dividend distribution this July.

Randell Torno, Company CEO, is on record saying, "The company's strategy is to develop multiple subsidiaries that apply Alternet's portfolio of lithium technologies in specific commercial applications. ReVolt is just the first. With an independent listing, the subsidiary can independently leverage its own capital to raise the necessary funds to develop a specific application of Alternet's portfolio of lithium technologies. Shareholders can benefit from this strategy through one, the increased value of the portfolio of lithium technologies; two, the royalty revenue paid by the subsidiaries to Alternet, and three, the dividends paid to Alternet shareholders by the independently listed subsidiaries. The recent Goldman Small Cap Research report does a good job explaining the independent listing strategy in even more detail. The report can be found on Alternet's website."

For more information, please visit: www.LithiumIP.com

Alternet Systems, Inc. Disclosures:

Disclaimer/Safe Harbor: This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Litigation Reform Act. The statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events that involve risks and uncertainties. Among others, these risks include the expectation that any of the companies mentioned herein will achieve significant sales, the failure to meet schedule or performance requirements of the companies' contracts, the companies' liquidity position, the companies' ability to obtain new contracts, the emergence of competitors with greater financial resources and the impact of competitive pricing. In the light of these uncertainties, the forward-looking events referred to in this release might not occur.

Alternet Systems, Inc. Contact:

Randell Torno

info@lithiumip.com

1-800-713-0297

https://www.otc-alyi.com/contact/

SOURCE: Alternet Systems, Inc.
BEIJING (dpa-AFX) - Ivanka Trump's business received 'registration' approval from the Chinese government for multiple trademark applications this month, raising potential ethics issues over the Trump family's business connections to China. China's State Administration for Industry and Commerce granted seven trademark rights to Ivanka Trump Marks LLC for goods such as kitchenware, furniture, bath mats, textiles, baby blankets, paper products and cosmetics earlier this month, reports say. And within days, Ivanka's father President Donald Trump reprieved a US export ban against Chinese telecommunications giant ZTE. The Chinese Government's business-friendly attitude has allegedly influenced Trump to reverse his decision last month to ban American companies from selling parts to ZTE. The company had admitted violating US sanctions by making illegal shipments to Iran and North Korea. About 72 hours before his announcement, the Chinese government also agreed to loan $500 million to a project in Indonesia in which the Trump Organization is a partner, according to nonprofit watchdog groups Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and Democracy 21. Separately, CREW alleged that Ivanka, who is an adviser to the President, had already been granted more than a dozen trademarks in China and has several pending applications. China is also a major supplier of Ivanka Trump-branded merchandise. As a White House adviser, Ivanka has represented the United States at multiple diplomatic events despite the potential conflicts her business interests present. Although Ivanka has stepped down from her role at her business and has placed it in a trust, she continues to receive profits from the business. CREW pointed out that last year, Ivanka's business won preliminary approval for three trademarks on the same day that she dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. 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.
Regulatory News:

Vetoquinol (Paris:VETO):

The Combined Ordinary and Extraordinary General meeting was held on Tuesday May 29, 2018 in Lure, chaired by Etienne Frechin.

All of the resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors were adopted, including:

the 2017 parent company and consolidated financial statements were approved,

the dividend was set at 0.46 per share, entailing a 15.7% payout ratio. The ex-dividend date is set at June 4, 2018 and the dividend will be payable as from June 6, 2018,

the shareholders also approved the creation of an Independent Director position, to which Elisabeth Pacaud was appointed for a term of four years.

Currently an independent consultant and member of OTECI (association of volunteer expert advisers), Elisabeth Pacaud holds a doctorate in genetics and an MBA. During her career,

Ms. Pacaud has managed various departments within major international pharmaceutical groups in the fields of R&D and industrial affairs. Notably, she was Head of Analytical Development for new product launches at Rhone Poulenc Sante, and Director of Quality and Industrial Risk Management then Head of Company Risk Management for the Sanofi Group.

Following this appointment and in accordance with the recommendations of the MiddleNext corporate governance code, the Board of Directors will be composed of 9 members including 4 independent directors.

Detailed results of the vote will be available on the Vetoquinol website from May 31, 2018 in the "Shareholders' meeting" section.

Etienne Frechin, Chairman of Vetoquinol's Board of Directors, welcomed the appointment of Elisabeth Pacaud, "whose experience will strengthen the governance of the Vetoquinol Group and help it to pursue its development. We look forward to working together and have no doubts that it will be a fruitful cooperation for Vetoquinol and its shareholders."

Next update: First half 2018 results, July 26, 2018 after market close

About Vetoquinol

Vetoquinol is a leading global animal health company that supplies drugs and non-medicinal products for the livestock (cattle and pigs) and pet (dogs and cats) markets.

As an independent pure player, Vetoquinol designs, develops and sells veterinary drugs and non-medicinal products in Europe, the Americas and the Asia Pacific region.

Since its foundation in 1933, Vetoquinol has pursued a strategy combining innovation with geographical diversification. The Group's hybrid growth is driven by the reinforcement of its product portfolio coupled with acquisitions in high potential growth markets. At March 31, 2018 Vetoquinol employs 2,143 people.

Vetoquinol has been listed on Euronext Paris since 2006 (symbol: VETO).

For further information, go to: www.vetoquinol.com

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005925/en/

Contacts:

VETOQUINOL

Investor Relations

Marie-Josee Aubry-Rota, Tel.: +33 (0)3 84 62 59 88

relations.investisseurs@vetoquinol.com

or

KEIMA COMMUNICATION

Investor and Media Relations

Emmanuel Dovergne, Tel.: +33 (0)1 56 43 44 63

emmanuel.dovergne@keima.fr


BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT/PARIS (dpa-AFX) - The European markets ended Tuesday's session solidly in negative territory. Markets dropped in early trade and then settled into a sideways pattern for the rest of the session. Concerns over the political situations in both Italy and Spain weighed on investor sentiment.



Italy's president has appointed a former International Monetary Fund official as interim prime minister with the task of planning for snap polls and passing the next budget after weeks of uncertainty.



Markets fear a snap election will turn into referendum on Italy's euro membership.



Adding to heightened geopolitical uncertainty, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy will face a vote of confidence on Friday.



The pan-European Stoxx Europe 600 index weakened by 1.38 percent. The Euro Stoxx 50 index of eurozone bluechip stocks decreased 1.57 percent, while the Stoxx Europe 50 index, which includes some major U.K. companies, lost 1.18 percent.



The DAX of Germany dropped 1.53 percent and the CAC of France fell 1.29 percent. The FTSE 100 of the U.K. declined 1.26 percent and the SMI of Switzerland finished lower by 1.58 percent.



In Frankfurt, Volkswagen sank 2.95 percent. The automaker has stopped production of some of its diesel engine vehicles due to problems with the engine control lamp.



Chemical firm SGL Carbon lost 5.05 percent after presenting its new brand concept to the public.



Lufthansa Group dropped 2.66 percent on news that it has firmed up a previous option for six further Airbus A320neo.



In London, Dixons Carphone plummeted 20.74 percent after a profit warning.



Royal Bank of Scotland tumbled 3.35 percent. The U.K government is preparing to sell a multi-billion pound stake in the bank, resuming a huge privatization program that has been stalled for three years, Sky News reported.



Vedanta Resources declined 0.58 percent as India's Tamil Nadu state ordered a permanent closure of a big copper smelter run by the company.



Engineering business Smiths Group rallied 1.92 percent after confirming that it is in very early stage discussions about a potential combination of its medical division with ICU Medical, Inc.



France's consumer sentiment remained unchanged again in May, survey results from the statistical office Insee said Tuesday. The consumer sentiment index held steady at 100 in May. Since February, the synthetic index has been at 100, its long term average.



Italy's consumer confidence weakened for the second straight month in May to the lowest level in nine months, survey data from the statistical office Istat showed Tuesday.



The consumer confidence index dropped to 113.7 in May from 116.9 in April. Moreover, this was the lowest score since August last year, when it marked 111.3.



Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX

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Technavio market research analysts forecast the global tethered drones market to grow at a CAGR of close to 73% during the period 2018-2022, according to their latest report.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005992/en/

Technavio has published a new market research report on the global tethered drones market from 2018-2022. (Graphic: Business Wire)

In this report, Technavio highlights the use of different types of cameras in drones for precision agriculture as one of the key emerging trends in the global tethered drones market. In the past year, there has been an increase in the applications of traditional and tethered drones. Several farmers use drones to monitor their fields in the real time. These drones use multiple cameras to obtain clean images of crops and field. The drones use hyperspectral, multispectral, and thermal imaging cameras that offer a better vision to farmers. Efficient monitoring and data capturing through sensors help farmers manage crops, soil, irrigation, and fertilizing more effectively.

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

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In this report, Technavio analysts highlight the increasing need for drones for public safety and national security as a key factor contributing to the growth of the global tethered drones market:

Increasing need for drones for public safety and national security

Commercial-purpose drones or unmanned aerial systems have found applications in various sectors, such as defense, agriculture, and telecommunications. These drones are equipped with live-feed cameras, infrared cameras, radar, and heat sensors to enable effective and efficient surveillance. These drones gather information continuously and help users. However, these drones have limited flight time, which restricts their use for round-the-clock surveillance.

According to a senior analyst at Technavio for aerospace, "Tethered drones allow persistent surveillance and monitoring by using a tethered charging station, which provides continuous power supply to the drones. Therefore, these drones are increasingly being used in firefighting and border security applications where continuous surveillance is necessary. For example, during forest fires, which can last for days, firefighters must continuously monitor the fire to control the same. However, the high cost of doing so by flying helicopters over the affected area has often affected the firefighting operations. In such cases, tethered drones are adopted. The growing awareness about the various usages of tethered drones is expected to drive the demand during the forecast period."

Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report

Technavio's sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report such as the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

Global tethered drones market segmentation

This market research report segments the global tethered drones market into the following end users (defense and telecommunications) and key regions (the Americas, APAC, and EMEA).

Of the two major end users, the defense segment held the largest market share in 2017, accounting for nearly 64% of the market. The market share for this end user is expected to witness a massive decline of nearly 16% by 2022.

The Americas was the leading region for the global tethered drones market in 2017, accounting for a market share of nearly 54%. By 2022, APAC is expected to witness the highest growth of nearly 3%.

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Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

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Jackson, Kentucky--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - First Capital Bancorp Inc. and The First National Holding Company of Jackson today announced they have entered into an agreement for First Capital Bancorp to acquire all of the outstanding shares of The First National Holding Company for cash. The transaction is subject to shareholder approval and regulatory approval and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2018.

The First National Holding Company is the holding company of The First National Bank of Jackson, a community bank headquartered in Jackson, Kentucky.

First Capital Bancorp was recently organized by Brian Karst and John Lenihan to engage in this transaction. Commenting on the transaction, Karst, president and CEO of First Capital Bancorp, said, "We are excited about the opportunity to team up with The First National Bank of Jackson as its new holding company. The Bank has served the Jackson community for over a century, and we look forward to working with PJ Sheffel to continue and build upon the Bank's tradition of excellent customer service." Lenihan, future chairman of the board of First Capital Bancorp, noted, "We look forward to joining the Jackson community."

Philip J. Sheffel II, president of First National, commented, "We are pleased to be partnering with First Capital Bancorp. While our structure might change, our people and our priorities in serving customers will not. This is a win-win transaction for our shareholders and our community."

Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs LLP, Louisville, Kentucky, is serving as legal counsel to First Capital Bancorp in the transaction. Frost Brown Todd PLLC, Louisville, Kentucky, is serving as legal counsel to The First National Holding Company, and ProBank Austin is First National's financial advisor.

Contact:

Brian Karst

President and CEO

First Capital Bancorp Inc.

Phone No.: (502) 558-5908

Philip J. Sheffel II

President

The First National Bank of Jackson

(606) 666-8801
Toronto, Ontario and New York, New York--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Micromem Technologies, Inc. (CSE: MRM) (OTCQB: MMTIF) ("Micromem") ("the Company") through its wholly owned subsidiary Micromem Applied Sensor Technologies, Inc. (MAST), is pleased to report that with our development partner, a major multi-national energy corporation, that all results from testing on the MAST ATRA-171 tracer detection platform are in and we can report as follows:

Results indicated the simultaneous detection of multiple tracer chemicals in a range of 3 orders of detection measurement and a lower limit approaching 5 parts per trillion. In addition, the Company has received a contract payment of $510,000 US, with an additional payment of $175,000 US now due to the company.

The Company is finalizing the commercial roll out agreement from its development partner in June 2018. The first field installation for the ATRA-171 is now scheduled for August 2018. The ATRA-171 will be installed in an operating production environment during scheduled chemical tracer surveillance activities.

As a result of our product release at the recent SPE Tracer Workshop in Abu Dhabi, UAE, MAST issued product proposals and is formally engaged with many of the workshop attendees in securing product sales. Details including manufacturing, delivery, installation, warranty and parts replacement are all now in place. The Company has continued to receive interest from third parties subsequent to the conference and is actively engaged in responding to those queries as well.

The business value of this product to end users and traditional chemical tracer surveillance companies that have reviewed the ATRA-171 is clear to them, with a growing list of approximately 55 active proposals to begin acquiring the ATRA-171 platform.

About Micromem and MASTInc

MASTInc is a wholly owned U.S.-based subsidiary of Micromem Technologies Inc., a publicly traded (OTCQB: MMTIF) (CSE: MRM) company. MASTInc analyzes specific industry sectors to create intelligent game-changing applications that address unmet market needs. By leveraging its expertise and experience with sophisticated magnetic sensor applications, MASTInc successfully powers the development and implementation of innovative solutions for oil & gas, utilities, automotive, healthcare, government, information technology, manufacturing, and other industries. Visit www.micromeminc.com www.mastinc.com.

About Entanglement

Entanglement Technologies, Inc., has developed the world's most advanced chemical sensors, bringing real-time analysis out of the laboratory and into the field. It makes the invisible world of chemicals accessible and actionable with rapid and precise sensing technology. Learn more: http://www.entanglementtech.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, assumptions and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. In particular, factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward looking statements include: our inability to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms; risk that our products and services will not gain widespread market acceptance; continued consumer adoption of digital technology; inability to compete with others who provide comparable products; the failure of our technology; the infringement of our technology with proprietary rights of third parties; inability to respond to consumer and technological demands; inability to replace significant customers; seasonal nature of our business; and other risks detailed in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and are not guarantees of future performance. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. When used in this document, the words "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "estimate," "project," "plan," "should," "intend," "may," "will," "would," "potential," and similar expressions may be used to identify forward-looking statements.

The CSE or any other securities regulatory authority has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this press release that has been prepared by management.

###

Listing: NASD OTC-QB - Symbol: MMTIF

CSE - Symbol: MRM

Shares issued: 236,433,172

SEC File No: 0-26005

Investor Contact:info@micromeminc.com; Tel. 416-364-2023

Subscribe to receive News Releases by Email on our website's home page. www.micromeminc.com
SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Starbucks on Tuesday afternoon will close its 8,000 stores across the nation to provide a simultaneous anti-racial bias training session for its employees. The training will be provided to nearly 175,000 employees across the country, and will become part of the onboarding process for new employees. Stores will be closed for three hours starting at 1 p.m. or 2 p.m., across the U.S Employees, or partners as the company calls them, will go through a training program 'designed to address implicit bias, promote conscious inclusion, prevent discrimination and ensure everyone inside a Starbucks store feels safe and welcome.' The decision to provide training for all its employees follow an incident in April, when Starbucks came under scathing criticism after two black men were arrested from a Philadelphia outlet. The arrests sparked accusations of racial profiling by the coffee chain. The two men were waiting at the store for a friend to show up. However, a store manager asked the men, who had not made any purchases, to leave the store after they attempted to use the restroom despite being told it was only for paying customers. The store manager later called 911 to report trespassing and the men were arrested by the Philadelphia police. Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson had apologized to the two men for their arrest and also said that their arrest was a 'reprehensible outcome.' 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.
SANTA MONICA, CA / ACCESSWIRE / May 29, 2018 / When Leonard Mazur and Myron Holubiak put their heads together to collaborate on building a new pharmaceutical company, the two men had decades of success to help guide their decisions as to the most efficient way to target areas of unmet medical need. Both men were seasoned vets at the full gamut of pharma activity and it didn't take them long to know exactly where they were headed when they entered the public markets through a merger with Citius Pharmaceuticals in March 2016.

Holubiak came through the ranks at drug behemoth Roche Labs (RHHBY), ultimately serving as President of the company's U.S. operations. Mazur's curriculum vitae reads like a page right out of a chapter of Who's Who in Pharma M&A. In aggregate, the two have an incredible breadth of experience ranging from sophisticated biotech products like interferon alpha all the way up to branded generics (Mazur launched the tetracycline antibiotic Dynacin) and everything in between.

This type of background lends to a broad scope of opportunities from which to choose a development strategy. In a phone conversation, the men explained that they knew that they wanted to develop new drugs that had a great benefit to man without all the risk of starting from scratch. Moreover, they knew exactly how to do it.

During his time at Roche, Holubiak saw it all, from early proof-of-concept trials to product launches, and marketing strategies for growth. He launched drugs that became standards in healthcare, including Tamiflu, Bactrim and the blockbuster antibiotic Rocephin (ceftriaxone), to name just a few successes that play a meaningful role in Holubiak's decision-making process today.

Answering questions on how to most successfully develop and market a new drug is part of Holubiak's DNA. In fact, during a hiatus from Roche, he started his own consulting company called Emron that was dedicated to conducting economic evaluations of new technologies. This underscored his contention that the traditional ways of marketing wasn't the way of the future; proving the economic value along with clinical value of a new drug would become essential. As it turns out, Holubiak was spot on, as rationalizing the benefit/economics paradigm of a new product - as opposed to just a marketing blitz - is where value is created. This has proven especially true now, as the world has shifted more towards personalized therapies versus small molecules.

His experiences at Roche made his acutely aware of how critical risk management is in the design and development of a new drug. It also taught him to look for combinations to improve patient outcomes and capture market.

Mazur spent his first 10 years working for Cooper Laboratories, starting in sales and rising into positions of strategic planning, then acquisitions and eventually head of one of the Cooper divisions. Thanks in part to Mazur, Cooper built its brand as an expert in developing medical specialty silos - acquiring companies and building business units around their medical specialties.

It was Mazur that put together the first strategic plan and got the first unit operational, which was in the ophthalmology space. In a matter of roughly seven years, the unit went from acquiring a tiny prescription eye-drop company to about $800 million in revenue as one of the largest eye care companies in the world, called CooperVision. The business remains a leading brand of The Cooper Companies (NYSE:COO) today.

Mazur was involved in many of Cooper's approximately 150 acquisitions and integral to the creation of Cooper Dermatology, which had Aveeno as one of its flagship products.

During Mazur's tenure, Cooper also launched Cooper Dental, which started by acquiring an upstart toothbrush company doing less than $1.0 million in annual sales that it grew into Oral-B, the best selling toothbrush in the world that was bought by Gillette in 1984 for $118.5 million and as part of Procter & Gamble's (PG) $57 billion buyout of Gillette in 2005.

From Cooper, he took the job as Director of Marketing at the BASF company Knoll Pharmaceuticals where he launched the painkiller Vicodin, amongst other strong sellers. Following Knoll, Mazur moved on to ICN Pharmaceuticals, now called Valeant Pharmaceuticals (VRX)(VRX), which has never been a stranger to merger and acquisition activity. As VP of Sales and Marketing at ICN, Mazur launched ribavirin, a staple in treating hepatitis C and other maladies.

Next, Mazur become EVP at the microcap startup Medicis Pharmaceutical, where he successfully created and launched Dynacin, a drug with minocycline in it that became one of the best-known anti-infection generics of all time. In 2012, Valeant acquired by-then NYSE-listed Medicis for $2.6 billion.

Mazur certainly wasn't done there, as his entrepreneurial juices really started flowing, creating the dermatology company Genesis Pharmaceutical in 1995 and selling it to French specialty pharma Pierre Fabre in 2003 and then founding Triax Pharmaceuticals (sold to PreCision Dermatology in 2012, which was acquired by Valeant in 2014 for $475 million) and Akrimax Pharmaceuticals (~$100 million in sales before pieces started being acquired). He was also part of New American Therapeutics, a company that acquired the topical herpes labialis drug Denavir from Novartis (NVS) that was later sold for a profit to Renaissance Pharma.

A few years ago, Mazur was involved with buying and selling the generic skin-condition drug tretinoin (branded Retin-A) twice. Mazur's team at Triax sold it to PreCision, who sold it to Valeant who sold it back to Mazur's group at Matawan Pharmaceuticals, LLC for $65 million. 18 months later, Matawan sold it to Perrigo (PRGO) for $415 million.

Now Mazur is looking to make his latest success start with Leonard Meron Biosciences, the company merged into Citius about two years ago. Mazur and Holubiak created Leonard Meron Biosciences (LMB) for the purpose of licensing an experimental therapy called Mino-Lok from the venerable medical experts who created this innovative drug product at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Mino-Lok is a novel antibiotic lock therapy that combines minocycline with edetate disodium in 25% ethanol solution.

Mazur obviously had experience with minocycline (Dynacin). Holubiak knew people from M.D. Anderson from his work with Rocephin and certainly had plenty of experience with antibiotics having two bachelors degrees and graduate work in Molecular Biology and Biophysics. When challenging themselves to create new medications for the world, they determined the best approach would be not to go too far into high-tech biotech because of all the risks and expenses or too far to the other side of the spectrum with generics because of low margins and competition and no enhanced clinical value to medicine.

They settled in the middle, keeping the reward high by addressing areas of unmet need, while mitigating risk by using known active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and putting them together to do address unmet medical needs. Enter Mino-Lok, which is now being evaluated in a Phase 3 clinical trial for treating catheter-related bloodstream infections/central line-associated bloodstream infections.

Citius is checking all the boxes to move Mino-Lok through the FDA process quite quickly. The therapy has earned a Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) from the FDA, is being developed under an FDA "Fast Track" designation and through what is known as a 505(b)(2) pathway. Experimental therapies utilizing the 505(b)(2) are allowed to forego large portions of early-stage research because the APIs being used are already approved for other indications, therefore its safety profile is clearly defined.

Getting a green light from the FDA to use a 505(b)(2) designation can potentially shave years and millions of dollars off R&D, while somewhat de-risking the drug's development because of known attributes. It can come with a cost, though, as investors are often quick to judge the drug as un-sexy or just some different salt of an old drug being repackaged, even if nothing is further from the case.

Mazur and Holubiak see the opportunity to take APIs that have been in man before and developing them as potentially category leaders in new indications where patients face a dearth of therapeutic options. Mino-Lok is a great example. Currently, if a doctor is trying to salvage a central venous catheter (CVC) for a patient with bacteremia, the options are very limited and not well studied. The standard in most cases is to pull out the CVC and insert a new one at a different site. These are two invasive procedures. When considering the discomfort to the patient and all the possible things that can go wrong during and subsequent to the procedure, it's obviously far from ideal.

To put a little light on how dire the situation is, consider that about 500,000 out of 7 million CVCs that are used each year become infected, leading to serious, life threatening infections called catheter-related blood stream infections (CRBSIs).

Mino-Lok treats the infection with the catheter in place. A 90-patient, Phase 2b trial demonstrated 100% efficacy in salvaging the indwelling CVC without any significant adverse events reported, versus 18% of patients undergoing CVC replacement experiencing some type of serious adverse event. Of course a small phase 2b study is too small to draw any definitive conclusions, so the phase 3 pivotal study of 700 patients has been initiated. Interim data readouts will become available within 12 months so the first look e should be available somewhere around the first quarter of next year, given the first patient was enrolled in February. That certainly puts a potential milestone catalyst for the company on the mid-term horizon.

With Mino-Lok cemented as the cornerstone of the company, management next added Hydro-Lido, a proprietary topical formulation combining hydrocortisone and lidocaine for the treatment of hemorrhoids. CTXR management recently disclosed that they are making an adjustment to the formulation, combining lidocaine with a higher potency corticosteroid, rather than hydrocortisone. The newly formulated product will be designated as "CITI-002".

There are not any prescription drugs approved by the FDA for the treatment of hemorrhoids. Those that are currently being used are called "DESI" drugs, meaning Drug Efficacy Study Implementation, which have been grand fathered into market availability because they existed prior to the modern FDA laws and regulations. CITI-002 would be the only prescription drug therapy with evidence of efficacy and safety. This would be a significant development for the 10 million Americans that report symptoms of hemorrhoidal disease annually.

To that point, CITI-002 is a solid complement to Mino-Lok in meeting all the qualities of an ideal drug development candidate at Citius: large market, unmet need, no competing drug therapies, and rapid path to commercialization via the 505(b02 regulatory pathway.

When you start talking about accomplishments of executive leadership, it's an anomaly to look through the microcap space (at $2.45 per share, Citius has a market capitalization of $26.1 million, according to QuoteMedia data) and see resumes like that of Mazur and Holubiak. Their names are attached to drugs like Tamiflu, Bactrim, Rocephin, Dynacin, Vicodin, tretinoin, ribavirin and Denavir and companies like Roche, Medicis, Cooper Labs, and Akrimax. The Citius founders have a long track record of building companies, launching drugs and growing value for either their employers or their shareholders, depending on where they were at that time. The history is not debatable and the question now looms: is Citius that next success that each will add to their legacy?

Online Media Group, Inc. is not registered with any financial or securities regulatory authority and holds no investment licenses and does not provide, nor claims to provide, investment advice. We are a publisher of original and third party news and information. This article is sponsored content and is neither an offer nor recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security. The views expressed are our own and not intended to be the basis for any investment decision. Investing intrinsically involves substantial risk and readers are reminded to consult an investment professional and complete their own due diligence, including SEC filings, when researching any companies mentioned in this release. This release is based upon publicly available information and, while vetted, is not considered to be all-inclusive or guaranteed to be free from errors. With respect to Section 17(B) of the Securities Act of 1933 and in the interest of full disclosure, we call the reader's attention to the fact that Online Media Group, Inc. received $2,660 in compensation from a third party for content creation, advertising and distribution services related to this material.

Contact: Online Media Group, Inc.

info@onlinemediagroupinc.com

SOURCE: Online Media Group, Inc.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Revelo Resources Corp. (TSXV: RVL) ("Revelo" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has signed an Option Agreement with Teck Resources Chile Limitada ("Teck"), a 100% subsidiary of Teck Resources Limited, allowing Teck to acquire up to a 60% interest in a 1,500-hectare portion of Revelo's Cerro Buenos Aires property in northern Chile.

The Cerro Buenos Aires property displays widespread geological characteristics indicative of the upper parts of a possible porphyry copper system.

Terms of the Option Agreement include:

4-year option to earn a 60% interest in the property.

Cash payments to Revelo totalling US$425,000 over 4 years.

Exploration expenditures totalling US$4.8 million over 4 years.

Once the option is exercised by Teck, Revelo has 90 days to decide whether to form a joint-venture (JV) company with Teck (with Revelo holding a 40% interest) in order to advance the property, or to convert its interest into a 1.5% net smelter return (NSR) royalty. Teck has the right to buy-down the royalty by 0.5% by paying Revelo US$2 million, at any time.

Tim Beale, CEO and President of Revelo commented, "We are very pleased to have Teck as a partner on our Cerro Buenos Aires project. This is Revelo's third currently active JV project in northern Chile, and Teck has indicated that it plans to drill test the porphyry copper target as soon as relevant surface works and permitting have been completed. We are excited to see this program develop."

ABOUT CERRO BUENOS AIRES

Cerro Buenos Aires lies along the Paleocene magmatic belt of northern Chile that hosts some of the most important copper and precious metals deposits in the country, such as Cerro Colorado (BHP Billiton), Spence (BHP Billiton), Sierra Gorda (KGHM & Sumitomo), Nueva Union's Relincho deposit (Teck-Goldcorp), El Penon (Yamana Gold) and Guanaco (Austral Gold).

Cerro Buenos Aires encompasses about 7,600 Ha of 100% owned tenement comprising both exploration and mining concessions of which Teck is optioning 1,500 Ha. The property consists of large outcrops, dominated by the Cerro Buenos Aires hill, displaying characteristics indicative of the upper portions of a porphyry copper and associated high-sulphidation precious and base metals system. A key N-S splay to a regional fault system (Dominador Fault), known to be associated with some of the previously mentioned deposits, is present along the eastern margins of the property.

Cerro Buenos Aires is easily accessed, being located alongside the Pan-American Highway some 2 hours' drive from either the port cities of Antofagasta or Taltal, and is situated at modest altitudes ranging from around 1,600 m to 2,200 m. A new high-tension power line has been installed alongside the main road.

For further details of the Cerro Buenos Aires Project please refer to the Cerro Buenos Aires Project page on Revelo's website (www.reveloresources.com).

Dr. Demetrius Pohl, Ph.D., Certified Professional Geoscientist (CPG), an independent consultant, is the Company's Qualified Person for the purposes of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosures for Mineral Projects of the Canadian Securities Administrators and has approved the written disclosure of the technical information contained in this news release.

ABOUT REVELO

Revelo has interests in an outstanding portfolio of projects prospective for copper, gold and silver located along proven mineral belts in one of the world's top mining jurisdictions - Chile. The Company has a combination of wholly-owned projects (available for option, JV or sale), option agreements, royalty interests (non-producing to date), and equity interests in mining and exploration companies. Revelo's total exposure to mineral tenements in northern Chile, either wholly-owned or through royalty interests, is around 200,000 hectares.

Revelo is a Canadian company and is listed on the TSX Venture Exchange (TSXV: RVL). For more information, please visit Revelo's website at www.reveloresources.com

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

"Michael Winn"

Michael Winn, Chairman

INVESTOR CONTACT

Timothy J Beale | President & CEO

T: +1 604 687-5544 | info@reveloresources.com | www.reveloresources.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT

This news release contains certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, that address events or developments that Revelo 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 words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential", "indicate" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although Revelo 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 may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements.

CERRO BUENOS AIRES - District Geology

To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:



http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3761/34897_a1527619667177_61.jpg

CERRO BUENOS AIRES - Advance Argillic Alteration Intensity



To view an enhanced version of this map, please visit:

http://orders.newsfilecorp.com/files/3761/34897_a1527619667427_73.jpg
FISHERS, IN / ACCESSWIRE / May 29, 2018 / American Resources Corporation (OTC PINK: AREC) is pleased to announce the reduction of over $18.1 million of prior liabilities from its balance sheet. In a continued, ongoing effort to strengthen the company's balance sheet, American Resources has accepted the immediate forgiveness of $17.8 million of payables to a related party of the company and a reduction of debt in the amount of $315,000 that was the result from an equipment transaction with an unrelated party.

"The cancellation of over $18 million of our prior debt is a significant positive step in our efforts to continually strengthen our balance sheet for future growth," stated Mark Jensen, Chief Executive Officer of American Resources. "We are constantly reviewing opportunities to reduce our prior balance sheet liabilities as we continue to expand our operations."

The debt cancellation was effective May 25, 2018.

About American Resources Corporation

American Resources Corporation is engaged in diversified energy services including mining, processing and logistics, with a primary focus on traditional energy sources such as coal and oil and gas. American Resources Corporation plans to expand its business by continuing to develop its currently leased properties and further expanding its processing and logistics business, and through the pursuit of strategic acquisitions.

Contact :

Mark LaVerghetta, Vice President of Corporate Finance and Communications investor@americanresourcescorp.com

Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other important factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance, or achievements or industry results to differ materially from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company. The words "believes", "may", "will", "should", "would", "could", "continue", "seeks", "anticipates", "plans", "expects", "intends", "estimates", or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain such identifying words. Any forward-looking statements included in this press release are made only as of the date of this release. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update or supplement any forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances. The Company cannot assure you that the projected results or events will be achieved.

SOURCE: American Resources Corporation
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Lupaka Gold Corp. (TSXV: LPK) (FSE: LQP) ("Lupaka Gold" or the "Company") advises that as a result of a review by the British Columbia Securities Commission ("BCSC"), it has filed today, an amended National Instrument 43-101 ("NI 43-101) Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") technical report for the 100% owned Invicta Gold Development Project, however there are no material changes. The amendments address disclosure and filing deficiencies, and have been updated to comply with all reporting, disclosure and filing guidelines, including NI 43-101 Standards for Disclosure of Mineral Projects.

The amended report titled "Technical Report on the Preliminary Economic Assessment for the Invicta Gold Project, Huaura Province, Preu", dated May 11, 2018, was prepared by SRK Consulting (Canada) Inc., and will be available today under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Service Provider (as the term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this news release.

About Lupaka Gold

Lupaka is an active Canadian-based company focused on creating shareholder value through discoveries and strategic development of its assets in some of the most prolific mining regions of Peru.

Invicta Gold Development Project - 100% owned, the Company's flagship project is an advanced stage gold-copper polymetallic underground deposit located approximately 120 kilometres north of Lima. Over $15 million of capital has been spent by previous owners on development and infrastructure at Invicta, and management expects to commence production in the second half of 2018 by using third-party mining contractors and utilizing the existing adit and workings. The Invicta project is fully permitted and community agreements are in place.

The underground operation will be focused on the extraction of Indicated Mineral Resources and Inferred Mineral Resources from the Atenea vein within close proximity to the existing 3400 Level adit (up to 130 metres above the 3400 Level).

Invicta's approved EIA allows for mine production of up to 1,000 tpd, although the current mining plan is targeting 350 tpd.

Cautionary Note Regarding the Invicta Production Decision

The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes inferred mineral resources that are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that the PEA will be realized. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. The quantity and grade of reported inferred resources referred to in the PEA are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred resources as an indicated or measured mineral resource category.

It is important to note while a mine production decision has been made by the Company, that the information provided in this news release is preliminary in nature. There is no certainty that a potential mine will be realized. A mine production decision that is not based on a feasibility study demonstrating economic and technical viability does not provide adequate disclosure of the increased uncertainty and specific economic and technical risks of failure associated with such a production decision.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Will Ansley, President & C.E.O.

wansley@lupakagold.com

Tel: (416) 862-5257

or visit the Company's profile at www.sedar.com or its website at www.lupakagold.com

Qualified Person

The technical information in this document has been reviewed and approved by Julio Castaneda Mondragon, MAIG, the President of Lupaka Gold Peru S.A.C., a Peruvian subsidiary of the Company, and a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. Castaneda has verified the scientific and technical information, including sampling, analytical and operational data underlying the information or opinions contained in this news release.

Cautionary Statements Regarding Forward Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements which constitute "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including all statements, trend analysis and other information relative to anticipated future events or results. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein are considered forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements relating to: the commencement of potential production from the Invicta Project in the third quarter of 2018, the targeted mining rate of 350 tpd, anticipated methods of production and the generation of cash therefrom; and the receipt of and anticipated use of proceeds of the PLI Financing.

Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, estimates and opinions of management at the date the statements are made and which the Company believes are reasonable. Such information involves risks and uncertainties, and undue reliance should not be placed on such information, as unknown or unpredictable factors could have material adverse effects on future results, performance or achievements of the Company. Among the key factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking information are the following: that the repayment of the PLI Financing is consummated on the anticipated terms; that the Company will not experience any material accident, labour dispute, shortage of skilled and professional staff, changes in project plans, equipment availability and failures, process failures, the ability of third party service providers to deliver services on reasonable terms and in a timely manner; future exploration activities planned at the Invicta Gold Project, and the timing and results thereof; market conditions and general business, economic, competitive, political and social conditions and with respect to the planned mining operations at Invicta; that pre-production mine development can be completed in the time and for the cost projected; that the Company will be able to obtain funding for planned production expenses; that mineralization at Invicta will be of the grades and in the locations expected; that the Company will be able to extract and transport mineralized rock efficiently and sell the mineralized rock at the prices and in the manner recoveries and quantities expected; that permits will be received on the terms and timeline expected and that other regulatory or permitting issues will not arise; that mining methods and reclamation can be employed in the manner and at the costs expected and that such methods yield the results the Company expects them to. Forward-looking information involves 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 the forward-looking information. Such risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others: all of the risks described in this news release; that the Company will not be able to comply with the delivery or other obligations in the PLI Financing Agreement and the risk that PLI will enforce its security over the Company's assets, including its mineral properties; s; changes in commodity prices; currency exchange rates (such as the Canadian dollar versus the United States dollar); risks associated with dilution; labour and employment matters; risks in the event of a potential conflict of interest; changes in general economic, business and political conditions, including changes in the financial markets; changes in applicable laws; and compliance with extensive government regulation; and other risks generally associated with mineral exploration. This forward-looking information may be affected by risks and uncertainties in the regular course of business and due to market conditions. Additional risks are described in the Company's annual information form, which is available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Although the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to not be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that forward-looking information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking information due to the inherent uncertainty thereof. Lupaka Gold does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements except as required by applicable securities laws. Investors should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements.
Williams-Sonoma, Inc. announced today that CEO Laura Alber was honored as Woman of the Year at the World Retail Awards, presented at the 12th annual World Retail Congress in Madrid.

"World Retail Congress brings together the best business leaders and industry innovators to address challenges, opportunities, and the future of our industry. The conference facilitates the most meaningful discussions for our industry and it was truly an honor to be chosen as Woman of the Year," said Alber.

The Woman of the Year Award is chosen based on qualities that embody outstanding retail leadership, including: leading a business successfully through dramatic challenges facing the industry, having a strong strategic vision, and building focused teams that deliver the business's goals and meet the needs of customers.

"With so many remarkable brands, individuals and campaigns this year, the competition for the industry's ultimate accolades was harder than ever," said the World Retail Awards.

Launched in 2007, the World Retail Awards, which celebrate innovation, collaboration and creativity across the retail industry, have recognized the very best retailers and retail initiatives across a range of categories for 10 years. The award entries are reviewed by panels of expert judges who are specialists in each of the areas covered by the categories. The finalists are then judged by the Grand Jury, which is composed of retail leaders from across the different sectors and geographies that reflect retailing today.

Previous World Retail Award winners include some of the world's most visionary, influential retailers, like Tommy Hilfiger, Marks Spencer, and Sephora.

ABOUT WILLIAMS-SONOMA, INC.

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is a specialty retailer of high-quality products for the home. These products, representing distinct merchandise strategies Williams Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, West Elm, PBteen, Williams Sonoma Home, Rejuvenation, and Mark and Graham are marketed through e-commerce websites, direct-mail catalogs and retail stores. We operate in the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom, offer international shipping to customers worldwide, and have unaffiliated franchisees that operate stores in the Middle East, the Philippines, Mexico and South Korea, as well as e-commerce websites in certain locations. In 2017, we acquired Outward, Inc., a 3-D imaging and augmented reality platform for the home furnishings and decor industry.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005166/en/

Contacts:

WILLIAMS-SONOMA, INC.

Felix Carbullido, 415-402-4056

Corporate Public Relations

-or-

Elise Wang, 415-616-8571

Investor Relations
Median survival of top 100 patients is 40.5 months, Median survival of all 331 patients is 23.1 months, Longest survivors have exceeded 7 years

BETHESDA, Maryland, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Northwest Biotherapeutics (OTCQB: NWBO) -- ("NW Bio"), a biotechnology company developing DCVax personalized immune therapies for solid tumor cancers, announced today the publication of interim blinded survival data from its Phase 3 clinical trial of DCVax-L for newly diagnosed Glioblastoma brain cancer. The data were collected by the independent contract research organization managing the trial, tabulated by an independent statistical firm and published with 69 co-authors in the peer reviewed Journal of Translational Medicine (JTM).

The trial is ongoing while the data continue to mature, and the Company, the investigators and patients all remain blinded. The interim data set forth in the JTM publication are blinded aggregate data which include patients from both arms of the trial combined: the arm with 2/3 of the patients, who received standard of care plus DCVax-L, and the arm with 1/3 of the patients, who received standard of care plus a placebo. When the patients experienced tumor recurrence, all patients from both arms were allowed to cross over and start receiving DCVax-L, but without being unblinded as to what they had received before tumor recurrence. The patient population enrolled in the trial is similar to that in other recent trials, and more than 75% of the patients were over 50 years old (a factor associated with less favorable outcomes).

Due to the crossover design, nearly 90% of the total 331 patients in the trial have received DCVax-L treatment. For the total 331 patients (both arms of the trial combined) the median survival as of this analysis was 23.1 months from surgery. With the standard of care (SOC) today (surgery, radiation and chemotherapy), median survival for newly diagnosed Glioblastoma is 15-17 months.

For patients with methylated MGMT gene status (131 patients), median survival was 34.7 months from surgery. With standard of care today, median survival for these patients has been reported in the literature as 21.7 months. For patients with unmethylated MGMT gene status (162 patients), the median survival was 19.8 months from surgery. With standard of care today, the median survival for these patients has been reported in the literature as 12.7 months. (MGMT data was not available for 38 patients.)

The top 100 patients (30%) of the total 331 patients in the trial showed particularly extended survival, with median survival of 40.5 months from surgery. This extended survival was not fully explained by known prognostic factors such as age younger than 50 years, methylated MGMT gene status and complete resection (surgical removal) of all of the tumor. Only 8% of these 100 patients had the favorable status on all 3 of these prognostic factors.

With immune therapies, the "long tail" of the survival curve is of particular importance and focus. In this DCVax-L trial, patients who survive past certain time points, have continued onwards to substantially extended survival. The patients are continuing to move through time points based upon when they had their surgery, and only some of the patients had reached certain time points in this trial as of this analysis. For example, 223 patients were =30 months past their surgery date as of this analysis; 67 of these (30.0%) have lived =30 months and these patients have Kaplan-Meier (KM)-derived median survival estimate of 46.5 months. Also as of this analysis, 182 patients were =36 months past their surgery date; 44 of these (24.2%) have lived =36 months and these patients have KM-derived median survival estimate of 88.2 months.

The administration of DCVax-L involves only an intra-dermal injection in the arm, similar to a flu shot, 3 times in the first month of treatment, 3 additional times over the rest of the first year (at months 2, 4 and 8), and twice a year thereafter. It thereby involves only a minimal burden on the patient.

DCVax-L has shown an excellent safety profile in the trial. The DCVax-L product has been administered well over 2,000 times, and only 7 of the 331 patients (2.1%) have experienced a serious adverse event that was deemed at least possibly related to the treatment. The rate of total adverse events (including non-serious events) was comparable to the rate of adverse events with standard of care alone.

"These are just interim data, and the data may get either better or worse as they continue to mature" commented Linda Powers, the Company's CEO. "However, the survival times we are seeing are encouraging, especially in light of how little progress has been made in decades in treatments for Glioblastoma."

"We have noted a growing recognition in the immuno-oncology field of the exceptional heterogeneity and complexity of Glioblastoma, and the need for treatments to target multiple antigens on these tumors" Ms. Powers continued. "DCVax-L is designed to use Nature's system to mobilize an anti-tumor immune response, targeting the full set of antigens on a patient's tumor and doing so in a fully personalized way. We believe this approach is key to the clinical results we are seeing."

"The safety profile of DCVax-L is also quite encouraging, with almost no serious adverse events related to the treatment, no necessity for additional drugs to manage side effects and no hospital in-patient stays as are often required with certain other kinds of immune cell therapies" Ms. Powers noted. "This safety profile is quite important to patients, and we believe it can also facilitate combining DCVax-L with a variety of other types of treatments."

The reported data are from the most recent prior full data collection in 2017. The Company is undertaking another full data collection, which is a multi-month process and will be continuing over the coming months.

The publication can be found on the JTM website at https://doi.org/10.1186/s12967-018-1507-6 .

About Northwest Biotherapeutics

Northwest Biotherapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing personalized immunotherapy products designed to treat cancers more effectively than current treatments, without toxicities of the kind associated with chemotherapies, and on a cost-effective basis, in both the North America and Europe. The Company has a broad platform technology for DCVax dendritic cell-based vaccines. The Company's lead program is a 331-patient Phase III trial in newly diagnosed Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). GBM is the most aggressive and lethal form of brain cancer, and is an "orphan disease." The Company is also pursuing a Phase I/II trial with DCVax-Direct for all types of inoperable solid tumor cancers. It has completed the 40-patient Phase I portion of the trial, and is preparing for the Phase II portion. The Company previously conducted a Phase I/II trial with DCVax-L for metastatic ovarian cancer together with the University of Pennsylvania.

Disclaimer

Statements made in this news release that are not historical facts, including statements concerning future treatment of patients using DCVax and future clinical trials, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as "expect," "believe," "intend," "design," "plan," "continue," "may," "will," "anticipate," and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. We cannot guarantee that we actually will achieve the plans, intentions or expectations disclosed in our forward-looking statements and you should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. Specifically, there are a number of important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated, such as risks related to the Company's ability to conduct ongoing patient follow-up and complete the trials on a timely basis, uncertainties about the clinical trials process, uncertainties about the timely performance of third parties, risks related to whether the Company's products will demonstrate safety and efficacy, risks related to the Company's ongoing ability to raise additional capital, and other risks included in the Company's Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings. Additional information on the foregoing risk factors and other factors, including Risk Factors, which could affect the Company's results, is included in its SEC filings. Finally, there may be other factors not mentioned above or included in the Company's SEC filings that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in any forward-looking statement. The Company assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or developments, except as required by securities laws.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Southern Silver Exploration Corp. (TSXV: SSV) ("Southern Silver") announces that it has issued 100,000 common shares at a deemed price of $0.245 per share to Golden Capital Consulting Ltd. ("Golden Capital") as the final payment pursuant to an amended consulting agreement. The shares are subject to a hold period expiring September 30, 2018. Southern Silver engaged Golden Capital to assist in formulating a capital markets strategic plan in Europe and the terms of the original consulting agreement were disclosed in a news release dated March 24, 2014.

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.

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.
Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) -

All dollar amounts are presented in Canadian dollars unless otherwise stated.

Quarterly highlights and recent developments

Commenced a 16,000-metre exploration drill program at the Pony Creek gold project 1

Further expanded the Pony Creek property with the acquisition of the 7.8 km 2 East Bailey property 2

East Bailey property Reported final 2017 drill results from Pony Creek's "Bowl Zone" and the "North Zone" target 3 , including: 2.12 g/t Au over 22.86 metres from 64.01 to 86.87 metres in drill hole PCC17-040 OXIDE Including 4.53 g/t Au over 9.14 metres from 65.53 to 74.67 metres OXIDE 0.59 g/t Au over 32.00 metres from 25.91 to 57.91 metres in drill hole PC17-41 OXIDE 3.95 g/t Au over 6.10 metres from 160.02 to 166.12 metres in drill hole PC17-19

, including: 1.88 g/t Au over 6.10 metres from 199.65 to 205.74 metres in drill hole PC17-28 OXIDE

Reported cyanide soluble gold-to-fire assay ratios of 85-90% on oxidized material from Pony Creek indicating that the oxidized portion of gold mineralization at the Bowl Zone is amenable to standard cyanidation processing 4

Pony Creek's North Zone now measures over 1,000 metres in strike length and 300 metres wide; the majority of drill intercepts are oxidized or partially oxidized

The Bowl Zone, at Pony Creek, is host to a historical mineral resource estimate and features a significant drilled footprint (1200 metres x 400 metres), with room to expand in multiple directions, particularly to the north towards North Zone and to the northwest towards several planned 2018 drill targets.

The Bowl Zone, at Pony Creek, is host to a historical mineral resource estimate and features a significant drilled footprint (1200 metres x 400 metres), with room to expand in multiple directions, particularly to the north towards North Zone and to the northwest towards several planned 2018 drill targets. As of March 31, 2018, the Company had approximately $5.27 million available in cash and cash equivalents, with no significant balance of accounts payable or accruals due.

Outlook

Exploration activities and the related budget for 2018 will continue to focus on creating value at Pony Creek with an aggressive and systematic exploration program.

The 2018 drill program will focus on four priority target areas at Pony Creek: North Zone and the Bowl Zone, and the never-before drilled Moleen Target and West Target.

For a map of the 2018 Targets at Pony Creek - see:

http://www.contactgold.com/_resources/news/2018Apr24Drill-Start_PonyTargetMap.jpg

The 2018 Pony Creek program is designed to:

Increase the footprint of oxidized gold mineralization at the Bowl Zone and North Zone

Discover new zones of gold mineralization at the Moleen and West targets

Continue to generate and drill test additional targets in the district

The Company has mobilized one reverse circulation (RC) drill rig and will add a core drill rig shortly with plans to drill 70 holes on newly-generated, high priority, previously undrilled targets, and to expand existing gold zones at Pony Creek. The planned program will be 25% core and 75% reverse circulation drilling. There are 8 RC drill holes completed (approximately 1,500 metres) as of the date of this news release.

The Company also expects to complete a separate drill program at the North Star property, which is immediately north of Gold Standard Ventures' North Dark Star deposit.

The approved 2018 exploration budget is approximately $4.7 million.

____________________

1 See news release dated April 24, 2018

2 See news release dated February 6, 2018

3 See news release dated February 14, 2018

4 See news release dated May 17, 2018



Selected financial data

Details of financial results as at and for the three months ended March 31, 2018 are described in the unaudited condensed interim consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto (the "Interim Financial Statements"), and MD&A for the corresponding period, copies of which are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

The Interim Financial Statements reflect the closing of a series of transaction in June 2017, including a reverse takeover ("RTO") and the acquisition of an extensive portfolio of target rich mineral exploration properties in the State of Nevada (the "Contact Gold Properties"), that created Contact Gold (together with the RTO, the "Transactions").

Operating results presented herein and in the Interim Financial Statements for the three-month period ended March 31, 2017, reflects only the operations of Carlin Opportunities Inc. ("Carlin"), the entity determined to be the parent for accounting purposes following the RTO. Assets and liabilities presented herein and in the Interim Financial Statements are reflective of the consolidated entity for both the current and comparative periods.

The following selected financial data is derived from the Interim Financial Statements, as prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS").

Attributable to shareholders: Three months ended

March 31, 2018 Three months ended

March 31, 2017 Loss for the period $ 1,248,596 $464,489 Other comprehensive income for the period $ 1,089,809 -nil Loss and comprehensive income for the period $ 158,787 $464,489 Basic and diluted loss per share $0.02 $0.05



As at March 31, 2018 As at December 31, 2017 Cash $5,271,411 $6,176,258 Working capital $5,342,270 $6,239,022 Total assets $45,593,817 $45,424,278 Current liabilities $366,628 $524,212 Preferred shares $9,515,010 $9,466,747 Shareholders' deficit $35,620,891 $35,348,230

Losses attributable to shareholders for the three months ended March 31, 2018 of $1.25 million, reflect primarily (i) exploration and evaluation of the Company's exploration property interests ($0.61 million), (ii) costs incurred for professional, legal and advisory fees, administration & office expenditures, wages and salaries, and investor relations activities (in aggregate, $0.44 million), and (iii) non-cash stock-based compensation expense of $0.29 million, net of a fair value adjustment recognized on the embedded derivatives within the Preferred Shares (gain of $0.56 million). Losses for the three-month period ended March 31, 2017 reflect the professional, legal and advisory fees incurred in order to secure the Transactions.

During the three months ended March 31, 2018, exploration and evaluation expenditures were predominantly related to activity at the Pony Creek property, including the evaluation and review of data generated through 2017 and the commencement of the planned 2018 program. Approximately $0.48 million in expenditures had been incurred through March 31, 2018 for exploration at Pony Creek (in aggregate through March 31, 2017: $-nil).

Other comprehensive income attributable to shareholders for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 was $1.1 million (three months ended March 31, 2017: $-nil). Other comprehensive income reflects the foreign currency impact arising on the post-acquisition carrying value of the Contact Gold Properties.

Net cash operating outflows for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018 of $0.9 million reflects primarily (i) ongoing activity and exploration at Pony Creek, (ii) investor relations and head office costs, and (iii) the settlement of balances due to service providers and vendors at year end.

The Company's has elected to capitalize mineral property acquisition costs, and expense exploration expenditures as incurred. Total assets at March 31, 2018 comprise primarily: exploration and evaluation assets of $39.7 million, including the "bump" of $35.01 million recorded on closing of the Transactions, net of a $1.6 million foreign currency adjustment, and $5.27 million in cash. At December 31, 2017, total assets included primarily capitalized mineral property acquisition costs of $38.5 million, the carrying value of prepaid mineral property claims fees of $0.15 million, and $6.17 million in cash.

Total liabilities at March 31, 2018 include the value of the Preferred Shares ($9.52 million), and accounts payable and accruals ($0.37 million). At December 31, 2017, the balance of total liabilities included the value of the Preferred Shares ($9.47 million), and accounts payable and accruals ($0.52 million). The Preferred Shares were concluded to be a form of obligation and have been included as a non-current liability. The terms and conditions of the Preferred Shares are detailed in the Interim Financial Statements. The accounting value of the Preferred Shares reflects both a "host" component of the instrument and certain embedded derivatives. At inception these were determined to be $8.14 million and $6.85 million, respectively. The values of each will change from period-to-period, reflecting accretion of the host obligation and the impact of foreign currency changes on the host, and (ii) a fair value adjustment (three months ended March 31, 2018: loss of $0.56 million) and the impact of foreign exchange on the embedded derivatives (three months ended March 31, 2018: $0.18 million gain).

Accumulated other comprehensive loss of $1.7 million at March 31, 2018 (December 31, 2016: $2.8 million) is the aggregate foreign currency impact on the translation to Canadian dollars of the value of the Contact Gold Properties.

The scientific and technical information contained in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Vance Spalding, CPG, VP Exploration, Contact Gold, who is a "qualified person" within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101").

Pony Creek and North Star are early stage exploration properties and do not contain any mineral resource estimates as defined by NI 43-101. There has been insufficient exploration to define a mineral resource estimate at Pony Creek, North Star or on any of Contact Gold's properties. Scientific and technical information contained herein is subject to all of the assumptions, qualifications and procedures set out in a technical report entitled "Technical Report on the Pony Creek Gold Project, Elko County, Nevada, USA" dated April 18, 2017, and effective March 15, 2017), prepared by Michael M. Gustin, C.P.G. of Mine Developments Associates of Reno, Nevada (the "Technical Report"), which can be viewed under Contact Gold's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com, and reference should be made to the full details of the Technical Report.

Options award

The Company also announces that its Board of Directors has resolved to grant an aggregate of 150,000 incentive stock options ("Options") to acquire common shares of the Company pursuant to the Company's Stock Option Plan (the "Plan") to a new employee of the Company, subject to the applicable policies of the TSX Venture Exchange.

The Options were awarded are exercisable at $0.295 per share, vesting in thirds at the end of each successive year, and will expire in accordance with the Plan and not later than May 29, 2023.

About Contact Gold Corp.

About Contact Gold Corp. Contact Gold is a gold exploration company focused on leveraging its properties, people, technology and capital to produce district scale gold discoveries in Nevada. Contact Gold's extensive land holdings are on the prolific Carlin, Independence and Northern Nevada Rift gold trends which host numerous gold deposits and mines. Contact Gold's land position comprises 275 km2 of target rich mineral tenure hosting numerous known gold occurrences, ranging from early- to advanced-exploration and resource definition stage.

Additional information about the Company is available at www.contactgold.com.

For more information, please contact (604) 449-3361 for either:

John Wenger, Chief Financial Officer wenger@contactgold.com

John Glanville Director, Investor Relations glanville@contactgold.com

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, are forward-looking statements and are based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking statements. In this news release, forward-looking statements relate, among other things, to planned expenditures through the remainder of the year, and the anticipated exploration activities of the Company at Pony Creek and North Star.

These forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such statements were made. Actual future results may differ materially as 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 materially differ from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors, among other things, include; business integration risks; fluctuations in general macroeconomic conditions; fluctuations in securities markets; fluctuations in spot and forward prices of gold, silver, base metals or certain other commodities; fluctuations in currency markets (such as the Canadian dollar to United States dollar exchange rate); change in national and local government, legislation, taxation, controls, regulations and political or economic developments; risks and hazards associated with the business of mineral exploration, development and mining (including environmental hazards, industrial accidents, unusual or unexpected formations pressures, cave-ins and flooding); inability to obtain adequate insurance to cover risks and hazards; the presence of laws and regulations that may impose restrictions on mining; employee relations; relationships with and claims by local communities and indigenous populations; availability of increasing costs associated with mining inputs and labour; the speculative nature of mineral exploration and development (including the risks of obtaining necessary licenses, permits and approvals from government authorities); and title to properties. Although the forward-looking statements contained in this news release are based upon what management of the Company believes, or believed at the time, to be reasonable assumptions, the Company cannot assure shareholders that actual results will be consistent with such forward-looking statements, as there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. Readers should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements and information contained in this news release. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements of beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Neither the TSXV nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSXV) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.
Apex bank union AIBEA boss C H Venkatachalam warns of likely cash crunch on Wednesday, Thursday #BankStrike #ATMs #CashCrunch #2DayBankStrike

Mumbai: A two-day nation-wide bank strike which kicks off at 6 AM on 30 May (Wednesday) could trigger a country-wide cash crunch, said C H Venkatachalam, General Secretary, All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA). "People will start withdrawing money, creating a panic situation and many ATMs could go dry," he said.

Of the around 2.20 lakh ATMs in the country, some are outsourced. Though there may be cash in the ATMs, customers tend to panic in the event of strike and withdraw large sums of money. Banking operations, intra-government transactions, transaction clearances, import bills, among other transactions will be impacted over the 48-hour period.

Around one million bank employees will go on strike from tomorrow. The two-day nation-wide strike will end on Friday, 1 June at 6 AM.

Who will not be affected?

Those who bank with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, YES Bank and IndusInd Bank will not be impacted by the strike. These five banks have no trade unions and hence won't participate in the two-day strike called by around nine bank unions. Foreign bank employees will also participate in the nation-wide strike as they are members of these unions, but not their bank officers, said Venkatachalam.

State Bank of India (SBI) said the Indian Banks Association (IBA) has communicated to the bank that the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBA) has served a notice to go on a nationwide bank strike on 30-31 May, 2018.

Several other banks, including Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank and Punjab and Sind Bank (PSB), have also said that their services are likely to be impacted if the strike takes place.

The United Forum of Bank Union (UFBU) is an umbrella body of various bank unions like the All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA), All India Bank Officers Confederation (AIBOC), National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE), All India Bank Officers' Association (AIBOA), Bank Employees Federation of India (BEFI), Indian National Bank Employees' Federation (INBEF), Indian National Bank Officers' Congress (INBOC), National Organisation of Bank Workers (NOBW) and National Organisation of Bank Officers (NOBO).

"All India State Bank Officers Federation and All India State Bank of India Staff Federation are members of UFBU. Thus, it is likely that our bank will also be impacted to some extent by the said strike call," SBI said in a regulatory filing.

What is the strike about?

The call for a nation-wide strike follows the IBA's delay in resolving a charter of demands, the government's casual approach to wage revisions for bank employees and a meager offer of a two percent hike in wage revision.

UFBU has demanded an expeditious and early wage revision settlement, adequate increase in salary and improvement in other service conditions. Wage revision settlements must include all officers up to scale VII. The next wage revision settlement is due on 17 November, 2018.

Banks have seven grades of officers from scale I to VII. Grade one is the junior-most or entry level officer with grade seven comprising of the general manager level of officers. As per a government decision, wage revision takes place on a composite basis for all the seven grades, says Venkatachalam. This time around the government is willing to talk about wage revision settlement for Grade 1-3 and is unwilling to discuss about Grade 4-7, which it says will be discussed later. The government is not revealing what are its plans on the issue. If they give more or less in terms of a salary hike to either the junior or senior grade officers, there will be trouble. But the government was not willing to commit to anything in our talks yesterday, he said.

The Chief Labour Commissioner JK Sagar, and Additional Commissioner (CLC) Rajan Verma, convened a meeting with the IBA and the other bank unions because of the strike notice. We explained that we are ready to negotiate and are not saying that our demands should be met in totality. But to say that there will be only a two percent increase is insulting, he said.

Bank profits used for clearing bad loans

The governed expressed its inability to pay more to the employees saying banks had not earned enough profits. But the fact remains that year after year banks have been earning more operating profits, said Venkatachalam.

For instance, in fiscal 2015-16, the banks earned a total operating profit of Rs 1.37 lakh crore, but banks set aside Rs 1.55 lakh crore towards bad loans thus wiping-off profits. Hence, there was a net loss of Rs 18,000 crore. Similarly in fiscal 2016-17, banks earned a total operating profit of Rs 1.59 lakh crore but the provision for bad loans was Rs 1.7 lakh crore, resulting in a net loss of Rs 7,000 crore.

Taking the last 10 years, from 2008-17 into account, banks have earned a total operating profit of Rs 9.2 lakh crore out of which Rs 6.6 lakh crore has been wiped off, for bad loans, Venkatachalam said, adding, penalising employees and officers with lower wages on account of bad loans is unfair.

(With inputs from PTI)
UltraTech now becomes the H1 bidder, replacing Rajputana Properties - the bidding company for the Dalmia Bharat-led consortium

Kolkata: The Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Binani Cement on Monday voted in favour of UltraTech Cement's Rs 7,960-crore offer. UltraTech Cement's bid received 100 percent consent at the CoC meeting, sources close to the company said.

The meeting had to be pushed back several rounds due to legal hurdles.

The voting overrides the previous CoC decision of going with the Dalmia Bharat-led consortium as the successful bidder.

UltraTech now becomes the H1 bidder, replacing Rajputana Properties - the bidding company for the Dalmia Bharat-led consortium.

The Letter of Intent is unlikely to be issued immediately, as the CoC will submit its plan to the resolution professional (RP), who in turn will forward it to the NCLT Kolkata bench, CoC sources said.

The Tribunal had ordered the CoC to submit the final successful proposal, presenting an opportunity to revise the offers of both the bidders, latest by 24 June.

Dalmia Bharat had said it will not revise its offer, which was lower by about Rs 1,100 crore.

The company, however, had said it will contest the decision in the Appellate Tribunal and may also move the Supreme Court, if Ultratech Cement's proposal was accepted.
Central Bureau of Investigation names six people in its FIR, along with three firms and unknown government servants.

New Delhi: Low cost airline AirAsia has landed into a massive scandal after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered an FIR against group promoter Anthony Francis Fernandes, directors of Air Asia (India) Limited, alleged lobbyists and unknown officials of the civil aviation ministry, accusing them of violating Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) norms and trying to secure international flying licenses in connivance with government officers.

AirAsia (India) Limited (AAIL), a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited, Telestra Tradeplace Private Limited and AirAsia Investment Limited, Malaysia, submitted applications to the FIPB in February 2013 and received a formal approval in April 2013, followed by the no objection certificate in September 2013 and an Air Operating Permit in May 2014, permitting it to start domestic operations in India.

According to the CBI, AAIL is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited, which holds a 49 percent stake, and AirAsia, Berhad, which also holds a 49 percent stake. The remainder is with S Ramadorai and R Venkataramanan. AirAsia, Berhad is owned and controlled by Anthony Fernandes a.k.a Tony Fernandes, a Malaysian national of Indian origin.

The CBI claims that AAIL was indirectly controlled and operated by the AirAsia Group and particularly AirAsia, Berhad, violating the then FIPB norms. As per the FDI policy back then, foreign airlines were allowed to own up to 49 percent of a domestic airline but effective management control must remain with the Indian partner.

Modus operandi

The CBI alleged that the entire company structure was indirectly formalised through a brand license agreement signed between AAIL, represented by Tony Fernandes and AirAsia, Berhad, represented by T Kanagalingam aka Bo Lingam on 17 April 2013, which indirectly made AAIL a de-facto subsidiary rather than a joint venture.

It is revealed that the shareholders and Indian partners at the joint venture, including the board members were not only aware of these intentions, but also consciously ensured violating the then FIPB norms, hence violation of FDI norms were prima facie found by giving effective management control to a foreign entity, the CBI said.

The CBI further claimed that the real controller of AAIL, Tony Fernandes, wanted the airline to fly internationaly from day one, and that local partner Tata Sons, via nominee Venkataramanan, was supposed to lobby to obtain government approvals including a FIPB clearance and an amendment to then prevalent 5/20 civil aviation rule.

The 5/20 rule was laid down by Ministry of Civil Aviation on 29 April 2004. The rule, an eligibility criteria, would grant international licenses to airlines with five years' of domestic operations and a minimum of 20 aircraft in their fleet.

Source information has further disclosed that unknown public servants of the Ministry of Civil Aviation and the then FIPB entered into a criminal conspiracy with Director AAIL R Venkataramanan, Group Chief Executive Officer AirAsia Group Malaysia Tony Fernandes, Group Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia, Berhad, T Kanagalingam, Rajendra Dubey of Green IT Com Private Limited , RRT Service India Private Limited, HNR Trading Private Limited Singapore, AAIL and unknown public servants with intent to help AAIL to expedite the approval process and change in aviation policies to suit the company.

Sources further revealed that Rajendra Dubey had played a role as a liaison agent and was instrumental in seeking appointments and facilitating meetings for officials of AAIL with the various government officials for clearance. A secret cabinet note was sent on 27 February 2014 to the cabinet to amend the existing 5/20 rule for operation of international scheduled in civil aviation. Further, the civil aviation ministry had sent a clarification in the form of a supplementary note on 5 March 2014 to the cabinet. This proposal, at that time, could not be approved since the election commission had announced Lok Sabha general election on 5 March 2014, the CBI states.

The agency has alleged that Tony, Kanagalingam and Venkataramanan intentionally chose to beat the legal framework and policies of the aviation sector.

R.Venkataramanan was involved in lobbying with stakeholders in the government to secure mandatory approvals, some of them through non-transparent means, including the then FIPB clearance, NOC and attempt for removal of 5/20 rule. Controllers of AAIL, Fernandes and Kanagalingam, pressurised CEO Mrithyunjay Chandilya to pursue the matter regarding the change of regulatory policies for international aviation in India, suitable to them. Information also revealed that in furtherance of the said criminal conspiracy, AAIL through Tony Fernandes employed Sunil Kapur, owner of Travel/Total Food Services as a lobbying agent to whom the on board catering contract was given by Kanagalingam as a quid pro quo without any negotiation, the CBI has charged.

Bribery stink in AAIL case

The investigative agency has further alleged that money was paid to those lobbying for changes in the existing aviation policies. The agency said that in fiscal 2015-16, AAIL remitted about Rs.12.28 crore to HNR Trading Private Limited, Singapore, for a sham contract on the basis of a bogus agreement on plain paper, which was utilised to bribe unknown government staffers and others for securing permits for operation of international scheduled air transport services, via Deepak Talwar of DTA Consulting and Sunil Kapur, Chairman of Travel/ Total Food Services, who acted as lobbying agents.

Talwar, in a presentation, outlined a strategy to engage with ministry officials, including for the removal of the 5/20 rule, for which a payment of Rs. 17.42 Lakh was made to him.

Sunil Kapur, in the month of December 2014, at the coffee shop in the Four Seasons, Mumbai hotel, along with Kanagalingam, handed over a closed packet containing Rs 50 lakh in cash to one Sriram to facilitate the removal of international flying rules, the CBI claimed in the FIR filed in AAIL case.

The agency has named six people in its FIR  Venkataramanan, Fernandes, Kanagalingam, Talwar, Dubey and Kapur -- along with three firms and unknown government servants. The CBI claimed that, at the instance of Fernandes and Kanagalingam, AAIL hired private people who were found lobbying with civil aviation ministry officials.
By John O'Donnell and Gederts Gelzis RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia is investigating whether its banks acted as conduits for Russian funds used to interfere in elections and politics elsewhere, after it received a warning from the United States, officials have told Reuters.

By John O'Donnell and Gederts Gelzis

RIGA (Reuters) - Latvia is investigating whether its banks acted as conduits for Russian funds used to interfere in elections and politics elsewhere, after it received a warning from the United States, officials have told Reuters.

The allegations, which highlight the country's role as a stepping stone for Russian money on its way to the west, come after Latvia's third largest bank was shut in February after being accused by the United States of money laundering.

Foreign affairs minister Edgars Rinkevics told Reuters that citizens from Russia and former Soviet states, including people subject to U.S. sanctions, had put money in Latvian banks and some of it may have been used for political manipulation.

"There is also the connection to ... hybrid warfare that money being transferred or kept in (the) Latvian financial system can be used to undermine ... the political systems of other countries," Rinkevics said.

"Currently, our law enforcement authorities are investigating some leads that we have been provided that are related to hybrid warfare," he said, referring to campaigns to influence political developments.

Latvia's finance minister, Dana Reizniece-Ozola, confirmed that the government had launched such an investigation after receiving credible information from "our strategic partners", referring to the United States.

"This is the issue topical ... for the whole of Europe especially if it comes true that money has been used for manipulating election results in several European countries," Reizniece-Ozola told Reuters.

When asked about possible Russian-sponsored campaigns to influence politics, she said: "If our financial sector might be used for financial crime ... especially if it is used for political goals, that is a no go."

The ministers did not give details of which cases were being investigated but three senior Latvian officials said that one concerned the movement of funds from Russia through a Latvian bank to support an attempted coup in 2016 in Montenegro.

Late that year, as Montenegrins voted in an election, authorities arrested 20 people from neighbouring Serbia on charges of planning armed attacks against the state. Serbia later said it had uncovered evidence including 125,000 euros ($144,000) in cash and stashed uniforms.

Montenegro's Special Prosecutor later accused Moscow of involvement in the plot, which he said was aimed at halting the integration of the former Yugoslav republic into NATO. The Kremlin has dismissed such claims as absurd.

"The money which flowed through Latvia was possibly used to finance the coup in Montenegro," said one of the Latvian officials, who all asked not to be named, describing the ongoing investigation into the case.

"It might have been divided into parts, payments like $15,000, so that no one would notice."

Russia has also been accused of interfering in elections from Germany to the United States although Moscow denies any such action.

Reuters asked the Kremlin whether Russia had used Latvia to move funds that were used for political interference in Europe, whether it had been involved in an attempted coup in Montenegro and whether people from Russia now on the U.S. sanctions list had accounts with banks in Latvia.

A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said, in a comment passed to Reuters by his office: "The answers to all the questions are no."

A spokesman for the government in Montenegro did not comment.

POLITICAL INFLUENCE

The latest warning from the United States that Latvian banks may have played a role in manipulation by Russia highlights the continued pressure from Washington on the Baltic state to tighten its controls.

Earlier this year, U.S. authorities accused Latvia's third biggest bank, ABLV, of money laundering and breaking sanctions on North Korea, prompting its closure and Latvia's worst financial crisis in a decade.

The suspicion that large flows of Russian funds could also have been used for political interference has underlined the need to change the Swiss-style banking offered by about a dozen Latvian banks to Russians and citizens of former Soviet states.

Foreign minister Rinkevics said the country's change of tack with regards to this business was also due to more aggressive Russian foreign policy, such as in Ukraine.

"There has been quite ... a change in Russia's behaviour," he said. "There is connection between money laundering and the possibility of use of the black money also to influence ... the political system of our allies."

"There was this concept that Latvia can be the bridge between the west and the east," he said. "We need ... to say goodbye to the whole bridge concept."

Since securing independence from Russia in 1991, more than a dozen Latvian banks have promoted themselves as a gateway to Western markets for clients in Russia and former Soviet states such as Ukraine - and promised Swiss-style secrecy for clients.

At the peak in 2015, Latvian banks held deposits of about 12 billion euros ($15 billion) for foreign customers. Bankers and officials have said much of the money came from Russia.

Changing its approach to banking presents Latvia with a difficult balancing act. Washington is an important military ally for the former Soviet-ruled state of 2 million people on the EU's eastern flank. It also has close historical and trade ties with Russia.

(Additional reporting by Margarita Popova and Christian Lowe in Moscow; Writing by John O'Donnell; Editing by Giles Elgood)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Fortis Healthcare on Tuesday initiated a fresh time-bound bidding process for its sale after terminating the offer made by the Munjal-Burman combine

New Delhi: Fortis Healthcare on Tuesday initiated a fresh time-bound bidding process for its sale after terminating the offer made by the Munjal-Burman combine, in yet another twist in the race for the cash-strapped healthcare chain.

The deadline for submitting fresh binding bids has been set at 14 June, Fortis Healthcare said on Tuesday, a day after the Munjal-Burman combine had given their consent to re-open the bidding process.

After it started the process to seek buyers for its business in late March, Fortis Healthcare elicited a good response from potential bidders, with some of them making competing offers, before the board accepted the offer by the Munjal-Burman combine.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Fortis Healthcare said its board has decided to initiate a fresh, time-bound process to optimise the short and long-term interests of the company as well as its shareholders.

After its tw0-day meeting that began on Monday, Fortis board decided to invite three entities that had put in binding offers -- Munjal-Burman combine, TPG-Manipal consortium, and Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad -- to participate in the fresh bidding process subject to certain conditions.

This decision has been taken based on the suitability of the offers evaluated earlier. The three entities would have to confirm adherence to the new bidding process by 31 May while other interested parties are required to submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) by the same date.

As per the latest timeline, binding bids should be submitted on 14 June between 8.30 am to 9.30 am.

"Munjal-Burman consortium's offer accepted by the board (of Fortis) on 10 May, 2018 stands mutually terminated," the filing said.

Under the offer that was earlier accepted by the Fortis board, Munjal-Burman combine was to invest Rs 1,800 crore.

Fortis Healthcare said EoIs submitted by new bidders would be evaluated on the basis of various factors, including their financing capability, ability to consummate the transaction in a timely manner as well as requisite internal and external approvals.

Shortlisting of new bidders would be completed by 1 June and there would be a 10-day due diligence period before the deadline for binding offers ends on 14 June.

As per the fresh criteria, the buyers have to make a minimum investment of Rs 1,500 crore into Fortis Healthcare by way of preferential allotment apart from having a plan for funding the acquisition of RHT Health Trust (RHT) and a plan for providing an exit to private equity investors of diagnostic arm SRL.

Among others, the bids should be unconditional as well as mention about the source of funds for the transaction and elaborate on the plans for retention of current management and employees.

Last week, Fortis board was reconstituted after shareholders had voted out its director Brian Tempest, who was among the four directors whose removal was sought by two institutional investors.

Three other directors -- Harpal Singh, Sabina Vaisoha and Tejinder Singh Shergill -- had resigned ahead of an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on 22 May. During the meeting, shareholders voted out Tempest.

Interestingly, these four directors were among those who had favoured the binding offer made by Munjal-Burman combine.

Earlier this month, both Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad and Manipal-TPG combine extended the deadline for the Fortis Healthcare board to accept their revised offers.

The shortlisted bidders would have 10 days for financial and legal due diligence. They would also have an opportunity to interact with the management and advisors who have conducted vendor due diligence (VDD) for the company. This would be subject to the bidders entering into a non-disclosure agreement with the company.

The bidders would also have access to Fortis Healthcare's unaudited balance sheet details with schedules as on 31 March, 2018 and an update on the status of major litigations and ongoing investigations.

Following the board revamp, Suvalaxmi Chakraborty, Ravi Rajagopal and Indrajit Banerjee have joined as independent directors.
In its fifth year, the Modi government should walk the talk on privatisation of state-run banks.

The writing was on the wall for everyone to see, but they chose to look in the opposite direction.

When the Narendra Modi-led government assumed power in May, 2014, with pomp and show, there were warning signals all over about the deteriorating state of the nation's banking sector. Gross NPAs (non-performing assets) were still at Rs 2.5 lakh crore as on March, 2014 (now it is close to Rs 9 lakh crore).

But that Rs 2.5 lakh crore figure hardly captured ground realities. There were plenty of signs all around that it was a manipulated number and that the NPAs pile was much bigger. Banks used to merrily evergreen loans (technically adjust bad loans so that computers can be fooled) to help out their corporate friends, who in turn, enjoyed political patronage.

Hidden NPAs on the books of banks, mainly public sector banks (PSBs) that constituted 90 percent of the assets of Indian banking system, were just waiting to tumble out of the closet.

The process began when the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a roadmap for early identification of stressed assets in the banking system and eventually asked banks to call a spade, a spade. All this while, the government pretended to be blissfully unaware about the impending NPA crisis in the system and chose to continue with its regular annual capital infusion ritual for PSBs without taking a hard look at the structural issues.

But there was a ray of hope. Soon after he took over as the prime minister, Modi told a group of US investors that government has no business to be in business. That gave rise to expectations that his government has a strong intent to do the unthinkable  execute a large scale privatisation of ailing state-run banks.

But, after four years, bank NPAs are at Rs 9 lakh crore (reported number).

The government then rolled out different schemes --- Indradhanush, Bank Boards Bureau (BBB), the massive capital infusion promise of Rs 2.10 lakh crore. Alas, just one thing is missing, the promise to privatise state-run banks.

The aforementioned schemes have failed to show results to a great extent. Even after four years, the government is the proud owner of 70 percent of the Indian banking system, holding an over 70 percent stake in a number of lenders. It is very much in business.

Four years have gone past. In the fifth year, Modi should walk the talk on privatisation and at least prepare a credible roadmap that can be executed by the next regime.

Right now, the NPA situation in the banking system is precarious  as a result of the bank NPA clean up exercise, the capital requirement of state-run banks would be way higher than what has been offered already. The government, walking on a tight fiscal roadmap, will not have the wherewithal to continue filling the widening voids of state-run banks. In the March quarter alone, PSBs logged a cumulative Rs 50,000 crore in losses. The State Bank of India (SBI) posted a record loss of Rs 7,718 crore in the March-quarter, primarily due to a sharp rise in bad loan provisions. The bank had a net profit of Rs 2,815 crore in the corresponding quarter of the preceding fiscal. A few days ago, scam-hit Punjab National Bank (PNB) too posted a record loss of Rs 13,417 crore in Q4, its biggest-ever loss in any quarter, bogged down by high provisions on bad loans and the losses gifted by the Mehul Choksi-Nirav Modi uncle-nephew duo. The story is not so different for most other state-run banks.
The co-operative bank was given its last extension for six months between 22 November, 2017, and 31 May, 2018.

Mumbai: Pune-based Rupee Co-operative Bank has been asked by the Reserve Bank to continue giving its services with restrictions for three more months till August this year in view of its financial position.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had first imposed restrictions on the bank from 22 February, 2013, to 21 August, 2013, and extended it on eight occasions six months each, and four occasions for three months each.

The co-operative bank was given its last extension for six months between 22 November, 2017, and 31 May, 2018.

"The Reserve Bank has extended directions issued to Rupee Co-operative Bank Ltd., Pune, Maharashtra, for a further period of three months from 1 June, 2018, to 31 August, 2018, subject to review," RBI said in a release on Monday.

However, the RBI said that the directions issued for the bank should not be construed as cancellation of banking licence by the regulator.

"The bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves. The Reserve Bank may consider modifications of these directions depending upon circumstances," RBI said further.

As per Rupee Co-Operative Bank website, the lender has 40 offices/branches, including the headquarter in Pune, across Maharashtra.
Vijay Mallya, who is currently facing an extradition trial in the UK, owes the SBI over Rs 1,600 crore. In all, he owes 17 lenders over Rs 9,000 crore.

The State Bank of India (SBI) is preparing to initiate bankruptcy proceedings against liquor baron Vijay Mallya, wanted in India for alleged fraud and money laundering, according to a media report. Mallya, who is currently facing an extradition trial in the UK, owes the SBI over Rs 1,600 crore. In all, he reportedly owes 17 lenders over Rs 9,000 crore.

According to The Economic Times, the bankruptcy proceedings against Mallya can be initiated in a UK court under individual insolvency laws.

We will fight tooth and nail to recover the banks money. Soon, Mallya will be taken to the bankruptcy court in the UK, a person aware of the development was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

SBI, the country's largest lender by assets, is expecting to recover a substantial amount from the fugitive businessman after the proceedings.

But, "the lenders would have to first prove beyond doubt that Mallya owes them money, which is not less than 5,000 pounds, for their claim to be admitted and that will not be a problem because the English courts have recognised the Indian debt recovery tribunal order against Mallya,"an unnamed source told The Economic Times.

Prisons in India

In May, Prime Minister Narendra Modi conveyed his unhappiness, to his British counterpart Theresa May, over a UK court's focus on the conditions of Indian prisons during proceedings for Mallya's extradition.

Modi, during a meeting with May in London last month, told her that it was not proper for courts to ask about the condition of Indian jails as the British themselves had kept Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other Indian leaders in these prisons.

Vijay Mallya, in December 2017, had fielded a UK-based prison service expert to claim that jails in India are over-crowded with poor hygiene. He sought to counter the Indian government's assurances on how he would be treated once extradited.

Mallya has claimed that the criminal charges against him are "without substance" and "politically motivated".

With inputs from PTI
Closure of Sterlite Copper plant in Thoothukudi will cut Indias production by about half, spurring imports

Post the Tamil Nadu government's move to shut Vedanta Resources' copper smelter in the Thoothukudi district, the country is likely to face a shortage of copper that will eventually lead to a rise in the prices of the metal.

The closure of Sterlite Copper's plant in Thoothukudi will cut Indias copper production by about half, spurring imports, according to Bloomberg. In financial year 2017-18, Vedanta produced about 48 percent of the countrys total copper output.

If the closure is permanent, then what we expected to happen two years down the line will happen with immediate effect, Jayanta Roy, senior vice president at ICRA Ltd told Bloomberg.

Analysts believe that the shortage of copper will lead to a rise in prices by up to two percent from the current level of around Rs 455 per kg. According to Business Today, imports would cost India around $3 billion in forex annually.

The Thoothukudi district has been witnessing several protests for some weeks by locals and others against the Sterlite Copper plant and its proposed expansion. The Tamil Nadu government took the decision to shut the plant following the death of 13 people in police firing during protests against the continued functioning of the unit.

The Tamil Nadu government order said it has been brought to its notice that the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) did not renew the 'Consent to Operate' to the copper smelter plant in Thoothukudi by its order of 9 April this year and subsequently on 23 May, the PCB issued directions for closure and disconnection of power supply to the plant.

"Under Sections 18(1)(B) of the Water Act, 1974 in the larger public interest, the Government endorses the closure direction of the TNPCB and also directs the TNPCB to seal the unit and close the plant permanently," said the Order.

Vedanta had suspended output from the plant in March for maintenance. On 18 May, Vedanta said the shut down of its South Indian copper smelter, one of Indias biggest, was causing a copper deficit, Reuters reported. The facility has been shut since March 27 when the company took up annual scheduled maintenance, a PTI report said.

The smelter, located in a sleepy port city near the tip of the Indian peninsula, has a share of about 35 percent in Indias primary copper market and exports mainly to Gulf and Asian countries.

With inputs from IANS
The closure of Vedanta's copper plant caps sustained protests and campaign for the last several years by the local people against copper factory over environmental pollution concerns.

New Delhi: Vedanta Ltd on Monday termed as "unfortunate" the Tamil Nadu government's order to close down the Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.

This follows Tamil Nadu government ordering the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin following last week's violent protests over pollution concerns during which 13 people were killed in police firing.

"Closure of Sterlite Copper plant is an unfortunate development, especially since, we have operated the plant for over 22 years in most transparent and sustainable way, contributing to the Tuticorin and state's socio-economic development. We will study the development and decide on the future course of action," Vedanta Ltd said in a statement.

The government's decision came a day ahead of the start of the state Assembly session where it is likely to come under intense Opposition fire over the Tuticorin incidents.

"Now the plant is permanently closed. The Government Order (GO) has been implemented," Tuticorin District Collector Sandeep Nanduri said.

The closure of the copper plant caps sustained protests and campaign for the last several years by the local people against copper factory over environmental pollution concerns.

The GO said it endorsed the recent closure direction of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and also asked the TNPCB to "seal the unit and close the plant permanently".

Chief Minister K Palaniswami said the government has issued the GO in deference to the sentiments of the people.

The locals were protesting for the closure of the factory for 99 days. Protesters turned violent on May 22, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police action against them last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Asked what he had to say to the people of Tuticorin, the chief minister said, "Peace has returned to the town and it must continue, and people should cooperate with the government. Their demand has been fulfilled by Amma's government."

Palaniswami said people of Tuticorin were seeking permanent closure of the plant since it did not meet the environment related conditions of the National Green Tribunal and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.
It also claimed that Flipkart is a combination of exclusive tie-ups and preferential sellers, where even online vendors face discriminatory conditions.

New Delhi: Traders body CAIT said on Monday that it has approached the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against the Walmart-Flipkart deal, stating that it will create unfair competition and an uneven level playing field for domestic players.

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said the deal would deny market access to non-preferred sellers and impact small traders on offline platform.

The confederation has "filed its objection petition in CCI against the Walmart-Flipkart deal," it said in a statement.

"The merger of two companies will create an unfair competition and uneven level playing field and will indulge in predatory pricing, deep discounts and loss funding," it alleged.

It also claimed that Flipkart is a combination of exclusive tie-ups and preferential sellers, where even online vendors face discriminatory conditions.

Walmart, it said, would sell its inventory on the platform of flipkart.com either directly or through a web of associated preferred sellers.

"This will create an unhealthy competition much to the disadvantage of both offline and online sellers," CAIT said, adding that this transaction would result in vertical integration which no other player in India would have.

"The complainant apprehends that the deal is bound to circumvent established laws and FDI (foreign direct investment) policy of the government since the ultimate object of Walmart is to enter the retail trade of the country and in the absence of any policy on e-commerce or retail trade, it would be easy for them to reach out to retail market," it added.

Earlier this month, Walmart Inc had announced the acquisition of 77 percent stake in Flipkart for about $16 billion (Rs 1.05 lakh crore) in the largest e-commerce deal which will give the US retailer access to the Indian online market that is estimated to grow to $200 billion within a decade.
Around 34 people were killed and several injured as thunderstorms lashed across Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in last two years, media reports said.

Around 34 people were killed and several injured as thunderstorms lashed Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in past two days, according to several media reports.

According to a report in Hindustan Times, 12 died in Jharkhand, 12 were killed in Bihar and 10 in Uttar Pradesh.

In Bihar, three of a family lost their lives when a tree collapsed at Pekha village. Several parts of Jharkhand have also been witnessing storms since Sunday. Rescue operations are on to ensure that further casualties are avoided, the report said.

According to Times Now, the Ranchi Met Centre of India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a thunderstorm alert last week. Many houses and structures were reportedly damaged due to thunderstorms in different parts of these states.

On Monday, Principal Secretary of Information, Avinish Awasthi, told PTI,"As many as five persons were killed and four others injured as lightning struck some parts of Unnao district last night."

On Tuesday, the southwest monsoon hit Kerala, three days ahead of its scheduled arrival, the IMD said. The southwest monsoon has been advancing well and will cover some parts of Kerala on Tuesday, in line with the forecast of the India Meteorological Department, a senior weather department official, who did not wish to be named as he was not authorised to talk to media, said.

The India Meteorological Department declares the arrival of monsoon rains only after parameters measuring the consistency of the rainfall over a defined geography, intensity, cloudiness and wind speed are satisfied. The southwest monsoon has advanced into remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, Comorin-Maldives area, entire Lakshadweep, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of southwest, central and northeast Bay of Bengal.

The monsoon marks the beginning of the rainy season as it advances northward. India is set to get a normal monsoon in 2018, with average rainfall likely to be around 97 percent, essential for its economy.

With inputs from agencies
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared Class 10th results today, and you can check your results on the official website of the CBSE.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared Class 10th results today, and you can check your results on the official website of the CBSE.

The results will be available on the official website of CBSE which is cbse.nic.in or cbseresults.nic.in

Here are the steps to check your CBSE Class 10 results from the official website:

Step 1: Go to the official results website, cbseresults.nic.in

Step 2: Click on the CBSE 10 results link

Step 3: On next page, enter your exam details; Roll Number and Date of birth

Step 4: Submit the details and check your results

CBSE released the Class 12 results on its official website on 26 May.

83.01 percent students passed the Class 12 examinations and Meghna Srivastava from Step By Step School, Uttar Pradesh topped the exam with 499 marks.
CBSE will declare the results for Class 10 Board exams today at 4 pm on its official website cbse.nic.in. Students can get their Class 10 and 12 results delivered directly to their Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the Internet on that day using Microsoft's 'SMS Organizer', an Android app available for free download on Google Play Store.

CBSE will declare the results for Class 10 Board exams today at 4 pm on its official website cbse.nic.in. Students can get their Class 10 and 12 results delivered directly to their Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the Internet on that day using Microsoft's "SMS Organizer", an Android app available for free download on Google Play Store.

Microsoft also released a video explaining the process to check results without internet on Twitter.

Anxiously refreshing your browser to get your CBSE Class 10 or Class 12 results? Stop! Get your results delivered to your SMS Organizer inbox as soon as they are announced, even when you are offline. https://t.co/UxGkXVHSHY pic.twitter.com/c4zhOolMry  Microsoft India (@MicrosoftIndia) May 24, 2018

To get CBSE Class 10 and 12 results on SMS Organizer, users first need to download the app from Google Play Store and then register for CBSE results.

On the result day, the pre-registered users will receive a notification for the result, clicking on which their scorecard will appear. Since the scorecard data is sent via SMS, users will be able to see it even if they do not have Internet connectivity on result day, the post said.

The results will also be available on Bing search engine for parents, teachers and students to easily search and get the scorecards.

"Over the last few months, we have been working with multiple education boards in India to deliver the results of the various exams they conduct, on Bing apart from their own websites," the company's blogpost revealed.

Since 2016, Microsoft has partnered with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to display the board examination results on www.bing.com.

So far exam results for Class 10 - Andhra Pradesh SSC board, Class 10 - Telangana SSC Board and Class 10 and Class 12 - Uttar Pradesh Madhyamik Shiksha Parishad are available on Bing.

Earlier, Google had also partnered with CBSE for the JEE Main exam results and other exam-related information.

Students could now quickly, securely and seamlessly locate their score on smartphone or desktop using Google Search.

Senior Public Relations Officer, CBSE, Rama Sharma said, "We are collaborating with Google for smooth dissemination of results through an easy and secure platform."

The tech giant has also introduced an improved Search experience for other popular exams like GATE, SSC CGL, CAT.

Also, students searching for these competitive exams will find information such as test dates, registration dates, important links, and other key information right within Google Search.

With inputs from IANS
he Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced the result for Class 10 on 29 May. Four students have topped the Class 10th CBSE exam by scoring 499 out of 500 marks (99 percent).

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The CBSE is expected to declared the Class 10 result on its official website, cbseresults.nic.in . Ministry of Human Resource secretary Anil Swarup had tweeted on Monday that the result will be announced by 4 pm on Tuesday.

Ministry of Human Resource secretary Anil Swarup wished luck to the students who appeared for the Class 10 CBSE examination this year. He said in the tweet: "All the best to CBSE students of class 10. You have done your bit. Let not the results make you nervous because you have no control over them. You can't do anything now. You will reap the fruits of what you have sown. Be contented with what you get. And then, build your future."

- Go to the official website, cbseresults.nic.in . - Look for the link which says 'CBSE 10th Result 2018' - Enter the required details - Check your scores and take a print out of the score card for future reference

A total of 16,38,428 students registered to appear for the CBSE board exams this year. If you are one of them, follow these steps to check your result:

On the result day, the pre-registered users will receive a notification for the result, clicking on which their scorecard will appear. Since the scorecard data is sent via SMS, users will be able to see it even if they do not have Internet connectivity on result day

To get CBSE Class 10 and 12 results on SMS Organizer, users first need to download the app and then register for CBSE results.

Students can get their Class 10 results delivered directly to their Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the internet using Microsoft's SMS Organizer, an Android app available on the Google Play Store.

Under CCE, schools were responsible for 80 percent assessment while the remaining was with CBSE. This reportedly led to widespread manipulation of scores.

It was in December 2017 that the board announced the revival of the board exams. "The decision has been taken not because schools were not able to conduct the exams properly, but because the CCE was not feasible for pan-India exams, Controller of Examinations KK Choudhary was quoted as saying by The Times of India

This was the first batch to appear for the Class 10 board examinations after the CBSE decided to junk the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and reintroduce the board exams.

This was the first batch after CBSE scrapped CCE system

- DigiLocker: This is a service that saves your CBSE Board Results 2018 and mark sheets in your locker and students can access the results with the account details that are sent to the student via SMS.

- SMS: Charged at 50 paise per SMS, students can get their results on their phones with this service.

- IVR: Candidates can check their results through an IVR system which will allow you to access your results via a call which is charged at 30 paise per minute for every roll number.

This year the CBSE Class 10th results will be available directly on Google since CBSE has now announced its partnership with the seach engine for result declaration. The candidates can also check their result through other means:

The Class 10 mathematics paper had surfaced online before the scheduled examination. A case was registered by the Delhi Police on 28 March. While the retest for Class 12 economics paper was held on 25 April, the board decided against a re-test of the 10 Class paper, saying the examination was "largely an internal segment" of the school education system.

The Delhi Police has sent to the CBSE a list of students, who had allegedly received the leaked Class 10 mathematics and Class 12 economics question papers, after the board sought it from the crime branch, an official privy to the probe said.

The CBSE has announced the results for the Class 10th 2018 result on the official result website, cbseresults.nic.in. The results were expected to be out by 4 pm. A total of 16,38,428 students registered to appear for the CBSE board exams this year.

- Save the result and take a print copy for further reference

- Enter relevant details like the roll number, date of birth, school number and centre number (as mentioned on the candidate's hall ticket)

The candidates can follow these steps to check their result:

According to ANI , Prakhar Mittal from Gurugram, Rimzhim Agrawal from Bijnor, Nandni Garg from Shamli and Sreelakshmi G from Cochin scored 499 marks out of 500 (99.8 percent) to top CBSE Class 10th examination

According to reports, 86.7 percent of the students who appeared for the CBSE Class 10th exam in 2018 have passed successfully. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar conveyed extended greeting to the candidates who cleared the exam. "Congratulations to those who've succeeded. 10th CBSE board exam was conducted after 10 years. This is basically preparation for 12th board. Those students who've got compartment should prepare again and I'm sure they'll do well, he was quoted as saying by ANI .

The Class 10th board exams were held by the CBSE after a gap of ten years. Between 2007 and 2017, the board followed the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) under which schools were responsible for 80 percent assessment while the remaining was with CBSE. This reportedly led to widespread manipulation of scores.

Prakhar Mittal from DPS Gurugram, Rimzhim Agarwal from RP Public School in Bijnor, Nandini Garg from Scottish International School in Shamli, and Sreelakshmi G from Bhavans Vidyalaya in Cochin scored 499 out of 500 marks.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results of the Class 10 examinations. The results were earlier expected to come in at 4 pm, however, the results were announced a little after 1 pm on CBSE's official website, cbseresults.nic.in . Candidates can also check their score on cbse.nic.in .

Boy from DPS Gurugram, two girls from UP and one from Kerala top board exams with 99.8%

The Chennai region came second for the Class 10th result with 97.37 pass percentage. The overall pass percentage this year is 86.7.

According to reports, Thiruvananthapuram region has topped with a pass percentage of 99.60 percent. In CBSE Class 12th exam too, the region recorded the highest pass percentage this year.

Of the girls who appeared for CBSE Class 10th exam, 88.67 percent of them cleared it successfully. The result was announced by the CBSE after 1 pm today. In 2017, the pass percentage among girls was 92.5 percent while that among boys was 93.4 percent.

In the differently-abled category, two candidates topped in with 489 marks out of 500. According to reports, Sanya Gandhi from Uttam School in Ghaziabad and Anushka Panda from Suncity Gurgaon school are the two students who secured the first rank in the category Sonya Deep Pradhan from Odisha bagged the second position with 484 marks.

In the CBSE 10th results released on Tuesday, Government-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) and Kendriya Vidyalayas have performed far better than their private counter parts. JNVs have got a pass percentage of 97.31 while the Kendriya Vidyalayas have got 95.96 pass percentage. Meanwhile, private schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have got 89.49 pass percentage.

The CBSE has announced the results for the Class 10th 2018 result on the official result website, cbseresults.nic.in. The results were expected to be out by 4 pm. A total of 16,38,428 students registered to appear for the CBSE board exams this year.

- Save the result and take a print copy for further reference

- Enter relevant details like the roll number, date of birth, school number and centre number (as mentioned on the candidate's hall ticket)

The candidates can follow these steps to check their result:

According to ANI , Prakhar Mittal from Gurugram, Rimzhim Agrawal from Bijnor, Nandni Garg from Shamli and Sreelakshmi G from Cochin scored 499 marks out of 500 (99.8 percent) to top CBSE Class 10th examination

According to reports, 86.7 percent of the students who appeared for the CBSE Class 10th exam in 2018 have passed successfully. HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar conveyed extended greeting to the candidates who cleared the exam. "Congratulations to those who've succeeded. 10th CBSE board exam was conducted after 10 years. This is basically preparation for 12th board. Those students who've got compartment should prepare again and I'm sure they'll do well, he was quoted as saying by ANI .

The Class 10th board exams were held by the CBSE after a gap of ten years. Between 2007 and 2017, the board followed the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) under which schools were responsible for 80 percent assessment while the remaining was with CBSE. This reportedly led to widespread manipulation of scores.

Prakhar Mittal from DPS Gurugram, Rimzhim Agarwal from RP Public School in Bijnor, Nandini Garg from Scottish International School in Shamli, and Sreelakshmi G from Bhavans Vidyalaya in Cochin scored 499 out of 500 marks.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the results of the Class 10 examinations. The results were earlier expected to come in at 4 pm, however, the results were announced a little after 1 pm on CBSE's official website, cbseresults.nic.in . Candidates can also check their score on cbse.nic.in .

Boy from DPS Gurugram, two girls from UP and one from Kerala top board exams with 99.8%

The Chennai region came second for the Class 10th result with 97.37 pass percentage. The overall pass percentage this year is 86.7.

According to reports, Thiruvananthapuram region has topped with a pass percentage of 99.60 percent. In CBSE Class 12th exam too, the region recorded the highest pass percentage this year.

Of the girls who appeared for CBSE Class 10th exam, 88.67 percent of them cleared it successfully. The result was announced by the CBSE after 1 pm today. In 2017, the pass percentage among girls was 92.5 percent while that among boys was 93.4 percent.

In the differently-abled category, two candidates topped in with 489 marks out of 500. According to reports, Sanya Gandhi from Uttam School in Ghaziabad and Anushka Panda from Suncity Gurgaon school are the two students who secured the first rank in the category Sonya Deep Pradhan from Odisha bagged the second position with 484 marks.

In the CBSE 10th results released on Tuesday, Government-run Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV) and Kendriya Vidyalayas have performed far better than their private counter parts. JNVs have got a pass percentage of 97.31 while the Kendriya Vidyalayas have got 95.96 pass percentage. Meanwhile, private schools affiliated with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) have got 89.49 pass percentage.



CBSE Class 10th result LIVE updates: The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced the result for Class 10 on Tuesday. Four students have topped the Class 10th CBSE exam by scoring 499 out of 500 marks (99 percent). According to reports, 86.7 percent of the students who appeared for the CBSE Class 10th exam in 2018 have cleared the exam successfully.

Candidates can check the official websites cbse.nic.in and cbseresults.nic.in for updates. The education board has partnered with Google and Microsoft to bring in more options to check scores.

"Result for class 10 examination for 2017-18 to be declared on 29 May by 4 pm, " School Education Secretary Anil Swarup said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has sent to the CBSE a list of students, who had allegedly received the leaked Class 10 mathematics and Class 12 economics question papers, after the board sought it from the crime branch, an official privy to the probe said.

In the report, the police also mentioned that the principal of a school in Bawana whose teachers were arrested for allegedly leaking the papers a few hours before the exam, was not co-operating in the probe.

The principal of Mother Khazani Convent School at Bawana was quizzed many times in connection with the case earlier.

A senior Crime Branch officer said the CBSE had requested them to provide details of students who had received the leaked papers.

Last week, the police sent an investigation report to the board mentioning the names of over 60 students, he said, adding, these students were quizzed by the Crime Branch while it was probing the case.

Two modules were allegedly involved in leaking the CBSE question papers. Other than the class 12 economics paper, the class 10 mathematics paper had also surfaced online before the scheduled examination.

One of the modules was busted in Una town of Himachal Pradesh last month and six people, including a woman, were arrested in connection with leaking the question papers.

The Bawana module was busted in March, and three people, including two teachers of a private school, were arrested.

The teachers had taken photographs of the economics paper and sent it via WhatsApp to Tauqeer, who gives private tuition. Tauqeer, in turn, circulated the paper among his students about an hour before the examination started, police said.

The CBSE had announced the Class 12 results on 26 May.

The Delhi Police has registered two cases in connection with the paper leaks. The first case related to the leak of economics paper was registered on 27 March, while the other pertaining to the leak of mathematics paper was filed on 28 March.

The retest for Class 12 economics paper was held on 25 April, but the board decided against a re-test of the Class 10 paper, saying the examination was "largely an internal segment" of the school education system.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced Class 10th results. The results were earlier expected to come in at 4 pm. Candidates can check their scores on CBSE's official website cbse.nic.in. Candidates can also view their results on cbseresults.nic.in.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has announced Class 10th results. The results were earlier expected to come in at 4 pm. Candidates can check their scores on CBSE's official website cbse.nic.in. Candidates can also view their results on cbseresults.nic.in.

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) Class 10th results have been announced. pic.twitter.com/Rki36iZzjO  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Students can get their Class 10 and 12 results delivered directly to their Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the Internet on that day using Microsoft's "SMS Organizer", an Android app available for free download on Google Play Store.

Microsoft also released a video explaining the process to check results without internet on Twitter. At least, 16 lakh students appeared for the CBSE Class 10 exam this year. According to News18, girls have outshone boys yet again.

Here are the steps to check your CBSE Class 10 results from the official website:

Step 1: Go to the official results website, cbseresults.nic.in

Step 2: Click on the CBSE 10 results link

Step 3: On next page, enter your exam details; Roll Number and Date of birth

Step 4: Submit the details and check your results

CBSE released the Class 12 results on its official website on 26 May.

83.01 percent students passed the Class 12 examinations and Meghna Srivastava from Step By Step School, Uttar Pradesh topped the exam with 499 marks.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia visited the city's CBSE Class 12 examination toppers on Tuesday.

New Delhi: Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia visited the city's CBSE Class 12 examination toppers on Tuesday.

The chief minister later told reporters that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was "investing" in the children for the "country's future".

His government had doubled the budget for the education sector in its first year, the AAP supremo said, adding that it was an "investment, not an expenditure".

Kejriwal and Sisodia, who is also the education minister of Delhi, paid a visit to the CBSE Class 12 toppers  Bharti Raghav, Prince Kumar, the son of a DTC bus driver, Prachi Prakash and Chitra Kaushik  at their respective residences.

They also visited an orphanage in Daryaganj to meet Shahnaz, who has topped the exam in the vocational stream.

"In the last few years, there has been a makeover of the government schools... the same education is being imparted in private and government schools now... we had increased the education budget from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore after our government was formed.

"It is like an investment, not an expenditure. We are investing in our children. We are investing for the country's future and we are getting to see the results," Kejriwal told reporters, adding that the AAP government was committed to supporting students.

In the CBSE Class 12 examination, Delhi's pass percentage was 89. Girls, with a pass percentage of 93.19, outperformed the boys (84.93) in the Delhi region.

Last year, the city's pass percentage was 88.37.

According to a government official, Kumar topped the science stream with a 97 percent score, while Kaushik, with 95.6 percent marks, was the topper in the humanities stream and Raghav and Prakash jointly topped the commerce stream.

The pass percentage of the government-aided schools in Delhi was 82.79 this year as against the 80.32 in 2017.

The pass percentage of the private schools was 88.35 this year as compared to last year's 84.20.
The Congress on Tuesday said it has decided to sought President Ram Nath Kovind's intervention in appointing a 'full-time' chief minister in Goa, as incumbent Manohar Parrikar is undergoing treatment in the United States since March this year.

Panaji: The Congress on Tuesday said it has decided to sought President Ram Nath Kovind's intervention in appointing a "full-time" chief minister in Goa, as incumbent Manohar Parrikar is undergoing treatment in the United States since March this year.

"We are now left with no other option but to approach the President of India. Goa cannot run without a full-time chief minister," said Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president Girish Chodankar.

The Congress Legislative Party (CLP) met at Porvorim on Tuesday and decided to take up their demand for a full-time chief minister with the president, he said.

Chodankar, a special invitee for the CLP meeting, said the Congress' attempt to get a full-time chief minister through Governor Mridula Sinha has failed.

He said Goa has been going through a constitutional crisis in the absence of a regular chief minister.

Chodankar said the Congress would also seek a legal opinion on whether to approach the High Court for directions on appointing a full-time chief minister.

"It has been more than 100 days now that the state is without the chief minister and there is no fair idea when he (Parrikar) will actually return," he said.

Goa Transport Minister Sudin Dhavalikar on Tuesday said that Parrikar, who is undergoing treatment in the US since 7 March, will return home by the end of June.
Following last week's violent protests over Sterlite plant in Tuticorin (also called Thoothukudi) which claimed 13 lives, DMK called for an adjournment motion in the Tamil Nadu Assembly to discuss the issue.

Following last week's violent protests over Sterlite plant in Tuticorin (also called Thoothukudi) which claimed 13 lives, DMK called for an adjournment motion in the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Tuesday to discuss the issue.

Before the start of the Assembly session on Tuesday, DMK leader MK Stalin with party MLAs in tow staged protest outside the Assembly structure by wearing black clothes. The Tamil Nadu government is likely to come under intense fire by the Opposition parties over the Tuticorin incidents.

Chennai: MK Stalin & other DMK MLAs arrive in #TamilNadu assembly wearing black clothes as a mark of protest against police firing on anti-Sterlite protestors in #Thoothukudi. 13 people had lost their lives in the incident. pic.twitter.com/gVEWbbmPGs  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Meanwhile, the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) land allotted by the state government to Vedanta's Sterlite copper smelter plant, for the phase 2 of its project, has been cancelled.

#BREAKING -- SIPCOT land alloted by State Government to Vedanta Sterlite for phase 2 stands cancelled. pic.twitter.com/V71n46PyDx  News18 (@CNNnews18) May 29, 2018

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam chief TTV Dhinakaran said that he will also raise the Sterlite issue in the Assembly. "People have no confidence in him. The shutdown of the plant is only a temporary relief," he said. He said that the state government should not "behave like how they behaved in the Cauvery issue".

The DMK has expressed that it is protesting over the delay in action by the Tamil Nadu government for the closure of the plant.

On Monday, the Tamil Nadu government ordered the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to seal and "permanently" close the copper plant in Tuticorin.

Soon after the issuance of the government order, top Tuticorin district officials sealed the unit premises and pasted the order at the main gate. Chief Minister EK Palaniswami told reporters in Chennai the "plant has been permanently closed".

Reacting to the closure, Vedanta termed it "unfortunate" and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.contro

"Closure of Sterlite Copper plant is an unfortunate development, especially since, we have operated the plant for over 22 years in most transparent and sustainable way, contributing to the Tuticorin and state's socio-economic development. We will study the development and decide on the future course of action," Vedanta said in a statement.

Palaniswami said the government has issued the GO in deference to the sentiments of the people.

The chief minister also said that peace had returned to the town and and people should cooperate with the government. "Their demand has been fulfilled by Amma's government," he had said.

Palaniswami said people of Tuticorin were seeking permanent closure of the plant since it did not meet the environment related conditions of the National Green Tribunal and the TNPCB.

Protesters turned violent on 22 May, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police

firing last Tuesday and Wednesday. Justifying the firing, Palaniswami had then said that the police had to take action "under unavoidable circumstances to protect public life and property as the protesters resorted to repeated violence... police had to control the violence".

With inputs from PTI
The Delhi police has sent to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) a list of students who had allegedly received the leaked Class 10th mathematics and Class 12th economics question papers

The Delhi Police has sent to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) a list of students who had allegedly received the leaked Class 10th Mathematics and Class 12th Economics question papers after the board sought it from the crime branch, an official privy to the probe said.

A senior Crime Branch officer said the CBSE had requested them to provide details of students who had received the leaked papers.

Last week, the police sent an investigation report to the board mentioning the names of over 60 students, he said, adding, these students were quizzed by the Crime Branch while it was probing the case. Two modules were allegedly involved in leaking the CBSE question papers. Other than the Class 12th economics paper, the Class 10th mathematics paper had also surfaced online before the scheduled examination.

One of the modules was busted in Una town of Himachal Pradesh last month and six people, including a woman, were arrested in connection with leaking the question papers.

The Bawana module was busted in March, and three people, including two teachers of a private school, were arrested. The teachers had taken photographs of the economics paper and sent it via WhatsApp to Tauqeer, who gives private tuition. Tauqeer, in turn, circulated the paper among his students about an hour before the examination started, police said.

The CBSE announced Class 12th exam results on 26 May while the Class 10th results will be declared on Tuesday.

The Delhi Police has registered two cases in connection with the paper leaks. The first case related to the leak of economics paper was registered on 27 March, while the other pertaining to the leak of mathematics paper was filed on 28 March.

The retest for Class 12th economics paper was held on 25 April, but the board decided against a re-test of the Class 10th paper, saying the examination was "largely an internal segment" of the school education system.
Exactly a year after their historic agitation across Maharashtra, farmers in the state will once again hold protest.

Mumbai: Exactly a year after their historic agitation across Maharashtra, farmers in the state will once again hold protests from 1 June over their various "unresolved" demands like higher milk purchase prices and complete loan waiver.

The decision was announced on Tuesday after a day-long meeting held at Lakhganga village in Vaijapur tehsil in Aurangabad district.

As part of the protest on 1 June, farmers will take their cattle to the tehsil offices to draw the BJP-led state government's attention to their issues.

"We will take our cattle to every tehsil office in the state and tie them up to the gates of these offices. We hope this way we will get the attention of the government towards farmers issues," Dr Ajit Navale, general secretary of Maharashtra State Kisan Sabha said.

"The milk producers have been seeking Rs 27 per litre purchase rate, but the state government has so far not paid heed to the demand. The state has also failed to implement complete loan waiver scheme for the farmers. We have, therefore, decided to protest across the state," he said.

Today's meeting was also attended by two lawmakers-independent MLA from Amravati Bacchu Kadu and CPM MLA Jiva Pandu Gavit from Nashik district.

Last year, farmers had launched an agitation from 1 June to press for their different demands, including that of loan waiver. The stir had disrupted supply of vegetables and other essentials to cities, including Mumbai for some days.

The protest was called off on 11 June after the state government gave a firm assurance of bringing a comprehensive scheme to help the debt-pressed farmers. The government later unveiled a mega Rs 34,022-crore farm loan waiver scheme.
The government has achieved 'unprecedented outreach and unparalleled outcomes' at the global stage in the last four years, EAM Sushma Swaraj said

The BJP-led NDA government at the Centre has achieved "unprecedented outreach and unparalleled outcomes" at the global stage in the last four years, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said in a press conference in New Delhi on Monday.

Outlining the work of the Narendra Modi-led government in its four years of governance, Swaraj said India has secured membership of three export control regimes out of four since this government came to come in 2014, among achieving several other goals in foreign policy.

Addressing her annual press conference, Swaraj said the government has reached out to 186 out of 192 nations through its policies. Here are some of the key topics the Union minister touched upon during her speech on Monday:

Persuading the US over H-1B, H-4 visas

Given the US plan to scrap a rule allowing spouses of H-1B visa holders to work legally in the country, Swaraj said the government would make all efforts to persuade the Trump administration against such a move.

The US government is planning to end the Obama-era rule under which spouses of H1-B visa holders are given work permit or H-4 visa, a move that could affect more than 70,000 such visa holders. A significantly large number of these H-4 visa holders are highly-skilled professionals from India.

When asked about the US administration's move, Swaraj said it was true that President Donald Trump was reviewing the H-4 visa programme and there were reports of its possible revocation. "This is not just for H-4  I am also talking about H1-B visa as well. We are making a three-pronged effort to save these visas. We are talking to the White House, we are talking to state adminstration, and we are also talking to Congressmen and Senators," Swaraj said.

This has yielded results as 130 members of Parliament, both Congressmen and Senators, have written a letter to Trump asking him not to revoke H-4 visas, stating that the American economy will be jolted by it, she said.

"We are trying our best to save H1-B visas, H4 visas. But America is a sovereign country. Ultimately they have to decide. How successful we will be, will be decided in the future. But I assure the country from this platform that we would not spare any effort," she said.

The H-4 visa holders had obtained work permits under a special order issued by the previous Obama administration. Indian-Americans were a major beneficiary of this provision; over 1,00,000 H-4 visa holders have benefited from this rule.

Ties with Maldives

Amid increasing strain in the India-Maldives relationship, Swaraj said that although bilateral ties may have seen ups and downs, they were "not broken and cannot be broken". She added that India plays the role of a counsellor and gives humanitarian assistance to the island nation.

"Maldives is our neighbour. 'India First' is part of their foreign policy. In ties with Maldives, whichever government has been in power (in India), there have been ups and downs. There had been ups and downs in the past, there are (ups and downs) now also. But ties with Maldives are not broken and connot be broken," Swaraj asserted.

Swaraj's remarks come days after Chief Admiral Sunil Lanba said Maldives is a "challenge" for India at the moment as its current government is more inclined towards China. Lanba's remarks indicated that the ties between New Delhi and Male were yet to reach a level of normalcy.

India's ties with Maldives nose-dived after it criticised the Abdulla Yameen government for imposing a 45-day emergency in the archipelago nation earlier in 2018. During the crisis, India had ignored calls for military intervention from Opposition parties in the island nation.

The influence of China over Maldives, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, considered a backyard of India, has been growing and it is seen as a concern in New Delhi.

Maldives neither participated in the multi-national 'MILAN' naval conclave, a congregation of littoral navies conducted biennially by the Indian Navy at the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which was held in mid-March, nor did its defence minister lead his country's delegation to take part in the DefExpo2018.

Bringing Mallya back

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had conveyed his unhappiness to his British counterpart Theresa May over focus on conditions of Indian prisons during court hearings on extradition of fugitive Vijay Mallya to India, according to Swaraj.

Modi, during a meeting with May in London in April, told her that it was not proper for courts to ask about the condition of Indian jails as the British themselves had kept Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other Indian leaders in these prisons, Swaraj said.

"These are the same jails where you (British) had kept Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru and other top Indian leaders," Swaraj said, when asked about focus on conditions in Indian jails during hearing in a British court over Vijay Mallya's extradition to India.

She said Modi, during his talks with May on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, also raised the issue of delay by British authorities in sending back Indian fugitives.

Mallya's lawyers have been opposing Indian Government's plea for extraditing him, citing poor hygiene and overcrowding in Indian jails. A British court is considering India's requests for extradition of Mallya, who is facing charges of fraud and money laundering amounting to around Rs 9,000 crores.

On trade with Iran, Venezuela amid US sanctions

The Ministry of External Affairs on Monday said it will continue trading with Iran and Venezuela despite US sanctions against the two countries, asserting that it only recognises UN restrictions.

"We only recognise UN sanctions. We do not recognise any country-specific sanctions," Swaraj said. She made the remarks while responding to a question on whether US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela will hit India's oil imports from the two countries. Iran is India's third largest oil supplier. Venezuela is also one of the major suppliers of oil to India.

"We don't make our foreign policy under pressure from other countries," she said.

Earlier in May, the US had pulled out from the landmark Iran nuclear deal of 2015 under which Tehran had agreed to stop its sensitive nuclear activities in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions. Announcing the decision, Trump had reimposed sanctions against Iran which were suspended after the nuclear deal was finalised three years ago.

The US had also announced tightening sanctions against Venezuela following re-election of President Nicolas Maduro.

Swaraj also ruled out using cryptocurrency in oil trade with Venezuela saying the Reserve Bank of India had banned it. Her comments came hours before a meeting with Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif who is in New Delhi to seek India's support to salvage the nuclear deal.

China, Russia and several European nations have been trying to salvage the nuclear deal after United States' pullout.

According to the External Affairs Ministry, India-Iran bilateral trade during the 2016-17 fiscal was $12.89 billion. India imported $10.5 billion worth of goods, mainly crude oil, and exported commodities worth $2.4 billion.

On relations with China after Doka La standoff

Swaraj said there was no change in status quo at the face-off site in Doka La, and asserted that a major outcome of last month's informal summit between Modi and Chinese president Xi Jinping was enhancing of mutual trust between the two countries. She said both sides managed to resolve the crisis through dialogue and diplomacy.

"The global community appreciated India for being able to resolve the Doklam standoff with China through dialogue and diplomacy," she said.

Swaraj said there were apprehensions that the standoff would not be resolved without the two neighbouring countries going to war. "There has been no change in the situation at the Doka La face-off site. Status quo is continuing," Swaraj said, replying to a question on the issue.

Asked about reports that some devotees at Kailash Mansarovar in China were not being allowed to take a holy dip in the lake, Swaraj said it was not correct. She said there has been a designated area for taking holy dip in the lake and it continues to be so. Hundreds of Indian pilgrims undertake the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra every year.

Swaraj said the informal summit between Modi and Xi was very successful as all its aims were achieved.

"The aim of the informal summit was to improve easiness in ties, enhance mutual understanding between the two countries on global issues and improve mutual trust. And we achieved all these three objectives," she said.

With inputs from agencies
Honour killings like the two reported in the past two months may be fewer in Kerala, but honour violence is as widespread here as in other parts of the country

Honour killings had been unheard of in Kerala. But the deaths of a 22-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man in a little over two months show 'shame killings' that Keralites believed was mostly a north Indian phenomenon are making their way to the state. The first incident on 22 March shocked Keralites because the accused in the murder of Athira was her father. Rajan, 42, allegedly stabbed his daughter to death since Athira chose a youth outside the family's caste as her life partner. While the girl was from a Thiyya family, her lover Brijesh belonged to a Scheduled Caste (SC).

In the case of 20-year-old Neenu Chacko, from Thenmala in Kollam district, the Dalit background of the youth Kevin P Joseph, whom she married, and the family's lower economic status came in the way of her love and marriage. Eight days after the duo registered their marriage against the wishes of the girl's family, Neenus brother and his friends stormed Kevin's house at Mannanam in Kottayam in the wee hours of a Sunday morning and took the youth away along with a relative. Kevins body was found in a stream near Thenmala in the morning on Monday, while his relative Aneesh was abandoned on the way with injuries.

The incident triggered massive protests against the police as the protesters believed that the cops were unwitting partners in the crime. State Mahila Congress president Lathika Subhash termed Kevin a victim of police negligence. "As soon as Kevin was kidnapped from his house, his father and his wife had lodged man missing persons complaints with the Gandhinagar Police in Kottayam. They were turned away by the police saying that they were busy with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayans visit to the district. If the police had acted in time, Kevin's life could have been saved," Lathika added.

She pointed out that Neenu had shared the identity of the abductors to the police, but they ignored them. They woke from their slumber only after television channels took up the issue, but by then Kevin was already dead. She said that the police had also helped Neenus family by forcing her to go with her parents even after she expressed her decision to go with her husband at a compromise meeting held at the police station a week ago. She was released from their custody after the locals intervened.

Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala of the Congress alleged that the police had helped the family as it had the support of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist). The party rendered the police inactive when it came to stopping the abduction of Kevin and his relative, he added. "While the Edamon unit of the Democratic Federation of India (DYFI) provided support to Neenus family to abduct Kevin and murder him, the Kottayam unit of the CPM tied the hands of the police to give the abductors a free hand," the senior Congress leader said.

With the voting for the Assembly by-election at Chengannur having taken place on Monday, the CPM-led government swung into action swiftly and suspended the Gandhinagar sub-inspector and assistant sub-inspector and transferred the Kottayam district superintendent of police for alleged dereliction of duty. The DYFI, that initially claimed to have played no role in the incident, also announced expulsion of its Edamon unit secretary Niyas, who drove the vehicle used for abducting Kevin as well as another local activist Ishan, who provided logistical support to the gang. Both have been taken into custody by the police.

The actions have not quelled the protests. While workers of the United Democratic Front (UDF) led by senior leaders like Oommen Chandy, Ramesh Chennithala and KM Mani squatted in front of the police station demanding a high-level probe by an officer of the rank of inspector-general, BJPs Yuva Morcha workers took out a march to the station demanding a judicial probe into the death.

The venue of the protests was shifted to the medical college hospital when the Kevin's body was brought in for a postmortem. Congress workers and Dalit activists thronged the medical college demanding the conduct of the autopsy under a revenue divisional officer. The UDF and the BJP have sought to keep the heat on by calling a hartal in the district on Tueday.

The chief minister sought to defend his government saying that he had taken prompt action against the guilty police officials. He told reporters that he had directed the state police chief to take stern action against them if they if they are found guilty.

This is not an isolated case. There have been series of cases where the police has proved a dismal failure in protecting lives and property of the people ever since the LDF government came to power. Action was taken against more than two dozen police officials, including an inspector-general, in similar cases. Yet, the cops have not learnt their lesson.

Women's activists said women were the biggest sufferers under the present dispensation. Devika, associate professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram said that crimes against the women have been on the rise for the past few years. "The police has been lax in dealing with crimes against women. A large number of women who married outside their family's faith are being denied justice by the state police by branding them as cases of love jihad. The love jihad cases being projected by the Sangh Parivar also fall in the honour violence category," Devika told Firstpost.

She said that honour violence was a culmination of the caste feelings gaining strong root in Kerala's society with the waning of the renaissance spirit. The demographic transition that the state has witnessed in the past few decades has aggravated the feelings, she added. "Parents in nuclear families are trying to use girls as tools of their prestige. They want to send the girls to families with higher social and economic status. The parents become intolerant when the girls slip away from their hold," Devika said.

She said that honour killings like the two reported in the past two months may be fewer in Kerala, but honour violence is as widespread here as in other parts of the country. These incidents don't come before the public eye as they are suppressed within the family.

Women's activist Advocate TB Mini said that the caste feeling that remained suppressed in the minds of the people had come to the surface after the BJP and RSS began spreading their wings in the state. The Hindutva ideology they sought to promote in the state had created a conducive atmosphere for the growth of caste feelings. "The CPM and its affiliates that acted as a bulwark against communalism in the past have compromised their ideology for the sake of power. The party has been following an appeasement policy to remain in power. The party has no consistent stand on issues now. It follows what suits it politically," Mini told Firstpost.

She fears that the communal harmony prevailing in Kerala will collapse if secular forces do not rise and check the slow and steady communalisation of society.
Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rajesh Sahni was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday, according to several media reports.

Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Rajesh Sahni was found dead under mysterious circumstances on Tuesday, according to several media reports.

ANI reported that Sahni's body was discovered at the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) office in Lucknow.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Sahni, an additional superintendent of police with the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad, allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with a revolver at point-blank range.

Police has not yet recovered any suicide note from Sahni and is still probing the possible reasons behind the alleged suicide, according to the report.

According to a report in The Times of India, sources said Sahni was on leave but reached the Gomtinagar office of ATS on Tuesday morning. Around 12.50 pm Sahni summoned his gunner Manoj and asked him to bring his service pistol from the vehicle. "He shot himself later," said DIG law and order, on the basis of preliminary findings outside the ATS office, according to the report.

Sahni originally hailed from the Patna district of Bihar and was posted as the additional superintendent of police at at the Uttar Pradesh ATS sine July 2014.

Recruited in July 1997, Sahni was a 1992 batch Provincial Police Services (PPS)officer, according to the report.
The answer keys for JEE Advanced 2018 has been released today on jeeadv.ac.in.

The answer keys for JEE Advanced 2018 has been released today on jeeadv.ac.in. Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) released the provisional answer keys to the JEE Advanced Paper 1 and Paper 2 on their official website on Tuesday, according to reports. The student response sheets and the question papers are available on the official website as well.

IIT-Kanpur, the body that conducted JEE Advanced 2018 had also released the candidates responses to Paper 1 and Paper 2 through the candidate's login. JEE Advanced 2018 exam had concluded on May 20. The exam was conducted by IIT-Kanpur online for the first time. As per the official notification, 1,57,496 candidates appeared for Paper 1 and 1,55,091 candidates appeared for Paper 2. A total of 7,326 candidates were absent for Paper 1 and 9,731 were absent for Paper 2.

The students who skipped one paper are automatically disqualified. The results for JEE Advanced 2018 are expected in June 2018. Students are advised to check their response sheets now. Around 2.33 lakh students qualified for the JEE Advanced 2018 examination this year.

Students are advised to note that only the response sheets of those students who have appeared in both Paper 1 and Paper 2 are released on the official website.

Students should note that only online requests will be accepted. The process of raising objections would be also shared along with dates for JEE Advanced 2018. More updates on the release of JEE Advanced 2018 Answer Keys are awaited.
The Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate of separatists, said on Tuesday that it was ready to hold talks with New Delhi.

Srinagar: Two days after Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said that the government can hold the talks with Hurriyat Conference if they come forward, the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate of separatists, said on Tuesday that it was ready to hold talks with New Delhi.

On Saturday, Rajnath expressed willingness to hold a dialogue with the Hurriyat leadership. A meeting of the JRL was held this afternoon at the residence of Hurriyat (G) chairman Syed Ali Shah Geelani at Hyderpora and was attended by Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chairman Yaseen Malik and Hurriyat (M) chairman Mirwaiz Umer Farooq.

Sources said that the separatists were ready for dialogue with the Government of India (GoI) at the level of the prime minister or home minister. The JRL discussed the dialogue offer by Rajnath but has rued the conflicting statements that have come from Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj. While Modi in his recent visit to Kashmir highlighted the need for development, Swaraj has said that the talks won't be possible with Pakistan if the cross-border "terrorism" continues.

Sources said that the separatists would join the talks if "a clear roadmap" is spelt out by New Delhi. The JRL has, however, said that for the dialogue over the resolution of Kashmir problem the talks should also involve Pakistan.

"For a political redressal of the conflict, dialogue among stakeholders is the best process and option available. As Jammu and Kashmir is a divided territory and half of it is in Pakistan, this dispute has three stakeholders  India, Pakistan and people of this land. The meaningful talks based on a clear agenda underlined by sincerity among the three stakeholders is an assured and peaceful way to resolve the conflict of Kashmir in all its forms and dimensions," the JRL said in a statement.

"The absence of any one stakeholder in the process will not yield any solution. It is also important to have transparency in such a process and an assurance from all sides that promises and pledges made will be honoured. Talks that are so held keeping in view the concerns and needs of stakeholders, especially the most afflicted party, to the satisfaction of all will surely be successful and result oriented," the statement said.

"Any effort that GoI makes in this direction will find takers in Kashmir and Pakistan. Let GoI give clarity on what it wants to talk about and speak in one language... we are ready to join the process. The stakes for people of Kashmir are very high... we have invested heavily in our struggle for our right to self-determination and cannot afford to be part of an ambiguous effort that has no clarity and direction," it added.

After the meeting, the separatists refused to be quoted. JKLF leader Malik said that following the meeting, the JRL decided to issue a joint statement which talks about the stance of separatists on holding a dialogue with New Delhi.

The JRL further said that "statements emanating regarding talks in the course of last few days from different people at the helm of affairs in New Delhi are unclear and ambiguous. While Rajnath says there should be dialogue with both Kashmir and Pakistan, Swaraj puts a rider and says no talks with Pakistan unless terror is stopped and then Amit Shah gives a spin to the ceasefire, that it's not for militants but people while the state DG had issued a statement that it's for militants to come back home," the statement added.

"Modi said in Srinagar that the panacea to the Kashmir problem, according to him, is development and peace is a prerequisite for that to happen, putting the onus of bringing peace on people while absolving the Government of India of all role and responsibility. He deliberately chose to ignore the historical background of the Kashmir problem, it's internal and external dimensions, the reason for the presence of lakhs of his troops here, the daily aggression and the highly volatile situation on the ground and near the LoC, in the conflict-ridden region. It was like Modi was playing a cruel joke on the people," the JRL said.

"Then, a few days back, Rajnath said that they are ready to talk to Pakistan and Hurriyat to which Swaraj added riders and caveats and Shah put out his clarifications, not to upset his electoral calculations. Now the question is what are these talks about which Singh is referring? What is the agenda of these talks? Is it be about Modis suggestion of development? JRL does not want to score points by highlighting the discrepancies and conflicts in their statements but wants to understand what GoI is conveying through them to respond accordingly," the JRL said.

"Since people of Jammu and Kashmir are at the receiving end of the lingering 70-year old conflict, being the worst affected, we are most keen to find an end to it. And hence have always advocated that being a political and human issue, it needs to be addressed likewise, not militarily as GoI has been doing. And for a political redressal of the conflict dialogue among stakeholders is the best process and option available."

The JRL meeting came against the backdrop of the dip in the level of violence in Kashmir after a halt in the anti-militancy operations by the government forces in the ongoing month of Ramzan. Rajnath earlier announced a unilateral ceasefire even as the militants rejected it and continue the attacks on the forces.

The state government and Jammu and Kashmir Police allowed the meeting of JRL as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti had earlier welcomed the offer of dialogue by Rajanth, while the police have said that the situation has improved in Kashmir after the announcement of Ramzan ceasefire. The separatists have been otherwise remaining under house-arrest and their meetings were not allowed earlier.

Mehbooba has said that there was a positive outcome on the ground on account of the Ramzan ceasefire and hoped that Hurriyat Conference "will seize the opportunity and show their responsibility towards the people of the state by displaying the much-needed maturity so that the opportunity is not wasted." She further said, "peaceful engagement among all the stakeholders in the state is urgently needed" and "dialogue is the only way forward for resolving issues."

In Kashmir, the situation has improved considerably and except for the killing of a civilian by forces after an attack by militants on an army camp in Pulwama on Sunday night, the situation has largely remained peaceful.

While the forces have not launched anti-militancy operations inside Kashmir, however cross-border shelling and operations to foil infiltration of militants from Pakistan Occupied Kashmir (PoK) along the international border (IB) and the Line of Control (LoC) have continued. On the day Rajnath said that the government was ready for talks with separatists, five militants were killed along the LoC in Kupwara as the forces foiled an infiltration bid.
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis approved the state's Disaster Management Plan for the year 2018 during a meeting on monsoon preparedness.

Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday approved the state's Disaster Management Plan for the year 2018 during a meeting on monsoon preparedness.

"The CM has approved the State Disaster Management Plan 2018, the Drought Management Plan and Disaster Management Plans in this meeting," a statement from the Chief Minister's Office informed.

Senior ministers Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar along with senior officials from the Army, Navy, Air Force, the State Disaster Management Authority, the Indian Meteorological Department and state and civic bodies were present at the meeting.

Fadnavis emphasised on proper coordination among agencies, proper dissemination of information to citizens and issuing alerts in time.

The statement from the CMO said detailed presentations were given by the IMD on sector-wise predictions, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation on monsoon preparedness and beach safety and the defence forces on harbour assistance and deployment.

The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) also gave a presentation at the meeting, the statement said.

The Divisional Commissioners of Konkan, Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati and Aurangabad regions also presented their monsoon preparedness plans, the statement added.

It added that the World Congress on Disaster Risk Management would be organised in Mumbai soon.
NIA is not going to appeal against the trial court judgment acquitting Swami Assemanand in the Mecca Masjid blast case from 2007

The National Investigative Agency (NIA) is not going to appeal against the trial court judgment acquitting Swami Assemanand in the Mecca Masjid blast case from 2007, according to media reports.

Sources in the NIA reportedly told CNN-News18 that three of the 18 points in the judgement are "tough to contest", which is why the agency will not challenge the Hyderabad court's verdict.

"The judgment by the trial court is sound and there is no evidence against the accused persons at all. So I am sure the judgment was read by the concerned officials and they decided to not contest it," J Sharma, lawyer of Aseemanand, told CNN-News18.

Last month, all five people accused in the 2007 Mecca Masjid blast case were acquitted by the special court due to lack of direct evidence. NIA had then said that it will examine the court judgment after it gets a copy of the same, and decide further course of action.

Days later, the anti-terror court held that the confessional statement of Aseemanand to the police, which he retracted later, was not voluntary. The NIA court also maintained that a person cannot be considered "communal or anti-social" only because of links to the RSS, which is not a banned organisation.

The court also dismissed the prosecution's claim that Aseemanand had confessed to his guilt to two inmates of a prison, saying the CBI, which initially probed the case, had not provided any documentary evidence to back its charge.

"Except the oral testimony of PW (prosecution witness) 104 and PW 105, there is no other record to show that they haven been in Chanchalguda Jail when Aseemanand was lodged there," the court said.

Nine persons were killed and 58 were injured in the blast during Friday prayers at the historic mosque in Hyderabad on 18 May, 2007. Five persons were killed in subsequent police firing near the mosque as protests broke out after the blast. The case, that has been linked with the 2007 Ajmer Sharif Dargah blast, 2008 Malegaon blasts, and the Samjhauta Express attack, has seen many twists and turns in the course of investigation in the last 10 years  from witnesses turning hostile to the lack of evidence.

Ten persons allegedly belonging to right-wing organisations were named as accused in the case. However, only five of them  Devendra Gupta, Lokesh Sharma, Swami Aseemanand alias Naba Kumar Sarkar, Bharat Mohanlal Rateshwar alias Bharat Bhai and Rajendra Chowdhary  were arrested and faced trial in the case. Two other accused  Sandeep V Dange and Ramchandra Kalsangra  are absconding, while another accused Sunil Joshi died. Investigations were on against two other accused.
The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday said it has approved Rs 415 crore for construction of more than 14,000 bunkers along the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) to protect the border residents in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on Monday said it has approved Rs 415 crore for construction of more than 14,000 bunkers along the International Border (IB) and Line of Control (LoC) to protect the border residents in Jammu and Kashmir.

"In view of 1,252 ceasefire violations by Pakistan during the current year, the home minister called for expediting construction of bunkers along the International Border and Line of Control to protect the border residents," the ministry said in a statement.

The bunkers are to be constructed in Kathua, Samba, Jammu, Rajouri and Poonch districts. Work on construction of 1,431 community and more than 13,000 individual bunkers will commence from July, the official statement said.

The announcement came after Home Minister Rajnath Singh reviewed the progress of Jammu and Kashmir Affairs at a high level meeting here. It noted that there was a significant drop in stone-pelting incidents in J&K since the government announced the suspension of operations during the month of Ramadan.

On compensation to victims of cross-border firing, the limit of three milch animals have been removed for losses incurred upon livestock. The minister directed that compensation for livestock may be increased to Rs 50,000 from Rs 30,000 presently.

Rajnath Singh also directed expediting the raising of two new border battalions of state police, for which Rs 105 crore was approved last March, by completing the recruitment by March 2019. These would be raised from people living within 10 kilometres of the IB/LoC.

Besides, five India Reserve Battalions (IRB) are being raised for which 4,690 youth have been recruited. Also, 6,689 Special Police Officers (SPOs) have been appointed out of a total of 10,000 new posts sanctioned. The possibility of filling up of the vacancies of SPOs from border living community may be explored, the statement said.

On relief and rehabilitation programmes for migrants and displaced persons, the minister was informed that 12,763 beneficiaries of displaced persons of Pakistan-administered Jammu and Kashmir have been disbursed Rs 578 crore.

Rajnath Singh directed holding special camps and publicity in regional newspapers for disbursing assistance of Rs 5.5 lakh per family to such displaced people, for which MHA has provided Rs 2,000 crore, the ministry said.

Reviewing the Prime Minister's Development Package worth Rs 80,068 crore, it was informed that nearly Rs 63,000 crore was sanctioned for 63 projects pertaining to 15 central ministries.
Former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking 'appropriate time' for vacating their official residences allotted by the Uttar Pradesh government.

New Delhi: Former Uttar Pradesh chief ministers Mulayam Singh Yadav and his son Akhilesh Yadav on Monday moved the Supreme Court seeking "appropriate time" for vacating their official residences allotted by the Uttar Pradesh government.

The top court had on 7 May held that former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh cannot retain government accommodation after demitting office and said that a chief minister was at par with a common man once his or her term ends.

The two former chief ministers had earlier moved the Uttar Pradesh government's estate department seeking two years' time to vacate their official residences and shifting to their private accommodations in Lucknow.

In their pleas filed through advocate Garima Bajaj, they have sought appropriate time to vacate their official bungalows on various grounds.

While the plea filed by Mulayam Singh Yadav sought sufficient time from the apex court to make arrangements for alternate accommodation, the one by his son Akhilesh has urged the court to consider the security of his family.

"We are requesting the Supreme Court to grant us sufficient time to make arrangements for a suitable alternate accommodation, taking into consideration the security of the petitioner and his family members," Akhilesh said in his plea.

"Grant us sufficient time to make arrangements for a suitable alternate accommodation, taking into consideration the security of the petitioner, age and ill health," plea by Mulayam Singh Yadav said.

The pleas by the father-son duo have been filed in the backdrop of the 7 May apex court judgement that had struck down an amendment in a state legislation allowing former chief ministers to retain government accommodations even after demitting office.

Shortly after this verdict, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Rajasthan governor Kalyan Singh, who were chief ministers earlier, had informed the estate department that they will vacate the government bungalows.

Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh are among the six former chief ministers who have been asked by the estate department to vacate the bungalows within 15 days in pursuance of the Supreme Court's order.

However, former Uttar Pradesh chief minister and BSP supremo Mayawati recently put up a signboard outside her official accommodation in Lucknow announcing that it was a memorial named after the party founder late Kanshiram.

The top court had passed the order on a petition filed by an NGO Lok Prahari challenging the amendments made by the erstwhile Akhilesh Yadav government to the 'Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981'.

In its order, it had observed that a chief minister cannot continue to occupy public property like government bungalows which belong to the people of the country and said the provision had the effect of creating a separate class of citizens for conferment of benefits by way of distribution of public property on the basis of the previous public office held by them

The court, in its 29-page order, had said once such persons demit public office, there is nothing to distinguish them from the common man.

The apex court had also said that in a democratic republican government, public servants, entrusted with duties of public nature, must act in a manner that reflects that the ultimate authority is vested in the citizens and it is to the citizens, that the holders of all public offices are eventually accountable.

The NGO had also challenged another Uttar Pradesh law of 2016 called 'The Allotment of Houses under Control of the Estate Department Bill-2016' to regulate the allotment of government accommodation to trusts, journalists, political parties, Speaker and Deputy Speaker of legislative assembly, judicial officers and government officials.

The apex court had sought the Uttar Pradesh government's response in November 2016, after the plea claimed that state government has sought to skirt the Supreme Court verdict of 1 August, 2016 by amending the law.

In that verdict, the apex court had held that the practice of allotting government bungalows to former chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh was bad in law and they should hand over their possession in two months.

It had also said the state government should recover appropriate rent from the occupants of these bungalows for the period of their "unauthorised occupation".
However noble the intention behind the solar mission, Chandigarh's case shows ramming it down throats of unprepared people could raise unforeseen problems.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push for solar power has not just energised the power space in India but has got international recognition too, as the International Energy Agency which oversees energy policy in industrial nations, has indicated that it is ready to support the prime minister's solar dream for developing nations.

Back in 2015, at the Paris climate talks, India set itself a goal of having 40 percent of its installed capacity powered by renewable energy sources by 2030. Consequently, the solar power capacity target set under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission was upped five times from 22 GW to reach 100 GW by 2022, with an investment of Rs 6 lakh crore.

This is to be achieved principally by generating 40 GW through rooftops and another 60 GW from large and medium scale grid connected solar power projects. The government is providing Rs 15,000 crore as capital subsidy to promote the massive expansion of rooftop solar projects in towns and cities. The central subsidy, presently, covers 30 percent of the expenses incurred in installing a small rooftop solar plant.

As the different states are in various stages of rolling out solar power generation schemes for individuals and institutions, two centrally administered Union Territories of Diu and Chandigarh took the lead. Both have had very different experiences.

Diu is set to become the nation's first 100 percent solar-powered city this year. This distinction is coming its way largely because it set up a 9 MW solar park on 40 acres of barren land in Fudam, in the last two years. From importing electricity from Gujarat, the Union Territory now has surplus power during the day, which it now sells to Gujarat. Government buildings are following the trend with rooftop plants but ordinary residents are only just beginning to get interested in the subsidy being offered by the government.

The Union Territory of Chandigarh had also set a target to be the nation's first solar city but has run into numerous problems, which indicate that while solar power is undoubtedly the manna which can help the nation reduce its carbon footprint, the minutiae of its implementation has to be refined.

In May 2016, the Chandigarh administration took up the prime minister's mission in such earnestness that it made it mandatory for all houses on plots of 500 square yards and above, to install rooftop solar plants within two years, failing which, the plots will be liable to be resumed. Similar plants have to be installed on all educational institutions and government buildings. The directive also makes it mandatory for all new houses coming up in Chandigarh and housing societies to install rooftop power plants.

Even as the administration was applauded in renewable energy circles across the country, for taking this step, in Chandigarh, its denizens have other thoughts. Arbitrary orders to the owners of 20,000 old houses, many of them on sprawling plots in the greenest parts of the city and mostly inhabited by retired government officials, has led to outrage and anger.

By the end of the deadline, which ended last week, only 1,100 owners had obeyed the administration's orders, and allegations of them being forced and dictatorial are heard loud. Many are not willing to strain their financial capacities by installing a plant which costs upward of Rs 2 lakh, even after subsidy.

Even as the deadline was extended earlier this month, by another six months due to public pressure, one 97-year-old retired army officer moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the administration's orders. Col Pritpal Singh Gill (Retd) has argued in his petition that he was under great mental stress and disturbed by the "illegal and arbitrary" action of the Chandigarh administration, which has made installation of solar rooftop plants mandatory. The court has since issued a notice to the administration.

Then there are those like Pallav Bannerjee, an architect, who see the threat of resumption notices as sheer intimidation. Given the Chandigarh experience, getting the manna of solar energy on every rooftop is not going to be that easy.

It is, however, worth examining the experiences of the few who have indeed installed these rooftop plants out of altruistic or other motivations. Among them is Maj Gen Pushpendra Singh (Retd), who installed a five-kilowatt rooftop solar plant on the roof of his 500 square yard house, last year, "to join in the movement to reduce our carbon footprint" and to set an example for others in his neighbourhood to emulate.

"I am happy that my electricity bills have come down drastically and sometimes the meter even shows that I have generated surplus power. This gives me the satisfaction that I have generated some clean energy for myself as well as for others." But people like him are in the minority.

Raman Mann described the government scheme as a "rip off". Ruing the decision to install a three-kilowatt plant on the roof of her farm early this year, Raman is most upset because even after having a generation plant on her roof, she still does not get a 24-hour power supply. That is because power supply to all such houses comes the usual way from the power grid. And, whenever there is a power outage, they suffer like the others.

"I was under the impression that my power plant will service my house and whatever surplus electricity I generate, will go to the grid," she said. But it doesn't work like that. All rooftop power plants transfer all the electricity generated by them to the common grid and not directly to the power lines of the house owner.

Moreover, the plant needs electricity to run and whenever there is an outage, the rooftop solar plant also stops working. "When I asked the company which installed the plant, I was told that this is the only technology which we have at present." If she needs a 24-hour power supply, she will have to install a power inverter just like everyone else. Raman typifies the experience of many residents and is one reason why there is little enthusiasm for rooftop plants on residences.

The Union government has made it compulsory for each state to have at least two such solar cities, where all residential buildings above a certain area will have rooftop solar plants.

But one thing is clear, that however noble the intention, and resolute the purpose, ramming it down the throats of unprepared people could throw up unforeseen problems. So far, the response from residents in Diu has been lukewarm as well.

Among those cities who are keen to make a solar mark is Varanasi, in the prime minister's own Lok Sabha constituency. A recent report by the Centre for Environment and Energy Development said that just 8.7 percent of the total eligible Varanasi roof space within the 69 square kilometres of built-up area in the city's municipal corporation area can generate its total potential of 676 MW.

Just how will it motivate the residents of this congested city to install the rooftop plants is the question which governments will encounter in town after town as it accelerates its renewable energy plan across the country, to achieve the target set for 2022.
Nine persons were killed and six others injured in incidents of thunderstorm and lightning in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, a senior government official said

Lucknow: Nine persons were killed and six others injured in incidents of thunderstorm and lightning in some parts of Uttar Pradesh, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

As many as five persons were killed and four others injured as lightning struck some parts of Unnao district on Monday night, Principal Secretary (Information) Avinish Awasthi said.

There are also reports of two persons each being killed in thunderstorm in Kanpur and Rae Bareli, he said.

Respective district magistrates have been directed to undertake rescue works and ensure distribution of relief in 24 hours, Awasthi added.
With the source of the Nipah virus outbreak that has caused 14 deaths in Kerala's Kozhikode and Malappuram districts yet to be ascertained, a batch of fresh five samples from fruit bats will be sent on Wednesday to the Bhopal-based National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases, said officials.

Kozhikode: With the source of the Nipah virus outbreak that has caused 14 deaths in Kerala's Kozhikode and Malappuram districts yet to be ascertained, a batch of fresh five samples from fruit bats will be sent on Wednesday to the Bhopal-based National Institute of High-Security Animal Diseases, said officials.

"The samples of fruit bats have been taken from the place where four deaths on account of Nipah virus from one family took place near here. These samples are being sent through a special messenger," said an official on Tuesday.

The move comes after 21 samples from bats and pigs were sent to the Bhopal lab last week but all tested negative as per the results which came out on Friday.

Those samples were taken from bats, found in the house of Moosa of Perambara near Kozhikode, as well as two of his sons and another relative, died after testing positive for Nipah virus.

Both sets of samples have been collected from the same place, but from different varieties of bats that are found in common near Moosa's house.

While the number of fresh fever cases have come down, three more patients who tested positive are under treatment at the Kozhikode Medical college hospital.

In a related development, Kozhikode police have registered a case after the district medical officer filed a complaint that a fake letter under her name and style is being widely circulated indicating that no one should eat chicken, as it has been found to spread Nipah virus.
Delhi police told a court in New Delhi that Sunanda Pushkar, in an email sent to her husband and Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor, had expressed her desire to die, justifying its charges of abetment to suicide and cruelty against the parliamentarian, a charge he dubbed 'preposterous' and his party called 'baseless'.

The Delhi Police told a court in New Delhi that Sunanda Pushkar, in an email sent to her husband and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, had expressed her desire to die, justifying its charges of abetment to suicide and cruelty against the parliamentarian, a charge he dubbed "preposterous" and his party called "baseless".

Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that there was sufficient evidence to proceed against Tharoor and requested the court to accept the chargesheet and issue summons to the Lok Sabha member as an accused in the case.

In a depressed email, Sunanda had expressed desire to die, court told

The prosecutor informed the court that Sunanda was depressed and, in an email, written on 8 January, 2014 to Tharoor, she had expressed her desire to die.

"I have no will to live. All I pray for is death," prosecutor Shrivastava read out the relevant line of the email written by Sunanda to Tharoor. He told the court that Pushkar's mail and messages in social media had been taken as dying declaration.

He told the court that the cause of her death was poisoning. Some 27 tablets of Alprax were found in her room but it is not clear how many she had consumed. The prosecutor cited the postmortem report that stated that there were injury marks on her body.

Shrivastava also told the court that Tharoor as a husband ignored Sunanda when she was taking pills to overcome depression. Instead they had frequent fights, the prosecutor said citing witnesses' statement to substantiate allegations levelled against the Congress leader.

The police also disclosed that Tharoor ignored her calls and disconnected them. He told the court the Tharoors married in October 2010. Two days prior to Sunanda's death, heated arguments were exchanged between them on a flight from Thiruvananthapuram to Delhi. The fight continued at the Delhi airport, the police said.

After hearing the submission, the court set 5 June to deliver its order on accepting the charges against Tharoor.

Chargesheet against Tharoor: Marks found on Sunanda's body, cops say could have been caused due to scuffle between her and Tharoor

The chargesheet was filed in the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Dharmender Singh in Delhi. The chargesheet mentions that the body of Sunanda bore "scuffle marks" when it was found in a luxury hotel room in New Delhi on 17 January, 2014. "These (marks) seem to have been caused due to scuffle between Sunanda 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 that 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 Sunanda's death, which was investigated by a Special Investigation Team of South District police.

Charge against Tharoor was 'conspiratorial BJP leadership... seeking revenge'

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 24 May. 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 Sunanda made "no allegations against anyone".

Sunanda, 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 Sunanda'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!" he remarked.

With inputs from PTI and IANS
Pakistan Army ordered a Court of Inquiry into the revelations made by former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General (Retired) Asad Durrani in his recent book.

Islamabad: Pakistan's powerful army on Monday ordered a Court of Inquiry into the revelations made by former Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lieutenant General (Retired) Asad Durrani and approached the government to place his name on the Exit Control List (ECL) to prevent him from leaving the country.

Durrani, who headed the ISI agency from August 1990 till March 1992, along with Indian former RAW chief AS Dulat has recently published a book titled 'The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' in India.

He was summoned to the General Headquarters on Monday to explain his position on the book 'Spy Chronicles', said a statement issued on Monday by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan military's media wing.

"A formal Court of Inquiry headed by a serving lieutenant general has been ordered to probe the matter in detail," the statement said.

It also said that "competent authority" has been approached to place the name of Durrani on ECL.

Durrani has expressed dismay at his "own people" after facing severe backlash over his recent book that landed him in controversy. He was also targeted by some retired senior army officers on different TV talk shows.

Lieutenant General (Retired) Abdul Qayyum and Major General (Retired) Ijaz Awan questioned the motive behind releasing the book on internet.

Durrani was apparently summoned after ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif demanded an urgent meeting of the high-powered National Security Committee (NSC) to discuss a recent book co-authored by a former spy chiefs of Pakistan and India.

Also, former chairman Senate Raza Rabbani and prominent leader of Pakistan People's Party criticised the joint book by rival spy chiefs and said if it was written by a civilian, he would have been branded as traitor.
The Tamil Nadu government on Monday ordered a complete shutdown of the Sterlite copper plant in Toothukudi (also called Tuticorin), after days of protests which saw 13 people losing their lives in police firing.

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday ordered a complete shutdown of the Sterlite copper plant in Toothukudi (also called Tuticorin), after days of protests which saw 13 people losing their lives in police firing.

According to a report in The News Minute, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami said told reporters on Monday, "For a long time people of Thoothukudi were demanding the closure of the plant. Around 2: 30 pm today (Monday) various officials met me and the Deputy Chief Minister and demanded that the plant be closed. This is a move by Ammas government respecting the feelings of the people".

However, people were quick to see through this move of the AIADMK government. Many have called it a political gimmick which has been announced to save the party's face. Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam chief TTV Dhinakaran tweeted, The Tamilnadu government has issued notice to permanently close the Sterlite plant and this is a victory for the people. However, it is painful to see that the government has been victimized by many lives and has been released after the death of hundreds of victims in physical and mental conditions".

However, founder of Makkal Neethi Maiyam, actor-turned politician, Kamal Haasan termed the plant closure as a "victory of the people". "The recent order of the Tamil Nadu Government for permanent closure of the Sterlite Copper unit in Thoothukudi is a victory for the might of the people. All political parties should humble themselves before this victory of the people; salute the martyrs and learn from them", he tweeted. In a series of tweets thereafter Haasan expressed grief over the Tamil Nadu government's inability to take swift action which led to the "unfortunate loss of lives". He also said that "any legal challenge to this order by the Company should be defended appropriately by the State Government to ensure that the present order is permanently implemented".

Actor Rajinikanth dedicated the order to those who lost their lives in the 22 May violence and hoped for no such protests to occur in the future, in an audio message on Twitter.

Opposition leader and DMK working president MK Stalin said, "Had this Government Order been passed before the death of 13 people, we would have welcomed it. But now, it looks like it has a hidden agenda. This move by the state government is mere eyewash. If victims of Tuticorin dont get justice, we will approach the court," News18 reported.

Vaiko, founder of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) and one of the petitioners in the 2010 Madras High Court case against Sterlite, alleged that the Tamil Nadu government's order is merely a farce. Their intention is to escape the peoples wrath with this order. The Sterlite issue is far from over, the courts decision has to come and whether it will be a repeat of 2013, I do not know", The Economic Times quoted him as saying.

Though the case will now face a legal trial but according to the News18 report, deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam has said that "even if their order gets challenged legally, it will be faced strongly and the government will take resolute steps to permanently close down the copper unit".
India and Iran reviewed bilateral, regional and global issues during a meeting between Sushma Swaraj and her Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.

New Delhi: India and Iran on Monday reviewed bilateral, regional and global issues during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif in Delhi.

"They, inter alia, discussed bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual interest," the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.

It said the two sides positively assessed the implementation of decisions taken during the visit of Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to India earlier this year.

"These included bilateral cooperation in the areas of connectivity, energy, trade and promotion of people to people contacts," it said.

Monday's meeting comes after the US withdrew from the nuclear deal signed in 2015 between Iran, the European Union and the P5+1 group (five permanent members of the UN Security Council, plus Germany).

According to the External Affairs Ministry statement, Zarif briefed Sushma Swaraj about the discussions that Iran has undertaken with parties to the nuclear deal following the US decision to withdraw.

It said Sushma Swaraj conveyed that all parties to the deal should engage constructively for peaceful resolution of the issues that have arisen with respect to it.

Earlier on Monday, at her annual press conference, Sushma Swaraj made it clear that India does not recognise country-specific sanctions.

"Our foreign policy is not made under pressure from other countries.. We recognise UN sanctions and not country-specific sanctions," she said.

India and Iran have friendly relations and significant trade ties in many areas, particularly in crude oil imports into India and diesel exports to Iran.

Iran is the second largest supplier of crude oil to India, supplying more than 4,25,000 barrels of oil per day, and India is one of the biggest foreign investors in Iran's oil and gas industry.

India, along with Iran and Afghanistan, are jointly developing the strategic Chabahar port in the southeastern coast of Iran that will give access to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.

According to the ministry statement, the other members of the delegation accompanying Zarif had separate meetings with their Indian counterparts earlier in the day "where they discussed measures for practical cooperation between the two sides".
The allotment of land for the proposed expansion of Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin was on Tuesday cancelled 'in larger public interest' by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT), an official release said.

Chennai: The allotment of land for the proposed expansion of Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin was on Tuesday cancelled "in larger public interest" by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT), an official release said.

The move comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Sterlite Copper plant following last week's protests, over pollution concerns, during which 13 people were killed in police firing. "As the allotment of land for the proposed expansion has been made by SIPCOT, in larger public interest, the land allotment made by SIPCOT for the proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled," SIPCOT said in its communication to the Vedanta group.

"The land price collected for the said land allotment will be refunded as per the norms of SIPCOT," it said. There have been a series of agitations against the establishment of a copper plant at the SIPCOT industrial complex in Tuticorin, about 600 kilometres from here, expressing concerns about the pollution caused, it added.

An official release here said, "The cancellation of allotment of 342.22 acres of land has been made in larger public interest and this has been communicated to the company."

Read the full order here:

Chief Minister K Palaniswami had on Monday said the state government had issued the directive to seal and 'permanently' close the copper unit, in deference to the 'sentiments' of the people. "In deference to the opinion and sentiments of the general public, it was decided to close down the Sterlite plant and a Government Order has been issued today," he had said. Vedanta Ltd termed the closure "unfortunate" and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.

The Madras High Court had on 23 May stayed the expansion of the Vedanta's copper smelter plant in Tuticorin district on a petition filed by environmental activist Fathima Babu. The petitioner submitted that Vedanta Limited should be restrained from carrying out activities in the lands on which the proposed copper smelter-unit II was being constructed.

The court had also directed the Centre to submit within four months a report after holding a public hearing in the district to invite public opinion on the plan for expansion. The locals were protesting for the closure of the factory for 99 days. Protesters turned violent on 22 May, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police action against them last Tuesday and Wednesday.
Thousands of farmers drove down to the office of the local authorities in Samrala, Ludhiana to hand over the keys of their tractors as part of a unique protest against the rising diesel prices.

Chandigarh: Thousands of farmers drove down to the office of the local authorities in Samrala, Ludhiana to hand over the keys of their tractors as part of a unique protest against the rising diesel prices.

Organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal), the protesters alleged apathy on the part of the central government claiming that the incessant fuel price hikes were only adding to the woes of the debt-ridden farmers.

"The price of diesel, which is an important input cost of cultivation, has risen so sharply that it has gone out of the reach of the farmers," BKU (Rajewal) chief Balbir Singh Rajewal said.

The increase in the diesel prices has come at a time when paddy sowing is going to start next month. As per rough estimates, the rise in the fuel rates will put an additional burden of Rs 400-600 per hour for ploughing operations," he claimed.

The livid farmers blamed the high fuel prices for agricultural activities getting severely affected.

"It has become unviable to carry out farming activities because of the fuel price hikes. We have come here on our tractors to hand over the keys to the district administration as we cannot afford to use them," a farmer lamented.

As hundreds of tractors converged on the Chandigarh-Ludhiana road in Samrala, the commuters had a harrowing time, while the administration scrambled to manage the massive traffic snarl.
Haryana minister Anil Vij, who is known for his controversial statements, on Sunday compared Congress president Rahul Gandhi with the deadly Nipah Virus.

Haryana health minister Anil Vij, who is known for his controversial statements, on Sunday compared Congress president Rahul Gandhi with the deadly Nipah virus, that has claimed many lives across the country.

"Rahul Gandhi is similar to Nipah Virus. Any political party that comes in contact with him will be destroyed," Vij tweeted.

This is not the first time that Vij has targeted Gandhi. Last year, he had said that the decision to make Gandhi Congress president would help Prime Minister Narendra Modi achieve his dream of a Congress-mukt Bharat (Congress-free India).

He had also said previously that it was good to know that Gandhi uses the same plate to feed his dog and those who visit his home, for he doesn't discriminate between his dog and Congress workers.

Vij had also made the news for his other barbs. He had earlier said that Bhagat Singh and Lala Lajpat Rai had made the 'supreme sacrifice' for India, unlike Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi, who did not bear even a single stick.

Last year, he had also said that West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee should jump into the sea if she is ashamed of being born an Indian'.

The Nipah virus claimed one more life in Kozhikode district of Kerala on Sunday, taking the overall death toll to 14. It has now been close to a week since the dreaded Nipah virus outbreak hit Kozhikode in north Kerala.

Nipah virus (NiV) infection in humans has a range of clinical presentations, from asymptomatic infection to acute respiratory syndrome and fatal encephalitis, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

The Kozhikode health department is maintaining vigilance in the wake of three deaths there reportedly due to the virus. Two more persons, who were allegedly in contact with the deceased, are believed to be in a serious condition.

With inputs from agencies.
Though bye-election for two other Lok Sabha constituencies and 10 assembly seats also saw polling Monday, the most significant were Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, and Palghar in Maharashtra

A fissure growing within the BJP-led NDA coalition? An added impetus to the grand alliance of anti-BJP parties? Observers are focussing attention on two Lok Sabha bypolls, voting for which took place on Monday, to try and discern if there is such a trend.

Though by-election for two other Lok Sabha constituencies and 10 assembly seats also saw polling Monday, the most significant were Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, and Palghar in Maharashtra.

In Kairana, the grand alliance against BJP is at play, with the Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Samajwadi Party supporting the Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate Tabassum Hassan, who had won in 2009 on a BSP ticket, against BJPs Mriganka Singh, daughter of BJP winner in 2014 Hukum Singh whose death necessitated the bypoll.

In Palghar, the Shiv Sena, part of the NDA coalition with the BJP in the state and Centre, has fielded a candidate against the BJP. Kairana assumes significance as the BJP had lost the March by-election in Gorakhpur, the chief minister's stronghold from where he has won five times, and Phulpur, to a combined opposition.

Punctuated by faulty machines, clashes, violations

Much analysis will be done on the status of the NDA and the grand anti-BJP alliance, which held a massive photo-op in Bangalore just a week ago, when the results of these two and the other bypolls held Monday, punctuated by complaints of faulty electronic voting machines (EVM), clashes among supporters of the contesting political parties, and allegations of violation of poll code, are decided on 31 May.

As the BJP starts its preparations for the 2019 general elections, the Kairana and Palghar results could loom large in its thinking.

Kairana is a microcosm of the caste and communal polarisation that has been fuelled in Uttar Pradesh. The constituency had caused a major political controversy for the supposed exodus of Hindus from there allegedly due to fear of growing Muslim population in the area. It also has a significant Jat voter base, which the RLD is expected to exploit. Which is why it is being seen as an important test for the much talked about grand alliance to stop Narendra Modis victory march before the 2019 elections.

Palghar in Maharashtra is seen as a big test for the BJP-led NDA alliance. Its long-time ally Shiv Sena has been particularly restive of late. Whatever rapport his father Balasaheb Thackeray had with the BJP, son Uddhav wants to rethink.

This poll is as much a test for Shiv Sena as it is a prestige fight for BJP chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, for whom too many things have gone wrong of late  the Dalit unrest in Bhima Koregaon, the farmers march, and his own antipathy towards the Shiv Sena, which has been openly talking about breaking off from the BJP and going it alone in 2019.

Shiv Sena and BJP

A victory in Palghar will bolster that line of thought and the contestants themselves are an interesting lot. Shiv Sena candidate Shriniwas Wanga, for instance, is the son of late BJP MP Chintaman Wanga whose death in January necessitated the bypoll, while the BJP has fielded Congress deserter Rajendra Gavit.

Palghar, taken together with Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumars recent criticism of demonetisation, finds political observers seeing the BJPs main allies trying to reposition themselves before next years elections. Kairana in UP is one of the most important seats for BJP and the rest as it will bring out the mood of the people, said Jatinder Singh, Assistant professor of political science, Punjabi University.

Shiv Senas decision to contest the Palghar seat against BJP is because the party doesnt want to lose its space to BJP in the region. Todays bypolls in different states is an acid test for BJP and the other parties who are projecting for a grand alliance in 2019. The by-elections were spread over Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Meghalaya and Nagaland where BJP had formed governments either alone or in alliance with local parties.

Inevitably, complaints against the EVMs came in from every constituency. In Punjab, the Shahkot assembly bypoll saw Congress chief minister Amarinder Singh put up a strong challenge against the Akali Dal in its stronghold. Clashes between SAD and Congress supporters were reported, with former chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal asking the Election Commission to check distribution of liquor in the constituency.

EVM, VVPAT and the Balllot?

The EVMs are now the favourite target of all parties. Serious questions were raised over malfunction of EVMs in large numbers at several crucial polling booths across the country. Political leaders from various parties raised questions over the Election Commissions preparedness. Reports of faulty EVMs and malfunctioning of VVPAT (Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail) units started pouring in from various polling booths UP, Maharashtra and Bihar as soon as voting started.

With BSPs Mayawati having raised the EVM bogey after her huge defeat in the assembly elections, the two UP constituencies which saw polling Monday  Kairana and Noorpur assembly seat  saw numerous complaints and allegations being made.

Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) candidate from Kairana, Tabassum Hasan told media persons that the EVMs in Muslim and Dalit dominated areas where BJP knows there is no hope of their victory have been tampered with. Samajwadi Party Chief Akhilesh Yadav tweeted about it. In Noorpur, polling was disrupted in more than 211 booths. The EC rushed engineers to fix about 140 EVM and VVPAT machines.

Samajwadi Partys state president Naresh Uttam Patel complained to the election commission highlighting the snags in the EVMs.

It seems that the BJP led state government is trying to dislodge a strong opposition by planting EVMs that are not working properly, he wrote to the EC. EVMs in at least 113 booths in Noorpur constituency developed snags in morning the letter said.

In Maheshtala in West Bengal, voters from Maheshtala College informed the authorities that the machines were taking too long to register their votes. Though EC claimed to have fixed the problem, voters were not satisfied. Voting was delayed in Jharkhands Gomia assembly constituency due to technical snags in EVMs at several booths.

In Chaukta of Bihar, polling booths were deserted as voters boycotted the polls after complaining of lack of infrastructure development, particularly roads and a bridge that hasn't been fixed for four years.

Several Muslim and Dalit-dominated areas reported EVM malfunctioning, RLD candidate Tabassum Begum has complained to the Election Commission, according to the Newslaundry.

BJP calls EVM tampering false alarm

Praful Patel of NCP (Nationalist Congress Party, Maharashtra) said about 25 percent of the machines were faulty and demanded re-poll at such booths. Shiv Senas Sanjay Raut blamed the BJP for the EVMs malfunctioning. "They (BJP) are distributing money, switching off EVM machines," he alleged. "Earlier, people used to capture booths. Today they have the keys of the EVM. Election Commission is under tremendous pressure from the government. Returning Officer fears for his job and refuses to take cognizance of ill-practises by the BJP," Raut said.

The BJP hit back, saying the opposition were poor losers and blamed the EVMs for their electoral defeats. Whenever the opposition knows it would lose it starts a false bogey of tampering in EVMs, said Maharashtra BJP media in-charge Harish Chandra Srivastava. The BJP has requested the Election Commission to take corrective measures and hold re-polling wherever necessary.

Meanwhile, Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat said that an assessment would be done after the polling is completed. The polls are being conducted as per the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and a call would be taken in evening when the polling is held everywhere. Re-polling at any place would be decided only after consulting with the election officers analysing the ground situation said Rawat.

The authors are are freelance writers and members of 101reporters.com, a pan-India network of grassroots reporters
Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani on Tuesday said Dalits would take a pledge to not vote for the BJP in upcoming Rajasthan elections.

Nagpur: Gujarat MLA Jignesh Mewani on Tuesday said Dalits would take a pledge to not vote for the BJP in upcoming Rajasthan elections under a campaign which will be later extended to Maharashtra.

Addressing a gathering in Nagpur, the first-time MLA and Dalit leader said the saffron party would "long" for Dalit votes in all upcoming polls but would never get them.

"We will ensure that Dalit votes don't go to the BJP. We will make Dalits take a pledge not to vote for the BJP. At least one lakh Dalits will take the oath in name of BR Ambedkar. This campaign will also be conducted in all districts of Maharashtra," he said while addressing 'Manavadhikar Parishad' (human rights conference) organised by the Republican Youth Federation.

BJP-ruled Rajasthan is going to polls later this year.

Attacking the BJP, Mewani said the saffron party is anti-Constitution, fascist, and believes in "Manusmriti" (an ancient book of Hindu law which liberals dub as casteist).

Mewani also criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, terming him the "biggest liar" of Century.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi is the biggest liar of the century. He had promised creation of 2 crore jobs every year before coming to power. However, even after completing four years in office, not even 8 lakh jobs were created," he said.

In a dig, Mewani said, "...At least give jobs to unemployed workers of ABVP (Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad), RSS, and BJP."

"If the prime minister really wants to work for people he can create 25 lakh jobs in government sector overnight. At least 15 lakh teachers can be appointed in primary and higher primary schools in the country and two lakh more people can be appointed in railways. Similarly, if Modi wants five lakh doctors can be appointed in primary health centres, district hospitals and community health centres in the country," he said.

However, instead of creating jobs in government, Modi will sell Air India, the legislator said.

Replying a query on former President Pranab Mukherjee accepting an invitation to attend an RSS event here next month, Mewani said, "I think he should bring a lock and lock the RSS here".
Under mounting pressure for honouring his pre-poll promise of waiving farm loans of Rs 53,000 crore, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has called a meeting of farmers' organisations.

Bengaluru: Under mounting pressure for honouring his pre-poll promise of waiving farm loans of Rs 53,000 crore, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has called a meeting of farmers' organisations on Wednesday to discuss the issue, officials said.

Kumaraswamy will hold a meeting with representatives of farmers' groups and agriculturists to discuss loan waiver, farmer suicides, and other problems faced by them, officials at the Chief Minister's Office said.

Deputy chief minister G Parameshwara will also attend the meeting, they said, adding that Leader of Opposition in the Assembly BS Yeddyurappa has also been invited.

Kumaraswamy on Tuesday chaired a meeting of senior officers on the issue that was attended by Chief Secretary K Ratna Prabha, Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) ISN Prasad, Development Commissioner DV Prasad, and Additional Chief Secretary to the Chief Minister M Lakshminarayana.

The chief minister had recently said he was committed to waiving farm loans or else would retire from politics, and asked people not to fall prey to the "BJP's conspiracy".

He had also said he was ready with the guidelines on loan waiver details of which will be disclosed on Wednesday.

Seeking to turn the heat on Kumaraswamy, the BJP had appealed to farmers and the public to "voluntarily observe a bandh" across Karnataka on Monday to protest the "failure" of the chief minister to honour his farm loan waiver promise within 24 hours of coming to power, but it had evoked a tepid response.

Kumaraswamy, who had made the promise in the run-up to the elections, later sought time, saying since he was heading a coalition government with the Congress he would have to consult the alliance partner before taking a decision.

He had also said he would have to take into account the financial condition of the state before taking the decision.

Putting the new government on notice, Yeddyurappa has threatened to take the next course of action if Kumaraswamy failed to deliver on his promise within a week.

According to experts and senior government officials, the promise, if met, will have a huge impact on the state's financial health.

Kumaraswamy has called the meeting with peasant groups at a time when there is still no clarity over the cabinet expansion amid reports of lack of consensus in the ruling coalition over the allocation of key portfolios, especially finance.

The JD(S) is reportedly insisting on keeping the finance portfolio, which the Congress also wants.
Clarifying his remarks that he was at the 'mercy' of the Congress, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said he did not mean to show disrespect to the people but stress the fact that his continuance in the post depended on the coalition partner.

New Delhi: Clarifying his remarks that he was at the "mercy" of the Congress and not the people, Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday said he did not mean to show disrespect to the people but stress the fact that his continuance in the post depended on the coalition partner.

Kumaraswamy, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top Congress leaders in the national capital, said he was committed to waive farm loans or else he would retire from politics. He urged the people not to fall prey to "BJP's conspiracy".

The JD(S) leader, who was sworn in as Karnataka chief minister last week after the Congress extended support to his party, said he was ready with the guidelines on farm loan waiver, details of which would be disclosed on Wednesday.

"I am the chief minister who has the responsibility to six-and-half crore people of the state. My remark that I am at the mercy of the Congress party meant that I am chief minister as long as their support is with me, and to run any programmes I will need their support is what I said," he said, while seeking to clarify his remarks which evoked sharp criticism from the BJP.

"In a coalition government, I never said it won't be possible to waive farm loan. What I had said was that in a coalition government, whatever decisions have to be taken would be in consultation and with permission from coalition partner Congress.

"Why are you (media) spreading that Kumaraswamy took a U-turn or right turn, I don't understand...Don't twist my statements and confuse people," he said on the BJP's criticism.

Slamming his opponents for giving a twist to his remarks, Kumaraswamy said that in the run-up to the Assembly polls, he had asked the people to give him a clear mandate so that he could work independently under the obligation of people. "My appeal was rejected by the people of the state," he told reporters.

Karnataka BJP leaders flayed Kumaraswamy's remark, saying he was "deriding his own people" and doubted his credentials to serve them.

Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda took to Twitter asking Kumaraswamy if he would compromise the interests of Kannadigas just to retain power. The BJP unit in Karnataka tweeted, "One can only imagine the kind of loot he will preside to impress his Congress bosses."

BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya termed the chief minster's remarks as "the most brazen admission ever" and expressed apprehensions that Karnataka "will bleed" under the present state government "while JD(S)-Congress fill up their coffers".

Assuring people on the issue of farm loan waiver, he said, "I have clearly said that I will waive farm loan. I had promised during election that I would do it within 24 hours (of assuming office). That is true. At least you should give time to breathe. Today, I have limitations."

"If I don't do it, (I) have clearly said that I will retire from politics and I will resign as chief minister. Why cannot you wait for some time?" Kumaraswamy told reporters after meeting the prime minister.

He said he heard statements by BJP leaders including BS Yeddyurappa on the issue of farm loan waiver and was not like the BJP leader who is sitting quiet.

"The guidelines to waive farm loans have been kept ready. It will be made public on Wednesday in Bengaluru," he told reporters.

The Karnataka chief minister accused the BJP of conspiring and urged people not to fall prey to it. He said his government was for the people and he would serve the people till the time he was the chief minister.

"Don't panic and get confused (by BJP statements). Not only on farm loan issue, I will work on other matters related to people. There will be a difference when I work as chief minister," he claimed.

Before his meeting with the prime minister, Kumaraswamy also met top Congress leaders in the national capital to work out power-sharing arrangement with the Congress.

"BJP is trying to convince people that we are not going to waive farm loan. Four farmers have committed suicide. Who will take responsibility of their family? Will Yeddyurappa take the responsibility?" he asked.

On the ongoing discussions with Congress leaders over portfolio allocation in Delhi, he said,

"Without having any confusion, we are taking care that nothing hampers the stability of this government. On the issue of cabinet expansion and portfolio allocation, we are taking every one into confidence."

To a query on who would get the finance portfolio, the chief minister said, "We have had discussions on that as well."

He said "...their party national president (Rahul Gandhi) is not in town, we have decided to take final decision after bringing to his notice about the discussions that have taken place today."

Asked if the cabinet expansion would be delayed, he said even when there is a single party government, there would be several issues regarding cabinet expansion and portfolios.

"This is a coalition government, in such a government at the initial stage itself we will have to show generosity to give and take...discussions have taken place in this regard, there is no confusion, and everything will be fine."

"Both sides have to show generosity," he said in response to a question, while adding that there are no issues and government would function smoothly for the next five years.

"We are working towards creating a platform of mutual trust for the smooth functioning of this government that includes coordination committee and common minimum programme," he said.
Meanwhile, the finance portfolio is the biggest bone of contention between Congress, JD(S)

Former Congress chief minister Siddaramiah is at the moment probably wearing a wide smirk of self satisfaction. He could not prevent the Congress high command from rushing into an arrangement with the JD(S) as chief minister. He could not prevent state Congress chief G Parameshwara from becoming the deputy chief minister. He is in no way involved in the negotiations over portfolios. But he will play a part in the ministers' selection. After all, even if it is as dissident in chief, he can claim credit for the overall Congress vote percentage being higher than the BJP and double that of the JD(S).

The delay in ministry formation is not only a tussle over portfolios. It is also the ever-present Congress malaise: too many factions and too many claimants for too few posts. And Congress does have a long history of sidelining popular state leaders.

It is not clear who exactly Ghulam Nabi Azad in Delhi is listening to from Bangalore on this. Apparently, it is not DK Shivakumar, former energy minister, the richest MLA in the state with declared assets of over Rs 200 crore, and the man who claims full credit for keeping the Congress' flock together till the coallition government could pass the floor test. Shivakumar was hoping to be immediately rewarded with an invitation to the governor's podium when as the deputy chief minister of the state. Now he is positioning himself as the preeminent Vokkaliga leader in Congress and will be wanting a suitable reward  perhaps a plush portfolio or the presidentship of the state Congress  for the services rendered. His denials of any differences with the party leadership in the state and Delhi have not convinced anyone.

Meanwhile, the finance portfolio is the biggest bone of contention between the two alliance partners. JD(S) needs the ministry to keep its core constituency of farmers happy and to implement the various freebies it had promised, while Congress wants it to fill its empty coffers before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Ministries like irrigation and industry, which have the potential to help Congress raise money, are some of the other contentious portfolios.

But the bigger problem for Congress will be in selecting 22-23 ministers, even after it is able to sort out the differences over portfolio distribution with JD(S). The party urgently needs to placate the Lingayat-Veerashaiva group, which has about 20 MLAs, and to whom BJP's BS Yediyurappa had appealed to 'listen to their conscience' on trust vote day. They will want rewards for their loyalty. Meanwhile, Siddaramiah will want adequate representation for his AHINDA combine, the deputy chief minister being a Dalit notwithstanding. The few seats that the Congress won in coastal Karnataka was entirely due to the Muslim vote, so that is yet another group that will need taking care of. Then there are the defectors from JD(S), whose inclusion is bound to rub the chief minister the wrong way. So far, there is no indication that the Congress will ask for a second deputy chief minister. But that is not to say they never will.

Kumaraswamy's blithe announcement that all this will be sorted out by 30 May, therefore, must be taken with a pinch generous helping of salt. There will be no satisfying everybody in both groups. As chief minister, Kumaraswamy will mostly be able to pacify his disgruntled elements with other sops. But that will be difficult for Congress. State Congress members' loyalty to the high command is a weak bond compared to their commitment to themselves. There is no hint that the Congress is giving any thought to how it can use this ministry formation and its next one year in power to counter the BJP in the 2019 general elections.

Moreover, a look at the recent statements made by Kumaraswamy and HD Deve Gowda gives us a sense of regret looming large on the father and son duo. Chief minister H D Kumaraswamy has said that he is at the "mercy of the Congress" and not the 6.2 crore people of Karnataka, though he did say that there is no crisis in portfolio distribution. His father HD Deve Gowda said that they were willing to support a Congress chief minister but it was the Congress which insisted that Kumaraswamy take up the job. At that time, the promise was of unconditional support. Realisation no doubt is dawning on the JD(S) that the Congress support is anything but unconditional.

Meanwhile, there is as yet no indication of brinkmanship by the chief minister. He wants to remain chief minister badly, notwithstanding his claims about listening to his conscience. How long will he tolerate the Congress pinpricks remains to be seen. Though he is unlikely to act unilaterally for now, nothing really prevents him from allotting the finance portfolio to himself and setting the wheels to implement his promises in motion. Presenting the Congress with a fait accompli in ministry formation may be his best option. What can the Congress do to retaliate? Even they must realise that bringing Kumaraswamy down will ensure their defeat in 2019 and beyond.

The author is former Editor-in-Charge, The Week


Polling for the Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra today were marred by instances of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs), drawing flak from the opposition parties.

Mumbai: Polling for the Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra on Monday were marred by instances of malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines and Voter-Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs), drawing flak from the opposition parties.

The technical glitches prompted the Shiv Sena and the NCP to express reservations over the use of these machines, with former Union minister Praful Patel claiming almost 25 per cent of EVMs malfunctioned in the bypoll to Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha seat.

Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut said those in power were contesting elections with the "key and remote of EVMs in their hands".

Palghar district collector Prashant Narnaware told PTI that around 46 percent voters exercised their franchise in the constituency between 7 am to 6 pm. A district official from Gondia said the polling percentage in Bhandara-Gondia was around 42. "In view of the malfunctioning of EVMs, we received representations from various parties to extend polling hours," the IAS officer said.

"In the 2097 polling booths in the constituency, we had to change only three EVMs," he said. However, 154 VVPATs had to be replaced, he added.

"We had anticipated these technical glitches and had deployed 96 engineers and sought 15 per cent extra machines," he said.

Senior NCP leader Praful Patel sought to know as to why EVMs from Surat in Gujarat, the home state of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were used in the bypoll when similar machines were available in Maharashtra.

"EVMs were available in Maharashtra. What was the reason for bringing EVMs from Surat in Gujarat? We have expressed our doubts to the Election Commission," Patel told reporters in Gondia.

In New Delhi, sources in the Election Commission said inapt handling of VVPAT machines by the ground staff, especially when the temperature is high, led to their heating, resulting in their malfunctioning, an explanation Patel termed as "shocking".

"To say that EVMs malfunctioned due to excessive heat is shocking," he said, demanding re-polling in the booths where the voting machines failed.

In developed countries like the US, Germany, France and Japan, the use of EVMs was stopped and they reverted to ballot papers, he said. Patel, who lost from the Bhandara-Gondia constituency in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, said his party had raised the issue of faulty EVMs with the Election Commission.

He also pointed out that VVPAT) machines, which eject slips to confirm the voter's choice, were not functioning.

"As and when re-polling takes place, will we be able to count every slip?" he asked. Meanwhile, Raut told reporters in Mumbai that manipulating EVMs was now a trend. "Earlier, there used to be booth-capturing and bogus voting. Now, some people hold the key and remote control of EVMs in their hands and contest elections," he said.

"This is a warning bell for the country. This EVM scam is taking place because you (the BJP) are in power. That is why outdated EVM machines are brought in," the Sena leader said. Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Ashok Chavan said alleged 250 EVMs and VVPATs had malfunctioned, which was a suspicious development. He demanded a probe.

The BJP candidate for the Palghar Lok Sabha seat, Rajendra Gavit, demanded the polling time be extended in view of the faulty EVMs in some booths. Gavit's poll representative submitted a memorandum to election officials in Palghar, seeking extension of the polling time due to malfunctioning of EVMs and VVPAT machines in some booths.

However, the polling time was not extended. The counting of votes will take place on 31 May. Bharip Bahujan Mahasangh leader and former MP Prakash Ambedkar said around 450 EVMs malfunctioned.

"There were certain cases of failure due to technical problem of EVMs and VVPATs during polling in Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia Lok Sabha constituencies which were replaced," an election official said. Around 15,000 voters from Mali Ali, Mavanda, Navale and Nandanvan villages in Palghar's Vasai tehsil boycotted polling, citing lack of developmental in their areas.

In Bhandara-Gondia, the BJP and the NCP were the main rivals in the bypoll, held after the resignation of BJP MP Nana Patole. Patole, a leader of the powerful OBC Kunbi community, had switched sides from the Congress to the BJP and was elected as an MP from the constituency, located in Vidarbha region, in 2014 by defeating Praful Patel.

The NCP, which allied with the Congress for the bypoll, fielded ex-BJP MLA Madhukar Kukde against BJP's Hemant Patle, a former legislator who belongs to the Powar community. In Palghar, the bypoll was necessitated following the death of sitting BJP MP Chintaman Wanaga. The bickering BJP ally Shiv Sena has fielded the late MP's son Srinivas in a bid to garner sympathy vote.

The BJP has put up Rajendra Gavit, who quit the Congress and joined the saffron party. The Bahujan Vikas Aghadi led by Vasai-Virar strongman Hitendra Thakur is also in the fray with the nomination of its ex-MP Baliram Jadhav.

Kiran Raja Gahla of the CPM, which has a base in Talasari and Dahanu, and former MP Damu Shingada (Congress) are also in the fray for the multi-cornered fight. The Palus-Kadegaon assembly bypoll in Sangli was also scheduled today but did not take place as all candidates pulled out, leaving Congress's Vishwajeet Kadam as the winner.

The bypoll was necessitated by the death of sitting Congress MLA and ex-minister Patangrao Kadam, Vishwajeet's father.
It is ironic to see sections of those who preach on 'tolerance' displaying intolerance on Pranab Mukherjees acceptance of Mohan Bhagwats invitation.

It is ironic to see sections of those who endlessly preach on "tolerance" displaying maximum intolerance on former President Pranab Mukherjees acceptance of Mohan Bhagwats invitation to be chief guest at the valedictory session of the Tritiya Varsh Varg or third year course of the RSS recruits.

Mukherjee will fly to Nagpur on 7 June and, as chief guest, will address around 600 new recruits or Swayamsewaks, as they are called. The former president will speak on nationalism but nobody can speculate on what he is going to talk about, whether his words will be music to the ears of those gathered there or his views on nationalism will be in harmony with RSSs views on the subject. As an elder statesman, he may speak in conformity or sound a note of caution or even be critical on some issues.

The problem for those red-flagging his landing at the RSS function in Nagpur is not about what he may or may not talk about and how those gathered there would respond, if at all. But the very fact that somebody as esteemed as the former president, that too someone who had been a hard-boiled Congressman all his life, has agreed to grace an elaborate RSS gathering at its headquarters is making liberal-secularists uneasy.

That too when all anti-Modi, anti-BJP-RSS forces are attempting to stitch a desperate socio-political coalition and when a defamation case against Rahul Gandhi is still pending for calling RSS Mahatama Gandhis killer. The former presidents presence as chief guest at Tritiya Varsh Varg somewhat punctures the anti-RSS-BJP narrative that they have been so laboriously trying to build over the years. They think the former presidents decision to address a larger RSS gathering in Nagpur would give further legitimacy to that organisation.

The liberal-secularists never forgave Loknayak Jayaprakash (JP) for inviting Jan Sangh in 1977 (which later became BJP) to be part of the Janata Party, a larger coalition of Opposition minus Left Front to oust Indira Gandhi from power. They criticise JP for giving legitimacy and mainstreaming Jan Sangh and RSS. Their argument is that the course of history would have been different if JP had not included Jan Sangh in the Janata Party and mainstreamed it in the national political space.

It's also part of history that sometime prior to imposition of Emergency by Indira Gandhi and three years ahead of the formation of Janata Party, JP had attended a Jan Sangh session on invitation of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and LK Advani and had famously remarked: I have come to this session to tell the country that the Jana Sangh is neither fascist nor reactionary. This I want to declare from the Jana Sangh platform itself. If the Jana Sangh is fascist, then Jayaprakash Narayan is also a fascist. He also said: The sun of fascism is rising somewhere else.

JP, like Pranab Mukherjee, had been a Congressman. It would be unfair to the two personalities to draw any comparison beyond saying that JP, during the twilight of his political career in mid- and late-1970s, didnt find anything wrong with RSS. And Mukherjee too does not think its a sin to interact with RSS and exchange thoughts.

In his long political career, while holding various positions of authority in government and senior leadership in political structures, he had seen and known RSS. On several occasions, he had publicly aired adverse views on RSS but one way to look at it is that till he was part of Congress, he said what the party line required him to say.

Once he assumed post of the president, a non-partisan head of state, the turn of events suggests that he didnt carry the views to the Rashtrapati Bhawan that he had as a Congressman about RSS. It could also be because of the fact that during the greater part of his presidency, the most prolific Swayamsewak, Narendra Modi, had been prime minister. Though unlike Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Modi never said, I too am a Swayamsewak but his credentials on that count had been louder and clearer than anyone else.

Pranab met RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat at the Rashtrapati Bhawan on more than one occasion. Days before he relinquished the presidents post, he invited Bhagwat for a private lunch, first ever by any serving president to an RSS chief. That luncheon invite by the then president to RSS chief was also indicative of how perception about the fountainhead of Sangh Parivar had changed and how big and important RSS had become.

The RSS, which earlier was perceived to be a secretive organisation, is now opening up in its communication within and outside with those who dont necessarily agree with its views. Take for instance Bhagwats interaction in September last year with 50 high-ranking foreign diplomats, including those from western and Islamic nations and telling them to ask him anything about the RSS. In fact, the world was informed about this interaction through a series of tweets by two gentlemen who attended that program from RSS side.

It goes without saying Pranab Mukherjees speech at Nagpur on 7 June will be seen with great interest and will be scrutinised with great zeal by critics and by protagonists.
The RSS has said that its ongoing meeting with the BJP and union ministers is not a coordination meeting but an exercise to interchange the ideas.

New Delhi: The RSS has said that its ongoing meeting with the BJP and Union ministers is not a coordination meeting but an exercise to interchange the ideas.

"These are not samanvay (coordination) meetings neither these are decision-making meetings," RSS all-India prachar pramukh (promotion head) Arun Kumar said in a statement.

On completion of four years of the Narendra Modi dispensation, BJP chief Amit Shah along with six Cabinet ministers on Monday met top functionaries of the RSS to deliberate on government programmes and policies, including the much-awaited education policy.

Kumar said the various RSS organisations working in the same field occasionally come together to share their experiments, experiences and observations.

To enable detailed discussions these organisations are grouped in various groups working in the same field, he said.

They are grouped as seva (service activities) vaicharik (intellectual arena), arthik ( economy), shiksha (education), samajik (social activities) etc.

He also said such group meetings are taking place every year since 2007.

In 2018, the RSS organisations have planned their meetings from 28-31 May in Delhi.

The meeting of the Sangh, its affiliates, the BJP, and the government was chaired by RSS joint general secretary Krishna Gopal.

The BJP was represented by Shah, party vice-president Vinay Sahasrabuddhe, general secretary Ram Madhav and secretary (organisation) Ram Lal.

The government was represented by the six ministers  Rajyavardhan Rathore, JP Nadda, Maneka Gandhi, Mahesh Sharma, Prakash Javadekar and Thawarchand Gehlot.
Chandrababu Naidu claimed in the ongoing Mahanadu at Vijayawada claimed that the TDP will be playing a key role in the formation of the Central government in 2019

Chandrababu Naidu claimed in the ongoing Mahanadu at Vijayawada claimed that the TDP will be playing a key role in the formation of the Central government in 2019. But, the national and state political situation has undergone a significant change since the days of the United Front or NDA-I making this a mission impossible.

It was imperative for Chandrababu Naidu to make this assertion in order to enthuse his party ranks. Locating himself in the right national context was an important factor that helped in catapulting Naidu to power. Writing in Economic and Political Weekly, this author explaining the reasons for Naidu's comeback said, "The sense of helplessness strongly instilled in the Seemandhra electorate in turn also generated a feeling that the residual state of Andhra Pradesh desperately needed help from the central government. (Naidu) demonstrated consummate political skills by arriving at an early understanding with the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and converted the threat into an opportunity. The strong Modi sentiment evident across the country convinced the average voter in the Seemandhra region that Chandrababu Naidu could form part of a winning combination at the Centre and could deliver for the truncated state without a capital".

Now, the TDP is no longer with the BJP that is in power at the Centre. The sense of helplessness is still nurtured for a political project. Naidu now desperately needs to convince the electorate that his political estrangement with BJP will not harm the interests of Andhra Pradesh. This demands an assertion from Naidu that the TDP will play a key role in the new political dispensation at the Centre in 2019 .

Notwithstanding such ambitions of the TDP and assertions from the chief minister, the political situation seems to very different.

It is true that the TDP played a critical role during the formation of the United Front and National Front governments. Naidu was the convenor of the United Front that was in power with outside support from the Congress. Again, the TDP's support was critical for the survival of the first NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

But, the national political situation has altered drastically much to the disadvantage of TDP. During the days of the United Front and National Front, the Indian national polity was dominated by the Congress at the Centre and all the other parties in the periphery. There was no serious national challenger for power. The BJP was still at an emerging stage. In the absence of a strong anti-Congress national party, a regional party like the TDP could obviously play a vital role in anti-Congress politics.

In the 1980s and 1990s, there were not many regional parties. Now, the regional parties have not only increased in number, but their strength in their respective states has substantially increased. For instance, the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh are now much stronger and more influential regional parties as compared to TDP. Thus, the TDP no longer enjoys prime position within the regional political spectrum either.

Meanwhile, the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh has diminished the political influence of Telugu parties, people and leaders. The united Andhra Pradesh had 42 seats, making it possible for the TDP to win a significant number of seats during its heyday. But, the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh in which the TDP's political clout has reduced, has only 25 seats. The TDP no longer enjoys sweeping political influence even to win a sizable number of seats.

The state level political situation has also underwent a radical change. The polity of united Andhra Pradesh was divided between the Congress and the TDP, giving the latter a respectable stature in the anti-Congress politics of the country. But, the politics of the residuary state of Andhra Pradesh is polarised between the two regional parties, TDP and the YSR Congress led by YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

The national parties of today have the ability to choose an ally.

This is precisely why the BJP was unmoved by the estrangement of the TDP. The NDA leaders have made this aptly clear on more than one occasion that there are parties ready to join the NDA if the TDP quits. It is true that Naidu is the senior regional satrap. But, only the numbers count in national permutations and combinations. The SP, BSP, TMC or Tamil parties have larger a catchment area than the TDP.

Meanwhile, the TDP is finding it difficult to hold on to the seats it won in 2014. With the BJP and Pawan Kalyan leaving the TDP, coupled with possible anti-incumbency, the TDP may find it hard to retain the seats it won in 2014, leave alone winning more seats.

The regional parties as a whole do not enjoy the similar political clout vis-a-vis national parties today, that have consolidated. The political vacillation displayed by the regional parties has further eroded their clout. The frequent change of sides by the TDP has substantially eroded the credibility of Naidu as a trusted ally in the national alliance.

Not that Naidu is unaware of all these factors. Yet, he chose to claim a critical role for TDP in national politics. It is not wishful thinking, but a clever strategy to woo the electorate that still feels the Centre's liberal assistance is essential for the truncated state to come out of the bifurcation-induced fiscal challenges.
Reuters

Indias central bank is standing firm on a directive to compel global payment firms to store customer data in India, resisting calls from US companies to dilute an order they say would cost them millions of dollars, people familiar with the matter said.

The payment companies are worried Indias data on shoring move could set a precedent and nudge other major governments to implement similar rules at a time when there is heightened scrutiny on how companies globally handle their customers data.

The industrys tussle with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) also comes as prime minster Narendra Modi aggressively pushes digital and cashless modes of payment that leave an electronic trail as part of a campaign to crack down on the black economy.

While Modis administration is working on a separate data protection law, foreign companies were caught off guard in April by the RBIs one-page directive that said all payments data should within six months be stored only in the country for unfettered supervisory access.

The RBI said storing data locally would help ensure better monitoring.

A joint lobbying effort by American Express Co (AXP.N), Mastercard Inc (MA.N) and Visa Inc (V.N) to dilute or reverse the directive has failed to shift the central banks position, with the RBI telling the firms in a meeting this month to comply, not complain, sources with direct knowledge told Reuters.

The RBI declined to comment, but a government source with direct knowledge confirmed the central bank was unlikely to back down on its plans.

INVESTMENT PLANS

The card companies are nervous that the move will disrupt their investment plans, as millions of dollars are diverted from other projects in a scramble to open local data centers within six months.

There is a feeling of helplessness and we will have to comply, said a source with direct knowledge of the meetings.

The RBIs insistence that payments data be stored only in India would hamper global fraud detection and the companies should be allowed to keep a back-up, the sources said.

The government source disagreed.

The suggestion that you need a disaster management back-up center overseas just does not cut it, said the source, who declined to be identified. This is not a small island nation that would get entirely crippled by a single natural disaster.

Mastercard said it was working with the industry to engage the RBI to understand their need for access to domestic data and work towards a solution that meets the regulatory requirements in line with global norms.

Visa declined to comment, while American Express did not respond to a request for comment.

The move would not impact local players such as Softbank Group-backed (9984.T) Indian digital payments firm Paytm, as well as homegrown card payment network RuPay, which competes with the likes of Visa and Mastercard, as they already store their data in India.

ONLY IN INDIA

The industry says Indias proposed data storage rules would be among the worlds most restrictive.

China also tightened cyber regulation in the past year, formalizing new rules that require firms to store data locally. None of the global payment card companies, however, operate in the Chinese domestic market yet.

Countries such as Russia and Indonesia also have an onshore data storage requirement, but they do not restrict companies from transfer of transactions data offshore as well, according to lobby group U.S.-India Business Council (USIBC), which counts the three U.S. card companies among its members.

Global payment firms currently store and process Indian transactions outside the country and a major concern to the industry is a clause in the RBIs order that asks for data to be stored only in India, two sources said.

That, according to the industry, would restrict the transfer of data needed to effectively detect and analyze global fraud patterns, and make India more vulnerable to financial crime.

In a letter dated May 3, seen by Reuters, the USIBC pressed the RBI for a reversal or an indefinite stay of its directive, which it said would make Indias payments ecosystem more prone to cyber-attacks.

It also urged the RBI to remove any restriction on transferring the data outside India and specify the time period for which the data needed to be stored locally.

An industry executive at a U.S. payments firm said while the RBI was likely to soon issue clarifications to address some of their concerns, but it would not change the notifications implementation date.

In an earnings call last month, Visa CEO Alfred Kelly Jr. referred to the RBIs six-month deadline as a tough timeframe.

The directive comes as more people in India are switching to plastic money, partly driven by the Modis decision to replace high-value currency notes in November 2016, since when the government has aggressively discouraged cash transactions.

In March, Indians clocked transactions worth $52 billion using their 900 million credit and debit cards, nearly double the amount recorded in November 2016, data from the RBI showed.

But fraud is a concern too. The RBI recorded 57,411 cases of card fraud totaling $43 million in the three years to December 2017, according to a Right to Information response seen by Reuters.

The RBI in April said the payment ecosystem in India had expanded considerably, making it necessary to ensure the safety and security of data.
PTI

Bharat Sanchar Nigam (BSNL) feels a merger with MTNL will be positive for both the companies, but there are a few impediments like the latter's huge debt and the difference between pay scales which need to be sorted out, a top official has said.

However, there is no specific plan on the merger in the works at present, beyond the appointment of a consultant by the government. The state-run telco has inked a pact with Softbank to co-work on 'interest areas' and is also in talks with the Japanese telecom company's investee company Paytm for a tie-up, the official said.

"Merger between the two (MTNL and BSNL) is going to be good for both the companies. Let's take the argument that it is going to be good, but there are various issues that need to be sorted out," its chairman and managing director Anupam Shrivastava told the PTI recently.

The impediments include MTNLs debt of over Rs 16,000 crore as of December 2017 and the difference between the pay scales for employees of both the companies, he said. Another difficult factor will be MTNL being a widely-owned listed entity, he added.

In the comments that come after telecom minister Manoj Sinha has denied any plan to merge the two state-run loss making telcos, Shrivastava said there is no specific plan in the works. "Not at this point of time. The government has appointed a consultant to frame the timeline and roadmap for the merger of BSNL and MTNL," he said, when asked if there is a plan to merge the two.

The CMD, however, declined to elaborate both on the tie-up with Softbank and proposed joining hands with payments bank Paytm.

"At this point of time, an agreement has been signed (with Softbank) and we are working on various interest areas...Lets see what happens," he said, making it clear that it does not involve equity changing hands.

He said while the company, which has a reach into all the corners of the country, has no plans to venture into the payments bank space as has been done by many other telcos, he said.

BSNL has launched a mobile wallet in association with largest lender SBI and will be working to promote that as well, he said.

He said FY19 will be a year of transition, where it hopes to increase revenue on greater volumes and expanding market share, even as it continues to shed average revenue per user (ARPUs).

After the arrival of the deep-pocketed Reliance Jio, BSNL has actually seen its market share increase and hopes to continue this, he said. The state-run player wants to take competition 'head-on' and is working on a strategy that involves 'meeting tariff by tariff,' Shrivastava said.
tech2 News Staff

It has been a week since the OnePlus 6 went on sale in India and there are certain pertinent questions that OnePlus users are beginning to ask the company on its community forums.

For one, OnePlus chose to leave out wireless charging despite introducing a glass back on the OnePlus 6 and it now appears that the company also removed the 'always-on display' feature from the phone just before launching the phone.

A Reddit thread revealing a deleted reply from OnePlus states that the company's technical team decided to remove the feature at the last moment because of its ill-effects on the overall battery life of the phone.

The move may not be a deal breaker for most interested in buying the phone, but considering OnePlus strongly believes in listening to its users before implementing a feature, many believe it could be left as an option in the setting menu.

As per a report by GSMArena, pre-release units of the OnePlus 6 did come with the feature, but an OTA update released a day after the launch removed the option enlisted under the Settings menu.

Whether OnePlus made the right decision in removing the feature altogether is something fans are still arguing about, but sales of the OnePlus 6 seem to be hitting record numbers for the company. We have also reviewed the phone in detail and think that the OnePlus 6 is yet another winner from the company given its pricing.

The top-end Marvel Avengers Limited Edition of the OnePlus 6, priced at Rs 44,999 went on sale today, exclusively on Amazon and the OnePlus online store.
IANS

Full-service carrier, Vistara on 29 May said it has created RADA, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered robot that can assist customers, address their queries and entertain them.

During the initial stage, RADA will be placed at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi from 5 July and will assist customers using the lounge before they board their flights, Vistara said in a statement.

"With RADA, we aim to change the way people interact and fly with an airline," said Vistara CEO Leslie Thng.

RADA will be further developed over a period of time in terms of functionality and features for future use cases, after gauging customer feedback, the company said.

At present, the robot can scan boarding passes and further provide information on the terminal, departure gates, weather conditions of destination city, real time flight status as well as information about Vistara's products and services.

It can greet customers and interact with them using basic hand movements, and is capable of moving around in the lounge on predefined pathways.

Additionally, it can engage with kids and adults alike by playing games and other multimedia content such as songs and videos, Vistara said.

"We will be developing 'RADA' based on customer feedback and equipping it with the most effective features in the time to come. Our steadfast focus remains to be on delighting customers across all touchpoints, and we're confident that 'RADA' will help us take the 'new feeling' to the next level," Thng said.

The robot is built on a chassis of four wheels, enabling it to rotate 360 degrees, and it has three in-built cameras for cognitive interaction.

Combining these components with an effective voice technology, Vistara said it developed the robot to bring out an innovative solution to assist customers.

TATA SIA Airlines Limited, known by the brand name Vistara, is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with Tata Sons holding the majority stake of 51 per cent in the company.
Paraguay will have a woman president for the first time in its history, at least temporarily, after outgoing leader Horacio Cartes stepped down.

Asuncion: Paraguay will have a woman president for the first time in its history, at least temporarily, after outgoing leader Horacio Cartes stepped down ahead of schedule.

Vice President Alicia Pucheta, 68, will complete Cartes's mandate after he resigned to become a senator.

On 15 August, fellow conservative Mario Abdo Benitez, elected in 22 April polls, will begin his five-year term as president of one of Latin America's poorest countries.

The parliament is due to confirm Cartes's resignation and proclaim Pucheta as interim president on Wednesday.

Opposed to the legalization of abortion, Pucheta is from the right-wing Colorado Party, which has been in power in Asuncion for decades.

Opposition Senator Desiree Masi said she does not see Pucheta's nomination as an advance for women in Paraguay.

"A woman who has shown her complete submission to those in power does not represent us," she said. "One day, a woman will be come to power as she should, through the ballot box."

But Lilian Samaniego, a senator from the Colorado Party, hailed the former lawyer's accession to the position as an example to "motivate Paraguayan women to continue to fight for real equality of opportunity with men."

Paraguay has just eight women among its 45 senators, and 11 among the 80 members of the lower house.

Cartes's resignation had been expected since he was elected to the Senate in the April elections. The new senators are to be sworn in on 30 June .

Landlocked Paraguay, sandwiched between Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil, enjoyed consistent economic growth during tobacco magnate Cartes's five years in power, but failed to shake off persistent poverty, corruption and drug trafficking.

It remains a land of contrasts, still marked by the 1954-1989 dictatorship of general Alfredo Stroessner.

Despite an official campaign against endemic corruption, Paraguay remains 135th out of 180 countries on the 2017 corruption index of Transparency International.
Twelve more alleged drug dealers were killed in overnight raids carried out by the Bangladesh's law enforcement agencies, police said.

Dhaka: Twelve more alleged drug dealers were killed in overnight raids carried out by the Bangladesh's law enforcement agencies, police said on Tuesday, taking the tally of those killed in the "war on drugs" to 105 since the launch of the nation-wide crackdown on narcotics trade about a fortnight ago.

The deaths of alleged drug dealers by the elite anti-crime unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the police has invited criticism from the rights group and foreign diplomats expressed concerns over the "extrajudicial killings".

Twelve people were killed on Monday by the RAB and police during their clampdown, between Monday night and Tuesday morning, in nine administrative districts, including the Bangladeshi capital, a police official said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had on 15 May announced the launch of an aggressive war on drugs to smash the surging trade of Yaba, a cheap pill combining methamphetamine and caffeine.

In most of the cases, bodies of alleged drug traders were found lying on the street or roadside ditches following the raids, with law enforcement agencies claiming that some of the casualties were the result of "internal clashes" of drug peddlers.

On Monday, the international affairs sub-committee of the ruling Awami League (AL) briefed about the drive to foreign diplomats, who expressed deep concern over the "extrajudicial killings".

But AL leaders said that the law enforcement agencies were forced to retaliate after being attacked by the alleged drug peddlers.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said that security forces have launched an 'all-out war' on drugs and the clampdown would continue until the drug trafficking was eliminated.

Bangladesh does not produce drugs, but in the recent years it had become the destination of "Yaba", a narcotic substance often referred to as "horse drug".

The drug smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar is popular among young people.

Doctors say, in the long-term it causes decline of cognitive functions.

The Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) strongly condemned the extrajudicial killings, with its chairman Kazi Rezaul Hoque saying that he plans to formally write to the government expressing grave concerns.

"We want to say unequivocally that the criminals, whoever she or he is, must face actions through due legal procedure," he said, echoing demands from other rights watchdogs.

The media has also questioned the sudden launch of a violent anti-drug clampdown after newspaper reports wrote about "Yaba villages" in frontier Teknaf that bordered Myanmar for so many years.
Trade talks on China and the North American Free Trade Agreement have hit stumbling blocks, posing a challenge for a president who vowed to make trade deals more equitable for the United States during his 2016 campaign and who famously tweeted that trade wars are 'easy to win.'

The U.S. is announcing that it will impose a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion worth of Chinese goods containing "industrially significant technology."

The White House said Tuesday that the tariff will cover goods related to the "Made in China 2025" program. The full list of imports that will be covered will be announced by June 15.

Trump has bemoaned the massive U.S. trade deficit with China  $337 billion last year  as evidence that Beijing has been complicit in abusive trading practices.

The White House also says the U.S. is planning new investment restrictions and export controls.

The announcement comes as the administration negotiates with China on a broad trade dispute. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is expected to travel to China later in the week for more talks.

US President Donald Trump's hard-line views on trade, a staple of his message long before he entered politics, are beginning to collide with the cold realities of global geopolitics.

Trade talks on China and the North American Free Trade Agreement have hit stumbling blocks, posing a challenge for a president who vowed to make trade deals more equitable for the United States during his 2016 campaign and who famously tweeted that trade wars are "easy to win."

Trump's trade agenda  at least lately  has not been so easy.

Sorry, Ive got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

The new action slapping $50 billion worth of tariffs on Chinese technology came after the administration said earlier this month that it had suspended plans to impose $150 billion in tariffs for now and the president tweeted last week that a "different structure" would be needed in the trade talks involving the world's two largest economies.

The president has bemoaned the massive U.S. trade deficit with China  $337 billion last year  as evidence that Beijing has been complicit in abusive trading practices and outsmarted his predecessors.

Pointing to a pause in the trade dispute, the administration had pointed to China's plans to "significantly increase" its purchases of U.S. goods and services and make "meaningful increases" in U.S. exports of agriculture and energy products. Financial markets, wary of a calamitous trade war, were relieved.

But Beijing did not agree to any specific dollar amounts, despite the Trump administration's push to lower the U.S. trade deficit by at least $200 billion. And doubts remain about whether China will address allegations the Chinese engage in cybertheft of trade secrets, force U.S. companies to transfer some of their technology in exchange for market access or back away from its China 2025 plan to dominate emerging technologies.

Separately, on Friday, the U.S. reached a deal on ZTE Corp. that will allow the Chinese telecommunications giant to remain in business. Under the deal, ZTE will oust its management team, hire American compliance offers and pay a fine  on top of the $1 billion it's already paid for selling equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. In return, the U.S. Commerce Department will lift a seven-year ban on ZTE buying components from U.S. companies. The ban, imposed this month, threatened to put ZTE out of business.

Trump said earlier that a resolution would help U.S. firms that supply ZTE with components, but members of Congress, including several Republicans, warned that the U.S. is being too lenient on a company that has violated U.S. sanctions.

"ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States  and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat. "If President Trump won't put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him."

Trump's team, meanwhile, has hit an impasse with Canada and Mexico on negotiations over NAFTA. The president has sought to overhaul NAFTA as a way of returning automobile production to the U.S. and reduce America's trade deficit with Mexico.

But the talks are running into the complications of Mexican elections in July and the U.S. midterm elections in November along with a dispute over rules for car production.

Seeking leverage, Trump's administration launched an investigation into whether tariffs might be necessary on car imports, based on national security concerns. The potential penalties could affect Mexico, Canada, Japan and the European Union.

The administration used a similar Commerce Department probe to impose tariffs in March on imported steel and aluminum.

But auto manufacturers said they didn't push for the auto investigation, and members of Congress questioned the validity of the probe.

"The Honda Accord is not a threat to our national security," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, hours after joining Trump for a bill signing at the White House. But he added that "taxing it with trade tariffs is a threat to the economic security of millions of hard-working American families."

The trade talks with China have come against the backdrop of Trump's efforts to hold a June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. His attempts to push Kim toward denuclearization have required the cooperation of China, something the president acknowledged to reporters earlier in the week.

The president said alongside South Korean President Moon Jae-in, prior to this week's uncertainty over the Singapore summit, that he has a "much bigger picture" in mind as he considers China trade, a reminder that his trade policies are no longer a matter of campaign rhetoric.

"I'm also thinking about what they're doing to help us with peace with North Korea. That's a very important element," Trump said. "So we'll see how it all works out. But in the end, it will work out. Can't tell you exactly how or why, but it always does."

(With AP newswire)
President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that a senior North Korean official is en route to New York as part of preparations for a planned summit with leader Kim Jong-un.

Washington: President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that a senior North Korean official is en route to New York as part of preparations for a planned summit with leader Kim Jong-un.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump wrote in a tweet.

General Kim Yong Chol landed at Beijing airport Tuesday and will continue on to New York the following day after talks with Chinese officials, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported earlier, quoting diplomatic sources.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy as preparations gather pace for the on-again, off-again summit between Trump and North Korea's leader, scheduled to take place in Singapore on 12 June.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday seized on an error by liberal activists who tweeted photos of young-looking immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in steel cages and blamed the current administration for separating immigrant children from their parents.

US president Donald Trump on Tuesday seized on an error by liberal activists who tweeted photos of young-looking immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in steel cages and blamed the current administration for separating immigrant children from their parents.

The photos were taken by The Associated Press in 2014, when President Barack Obama was in office. The photo captions reference children who crossed the border as unaccompanied minors.

Early Tuesday, Trump tweeted: "Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obama's term showing children from the Border in steel cages. They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires. Dems must agree to Wall and new Border Protection for good of country...Bipartisan Bill!"

The immigration debate has reached a fever pitch in recent months following reports that since October about 700 children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border have been separated from their parents.

Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obamas term showing children from the Border in steel cages. They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires. Dems must agree to Wall and new Border Protection for good of country...Bipartisan Bill!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

The number of separated minors is expected to jump once Trump's new "zero tolerance" policy is enacted. That policy, embraced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, would enforce criminal charges against people crossing the border illegally with few or no previous offenses. Under U.S. protocol, if parents are jailed, their children would be separated from them.

"The parents are subject to prosecution while children may not be," Sessions said earlier this month. "So, if we do our duty and prosecute those cases, then children inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions."

Enter a June 2014 online story by The Arizona Republic titled "First peek: Immigrant children flood detention center."

The story linked to photos taken by AP's Ross D. Franklin at a center run by the Customs and Border Protection Agency in Nogales, Arizona. One photo shows two unidentified female detainees sleeping in a holding cell. The caption references U.S. efforts to process 47,000 unaccompanied children at the Nogales center and another one in Brownsville, Texas.

How or why the story resurfaced on social media four years after it was published is unclear. But among those who took notice was Jon Favreau, Obama's former speechwriter.

In a now-deleted tweet, Favreau wrote: "This is happening right now, and the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible."

Other liberal activists also linked to the Arizona Republic story using the hashtag "WhereAreOurChildren," which grew out of testimony in April by a federal official that the U.S. government had lost track of nearly 1,500 unaccompanied minor children it placed with adult sponsors in the U.S.

Favreau did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment. But he later issued a corrected tweet: "These awful pictures are from 2014 when the government's challenge was reconnecting unaccompanied minors."

He added: "Today, in 2018, the government is CREATING unaccompanied minors by tearing them away from family at the border."

As the immigration debate lit up social media over the weekend, Trump on Saturday falsely claimed that there was a "horrible law" that separates children from their parents after they cross the border. He has said previously that "we have to break up families" at the border because "the Democrats gave us that law."

That's not true. There's no law mandating that parents must be separated from their children. But if an administration opts to impose harsh criminal charges against an adult for crossing the border illegally, their children would be separated from them as a result.

Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has defended the Trump administration's practice of separating children from parents when the family is being prosecuted for entering the U.S. illegally, telling a Senate committee earlier this month that removing children from parents facing criminal charges happens "in the United States every day."

A 2008 law, passed unanimously by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, says children traveling alone from countries other than Mexico or Canada must be released in the "least restrictive setting"  often to family or a government-run shelter  while their cases slowly wind through immigration court. It was designed to accommodate an influx of children fleeing to the United States from Central America.

(With AP newswire)
The family of the young boy saved by 'Spiderman' Mamoudou Gassama in a daring rescue that won him global acclaim and a promise of French citizenship has thanked the Malian youth for his quick thinking.

Paris: The family of the young boy saved by "Spiderman" Mamoudou Gassama in a daring rescue that won him global acclaim and a promise of French citizenship has thanked the Malian youth for his quick thinking.

Gassama, 22, scaled four storeys of an apartment bloc in France on Saturday to rescue the four-year-old who was spotted dangling from a balcony. French authorities began the first steps towards making him a citizen in recognition of his bravery. The boy's father, who had been living alone with him in Paris, had left him alone to go out to the shops and then remained on the street to play Pokemon Go, according to French investigators.

The boy's mother learned the news of the rescue on Reunion Island: The French Indian Ocean territory where she and the father were born and where she still lives.

Reacting to Gassama's intervention on Antenne Reunion radio late Monday, the woman, who was not identified, said: "We can only thank him and thank heaven he was so reactive." She said French police phoned her to tell her the news. "Then I saw video on the internet. But I should not have watched it because you know it's your son in the video." Just half an hour earlier she had spoken to both father and son in a video call, she said.

"Things could have turned out much worse so I am relieved," she said, adding that she was impatient to be reunited with her son and husband. The boy's paternal grandmother, who also lives in Reunion, told RMC radio Tuesday that she was "very moved" by the images of the rescue and sent "huge thanks" to Gassama.

"He's really a hero," she said. "He did not stand by and watch, he saved my little sweetpea."

Gassama, who had been living in France illegally since September 2017, arriving via the Mediterranean migrant route, told President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that he "did not think twice" before springing into action. The video of his rescue has been viewed millions of times online. On Tuesday, he was to visit a fire station after being offered a job with the fire service.

The child's mother, who had planned on moving to Paris in June along with the couple's second child, aged one, is due to travel on France on Tuesday, the BFM news channel reported. The father, who was arrested on charges of neglecting his parental duties, was released from custody and reunited with his son on Monday under the supervision of social services.

The mother said her husband, who is in his 30s, was "shaken" by the incident. While saying she could not justify his actions she said "it could have happened to anyone."

The Paris prosecutor's office said he had admitted his guilt and expressed "profound regret."
By Jolyn Rosa HONOLULU (Reuters) - A fast-moving lava flow from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano led officials to close a highway on Tuesday and warn that sharp, thin strands of volcanic glass fibres carried on the wind could injure eyes and lungs, in its biggest eruption cycle in a century. Hawaii County's civil defence agency said lava was quickly approaching Highway 132, prompting the closure from Lava Tree State Park to Four Corners, and warned residents to monitor their radios and phones for updates and evacuation orders. Earlier on Tuesday, a small explosion of ash erupted from the summit of the volcano early in a vertical plume some 15,000 feet (4,600 meters) high, the U.S.

By Jolyn Rosa

HONOLULU (Reuters) - A fast-moving lava flow from Hawaii's Kilauea volcano led officials to close a highway on Tuesday and warn that sharp, thin strands of volcanic glass fibres carried on the wind could injure eyes and lungs, in its biggest eruption cycle in a century.

Hawaii County's civil defence agency said lava was quickly approaching Highway 132, prompting the closure from Lava Tree State Park to Four Corners, and warned residents to monitor their radios and phones for updates and evacuation orders.

Earlier on Tuesday, a small explosion of ash erupted from the summit of the volcano early in a vertical plume some 15,000 feet (4,600 meters) high, the U.S. Geological Survey said, the latest outburst in a month of volcanic activity.

The agency warned that ash was drifting northwest and liable to affect anyone in the summit area. Hundreds of people have been ordered to leave the vicinity of one of the world's most active volcanoes.

Kilauea, one of the world's most active volcanoes, entered its fourth week of what may be an unprecedented, simultaneous eruption at its summit crater and along a six-mile (9.7-km) string of fissures 25 miles (40 km) down its east flank.

Lava flows from multiple fissures have blocked roads and damaged dozens of buildings on Hawaii's Big Island.

One fountain of lava rose more than 200 feet (60 meters) at times on Monday, the Geological Survey said.

Officials are on high alert for occasional earthquakes, though most have been small.

Lava has engulfed the heads of two wells that tap into steam and gas deep into the Earth at the 38-megawatt Puna Geothermal Venture electrical plant, which used to produce 1/4 of the Big Island's electricity. Its operator, Israeli-controlled Ormat Technologies Inc , said it had not been able to assess the damage.

So far no deaths have been blamed on the eruption, though a man's leg was shattered when he was hit by a plate-size chunk of lava rock.

Residents fear the electrical plant's deep geothermal wells may be explosive. Officials have said the power plant is safe but lava has never engulfed a geothermal plant anywhere in the world, creating a measure of uncertainty.

Contingency plans have been made for a possible helicopter evacuation of up to 1,000 residents in a coastal area south of the fissures should their last exit route, State Highway 130, become blocked by lava or become unsafe due to gaping cracks, County of Hawaii officials said.

At least 82 homes have been destroyed in the southeastern corner of Big Island and about 2,000 people have been ordered evacuated since Kilauea began erupting on May 3.

(Reporting by Jolyn Rosa; Writing and additional reporting by Jonathan Allen and Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sandra Maler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Former United States president George HW Bush was hospitalized Sunday in Maine after he experienced low blood pressure and fatigue, a spokesman said.

Biddeford, Maine: Former United States president George HW Bush was hospitalized Sunday in Maine after he experienced low blood pressure and fatigue, a spokesman said.

Just after 2 pm, Jim McGrath, a spokesman for the 93-year-old Bush, said he was awake, alert and not in any discomfort. He said Bush would spend at least a few days in the hospital for observation.

Bush was taken to Southern Maine Health Care in Biddeford. A spokeswoman said Sunday all information would be released by the Bush family.

Bush arrived in Maine for the summer 20 May. Coming about a month after the death of his wife, Barbara, of 73 years, the family said the 41st president was eager to return to the family compound on Walker's Point. He has visited every summer since childhood, the only exception being the years of his World War II service.

On Saturday, Bush attended a pancake breakfast at an American Legion post in Kennebunkport. He had been scheduled to attend a Memorial Day parade in the town Monday.

Bush, who has a form of Parkinson's disease and a history of pneumonia and other infections, was hospitalized in Houston on 22 April, the day after his wife's funeral, for an infection. He remained hospitalized for 13 days.

Bush uses a wheelchair and an electric scooter for mobility. He has been hospitalized several times in recent years for respiratory problems.
By Rozanna Latiff KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's new government has promised to release a long-awaited report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as a privately funded underwater search ended on Tuesday.

By Rozanna Latiff

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's new government has promised to release a long-awaited report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as a privately funded underwater search ended on Tuesday.

Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, vanished enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, becoming one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries.

The government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said last week that U.S. seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which had scoured the southern Indian Ocean for the aircraft since January, would end its hunt on Tuesday.

The previous administration of Najib Razak, who was defeated in a stunning election upset on May 9, had promised up to $70 million to the Texas-based firm if it found the plane within 90 days.

Malaysia's transport minister, Anthony Loke, said a full report into MH370's disappearance would be published in the near future, but he did not give a date.

"I can assure you the final report will be published with full disclosure. There will not be any edits, or anything hidden," he told reporters late on Monday.

Asked whether the report would refer to controversial elements of the MH370 case, he said: "To me, whatever elements, we will just publish it".

Last year, Australian authorities said the MH370 captain had flown a route on his home simulator six weeks before the disappearance that was "initially similar" to the course actually taken by the aircraft.

Peter Foley, who led the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's search efforts, told an Australian Senate hearing "control inputs" had been made to fly the airliner off course, but he could not say if one of the pilots had done so.

Malaysian investigators said in 2015 they had found nothing suspicious in the financial, medical or personal histories of the pilots or crew.

FAMILIES CALL FOR REVIEW

The decision to engage Ocean Infinity came after Australia, China and Malaysia ended a fruitless A$200-million ($159 million) search across a 120,000 square-kilometre (46,332 square mile) expanse of the Indian Ocean last year.

This was despite investigators calling for the target area to be extended north by 25,000 square kilometres (9653 square miles).

Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said on Tuesday their team had searched more than 112,000 square kilometres (43,243 square miles) of ocean floor in a little over three months.

While the outcome was "extremely disappointing", Plunkett hoped the company would be able to offer its services again in a future search for the airliner.

Asked if China would consider further funding for the search, or whether search organisations had asked China for more resources, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had always maintained close communication with the relevant parties.

"We will continue to maintain communication with relevant parties," Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing in Beijing.

Voice 370, a group representing the relatives of those aboard the flight, has pressed the new Malaysian government to review all matters related to MH370, including "any possible falsification or elimination of records related to MH370 and its maintenance".

Calvin Shim, whose wife was a crew member on the plane, said he was concerned that the accident report would not include key information such as the plane's full cargo manifest and the results of a separate investigation by Malaysian police.

"We know that this issue is already four years old and a lot of people involved want closure," he said.

"These four years have not been fun to us, the families."

Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the search had tested the limits of technology and capacity of experts and people at sea.

It would only resume if there was "credible evidence which identifies a specific location of the missing aircraft".

"We will always remain hopeful that one day the aircraft will be located," McCormack's office said in a statement.

The only confirmed traces of the plane have been three wing fragments found washed up on Indian Ocean coasts.

(Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in SINGAPORE, Michael Martina in BEIJING and Colin Packham in SYDNEY; Editing by Darren Schuettler)

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By Katharine Jackson MCLEAN, Va. (Reuters) - On a frontline of the gender equality battle in the United States is Den 13, a suburban Virginia Cub Scout unit made up of girls on their way to next year becoming the first female Scouts in the Boy Scouts of America

By Katharine Jackson

MCLEAN, Va. (Reuters) - On a frontline of the gender equality battle in the United States is Den 13, a suburban Virginia Cub Scout unit made up of girls on their way to next year becoming the first female Scouts in the Boy Scouts of America.

The girls, who are 8 to 10 years old, say they appreciate the outdoor challenges of scouting: finding the route to a waterfall on a wrinkled map, crossing a creek and encountering a snake.

After more than a century as a bastion of boyhood, the Boy Scouts of America announced in October that this year it would begin letting girls join the 7- to 10-year-old Cub Scouts. More than 3,000 girls joined an Early Adopter program this spring.

In 2019, the girls of Den 13 in McLean, Virginia, will be among the first female members of the newly named "Scouts BSA" program, which until the change will still be called "Boy Scouts" and only admit boys aged 11 to 17.

Scouting alongside boys is no issue for 10-year-old Dani Hyder.

"I don't really mind as long as I get to do it," she said. "I don't care what gender the people I'm doing with are."

Like others in her den, 10-year-old Lilly Rumpf went on hikes and family camping trips, but watched from the sidelines as her brother rose through the ranks of the Boy Scouts.

"It was like he got to do all the cool things, and I didn't," she said. "So when I got involved in this, it was really cool."

Boy Scouts of America said admitting girls is making life easier for families with brothers and sisters who want to follow the same path.

"I think our program offers both genders exactly what we want young people to learn and embrace as they grow up," said Les Baron, scout executive for the Boy Scouts National Capital Area Council.

The move comes as attitudes toward gender change and after decades of declining membership. Boy Scouts of America now has about 2.3 million members, a drop of about one-third since 2000. The organization decided to admit openly gay scouts in 2014, and last year welcomed transgender members.

As Boy Scouts of America widens its scope, the Girl Scouts of the USA is reaffirming its commitment to girls.

"Girl Scouts has always proudly owned the 'Girl' in Girl Scouts, and our programming is, and always will, reflect the fact that we are girl-led and girl-centric," the organization said in a statement.

The Boy Scouts held annual meetings in Dallas last week with many awaiting news of a uniform change with different cuts for girls and alternatives like Capri pants and "skorts," or skirts with shorts inside.

For now, the Den 13 girls wear shirts embroidered with "Boy Scouts of America," standard olive shorts, resting their ponytails and braids on plaid neckerchiefs.

Heading to the waterfall, Den 13 took a wrong turn down a dead end trail.

"I kind of like that we got lost," said Hiro Rose, enjoying the river view. After consulting their map, the girls quickly found their way.

For Danielle, the best part of the hike was obvious. "Actually having a snake crawl, like slither across my shoe."

(Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Mary Milliken and Lisa Shumaker)

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A proposed missile system deal with Russia has struck the wrong chord with the US, that has expressed concerns saying it would complicate interoperability between Indian and American forces.

India-US ties, that have received a fillip in recent months, appear to have hit a rough patch as New Delhi looks to procure S-400 air defence system from Moscow. The proposed deal with Russia has struck the wrong chord with the US, that has expressed concerns saying it would complicate interoperability between Indian and American forces.

While New Delhi-Washington ties have strengthened in recent times with the US calling on India to play a more weighty role in the Indo-Pacific and also Afghanistan, the deal with Russia and US imposing sanctions on Iran after withdrawal from the Iran nuclear accord seems to have created chinks in the relationship.

Deal with Russia

India is planning to procure S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for the Indian Air Force from Russia. A senior US Congressman has said that the proposed deal would "complicate" building interoperability between the United States and Indian militaries.

"There is a lot of concern in the US in both the administration and the Congress regarding the S-400 (missile) system. And, there is concern that any country, and it is not just India that is looking at clearing it, but any country that acquires that system will complicate our ability to work out interoperability," Republican Mac Thornberry, the chairman of the House Armed Services, told a group of journalists in Delhi.

According to an NDTV report, India's decision to go ahead with the deal with Russia could come in the way of India acquiring US-built Predator drones which could have been used in operations against terrorist launch-pads along the Line of Control with Pakistan.

India has recently concluded price negotiations with Russia and the two countries are now trying to find a way to evade US sanctions. Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which was signed into law in August 2017 and went into effect in January this year, mandates the Trump administration to punish entities engaging in a significant transaction with the defence or intelligence sectors of Russia.

However, American lawmakers and experts have warned that that imposition of sanctions on India under the newly-enacted law, if it buys the S-400 air defence missile system from Russia, could be disastrous for the India-US ties.

Thornberry has clarified that sanctions against New Delhi are unlikely at the present stage. He, however, said a provision in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which is awaiting a Senate nod and was passed by the House on 24 May, would allow the Trump administration to suspend the sanctions under CAATSA.

But the president, in order to seek the waiver, has to make a certification to Congress that the country subject to sanctions and seeking relaxation is altering its relationship with Russia.

"The current sanctions bill that was just signed in the law last fall doesn't really have much flexibility. But the bill that passed by the House on Thursday adds more flexibility for nations like India who have a legacy of Russian military equipment and of course need to purchase spare parts in order to maintain the readiness of that equipment," he added.

The way US handles the issue is extremely crucial for India because it has deep military and strategic ties with Russia. 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.

Nonetheless, the deal is expected to sour the ties between the two countries. Cara Abercrombie, a visiting scholar with Carnegie Endowments South Asia programme, told The Wire that if India triggers CAATSA sanctions, there will be repercussions for US-India ties, particularly in the area of defence trade, which to date has been a bright spot in the relationship.

The US sanctions on Iran might prove to be another thorn in the New Delhi-Washington relationship.

Sanctions on Iran

Union Minister Sushma Swaraj said India will continue trading with Iran and Venezuela despite US sanctions against the two countries, asserting that it only recognises UN restrictions.

"We only recognise UN sanctions. We do not recognise any country-specific sanctions," Swaraj said. She made the remarks while responding to a question on whether US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela will hit India's oil imports from the two countries. Iran is India's third-largest oil supplier. Venezuela is also one of the major suppliers of oil to India.

"We don't make our foreign policy under pressure from other countries," she said.

Earlier in May, the US had pulled out from the landmark Iran nuclear deal of 2015 under which Tehran had agreed to stop its sensitive nuclear activities in return for the lifting of crippling economic sanctions. Announcing the decision, Trump had reimposed sanctions against Iran which were suspended after the nuclear deal was finalised three years ago.

Swaraj on Monday met Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, in New Delhi to build support against the US rejection of the nuclear accord.

"Zarif briefed about the discussions that Iran has undertaken with parties to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action following the US decision to withdraw from the agreement," said an Indian government statement, without elaborating.

The two leaders also discussed bilateral cooperation in the areas of connectivity, energy, trade and promotion of people to people contacts.

India and Iran have friendly relations and significant trade ties in many areas, particularly in crude oil imports into India and diesel exports to Iran.

Iran is the second largest supplier of crude oil to India, supplying more than 4,25,000 barrels of oil per day, and India is one of the biggest foreign investors in Iran's oil and gas industry.

India, along with Iran and Afghanistan, are jointly developing the strategic Chabahar port in the southeastern coast of Iran that will give access to Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.

With inputs from agencies
Gaza militants fired more than 25 mortar shells toward communities in southern Israel Tuesday, the Israeli military said, in what appeared to be the largest single barrage fired since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

Jerusalem: Gaza militants fired more than 25 mortar shells toward communities in southern Israel Tuesday, the Israeli military said, in what appeared to be the largest single barrage fired since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.

No one was hurt and the military said most were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system. But the high volume of projectiles came as tensions have been running high along the Israel-Gaza border.

Israeli media reported that one of the shells landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

There was no immediate comment on the shelling from Hamas, the militant Islamic group that runs the Gaza Strip. Hamas has said a boatful of students and medical patients would set sail out of Gaza City's port on Tuesday, aiming to break 11 years of naval blockade that Egypt and Israel imposed after the militants violently took control of the coastal territory.

The expedition would be a new way of challenging the blockade but also raises the possibility of more confrontation and violence as Israel bars any boats from Gaza reaching farther out than six miles into the Mediterranean Sea.

In southern Israel, angry residents complained about how vulnerable they felt after 15 years of rocket fire threats from neighbouring Gaza, which will likely put pressure on the government to retaliate harshly.

Adva Klein, a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, said she only got about two hours of sleep because of the frequent incoming fire and the sirens warning of them. Other residents reported machine gun fire from Gaza as well.

"It's been a really scary morning," said Adele Raemer, a resident of Kibbutz Nirim.

Defense minister Avigdor Lieberman said he was convening the top military brass at his Tel Aviv headquarters to discuss the situation.

The border area has been tense in recent weeks as the Palestinians have held mass protests aimed at lifting a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after Hamas seized power in 2007.

Israeli fire has killed more than 110 Palestinians, most of them during the Hamas-led protests, which climaxed on 14 May.

On Sunday, Israeli shelling killed three Palestinian militants from the smaller Islamic Jihad group after the troops found a bomb planted along the border. The Islamic Jihad vowed retaliation.

On Monday, a tank fired at a Hamas position in the Gaza Strip, killing one man and wounding another, after Israeli troops came under fire on the frontier while apprehending two armed Palestinians.

Hamas has vowed to continue the border rallies. Israel says it is defending its border as well as its communities nearby. It accuses Hamas of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of protests.
By Jolyn Rosa HONOLULU (Reuters) - Lava from Hawaii's erupting Kilauea volcano has covered a potentially explosive well at a geothermal power station and threatened another, after flowing onto the site, officials said.

By Jolyn Rosa

HONOLULU (Reuters) - Lava from Hawaii's erupting Kilauea volcano has covered a potentially explosive well at a geothermal power station and threatened another, after flowing onto the site, officials said.

The Hawaii Civil Defense Agency said the wells "are stable and secure", and Hawaii Governor David Ige said that the plant was "sufficiently safe" from the lava that has plowed through backyards and streets and burned dozens of homes.

But lava has never engulfed a geothermal plant anywhere in the world and the potential threat is untested, according to the head of the state's emergency management agency. Local residents fear an explosive emission of deadly hydrogen sulfide and other gases should wells be ruptured.

The molten rock was expected to continue to flow across the Puna Geothermal Venture (PGV) facility, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

Since Hawaii's Kilauea volcano began a once-in-a-century-scale eruption on May 3, authorities have shutdown the plant, removed 60,000 gallons of flammable liquid, and deactivated wells that tap into steam and gas deep in the Earth's core.

Magma has drained from Kilauea's summit lava lake and flowed around 25 miles (40 km) east underground, bursting out of about two dozen giant cracks or fissures near the plant.

The Israeli-owned 38 megawatt plant typically provides around 25 percent of electricity on the Big Island, according to local power utility Hawaii Electric Light.

Operator Ormat Technologies Inc last week said there was no above-ground damage to the plant, but it would have to wait until the situation stabilized to assess the impact of earthquakes and subterranean lava flows on the wells.

Over the weekend, there were more than 250 earthquakes at Kilauea's summit, with four explosions on Saturday sending ash as high as 12,000-15,000 feet, officials said.

Winds are set to shift on Monday and Tuesday, causing higher concentrations of ash and volcanic smog that will spread west and northwest to affect more populated areas, said National Weather Service meteorologist John Bravender.

U.S. Marine Corps and National Guard helicopters are on standby for an air evacuation if fissure activity cuts off Highway 130, the last exit route for up to 1,000 coastal residents.

More residents in some sections of the Leilani Estates neighborhood were ordered to immediately evacuate shortly before 8 p.m. "due to a fast moving lava flow from Fissure 7", a statement from the civil defense agency said.

Officials had no information on how many residents still remained in the neighborhood or how many people might have already left. Local media has reported that about 2,000 people have already evacuated since the new eruptions began.

(Reporting by Joyln Rosa in Honolulu; Additional reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Darren Schuettler and Alison Williams)

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By Sam Aung Moon and Yimou Lee YANGON (Reuters) - Police in Myanmar examined the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing secret documents without a search warrant after their arrests in December, an officer told a court on Monday, in what has become a landmark press freedom case. Prosecution witness Major Aung Kyaw San said police did not have a warrant to search the phones because the reporters were accused under the Official Secrets Act, which gave officers the power to make arrests and begin an investigation without needing prior permission from a court. That assertion was disputed by defence lawyer Khin Maung Zaw, who told Reuters after the hearing that only the arrests were allowed before seeking the approval of a judge

By Sam Aung Moon and Yimou Lee

YANGON (Reuters) - Police in Myanmar examined the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing secret documents without a search warrant after their arrests in December, an officer told a court on Monday, in what has become a landmark press freedom case.

Prosecution witness Major Aung Kyaw San said police did not have a warrant to search the phones because the reporters were accused under the Official Secrets Act, which gave officers the power to make arrests and begin an investigation without needing prior permission from a court.

That assertion was disputed by defence lawyer Khin Maung Zaw, who told Reuters after the hearing that only the arrests were allowed before seeking the approval of a judge. "This is not acceptable," he said. "Regarding (obtaining) evidence, a warrant is needed."

Lead prosecutor Kyaw Min Aung declined to comment.

Myanmar government spokesman Zaw Htay was not immediately available for comment. Previously, he has declined to discuss details of the proceedings or the police investigation, saying Myanmar's courts were independent.

The court in Yangon has been holding hearings since January to decide whether Wa Lone, 32, and his Reuters colleague Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, will be charged under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act, which carries a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Judge Ye Lwin last week accepted as evidence printed copies of documents that Major Aung Kyaw San, a police IT expert, said were found on the reporters' phones. The documents included alleged confidential government letters and plans for the development of an island off Myanmar's west coast for tourism.

Defence lawyers had argued the documents should not be admitted as evidence because it was unclear who had access to the phones after the reporters' arrests on Dec. 12, and that the prosecution did not explain how the 21 documents were relevant to the case.

Some of the documents came from the Facebook Messenger app, the defence said, and it was not clear the reporters themselves had accessed them.

"We don't know anything about the documents they said they found in our phones," Wa Lone told reporters after Monday's hearing. "The documents can be sent automatically to Messenger."

At the time of their arrests, the reporters had been working on an investigation into the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys in a village in western Myanmar's Rakhine state. The killings took place during a military crackdown that United Nations agencies say sent nearly 700,000 people fleeing to Bangladesh.

The reporters have told relatives they were arrested almost immediately after being handed some rolled up papers at a restaurant in northern Yangon by two policemen they had not met before, having been invited to meet the officers for dinner.

Last month, Police Captain Moe Yan Naing testified that a senior officer had ordered his subordinates to plant secret documents on Wa Lone to "trap" the reporter.

At a news conference on May 15, Police Director General Aung Win Oo dismissed the testimony as untruthful.

After his court appearance, Moe Yan Naing was sentenced to a year in jail for violating police discipline and his family was evicted from police housing. Police have said the eviction and his sentencing were not related to his testimony, but have declined to elaborate further.

Global advocates for press freedom, human rights activists, as well the United Nations and several Western countries, have called for the release of the Reuters journalists.

On Monday, diplomats from France, Denmark and the European Union - as well as others - observed the proceedings.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Tuesday.

(Reporting By Sam Aung Moon and Yimou Lee; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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PM Modi's visit to Indonesia and Singapore, will mark a new phase of engagement between India and Southeast Asia, political observers believe.

Singapore: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Indonesia and Singapore, will mark a new phase of engagement between India and Southeast Asia, which is looking towards more business synergies from the world's fastest expanding market, political observers in Singapore believe.

Modi is scheduled to arrive in Indonesia on Tuesday and leave for Singapore from there on 31 May for a three-day visit.

In Singapore, Modi will hold bilateral talks with his Singaporean counterpart and deliver the key note address at the Shangri-La Dialogue which is expected to be attended by top leaders from several important countries.

Modi will for the first time be addressing the world since his extensive one-to-one dialogues with government heads of China, Russia, France as well as Commonwealth heads of government that had gathered in London.

It will also be a first time for the Shangri-La Dialogue to hear an Indian Prime Minister sharing his wide-ranging views on the world facing great uncertainties and flux.

The IISS Shangri-La Dialogue, first convened in 2002, is an annual meeting for defence ministers, military chiefs and top-ranking defence officials from across the Asia-Pacific and other countries vitally concerned with the region's security.

Modi will present India's stand on issues facing Asia, following his recent informal but frank talks with Xi Jinping of China, Vladimir Putin of Russia and Emmanuel Macron of France, among others.

Political observers believe the Indian Prime Minister has directly cross-checked issues, putting aside all protocols, with these leaders and will present an in-depth understanding of India's strategic and peaceful role in the Indo-Pacific, the enlarged regional platform which needs solutions for a good number of contested issues.

Modi's visit to Indonesia and Singapore is also expected to mark the coming-of-age of India's Act East policy, announced in Naypyidaw in November 2014, says Dr Amitendu Palit, Senior Research Fellow and Lead (Trade and Economic Policy) at the Institute of South Asian Studies, a think tank of National University of Singapore.

The visit also marks the celebration of the India-Southeast Asia engagement, which has acquired high momentum in 2018, following the participation of the heads of states of ASEAN countries in India's Republic Day celebrations in Delhi on 26 January.

"Prime Minister Modi's visit to the region will be closely watched for various reasons," believes Dr Palit.

These include the possibility of the beginning of a new phase of engagement between India and Southeast Asia at a time when institutional engagement and people-to-people contacts between the two have increased manifold, he said.

Palit said there will be expectations of indications towards new strands of economic partnership.

India's economic performance makes it one of the best performing among major global economies today, wherein Southeast Asia looks towards more business synergies from the world's fastest expanding market and investment destination.

"There will also be expectations regarding early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a deal that would integrate India more closely with the economies of Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific," he said.

Following the Modi-Xi meeting in Wuhan, indications are that Beijing understands New Delhi "much more better" and would want India in RCEP, letting it decide at its own pace about the Belt Road Initiative (BRI), a latest uncomfortable zone between the two countries, according to another political observer, who did not wish to be named.

"Finally, there would also be expectations of India communicating with ASEAN and individual countries more closely on areas that are greatly significant for their respective futures. These include cooperation in higher education, tourism, connectivity, financial technology and movement of people," believes Dr Palit.

In Jakarta, the Prime Minister is expected to update President Joko Widowo on his one-on-one dialogues with the Chinese, Russian and other leaders.

Both countries have "strong bilateral relationship" and new developments could see a big push for tourism-related projects from Indian islands in the Andaman Sea to Sumatra.

India sees Singapore as a bigger base for businesses.

Modi, making his third visit in four years since he has been in office, will focus on the strongly-growing business and cultural links.

Observers expect both countries to seal the reviewed Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) which has been under reviews for the past six years.

The reviewed CECA is expected to see more Indian banks and professionals getting opportunities in Singapore while more and more businesses from here venturing into the Indian market.

Regular Indian naval and coast guard ships' visits to Singapore, as well as the region, are part of the growing defence ties between the two countries.

These ties will be strengthened further with more pacts expected during the Prime Minister's visit next week, the observers said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi left on Tuesday for Indonesia on a five-day three-nation tour of Southeast Asia that will take him to Malaysia and Singapore.

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi left on Tuesday for Indonesia on a five-day three-nation tour of Southeast Asia that will take him to Malaysia and Singapore.

"PM @narendramodi emplanes for Jakarta. He will be visiting Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the next few days," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tweeted.

PM @narendramodi emplanes for Jakarta. He will be visiting Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the next few days. pic.twitter.com/r6pvZxBQ7W  PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 29, 2018

"During these visits, he will be attending a wide range of programmes including talks with world leaders, interactions with students and top CEOs," it said.

During these visits, he will be attending a wide range of programmes including talks with world leaders, interactions with students and top CEOs.  PMO India (@PMOIndia) May 29, 2018

In a pre-departure statement on Monday Modi said he was "confident that my visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore will provide a further boost to our Act East Policy and enhance our relations and engagements with all the three countries".

Modi will hold a bilateral summit with Indonesian president Joko Widodo on 30 May. He will also address members of the Indian community in Indonesia.

On 31 May, Modi will make a brief stopover in Malaysia on his way from Indonesia to Singapore to meet newly elected Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, who governed for more than two decades became, at the age of 92, the world's oldest elected leader earlier this month.

On 1 June, Modi will call on Singapore president Halimah Yacob and then hold a summit with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Later in the evening, he will deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, becoming the first Indian prime minister to do so in the Track I annual inter-governmental security forum.
BAMAKO (Reuters) - U.N.

BAMAKO (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed to donors on Tuesday to provide more predictable support to the G5 Sahel force fighting to contain West African jihadists.

He spoke while on a visit to Mali, the country worst affected by Islamist militants.

A conference in February of about 50 countries including the United States, Japan and Norway pledged 414 million euros ($509 million) for the G5 Sahel force, made up of troops from Mali, Niger, Chad, Burkina Faso and Mauritania.

But the force has been planned for years, yet has only got off the ground in the past few months as little of the pledge donations appear to have reached the force to keep it afloat.

"The international community must understand the need to provide the G5 Sahel countries with predictable support," Guterres said, after meeting Prime Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga and leaving flowers to commemorate the roughly 170 U.N. peacekeepers killed in Mali since 2013 - the most endangered U.N. mission anywhere in the world.

"We (United Nations) are working to ensure effective international solidarity by the strength of G5 Sahel," he added.

The G5 Sahel operation, whose command centre is in central Mali, is projected to swell to 5,000 personnel and will also carry out humanitarian and development work.

Rising violence across Mali, especially in its desert north, has cast doubt over the feasibility of elections scheduled for July 29, in which President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita announced on Monday that he would run.

Islamist militants took over northern Mali in 2012 before French forces pushed them back in 2013.

President Emmanuel Macron of France - Mali and the region's former colonial power with 4,000 troops stationed across the Sahel - has pledged to continue France's anti-jihadist offensive alongside the G5.

(Reporting by Tiemoko Diallo; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

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A man killed two policewomen and a bystander in the Belgian city of Liege before being gunned down at a school in what officials say was a terrorist attack

Liege: A man killed two policewomen and a bystander in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday before being gunned down at a school in what officials say was a terrorist attack by a radicalised "lone wolf" just out of prison.

The man was named by public broadcaster RTBF as a 36-year-old petty criminal and drug dealer who was let out on day-release just on Monday.

A Belgian lawmaker said he had been on an anti-terrorist police watchlist after being radicalised in jail, apparently as a convert to Islam  raising questions about why he seems to have been freed unsupervised and expected to return.

Officials said the man attacked the policewomen, aged 45 and 53, from behind with a knife  described as a box-cutter by RTBF  around 10.30 am on a boulevard in the centre of Belgium's third city, near the German border.

After slashing the officers, the man seized their handguns and shot both. He shot dead a 22-year-old trainee teacher who was sitting in a car before entering a high school about 100 metres away and taking two female employees hostage.

That triggered a major intervention by armed police. Pupils were moved to safety as a gunbattle broke out that sent people in the street racing for cover. Four police officers were wounded before the attacker was finally killed.

"The goal of the assassin was to target the police," Liege police chief Christian Beaupere told a news conference.

The attacker's profile showed up concerns about the risks of petty criminals, including those not from Muslim backgrounds, being inspired to Islamist violence while incarcerated. Convicts have been behind several recent attacks in Europe, including some using little more weaponry than a knife or rental truck.

The national crisis centre, on high alert since attacks by Islamic State in Paris and Brussels in the past three years, said it had not raised its alert level - an indication the man was acting alone and so follow-up attacks were not expected.

La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar"  God is greatest in Arabic. Beaupere declined to comment when asked about that.

A Koran and prayer rug were found during a search of his cell, Paris-Match magazine said. Belgian media said he had been put on the radical watchlist last year. De Standaard said police also suspected him of the murder late on Monday of a criminal associate whose body was found south of Liege.

Confirming that the attacker was on the police watchlist, lawmaker George Dallemagne, who sits on several Belgian parliamentary security committees, tweeted: "The supervision of radicalised prisoners remains tragically flawed."

Gunned down

What appeared to be the bodies of the two police officers, arms bare on a hot sunny morning, wearing protective vests and lying in pools of blood a couple of metres apart outside a cafe; the gunman, dressed in black, waving a pistol in each hand, standing in the middle of the road; and finally the assailant emerging from the school onto the street, firing on police, who gun him down.

Prime Minister Charles Michel and King Philippe visited Liege, the biggest city in Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia region. An industrial hub on the Meuse river, it was the scene of a mass shooting in 2011, when a man killed four people and wounded over 100 others before turning his gun on himself.

A Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and on Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.

The Brussels Islamic State cell had links to militants in Verviers, another industrial town close to Liege, where in early 2015 police raided a safe house and killed two men who had returned from fighting with radical Islamists in Syria.
US President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that a top North Korean official is headed to New York for talks attempting to salvage an upcoming summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as diplomatic efforts also accelerated in Asia.

US President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday that a top North Korean official is headed to New York for talks attempting to salvage an upcoming summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, as diplomatic efforts also accelerated in Asia.

Trump said in a tweet that Kim Yong Chol was traveling to New York as part of ongoing meetings between the two countries to revive a summit on the future of North Korea's nuclear weapons. The two had been set to meet June 12 in Singapore, but Trump announced last week that he had decided "to terminate the planned Summit" following a provocative statement from the North. Trump has since suggested the meeting could be back on.

South Korean media had reported earlier that Kim Yong Chol's name was on the passenger list for a fight Wednesday from Beijing to New York. Kim was seen in the Beijing airport on Tuesday by Associated Press Television.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. "Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!"

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee. He would be the highest-level North Korean official to travel to the United States since 2000, when late National Defense Commission First Vice Chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has traveled to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, twice in recent weeks for meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and has said there is a "shared understanding" between the two sides about what they hope to achieve. It remains unclear whom Kim Yong Chol will meet in the United States.

Meanwhile, a team of American diplomats involved in preparatory discussions was seen leaving a Seoul hotel on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether they went to Panmunjom, a village that straddles the border inside the Demilitarized Zone, to continue talks with their North Korean counterparts following their first meeting on Sunday. The U.S. officials are led by Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to Manila, who formerly was the U.S. ambassador to Seoul and a top negotiator with North Korea in past nuclear talks.

South Korean media also reported that a North Korean delegation arrived in Singapore on Monday night for likely summit preparations with U.S. officials.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Washington and Pyongyang were engaging in "working-level" talks to arrange the possible summit, but said it couldn't confirm specifics. Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk also did not say whether Seoul knew of any U.S. plans regarding Kim Yong Chol's visit, such as whether he and Pompeo would meet.

Trump withdrew from the planned summit with Kim Jong Un last Thursday, citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting in Singapore could still happen as originally scheduled on June 12.

"We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date," Trump tweeted Friday.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday morning in an appearance on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" that the president had "sent over two delegations - one for logistics and one for more diplomatic purposes that are on the ground making the logistic preparations for June 12.

"But, as the president has said," she added, "if it doesn't happen June 12 it could happen thereafter."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim Jong Um, held a surprise meeting with the North Korean leader Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

In their second meeting in a month, Moon said Kim Jong Un expressed a willingness to cooperate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with Trump. But the North Korean leader also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States to end hostile policies against North Korea and provide security assurances if the country does abandon its nuclear weapons, according to Moon.

At their first meeting on April 27, Kim Jong Un and Moon announced vague aspirations for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and permanent peace, which Seoul has tried to sell as a meaningful breakthrough that increases the chances of successful talks between Kim and Trump.

Their second meeting came after inter-Korean relations had chilled in recent weeks, with North Korea canceling a high-level meeting with Seoul over South Korea's participation in a two-week military exercise with the United States that ended last week.

Since the 1970s, the United States and South Korea have been holding a major summertime exercise called Ulchi Freedom Guardian that involves tens of thousands of troops. South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday there have been no discussions yet between Washington and Seoul on modifying the drills, which usually take place in August.

Despite the North's apparent eagerness for a summit with Trump, there are lingering doubts about whether Kim Jong Un will fully relinquish his nuclear weapons, which he may see as his only guarantee of survival. Moon has insisted he can be persuaded to abandon his nuclear facilities, materials and bombs in a verifiable and irreversible way in exchange for credible security and economic guarantees.
With an end-of-the-month deadline looming, Kinder Morgan (NYSE:KMI) and the Government of Canada struck a deal to keep the controversial Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion project alive after the pipeline giant agreed to sell the existing line and the planned expansion to Canada for 4.5 billion Canadian dollars ($3.5 billion). The deal will enable Kinder Morgan to walk away from the controversial project while recouping some value for investors. Meanwhile, Canada gets more time to find a buyer for this crucial infrastructure project.

Details on the deal

Kinder Morgan, through its Canadian subsidiary Kinder Morgan Canada Limited (TSX:KML), has agreed to sell 100% of the existing Trans Mountain Pipeline, as well as the associated expansion, to the Canadian government for cash in a deal that should close later this year. In the interim, the Government of Canada has agreed to fund the resumption of planning and construction work on the project via a credit facility. Kinder Morgan will also work with the Government of Canada to find a third-party buyer through July 22 of this year.

Given the timing of the deal's closing, Kinder Morgan doesn't expect it to impact its 2018 outlook. In fact, the company anticipates that it will meet or exceed its target for distributable cash flow per share this year even with the loss of the earnings from this system. Meanwhile, the company expects that its 70% share of the after-tax proceeds will be about $2 billion, which will give its balance sheet a much-needed shot in the arm. Further, the company said it still expects to pay dividends of $0.80 per share in 2018 -- up 60% from last year -- and increase the payout by 25% in both 2019 and 2020.

Where does Kinder Morgan grow from here?

Kinder Morgan had expected to invest $5.7 billion over the next few years to increase the capacity of Trans Mountain from 300,000 barrels per day to 890,000 barrels per day. However, it faced numerous delays that have already pushed back the anticipated in-service date by over a year. That also delayed the timing of the roughly $600 million in incremental annual earnings the company thought that it would receive from its share of the expanded pipeline. With the company no longer building this project, it leaves a big hole that Kinder Morgan now needs to fill.

However, one thing CEO Steve Kean made clear in the press release announcing the pipeline's sale is that he's confident that the company can backfill this loss quickly. The CEO stated, "[W]ith respect to future growth, we are confident that KMI will continue to find investment opportunities across its unparalleled network of midstream assets." He noted that in the last year alone, the company has secured $2.1 billion of new projects and has several others in development. If the company can keep up that pace and lock up about $2 billion of new projects per year, those expansions could generate more than $300 million of annual earnings, and that's assuming a slightly lower return than the projects it currently has under way. In other words, the company could quickly replace what it will lose by selling Trans Mountain.

The best outcome from a tough situation

Kinder Morgan had hoped that it would be able to build the Trans Mountain expansion project so that it could benefit from the stable cash flows it would produce. However, with intense opposition, there was too great a risk that the company would get mired in legal battles that could tie up the capital it has invested in the project for years. Because of that, the outright sale of the entire system is a good outcome for investors -- it removes this risk while providing the company with some cash to bolster its balance sheet. And with plenty of other expansion opportunities in front of it, the company should be able to offset the loss of Trans Mountain in short order and grow shareholder value with less risk, making it an even better buy right now.
'05-'07 Front Conversion Guys......

Just trying to get to the bottom of the ill-fitting front bumper setup from the conversion on my L-99.



Heres what I did; I stripped everything back to the core support.



I installed an aftermarket '07 header panel which fit perfectly.



I installed new OEM headlights and used the adaptor wiring harness.



I installed a great used OEM grille.



I installed a brand new aftermarket bumper using aftermarket brackets.



I installed aftermarket versions of the oem fog lights-they fit perfectly.



I installed an aftermarket top painted pad-had a rough time getting it to fit the bumper so I got an OEM crash foam inside-then it fit much better-still had to really work at it-edges stick out as I'm told some do......not happy with this look at all.



My problem is that the bumper with its aftermarket brackets doesn't seem to go back far enough to have the pad lines line up with the fenders......



I am suspecting that the aftermarket main brackets are the problem-(I have no OEM to compare)



I DO now have a brand new OEM bumper to use....



I'm apt to get OEM brackets and upper painted pad so everything will be OEM except the header panel, which, again fits perfectly, headlights mount to it perfect, IT mounts perfectly to the header panel, the OEM grille mounts to IT perfectly.



Who here HAS done this conversion using ALL OEM parts and hasn't had problems?



Who here HAS done it using aftermarket parts and HAD the same fitment problems that I've had?



Comments welcome guys, just got get my truck straightened out once and for all. Thanks!
Budapest  The organizers of the Central and Eastern European Gaming Conference (CEEGC) are honored to announce that Miglena Dimitrova (MDMI Legal) will join the panel discussion which focuses on the Eastern European gambling market updates.

The Bulgarian gambling industry has shown significant growth in the last 10 years and in an Analysis of the Center for the Study of Democracy of Bulgaria the numbers have shown that revenues are rising significantly. In 2017 alone, the gambling industry reached US$1.8 billion.

The study also shows that due to large tax benefits, the taxes paid in 2016 are only US$111 million. The data analysis shows a rapid and aggressive expansion of the gambling industry in Bulgaria.

However, gambling advertising could be restricted further in Bulgaria as a bill on the matter gained earlier this month the support from the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party (GERB) as well as from the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), in a rare case of political concord on a given issue between the countrys major parties.

Sponsored by Deputy Prime Minister Valery Simeonov, the bill calls for the introduction of stricter controls on the way gambling products and services are advertised across Bulgarian media. If it comes into force, it will close loopholes in the countrys current gambling advertising regulations that make it possible for operators to indirectly advertise their products despite an overall ban on direct advertising.

Moodys Amadeus data also shows that in Bulgaria there are 1,327 companies registered that engage in betting and gambling.

The recent updates of the Bulgarian market and some insights into investing opportunities will be shared during the panel discussion which will feature briefings about the state of the industry in Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Belarus.

About Miglena Dimitrova

Miglena Dimitrova is a founding partner in MDMI Legal law firm, heading the gambling law team. Miglena Dimitrova is an IP and regulatory lawyer and mediator. Her main areas of practice include IP and regulatory matters, focusing mainly on online media, financial services and gambling.

Miglena has extensive experience in the gambling application procedure before the Bulgarian State Gambling Commission, as well as in all other aspects of gambling legislation, and has advised the largest international gambling operators, associations and platform providers.

She is a regular speaker at national and international gambling conferences.

The 2018 edition of the bombastic gaming seminar will be held at The Ritz-Carlton on the 25th of September and the event promises to once again bring the quality content and networking opportunities for attending delegates.

The subtitle of the 2018 event is The age of Machine Intelligence and how regulators must keep up with technology and the agenda is full of high quality content. CEEGC 2018 will once again feature regulatory and compliance related panel discussions about Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Belarus, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, but will also focus on Responsible Gambling, AML, Licensing Procedures in the European Union, Innovation and will feature a special IMGL MasterClass.

Make sure you grab your seat in time and attend the most prestigious boutique style gaming event which gather C-level executives yearly in one of Europes most visited city.

Register here!

About the organizer, European Gaming Media and Events (formerly EEGMedia/EEGEvents)

European Gaming Media and Events is a leading media and boutique event organizer company in the European Union.

The live events/conference division is in charge of organizing boutique style executive gaming events that focus on bringing inside information from the top gaming experts in the European Union and beyond. Their first event was held in Budapest on the 19th of September 2016. Since then the team have implemented more destinations into their event portfolio.

In short, they cover most areas of Europe with international events that serve the local and global industry, optimize networking opportunities and bring the hottest topics into scope.

The event destinations include Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Riga and Ljubljana with special focus around emerging markets.

For more details about the calendar, agendas and locations, visit the Live Events/Conferences section on europeangaming.eu
Welcome to my genealogy blog. Genea-Musings features genealogy research tips and techniques, genealogy news items and commentary, genealogy humor, San Diego genealogy society news, family history research and some family history stories from the keyboard of Randy Seaver (of Chula Vista CA), who thinks that Genealogy Research Is really FUN! Copyright (c) Randall J. Seaver, 2006-2021.
Jens Stoltenberg and members of alliance support Georgias integration with NATO - GeorgianJournal
Gmail for iOS gets Smart Unsubscribe feature, Android to receive soon News oi-Sandeep Sarkar Google Smart Unsubscribe feature has already gone live for the iOS and is believed to be rolled out for the Android devices soon.

Google's email service platform Gmail had received its share of makeover recently. Google had rolled out a whole new set of features for Gmail. Along with the revamped design, the update that is released for the Gmail brings a whole set of new features and functionality for the service. The update also brings the elements of Material Design to the Gmail.

Google has further said that as a part of the redesign it would also be introducing Smart Reply, Confidential Mode, Nudging, native Offline Support and some more features to Gmail. Some of the above-mentioned features including the Confidential Mode, Nudging, Smart Inbox etc, have been already released for Gmail over the past few weeks.

Now, Google is saying that it will finally be releasing the Smart Unsubscribe feature to its Gmail mobile app. However, the feature has already gone live for the iOS and is believed to be rolled out for the Android devices soon.

The Smart Unsubscribe feature is said to categorize the emails intelligently and will also recommend a mailing list from which the user needs to unsubscribe. Google further says that the new feature will also suggest newsletters to the users. The new feature will also suggest a user to unsubscribe from a newsletter when it has been not opened for a long time and is staying in the inbox for quite some time. With this Google hopes that the users will be able to manage the emails in a better way and it will further give the users a better Gmail experience.

Unsubscribe Junk Emails within a minute - GIZBOT

We all would agree that Gmail is one of the most popular e-mail platforms globally. The email service caters the need of both the retail users and enterprises. With this latest update and the introduction of AI feature for the Gmail, it is bound to give an ultimate user experience.

As mentioned earlier the 'Smart Unsubscribe' feature is available for iOS and it is expected to be rolled out for the Android platform soon. It would be interesting to see what else Google has in store for the users going forward.

Best Mobiles in India

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SBS grows lending book, but with less aggression

SBS Bank chief executive Shaun Drylie explains the banks latest profit result, what it's doing with mortgage advisers and his thoughts on the current state of the housing market.

Tuesday, May 29th 2018, 2:25PM

SBS Bank is reporting a solid financial result for the financial year ending March 31, with an operating surplus of $35 million.

This is marginally down on the previous year due to the acquisition costs of the Warehouse Group Financial Services.

Chief executive Shaun Drylie says if this acquisition and integration costs are taken out the bank would have been a few million dollars ahead of last year.

He says the banks growth was balanced with lending and funding growth running at 11% each.

Total lending was up $388 million on the previous year, and retail funding growth, up $337 million.

SBS has managed to grow its lending book at above system growth, while not being as aggressive on pricing as it has been in the past.

As the home loan market heated up other banks were a lot more aggressive, he said.

SBS was willing to lend to investors, first home buyers and owner occupiers, but wanted good quality deals with good margins.

He says in the previous year the bank has been aggressive on pricing, now it was not trying to shoot the lights out, rather it aimed to have better than average pricing all the time.

The banks residential lending has been strong in the heartland areas of New Zealand, rather than Auckland  a market it has been focussed on in recent years.

Drylie says mortgage advisers play a strong role in distribution and account for between 45-55% of home loans written.

He says advisers particularly like SBSs Welcome Home Loan offer.

SBS was looking at broker remuneration, particularly volume bonuses.

Drylie expects credit growth to sit around the 3% mark going forward. The expectation is that Auckland house prices will be reasonably static, but the regions would have stronger growth.

We dont see any significant correction in the property market.

While SBS Bank has been a key contributor, with continued growth in both residential lending and retail deposits, this also reflects strong performance across the entire SBS Group, including subsidiaries Finance Now, FANZ and Southsure.

SBS Banks total capital ratio has increased across the year to 12.8% and remains well above the regulatory minimum (8%), despite the costs incurred for the acquisition of Warehouse Group Financial Services.

Drylie says SBS has been following the Royal Commission in Australia but didnt see a need for one in New Zealand.

He said local banks welcome further oversight from the regulators and he expects the bank to adopt recommendations made in reports from other jurisdications.

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GREENWICH  A trio from New York City are due in court June 25 to answer charges that they tried to defraud a bank in Old Greenwich, police said.

These latest arrests on May 23 followed a pattern that has been repeated at banks around the region in recent months, police said. In the scheme, person is recruited with an offer of money, given stolen documents and sent to a bank branch to fraudulently withdraw money, police said.
Google's mobile augmented reality platform ARCore is now available in China. The company has teamed up with Xiaomi to offer ARCore apps through the Chinese company's App Store. Here's the announcement tweet:

Starting today, #ARCore apps are available on Mix 2S devices from the Xiaomi App Store in China. More partners coming soon  https://t.co/16QoOTgqve pic.twitter.com/lT4TYXrzwF  Google AR & VR (@GoogleARVR) May 28, 2018

For those wondering, Google's partnership with Xiaomi stems from the fact that the search giant's own Play Store (which is required by ARCore for updates) isn't available in China.

In China, the Mi Mix 2S is the first device that's compatible with ARCore apps. Google says more partners will be announced soon.

Source
The Moto Z3 Play is Motorolas biggest midrange device of the year. Its predecessors share the Z name with the previous flagships: the Moto Z and Moto Z2. Today, a set of renders for the Moto Z3 Play have leaked ahead of an official announcement, which Motorola is likely holding in Brazil on June 6.

We can learn a lot about the anticipated Moto Z3 by looking at these renders, but lets talk about the Z3 Play since its the one actually in these renders. The Z3 Play will have a taller display with curved corners, which we assume carries an 18:9 aspect ratio.

Source: WinFuture.de

The back of the phone has the same Moto Mod magnetic interface and it looks like all first-generation Moto Mods will be compatible with the latest-generation Moto Z3 devices. Something interesting is that we are seeing a glossy backside, which could be either glass or plastic. Our bet is that its made of glass and we can probably expect the flagship Z3 to have a glass back (we need to stop with these fragile glass sandwiches).

Source: WinFuture.de

The fingerprint scanner has been moved from the front chin to the side  on the power key, which has a much larger surface area to accommodate for this sensor. Otherwise, theres a brand new button on the left side of the device. Were not sure what it could be, but our first guess is it may be a press-hold button to speak to Google Assistant/Moto Actions. Our second guess is that its a mute switch, but we think the first guess is more likely.

Rather than leave the bottom of the phone blank, we see some Motorola branding on the chin. We always saw Moto in 2017 Motorola phones or no Moto at all and just the Moto Batwing logo. Anyway, we felt the need to point it out since most smartphones dont have branding on the front of the phone as bezels got smaller.

Source: WinFuture.de

One thing that throws us off is the date on the phones render: April 3, which happens to be my birthday, but thats not why I pointed it out. Usually a smartphone render announced in June doesnt have a date from two months ago. Interestingly, the other Moto phones announced in April have the same date so the renders must have been made at the same time as those.

What do you think of the alleged Moto Z3 Play? More importantly, what do you think that new button on the left side does?

Source (Translated)
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In the wild, Galaxy phones tend to travel in groups  like this Samsung Galaxy A9 Star and A9 Lite, who were spotted next to Galaxy A6+ (2018) and other phones. The A6+ is easy to tell apart by its markings  dual camera in the middle and antenna lines at the top and bottom edges. Around the front, they have LED flashes next to the earpiece.

Which leaves the SM-G8850, aka Galaxy A9 Star. You can see its dual camera in the upper left corner and the squarish fingerprint reader on the midline.



Samsung Galaxy A9 Star  aka SM-G8850  Available in Black and White

Which one is the A9 Lite, though? According to the person who shot these photos, its based on the Galaxy C Pro phones, but we dont see it. Their trademark is antenna lines that look like three groves and we just dont see such a thing in these photos.



Galaxy A6+ (2018) (and S8 to the side?)  Galaxy A6+ from the front  Galaxy A9 Lite, perhaps?

Whichever one it is, the Lite model will come in Black, Gray and Blue while the A9 Star will be available in Black and White. For specs, we turn to TENAA.

The Galaxy S Light Luxury (aka S8 Lite) launched recently, but is exclusive to China. The Galaxy A9 duo might not be. The SM-G885F - a Chinese model - was spotted on Samsung Vietnam. Beyond that, there should be Galaxy A9 Star phones available in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Cambodia (on one or several carriers).

Source 1 (in Chinese) | Via 1 | Source 2 | Via 2
vivo is launching a retail version of its APEX Concept Phone on June 12. The phone will have almost 100% screen-to-body ratio with the selfie camera likely hidden in the top bezel, appearing like a periscope when the camera app is launched.

According to an image from a retail store in China, the phone is going to be powered by Snapdragon 845 and cost dearly - CNY6,998 or nearly $1100.



vivo NEX prices  vivo NEX promo

The hand-written board also says there will be a cheaper variant of the vivo NEX without the high-tech camera solution. It will cost CNY4,998 ($780) but will have the Snapdragon 710 chipset.

Keep in mind that a post of a hand-written message on a Chinese social media is not the most reliable source, so the final prices could be different.





vivo APEX motorized selfie camera

The company is apparently ready for the launch of the phone, as it is already issuing advert posters around shopping malls in China. A photo revealed the new phone is likely to be out of this world and to have breakthrough technologies.

If the device is anything like the APEX Concept phone we saw back in Barcelona, it will also have an in-screen fingerprint scanner across the whole bottom half of the display and a dual camera setup on the back.

Source (in Chinese) | Via
Published on 2018/05/29 | Source

Added episodes 21 and 22 captures for the Korean drama "Shall We Live Together" (2018)

Advertisement

Directed by Yoon Chang-beom

Written by Park Pil-joo

Network : KBS

With Yoo Dong-geun, Jang Mi-hee, Han Ji-hye, Lee Sang-woo, Park Sun-young, Yeo Hoe-hyun,...

50 episodes - Sat, Sun 19:55

Also known as "Marry Me Now"

Synopsis

The story explores the relationships between generations in a family; between parents, parents and children, and all the process by which all of them learn to relate to each other.

Broadcast starting date in Korea : 2018/03/17

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Havre Police Department

Tylanna Rochelle Adams of Havre, 21, was arrested on a charge of endangering the welfare of children after a caller at Boulevard Avenue and 16th Street West reported Friday at 9:38 a.m. a child in diapers was in the street, but no parents were around. Adams called at 10:48 a.m. Friday to report a missing 3-year-old child.



A caller at a First Street business reported Friday at 10:24 a.m. a vehicle had crashed into hers and the driver had left a note.



Officers investigated a vehicle crash between a white F-150 and a white SUV on First Street West Friday at 2:14 p.m.



Cole Phillip Wakefield of Havre, 31, was issued a summons Friday at 9:29 p.m. on a criminal contempt charge related to a 24/7 Sobriety Program violation.



Jaime Dawn The Boy of Havre, 41, was issued a summons Friday at 9:31 p.m. on a criminal contempt charge related to a 24/7 Sobriety Program violation.



A caller on Ninth Street reported a possible break in Saturday at 7:06 a.m.



A Ninth Street caller reported found property at 8:12 a.m. Saturday.



A caller on Ninth Street reported a theft at 11:14 a.m. Saturday.



Preston Wade Clark of Box Elder, 31, was arrested on charges of resisting arrest and criminal mischief after a Second Street caller reported Saturday at 11:59 a.m. a man had broken one of the callers windows.



Brian Keith Azure of Havre, 47, was issued a summons on a charge of obscene phone call after a South Dell Drive caller reported Saturday at 7:33 p.m. a message sent to her daughter.



Sunday at 3:57 a.m. a First Street West business reported a theft of alcohol.



Acoya Nathan Chiefstick of Hays, 20, was arrested on three Justice or City court warrants and a charge of minor in possession after an officer initiated investigation in suspicious activity Sunday at 4:12 a.m. in an alley off Second Avenue.



A Second Street caller reported Sunday at 1:46 p.m. that tools had been stolen from the location.



Roy Joseph Mayer of Havre, 42, was issued a summons on a theft charge after a caller at a U.S. Highway 2 Northwest establishment reported Sunday at 5:16 p.m. that customer said he was going home to get his wallet, but didnt return.



Vincent Mark Alcorn of Havre, 46, was arrested on charges of possession of dangerous drugs and possession of drug paraphernalia after a Sunday 8:13 p.m. caller reported from a First Street business finding what he thought was meth.



Michelle Rose Jiron of Havre, 27, was arrested on charges of criminal contempt and revocation of suspended or deferred sentence Monday at 7:54 a.m. in relation to a 24/7 Sobriety Program violation.



Kierra Jean Haggerty of Great Falls, 18, was arrested on a Justice or City court warrant during a Monday 7:17 p.m. vehicle stop on First Street.

Hill County Sheriffs Office

Roger Dale Sutherland Jr. of Great Falls, 31, was arrested on two Justice or City court warrants during a vehicle stop Friday at 2:39 p.m. on Main Street in Box Elder.



David Brian Gideon of Rudyard, 39, was arrested on a partner or family member assault charge after a domestic disturbance was reported from Second Street Northwest in Rudyard Friday at 3:15 p.m.



Chase Erik Schmautz of Travis Air Force Base, Washington, 22, was arrested on charges of shoplifting, trespass to property, possession of drug paraphernalia and violations of conditions of release after a caller at a U.S. Highway 2 West business reported a shoplifter Saturday at 5:44 p.m.



A sex offense was reported from Beaver Creek Park Saturday at 9:10 p.m.



A caller at Fresno Reservoir reported Sunday at 3:22 p.m. something that someone saw in the water, the dispatch log says.



A break-in was reported on Sixth Street North Sunday at 7:53 p.m.



Marion Elizabeth Williams of Havre, 58, was issued a summons Monday at 9:35 a.m. on charges of dog running at large, three counts, and vicious dog, two counts.



Deputies investigated an animal control call from the emergency room Monday at 11:15 a.m.

Havre Fire Department

Emergency medical personnel responded to one call Friday, three calls Saturday, four calls Sunday and five calls Monday.



Fire crews responded to a 4:09 p.m. Saturday call to the 1000 Block of Grant Avenue where a gas line to a house was hit while digging. HFD remained on standby while NorthWestern Energy performed a repair.

Havre Animal Shelter

This morning the shelter held three medium-hair cats and one short-hair cat with sex listed as unknown, one medium-hair female cat, three medium-hair male cats, two female short-hair cats and, one male short-hair cat.



The shelter also held this morning a 23-week-old male American Staffordshire Terrier, a 4-year-1-month-old female German shepherd-Labrador retriever cross, a 1-year-3-month-old male Labrador retriever-Boston terrier cross and an 18-week-old male Australian shepherd.

Births

A boy was born Thursday, May 24, 2018, to Veronica Tangen and Weslyn Schilling of Harlem.
A project that will provide treated drinking water for Rocky Boys Indian Reservation and a large chunk of north-central Montana has more money proposed for its completion.

U.S. Sen. Jon Tester announced he secured $4.8 million in an appropriations bill for the Rocky Boys/North Central Montana Regional Water System, which will treat water from Lake Elwell at Tiber Reservoir south of Chester. The treated water will be transported to Rocky Boy and regions off the reservation from Loma to Havre and the North Havre Water District in northern Hill County and west to the Rocky Mountain Front, including the Hill County Water District and Chester west to Cut Bank and Conrad.

Tester, who also once again is sponsoring a bill to provide guaranteed funding for rural water projects, said he is committed to finding funding for the projects.

Water is life, Tester said in a release about the funding. This investment is another step towards the completion of Montanas rural water projects that will provide tens of thousands of farmers, ranchers, families and businesses in north-central and northeast Montana with reliable access to clean water.

Last year, Tester secured $4.8 million in the same Senate Energy and Water appropriations bill and also secured another $15 for the Rocky Boys/North Central project from Bureau of Reclamation.

The project, which came from the Chippewa Cree Tribes water compact with Montana and the federal government, was authorized by Congress in 2002 but has not received steady funding. Construction has proceeded in a piecemeal fashion, with funding obtained used to build sections that can be added to the system once it is complete. Work on the water treatment plant at Tiber started last fall.

Tester, who is facing multiple candidates in his bid for re-election this year, has joined Montanas other U.S. senator, Republican Steve Daines, and other senators in pushing for a separate set of funding for rural water projects.

Four Republicans, state Auditor Matt Rosendale, state Sen. Al Olszewski, businessman Troy Downing and retired judge and former legislator Russ Fagg are facing off in the primary for the chance to challenge Tester in the general election, along with Libertarian Rick Breckenridge and Green Party candidate Steve Kelly.

Tester wrote the Authorized Rural Water Projects Completion Act, a bipartisan bill that will invest $80 million annually for the next 20 years to complete the construction of Montanas rural water projects, as well as $35 million annually for 20 years for enacted and future Indian water rights settlement bills.

Tester revived the bill, which he previously co-sponsored when it was drafted by Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., in 2012.

Sen. Steve Daines, R-Mont., is a co-sponsor of the bill along with five other senators, all Democrats, Tom Udall of New Mexico, Heidi Hitkamp of North Dakota, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Tina Smith of Minnesota.
He added that this requires a two-level approach ensuring clarity around long term direction and the actions required to get there.

Simultaneously, the business must position itself to respond to short-term factors. I think thats called a strategy and HR has a critical role to play in both.

Holly Barnes, head of people and culture, Moodle added that the world of work moves quickly and organisations need to be agile.

Gone are the days of executing a rigid 3+ year HR strategy that aligns to the implementation of a business plan, she said.

Instead HR must support the business in shifting its focus to team and culture. She added that putting energy into building a great team rather than a structured plan, makes adapting at a moments notice easier.
Speaking at the conference, Bevan said: We need to co-ordinate our efforts so that people who want to work can do so.

It can be working time, it can be having a bit of understanding that someone might need to turn up at 10 oclock because they have trouble with transport or anxiety about transport.

I dont think enough [employers] regard being overweight and obese as part of the family of conditions or impairments that they need to do something about.

The Australian Human Rights Commission Act 1986 (AHRC Act) currently prohibits workplace discrimination on broad range of grounds, including race and disability, but there is no explicit mention of weight.

Grounds of discrimination currently covered by the AHRC Act
Researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have found a new way to block a root cause of pain. The key is a naturally occurring protein called apolipoprotein A-I binding protein (AIBP). AIBP binds to toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a protein that sits on the surface of cells like an antenna, searching for signs of infection or tissue damage. The researchers found that treating mice with a single spinal injection of AIBP  and thus switching TLR4 off  prevented and reversed inflammation and cellular events associated with pain processing.

As reported May 29 by Cell Reports, the treatment alleviated chemotherapy pain in mice for two months with no side effects.

Opioids and most other pain medications simply dampen a persons perception of pain. But the source of the pain is still there, said co-senior author Tony Yaksh, PhD, professor and vice chair for research in the Department of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. At the same time, opioids also impart a feeling of pleasure, which leads to their misuse and addiction. Whats so special about our new approach, inhibiting the TLR4 receptor with AIBP, is that it actually modifies the pain processing systems themselves. So, if you think of neuropathic pain as a disease, then we see this as truly disease-modifying. Were blocking the underlying mechanism that causes pain, not just masking the symptoms.

Historically, Yaksh said, researchers thought inflammation and nerve injury were separate events. But a few years ago, he, co-author Maripat Corr, MD, and collaborators found that sometimes inflammation can transition to chronic pain with all the hallmarks of nerve injury  a cellular event that involves TLR4.

This latest advance got its start three years ago when Yaksh attended a symposium where Yury Miller, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Medicine, and now co-senior author of the study, was talking about his work on lipid metabolism and atherosclerosis. Yaksh, whose lab studies pain, realized they were both looking at TLR4, but for different reasons. Out of that chance interaction, the two started working together.

My specialty is atherosclerosis, the underlying cause of heart attack and stroke, and we had been studying AIBP as a means to treat that condition, said Miller. And it worked  the study is now published in the Journal of Lipid Research. But we were also surprised to find that at the same time AIBP prevented and reversed chronic pain states. When Tony saw those results, he told me it was remarkable how effective it was.

In laboratory tests, the researchers discovered that AIBP inhibited TLR4 by removing cholesterol from lipid rafts  cholesterol-rich areas of a cells membrane that help control how cells communicate with each other and their environments. In mice, spinal (intrathecal) injections of AIBP reduced lipid rafts in central nervous system immune cells called microglia. The injections also reduced TLR4 activation, microglial activation and inflammation in the spinal cord.

After chemotherapy, humans and animals often develop persistent states of pain in response to even the lightest touch. In this study, mice that received chemotherapy reacted to the lightest touch. But a single intrathecal injection of AIBP completely reversed the chemotherapy-induced pain state and the mice were able to endure normal levels of mechanical stimulation. This pain-relieving effect lasted for two months and the AIBP injection did not affect motor functions.

We are working on ways to deliver AIBP systemically, but if it comes down to a choice between living with chronic pain or getting a spinal injection once every few months, we think most people would take the injection, Miller said. As it stands now, AIBP could be developed as therapy for unremitting severe pain that only responds to high dose morphine. AIBP would remove the need for opioids, and reduce the potential for drug abuse.

According to Yaksh, of the 1.7 million patients who receive a cancer diagnosis each year, it is estimated that at least 39 percent experience pain in the course of the cancer and after treatment. If each of those patients takes an average 100 milligrams of morphine or its equivalent per day for one year, an estimated morphine burden would be approximately 24,000 kilograms per year  and thats just for patients with cancer.

Were not saying we shouldnt use opiates to treat chronic pain or in particular cancer pain  that would be a tragedy, Yaksh said. But it would also be a greater tragedy if we didnt support work to find a substitute for systemic opiates  if for no other reason to reduce its presence in our society.

Additional study co-authors include: Sarah A. Woller, Soo-Ho Choi, Dina Schneider, Roshni Ramachandran, Jungsu Kim, UC San Diego; Eun Jung An, Yun Soo Bae, Ewha Womans University, Korea; Hann Low, and Dmitri Sviridov, Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Australia.

This research was funded, in part, by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NS102432, NS099338, HL135737, HL136275, HL088093, T32AR064194), American Heart Association (SDG14710028), Rheumatology Research Foundation, and National Health and Medical Research Council of the Australian Government (GNT1036352).
Currently, there is no promising treatment for Dengue Fever, a disease that infects almost 400 million people worldwide every year and is Malaysias most prevalent infectious disease. Carried by Aedes mosquitos, the virus causes severe headaches, muscle and joint pains, swollen lymph nodes, vomiting, fever and rash and in some cases can be serious or life threatening.

A team of scientists from the University of Nottingham Malaysia are working on a project to create a plant-based vaccine, which if successful would provide a safe and cost effective way to prevent this disease.

Moving closer to an oral vaccine

Dr Sandy Loh is leading the research and says: Vaccines are created from proteins that can be produced in many different systems and research usually focuses on mammalian cell, bacterial cell or fungus. Using plants for this process is a new platform to emerge that has the potential to provide an edible based vaccine that can be used in orally taken medicine. Other than tobacco plants, we are also working on edible plant species such as lettuce which we hope will eventually lead to an oral vaccine in the future.

Using plants to develop a vaccine in this way offers many advantages like higher expression, lower production cost, easier distribution as there is no need for trained nurses to provide injections and better safety as there are no animal or human pathogens which increases the biosafety aspect.

Neutralising the Dengue virus

The project has produced a vaccine antigen (protein) within the plant that neutralises the Dengue virus. The uniqueness of the project is the use of a transient expression process called Agroinfiltration. During this process, a defective plant virus is combined with Agrobacterium in making an expression vector that delivers the Dengue vaccine antigen into the leaf of the tobacco plant. It is then incubated and harvested after a few days that the vaccine antigen can be extracted and purified for use as a vaccine.

The findings of the project have verified that an immune response is created using the plant-based vaccine in an animal model and the antibodies produced can neutralize the Dengue virus. The next stage of the research will involve virus challenge studies to determine the protection efficacy of the plant-based vaccine.

Quick and safe development

As well as Dengue Fever, this technique has also been used to investigate plant based vaccine for Avian Flu and has had similar success. Dr Loh continues; For developing countries, the development of a cost effective vaccine from plants would have a significant impact as it would mean they can develop their own local vaccines to combat endemic diseases. Providing vaccines in this way would undoubtedly save many lives.

One of the unqiue aspects of this research is the speediness at which the vaccines can be created using the agroinfiltration method. Dr Loh explains: For diseases like flu which can mutate quickly, the speed at which we could potentially develop a vaccine is as rapid as one month, this means specific vaccines can be produced to be ready for any potential pandemic outbreaks.

 Ends 

The University of Nottingham is a research-intensive university with a proud heritage, consistently ranked among the worlds top 100. Studying at the University of Nottingham is a life-changing experience and we pride ourselves on unlocking the potential of our 44,000 students  Nottingham was named University of the Year for Graduate Employment in the 2017 Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide, was awarded gold in the TEF 2017 and features in the top 20 of all three major UK rankings. We have a pioneering spirit, expressed in the vision of our founder Sir Jesse Boot, which has seen us lead the way in establishing campuses in China and Malaysia  part of a globally connected network of education, research and industrial engagement. We are ranked eighth for research power in the UK according to REF 2014. We have six beacons of research excellence helping to transform lives and change the world; we are also a major employer and industry partner  locally and globally.

Impact: The Nottingham Campaign, its biggest-ever fundraising campaign, is delivering the Universitys vision to change lives, tackle global issues and shape the future. More news
Closed door budget-craft eliminates amendments

RALEIGH  Republican legislative leaders decision to hold secretive budget deliberations was bad politics, and could further motivate angry Democrats to flood the voting booth this fall, political observers say.



GOP leaders counter that the budget they unveiled Monday night merely makes some minor adjustments in the two-year agreement enacted last year. In their view, Democrats used similar tactics when they had a lock on the General Assembly. And the spending plan for the upcoming year is fiscally sound, including higher pay for teachers and state employees, more tax cuts, and a boost in state rainy-day savings  a tough budget to reject in an election year, Republicans say.



Even so, analysts say the choice to offer the budget as a conference committee report, allowing no amendments, gives Republicans, with supermajority margins in both legislative chambers, a tactical advantage.



I certainly think that they recognize theres energy on the Democratic side," said Catawba College political science professor Michael Bitzer. Cutting the process short will deny Democrats a high-profile platform in budget debates to criticize GOP policies.



I think this could be the real test this November  how far a party can go in using absolute power to their advantage, Bitzer said. Its hard to compare, but it feels like the Democratic side is having their 2010 kind of a year. Then, Republicans gained control of the General Assembly after more than a century of Democratic rule.



Rather than amend the 2018-19 budget, Republican legislative leaders chose to strip language out of an old insurance bill, and replace it into a conference report with the $23.9 billion General Fund budget proposal. The Senate Joint Appropriations/Base Budget Committee will meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday to review the report.



Lawmakers can only vote up or down on the budget.



Democrats condemned the tactic on Twitter last week and through the weekend.



The disregard for the spirit of the democratic process is breathtaking, wrote Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake. There is a real fear of civil discourse from #ncga leadership.



Perhaps we can make it much more efficient for #ncga leadership to pass a budget, said House Minority Leader Darren Jackson, D-Wake. He sarcastically suggested Republican lawmakers could just sign a proxy [and] let just a handful of people write it and then approve it.



Transparency is a hallmark of a democratic republic, and when the process is done behind closed doors, and only presented for ratification where the votes are already there, it raises real questions about the civic process, Bitzer said.



Shelly Carver, a spokeswoman for Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, disagreed with the critics.



The purpose of the short session is to adjust the two-year state budget that was fully vetted, debated, and passed over a six-month period last year  not to write an entirely new plan, Carver told Carolina Journal by email.



Lawmakers of both parties will have the opportunity to vote on the bill, and make their voices heard, Carver said. But we fully expect legislative Democrats and Gov. Cooper will attempt to use this to justify their opposition to a budget that will include a fifth consecutive teacher pay raise and substantial tax relief for millions of North Carolinians.



Joseph Kyzer, spokesman for House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, defended the budget process.



As appropriations leaders have emphasized, the legislature is only making adjustments to the biennium budget passed last year based on the states $356 million revenue surplus and record reserve fund, Kyzer said.



This years state budget will continue to deliver strong investment growth in North Carolinas priorities like education and public safety while maintaining tax relief for families and businesses, Kyzer said.



The process Republicans chose is legal, but unconventional, according to Gerry Cohen, former General Assembly special counsel.



He told the News & Observer he researched budget bills dating to 1985. This is the first instance when amendments will be prohibited on the House and Senate floors. Over 34 years, only three times did one chamber adopt the others budget without amending it.



But former House Majority Leader Paul Skip Stam recalls Democratic power plays. We protested loudly as a minority party in 2007, the Wake County Republican said.



Republican senators urged their House counterparts to pass the Senates budget unamended. Minority House Republicans sought nine Democratic colleagues to join them, backing the Senate budget so it wouldnt go to a conference committee.



House Democratic leaders foiled the scheme. The ensuing conference report contained a half billion dollars of new spending neither the House nor Senate had approved separately. It also created land transfer taxes that failed in both chambers.



I wont say there was no debate, because we debated it hard. But just like this one, there will be debate but no amendments, and no real part of the process, Stam said.



In 2004, Stam said, Democrats brought a budget conference report to the House floor for an immediate late-night vote. He objected, and then-House Speaker Jim Black allowed less than an hour to review 500 pages of budget documents before voting.



N.C. State political science professor Andy Taylor said Republicans decision to budget by conference report is not surprising. Power has crystallized for many years among a small cadre of leaders who control budget decisions, the legislative process, committee appointments, and district maps.



Some veteran lawmakers who werent part of the negotiations still dont know whatll be in the final package and have bristled at being excluded.



Retiring state Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, in late April spoke about that concentration of power. In a letter to House and Senate Republicans dated May 10 he strongly urged colleagues to reject a budget dropped into a conference report. He said Republicans have accelerated abusive practices Democrats started.



It is elementary that each citizen of this state is entitled to equal representation in the chambers that make the laws which those citizens are bound to follow, Blust wrote in the May 10 letter. This is fundamental constitutional law and fundamental to the very essence of a republic. It should never be abused or traded away for any reason short of a public emergency.



The conference process shuts out minority party members, Taylor said. But rank-and-file majority members also are affected because they cant offer amendments.



Taylor said theres no question the budget will pass. But its unclear if it will get the 60-percent vote needed to override a gubernatorial veto. Some Republicans upset about being excluded from the process, and whats put in the spending plan, may vote no.



Rep. Jeff Collins, R-Nash, whos also retiring at the end of the session, said the conference committee approach would be OK merely to tweak the budget. But the Republican caucus is split. If big policy issues or objectionable spending items were inserted, he might vote against it.



UNC-Greensboro political science professor Thomas Little said legislative leaders may prefer a speedy process, but it doesnt inspire faith in representative government.



Its not a healthy process for democracy. If your argument is efficiency, democracys not efficient. Thats not one of its qualities. Never has been, never will be, Little said. The quality is representation and responsiveness, and you dont get either with this.
Former Boyzone member Mark Walton has called for life sentences for his ex-girlfriend and her partner for torturing her French nanny to death over their bizarre obsession with him.

Sabrina Kouider, his ex-girlfriend, and her partner Ouissem Medouni imprisoned, tortured and killed Sophie Lionnet at their London home in September 2017 after convincing themselves she was spying on them with the Boyzone founder.

Warped

The Dubliner spoke to Good Morning Britain yesterday in his first TV interview since the shocking murder of nanny Ms Lionnet in London over her killers' warped delusions that she was in league with the former popstar.

He urged for the pair, who were found guilty of murder last week, to be given life sentences for their crimes.

"People who can do something like that this was done over time. There was planning that went into this. In my opinion they should never get out. I support Sophie's parents.

"They are in my prayers every night. What they have gone through is so much worse than what I've been through."

He said he was genuinely shocked by horrific details of the case.

"The reality was that I had never, ever met Sophie... Never sent a text message or anything via social media," he said.

"I opened my whole world to the police because I knew it never happened. I was accused of flying over the house in a helicopter with my friends, it was just crazy."

Responsible

The Dubliner, who was one of the founding members of Boyzone, said he can't help feeling somehow responsible for what happened.

"There's a certain responsibility you feel when your name was the reason someone got tortured and was put through something so horrific," he said.

"But people who know me and love me say, 'Look you can't blame yourself. They were two psychopaths'. Unfortunately for me it was my name brought into this."

Walton described how his life had been plunged into a nightmare by his former girlfriend Kouider.

He said he first became aware of the case when he was contacted by police in the days after the young French girl's death.

"It was the 21st of September I was contacted by the police. It was about a missing person. I was very confused. It was just a shock," he said.

"I went to bed on the 20th as happy as ever and I woke up on the 21st with the biggest nightmare ever."

The Irish music mogul told how he had a two-year relationship with his former girlfriend after first meeting her in Notting Hill in 2011 at a NatWest Bank.

"It was like a normal relationship in the beginning. We were both in love.

"I did see mood swings that used to give me a bit of a scare but nothing to the level of what I've heard recently over the last six months since this trial started," he said.

"I think when it comes to somebody being a psychopath, she had elements. She would turn from somebody very softly spoken to someone very angry.

"It wouldn't matter where we were," he added.
Gardai have called for more psychological support as it was revealed a highly regarded detective who shot crazed killer Mark Hennessy dead earlier this month is receiving counselling.

The shocking tragedy was brought up at a press conference yesterday at the annual Garda Representative Association (GRA) conference in Wexford.

Ciaran O'Neill, president of the GRA, which represents 11,000 frontline officers, said: "One of the issues that's been raised by the membership - and we'll be speaking about it over the next two days - is that we don't feel there's enough support.

Resources

"We need to see money invested in respect of the welfare of our members.

"We do have a welfare system and a welfare assistance system, but I just don't think it's good enough.

"I think it needs to be bolstered, particularly with additional resources and members.

"I don't want to take just one incident because every day, a member of An Garda Siochana comes across a stressful incident.

"Compared to any other person in the public, we would see things that the majority of people wouldn't see in a lifetime.

"We'd see them on a weekly or daily basis.

"There is a call system operational where you get six phone calls, and it's just not enough."

The system Mr O'Neill was referring to was that all gardai are entitled to six counselling sessions if required, including phone conversations with a trained professional on a 24-hour basis, seven days a week.

Deputy GRA president Jim Mulligan, who is a close colleague of the garda involved in the Hennessy shooting, said: "It's limited in what it can deliver, particularly if you're suffering in a bad way.

"It's limited in what it can do. A lot of it is down to budgets and we accept that.

"These are split-second decisions. You can have all the decision-making models you want.

"An Garda Siochana have a decision-making model, but it is a split-second decision that you have to make the choice between whether you are going to carry out what you need to carry out or not.

"That's what it comes down to, a split-second decision.

"It is what the person felt at the time, that is what really matters."

The issue is just one of many that will be discussed this week at the conference.

Other major topics include concern among frontline gardai that unarmed members of the force are not being given proper tactical training to cope with terrorist attacks similar to the training counterparts in other European countries receive.

Mr O'Neill also reinforced the association's view that all frontline gardai should be equipped with non-lethal Tasers, which temporarily incapacitate suspects.

He said in other countries the use of such equipment had proved highly successful, especially in Northern Ireland where it is standard issue for all PSNI officers.

Cameras

When the weapon is aimed at a suspect, it emits a red beam and in nine out of 10 cases, when the person sees that beam on their body, they will stop resisting arrest.

Currently, Tasers are available only to the Special Branch, Emergency Response Unit and Armed Support Units.

On another issue, it previously emerged that an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) camera recorded much of the incident in the Cherrywood Business Park, Dublin, earlier this month when Hennessy was shot dead.

Members of the GRA have called for such cameras to be installed in every frontline patrol vehicle.

The GRA conference will get fully under way today and will be addressed by Acting Garda Commissioner Donall O Cualain.

A doctor who carried out an extensive survey on garda mental health issues will also present his results to the conference today.

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan will speak to the 158 GRA delegates tomorrow.
Gardai are hopeful that the suspect in a sex attack in south Dublin will be identified from CCTV footage moments before the assault.

Detectives are continuing to investigate the disturbing attack on the young woman in the Harold's Cross area at around 4am on May 20.

The victim was pinned against a car and sexually assaulted on the Mount Argus Road before a couple came across the incident and the attacker walked away.

She had met the suspect earlier that morning in the city centre, and they both walked from the Grafton Street area to Harold's Cross.

Investigators have obtained high-quality CCTV footage, which captures the route they took before the attack was carried out.

"Excellent CCTV footage has been recovered which shows the majority of the journey they took before reaching Mount Argus Road," a source said.

"The man would be identifiable to those who know him, but as of yet a prime suspect has not been identified."

Detectives believe that the woman, who comes from the Caribbean, was groped and digitally penetrated by her attacker.

He is believed to also be a foreign national - possibly from north Africa - and spoke Spanish.

Foreign

The woman reported the alleged sexual assault to officers in Naas, Co Kildare, but because of where the attack happened, gardai from Sundrive Road are investigating.

Detectives also appealed for a couple, who came across the attack and disturbed the suspect, to contact them.

It is believed that this couple prevented the sex attack from escalating to a rape, and gardai are anxious to speak to them.

Last week, gardai issued an official appeal for information in the case.

"Gardai in Sundrive Road are appealing for witnesses in connection with an alleged sexual assault that occurred in the Harold's Cross area of Dublin on May 20," a garda spokesman said.

"Between 5am and 5.30am the injured party and a male were walking out from town through Harold's Cross on to Mount Argus Road.

"At some stage along Mount Argus Road, the male forced the woman against a car and sexually assaulted her.

"He stopped when a couple approached, and the injured party walked away.

"The male is described as about 6ft, with broad shoulders, black hair and a beard. It is known that he was able to converse in Spanish.

"Gardai are appealing for witnesses and in particular this couple who saw and spoke to the male and the injured party who were standing near a car parked near Laurence Court."

Witnesses can contact Sundrive Road Garda Station on 01 6666600, the spokesman added.

Officers are expected to use a specialised computer system known as Viclas to determine if the crime is linked to other similar crimes.

Viclas, the Violent Crime Linkage Analysis System, is a computer system developed by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the early 1990s to compare different crimes.
The cost of an abortion in Ireland will be in the region of 300, according to well-placed medical sources.

It is expected that the abortion pills which will be used in vast majority of abortions will come under the drugs payment scheme, which sets a limit of 134 for any approved prescribed drugs or medicines.

In addition, the process will require at least two GP appointments, each of which will be more expensive than the typical 10-minute slot usually allocated per patient.

According to the Government's draft heads of a bill published prior to the referendum, women will be able to request an abortion through a GP or primary care service such as the Well Woman Clinic.

Thorough

After their initial contact, they'll be required to wait for a 72-hour "consideration" period. Once this time elapses, they'll return to their doctor for a second consultation where the drug will then be dispensed.

GP Dr Mary Favier said it is likely that such consultations will be more extensive, complex and lengthy, and therefore doctors will be likely to charge more. This could be in the region of 100 for the first and 80 for a second appointment.

GPs will have to give a thorough assessment of the patient, checking for pre-existing illnesses to ensure the pill is suitable. A physical exam to accurately determine the gestation of the pregnancy will also be required.

It's likely medical card holders will be able to access the pill and doctor's appointments for free as usual.

Students who have cheaper doctor's appointments on campuses will face lower costs.

In the UK, the abortion pill through private services such as Marie Stopes clinic costs 380.

However, 1,500 Irish women a year purchase it illegally through specialist websites for 70 to 90.

The abortion pill comes in two parts. The first medicine, mifepristone, ends the pregnancy by blocking the vital hormone progesterone, without which the lining of the uterus breaks down and the pregnancy cannot continue.

The second medicine, misoprostol, makes the womb contract and triggers the loss of pregnancy similar to a miscarriage. It causes bleeding and cramping and it is advised to take it as early in pregnancy as possible in order to reduce painful side effects.

Most women take the pills on a Friday if they're off work for the weekend, in order to give time for recovery, several GPs told the Herald.

Health Minister Simon Harris is today bringing to Cabinet a timetable of next steps which will see the legislation published within six weeks.

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) confirmed yesterday it would provide integrated care for women with unintended pregnancies as soon as the new law is enacted.

These will include abortion services, alongside counselling services, contraceptive services and post-abortion care.

Chief executive of the IFPA Niall Behan said they would have the capacity to provide the service on their premises as long as they were given the right resources, and provided with clear guidelines.

Accessible

"It's not a very complex procedure but we require guidelines and resources from government," said Mr Behan.

He also called for a national helpline for women to be put in place, where any woman in crisis can seek advice and be directed to a suitable provider.

"If we can keep the service centred on women's needs, make sure that it's affordable, accessible and acceptable to women, then what we'll have done is we'll have met the wishes of the 1.4 million people who voted on Friday," added Mr Behan.

The Department of Health has already requested a meeting with relevant medical colleges, which will happen today, said a spokesperson for Mr Harris.

The minister is "determined to move quickly but also to ensure we get this right and have a safe service for women", they said.
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When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes silversides

The bare necessities of life

User ID: 148291

05-29-2018 06:57 AM



Posts: 29,119









Post: #1 When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes

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MAY 27, 2018 @ 04:21 PM



When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes



David Bressan , CONTRIBUTOR

I deal with the rocky road to our modern understanding of earth

Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.



In November 1935 the Mauna Loa, one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii, erupted and a lava river was advancing towards Hilo, destroying everything in its path. The entire city with 15,000 residents was at risk. The lava was advancing about one mile per day and at that rate, it would reach the city in less than 20 days.



Volcanologist Thomas Jagger, the founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, proposed an unusual plan to stop the lava: Bomb the Volcano. More precisely, the plan was to bomb the walls of the lava channels, where the lava was flowing. By creating new openings in the channels it may be possible to redirect the lava onto another path, away from Hilo.



On December 27, the U.S. Army Air Corps, stationed in Oahu, send ten bombers to Mauna Loa. Twenty 600-pound bombs, containing 300 pounds of TNT-explosive, were dropped on the volcano. Five bombs landed in the lava flow. The rest missed, landing hundreds of feet from the target and one bomb didn't even explode.

...

https://www.forbes.com/#76cead852254 Popurri Perez Prado

Science #WhoaScienceMAY 27, 2018 @ 04:21 PMWhen The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's VolcanoesDavid Bressan , CONTRIBUTORI deal with the rocky road to our modern understanding of earthOpinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.In November 1935 the Mauna Loa, one of five volcanoes that form the Island of Hawaii, erupted and a lava river was advancing towards Hilo, destroying everything in its path. The entire city with 15,000 residents was at risk. The lava was advancing about one mile per day and at that rate, it would reach the city in less than 20 days.Volcanologist Thomas Jagger, the founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, proposed an unusual plan to stop the lava: Bomb the Volcano. More precisely, the plan was to bomb the walls of the lava channels, where the lava was flowing. By creating new openings in the channels it may be possible to redirect the lava onto another path, away from Hilo.On December 27, the U.S. Army Air Corps, stationed in Oahu, send ten bombers to Mauna Loa. Twenty 600-pound bombs, containing 300 pounds of TNT-explosive, were dropped on the volcano. Five bombs landed in the lava flow. The rest missed, landing hundreds of feet from the target and one bomb didn't even explode.... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 439693

05-29-2018 06:58 AM











Post: #2 RE: When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes

I was there, at a later date and saw some dolphins on the one side with a few people living on it. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 441631

05-29-2018 07:27 AM











Post: #3 RE: When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes



Quite spectacular. It looks like I would envision hell.











https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyQyVkvOGm0 On the aside the live cam there is currently panning the lava field at night.Quite spectacular. It looks like I would envision hell. piequal3because14

Angel of Love from Heaven

User ID: 441550

05-29-2018 10:26 AM



Posts: 28,038









Post: #4 RE: When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes

Interesting.



Then they did something to stop the lava.



Today they just watch the lava engulfing houses and property.



Probably then they were more innocent therefore more thoughtful and courageous. Look into my eyes to see a Paradise of Love



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqtHu0XFal0



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo7PY4vbQLE



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTm9ui-26F0 GREY LENSMAN

Blue Crystal Storm

User ID: 441723

05-29-2018 11:46 AM



Posts: 3,480









Post: #5 RE: When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes

THEY DID NOT BOMB THE VOLCANO



THEY ATTEMPTED TO BLAST THROUGH ROCK TO MAKE AN ALTERNATIVE CHANNEL FOR THE LAVA TO FLOW.



GL The full force of Natural and Common Law shall be applicable at all times in all places and cannot be annulled by the declaration of emergency, war or other device by any State or entity.







[email protected] LukeRaynott

Registered User

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05-29-2018 12:29 PM



Posts: 761









Post: #6 RE: When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes

I do wonder that due to Kilauea's caldera being blocked by rockfalls wether it'd be beneficial in the short-term to drop a MOAB into it, and make a easier path for the lava-lake again. america first

lop guest

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05-29-2018 03:07 PM











Post: #7 RE: When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes

moab is too big a foot print and would level houses for a half mile plus probably.bunker busters are depleted uranium and would be just as lethal.missiles cant be trusted nor the chimps evacking safely.dynamite could be used but core holes would have to be drilled for effectiveness.sand bagged walls with water hoses imbedded in bag wall would work.a valley could be built and hotspots would melt hose and leak out water to cool.pvc could be used to get the water pressure up even higher.this valley of two walls could direct the lava.if water cant cool it fast enough,liquid ammonia may work.with steel pipe.remember,if my idea works,robo gets congressional medal of honor or some kinda presidential medal of freedom etc.yall cant keep stealing my ideas.america first!robo second! GREY LENSMAN

Blue Crystal Storm

User ID: 441723

05-29-2018 03:15 PM



Posts: 3,480









Post: #8 RE: When The U.S. Army Bombed Hawaii's Volcanoes

IF A CITY OF 15,000 IS AT RISK, YES BLOW A RELIEF CHANNEL. THIS IS 21ST CENTURY. QUALITY RELIEF MAPS, SHAPED EXPLOSIVES, DRONES, SIMPLE WITH BRAINS



GL The full force of Natural and Common Law shall be applicable at all times in all places and cannot be annulled by the declaration of emergency, war or other device by any State or entity.







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Where to go to see this fall's foliage show in the Tri-State area
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Proxy Wars... First Ukraine Now Brazil?? China investing heavily into Brazil Transparent Neuroplasticity

lop guest

User ID: 442409

05-29-2018 12:13 PM











Post: #1 Proxy Wars... First Ukraine Now Brazil?? China investing heavily into Brazil

Advertisement I have more than a hunch this trucker strike was encouraged by the Rothschild CIA. A couple years ago Russia's economy plummeted 40% in two years. How far can China's economy fall without the US inhibiting it's own GDP? It will be interesting to see this latest proxy war develop.



Chinas Investments in Latin America Could Turn Into Military Assets Against US, Says Expert

https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-inv...37148.html



Brazil Takes Stock of a Week-Long Strike and It's Not Pretty

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...not-pretty



China's Pivot To Latin America: Beijing's Growing Security Presence In America's Backyard

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulcoyer/2...8ddbaf24c2



Huawei has built six out of the seven 4G mobile phone networks in Brazil.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/te...494765.htm



Or is China crashing Latin America to gobble up more assets on the cheap? Chinas Investments in Latin America Could Turn Into Military Assets Against US, Says ExpertBrazil Takes Stock of a Week-Long Strike and It's Not PrettyChina's Pivot To Latin America: Beijing's Growing Security Presence In America's BackyardHuawei has built six out of the seven 4G mobile phone networks in Brazil. Eustace Muffins

Banned

User ID: 441854

05-29-2018 12:16 PM



Posts: 11,088









Post: #2 RE: Proxy Wars... First Ukraine Now Brazil?? China investing heavily into Brazil

Transparent Neuroplasticity Wrote: (05-29-2018 12:13 PM) I have more than a hunch this trucker strike was encouraged by the Rothschild CIA. A couple years ago Russia's economy plummeted 40% in two years. How far can China's economy fall without the US inhibiting it's own GDP? It will be interesting to see this latest proxy war develop.



Chinas Investments in Latin America Could Turn Into Military Assets Against US, Says Expert

https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-inv...37148.html



Brazil Takes Stock of a Week-Long Strike and It's Not Pretty

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...not-pretty



China's Pivot To Latin America: Beijing's Growing Security Presence In America's Backyard

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulcoyer/2...8ddbaf24c2



Huawei has built six out of the seven 4G mobile phone networks in Brazil.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/te...494765.htm



Or is China crashing Latin America to gobble up more assets on the cheap?

[ ]Misleading Heading^^^^^^^^[/size] [ ]Misleading Heading^^^^^^^^[/size] LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442409

05-29-2018 12:27 PM











Post: #3 RE: Proxy Wars... First Ukraine Now Brazil?? China investing heavily into Brazil

Eustace Muffins Wrote: (05-29-2018 12:16 PM) Transparent Neuroplasticity Wrote: (05-29-2018 12:13 PM) I have more than a hunch this trucker strike was encouraged by the Rothschild CIA. A couple years ago Russia's economy plummeted 40% in two years. How far can China's economy fall without the US inhibiting it's own GDP? It will be interesting to see this latest proxy war develop.



Chinas Investments in Latin America Could Turn Into Military Assets Against US, Says Expert

https://www.theepochtimes.com/chinas-inv...37148.html



Brazil Takes Stock of a Week-Long Strike and It's Not Pretty

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/...not-pretty



China's Pivot To Latin America: Beijing's Growing Security Presence In America's Backyard

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulcoyer/2...8ddbaf24c2



Huawei has built six out of the seven 4G mobile phone networks in Brazil.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/business/te...494765.htm



Or is China crashing Latin America to gobble up more assets on the cheap?

[ ]Misleading Heading^^^^^^^^[/size]

^^ transparent puppet ^^ Muslim First, Non Muslim Second.



Will the real Eustace Muffins please stand up?



Please Stand Up! ^^ transparent puppet ^^ Muslim First, Non Muslim Second.Will the real Eustace Muffins please stand up?Please Stand Up! Eustace Muffins

Banned

User ID: 441429

05-29-2018 02:58 PM



Posts: 11,088









Post: #4 RE: Proxy Wars... First Ukraine Now Brazil?? China investing heavily into Brazil

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-29-2018 12:27 PM) Eustace Muffins Wrote: (05-29-2018 12:16 PM) [ ]Misleading Heading^^^^^^^^[/size]

^^ transparent puppet ^^ [ ]Muslim First, Non Muslim Second.[/size]



Will the real Eustace Muffins please stand up?



Please Stand Up!

That^ makes no sense That^ makes no sense Roddy's Creed

Registered User

User ID: 442414

05-29-2018 04:15 PM



Posts: 5,434









Post: #5 RE: Proxy Wars... First Ukraine Now Brazil?? China investing heavily into Brazil

1st: The truckers strike is LEGIT! They - and WE - want the president of Petrobras out, as well as the reduction of gasoline, cooking gas prices, which are tremendously high .



2nd: why do you guys keep thinking Muffins is a muslim? Just landed on LOP? I do not label myself. What I stand for is based on my own convictions, and I don't care which box - the left one or the right one - they happen to belong.
















There is little doubt that the decisive moment in the race to form the government in post-poll Karnataka occurred at the Supreme Court. A three-judge bench of Justices AK Sikri, Ashok Bhushan, and SA Bobde had refused to stay the swearing in of BS Yeddyurappa in an emergency midnight hearing just 30 hours prior. In this hearing, however, they made their only substantive intervention: they directed that the floor test, which the Governor had directed to take place after a fortnight, be held the next day itself. It was enough. Amid strident accusations of horse-trading, intimidation and bribery, Yedyurappa, unable to prove his majority, resigned moments before the floor test, and the curtain came down on a frenetic week.

Events such as Karnataka put the courts in a particularly difficult position. The Constitution of India commits to the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. One of the basic features of this model is that the judiciary shall stay firmly out of the political thicket. While the courts are expected to be on hand to ensure that elections are free and fair, what happens after the polls  from the formation of the government through its dissolution, and everything that takes place in Parliament during its term  is beyond judicial scrutiny. To the extent that there is abuse of authority, the remedy lies within Parliament itself, through an appeal to the Speaker  or, at most, in the next election.

In a functioning Parliamentary democracy, therefore, the Courts would have had no role to play once the Karnataka election results were declared. In many respects, however, India has long been a dysfunctional Parliamentary democracy. The reality is that fractured mandates yield all kinds of dirty tricks, which have the effect of frustrating the popular will: horse-trading, bribery and intimidation, splits and defections. In fact, these dirty tricks go back to independent Indias first state election, when C Rajagopalachari of the Congress became the chief minister of Madras by splitting the United Democratic Front, which had gained the maximum number of seats at the election; and they have continued ever since.

This is not a reality that the courts can be blind to, as it threatens the very roots of democracy. In such cases, therefore, the court is put in a bind: how does it respect the separation of powers, and parliamentary sovereignty, while nonetheless performing its function as a guardian of the democratic process?

There is no correct answer to this question, but in the three hearings before the Supreme Court in the early hours of Thursday morning, and then on Friday and Saturday, the court attempted to provide one by example. The INC-JDS combine made three requests to the court. In the first hearing, it asked the court to set aside the Governors invitation to Yeddyurappa, and to stay the swearing in. In the second, while maintaining the first request, it asked for the floor test to be advanced. And in the third, it challenged the Governors appointment of KG Bopaiah as the pro- tem speaker, who would conduct the floor test.

While agreeing to hear and decide the issue of the Governors invitation, the court refused to stay the swearing-in. It did so because even after the swearing-in, the chief minister would be required to prove his majority  and in any event, if it was later found that the Governor had acted illegally, his decision could be set aside, and status quo ante restored. On the second issue, the court decided to intervene, and advance the floor test. The reason for this was that this was not a situation of a fractured mandate, where a party needed time to convince fence-sitting independents, or smaller parties, to join it. This was a case where the single-largest party, and a combine of the second and third-largest parties, were both staking claim to already having a majority. In such a situation, an immediate floor test was the only resolution of the situation, which would avoid the very real possibility of horse-trading. And again, on the third issue, the court declined to intervene, holding that a live video-telecast of the floor-test would provide enough of a democratic check against any possibility of abuse. And so it proved.

The Supreme Court, therefore, struck a fine balance: it intervened only once, and that too to the limited degree of advancing the floor test, in order to ensure that the ground rules of the democratic process were respected; and in every other respect, it left the democratic process to iron itself out. In doing so, it further cemented a strong past record in preserving the democratic process, and set an important precedent for the future.

Gautam Bhatia is an advocate in the Supreme Court

The views expressed are personal
Bajrang Dal, the youth wing of Vishwa Hindu Parishad, is providing arms training to its youth in Madhya Pradesh to fight against alleged anti-nationals and love jehadist, which drew an angry reaction from the Congress.

Bajrang Dal leader from Rajgarh Devi Singh Sisodiya said, We organize such 10-day camps in all 51 districts of the state every year to train newly recruited Bajrang Dal activists on how to use guns, lathis to take on love jehadist  a term used when a Muslim boy marries a Hindu girl  anti-nationals and cow slaughterers.

Photos of one such camp in Biora, Rajgarh district showing a group being given fire arms training, became viral in the social media drawing condemnation from former chief minister Digvijaya Singhs son and MLA from Raghogarh, Jaivardhan Singh. In a tweet he said, Suprisingly, they are imparting training of becoming murderers in the name of Rashtravaad. Our Army is protecting our nation, we dont need organisation who hold such violent camps.

Madhya Pradesh Congress Committee spokesperson Manak Agrawal said, The RSS is imparting arms training to youth to use force during election. They are giving illegal arms and canes to youth. There is a chance that these people will turn the peaceful protest of farmers into violent one. These people are flourishing under BJP government and police is not taking action against them.

Bajrang Dal, vibhag sanyojak, Lokendra Malviya said they have been holding these camps since 1995. The Durga Vahini, the womens wing of VHP also holds similar camps. We have nothing to do with the government and we held such camps during Digvijay Singhs tenure also.

Malviya termed the Congress allegations are baseless. The guns were only air guns. We are imparting physical training to make them stronger. Also if such training is unconstitutional, why is the police not taking action against us.

BJP spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, Its self-defence training programme and there is nothing wrong in it unless they are using illegal guns. Police should probe the matter and if they find guilty of using illegal arms, necessary action should be taken against them.

Bhopal Inspector General (IG) of police Jaideep Prasad said, we dont know about other camps but we saw pictures of Bajrang Dals Biora, Rajgarh camp. The superintendent of police, Rajgarh is probing in the matter and required action will be taken only after completion of investigation.
Upset by a wage-hike offer that fell short of their expectations, employees of 20 state-owned, 12 private sector, and seven foreign banks will go on strike across India on May 30 and 31, affecting millions of customers, disrupting business, and increasing traffic at automated teller machines around the end of the month -- a time when the salaries of most employees hit their bank accounts.

On May 28, the Indian Banks Association (IBA) said it would offer a 2% wage hike this year. The All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) said this is inadequate. Last time the wage hike was 15% and prior to that it was 17.5%. To start a wage hike discussion at 2% increase is ridiculous. IBA should increase it adequately based on which we can talk further, said CH Venkatachalam, general secretary of AIBEA.

Theres more reason for AIBEAs angst. IBA also wants to exclude senior employees ( grade 4-7 scale officers) from the discussions. Banks have employees on grades ranging from 1 to 7, one being the lowest. Currently, it is willing to consider a wage revision only for the junior employees between grade 1 and 3 . Usually, wage revision used to be composite for all. We want IBA to be transparent, said Venkatachalam, adding that IBA has said it is willing to meet the union after 10 days, holding out hope that the strike could be resolved.

Last week, IBA informed banks that the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) had served notice of a strike. In a regulatory filing, State Bank of India, the countrys largest lender, said, All India State Bank Officers Federation and All India State Bank of India Staff Federation are members of UFBU. Thus, it is likely that our bank will also be impacted to some extent by the said strike calls.

Account holders in ICICI Bank Ltd, HDFC Bank Ltd and Axis Bank Ltd will not be affected since these banks are not part of the union. However, customers of State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Indian Bank will have to postpone plans to visit bank branches for the next 48 hours.

There is a possibility of panic in terms of cash shortage at ATMs. ATMs will be impacted to a certain extent. Banks will not be able to replenish cash during the period of the strike, causing ATMs to go dry, said Venkatachalam.

Small towns will be affected more than major cities. In major towns you have the so-called new generation private banks such as ICICI Bank Ltd and HDFC Bank Ltd as they dont have a union and they will function, said Venkatachalam.

There could be pressure (on us) in states such as West Bengal and Kerala where the union is stronger, said a private sector bank executive, indicating that even their services could be disrupted.The executive requested anonymity.

Digital transactions through net banking, unified payment interface (UPI), credit cards, debit cards and fund transfers including national electronic funds transfer (NEFT), real time gross settlement (RTGS), and immediate payment service (IMPS) will not be impacted.

Salary credits, which happens electronically through standing instructions, will not be hit (for employees of ) bigger companies. Smaller companies where there are say only 5-10 employees may be affected, said an official at a state-owned bank whose employees are striking .
Employee unions of state-owned and private banks across the country will be on strike on Wednesday and Thursday to press for a revision of wages they say is due since November 2017.

The strike, which will start at 6am, proposed by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UBFU) is in protest against the Indian Banks Associations proposal to offer a 2% hike over the total wage bill of the banks as on March 31, 2017.

The Indian Banks Association is a body of management from the countrys financial institutions.

Operations at bank branches and ATMs are likely to be impacted.

The All India Bank Employees Association, a body of over 10 lakh bankers in government and private lenders, rejected the Indian Banks Associations proposal.

The strike notice has been served to Indian Banks Association (IBA) representing the bank management and the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central), New Delhi, CH Venkatachalam, general secretary, AIBEA, told news agency IANS.

UBFU Convenor Devidas Tuljapurkar said n the last two-three years, bank employees have worked tirelessly for implementation of government initiatives such as Jan-Dhan, demonetisation, Mudra and Atal Pension Yojana, among others.

It is only because of provisions towards NPAs that banks have booked losses, and for this, bank employees are not responsible, he said.

Bank employees have organised demonstrations on May 29 at State Bank of Indias branch in the Fort area in Mumbai.

With IANS and PTI inputs
A viral photo showing Uttarakhand chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat holding wine bottles is that of his doppelganger, a senior police official on Tuesday said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Nivedita Kukreti , however, refused to name the doppelganger, who she said was a retired inspector of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).

The retired CISF inspector stays in Dehradun. He is innocent and has no hand in uploading the photo on social media. The photograph was clicked during a wedding in Pauri. It was cropped before being uploaded, Kukreti said.

The SSP also refused to name the person who uploaded the photo. The person is associated with a newspaper and hails from Pauri, she said in reply to a specific query.

Meanwhile, the blame game between the BJP and the Congress continued to play out with the ruling party accusing the Opposition of running a slander campaign.

The Congress conspired to circulate the fake photo. The photo was cropped by the Congress and a media house before they circulated it. The Congress is unhappy with CMs policy of zero tolerance for corruption, Rawats media adviser Ramesh Bhatt said.

The Congress hit back saying the Bhats allegation reflects the internal crisis the ruling BJP is going through.

The party accepted that its state spokesperson Vijay Pal Singh may have forwarded the CMs photo considering it genuine. M D Joshi, the chief spokesperson of the state Congress said, I claim that the photo is genuine. Let the CM order an inquiry.
The forest officials, fighting the blaze that has broken out in several parts of state, Tuesday heaved a sigh of relief as very light to light rainfall lashed several parts of Uttarakhand. The rainfall, it is expected, will help moderate the active fires and leave enough moisture in the grass to prevent further occurrence of forest blaze.

Mild showers were reported in parts of Dehradun, Rudraprayag, Chamoli and Tehri districts. The meteorological department has predicted the light rainfall activity to continue until May 31. The distribution and intensity of rainfall is likely to increase in the first week of June.

The rainfall activity is presently isolated to only few areas. In hills, the temperature has dropped by 3 to 4 degrees and in plains by 2 to 3 degrees. From June 1, the activity will increase bringing down the temperature. It will also likely to bring down forest fires, Bikram Singh, who heads meteorological department in Dehradun, said.

The rain has brought a much-needed relief to people engaged in fire-fighting operations in the state for the last several days, nodal officer for forest fires B P Gupta said. Rain at this time is a blessing for us as it would douse the active fires and make our task much easier.

Apart from dousing the active forest blazes, the showers will wet the grass and prevent the fire from spreading quickly, Gupta said.

The fire alerts, as per Forest Survey of India (FSI) statistics have dropped since May 22.

Uttarakhand, however, continued to report highest alerts  more than 5500 in the period followed by Himachal Pradesh that recorded over 3000 alerts. Jammu & Kashmir recorded over 2000 alerts followed by Punjab and Madhya Pradesh with less than 1000 alerts.

However, the forest fires this season, which aggravated last week due to rising temperature, have affected a total of 4186.42 hectares, including 54.7 hectare of plantation, in Uttarakhand. The losses due to the forest fires have run up to over Rs 80 lakh so far.

Interestingly, over 75% of the forest fires this year were reported in May, unlike previous years when April and May were peak fire seasons. 2016 witnessed the worst fire season when over 4500 hectare forests were gutted. This year April witnessed light rainfall due to which the loss was minimal.

As the forest fires flared up on May 20, the forest department pressed into operation 7,616 personnel, including fire-watchers, 59 from the revenue department, 31 from the police, 18 from the SDRF and six from the NDRF, besides 2,452 locals who volunteered in different parts of the state to lend a helping hand, Gupta said.

The MeT department has predicted similar weather conditions over the next few days, which should drastically reduce the number of forest fire incidents, he added.
The National Green Tribunal on Tuesday issued show cause notice to the Centre and the Uttarakhand government on a plea seeking a stay on the construction of a road linking Kotdwar to Ramnagar and passing through the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

A bench headed by acting chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim sought responses from the Union ministry of environment and forests (MoEF), the Uttarakhand government, the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the National Board for Wildlife, the National Buildings Construction Company (NBCC) and others on Kandi road alignment within two weeks.

Notices have also been issued to the National Biodiversity Authority, Uttarakhand State Biodiversity Authority, principal chief conservator of forest and chief wildlife warden and Uttarakhand Ecotourism Development Corporation.

The tribunal was hearing a plea filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal seeking stay on the construction of the Kandi road as it would damage the biodiversity, ecosystem and wildlife of the tiger reserve.

Bansal contended that the state government was going ahead with the project despite a Supreme Court order which prohibits construction of any road passing through the Corbett tiger reserve and ban on tree felling in the eco-sensitive area.

The Union of India, along with 12 other Tiger Range Countries is a signatory to the St. Petersburg Declaration of 2010. The declaration clearly prohibits any intrusive activity within the core tiger breeding areas, the plea said.

The Uttarakhand government had in March signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NBCC to undertake construction of the 90-km road that will pass through the Corbett and shorten the travel distance from Garhwal to Kumaon by two hours. Of this, 50-km stretch is proposed to pass through Corbett.

The Supreme Court had in November 2005 approved an alignment for the road that passes through the boundary of the reserve and not inside.

Global Tiger Initiative Council chief executive officer (CEO), Keshav Varma, had earlier written to the MoEF and Uttarakhand government cricising the project. As per Varma, the project would mean a serious threat to conservation particularly in the protected area which has high density of tigers.

The state government had in 2005 approved an alignment in consultation with MoEF then why are they engaging so much fund to change the alignment, Bansal asked.

The state government has also signed an MoU with Dehradun-based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) for a survey in the 50 km patch to understand the feasibility of the road.

The MoEF has come up with new guidelines on linear infrastructure in protected areas. We are simply examining the possibilities. This will be our stand even before the Tribunal, Ranbir Singh, additional chief secretary, Uttarakhand, said.

The matter is lined up for hearing in July, additional advocate general for the state of Uttarakhand, Rahul Verma said.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his deputy Manish Sisodia visited the citys CBSE Class 12 examination toppers on Tuesday.

The chief minister later told reporters that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government was investing in children for the countrys future.

His government had doubled the budget for the education sector in its first year, the AAP supremo said, adding that it was an investment, not an expenditure.

Kejriwal and Sisodia, who is also the education minister of Delhi, paid a visit to the CBSE Class 12 toppers  Bharti Raghav, Prince Kumar, the son of a DTC bus driver, Prachi Prakash and Chitra Kaushik  at their residences.

They also visited an orphanage in Daryaganj to meet Shahnaz, who has topped the exam in the vocational stream.

In the last few years, there has been a makeover of government schools... the same education is being imparted in private and government schools now... we had increased the education budget from Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore after our government was formed, Kejriwal told reporters.

It is like an investment, not an expenditure. We are investing in our children. We are investing for the countrys future and we are getting to see the results, Kejriwal said, adding that the AAP government is committed to supporting students.

In the CBSE Class 12 examination, Delhis pass percentage was 89. Girls, with a pass percentage of 93.19, outperformed the boys (84.93) in Delhi region. Last year, the citys pass percentage was 88.37.

According to a government official, Prince Kumar topped the science stream with a 97% score, while Chitra Kaushik, with 95.6% marks, was the topper in the humanities stream. Bharti Raghav and Prachi Prakash jointly topped the commerce stream.

The pass percentage of government-aided schools in Delhi is 82.79 this year as against 80.32 in 2017. The pass percentage of private schools is 88.35 this year as compared to last years 84.20.
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ISRAEL BOMBS THEIR GAZA PRISON AFTER ((HAMAS Inc.))) fires rocketS at Semites James

Registered User

User ID: 443381

05-29-2018 03:03 PM



Posts: 8,503









Post: #1 ISRAEL BOMBS THEIR GAZA PRISON AFTER ((HAMAS Inc.))) fires rocketS at Semites

Advertisement



Israeli jets bomb Gaza after mortar shells fired from strip



Quote: JERUSALEM  Israeli jets bombed Gaza hours after (((militants from the territory)))) on Tuesday fired more than 25 mortar shells toward communities in southern Israel in what appeared to be the largest single barrage since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.



The Israeli military said no one was hurt and that most of the mortar shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, though one of the shells landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mid...361e507a0f There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.





- Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda Breaking (This post was last modified: 05-29-2018 03:13 PM by James .) FurriesRock

lop guest

User ID: 442054

05-29-2018 03:06 PM











Post: #2 RE: ISRAEL BOMBS THEIR GAZA PRISON AFTER ((HAMAS Inc.))) fires rocket at Semites

Trump should pull us out of the UN, like all the conservatives want, so that the rest of the world can sanction Israel without the U.S. messing everything up! James

Registered User

User ID: 443381

05-29-2018 03:17 PM



Posts: 8,503









Post: #3 RE: ISRAEL BOMBS THEIR GAZA PRISON AFTER ((HAMAS Inc.))) fires rocketS at Semites

FurriesRock Wrote: (05-29-2018 03:06 PM) Trump should pull us out of the UN, like all the conservatives want, so that the rest of the world can sanction Israel without the U.S. messing everything up!

This depends on a crises of conscience by Trump's (((base))) given recent events in Gaza. Not just this, but the manufactured (((left))) in the US Inc. should be outraged by this recent act of Genocide by the Nationalist Socialist state of Israel. This depends on a crises of conscience by Trump's (((base))) given recent events in Gaza. Not just this, but the manufactured (((left))) in the US Inc. should be outraged by this recent act of Genocide by the Nationalist Socialist state of Israel. There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.





- Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 441557

05-29-2018 03:19 PM











Post: #4 RE: ISRAEL BOMBS THEIR GAZA PRISON AFTER ((HAMAS Inc.))) fires rocketS at Semites

James Wrote: (05-29-2018 03:03 PM) Breaking



Israeli jets bomb Gaza after mortar shells fired from strip



Quote: JERUSALEM  Israeli jets bombed Gaza hours after (((militants from the territory)))) on Tuesday fired more than 25 mortar shells toward communities in southern Israel in what appeared to be the largest single barrage since the 2014 Israel-Hamas war.



The Israeli military said no one was hurt and that most of the mortar shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, though one of the shells landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/mid...361e507a0f

Israel is full of sh*t most of the time there are no shells or rockets the IDF just makes them up as an excuse to commit genocide. Israel is full of sh*t most of the time there are no shells or rockets the IDF just makes them up as an excuse to commit genocide. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442313

05-29-2018 03:26 PM











Post: #5 RE: ISRAEL BOMBS THEIR GAZA PRISON AFTER ((HAMAS Inc.))) fires rocketS at Semites





The clever Mossad living up to its motto:



"By deception we shall wage war"



Zionists are murderers and thieves. The foundation of their Banker Hoax Nation blasphemously labelled "Israel".



MOSSAD controlled HAMAS fire works are used to "justify" Israel's slaughter of Palestinians.The clever Mossad living up to its motto:"By deception we shall wage war"Zionists are murderers and thieves. The foundation of their Banker Hoax Nation blasphemously labelled "Israel". James

Registered User

User ID: 443381

05-29-2018 03:45 PM



Posts: 8,503









Post: #6 RE: ISRAEL BOMBS THEIR GAZA PRISON AFTER ((HAMAS Inc.))) fires rocketS at Semites

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-29-2018 03:26 PM) MOSSAD controlled HAMAS fire works are used to "justify" Israel's slaughter of Palestinians.



The clever Mossad living up to its motto:



"By deception we shall wage war"



Zionists are murderers and thieves. The foundation of their Banker Hoax Nation blasphemously labelled "Israel".





Quote: The Israeli military said no one was hurt and that most of the mortar shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, though one of the shells landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.









Anyone here who understands the parasitic Depths of the Jewish Mind will see it.



Mossad/Hamas Inc...timed it perfectly. Anyone here who understands the parasitic Depths of the Jewish Mind will see it.Mossad/Hamas Inc...timed it perfectly. There are invisible rulers who control the destinies of millions. It is not generally realized to what extent the words and actions of our most influential public men are dictated by shrewd persons operating behind the scenes.





- Edward L. Bernays, Propaganda (This post was last modified: 05-29-2018 03:47 PM by James .)
















Delhi Police officers, firemen and divers from National Disaster Response Force are continuing the search and rescue operation launched on Sunday for Anshuman Puri, 42, who is believed to have drowned in the Yamuna after his Harley Davidson bike was allegedly hit by a car on the DND flyway.

The accident had been reported early on Sunday and the police found both the vehicles on the bridge over Yamuna. The police identified the owner of the bike as Puri and went looking for him, but he had yet to be traced. The car, which is registered in the name of one Bhappe Singh of Goyala Dairy near Dwarka, was being driven by his relative Nishant Bhatia, police said. However, the police have to trace Bhatia.

His father, Vinod Bhatia, told the police that Nishant was driving the car when the accident took place and that he had been untraceable ever since. The accident took place when both the vehicles were on their way to Delhi from Noida.

Investigators told HT that they do not know if Puri was dead or alive. We have to find a body first. We have searched the entire river stretch near the accident spot on DND, an investigator said. He said it might be possible that somebody else could be riding the bike but it would only be confirmed after they trace Puri.

Puris house in Sarita Vihar is locked and his cellphone switched off. Neighbours say they are hopeful he would return soon.On Monday afternoon, some of his relatives turned up at the Sunlight Colony police station.

Three persons related to Puri, including his cousin who returned to Delhi from Leh after knowing about his disappearance, were present during the search operation on Monday. The cousin refused to be identified and talk about the case when HT approached him.

The police were also investigating, if it was a murder conspiracy. They were also checking hospitals in their search for Puri. Chinmoy Biswal, deputy commissioner of police (southeast), said that even as the search operation was on, they have filed a missing complaint about Puri and an injured biker as well.

Puris photograph that is available with us is being uploaded on zonal integrated police network (Zipnet) along with his details. We will also circulate the copies of Puris photograph to other police stations across Delhi-NCR, seeking their help, said Biswal.

Another possibility on which the police are working is that the bikers body was dumped at some unknown place by a passer-by who may have panicked when the biker died on way to the hospital.
Upset over not securing good marks in the CBSE Class 10 board examination, a 17-year-old student allegedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Kakrola in New Delhi on Tuesday, police said.

The deceased, Rohit Kumar Meena, was a student of MR Vivekananda Model School in Dwarka. He had secured 59% marks in the exam.

No suicide note has been found but it is suspected that he was upset after the results, police added.

He was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead. Police were informed around 3.45pm about the incident.

The Central Board of Secondary Education declared the Class 10 board exam results on Tuesday.
The recent by-polls for four Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Nagaland and nine assembly seats in a range of other states have triggered a major political controversy. Political parties in general  and the opposition parties led by the Congress, the Samajwadi Party and the Rashtriya Lok Dal in particular  alleged there had been rampant malfunctioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Audit Trail Machines (VVPATs), which had been used in all booths. The Election Commission of India (ECI) dismissed reports of large scale malfunctioning as exaggerated, and said 96 balloting units, 84 control units of EVMs, and 1202 VVPATs had to be replaced. Over the past year, there has been a political controversy around the use of EVMs. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) had first alluded to manipulation of EVMs as the cause of its defeat in Punjab. Bahujan Samaj Party leader Mayawati also blamed EVMs after her devastating loss in Uttar Pradesh. In Gujarat, the Congress  if it lost with a substantial margin  had prepared its case to blame EVMs. Indeed, in its plenary in March, the party called for a return to the ballot paper. ECI, in response to these concerns, had last year invited all parties to scrutinise the operation of EVMs; it has also introduced VVPATs in all booths to ensure that there is verification. Ironically, some of these machines malfunctioned on Monday.

The recent controversy has happened in this political context. It is important for all sides to step back and first understand that at stake is the very integrity of the democratic process. This faith in the election system, voting process, the outcome that emerges out of the process, has given India constitutional and democratic stability. It has enabled a smooth transfer of power from one government to another. It has ensured that despite anger and disillusionment with political regimes, the majority of citizens remain wedded to peaceful methods of political change. And that is why any charges and criticisms must be made with care. Parties are right to raise concerns. But they must not interpret the malfunctioning of a few units of VVPATs to suggest that the entire EVM machine model  which has made elections more sound, prevented instances of booth capturing, made counting quicker  is flawed. It is a step forward from ballot papers and India must continue with it. At the same time, ECI must recognise that there is now a substantial section of political opinion which has doubts about the integrity of EVMs; the onus lies on it to make the process even more robust, be fully transparent and allay doubts; and ensure that efficiency does not come at the cost of credibility.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) announced the results of Class 10 board examinations. Anil Swarup, the secretary of school education and literacy with the Union ministry of human resource development, announced the date and time for the result in a tweet on Monday.

A total of 16,38,420 candidates registered for the Class 10 exam conducted at 4,453 centres across India and 78 centres abroad.

CBSE 10th result 2018: Heres the direct link to check

CBSE Class 10 result 2018: Highlights

6.27pm: Nidhan Debbarma from Sree Sree Ravishankar School and Arkajyoti Bhattacharya from Ramakkrishna Mission school topped the Class 10 examinations in Tripura securing 98.8%. Ananya Bhattacharya from Pranabananda Higher Secondary School bagged 98.4% and Souradeep Kar from Ramakrishna Mission school got 98.2% respectively.

5.55pm: Sourit Sarkar, a student of DPS Ruby Park topped the list of successful CBSE candidates in Bengal. He scored 496. Ushashi Das of South Point High School came first among girls in Bengal with a score of 492.

5.10pm: Prakhar Mittal credited his parents for his success as he aced CBSEs Class 10 board examinations on Tuesday and said they never forced him to slog for the board examinations. A student of Delhi Public School in Gurgaons Sector 45, Mittal scored 499 out of 500 marks with three other students to become the topper.

3.45pm: Sreelakshmi G, one of the four toppers in CBSE Class 10 board examination said, It was quite unexpected. Though I was expecting a good score when my father called I couldnt believe it. Initially, I thought it was a joke, Sreelakshmi said. Sreelakshmi, the second daughter of senior government pleader S Gopinathan and Dr Rema LP, a faculty member at Ernakulam Maharajas College, wants to pursue a career in medicine.

2.08pm: Number of students who scored 95% and above in CBSE class 10 results are 27476

2.05: Number of students who have scored 90% and above in the #CBSE class 10 results are 131493

2pm: The pass percentage of differently abled students is 92.55%.

2pm:Toppers in differently abled category: Anushka Panda from Suncity Gurgaon school with 489 marks, Sanya Gandhi from Uttam School in Ghaziabad with 489 marks and Sonya Deep Pradhan with 484 marks from JNV Dhanpur, Orissa.

2pm: A total of 11.45% students have been placed in compartment in class 10 board exams.

2pm: Performance of candidates in foreign schools is 98.32% in class 10 board exams.

1.58pm: Girls have done better than boys by 3.35%. Girls have a pass percentage of 88.67% and boys 85.32%.

1.57pm: The total number of candidates who have secured more than 90% and above is 1,31,493. And 27,476 students have secured more than 95%.

1.56pm: Thiruvananthapuram region has topped with a pass percentage of 99.60%, followed by Chennai (97.37%), and Ajmer (91.86%). Delhi has a pass percentage of 78.62%.

1.55pm: JNV schools have performed the best with pass percentage of 97.31% followed by Kendriya Vidyalayas with 95.96% and private schools are third with 89.49%

1.50 pm: .The toppers are Prakhar Mittal from DPS Gurgaon, Rimjhim Agarwal from RK Public school Bijnor, Nandini Garg from Scottish International school Shamli, and Sreelakshmi G from Bhavan Vidyalayas, Cochin.

1.45pm: Four students have topped class 10 CBSE board exams with 499 out of 500 marks

1.44pm: Pass percentage 86.70

1.20pm: CBSE Class 10th result declared

12.39pm: Hritwik Mohan of Ajmers Sanskriti School is very optimistic he will score well . My papers went very well and I hope to get very good marks between 80-85%, Mohan, who wants to pursue engineering, said.

12.10pm: Tehniyat Fatima of Central Academy in the Rajasthan city said she had worked very hard and is clear about what she wants to do in the future. I want to join the police force after finishing my studies. It is police to which people go first to get justice. If the police do their job properly, there is no question that justice will not be delivered to the victim, Fatima said.

12pm: Shivam Ranjan, a student of Gangagurukulam School in Allahabad, says he had butterflies in his stomach after the board announced the date and the time for the results.

11.40am: The scene was similar in Bihars capital Patna, where students said they were hoping for the best. I am excited about my results. My papers were good so I am expecting good marks but I am a bit nervous. People around me, friends and relatives have made the board results such a big issue that I am worried if I will be able to make it to their expectations, Harshita Raj, a Class 10 student of St Michaels School, said.

11am: Stuti Asthana of St Anjanis Public School in Rajajipuram said she did well in her maths exam but the reports about the leaking of the maths paper put her under tremendous pressure. She was deeply apprehensive that if the board conducts it again, she may not score that well.

10.50am: Shruti Tripathi, another student of St Anjanis, was thankful that her course for Class 11 has started and she can keep herself busy. She has taken up science with biology and said that going to school was therapeutic.

*Students of Lucknows GD Goenka Public School said they have been praying for the best possible results after a stressful wait. They were also a bit nervous as the board has done away with home examination and decided to award marks instead of a cumulative grade point average (CGPA).

*Thousands of anxious and excited students across the country are waiting for the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to declare the results of the Class 10 board examination on Tuesday.

*While there are 1,10,707 independent candidates, the no of registered candidates fromDelhi government and govt-aided schools are 1,55,387. A total of 22542 candidates have registered from the Gulf and 1,339 have registered from other countries.

*This year, 4,510 candidates registered under the differently abled category.

* Of the 16,38,428 candidates who registered for the exam, 2,89,958 are from Delhi. Panchkula comes next with 2,42,906 registered candidates and is followed by Chennai (1,94,187), Allahabad (1,92,579) and Patna (1,85,825).

* The board also confirms the news of declaration of CBSE Class 10 results

* On Monday Anil Swarup, the secretary of school education and literacy with the Union ministry of human resource development, announces that CBSE Class 10 result will be declared by 4pm on Tuesday.

* CBSE was expected to declare the Class 10 results in the next few days

*CBSE declared Class 12 results on May 26

CBSE 10th result 2018: How to Check on official website

1) Visit CBSE result website: cbseresults.nic.in

1) Click on the link for result 2018

2) Key in the details as required on the login page that opens

3) Submit

4) Result will be displayed on the screen

5) Download the result and also take a print out

(With inputs from HT correspondents)
The Central Board of Secondary Education on Tuesday declared the CBSE 10th result 2018 for more than 16 lakh students on its websites, officials said.

Students can check CBSE 10th result 2018 on the websites of the board: www.cbseresults.nic.in, www.cbse.nic.in and www.results.nic.in after they are released. They can also check CBSE 10th result 2018 on Google and Microsofts search engine, Bing, this year.

CBSE 10th result 2018: Here is direct link to check your result

CBSE 10th result 2018: Steps to check

1) Click on the link for result 2018

2) Key in the details as required on the login page that opens

3) Submit

4) Result will be displayed on the screen

5) Download the result and take a print out of the same

Results can also be accessed SMS Organizer mobile application, which can be installed from Google Play store https://aka.ms/sms.

Students can check their scores through the interactive voice response system as well as the SMS facility of the National Informatics Centre. They can call on 24300699 by adding their dial codes for their areas. For example, a student calling from Delhi will have to dial 011-24300699.

The CBSE 10th result 2018 can be received by sending an SMS to 7738299899 in the following format: cbse10
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will declare the results of Class 10 board examinations on Tuesday, officials said. The result will be declared on the official websites of the Board by 4pm. Of the 16,38,428 candidates who registered for the exam, 2,89,958 are from Delhi. Panchkula comes next with 2,42,906 registered candidates and is followed by Chennai (1,94,187), Allahabad (1,92,579) and Patna (1,85,825).

This year, 4,510 candidates registered under the differently abled category. While there are 1,10,707 independent candidates, the no of registered candidates fromDelhi government and govt-aided schools are 1,55,387. A total of 22542 candidates have registered from the Gulf and 1,339 have registered from other countries.

Students can view their result on the official websites of the board: www.cbseresults.nic.in, www.cbse.nic.in and www.results.nic.in after they are released. Students are advised to keep their roll number, school number, date of birth ready before the results are out.

Last year, CBSE Class 10 result was declared in the first week of June. Students will be able to check their results on Google by searching for CBSE Class 10 result. They will have to key in the required details to login and check their results.

The CBSE exams this year were mired in controversy after the Class 12 economics and Class 10 mathematics papers were allegedly leaked, triggering criticism against the board over the way the exams were conducted. A re-test was held for Class 12 economics students but the board decided against one for Class 10 mathematics paper.

The board declared the results of Class 12 exams on Saturday.
The Delhi police has sent to the CBSE a list of students who had allegedly received the leaked class 10 mathematics and class 12 economics question papers after the board sought it from the crime branch, an official privy to the probe said.

A senior Crime Branch officer said the CBSE had requested them to provide details of students who had received the leaked papers.

Last week, the police sent an investigation report to the board mentioning the names of over 60 students, he said, adding, these students were quizzed by the Crime Branch while it was probing the case.

Two modules were allegedly involved in leaking the CBSE question papers. Other than the class 12 economics paper, the class 10 mathematics paper had also surfaced online before the scheduled examination.

One of the modules was busted in Una town of Himachal Pradesh last month and six people, including a woman, were arrested in connection with leaking the question papers.

The Bawana module was busted in March, and three people, including two teachers of a private school, were arrested.

The teachers had taken photographs of the economics paper and sent it via WhatsApp to Tauqeer, who gives private tuition. Tauqeer, in turn, circulated the paper among his students about an hour before the examination started, police said.

The CBSE announced class 12 exam results on May 26 while the class 10 results will be declared tomorrow.

The Delhi Police has registered two cases in connection with the paper leaks. The first case related to the leak of economics paper was registered on March 27, while the other pertaining to the leak of mathematics paper was filed on March 28.

The retest for class 12 economics paper was held on April 25, but the board decided against a re-test of the Class 10 paper, saying the examination was largely an internal segment of the school education system.
Students should take admission, and secure a seat if they clear a cutoff for their course of choice, even if it isnt in the college of their choice, according to Delhi University officials.

This came up at the Open Days session on Monday, which was the first one after the Central Board of Secondary Educations Class 12 results were announced on Saturday. The event saw a full house, with students asking questions ranging from how to calculate ones best of four score, if there was a quota for girls, and whether DU offers BTech, among others.

A mother asked what should the students do if they clear the first cutoff for the course they want, but not in the college of their choice.

Amrita Bajaj, the deputy dean of students welfare, who was addressing the session, said that she would strongly advise to take admission as soon as one clears the cutoff, and not wait.

Gurpreet Singh Tuteja, deputy dean of students welfare, explained that students should try and secure a seat first. They can always cancel their admission and go to another college of their choice.

They should not wait. If you cleared the cutoff in the first list and did not take admission at that time, you can only take admission in the second list on the last day, that too if there are still seats remaining. By the third list, you have no right for admission, he said.

A student had also asked about quota for girls, where Bajaj had said that while some colleges give a relaxation of 1% to girls, there is no specific quota.

Open Days is an open to all event organised by the university in the run-up to the admission season. It provides applicants to undergraduate programs and their guardians an opportunity to interact with the universitys officials about the application and admission procedure. This year open Days had begun on May 21, and will end on Tuesday. After that, Colleges will start holding Open Days at their level with Hans Raj college holding a session on May 31 and Rajdhani college holding it on June 3.
Neha Dhupia showed off some whoa-worthy looks in her latest magazine photoshoot. We love stylised magazine spreads, so were obviously fans of the newly-wed actors shoot for Maxim Indias May 2018 issue, showcasing her high-fashion lingerie looks.

The magazine cover has Neha sitting, while striking a sexy pose, wearing her bra as a top but covered up a bit with a matching gown that she kept unbuttoned. Dressed in Zivame, Lecoanet Hemant and forever21, Neha looked totally at ease in the role of a covergirl. The cherry on top was her light smoky eye and loose, wavy hair. So gorgeous.

Enough talk. Lets take a look!

A post shared by Neha Dhupia (@nehadhupia) on May 26, 2018 at 3:10am PDT

On Tuesday, Neha shared some more pictures from her gorgeous shoot. The edgy shots embody the sexy-but-cool persona that, well, so many try to embody but seems Nehas authentically.

Scroll through for a glimpse.

A post shared by Neha Dhupia (@nehadhupia) on May 28, 2018 at 5:57am PDT

A post shared by Neha Dhupia (@nehadhupia) on May 28, 2018 at 11:56pm PDT

If youve been thinking about embracing the bold wear your lingerie outside the bedroom trend but arent quite ready to rock a bustier with a skirt, heres Neha beautifully rocking the look. We know  it might seem completely foreign and awkward to you to rock a bra as your actual top, but hear us out.

Neha wore gorgeous lingerie with her intimates fully on display, but covered up with a shirt and a jacket. If youre slightly afraid of showing much skin, then you must look to Neha for inspiration, because she pulled off the underwear as outerwear look perfectly.

Nehas sexy looks would be perfect for a night out with the girls or a fancy holiday party. Who says you have to rock a boring LBD? All you really need is a cool velvet jacket or a shirt dress and a bra top, and youre set.

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more
For smokers looking to quit smoking, e-cigarettes often seem to be a viable alternative. But there are many disadvantages to e-cigarettes, and many studies raise doubts about its safety. A new study done by the University of North Carolina in the US shows that a common e-cigarette flavouring has toxic chemicals similar to those found in tobacco smoke. The chemicals can even disrupt the lungs antibacterial defense system, the study has found.

Previous studies have shown that while people who use e-cigarettes smoke less and are more likely to quit smoking, they are also more likely to suffer from lung infection and liver problems. A study done by the Penn State suggested that the chemicals that make up different flavours in e-cigarettes also produce different levels of free radicals, toxins often associated with cancer and other diseases.

Aldehydes in cigarettes cause lung inflammation, and increase susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections. (Shutterstock)

What the study says

The data suggests that cinnamaldehyde used in e-cigarettes to give a cinnamon flavour/odour has an effect similar to the toxic aldehydes in cigarette smoke. While aldehydes cause lung inflammation, and increase susceptibility to bacterial and viral infections, cinnamaldehyde disrupts normal cell physiology in ways that can develop and increase levels of respiratory disease. ...(The findings) demonstrate that a common, food-safe flavouring agent, in the context of e-cigarette use, is capable of dysregulating a critical anti-bacterial defense system in the lungs, said Phillip Clapp, at the University of North Carolina in the US.

Researchers performed their experiment by exposing human bronchial epithelial cell (HBEC) cultures to diluted cinnamon e-liquids and e-liquid aerosols from a third generation e-cigarette device. E-cigarette emissions contain chemicals that have not been evaluated for inhalation toxicities, said Clapp, adding, The inhalation of flavouring agents poses a significant unknown in regards to the potential health risks of e-cigarette use, as many of these chemicals are structurally similar to toxic aldehydes in cigarette smoke, he said.

Moreover, aldehyde flavouring agents are often used in high concentrations in e-cigarettes, which may lead to high exposure doses, he said.

3 other ways to quit smoking

* Money can help you quit the habit

A study done by researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in the US shows that cash incentives are three times more effective to help smokers kick the butt than smoking cessation aids.

* Watch this graphic video

A North Carolina-based nurse Amanda Eller posted a couple of videos on Facebook that show the difference between healthy lungs and a black-coloured cancer-ridden lung. It is especially relevant in India, given latest reports suggesting 6.25 lakh children smoke cigarettes daily in India, according to the Tobacco Atlas report.

* Use Facebook to motivate you

A clinical trial done by the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) shows that smokers were 2.5 times more likely to quit post a cessation intervention programme delivered entirely on Facebook than by other online quit-smoking programmes.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Page: 1 2 3 THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN silversides

The bare necessities of life

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05-29-2018 04:09 PM



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Post: #1 THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

Advertisement







MAY 29

Author: Ida Abhari

Samsa in the Kyzylkum Desert



Its hard to keep track of time when youre driving through the desert. Though its early spring and we are spared, luckily, the scorching Central Asian heat as we make our way through Uzbekistans Kyzylkum Desert, the landscape still exerts a powerful pull on our thoughts. Its not empty; scrubby bushes dot the flat brown vista, stretching for miles in every direction. Occasionally, there are hills.



Its easy to imagine camels on this road. Even more so because we saw one, confidently strutting in the desert as we passed. With the way the asphalt is pocked and scarred, camels are probably better suited for this road than our Uzbek-made Chevrolet (locally-manufactured Chevrolets, usually white to ward off the unforgiving heat, are ubiquitous all over the country).



Go pretty much anywhere between Turkey and China, and youll find that most places claim to be along the ancient Silk Road, that magical bridge between West and East. Perhaps nowhere is this more true, however, than on the dusty highway were now on, a few miles from the Karakum Desert across the border in Turkmenistan, en route to Bukhara, an ancient Silk Road trade center.

...

http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2018/samsa-in-uzbekistan/ Popurri Perez Prado

THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTANMAY 29Author: Ida AbhariSamsa in the Kyzylkum DesertIts hard to keep track of time when youre driving through the desert. Though its early spring and we are spared, luckily, the scorching Central Asian heat as we make our way through Uzbekistans Kyzylkum Desert, the landscape still exerts a powerful pull on our thoughts. Its not empty; scrubby bushes dot the flat brown vista, stretching for miles in every direction. Occasionally, there are hills.Its easy to imagine camels on this road. Even more so because we saw one, confidently strutting in the desert as we passed. With the way the asphalt is pocked and scarred, camels are probably better suited for this road than our Uzbek-made Chevrolet (locally-manufactured Chevrolets, usually white to ward off the unforgiving heat, are ubiquitous all over the country).Go pretty much anywhere between Turkey and China, and youll find that most places claim to be along the ancient Silk Road, that magical bridge between West and East. Perhaps nowhere is this more true, however, than on the dusty highway were now on, a few miles from the Karakum Desert across the border in Turkmenistan, en route to Bukhara, an ancient Silk Road trade center.... Emanuel

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05-29-2018 04:44 PM



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Post: #2 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

If Donaldo can fix NK new silk road will make Persia shine again. Emanuel

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05-29-2018 04:47 PM



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Post: #3 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

My God I Love Miaus, I held one Black ver for hours since stressed.

They are so Affectionate if not afraid, heart rate was at hysterical levels but I hum to it. Emanuel

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Post: #4 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN





Muslims are very good with Food.

Females another topic I first taste the Food inside those ovens in Georgetown and even Care that hated muslims was Enthusiastic.Muslims are very good with Food.Females another topic Emanuel

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05-29-2018 05:17 PM



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Post: #5 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

Old Bloke from India.

Cafe full at 1800



We no time for politics since smell alone made Mind Happy Emanuel

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05-29-2018 05:21 PM



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Post: #6 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN





Emanuel

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05-29-2018 05:24 PM



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Post: #7 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

If Ever2 Travel go this 2 places.









Brad Nailer

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05-29-2018 06:38 PM











Post: #8 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN





Gee, it must be nice to be a mod. You get to pin your own threads, even if the thread doesn't warrant being pinned. Best samsa stand? Nobody cares. Unpin this tripe and move it to the cuisine forum. HBW

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05-29-2018 06:41 PM











Post: #9 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

Brad Nailer Wrote: (05-29-2018 06:38 PM) Gee, it must be nice to be a mod. You get to pin your own threads, even if the thread doesn't warrant being pinned. Best samsa stand? Nobody cares. Unpin this tripe and move it to the cuisine forum.





If I wasnt banned I would remove my negative rating of you just for that brilliant comment. If I wasnt banned I would remove my negative rating of you just for that brilliant comment. Emanuel

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Post: #10 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

I think in the Oven alone You will find Worlds.

Normally not defend mods but if Love Life it's a start.





This Female same, pure Life.

I near death so many Times and Females like Her fix me.

We need more of it.



Only Religion resides in +, being Strong.







Emanuel

Banned

User ID: 442953

05-29-2018 07:04 PM



Posts: 2,021









Post: #11 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

I have seen stuff no Human should see, and Food do in fact cheer me up even if not hungry.

Female and food makes me wakeup from the dead trust me since been there. Emanuel

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05-29-2018 07:06 PM



Posts: 2,021









Post: #12 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

10 stars for OP on the Oven alone.

I could write a Novel over it. Emanuel

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05-29-2018 07:08 PM



Posts: 2,021









Post: #13 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

I seen them in all muslim countries and most of all India.

It's a chaotic place at Times but Care made me Love it like China. Emanuel

Banned

User ID: 442953

05-29-2018 07:09 PM



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Post: #14 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

If need to bask in luxury, observe NK deals, if funk we go to the stars. Brad Nailer

lop guest

User ID: 321986

05-29-2018 07:10 PM











Post: #15 RE: THE BEST LITTLE SILK ROADSIDE SAMSA STAND IN UZBEKISTAN

HBW Wrote: (05-29-2018 06:41 PM) Brad Nailer Wrote: (05-29-2018 06:38 PM) Gee, it must be nice to be a mod. You get to pin your own threads, even if the thread doesn't warrant being pinned. Best samsa stand? Nobody cares. Unpin this tripe and move it to the cuisine forum.





If I wasnt banned I would remove my negative rating of you just for that brilliant comment.

And me the same, pal.



And me the same, pal. Advertisement


















Global warming is a major concern around the world. But did you know that it can also have implications for your health and well-being?

Researchers from the University of East Anglia suggest that limiting global warming to 1.5 degree Celsius could avoid around 3.3 million cases of dengue fever per year in Latin America and the Caribbean alone.

The new report revealed that limiting warming to the goal of the UN Paris Agreement would also stop dengue spreading to areas where incidence is currently low. The Paris Climate Agreement aimed to hold global-mean temperature well below 2 degree Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit it to 1.5 degree Celsius above pre-industrial levels. A global warming trajectory of 3.7 degree Celsius could lead to an increase of up to 7.5 million additional cases per year by the middle of this century.

Dengue fever is a tropical disease caused by a virus that is spread by mosquitoes, with symptoms including fever, headache, muscle and joint pain. It infects around 390 million people worldwide each year, with an estimated 54 million cases in Latin America and the Caribbean. As the mosquitoes that carry and transmit the virus thrive in humid conditions, it is commonly found in areas with these weather conditions. There is no specific treatment or vaccine for dengue and, in rare cases, it can be lethal.

There is no specific treatment or vaccine for dengue and, in rare cases, it can be lethal. (Getty Images)

What the study shows

Lead researcher Felipe Colon-Gonzalez said, There is growing concern about the potential impact of climate change on human health. While it is recognised that limiting warming to 1.5C would have benefits for human health, the magnitude of these benefits remains mostly unquantified.

The team studied clinical and laboratory-confirmed dengue reports in Latin America and used computer models to predict the impacts of warming under different climate scenarios. Brazil would benefit the most from limiting warming to 1.5 degree Celsius with up to half a million cases avoided per year by the 2050s and 1.4 million avoided cases per year by 2100.

The findings from the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Summer temperatures have gone up by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius. (HT file photo )

4 other harmful effects of global warming

* Heat waves

A study has shown that summer temperatures have gone up by more than 0.5 degrees Celsius on an average over five decades, and this rise has increased probability of heat wave deaths.

* Affects air, food and water

Climate variables can impact the quality of air, water, food, and determine where you can live or work. Climate change phenomena, be it heatwaves, floods and droughts, can cause deaths and displace people, damage infrastructure and reduce availability of food and water. This can lead to disease outbreaks and limit access to healthcare.

Global warming can make rice lose its vitamin and protein content. (Shutterstock)

* It is making more people sick

The Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, which represents more than half of US doctors, says that climate change is making people sick due to the rising levels of air pollution, increased water contamination, and a widening range for disease-carrying mosquitoes.

* Rice can become unhealthy.

Scientists have warned that as carbon dioxide levels rise due to burning of fossil fuels, rice will lose some of its protein and vitamin content, putting millions of people at risk of malnutrition. The report was published in the journal Science Advances.

(With inputs from ANI)

Follow @htlifeandstyle for more
Harry Potter star Matthew Lewis on Monday announced his marriage to girlfriend Angela Jones in Italy. The actor shared their first picture as a married couple on his social media accounts, joking that hed wanted to attend an Arctic Monkeys concert instead.

Not only did I miss @ArcticMonkeys in LA but they were performing in Italy at the same time we were there and my wife made me get married instead. Fuming, Lewis wrote, adding American and British flags in the caption.

 A post shared by Matthew Lewis (@mattdavelewis) on May 28, 2018 at 9:46am PDT

Lewis reportedly met Jones, an American, at the January 2016 opening of the Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park, where she worked. They started dating later that year, and according to TMZ, he proposed to her in Paris in November.

Lewis found fame for his portrayal of the bumbling Neville Longbottom in the Harry Potter film series. He gained further attention for his physical transformation and magazine spreads. Lewis most recently appeared in the TV series, Ripper Street and the films Me Before You and Terminal.

Fans congratulated Lewis on his wedding by making Harry Potter jokes. Fifty points to Gryffindor! one fan wrote. Gryffindor wins! wrote another.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
The personal letters of Alan Rickman have revealed that the late actor was frustrated by one of his most iconic roles, Severus Snape, the sneering potions master in the Harry Potter movies.

The revelation was made in the letters that were released for an auction. The archive was a personal collection of papers and letters that span Rickmans 40-year-long career as an actor, reported Deadline.

In one particular letter, director David Heyman wrote to him, Thank you for making HP2 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) a success. I know, at times, you are frustrated but please know that you are an integral part of the films. And you are brilliant.

A note written by the actor while working on 2009s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince suggests he was unhappy about the lack of attention given to his character.

In the note titled Inside Snapes Head, Rickman wrote, Its as if David Yates (director) has decided that this is not important in the scheme of things i.e teen audience appeal.

The archive, which has been valued at 950,000 includes letters from the Prince Charles, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, as well as Harry Potter author JK Rowling, who thanks Rickman for doing justice to my most complex character.

There are also heartwarming letters from actors including Kate Winslet, who starred with him in A Little Chaos as well as a note from Nicole Kidman who called his performance in the London production of Private Lives inspiring.

Other items include Rickmans copy of the script for his first film, 1988s Die Hard, in which he played the terrorist Hans Gruber.

The archive has been assembled by BAFTA-nominated actor and bookseller Neil Pearson, working with Rickmans estate.

The actor died at the age of 69 in 2016 from pancreatic cancer.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Angelina Jolie abruptly split from her partner of 12 years and husband of two, Brad Pitt, in September 2016. But their divorce still isnt final, a new report says, because they still havent agreed to terms about their six children.

According to E! News, Jolie is resentful of Pitt for essentially locking her down in Los Angeles, because hes chosen a film that will be shot in LA to be near his kids. Jolie, meanwhile, had planned on taking them to Europe. Brad is opposed to that and is blocking it from happening. Brad will be filming in LA for the summer and wants to see the kids on his regular custody schedule, a source told E.

He currently sees his children - Maddox, Pax, Zahara, Shiloh, Knox and Vivienne - a few times a week. Jolie, according to the report, is furious at the situation.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie split in September 2016. (Shutterstock)

Jolie recently took Shiloh and Zahara to Jordan to visit a refugee camp in January, and later travelled to Paris with all of her children. Angelina has been in London and is free to travel for shorter periods of time, the source says. Brad isnt opposed to that. But she cant leave with the kids for several months.

Jolie had initially filed for sole physical custody of the kids, but in November 2016, Pitt filed for joint custody. By December, theyd reached a temporary agreement, after the FBI concluded their investigation of Pitt regarding an alleged incident of child abuse on a private plane. No charges were filed and Pitt was cleared.

Pitt opened up about the custody battle in his 2017 interview to GQ Style, his first since the split. I was really on my back and chained to a system when Child Services was called, he said. And you know, after that, weve been able to work together to sort this out. Were both doing our best. I heard one lawyer say, No one wins in courtits just a matter of who gets hurt worse. And it seems to be true, you spend a year just focused on building a case to prove your point and why youre right and why theyre wrong, and its just an investment in vitriolic hatred. I just refuse. And fortunately my partner in this agrees. Its just very, very jarring for the kids, to suddenly have their family ripped apart.

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie take their children Pax, Zahara and Shiloh to a park in Budapest, Hungary in 2010. (Shutterstock)

An US Weekly report goes on to say that Pitt is committed to staying in LA, even if that means staying away from his rumoured new girlfriend, the MIT professor, Neri Oxman. Brad and Neri are still very much in each others lives, although not as much as he would like, the US Weekly source said.

But without even a draft of the settlement being written by either side, it just goes to show how at odds they continue to be, the report continued.

Follow @htshowbiz for more
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to direct the Railways to provide rakes for transporting coal to power plants in Delhi-NCR, which are facing alarming level of coal shortage.

The national transporter, however, on Tuesday said Delhi need not worry as adequate coal is being supplied to the power plants.

In his letter to Modi, the Delhi chief minister said with rising temperatures and increasing power demand in Delhi, coal stock position is very alarming and needs immediate attention and intervention.

As informed, this coal shortage is primarily attributable to non-availability of transportation rakes with Indian Railways due to which available coal is not getting transported to the NCR thermal (power) stations, Kejriwal said.

It is therefore requested to kindly intervene personally and give necessary directions to the Railways for providing rakes/wagons on priority for transportation of coal in order to avoid load shedding or any major grid incidence leading to major blackouts in Delhi, he told the prime minister in the letter.

Responding to Kejriwals claims, the railways said coal requirement in Dadri, Jhajhar and Badarpur power plants are being adequately met by the national transporter.

In Badarpur as of now, there is a consumption of 1.5 rakes, while we are supplying two-three rakes. In Dadri the consumption is of five rakes, and as of today seven rakes are there with additional rakes in the pipeline. In Jhajhar too there is requirement of around 3.5 rake while railways is supplying four rakes. So, there are adequate rakes, Mohd Jamshed, Member, Traffic of the railways said.

We had given coal traffic preference even in January, February and March when on demand we had ensured that there are rakes available and if necessary we had even drawn it from other sectors, he said.

Kejriwal said thermal power stations in the national capital region -- Dadri I & II, Jhajjar and Badarpur -- are facing acute coal shortage for the last many days and at present all of them are operating on day ahead basis as coal stock is not sufficient for even one day full generation.

He said according to norms, this stock condition is to be maintained for at least 15 days ahead period.

Jamshed said a committee comprising official of the railways, power and coal were monitoring the situation daily, adequate coal is being supplied to power houses and reserves are being maintained according to norms.

Kejriwal said that Delhi is reeling under severe heat wave conditions and peak demand has already crossed 6200 MW as on date, and is expected to touch 7000 MW soon.

The chief minister also wrote to Lt Governor Anil Baijal seeking his intervention in taking up the matter with the central ministries to resolve this crisis-like situation at the earliest.

Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain had last week flagged the issue and said that he had written to Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal earlier this month, requesting him to issue necessary instruction to help resolve the crisis.

The Railways said that its coal loading was on track.

Last year we did 555 million tonne which is 22 million tonne more than the previous year. This year we will increase it further. Last year, we used 350 rakes for coal, now its 450 rakes, Jamshed said.

As of May 1 this year, 285 million tonne of coal was loaded, out of which 260 million tonne was for power plants.

According to data provided by the Delhi government, the coal required for power generation in full capacity for one day is 56,000 MT, but 52,513 MT coal was provided to power plants yesterday.
An internal tussle in the Congress over the partys approach in dealing with the Janata Dal (Secular) at the national level and in Karnataka is delaying the state Cabinets expansion, a senior party leader familiar with the development said on Tuesday.

The central leaders of the Congress are willing to concede the finance portfolio  a bone of contention between the two parties -- to the JD(S), keeping in mind the need for broader Opposition unity ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

But Karnataka Congress leaders have remained adamant on their demand for the key ministry, arguing that yielding to the alliance partner at the beginning of the coalition governments term will hurt the party in the long run in the southern state.

They (central leaders) dont want the portfolio issue to jeopardise larger Opposition unity in 2019. Their stand is that the Congress should be seen as walking an extra mile to keep the opposition unity intact ahead of the next Lok Sabha elections, the leader cited above said on condition of anonymity.

Senior leaders Ghulam Nabi Azad, Ahmed Patel and Ashok Gehlot are holding internal discussions with deputy chief minister and Karnataka Congress chief G Parameshwara, former chief minister Siddaramaiah and senior party leader in Karnataka, DK Shivakumar.

The state leaders are of the view that the finance portfolio in Karnataka is very important since the chief ministers post is with the JD(S). All development projects are cleared by the ministry. Instead of convincing the alliance partners, they feel the Delhi leaders concede too much, the leader cited above said.

He said Congress president Rahul Gandhi was keen on having a functional government in place in Karnataka and has told the central and state leaders to negotiate with the JD(S) on terms beneficial to both the sides.

In lieu of the finance ministry, the Congress state leadership has agreed to give the home, public works department (PWD) and revenue ministries to the JD(S). But chief minister HD Kumaraswamy and other JD(S) leaders are insisting on the finance ministry so that they would be able to announce a promised loan waiver for farmers.

The Bengaluru development ministry is another sticking point in the Cabinet expansion that got delayed even after Kumaraswamy took the oath of office on May 23.

On record, Congress spokesman Tom Vadakkan said a stable government in Karnataka will soon take shape. Our alliance is strong and deeply rooted for the welfare of Karnataka. You will see a very strong Cabinet soon. It is irrelevant who gets the finance ministry or who will be the finance minister, he said.

Although negotiations between the two sides went on until midnight on Monday, an agreement remained elusive.

JD(S) leader Kunwar Danish Ali, who is negotiating on behalf of his party, expressed the hope that all sticking issues will be resolved in a day or two.

But political observers find intriguing the tussle between the two parties on the finance portfolio particularly after the Congress offered unconditional support to the JD(S) in government formation in the larger interest of putting in place a broad-based secular alliance in 2019.

What is the finance ministry, after all? It is just a clearance department especially after the GST (goods and service tax) has come into force. All policies, schemes and programmes are in any case announced in the budget. So, I am somewhat puzzled why this insistence on the finance portfolio by both sides? That is intriguing and there is something more to it than meets the eye, said A Narayana, associate professor for public policy at the Bengaluru-based Azim Premji University.
Two men involved in the murder of a newly-wed woman and loot last month on the Delhi-Dehradun highway were on Tuesday killed in a gun battle with the police in Uttar Pradeshs Meerut, officials said.

A joint team of the states special task force and police surrounded the two men at a secluded place in Kanker Khera area on Tuesday morning after receiving a tip-off about their movement, officials said.

They fired on the team in order to escape but sustained bullet injuries in retaliatory firing by police and died on the spot, officials added. Both men were in their 20s and had a cash reward of Rs 25 thousand on each.

The task forces superintendent of police Alok Priyadarshi said the men have been identified as Narsi alias Tiger of Modinagar and Dheeraj of Shatabdi Nagar in Meerut.

Police have recovered a carbine, pistol, country-made pistol, live cartridges and two magazines from the possession of the men, he added.

They were a part of a gang that robbed the newly-wed couple of their valuables and car on April 27 near Daurala on National Highway 58 and shot the bride dead when she resisted them. The couple was on their way back home in Muzaffarnagar after attending a wedding in Ghaziabad.

The police arrested three other members of the gang earlier in May. They were also involved in a similar incident of loot on the highway in February this year.
Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy said on Monday he did not mean to show disrespect to the people when he said that he was at the mercy of the Congress and not voters of the southern state.

BJP leaders have criticised Kumaraswamys remark, saying he was deriding his own people and doubting his credentials to serve them.

I am the chief minister who has the responsibility to six-and-half crore people of the state. My remark that I am at the mercy of the Congress party meant that I am chief minister as long as their support is with me, and to run any programme I will need their support..., he said in New Delhi, seeking to clarify his remarks.

Kumaraswamy said on Sunday he was at the mercy of Congress and not the 6.5 crore people of the state as his government had not received the full mandate which his party had sought in the assembly elections.

The JD(S) leader, who was sworn in last week after the Congress extended support to his party, said he was committed to waiving farm loans or else he would retire from politics, asserting he was ready with the guidelines on a waiver scheme.

He urged people not to fall prey to what he termed BJPs conspiracy.

In a coalition government, I never said it wont be possible to waive farm loan. What I had said was that in a coalition government, whatever decisions have to be taken would be in consultation and with permission from coalition partner Congress.

Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda took to Twitter asking Kumaraswamy if he would compromise the interests of Kannadigas just to retain power. The BJP in Karnataka tweeted, One can only imagine the kind of loot he will preside to impress his Congress bosses.

BJPs IT cell chief Amit Malviya termed the chief minsters remarks the most brazen admission ever and expressed apprehensions that Karnataka will bleed under the present state government while JDS-Congress fill up their coffers.

In Delhi, Kumaraswamy met top Congress leaders before his meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On the ongoing discussions with Congress leaders over portfolio allocation in Delhi, he said, Without having any confusion, we are taking care that nothing hampers the stability of this government. On the issue of cabinet expansion and portfolio allocation, we are taking every one into confidence.
Police on Tuesday urged the public against believing rumours on social media after a sixth person falsely accused of being a child trafficker was killed by an angry mob.

A transgender woman was lynched and three others seriously injured in Hyderabad at the weekend by a crowd that linked them to a child exploitation ring that police say does not exist.

The 52-year-olds murder was the sixth this month in southern India prompted by false and persistent rumours on social media about a child kidnapping gang, police said.

A 42-year-old man was beaten to death last week in Nizamabad district, about 160 kilometres (100 miles) from Hyderabad, after a mob accused him of being a child kidnapper.

There are no kidnapping gangs in Hyderabad, the citys police commissioner Anjani Kumar told AFP on Tuesday.

We warn (the) public... (against) harming anyone based on rumours on social media.

Dozens of police officers and locals marched through the southern city on Monday evening with loudspeakers urging people not to take the law into their own hands.

Dont believe the rumours, the policemen chanted.

Police have arrested 35 people in connection with the beating of the transgender woman on Saturday. She died in hospital on Sunday.

Authorities have issued warnings in Telangana -- where the attack occurred -- and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu states where vigilantes have murdered four others this month over the same rumour.

A hundreds-strong mob killed a labourer and injured seven others on May 20 in Andhra Pradesh, believing the men were linked to a child trafficking gang.

His death came a day after a beggar was lynched for the same reason in the same coastal state.

Police said most of the victims were not from the localities where they were killed.

Officials are yet to find any cases of child kidnapping related to the videos circulating on social media platforms like WhatsApp.

But a dozen people have been arrested for circulating the videos, which show men hoisting a child from outside a home and mutilating an infant.
A luxurious state-owned aircraft will soon be at the command of Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar. The High Powered Purchase Committee (HPPC) recently approved the purchase of the 10-seater Beechcraft King Air 250. The order has been placed and delivery is expected by September, said an official of the state civil aviation department. The CM and the governor will use the state aircraft.

Soon after taking over the reins of the state in 2014, Khattar had turned down a proposal to buy a new state aircraft. In fact, the chief minister who was a Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) ideologue had preferred austerity by travelling either by commercial or chartered flights or by train. However, regular air travel by Khattar and the governor, KS Solanki, by chartered flights seems to have become increasingly inconvenient and expensive and resulted in the move to buy the new aircraft.

While state civil aviation minister, Rao Narbir Singh, had in April, said the new aircraft could cost about $62,50,000 (around Rs 40 crore), finance minister Capt Abhimanyu, who heads the HPPC, said the purchase committee was able to get a lower price than the rate that the manufacturers of Beechcraft, Textron Aviation, had quoted.

We negotiated hard to get a very competitive price from the company, the finance minister added.

The state already has a twin-engine helicopter that was purchased during the Congress rule at a cost of 5.5 million euros (Rs 33 crore) in 2009. A Beechcraft King Air 200 aircraft, also bought during the Congress rule, had, in 2014, crashed at the Chandigarh airport soon after taking off. The then governor, Jagannath Pahadia, his wife and other officials on board had a miraculous escape.

Civil aviation officials said the Beechcraft King Air 250  an upgraded version of King Air 200  has been chosen as it was an ideal machine considering the length of runways at Chandigarh, Delhi and Hisar airports.

The King Air 250 needs a take-off distance of 2,111 feet that is just right, keeping in view the average length of these airstrips, he added.

The proposal to purchase a new aircraft from the public exchequer was mooted during the previous Congress rule after a government Beech Super King Air B-200 crashed at the Chandigarh airport.
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Page: 6 7 8 9 10 1 ... 5 BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : ON GOING ROCKET FIRE : LIVE UPDATE BLOGS LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442313

05-29-2018 11:58 PM











Post: #91 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

Advertisement



I don't trust the reports on this link.



but



Netanyahu and his Cursed IDF/MOSSAD are satanic and stupid enough to try to pull this ploy. Is another 9/11 planned to get the US involved?



"UPDATED - URGENT: IRANIAN-MADE ROCKETS BEING FIRED INTO ISRAEL FROM GAZA ---- Large Mortar Attack from Gaza Blows-up Israeli Civilian areas - Massive Response"



http://halturnerradioshow.com/index.php/...e-response



Is Israel trying to drag Iran into this Mossad false flag operation?I don't trust the reports on this link.butNetanyahu and his Cursed IDF/MOSSAD are satanic and stupid enough to try to pull this ploy. Is another 9/11 planned to get the US involved?"UPDATED - URGENT: IRANIAN-MADE ROCKETS BEING FIRED INTO ISRAEL FROM GAZA ---- Large Mortar Attack from Gaza Blows-up Israeli Civilian areas - Massive Response" LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443508

05-29-2018 11:58 PM











Post: #92 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-29-2018 11:56 PM) Once Hamas use up all the iron dome missiles. Hezbollah will strike from the north. Iran's strategy.

B1 Lancers are already in striking range.

If I was Nasrallah I'd be very carful with any action..... B1 Lancers are already in striking range.If I was Nasrallah I'd be very carful with any action..... LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443508

05-30-2018 12:02 AM











Post: #93 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

Watch it!





Those new european rules restrict ANY linking of content w/o permission of the owner!

They can sue you at any time now.

However.....rumors are rumors....and opinions are opinions fnord

lop guest

User ID: 337000

05-30-2018 12:03 AM











Post: #94 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

B1 Lancers? I would think bombers would be more effective than lancers.



Didn't they go out of fashion after the machine gun? LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442313

05-30-2018 12:05 AM











Post: #95 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-30-2018 12:02 AM) Watch it!





Those new european rules restrict ANY linking of content w/o permission of the owner!

They can sue you at any time now.

However.....rumors are rumors....and opinions are opinions

Law suits under the Freemason "justice" system are judged as oppression. "Doubled in Spades" and then some.



Law suits under the Freemason "justice" system are judged as oppression. "Doubled in Spades" and then some. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 418318

05-30-2018 12:06 AM











Post: #96 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-29-2018 07:07 PM) TicklePickle Wrote: (05-29-2018 07:05 PM) Maybe if Israel were more diverse, then these problems wouldn't be happening?

you mean if they had more blacks living there?

Israel is probably the most racist white majority country in the world. It is trying like crazy to get rid of all of it's black population. At one point they took to sterilizing the black women without their consent until too many people found out. Isn't that what Hitler did, sterilized people he considered undesirable?



Israel: no country for black people



https://www.iol.co.za/news/opinion/israe...e-12900274



I would like to add that Israel is not a country for anyone who doesn't have lily white skin, including the brown Palestinians. Israel is probably the most racist white majority country in the world. It is trying like crazy to get rid of all of it's black population. At one point they took to sterilizing the black women without their consent until too many people found out. Isn't that what Hitler did, sterilized people he considered undesirable?Israel: no country for black peopleI would like to add that Israel is not a country for anyone who doesn't have lily white skin, including the brown Palestinians. LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443508

05-30-2018 12:08 AM











Post: #97 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

Just saw a video where a missile f**ked up a mosque.

Interesting.... singing spider

terrarising the 'hood

User ID: 443483

05-30-2018 12:19 AM



Posts: 21,086









Post: #98 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

fnord Wrote: (05-30-2018 12:03 AM) B1 Lancers? I would think bombers would be more effective than lancers.



Didn't they go out of fashion after the machine gun?

this is the actual size of Gaza strip:







if you drop two bombs on this it's gone

including a fair share of Israel land this is the actual size of Gaza strip:if you drop two bombs on this it's goneincluding a fair share of Israel land

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=92i5m3tV5XY



nobody starts at point zero LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 442409

05-30-2018 12:19 AM











Post: #99 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going





https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali...book-likes Israeli lawmakers call for genocide of Palestinians gets thousands of Facebook likes fnord

lop guest

User ID: 337000

05-30-2018 12:21 AM











Post: #100 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

LoP Guest Wrote: (05-30-2018 12:02 AM) Watch it!





Those new european rules restrict ANY linking of content w/o permission of the owner!

They can sue you at any time now.

However.....rumors are rumors....and opinions are opinions

linky = stinky? linky = stinky? MountainTux NLI

lop guest

User ID: 438592

05-30-2018 12:22 AM











Post: #101 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

singing wilbury spider Wrote: (05-29-2018 11:46 PM) MountainTux NLI Wrote: (05-29-2018 11:42 PM) Oh, I totally get it, but some sort of disclaimer...



"Arachnophobes such as MountainTux should not look!"



I've gotten much better in my old age, I can even catch and release the little monsters now. I want to like spiders, but I'm sadly not wired that way, but I can at least respect them now :D

spiders are our friends

I don't need mosquito nets, I have spiders



that's a good idea, will do!

Nice!



And I agree, you are 100% correct. Unfortunately, some of the wiring in my brain is less accepting - we're working on it



Nice!And I agree, you are 100% correct. Unfortunately, some of the wiring in my brain is less accepting - we're working on it LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443508

05-30-2018 12:26 AM











Post: #102 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

So....

....is Israels Response justified and proportionate???

Or do the need to put in some more effort to finally end this crappy war? The Ghost Of LOP

Registered User

User ID: 441629

05-30-2018 12:31 AM



Posts: 41,867









Post: #103 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going





Fresh barrage fired toward Eshkol regions, many explosions reported



https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-may-29-2018/ BREAKING:Fresh barrage fired toward Eshkol regions, many explosions reported I am so confused !!! LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 443508

05-30-2018 12:32 AM











Post: #104 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

The Palestinian government calls for urgent international intervention to stop the Israeli aggression on Gaza LoP Guest

lop guest

User ID: 418318

05-30-2018 12:33 AM











Post: #105 RE: BREAKING : Israel Under Attack : At least 50 rockets fired from Gaza MORE on going

You asked:

Is Israel trying to drag Iran into this Mossad false flag operation?





When your "sacred" book tells you that the gentiles were put here to do the Jews' bidding it is no surprise that the unchosen are expected to fight and die in wars for the "chosen".



These wars were planned so many years ago. The PNAC papers first outlined that the goal was to remake the middle east in an image that would be acceptable to Israel and it's American religious cohorts. Remember a four star general was made privy to the game plan just a few days after 9/11?







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Haryana health minister Anil Vij, who is known for making controversial statements, on Tuesday compared Congress president Rahul Gandhi to the Nipah virus, saying he would destroy whosoever comes in contact with him.

Rahul Gandhi is like the Nipah virus which will devastate the party and destroy whosoever comes in contact with him, Vij said in an official statement issued by the Haryana government in Chandigarh.

The Haryana minister has often made controversial statements in the past. He had once described the Taj Mahal as a beautiful graveyard.

The outspoken minister had in the past said that those who were supporting Delhi University student Gurmehar Kaur for her campaign against the ABVP, were pro-Pakistan and should be thrown out of the country.

Vij also courted controversy with his remarks that Mahatma Gandhis image did not help khadi and caused devaluation of the currency, triggering widespread outrage.

On Tuesday, Vij also took a dig at Haryana Congress leaders, saying all of them were in a hurry to get themselves declared as the partys chief ministerial candidate for the next assembly polls.

All leaders, including Congress legislative party leader Kiran Choudhry, Ashok Tanwar, Ajay Yadav, Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Kumari Selja were in a tearing hurry to get themselves declared as the CM choice. But these self declared CMs may not even become MLAs, Vij said in the release.
Sanctions and stents will be among the sources of contention at the coming India-US 2 + 2 strategic and economic dialogue in Washington in the first week of July.

At the top of the list will be the USs sweeping Countering Americas Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) that imposes sanctions on countries which trade with Russia and Iran.

External affairs minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday that India will only abide by sanctions by the United Nations. A defiant New Delhi also plans to announce its purchase of the Triumf S-400 missile defence system from Russia later this year.

CAATSA gives exemptions for non-significant purchases and if Russias behaviour is shown to change. However, US defence industry sources say sanctions could kick in for purchases as low as $15 million.

The US is expected to point a finger at Indias applied tariffs, which are nearly four times those of the US, the arbitrariness of Indias price controls on medical device manufacturers, its new data localisation policies and the WTO incompatibility of Indian export subsidies.

India will also worry about the US review of its textile export privileges under the general system of preferences (GSP) programme. The US will note Indias own actions against medical devices and other exports are the reason for the review.

Both Indian and US officials admitted that with the sanctions issue coming out during an election year, a solution will be more difficult to reach.

However, New Delhi believes the US has gone too far with CAATSA. It is being driven by the US Congress and even President Donald Trump has expressed disapproval. A number of US treaty allies such as Indonesia, who use Russian weapons, will be affected as will many US firms that buy parts and services from Russia.

US industry has woken up to the problems with this law, said a US executive.

There is an expectation Indias investments in the Iranian port of Chabahar will be exempted  as happened last time the US imposed sanctions on Iran. Oil imports, however, are expected to decline but not fall to zero.

India may find it harder to ensure trade issues do not complicate strategic relations given the Trump administrations mercantilist attitude.

Washington is peeved India has complained about US plans to deny the spouses of H-1B visa holders the automatic right to work given that no other country grants such privileges, including India.

There is a sense in Washington that Prime Minister Narendra Modi missed an opportunity when he told Trump that India had reduced its tariffs on US-made Harley-Davidson motorcycles but cited a still absurdly high 50% tariff. It was an opportunity to get India off Trumps trade hit list.

Instead Trump publicly denounced Modis offer and India remains in the presidents crosshairs.

The positive side is that there are a large number of leading lights in the Trump administration, including Pentagon chief Jim Matthis, secretary of state Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton, who believe strongly in the US-India relationship and who will seek a managed solution to the fallout from CAATSA.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to grant bail to Yug Tuli, co-owner of Mumbais Mojo Bistro restaurant who is facing criminal proceedings for the fire that broke out at the eating joint in the Kamala Mills complex in December 2017, killing 14 people.

The 28-year-old businessman was, however, given liberty to file fresh a bail petition in the trial court after three months.

A bench of justices L Nageswara Rao and MM Shantanagoudar heard Tulis petition challenging the order of the Bombay high court denying him bail and refused to interfere with it.

Tulis advocate, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi, contested the charges of criminal negligence against his client. He claimed the tragedy occurred due to the mistake of the staff of another restaurant named 1 Above, located in the same building as Mojo Bistro. 1 Above was gutted in the blaze on the intervening night of December 28-29 last year.

Rohatgi cited the enquiry reports of the police as well as the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to defend his client.

None of the customers or guests at the restaurant had died in the incident, Rohatgi said, adding that the manager of the restaurant and the hookah supplier have got bail in the case.

Maharashtra governments lawyer Nishant Katneshwar opposed Tulis bail plea saying he may try to influence witnesses. Tuli and the other accused have been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), including those related to culpable homicide not amounting to murder and causing death by negligence.

Tuli was arrested in mid-January. He had approached the high court after his bail plea was rejected by the sessions court on April 11. Tuli had claimed that he had no role in the day-to-day operations of the hookah parlour. He moved Supreme Court after the high court refused him bail.
Indias leadership has to speak in one voice about Jammu and Kashmir before the Hurriyat Conference can join the peace process, the states separatist leaders said on Tuesday after home minister Rajnath Singh offered talks.

Let the Indian government give clarity on what it wants to talk about and speak in one voice. We are ready to join the process, the Joint Resistance Leadership (JRL), a conglomerate of separatist groups in Kashmir, said in a statement.

Syed Ali Geelani, leader of the hardline faction in Hurriyat, hosted a meeting at his Hyderpora residence on Tuesday. Hurriyat chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front chairman Yasin Malik were also present in the meeting.

The JRL said that it is important to have transparency in such a process and an assurance from all sides that promises and pledges will be honoured.

On Saturday, union home minister Rajnath Singh had said that the Centre was ready to hold talks with the Hurriyat if its leadership comes forward. This is the first time in the recent past that the separatist leadership has not set any precondition for the start of any dialogue with the Centre.

The statements regarding talks in the last few days from different people at the helm of affairs in New Delhi are unclear and ambiguous, the leadership said, adding that while the home minister said there should be dialogue with both Kashmir and Pakistan, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj put a rider saying no talks can be held with Pakistan unless terror stops.

The leadership further said that BJP president Amit Shah said the ceasefire is for the people and not militants, while J&K Director General of Police issued a statement that its for the militants to come back home. The ambiguity leaves little room to consider the talk about talks seriously, the JRL statement said.

Earlier this month, the Centre had asked security forces to halt counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir during the Islamic holy month of Ramzan, accepting a demand made by chief minister Mehbooba Mufti.

The JRL leadership also said that for a political redressal of the conflict, dialogue among stakeholders is the best option. As Jammu and Kashmir is a divided territory and half of it is in Pakistan, this dispute has three stakeholders  India, Pakistan and the people of Kashmir. Meaningful talks based on a clear agenda underlined by sincerity among all the three stakeholders is an assured and peaceful way to resolve the conflict, it said.
A day after the newly-married Kevin Joseph (23) was found dead in a stream, Kerala police on Tuesday arrested the brother and father of the wife Neenu from north Kerala while they were trying to flee to Bengaluru.

Neenus brother Shanu Chacko -- the main accused -- and her father Chacko -- another accused in the case -- were arrested from Iritty in Kannur district, police said. Out of the 14 accused, five have been arrested and efforts are on to nab the rest, they said.

Amid mounting protests, Kevins body was buried in Kottayam on Tuesday evening. Police had to resort to lathi-charge on a number of occasions to control the mourners.

Kevin was allegedly abducted from his relatives house in Kottayam on Sunday and his body was found in a stream in neighbouring Kollam district on Monday morning. A day before Kevins murder, his wife sat on a day-long protest at the Gandhi Nagar police station in Kottayam and pleaded with cops to save her husband. She was reportedly rebuffed by officials who said they were busy with chief minister Pinarayi Vijayans visit.

Kevin, a Dalit Christian, and Neenu (21), a Christian from an affluent family, had married against the wishes of the womans parents on Friday. He was working as an electrician and she was studying at a private college in Kottayam. They were in love for last three years. On Friday, they had registered their marriage at the sub-registrars office but they were summoned to the police station after Neenus parents filed a missing person complaint, said Melvin, a friend of Kevin.

He said though Neenus parents belonged to different communities (father a Christian and mother a Muslim), they opposed their daughters relationship because of Kevins Dalit background and poor economic conditions.

Kerala chief minister said the incident was unfortunate because the womans parents also belonged to different communities. Sad because the girls parents also had a love marriage and they belonged to different communities. They have conveniently forgotten this. If they kept the spirit alive, this sad incident wouldnt have happened Vijayan said on Tuesday.

Kevins post-mortem report listed drowning as the main cause of death. Police now suspect that after thrashing him, the assailants might have thrown the unconscious victim into the stream.

Investigation is at the initial stages. We cant divulge any details because it will affect the probe, said Special Investigation Team (SIT) head Inspector General of Police Vijay Sakhara. The government had transferred the Kottyam SP and suspended three police officials in connection with the case that invited enough embarrassment to it.
The allotment of land for the proposed expansion of Vedanta groups copper plant in Tuticorin was on Tuesday cancelled in larger public interest by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT), an official release said.

The move comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and permanently close the Sterlite Copper plant following last weeks protests, over pollution concerns, during which 13 people were killed in police firing.

As the allotment of land for the proposed expansion has been made by SIPCOT, in larger public interest, the land allotment made by SIPCOT for proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled, SIPCOT said in its communication to the Vedanta group.

The land price collected for the said land allotment will be refunded as per the norms of SIPCOT, it said.

There have been a series of agitations against the establishment of a copper plant at the SIPCOT industrial complex in Tuticorin, about 600 km from here, expressing concerns about the pollution caused, it added.

An official release at Chennai said, The cancellation of allotment of 342.22 acres of land has been made in larger public interest and this has been communicated to the company.

Chief Minister K Palaniswami had yesterday said the state government had issued the directive to seal and permanently close the copper unit, in deference to the sentiments of the people.

In deference to the opinion and sentiments of the general public, it was decided to close down the Sterlite plant and a Government Order has been issued today, he had said.

Vedanta Ltd termed the closure unfortunate and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.

The Madras High Court had on May 23 stayed the expansion of the Vedantas copper smelter plant in Tuticorin district on a petition filed by environmental activist Fathima Babu.

The petitioner submitted that Vedanta Limited should be restrained from carrying out activities in the lands on which the proposed copper smelter-unit II was being constructed.

The court had also directed the Centre to submit within four months a report after holding a public hearing in the district to invite public opinion on the plan for expansion.

The locals were protesting for the closure of the factory for 99 days.

Protesters turned violent on May 22, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police action against them last Tuesday and Wednesday.

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A man disguised as a devotee attacked a priest of a Brahma temple in Rajasthans Pushkar district for allegedly not allowing President Ram Nath Kovind to enter the sanctum sanctorum, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Ashok Meghwal, stood in a queue and attacked the priest Mahadevpuri as soon as his turn came to offer prayers.

According to Pushkar station incharge Mahaveer Sharma, Meghwal who claims to be a doctor, was mentally unstable.

The President, who was on a recent trip to Pushkar, offered prayers on the temples doorstep since his wife had a knee problem.

However, few people circulated messages on WhatsApp that Kovind was not being permitted to enter the temple premises.

Man attacks priest in Pushkar's Brahma temple alleging that the priest stopped President Kovind from entering the temple. The victim says, 'I wasn't present on that day, otherwise I'd have ensured that he sees the temple. As per Police accused is mentally challanged, #Rajasthan pic.twitter.com/xyudlHZdbd  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

The attack was caught on camera and the footage went viral where the accused is seen waving his sharp-edged weapon for a few minutes scaring other devotees.

This attack has raised several questions on the security arrangements of the temple where each and every devotee needs to go through a metal detector test to enter the premises.
Rebati Phukan, who has been working as a mediator between the Centre and separatist outfit United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) since 1991 to facilitate a peace dialogue, has gone missing since April 22, the Supreme Court was informed on Tuesday.

Phukans son Kaushik Phukan has approached the top court saying his father has been missing since April 22 and quoted ULFA chief Paresh Baruah as saying that he may be in the custody of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) or the Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW) or Military Intelligence or the National Investigation Agency (NIA) as they have a rivalry amongst them.

His son has filed a habeas corpus (a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a court) petition before the Supreme Court.

The plea which sought direction to the authorities, including Assam government, to produce Phukan before the court was mentioned before a bench comprising Justices L Nageswara Rao and Mohan M Shantanagoudar, which agreed to hear the matter on June 1.

Senior advocate Geeta Luthra, who appeared for Kaushik, mentioned the matter before the bench and said that Rebati Phukan was a peace negotiator between the Centre and ULFA in Assam.

The petitioner also urged the court that the case be transferred to CBI or any other independent agency or a special investigating team as there was a loss of faith in the local police due to its alleged lethargic conduct.

Kaushik has said in his plea that despite the registration of an FIR, no proactive steps have been taken till date by the police to trace his father, who was appointed as a member of the erstwhile Peoples Consultative Group (PCG) formed by the ULFA in 2005 to mediate between the outfit and the Centre.

The petitioners father has also been working directly with the Prime Ministers Office since 1991 for various peace missions between the Centre and ULFA to bring peace in Assam, the plea said, adding that Rebati Phukan had also worked in association and cooperated with the IB till 2016 on various missions in India, Myanmar, Bangladesh and China.

The plea said that after he went missing, Kaushik got to know from a high-ranking official of the IB that his father was closely associated with the intelligence body.

It claimed they have come to know that on April 20, Rebati Phukan had attended a secret meeting with a retired bureaucrat and an advocate practising in the Assam High Court, during which a proposal memorandum to negotiate with Paresh Baruah, ULFA chief, was being discussed and the same was to be presented before Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi soon.

The petitioner has said that his father went for morning walk on April 22 but did not return to his rented house, after which the landlord called Kaushik about it and a complaint was filed at a police station in Guwahati.

The plea said that on April 25, Assam chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal had directed the Director General of Police to immediately conduct an inquiry in the matter and a special team was formed.

The petitioner also claimed that on May 4, a CRPF doctor sent a message to a journalist that Rebati Phukan was treated by him at a CRPF camp in Shillong and he was safe and sound.

It referred to recent media reports in which ULFA chief Paresh Baruah had said that Rebati Phukan was negotiating a fresh proposal for Baruahs faction with the Centre with help from the interlocutor with the Naga outfit National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), RN Ravi.

Baruah further made a statement stating that the petitioners father might be in custody of either Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing, Military Intelligence or National Investigating Agency as they have a rivalry amongst them, the plea said.

It also said that Director General of Police of Assam should be directed to file a status report giving details of the result of investigation till date.

The plea also sought security to the petitioner, his family members and the journalist, who informed Kaushik about his fathers whereabouts in Shillong.
Militants shot and injured a Special Police Officer in south Kashmirs Pulwama district on Tuesday.

Police said militants fired upon SPO Aquib Ahmad Wagat, who was working at the railway police station in Pulwama on Tuesday evening . The SPO sustained critical injuries.

Police said Wagat received serious bullet injuries in both of his legs. Wagat was shifted to a nearby hospital for medical treatment and police has registered a case, the spokesman said.

In the past few days, militants have stepped up activities in south Kashmir and killed an army man and injured three other soldiers in two separate attacks in Shopian and Pulwama districts. Militants have also snatched nine rifles from policemen in different parts of the Valley since the unilateral Ramzan ceasefire was announced by the government.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday arrived in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta on the first leg of his three-nation tour to East Asia during which he will also travel to Malaysia and Singapore to further boost Indias Act East Policy.

Modi, who is in Jakarta on his first-ever official visit to Indonesia, will meet Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday and discuss bilateral cooperation in a broad range of areas, including maritime, trade and investment.

The two leaders would attend some events, including a CEO Business Forum organised by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and the Industry, and the Confederation of Indian Industry.

PM Modi was accorded a ceremonial welcome on his arrival in Jakarta.

#WATCH Prime Minister Narendra Modi meets members of the India community outside the The Ritz Carlton in Indonesia's Jakarta pic.twitter.com/3P1yJfGp2o  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

This is my first visit to Indonesia as Prime Minister. I am looking forward to my discussions with President Widodo on 30 May, as also to our joint interaction with the India-Indonesia CEOs Forum. I will also address the Indian community in Indonesia, Modi said on the eve of his visit.

He said India and Indonesia enjoyed strong and friendly ties and shared deep historical and civilisational linkages.

Both countries are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, plural and open societies. I am confident that my visit to Indonesia will create greater synergy between Asias two largest democracies and further elevate our bilateral ties, he said.

He said, on May 31, on his way to Singapore, he will make a brief halt in Malaysia to congratulate the new Malaysian leadership and looks forward to meet Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

In Singapore, Modi will deliver the keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security meet, on June 1.

This will be the first time that an Indian Prime Minister would deliver this address. It would be an opportunity to articulate Indias point of view on regional security issues and maintenance of peace and stability in the region, he said.

He will also meet Singapore President Halimah Yacob and hold delegation level talks with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

On June 2, he will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Gandhijis ashes were immersed in sea on March 27, 1948. He would also visit some places of worship that have civilisational linkages with India.
In a shocking incident, a monkey robbed a man and his daughter of Rs 1,40,000 on Monday, as they were about to enter a bank. Aggrieved shopkeeper Vijay Bansal said he would meet senior police officials on Wednesday after the local police said they were clueless about the section under which a case could be registered.

Bansal said he was about to enter the Indian Overseas bank located on the first floor of an under renovation building in the Nai Ki Mandi area at around 10.30am, when the incident took place. His daughter Nancy, 17, was holding the polythene bag that contained around Rs 2 lakh cash.

There were many monkeys and one of them suddenly snatched the bag as we were climbing the stairs. The monkey quickly moved to the top floors and we couldnt do anything, said Bansal, who has small jewellery shop in Rawli.

The bank guard and others turned up, as the monkey tore up the bag and scattered Rs 60,000, which were recovered. We rushed to the ground floor to collect this money. We also tried offering edibles to the monkey to get back the bag, he said.

Police at Nai Ki Mandi came for assistance, but the money could not be recovered. I am not aware of the legal provisions, but my hard earned savings are gone, he said, adding that he was in debt.

Meanwhile, CP Sharma, in-charge of Nai Ki Mandi police station, said, At most, we can note down the information provided. But we cant find the provision of law under which his case can be registered.

Bansal is now pinning hopes on SSP Agra Amit Pathak whom he would meet at the collectorate on Wednesday.

Agra has been plagued by the monkey menace for a long time. Recently, a tourist at Taj Mahal and a medical student were injured in monkey attacks.

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A 80-year-old ailing man is among the more than 2,000 people who have got Madhya Pradesh government notices asking them to promise they will not disturb the peace during a 10-day agitation to mark the first anniversary of the police firing in Mandsaur in which six farmers died last year, the Congress and a farm group said on Tuesday.

The Congress alleged the notices were issued under criminal procedure law to scare people and deter them from attending party president Rahul Gandhis rally in Mandsaur on June 6, the anniversary of the firing.

The administration of Mandsaur and Neemuch issued notices in the past week to farmers, accusing them of creating a ruckus that led clashes with the police in the two districts last year. The notices were issued after farmer groups announced they will organise protests against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government from June 1 to June 10 to press for better prices for their products, loan waivers and other demands.

Ganeshram Patidar, 80 and a resident of Dakni village in Manasa tehsil of Neemuch district, said he was stunned when he received the notice. Patidar can barely walk and he has asthma.

I have difficulty breathing, and have been bedridden for the past three years. I never participated in any agitation and neither did any members of my family, Patidar said. He and more than a 100 people from his village travelled to Manasa on Monday evening to protest before the tehsildar, a local government official, against the notice.

Tusharkant Vidyarthi, Neemuchs Superintendent of Police, said the notice to Patidar was an error and it was meant for another person of the same name in neighbouring Chukni village. I have issued show-cause notice to the policeman who served the notice. The notice has been taken back, the SP said.

The notices--issued by the sub-divisional magistrate or a tehsildar on the the local polices recommendation--ask a person to promise that he wont disturb peace in the next one year. A person is also asked to fill a bond ranging from Rs 20,000 to Rs 25,000. He also has to pay Rs 10,000 in cash as bail amount. If the person breaks peace, like taking part in violent agitation, fighting with someone etc, the bond amount will be forfeited.

Mangal Gehlot, 27, said that he and nearly 100 other people in his village called Rewas Dewra have got such notices. I have no criminal case and never participated in any agitation and all villagers will vouch for this. So why was I given this notice. They are randomly picking people and issuing notices, he said.

Madhya Pradesh home minister Bhupendra Singh said in Bhopal that his department had not issued any order asking for people to sign bonds. There is no necessity, he said.

Congress spokesman Manak Agrawal rejected his statement to say: It is strange that the home minister is unaware that people in hundreds are being made to sign bonds. This is all pressure tactics to frighten the farmers.

These notices are vitiating the atmosphere and virtually instigating the farmers to turn violent. We want a peaceful agitation for our just demands, said Anil Yadav, general secretary of the Bharatiya Kisan Union.

The police have stepped up security in Mandsaur and Neemuch. Makrand Deouskar, Inspector General of Police (intelligence), said an additional 5,000 policemen have been sent to the two districts. Cameras have been fitted along the highway between Neemuch and Mandsaur, and milk and other essential services have been put under ESMA [Essential Services Maintenance Act]. Notices have been issued to people involved in violence during last years agitation.

(With inputs from Rohit Soni in Mandsaur)
Nepal on Tuesday said that a statement made by Indias external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj on Janakpur was unfortunate.

Addressing a press briefing in New Delhi on Monday, Swaraj said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed lakhs of Indians in Janakpur during his visit there earlier this month. She said no PM before Modi had tried to reach out to the Indian diaspora on such a large scale.

However, she later apologised after it was pointed out that Modi addressed Nepali people in Janakpur and not Indians.

Reacting to Swarajs statement, Nepals foreign ministry said, Attention of the government of Nepal was drawn to the statement... The reference made about public participation at the civic felicitation programme held in honour of the Prime Minister of India in Janakpur on 11 May 2018 was unfortunate.

It has come to the notice of the government of Nepal that she has publicly admitted her mistake and apologised for the same. The government of Nepal sincerely thanks all those who raised concerns over the issue, it said.

Swaraj had said that no Prime Minister before Modi had tried to reach out to the Indian diaspora on such a large scale. Narendra Modi is the first Prime Minister of the country who has from Americas Madison Square to Janakpur (in Nepal) addressed lakhs of Indians and reached out to them.

She was then criticised by Nepali leaders for her remark. Regrettable that Indias external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj described Janakpurs population that Narendra Modi greeted as Indians. One wonders what the confusion was, or if this was a casual undermining of Nepals sovereignty, Nepali Congress leader Gagan Thapa tweeted.

Hours later, she rolled back her statement and apologised to people on Twitter, saying: This was a mistake on my part.

This was a mistake on my part. I sincerely apologise for this. pic.twitter.com/S1CpLv8uu0  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 28, 2018
When Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan braved the Capitals scorching heat on Tuesday to ride an e-rickshaw, she was only reflecting the changes sweeping through the Parliament.

The 95-year-old functioning monument, fondly described by its members as the temple of democracy, is undergoing a rapid transformation into a greener avatar of itself. The two e-rickshaws, donated by the railway ministry, the first such vehicles inside the Parliament complex, will soon be matched with a number of bicycles, as MPs will be encouraged to shun their petrol or diesel vehicles for use within the Parliament complex, said officials familiar with the matter.

Mahajan has also been using a hybrid car. And the extension of the Parliaments annexe building has solar panels to light up the some parts of the complex.

Our annual demand for the entire complex is about 12 MW. We currently produce around 120 KW of solar power. This capacity will be increased in the coming years, said AK Singh, additional secretary in the Lok Sabha.

Israels Knesset building is regarded as the greenest Parliament in the world. Three years ago, the building set up a 4,560-square-metre rooftop solar field to generate 450 KW of clean power. The German Bundestag, which has its seat in the historic Reichstag building in Berlin, comes a close second.

This is a very good step. It sends a message to the entire community and also to the world that India is seriously thinking about bringing down its carbon footprint. We have also committed to the world through our Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to increase our renewable energy consumption. Secondly, this would also prove to be economical as the cost of solar energy is going down, said Rajneesh Sareen, program director of Centre for Science and Environments sustainable building and habitat program

The Indian Parliament still uses a lot of paper, but not as much as it used to. According to one estimate, the Parliament used to print as much paper annually as a thousand trees could produce. Now, Bulletin Part-II has been discontinued completely, replies to unstarred Questions or written replies to MPs are only uploaded on the website, reports, including those of CAG, in the House have been reduced by 60%, said a senior official in the Speakers office.

Some efforts, however, didnt fetch the desired results. When the Arvind Kejriwal government announced its second version of the odd-even road rationing scheme in 2016, a battery-operated bus was gifted to the Lok Sabha to ferry MPs from their houses. But the bus was not found fit to ply on narrow lanes and therefore, couldnt pick up a large number of MPs.

The House wants to increase its solar capacity but the entire plan hinges on clearance from security forces and heritage-maintenance authorities. In the Parliament building, there is a blanket ban on new constructions and alterations. We have to find space to install those solar panels, said another senior official in the Lok Sabha.

The Parliament complex has also switched to CNG from LPG cylinders. Two rainwater harvesting facilities were installed last year, a first for heritage building in Delhi, added the Lok Sabha official.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi left on Tuesday for Indonesia on a five-day three-nation tour of Southeast Asia that will take him to Malaysia and Singapore.

PM @narendramodi emplanes for Jakarta. He will be visiting Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the next few days, the Prime Ministers Office (PMO) tweeted.

During these visits, he will be attending a wide range of programmes including talks with world leaders, interactions with students and top CEOs, it said.

In a pre-departure statement in New Delhi on Monday, Modi said he was confident that my visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore will provide a further boost to our Act East Policy and enhance our relations and engagements with all the three countries.

Modi will hold a bilateral summit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on May 30. He will also address members of the Indian community in Indonesia.

On May 31, Modi will make a brief stopover in Malaysia on his way from Indonesia to Singapore to meet newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, who governed for more than two decades became, at the age of 92, the worlds oldest elected leader earlier thius month.

On June 1, Modi will call on Singapore President Halimah Yacob and then hold a summit with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Later in the evening, he will deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to do so in the Track I annual inter-governmental security forum.
Residents of Shekhpura Jagir village in the district held eight government officials, a raiding team of the states power department, hostage at the Panchayat Bhawan in the village for three hours on Monday morning.

Two junior engineers, three linemen and three police personnel were part of the team and the villagers overpowered all of them. Police have booked 26 people in connection with the incident.

Villagers claimed that the team, from the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited, arrived for the raid at 4am and conducted a search in some houses. They also alleged that they were also upset as the power utility never listened to their complaints, but was quick to conduct such raids.

Police party rescue raiders

The local police, who reached the spot and pacified the villagers, said power department officials claimed that they had caught a village resident, Satnam Singh, while stealing power at 5am.

The villagers, however, got upset. Soon, the situation turned into a brawl. Our mobile phones and camera was snatched. We were manhandled and locked up in the Panchayat Bhawan. Somehow, our office informed the police and we were rescued, said a lineman Jagmal Singh.

Official misbehave, conduct raid at 4am

The villagers, however, claimed that officials had misbehaved with them and disturbed their privacy by raids that were often conducted in the early hours, even 4am, as on Monday. During a raid, they enter our houses from the roof and disturb our children and women. There is no privacy, Rajesh Kumar, a villager claimed.

He added, Our panchayat had given 40 acres for a power house free of cost as the government promised to provide uninterrupted power supply. We continue to face power cuts and the same officials never even respond to our phone calls.

Karnal Sadar Police station in-charge, Harjinder Singh, said, Investigation is on and 26 people, including Chamel Singh, Gaurav, Surender Sangwa, Shil, Om Prakash and Pankaj, were booked under section 148 (rioting, armed with deadly weapon, 149 (unlawful assembly guilty of offence), 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to government servants to deter them from duty), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty) of the Indian Penal Code.
Dust and thunder storms accompanied by rains occurred at isolated places over eastern Uttar Pradesh but weather remained dry over western parts of the state on Tuesday, the weather office said.

Day temperature was above normal in Allahabad, Moradabad, Jhansi, Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Kanpur divisions, with Orai recording the highest maximum temperature of 47 degrees Celsius.

Rain and thunderstorm accompanied by gusty winds or squall, with wind speed reaching 50-70 kmph, were very likely at isolated places in the state over the next couple of days, MeT officials said.

On Monday night, thunderstorm and lightning claimed at least 15 lives and injured 10 people in various parts of Uttar Pradesh, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

While six persons were killed in Unnao in incidents of thunderstorm and lightning last night, three persons died in Raebareli, and two each in Kanpur, Pilibhit and Gonda districts, UP Relief Commissioner Sanjay Kumar said.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) on Tuesday praised former president and Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee for accepting an invitation to address its workers in Nagpur on June 7.

This isnt surprising for those who know and understand the Sangh, because RSS has always invited prominent people of the society in its programmes. This time, we invited Dr Pranab Mukherjee and its his greatness that he has accepted our invitation, read a statement from the RSS.

The former president will address the Third Year Sangha Shiksha Varga (SSV), which is held at the RSS headquarters annually in Nagpur.

Mukherjees party, the Congress, was silent on the issue. No comments, was Congress spokesperson Tom Vadakkans response when asked about Mukherjee visiting the RSS headquarters.

He said since the event is yet to happen he would not comment on it and the Congress will formulate its thoughts once the event takes place.

But former MP and Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit pointed out that Mukherjee had in the past criticised the RSS and the BJP, calling them communal and anti-national.

If the RSS has invited a person with such views, does this mean that the RSS admits that his (Pranabs) views about the organisation were correct, Dikshit asked.

Union minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari termed Mukherjees move a good start.

The RSS is not Pakistans ISI. The RSS is an organisation of nationalists, Gadkari said at a press conference in Mumbai. Mukherjees acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good, he said.

Senior swayamsevaks pointed out that while he was president, Mukherjee invited RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat to Rashtrapati Bhavan. The former president had evinced some interest in the working and functioning of the RSS, said a leader. That is why he is being invited to visit the RSS headquarters for a first-hand experience of the kind of work the Sangh does, said Atul Pingle, Vidarbha Prant Prachar Pramukh of the RSS.

Former RSS spokesman and ideologue MG Vaidya said that it was not the first time a prominent person from outside the Sangh is attending one of its programmes. In 1934, Mahatma Gandhi had attended a Sangh Shibir at Wardha and held discussions with the RSS founder and the then chief, Dr KB Hedgewar, on the future of Bharat, Vaidya said.

He said that Mukherjee accepting the RSS invite sent a message to the country that on vital issues there should be dialogue and adversaries were not enemies. This also proves that RSS is not a political organisation, he further said.

Mukherjee served as the president of India from 2012 to 2017. He also held several cabinet posts ranging from finance minister to external affairs minister in a political career that spanned nearly six decades.

Besides Mahatma Gandhi, former president Zakir Husain, activist Jayaprakash Narayan and commander-in-chief of the Indian Army, Kodandera M. Cariappa been guests at various RSS events.
Residents of Shimla blocked traffic on two highways and clashed with police on Tuesday as the Himachal Pradesh capital continued to battle an acute drinking water shortage for the eighth day.

In light of the ongoing water crisis, the Himachal Pradesh high court directed the Shimla Municipal Corporation against any preferential treatment towards VIPs and debarred it from supplying drinking water to ministers, bureaucrats and judges through tankers.

The court also imposed restrictions on construction activity in Shimla for a week and asked officials to approach the army for diversion of water used for watering golf course at Annandale to households.

Situation worsens

The water supply to the popular hill station worsened on Tuesday with the town receiving 18 million litres of water per day (MLD) as against a demand of 45 MLD. On Monday, Shimla received 20 MLD, about 10% less than the water supply the previous week.

Read | An explainer on Shimla water crisis

Agitating against the water shortage, protesters blocked the busy Shimla-Chandigarh highway at two places and also stopped traffic at the highway leading to Mandi. There was no water available for the eighth day and the corporation is not even responding, said Sanjeev Kumar, one of the protesters. Traffic could only be resumed on the two highways after police intervention.

Activists of the Communist party of India (Marxist) also staged a protest near deputy commissioners office. A few locals carrying empty water buckets stormed the offices of the senior functionaries of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-controlled municipal corporation resulting in a scuffle with the police.

Its unfortunate that when the people of the town are facing hardships due to scarcity of water, the mayor is away on an official trip to China, said former mayor and CPI(M) leader Sanjay Chauhan.

The Himachal high court, which had taken cognizance of the crisis on Monday, said on Tuesday that the town has been divided into three zones and each zone will get water after a gap of two days and submit a compliance report by Wednesday.

The water crisis comes during the peak tourist season when about 20,000 visitors arrive in Shimla every day. This has put additional pressure on the scarce water resources, prompting the state government to indefinitely postpone the Shimla Summer Festival, which was scheduled to start from June 1 because of water scarcity.

Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur instructed officials to ensure that each household gets water on alternate days till the crisis is solved and asked chief secretary Vinay Chaudhary to monitor the situation.

Even as Shimla and other major towns in Himachal face a severe water crisis, Dharmshala, also dubbed as the states second capital, managed to supply uninterrupted water supply to its residents. Effective resource management by the authorities has ensured that the town does not face a water shortage even in peak summers, said Deepak Garg, executive engineer (Designs), irrigation and public health department (IPH), Dharamshala.
Shimla is witnessing a major water crisis during peak tourist season with taps running dry for the eighth day in most parts of the city, forcing people to buy water at exorbitant prices and smaller hotels to cancel bookings even as drinking water supply in the Queen of Hills fell to less than 50% of requirements, courtesy a dry winter.

On Sunday night, about 100 people staged a midnight sit-in protest outside the waterworks office on the main Mall Road and the police stopped them from heading towards the residence of chief minister Jai Ram Thakur, who on Monday constituted a committee headed by chief secretary Vineet Chowdhary to monitor daily water supply.

The Himachal high court on Monday took suo moto cognizance of the crisis, after the local bar association stopped work citing the water problem.

The court asked municipal commissioner Rohit Jamwal and other municipal officials to appear in person on Tuesday to explain the reasons for the acute water shortage.

Brij Mohan Chauhan, president of Himachal Bar Association, said: We havent seen such a situation in the last 20 years. The government has failed to provide even drinking water to people. Jamwal termed the situation unusual, but seemed to suggest that the crisis has been in the making for some time. He said over the past three summers, water availability had plunged to 29 or 30 million litres per day (MLD). This year we are able to supply only about 20 MLD. That makes it tough to match demand, he said. The water demand in Shimla during peak tourist season is around 45 MLD.

The water crunch had forced locals to spend several hours in queues to get a bucket of water, buy from private water suppliers at double the normal rates, or even, for those who can afford to do it, leave Shimla for the comfort of their villages. There is no water in the area for the last one week. The residents were told that supply would be restored on Sunday but nothing happened. The people are agitated about the (government) inaction. Most of the traders kept waiting for water the entire say, said Congress councilor Sushma Kuthiala.

However, places like Kasumpti havent had supply for 11 days. Some areas are inaccessible as even tankers cannot supply water there, says Narender Thakur, a former councillor.

The water shortage has hit hotels hard. Many bookings have been cancelled in the last two to three days. When the government cannot provide water then it should stop promoting Shimla as tourist destination, says Suresh Dogra, a travel agent on the Mall Road. A majority of hoteliers in Shimla have engaged private tankers to make up for the shortage but the supply is not enough to meet demand. I cancelled my booking in Shimla after a local hotelier told me that he could not assure adequate water, said Noida resident Raman Singh.

Gumma, the main source of water to the city, draws water from Shimla catchment sanctuary which is fed by nine streams. The British built a large storage tank for supply to the main town. Other sources are Chairh, Giri and Churat. Supply from Ashwani Khad was suspended two years ago after sewage contamination led to a jaundice outbreak.
Kurz: Accession talks with Turkey should be stopped

The Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz has claimed that Turkey no longer fulfils the political Copenhagen criteria.

As Turkey approaches the elections will be held on 24th June, scandal statements came from Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz.

Speaking to the Financial Times, Kurz reiterated his position that accession talks with Turkey should be stopped. Turkey no longer fulfils the political Copenhagen criteria he said, referring to standards on democracy and rights for aspiring EU members.We therefore urge that accession negotiations with Turkey should be stopped.





He also spoke in favour of good relations with Russia.

We wont be able to solve the crisis in Ukraine alone . . . Syria, we will only be successful if we find a way to act united with the US and Russia, so I think its not negative for the EU if countries like Austria  which has always been a bridge-builder  has . . . a good relationship with Russia. he stated.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) called for a realignment of like-minded political forces to pull down the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from power at the Centre in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The TDP unanimously passed a political resolution to this effect at its annual conclave Mahanadu that was organised at Vijayawada.

Moving the resolution, Andhra Pradesh finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said there were clear signals of various regional parties and also the Left parties coming together to form an anti-BJP front. We all shall work together with the sole objective of dethroning the BJP at the Centre, he said.

Yanamala equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah with dictators like Hitler and Mussolini, and said their dictatorial attitude had led to deterioration of the political culture of the BJP. The unilateral and anti-people decisions of the BJP government, misuse of central intelligence agencies and regulatory agencies, even judiciary to suppress the political opponents have become a matter of grave concern in the India polity, he said.

Under any circumstances, Modi should not become the Prime Minister again. The TDP cadres should play a key role in achieving this goal, Yanamala said.

The political resolution pointed out that a step had been taken on the occasion of swearing-in ceremony of HD Kumaraswamy as the Karnataka chief minister recently. Leaders of various political parties assembled in Bengaluru as a token of solidarity of regional political parties and the TDP led by chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu took the initiative in this regard. It was a clear indication that regional political parties are going to be a power to reckon with in the 2019 elections as an alternative to the national parties to form a government in Delhi, the resolution said.

It also alleged that the Narendra Modi government was trying to make the states paupers by denying them funds so that they would depend on the Centre. Though the Modi government said the devolution of the resources to the states had been enhanced from 32% to 42%, in reality it is only 36%. In the name of devolution the Government of India reduced the centrally-sponsored schemes, the resolution observed.

The unilateral style of functioning of Modi Government has led to loss of faith and trust of the states over the Central Government. The states feel that the concept of federalism is only on paper. The behaviour of the Central Government and the restrictions imposed by them is nothing but a show arrogance, the political resolution added.
A Class 12 student allegedly committed suicide in Tripuras Sidhai town over the weekend after she was accused of theft at a shopping mall in Agartala, police said on Tuesday.

The body of 18-year-old Lahiri Debbarma was found hanging in her room at Birmohan Para in Sidhai, around 40 kilometres away from state capital Agartala, by one of her family members on May 25.

Police said Debbarma went to a shopping mall along with her friends in Agartala last Thursday. While leaving the mall, a security guard in the exit area of a shop on checking her bag allegedly discovered some mens clothing that was not paid for.

Debbarma pleaded innocence but the guard asked her to call her guardian and said they would summon the police if she did not. Her friends called one of their teachers who came to the mall and paid a fine of Rs 4,000. She was taken to the schools principal, who reprimanded her for the incident, the official said.

Her mother, a widow and a teacher at a private school, said her daughter committed suicide the next morning.

Initially, a case of unnatural death was lodged by the police. Later, a case was lodged by the deceaseds mother against the shopping mall and school authorities last evening. The investigation is on, the official said.

Officials said a case was lodged under Section 306 or abetment of suicide of the Indian Penal Code.

The students wing of Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Congress and an indigenous students organisation - Twipra Students Federation - condemned the incident and demanded exemplary action against those behind the incident.

The Tripura government handed over the case to the crime investigation department and announced it will give Rs 5 lakh as compensation to the girls family.

Deputy chief minister Jishnu Dev Varma, education minister Ratan Lal Nath and revenue minister NC Debbarma visited the girls family on Tuesday morning.

The CID will investigate the matter. We want a transparent investigation in this regard, Dev Varma told reporters.

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Storms and lightning strikes across several states have killed at least 54 people since Monday, disaster management officials said on Tuesday, taking the toll from freak weather this month to around 290.

Lightning, which is associated with thunderstorms, accounted for 2,641 deaths in 2015, about one-fourth of total deaths in India due to natural disasters that year, according to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) report on accidental deaths.

Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, a senior climate scientist with the India Meteorological Department (IMD), said the frequency of thunderstorms and lightning strikes appears to have increased this year because of a number of factors.

The long dry spell and hot weather conditions increasing the surface temperature combined with unusually high western disturbances and cyclonic activity have contributed to this, he said, adding that thunderstorms in this season were not unusual.

In three major thunderstorms and lightning strikes reported on May 4, May 16 and May 28, mostly in north-western India, the combined death toll was 290. Of these, 54 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours 17 from Uttar Pradesh, 19 from Bihar, 12 from Jharkhand, two from West Bengal and four from Madhya Pradesh. According to the information released by the UP state government, six people died and three were injured in Unnao when two houses collapsed in thunderstorms. Three people died in Rae Bareli while two deaths each were reported from Kanpur City, Pilibhit, Gonda and Sitapur. In neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, most of the deaths were reported from the Bundelkhand region.

In Bihar, Gaya and Aurangabad districts reported five deaths each, while four died in Munger, three in Katihar and two in Nawada, said Bihar Disaster Management Department (DMD) officials. Jharkhand, which has seen 29 thunderstorm-related deaths this month, including 12 overnight, is expected to receive more storms in the coming days.

The weather department has predicted storms and lightning till mid-June. Patna-based IMD official Anand Shanker said easterly winds during the day had carried moisture from the Bay of Bengal after a trough developed over the region from Uttar Pradesh to Bihar.

Jharkhands special secretary, disaster management, Ashok Kumar, said the only way to prevent lightning deaths was through an alert system. We take weather information from India Meteorological Department and Skymet. As soon as we get any information, respective DCs (district commissioners) are immediately informed... Kumar said.

Mahapatra said it was difficult to predict the specific location of a thunderstorm much in advance and advised states to create public awareness about dos and donts in case of lightning strikes.

(With inputs from HTC Lucknow, Ranchi, Bhopal and Patna)
The US state department said in an annual religious freedom report released on Tuesday that authorities in India often did not prosecute violence by vigilantes against persons, mostly Muslims, trading in or consuming beef.

Members of civil society and religious minorities stated that under the current government, religious minority communities felt increasingly vulnerable due to Hindu nationalist groups engaging in violence against non-Hindu individuals and their places of worship, the annual report on the state of religious freedom around the world said.

The report, which excludes the US, said that while the national government sometimes spoke out against incidents of violence, local political leaders often did not, citing minority community representatives.

The state department publishes reports every year about US view of the state of civil rights and religious freedom around the world, as mandated by US Congress. However, these reports have also raised questions and faced criticism at home for ignoring similar challenges in the US, specially under President Donald Trump  his administration has been under fire for the discriminatory travel ban on people from some Muslim-majority countries.

Secretary of state Mike Pompeo, releasing the report, said the US plans to call a ministerial meeting on religious freedom on July 25 and 26 with government and religious leaders, rights advocates, and civil society from around the world.

On India, the report, based largely on published news accounts and commentary, said: There were reports of religiously motivated killings, assaults, riots, discrimination, vandalism, and actions restricting the right of individuals to practice their religious beliefs and proselytise.

There were several violent incidents by so-called cow protection groups against mostly Muslim victims, including killings, mob violence, assaults, and intimidation. Authorities often failed to prosecute those committing the attacks.
A senior police officer on Tuesday shot himself dead with a service pistol inside his room at Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) headquarters in Gomtinagar in Lucknow.

Rajesh Sahani, a 1992 batch UP Provincial Police Service officer, committed suicide by shooting himself at 12:45pm in his office with an official weapon, said Anand Kumar, Additional Director General (ADG), Law and Order.

Kumar said the reason for the suicide is being ascertained.

Sahanis room has been sealed and a forensic team is investigating the matter.

Praveen Kumar, Deputy Inspector General, Law and Order, said Sahani never carried a weapon and got the service pistol issued a few weeks ago.

48-year-old Sahani was looking after the case related to a Pithoragarh resident Ramesh Singh Kanyal, who was arrested for helping the ISI to bug the house of an Indian diplomat in Islamabad, Pakistan, where he worked as a cook between 2015 and 2017.

He was with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for around two years before joining the UP ATS in July 2014.

He also led the encounter of the self radicalised operational head of an ISIS module in Haji Colony of Kakori, Lucknow on March 7, 2017.
Over 15 people were assaulted by mobs on the lookout for alleged child abductors in separate incidents across the state over the last three days. Police believe rumours of child abduction spread through social media platforms such as Facebook and Whatsapp are responsible for a large number of these attacks.

A large group of villagers assaulted two people and set a vehicle afire in Odishas Koraput district on Monday evening, barely a day after director general of police (DGP) RP Sharma exhorted the people to not be swayed by unverified reports on the social media. Police said residents of Pukali village pursued the Tata Sumo, which they believed was being used to whisk children away, and thrashed two of its three occupants. An inspector from the Potangi police station was also assaulted when he tried to restrain the mob.

Another incident of the kind was reported from Aska block in Ganjam, where a mob assaulted two people on suspicions of child abduction earlier that morning. A woman was also assaulted the same day at Balang Square on the Soro-Anantapur road over similar fears. A small sack being carried by the woman reportedly evoked the villagers suspicions.

A beggar in Khaira block of Balasore also met a similar fate at the hands of local residents that day.

On Sunday morning, a 25-year-old man was beaten up by a mob at Kusadhipa village in Ganjam district after local residents accused him of being a child abductor. The victim, identified as Rajesh Swain, is being treated for serious injuries at a local hospital. In a similar incident the same day, a skill development trainer in Nayagarhs Basantapur village was speaking to a group of children when local residents dragged him to a public place and thrashed him.

Saturday witnessed as many as seven youngsters from Tamil Nadu being assaulted by residents of Berhampur town on child abduction suspicions. Police said the locals became suspicious when they could not answer their queries in Odia.

DGP Sharma had earlier advised the people to not believe every unverified report they come across on Whatsapp or Facebook. There are no such gangs, and no cases of child theft have been reported anywhere. These are pure rumours. If you suspect anybody, inform the police instead of resorting to vigilantism, he said.

In April 2015, four youngsters from Madhya Pradesh were lynched by residents of Koraput village on the mistaken belief that they were child abductors.
The Indian Railways will now tell passengers at the time of booking whether or not there is a high probability that a wait-list ticket may get confirmed, based on historical data of the train and route in question, according to officials familiar with the development.

This wait list prediction tool will be available from Tuesday for all bookings make through the IRCTC (Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation) website, which now has a new user interface and added features.

One can predict the chances of a wait-list or RAC (reservation against confirmation) ticket getting confirmed on basis of historical booking trends. It will give a percentage, and passengers can then decide if they want to go ahead with the booking, said Mohammad Jamshed, member (traffic) at the Railway Board.

For example, if a passenger booking from Delhi to Lucknow on the Shatabdi Express gets an option of buying a ticket that puts her at No 70 on the wait list, the system will take into account data from the last two years to predict that the chances of getting a confirmed seat are 95%, explained an official.

There will be a disclaimer that this is just a prediction and may not be accurate, Jamshed said.

The updated IRCTC website also allows users to search and check the availability of seats without logging in.

Different filters as per departure/arrival times, class, train, and quota have been provided to facilitate journey planning. A user-friendly layout for modification of journeys, availability for other days,and fare break-up have also been provided, Jamshed said.

While booking tickets, there are separate cards for each passenger in order to facilitate individual modifications. There is also an attempt to make payments easier with six banks listed as preferred options in the users My Profile section. Other new features include a My Transactions section, in which passengers can view booked tickets based on date of journey, time of booking, upcoming journeys and completed journeys.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday wondered why the state should pay taxes to a central government that was unwilling to release funds for its development, particularly the new capital.

The Centre has not been releasing funds for Amaravati because it does not want a world-class capital city to come up in Andhra Pradesh. Then why should we pay taxes to the Centre at all? Naidu, also the president of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), posed in his concluding remarks at the third day of the Mahanadu  the partys annual conclave  in Vijayawada.

The TDP adopted a political resolution that lambasted the Modi government for its dictatorial attitude towards states and vowed to unite regional parties to take on the BJP government in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

The resolution read: The Centre (is) weakening the financial condition of states... The unilateral style of functioning of the Modi government has led to loss of trust of states in the central government. The states feel that the concept of federalism is only on paper.

The dictatorial attitude of the Narendra Modi government, its unilateral and anti-people decisions, misuse of central intelligence agencies and regulatory agencies to suppress the political opponents have become a matter of grave concern in the Indian polity, it read.

Earlier, Naidu said that Amaravati would fetch a lot of revenue for the Centre in the form of income tax, corporate tax and GST once it was developed into a modern city. But the Centre is still not forthcoming in helping us build the capital city. Why? Doesnt Andhra Pradesh need a capital city like Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru? he asked.

Naidu gave a brief powerpoint presentation to explain how the ruling BJP was discriminating against Andhra Pradesh while spending Rs 95,000 crore to build the Dholera smart city in Gujarat.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi says Dholera will be four times bigger than Delhi and seven times more advanced than Shanghai. When his home state can have a second capital, why is he creating hurdles in constructing a capital city for Andhra Pradesh? he wondered.

The chief minister also rubbished the Oppositions criticism that his government was spending all the money at its disposal on Amaravati at the cost of other developmental works. We have not spent a single rupee on acquiring 34,000 acres of land from farmers for the capital city. In lieu of their lands, we have given them plots. We are monetising the land to generate funds for the creation of infrastructural facilities such as roads, drainage, electricity, drinking water and residential buildings. In the coming years, Amaravati will become a self-sustaining venture, and we will have thousands of crores of rupees to spend on other parts of the state, he said.

Naidu maintained that Amaravati would be home to 35 lakh people with access to world-class facilities. Unfortunately, the opposition parties have neither the vision nor the foresight for a project like this. YSR Congress party president YS Jaganmohan Reddy says he will return the land acquired from the farmers. What will happen to the capital city if the land is given away? he asked.

Many farmers who had given up their land for the capital city also spoke at the event. They said they had done so voluntarily in the hope that the state will one day have the best capital city in the world.

(With PTI inputs)
Agriculture minister Prabhulal Saini on Tuesday contradicted his own cabinet colleague home minister Gulab Chand Kataria saying that 152 farmers committed suicides during the previous Congress government.

Congress claims there have been maximum number of suicides in Hadoti region under BJP rule. I would like to point out there were 152 suicides in Kota and Baran during the Congress government, he said at a press conference called at the BJP office in Jaipur.

A few weeks back Kataria had said that there were no farmer suicides during the Congress rule and three in the BJP rule.

Saini said there had been only three farmer suicides in the BJP rule against the 102 farmer suicides in Kota and 50 in Baran during the earlier Congress regime. Congress should issue a while paper on what steps it took to prevent suicides and what help they gave the families of the deceased, he said.

Asked how he was sure all 152 farmer deaths were suicides, Saini said the previous government had not shown them as suicides. He added that those who had committed suicides belonged to the families of farmers and there could be several reasons for suicides apart from loans.

Saini said the Congress had not given compensation to farmers for damage to crops due to unseasonal rainfall and crop damage, while the BJP government has given Rs 7400 crore to farmers. The BJP government has also announced Rs 50,000 loan waiver for farmers, he said.

On the issue of drinking water shortage in the state, he held the Congress responsible for the present situation.

In the past 52 years, the Congress didnt build any permanent sources for drinking water. The public is paying for the sins of the past Congress governments he said.

Saini said in its five-year tenure, the previous Congress government spent only Rs 1,225 crore on drinking water, while the BJP government in its four years has spent Rs 2,000 crore on drinking water projects.

He said the BJP has linked 6,994 villages and hamlets to drinking water schemes as against 2,775 during the Congress tenure. BJP took drinking water to 22 cities as against 19 cities in Congress rule.
In election season, reservation politics is rearing its head. Apart from Gurjars and Jats, the Rajput community, considered to be the BJPs traditional vote bank in Rajasthan, is renewing its demand for reservation.

The Rajputs have been at loggerheads with the BJP since last year. Rajput leaders say the community has been the backbone of the BJP but the party has ignored and insulted them.

Things came to such a pass that a large section of the community voted against the BJP in the three bypolls held early this year, which led to its loss. The Congress is hoping to cash in on the resentment among the Rajputs ahead of the assembly elections due by the year-end.

Rajputs constitute about 10% of the states population and hold sway on 35-40 assembly seats.

Shri Rajput Karni Sena leader Lokendra Singh Kalvi, who had led the widespread protests demanding a ban on Padmaavat for alleged character assassination of Chittor queen Padmini, is now planning another show of strength.

Kalvi plans to hold a rally in Chittor on September 23 to celebrate the Karni Senas foundation day.

He said the event will be apolitical and no political leaders will be invited. However, the theme for the event is to review the reservation policy and the political undercurrent cannot be overlooked.

Kalvi said the call for a review of reservation included the demand for giving quota to the Rajput community. He plans to invite RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for the rally.

Bhagwat had first spoken about reviewing reservation in the country. RSS joint general secretaries MG Vaidya and Dattatreya Hosabale have described in detail what review of reservation entails and I would like one of them to be present in the programme, Kalvi said.

In the last 10 years, he said, various communities have been agitating for reservation and its time for a review to include or exclude communities.

In 1999, Kalvi had led the demand for reservation to Rajputs with senior BJP leader and present MLA Devi Sing Bhatti; the two leaders had formed the Samajik Nyay Manch to press for their demand.

Jaipur Rajput Sabha president Giriraj Singh Lotwara too is pressing for reservation to Rajputs. Lotwara says the Rajputs have nurtured the BJP but today the community finds itself ignored by the party.

In 2008, Raje had promised reservation to Rajputs under OBC, but the government has gone back on its promise.

Lotwara supported a review of the reservation policy. It is a constitutional requirement. Reservation was to be reviewed every 10 years but that has not been done. We need to review what we have lost or gained. Reservation has divided the society.

Lotwara has held meetings under the banner of the Rajput Samaj Sangharsh Samiti in Bikaner, Ajmer, Kota and Udaipur; a meeting is planned in Bharatpur on June 3.

He said, If the government does not agree to their demands, the community will initiate a campaign to oust the chief minister Vasundhara Raje government.

Other demands include withdrawal of false cases against Rajput leaders for violence in the aftermath of Anandpal Singh encounter in Sanwarad village, a CBI probe into the Chatar Singh Sodha encounter in Barmer, and withdrawal of the Rs 4-crore service tax levied on the Rajput Sabha.
The state government notified three diseases, malaria, swine flu and dengue, on Tuesday. By notifying these diseases, the department will now get the exact number of malaria, swine flu and dengue patients across the state as private hospitals, too, will have to inform the government once they come across patients suffering from these diseases.

Deputy secretary Paras Chand Jain issued the notification in which regulations were prescribed for these three diseases called Rajasthan Epidemic Diseases (Malaria, Seasonal Influenza (H1N1) and Dengue) Regulations, 2018.

On getting the details, the health department can take prompt action and prevent the spread of the disease, additional director (rural health) Dr Ravi Prakash Mathur said.

The notification stated that the inspecting officer  who could be any officer of the level of senior medical officer, epidemiologist, entomologist, medical officer, assistant malaria officer, health supervisor, health worker male/auxiliary nursing midwife and insect collector  can be appointed by director (public health), district magistrate or the chief medical and health officer of the district concerned.

The inspecting officer will have the power to enter any premises for fever surveillance, treatment, anti-larval measures, indoor residual spray and focal spray.

The inspecting officer can also issue a notice to the owner or the occupier of any place where there is water logging and mosquitoes breed or likely to breed and ask to take measures. If the person on whom the notice is served fails or refuses to take the measures the officer may take them and then recover the cost along with service charges from the owner or occupier of the property.

Dr Mathur said that when doctors in government health institutions and the registered medical private practitioners of private hospitals/clinics get a patient with fever, they need to suspect it as a case of malaria during the transmission period. All government health institutions shall test malaria by microscopic examination of the blood slide prepared from the capillary sample, while private hospitals and laboratories should do a microscopic examination of blood slide for malaria testing. Wherever, rapid diagnostic test is done, it has to be antigen-based RDT.

The doctors in government and private health institutions will have to immediately inform about suspected cases of malaria, seasonal influenza and dengue to the chief medical and health officer of the concerned district.

The notification has clearly mentioned that dengue cases should be tested by ELISA (Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay) technique and use of rapid diagnostic kit for malaria and dengue is not recommended by NVBDCP due to its low sensitivity and specificity.

A fine of Rs 500 will be imposed on those who disobey any of the provisions of these regulations, order or requisition or obstruct measures that are required to be taken by the government for the three diseases or other vector-borne diseases.
The West Bengal police seized a huge quantity of explosives from Bahadurpur village in Birbhum district near the Jharkhand border on Monday, which a section of officers suspect was meant for the banned Bangladeshi outfit Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB).

The seizure includes 11,000 gelatin sticks, 50,000 detonators and a huge quantity of ammonium nitrate. There are many stone quarries in the region and police say the explosives could have been siphoned off from official stocks of one or many of these quarries.

Monday nights seizure came less than a week after Murshidabad police seized 98 kg bomb-making chemicals that was allegedly being sent to the JMB. Manglu Khan and Sadekul Khan, who were arrested in Murshidabad, told police the explosives were smuggled in from Jharkhand.

These explosives too were brought into Bengal from Jharkhand. We have arrested Angur Seikh who had hidden them inside his house, an officer of the raiding team in Birbhum said on condition of anonymity.

We are trying to find out from where the explosives had been brought in and why, said N Sudheer Kumar, superintendent of Birbhum district police.

Gelatin sticks and detonators which are normally used in stone quarries and mines to blow up rocky surfaces, have earlier been seized from Maoists and terror outfits.

About two weeks ago, Birbhum police seized around 15 quintal gelatin sticks, 500 detonators and ammonium nitrate from the Baromeshia area in Rampurhat. In February this year, around 18,000 detonators, 8,000 gelatin sticks and 100 kg ammonium nitrate was seized in the districts Muhhamadbazar area. Both places are not far from the Bengal-Jharkhand border.

In October 2014, an explosion at Khagragarh in Burdwan in which two persons died blew the lid off a flourishing improvised explosive device (IED) making factory and a terror racket in Bengal that was run mainly by members of the JMB.

Police also suspect that a crackdown by the Bangladesh government on terror outfits was forcing JMB to source explosives from Bengal.

We have come to know that these outfits in Bangladesh are finding it difficult to procure explosives since the Sheikh Hasina government has launched a drive against terror. These outfits have started collecting explosive materials from Bengal with help from sympathisers in India, said a district intelligence branch officer in Murshidabad.
A day after malfunctioning electronic voting machines (EVMs) marred the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly by-polls in Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday called for ballot paper voting because EVMs are a threat to democracy.

At a press conference at the state headquarters of the party, he also urged all opposition parties to unite against the use EVMs in elections.

The SP has been demanding ballot-paper voting as the party and the people do not have faith in EVMs. Earlier, we had called an all-party meeting against the EVMs. The Congress did not attend it but now it is also raising voice against EVMs. We appeal to the Congress and all other parties to unite against EVMs, Akhilesh said.

Voting through EVMs is a threat to democracy. The glitches and technical snags that occurred yesterday (in Kairana and Noorpur by-polls) were a part of a strategy as EVMs failed in those places where the SP, the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), and alliance parties have a strong support base, he said.

Akhilesh, however, said the alliance would win both the seats as the people had voted against the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

BJP did not fulfil any of its poll promises. Its loan waiver was a huge disappointment and betrayal to farmers. Even on sugarcane dues, the BJP government has let down the farmers. It tells the people how much cane payments the government has made but stays silent on the amount of massive arrears, he added.

The Samajwadi Party chief also questioned the inauguration of Meerut-Delhi expressway shortly before polling. Though the Supreme Court had asked the government to do it quickly but Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it a roadshow and chief minister Yogi too joined it, Akhilesh said.

NEED TIME TO VACATE GOVT BUNGALOW

When asked if he and his father Mulayam Singh Yadav, who too is a former UP CM, would vacate government houses following Supreme Court directives, Akhilesh said: We are willing to vacate it but as of now, neither Netaji (Mulayam) nor I have a house in Lucknow. We, in our review petitions, have sought some time to vacate the houses.

Akhilesh said he would contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election but refused to confirm if the constituency would be Kannauj which is considered a safe seat.

The SP chief is no longer a legislator. From 2000 to April 2018, Akhilesh had been a legislator  from 2000-2012 as an MP and from 2012 till April 2018 as an MLC. Akhilesh has already said that his wife

Dimple Yadav, who is a member of Parliament from Kannauj, will not contest elections this time.

According to senior SP leaders, Akhilesh is likely to contest from Kannauj again mainly because it is a pocket borough of the party. It has remained with the Samajwadi Party since 1998 through seven polls. Akhilesh won the seat through by-poll in 2000, then again in 2004 and 2009.

After taking over as CM in 2012, Akhilesh vacated the seat. Dimple won the by-poll in 2012 and again in 2014.
The Election Commission (EC) on Tuesday ordered repoll in 73 polling stations of Kairana Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday after some voter-verified paper audit trail (VVAP) machines developed snags during Mondays by-election, an official said.

Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and VVPAT machines will be used in the repoll on all the booths.

Chief electoral officer (CEO) L Venkateshwar Lu said, voting will start at 7am and continue till 6pm.

The commission has allotted 500 extra VVPATs for the repoll and 20 engineers have been deployed to ensure there is no hiccup during polling.

Civil police and Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMF) personnel have been deployed at the polling stations to maintain law and order, he said.

The Election Commission has directed the returning officer to publicise the repoll through public announcement, beating of drums and other modes of propagation.

The EC has ordered the repoll in 23 polling stations in Nakur assembly segment of Kairana Lok Sabha seat, 45 polling stations in Gangoh , one polling station in Thanabhawan and four polling stations in the Shamli assembly segment of the Lok Sabha seat.

During the by-election on Monday, complaints about dysfunctional VVPATs started pouring in with the start of voting at 7am. Polling officers changed 384 VVPATs and three EVMs after the faults came to light.

The leaders of the Samajwadi Party (SP), the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) and the Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) submitted memorandums to the chief electoral officer to protest against faults in the EVMs and disruption in polling.

The commission sought a report from chief electoral officer (CEO) L Venkateshwar Lu, as well as the returning officers of the Kairana Lok Sabha and Noorpur assembly constituencies. After a scrutiny of the reports, the commission ordered repoll in 73 polling stations.

The EC has also deployed general observers, police observer, expenditure observers, sector magistrates, zonal magistrates, static magistrates and micro observers to monitor the repolling.

Deputy inspector general (law and order) Praveen Kumar said adequate police force will be deployed at the 73 polling stations to ensure peaceful and fair polling.
Barring a few incidents of violence, voting in Kairana Lok Sabha seat remained peaceful on Monday.

Additional superintendent of police (ASP), Shamli, Shlok Kumar said police had to use force on residents of Bhura village in Kairana when they damaged vehicles and pelted polling staff with stones after the officials stopped a woman who was trying to cast her vote without showing her identity proof.

A poll official was injured and two trouble-makers were taken into custody. The situation is under control and polling resumed peacefully after a brief halt, he said.

According to an Election Commission official, Kairana Lok Sabha bypoll saw a turnout of 54.17 per cent.

The village is Gujjar-dominated with over 4,000 voters who are predominantly supporters of the BJP.

Police said skirmishes were reported between supporters of RLD candidate Tabassum Hasan and BJPs Mriganka Singh.

However, the biggest problem that officials faced was of alleged technical glitch in EVMs.

Reports of malfunctioning of EVMs started pouring in from Muslim-dominated Nakud, Gangoh and Kairana constituencies where voters demanded that faulty machines be replaced.

The issue resulted in a war of words between the leaders of ruling and opposition parties and they lodged complaints with the Election Commission of India and state election commission.

UP sugarcane minister and MLA Suresh Rana and his wife Neeta Rana cast their votes in Thanabhawan.

Rana said non-payment of sugarcane dues was a major issue in the state when the BJP government came to power. We took it as a challenge and ensured payment of dues, he said.

However, majority of the residents of Titarsi village, barely 4 kms from Thanabhawan, refrained from exercising their franchise.

Till 11 am, only 126 out of 1,350 voters had exercised their franchise.

Sugarcane dues are pending on mills and nobody is paying heed to our problems, said former village pradhan Ajay Singh.

The village has 1,350 voters and Rana had secured 90 per cent votes in the 2017 assembly elections.

Villagers Harpal Singh and Vikram Singh claimed that the situation had changed and people were no longer happy with the BJP.

The situation improved for the BJP only after the visit of Rana to the village two days ago otherwise people had decided to align with the Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD), another villager said.

BJPs Mriganka Singh is contesting against RLDs Tabassum Hasan, who is being jointly supported by the SP, BSP, and Congress.

The opposition parties are banking on Muslim-Jat-Dalit equation.

In Muslim-dominated Sonya Rasoolpur village, Mohd Irfan and Gulzar Ali said the voters had foiled the attempt by politicians to polarise election on communal lines.

People are aware and they know whom to vote. For them, payment of sugarcane dues and employment are bigger issues than caste and religion. Everybody knows who were behind Muzaffarnagar riots and what was their motive, said a teacher Gul Mohammad.

To villagers belonging to dalit community, Rukmesh Singh and Sharma Singh, said dalits could go to any extent to ensure BJPs defeat.

People in neighbouring Raipur village made no bones in admitting that they would vote for a Hindu candidate.

Young voters Ankit and Praveen Kumar appreciated the BJPs efforts to improve law and order.

They said sugarcane dues was no issue as those who were raising it overlooked the fact that sugar mills were still operational and 30 lakh quintal sugarcane had been crushed so far. How can they say BJP has not taken care of the issue? they asked.

RLD leader Sunil Rohta said the visits of Chaudhary Ajit Singh and Jayant Chaudhary to Jat-dominated villages would help in bringing partys traditional Jat voters back to the party and in forging their combination with Muslims and other communities.

POLLING PEACEFUL IN NOORPUR

Polling remained peaceful in Noorpur assembly constituency on Monday with 61 per cent voters exercising their franchise.

Like Kairana, failure of EVMs remained a major issue during the day. While opposition parties blamed the BJP for tampering with the EVMs, BJP leaders also raised the issue with the Election Commission.

The Samajwadi Party has fielded Naimul Hasan as joint opposition candidate against Avni Singh of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), who is the widow of former Noorpur MLA Lokendra Singh Chauhan who died in a road accident in February this year.

Police said former MP and Samajwadi Party leader Yashveer Singh Dhobi was detained on charges of campaigning in support of party candidate.

However, Dhobi refuted charges against him and said he was travelling to a village when he was stopped and taken into custody.

Noorpur has approximately 1.25 lakh Muslim, 33,000 Rajputs, over 40,000 dalits, 8,000 Yadav, Saini and Pal voters each.

Despite Ramzan, Muslim voters came out in good numbers to cast their votes.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday operated from a government guesthouse, staying clear of his 4 Kalidas bungalow during his days visit to the state capital despite being well within the government set deadline for former chief ministers to vacate bungalows they hold as ex CMs.

He met people, party cadre and officials from the place which chief minister Yogi Adityanath had briefly made his home before moving into 5 Kalidas Marg , the official residence of the chief minister.

Singh, who enjoys a Z plus security cover, held a jan samvad (public interaction) at the citys VVIP guest house before addressing a press conference on completion of Modi governments four years in office at Lok Bhawan.

Despite concern on his security, Rajnath is expected to shift to 3/206 Vipul Khand Gomti Nagar, a 2150 Sq ft LDA property he owns and which is currently being spruced up.

He has always been a man of high moral values. While other chief ministers are busy clinging to their bungalows by citing technicalities, Rajnathji has already decided to shift out and operate out of the guest house, said Lucknow BJP chief Mukesh Sharma.

On May 18, the estate department that manages the bungalows of the former chief ministers had, in keeping with a Supreme Court order of May 7, served eviction notices on all former CMs, giving them a 15 day deadline that ends June 2.

On May 7, the SC had quashed a government amendment passed by the Samajwadi Party government in UP allowing them to retain government accommodation for life.

The SC order had come while hearing a public interest litigation filed by Lucknow-based non-profit organisation Lokprahari that challenged the amendment to the Uttar Pradesh Ministers (Salaries, Allowances and Miscellaneous Provisions) Act, 1981.

Rajnath is well within the 15 day deadline but BJP leaders say that Singh, who was the first among all former CMs to immediately respond to the SC order, has decided to stay away from the bungalow that witnessed his political rise over the last two decades.

Rajnaths aide Awadh Bihari said he had first moved into 4 Kalidas as UP BJP chief in the late 90s though he subsequently moved into 5 Kalidas Marg after becoming the chief minister in October 2000. After the fall of the BJP government in 2002, he moved to 4 Kalidas Marg where he continued to live until the SC order.

The bungalow had proved to be lucky to Rajnath as it was during his stay here that he became union minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayees government, became national BJP chief thrice till his present assignment as the countrys home minister.
An 80-year-old physically-challenged woman from Uran allegedly committed suicide by setting herself on fire on Sunday night. The police were informed by her neighbours, who found her body on Monday morning.

Balibai Patil lived in Kunde village. Her husband passed away two years ago, after which, she spent most of her time alone, said the police. She had some distant relatives who hardly visited her. She led a lonely life after her husbands death, said an officer from the Uran police station. A few years ago, Balibai injured her left leg in an accident and was unable to walk properly.

NG Majge, inspector Uran police station, said, Balibai would normally wake up early and clean the house. But on Monday, her door was locked till late in the morning. So her neighbours got suspicious and peeped into the house through a small window.

After her body was discovered, she was rushed to a nearby hospital where she was declared brought dead. The doctors said she had suffered 80% burns.

Prima facie, it appears that she locked herself in the house on Sunday night, poured kerosene on herself and set herself on fire. We have not recovered a suicide note. So far, we have not found anything amiss and have ruled out murder, Majge said. The police registered an accidental death case. After the post-mortem, the body was handed over to her neighbours
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday ordered a repoll at 49 stations in Maharashtras Bhandara-Gondiya constituency following a widespread malfunction of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs) during the Lok Sabha byelection on Monday.

The repolling will be held on Wednesday, while the counting will be on Thursday.

A total of 411 VVPATs and 47 EVMs at 2,149 polling stations malfunctioned on Monday, leading to an uproar among voters. All parties, including the governing Bharatiya Janata Party, demanded a repoll, alleging that the malfunction resulted in a lower voting percentage, as several voters could not exercise their franchise.

At the 49 polling stations where polling will be held again, the machines could not be replaced for more than two hours, resulting in the voters turning back without voting. These stations are from Bhandara, Gondiya, Arjuni, Sakoli and Morgaon.

The ECI also fixed the responsibility of the lapse on Gondiya collector Abhimanyu Kale, also the returning officer in the bypolls.

Following the ECI order, the state government appointed Kadambari Balkawade, a 2010-batch IAS officer, as Gondiya collector and the returning officer for the repoll.

The ECI found that it was administrative laxity that led to the failure of the machines. The election machinery, as per the reports received by the ECI, failed to replace the VVPATs within the stipulated time.

The reports were based on the diaries maintained by presiding officers at the polling stations and a decision for the repoll was taken by the commission. The booths had seen enormous delay in the replacement of the machines and non-availability of standby machines, resulting from the lack of preparedness among the polling staff, an ECI official said on the condition of anonymity.

According to ECI officers, the faulty VVPATs were five years old and malfunctioned due to a sensor failure, which they attributed to dust and high temperature. The reasons for the failure of the machines will be ascertained only after counting is completed, said another ECI officer.

The ECI had first used VVPATs in 13 assembly constituencies in the 2014 assembly elections in Maharashtra.
A different iftar greeted members of Furqan Masjid in Mumbra on Sunday. As the clock struck 7.15pm, the members shared their fast-breaking meal with eight Hindus, making it an evening to remember.

As part of an inter-community gathering, these special guests visited the mosque to learn about the rituals of Islam and practices followed during the holy month of Ramzan.

Everyone sat down for the meal in the vast prayer hall in two rows  the guests on one side and the hosts on the other. As the group was about to break the fast, Saif Asre, a trustee of the mosque, announced, These cutlets are non-vegetarian. So, for those who dont eat meat, remove it from your plate, said Asre. The idea was to have an interaction with members of the other community so that they could learn about Islam, said Asre.

In our religion, we have been asked to do three things  solve issues within ourselves, help fellow Muslims and explain to people who dont know what Islam is. What can be a better time for doing this than during Ramzan? That way we will can clear the misconceptions that divide the two religions. It would be an ideal world when Hindus and Muslims could sit together for iftar, said Asre.

As they tucked into fruits, samosas and cutlets, members of both communities discussed azaan, the role of women in Islam, the ideal way to pray, the meaning of the prayers, the science behind the fast, and more.

Shubhangi Shinde, a resident of Mumbra, one of the eight guests at the session, said she had attended another such session at the Masjid earlier and had even observed the Ramzan fast last year. Although women arent allowed inside a mosque, as a part of this session, I got to enter the mosque earlier as well. When I was attending the session for the first time, I didnt really think whether it was appropriate for me to enter a mosque or not. I found a kind of peace, which is why I am here again, said Shinde.

For Nilesh Uprikar, who came all the way from Kalyan, it was a great learning experience. I learnt about the various postures in which people pray and the significance of each one, said Uprikar.

Meanwhile, Neeraj Pattath, another one of the guests, said when he heard that such sessions were taking place in a mosque, he looked up the details on social media. With no contacts available, he called up the Masjid office. I studied history in college, which is why I am always curious to experience things. We hear a lot of things from different people, but unless we dont experience something, we wont know. Today, having learnt about Islam, I can talk about it to people from my community, said Pattath, an IT professional.
The public hearing on the environmental impact of the proposed Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Railway project failed to address concerns raised by the people.

On Tuesday, officials of National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL), the executing body for the project, heard residents express fears on destruction of mangroves, creek eco-system and threat to the migratory flamingoes along with the impact it will have on Agri, Koli and farmers community in Thane district.

The bullet train will pass through nine villages in Thane district. More than 250 farmers will lose 20 hectares of land. The meeting at Ram Ganesh Gadkari Rangayatan began with a presentation on the benefits the project would bring to the environment.

Residents claimed that the hearing was a farce as the authorities did not advertise it so not many people knew about it. Advocate Bharadwaj Choudhari, who was present at the hearing, said, The presentation had no details or the ill-effects the project will have on the environment. We want a proper route map which wasnt given at the hearing.

Resident deputy collector Shivaji Patil, who chaired the meeting, asked the residents to give their questions in writing in one month and the NHSRCL will have to answer.

RP Singh, the project manager of NHSRCL, said a geological survey was done at a every 250 metres on the route and environmentalists visited the route to study the impact.

Mayuresh Bhadsavle, one of the residents at the hearing, said, There was no mention where the mangroves would be replanted. The report said there are 34 lakes and ponds along the route, but there is no information on what will be done to conserve them.

NCP city president Anand Paranjpe and party workers from Thane were not allowed to enter the venue.

Farmers oppose the project

Some farmers present for the hearing protested against the project by raising slogans. Govind Bhagat, a farmer, said, The problems of the farmers have been overlooked. The Agri, Koli and farmer community will face huge losses in the project. We do not want the train in Thane.
The pass percentage of Class 10 of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), the results for which were announced on Tuesday, for Chennai region that includes Maharashtra dropped to 97.37% from last years 99.62%.

School principals blamed the change in the exam system for the dip. Until last year, students had a choice between board exams and school-based exams. Last year, the authority scrapped school-based exams, forcing all students to opt for board exams. To make matters worse, the board changed the examination pattern from a two-term test to a single annual test.

This was a trial-and-error year for us, considering the new exam pattern. While the papers were largely on easy, the constant chatter of having to study the entire syllabus impacted the students, said Jyoti Nair, principal, New Horizons Scholars School, Thane.

Last year, the board also stopped the continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) and came up with a new scheme for internal tests. The proportion of marks allotted to internal examination was reduced from 25 on 100 to 20, with five marks allotted for taking notes and five for subject-enrichment activities such as practical tests. Our students prefer practical activities to theory, said Seema Maindiratta, principal, DAV School, Kharghar.

For the sixth year in a row, the national overall pass percentage, too, dropped.

SCORING 99%

While not a single student from the city or state made it to the national top four ranks, two students managed to score 495 out of 500. Akhilesh Narayan, 15, a student of Neruls Delhi Public School, and Rashi Shah, 16, from The Somaiya School in Vidyavihar, said regular studies and revision helped them score 99%. I maintained a five-hour study schedule every day since the start of the academic year. I revised regularly before the exam, said Rashi.

Most schools ensured students attempted a series of mock tests to prepare them better. While I worked hard through the year, in the last one month, my entire focus was on revision, said Akhilesh.

HIT BY LANGUAGES

Most schools said languages brought down the score of their students. Many of our students scored well in Sanskrit, but Hindi was a little disappointing, said Deepshikha Srivastava, principal of Rajhans Vidyalaya, Andheri.

Principals feel maths and science boosted the scores. Strangely, 40% of our students scored more than 90 in mathematics, but a decent number of students scored less than 40 in the subject. There isnt one uniform trend, said Ganesh Parameswaran, principal of Bal Bharti Public School, Navi Mumbai.

CHANGE IN RULE

In a move that will help students who will write their exams in March, the CBSE has relaxed the mandatory separate pass marks for them. In a circular issued to all CBSE-affiliated schools across the country, the board said the students need to score 33% marks overall, and not 33% each in board and internal exams. This is a big relief, said Nair.
Be it the Central Board of Secondary Educations (CBSE) decision to skip school-based exams for Class 10, or the assessment of language subjects this year, but the overall pass percentage for the CBSE Class 10 results, released on Tuesday afternoon, saw a major dip. The all-India pass percentage stood at 86.7% this year, a 4% drop from 90.95% in 2017.

Mumbai has two toppers who scored 99%  Akhilesh Narayan, a student of Neruls Delhi Public School, and Rashi Shah from The Somaiya School in Vidyavihar. However, no students from Mumbai or Maharashtra made it to the top four ranks in the country this year either.

While school principals said the board had been generous with marks, many speculated that the reason behind the drop in pass percentage could be because after many years, students had to study the entire syllabus for the board exam this year. In 2010-11, CBSE made Class 10 board exams optional for students, who could therefore choose between attempting the exams conducted by the board and school-based exams. However, this year, the board scrapped school-based exams, and all students had to appear for the boards exams.

Until Class 9, these students need to study only a part of their syllabus for the finals, and this would continue in Class 10 too. But that changed with the board exam becoming mandatory, and this batch of students got just one year to adapt to the change. It may have affected the overall pass percentage, said Suman Samarth from RN Podar School in Santacruz. She, however, said the performance of students at her school was better compared to last year, with 20% more students scoring above 90% this time round.

While Chennai region, which includes Maharashtra, has ranked second among the 10 regions in the country with a 97.37 pass percentage, the regions overall performance dipped by more than 2% as the overall pass percentage was at 99.62% in 2017.

Once again, girls have done better than boys, with 88.67% girls clearing the exam compared to 85.32% boys.

As per the statement released by the board on Tuesday afternoon, around 1.31 lakh students scored above 90% in the exam this year, of whom 27,476 scored above 95%.
A day after HT reported that while Versova beach got a clean sweep on Sunday, Juhu beach was swept with trash, the civic body said they doubled the number of beach cleaners on Monday and 50,000kg of trash was cleared. However, Juhu residents said there was a need for a permanent solution to the problem.

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials said they deputed 20 more labourers in addition to the 20 already assigned for cleaning the 4-kilometre Juhu beach daily. Every year May 25 onwards, we generally face this problem of more quantity of trash, mostly plastic, washing ashore. This year, it has also been aggravated by high waves over the past two days, said Prashant Gaikwad, assistant municipal commissioner. Ten truckloads of garbage was removed throughout the day, amounting to 50,000 kg.

On Sunday, as the curtain raiser for World Environment Day (June 5) for which India is the host, thousands gathered at Versova for a beach clean-up drive where two lakh kg garbage was removed. However, a few kilometres away at Juhu beach, the ocean coughed up more than 8,000kg plastic trash which was spotted by local residents. However, no efforts were taken to clean that up.

Gaikwad added that things are likely to change once a new contractor  Spectron Engineers Private Limited hired by BMC takes over from June 2. They will clean the beach at a cost of Rs21 crore for the next six years. We have made it clear to the new contractor that if even one metre of any of the beach is dirty, the firm will be fined Rs10 for each square metre. This means the fine could be as high as Rs30,000 a day if it fails to clear the problem areas we have identified, he said. Additionally, to arrest the problem of garbage at source, we have installed a track boom to collect domestic waste at the Irla pumping station marine outfall. We will see how well it works this monsoon, said Gaikwad.

READ: Expect cleaner beaches this monsoon in Mumbai

As a part of the new contract, one new beach comber - a machine which sieves the sand and allows the easy picking of trash and removes oil and tar - along with two existing ones, and 60 labourers will be deployed. There will also be more tractors and trucks, said Gaikwad.

However, residents who spotted the beach being cleaned up on Monday said it was only partially cleared. The clean-up was done only towards the sandy patches of the beach, and the labourers avoided areas close to the shoreline where plastic trash is still strewn. However, we are hopeful that the new contractor can improve the condition of the beach, said Paul Creado, Juhu resident who spotted the trash on Sunday.

Mehjabeen Barwani, a member of Juhu Beach Walkers Group, said Juhu residents will meet Gaikwad on Tuesday. We will ask him to help us with a few more excavator machines and manpower to ensure the beach is cleaned properly before the new contractor takes over. This will help us assess how impactful the latters efforts will be, said Barwani.
Iqbal Kaskar, 56, brother of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim and an accused in three extortion cases, was discharged from JJ Hospital in Mumbai on Tuesday morning, a day after he was admitted following complaints of chest pain and dizziness.

Doctors said Kaskar, who is lodged in Thane Central Jail, was referred to the hospital by jail authorities. The patient was brought in around 10.15pm after he complained of chest pain and giddiness. He is stable now, said a senior doctor at JJ hospital, who did not wish to be named.

Police officials said Kaskars health may have been affected as he was fasting for Ramzan.

A police officer from Thane anti-extortion cell said: Kaskar complained of chest pain on Monday afternoon and he was taken to Thane civil hospital. He was treated and sent back to Thane jail as he seemed fine, but at night, when he again complained of severe chest pain and giddiness, he was taken to JJ.

In September 2017, Kaskar was arrested in connection with an extortion case.
The body of a 22-year-old labourer Abdul Raqeeb Khan, who had been missing since the fire broke out at Techniplex building in Goregaon (West) on Sunday, was finally found on Tuesday morning, taking the death toll to five. Another nine persons including eight fire officials have been injured in the incident.

The Mumbai Fire brigade has also issued a notice to the building owner as the fire fighting system installed in the building was partially functioning. The buildings fire detection system and water sprinklers were not working. In addition, the electric duct was not properly covered, said PS Rahangdale, chief fire officer. Fire brigade will submit the fire report in the next four days which will ascertain the cause of fire.

Another senior fire official said that the smoke had filled up with the entire building which made the rescue operation difficult. Due to the buildings glass facade, the fire kept gathering intensity resulting in a tough task for the firefighters. The eight fire brigade officials admitted in the hospital suffered from excessive smoke inhalation.

The fifth labourer body was found inside the electric panel room. Officials suspect that in a bid to save himself, he tried to hide there. Search operations have been underway for the past two days after fire broke out on the seventh floor of the 11-storey glass facade, Techniplex complex in Goregaon west situated on SV road.

As per the NGO working for migrant workers, Aajeevika Bureau, 54 workers had been clearing scrap from the seventh floor for the past four days. The seventh floor, where the fire broke out, has two offices and both are unoccupied. Naimuddin Shah, 25, was found on the seventh floor and Ram Avatar, 45, Ram Tirathpal, 45, were found unconscious in a lift stuck between the fourth and fifth floors. They were declared dead after being rushed to a hospital. The body of the fourth labourer Samsad Shah, 21, was found on Monday morning.

Seven were trapped when the fire broke out. Mumbai fire brigade had rescued five on Sunday, including 35-year-old man named Wasim Salmani, who was stuck at the seventh floor, was sent to Siddharth hospital after he sustained cuts to his right hand. Salmani was discharged on Monday.
This monsoon, you might get more clarity during inclement weather on the operational status of your local trains on the Central Railway (CR) line. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) is setting up weather monitoring stations inside stations on the network, which will relay hourly updates on rainfall to other government agencies.

All railway officials from the general manager to station masters and the motormen will be updated with the latest on the weather through live updates based on which they will restrict train movement.

This was decided in a monsoon-review meeting chaired by chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Officials from the army, the railways and municipal corporations were also present.

We have informed railway officials to identify and determine land for setting up of weather stations. We will be receiving Nowcast updates from the IMD and will determine local train operations, said DK Sharma, general manager, central railway.

The railways has identified 13 critical foot overbridges at Dadar, Parel, Currey Road, Chinchpokli, Ghatkopar and Kurla that will have extra staff to manage crowds.
The Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA), the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and other state agencies responsible for infrastructure and civic amenities in the city have assured the government about their preparedness for the incoming monsoon.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis also called on the defence forces to lend a helping hand in dire situations. The Indian Navy, Air Force and National Disaster Response Force should deploy their manpower and logistics required for the rescue and relief operations as deployed every year, he said.

The civic bodies have claimed due precautions have been taken to avoid possible flooding from the Metro projects and that the cleaning of the culverts and nullahs will be completed by end of this month.

The BMC, MMRDA, Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) and the defence forces presented their plans for managing the monsoon in the presence of CM Fadnavis on Tuesday.

The BMC has identified 225 spots in Mumbai that may possibly get flooded (74 in eastern suburbs, 88 in western suburbs and 63 in the island city). Civic chief Ajoy Mehta said that they have taken due measures at 120 of those spots. He also said 95% of the total nullahs running up to 250 kms have been cleaned.

The civic body says cameras have been fixed inside culverts alongside the central and harbour railway lines to help with real-time flood management. It also said trash brooms have been attached to the nullahs to avoid trash accumulation. Water-level transmitters have also been installed at seven locations in the city, officials informed the CM.

The civic body has also deployed 36 life guards at six beaches, including the ones at Girgaum, Dadar, Aksa and Gorai to check any possible cases of drowning.

The CM also assured divisional commissioners from the rest of Maharashtra with all types of assistance for disaster management.

Health department officials said they have reserved 1,300 beds in the government hospitals for monsoon-related medical cases.

In its preliminary forecast in April, the IMD predicted a normal southwest monsoon this year, which occurs when rainfall is between 96- 104% of the 50-year average of 887 mm, with the highest expected rainfall to happen in June.
Even though southwest monsoon arrived in southern states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu three days ahead of its schedule, Mumbaiites experience yet another hot and humid day on Tuesday.

Day temperature at Santacruz and Colaba were 34.6 degrees Celsius, 1.1 degrees Celsius above normal. Night temperature was almost 2 degrees Celsius above normal at Colaba (28.8 degrees Celsius) and 1.3 degree Celsius above normal at Santacruz (28.3 degrees Celsius).

Moisture levels were high, as Colaba recorded 81% humidity during the day that dropped to 75% by the evening  5% above normal. Santacruz recorded 71% humidity during the day that dropped to 68% by the evening  2% above normal.

Weather bureau had on Monday had predicted pre-monsoon showers in the city from Wednesday. But the forecast was revised on Tuesday stating light rain or thundershowers likely from Thursday. An official from weather bureau said conditions were favourable for light rain this week, as areas in Konkan such as Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri are receiving light showers.

The bureau has predicted a partly cloudy sky for Wednesday with day and night temperature expected at 35 and 28 degrees Celsius.
Good news for pet owners and pet lovers. Instead of running to different departments for any administrative need related to your pet, you can get them all under one roof now. For effective management and convenience, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has created a new and separate department for veterinary health in the city in Khar (West).

Administrative services related to pet licensing, veterinary hospitals and clinics, a diagnostic lab for zoonotic diseases, Deonar abattoir, cattle welfare, pet shops, cemetery and incinerator for dogs and cats and animal census will be taken care of at the Khar (West) headquarters.

Earlier, administrative services related to domestic and stray animals were handled by different departments such as health and shops departments.

Until the new department building is constructed, the temporary office will be at Deonar abattoir. As per the 2012 domestic and stray animal census, the city has over 40,500 animals.

A senior civic official said BMC has set aside 14.5 crore of its annual budget for animal welfare.

Dr Yogesh Shetye, general manager of Deonar abattoir, one of the biggest slaughterhouses in the world, said, More than 300 diseases that affect human beings are spread through animals. Diseases such as rabies, anthrax, swine flu are caused by animal excreta, low-quality meat and animal food.

Under the budgetary allocation, BMC plans to build a state-of-the-art veterinary hospital at Mahalaxmi with a capacity of 300 small animals such as cats and dogs. It will also hire 11 more veterinary doctors in addition to the 28 existing ones.
The National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) has rejected the draft Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification, 2018, which was made public by the union environment ministry on April 19, claiming it was against protecting biodiversity and ecology and stands in violations of the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986.

What the central government has to say This draft has been meticulously developed keeping in mind protection of ecologically sensitive areas, safeguarding aquatic system and marine life, plastic waste disposal, and simultaneously allowing ecotourism and development of coastal zones. Every stakeholder, including fishermen, has been brought on board before developing this exhaustive document. We will consider all objections and tally their merits, said a senior official from the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. What Maharashtra govt has to say Dr. Shailesh Nayaks committee had gone around the country, across all coastal areas, understanding representations of different groups including fishermen who demanded relaxation of these norms for construction of jetties, building their homes closer to the sea and other demands. The notification does implement all of them but some of them have been relaxed. The fishermen should welcome this, said Satish Gavai, additional chief secretary, state environment department and chairman, Maharashtra Coastal Zone Management Authority.

Citing that the fishing community was the largest primary non-consumptive stakeholders and natural custodians of coastal natural resources, NFF, the national federation of state-level small and traditional fish workers unions of India with over one lakh members, rejected the new norms.

Members have planned a nationwide agitation, calling it as the National Day of Action, on June 11 at block, village, district, state and national levels at all coastal states and in New Delhi.

From 1991 onwards, CRZ norms have undergone several changes that only aide builders and allow tourism in critically sensitive marine habitats, scaling back on safeguards for the coastlines by giving coastal infrastructure and tourism priority over coastal livelihoods, said Thomas Peter, general secretary, NFF.

Action plan to protest dilution of draft CRZ 18 notification Submitting a consolidated critique of the draft CRZ to the MoEFCC, in addition to reiterating the demands of the fishing communities to enact a national legislation that in principle and spirit reflects the provisions of the CRZ, 1991 notification Carry out a large scale mobilisation as a National Day of Action on the June 11 at all coastal states, districts, villages and block level and at New Delhi Call for a meeting with the members of Parliament in New Delhi during the monsoon session Request the Parliamentary Standing Committee to raise questions regarding the draft CRZ, 18 notification (Source: NFF) Citizens can submit suggestions and objections to Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change at: arvind.nautiyal@gov.in or write to J-615, Jal Block, Indira Paryavaran Bhawan, Jor Bagh Road, New Delhi -110003 before June 19, 2018.

As against various protection clauses developed by the Indira Gandhi government as early as 1970s, there has been dynamic shift in attitude towards protecting coastal areas and our livelihood to helping builders and developers to make money for themselves and the government.

He added that NFF had already written to the union environment ministry to give them a date for hearing their objections in person.

HT had reported on April 20 that environmentalists had said that the new draft CRZ rules protects builders interest not coastal environment. The draft, prepared for Indias 7,500km coastline, is based on recommendations by a committee under the chairmanship of Dr Shailesh Nayak, after consulting coastal states and other stakeholders.

Some of the significant changes as per the draft include the applicability of CRZ distance to the land area or width of the creek from the high tide line (HTL) is now 50 metres, which has been reduced from earlier limit of 100 metres buffer zone. While exemptions in CRZ-IA areas (classified as most sensitive coastal zone) where no development activities shall be permitted to be carried out, on mangroves located in private land, no buffer zone is required to be kept anymore. Eco-tourism activities such as mangrove walks, tree huts, nature trails and other such activities will be allowed in these areas through the development of coastal zone management plans (CZMPs).

The CRZ-I area is the sanctum for any coastal habitat. Opening this up spells doom for coastal areas, and the result will be witnessed with rising sea levels, said Peter.

NFF came to the decision of unanimously rejecting the draft after a national consultation held at Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) auditorium in Mumbai and was attended by NFF member union representatives, government officials, scientists, civil society organisations, lawyers, researchers, and environmentalists. Representations have been made from every coastal state about the disastrous impacts these rules can bring to them. We will present it to the central government, said Peter.

SOME RECOMMENDATIONS MADE PART OF THE DRAFT COASTAL REGULATION ZONE (CRZ) 2018 NOTIFICATION

The new draft CRZ notification has major recommendation which would boost tourism development in coastal areas of the country which remains untapped due to stringent regulatory framework.

In the CRZ II areas as well, the proposed guidelines recommends development of vacant plots in designated areas for construction of beach resorts, hotels subject to guidelines. Temporary tourism facilities shall be permissible in the beaches falling in CRZ II areas.

CRZ III areas have been divided into two categories - CRZ III a and b, wherein for CRZ IIIa, the distance between the HTL and land has been reduced from 200m to 50m

In areas falling under CRZ III, wherever there is a national or state highway passing through the NDZ of CRZ-III areas, temporary tourism facilities such as toilets, change rooms, drinking water facility and temporary shacks can be taken up on the seaward side of the road.

In case the construction of such plant is inevitable in a mangrove area, a minimum three times the mangrove area affected/destroyed /cut during the construction process shall be taken up for compensatory plantation of mangroves (used to be five times in 2011 notification)
Project-affected people (PAP) from Thane numbering in the hundreds have are demanding that the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) give them a permanent home in the same location from where they are displaced.

The residents have alleged that the corporation has displaced them to rental homes at present and there is no assurance of a permanent residence. They have asked that the TMC give them assurances of being rehabilitated in the same area and have threatened to stage an indefinite hunger strike till their demands are met.

The corporation undertook a massive road widening project which began in 2015. Over 12,000 residents from areas like Ghodbunder, Panchpakhadi, Kalwa, Subhash Nagar and Ambedkar Road who were affected by the work, have come together to form a co-ordination committee to fight for their rights.

Kishore Divekar, the chief co-ordinator of the committee who is one of the project-affected people, said, Most of us were displaced without any prior notice or time. At Anandnagar, the homes which were not blocking the road-widening projects were also demolished. The residents near Ambedkar Road Lake were also removed for the beautification of the lake; however the corporations ward office along the same area was left untouched. We will put forth all these demands before the collector.

The residents claimed that while they are not against development, they deserve permanent homes rather the rental apartments to which they were shifted, which they claim are devoid of basic facilities.

We will provide permanent accommodation as per the availability of the housing stock. Till then, we have given the residents accommodation in rental homes as a temporary arrangement, said an official from the town-planning department.
Sharad Pawar should have really spoken out earlier. Chaggan Bhujbal has been a loyal soldier sticking with Pawar somewhat against his will when he split the Congress; and even when he was humiliatingly demoted from deputy chief minister to just an ordinary minister, simply to accommodate the ambitions of Pawars nephew Ajit Pawar.

Two years in lock-up found him virtually abandoned except for a visit from Pawars daughter, Supriya Sule in prison and Gopinath Mundes daughter, Pankaja Munde while he was in the hospital.

When Bhujbal was allowed to vote in the presidential elections last July, a section of the media reported a poignant conversation he had had with Ajit Pawar. I do not want to die in jail. I want to breathe in some fresh air before I have to go...

Even so, Pawar did not react immediately. But could it be just a coincidence that no sooner than he warned the government that there will be heavy consequences for it if anything were to happen to Bhujbal in prison, he got bail, which was being resisted for no reason by government authorities all these months?

Whatever be the facts of the case, barely a week after bail Bhujbal  without uttering a single word -- proved he continues to pack a punch and have an upper hand over Nashik, his home turf. He may have lost the last Lok Sabha elections from the constituency due to the Modi wave but there is no one who can win any seat from Nashik without his active support.

At one time, Narayan Rane who, like Bhujbal, had quit the Shiv Sena and joined the Congress only to leave the party in resentment at not being given enough importance, had contemplated contesting a seat to the Maharashtra legislative council from the local autonomous bodies constituency with BJP support. A recce of the region convinced him he needed to bank on more than the fact that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had adopted Nashik.

Bhujbal still ruled the roost from prison. He continued to keep tabs on his constituency, relentlessly writing letters to the government for the completion of various projects undertaken and letting it know in no uncertain terms that he may be down but not out by any means.

Within days of his release, both the BJP and NCP were left in no doubt about Bhujbals clout. The council election had become a prestige issue for all parties, including the Shiv Sena, whose rebel Shivaji Sahane had cocked a snook at the leadership and joined the NCP, simply because he was denied a ticket by the Sena.

Jayant Jadhav, a Bhujbal acolyte, had vacated the seat and instead of backing him again, the NCP, strangely having no candidate of its own, gave the ticket to Sahane and made a prestige issue of the same. Comically, the BJP, which had just been bested by the Congress-led opposition in Karnataka, decided to cut off its nose to spite its face by offering support to the NCP-Congress candidate in a tit-for-tat action towards the Sena which had ambushed it in Palghar at the bypoll held on Monday. The seat belonged to the BJP who, strangely again, chose to give the ticket to a Congress rebel rather than the son of their own deceased MP. In an unprecedented move, the Sena pinched the seat from the BJP, poached the son of Chintaman Wanga and ran him on their ticket despite the BJPs vociferous protests.

Supporting the Congress-NCP in Nashik was in order to get even with the Sena but at the end of the day, all but the Sena were left with a substantial amount of egg on their faces. There was heavy cross-voting from all parties, including the BJP, in favour of Narendra Darade, the Sena candidate. Even if Bhujbal was nowhere on the scene, recuperating at home, Darade left no one in doubt that he could not have won without his support.

So is Bhujbal likely to join the Shiv Sena? Perhaps not. But he has proved to the BJP, which victimised him, that he is not to be trifled with; and to the NCP, which did not stand by him, that it ignores him at risk to its strength.

Bhujbal was singularly responsible for reducing Bal Thackerays clout in the 1990s but now has built his bridges with the GenNext in the Sena, his original party. He has been put through fire but his spirit has not been broken. Political parties ignore Chhagan Bhujbal at their own peril.
I feel much better prepared to be deployed as UN Peacekeeper to a peacekeeping mission, more accountable for preventing conflict-related sexual violence and responding to womens socio-economic concerns in and post conflict, said a graduate of a recently-concluded Female Military Officers Course, organised by UN Women and the Center for UN Peacekeeping (CUNPK), India.

This echoes some of UN Womens long-held views on women in peacekeeping. Recruitment, deployment and focused training of female officers is imperative to overcome existing barriers and for gender parity in UN peacekeeping. Womens participation in UN peacekeeping is more likely to improve civilian protection, especially the prevention of sexual violence against women and girls.

But UN Peacekeeping, whose mandate is civilian protection through military, police and civilian contingents from troop contributing countries, remains a heavily male preserve. As of March 31, 2018, women constituted 5% of the 91,058-strong combined forces of military and police peacekeepers, making up 4% of the military and 11% of the police units.

This is despite womens demonstrated contribution to peacekeeping worldwide. In January 2007, for the first time in UN history, the Indian first all-women UN peacekeeping police unit was deployed to Liberia, with subsequent deployments in 2008 and 2009. They provided security at local events, engaged in riot control and patrols with local and UN police. They communicated with local women, nurturing trust between the police and local communities through community outreach.

This included providing medical services, safe drinking water, lighting in public spaces, life and job skills training, education on sexual violence and HIV/AIDS. The unit reportedly contributed to lowering crime rates, armed robbery for example, increased reporting on sexual violence, increased female school attendance. The most significant achievements were role modelling for Liberian women who began joining the national police force in increasing numbers, changes in the perceptions of men on what women could do, and reform of Liberias police force.

While this was hailed by the then UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon and Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as precedent setting in peace keeping missions, similar contributions of women peacekeepers from other countries have been recorded in West, East, North and South Africa, South America, and South and Central Asia.

From a rights standpoint and given womens unique contribution to peacekeeping, United Nations Security Council Resolution 2242 called for doubling womens participation in UN missions. While the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1,325 emphasised integrating a gender perspective in all peace efforts, a global initiative was launched in 2009 to increase numbers of women police in UN peacekeeping.

To close the gender gap in UN peacekeeping, UN Women and the CUNPK piloted the United Nations Female Military Officers Course in 2015 in New Delhi, since replicated in three other countries inviting nominations from 51 major troop-contributing countries. The training creates national and global cadres of deployable female UN peacekeepers with tactical, strategic and practical knowledge and skills on their peacekeeping mandate, on preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence, sexual exploitation and abuse and womens other socio-economic needs. This training distinguishes itself as the first in which almost 70% of its graduates are deployed to missions.

As one of the largest troop contributors, India can further lead in bridging the gender gap in UN Peacekeeping and preventing crimes against women and girls in international conflicts. A starter could be adopting a national gender sensitive force generation policy on UN peacekeeping, and examining social norms and other barriers to recruitment and advancement of female officers, which perpetuate inequality in this sphere.

Jean DCunha is Head of UN Women Myanmar, currently on Special Assignment as Senior Adviser to UN Women Multi Country Office in India; Ajita Vidyarthi is Security and Migration Analyst at UN Women Multi Country Office in India

The views expressed are personal
Hundreds of farmers came out with their tractors on the Ludhiana  Chandigarh highway in Samrala on Tuesday in protest over the rising diesel prices.

Thousands of commuters had a tough time after they were stuck in the scorching heat due to suspension of traffic for over an hour.

As part of the protest rally, around a thousand tractors, moved in four lanes from Malwa College in Bondli village to the office of sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Samrala, and covered a distance of 2km.

While Samrala police had diverted traffic to BondliChehalan route, the traffic congestion prevailed for about an hour on the national highway, giving a harrowing time to commuters. With sun shining in all its might over your head, it was too difficult to wait in traffic jam, said Parminder Singh (45) of Model Town, who was travelling with his family to Chandigarh. On the way, one rarely gets water to drink. The administration should not allow people to block roads, especially the national highway, he added.

Memorandum handed over to SDM

The rally ended after state president of the Bharat Kisan Union (BKU), Balbir Singh Rajewal, handed over a memorandum to SDM Amit Bamby. The union members also tried to hand over keys of their tractors to the SDM to mark their protest, but he refused. From last four years, prices of diesel have been hiked four times. This has raised the income of Modi government by 10 lakh crores, Rajewal said.

He blamed the Prime Minister for ruining the agriculture sector and said, He should have utilised this amount for waving off farmer loans, but the government has used this amount to benefit the corporate sector, he added. Rajewal said, We have handed over the memorandum addressed to the PM. SDM has assured us that he will forward it to the PMO.

Harinder Singh Lakhowal, general secretary of BKU (Lakhowal) said, Nowadays, agricultural work is done with the help of machinery and farmers spent 400 to 700 on diesel to use machinery for an hour.

If the government does not reduce the prices of diesel, similar protests will be organised in other parts of the state as well, he added.
The stage is set and as a man with a silver turban walks in, thunder rolls and lights flash. The audience holds its collective breath, waiting for the show to begin.

People think magicians have special powers. This is a misconception. It is purely a science and technology based art, says OP Sharma Junior, a magician from Kanpur, UP. Now 46, he discovered the world of magic at the tender age of three, assisting father OP Sharma Senior, also a magician, on stage. He remains Sharmas biggest inspiration, the man who taught him all the tricks of the trade, pun intended.

Basically an illusionist, Sharma has even made an elephant disappear, something that he considers his biggest trick ever. You need to have presence of mind when you do magic. The rest depends on your dedication.

Under the banner of Prakash Magico (an ISO certified company) Sharma, his father and two brothers have organised more than 37,990 shows in India, Mauritius, Japan, Dubai, Singapore and the US.

We have a crew of 200 members, out of whom 65 are on-stage performers. The investment cost of our set-up is Rs 6.5 crore, which includes our equipment. It takes 20 trucks to carry 250 tonnes of this set-up from one venue to another, says Sharma. The daily running cost of this venture, which includes salaries, publicity, electricity, rent etc comes to Rs 1.75 lakh.

Though Sharmas company is a profit making venture, one doesnt see many people opting for magic as a full-fledged profession. We need governments support, both monetary and technological, to keep this traditional art form alive. Centres to teach people different forms of magic such as street magic, conjuring, illusion should be set up. Only the state of Kerala has an institute affiliated to their state university that offers certificate programmes in different forms of magic.

In Sharmas opinion, magic should be included as a subject in schools to fight the menace of fraud godmen. This will make people aware of the tricks fake babas play. Also, it will open avenues for children who want to take it up as a profession.

There are other messages too from the magician with a degree in mechanical engineering, about female foeticide and substance abuse. He has also designed a No Honking campaign for his shows in Chandigarh.

Talking to HT, Sharma fondly reminisces over his last tour to Chandigarh in 2006, when his father was honoured with a Golden Crown by the International Brotherhood of Magicians, USA. The then CM of Haryana, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, did the honours. He is back to City Beautiful after 12 years with his famous Indrajal. The shows are running at Neelam Theatre, Sector 17, Chandigarh, up to June 30.
Miffed with Tamil megastar Rajinikanths comments on the Cauvery issue, the Karnataka Film Chambers of Commerce today decided to not allow the screening of his movie Kaala in the state. The film is scheduled to release on June 7.

The film industry is upset with Rajinikanths alleged statement that whichever government comes to power in Karnataka should implement the Supreme Court order about Cauvery water sharing.

KFCC president Sa Ra Govindu told PTI that a decision has been taken that Rajinikanths film will not be screened in Karnataka. A decision has been taken that Rajinikanths movie will neither be distributed nor screened anywhere in Karnataka, said Govindu admitting that the actors statement on Cauvery issue made them take such a decision.

The KFCC president said the ban on distribution and screening of Rajinikanth movies will continue. The ban will remain because neither will he apologise for his statement nor are we going to pardon him, said Govindu.

Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy had recently asked the actor to visit the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam to see the status of water level before passing any comments. The film star has often faced the wrath of pro-Kannada organisations for his comments on the Cauvery issue.

The actor has a great fan following in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru and Kolar where there is a sizable Tamil population.

(This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.)

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A man killed two policewomen and a woman passer-by in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday, public broadcaster RTBF said, before being shot dead in an exchange of fire that sent people scattering and scurrying to take cover.

The city authorities confirmed the death toll.

The national crisis centre, on high alert since past attacks by Islamic State in Paris and Brussels, said it was looking into whether terrorism might have been a motive for Tuesdays attack in Belgiums third city.

RTBF named the alleged assailant as a 36-year-old Belgian who had been released on parole from a prison near Liege, close to the German and Dutch borders, on Monday.

He was serving time for drug offences and classified as unstable, according to RTBF. It remained unclear how the incident, during which pupils at a nearby high school were moved to a place of safety, had unfolded.

The children in the local schools are safe, Liege city authorities said on Twitter, adding that apart from the two police officers the passenger in a car had been killed.

RTBF said the man may have attacked the police officers with a box-cutter and then seized one of their weapons.

La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted Allahu Akbar -- God is greatest in Arabic -- and RTBF said investigators were looking into whether he might have been converted to Islam and radicalised in prison.

(Terrorism) is one of the questions on the table, but for the moment all scenarios are open, a spokesman for the crisis centre told Reuters.

Federal prosecutors took over the investigation, a further indication that a terrorist motive was possible.

Prime Minister Charles Michel, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims, said it was too early to say what had caused the incident.

RTBF said the attacker had a history of minor criminal convictions but was not on a list of possible violent extremists.

Two other police officers had been injured, a spokeswoman for the Liege public prosecutors office said.

Images on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Lieges central boulevard dAvroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background.

Liege, the biggest city in Belgiums French-speaking Wallonia region, was the scene of a mass shooting in 2011, when a gunman killed four people and wounded more than 100 others before turning the gun on himself.

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.

The Brussels IS cell had links to militants in Verviers, another industrial town close to Liege, where in early 2015 police raided a safe house and killed two men who had returned from fighting with radical Islamists in Syria.
The family of the young boy saved by Spiderman Mamoudou Gassama in a daring rescue that won him global acclaim and a promise of French citizenship has thanked the Malian youth for his quick thinking.

Gassama, 22, scaled four storeys of an apartment bloc in France on Saturday to rescue the four-year-old who was spotted dangling from a balcony. On Tuesday, French authorities began the first steps towards making him a citizen in recognition of his bravery.

The boys father, who had been living alone with him in Paris, had left him alone to go out to the shops and then remained on the street to play Pokemon Go, according to French investigators.

The boys mother learned the news of the rescue on Reunion Island -- the French Indian Ocean territory where she and the father were born and where she still lives.

Reacting to Gassamas intervention on Antenne Reunion radio late Monday, the woman, who was not identified, said: We can only thank him and thank heaven he was so reactive.

She said French police phoned her to tell her the news. Then I saw video on the internet. But I should not have watched it because you know its your son in the video.

Malian migrant Mamoudou Gassama (centre) arrives to receive a temporary residence permit at the Prefecture of Bobigny, northeast of Paris. (AFP Photo)

Just half an hour earlier she had spoken to both father and son in a video call, she said.

Things could have turned out much worse so I am relieved, she said, adding that she was impatient to be reunited with her son and husband.

Profound regret

The boys paternal grandmother, who also lives in Reunion, told RMC radio Tuesday that she was very moved by the images of the rescue and sent huge thanks to Gassama.

Hes really a hero, she said. He did not stand by and watch, he saved my little sweetpea.

Gassama, who had been living in France illegally since September 2017, arriving via the Mediterranean migrant route, told President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that he did not think twice before springing into action.

The video of his rescue has been viewed millions of times online.

On Tuesday, he was to visit a fire station after being offered a job with the fire service.

The childs mother, who had planned on moving to Paris in June along with the couples second child, aged one, is due to travel on France on Tuesday, the BFM news channel reported.

The father, who was arrested on charges of neglecting his parental duties, was released from custody and reunited with his son on Monday under the supervision of social services.

The mother said her husband, who is in his 30s, was shaken by the incident.

While saying she could not justify his actions she said it could have happened to anyone.

The Paris prosecutors office said he had admitted his guilt and expressed profound regret.
A Mao Zedong impersonators latest turn at a commercial event in China, where he delivered a speech wishing the forum wholehearted success, triggered an online backlash that forced the organisers to apologise.

Social media users said it was shameless and criticised the organisers for using the leaders name to promote the event.

The publicity stunt was carried out in south Chinas Hainan province at an event to promote blockchain technology.

During the event, Xu Guoxiang stepped on to the stage wearing a grey suit and speaking in Maos trademark Hunan accent. He said: I sincerely hope this forum is a success. I thank you in the name of Mao Zedong.

Xu  who has made a career impersonating Chinas iconic leader  expected applause but was instead greeted with a muted response and later a much sharper reaction on social media.

Blockchain is described by the Harvard Business Review as the technology at the heart of bitcoin and other virtual currencies. Blockchain is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way.

State-controlled Global Times tabloid reported Xu said during the speech that he appreciates all guests in the name of Mao Zedong. It quoted angry social media users as saying that the forum was sensational without a bottom line, which is shameful.

Another user was quoted as saying that images of government leaders should not be tarnished and that the organisers of the forum should be held accountable.

Despite criticism of some of his policies around the world, Mao continues to be deeply revered in China.

The State Administration for Industry and Commerce issued a guideline in June 2007 that banned companies from using the names or images of government leaders in any form of commercial promotion, the newspaper report said.

The forums organising committee told the newspaper it invited Xu as a guest to the forum and he delivered a speech with actor characteristics and personal opinion.

It added the speech represented Xus personal opinions and did not reflect that of the forum.

The committee told the newspaper it apologises for the negative impact caused by the incident while suggesting people should correctly read Xus speech.
Japan on Tuesday said it had detected what appeared to be a Chinese-flagged vessel, 350 km off Shanghai, conducting illegal transfers to a North Korean ship.

Following a comprehensive assessment, the government of Japan strongly suspects that they conducted ship-to-ship transfers banned by UNSCR, Japans Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release, referring to U.N. Security Council resolutions.

A Japanese P-3 maritime patrol plane detected the vessels, which lay alongside each other connected by hoses, on May 19, with one of the ships flying what seemed like a Chinese flag, it said.

China has repeatedly said it is fully enforcing UN sanctions against North Korea and it would punish any Chinese company breaking them.

Japans decision to voice its suspicion comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump prepared for what may be a breakthrough summit as early as next month.

Japan is urging the United States and other countries to stick to a strict imposition of UN sanctions on North Korea until it abandons the development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.

In April, the UN Security Council blacklisted dozens of ships and shipping companies over oil and coal smuggling by North Korea, including five based in China. The vessels are subject to a global port ban and must be deregistered.
Twelve more alleged drug dealers were killed in overnight raids carried out by the Bangladeshs law enforcement agencies, police said on Tuesday, taking the tally of those killed in the war on drugs to 105 since the launch of the nation-wide crackdown on narcotics trade about a fortnight ago.

The deaths of alleged drug dealers by the elite anti-crime unit, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), and the police has invited criticism from the rights group and foreign diplomats expressed concerns over the extrajudicial killings.

Twelve people were killed last night by the RAB and police during their clampdown, between last night and this morning, in nine administrative districts, including the Bangladeshi capital, a police official said.

Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina had on May 15 announced the launch of an aggressive war on drugs to smash the surging trade of Yaba, a cheap pill combining methamphetamine and caffeine.

In most of the cases, bodies of alleged drug traders were found lying on the street or roadside ditches following the raids, with law enforcement agencies claiming that some of the casualties were the result of internal clashes of drug peddlers.

The international affairs sub-committee of the ruling Awami League (AL) briefed on Monday about the drive to foreign diplomats, who expressed deep concern over the extrajudicial killings.

But AL leaders said that the law enforcement agencies were forced to retaliate after being attacked by the alleged drug peddlers.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan said that security forces have launched an all-out war on drugs and the clampdown would continue until the drug trafficking was eliminated.

Bangladesh does not produce drugs, but in the recent years it had become the destination of Yaba, a narcotic substance often referred to as horse drug. The drug smuggled from neighbouring Myanmar is popular among young people. Doctors say, in the long-term it causes decline of cognitive functions.

The Bangladesh National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) strongly condemned the extrajudicial killings, with its chairman Kazi Rezaul Hoque saying that he plans to formally write to the government expressing grave concerns.

We want to say unequivocally that the criminals, whoever she or he is, must face actions through due legal procedure, he said, echoing demands from other rights watchdogs.

The media has also questioned the sudden launch of a violent anti-drug clampdown after newspaper reports wrote about Yaba villages in frontier Teknaf that bordered Myanmar for so many years.
A popular leader of Pakistans Sikh minority, who was also a human rights activist, was gunned down on the outskirts of Peshawar on Tuesday.

Charnjit Singh, 52, was shot dead within his shop in Scheme Chowk area.

An attacker shot Singh inside his shop and escaped, superintendent of police Saddar Shaukat Khan told the local media. He died on the spot.

It was not clear whether it was a targeted killing or the outcome of personal enmity.

Singh had been living in Peshawar for decades but his family hailed from the Kurram tribal region. He owned a store in the capital of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province for a long time.

The murder caused panic among the Sikh community, as several of its members have been killed in different parts of the city over the past few years.

Most Sikhs living in Peshawar are members of families that previously resided in different parts of the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas who shifted to the city after the law and order situation deteriorated. Most of them run petty businesses.

Many members of the Sikh community live in Mohalla Jogan Shah, where an old gurdwara is located.

In recent years, Sikhs in some parts of northwest Pakistan have been targeted by militant groups such as the Taliban, who have forced them to pay jiziya or an Islamic tax. Members of the minority have also been kidnapped and killed.
A top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Singapore on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said on Tuesday, the latest indication that the on-again-off-again summit with US President Donald Trump may go ahead.

Kim Chang Son, Kims de facto chief of staff, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, the report said.

At the same time, a team of US government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left US Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The White House said a pre-advance team was traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans.

The reports indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week. A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at the Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was going there to play, according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Meanwhile, North Koreas Kim Yong Chol, a senior official dealing with inter-Korean affairs was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency said citing an unnamed source.

Due to sanctions against him, Kim Yong Chol is banned from visiting the United States normally. His visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted Kim Yong Chol for supporting the Norths nuclear and missile programmes in 2010 and 2016, respectively.

Yonhap added Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport. Yonhap did not say whether Choe would be accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

In a flurry of diplomacy over the weekend, Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-U.S. summit must be held.

And on Sunday, the US State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former US ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led that American delegation, an American official told Reuters.

Moon said on Monday that there could be more impromptu talks between the two Koreas in the lead-up to the summit.

In Kim and Moons first, upbeat meeting on April 27, they agreed to seek the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula - but didnt define what that meant, or how that would proceed.

Since then, North Korea has rejected US demands for it to unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons programme that experts say could threaten the United States.

Pyongyang also demanded the United States halt future joint military drills with South Korea if it truly wishes for talks with North Korea, the Norths Rodong Sinmun said on Tuesday. In response to reporters questions regarding the report, South Koreas defence ministry said it does not have plans to change joint exercise schedules with the United States military.

Analysts believe Washington is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree on sufficient steps towards denuclearisation to allow a summit to take place.

North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programmes as a deterrent against perceived aggression by the United States, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

It has long said it is open to eventually giving up its nuclear arsenal if the United States withdraws its troops from South Korea and ends its nuclear umbrella alliance with Seoul.
Press Release

29 May 2018

London UK/Spokane WA -- At Magnuson Worldwide, America's fastest growing hotel brand, we are proud to announce the addition of the Sun Plaza Motel to the new By Magnuson Worldwide Collection.

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The Sun Plaza Motel is located in Silver Springs, Sun Plaza and within a 5-minute walk of Wild Waters Theme Park and Silver Springs Nature Theme Park. Appleton Museum of Art is also only 1.3 mi (2.2 km) away.

Guests of the Sun Plaza Motel enjoy coffee/tea in the lobby and a seasonal outdoor pool. There is also free WiFi in public areas and free self parking providing.

Thomas Magnuson, CEO of Magnuson Worldwide says: "We are delighted to be welcoming the team at the Sun Plaza Motel to the Magnuson family."
Press Release

28 May 2018

The city of San Sebastian, Spain hosted the 108th meeting of the Executive Council of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) from 23-25 May. During the meeting, Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili obtained the support of this key governing body for the priorities that will set up the work of the organization for the coming years. Likewise, the Council supported the new structure of the UNWTO, its renewed institutional image and the designated management team for the implementation of the agreed programme of work.

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Under Secretary-General Pololikashvili, who took office in January 2018, UNWTO will focus on five pillars for the period 2018-2019: innovation and the digital transformation; investments and entrepreneurship; education and employment; safe, secure and seamless travel; and social, cultural and environmental sustainability.

In order to address new tourism challenges and trends and improve the business environment for the sector, the Organization will pay special attention to scaling up innovation and digitalization in the sector. This will lead to the creation of new job and business opportunities, an increase of investments in tourism, and enhanced competitiveness and sustainability for the sector.

The Secretary-General also presented the Organization's new leadership structure, put in place to increase efficiency in achieving UNWTO's goals of adding value to members, increasing membership and serving the tourism sector as a whole.

"This is a time of renewal for our organization. Listening closely to the opinions and needs of all our members and partners is key", Pololikashvili stated during the opening ceremony.

The Minister of Energy, Tourism and the Digital Agenda of Spain, Alvaro Nadal, praised the renewed impetus of the UNWTO under the leadership of Zurab Pololikashvili and highlighted tourism as "one of the most relevant international sectors, not only as an economic activity, but as an extraordinary vehicle for us to understand and get to know each other, something that only tourism can achieve".

The Minister of Tourism of Argentina and President of the Executive Council, Gustavo Santos, affirmed that "we need to position tourism politically as a fundamental activity of the economy".

The 109th, 110th and 111th sessions of the UNWTO Executive Council will take place in Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Russia, respectively.

UNWTO Executive Council:

The Executive Council represents the Organization's governing body, responsible for ensuring the Organization's compliance with its programme of work. The Executive Council meets at least twice a year and is composed by 33 members elected by the General Assembly in a ratio of one for every five Full Members. As host country of UNWTO's Headquarters, Spain has a permanent seat on the Council. Representatives of the Associate Members and Affiliate Members participate in Executive Council meetings as observers.

Useful links:
While many women complain about the weight gain associated with pregnancy, Cardi B is only focusing on the positives. She may not be the happiest about the psychological changes she's encountered but she could not be any more pleased with how her body has transformed while carrying Offset's child. As her due date must be nearing, Cardi has halted all performances until the Fall, enjoying the time she has with her baby and her last few months of pregnancy. While she may have needed to see a plastic surgeon for any breast augmentations she was interested in at one time, she now knows that getting pregnant will give her the same results.

Speaking to her followers in an Instagram video, Cardi noted how happy she is about how her body has changed. "You see what my child is doing to me?" asked Bardi. "Do you see my motherfucking hair? This shit growing. You see my skin, like a b-tch look like I put moisturizer but I just woke up. T-tties is getting bigger, know what I'm saying? B-tch don't gotta go to DR to get her t-tties done no more like, got a whole motherfucking brand new pair of t-tties." Lamenting the negative aspects of pregnancy like her heartburn and loss of breath at times, Cardi asserts that her child is doing her good with her looks.

While it is unclear how far along Cardi is in her pregnancy, it was reported as far back as Super Bowl weekend when her team claimed she was a few months pregnant. What do you think Offset and Bardi will name their child?
Eric Mason, who owns a Chick-Fil-A franchise in Sacramento, has decided to increase some of his employees hourly wages rather significantly. Those individuals known as "hospitality professionals" will see their pay jump from $12.50-13/hour to a healthy $17-18/hour. In addition, these specialized staff members will also receive paid time off, while all employees can benefit from paid sick-days.

Mason recently spoke to a local television station about the decision, which was informed by a conscious effort to search for people "who are looking for long-term opportunity." The company is creating a work environment that will help bolster an individual's ability to "raise a family," and "improve their lifestyle," whilst stating how "the people are the real key to a successful business."

As it stands, the minimum wage in California is $11/hour, and will increase nearly $0.50/year until it reaches $15 by the year 2022.

Chick-Fil-A has always implemented more traditional business values, as they cease operation on Sundays, also known as the Sabbath Day. In the past, CEO Dan Cathy has expressed how his company staunchly supports "the biblical definition of the family unit," whilst decrying marriage equality as an opportunity to "invite God's judgement." Such comments inevitably spurred widespread outrage and a national boycott.
Drake and Pusha T reignited their feud over the weekend after the release of Daytona. Pusha fired clear shots at Drake, Lil Wayne and Cash Money on "Infrared." Drizzy replied with "Duppy Freestyle" shortly after which not only dissed Pusha T but also Kanye West. It comes at a strange time because both Drake and Kanye were reportedly locked in 'Ye's Wyoming studio a few weeks back. However, Ebro recently chimed in on the conversation on his morning show and revealed that 'Ye and Drake may have been working on some major songs before the feud reignited.

Ebro, Laura Stylez and Peter Rosenberg broke down the history behind Drake and Pusha T beef. Ebro's had several conversations with Kanye West in the past few weeks and clearly has some information that isn't already known by the public. He explained that Drake and Kanye were working together in Wyoming. However, after Drizzy left, he was apparently looking for beats from other producers.

"I'm told when [Drake] left Wyoming or whereever, he started calling around looking for beats." Ebro said, "He was callin' people lookin' for beats... Like yo, I need some records and people was like, in the producer world, like 'you just left Kanye.'"

Ebro continued to say there's a possibility the two of them didn't "accomplish what they set out to accomplish" during the Wyoming studio session.

He later revealed that Kanye West was supposedly on Drake's hit single, "Nice For What."

"And yes, there's supposedly. Kanye was supposed to be on "Nice For What" or there's a version of "Nice For What" with Kanye that we may never hear." He said.

Peep the full clip below. Ebro chats Kanye West and Drake's studio sessions around the 10:15 mark.
Kanye West is well on his way to dominating the summer with the several releases coming out of the G.O.O.D Music camp. However, he recently got involved in more controversy over the weekend after Rhymefest accused him of abandoning nonprofit organization, Donda House. Kim Kardashian and Rhymefest got into it on Twitter before the organization decided to distance themselves from Kanye West as well as change the name of it after Kim's Twitter tirade. However, a new report suggests that the company was already on it's way to shutting down prior to the incident.

According to theBlast, Donda House was already facing dangers of shutting down prior to this weekend's dispute. They say that the organization classified as "not good standing" by the Office Of Illinois Secretary of State.

A Secretary of State official told them that Donda House failed to file their annual report on April 1st which caused them to lose their "Good Standing" classification with him. The annual report needs to include the board of directors and the stated goal or purpose. The report also reveals that Kanye's been listed as a director for Donda House in previous filings.

Unfortunately, the report says that the company was already on it's way to shutting down before Rhymefest and Kim got into it on Twitter. The official for Illinois Secretary of State said the company would automatically dissolve after approximately five months of being in "Not Good Standing."
Michael B. Jordan is coming off the success of playing Killmonger in Black Panther. Prior to Thanos showing up, Jordan effectively fixed Marvel's issue of having lame villains (Loki is the only Marvel Cinematic Universe villain in ten years to really captivate fans) and delivered an epic performance. It's on to the next one for Jordan though, who continues to put in work both in front of and behind the camera. Most recently, HBO released a film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451, which is based on a book of the same name by Ray Bradbury. Jordan stars as Guy Montag, a "firefighter" whose job is to burn books that have been deemed illegal. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jordan initially turned down the role, citing cultural morals as his reason for passing on the role the first time.

"Being a black man, I didn't want to play somebody who's an oppressor," Jordan told THR. "I just didn't want that in my head." It wasn't until he realized that actor Michael Shannon was connected to the film that Jordan began to change his mind. "After sitting down with the director Ramin [Bahrani] and knowing Michael Shannon was going to be a part of it  he's an incredible actor  and understanding the vision and themes and messages he wanted to send through the movie, I was like, 'Okay,'" Jordan stated, also claiming that surviving "through the third act" was big for him.

"I didn't want the audiences to keep seeing me die in roles," Jordan admitted. "And my mom, every time I watched her watch me die onscreen, it tore me up. I just wanted to play a role so she could see me win."
Roseanne Barr took to Twitter on Monday to proclaim a bevy of anti-semitic and Islamophic remarks (they have all since been deleted.) This Twitter storm came out of nowhere, and took the general public by surprise.

Firstly, Barr tweeted "Chelsea Soros Clinton," falsely accusing Bill Clinton's daughter of being married to the nephew of George Soros, a billionaire investor and Holocaust survivor. The comedienne then began to share a conspiracy theory aimed squarely at the business magnate, tweeting "soros goal; the overthrow of us constitutional republic by buying/backing candidates 4 local district attorney races who will ignore US law & favor feelings instead-and call everyone who is alarmed by that racist." She also accuses Soros of being a "nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth."

After having been probed about what Clinton was hiding "under her winter clothes at the end of May," Barr replied "its a colostomy jug cuz full of shite."

Clinton eventually responded to the allegations on Twitter. "Good morning Roseanne  my given middle name is Victoria. I imagine George Soross nephews are lovely people. Im just not married to one. I am grateful for the important work @OpenSociety does in the world. Have a great day!"

However, Clinton and Soros were not the other people who felt the wrath of Barr, as she also targeted Obama's former senior adviser Valerie Jarrett. The comedienne wrote how if the "muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj."

Tuesday morning, Barr tweeted out that she will be leaving the social media platform, whilst also apologizing to Jarrett for "making a bad joke about her politics and her looks."
Travis Scott's Houston Oilers-inspired Air Jordan 4 collab is set to release within the next two weeks, but it appears there are even more "Cactus Jack" 4s in the works.

In addition to the grey and black rendition that Travis has stepped out in, he has also revealed an unreleased purple colorway that could be yet another collaboration. The special edition kicks first surfaced in one of Travis' IG posts last week, but last night he gave fans a closer look at the kicks as he watched his Houston Rockets take on the Golden State Warriors in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals. The purple upper is accompanied by black and grey accents as well as a white midsole, but other details regarding this sneaker, including whether or not they'll release, remain in question.

Swipe through the photos in the IG post embedded below for a more detailed look at the purple 4s, as well as some of the other "Cactus Jack" Air Jordans.
Canada has agreed to purchase Kinder Morgan Canada Ltd.s Trans Mountain oil pipeline and its controversial expansion project for about $3.5 billion ($4.5 billion Canadian), a bid to ensure it gets built amid fierce opposition.

Houston-based Kinder Morgan announced the deal Tuesday after Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus cabinet was due to meet in Ottawa. It's expected to close later this year.

The purchase agreement marks a stunning development for Trudeaus government -- effectively nationalizing the countrys highest-profile infrastructure project until an operator can be found. The project has been beset by legal uncertainty and rising protests from environmental groups and the province of British Columbia.

It will be a key test of Trudeaus bid to balance the environment and the economy by backing the $5.7 billion (C$7.4 billion) pipeline expansion while pushing a national carbon price to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

RELATED: With pipeline trapped by north-of-the-border politics, Kinder Morgan says Oh! Canada!

Kinder Morgan shut down work on the multibillion dollar pipeline in April amid disagreements between Canada's provincial governments. The project would move crude from the tar sands of Alberta to ports on the Pacific Coast of British Columbia.

Expects to Sell

Canada first offered earlier this month to indemnify the expansion project but is now likely to buy it, along with the existing pipeline thats been in operation since 1953. The Canadian government plans to sell the project -- the existing line and its expansion -- as soon as is reasonable once its guaranteed that it will be built, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Kinder Morgan shares rose more 2 percent in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

The two sides had been in talks since the company set a May 31 deadline for the government to give certainty in the face of opposition from British Columbia, which is concerned about increased tanker traffic and possible oil spills along the Pacific coast. Trudeau pledges regularly, including on Monday, that the pipeline will be built.

The Trans Mountain expansion would almost triple capacity to 890,000 barrels of oil on a line running from Alberta to a terminal near Vancouver. The 980-kilometer (600-mile) expansion is seen by the oil industry as a crucial link to Asian markets, allowing producers to diversify away from the U.S., which takes the vast majority of Canadian oil exports.

Katherine Blunt of the Houston Chronicle and Bloomberg News contributed.

This article has been updated to reflect that Kinder Morgan's announcement occurred after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's cabinet was due to meet.


Under the futuristic skylight dome that flanks Greenway Plazas food court, the aroma was faint but unmistakable: woodsmoke.

That alluring Texas scent smelled strange and exciting in such a setting. It snaked around the angular armchairs and crisp white tables populated by office workers on their lunch breaks, beckoning them toward Feges BBQs big, sleek counter set-up, which sits front and center at the head of the dining plaza.

Serious smoked-on-site barbecue and office towers have not gone together in our tribal food history. The high-grade exhaust and fire-extinguishing systems required in an urban setting have militated against it. So has the low common denominator that has long prevailed in workaday American food courts.

Well, goodbye to all that. Feges BBQ at Greenway heralds a new day  and a new chapter in Houstons brave new barbecue era, which has seen such rapid evolution since Ronnie Killen opened his landmark Killens Barbecue a little over four years ago.

I used to see Patrick Feges (pronounced fee-jis, as a wall graphic announces) manning the cutting board back in Killens early days, when the self-taught pitmaster and classically trained chef was soaking up barbecue techniques and refining his own.

The lanky Purple Heart veteran, who served with the Army in Iraq, had already smoked barbecue from a trailer outside local bars while working in the kitchens of Underbelly and Brennans. He went on to make a name for himself doing weekend barbecue specials at the late Southern Goods.

More Information Feges BBQ Two stars 3 Greenway Plaza, Suite C-210 Hours: B&L 7-9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Mondays-Fridays only Credit cards: all major Prices: meat plates with two sides $12-$20; sandwiches $10; sides $3; desserts $5 Must-orders: chopped-to-order brisket sandwich; sausage, rib and brisket plate; loaded baked sweet potato with pulled pork; yogurt and cilantro slaw; Moroccan spiced carrots; mashed sweet potato and banana; dirty rice; kale salad; loaded potato salad; banana cream pie with salted caramel Reservations: first come, first served Noise level: moderate Parking: Greenway Plaza visitor lots, free for two hours with validation. I like the underground lot in front of Greenway 5, accessible through westernmost visitor entrance off U.S. 59; from the lobby, enter through the dome and bear right. Website: fegesbbq.com Star ratings Four stars: superlative; can hold its own on a national stage. Three stars: excellent; one of the best restaurants in the city. Two stars: very good; one of the best restaurants of its kind. One star: a good restaurant that we recommend. No stars: restaurant cannot be recommended. See More Collapse

He got married, too  to Erin Smith, the talented chef who burst on the Houston scene at Plonk after working in New York at Per Se and Babbo. Together they have fashioned a very modern barbecue joint: polished and invigorating, with his solid meat classics for connoisseurs and her fascinating vegetable side dishes for adventurers.

Its a fertile collaboration that has produced a menu that seems deeply local, running from earthy smoked boudin to exuberantly funky dirty rice, elotes-style corn salad to big ol pork cracklings. And if quality can get a bit bumpy in these very early days, rest assured there is no way to eat here and be bored.

Consider, if you will, the riveting brisket sandwich that is chopped to order, piled high on a buttered-and-toasted potato bun, and set forth with no further adornment. None is necessary: The saltiness of the peppered, charry crust edges sets off the suave, smoky quality of the well-rendered beef just so, and it all pops out against the delicious canvas of that bun.

You can add some squiggles of pickled red onion if you like, and dip an edge into a tiny cup of the sweet and tangy house barbecue sauce on occasion. But this is one brisket sandwich that stands very nicely on its own. I had to stop myself from wolfing it down like a savage.

Consider, too, the Feges version of that hallowed barbecue trope, the loaded baked potato. Here, the potato is sweet  yeah, the orange kind  and it can cradle a blissful tangle of pulled pork gussied up with whatever you like from the fixings array as you pass through the serving counter: grated cheese, green onions, sour cream  or maybe youd rather try some of the zippy house buttermilk ranch dressing drizzled on top. Somehow the combo of sweet and savory, soft and crisp and chewy works together way, way better than I expected it to do.

You can get chopped-to-order smoked turkey on that potato, and the assertive saltiness of the juicy meat actually works better in that sweet context than it does on its own. If theres one weakness here, its a tendency toward aggressive seasoning that can run away with a meal if you dont try to balance things out.

My first sample of brisket seemed wildly salty, but on another occasion the salt, though pronounced, was not overdone. A special of Korean-style burnt ends was simply too salty and sweet, both, for me to eat with pleasure. And though I bow to the style and sass of the side dishes, so many of them possess what a staffer called a kick on the end  or a sharp pickly twang  that I longed for a couple of more gentle concoctions that would give my palate a place to rest.

I thought I had found one in the smooth fluff of sweet potatoes pureed with banana, which gave them an elusive tropicality. But on my next visit, a vigorous dusting of chipotle rub made the sweet potatoes hot, not mild. Elotes-style corn salad the first time I sampled it was so tart and peppery I could hardly tell that the kernels had been tantalizingly smoked. Yet on the second go-round, even the mild cotija cheese crumbles came through.

The barbecue side staples of cole slaw and potato salad emerge in unfamiliar guises. I loved the spare neutrality of a cabbage slaw barely moistened with tart yogurt, flavored with a bit of sesame oil and given a twinge of cilantro. And a loaded potato salad turned out to be a bacon-y, black-peppery, vinegar-shot amalgam that reminded me  happily  of what might happen if you mashed a skilletful of German fried potatoes.

There are no beans, interestingly enough. But there are frisky roasted Brussels sprouts, and exuberantly pickled Asian cucumbers, and little baby carrots glossed with a warm, complex Moroccan spice mixture. In fact, Feges may be one of the few barbecue places extant where a pick 3 vegetable plate is a scintillating option.

Curiously, I found myself eating kale salad and liking it  enough so that I ordered it again on another trip. Usually I avoid the raspy, virtuous raw leaves, but Smiths additions of tart/sweet dressing, slivered almonds and dried cherries are happy ones. I could even imagine ordering the big $9 kale salad and springing for some smoked chicken on top. Although at that point, my Texas barbecue credentials might well be revoked.

Never mind. Ill win back plenty of points for the vast quantity of smoked Ruffino pork sausage I have eaten here, judiciously seasoned stuff with a garlicky undercurrent, stout casings and a lovely tight texture that tilts toward the finely ground.

Also to my card-carrying cue credit, I have happily consumed numerous St. Louis-cut pork ribs here, meaty specimens neatly trimmed of their cartilage and not so long-smoked that they are tender and falling off the bone. Thank goodness. I much prefer a more bite-able rib, and the ones at Feges are wonderfully gnawable, with a dark bark that bears only a trace of sweetness, not a boatload.

Smiths desserts are delicate and dreamy, from a subtle banana cream pielet with an irresistible underlay of salted caramel, to a chocolatey peanut butter and jelly layer cake that tastes like a birthday.

The line moves smoothly. You pick up napkins and plastic utensils at an end point, near soda and iced tea dispensers. Big vats of the house barbecue sauce  in which I thought I tasted tomato, dark brown sugar, Worcestershire and vinegar  are on tap, along with an Alabama-style white sauce thats like a thinned, spicy mayonnaise, as well as something called Texas Gold, a vigorously sweet-sour mustard sauce.

Yes, there are slices of white bread for the taking, too. Look for big jars of jalapenos, and if you require onion, ask for the pickled red variety as you pass through the line.

Then take your tray to one of the pristine white two-tops or the glossy slabs of raw-edged wood that make for dramatic communal tables off to one side. Your fellow diners will be not only Greenway Plaza denizens, but the kind of barbecue hounds you run into all over the city.

On one recent Friday, quite by chance, I ran into Texas Monthlys barbecue columnist Daniel Vaughn along with my barbecue colleague, J.C. Reid. The Blood Brothers barbecue team had already been and gone. Willet Feng wandered over during a lull at his neighboring Burger-chan kiosk to talk to friends. Chef Monica Pope showed up for a lunch meeting in the svelte new sunken atrium. David Kim, executive director of the Urban Land Institute, which offices upstairs, wandered by and stayed to kibitz.

It felt like a party at that huge wooden table, in that most unlikely setting. Tasted like one, too.

My sense is that Feges and Smith have only begun. Their restaurant is still in flux, and so full of promise. They do interesting, creative specials. They serve a small breakfast menu that includes barbecue tacos and biscuits with smoked boudin gravy. Theyre still figuring out the market at Greenway; a weekly whole-hog special, Feges first love as a pit master, has been discontinued because it wasnt selling well. Im eager to see what their future will bring.

Alison Cook is the Chronicle's James Beard Award-winning restaurant critic. Follow her on Twitter, and keep up with Houston's latest dining and drinking news and reviews by subscribing to our free Flavor newsletter.
Texas leads the nation in Crown Royal sales, so it would stand to reason that the Canadian whisky brand has a soft spot for the Lone Star State.

And now Crown Royal has found a way to show its affection with a limited-edition spirit called Texas Mesquite  Crown Royal Deluxe infused with mesquite smoke.
The sun was sinking over Harwin Drive in a golden, peachy blaze when I pulled into a strip-mall parking lot for my first iftar, the meal that breaks the daylong fast observant Muslims undertake during the holy month of Ramadan.

I was meeting my colleague Mizanur Rahman at Mezban, a modest Pakistani restaurant in the Mahatma Gandhi District that is one of his favorite places at which to break the fast. We had planned to arrive at 7:45, comfortably in advance of the 8:08 p.m. sunset on that third day of Ramadan, to beat the rush of hungry families and friends that swarm the place as the sun drops below the horizon.

But it was Friday, May 18, and a shooter had killed 10 students and teachers at Santa Fe High School that morning, and Mizanur was still stuck at work, doing final edits on a story. I sat on a metal mesh chair in front of the restaurant, admiring the waxing crescent of new moon poised between the Maharani Music store and the Ruby Beauty Salon, where nose piercings were advertised for $15.

The sighting of the new moon two days before had kicked off the Ramadan observances in Houston, heralding a month of prayer, fasting, charity and self-examination. Not to mention a constant round of get-togethers, too: at festive iftar dinners in homes and restaurants, at mosques afterward for special evening prayers, at a round of visits among family and friends. "It's kind of like Thanksgiving, but it lasts all month," Mizanur had explained to me.

I wondered how he was getting through the stress of the horrible news day without eating and drinking. I pondered, too, if I were made of strong enough stuff to fast. Growing up, I was famous in my family for growing cranky and agitated when I wasn't fed on schedule, traits that have followed me into my life as a food writer. I speculated about whether a month of fasting would concentrate my brain toward devotion and reflection or send me careening off the rails. I feared it would be the latter, even as I hoped it wouldn't.

As I sat and waited, a steady stream of guests entered Mezban, disappearing into the opaque glass foyer that gives the place a blank, unpromising look from outside. Indeed, I had tried unsuccessfully to peer into the restaurant during forays to next-door Parivar Grocers, where I sometimes shop for fresh fenugreek leaves and sacks of yellow daal. But Mezban had appeared forbidding, and perhaps somewhat scruffy, and I had never gone in.

Judging by the dressy procession of regulars passing by, that had been a mistake. Many of the women wore elegant salwar kameez ensembles of tunic and slacks, with long rectangular scarves trailing after them in the breeze. Young men in trim polo shirts filtered in by twos and threes. Strollers rolled by. Children darted about with that fizzy excitement that comes with being dressed for a holiday.

GRAY MATTERS: Counting down to Iftar

About 15 minutes after the official time of sunset, Mizanur showed up. He seemed subdued, but none the worse for wear. By then Mezban's dining room was packed, people were milling in the foyer waiting to be seated, and everybody seemed to have already gone through the $15.99 buffet line once. They were breaking the fast with alacrity and enthusiasm.

The whole place buzzed over a current of calm instrumental music. A young staffer wearing a "Keep Calm, it's Ramadan" T-shirt showed us to a huge circular table in the overflow room, a banqueting which was set up with floor mats across one end to accommodate prayers.

We trooped back through the dining room to work the buffet. Salads, fried bits and bobs, unfamiliar dumplings swimming in a yogurt bath, flatbreads, biryanis, chicken and goat curries, tandoori items ... I went through in the sort of poleaxed daze new buffets can induce in me, grabbing a bit here and squeezing bit more in there, propping this against that, moving on half-convinced I've just made a terrible first-timer's mistake.

Everyone else seemed to know exactly what they were doing.

Mizanur homed in right away on a majestic glass samovar dispensing an orange liquid. "It's a kind of punch," he told me, swigging some right there in line. "Good for getting some sugar into your system." Dates traditionally perform the same function, and when we returned to our sprawling table, I found a little dish of them parked there. Islamic custom holds that the prophet Muhammad broke the fast by eating three dates, and that sounds like a sensible start.

But who is going to stop there? I blazed through my frisky chickpea salad drizzled with tamarind chutney, rejected my lifeless fried pakoras, rejoiced in a heap of fine-grained chicken biryani threaded with gloriously caramelized onion and fragrant spices.

GRAY MATTERS: Coming together at the dinner table

I had scooped up a bunch of mixed vegetables because Mizanur did, though normally I avoid mixed vegetable dishes in Indo-Pakistani restaurants. And wow, was I surprised: the carrots and green beans and whatnot jumped with heat and a deep, rich tang. It was like school-lunch material with enormous swagger.

I loved the burnished, fiery funk of the goat curry and the green herbal twang of chicken hara masala, made here in a rustic, homey version that's quite different from the more polished one served at Himalaya, a couple of blocks away. Homey is kind of Mezban's style, from what I can figure out, right down to that mysterious orange punch that reminded me of something that might be served at a Southern family reunion.

Michael Ciaglo/Houston Chronicle

As we ate, men and women filtered in from the main dining room to pray, moving their shoes, the women wrapping their heads with those long, floaty scarves. "Will it seem disrespectful to be eating in front of them?" I murmured to Mizanur. I was nervous about giving offense, and I had been relieved that nearly all the women had arrived with heads uncovered, so that I didn't stick out like the only party guest who failed to read the "requested attire" line on the invitation.

"It's fine, as long as we're not in front of them," Mizanur reassured me. Presently he retired to wash his hands before praying himself, leaving me on the sidelines with my fruit punch and my thoughts.

I thought about the bereaved parents and siblings and classmates and husbands in Santa Fe, still reeling from the morning's carnage. I dwelled a little on our uncertain times. And then, sitting in my gilded banquet chair, feeling comforted by the life and food and faith around me, I prayed, too.

Alison Cook is the Chronicle's James Beard Award-winning restaurant critic. Follow her on Twitter, and keep up with Houston's latest dining and drinking news and reviews by subscribing to our free Flavor newsletter.

And subscribe to the Gray Matters newsletter, too. It jumps with heat and a deep, rich tang.
CLEAR LAKE  Makayla Ellis didnt expect to be part of a grand experiment in higher education. But she was won over by a deer.

Deciding where to go to college, Ellis spotted the animal when she visited the University of Houston-Clear Lakes campus. She loved the universitys rural, tucked-away feel and enrolled, becoming one of UH-Clear Lakes roughly 200 first-ever freshmen.

Ellis and other first-ever freshmen graduated on May 20, marking the first full cycle of a four-year bachelors degree for UH-Clear Lake. Until 2014, the university was one of the last upper-division universities in the country, meaning it only taught juniors, seniors and graduate students. Just two  Sul Ross Rio Grande and Texas A&M Central Texas  remain in Texas, according to the states higher education coordinating board.

Lawmakers approved the change in 2011 after UH-Clear Lake said it would help the UH System serve more students, particularly in the Clear Lake region with employers that include NASA and energy companies. Staff expected the so-called downward expansion to stabilize finances and grow enrollment.

Four years later, evaluating life as a four-year school is a study in contrasts.

New freshmen roam campus early in the day, well before evening classes popular among juniors, seniors and graduate students begin. Undergraduate enrollment is up 12 percent from fall 2014 through fall 2017. New science labs and a wellness center will open this year.

But challenges persist.

Staff say the universitys identity is not clear, which has hindered recruitment. A boom and a bust of international graduate student enrollment resulted in budget shortfalls and a $2.1-million, 6-percent proposed spending reduction for the 2019 fiscal year. And admissions staff are working to better market degrees, acknowledging that UH-Clear Lake is still struggling to woo students like Ellis to campus.

We kind of felt like guinea pigs, Ellis said of university faculty and staff. They were experimenting on us.

Administrators and faculty members dont attribute their deficits to teaching freshmen and sophomores. But they say the change, mixed with declines in graduate school enrollment, forced the institution to invest, deeply and quickly, in freshmen and sophomores.

The unknown really worried a lot of faculty, said Brian Stephens, the faculty senates president. For us to grow, we needed to transition  (but before,) the students didnt fluctuate that much. Budgeting was an easier process.

Faculty say the universitys new president Ira Blake, who came to UH-Clear Lake in 2017, has been open about budgeting shortfalls.

She appointed a new provost who will start in July, and faculty hope that person will re-energize professors and focus the universitys mission.

Today, Blake acknowledges that change is challenging but says UH-Clear Lake better serves the region as a four-year campus. She pledged to find new revenue sources.

But the last few years have brought some pessimism to the university.

The idea that well sit here and (students will) keep pouring in, said Lisa Gossett, who chairs UH-Clear Lakes environmental management program, is not the reality these days.

Strange duck

When UH-Clear Lake opened in 1974, it was one of several dozen upper-division universities nationwide. Decade by decade, however, schools began enrolling freshmen and sophomores.

When youre an upper-level university  particularly in this last decade, youre somewhat of a strange duck, then-President William Staples reflected in a speech years after lawmakers approved the change for UH-Clear Lake in 2011.

In 2015, Texas politicians allocated more than $3 million a year for two years  start-up money  to help the transition, Staples said last session. The university hired dozens of new faculty to teach freshmen and sophomores, said interim Provost Glen Houston.

More than 1,700 students applied to be part of UH-Clear Lakes first freshman class. About 230 enrolled. The university added new programs, including a psychology doctorate and a bachelors degree in addictions counseling. New construction began.

But by 2017, budget shortfalls were apparent. Staples urged state lawmakers to continue giving start-up money for UH-Clear Lakes downward expansion.

MORE: Texas colleges feeling effects of decline in international students

That winter, he told the Houston Chronicle that without that money, UH-Clear Lake may have to return to being an upper-level university. The university faced a $13.9-million general revenue and tuition shortfall, comprising 11 percent of its operating budget, and it pledged to freeze hires and review graduate programs, university services and course schedules. UH-Clear Lake did not fill positions when faculty left, Houston said.

It started buying Facebook, Google and Instagram advertisements. Administrators said they would diversify plunging international enrollment, which analysts attribute to increased competition from universities abroad, U.S. politics with rhetoric unfriendly to foreign students, and the rising costs of American degrees.

Blake presented a gloomy financial outlook in an early address.

Without growing enrollment, she said, UH-Clear Lake would continue to run a deficit.

This is not a viable long-term strategy, she said. To faculty and staff, about university fundraising, she said, I genuinely need your assistance.

She said UH-Clear Lake is committed to being a four-year university and will diversify revenue through foundation grants, giving and enrollment increases.

UHs government relations vice chancellor Jason Smith said continuing to enroll freshmen and sophomores would be very hard without supplemental money from Texas.

I am told were probably not capable of that, he said.

Identity questions

Faculty are hopeful that new leadership will clarify the universitys identity and update a mission statement, which they say will draw in more students. Steven Berberich, the new provost, is expected to begin in the summer.

Interim provost Houston remains bullish on enrolling students in a four-year university but says the campus must offer appealing programs.

We dont have enough students, (but) once we get to a certain level, it will be more self sustaining, he said. Its just not there yet.

MONEY: Colleges try to shore up lawmakers' support for special items

Houston said about 30 percent of freshmen who started in fall 2014 graduated in May, a figure the university could not confirm.

Some peers, Ellis said, transferred when they realized they wouldnt get the traditional freshman experience with dorms, campus clubs and intense school spirit.

But she got involved in developing traditions for the university, and in helping professors adjust to teaching younger students.

You could feel that they were trying to figure it out as well, she said.

Lindsay Ellis writes about higher education for the Chronicle. You can follow her on Twitter and send her tips at lindsay.ellis@chron.com.
Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg

President Donald Trump recently hosted a White House event that, in an earlier era, would have been remarkable.

Surrounded by cabinet members, Trump stridently spoke out about serious problems in the criminal justice system. But instead of just spewing law and order bromides about getting tough on crime, this Republican president talked about the tremendous struggle faced by former inmates freed from prison after serving their sentences, about their problems finding a steady job where they can pay taxes, contribute to their country, gain dignity and pride that comes with a career. And he pressed Congress to send him legislation crafted to help criminals whove served their time to adjust to life in the free world.
When the search firm Houston ISD hired during its last superintendent search conducted focus groups of employees, parents and the community to assess the districts strengths and weaknesses, one quality consistently came up as one of our greatest strengths  our people.

This is why the news in the past couple of weeks that the Houston Independent School District will be losing four of its top administrators concerns so many people who have worked closely with HISD for years. As the school year comes to a close amid turmoil and uncertainty, and without the benefit of a permanent superintendent, the steady hands of seasoned administrators guiding us as we face our new and old challenges has been a luxury most of us dont think about. However, these roles are critical to making sure that every detail and issue in this large and complex district is attended to, and their departure leaves even more concern and uneasiness about our future.

Most advocates who have worked with HISD for any length of time have gotten to know one or more of these administrators: Chief of Staff Cynthia Wilson, Deputy Superintendent Samuel Sarabia, Chief Student Support Officer Mark Smith and Officer of Advanced Academics Adam Stephens. Among them they have more than 75 years of experience with the district  Sam Sarabia and Mark Smith accounting for about 30 years each, Adam Stephens about 15 years and Cynthia Wilsons latest tenure with HISD lasted a little over a year, but she had been with HISD previously.

EDITORIAL: HISD melee marks total failure in governance

Each of these administrators brought something special to HISD leadership.

Sam Sarabia was a strong mentor to many in leadership in HISD. He had his detractors, but his devotion to our vulnerable populations was evident in the work he did.

Mark Smith worked on and developed many of the more recent endeavors to bring more equity to the district. While he is best known for his work on magnet schools, his work on discipline reform and restructuring resources to better fund the greater needs in schools with higher percentages of impoverished students has provided far reaching benefits to our minority and low-income communities.

Adam Stephens brought vision and strong leadership to Advanced Academics, and always looked for ways to ensure that our Gifted and Talented and Advanced Placement programs benefitted all parts of the diverse community we have in HISD.

And while her tenure with us was short, Cynthia Wilson had an impeccable reputation for being a collaborative and responsive chief.

MORE: HISD supporters should prepare for the worst case scenario

RELATED: Failing conduct for HISD trustees

Our central office administrators in HISD dont get a special day of appreciation. They are often the subject of anger and frustration from members of our community who sometimes target them as punching bags for the complex problems in our district. But for years, no matter how strong the criticism, these administrators came to work every day and focused on ways to do more and be better for all kids in the district, and we are stronger because of their devotion.

It will take staffers with talent and dedication to fill these positions in this time of transformation, and I ask HISD to take a long look both at its internal ranks and outside of the district to find the best candidates to replace these strong leaders. To search for candidates able to navigate jobs that are often politically fraught with competing interests and goals. To look for experienced candidates with proven results in managing complex systems with not only skill, but the internal moral drive to put our kids first, always. And to find the brightest leaders with a commitment to helping HISD realize its full potential.

Flores Richart is a Houston attorney and HISD parent.
Imperial Valley News Center

Have fun but be safe in the sun

Rochester, Minnesota - Many teenagers, and sometimes their parents, think melanoma won't happen to people under 20. So skin cancer cases in young people aren't detected as early as health care providers would like.

To get the message out to kids of all ages about the importance of skin cancer prevention, Mayo Clinic created a cartoon-style public service announcement in 2013, "Have Fun in the Sun, But Be Sun Smart." In the announcement, two moles enjoy a sunny day at the beach. One is protected from the sun. The other isn't. He gets a sunburn that ruins his day and develops a skin mole that sends him to his health care provider. The health care provider explains the danger of skin cancer and the importance of sun smarts: using sunscreen, skipping tanning beds, seeking shade and getting spots checked.

The song "Sunburn Goofin' All Day" is used with permission of Meeko/Big Electric Music.
Grand theft shed

Lebanon, Maine - The 25-foot long shed was just sitting there on a foreclosed property in Lebanon, ME and so three bold thieves hooked it up to their pickup truck and attempted to drag it away.

But state police spotted them inching their way along the road, blocking traffic, and quickly caught up with them after what might be described as a slow-speed chase, reports the Association of Mature American Citizens.
This is Why You Need the Right Mattress to Get Good Sleep
The Honest Company is making its first move to grow outside of North America: Next spring, the non-toxic brand founded by Jessica Alba will launch in Western Europe, the company tells Inc.

But there's a catch: The diapers, wipes, and cleaning products that helped build the brand won't be available. Only Honest Beauty, the company's relatively newer line of makeup, skin care, and hair care products, will be on store shelves there beginning in April 2019.

Honest CEO Nick Vlahos says the beauty line will launch in a few hundred Douglas stores in Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Poland, the Netherlands, and Austria. Douglas is a 2.8 billion ($3.3 billion) cosmetics and perfume chain headquartered in Germany with more than 2,500 stores in Western Europe.

So why is Honest betting big on only cosmetics?

For one thing, the diaper market in Western Europe is notoriously tough to crack. P&G's Pampers owns 40 percent of the market share there, according to market research firm Euromonitor, and local and private label brands have a strong foothold. Kimberly-Clark, maker of Huggies brand diapers, pulled out of the market in 2012 after more than 20 years of trying to make the margins work. "They're not going to find it easy at all to break in in terms of baby diapers. I just don't think they have the checkbook to go up against P&G," says Robert Waldschmidt, head of consumer research at U.K.-based financial services firm Liberum.

Vlahos said Honest doesn't have any plans in the near future to bring its baby line across the pond, admitting that getting brand awareness for the category "is very difficult to do in the European market."

Beauty is also the massively bigger business opportunity abroad.

The beauty and personal care market in Western Europe was valued at $94 billion in 2017 and is expected to grow to nearly $100 billion by 2022, according to Euromonitor. The diaper market, which was valued at $5.6 billion in 2017, is expected to shrink to $5.4 billion by 2022, thanks in part to lower birth rates.

"Given the gross margins on beauty, I suspect they want to go in and make the most profitable start they can," Waldschmidt says. Gross profit margins on cosmetics can be as high as 70 to 80 percent. If Honest is still looking to become an acquisition target, he added, "in the long run, beauty may be a much better business to be selling than the personal care side of things." Honest Company had been in acquisition talks with Unilever in 2016 but Unilever decided to buy Seventh Generation instead.

Honest Beauty is one of the company's fastest-growing categories, experiencing 34 percent growth in 2017 from 2016, according to Vlahos, who declined to comment on its margins. Honest's diaper sales, he says, are up 10 percent.

March marked Vlahos's one-year anniversary as Honest Company's CEO. The Clorox veteran took over from previous Honest chief executive Brian Lee, shaking up the management structure and shifting the brand toward broader retail distribution.

"We didn't have the experience we needed from a planning and demand perspective--we didn't know how to build out those things. Nick is showing me the ropes," Alba told Inc. in a phone interview in March. "I was in tech and e-commerce school when we launched the brand. Now I'm in full [consumer packaged goods] school."
The mystery surrounding Vincent van Goghs death has taken another twist after two experts disputed a recent biography that suggested he did not commit suicide but instead was killed by an acquaintance.

The Dutch painter was widely believed to have shot himself at the age of 37, even confessing it on his deathbed. Yet Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith made the shock claim that he had been shot, possibly accidentally, by a 16-year-old schoolboy.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning authors made the claim in Van Gogh: The Life, a 960-page biography released in October 2011. At the time of publication, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam said the theory was dramatic and intriguing but added that plenty of questions remained unanswered.

Two research experts from the museum were set on the trail of exploring the claims, however, and have now published their findings that the shocking theory of manslaughter, or even murder, simply does not add up.

In an article in the Burlington Magazine, Louis van Tilborgh and Teio Meendendorp said the train of events suggesting suicide is eminently defensible, both psychologically and historically.

They pointed to the nature of the bullet wound, relations with his brother Theo, as well as a letter found in his pocket  which the biography failed to cover  as helping prove his suicide. They also added that it was plausible Van Gogh wanted to commit suicide, which the biographers dispute.

They wrote: Seen from the perspective that is neglected in this biography, namely Van Goghs own view of his life, suicide is so much more plausible than the chance squabble with fatal consequences.

Van Gogh died in 1890 in Auvers-sur-Oise where he was painting the wheat fields. He sustained a gunshot injury to his abdomen while out in those fields before dying in an inn two days later. On his death bed he revealed he had shot himself.

Van Gogh The Life

The biography was compiled after 10 years of study by its authors and aired a startling theory. Mr Naifeh said: The accepted understanding of what happened in Auvers among the people who knew him was that he was killed accidentally by a couple of boys and he decided to protect them by accepting the blame. American academic John Rewald had talked of hearing local rumours about such a theory in the 1930s.

The biographers pointed to Gaston and Renee Secretan, students at a Paris lycee, as responsible. Renee was interviewed in 1957 about the artist and revealed that he owned a pistol that Van Gogh may have taken. The authors of the recent article said the interview, which the biography relied on heavily, did not substantiate the claims in the slightest.

The experts from the Van Gogh Museum said: Truly nothing substantiates their argument for the train of events they construe, apart from a twentieth-century rumour arising from an authentic story of a trigger-happy brat in 1890, who merely claimed that Van Gogh probably stole the gun from him. And we do not doubt that for a moment.
As a man who has written a novel from a females perspective, it is certainly disconcerting to see hundreds of women declare that such a venture is not only doomed to fail, but perhaps worthy of ridicule. In a recent Twitter challenge, author Whitney Reynolds asked her followers to describe themselves like a male author would. Thousands of women responded, and the conclusion was emphatic  men just dont get it.

The issue was explored in a follow-up article in The Guardian by Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett, who explained that some aspects of womanhood are simply beyond the scope of the male imagination. She intuitively knows if a piece of writing is by a woman  it is something she can feel in her bones.

Cosslett is certainly not alone in thinking this. Over the past few years, when I told people I was writing a novel, and more recently that the novel was being published, the fact people found most surprising was that it was from a womans perspective. Indeed, one publisher turned it down for this very reason.

For me, it wasnt a matter of choice. In fact, I cant even remember making the decision. The story I wanted to tell had to be from a womans perspective. It was a natural result of the topic I wanted to write about  the existential pressure that many people feel, myself included, to strive for a perfect life. And when it comes to our romantic lives, this pressure seems to bear down more heavily on women than men, especially the question of whether or not they should settle down, and with whom.

For many in my peer group, having a stable job, a family, a nice house and to gradually accumulate wealth just isnt sufficient. We need to do something more. Something that expresses our inner passion and talent. It takes an enormous lack of spirit to admit we are never going to be rich or wildly successful, and begin paying into a pension plan. As one female friend put it, it feels like a resignation, almost a betrayal of ourselves, to settle for approximately the same things our parents had.

One of the many achievements of social media is to show us that a better, more exciting life is not only desirable, but completely feasible. Every day we see photos of friends or acquaintances who have successfully reinvented themselves in an entirely new context. Oh look, theres John from my school, now working as a music journalist in LA and doing an interview with Bjork. And theres Amy from college, running her own health food business in Bali. And theres Toni and Jake, now making a living by travelling the world and writing a blog about how in love they are.

As my peer group approached thirty these pressures and ambitions seemed to come to a head. This was especially true for women regarding the relationships they were  or werent  in at the time. This had of course been an important aspect of life before then, but a new urgency entered the question of whether their love lives matched their expectations.

One good friend had been in a long-term relationship with a perfectly nice and dependable guy, but couldnt decide whether to get married and have kids. The indecision didnt flit back and forth in the space of a conversation, but shifted over a period of days and weeks, like changes in the weather. One month she would be content and committed, the next filled with doubt and fear, which often led to uncharacteristic binges and trysts. One of her main issues was that she wasnt sure she had ever been in love, in the butterflies and mania sense, the way popularised by Hollywood and pop songs and the infatuated couples on social media.

We spent hours in the pub working through her quandary, but never seemed to get any closer to a definitive answer. Many other friends found themselves in a similar situation, and eventually I did too. I was struck by how few principles there are to guide people in this position, and how impressionable we can become as a result  those experiencing romantic turmoil tended to be of the opinion of whichever confidante they last spoke to, whether it be their parents, best friend or even their secret lover. We could be leaned on.

I wanted to set my novel in a world where social media had moved into this role of friend and advisor. As well as encouraging people to aspire for idealised lives, in my book a utopian matchmaking app called Kismet offers a clear route to the relationship of their dreams. By harvesting personal data and using complex algorithms, romantic compatibility can be presented as a numerical score, and is so effective it has replaced traditional dating. When the protagonist, Anna, discovers that her long-term boyfriend is going to propose on her 30th birthday, she cant resist secretly using Kismet to see if she could do better with someone else. As you can imagine, things dont go smoothly.

This story could have been written from the perspective of a man, but it just wouldnt have worked. For simple biological reasons, and regrettable societal ones, women appear to face a much more dramatic crossroads when they reach their early thirties. By comparison, for men time barely exists at all. Being 30 or 35 or 40 is of negligible difference; they can spend the entirety of their thirties teaching scuba diving in the South Pacific, without making hardly a difference to their long-term options.

For these reasons, the matter of gender was out of my hands  the book had to be about a woman. I went about this cautiously at first, drafting a chapter and submitting it to a creative writing class made up only of women. They seemed to think it was OK. From that point on I just went for it  if Id tried to map out thoughts or behaviours that were definitively female I would have crippled myself. Instead I pushed the issue of gender to the back of my mind, and focused on the million other things that are needed for a novel to hang together.

Through the long process of re-drafting, editing and copy editing, Ive had a small army of females to help me tweak things and correct glaring inaccuracies  my university tutor, agent, editor and copy editor were all women. And my partner was on hand to help with, shall we say, more intimate questions (I wasnt going to try and describe a female orgasm without close guidance).

Of course some things didnt ring true and had to be corrected. And other areas I actively sought help from the start. But on the whole the character seemed believable to people, and for me demonstrated something Id long believed  that while there are significant differences in the way men and women think and act  and, crucially, the way we are encouraged to think and act  these are dwarfed by the things we have in common, and that gender is just one component in the intricate mesh of selfhood.

When the Cat Person story went viral recently, and I overhead people talking about it at a bus stop (in itself a cause for excitement), it was gratifying to hear women say that they empathised with the man in the story, that they had been that person in a fledgling relationship, the one that goes overboard with enthusiasm and suffers the ignominy of being ghosted. For me it was further proof that the roles we play in relationships are fluid and interchangeable, that there is increasingly less of a fixed role between male and female ways of acting. And if this is the case with the real world, I see no reason why it shouldnt be the same within writing.

Kismet by Luke Tredget is available on Faber and Amazon
British author Ian McEwan has sparked controversy for saying he will maintain a degree of scepticism regarding the allegations against Harvey Weinstein.

The writer has stated he will withhold judgement until Weinstein - whom he says seems like a moral monster - stands trial.

Disgraced film producer Weinstein has been charged with two counts of rape and one count of a criminal sexual act for alleged incidents involving two different women seven months after the New York Times article that led to numerous accusations of assault from some of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, McEwan discussed the Weinstein allegations, saying: It seems a kind of circus to me - we dont know what actually happened."

It seems he is a moral monster who has had his comeuppance, but I always like to encourage in myself just a degree of scepticism once the whole mob is in full cry, so I am going to withhold judgments until I have heard the arguments in court.

Weinstein, 66, handed himself into police in New York on Friday (25 May) where, after posting a 1m (751m) cash bail, his lawyer revealed he plans to plead not guilty. He continues to deny all allegations of non-consensual sex.

Following the interview, several listeners expressed their disappointment with McEwan's views regarding the allegations against Weinstein which went on to spark the empowering MeToo and Time's Up movements to have swept across Hollywood since October 2017.



On Chesil Beach, starring Saoirse Ronan, is the latest McEwan novel to be adapted for the big screen. It's in cinemas now.

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Hows it going Swansea?!

Theres something utterly, wonderfully surreal about hearing the biggest pop stars in the world give a shout out to the ugly, lovely town in South Wales. On the BBCs Biggest Weekend, what felt like the entire US and UK pop contingent gathered to perform over two days in glorious, blazing sunshine that  for anyone whos ever visited or lived in Swansea  felt nothing short of miraculous.

On the Saturday, Anne-Marie offered a sweet and simple show with music from her debut album Speak Your Mind, while Liam Payne looked about as unenthusiastic as it was possible to be during his set, which included his single Strip That Down and a cover of Charlie Puths Attention.

BBC's Biggest Weekend Show all 13 1 /13 BBC's Biggest Weekend BBC's Biggest Weekend Florence and the Machine perform during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA Wire/PA Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Liam Payne performs during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA Wire/PA Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Ed Sheeran performs during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA Wire/PA Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Clean Bandit perform during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA Wire/PA Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Shawn Mendes performs during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA Wire/PA Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Niall Horan performs during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. Dave J Hogan/Getty Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Florence and the Machine perform during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA Wire/PA Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Years and Years perform during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. Dave J Hogan/Getty Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Craig David performs during the first day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA BBC's Biggest Weekend Camila performs during the second day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA Wire/PA Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Taylor Swift performing during the second day of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend at Singleton Park, Swansea. PA BBC's Biggest Weekend Sam Smith performs during day 1 of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend 2018 held at Singleton Park Dave J Hogan/Getty Images BBC's Biggest Weekend Taylor Swift performs during day 2 of BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend 2018 Dave J Hogan/Getty Images

In contrast his former bandmate Niall Horan, who performed on the Sunday, positively shone with his superb backing band on a tracks like the Fleetwood Mac-esque Shes On the Loose or the sultry, if slightly cringey, Slow Hands, as did his new bestie Shawn Mendes, who moved fans with a rousing performance of his single In My Blood. Rising pop star Camila Cabello turned up the heat with smouldering renditions of some of the best tracks from her debut, self-titled solo album including the mega hit Havana, and She Loves Control.

Camila was smouldering on Saturday (PA) (PA Wire/PA Images)

Later on the Saturday evening, fans crowded to see an uplifting, nostalgia-fuelled set (for those old enough to remember the lyrics to Rewind) from Craig David, before charging over to the Other stage to watch Bastille perform their new single Quarter Past Midnight with a fantastic gospel choir.

Set times per artist were kept to strict 30-minute slots, which felt a little short when it came to breathtaking performances from the likes of Years & Years or Panic! At The Disco, especially when the US rock band covered Queens Bohemian Rhapsody complete with pyrotechnics, frontman Brendon Urie nailing both the piano and vocal solos.

Years & Years produced a breathtaking set (Getty) (Dave J Hogan/Getty Images)

Battling tough set clashes with Taylor Swift and Christine and the Queens were Welsh rock band Trampolene on the BBC Introducing Stage, who still put on a ferocious, wild show that included frontman Jack Jones sharp, hilarity-inducing poem Poundland and tracks from their debut album Swansea to Hornsey.

Undoubtedly  and unsurprisingly  the biggest crowd of the weekend was for Swift herself, who flew over from the US to put on a sophisticated, slick set with some of her biggest songs including No 1 hit Look What You Made Me Do and an acoustic version of her track Delicate, both from her latest album reputation.

A stripped-down Delicate offered a touchingly intimate moment between Swift and her fans, before she switched back to a lighter-hearted tone on Blank Space with its tongue-in-cheek lyrics warning off a potential suitor. Closing on the joyful Shake It Off, Swift proved herself as an undeniable highlight of the weekend.
The new season of Arrested Development has arrived on Netflix with an awkward joke that seemingly pokes fun at Jeffrey Tambor's alleged behaviour which saw him fired from Transparent.

Tambor faced two sexual harassment claims earlier this year which saw him fired from the Amazon series for which he won two Emmys and a Golden Globe playing trans woman Maura. It will return for a fifth season without Tambor in the lead role.

In the first of eight new Arrested Development episodes, Tambor's character George Sr is shown leaving his cismale life behind after spending the fourth season dressed as a woman.

Recommended Details of Arrested Development Tambor shouting incident revealed

The narration, given as usual by Solo director Ron Howard, seemed to make a dig at this turn of events with the unfortunate quote: George Sr soon realised his impression of a woman wasn't going to win him any awards. So he took off in his trailer for Mexico to forget his shameful mistakes.

The joke seems even more awkward after a press tour which ended in controversy following a train-wreck group interview involving the majority of Arrested Development's cast as Jessica Walter shed tears recounting the time she was verbally harassed by Tambor on-set.

Walter's male co-stars, including Jason Bateman, sparked outrage for opnely supporting Tambor in favour of reassuring their emotional co-star, something they later apologised for.

It's not expected that the joke was written in direct response to the firing with Tambor himself telling Vulture that the allegations came out during the penultimate week of filming the series. However, its placement in the series is strikingly odd and could have easily been edited out of the episode.

Arrested Development season 5 is available to stream on Netflix now.

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A stones throw from downtown Havana and its grand dilapidation is the unassuming village of Jaimanitas  and an architectural dreamscape.

Inspired by his time in Europe and public architecture projects like Gaudis Park Guell, celebrated Cuban artist Jose Rodriguez Fuster went back to his fisherman roots and to the impoverished costal town to begin a transformative project.

In 1975, he converted his own home into an art museum by adorning it with mosaic tiles. I started building my dream, he says.

Jose Fusters workshop and residence in Jaimanitas, outside of Havana (Getty)

His neighbours in the community were so attracted by the murals and colourful nativism that they gave up their homes to Fuster, so that he could expand the project. Before long, they began to contribute, and a new generation of artists and architects was born.

Now, although the focal centre of the project is still Fusters home, Taller-Estudio Jose Fuster, the whole neighbourhood is a kaleidoscope of intricate mosaics and sculpture, known as Fusterlandia.

Visitors can explore the undulating walkways and labyrinthine passages, passing under archways and examining the ceramics close-up, in this unique example of modern art and architecture. Pro tip: climb a few levels up to get the best views.

The park is inspired by Spanish artists like Gaudi and Picasso, with Caribbean Cuban flavour (Getty)

The entrance declares the park an homage to Gaudi, which is instantly clear in the curved lines and intricate tiling, and Romanian pioneer of modernism Constantin Brancusi is present in the public interaction with the sculpture and loyalty to peasant roots.

But you can see why Fuster is known as the Picasso of the Caribbean, with his bold, whimsical colour and surrealist, childlike depictions.

Evocative of Europes artistic greats it may be, but the project is Caribbean in soul: chickens, palm trees and crocodiles dot the walls, with nods to indigenous folk history and Santeria beliefs. Of course, Cuban flags and Viva Cuba can be seen all over the barrio.

Almost every surface of the neighbourhood has been decorated (Rume Ugen)

Almost every surface of the neighbourhood, from street signs to park benches, has been decorated  if not by Fuster, then by his neighbours, family or other Cuban talents such as the formidable Eduardo Roca Salazar, known as Choco, and emerging artst Zaida del Rio.

Fuster himself can still be seen around the barrio, working and interacting with his neighbours or painting ceramics with his son, still with the objective of creating the biggest mural in the world.

The project stands as a stunning testament to how architecture goes beyond physical functionality, and comes to shape and be shaped by its community.

For more information, or to arrange transportation and tours, visit Cuba Direct
Youre the first chef from Tel Aviv to be invited to collaborate with Carousel. What does this mean to you and what will you bring to the table?

Its a great honour to be the first chef from a Tel Aviv restaurant to be invited to Carousel, especially because London is my favourite culinary city in the world right now.

I hope to bring to the table a fair representation of my approach to cooking, which is an honest unfussy style, and give people a feel of the Tel Aviv-style of dining.

The latter is based around sharing dishes, like I do at home with my family. The way that Carousel is set up on communal tables could not be more perfect for my style of dinner.

Youve worked in Amsterdam and New York too  what makes Britain so special?

The array of authentic cuisines and contemporary interpretations from literally everywhere in the world. I particularly aim to try the traditional version of everything  Im not a fusion kind of guy.

Last year, after three years at The Norman, you decided to change the name, the food and the vibe  why?

I have always made a point of listening to feedback from guests, and so many times they were surprised that a restaurant in a hotel in Tel Aviv could be a culinary destination as opposed to a hotel restaurant.

As the restaurant gained its own personality, I knew it needed its own name as well and it felt natural to name it Alena.

This was Normans wife and just as they stood together in life, as does my restaurant and The Norman hotel.

Why do you think there is move away from Michelin-style fine dining and towards simpler, non-fussy fare?

I think that nowadays people want to have the experience of really good food and great service, but without the fuss of having a 15-course meal after which you dont really remember what you ate.

The menu showcases his honest cooking style, with a unique take on contemporary Mediterranean cooking. Be sure to try the spicy holy land octopus

However, the perfect example of a Michelin-starred restaurant in London that has achieved a brilliant balance is The Ninth in Fitzrovia by chef Jun Tanaka.

How does the Tel Aviv dining experience compare to the UK?

In terms of atmosphere, the dining scene is a lot noisier and vibrant. People dress more casually. In terms of food, most dishes are for sharing, using fresh seasonal produce.

There are also more outdoor spaces and restaurants are open until late into the night, so people sit and eat smaller dishes over a longer period of time.

In Tel Aviv, nearly everyone is an amateur food expert so the quality has to be high for any kind of restaurant to stay in business.

Do you think the Michelin star system is still important?

It is important for certain chefs, but I dont choose where I dine or how I cook by this system.

Do you think making simple food is as much of an art than haute cuisine?

Haute cuisine may require certain artistic talent for some dishes and some chefs, but the way I see it and the way I work, I make a point of representing my personality and favourite ingredients in as honest and simplest form as possible.

So, if cooking honestly to bring out the best in every ingredient is an art, then yes.

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

What (or who) inspires you and your menu?

Mostly seasonality and quality of produce. I take my inspiration from my family, my children and from the people I work with.

How is the rise in clean eating, veganism and gluten-free changing the way you structure your menu?

It has a lot of influence because I want as many people as possible to taste my food and enjoy it.

If they have particular needs or preferences, it does not mean that they cannot enjoy really great food. On top of that I love vegetables and olive oil, so it is fun for me to create new dishes.

As a result, I have a large raw and greens section on my menu at Alena  not because of the rise in clean eating, but because thats what I like to cook anyway.

If you were to open a new restaurant, where would it be and why?

As I said before, London is my favourite spot because it has so much to offer chefs in so many ways.

On top of amazing produce and techniques, London has a very specific vibe and atmosphere of diverse people who are after great food and always willing to try new flavours.

The residency will see a mix of Aharonis signature and new dishes: the snow dough aubergine tortellini caught our eye

You promise to use the absolute best and freshest ingredients available  how will you achieve this in London?

I think it will be quite easy. London can offer almost everything that you want from around the world.

It has great produce coming from across Europe and in the UK there are really good farmers and people that bring the best produce to the city.

How do you make sure your menu is sustainable and affordable?

I always try to put myself in the mind of a diner to ensure that I am getting value for money for the dishes that I am serving.

On top of that I try and use a lot of seasonal vegetables and also work as closely as I can with my farmers and growers to be updated by them all the time and challenge them with my new ideas.

Did you always want to be a chef?

For a while I was studying to be a diplomat but it was always cooking I was passionate about, so I think deep down I did always know.

Was cooking a big part of your family growing up and is that reflected in the food you cook today?

Family dinners and cooking in general was a big thing. Every Thursday we would help my mum cook in the kitchen for Friday night dinner where we all gathered around the table with the family to eat  uncles, grandparents, everyone.

I loved it and I still love my mums cooking, especially the Persian food that she makes.

What are you doing to reduce the amount of plastic used in your kitchen?

We aim to use as little plastic as possible and are continuously making a conscious effort to use more environmentally friendly materials.

Barak Aharoni will be hosting his residency at Carousel from 29 May to 2 June
San Franciscos city attorney has demanded that Uber and Lyft turn over employment records after a California high court ruling that could reshape the gig economy.

Technology firms that allow people to perform discrete tasks for money - like driving passengers to their destination - typically classify those workers as independent contractors, rather than full-time employees, a designation that means they are not entitled to wage and benefit guarantees.

The California Supreme Court recently threw that business model into doubt by ruling that companies must meet a series of conditions to prove workers should be independent contractors. If they cannot, the court ruled, those companies have to comply with California wage orders.

San Francisco city attorney Dennis Herrera referenced that decision in announcing he was subpoenaing Lyft and Uber to see how they classify their drivers and to obtain data on pay and benefits. If those drivers should in fact be considered employees, the ride-for-hire firms would owe them minimum wage along with sick days, paid parental leave and health benefits, Mr Herrera said.

San Franciscos laws help ensure that employers provide a fair days wage for a fair days work, Mr Herrera said in a statement. Our laws also guarantee employees basic humane benefits like sick leave, health care, and paid parental leave. We are not going to turn a blind eye if companies in San Francisco deny workers their pay and benefits.

A representative of Uber declined to comment. A Lyft spokesman said the company has a long track record of working collaboratively with policymakers, including the SF City Attorney, on important issues.

We look forward to helping the City Attorney's office fully understand Lyft's business model, including our relationship with drivers, Adrian Durbin said.

Uber controversies Show all 4 1 /4 Uber controversies Uber controversies June 2017 Travis Kalanick resigned from his position as CEO of Uber in July of this year, after a tumultous period for the company. A sexist workplace culture was exposed by a damning internal report, leading to heightened pressure on the CEO and consequently to him taking a leave of absence in June. A week later he was forced to resign after losing the confidence of the board of investors AFP/Getty Uber controversies June 2017 Indian police escort Uber taxi driver and convicted rapist Shiv Kumar Yadav following his court appearance in New Delhi on 8 December, 2014. An Uber executive, Eric Alexander, was fired in June of this year after reportedly obtaining the records of the rapist's victim, with the intent to cast doubt on her account of the incident. She later sued the company for defamation and violating her privacy rights Chandan Khanna/AFP Uber controversies May 2017 The company were ordered to pay up to $45 million dollars back to New York based drivers, after taking too much in commission over a two and a half year period. We made a mistake and we are committed to making it right by paying every driver every penny they are owed, plus interest, as quickly as possible, said Rachel Holt, Ubers regional general manager in the US and Canada, to the Wall Street Journal Getty Uber controversies December 2016 Uber's self-driving cars were ordered to be removed from the roads by a Californian car regulator, after being spotted skipping traffic lights. Uber insist that the incidents were "human error" rather than a design flaw. The New York Times later refuted this in an article claiming the autonomous technology had in fact failed Youtube/KTVU

As the task-based gig economy has grown in recent years, spurred by the rapid expansion of the ride-for-hire model championed by Uber and Lyft, so too have questions about the nature of modern work.

Executives at companies like Uber and Lyft argue that the works appeal derives in large part from its flexibility, which allows people to earn money in their spare time or earn supplemental wages without having to hew to a riding schedule.

 Uber gets stuck on stairs in San Francisco

But labour advocates and their political allies are increasingly warning that the gig economy model deprives workers of durable employment and forces society to absorb the cost of that instability.

We are not going to tolerate any company shirking its responsibility to pay for benefits and shifting that burden onto taxpayers when drivers without health insurance turn to the emergency room, Mr Herrera said.

Last week Uber announced it would extend health insurance across Europe and offer one-time payments to defray the cost of having children.

Efforts to form gig workers into unions have produced mixed results. While a court ruled last year that Seattle-area Uber and Lyft drivers had the right to unionise despite being classified as independent contractors, a California appeals court this month ruled against a labour Seattle law that spurred the legal challenge.
Italys politics are in ferment, after a decision by the countrys president, Sergio Mattarella, effectively blocked a populist coalition between the anti-establishment Five Star movement and the anti-immigrant League.

Mattarella has now asked the former International Monetary Fund economist, Carlo Cottarelli, to form a technocratic administration to hold things together until fresh elections can be held early next year.

Yet Mattarellas act has infuriated both the Five Star and the League. Five Stars leader, Luigi Di Maio, has called for Mattarellas impeachment. The Leagues leader, Matteo Salvini, has questioned whether Italy is still a democracy.

Reports suggest financial markets are reacting badly, with Italian bonds and shares selling off heavily.

So whats caused this crisis? How serious is it? And whats likely to happen next?

How did we get here?

Five Star and the League emerged as the two largest blocs after Marchs elections. Despite their very different platforms, the two parties agreed earlier this month to form a coalition.

But they chose as their finance minister an Italian academic economist, Paolo Savona, who has been intensely critical of the single currency in the past, once calling it a German cage and saying Italy should have a Plan B to membership.

The Italian president under the constitution, has the power to block individual cabinet appointments.

Mattarella chose to block Mr Savona, judging that he represented a potential threat to Italys place in the eurozone, something which is also (effectively) safeguarded under the constitution due to it being enshrined in EU treaties.

Five Star and the League refused to offer a different choice of finance minister, thus prompting the breakdown of the coalition.

How are financial markets responding?

Italys 10-year bond yields, a measure of the countrys sovereign borrowing costs, breached 3 per cent on Tuesday, the highest in four years. At the start of the month they were just 1.8 per cent.

That means many traders have been marking down the price of Italian debt and selling it because they think the chance they might not be repaid (for instance if Italy crashes out of the eurozone) has risen.

The Italian stock market was also down 3 per cent on Tuesday, and has lost around 13 per cent of its value this month.

But these movements need to be put in some context. The Italian stock market is still only back to its levels of last July, after experiencing a strong bull run since later 2016.

In 2011 and 2012 Italian bond breached 7 per cent and threatened a fiscal crisis for the government in Rome. Yields are still some distance from those extreme distress levels.

There has been some sign of contagion to the bond yields of countries such as Portugal and Spain but it has also been pretty limited.

How serious is it?

The financial situation is, at the moment, a far cry from the height of the eurozone crisis in 2012, when it really did look possible that weaker member states would be imminently forced to default and the single currency would collapse.

That situation was finally defused when the head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, announced he would do whatever it takes to stop this break up happening, unveiling an emergency programme of backstop bond buying by the central bank.

This reassured private investors that they would, at least, get their money back and bond yields in countries like Italy and Spain fell back to earth, ending the risk of a destructive debt spiral.

But the latest deadlock in Rome is nevertheless the biggest crisis in the eurozone since Greece last threatened to leave in 2015.

And Italy is a much larger economy than Greece. If the third largest country in the bloc exited the euro, it is doubtful the single currency would survive.

Further, Italys sovereign debt pile of 2.3 trillion is the largest in the eurozone  meaning that if it crashed out and effectively defaulted on all that borrowing, the wider financial repercussions would be enormous.

What will happen next?

Five Star and the League did not call for a referendum on euro membership in the election, recognising that most Italians do not want currently to leave either the single currency or the EU.

But the two populist forces have both made noises to that effect in the past.

And some suspect the selection of Savona as finance minister might have been a deliberate provocation to Mattarella and to the rest of the eurozone, designed to prompt this crisis and stoke the forces of euroscepticism and defiant nationalism in the country.

The argument is that the two parties (the League in particular) hope to win an even larger mandate in fresh elections  and this time to win on the basis of an explicitly anti-Brussels, anti-euro manifesto.

That could set the scene for an extremely dangerous political clash within the broader single currency area and potentially a new financial crisis.

Its possible that the technocratic Italian establishment are overplaying their hand, misjudging the mood of the nation and dancing to the populists tune.

The fact that Italian bond yields spiked sharply after the presidential veto was used suggests thats what financial markets suspect.

But they may not be correct.

Five Star and the League might have peaked. They could do worse in new polls and euroscepticism could fail to surge as the severe costs of leaving the single currency become salient to the Italian public.

Its possible the spike in Italian borrowing cost in recent weeks will already be putting many people off.

Yet the breakout success of two anti-establishment parties has already revolutionised the Italian political scene and the simple truth is that no one can really know how this story will end.
Business group EEF has slammed the governments max fac Brexit plan, which would see the UK leaving the customs union but using technology as a way to avoid a hard border with the EU.

Politicians are exploring two potential post-Brexit customs arrangements: max fac and a more comprehensive customs partnership.

The manufacturers trade body, EEF, said the government should abandon any further exploration of the max fac idea. MPs had previously claimed the max fac option could be up and running by 2020  EEF said this was naive and wholly unrealistic.

EEF chief executive Stephen Phipson said: Much of the debate on max fac is misguided. No one doubts the technology exists: it is in place in many locations around the world. The issue is whether it is good enough to provide a frictionless border and can be implemented quickly enough to be ready for December 2020.

I think that the answer to this is an overwhelming no. It may have some long-term benefits, but suggesting m ax fac is a solution to our immediate problems is a non-starter.

Mr Phipson highlighted the current situation on the Dover-Calais route, noting: When the police have to implement Operation Stack to deal with industrial action, there are queues for miles that bring Kent to a standstill. If we had to put every lorry through even a modest customs check the tailbacks would stretch from Dover to London and Calais to Paris.

He said that while a max fac system is partly in place on the US-Canada border, in reality most small to medium-sized Canadian businesses do not have access to the arrangements, meaning the majority are still subject to the full customs check.

The Canadian process is particularly efficient and well managed, but the reality is that this is time consuming and at busy times often has long delays. Apply that to Dover and the consequences are horrendous, warned Mr Phipson.

He added: We recognise government has a difficult job and it is not for us to tell government what the new arrangements must be  that is a political decision. But that political decision has economic consequences for thousands of British businesses and real financial implications for the millions of people who work for them, and the entire country who rely on their products.

We have an absolute responsibility to highlight fundamental flaws in one of the options that still remains under serious consideration. I hope that the government now recognises that one of these options is simply not credible.

A Downing Street spokesman said: Theres more work to be done in relation to both options, that work is ongoing and well look forward to bringing proposals as soon as possible.

HMRC has previously warned that the max fac option would be significantly more expensive than a customs partnership, with operating costs potentially running to between 17bn and 20bn.
A potential vaccine for brain cancer is able to extend the lives of patients by several years and could have helped with the aggressive form of tumour that killed Dame Tessa Jowell, a trial has found.

The new treatment for glioblastoma multiforme is still in late stage human trials but results from the 11-year international study are already remarkably promising with some patients living more than seven years after treatment.

It works by extracting dendritic cells, key players in the immune system, from patients blood and mixing them with markers from their tumour before injecting them back in to the body to prime it to attack the cancer.

"If not for this treatment, I would be without my wife and without a mother for our child. Jason Charles

Glioblastoma is one of the most aggressive and commonly diagnosed types of brain tumour in adults and is currently treated with surgery followed by radiotherapy and chemotherapy.

Patients who receive this care live for between 15 and 17 months on average.

But almost a third, 100 of the 331 patients enrolled in the new trial from the UK, US, Germany and Canada, are classed as extended survivors and lived an average of 3.4 years after surgery

Dame Tessa, a former Labour cabinet minister, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma multiforme brain tumour last year and died earlier this month at the age of 70.

Of the 331 patients with glioblastoma who took part in the trial, 232 were injected regularly with immunotherapy vaccine DCVax in addition to standard care, while the remaining group were given a placebo.

 Tessa Jowell opens up about brain cancer diagnosis

Every patient whose tumour recurred during the trial was automatically offered the vaccine, meaning around 86.4 per cent received the treatment at some point.

The study found patients involved in the trial survived for more than 23 months on average after surgery.

This includes Kat Charles who, in 2014, was was given three months to live after NHS doctors ran out of options to treat her brain cancer.

They said there was nothing more they could do for me, says Ms Charles, now 36. I was distraught.

Three and a half years on, her most recent MRI scan showed no trace of the tumour.

Ms Charles and her husband, Jason, who live in Milton Keynes with their five-year-old son Jacob, credit the immunotherapy vaccine for her survival.

DCVax has done what everyone said was impossible, Mr Charles said. If not for this treatment, I would be without my wife and without a mother for our child.

The researchers said: It appears that patients who survive past certain threshold time points may continue onwards to unusually long survival times.

Only seven participants, who were from the UK, US, Canada and Germany, reported any adverse side effects from the vaccine, the researchers said.

Kat Charles, 36, was given three months to live in 2014 but the new vaccine has 'done the impossible' and she is alive with no sign of her brain tumour recurring (Kat Charles)

Professor Keyoumars Ashkan, professor of neurosurgery at Kings College Hospital in London, and one of the 69 co-authors of the paper, said the interim results of the trial give new hope to the patients and clinicians battling with this terrible disease.

Although definitive judgment needs to be reserved until the final data is available, the paper published today hints at a major breakthrough in the treatment of patients with glioblastoma, he said.

Cautious optimism is welcome in an area where for so long the disease and suffering have had the upper hand.

David Jenkinson, chief scientific officer for the Brain Tumour Charity, said: These results appear remarkably promising for a community of patients who have been given little hope for decades.

We need further analysis of the data from this trial and more research in this area to ascertain the role that immunotherapy can play in the battle against brain cancer.

DCVax has been developed by American company Northwest Biotherapeutics.

Additional reporting by PA
Maya Jribi was the first woman to lead a political party in Tunisia. Her steadfast opposition over decades to the rule of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali helped usher in the Jasmine Revolution and, in turn, the Arab Spring.

A photograph from 2011 shows her held aloft by supporters giving a victory salute as the fall of Ben Ali sent shock waves across the Middle East.

Jribi, a formidable champion of womens rights and progressive values, had become a national symbol of resistance.

Last week, a sea of people turned out to her funeral.

Tunisias president Beji Caid Essebsi, a fellow secularist, praised her honesty and loyalty and pursuit of the values of democracy, justice and equality.

Jribi was born in Bou Arada in northwest Tunisia. Her father was a civil servant from Tataouine. Her mother was Algerian. Having originally hoped to become a doctor, Jribi studied biology at the University of Sfax.

It was while she was a student there that she first became active in politics, joining the students body UGET (Union generale des etudiants de Tunisie) and the Tunisian League of Human Rights.

Determined to get in touch with the working class, as she put it, upon graduating Jribi tried to get work in a factory. She failed. Instead she had a short-lived career as a journalist, before working as a fundraiser for Unicef.

In 1983 she set up the Progressive Socialist Rally with Ahmed Najib Chebbi, later renamed the Progressive Democratic Party (PDP).

Tunisias revolutionary leader Habib Bourguiba had been in power for more than 20 years by that point and had only just opened the way for such political parties to form  at least in name. It took five years for the party to gain legal recognition.

In ailing health in 1987, his prime minister, Ben Ali, assumed power, moving swiftly to marginalise both Islamist and progressive political forces.

In October 2005, Najib Chebbi and seven others embarked on a 52-day protest  including a 32-day hunger strike  at the headquarters of the Tunisian Order of Lawyers in Tunis. The 18 October Coalition for Rights and Freedoms, named in honour of the protest, finally succeeded in gathering all the opposition parties together. Jribis input was key to its success.

On 25 December 2006, Jribi succeeded her mentor Chebbi as secretary general of the PDP, becoming the first woman to lead a Tunisian political party. A year later, Jribi herself would go on hunger strike, joining her old friend to protest against the forced eviction of the PDP from its Tunis headquarters.

The strike, which lasted for 20 days and left her featherweight (43kg) and with the look of teenager according to Le Monde, had serious lasting effects on Jribis health.

Jribi at a demonstration in Tunis, 2013 (Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

By then change was coming for Tunisia: May 2008 saw an uprising in the Gafsa Mining Basin where Ben Alis economic miracle had not improved the lot of the workers at all.

And January 2011 finally saw Ben Ali ousted. He fled to Saudi Arabia with his wife.

In the elections that followed, Jribi stood in Ben Arous and became a member of the national constituent assembly. As the new Tunisian constitution took form, Jribi was a strong voice in opposition to the Islamists.

Journalist Rachid Khechana described her rationale: She wanted to put the Arab-Muslim identity of Tunisia in a progressive perspective. For her, there was no contradiction. Jribi was an outspoken feminist.

The following year, the PDP joined other secularist parties to form the Republican Party. It received a drubbing in the 2014 election winning one seat.

But the influence of the values she stood for and fought for superseded electoral success. In 2016 her longtime political foes in the Islamist party Ennahda renounced political Islam.

Her increasing ill health meant she had to take a step back from politics, announcing her retirement at the partys 2017 convention.

Jribi died of cancer in Rades, near Tunis, at the age of 58. She once told Jeune Afrique magazine: I was marked by feminism even before I discovered its principles.

I had a very strong mother and I learned from both my parents intellectual rigour, to have the courage of my convictions and to speak the truth.

Speaking to a Tunisian radio station last year, she said: I will leave politics when I leave life.

Maya Jribi, Tunisian politician, born 29 January 1960, died 19 May 2018
A refugee has been forced to leave her home in north Belfast after a gang of youths smashed her front door.

Police were called to reports of burglary and criminal damage in the Oldpark area.

Prior to the attack, residents complained around 100 youths were banging on doors, drinking and running up and down the street, the police told the BBC.

Officers arrived at the womans house and were told the front door and an inner door had both been damaged after a group of youths tried to get inside.

It was unclear if the incidents were linked.

The resident of the house, a lady in her 50s, was upset by the incident and police put her in touch with social services to make other accommodation arrangements, Inspector James Murphy said.

Police are not treating the attack as a hate crime.

They are issuing appeals and are asking parents and guardians to ensure they know where their children are, what they are doing and who they are with.

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. 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PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. 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Paul McCusker, an SDLP councillor, told the Belfast Telegraph: It is despicable that a refugee, who left her war torn country for a better life, has been removed from her home by the PSNI for her own safety after thugs attempted to gain access to the property during the disorder.

All residents, no matter class or creed, have the right to live in peace, free from intimidation and fear.

I would urge the teenagers and young adults partaking in this disruption to stop and think of the consequences.
Police are waging a crackdown on a genre of rap music that officers claim is driving rising knife and gun crime in London.

YouTube has already deleted more than half of videos targeted by the Metropolitan Police in a dedicated operation against drill music, which originated in Chicago and has become increasingly popular in Britain.

Senior officers say the videos, which frequently contain graphic threats and gun signs, glamourise violence but fans argue they reflect artists experiences.

Some drill music tracks still available online feature groups associated with the postcode war that led to the murder of 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne, who was shot dead in Tottenham last month.

Londons murder rate has surged by 44 per cent in a year, with more than 60 people killed so far in 2018 amid a nationwide surge in knife crime.

Detective Superintendent Mike West said the number of videos that incite violence have been increasing since late 2015.

The gangs try to outrival each other with the filming and content  what looks like a music video can actually contain explicit language with gangs threatening each other, he added. There are gestures of violence, with hand signals suggesting they are firing weapons and graphic descriptions of what they would do to each other.

Scotland Yard has compiled a central database of more than 1,400 indexed videos that are used to gather intelligence.

 Angela Rayner on London stabbings: 'Its not just about the police... but its about the wider public services'

Anyone identified in the slick videos can be targeted with action including criminal behaviour orders that can prevent them from associating with certain people, entering designated areas, wearing hoods or using social media and unregistered mobile phones.

In the past two years, the Metropolitan Police has asked YouTube to remove between 50 and 60 music videos, with more than 30 of the requests granted after the footage was found to be in violation of its policies.

Det Supt West insisted only videos that raise the risk of violence are flagged, rather than drill music in general.

We have been working with [YouTube owner] Google to take down some of the videos which they have done after approaches from us, he added.

Partnership working with organisations such as YouTube and Google is a key part of how we address this going forward and we continue to work with them to explore how we can tackle the issue.

Drill music gains its name from slang for automatic weapons, has been shifting into the mainstream, with artists so far enjoying limited commercial success but seeing their YouTube videos viewed millions of times.

Like controversial restrictions that were previously aimed at grime and R&B events in London, operations against the genre have drawn fierce criticism.

Abra Cadabra, who has appeared on BBC radio and won the Best Song award at 2016s Mobos, aid targeting musicians was a distraction from cuts that affect schools, youth clubs, social housing and benefits are making life harder for the average person living on or below the poverty line.

Writing for The Independent, Dummy Mag editor Yemi Abiade said it was unfounded to blame drill for violence that has existed for decades.

The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Show all 21 1 /21 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo Oluwadamilolda Odeyingbo, 18, was killed in a fight in Chislehurst on 10 January 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Hasan Ozcan Hasan Ozcan, 19, was stabbed to death on the Gascoigne Estate in Barking on 3 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Sabri Chibani Sabri Chibani, 19, was stabbed fatally in the chest in Streatham on 11 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Promise Nkenda Lord Promise Nkenda, 17, was stabbed to death in Canning Town on 14 February 2018 Facebook The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lewis Blackman Lewis Blackman, a 19-year-old rapper from Kentish Town, was stabbed to death in Kensington on 18 February 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Abdikarim Hassan Abdikarim Hassan, 17, was stabbed to death near his home in Camden's Peckwater estate on 20 March - less tahan two hours before another man was stabbed to death nearby Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Kelvin Odunuyi Kelvin Odunuyi, a 19-year-old rapper known as DipDat and Lampz, was shot dead in Wood Green on 8 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Lyndon Davis Lyndon Davis, 18, was chased down and stabbed to death in Chadwell Heath on 14 March Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Tanesha Melbourne-Blake Tanesha Melbourne, 17, was killed in a drive-by shooting in Tottenham on 2 April PA The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Amaan Shakoor Amaan Shakoor, 16, was shot dead in Walthamstow on 2 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Israel Ogunsola Israel Ogunsola, 18, was stabbed to death in Hackney on 4 April Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton Rhyhiem Ainsworth Barton, a 17-year-old rapper and aspiring architect, was shot dead in a Kennington Street on 5 May Handout The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jordan Douherty Aspiring rapper Jordan Douherty died of his injuries outside a birthday party in Romford on 23 June Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Katrina Makunova Katrina Makunova, 17, was stabbed to death in Camberwell on 12 July 2018 Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Latwaan Griffiths 18-year-old Latwaan Griffiths was fatally stabbed on 25 July and died in hospital after being thrown off the back of a moped in Camberwell Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Guled Farah Guled Farah, 19, was shot in Walthamstow on 22 September Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Ethan Nedd-Bruce Ethan Nedd-Bruce, 18, died after he was shot outside a party at a flat in Greenwich, south-east London, on 22 October. He had also been stabbed, but the gunshot wound was the cause of death. Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Jay Hughes Jay Hughes, 15, died was fatally stabbed outside a chicken shop in Bellingham, south-east London, on 1 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Malcolm Mide-Madariola Malcolm Mide-Madariola, 17, was found suffering from a stab wound outside Clapham South Tube station on 2 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 John Ogunjobi John Ogunjobi, 16, died in front of his parents after he was stabbed in Greenleaf Close, Tulse Hill, on 5 November Metropolitan Police The teenagers murdered in London in 2018 Aron Warren Aron Warren, 18, was found stabbed in a flat block in Greenwich on 8 December and died at the scene Metropolitan Police

Ignoring these problems breed contempt, giving birth to more violence, he added. Regardless of Londons murder rate, drill will continue to offer a voice to those without one because, for many of them, its all they have to survive.

One group of artists, 1011, have launched a petition against police ordering them to stop the promotional use of YouTube, receiving more than 5,000 signatures so far.

Meanwhile Pressplay, a company that promotes drill music videos frequently using the hashtag drop the knife, pick up the mic, said its representatives had met with YouTube last week.

With whats happened lately the police have forced YouTube to take down some videos, said a statement posted on Instagram. It will probably be back up in the next few weeks.

The takedowns are part of Operation Domain which started in September 2015 with the aim of taking action against gang-related videos encouraging violence.

The governments first-ever Serious Violence Strategy did not name drill music specifically but said social media had created an almost unlimited opportunity for rivals to antagonise each other in ways viewed by a huge audience.

The document said videos and posts glamorise weapons and gang life, while inciting attacks and possibly leading to cycles of tit-for-tat violence.

The strategy was heavily criticised for omitting a leaked report by the Home Office warning that police budget cuts had likely contributed to rising violence and encouraged offenders.

It sparked the creation of a Serious Violence Taskforce including charities and mental health services seeking to prevent young people carrying knives and turn them away from criminality.

Drill music from groups linked to a gang believed to have shot 17-year-old Tanesha Melbourne dead remains online (PA)

Voluntary groups have highlighted the impact of the closure of youth centres and other services for young people on deprived communities, while the Police Federation has pointed at the loss of more than 20,000 officers since 2010.

Scotland Yard has recently increased the use of blanket stop and search powers, which had been declining steeply for several years following controversy over alleged racial bias, in areas deemed to be at risk of violence.

Commissioner Cressida Dick said there were many reasons behind the recent uptick in attacks, including evolving drugs markets, austerity and a reduction in police finances, alongside drill music.

Very quickly, you will see these are associated with lyrics which are about glamourising violence, serious violence  murder, stabbings  they describe the stabbings in great detail, with great joy and excitement, she said during an appearance on LBC Radio.

Often, and weve seen this in London, we have gangs who make drill videos, and in those videos they taunt each other and say what they are going to do to each other, and specifically what they are going to do to who.

Ms Dick linked drill music to at least one attack in London and said web giants have a social responsibility to remove content that incites and glamourises violence.

A spokesperson for YouTube said: We have developed policies specifically to help tackle videos related to knife crime in the UK and are continuing to work constructively with experts on this issue.

We work with the Metropolitan Police, the Mayors office for policing and crime, the Home Office, and community groups to understand this issue and ensure we are able to take action on gang-related content that infringe our community guidelines or break the law.

We have a dedicated process for the police to flag videos directly to our teams because we often need specialist context from law enforcement to identify real life threats.

Along with others in the UK, we share the deep concern about this issue and do not want our platform used to incite violence.

Additional reporting by PA
A couple have been convicted of forced marriage charges after luring their 19-year-old daughter to Bangladesh in a bid to make her wed her first cousin .

The teenager, from Leeds, was taken on a sham holiday by her parents, who beat her to pressure her into going through with the wedding.

They told her she would be expected to have a child with her cousin once she had married him and would "bring shame" upon the family if she did not, Leeds Crown Court heard.

Recommended Woman guilty of forcing daughter into marriage in Pakistan jailed

On Tuesday, a jury of 11 men and one woman convicted her parents of forced marriage following a three-week trial.

The couple, who cannot be named to protect their daughter's anonymity, were also found guilty of using violence, threats or coercion to force her into the wedding.

The verdict came less than a week after a woman was jailed for four-and-a-half years at Birmingham Crown Court for forcing her daughter to marry in Pakistan. That conviction was the first successful prosecution of its type in the UK.

Jurors in the Leeds case heard the girls parents had told her they were going on a six-week holiday to Bangladesh to visit relatives and celebrate Eid.

However, just days after arriving on 3 July 2016, she was told by her father that he had found a husband for her.

He said I have planned this for years, the guy is really suitable, Ive given him money for university, and hes a really attractive guy for round here, the victim told the court in a pre-recorded video.

He was trying to get me to say yes, but at no point did I say yes. I thought it was disgusting because it was my first cousin and stood my ground.

The teenager was told she would live like a queen and that rejecting the proposal would bring shame on her parents.

She said: As the days went by, verbal abuse turned to physical abuse and my dad hit me over the head one day. It was so bad that the whole room literally went black.

Her mother pressured her father into hitting her again in the hope it would stop her rebelling against the marriage, the court heard.

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 in London 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

The teenager, who was studying for her A-levels at the time, had told her mother that even if she was forced to marry she would file a report to authorities informing them of what had happened.

But my mum said there was no way that that would happen, because they were going to leave me there for a year so that I would get pregnant so that [her cousin] could get a visa, she told the jury.

With the help of her younger sister, she was able to contact the British High Commission, who rescued her days before the wedding was due to take place.

She also contacted her boyfriend, who was alerted British police.

Her parents will be sentenced at the same court on 18 June.

Bangladesh does not have a specific law criminalising forced marriage, but a couple are each required to consent for a wedding to be valid.
A British national held on death row in Ethiopia for four years has been released.

Ethiopia-born Andargachew Tsege, also known as Andy, was accused by the Ethiopian authorities of being a terrorist and was tried with others in his absence in 2009 before being sentenced to death.

The father-of-three, who fled Ethiopia in the 1970s and sought asylum in the UK in 1979, had been a prominent critic of the country's ruling party.

In June 2014 Mr Tsege, who is in his 60s, was kidnapped in Yemen and rendered to the African country, where he has since been held in prison.

The Foreign Secretary said: "I am pleased Andargachew Tsege is now able to reunite with his loved ones after being separated from them for so long.

"His case has been a priority for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and our staff have worked tirelessly to support him and his family throughout his detention."

He added: "Recent moves by the Ethiopian government send a positive signal that they remain serious about following through with promised reforms to increase political space.

"Our dedicated staff continue to work hard behind the scenes on all consular cases around the world."

PA
A woman who died alongside her 12-year-old son in the Grenfell Tower fire was 10 weeks pregnant at the time of the blaze, the inquiry into the tragedy has heard.

Berkti Haftom, 29, was on the 18th floor of the building with her son Biruk when the fire broke out.

Biruk was so happy that his mother was going to have a baby, a statement by Ms Haftoms sisters at the inquiry said.

The 12-year-olds cousin Hemen Yemen, 7, remembered him in a video message shown to the probe as very sweet and handsome.

We were all excited but the fire took the excitement away from us," she said.

I was very happy but my happiness has gone because of the tragedy of Grenfell Tower.

I miss him so much I still dont know what to do without him.

Another cousin, Simon Michael, 10, said Biruk always looked after him.

He said Biruk was always good with secrets, adding: Let me tell you a secret, I wish I was with you there that night, but dont tell my mum

I wont forget you, brother.

Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Show all 31 1 /31 Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Jeremy Corbyn hugs a woman after the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Prince Harry leaving after the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures A woman appears emotional as she leaves the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Jeremy Corbyn consoles a mourner AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners carry pictures of victims of the fire and white roses as they leave St Paul's cathedral AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners carry white roses as they leave St Paul's cathedral after attending a Grenfell Tower National Memorial service AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Jeremy Corbyn consoles a relative of a victim AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners leave after attending the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Labour opposition party leader Jeremy Corbyn embraces a mourner AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures People hold photos and flowers as they leave after the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners hold up photos of victims as they leave St Paul's cathedral after attending a Grenfell Tower National Memorial service AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures People hold photos and flowers as they leave after the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Service members carry a Grenfell banner Rex Features Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures People at the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Prime Minister Theresa May attends the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Marcus Mumford, Adele and Carey Mulligan attending the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Attendees hold a banner at the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Prince Harry, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, The Duchess of Cornwall and The Prince of Wales attend the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures The Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Jeremy Corbyn and Diane Abbott arrive at St Paul's Cathedral REUTERS Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Members of the public gather outside St Paul's Cathedral ahead of the Grenfell Tower national memorial service Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry attend the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners arrive at St Paul's cathedral for a Grenfell Tower National Memorial service AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Firefighters arriving for the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners arrive at St Paul's cathedral for a Grenfell Tower National Memorial service AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners arrive at St Paul's cathedral for a Grenfell Tower National Memorial service at St Paul's Cathedral PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures People arrive for the Grenfell Tower Memorial Service Rex Features Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners arrive at St Paul's cathedral for a Grenfell Tower National Memorial service AFP/Getty Images Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Former footballer Les Ferdinand (right) arriving for the Grenfell Tower National Memorial Service at St Paul's Cathedral PA Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Police officers arrive at St Paul's Cathedral for a memorial service in honour of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire REUTERS Grenfell Tower memorial service: in pictures Mourners arrive at St Paul's cathedral for a Grenfell Tower National Memorial service AFP/Getty Images

The probe also heard how Ms Haftom had been planning to bring her eldest son, Nahom Tesfay, 18, to the UK.

She had been forced to leave him with his grandmother in their home country of Eritrea when he was two years old, after the country went to war with Ethiopia. It was too dangerous to take him with her, the inquiry was told.

When my grandmother died in 2016, everything changed, the teenager said. She was really worried about me because I couldnt cope on my own. Since that time she kept calling me to promise me, saying, you will soon be with me, he said.

When I remember her voice you cannot even imagine how I feel. I was looking forward to living with my mum and little brother but the fire in Grenfell Tower on June 14 2017 changed everything. I didnt see my mother for 15 years.

He was held by relatives as he cried.

Tributes to the 72 victims are scheduled to finish on Wednesday, before the inquiry moves to offices in Holborn for evidential sessions.
Medics who treated Sergei Skripal and his daughter have told how they feared that novichok exposure could spread through Salisbury and trigger an all-consuming crisis.

NHS staff at Salisbury District Hospital said they initially suspected the victims were suffering an opioid overdose but quickly realised they were dealing with a nerve agent.

When Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey was brought in with similar symptoms, there were fears that many more could fall victim to the chemical weapon.

Lorna Wilkinson, the hospitals director of nursing, told the BBCs Newsnight programme: There was a real concern as to how big could this get.

Have we just gone from having two index patients to having something that actually could become all-consuming and involve many casualties? Because we really didnt know at that point.

Mr Skripal, a former Russian double agent, and his daughter had passed out on a bench in The Maltings area of Salisbury after going for lunch and to a nearby pub.

Witnesses described them vomiting, twitching and being slumped together on 4 March.

Intensive care staff were only told that two critically unwell patients were being transferred from Accident and Emergency.

 Salisbury spy poisoning: Yulia Skripal says she is 'lucky to have survived' and would one day like to go home to Russia

Police later informed them of their identity and made clear that the circumstances of their sudden illness appeared to be suspicious.

Dr Stephen Jukes, an intensive care consultant, said: When we first were aware this was a nerve agent we were expecting them not to survive. We would try all our therapies. We would ensure the best clinical care. But all the evidence was there that they would not survive.

Dr Duncan Murray, head of the department, said he had conversations with his staff about the night that he could never have imagined in my wildest imagination having with anyone.

He put the Skripals survival mainly down to very good generic basic critical care by Salisbury District Hospitals doctors and nurses, who were supported and supplemented by input from really well-informed international experts, some of whom happen to be on our doorstep at Porton Down.

They were heavily sedated and given drugs that boost the bodys production of enzymes that replace those poisoned by the nerve agent.

Ms Skripal, 33, was discharged from hospital on 9 April and her father was released earlier this month.

Sources say both victims are being cared for in safe houses and have been interviewed by police, while security services consider whether to move them to a different country.

Ms Skripal said she and her father were lucky to have both survived in an interview filmed in a secret location, calling their recovery slow and extremely painful.

A Court of Protection hearing in March saw doctors raise concerns they could suffer permanent brain damage and doctors have not confirmed whether they will make a full recovery.

Members of the emergency services in green biohazard suits in Salisbury (AFP/Getty)

Asked to provide a long-term prognosis for the Skripals and DC Bailey, Dr Christine Blanshard told Newsnight that the honest answer is we dont know.

The medical director of Salisbury District Hospital said that the attack currently makes up the total world experience of treating people who have been poisoned with novichok, adding: Its safe to say were still learning.

The Independent understands police have still not yet identified a suspect in the poisoning, almost three months after the pair were attacked in Salisbury.

Counter-terror officers continue to investigate the case as attempted murder, after revealing the nerve agent was smeared on the handle of Mr Skripals front door.

Recommended Police officer affected by Salisbury nerve agent attack discharged

Scotland Yard has declined to give any details of where the victims are being treated or security operations, amid Russian government accusations of kidnapping.

This is a complex investigation and detectives continue to gather and piece together all the evidence to establish the full facts and circumstances behind this dreadful attack, a spokesperson said.

In the interests of Sergei and Yulias safety, we will not be discussing any protective or security arrangements that are in place.

With the culprits still at large, national security adviser Sir Mark Sedwill said security services were reviewing arrangements for other Russian defectors living in the UK earlier this month.

Mr Skripal, a former military intelligence colonel, had been living openly under his real name after being handed over in a 2010 spy swap and the attempted assassination has increased fears held by other defectors.

Little over a week after the attack in Salisbury, Russian businessman Nikolai Glushkov was found strangled at his London home.

No one has been arrested in relation to his death and police investigations continue.

Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Members of the emergency services in hazard suits fix the tent over the bench where Sergei and Yulia Skripal were found unconscious on a park bench in Salisbury in March 2018. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Sergei Skripal The retired Russian colonel and former double agent for MI6 was in a critical condition in hospital for more than two months after being exposed to novichok in Salisbury. He was given refuge in the UK after being jailed in Moscow for treason. Mr Skripal came to Britain as part of a high-profile spy swap in 2010 in which four men were exchanged for ten Russian "sleeper agents" in the US. In this image he is speaking to his lawyer from behind bars in Moscow in 2006. AP Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Yulia Skripal Yulia Skripal was struck down by a novichok poison alongside her father Sergei. Facebook Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack A police officer stands guard outside a branch of the Italian chain restaurant Zizzi where the pair dined at before falling ill. It was boarded off whilst investigators worked on the building and later found traces of the chemical weapon within it. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Scene of attack Large areas of central Salisbury were cordoned off by police following the discovery of the Skripals. Traces of nerve agent were also found in The Mill pub. PA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Victim - Nick Bailey Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey, rushed to the aid of the Russian ex-spy and his daughter who were targeted with a nerve agent. He was hospitalized after aiding them and didn't leave until three weeks after the attack. Wiltshire Police/Rex Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - Skripals home Police believe they were poisoned at home, and detectives found the highest concentration of novichok on the front door of Mr Skripals house. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Theresa May visits scene of attack Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May spokes with Wiltshire Police's Chief Constable Kier Pritchard near where the Skripal's were found. Britain expelled 23 Russian diplomats over the nerve agent poisoning and suspended high-level contacts, including for the World Cup on March 14. Theresa May told parliament that Russia had failed to respond to her demand for an explanation on how a Soviet-designed chemical, Novichok, was used in Salisbury. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Skripal days before attack Sergei Skripal days before he was exposed to Novichok, that has left him fighting for life. ITV News Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation - military involvement British soldiers were deployed soon after the attack to help a counter-terrorism investigation into the nerve agent attack. One of the places they were asked to help out with was Skripal's home and it's surrounding. They were asked to remove a vehicle connected to the agent attack in Salisbury, from a residential street in Gillingham. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation Personnel in protective coveralls and breathing equipment cover an ambulance with a tarpaulin at the Salisbury District Hospital. AFP/Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The investigation extended to the grave of Sergei Skripal's son Alexander in London Road cemetery. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Police investigation The Counter Terrorism Policing Network requested assistance from the military to remove a number of vehicles and objects from Salisbury. EPA Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Home Secretary visits scene of attack Home Secretary Amber Rudd visited the scene of the nerve agent attack at the Maltings shopping centre on 9 March. Getty Skripal attack aftermath  in pictures Yulia Skripal speaks for the first time Yulia Skripal, speaking for the first time, said she felt lucky to have survived the nerve agent attack in Salisbury which left her fighting for life. Ms Skripal said her life had been turned upside down by the assassination attempt. But the Russian national added she hoped to return to her homeland one day, despite the Kremlin being blamed for the attack. Reuters

Scotland Yard said there was no immediate evidence of a link to the attack on Mr Skripal, but Mr Glushkovs links to Russian dissident Boris Berezovsky sparked fresh scrutiny over a string of suspicious deaths.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied involvement in the nerve agent attack, with state-owned Russian media publicising conspiracy theories implicating other states or the British government itself.

Vladimir Putin has cast doubt on analysis by the British military and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) identifying novichok as the weapon used.

Im not an expert on those military grade toxic agents, but if such substance is used, then the victims die immediately... right on the spot, he claimed on Friday.

Ahmet Uzumcu, the outgoing director-general of the OPCW, has called for the watchdog to go beyond analysis of the substances used in atrocities and start naming the culprits.

He said the Salisbury attack should be a serious wake-up call to the international community, warning: If accountability is avoided, the potential re-emergence and acceptance of chemicals as weapons of war and terror will not be deterred.

Decontamination work is ongoing in the Wiltshire city to rid sites of any traces of novichok, which was found to remain present in potentially toxic quantities at designated hotspots.

Businesses in The Maltings shopping district reopened for the first time since the attack on Saturday, although other sites including Mr Skripals home remain shut off.

Defra announced it had handed back the area from government control after an extensive clean-up and retesting, hailing a massive step in the recovery for this beautiful city.

The full BBC Newsnight report will be broadcast on BBC2 at 10.30pm, Tuesday 29 May
A wave of thunderstorms that has already brought flash floods to some areas of Britain could continue to hammer the country for at least another week, forecasters have warned.

Yellow weather warnings have been issued for southern England on Tuesday, with lightning strikes and flooding possible again in some areas.

A high pressure front is creating a blocking pattern across the British Isles and northern Europe, preventing fresher air from being drawn in, the Met Office said.

Recommended Man in his 80s dies after car is submerged by flash floods

A spell of less humid weather could break through by the weekend, but looks likely to be replaced once again by warm, thundery conditions by the start of next week.

Northern areas look set to miss the worst of the storms, but will instead see lower temperatures and spells of low cloud and mist.

Weather warnings have been issued for southern England and that is likely to be extended to Wales later on Tuesday, Met Office forecaster Bonnie Diamond said.

The risk of thunderstorms may push further north towards Northern Ireland and northern England, but the main focus is still on southern areas.

This weather looks as if it will last until at least the end of the week, but the weekend looks as if it could produce a brief interlude where we will see some slightly fresher conditions.

By the start of next week, we could see a return to the thunderstorms and muggy weather we have seen so far this week.

Thunderstorms and heavy rain swept across the UK over the bank holiday weekend, causing flash floods in parts of the West Midlands, leaving one person dead.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 12 October 2021 The aerial climate installation by Swiss artivist Dan Acher 'We Are Watching' is unveiled at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters 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. 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PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty

Police said a man in his 80s was killed in Walsall after his vehicle was submerged in floodwater in the early hours of Monday morning.

More than a months rainfall hit Birmingham in just one hour on Sunday, while West Midlands Ambulance service said it had rescued several people from flooded homes.

West Midlands Fire Service received more than 900 calls during the storm, with its crews attending more than 100 incidents within the space of four hours.
A demonstration where women dressed up as men to protest against proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act was transphobic, campaigners have claimed.

Around 20 members of the Man Friday group took to the male-only bathing pool on Hampstead Heath. One woman donned a bushy beard while another swam in a lime mankini to demonstrate that they identified as men

However, equality campaigners claimed the protest demeaned trans people".

Recommended Section 28 is mirrored in the talk we now hear about trans people

Susie Green, the chief executive of Mermaids, which campaigns for trans equality, said: Our organisation finds this kind of demonstration worrying as it targets a marginalised and discriminated group of people.

"It makes fun of those less fortunate as the people taking part are clearly not trans and will not be affected by any changes to the law.

Its clearly transphobic - theyre mocking trans people.

Pro-LGBT+ rights advocates also say that groups like Man Friday are conflating the Gender Recognition Act and the Equality Act.

Reform of the former piece of legislation, which is currently proposed, will not affect the existing right of trans people to self-identify, which is already enshrined in legislation.

At the moment, trans people can change all of their day-to-day documents when they begin living permanently in that gender on the basis of self-declaration.

It is more complicated to change a birth certificate - a result of the governments stance that it need not change since it is a historical record.

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

Campaigners are calling for a change to bring it into line with how you would change other such documents.

The premise that the Gender Recognition Act reforms will affect peoples access to single-sex services is simply not correct, James Morton, the manager of the Scottish Trans Alliance, which leads the Equal Recognition campaign for Gender Recognition Act reform in Scotland.

The provisions by which trans people can use single-sex services are included in the Equality Act. A trans woman can use women-only services without a gender recognition certificate.

He added: Protests like this show a real insensitivity to the issues trans people face. You wouldnt be able to get a gender recognition certificate for declaring you are a man on Friday. You would have to be a man every day and intend to be so.for the rest of your life and thats where they are fundamentally mistaken.

LGBT+ rights advocates also stress that the proposed self-declaration process in the proposed Gender Recognition Act reforms "isn't a frivolous process and making a false statutory declaration is a serious crime of perjury".

Ugla Stefania, a non binary trans campaigner, said: "The proposed changes are based on best practice and legal expertise around legal gender recognition, and in countries where a similar process is in place, there have been no cases of people abusing this law.

"These changes will make a massive difference to the well-being of trans people and their access to getting their identity legally recognised.

"It will make it less paper work for everyone, and trans people can continue to live their lives without causing trouble to anyone. Trans people have been using gendered facilities with these people their whole lives without any issues. This law will not change that."

After their swimming pool demonstration the Man Friday group told The Independent that any changes to the law would infringe upon their rights as women.

One of the protesters, Amy Desir, said it "was set up as a response to policies of gender self-identification that are allowing men to come in and take womens spaces, positions, scholarships and awards simply by saying I am a man".

She added: It was set up to highlight to men that this is an issue which affects them as well and that they also have a say in this. It was quite obvious to everybody that no matter how much we said We are men, we were actually women.

Male rights groups weighed in on the debate on social media and said that Mumsnet, where the Man Friday movement was spawned, practices gender apartheid".

Isnt it time men self-identify as women and challenge female only spaces? said Matt OConnor, founder of Fathers4Justice. What if separated dads turn up at family courts self-identifying as mothers? The focus on minority rights, whilst denying fathers equal parenting rights, is wrong. F4J are planning #GirlFriday events at female only spaces this summer to challenge the gender apartheid practised by Mumsnet.
Theresa May is facing fury from hardline Eurosceptics after it emerged that planning for a no-deal Brexit in Whitehall has ground to a halt.

Leading Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg said Britain would look incompetent and weak if it were not prepared to walk away from negotiations from Brussels when offered unsatisfactory terms.

Planning for the event of a no deal with the EU is virtually non-existent, according to Whitehall officials quoted in The Financial Times, making it difficult for the prime minister to strengthen Britains hand in the talks by keeping the threat of a no deal on the table.

Philip Hammond, the pro-EU chancellor, earmarked 3bn last year to prepare for every outcome of Brexit after coming under fire from Brexiteers for being too slow to commit cash to prepare for negotiations potentially collapsing.

However Sir Ivan Rogers, a former UK ambassador to the EU, said Brussels had concluded that the UK would not walk away as it was not working full tilt to develop the independent regulators it would need outside of the EU.

It comes as tensions over Brexit threatened to bubble over between different Tory factions amid a row over future customs arrangements with the EU.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who chairs the European Reform Group of backbench Tories, told The Sun: Planning for no deal ought to be an essential part of the negotiations strategy.

To show we could easily walk away would worry the EU, strengthening our position and failing to do so would be both incompetent and weak.

Former Brexit minister David Jones also ramped up the pressure on Ms May by urging her to make it clear that preparations are being made.

No-deal preparation has been going on for a long time and I think it would be helpful now for the government to make it absolutely clear that this work is being carried out, both for a domestic audience and to show the EU we are not bluffing, he told The Telegraph.

A cabinet source told the newspaper: The fear among many senior Brexiteers is that we are in no way going to be ready if we end up crashing out without a deal.

We are staggeringly far behind where we should be.

Pro-EU campaigners said a no deal scenario would cause chaos in our economy and accused Tory Brexiteers of beating the drum for inevitable economic ruin.

Labour MP Tulip Siddiq, a supporter of the Best for Britain campaign, said: Independent forecasts have repeatedly shown that a no deal scenario would cause chaos in our economy and downgrade the rights of our citizens.

It would represent the kind of capitulation that Mr Rees-Mogg claims to campaign against, and would produce the very worst outcome from the Brexit process. It will decimate our public services and see household incomes plunge.

Those supporting it must come clean over the likely consequences of no deal, or they must stop beating the drum for inevitable economic ruin.

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 prime ministers official spokesman dismissed the criticism and insisted the government was actively planning for all Brexit scenarios.

The spokesman told a Westminster briefing: The prime minister has said many times, most recently in her Mansion House speech  we take the issue seriously and as a responsible government we continue to plan for a range of scenarios.

At the budget the chancellor committed an additional 3bn of funding so that departments and the devolved administrations can continue to prepare effectively for all Brexit scenarios, and over 1.5bn of this was allocated for 2018/19 in the spring statement.

Thats in addition to the 700m already made available to prepare for Brexit.
Ministers have been condemned for spending nearly 65,000 on an indefensible court battle to prevent heterosexual couples from having civil partnerships.

Newly released figures also reveal the government expects to incur further costs fighting a Supreme Court challenge from Rebecca Steinfeld, 37, and Charles Keidan, 41, who want legal recognition of their relationship without getting married.

The London couple, who have two children, have been embroiled in a lengthy legal battle because they believe the governments refusal to extend the civil partnerships currently offered to same-sex couples to everyone is incompatible with equality law.

Recommended Heterosexual couple take civil partnership fight to Supreme Court

Tory MP Tim Loughton, who brought forward a private members bill to extend civil partnerships to straight couples, said there was a pattern of throwing public funds at indefensible court cases as he compared the battle to Brexit campaigner Gina Millers High Court victory.

It should never have had to go to the Supreme Court, the former childrens minister told The Independent.

Efforts to allow wider access to civil partnerships have stalled since the departure of Justine Greening, the then women and equalities minister, after a botched cabinet reshuffle earlier this year.

She was replaced by home secretary Amber Rudd, who then resigned from the front bench over the Windrush scandal, leaving a question mark over the issue.

Her successor, Penny Mordaunt, has now sparked fears the government might scrap civil partnerships altogether by commissioning research into whether demand is too low.

Mr Loughton hit out at the government for dragging its feet on further consultation, as more than 120,000 people have already signed a petition backing the move and there is cross-party support in parliament.

He said: We just dont need to spend any more time and money on consulting on something that we already know the answer on.

Defending the case in court is just a further waste of public funds.

Mr Loughton went on: There is a specific place for civil partnerships in preference over marriage for same-sex couples and clearly thats going to be the place for opposite-sex couples as well, which is why we have 3.2 million living as cohabiting couples, of whom a good chunk would probably go for a civil partnership arrangement.

Abolishing it is not the answer. There would be a very severe backlash if they were going to go down that abolition route rather than that extension route.

A spokesperson for the Equal Civil Partnerships campaign told The Independent: The Government has committed to ending the current unfairness and the minister has given a commitment to Stonewall not to abolish same-sex civil partnerships, so extending them to all is the only option left.

So why delay, especially when it is costing the taxpayer so much money?

Home Office minister Victoria Atkins, who released the data in a parliamentary question, said: Since the start of the proceedings in 2014, the government has spent 64,923 in legal costs as a result of this judicial review.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters 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

The case is still ongoing, and so we are likely to incur further costs.

The department has a central budget for legal costs, but does not allocate budgets to individual cases as the costs for each case varies.

Civil partnerships were brought in for same-sex couples in 2004, as part of efforts towards legalising gay marriage, which was introduced in England and Wales in 2014.

Ms Steinfeld and Mr Keidan launched a judicial review in 2014 after being told they could not have a civil partnership because the law says only same-sex couples are eligible.

Their case was defeated at the Court of Appeal in February last year but they were allowed to take the case to the Supreme Court for a hearing earlier this month.
Theresa May will not intervene to help lift Northern Irelands ban on abortion, Downing Street has said.

Pressure on the prime minister to act has grown in the wake of the Republic of Irelands referendum, which saw the country vote for reform of its abortion laws.

Senior Conservatives such as Sarah Wollaston, the chair of the Commons Health Committee, and Anne Milton, the education minister, have backed calls for a free vote in parliament on lifting the Northern Irish ban, while cabinet ministers such as Penny Mordaunt are also said to be ready to push for change.

Recommended May faces government rift over Northern Ireland abortion ban

However, Ms Mays spokesperson said the government believed the issue was a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which has not sat since early last year after power-sharing collapsed.

The spokesperson said: This is a devolved matter.

It is important to recognise that the people of Northern Ireland are entitled to their own process which is run by elected politicians.

Our focus is restoring a democratically accountable devolved government in Northern Ireland so that locally accountable politicians can make decisions on behalf of the public they represent.

Calls for a change to the law pose a headache for Ms May because the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), whose votes she relies on in parliament, are firmly anti-abortion and would be certain to oppose any push for reform.

Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Show all 20 1 /20 Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Women in Dublin celebrate the result of yesterday's referendum on abortion law Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum A woman in Dublin celebrates the result of yesterday's referendum Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Activists react at the count centre as votes are tallied folowing yesterday's referendum Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Co-Director of Together For Yes Ailbhe Smyth speaking to the media at the count in Dublin PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes voters react, as the results of the votes begin to come in PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Long time campaigner Annette Forde, from Drumcondra, at the count centre in Dublin's RDS as votes are counted PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Minister for Health Simon Harris (centre) with Fine Gael's Kate O'Connell and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy (left) speaks to the media on arrival at the count centre PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes voters celebrate at the count centre in Dublin as official results for constituencies are announced PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes campaigners celebrate at the count in Dublin PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum A woman writes a message on a mural to Savita Halappanava, a woman who died of pregnancy complications AFP/Getty Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Activists react at the count centre as votes are tallied folowing yesterday's referendum Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald reacts with a member of the Yes campaign PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes campaigners celebrate at the count in Dublin PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes campaigners react, as the results of the votes begin to come in Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Senator David Norris at the count centre in Dublin as votes are counted PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum A woman sits in front of the Dublin mural of Savita Halappanavar, a woman who died of pregnancy complications PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Repeal supporters at Dublin's RDS await the start of the count last night PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Minister for Health Simon Harris is greeted by retired Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness at the count in Dublin PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes campaigners react, as the results of the votes begin to come in AP Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum A Yes voter poses with a badge as votes are counted AFP/Getty

DUP leader Arlene Foster has already warned the prime minister against intervening on the issue, saying: Fridays referendum has no impact upon the law in Northern Ireland, but we obviously take note of issues impacting upon our nearest neighbour.

A referendum was held in the Republic of Ireland because of the constitutional prohibition on abortion that existed there. No such constitutional bar exists in Northern Ireland.

She added: The legislation governing abortion is a devolved matter, and it is for the Northern Ireland assembly to debate and decide such issues.

Some of those who wish to circumvent the assemblys role may be doing so simply to avoid its decision.

Labour MP Stella Creasy has said she will table an amendment to the Domestic Violence Bill that would standardise abortion law across the UK  in effect making it legal in Northern Ireland. She claimed more than 150 parliamentarians have already expressed support for the change.

 Irish abortion referendum: The moment it was announced Ireland voted 66% in favour of repealing the eighth amendment

Asked whether Conservative MPs would be given a free vote on the amendment, the Downing Street spokesperson said: Where Westminster has had votes in relation to this in the past there has been a free vote, but Im not going to comment on hypothetical amendments.

Labour said the issue was a test of Ms Mays feminist credentials.

Shami Chakrabarti, the shadow attorney general, told BBC Radio 4: We are calling on Mrs May, a self-identifying feminist, to negotiate with the parties in Northern Ireland and then to legislate without further delay.

You cant have democracy without fundamental human rights, and the women of Northern Ireland have suffered for long enough. I think Theresa May, really as a self-identifying feminist, needs to say: Yes, I unveil statues of suffragists in Parliament Square, but the test of my feminism will be whether I guarantee fundamental human rights for women.
The government has been urged to add tougher safeguards to prevent a prime minister "recklessly" taking the country to war.

MPs are proposing that the cabinet secretary - the most senior civil servant in the UK - should be allowed to make parliament aware of the PM's decision to ignore the normal decision-making process.

The Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee (PACAC) said that this would tackle a key finding of the Chilcot inquiry into the run-up to the Iraq war regarding lack of cabinet discussion.

It follows calls from Jeremy Corbyn for a war powers act that would stop Theresa May from launching bombing raids without first consulting MPs.

Last month the prime minister launched air strikes against Syria without prior approval from parliament, saying that the action was in the UK's national interest.

The committee's alternative is to allow the cabinet secretary to ask the PM for a written ministerial direction to ignore the normal decision-making process, and then decide whether to make the situation known to parliament.

At present the cabinet secretary's only option is to resign if a prime minister decides to ignore their advice, the MPs said.

The report states: "If the cabinet secretary asks for such a direction, it should be at his or her discretion whether this direction should be made immediately known to parliament, or, in matters relating to national security, notified to nominated independent privy counsellors and released to parliament later.

"Such a mechanism would dispel any doubt about the cabinet secretary's duty to ensure proper decision making."

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters 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. 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PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. It was her 15th Paralympic gold Reuters UK news in pictures 24 August 2021 A demonstrator dressed as bee during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion on Whitehall, in central London PA UK news in pictures 23 August 2021 Former interpreters for the British forces in Afghanistan demonstrate outside the Home Office in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 22 August 2021 Police officers form a line in front of the entrance to the Guildhall, London, where protesters have climbed onto a ledge above the entrance during an Extinction Rebellion stage a protest PA UK news in pictures 21 August 2021 People take part in a demonstration in solidarity with people of Afghanistan, in London Reuters

PACAC chairman Bernard Jenkin said: "In 2002 Tony Blair promised George Bush that 'I will be with you, whatever' committing the UK to war in Iraq without consulting the foreign and defence secretaries, let alone the rest of the cabinet.

"Fifteen years later there are still no safeguards in place within the government to prevent a prime minister acting so recklessly again.

"The present prime minister has assiduously used cabinet and its committees. PACAC also has great confidence in the current cabinet secretary and his commitment to effective decision-making.

"But this is no guarantee for the future. It's therefore a perfect time to introduce such a safeguard, when the system is working well, not to wait for another catastrophic failure.

"Our proposal is modest, and has the support of many former senior civil servants. We expect the government to consider it seriously."

The report also called for the ministerial code to be updated and set out a list of matters that would normally be subject to collective agreement.

Sir Jeremy Heywood has served as cabinet secretary since 2012 (Getty Images)

A government spokesman said: "The government will consider the report and respond in the normal manner.

"Ministers are accountable to parliament and civil servants accountable to ministers. Blurring these lines would risk undermining existing lines of accountability.

"The cabinet secretary supports the prime minister and the cabinet, helping to ensure there is robust system so the most important decisions are taken on a collective basis, ensuring that key interests across government are taken into account."
Theresa May has demanded the EU look beyond sound-bites in its approach to Brexit talks, in a move likely irritate officials in Brussels ahead of next months European Council summit.

The Prime Minister  who for many months relied on phrases like Brexit means Brexit to describe her withdrawal strategy  called on the EU to be more constructive.

It came as Downing Street hit back at what it called negative anonymous briefings from Brussels, which saw officials across the Channel launch a devastating attack on the UKs negotiating positions last week.

Following the briefing in Brussels, Ms Mays spokesman said: We need to approach these discussions with the interests of our citizens at heart

That means focussing on holding constructive talks inside the negotiating room. We also need to be constructive outside of the room, which means looking beyond sound-bites and negative anonymous briefings.

Ms May has faced constant calls since taking office, and from both sides of the Channel, to give more details of her approach to EU withdrawal.

To the frustration of her critics, she has often chosen to rely on sound-bites of her own to describe her strategy, like seeking a red, white and blue Brexit or a deep and special partnership with Europe, whilst holding back critical detail.

 Bank of England Governor Mark Carney: Brexit has already hit UK GDP by up to 40bn

The spokesman went on to say the EU should engage in a constructive spirit and argued that while there has been good progress so far it is important to remember that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

He then said it was important to make more progress towards the deep and special future partnership that Ms May has said is in the interests of both the UK and the European Union.

With a crucial summit approaching in June at which the UK was once expecting to reach some sort of agreement on future customs arrangements with Brussels, EU officials vented their frustration last week.

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

One senior official said the UK still lacked negotiating positions on a wide variety of issues and that in others it was chasing the fantasy of denying the consequences of Brexit in a given policy area.

As well as the main issues of customs and the Irish border making little progress, the EU said matters like the European arrest warrant and the Galileo satellite system have also stalled since March.

EU negotiators complain that the British side do not understand that the UK will not be able to use the European arrest warrant after Brexit, with Ms May again having pledged to stay in the system just three months ago.
Britain is calling for a global conference on chemical weapons in wake of attacks in Syria, Iraq and Salisbury.

The proposed meeting of the signatories of the Chemical Weapons Convention has already received the backing of 10 other states, apart from the UK. It needs the support of 64 of 192 signatories to trigger a conference within 30 days.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said the special conference would aim to reaffirm and defend the ban on use of the outlawed weapons and strengthen the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The move comes just under three months after Sergei and Yulia Skripal were poisoned with the Soviet-era nerve agent Novichok in an attack Britain has blamed on Russia.

The sponsors of the letter want the conference to examine ways the international community could work together to strengthen and protect the convention.

The world came together in 1997 to outlaw the development, stockpiling and use of these vile substances through the Chemical Weapons Convention, said Mr Johnson.

But in recent years we have seen chemical attacks by the Assad regime in Syria, by Daesh in Syria and Iraq, in Malaysia and even here in the UK in Salisbury.

Today we have brought together 11 states to formally ask the director general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to convene a special Conference of the States Parties to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 10 October 2021 A young girl is helped by a Border Force officer as a group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dover, Kent, following a small boat incident in the Channel. PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2021 People walk past a life-size sculpture of British singer John Lennon entitled "Imagine", by sculptor Lawrence Holofcener, displayed to mark what would have been the 81st birthday for the former member of the Beatles in Carnaby Street Reuters 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

We call on all right-thinking states to come together next month to take action to reaffirm and defend the ban on chemical weapons, and to strengthen the Organisation which we have entrusted with overseeing it.

Earlier this week, medics who treated the Skripals told of how they expected them not to survive when they first arrived at Salisbury District Hospital. When Detective Sergeant Nick Bailey was brought in with similar symptoms, they feared many more could fall victim to the chemical weapon and trigger an all-consuming crisis, said the hospitals director of nursing Lorna Wilkinson.

The outgoing head of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Ahmet Uzumcu, suggested last week the watchdog could start name the culprits behind chemical attacks, saying the attempted murder of the Skripals should be a serious wake up call to the international community

Press Association contributed to this report
Leading Conservative Ruth Davidson has given a major speech calling for increased taxation to fund the NHS, the end of Theresa Mays immigration target and more help for young people to buy homes.

The leader of the Scottish Tories is the latest senior Conservative to push for more NHS money, as Ms May formulates a long-term plan for the cash-strapped health service.

Ms Davidsons fresh call to scrap the target of reducing net migration to the tens of thousands, flying in the face of Ms Mays position, and her push for Tory policy to help generation rent, will also renew speculation about her leadership ambitions.

But while her speech came after days in which fanciful talk of a plot involving Michael Gove circulated in Westminster, it was largely focussed on her agenda for the 2021 Scottish elections.

Recent days have seen senior Tory MPs and even health secretary Jeremy Hunt push for more NHS funding from the Treasury, saying the public would accept tax rises if they believed the money would be well spent.

Increasing the pressure, Ms Davidson said: The UK government has acted to reduce the tax burden on working families. It has honoured its promise to do so, raising the income tax threshold has reduced taxes for millions of UK workers and has taken thousands out of taxation altogether.

But the UK government has a choice to make. And, if that choice is between extra spending on the NHS or introducing further tax breaks beyond those already promised, I choose the NHS.

 Ruth Davidson arrives for cabinet meeting

Ms May has promised to produce a long-term NHS funding plan and suggested fresh cash could be earmarked for the service later this year, but is also under pressure to hit Tory deficit targets and protect voters from tax rises.

The intervention from Ms Davidson follows an analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies setting out how necessary NHS funding increases will require taxes to rise by up to 2.6 per cent of GDP or 2,000 per household.

I see neither the sense nor the need to stick to an immigration figure devised nearly a decade ago, which has never been met and does not fit the requirements of the country Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson

The Scottish leader also doubled down on her demand to scrap the tens of thousands migration target, initiated during Ms Mays time at the Home Office and still doggedly defended by the prime minister.

But in a markedly different tone on immigration than that often taken in Westminster, Ms Davidson said: I see neither the sense nor the need to stick to an immigration figure devised nearly a decade ago, which has never been met and does not fit the requirements of the country.

Setting an immigration target reduced to the tens of thousands is one thing when unemployment is running at 8 per cent. Refusing to review it when the country nears full employment and sectors are reporting skills shortages is quite another.

 Ruth Davidson stands up for Theresa May in BBC interview

Even if that target were to stay, I see no reason why overseas students should be included within the numbers counted.

Ms Davidson, who recently announced she is expecting her first child with her Irish partner Jen Wilson, added: We want EU citizens who live here to stay. I have an interest here, I speak as someone who is about to marry one  and to assure EU citizens and others of that wish, we need to do more.

On housing, she backed a plan for a new Scottish housing and infrastructure agency to boost housing supply.

But she also appeared to pitch ideas to voters as far as London and framed them as a rallying call to centre-ground politicians who do believe in markets and liberal values.

She said: While its all very well for me, or other centrist politicians to espouse the merits of a market economy, how does that work for a teenager growing up in a pit town with no pit, a steel town with no steel, or a factory town where the factory closed its doors more than a decade ago?

How does that feel to a member of generation rent, moving to London for their best shot, living in Zone 6, paying half their stagnant salary on a commute, knowing all the while there is no chance of saving enough to ever own their front door?

 Ruth Davidson tells immigrants 'This is your home and you are welcome here'

Ms Davidsons team said the speech is a response to the SNPs Growth Commission report published last week, which aimed to show how the Scottish economy could thrive independently from the UK.

Instead of focussing on independence, the Scottish Tory leader is trying to concentrate on domestic policy ideas that Holyrood could implement to boost growth from within the UK.

One friend of Ms Davidson told The Independent: None of what is in the speech is removed from a push to make Ruth first minister of Scotland in 2021.

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

Its all about getting Ruth into Bute House [the first ministers official residence].

Yet it follows media reports earlier this week that some Tories are plotting to replace Ms May as Prime Minister with Michael Gove in a caretaker capacity and eventually with Ms Davidson in the next three years.

The speculation, broadly dismissed, came after the pair appeared together at the launch of a new policy think tank called Onward.

The friend of Ms Davidson added: Michael and Ruth are actually quite close politically. If you take Brexit out, theyre very close and they have a shared understanding, more than with many other senior people.

But theres nothing more than that. Dont buy the idea that theres some plot.
The Home Office has revealed it has only managed to contact three of around 60 people who may have been wrongly deported as part of the Windrush scandal.

Officials have searched through more than 8,000 records dating back to 2002 to find cases of Commonwealth citizens who may have been forced to leave for failing to provide the right documentation - despite living legally in the UK for decades.

The government has come under intense criticism over the treatment of the so-called Windrush generation of Caribbean immigrants, who moved to the UK between the 1940s and the 1970s but were never fully naturalised.

More than 5,000 people have been identified as potential Windrush cases since the scandal broke, when it emerged that scores of people who were entitled to be in the UK had lost their jobs, been denied medical care and threatened with deportation.

Newly appointed home secretary Sajid Javid admitted earlier this month that 63 people may have been wrongly deported or removed from the UK. Of those cases, 32 were classed as foreign national offenders, while 31 were people subject to "administrative" removals.

In a letter to Home Affairs Committee chair, Yvette Cooper, Mr Javid said the latter group are being "proactively contacted" through a specialist Windrush taskforce.

He added: "We have so far made contact with three and are asking high commissioners to assist where we do not have contact details.

"When we reach these individuals they will be invited to contact the taskforce."

The Home Office has also faced pressure to establish how many people have been detained as a result of the Windrush debacle.

Mr Javid said: "As with the removals exercise, this is a complex piece of work which involves manually examining thousands of cases in order to see whether there is anything on the record which suggests that someone could have been here before 1973 - likely to be a much smaller number.

"Officials believe that their initial investigations are likely to take between six and eight weeks."

The Home Secretary noted that there are people of the Windrush generation who, having worked all their lives in Britain, have retired to the country of their birth, disclosing that the taskforce has supported 11 individuals back to the UK and is handling 226 inquiries.

Responding to his letter, Ms Cooper said: "It remains a real concern that only three of the 63 potential wrongful deportations and removals have been contacted so far, and that it will take a further six weeks for the Home Office to assess how many people may have been wrongfully detained."

Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Show all 15 1 /15 Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' arriving at Tilbury Docks from Jamaica, with 482 Jamaicans on board, emigrating to Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaican immigrants being welcomed by RAF officials from the Colonial Office after the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' landed them at Tilbury. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner who arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex, speaking at his home in Leeds PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner in Leeds shortly after he arrived in Britain in 1948 on the first Windrush ship to dock in Tilbury, Essex PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Gardner was 22 years old when he boarded the ship in Kingston, Jamaica, with his brother Gladstone before they and hundreds of Caribbean migrants called on to rebuild post-war Britain disembarked the ship in Tilbury Docks PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Alford Gardner (right), during his RAF service in 1947 PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The son of Ruth Williams, a Windrush-generation immigrant, wants to the leave the country after threats of deportation. According to his mother, Mr Haynes applied for British citizenship in 2016 but was rejected, despite Ms Williams having lived in the UK almost permanently since arriving from St Vincent and the Grenadines in 1959. Ruth Williams, 75, said she felt "betrayed" by Britain after the Home Office twice turned down applications for her 35-year-old son, Mozi Haynes, to remain in the country. Ms Williams is understood to have cancer and said she relies heavily on her son for support. PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK The British liner 'Empire Windrush' at port in 1954. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Ruth Williams, 75, with her British passport. "I feel betrayed and a second class citizen in my own country," she said. "This makes me so sad and the Home Office must show some compassion. "I am unwell and almost 75, I live on my own and I need my son to stay here. I need my family around me and I cant face being alone. He has applied to the Home Office and been refused twice." PA Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK From the top, hopeful Jamaican boxers Charles Smith, Ten Ansel, Essi Reid, John Hazel, Boy Solas and manager Mortimer Martin arrive at Tilbury on the Empire Windrush in the hope of finding work in Britain. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaicans reading a newspaper whilst on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush' bound for Tilbury docks in Essex. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK After half a century in Britain, Anthony Bryan decided it was time to go abroad. But the decision set off a nightmare that saw him lose his job, detained twice and almost deported to Jamaica. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Jamaica-born Anthony Bryan poses outside his home in Edmonton, north London. Now 60 and a grandfather, Bryan thought the issue could be resolved swiftly, as he legally moved to Britain with his family as part of the Windrush generation of Caribbean migrants after World War II. In 1948, the ship Windrush brought the first group of migrants from the West Indies to help rebuild post-war Britain, and many others followed from around the Commonwealth. A 1971 law gave them indefinite leave to remain, but many never formalised their status, often because they were children who came over on their parents' passports and then never applied for their own. AFP/Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats. Getty Windrush generation: threat of deportation from UK Newly arrived Jamaican immigrants on board the 'Empire Windrush' at Tilbury in 1948. Getty

The Windrush scandal led to the resignation of Amber Rudd from Theresa May's top team and also overshadowed a recent Commonwealth summit in London, where the prime minister had to apologise to Caribbean leaders for the treatment of their citizens.

It also shone a light on Ms Mays time at the Home Office, where she introduced the hardline hostile environment policies blamed for the aggressive targeting of Windrush citizens.

Earlier, Mr Javid announced plans to waive fees for citizenship applications for children of the Windrush generation - who joined their parents before they turned 18 - and free confirmation of the existing British citizenship for children born to the Windrush generation in the UK.
All UK festivals should provide drug-testing facilities, experts and campaigners have urged, following the deaths of two young people believed to have taken high-strength ecstasy at a festival over the bank holiday weekend.

Five people have been arrested for drug-related offences after Georgia Jones, 18, and Tommy Cowan, 20, died at Mutiny Festival in Hampshire. Thirteen other people were taken to hospital, with one remaining critically ill.

Reports said high-strength ecstasy tablets called Silver Audis, which are three times as potent as normal doses of the drug, were in circulation. The pills are known to have been present at the Love Saves the Day Festival in Bristol the same weekend.

The tragic events prompted renewed calls for drug testing, which is provided at a limited number of festivals but was not available at Mutiny, to be rolled out more widely.

Recommended Portsmouth music festival cancelled after two young people die

Fiona Measham is director of The Loop, currently the UKs sole drug-testing charity at festivals. Staffed by volunteers, it has piloted the service over the last two years and will be at 10 UK festivals this year.

She said: We have strong police support  we couldnt and wouldnt operate without that  and we are calling on the government, Public Health England, local authorities and events across the country to support us in rolling out drug testing facilities further."

Portsmouth council's Conservative Party group leader, Donna Jones, agreed there should have been drug testing at Mutiny.

The service sees chemists test recreational substances submitted by users within short time frames and healthcare professionals then discuss the results on a one-to-one basis, providing individualised harm reduction advice, while stressing they do not condone drug use.

Its proponents argue that it exponentially reduces the risk of harm and cites reduced hospitalisations at the festivals it has attended as evidence of its success.

Users are very enthusiastic and appreciative of our drug safety testing service, said Ms Measham. We find that about half of the people we see then go on to throw away their drugs or take less  if you identify adulterated drugs people dont take them.

The Loop's analysis at the Love Saves the Day Festival in Bristol last weekend found one in eight ecstasy tables had been mis-sold by dealers, with pills sold as MDMA actually containing over 100mg of pentylone, a strong dose of a psychoactive substance.

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. 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PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2021 Goldfinches fighting over food in a garden in Strensham, Worcestershire PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2021 Gold Medallist Sarah Storey of Britain celebrates on the podium Reuters UK news in pictures 30 August 2021 Extinction Rebellion protesters hold a a tea party on Tower Bridge in London EPA UK news in pictures 29 August 2021 A police office tussles with a demonstrator on Cromwell Road outside the Natural History Museum during a protest by members of Extinction Rebellion in London PA UK news in pictures 28 August 2021 Members of the British armed forces 16 Air Assault Brigade walk to the air terminal after disembarking a Royal Airforce Voyager aircraft at Brize Norton, Oxfordshire POOL/AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 27 August 2021 Fabio Quartararo crashes during a MotoGP practice session at the British Grand Prix, Silverstone Circuit Action Images via Reuters UK news in pictures 26 August 2021 An Extinction Rebellion activist holds a placard in a fountain surrounded by police officers, during a protest next to Buckingham Palace in London Reuters UK news in pictures 25 August 2021 Gold Medallist Great Britains cyclist, Sarah Storey, celebrates after winning the Womens C5 3000m Individual Pursuit Final at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. 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The findings prompted them to put out warnings on social media and onsite signage which may well have prevented harm. The festival organisers said the service proved highly effective.

The terrible tragedy in Portsmouth from the weekend serves to highlight just how serious the problem is that we are all trying to tackle together, said Tom Paine, the director at Love Saves The Day.

We would like to thank once again Avon and Somerset Police and Bristol City Council for their forward-thinking support for the initiative. Initiatives like this are undoubtedly saving lives in todays festival climate.

Drug-related deaths in the UK are the highest on record, with at least 3,744 in England and Wales in 2016, among the highest in the developed world. Efforts to limit circulation have largely been unsuccessful and costly.

Harm reduction interventions, such as drug checking at festivals and in other venues, is a vital tool to reduce the risk faced by people who use drugs, said Niamh Eastwood, executive director of Release, a charity that calls for drug reform.

This essential service informs people of what is in the substances they have in their possession, allowing them to make an informed decision as to whether to take the drug or to adjust the dose

At the national level the government has buried it's head in the sand on this issue, still striving for an unachievable drug free society whilst drug related deaths are at an all-time high, across all substances, she added.

Instead of pursuing a failed policy the government should fund and support services such as the Loop so that it can be rolled out nationally in all venues where it is needed.

Recommended I spent my weekend testing drugs at a festival

With the UK festival season gearing up, the spotlight will fall on Field Day, All Points East, Download, Gottwood, Parklife and more to see how they attempt to keep drug-related harm to a minimum.

In the Netherlands, initiatives like The Loop are subsidised by central government.

However, testing remains a sensitive issue both politically and legally in the UK and is yet to receive support from Public Health England.

At the moment, festivals must fund the expensive service themselves, which means providing a pop-up laboratory.

Boomtown Fair in Hampshire, near where Mutiny took place, had four fatalities in six years, a toll which led it to offering drug testing facilities for the first time in 2017.

Drugs do get in, they can't stop them getting into prisons and as best we try we can't stop them getting into festivals, said Anna Wade, a spokesperson for Boomtown, which had no reported deaths last year.

So what we really wanted to do was actually take a more responsible, pragmatic and open and honest approach to it because people do take drugs, they dont just take them at festivals and nightclubs. They take them at city centres and at home. Its a big issue in society.

Drug policy experts and academics also urged UK festivals to support the initiatives.

"We should be adopting a harm reduction policy at these events in place of punishment or zero tolerance, said Professor Mike Barnes, a neurologist and drug expert.

"It should be compulsory for festivals to have a drug testing facility as a condition of the license. It would be easily done and so much good could come from that simple policy.

"I cannot understand why some festivals adopt drug testing and some don't  that makes no sense."

Professor David Nutt, a leading drug policy expert, said: "I believe all festivals should have testing."

"The reason they don't is because each festival has to apply separately to get permission. Then they need the police, the landowner and the organiser to agree, which often does not happen and can take months to decide. In any case, there are too few testers for all festivals.

"Some are scared that they will be breaking law because it is unclear on this point and if they contact the Home Office it will try to deter people."

A Home Office spokesperson said: Drugs can devastate lives, ruin families and damage communities. This Governments approach remains clear that we must prevent drug use in our communities and support people through treatment and recovery.

No illegal drug can be assumed to be safe and there is no safe way to take them. Our Drug Strategy brings together police, health, community and global partners to tackle the illicit drug trade, protect the must vulnerable and help those with a drug dependency to recover and turn their lives around.
Oxfam have called for action to prevent millions of people in South Sudan being hit by a deadly famine.

The warning comes after a report from the Famine Early Warning Network (FEWSNET) was released claiming a fifth of households in the South Sudanese town of Pibor could already be classed as hitting famine levels of hunger.

Communities in the area have suffered through four years of warfare which have depleted food stocks, preventing households from stockpiling food for times of hardship.

Recommended South Sudan violence against women twice global average

People in the region have been forced to eat grass and weeds to stave off hunger, causing them to fall ill.

Food availability has plummeted in Pibor, which sits in Boma state in the east of the country, after pests and flooding destroyed harvests. Boma also sees frequent and violent cattle raids from neighbouring states.

As the rainy season sets in, much of the food people depend on has to be flown in from Juba, however this sustenance is unaffordable for many.

South Sudanese rebels Show all 25 1 /25 South Sudanese rebels South Sudanese rebels A rebel fighter near the town of Kaya on South Sudans border with Uganda a day before the 26 August assault Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels Thousands of rebel troops have been killed since civil war broke out in 2013 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels pray in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels parade in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017 REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels parade in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic SEARCH "SPLA-IO" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels stand in line during a parade in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels stand in line during a parade in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic SEARCH "SPLA-IO" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels stand in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels An elderly SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebel cries as he talks to other rebels in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017. REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic SEARCH "SPLA-IO" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES. TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels A SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebel carries a rucksack with picture of Bob Marley in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels walk in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels stand in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels hold up guns in Yondu, the day before an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 25, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels march after an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers, near the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 26, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels walk during an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 26, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels walk during an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 26, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels return fire as they march after an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the road between Kaya and Yundu, South Sudan, August 26, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebel fires his rifle during an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 26, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebel gestures during an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 26, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels fire weapons during an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 26, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels carry an injured rebel after an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers, on the road between Kaya and Yondu, South Sudan, August 26, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels An injured SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebel lies on an improvised stretcher after an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers near the town of Kaya, on the road between Kaya and Yunde, South Sudan, August 26, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels stand after an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers, outside the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 26, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels march after an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers in the town of Kaya, on the road between Kaya and Yondu, South Sudan, August 26, 2017. Reuters/Goran Tomasevic South Sudanese rebels SPLA-IO (SPLA-In Opposition) rebels drink water from a pond after an assault on government SPLA (Sudan People's Liberation Army) soldiers near the town of Kaya, on the border with Uganda, South Sudan, August 26, 2017 Reuters/Goran Tomasevic

South Sudan was hit by a severe hunger crisis in 2017 with Leer and Mayendit declared in famine. Aid efforts averted an even greater catastrophe, however with this year's harvest not due until at least July, South Sudan is facing crisis again.

Nicolo Di Marzo, Oxfam's acting country director in South Sudan, said: Waiting for a formal declaration of famine is not good enough. People are already starving and desperate.

"A woman in Pibor said that her family have resorted to cooking grasses and weeds that are making them sick  but that they have no choice if they want to survive.

Aid efforts have so far kept famine at bay, but the need is growing at such an alarming rate that Oxfam and other aid organisations are struggling to keep up. We are seeing similarly worrying trends across the country.

"This is not an isolated problem. Urgent action is needed now to save lives in Pibor and across South Sudan.
The Bolivian deputy interior minister has been kidnapped and beaten to death by striking miners, government officials said on Friday. Rodolfo Illanes, 56, had been dispatched to negotiate with the miners outside the countrys capital, La Paz, but was seized on Thursday. While being held, he spoke to a Bolivian radio station, telling them the miners were demanding the government negotiate new legislation with them to secure his release.

According to Reuters, however, Mr Illaness body was found early on Friday morning, wrapped in a blanket by the side of a highway connecting La Paz to the city of Oruro. He had died of repeated blows to the head. Bolivian interior minister Carlos Romero said all indications were that he had died as the result of a cowardly and brutal murder.

Tensions between the government of President Evo Morales and the countrys miners spilled into violence this week when negotiations broke down following a weeks-long strike. The National Federation of Mining Co-operatives of Bolivia said it would begin an indefinite protest.

The country has some 100,000 independent miners working in self-managed cooperatives, but the demonstrators are demanding the right to work for private companies, broader union representations, a loosening of environmental restrictions and other concessions.

On Wednesday, two protesters were reportedly shot dead by police. The miners had blockaded a highway in Panduro around 100 miles from La Paz, though the blockade was lifted on Friday after Mr Illaness death.

Speaking on national television, the countrys defence minister Reymi Ferreira became emotional, saying Mr Morales was profoundly affected by the killing. More than 100 people had been arrested, he added, insisting: This crime will not go unpunished.

Mr Morales, himself a former farmer, nationalised Bolivias mines when he assumed power in 2006, rerouting the profits to anti-poverty efforts. But the labour unions who originally considered him an ally have since become sceptical amid claims of government corruption.

Announcing a three-day period of mourning on Friday, Mr Morales said: Our natural resources belong to the people, which is why I call brother Illanes a hero in the defense of our natural resources.
A pair of American flight instructors have been arrested on suspicion of kidnapping a student pilot and attempting to send him back to China.

Jonathan McConkey and Kelsi Hoser turned up at Tianshu Shi's apartment in Redding, California on the evening of 24 May and told him he was going to be "shipped back" to his homeland the following morning, police corporal Rob Peterson told the Los Angeles Times.

Mr Shi had enrolled on a programme at Iasco Flight Training, where Mr McConkey was general manager and Ms Hoser a ground instructor, on a student visa, through an organisation that contracts with the school to train Chinese nationals.

The Civil Aviation Authority of China sends up to 180 students to the program, according to the school's website.

Mr Shi told the Record Searchlight newspaper he did not sleep all night and when they returned, he recorded the confrontation.

The profanity-filled audio clip was obtained by the newspaper.

"I've got your (expletive) passport. You're leaving now," a male voice can be heard saying. He later adds, "The United States government needs you out of this country right now, you understand?"

 Woman sees little girl about to be kidnapped, pretends to be her mother to save her

A female voice later adds: "You are here illegal, you know that. If you don't go with us, you go to jail."

Corporal Peterson said at one point Mr McConkey shoved Mr Shi into a countertop, knocking him to the floor. Fearing for his safety, Mr Shi got in their car.

At some point, Mr Shi managed to contact his brother in Shanghai and told him what was going on.

He in turn, spoke to another flight school student who said Mr Shi had been assaulted and kidnapped. Mr Shi's brother then called Redding police.

Officers found Mr Shi, Mr McConkey and Ms Hoser at Redding Municipal Airport, about seven miles from his apartment. Ms Hoser told police they were sending Mr Shi back to China because his English was not strong enough to safely communicate with the air traffic control tower, Mr Peterson 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. 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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

They also told police they cut him from the programme in April, but Mr Shi said he was still in the program in May, Mr Peterson said, calling the incident bizarre and confusing.

Mr McConkey and Ms Hoser could face charges including conspiracy and kidnapping, police said. Both were released from custody after posting bail, according to the Shasta County Sheriff's Office.

Mr Shi told the Record Searchlight he has been in the country for about seven months on a one-year visa for students who enrol on vocational programmes.

His university paid about $70,000 (53,000) for him to train at the Redding flight school, he said, adding that for the past two months, he said he had been "grounded," unable to fly or train.

"I can't speak English well in life, but I can speak English well with air traffic control," he said.
A mother has attended her graduation ceremony just 21 hours after giving birth.

Zeinab Abdalla, 26, from Minneapolis, had her second daughter, Salma, at 8pm, but that did not stop her accepting her master's diploma in special education the next afternoon.

Ms Abdalla said graduating was a very important moment for her as she is the first in her family to reach third-level education.

Ms Abdalla spent two years working towards her degree at the University of St Thomas.

She moved to the US from Syria in 2006 and now runs her own daycare business. Ms Abdalla said she studied at night in order to achieve her goal.

Although her mother, Anab Yuguf, 50, thought Zeinab was crazy to attend graduation just one day after giving birth, she said it was important to her to accept her degree in person.

Ms Abdalla said that her friends, family and even doctors were shocked when they heard her plans to attend the ceremony.

It was really important for me to attend because I was the first person in my family to graduate. Thats the main reason I wanted to go, she said.

I wanted to reward myself. It took so much hard work to get to this point.

"There were so many late nights studying, trying to get assignments in on time. Driving too and from college on those long winter nights. I needed to do this for myself."

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

Ms Abdullah said her classmates were delighted to see baby Salma at the ceremony.

All my classmates came and looked at the baby, it was really sweet. Everyone says she looks really like me, she said.

"Im really proud of myself and everything Ive achieved but I couldnt have done it without the wonderful support at St Thomas.

She is now taking a few months off to spend time with her new baby and is hoping to continue on with her education by working towards a PhD.

SWNS
Affirming the reasoning for thousands of Starbucks employees attending racial bias training, a new survey found most Americans believe racism is a paramount issue.

Just under two-thirds of respondents to an NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll said that racism remains a major problem in American society. Nearly three-quarters said racial discrimination against blacks represented a serious issue.

While 30 per cent of people said racism was not a major problem, they still agreed that it exists. Only a tiny sliver, 3 per cent, said it does not exist.

Other responses suggested that Americans remain deeply divided about the role race plays in their society, even as strong two-thirds majorities said they interacted with a mix of people from different races at work, school and social situations.

Many people are pessimistic about race relations, the poll found, with a plurality (45 per cent), saying they were getting worse while one-fifth of people felt things were improving. A third of respondents said things were about the same.

But statistically equivalent shares of people believed that race draws either too much or too little attention. While a majority (57 per cent) of people agreed that white people benefit from advantages in society that black people do not have, a large chunk (41 per cent) said that dynamic matters little or not at all.

Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London A young boy holds a placard reading 'migration is beautiful' during the march against racism demonstration in London. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Warsaw Protesters rally in Warsaw under the slogan 'Tired of racism and fascism'. AFP/Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London An anti-racism demostrators chants with chains around his neck during a march against racism. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Vienna People getting ready to march against racism in Vienna. Twitter/Wriseup Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Glasgow Anti-racism demonstrators take part in a rally through the city centre of Glasgow. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London An anti-racism demostrator holds a placard readin 'Laundry is the only thing that should be seperated by colour'. Getty Images Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Paris Thousand of protesters demonstrate against police brutality and in defense of migrants and those without papers in Paris. EPA Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London Anti-racism demostrators hold placards and chant during a march organised by the group Stand Up to Racism as an expression of unity against racism, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Athens A girl poses for a photo during a rally against the EU-Turkey deal blocking mass migration into Europe in Athens. AP Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Glasgow Aamer Anwar a prominent Scottish lawyer joins an Anti-racism rally through Glasgow city centre. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London Anti-racism demostrators hold placards and chant in London's march against racism. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Glasgow A man in Glasgow holds a banner reading 'refugees welcome'. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures London Anti-racism demostrators let off flares during the march against racism in London. Getty Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Paris A protester in a grim reaper disguise holds a shield reading 'State racism, no impunity for police brutality against those without papers' in Paris. EPA Anti-racism demonstrations across Europe: in pictures Athens Migrants who live in Greece chant slogans during a rally against the EU-Turkey deal blocking mass migration into Europe, in Athens. AP

People offered those responses after a series of incidents in which authorities have been called on African-Americans who were not breaking the law, forcing discussion of the ways prejudiced beliefs shape everyday interactions.

Starbucks mandated training for some 8,000 employees after two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia location of the coffee shop chain as they awaited a friend, prompting a national outcry.

 911 audio reveals police called for backup at Starbucks arrest in Philadelphia

Soon after the Starbucks incident prompted an apology from the chains CEO, Nordstrom Racks president apologised after a store manager called the police on a group of young African-American men. In another situation, a white woman called the police on a black Yale University student slumbering in a common area.
Starbucks is set to close thousands of its shops for the day to conduct diversity training following the controversial arrest of two black men at one the chains stores.

The coffee giant will shut more than 8,000 of its locations across the US on Tuesday to run courses as it attempts to restore its image as a cafe welcoming of all customers.

Activists and experts have drawn up a bias training programme for the firms 175,000 workers, designed to encourage them to examine implicit biases they may hold when dealing with people of different ethnicities, genders or backgrounds.

The Perception Institute, a group consulting with Starbucks, defines implicit bias as a set of positive or negative stereotypes someone may hold towards a person or group without being conscious of it.

A common example highlighted by some studies, the institute says, is a tendency for white people to unknowingly associate black people with criminal behaviour.

Alexis McGill Johnson, Perception's co-founder and executive director, said anti-bias training is about awareness.

The work that we want to do is not say you're a bad person because you have a stereotype about a group, but say this is why your brain may have these stereotypes, she said.

Starbucks moved to offer training to its staff following an incident in April, in which two African American men, Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson, were arrested at one of its Philadelphia stores.

The chain was forced to apologise over the incident, in which an employee called the police after the men asked to use the bathroom as they waited for a business meeting.

Officers later detained them for trespassing after they sat at a table without purchasing anything from the store.

Mr Nelson and Mr Robinson have since reached a settlement with Starbucks for an undisclosed sum and a promise from the company to set up a $200,000 (150,000) programme for young entrepreneurs.

The firm has since said anyone can use their restrooms whether or not they have purchased anything.

According to a video previewing the Starbucks training, the programme will include recorded remarks from Starbucks executives, as well as rapper and activist Common.

From there, employees will move into a real and honest exploration of bias where, in small groups, they can share how the issue comes up in their daily work life.

Starbucks has described it as a collaborative and engaging experience for store partners to learn together.

However, not everyone is convinced the measures will prevent staff acting on any subliminal biases they may hold.

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

Calvin Lai, an assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, said the training may even have an adverse effect.

We find that oftentimes diversity training has mixed effects, he said: In some cases it can even backfire and lead people who are kind of already reactive to these issues to become even more polarised.

One afternoon wouldn't really be moving the needle on the biases, he added, especially at a company the size of Starbucks.

A lot of those employees won't be here next year or two years or three years down the line, he said.

Additional reporting by AP
A TV news anchor and a cameraman have died after a falling tree fell on their car while reporting on the arrival of Storm Alberto in North Carolina.

The state's governor urged residents to exercise caution as rains from the subtropical depression spread into his and other southern states, noting the deaths of the two broadcast journalists from WYFF-TV.

They were killed on Monday while covering the very fringes of a large storm system whose core made landfall hundreds of miles away on the northern Gulf Coast. Authorities said a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked soil and toppled on the news team's SUV, killing the two instantly.

Recommended Thousands forced to evacuate coast of Florida as Storm Alberto looms

"Two journalists working to keep the public informed about this storm have tragically lost their lives, and we mourn with their families, friends and colleagues," Governor Roy Cooper said in a statement. "North Carolina needs to take Alberto seriously. I urge everyone to keep a close eye on forecasts, warnings and road conditions, especially in western North Carolina where even heavier rain is predicted."

WYFF-TV anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer had both worked in Greenville, North Carolina for more than a decade, anchor Carol Goldsmith said on air, breaking the news of their deaths on Monday.

"Mike and Aaron were beloved members of our team  our family," Goldsmith said.

The men were driving on US Highway 176 near Tryon when the large tree fell on their vehicle, North Carolina Highway Patrol Master Trooper Murico Stephens said.

Recommended States declare emergency as subtropical storm forecasted to batter US

McCormick and Smeltzer had just interviewed Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant. They told Tennant to be careful with Alberto's remnants expected to bring more heavy rains and mudslides to North Carolina. He told them to be careful too.

"Ten minutes later we get the call and it was them," Tennant said at a news conference, his voice cracking.

A woman died in a mudslide on 19 May not far from the area and officials in one especially hard-hit county were asking people living in vulnerable areas to voluntary leave before the weather got worse.

Neither Stephens nor Tennant directly blamed the up to 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain that fell Monday for the deaths. The fire chief said the roots of a large tree were loosened in ground saturated by a week of rain. The TV vehicle engine's was still running and the transmission was in drive when crews found it. The men died instantly, said Tennant.

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

McCormick was a weekend anchor for the Greenville station and covered Spartanburg and surrounding areas. He came to the station in April 2007.

Smeltzer worked in Greenville for more than a decade, coming to WYFF-TV from a different station in the same area. He touted on his Twitter biography of winning four Emmys.

WHNS-TV reporter Derek Dellinger competed with McCormick and Smeltzer, but also considered them friends. He called Smeltzer a perfectionist and McCormick a hard worker and a nice guy.

"Despite being the competition, I had interactions with (McCormick) both in and out of work, and we would talk about work issues, talk about life  everything," Dellinger said, calling him "a good guy" with a warm heart.

AP
A Florida teacher will not be charged with a crime for drowning wild raccoons with the help of his students.

Dewie Brewton III, a former agricultural teacher at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, had drowned two wild raccoons and a possum for allegedly killing farm animals his class had been raising as part of a school project. The state prosecutor said they would not press charges.

Brad King, state attorney for Floridas Fifth Judicial Circuit, said in a memo that Mr Brewton did not intend to torture or torment these nuisance animals. Mr King argued that the act was not a crime because the state of Florida allows the killing of so-called nuisance animals.

Recommended United Airlines is facing an animal cruelty investigation

He also said there is no evidence he tortured the animals. The decision was not made in a vacuum, Mr King wrote, adding that the now-retired teacher was simply attempting to protect his classs school project in an appropriate manner.

Mr Brewton has taken early retirement as a result of the furor over his actions and the subsequent investigation.

He told police that the raccoons and possum were supposedly responsible for killing at least eight chickens the students had been caring for, and even named, as part of a project.

According to Mr Kings memo Mr Brewton decided to trap the nuisance animals to stop the incessant and unnecessary killing of the chickens and involved the students in the decision to drown the animals because they deemed it the most humane, as the Washington Post reported.

He told students that any student that did not want to witness or be involved with this removal of these nuisance animals could stay in the classroom with a paraprofessional. Some students stayed behind in the classroom, and others went to assist in the removal of the nuisance animals, Mr King had written, describing the incident.

One distraught student filmed the 14 May drowning of one of the raccoons, who was caged and then submerged in a tub of water. It made me sick to my stomach. Its terrible. It still does make me sick to my stomach, the girls mother, who declined to be identified, told local news station WKMG about the disturbing video.

School officials had placed the 30-year teaching veteran on administrative leave and the school districts superintendent said in a statement that she was appalled by Mr Brewtons actions.
Donald Trump has lashed out after old photos of immigrant children in steel cages that were taken while Barack Obama was in the White House were linked to the current administration.

The US president launched a scathing attack on journalists and Democrat voters who shared the old photos on Twitter in order to highlight the Trump administrations crackdown on immigrants.

Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obamas term showing children from the Border in steel cages, Mr Trump tweeted on Tuesday.

They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires. Dems must agree to Wall and new Border Protection for good of country...Bipartisan Bill!

The old images gained increasing traction on Twitter - with critics monopolising on them to express outrage at the Trump White House.

But the images being shared are four years old and were of detainees in a holding cell where hundreds of mostly Central American immigrant children were being processed and held at the US Customs and Border Protection Nogales Placement Center on 18 June 2014 in Nogales in Arizona.

Local news site AZ Central alerted people to the fact they had published the initial photos which were being falsely connected to the Trump administration.

Jake Silverstein, Editor-in-Chief of The New York Times Magazine, apologised for erroneously linking the images to Mr Trump.

"This link, which was flying around earlier today, is from 2014. Still disturbing of course, but only indirectly related to current situation. My bad for RTing without closer inspection and implying by timing that its current." the journalist tweeted.

Fellow journalist Shaun King and CNN reporter Hadas Gold also tweeted in disgust at the old Obama-era photos.

Jon Favreau, former Director of Speechwriting for President Barack Obama, was similarly disparaging about the images.

"Look at these pictures. This is happening right now, and the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible," he said in a since deleted tweet.

The outrage over the old images were partly spurred by the unrelated revelation Homeland Security lost track of almost 1,500 illegal-immigrant minors after they were released.

The acting assistant secretary for Children and Families at the Department of Health And Human Services, Steven Wagner, addressed the whereabouts of immigrant children during his testimony before the Senate last week - stating the department was "unable to determine" where some 1,500 immigrant may be located.

The misplaced fury over the photos also comes after the Trump administration's controversial new policy of taking children away from parents caught unlawfully crossing into America with them on the southern border. The White House has said the practice is a deterrent to illegal immigration.

US Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a "zero tolerance" approach to illegal border crossings earlier in May. "If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law," he warned.
President Donald Trump has accused the federal investigators probing his campaigns alleged ties to Russia of meddling in the US midterm elections.

The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls, Mr Trump tweeted. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!

The tweet was a reference to special counsel Robert Muellers team, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and probing allegations that Moscow worked in concert with the Trump team.

Thirteen of the 17 members of Mr Muellers team have previously registered as Democrats, according to the Washington Post. Mr Mueller himself is a Republican, who was appointed to his role by a fellow Republican  Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Mr Trump has repeatedly called the investigation a witch hunt, and called allegations of collusion fake news. But Tuesday was the first time he turned the word meddling  a term often used to describe Russias alleged actions during the US election  against the investigators.

He provided no evidence that the team was meddling in the midterm elections, which will determine the balance of power in the US Congress in November.

The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Show all 17 1 /17 The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Paul Manafort Mr Manafort is a Republican strategist and former Trump campaign manager. He resigned from that post over questions about his extensive lobbying overseas, including in Ukraine where he represented pro-Russian interests. Mr Manafort turned himself in at FBI headquarters to special counsel Robert Muellers team on Oct 30, 2017, after he was indicted under seal on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. Getty The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rick Gates Mr Gates joined the Trump team in spring 2016, and served as a top aide until he left to work at the Republican National Committee after the departure of former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort. Mr Gates' had previously worked on several presidential campaigns, on international political campaigns in Europe and Africa, and had 15 years of political or financial experience with multinational firms, according to his bio. Mr Gates was indicted alongside Mr Manafort by special counsel Robert Mueller's team on charges that include conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading US Foreign Agents Registration Act statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts. AP The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation George Papadopoulos George Papadopoulos was a former foreign policy adviser for the Trump campaign, having joined around March 2016. Mr Papadopoulos plead guilty to federal charges for lying to the FBI as a part of a cooperation agreement with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation. Mr Papadopoulos claimed in an interview with the FBI that he had made contacts with Russian sources before joining the Trump campaign, but he actually began working with them after joining the team. Mr Papadopoulos allegedly took a meeting with a professor in London who reportedly told him that Russians had "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. The professor also allegedly introduced Mr Papadopoulos to a Russian who was said to have close ties to officials at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Papadopoulos also allegedly was in contact with a woman whom he incorrectly described in one email to others in the campaign as the "niece" to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Twitter The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Donald Trump Jr The President's eldest son met with a Russian lawyer - Natalia Veselnitskaya - on 9 June 2016 at Trump Tower in New York. He said in an initial statement that the meeting was about Russia halting adoptions of its children by US citizens. Then, he said it was regarding the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. In a final statement, Mr Trump Jr released a chain of emails that revealed he took the meeting in hopes of getting information Ms Veselnitskaya had about Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. He and the President called it standard "opposition research" in the course of campaigning and that no information came from the meeting. The meeting was set up by an intermediary, Rob Goldstone. Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort were also at the same meeting. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jared Kushner Mr Kushner is President Donald Trump's son-in-law and a key adviser to the White House. He met with a Russian banker appointed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in December. Mr Kushner has said he did so in his role as an adviser to Mr Trump while the bank says he did so as a private developer. Mr Kushner has also volunteered to testify in the Senate about his role helping to arrange meetings between Trump advisers and Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Rob Goldstone Former tabloid journalist and now music publicist Rob Goldstone is a contact of the Trump family through the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant, which took place in Moscow. In June 2016, he wrote to Donald Trump Jr offering a meeting with a Russian lawyer, Natalya Veselnitskaya, who had information about Hillary Clinton. Mr Goldstone was the intermediary for Russian pop star Emin Agalaraov and his father, real estate magnate Aras, who played a role in putting on the 2013 pageant. In an email chain released by Mr Trump Jr, Mr Goldstone seemed to indicate Russian government's support of Donald Trump's campaign. AP images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Aras and Emin Agalarov Aras Agalarov (R) is a wealthy Moscow-based real estate magnate and son Emin (L) is a pop star. Both played a role in putting on the previously Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant in Moscow. They allegedly had information about Hillary Clinton and offered that information to the Trump campaign through a lawyer with whom they had worked with, Natalia Veselnitskaya, and music publicist Rob Goldstone. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Natalia Veselnitskaya Natalia Veselnitskaya is a Russian lawyer with ties to the Kremlin. She has worked on real estate issues and reportedly counted the FSB as a client in the past. She has ties to a Trump family connection, real estate magnate Aras Agalarov, who had helped set up the Trump-owned 2013 Miss Universe pageant which took place in Moscow. Ms Veselnitskaya met with Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort in Trump Tower on 9 June 2016 but denies the allegation that she went there promising information on Hillary Clinton's alleged financial ties to Russia. She contends that the meeting was about the US adoptions of Russian children being stopped by Moscow as a reaction to the Magnitsky Act, a US law blacklisting Russian human rights abusers. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Mike Flynn Mr Flynn was named as Trump's national security adviser but was forced to resign from his post for inappropriate communication with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. He had misrepresented a conversation he had with Mr Kislyak to Vice President Mike Pence, telling him wrongly that he had not discussed sanctions with the Russian. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sergey Kislyak Mr Kislyak, the former longtime Russian ambassador to the US, is at the centre of the web said to connect President Donald Trump's campaign with Russia. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Roger Stone Mr Stone is a former Trump adviser who worked on the political campaigns of Richard Nixon, George HW Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Mr Stone claimed repeatedly in the final months of the campaign that he had backchannel communications with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and that he knew the group was going to dump damaging documents to the campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton - which did happen. Mr Stone also had contacts with the hacker Guccier 2.0 on Twitter, who claimed to have hacked the DNC and is linked to Russian intelligence services. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeff Sessions The US attorney general was forced to recuse himself from the Trump-Russia investigation after it was learned that he had lied about meeting with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Carter Page Mr Page is a former advisor to the Trump campaign and has a background working as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Mr Page met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Mr Page had invested in oil companies connected to Russia and had admitted that US Russia sanctions had hurt his bottom line. Reuters The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Jeffrey "JD" Gorden Mr Gordon met with Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak during the 2016 Republian National Convention to discuss how the US and Russia could work together to combat Islamist extremism should then-Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump win the election. The meeting came days before a massive leak of DNC emails that has been connected to Russia. Creative Commons The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation James Comey Mr Comey was fired from his post as head of the FBI by President Donald Trump. The timing of Mr Comey's firing raised questions around whether or not the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign may have played a role in the decision. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Preet Bharara Mr Bahara refused, alongside 46 other US district attorney's across the country, to resign once President Donald Trump took office after previous assurances from Mr Trump that he would keep his job. Mr Bahara had been heading up several investigations including one into one of President Donald Trump's favorite cable television channels Fox News. Several investigations would lead back to that district, too, including those into Mr Trump's campaign ties to Russia, and Mr Trump's assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped on orders from his predecessor. Getty Images The biggest names involved in the Trump-Russia investigation Sally Yates Ms Yates, a former Deputy Attorney General, was running the Justice Department while President Donald Trump's pick for attorney general awaited confirmation. Ms Yates was later fired by Mr Trump from her temporary post over her refusal to implement Mr Trump's first travel ban. She had also warned the White House about potential ties former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to Russia after discovering those ties during the FBI's investigation into the Trump campaign's connections to Russia. Getty Images

It was not the first time the president had made unfounded allegations about the Mueller investigation in recent days. Last week, he claimed the FBI had planted a spy in his campaign to aid his Hillary Clinton, his election opponent.

Several outlets have reported that the FBI had sent an informant to speak with members of the Trump campaign during the election, after the bureau found evidence of suspicious contacts with Russia. Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said the informant was placed to gather information about the Russians, not to spy on the Trump campaign.

Even after receiving a classified intelligence briefing on the subject, top Democrats in Congress said they had seen no evidence to support Mr Trumps claims.

 President Trump on FBI spy claims

Mr Trump has stepped up his attacks on the Mueller team in recent weeks, as the midterms approach and the investigation drags on far past what the White House predicted.

Why arent the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton," Mr Trump tweeted on Tuesday. "Its a Rigged Witch Hunt, thats why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration!

He also accused the media of running "the most highly sophisticated & dishonest Disinformation Campaign in the history of politics".

Four members of Mr Trump's 2016 campaign team have been charged in connection with the Mueller probe thus far, including his former campaign manager, Paul Manafort. The president's long-time personal attorney, Michael Cohen, is also under criminal investigation in New York following a tip from Mr Mueller's team.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is poised to meet with a top North Korean official amid a flurry of diplomatic activity seeking to revive a planned US-Korea summit.

Last week Donald Trump, after weeks of mounting expectation, abruptly announced he was calling off a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, blaming the tremendous anger and open hostility in Pyongyangs most recent statement.

But Mr Trump has since said he hopes to salvage the meeting, which had been set for 12 June and could provide an unprecedented opportunity to push to dismantle North Koreas nuclear weapons programme. The North Korean regime has also projected willingness to re-engage, saying in a statement after Mr Trump pulled out that officials would be willing to gather at any time.

Since Mr Trump sent his letter nixing the summit the North Koreans have been engaging, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement.

The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trumps expected summit with leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore, she said.

After diplomatic officials spent Memorial Day weekend scrambling to move forward, the White House confirmed that Mr Pompeo, Americas top diplomatic official, was planning to meet in New York with Kim Yong-chol, the vice chairman of North Koreas Central Committee.

The North Korean envoy was scheduled to fly to the US on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, the Yonhap news agency said. Kim Yong-chol will be the most senior North Korean official to meet top officials for talks in the United States since Jo Myong-rok, a marshal, met then President Bill Clinton at the White House in 2000.

North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Show all 21 1 /21 North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Pukguksong-2 missile - 2 May 2017 A solid-fuel "Pukguksong-2" missile lifts off during its launch test in North Korea on May 22, 2017. They said that it was examining operational plans for attacking Guam, an angry reaction to UN punishment for previous North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile tests and a US suggestion about preparations for possible preventive attacks to stop the North's nuclear weapons program. Korean Central News Agency/Korea News Service via AP North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Hwasong-12 -16 September 2017 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un inspecting a launching drill of the medium-and-long range strategic ballistic rocket Hwasong-12 at an undisclosed location. Kim vowed to complete North Korea's nuclear force despite sanctions, saying the final goal of his country's weapons development is "equilibrium of real force" with the United States, state media reported on September 16, 2017. AFP/Getty Images North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Donald Trump address South Korean assembly - 7 November 2017 President Donald Trump talks with South Korean President Moon Jae-In during their joint press conference at the presidential Blue House on November 7, 2017 in Seoul.Trump was the first US President to address the South Korean National Assembly since President Clinton in 1993. He addressed Kim Jong Un warning him to not underestimate the US and that for talks to materialize then Pyongyang would need to take steps into denuclearization. Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Demilitarized Zone Haean-Myeon, is a small military town near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and border between North and South Korea, in Gangwon province. The zone is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula and was created after the 'Korean Armistice Agreement'. Any negotiations between the two countries tend to take place in this zone. AFP/Getty Images North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Declared state sponsor of terrorism by Trump - 20 November 2017 President Donald Trump speaks to the media during a cabinet meeting at the White House on November 20, 2017, where he officially designated North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism. North Korea had previously been on the list, however was removed in 2008. Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile - 29 November 2017 The North Korean government launches it's Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile at an undisclosed location in North Korea on November 29, 2017. It is supposedly capable of reaching all parts of the US. Korean Central News Agency via AP North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile - 29 November 2017 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrating the launch of the Hwasong-15 missile on November 29, 2017. AFP/Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Kim Jong-Un New Year's speech - 1 January 2018 North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering his New Year's speech. He vowed North Korea would mass-produce nuclear warheads and missiles in a defiant New Year message on January 1 suggesting he would continue to accelerate a rogue weapons programme that has stoked international tensions. Korean Central News Agency via AFP/Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Intercontinental ballistic missile ice sculpture - 1 January 2018 Fireworks are seen above the Taedong River during New Year celebrations as visitors pose for a photo in front of an ice sculpture of an intercontinental ballistic missile at the Pyongyang Ice Sculpture Festival in Kim Il Sung Square in North Korea on 1 January, 2018. REUTERS North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures US-South Korean military drills postponed - 4 January 2018 South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks with US President Donald Trump on January 4, 2018 in Seoul. South Korea and US agreed to delay the annual "Foal Eagle" military drills until after the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games in an effort to "de-conflict" the Games and "focus on ensuring the security" of the event. South Korean Presidential Blue House via Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures North and South Korea have first official talks in over two years - 9 January 2018 Vehicles transporting the South Korean delegation, led by South Korean Unification Ministrer Cho Myoung-Gyon, drive past a checkpoint on the road connecting South and North Korea at the Unification Bridge, near the Demilitarized zone (DMZ) separating them both on January 9, 2018 in Paju. They began their first official face-to-face talks in two years. Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures North and South Korea have first official talks in over two years - 9 January 2018 Members of the South Korea delegation (R) shake hands with members of the North Korean delegation (L) during their meeting at the border truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the two Koreas on January 9, 2018. They focused on the forthcoming Winter Olympics after months of tensions over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons programme. AFP/Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Foreign Ministers Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula - 16 January 2018 Foreign Ministers from twenty countries from North and South America, Asia, and Europe pose for a photo at the Vancouver Foreign Ministers Meeting on Security and Stability on the Korean Peninsula, in Vancouver on January 16, 2018. The US urged an escalation in pressure on North Korea over its nuclear missile program, despite a more cautious tone from key US ally South Korea. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, co-hosted the event with Canada's foreign minister Chrystia Freeland, and called for North Korean ships to be intercepted and for new punitive measures to be implemented every time Pyongyang tests new weapons. AFP/Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures North Korea and South Korea to march together at Winter Olympics - 20 January 2018 PyeongChang 2018 Olympics President Lee Hee-beom, North Korea's Sports Minister and Olympic Committee president Kim Il Guk, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, South Korean Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Do Jong-hwan and South Korea's National Olympic Committee President Lee Kee-heung join their hands as they pose during a signing ceremony at the Olympic Museum on January 20, 2018 in Lausanne. North Korea will send 22 athletes to the Winter Games in the South. The two nations will also march together at the opening ceremony. AFP/Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Anti-North Korea activists protest delegation arrival - 22 January 2018 Anti-North Korea activists burn a portrait of leader Kim Jong-Un during a rally Seoul Station as a North Korean delegation arrived to check out performance venues for the Winter Olympics on January 22, 2018. Protesters led by the Korean Patriots Party gathered and complained that the talks to encourage North Korea's participation is stealing the spotlight from their country to the benefit of the regime. Donga Daily via Getty North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Panmunjom - 7 February 2018 South Korean soldiers stand guard at the border village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between South and North Korea on February 7, 2018. In a sign of thawing bilateral ties, North Korea today announced that Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, will attend the opening ceremony of the PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games. Getty Images North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures North Korean ferry arrives in South Korea - 6 February 2018 North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 carrying a 140-strong orchestra approaches a port in Donghae, South Korea, February 6, 2018. REUTERS North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Anti-North Korea protest - 6 February 2018 A member of a conservative civic group tears a portrait of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during an anti-North Korea protest as the North Korean ferry Mangyongbong-92 carrying a 140-strong orchestra approached. REUTERS North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures North Korea at the athletes village - 8 February 2018 A North Korean flag is seen hanging on a building at the Winter Olympics athletes village in Gangneung, South Korea. REUTERS North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Olympic Welcome ceremony - 8 February 2018 Democratic People's Republic of Korea Vice Sports Minister Won Gil-woo receives a gift from mayor of the Olympic Village Kim Ki-hoon during the welcome ceremony ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Games at the Olympic Village on 8 February, 2018 in South Korea. Getty Images North Korea  South Korea relations: in pictures Mike Pence meets Moon Jae-in - 8 February 2018 US Vice President Mike Pence shakes hands with South Korean President Moon Jae-in before their meeting at the presidential office in Seoul, South Korea on 8 February, 2018. REUTERS

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more, Mr Trump said in a tweet, mentioning Kim Yong-chol and praising North Koreas solid response to my letter.

The news of Kim Yong-chols movements came as the the Trump administration issued a fresh warning about malicious North Korean cyber activity. The technical alert from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security highlighted two pieces of malware said to have been used to target US infrastructure and aerospace, as well as financial and media companies, to steal information and remotely manipulate networks over the past nine years .

In recent times, the United States has accused North Korea of launching a slew of cyberattacks. Kim Yong-chol is suspected by US intelligence to have been involved in a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014, over the film The Interview, a satire about a plot to assassinate the North Korean leader. North Korea has denied involvement.

It is not clear if there was any significance to the timing of the latest cyber warning.

The expected meeting between Mike Pompeo and Kim Yong-chol comes after the US secretary of state travelled to Pyongyang to meet secretly with North Korean leader Mr Kim, and was accompanied by an array of diplomatic moves intended to harness momentum towards talks.

As the North Korean official was preparing to travel to the United States, a US delegation headed to the Korean Peninsula to meet with North Korean counterparts in the demilitarised zone spanning the border. A White House deputy chief of staff went to Singapore to continue laying logistical groundwork.

Beyond the issue of denuclearisation, a summit would allow the US to raise a number of longstanding issues. Human rights abuses in North Korea, including violations of religious freedom, are a matter of discussion ahead of the planned summit, Sam Brownback, US ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, told reporters on Tuesday.

Youve got a gulag system operating in North Korea, and its been a terrible situation for many years, said Mr Brownback, adding that North Korea had long been designated as a country of particular concern in the US State Departments international religious freedom report.

 Donald Trump says North Korea summit 'could still happen'

As talks continue, Trump administration officials have been keeping in close contact with Asian allies, with the White House saying national security adviser John Bolton had been speaking frequently with South Korean and Japanese officials.

The White House also announced that Mr Trump would host Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on 7 June, days before the scheduled date for the summit. Mr Abe has become a close ally of Mr Trump and is a key figure in the drive to blunt the North Korean threat, which over the last year saw Pyongyang fire multiple ballistic missiles over Japan and threaten to annihilate the archipelago.

Those missile tests and hostile statements, in addition to North Koreas test of a powerful hydrogen bomb, spurred the world to impose ever-harsher sanctions in what Trump administration officials call a maximum pressure campaign to bring Pyongyang to heel.

After Mr Trump and North Korea spent months trading threats and insults, the tone shifted at the beginning of this year as North Korea initiated meetings with South Korean officials and then conveyed to Mr Trump an invitation to meet with Mr Kim.
The US will keep taking action against China over trade, the White House has said, just over a week after agreeing to put the dispute "on hold".

Washington will release a list of some $50 billion worth of Chinese goods that will be subject to a 25 per cent tariff on 15 June, the White House said in a statement. The United States will also continue to pursue litigation against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

In addition, the Trump administration will announce investment restrictions and enhanced export controls for Chinese individuals and entities related to the acquisition of industrially significant technology by the end of June.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly bemoaned the US trade deficit with China, one of a number of countries Mr Trump has said has an "unfair" trade relationship with Washington.

Having announced a number of tit-for-tat measures against each other in recent weeks - with both sides proposing punishing 25 per cent tariffs on a number of products - US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on 20 May that negotiations between Washington and Beijing had produced an agreement that meant both countries could step back from imposing them.

Were putting the trade war on hold, right now, we have agreed to put the tariffs on hold while we try to execute the framework, Mr Mnuchin told Fox News. Mr Mnuchin said that the US had won several commitments from Chinese officials that should cut Americas trade deficit with China, which ran at more than $300m (225m) in 2017.

In a joint statement at the time, Beijing and Washington said they had reached a consensus on taking effective measures to cut the US trade deficit in goods with China.

To meet the growing consumption needs of the Chinese people and the need for high-quality economic development, China will significantly increase purchases of United States goods and services, the statement said. Chinas state-run news agency, Xinhua, said the statement was essentially a vow not to launch a trade war against each other.

However, while the announcements eased worries about an escalating trade war between world's two largest economies, Mr Trump also said last week that any deal between Washington and Beijing would need "a different structure," fuelling uncertainty about the long-term status of the agreement.
A woman who was stranded for four days after shattering her pelvis hiking in the US wilderness was forced to drink her own urine to survive.

Claire Nelson, 35, who holds both British and New Zealand citizenship, was hiking in Joshua Tree National Park in the Californian desert when she slipped off a boulder and fell 15 feet.

Ms Nelson was on holiday in California cat-sitting for a friend, meaning no one knew that she had gone for the hike. She also had no phone signal, so was unable to raise the alarm.

With the scorching hot weather in the desert shining down on her she had to fashion a curtain from a stick and a plastic bag to stop sunburn.

She also soon ran out of water and had to drink urine to stay hydrated.

After she had been stranded for four days and three nights one of Ms Nelsons friends who hadn't heard from her, assumed something was wrong and contacted the authorities.

A search team was dispatched and Ms Nelson was found and airlifted to hospital in Palm Springs where she remains.

Ms Nelson said that she had fallen at a really remote spot and nobody could hear her scream.

The only reason she was spotted was because of the helicopter saw her waving the instrument she had made to shade her from the sun.

Ms Nelson also added that the rattlesnakes in the desert were a serious concern and said she cannot believe she is alive.

My family and friends have rallied around all over the world, calling, messaging, even flying to Palm Springs to be with me. My mother just made the trip over from New Zealand to be by my bedside, Ms Nelson told The Independent.

I have been overwhelmed by the support and love Ive been given - I know I gave people a real scare and theyve not been afraid to show me how much they care!

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

Ms Nelson is recovering from surgery and expects to stay in hospital for at least another week as she looks to regain movement and strength in her legs.

Although she had medical travel insurance the bill for treatment is still likely to be rather large.

Her friends have set up a gofundme page to help cover the costs of the medical treatment.
A man who dropped out of high school more than 70 years ago to fight in the Second World War was just awarded his diploma.

Robert Lockhard left Circleville High School in Ohio before his expected 1944 graduation in order to serve in the US Army Air Corps 354th Infantry 89th Division to fight in Central Europe, northern France, and Normandy on D-Day.

He graduated officially as part of the Class of 2018. "It means everything to me. Everything," Mr Lockard told a local CNN affiliate. "All these years man, I thought about this."

Because of his Army service, Mr Lockhard earned the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, three Bronze Star designations, and a World War II Victory Medal. He can add high school graduate to that list of achievements now.

Mr Lockhard said he remembered the day he came home from the war as if it were just yesterday. If it hadnt been raining and a sloppy mess, I think I wouldve kissed the ground I was so homesick, he remembered.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

He said he had seen too much death and by the time he came back, life took priority over graduating high school.

The crowd cheered as the 92-year-old, donned in a maroon cap and gown, walked across the stage to receive his degree. He wiped the tears streaming down his face.

A school official said: "We are honored and privileged to have an exemplary individual whose path to graduation comes full circle today in a pursuit 74 years in the making.

Particularly fitting, the ceremony took place the day before Memorial Day, the US holiday honouring fallen soldiers.
Strong winds, lightning and thunderstorms have swept through northern and eastern India, killing at least 54 people in vulnerable communities across five states.

The latest in a string of deadly storms in the region, Monday nights extreme weather system brought down power lines, uprooted trees and destroyed simple mud homes.

The worst affected region appears to have been the eastern state of Bihar, where 19 people died, including 11 due to lightning, Bihar's disaster management department said in a statement.

At least 17 people died in Uttar Pradesh, Indias most populous state, local government officials said.

Winds were recorded at speeds of up to 50mph, said state spokesman Awanish Awasthi, and six of those killed were in two houses that collapsed in Unnao district, 25 miles south of the state capital Lucknow.

Another 12 people died in Jharkhand, east of Bihar, the head of that states disaster management department said. Four were killed in Madhya Pradesh and two people died in the Malda district of Bengal.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) issued warnings for more extreme weather to come throughout the remainder of the week.

The most severe red warnings were in place for Rajasthan, where both heatwave conditions  temperatures have been reaching the mid-40s (C) daily for the past week  and dust storms were expected.

And while thunderstorms could bring some much-needed relief from the sweltering heatwave conditions in the rest of northern India, there will be concerns for further loss of life among poorer and rural communities.

The weather often takes an extreme turn in northern India at this time of year, as the blistering summer heat prepares to give way to annual monsoon rains. News reports heralded the arrival of the monsoon on Tuesday, a few days early, in south-western Kerala.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

But this year the impacts have been particularly devastating. In the last few weeks, one storm killed 134 people and another killed 43.

Meteorologists say the most deadly storm at the start of May was the result of what is known as a downburst, an intense downward movement of wind that can be especially destructive to buildings. IMD officials said it was the worst storm to hit the region for 20 years.

Mrutyunjay Mahapatra, a senior climate scientist with the IMD, told the Hindustan Times there were a number of factors leading to an increase in the amount of thunderstorms and lightning this year. He said an unusually large number of weather systems coming in from the west had combined with the long dry spell and hot weather conditions to create the perfect conditions for deadly storms.

Air pollution is also a contributing factor exacerbating seasonal storms in the region, according to a 2011 study in Nature. Figures released this month by the World Health Organisation showed India is home to 14 of the 20 most polluted cities on the planet.

And climate scientists have also warned that more severe droughts, and growing desertification of Indias land, are likely to lead to worsening seasonal storms in years to come.
More than 120 pregnant females were among hundreds of whales slaughtered in Japans latest hunt in the Antarctic, prompting condemnation and calls for international action.

A total of 333 minke whales were killed as part of the countrys so-called scientific whaling programme, which carries out an annual summer hunt in the Southern Ocean.

Among those slaughtered, 122 were pregnant and another 114 were juveniles, according to documents from a meeting of the International Whaling Commissions (IWC) scientific committee this month.

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Japan has signed the commissions moratorium on whale hunting, but Tokyo exploits a loophole each year by saying its hunt is conducted for scientific research.

Critics say the research is actually a cover for commercial whaling, as the meat from the harpooned mammals is later sold to be eaten.

The killing of 122 pregnant whales is a shocking statistic and sad indictment on the cruelty of Japans whale hunt, said Alexia Wellbelove, senior program manager at Humane Society International.

It is further demonstration, if needed, of the truly gruesome and unnecessary nature of whaling operations, especially when non-lethal surveys have been shown to be sufficient for scientific needs, she added.

Two Japanese vessels were involved in last summers hunt, which targeted the whales using harpoons loaded with a 30g penthrite grenade.

The slaughtered animals were taken on board the boats, where researchers took measurements and collected data on their blubber and stomach contents, according to the IWC papers.

Japans fisheries agency collects the data and reports the findings to the commission. It says the programme is carried out in accordance with the International Convention for Regulation of Whaling.

Whales are already facing substantial threats including bycatch in fisheries and marine pollution, Ms Wellbelove said. Significant conservation efforts are underway worldwide to address these issues, so the least Japan could do is put away the harpoons.

The continued killing of any whales is abhorrent to modern society, but these new figures make it even more shocking. We look forward to Australia and other pro-conservation countries sending the strongest possible message to Japan that it should stop its lethal whaling programme.
A senior North Korean official is on his way to the US as preparations continue for the proposed meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un.

Kim Yong-chol, a former top spy and currently a vice-chairman of the ruling partys central committee, was spotted in Beijing airport on Tuesday by the Associated Press.

South Koreas Yonhap news agency had first reported that it saw his name on a passenger list for a flight to Washington DC, though later said his plans had changed and he would fly to New York, where North Koreas mission to the UN functions as a well-known back channel between the US and Pyongyang.

General Kims visit was confirmed by Mr Trump on Tuesday morning. He tweeted: We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!

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Gen Kim is the most senior North Korean to meet with US counterparts on their home soil in 18 years. In 2000, special envoy Jo Myong-rok met then-president Bill Clinton on a goodwill visit, and secretary of state Madeleine Albright later accepted his invitation to visit North Korea.

Gen Kim was pictured standing near Ivanka Trump during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics earlier this year, as the current thaw in tensions between the north and south was first beginning.

The generals reported trip came after US officials held talks in the border village of Panmunjom designed to prepare the ground for the planned Trump-Kim summit in Singapore  which the billionaire cancelled only days ago before later suggesting it could still be held.

The leaders are in dispute over what the term denuclearisation means to either side, but the major falling-out took place over what, in a letter to Mr Kim, Mr Trump called the Norths open hostility. Comments by Mike Pence and John Bolton referring to the Libya model were poorly received in Pyongyang and one official called the US vice president a dummy.

The demise of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in Libya is seen by North Korea as an example of how dealing with the West can go awry.

In the letter Mr Trump warned Mr Kim the American nuclear arsenal was so massive but left the door open for a change of heart. On Sunday he tweeted: I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day [sic]. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!

A Kim Jong-un impersonator takes selfies in Singapores Merlion Park. The world is gearing up for the planned summit between Mr Kim and Donald Trump as officials from both sides criss-cross the globe (AFP/Getty)

Mr Kim had held a surprise meeting with South Koreas president, Moon Jae-in, on Saturday in a bid to revive the on-again, off-again summit.

Preparations appeared to be back on track this week. Mr Kims de facto chief of staff Kim Chang-son flew to Singapore on Monday night, Japanese media reported, while a US pre-advance team, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, Joe Hagin, was also on its way to the city-state, the White House said.

Analysts believe Washington is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree sufficient steps towards denuclearisation to allow the meeting to take place. Mr Trump has called for Pyongyang to relinquish all its atomic weapons.

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

North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programmes as a deterrent against perceived aggression by the US, which maintains some 29,000 troops in South Korea half a century after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce but not a permanent peace treaty.

The North has long claimed it is open to eventually giving up those weapons if Washington withdraws the troops and ends its nuclear umbrella alliance with Seoul.

Reporting on annual military drills held earlier this month, called Max Thunder, was limited as diplomatic efforts were ramped up ahead of the planned summit.

Additional reporting by agencies
An attacker stabbed two police officers in the Belgian city of Liege, stealing their weapons and shooting them dead before also gunning down a bystander in an incident authorities are treating as terror-related.

The man, who was later killed by police, approached the two female officers from behind and stabbed them several times on a boulevard in the centre of Belgium's third-largest city, around 30 miles from the German border.

The attacker, identified by public broadcaster RTBF as Benjamin Herman, then shot dead a 22-year-old man, who was sat in a vehicle parked nearby, and took a woman hostage in a school close to where the shooting took place outside a city cafe.

Pupils were moved to safety as a gun battle broke out that sent people in the street racing for cover. Several police were wounded before the attacker was finally killed.

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

Liege police intervened. He came out firing at police, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs. He was shot dead, said Philippe Dulieu, spokesman for the Liege prosecutor's office.

The event is classed as a terrorist incident.

Newspaper La Libre Belgique quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted Allahu Akbar.

RTBF described the 36-year-old suspect Herman as a petty criminal who had been let out on day-release from a local prison on Monday.

It said investigators were examining whether he converted to Islam and had been radicalised in jail.

However, Belgian prime minister, Charles Michel, said it was too early to say what had caused the incident in a statement expressing his condolences to the families of the victims.

A spokeswoman for the city mayor's office, Laurence Comminette, said all children at the school where the gunfight had ended were safe.

Theresa May has denounced the attack, branding it cowardly.

My thoughts are with the victims of today's cowardly attack in Belgium and their grieving families, the prime minister wrote on Twitter.

The UK stands resolute with our Belgian allies against terror.

Belgium has at times struggled with the spectre of Islamist extremism in recent years.

Some 32 people were killed and hundreds more injured in a series of bombings carried out by an Islamic State cell in Brussels in March 2016.

Months earlier in November 2015, a Brussels-based IS group were involved in the attack on Paris that left 130 dead.

Additional reporting by agencies
Terror prosecutors are investigating after two police officers were shot dead in an attack in Liege, Belgium.

The attacker, who prosecutors said disarmed the two police officers after stabbing them from behind and then killed them along with a 22-year-old bystander, was shot and killed in turn.

Liege police said the passer-by was the passenger in a vehicle passing the scene.

Belgian prosecutors confirmed three people plus the gunman had been killed.

There are indications it may have been a terror attack, they told reporters, but a spokesman at the national crisis centre added: There is absolutely no confirmation yet that the incident is terror-related.

Christine Defraigne, the president of the Belgian senate, tweeted: We are learning with horror [of] the Boulevard dAvroy shooting at #Liege and the death of two police officers on duty. Its a tragedy.

We are wholeheartedly with the forces of law and order who give their lives to protect us, and the families of the victims.

At a lunchtime press conference in the town local authorities said the attacker had been "hunting" police officers and had used his first-victims' weapons in the ensuing shoot-out.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

According to Le Soir, the attack took place at about 10.30am when the gunman opened fire on police officers near a cafe.

The attacker took a female cleaner hostage at a nearby school, it was reported.

Jan Jambon, Belgiums security minister, said: Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are in the process of making an overview of what exactly happened.

The countrys crisis centre was monitoring the situation, he added. The centre tweeted to say children of nearby schools were safe.
An attacker who killed three people in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday morning was hunting police officers, local authorities have said, amid an investigation into whether the incident was terror-related.

Two police officers on routine traffic duties and one passer-by were killed in knife and gun attacks before the assailant was killed by police special forces in an exchange of gunfire at a school.

The attacker had stabbed the two women police officers from behind, before taking their firearms and shooting a 22-year-old man in a nearby car at random, the local prosecutors said at a press conference in Liege.

The assailant, named locally as Benjamin Herman, 36, then ran into a nearby school and took a hostage  reported to be a female cleaner  before being neutralised and killed in a rescue operation mounted by local special forces. Two other police officers were also injured in the attack, shot in their legs.

The shooting and stabbings took place on Boulevard dAvroy, a major commercial artery on the west side of the river Meuse, which cuts the city in two. Liege is Belgiums third largest urban area and the largest in the French-speaking Wallonia region.

An armed police perimeter remained in place around the scene of the incident at the end of Tuesdays working day, with part of the boulevard closed and traffic backed up and at a standstill through the centre of town.

Three forensics tents could be seen inside the perimeter: one in front of the modernist grey Athenee Leonie de Waha school, and two near the Aux Augustins restaurant just down the road.

Forensics experts clad in white overalls examined the scenes while plain-clothes officers wearing police-issue bulletproof vests walked in a fanned-out line down the boulevard, apparently performing a thorough search of the surrounding area. An ambulance could be seen parked nearby.

Local residents mainly stayed away from the scene following the incident, with the city returning to normality quickly, but a few attempted to approach with floral tributes. Social media footage from the scene showed people running away upon hearing gunshots.

Belgian state broadcaster RTBF reported that the gunman carried out the attack while on temporary family release from prison, where he was serving a sentence for drug offences, so that he could spend time with relatives as part of his rehabilitation process. It suggested he might have been radicalised while in custody, though local authorities are still examining whether the incident is extremism-related. One unnamed official suggested there were indications it could be a terror attack, while another, Yves Stevens, of Belgiums federal crisis centre said there was absolutely no confirmation yet that the incident is terror-related.

The police officers killed were named in local media reports as Lucile Garcia, 45, and Soraya Belkacemi, 53. Ms Garcia was described by colleagues as a fantastic woman who had recently married her partner. Local press named the civilian victim as Cyril Vangriecken, a 22-year-old from Vottem, a town 10 minutes drive north of the city centre.

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

Liege, traditionally a major coal and steel producing city, has suffered from industrial decline in recent decades. Seven people were killed in the town in 2011 after a gun and grenade attack on Place Saint-Lambert, 15 minutes walk from the site of todays killings. That attack, in which the gunman was killed, was determined to be a murder-suicide.

Commenting on Tuesdays attack, Belgian prime minister Charles Michel decried the violence as cowardly and senseless, adding: All our support for the victims and their loved ones. We are following the situation with the security services and the [anti-terror] crisis centre.

The countrys interior minister Jan Jambon said that investigators were trying to establish exactly what happened. He added: Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act.

Though Belgium has not officially raised its state of terror readiness, armed police at Brussels central station were more visible than usual around Tuesday lunchtime. There was little visible extra security at Liege railway station, however, with little disruption in the city other than backed-up traffic due to the road closure. Brussels suffered three suicide bombings in March 2016, in which 32 people were killed.

Mr Michel, as well as the countrys monarch King Philippe, are expected to visit the town in the aftermath of the attack. Pupils at the school affected have been transferred to nearby schools, authorities said.

In a message on social media, Prime Minister Theresa May offered her thoughts to the victims of todays cowardly attack in Belgium and their grieving families. She added: The UK stands resolute with our Belgian allies against terror.
It was a rescue which wowed the world and made Mamoudou Gassama a national hero in France.

The Malian migrant's death-defying four-storey ascent of a Paris building to save a dangling child won him an invitation to the presidential palace and a personal promise of citizenship from Emmanuel Macron.

But amid the celebrations of this extraordinary feat, the French government has now come in for sharp criticism for its apparent double standards.

British MP David Lammy was among those to ask: Does a person really have to do something so extraordinary to stand a chance of becoming a citizen?

Mamoudou Gassama meets with President Macron (AP)

I don't think that migrants should have to behave like superheroes before they are treated like human beings, Lammy tweeted. Being a human being should be the only prerequisite to being treated like a human being. And that applies in the UK just as much as France.

Fatima Manji, the Channel Four correspondent, suggested the events were tinged with sadness. Man from Mali, an ex-French colony, has to risk his life and prove exceptional to be rewarded with French Citizenship, she posted.

Others pointed out how, just days before Mr Macron sat smiling with Mr Gassama, France had ordered the forced closure of several migrant camps in Paris.

More than 2,500 people will be left homeless by the mass clearance in the citys 19th arrondissement, reports the AP news agency.

The growing disquiet came as more details were revealed about the heros torrid journey to  and life in  France.

After leaving his home town of Yaguine in south-western Mali in 2013, the 22-year-old  then still a teenager  travelled across the Sahara Desert through Burkina Faso, Niger and Libya before crossing the Mediterranean to Italy in 2014. From there, he moved onto France where his brother lived, the BBC reports.

During his meeting with Mr Macron on Monday, he admitted he had been working cash-in-hand on building sites in Paris and lived in a hostel where he shared a room and mattress with several other men.

He had not applied for asylum and was living illegally in France when Saturday's incident unfolded.

Firefighters were called after the ordeal where they attended to both the child and the rescuer who were both suffering from shock

He said he did not think of his legal status during the rescue. He told French broadcaster BFMTV afterwards: I did not think, I saved him.

He added: When I took him in my arms, I spoke with him and asked: Why did you do that? But he did not answer.

Further developments happened on Tuesday as the grandmother of the four-year-old child  still unnamed  labelled Mr Gassama truly a hero.

Also speaking to BFMTV, she said: My God, I was very shocked. My grandson, my grandson, save him! Thankfully he knew how to climb, because there were a lot of people below but he didn't just fold his arms. He raced up to the fourth floor. That was truly incredible. He was very brave.

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 boys father  who prosecutors now say was out playing Pokemon Go  is still being questioned by police. The child is currently in care.
Arkady Babchenko, a Russian journalist critical of the Kremlin, has been killed in Kiev.

Mr Babchenko was shot at his home on Tuesday evening and died in an ambulance on the way to hospital. According to Anton Geraschenko, a Ukrainian politician with close links to the police and security services, the journalist had left his apartment to buy provisions, and was attacked on his return.

"When Arkady opened the door of his flat, the killer cowardly shot him in the back, firing several shots," the politician wrote on Facebook.

A lawyer by education, Mr Babchenko was a two-time veteran of the Chechen conflict, travelling first as a conscript, and later as a contract soldier.

It was in Chechnya that he discovered a career with words, publishing a book on his experiences to critical acclaim. The journalism that followed  whether it be from Russia or, later, Ukraine  was typically authoritative, powerful and eloquent. He would often report from the extreme frontlines, tolerated to an unusual extent by soldiers who recognised his military experience.

Danger was rarely far away from his workplace. Just a few hours before his death, Mr Babchenko wrote on Twitter about his fortune to have been refused travel on a Ukrainian military helicopter in 2014. "Four years ago General Kulchitsky wouldn't take me on his helicopter because there wasn't the space. It was shot down two hours after this photograph. 14 people died, but I got lucky. It's a second birthday for me."

Mr Babchenko fled Russia for the Czech Republic in February 2017, before eventually settling in Ukraine.

There is an informed opinion that it would be a good idea for me to live outside our god-protected Motherland for a while, he wrote at the time of his emigration.

Ukrainian police officers guard in the entrance to a house where Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko was shot (Reuters)

While some friends wondered whether Mr Babchenko had overreacted, it was clear that his critical reporting of the wars in Ukraine and Syria had made him a target. Russian state TV was particularly forthright in criticising a blog post written by the journalist about the crash of a military aircraft bound for Syria. Mr Babchenko had expressed indifference for the deaths of military representatives and reminded readers of Russian excesses in Aleppo.

The journalist was a prominent hate figure for Moscow, and this will no doubt form the basis of any investigation.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman said in a social media posting late on Tuesday he was convinced that what he called "the Russian totalitarian machine" had not forgiven Babchenko for what Groysman called his "honesty."

Equally, however, Mr Babchenko's murder continues a line of high-profile assassinations in Kiev, not all of which seem to be Russia-related. The country remains highly militarised, with straightforward access to weapons, and the influence of far-right groups connected to government is an ongoing concern.

A report into the 2016 murder of Pavlo Sheremet by the Committee to Protect Journalists criticised the Ukrainian authorities handling of the investigation, suggesting they had prioritised Russian explanations over possible domestic motives.

On Tuesday, Moscow denied accusations it had anything to do with the journalists murder. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called the Ukrainian allegation part of an anti-Russian campaign, the TASS news agency reported. In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry also said journalists were being killed with impunity in Ukraine.

Bloody crimes and total impunity have become routine for the Kiev regime. We demand that the Ukrainian authorities make every effort to promptly investigate, it said on Facebook.

According to head of Kiev police Andrei Krischenko, authorities are working on two motives: Mr Babchenko's work and his civic position.The Investigative Committee of Russia also said it had opened a criminal case into Babchenkos death.

Dmitry Muratov, founder of the Novaya Gazeta paper to which Mr Babchenko contributed, said his publication would conduct its own investigation into the murder.

"100 per cent this is connected to his journalism," he said. "I can't tell you who did it, but I can tell you we're going to try to find out."
Angela Merkels top ally in Brussels has leapt to the defence of Hungarys authoritarian prime minister, after the controversial leader claimed that the era of liberal democracy was over.

Nationalist Viktor Orban kicked off his third term as prime minister by claiming his party had replaced shipwrecked liberal democracy with a 21st-century Christian democracy that supports the traditional family model of one man and one woman.

Mr Orban has rolled back human rights and launched new legislation to crackdown on NGOs, universities and charities. His government has also been accused of running a state-backed campaign of antisemitism against US businessman George Soros, whom the PM regularly accuses of meddling in the country.

Recommended Hungarian government plans powers to ban NGOs that help migrants

Asked about the right-wing leaders latest comments at a press conference at the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, the German leader of the European Peoples Party group, warned people not to point fingers at Mr Orban and claim that hes not a good European.

In Europe of course the terms that we use when we discuss things are incredibly important, he told reporters, addressing the comments about liberal democracy.

They have different meanings and different backgrounds depending on where people come from. If you look at the migration debate, from where I come from often were talking about refugees.

But if you look at Prague, Bratislava, or Budapest, often the debate is more focused elsewhere. Theyre talking about illegal migration instead. Its for that reason that I think whats most important is for us to talk to one another and deal with one another. Thats true when it comes to this issue of definitions as well.

People attend a protest against the Hungarian government in Budapest on 14 April (Reuters)

I think there are enough opportunities to move forward here. However I think we need to move forward in respect for one another and respect for our common values. I think there should be absolutely no movement on that.

Mr Weber is a member of Angela Merkels CDU/CSU party at a national level in Germany, which sits with Mr Orbans Fidesz party in the European Peoples Party at an EU level.

The defence of Mr Orban is the latest example of the EPP, which is the largest political group in the European Parliament and the home group of Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker, shielding Mr Orbans regime from criticism.

Last year over 1,500 petitioned the EPP to kick out Mr Orbans party on the basis that it denies all the values that this group stands for, but no action was taken.

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

Some of the partys MEPs have also in the past openly criticised Mr Orban and called for his party to be suspended from the group.

Amnesty International has said a new law being pushed through by the Hungarian government to muzzle NGOs working with migrants, poses an existential threat to civil society and critics of the ruling party.

The proposed new law requires charities to pay a tax of 25 per cent of any foreign funding aimed at supporting refugees and migrants. Those targeted can be subjected to exorbitant fines, bankruptcy and dissolution.
For many of his days over the past four years, Paolo Borrometi has lived in isolation, though he is barely ever alone.

He has not walked through a park or on the beach in his native Sicily for years. He cannot go to a restaurant freely, or to a concert or the cinema. He cant drive a car alone, go shopping alone, or go out for dinner by himself.

Before heading to work as a reporter covering the mafia, he starts each morning with an espresso, a cigarette  and his police escort.

Angering the mafia as a journalist in Italy makes for a lonely life. And yet Borrometi, 35, is in good company. Almost 200 reporters in Italy live under police protection, making it unique among industrialised Western countries, advocacy groups say.

None of us wants to be a hero or a model, Borrometi tells an assembly of high school students on a recent morning in Rome, where he now lives. We just want to do our job and our duty, to tell stories.

Yet murders connected to organised crime are rising in Italy, authorities say, and international observers consider criminal networks the principal threat to journalists in Europe.

Tributes for the murdered Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia in Valletta (Getty)

Dont stop writing, Paolo, reads an email Borrometi received two days after he was assaulted in 2014 outside his familys country home in Sicily by two men wearing balaclavas. Our countries need free and investigative journalism. You have my respect.

The note came from Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Maltese investigative journalist who was killed by a car bomb last year, after exposing her nations links to offshore tax havens and reporting on local politicians crimes for decades.

When she died at 53, she had 47 lawsuits pending against her, including one from the countrys economy minister.

In addition to Caruana Galizia, who was killed in October, a 27-year-old reporter, Jan Kuciak, was killed along with his fiancee in Slovakia in February. He had also been investigating corruption with suspected ties to Italian mobsters.

There have already been two journalists killed by the mafia inside the European Union, both investigating mafia stories and stories that domestic governments were not looking into, says Pauline Ades-Mevel, who is responsible for the European desk at Reporters Without Borders, an campaign group for press freedom.

Italy is historically the country that has felt the mafia the most, and has a dozen of journalists under 24-hour police protection, Ades-Mevel says. That doesnt happen in other countries.

Among those journalists is Lirio Abbate, a mafia expert with the magazine LEspresso, who has been under protection for 11 years, since police thwarted a bomb attack in front of his house in Palermo.

Federica Angeli, a reporter with La Repubblica, and her family have been under police escort for five years. And Roberto Saviano, the author of Gomorrah, a bestselling book, film and TV series about the Neapolitan crime syndicate, has been under escort since 2006.

International observers consider criminal networks the principal threat to journalists in Europe (Getty)

For Borrometi, it took just a year of reporting on the secret businesses and clandestine political ties of the mafia in southeastern Sicily for his independent news website, La Spia (The Spy), before criminals menaced him. In five years, he got hundreds of death threats from local mobsters.

Borrometi, who trained as a lawyer, started writing for local papers when he was 17, inspired by a Sicilian investigative reporter, Giovanni Spampinato, who was killed by the mafia in the 1970s.

He started his own website five years ago. His first investigation, on mafia infiltrations among top officials in the town of Scicli, contributed to the governments decision to dissolve the local council.

His articles pull no punches. They detail the connections between political powers and the mob, naming names, and accompanied by photographs. People need to know who they are when they meet them at the bar, he says.

At first, his articles prompted vandalism against him and late night phone calls. But things got physical after he began writing a series of stories that showed how Sicilys largest fruit and vegetable market was controlled by mobsters.

He was feeding his dog outside his country home when two men attacked him by grabbing his right arm and twisting it behind his back until his shoulder muscles tore in three places.

The only words the attackers told me that day were, Mind your own business, or This is only the first warning, or a Sicilian, less polite, version of it, Borrometi recalls.

Almost five years later, he still cant move his shoulder properly

That didnt stop him from continuing to report on the mafia and taking a number of the mafiosi who threatened him to court. One night, after a fire attack almost burnt down his apartment, police decided to put him under full-time protection.

A rally against corruption and in support of Kuciak and his fiancee in Bratislava in March. The demonstrations forced the resignation of Slovakias prime minister (Getty)

The mafia wasnt cowed.

Well cut your head off, even inside a police station, the local mafia boss said in a public post on social media.

His reporting  and police investigations  have by now exposed a wider network of mafia affiliates who move produce from the fruit and vegetable market in Vittoria, Sicily, to the rest of Italy and Europe, in affiliation with other criminal groups.

He found out that one of the companies growing the Pachino tomato, a special cherry tomato certified by Italys agriculture ministry, was owned by the sons of two prominent mobsters.

One of them had spent more than two decades in jail for mafia ties, and was now working for his sons company.

The news spread, and the ministry took notice and cut the company off from the list of businesses that can sell Pachino tomatoes.

Last month, the mobsters decided to scale up their threats. Police say they intercepted a Sicilian mobster while he was discussing a plot with his sons to kill Borrometi with a car bomb.

We need a firework like those in the 1990s, when one couldnt even walk on the streets, said the man, who was caught on a police wiretap. A death every once in a while is useful, so that all the whippersnappers calm down a little.

The reference was to the tense years when two Palermo prosecutors, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, were brutally murdered alongside their bodyguards, and car bombs exploded around Italy, killing bystanders and damaging historic buildings.

In the wiretapped conversation, the man was advocating for a return to that bloody time of overt intimidation of authorities and citizens alike. There hasnt been a mafia car bomb in Italy since then.

This shows how much investigative journalism angers the mafia, which thrives with its business in silence, Nino Di Matteo  a prominent mafia prosecutor, hence also a prime target  says on national television a few days after police arrested those said to be planning the attack against Borrometi.

Journalism has a fundamental role in the fight against the mafia, especially in a moment like this, says Di Matteo, who also travels with bodyguards. I believe we are underestimating a bit of the danger that the mafia represents to the country and to our democracy.

 New York Times
Israel and Hamas traded rocket fire for hours after militants in the Gaza Strip launched their biggest attack on Israel in years, firing at least 25 mortars at communities across the south of the country.

Israel's air force responded with at least seven bombings of facilities belonging to both Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad, which also operates from Gaza.

No casualties have been reported by either side, but Tuesday's violence marks the single biggest attack from the Palestinians side since the 2014 Israel-Gaza war, and comes after months of rising tensions in the border area.

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Most of the Gaza missiles were intercepted by Israels rocket defence systems. One shell landed near a nursery school shortly before it was due to open for the day, local media reported.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised in a statement on Twitter that Israel would respond with "great force" to the initial attack.

Neither Hamas nor Islamic Jihad has made a claim of responsibility for the initial fire, although Islamic Jihad had vowed to take revenge after three of its members were killed by Israeli tank shelling last week.

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Hamas said that Israeli fire had hit its military facilities in the central Gaza Strip.

At least one more salvo of rockets hit Israel in the afternoon.

There have been several protests in the last two months at the security fence that forms a decade-long blockade on the two million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

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

Israel says the blockade  put in place after Hamas seized control of the area in 2007  is a necessary security measure.

Earlier this month the area saw the worst violence since the last round of fighting between Hamas and Israel in 2014. Israeli forces shot and killed 60 people protesting at the border over living conditions and the US embassys move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

At least 116 people have been killed in protests since March, which Hamas has vowed will continue. Israel has repeatedly said the group is using the protests as a cover to plan attacks on IDF soldiers.

At least three Islamic Jihad militants and one Hamas member have been killed in small confrontations in the border zone since Sunday.

Also on Tuesday, Hamas said a boat carrying people in need of medical attention and students wishing to study abroad was to attempt to break the naval blockade of the area.

Previous attempts from charities and activists to enter and exit the area by sea have resulted in further violence.
Ramadan is particularly punishing in Hodeidah on Yemens west coast, where the temperature is currently 36C. Many of the Houthi rebels who have held the city since 2015 are used to the cooler highlands and struggle in the heat.

Tensions are running high in the port city. Arab coalition forces that back Yemens exiled government are now less than 12 miles away from Hodeidahs edges; everyone inside knows the battle is imminent.

As Yemens key commercial centre, through which more than 70 per cent of the countrys imports, food and aid shipments flow, an offensive to retake the city has always been inevitable.

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In the last few days, however, Yemeni, Saudi and UAE troops have covered such huge amounts of territory the imminent fighting has arrived much faster than most were expecting  and fears for the country's embattled civilians are growing.

What happens to Hodeidah is going to have huge consequences for Yemens war, said Adam Baron, a visiting fellow with the European Council for Foreign Relations (ECFR).

The key question is: how is the battle going to be fought? The port is vital for Yemenis across the country. There could potentially be massive destruction of the citys facilities. People are worried about how long the port might be out of action and how long it could take to rebuild.

Hodeidah is Yemens lifeline. Even before the war, it handled most imports in a country where a staggering 90 per cent of food had to be imported.

Seized by the Iran-backed Houthis early in the now three-year-old war, the city has been subject to a Saudi-led coalition blockade since 2015, which humanitarian organisations say is largely responsible for the fact eight million Yemenis are now living on the brink of famine.

A total sealing off of the port in November 2017  retaliation for a Houthi ballistic missile that landed near the Saudi capital of Riyadh  is estimated to have pushed an additional 3.2 million people into hunger, the World Food Programme says.

Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Show all 17 1 /17 Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' 11-year-old Marwa uses the red sap of dragon's blood trees to make nail varnish and make up. This specimen of the endemic Socotran tree is more than 1,000 years old. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Dragon's blood trees' grow via dichotomous branching, wherein each of the branches divides into two sections. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Detwah lagoon, next to the village of Qalansiyah, used to be a popular spot for camping trips. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Socotras estimated 60,000 inhabitants mainly rely on the islands fish stocks, date-yielding palm trees and goats for food. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Fish, squid and lobster populations are declining thanks to overfishing and the effects of climate change. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Most of Socotra's unique plant life is believed to be derived from subtropical forests dating back 20 million years. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Dragon's blood trees are adapted to survive in arid climates but need cool and misty mountainsides. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' In the 1990s, UN biologists documented nearly 700 species on Socotra that are found nowhere else on Earth. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' The Socotra Archipelago has been gradually drying out over hundreds of years, threatening the delicate ecosystem's survival. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Dozens of rusted Soviet tanks line Socotra's shores, unused relics left over from the Cold War. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' The mountains on the island's eastern side are covered in fine white coral sand, blown there during monsoon seasons. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' The island's granite and limestone cliffs are covered in a permanent mist. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' A red snapper for dinner, a gift from a fisherman. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Socotra's Hajhir mountain range rises above the main town of Hadibo. Its jagged peaks can be seen from almost every corner of the island. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' In the last 200 years, entire dragon's blood forests have been felled to make way for the growing population. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Two huge typhoons in 2015 killed hundreds of mature dragon's blood trees. Locals worry newly planted trees will not grow quickly enough. Bethan McKernan Yemen's Socotra Island, the 'Jewel of Arabia' Fishing dhows return to the village of Qalansiyah at sunset. Bethan McKernan

The new UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, has warned that the new offensive to retake Hodeidah will result in mass displacement and in a single stroke, take peace off the table.

But the fracturing of rebel allegiances after the Houthis killed former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in December has seemingly galvanised the Arab coalition.

Salehs nephew, Brigadier-General Tareq Mohammed Saleh, has formed a new brigade that has so far fought ferociously against the Houthis who killed his uncle.

The Houthis are expected to withdraw to the mountains surrounding Hodeidah when fighting in the city proper gets under way, but have promised to give the coalition "hell on hell" before they do.

Further military pressure on the Houthis may have the reverse effect of making them less amenable to enter proposed peace negotiations, since they will be in a weaker position, Elisabeth Kendall of Oxford University said.

Retaking Hodeidah could potentially open a pathway to finally retaking the Yemeni capital of Sanaa from the rebels  but that does not mean Houthi capitulation, Dr Kendall added.

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The Houthis heartlands in Yemens north have been pulverised after well over a decade of [guerrilla] war. They have every reason to defy military logic and keep fighting. Military gains may be of short term use.

The human cost of winning the city of 600,000 people back could be catastrophic, several aid organisations have warned. The Houthis are known to heavily mine territory as they exit it.

Irin News reported earlier this month that UN operational plans to evacuate 5,000 civilians to safer areas ahead of the fighting flopped.

An additional 340,000 people could be displaced should Hodeidah come under attack, said Bhanu Bhatnagar, a Save the Children spokesperson.

The fighting is also likely to be protracted and the possible use of explosive weapons in densely populated urban areas will have a disproportionate impact on the civilian population.

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The Arab coalition, which has been criticised over the unnecessary loss of civilian life in bombing campaigns in other Houthi areas, is well aware the international community is watching the Hodeidah offensive.

It is in the coalitions interests to make sure Hodeidah isn't destroyed, said Baron of the ECFR.

They used to be able to blame the Houthis in control of the city for aid flow problems. If theyre in charge, it will be on them.

The port must remain open at all costs, Bhatnagar said.

The complete closure of [Hodeidah] port would lead to a devastating cut in the humanitarian and commercial supply chain just when its needed most. Food imports have already reached the lowest levels since the conflict started and the price of basic commodities has risen by a third,"

When the sound of bullets and bombs does die down, a different type of battle will begin.

There are growing tensions in the Arab coalition over the UAE and Saudi Arabias growing influence in parts of Yemen in which their troops are in control.

The Yemeni governments anger led to a diplomatic standoff over the Arabian Sea island of Socotra between the UAE and the exiled Aden government earlier this month.

Whether Tareeq Salehs forces call the shots on the ground when the battle ends is also a headache for Yemens embattled president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

All parties will be keen to take credit for any successes - and avoid blame for any failures - in the fight for the city.

That battle will be as active as the fighting itself, said Mr Baron.

Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Show all 4 1 /4 Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod

Yemeni Nobel peace prize laureate and activist, Tawakkol Karman, is worried about the battle to come.

Hodeidahs operation will leave behind an unprecedented human disaster, she said.

This will only add to Yemenis agony. Saudi Arabia and the UAE will ban the legitimate government from entering Hodeidah, like they did in Aden.

This will not bring peace. It will just replace one militia with another."
The UN has defended a decision not to publish the names of organisations implicated in a dossier detailing allegations of widespread sexual abuse by aid workers, saying it was taken in the interests of protecting child witnesses.

A report alleging the exploitation, including of children, was compiled by consultants working for its human rights arm (UNHCR) and Save the Children in early 2002 following claims made in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

But the UN did not make public the names of non-governmental organisations (NGO) implicated by the research in order to protect the child witnesses, to ensure fairness and to protect the integrity of the investigation, it told The Independent.

Instead, UNHCR said, letters were sent to the NGOs mentioned in the consultant report and [a second] report, informing them of the allegations implicating their staff. It followed up to find out what action had been taken, a statement added.

After the consultants gathered evidence by interviewing refugees in the region the UN sent in a separate investigative team from its Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS).

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That teams report was published in October 2002 but also did not name any organisations as having been implicated.

The OIOS could not substantiate the earlier reports, it said, but identified 43 cases of potential sexual exploitation by itself, including rape. Ten of those were borne out by the evidence, it said in 2002.

According to a copy seen by The Independent, the original 84-page report contained allegations that aid workers were among the prime sexual exploiters of refugee children, trading supplies like food and shelter materials for sex.

MPs on the Commons international development committee are understood to be investigating.

In its review of the initial dossier, OIOS wrote: Although the stories reported by the consultants could not be verified, the problem of sexual exploitation of refugees is real.

Extensive interviews of many potential witnesses, victims and others thought to have relevant information enabled the investigation team to identify new cases of sexual exploitation, ranging from consensual relationships that occurred as a result of the exploiters position of power to allegations of sodomy and rape of refugees.

Following both the first and second investigations UNHCR released press statements detailing what action it would take in response to the findings.

UNHCR told The Independent that no decision had yet been made on whether to make public the initial report.

A number of NGOs have confirmed to The Independent that they were made aware of the UNHCR-Save the Children dossier.

A spokeswoman from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) said all staff now underwent compulsory training on its code of conduct. She added: We released local workers whose involvement was confirmed. Since 2003 the IRC has had staff dedicated to addressing and preventing sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse. They have been supported by continued investment in systems and processes.

The Norwegian Refugee Council said it had fired one national staff member in Sierra Leone as a result of the report, and now employs a full-time adviser on the prevention of sexual abuse. We exercise zero tolerance and all staff are required to sign a code of conduct. We are continuing to carefully review our systems and procedures in order to improve our prevention and response to all issues related to sexual abuse and exploitation, a spokeswoman said.

The World Food Programme said it was made aware of unsubstantiated allegations against a member of staff in Sierra Leone. Nonetheless, it said: The report triggered action on the ground and policy revisions. Preventive action was taken, for example strengthening of post-distribution monitoring and employment of more female food monitors.

Action Against Hunger said none of its staff were involved in misconduct in Sierra Leone or Guinea, though that one member of local staff was alleged to have sold food for cash in Liberia. No cases involving children have ever been reported in any countries where Action Against Hunger staff work, a spokeswoman said, adding that substantial policies, standards, guidance and trainings have since been developed and disseminated.

Care International said it investigated one allegation against a named individual in Guinea but found that it had not employed anyone of that name in the region. The group added in a statement: The wider allegations made in the report were also investigated, with a special focus on the controls that were in place. We found no evidence of abuse by Care staff at the time, but committed to remaining on the lookout for any additional evidence related to those allegations, and the problem of sexual exploitation of refugee children more generally.

GIZ, a German organisation, said the allegations in the report did not prove true for its workers. It added: We made a sound investigation and carried out training for all employees after the publication of the report. Later on we established a professional system of safeguards and counselling.

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. 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A spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross Societies (IFRC) said an internal review in Guinea in 2001 and 2002 found no evidence of its personnel being involved in sexual abuse, but that the OIOS report prompted the introduction of a new code of conduct.

He added: Over the past five years, IFRC has received a small number of complaints relating to staff misconduct. We are concerned that this may not tell the whole story. We know that sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation are often underreported, and that more needs to be done to address, prevent and punish such misconduct.

"It is not clear if specific allegations against IFRC/Red Cross personnel were received in 2002. We have reviewed our archives and have approached UNHCR and OIOS to track down any relevant correspondence from that time. We are currently undertaking a review going back to 2000 in a bid to identify historical incidents.

Save the Children, whose consultants participated in the initial report, said: The investigation found that far too little was being done to prevent and report abuse across the humanitarian sector.

At the time [we] took immediate action against three individuals. We have since made sweeping changes. Every member of staff is now given mandatory child safeguarding training within a week of joining the organisation. We have established a dedicated global safeguarding team and 445 focal points for reporting concerns.

As our reporting systems have been strengthened, the number of safeguarding reports has rapidly increased from 31 cases in 2013 to 210 in 2017. These include road traffic accidents as well as reports of emotional, physical and sexual abuse in the communities where we work, whether or not they involve Save the Children staff.

[We] have a culture of zero tolerance for misconduct of any kind. Anyone found to be violating this policy is held to account.

UNHCR said it had come a long way since 2002, with a new code of conduct reinforced by refresher sessions and more than 300 focal points around the world to ensure preventative measures are taken at field level. It has also made it easier to report sexual abuse, it said.

A spokeswoman added: On a regular basis, the high commissioner himself reminds personnel of the importance of identifying and reporting all [abuse]allegations, urging victims to speak out, and reminding managers of their duty to prevent, report and deal with [abuse]. He also regularly informs staff of the sanctions imposed to those found guilty of such misconduct.

Several of the groups said they were cooperating with the international development committees investigation or had already provided evidence.
It was a bit Hitchcockian. As I picnicked atop the wind-whipped peak, a chough landed by my feet. I looked away, taking in the panorama from one of northern Spains highest peaks. When I looked back, three more choughs had appeared, standing in formation with the first. Again, I gazed away, across the drop-offs, scree tumbles and shards of granite. And again I looked back. Now six  no, eight  of the jet-black birds gazed back with their 16 expressionless eyes. A dark army amassed from thin air.

Recommended Spain by train

Creepy. But somehow appropriate on the stark summit of Torre de los Horcados Rojos. This 2,502m mountain sits within the wild Picos de Europa, a meeting of massifs that was designated a national park in 1918  Spains first such protected wilderness. Yet even after 100 years the Picos is still largely overlooked by Brits, most of whom seek the countrys more Costa-raucous brand of wildness. High up in these mountains, its likely to be just you and the choughs.

The Picos de Europa is actually the best of both worlds. This dramatic uprising of multi-folded limestone is only 20km from the sea, so combining sand and summits is easily done. However, my partner and I were concentrating on the latter, following a self-guided hike through the massif and surrounding valleys, staying at family run inns, keen to see what a century of protection has done for this lesser-visited part of Spain.

Our route started in the hillside village of Cahecho, a small cluster of honied stone in the Liebana Valley outside the national park. From here, wed spend a week weaving gently westwards, advancing on the mountains past quiet villages and a rampage of wildflowers. The route would take us via three provinces too: first Cantabria, then Leon, finishing in Asturias.

Picos de Europa offers visitors a chance to enjoy slow travel (Sarah Baxter)

Right away, this was a different Spain. Day one revealed a landscape of hazy green and clunking cowbells that could have been the foothills of the Alps. We saw no one on the countryside trails that wound past holm oaks and fresh-cut pasture. It was only descending into Potes that humanity interrupted. This unassuming old town is one of Europes most important Roman Catholic sites; nearby Santo Toribio de Liebana monastery houses the largest known relic of Christs cross, and was a preeminent medieval pilgrimage site. We too walked into the town, to stock up on bread and chorizo, browse the narrow lanes and check out the views from the 15th century tower.

After a bright morning advancing into the mountains, we found ourselves easing into Spanish strolling. And while we werent in the national park just yet, we started to appreciate its founding principles. Creating the Picos de Europa was about preserving its landscapes, but also upholding its traditional ways  an increasing struggle in the 21st century. On our first afternoon we walked through the atmospheric abandoned village of Porceida, which laid bare the hardships of modern rural living. Empty houses slumped into the earth; weeds and cobwebs consumed everything.

Lake Enol in the Picos de Europa mountain range (Getty) (Getty Images)

That evening we stayed in the hamlet of Tollo, at a beautiful, art-filled posada, converted from an old farmhouse. Berta, a vet, showed us to our room while Ricardo, an architect, brought us drinks. The economic crisis led to us taking on the house as we struggled to find jobs in our professions, he explained. But we also love the slower pace of life in the mountains.

We loved it too, and spent the following five days revelling in slow travel through the Spanish countryside, largely alone. We strolled through meadows impossibly bright with butterflies and wildflowers. We undulated over grassy slopes, rambling moors and vulture-patrolled outcrops. We ate cheese that tasted of the mountains. And we ascended into the Picos strikingly alien upper reaches to commune with the choughs.

On our final day, we tackled the parks signature hike, heading northwards through the Cares Gorge to Poncebos. This limestone defile, slicing the Central and Western Picos massifs, is jaw-dropping. At times its so narrow you feel the need to breathe in; at times its so precipitous you can barely breathe at all.

The scenic Asturian mountains of Picos de Europa (Sarah Baxter)

When the national park was designated in 1918, lengthways access along the gorge was a new phenomenon. From 1916, a canal was blasted into the rock walls to feed a hydroelectric station, and an accompanying service path teetered alongside, inching over ledges and under arches. Its now one of the best day walks in Spain. Before this the only paths hereabouts were shepherds trails, used by herdsmen whod bring their flocks for summer to seemingly unreachable pastures, living in caves, making famed Picos cheese. Few still work these inhospitable mountains now; through binoculars I spied a ruined summer hamlet on the opposite slopes, deserted save for a few goats.

No, the people keeping the landscape alive now are the tourists, especially along this A-list trail. Its a wild, white-knuckle walk, with sheer drops and looming tops. It was also wild at its finish: the bar in Poncebos bubbled with singing Spaniards drinking Asturian sidra. It was quite the contrast to our previous days hiking, when wed seen virtually no one. But if these modest crowds help preserve these undersung mountains for another 100 years, Id raise a cider to that.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Ryanair flies direct from Edinburgh and London Stansted to Santander from around 15 one way.

Staying there

Specialist tour operator Pura Aventura offers an eight-day Picos de Europa Inn to Inn walking holiday from 1,050pp, including full-board accommodation, transfers from Santander, luggage transfers between hotels, and walking maps and notes.
Tens of thousands of passengers flying in and out of London have experienced another day of disruption after extreme weather across the southeast caused dozens of cancellations.

Close to 200 flights were cancelled due to a wave of thunderstorms, which forecasters say may continue to batter the country for at least another week.

London is the busiest city in the world for air travel; Gatwick and Heathrow are, respectively, the busiest single-runway and twin-runway airports in the world.

During a third consecutive day of travel disruption, British Airways cancelled nearly 50 flights to and from Heathrow, including short-haul departures to Barcelona, Berlin, Dublin, Edinburgh, Milan, Moscow and Stockholm.

Long-haul passengers also faced problems. After seven hours of postponements, a BA flight to New York was cancelled, while an overnight flight to Chennai left eight hours late.

Recommended Flights cancelled and trains delayed in bank holiday travel chaos

A spokesperson for British Airways said: Following one of the busiest weekends of the year, our teams have been working tirelessly to get tens of thousands of customers away on their half term breaks, despite being challenged by bad weather and thunderstorms across Europe.

We have done everything we can to minimise the disruption, and we have rebooked or refunded the small proportion of customers whose flights have been cancelled.

Lufthansa and its budget offshoot, Eurowings, grounded departures to Cologne, Dusseldorf Frankfurt and Munich, while flights were also cancelled on Aer Lingus to Dublin, Vueling to La Coruna and SAS to Stockholm.

Passengers changing terminals at Heathrow faced problems caused by the cancellation of the shuttle between Terminal 2/3 and Terminal 4.

More than 50 flights to and from Stansted were cancelled, the vast majority of them on Ryanair  which grounded links to destinations as far away as Riga, Palermo and Lisbon.

At Gatwick, easyJet cancelled 33 flights, including round-trips to Berlin, Paris, Venice and Zurich.

Aer Lingus cancelled a flight to and from Dublin, while British Airways grounded round-trips to Amsterdam, Jersey and Glasgow.

Other passengers at Gatwick endured waits of over four hours for flights on Ryanair to Dublin, Thomas Cook Airlines to Holguin in Cuba and TUI to Antalya in Turkey.

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

Operations were severely disrupted at London City Airport due to flooding. One British Airways flight from the Isle of Man to the Docklands airport flew to the Thames Estuary, circled in a holding pattern for some time, then  with other London airports experiencing problems  returned to the Isle of Man.

A TAP Portugal service from Porto diverted to Amsterdam.

British Airways cancelled round-trips from London City to Amsterdam, Glasgow and Dusseldorf, while Lufthansa grounded flights from Frankfurt to London City and back.

At Luton, many flights were delayed by two hours or more, while easyJet cancelled 14 flights to destinations including Amsterdam, Barcelona, Geneva, Glasgow, Munich and Nice.

A spokesperson for easyJet said: Like all airlines, easyJet has faced disruption to its flying programme today as a result of thunderstorms across the UK and has been required to cancel 22 flights to and from London Gatwick and 14 flights to and from London Luton due to restrictions at both airports caused by the adverse local weather conditions.

EasyJet is doing everything possible to minimise the disruption for customers whose flights have been cancelled as a result of the weather, providing the option to transfer their flight free of charge or receive a refund, as well as providing hotel accommodation and meals for customers where required."

On Sunday, around 100 flights to and from Stansted Airport were cancelled after lightning strikes damaged the fuel supply system.

The following day, dozens of departures from Heathrow were grounded by poor weather.

Further aviation disruption is expected on Wednesday due to a strike by air traffic staff in Greece from 7am to midnight, local time.

Passengers whose flights are cancelled, diverted or severely delayed are entitled to meals and, if necessary, accommodation at the airlines expense until they can reach their destination.

On the roads, motorists in Kent faced long delays on the M2, with flooding between Junctions 4 and 5 as well as some serious accidents. Highways England warned of delays of over an hour. Shortly before 5pm, at the start of the rush hour, traffic in one bore of the Dartford Tunnel was stopped because of a broken-down vehicle.

Trains on many lines in Kent are heavily delayed or cancelled due to flooding on many lines. London St Pancras, the terminus for high-speed services, is experiencing many delays.

Rail passengers using Britains busiest station, London Waterloo, faced delays due to a track-circuit failure at Wimbledon.

The Met Office has issued a yellow alert warning of thundery rain or showers which could bring local flooding to parts of southern England and Wales through Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.

Forecasters say there is a small chance that homes and businesses could be flooded or struck by lightning, causing damage to some buildings, and where flooding does occur there is a slight chance of delays or cancellations to train and bus services.

Spray and flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and some road closures, while flooding or lightning strikes could cause power cuts in some areas.

The risk of thundery showers is expected to last through the week.
Since the 1970s, my family has been based in the Lazio countryside north of Rome. Like my peers who were born in Italy in the late 1990s, I have grown up against the political backdrop of Silvio Berlusconi, a whirlwind of bunga-bunga parties and glitzy celebrity lifestyles, culminating in his conviction for tax fraud in 2012 which resulted in Il Cavaliere (the knight) being banned from holding public office for six years.

Despite his enduring appeal to a large part of the Italian electorate, the educated middle classes, foreigners and the international press have always considered Berlusconi an object of ridicule. Some of his worst gaffes  ones which I will never forget  include his denial that Mussolini ever killed anyone, his claim that he is the Jesus Christ of politics, a victim, and his statement that we must be aware of the superiority of our [western] civilisation.

At the time, it angered and worried me greatly that Italians of my generation would grow up hearing the leader of their country make such remarks. His innumerable blunders, ranging from the inappropriate to the downright offensive, shocked the world and embarrassed Italy on the global stage.

Living in Rome, I followed the elections on 4 March and the ensuing political drama very closely. I felt a mixture of dismay, frustration and disbelief as I came to realise that, of all the Italian politicians and party leaders with any clout, Berlusconi had somehow become the most favourable.

Matteo Salvini of the Lega (League) and Luigi Di Maio of the Five Star Movement (M5S), the leaders of the two parties who have recently failed to form a government, are both curveballs with highly risky and xenophobic proposals. It now seems to me that Berlusconi is not only the safest bet, but actually the best of a bad bunch. How has it come to this?

The left crumbled long before the election, with the former prime minister Matteo Renzi, of the left-wing Democratic Party (PD), resigning after his catastrophic constitutional referendum in December 2016 and a caretaker government taking up the reins. The populist M5S polled 32 per cent in the March election, the largest share of the vote. Founded by comedian Beppe Grillo, it is now headed by 31-year-old Luigi Di Maio, continually dubbed by the press (perhaps cruelly) as an ex-waiter and building site labourer. The Lega, once known as the Northern League, is a far-right party characterised by its extremist, racist rhetoric and wild economic policies, including its proposal to introduce a parallel currency to the euro for domestic use.

Today marks 86 days without a government, a record even for Italy. Two days ago, President Mattarella exercised his constitutional powers and rejected the appointment of Eurosceptic Paolo Savona as economy minister, rightly fearful of the consequences such an appointment might have on the markets.

 Italian Elections 2018: Democratic Party concedes defeat

Di Maios subsequent calls for the impeachment of the president left me with a deep and gathering sense of unease. But then came Berlusconi to the rescue. His statement that he respected the presidents decision and claim that Di Maios calls for impeachment were typical of the irresponsible M5S was a welcome defence of the president, who had acted out of duty to protect Italians savings from financial instability.

Crucially, during this weeks political crisis, Berlusconi is standing in solidarity with the president (a moderate and respected figure on the world stage who remains staunchly loyal to the euro). Who would ever have thought that Berlusconi, once an international object of ridicule and famous for his self-interest, would behave in the best interests of Italy and the Italians? And even more surprising is his apparent emergence as the voice of reason.

It is in this muddy and unprecedented political climate that, with great incredulity, it dawned on me that all of a sudden Berlusconi is more of a force for good than ever before. Having served as prime minister of Italy three times, he has been a major player on the Italian political scene since 1994. He has extensive experience in both national and international politics and, most importantly, we know what an Italy under Berlusconi looks like.

Over a coffee in the piazza I discussed these ideas with an Italian friend, a staunch adherent to the left. He told me that he was as shocked as I am by Berlusconis transition from object of ridicule to apparent voice of reason, agreeing that this is a reflection of the absurd and desperate depths to which Italy and its political situation have sunk.

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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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. 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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. 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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 rebirth of Il Cavaliere is also due to the fact that he is seemingly invincible. Director Paolo Sorrentino described his recent film Loro, inspired by real-life events from 2006 to 2010 concerning Berlusconi and the sordid and corrupt world that mushroomed around him, as neither pro- nor anti- Berlusconi. It is instead a tender look at the weaknesses of an old man. Nonetheless, it certainly cast him in a terrible light and, inevitably, mud was flung. Yet none of the mud flung has stuck and it never does.

Theres truth in Oscar Wildes claim that the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about: despite the negative publicity, Berlusconi has continued to surf the choppy seas with that great white grin. He seems to have an innate capacity to bounce back. And, while it seems too good to be true (and it may well be), for now Berlusconi is using his comeback to defend the status quo from the populists. Maybe, while Italy rides this populist storm, Berlusconis experienced hand on the tiller is just what the country needs.

I cannot believe I am writing these words, but faced with the alternatives, Berlusconi might not so bad after all. In May, a court in Milan lifted the ban on him holding public office, a year before it was due to expire. With elections in the autumn almost inevitable, will the knight in shining armour make a comeback and save Italy from his own coalition partner, the racist, Eurosceptic Lega? Unlikely. But Berlusconi may well be Italy, and Europes best hope. Better the devil you know.
Last Saturday, in the poor immigrant area of Goutte dOr in Paris, Mamoudou Gassama, an undocumented immigrant from Mali, rescued a toddler who was about to fall from a fourth floor balcony. His superhuman feat of scaling the building to save the boy went viral, earning him the name of Spider-Man.

This act of bravery by a black Muslim immigrant has provoked a political row about immigration in France. Gassamas story dominated the headlines while French lawmakers were debating a controversial bill to speed up deportation of economic migrants and failed asylum seekers.

The president of Mali, Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, hailed Gassamas heroism. By Monday, president Emmanuel Macron had invited the 22-year-old to the Elysee Palace. Gassama wore a short-sleeved shirt and jeans, but even without formal clothes he acted with gravitas and dignity. He was promised French citizenship as well as a job with the fire service.

This token gesture of goodwill by Macron harks back to former president Francois Hollandes award of French citizenship to another Malian Muslim in 2015, Lassana Bathily, who risked his own life to rescue six people from being murdered during a terrorist attack at the kosher supermarket where he worked.

These true and uplifting tales of superheroes are much needed in a world where villains have come to dominate. But both stories begin elsewhere, with traumatic difficulties faced by men who were hardly out of adolescence when they left home in search of better lives.

On French radio, Gassama described having left Mali a long time ago, travelling through Niger, Burkina Faso, Libya. He then made a dangerous journey to Europe, on a packed, precarious boat across the Mediterranean, finally arriving in Italy. Knowing what we now know about the horrific conditions of African migrants in Libya, and the venal traffickers involved, we were touched by his terse and halting French as he described the journey.

Gassama has been working illegally in construction since he arrived in France. Whatever the far right says, the fact is that France, with its ageing population, does need immigrants to prop up its work force. Africans from Mali, Senegal and the Ivory Coast work in construction, as cleaners at train stations, rubbish collectors, taxi drivers, kitchen and hospital porters. They do the jobs that French people no longer want to do.

Many illegal workers do pay taxes, but nevertheless have to put up with the exploitation of very low pay and no job security. Most of them live in substandard housing. Even so, they still send what little they can save to support families in their countries of origin. That is what makes them superheroes  as they rescue parents and siblings who otherwise would have nothing to live on.

France and Mali, a francophone country, are joined by a long colonial history. This is the main reason there is a large Malian community in France. But the military connection is more recent. In January 2013, France launched air strikes against extremist Islamists in its former colony, in order to liberate the country from the extremists control.

When Emmanuel Macron was elected last year, everyone had hopes that he could unite France. Quite the contrary: he has taken a tough line on both economic migrants fleeing poverty as well as refugees escaping war. At the press conference immediately after his meeting with Gassama, Macron warned that he would not be handing out papers to all Malian immigrants.

World news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 World news in pictures World news in pictures 30 September 2020 Pope Francis prays with priests at the end of a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 29 September 2020 A girl's silhouette is seen from behind a fabric in a tent along a beach by Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 September 2020 A Chinese woman takes a photo of herself in front of a flower display dedicated to frontline health care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic in Beijing, China. China will celebrate national day marking the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1st Getty World news in pictures 27 September 2020 The Glass Mountain Inn burns as the Glass Fire moves through the area in St. Helena, California. The fast moving Glass fire has burned over 1,000 acres and has destroyed homes Getty World news in pictures 26 September 2020 A villager along with a child offers prayers next to a carcass of a wild elephant that officials say was electrocuted in Rani Reserve Forest on the outskirts of Guwahati, India AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 September 2020 The casket of late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is seen in Statuary Hall in the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC AFP via Getty World news in pictures 24 September 2020 An anti-government protester holds up an image of a pro-democracy commemorative plaque at a rally outside Thailand's parliament in Bangkok, as activists gathered to demand a new constitution AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 September 2020 A whale stranded on a beach in Macquarie Harbour on the rugged west coast of Tasmania, as hundreds of pilot whales have died in a mass stranding in southern Australia despite efforts to save them, with rescuers racing to free a few dozen survivors The Mercury/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 22 September 2020 State civil employee candidates wearing face masks and shields take a test in Surabaya AFP via Getty World news in pictures 21 September 2020 A man sweeps at the Taj Mahal monument on the day of its reopening after being closed for more than six months due to the coronavirus pandemic AP World news in pictures 20 September 2020 A deer looks for food in a burnt area, caused by the Bobcat fire, in Pearblossom, California EPA World news in pictures 19 September 2020 Anti-government protesters hold their mobile phones aloft as they take part in a pro-democracy rally in Bangkok. Tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters massed close to Thailand's royal palace, in a huge rally calling for PM Prayut Chan-O-Cha to step down and demanding reforms to the monarchy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 September 2020 Supporters of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr maintain social distancing as they attend Friday prayers after the coronavirus disease restrictions were eased, in Kufa mosque, near Najaf, Iraq Reuters World news in pictures 17 September 2020 A protester climbs on The Triumph of the Republic at 'the Place de la Nation' as thousands of protesters take part in a demonstration during a national day strike called by labor unions asking for better salary and against jobs cut in Paris, France EPA World news in pictures 16 September 2020 A fire raging near the Lazzaretto of Ancona in Italy. The huge blaze broke out overnight at the port of Ancona. Firefighters have brought the fire under control but they expected to keep working through the day EPA World news in pictures 15 September 2020 Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny posing for a selfie with his family at Berlin's Charite hospital. In an Instagram post he said he could now breathe independently following his suspected poisoning last month Alexei Navalny/Instagram/AFP World news in pictures 14 September 2020 Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, former Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba and former Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida celebrate after Suga was elected as new head of the ruling party at the Liberal Democratic Party's leadership election in Tokyo Reuters World news in pictures 13 September 2020 A man stands behind a burning barricade during the fifth straight day of protests against police brutality in Bogota AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 September 2020 Police officers block and detain protesters during an opposition rally to protest the official presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus. Daily protests calling for the authoritarian president's resignation are now in their second month AP World news in pictures 11 September 2020 Members of 'Omnium Cultural' celebrate the 20th 'Festa per la llibertat' ('Fiesta for the freedom') to mark the Day of Catalonia in Barcelona. Omnion Cultural fights for the independence of Catalonia EPA World news in pictures 10 September 2020 The Moria refugee camp, two days after Greece's biggest migrant camp, was destroyed by fire. Thousands of asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos are now homeless AFP via Getty World news in pictures 9 September 2020 Pope Francis takes off his face mask as he arrives by car to hold a limited public audience at the San Damaso courtyard in The Vatican AFP via Getty World news in pictures 8 September 2020 A home is engulfed in flames during the "Creek Fire" in the Tollhouse area of California AFP via Getty World news in pictures 7 September 2020 A couple take photos along a sea wall of the waves brought by Typhoon Haishen in the eastern port city of Sokcho AFP via Getty World news in pictures 6 September 2020 Novak Djokovic and a tournament official tends to a linesperson who was struck with a ball by Djokovic during his match against Pablo Carreno Busta at the US Open USA Today Sports/Reuters World news in pictures 5 September 2020 Protesters confront police at the Shrine of Remembrance in Melbourne, Australia, during an anti-lockdown rally AFP via Getty World news in pictures 4 September 2020 A woman looks on from a rooftop as rescue workers dig through the rubble of a damaged building in Beirut. A search began for possible survivors after a scanner detected a pulse one month after the mega-blast at the adjacent port AFP via Getty World news in pictures 3 September 2020 A full moon next to the Virgen del Panecillo statue in Quito, Ecuador EPA World news in pictures 2 September 2020 A Palestinian woman reacts as Israeli forces demolish her animal shed near Hebron in the Israeli-occupied West Bank Reuters World news in pictures 1 September 2020 Students protest against presidential elections results in Minsk TUT.BY/AFP via Getty World news in pictures 31 August 2020 The pack rides during the 3rd stage of the Tour de France between Nice and Sisteron AFP via Getty World news in pictures 30 August 2020 Law enforcement officers block a street during a rally of opposition supporters protesting against presidential election results in Minsk, Belarus Reuters World news in pictures 29 August 2020 A woman holding a placard reading "Stop Censorship - Yes to the Freedom of Expression" shouts in a megaphone during a protest against the mandatory wearing of face masks in Paris. Masks, which were already compulsory on public transport, in enclosed public spaces, and outdoors in Paris in certain high-congestion areas around tourist sites, were made mandatory outdoors citywide on August 28 to fight the rising coronavirus infections AFP via Getty World news in pictures 28 August 2020 Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe bows to the national flag at the start of a press conference at the prime minister official residence in Tokyo. Abe announced he will resign over health problems, in a bombshell development that kicks off a leadership contest in the world's third-largest economy AFP via Getty World news in pictures 27 August 2020 Residents take cover behind a tree trunk from rubber bullets fired by South African Police Service (SAPS) in Eldorado Park, near Johannesburg, during a protest by community members after a 16-year old boy was reported dead AFP via Getty World news in pictures 26 August 2020 People scatter rose petals on a statue of Mother Teresa marking her 110th birth anniversary in Ahmedabad AFP via Getty World news in pictures 25 August 2020 An aerial view shows beach-goers standing on salt formations in the Dead Sea near Ein Bokeq, Israel Reuters World news in pictures 24 August 2020 Health workers use a fingertip pulse oximeter and check the body temperature of a fisherwoman inside the Dharavi slum during a door-to-door Covid-19 coronavirus screening in Mumbai AFP via Getty World news in pictures 23 August 2020 People carry an idol of the Hindu god Ganesh, the deity of prosperity, to immerse it off the coast of the Arabian sea during the Ganesh Chaturthi festival in Mumbai, India Reuters World news in pictures 22 August 2020 Firefighters watch as flames from the LNU Lightning Complex fires approach a home in Napa County, California AP World news in pictures 21 August 2020 Members of the Israeli security forces arrest a Palestinian demonstrator during a rally to protest against Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank AFP via Getty World news in pictures 20 August 2020 A man pushes his bicycle through a deserted road after prohibitory orders were imposed by district officials for a week to contain the spread of the Covid-19 in Kathmandu AFP via Getty World news in pictures 19 August 2020 A car burns while parked at a residence in Vacaville, California. Dozens of fires are burning out of control throughout Northern California as fire resources are spread thin AFP via Getty World news in pictures 18 August 2020 Students use their mobile phones as flashlights at an anti-government rally at Mahidol University in Nakhon Pathom. Thailand has seen near-daily protests in recent weeks by students demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha AFP via Getty World news in pictures 17 August 2020 Members of the Kayapo tribe block the BR163 highway during a protest outside Novo Progresso in Para state, Brazil. Indigenous protesters blocked a major transamazonian highway to protest against the lack of governmental support during the COVID-19 novel coronavirus pandemic and illegal deforestation in and around their territories AFP via Getty World news in pictures 16 August 2020 Lightning forks over the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge as a storm passes over Oakland AP World news in pictures 15 August 2020 Belarus opposition supporters gather near the Pushkinskaya metro station where Alexander Taraikovsky, a 34-year-old protester died on August 10, during their protest rally in central Minsk AFP via Getty World news in pictures 14 August 2020 AlphaTauri's driver Daniil Kvyat takes part in the second practice session at the Circuit de Catalunya in Montmelo near Barcelona ahead of the Spanish F1 Grand Prix AFP via Getty World news in pictures 13 August 2020 Soldiers of the Brazilian Armed Forces during a disinfection of the Christ The Redeemer statue at the Corcovado mountain prior to the opening of the touristic attraction in Rio AFP via Getty World news in pictures 12 August 2020 Young elephant bulls tussle playfully on World Elephant Day at the Amboseli National Park in Kenya AFP via Getty

But the president of the Malian Association of Expellees said it should not take such an exceptional act to obtain citizenship, for which young Africans sometimes can wait for more than 15 years.

We must not have to wait to save a Frenchman to become naturalised as a French citizen, said Ousmane Diarra, calling for a change of European policy on migration, and of French policy in particular.

Most Africans in France who are, as we say, sans papiers must be proud of Mamoudou Gassama but they must also feel excluded from his victory. They must wonder who is there to save them, if they dont save one of us first.

Alexander Seale is a French freelance journalist based in London
News of the landslide vote to legalise abortions in Ireland this weekend was met with calls for the law to be changed in Northern Ireland too. Sinn Feins leaders held up a sign at Dublin Castle reading The North Is Next, while in London, female ministers put pressure on Theresa May to demonstrate her feminist credentials by backing reform.

This issue, and the continued lack of same sex marriage in Northern Ireland, are finally being recognised by the rest of Britain and Ireland as a serious infringement of rights. While this mainstream discussion is appreciated, we must face the reality.

In an ideal world, Westminster could legislate in the absence of the Northern Ireland Assembly, but this would undermine the Good Friday Agreement as much as the disastrous Brexit most of us are trying to avoid.

As with the rest of Britain, referendums are not required to change the law in Northern Ireland, and nor should they be. As much as there is a great sense of pride that comes with having your rights fought and voted for by your fellow citizens, a defeat by this method would be equally crushing.

 Irish abortion referendum: The moment it was announced Ireland voted 66% in favour of repealing the eighth amendment

We need Sinn Fein and the DUP back at Stormont to legislate for the people on these issues  and all the rest  and the DUP should no longer be permitted to maintain the current impasse because of their own unwillingness to accept equality. The Petition of Concern they used to block same sex marriage for years must be reformed, and its abuse must be disallowed.

The DUP knows the tide is turning. They have fenced themselves in, not just to the northeast of Ireland, but mentally  in a regressive, conservative mindset which is increasingly out of step with vast swathes of voters, particularly the younger generations who are flexing their political muscles.

Recommended May must stand up to the DUP to change Northern Ireland abortion laws

The party now finds itself in familiar hypocritical territory: threatening to self-implode if it doesn't get the same Brexit treatment as the rest of Britain, while simultaneously relishing its divergence on basic rights like same sex marriage and abortion.

At a 1992 political conference, then UUP member Arlene Foster criticised Irelands stance on abortion as downright insulting to women, calling the countrys constitution an archaic crutch to the Roman Catholic church. How times change.

This was one of the most familiar arguments unionists made for over a century  that being ruled by Dublin meant being ruled by Catholicism, that "Home Rule is Rome Rule", and once, it may have been true, but no longer.

Now, as Ireland shakes off the grip of the Catholic Church and inspires the world with its progressive, modern style of democracy, it is the DUP who use their religious dogmatism to deny rights to the Northern Irish people. Its as laughably ironic as it is maddening.

Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Show all 20 1 /20 Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Women in Dublin celebrate the result of yesterday's referendum on abortion law Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum A woman in Dublin celebrates the result of yesterday's referendum Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Activists react at the count centre as votes are tallied folowing yesterday's referendum Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Co-Director of Together For Yes Ailbhe Smyth speaking to the media at the count in Dublin PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes voters react, as the results of the votes begin to come in PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Long time campaigner Annette Forde, from Drumcondra, at the count centre in Dublin's RDS as votes are counted PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Minister for Health Simon Harris (centre) with Fine Gael's Kate O'Connell and Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy (left) speaks to the media on arrival at the count centre PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes voters celebrate at the count centre in Dublin as official results for constituencies are announced PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes campaigners celebrate at the count in Dublin PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum A woman writes a message on a mural to Savita Halappanava, a woman who died of pregnancy complications AFP/Getty Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Activists react at the count centre as votes are tallied folowing yesterday's referendum Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald reacts with a member of the Yes campaign PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes campaigners celebrate at the count in Dublin PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes campaigners react, as the results of the votes begin to come in Reuters Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Senator David Norris at the count centre in Dublin as votes are counted PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum A woman sits in front of the Dublin mural of Savita Halappanavar, a woman who died of pregnancy complications PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Repeal supporters at Dublin's RDS await the start of the count last night PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Minister for Health Simon Harris is greeted by retired Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness at the count in Dublin PA Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum Yes campaigners react, as the results of the votes begin to come in AP Ireland celebrates historic Yes vote on abortion referendum A Yes voter poses with a badge as votes are counted AFP/Getty

And while Arlene Foster claimed Fridays vote has "no impact" on Northern Ireland, the cat is out of the bag, and things are changed utterly. The island is changing without distinction to the border. Women facing crisis pregnancies in Newry will now surely drive south to Dundalk, and those in Derry can head to Letterkenny where their needs can be met. Can the DUP really turn a blind eye?

While the party enjoys a large electoral mandate for now, many people give the DUP their vote simply to keep out Sinn Fein, but many unionists do not believe in The Handmaids Tale style dystopia some of the partys uber faithful would like to see established.

Now it is clear. Marriage equality and abortion rights are the law of the land in the rest of Britain and Ireland. Polls show people in Northern Ireland are largely in favour of reform too, with 76% in favour of marriage equality, while only 29% now oppose reforming the law on abortion.

The DUP are clinging on to their hold over social issues, but their fingers are slipping. The only real border that exists in Ireland is the one they have drawn around themselves.

Northern Ireland will refuse to be turned into a backwater simply because some unionists are terrified of a united Ireland which would give equality for all. The world is now watching, and the rest of us will continue to fight until we get the rights we deserve.
Vladimir Putin will have paid very close attention to the location of the Syrian artillery battery where four Russian soldiers lost their lives at the weekend. The desert around Deir ez-Zour remains a dangerous place  politically as well as physically  in which the Americans and Russians play an extremely risky game of war.

Recommended Russian soldiers killed in surprise Isis attack in Syria

Putin still suspects the Americans helped the artillery guidance of a mortar battery which killed the commander of the Russian Far East 5th Army in Deir ez-Zour, lieutenant general Valery Asapov, less than a year ago. Was the mortar fired by pro-American Kurdish fighters? Or by Isis? The Russians say that Isis mobile attackers stormed the Syrian artillery position this weekend at night  the Islamists normal routine, streaming out of the desert wadis in suicide trucks and motorcycles  even though the little Syrian forts, hillocks of sand and cement strewn across the vast sand plateaus, are supposed to be invulnerable.

So now the Russians are directing artillery. First they were the air component to the Syrian army, their forward air observers on the ground with Syrian troops directing the Sukhois onto Assads enemies. Then the Russians were the de-miners of Palmyra and Deir ez-Zour, Homs and Aleppo. Then the Russian military police escorted the beaten jihadists to the wastelands of Idlib province or the Turkish border. The Russians liaise between the Syrians and the pro-American Kurds on the Euphrates River.

Twelve months ago, Putins top artillery technicians were searching through the rubble of eastern Aleppo to draw up painstaking maps of the fall of shot  the exact bomb crater and blast effects of air-dropped Russian munitions. I met one of their teams. Its reports were circulated, of course, to Russian military intelligence. But they first go directly to the Kremlin.

Putin reads them. He is a micro-manager. There will be no Brezhnev-style Afghanistan disasters in Syria  or so the Russians pray  no slovenly retreats across the Amu Darya by political generals, no Kremlin lethargy. Russian officers speak good Arabic (and quite good English)  products of the Moscow School of Foreign Languages  and, like the Syrian army, their officers go to the front lines.

Thats why Asapov was killed. Putin decided to pursue his Chechen and Russian jihadi enemies all the way to Syria  and kill them all. He saved his ally, Bashar al-Assad. But at the very same time  give or take a warning or two and one downed Russian jet courtesy of a later-to-repent Erdogan  he remained a trusted friend of Israel, Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and so on.

Refusing to join his insane counterpart in Washington in a sectarian war between Sunnis and Shias, Putin deploys the one phrase which unites every dictator, prime minister, mafiosi autocrat, king, president, mass-murdering tyrant, public relations hack or fawning editor: the war on terror. I reckon Putin and Trump use this circumlocution about the same number of times. Its a cracker for the masses, and it doesnt matter if its uttered by a cynic in the Kremlin or a guy in the White House who is completely bananas. But Putin, of course, is a man for all seasons.

He accepts the praise of Bashar al-Assad for saving Syria. He calls Israels racist defence minister Avigdor Lieberman brilliant. Indeed, one Russian translation of a Kremlin meeting quoted Putin as claiming that Lieberman  a former nightclub bouncer from the ex-Soviet Union  was a great Russian. Netanyahu is always welcome at the Kremlin, even when hes bombing the Iranians in Syria. Sultan Erdogan of Turkey, whose air force shot down one of Putins jets, scurried to befriend Putin when the Russians ordered their holidaymakers to dry up Turkeys seaside tourist industry. When Putin travelled to Erdogans golden palace in Istanbul, he stationed a helicopter-carrier bang in the very centre of the Bosphorous, right opposite the Topkapi.

Egypts Sisi takes Putin to the opera in Cairo. In the Kremlin, Putin welcomes King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. He welcomes the Qataris. He pays court to Irans Rouhani. He listens  glowering, to be sure  as the Supreme Leader Khamenei explains the evils of American interference in the Middle East (this only two years ago).

Mercifully, the Iranian did not mention the Russian invasion of northern Iran in the Second World War, nor its setting up of Soviets in Azerbaijan and Mahabad in Iranian Kurdistan when the war was over. No more than Sisi recalled how Sadat threw the Russians out of Egypt in 1972. No more than Putin would have mentioned to Assad how the younger Lion of Damascus flirted with the West and attended the Bastille Day parade with Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008  Trump was equally hooked by this military flummery last year  and declined to respond publicly to Russian requests in 2000 about Chechen rebels who had fled Russia.

But after the Libyan debacle, Putin was going to take no nonsense when his western partners tried to unseat Assad. There would be no more humiliating Russian retreats from the Mediterranean.

When the Russians later wanted to talk to the American-trained anti-Islamist Libyan military seigneur de guerre Khalifa Haftar, they simply airfreighted him onto a Russian carrier off shore. When the Americans complained that Russian airstrikes in Syria were only hitting the CIAs favourite (and fairly mythical) Free Syrian Army rebels, Russias foreign minister Sergey Lavrov grimly replied that if it looks like a terrorist, if it acts like a terrorist, if it walks like a terrorist its a terrorist.

Putin sheds as few tears over the Russian mercenaries who die in Syria fighting the Kurds as he did over the Kurds who died defending Afrin from the Turkish army and its Isis cohorts. That deal seems to have been simple. The Turks could have Afrin province  for the time being  if they let the Syrians and Russians clear the Islamists out of Idlib province in the future (note: watch out for this war).

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

And a bigger compromise seems to have been achieved with the Israelis. They could hit the Iranians if they wished, but no war on Syria, no Israeli (or American) no-fly zones, and  above all  no war with Iran. The Iranians dont want a war with Israel (neither side would win, as Netanyahu knows), and in Tehran, Putin is the voice of common sense. Once it was the State Department which called for restraint on all sides  usually when the Israelis were invading or bombing Lebanon or Gaza  but now its the Kremlin which calls for restraint between Israel and Iran.

So to what degree has Putins shrewd, hard, sardonic character brought all this about  and how much did Trumps instability and unpredictability hand Russia its political triumph in the Middle East? Its tempting to say a bit of both. But I suspect that an Obama might have provided a regional equilibrium which Putin has now claimed for himself. When Moscow is now the interlocuteur valable in the Middle East, its difficult to take the gift of equilibrium politics away from Putin. Europes case is hopeless.

Europe cannot engage with a Kremlin that still occupies part of Ukraine and annexes the Crimea. It showers sanctions upon Russia. But it grovels like the Americans to an Israel which occupies the West Bank and annexes Jerusalem and Golan; and the very word sanctions  or disinvestment  cannot be mentioned in Europe without accusations of anti-Semitism.

Israel can fire off its missiles into Syria after claiming that Iranian missiles had fallen on Golan  actually Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan, although that got a little lost in the telling  but Putin is not going to order an end to Golan attacks. There is a strong suspicion that it was the Syrian army which fired those missiles at the Israelis  in retaliation for the constant Israeli bombing of Syrian forces (never Isis forces, of course) over the last three years. Thus the Israelis, fearful of a reopening of the South Lebanese Front in a future war with Hezbollah, have unthinkingly opened a Golan Front  along a border which has been largely silent for 45 years. Its the kind of equation Putin can savour. Be sure, hell be there to intervene if anyone needs him.

And hes insisting that its the Syrians who move onto the Golan plateau on their own. No Iranians. No Hezbollah. The Syrians cant object if theyre back on their border with occupied Golan. And the Israelis cant object if Russia keeps the Iranians and the Hezbollah out. Deconfliction, the Russians like to call this. Everyone backs off. No war on Golan. Thats the hope.

As for what the experts like to call geopolitics, Putin immediately understood the need to uphold the Iranian nuclear accord when Trump tore it up. At one stroke, he became a closer ally of Iran, he could sympathise with Europe and he was able to present himself as steadfast in a treaty he signed with China. But he is entering a potential market war with the US  a dollar war  alongside a Europe whose governments may be prepared to stand up to Washington (some of them, at least), but whose big businessmen are already showing their usual cowardice in the face of American profit and loss.

There is something scornful about all this. Putin is not going to worry about Russian mercenary deaths in Syria; their activities are intended to test American military willpower in Syria. Nor does America weep for its Kurdish mercenaries, or protect them in Afrin.

Putin is not going to scream about human rights abuses in Gaza  the shooting down of unarmed demonstrators or the Israeli destruction of clinics or hospitals  when his own jets have been destroying clinics and hospitals in Syria. He sticks to the war on terror  and being an ally of all. The children may rattle their toys, but the tsar has the keys to the nursery. The crackpot in the White House neither knows nor cares nor, one suspects, understands. He long ago opened the door for Putin  and Putin walked straight through it.
The Italian president Sergio Mattarella has plunged Italy into an institutional crisis of grave proportions.

In rejecting the proposal by the Five Star Movement and the League to form a government which included a finance minister considered to be too eurosceptic, Mattarella openly declared that the decision was based on a fear that allowing the government to proceed would produce a shock to the markets.

Bending to the pressures of the European Central Bank and the threats of financial markets, Mattarella has given the reins of government to Carlo Cottarelli, an unelected IMF economist and member of the Italys infamous Spending Review Commission, who is known as Mister Scissors for his enthusiastic support of austerity economics.

Italy will now be governed for the next few months by a technocratic administration with the priority of balancing the accounts, as Cottarelli himself has declared. It will no doubt be a government very much along the lines of the unelected Monti administration which, in order to balance the books, raised the pension age, cut public services and brought in a series of reforms that significantly undermined workers rights. The continuation of austerity politics will be disastrous for workers in Italy already suffering from wage stagnation, labour market casualisation and high youth unemployment, along with the hollowing out of welfare provisions.

The real crux of this crisis is not only the fact that the president intervened to stop a Five Star and League coalition government, but the reasoning he gave to do so. To state so explicitly that the choice of Savona as minister was unacceptable because his monetary politics are not in line with that of the EU exposes the subordination of democracy to the demands of EU-imposed austerity. It is unacceptable to use the threat of the market instability to silence the expression of Euro-critical policy positions. If it is true that debate on the Euro and the EU was largely absent during the election campaign, taking such extreme measures supposedly on the basis of the mere appointment of one minister makes it seem that in Italy, sovereignty lies not with the voting public but with the markets and financial powers.

It is disappointing but unsurprising that the established centre left, including the Democratic Party and CGIL trade union, have given their uncritical support to Mattarella, siding implicitly with the ECB and markets intervention. This positioning will have grave consequences, as it will help to widen the gulf between the majority of disenchanted Italians suffering under years of austerity and the institutions of the historic Left.

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. 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Mattarellas actions have also granted Matteo Salvini and Five Stars Luigi di Maio the golden opportunity of being able to prove their anti-system or anti-establishment credentials. They will now be able to paint themselves as victims of the powers that be, battling for the interests of the poor and disenfranchised. As such, the presidents decision has done much to ensure that the racist and xenophobic sentiment promulgated by the League will continue to spread in Italy, distracting from all the socially regressive policies that were in fact central to the proposed government programme. Italy desperately needs change, it needs social justice, redistribution of wealth and guarantees or basic and social rights. Instead it is suffocating from the hate whipped up by malign forces like the League.

The actions of Mattarella will allow the League to hide the fact that whenever it has been in government, they have continued to deploy the same neoliberal policies as former prime ministers Mario Monti and Matteo Renzi, acting in the interests of the business class, of which Savona is a prominent member. The Five Star and League headline policy of a flat tax wont help alleviate the suffering of the working classes after seven years of punishing austerity.

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In the same way that we were ready to oppose a Five Star and League government, we also oppose the Cottarelli government and Mattarellas decision to impose it. We must break with the authoritarianism of enforced austerity by removing the EU balanced budget rules from our constitution which were introduced by Monti, Berlusconi and the Democratic Party.

Progressive forces must refute entirely this false binary between the EU and Italian political elite on the one hand and the Five Star and League on the other, or run the risk of ceding further ground to the right on issues of economic sovereignty. By taking a reflexive pro-EU position, the established institutions of the centre-left will only feed this vicious cycle. We as a political movement are committed to articulating a political alternative to both the reactionary forces of the right and the neoliberal authoritarianism of the centre, neither of which can provide a solution to the economic and political turmoil Italy finds itself in.

Viola Carofalo is the spokesperson for grassroots left-wing movement Potere al Popolo ("Power to the People")
If Americans have an urge to pop into a certain ubiquitous coffee chain later today for a caramel cocoa cluster frappuccino, a pumpkin spice latte, or just an espresso, theyre liable to be disappointed.

Every single one of the 8,000 Starbucks shops in the US is closed this afternoon. The Seattle-headquartered caffeine peddling phenomenon has not gone bankrupt. Nor has it been affected by some catastrophic nationwide sanitary crisis.

The shops are all shut because the entire 175,000-strong US workforce of the company is undergoing diversity training.

The cost of the great Starbucks shutdown in foregone profits has been estimated at around $12m (9m).

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That may sound like rather a lot of bucks to spend on staff training. But that figure needs to be put in the context of the chains $2.9bn of global profits last year. Starbucks can afford to make this expense. Arguably, it cant afford not to.

The companys US training day was prompted by a public relations disaster last month, when staff in a Philadelphia branch called the police to arrest two black customers, one of whom had merely asked to use the toilet.

Such a reaction would be outrageous in any country, but in America, with its shameful history of racial segregation (including Whites Only restrooms) and a current president who describes white supremacists as very fine people, one can easily see why its especially toxic.

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The Starbucks training day, were told, will encourage workers to talk about their implicit biases and stereotypes when encountering ethnic minority customers.

To understand the underlying economics of this story, its necessary to grasp the nature of Starbucks business.

Starbucks doesnt hold a patent on coffee. It doesnt own the majority of the worlds coffee plantations, or enjoy a global monopoly on the supply of beans.

For all those inventive recipes, it doesnt have a secret formula that cannot be emulated. Its coffee-making equipment is essentially no different from what can be found in most other coffee outlets.

Nor does Starbucks own the freehold of those tens of thousands of shops in prominent locations in cities and towns around the world.

Nor do its staff have any kind of unique training that enables them only to work in Starbucks; they could just as easily ply their trade for one of its many rivals.

How I came, had coffee, and conquered: Starbucks boss publishes secrets of success Show all 2 1 /2 How I came, had coffee, and conquered: Starbucks boss publishes secrets of success How I came, had coffee, and conquered: Starbucks boss publishes secrets of success 601997.bin AP How I came, had coffee, and conquered: Starbucks boss publishes secrets of success 601996.bin

Add up all the cash, property and sacks of coffee on Starbucks balance sheet and one comes to $14bn. Yet the companys stock market valuation is closer to $80bn. What explains the difference? The value of its brand.

If the Starbucks brand is harmed, all those revenues, all those profits, risk melting away like foam on a cappuccino. Of all the associations that the multinational Starbucks brand wants to avoid, racial bigotry must rank pretty highly.

Protecting that brand is paramount. And $12m is, in this context, a pretty small price to pay.

However, thats not the end of the financial considerations. Research suggests that top-down, mandatory, one-off diversity training exercises often fail to deliver results, with any lessons learnt rapidly fading.

Voluntary programmes, and training designed to build a genuine sense of engagement, and to directly expose workers to different social groups, seem to do much better.

The greater financial risk for Starbucks lies not in the size of the outlay, but in the danger that this training is ineffective; if it represents a cosmetic public relations exercise rather than a serious operation to educate its workers and managers in how to treat customers.

Its not enough for a company to wake up and smell the coffee when a brand is in jeopardy. It needs drinking too.
There is so much dust and debris flying around Washington these days, a lot of it deliberately kicked up by Donald Trump and his enablers, that sometimes we miss the things that are really important. I have a for-instance: the evaporation of all compassion at Americas borders.

It has been three weeks since the presidents top law enforcer, attorney general Jeff Sessions, announced a new "zero tolerance" policy for foreign nationals attempting to cross into the United States illegally. Send everyone to jail and refer them for prosecution, he cried, no exceptions.

This is already happening at the southern border with Mexico which has seen a significant recent uptick in attempted crossings by citizens fleeing lives of danger and desperation in their Central American homes like Guatemala and Honduras.

Many arrive with young children in tow. Because there is no provision for sending minors to jails, this has led to the routine separation of children from mothers and fathers. Over a two-week period this month, 638 adults were referred for prosecution under the new zero-tolerance effort, a Border Protection official told Congress last week. They bought 658 children with them.

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Do we mean all of them were taken from their parents and carted away? Yes. Hard to imagine, isnt it? America, a beacon of decency that once welcomed the huddled masses, ripping little ones, including infants, from the arms of those who loved and raised them, whod already put their lives at risk because they believed that if they made it here their futures would be better.

This, I am afraid, is what this country, under Trump, has descended to. Some parent-child separation has happened in the past, but it was never systematic. Generally, when parents were apprehended at the border, they were sent to family shelters to await either deportation or processing for asylum. Their children stayed with them. Too humane for this administration.

I keep imagining somebody taking my kids from me. My kids are two and four years old, and thats the age of some of the children that have been separated from their parents, noted Joaquin Castro, a Democrat congressman from Texas. When a lot of people hear the story, they get a similar reaction. They cant imagine why this would be a standard government practice.

What happens to the children you wonder, after they are put into the backs of vans  in government-purchased child seats if they are young enough  and driven away? They become wards of the government, which will first attempt to trace relatives already in the US. Otherwise they may be deported, deposited in shelters or with families willing to foster them. Parents who have cases that are resolved quickly may be reunited with their offspring with equal speed. But most will spend weeks and months never knowing when they will see their kids again.

In many cases they may never, Michelle Brane, executive director of migrant rights at the Womens Refugee Commission, told the Houston Chronicle. We have seen children as young as 18 months deported without their parents and more commonly, parents deported without their children. Parents arrive in Central America with no idea of how to get their children back.

Trump promised in 2016 hed repair the countrys damaged immigration system. Damaged it is, as well as cruel and dysfunctional. But what he meant, of course, was that he would choke off avenues for immigrants to get in. But its a promise hes had trouble keeping. Congress nixed his wall, though it did spend millions building prototype sections outside San Diego. I visited them and while I was there a mother clambered over the existing fence with a toddler. Lucky for her zero tolerance hadnt started.

The logic is clear. Only by vowing to jail everyone when they get here can America send its message to those considering making the risky voyage north: dont do it. If images of babes being wrenched from mothers adds to the terror of taking the risk, then so be it.

But its ice-cold. If you dont want your child separated, then dont bring them across the border illegally, Sessions said at the border. Its not our fault that somebody does that. Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said the same to the US Senate. Anyone who breaks the law will be prosecuted. If youre a parent, or youre a single person, or you happen to have a family, if you cross between the ports of entry, we will refer you for prosecution. Youve broken US law.

But it is Trump himself who takes the gold star for cynicism. Perhaps seeing that what he has wrought will place in him uncomfortable company in history books waiting to be written he attempted at the weekend to blame Democrats for it. Put pressure on the Democrats to end the horrible law that separates children from there parents once they cross the Border, he tweeted.

The brazenness of him. There is no such law, passed by Democrats or by anyone else. There is only his new policy of zero tolerance. Trump has no shame, though hopefully the country as a whole will find its own and stop this barbarism at the border before more lives are ruined.
The UK government could sell a 10pc stake in Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) as soon as this week, Sky News reported on Monday, citing banking sources.

The British government still holds a 71pc stake in the bank, which is Ulster Banks parent, after stepping in with a taxpayer bailout during the financial crisis.

About a third of the 45.5bn (52.08bn) bailout was for its Irish arm.

Sky reported that bankers expected officials to announce the disposal of a stake worth at least 3bn, but added that any share sale could be delayed by market conditions or ministers concerns about value for money for taxpayers.

At Fridays closing share price of just under 290 pence a share, barely more than half the 502 pence each the government paid for them, the UK stands to lose billions of pounds on the sale.

The British government pumped 45.5bn into RBS in the depths of the financial crisis, and efforts since then to recoup the money have been stymied by the plunge in the banks share price, regulatory probes in the United States and Brexit.

In particular, a long-running investigation by the US Department of Justice into the banks mis-selling of toxic mortgage-backed securities delayed the share sale.

But RBS agreed a smaller than expected $4.9bn settlement earlier this month, paving the way for a long-awaited return of cash to UK taxpayers.

Britain said in November it would sell 15bn of RBS shares over five years, with 3bn to be sold by the end of the 2018-2019 fiscal year. We dont comment on market speculation, a spokesman for the finance ministry said. A spokesman for RBS declined to comment on the report.

Both RBS and Lloyds were rescued during the 2007-2009 financial crisis. Britain sold its remaining stake in Lloyds last year. (Reuters)
An artists impression of the design of the glass building, which was rejected

Height concerns by Dublin City Council have put paid to plans for another office block in the heart of Dublin 4.

The council refused planning permission to October Management Ltd for a 105ft, eight-storey high office block planned for the Ballsbridge area.

The decision follows An Bord Pleanala recently upholding Dublin City Council's decision to refuse planning permission to Johnny Ronan's 288ft-high tower for George's Quay in the city centre.

In the latest decision, the City Council stated the planned 105ft for the block contravenes the height policy of the Dublin City Development Plan for that area.

The city council pointed out that the maximum height for buildings in the 'outer city' within 500 metres of public transport is 79ft.

The developer has now appealed the decision to An Bord Pleanala. The office block, if developed, will support 684 jobs.
The payment of milk supports by Glanbia Co-op to bolster Glanbia Irelands (GI) monthly milk price will be raised by shareholders at tomorrows AGM in Kilkenny.

Former ICSA beef chairman, Edmond Phelan, who is a Glanbia Co-op shareholder, said society members were unhappy with being used to prop up milk prices.

Why should Glanbia Co-op shareholders prop up the price? Glanbia Plc shareholders, mainly corporate entities, are the ultimate winners because the Plc will look more profitable by essentially getting raw materials at below the odds, Mr Phelan maintained.

Meanwhile, the head of Arrabawn Co-op has predicted a very positive outlook for milk prices.

Average milk price for 2018 could reach 34-34.5c/l, Conor Ryan told the co-ops AGM last week.

Through the spring, Glanbia Co-op has paid a top up of between 2c/l and 3c/l to members for milk supplied to GI - the joint venture which runs Glanbia's dairy operation in Ireland, and which is 60pc owned by Glanbia Co-op and 40pc by Glanbia Plc.

The 2c/l top up is estimated to have cost Glanbia Co-op close to 4m for April alone when GI processed around 200m litres.

Mr Phelan pointed out that the milk supports benefited the 4,200 Glanbia milk suppliers but that there were around 10,000 further shareholders. "This year will potentially see a special dividend of 12c for co-op shareholders arising from the sale of Glanbia Co-op shares in the Plc. This is not the full value of the sale; instead some of this money is being diverted to schemes to subsidise milk price or grain price," he said.

However, a Glanbia spokesman said the use of milk price supports had been approved by the co-op board in May 2017 and the policy was not unique to GI.

"Glanbia Ireland pays a market-based price based on a proposal that was approved overwhelmingly by society members in May 2017. In accordance with the model which was then approved, Glanbia Co-op 'ring fences' dividend monies received from Glanbia Ireland for the provision of supports back to active farmers and to reward loyalty. Again, this reflects a basic co-operative principle," the Glanbia spokesman stated.

He added that from 2012 to 2017, Glanbia Co-op had returned almost 700m in value to members. "As much as 85pc of the value that has been returned to members has been on the basis of shares owned and is 'non-patronage based'," the spokesman said.
New investment in sustainable forestry across Ireland will be supported by the latest operation under the Natural Capital Financing Facility.

The facility launched by the European Investment Bank three years ago is a 400m initiative intended to better protect Europes natural capital.

Irish commercial forests are amongst the most productive in the world and a new scheme will enable global institutional investors to support a more sustainable forestry model.

The European Investment Bank will to work with SLM Silva Fund to improve sustainable practices in Irish forests.

"The new 12.5m investment builds on the EIBs recent support for forestry and agriculture in the country and will demonstrate how best practice in Irelands world-class forestry industry can take better account of the need to safeguard biodiversity, soils and landscapes, and help resist the threats associated with climate change, said Andrew McDowell, Vice President of the European Investment Bank responsible for Ireland.

The SLM Silva Fund will work with commercial forest schemes across Ireland to encourage Continuous Cover Forestry.

This provides an alternative to the predominant clear felling model that leaves bare hillsides and focuses on a narrow range of tree species, reducing habitat value and ecosystem health.

Continuous Cover Forestry also enables productive forests which are more resilient to pests and diseases, as well as avoiding the negative impacts on soil and water resources of conventional practices.

Agriculture and forestry play a key role as custodians of natural capital and the agri-food sector is an essential and integral part of any solution to ultimately deliver natural capital imperatives for rural areas and society as a whole. This new forestry investment in Ireland, with participation of the EUs LIFE Programme and the European Investment Bank, shows how conservation considerations can be combined with commercial activity, said Phil Hogan, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development.
More than 37,000 sheep, 5,800 cattle and cattle paddocks the size of rugby pitches are just some of the features that make up one of New Zealands biggest commercial farms.

Father and son duo Alan and Richard Hore run a Hereford breeding and finishing enterprise based on their farm on their Beaumont Station and Marydale farms in New Zealand.

According to Alan,their job description is to consistently turn out top quality beef and breeding regardless of the variable and sometimes extreme weather.

That means being able to bounce back after long winters, calve and raise offspring over a short growing season and bear the brunt of adverse weather. We produce our first calf at three years old giving us time to grow out and adapt to the country environment, says Alan.

The development of the herd has been a long journey since Alan and his wife Jean moved with their family to Beaumont in 1972. Now Richard and his wife Abby are part of the operation.

Back then the farm was running 2,000 Herefords and while this may seem like a lot to Irish farmers, Alan felt that the farm was lightly stocked and was keen to bolster numbers. For Alan a key criteria for increasing herd size and breeding cow selection has been structural soundness

We dont want our herd to be big and rangy. We like them well muscled and well framed which is very important in this environment, he said.

In the past, bulls used to be bought in on the farm but Alan admits that sourcing suitable breeding pools became an increasingly difficult and time consuming exercise.

Although the bulls looked the part, several simply couldnt cope with the high altitude conditions, explains Richard.

With this in mind, the father and son established a non-recorded stud herd in 1993. The herd was based on six cows bought at a dispersal sale and was increased through AI, embryo transfer and careful replacement selection. The 160 cows are now mated to five bulls.

The breeding sire pool is topped up each year. Of the bull progeny, 15 are kept for Beaumont and the surplus are sold as dairy beef herd sires or slaughtered, explains Richard.

About 30 heifers are retained and mated as yearlings to low birth weight bulls and calve on the lower lying paddock, country around the homestead.

Alans initial focus was producing yearling store cattle for the local spring sale. However, while the local sale in Ireland might only involve loading a few cattle in to a lorry for a 15 minute drive, for Alan and his family it was a 30km two day horseback droving exercise, which Alan remembers as "taxing".

We used to walk a mob of about 900 cattle 20km down the steep and winding Beaumont access road to an overnight stop beyond Millers Flat and early the following morning walked another 10km along the flat to the sale yards.

"It was a taxing trek break for both man and beast and all the more so when prices at the sale yards didnt measure up, he says.

Alan decided to pull the plug on on-farm selling in 1987 and built rugby field sized cattle yards with an adaptable selling facility.

For six years we hosted a spring steer and surplus heifer sale and had up to 150 buyers from throughout the region, but the swings and roundabouts in store prices was frustrating, he said.

In 1993, the family bought Marydale, a 440ha gently rolling farm that they developed for the wintering and finishing of Beaumonts young cattle and labs. Fodder beet is also grown which typically yields 21 to 24 tonnes of dry matter per hectare.

Proof of the familys ability to produce top quality is beef is also evident in their winning of the 2016 Silver Ferns Farms Pasture to Plate beef supplier award.

"We have no plans to greatly change the livestock breeding, feeding and selling formula fine tuned over many years. It's a proven and successful blueprint for success-just like our Hereford," says Richard.

If it isn't broke don't fix it!
By the time you read this column, after weeks and weeks of emotional debates, dramatic posters and billboards, and heated conversations, the big vote will be over.

Although I am proudly an Irish resident, I still only have American citizenship, and as such I was unable to vote in the referendum. I was, however, recently invited to take part in a TV3 panel on the issue.

I offered my broader historic perspective of what has transpired in my home country since the US Supreme Court decided Roe v Wade. Needless to say, the discussion was impassioned on all sides.

Margaret Heffernan (the American businesswoman, not the doyenne of Dunnes Stores) is quoted as saying: "For true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument and debate."

In business interactions, as with other types, we must learn to deal with one another after a vehement time of conflict or debate.

When conflict arises in the workplace - as it invariably will - many organisations are not prepared to handle it.

Many chief executives work hard to create a culture that eliminates conflict or one which rapidly stamps out ripples of discontent.

But, rather than trying to avoid it in the first place, understanding that - as Heffernan stated - conflict can become a fuel to spur positive growth, change or evolution, can lead an organisation to embrace it, rather than discourage it.

In fact, research from the University of Nebraska suggests that allowing conflict to surface and encouraging a "devil's advocacy approach" to decision-making often produces better outcomes and reduces groupthink.

Conflicts are bound to happen. So managers who focus on promoting mindfulness and respectful communications can help teams work effectively through disagreements.

If a clash comes crashing into your company, it will take time to work through it, but, never fear, I have some suggestions to help guide your way.

1 Be self-aware: There's a difference, of course, between being a leader who can captain a period of conflict and being a rabble-rouser who just likes to stir things up. The more aware you are of the leadership style that you deploy, the more able you will be to anticipate, self-correct or seek help on when issues of conflict come on the horizon.

2 Be 'others' aware: How aware are you about the other people with you on your team? Are your directors or board members argumentative? Do they take things too personally? How can you help them to strategically think through an issue or event to get through the other side?

3 Build awareness: One of the best ways for a team or organisation to tackle conflict, is to take a workshop specifically on the very issue. Understanding how alternatively looking at the traditional concept of conflict can be very beneficial in reframing attitudes. Again, that University of Nebraska report argues that task conflict stimulates creativity and enhances team effectiveness. How's that for a different view?

4 Teach proper dialogue techniques: Did you take a debate class in secondary school or university? How long has it been since you were trained in the fundamental approaches to positively resolving conflict? Once you've attended a session on how to look at workplace conflict in a different light, it would do you and your team good if you would also refresh your memory on how to effectively move an issue of conflict along to a resolution or new learning. I've written before in a previous column how a person's engagement brain activity begins to shut down when they are disrespected during a conversation. Needless to say, it's best to avoid personal attacks when discussing a business point of contention.

5 Consider other points of view: If your corporate culture only fosters a 'my way or the highway' self-righteous view, you're missing out on growth and innovation opportunities. Don't tell an opposing person they're wrong before you let them have their say. They might pleasantly surprise you if your mind is open.

6 Write a manual: You and your team could take your leadership workshop learnings and institutionalise them in the form of manual. Write up a communications and/or conflict resolution protocol in which everyone buys in. Make sure to ask employees to help with this project as research shows that people who help create something, will usually support it. Investing the time to write a conflict-resolution protocol will raise morale and in the face of an unexpected legal challenge, could save you loads.

7 Actively seek brainstorming: I once had a manager client boast to me that he had an 'open door' policy. "What does that really mean?" I challenged. "Is your door just open and you're waiting for people to walk in - or are you going out and actually asking them stuff?"

Don't be a waiter. Be a seeker. In addition to your communications guidelines, your team can help you hold regular feedback meetings and listening sessions so you know what's really going on.

8 Reframe and repeat: Once you have firmly established that conflict can actually contribute to the long-term vitality of a company, understand that as with any important communications tool, actively approaching workplace conflict from a different perspective is one that takes diligence, vigilance and practice. Keep going and keep growing!
Agri-food exports exceeded 13bn in 2017, with half of the growth in new overseas sales coming from markets outside of Europe.

The figure represents an increase on the 2016 value of food and drink exports of 11bn.

Growth in exports to markets outside of Europe was led by a six-fold increase in exports to China between 2010 and 2016, according to the 'Prioritising Markets: Opportunities for Growth' report from Bord Bia.

In addition to the strong growth in exports to China, there was a doubling in exports to the rest of Asia and North America, and a rise of 40pc in trade to the Middle East and Africa.

The increase in exports to international markets will come as a relief to the agri-food industry, which is facing the possibility of being disproportionately impacted by a hard Brexit.

Commenting on the report, Minister for Agriculture Michael Creed said that "despite all of these successes, we must, in light of Brexit, intensify our efforts further and diversify into as many international markets as we can".

The Minister's sentiments were echoed by Bord Bia chief executive Tara McCarthy, who said that Brexit has "created a new urgency around diversification for many exporters".

If the growth trends evident between 2010 and 2016 continue, international markets [outside of Europe] will account for over 40pc of Irish food and drinks exports by 2025, Bord Bia said.

Among the factors contributing to the growth in Irish food and drink exports abroad are a growth in global population, along with increased urbanisation and affluence.

Looking at the results in more detail and over the past six years, the value of Irish dairy exports has increased by 11pc, while the value of beef exports is up by almost 50pc.

Exports of cereals and cereal preparations are up 59pc, while seafood exports are up by 50pc. Sheep meat, which has seen its exports increase by 70pc in the past six years, has witnessed the biggest growth.

Turning to beverages, in 2016 Irish beverage exports grew by 4pc to 1.4bn. The increase in exports is driven by increased demand for premium alcoholic beverages, which is in turn reflective of increases in the disposable income of consumers in many developing regions.

Irish whiskey now accounts for 2pc of the global whiskey market, a figure that is expected to grow to 2.4pc by 2019, making Irish whiskey the fastest-growing spirit in the world, according to the report.

In 2016, exports of Irish whiskey to North America alone increased by 17.4pc. However, Bord Bia has warned that protectionist measures threatened by the current US administration under President Donald Trump include levies applied to imported spirits. Such levies would have negative consequences for Irish whiskey exporters.

The report also identified and analysed 15 top growth markets for food and drink exports over the next five to 10 years. Countries including Australia, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Iran and Japan are earmarked for meat exports, while China, Japan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia are some of the countries dairy exports will be targeting.

"The report provides insights to help Irish companies identify potential leads, better understand the needs and requirements of overseas customers and understand the mechanics of doing business in the market," Minister Creed said.
Irish-listed Amryt Pharma has signed a further four distribution agreements for Lojuxta across the Middle East.

Amryt is focused on finding treatments for rare and orphan diseases, and Lojuxta is a treatment for Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolaemia ("HoFH"), a rare, life-limiting disease, which impairs the body's ability to remove bad cholesterol from the blood.

The disease process starts before birth and progresses rapidly, and typically results in extremely high bad cholesterol levels in blood, leading to aggressive and premature narrowing and blocking of blood vessels.

In the Middle East the incidence of HoFH is relatively high, the company said.

The distribution agreements have been signed with Al Hafez Trading Establishment, which operates in Kuwait, as well as Ebn Sina Medical, a medical organisation in Qatar, along with Muscat Pharmacy and Stores in Oman, and Goro Healthcare of the UAE and Bahrain.

These agreements extend Amryt's distribution network in the region.

"Driving Lojuxta's growth in new and existing territories is a core focus for Amryt in 2018," Joe Wiley, CEO of Amryt Pharma, said.

"The Middle East has a higher HoFH patient population per capita than Europe and we look forward to working closely with our new distribution partners to improve patient outcomes. We remain in discussions with other potential distribution partners as we continue to grow our network and market reach for Lojuxta."

Since November 2017 Amryt has signed nine new distribution agreements for Lojuxta.

The company holds an exclusive licence to sell Lojuxta across Europe, the Middle East, Turkey, Israel, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Balkan states.

The recent expansion of the licence agreement has increased the total number of addressable patients in Amryt's territories by approximately 25pc.

Last year the company generated revenues of 11.9m from sales of Lojuxta.
Virgin Media Ireland has acquired Waterford-based Casey Cablevision for an undisclosed sum.

Virgin Media Ireland has acquired Waterford-based Casey Cablevision for an undisclosed sum.

Established in 1979, the family-owned Casey Cablevision provides pay-TV, high speed broadband and phone services to more than 2,000 customers in and around Dungarvan.

"The Casey family were true pioneers of the cable industry in Ireland," said Paul Farrell, vice-president of commercial at Virgin Media Ireland.

"They were the first to invest in fibre-optic cabling some 40 years ago, which allowed them to offer high-speed broadband to customers in the south-east when the provision of such services was a distant dream for Irish consumers and businesses.

"It's a good footprint, too, with 6,000 homes passed and 2,000 customers."

Mr Farrell said that the acquisition was "unique" and not part of a new wave of Virgin commercial buyouts.

"There isn't any other similar deal imminent," he said.

Mr Farrell said that Virgin is meeting expectations under its parent company's 'Project Lightning' infrastructure rollout plans. This includes expanding its network to regional towns with "scale and opportunity", he said.

Such towns include Ennis, Portarlington, Wexford, Drogheda, Dundalk, Athy, Wicklow, Arklow and Tuam.

Virgin Media - which includes TV3 and the former UPC cable business - saw revenues up 11.6pc to 109m in the first three months of the year compared to the same period in 2017.

The company, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of John Malone's Liberty Global, ended its most recent financial quarter with 1,061,600 Irish cable and mobile subscriptions.
Chaos ruled the Italian markets yesterday as the nation plunged deeper into political turmoil, with knock-on effects for other highly-indebted eurozone countries - including Ireland.

Italy's borrowing costs for two-year bonds surged to the highest level in four years on Monday - a holiday in much of Europe - while stocks slumped for a fourth day as President Sergio Mattarella asked economist Carlo Cottarelli to form a government.

The former IMF official will be a caretaker leader until new elections, possibly next autumn. However, he said yesterday he'd try to push that out until early 2019.

Earlier, Matteo Salvini - leader of the League, which had been on the verge of forming a coalition with the Five Star Movement - said it made no sense for Italy to remain in the EU unless the bloc rewrote its rules. In response, markets ricocheted yesterday - from early relief that euro-sceptic economist Paolo Savona would not become Italy's finance minister, and fear that the political impasse may plunge the eurozone's third-biggest economy and largest borrower into an even bigger crisis.

Italian assets initially surged early in the day after President Mattarella vetoed the choice of Mr Savona for finance minister.

However, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement said it was considering proposing impeachment of the president, while the League's Matteo Salvini reiterated his support for Mr Savona's candidacy and made a thinly-veiled call for fresh elections.

Analysts at Societe Generale said the outcome of any fresh vote looked "more threatening than ever".

At Berenberg bank, the view is that fresh elections could become a referendum on membership of the single currency - after this year's ballot focused heavily on migration.

Rene Albrecht, a rates and derivatives analyst at DZ Bank AG in Frankfurt, said a fresh election was unlikely to break the current impasse.

"There's a high probability that Five Star and the League could get a majority again, and we would be back at this point where we get a government which wants to spend a lot more than they earn and clashes with EU rules," Mr Albrecht said.

On the markets, the yield on two-year Italian bonds - a guide to how much the country would have to pay to borrow on the market - has doubled since Friday to 0.99pc. Italy's 10-year bond yield climbed to 2.70pc. Italian 10-year bonds are a big driver of the rest of the market. Spanish and Portuguese borrowing costs moved higher in the wake of Italy yesterday. Low-risk borrowers, such as Germany, saw their yields drop thanks to a so-called flight to quality. An analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald in Dublin said Ireland's bonds, along with Belgium's, were treading water between the two camps.

Last Friday, Moody's put Italy's credit rating on review for a possible downgrade, citing risks to its fiscal strength from the government plan put forward by the populists.

President Mattarella became the target of populist rage when he said he rejected their choice for finance minister for "the good of the country" and the financial "savings of families" that had been endangered by rising bond spreads and market concerns. (Additional reporting Bloomberg and Reuters)
Rusal said output this year may be cut by as much as 70pc in a so-called "negative" or worst-case scenario if US imposed sanctions stay in place after October.

Russian business newspaper 'Kommersant' reported the figure yesterday, citing forecasts contained in the Aughinish Alumina plant owners' proposals filed to the Russian government seeking state aid.

If sanctions remain in place Rusal may cut its 2018 output by between 30pc and 70pc, a scenario that may also lead to staff cuts, and the closure of plants, the report said.

The aluminium giant, whose Aughinish plant in Limerick employs 450 staff, has asked Russia's government for benefits including cheap energy to help ride out the impact of the US move.

The White House has given Rusal clients until late October to wind down business with the company or risk falling foul of US trade rules themselves.

Meanwhile, the company itself has been lobbying hard to avert the sanctions regime, including last week announcing the resignation of its CEO and most of the board.

The Russian aluminium giant also signalled that turmoil could return to metals markets if the sanctions aren't removed by October, saying that banks will likely cut ties with the company, which would "severely impact" metal production and sales.

Some banks have already limited the processing of payments for Rusal, it said last Thursday. It also warned that the sanctions could negatively affect its ability to pay its debt.

Earlier this month, Business Minister Heather Humphreys warned that the situation for Aughinish Alumina remained "critical" during a Washington trip to meet senior White House officials including commerce secretary Wilbur Ross.

Rusal is trying to secure its survival by convincing the US Treasury to roll back its penalties under a proposal that would reduce the influcence of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska at the firm.

He holds the Rusal stake through his holding company En+. The survival plan would cut Mr Deripaska's shareholding to below 50pc in En+ and appoint a majority of independent directors.

Rusal is at the centre of the global supply chain and if it remains sanctioned, there's a risk of job losses and shortages at major manufacturing plants around the world.

The US sanctions rocked the aluminium industry in April as buyers scrambled for supplies and many firms cut ties with Rusal, which was producing about 17pc of world output outside of China. (Bloomberg)
From left, Pauline in her pram; Pauline's mother Alice (known to all as Harry); Gerald Massie-Taylor; his first wife-to-be; and his best friend

The idea bubbled up, unbidden, from the recesses of Pauline Bewick's subconscious and onto the canvas: A man holding a baby. An image of fatherhood. Simple, beautiful, quietly moving and so different from her usual motifs of motherhood, she says. She wondered if it was in some way "predictive".

"It sounds fanciful but I have had a habit of doing paintings that anticipated events, great and small," she explains from her home in the bucolic beauty of Caragh Lake in Co Kerry.

"For instance, just before the plane flew into the Hudson in New York in 2009 I painted an image of it. Many years before I painted an image of my two girls Irish dancing and they came running in and said 'we're doing Irish dancing in school!' It might sound odd, but I paint something before, and then it happens. This painting, of the father and child, which I did in the spring of last year, seemed very much like that. I normally do women with babies but fatherhood was at the forefront of my mind."

Tapping into the imagery of the subconscious has been partly what has sustained Pauline's long and successful career as one of Ireland's most prominent and iconic living artists - now in her 80s, she still paints every day. And on Thursday a major exhibition of her work entitled Painting Life Now opens at Listowel Writers' Week.

The subject of fatherhood had been very much on her mind. Earlier last year she and her daughters, Poppy and Holly, had made something of a pilgrimage to Northumberland to visit relatives of Pauline's. One of the main purposes of that trip was to put a beautiful headstone, with a Bewick Swan they had designed, on the unmarked grave of the man Pauline had thought was her father, Corbett Bewick.

Pauline had felt "sorry" that her father did not have a more beautiful gravestone. He was her father, she thought - and the evidence for this Englishman's paternity seemed more or less a settled fact.

Her mother Harry's husband Corbett had been an alcoholic, the marriage broken down, and Harry fled - moving from Northumberland to Ireland, where Pauline was mostly raised.

Corbett Bewick died at the age of 38 in a sanatorium, by which time Pauline was just three years old. She grew up in Co Kerry, thinking he had been her father. Members of the wider family had confidently assured her that she was a Bewick to her bones. The work on the headstone seemed to all of them - Poppy, Holly and Pauline - to "close the chapter" on fatherhood.

There was however just a tincture of doubt that niggled - and it emanated from what was presumed to be an apocryphal story her mother had once told.

"When I was a teenager, Harry, my mother, wrote that she was walking across a field near her house, and, towards her walked a young man", Pauline explains. "She wrote that as soon as she saw him she knew deep inside herself that something was going to happen.

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"She invited him to her house for tea and he accepted. When they got back she put her tired little girl, Hazel, my elder sister, to bed - and there and then they made love on the kitchen floor.

"The man's name was Gerald Massie-Taylor. At the time of this liaison he was 19 and my mother was 33."

The suggestion that this man might in fact have been Pauline's real father was always taken with a large grain of salt. The Bewicks came from a family of many wood engravers, and were descendants of Thomas Bewick, a famous wood engraver, who loved nature.

"I thought this must be where my artistic genes came from," explains Pauline. "And a Bewick relative had told me that this man, Gerald Massie-Taylor, had liked the dress my mother wore more than the body that was in it - implying that he had been gay!"

In her autobiography, released just a few years ago, Pauline had come to the final conclusion that Corbett, not Massie-Taylor, was her real father.

Pauline and her daughters discussed the likelihood and last year Poppy decided to investigate some online sites, settling on one called 23andme.com. The test involved Pauline spitting into a test tube and rubbing a cotton bud around in her mouth so that it picked up cells from her. Pauline undertook the test, along with her niece, whom they knew for a fact to be a Bewick.

"Nothing conclusive came up," Poppy explains. "Just that Mum was related to her niece, Hazel's daughter, which of course we knew.

"In the first months I looked into the site every now and then, but there was nothing but a long list of very, very distant relations. We gave up on it."

Every so often the list of DNA connections on this website would be updated as others, in different parts of the world, attempted to research their own geneologies. At one point a very distant relationship with the actress Meryl Streep emerged, but nothing that would solve the paternity riddle.

Poppy explains, "After about a year or so, I did look again and there was a new relative, an anonymous male relative, as closely related as a grandson. I sent a message to this relative, but nothing. Again I thought this was just a useless site and gave up.

"But on July 4, early in the morning before I got up, I idly thought I would look at Mummy's countries of origin, and there before my eyes was a photograph of a young man, who, I thought, looked a bit like us. His surname was Massie-Taylor, the surname of the young man my grandmother wrote about... I couldn't believe it. I raced down to Mum. "You aren't a Bewick after all! You are a Massie-Taylor!"

Poppy and Pauline composed a message to this relation who, they deduced from his age, must be Pauline's nephew. Initially there was no reply. Days passed with both women waiting on tenterhooks.

"Mum said we really should wait at least two weeks before we contacted him again," Poppy explains. "So I did and after two weeks I tried again. This time he got my message.

"I told him our story, saying a G Massie-Taylor was the person we were inquiring about. He checked, and asked us which G Massie-Taylor? I said that we thought it was Gerald. He would have been born around 1916."

"This is extraordinary", the man replied. "Believe it or not, Gerald is my father!"

And so it turned out that the man was Pauline's half-brother, not her nephew. Not only that but she has a total of eight new half-siblings, all living and dotted all over the world.

Gerald, it turned out, had been married three times after his kitchen floor tryst with Harry. Four half-sisters and four half -brothers, ranging from aged 75 down to 33, were the results of these unions. "And now Mum was a ninth sibling and the oldest of the Massie-Taylor siblings." Poppy explains. The revelation was all the more seismic because Pauline had hitherto had such a tiny family; her only known sibling was elder sister Hazel, who had died in her 50s. Her family had suddenly expanded hugely and initially it was somewhat overwhelming.

"It was a lot to take in but I really welcomed the news," she said. "I was thrilled at the prospect of these new people in my life. But of course it was so momentous to find out the truth after all these years, it took a while to sink in."

I wonder if Pauline felt she had been deprived of her birth father.

"Honestly, no, because I don't think there is that kind of responsibility on the parent's part; I think once you're born it is sort of up to you. I also never felt I had been deprived of anything because my mother had always made me feel so secure. According to my late sister, Hazel, Massie-Taylor used to come around to the house and bounce me on his knee."

Pauline has come to the conclusion that her mother was "very much in love with this younger man", but that she decided it was time to leave England. "She upped sticks and left for Kerry and that was it. She didn't like to look back, I think I may have inherited that from her.

"Looking to him for support would not have been her at all and it wouldn't have been me either. Why should this 19-year-old be responsible - she found him attractive, and that's all to do with her, basically."

After the initial DNA discovery, Poppy and Pauline were able to source pictures of Massie-Taylor and what struck Pauline most forcibly was how dashing and handsome Massie-Taylor had been. "He is absolutely amazing looking and if I wasn't his daughter I would have thought 'phwoar!'"

I wonder if she was surprised that her mother was seduced by this much younger man - had she been something of what Americans call a cougar?

"What's a cougar?" Pauline wonders, and when I explain its meaning - an attractive older woman with a taste in younger men - she laughs heartily and responds. "Well, yes, goodness me, I took after her then, didn't I?" Pauline quips, in reference to the relationship she had with a much younger man, a Tahitian, with whom she took up when she visited the South Seas in the 1980s.

Massie-Taylor had a singular life. He was in the British army and travelled to Bengal where his regiment all got typhoid - he was the only one to survive. He was in India when World War II broke out but instead travelled to Africa, and worked there as a game park ranger.

"He created a kind of zoo there and wrote a book called Joan's Arc, named after his second wife," Poppy explains. A relative of theirs wrote a note to Pauline, saying: "He was very attractive to women always but not a womaniser. He was a great listener, a very attractive trait to a woman in trouble. I'm so sorry that you will never get to meet your father."

While they never did meet, there were a number of strange coincidences that connected the lives of Gerald Massie-Taylor and Pauline.

"I was interviewed once by the author Jilly Cooper and, not long before, she had been in Africa and met Massie-Taylor," she explains. "Then, when I lived in London as an adult I lived quite near to him, just around the corner in fact. It was weird. We could have been standing beside him in the shops."

For Pauline, the knowledge that she suddenly had a large extended family made her excited to meet them.

"I had this tiny family, just my mother and my sister, and now I have this huge group of people. Poppy and Holly seem to understand all of the connections perfectly but I'm still learning. We want to have them all over at the same time time - to an island on Caragh Lake - but perhaps we'll have them in little batches instead. I would be the oldest sister of them all, so I can rule the roost, as it were," she says laughingly.

Pauline's creative fire burns as brightly as ever. "These ideas come up out of me and I'm not sure where they come from but I paint them and I enjoy it as much as I always did. I have three paintings on the go now, and they're all absolute beauties."

Her piece Philosopher in the Desert has recently found a new and permanent home in Belgium, at the heart of the European quarter in Brussels. It was unveiled last summer in the VIP room of the European Commission's Charlemagne building, which houses the Commission's visitor centre.

Pauline had a stroke a few years ago and says she now feels wonderful, "except when it comes to the business end of things, which is the only thing that really stresses me".

Pauline has kept the painting of the father and child - it has now assumed a special significance. And, in recognition of her new family, her signature, which adorns all her famous pieces, has changed.

"Now when I complete a painting I sign it Bewick as usual and then add a little M-T to indicate Massie-Taylor. This is to acknowledge that this is a very important part of my story. I have had the gift of another family, and it is the best gift of all."

Painting Life Now opens at Listowel Writers' Week on Thursday. On Saturday, June 2, at 5pm, Pauline Bewick will be in conversation with Niall MacMonagle at the Plaza Centre, Listowel. Tickets 12/15 from www.writersweek.ie
Michelle Keegan has ruled out ever permanently moving to the United States, after her husband Mark Wright was offered another year there as a TV presenter.

Our Girl star Keegan, who shot to fame in Coronation Street, has spent a lot of time flying between the UK and US to see Wright.

Last week she blasted the negativity surrounding their long-distance marriage as she revealed he had been offered a further year in his role as a presenter on celebrity news show Extra.

Ahead of the return of Our Girl, she said she had an agent in Los Angeles but could not see any move being permanent.

I had a few meetings while I was out there which was good, but nothing yet, no, she said.

But I do like it out there. I couldnt live out there though, I couldnt live out there full time  just because Im such a home bird, like I love going back up to Manchester and when Marks home we like to just chill around Essex, our home and I think its too far away.

But its good to go for a few weeks, I dont mind that, get a bit of sunshine.

She had told The Sun last week: Theres so much negativity behind the fact that if I work away and Marks away, it has to be a disaster. Thats the only negative I get from working away.

Im quite a positive person anyway so I dont read all the negativity.

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Keegan, who plays army medic Georgie Lane in the BBCs Our Girl, said the show would have a different dynamic after her characters love interest, Elvis, (Luke Pasqualino) died in the last series.

I think the audience are going to miss him, she said.

She (Georgie) puts her head back into work and concentrates on that and I think she buries her head in the sand a lot of the time and pretends everythings fine, Im working, Im fine but deep down shes totally heartbroken, Keegan added.

Our Girl returns on Tuesday June 5 on BBC One.
The Americans actor Matthew Rhys and 50 Shades Of Grey star Jamie Dornan are to lead the cast in a version of Eugene McCabe's Death And Nightingales for BBC Two.

The drama about love, betrayal, deception and revenge will reunite Dornan with The Fall creator Allan Cubbitt, who will adapt the three-part series and also serve as director.

They will be joined by Red Rock star Ann Skelly for the adaptation, which is set in the countryside of Fermanagh in 1885 over a tense 24-hour period, when neighbours observe each other and inform.

Skelly will play Beth Winters, who is celebrating her 25th birthday and has decided to join the charming Liam Ward (Dornan) and escape from her limited life and difficult and complex relationship with her Protestant landowner stepfather Billy (Rhys).

She said: "Playing such a strong character as Beth Winters is truly an actor's dream, and a fantastically intense challenge to be given the opportunity to play.

"And to get to work with such brilliant actors like Matthew and Jamie, and a director like Allan Cubitt, is just surreal to me. I can't wait to start!"

Dornan said: "I'm thrilled to be reunited with Allan and his brilliant scripts to play such an intriguing character like Liam Ward and to return to Northern Ireland and BBC Two."
Bishop Kevin Doran said that if a voter who was a practising Catholic voted Yes they have sinned and need confession. Photo: Joe Boland

The Bishop of Elphin has told Catholics who voted in favour of repealing the Eighth Amendment that they should go to confession.

Bishop Kevin Doran said, however, that Catholics who confessed to voting Yes in the referendum would be treated with the same compassion as "any other penitent".

"What happens in the confessional of course is absolutely between the priest and the penitent," he said.

Research from exit polls on the day of the vote showed that just 12pc of people had religious views as the most important factor when it came to casting their ballots.

Some 62pc citied the right to choose as the most important, while voters were also strongly influenced by the stories of women who were affected by the ban on abortion.

"What I'd say to a Catholic who voted Yes is this, if you voted Yes knowing and intending that abortion would be the outcome then you should consider coming to confession," the bishop said, speaking on 'Today with Sean O'Rourke' on RTE yesterday.

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"Ultimately all sin, and sin is not just related to this area, but all sin is about decisions that impact on our relationship with God." He confirmed his belief that voting Yes in the referendum to allow a woman's right to choose was a sin. "If they knew and intended abortion as the outcome, yes, I believe so."

The bishop also suggested Catholics should confess before receiving communion, though he wouldn't turn anyone away.

"I have to say quite honestly in over 40 years as a priest I have never turned anybody away from Holy Communion because the presumption is that the people who approach the altar come in good faith."

He also expressed surprise at the result of the vote and said that he was very sad about it.

However, Passionist priest Fr Brian D'Arcy said that the language used by the bishop was the "wrong language".

Fr D'Arcy told Sarah McInerney on RTE's 'Drivetime' that voters should follow their conscience and vote conscientiously, whether it was to vote Yes or No.

"I wouldn't like to attribute sin in this matter, at all. It's the wrong language for this because this isn't an issue about Church law at all," he said.

"The language of sin is not one I would use in this, at all."

Fr D'Arcy also said a priest of the Order does not have the right to tell people how to vote, "the insult to people is quite incredible". He stated that Catholic teaching wasn't up for discussion in this issue. He said the Catholic Church has a position on abortion but nobody was asking it to change its teaching.

Fr D'Arcy, who said he was against adding the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution in 1983, said going to confession is a good thing for people to do. But he said it would be a personal decision for those who voted Yes to decide whether or not they should go for confession.

Meanwhile, the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin, tweeted yesterday saying he will give thanks to those who "made such a huge effort to remind us that in pregnancy we are dealing with two lives - both in need of love, respect and protection."
Comedian and Repeal the Eighth campaigner Tara Flynn says nearly 8,000 in donations to an online campaign to fund a holiday will be refunded as she cant accept the money.

Twitter user Shauna Scott set up a GoFundMe drive to pay for a holiday for Ms Flynn because "shes worked so hard so that Irish women can stay in Ireland".

The campaign raised 7,812 before it was deactivated following criticism and is no longer receiving donations.

Ms Flynn responded to the backlash on Twitter, saying: "Someone tried to do something nice for me. Thanks for trying. But because other people need it more - and they should - I think, Im not going to be able to accept.

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"It has broken my heart that the lovely and well-intentioned GoFundMe has been attacked. I want to thank everyone who donated but I definitely cant accept it now. As its not my money and never was, I cant in reality redistribute it to one charity without donors permission."

Ms Flynn asked for people to instead give their donations to Abortion Support Network or the Alzheimers Society.

"So heres what Ive asked the organisers to do. They will refund the money. Then they are free to donate to that other crowdfund if they choose. I always try to support @AbortionSupport or @alzheimerssoc if I have spare coins. Its not money and is up to them," she wrote.

The Irish comedian has been a strong leader of the Repeal the Eighth movement since 2006 when she wrote a play on the tolling experience of travelling for an abortion. It was titled 'Not a Funny Word'.

In 2015, she shared her personal story at Electric Picnic of her travels to the Netherlands for an abortion after a crisis pregnancy.

Ms Flynn said she was "touched" by the donations and gutted for the backlash of donators' good intentions.

"If they still want to hold on to a few quid and buy me a drink when they see me, I certainly wont say no. I was really touched by all the generosity and Im gutted to see it dragged like this.

The campaigner and playwright said while the past few years have been huge she will be taking some time out to herself.

"Im not very well at the moment, its been a huge three years, to be honest. Now I have to try and take some time and rebuild my work and my life. Again, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. But Im not in a position to say any more on this. Thank you."
Solidarity TD Ruth Coppinger has slammed Taoiseach Leo Varadkar's description of the Repeal movement as a "quiet revolution".

The politician, who campaigned for years to repeal the Eighth Amendment, also accused the mainstream media of "facilitating a rewriting of history".

Mr Varadkar, who appeared on stage at Dublin Castle with Health Minister Simon Harris, said the result of the referendum was "the culmination of a quiet revolution that's been taking place in Ireland over the past 20 years".

Ms Coppinger said the victory was anything but quiet.

"For thousands of activists, it's been a noisy battle cry for over five years since the tragic death of Savita, with the establishment turning a deaf ear to demands for a referendum," she said. "The countless marches which took place were told by most of the politicians who strode the Dublin Castle stage there was no appetite for change."

She said that in the Dail the only reflection of the grassroots movement was the left parties which were now being "written out of the script", pointing out the Socialist Party first published a bill to repeal the Eighth in September 2014 and in October 2016 which was voted down but "embarrassed the Government hugely and precipitated the setting up of the Citizens' Assembly".

Meanwhile, Children's Minister Katherine Zappone said that following on from their role in the marriage equality and abortion referendums, young LGBTI people will be at the forefront of the next great social change.

Speaking at the launch of the Belong To annual report for 2017, Ms Zappone told the young audience in Dublin: "It was yourselves and others who are part of the community who led us to those victories."

She cited the 87pc of 18-24 year olds who voted Yes in the referendum last week: "My people, the LGBTI community, especially the young people, will be at the forefront of the next social change."
Couple say they were contacted by a priest who advised he may not carry out their wedding ceremony or allow it in a church if they support abortion (stock photo)

AN engaged couple have allegedly been warned that they may not be allowed to be married by a Catholic priest or in a Catholic church if they support legislating for abortion in Northern Ireland.

Following the landslide vote for the Eight Amendment to be repealed here last week, there have been calls for the liberalisation of abortion laws in Northern Ireland.

A couple claim they were contacted by Fr Damien Quigley, of the Archdiocese of Armagh, and advised he may have an issue with taking part in their big day if they advocate for abortion.

The alleged message he sent to the bridge and groom-to-be was read out on the Nolan Show on BBC Ulster today.

It read: "Just a heads up, that as the priest you've asked to celebrate your wedding for you, you and I would need to have a conversation about any promotion you may do to advocate for abortion in Ireland.

"Such promotion or advocacy would impact on the appropriateness of me celebrating your wedding or possibly the wedding taking place in a Catholic Church.

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"I'm sure we can have a good chat over a coffee sometime."

The couple have not been named.

Host Stephen Nolan said that his show contacted Fr Quigley, who confirmed that he wrote the message and said it was private and he would not be commenting any further.

Mr Nolan said that he told the priest that although it was private it wasn't private anymore and asked what was his policy.

He claimed that Fr Quigley refused to comment any further but he did issue a statement.

In a statement the priest said: "From the outset, I wish to advise you that it would not be appropriate for me to discuss details of my pastoral support to any specific individual or couple in their preparation for the sacrament of marriage," the statement read.

"However, please be advised that I have never refused to prepare any person or couple for the sacrament."

The Catholic Church released a similar statement saying: "It would not be appropriate to discuss details of a priests pastoral support to any specific individual or couple in their preparation for the Sacrament of Marriage.

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"However, please be advised that Father Quigley has never refused to prepare any person or couple for the Sacrament."

Mr Nolan said it was unclear if Fr Quigley would refuse to perform the duties in the future.

The Diocese of Armagh where Fr Quigley works issued a statement to the Nolan Show saying: "The Diocese has nothing further to add to Fr Damien's statement."
The cost of an abortion in Ireland will be in the region of 300, according to well-placed medical sources.

It is expected the abortion pills which will be used in the vast majority of terminations will come under the drugs payment scheme, which sets a limit of 134 for any approved prescribed drugs or medicines.

In addition, the process will require at least two GP appointments; each of which will likely be more expensive than the typical 10-minute slot usually allocated per patient.

According to the Government's draft heads of a Bill published prior to the referendum, women will be able to request an abortion through a GP or primary care service such as the Well Woman clinic.

After their initial contact, they'll be required to wait for a 72-hour 'consideration' period. Once this time elapses, they'll return to their doctor for a second consultation where the drug will then be dispensed.

GP Dr Mary Favier said it is likely such consultations will be more extensive, complex and lengthy, and therefore doctors will be likely to charge more. This could be in the region of 100 for the first and 80 for a second appointment.

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GPs will have to give a thorough assessment of the patient; checking for pre-existing illnesses to ensure the pill is suitable. A physical exam to accurately determine the gestation of the pregnancy will also be required.

It's likely medical card holders will be able to access the pill for free.

In the UK, the abortion pill through private services such as Marie Stopes clinic costs 380.

However, 1,500 Irish women a year purchase it illegally through the specialist sites such as Women on Web for around 70-90.

The abortion pill comes in two parts. The first medicine, mifepristone, ends the pregnancy. It works by blocking the vital hormone progesterone, without which the lining of the uterus breaks down and the pregnancy cannot continue.

The second, misoprostol, makes the womb contract and triggers the loss of pregnancy similar to a miscarriage.

It causes bleeding and cramping; and it is advised to take it as early in pregnancy as possible in order to reduce painful side-effects.

Most women take the pills on a Friday if they're off work for the weekend, in order to give time for recovery, several GPs told the Irish Independent.

The Irish Family Planning Association (IFPA) confirmed yesterday it would provide integrated care for women with unintended pregnancies as soon as the new law is enacted.

These will include abortion services, alongside counselling, contraceptive and post-abortion care services.

Health Minister Simon Harris will bring to Cabinet today a timetable which will see the legislation published within six weeks.

CEO of the IFPA Niall Behan said they would have the capacity to provide the service on their premises as long as they were given the right resources, and provided with clear guidelines.

"It's not a very complex procedure but we require guidelines and resources from Government", said Mr Behan.

He also called for a national helpline for women to be put in place where any woman in crisis can seek advice and be directed to a suitable provider.

"If we can keep the service centred on women's needs, make sure that it's affordable, accessible and acceptable to women, then what we'll have done is we'll have met the wishes of the 1.4 million people who voted on Friday," said Mr Behan.
I STILL have mortifying memories of a comprehensively failed effort to buy a packet of condoms in a certain midlands market town back in the summer of 1986.

After the third pharmacy staffs crude rebuff, I became more determined to see out this utterly hopeless chemist shop tour. Much good it did me.

The Labour Party health minister of the day, Barry Desmond, had yet to see his recent legislative writ run so far beyond the leafier confines of his Dun Laoghaire bailiwick.

Well have none of your carry-on down here, was the unrelenting God-fearing pharmacists message.

I voted Yes last Friday and that vote dovetailed with my No vote way back in September 1983 on the issue of abortion.

I voted for divorce in 1986, against a tightening of abortion laws in 2002, and in favour of the same-sex marriage referendum two years ago.

In between I was living on mainland Europe, where we know they have no God.

But I would have voted for the right to travel and information and against removing the suicide threat on abortion in 1992; and for divorce in 1995, had I been living in Ireland in those years.

I am more than happy with what happened last Friday and invigorated by the turnout  especially young voters participation. In retrospect, the difficult and uncomfortable debate was extremely good and productive.

So, whats my point here?

Well, it is that there is a certain dislikeable triumphalism among a minority on the Yes winning side.

Last week I wrote about the importance of including No voters in social policy developments and taking account of the views of people in the various religious denominations.

Muslims and Presbyterians also opposed the removal of the Eighth Amendment. But clearly, most of all we are talking about the Catholic Church here.

The Catholic bishops, and many aligned groups, unsuccessfully advocated No.

On RTEs Today With Sean ORourke yesterday, one bishop, Kevin Doran, said that if a voter who was a practising Catholic voted Yes they have sinned and need confession.

Many people, who see themselves as fully practising Catholics, sometime Catholics, or so-called cultural Catholics, will take issue. But it is an internal matter for those who adhere to that Church to discuss.

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This writers injunction of care for faith communities after the referendum has met with a reasonable question: Why?

Well, in reverse order, try these three reasons. Firstly, one-in-three people voted No. So, that still represents a pretty rock-solid and large community.

Secondly, the bishops can well state that, beyond that third, there are many people who still adhere to the Catholic Church to varying degrees. Just look at Sunday Mass car parks.

Thirdly, there is the crunch question: Are we going to replace decades of dictation from the Catholic Church by some kind of secular trendyism?

Surely, we can do far better in the future.

There have been reasonable questions about the rights of groups like the Iona Institute and others to front-up for the No campaign.

But the reality is that we are still in transition here.

If we had a long-promised Electoral Commission, as recently argued by political blogger Derek Mooney, this and other contentious questions could be resolved.

For now, media are left in a world limited in putting both sides.

Persistent readers may have residual questions about the aftermath of that sad dander around the midlands town in 1986.

Truth to tell, the chemist-shop staff were actually for my good. My would-be lover had decidedly different ideas.

These days none of those pharmacy staff would bat an eye. Alas, all too late.

And alas, also the tendency of some liberals to lurch towards illiberalism when challenged by different views.

Free speech is only any good when we are challenged.
Friday's astonishing vote, that stirring people's demand for reproductive choice, tells us two things about Ireland.

The first story it tells is the one we're more comfortable with: that Ireland has changed.

That this once rigid, godly nation is finally staggering into modernity, blinking in its light.

This is the narrative the Yes victors will weave and push now, and not without justification.

They'll regale us with tales of modern Ireland's moral arc - how this isle went from being a hell for women, and children, and gay people into a beacon of progress.

How this land of terrifying Jesuits and repressive laundries metamorphosed into a country where Panti Bliss gives a Christmas sermon on TV and almost 90pc of 18- to 24-year-olds vote to liberalise abortion law.

And they'll pat themselves on the back for having made this happen.

In this story, it is always them, the apparently daring metropolitan cliques, who are the heroes.

How Did Your Constituency Vote? Final Results Ireland

Dublin Map Key Yes 55% 50% 55% No

They see their own campaigning, and badges, and tweets, as the deliverer of Ireland from its 'dark past' into the brightness of a fairer way of life.

But then there is the other thing that was thrown into sharp relief by the tumultuous democratic events of the past few days. The second story, the one these observers will prefer not to talk about.

Because this is a story that threatens to scupper their self-congratulation.

It's a story that raises pressing questions about the remoteness of Ireland's Yes-supporting elites, about their dislocation from ordinary people.

It is the story of the political classes' surprise, shock even, at the scale of the Yes victory, and the fact Yes won in rural areas and among people in their 50s and early 60s.

The reason they cannot believe this, the reason it made them splutter on Pinot Gris on Friday night, is because they had convinced themselves Ireland is split between progressives and regressives. Between forward-looking, largely youthful, mainly Dublin-based defenders of the new decency on one side and stuck, suspicious country-folk and oldies on the other.

So there are two things about the mass uprising for Yes that require honest analysis: first, the uprising itself; and second, the open-mouthed bamboozlement in certain political quarters at the size and distribution of the uprising.

For me, a London-Irishman 100pc in favour of Repeal who has been observing the referendum from my familial home in Connemara, one of the most telling things of the campaign happened in the last few hours.

On Friday afternoon, Together for Yes sent out an emergency campaign alert. It sent the Twitterati into a spiral of panic by announcing: "Yes [is] in danger of failing".

Why? Because it looked like turnout in Dublin was slowing. In "some parts of Dublin", turnout has become "comparatively lower",Together for Yes freaked.

Columnist Una Mullally summed up the sentiment: "[Dublin's] turnout is not what it should be. Use your f**king vote. We are a city that challenges the status quo."

The message was clear: Dublin's smart-set had to stand up to The Other - to the backward-looking beliefs of those non-Dublin areas where turnout was looking OK.

Right-on Dublin people were positing themselves as saviours of Ireland from its 'dark past', an educated bulwark against the prejudices of the Other Ireland.

This point was explicitly made by Roisin Agnew in The Guardian a few days before the referendum.

"Can cities protect reproductive rights?" her piece asked.

She said it was largely down to 'urban dwellers' to shake Ireland from its 'conservative, patriarchal foundations'.

This could be a referendum that pits "the capital [against] 'the rest'," she ventured.

This didn't ring true with me. It felt like a caricature of the country.

In Clifden, the capital of Connemara, I had seen people wearing Yes badges.

I had worn my Repeal sweatshirt on the country lanes here and encountered no hostility - in fact I got warm nods.

It never felt to me like people here were biting at the bit to get into the polling booth to say No to a liberalisation that Dublin cliques were determined to see through.

And we now know it wasn't the case. At the time of writing, exit polls suggest every province had strong Yes majorities.

Even the one I'm in, even this wild land so often sneered at: it is thought 59pc of Connacht/Ulster voted Yes.

As Fiach Kelly put it, the Yes victory was not down to a "few segments of Irish society", as campaigners expected.

Rather, the referendum tapped into 'an overwhelming desire for change' that 'nobody had foreseen'.

And this is the rub: why didn't they foresee it?

Yes, it's partly because opinion polls did not point to such a big victory. But it is also because a rather demeaning view of people 'out there' has taken hold in elite circles.

Ireland is now subject to the same divides that stalk Europe and the US: between a political class cut off from ordinary people and convinced it knows best about everything, and a public wary of these elites.

In The Guardian on the day of the referendum, novelist Louise O'Neill wrote about those who were planning to vote No as people who have been "steeped in decades-worth of messaging". They have been morally warped by "intense conditioning".

In short, they're brainwashed,;robots virtually, bereft of the capacity for open thought enjoyed by Ireland's clever novelists and wearers of that bright Yes badge.

In recent weeks, that badge - and I say this as the wearer of one - risked turning from a simple statement of voting intent into a symbol of goodness.

In Dublin in particular, these badges seemed to become a signifier of moral decency, a way of distinguishing yourself from 'the rest'.

O'Neill's view of No voters as automaton-like creatures is how many observers view much of the country.

Hence their conviction - their arrogant, wrong conviction - that in this referendum, it fell to them to drag Ireland out of its 'dark past'.

Too often, the Yes campaign looked less like a vote for something - for the expansion of women's liberation, which I absolutely support - and more like a vote against Old Ireland, against a caricature of the past, against Them.

This is why we have seen the Ireland of the past being talked about in the most reductive way, as if it were a woman-hating hellscape and nothing more.

Because this referendum had a tendency to veer from the issue at hand and become a means for the new elite to express its disdain for the past and for certain people.

I have never understood this caricature of rural Ireland.

Having spent much of my childhood in Connemara, I know Ireland's rural people are actually often questioning and rebellious.

They're not the mental slaves of the Dublin elite's caricatures - they're sceptical, contrarian; they bristle at authority; they fume at being told what to do, whether it was by a hypocritical priest in the past or a Dublin do-gooder today.

It was in Connemara that I first heard people refer to Christian Brothers as bastards, and God as good but religion as bad: 'blasphemies' I had not heard even in my birthplace of London.

It doesn't surprise me that all of Ireland has just made a great ballot-box blow for increased liberty.

Because I know Ireland is changing, and I know the Dublin elites, for all their pretensions, are not the guardians of progress.

That they don't know this, that they still labour under the illusion of their own specialness, speaks to one of the most fascinating things about this historic referendum: the self-insulation of the political class from everyday people.
People attend a protest calling for the provision of abortion in the North at Belfast City Hall yesterday. Photo: Niall Carson

Donegal could end up with one of the highest abortion rates in the country despite voting against the repeal of the Eighth Amendment.

There is growing expectation that the hundreds of women from Northern Ireland who travel to England every year will now stay on the island.

Official figures from the UK Department of Health show that 724 women from the North had an abortion in 2016.

Of those 635 travelled within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, meaning they would be eligible for abortion here once the Government's legislation is introduced.

Northern Ireland has the harshest criminal penalty for abortion of any country in Europe - up to life imprisonment for both the woman having the procedure and anyone helping her.

Children's Minister Katherine Zappone, who championed the referendum, said women from across the Border should now be facilitated in the Republic.

"I hope that by the time that happens that the Executive will have formed, that it is able to move forward in relation to making decisions itself in terms of this issue.

"If that is not the case, then we're their nearest neighbour," she told the Irish Independent.

"I think we need to look at the ways in which we can offer some supports in that regard, in the same way that other countries offered that to the women of Ireland."

The situation in the North is governed by the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which was passed 60 years before women had the right to vote.

In the wake of Saturday's landslide result, pressure is mounting on UK Prime Minister Theresa May to begin the process of legalising abortion in the North.

However, Downing Street and the DUP have said responsibility for such issues lies with the Assembly in Stormont, which hasn't sat in almost 18 months.

Government sources in Dublin admitted that women who up to now have travelled overseas are likely to seek medical help in Ireland.

Many of them, especially from Derry and Tyrone, are likely to travel to nearby Donegal, which was the only constituency to oppose abortion.

Sixty-three women from Donegal travelled to the UK for an abortion in 2016.

Terminations are illegal in Northern Ireland unless a woman's life is in danger or there is a serious risk to her physical or mental health.

Thirteen pregnancies were terminated in NHS hospitals in Northern Ireland in 2016/17 - three fewer than the previous year.

It is known that 724 women travelled in 2016. Five of them were under the age of 16.

As well as the women who travelled, it is believed 1,438 purchased illegal abortion pills online from one provider in 2015.
A 'Fair City' star who punched and bit his former partner during a vicious attack has been spared a jail sentence.

Actor Patrick Fitzpatrick (33), who played Carrigstown villain Zumo Bishop for six years in the RTE television soap, appeared at Dublin District Court yesterday for sentencing. He received a 12-month probation bond for the attack.

He pleaded guilty earlier to assault causing harm to Theresa Gannon at his home at Hollytree Terrace, Ballymun, on September 4, 2015.

The charge was under Section Three of the Non Fatal Offences Against the Person Act. The offence, at district court level, can carry a sentence of up to one year.

Judge John Lindsay noted Fitzpatrick had complied with his order, made at an earlier stage, to pay 2,000 to his former partner.

He was also furnished with an updated probation report on the accused as well as a reference from an employer.

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Defence counsel Simon Donagh said his client had engaged positively with the Move organisation, which helps address domestic violence, and Fitzpatrick was also going to AA. However, the judge pointed out the probation report stated he had not been attending. Mr Donagh explained there had been a gap but Fitzpatrick was now going again, three times a week.

Judge Lindsay remarked that a good probation report on Fitzpatrick had been furnished to the court and told him: "Well done."

He said Fitzpatrick must continue attending and complete a 26-week course at Move. Fitzpatrick told the judge he was already in the third module of the course.

He replied "I am, yes" when asked to confirm he had gone back to AA. He also explained he has been attending addiction counselling.

Finalising the case, Judge Lindsay said he must continue attending these services as a condition of his probation bond.

At an earlier hearing, Gda Niall Carolan had said Fitzpatrick bit the woman's upper arm but did not break the skin. He also said the actor then punched her twice on the side of her jaw.

Photos of her injuries were shown to the court. She suffered bruising and a medical report on her was furnished to the court.

Gda Carolan also told the court the victim had made a full recovery.

In February last year, Judge Lindsay had suggested the sum of 2,000 should be paid to Ms Gannon.

Fitzpatrick played 'Fair City' gangster Zumo Bishop for six years from 2007-2013 and briefly reprised the role last year.
A number of High Court challenges have been brought against An Bord Pleanala's decision to grant permission for a development of 100 houses and 400 apartments on a site beside St Anne's Park in north Dublin.

Crekav Trading, part of developer Marlet, has proposed building 104 houses and 432 apartments on land used by St Paul's College in Raheny as six playing pitches.

Permission, subject to more than 20 conditions, for the project was granted by the board in early April.

At yesterday's vacation sitting of the High Court, three actions aimed at quashing that decision were briefly mentioned before Mr Justice Tony O'Connor.

The cases were opened in order to comply with the strict legal time limits allowed for planning authority's decisions to be judicially reviewed by the High Court. The actions have been brought by parties including a group representing residents from Clontarf and veteran environmental campaigner Mr Peter Sweetman.

As well as seeking orders quashing the board's decision, a declaration is also sought from the court that the site is designated a Special Protected Area.

The actions are against the Board, the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gealtacht and the Attorney General. Other entities including the developers of the proposed sites are notice parties to the proceedings.

Eamon Galligan SC, for the residents, said part of the action was being brought on environmental grounds.

Mr Justice O'Connor adjourned the cases, which will all be mentioned when the courts return from their break later this week.

The land subject of the proceedings was formerly owned by the Vincentian Fathers, trustees of the all-boys secondary school St Paul's College.
THE jury in the fraud conspiracy trial of former Anglo Irish Bank CEO David Drumm has been sent home for the night after an hour and a quarter of deliberations.

The three women and nine men, who retired to begin considering verdicts earlier, were told to return to resume their deliberations tomorrow afternoon.

An enlarged jury had sat throughout the 81-day trial due to its length, with two spares in case of drop-outs. However, only 12 can consider a verdict and they were selected randomly by ballot, with two sent home.

Judge Karen OConnor thanked the two departing jurors for the time and commitment they had given to the trial and said she was sorry they had to be excluded at this stage.

At 2.34pm, she asked the remaining jurors - three women and nine men - to retire to begin considering verdicts on the two charges before them - conspiracy to defraud and false accounting.

Their verdicts must be unanimous, she told them.

Mr Drumm (51) is pleading not guilty to conspiring to defraud by dishonestly creating the impression that Anglo's customer deposits were 7.2bn larger than they really were in September 2008.

He is alleged to have conspired with Anglos former Finance Director Willie McAteer and head of Capital Markets John Bowe, as well as Irish Life and Permanents then-CEO, Denis Casey, and others.

The Dublin Circuit Criminal Court case centres on a series of interbank deposits which circulated between Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent.

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.

Earlier, the judge completed her charge to the jury, giving guidance on the legal principles that apply in the case.

She summarised some of the evidence the jury had heard and told them transcripts of the many recorded phone calls they had heard would be made available to them.

There is some language that you might regard as bad language, she said. I would remind you that these were clearly very stressful and very difficult times.

People were under a lot of pressure  at the time, Judge OConnor said.

I ask you to remember that in relation to any poor language which you are of a view was evident on the phone calls.

Before the ballot was carried out, the jury forewoman said two jurors would step down if that makes it easier.

However, prosecutor Paul OHiggins said that was not provided for in the legislation.

The judge said she was sorry she could not proceed on that basis and the 12 names were called out.

Judge OConnor said she was aware the trial had been an enormous amount of inconvenience and a huge commitment on the part of the two jurors. She excused them from any further jury duty for life.

Later in the afternoon, the jury asked to hear the recording of a phone call between Mr Drumm and John Bowe on September 19, 2008. In the call, replayed in court, Mr Drumm referred to f**king Freddie f**king Fly down there, the Financial Regulator and spoke about looking for money from the Central Bank.

We need the f**king loan because we are running out of money, he said. "If they don't give it to us on Monday they have a bank collapse. If the money keeps running out the door.
A 33-year old man jailed for careless driving causing the death of another man in Roscommon has claimed before the High Court he has been wrongly convicted and sentenced twice in respect of the same incident.

The claim was made before the High Court by lawyers representing Luigi Forte.

Forte was jailed for nine months at Roscommon Circuit Court on May 3rd last, after he admitted to a charge of dangerous driving causing the death of 22-year-old Dylan Byrne.

Mr Byrne was a passenger in the car driven by Forte that was involved in a crash at Ardcarne near Boyle, Co Roscommon on August 9 2016.

Arising out of the same incident Forte was before Carrick on Shannon District Court on May 15 last where he received a five-month prison sentence for driving without insurance.

Forte's lawyers claim that the five-month sentence is unfair and should be quashed.

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At the High Court on Tuesday Forte's barrister, Keith Spencer Bl told Mr Justice Charles Meenan that the five-month sentence, which will run consecutive to the nine-month term, means his client has effectively been "sentenced twice for the same matter by two different courts."

The DPP counsel said has in this instance have "breached the principle of double jeopardy."

Counsel said the fact his client had no insurance when the crash occurred "formed a major part in Circuit Court Judge Keenan Johnson's considerations" when he sentenced Forte.

Counsel said when the matter was before the Circuit Court Judge Johnson heard that Forte, of Dublin, had been driving without insurance on the night of the crash.

The Judge also remarked that Forte had one of the worst records that he ever heard for driving without insurance.

When handing down the sentence Judge Johnson placed particular emphasis on the fact Forte had been driving without insurance and said it was the main aggravating factor in the case.

Counsel said the charge against Forte of driving with insurance that came before the District Court on May 15 should have been considered by the Circuit Court, and not have gone before the District Court.

Following counsel's submissions, Forte secured permission from the judge to bring an action against the Director of Public Prosecutions against the five-month sentence he received at the district court

In his action, Forte seeks orders including one quashing the conviction he received for driving without insurance and the five-month prison sentence he received at the District Court.

Forte also seeks a declaration that the sentence he received was not in accordance with law and breaches his right under Article 38.1 of the Irish Constitution.

Counsel, instructed by Niall O'Connor & Co Solicitors, said his client also seeks an order quashing an order made at the Circuit Court which incorrectly states his client was convicted of an offence of dangerous driving causing death.

It was accepted by the DPP that Forte admitted to, was convicted of and sentenced for the offence of careless driving causing death, counsel said.

Permission to bring the action was granted on an ex-parte basis, where only one side was present in court.

The Judge who noted that Forte is not challenging the lawfulness of his detention adjourned the case to a date in June.
Former Garda commissioner Noirin OSullivan has said her predecessor Martin Callinan never discussed a sexual assault allegation against whistleblower Maurice McCabe with her.

Ms OSullivan also told the Disclosures Tribunal she had no recollection of the allegation, made by a woman known as Ms D, being discussed prior to a Dail Public Accounts Committee meeting in January 2014.

Neither had she any recollection of reading a letter from then assistant commissioner Kieran Kenny in May 2014 which outlined details of a Tusla referral, containing an incorrect version of the sexual assault allegation.

Nor could she recall hearing about the allegation in 2013, at a time other witnesses have said it was being widely discussed in Garda headquarters.

Nobody ever spoke to me in relation to it, she said.

Ms OSullivan was answering questions during her second appearance at the tribunal.

Among other matters, tribunal chairman Mr Justice Peter Charleton is investigating allegations by former Garda press officer Supt Dave Taylor that he was directed by Mr Callinan to negatively brief journalists about Sgt McCabe.

He also alleges Ms OSullivan, who was Mr Callinans deputy, was aware of the smear campaign. She has denied this.

Sgt McCabe was the subject of a Garda investigation after Ms D made allegations in 2006 that she had been sexually assaulted by him as a child years earlier.

He was cleared the following year when the Director of Public Prosecutions found the events described would not constitute a crime.

Ms OSullivan was questioned at length by tribunal counsel Kathleen Leader BL about a number of meetings held in Garda headquarters in January 2014, ahead of an appearance by Mr Callinan at the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

Mr Callinan was due to answer questions from TDs about penalty point system abuses highlighted by Sgt McCabe.

The tribunal has heard how notes from some of those pre-PAC meetings, made by former Assistant Commissioner Jack Nolan and Garda director of communications Andrew McLindon, indicate the 2006 allegation against Sgt McCabe was discussed.

Ms OSullivan told Ms Leader that Sgt McCabes name would have come up in the context of the issues he was raising, but the discussion was not about Sgt McCabe personally.

She said she had no recollection of the Ms D issue being raised in her presence.

Pressed on this by Ms Leader, she said there were occasions when she would be late getting to meetings or would have had to step out of meetings.

Ms OSullivan said she had been aware of the Ms D allegation in 2008, as it was referenced in a report she received at the time in her capacity as assistant commissioner for human resources.

But she insisted she only became aware of it again when the OHiggins Commission began in May 2015. This was a commission which examined concerns raised by Sgt McCabe about policing matters in the Cavan/Monaghan division.

Ms Leader said two journalists, Debbie McCann and Eavan Murray, had separately called to Ms Ds home in late February 2014.

She said Alison OReilly, a journalist with the Irish Daily Mail, had alleged her colleague, Ms McCann, told her that Ms OSullivan had provided information about Ms D.

Ms OSullivan said she was aware of the allegation and denied it.

She said she knew the journalists father, a retired former senior Garda, John McCann.

But the first time she met her was at a book launch in mid-November 2014. Prior to that she had rebuffed a number of interview requests from Ms McCann.

Well-known crime journalist Paul Williams of the Irish Independent also visited Ms Ds home, and ran a number of stories in April and May 2014 about her dissatisfaction with the Garda investigation into her allegations against Sgt McCabe.

The articles did not name Sgt McCabe.

Supt Taylor has claimed that Mr Williams contacted him while at the D household on Saturday, March 8 2014. The superintendent also claims he texted Ms OSullivan that evening to let her know Mr Williams had conducted an interview and that she had called him back to discuss the matter.

The tribunal was shown phone records, which show there is no record of Mr Williams phoning Supt Taylor that day.

There was, however, a four minute phone conversation between Ms OSullivan and Supt Taylor that evening.

Ms OSullivan said she could not recollect what was discussed but said it may have been an operational matter, perhaps some incident that was happening, or some query from a Sunday newspaper.

He was not talking to me about anything to do with Mr Williams and Ms D at any stage, she said.

Ms OSullivan said she vaguely remembers seeing Mr Williams first article. She didnt know at the time it related to Sgt McCabe, but became aware later.

The tribunal was shown a list of phone and text contacts between Ms OSullivan and Mr Williams during 2013 and 2014.

These included a record of a text being sent by her to Mr Williams on April 12, 2014, the day the first Ms D article appeared.

Ms OSullivan said she could not recall what the text was about, but that she certainly hadnt texted him about the article.

She said a lot of her contact with Mr Williams had been in relation to security arrangements for the journalist.

Ms Leader asked Ms OSullivan about a letter to her office from Assistant Commissioner Kieran Kenny on May 16, 2014 about a referral made to gardai by Tusla of a sexual allegation against Sgt McCabe.

The referral erroneously referred to a much more serious allegation than the one made by Ms D.

A letter from now retired Chief Supt James Sheridan was attached saying the matters were previously investigated and resulted in the DPP directing there be no charges.

The tribunal heard that Ms OSullivans private secretary, Supt Frank Walsh, responded to the assistant commissioner, saying the content of the letter had been noted by Ms OSullivan.

However, Ms OSullivan told Ms Leader said she did not recall the letter being brought to her attention.

I dont have any recollection of seeing or reading it, she said.

Ms OSullivan said the first line of the response from Supt Walsh to Assistant Commissioner Kenny was pro-forma response.

Ms Leader said it was slightly incredible that the letter had not immediately jumped out at her, coming as it did in the aftermath of the Williams articles.

She asked Ms OSullivan if she had made a decision to park the Tusla notification.

Ms OSullivan denied this was the case.

If I had seen it I would have directed a different action, to contact the HSE and make sure the matter was clarified immediately, she said.

She acknowledged she and Assistant Commissioner Kenny met Sgt McCabe on August 7, 2014, but said the notification never came up.

Assistant Commissioner Kenny never mentioned it to me, chairman. It wasnt discussed between us at all, she said.

And I didnt discuss it with him as I wasnt aware of it.

Ms OSullivan also said Mr Callinan never discussed the Ms D allegation with her.

Ms Leader asked Ms OSullivan about broadcasts by RTE crime correspondent Paul Reynolds on May 9, 2016, based on a leak of the findings of the OHiggins Commission report, which had yet to be published.

One of the tribunals terms of reference is to investigate whether Ms OSullivan, using briefing material prepared in Garda headquarters, influenced or attempted to influence the broadcasts.

Ms OSullivan said she never discussed the matter with Mr Reynolds and had not given him a copy of the report.

She said she had never sought to influence RTE's coverage in relation to the OHiggins Commission or any other matter.

The tribunal was shown records of a number of texts between the journalist and Ms OSullivan.

It heard Mr Reynolds texts were redacted as he had claimed a form of privilege, but Ms OSullivan had been given an unredacted copy of the records.

She said the texts did not relate to matters covered by the tribunals terms of reference.

Earlier, Ms OSullivan said she was surprised by the appointment by Mr Callinan of Supt Taylor as press officer in 2012.

She said she would have had a different criteria for choosing a press officer, but it was Mr Callinans decision.

Ms OSullivan said Supt Taylors background was in liaison protection and he wouldnt have had experience of dealing with crime scenes or dealing with the public.

Within months of becoming acting commissioner, following Mr Callinans resignation in March 2014, she transferred Supt Taylor out of the press office to the Garda traffic bureau.

Asked by Mr Justice Charleton why she had moved Supt Taylor, she replied: I did not trust Supt Taylor. I did not feel comfortable in his company.
What the banking authorities knew about what was going on in Anglo Irish Bank during the financial crisis is "not relevant" to the case against former CEO David Drumm, a judge has told a jury.

Judge Karen O'Connor said the Financial Regulator could not condone criminal behaviour and the jury must consider whether Mr Drumm intended to mislead people about Anglo's strength.

She was delivering her charge to the jury as Mr Drumm's 17-week trial entered its final stage. The judge's charge gives jurors guidance on the legal principles that apply to a case before they begin deliberations on a verdict.

Mr Drumm (51) is pleading not guilty to conspiring to defraud by dishonestly creating the impression that Anglo's customer deposits were 7.2bn larger than they really were in September 2008.

The case centres on a series of inter-bank deposits which circulated between Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent.

Mr Drumm also denies false accounting by providing misleading information to the market.

There are 10 men and four women on the jury, which was enlarged to account for potential drop-outs because of the length of the trial. At the end of the judge's charge, the two "spare" jurors will be selected by ballot to be sent home and the remaining 12 will begin deliberations.

Judge O'Connor first told the jurors they alone were in charge of deciding on the facts.

She asked them to bring their experience, common sense and judgment of human affairs to bear on the evidence.

She told them to put aside any sympathy or strong views they might hold and "approach the evidence in a cold and dispassionate way".

The first principle was Mr Drumm's presumption of innocence and onus was on the prosecution to prove guilt - the defence did not have to prove anything and the jury could not draw any inference from the fact that Mr Drumm had not given evidence. It was up to the jurors to decide whether they regarded the transactions as "real" or if they were entered into dishonestly, she said.

The allegation was an intention to mislead and therefore cause a risk of loss to the economic interests of another.

"What the Central Bank or the Financial Regulator knew about what was going on in Anglo and Irish Life and Permanent is irrelevant to the issues," the judge said. "The Financial Regulator cannot condone criminal behaviour."

She referred to the suggestion that what was done was to "keep the doors open" in Anglo.

"Necessity does not provide any defence," she said, adding that if someone steals food because a child is hungry "it's still theft".

No actual loss or gain by anyone was required to prove the charge, a risk of loss was sufficient.

The judge's charge was due to continue today.
AN elderly man died after the car he was driving collided with another at a well-known junction in Dublin on Monday.

Gardai in Kilmainham are appealing for witnesses following the two car collision on Conyngham Road, Dublin 8

"The collision occurred at approximately 11.30am at the junction of Conyngham Road and Island Bridge Gate (Phoenix Park)," a garda spokesman said.

"The driver of one of the cars, an 85-year-old man, was removed by Ambulance to St James Hospital where he was later pronounced dead. The driver of the second car was also removed to hospital, his injuries are not life threatening."

The scene was examined by local Scenes of Crime members and the Coroner was notified of the death. A post-mortem examination will be carried out the results of which will determine the course of the Garda investigation.

Investigating Gardai are appealing for witnesses to contact them. Anyone with information is asked to contact Kilmainham Garda Station 01 6669700 or the 1800 666 111.
Tributes have been paid to a 20-year-old father with "everything ahead of him" after he was found dead at a house in west Belfast on Friday morning.

Fintan Lowe, from Mount Eagles, died suddenly after attending a house party in the Springfield Road area of the city.

Police have said that they are investigating the circumstances surrounding his death, adding that a post-mortem examination has taken place.

A police spokesperson added that results from a toxicology report could take weeks to be published.

The news of the death of the popular restaurant worker and former pupil of Colaiste Feirste sparked an outpouring of regret, with family members and friends posting touching tributes via social media.

Caoimhe Ellen Hughes was Fintan's older cousin and spoke of the young man's love for his young daughter Ella.

She said: "I'm lost for words, can't even begin to explain how I'm feeling! You were my little cousin and my friend with your whole life ahead of you. You were an amazing father and made me so proud how you have raised Ella! I will hold on to our memories for the rest of my life little cous!"

Caoimhe highlighted the family's thanks for messages of support, asking for donations to be made to Irish language charity TACA in lieu of flowers.

Others described him as 'the friendliest, nicest kid' and said they were 'proud of how he was handling fatherhood' while another said that he was 'one of life's good guys'.

Friend Andrew Turner told The Irish News: "Fintan was down to earth in every sense and a true gentleman. He was always there for his friends and put his daughter first no matter what."

SDLP councillor Brian Heading described the incident as a tragedy.

"I'd like to pass on my condolences to the family," he said.

"He was a young man with everything ahead of him."

The funeral will take place this morning at Christ the Redeemer Church before burial at Blaris Cemetery.
The reviews came to light after Vicky Phelan brought a High Court case and refused to sign a confidentiality agreement. Photo: Steve Humphreys

Some of the 209 women who developed cervical cancer after getting an incorrect smear test have still not received a copy of the CervicalCheck internal review confirming the mistake, the Irish Independent has learned.

Although the cancer scandal is now in its fifth week, a number of women are still waiting to meet their treating consultant to discuss the review.

The meetings will take place between the women and their doctors only this week or next.

It emerged last month that 162 of the 209 women or their families did not get their reviews after CervicalCheck released them in 2016.

Damning memos revealed that CervicalCheck, which sent the reviews to the patients' doctors at the time, advised them to use their judgment about passing them on and to just put them on file in the event the woman had died.

Nobody in the HSE tracked the reports to confirm whether the women received them.

The reviews came to light after Vicky Phelan, the Limerick mother-of-two who developed cervical cancer in 2014 after getting a wrong test result in 2011, brought a High Court case and refused to sign a confidentiality agreement.

The perception has been that all of the women or their relatives were belatedly given the reviews in recent weeks.

Two of the women remain untraced, including one person who is living in Ukraine.

The HSE issues a daily update on the CervicalCheck crisis but has declined to say how many women have received their reviews.

It set up a special incident group to administer various aspects of the scandal, including the release of the reviews, and a CervicalCheck helpline.

Health Minister Simon Harris recently told the Dail that 30 clinicians were contacted by CervicalCheck on foot of the smear test review.

At that stage, he said: "A total 205 of the 209 women, or their next of kin, where the audit showed their test could have provided a different result, have been contacted and efforts are continuing to contact the remaining women."

However, he did not say how many of these women got their reviews or were invited to a consultation with the consultant.

It is understood that in a number of cases women have met their consultant but have been informed they have to go through "official channels" via CervicalCheck to get their review.

Dr Gabriel Scally, a former NHS public-health doctor who was appointed to investigate the scandal, is due to report next month.

He is understood to have secured documentation and interviewed a number of key people in recent weeks.

The scoping investigation is to be followed by a wider inquiry.

He will also investigate the quality of the laboratory smear testing which is currently carried out, although there is no evidence that it is sub-standard.

Mr Harris got a briefing note in relation to Ms Phelan's legal case a number of days before it came before the High Court.

He said he had interpreted it as saying all the women had received their reviews at that stage but this turned out to be incorrect.
Gardai at the scene in Cherrywood, Co Dublin, where Mark Hennessy (above right) was shot dead. Jastine Valdez (inset left). Photo: Arthur Carron

GARDAI are "anxious" to speak to bus passengers who they feel may have information about the abduction and murder of Jastine Valdez.

They also said they are searching for a bag that Ms Valdez had with her on the day she was killed, which has been missing snce.

Ms Valdez (24) was murdered by Mark Hennessy after he kidnapped her from near her home in Enniskerry, Co Wicklow on May 19.

Gardai found him at the Cherrywood Business Park on May 20 and he was shot dead, Jastine's remains were discovered last Monday, May 21, following an extensive search.

A spokesman said yesterday evening: "We are particularly interested in the whereabouts of a blue shoulder bag which was purchased in the Next retail shop, the bag contains the following items:

1. A Bearska jacket

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2. Nike runners

3. A Leap card

4. An iPad mini

5. Make up

6. Purple reading glasses with a pink tint.

7. Lip balm.

"Investigating Gardai are also anxious to speak to any passengers who travelled with Jastine on the 185c bus on the evening of the 19th May 2018."

Ms Valdez' remains will be brought back to the Philippines later today, where her funeral is due to be held.

Mark Christopher Congdon, Honorary Consul for the Philippines in Ireland, said that he will travel with her devastated parents Teresita and Danilo to the Philippines tomorrow for her funeral service.

He thanked the public for their support and commended Terresita and Danilo for their "sincere compassion" towards the Hennessy family.

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Mr Congdon this afternoon released a statement that he read at a memorial held for Ms Valdez on Saturday: "There is sincere compassion - compassion for the Hennessy family left behind as innocent victims of a cruel fate.

"Tess and Dani understand this horrific pain and have shown incredible strength, understanding and sympathy for their plight while in the midst of the worst calamity imaginable.

"Their depth of strength and empathy is both formidable and understanding."

Mr Congdon continued to say that the accountancy student will live on through those who knew her.

"Filipino and Irish, hand in hand, in solidarity, compassion and grief.

"That spirit has been expressed in many forms, in words and deep regret, in silent tears, in families coming together in a single home to pray for Jastine, Tess and Dani, in attending the many prayer vigils across communities scattered across Ireland, in the 4,458 kind people who have made silent donations to the Jastine Valdez Memorial Fund, in the many amazing friends who have supported Terresita and Danilo in the last few horrendous days," he noted.

"Let me turn to the spirit of love and compassion, this spirit has shone from the Valdez home like a beacon of light in a dark tunnel of torment.

"The obvious un-abounding light of love for Jastine, unconditional, pure and absolute.

"Jastine will be greatly missed but never forgotten, always in the hearts of her mum and dad and the hearts of the Filipino and Irish nations, bound together forever in grief in Jastine's name...

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"Jastine Jeryle Valdez will always be loved and remembered as the cherished, beautiful, fun loving, hard working, devoted daughter and grand-daughter of the Philippines who has been adopted into the hearts of the people of Ireland as one of our own forever more."

The Valdez and Hennessy families said in a joint statement released through gardai on Sunday evening that they met last week to extend their respects to each other.

"In the midst of our grief, both the Valdez and Hennessy families met on Friday morning where we exchanged sympathies with each other on the tragic circumstances that resulted in the loss of our respective love ones.

"Both families request privacy at this very difficult time," said the statement.

Hennessy's father told mourners at a private funeral for his son in Harold's Cross on Saturday that his family was "broken".

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"For the past week, I have been waking every morning to see my darling sweetheart wife broken, broken," he said.

"I look at my sons and my daughters and they're broken. I look at Mark's uncles and auntie, cousins, nephews, nieces and his beautiful, beautiful daughters and they're broken and I can't fix them.

"To all the people who have come here today and to all of the people who have come through home, offering the shake of a hand, a cuddle, a peck on the cheek, words of encouragement - thank you for coming into this nightmare to help us, because you have helped us so much more.

"To every single person on this planet who has had a kind thought for us, thank you - thank you," he added.

Anyone with information should contact Bray Garda Station on 01-6665300 the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.
Jastine Valdez's heartbroken parents will today take their daughter's remains back to the Philippines for burial.

Mark Congdon, honorary consul for the Philippines in Ireland, said he will travel with Teresita and Danilo Valdez to the Philippines for the funeral service.

Ms Valdez (24) was abducted and murdered by evil killer Mark Hennessy on May 19.

The father-of-two dumped her body in an area of heavy gorse off Puck's Castle Lane in south Dublin. The following day Hennessy was shot and killed by gardai following an extensive manhunt.

A memorial service for Ms Valdez was held at the weekend. Mr Congdon told those present that Ms Valdez's parents have shown incredible compassion in the face of heartbreak.

"Tess and Dani understand this horrific pain and have shown incredible strength, understanding and sympathy for their plight while in the midst of the worst calamity imaginable.

"Their depth of strength and empathy is both formidable and understanding," he said.

Mr Congdon said that accountancy student Jastine will live on through those who knew her. "Filipino and Irish, hand in hand, in solidarity, compassion and grief," he added.

Gardai investigating the murder last night issued an appeal to the public for information - particularly about Jastine's blue shoulder bag which was purchased in 'Next'.

The bag contains an iPad mini, Bershka jacket, Nike runners, a Leap card, makeup, lip balm and purple reading glasses with a pink tint. Investigating gardai are also anxious to speak to any passengers who travelled with Jastine on the 185c bus on May 19 last.

Anyone with information should contact Bray garda station on 01-6665300, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111, or any garda station.
A MAN has been arrested in connection with the investigation into the death of Joseph Deacy last August.

The talented GAA player (21) was found with serious head injuries in the driveway of the house where he was staying in Swinford, Co Mayo on August 12 2017.

Gardai arrested a man, aged in his 20s, in Co Mayo this morning as part of their investigation into Joe's death.

He is currently detained at Claremorris Garda Station under the provisions of Section 4- Criminal Justice Act 1984.

Joe, who was from St Albans in the UK, was rushed to Mayo University Hospital after a passing cyclist raised the alarm.

He was later removed to Beaumont Hospital and he was tragically pronounced dead on the evening of August 13.

Joe's father has previously urged anyone with any information about his death to come forward.

Speaking on RTE's Crimecall earlier this year, Adrian Deacy said: "Someone knows something.

"How can they live with themselves knowing what they know and still carry on living like they do."

Anyone with any information is asked to contact Crimestoppers on 1800 25 0025.
Gardai have appealed for anyone with information to contact them at Gorey garda station. Photo: Stock Image

A motorist left a woman at the side of the road with serious injuries after an early morning hit-and-run.

Pam Livingstone (59), from Gorey, Co Wexford, was out walking her dog at 7.30am yesterday when she was hit by a vehicle.

She was struck with such force that she was thrown over a ditch. The incident happened at Millands, outside the town centre.

Ms Livingstone, who is the mother of grown children, suffered a number of serious injuries, including broken bones.

She was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin.

It is understood she was left at the scene for almost an hour before she was found.

"This was absolutely disgraceful," one friend of the woman's family said.

"She was left there untreated for all that time because the driver refused to stop. This could have been a life-threatening incident, yet the driver left the scene and did nothing about it.

"Whoever did this was should take a hard look in the mirror."

Ms Livingstone is very popular in the local community and was yesterday described as "lovely and caring".

Stephen Redmond, who owns Redmond Dry Cleaning, where Ms Livingstone works, said: "We are all very upset here. We are just in shock. Pam is absolutely great, she's been with us here for many years."

Gardai have appealed for anyone with information to contact them at Gorey garda station on 053-9430690, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111, or any Garda station.

The hit-and-run follows a spate of serious collisions on our roads over the weekend.

A woman was killed in a single-vehicle accident at Birchwood, Kilmoganny, Co Kilkenny, on Sunday. The driver, aged in her late 60s, was fatally injured when the vehicle she was driving went into a ditch.

Gardai have appealed for anyone with information about the crash to contact Thomastown garda station on 056-7754150 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111.

Separately, a pedestrian was rushed to hospital after being hit by a bus on Aston Quay, near O'Connell Bridge, in Dublin city centre. The road was closed to all cars and buses as emergency services dealt with the incident. A Garda spokesperson said the pedestrian's injuries were not fatal.

Meanwhile, a Garda investigation is ongoing into the fatal three-car pile-up in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, on Sunday.

The driver of one of the cars, a man in his late 30s, was pronounced dead at the scene on the eastbound lanes of the N4 dual carriageway. Six people in the other cars were injured.
DOZENS of people aged between 49 and 72 years old may have no idea that they were adopted.

The State has been plunged into a fresh controversy dating from the 1950s and 60s after it was revealed that an unknown number of adopted children were registered incorrectly.

Childrens Minister Katherine Zappone revealed that efforts are under to contact 126 people  but the true numbers are unknown.

The cases identified are linked to the former adoption society St Patricks Guild in Dublin.

Incorrect or false registrations occur where a child is placed with a couple or individual who was not the parent, but the birth is then registered as if the child had been born to that couple or individual.

As a result they may believe that their adoptive parents are actually their biological parents.

Ms Zappone confirmed: We have known about the practice of incorrect registrations for many years, but it has been extremely difficult to identify and prove in individual cases because of the deliberate failure of those involved to keep records. However, Tusla has found clear evidence in the case of some records previously held by St Patricks Guild.

The Minister said that following an initial examination of around 13,500 records from St Patricks Guild, Tusla were able to identify the incorrect registrations because, unusually, there was a marker specifying adopted from birth on the record.

Having cross-checked the records with those of the Adoption Authority of Ireland and the General Register Office (GRO), Tusla identified 126 incorrect registrations as follows:

79 people who have had no contact with St Patricks Guild and may be entirely unaware of the true circumstances of their birth;

14 people where a relative had contact with St Patricks Guild, but where it is not clear whether the person affected are now aware of the incorrect registration;

31 people who have had previous contact with St Patricks Guild and who may or may not be aware of the incorrect registration in their case

2 people who though later adopted legally, were the subject of an illegal registration initially.

The minister told a press conference in Dublin: This is a very serious and sensitive issue. People have the right to know of their true origins and, where we have clear evidence, I believe we have an obligation to tell the people affected. Some may know already, but for others it will be entirely new and very difficult information indeed.

Tusla has developed a plan for making contact with people and for providing the right supports for them as they absorb this information.

In a statement this evening, the body said:

"While the 126 cases have been identified, significant work remains to identify, locate and inform those affected. Tusla has been tasked by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Dr Katherine Zappone, with identifying, locating and contacting those affected, as a matter of urgency. Tusla has created a dedicated team of experienced practitioners to carry out this work.

"At this point in time, we cannot say with certainty how long this process will take. Tracing people is often slow, labour-intensive work, but we have created an experienced social work team dedicated to tracing these people in the hope that the work will be completed as quickly as possible.

"We would like to clarify that based on information currently available the only people who may be affected by this annoucement are those born between 1946 and 1969, who were placed through St Patrick's Guild and who do not have an adoption order.

"It is likely that this work will impact on our general information and tracing services and on the waiting time for people who have applied for a tracing service. We apologise for this inconvenience and to minimise this impact we have begun recruitment to fill the posts made vacant by the creation of the dedicated team.

"This is an extremely sensitive issue and one which we acknowledge may cause upset and anxiety for those affected, as well as adopted people, adoptive parents and birth parents across the country. Tusla will ensure that those affected will be treated with dignity, respect, sensitivity and a true sense of compassion. Tusla will also make sure that the people who are subject to the incorrect registrations are given the autonomy and self-determination to make the decision they wish to about their life. A helpline has been set up for anyone who has concerns about their adoption. The freecall helpline number is 1800 805 665 and is open from 10am to 4pm Monday to Friday."

An Garadi Siochana were alerted to the illegal practice last February and are investigating.

This process will be overseen and quality-assured by an Independent Reviewer, Ms Marion Reynolds, who is a former Deputy Director of Social Services in Northern Ireland.

Ms Zappone said: We want to know if a major trawl of the many thousands of adoption records is likely to identify hard evidence of incorrect registrations. This might be possible, for example, if other adoption societies used a label or marker such as that used by St Patricks Guild.
Laws giving terminally ill people the right to access assisted suicide are to come back on the Dail agenda in the wake of the referendum result.

Euthanasia is set to be the next big moral question facing the country, according to a junior minister.

John Halligan is just "weeks" away from producing fresh legislation that will open up the options for "achieving a dignified and peaceful end of life".

The Independent Alliance minister brought a Dying With Dignity Bill before the Oireachtas in 2015, but it fell with the calling of a general election two months later.

However, the Irish Independent has established that he is working on a renewed version of the Bill, which will be published shortly.

"I'll have everything ready in a matter of weeks," Mr Halligan confirmed.

As a minister he is banned from introducing legislation that hasn't been approved by the Cabinet - but Mr Halligan is lining up a Government backbencher to bring the Bill to the Dail floor on his behalf.

The Waterford TD is meeting with legal professionals next week to tease out the issues.

It is understood the proposed laws would require a person to be terminally ill, have a "clear and settled intention to end his or her own life" and be over 18.

Read more: Harris to consult officials today in bid to have abortion legal by October

Safeguards would require a person to make a declaration in the presence of a witness who is not a beneficiary of the ill person's estate.

It would have to be countersigned by the medical practitioner from whom the person has requested assistance to end their life.

A 14-day 'pause period' would be legally enforced between the time a person signs the declaration and doctors actually prescribing the necessary medicines.

If the attending medical practitioner and an independent medical practitioner agree that a person's death is reasonably expected to occur within one month of the day on which a declaration takes effect, the period is reduced to six days.

Asked whether he believes euthanasia will gain public support, Mr Halligan said the abortion referendum shows people are showing "courage and compassion". He noted that opinion polls have suggested people are in favour of the idea.

"My problem will be getting support in the Dail.

"Look at the way Fianna Fail behaved with some of them trying to stop the referendum," he said.

The minister said he believes recent referendums have resulted in a lot of young people beginning "to engage with the Irish political system".

"I think it's great for Irish politics, it's now making people who wouldn't before engage take a position. We're in for big changes in Ireland."

Mr Halligan suggested that if necessary he would support the idea of a Citizens' Assembly looking into assisted suicide as happened ahead of the Eighth Amendment referendum.

People Before Profit TD Gino Kenny also told the Irish Independent the issue is "contentious" enough to justify a Citizens' Assembly.

"When all the dust settles on this issue [abortion], I think the vast majority would see the logic in some way in some sort of legislation change for people, particularly with a terminal illness.

"There is compassion. This happens in Ireland. Some people go to Switzerland and some have taken medicine they bought on the internet," he said.

Well-known right-to-die campaigner Tom Curran has previously claimed that around 10 Irish people a year travel overseas to avail of assisted suicide.

Mr Kenny said he knows there would be substantial concern about introducing a right-to-die system here, but said: "Dignity in death is more about living than dying.

"People should not have to suffer. It's not about lining people up to die because they are a burden on society, it's the opposite.

"The majority of people would not seek to die this way but for some people they shouldn't have to go through excoriating pain. It should be an option."
18/07/16 People out enjoying the good weather at Forty foot, Sandycove ,Dublin this afternoon..Pic Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

Sun seekers taking to the water during the heat wave are being warned to be extra vigilant after a local coast guard team had to rescue a swimmer who hit a rock in south Dublin yesterday.

Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard responded after a swimmer was pulled from the water after hitting a rock at the Forty Foot in Sandycove.

The swimmer was pulled from the water and first aid was given by a local GP and member of Greystones Coast Guard who was swimming in the area at the time.

Following further treatment from Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard and NAS Paramedics, they were then carried to an ambulance for further care.

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Dun Laoghaire Coast Guard addressed the incident on their Facebook page: Thank you to all involved tonight and to our colleague in Greystones Coast Guard for your assistance.

We must also acknowledge the 40ft Swimming Association/Club for being so well equipped with having an AED available nearby and qualified members ready to assist in the event of an incident.

The Forty Foot is a beautiful spot but also dangerous swimming area. There are many hiding rocks not visible to the naked eye. Please heed the warning signs, they are there for a reason!

Increased water activity is expected this week due to climbing temperatures.

Today is set to be the hottest day of the year with some areas hitting 26 degrees.
Lightning is seen from a bedroom window as it strikes above a street in south London, Britain May 26, 2018. REUTERS/Dylan Martinez

Ryanair and Aer Lingus have cancelled a number of flights from London airports this evening due to "adverse weather conditions".

The UK Met Office has a yellow warning in place for the London area until 06.00 on Wednesday morning, with thunder expected tonight.

"Due to the Air Traffic Control restrictions caused by severe storms across the South East, flight delays and cancellations are to be expected," was the update from London Stansted Airport at 15.30 today.

Ryanair told Independent.ie Travel: "Due to adverse weather conditions around Stansted some flights are currently experiencing delays and we regret we have been forced to cancel a small number of flights."

Cancellations include FR293, FR288, FR297 and FR298 between Stansted and Dublin, and further delays "are likely", the airline says.

Meanwhile, Aer Lingus has cancelled flights EI178 and EI179 between London Heathrow and Dublin this evening. EI236 and EI237 to/from London Gatwick have also now been listed as cancelled.

The disruption is due to "reduced air traffic flows into London resulting from thunderstorms in the London Gatwick and London Heathrow areas," the airline told Independent.ie Travel in a statement.

"Guests will be accommodated on the next available services today," it says.

Both airlines have apologised for the inconvenience, and airports are recommending passengers check their flight status before travel.

UK airports have been experiencing disruption since the weekend as thunderstorms cause flights to be delayed, diverted and cancelled.

Airline passengers whose flights are cancelled are entitled to a full refund, rebooking onto the next available flight, or rebooking onto an alternative route.

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NB: This story is being updated to reflect developments.
The swift rollout of planned abortion legislation is at risk of being hindered by shortfalls in the wider health service, it emerged yesterday.

There are basic deficiencies such as a lack of GPs and surgeries which are already overwhelmed with patients and no longer able to provide a same-day service.

Many family doctors, who would be willing to provide medical abortions, may have to opt out as a result.

Dr Maitiu O'Tuathail, president of the National Association of General Practitioners, warned about the dangers of fast-tracking an abortion service when basic supports are not in place.

He pointed out that GPs will need access to ultrasound to date a pregnancy if the legislation makes it permissible to provide a medical abortion within the first 12 weeks of gestation. "At the moment my patients can wait 24 weeks for ultrasound," he said.

GPs will also need access to psychotherapy to offer to the woman having the termination.

It can take six to nine months for a patient to get an appointment with a psychotherapist in the public health system.

The proposed new legislation "cannot get done on the cheap", he added.

An average consultation with a GP now takes around 10 to 15 minutes.

But this will be inadequate for a woman who is to have a termination.

The GPs will be obliged to counsel the woman and explain the procedure which involves taking two tablets to induce a miscarriage.

This can lead to complications in a very small number of cases and the woman will need to be able to get specialist attention.

The concerns were echoed yesterday by the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) which stressed the need for adequate resources.

In a statement released by the IMO, doctors urged the Government to engage with them throughout the process in order for both supporters and opposers to the new legislation to be content with the final outcome.

"The organisation expects that given the deeply held views which exist on this issue, any legislative proposals will create a regime which facilitates access to abortion services by women while also catering for medical professionals who have deeply held conscientious objections on this matter," it said.

No fee has been agreed yet for the GP who will be obliged to provide the termination free under the medical card scheme and this will inevitably involve tough negotiations.

At hospital level there are concerns about the pressure that abortions will place on gynaecological waiting lists.

There are currently 4,383 women waiting for inpatient or day case gynaecological surgery, hundreds of whom are facing delays of more than a year.

The plan is to offer a termination to women seeking the procedure after receiving a diagnosis that their unborn baby had a fatal foetal abnormality.

But there is a lack of access to the 20-22 week anomaly scan in several maternity hospitals across the country. Around 20,000 women go through their pregnancy without getting the benefit of this diagnosis.

It will be next year before these scans are provided in the affected hospitals and it depends on securing enough funding and attracting staff.
A model presents a creation by French designer Nicolas Ghesquiere as part of his 2019 Cruise collection show for French fashion house Louis Vuitton at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France May 28, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

A model presents a creation by French designer Nicolas Ghesquiere as part of his 2019 Cruise collection show for French fashion house Louis Vuitton at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France May 28, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

A model presents a creation by French designer Nicolas Ghesquiere as part of his 2019 Cruise collection show for French fashion house Louis Vuitton at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France May 28, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

A model presents a creation by French designer Nicolas Ghesquiere as part of his 2019 Cruise collection show for French fashion house Louis Vuitton at the Fondation Maeght in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France May 28, 2018. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard

Sienna Miller attends Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Sienna Miller attends Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Emma Stone attends Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Actress Emma Stone poses for photographers during the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2019 collection fashion show at Maeght foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southeastern France, on May 28, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / VALERY HACHEVALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images

Actress Lea Seydoux (L) and actress Emma Stone attend the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2019 collection fashion show at Maeght foundation in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, southeastern France, on May 28, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / VALERY HACHEVALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images

Justin Theroux attends Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Emma Stone attends Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Ruth Negga is seen in the Upper East Side on May 8, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by TheStewartofNY/GC Images)

(L-R) Doona Bae, Sienna Miller, Ruth Negga and Edward Enninful attend Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

(L-R) Camelia Jordana, Doona Bae, Laura Harrier, Sophie Turner, Sienna Miller and Ruth Negga attend Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Sienna Miller and Ruth Negga attend Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Ruth Negga was pretty as a picture in a colourful combination at Louis Vuitton's cruise collection show in the south of France.

Negga (36), from Co Limerick, was one of a handful of celebrities who fit the brand's ethos (she is a spokesmodel after all), and was flown to Saint-Paul-De-Vence for a front row seat at the show. Since her impressive tour de couture during last year's awards season, she exclusively wears pieces by the French fashion house on the red carpet, including the Met Gala earlier this month.

Expand Close (L-R) Doona Bae, Sienna Miller, Ruth Negga and Edward Enninful attend Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton) / Facebook

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Whatsapp (L-R) Doona Bae, Sienna Miller, Ruth Negga and Edward Enninful attend Louis Vuitton 2019 Cruise Collection at Fondation Maeght on May 28, 2018 in Saint-Paul-De-Vence, France. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton)

Seated alongside Sienna Miller and British Vogue editor Edward Enniful, her pleated yellow skirt was still a standout fashion moment at the exclusive show, hosted by creative director Nicolas Ghesquiere.

The brand took over the Fondation Maeght for last night's show, the finale after a three-day spectacular hosted by Louis Vuitton, including dinner in Cannes on Saturday night, fine dining and guided walks and a dinner with a panoramic view of Cannes on Sunday night, according to Vogue.

Ruth, who is famously low-key, has been keeping an even more reticent profile in recent months, since her split with boyfriend of seven years and Preacher co-star Dominic Cooper came to an end. She will, however, be taking on her first role since her Oscar-nominated turn in Loving in 2017, when she takes to the stage as a "Hamlet of our times" in the Irish production of Hamlet in The Gate Theatre, Dublin, from this September.

In 2010, she played an acclaimed Ophelia to Rory Kinnears Hamlet at the Royal National Theatre in London. This is the first time she will take on the titular role.

Also spotted at the show was Oscar winning actresses Emma Stone and Jennifer Connolly and The Leftovers star Justin Theroux.
Aoibhin and Ailbhe Garrihy at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett

Actress Aoibhin Garrihy's is a maternity style maestro.

The former Fair City star is expecting her first child with husband John Burke and is adjusting her maternity style to stay true to her usual dress sense and she excelled in some clashing patterns with her latest look. The expectant mother was the best dressed at Marks & Spencer's annual 'Taste of Summer' barbecue in Dublin, opting for a summer ready striped shirt dress by &Other Stories, for 59.

She paired the colourful combination with a pair of black strappy heels and black blazer as she posed alongside sister Ailbhe, who works in public relations, and turned heads in her own high street combination with a multi-print long sleeved Zara dress.

Aoibhin, who is due to give birth next month, has been busy planning for the new arrival, but said earlier this month that she never could have been prepared for the influx of unsolicited advice from followers since announcing she's expecting.

"People have very strong views about everything from birth plans to eating and it is all very new to me," she said.

"I'm probably the least 'mumsy' person I know. I have never seen a baby before this and gotten broody. I didn't know what an epidural was until I got pregnant.

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"I just think it's important to look after yourself within limits and remember that pregnancy is not a condition. Everyone knows their own body and baby is boss so, whatever works, go with it."

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close Caoimhe O'Dwyer and Kelly Horrigan at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Aoibhin and Ailbhe Garrihy at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Darren Kennedy at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Susan McColgan and Michael Coffey at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Sean Munsanje and Chris Doyle at the MARKS & SPENCER TASTE OF SUMMER LAUNCH EVENT held in The Wilson Hartnell Courtyard, 6 Ely Place, Dublin 2 .photo Kieran Harnett Ruth Scott and Rob Morgan at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Isobel Cassel at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Norah Casey and Frances Deasy at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Linda Keating at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Katie Dooley at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Joe Carlyle and Vicki Notaro at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Jo Browne and Denise Horan at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Ciara O'Kelly at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Catriona Gallagher and Stephanie Whisker at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Carmel Breheny and Darren Kennedy at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Ariana Dunne at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett Aoife Finneran at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett / Facebook

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Whatsapp Caoimhe O'Dwyer and Kelly Horrigan at the Marks & Spencer Taste of Summer event held in The WHPR Courtyard. Picture: Kieran Harnett

For all of the pictures from the M&S BBQ, check out the gallery below:
Prince Gabriel of Sweden, Duke of Dalarna held by Princess Sofia of Sweden and Prince Carl Philip holding Prince Alexander, Duke of Sodermanland is the second child of and attends the christening of Prince Gabriel of Sweden at Drottningholm Palace Chapel on December 1, 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by Michael Campanella/Michael Campanella/Getty Images)

Princess Sofia of Sweden attends the UNDP's Spring Gala at the Fotografiska photography museum on April 17, 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by MICHAEL CAMPANELLA/Getty Images)

Princess Sofia of Sweden and Prince Carl Phillip of Sweden attend a formal gathering at the Swedish Academy on December 20, 2017 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by MICHAEL CAMPANELLA/GC Images)

Princess Sofia of Sweden attends The Sophia Party and presentation of Medals of Merit to Sophia Sisters at Sophiahemmet on May 28, 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by MICHAEL CAMPANELLA/Getty Images)

Princess Sofia of Sweden attends The Sophia Party and presentation of Medals of Merit to Sophia Sisters at Sophiahemmet on May 28, 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by MICHAEL CAMPANELLA/Getty Images)

Sweden's Princess Sofia is continuing her runway to real life personal style for her latest public appearance in Stockholm.

Sofia, known as the Duchess of Varmland, and husband Prince Carl Philip (37) recently welcomed their second child - an eight-month-old baby Prince Gabriel - and Sofia has returned to royal duties with aplomb this month. The 33-year-old has made a handful of appearances since the beginning of this year, but is back on the philanthropic trail with three engagements in the last week.

She heralded the arrival of summer in a pale pink power suit by Danish designer SAND Copenhagen, wearing a box fitted button blazer, 420, and matching flared trousers, 200, finishing off her look with a pair of powder pink heels by Swedish brand Stinaa J.

The mother-of-two was the guest of honour at The Sophia Party and presentation of Medals of Merit to Sophia Sisters at Sophiahemmet, and she is the honorary chairperson.

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Whatsapp Princess Sofia of Sweden attends The Sophia Party and presentation of Medals of Merit to Sophia Sisters at Sophiahemmet on May 28, 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden. (Photo by MICHAEL CAMPANELLA/Getty Images)

Sofia took a break from her public duties after welcoming little Prince Gabriel in September and has made a handful of appearances since the start of the year, mostly without her husband in a bid to establish herself in a more independent role within the Swedish royals.

The couple wed in 2015 after six years together. When asked about the difficulties of caring for two children under two, she told Swedish magazine Kupe: "We try to create as much family time as possible in the evenings, with bathing and getting into a nighttime routine. Gabriel has started sleeping and eating more regularly.

"We do get glimpses that its going to be tougher with two than with one. But there is also twice as much love."

When asked if the toughest part was over, she said: "Ask me again in a few months."

Expand Close Sweden's Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia with their sons Prince Gabriel and Prince Alexander. Picture: Instagram / Facebook

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Her husband echoed her sweet sentiments, saying: "Gabriel and Alexander are still so small, but its so exciting to follow their development. Its great to be part of their journey."
South Korea President Moon Jae-in said there could be more impromptu talks and summits with North Korea's Kim Jong-un as US officials prepare for a historic meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim.

Mr Moon and Mr Kim held a surprise meeting on Saturday, in which they agreed a North Korea-US summit must be held.

"What's more important than anything from the latest inter-Korean summit was that the leaders easily got in contact, easily made an appointment and easily met to discuss urgent matters, without complicated procedures and formalities, just like a casual meeting," Mr Moon told senior officials.

Mr Trump last week pulled out of the meeting with Mr Kim, planned for June 12 in Singapore, before announcing he had reconsidered and American and North Korean officials were meeting to work out details.

On Sunday, the US State Department said US and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom, a village in the demilitarised zone (DMZ) alongside the heavily armed border between North and South Korea. A "pre-advance" team of US officials was also travelling to Singapore to meet North Koreans there, the White House said.

A US official said Sung Kim, the former US ambassador to South Korea, was leading their delegation to meet North Korean officials at the border.

"It's a good thing to have him on board," said a former senior South Korean official who worked with Sung Kim in past. "He's capable, level-headed, cautious, and has solid grasp of the issues and knows North Koreans well. But at the same time he has healthy scepticism."

Pentagon official Randall Schriver was also part of the US team, the US official said. It was reported the team met Choe Son-hui, the North Korean deputy foreign minister. The US delegation also included Allison Hooker, Korea expert on the National Security Council.

After weeks of political posturing by both Mr Trump and Mr Kim, analysts welcomed the news the US had dispatched a team of seasoned negotiators to hold several days of preparatory talks with the North Koreans.

"Sending such an experienced and professional team signals the Trump administration is getting serious about the specifics of an agreement," said former US deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia, Abraham Denmark. "It's also an implicit acknowledgment that running this negotiation out of the Oval Office has not worked, and that lower-level officials are needed to work out the details before a summit can take place."

However, with only two weeks left until the scheduled summit, such talks are unlikely to reconcile the differing positions over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal, he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has lauded as a hero a migrant from Mali who scaled an apartment building in Paris to save a child dangling from a balcony.

Mr Macron rewarded the young mans bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter.

Bravo, the president said to 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama during a meeting in a gilded room of the Elysee Palace, where Mr Gassama also received a gold medal from the French state for courage and devotion.

Mr Gassama climbed five storeys up the apartment building, moving from balcony to balcony, and whisked a four-year-old boy to safety on Saturday night as a crowd below screamed.

His actions went viral on social media, where he was dubbed Spiderman.

Mr Gassama said he has authorisation to stay legally in Italy, which is where he landed in Europe in 2014 after more than a year in Libya and a trip across the Mediterranean Sea.

He came to France in September to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades.

Dressed in tattered blue jeans and a white shirt, the young man recounted for the president what took place after he and some friends saw a young child hanging from a fifth-floor balcony.

Parce que des actes dheroisme comme ca, on en a besoin tous les jours ! M. GASSAMA peut, sil le souhaite, rejoindre les heros du quotidien @PompiersParis. pic.twitter.com/gtcl52V0Z2  Elysee (@Elysee) May 28, 2018

I ran. I crossed the street to save him, Mr Gassama told Mr Macron.

He said he did not think twice.

When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing.

God helped me too, he said. Thank God I saved him.

Mr Gassama said he trembled with fear only after he had reached the boy, got him safely back over the balcony railing and taken him inside the apartment.

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Whatsapp Mamoudou Gassama scales an apartment building to save a young child (AP)

The father of the child was detained overnight for alleged parental neglect, and is to appear in court in September.

He left the child alone while he shopped, then lingered to play Pokemon Go, prosecutor Francois Molins told BFM-TV.

The whereabouts of the childs mother were unclear.

You saved a child. Without you, no-one knows what would have become of him, the president said.

You need courage and the capability to do that.

Mr Macron offered to begin the naturalisation process to make Mr Gassama a French citizen, and said: Because this is an exceptional act  we are obviously, today, going to regularise all your papers.

The president is behind a bill toughening French immigration law, and he stressed there is no contradiction between rewarding Mr Gassama for his act of bravery and working to prevent migrants from entering France illegally by stopping the stream of arrivals at its source.

An exceptional act does not make policy, he told reporters later, vowing to maintain a policy that is exigent, respectful of our principles on asylum and rigorous regarding the migratory flux.

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The special treatment for Mr Gassama comes as authorities prepare to evacuate some 2,400 migrants from makeshift encampments in the French capital.

The forced closure of the encampments is the subject of a heated debate between the Paris mayor, who wants to ensure the uprooted will be sheltered, and interior minister Gerard Collomb, who was present at the Elysee.

Mr Gassama told Mr Macron he was arrested and beaten during his long, rough stay in Libya but I wasnt discouraged.

The French president said Mr Gassamas actions made him deserving of special treatment.

Working as a firefighter corresponds with his skills, said Mr Macron, who opened the door for him to do just that.

You have become an example because millions have seen you on social media, the president said.

Another Malian, Lassana Bathily, was given French citizenship in January 2015, shortly after he saved lives by hiding people in a freezer and alerting police during a terror attack on a Jewish grocery shop where he worked.
Andi Lewis, director of the Kingwood High School Fillies dance team, brought team members to Santa Fe in support of Santa Fe High School students who were returning to the school for their first day of classes (AP)

Classes have resumed at Santa Fe High School, less than two weeks after a student shot 10 people dead in an art classroom in Americas deadliest school attack since the massacre in Parkland, Florida.

Students at the school near Houston, Texas, were greeted by more than 20 law enforcement vehicles and supporters holding signs saying Santa Fe Strong and United We Stand.

The day began with a two-hour assembly honouring the victims, and counsellors were available for anyone who needed to talk about the May 18 shooting that took the lives of eight students and two substitute teachers.

Santa Fe HS students are returning to school today, 11 days after that tragic shooting. And theyll be met with lots of love as they get to campus #khou11 pic.twitter.com/OZ4KgeKk2A  Janel Forte (@JanelForte) May 29, 2018

Students who had classes in the area of the shooting were the first allowed back in, followed by the rest about two hours later.

Senior Hailey Hubbard was returning for her final week of high school.

She said: Honestly, I just want to go back so I can see my friends and not spend my last three days of senior year just being secluded in a room.

Ms Hubbard said she did not want the shooting to be her last memory of high school. She said some of her friends were more ambivalent about returning to campus and that she had to help calm down a friend who suffered a panic attack at the thought of going back to school.

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Her mother, she added, was also terrified of her returning.

Students lined up in front of the schools main entrance, which was the only approved entrance. They were not allowed to carry backpacks or large purses and were required to show ID before entering.

Authorities have charged Dimitrios Pagourtzis with capital murder in the attack. He is accused of using a shotgun and pistol that belonged to his father. The 17-year-old remains in custody without bond in Galveston.

The hospital treating a school police officer who was badly wounded in the attack announced that his condition had been upgraded from critical to serious.

Officer John Barnes was shot in the arm when he confronted the gunman. A bullet damaged the bone and a major blood vessel around his elbow. He remains in the intensive care unit.
Students at a Texas high school are returning to class for the first time since a mass shooting that killed eight students and two substitute teachers.

Before classes resumed Tuesday morning, people stood along the road in front of Santa Fe High School holding up signs that said Santa Fe Strong and United We Stand.

Santa Fe HS students are returning to school today, 11 days after that tragic shooting. And theyll be met with lots of love as they get to campus #khou11 pic.twitter.com/OZ4KgeKk2A  Janel Forte (@JanelForte) May 29, 2018

The Santa Fe Independent School District says additional law enforcement officers will be at the school to provide security for students as they wrap up the school year this week.

Authorities have charged student Dimitrios Pagourtzis with murder over the May 18 attack.

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Investigators said Pagourtzis used a shotgun and pistol that belonged to his father.

Pagourtzis remains in jailed without bond in Galveston.
An ambulance car is seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium. Photo: REUTERS/Francois Lenoir

A MAN killed two policewomen and a bystander in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday before being shot dead in a gunbattle at a school in what prosecutors are treating as a terrorist attack.

The man was named by public broadcaster RTBF as a 36-year-old petty criminal who had been let out on day-release from a local prison on Monday. It said investigators were looking into whether he converted to Islam and had been radicalised in jail.

A public prosecutor told a news conference that the man set upon the policewomen from behind with a knife, described as a box-cutter by RTBF, around 10:30 a.m. on a boulevard in the centre of Belgium's third city, near the German border.

Having stabbed them, prosecutor Philippe Dulieu said, the man then seized one of their handguns and shot both women dead before walking down the street and shooting dead a 22-year-old man who was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car.

The man then made his way into a high school where he took a woman employee hostage, triggering a major intervention by armed police. Pupils were moved to safety as a gunbattle broke out that sent people in the street racing for cover. Several police were wounded before the attacker was finally killed.

"The event is classed as a terrorist incident," Dulieu said.

The national crisis centre, on high alert since past attacks by Islamic State in Paris and Brussels in the past three years, said it was monitoring events but had not raised its alert level.

La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar" -- God is greatest in Arabic.

Prime Minister Charles Michel, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims, said it was too early to say what had caused the incident. King Philippe visited Liege, the biggest city in Belgium's French-speaking Wallonia region.

An industrial powerhouse on the Meuse river, it was the scene of a mass shooting in 2011, when a man killed four people and wounded over 100 others before turning his gun on himself.

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A Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and on Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died. The Brussels IS cell had links to militants in Verviers, another industrial town close to Liege, where in early 2015 police raided a safe house and killed two men who had returned from fighting with radical Islamists in Syria.

European authorities are deeply concerned about the risks of petty criminals, including those not from Muslim backgrounds, being inspired to Islamist violence while incarcerated.
Italy's populist parties demanded immediate fresh elections last night after they were prevented from forming a government by Sergio Mattarella, the Italian president.

Warning that they would reject plans for a caretaker executive, the leaders of the Five Star Movement and the anti-immigration League called for nationwide protests on Saturday and vowed to "win big" in fresh elections.

Both party leaders expressed fury at Europe's political and economic elite after their choice of a staunchly Eurosceptic finance minister was vetoed by Mr Mattarella in favour of Carlo Cottarelli (64), a former IMF economist.

Luigi Di Maio, the Five Star leader, called for the president's "impeachment" while Matteo Salvini, the League leader, fulminated that Italy was "not a colony" of Brussels, Paris or Berlin and that the coming elections would be a contest between "the people and the palace".

Mr Di Maio, referring to Italy's Republic Day celebrations on Saturday, said: "I invite you all to come to Rome for a big event.

"It is important that we make ourselves seen and heard."

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He was speaking after Mr Mattarella requested that Mr Cottarelli try to form a technocratic caretaker government in preparation for elections next year.

Both Mr Di Maio and Mr Salvini vowed not to support Mr Cottarelli and called for elections straight away.

Their fury was backed by populists across Europe who were incensed that Mr Mattarella had apparently bowed to pressure from the financial markets and leading French, German and European Commission figures warning against Italy breaking EU budget rules.

Marine Le Pen, the French National Front leader, said Mr Mattarella's decision amounted to a "coup d'etat" while Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's former strategist, called the last 48 hours of political events in Italy "disgusting".

However, Emmanuel Macron, the French president, praised his Italian counterpart for fulfilling his role as the guarantor of the country's institutions with "courage and responsibility".

A large German business association also said its members were relieved.

The appointment of Mr Cottarelli - known as "Scissorhands" for his reputation for budget cuts - flatly contradicted the agenda of the two parties which had last week set out a 100bn spending bonanza in their now-failed programme for government.

It comes after the populists' own prime minister designate, Giuseppe Conte, a professor of law, resigned on Sunday after just four days in the job when it became clear that Mr Mattarella would not back down over the choice of finance minister. The populists had wanted to install Paolo Savona, a controversial Eurosceptic finance minister, who had in the past described the single currency as a "German cage" and an instrument of German domination in Europe.

In his first public remarks at the presidential palace, Mr Cottarelli said that if he failed to win a confidence vote on a soon-to-be proposed platform and cabinet, he would resign and call elections after the summer holiday.
President Emmanuel Macron, left, speaks with Mamoudou Gassama at the presidential Elysee Palace. Photo: AFP/Getty

A Malian migrant hailed a national hero for scaling a building to save a four-year-old dangling from a fourth-floor balcony in Paris is to be granted French nationality and given a job as a fireman.

A video of Mamoudou Gassama's spectacular rescue went viral on social media and has been viewed millions of times.

With a crowd below cheering him on from the street, the migrant pulled himself from balcony to balcony at risk of life and limb.

He managed to grab the four-year-old as a neighbour unsuccessfully tried to reach the boy from the nearest flat.

French President Emmanuel Macron invited Mr Gassama to the Elysee Palace yesterday morning to personally thank him.

During their filmed conversation, Mr Gassama said that he was trembling like a leaf after his courageous act.

Afterwards, Mr Macron announced that he would be granted French citizenship and join the French fire brigade.

Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo also lauded the 22-year-old's heroism.

She said she had called him to thank him in person.

She hailed him as the "Spider-man of the 18th", a reference to the Paris district where the rescue took place.

"Congratulations to Mamoudou Gassama for his act of bravery that saved the life of a child," Ms Hidalgo tweeted.

"He explained to me that he had arrived from Mali a few months ago dreaming of building his life here.

"I replied that his heroic gesture was an example for all citizens and that the city of Paris will obviously be keen to support him in his efforts to settle in France." ( Daily Telegraph, London)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
Italy's populist parties reacted with fury as attempts to form a government dramatically broke down.

Nearly three months after a general election on March 4, hopes that the country would have a government formed by the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the hard-right, euro-sceptic League were dashed.

The two parties, which were about to form western Europe's first populist government, wanted Paolo Savona, an economist and banker who has been highly critical of the euro, as their economy minister.

The parties won 50pc of the vote at the election and insisted their choice of cabinet ministers was an essential part of their democratic mandate.

But Sergio Mattarella, Italy's president, saw otherwise, blocking Mr Savona for the economy job. As a result, Giuseppe Conte, a law professor who had been named as the coalition's prime minister, resigned after a day of tense talks with President Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome.

"Giuseppe Conte has given up the mandate to form a government, given to him on May 23," said a presidential palace official.

Professor Conte said he "gave the maximum effort, attention, to carry out this task with the full collaboration" of Five Star and the League.

Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio took to Facebook to tell his supporters he and Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, had been ready to form a government.

He even read out the full list of ministerial appointments the two leaders had put forward.

"I am very angry. You can imagine how much time we spent trying to form a government over the last 80 days," he said.

He said the coalition had been torpedoed by "the credit rating agencies" and "the financial lobbies", a reference to concern in Brussels and elsewhere at Mr Savona's appointment as economy minister.

He said the president's veto was "unacceptable", and "an institutional clash without precedent".

"What's the point of going to vote if it's the ratings agencies that decide?" he asked.

Mr Salvini of the League was also furious about the presidential veto. "We will not be blackmailed by anyone," he said in an angry speech from the city of Terni. "If a certain minister bothered Berlin, or a certain minister bothers the powerful forces that have massacred us up until now, that means it was the right minister."

Mr Savona (81) has described the common currency as a "German cage" for Italy. He has accused Berlin of trying to achieve by economic means what it failed to do with armies of stormtroopers in World War II - the domination of Europe.

He claimed Germany has "the same objective today as did Funk," a reference to Walther Funk, who served under Hitler as minister for economic affairs and was convicted as a war criminal at Nuremberg.

He has also called for a "plan B" to be drawn up to allow Italy to exit the eurozone with as little damage as possible, should that prove necessary.

President Mattarella said he refused to approve Mr Savona because the appointment would have "alarmed markets and investors, Italians and foreigners". Speaking after the dramatic collapse of the would-be coalition, he said: "Every day, the (bond) spread goes up, it raises our debt costs."

The appointment would "have probably or more likely inevitably led to the exit of Italy from the euro."

In a televised address, a sombre president said he was not to blame for the impasse, adding that he had proposed alternatives for the key position, but his suggestions had been spurned by Five Star and the League. "It is my duty to protect the savings of Italians," he said. ( Daily Telegraph)

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]
Police investigate at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)

A knife-wielding man stabbed two police officers in the Belgian city of Liege, stole their weapons, and shot then them and a bystander dead in an attack that prosecutors fear could be terror-related.

The man, who was later killed by police, approached two police officers from behind while carrying a knife and stabbed them several times, said Philippe Dulieu, spokesman for the Liege prosecutors office.

He then took their weapons. He used the weapons on the officers, who died, Mr Dulieu told reporters.

Mr Dulieu said the attacker then shot dead a 22-year-old man in a vehicle parked nearby, and took a woman hostage in a school close to where the shooting took place outside a city cafe.

Liege police intervened. He came out firing at police, wounding a number of them, notably in the legs.

He was shot dead, the spokesman said.

A senior official at the federal prosecutors office told The Associated Press that there are indications it could be a terror attack.

Despite this, Belgiums crisis centre said it saw no reason to raise the countrys terror threat alert for now.

When asked about the report that the attack was terror-related, Liege city hall Michel Firket said: I know nothing formal about that. The police is doing its investigation. There are no formal conclusions.

A spokeswoman for the city mayors office, Laurence Comminette, told reporters that the children at the school were all safe.

Prime Minister Charles Michel said only that there was a serious incident. He was rushing to the crisis centre to get more information.

Violence lache et aveugle a #Liege. Tout notre soutien pour les victimes et leurs proches. Nous suivons la situation avec les services de securite et le centre de crise.  Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) May 29, 2018

Yves Stevens, of Belgiums federal crisis centre, said that security in Liege is now under control, and that there was no reason yet to raise the national terror threat level.

There is absolutely no confirmation yet that the incident is terror-related, Mr Stevens said.

Video posted on Twitter by a person claiming to be a witness showed people running in the area. About six gunshots could be heard.

Belgian police and military have been on alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people at the Brussels airport and subway system in 2016.
Israeli tanks take up positions along the border with the Gaza strip (AP)

Palestinian militants have bombarded southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortar shells, while Israeli war planes struck targets throughout the Gaza Strip in the largest flare-up of violence between the sides since the 2014 war.

The Israeli military said most of the projectiles were intercepted, but three soldiers were wounded, raising the chances of further Israeli retaliation. One mortar shell landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The sudden burst of violence follows weeks of mass Palestinian protests along the Gaza border with Israel. More than 110 Palestinians, many of them unarmed protesters, have been killed by Israeli fire in that time.

Today, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations launched tens of mortars and rockets from the Gaza strip towards Israeli communities



Read about it here: https://t.co/FqIqs9umNi pic.twitter.com/RrwCTod4KC  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018

Israel said it holds Gazas Hamas rulers responsible for the bloodshed.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it, and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks.

Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies and have fought three wars since the Islamic group seized control of Gaza in 2007.

The last war in 2014 was especially devastating, with more than 2,000 Palestinians killed, including hundreds of civilians, and widespread damage inflicted on Gazas infrastructure in 50 days of fighting. Seventy-two people were killed on the Israeli side.

Tuesdays violence bore a striking resemblance to the run-up to past wars. In the early morning, Palestinian militants fired more than two dozen mortar rounds into southern Israel, including the shell that landed near the kindergarten.

Over the past hour, several launches from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel were identified. The IDF's Iron Dome aerial defense system intercepted several of them  Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) May 29, 2018

The Israeli military said it carried out over 35 air strikes on seven sites across Gaza, including an unfinished tunnel near the southern city of Rafah that crossed under the border into Egypt and from there into Israeli territory. No Palestinian casualties were reported.

Palestinian militants continued to fire additional barrages toward southern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the area throughout the day and into the evening.

Brig Gen Ronen Manelis, the chief military spokesman, threatened tougher action and said it was up to Hamas to stop the situation from escalating.

He told reporters outside Israeli military HQ: These strikes will continue to intensify as long as necessary if this fire continues.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant issued a joint statement, claiming shared responsibility for firing rockets and projectiles against Israeli communities near Gaza.

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They said Israel began this round of escalation by targeting their installations in the past two days, killing four militants. It was the first time the armed wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for rocket attacks out of Gaza since the 2014 war.

Hamas has been severely weakened by the three wars with Israel, as well as a stifling Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has brought the local economy to a standstill.

Hamas initially billed the weekly border protests as a call to break through the fence and return to homes that were lost 70 years ago during the war surrounding Israels establishment.

The IDF will respond with great force to these attacks. Israel will exact a heavy price from anyone who tries to attack it, and we view Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks against us.  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 29, 2018

However, the protests appear to be fuelled primarily by a desire to ease the blockade. Gazas unemployment rate is edging toward 50%, and the territory suffers from chronic power outages.

With limited options at its disposal, and a failure so far of the protests to significantly ease the blockade, Hamas appears to be gambling that limited rocket fire might somehow shake up the situation.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes.

Israel said the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities.
Regus owner IWG has rejected a fifth takeover approach, turning down a cash offer from US investor Prime Opportunities.

Prime Opportunities said on Tuesday that IWG, a serviced office provider, had rejected its overture, which involved a consortium of investors.

It comes after IWG spurned offers from from Lone Star Europe, Starwood Capital and TDR Capital earlier this month.

IWG was also the subject of a takeover attempt by Brookfield Asset Management and Canadian private equity firm Onex in December, which sent its share price up 30%.

Talks over the joint bid collapsed at the beginning of February, with reports suggesting IWG founder Mark Dixon wanted to sell the company but was blocked by other directors.

Richard Morris, UK chief executive of IWG, said: The growth potential of the market is phenomenal. Lots of people are excited about it.

There has been a lot of investment and we expect this to continue.

On Tuesday, the takeover offer from Prime Opportunities sent IWGs shares up 2.3% or 7p to 311.3p.

The London-listed group has serviced offices in around 120 countries, and hopes to extend its network of flexible office spaces. The group operates brands including Regus, Open Office and Signature.

Mr Morris said that while flexible offices now represent less than 10% of the commercial office market, this could rise to up to 40% as businesses seek more flexibility to save costs.

Our difference is the fact that we provide a network of 350 to 400 locations which can be accessed by our members, he said.

No other provider in our market is building a series of networks that combine to create a global network.
Pop star Justin Timberlake has made a surprise visit to a Texas school shooting survivor as she recovers from her wounds in a hospital.

Sarah Salazar was among the more than two dozen people injured in the May 18 attack at Santa Fe High School.

Her mother, Sonia Lopez-Puentes, shared on Facebook a photo that showed Timberlake wearing a medical gown and rubber gloves as he poses next to a smiling Salazar in her hospital room last Friday.

According to an online fundraiser for Salazar, the teenager suffered a broken jaw and will need shoulder replacement surgery after the shooting.

Timberlake performed two shows in nearby Houston last week as part of his Man of the Woods tour.
The power generation arm of Manila Electric Co. plans to build 500 megawatts of solar power projects, a top executive said. Meralco PowerGen Corp. president Rogelio Singson said the solar projects would be a part of the companys plan to put up 3,000 MW of generating capacity to meet the supply requirements of Meralco. Singson, however, said the solar power projects faced land availability constraints. That is the main concern right now. It is difficult to look for utility scale because for every 1 MW, you need at least 2 hectares. If you start building 100 MW, then you need 200 hectares, he said. Singson said finding 200 hectares in a contiguous area was also difficult. In the next three to four years, we want to develop maybe at least 500 to 600 MW. It should [represent] at least 20 to 30 percent of MGen capacity, he said. Singson said Meralco PowerGen was also looking at other renewable energy projects such as wind and hydro facilities, on top of the companys existing coal projects. We are looking at the development of RE, be it solar, wind or even hydro. I think there is a potential for hydro especially those from National Irrigation Administration, he said.Meanwhile, Meralco president Oscar Reyes said the company expected sales volume to grow 4.5 percent this year, slightly slower than the 4.9-percent increase in 2017. The way it is trending, we may be around not too far from what we saw last year, Reyes said after the companys annual stockholders meeting. He said the company posted strong first-quarter sales amid hotter temperature. We had a very strong first quarter. We grew about 9.2 percent compared to the first quarter of 2017, Reyes said. He said Meralco, the countrys biggest power retailer, likely posted slower sales growth in April and May. April and May are trending lower. For April 2018 against 2017, growth was in the order of about 3.6 percent and for May, I think what we are seeing is potentially around mid-4 percent [so 4.5 plus or minus]. That could bring down our year to date May sales to a little over 7.5 percent, down from 9.2 percent [a year ago], Reyes said. The reason why it was lower, we found out that April is half a degree centigrade cooler which is unusual because of the summer, he said.
Women react after a siren is sounded, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

People stand in a kindergarten yard damaged by mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip that landed near it, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

A man holds shrapnel from mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip that landed near a kindergarten, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

A man uses a chainsaw to clear trees damaged by mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip that landed near a kindergarten, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

A man uses a chainsaw to clear trees damaged by mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip that landed near a kindergarten, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/ Amir Cohen

A woman walks out of a kindergarten, where damages caused by mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip that landed near it, can be seen on its wall, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Palestinian militants launched their heaviest barrages against Israel since the 2014 Gaza war today and Israeli aircraft struck back, in a surge of fighting after weeks of border violence.

Three Israeli soldiers were wounded by shrapnel, the military said, after dozens of mortar bombs and rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip, triggering warning sirens in southern Israel throughout the day and after dark. There were no immediate reports of Palestinian casualties.

Israel has long said it will not tolerate such attacks, and its warplanes hit more than 30 targets belonging to armed groups, including a cross-border tunnel under construction, the military said. It accused Gaza's dominant Hamas movement and the pro-Iran Islamic Jihad group of launching the salvoes.

The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the firing and said it was in response to Israel's killing of dozens of Palestinians since March 30, mainly in Gaza border protests.

Qassam and Jerusalem Brigades (the groups' armed wings) announce joint responsibility for bombarding (Israel's) military installations and settlements near Gaza with dozens of rocket shells throughout the day, they said in a joint statement.

"It comes in response to Zionist aggression and crimes against our people and our resistance fighters ... in addition to war crimes conducted by the enemy every day against our people during the marches of return along the border of Gaza Strip.

Expand Close A man holds shrapnel from mortar shells fired from the Gaza Strip that landed near a kindergarten, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen / Facebook

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Bombardment for bombardment and blood for blood.

Hamas has largely abided by a de-facto ceasefire since the 2014 war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened security chiefs, and Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said the country was "at the closest point to the threshold of war" since the seven-week conflict with Palestinian militants four years ago.

"If the firing (from Gaza) does not stop, we will have to escalate our responses and it could lead to a deterioration of the situation," Katz said on Army Radio.

Expand Close Women react after a siren is sounded, in a Kibbutz on the Israeli side of the Israeli-Gaza border, May 29, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen / Facebook

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Daoud Shehab, an Islamic Jihad spokesman, said Egyptian officials had been in contact with the group to try to restore calm. He said Islamic Jihad did not want the violence to escalate and blamed Israel for the flare-up.

"If Israel abides by calm and ceases all forms of aggression against our people in Gaza, we will also maintain calm," he said.

Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), said the most extensive strikes from Gaza since the 2014 war also drew "the largest IDF retaliatory attack" since that conflict.

The Israeli military said more than 25 projectiles were fired on Tuesday. Several were shot down by its Iron Dome rocket interceptor system while others landed in empty lots and farmland.

One exploded in the yard of a kindergarten, damaging its walls and scattering the playground with debris and shrapnel, about an hour before it was scheduled to open for the day.

Violence has soared along the Gaza frontier in recent weeks, during which 116 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at mass demonstrations calling for Palestinians' right to return to ancestral lands now in Israel.

A Hamas spokesman defended Tuesday's attacks as a "natural response to Israeli crimes". An Islamic Jihad spokesman said "the blood of our people is not cheap".

Plumes of smoke and dust rose from the sites hit in the Israeli air strikes. The powerful explosions shook buildings nearby, causing panic among rush-hour crowds on streets and in markets. The Gazan Ministry of Education said shrapnel from one missile flew into a school.

Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N.'s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he was deeply concerned by "the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards communities in southern Israel".

Amid international condemnation of its use of lethal force at the mass demonstrations that began on March 30, Israel said many of the dead were militants and that the army was repelling attacks on the border fence.

Palestinians and their supporters say most of the protesters were unarmed civilians and Israel was using excessive force against them.

Off Gaza's coast on Tuesday, the Israeli navy intercepted a boat that organisers of the Palestinian border protests launched from the enclave in a challenge to an Israeli maritime blockade.

The military said the vessel was stopped without much incident and would be towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod where the 17 people on board would be questioned and then returned to the Gaza Strip.

More than two million Palestinians are packed into the narrow coastal enclave. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but, citing security concerns, maintains tight control of its land and sea borders, which has reduced its economy to a state of collapse.

Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza on its border.
Chelsea Manning attends a discussion at the media convention "Republica" in Berlin. A close friend and colleague of Chelsea Manning said Monday, May 28, that the convicted leaker of government secrets and longshot candidate for U.S. Senate is safe after a photo on her Twitter account apparently showed the 30-year-old woman standing on the edge of an upper-story window ledge. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, File)

Transgender Chelsea Manning, who leaked US government secrets, is safe after a photo on her Twitter account apparently showed her standing on the edge of an upper-storey window ledge, a friend has said.

The photo was posted with the words "I'm sorry", sent shortly after a separate tweet that said: "im not really cut out for this world."

The tweets did not make clear where the photo was taken, and Ms Manning's friends declined to say.

The tweets were deleted after about 10 minutes, followed by a message on her account saying Ms Manning was OK and asked people to "please give her some space".

Kelly Wright, a friend who also is the communications director for her Senate bid, said the 30-year-old transgender woman now needs the "space to heal".

She did not reply when asked if Ms Manning was seeking professional help.

When asked whether the Senate campaign had been suspended, Ms Wright wrote: "Negative."

In her text message, Ms Wright said Ms Manning's adjustment to life outside prison has been "extremely difficult."

"I have seen firsthand and up close the violence inflicted on her by years of imprisonment, solitary confinement and torture," she said.

"This is made worse by the impossibly high expectations our society sets for public figures, especially on social media."

Ms Manning recently told attendees at a Berlin tech conference she felt a "kind of cult of personality" foisted upon her that she found really intimidating" and "overwhelming."

In a recent interview with the Associated Press at her Maryland apartment, Ms Manning was emotionally raw, her eyes welling up at times when discussing her motivations.

When asked about her lengthy stints in solitary confinement, Ms Manning said she occasionally wakes up panicked that she is back in the cage in Kuwait where she was first jailed, or incarcerated at the Marine base at Quantico, Virginia, where a UN official concluded she had been subjected to "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment".

She said she had to work hard to overcome anxiety and told AP it was "becoming increasingly clear" to her "just how deep the wounds are" from her years behind bars.

A Twitter spokesperson declined to comment, saying the company did not comment on individual accounts for privacy and security reasons.

Ms Manning, who makes her living on the speaking circuit, is fresh off an appearance at an international business conference in Montreal.

When Ms Wright was asked if Ms Manning was in Montreal when the photo was posted from the ledge last night, she would only say: "I'm not going to disclose her location due to safety concerns."

Ms Manning has been free for over a year after former President Barack Obama commuted her 35-year sentence, the lengthiest ever for revealing US government secrets.

She has acknowledged leaking more than 700,000 military and State Department documents to anti-secrecy site WikiLeaks in 2010.

She said she wanted to spark debate about US foreign policy, and she has been portrayed as both a hero and a traitor.

Known as Bradley Manning at the time of her arrest, she came out as transgender after her 2013 court-martial.

She was barred from growing her hair long in prison, and was approved for hormone therapy only after litigation.

The high-profile transgender activist and convicted leaker is now in the midst of a highly unlikely Democratic primary bid for the US Senate in her adopted state of Maryland.

She has claimed she is genuine in her aim to unseat Senator Ben Cardin, a Democratic powerbroker in the blue state who is seeking his third Senate term.

But last week, she tweeted the primaries were "rigged" and there was no point in voting.
Standard Life Aberdeen is to return up to 1.75 billion to shareholders following the sale of its European insurance business to Phoenix Group.

The group said earlier this year that it would offload Standard Life Assurance to its rival, with the asset management giant receiving 2.3 billion in cash and a 19.9% slice of the Phoenix business.

Standard Lifes board now expects that there will be surplus capital within the group as a result of the deal and lower capital requirements.

The group said 1 billion is to be returned by way of a B share scheme and the remaining amount of up to 750 million via a share buyback programme.

The last year has been a period of significant change for Standard Life Aberdeen, with the proposed sale of the UK and European insurance businesses completing our transformation to a capital light investment company, said chairman Gerry Grimstone.

The cash generated from the sale will enable us to continue to invest in the development of our business and also to return surplus capital to shareholders, he added.

As part of the deal, Phoenix will take on the UK mature retail and spread/risk books and the Europe, UK retail and workplace operation, while Standard Life Aberdeen will hold on to the UK retail platforms and financial advice business.
Italys political turmoil has sparked a downturn in European stocks and helped knock 25 billion off the value of the UKs blue chip index.

The FTSE 100 ended the day down 1.2% or 97.64 points at 7,632.64, while its continental peers were also hit by a sea of red with the French CAC 40 and German Dax down 1.2% and 1.5%, respectively.

Milans FTSE MIB tumbled 2.6%.

It comes amid concerns about Italys future under two Eurosceptic parties that could send the country on the path towards an EU exit, as well as the prospect of fresh elections if a coalition government fails to be formed.

David Madden, a market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: Political turmoil in Italy and Spain has rocked investor sentiment in Europe.

Carlo Cotarelli will act as interim Italian prime minister to steady the ship, but we are likely to see a general election at the back end of this year or in early 2019.

He noted that the League Party and Five Star Movement are tipped to gain more ground if Italians are forced back to the polls.

The rise of anti-euro sentiment in Italy is the driving force behind the sell-off, Mr Madden said.

The yield on the two-year Italian government bond jumped to its highest level in over 20 years, and Italian stocks are suffering for it.

He added that Spain is going through its own political upheaval, as its prime minister Mariano Rajoy faces a vote of no confidence on Friday.

In currency markets, the pound was mixed, trading up 0.2% against the euro at 1.147, but down nearly 0.4% versus the US dollar at 1.325.

Brent crude prices slumped nearly 1% to 74.56 US dollars per barrel amid reports that Opec members and other major oil producers could start raising production caps.

In UK stocks, Standard Life Aberdeen fell 9.1p to 350.8p despite confirming that it would return up to 1.75 billion to shareholders following the sale of its European insurance business to Phoenix Group.

As part of the deal, Phoenix will take on the UK mature retail and spread/risk books and the Europe, UK retail and workplace operation, while Standard Life Aberdeen will hold on to the UK retail platforms and financial advice business.

Dixons Carphone was at the bottom of the FTSE 250 as the company warned on profits and revealed plans to close 92 stores.

Dixons Carphone said that full year pre-tax profit is expected to come in at 382 million, down from 501 million in 2017. Next year the figure will fall to 300 million, the firm added.

The company said it was grappling with changing consumer habits that have seen customers hold on to older phones and go Sim-only  denting the groups performance.

Shares fell 48.4p to 185p.

IWG was one of the best performing stocks on the FTSE 250, rising 7.8p to 312.1p on news that the Regus owner has rejected a fifth takeover approach, turning down a cash offer from US investor Prime Opportunities.

IWG was also the subject of a takeover attempt by Brookfield Asset Management and Canadian private equity firm Onex in December, which sent its share price up 30%.

The biggest risers on the FTSE 100 were Fresnillo up 40.5p at 1,338p, Smiths Group up 30p at 1,750p, Evraz up 6.3p at 484.7p, and Randgold Resources up 72p at 5,830p.

The biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 were NMC Health down 182p at 3,630p, Direct Line Insurance Group down 15.9p at 356.7p, Severn Trent down 89p at 1,999p, and Marks and Spencer Group down 12.7p at 298p.
In this edition of India Briefing Magazine, we make the case for why now is the right time for foreign firms t...
New Delhi, May 29 (IBNS): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the Mudra Yojana (Mudra Scheme) is acting as a job multiplier, enthusing several entrepreneurs of the country.

Modi said this while interacting with several beneficiaries of the Mudra Yojana.

Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) is a scheme which was launched by PM Modi in 2015. The scheme offers Rs. 10 lakh to the non-corporate, non-farm small or micro enterprises.

In a video conference on Tuesday, Modi said: "Mudra Yojana has opened up new avenues for youth, women and those who wanted to start or expand their businesses. Not only this, Mudra Yojana is also acting as a job multiplier."

Speaking about the benefits of Mudra Yojana, the PM said: "We have supported our small start-up businessmen. They have been handed over loans through Mudra Yojana so that they can build their own businesses. The scheme has not only given opportunity to one to start his own business but also acted as a job multiplier."

Modi has also stressed the scheme has strengthened people coming from backward classes.

"The scheme has strengthened backward societies financially and socially" he said.

The PM claimed that majority of the beneficiaries of the scheme belong to Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Class people. "Among 12 crore people of Mudra Yojana beneficiaries, 55% of loans were received by people belong to SC, ST, OBC society," he said.

Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has recently completed its four years in power.
New Delhi, May 29 (IBNS): Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Prakash Javadekar has congratulated all Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) students who passed their Class X board examinations on Tuesday.

The results of Class X board examinations were declared at 1.15 pm on Tuesday.

Javadekar said: "Congratulations to all students who have passed. After a long time, class X examinations were conducted. It was an important step which has been liked by all parents, society and the teachers."

"All those students who didn't succeed, should not be disappointed. Wishing good luck to all students for their future," he added.

According to reports, the overall pass percentage in 2018 is 86.7 percent.

Like what they did in CBSE class 12 examinations, girls outshone boys registering a pass percentage of 88.67 percent while 85.32 percent boys passed the exams.

However in 2017, the pass percentage among girls was 92.5 percent while that among boys was 93.4 percent.

The CBSE 10th Result 2018 are available on the board's official website cbse.nic.in, cbseresults.nic.in.
Chennai, May 29 (IBNS): A day after ordering a complete closure of the Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin, the Tamil Nadu government has cancelled the land allotment for the second phase of expansion of the plant by Vedanta Group in the region, media reports said.

Prioritising Tamil Nadu people's demands after over a dozen deaths of protesters in police firing, the state government has issued an order to close the plant permanently on Monday.

Chief Minister Edapaddi K Palaniswamy has ordered a permanent closure of the plant, which is run by Vedanta Goup.

Deputy Chief Minister O Paneerselvam has been quoted by The Times of India, "Today, the main demand of the people is that the copper plant should be permanently closed. In keeping with their demand, it is shut now. I would like to make it clear that Sterlite plant will be permanently shut."

"The government will do its duty for permanently closing down the plant" he added.

The plant was closed by former CM J Jayalalithaa in 2013 but Vedanta Group had approached the National Green Tribunal and got orders to resume operations.

Thirteen people were killed in police firing during the protest which turned violent in the last week.

The violence during the protest left at least 100 people injured.

The violence erupted surrounding protests about the plant's expansion.

The Supreme Court on Monday is likely to hear the Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed on Thursday regarding the death of protesters in the Tuticorin Sterlite Copper plant violence case, according to media reports.

The PIL, among other things has appealed for a court-monitored CBI probe into the death of protesters allegedly in police firing after violence erupted in Tuticorin surrounding the Sterlite Copper plant, media reported.

The Centre has also sought a report on the violence from the Tamil Nadu government, media reported.
Lawmakers have demanded an explanation from the Bureau of Customs with regard to the 105 shipping containers that were allegedly illegally released from the premises of Manila South Harbors port operator Asian Terminal Inc. were placed under manual alert orders. At a congressional hearing, Quirino Rep. Dakila Cua, chairperson of the House committee on ways and means, inquired from officials of the BoC as to who recommended to BoC Commissioner Isidro Lapena the issuance of such orders. Why manual? Because of this, the image of the Office of the Commissioner was tainted. We would like to know why they issued alert orders manually, Cua told the BoC officials at a congressional hearing. The committee conducted the inquiry in response to House Resolution 1824 filed by Sultan Kudarat Rep. Horacio Suansing Jr. seeking the House ways and means committee, and the Oversight Committee on Customs Modernization and Tariff Act to conduct a probe on the possible violations of Republic Act (RA) 10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act (CMTA). While the duties and taxes of the 105 containers have been paid, BoC authorities believed that the declared contents of such containers were grossly undervalued, said Suansing on the shipments with more than P69 million total amount of duties. Negros Occidental Rep. Alfredo Benitez expressed dismay over the incident following the P6.4 billion shabu smuggling that happened at the BoC in the past. BoC Deputy Commissioner Noel Patrick Prudente told lawmakers the alert orders were issued manually because the response to the lodging of entry was slow, citing that they processed 6,000 entries a day on average. But Surigao del Sur Rep. Prospero Pichay and Suansing found Prudentes reasoning unacceptable.It will not even justify because even if its down, even if it is slow, you should not do it manually, Pichay said. I dont believe what Prudente was telling that the system was slow on all these dates. The 22 alerts corresponding to 105 containers were all manual alerts kung lahat manual alerts, [the next question is] who requested these alert orders? Only Commissioner Lapena, or his chief of staff Gladys Rosales could answer this, Suansing said. If it was electronic alert, this will not happen, said Suansing on the manual alerts were issued from January 31 to second week of March 2018. Lapena earlier said the 105 shipping containers require examination of the contents before their release. With the alleged help of brokers and ATI, Lapena said the officers of the corporations all connived to secure the release of the containers from ATI premises without the necessary examination. Lapena said that majority of 105 containers covered by the alert order had been released by ATI allegedly without an order that lifted the alert order from the BoC.
Guwahati, May 29 (IBNS): Nine people, who were badly injured in a road mishap, remained stranded for three days in a remote village in Mizoram before finally being rescued.

The accident took place between Ngampabung and Phulpui of Pherzawl district in Mizoram on May 24, when a Bolero vehicle fell down at least 300 metres as a landslide hit the road. Nine people were injured in the accident.

Those involved in the accident were on their way to Phulpui village to attend a funeral service.

But since then the injured people remained stranded in the village where the basic medical facilities were not available for their first aid.

According to reports, one of the victims broke his ribs and had injuries in the head and nose and another had a broken arm.

The victims were identified as Vanlalnghak (driver of Ngampabung), Lalkulsang (Ngampabung), Laldawnglien (Ngampabung), Upa Lalumpui (Ngampabung), Rorelsang (Kangreng), Nehemia (Phulpui), Ringum (Ngampabung), Lalchawisang (Ngampabung) and Lalbiekthang (Ngampabung).

It has been alleged that the district administration has not taken any measures to transport the injured persons to the nearest hospital in Jiribam, about 234 km from the village.

The reports said finally, the administration of Vangai Sub-Division had rescued them from the remote village and provided basic medical facilities.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath, Guwahati)
Kolkata, May 29 (IBNS): The youth wing of West Bengal's ruling party Trinamool Congress on Tuesday hit the streets of Kolkata to protest the fuel price hike for 15 consecutive days across the country.

The protest was led by All India Trinamool Youth Congress (AITYC) president and Lok Sabha MP Abhishek Banerjee.

Interacting with a local news channel, Abhishek said: "Petrol and diesel prices are rising everyday. This hurts the transport facilities. The central government is taking all anti-people steps."

He has also warned that the TMC will take the agitation to the national capital, New Delhi.

Several veteran party leaders like Partha Chatterjee and Sovandeb Chattopadhyay were also present at the rally.

The fuel prices in the country has already crossed Rs. 80 per litre, creating discomfort for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which rules the central government.

The fuel price had risen for last sixteen days.

West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday lashed out at the ruling BJP over the fuel price hike.

She tweeted, "Fuel prices are increasing again and again. All are being badly affected: agriculture, transport and common people are being forced to bear burden. In spite of the grim situation, why isn't the Central Govt taking any serious steps to find a solution ? They need to act"

Fuel prices are increasing again and again. All are being badly affected: agriculture, transport and common people are being forced to bear burden. In spite of the grim situation, why isn't the Central Govt taking any serious steps to find a solution ? They need to act  Mamata Banerjee (@MamataOfficial) May 28, 2018

The government is likely to call a meeting to find a solution to the price hike.

BJP president and Rajya Sabha MP, Amit Shah, on last Tuesday, assured that the government will come up with a solution within two to three days.

(Images by Subhodeep Sardar)
Guwahati, May 29 (IBNS): As a part of Betrayal Day observed by All India Congress Committee (AICC) against Modi governments failure to control fuel price, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Tuesday took out a bicycle rally in Guwahati.

Former Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, APCC president and Rajya Sabha MP Ripun Bora, party leaders, workers and supporters also took part in the protest rally.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee reminded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP's 2014 Lok Sabha election slogan 'Bahut hui mehangai ki maar, ab ki baar BJP ki sarkar'.

The protest was led by APCC president Ripun Bora and over 1000 party workers participated in the protest rally.

APCC president and MP Ripun Bora said that, Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) on Tuesday took out a bicycle rally to protest against the Union governments failure to control fuel price.

In past four years Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government is totally failed in all rounds of corner. So APCC has observed Vishwasghat Diwas (the day of betrayal) against four years of BJPs misrule, Ripun Bora said.

On the other hand, former Assam Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Tarun Gogoi said that, prices of petrol and diesel rise every day.

Crude oil price in international market has come down, but petrol-diesel price in India rises every day. People had voted him (Prime Minister Narendra Modi), but he betrayed the people of the country, Gogoi said.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)




Guwahati, May 29 (IBNS): Union Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday arrived at Dimapur while on her maiden visit to the Armys Spear Corps Zone in Nagaland.

At Dimapur, the Union Defence Minister was briefed by Lieutenant General Gopal R, AVSM, SM, General Officer Commanding Spear Corps on the progress of operations of the Corps which include counter terrorist as well as border management operations on the Indo-Myanmar Border in the North East States.

On May 30, Nirmala Sitharaman will depart for forward areas of Nagaland along the Indo-Myanmar Border.

Kohima based Defence PRO Colonel Chiranjeet Konwer said that, the Defence Minister will undertake a detailed assessment of the Border Guarding operations undertaken by Spear Corps and interact with officers and troops of the Assam Rifles operating along the border so as to make a first hand assessment of the security situation there.

During this visit to the forward areas, the Defence Minister will also meet and interact with the local people at these locations.

After having visited the forward areas, Nirmala Sitharaman will revert to Delhi in the evening on the same day.

(Reporting by Hemanta Kumar Nath)
New Delhi, May 30 (IBNS) Former President Pranab Mukherjee has reportedly accepted an invitation from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the ideological patron of the ruling Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to attend a key function of the organisation at the headquarters of the Sangh in Nagpur, triggering a political firestorm and speculations.

Many Congress leaders have expressed surprise and dismay in the decision of Mukherjee, who all through has been seen as a secular leader representing the Congress party at the decision making level.

While Congress has not yet officially remarked on the decision of Mukherjee, it is clear that the latter is eyeing a role independent of his political past since 1969 when he was elected to the Rajya Sabha with the support of later prime minister Indira Gandhi, his political mentor.

According to media reports, some Congress leaders have urged him to reconsider his decision to attend a function of the saffron outfit which has always been denounced as a communal force by Mukherjee's party and allegedly the former President himself.

Mukherjee is reportedly going to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of the Tritiya Varsh Varg or third-year course of the RSS recruits on June 7. He will address the new recruits too, said reports.

Reports quoted RSS sources saying that even Mahatma Gandhi and Jaiprakash Narayan had attended functions of the RSS and India's first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru had also invited it to participate in Republic Day parade in 1963 for its social work.

Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari told reporters: Mukherjees acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good."

Mukherjee, who is often described as the best Congress prime minister that India never had, had documented how he was denied the position in 2004, in his book The Coalition Years.

"I returned with a vague impression that she [Sonia Gandhi] might wish to consider Manmohan Singh as the UPA presidential nominee. I thought that if she selected Singh for the presidential office, she may choose me as the prime minister. I had heard a rumour that she had given this formulation serious thought while on a holiday in the Kaushambi Hills," he had written.

Following the assassination of Indira Gandhi, he was sidelined for a period after he fell out with Rajiv Gandhi. But he later bounced back and later became close to Sonia Gandhi who took over the reigns of the Congress after Rajiv's assassination.

According to an NDTV report, many politicians across party lines have confirmed that "the 82-year-old is playing a significant role in bringing non-Congress, non-BJP leaders together to form an alternative front ahead of 2019."


Islamabad, May 29 (IBNS): A joint venture by former Pakistani spy chief Asad Durrani with his Indian counterpart AS Dulat, a former RAW chief, has landed him in the soup, as he now finds himself on the country's Exit-Control List.

Durrani, the former boss of Inter-Services Intelligence, reportedly co-authored a book with Dulat, the ex-chief of Research and Analysis Wing, the Indian's premier spy network.

The book titled 'The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace' contains chapters about a host of major issues concerning India and Pakistan, including Kashmir, the Kargil operation, the US Navy SEALs operation in Abbottabad to kill Osama bin Laden, Indian national Kulbushan Jadhav's arrest by Pakistan, Mumbai terror mastermind Hafiz Saeed and noted Kashmiri militant Burhan Wani.

It has reportedly upset Islamabad, which has chosen to bar Durrani from leaving Pakistan.

The same was confirmed by Pakistani military spokesperson Major General Asif Ghafoor via a tweet on Monday.

He further stated that a formal enquiry has been initiated.

"Lt Gen Asad Durrani, Retired was called at GHQ today to explain his position on recently launched book Spy Chronicles. A formal Court of Inquiry headed by a serving Lt Gen has been ordered to probe the matter in detail. Competent authority approached to place his name on ECL," Ghafoor's tweet read.
Have we reached the pedestal to call the current refugee crisis one of the worst humanitarian emergencies of our existence? I reckon we have. Refugees are now an essential part of our shared economy. It's a different thing that we don't deem them to be.

With thousands of people setting off on an endless voyage that's only taking them far away from their homes, there isn't much that can be said and done to keep them safe during the journey.

After this picture of a toddler who offered food to the journalist went viral on social media, many are questioning whether this is more of a test for us than refugees who are migrating. Maybe God has put us to test to see whether or not we help them, whether or not we lend our hands to those in trouble and pull them out of their misery.

Twitter user HumbledMedic shared a picture of a toddler sitting in a white and pink frock. The toddler who can be seen extending her hand and food isn't someone who gets to eat and feast every day - these people are living at the mercy of camps.

A journalist came to take a picture and she offered him food, thinking he was hungry.

The most beautiful picture of humanity for a refugee girl.

Tonight when you break your fast, can I request you make a special dua for all those children out there suffering in the wars.

 pic.twitter.com/U6wbAWrqAN   (@humbledmedic) May 27, 2018

Yet, when the journalist approached her to take a picture, she offered him food.

The picture is a bitter-sweet depiction of how unadulterated minds function before people, surroundings, society plants the seeds of hatred and evil. Following the picture, many have replied on Twitter stating that they will keep her in their prayers or whether it is more of a test for us than it is for them.

1.

Maybe it's more of a test for us than it is for them?  pic.twitter.com/BC7wL8wRU8   (@humbledmedic) May 28, 2018

2.

May we be kinder to one another and not turn a blind eye to those in need. The children show us the way..I wish we would listen.  Kim Salsman (@KimSalsman) May 28, 2018

3.

I WISH I CAN ADOPT THEM.  WanSthabitah (@wanchabitah) May 28, 2018

4.

Broke my heart   SANTI (@syantyis) May 27, 2018

5.

Allahu akkabar. May Almighty Allah have mercy on them ameen.  Dauran (@DauranAminu) May 27, 2018

The war, which now seems to be an endless debacle sure to take our world down in flames is at its peak, killing many families on daily basis. Can we really do nothing?
In Hindi film industry, rumors of two actresses indulging into cat-fight have been frequent. It is often said that not everyone can the success of their contemporaries in a healthy way. Considering how there is a cut-throat and intense competition in the film industry, actors easily succumb to their own insecurities.

But today, it's a pleasant change to see how female-lead films are ending up becoming a huge success and actors today, have started rooting for each other. One such example is how Kangana Ranaut took Alia Bhatt's phenomenal success for Raazi.

Agencies

Kangana was interacting with media after stepping out of a suburban multiplex after watching Alia Bhatt starrer Raazi on Monday in Mumbai.

Agencies

Raazi entered the 100-crore club yesterday and it's the first female-oriented film that has managed to garner this level of success. The audience can't get over the performance and people can't stop praising Meghna Gulzar for making the film.

Agencies

Kangana too was bowled over with Alia's performance. She said,

I really liked Raazi. It was awesome. Meghna (Gulzar) did a splendid job with the film. I have no words to express the performance of Alia (Bhatt) in the film. She is so good in the film. Meghna and Alia invited me to the trial of their film but I couldnt attend it because I was busy shooting for my film, then I promised them that I will watch the film soon. I am going to send Alia a congratulatory message for her film. I think Alia is most definitely the undisputed queen. Its Alias world and we are just living in it.

Actor Kangana Ranaut, who is busy shooting for Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi on Monday confirmed that the film will release this year.

Twitter

There were several rumors around the release date of the film and some reports even claimed that the film will hit theatre screens in April this year but now the release date of the period drama has been pushed further.

On the delay in its release, Kangana said,

If you see, we started shooting of Manikarnika in the month of May last year and now its been only one year since we started shooting. We launched the film in Varanasi on May 5 and we started shooting for it in June-July last year. I think when you make a film on huge scale, then it normally takes one or one and half year but I can say that this year we will be able to release the film.

The film also stars Pavitra Rishta actress Ankita Lokhande, Bengali actor Jisshu Sengupta, and Sonu Sood. The film is also being co-produced by Kangana.


The resident of Mosul, both east and west, have their lives devastated as three-year occupation of the so-called Islamic State have left them with ultimately no life to live. Now, things have changed as IS has been dragged out of the city and the residents are gathering the broken pieces of their lives to mark a new start.

And pontoon bridge has become a help in their cause as the temporary structure, known as the Victory Bridge, is the only crossing over the Tigris River in the city itself which connects the residents of East and West Mosul.

Reuters

All other bridges, which were once the lifeline of both parts of the city got destroyed in the war. With Mosul once again back in government hands, hundreds of people stream over each day

Other bridges, including the landmark Iron Bridge, were wrecked in nine months of urban warfare which saw Iraqi government forces fight the militant street-by-street and house-by-house. With Mosul back in government hands, hundreds of people stream over each day to check homes in the devastated west side, salvage belongings or find a place to stay in the east.

With Mosul of IS hands, the devastated residents now worried about their future which looks bleak. Residents of Mosul, most of them have lost their houses to the air strikes by the US and now they struggle to pay rents in left over accommodations.

Safwan al-Habar, 48, who has a house in al-Zinjili district, had spent a morning seeking help for a particularly alarming problem -- Islamic State had booby-trapped his house. Two bombs attached to each other with wire. If you put your leg on it, it will explode," he said.

"Do you know anyone who can remove it?" he asked. "Every day I go to the military and every day they say come back tomorrow. I am in a mess. I'm paying rent but I want to go home."

AFP

The bridge, however, was constructed by the military for their own use, but people are using it. Taxis halt on the east side about half a km (mile) away for soldiers to check papers. Another man, Mirsur Dannon Hassan, 53, said his house had been destroyed in an air strike.

"I don't have a salary. I need help to rebuild it," he said.

He was living in rented accommodation with his wife, five daughters and son in the east but the landlord had just increased the rent from $100 per month to $200.

They said life was miserable under Islamic State, also known as Dash, which seized Mosul in July 2014 and declared it the capital of a self-styled caliphate spanning parts of Iraq and Syria.
If you own an Audi car, you never want to give it away. In some cases even if you have sold it. At least, it has happened in Delhi Where an engineer stole back the carr that he sold a few days ago.

According to police, the accused, identified as Manoj Singhal, managed to drive it away by using a duplicate key just after taking the final cheque from the victim near the zoo.

Singhal has been arrested from his hometown, Kashipur, in Uttarakhand and the car has been seized, said DCP (southeast) Chinmoy Biswal.

On March 15, Sarfarazuddin complained at the Hazrat Nizamuddin police station that his Audi, parked near the zoo, was stolen while he had gone to meet Singhal.

afp/representational image

Sarfarazuddin, who had planned to rent it out to a cab operator, had contacted Singhal from an advertisement and the deal was fixed at Rs 17,50,000. The victim took the car after paying Rs 50,000 in cash and then transferred Rs 14 lakh online. The car was to be transferred in his name after the final payment of Rs 3 lakh.

On the day of the incident, the victim gave Singhal a blank cheque and asked him to transfer the ownership. However, on returning to the parking spot, he found the car missing. On approaching Singhal again, he was threatened and told not to call again.

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When Singhal got to know about the police case, he withdrew Rs 6 lakh using Sarfarazuddins blank cheque and registered a counter case against the victim, saying that the cheque was dishonoured by the bank. He also tried to prove that the car was stolen by Sarfarazuddin himself.

The police statrted suspecting Singhal following some contradictory statements. He had also refused to join the investigations second time, citing personal reasons. He has been charged with theft and criminal breach of trust.
A South Korean expert in managing traffic will be one of the guests during a forum on Intelligent Transport System to be hosted by the Metro Manila Development Authority in Pasay City on Thursday. Dr. Kim Wan Jib, of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, will present their Transportation Operation and Information Service (TOPIS), an integrated traffic management center that operates and manages Seouls traffic situation, along with its challenges and achievements since its inception. TOPIS, the control tower of Seoul Citys comprehensive traffic system, gathers a wide variety of traffic information from Bus Management System, current traffic situation from Transport Card System, and other sources. Real-time information are processed by the control tower and provided to traffic facility users and public transportation information managers operating buses, subway trains, parking facilities, among others. The forum will also cover Smart City Projects and Strategies of Seoul, South Koreas capital and largest metropolis recognized as one of the smartest, most connected city in the world. Technologies that make Seoul among the Smartest Cities in the World will be presented during the event. Guests of the forum, which will be held from 8:30 am to 1 pm at the SMX Convention Center Hall 4 of SM Mall of Asia, will discuss and determine on how Metro Manila can solve or lessen the worsening traffic situation. The event will also help how Metro Manila residents can get advanced facilities to improve their way of life. MMDA chairman Danilo Lim, who marked his first year in office last May 23, is set to welcome participants and guests gracing the event.Quezon City Rep. Winston Castelo, head of the committee on Metropolitan Manila Development at the House of Representatives, is expected to attend and deliver his inspirational message to all the participants. We are now looking into new and innovative solutions to address Metro Manilas growing transportation needs and traffic problems brought by the increasing number of vehicles. May this forum serve as venue for us to promote exchanges in finding new ideas and well-designed technology tools that can benefit government agencies and the public, said Lim. Lim, who is tasked to deliver metro-wide services to 16 cities and one municipality in the National Capital Region, is also pushing for the creation of Mega Manila that will carry a new charter of development and governance. According to Lim, Metro Manilas road traffic congestion has been plaguing the capital region for decades. The top reasons behind the traffic problems affecting Metro Manila are: increasing number of private vehicles, inadequate road infrastructure, and lack of efficient public transportation vehicles. A recent Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) study said that the Philippines is losing P3.5 billion a day due to the worsening traffic in Metro Manila. Lim believes that traffic problems can be solved, with forceful implementation of the traffic laws, and with discipline and cooperation of all stakeholders.
Unpaid bills in hospitals can lead to a lot of problems for the kin of the deceased - like their loved one's body becoming a 'hostage' with the hospital until the due amount is cleared. However, arranging funds can become a challenge for the family and can take time. To avoid this painful ordeal a draft advisory has been made. Hospitals cannot hold patients "hostage" to extract money for unpaid bills, the Delhi High Court today told a premier private city hospital for allegedly withholding custody of a patient over outstanding dues.

Denouncing this "modus operandi" of withholding custody of patients, a bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Deepa Sharma said if the bills are not paid, then release the patient. "If bills not paid, then release the patient. You cannot keep patients hostage. That cannot be the modus operandi.

reuters

"Even if dues are outstanding, custody of patients cannot be withheld to extract money towards unpaid bills (of the hospital). We deprecate this practice," the court told Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in central Delhi.

The court directed the hospital to prepare the discharge summary of the patient and allowed his son, the petitioner, to remove his father forthwith from the hospital. Senior Standing Counsel of Delhi government Rahul Mehra said that several hospitals do behave in this manner. The ruling came in a habeas corpus plea moved by the son of the patient, a former Madhya Pradesh policeman who was admitted in the hospital for treatment in February, reported PTI.

The ex-cop was suffering from enterocutaneous fistula, which occurs in the intestinal tract due to which contents of the stomach or intestines leak through to the skin. The treatment includes surgery. The patient's son had alleged that the hospital was holding his father hostage to extract money from him towards outstanding dues of Rs 13.45 lakh, an amount that he has disputed.

He had also alleged that the hospital was not giving proper treatment to his father and when he sought to take him away, it did not allow him to do so. The hospital opposed the petitioner's contentions and claimed that he had raised the grievance as the patient was shifted to the general ward from private ward due to non- payment of dues. It said the total bill was of Rs 16.75 lakh and the petitioner had only paid Rs 3.3 lakh.

Despite the outstanding dues, a surgery was carried out on the patient on April 21 after being shifted to the general ward, the hospital said. The petitioner said the surgery was carried out after he had lodged a police complaint on April 20.
On Tuesday, rainfall hit Kerala three days before its scheduled arrival, says the India Meteorological Department (IMD). The onset of monsoon over the southern state marks the commencement of the four-month long rainy season in the country. Read More

Here are the top news of the day:

2. Brave Man Gets Awarded For Saving Two Minor Girls From Becoming Human Sacrifice

One of the girls was 11-years-old and the other was 8-year-old. The two were kidnapped from Maharashtra and were brought to Surat with the intention of being used as sacrificial offerings. Read More

3. Locals, Visitors Suffer As Shimla Runs Out Of Water During Peak Tourist Season

Shimla, a major tourist spot is facing a tough time as it continues to remain without water for more than a week now. Many small hotels and tour operators are experiencing cancellations of their already booked rooms as the acute water crisis has entered the second week. Read More

4. 19-year-Old Girl Jumps Off A Moving Taxi After Driver Tries To 'Befriend' Her, Asks For Her Phone Number

A 19-year-old woman alleged that the driver of a cab in which she was returning home, asked for her phone number following which she jumped off the vehicle in order to save herself, the police said on Monday. The incident was reported from southwest Delhi's Cantonment area. Read More

5. Marked To Be Cut For Metro Construction, This Is How Bengaluru Gave New Home To 108 Trees

After some serious efforts and negotiations Nishanth was able to convince the BBMP and the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to spare the trees, instead, he proposed to transplant them to a new location, away from the construction. Read More

6. Video Of Kashmiri Sikh Waking Up Muslims For Ramzan Fast Is Winning Hearts All Over

A video clip has gone viral in which an unidentified elderly Sikh man seems to have taken the responsibility of waking up his Muslim neighbours in Jammu and Kashmirs Pulwama district for Sehri -- pre-dawn Ramzan meal. Read More
Indians are working in high-risk places in Afghanistan, they often fall prey to the attacks by armed groups fighting amongst each other. In a similar incident, seven Indian engineers were taken hostage by the Taliban, who thought that they were Afghan government officials.

The external affairs ministry said in New Delhi it is in touch with authorities in Afghanistan and is ascertaining the details of the incident.

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The Taliban terrorists abducted the Indians, working for Maharashtra-based company KEC, and their Afghan driver early this morning in Bagh-e-Shamal area of the provincial capital Pul-e-Khomre, TOLOnews reported, citing officials.

According to the Associated Press, the seven Indian nationals were electrical engineers. The company employees were abducted while they were travelling to the area where KEC has a contract to operate an electricity sub-station, the Afghan news channel reported.

Baghlan governor Abdulhai Nemati said the Taliban group took the engineers hostage and moved them to the Dand-e-Shahabuddin area of Pul-e-Khumri city, according to the report.

TOI

It quoted Nemati as saying that the Afghan authorities spoke with the Taliban via local people and the terror group said it had abducted them, believing they were government employees.

No group has, however, claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Nemati said they are trying to get the abductees released through tribe elders and mediation.

In response to queries, the external affairs ministry spokesperson said, "We are aware of the abduction of Indian nationals from Baghlan province in Afghanistan. We are in contact with the Afghan authorities and further details are being ascertained."

Harsh Goenka, the chairman of the RPG Enterprises, the parent company of KEC, said he has requested external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj to help rescue its employees.

TOI

"Request @SushmaSwaraj and Ministry of External Affairs to help rescue 7 of our managers from the kidnapping in Afghanistan.#KEC," Goenka tweeted.

KEC, a global infrastructure engineering, procurement and construction major, is one of the largest Indian companies in Afghanistan.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered recognition of Taliban insurgents as a legitimate political group on Wednesday as part of a proposed political process that could lead to talks aimed at ending more than 16 years of war.

The offer, made at the start of an international conference aimed at creating a platform for peace talks, adds to a series of signals from both the Western-backed government and the Taliban suggesting a greater willingness to consider dialogue.

AFP

Ghani proposed a ceasefire and a release of prisoners. He also said he would be ready to accept a review of the constitution as part of a pact with the Taliban, who have so far refused to accept direct talks with the government in Kabul.

The government offers peace negotiations to the Taliban without any conditions, Ghani said in opening remarks to the conference attended by officials from around 25 countries involved in the so called Kabul Process.

The comments represented a significant shift for Ghani, who in the past has regularly called the Taliban terrorists and rebels although he has also offered to talk with parts of the movement that accepted peace.

Reuters

The Taliban, fighting to restore Islamic rule after their 2001 ouster by US-led troops, have offered to begin talks with the United States but have so far refused direct talks with Kabul. It was unclear whether they would be prepared to shift their stance, despite growing international pressure.

Ghani said a political framework for peace negotiations should be created with a ceasefire and the Taliban recognised as a legitimate political group with an official political office.

In return, the movement would have to recognise the Afghan government and respect the rule of law. In addition, Taliban prisoners could be released and their names removed from international blacklists, while security arrangements could be made for Taliban agreeing to join a process of reconciliation. Former fighters and refugees could be reintegrated and provided with jobs.

Reuters

The United States last year stepped up its military assistance to Afghanistan, notably through a sharp increase in air strikes, with the aim of breaking a stalemate with the insurgents and forcing them to the negotiating table.

While the US military says the strategy has hit the Taliban hard, they still control or contest much of the country and continue to inflict severe casualties on Afghan forces. They also claimed responsibility for two major attacks in Kabul last month that killed or wounded hundreds of civilians.
Where artificial intelligence is concerned, many are justifiably wary of how the technology could affect the job economy. After all, when automated robots can do a job more efficiently and for cheaper than humans, why employ humans at all?

However, it seems that sentiment is not something Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella agrees with. In an interview with the Sunday Telegraph, he insisted that robots would never render people completely jobless, even in a runaway artificial intelligence scenario.

Instead of debating whether or not we need to use AI, Nadella instead believes the conversation needs to be about using it ethically. What I think needs to be done in 2018 is more dialogue around the ethics, the principles that we can use for the engineers and companies that are building AI, so that the choices we make don't cause us to create systems with bias, Nadella said in the interview. That's the tangible thing we should be working on.

In fact, thats something Microsoft is already looking at. According to MITs Technology Review, the company is building a to automatically identify bias in various machine learning algorithms. If it works correctly, it could help address a major issue that keeps AI researchers up at night.

Of course, we cant expect perfection, says Rich Caruna, a senior researcher working on the anti-bias tool. There's always going to be some bias undetected or that can't be eliminated. The goal is to do as well as we can.
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The Philippine National Police anti-criminality campaign, particularly in illegal drugs war, is expected to be boosted with the addition of 130 patrol vehicles which Korean government has donated to the law enforcement agency. The 130 patrol vehicles which was donated by the Korea International Cooperation Agency was turned over to PNP chief Oscar Albayalde by Korean Ambassador Han Dong-Man and Commissioner General of Korea National Police Agency Lee Chul-Sung. The Korean vehicles consisting of 49 units of Hyundai Elantra and 81 units of Starex Van were personally witnessed by Albayalde during a simple turnover rites held at Camp Tomas Karingal in Quezon City. Albayalde said the latest addition to police mobility will be equally distributed to the Directorate for Investigation and Detection Management, Criminal Investigation and Detective Group, Anti-kidnapping Group, Anti-Cybercrime Group, and National Capital Region Police Office. He said police offices in Angeles City, the cities in Cebu, Lapu-Lapu, Mandaue, Davao and Baguio, which has sizeable Korean communities, will also be provided with the patrol vehicles to enhance the PNPs anti-criminality and police visibility campaign. Aside from using the new vehicles to help solve crimes in the country, Albayalde said the vehicles will also be used to intercept high-mobile criminal syndicates who prey on their would-be victims at random, especially among Korean traders and their families. As a gesture of gratituted to the Korean government, Albayalde said the vehicles will help solve cases involving Korean nationals, including the killing of Jee Ick-Joo inside Camp Crame days after he was kidnapped in Angeles City in October 2016. What the Korean Ambassador had asked the PNP was the resolution of cases involving Korean nationals. We promised the Ambassador that we will exert our best efforts in order to resolve these cases, Albayalde said.The PNP chief also promised to the Korean Ambassador that the PNP will take care of the donated patrol vehicles which will be issued to the personnel piloting it to ensure proper maintenance and handling. Recently, a Korean touristKim Woon Oh, was kidnapped and shot dead in a forested area in North Caloocan by still unidentified gunmen. Albayalde said the donated patrol vehicles still fall short of the needed patrol car the PNP has in its inventory. The casualties in the government anti-illegal drugs Meanwhile, the PNP said the war on drugs has so far claimed the lives of 4,279 drug suspects while 140 others were arrested since President Rodrigo Duterte started the campaign to eradicate the drug menace in 2016. The latest update of the governments battle against illegal drugs was presented during the second year anniversary of the #RealNumbersPH in Camp Crame on Tuesday. Statistics show that 28 more drug suspects have been killed in the last weeks of police operation, bringing the total number of drugs suspects killed to 4,2799. In the same tally, it reported that 143,335 drug personalities were arrested in 99,485 on separate operations from July 1, 2016 to May 15, 2018, representing a 0.89 percent increase or 1,266 drugs suspects nabbed from July 1, 2016 to April 30, 201.
LOSS MITIGATION COSTS EXTENSION

A loss mitigation costs extension protects an insured against costs and expenses they might incur in working to mitigate the effects of a fact, circumstance, act, error or omission that would otherwise result in a claim under the policy. One broker asked whether it remains common for loss mitigation costs to be an optional extension under D&C PI policies or whether common practice is now to include this cover automatically.

Kym Beazleigh: Certainly, from our perspective, we would see it as just an extension of the policy. Where we have seen some challenges historically as an insurer is where people have gone off and thought that the loss mitigation cover simply meant that they had the right to go up the sub-limit of the mitigation costs, thinking they could just go and spend that money as they saw fit, then later on saying, Could you please reimburse us for these costs?

I think a good professional indemnity design and construction wording would have loss mitigation costs as a standard extension. I also think the key is making sure the extension is clear in its intent as to how it operates, and also making it clear that you still need to obtain the consent of the insurer to incur those costs.

Michael Joseph: This is something that I think insureds and brokers dont understand all that well. It comes back to educating the client about the design and construction policy to start with, and ensuring that the client understands what a claim is and what a claim isnt under the policy.

We have situations  and Ive seen this numerous times  where clients will get a request to fix something on the project. Theyll do that, and then theyll come back later on and ask for a cheque from the insurer. It causes issues, and for us, its all about being proactive with the insured to start with, explaining that loss mitigation to them.

Andrew Moore: There is a requirement to get consent to incur the costs with respect to a reasonable mitigation solution. Its actually a process which, by involving the insurer, can be a lot simpler, and costs allocation is a great example of this. When we have these scenarios involving a claim under mitigation loss cover thats an afterthought, you end up with basically this massive pot of costs, which can be very hard to try to unpick.

Carly Robinson: Evaluating costs incurred after the fact can be di cult and complicated. In my experience, if costs are incurred without insurers consent, one of the key issues is determining if the costs are reasonable, and there can often be disagreement on this point. When insurers are involved early, we can adopt a proactive approach and work towards a solution. That solution can tap into valuable information and resources, which the insured can use to reach the best outcome in mitigating the issue at hand.

OVERLAPPING COVERAGES

There are two other key policies generally always in place on a construction project with which PI coverage can overlap  a contract works policy and general liability coverage.

Contact works policies

Andrew Moore: The contract works policy will typically cover multiple insureds. It will cover, generally, the head contractor, all of the subcontractors, all of the sub-consultants [and] all of their onsite activities. It covers damage to the project, which is defined as insured property, and its only for the period of construction and any maintenance period.

Property damage means different things in a first-party contract works sense to a third-party liability sense. In a contract works policy, it is any damage, so any physical alterations which impair the use of the insured properties, which is the works. Property damage in a general liability/third-party liability sense is something else. It is damage to third-party property or it is personal injury. Its not, for example, damage to the building youre designing and constructing or the manufacturing plant you design and construct  thats regarded as pure economic loss.

So, its important not to think property damage under a contract works policy is the same concept as property damage under a PI or a general liability policy.

General liability policies

Andrew Moore: They cover third-party damage to third-party property and personal injury. Theyve got a faulty products exclusion in there, theyve got faulty design and workmanship exclusions, but looking at the professional liability or breach of professional duty exclusion in that policy  and with quite a lot of policies, particularly some of the manuscript GL wordings  therell be a write-back of that professional services exclusion for property damage and personal injury.

So youve now got a scenario, if youve got one of those write-backs and theres been property damage, and this is damage to third party or personal injury, its not necessarily out because it arose from a professional service. A good example might be down on Clarence Street, youre designing and constructing a glass facade. Theres an error in the design [and] that facade shatters. The general liability policy covers property damage and personal injuries, so to the extent that thats fallen on cars and people and theres a write-back on the professional services exclusion, you can look to that policy for cover.

CLIENT EDUCATION

Each panellist stressed the importance of brokers properly educating their clients as to what falls within a design and construction professional indemnity policy.

Michael Joseph: Design and construction contractors sometimes forget that even though theyre subcontracting out elements of their work, theyre still going to be liable under the contract in most cases, and the principal will more than likely come after them if there is an issue. We see a lot of claims where subcontractors have actually [made] that initial error and its caused the head contractor the loss there.

The issue we have, particularly in the mid-market space, with these sorts of clients  and brokers as well who dont understand design and construct  is they have that feeling that essentially subcontracting out those sorts of elements reduces that exposure, and its really not the case. I know insurers have the ability to subrogate, but theres a lot of reliance around what PI policy that contractor may have in place. Also, its unlikely that that subrogation will result in full recovery.

Some things we look for to counteract that element a little bit tend to be limitation of liability clauses under policies. This particular clause will essentially ensure that if there is a subcontracting situation with a particular professional service, and that contractor limits their liability back to our insured, the policy wont be affected by that and, effectively, at the time of subrogation, the insurers wont rely on that subrogation clause and wont limit their liability in terms of how much they will pay.

Jeffrey Gray: Insurance is all about balance-sheet protection  we all know that. Contractors always want to look to recover any losses that they fortuitously incur. I think its an incumbent requirement for brokers, especially in this type of area, to clearly enunciate whats specifically not covered.

In my career, Ive noticed often that people get into trouble, dont put their hand up, try to bat their way out of it, and then, as a last resort, they look at insurance instead of that being their first point of call for circumstances which may give rise to a claim. I think thats really the brokers role  to alert the contractor to the necessity of always being transparent in conveying anything that occurs so that you can get professional advice straight away.

A lot of you will get clients who get themselves into a big bit of trouble before you hear about it. Id recommend that you become proactive when youre talking to them about this type of insurance [so that they] know they have to come to you a lot earlier than they have in the past [and] its not going to inconvenience you if they put their hand up and say, I have a problem. I think most insurers these days would say, Yes, well give you half an hour and well talk about it and see if we can direct you.

Carly Robinson: I agree that that early engagement piece is very important. From my perspective, [its important to] obtain the necessary information early on to understand how the loss arises and if its connected  identifying if there are any gaps in cover or coverage issues early in the piece and communicating that early to the broker and the insured.

Im a big believer in open communication and letting you know about any issues that I see in a claim. I want to ensure that there are no surprises from anyones perspective so that you can work to manage the insureds expectations of our position and any issues that weve seen early in the piece.

POSTSCRIPT

After the session eded, both attendees and panelists shared some final thoughts

Henry Clark, Honan Insurance Group: There are grey areas in interpretation around which policy should respond in the event of a claim. I guess its ultimately up to the insured to make the right decision about which policy they should be claiming on to make sure they achieve the best result.

Michael Joseph, Austbrokers Cyber Pro: [The market is] becoming a bit more di cult. Insurers are looking at things a lot closer. So, as a broker, its about being on the forefront, looking at new providers in the market, because you can never count anyone out. Essentially, for us, its about working with new partners and seeing what each has to offer.

Andrew Moore, Wotton + Kearney: A key theme that came out of this morning was the importance of an open and transparent discussion that happens early on in the piece. Nine times out of 10, whenever theres a problem with insurance on a construction project, its because theres been a lack of communication and a lack of collaboration. Insurers have been through this many times before, and often theyve got a lot of value to add to the process.

Kym Beazleigh, Allied World Insurance: The construction industry has always been a cornerstone of the Australian economy  never more so than during this current residential and infrastructure boom. Im excited by the opportunity to continue to support our brokers and clients through our suite of three professional indemnity primary wordings and claims support.
However, non-employing businesses such as sole traders, proprietors, members of partnerships and contractors are generally ineligible for workers compensation insurance and therefore need to consider personal accident or group personal accident insurance.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 201617, there were nearly 1.5m non-employing businesses in Australia, McDowell says. So there are a vast number of small and medium-sized enterprises who are not covered by workers compensation policies. In addition, a recent National Australia Bank white paper revealed that SMEs now contribute over 55% of Australias GDP.

When key personnel in SMEs are involved in an accident or experience a serious health issue, there can be serious impacts to their income and their family, McDowell says. There can also be flow-on effects throughout the community. Personal accident insurance works to protect the policyholders income and what matters most to them, as well as providing the support that enables them to get back to what they do best as quickly as possible.

Personal accident insurance is designed to cover an insureds income if they are temporarily unable to work due to an accident, and you can also choose to include cover for illnesses as well, with personal accident and sickness insurance, which would pay you the same benefit if you fell ill and were unable to earn your regular income, McDowell says.

Companies can also consider group personal accident insurance, he adds. GPA can cover employees 24 hours a day, seven days a week, meaning it covers staff outside of work hours. GPA can also provide additional coverage to act as a top-up for workers compensation policies. It can also be compulsory in enterprise bargaining agreements across all industry sectors.

Claims activity

In terms of the most common claims AHI sees for personal accident insurance, McDowell says musculoskeletal or upper extremity injuries top the list.

Over the last five years, AHI has seen an average of 13% of claims benefits paid relating to accidents resulting in death, which highlights the importance of SMEs taking out personal accident policies to ensure their families are protected if the worst occurs, he says.

As the statistics show, mental illness is a fast-growing problem, so brokers should be asking if their clients are covered - Chris McDowell, Accident and Health International

McDowell adds that the large majority of the illness claims AHI sees come from cardiac or cancer-related illnesses. Year-on-year, these illness claims amount to an average of 25% of AHIs claims, he says. In 2017,

AHIs data showed that the average time off work for personal accident and/ or sickness insurance claims was 29 weeks. However, many claims ran for up to two years.

The impact of these accidents and illnesses on the claimants, who are often the sole person running their business and also often the breadwinner in their family, can be highly detrimental, McDowell says. If the right insurance policies arent in place, both the business and the individual owner or director can quickly find themselves in financial stress.

Dealing with mental illness

Statistics from the Australian governments Department of Health show that, each year, approximately one in five Australians will be affected by mental illness.

Mental illnesses are the third leading cause of disability burden in Australia, accounting for an estimated 27% of the total years lost due to disability, McDowell says.

He also cites a statistic from the Black Dog Institute, which found that mental illness is now the leading cause of sickness absence and long-term work incapacity in Australia.

The total workplace cost of depression in any one year is estimated to be $8,025 per affected individual, with an estimated three to four days of work lost per month for each employee experiencing depression, McDowell says. Workers compensation claims for stress-related mental disorders have increased to $200m per year. 

AHI has responded to changing community expectations by removing mental health exclusions across its entire suite of policy wordings, McDowell adds. This is a marketleading change, and as the statistics show, mental illness is a fast-growing problem, so brokers should be asking if their clients are covered.

McDowell also mentions a new prevention initiative AHI has introduced.

AHIs individual personal accident policyholders and their immediate family members can benefit from specialist medical advice at no cost, regardless of whether theyre making a claim, he says. An exclusive partnership between AHI and Best Doctors means that new and renewing policyholders now have access to more than 50,000 world-leading medical specialists, who are able to provide a second opinion on medical diagnoses or treatment.

Should a policyholder or an immediate family member suffer an injury, illness or medical condition, regardless of whether theyre making a claim, Best Doctors can provide them and their treating doctor with insights and expertise from a leading international expert in their condition, he adds.

Personal accident and group personal accident policies provide peace of mind to employers that their staff are covered when theyre not on the clock. Its an indicator that an employer is taking their duty of care seriously - Chris McDowell, Accident and Health International

McDowell says policyholders and their immediate family members can receive clarification on a diagnosis, a second opinion on the best possible treatment plan, advice about a medical condition, answers to everyday medical questions and referrals to local specialists.

More than 10% of Best Doctors case reviews see a change in diagnosis, so this highlights the value in receiving a second opinion when a policyholder is diagnosed with a serious illness or faces a long road to recovery after an accident, he says. Since weve launched our partnership with Best Doctors, weve already seen positive patient outcomes and a steady growth in our policyholders seeking secondary advice.

Integral partnerships

When it comes to working with service providers, McDowell says AHI acknowledges that successful outcomes cannot always be managed by the underwriter alone.

Whilst numerous claims will only involve a simple dollar transfer as part of the financial settlement process, more complex claims will often require involvement of third-party agencies to achieve successful claim outcomes, he says. Some of the different providers we regularly work with in the management of personal accident and sickness claims include return-to-work coordinators, who have an understanding of the actual workplace; rehabilitation providers, who can provide external allied health capital to assist in managing and driving return-to-work goals and outcomes; and independent medical specialists, who have the ability to approach injury management in a facilitative rather than an adversarial approach.

There are also some developments on the legislative landscape that brokers placing personal accident risk should keep in mind. McDowell says AHI is seeing the impact of the legislative change in New South Wales that removed journey cover from workers compensation policies.

For brokers, this is an important opportunity to discuss this gap in coverage with their clients, he says. Personal accident and group personal accident policies provide peace of mind to employers that their staff are covered when theyre not on the clock. Its an indication that an employer is taking their duty of care seriously and can also be articulated during the hiring process as an additional benefit of being employed by that company.
The Suncorp Community Cafe serves as a training ground for people who have encountered barriers to education or employment, offering them formal training in hospitality and work experience, as well as access to financial literacy workshops to be completed over a three month-period.

Each year a number of Australians from diverse backgrounds struggle to access the know-how they need to secure employment, said Keith Garner, Wesley Mission CEO.

To meet this challenge, the Suncorp Community Cafe is providing much-needed resources, support and experience so they can confidently pursue further education or entry to the workforce.

The cafe, located in the Suncorp Discovery Store on Pitt Street Mall, will offer students invaluable workplace experience, to help them transform into confident, independent, and positive people.

The Suncorp Community Cafe provides the perfect environment for people to learn and experience a real work environment  engaging with customers and Suncorp employees will make a big difference to their confidence and employment prospects, said John Cafferatta, Darcy Street Project founder.

We know financial wellbeing is essential to building resilient people and communities, and we want students to walk away from the program feeling confident to achieve their goals, professionally and financially, said Sara Parrott, Suncorp executive manager for corporate responsibility.

Related stories:

Suncorp names new brand-and-marketing hire

Suncorp urges road users to take the Fatality Free Friday pledge
Conducted by Finder.com.au, the research placed Monaco as the most expensive country in the world for hospitalisations with a price tag of $3,444 per day  more than three times the cost of a one-night stay at a five-star hotel at the same destination.

Somewhat more surprisingly, Luxembourg came in second place with a daily hospital cost of $1,813. Norway followed in third place at $1,343 per day. In contrast, a one-night stay in a five-star hotel in these destinations cost $273 and $240 respectively.

Nobody wants to think about the worst case scenario, but the reality is that the cost of receiving medical attention in many countries is extremely expensive, said Bessie Hassan, travel insurance expert at finder.com.au.

Its important to remember that these figures only represent the cost of the hospital bed, he added. They dont take into account emergency transportation, medicine or surgery costs that can drastically hike up the price. Some medical practitioners may even ask for a sizeable deposit before they even begin a procedure.

Also making it to the top 10 most expensive destinations to be hospitalised in were Qatar (with the average cost of $1,308 for a hospital bed for one day), Switzerland ($882) San Marino ($845), Denmark ($808), Ireland ($804), UAE ($727), and Netherlands ($711).

Research from Finder.com.au also showed that the average cost of travel insurance with medical cover for a one-week holiday to Monaco is only around $47  thats 73 times cheaper than the cost of a night in a hospital.

Related stories:

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Insurance giant Swiss Re did say last month that there was no certainty that any minority investment would be agreed with Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group Corp. Now the two parties are done talking, without a deal.

In a brief announcement, Swiss Re revealed that both sides have agreed to end their discussions  described in April as being at an early stage  about SoftBanks potential minority investment in the reinsurer. The Zurich-based firm previously said that the prospective investment was not likely to go beyond a tenth of Swiss Res share capital.
That means that quite often decisions are made by courts focussed on mum and dad standards  whether its things like car insurance or home insurance or contents insurance  and the same judicial views are then being imposed on very large corporate risks.

Hornes comments come after the NSW Court of Appeal ordered an insurer to honour a policy for a service station that was hit by an explosion, even though the operators failed to share two relevant reports analysing hydrocarbon pollution on the site.

The court found that even though the matter was relevant to the insurer, the consumer wasnt obligated to share the reports because they were not specifically asked about pollution  an incredibly common risk in the service station industry.

I think there is increasingly going to be a need for a distinction between presentation of risk of domestic lines, like home and car, as opposed to more corporate lines, said Horne.

There hasnt been an incentive to do that yet because weve had a fairly soft insurance market so insurers have been prepared to write the risks on that basis but as the law has developed, there have been more interpretations of the Insurance Contracts Act in a way which could be viewed as a little bit more consumer-friendly  when we combine that with the harder insurance market were now seeing, I think there will be an increasing demand from the industry for that.

However, while there may be a need in the future, Horne says hes not sure who would campaign for a revamp of Australias laws.

The big question is whether anyones going to respond to that in the market  will the insurance council take that up, would politicians take that up? I think its pretty difficult unless we start seeing the type of thing that led to tort reform back in the early 2000s, when insurance becomes prohibitive in cost.

Thats the thing, if these types of decisions start driving cost, making insurance prohibitive, its probably only then that youre going to see a legislative response.

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The European office, which is already registered with the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM), will be used to launch specialty underwriting cells while supporting individual underwriters with their niche business.

Opening our Amsterdam branch office is an important milestone in our growth strategy, said Mark Birrell, CEO of Castel. Building on the success of our MGA formation platform in the UK, we are looking to support niche underwriters operating in Europe to establish their own businesses. This also enables Castel to focus on the identification and development of European opportunities post Brexit.

The first cell to operate from the branch is Castel Transact, a division of Castel Specialty offering tailored warranty and indemnity and tax risk insurances for organisations across Europe.

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An Army officer stationed in Alaska has been accused of filing nearly half a million dollars in phony insurance claims over about three years.

Lt. Col. Christopher DeMure, 40, has been charged with mail and wire fraud and money laundering, according to a report by Alaskan television affiliate KTVA. DeMure commands the 3rd Battalion, 509th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, which is stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson near Anchorage. Authorities allege that DeMure made more than $475,000 in false insurance claims  and received almost $400,000  between September of 2014 and February of this year.
President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday certified the House and Senate bills on the Bangsamoro Basic Law as urgent. The passage of this measure is a manifestation of the governments commitment to address the diverse needs of the people in Bangsamoro, and all communities and constituents of Mindanao, towards a just and lasting peace in Mindanao and in the Philippines as a whole, Duterte said. In other developments:  The House of Representatives on Tuesday opened plenary deliberations on the proposed BBL. House Bill 6475, principally authored by Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, was sponsored in the plenary by Representatives Pedro Acharon of South Cotabato, chairman of the committee on local governments; Mauyag Papandayan of Lanao del Sur, chairman of the committee on Muslim affairs; Ruby Sahali of Tawi-Tawi, and chairwoman of the peace, reconciliation and unity committee. The House has yet to receive a copy of the Presidents certification declaring the bill an urgent measure, as of press time. The bill was expected to have approved HB 6475 on second reading Tuesday night.  House majority leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Rodolfo Farinas on Tuesday said he saw no need to amend the 1987 Constitution to establish a Bangsamoro region in Mindanao. Farinas made the statement even as he reiterated that the House leadership will pass the constitutional Bangsamoro Basic Law. Critics feel that the proposed BBL will not pass constitutional the test as the bill calls for the abolition of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao that the Constitution itself created.There is no need to amend the 1987 Constitution. Another option would be to wait for the Con-Ass [constituent assembly] to accommodate the BBL, Farinas said. Albay Rep. Edcel Lagman had earlier assailed the BBL proposal, saying it was unconstitutional. Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Jesus Dureza earlier said Duterte had held separate meetings with all the leaders of the House and the Senate and with the leaders of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front led by its chairman Murad Ibrahim. The President initially expressed his own personal views and initial assessments which resonated well to all, said Dureza who was optimistic on the passage of the bill. The meeting adjourned with a general consensus that the two chambers conclude their work at the earliest possible time and if there are varying versions, that the mandated bicameral committees of both chambers meet to come up with a joint reconciled and accepted version, Dureza said. He said the administration was confident the bill would be passed and signed into law by the President in time for his State of the Nation Address on July 23 this year. The BBL seeks to establish a proposed new autonomous political entity known as the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region. BAR then will replace the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao including the provinces of Basilan, Lanao del Sur, Maguindanao, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi. The bill provides the basic structure of the government for BAR and classifies which government powers are exclusive to it.
Investigators said that the agents submitted fraudulent insurance applications with information from stolen identities in order to collect unearned commissions. A fifth agent suspected in the scheme, 42-year-old Scotty Carlisle, is making arrangements to surrender himself, according to the DOI.

I have zero tolerance for agents and brokers who scam insurers and victimize consumers, said California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. We aggressively investigate allegations of wrongdoing and work with our district attorney partners to prosecute scam artists and dishonest insurance producers.

According to the DOI, the agents issued life and supplemental insurance policies using fake applications. They allegedly altered and falsified the applications by making changes to essential information, including addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and social security numbers, and submitting the phony applications through insurers electronic databases.

Not only were the agents collecting unearned commissions, they were allegedly trying to take advantage of bonuses, including a Hawaiian trip incentive offered to qualifying insurance agents, the DOI said in a statement.

When one victim insurer discovered inconsistencies in the applications, it notified the DOI of the agents alleged scam.

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Roaring flash floods struck a Maryland city Sunday that had been wracked by similar devastation two years ago, its main street turned into a raging river that reached the first floor of some buildings and swept away parked cars, authorities and witnesses say.

News outlets showed photos and video of sudden, violent floodwaters surging down Main Street in Ellicott City, some 13 miles west of Baltimore. The community, set along the west bank of Marylands Patapsco River, was also stricken by deadly flash flooding in July 2016.

This time, witnesses say, the flash flooding came with a roar of onrushing water after hours of heavy rain had soaked the region around Baltimore.

After the floodwaters receded, emergency officials had no immediate reports of fatalities or injuries. But by nightfall, first responders and rescue officials were still going through the muddied, damaged downtown, conducting safety checks and ensuring people evacuated.

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who declared a state of emergency for the flooded community, traveled there late Sunday for a firsthand look at the destruction.

Footage of Sundays flash flooding showed the seething floodwaters engulfing cars and pickup trucks. The Howard County Fire & EMS agency tweeted that water was above the first floor of some buildings at the height of the disaster.

Some residents of Ellicott City told The Baltimore Sun the flooding appeared to be worse than the 2016 flooding that killed two people and destroyed local businesses.

Jessica Ur, a server at Pure Wine Cafe on the citys Main Street, told the paper she watched as gushing waters swept three or four parked cars down the street. She had been around the last time the area flooded, but said this time it appeared worse.

Its significantly higher than it was before, she told the newspaper, comparing the floodwaters to those of 2016.

Mike Muccilli, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sterling, Virginia, said its too early to make comparisons between the two floods. But he said both were devastating.

In July 2016, Ellicott City received 6.6 inches of rain over a 2- to 3-hour period. On Sunday, the community received nearly 8 inches of rain over a 6-hour period, but most of it fell during an intense, 3-hour period, Muccilli said.

In a normal heavy rain event, you wouldnt see this amount of flooding, where you see cars floating down the road, Muccilli said. This was a true flash flood.

Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said authorities arent aware of any fatalities or missing people. But officials were just beginning to assess the damage.

Kittleman said he toured the historic county seat after the flash flood receded and was heartbroken by seeing it so severely damaged again since the flooding of 2016. As he spoke at an outdoor news conference, Maryland Lt. Gov. Boyd Rutherford put a comforting hand on Kittlemans back.

Kittleman said he considers the damage worse than the flooding two summers ago. Of the citys residents and business owners, Kittleman says they are faced with the same daunting task again.

We will be there for them as we were in 2016, he said.

Hogan also toured the area and promised every bit of assistance we possibly can.

They say this is a once every 1,000-year flood, and weve had two of them in two years, Hogan said.

Some people reported hearing a blaring alarm during the flooding. Others said they gathered in the second story of a building to anxiously watch the seething waters. One sight during the flood: a handmade, white flag hung from an upper story of a Main Street building bearing the letters SOS.

If you are trapped, we are coming, the Howard County Department of Fire and Rescue Services tweeted at one point. It added that multiple rescues were carried out, and rescue swimmers were called in. Swift water units from as far away as Northern Virginia also were summoned.

Meanwhile, some roads were also flooded in neighboring Baltimore County. A spokeswoman in Baltimore County said the fire department has received dozens of calls about cars stuck in high water, as well as flooded basements.

Ellicott City has been rebuilding since the 2016 flooding damaged and destroyed businesses. Local officials recently said that 96 percent of the businesses were back in operation and more than 20 new businesses had again opened in the Main Street area.

Just two weeks ago, Hogan announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had awarded the state and county more than $1 million to pay for projects aimed at reducing the flood risk in areas around Main Street.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Flood Maryland
Violent hailstorms ravaged parts of the Bordeaux and Cognac wine regions of southwest France on Saturday, doing major damage to hundreds of vineyards with thousands of hectares of vines destroyed, producers said on Monday.

This comes just a year after the Bordeaux region suffered one of its worst harvests in history with a fall of 39 percent on year due to late frosts, which lead to a jump in prices.

The hail first hit the south of the region on Saturday at midday, affecting the Pessac-Leognan region and the south of Medoc, home to some of the regions most famous chateaux, Bernard Farges, head of Bordeaux producers union CIVB, said.

It then devastated vineyards of Cotes de Bourg and Cotes de Blaye on the right bank of the Gironde river and, further east, in the Gensac and Pessac-sur-Dordogne.

The vineyard of Cognac was also hit by hail. Officials mention an initial figure of 10,000 hectares (24,710 acres)affected out of a total 70,000 hectares. They had also been damaged by frosts last year.

The figureswhich will have to be refined, show that between 500 and more than 1,000 wine growers have been affected with a area hit of 1,000 hectares in the Medoc, between 4,000 and 5,000 hectares for Cote de Blaye and Cote de Bourg and about 1,000 hectares in the vicinity of Gensac, Farges told Reuters.

Some winemakers lost 100 percent of their harvest, he said.

There are 112,000 hectares of vines in the entire Bordeaux vineyard, the second-largest wine producing region in France after Languedoc Roussillon.

Champagne, in northern France, has also been hit by hail and storms in recent weeks.

We already think more than 300 hectares were destroyed and that is without counting the storm we had a few days ago and the one forecast tonight, said Brigitte Batonnet of Champagne producers group CIVC.

Last year Frances total production had fallen to a record low due to a series of poor weather incidents including spring frosts, drought and storms that affected most of the main growing regions including Bordeaux and Champagne.

French wine prices rose 6 percent in the first six months of the 2017/18 season, with Bordeaux posting a 16 percent price increase, farm ministry data released in March showed.

(Reporting by Claude Canellas and Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Leigh Thomas)

Topics Windstorm France
Ant Financial Services Group, operator of Chinas biggest online payment platform by market share, Alipay, has closed its latest funding round having raised $10 billion from a clutch of global and local investors, five people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Ants first fundraising targeting global money values the firm at $150 billion, the people said, compared with about $60 billion after its previous fundraising in April 2016.

A number of global sovereign wealth funds and private equity firms joined the fundraising as main investors. They include Singapores sovereign fund GIC Pte Ltd and state investor Temasek Holdings (Private) Ltd, as well as U.S. private equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC, the people said.

Malaysian sovereign fund Khazanah Nasional Bhd has also joined as a major investor, one of the people said.

The funding round also brought in private equity firm Carlyle Group LP and venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, which typically invests in early-stage start-ups, three of the people said.

The amount and investor line-up are finalized and the transfer of funds is underway, the people said.

The funding round includes a separate tranche of around 7 billion yuan ($1.1 billion) in new shares which has not been finalized, two of the people said.

The people spoke to Reuters on condition they not be identified as the deal details are not yet public.

Ant, controlled by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder Jack Ma, declined to comment. Carlyle, Temasek and Warburg declined to comment. Khanazah, GIC and Sequoia Capital did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The capital-raising comes ahead of a widely expected initial public offering (IPO), though Ant has neither publicly set a timetable nor chosen a likely stock exchange.

A $150 billion valuation would make Ants IPO one of the biggest ever  comparing to the $104 billion of Facebook Inc. six years ago and Alibabas $168 billion in 2014.

A fundraising document seen by Reuters showed Ant planned to list both in China and Hong Kong in 2019, and its investors joining the latest fundraising could expect to exit within one to three years. Ant declined to comment on the document.

Strong demand from investors looking to position themselves ahead of Ants potential IPO has resulted in a much higher amount than an initial target of up to $5 billion, which Reuters earlier reported.

Four-year-old Ant, which was spun off from Alibaba when the group went public in New York, has diversified over the years into credit services, asset management and online banking, besides owning the Alipay payment platform.

After becoming a dominant in payments in China, the company has also invested in a number of internet-based startups including Chinese bike-sharing company Ofo, food delivery app operator Ele.me and Indian payment company PayTM.

The firm counts Chinas sovereign wealth fund, China Investment Corp., state lender ChinaConstruction Bank Corp., the countrys National Social Security Fund and big state insurers, among others, as investors from previous funding rounds.

($1 = 6.3971 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Kane Wu; Additional reporting by Julie Zhu and Liz Lee; Writing by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Christopher Cushing)

Topics China Funding
Insurance and reinsurance broker Ed has been granted a license to carry out general insurance mediation business by the Jersey Financial Services Commission.

This follows on from last years announcement by the broker of the expansion of its professional and executive risk offering in the Channel Islands with its successful application for a commercial insurance intermediary license granted by the Guernsey Financial Services Commission.

Nick Bachmann is the divisional director of professional and executive risk at Ed and is based in Guernsey. This license significantly strengthens our ability to expand our offering in the Channel Islands region and build upon our services to new and existing clients. Increasing our presence in offshore centres, and strengthening our abilities to service clients in these markets, is central to our growth strategy, he said.

Topics Agencies
A jury has ordered a northern Indiana city to pay a couple more than $102,000 for flood damage their home suffered nearly a decade ago.

Richard and Janet Brown sued the city of Valparaiso after 18 inches of floodwater entered their home in September 2008, leaving them with more than $91,000 in out-of-pocket damages.

Their complaint argued the city caused the flooding by damming the areas natural drainage when a retention pond was installed several years after their home was built.

The (Northwest Indiana) Times reports a jury sided with the couple, awarding them the full amount theyd sought.

Valparaisos attorneys argued, in part, that the rain in question exceeded the retention ponds capacity and that flooding from the same storm affected 180 other city residents.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Flood Indiana
Tesla Inc. on Thursday reached an agreement to settle a class action lawsuit with buyers of its Model S and Model X cars who alleged that the companys assisted-driving Autopilot system was essentially unusable and demonstrably dangerous.

The lawsuit said Tesla misrepresented on its website that the cars came with capabilities designed to make highway driving safer.

The Tesla owners said they paid an extra $5,000 to have their cars equipped with the Autopilot software with additional safety features such as automated emergency braking and side collision warning.

The features were completely inoperable, according to the complaint.

Under the proposed agreement, class members, who paid to get the Autopilot upgrade between 2016 and 2017, will receive between $20 and $280 in compensation. Tesla has agreed to place more than $5 million into a settlement fund, which will also cover attorney fees.

The case has been closely watched in the automotive and legal communities, as it was the only known court challenge Tesla has faced with regard to its assisted-driving technology.

Teslas Autopilot system has come under increased scrutiny in recent months after two Tesla drivers died in crashes in which Autopilot was engaged. The most recent crash, in March, is being investigated by safety regulators.

Tesla said in a statement it wanted to do right by its customers and, as part of the proposed deal, agreed to compensate car owners who had purchased the 2.0 version of Autopilot and had to wait longer than we expected for the driving features to become active.

Since rolling out our second generation of Autopilot hardware in October 2016, we have continued to provide software updates that have led to a major improvement in Autopilot functionality, the company said. Even though the settlement only covers U.S. customers, Tesla said it would compensate all customers globally in the same way.

The proposed settlement does not mention the safety allegations but focuses on the delay in making the promised features available to consumers.

Steve Berman, a lawyer for the car owners, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The agreement, announced in a filing in San Jose federal court late Thursday, must be approved by U.S. District Judge Beth Labson Freeman.

Autopilot, released in 2015, is an enhanced cruise-control system that partially automates steering and braking. Tesla has said the use of Autopilot results in 40 percent fewer crashes, a claim the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration repeated in a 2017 report on the first fatality, which occurred in May 2016. Earlier this month, however, the agency said regulators had not assessed the effectiveness of the technology.

The 2017 lawsuit in San Jose federal court named six Tesla Model S and Model X owners from Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and California who alleged the company had engaged in fraud by concealment, and had violated various state consumer protection and unfair competition laws.

They sought to represent a nationwide class of consumers.

(Reporting by Tina Bellon; editing by Noeleen Walder and David Gregorio)

Topics Lawsuits USA Autonomous Vehicles Tesla
With the hurricane season beginning, top jobs at the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency remain vacant and critics say that will make it harder for the government to respond to disasters.

FEMA lacks a second-in-command and three of four associate-administrator posts are either vacant or temporarily filled. The agencys external affairs director and press secretary left in February, followed in April by the head of insurance and mitigation. Separately, the White House adviser in charge of coordinating disaster response departed a few days later.

The vacancies come on the heels of a tragic year for disasters. Of the five costliest hurricanes in U.S. history, three struck within weeks of each other in 2017 from Texas to the Virgin Islands, levying a combined financial toll of $265 billion and at least 200 deaths. Those disasters were followed by the worst wildfires in Californias history, straining FEMA, an agency whose full-time staff authorization has shrunk 25 percent since Hurricane Sandy in 2012.

Elizabeth Zimmerman, the agencys top official during the Obama administration for responding to disasters, said the openings have left gaping holes for the internal workings of FEMA.

Brock Long, FEMAs director, said that those vacancies wont get in the way of his agencys ability to respond to this years hurricanes. And he said FEMA is undergoing a major reorganization to leave it better prepared for disasters.

Ive got very talented, very experienced people, Long said in an interview.

But former senior staff, auditors and members of Congress said theres reason to be concerned, arguing that FEMA has yet to fix the problems laid bare by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria last year. And 2018 is projected by Colorado State University to be another worse-than-average hurricane season.

FEMA will say that theyve learned from 2017, Representative Bennie Thompson, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said in an interview. But to be honest with you, it seems that theyre just hoping for the best.

Local officials in hard-hit communities complained about the slow pace of recovery last year. Government inspectors criticized FEMAs inadequate grant management and its inability to deploy enough trained staff quickly. The general who ran the federal response to Hurricane Katrina, Russel Honore, said 2017 showed that the government has to be prepared now to handle three category-4 storms a year.

Eight months later, Long said FEMA is more ready this time around. Next week, the agency plans to announce that its creating a new office of resilience by combining existing units, Long said. He said the agency is also putting more supplies on Puerto Rico, improving its regional distribution plans and hiring more local staff.

But the agency has yet to release its so-called after-action report on last years storms, the document produced after each major disaster designed to identify flaws and how to fix them. Long said he doesnt want to rush that process.

Vincent Picard, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said that the Trump administration continuously works with Secretary Nielsens team at the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA and other federal agencies involved in emergency management and response to help ensure state and local authorities are receiving the planning and logistical support they need to mitigate risks to the full range of threats and hazards the nation faces.

Craig Fugate, who ran FEMA for eight years under former President Barack Obama, said the recovery work from the 2017 storms  which has left countless survivors around the country living under tarps or in mobile homes  will make it even harder for the agency to respond to hurricanes this year.

What if a hurricane strikes the Virgin Islands or Puerto Rico? What if a hurricane impacts Houston? Fugate said in an interview. What is FEMA prepared to do differently?

Chris Currie, director for emergency management and national preparedness issues at the U.S. Government Accountability Office, said hes seen no evidence yet that FEMA has gotten better at workforce management, which he called one of its biggest problems last year.

They recognize that if they get another catastrophic disaster, theyre going to be stretched thin, Currie said in an interview. Its kind of an unknown right now, the extent to which theyre ready to handle whatever may happen this year.

FEMA got some of its harshest criticism for its process in awarding contracts, but Long said he plans no changes  because theres nothing to fix. He said that much-cited examples of contracts gone wrong, such as a $156 million award to a woman in Atlanta to provide 30 million meals in Puerto Rico, were the exception. Out of almost 2,000 contracts, he said his agency had to cancel only three.

So you tell me: Do we have a pretty successful way of doing contracting, or not? he said. I would argue that overwhelmingly the contracting piece was a large success.

Others say the failure to prepare for this years hurricane season doesnt rest solely with FEMA. Tim Manning, the agencys deputy administrator for national preparedness under Obama, noted that after Katrina, Congress dramatically increased FEMAs budget, staff and authority. This time around, he said, there appears to be less appetite for major reform.

Manning blamed the unwillingness of Republicans in Congress and the White House to talk about climate change. In March, the agency stripped all references to climate change, sea-level rise or similar terms from its four-year strategic plan.

Without the guidance, the direction and requirement that rising sea levels, for example, be accounted for, then youre going to miss it, he said.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics Catastrophe Natural Disasters USA Talent Hurricane
Austin-based workers compensation carrier, Texas Mutual Insurance Company, has appointed Jeanette Ward as the companys new chief operating officer (COO) and Kim Haugaard as its new senior vice president of policyholder services, the role previously filled by Ward.

As COO, Ward will oversee the companys policyholder services, underwriting, information technology, digital innovation and solutions, and marketing and customer engagement areas.

In his new role, Haugaard is responsible for claim operations, network operations, safety services, and the information services center.

Ward joined the company in 1993 after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin and has since served in a variety of roles throughout the organization. Ward has been responsible for a broad range of business units, including the call center, process and system management operations, safety services, statewide claim offices, claim intake unit and imaging unit. Additionally, she provided leadership for several major company initiatives, including a new enterprise claim system; WorkWell, TX, the companys health care network; and Texas Mutuals first injured worker mobile app.

Haugaard joined Texas Mutual in 2004 and was responsible for overseeing the development of the first medical network in the Texas workers compensation system, as well as overseeing the recent implementation of WorkWell, TX. Haugaard also managed the companys medical cost containment strategies along with numerous claim training, process, and system initiatives.

Source: Texas Mutual Insurance Company

Topics Texas Workers' Compensation
DhakaMore than 100 alleged drug dealers have been killed and thousands detained in Bangladesh in the past fortnight in a Philippines-style narcotics crackdown that has raised concerns about extra-judicial killings. Police said 10 more alleged traffickers were gunned down in the early hours of Tuesday, some in shootouts with police and others in the so-called gang wars between dealers. A total of 102 suspected traffickers have been killed since Bangladesh launched an aggressive war on drugs in mid-May to smash the surging trade in yaba, a cheap pill combining methamphetamine and caffeine. We are saying that this war will continue until we bring it under complete control, Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan told AFP. Around 12,000 accused dealers have been arrested and tried in special courts since the crackdown began on May 15, with many handed jail sentences of seven days to six months, he added. Khan said there was no question that those killed were drug dealers, despite allegations by rights groups that innocent people had died. Most of those who were killed had guns. They opened fire as soon as they saw the police, he said. They are not good people. There are 10 to 12 [criminal] cases against each of them. But the National Human Rights Commission this week expressed grave concern at the mounting death toll and sounded the alarm over alleged extra-judicial killings.The Rapid Action Battalion, an elite police unit in charge of the sweep, said all 24 people killed by its forces were top drug traders but provided no evidence. One of those killed was a councilor from Teknaf whom supporters say had no involvement with drugs. The rest died in late-night shootouts with police or shootouts among themselves over turf and drugs, officials said. Among those killed Tuesday were two alleged kingpins apparently found dead by police after a so-called drugs war in Jessore district, local police chief A.K.M Ajmal Huda told AFP. We found the bodies after the gunfight between two rival groups of drug traders, he said. Bangladesh has struggled to contain the trade in yaba, with hundreds of millions of pills entering the country from Myanmar. Authorities last year seized a record 40 million pills but said an estimated 250-300 million others entered the market.
A construction worker has died after falling out of an elevator on the 19th floor of a structure being built in North Carolinas largest city.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police said 24-year-old Juventino Mata-Hernandez was working on a 33-story tower when he died May 23 in downtown Charlotte.

The building is being built near the Carolinas Panthers Bank of America Stadium. The bank has leased most of the office space. Its expected to open next year.

Police said in a news release that Mata-Hernandez fell from the construction elevator when it was at the 19th floor.

The Occupational safety and Health Administration will investigate the death.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics North Carolina Construction
Floridas ban that prevents medical marijuana patients from smoking their cannabis has gone up in smoke.

Leon County Circuit Court Judge Karen Gievers on Friday ruled that a states ban on smokable cannabis is unconstitutional. Floridas Department of Health said in a statement it has appealed the ruling, which will impose an automatic stay.

Gievers wrote in her 22-page ruling that Floridians have the right to use the form of medical marijuana for treatment of their debilitating medical conditions as recommended by their certified physicians, including the use of smokable marijuana in private places.

Ben Pollara, who runs the nonprofit medical marijuana advocacy group Florida for Care, said the ruling is a big victory for patients and voters.

Taylor Patrick Biehl of the Medical Marijuana Business Association of Florida added that despite legislative pushback over interpretation and ideologies, justice has been served.

Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 2016 allowing the use of medical marijuana. The only mention of smoking in the amendments language and in an intent document during the 2016 campaign was that the Legislature and local governments could restrict it in public places.

The Legislature last year passed enacting laws that banned the sale of smoking products, citing a health risk. The laws, signed by Florida Gov. Rick Scott in June, say patients can use cannabis through vaping and in food, oils, sprays and tinctures.

John Morgan, who led the push to legalize medical marijuana Florida, filed a lawsuit challenging the ban two weeks after Scott signed the bill. He was joined in the suit by two patients with terminal illnesses who benefit from smokable medical pot.

Cathy Jordan, who has had ALS since 1986, says smoking the plant dries her excess saliva, increases her appetite and works as a muscle relaxer.

Diana Dodson, who has had HIV since 1991, testified May 16 that vaping is 50 percent less effective than smoking and that smoking allows her to get the proper dosage.

Jordan said that when she was diagnosed with ALS  amyotrophic lateral sclerosis  doctors thought she would live only three to five more years. She credits smoking with helping to prolong her life, and has been supported by her physicians.

So many people wont smoke due to the stigma and it being against the law. This is legitimate medicine, she said by phone from her Manatee County home after the ruling. This ruling is not just for me but for many other people.

Bob Jordan, Cathys husband, said he was still in shock after getting the call about the ruling.

A little woman with ALS took on the state and won. Thats an amazing thing. It is kind of surreal, he said.

He tweeted after the ruling that truth prevails.

Florida Department of Health spokesman Devin Galetta said in a statement that the ruling goes against what the legislature outlined when they wrote and approved the law to implement the constitutional amendment that was approved.

The next stop will be the states 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee. It will be the second medical marijuana case that court will be taking up after Gievers ruled last month that a Tampa man  Joseph Redner  is entitled under state law to possess, grow and use marijuana for juicing. Redner was prescribed juicing treatments from his doctor to prevent a relapse of stage 4 lung cancer.

Copyright 2021 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Legislation Florida Cannabis
Storm Alberto weakened to a subtropical depression, moving across central Alabama after making landfall in the Florida Panhandle and bringing heavy rains that threaten the U.S. South with economic losses of $1 billion.

Alberto was 30 miles (45 kilometers) west of Montgomery, Alabama, with winds of 30 miles per hour, down from 45 mph earlier, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an advisory at 5 a.m. New York time. It came ashore Monday near Laguna Beach, Florida.

Even as it weakens, Alberto is expected to deliver from two to six inches of rain as far north as the southern Great Lakes, according to the center. In some pockets of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, the deluge could amount to 12 inches, with flash flooding possible. A tornado or two may occur in the region from southern Kentucky to parts of Georgia, it said.

Still, some energy companies in the Gulf of Mexico have begun to resume operations. Chevron Corp. restored production at its Blind Faith and Petronius platforms, which it had halted over the weekend. Royal Dutch Shell Plc began sending workers back to its facilities in the eastern Gulf and will restart output at its Ram Powell hub once its verified as safe, according to an update posted on the companys website.

Alberto is forecast to move over the Tennessee Valley on Tuesday, and into the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes region Wednesday and Thursday, the center said. Flood watches, warnings and advisories have stretched from the Gulf Coast to Indiana and southern Virginia. Governors in Florida, Mississippi and Alabama on Saturday declared states of emergency.

From an economic standpoint most of the damage is already done, probably $600 or $700 million worth of lost economic activity due to rain, warnings and preparations, said Chuck Watson, a disaster modeler at Enki Research in Savannah, Georgia. He said the storm might cause a couple hundred million in damage at worst upon landfall, adding that there is still flooding potential.

Hardest hit will be small businesses that expected revenue from Memorial Day weekend tourists, Watson said.

On May 25, Exxon Mobil Corp. pulled non-essential personnel from its Lena oil production platform and Shell from Ram Powell. Most other energy companies left offshore crews in place as they watched 2018s first Atlantic storm. Alberto formed several days ahead of the June 1 official start of the six-month Atlantic hurricane season.

Storms in the Gulf are closely watched because 5 percent of U.S. natural gas and 17 percent of crude-oil production comes out of the region, according to the Energy Information Administration. Onshore areas along the coast also account for about 45 percent of U.S. refining capacity and 51 percent of gas processing.

Copyright 2021 Bloomberg.

Topics USA Florida Alabama
What Is a Special Situation?

A special situation is an unusual event that compels investors to buy a stock or other asset in the belief that its price will rise.

The special situation by definition has little to do with the underlying fundamentals of the stock or any other rationale that investors ordinarily use to select investments. It is an attempt to profit from a potential rise in valuation that the special situation presents.

Alternately, it can be an attempt to profit from the anticipated recovery of a stock whose price has been depressed by a special situation. It's the classic "buy low, sell high" advice. The special situations investor has sensed an opportunity.

Understanding the Special Situation

Special situation investment opportunities can take many forms and involve a number of asset classes. They often arise from breaking news stories or rumors of news about to break. They may concern spinoffs, tender offers, mergers, acquisitions, bankruptcy, litigation, capital structure dislocations, shareholder activism, stock buybacks, and any other event that might affect a company's short-term prospects.

Key Takeaways A special situation is a one-time event that has an impact on a stock or other asset.

Any number of events, positive or negative, can cause a stock's price to pop or depress its price.

There are special situation funds that seek to exploit such events.

A special situation may be either positive or negative. That is, a positive event such as the announcement of a share buyback may cause the stock of a company to trend upwards in the short term. Or, a negative event such as a government antitrust inquiry may depress the price of a company's stock temporarily, thus offering an opportunity to the investor who foresees the inquiry ending in the company's favor.

"Event-driven" or "opportunistic" funds seek out special situations.

The stocks of major companies provide the most visible special situations. However, behind the scenes, sophisticated investors analyze senior and subordinated debt securities to look for mispricings to take advantage of, or engage in private placements in a distressed company.

A special situation can surface in any industry during any point in an economic cycle.

Investing in Special Situations

There are investment funds that are dedicated to exploiting special situations. They usually have "Event Driven" or "Opportunistic" in the names of the funds.

One variation of this investing strategy concentrates on distressed and special situation assets. These investors seek to identify and buy assets that have been underappreciated by the markets for various reasons and are correspondingly cheap.

Special situation investing is a risky business by nature.

Example of a Special Situation

A large public company spinning off one of its business units into its own public company would create a special situation.

If the market deems the soon-to-be-spun-off company to have a higher valuation in its present form than it will after the spinoff, an investor might buy shares in the larger company before the spinoff in an attempt to realize a quick price increase.
What Is Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences?

The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is a prestigious award acknowledging outstanding contributions to the field of economics. It is commonly called the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Key Takeaways The Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences is an award acknowledging outstanding contributions to the filed of economics and is awarded by the Nobel Prize Committee.

Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, named after Swedish entrepreneur Alfred Nobel, was initiated in 1968 by Sweden's central bank.

The Nobel Prize awards are presented at the annual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden each year on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

Understanding Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences

The official name for the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel and named after the Sveriges Riksbank which made a donation to initiate the award.

The esteemed Nobel Prize in Economics is awarded yearly to individuals making exceptional contributions to the field of economics. In his will, Swedish scientist, inventor, entrepreneur, author, and pacifist Alfred Nobel, the man who the prize is named after, left much of his large estate to establish awards in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace.

Economics was added to that list 67 years later in 1968, courtesy of Sweden's central bank. The Sveriges Riksbank, as it is known locally, made a donation during its 300th anniversary to facilitate celebrating the brightest minds in economics. The award was named in memory of Alfred Nobel, one of the country's biggest heroes, and became recognized as the sixth Nobel Prize.

An endowment from Sweden's central bank provides funding in perpetuity to pay the Nobel Foundation's administrative expenses pertaining to the award alongside the monetary prize. For 2021 all of the Nobel prize awards are valued at 10 million Swedish krona (SEK) or approximately USD$1,150,000 per medal, which is commonly split among several category awardees.

As of 2021, the Nobel Prize awards include the following:

Nobel Prize in Physics Nobel Prize in Chemistry Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Nobel Prize in Literature Nobel Peace Prize Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences

The first prize in economics was awarded in 1969 to Ragnar Frisch and Jan Tinbergen for their development and application of dynamic models for the analysis of economic processes. Other prominent winners include: Milton Friedman for achievements in the fields of consumption analysis, monetary history and theory, and for the demonstration of the complexity of stabilization policy; Harry Markowitz, Merton Miller, and William Sharpe for work in the theory of financial economics; and John Nash and Reinhard Selten for their analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games.

In 2009, Elinor Ostrom became the first female recipient, winning the award along with economist Oliver Williamson for their scholarly work showing how communities can successfully share common resources, such as waterways, livestock grazing land, and forests, through collective property rights.

The Nobel Memorial Prize In Economic Sciences has been awarded 50 times to 81 laureates between 1969 and 2018.

Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences Methodology

Each year, the prize committee sends out invitations to thousands of scientists, members of academies, and university professors in numerous countries, asking them to nominate candidates for the coming year. Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and former laureates are also authorized to nominate candidates.

The proposals are reviewed by the prize committee and specially appointed experts. Before the end of September, the committee chooses potential laureates. If there is a tie, the chair of the committee casts the deciding vote. Next, the potential laureates must be approved by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the independent, non-governmental organization responsible for awarding the Nobel Prize in Economics.

Awards are presented at the annual Nobel Prize award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden each year on Dec. 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death. A maximum of three individuals can share a prize during the same year.

In economics, it can take years for a theory to be proved effective. That means that the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences tends to refrain from recognizing fresh, cutting-edge research, waiting for ideas to become validated before crowning them as outstanding. For example, Robert Merton and Myron Scholes were awarded the prize in 1997 for a formula they first developed in 1973. The Black-Scholes Model, as it is known, determines fair prices of options and is widely considered to be one of the most important concepts in modern financial theory.

Fischer Black was also credited as a pioneer of the Black-Scholes Model but was not a recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economics because he passed away in 1995. Rules against dishing out posthumous awards also explain why some of the world's most famous and influential economists, such as Adam Smith, John Maynard Keynes, and Ludwig von Mises have never won the esteemed economics award.
WHAT IS Nuncupative Will

A nuncupative will, also known as an oral will or a verbal will, is instructions for distribution of personal property given by a person who is too sick to execute a written will. Nuncupative wills are not legal in most jurisdictions, but in jurisdictions in which they are legal, they require a set number of witnesses and must be written down by the witnesses as soon as possible.

A nuncupative will does not supersede a written will.

BREAKING DOWN Nuncupative Will

A nuncupative will is sometimes called a deathbed will. A nuncupative will is given when a person is sick or injured and is confined to a hospital or care situation with little time expected to live. Nuncupative wills come from an oral tradition before written documents were common and required for legal validity. They have similarities to traditions of leaving property to those who were present for the last moments of the deceased's life, and to deathbed confessions of having committed crimes.

Nuncupative wills are more common and more likely to be considered valid in England and Wales than they are in the United States. In the United States, the situations in which a nuncupative will is considered valid are limited to emergencies in which military members are in danger or injured. Military nuncupative wills are considered valid in a limited number of states, with the caveat that if the military member survives the situation that provoked the nuncupative will, the nuncupative will expires after a set amount of time which varies according to the branch of the military and the situation. Nuncupative wills made by civilians are rarely valid. A nuncupative will cannot undo anything in a written will that was fully executed according to the statutes of the local jurisdiction, no matter how long ago the written will was executed.

Usefulness of a Nuncupative Will

A nuncupative will has little legal validity in most states in the United States. However, in situations in which an heir, executor or personal representative needs to make a legal or financial decision, a nuncupative will can tell that person what the dying wishes of the soon-to-be-deceased are. This can make decisions about end-of-life care or the persons estate simpler, and can reduce the number of disputes over the estate and over end-of-life arrangements by heirs and other representatives. In cases in which these disputes go to court, the judge may or may not take into account the nuncupative will as contributing evidence, although not a binding document. Emotionally, a representative who follows the instructions in a nuncupative will can assure the representative that they are fulfilling the wishes of the deceased.
What Is the OPEC Basket?

The OPEC Basket is a weighted average of oil prices from the different OPEC members around the world. Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) contribute data that forms the basis of the basket. The basket is a benchmark, or reference point, for those monitoring the oil price and the stability of the global oil market.

The OPEC Basket is also known as the OPEC Reference Basket (ORB) or the OPEC Reference Basket of Crude.

Key Takeaways The OPEC Basket is a weighted average of oil prices from the different OPEC members around the world.

The main use of the OPEC Basket is setting and achieving OPEC price targets.

Since it is just an average, an OPEC Basket is not a type of crude oil that businesses can buy directly.

Understanding the OPEC Basket

The OPEC Basket depends on specific petroleum blends from OPEC member countries and is a weighted average. A weighted average is a mean, calculated by giving values to data influenced according to some attribute. In the case of the OPEC Basket, the defining characteristic is the weight of the crude oil.

As of December 2020, the OPEC Basket averaged the prices of crude oils from thirteen member states. They included Saharan Blend from Algeria, Girassol from Angola, Djeno from Congo, Zafiro from Equatorial Guinea, and Rabi Light from Gabon. Iran Heavy, Basra Light from Iraq, Kuwait Export, and Es Sider from Libya were also part of the basket. Bonny Light from Nigeria, Arab Light from Saudi Arabia, Murban from the United Arab Emirates, and Merey from Venezuela round out the list.

Some of the OPEC oils have higher sulfur content than crude oils from other countries. Hydrocarbons or crude oil that have higher sulfur contents are more expensive to refine. Because of that, the price of the OPEC Basket is generally lower than other oil reference prices.

Crude oil with excessive impurities is unsuitable for many uses unless it is extensively processed.

Many other countries throughout the world also produce oil. However, they are not OPEC members. Russia, the United States, China, and Canada are all major oil producers but not OPEC members. OPECs member countries produce a substantial fraction of the worlds oil.

Oil prices matter a great deal to the global economy because the production and distribution of all consumer goods depend on petroleum. Oil fuels the trucks that transport goods, the tractors that plow agricultural fields, the cars that consumers use to get to the market, and much more. OPEC provides a way for the member oil-producing countries to create stable market conditions for themselves by raising or lowering production.

The OPEC Basket vs. Other Crude Oil Benchmarks

There are many different crude oil benchmarks, representing more than 200 varieties of crude oil. They vary substantially in both price and overall quality. Some of the leading alternatives to the OPEC Basket include:

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil is a lighter, higher quality oil. It sells for about $5 to $6 more than the OPEC Basket price.

The Brent blend from the North Sea is generally refined in Northwestern Europe. It sells at about $4 above the OPEC Basket price.

Benefits of the OPEC Basket

The main use of the OPEC Basket is setting and achieving OPEC price targets. Whenever people hear news stories about OPEC raising oil prices, the price they are hearing about is the OPEC Basket price. There is a substantial competition between various crude oils because most of them are relatively close substitutes. However, the direct goal of OPEC members is to raise the price that they receive for their own oil in the global market. Since the OPEC Basket is a weighted average of OPEC members' oil prices, it is ideal for setting the organization's goals and measuring its success.

Criticism of the OPEC Basket

Since it is just an average, the OPEC Basket is not a type of unrefined oil that businesses can buy directly. Instead, they must buy some particular oil, such as Kuwait Export or Arab Light. These crude oils vary in price and quality, so the OPEC Basket is not very useful for oil refineries.

Real-World Example of the OPEC Basket

On April 26, 2018, the OPEC Basket stood at $71 per barrel. This price represents a steady rise over the previous month. On March 26, 2018, the ORB was $66.80. A year before, it stood at about $51.47 and rose steadily throughout 2017.
What Is Philanthropy?

Philanthropy involves charitable giving to worthy causes on a large scale, but it is much more than just a charitable donation. Philanthropy is an effort an individual or organization undertakes based on an altruistic desire to improve human welfare, and wealthy individuals sometimes establish private foundations to facilitate their philanthropic efforts.

Nonprofits are organizations set up to support a variety of social causes, such as educational, health, scientific, public safety, and human rights. In the United States, organizations that qualify as nonprofits are exempt from federal tax liability under the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) 501(c).

Key Takeaways Philanthropy refers to charitable acts or other good works that help others or society as a whole.

Philanthropy can include donating money to a worthy cause or volunteering time, effort, or other forms of altruism.

Increased transparency is a serious matter for many nonprofits, and how funds are obtained and used should be carefully documented. Technology, including social media, has also shaped how many individuals give to others.

Andrew Carnegie is one of America's most famous philanthropists, noted for the large scale of his charitable contributions, which included building more than 2,500 libraries worldwide.

In modern times, philanthropy is often undertaken by those seeking tax breaks, in addition to feeling good and helping others.

Understanding Philanthropy

Philanthropy refers to charitable acts or other good works like volunteering your time or efforts that help others or contribute to the well-being of society overall. For some people, philanthropy means donations of money, often large sums, to support or create university buildings, research centers, or fund four-year college scholarships. For others, acts of philanthropy mean an annual donation to a local theater, food pantry, or public school.

There are many ways to make charitable contributions from a local to a global scale, and there is corporate philanthropy, and there are individual philanthropists. Philanthropy may be done for tax breaks or altruism, or a combination of the two things. Anyone can be a philanthropist if they give of their talent, time, money, or skills.



History of Philanthropy

Philanthropy dates back to Greek society. The famous philosopher Plato in 347 B.C., for example, in his will, instructed his nephew to use the proceeds of the family farm to fund the academy that Plato founded. The money helped students and faculty keep the academy running.

Around 150 years later, Pliny the Younger contributed one-third of the funds for a Roman school for young boys. He instructed the fathers of the students to come up with the rest. The intention was to keep young Romans educated in the city rather than abroad.

In 1630, John Winthrop of the Massachusetts Bay Colony preached to Puritan settlers that the rich should care for the poor, who could not help themselves. And in 1638, John Harvard laid the foundations for Harvard University after bequeathing half of his estate to found the school.

Skipping ahead through ages, notable philanthropists include Mother Teresa and Norman D. Rockefeller. In the 21st century, philanthropy continues to be practiced in many forms by individuals and corporations, like Warren Buffett, Melinda Gates, and Dolly Parton.

Technology, including social media, has also shaped how many individuals give to others.

Example of Philanthropy

Many people in the United States give money to causes in which they believe. Perhaps the most famous example of philanthropy came from Andrew Carnegie, simply because of the scale of his giving. Carnegie's wealth helped build more than 2,500 libraries all over the world. He also endowed several universities and a charitable trust that still runs 100 years after Carnegie's death in 1919. Estimates of his total charitable contributions exceed an estimated $350 million. Carnegie lived up to his credo that a man who dies rich dies disgraced, and the rest of society learned to follow his example.

Another example is the Ford Foundation, established by Edsel Ford, the son of Ford Motor Company founder Henry Ford. The foundation focuses on strengthening democracy, improving economic opportunity, and advancing education.

Likewise, billionaire and Microsoft mogul Bill Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda, established the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support global development and global health programs.

Today, the Charitable Contributions Deduction allows American taxpayers who make substantial charitable gifts to take generous tax deductions for the year in which their donations were made. Instructions for this tax deduction can be found on Schedule A on the IRS website.

Benefits of Philanthropy

There are many benefits to being a philanthropist. Experts have found that charitable giving can improve one's emotional and even physical well-being, and philanthropists have the satisfaction of knowing they have contributed to the greater good.

Some studies have shown that philanthropists have less depression, higher self-esteem, lower blood pressure, and may even live longer than those who don't give.

The benefits of philanthropy are not limited to individuals. Corporations that support charitable giving receive a wealth of offerings from building a better public image, creating more vital brand awareness, and attracting new partners and talent who may be attracted to a company that contributes to charities.

In addition, employees who work for companies that give back to society are happier and contribute more at their jobs. And, because corporations are created to make money, a strong philanthropic streak often boosts sales and new customers.

Philanthropy and Taxes

While it is true that individuals benefit from charitable giving when tax time comes, some benefit more than others. The IRS allows most individuals to deduct around 60% of their adjusted gross income (AGI).

However, some very wealthy individuals use charitable giving to shield themselves from large tax bills. But some say billionaires are dodging paying their fair share of taxes under the guise of charitable giving to the needy.



Statistics on Giving

Americans and U.S. organizations gave $449.64 billion to charities in 2019, which represented one of the highest years on record for charitable donations. The amount was an increase of 4.2% over the previous year. Giving by individuals in 2019 was an estimated $309.66 billion, up 4.7% over 2018. Giving by foundations was an estimated $75.69 billion, an increase of 2.5%, while giving by bequest came in at $43.21 billion, which represented a flat growth rate of 0.2%. Corporate giving was $21.09 billion, an increase of 13.4%.

As much as 28.5% of charitable donations went to religious organizations. Most of the donations to religious groups went to local places of worship, and around 14% went to educational groups. According to reports, human services groups came in third, which reaped 12.5% worth of windfalls in that year, while grantmaking foundations received 12%, and 9% is the amount given to health organizations.

What Is the Difference Between Charity and Philanthropy? While some use the words charity and philanthropy interchangeably, philanthropy often casts a broader net of giving. Its role is to help society or groups in the community flourish over a long-term period. Charity is usually based on individual giving and helping in a short-term way, like donating coats to the homeless in winter, helping out or contributing goods to a local food pantry, or sending money to a scholarship fund. These are all acts of charity but may not be considered philanthropic efforts like building a school or a library or donating millions to a scholarship fund.

Which Philanthropist Has Donated the Most Money? According to an annual report in Forbes magazine, Warren Buffet has donated the most money, $48.2 billion, over his 91 years, as of 2020.
By Ray Ryan

The 15 markets that are likely to present growth opportunities for Irish food and drink exports over the next five to 10 years have been analysed.

It follows 75 in-depth studies commissioned by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine and co-ordinated by Bord Bia.

Over 180 markets were screened using macro-economic and sector-specific criteria weighted and assessed for each category.

The reports include up-to- date information on trends, self-sufficiency, competitor details, price-point data and trading technical issues related each country.

Launching the findings yesterday, Agriculture, Food and Marine Minister Michael Creed said agri-food exports from Ireland exceeded 13bn last year.

Although the UK and other European markets remain vitally important, half of this growth came from markets outside Europe.

This was led by a six-fold increase in exports to China, a doubling of business with the rest of Asia and north America and a rise of 40% in trade to the Middle East and Africa.

Today China is the second biggest market for Irish dairy, while the US absorbs almost 45% of Irish whiskey exports.

If the growth trends evident between 2009 and 2016 continue, international markets will account for over 40% of Irish food and drinks exports by 2025, he said.

Bord Bia chief executive Tara McCarthy said the reports provide Irish food and drink manufacturers with substantial data and insight with which to prepare a strategic approach to international export markets.

In the context of the uncertainty that persists around Brexit, this is, above all, a positive assertion of the long-term possibilities for our industry, she said.
ParisRival Libyan leaders vying for influence in the fractured and war-scarred country meet in Paris on Tuesday for a major peace conference seen as a risky French-backed push for a political settlement in the country. Many analysts are skeptical that the initiative to invite four senior figures representing Libyas factions, as well as neighboring countries and regional powers, can lead to significant progress. Years of mediation by the United Nations, as well as former colonial power Italy, have failed to bring stability to the north African nation that descended into chaos after the ousting of dictator Moamer Kadhafi in 2011. The main focus of the meeting will be on trying to agree a political road map committing all parties to hold parliamentary and presidential elections before the end of the year -- an approach not favored by everyone. I believe that elections are a big risk in a country armed like Libya, Federica Saini Fasanotti, an analyst with the Washington-based Brookings Institution, told AFP. There are also disagreements over whether a vote on a new constitution, or elections for the presidency and parliament, should come first. While the Italians, Turkish, Qataris and to a large extent the Americans believe the constitution comes before elections, on the other side, the French, Egyptians and Emiratis want elections first, Mohamed Eljarh, from the Libya Outlook consulting firm told AFP. Also, despite French efforts to convene all of the leading players in the oil-rich country, militias in and around the city of Misrata have boycotted proceedings, leaving western Libya under-represented at the talks. The Libyan invitees include Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj, head of the UN-backed unity government in Tripoli, and 75-year-old military strongman Khalifa Haftar, whose rival Libyan National Army dominates the countrys east. Aguila Saleh Issa, the parliament speaker based in the eastern town of Tobruk who opposes the UN-backed administration, is also expected, as is Khalid Al-Mishri, the newly elected head of the High Council of State. Representatives from around 20 countries involved in the Libya crisis have been invitedan acknowledgement that the problems can only be resolved if regional powers agree on a common road map. These include Egypt, Russia and the United Arab Emirates which have backed Haftar and the rival administration in Tobruk in the east, not the UN-recognized government based in the capital Tripoli.Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as neighbors Algeria and Tunisia and west African leaders from Niger and Congo will also attend, the French presidency has announced. European leaders see stabilizing Libya as key to tackling jihadist threats and migration from the country which has become a departure point for hundreds of thousands of Africans trying to reach Europe. Macron threw himself into finding a solution shortly after his election in May last year. The 40-year-old French leader brought Sarraj and Haftar together in Paris in July where they agreed a ceasefire and to hold elections in 2018 -- a move that irked the Italian government at the time which was blindsided by Macrons diplomacy. The task of stabilizing Libya is complicated by diverging interests among Middle Eastern countries, which have sometimes backed opposing sides in the fighting, as well as competition between European powers. Macron is suspected by some in Italy of organizing the conference at a time when Frances southern European neighbor, which has major oil interests in Libya, is facing a serious political crisis. Its as if Macron wanted to make the most of this moment of absence by Italy on the Libyan dossier, Italian newspaper La Repubblica wrote last week, citing diplomatic sources. France is also suspected by some rivals within Libya of favoring Haftar, a military strongman who has fought Islamist militias and who was recently treated in Paris for an undisclosed ailment. There is clear apprehension among many in western Libya that the French initiative is an attempt to reinforce the position of Khalifa Haftar as the key power broker in Libya, Eljarh from Libya Outlook added. The Crisis Group, an NGO that studies conflict zones, also voiced caution about the French conference. Much more work remains to be done for a peace-building effort in Libya to succeed, it said on Monday. For this reason, Crisis Group believes that France should not request that its four Libyan guests sign an accord.
Removing the link between Church and State in education is the next big constitutional question that needs to be addressed after last week's historic referendum, the Labour party believe.

Calling on Health Minister Simon Harris to press ahead with enabling legislation around terminations as quickly as possible, the party have also called on Government to address our education system.

Speaking outside the Dail this morning former Education Minister Jan O'Sullivan there has been an "appetite for some time" for the divestment of schools out of the hands of the Catholic Church to provide a more pluralist education system.

"I think proposably it's a bit like the result of the referendum on Saturday, that the people are ahead of the system," she said.

Labour Senator Aodhan O Riordain said the Citizens' Assembly should now address the role of Church and State in the provision of education.

People always ask what's next and our view from a constitutional framework is that the next big question for people to address is the relationship between the Church and State in education.

"That has been raised whenever we try to do anything in the education system, that constitutional reality about the protection of patron's rights in the Constitution is very difficult to overcome.

"It goes beyond the religious element it goes to every single facet of school life, if we are going to talk about what comes next it's the constitutional impediment of delivering proper secular education in Ireland because there is still a chill factor for LGBT teachers, for LGBT students and I think anybody who went and voted on Friday will still have walked past a huge amount of religious iconography before they cast their vote, so I think that is the next big constitutional question we have to ask ourselves," he said.
Gardai have arrested two men as part of an ongoing investigation in to the murder of Dessie Fox in Co Kildare in 1990.

The two men, aged 50 and 61, were arrested in the Dublin area this morning during an operation involving Gardai from the Kildare Division and members of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Gardai are investigating a serious hit-and-run in Wexford.

A 59-year-old woman was out walking her dog at Millands, Gorey when she was struck by a vehicle at 7.30am, which failed to remain at the scene.

Emergency services attended the scene and the woman was removed to St. Vincent's Hospital, Dublin where her condition is described as serious.

The road was closed to facilitate forensic collision investigators but has since reopened.

Gardai are appealing to any persons in the area at this time, who may have dash cam footage, or anyone who may have information about the collision to contact Gardai at Gorey Garda Station on 053 - 9430690, the Garda Confidential Line 1800 666 111 or any Garda Station.

Digital Desk
Assistive Technology helps students with varying difficulties further their education, says Michelle McBride.

The sun is out and the exams are looming. Scientific calculators are being relocated, highlighter markers are working overtime, and ball point pens are experiencing a seasonal surge in popularity.

But for some students, preparing for the Leaving or Junior Cert demands more than just access to these traditional tools.

For students with learning difficulties or physical disabilities, pen and paper can serve to exclude not include.

However, many of these students are now being afforded the opportunity to access the curriculum in school and college with the support of Assistive Technology (AT), while some may also be granted permission to use this technology to complete their state exams.

Last year, 121,000 students sat the Junior and Leaving Certificate examinations. Of these, 17,661 candidates were granted accommodations for the exams.

Accommodations vary from the provision of reader or scribe to a Live Scribe Pen and, in some cases, voice recognition software.

A spokesperson for the State Examinations Commission said that figures for this years exams are not available until after the examinations but by way of comparison, reasonable accommodations were granted to 16,764 candidates in 2016, and 16,194 in 2015.

Sam Timbrell received a diagnosis of dyslexia in sixth year of secondary school.

Being asked to read was my worst nightmare, says Sam.

The 24-year-old UCC graduate felt he always struggled in school and was relieved when a private assessment confirmed he had dyslexia.

It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders.

And, although Sam was given extra time accommodation during his Leaving Certificate examinations, it wasnt until he attended the orientation day in UCC and was introduced to AT that barriers to his education really began to fall away.

I didnt know myself, it was the first time that I felt comfortable and confident in myself.

Seated, Dr Brian Butler with Linda Doran, Assistive Technology Officer and Mr Peter Brown at Assistive Technology Unit in the Boole Library, UCC. Pic: Tomas Tyner, UCC

Tucked neatly into the Boole library building of UCC lies the Assistive Technology Lab. The lab acts as a hub for the 1,400-plus students registered with the colleges disability services.

Here students can assess chrome books, laptops, scanners and even a quiet area for those with sensory needs.

Access to AT is not restricted to the lab. Every computer on campus has AT software installed on it to maximise accessibility.

Access is everywhere  I could use any computer on campus, says Sam.

Technology is not a new entrant to the college campus or school building, it has been a feature in lecture halls and classrooms throughout the country for many years.

But for some its not just an alternative option to pique interest, for some it is a necessity. A tool that enables them to access content that would otherwise be beyond reach.

Deirdre Madden, outreach officer for UCCs Disability Services, spends much of her time championing the use of AT in education, and points out that having AT installed throughout the campus can benefit all students, not just those who need it.

For some people it makes the impossible possible, for everybody else it is useful too, says Madden.

We learned with text book, pen and paper. We know that people were left out of the loop for a very long time. We are very fortunate that in 2018 we have so many more options available to us.

Assistive Technology is any piece of equipment, device or software that helps to improve the functional capacity of people with disabilities.

The options available to those seeking AT are broad and varied, ranging from something as simple as a pencil grip or a smartphone to more complex items like voice recognition software.

The needs they cater for are equally as varied  from physical disabilities, learning difficulties, visual or auditory impairments, to autism or significant ongoing illness.

But the common denominator with all this technology is that of empowerment  it levels the playing field for those who previously struggled to access the curriculum.

Sam Timbrell may not have experienced the benefits of AT until he reached college but students who are fortunate enough to receive earlier assessments can begin using AT in their school years.

Grace Cussen with her children, Aoife and Brian, at their home in Waterfall, Co. Cork. Pic: Jim Coughlan.

Grace Cussen describes what life was like for her children Brian, 17, and Aoife, 12, before they started using AT in school. They were exhausted at the end of every day from the physicality of trying to keep up.

Brian, who has a rare genetic disorder and was also diagnosed with dyspraxia and autism, started using AT in primary school.

He remembers what school was like prior to AT.

A lot of the time just writing stuff down Id have to work that extra bit harder and I have a genetic syndrome that made me tired. Using technology keeps me on a level playing field with everyone else.

Along with using an iPad in school, Brians school has also installed a lift to assist with his travelling around the school. His mother describes how this benefited the whole school.

His sister Aoife was diagnosed with aspergers and dyspraxia in 2015, and tells of how she felt stupid because she couldnt write fast enough. Now with the use of an iPad, Aoife can take screenshots of board work during class.

Using the iPad has made school life a lot easier  it places less stress on you, Aoife explains.

Aoife is also awaiting the allocation of laptop speech recognition software to assist her with the output of her learning.

For someone with dyspraxia, thinking and writing at the same time can be quite difficult, explains Deirdre Madden.

A report published by the National Council for Special Education reinforces Aoife and Brians positive experience of using AT to access education.

A survey of students in the report using AT noted the positive impact of AT on classroom participation and access to learning was rated very positively (86% and 78% respectively).

Some of the benefits highlighted by teachers in the same report were improved interest in learning and classwork and improved interaction and participation with classwork and classmates.

Deirdre Madden, Assistive Technology Outreach Co-ordinator.

Teachers also stated that AT reduced pupil stress levels.

While the merits of incorporating AT into the education system for those who need it are acknowledged by all involved, there are a few glitches in the system that require attention.

Linda Hall, teacher in Colaiste na Toirbrithe in Bandon, believes there is a disconnect between the allocation of AT and using it in the state exams.

Students go through a rigorous test by a professional to be granted use of Assistive Technology in school, says Ms Hall. I feel that if a student has been granted use of AT by the Special Educational Needs Officer (SENO), then that should automatically qualify them for Reasonable Accommodation in the Certification of Exams (RACE).

Grace Cussen also finds the process frustrating and describes the timed test that Brian has had to complete for RACE as a pet hate.

Grace also stresses that the complicated application systems for accessing AT, along with accessing appropriate training for allocated AT, needs attention.

There is also a stigma associated with AT that can stop people from engaging with it.

Linda Doran, head of disability services and assistive technology officer in UCC, believes timing is the key to challenging the stigma that surrounds AT. Get [students] at the right time, says Doran.

She believes students that dont receive their AT until secondary school or college are most susceptible to being restricted by stigma.

There is a fear of being different or standing out. Youre fighting a losing battle, states Doran. Some students are reluctant to register with the disability service.

There is a stigma attached to the word disability. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Id sooner challenge the stigma. The long-term goal of this is to maximise someones potential and independence, states Madden, Lets get rid of the shame.
Unless the populists campaign on exiting the euro, a new election will change nothing, according to Ferdinando Giugliano.

Italys president, Sergio Mattarella, faced an impossible choice when vetoing Paolo Savona, a leading eurosceptic economist, as Italys finance minister.

Savonas selection risked causing a self-fulfilling crisis, which would have pushed Italy out of the euro by stealth.

Yet even the presidential veto, and subsequent decision to appoint a technocratic government, havent been enough to reassure investors. Only a promise from all parties that they will never leave the currency union would reverse the sharp selloff in Italian bonds. Thats unlikely to happen.

Mattarella was well within his rights to block Savonas appointment, despite claims that this was an attack on democracy.

Italys constitution says the president has the final say over the choice of ministers. Past presidents have exercised this power, for example during the formation of Silvio Berlusconis first government in 1994.

In the past, parties have usually accepted the rejection. Here, the anti-establishment coalition of Five Star and the League refused to change tack, triggering a collapse of their incipient government.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the League, claimed Mattarella blocked Savona because he was disliked in Paris and Berlin.

The 81-year-old economist had compared the euro to a German cage and hinted it was a continuation by other means of the Nazi plan to dominate Europe.

However, the real reason for Mattarellas move was more nuanced: He was deeply troubled by Savonas conviction that Italy should have a secret Plan B to quit the euro in the event of a crisis.

The problem with these types of contingency plans  even if youre still paying lip-service to the Plan A of trying to rework the eurozone relationship  is that markets tend to take them seriously and run for the hills.

If investors think Italys finance minister may have a hidden roadmap to quit the currency union, they are going to sell their Italian assets immediately, fearing they might be re-denominated in cheaper lira (and, in the case of bonds, be defaulted on).

Mattarella has never said Italy cannot be allowed to leave the euro. All he has argued for, correctly, is that this should be done openly. Five Star and the centre-right alliance  which included the League  did not campaign on an anti-euro platform, nor was a departure included in their coalition agreement.

Savonas appointment risked creating a sovereign debt crisis and pushing Italy out of the euro without a popular mandate for an exit.

Now, though, the genie of Ital-exit is out of the bottle and it will be very hard to put it back in. Investors are shunning Italian assets, with the yield on Italys two-year bonds hitting 2.83%, the highest since 2012, yesterday before paring losses.

A new election could see either Five Star or the League (or, indeed, an alliance of the two) storming to victory. Yet its still unlikely either will campaign explicitly for Italy to leave the common currency, as they know most Italian voters are against it.

The most effective way to reassure markets would be a credible pledge from all parties that Italy will never, under any circumstance, leave the currency union. Of course, thats very unlikely to happen given the Leagues attachment to its Plan B.

So, in the absence of a commitment to the eurozone, the best chance of clarity would be if the next election became a showdown over the single currency.

If the eurosceptics won the day, they would have the popular mandate to hire the finance minister of their choice. But, again, this is unlikely to happen given that the populists have thrived through holding an ambiguous position.

In the meantime, investors will continue to take flight and Mattarella will still have an impossible job.
Irans foreign ministry has dismissed a report that some Iranian officials recently met with Israeli intelligence agents in the Jordanian capital over involvement in the Syrian conflict of forces aligned with the Iran-backed Lebanon Shia movement Hezbollah.

The dismissal came from the ministrys spokesperson Bahram Qassemi.

Qassemi was outright. No talks were held he is quoted as saying.

Report of the clandestine meeting came from London-based Arabic-language news outlet Elaph. The media, owned by a Saudi businessman, on Sunday cited an alleged participant at the meeting who said that Irans ambassador to Jordan, along with several Iranian security officials, had met with Israeli intelligence agents in Amman.

The meeting addressed the presence of Hezbollah forces and other Shia fighters in Syria. Israelis reportedly want the fighters to stop taking part in any future conflict between the Assad regime and opposition forces near the Jordan-Syria border.

The report came amid high tensions between Iran and Israel.

Israel early this month raided alleged Iranian military positions in Syria after the Jewish state claimed forces belonging to Irans Revolutionary Guards fired a barrage of missiles into Israel.

Iran has been involved in the Syrian conflict where it is shoring up, along with Russia, President Bashar al-Assad.
A Canadian computer hacker has been sentenced to five years in prison in connection with a massive security breach at Yahoo that federal agents said was directed by Russian government spies.

Karim Baratov was also fined 250,000 dollars (214,000) by US judge Vince Chhabria.
A rejected asylum seeker from Iran suffered serious injuries when he set fire to himself at a town office in Germany, authorities said.

Police said the 35-year-old man entered the office in Goeppingen, a town near the south-western city of Ulm, at midday and asked two employees for help, showing them papers indicating his application for asylum had been rejected.
The claim was made at yesterdays meeting of Cork County Council, where representatives discussed an update from Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy on the Local Infrastructure Housing Activation Fund (LIHAF).

Announced as part of the Governments Rebuilding Ireland programme, LIHAF aims to deliver 23,000 homes by 2021 and to bring about public off-site infrastructure to relieve critical infrastructure blockages.

The correspondence from Mr Murphys office said the scheme has approved 195m worth of funding for 30 public infrastructure projects across the country, and that the fund aims to increase housing supply by removing infrastructural obstacles that were preventing the development of key sites.

The letter also praised local authorities efforts to leverage the States investment through LIHAF and ensure cost reductions on units in developments across the scheme.

However Fianna Fail councillor Seamus McGrath, whose previous motion seeking an update on LIHAF prompted the letter from Mr Murphys office, said the response was deeply disappointing, watered down, and gives little clarity as to how the fund would actually produce affordable homes.

When the scheme was announced there was a big emphasis on the fact that a certain amount of units would be made available below market value, which gave some hope to people looking for an affordable housing scheme, said Mr McGrath.

However there was never any clarity as to how that would be delivered, and we now see, as time has moved on, and LIHAF funding has been released, that there still isnt any clarity in terms of how developers are to deliver on that issue.

It has become cloudy, watered down, and the ministers comments welcoming local authorities efforts at trying to secure cost reductions is passing the buck back onto the local authorities, whereas at the time it was a central theme for getting approval nationally, at a Dail level for this funding. At the end of the day, it is public money and it is being put into infrastructure to facilitate private developments.

I support LIHAF. It is necessary, we need infrastructure, the lack of infrastructure is one of the main criticisms of housing development but I think the Government need to be fulfilling their commitment in relation to the affordable issue.

Mr McGraths comments won support from Sinn Fein councillor Des OGrady, who said Government has walked away from the issue and has left local authorities to pick up the pieces.

Mr OGrady highlighted Mr Murphys previous reluctance to state what he considers an affordable house price to be, and said this is indicative of a wider problem in housing policy.
Michael Holland, aged 52, of Courtbrack, Blarney, appeared before Judge Olann Kelleher at Cork District Court where it had been put back to see if the accused was pleading guilty or not guilty.

Donal Daly, defending, said there would be a plea of not guilty to the charges.

It will now have to be put back for a trial at Cork District Court.

Mr Daly indicated that the case would take approximately 90 minutes to hear.

Inspector Daniel Coholan suggested a hearing date in late September but Mr Daly said the accused would be on holidays at that time. A date of October 30 was set instead.

The defence solicitor said one of the issues being raised by the defence was the delay in the case being brought by the prosecution.

The case relates to alleged abuse of cattle. Fourteen of the counts are for alleged breaches of regulation 5 of the European Communities (Welfare of Farmed Animals) regulations.

Each of these charges states that on April 11, 2016, the defendant failed to take all necessary steps to ensure the welfare of an animal in his possession, in his control, and to ensure the animal was not caused unnecessary pain, suffering, or injury contrary to Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013.

Nine counts are of allegedly failing to provide adequate water to an animal. One count is of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal.

Mr Holland was not required to speak during the brief hearing as was the case when he was first before the court earlier this year on the matters. Once again, no background details were given on the allegations that gave rise to the charges being brought.
Speaking to the Irish Examiner, Ms Zappone said it was a very good idea and a practical idea to support women now.

The Independent minister suggested the Government and Dail could come back early from the summer recess in order to speedily pass into law the abortion reforms.

The legislation has to be published, she said. The attorney generals office will work with the Department of Health. We hope to get it published before the Dail rises. It is not an easy piece of legislation. The first priority is to publish it. Im happy to sit in the summer, certainly. But we could come back early, that would be more realistic.

Ms Zappone addressed concerns that the confidence and supply agreement between the Fine Gael government and Fianna Fail could collapse or finish in the autumn. This could arise over differences on the budget or the issue of extending the deal.

Ms Zappone said she will press her Cabinet colleagues to stay on board and not allow any such derailing of the agreement if differences arise between the parties.

Im certainly committed and will be encouraging colleagues [to stay together]. This has always been a priority for me, she said.

Ms Zappone said there was still concern about women having to leave Irish shores or take illegal abortion pills. Asked about suggestions the Government could initially tweak legislation to help doctors here correspond with colleagues abroad, for example in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities where women must travel, she said: That could be a very good idea, practical idea to support women now.

Anything to support the will of the people, as long as it is not unconstitutional. We should facilitate women.

The Government is considering immediate action to drop laws or sanctions for doctors if they share medical files with hospitals in other countries that are treating women seeking a termination.

Employment Minister Regina Doherty confirmed that repealing the 1995 law could be an interim measure, while the general bill to implement reforms for abortions here is being prepared. This measure would be discussed by Cabinet today, she said.

She also said she backed proposals to give out free contraception for people, from the age of 18, in order to prevent crisis pregnancies

The Fine Gael minister told RTE that while doctors would be entitled to a conscientious objection on treating women seeking abortion, it would be unkind if medical professionals did not help a woman in a crisis situation.

Ms Doherty also said it was a pity that priests or the Church were getting ribbed on social media over suggestions people had sinned by voting yes in the referendum.

It would be surprising if they expressed another view, said Ms Doherty.
French President Emmanuel Macron Monday took credit for solving the November political crisis that erupted in Lebanon after Prime Minister Saad Hariri was allegedly abducted in Riyadh following a visit to the kingdom wherefrom he announced his resignation.

If France wasnt listened to then there probably would be a war in Lebanon at this moment as we speak. Its French diplomacy, its our action, Macron said in an interview with broadcaster BFM TV.

I remind you that a Prime Minister was held in Saudi Arabia for several weeks, he said.

France intervened between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia to secure the return of Prime Minister Saad Hariri to Beirut after being alleged held in Riyadh.

Saad Hariri had announced from Riyadh his resignation from the position of Prime Minister. The Sunni Lebanese leader had criticized Iran-backed powerful Lebanon movement Hezbollah of sowing mayhem in the region. Reports in Lebanon also emerged that Hariri was abducted and put under house arrest.

Hezbollah and President Aoun believed Hiriri was coaxed to the speech. Lebanese authorities turned to western powers to help defuse the crisis, which took several weeks.

President Macron travelled to Riyadh to convince Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to let Hariri return to Lebanon.

Hariri returned Lebanon late November on the eve of the 47th celebration of the national Independence following two weeks of absence.

The re-appointed Lebanese Premier denied he was held hostage then.
The Bottlehill superdump in Cork remains unused despite costing some 48m to develop, but yesterdays meeting of the county council heard that using it to dispose of Japanese knotweed could save developers the cost of having to transport the invasive species to sites in other parts of the country.

Planning permission was submitted last month for a Japanese knotweed processing plant in a disused quarry at Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo.

However, Fine Gael councillor Gerard Murphy said the expense of transporting the plant from affected building sites to deep landfill sites elsewhere is adding considerably to the cost of building new homes.

The motion found support from across the chamber at yesterdays meeting.

Independent councillor Marcia DAlton said communication with the public on the invasive species emphasises the need to treat and dispose of it carefully, and yet Cork has no site for this.

Fine Gael councillor Kay Dawson said she believes the local authority has a duty of care to the public in tackling the increasing Japanese knotweed issue, and that it would be more mindful of this responsibility if it were to take charge of the problem by having it processed at the Bottlehill site.

Independent councillor Kevin Conway said the problem is not exclusive to new builds, and revealed that he is having difficulty tackling the plant near his home.

Ted OLeary, the senior executive officer for the councils Environment Directorate, confirmed previous reports that the local authority is currently assessing a proposal for a wind farm on the Bottlehill site.

While the economy has improved and there is certainly an increased demand in relation to construction and demolition waste, there remains no indication of a changed waste market in relation to Bottlehill. Its potential use as a facility for the disposal of Japanese knotweed or other invasive species would not increase its market viability, he said.

Under current waste regulation the only available off-site disposal outlets for Japanese knotweed waste are lined EPA-licenced landfills or incineration.

However, Mr OLeary did indicate that the disposal of the plant, and the increasing demands of other construction waste, are under consideration.

It is acknowledged that increasing development activity has created an increased demand for construction and demolition waste facilities, he said. Demand for the disposal of Japanese knotweed or other invasive species at landfill arises almost exclusively from construction activities and, as such, the material can in this context be considered a form of construction and demolition waste.

Mr OLeary said the council has asked the Southern Region Waste Management Office to look at the issue as part of wider initiatives on the assessment of capacity for construction and demolition waste. He also reiterated that the on-site treatment of Japanese knotweed is the preferred method of tackling the plant from a bio-security point of view.

The Bottlehill proposal is to go to the councils Environmental Strategic Policy Committee for further consideration.
Burma Analysis: Myanmar Planning and Finance Ministers Case a Test of Govt Seriousness on Corruption

Former Minister for Planning and Finance U Kyaw Win addresses the Myanmar Investment Forum in Naypyitaw on June 6, 2017. / Htet Naing Zaw / The Irrawaddy

In March, when he declared in his inauguration speech that fighting corruption was one of the top priorities on his to-do list, President U Win Myint was heartily applauded by his fellow citizens, who have long been disgusted by corrupt officials at nearly every level of government.

Two months later, it emerged that Planning and Finance Minister U Kyaw Win was under investigation by the Anti-Corruption Commission after it received complaints against him. While an embarrassment for Myanmars de facto leader, State Counselor Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who boasted last year that her cabinet was corruption free, the development pleased the public, which praised the president as a man of his word. They followed the progress of the case closely, as it was the first time the National League for Democracy-led government had taken action against one of its own ministers.

But to the peoples dismay, the Presidents Office announced on Friday that the corruption-tainted minister had been allowed to resign from his post. Some wondered aloud: Thats all? There is a strong desire to see a corrupt minister face serious punishment. Simply letting him go virtually encourages birds of the same feather to take bribes and leave their positions.

So far, the Anti-Corruption Commission has been silent about its findings. A statement released over the weekend said simply that it had submitted an investigation report to the president, adding that except for classified matters, the commission will reveal the results of its investigation in U Kyaw Wins case at an appropriate time. There was no mention of whether the minister was guilty of the crime. If charged under the Anti-Corruption Law, he would face 15 years imprisonment.

Yangon-based political analyst Yan Myo Thein said the commission should make its findings public as soon as possible, given the high-profile nature of the case.

If they dont reveal the findings, the rumor mill will continue. That would have a negative impact on the governments image, he said.

Its time for the government to let the people know that it takes the anti-corruption effort very seriously, he added.

U Ye Lin Myint, country coordinator of Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability (MATA), agreed that allowing the minister to resign was not the answer.

The government should not stop at simply seeing that he leaves the position, he said.

To complicate matters, the accused minister is an elected Lower House lawmaker, having won a seat in the 2015 election.

Commission spokesperson U Han Nyunt acknowledged that the agencys hands were tied in many cases involving elected officials, but added that it was better that lawmakers are disciplined according to parliamentary procedure.

We can take certain legal actions. But frankly speaking, lawmakers should be disciplined by the Parliament, he said.

U Nay Myo Tun, a lawmaker representing Htantabin Township in the Lower House, said no law existed allowing action to be taken against lawmakers. Though the Anti-Corruption Law says action can be taken against anyone, it is not the case for lawmakers, even if they do commit an offense. Relevant organizations have to be informed first, he said.

It is easy to take action against officials at the director-general and lower levels. But it is quite difficult to take action against political office holders, U Nay Myo Tun said.

The most likely scenario in this case is that, given the political status of the accused, the commission referred the case to the president for a decision, as Union ministers are appointed by the president. Time will tell how the Parliament will respond to the case, as commission chairman U Aung Kyi told the media last week that the findings would be submitted to the House Speakers.

U Ye Lin Myint of MATA said that all those accused of a crime must be treated equally under the law, from the president on down.

The people are interested to see to what extent the government follows the existing laws without taking sides, he said.

NLD lawmaker Daw Khin San Hlaing said U Kyaw Win will be a test case for whether the party keeps its promises, referring to Daw Aung San Suu Kyis 2016 warning to new cabinet members, including U Kyaw Win, not to take bribes or engage in corruption. If you do so, she said at the time, you will go to jail. I will visit those party members in prison.

So, if something goes wrong, you have to take responsibility for your actions, Daw Khin San Hlaing said.
Burma Storm Kills Man, Injures Wife in Rakhine State

Members of the Rakhine State Fire Service Department. / Min Aung Khine / The Irrawaddy

SITTWE  A man was killed and his wife was injured in a storm in Rakhine State, according to the local Fire Service Department.

U Pyae Tun, 78, was killed and his wife, Daw Saw Mra Oo, was injured when a tree fell on their house in the village of Hmaw Daw Oo in Manaung Township on Tuesday morning.

The wife was still being treated at a local hospital in the township for minor injuries, said the head of the states Fire Service Department, U Thaw Dar.

I heard that the storm has subsided after moving across Manaung, U Thaw Dar told The Irrawaddy.

The Fires Service Department has prepared teams of 35 in each of Rakhines 17 townships for emergency rescue work. It was still raining heavily from the storm in Sittwe, the state capital, through Tuesday evening.

Many people in a camp for displaced Hindu families in Maungdaw Township were also without adequate shelter, said camp supervisor U Ni Mal.

Of the 16 buildings in the camp, six have no roof. We have to bear the weather, rain or shine. We have reported to the authorities, but they did nothing, U Ni Mal told The Irrawaddy.

The Irrawaddy was not able to contact the Rakhine State government to ask about the measures it was taking to cope with the storm.

The Department of Meteorology and Hydrology announced Tuesday morning that the storm in the Bay of Bengal would cross the Rakhine coast within 12 hours and has issued a level red storm warning.

It said the maximum wind speed could reach 50 miles per hour when the storm crosses the Rakhine coast between Sittwe and Kyaukphyu and that tidal waves could reach seven feet in height along the coasts of Manaung, Kyaukphyu and Sittwe and three feet in height along the coast of Irrawaddy Region.

Translated from Burmese by Thet Ko Ko.
News Police Arrest 8 for Elephant Poaching in Separate Raids

Elephant parts seized during the arrest of suspected elephant poachers in Daik-U, Bago Region. / Ye Zarni / Bago Police Facebook

YANGON  At least eight people were detained in separate incidents in Irrawaddy Region, Bago Region and Magwe Regions Mindon Township on suspicion of involvement in poaching wild elephants and illegally trafficking their parts, according to local sources.

U Myo Tun, a police officer from Mindon Township, told The Irrawaddy that two people had been detained there on May 27 on suspicion of killing a wild elephant.

We are conducting an investigation into the pair, and cannot provide any more details, U Myo Tun said, adding that discussing the case at this point could put the investigation in jeopardy.

We plan to make more arrests; therefore, we cannot provide detailed information, he said.

Police in Bago Regions Daik-U Township, meanwhile, said they had detained three fugitives in relation to a separate killing of a wild elephant last year.

According to a police report, the poachers planned to sell 40 viss of elephant hide to a client in Rangoon at a price of 30,000 kyats (US$22) per viss. A viss is a traditional Burmese unit of measurement equivalent to 1.6 kg or 3.6 lb.

Elephant are killed on a near monthly basis in Bago and Irrawaddy regions despite stepped up efforts to crack down on poachers. Hunters skin the elephants and abandon the carcasses. In most cases they elude capture.

U Kyaw Myint Tun, a police officer from Ngapudaw Township in Irrawaddy Region said it was difficult to catch the poachers.

They use homemade guns made from small pipes. They bring gunpowder with them, along with chemicals and poison. They mix it all together when they are in the jungle. The shoot the elephants using the homemade guns [and poison], he said.

He said that the poachers are well networked, with many traveling from different township to hunt wild elephant in Ngapudaw.

Most hunters hide their guns, and it is difficult to distinguish the poachers from other hunters, he said. They pretend to pretend to be local people when police confront them in the jungle, he said.

To transport the illegal parts, hunters use motorbikes instead of cars to avoid police, he said.

Myanmar adopted a new law this month to protect wildlife. Wildlife groups in the country are hopeful that the law will improve the situation facing wildlife in the country, especially elephants. The old law did not recognize elephants used for logging as wildlife. However, the new law protects all types of elephants.

Rakhine State and Bago and Irrawaddy regions are all home to wild elephant habitats. Many people clear forests to farm, encroaching on wild elephants habitats. Poachers export the parts of poached elephants mainly to China.

Police in Ngwe Saung Township, Irrawaddy Region, reported on May 28 that they had detained six other men accused of killing a wild elephant.
Commentary In its Final Leg, Naga Peace Accord Comes with More Questions than Answers

Khiamniungan Naga women carry firewood in Pangsha village. / Bidhayak Das

In what appears to be the final countdown to the signing of the Naga peace accord, in all likelihood before the monsoon session of the Indian Parliament, there are hopes all around that the finalization of the accord will bring an end to the longest-running insurgency in Indias eastern frontier. However, the hope also comes with skepticism, as the fundamental issue  that of sovereignty  continues to be blanketed in mystery. Equally unclear are the answers, mostly speculative thus far, to the question of integration of Naga inhabited areas and the inclusion of all parties in the conflict, especially the armed groups that are based in the Naga hills in Myanmar, which is commonly referred to as Eastern Nagaland.

On the issue of absolute sovereignty, the Nagas have always felt that it is their inalienable birthright that was illegally taken away from them when the Naga hills were divided following the Anglo-Burmese Yandabo agreement in 1826 and later in 1953 under the Indo-Burmese demarcation in Kohima on the Naga territory by Jawaharlal Nehru and U Nu, the then Prime Ministers of the two countries.

The Initiation of the Naga Armed Movement

The Naga conflict started in 1952 when the government of India sent the army to crush an insurgency that started with the formation of the underground Naga Federal Government (NFG) and the Naga Federal Army (NFA). In 1958, India enacted the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and used it to fight the Naga insurgents. The NFG is an offshoot of the Naga National Council (NNC). which was formed under the leadership of Angami Zapu Phizo, that declared Nagaland an independent state on August 14, 1947. The Naga hills were annexed by the British in 1881 and the first signs of Naga resistance began in 1918 with the formation of the Naga club. India included Nagaland (which was known as the Naga hills) as part of Assam in 1947.

The first attempt at settlement was made as early as November 11, 1975, when the Indian government succeeded in signing a peace accord in Shillong (called the Shillong Accord) with a section of the NNC and NFG agreeing to give up arms. However, not everyone agreed to the accord and about 140 members led by Thuingaleng Muivah and with support from Isak Chisi Suu and S S Khaplang formed the national Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) in 1980. With the NSCN becoming the new chapter in the Naga insurgency, the NNC faded away with the death of its leader Phizo in London in 1991. However, in 1988 the NSCN had split into two, the NSCN-IM led by Isak and Muivah and the NSCN-K led by Khaplang after violent clashes between supporters of the two groups.

For the record, the Indian government and the NSCN-IM entered into peace negotiations on July 25, 1997, with the signing of a ceasefire agreement. The peace negotiations have over the years had their share of ups and downs and since then, there have been more than 80 rounds of talks paving the way for a framework agreement that was signed in August last year. The framework agreement was signed between the Indian government and the NSCN-IM on August 3, 2015.

The Peace Formula: Framework Agreement

The framework agreement, which pledges to restore the pride and prestige of the Nagas, is based on the concept of shared sovereignty between the Nagas and the Indian government. While the contents of the framework agreement have been kept closely guarded and have not been revealed to the media, what is clear is that the NSCNIM, which is at the forefront of the peace talks with the Indian government, is keen on finding a final settlement to the vexed Naga insurgency that has witnessed extreme forms of violence and human rights abuses by both the Indian armed forces and also cadres belonging to different Naga armed groups.

It remains to be seen how the concept of shared sovereignty plays out in reality. Simply put, shared sovereignty is a policy of give and take between two entities (in this case the government of India and the NSCN-IM) which would attempt to deliberate on what is possible for New Delhi to accede to and what is not. The few things that India would not do are: go against constitutional norms that prevent it from declaring any state or people full sovereignty; redraw any state boundary to accommodate the integration of the Naga inhabited areas (Naga homeland), or demand or allow a separate defense (military) to be formed from within the ranks of former armed combatants.

On the surface, this approach to peace may seem acceptable, especially given that the conflict has taken its toll on Naga society and everyone wants a solution as was mentioned by the apex Naga tribal body Naga Ho Ho President P Chuba Ozukum during a recent tete-a-tete with this writer in Kohima. Other local Naga leaders echoed similar sentiments: People are fed up and are looking for a solution, as the younger generation is a bit detached and it does not know about Naga history. Many youths who have gone outside dont want to come back. How can I see my children suffer? I at least want to give my children a future. But when we look at the bigger picture, it certainly appears that the core issue that led to conflict in the first place has yet to be clearly addressed. The talk of shared sovereignty certainly does not come close to addressing it.

However, when viewed from a conflict transformation perspective it would suffice to say that the ceasefire is only temporarily holding and it has helped to curb the violence. Thats about it. Given this viewpoint (and from what appears in the news media) it must be said that a general understanding or a comfort zone has been created among a certain group of people that gives a sense of some kind of agreement. But the moot question of whether the agreement will provide a solution needs to be asked. And it is not that this question is not being asked. Most Naga groups like the Naga Ho Ho have categorically stated that integration is non-negotiable. Naga civil society from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Myanmar have also articulated their desire to remain united as one family. This desire was clearly expressed by most of them at the last Naga Independence day celebration on August 14 at Hebron near Dimapur in Nagaland. The Naga Tribes Council (NTC), an umbrella of 15 Naga tribes, has also been quoted in local media in Nagaland as saying that any efforts to integrate the Nagas emotionally or administratively without territorial integration cannot be considered a workable solution.

The core issue of sovereignty is not just the trigger to the Naga conflict but it has also paved the way for the conflict theater in the Naga hills to become extremely complex. Thus, the coming together of the principal actors, and this means the NSCN-K and the NNC among others, and deliberating on a common understanding of sovereignty is crucial. This is more so because the core issue is integral to the issues of integration of Naga areas.

Therefore, while all the talks of what the framework agreement can provide would possibly help to propel the peace process forward, it still it does not answer the big question. From what has been reported in different national and local media, it appears that under the current agreement what India can deliver on is autonomous Naga territorial councils for Arunachal and Manipur; a common cultural body for Nagas across states; specific institutions for states development, integration and rehabilitation of non-state Naga militia and the removal of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act.

The Issue of Sovereignty and the Involvement of the NSCN-K

What iterates loudly is the central argument that if the core issue remains out of bounds there will always be a question mark. It would not be wrong to say that many scholars of peace and conflict studies who have observed the developments are spot on when they say that the current developments have limited the peace process to the negotiating table. Not only is it not inclusive but also a peace process should surely be seen in its entire form. One Naga scholar compared the peace process to the wheel of a bicycle, the outer rim of which seems to be connected to the center without all of the spokes. With many spokes damaged and many missing the entire structure is fragile, he said adding, The spokes are transparency, trust-building, and confidence-building measures. Some mechanism has to be there. You can name the spokes and its not that they are abstract.

Recent interviews with a cross section of Naga local groups, civil society and those that are part of the peace negotiations seem to reflect one major concernthe involvement or the absence of the NSCN-K in the peace process. Surely any talks in which the NSCK-K are not involved are incomplete. The outfit, which predominantly operates out of Lahe, Lay Shi and Nanyun in Sagaing Region of Myanmar, abrogated the bilateral truce with India (the truce was signed in 2001) in 2015 and has since been involved in offensives with the Indian security forces. It attended the 21st Century Panglong peace process in Myanmar but has not signed the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA).

Indian media The Times of India in a report published on March 23 this year quoted the NTC secretary Theja Therieh as saying, We have also sent feelers to the NSCN-K and it has been conveyed to us that they are not averse to peace talks. Last November, the government of India had told us that if they (the NSCN-K) are willing, it too is willing to invite them for talks. The government said that if there were no takers for its peace talk invitations, it would be an uncomfortable situation. The NTC has been successful in bringing six other Naga outfits to be part of the peace talks besides the NSCN-IM.

Many others spoken to by this writer during a recent trip across five districts of Nagaland echoed similar apprehensions that leaving a key player out directly implies that one is not interested in addressing the core issue. The Naga issue is unique in the sense that the various ethnicities that make up the tribe have been divided into different administrative and political entities without their consent.

The Peace Package and the Challenges for New Delhi

There isnt any doubt that both New Delhi and the NSCN-IM have had extensive deliberations on what is permissible under the Indian Constitution for the Indian government to accede to, which surely conveys limitations of the latter to give anyone any right to declare any state of India or people full sovereignty. And this is perhaps reflected in Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modis messages in one of his many meetings with Naga delegations where he said that independence lies with the people. Modis message also echoes what the Indian government has been saying on the NSCN-IM demand for sovereignty  that India accepts the uniqueness of Naga history and culture and Nagas are partners in Indias nation-building process and have as much claim and right over India as India has over Nagaland.

But as the process moves forward questions will be asked, perhaps posing more challenges than solutions to New Delhi, the NSCN-IM and the six other groups that have sat at the negotiating table. Some issues are symbolic like that of a separate flag for the state, a separate passport and a joint defense force. These issues are, however, very tricky and would also add to the tests for Indian government appointed peace interlocutor R N Ravi going forward. There have been other equally tricky issues that have been voiced by many other Naga groups like an independent Constitution, creation of a local police and judicial system, the right to use Naga currency, and a permanent UN representative. Whether these issues will eventually define the question of Naga sovereignty or the peace accord will hold in its current form and be accepted by all Naga groups and civil society is the million-dollar question.

What perhaps assumes great significance are questions raised by many scholars and thinkers who have been observing the peace process such as can the NSCN(-IM) speak on behalf of more than three million people? Even if they do, the question is, would the framework agreement be acceptable to all Nagas including our brothers and sisters from the other side?

The author is a former senior journalist who has worked for national and international news media in India and elsewhere. Currently he is a contributing editor for The Irrawaddy.
When the Federal Government begins its trial of the identity solution Govpass in October, it will be both a proud and a nervous time for Rupert Taylor-Price, the man behind Vault Systems, the company providing the cloud infrastructure for the solution.

Taylor-Price told iTWire in an interview that Govpass was one of the most sensitive systems outside defence and intelligence that the government has had to run because it would be a single repository of all of the information of all Australians, "an incredibly sensitive dataset".

The system is intended to allow Australians to be able to prove their identity to government services online. According to the Digital Transformation Agency, "Users will be able to prove themselves by having an accredited organisation vouch for them, such as a government agency, or in the future, even their own bank."

One would need to provide personal details to establish a Govpass ID; after this is set up, most of the personal data will be deleted. The government allocated $92.4 million in the recent Federal Budget to see the project through to completion.

"All ID information in government today is held by each individual agency and each time you go to an agency you have to re-identify yourself, re-prove who you are and there is a process whereby they create some kind of an identity for you," Taylor-Price said, pointing out the problem that Govpass was meant to solve.

Given the fact that a move to set up a national identity card many years ago was as popular as having stones for breakfast, Taylor-Price said the DTA had consulted privacy groups before starting out.

"The DTA did an industry-wide consultation where they approached all of the privacy groups and they also got an external consultant to come in and assess the privacy impact that this would have," he said.

Rupert Taylor-Price: "...we're trying to support government in the move to open source and open standards."

As the Australia Card was not very well received, he said what was needed was to find a way to meet the security and privacy to a level which with the Australian public was comfortable.

Taylor-Price said there were many facets to how this was managed "including an opt-in system, how they manage the data within that system and using a cloud system like ours, which is entirely Australian-owned and located within the Australian legal jurisdiction. It has been certified by the Australian Signals Directorate and meets a whole range of security requirements."

Vault Systems is one of four Australian providers to have the coveted Protected status from the ASD for its cloud offering, the other three being Macquarie Government, Sliced Tech and Dimension Data. Microsoft was certified as the fifth provider recently.

"For an individual citizen, their identity is the most sensitive data that the government holds," said Taylor-Price who started Vault Systems some six years ago. "If they are working with the Department of Human Services that information is very sensitive as it could include medical records, psychological assessments, criminal history.

"Citizens don't choose the data that government comes to hold, it is picked up by compliance programs and brought into government.

"So we decided to build multiple clouds at the different security classifications, but all to the same high security standards. What we've done with Govpass is an example of the type of systems with which our entire business was built."

Taylor-Price, who has worked in government for 12 years, said Vault Systems was more involved in "the automation, the cloud technology, the delivery of the actual infrastructure and environment that sits behind that".

He said the DTA, along with the Australian tax Office and the Department of Human Services would run Govpass.

"What Govpass has done is quite unique, they have looked at how they can work with industry as well so the same ID information can be used for interaction with commercial entities," he said.

The DTA was trying to reduce the amount of vendor lock-in in government services, and that suited Vault Systems as it had always worked with open standards. Its cloud is built on the open source OpenStack platform and security is baked in.

"Government has a strong history of working with proprietary vendors and essentially getting locked in," Taylor-Price pointed out. "They think they embark on a project at a certain cost point and then, because they are in a proprietary environment, they lose the flexibility of being able to move within that environment.

"That's when you get the contract variations, you hear of costs being many times the initial budget (and) a lot of that comes down to proprietary and vendor lock-in. So there has been a big movement within government to move towards open source."

He said the DTA had a digital service standard and specification seven on that required open source and open standards. "It was a recommendation that went to government under (current Minister for Law Enforcement and Cyber Security) Angus Taylor last year to try and mandate the use of open standards across government.

"But, of course, there are a lot of competing financial interests that want as many proprietary systems within government as possible and we're trying to support government in the move to open source and open standards."

He said Vault Systems had a very different ethos and agenda to proprietary organisations.

"Microsoft is a partner of Vault Systems, we run many Microsoft workloads on top of our open source and open standards platforms. Because the base system is open source and [conforms to] open standards doesn't rule out running proprietary loads on top.

"We think it is important that the base infrastructure, the cloud layer conforms to open standards. The further down the stack you have open standards, the more flexibility you have. That would give government the freedom to move between providers."

Asked about the security of the set-up, Taylor-Price was quietly confident, but avoided any hype.

"[There are] always risks, no system is perfect," he said. "We have built in all system requirements natively into the base platform. All security components have been re-engineered at their source to natively meet the government requirements. I'm very sure this is the most secure platform the government has to host systems on."
Electronic voting will come to the lower house of the Australian Federal Parliament by 2019, the leader of the House of Representatives, Christopher Pyne, has announced.

A statement said the Department of Parliamentary Services would soon invite tenders from Australian businesses to handle the job.

Pyne said: The implementation of electronic voting will reduce significantly the time required for each vote in the chamber.

Voting outcomes will be transparent, accurate, and known immediately freeing up more time for important parliamentary business to be conducted each day the House sits.

Electronic voting will also provide an electronic solution for recording division voting and improve online accessibility to division process and results.

The statement said in April 2016, the bipartisan House of Representatives Standing Committee on Procedure had recommended that electronic voting be implemented in the lower house.

And it added that the World e-Parliament Report 2016 produced by the Inter-Parliamentary Union indicated that 67% of respondent parliaments used some form of IT system to support voting in the plenary chamber.
Australia's proposed national facial recognition regime is too broad in its scope and will curtail the freedom of people who are merely going about their daily routines, the Human Rights Law Centre has told a parliamentary committee inquiring into the proposed law.

The Centre's director of legal advocacy, Dr Aruna Sathanapally, said the database of proposed images would include the majority of the populace.

In other countries, there is serious debate about the police retaining the images of innocent people," she said on Tuesday.

"Yet, here in Australia, our government is proposing letting not only police, but government departments, local councils, transport authorities and even private companies, access and search for matches across a database that will collate Australians personal information, linked to a biometric profile of their face.

The Federal Government and the statesafter a meeting of the Council of Australian Governments in October last year to set up the national facial database, that would also use photos from drivers' licences.

The face matching services will include face verification service, face identification service, one person one licence service and a facial recognition analysis utility service. Privacy groups have criticised the proposal.

The Centre questioned whether there was evidence to justify these expanded powers and sought detail on how the government proposed to regulate the face recognition capabilities.

Facial recognition and biometric technology threaten to outpace the laws we have in place," Dr Sathanapally said.

"What the government is proposing would effectively leave the rules governing new, powerful forms of surveillance to be worked out by the Home Affairs department and in the hands of the Home Affairs Minister (Peter Dutton).

"Frankly, this isnt good enough for such a dramatic new set of powers, not in a democracy."

The proposed law also posed risks to freedom of expression and other democratic rights, the Centre claimed.

Dr Sathanapally said: "Those attending a public meeting, a protest or a vigil should not have to reveal their identities to exercise their democratic right to engage with others and gather peacefully."

She said that there were doubts about the efficacy of face recognition technology, pointing out that during a recent police operation at the Notting Hill Carnival in London up to 98% of the results had wrongly identified people.

We need to tread carefully with technology that carries high rates of false matches in general, and in particular, when faced with an individual belonging to a minority ethnic group," Dr Sathanapally said.

"When false matches are made, innocent people will suffer the consequences, and already disadvantaged minorities may bear the brunt of this. These new tools risk eroding trust in government agencies, law enforcement and security agencies unless we have robust testing and safeguards in place.

The Centre's submission to the inquiry is here.
Russian billionaire and owner of Premier League FC Chelsea Roman Abramovich has taken Israeli citizenship as British authorities delay to extend his visa.

The Israeli citizenship allows the Russian business tycoon to visit the United Kingdom (UK) for a short stay. The Chelsea owner arrived Monday in Israel where he owns a property near the Mediterranean Sea. He was granted citizenship upon arrival in Israel, reports say.

The Russian is Jewish and is therefore entitled to the Jewish citizenship as long as he wishes to move there. The man weighing $12.5 billion will be exempted from paying taxes over a 10-year period.

Ambramovich is currently facing a delay in the extension of his British visa. The rich man was not seen during the FA Cup final won by his team against Manchester United nearly two weeks ago. His visa in the UK expired last month

The 51-year old man is believed close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Tensions have emerged between London and Moscow following the poisoning of former Russian double-agent Sergei Skripal in Britain in March. British authorities have accused Moscow of involvement. Kremlin has denied any wrongdoing.
A scientist at Victorias RMIT University  Associate Professor Madhu Bhaskaran  has been selected as Australias 2018 nominee for the prestigious APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research and Education for her development of a form of electronic skin.

The electronic skin monitors the environment and the human body and Bhaskarans work developing stretchable electronics and sensors has applications such as detecting dangerous gases in mines; reducing skin cancer with widespread use of UV sensors; or smart contact lenses that can analyse tears for biomarkers.

The award is valued at US$25,000 and Bhaskaran has been nominated by the Australian Academy of Science.

ASPIRE recognises young scientists from Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation countries who have demonstrated a commitment to excellence in innovation, research and education.

The Academy also recognised the work of two runners up  Professor Michael Milford from the Queensland University of Technology and Professor Igor Aharonovich from the University of Technology Sydney.

Milfords research covers robotics, neuroscience and computer vision, and his work looks at how the brain performs tasks like navigation and perception, with his findings leading to applications across intelligent transport, mining and space exploration.

Aharonovichs breakthrough research on next generation technologies spans healthcare, energy, communications and information, and his work on atomically thin materials will support the development of revolutionary techniques to enable early detection of many diseases.

Jobs and Innovation Minister Michaelia Cash said Bhaskarans nomination was another example of why it is vital we continue to encourage more women in science, technology, engineering and maths.

Associate Professor Bhaskaran has developed technology that has the potential to improve the lives of thousands of people in Australia and across the world, Cash said.

The selection of Australias nominee was a competitive process organised by the Australian Academy of Science with support from the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

The award ceremony will take place at the 10th APEC Policy Partnership for Science, Technology and Innovation meeting in Papua New Guinea later this year.
Singapore ISP Singtel opened up port forwarding to troubleshoot issues with some gigabit routers but then forgot to close the opened port after the problem was fixed. Result? Port 10000 was left open for attackers to gain full control of these routers.

NewSky Security research lead Ankit Anubhav, who discovered the open port and dubbed the issue ForgotDoor, said any router which had port 10000 open could be easily accessed and controlled by attackers. A total of 975 routers were observed to be vulnerable.

The password could be changed from the settings menu once one had access, with this being very simple if the default credentials had not been changed.

Anubhav said the routers were connected to multiple devices which meant that these devices too would be open to compromise.

News of the vulnerability was conveyed to CERT Singapore who informed Singtel to fix the issue.

Douglas Mun, deputy director in charge of SingCERT at the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore, was quoted as saying: "The ISP SingTel has disabled port forwarding to port 10000 for the affected routers. Root cause: Port forwarding was enabled by their customer service staff to troubleshoot Wi-Fi issues for their customers and was not disabled when the issues were resolved.

"ISP Singtel will be taking measures to ensure that port forwarding is disabled after troubleshooting has completed."

Anubhav said that one way to cut down on attacks was to let IoT devices connect via non-standard ports.

"For example, setting up SSH on an unusual port can save the device from a lot of brute-force attacks that are designed to attack the default SSH port (which is 22).

"However, this practice should never be considered as a replacement for basic IoT security. With easily available crawling scripts and services like Shodan, it is easy for attackers to find out such unusual ports being used."
Blasting off into the chief space officer position at Finnish start-up Space Nation is former NASA astronaut Gregory "Box" Johnson, to advise on the Space Nation Astronaut Program and future ISS missions.

Space Nation. It was founded in 2013, and is based in Helsinki, Finland, and bills itself as "pioneering humanitys transition to the new space era by providing space experiences for global audiences".

The organisation proudly boasts of having "signed a Space Act Agreement with NASA, has its own 'lab space' at the International Space Station and is the first space tourism company to become an affiliate member of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation", so clearly, this is a lot more complicated than mere rocket science.

The organisation even broke the Finnish crowdfunding recording in 2017 by raising the first 1 million in just 43 minutes, and has over 500 private investors!

Now comes Johnson, joining Space Nation as chief space officer, and set "to advise on the further development of the Space Nation Astronaut Program and future missions to the International Space Station where Johnson has been deployed twice".

Space Nation "released the first step of the program, the Space Nation Navigator app, which allows anyone with a smartphone to start their astronaut training, in April 2018".

You can read more of Johnson's impressive career history at Wikipedia here, but we do now know that he "left the Centre for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) in March 2018 where he has been for the last five years, and is an advocate for STEM and science for youth".

"Johnson was the pilot of the Endeavour space shuttle on the STS-123 mission as well as her final flight, mission STS-134.

"In total Johnson spent 32 days in space, including his time at the International Space Station. Johnson holds multiple engineering degrees and an MBA, and is a trained fighter pilot. Before his career at NASA Johnson flew 61 combat missions with the US Air Force during operation Desert Storm.

"Johnson made an appearance in Space Nation's first training in Iceland in May 2018. Influencers got a first hand experience of the Space Nation astronaut training that is awaiting the candidates who will be picked for the Space Nation Astronaut Program.

"During the Iceland astronaut experience the candidates went through physical and mental challenges, solved challenges with the CubeRover, which will be deployed to the moon by Astrobotics in 2020, and executed an extensive search and rescue mission."

Space Nation says its "aim is to make space accessible and relevant for all on Earth, and open up a way for the general public to participate in the new space era".

"Through the Space Nation Navigator mobile app, developed utilising NASA and Axiom Space expertise, anyone can now start training their astronaut skills in the hope of being selected to become a Space Nation astronaut. Space Nation will send the first Space Nation Astronaut to lower orbit next year and then further out every year after that."

Johnson said: "I first heard about Space Nation about 18 months ago and became fascinated by their approach and aim to democratise space.

"I know how that I was extremely fortunate to have been selected astronaut and get the opportunity to fly in space. Going through the astronaut training program has taught me so much and being in space seeing the

"Earth from above is a life changing experience. An experience we hope to be able to share with people on Earth no matter where they are, through the Space Nation Astronaut Program."

Space Nation chief executive and co-founder Kalle Vaha-Jaakkola said: "It is a great asset for Space Nation to get an experienced astronaut like Greg on board our management team. His first hand experience from extensive astronaut training and working on board the International Space Station will be invaluable to us in the development of our programs and new partnerships."

Space Nation Navigator is available for download in Apples App Store and the Google Play Store, with more information here. 
Back in February, Motorola's PR agency issued a media release advising that the Android Oreo 8.0.0 update for the various Motorola models, but this wasn't entirely accurate, with the true update for four models only now actually available.

The news of Motorola's updates for the x4 z, z Play, z2 Play, G5, G5 Plus, G5S, G5S Plus and G4 was announced back in February, as faithfully reported at the time by iTWire, but it turns out the news wasn't entirely accurate.

The news was picked up by an XDA Forums user, "csfrank271" in a post entitled "Android 8.0 Oreo Update". This post generated four pages of commentary, with the second last user "M1810" on page four astutely stating: "There is no Oreo update in Australia or New Zealand, it was fake news."

Well, whether that's entirely true is not known by me, but the fact any of it was untrue was unknown by your humble scribe until today's new, real and non-fake news, as confirmed by one of Motorola's PR people, who rang me today advising the update was out, and confirming for the first time that February's update was sent in error  these things happen sometimes!

Now, with this update only listing the x4, z, z Play and z2 Play, I don't know if the G4 and G5 series are getting the update too, or have already received it, but let's just go with what we now officially know.

So, Motorola states that "following the announcements earlier this year on the rollout of Android 8.0.0 Oreo OS update in Australia on the moto x4, Motorola continues to support the latest Android operating system to include the suite of products in the moto z family".

"These updates promise to further accentuate the consumer experience and amplify noteworthy features making the device smarter, faster and more powerful.

"The latest Android 8.0.0 Oreo does not disappoint, packed with many enhancements, including new multitasking features, security capabilities, improved notifications and performance."

Some of the changes included in this 1.1GB update are:

The ability to autofill your logins to favourite apps.

Faster speeds, longer battery life and smart text selection.

Picture-in-picture gives you a floating window letting you do more at the same time.

Notification dots on your apps to alert you of something new.

Google Play protect to keep you safe from malicious apps.

Further improved battery life.

New emojis  one can express themselves in very many new ways through a fully redesigned Emoji set which includes more than 60 new emojis.

Not stopping there, Motorola states "the update is not limited to the above, the Android 8.0.0 Oreo will additionally update your moto z handset with the following":

Camera improvements: improved performance and capture speed for photos with depth information.

System storage: reduction of storage used by system files by up to 2GB.

Stability improvements: includes changes that fix bugs and improve the stability of your phone.

The Motorola handsets now supporting the Android 8.0.0 Oreo update include:

moto x4

moto z

moto z Play

moto z2 Play

Motorola advises that "consumers are advised to back up their important data and ensure the phone has sufficient battery before initiating the update. Also, as its a large update, avoid using mobile networks," and "in case of stability issues arising due to legacy app data, a factory reset would help get optimal device performance".
The union that covers telecommunications workers claims the sacking of 400 more workers at Singtel Optus shows the "reprehensible contempt" that management has for the workforce.

Shane Murphy, national president of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of Australia, said the fresh news of job losses at the second biggest telecommunications outfit in Australia, was a devastating blow to workers and their families.

Optus made the announcement on Tuesday, with its chief executive Allan Lew saying the move had been made to "future-proof" the company.

The announcement came a few days after there was confirmation that Optus would be phasing out its Virgin Mobile subsidiary over the next two years and getting rid of 200 workers in the process.

In the case of the Virgin Mobile workers, Optus has said they would be considered for positions in Optus-owned stores and "also be invited to explore opportunities within our group of companies".

But on Tuesday, the commitment on this score was less definite, with a spokesperson saying "Our policy is always to speak with employees who may be impacted by these changes first, including discussing redeployment opportunities."

Murphy claimed less than a quarter of the 400 who faced the sack would get an opportunity to be re-employed by Optus.

"While we expect that under 100 of these workers will be offered an opportunity to fill a vacancy elsewhere, there are still over 300 families tonight who will be reeling from this terrible news," he said.

The union will be doing everything we can to assist the impacted workers during this incredibly difficult time. We will be working will Optus to ensure every single worker gets the entitlements they deserve.

Murphy pointed out that the announcement had been made at a time when the union was getting ready to negotiate a new enterprise agreement with Optus.

Their timing of these enormous job cuts demonstrates a reprehensible contempt for the Optus workforce," he added.
Not many organizations end up paying $67 million in ransomware related costs like United Health Services (UHS) did last year following a September 2020 attack that crippled its network. The organization is, however, an example of the increasingly heavy financial toll that these attacks have begun to exact from victims over the past two years.

Security experts that have been following the trend point to several factors as driving the increased costs associated with ransomware attacks, especially for organizations in the healthcare sector. One of the most obvious is an increase in the average ransoms that attackers have been demanding from victims.

An analysis of claims data from policyholders by cyber insurance firm Coalition last year showed the average ransom demand jumping 47% from just over $230,000 in Q1, 2020 to $338,669 in Q2, 2020. Some, like the operators of the Maze ransomware strain hit victims with an average ransom demand of $420,000. A study by Coveware found actual ransomware payouts skyrocketing toofrom just over $84,000 in Q4, 2019 to over $233,817 in Q3, 2020.

However, the ransom itself is only part of the total cost and is often not a factor at all for organizations that refuse to accede to extortion attempts. Even for such organizations, the cost of attacks has increased steadily over the past two years or so. Here, according to security experts, are five of the most common reasons why that has happened.

1. Downtime costs
Frances foreign affairs minister Jean-Baptiste Lemoyn on Monday announced that France would reopen its embassy in Gambias capital, Banjul.

The diplomatic mission was closed in November 2013, with France explaining that Jammehs regime was not open to any productive collaboration.

According to Jean-Baptiste Lemoyn, Gambia is designated as a priority country for French official development assistance and will benefit from a $50 million financing package that will run until 2022.

The Gambian president, Adama Barrow has recently appealed to international donors in Brussels, to fill a $1.6 billion financing gap towards the implementation of the countrys National Development Plan (NDP). The West African nation managed to raise some $1.45 billion at the Brussels meeting.

Aid to the Gambia dried up under Jammeh, whose record of human rights violations, along with his habit of pulling out of international institutions and throwing out diplomats, alienated donors.

Jammeh expelled the EUs charge daffaires in 2015, giving her 72 hours to leave Banjul, with no explanation.

Twenty-two years of dictatorship and economic mismanagement by ex-president Yahya Jammeh has left The Gambia crippled with debt.

According to the International Monetary Fund, the countrys debt stock stood at about 130% of GDP at the end of 2017. More than half of the amount is owed to international lenders.
The High Constitutional Court of Madagascar has ordered President Hery Rajaonarimampianina to dissolve his government and appoint a new prime minister who had the support of all political parties.

The move, according to the top court, would ease the political crisis in the Indian Ocean Island.

Earlier this month, President Rajaonarimampianina approved a new election law lifting a provision that would have prevented the main opposition candidate, Marc Ravalomanana, from standing for office.

Seven months ahead of presidential and legislative elections, the opposition accuses the regime of trying to elbow them out of the race through new electoral laws.

In April, thousands marched in protest against the government in Madagascars capital. The president denounced the unrest in which several people were killed as a coup intended to divide the countrys people.

Madagascar endured several years of turmoil after Ravalomanana was ousted as president in the 2009 coup.

He was overthrown following an army mutiny that allowed Rajoelina  then Antananarivo mayor  to become the countrys unelected transition president until 2014.

The large Indian Ocean Island is due to hold polls in late November or December.

Rajaonarimampianina who was elected in 2013 has not yet announced whether he will stand for re-election. His party said it was open to holding negotiations with the opposition.
A young man from Mali is being praised as a hero in France after he scaled a four-storey building to save a child dangling from a balcony last weekend.

Video of the rescue showed 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama climbing up the building in just seconds to rescue the child, to cheers from onlookers.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday received the illegal migrant and rewarded his bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter in the capital city, Paris.

After meeting Mamoudou Gassama in a gilded room of the presidential Elysee Palace, President Macron granted him a gold medal from the French state for courage and devotion.

In an interview with BFTV, the Malian migrant said he arrived in France last year, taking the long and dangerous journey to Europe via a boat over the Mediterranean to Italy.

Local authorities quoted by French media said the boys parents were not at home at the time. The childs father is being investigated for abandoning his parental responsibilities, according to a spokesman for the Paris prosecutor. He will be sentenced in September, he added.

The 4-year-old child has been placed in care.
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New York (China Dialogue)  Facing 12 investigations, the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency is struggling to keep his job, writes Tan Copsey

Scott Pruitt is clinging on to his role as EPA Administrator following accusations of inappropriate dealings with lobbyists and unnecessary spending

The Trump Administration has been marked by scandal after scandal. Controversies involving corruption, potential collusion with the Russian government, and hush-money paid to adult film actresses, have dominated news here in the United States.

Despite these salacious stories, Scott Pruitt, Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), has still managed to make headlines of his own. Now facing 12 separate investigations, it would seem a matter of time before he resigns or hears his boss famous catchphrase, youre fired.

But President Trump and other Republican politicians are sticking with the embattled Pruitt. So why is he in trouble, what does it mean for climate change and the environment, and whats likely to happen next?

While Pruitt has been keen to reduce the amount of money spent on environmental protection, hes been less careful with his own spending, repeatedly billing the government for first-class travel, significantly increasing the size of his security detail on his first day as Administrator, and building a US$43,000 (274,000 yuan) secret phone booth as part of a concerted effort to avoid scrutiny and oversight of his behaviour.

The reasons for this obsession with secrecy and security have become clearer after a series of freedom of information requests made by journalists and environmental groups.

One of the more serious charges facing Pruitt is that he had inappropriate dealings with lobbyists for fossil fuel companies. These include renting a home owned by the wife of a lobbyist whose clients included major oil and gas companies, at below market rates.

One of the more serious charges facing Pruitt is that he had inappropriate dealings with lobbyists for fossil fuel companies.

Another lobbyist helped organise a trip for Pruitt to Morocco. During the trip Pruitt spent time promoting US liquefied natural gas, a highly unusual topic for the Administrator of the EPA. Months after helping plan the trip the lobbyist, Richard Smotkin, was hired by the government of Morocco as a US$40,000-a-month foreign agent.

Such behaviour by an EPA Administrator is odd, but its not unprecedented for Scott Pruitt. When he was a state senator in Oklahoma, he bought a home with yet another registered lobbyist, while also advancing their causes in the state legislature.

He also kept secret a meeting he had with Cardinal George Pell, a noted Australian climate change sceptic. Cardinal Pell is under investigation for sexual abuse of minors. Unsurprisingly, given his choice of dining companions, Pruitt is no great fan of science. He has attempted to limit the use of scientific studies in crafting legislation, while appointing noted climate change sceptics to key positions and ousting more qualified scientific advisors.

More recent scandals even have a Chinese connection. Acting against the guidance of EPA staff, Pruitt exempted Foxconn from federal air quality regulations despite evidence that smog levels in south-eastern Wisconsin, where Foxconn plans to build a new manufacturing facility, were already above federal standards. President Trump attended an announcement of Foxconns plans, and Pruitts actions are also seen as benefiting Wisconsins Republican Governor Scott Walker who is facing a difficult election campaign.

Although Pruitt has been working to advance industry interests, his support has proved a mixed blessing. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which had lobbied aggressively to cut fuel-economy standards, is now worried that auto manufacturers are facing a regulatory nightmare as the EPA and other agencies have gone further than anticipated, creating new legal fights with California and at least 12 other states. The move could result in different standards for different parts of the country, cutting industry profits.

How has Pruitt survived so long? Under any other president, the steady flow of scandal would have ended his service. But Pruitt has made a lot of noise about how he is implementing Trumps pro-fossil fuel, anti-government agenda, although many of his efforts to slash environmental regulations have subsequently been slowed by more legal challenges.

Under any other president, the steady flow of scandal would have ended his service.

His efforts have endeared him to President Trump and his voter base. Trump has dismissed some of the scandals as the product of an overzealous media and disgruntled environmental groups. A few congressional Republicans have now joined their Democratic colleagues in calling for Pruitt to resign, but for the most part they have stayed quiet.

Another explanation is that Trump has little to gain by firing Pruitt now. His deputy, Andrew Wheeler, is a former coal industry lobbyist, who also worked for Senator Jim Inhofe, another climate change sceptic. Wheeler is seen by insiders as having a similar agenda to Pruitt, but more Washington nous, and fewer scandals. If Pruitt manages to keep his job until the beginning of June, President Trump may be able to keep Wheeler as acting EPA Administrator without Senate confirmation until as late as March 2020.

By contrast, more immediate action would mean a difficult congressional confirmation hearing for Pruitts replacement. The recent, high profile resignations of three of Pruitts closest aides at the EPA may be a sign of a coming change. Whatever happens next, its unlikely to be great news for the environment.

Via China Dialogue

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 England & Wales License and 2.5 China License.



Bonus video added by Informed Comment:

EPA chief Scott Pruitt grilled by Senators over ethics scandals  Daily Mail
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Indias External Affairs Minister, Sushma Swaraj, on Monday did not mince words in delivering a sharp rebuke to US plans for sanctions on trade with Iran, including National Security Adviser John Boltons threats against third parties like India. She said, according to The Hindu,

Our foreign policy is not made under pressure from other countries . . . We recognise UN sanctions and not country-specific sanctions. We didnt follow U.S. sanctions on previous occasions either.

After Minister Swarajs meeting the same day with Iranian foreign minister Javad Zarif, her office said that the External Affairs Ministry and the Indian cabinet

positively assessed the implementation of decisions taken during the visit of President Rouhani to India [including] in the areas of connectivity, energy, trade and promotion of people to people contacts . . .EAM conveyed that all parties to the [JCPOA] Agreement should engage constructively for peaceful resolution of the issues that have arisen with respect to the Agreement.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a right wing Hindu nationalist, had earlier seemed to waver over how to deal with Trumps violation of the UN Security Council-backed Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA). The return of severe US sanctions on Iran is about as welcome in Delhi as a cobra in a mongoose burrow.

India does $115 bn in annual trade with the US, but that with Iran is $13 bn a year. On the surface, you might think it would be easy for New Delhi to sacrifice the Iran piece of its trade for the much bigger American piece. But the fact is that India can buy turbines and washing machines from some country other than the US, whereas it needs Irans petroleum and natural gas for its future, and wants to use Iran to get around Pakistan to the northwest. Energy and geopolitics play a big role here.

India trades with Iran in Euros, which are not under the purview of the US Department of the Treasury. It uses the Brussels-based SWIFT bank exchange. If Europe stands firm, India could go on importing Iranian petroleum without much fear of sanctions. That $115 bn per annum in trade that India does with the US is a fraction of that of countries like China or South Korea, and many of the firms that deal with Iran likely have no US assets that could be attached. Even if Iran is again kicked off the bank exchange, Iran and India in the past have traded billions in rupees and riyals, which locks them in to buying from each other with the money but is better than foregoing the trade. Iran has now developed insurance instruments of its own for its oil exporting tankers and also built a small fleet of such tankers, so that some of the tactics the Obama administration tried to marginalize Iran are now more easily overcome. Of course, getting around US sanctions imposes costs, but Iran can sacrifice say 15% of its oil profits for the sake of continuing to do business.

Indias is among the fastest-growing economies in the world (projected to grow 7% this year), with a gross domestic product in nominal terms for 2017, according to the International Monetary Fund, of $2.6 trillion slightly more than that of France (as well as exceeding that of Italy, Brazil and Russia!).

Modis Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party has been trying, with some success, to win over voters from the less privileged castes, slowly overcoming its earlier reputation as a vehicle of upper-caste Brahman privilege. One of his populist projects has been bringing electricity to more villagers (a quarter or so of Indians, 300 million people, were living without electricity before Modis latest push). Although the government now says all the countrys villages have electricity, it only means that wires have been laid to them all and that at least 10% of the villages residents have electricity now. Millions are still unserved or underserved, a lacuna Modi does seem determined to address. To continue with this quest, he has backed an all of the above energy strategy much like that of former US president Barack Obama. Although his government is making a big push for solar and wind, it also is seeking to make sure India has enough petroleum and natural gas to keep its economic surge from petering out.

This strategy is a matter of survival for the BJP, and a huge party governing 1.3 billion people isnt going to sacrifice its electoral strategy for the sake of Trumps pique and Boltons war-mongering.

Likewise, India would like to tap into the gas and oil of Central Asia (Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan in particular) and even Russia through pipelines down through Iran to the planned Indian-run Chabahar port on Irans Gulf coast. This plan allows India to compete with the joint China-Pakistan port of Gwadar in Pakistani Baluchistan, giving it a geo-strategic reach-around Islamabad and Beijing. It also ensures Indian energy supplies as the economy grows into the worlds top five.

Hence Iran? Hence Iran. Iran is Indias third largest supplier of petroleum, and India desperately wants to see Irans South Pars natural gas developed and the gas exported to India, either through Pakistan or through an underwater pipeline through the Gulf. At the least, it wants access to Central Asian hydrocarbons through Iran. And, India wants a good relationship with Iran as a way of offsetting its difficult relationship with Pakistan.

They dont seem to say so publicly in New Delhi, but I suspect India is also afraid that Trump will push Iran solidly into the China camp, creating a Sino-Muslim geopolitical bloc on Indias northwest.

Minister Swarajs brutally frank comments suggest that Trump just lost India on Iran policy, and it is not impossible that his tough tariff and other policies could push this huge potential ally away.

Featured Image: Javad Zarif meeting with Indian Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj. WIKIMEDIA COMMONS



Bonus video:

WION: Iran foreign minister in Delhi to seek Indias support
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Melbourne (The Conversation)  On May 10, the 43.5-metre schooner Avontuur arrived in the port of Hamburg. This traditional sailing vessel, built in 1920, transported some 70 tonnes of coffee, cacao and rum across the Atlantic. The shipping company Timbercoast, which owns and operates Avontuur, says it aims to prove that sailing ships can offer an environmentally sustainable alternative to the heavily polluting shipping industry, despite being widely seen as a technology of yesteryear.



The Avontuur recently completed a sail-powered transatlantic cargo voyage. H/t Timbercoast

Similar initiatives exist across the world. In the Netherlands, Fairtransport operates two vessels on European and transatlantic routes. In France, Transoceanic Wind Transport sails multiple vessels across the English Channel and Atlantic Ocean, and along European coasts. The US-based vessel Kwai serves islands in the Pacific. And Sail Cargo, based in Costa Rica, is building Ceiba, a zero-emission cargo sailing ship.

These initiatives have an environmental objective: transporting cargo without generating greenhouse gas emissions. But are they really a viable alternative to todays huge fossil-fuelled maritime cargo transport industry?

Shipping emission targets?

On April 13, 2018, the International Maritime Organization, the United Nations body that regulates shipping, agreed for the first time to limit the sectors greenhouse emissions. Its targeting a 50% reduction by 2050 (relative to 2008 levels), with the aim to phase out emissions entirely.

This was a breakthrough, given that both the 1997 Kyoto Protocol and the 2015 Paris Agreement exclude international shipping (and international aviation) from emissions targets, because these are so hard to attribute to individual countries.

Video added by Informed Comment

The Shipping Industry May Finally Be Turning To Wind Power (HBO)

Conventional seaborne cargo transport is relatively energy-efficient. It emits less greenhouse gas per tonne-kilometre (one tonne of goods transported over one kilometre) than transport by train, truck or plane. But because 80-90% of all goods we consume are transported by sea, the total emissions of the shipping industry are immense.

According to figures from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), shipping accounts for 2-3% of global emissions  outstripping the 2% share generated by civil aviation.

As the global demand for goods increases, so does the need for shipping. As a result, the IMO has projected that the sectors greenhouse emissions will grow by anything between 50% and 250% between 2012 and 2050, despite improvements in fuel composition and efficiency. More worryingly, a commentary on that report in Nature Climate Change warns that none of the anticipated shipping scenarios even approach what is necessary for the sector to make its fair and proportionate contribution to avoiding 2 of warming.

A recent report commissioned by the European Parliament raises further alarm bells, underscoring the fact that the sectors huge growth is likely to swamp any carbon savings that come from improved operations. On top of this, the significant progress made in other industries means that the relative share of greenhouse gas emissions from cargo shipping is likely to increase from the current 2-3% to 17% by 2050.

Zero-emission vessels?

The OECD International Transport Forum is less pessimistic. It projects a 23% increase in the sectors emissions between 2015 and 2035 on current trends, but also argues that it will be possible to decarbonise maritime transport altogether by 2035, through the maximum deployment of currently known technologies.

These emissions-reducing propulsion technologies include kites, solar electricity, and advanced sail technology. Some of them, such as Flettner rotors, are already in use. But these will not be scaled up and become viable unless there is strict regulation, even if some shipping companies have taken steps to reduce their emissions ahead of a binding IMO target. Electricity-propelled container barges operate in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Meanwhile, the IMO faced a tricky balancing act in juggling the priorities of different countries. Climate-vulnerable nations such as the Marshall Islands want shipping emissions to be cut entirely by 2035. The European Union has proposed a reduction of 70-100% by 2050, while emerging economies such as Brazil, Saudi Arabia and India have argued against any emissions target at all. Despite these differences, the IMO did agree on a 50% reduction target by 2050 in April 2018.

Sail cargo

It took Avontuur 126 days to sail from France to Honduras, Mexico, Cuba and home to Germany. But conventional container ships can cross the Atlantic in about a week. Avontuur was carrying more than 70 tonnes of cargo on arrival in Germany. But many cargo vessels now carry more than 20,000 standard shipping containers (TEU), each weighing more than 2 tonnes and able to hold more than 20 tonnes of cargo.

Given the relatively small capacity of sailing ships, it is expensive and labour-intensive to ship cargo this way. But despite these limitations, support for sail cargo initiatives is growing. A consortium of small North Sea ports, for example, will create sail cargo hubs in small ports and harbours, giving local businesses direct access to ethically transported goods.

These initiatives signal the revival of sail cargo with an explicit environmental agenda, although this effort is dwarfed by the scale of the global shipping industry. But while they dont stack up in logistical terms, these voyages can help us see the possibilities for a world without fossil fuels. Sail cargo aims to rethink not only the means of propulsion for cargo vessels, but the entire scale, economy and ethics of cargo transport.

Traditional sailing vessels like Avontuur will not be able to compete with conventional cargo vessels on speed, scale or cost. But they help us focus on the underlying issue. We ship too much, too often and too far. The scale of shipping is unsustainable. That is why we need a change of mindset as much as a change of technology.

Sail cargo initiatives raise awareness about the devastating environmental effects of conventional cargo shipping. And they do so by showing that an alternative is possible. Indeed, it has been around for thousands of years.

Christiaan De Beukelaer, Lecturer in Cultural Policy, University of Melbourne

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
(All amounts in US$ unless otherwise noted)

Vancouver, British Columbia--(Newsfile Corp. - May 29, 2018) - Orla Mining Ltd. (TSXV: OLA) ("Orla" or the "Company") is pleased to provide the results of a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment ("PEA") and a mineral resource estimate on its 100% owned Camino Rojo Project located in Zacatecas State, Mexico. The mineral resource and PEA support a technically simple open-pit mine and heap-leach operation that offers low capital and operating costs, rapid payback, and strong financial performance.

The new overall mineral resource at Camino Rojo is estimated to include measured and indicated mineral resources of 9.65 million ounces of gold and 102.4 million ounces of silver (354.9 million tonnes at 0.85 g/t gold and 8.97 g/t silver) and an inferred mineral resource of 1.82 million ounces of gold and 16.21 million ounces of silver (65.2M tonnes at 0.87 g/t gold and 7.73 g/t silver).

The PEA is based on near-surface oxide and partly oxidized (transitional) material within the overall resource that can be processed by heap leaching. All mineral resources and the proposed open pit are within Orla mineral concessions. The Company has surface rights over the entire area of proposed development in the PEA.

PEA Highlights Production Rate per Day 18,000 tonnes Total Material to Leach Pad 42.5M tonnes Average Grade Au / Ag (g/t) 0.71 / 13.56 Contained gold / silver ounces 966,000 / 18,517,000 Average Recovery Au / Ag 67% / 15% Average Annual gold Production 97,500 ounces Strip Ratio 0.58 Initial Capex $125 million Avg. LOM production costs (per tonne of material processed) $8.02 Total By-Product Cash Cost1 ($/oz Au) $499 All-In Sustaining Cost1 ($/oz Au) $555 Pre -Tax - Net Present Value (5%) / Internal Rate of Return ("IRR") $231 million / 38.1% After-Tax - Net Present Value (5%) / IRR $121 million / 24.5% Payback 3.3 years

1 includes royalties payable

"The results of the mineral resource estimate and PEA clearly show that Camino Rojo is an excellent project with potential for very low cost, 100,000 ounces per year gold and significant silver production from a relatively simple open pit mine and heap leach," stated Marc Prefontaine, President and Chief Executive Officer. "There is also longer-term economic potential in the large sulphide resource along with the extensive area of prospective exploration ground that Orla controls. Only six months after acquiring the property we will be starting feasibility-level work with the aim of being in a position to make a production decision in the second quarter of 2019."

Chuck Jeannes, Chairman of Orla, added, "We expect the development of Camino Rojo to provide the foundation for achieving our vision of growing Orla into a premier emerging gold producer. The PEA supports a relatively short period to cash flow generation, the fuel for future success. Concurrent with the development of Camino Rojo, we will be advancing our Cerro Quema project in Panama, which includes another simple, low capital intensity, high margin heap leach opportunity, along with a very exciting sulphide copper-gold discovery at the Caballito zone. This foundation of multiple high-quality assets provides geographic and operational diversity, a key to creating shareholder value."

Opportunities for further improvement of the project include:

Entering into an agreement with the owner of the mineral concession located directly north of Orla's concession which would allow the north pit wall to extend past the Orla property line and thus go deeper and include additional leachable resources located on the property.

The potential to steepen the north pit wall slope angle.

The potential to reduce capital and operating costs by employing larger crush size, as test work to date shows only minor or no recovery decrease with larger crush size.

Increase in silver recoveries.

Metallurgical drilling has commenced to provide additional materials for evaluation of crush size and silver recoveries, and geotechnical analysis of the pit wall is underway.

Feasibility work has already started, including environmental assessment studies and work towards permit submittals. The Company expects to complete the feasibility analysis during the first half of 2019. Contingent upon positive feasibility results, commencement of construction is expected to follow the receipt of necessary permits and first gold would be expected during the first half of 2021.

The PEA is based on an open pit mine using conventional trucks and loaders transporting heap leach material to a crushing plant and waste material to a waste rock pile both located within 500 metres of the pit. Material will then be conveyed and stacked onto an adjacent heap leach pad. The site's proximity to infrastructure, low stripping ratio, compact footprint and flat pad location all contribute to the relatively low estimated production costs and project simplicity.

The PEA is preliminary in nature and includes the use of inferred mineral resources, which are considered too speculative geologically to have the economic considerations applied to them that would enable them to be categorized as mineral reserves and there is no certainty that PEA results will be realized. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability.

Property Description:

Camino Rojo is located in Zacatecas State Mexico. The current mineral resource is located 3 km off a paved 4-lane highway. The area is flat and there are no known social or environmental impediments to mining. Orla has water rights and a surface agreement over the mineral resource and area of proposed infrastructure. The Company has all surface and mineral rights to develop the project modelled in the PEA scenario. Pursuant to the agreement whereby Orla acquired the property, there is 2% net smelter return ("NSR") royalty in favour of Goldcorp Inc. for any material processed by heap leaching.

There is no one living directly over the proposed development area. The town of San Tiburcio is located 4 km to the east of the proposed development. Orla has a Collaboration and Social Responsibility agreement with the San Tiburcio ejido which includes a 30-year temporary occupation right and an expropriation right over the 2,487 hectares covering the proposed pit and infrastructure area. The Company has an active community and social program in San Tiburcio and the other nearby communities of El Berrendo and San Francisco.

Camino Rojo comprises intrusive related, sedimentary strata hosted, polymetallic Au, Ag, As, Zn, and Pb mineralization. The mineralized zones correspond to zones of sheeted sulfidic veins and veinlet networks, creating a bulk-mineable style of gold mineralization. Mineralization is almost completely oxidized to a depth of approximately 120 meters and then variably oxidized below (Transitional to Sulphide). The mineral resource was divided into oxide, high and low transitional and sulphide. Only the oxide and transitional material were considered in the PEA study for heap leach extraction.

PEA Project Description

The project modelled in the PEA, in which all development is on mineral concessions currently controlled by Orla, is described below. The PEA was overseen by Kappes Cassiday & Associates ("KCA") of Reno, NV.

The Camino Rojo mine will be a conventional open pit mine. Mine operations will consist of drilling holes, blasting and loading into off-road trucks with loaders. Mineralized material will be delivered to the primary crusher and waste to the waste storage facility located southeast of the pit. Pit angles are based on previous geotechnical studies and range from -45 to -53 degrees. Mineral resource within the designed pit is broken into pervasive mineralized oxide (Kp), incipiently mineralized oxide (Ki), high transitional (60 to 90% oxidized) and low transitional (30 to 60% oxidized) material. Any material with less than 30% oxidation is categorized as waste. Of the total of 42.5 million tonnes of material going to the crusher, 5 million tonnes are low grade mineral resources that will be stockpiled and then processed at the end of the mine life. Approximately 385,000 tonnes of the material going to the crusher, or 1%, is categorized as inferred mineral resources. The remainder is categorized as measured and indicated mineral resources. In addition to the mineral resource, 24.5 million tonnes of waste will be mined, resulting in a strip ratio of 0.58:1.

Run of mine resource material will be crushed at a rate of 18,000 tonnes per day to 80% passing 38 mm using a two-stage closed crushing circuit with a primary jaw crusher and secondary cone crusher. After crushing, material will be conveyor stacked on the leach pad in 10-meter lifts. Lime will be added to the material for pH control before being stacked and leached with a dilute cyanide solution. Pregnant solution will flow by gravity to a pregnant solution pond before being pumped to a Merrill-Crowe plant for metal recovery. Gold and silver will be precipitated from the pregnant solution via zinc cementation. The precious metal precipitate will be dewatered using filters, dried in a mercury retort to remove mercury values, and smelted to produce the final dore product.

Recovery predictions and key process design parameters are based on the results of 88 column tests completed by previous operators. Most test work was done at sizes ranging from -9.5 to -25.0 mm, with 6 tests at -38.0 mm. Test work does not show a significant decrease in gold recovery with larger crush sizes. The test work conducted to date is considered to be representative and is sufficient for these purposes. Confirmatory metallurgical test work will be completed on representative samples of each mineral type, specifically column leach tests on coarse crushed material.

Key design parameters from the metallurgical test work are summarized below:

Crush size of 80% passing 38 mm.

Estimated gold recoveries (including 2% field deduction) of 70%, 58%, 60% and 49% for Kp Oxide, Ki Oxide, Transition-hi and Transition-lo materials, respectively, average of 67%.

Estimated silver recoveries (including 3% field deduction) of 13%, 20%, 17% and 20% for Kp Oxide, Ki Oxide, Transition-hi and Transition-lo materials, respectively, average of 15%.

Design leach cycle of 80 days.

Average cyanide consumption of 0.35 kg/t material.

Average lime consumption of 1.25 kg/t material.

Approximately 260 process and general administrative people will be employed directly by the project and approximately 140 people will be employed by the contract miner. The PEA includes costs for a 250-person camp, but it is anticipated that a significant portion of the employees will be hired from the local area. The Company is initiating programs intended to facilitate local employment.

Environmental Assessment studies are underway with no significant issues noted to date. Initial mine waste rock studies indicate that acid rock drainage and metal leaching will not be a problem. The Camino Rojo heap leach system is designed as a zero-discharge facility.

PEA Economics

Mine operating costs were estimated by Independent Mining Consultants ("IMC") and are based on contract mining at $1.81 per tonne of material moved. The relatively low cost reflects the very short hauls to both the crusher and waste facility.

Process operating costs were estimated from first principles. Labor costs were estimated using project specific staffing, salary and wage and benefit requirements. Unit consumptions of materials, supplies, power, water and delivered supply costs were also estimated.

Life of Mine Operating Cost Summary

(per tonne material processed)

Description LOM Cost (US$/t) Mine $3.05 Process & Support Services $3.20 Site General & Administration $1.77 Total $8.02

The capital costs are based upon the ownership of all process production equipment and site facilities. Costs include surface support equipment, but mining equipment will be supplied by the mine contractor. Estimated capital costs include a 28% contingency on process and infrastructure direct costs.

Capital Cost Summary

Description Cost (US$) Pre-Production Capital $120.2M Mining Contractor Mobilization & Preproduction $4.9M Total Initial Capital $125.1M Sustaining Capital  Mine & Process $14.9M Working Capital & Initial Fills (recovered) $ 13.8M

The economic evaluation incorporates the following inputs:

Period of Analysis of 9 years (includes one year of pre-production, 7 years of production and one year for reclamation and closure).

3-year trailing average gold price of $1,250/oz and silver price of $17/oz.

Gold and silver recoveries based on metallurgical domain  average of 67% and 15% respectively.

Electric power will be provided by line power to all elements of the process.

2% NSR royalty to Goldcorp Inc.

0.5% NSR Extraordinary Mining duty to Mexican Government.

7.5% Special Mining Tax to Mexican Government.

30% Income Tax to Mexican Government.

PEA Economics

Economic Analysis (US$) IRR (Pre-Tax) 38.1 % IRR (After-Tax) 24.5 % Average Annual Free Cashflow (Pre-Tax) $60 Million NPV @ 5% (Pre-Tax) $231 Million Average Annual Free Cashflow (After-Tax) $43 Million NPV @ 5% (After-Tax) $121 Million Gold Price Assumption $1,250 /Ounce Silver Price Assumption $17 /Ounce Pay-Back Period (Years based on After-Tax) 3.3 Years Capital Costs (Excluding VAT) Initial Capital $125 Million Working Capital & Initial Fills $14 Million LOM Sustaining Capital $15 Million Operating Costs (Average LOM) Mining $3.05 /Tonne processed Processing & Support $3.20 /Tonne processed General & Administration $1.77 /Tonne processed Total Operating Cost $8.02 /Tonne processed Total By-Product Cash Cost1 $499 /Ounce Au All-in Sustaining Cost1 $555 /Ounce Au Production Data Life of Mine 6.6 Years Total Tonnes to Crusher 42,477,000 Tonnes Grade Au 0.71 g/t Grade Ag 13.56 g/t Contained Au oz 966,000 Ounces Contained Ag oz 18,517,000 Ounces Mine Throughput per day 18,000 Tonne/day Mine throughput per year 6,570,000 Tonne/year Metallurgical Recovery Au (Overall) 67 % Metallurgical Recovery Ag (Overall) 15 % Average Annual Gold Production 97,472 Ounces Average Annual Silver Production 415,981 Ounces Total Gold Produced 642,382 Ounces Total Silver Produced 2,741,485 Ounces LOM Strip Ratio 0.58

1 includes royalties payable

The following tables illustrate the after-tax sensitivity of the project economics to changes in operating and capital costs and to changes in gold price:

NPV Variation IRR 0% 5% Gold Price 75% $938 8.9% $58,516,467 $21,406,028 90% $1,125 18.6% $134,018,397 $81,065,797 100% $1,250 24.5% $184,353,016 $120,834,790 110% $1,375 29.9% $233,731,543 $159,927,785 125% $1,563 37.5% $306,847,950 $217,846,352 Capital Costs 75% $126,305,947 33.4% $206,009,548 $143,923,225 90% $145,237,065 27.6% $193,262,389 $130,237,181 100% $157,857,811 24.5% $184,353,016 $120,834,790 110% $170,478,556 21.8% $175,244,883 $111,297,870 125% $189,409,674 18.3% $161,582,683 $96,992,490 Operating Costs 75% $255,687,582 30.6% $239,000,813 $164,121,828 90% $306,825,099 27.0% $206,592,687 $138,437,976 100% $340,916,776 24.5% $184,353,016 $120,834,790 110% $375,008,454 21.9% $161,675,682 $102,899,076 125% $426,145,971 17.8% $127,659,682 $75,995,504

Project Opportunities

Opportunities for further improvement of the project include:

Successfully negotiating an agreement with the owner of the concession north of Orla's property.

The PEA open pit is constrained by the north boundary of Orla's concessions. A pit model based on the mineral resource disclosed herein and unconstrained by the property boundary was assessed using the same recoveries and similar operating costs as the PEA. The objective was to understand the benefit of getting an agreement with the owner of the mineral concession located directly north of the Orla concession. This exercise indicated that approximately 32 million additional tonnes of the existing measured and indicated mineral resource at 0.70 g/t Au and 14.7 g/t Ag could be included in the pit model in a case where there was no boundary restriction. By definition, all resources are located on Orla's claim. The additional resources included as part of the unconstrained pit model are because the pit wall continues onto the adjoining claim, allowing deeper access to resources below the PEA mine model.

The potential to steepen the north pit wall slope angle. This would increase the amount of resource at depth that would be included in the pit.

The potential to reduce capital and operating costs by employing larger crush size as test work to date shows only minor or no recovery decrease with larger crush size.

Potential increase in silver recoveries.

Additional Project Upside Opportunities

Studies to investigate opportunities within the existing 7.3 million gold ounces of sulphide (mill) measured and indicated resources will be conducted over the coming months. In addition, a C$2 million regional exploration program including mapping and ground geophysics is ongoing.

Mineral Resources

Mineral resources were estimated by IMC based on a geological and oxidation model developed by Orla geologists. The model has domains based on stratigraphic units; Caracol and Indidura. The Caracol is the uppermost unit throughout the deposit and the primary host rock. It was further divided by alteration intensity (Kp for pervasive alteration and Ki for incipient alteration) and between an upper zone (NE) with more flat lying mineralization and a lower zone (SW) with steeper mineralization. Lithological and alteration contacts were put as hard boundaries in estimation. The NE/SW boundary was not.

Oxidation levels were superimposed onto the block model after resource estimation. Oxidation is divided by levels; oxide (+90% oxidized), Transition high (60 to 90% oxidized), transition low (30 to 60% oxidized). Any material less than 30% oxidized was considered sulphide. Oxidized and transition material is reported as leach mineral resources and sulphide material is reported as mill mineral resources.

The resource estimate was completed by IMC of Tucson, AZ. The mineral resource estimate was prepared as of April 27, 2018.

Gold Silver Lead Zinc Gold Silver Lead Zinc Resource Type Kt (g/t) (g/t) (%) (%) (koz) (koz) (mlb) (mlb) Leach Resource: Measured Mineral Resource 16,147 0.794 15.44 0.26 0.39 412.1 8,014 92.1 140.6 Indicated Mineral Resource 84,692 0.723 12.15 0.19 0.36 1,969.3 33,076 363.7 674.3 Meas./Ind. Mineral Resource 100,839 0.734 12.67 0.21 0.37 2,381.3 41,091 455.8 814.8 Inferred Mineral Resource 4,858 0.772 5.60 0.07 0.24 120.6 874 7.0 25.9 Mill Resource: Measured Mineral Resource 9,818 0.864 7.45 0.08 0.28 272.6 2,352 16.4 60.1 Indicated Mineral Resource 244,251 0.890 7.50 0.07 0.26 6,992.2 58,934 385.6 1,398.2 Meas./Ind. Mineral Resource 254,069 0.889 7.50 0.07 0.26 7,264.8 61,286 402.0 1,458.3 Inferred Mineral Resource 60,342 0.875 7.90 0.05 0.23 1,696.9 15,334 68.1 310.8 Total Mineral Resource Measured Mineral Resource 25,965 0.820 12.42 0.19 0.35 684.6 10,367 108.5 200.7 Indicated Mineral Resource 328,943 0.847 8.70 0.10 0.29 8,961.5 92,010 749.3 2,072.5 Meas./Ind. Mineral Resource 354,908 0.845 8.97 0.11 0.29 9,646.1 102,377 857.8 2,273.2 Inferred Mineral Resource 65,200 0.867 7.73 0.05 0.23 1,817.5 16,208 75.2 336.8

Notes:

(1) Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

(2) Numbers may not add up due to rounding.

(3) The NSR cutoff grade for leach resource is US$ 5.06 per tonne. The NSR cutoff grade for mill resource is US$ 13.72 per tonne.

(4) Prepared by IMC of Tucson, AZ, under the direction of Michael G. Hester, FAusIMM, a Qualified Person.

(5) The quantity and grade of reported inferred mineral resources in this estimation are uncertain in nature and there has been insufficient exploration to define these inferred mineral resources as indicated or measured mineral resources.

A total of 87,152 assays located in interpreted mineral zones were used in the estimation from 407 core and 493 reverse circulation holes. Gold and silver grades were capped, with capping levels dependent upon domains. Because of the large number of assays used in the estimate, the grades assays were capped to be around the 99.8 to 99.9 percentile of the grade distributions. Assays were composited into 5 meter lengths for estimation.

IMC estimated grades for gold, silver, lead, and zinc using inverse distance with a power weight of 2 (ID2) into 10 x 10 x 10 meter blocks. For Kp and Ki in the NW zone, a maximum of 15 composites, a minimum of three and a maximum of three composites per hole were used. In the SW zone, a maximum of 24 composites, a minimum of four and a maximum of eight composites per hole were used. Indidura was estimated with the same parameters as the SW domain.

Blocks with an average distance to four holes less than or equal to 25 meters were assigned as measured mineral resource. Blocks with an average distance to the nearest three holes with less than 45 meters, but greater than 25 meters from the nearest four holes, were assigned as indicated mineral resource. Blocks with an average distance to three holes greater than 45m were assigned to inferred mineral resource.

The average specific gravity from 10,000 specific gravity tests was reduced 2% to obtain an estimate of bulk density.

The mineral resources are contained within a floating cone pit shell to demonstrate "reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction" as required by National Instrument 43-101 - Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101"). Measured, indicated, and inferred mineral resources were allowed to contribute to the economics for the mineral resource cone shell.

The main economic inputs used in the floating cone are summarized in the table below. Note that these inputs are based on limited test work and order-of-magnitude cost estimates. They are used only to demonstrate reasonable prospects for eventual economic extraction. No inference is made that the mineral resources are economic.

Economic Parameters for Mineral Resource Estimate

Material Type Units Kp Oxide Ki Oxide Tran-Hi Tran-Low Tran-S Sulfide Waste Commodity Prices Gold Price Per Ounce (US$) 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 1400 Silver Price Per Ounce (US$) 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 20.00 Lead Price Per Pound (US$) 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 1.05 Zinc Price Per Pound (US$) 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 Plant Production Rate (ktpy) 6,570 6,570 6,570 6,570 9,125 9,125 Mining Cost Per Tonne Total Mining Cost (US$) 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 1.65 Process and G&A Cost Per Tonne Processed Processing (US$) 3.377 3.377 3.377 3.377 12.50 12.50 G&A (US$) 1.687 1.687 1.687 1.687 1.215 1.215 Total Process and G&A (US$) 5.064 5.064 5.064 5.064 13.72 13.72 Plant Recovery Gold (%) 70% 58% 60% 49% 86% 86% Silver (%) 13% 20% 17% 20% 76% 76% Lead (%) 0% 0% 0% 0% 60% 60% Zinc (%) 0% 0% 0% 0% 64% 64% Smelting/Refining Payables and Costs Gold Refinery Payable (%) 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 95% Silver Refinery Payable (%) 100% 100% 100% 100% 95% 95% Lead Smelter Payable (%) 0% 0% 0% 0% 95% 95% Zinc Smelter Payable (%) 0% 0% 0% 0% 85% 85% Gold Refining Per Ounce (US$) 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 1.00 1.00 Silver Refining Per Ounce (US$) 0.50 0.50 0.50 0.50 1.50 1.50 Lead Treatment Per Pound (US$) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.194 0.194 Zinc Treatment Per Pound (US$) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.219 0.219 Royalties Royalty (%) 2% 2% 2% 2% 0% 0% NSR Factors Gold NSR Factor ($/g) 30.768 25.493 26.372 21.537 36.748 36.748 Silver NSR Factor ($/g) 0.0799 0.1229 0.1044 0.1229 0.4294 0.4294 Lead NSR Factor ($/%) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 10.753 10.753 Zinc NSR Factor ($/%) 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 12.369 12.369 NSR Cutoff Grades Breakeven NSR Cutoff Grade ($/t) 6.71 6.71 6.71 6.71 15.37 15.37 Internal NSR Cutoff Grade ($/t) 5.06 5.06 5.06 5.06 13.72 13.72 Gold Equivalent Cutoff Grades Breakeven Cutoff Grade (g/t) 0.22 0.26 0.25 0.31 0.42 0.42 Internal Cutoff Grade (g/t) 0.16 0.20 0.19 0.24 0.37 0.37

Mineral resources are classified in accordance with the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum ("CIM") "CIM Definition Standards - For Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves" adopted by the CIM Council (as amended, the "CIM Definition Standards") in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101. Mineral reserve and mineral resource estimates reflect the reasonable expectation that all necessary permits and approvals will be obtained and maintained.

There is no guarantee that any of the mineral resources will be converted to mineral reserve. There is also no guarantee that any of the inferred mineral resources will be upgraded to measured or indicated mineral resources or to mineral reserves. Mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability.

The project is subject to the normal risks that mining projects face including changes to metal prices, changes to government regulations, social risks, uncertainty in mineral resource and recovery estimates, permitting risks and financing risks.

The Company is not aware of any factors which would prevent a project similar to that modelled in the PEA from being carried out.

Data Verification:

The sampling data used for the mineral resource estimate was verified by IMC. A substantial portion of the database was compared with original assay certificates. There were no limitations on the verification process. IMC is of the opinion that the database is acceptable for the purpose of the mineral resource estimation.

KCA checked the metallurgical test procedures and results to ensure they met industry standards and checked metallurgical sample locations to ensure that there was material from throughout the resource area and that samples were representative. KCA also reviewed material handling characteristics of the different material types by inspection of core to ensure that the selected processing method was appropriate.

Qualified Persons

The mineral resource estimate was conducted by IMC of Tucson, AZ, under the direction of Michael G. Hester, FAusIMM. The PEA was overseen by KCA of Reno, NV. Michael G. Hester, FAusIMM of IMC was also responsible for the mining components of the PEA. KCA, under the direction of Carl Defilippi, RM SME was responsible for the metallurgy, process, general and administration and economic components of the PEA. Matthew Gray, Ph.D., C.P.G., of Resource Geosciences Incorporated of Rio Rico, AZ was responsible for the property, geology and environmental components of the PEA. Each of Messrs. Hester, Defilippi and Gray is a Qualified Person for their respective sections of the PEA and each of whom is Independent of Orla under the definitions of NI43-101. An independent technical report prepared in accordance with the requirements of NI 43-101 will be available on SEDAR within 45 days of this news release.

The technical information in this news release has been reviewed and approved by Michael G. Hester, FAusIMM, Carl Defilippi, RM SME and Matthew Gray, Ph.D., C.P.G, each of whom is an Independent Qualified Person under NI 43-101 standards.

Conference Call

Orla will host a conference call on May 29, 2018 at 9:30 a.m. eastern time, to discuss the results of the PEA:

Toll-free dial-in number (Canada/US): 1-800-806-5484

Local dial-in number: 416-406-0743

Passcode: 8332434#

Instant replay:

Toll-free dial-in number (Canada/US): 1-800-408-3053

Local dial-in number: 905-694-9451

Passcode: 5695914#

Expiry date: June 29, 2018

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

Marc Prefontaine, M.Sc., P.Geo.,

President & Chief Executive Officer

About Orla Mining Ltd.

The 100% owned Cerro Quema project in Panama includes a near-term gold production scenario and significant exploration upside. Cerro Quema's 14,800 Ha concession boasts paved road access, a supportive local population and private land ownership. The Cerro Quema project is currently in the last stage of the permitting process for a proposed open pit mine and gold heap leach operation. Please refer to the Cerro Quema Project - Pre-feasibility Study on the La Pava and Quemita Oxide Gold Deposits dated August 22, 2014, which is available on SEDAR. Camino Rojo is an advanced gold and silver project located in Zacatecas State, Central Mexico. The project is 100% owned and covers over 200,000 hectares. Access and infrastructure are excellent with a paved highway and powerline nearby. A NI 43-101 Technical Report on Camino Rojo will be available on SEDAR under the Company's profile within 45 days of this news release.

Forward-looking and Cautionary Statements

This news release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Canadian and United States securities legislation, including, without limitation, statements with respect to the results of the preliminary economic assessment, including but not limited to the mineral resource estimation, mine plan and operations, internal rate of return, sensitivities, taxes, net present value, potential recoveries, design parameters, operating costs, capital costs, production data and economic potential; the timing and costs for production decisions; permitting timelines and requirements; requirements for additional land; exploration and planned exploration programs, the potential for discovery of additional mineral resources; upside opportunities, including the upside case, pit wall angles, larger crush size and increase in the silver recoveries; timing for completion of a feasibility study; timing for first gold production; and the Company's objectives and strategies. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts which address events, results, outcomes or developments that the Company expects to occur. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made and they involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Certain material assumptions regarding such forward-looking statements are discussed in this news release, including without limitation, assumptions regarding the price of gold and silver; the accuracy of mineral resource estimations; that there will be no material adverse change affecting the Company or its properties; that all required permits and approvals will be obtained; that no social or environmental issues exist; and that there will be no significant disruptions affecting the Company or its properties. Consequently, there can be no assurances that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Forward-looking statements involve significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These risks include, but are not limited to: risks related to uncertainties inherent in the preparation of preliminary economic assessments, drill results and the estimation of mineral resources, including changes in the economic parameters; risks relating to not securing agreements with third parties or not received required permits; risks associated with executing the Company's objectives and strategies, including costs and expenses, as well as those risk factors discussed in the Company's most recently filed management's discussion and analysis, as well as its annual information form dated January 26, 2018, available on www.sedar.com. Except as required by the securities disclosure laws and regulations applicable to the Company, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

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 news release.

Non-IFRS Measures

The Company has included certain non-IFRS performance measures as detailed below. In the gold mining industry, these are common performance measures but may not be comparable to similar measures presented by other issuers and the non-IFRS measures do not have any standardized meaning. Accordingly, it is intended to provide additional information and should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS.

Cash Costs per Ounce  the Company calculated cash costs per ounce by dividing the sum of operating costs, royalty costs, production taxes, refining and shipping costs, net of by-product silver credits, by payable gold ounces. While there is no standardized meaning of the measure across the industry, the Company believes that this measure will be useful to external users in assessing operating performance.

All-In Sustaining Costs ("AISC")  the Company has disclosed an AISC performance measure that reflects all of the expenditures that are required to produce an ounce of gold from operations. While there is no standardized meaning of the measure across the industry, the Company's definition conforms to the all-in sustaining cost definition as set out by the World Gold Council in its guidance dated June 27, 2013. The Company believes that this measure will be useful to external users in assessing operating performance and the ability to generate free cash flow from current operations.

For further information, please contact:

Marc Prefontaine

President & Chief Executive Officer

www.orlamining.com

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CALGARY, May 29, 2018 /CNW/ - Lithium Chile Inc. ("Lithium Chile" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it is now listed on the OTC-QB under the symbol "LTMCF". This enables US investors to purchase and hold the Company's shares in their accounts. In addition, the Company has been made eligible for Depository Trust Company electronic settlement and transfer of its common shares in the United States.

The DTC is a subsidiary of the Depository Trust & Clearing Corp. that manages the electronic clearing and settlement of publicly traded companies. Securities that are eligible to be electronically cleared and settled through the DTC are considered DTC eligible. This electronic method of clearing securities accelerates the settlement process for investors.

The Company has also engaged Nice Vice Marketing and Pacific Rim Marketing to assist with its investor marketing efforts.

About Lithium Chile

Lithium Chile is advancing a lithium property portfolio consisting of 152,900 hectares covering sections of 13 salars and 1 laguna complex in Chile. The properties include 64 square kilometres on the Salar de Atacama which hosts the world's highest concentration lithium brine production and is currently the source of approximately 30% of the world's lithium production. Lithium Chile's common shares are listed on the TSX-V under the symbol "LITH" and on the OTC-QB under the symbol "LTMCF".

On Behalf of the Board of Directors,

LITHIUM CHILE INC.

Steven Cochrane

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.
OTTAWA, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. (Cornerstone or the Company) (TSXV:CGP) (Frankfurt:GWN) (Berlin:GWN) (OTC:CTNXF) announces the following enhanced trenching results from the Limon prospect at its Bramaderos Gold-Copper Project in southern Ecuador.

Figures related to this news release can be seen in PDF format by accessing the version of this release on the Companys website (www.cornerstoneresources.com) or by clicking on the link below: Click Here.

Highlights:

Extensional surface trenching at the Limon prospect, part of the Bramaderos Gold-Copper Project in Ecuador, has delivered 97.6m at 0.71 g/t gold and 0.23 % copper (including 65.0m @ 0.93 g/t gold and 0.31% copper)

The mineralized interval is interpreted to represent a window into an extensive gold-copper porphyry system.

Other datasets strongly endorse the quality of the Limon target

Limon will be drill tested during the Phase 1 drilling program

Further Information:

Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. (TSXV:CGP) is pleased to report additional gold and copper assays from extensions to the trenching program at the Limon gold-copper porphyry target, within its Bramaderos Gold-Copper Project in Ecuador (Figures 1 and 2). For the initial results see news release dated April 30, 2018.

Trench LM-01 was extended and has intersected 97.6m grading 0.71 g/t gold and 0.23% copper. Laterally the trench sampled altered rocks interpreted to overprint the porphyry gold-copper signature.

The intensely altered lithocap at Limon is typical of the higher-level rock alteration associated with porphyry gold-copper systems, and the mineralized diorite, over which the trench wa cut, is interpreted to be an outcropping window of a more extensive mineralized diorite body at depth.

Datasets have been integrated to determine the dimensions of the main target zone and an initial 3 drill holes have been planned that will test various components of the target.

Correlation of independent datasets is strong, and includes assessment of surface soil geochemistry, surface mapping of geology and alteration assemblages, and processed heli-magnetics (Figure 1).

The 3 initial planned drill holes at Limon are designed to test for underlying porphyry gold-copper mineralization below areas of the lithocap, as well as simultaneously testing for shallow overprinting epithermal-style mineralization in the eastern part of the target.

Key targeting criteria are the 1.5-km-long magnetic anomaly below the lithocap (Figure 1) as an interpreted magnetic core to the porphyry system within the copper anomalous outline, and proximity to areas of advanced argillic alteration caused by fluids ascending off a porphyry intrusion at depth. The 3 drill holes are also sited in proximity to areas of quartz stockwork veining mapped at surface at points spread over 900m in extent, either in situ (Trench LM-01 or adjacent outcrops) or in hydrothermal breccia.

Figure 1 is a summary diagram that shows a selection of the integrated datasets and the location of the cross-section and trench LM-01. Figure 2 shows an interpreted cross-section at Limon. Figure 3 shows the location of the Limon target relative to the other Bramaderos Project targets.

About Bramaderos

The Bramaderos concession is owned by Cornerstone subsidiary La Plata Minerales S.A. (PLAMIN), which has signed a binding letter of intent with Sunstone Metals Ltd. (formerly Avalon Minerals Ltd.) (ASX:STM), whereby Sunstone has the right to earn a 51% interest in the project by spending US$3.4 million over 3 years to complete a phase 1 drill program. If this first option is earned, Sunstone can go to 70% by funding a bankable feasibility study, and can go to 80% by financing 100% of the cost of construction of a mine and mill (see news release 17-08 dated April 10, 2017).

Qualified Person:

Yvan Crepeau, MBA, P.Geo., Cornerstones Vice President, Exploration and a qualified person in accordance with National Instrument 43-101, is responsible for supervising the exploration program at the Bramaderos project for Cornerstone and has reviewed and approved the information contained in this news release.

Sampling and assaying

Rock samples are collected by PLAMINs personnel, placed in plastic bags, labeled and sealed, and stored in a secure place until delivery by PLAMIN employees to the LAC y Asociados ISO 9001-2008 certified sample preparation facility in Cuenca, Ecuador.

Rock samples are prepared crushing to 70% passing 2 mm (10 mesh), splitting 250 g and pulverizing to 85% passing 75 microns (200 mesh) (MSA code PRP-910). Prepared samples are then shipped to MS Analytical Services (MSA), an ISO 9001-2008 laboratory in Langley, BC, Canada, where samples are assayed for a multi-element suite (MSA code IMS-136, 15.0 g split, Aqua Regia digestion, ICP-AES/MS finish) and gold by Fire Assay (MSA code FAS-111, 30 g fusion, AAS finish). Over limit results for Cu (>1%) are systematically re-assayed (MSA code ICF-6Cu, 0.2 g, 4-acid digestion, ICP-AES finish). Gold is assayed using a 30 g split, Fire Assay (FA) and AAS finish (MSA code FAS 111). Over limit results for Au (>10 g/t) are systematically re-assayed (MSA code FAS-415, FA, 30g., gravimetric finish).

Soil samples are dried at low temperature, screened to 80 mesh (MSA code PRP-757), a 15 grams portion is then assayed for a multi-elements suite (MSA code IMS-136, Aqua Regia digestion, ICP-AES/MS finish).

Quality assurance / Quality control (QA/QC)

The MSA Analytical Laboratory is a qualified assayer that performs and makes available internal assaying controls. Duplicates, certified blanks and standards are systematically used (1 control sample every 20-25 samples) as part of PLAMINs QA/QC program. Rejects, a 100 g pulp for each rock sample, are stored for future use and controls.

About Cornerstone:

Cornerstone Capital Resources Inc. is a mineral exploration company with a diversified portfolio of projects in Ecuador and Chile, including in the Cascabel gold-enriched copper porphyry joint venture in north west Ecuador. Exploraciones Novomining S.A. (ENSA), an Ecuadorean company owned by SolGold Plc and Cornerstone, holds 100% of the Cascabel concession. Subject to the satisfaction of certain conditions, including SolGolds fully funding the project through to feasibility, SolGold Plc will own 85% of the equity of ENSA and Cornerstone will own the remaining 15% of ENSA. SolGold Plc is funding 100% of the exploration at Cascabel and is the operator of the project.

Pursuant to the previously announced plan of arrangement, Cornerstone will spin off all of its assets except for its interests in the Cascabel concession in Ecuador, shares of SolGold plc and the joint venture with Ecuadorian state mining company ENAMI EP into a new company called Cornerstone Exploration Inc. Cornerstone Exploration will own the drill ready Bella Maria, Shyri NW (Vetas Grandes) and Bramaderos properties in Ecuador, an option to own 100% of the drill ready Cana Brava property in Ecuador, the Tioloma property surrounding Cana Brava, the applications for new properties in Ecuador made by Cornerstone subsidiary La Plata Minerales S.A., and the Miocene property in Chile, in addition to Cornerstone's generative exploration databases for Ecuador and Chile. Cornerstone will be re-named Cascabel Gold & Copper Inc. ("Cascabel Gold & Copper").

The plan of arrangement to spinoff Cornerstone Exploration Inc. is proceeding in the ordinary course and, pending TSXV approval, is expected to be completed in June 2018.

Further information is available on Cornerstones website: www.cornerstoneresources.com and on Twitter. For investor, corporate or media inquiries, please contact:

Investor Relations:

Mario Drolet; Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. ; Tel. (514) 904-1333

Due to anti-spam laws, many shareholders and others who were previously signed up to receive email updates and who are no longer receiving them may need to re-subscribe at Click Here

Cautionary Notice:

This news release may contain Forward-Looking Statements that involve risks and uncertainties, such as statements of Cornerstones plans, objectives, strategies, intentions and expectations. The words potential, anticipate, forecast, believe, estimate, expect, may, project, plan, and similar expressions are intended to be among the statements that identify Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes that its expectations reflected in these Forward-Looking Statements are reasonable, such statements may involve unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors disclosed in our regulatory filings, viewed on the SEDAR website at www.sedar.com. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets, predicting natural geological phenomena and from numerous other matters of national, regional, and global scale, including those of an environmental, climatic, natural, political, economic, business, competitive, or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different than those expressed in our Forward-Looking Statements. Although Cornerstone believes the facts and information contained in this news release to be as correct and current as possible, Cornerstone does not warrant or make any representation as to the accuracy, validity or completeness of any facts or information contained herein and these statements should not be relied upon as representing its views after the date of this news release. While Cornerstone anticipates that subsequent events may cause its views to change, it expressly disclaims any obligation to update the Forward-Looking Statements contained herein except where outcomes have varied materially from the original statements.

On Behalf of the Board,

Hugh Brooke Macdonald

President and CEO

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
QUEBEC CITY, Quebec, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nemaska Lithium Inc. (Nemaska Lithium or the Corporation) (TSX:NMX) (OTC:NMKEF) is pleased to announce the signing of a supply agreement (the Agreement) of spodumene concentrate with Hanwa Co., Ltd. (Hanwa) acting as agent for General Lithium Corp. (GLC), the latter having signed the Agreement as intervenor.

Under this Agreement and through its wholly-owned subsidiary Nemaska Lithium Whabouchi Mine Inc., Nemaska Lithium will supply a significant quantity of spodumene concentrate on a take-or-pay basis at a market priced-based formula, at the time of delivery. The supply period will commence after the construction of the Whabouchi Mine and continue up to the full ramp-up of the electrochemical plant in Shawinigan.

We are very pleased to conclude this commercial relationship with Hanwa, a leading, Japan-based, global trading company, and GLC, a China-based company specialized in R&D, production and sales of lithium products and one of the top class spodumene converters in China, declared Guy Bourassa, President & Chief Executive Officer of Nemaska Lithium.

Bourassa continued, Our business plan remains to be vertically integrated and to sell lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate from our electrochemical plant in Shawinigan; however, given that the Whabouchi mine will be in production about a year before the electrochemical plant is ready to be commissioned, we decided to be opportunistic and sell spodumene concentrate in the interim, effectively enabling us to generate revenue by the last quarter of 2019.

About Nemaska Lithium

Nemaska Lithium is a developing chemical company whose activities will be vertically integrated, from spodumene mining to the commercialization of high-purity lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate. These lithium salts are mainly destined for the fast-growing lithium-ion battery market, which is driven by the increasing demand for electric vehicles and energy storage worldwide. With its products and processes, Nemaska Lithium intends to facilitate access to green energy, for the benefit of humanity.

The Corporation will be operating the Whabouchi mine in Quebec, Canada, one of the richest lithium spodumene deposits in the world, both in volume and grade. The spodumene concentrate produced at the Whabouchi mine will be processed at the Shawinigan plant using a unique membrane electrolysis process for which the Corporation holds several patents.

Nemaska Lithium is a member of the S&P/TSX SmallCap Index, S&P/TSX Global Mining Index, S&P/TSX Global Base Metals Index, S&P/TSX Equal Weight Global Base Metals Index, and the MSCI Canada Small Cap Index. For more information, visit www.nemaskalithium.com or twitter.com/Nemaska Lithium.

About Hanwa and GLC

Hanwa is a leading, Japan-based global trading company, operating in a wide range of fields. Since its inception in 1947, Hanwa has achieved steady growth in a diverse range of its businesses such as steel, metals and alloys, non-ferrous metals, food products, petroleum, chemicals, lumber, machinery and others, whilst it has been specifically focusing on the feedstock for the growing rechargeable battery industry. Based in China, GLC was founded in 2006. It is specializing in R&D, production and sales for basic lithium products and series lithium-battery new materials; its products are widely used in lithium-battery industry and centre air-conditioner industry.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

All statements, other than statements of historical fact, contained in this press release including, but not limited to, those relating to the sale by the Corporation and the purchase by Hanwa, on a take-or-pay basis, of a significant quantity of spodumene concentrate, constitute forward-looking information and forward-looking statements within the meaning of certain securities laws and are based on expectations and projections as of the date of this press release. Certain important assumptions by the Corporation in making forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, (a) the conclusion of all components of the project financing and receipt of all proceeds therefrom, and (b) the construction and start of commercial production at the Whabouchi mine.

Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, without limitation, those related to (i) the commencement of the supply period after the construction of the Whabouchi mine and its continuation up to the full ramp-up of the Shawinigan plant, (ii) the Corporations business plan to be vertically integrated and sell lithium hydroxide and lithium carbonate, (iii) the Whabouchi mine being in production a year before the commissioning of the Shawinigan plant, (iv) the Corporation generating revenue by the last quarter of 2019, and (v) generally, the above About Nemaska Lithium paragraph which essentially describes the Corporations outlook. Forward-looking statements are based on expectations, estimates and projections as of the time of this press release. Forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by the Corporation as of the time of such statements, are inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies. These estimates and assumptions may prove to be incorrect.

Many of these uncertainties and contingencies can directly or indirectly affect, and could cause, actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in any forward-looking statements. There can be no assurance that the Whabouchi mine will be brought to commercial production, as results from the Corporations project financing endeavors and future events could differ materially what is currently anticipated by the Corporation.

By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that estimates, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not be achieved or that assumptions do not reflect future experience. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's endeavors to complete its project financing and, more generally, its expectations and plans relating to the future. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements as a number of important risk factors and future events could cause the actual outcomes to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, anticipations, estimates, assumptions and intentions expressed in such forward-looking statements. All of the forward-looking statements made in this press release are qualified by these cautionary statements and those made in our other filings with the securities regulators of Canada including, but not limited to, the cautionary statements made in the Risk Factors section of the Corporations Annual Information Form dated October 5, 2017 and the Risk Exposure and Management section of the Corporations quarterly Management Discussion & Analysis. The Corporation cautions that the foregoing list of factors that may affect future results is not exhaustive, and new, unforeseeable risks may arise from time to time. The Corporation disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements or to explain any material difference between subsequent actual events and such forward-looking statements, except to the extent required by applicable law.

Further information regarding Nemaska Lithium is available in the SEDAR database (www.sedar.com) and on the Corporation's website at: www.nemaskalithium.com.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Victor Cantore

Investor Relations

514 831-3809

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Investor Relations

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www.nemaskalithium.com
Algeria is about to expel 105 Malian terrorists who have been arrested, tried and sentenced by courts for terrorism-related activities, Algerian daily El Watan reported on Monday citing a security source.

According to the security source, these are dangerous elements that belong to terrorist groups, including Ansar Eddine, operating in northern Mali. Their mission consisted in creating several cells in the Algerian territory and making Algeria a rear-base to their terrorist activities in the Sahel.

Most of these terrorists, some of whom are known and wanted for their criminal activities in the Sahel region, were arrested in the wilayas of Tamanrasset, Adrar, Illizi, Ghardaia and Algiers, the newspaper added.

The terrorists began by organizing themselves in five Wilayas in the south of the country, where they set up dormant networks, the newspaper states, adding that they have considerable means allowing the implantation of an important rear base in Algeria.

Although Algerian civil and military authorities are often not very talkative about security and terrorism issues in their country, the information that leaks from time to time and intelligence centers confirm that many terrorist networks are well established, especially in the south of the country.

Moreover, the official figures of the Algerian Ministry of Defense confirm this presence. Since the beginning of this year, 37 terrorists surrendered to the authorities of Tamanrasset, five others were slaughtered, while a huge quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives was recovered by the army.

These new revelations by El Watan confirm that Algeria has become one of terrorism hubs in the Sahara and Sahel region.
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There were about nine of us waiting to cross the street. Several were Asian; there were also a few black and brown men.

A van approached the curb to turn. It was one of those vans with a back door that slides along a track. That back door was wide open, even though the van was in motion. As it pulled closer, we saw that there were three young white men seated in the back. They were wearing shorts and sunglasses. Their legs were spread wide, occupying the space with confidence.

The young white man seated closest to the open door called at us as the van passed:

 ching ching ching chong ting ting tong tong 

The man of color next to me swiftly raised his arm and made a gesture with his hand. The young men in the van saw this gesture and shouted their musical slurs in a higher pitch in response.

What? That still happens? Are you kidding? she exclaimed.

Well, yeah, I said, perplexed. The last time this happened to us was about three or four months ago.

But were in Seattle. And there are so many Asians here, on the West Coast. This really happened to you?

These are probably the same people who see the color of your skin and say terrible things to you, I thought. Why are you surprised?

He and I had never met. He knew that I was conducting a clinical interview with someone else, but kept talking at me, anyway:

 stupid f_cking whore, thats what you are, you think youre better just because youre in a white coat, but youre a f_cking whore, a c_nt, you should go finger f_ck yourself and die, you stupid f_cking whore 

Sometimes, I cant help but laugh with amusement at the racism and sexism lobbed at me. Like that one time, I was eating an egg custard in Chinatown in New York City. I was leaning against a brick wall, enjoying an afternoon treat; Asians of all shapes, sizes, and ages walked past me. A non-Asian man saw me from across the street, stopped, and shouted, CHINK! before resuming his stroll.

 but but  you know were in Chinatown, right ?

Other times, like this most recent instance of the open van, I feel more troubled. I wasnt fearful for my safety when the van sped past, though I was aware how things could escalate. I wasnt going to stop doing my work when the man insisted I am a f_cking whore, though I wondered if others agreed with him, but just kept silent.

Its toxic and its tiring.

People want and deserve a basic level of dignity. It doesnt cost anything to be civil, to be humane. Why some people sacrifice humanity and civility to assert higher status, I dont know.

Would these young men in the van have sang their racial slurs at me if they knew I spoke perfect American English? What if they learned I am trained as a physician? What if they learned I work in a jail and helped out someone they knew? What if they found out I like the same cookies they do?

Would the man who insisted that I am a f_cking whore have cared if I was able to help address his health concerns? What if I interacted with him in a way that was better than his past experiences with people in white coats? What if he and I shared the same concerns about the rising rents and gentrification in Seattle?

When groups of people  complex, complicated, multifaceted humans with thoughts, hopes, talents, and dreams  are reduced to a single trait, its easy to denigrate and dismiss them.

When our nation has an elected leader who reduces groups of people to a single trait  rapists, [they] all have AIDS, grab them by the pussy  then other ignoble acts dont seem so bad. To be clear, indecency and baseness obviously existed before the current President. The expectation for public discourse, though, is now at a different set point.

Is it really that bad when someone repeatedly says Konnichiwa! to you in a sing-songy voice, even after you tell that person that youre not Japanese? I mean, its not like that person was trying to ban all people of the Islamic faith from entering the United States.

Is it really that bad when someone says, Wow, you speak English really well! upon meeting you? That seems like nothing when the President got on stage and mocked a citizen with a congenital condition.

A close friend of mine provided counsel to me many years ago when I expressed distress to him about a personal issue.

You dont have to work on this problem every single day, he said. Its a complicated problem that does not have an easy solution. Its OK to take a break. Its not like anyone can solve this problem quickly.

When we grow weary from complicated problems like racism, sexism, incivility, and dehumanization, we must remember that it is OK to take a break. Not an indefinite break, but a break. Its not going to make an enormous difference if you take a week off from fighting racism; thats been going on for centuries. Stepping away from your efforts to stop dehumanization for a little bit doesnt mean youre weak; it just means you can rest and recuperate so you can sustain this work for the upcoming years.

Things often dont change as fast as we want them to, but that doesnt mean that they wont change. We must maintain our own abilities and willingness to show humanity, civility, and kindness to ourselves and others. Only when we do that can we hope and work to ensure that everyone experiences dignity.

Maria Yang is a psychiatrist who blogs at her self-titled site, Maria Yang, MD.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
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The path to becoming a physician is a long and character-defining one. From the moment one first realizes that they want to become a doctor, applies to medical school, and then goes through the rigorous next few years of exam after exam and exhausting clinical rotations  the road is certainly not for the faint-hearted. Everybody is aware of how much knowledge and hard work is required to become a doctor. The part, however, thats less emphasized is the character development and traits that are also needed. Its something that is not taught anywhere near enough to medical students and residents. Compassion, and hand in hand with that, being a good communicator, are just as important  if not frequently more important  than all the knowledge and clinical skills it takes to be a good doctor.

I recently wrote a piece about a 19th-century painting that inspires me in this regard, and reinforces the message of the doctor as a compassionate healer. I learned about this painting, aptly called The Doctor, only in the last couple of years. I also wanted to share two very personal experiences I had earlier on my journey that had a profound effect on me, helped shape me, and made me decide I absolutely wanted to be a compassionate physician one day. I grew up and went to medical school in the United Kingdom, and although the healthcare system is vastly different from the US, most of the problems and complaints about everyday interactions between doctors and patients, along with all the typical communication breakdowns  are identical to here (as they are in most of the world).

The first incident occurred when I was in my second year of medical school. It was a busy time and I remember feeling a little bit anxious about all the upcoming exams and crazy schedule. Like a lot of students at that stage, I fell into the trap of reading around any medical conditions that could be making me feel this way  and for some reason or another, became convinced that I had some type of condition  possibly a severe thyroid condition! However silly this may appear, I was truly worried about it. I booked an appointment with a local GP, and as someone who had rarely ever been to the doctor before, this was a big deal for me. I went to the clinic and remember explaining some of my general constitutional symptoms. I think my GP quickly realized that I otherwise looked healthy but agreed to order the tests. I was quite worked up about the possibility of an underlying medical condition (I was admittedly a lot more delicate back then than I am now).

However, instead of calmly reassuring me with a smile, telling me it all could be related to my insanely busy schedule in medical school or saying with a smile too much knowledge can be a bad thing Suneel!  this GP did quite the opposite. He berated me, made it obvious he thought I could be wasting his time  and Ill never forget how he angrily told me he thought I had gotten myself into a terrible state. I left the appointment feeling even worse than beforehand, and had no faith that the physician was there to help me. Fortunately, my blood results and other tests came back fine, my exams all went great, as did the rest of medical school. But that experience stuck with me.

The second incident actually happened to my mom, again when I was still in medical school. My mom was walking our family dog one day, a friendly but highly excitable and energetic Staffordshire Bull Terrier, when he pulled too hard on the leash. My mom fell forward and badly injured her hand. Fortunately, there was no fracture, but the wound took a long time to heal and there was a period of prolonged nerve-related pain. She eventually got an appointment with a plastic surgeon, who had a reputation for being one of the best in the area. We were all very relieved that she was going to have this assessment. I couldnt go to the appointment with my mom, I was living far away at University, but remember speaking to her on the phone immediately afterwards. She was very upset and reduced to tears. My mom is a very sweet but strong lady, and it takes a lot for her to allow someone else to make her lose her composure in public. She told me that she went to the appointment with such high hopes, but the surgeon basically thought that he couldnt do anything to help her at this stage, there was likely to be a chronic issue, and that any intervention would be like flogging a dead horse (those were his words). This was my moms right hand he was talking about. Well, he was wrong  my moms injury ended up largely recovering with time and gentle therapy, and she is now fully functional all these years later.

On the surface of things, compared to the horrible life-threatening health problems and unfortunate medical interactions some people have, I suppose the above experiences are not the worst that could happen to anyone. Nevertheless, both of them had a profound impact on me at a formative time in my medical career, and made me determined that I wanted to be a compassionate physician who shows empathy to my patients, and no matter what  no patient should ever leave my care feeling worse emotionally than when they first met me.

As physicians, we must always remember that patients are typically seeing us at very low points in their lives and many of them are not themselves. More than half of our job is simply to provide a calm, reassuring and friendly ear to listen, and we must never forget that. We are not there to provide judgment, get annoyed, frustrated, or say harsh things to our patients. Its not about us, the fact that we are busy, or may finish work an hour or so late. We are in a position of trust and unique power, and can use our time to make such a positive impact if we choose to.

People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

-Maya Angelou.

Suneel Dhand is an internal medicine physician and author. He is the founder, DocSpeak Communications and co-founder, DocsDox. He blogs at his self-titled site, Suneel Dhand.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com
Club Raided by Police for Drugs Reopens

By Gvantsa Gabekhadze

Bassiani, one of the most popular clubs in Georgia, re-opened on Wednesday after being sealed by police since the anti-drug raid on May 12.The representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia were presented at the venue and removed the seal from its doors.We encourage promotion of relaxation, the night economy in the country, in the city, to support the development of small and medium-sized businesses - restaurants and bars, Tbilisi Mayor Kakha Kaladze told reporters when commenting about the re-open.I welcome the fact that the club Basiani will continue to work. The club has never faced a threat of closure. The government has not made such a statement, the mayor added.Police raided two nightclubs - Bassiani and Cafe Gallery - in Central Tbilisi at 12:30 a.m. of May 12. During and before the raid police detained eight alleged drug dealers. One of the detainees was a club guard.The detainees have been charged for possession and sale of drugs in especially large quantities, which is punishable by 8-20 years in prison. They are now in pre-trial detention.The same day, on May 12, large-scale rallies kicked off in front of the parliament building in Tbilisi with the slogan "For Our Freedom, protesting the raid in nightclubs, accusing the police of using excessive force and demanding amendments to the state drug policy. They also demanded the resignation of the prime minister and the interior minister.Nationalists groups organized a counter-rally on Rustaveli Avenue on May 13, which tensed the situation.Late on May 13 the Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili addressed the protesters and called on the police to increase measures for ensuring the safety of them at Rustaveli Avenue.The same night Interior Minister Giorgi Gakharia arrived at the rally and offered an apology if any law enforcer created a safety threat to any individual during and after the raid.However, he called on the protesters to also ask pardon from police employees if they also acted inappropriately. The minister stated that the ministry will work with protesters over the countrys new drug policy and announced the meeting on the next day.Protesters stated that they will renew rallies if the government fails to keep its promise and take no genuine steps for decriminalization of drug consumption.The Georgian Parliament Speaker Irakli Kobakhidze stated that a draft on drug policy will be prepared until the end of June.Talks over the liberal drug policy for drug consumers have been launched between the Interior Ministry and the White Noise Movement, lobbying the liberal drug policy. As of now the protesters are not happy with the outcomes of the meetings. However, talks still continue.Many of the Georgian Dream majority members have negative views over the liberal drug-policy, which makes it difficult for such a draft to be adopted, as the party has 116 members in the 150-member legislative body.
Ballykeefe Distillery is the hottest new tourist attraction in Kilkenny. The farm-distillery is now number one on Trip Advisor of Things to do in the city.

The team at Ballykeefe are getting rave reviews from everyone that visit and marketing manager there, Lynda Bolger explained in detail why she thinks the attraction is becoming so popular.

"It really is down to the personal touch, we wanted to not just focus on the distilling process, but to excite and enthuse our visitors with our very unique story that we have here in Ballykeefe, so as they feel that they are a part of our journey.

"We deliver the tour with passion, pride and personality, highlighting our farming and distilling processes and our blue print for the environment, all while making award winning whiskey Vodka & Gin.

You know there is an old saying; that people will always forget what you say, but they never forgot how you make them feel, and this alone is our ethos and why Ballykeefe Distillery takes the visitors experience to a whole new level. We didnt just want to be just another visitors centre, we really wanted to be the centre of excellence & to transfer our passion to our guests," she said.

It is understandable why the team in Ballykeefe are delighted to be such a popular new attraction, as over 800,000 tourists came to Ireland to visit whiskey distilleries last year, and now that Kilkenny has its very own distillery, in the very birth place of Irish whiskey hopefully more will come.
The idea of a university campus, even a satellite campus, being established in Kilkenny is not a new one, and heres hoping that the new report published on the possibilities for Third Level provision here bears some fruit.

Minister of State Mary Mitchell O Connors presence at the launch, and her remarks  delighted to hear proposals  are hopefully indicative of a real openness to the options outlined, while the response of the Technological University of the South East (TUSE) steering group  very welcome likewise.

The reaction in neighbouring Waterford seemed a little less enthused. On local radio, WIT academic Dr Ray Griffin said it represented a scream of anger, while one local press report notes his belief that the proposal provides no threat to Waterford.

Having read the report, it seems curious that media coverage would be couched in such terms. Exploring the TUSE option, the report finds that the South East Universitys potential to impact on social and economical development in the region would be enhanced by a Kilkenny campus. It stresses that if such a campus is to be developed, it should be a joint exercise, with close engagement between Carlow and Waterford essential.

The tone at the launch was one of cooperation. Chief Executive of Kilkenny County Council Colette Byrne said she had met the chairs of both governing bodies and was heartened by their support for the prospect of a TUSE campus in Kilkenny. Cathaoirleach of Kilkenny County Council David Fitzgerald called on all parties to put behind them the turf wars that have been fought.

These comments were echoed by the Minister of State, who called for old arguments to be put away. The reports authors also find that IT Carlow is in a good position to develop a campus in Kilkenny. Perhaps notably, both the President of IT Carlow Dr Patricia Mulcahy and the Chairman of IT Carlows Governing Body John Moore attended the launch.

SMALL CAMPUSES

While it has been asserted elsewhere that small campuses do not work in Ireland, the report points to the success of Carlow ITs Wexford campus as an example that could be emulated. It also lists in its appendices international examples of regional tertiary education provision  in Australia, Finland, Spain, and Tampa Bay in Florida.

Significantly, it emphasises the importance of playing to Kilkennys strengths  accommodating for niche areas we already have a pedigree in, such as animation, craft and design, and agri-tech. We have heard similar ideas before.

Writing in the Irish Times in 2005, Dr Edward M Walsh observed Kilkenny would be a remarkably fine location for a new university campus. While the strong nucleus of a new university exists in Waterford, he wrote, there could be good reason to establish a satellite campus here, with programmes particularly appropriate to here.

Prof Walsh is the founding President of the University of Limerick  the first new university established by the Republic of Ireland  so is worth listening to also.

Kilkenny councillors, the council executive, and indeed Kilkenny Chamber of Commerce, have all been consistent in acknowledging Waterford as the the regional driver, and its role as gateway in various submissions and public comments. That status shouldnt preclude some kind of satellite university campus in Kilkenny.

READ MORE HERE.
Having introduced a broad range of innovative strands to The Kilkenny Arts Festival, copperfastening its prosperity, festival director, Eugene Downes will step down at the end of this years festival in August.

Highlights he put in place include the Shakespeare series in the Castle Yard, which attracted thousands of patrons.

Another is the hugely popular single composer season with Brahms the main focus this August, following Mozart and Beethoven in the preceding years.

The series of new Stephen Rea projects were phenomenally popular with people while having the Irish Concert Orchestra (IC)) as an orchestra in residence for the first time is a wonderfully successful collaboration.

And in 2018, Downes has done it again with the Festivals first full scale opera production.

He acted as the curator of all strands of the festival since he was appointed in October 2013 and all his projects were thoughtful, new and avant garde.

The Marble City Sessions, is another one of his ideas. It is a new cross-genre series of unique musical collaborations featuring a range of artists-in-residence, hosted and co-curated by the great Irish traditional musician Martin Hayes.

Eugene served from 200712 as Chief Executive of Culture Ireland, creating a new model for the promotion and advancement of Irish arts worldwide, particularly theatre.

In that role he also planned and led Imagine Ireland, a year-long festival of Irish arts across the US in 2011.

From 200007 he acted as an international arts consultant, advising the Irish Government on strategy and curating and producing arts events across Europe, Asia and South America.

Previous experience included the Irish Foreign Service, a spell as Cultural Attache in Russia and as a music and opera broadcaster on RTE Lyric FM.

After he leaves the festival, he has no intention of going back into the diplomatic service and cryptically replied when asked about his future: I have a few plans in development.
Nancy Cave of the Coastal Conservation League, left, and Jessie White of the South Carolina Environmental Law Project talk about a proposed limestone mine that would be located in Williamsburg County during the Andrews Town Council meeting on May 17.

Chris Sokoloski/South Strand News
Mike Hosking writes:

Ill say this about your New Zealand First voter: theyre straight up and down.

I am receiving large levels of correspondence, and I am not the only one, from people saying they are embarrassed or ashamed that they voted New Zealand First.

They feel duped, ripped off, if not hoodwinked.

And its the foreign aid package thats tipped them over the edge. 

Hence him having to swallow that massive dead fish on oil exploration, not to mention irrigation bans and the dairy crackdown. But the Foreign Affairs package  and its $900m worth of aid and more diplomats  is not what a New Zealand First voter would have had at the top of their priority list.

The regional fund might have been. And that still has potential, potential to help the regions and get the party votes. And the key, and this is what virtually all the correspondence is saying, the key is in the name. New Zealand First.

Wheres the New Zealand First in foreign aid? And all this on the back of the news that cheaper doctors visits in this country have been delayed.

This is the stuff a classic New Zealand First voter would have expected and embraced  you miss out, so Mr and Mrs Tokelau can get some more help. And to what end? We cant subsidise a doctor, but we can hand out thousands to a person who doesnt even live here.
Second Annual US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Conference

By Vladimer Napetvaridze

Vice Premier of Georgia, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mikhail Janelidze participated in the second annual conference of Georgia-US Strategic Partnership, dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.In his speech, the Minister talked about Georgia's first democratic republic as one of the first democratic states in Europe. He also talked about Georgia's development process after regaining the independence in 1991 and emphasized the importance of Georgia for the modern world. Janelidze also underlined the special efforts of the United States to support Georgia's democratic development after the regaining of independence.We are proud that Georgia is a US strategic partner and the major ally in the region. From the aid recipient country, we have become aid contributor state. We are contributing to Euro-Atlantic security, and with our economic development, we offer the opportunities to European businesses and companies. We are playing an important role in maintaining the security and diversification of Euro-Atlantic energy sources," Janelidze said.The Minister also spoke about Georgia's Euro-Atlantic integration process and stressed the importance of US support in this regard. He said that today Georgia has all necessary tools for joining NATO and the role of the US in this process is major."We are very encouraged by the statement of Secretary of State Pompeo made a few days ago. Georgia will become a member of NATO, we have all necessary tools that will lead us to membership. We have more tools than other candidate countries, and we believe that we are well prepared to take further steps on the path of joining the Union. We are convinced that Georgia will be another contributor to Euro-Atlantic security and we will further benefit the interests of the Euro-Atlantic community, "Janelidze said.U.S. is the main strategic partner of Georgia and therefore main supporter of Georgias NATO integration process. The strength of U.S.-Georgia relations is codified in the 2009 U.S.-Georgia Charter on Strategic Partnership. The US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission comprises four bilateral working groups on priority areas identified in the Charter: democracy; defence and security; economic, trade, and energy issues; and people-to-people and cultural exchanges. In addition to holding a high-level plenary session of the Commission each year, senior-level the US and Georgian policymakers lead yearly meetings of each working group to review commitments, update activities, and establish future objectives. Since the signing of the Charter, the United States and Georgia have strengthened their cooperation based on the US support for Georgias sovereignty and territorial integrity, and its commitment to further democratic and economic reforms.U.S. Government assistance to Georgia supports the consolidation of Georgia's democracy; its eventual integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions; progress toward a peacefully unified nation, secure in its borders; and further development of its free-market economy.The United States recognized the independence of Georgia on 25 December 1991 and established diplomatic relations with Georgia in 1992. After establishing the diplomatic relations U.S. started to support Georgia through USAID. USAID began operating in Georgia in 1992. For 24 years, the American people have provided over $1.5 billion. Building on this successful partnership, the U.S. Government dedicates approximately $40 million annually to 50 wide-reaching programs that support Georgias democratic, free-market, Western orientation.Initiatives stimulate economic growth, develop democratic institutions, enhance energy security, mitigate climate change, improve education, and foster the increased inclusion of minority and disadvantaged people in Georgia, including those living across ethnic and geographic boundaries.
New Delhi (India), May 29 (ANI): Intensifying river floods could lead to regional production losses worldwide caused by global warming. This might not only hamper local economies around the globe - the effects might also propagate through the global network of trade and supply chains, a study now published in Nature Climate Change shows.

It is the first to assess this effect for flooding on a global scale, using a newly developed dynamic economic model. It finds that economic flood damages in China, which could, without further adaption, increase by 80 percent within the next 20 years, might also affect European Union (EU) and United States industries.

The US economy might be specifically vulnerable due to its unbalanced trade relation with China.

Contrary to US president Trump's current tariff sanctions, the study suggests that building stronger and thus more balanced trade relations might be a useful strategy to mitigate economic losses caused by intensifying weather extremes.

"Climate change will increase flood risks already in the next two decades - and this is not only a problem for millions of people but also for economies worldwide," said Anders Levermann, project leader from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Germany and Columbia University's LDEO in New York.

Without further adaption measures, climate change will likely increase economic losses worldwide due to fluvial floods by more than 15 percent accumulating to a total of about 600 billion US dollar within the next 20 years. While the bulk of this is independent of climate change, the rise is not.

"Not only local industries will be affected by these climate impacts," said Sven Willner, lead author of the study from PIK.

"Through supply shortages, changes in demand and associated price signals, economic losses might be down-streamed along the global trade and supply network affecting other economies on a global scale - we were surprised about the size of this rather worrying effect," Willner added.

World Bank Economist: "Natural disasters are not local events anymore"

The World Bank's lead economist with the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery, Stephane Hallegatte, who pioneered research in the area of indirect disaster effects but was not involved in the present study, comments, "This work combines two very innovative lines of work: global risk assessment for natural hazards and network theory to understand how localised shocks propagate in time and space. It contributes to scientific progress in multiple ways, but one of the most important policy messages for me is that the world is so interconnected that natural disasters are not local events anymore: everybody can be affected by a disaster occurring far away. It means that risk management is more than each country's responsibility: it has become a global public good".

The study is based on projections of near-future river floods on a regional scale already determined by the greenhouse gas emissions that humans have so far emitted into our atmosphere - impacts after 2035 depend on future additional emissions.

The authors investigate the overall economic network response to river flood-related shocks, taking into account the inner dynamics of international trade. They do so with the specifically designed, new Acclimate-model, a dynamic economic computer simulation.

Without major adaptation, China could suffer biggest direct losses

Without major adaptation measures, China could suffer the biggest direct economic losses from river floods - adding up to a total of more than 380 billion US dollar in economic losses over the next 20 years, including natural flood events not related to global warming.

This corresponds to about five percent of China's annual economic output.

175 billion of the total losses in China will likely occur due to climate change.

"This is a lot," said Willner, "and it is only the effect by river floods, not even taking into account other climate change impacts such as storms and heat waves".

The European Union and the United States on the contrary might be affected predominantly by indirect losses passed down along the global trade and supply network.

In the US, direct losses might be around 30 billion US Dollar, whereas indirect losses might be 170 billion US dollar in the next 20 years.

"The EU will suffer less from indirect losses caused by climate-related flooding in China due to its even trade balance. They will suffer when flooded regions in China temporarily fail to deliver for instance parts that European companies need for their production, but on the other hand Europe will profit from filling climate-induced production gaps in China by exporting goods to Asia. This yields the European economy currently more climate-prepared for the future," said Willner.

"In contrast, the US imports much more from China than it exports to this country. This leaves the US more susceptible to climate-related risks of economic losses passed down along the global supply and trade chain," he added.

Global trade allows global buffering - India could be a winner

"More intense global trade can help to mitigate losses from local extreme events by facilitating market adjustments," explains co-author Christian Otto from the Potsdam Institute and Columbia University.

"When a supplier is impacted by a disaster hampering its production, international trade increases the chance that other suppliers can jump in and temporarily replace it. Interestingly, the global increase of climate-induced river floods could even cause net gains for some economies such as India, South East Asia, or Australia".

The study's focus is not on damages to production facilities of businesses, but to what extent a regional economy stagnates due to flooding.

"We adopted a rather optimistic view when it comes to the flexibility and promptness of shifting production towards non-affected suppliers after an extreme weather event," explained Christian Otto.

"Hence our study rather underestimates than overestimates the production losses - things could eventually turn out to be worse," Otto added.

Trump's tariffs might impede climate-proofing the US economy

"We find that the intensification of the mutual trade relation with China leaves the EU better prepared against production losses in Asia than the US. The prospect that the US will be worse off can be traced back to the fact that it is importing more products from China than it is exporting," said PIK's Anders Levermann.

"Interestingly, such an unbalanced trade relation might be an economic risk for the US when it comes to climate-related economic losses. In the end, Trump's tariffs might impede climate-proofing the US economy".

For resolving this risk and balancing out the negative trade relation, there are generally two options: either isolation or more trade.

"By introducing a tariff plan against China, Trump currently goes for isolation," said Levermann.

"But Trump's tariff sanctions are likely to leave US economy even more vulnerable to climate change. As our study suggests, under climate change, the more reasonable strategy is a well-balanced economic connectivity, because it allows to compensate economic damages from unexpected weather events - of which we expect more in the future". (ANI)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Riga, May 30 (AFP) A Latvian court has convicted a former railway worker of spying for Russia, sentencing him to 18 months behind bars for sharing classified information on NATO troops and heavy equipment being moved by rail.

Aleksandrs Krasnopjorovs, an ethnic Russian and former Soviet Red Army soldier who served in Afghanistan during the 1980s, worked for Latvian state railways and had access to its network of surveillance cameras.

He was found guilty of recording videos of NATO troops and cargo being moved by rail -- images considered to be classified -- and then sending them to contacts in Russia.

Krasnopjorovs pleaded not guilty and his lawyer vowed to appeal the verdict yesterday.

Latvia hosts one of four NATO battle groups deployed to the three Baltic states and Poland to reinforce the alliance's eastern flank, particularly since Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Krasnopjorovs made the recordings between October 2015 and September 2016 when troops from Canada, Poland, United States and other NATO member countries arrived in Latvia along with heavy equipment that was transported mostly by rail.

Krasnopjorovs, who lost his railway job after being arrested in late 2016, spent more than a year in pre-trial detention and so will now only be required to serve three months of the sentence he was handed yesterday.

Along with the jail time, the court also sentenced him to 60 hours of community service and 18 months probation, plus covering the court expenses. He was also found guilty of possessing explosives.

The conviction is the first of its kind after Latvia tightened legislation on what constitutes espionage and treason or terrorist activity in the wake of Crimea's annexation.

A Baltic eurozone and NATO state, Latvia has a large ethnic Russian minority accounting for about a quarter of its 1.9 million people. (AFP) CK

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, May 29 (PTI) External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj today held a meeting with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands during which the two leaders discussed growing financial inclusion in India.

Queen Maxima, who is the wife of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, is visiting India in her capacity as the UN Secretary-General's special advocate for inclusive finance for development.

Yesterday, Queen Maxima met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed financial inclusion and global development finance.

EAM @SushmaSwaraj met with Queen Maxima of the Netherlands who is also a Special Advocate of the UN Secretary General for Inclusive Finance for Development. Leaders talked about growing financial inclusion in India, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
Riyadh, May 29 (AFP) Yemeni government forces are only around 20 kilometres from Hodeida as they advance on the key rebel-held port city, the Saudi-led military coalition said on today.

The Red Sea port has been a point of contention in Yemen's war since Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened on behalf of the government in 2015.

"The Yemeni army backed by the coalition is at a distance of around 20 kilometres from Hodeida," coalition spokesman Turki al-Maliki told reporters in Riyadh.

"The purpose is to return the city back to the legitimate government of Yemen. The operations are ongoing." Hodeida is the main conduit for humanitarian aid on which millions depend, as Yemen teeters on the brink of famine.

But for neighbouring Saudi Arabia, Hodeida is seen as the entry point for rebel weaponry -- which it accuses regional rival Tehran of supplying. (AFP) CK

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from Syndicated News feed, LatestLY Staff may not have modified or edited the content body)
New Delhi, May 29: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal today wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to direct the Railways to provide rakes for transporting coal to power plants in Delhi-NCR, which are facing "alarming level" of coal shortage.

The national transporter, however, today said Delhi need not worry as adequate coal is being supplied to the power plants. In his letter to Modi, the Delhi chief minister said with rising temperatures and increasing power demand in Delhi, coal stock position is "very alarming" and needs immediate attention and intervention.

Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal writes to PM Modi over coal shortage at thermal generating stations in Delhi NCR, says it is due to shortage of transportation rakes with Railways, asks for PM's intervention citing that coal shortage may lead to major blackouts in Delhi. pic.twitter.com/gpSN8OdFHQ  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

"As informed, this coal shortage is primarily attributable to non-availability of transportation rakes with Indian Railways due to which available coal is not getting transported to the NCR thermal (power) stations," Kejriwal said.

"It is therefore requested to kindly intervene personally and give necessary directions to the Railways for providing rakes/wagons on priority for transportation of coal in order to avoid load shedding or any major grid incidence leading to major blackouts in Delhi," he told the prime minister in the letter.

Responding to Kejriwal's claims, the railways said coal requirement in Dadri, Jhajhar and Badarpur power plants are being adequately met by the national transporter.

"In Badarpur as of now, there is a consumption of 1.5 rakes, while we are supplying two-three rakes. In Dadri the consumption is of five rakes, and as of today seven rakes are there with additional rakes in the pipeline. In Jhajhar too there is requirement of around 3.5 rake while railways is supplying four rakes. So, there are adequate rakes," Mohd Jamshed, Member, Traffic of the railways said.

"We had given coal traffic preference even in January, February and March when on demand we had ensured that there are rakes available and if necessary we had even drawn it from other sectors," he said.

Kejriwal said thermal power stations in the national capital region -- Dadri I & II, Jhajjar and Badarpur -- are facing "acute coal shortage" for the last many days and at present all of them are operating on day ahead basis as coal stock is not sufficient for even one day full generation.

He said according to norms, this stock condition is to be maintained for at least 15 days ahead period.

Jamshed said a committee comprising official of the railways, power and coal were monitoring the situation daily, adequate coal is being supplied to power houses and reserves are being maintained according to norms.

Kejriwal said that Delhi is reeling under severe heat wave conditions and peak demand has already crossed 6200 MW as on date, and is expected to touch 7000 MW soon.

The chief minister also wrote to Lt Governor Anil Baijal seeking his intervention in taking up the matter with the central ministries to resolve this crisis-like situation at the earliest.

Delhi Power Minister Satyendar Jain had last week flagged the issue and said that he had written to Union Coal Minister Piyush Goyal earlier this month, requesting him to issue necessary instruction to help "resolve the crisis".

The Railways said that its coal loading was on track. "Last year we did 555 million tonne which is 22 million tonne more than the previous year. This year we will increase it further. Last year, we used 350 rakes for coal, now its 450 rakes," Jamshed said.

As of May 1 this year, 285 million tonne of coal was loaded, out of which 260 million tonne was for power plants.

According to data provided by the Delhi government, the coal required for power generation in full capacity for one day is 56,000 MT, but 52,513 MT coal was provided to power plants yesterday.
New Delhi, May 29: The United States has raised concerns over Indias plans to ink a deal worth Rs 40,000 with Russia to procure the S-400 air defence system. Chairman of the powerful US House Armed Services Committee Mac Thornberry said that Indias move would hamper the military ties between the two countries. According to Thornberry, concerns about Indias potential purchase of the S-400 have been conveyed to different levels of the government.

Committee Members in India were of the opinion that the Russian system would also make it difficult for the US to share sensitive technology with India in the future. There is a lot of concern in the US administration and Congress with the S-400. There is concern that any country that acquires the system will complicate the ability of interoperability (with US forces), reported Economic Times quoted Mac Thornberry as saying.

Thornberry also said that India would take its time to consider the decision to purchase the Russian missile. India likely to Ink the deal worth Rs 40,000 with Russia for procuring S-400 Triumf missile system before Octobers annual summit between Prime Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The US had announced sanctions against Russia for its alleged involvement in meddling in the US presidential elections. Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) came into effect in January. Many US lawmakers and experts are of the opinion that India should be exempted from CAATSA.

In April this year, India has issued a Request of Information for the purchase of 110 fighter jets worth $15 billion. The two US-based companies Lockheed Martin and Boeing are pitching their respective fighter jets. The US is planning to shift entire production line of Lockheeds F-16 jet in India. It will be interesting to see how the US reacts to Indias deal with Russia to acquire the most advanced air defence system S-400 Triumf.

S-400 is an advanced version of S-300. The missile system can destroy incoming enemy fighter jets, missiles and even drones up to the range of 400 km. The missile system is capable of travelling at a rate of 4.8 kilometres per second (17,000 km/h; Mach 14). This missile system is manufactured by Almaz-Antey and is serving Russian Military since 2007.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 05:44 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
New Delhi, May 29: Prime Minister Narendra Modi left on Tuesday for Indonesia on a five-day three-nation tour of Southeast Asia that will take him to Malaysia and Singapore.

"PM @narendramodi emplanes for Jakarta. He will be visiting Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore in the next few days," the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) tweeted.

"During these visits, he will be attending a wide range of programmes including talks with world leaders, interactions with students and top CEOs," it said.

In a pre-departure statement here on Monday Modi said he was "confident that my visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore will provide a further boost to our Act East Policy and enhance our relations and engagements with all the three countries".

Modi will hold a bilateral summit with Indonesian President Joko Widodo on May 30. He will also address members of the Indian community in Indonesia.

On May 31, Modi will make a brief stopover in Malaysia on his way from Indonesia to Singapore to meet newly elected Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Mahathir, who governed for more than two decades became, at the age of 92, the world's oldest elected leader earlier this month.

On June 1, Modi will call on Singapore President Halimah Yacob and then hold a summit with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Later in the evening, he will deliver the keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue, becoming the first Indian Prime Minister to do so in the Track I annual inter-governmental security forum.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 29, 2018 01:45 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
May 29, 2018, 5:51am ET

FCA sits out 2018 Paris show

Maserati is the exception to the rule, surprisingly.

The Paris auto show is turning into a nail-biter of an event. Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) has joined the growing list of auto-makers who have confirmed their absence from this year's edition of the biennial gathering.

The decision applies to nearly all of FCA's brands including Fiat, Jeep, and Alfa Romeo. Maserati will attend, surprisingly. The rest of the group (Chrysler, Dodge, Ram, and Lancia) would have sat out the show anyways.

The decision represents another blow to the auto show as we know it. Volkswagen, Ford, Opel, Mazda, Lamborghini, Porsche, and Volvo have all announced plans to skip the upcoming Paris show for reasons centering around the high costs of participating, the difficulty of competing for attention, and the lack of new models to present.

Car companies from both sides of the pond have found it's easier, cheaper, and more effective to engage prospective buyers on the internet -- on social media, notably. They're increasingly turning to standalone, Apple-style events to show new products to members of the media.

Fiat stressed the decision isn't permanent, according to French magazine Auto Plus. The publication learned that, from now on, Fiat's many brands will decide whether to participate in an auto show on a case-by-case basis. They'll join when they have a new model to introduce, and they'll sit on the sidelines when they don't. Purists beware: that means we'll likely never see the Lancia brand at an auto show ever again.

Stay tuned; Leftlane will be live in Paris to cover the action -- or what's left of it -- from this year's show starting on October 2nd.

Photo by Ronan Glon.
In 2013 Kevin and Mary Conroy from Laois spoke to the Leinster Express after they won a 10 year legal battle with the HSE, over injuries caused to their daughter Roisin at birth in Portlaoise Hospital.

The family also had received an apology from the HSE and from consultant obstetrician John P Corristine over failings that resulted in Roisin having dyskinetic cerebral palsy.

While cognitively perfect, she is unable to speak or make voluntary movements, needing constant 24 hour care from her parents.

A settlement of 2.6 million was made, with provision to return to court in two years to decide on further care.

It is a hard won battle for parents Kevin and Mary, who gave up work to care for Roisin. They are worn out but relieved, and optimistic about the future.

Now we can get specialist care and therapy. Obviously it was needed earlier, but she will have all she needs now. As a family, it will benefit us, we will be able to do a lot more now. The future is much brighter, says Kevin.

They hope to take on personal assistants for Roisin, both in school and at home. They plan to make their home more wheelchair friendly, and install a hydrotherapy pool.

We are hoping to get a modified campervan, with a lift and a bed for Roisin, to make our family more inclusive, said her father.

Roisin is the eldest of three, with a sister Samantha aged 9 and brother Luke aged 5, pupils in Ratheniska NS.

She is cognitively perfect. She is a lovely bright child, and mischievous. Sammy is very close to her, very protective and concerned. She feels angry too. She has asked how did this happen, and we tell her, says Kevin, who is still angry himself.

On November 10 2001, Mary went to the hospital when she thought her membranes had ruptured. She was reassured and told to attend her appointment with her private consultant Mr Corristine three days later, when she insisted she be admitted to hospital.

The next morning Mr Corristine prescribed drugs to induce her. She did not see him for the rest of the birth. She was put into a room and by 11.30 was in such intense pain that she briefly passed out. There was no hot water for a bath to ease pains, because building work had disrupted supply.

Other than I went to find help, it wouldnt have been given. They gave her an injection in her tummy for the pain, said Kevin.

By 2pm the pain was so bad that Mary felt it must be time to give birth, and walked to the delivery room where she was put on a trace. Records of the heartbeat would later show stretches as long as seven minutes where Roisin was in distress during the labour.

I should have been sectioned, but they made me continue, telling me push again like everything was normal. When her head crowned the cord was around her neck. They did an episiotomy and whipped her out. I got a glimpse, she was blue. I asked why she was not crying, said Mary.

There was no paediatric team present when she gave birth but they arrived five minutes later.

She wasnt breathing. She was out for I dont know how many minutes. It was a nightmare. Then she began breathing on her own and we thought we were out of the woods, said Kevin.

At 11.50 that night, he was called back to hospital. Roisin had had a seizure.

They had called the priest. They told us she was very sick and needed to go to Dublin. They asked if we wanted her to have the last rites and christen her, so we did that. They took two polaroids, and they took her to the Rotunda. I followed and stayed with her till 5.30am, when she was out of danger of dying, said Kevin.

He went back in to see Mary at 9.30 the next morning.

Corristine was there. He explained there was nothing could have been done, and we were just unlucky. He said the trace had been perfect, except just at the birth when it is harder to pick up, he said.

Mary signed herself out and they went up to see Roisin in the ICU.

When they arrived, their hope that Roisin had recovered were shattered.

A doctor came in, looked and said dont you know your child has CP?. Our lives just imploded. Our little girl looked so perfect, Kevin said.

Over the next ten years they tried to help Roisin reach her milestones. At two years of age, she could stand up with help, and the couple tried their best to improve her mobility.

They found it upsetting to send her to pre-Kolbe, a pre-school for children with disabilities in Portlaoise.

Sending your child there is a milestone no parent wants, it was a hard step. It is limited in resources and space, but the staff are brilliant, said Kevin.

Another difficult step was accepting that she needed a wheelchair.

At five she began her education in Kolbe NS.

She is so lucky to be there. The staff really brought her on. They are so good to her and she is so happy going there. They dont get enough credit but they are so appreciated by us, he said.

He says the school has suffered much with cutbacks.

Services were much better when Roisin started. There are 18 students, very few have vocal skills, but they have no speech and language therapist, physiotherapist or occupational therapist. The kids are not getting the help they need, it is left to the teachers, and the job they do with the resources they have is incredible, he said.

Two years ago, prompted by his brother, Kevin contacted a legal firm who specialise in medical negligance cases, Augustus Cullen Law.

Over the years people suggested we look into it. We thought there was no point, that doctors were bound by oath to tell us the truth, but we felt we owed it to Roisin to be sure, he said.

The firm got medical documents released and assessed, which showed evidence that questions needed to be asked.

We were numbed, angry, full of rage. To look at my daughter and know who was responsible, he said.

Litigation was filed against the HSE and Mr Corristine and five weeks before last weeks court hearing, they received a letter admitting liability.

Not only have they delayed nine years of therapy, with a further two years of legal proceedings. They were happy for the facts to remain undiscovered. That to me is despicable. We got an apology but we dont know what happened that day, or what lessons they learned, Kevin said.

He urges other parents who have suspicions about negligence to attend the same law firm.

Please look into it. They owe it to their child. At least they will know nothing could have been done. Our solicitors were very professional and caring, they shielded us from the stress of it, he said.
The HSE has published an incident investigation report on failures in care provided to Mary Conroy while under the care of maternity services at Portlaoise hospital for the delivery of her daughter Roisin in November 2001.

This report is being published at the request of, and with the prior consent of the Mary and Kevin Conroy from Portlaoise whose daughter has dyskinetic cerebral palsy as a result of a brain injury suffered at the hospital during birth.

The family battled the HSE in the courts from the time of her birth until reaching a settlement of 2.6 million in 2013. A further 9 million was awarded in 2015. They took an action against the health authority and consultant obstetrician Dr John Corristine.

While cognitively perfect, Roisin is unable to speak or make voluntary movements. Her parents have given up work to care for their daughter who is the eldest of three children.

The detailed 165 page investigation report higlights two key failings. It says there was a "failure to perform competently during a high risk labour regarding the assessment and monitoring of Baby Roisin and recognition of fetal distress".

It says this placed Mrs Conroy and Baby Roisin in a position of "unnecessary risk".

The report also says there was a failure to demonstrate "proper dedication, thoroughness, professional duty and responsibility as set out in professional regulatory guidelines.

It finds that this resulted in a "serious absence of the required level of professional communication expected during a

high risk labour and Baby Roisin being catastrophically injured at birth".

The report says the family highlighted a clear absence of communication between staff and the family during and after labour which the Investigation Team consider to be extremely concerning.

The family stated at a meeting with the Investigation Team on the 22nd November 2017 that;

"Had we only been told the truth on the morning of the 15th November, and not given untruths and misleading information, we could have accepted that people genuinely make mistakes or get it wrong sometimes.

"Incidents happen, sometimes with serious consequences. We were hold by Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist A that

nothing could have been done, no signs that anything was wrong, that there is no way of detecting these things and we were just unlucky, the trace was perfect.

"Believing what we were told by Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist A that we were just unlucky we tried to do our best for Roisin, meaning we were unable to access the appropriate care for our daughter.

"It was 9 years later when we found out what really happened and a further 3 years later (12 years in total) before we were able to get the right support for Roisin.

"We realised that there is really no avenue for individuals to be held to account, particularly if they retire, this investigation is our only recourse now, to find out why everything happened because we did not find out during the legal proceedings.

All the untruths and misleading information provided to us over a 12 year period ultimately resulted in Roisin being denied the therapies she needed to improve her quality of life and life expectancy," he said.

In its statement on publish the report HSE said acknowledged that there were significant failings in the care provided to Mrs Conroy and has apologised for these failings and for the consequent suffering and distress caused to Roisin and her parents.

Mr Trevor O Callaghan, Chief Executive of the Dublin Midland Hospital Group reiterated this apology to the Conroy family and acknowledged that neither this apology nor the publication of this report can negate the suffering and distress experienced by Roisin and her family.

I would like to sincerely thank Mr and Mrs Conroy for working with the investigation team to complete this review and acknowledge the lengthy and difficult process it has been for them. The Hospitals failure for several years to acknowledge or address the deficiencies in care identified in this report was unacceptable and not what is expected from our services. Lessons have been learned, changes have been implemented and we are committed to providing the highest standards of care to all patients. This report and its recommendations will be shared with all maternity services through the Women & Infants Programme and other relevant agencies to inform best practice, he said.

The HSE said that to date some of the key changes in Portlaoise Hospital maternity services include: new management and governance arrangements; significant investment in staff recruitment and training including the appointment of additional midwifery and specialist nursing staff, and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the HSE, on behalf of Portlaoise Hospital, and the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital, including the appointment of a Clinical Director to improve clinical integration and collaboration across maternity services within the Hospital Group.

2013 LEINSTER EXPRESS INTERVIEW WITH ROISIN'S PARENTS

The HSE said these changes would continue to enhance clinical services and quality and safety structures at the Hospital and contribute to the on-going integration between the two sites.

The investigation was commissioned in 2016 and carried out by: Ms Deirdre OKeeffe, Quality Improvement Division, Health Service Executive (Investigation Chairperson); Ms Susan Temple, Quality and Safety Manager, Dublin Midland Hospital Group,

Health Service Executive; Dr Francois Gardeil, Consultant Obstetrician and Obstetrician, Wexford General

Hospital, Ireland East Hospital Group, Health Service Executive.

FULL REPORT HERE
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus E.Shestakov participates in the Cyber Security Summit in Tallinn

29-05-2018

On May 29, 2018 the Belarusian delegation led by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Evgeny Shestakov, took part in the Cyber Security Summit under the auspices of the Munich Security Conference in Tallinn, the Republic of Estonia.

The summit is organized within the framework of a series of conferences dedicated to this significant aspect of international security that have been held since 2012 in various countries around the world with the participation of high-ranking representatives of political, military, scientific and business circles. The representative of the Republic of Belarus participates in such event for the first time.

This year Summit brought together about 150 officials and experts from more than 30 countries, representatives of the EU, the Council of Europe, the OSCE, NATO and other international organizations.

The program of the summit includes, among others, thematic panels on the legal regulation in the field of cybersecurity, approaches to ensuring cybersecurity on a global scale.

The Head of the Belarusian delegation delivered within one of the panels a report on the implementation of the initiative of the President of the Republic of Belarus on the resumption of a wide-ranging dialogue on security issues and informed the audience about the readiness of the Belarusian side to host a Cyber Security Summit in Minsk.

E.Shestakov also met the chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Wolfgang Ischinger. The sides discussed preparations for the MSC Core Group Meeting in Minsk this year.

The Belarusian delegation visited the innovation center e-Estonia Showroom and the presentation of Estonia's achievements in the field of digitalization.

   

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A Laois school board intends to apply for planning permission for new prefab classrooms to deal with excess numbers at the school.

The Board of Management at Presentation Primary School, Portarlington has applied for single storey temporary accomodation structure with two classrooms and ancillary accommodation including all associated site works at the school on Station Road, Portarlington.

School Principal, Cathal Ruane, said the need for the extra two temporary prefab classrooms is due to excess numbers of pupils in the school.

It has leveled off, this is the maximum number now that we will have, he said.

The prefabs are realistically expected to be installed and in use by late September this year for the large classes of junior infants starting in the school.

It is hoped that the additional prefabs will increase the teacher allocations which are approved annually in accordance with established rules based on recognised pupil enrolment.

In 2009 the Presentation Primary girls school got a brand new building.

In September, 2017 the school finished a brand new physical activity playground, an all weather 220m running track, and a playing pitch.

The work is all to boost physical activity at the girls school, which has 750 pupils.

CCTV footage shows Laois business targeted in burglary for the second time.
Athy Municipal District accounts for 23 per cent of the Kildare active HAP  Housing Assistance Payment  tenancies.

The total number of active HAP tenancies in Athy Municipal District is 380 as of April 2018, while Athy MD accounts for 39 per cent of all single HAP tenancies in the county.

Members of the Municipal District were informed of this at last weeks meeting.

The meeting heard that there is an acute shortage of properties to rent in Kildare and at the time of the meeting there were 25 properites listed in Kildare with 17 of these in the Athy, Castledermot and Monasterevin areas.

Cllr Mark Wall said that HAP is not working because the message out there is that landlords wont take on HAP tenants.

People think that their names will be taken off the housing list if they go into the HAP scheme,he said.

HAP is not working, he stressed.
Thomas Bolster  Naas

May 28, 2018, (peacefully), at Larchfield Park Nursing Home, Thomas, beloved husband of the late Eileen and dear father of Anne, Eileen, Kathleen, Rebecca and the late Tom; Very sadly missed by his loving daughters, brother, sons-in-law, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, grandchildren, great-granddaughter, nephews, nieces, relatives and friends. Reposing at Murphy Brothers Funeral Home, Church Lane, Naas on Wednesday (May 30) from 6.30pm to 8.00pm. Removal on Thursday (May 31) to St. Davids Church of Ireland, Naas arriving for 11.00am Funeral Service. Funeral immediately afterwards to St. Corbans Cemetery, Naas.

Alan Cox  Millview Roseberry, Newbridge, Newbridge

May 28 2018, Sadly missed by his loving parents Sandra and Christopher, grandfather Bill, uncles, aunts, relatives, neighbours and friends. Reposing at his family home from 4pm on Wednesday (May 30) and from 4pm on Thursday (May 31) with rosary both nights at 8pm. Removal on Friday morning (June 1) at 10:15 AM to arrive at St. Conleths parish church Newbridge for requiem mass at 11 oclock. Cremation afterwards in Mount Jerome Crematorium, Harold's Cross. Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, to "The friends of Naas Hospital". Donations box in church.

John Curran  Sallins Bridge, Sallins / Caragh

May 27 2018, peacefully at his residence, after a short illness bravely borne, beloved son of the late Barney & Anna, deeply regretted by his loving wife Ann, son Jack, brother Colm, sister Geraldine, brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives & friends. Reposing at his residence on Tuesday (May 29) from 2pm, with rosary at 8pm. Removal on Wednesday (May 30) at 10.15am to arrive at The Church of The Gaurdian Angels, Sallins for 11am Funeral Mass, followed by burial in Bodenstown Cemetery. Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, to Friends of St. Brigid's Hospice, The Curragh. House private on Wednesday morning please.

Noel Fox  Green Road, Kildare Town

May 27 2018, Deeply regretted by his loving daughter Karen, sister, son-in-law Chris, grandchildren Katelynn and Cian, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, nieces, nephews, relatives and friends. Reposing at his home on Wednesday (May 30) from 3 o'clock with Rosary at 8 o'clock. Removal on Thursday (May 31) to the Carmelite Church, Kildare arriving for Mass at 11 o'clock. Burial afterwards in St. Conleth's Cemetery, Kildare. Family flowers only please. Donations if desired to the Irish Cancer Society. Donation Box in Church.

Ana (Anastasia) Kriegel  Leixlip

May 14 2018, (tragically). Beloved daughter of Patrick and Geraldine. Sadly missed by her loving parents, brother Aaron, grandmother Eva (Ball), aunts Jennifer, Jan and Lynne, uncles Kevin, Ray and Phil, cousins Bruno, Philippe, Natalie, Merone, Carla, Darragh, Martha, Art, Sadbh, Cillian and Fiadh, relatives and friends. A Civil Funeral Service, celebrating Anas life, will be held in Newlands Cross Crematorium on Thursday afternoon, May 31 at 2.30pm. Ana loved sparkle and colour. The family wish for the dress code to reflect this. Family flowers only please. Donations, if desired, to the Russian Irish Adoption Group. A donations box will be available at the Crematorium.

Mary McFarland (nee Walshe)  Celbridge

May 27 2018 (peacefully) in the loving care of the staff at Roselodge Nursing Home, Killucan and surrounded by her family, Mary, beloved wife of the late William (Billy), dear mother of Roy, Robert and Martin and a devoted grandmother. Sadly missed by her loving sons, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, daughters-in-law Fiona and Milly, relatives and friends. Reposing at Cunningham's Funeral Home, Ardclough Road, Celbridge on (Tuesday evening, May 29) from 6pm to 8pm. Removal to St. Patricks Church, Celbridge on (Wednesday morning, May 30) arriving for Requiem Mass at 11am followed by burial in Donacomper Cemetery. Family flowers only, please. Donations if desired to a charity of your choice.

Mary O'Halloran (nee Corrigan)  Howth, Dublin / Dromiskin, Louth / Kilcullen

May 27 2018, beloved wife of Liam and loving mother of Cormac and Phelim; she will be very sadly missed by her loving husband, sons, daughters-in-law Triona and Aoife, brothers Colm, John and Paul, sister Bernadette (Meagher), nieces, nephews, relatives and a wide circle of friends Mary will be reposing on Tuesday afternoon (May 29) from 5pm to 7pm at Kirwans Funeral Home, Fairview. Removal on Wednesday morning (May 30) to Church of the Assumption, Howth arriving for 10am Funeral Mass, followed by burial in St Fintan's Cemetery, Sutton. Family flowers only please, donations if desired to the Beaumont Hospital Foundation.All enquiries to Larry Massey Funeral Directors on 01-4926925

Mairead O'Modhrain (nee O'Connor)  Ballysax, The Curragh

May 27 2018, Peacefully, surrounded by members of her loving family and in the wonderful care of the staff of the Imaal Ward, Naas General Hospital. Beloved wife of the late Lughaidh. Loving mother of Eamonn, Cormac, Lughaidh, Sile and Maeve. Sadly missed by her sons and daughters, grandchildren, great-grandchild, son-in-law, daughters-in-law, nieces and nephews, relatives, neighbours and friends. Reposing at her family home from 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday (May 30) with Rosary at 8:00 p.m. Removal on Thursday morning (May 31) to arrive at St. Brigid's Church, The Curragh Camp for Requiem Mass at 11:00 a.m. Burial afterwards in Holy Cross Cemetery, Suncroft. House private on Thursday morning please. Family flowers only. Donations, if desired, to The Kildare Branch of St. Vincent De Paul. Donations box in church.
Minister with Responsibility for Defence, Paul Kehoe today welcomed the theme of this year's International Day of UN Peacekeepers 70 Years of Service and Sacrifice marking seven decades when more than one million men and women have served under the United Nations flag.

He paid tribute to those serving abroad at present, including a contingent from the Curragh.

SEE ALSO: Naas gardai arrest motorcyclist for speeding at up to 197kmph

Minister Kehoe said; "This year, the United Nations celebrates the 70th anniversary of UN peacekeeping and 2018 also marks significant anniversaries in relation to Ireland's UN peacekeeping role. It will be the 60th anniversary of Irelands first participation in a UN peacekeeping mission and it is the 40th anniversary of the first deployment of Defence Force personnel to Lebanon as part of the UNIFIL mission."

Minister Kehoe continued "Each year, the 29 May, offers a chance to pay tribute to the contributions of uniformed and civilian personnel from around the world, who have served and continue to serve in UN peacekeeping missions. It is fitting that Ireland marks this significant year in our history of UN peacekeeping by holding a State ceremony in Dublin Castle on 24th June. It will be an opportunity to show our pride in those who have served in our name with the UN while also calling to mind those heroes who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty.

The Minister went on to say "currently we have 637 brave women and men of the Defence Forces serving overseas in peacekeeping missions in various parts of the world. Since our first deployment, Irish Defence Forces personnel have completed almost 66,700 tours of duty. Today the UN honours their dedication, professionalism and courage.
A sixteen year old youth who was found in the safe room of a hotel has been remanded on bail but with strict conditions.

The youth, who will be 17 later this summer, pleaded guilty to the charges before Judge John King, at a special sitting of Naas District Court on May 29.

His case has been put back until June 21.

This will allow him to have a meeting with, and get a report from a psychologist. The meeting is due sometime this week.

The Court was told on May 29 that the youth's mental health had deteriorated when he was in custody in Oberstown and he was rushed to hospital in Crumlin the previous Friday, May 25.

The bail conditions include living with his father and signing in at a Garda station three times a week.

He also has to keep to a curfew and be at his home between 21.00-06.00 each day.

Judge King said if the youth breached his conditions bail, they would be automatically revoked.

Garda Sgt Brian Jacob, prosecuting, said that on September 16 2017, its alleged the accused entered the Kildare House Hotel in Kildare town. He went to an area which was restricted to staff, going through the staff only door.

Members of staff found him hiding in the safe room, Judge John King, was told at a special sitting of Naas District Court on May 29.

He then pulled out a power hose, shook it at staff, and then ran out. The Court was told that earlier that year on May 22 2017, at around 15.50 he was driving what turned out to be his cousins car at Killyginard Cross in Laois.

Sgt Jacob said the youth was too young to have had a driving licence.

But there was no charge against him of taking the car without the owner's consent.

The youth had also appeared at Naas District Court on May 24.

On that date the Court was told that he had gone missing from the address which he was supposed to be staying at in line with his bail conditions at the time.

At this sitting, another judge, Judge Desmond Zaidan, was told that the youth had gone to Nenagh to see family members.

Judge Zaidan was also told that the youth had been in foster care due to earlier family difficulties.

But now he had officially left that, and he would be staying with his parents.

It also heard that he had got into trouble in Nenagh.

Aisling Murphy BL, legally representing the youth said he had no previous convictions and was trying to get back into sport in the area in which he lived. The youth told Judge Zaidan that someone had given him pills when he was in Nenagh and he had taken them.

Judge Zaidan remarked to the Court that the State is losing big time the battle against drugs.

Judge Zaidan said that with one of these pills the youth could go ballistic... and cause serious harm to himself and other members of the public.

Judge Zaidan commented that the youth had no hope with his parents.

His father, who was present, told the Court, the youth would stay with him and they would try and look after him.

The father said he was now back in Kildare.

Judge Zaidan told the Gardai that he he did not believe a word the father said.

Sgt Jacob asked that the youth be remanded in custody to May 29.
A MAN who was pulled from the river Shannon overnight has died at University Hospital Limerick.

The alarm was raised shortly after midnight after the man, whose aged in his late 50s, was seen entering the water at Sarsfield Bridge.

Emergency services were on the scene within minutes and the man was taken from the water downstream of Shannon Bridge a short time later.

However, he was unresponsive and members of Limerick Fire and Rescue immediatly began CPR before the man was brought ashore and handed over to paramedics from the National Ambulance Service.

Gardai from Henry Street and volunteers from Limerick Marine Search and Rescue also attended the scene.

A garda spokesman confirmed the man was pronounced dead at UHL in the early hours of this morning and that an investigation is being carried out on behalf of the coroner.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Henry Street garda station at (061) 212400.

If you have been affected by the preceeding story, contact any of the following organisations: Aware (1800 80 48 48), The Samaritans (116 123) or Pieta House (1800 247 247).
A COURT in Limerick heard the unusual case of the mixed up old Massey Fergusons.

Mike Croker, aged 42, of Templebraden Cross, Garrydoolis, Pallasgreen was before Kilmallock Court on a theft charge.

Sergeant Michelle Leahy said on dates between September 2014 and February 2015 2,000 was paid to Mr Croker by the injured party to restore an old Massey Ferguson tractor.

When he called to Mr Croker work had not started on the tractor. The money was spent. The tractor was returned, said Sgt Leahy, who added that Mr Croker has no previous convictions.

Kevin Power, solicitor for Mr Croker, said his client had two Massey Ferguson tractors in his yard to be restored.

He started doing work on the wrong tractor. He even sent the wrong one off to get a front loader put on it. He paid back the 2,000.

The tractor he was supposed to be working on was just sitting there. It was completely crossed wires. There was no intent to deceive, said Mr Power.

Judge Marian OLeary said if Mr Croker paid 300 to the court poor box she would apply the Probation Act.
MORE THAN 1,810 pairs of tiny feet across Limerick are getting ready to toddle together while raising money for childrens charity, Barnardos.

In Limerick, 1,819 toddlers are getting ready to join forces with under-fives around the country while walking more than 25,000 miles to raise money for children their own age.

Every cent raised by Limerick toddlers will directly support Barnardos work with children in its early years services who affected by homelessness, poverty and neglect.

Every year Im amazed by how many little toddlers, creches and families from Limerick come out and support the children we work with in such a fantastic way, Barnardos director of fundraising Mary Gamble said.

In Barnardos we are seeing the need for this support now more than ever as more and more children from our early years services, that is children who need help meeting their developmental milestones to be ready for school, are living in hotels or in overcrowded accommodation without the space they need to live, play and grow.

Barnardos is calling on groups and families to join them by running their own sponsored walk for Irelands littlest feet as a way to help children in their own community.

A Big Toddle can be held anywhere, anytime during the end of May and June.

Register for the Big Toddle by visiting www.barnardos.ie/bigtoddle or by phoning 1850 222 300.
THE COMPANY that owns Aughinish Alumina plant in Askeaton, UC Rusal, could see its production slashed by up to 70% should the United States sanctions remain in place.

Because of global fallout between Russia and the West, diplomatic tensions have placed the County Limerick plant into uncertainty.

The US sanctions were first imposed on Russia on April 6, in response to Russias malign activity around the world, the US Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin said.

And in a report featured in the Russian business newspaper, Kommersant, it cited a worst-case scenario forecast of up to 70% drop in Rusals output and the possibility of plant closures.

According to the report, the company has asked the Russian government for incentives to help assuage the negative impact of the sanctions.

Last week, its new CEO Alexandra Bouriko and seven of its directors announced their resignation, in a bid to convince the US Treasury to roll back on the stringent sanctions.

The sanctions targeted, in particular energy tycoon and Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, the owner of UC Rusal, who was said to have profited from Russias regime.

He is also a person of interest in the US investigation into Russian collusion in the Trump presidential campaign.

But only until Mr Deripaska relinquishes his control of the aluminium giant, will the Unites States consider lifting the sanctions.
LIMERICKS councillors have rejected a motion to boycott goods and services produced in Israeli settlements illegally established on stolen Palestinian land.

The defeat of the motion has been welcomed on Twitter by a new, pro-Israel group, the Ireland Israel Alliance, which claims its aim is to bring clarity to the Israeli Palestinian conflict and to ensure it receives fair and impartial treatment in the Irish media.

Solidaritys Cllr Cian Prendiville, proposing the boycott at Mondays meeting of Limerick City and County Council, said the deaths of over 60 peaceful protesters in Gaza earlier this month had caused huge revulsion around the globe.

Those shot by Israeli snipers, he said, included 14 and 15 year old youths and an eight-month old baby.

That is what I call terrorism. It is terrorism, he said.

Yet the right-wing Israeli government had, only days ago, announced yet more new illegal settlements, he pointed out.

Already these settlements take up at least 43% of the land of the West Bank, he said.

A bill currently before the Senate called for a boycott of imports from all such illegal settlements, Cllr Prendiville said, and it was supported by the ICTU, by Trocaire, by Jewish Friends of Palestine among others.

Fianna Fail and Fine Gael had also said they would support it, he added and he urged the councillors to support his motion.

Fianna Fails Cllr Vivienne Crowley said it was likely any such bill would be illegal under EU law.

I would hesitate to vote on it, she said. There is nothing to show the Bill would be effective.

Boycotting is a tool, Sinn Feins Cllr Seighin OCeallaigh said. It had ended apartheid in South Africa.

It will end Israeli apartheid, he said.

He wouldnt buy goods from companies that support the Israeli regime, he continued, naming a number of them, including Nestle and McDonalds. And he urged people to do likewise.

But Fianna Fails Cllr Kieran OHanlon said it was a divisive motion that shouldnt have come before the council.

We arent the UN, the European Parliament, the Dail or the Seanad, he said. We are a council.

He pointed out that Nestle employed 500 people in Askeaton.

Are we saying we should not buy goods made here, producing good quality employment? I propose we reject the motion.

Cllr Sean Lynch urged council to tread very cautiously.

Labours Cllr Elena Secas said it was not the right environment for such a debate and proposed that those supporting the motion contact TDs and Senators.

It took over 300 years after our own land-grabs in Ireland to work out that dialogue is the only way, Fine Gaels Cllr John Sheahan pointed out.

Whether Israel or Palestine are right, I cant comment, he said, but rather than sanctions, they should be urging dialogue.

We saw what sanctions brought to Rusal, Aughinish, over the last couple of weeks, he said.

But Sinn Feins Cllr John Costello had no hesitation in supporting the motion. The Israelis, he said, were engaged in genocide and his party colleague, Cllr Malachy McCreesh agreed.

Cllr Prendiville, replying to the debate, said the issue of illegal settlements was a fact, not an opinion and one recognised by the International Court of Justice. The former AG and Tanaiste, Michael McDowell was supporting the Senate bill, he pointed out, and had declared it would be allowed under EU law on grounds of public morality.

When it came to the vote on the motion however, it was defeated with just five votes in favour.
@elizabethrkoh

Orlando lawyer and medical marijuana advocate John Morgan urged Rick Scott Tuesday to reconsider pursuing a ban on smokeable cannabis, after a Leon County circuit court judge ruled it was unconstitutional late last week.

In a press conference with reporters, Morgan said the governor is responsible for the states decision to appeal and flouting voters desire to smoke the drug for medical use privately.

What everyone needs to understand is that Gov. Scott could remove that appeal today if he wants, Morgan said. Gov. Scott should say enough is enough: I am going to allow the peoples will to be done. 

The most direct method to get relief is smokeable marijuana, Morgan added. This is not a political issue.

Judge Karen Gievers, in a 22-page decision, had ruled Friday that the states ban on smoking medical marijuana was unconstitutional and that the Legislature's ban on smoking medical cannabis conflicted with voters approval of a constitutional amendment that broadly legalized it in 2016.

In concurring with plaintiffs arguments that the voter-approved definition and ballot language implied a right to smokeable medical marijuana, Gievers rejected arguments asserting the state had the authority to set limitations on smoking for health and safety concerns.

But the state filed an appeal shortly thereafter, putting an automatic stay on the ruling as it goes to the 1st District Court of Appeal.

"This ruling goes against what the legislature outlined when they wrote and approved Floridas law to implement the constitutional amendment that was approved by an overwhelmingly bipartisan majority," state Department of Health spokesman Devin Galetta wrote Friday.

But Morgan cast the decision to appeal the ruling as a misguided political choice that Scott should reconsider amid his ongoing U.S. Senate campaign against Sen. Bill Nelson.

He called on voters  including veterans, alluding to Scotts perpetually-worn Navy hat  to contact the governor and urge him to end the states legal challenge.

Scott is going to have to explain to veterans and really sick people and people who have really bad injuries why you kept this going, he said. Pam Bondi is just his lawyer Rick Scott is the boss and the buck stops there.

If he drops the appeal, I think he gains 5 points overnight, Morgan said. Gov. Scott is playing with political wildfire for something he doesnt have to do.

Morgan also blamed the pharmaceutical industry and opioid makers for wanting to drag out the case and trying to suppress the medical marijuana industry, accusing them of being threatened by a more effective product.

Gov. Scott is going to have to make a decision whether he is going to put politics over people or hes going to put campaign contributions from the pharmaceutical industry over compassion, he said.

Morgan said Tuesday he was willing to wait a few weeks for Scott to heed his call before potentially moving to expedite the case to the state Supreme Court.

If a person is terminally ill, you can move to expedite trials, hearings, the whole process, he said. He noted the diagnosis of 68-year-old Cathy Jordan, one of two patients who are among the plaintiffs in the suit. Jordan has Lou Gehrig's disease and illegally grows marijuana in her own backyard to smoke.

Morgan said he believes the ballot language, the statement of intent and the support of more than 71 percent of voters is ironclad, regardless of the courts ideological tilt: I believe that if [late Supreme Court Justice Antonin] Scalia was alive, hed side with us.
SMOKING and vaping anywhere on the University of Limerick campus will be banned from Friday June 1, the University has announced today.

This ban applies to all University campuses and includes the use of all electronic cigarettes, electronic cigars and electronic pipes, whether they deliver a nicotine dose or not.

As well as the main UL campus, smoking and vaping will also be banned at the Stables, at off-campus student accommodation owned by the university, at Park Point, at FABLab/ Health Hub in Limerick city, at the UL Activity Centre and at the CERC building at the UL Hospital Group.

This policy applies to all staff, students, contractors, visitors, and any other persons who enter university grounds and facilities for any purpose, ULs new Smoke and Vape Free Campus Policy states.

Several smoke-free areas were designated on the UL campus in 2017 as the university began working towards becoming a smoke-free zone.

Ashtrays are expected to be removed from bins and permanent signage advising students and visitors of the new policy is expected to be installed shortly.

Staff and students who wish to quit smoking and vaping will also be able to avail of help to quit through the Student Health Centre and through HSE smoking cessation programmes.

All staff and students are required to contribute to the enforcement of this policy, by reminding anyone they see in breach of the policy to desist and to comply with University policy.

The Smoke and Vape Free Campus is said to be an important initiative to current president Des Fitzgerald, who is a cardiac surgeon and a former smoker.
A Dublin man who threw a kitchen knife at his brother from the balcony of a Limerick apartment believing he was wearing a stab-vest has pleaded guilty to assault charges.

Michael Parker, aged 30, who has an address at Windmill Apartments, Dock Road has been prosecuted in relation to an incident which happened at his home on September 13, last.

Limerick District Court was told the bizarre incident was sparked by a verbal dispute between the brothers who cannot be in the same place at the same time.

The injured party sustained minor injuries to his shoulder after he was struck by the knife, which was thrown at him from a from a distance.

Judge Marian OLeary was told that following the row, Mr Parker grabbed the blue-handled knife from the kitchen before throwing it from the balcony at his brother, who was on the street outside.

The defendant was highly intoxicated and there was a lot of shouting and roaring between them prior to the assault.

Solicitor Sarah Ryan said unpleasantries were exchanged and that her client  a father-of-one  believed his brother was wearing a stab-proof vest at the time but that he was not.

Hes not a stranger to knives, its not the first time he was stabbed, she said.

Ms Ryan said her client, who has no previous convictions, lives with his mother in Limerick, is apologetic and regrets what happened.

Its a very sad situation, she said, adding that Mr Parker had moved to Limerick with the intention of leaving him (the brother) behind in Dublin.

He made admissions to gardai at the scene, with CCTV corroborating his version of events.

Having noted the guilty plea, Judge OLeary directed that a victim impact statement be canvassed from the victim. She also requested that a probation reported be prepared in relation to the defendant before she imposes sentence.

The matter was adjourned to July 13, next.
May 29, 2018, 10 AM

William Burrus led the American Postal Workers Union for a decade. He died May 19 at age 81.

Washington Postal Scene  By Bill McAllister

William Burrus, who rose from a postal clerk to become president of one of the largest federal worker unions, died May 19. He was 81.

Mr. Burrus headed the American Postal Workers Union from 2001 to 2010 and was the first African-American who was directly elected president of a national union, the APWU said.

Before he headed the union, he served as its executive vice president for 21 years, working with the APWUs colorful and outspoken founder, Moe Biller.

While Mr. Burrus may have had a lower profile than Biller, he also took positions over mail policy that clashed with United States Postal Service management.

He was a strong opponent of many of the discounts that USPS offered mass mailers, calling them illegal in testimony before a House subcommittee in 2010.

Workshare discounts artificially reduce the mailing costs of favored customers  large mailers  at the expense of individual citizens and small businesses, he said.

Mr. Burrus also believed that mail volume would return after the 2008 recession, a belief that top Postal Service managers doubted.

In testimony before Congress in 2009, he argued that mail volume would return and described the cost-cutting actions by the USPS as acts of surrender  when the outcome of the battle is still in doubt.

The union noted that Mr. Burrus was directly involved in every negotiation the APWU held with the Postal Service between 1980 and 2006. That earned him a reputation as a skilled negotiator and powerful advocate for postal workers, the union said.

The Postal Service said he helped create the Postal Employees Relief Fund, which provides financial aid to postal workers who are victims of natural disasters.

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His postal career began in Cleveland as a distribution clerk in 1958.

He participated in the 1970 postal strike that helped passage of legislation making the Postal Service an independent agency within the federal government.

From 1974 to 1980, Mr. Burrus served as president of the APWU Cleveland local and was proud that he led a fight to reject a 1978 bargaining agreement that would have capped cost-of-living increases for postal workers.

A native of Wheeling, W.Va., he served in the Army from 1954 to 1957.

He also served as a vice president of the AFL-CIO and was listed by Ebony magazine as one of the 100 most influential black Americans.
Tuesday seems like a good time to remind everyone that the four candidates running to win the Democratic nomination to become Florida's next governor will be in Miramar next month. Now we also know who will be asking the questions.

Moderators for the event have been announced. Yamiche Alcindor of PBS NewsHour and WLRN Public Medias Luis Hernandez will co-moderate the Florida Freedom Forum primary debate. The event is hosted by SEIU Florida State Council, Dream Defenders Action Fund, Florida Immigration Coalition (FLIC) Votes, New Florida Majority, Organize Florida, Planned Parenthood Florida PAC, and Color of Change PAC.



Here's the release:

Miramar, FL - Local and statewide community groups have come together to host a gubernatorial debate for the democratic primary this summer. The co-moderators include PBS NewsHours Yamiche Alcindor and local NPR affiliate WLRNs Luis Hernandez.



Alcindor is the White House Correspondent for PBS NewsHour and a contributor to NBC and MSNBC. A Miami native, she is a proud graduate of Fort Lauderdale High School and got her start in journalism locally interning at the Westside Gazette and the Miami Herald.



Hernandez is the host for South Florida NPR affiliate WLRNs latest daily talk show, Sundial, and the news anchor for All Things Considered. A Florida resident for nearly 40 years, he has spent nearly 14 years in public broadcasting in Miami, Las Vegas and Gainesville, FL.



We are thrilled to have Florida natives and dedicated journalists, Yamiche and Luis, to co-moderate the Florida Freedom Forum, Monica Russo, President of SEIU Florida State Council, said. This year, we are at a pivotal moment for change across our state. Floridians are connected more than ever to the issues that will define this election year. All eyes are on our state as we head towards November. We look forward to this first discussion in South Florida to help highlight the issues facing our communities.



The Florida Freedom Forum is being hosted by a coalition of groups including SEIU Florida State Council, Dream Defenders Action Fund, Florida Immigration Coalition (FLIC) Votes, New Florida Majority, Organize Florida, Planned Parenthood Florida PAC, and Color of Change PAC.



All four democratic gubernatorial candidates are confirmed to attend and participate in the two hour debate including Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, former U.S. Representative Gwen Graham, Chris King, and former Mayor of Miami Beach Philip Levine.



The debate will take place in front of a live audience of approximately 800 at the Miramar Cultural Center on Monday, June 11. Doors will open at 5:30PM and the debate will begin promptly at 7:00PM. Tickets are being distributed to local community members through the host organizations. The debate will be livestreamed on SEIU Florida and PBS NewsHour digital channels.



Media wanting to cover the event must RSVP here by June 10 and provide proof of media credential on-site: (link)
Whereas research indicates that diversity enhances organizational decision-making, creativity, and other positive organizational outcomes and activities, and inclusion is increasingly recognized as a necessary companion to diversity;

Whereas the diversity and representational composition and activities of the Association and the Canadian law librarianship profession are not known to reflect or give voice to the diversity of related professions or the Canadian population;

Whereas the Objects of the Association include to develop and increase the usefulness of Canadian law libraries and to foster a spirit of co-operation among them, and the Association aspires to provide a forum for the exchange of information and ideas among members, and libraries are considered to exhibit values of inclusiveness and exchange of ideas;

and Whereas law libraries may be centers for curation and sharing of knowledge and so are well-positioned to foster support of the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada,

The Association commits to work to foster diversity, inclusion, and decolonization in its activities as appropriate; and

The Association will work to foster awareness and acumen about issues of diversity, inclusion, and decolonization in law library environments and the law librarianship profession as appropriate, and as these intersect with the environments of related professions.

work to ensure consideration is given to diversity, inclusion, and decolonization in the review and interpretation of conference programming pathways, including those regarding cataloguing, metadata, instruction, leadership, management, professionalism, research, reference, and substantive law;

work to ensure program topic and speaker selections are informed by consideration of diversity, inclusion, and decolonization matters;  work to ensure membership recruitment efforts are informed by consideration of diversity, inclusion, and decolonization principles; and

work to address diversity, inclusion, and decolonization matters in law librarianship and related fields.

As CFLA-FCAB is a national voice with the ability to influence national and international policy regarding issues of importance, we request the CFLA-FCAB create a permanent Standing Committee on Indigenous Matters utilizing the medicine wheel framework developed by the Truth & Reconciliation Committee (page 16). The T&R Committee supports and endorses the CFLA-FCAB Position Statement on Library and Literacy Services for Indigenous (First Nations, Metis and Inuit) Peoples of Canada (page 55). Encourage libraries, archives and cultural memory institutions to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 94 Calls to Action, several of which have been identified as having a direct impact on libraries and archives and are prioritized in this report, and to implement a status report on a yearly basis to monitor their implementation (pages 18-27). Ensure accessibility moving forward by continually reminding stakeholders that material produced and programming planned in the future should be accessible to all Canadians. CELA (the Centre for Equitable Library Access) and NNELS (the National Network for Equitable Library Service) are positioned to support these efforts (page 17). Decolonize Access and Classification by addressing the structural biases in existing schemes of knowledge organization and information retrieval arising from colonialism by committing to integrating Indigenous epistemologies into cataloguing praxis and knowledge management (pages 34-35). Decolonize Libraries and Space by recognizing and supporting Indigenous cultures, languages and knowledges through culturally appropriate space planning, interior design, signage, art installations, territorial acknowledgements of geographic-specific traditional territories and public programming in collaboration with local Indigenous stakeholders (pages 40-41). Enhance opportunities for Indigenous library, archival and information professionals as well as the inclusion of Indigenous epistemologies in the Canadian library and archives profession through culturally appropriate pedagogy, recruitment practices, professional and continuing education and cross-cultural training in collaboration with local Indigenous stakeholders and partners (pages 37-38, 40-41). Recommend the implementation of Indigenous Knowledge Protection protocols and agreements with local and other Indigenous groups who have holdings in libraries, archives and/or cultural memory institutions to respect the Indigenous cultural concept of copyright with regard to Indigenous history or heritage, which is often located in but not limited to oral traditions, songs, dance, storytelling, anecdotes, place names, hereditary names and other forms of Indigenous knowledges; recommend that CFLA-FCAB actively participate in reforming the Canadian Copyright Act to include protection of Indigenous knowledges and languages while advocating for changes to include traditional knowledge as outlined and recommended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)  Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore (http://www.wipo.int/tk/en/igc/). We join the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in calling upon Library and Archives Canada to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action #69 (Appendix D) by fully implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf and the Updated Set of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through Action to Combat Impunity (2005), more commonly known as the Joinet/Orentlicher Principles http://www.derechos.org/nizkor/impu/principles.html (pages 34-35). Establish an online database of living documents to highlight existing Best Practices of Indigenous Services in libraries, archives, and cultural memory institutions that will serve as a foundation to help disseminate those best practices and for this living document to be updated preferably on a quarterly basis but minimally semi-annually (pages 13-14). Maintain a database of Indigenous organizations or groups committed to preserving cultural memory primarily, but not limited to, libraries, archives, language preservation, cultural history/museums to build relationships; to support the development of an Indigenous association of library, archives and cultural memory institutions; and to support in principle the National Aboriginal Library Association (NALA) regarding their stated intent of developing First Nations public libraries on reserves (pages 16-17).

Support and promote equity for Aboriginal People in the legal system through the development, use, and understanding of Indigenous laws and access to justice in accordance with the unique cultures of Aboriginal peoples in Canada (Calls to Action 50-52).

Support the implementation between the federal government and Aboriginal peoples of a Royal Proclamation of Reconciliation that would reaffirm the nation-to-nation relationship between Aboriginal peoples and the Crown. This proclamation would renounce the colonization of Indigenous lands and peoples; adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; support forward-looking respectful and responsible Treaty relationships; and reconcile Aboriginal and Crown constitutional and legal orders (Call to Action 45).

Support the parties of the Residential Schools Settlement Agreement in the development of a Covenant of Reconciliation which would:

reaffirm the parties commitment to reconciliation; renounce the justification, laws, and policies of European sovereignty over Indigenous lands and peoples; support the adoption and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation; support forward-looking respectful and responsible Treaty relationships; and enable new signatories to the Covenant of Reconciliation (Call to Action 46).



The Canadian Association of Law Libraries has adopted two resolutions dealing with diversity and reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.The resolutions were adopted earlier today at the CALLbeing held in Halifax.The first resolution dealt with diversity and inclusion.Here is the full text:BE IT RESOLVED THAT the Association adopt the following statements to guide the business and activities of the Association in furtherance of its Objects:AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the Association will carry out this work through partnerships and collaborations with its Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization Committee and other Association units by undertaking activities that include but are not limited to the following:The 2nd resolution was related to recommendations from the Truth and Reconciliation Committee of the Canadian Federation of Library Association of which CALL is part.Here is the full text of that resolution:Whereas libraries are committed to respect and inclusiveness for the communities they serve, andWhereas the Association is a member of the Canadian Federation of Library Associations-Federation canadienne des associations de bibliotheques [CFLA-FCAB].Be it resolved that the Association supports the following recommendations contained at pages 6-7 of the CFLA-FCAB Truth & Reconciliation Committee Report & Recommendations:And be it further resolved that the Association encourages law library professionals to undertake the following activities described in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action:

Labels: aboriginal law, conferences, human rights, law libraries, library associations
In 1972, citizen scientist Sir Elton John hypothesized that Mars "ain't the kind of place to raise your kids."

While John's remarks were never published in a peer-reviewed journal (though they did peak at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart), he's not wrong about the Red Planet's inhospitality. With its freezing climate, thin atmosphere and weak gravity, Mars will be a hard place to raise the children necessary to sustain a permanent colony there. And according to a new paper published in the June issue of the journal Futures, conceiving kids on Mars will be even harder.

Thinking about fertility on Mars isn't just for philosophical fun; in fact, Elon Musk's SpaceX is developing a rocket with the primary purpose of bringing settlers to Mars.

"Reproduction on Mars will be necessary for colony survival and subsequent expansion," a team of researchers from Brazil, the United States and Poland wrote in the new paper. "Unfortunately, such an endeavor comes with titanic challenges." [5 Mars Myths and Misconceptions]

In their new paper, titled "Biological and social challenges of human reproduction in a longterm Mars base," the researchers dig into exactly what those challenges would be  and the morally questionable solutions that may accompany them.

Your body on Mars

The biological challenges of rearing Mars babies are easy enough to wrap one's head around. For starters, Mars' atmosphere is about 1 percent as thick as Earth's, meaning the planet is hit by a lot more solar radiation than humans are currently used to. NASA studies have shown that radiation exposure might damage astronauts' brain cells and increase their risk of developing cancer. (More to the point of this new paper, it can also severely reduce sperm count.)

The effects of microgravity are also concerning. Mars' gravitational pull is about one-third as strong as Earth's, and that means less pressure and stress are exerted on astronauts' bodies. Nice as that sounds, it's not how human bodies have adapted to function; previous studies of microgravity have shown that astronauts experience vision loss, dehydration, accelerated muscle and bone deterioration, significantly reduced heart rates and even a weakened immune response when living in sub-Earth gravity.

That last bit is especially worrisome for the hopes of Mars reproduction, as pregnant women already experience significant immunosuppression. "Such a state may aggravate the risks of infection-induced abortions and facilitate the dissemination of diseases among pregnant and non-pregnant individuals," the authors wrote.

Your body's rights on Mars

Fortunately, all of these risks can be addressed with better technology and medical care  improvements that agencies like NASA are already developing. The tougher nut to crack, according to the authors, might be in adjusting social and ethical standards to fit a new, dangerous way of living.

"The idea to protect life at every stage of development may not be suited to a Mars colony," the authors wrote. "An inhospitable environment and a small mission crew may result in the elevation of the value of group over individual."

Establishing a culture that values the survival of the colony over individual members would require some serious ethical changes, including more liberal practices regarding abortion of nonviable offspring and "euthanasia of terminally ill persons," the authors wrote.

Furthermore, mating couples may have to be carefully chosen based on their genetic compatibility, while some colonists might have to forgo reproduction altogether if their traits did not favor the survival of a Martian populace. To prepare for these challenges, the researchers recommended that a psychological training regimen for would-be Martians be developed immediately.

If mentally prepared, such a culture "may evolve to favor the preservation of personal and physiological traits more suitable to Martian residents," the authors said; however, if that proves too hard, it may be worth considering the idea of genetically engineering a more Mars-friendly populace instead.

"The method of CRISPR makes possible adaptive genetic engineering," the authors wrote. "We should consider the idea of genetic human enhancement before and during that mission."

Doing so could literally result in a "new kind of human species" with a nature better suited for life on Mars, the authors wrote. Such human-made Martians could give a future colony its best shot at survival, even as a biological and moral gulf widens between them and their Earthling ancestors. Mars may still not be the kind of place to raise your kids  but it might become a serviceable place to raise Martians.

Originally published on Live Science.
Three thieves who stole 160 rare books more than a year ago by rappelling down the skylight of a warehouse in London continue to evade police, leaving a series of mysteries in their wake.

Sometime between Jan. 29 and Jan. 30, 2017, the three thieves bored holes into the warehouse's skylight and rappelled down about 40 feet (12 meters), evading motion-sensor alarms. The books they stole included volumes written by Isaac Newton, Leonardo da Vinci, Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei. Experts estimated the total value of the 160 books at around $2.5 million, the Guardian reported.

At the time, media outlets around the world dubbed the three individuals the "Mission Impossible" thieves, named after the movie franchise whose main character, Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise), uses the same technique to get inside buildings. [Cracking Codices: 10 of the Most Mysterious Ancient Manuscripts]

More than a year after the theft took place, Live Science talked with a number of experts to see if any of the "Mission Impossible" thieves had slipped up and revealed their identities, or if the books had reappeared.

The thieves (like the movie character), it seems, have done a good job of concealing their identities and the location of the stolen books, leaving nothing but a series of mysteries in their wake.

Gone dark

A spokesperson for Scotland Yard, the headquarters of the London Metropolitan Police, told Live Science that they still don't have any suspects or information on where the books are, but they continue to investigate.

Rare-book dealer Alessandro Meda Riquier, who owned 51 of the stolen books, told Live Science that he has no information on suspects or the location of the books. "The only things I can tell you are that, up to now, all the books are still missing and that I lost in the theft 51 books," he said.

Rare-book sellers have been on the lookout, in case the thieves try to sell their ill-gotten gains. "It would be very difficult for the thieves to reintroduce the books to the marketplace," said Tim Bryars, a dealer of antiquarian maps and books who is also a spokesperson for the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association.

As far as Bryars knows, the thieves haven't stolen any other rare books. "It was an unusual robbery; I haven't heard anything to connect it with any other thefts in the rare-book trade," he said.

However, other experts think the thieves may have gotten practice in the thievery of rare books before pulling off the heist that got them their "Mission Impossible" nickname. "I believe it is extremely likely that this was not a 'maiden voyage' for the criminals who perpetrated this crime," said Chris Marinello, CEO and founder of Art Recovery International. "I'm certain they have been involved in other thefts."

In the wake of the theft, investigators speculated that the thieves were hired by a collector who wanted the books  not to sell them  but to add to their collection. However, if this collector exists, they have also managed to conceal their identity and the location of the books.

If the criminals continue to evade the law, they wouldn't be the first thieves to pull off a massive theft of historical items and get away with it. In 1990, thieves stole 13 paintings valued at $500 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The paintings have not been recovered, and the identity of the thieves has yet to be confirmed. Rather than rappelling into the museum, the thieves disguised themselves as police officers and tied up the guards. The museum is still hopeful that one day the paintings will be found.

Originally published on Live Science.e
Sunsets in New York City can be spectacular, but during certain days in May and July, the alignment of Earth and the sun creates an unusually striking phenomenon known as "Manhattanhenge," when the setting sun lines up within the grid layout of the city streets.

On these special days, the sun's descent follows a path that aligns precisely with the exact center of Manhattan numbered streets that run from east to west. As the sun sets, its rays illuminate the asphalt and the buildings that line these streets with a glowing beacon of golden light.

The event that is Manhattanhenge occurs because of urban design  streets set at 90 degree angles  juxtaposed with the timing of Earth's orbit and rotation as the planet travels around the sun. But will the city grid and the setting sun always line up so perfectly? Are there any factors  cosmic or otherwise  that could disrupt the perfect Manhattanhenge alignment? [Manhattanhenge: Facts About NYC's Special Sunsets]

Manhattanhenge  a term coined by astrophysicist and New Yorker Neil deGrasse Tyson in 2001  takes place on days that frame the summer solstice. It happens four times on two paired dates at the end of May and mid-July; twice with the half-set sun lining up in the exact center of the "canyons" between buildings, and twice with the full circle of the sun touching down in alignment with the city grid.

This year, Manhattanhenge will light up NYC on May 29 and May 30, and then again on July 12 and 13. The full sun will make its dramatic appearance across the grid on May 30 at 8:12 p.m. and July 12 at 8:20 p.m. local time, while the half sun will touch down on May 29 at 8:13 p.m. and on July 13 at 8:21 p.m., according to the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH) in New York City, which hosts a Manhattanhenge program on July 12.

An unobstructed view

Manhattanhenge hinges on two factors: the orientation of the city grid and the exact position of Earth relative to the sun based on its orbital path, rotation and tilt. When the timing is just right, a minute of sunset is visible simultaneously at the center of the city's east- and west-facing streets, said astrophysicist Jackie Faherty, a senior scientist and educator at AMNH.

Other gridded cities such as Toronto and Chicago also experience this sunset alignment effect, though on different days than those of Manhattanhenge. But Manhattanhenge's stunning visual impact is due in part to the expanse of the Hudson River and the relatively low buildings on the New Jersey shoreline, which make for an unobstructed view of the sun as it drops to the horizon in the west for "the grid kiss," Faherty told Live Science.

"If all of a sudden there was a big construction boom on the Jersey side, then we'd start to have problems with our view of Manhattanhenge, because you would have buildings that are blocking the moment of sunset," Faherty said. [Manhattanhenge Images Reveal Stunning NYC Sunsets]

A catastrophic impact

Manhattanhenge's alignment only happens on certain dates because the exact position of the rising and setting sun on the horizon is slightly different every day  the result of Earth being tilted on its axis by 23.5 degrees in its orbital plane, Faherty said. But in addition to Manhattanhenge, the nearly setting sun is visible between the city's cross streets during a range of dates bracketing the summer solstice (falling on June 21 this year), with the so-called "Manhattanhenge Effect" lasting from the first sunset grid kiss in May until the last one in July.

Between May 29 and the summer solstice, the sun is still visible at the center of the city's cross streets, hitting the "sweet spot" just a little higher each day. After the summer solstice, "when the Northern Hemisphere starts to tilt away from the sun," the same thing happens in reverse, with the sun hitting the center of the grid a little lower each day "until the second grid kiss in July, when it's the last time the sun makes it that far north," Faherty said.

However, if Earth were to suddenly tip over even farther on its axis  perhaps following a massive cosmic collision  that would jar the alignment enough to end Manhattanhenge forever.

"It would have to knock us pretty far, though, for it to not happen in Manhattan at all," Faherty said.

Such a devastating impact would cause a host of more immediate concerns than the loss of Manhattanhenge. But luckily, the chances of such an Earth-changing event actually taking place are pretty slim, she said.

"Earth is pretty stable in its orbit, so as far as current humanity goes, we're not losing that anytime soon. No one who's reading this is going to lose the grid kiss unless something catastrophic happens to the Earth, and I don't see anything like that on the horizon."

Original article on Live Science.
Archaeologists just excavated the skeleton of a decapitated man who was thought to be fleeing the catastrophic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.

Archaeologists in Pompeii just unearthed the headless skeleton of an unfortunate man who appears to have died in the great explosion of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79. The man was decapitated by a large, 1-meter-long rock, researchers found.

The man, who was at least 30 years old, was the first victim to be found in a new, unexplored excavation site called Regio V, north of the city, according to a statement from the Pompeii Archaeological Park.

"We are digging all around," trying to find the head, said Massimo Osanna, the archaeological park's general director. The rock appears to have crushed the man's chest and head. Though the man died while trying to flee the aftermath of the eruption, he probably wasn't killed by the rock, but rather by the dense layer of hot ash, lava and gas, or "pyroclastic flow," that poured into the area, Osanna said.

Archeologists found his body on the first floor of a building, above a layer of "lapilli," or small rock fragments from the volcano. The skeleton was in a position that indicated that the man had been thrown back by force, probably from the pyroclastic flow, Osanna said. Since the man's tibia bone had lesions in it, the scientists suspect he may have had a bone infection that prevented him from quickly escaping, the statement said. [25 Grisly Archaeological Discoveries]

Last February, at another excavation site, scientists also discovered the skeleton of a 7- or 8-year-old child who they think was seeking safety in a public bath, but was suffocated by clouds of ash, according to The Telegraph.

The man and child were just two of thousands of people thought to have perished in the catastrophic Mount Vesuvius explosion that took place nearly 2,000 years ago, burying Pompeii beneath 19 to 23 feet (6 to 7 meters) of volcanic ash. These layers of ash preserved skeletons and have been giving scientists a glimpse of life and death in the ancient Roman city since excavations began in the 18th century.

But with new excavation techniques, such as drones, laser scanning and photogrammetry (making measurements from photographs), new skeletal discoveries can provide a more detailed story of ancient Pompeii and its demise, Osanna said. With all the different technologies, "now we can document everything," he said.

As the only active volcano on mainland Europe, scientists still worry about Mount Vesuvius' potential to inflict serious damage on nearby Naples and other towns, Live Science previously reported. After all, it did destroy Pompeii in just 25 hours.

Originally published on Live Science.
In a sign that the U.S. shale gas revolution is spreading to the Middle East, Saudi Aramco reached a deal with Halliburton over the weekend to lift its production program in three Saudi Arabian shale fields.

The companies did not reveal many details of their three-year contract, but it represented an expansion of Saudi Aramcos efforts to produce more natural gas to support its growing chemical industry. Aramco, the Saudi national oil company, also hopes to reduce the practice of burning oil for domestic power to increase its crude exports.

Over the last year, Saudi Aramco has awarded $4.5 billion in contracts to international oil service companies to increase its gas production. But a number of European companies have failed in their efforts to recover gas at an economical price.

Halliburton probably has more experience in drilling and completing oil and gas shale wells than any other company, having been a central player in the past decades shale drilling frenzy across Texas, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Louisiana.

The company has since expanded its efforts to shale fields in Argentina, Canada, Mexico and Poland. Now, its executives say it can play a major role in Saudi Arabias efforts to diversify its oil-based economy.

This is a great opportunity to provide a tailored application of Halliburton technology, logistics management and operational excellence to maximize Saudi Arabias asset value, Jeff Miller, Halliburtons chief executive, said in a statement at Sundays signing ceremony in Saudi Arabia.

We welcome their expertise, said Amin H. Nasser, Saudi Aramcos chief executive, speaking of Halliburton.

Under the leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia is trying to spur economic modernization and foreign investment under its Vision 2030 economic plan, which has as its cornerstone the initial public offering of Saudi Aramco.

The public offering has made slow and uncertain progress, but the company is trying to increase its value by investing heavily in refineries and chemical plants in Saudi Arabia and around the world. Greater production of shale gas neatly fits that model, because gas is a vital feedstock for refineries and chemical production.

Shale drilling has roughly doubled U.S. oil and gas production, and made the country a major hydrocarbon exporter for the first time in decades, but the shale revolution has been slow to spread beyond a handful of countries.

The practice of hydraulic fracturing  blasting through hard shale rock with high pressure mixtures of water, sand and chemicals  has proved to be highly controversial in many countries, especially in Europe. Shale formations in China appear to be more complex to drill than in the United States. Western sanctions have limited shale exploration and production in Russia.

But interest in shale exploration and production is growing in the Middle East and North Africa. Last month, Bahrain announced that it had found a major shale oil and gas field in waters off its coast. Halliburton is drilling appraisal wells to evaluate how much oil can be recovered.

A senior executive at Algerias state oil company Sonatrach said last week that the company was seeking cooperation with Exxon Mobil to develop the countrys shale gas.
MEXICO CITY  In the days after his deportation, Victor Cruz Ortega wandered the crowded streets of Mexico City in an escalating panic.

His kids, his job and every other fiber of life were back in Redondo Beach, the sun-soaked California community he called home for three decades. Now he was alone and penniless in a teeming Latin American metropolis he had not seen since leaving for the United States at age 11.

Cruz, 45, applied for every job that he saw advertised: cook, hotel worker, tour guide. At times, he broke down crying in public. He tried to give himself pep talks. He prayed. And then, finally, after months of looking, an unforeseen blessing arrived, and in a most unlikely form.

Cruz was rescued by Texas-style barbecue.

This month, he started working as prep cook at Pinche Gringo, a popular Mexico City barbecue joint whose American proprietor has made a special effort to hire deportees and other Mexicans who have returned after long stints north of the border. Owner Dan Defossey says its his answer to President Donald Trumps hard-line immigration policies, which last year resulted in the deportation of more than 11,000 Mexicans each month.

Thats our government. I feel responsible for it, said Defossey, a native New Yorker who fell in love with barbecue  and the border  while teaching high school in South Texas.

You ask yourself, What can I do?

Seven of Defosseys 50 employees were either deported to Mexico or came back for personal reasons. They are part of a growing influx of returning citizens who have struggled to reintegrate into Mexican society, a vulnerable population that Mexican officials have been slow to acknowledge and assist.

Set apart by their American accents and clothing style, and unaccustomed to the much lower wages, many returnees view Mexico as a kind of exile. Pinche Gringo, with its live country music, English-language comedy nights and icy bottles of Michelob and Budweiser, offers its workers a slice of Americana that many sorely miss.

I left part of my heart there, said Miguel Martinez, 30, who spends evenings monitoring a long row of meat smokers at one of the restaurants two locations. The U.S. is my second country. Its where I learned to be an adult, how to pay my rent. I feel half-American.

Martinez left his working-class Mexico City neighborhood at age 14 to toil illegally in the U.S., where he ascended from washing dishes at an uncles restaurant in New York to running a gourmet kitchen in Boston. He was in the process of applying for a work visa with the help of his boss a few years ago when he came back to Mexico to help his girlfriend, another former immigrant, who had fallen ill.

Returning was tough. Youre not from here, Mexicans told him, making fun of his Spanish accent, which had changed from spending so much time with Central Americans in restaurant kitchens. There were times when he felt like an alien.

Hearing English at Pinche Gringo, which is popular with Mexico Citys large expatriate community, makes him smile. Its like youre in the U.S., he said. I can escape my reality for a little while.

Other restaurant employees include Lalo Jimenez, 40, who was deported after working for a decade in Arizona and now invites his family to the restaurants annual Thanksgiving meal, and Miguel Angel Sanchez, 43, who started two barbecue restaurants while living illegally in Oklahoma City and returned to Mexico to apply for a green card that never came through.

And theres Hugo Hernandez Gonzalez, 38, who worked in Florida kitchens for 10 years before being deported in connection with a DUI. Tattooed on both arms, he struggled to find work in Mexico, where tattoos are taboo. At Pinche Gringo, he helped create the recipes for the restaurants famous side dishes  crispy cole slaw and gooey mac and cheese  using cups instead of the metric system typically used in Mexican kitchens and Fahrenheit instead of Celsius.

Pinche Gringo, he said, recognizes that returnees with experience in the U.S. have something special to offer and arent to be feared.

It has changed my life, he said.

Defossey and his Mexican partner, Roberto Luna, opened the restaurant in 2014. They wanted to introduce authentic American folk culture to a country more familiar with American imports such as Walmart, Chilis and other corporate chains. Defossey says the restaurants mission is to bring the two countries closer together, an ethos he calls barbecue diplomacy.

He says the restaurants name, which is not quite an F-bomb but translates to a crasser version of Freakin Gringo, was designed to signal a certain humility and self-deprecation that hasnt always been present in U.S.-Mexican relations.

Defossey didnt seek out American returnees at first. He hired a few shortly after opening without thinking too much about their immigration histories. Now job applicants with experience in the U.S. have a leg up over others. When he interviewed Cruz for the job last month and heard his story, Defossey said, he started crying.

Cruz said he was deported in February after being arrested for running a red light. He started work a couple of weeks ago at the restaurants first location, in a brick building lined with picnic tables and lit with red neon in the middle-class neighborhood of Narvarte. The air is thick with smoke from cooking brisket, pulled pork and ribs. He prepares and serves sides from inside an old Airstream trailer to the thump of classic rock songs.

He is still getting used to the changes. In California, he made $20 an hour as a chef at a trendy restaurant near the beach. Here he earns about that much in a full day, which is still much better than most jobs in Mexico, where the minimum daily wage is about $5.

Cruz still cries easily. He did so during a recent employee meeting where he was being introduced to his new colleagues. He blurted out his story, wiped his eyes, and said he is looking forward to traveling to Tijuana someday to meet up with his American-born kids, 15-year-old Oliver and 9-year-old Hannah. Several workers embraced him afterward and gave him affectionate slaps on the back.

On a recent day, Cruz stopped Jimenez.

Do you miss the U.S.? he asked.

Yes, Jimenez said. But it gets easier with time.

I lost everything. I never expected to be here, Cruz said. But I have to make a life here.

At the end of his shift, he often finds himself lingering at the restaurant.

I dont like being alone, he said. Sometimes, I dont want to go home.
Paul Schrader's resume ranges from the sublime to the ridiculous. At the sublime end is the filmmaker's 1976 screenplay for Martin Scorsese's Oscar-nominated "Taxi Driver." Then there's his 2013 directing credit for "The Canyons," a pulpy, Hollywood-set tale written by Brett Easton Ellis ("American Psycho") and featuring a star turn by porn actor James Deen - and Lindsay Lohan in a supporting role. After being partly funded by Kickstarter, and then very publicly rejected from film festivals such as SXSW, "The Canyons" ended up in the ghetto of on-demand cinema.

According to Schrader, it was always intended to be shown on-demand - and only there. And maybe that's true. Despite getting terrible reviews, "The Canyons" ended up making money for its investors, if only thanks to rubberneckers curious about a once-great filmmaker's spectacular fall from grace.

That harsh judgment may have been premature.

Schrader, 71, sat down to chat while in Washington, D.C., recently to promote his latest film, "First Reformed," which also is full of extremes (as well as, arguably, the best movie he has ever made). Set in upstate New York in a tiny, 250-year-old chapel that lends the film its title - once a stop on the Underground Railroad but now considered a "tourist church" - the film follows the Rev. Ernst Toller, a troubled Christian pastor played by Ethan Hawke.

The action of the story is precipitated by the suicide of a young man whom Toller had been counseling: an eco-activist cynical about the future of the planet and flirting with protests bordering on terrorism. Gradually, Toller takes up the mantle of the dead man's cause, at the same time he finds himself drawn into a platonic affair with the man's pregnant widow (Amanda Seyfried). Eventually, this path leads him toward a dark and potentially violent turning point, in which the prospect of committing one of two sins no matter which way he turns - the sin of inaction or the sin of wrongful action - torments him to his soul.

The film's central paradox, Schrader says, is the "tautology of the jihadist: that there is such a thing as a 'glorious' suicide."

Contradiction is not just part and parcel of Schrader's career, but also of his life story, which began in a strictly religious Calvinist household in Michigan. He wasn't allowed to watch movies because of what his father believed was their pernicious moral influence; the first film he was permitted to see (as a teenager) was Disney's "The Absent Minded Professor." The second, a few months later, was "Wild in the Country," featuring a hip-shaking Elvis Presley and 1960s sexpot Tuesday Weld.

"Aha," Schrader recalls thinking at the time. "Now I get it."

Schrader's work includes more than 20 screenplays ("Raging Bull," "The Last Temptation of Christ") and a dozen stints in the director's chair ("American Gigolo," "Cat People"). His oeuvre is notable for an enduring fascination with the stuff of mainstream moviemaking: sex and violence. But over that same career, Schrader also has returned, again and again, to a quieter theme, one he first encountered in French director Robert Bresson's 1959 masterpiece "Pickpocket," about a petty thief wrestling with notions of good and evil, decency and greed.

It's a trope embodied by what Schrader calls "the man in a room": a character who is often left alone, with nothing but his thoughts.

That character - lonely, introspective, living in but also strangely detached from the material world - first appears in Schrader's work in the form of the tortured, violent loner Travis Bickle in "Taxi Driver." He appears again in films such as "American Gigolo," "Light Sleeper" and "The Walker." Hawke, as Toller, is yet another iteration of that same archetypal protagonist, articulating his doubts and fears in a longhand journal - and voice-over narration - while self-medicating a serious stomach ailment, and existential angst, with hard liquor.

According to Schrader, Toller is simply an expression of the filmmaker's lifelong interest in one of the universe's most fundamental questions: How can one hold out hope for mankind when there is so much to despair of? That ability to hold two contradictory thoughts at the same time - hope and hopelessness - is, according to Schrader (who puts those words in Toller's mouth), the very definition of wisdom.

But "First Reformed" is a stark departure from Schrader's previous man-in-a-room films, in that it's the first time the filmmaker has tried to make what he calls an overtly "spiritual thriller" - stripping away Hollywood action for stillness and minimizing contrived dialogue in favor of revelatory silence. For "First Reformed," he adopted a filmmaking style known, variously, as slow cinema, durational cinema and transcendental cinema, and practiced by filmmakers such as Yasujiro Ozu, Carl Dreyer - and Bresson. (It's no coincidence that Schrader, a former film critic and theorist, is reissuing his seminal 1972 book on those three artists, "Transcendental Style in Film.")

Shot in the pinched, virtually square format of filmdom's earliest works, "First Reformed" is a minimalist throwback, displaying a maverick approach to moviemaking in an age of widescreen special effects. There's no soundtrack, for instance, until the third act, and even then, Brian Williams's score sounds less like music than like an unsettling alien soundscape, more appropriate to sci-fi than to psychological realism.

According to Schrader, this serves "to cut against the grain of cinema itself, which loves to move, and loves to dazzle." But dropping the razzle-dazzle, he admits, entails risk: "You create dead time." Of course, the flip side of "dead time" can be that we pay more, not less, attention to what's happening on screen. Schrader says his first acting notes to Hawke were, arguably, counterintuitive (but ultimately responsible for the actor's mesmerizing characterization): "'This is a lean-back performance,' I told him, 'and you are a lean-in kind of actor. Every time you feel the viewer interested in you, I want you to just lean back a little further. Recede.'"

Not everything in "First Reformed" is quite so, er, recessive. One unforgettable scene features Seyfreid lying on top of Hawke - both fully clothed - as their characters appear to levitate off the floor, ultimately floating over a montage of scenery featuring both the beauty and the degradation of the natural world.

Although Schrader, a former theology student, no longer subscribes to the concepts of sin, let alone a physical heaven and hell, he says he still "chooses to believe that there is an existence beyond this material world." That levitation scene - inspired by the Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, who used it in films such as "The Mirror" and "The Sacrifice" - is a metaphor for the journey that "First Reformed" takes you on. Unlike most films, the destination isn't a physical place, or even an emotional one.

"I knew that by the end of the film, we had to jump into the parallel world - the world that runs alongside this one, that we can't see, the world of the spirit," Schrader says. "I wanted to remind the viewer, 'You know there is another world out there than the one these people are living in, don't you? And that it's really quite close to the surface?' "
"Roseanne," the top new show of the season, was canceled by ABC after series star Roseanne Barr made a racial slur on social media about a member of the Obama administration.

"Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show," Channing Dungey, president of ABC Entertainment, said in a statement Tuesday.

Barr made the slur in a tweet about Valerie Jarrett, an Obama adviser between 2009 and 2017. She said Jarrett looks as if the Muslim Brotherhood and "Planet of the Apes" "had a baby." After an outcry, Barr said she was sorry and would stop posting on Twitter.

"I apologize to Valerie Jarrett and to all Americans," Barr tweeted on Tuesday. "I am truly sorry for making a bad joke about her politics and her looks. I should have known better. Forgive me -- my joke was in bad taste."

Barr, 65, has repeatedly used Twitter as a platform for her political views, including her distaste for the Clinton family. That has created headaches for ABC.

"Roseanne" helped ABC climb out of the ratings cellar in the just-ended TV season, attracting an average of 18.7 million viewers a week. The series ranked as one of the most-watched shows since its debut in March, according to Nielsen data.

Following the Jarrett tweet, "Roseanne" consulting producer Wanda Sykes said she wouldn't be returning to the show. Sykes is black, as is Jarrett. "Roseanne" co-star Sara Gilbert called Barr's comment "abhorrent" and said they didn't reflect the views of the show's cast and crew.

The program, which features Barr playing a Donald Trump supporter, is a revival of her sitcom that debuted in the 1980s. It went off the air in 1997.

Under Dungey, the first African-American to lead entertainment programming at one of the big four broadcast networks, ABC had been trying to attract more men, along with lower-income and rural families in the wake of Trump's election. The network already had shows such as "Black-ish," about an upper-middle-class African-American family, and "Fresh off the Boat," about Asian immigrants, that tackled the subject of race in America.

In the show "Roseanne," the comedian often got in heated discussions with her on-screen sister, played by Laurie Metcalf, who held more liberal views.

Shares of the Burbank, California-based Disney fell as much as 2.8 percent to $99.38 in New York. It was down 4.9 percent this year through last week.

While a number of networks have canceled shows because of scandals involving their hosts, such as Fox's Bill O'Reilly and PBS's Charlie Rose, it's rare for an entertainment program to suffer the same fate. CBS ended up returning "Two and a Half Men" to the air after Charlie Sheen left the show following disparaging things he said about the program.

Disney Chief Executive Officer Bob Iger shared his view of the "Roseanne" cancellation on Twitter.

"There was only one thing to do here," Iger said. "And that was the right thing."
It took several minutes for the veterans at the Laredo City Cemetery on Monday to read all the names. There were more than 200. These were the names of Laredo soldiers, from World War I to Operation Iraqi Freedom, who had been killed in action.

Then followed a 21-gun salute and a solemn rendition of Taps. Salutes were plentiful.

At this Memorial Day observance ceremony held by the American Legion Post 59, veterans in uniform and civilians in red, white and blue gathered to remember and honor these lost lives.

The chairman of the Texas Veterans Commission, Eliseo Al Cantu, was the event's guest speaker. He said Memorial Day is more than a tradition; it's a commitment to the veterans who gave their lives and to their families.

READ ALSO: Two Laredo teens killed, 3 injured in crash

"It wasn't too long ago that many of us were in combat, many of us were overseas. We were the lucky ones that came back home and saw our families. But today our flag, the flag of the United States of America, the flag of our country, flies at half staff for all those who gave their life in battle," Cantu said.

He also noted that the U.S. war in Afghanistan is still ongoing, and those soldiers deserve appreciation as well.

Many veterans who return from war, who have seen their friends die in service, may have survivor's guilt, Cantu said. He himself was feeling really bad until he met a Marine who also served in Vietnam. He told Cantu that he has a greater calling  he has survivor's responsibility. It is his duty to carry on and honor those who served, Cantu said.

"We have the God-given grace of being here, and not them. So that's why I make it a point to attend as many ceremonies as I can. Sometimes people say, 'Well, we only had 20 people show up.' But I'm of the faith that I don't care if one person shows up. Because we're honoring those who served our country. Numbers do not matter to me when it comes to honoring.

"It's nice to have the whole community, elected officials and veterans paying tribute and honor. But that's not mandatory and it's not required, at least in my books," Cantu said.

RELATED: Local veteran recognized 73 years after surviving WWII battle

However Monday's ceremony was in fact well-attended, with Mayor Pete Saenz, and over 100 veterans, volunteers and community members in attendance. Saenz led the national anthem and asked attendees to take this time on Memorial Day to reflect on who we are as a nation, state and city.

"We're sincerely grateful. And this is why we have to remember. It's our duty. That's the least we can do," Saenz said.

"... We may be Hispanics  we love the culture  but we're Americans! Let's not forget that. People have died for that."
Acrophobes will want to stay home. Others are likely to find the Australian documentary Mountain an exhilarating vision of many of the worlds highest  and most gorgeously photogenic  peaks, and the intrepid sorts who set out to conquer them.

Director Jennifer Peedom (Sherpa) has brought together footage from the likes of climber/cinematographer Renan Ozturk, shot in more than two dozen countries. As if the scenery isnt impressive enough, she has also scored the film with new and classical works performed by the Australian Chamber Orchestra, which almost amounts to overkill.

For much of the films 74 minutes, we feel giddily airborne, with gliding shots of magnificent and often snowy peaks, sometimes traversed by one or more tiny specks that turn out to be humans. Depending on your feelings about mountain climbing, these seem to be among the bravest people on the planet  or the most foolhardy.

And these mountain people dont just soldier along on foot. They ascend sheer rock faces using all four limbs; some of them blaze downhill on bikes or skis; some daredevils fly off the mountains in wingsuits; others actually walk a tightrope between two peaks. Pick your poison!

The overall tone is awed and laudatory, which may rub some viewers the wrong way. Willem Dafoe delivers narration taken from Robert Macfarlanes Mountains of the Mind, which occasionally strays in the direction of the trite or overwrought.

The film doesnt entirely ignore critics who lament the destructive environmental effects of humans using mountains for sport. Accounts have been published of what amounts to traffic jams of climbers on celebrated peaks like Everest. But the issue might have been given more emphasis here. To its credit, though, the narration does suggest that at least some of these impetuous folks may be motivated by a combination of narcissism and nihilism.

Early in the movie, its acknowledged that until a very few centuries ago, the idea of climbing a mountain for recreation or an adrenaline charge was unheard of. Mountains were counted as hostile and foreboding, and climbing them akin to madness. There are moments in Mountain when that perspective seems altogether reasonable.

Walter Addiego is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: waddiego@sfchronicle.com.

Mountain

Documentary. Directed by Jennifer Peedom. Not rated. 74 minutes.
Katy Independent School District recently announced the top two students from each high school who are ranked highest academically in their respective graduating classes. Graduation ceremonies for the seven high schools were scheduled May 25-27 at the Leonard Merrell Center.

The 2017-2018 valedictorians and salutatorians are:

Cinco Ranch High School

Shreya Budhiraja - Valedictorian; Subhiksha Srinivasan- Salutatorian

Shreya is attending Northwestern University where, upon completing three years at Northwestern University, she will automatically matriculate into the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. She is planning on majoring in biomedical engineering. Subhiksha will be attending the University of Houstons BS/MD 7 Year Program. She is planning to become an orthopedic surgeon.

Katy High School

Marie-Anne Barron - Valedictorian; Piper Mackenzie Harris - Salutatorian

Barron will attend Brown University with a concentration on neuroscience and psychology. Future interests are to open and own practice and research facility. Harris will attend Rice University and major in biochemistry and neuroscience (Pre-Med). Future interests are to study the biochemical relationship to the structure of the brain.

Mayde Creek High School

Arman Thomas Yazdian- Valedictorian; David Liu - Salutatorian

Yazdian plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin to major in biochemistry as a premed to become an anesthesiologist after medical school. Liu plans to attend the University of Texas at Austin to major in biochemistry. Afterwards, he will go to medical school to pursue a career in anesthesiology.

Morton Ranch High School

Penelope Nicole Meranio Gadia - Valedictorian; Kelly Tseng - Salutatorian

Both Gadia and Tseng plan to attend the University of Texas at Austin.

Seven Lakes High School

Anusri Dharmendra Shah - Valedictorian; Dennis Liu - Salutatorian

Shah plans a double major in computer science and business. Shah is accepted into the Honors Program at the McCombs Business School at the University of Texas at Austin. Liu plans to major in electrical and computational engineering at the Cockrell School of Engineering at the University of Texas at Austin.

Taylor High School

Sachi Khemka - Valedictorian; Hachem Bey El-Murhbi - Salutatorian

Khemka will be attending Rice University for bio-chemistry. Bey El-Murhbi will be attending Rice University for bio-chemistry as premed.

Tompkins High School

Viraaj Singh Punia - Valedictorian; Rohit Ramesh Kamath - Salutatorian

Punia will be attending Duke University. Kamath plans to attend Vanderbilt University with the Cornelius Vanderbilt Scholarship and major in neuroscience. After completing medical school, he plans to engage in international medical service work.
As Memorial Day approached, Sgt. Eddison Alexander Hermond took to Facebook to urge his friends to be kind to one another in honor of the holiday.

"Okay kiddos, it's Friday and the start of Memorial Day weekend," the 39-year-old wrote early that morning. "Let's get the hate out of our hearts. Focus on the positives and let's all, for once, enjoy life as it's meant to be enjoyed."

"We're free because people gave their lives for us to live this way," wrote the Air Force veteran and former National Guardsman. "So . . . . stop being mad for one single weekend. PLEASE."

On Sunday, Hermond was heeding his own advice, drinking with his friends at a restaurant in downtown Ellicott City, Maryland, when a rainstorm outside morphed into a relentless downpour, then a torrential flood.

As powerful waters ripped through the historic Maryland mill town, inundating stores, upending cars and destroying a 180-year-old stone cottage, Hermond spotted a woman outside who was caught in the rising currents.

He ran toward her, pausing at the edge of an overflowing creek. He gestured at her to hold on.

On the other side, Kate Bowman couldn't hear his words over the roar of the flood, but she saw him take a step toward her.

Then he was gone.

On Tuesday, he was finally found.

After two days of drones and cadaver dogs and search parties, after false reports and false hope, rescue workers pulled Hermond's body from the Patapsco River.

News of his death stunned his family and many friends.

"With all the people they had searching out there, we just didn't believe he'd be found dead," said his aunt Nina Cooper, who lives in Brooklyn. "We all had our hopes. But after we went down into the woods looking for him, it started to sink in."

"I'm completely heartbroken now, just like so many others who loved Eddie so much," said Jennifer Mead, who served in the Air Force with Hermond and had known him for 15 years.

Hermond, who had a 13-year-old son,grew up in San Diego and joined the Air Force out of high school in 1996. He served for 10 years, including as a cryptologist, and then joined the National Guard in 2009.

Throughout life, most people called him Eddie, but he secretly hated that, Mead said.

"He wanted everyone to call him Eddison, but by the time he told all of us that, it was way too late," she said. Some friends had another name for the strapping, 6-foot airman.

"People called him Superman," she said.

While in the Guard, Hermond made a living as a waiter and bartender, first at the Victoria Gastro Pub in Columbia, Maryland, and more recently at the Manor Hill Tavern in Ellicott City.

"He said his life's mission was to make everyone else's life better," recalled Anna Cisternino, a friend who often drank with Hermond. He was an easygoing bartender who loved Jameson Irish whiskey but only served himself from the bottom shelf, she said. Only rarely did he mention his time in the Air Force, recounting the time he got lost in South Korea.

"He said he'd been through so much crazy stuff," she said. "But he joked his death would likely be caused by something like slipping on a banana peel."

Hermond, who lived in Severn, Maryland, had recently left bartending to work in human resources, Cisternino said. A selfie he posted to Facebook shows him smiling in an office.

"He just felt like it was time for a change after almost 10 years of bartending," she said. "I feel like he was done doing insane dangerous stuff. It was like, 'I'm an adult now. This is how we're handling things now.' "

Cooper said her nephew was looking forward to a quiet life after his National Guard service ended. She hadn't seen him in 20 years, but just happened to catch up with him on Saturday at a family event in Southern Maryland.

As their time together wound down, Hermond's mother and aunts reminded him of a family reunion in August.

"He assured us that he was going to be there," Cooper said.

On Sunday afternoon, Hermond headed to La Palapa, a Mexican restaurant in downtown Ellicott City, where the owner was celebrating his birthday. As he and a group of friends celebrated inside the restaurant, just off Main Street, the waters outside began to rise.

Just yards away, across the steep, stone-lined banks of Tiber Creek, Kate Bowman was inside her boutique pet store, Clipper's Canine Cafe.

The 41-year-old had moved her store to the Maryland city about a year earlier. She knew about the 1,000-year flood that had killed two people in 2016, she said, "but I never thought it would happen [again] two years later."

When the storm started to pick up, and the Tiber began to bubble and foam just outside her shop window, her boyfriend went out to buy sandbags. Bowman called her mom, the store's co-owner.

Shortly after 4 p.m., the Tiber began rising above her shop windows. Her boyfriend was trapped by the rising waters and couldn't get back to the store.

"It was like ocean waves were just splashing against my doors," she said. "It was terrifying, absolutely terrifying."

Within a few minutes, the water had risen so high that she couldn't open her door. She put her cat into a carrier, climbed a table and escaped out a first-story window.

She landed in waist-high water, struggling to hold onto the building as the waters buffeted her.

"I was floating all over the place," she said. Bowman, who had stowed her glasses to keep from losing them, could barely see.

"It was like someone was pouring buckets on my head," she said. "It was just ridiculous. It was like nothing I've experienced in my life."

On the other side of the creek - transformed by the flood into a powerful river - she saw a group of people standing outside La Palapa.

One of them was a man she would later learn was Hermond.

He put his hands up and shouted something to her.

"He was telling me to stay," she said. "He was trying to keep me calm."

Hermond took a step toward her.

"He just stepped over the ledge, and he was immediately washed away," she said, choking back tears.

Fueled by hours of torrential rains, the waters - reportedly as high as 15 feet - were so powerful that they felled a 150-year-old tree, collapsed a major road and crumpled three cars underneath a small bridge over the Tiber.

It was near that bridge that Bowman watched Hermond vanish.

She was able to wend her way to higher ground with her cat, where she was helped by a group from a local wedding. Eventually, she made her way to La Palapa, where she told Hermond's friends what had happened.

That evening, Cooper turned on her television and was shocked to see that her nephew was now missing in the flash flood. She called his mother, who was driving to her home in North Carolina.

"She lost it," Cooper said.

Hermond's mother turned around and headed back to Maryland. She, Cooper and two other sisters spent Monday night searching the woods around Ellicott City for signs of Hermond until a police officer found them about 10 p.m. and assured them that authorities were thoroughly canvassing the area.

On Monday, friends gathered at the Victoria Gastro Pub to share stories about Hermond and their hopes that he had survived.

That afternoon, several of Hermond's friends had just left a church near Ellicott City when the pastor texted to say that Hermond had been found alive.

"I was ecstatic," recalled Kenneth Josepha, a longtime friend of Hermond's. "I was shocked. Adrenaline was pumping."

He returned to the church and then headed to the police staging area. But an officer told Josepha that Hermond was not there. So the group headed to the Howard County government building, where a public information officer told them that Hermond had not been found - it was someone else, a homeless man.

"We were all devastated and angry that they could confuse them," Josepha said.

Bowman also heard that the "hero" who had tried to save her had, himself, been saved.

"I was just crying tears of joy, I was so happy," she said. "Then they said, 'No, I'm sorry, it was a false report.' "

Almost as painful were the reports by police and others that Hermond had been swept away while helping Bowman save her cat.

"If he passed, I want people to know he passed trying to save a person, not a cat," Bowman said in an interview Monday. "He was trying to save me. I want his family to know that."

Thousands of friends, family members and strangers shared Hermond's photo on Facebook, hoping it would aid the search.

On Monday night, friends again gathered at the Victoria, where they set a shot of Jameson on the counter for him.

"Eddie's," they wrote on a napkin. "Do not touch."

He would never claim it.

Early Tuesday afternoon, Howard County police announced that a body had been found in the Patapsco River about 1 mile below the Main Street bridge. An hour later, they confirmed its identity.

A proud veteran had died on Memorial Day weekend. As rescuers - some of them fellow Guardsmen - removed Hermond from the river, his body was draped in an American flag.

- - -

The Washington Post's Steve Hendrix contributed to this report.
Two months after Hale County Commissioners instituted a countywide burn ban, it doesnt appear they will be lifting those restrictions anytime soon.

I put it on the agenda this week because some pretty good rainfall was in the forecast, but that didnt pan out, County Judge Bill Coleman said at Fridays work session. I received almost 2 1/2 inches at my house, but other areas got very little.

Precinct 4 Commissioner Benny Cantwell added that the rain came hard and fast, and the county continues to see rural wildfires. Several rural fire departments were called out Wednesday to battle a large wildfire west of Hale Center and north of Cotton Center.

Anyone intentionally causing a fire in rural areas of Hale County is subject to a fine of up to $500 and is civilly liable for damages to property and costs incurred in fighting those fires. Coleman noted that if it is determined that Wednesdays fire was intentionally set, then the person responsible could be billed by the responding fire departments.

The burn ban, which must be renewed every 90 days, prohibits rural residents from burning trash in both barrels and pits as well as using open flames to clear brush and unwanted vegetation.

Commissioners must take separate action if they want to restrict or prohibit the use of fireworks in this Fourth of July. County Attorney Jim Tirey told commissioners that they must act by June 15 on any fireworks restrictions. They could restrict the use of aerial fireworks, prohibit the sale of all fireworks, or limit their use to designated areas. Any action the county takes will only apply to rural areas and not within the city limits. Hale Center plans to allow residents to use fireworks at Caudle Lake during special designated hours on the Fourth of July. The county also does not restrict professionally-produced fireworks shows like the one planned for Plainview on Monday, July 2.

According to the Texas A&M Forest Service, 98 Texas counties have burn bans in place, including Hale and surrounding counties.

While commissioners are expected to table action to lift the burn ban on Tuesday, there are several action items on their agenda discussed at Fridays work session, including:

--Appoint a third member to the countys Investment Committee to serve with the county treasurer and county auditor. Precinct 2 Commissioner Mario Martinez has served on the panel for several years.

--Review the countys financial statement for the month ending April 30. According to County Treasurer Ida Tyler, the countys closing balance was $21,759,326.97.

--Consider a request to join a class action suit on opioid litigation.

--Receive the Hale Center EMS activity report for April. During April, EMS reported 37 911-calls including 21 within the city and 16 in rural Hale County. They had 13 transfer calls for a total of 34 billable runs.

--Approve and authorize Coleman to sign the BNSF Crossing Surface Installation Agreement for upgrading the railroad grade crossing at Texas 194 and Ennis Street on the south end of the Plainview-Hale County Business Park. The countys expense will be $34,466.40.

--Consider an interlocal agreement with the City of Hale Center concerning maintenance on a road on the west edge of that city.

--Consider appointing Stan Rigler to an open position on the Central Plains Center board of trustees.

--Hold an executive session to deliberate regarding contract negotiations on airport management.

--Convene a public hearing on the possible creation of Hale County Reinvestment Zone 5-A, and then consider a request for a tax abatement agreement between Hale County and Hale Petersburg Wind LLC, and possible amendments to the current agreement concerning Zone 5. The new Zone 5-A includes several tracts on the eastern edge of Zone 5 which have been added to Xcels planning windfarm outside Petersburg.

--Review recently competed roofing repairs at the county jail and approve additional work necessary to complete the project.

--Authorize the countys special projects office to lease a new copy machine to replace the current machine that has been in use for 15 years.

Tuesdays meeting begins at 9 a.m. at the Hale County Courthouse, 501 Broadway, and is open to the public. It was rescheduled from Monday since the Courthouse will be closed in observance of Memorial Day.
Nearly two dozen former detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison have disappeared from public view, largely cut off from the outside world since their transfer to a secretive rehabilitation program run by the United Arab Emirates.

The men have had limited contact with their families, some for more than two years, and have not been told when they might be released, according to their relatives, attorneys, and current and former U.S. officials.

Their uncertain fate exposes the limits of the United States' ability to track and safeguard inmates resettled overseas as part of an effort to close the 9/11-era prison, and highlights the consequences of the Trump administration's decision to close a State Department office tasked with overseeing Guantanamo matters.

Interviews with attorneys for 19 of the former detainees found that few if any of the 23 men transferred to the UAE between 2015 and 2017 have been released, despite what attorneys said were informal assurances that they would be out within about a year.

Reversing course from his predecessor, President Donald Trump has vowed to keep Guantanamo open and barred the overseas resettlement of detainees, whom he has characterized as "extremely dangerous people."

But the situation of those already released, most of whom have never been charged, remains shrouded in mystery.

One of those men is Haji Wali Mohammed, an Afghan citizen held at Guantanamo for 14 years before he boarded a plane in January 2017 and prepared to begin what his attorney was informed would be a temporary rehabilitation program in the UAE.

Like a well-known program in Saudi Arabia, the more recently established UAE initiative was designed to ensure that prisoners weren't radicalized and could adapt to outside life.

But after more than 16 months at the UAE-run center, Mohammed has become "very hopeless," according to his son, Abdul Musawer, who has spoken with his father periodically.

"The U.S. government said my father would be freely living with his family, but they lied," he said from his home in Afghanistan.

Although some of the men transferred to the UAE report satisfactory conditions and appear to be progressing through a program granting prisoners greater liberties over time, others remain under restrictions and express mounting distress.

According to lawyers and family members, some of the men have not being permitted to use the Internet or go outside. Periodic phone calls to family members are typically limited to five minutes, and are sometimes cut off if the conversation veers into politics or conditions at the center.

In a recent call to his family, Ravil Mingazov, a Russian who was moved to the UAE center in January 2017, suggested that conditions were worse than at Guantanamo, according to his mother, Zukhra Valiulina.

Speaking in a phone interview, Valiulina said her son had access to lawyers and Red Cross representatives at Guantanamo. Not so in the UAE. "He said, 'Mama, this is a prison,' " she said.

The family of another Afghan named Obaidullah, who was transferred in August 2016, was able to visit him early in his time in the UAE. But subsequently he was out of touch with his family for more than a year, according to attorney Anne Richardson. "This seems like indefinite detention all over again," she said.

Other attorneys say their former clients have reported satisfactory conditions to their families, possibly because they are in the later stages of the program. Some former detainees have received multiple visits from family members, lawyers said. UAE authorities have provided visas and money for other families.

No matter the conditions, nearly everything about the UAE program remains secret, even its location. Attorneys and relatives of the men say at least some have reportedly been moved to a new site in recent months.

Neither U.S. nor UAE officials responded to requests for information about the former detainees. Generally, the UAE government has discouraged scrutiny of its detention practices at home and abroad.

A State Department spokeswoman said the department hoped the detainees would be integrated into their new countries.

"We remain engaged with host governments to consult on issues that arise," she said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak publicly.

Attorneys who represented the men while they were in U.S. custody - some over many years - say they have been unable to get even basic information.

In letters this year to the State Department and the UAE's Foreign Ministry, several lawyers requested the men be visited by their families and the Red Cross. They also asked for a time frame for their release and "clarity on the rights they will have."

Previous entreaties, they wrote in February 2018, "have either been met with silence or with contradictory instructions."

Rep. Eliot L. Engel, N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, blamed the Trump administration for shutting down the State Department's Guantanamo office, which negotiated the transfer agreements and followed up on resettled detainees.

"The U.S. government made commitments to protect our security and the rights of former detainees," he said in a statement. "On both counts, the administration is utterly failing to meet its responsibilities."

Attorneys say they were never permitted to see the agreements, but were told by the State Department that the men would cycle through the UAE program and gradually be granted greater freedoms, at first inside and then outside the facility.

"We felt that, because this was the established practice, this was great," said Gary Thompson, who represented Mingazov. Thompson had represented another Guantanamo prisoner who went through the Saudi program before being released.

"However, weeks became months and months became over a year," Thompson said. "It started to slip away, and then calls to his family became very brief and sounded funny. We just can't figure out what's happening."

In all, 196 inmates were transferred overseas under resettlement agreements negotiated by the Obama administration. Hundreds more were released by the George W. Bush administration.

While many inmates transferred in recent years have adapted to their new homes, others have not. A Syrian man resettled in Uruguay has repeatedly attempted to violate a travel ban. Two former detainees were recently deported from Senegal.

Former officials say the UAE, a close U.S. ally, agreed to take the detainees and establish the rehabilitation center as a favor to Obama. The president needed a home for detainees, especially Yemenis, who couldn't be sent back to their country because of insecurity.

Officials who worked on the transfers say the extended detention in the UAE violates the spirit of that arrangement.

"It is one thing to put the guys in a rehab program, or otherwise evaluate them for a short period, but this seems like the UAE is imprisoning them on behalf of the U.S. government," a former official said. "That wasn't the deal and isn't right."

Several former U.S. officials voiced confidence that UAE authorities would make appropriate judgments about the inmates' readiness to be released. Complicating the issue, some of the men struggle with mental-health issues.

Stephen Vladeck, a professor at the University of Texas School of Law, said U.S. law did not impose any obligations on the government once detainees were no longer in its custody. "Once we cut ties, there really aren't remedies under U.S. law," he said.

Thompson said the current situation was even more frustrating than Guantanamo. "Before we could at least file a petition for habeas corpus, we could at least get on a plane and go to Guantanamo. We at least had procedures, even if they were kangaroo procedures," he said. "This is deeply frustrating because there is no process."

---

The Washington Post's Julie Tate and Paul Sonne in Washington, Sayed Salahuddin in Kabul, Kareem Fahim in Istanbul and Souad Mekhennet in Frankfurt contributed to this report.
French President Emmanuel Macron waded into a debate over a magazine cover that labeled Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan as a "dictator," saying attacks on kiosks selling the latest issue were unacceptable.

"Freedom of the press has no price: without it, it's dictatorship," Macron said on Twitter late on Monday. "It is totally unacceptable that Le Point posters are being ripped off kiosks on the grounds they displease the enemies of freedom of the press, in France and abroad."

Le Point, a weekly magazine with a circulation of about 315,000, splashed a photo of the Turkish president on its May 24 edition with words in yellow that read: "The dictator. How far will Erdogan go?" It accused the leader of locking up opponents, judges and journalists.

Since then, Le Point, which is based in Paris, said it has suffered "harassment, insults, intimidation, antisemitic abuse and threats." France is particularly sensitive about the issue because of attacks three years ago on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo in Paris that killed 12 people.

In videos posted on social media networks over the weekend, men can be seen trying to tear off posters of Le Point at newsstands.

Macron and Erdogan have been in regular contact since the French president's election one year ago. The two men spoke seven times, according to the Elysee palace's records, with their last conservation dating back to April 14 after France's joint military operation in Syria with the U.S. and the U.K.

Erdogan, who's been running Turkey for 15 years, kicked off his latest campaign on May 24, one month ahead of the elections for a new president and new members of Parliament. The vote will elect a leader with new and vastly reinforced presidential powers following a 2017 referendum that changed the constitution.

If the 64-year-old Turkish president was once viewed as the guarantor of a stable, market-friendly government, investors now worry he'll take more control of the economy. That's sent the currency plummeting 11 percent in May. Erdogan said he intends to tighten his grip on the economy and take more responsibility for monetary policy if he wins the election next month.
On Friday, Ireland voted in a landslide to repeal its near-total constitutional ban on abortion, paving the way for far less restrictive abortion laws. But next door in Northern Ireland, things are much different.

At present, women in Northern Ireland can legally have abortions only if pregnancy puts their physical or mental health at risk. Abortions are otherwise banned, even in cases of rape or fatal fetal abnormalities, and doctors who perform abortions outside of these strict rules can be imprisoned.

Surveys suggest that Northern Irish voters are no less keen for a change than their neighbors to the south. Last year, the Northern Irish Life and Times Survey, conducted by two Northern Ireland universities, found that about 80 percent of people in the country oppose the current laws. And in January, a United Nations committee found that the United Kingdom, of which Northern Ireland is a part, violates the rights of women in Northern Ireland by restricting their access to abortion.

"Denial of abortion and criminalization of abortion amounts to discrimination against women because it is a denial of a service that only women need," the vice chair of the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women said. "And it puts women in horrific situations."

The support for change in Northern Ireland was reinforced Monday when about 400 activists gathered in the capital, Belfast, to demand abortion rights. "It's time that Northern Ireland joins the rest of the world," activist Shannon Patterson told BBC News. "It's time to progress."

Such activists want British Prime Minister Theresa May to relax Northern Ireland's laws or to call for a referendum on changing them. Although Northern Ireland has its own parliament, the British government retains the right to shape national policy on several key issues. Abortion rights advocates argue that abortion is a human rights issue and therefore under May's jurisdiction.

So far, May has declined to act. After Ireland's referendum, May's spokeswoman told reporters that the prime minister believes only Northern Ireland's local government can change the rules. But that's currently impossible. The country has been without a functioning parliament since last year, when Northern Ireland's two main parties stopped working together.

Given that deadlock, many British officials, including Cabinet members, want May to step in. Penny Mordaunt, Britain's minister for women and equalities, told Reuters that Ireland's decision to legalize abortion should bring change north of the Irish border as well. "A historic and great day for Ireland and a hopeful one for Northern Ireland," she said. "That hope must be met."

But May's parliamentary majority - and, therefore, her ability to maintain her position as prime minister - relies on support from the socially conservative Democratic Unionist Party, one of the main parties in Northern Ireland. The DUP is opposed to abortion, and its lawmakers voted down a 2016 proposal in Northern Ireland's legislature to ease some abortion regulations.

Arlene Foster, who leads the DUP, told BBC News that abortion is a local issue. "The legislation governing abortion is a devolved matter," Foster said in a statement after the Irish referendum, using the term for powers that the British Parliament has handed to local governments, "and it is for the Northern Ireland Assembly to debate and decide such issues."

Foster's comments resonate with Northern Ireland's antiabortion groups, which have vowed to strenuously oppose any efforts to ease restrictions on abortion. Bernadette Smyth, who runs an organization called Precious Life, called the Irish vote "the most tragic day in Irish history."

"Every unborn child still has the right to life," she said in a statement. "Northern Ireland is now the beacon of hope to the pro-life movement around the world."
At least two Benelux companies have dispatched representatives to Israel in recent weeks to discuss a project to develop an airport offshore in the Mediterranean.

Jan de Nul Group of Luxembourg and Belgium's Dredging Environmental & Marine Engineering have sent senior employees to discuss the project, according to Avi Simhon, head of the National Economic Council in the Israeli Prime Minister's Office. Simhon estimated the project could cost about $10 billion and take 10-15 years to build.

Israel's fast-growing economy is limited by a scarcity of land for infrastructure, especially in the center of the country. Israel currently has only one major airport serving a booming tourism industry and a population eager to travel abroad. Earlier this year the government formed a committee, headed by Simhon, to look into moving infrastructure projects or building new facilities on artificial islands.

"These plans have been under consideration for many years here, and now it's a matter of finally moving things forward," Simhon said in an interview in Jerusalem. "We can't sit around and do nothing while Ben-Gurion Airport reaches overcapacity."

A spokeswoman for DEME Group declined to comment.

"We are aware of this possible project," Heleen Schellinck, spokeswoman for Jan De Nul, said in an emailed response. "Once the tender is published, we will have a look at the project specifications."

Building artificial islands would involve technical and environmental challenges. The companies interested in the project all have experience with dredging and land reclamation, critical issues for developing infrastructure in the low-lying Benelux countries. Offshore airports have been built before -- notably in Japan, where Kansai International Airport was built in Osaka Bay for about $20 billion and now serves more than 25 million people a year.

The Israeli government approved plans to build two artificial islands off the country's shores as far back as 2002, and again in 2012. Neither of the ideas ever moved forward. Netanyahu said he brought up the idea of artificial islands as early as 1996, during his first term as prime minister, but the plan ran into opposition from environmental groups.

"In the 20 years that have passed since then, the technology for artificial islands has changed and evolved greatly," Netanyahu said in January.

Separately, Israel Katz, who serves as minster of transportation and intelligence, has proposed building an artificial island to house a Palestinian port off the Gaza Strip.

Last year, the Israel Airports Authority unveiled a $1.4 billion plan to upgrade Ben-Gurion International Airport to meet an expected increase in activity. Total passenger traffic is expected to reach 24 million people this year, according to IAA forecasts, a 70 percent jump since 2013, when the country approved the Open Skies Agreement and let low-cost airlines compete for business.

"Land in Israel is becoming more rare and more expensive," said Nati Birenboim, chief executive officer of Tamuz Group, which advises global firms on large infrastructure projects in Israel. "A state-of-the-art international airport on an artificial island, that's close to the heart of the country, would help alleviate the problems that Israel is certain to face."
Italy's populist leaders, incensed by their failed bid for power, began mobilizing for an early election even as premier-designate Carlo Cottarelli puts together a Cabinet to present to the head of state.

The disconnect between the pro- and anti-European forces underscores the widening gulf in Italy's fractured politics that's unsettling investors. With a general election expected as early as September, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the anti-immigrant, euro-skeptic League are heralding an uncertain new period for the euro area's third-biggest economy.

Italian government debt plummeted on Tuesday, with the spread between Italian and German 10-year bonds surging about 80 basis points to the highest level in just over five years. A new election could take place on a date between Sep. 9 and Oct. 7, newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Tuesday.

With markets in meltdown, Cottarelli, a former International Monetary Fund official picked by President Sergio Mattarella to form an interim administration, could meet the head of state on Tuesday afternoon, according to a senior government official who asked not to be identified. Cottarelli, 63, may serve as both premier and finance minister, the official said.

As Cottarelli labored in an office allocated to him by the Rome parliament, Five Star leader Luigi Di Maio fired broadsides against the president, setting the tone for a virulent campaign. He called for a demonstration in Rome on June 2, a holiday marking the birth of Italy's post-World War II republic.

"I call on citizens to mobilize, make yourselves heard," Di Maio said in a Facebook video. Di Maio said he'd hung the Italian flag from the windows of Five Star's parliamentary offices and urged supporters to do the same.

He was echoed by League head Matteo Salvini, who also called for protests in the country's piazzas over the weekend. Salvini has yet to say whether he will campaign with Five Star or with a center-right alliance including Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.

"The condition for an alliance with Forza Italia is to change European rules, I can't ally myself with people who tell me that Europe is fine as it is," Salvini told RAI radio on Tuesday.

The League is credited with 27.5 percent of voting intentions, up from 17.4 percent in the inconclusive March 4 elections, according to an SWG opinion poll carried out on May 23-28. Five Star was down to 29.5 percent from 32.7 percent. Forza Italia was down to 8 percent from 14 percent.

With bond yields surging, the euro was also hit. It was down 0.7 percent as of 10:48 a.m. in Rome. Italian stocks dragged down gauges across Europe on Monday.

In an echo of Europe's debt crisis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel cited the euro area's rules when asked about Italy during a conference in Berlin.

"We ought to take a very close look at where we can cooperate with the government, but always remembering that we have principles in the euro area," she said Monday.

Cottarelli's Cabinet will require a confidence vote in parliament, where most parties are ready to go for a repeat election instead. Both populist parties rejected Cottarelli even before he was tapped to form a government, and Berlusconi said Monday that his party will vote against the former IMF official.

Cottarelli said he will plan for a general election "after August" if his government loses the confidence votes in both houses of parliament.

Five Star and the League have denounced Mattarella, 76, for vetoing euroskeptic economist Paolo Savona as finance minister in the now-foiled populist government. The party leaders say Mattarella ceded to pressure from investors and countries such as Germany when he vetoed Savona, denying them power. Di Maio pledged to seek the president's impeachment.

Andrea Marcucci, the Senate leader for Italy's Democratic Party, likened the populists' plans to Benito Mussolini's 1922 mass demonstration in Rome, which led to the Fascist dictator's ascent to power.

"Di Maio and Salvini have thrown down their mask -- they even want to reenact the March on Rome," Marcucci said on Facebook.

A professor at Bocconi University in Milan, Cottarelli worked at the IMF for more than 25 years. He was nicknamed "Mr. Scissors" for his fiscal rigor.

In 2013 under former Prime Minister Enrico Letta, he delivered a plan for saving more than 30 billion euros ($35 billion) over three years. Only part of the plan was implemented and he complained about resistance from Italy's bureaucracy.
Paris

President Emmanuel Macron on Monday lauded as a hero a migrant from Mali who scaled an apartment building to save a child dangling from a balcony, and rewarded the young man's bravery with an offer of French citizenship and a job as a firefighter.

"Bravo," Macron said to 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama during a meeting in a gilded room of the presidential Elysee Palace where Gassama also received a gold medal from the French state for "courage and devotion."

Gassama climbed five stories up the apartment building, moving from balcony to balcony, and whisked a 4-year-old boy to safety on Saturday night as a crowd below screamed. His actions went viral on social media, where he was dubbed "Spiderman."

Gassama said he has authorization to stay legally in Italy, which is where he landed in Europe in 2014 after a more than a year in Libya and a trip across the Mediterranean Sea. He came to France in September to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades.

Dressed in tattered blue jeans and white shirt, the young man recounted for the president what took place after he and some friends saw a young child hanging from a fifth-floor balcony.

"I ran. I crossed the street to save him," Gassama told Macron. He said he didn't think twice. "When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing."

God "helped me," too, he said. "Thank God I saved him."

The father of the child was detained overnight for alleged parental neglect, and is to appear in court in September. He left the child alone while he shopped, then lingered to play Pokemon Go, prosecutor Francois Molins told BFM-TV. The whereabouts of the child's mother were unclear.

"You saved a child. Without you, no one knows what would have become of him," the president said. "You need courage and the capability to do that."

Macron offered to begin the naturalization process to make Gassama a French citizen and said, "Because this is an exceptional act ... we are obviously, today, going to regularize all your papers."
At least 20 people have been killed in a militia attack on an ethnic Tuareg organization in Mali's Gao region, which has witnessed a surge of violence between armed groups even as French and West African troops are carrying out anti-jihadist operations in the area.

Gunmen in vehicles and on motorbikes attacked a checkpoint close to the Niger border that was manned by militants from the Movement for the Salvation of Azawad, a Tuareg group, Agence France-Presse reported Monday, citing local officials. It wasn't immediately clear who was responsible for the raid, the Paris-based agency said.
Seth Stapleton/Huron Daily Tribune

BAD AXE  A 33-year-old Port Austin man was arrested after allegedly attempting to burn a Bad Axe home in the early morning hours of Saturday.

According to Bad Axe Police Chief David Rothe, the owner of a home located in the 300 block of North Hanselman Street called 911 around 3:40 p.m. Saturday, after discovering burn damage to the side of his house and nearby grass.
Screws recovered from an explosive device that detonated at a Beaumont church earlier this month were bought at Home Depot  the same store where authorities on Tuesday said suspected bomber Jonathan Matthew Torres worked.

Torres, who was arrested last week on federal criminal charges, made his first court appearance on Tuesday. He is charged with use of an explosive to damage property, mailing a threatening communication and possession of an unregistered destructive device.

During Tuesday's hearing, Torres said he worked part-time at the Home Depot store on Eastex Freeway and received money through the GI Bill. Based on his income level, Magistrate Judge Zack Hawthorn decided Torres was eligible for court-appointed counsel.

Torres will be represented by Beaumont-based attorney Ryan Gertz, according to Hawthorn. Gertz has led the defense on a number of recent high-profile cases, including last week's sentencing of Walter Diggles, a Jasper pastor and former executive director of the Deep East Texas Council of Governments convicted in August 2017 of taking more than $1 million of hurricane relief money.

A bail hearing is scheduled for 2 p.m. Thursday for Torres, who has been held on no bond since his arrest last week. If convicted at trial, he faces 5 to 20 years in federal prison.

Authorities executed a search warrant last Thursday at Torres' home in the 4400 block of El Paso Street in Beaumont.

Torres, a divorced military veteran, said Tuesday that he lived with and took care of a mentally ill family friend.

While searching Torres' home, federal agents found "multiple containers of the same type of explosive material" used in devices left at the Dowlen Road Starbucks on April 26 and St. Stephen's Episcopal Church May 10, according to the affidavit for Torres' arrest.

"Based on what we found inside the suspect's home, this suspect had the resources and the ability to continue building these devices and the incidents were increasing in their destructive impact," U.S. Attorney Joseph Brown said during a news conference on Friday.

Torres sent four threatening notes to the Beaumont Police Department, including immediately following the discovery of the two explosive devices, according to the affidavit.

On April 27, one day after an explosive device was discovered outside Starbucks, BPD received a note, stating, "DO YOU WANT BMT TO BECOME ANOTHER AUSTIN," signed "J HANCOCK."

A second note was sent to BPD after officers discovered an explosive device had detonated overnight at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, the arrest affidavit said.

"There's many different indicators when someone becomes disenfranchised with society before they mobilize toward some type of violence," FBI Agent Ed Michel said last week. "At this time, we don't know what the specific indicators were, what his intents were."

The package left at Starbucks, which did not detonate, contained explosive material, a mouse trap and a note written in peel-and-stick letters that read, "HAJI DIE USA - JH," according to the affidavit.

Remnants of the device that detonated at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, which broke one window and caused minor exterior damage when it exploded, included a mousetrap and small nails and screws.

That led authorities to believe the two devices were connected, the affidavit said.

On May 11, BPD received a postcard with a DC Comics image of "V for Vendetta," asking "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME? JH."

Police received a third postcard three days later with an image of the "Creature from the Black Lagoon." The postcard read, "There were two others Did you not get them? JH."

Another postcard mailed on May 17 quoted a BPD news release that stated, "'None of these have been deemed a credible threat' JH" and pictured "The Atom" from DC Comics.

While searching Torres' house last week, authorities said they found postal boxes, zip ties and packing tape similar to the type used in the device found at Starbucks, and a receipt for the type of string used in the device.

psuy@beaumontenterprise.com
TOKYO - A top North Korean official is on his way to United States for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about a landmark summit between Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump, as efforts to the make the meeting happen go into overdrive.

Kim Yong Chol, a four-star general who has been at the forefront of North Korea's diplomatic outreach, landed at Beijing Capital International Airport on Tuesday, according to television footage from the airport.

He was initially booked on an Air China flight to Washington, D.C., but changed to a Wednesday flight bound for New York, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported. That would have him arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport shortly after 2 p.m. Wednesday.

In a morning tweet, Trump confirmed that the general was on his way to New York - and a White House aide later said that Pompeo plans to meet him there this week.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea," the president tweeted Tuesday morning. "Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York."

Kim Yong Chol is a vice chairman of the Workers' Party of Korea, the communist organization through which the ruling family controls North Korea, but is not technically the No. 2 behind Kim Jong Un.

He has, however, emerged as one of the leader's closest aides and has been at all the talks this year that have led to the current rapprochement.

He will be the highest-ranking North Korean to visit the United States since Gen. Jo Myong Rok went to the White House to see President Bill Clinton in 2000 as part of a denuclearization effort that went nowhere.

Although Trump has not officially announced that the summit is back on, his staff is acting as though it is. Trump abruptly canceled the summit Thursday in a letter to Kim Jong Un that cited "the tremendous anger and open hostility" of recent North Korean statements.

During a television interview in Washington on Tuesday, White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said that if the summit does not take place on June 12, as originally scheduled, it could be held soon afterward.

Speaking on "Fox & Friends" on Fox News, she credited Trump's letter last week canceling the summit with creating the "kinetic energy" needed to get the parties talking more seriously.

"Ever since then practically, North Korea, South Korea and the United States have been making very positive moves," Conway said. "But let's see what happens, as the president says. If he's satisfied, then it will go forward."

The White House also on Tuesday distributed to reporters a list of ways in which the United States "continues to actively prepare for Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore."

That includes a meeting planned at the White House on June 7 between Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. That visit is expected to provide a chance for Trump and Abe to coordinate their strategy amid concerns in Tokyo over the prospective peace talks.

A U.S. team led by Sung Kim, a former American negotiator with North Korea who serves as U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, was to continue holding talks on the northern side of the demilitarized zone that separates the two Koreas. Officials began discussing the substance of any summit agreement, focusing on the thorny issue of denuclearization, with a North Korean team led by Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui on Sunday.

Separately, an advance team headed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin is in Singapore making logistical plans for the summit, should it go ahead. The North Korean team in Singapore is led by Kim Chang Son, who effectively serves as chief of staff to Kim Jong Un.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday that Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, also is talking with his counterparts in South Korea and Japan "virtually every day."

And Sanders confirmed that Pompeo plans to meet this week in New York with Kim Yong Chol. Both are former spy chiefs and met in Pyongyang during Pompeo's visits there in April and again this month.

While Pompeo is based in Washington, the North Korean diplomats accredited to the United Nations are based in New York and are not allowed to travel outside the city without special dispensation, making it the easiest place for meetings to be held.

Kim Yong Chol was directly sanctioned by the Treasury Department for his involvement in North Korea's nuclear program and illicit activities while he served as director of intelligence, so the United States would have had to grant a waiver to allow him to enter the country.

He now serves as head of the United Front Department, the arm of the ruling Workers' Party that handles relations with South Korea. In this role, he traveled to the South in February during the Winter Olympics, which provided the springboard for the current diplomatic frenzy, and was prominent during an inter-Korean summit on April 27.

He is widely believed to have masterminded a 2010 attack on a South Korean naval corvette, the Cheonan, that killed 46 South Korean sailors.

As the rapprochement with the United States has picked up pace, Kim Yong Chol appears to have taken on a broader remit to deal with the Trump administration.

He holds a number of senior positions within North Korea's communist hierarchy. He is a member of the Workers' Party Politburo and the powerful State Affairs Commission, and he also serves on the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly.

"This combination of positions in the party and state makes Kim one of the most powerful figures in North Korea," according to North Korea Leadership Watch, a website that tracks senior regime figures.
Hearing the gunshot, Marta Martinez rushed out of her home in Rio Bravo, Texas, and began recording a video on her phone. She saw a woman lying motionless on the ground, bleeding from the head, Martinez said in the Facebook live video. She saw a Border Patrol agent holding a gun.

"Why did you shoot the girl? You killed her," she yelled in the video. "She's there. She's dead. I saw you with the gun!"

"How are you going to shoot a girl in the head?" Martinez shouted.

The young woman was a 19-year-old Guatemalan citizen named Claudia Patricia Gomez Gonzalez, Guatemala's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. She had recently entered the United States, leaving behind her poor community of San Juan Ostuncalco, Guatemala in search of a job and in the hopes of reuniting with her longtime boyfriend. But on Wednesday, she was shot and killed during a run-in with a Border Patrol officer, the agency said.

The shooting, which took place near the border in South Texas, has prompted anger from Gomez's relatives in Guatemala and immigration activists across the U.S., enflaming tensions over the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration enforcement.

Border Patrol officials originally said in a statement Wednesday that a lone agent responded to "a report of illegal activity" near a culvert in Rio Bravo Wednesday afternoon when he came across a group of undocumented immigrants. When the Border Patrol agent tried to apprehend the group, "he came under attack by multiple subjects using blunt objects," the agency said in a statement. He fired at least one gunshot, "fatally wounding one of the assailants," the statement read.

The rest of the group ran away from the authorities, but agents managed to later apprehend three of them. Border Patrol agents called emergency medical services for Gomez and administered first aid until firefighters arrived.

But the Border Patrol's message changed slightly on Friday. While the agency's initial statement described the woman as "one of the assailants," Friday's statement referred to her as "one member of the group." Officials said the immigrants ignored the officer's orders to get on the ground, and instead "rushed him," according to the Associated Press and CNN. The second statement did not mention the throwing of any objects. The agent, a 15-year veteran, has been placed on administrative leave.

Immigrant rights activists and Guatemalan officials decried the agency's inconsistent message. "The Border Patrol changes its version and sows doubts about the death of an immigrant," Carlos Narez, secretary of the National Council for Migrant Assistance in Guatemala tweeted Saturday.

The incident is currently under investigation by the FBI and Texas Rangers. Guatemala's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it met with Gomez's relatives, who asked that her body be sent to Guatemala. Foreign Affairs Minister Sandra Jovel called for a "thorough and impartial investigation" into the shooting.

The foreign ministry said Guatemala rejects "any acts of violence and the excessive use of force by the Border Patrol, and calls for the rights of our compatriots to be respected at all times, whatever their immigration status, especially the right to life," the foreign ministry said. The three detained immigrants are all of Guatemalan origin and are all in good health, the ministry said.

In cities across the country, rallies and vigils are planned this week to honor Gomez's life and demand justice for her death. One of the vigils is scheduled to take place in Alexandria, Virginia, where Gomez planned to reunite with her boyfriend of five years, Yosimar Morales.

"My heart is broken for this tragedy," Morales told Univision, speaking from Alexandria. He came to the U.S. about one year ago, he said, and planned to marry Gomez and have children with her.

"They took away a piece of life," he said.

In Guatemala, Gomez's mother wailed in tears as she spoke of her daughter's death. Gomez's younger sisters leaned against their mother, also weeping.

"Why immigration, why did you kill my child?" the mother, Lidia Gonzalez, cried out while speaking to Guatemalan reporters.

Gomez, the oldest of three girls in the family, had graduated high school in 2016 and hoped to pursue a career in accounting. Unable to attend college, she spent two years looking for jobs in Guatemala, with no luck. She decided to move to the U.S. in the hopes of finding work.

"There is no work here. That's why my daughter left," Gonzalez said. "She left home 15 days ago, saying: 'Mamita, we're going to go on ahead, I'll make money. There's no work here."

"My daughter went there because of need, she didn't steal anything," the mother added.

Gomez's father, Gilberto Gomez, was deported from the U.S. last year. He told local television station Guatevision that he hopes the officer who killed her "pays for what he did."

Dominga Vicente, Gomez's aunt, appeared in a news conference with Guatemalan officials Friday, asking for financial support for the family. "We need the support of an institution that can lend us a hand" to put pressure on authorities and find justice for Gomez's death. She called for the officer who shot her to be removed from his post. If not, she said, such bloodshed will continue.

"She is not the first person to die in this country," Vicente said. "There are many people that have been treated like animals and that isn't what we should do as people."

She called on the United States to stop mistreating immigrants, "just because it is a powerful country, just because it is a developed country."

"Don't treat us like animals," she said, harking back to comments made by President Donald Trump earlier this month referring to undocumented immigrants as "animals."

"We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in - and we're stopping a lot of them - but we're taking people out of the country," Trump said in an immigration roundtable with California officials. "You wouldn't believe how bad these people are. These aren't people. These are animals. And we're taking them out of the country at a level and at a rate that's never happened before."

Trump later defended his use of the word "animals," saying he was referring to members of the MS-13 gang. "When the MS-13 comes in, when the other gang members come into our country, I refer to them as animals. And guess what? I always will."

Trump has taken steps to ramp up patrol at the border, ordering National Guard troops to be deployed to provide support. Some critics have expressed concern that sending U.S. service members to the border would escalate militarization of the border, making it more dangerous, not less.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, "use of force involving firearms" dropped nearly 70 percent from 2012 to 2017. But this year, the numbers have increased. Agents used their firearms nine times from October to March of this year, up from four times the previous year.

Meanwhile, a Guardian analysis found that the federal government has settled at least 20 wrongful death claims on behalf of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which oversees the Border Patrol, paying more than $9 million to families of people killed since 2003. Their deaths occurred in incidents including shootings, beatings, the use of Tasers and collisions with vehicles.

Last month, Border Patrol agent Lonnie Swartz was acquitted of murder in the 2012 shooting death of a Mexican teen who threw rocks at law enforcement officers during an attempt to smuggle marijuana to Mexico. Swartz fired 16 times across the border from Arizona into Mexico. Human rights groups said the case marked the first time a U.S. Border Patrol agent was prosecuted in a cross-border shooting.

Astrid Dominguez, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Border Rights Center, said in a statement Thursday that the Border Patrol's "history of violence against immigrants requires us to scrutinize every incident involving lethal force closely." She demanded the Border Patrol expand its use of body cameras, equipping every agent in the field.

"We call on the Texas Rangers and the FBI to conduct their investigation thoroughly and transparently," Dominguez said.
The family of a man who crashed his motorcycle along the Gulf Freeway in February and later died is claiming a popular Texas restaurant chain over-served him before the crash, a new lawsuit alleges.

They're asking for more than $1 million.

The lawsuit claims Marvin Drake III was at a Bombshells restaurant on the Gulf Freeway near Fuqua Street late Feb. 16 when a female server continued to serve him alcoholic beverages  even as he was already intoxicated, the family's attorneys say.

SENTENCE: Magnolia man gets probation for pretending to be a cop

Around 2:30 a.m., Drake left the restaurant on his Suzuki Hayabusa and rode south on the Gulf Freeway at speeds reaching 150 mph, according to Houston police and the lawsuit.

Moments later, Drake crashed into the back of a Chevrolet HHR along the Gulf Freeway near El Dorado Boulevard. He died at the scene.

The lawsuit claims the server, who is listed as Jane Doe, and the restaurant "breached their duty and violated Texas law" by continuing to serve Drake.

The lawsuit claims Drake was intoxicated at the time of the crash. The driver of the HHR was questioned by police on scene and released uninjured.

An employee at the restaurant declined to comment, and an attorney for the restaurant could not be reached.

Jay R. Jordan is a breaking news reporter at Chron.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JayRJordan.
A 23-year-old San Antonio woman shot by her estranged uncle in Cedar Park was pronounced dead Monday, according to police.

Hailey Reyes, a graduate from Our Lady of the Lake University, succumbed to the wound she sustained on May 12 in an incident police are now calling a double murder-suicide.
Three years after it was first suggested, Orewa businesses have rejected the option of town-centre wide CCTV cameras.

Business association Destination Orewa Beach undertook a due diligence process around implementation of a scheme, after police suggested a network of security cameras would provide them with valuable information.

Recently members of the business association were balloted about a scheme that included installing and leasing an eight camera system at a cost of $50,225 for the first year.

It was anticipated that those costs would be covered by a one-off increase in the annual levy that businesses pay to Destination Orewa Beach, in the 2019/20 financial year.

The cost from the first year onwards would be $33,000 per annum, which would need to be funded via a further levy increase in 2020/21

Destination Orewa manager Hellen Wilkins says that the plan covered main arterial entry and exit points in and out of Orewa plus key risk anti-social behaviour areas such as reserves and access ways. This was to track and identify offender vehicle movements. Camera coverage of the main commercial areas around the town centre was not included.

Last months ballot resulted in 94 responses, 42 of which approved of the proposal and 48 of which did not. Four were unable to respond either way. Under the Auckland Business Improvement District policy, 51 percent were required to agree to the scheme for it to proceed.

Hellen says that among the reasons given for not wanting the system were that businesses had their own, that businesses alone shouldnt bear the cost and that more police presence would be more effective than CCTV.

She says although town centre wide CCTV will not proceed for now, a plan may be revisited in future.
The school gate at Red Beach School has become increasingly difficult to negotiate according to a number of parents who drop off and collect their children there.

The small drop off zone outside the school, in Albert Hall Drive, is in high demand at drop off and pick up times. Parking in the streets around the school is hard to find, with many yellow line restrictions, and in recent months parents say the problem has got worse, with spaces occupied by contractors working on construction of the retirement home in Bay Vista.

Two churches in Red Beach Road make their car parks available, and they are well used. However, parent Christina Henderson says they dont work in heavy rain, or for parents who must pick up or drop off and dash.

She says it has become normal for people dropping off and picking up children to resort to double-parking by the drop off, which is near to the corner of Red Beach Road, and a large number have been ticketed by Auckland Transport as a result.

Her petition, signed by 100 people, asks Auckland Transport to allow parking in a nearby bus stop for half an hour during the morning drop off and afternoon pick up.

This bus stop is rarely used, Christina says. Its the best solution we can come up with for now, but if it doesnt work, maybe Auckland Transport needs to get planning.

Auckland Transport spokesperson Mark Hannan says congestion and unsafe driving around schools is a huge problem in Auckland. He says poor driver behaviour, congestion and aggression continue to make many school gates an unpleasant and unsafe place.

He says last October, Red Beach School, among others, was invited to take part in a trial of options for making the school drop-off safer but no Hibiscus Coast schools opted to take part in the trial.

The trial is based on national and international research into what kinds of scenarios can create the safest environments, balancing the needs of all users and also encouraging active transport like biking, riding a scooter or walking, Mark says. It includes enforcement along with physical changes and will be monitored and evaluated over the period of the 2018 school year. The long-term goal is to identify suitable, cost effective solutions that can then be rolled out to schools in the Auckland region.

We will continue to work with Red Beach School on long term options for making its school environment safe for everyone. But we will issue tickets at Red Beach and other schools for unsafe practices like double parking. It is against the law and puts parents and their children at risk, he says.

Red Beach School was approached for comment but was unable to respond prior to our deadline.
The 11th annual Aurivo Milk Quality Awards were held recently and John McTiernan from Mullaghavourneen was acknowledged for his contribution to dairy farming excellence at the Aurivo Milk Quality Awards.

The awards aim to recognise the standard of excellence in dairy farming by Aurivo milk suppliers, as well as their dedication and commitment to milk production in the previous year.

ALSO READ: Aurivo's three year 'Fixed Price Scheme benchmark'

Meanwhile, John received the award for Lowest TBC Liquid Milk.

He began milking his third-generation farm in 1994, when he took over from his father, PJ.

Prior to this, John completed a farm management course, which deepened his knowledge and understanding of running a farm efficiently.

He subsequently took his new skills and put them into practice on the farm.

Johns wife Ann, and their two children, Caitriona and Ciaran also help out on a farm where 50 cross-breed Ayrshire and Holstein Friesian cows are milked on 80 acres of land.

John credits his low TBC count to attention to detail and good farming practices.

Speaking at the event, Aaron Forde, Chief Executive of Aurivo said the company was very proud of its quality milk pool and that was down to the unfaltering commitment of over 1,000 suppliers across Ireland.

The Milk Quality Awards celebrate the excellent standard of milk those suppliers produce every day, said Mr Forde.

I would like to personally congratulate John on his success, which is well deserved.

We look forward to a continued partnership with all our suppliers and to further strengthening our market position, both nationally and internationally.
Cllr Gerry Warnock (Ind) is advising people across the county this week to be vigilant at ATMs after 500 was taken from his bank account.

Last Friday Cllr Warnock was alerted by Bank of Ireland about suspicious activity on his account and informed that 500 was gone.

Cllr Warnock, however says the quick response by Banking 365 meant the matter was dealt with efficiently and the bank may be in a position to reimburse him the money.

I discovered on Friday morning that my current account was dipped for around 500, the local area representative in Longford town told the Leader.

Thankfully Banking 365 copped some bogie transactions, contacted me and I was able to cancel my card.

Their Fraud Unit are currently dealing with my case and I'm hoping to be reimbursed.

Read Also: 'Sad day for Edgeworthstown' as Ulster Bank closes its doors for final time

Meanwhile, Cllr Warnock pointed to the fact that by Friday of last week he had only made one transaction on his account so, in essence, it wasnt difficult to determine the fraudulent activity.

The only transaction I had, apart from scheduled standing orders, was taking a few bob out of the ATM on Wednesday so most likely my card was skimmed, he added.

Just be aware when withdrawing cash or making online purchases because these people are only wait for an opportunity.

Read Also: Longford woman targeted by scammers
Local News, Crime

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 29 2018

Defendants Engaged in Elaborate Telephone Scam to Extort Money from Victims by Threatening to Shoot Their Relatives if They Did Not Pay Ransom.

New York, NY - May 29, 2018 - Attorney General Barbara D. Underwood and State Police Superintendent George P. Beach II today announced the arrests of ringleader Giovani Ayala-Rodriguez, a.k.a. George Peters, 27, of Puerto Rico, and co-conspirators Eligio Jimenez-Correa, 40, of Syracuse, and Orlando Gonzalez-Rivera, 26, of Syracuse, for their roles in an elaborate telephone extortion scheme that operated in Onondaga and other counties throughout New York. The indictment, unsealed in Onondaga County Court, charges the defendants with multiple counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree (a Class C felony), attempted Grand Larceny in the Second Degree (a Class D felony), Coercion in the First Degree (a Class D felony), and Conspiracy in Fourth Degree (a Class E felony).

As we allege, the defendants engaged in a shameful scheme to terrorize and rob New Yorkers, said Attorney General Underwood. Todays takedown should send an unmistakable message to those who seek to extort New Yorkers: you will not get away with it.

Our investigation uncovered a ruthless scheme designed to extort money from the victims through fear and intimidation, and this type of criminal activity simply will not be tolerated. I commend our Special Investigations Unit and our partners at the Attorney Generals Office for their hard work to hold these suspects accountable for their actions, and deliver justice for their victims, said State Police Superintendent Beach.

The investigation has identified over 55 victims of this scheme, not only in Onondaga County, but also in Kings, Nassau, Oneida, Madison, Oswego, Cayuga, Niagara, Cortland, and Genesee Counties.

This case was the result of a joint investigation by the New York State Police (NYSP) and the New York State Attorney Generals Criminal Enforcement and Financial Crimes Bureau. After multiple complaints from victims who received telephone calls from an individual claiming to have kidnapped or otherwise detained their family members, the NYSP and the Attorney Generals Office opened an investigation into an ongoing larceny by extortion scheme occurring in Onondaga County and elsewhere in New York State; in March 2018, the agencies issued a consumer alert warning New Yorkers of this scheme.

According to the indictment filed in Onondaga County Court and statements made by prosecutors at arraignment, Ayala-Rodriguez, Jimenez-Correa, and Gonzalez-Rivera allegedly conducted an elaborate larceny by extortion scheme that operated as follows: Ayala-Rodriguez called victims and claimed that their close relatives were in a car accident that resulted in injury to his nephew. Ayala-Rodriguez claimed to have taken the victims sibling, spouse, or parent from the purported accident scene to a nearby residence. During the conversation, Ayala-Rodriguez demanded money from the victim, claiming that his injured relative did not have any insurance to pay related bills. Ayala-Rodriguez threatened to cause physical harm to the victims family members if a ransom was not paid. To further instill fear and compliance with his demands, Ayala-Rodriguez claimed that he was a drug dealer and/or gang member. When certain victims hesitated to comply with his demands, Ayala-Rodriguez threatened to shoot their relatives.

As further set forth in the indictment and based on statements made by prosecutors, some victims were allegedly directed to pay the ransom money by following a series of instructions to deliver the money to specific locations, some in the vicinity of Westcott and East Fayette Streets, in the City of Syracuse. In other instances, victims were allegedly directed to pay ransom money using various forms of wire transfers to specific accounts in the United States and/or Puerto Rico, including Walmart-to-Walmart transfers. According to prosecutors, Jimenez-Correa and Orlando-Rivera participated in the scheme by picking up monies delivered by victims.

After paying the ransom money, victims were allegedly directed to area hospitals to pick up their relatives, only to learn that they were the victims of an elaborate and terrifying hoax, and that their relatives had never been in car accidents or abducted.

The Attorney Generals indictment charges the defendants with the following crimes related to five victims of the alleged extortion scheme: alleged ringleader Ayala-Rodriguez is charged with three counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, three counts of Attempted Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, three counts of Coercion in the First Degree, and one count of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree. Jimenez-Correa is charged with two counts of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, one count of Attempted Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, two counts of Coercion in the First Degree, and one count of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree. Gonzalez-Rivera is charged with one count of Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, one count of Attempted Grand Larceny in the Second Degree, one count of Coercion in the First Degree, and one count of Conspiracy in the Fourth Degree.

Alleged ringleader Ayala-Rodriguez was apprehended last Friday in the Bronx, after flying to New York from Puerto Rico. Ayala-Rodriguez was arraigned today on the indictment before the Honorable Judge Doran in Onondaga County Court; bail was set at $500,000 cash or $1,000,000 bond, and he was ordered to surrender his passport. Ayala-Rodriguez is next scheduled to appear on June 21, 2018. Jimenez-Correa and Gonzalez-Rivera were apprehended in Syracuse, and are scheduled for arraignment on May 31, 2018.

If convicted of all counts charged, Ayala-Rodriguez and Jimenez-Correa face up to 10 to 20 years in prison; Gonzalez-Rivera faces up to 7 1/3 to 20 years in prison.

The charges are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

The NYSP and OAG investigation of additional crimes is ongoing. Any New Yorker who believes they may have been a victim of this scheme should immediately contact the New York State Police at 1-800-GIVETIP.

Attorney General Underwood reminds New Yorkers of the following tips to avoid falling victim to this type of extortion scheme:

If the caller is a stranger, be alert. Be aware that this type of extortion scam depends on fear. The scammer knows they need to work quickly to obtain your money because you may try to take steps, even while on the phone with the scammer, to figure out if your relative is in actual danger. Scammers will try to keep you on the line.

Never give out personal information to a stranger on the phone.

Never wire money through Western Union, MoneyGram, or any other wire service to a stranger.

Never purchase gift or money cards for the purpose of providing the gift card numbers to someone else.

Immediately contact the police if you get a call like the ones described here.

The Office of the Attorney General thanks the New York State Police, Syracuse Police Department, Port Authority Police Department, Onondaga County Sheriffs Department, Manilus Police Department, Syracuse Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and United States Department of Homeland Security for their invaluable assistance on this case.

The New York State Police investigation was conducted by Investigator Casey A. Cook, along with members from the State Police Special Investigations Unit and the Troop D Major Crime Unit.

The Attorney Generals investigation was conducted by Investigator Joel Cordone under the supervision of Deputy Chief Antoine Karam, with the assistance of Investigators Steven Pratt and Ismael Hernandez under the supervision of Supervising Investigator Michael Leahy and Deputy Chief John McManus. The Investigations Bureau is led by Chief Dominick Zarrella.
Local News, Business & Finance, Politics

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 29 2018

SUNY and State Department of Labor to Create Up to 2,000 New Pre-Apprenticeship and Apprenticeship Positions in Advanced Manufacturing & Healthcare.

Albany, NY - May 29, 2018 - Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced a $3 million investment for The State University of New York and the State Department of Labor to partner with New York businesses on the development of registered apprenticeship positions that directly answer New York's workforce needs. The Governor's program dedicates funding specific to the creation of up to 2,000 new pre-apprenticeship and registered apprenticeship positions in advanced manufacturing and healthcare over the next four to six years.

"A trained workforce is a strong workforce, and these registered apprenticeship programs address a growing need for skilled workers in advanced manufacturing and healthcare," Governor Cuomo said. "These critically important apprenticeship programs will support out workforce and create good-paying jobs that are the foundation of New York's middle class."

As part of the program, SUNY campuses convened employers for industry roundtables on a statewide and regional basis to aid in the expansion of registered apprenticeships. These groups will help identify particular workforce needs and skills gaps to be filled through the registered apprenticeship program, and discuss how employers can become sponsors. SUNY and NYSDOL will seek to link the roundtables to the work of the Regional Economic Development Councils and the Statewide Workforce Development Boards to help meet workforce development needs in critical industries across the state.

"As our economy continues to grow across the state, the importance of skilled labor continues to rise," said Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul. "There are so many careers today that go beyond the traditional four-year college model, and it is important for our state to invest in this key component of our workforce. This new partnership between SUNY, the Department of Labor, and the private sector will help New Yorkers to secure the training they need to be successful in advanced manufacturing and healthcare careers."

"Creating the best educated workforce comes from a continuum that connects the academic curriculum to real-life work experiences in a logical progression for the student, and our campuses have been doing just that with faculty and leadership in close partnership with local businesses," said SUNY Chancellor Kristina M. Johnson. "This work is strengthened by the Governor's investment, which will expand access to our targeted workforce development programs for our students and answer the economic needs in our communities."

"The New York State Department of Labor wants to ensure that every New Yorker has an opportunity to build a career, and not just get a joband the registered apprenticeship program will provide that opportunity," said State Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon. "This program will blend work and classroom experience, creating a career path for young men and women throughout New York State. The Department of Labor is excited to partner with SUNY, as this program will yield a portable, certified credential at completion. We are proud to implement Governor Cuomo's vision that will pave a clear road to a strong, diverse middle-class workforce."

"We are pleased that Mohawk Valley and Schenectady County Community Colleges will lead and operate advanced manufacturing and healthcare hubs, respectively," said Johanna Duncan-Poitier, Senior Vice Chancellor of Community Colleges and the Education Pipeline. "Together in partnership with SUNY system and NYSDOL, each campus will coordinate employer relations, program development, and outreach activities to both potential and existing apprentices. Each will also develop partnerships with other colleges, supporting an apprenticeship network across New York State."

Randall J. VanWagoner, President, Mohawk Valley Community College, said, "Apprenticeships are an outstanding way to blend the career-themed academic programs we and our partner colleges offer with the needs of our employers, as well as giving traditionally underrepresented populations an alternative path to a good-paying career. Higher education is a vital partner in preparing workers for the future and increasing the skills of workers who are helping our state and region compete against the world. This project continues SUNY's tradition of forging strong partnerships with employers and other colleges so that we can provide opportunity to the people of our state and region."

The registered apprenticeship program will enhance on-the-job training and related instruction for apprenticeships that include competency based training, exploring certificate, and degree programs with apprenticeship, as well as incorporating online modules and the use of subject matter and faculty experts to assist in updating curricula. Additionally, the program will explore new ideas for pre-apprenticeship training to include pathways for underrepresented minority populations.

SUNY has a proven history of workforce development programs. All 64 campuses offer students high-quality applied learning opportunities, and 15 of those campuses will soon require an applied learning experience to graduate. Applied learning programs include but are not limited to:

SUNY Works - internships, clinical placements in which more than 20,000 SUNY students are already enrolled; and cooperative education programs, in which SUNY faculty and area employers have jointly developed curricula that integrate classroom instruction and on-the-job experience. Approximately 1,740 students are currently enrolled in cooperative education programs across SUNY.

SUNY Serves - service-learning, community service, civic engagement and volunteerism. More than 30,000 SUNY students are currently engaged in formal service-learning programs for which they earn college credit, while tens of thousands more participate in community service and volunteer locally, nationally and around the globe.

SUNY Discovers - study abroad, student research, entrepreneurial ventures and field study. While SUNY research has a proud history of breakthrough discoveries, inventions and startups, our increased focus on applied learning has led to an unprecedented level of collaboration between SUNY students, faculty and industry experts to enable commercialization of the best ideas and innovations born at our campuses.

In addition, SUNY's longstanding Educational Opportunity Centers deliver community-based, academic, and workforce development programs and services to more than 20,000 adult learners at more than 40 locations across the state. EOCs assist students in re-entering the education pipeline who may have dropped out of school, are underprepared for the workforce or higher education, or who are seeking new or different skill sets in order to take advantage of new employment opportunities.

About The State University of New York
Nature & Weather, Local News, Crime

By Long Island News & PR Published: May 29 2018

Supervisor Lupinacci: "The number of arrests for boating while intoxicated has increased on Long Island, in New York State, and nationwide."

Huntington, NY - May 29, 2018 - Town Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci, Senior Harbormaster Fred Uvena and officials from the Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau announced plans to increase enforcement against unsafe and intoxicated boaters in Huntington Town waterways Thursday May 24 ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend. Huntington Town Supervisor Chad A. Lupinacci, Senior Harbormaster Fred Uvena and officials from the Suffolk County Police Marine Bureau announced plans to increase enforcement against unsafe and intoxicated boaters in Huntington Town waterways Thursday May 24 ahead of the Memorial Day holiday weekend.

We encourage safe, responsible boating on Huntingtons beautiful waterways, said Supervisor Lupinacci as he urged caution: The number of arrests for boating while intoxicated has increased on Long Island, in New York State, and nationwide. We are here today to remind the public that the Towns Bay Constables, along with the Suffolk County Marine Bureau, will be out on the waters to enforce boating safety.

Senior Harbormaster Fred Uvena offered boating safety tips, stressed the importance of having a designated skipper and warned members of the public that it takes only one beer to impair a person weighing 160 pounds.

If you have two beers, that will put you at .08, you are now BWI. You will be removed from your boat, we will take you to land, run you through a battery of tests and you will be taken to the Second Precinct for processing, warned Uvena, who encouraged boaters to call his office on channel 16 VHF if they encounter any problems on the water.

Gina Lieneck, mother of 11-year-old Brianna Lieneck, who lost her life in a boating collision caused by an intoxicated boater in 2005, spoke in support of Briannas Law, under consideration in the New York State Legislature, which would require mandatory boating safety classes for boaters.

Education and information the best way to have boating safety and boating safety is the best way to have boating enjoyment, said Village of Northport Trustee Ian Milligan, Commodore of the Greater Huntington Council of Yacht and Boating Clubs, who voiced support for legislation requiring boaters to be licensed.
Music, Movies & Entertainment, Local News, Arts & Culture

By Tom Needham Published: May 29 2018

Last Days of Disco director, Whit Stillman, Nile Rodgers and KC and the Sunshine Bands Harry Wayne Casey are guests on Tom Needhams The Sounds of Film.

Stony Brook, NY - May 29, 2018 - Director Whit Stillman is Tom Needhams exclusive guest this Thursday at 6:00 PM on Director Whit Stillman is Tom Needhams exclusive guest this Thursday at 6:00 PM on WUSBs The Sounds of Film. He is going to be discussing the 20th anniversary of The Last Days of Disco. The show is also airing encore interviews with disco legends Nile Rodgers and KC and the Sunshine Bands Harry Wayne Casey.

This summer marks the 20th anniversary of Whit Stillmans disco era classic The Last Days of Disco. The film follows the misadventures of a group of twenty-something college graduates navigating the early-80s disco scene. The film features young workers in the publishing and advertising worlds who suffer growing pains and melancholy related to the end of a special era. The film stars Chloe Sevigny, Kate Beckinsale, Robert Sean Leonard, Jennifer Beals and Chris Eigerman. The successful soundtrack features music by Diana Ross, Sister Sledge, The Ojays, and Cheryl Lynn. The film is available on Criterions Blu-ray and DVD and is going to be screened nationally at select theaters to mark its 20th anniversary.

The Sounds of Film is also featuring encore airings of Tom Needhams interviews with music legends Nile Rodgers and KC and the Sunshine Bands Harry Wayne Casey. Nile Rodgers was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He is a record producer, songwriter, composer, arranger and guitarist. His band Chic is responsible for some of discos most influential hits including Good Times, Le Freak, and Dance, Dance, Dance. KC and the Sunshine Band are also one of pop musics most successful groups. Their music has been featured in over 200 film soundtracks. Some of their many hits include Thats the Way (I Like It), Get Down Tonight, and Shake Your Booty. The Sounds of Film is going to be playing music from Nile Rodgers, KC and Sunshine Band, and The Last Days of Disco Soundtrack.

About the Sounds of Film
ABC News(SEATTLE) -- This Memorial Day weekend, Americans across the country have been finding their own unique way to remember and honor the fallen.



For weeks now, Jordan Houghton and others from the American Legion Post 206 in Seattle have spent their free time cleaning the headstones of veterans at the Evergreen Washelli Cemetery.



"A lot of people think it's a long weekend. In reality, it's about the sacrifices that families have made and those people from the families," said Houghton, also a veteran.



Houghton, who's worked hours trying to scrub the decades' worth of dirt and grime from the headstones, said every person buried in the cemetery "has a story" and he's picked up little pieces of each veteran's life.



"Well, there's a lot of stuff that's lost in history. Some of these graves tell amazing stories," he told ABC News affiliate KOMO-TV recently.



He said he'd found an Irish doctor who'd served as a commander as well as a World War I nurse corps lieutenant, who, he said, was likely one of the first females ever to serve in the Army.



During his visits, he's also gotten a chance to meet with military families. He said that while he and others have cleaned about a couple thousand headstones, a few thousand still remain.



The American Legion Post 206 plans to keep at the cleaning effort until every last one is no longer defiled.



"You do get a little bit of an intimate history of this person, where they were born, how they lived, what they earned while they were in the military. It's really interesting," Houghton said.

Copyright  2018, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
Greg Saulmon / The Republican

The fallen from the War on Terror

Before Chicopee's Memorial Day parade stepped off, Scott C. Pearson of Palmer stopped to view the city's new War on Terror monument. Dedicated earlier this month, the monument pays tribute to six service members with ties to the city killed between 1983 and today.

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Jeanette DeForge / The Republican

Army Sgt. 1st Class Kevin A. Dupont is one of the service members honored by Chicopee's War on Terror monument. Dupont died in June 2009, three months after a Humvee he was riding in struck an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan. At center in the video above is Dupont's mother, Gwendolyn Dupont, laying a wreath at the monument during the city's 2018 Memorial Day ceremony. At right is retired Master Sgt. Kimberly Babin; at left is Chicopee High School Junior ROTC student Zuniga Vazquez.

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Don Treeger / The Republican

History in Florence

Thousands lined the streets in Florence, a village of Northampton that's home to the nation's longest-running Memorial Day parade. This year marked the parade's 150th anniversary.

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Don Treeger / The Republican

'We're going to remember the fallen'

U.S. Air Force Maj. General Gary W. Keefe, adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, delivered the keynote address in Florence. Shortly before the parade began, Keefe spoke of the importance of honoring the men and women "who paid the ultimate sacrifice to keep this country the beacon of freedom it has been since its inception."

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Don Treeger / The Republican

Retired Air National Guard Sgt. Edward Keefe waves to the crowd during the Florence parade.

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Scott J. Croteau / MassLive

In Worcester, city officials, veterans and people from across Central Massachusetts attended a ceremony at the Massachusetts Vietnam Veterans' Memorial. Above, John Rice of the Marine Corps League Blackstone Valley detachment plays the bugle at the ceremony.

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Scott J. Croteau

'Anchors away:' A musical tribute in Worcester

Harold Pierce performed a song during the Worcester ceremony.

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Mike Plaisance / The Republican

'Comfort them today' chaplain says of families at Holyoke ceremony

At a ceremony in Veterans Park in downtown Holyoke, chaplain Chad Correia spoke of lifting up the families of service members -- those who, as he said, have "given their sons and daughters, and husbands and wives."

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Mike Plaisance / The Republican

'You step left, nothing happens. You step right, bad things happen.'

Holyoke's ceremony included remarks by retired U.S. Army Colonel Stephen P. White, who spoke of the randomness of war.

"I have been machine-gunned, mortared, mined, rocketed and IED'd," White said. "They're all random acts. You step left, nothing happens. You step right, bad things happen."

He continued: "All the military killed while serving are particularly deserving to be honored. None thought bad things would happen to them. They answered the call of our nation and paid the full measure. For that we are eternally grateful."

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Jim Kinney / The Republican

'It's a chance to say his name'

In West Springfield, Gold Star mother Tracy Taylor spoke about her son, Army Spc. Kenneth J. Iwasinski, an infantryman killed Oct. 14, 2007, in Iraq. He was 22.

"It's a chance to say his name, Kenny Iwasinski of West Springfield," Taylor told a gathering on the town green. "So that he'll never be forgotten."

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Mary C. Serreze / Special to The Republican

'I close my eyes, and I see Army Specialist David Roustum'

Speaking at Easthampton's ceremony, retired Air Force Lt. Col. John Paradis recalled Army Spc. David L. Roustum, killed when his vehicle was ambushed in Baghdad in November 2004. "He served on security details that protected me and other officers," Paradis said.

After the attack, Paradis said, as combat surgeons fought to keep Roustum alive, "I remember the emergency call out for his blood type and how immediately we had service members from all over Baghdad lined up to donate blood."

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Mary C. Serreze / Special to The Republican

'I thank you all'

Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle read a proclamation from Gov. Charlie Baker, prefacing that statement with an offer of gratitude.

"It is very hard to look out among all these folks from our city and our surrounding communities and not think about the ultimate sacrifice and sacrifices our armed services commit every single day for us to be a strong city, state and country," LaChapelle said. "I thank you all."

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Greg Saulmon / The Republican

The stories behind the names

"Every one of those military heroes has a story that goes way beyond their name, and the branch of the service they served in and the date they were born and the date that they died," Gov. Charlie Baker said in remarks at the Massachusetts Veterans' Memorial Ceremony in Agawam.

Baker then explored one of those stories -- that of Marine Sgt. Andrew Farrar Jr. of Weymouth. Farrar was 31 when he was electrocuted during a search for insurgents in the area of Fallujah, Iraq, on Jan. 28, 2005.

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Above: Tech Sgt. Kaitlin M. Bellows, of the Westover Air Reserve Base Honor Guard, hands an American flag to Baker during the ceremony.

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Greg Saulmon / The Republican

The call to service

Among those attending the veterans' cemetery ceremony in Agawam was 98-year-old Hubert J. D'Ambrosio, of Feeding Hills, who enlisted in the U.S. Coast Guard the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Following the ceremony, D'Ambrosio placed a rose at the headstone for his wife, Dorothy F. D'Ambrosio, who worked with the American Red Cross for over 60 years. The stone already bears his name, too.

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Conor Berry / The Republican

'A day like no other'

The speaking program in Agawam included remarks by Francisco A. Urena, secretary of the Massachusetts Department of Veterans' Services. "We remember their courage. We remember their selflessness. We remember their gallant actions," Urena said of those who "laid down their lives, from the American Revolution to the present day."

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BrainCool, a Swedish company, obtained FDA clearance for its IQool Warm System. The device, the name of which seems to be intended to be an oxymoron, can be used to both cool and reheat patients. The companys first FDA cleared product, the IQool, which looks identical to the newly approved one, is indicated for rapidly cooling the body using pads placed around the head, neck, thighs, and torso.

Cooling the body can have beneficial consequences following strokes and heart attacks, as well as some other conditions. Being able to cool and rewarm a person should provide a lot more leeway for clinicians to perform thermal regulation procedures without harming the patient.

Both systems use the companys BCCOOL liquid that is non-toxic and doesnt allow bacteria to grow within it, helping to reduce the chances of infection, though the system is non-invasive.

We are very pleased to be moving into new clinical applications of our IQool System in the US to combine cooling and warming of patients quickly and effectively, in a statement said Martin Waleij, CEO of BrainCool. The implementation of the warming function is essential to offset cooling when reaching target temperature quickly, and maintaining target temperature within narrow limits over time. The cooling process may be enhanced and the added effective warming component aims to add precision to temperature management.

Flashback: BrainCools IQool Patient Cooling System Cleared in U.S

Product page: IQool System

Via: BrainCool
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, May 28, 2018

A draft copyright rule endorsed by the European Union ambassadors on Friday would require Google, Microsoft Bing and other search engines to pay publishers for serving up snippets from the content on their sites in search engine query results.

Under the ruling, publishers would have the right to ask search engines to pay them for showing their articles for up to one year after publication. The original proposal from the European Commission would have given publishers the right to ask for payment for up to 20 years, reports Reuters.

The copyright reform package also would require websites like YouTube to license the content from rights holders before displaying their content. This would include a music video.
by Sarah Mahoney @mahoney_sarah, May 29, 2018

Walgreens, which has spent the last four years trying to make Red Nose Day an American charity tradition, says consumers are in the dark about how widespread childhood poverty is in the United States. The retailers new marketing research about perceptions of poverty has led to broader messages of inclusivity in its overall marketing  even if that means moving the brand forward into potentially dicey political territory. Adam Holyk, senior vice president and CMO of the Chicago-based pharmacy chain, tells Marketing Daily whats new.

Q. You just wrapped up the fourth annual Red Nose Day, which raises money to ease childhood poverty, and your new research finds that, while 80% of Americans think childhood poverty is a serious global problem, only 21% believe it persists in their own communities. Why the disconnect?

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A. We dont have an explanation. But we do see it as an opportunity to raise awareness and engage our customers. And it also fits into our broader purpose, which is to champion the health and well-being of consumers, patients and communities. So this idea that everyone counts, every child counts, fits into the positioning of our marketing and stores. And it broadens that statement of inclusivity, which has been part of the Walgreens brand since the beginning.

Q. Red Nose Day and Comic Relief have been around for a long time. What kind of impact is the U.S. version of Red Nose Day having?

A. Over the past three years, in combination with our partners, weve raised over $100 million to help 8 million children. Last year, it was $20 million, and we hope to exceed that this year. Awareness keeps growing, too. It was around 4% when we started, and this year its almost 50%. Among Walgreens, its now 95%. Were proud of raising awareness about poverty.

Q. When you started with Red Nose Day, alleviating childhood poverty probably seemed  from a consumer standpoint  benign. Thats changed. President Donald Trump and Congress are reducing both SNAP, benefits that feed poor children, and CHIP, which provides kids with healthcare. Ten states are in the midst of implementing work requirements for benefits that will have a big impact on kids. Sentiment against helping poor kids is rising. Put another way, in an era when all causes are evaluated as either liberal or conservative, fighting poverty is becoming a liberal cause. Is that why you commissioned the research this year?

A. Were focused on how to drive awareness among our consumers to help these important causes.

Q. Do you worry about a backlash? For example, is there a corporate plan of response if a Twitter war were to start about your efforts, as has happened to other brands?

A. Were committed to helping support important issues that we believe will help children.

Q. Can you give us an update on the brand relaunch, which began back in December, replacing At the corner of happy and healthy with the new Trusted since 1901 campaign? And how does this fit?

A. The genesis of the rebranding happened in a focus group, as we were talking about the history of the brand. We kept hearing about trust. The insight came from a consumer, who said I know that since youve been here for me since 1901, you will always be here for me.

Q. Youve always had competition, but lately, changing business models are making it more intense  including big mergers at CVS and Walmart, and speculation about Amazons entry into pharmacy. How are you differentiating yourself amid all that innovation?

A. Were bringing our marketing together with our customer offers, and continuing to evolve omnichannel offers. And this idea of being a trusted expert is important. For example, were expanding our beauty offers in almost 3,000 stores, with new brands and accessible healthcare services. We just introduced a partnership with the Skin Cancer Foundation. Our broader global assets include No. 7, with clinically proven skincare products. We think thats important. Weve got pilots going in urgent care and diagnostics. These are new ways were looking to deliver to community, and we think these are all meaningful differentiators.
by Melynda Fuller , May 29, 2018

When the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) finally went into effect May 25, newspapers in the U.S. responded in many ways, with some blocking European readers from their sites.

Tech companies Facebook and Twitter responded to the regulation by deleting the accounts of users with EU IP addresses who wouldnt agree to their privacy policies.

The Washington Post, rather than block readers, introduced a Premium E.U. Subscription. The new level of subscription costs $9 every four weeks or $90 a year, as opposed to the basic subscription rate of $6 ever four week or $60 a year.

By paying for the premium service, subscribers are guaranteed their data will not be used by third-party ad trackers. Also, they will not see on-site advertising, thereby complying with the new regulation.

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Those with a basic subscriptions consent to the use of cookies and tracking by both WaPo and third parties.

Other outlets, like those owned by Tronc, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, have outright blocked readers with an EU IP address, while The USA Today Network limited access to its site, providing European readers with its European Union Experience.
by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, May 29, 2018



While much of the focus on the EUs new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) has been on the downside for brands, including the costs associated with privacy compliance and the loss of identity and behavior data targeting, Paris-based Capgemini fielded research to evaluate the upside. The study, which surveyed 6,000 

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by Wendy Davis @wendyndavis, May 29, 2018

Data brokers that sell personal information about residents of Vermont must register with the state, under a new law regulating the industry.

The law (H-764) -- which is the first state measure regulating data brokers -- was enacted last week without the governor's signature. In addition to the registration provision, the bill requires data brokers to notify people about security breaches, and to disclose whether they allow consumers to opt out of having their information collected, stored or sold. The measure also prohibits data brokers from charging customers to place a freeze on their accounts.

"While data brokers offer many benefits, there are also risks associated with the widespread aggregation and sale of data about consumers, including risks related to consumers ability to know and control information held and sold about them and risks arising from the unauthorized or harmful acquisition and use of consumer information," the law states.

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The measure was backed by Vermont Attorney General TJ Donovan, who stated the bill "promotes transparency" and "helps stop fraudsters."

The bill's broad definition of data broker includes companies that "aggregate and sell the personal information of consumers with whom they do not have a direct relationship." Companies that collect information firsthand -- including retailers, social media sites and search engines -- aren't covered by the measure.

"There are important differences between 'data brokers' and businesses with whom consumers have a direct relationship," the bill states. "Consumers who have a direct relationship with traditional and e-commerce businesses may have some level of knowledge about and control over the collection of data by those businesses... By contrast, consumers may not be aware that data brokers exist, who the companies are, or what information they collect, and may not be aware of available recourse."

Ad industry groups, data brokers and Silicon Valley opposed the measure. The Association of National Advertisers recently said the measure "has an overly broad definition of 'personal information,'" among other concerns.

The type of personal information covered by the bill includes names, birthdates, addresses, biometric data (like fingerprints or retina scans), Social Security numbers and "other information that, alone or in combination with the other information sold or licensed, would allow a reasonable person to identify the consumer with reasonable certainty."

The definition excludes "publicly available information to the extent that it is related to a consumers business or profession."

The ANA -- along with the Data and Marketing Association, Internet Association and various other organizations and companies -- unsuccessfully urged Vermont Governor Phil Scott to veto the bill. The groups criticized the measure on a number of fronts, including its definition of personal information.

"The definition of 'brokered personal information' includes innocuous, lone data elements, such as: name, names of relatives, and place of birth. Much of this information is already publicly available and would not pose a risk of harm to consumers if breached," the groups wrote to Scott last week.

The ANA and others also objected to defining personal information as information that can be combined with other data to piece together people's identities. "While almost any piece of data could be linked to a consumer, it is appropriate to consider whether such a link is practical or likely in light of current technology," they wrote.
Colorectal cancer, also known as bowel cancer, colon cancer, or rectal cancer, is any cancer that affects the colon and rectum. The American Cancer Society (ACS) expects to see around 104,270 new cases of colon cancer and 45,230 new cases of rectal cancer in the United States in 2021. Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the U.S. and the second cause of cancer-related deaths.



The incidence varies around the world. It is more common in countries with a higher economic status, but according to a 2021 analysis , it is also more likely to affect individuals with a low income. Fatality rates have been falling due to medical advances. Also, the 2021 analysis observes that numbers of diagnoses are rising among people younger than 50 years old, possibly due to improvements in screening. In this article, learn about the symptoms of colorectal cancer and the treatments. Also, find out about the risk factors, some of which are avoidable.

Symptoms Share on Pinterest Illustration by Diego Sabogal Colorectal cancer may not cause symptoms in the early stages. If it does, they may include : changes in bowel habits

diarrhea or constipation

a feeling that the bowel does not empty properly

blood in feces that makes it look dark brown or black

bright red blood from the rectum

abdominal pain and bloating

feeling full, even when a long time has passed since a meal

fatigue or tiredness

unexplained weight loss

anemia If a doctor finds signs of anemia during a routine medical check, they may suggest screening for colorectal cancer. Others receive the diagnosis after routine screening. Around 40% of people with this type of cancer receive the diagnosis when the disease is in an early stage. The symptoms can be similar to those of many other health conditions. Anyone who has concerns about these symptoms should seek medical advice.

Early signs Among people who receive a diagnosis of colorectal cancer after reporting symptoms: 37% have blood in feces or from the rectum

have blood in feces or from the rectum 34% have abdominal pain

23% have anemia Among those who receive the diagnosis after seeking emergency medical assistance: 57% have a blockage in their bowel

25% have peritonitis, or inflammation of the stomach lining

18% have a perforation, or hole, in their bowel Some people only notice symptoms in the later stages, when the cancer has spread to the lungs, liver, or other areas. The symptoms can depend on the area affected. If cancer spreads to the liver, a person may have jaundice, which causes yellowing of the whites of the eyes. If a person has white or light brown skin, it may also appear yellowish. If cancer affects the lungs, the person may have difficulty breathing or a cough. Does Medicare cover screening for colorectal cancer?

Treatment Treatment will depend on several factors. These include: the size and location of tumors, and the cancers stage

whether the cancer is recurrent

the persons overall health Treatment options include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery. Palliative care can help manage symptoms, such as pain, and improve the quality of life. Surgery Surgery is the primary treatment for colorectal cancer that is limited to the colon. It aims to remove cancerous tissue, including tumors and nearby lymph nodes, and prevent the cancer from spreading. The surgeon usually sews the bowel back together, but they may need to insert a stoma and colostomy bag for drainage. This is often temporary. Surgery may remove all traces of early stage cancer. In the later stages, surgery cannot stop the cancer from spreading, but removing a blockage can help ease any symptoms. Chemotherapy Chemotherapy drugs destroy cancerous cells throughout the body. This may help treat colon cancer or shrink a tumor before surgery. It can also help relieve symptoms in the later stages. This approach, however, can have widespread adverse effects, as it targets both cancerous and healthy cells. Targeted therapy This involves taking drugs that target specific proteins to slow or prevent the growth of cancerous cells. The adverse effects are usually less severe than those of chemotherapy because these drugs only target specific cells. Immunotherapy This drug treatment helps the body use its immune system to detect and eliminate cancerous cells. It may help some people with advanced colorectal cancer. Possible adverse effects include an autoimmune reaction, in which the body mistakenly attacks its own cells. Radiation therapy Radiation therapy uses high-energy radiation beams to destroy cancerous cells and prevent them from multiplying. A doctor may recommend it to help shrink a tumor before surgery for rectal cancer. They may also use it alongside chemotherapy, in an approach known as chemoradiation. It can have long- and short-term adverse effects. Ablation Ablation involves using microwaves, radiofrequency, ethanol, or cryosurgery to destroy a tumor without removing it. A surgeon delivers the therapy using a probe or needle guided by ultrasound or CT scans. Palliative and end-of-life care If colorectal cancer spreads to organs beyond the colon, progressing to stage 4, it is not possible to cure it. Other options may include: surgery to remove a blockage

radiation therapy or chemotherapy to reduce the size of tumors

pain relief

treatment for side effects of medication

counseling In the future: Vaccines Scientists are hopeful that a vaccine to treat colorectal cancer will soon become available. Clinical findings published in 2019 concluded that one vaccine, called Ad5-GUCY2C-PADRE, may help people with colorectal cancer that has not yet reached stage 3.

Causes and risk factors It is not clear exactly why colorectal cancer occurs. Most cases probably result from a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Around 70% of cases happen for no clear reason, while 10% appear to be inherited and 20% happen in family clusters. Some other associated factors may include : being of older age

being male

having a low income

having a diet low in fiber and high in animal protein, saturated fats, and calories

having a diet high in red or processed meats

consuming alcohol

smoking

getting low levels of physical activity

being overweight or having obesity

having inflammatory bowel disease

having type 2 diabetes

having certain genetic features

having had breast, ovary, or uterine cancer

having undergone radiation therapy for abdominal cancer in childhood

having polyps in the colon or rectum Polyps are sometimes precancerous. Learn about one type, called sessile polyps, that can develop in the colon. Black Americans have a higher risk Research from 2018 concludes that Black Americans are more likely to develop and die from colorectal cancer than any other group in the U.S.



The chance of a Black person having this type of cancer is at least 20% higher than the chance of a white person having it, and the fatality rate is 40% higher for Black people, the ACS report. Explaining the reasons, the ACS cites socioeconomic factors and inequity in terms of screening specifically and healthcare generally, as well as employment, diet, and other factors related to daily life.



The authors of the 2018 analysis say that further research is needed to identify whether colorectal cancer affects Black people in specific ways, and they note that this investigation might lead to more effective treatment. What is health inequity? Learn more here.

Stages The stage of cancer refers to how far it has spread. Determining the stage helps doctors chose the most appropriate treatment. Share on Pinterest Image credit: ttsz/iStock There are different methods of staging. One method is: Stage 0 : This is the earliest stage, also known as carcinoma in situ, when the cancer is only in the inner layer of the colon or rectum.

This is the earliest stage, also known as carcinoma in situ, when the cancer is only in the inner layer of the colon or rectum. Stage 1 : The cancer has grown through the inner layer of the colon or rectum but has not spread beyond the wall of the rectum or colon.

The cancer has grown through the inner layer of the colon or rectum but has not spread beyond the wall of the rectum or colon. Stage 2 : The cancer has grown through or into the wall of the colon or rectum but has not yet reached nearby lymph nodes.

The cancer has grown through or into the wall of the colon or rectum but has not yet reached nearby lymph nodes. Stage 3 : The cancer has reached nearby lymph nodes but not other parts of the body.

The cancer has reached nearby lymph nodes but not other parts of the body. Stage 4: The cancer is present in other parts of the body, such as the liver or lungs. Sometimes, treatment eliminates the cancer, but it comes back in the same area or another part of the body. This is called recurrent cancer.

Diagnosis Screening can detect polyps before they become cancerous. It can also detect colon cancer in the early stages, when it is easier to treat. In 80% of cases, a doctor diagnoses colorectal cancer after performing a colonoscopy because the person has symptoms. Routine screening detects 11% of cases, and 7% of people with colorectal cancer receive a diagnosis after seeking emergency care for sudden abdominal symptoms. The following are the most common screening and diagnostic procedures for colorectal cancer. Colonoscopy Share on Pinterest Image credit: ttsz/iStock Colonoscopy is the gold standard diagnostic tool for colorectal cancer. It has a high level of accuracy and can show precisely where a tumor is. The procedure involves using a long, thin, flexible tool called a colonoscope that contains a light and a camera. It allows the doctor to see the whole colon and rectum. They may also remove polyps or take tissue for a biopsy during the procedure. A colonoscopy is painless, but some people take a mild sedative to help them stay calm. Beforehand, a person may need to drink a laxative fluid to clean out their colon. Bleeding and perforation of the colon wall are rare but possible complications. Blood stool test This checks for blood in a stool sample. This issue can result from many conditions  it does not mean that cancer is present. A person can take their stool sample at home or at work. Stool immunochemistry Also known as a fecal immunochemistry test, this checks for hidden blood in the lower colon. It involves using a small kit to collect a stool sample at home. What are some other causes of rectal bleeding? Stool DNA test This test checks for several DNA markers that colon cancers or precancerous polyps shed into stool. A person collects an entire bowel movement at home for testing in a lab. If the result is positive, a colonoscopy is necessary. It is worth keeping in mind that this test cannot detect every DNA marker of cancer. Flexible sigmoidoscopy This procedure involves using a sigmoidoscope, a flexible, thin, lighted tube, to examine the rectum and sigmoid colon  the last part of the colon before the rectum. The test takes a few minutes and is not painful, but it might be uncomfortable. There is a small risk of perforating the colons wall. Barium enema X-ray Barium is a contrast dye that can reveal any unusual features on an X-ray. A healthcare professional introduces it into the bowel as an enema. A doctor may recommend a colonoscopy for closer investigation following a barium enema X-ray. CT colonography This produces images of the colon. It is less invasive than a colonoscopy, but if it reveals a mass, the person will need a colonoscopy. Imaging scans Ultrasound, CT, or MRI scans can show if cancer has spread to another part of the body. Learn more about tests other than a colonoscopy that can detect colorectal cancer

Outlook The outlook for someone with colorectal cancer depends on many different factors, including their age, their overall health, and the stage at which the cancer was diagnosed. The ACS provides 5-year survival rates. These reflect the likelihood of living for at least another 5 years after the diagnosis, compared with a person who does not have colorectal cancer. The ACS gives survival rates using these stages: Local : The cancer has stayed in its original location.

: The cancer has stayed in its original location. Regional: The cancer has spread to nearby tissues.

The cancer has spread to nearby tissues. Distant: It has reached more distant parts of the body. This table shows the estimated 5-year survival rates for a person with colon cancer. Stage 5-year survival rate Stage 1 (local) 91% Stage 2 (regional) 72% Stage 3 (distant) 14% Overall 63% This table shows the estimated 5-year survival rates for a person with rectal cancer: Stage 5-year survival rate Stage 1 (local) 89% Stage 2 (regional) 72% Stage 3 (distant) 16% Overall 67% According to a 2010 report from the National LGBT Cancer Network, the risk of dying from colorectal and other types of cancer may be higher for gay men due to challenges in accessing appropriate healthcare. Here, learn more about the life expectancy for people with stage 4 colon cancer.

Prevention Colorectal cancer can affect anyone, and it is not possible to prevent it. However, some measures may help reduce the risk. Screening Current guidelines from the American College of Physicians recommend regular screening for people who: have a personal or family history of colorectal cancer

are Black Americans aged 45 years or over

are not Black, over 50, and have an average risk

have Crohns disease, Lynch syndrome, or adenomatous polyposis A doctor will recommend a specific schedule of screening. For example, they may recommend a stool test every 2 years and a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy every 10 years. Nutrition Dietary measures that may help reduce the risk include: eating plenty of fiber, fruits, and vegetables

eating quality carbohydrates

limiting the intake of red and processed meats.

opting for healthy fats, such as avocados, olive oil, fish oils, and nuts, instead of saturated fats Exercise and weight Moderate, regular exercise may help lower the risk of colorectal cancer. Exercise can also help reduce the risk of obesity, which is linked with colorectal and other cancers. Aspirin Experts have found that taking aspirin may help reduce the risk in some people, but speak with a doctor about this first. Vaccines Researchers are investigating the potential for vaccines to prevent colorectal cancer. One option that has been successful in mice is a vaccine that stops polyps from becoming cancerous. This might one day help people with a high risk.
A new study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, reports a link between depression and accelerated aging of the brain. Its authors suggest their findings may help to inform future dementia research. Share on Pinterest Does depression speed up cognitive decline? Depression can affect anyone at any stage of their life. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), about 1 in 6 people in the United States will experience depression at some point in their life. Scientists do not know the exact cause of depression, but many believe it is a combination of psychological, genetic, biological, and environmental factors. Certain risk factors are already known; for instance, having relatives who have had depression, experiencing traumatic events, going through a major life change, and using alcohol or drugs.

Depression and dementia Previously, scientists have identified an association between depression and an increased risk of dementia later in life. A 2015 study published in JAMA Psychiatry , for example, found that people with depression had an 83 percent increased risk of acquiring dementia compared with people who did not have depression. The same study also found that people who had depression and type 2 diabetes were at even higher risk of developing dementia, with a 117 percent increased risk compared with people who had neither condition. A linked commentary to the 2015 study said that, while scientists at this stage do not yet know whether treatment of depression may offer protection against cognitive decline and onset of dementia, the hypothesis is plausible. The new study  conducted by psychologists at the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom  is the first to provide substantial evidence of the relationship between depression and impairment of overall cognitive function in the general population. The researchers conducted a systematic review of 34 longitudinal studies (long-term observational studies) that had investigated links between depression or anxiety and cognitive decline. This included assessing data from 71,000 participants. To get a clearer picture of how depression might influence the aging brain, the authors excluded any participants who were diagnosed with dementia at the start of the study. The team concluded that people who had experienced depression had more extensive cognitive decline later in life than people who had not experienced depression.
Rajinikanth fans rejoice! Thalaivar is back and get ready to be blown away after watching the jaw-dropping trailer of his upcoming movie, 'Kaala'. The 90-second clip introduces us to the superstar as the champion of the masses. The gangster-drama brings Kaala Karikaalan, who's everyone's favourite in the Dharavi slum.

(c) Wunderbar Studios

After his last movie 'Kabali', Rajinikanth is back donning the gangster avatar effortlessly, proving that he is the king indeed, and no one can take that title away from him.

(c) Wunderbar Studios

We also see the amazing Nana Patekar as the corrupt politician, who will go to any lengths to get what he wants and anyone who dares to oppose him...will be exterminated. Kaala finds his nemesis in Nana, and we can expect a glorious showdown between the two.

(c) Wunderbar Studios

It's amazing to see the two incredible actors sharing the same screen space. Rajinikanth and Nana being pitted against each other...what more can a movie buff ask for? It goes without saying that it will be an ultimate battle of power that you just can't miss.

(c) Wunderbar Studios

Set in the backdrop of Mumbai, the trailer has already gone viral and believe us, it has plenty of whistle-worthy dialogues. We also see Huma Qureshi making a small cameo.

(c) Wunderbar Studios

Directed by Pa Ranjith, the movie also stars Sampath and Samuthirakani in key roles. Touted as one of the biggest Tamil movies, it is set for a worldwide release on June 7.

(c) Wunderbar Studios

Watch the new trailer of 'Kaala' here:
India is currently in the midst of a fuel crisis but both the government and the opposition seem to have abandoned the general public. With prices of petrol touching Rs 86.24 per litre in Mumbai and Rs 78.43 per litre in Delhi, the situation is worsening by the day and with no respite in sight, the Prime Minister has already left for a trip to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

 BCCL

While Modi is on an official strategic visit, leaving the country without even acknowledging the punishing fuel prices is despicable to say the least. A good government is always for the people, looking to elevate the discomfort in their day to day lives and yet there seems to a massive disconnect between what the people of the country desire right now and how the government is acting out in respect to rising fuel prices.

The opposition seems to be disintegrated at the moment too, with the Congress party president, Rahul Gandhi currently on a foreign trip with his mother due to medical conditions. A headless opposition, therefore, hasn't been able to respond formidably to the government's ineptitude in dealing with the rising fuel prices.

 carhelpline

The price of petrol is at an all time high currently. Over the past 15 years, there hasn't been a single occasion when the public has had to pay these prices for a just a litre of fuel. It is also a failure of the Modi government which promised people cheaper fuel if it came to power in 2014. While the general public has to take the hit of these high fuel prices, both the government and the opposition have really let down the people of the country who bank on them for grievance redressal.
UPPER THUMB -- ITC will be conducting its semi-annual aerial patrols of high-voltage transmission towers and lines in east Michigan.

Patrols will run from May 31 to June 8, weather permitting. The helicopter patrols are conducted to provide an overall status of the overhead transmission system that is operated by ITC's Michigan operating entities, ITC Transmission and Michigan Electric Transmission Company, LLC.
UPPER THUMB  Its that time of the year when farmers markets are getting underway and Huron County has two new ones opening.

Instead of having a one-day farmers market in downtown Sebewaing, there will be one operating all summer.

The market will be open 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., from June 4 through September in Muellerweiss Park, which is downtown off of Center Street next to the Sebewaing River.

Along with fresh produce, vendors are expected to have baked goods and arts and crafts items. The Sebewaing Chamber of Commerce will coordinate the markets operation. For more information or to be a vendor, call 989-551-2739.

Also, the village of Ubly in the Veterans Memorial Park will host a farmers market for the first time this year. The market will be open 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., each Saturday from now until Sept. 15, except for July 14 during the annual homecoming celebration.

Aside from produce, the vendors will offer woodworking and craft items.

For more information or to become a vendor, call 989-315-1225.

There is one farmers market that opened last year in Cass City that won't be returning.

There will be no farmers market this year. The EDC (Economic Development Corporation) from Caro sponsored the one held at the old Campbell Elementary School last year. They are not doing it this year, said Cass City Chamber of Commerce Director Judy Keller. There was a group of four of us who tried to put one together for this year to be held at Rotary Park, but we weren't able to get anyone to commit to it.

Last May, the Thumb Market Center operated an outdoor and indoor market for a few months in the Campbell Elementary School. It will not be operating this year.

However, there was interest expressed in the possibility of renting the former Antique Mall downtown for a farmers market held by the Amish during the April meeting of the downtown development authority.

The authoritys Chair James Kranz requested that the Amish present a written rent proposal for consideration.

Also, Unionville has hosted a farmers market at Kemp Park at the intersection of M-24 and M-25 for the last few years. It will open June 15, and go each Friday until the end of August, said Judy Remar who helps coordinate the event.

For more information or to be a vendor, call 979-848-6986.
TUSCOLA COUNTY  A conversation between a couple of history buffs turned into a joint effort to be certain the graves of every veteran in Tuscola County is recognized.

The conversation was about an article of a solider who helped capture John Wilks Booth after President Abraham Lincolns assassination. The article was buried in a Tuscola County cemetery and the location was unknown.

Long-time veteran advocate Gail Lesoski attempted to find that soldiers grave. Although she didnt find it, she made another discovery.

While looking for that grave, I saw so many veterans graves that didnt have a bronze marker to hold a flag, she said. Thats not right. They all, and I mean all, deserve to be recognized and honored, and have the marker to hold a flag on Memorial Day.

As part of her mission to do that, she contacted Tuscola County Veterans Affairs Director Mark Zmierski.

For their effort, there will be more flags and special markers on veteran graves. It is estimated there could be as many as 7,000 veteran grave sites in the county, and only a small percentage have markers and/or receive a flag.

It is the first time the veteran affairs office has distributed flags and markers. The money comes from a levy for veteran affairs operations.

Each veterans' grave is meant to have a special metal marker with the inscription, "U.S. Veteran," that holds a flag.

Michigan Public Act 63 of 1915 provides for the furnishing of suitable flag holders and United States flags for the graves of veterans for memorial purposes, and includes a penalty for the removal or destruction of the flag holders and the flags when placed, stated Lesoski, a widow of a Vietnam veteran who died from Agent Orange complications.

Previously, making sure a veteran had a marker was up to the family.

With keeping track of the veterans as they pass becoming a substantial undertaking, Zmierski and Lesoski contacted veteran organizations, township officials and some volunteers about providing the information to create a database of deceased veterans to create a Tuscola County Veterans Memorial Book.

Now is a great time to help.

We dont want to miss any of them," said Lesoski. "We know we have in the neighborhood of 7,000 deceased veterans, with Tuscola County connections, and we have not located burial information for some of them.

The effort's goal is to honor each veteran from the Revolutionary War forward.
MIDDLETOWN  The Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support  a component of the U.S. Department of Defense  has awarded the Connecticut State Department of Education a $1.1 million federal grant to initiate and administer the Troops for Teachers program in Connecticut.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy made the announcement last week at Middletown High School, alongside Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, and Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell, according to a press release.

Troops for Teachers is an initiative that provides service members transitioning into civilian life, and veterans who have already left service with the training necessary to seek careers as school teachers in K-12 schools, the release said. The program, which also helps participants find employment as a teacher once the training is complete, helps reduce veteran unemployment while also providing students with role models in the classroom.

The men and women of our Armed Forces are a uniquely talented group of people with an exceptional skill set that undoubtedly can be beneficial in the classroom as they move into civilian life, Malloy said in a prepared statement. In the past seven and a half years as governor, I have had the pleasure of working closely with many of the people in our military and have witnessed their drive and passion for our communities.

Ensuring that our veterans continue in successful careers beyond their service in our military, while also providing the next generation of students with extraordinary role models, is a win for everyone involved.

The program will assist eligible veterans in securing school or district positions during their educator preparation programs, as well as provide transition supports as veterans move into full-time teaching positions, according to the release.

Participants will serve as educators and/or administrators at high-needs public and charter schools that meet certain criteria, including schools that have at least 30 percent of their students eligible for free or reduced lunch, schools that have at least 13 percent of the students enrolled in the school which qualify for assistance of the Individual Disabilities Education Act and schools that have students enrolled in a Bureau of Indian Affairs funded school.

The program will also provide mentors and engage veterans in communities of practice for shared professional learning experiences that support these new teachers and leaders, the release said.

There are about 200,000 veterans living in Connecticut. Nearly 41,000 of these are between 20 to 44 and enter the civilian workforce with a desirable set of technical and leadership skills that contribute to the profile of an effective educator.

This is excellent news for Connecticut, Wyman said in the statement. Troops to Teachers resources will really make a difference in the lives of our veterans and our students. These are men and women who have strong leadership skills that are valuable in the classroom and a sense of teamwork that will enhance our education community. I applaud Governor Malloy, Senator Blumenthal, and Congresswoman DeLauro for making veterans and education a priority in Connecticut.

As the senior Democrat on the Congressional Committee that funds key social programs, I have been proud to fight for education, veteran services, and job training, DeLauro said. Our schools always need sharp, talented, dedicated, and service-oriented teachers to help students thrive.

And new veterans often experience a tough transition back into our labor force, even though they are hard-working and well-trained. So, it is only fitting that we would bring these two needs together. With Troops to Teachers, we can deploy dedicated and disciplined veterans to proudly serve again, this time in the classroom.

Connecticuts Troops to Teachers program will recruit a minimum of 40 veterans in the first year, securing a minimum of 20 teaching positions requiring a long-term substitute authorization or a Durational Shortage Area Permit in identified shortage areas. Staff in the Office of Veteran Workforce Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs will facilitate CSDEs connections to veteran organizations throughout Connecticut and in the region to assist in bolstering the program.

It will be led by CSDEs Chief Talent Officer and Talent staff, as well as a teacher leader in residence who will be an experienced classroom educator and veteran. A Troops to Teachers Coordinating Council will be convened to facilitate partnerships with Connecticut State Universities, educator preparation programs, school district superintendents, personnel directors, and student veterans affairs organizations, according to the organization.

The Connecticut Department of Labor will assist the CSDEs Talent Office in attracting veterans to the teaching profession.
STAMFORD  Despite his misgivings, a Norwalk man was sentenced to four years in jail for assaulting a mother, and her two children, who came from San Diego to live with him after meeting him on the internet.

While sentencing Pedro Salinas, 33, to four years in jail and 20 years probation on Friday at the Stamford courthouse, Judge John Blawie said he had left a 2-year-old girl nearly blind.

Last fall, Salinas pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree assault, risk of injury to a child, fourth-degree sexual assault and illegal sexual contact with a child and had a plea agreement that would keep him in jail for four years on the charges. But even though he risked being sent to jail for over 40 years, Salinas told his public defender Barry Butler he wanted to take his guilty pleas back.

During his sentencing Friday, Salinas said no one wanted to look at the evidence he had to prove his innocence, including a letter from the San Diego woman saying she never saw Salinas do anything to her children. But Butler told Blawie that the woman told state prosecutors she offered the statement only because she had been told she would not be able to get her possessions out of Salinas house unless she signed the statement.

Butler said considering the number of years that Salinas was looking at in jail and the evidence the state had against him, he believed the plea agreement was very beneficial to his client even though during those 20 years of probation he could be sent back to jail for as many as eight years if he violates the conditions of his release. He is not allowed to have any unsupervised contact with minors during his probation.

Blawie agreed with Butler, and told Salinas that in past court hearings he had said he was given a chance to talk over the plea bargain with Butler and said he understood what he was doing when he made the guilty pleas. Blawie said he also looked through the transcripts of the hearings and saw Salinas had been warned he would not be able to take his pleas back just because he changed his mind.

Salinas was arrested in July 2016 after the girl and her mother moved into his Lincoln Avenue home. The girl was injured and taken to Norwalk Hospital in June before being diagnosed by doctors at Yale-New Haven Childrens hospital with bleeding on the brain, multiple bruises and retinal hemorrhaging behind and around both eyes that have left her blind in her right eye and with only limited vision in her left.

Several days before bringing her daughter to the hospital, the woman said Salinas, who in 2005 had been convicted of second-degree sexual assault and sentenced to nine months in prison, had asked her to leave her kids at home and get him some beer.

When she returned, she said her daughter was unconscious on a bed next to Salinas and he was yelling at the child to wake up and was violently shaking her head.

jnickerson@stamfordadvocate.com
Muhajer says one of the battles he saw was the 2011 shootdown of Extortion 17, the deadliest single moment of the 20-year war...
If United Airlines shipped your pet to your duty station, the carrier will also ship it home, officials confirmed Tuesday.

United officials said that the military-only exception to the airline's new pet shipment program, known as PetSafe, will let troops circumvent a series of stringent new rules announced early this month that could otherwise have left some military pets stranded at faraway duty stations such as Guam and Japan.

"The guiding principle -- I don't even want to call it a policy -- is an approach we're taking that if we flew your pet there, we'll fly it back," said Charles Hobart, a United spokesman.

United had put a temporary halt to its pet program after a series of highly public shipment disasters, including pets sent to the wrong location and the death of a dog in an aircraft cabin. The carrier then announced a new policy May 1 that bans "giant" crates taller than 30 inches and blocks the shipment of 21 breeds of dogs and four breeds of cats.

But under its current military policy, Hobart said the carrier will make an exception to those new rules for families whose pets they previously shipped to their current duty station.

United is currently the only airline that ships pets to and from Guam.

To access the exemption, military members should fill out this form and email it to petsafe@united.com, Hobart said.

Military members will not be able to fly their pets from June 18 to July 8 while United updates its system, Hobart confirmed.

-- Amy Bushatz can be reached at amy.bushatz@military.com.
YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan -- The USS Ronald Reagan is officially on patrol, nearly two weeks after the Navy announced its deployment would be delayed because of a "material issue."

Sailors manned the rails Tuesday as the nation's only forward-deployed aircraft carrier sailed out of its Yokosuka homeport. Still within eyeshot of the naval base, two service members lowered an American flag to shift to underway colors before the Ronald Reagan sailed further into Tokyo Bay.

The carrier and its strike group -- which includes the guided-missile destroyer USS Mustin and guided-missile cruisers USS Antietam and USS Chancellorsville -- will train in 7th Fleet's area of operations while "supporting security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region," a Navy statement said.

The routine deployment comes just two days after a freedom-of-navigation exercise brought the Antietam, which left Yokosuka earlier this month, and the San Diego-based USS Higgins within 12 nautical miles of South China Sea islets built up and militarized by Beijing.

In a statement, China's Ministry of National Defense called the act near the Paracel Islands a "serious infringement on China's sovereignty."

Last week, the United States disinvited China to the upcoming multinational Rim of the Pacific drills, citing evidence of Beijing's continued militarization of disputed islands. China has long been chided for building artificial land masses in the South China Sea and placing military assets there.

The Ronald Reagan's departure caps off nearly a month of pre-deployment training, preparation and maintenance. On May 3, Carrier Air Wing 5 pilots began carrier-landing practice at Iwo Jima -- known by the Japanese as Iwo To -- and the aircraft carrier completed a two-day fast cruise and weeklong sea trials on May 17.

However, the patrol's start date was delayed so that a "material issue" discovered during sea trials could be fixed, Lt. Cmdr. Matt Knight, a Task Force 70 spokesman, said earlier this month. He did not provide further details about the issue.

It is unclear how long the Ronald Reagan and its strike group will remain at sea.
U.S. military nutrition officials are hoping to reduce injury rates in Army and Air Force basic training with a calcium-rich snack bar designed to increase bone density among recruits.

The Defense Department's Combat Feeding Program began issuing the Performance Readiness Bar this year to trainees in Army Basic Combat Training and Air Force Basic Military Training, according to Jeremy Whitsitt, deputy director of the Combat Feeding Program.

"I guess what the services had noticed over the past 10 to 12 years is that, due to the nature of the recruits, they were getting kind a more sedentary individual as opposed to what they have experienced in the past," Whitsitt said.

"They noticed a dramatic increase in stress fractures that would cause either the recruits to get recycled, where they heal and basically start over from the beginning, or they get hurt so severely that ... they are just out of the military," he said.

The Army medical community attempted to combat the issue "using a mixture of calcium and vitamin D, knowing clinically the calcium and vitamin D increases bone density ... so they initially tried to administer it through pill form," Whitsitt said.

The approach was not effective because only about 60 percent of the soldiers in the test took the pills as instructed, he said.

"They said, 'Well, maybe if we put that same dose into a food component like a snack bar, they would get a better compliance rate,' so we developed the bar," Whitsitt said.

The Performance Readiness Bar contains a mix of vitamin D and 1,000 milligrams of calcium. Recruits are given one bar each night before bed, he said, adding that the program has achieved a 90 percent soldier compliance rate.

So far, Army BCT sites at Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Jackson, South Carolina; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, have taken delivery of 5.2 million bars, Whitsitt said.

The Defense Logistics Agency awarded a second contract in April for 18 million bars, he said.

"There are clinical studies that show that calcium and vitamin D in certain doses will increase bone strength. The medical command is in the process of collecting the data that shows that this ... scenario is actually decreasing the amount of stress fractures," Whitsitt said. "The anecdotal evidence is very positive."

-- Matthew Cox can be reached at matthew.cox@military.com.
Military members and veterans can get up to four free months of Apple Music through the Apple Music military discount -- but...
Commodity List

Mineral List

Regional Geology

Discovered by W. Thorner and Swindell early 1928, about half a mile north-east of the Glenelg Queen mine. The gold in the upper levels was described as coarser than most on the field. The lode was 5 feet wide. Small tonnages were extracted until early 1931, when the mine was sold to Gordon Dunleavy of the North End (Glenelg Queen) mine, and information of crushings after this were included as part of this mine.1 valid mineral.

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Archean intrusive rocks Age: Archean (2500 - 3200 Ma) Comments: Yilgarn Craton Lithology: Intrusive igneous rocks Reference: Chorlton, L.B. Generalized geology of the world: bedrock domains and major faults in GIS format: a small-scale world geology map with an extended geological attribute database. doi: 10.4095/223767. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 5529. [154] amphibolite 74334 Age: Archean (2500 - 4000 Ma) Description: Amphibolite, mafic schist, mafic rock intercalated with granite, para-amphibolite; metabasalt, metagabbro, metapyroxenite and metadolerite; Youanmi Terrane Comments: meta-igneous mafic; synthesis of multiple published descriptions Lithology: Meta-igneous mafic Reference: Raymond, O.L., Liu, S., Gallagher, R., Zhang, W., Highet, L.M. Surface Geology of Australia 1:1 million scale dataset 2012 edition. Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia). [5]

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References
Commodity List

Mineral List

Rock Types Recorded

Note: this is a very new system on mindat.org and data is currently VERY limited. Please bear with us while we work towards adding this information!

Select Rock List Type Alphabetical List Tree Diagram

Regional Geology

The Windarling Iron Ore Mine is 27 kilometres north of Mount Jackson, and 135 kilometres north of Southern Cross. The mine is operated by Cliffs Natural Resources, who also operates iron ore mines at Mount Jackson and Koolyanobbing. Ore is trucked to Koolyanobbing, then railed to the port of Esperance.There is no public access to the mine, the road in is a private mine road used by haul trucks. Access to the general area is via the Bullfinch-Evanston Road, which heads north of Bullfinch and passes east of the mine.Iron ore is mined on the east-west trending Windarling Range. As of December 2007, Indicated and Inferred JORC resources stand at 51.9 Mt of ore at 63.26% Fe. On a regional level the mine occupies a portion of the Marda Greenstone Belt, near the western margin where the greenstone belt is truncated by the Koolyanobbing Fault.The mine accesses two parallel zones of banded iron formation (BIF), about 600 metres apart at the western end of the range, with the two units gradually converging to the east. The BIF units are enveloped by metasediments and mafic volcanics, which are deeply oxidised, especially close to the BIF. The geology is similar to Koolyanobbing, where more information in this regard is located.There are 6 pits called W1, W2, W3, W5, W4 West and W4 East.W1 is the western most pit. Waste rock from it will eventually be used to backfill the W2 pit.W2 is the southern most pit, with a BIF horizon dipping 75 to 80 degrees south, and striking for 1000 metres.W3 forms the most prominent ridge of the western range, dips 50 degrees south, and strikes for 950 metres. Mining began in 2004 and is expected to end in 2017. It is the central pit being described here. It accesses three parallel zones of iron, about 40 metres wide, separated by lenses of sheared mafic. Due to environmental restrictions the company can only access 30% of the deposit, but can apply for 50% assuming approval. The pit covers an area of 64.7 ha.The W5 deposit is 250 metres to the south, dipping 70 degrees south and striking for 1050 metres. It access five zones of well bedded, medium grained hematite, with minor goethite, across a 25 metre wide range.W4 West and East are the eastern most pits. W4 East began mining in 2013 with an expected life until 2017, and covers 27 ha. Mining at W4 West began in 2012, and will be backfilled by ore from W4 East.Iron ore mines in this region suffer the same problems as those I wrote about for the Mid-West Region of Western Australia. On the one hand, mining is important for the economy of Western Australia, in terms of jobs and money. Environmental conditions imposed on mining in Australia are some of the strictest in the world, and add a substantial cost to the company. A report needs to prepared by the Department of Environment, paid for by the company, and also a mine closure plan. The company is required to address, remediate or limit any environmental impacts identified.The other side of the argument is presented by environmental groups. It has not gained great traction, due to these areas being remote, and the lack of public access. The Department of Environment recommended against the Windarling Mine in 2002, but its decision was overridden.The BIF deposits in these regions form isolated rafts, largely steep sided hills in an otherwise flat landscape. They often contain rare flora and fauna. An iron ore mine is a major impost on the landscape with often the whole hill or mountain being demolished. This removes one of the few geographic features in the landscape. At Windarling they are attempting so far to keep one side of the range intact.Further, the public is forever barred from accessing the area, even after the mine is closed. This is for fear people will fall into the abandoned pit, drown in the pit lake formed after mining, or whatever public safety concerns officials can think about in the nanny state Australia has become.2 valid minerals.

This geological map and associated information on rock units at or nearby to the coordinates given for this locality is based on relatively small scale geological maps provided by various national Geological Surveys. This does not necessarily represent the complete geology at this locality but it gives a background for the region in which it is found.

Click on geological units on the map for more information. Click here to view full-screen map on Macrostrat.org

Data and map coding provided by Macrostrat.org, used under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License

This page contains all mineral locality references listed on mindat.org. This does not claim to be a complete list. If you know of more minerals from this site, please register so you can add to our database. This locality information is for reference purposes only. You should never attempt to visit any sites listed in mindat.org without first ensuring that you have the permission of the land and/or mineral rights holders for access and that you are aware of all safety precautions necessary.

References

External Links
Maple Gold featured in the northern Miner, plus Presentation and Radio Interview from Matagami Symposium

Maple Golds VP, Exploration, Fred Speidel recently spoke with Trish Saywell, Senior Staff Writer at The Northern Miner on the recently completed drill program and new gold zones at the Douay project.

Please click HERE to read The Northern Miner article.

Maple Gold was covered on May 18th, 2018 by Jay Taylor in J Taylor?s Gold, Energy & Tech Stocks newsletter and by Brien Lundin in the June 2018 edition of The Gold Newsletter.

Fred Speidel recently attended the first Symposium minier Matagami 2018 (Matagami Mining Sympsosium) and delivered a well-received presentation to the attendees. Click HERE to see the presentation (en francais).

Audrey Girard from the radio station CHEF 99 spoke with Fred and his interview in French can be heard at Entrevue avec Fred Speidel ? 15 Mai 2018

Analysis continues at Douay and new drill results are expected to continue throughout June and July

Dear Investor and Follower,

Maple Golds VP, Exploration, Fred Speidel recently spoke with Trish Saywell, Senior Staff Writer at The Northern Miner on the recently completed drill program and new gold zones at the Douay project.

Please click HERE to read The Northern Miner article.

Maple Gold was covered on May 18th, 2018 by Jay Taylor in J Taylor?s Gold, Energy & Tech Stocks newsletter and by Brien Lundin in the June 2018 edition of The Gold Newsletter.

Fred Speidel recently attended the first Symposium minier Matagami 2018 (Matagami Mining Sympsosium) and delivered a well-received presentation to the attendees. Click HERE to see the presentation (en francais).

Audrey Girard from the radio station CHEF 99 spoke with Fred and his interview in French can be heard at Entrevue avec Fred Speidel ? 15 Mai 2018

Analysis continues at Douay and new drill results are expected to continue throughout June and July

If you require further information regarding any of the articles above, please email Deborah Goss dgoss@maplegoldmines.com or call the direct number 416-306-8126.

About Maple Gold:

Maple Gold is a well-funded gold exploration company focused on advancing a district-scale gold project in one of the world?s premier mining jurisdictions. The Company?s 370 km Douay Gold Project is located along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone within the prolific Abitibi Greenstone Belt in northern Quebec, Canada. The Project has an established gold resource that remains open in multiple directions, with excellent infrastructure and several large scale operating mines within 150 km. Maple Gold has a significant drill campaign planned during the 2018 winter season to expand on the known resource areas and test new discovery targets within the Company?s 55 km of strike along the Casa Berardi Deformation Zone. For more information please visit the Company?s website at www.maplegoldmines.com.

Forward Looking Statements:

This Investor Update contains ?forward-looking information and ?forward-looking statements? (collectively referred to as ?forward-looking statements?) within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation in Canada. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions, uncertainties and management?s best estimate of future events. Actual events or results could differ materially from the Company?s expectations and projections. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the Company?s opinions and beliefs, financial position, business strategy, plans for drilling and re-logging, characterisation of gold mineralisation, geological modelling, data integration, establishing high-quality inferred resource expansion targets, testing target areas, the Company?s goal to deliver significant value, drill campaigns, and plans and objectives of management for future properties and operations. When used herein, words such as ?anticipate?, ?will?, ?intend? and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements are based on certain estimates, expectations, analysis and opinions that management believed reasonable at the time they were made or in certain cases, on third party expert opinions. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, and uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual events, results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future events, results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. For a more detailed discussion of such risks and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, refer to Maple Gold Mines Ltd.?s filings with Canadian securities regulators available on www.sedar.com or the Company?s website at www.maplegoldmines.com. The Company does not intend, and 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 required by law.
Vous etes confrontes a une infestation par la puce, la punaise de lit ? Voici plusieurs actions qui sont a mettre en uvre pour faire []
Of the 102,334 public school students in Michigan's Class of 2017, about 61 percent -- 62,806 -- enrolled in college with six months of leaving high school, according to state data.

The No. 1 destination: Michigan State University, which enrolled more than 5,000 of those students.

The No. 1 high school sending students to MSU: Northville High School in Wayne County, where 112 teens went to Michigan State. That's 22 percent of Northville's Class of 2017.

This post looks at the top high schools sending students to each of Michigan's 15 public universities and 24 private colleges. It also includes data for the 15 community colleges enrolling the most students from the Class of 2017.

The data from this post uses data collected by the Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information. (The state only tracks public-school graduates, so the private schools are not included here)

First, here's an online database that allows you to look up any high school in Michigan and see where its Class of 2017 enrolled in college.

College destination by high school

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A big caveat about the data: There is likely underreporting. CEPI got the numbers by matching Michigan's official list of public high school students against enrollment data from the National Student Clearinghouse Student Tracker.

However, the student's name or date of birth must be an exact match. Also, not every college participates in the National Student Clearinghouse program. (Among the non-participants: Hillsdale College, Notre Dame and the U.S. military academies.)

A few highlights from the data:

About 89 percent of college-going students stayed in Michigan;

About 45 percent enrolled at a Michigan public university;

About 36 percent enrolled at a Michigan community college;

About 9 percent enrolled at a Michigan private college.

Of the 11 percent going out-of-state, the No. 1 destination was University of Toledo, which enrolled 467 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Among those who went to elite schools: 22 Michigan public-school grads went to Harvard; 18 to University of Chicago; 17 to Northwestern University and 13 enrolled at Yale. (By typing the name of a college into our online database above, you see the high schools where those students came from.)

Next is the list of Michigan's 15 public universities, ranked by the number of public-school students they enrolled from the state's Class of 2017. (Note: Class of 2017 numbers include those who entered as transfer students as well as first-time freshman.)

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Michigan State University: 5,066

MSU had 8,108 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 5,066 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at MSU:

Northville High School: 112, 22%;

Utica Eisenhower High School: 83, 16%;

Detroit Cass Technical High School: 82, 25%;

Rochester Adams High School: 81, 235;

Novi High School: 75, 19%;

Grosse Pointe South High School: 73 , 20%;

Birmingham Seaholm High School: 69, 24%;

Rochester Stoney Creek High School: 69, 22%;

Lake Orion High School: 67, 16%;

Clarkston High School: 66, 15%;

Forest Hills Central High School: 64, 24%'

Brighton High School: 64 , 16%;

Okemos High School: 63, 26%;

Troy High School: 63, 16%;

Walled Lake Northern High School: 61, 19%.

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Grand Valley State University: 3,023

GVSU had 3,185 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 3,023 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at GVSU:

Jenison High School: 57, 24%;

Hudsonville High School: 57, 21%;

Grand Haven High School: 50, 18%;

Rockford High School: 49, 13%;

Walled Lake Northern High School: 42, 13%;

West Ottawa High School: 41, 15%;

Lake Orion High School: 36, 8%;

Grandville High School: 35, 12%;

Brighton High School: 35, 9%;

Allendale High School: 33, 30%;

Caledonia High School: 32, 14%;

East Kentwood High School: 31, 9%;

Rochester Stoney Creek High School: 31, 10%;

Canton High School: 31, 7%;

Utica Eisenhower High School: 30, 6%;

Clarkston High School: 30, 7%.

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University of Michigan: 2,875

U-M had 6,847 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 2,875 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at U-M:

Oakland International Academy: 98, 31%;

Ann Arbor Pioneer High School: 87, 27%;

Northville High School: 78, 16%;

Troy High School: 65, 17%:

Novi High School: 62, 16%;

Ann Arbor Skyline High School: 62, 22%;

Ann Arbor Huron High School: 55, 22%;

Bloomfield Hills High School: 51, 16%;

Saline High School: 49, 14%;

Rochester Adams High School: 46, 13%;

Troy Athens High School: 44, 14%;

Grosse Pointe South High School: 43, 12%;

West Bloomfield High School: 37, 12%;

Birmingham Seaholm High School: 34, 12%;

Rochester Stoney Creek High School: 34, 11%;

Canton High School: 34, 8%.

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Central Michigan University: 2,485

CMU had 3,076 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 2,485 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at CMU:

Mount Pleasant High School: 43, 27%;

Lake Orion High School: 35, 8%;

Saginaw Township Heritage High School: 31 14%;

Clarkston High School: 28, 6%;

Hartland High School: 27, 8%

St. Johns High School: 27, 16%;

Brighton High School: 25, 6%;

Howell High School: 24, 6%;

Grand Blanc High School: 24, 6%

Midland Dow High School: 24, 11%.

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Western Michigan University: 2,213

WMU had 3,178 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 2,213 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at WMU:

Portage Central High School: 49, 19%;

Mattawan High School: 48, 22%;

Kalamazoo Central High School: 37, 19%;

Portage Northern High School: 37, 15%;

Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High School: 34, 18%;

Grand Haven High School: 29, 11%;

Lakeview High School (Calhoun County): 26, 13%;

Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology: 25, 11%;

Grandville High School: 23, 8%;

Brighton High School: 23, 6%.

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Wayne State University: 2,203

WSU had 2,653 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 2,203 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at WSU:

Detroit Cass Technical High School: 67, 21%;

Dearborn Fordson High School: 63, 14%;

Dearborn High School: 49, 13%:

Utica Adlai Stevenson High School: 41, 8%;

Crestwood High School: 38, 15%;

Troy High School: 37, 9%;

Utica High School: 36, 12%;

Warren Mott High School: 34, 14%;

West Bloomfield High School: 34, 11%;

Oakland International Academy: 34, 11%.

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Eastern Michigan University: 2,113

EMU had 2,781 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 2,133 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at EMU:

Washtenaw Early College Alliance: 67, 64%;

Salem High School: 48, 12%;

Belleville High School: 47, 23%;

Plymouth High School: 40, 9%;

Saline High School: 38, 11%

Ann Arbor Huron High School: 34, 14%

Canton High School: 33, 7%

Howell High School: 31, 8%

Wayne-Westland John Glenn High School: 31, 15%

Southgate Anderson High School: 30, 15%.

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Oakland University: 2,060

Oakland had 2,456 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 2,060 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Oakland:

Utica Eisenhower High School: 94, 18%;

Utica Stevenson High School: 77, 16%;

Chippewa Valley Dakota High School: 69, 13%;

Lake Orion High School: 65, 15%;

Rochester High School: 64, 22%;

Chippewa Valley High School: 60, 16%;

Rochester Adams High School: 54, 15%;

Troy Athens High School: 50, 16%[

Rochester Stoney Creek High School: 49, 16%;

Oxford High School: 47, 19%.

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Ferris State University: 1,511

Ferris had 1,829 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 1,511 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Ferris:

Big Rapids High School: 49, 58%;

Rockford High School: 31 , 6%;

Morley Stanwood High School: 25, 76%;

Lowell Senior High School: 20, 9%;

Hudsonville High School: 20, 7%;

Reed City High School: 18, 45%;

Caledonia High School: 17, 7%;

Zeeland West High School: 17, 16%;

Cedar Springs High School: 16, 13%;

West Ottawa High School; 16, 6%.

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Saginaw Valley State University: 1,038

SVSU had 1,230 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 1,038 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at SVSU:

Bay City Western High School: 37, 18%;

Saginaw Great Lakes Bay Early College: 28 , 50%;

Saginaw Township Heritage High School: 19, 9%;

Midland Dow High School: 16, 7%;

Bangor Townshiip John Glenn High School: 15, 11%;

Midland High School: 15, 6%;

Lapeer High School: 14, 6%;

Chesaning Union High School: 14 , 17%;

Bay City Central High School: 13, 10%;

Flushing High School: 13 , 6%

Saginaw Arthur Hill High School: 13, 16%.

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Northern Michigan University: 1,002

NMU had 1,033 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 1,002 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at NMU:

Marquette High School: 90, 60%;

Negaunee High School: 51, 70%;

NICE Westwood High School: 36, 80%;

Kingsford High School: 25, 37%

Sault Area High School: 15, 16%

Gwinn High School: 15, 58%;

Iron Mountain High School: 14, 28%;

Munising High School: 14, 45%

Ishpeming High School: 13, 41%;

Manistique High School: 11 , 22%.

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University of Michigan - Dearborn: 919

U-M Dearborn had 1,074 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 919 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at U-M Dearborn:

Dearborn High School: 82, 21%

Crestwood High School: 54, 21%;

Dearborn Fordson High School: 53, 12%;

Dearborn Edsel Ford High School: 30, 13%;

Plymouth High School: 30, 7%;

Salem High School: 26, 6%;

Canton High School: 26, 6%;

Livonia Stevenson High School: 25, 7%;

Riverview High School: 20, 15%;

Livonia Franklin High School: 17, 7%

Northville High School: 17, 3%;

Wyandotte Roosevelt High School: 17, 11%.

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Michigan Tech University: 887

Michigan Tech had 1,323 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 887 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Michigan Tech:

Houghton Central High School: 22, 32%;

Calumet High School: 14 , 28%;

Utica Eisenhower High School: 12, 2%;

Marquette Senior High School: 12, 8%;

Jeffers High School: 11, 42%;

Negaunee High School: 11, 15%

Gladstone Area High School: 10, 13%

L'Anse High School: 10, 38%

Hancock High School: 10, 29%;

Howell High School: 9, 2%;

Brighton High School: 9, 2%.

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University of Michigan - Flint: 596

U-M Flint had 640 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 596 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at U-M Flint:

Grand Blanc High School: 58 , 13%;

Davison High School: 33, 14%;

Swartz Creek High School: 33, 20%;

Carman-Ainsworth High School: 30, 15%:

Flushing High School: 26, 13%;

Fenton Senior High School: 24 ,13%;

Linden High School: 22, 15%;

Kearsley High School: 21, 14%;

Lapeer High School: 19, 8%;

Flint Southwestern Classical Academy: 17, 20%

Genesee Early College: 17, 61%.

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Lake Superior State University: 279

Lake Superior had 358 first-time freshmen in fall 2017, and enrolled 279 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's a list of the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Lake Superior:

Sault Area High School: 27, 30%;

Pickford Public Schools: 8, 36%;

St. Ignace LaSalle High School: 8 , 21%;

Traverse City Central High School: 6, 3%;

Kalamazoo Central High School: 5, 3%;

DeTour High School: 5, 45%;

Rudyard Area Schools: 5, 19%.

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Michigan private colleges: 5,477

About 9 percent of Michigan public-school graduates in the Class of 2017 enrolled in 24 Michigan private colleges, according to CEPI data.

Here's a list of the 24 private colleges, the total number they enrolled from the Michigan public-school Class of 2017, and the top high schools where those colleges drew students.

The colleges are listed in alphabetical order.

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Albion College: 289

Albion College, which has about 1,400 students, has enrolled 289 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Albion:

Jalen Rose Leadership Academy: 13;

Marshall High School: 12;

Jackson County Western High School: 5;

Grand Blanc High School: 5;

Traverse City Central High School: 5.

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Adrian College: 327

Adrian College, which has about 1,650 students, has enrolled 327 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Adrian:

Clinton High School: 9;

Sand Creek High School: 9;

Tecumseh High School: 8;

Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High School: 6;

Addison High School: 6.

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Alma College: 323

Alma College, which has about 1,450 students, has enrolled 323 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Albion:

Alma Senior High School: 11;

Breckenridge High School: 8;

Leslie High School: 5;

Howell High School: 5;

Linden High School: 5;

Detroit Edison Academy: 5.

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Andrew University: 14

Andrew University in Berrien Springs, which has almost 1,700 students, has enrolled 14 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Five of those students were from Berrien Spring High School.

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Aquinas College: 202

Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, which has about 1,650 students, has enrolled 202 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Aquinas:

East Kentwood High School: 9;

Jenison High School: 8;

Grandville High School: 6;

Sparta High School: 6;

Rockford High School: 5;

Grand Haven High School: 5;

Kenowa Hills High School: 5

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Baker College of Flint: 638

Baker College of Flint, which has about 24,000 students on 11 campuses across the state, has enrolled 683 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Baker:

Northwest High School (Jackson County): 13;

Lakeview High School (Macomb County): 12;

Howell High School: 11;

Lapeer High School: 8;

Anchor Bay High School: 8;

Owosso High School: 8.

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Calvin College: 176

Calvin College, which has about 3,800 students, has enrolled 176 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Calvin:

Forest Hills Northern High School: 8;

Jenison High School: 7;

Rockford High School: 4;

Hudsonville High School: 4;

Pinckney High School: 4;

Spring Lake High School: 4.

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Cleary University: 44

Cleary University in Howell, which has about 600 students, has enrolled 44 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. That included four students from Brighton High School.

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College For Creative Studies: 165

The College for Creative Studies in Detroit, which has about 1,400 students, has enrolled 165 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to CCS:

Lake Orion Community High School: 8;

Chippewa Valley High School: 6;

Henry Ford Academy: School for Creative Studies: 6;

Utica Adlai Stevenson High School: 5;

Rochester Stoney Creek High School: 5;

Arts Academy in the Woods: 5;

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Concordia University: 122

Concordia University in Ann Arbor, which has about 500 students, has enrolled 122 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Concordia:

Waterford Mott High School: 6;

Harper Creek High School: 4;

Romeo High School: 3;

Woodhaven High School: 3;

Holly High School: 3;

Manchester High School: 3;

Sand Creek High School: 3

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Cornerstone University: 126

Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, which has about 1,850 students, has enrolled 126 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Cornerstone:

Grand River Preparatory High School: 5;

Rockford High School: 4;

Caledonia High School: 4;

Thornapple Kellogg High School: 4;

Hart High School: 4;

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Davenport University -- Lettinga Campus: 374

Davenport University in Grand Rapids, which has about 6,000 students, has enrolled 374 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Davenport:

Caledonia High School: 16;

Wayland High School: 13;

East Kentwood High School: 13;

Grandville High School: 11;

Hudsonville High School: 11.

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Finlandia University: 42

Finlandia in Hancock, which has about 545 students, has enrolled 42 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Finlandia:

Hancock High School: 16;

L'Anse High School: 4;

Grosse Pointe North High School: 3

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Hope College: 349

Hope in Holland, which has about 3,200 students, has enrolled 349 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Hope:

West Ottawa High School: 19;

Grand Haven High School: 14;

Holland High School: 11;

Black River High School: 11;

Hamilton High School: 9;

Hudsonville High School: 9.

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Kalamazoo College: 235

Kalamazoo, which has about 1,450 students, has enrolled 235 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Kalamazoo:

Kalamazoo Central High School: 10;

Portage Central High School: 9;

Birmingham Groves High School: 8;

Portage Northern High School: 7;

Binmingham Seaholm High School: 7;

Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High Schoo, 6;

Oakland International Academy, 6.

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Kettering University: 268

Kettering in Flint, which has about 1,900 students, has enrolled 268 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Kettering:

Fenton Senior High School: 10;

Clarkston High School: 9;

Hartland High School: 7;

Swartz Creek High School: 7;

Oakland International Academy: 7.

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Lawrence Tech University: 230

Lawrence Tech in Southfield, which has almost 2,200 students, has enrolled 230 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Lawrence Tech:

Hartland High School: 7;

L'Anse Creuse High School North: 7;

Plymouth High School: 6;

Milford High School: 6;

Northville High School: 5;

West Bloomfield High School: 5.

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Madonna University: 197

Madonna in Livonia, which has about 2,600 students, has enrolled 197 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Madonna:

Livonia Stevenson High School; 13;

Livonia Churchill High School: 8;

Northville High School: 7;

Canton High School: 6;

Plymouth High School; 6;

Franklin High School: 6.

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Northwood University: 195

Northwood in Midland, which has about 1,450 students, has enrolled 195 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Northwood:

Utica Eisenhower High School: 8;

Lake Orion High School: 4;

Utica Henry Ford II High School: 4;

L'Anse Creuse High School North: 4;

Rochester High School: 4;

Midland High School: 4;

Midland Dow High School: 4;

Mt. Pleasant Senior High School: 4

Essexville-Hampton Garber High School: 4.

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Olivet College: 267

Olivet, which has about 1,050 students, has enrolled 267 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Olivet:

Lansing Everett High School: 10

Olivet High School: 9

Holt High School: 6;

Marshall High School: 6;

Eaton Rapids High School: 6.

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Rochester College: 104

Rochester College in Rochester Hills, which has almost 1,000 students, has enrolled 104 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Rochester:

Chippewa Valley Dakota High School: 5;

Oxford High School: 5;

Lake Orion High School: 4;

Oxford Schools Early College: 4;

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Siena Heights University: 213

Siena Heights in Adrian, which has about 2,400 students, has enrolled 213 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Siena Heights:

Tecumseh High School: 10;

Madison High School: 10;

Sand Creek High School: 9;

Onsted High School: 8;

Adrian High School: 7.

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Spring Arbor University: 153

Spring Arbor in Jackson County, which has about 2,400 students, has enrolled 153 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to Spring Arbor:

Jackson County Western High School: 9;

Jackson High School: 5;

Jackson County Northwest High School: 4;

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University of Detroit Mercy: 358

U of D, which has about 2,650 students, has enrolled 358 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017. Below are the public high schools sending the most students and the number they sent to U of D:

Utica Eisenhower High School: 16;

Utica Stevenson High School: 15;

Chippewa Valley Dakota High School: 13;

Utica Henry Ford II High School: 12;

Chippewa Valley High School: 11.

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Community colleges: 22,468

About 36 percent of Michigan public-school graduates in the Class of 2017 enrolled in Michigan community colleges, according to CEPI data.

Here's a list of the 15 community colleges that drew the most students; the total number they enrolled from the Michigan public-school Class of 2017, and the top high schools where those colleges drew students.

The colleges are listed in order of the number of students enrolled from Class of 2017.

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Macomb Community College: 2,681

MCC has about 24,500 students and enrolled 2,681 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at MCC:

Chippewa Valley Dakota High School: 216, 41%:

Utica Stevenson High School: 185, 38%:

Chippewa Valley High School: 156, 42%;

Utica Eisenhower High School: 144, 27%:

Anchor Bay High School: 127, 39%;

Utica Henry Ford II High School: 121, 34%;

Sterling Heights High School: 121, 47%;

L'Anse Creuse North High School: 120, 39%

Lakeview High School (Macomb County): 106, 44%;

Romeo High School: 98, 35%.

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Grand Rapids Community College: 1,921

GRCC has about 14,300 students and enrolled 1,921 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at GRCC:

East Kentwood High School: 127, 36%;

Rockford High School:: 121, 32%;

Grandville High School: 100, 34%;

Northview High School: 77, 42%;

Lowell Senior High School: 74, 34%;

West Ottawa High School: 66, 23%;

Caledonia High School: 62, 27%;

Kenowa Hills High School: 57, 46%;

Byron Center High School, 57, 35%;

Jenison High School; 57, 24%.

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Henry Ford College: 1,753

Henry Ford, located in Dearborn, has about 13,150 students and enrolled 1,753 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Henry Ford:

Dearborn Fordson High School: 290, 63%:

Dearborn High School: 167, 43%;

Dearborn Edsel Ford High School: 128, 55%;

Crestwood High School: 79, 31%;

Southgate Anderson High School: 55, 27%;

Detroit Western International High School: 53, 45%;

Woodhaven High School: 44, 19%;

Allen Park High School: 42, 24%.

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Lansing Community College: 1,697

LCC has about 22,000 students and enrolled 1,697 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at LCC:

Holt High School: 128, 50%;

Grand Ledge High School: 124, 42%:

Lansing Everett High School: 107, 72%;

Howell High School: 70, 18%;

East Lansing High School: 70, 32%;

Lansing Eastern High School: 70, 73%;

Waverly Senior High School: 65, 46%;

Okemos High School: 64, 27%;

St. Johns High School: 62, 36%;

DeWitt High School; 58, 35%.

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Oakland Community College: 1,679

Oakland has about 29,000 students and enrolled 1,679 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Oakland:

Clarkston High School: 85, 20%;

Walled Lake Central High School: 70, 21%;

Oxford High School: 59, 23%;

Waterford Kettering High School: 55, 30%;

Lake Orion High School: 55, 13%;

Lakeland High School: 52, 22%;

Walled Lake Northern High School: 51, 16%;

Milford High School: 45, 23%;

Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology: 44, 20%;

West Bloomfield High School: 44, 14%:

Farmington Harrison High School: 44, 25%.

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Schoolcraft College: 1,422

Schoolcraft, located in Livonia, has about 13,600 students and enrolled 1,422 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Schoolcraft:

Livonia Stevenson High School: 136; 39%

Plymouth High School: 112, 26%;

Canton High School: 103, 23%;

Northville High School: 96, 19%;

Livonia Churchill High School: 91, 32%;

Livonia Franklin High School: 82, 34%;

Salem High School: 80, 20%.

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Delta College: 1,360

Delta, located in Bay County, has about 10,200 students and enrolled 1,360 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Delta:

Bay City Western High School: 104, 50%;

Saginaw Township Heritage High School: 90, 42%;

Bangor Township John Glenn High School: 82, 58%;

Bay City Central High School: 73. 56%; M

Midland High School: 69, 29%;

Midland Dow High School: 49, 21%;

Freeland High School: 42. 42%

Garber High School: 40, 45%;

Pinconning High School: 38, 52%;

Swan Valley High School: 38, 42%.

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Mott Community College: 1,106

Mott, located in Flint, has about 12,350 students and enrolled 1,753 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Mott:

Grand Blanc High School: 124, 28%;

Carman-Ainsworth High School: 82, 40%;

Kearsley High School: 73, 49%;

Davison High School :72, 31%;

Lapeer High School: 53. 22%;

Swartz Creek High School: 53, 32%;

Flushing High School: 53, 26%:

Linden High School: 44, 29%;

Lake Fenton High School: 36, 36%;

Goodrich High School: 34, 28%.

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Kalamazoo Valley Community College: 977

KVCC has about 11,400 students and enrolled 977 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at KVCC:

Portage Northern High School: 94, 38%;

Portage Central High School: 79, 30%;

Mattawan High School: 57, 27%;

Kalamazoo Central High School: 52, 26%;

Kalamazoo Loy Norrix High School: 49, 27%;

Gull Lake High School: 43, 32%;

Plainwell High School: 39, 34%;

Otsego High School: 38, 39%;

Vicksburg High School: 38, 27%;

Comstock High School: 36, 59%.

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Washtenaw Community College: 973

Washtenaw has about 12,300 students and enrolled 973 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at WCC:

Brighton High School: 66, 17%;

Pinckney High School: 54, 24%;

Ann Arbor Pioneer High School: 51, 16%;

Dexter High School: 50, 23%;

Saline High School: 46, 13%;

Lincoln Senior High School: 45, 38%;

Ann Arbor Skyline High School; 42, 15%;

Ann Arbor Huron High School, 41, 16%;

Belleville High School: 36, 18%;

Howell High School: 34, 9%.

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Muskegon Community College: 731

Muskegon has about 5,300 students and enrolled 731 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Muskegon:

Reeths-Puffer High School: 100, 73%;

Mona Shores High School: 96, 52%;

Fruitport High School: 66, 55%;

Orchard View High School: 47, 61%;

Whitehall Senior High School: 44, 51%;

Grand Haven High School: 43, 16%;

Muskegon High School: 42, 51%;

Oakridge High School: 42, 64%;

Fremont High School: 35, 41%;

Montague High School: 24, 47%.

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Wayne Community College: 722

WCC has about 20,500 students and enrolled 722 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at WCC:

East English Village Prep: 35, 33%;

Hamtramck High School: 29, 24%;

Detroit King High School: 26, 23%;

Lincoln Park High School: 23, 22%;

Frontier International Academy: 22, 33%;

Hamtramck Horizon High School: 21, 55%;

Southgate Anderson High School: 17, 8%;

Oak Park High School: 16, 11%;

Detroit Cass Technical High School: 14, 4%;

Woodhaven High School: 13, 6%.

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Jackson College: 646

Jackson has about 7,000 students and enrolled 646 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Jackson:

Jackson High School: 59, 41%;

Western High School: 43, 32%;

Northwest High School: 36, 28%;

Napoleon High School: 28, 52%;

Columbia Central High School: 27, 44%;

Adrian High School: 26, 24%;

Onsted Community High School: 26, 32%;

Hillsdale High School: 22, 32%;

East Jackson High School: 18, 56%;

Hanover-Horton High School: 16, 37%.

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Northwestern Michigan College: 538

NMU, which is located in Traverse City, has about 5,400 students and enrolled 538 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at NMU:

Traverse City West High: 122, 50%;

Traverse City Central High School: 88, 42%;

Elk Rapids High School: 27, 48%;

Kalkaska High School: 25, 47%;

Kingsley High School: 23, 45%;

Mancelona High School: 22, 49%;

Maple City-Glen Lake High School: 16, 35%;

Grand Traverse Academy: 14, 44%;

Suttons Bay High School: 11, 37%;

Manton High School: 10, 32%.

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Kellogg Community College: 527

Kellogg, located in Battle Creek, has about 6,100 students and enrolled 527 Michigan public school students from the Class of 2017.

Here's the public schools sending the most students, the number they sent and the percentage of college-going students from that class who enrolled at Kellogg:

Lakeview High School: 96, 48%;

Harper Creek High School: 51, 48%;

Battle Creek Central High School: 44, 47%;

Coldwater High School: 39, 39%;

Pennfield Senior High School: 34 47%;

Marshall High School: 33, 24%;

Hastings High School: 31, 32%;

Quincy High School: 16, 42%;

Athens High School: 16, 62%;

Thornapple Kellogg High School: 14, 12%.
A west-facing view from the cabin's deck. Photo courtesy Jason Tune.

You could spend all day trying to find adequate descriptors in a thesaurus for this one-of-a-kind, recently listed Upper Peninsula property -- jaw-dropping, maybe, or spectacular, breathtaking, or stunning -- but really, current owner Jason Tune says, the beauty of this place defies words.

"Summertime or wintertime, it doesn't matter," Tune says. "It almost just buckles your knees."

Encompassing 120 acres of rugged U.P. land in Marquette County, the property dishes up massive views of the Huron Mountains -- an ancient mountain range that's also one of Michigan's most remote, untouched swaths of wilderness. On the three-mile drive to the home from the nearest town, the village of Big Bay, one steadily gains about 700 feet of elevation.

On a clear day, Tune says, you can see not only the furrowed peaks of the Hurons, but also Lake Superior and the Keweenaw Peninsula.

"It's a wonderful, magical place to disappear to for a weekend," Tune says.

The home on the property is pretty remarkable, too: A meticulously crafted log cabin, hand-built out of Michigan red pine, anchored atop one of the property's two mountain peaks. The cabin was built in 2009 by a family of Amish craftsmen who originally owned this piece of land. The 800-square-foot home features an expansive deck and a lookout tower offering a 360-degree view of the surrounding scenery.

Potential buyers looking for a turn-key property should take note: While there is a well and septic already installed, and wiring for electrical, the home does not yet have running water or electricity. The interior of the cabin is essentially an unfinished, open room, with one sleeping loft.

The property is listed with Huey Real Estate at $409,000.

Read on for more photos and details about this unique Michigan property.

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Photo courtesy UPwaterfront.com

The log cabin sits atop a peak in the Huron Mountains, affording it spectacular views of the surrounding land. It is also extremely secure, as it is affixed to the mountain top by 16 concrete footings buried deep into the granite below.

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Photo courtesy UPwaterfront.com

The cabin has a significant amount of decking on two levels from which to take in the incredible views.

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Photo courtesy UPwaterfront.com

The cabin was custom-built out of red pine from Michigan's Lower Peninsula.

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Photo courtesy UPwaterfront.com

The home is capped by an observation tower that offers panoramic views.

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Courtesy Jason Tune

The post-sunset glow over the Huron Mountains as seen from the cabin.

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Photo courtesy UPwaterfront.com

The property is an all-season paradise for anyone who enjoys the outdoors, Tune says. There's about one mile of established trail on the property; there are myriad wildflowers present on the land, and blueberries and thimbleberries can be found there in abundance in the summertime. The closest man-made structure, Tune says, is a seasonal camp that is about two miles away.

"It's beautiful, wild country," he says.

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A view of Lake Superior from the home's deck. Last summer, the entire cabin -- including the decking -- was refinished and stained, and the log chinking work redone.

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Tune says the cabin's position on the mountaintop was intentional. "The exposed deck faces Lake Superior directly, while the lower level and upstairs covered deck face due west," he says. "It is an incredible vantage point for sunsets and watching storms as they build and move across the Hurons."

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Courtesy Jason Tune

Views from the cabin deck's western side. The blue of Lake Superior can be seen in the distance beyond.

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Courtesy Jason Tune

A spiral staircase leads from the cabin's main floor to a sleeping loft and the viewing tower. The 12-seat picnic table was also built by the cabin's craftsmen, who ate at the table during the cabin's construction.

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Courtesy Jason Tune

Storms can be seen rolling in over the nearby Huron Mountain mountaintops.

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Courtesy UPwaterfront.com

The surrounding terrain is rugged and full of wild life. "Pictures don't do it justice," says listing agent Tim Case. "It kind of has almost an 'out West' feel."

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Courtesy Jason Tune

A detail shot showing the highly skilled carpentry found within the cabin.

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A view of the walkway onto the deck.

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Courtesy Jason Tune

When it comes to mountain biking, Tune calls the property "a rider's paradise."

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Courtesy Jason Tune

The property offers potential recreation opportunities for wintertime, too. This photo shows the surrounding land in March.

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Sweeping, untouched U.P. forest as seen from the property in the first light of day.

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The property's full listing can be found on UPwaterfront.com

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The monsoon and D-Street have one thing in common -- they both are unpredictable. But what is predictable is how the monsoon will impact certain sectors and stocks.

The Indian economy is heavily dependent on monsoon rain, and a normal and well-distributed monsoon usually results in an uptick in farmers' income, which leads to an increase in the demand for consumer and automotive products in the rural market.

"Monsoon rains are the lifeblood for the Indian economy and are very critical for the farm sector, which accounts for about 15 percent of India's economy. There is a very strong correlation between the monsoon and the performance of the Indian economy along with the stock market,"

DK Aggarwal, Chairman, and MD, SMC Investments and Advisors, told Moneycontrol.

"A good monsoon creates positive reading about the economy among the investors, including foreign institutional investors and a stronger economic outlook would lift the sentiments of the investors, mainly companies selling products in rural areas from the sectors such as FMCG, consumer goods, automobile," he said.

Equally-distributed rain usually gives a fillip to demand for products from rural areas, and results in an increase in rural citizens' purchasing power. It also lifts the groundwater level, which leads to better irrigation. This is positive for all fertiliser and agriculture stocks.

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), in its first stage of forecast, sees a 'normal' monsoon this year, likely around 97 percent of the long period average. In 2017, the southwest monsoon was near-normal at 95 percent of the long period average, but patchy.

The India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country' official weather forecaster, in its 08:15 am bulletin, said that monsoon would hit Kerala in the next 24 hours.

"There are Monsoon-like conditions over Kerala and we can say that the annual rainfall season has arrived," said Jatin Singh, CEO of private weather forecaster Skymet.

Monsoon is the lifeblood for Indias farm-dependent $2 trillion economy. As many as a dozen sectors depend on it, either directly or indirectly, experts believe.

Sectors such as agro chemicals, FMCG, automobile, rural-focused non-banking financial services companies (NBFCs) are likely to benefit greatly from a stable monsoon.

"Indian companies derive a significant portion of their earnings from the rural areas of the country. While some companies are directly dealing in the agriculture market like seeds, agrochemicals, fertilizers etc; certain other companies are indirectly benefited from a robust rural economy like FMCG and auto," Deepak Jasani, Head - Retail Research, HDFC Securities, told Moneycontrol.

"A deficient/excess rainfall leading to crop losses result in lower earnings for farmers resulting in lower rural demand and lower sales. Another sector affected due to the health of the rural economy is banks, NBFCs, and micro-finance institutions," he said.

Jasani pointed out that banks, FMCG, and the automobile sector make up more than half the Nifty's weight. So any change in the expectation of earnings of these sectors on the basis of the monsoon rains is positive for these stocks and to the index as a whole.

The southwest monsoon plays a significant role in India's economic progress and more predominantly, in the agriculture sector's progress. This is because it accounts for 70-75 percent of the total rainfall that India gets in a year and is therefore, of high significance in the agricultural calendar.

We have collated a list of twelve stocks which are likely to benefit the most from normal monsoon:

Analyst: Anita Gandhi, Whole Time Director at Arihant Capital Markets

UPL, Rallis India

A robust monsoon and expected hikes in the minimum support rates are likely to usher improved expectations for the farm income. Higher acreage and yield on the back of improved farmer sentiments coupled with a recovery in farm income are likely to bolster agrochemicals business growth in FY19.

Manappuram Finance

The company is witnessing healthy financial growth across all business segments. Its diversification efforts paid off as overall growth is well supported by robust growth witnessed in new businesses.

The management expects to maintain the strong growth momentum in all three new business segments, including rural India as well as the gold loan segment. Strong growth in the rural economy usually results in expansion of credit and also facilitates consistency of repayments.

Swaraj Engines

The management expects positive demand growth for tractors and higher market share due to the governments continued thrust on the agri and the rural sector.

The central government has time and again reiterated its aim to double farm income by 2022 through better productivity and enhanced farm realizations.

It is a leading supplier of the tractor engine. The company is one of the key players to benefit from this transition.

Excel Industries

The company is an India-based chemical manufacturer. It operates through four divisions that include chemicals, veterinary, environ-biotech and pharma. Excel is also a leading supplier of specialty intermediaries to agrochemical producers.

Analyst: Ritesh Ashar Chief Strategy Officer, KIFS Trade Capital

VST Tillers Tractors

The major income of VST Tillers comes from manufacturing and marketing two agricultural aid equipment i.e. Power tillers and Tractors. The company sold total 7,399 units in March 2018 against 6,023 units in March 2017 which saw a growth of 23 percent.

It sold 1808 tractors in March 2018 against 1398 in March 2017 which marked a jump of 29.3 percent. The power tiller volumes were up by 21 percent at 5591 units versus 4625 units in March 2017.

The company has started commercial production at its new power tiller plant at Malur, Karnataka which will add to revenue. This geographical expansion along with their expansion of product portfolio in tractor segment and also the good monsoon will be beneficial for the company.

Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals

The company posted a net profit of Rs 329 crore for the quarter ended March 2018. The net profit rose 41 percent as compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago on a standalone basis which was Rs 238 crore.

GSFC expects payment of balance Rs 700 crore as a subsidy in 1-2 quarters. Melamine plant capex is expected to be commissioned by September 2018. The recent budget was full of agriculture space which also added spark to the script, and now with good monsoon, we can see good volumes as well.

Mahindra & Mahindra

The company has been continuously growing in each business parameter. Its rural demand is expected to rise because of normal monsoon forecast.

A likely hike in government support prices for agri commodities is a positive for the stock. The launch of the new MPV should also boost utility vehicle segment volumes.

Deepak Fertilizers

Deepak fertilizers is one of Indias leading producers of industrial chemicals and fertilizers. The net profit for Q3 reported by Deepak Fertilizers and Petrochemicals saw a rise of 12 percent also the revenue of the company saw a growth of 50 percent.

The demand for fertilizers and agri-inputs is highly correlated with the level of monsoon rainfall. The expected monsoon in India will definitely be fruitful for this fertilizer stock.

Analyst: Vinod Nair Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services

Jyothy Laboratories

We expect the company to witness strong demand supported by the consecutive normal monsoon. Currently, 40 percent of its revenue is from rural and the management expects 60 percent of the growth will be from rural.

Given the company's focus on rural penetration backed by consistent innovation and brand building agenda (A&P to sales ratio at 9.3 percent against 7.2 percent YoY), we factor 12 percent CAGR in revenue over FY18-20E. Currently, JLL is trading at 34x 1Yr Fwd P/E against last 1-Year average of 36x.

Bata India

Bata with its new focus on opening stores in Tier II & III cities is expected to benefit from the normal monsoon. To accelerate growth, BIL is adding 300-350 stores via franchise route in next three years and has already identified 435 small cities.

We expect revenue to grow at 11 percent CAGR over FY18-20E aided by demand improvement driven by good monsoon along with store additions, increasing premium mix, and higher advertisement spending.

Further, improving efficiencies & premiumisation will continue to support margins and we estimate 17 percent CAGR in the net profit over FY18-20E. BIL is currently trading at its 3-year Avg of I-Yr Fwd P/E of 36x.

Hero MotoCorp

Hero Moto is the largest two-wheeler manufacture in India having a market share of 38 percent in which 50 percent market share in the motorcycle category with a low engine. The company would be a key beneficiary of the improvement in rural disposable income because rural sales account for about half of the total sales volume.

HMCL volume grew by 24 percent on a YoY basis for the full year FY18 and the trend is likely to continue for FY19. We expect revenue CAGR of 10 percent over FY18-20E led by new product launches, superior product mix and increase in rural income due to higher crop productivity owing to favorable monsoon.

At the current price the valuation looks reasonable on a 3-year historical average and we value HMCL at a P/E of 18x FY20 EPS.

Escorts

Escort will be a direct beneficiary owing to the governments focused approach to encourage farm mechanisation and growth in infrastructure segment. The total allocation for Rural, Agriculture and Allied sectors was Rs 2 lakh core which is 10 percent higher than the previous budget.

Agricultural credit has also increased by 10 percent and fixed at a record level of 11 lakh crore, which is expected to drive demand for tractors.

We expect revenue and net profit to grow at 16 percent and 34 percent CAGR over FY18-20E led by 15 percent volume growth in tractor segment and new product launches.

We believe that the current valuation is at a premium on a better earnings outlook on the back of normal monsoon and massive government push for rural.

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
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Bank of Baroda has started looking out for buyers for selling part of its stake in the AMC venture, Baroda Pioneer Asset Management Company, sources told Moneycontrol.

According to a source, BOB Capital Markets has been hired as the investment banker to manage the stake sale and the bank has already started the bidding process for selling stake in the AMC.

In December 2017, Bank of Baroda purchased 51 percent stake held by foreign partner Pioneer Investments in their joint venture asset management company, raising its shareholding to 100 percent, subject to regulatory approvals. Both the partners are still awaiting the regulators consent.

Pioneer Global Asset Management S.p.A. had acquired 51 percent of Bank of Baroda Asset Management in 2008 and will now exit the venture.

A senior Bank of Baroda executive said: Yes, even as we are in the process to buy the stake, we are looking at selling some stake if we get a good valuation before itself...We may sell whatever we have bought from Pioneer.

The executive added, "The government also wants us to sell stake in our non-core assets and monetise them. Our AMC business is profitable, so it can help us unlock good value."

The Finance Ministry has asked most public sector banks to sell their non-core assets as a way to generate funds for growth and capital as provisions against a growing pile of bad loans.

Owing to a jump in provisions, Bank of Baroda made a loss of Rs 3,102.34 crore in the January to March quarter for fiscal year 2017-18. This may constrain its capital raising plans in the market, for which it has a board approval to raise up to Rs 10,000 crore.

Meanwhile, the state-run lender is looking to monetise other non-core assets including BoB Cards, stake in IndiaFirst Life Insurance, UTI and Bank of Nainital in order to shore up its capital base.

As on March end, Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund managed assets under management (AUM) of Rs 13,022 crore, up 26 percent from a year ago. Currently, Baroda Pioneer operates out of 40 locations in India.
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Larsen and Toubro (L&T), India's largest engineering and construction company, said it is yet to see any meaningful increase in order inflow from private sector, where profit margins tend to be higher and contracts are more flexible than government orders.

It's predominantly government driven story right now. Government is the biggest spender on infrastructure as well as other social spending. We see some offshoots of private sector in minerals and metals space, but it's too early to comment on it, said SN Subrahmanyan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of L&T.

Subrahmanyan added that it could take another two years for the private sector orders to come back.

L&T said it had to prune its order book by Rs 16,000 crore as some developers in real estate faced liquidity issues. This was the second tranche of order book cleansing by the company in FY18.

Out of Rs 1.18 trillion domestic orders bagged by the company in FY18, around 70 percent was from government and the rest was from private sector. It expects similar pattern to continue in FY19 as well.

The capex cycle in India peaked in FY13 when share of private sector stood at a high of 60 percent of total projects under implementation.

Since then the share of the private sector has been declining and is now down to 30 percent as the sector is besieged with twin balance sheet problems, over supply and market related problems.

Twin balance sheet problem refers to the stress on balance sheets of banks due to bad loans on the one hand, and heavily indebted corporates on the other.

Meanwhile, the government has stepped up infrastructure spending to offset the decline in private spending.

The government raised spending on infrastructure by one trillion rupees to Rs 5.97 trillion in FY19 as it expands affordable housing, rail, roads and ports.

But the problem with government orders is that they come at extremely competitive rates and companies have to execute the projects at wafer thin margins.

The ability of the company to keep its pencils sharp, to be competitive, because the minute it is government, it is L1 (lowest bidder) basically. In private sector you have the opportunity to sit across and negotiate, and drive the negotiation. So to that extent the dynamics have changed, said R Shankar Raman, Chief Financial Officer, Larsen and Toubro (L&T).

L&T management said it pins its hopes on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code or IBC - that's aimed at reviving of stressed businesses through targeted resolution of "twin balance sheet" problems and facilitating increased credit lines to kick start private sector capex.

L&T on Monday reported a 4.6 percent year-on-year (YoY) rise in March quarter consolidated profit at Rs 3,167 crore, beating estimates.The net profit in the same quarter of previous year stood at Rs 3,025 crore.Revenues grew 11 percent YoY to Rs 40,678 crore in Q4FY18 from Rs 36,828 crore.
Essar Shipping | The share price has risen 62 percent in the last three trading sessions. On August 12, the stock closed at Rs 11.64 against a close of Rs 7.19 on August 7, 2020.

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Putting the Essar Steel auction back into action, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has called for hearing on Wednesday and Thursday.

The Tribunal took the decision to call for hearings from listening to a petition by Essar Steel lenders who had sought early hearing on petitions by Numetal and ArcelorMittal, who had bid for the stressed steelmaker.

The NCLAT on May 22 had put the auction on hold, and had slotted the next hearing only for July. The hearings were on petitions filed by Numetal and ArcelorMittal over their eligibility to bid.

But the lenders argued that the delay in the hearing was costing them money. Leader lender State Bank of India had pointed out that Essar Steel had an outstanding debt of Rs 52,569 crore. And since the insolvency process began, another Rs 5,100 crore of of interest has accrued on the debt.

The Tribunal will now hear arguments from Numetal, ArcelorMittal and the lenders during the hearings on Wednesday and Thursday. The Tribunal will then close for a month on a summer break and reopen on July 1.

The sticky issue

The resolution professional had initially termed first round bids by ArcelorMittal and Numetal ineligible under Clause 29A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.





The clause prevents promoters of defaulting companies from bidding for stressed assets. ArcelorMittal's investments in Uttam Galva Steels and KSS Petron were said to be a hurdle, as the two companies had defaulted on loan repayments.





Similarly, Numetal was asked to clear the dues of Essar Steel, as its minority shareholder Rewant Ruia was a 'connected person,' given that his father Ravi Ruia is co-founder of Essar Steel.

But Numetal argued that the second round bids should be opened as the company had bid Rs 37,000 crore for Essar Steel. Rewant Ruia is not part of the Numetal consortium in the second round.

ArcelorMittal had presently argued that bids in the first round should be considered. The world's largest steelmaker had transferred Rs 7,000 crore into an escrow account of SBI to show its intent in clearing the eligibility hurdle.
Pune-based Rupee Co-operative Bank has been asked by the Reserve Bank to continue giving its services with restrictions for three more months till August this year in view of its financial position.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had first imposed restrictions on the bank from February 22, 2013, to August 21, 2013, and extended it on eight occasions six months each, and four occasions for three months each.

The co-operative bank was given its last extension for six months between November 22, 2017, and May 31, 2018.

"The Reserve Bank has extended directions issued to Rupee Co-operative Bank Ltd., Pune, Maharashtra, for a further period of three months from June 1, 2018, to August 31, 2018, subject to review," RBI said in a release today.

However, RBI said that the directions issued for the bank should not be construed as cancellation of banking licence by the regulator.

"The bank will continue to undertake banking business with restrictions till its financial position improves. The Reserve Bank may consider modifications of these directions depending upon circumstances," RBI said further.

As per Rupee Co-Operative Bank website, the lender has 40 offices/branches, including the headquarter in Pune, across Maharashtra.
The World Bank will provide a USD 21.7 million loan for strengthening the public financial management in Rajasthan to improve budget execution and greater revenue efficiency. An agreement for IBRD credit of USD 21.7 million was signed here, the finance ministry said in a statement.

"The project size is approximately USD 31 million, of which USD 21.7 million will be financed by the World Bank, and the remaining amount will be funded-out of the state budget," it said, adding that the Project duration is 5 years.

As per the statement, the objective of the project is to contribute to improved budget execution, enhanced accountability and greater efficiency in revenue administration in Rajasthan.

It involves strengthening of the Public Financial Management Framework; strengthening of expenditure and revenue systems; and project management and capacity building among others.
A private security guard stands in front of the main gate of Sterlite Industries Ltd's copper plant in Tuticorin

It will not come as a surprise if business schools soon have case studies of the Sterlite Copper issue as an example of bad governance. More than the company, it is the various state governments that have been in power that are to blame for the mess in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu.

Ironically, the political parties that are protesting against the plant have at some point or the other, been responsible for clearing the path for the plant.

Now, succumbing to the pressure of the so-called peaceful protesters, the state government has asked Sterlite to shut down its unit. The writing was on the wall when the state Pollution Control Board was asked to seal and permanently close the plant following last week's violent protests in which 13 people were killed in police firing.

The fact that the protesters were the ones who were attackers was lost on the government amidst the political din in the area. The chief minister had justified the police firing in the initial days. The government also did not bother to look into the fact that the movement was instigated by political parties and foreign-funded NGOs and local religious bodies who had also protested a nuclear power plant in the Kudankulam region, nearly 100 km from the copper plant.

Former PM Manmohan Singh had publicly criticised non-governmental organisations with overseas funding for stalling the project. Though the state government held its ground in the case of the nuclear plant, it has succumbed to pressure in the Sterlite case.

In fact, in the Sterlite case, it is the government and the various agencies that should be asked to close down along with the plant for not doing what was required of them.

If what the protesters say is correct, then why had the state Pollution Control Board cleared the plant and allowed it to operate?

Sterlite claims that it has a transparent policy on disclosure of environmental issues. The company says that its sensor from its chimney is connected to the internet and open to public scrutiny.

As for water pollution, the company says that it has a zero effluent policy, something that is common in most manufacturing companies. Thus, the question of water pollution should not arise.

Government agencies, especially the fisheries, should be pulled up if what Sterlite's claims are true.

Why Sterlites case seems to be strong is because the district administration has done little in preventing environmental damage.

In an earlier case, the Supreme Court had directed Sterlite copper to deposit Rs 100 crore in a fixed deposit with Thoothukudi district administration. The interest from this amount was to be spent on improving the environment, including water and soil, in the vicinity of the plant.

Today the amount has grown to Rs 141 crore and the district administration has spent only Rs 7 crore. So was the district administration in the last five years unable to find enough projects to control pollution?

Sterlite Copper will naturally go to the courts to resolve the matter. The plant which accounts for nearly 40 percent of the countrys copper production would not only result in imports but is also said to affect direct and indirect employment of 25,000 people in the area.

The Tamil Nadu government has shown its weakness of succumbing to protests, even when the Chief Minister had said that the police was right in firing at the violent protesters.

Tamil Nadu has done worse than what the West Bengal government did to Tata Motors, when it asked the company to shift its plant. This is bad not only for the state, but for all the companies in the state, which may now fear labour activism.

As for Sterlite Coppers shareholders, they have a strong case against the government and have a strong chance of winning, if they go to the courts. But if the courts ask the state government to compensate the company, it is the tax payer who would have to pay for bad governance and anarchism, not to mention the thousands who will now be unemployed.
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GIC Re, Indias largest reinsurance company, reported a 24% growth in consolidated gross premium income for financial year 2017-18. Full year earnings would have been even better, but for the weak performance in the final quarter. On the whole, it was a difficult year for global reinsurers because of natural disasters across the globe.

While there is inherent volatility in the core risk-underwriting business, GIC Re is the only listed reinsurer, making it a stock worth looking at.

GIC Re accounted for close to 60 percent of the premiums passed on by Indian insurers to reinsurers during FY17. With growing international presence (29 percent of total premium now), the company is the 12th largest reinsurer in the world and the third-largest in Asia in terms of gross premiums accepted. Though the exposure is in non-life insurance segment, the product portfolio is well diversified across business lines.

Source: Company

Being the leader in reinsurance in India, GIC has competitive strengths in the domestic market in terms of strong underwriting and actuarial capabilities. That said, the recent change in regulations enabled foreign reinsurance companies to compete in India following which 10 foreign players opened their branches in the country.

Despite this change, we expect GIC Re to continue to retain its dominant position because of two factors. First, it has built strong relationships with insurers companies and has superior data from 44 years of underwriting. Secondly, current regulations mandate that GIC Re be given first preference by Indian insurers wanting to reinsure risks. There have been recommendations that this rule be scrapped to allow for competition from foreign reinsurers. However, IRDA is yet to consider the same. Indian non-life insurers are compelled by regulation to cede 5% of premiums on every policy to GIC Re.

GIC Res gross premium from domestic markets grew 27 percent year-on-year and international business recorded a growth of 18 percent. The growth in domestic premium was driven by a 35 percent increase in crop insurance premium. This is now the largest product line for the reinsurer. GIC Re substantially increased its exposure to the agricultural segment in FY17 by reinsuring crop insurance under the Indian governments Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) scheme.

Despite good premium growth, the reinsurer reported an underwriting loss for FY18. The combined ratio, measure of insurance companys profitability expressed as total cost to total revenue, weakened to 104 percent for FY18 from 99.7 percent in FY17. The deterioration in combined ratio was mainly on the back of increase in the claims/loss ratio from 81 percent in FY17 to 86.5 percent in FY18 while the commission and expense ratio was slightly better for the year.

The combined ratio of domestic business came in at 98 percent despite the poor performance in crop insurance. The overall performance was dragged down by losses due to global catastrophes. The international business saw combined ratio deteriorate to 116% due to huge losses in Harvey, Irma and Maria hurricanes in the USA and the Caribbean alongside Mexican earthquake and California wildfires.

Despite the underwriting loss, the solvency ratio at 172 percent was comfortably above the regulatory requirement of 150 percent. The management sounded confident of maintaining growth for next couple of years before having to raise fresh capital.

It expects 16-18 percent growth in premium for FY19 driven by health and motor insurance. Further, it intends to bring down the combined ratio below 100 percent by reducing commissions in the crop segment.

The Indian reinsurance market, estimated to be around Rs 388 billion, has witnessed compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 15 percent in the past 10 years. Given that most reinsurance premiums written in India comes from the non-life segment (an average 95 percent in the past five years), future growth in reinsurance premiums will be driven by growth in the non-life insurance segment as well as percentage of premiums passed on to reinsurers.

There are several growth levers that will drive the high-teen growth of non life insurance premium over next few years. India continues to be a grossly underpenetrated market with non-life penetration at one fourth of the global average in 2016. The insurance density (non-life insurance premium per capita) also remains significantly lower than other developed and emerging market economies. Further, we see multiple tailwinds for the underlying segments as well. Higher cost of healthcare and rising incidences of critical illness will likely increase health insurance penetration. Increase in new vehicle sales will be a key growth driver for motor insurance segment.

This will increase the insurance premium ceded to reinsurers, and retention ratios could also increase from 70 percent observed in FY2017. Accordingly, reinsurance premiums in India is expected to increase by 11-14 percent CAGR over the next four years to Rs 700 billion by FY2022 as per Crisil.

GIC Re is well poised for growth with an increase in insurance penetration, focus on profitable segments and improvement in operating efficiency. Though we are comfortable about GIC Re in the long run, owing to inherent volatility in the core risk-underwriting business, the stock could be volatile in near term. The stock is already down by around 19% since its listing in October 2017.

The current valuation looks slightly expensive as the stock is currently trading at 3 times its trailing book with return on equity at 15 percent. We have seen that leading companies in sectors with consistent growth tend to trade at a higher multiples for long periods. So, in the absence of a comparable listed peer, GIC Re trades as a proxy for the sector and commands a premium. While valuation could remain expensive, stock performance will react to underwriting performance.

Nevertheless, for investors with long term horizon and wanting to participate in the growth in the reinsurance sector, the stock is worth a consideration.

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With domestic regulatory headwinds waning and pick-up in demand for Class 8 trucks (15 tonne and above) in North America, Ramkrishna Forgings (RMKF) is in a sweet spot as is evident from the strong set of Q4 FY18 earnings. The new press line and products and increase in market share beckons investor attention.

Quarter in a nutshell

Volumes grew 41.2 percent year-on-year (YoY), with domestic and export businesses recording a growth of 46.2 percent and 25.3 percent YoY, respectively. Growth in the domestic business was on account of reduced regulatory headwinds and pick-up in commercial vehicle demand.

Pickup in demand for Class 8 trucks in North America drove exports. The management said export volumes were on the lower side due to capacity bottlenecks. Its sees these issues getting sorted out given its focus on automation and improving efficiency, which will free up 10-15 percent of capacity this fiscal.

Continuous enrichment of the product mix with leading original equipment manufacturers (OEM) led to a 9.5 percent and 10.1 percent YoY rise in domestic and export realisations, respectively.

Net operating revenue registered a strong 41.2 percent YoY growth on the back of substantial volume growth and an increase in average realisation.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) margin expanded 425 basis points YoY on the back of operating leverage. Raw material cost continue to spike up, but its a pass-through for the company with a time lag.

Growth drivers

RMKF develops over 150 new products per year as is evident from its track record over the last five years. This has helped in increasing content per vehicle and increase its share in key OEMs. The management indicated it would continue to focus on developing new products.The company has spent around Rs70 crore in setting up four new heavy presses with an aggregate capacity of 12,500-tonne per annum. This makes it the only company after Bharat Forge to command such a capacity and provides an opportunity to meet the strong demand. The management plans to expand capacity to target the untapped passenger vehicle and electric vehicle (EV) segments.Thanks to its new heavytonnage press, the company is well-positioned to manufacture heavy and criticalforged products. With its long standing relationships with leading OEMs such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland, it continues to bag fresh orders on the back of increasing content per vehicle and growth in CV demand. The management expects double-digit demand growth for medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCV) in FY19 on the back of restrictions on overloading of trucks, governments thrust on infrastructure development and mining activities.After witnessing a sharp 36 percent drop in Class8 truck orders in CY16, demand picked up strongly in CY17. The management sees 25 percent YoY growth in demand for Class8 trucks in CY18, which is expected to augur well for the company.In the oil and gas space, RMKF caters to offshore and drilling companies. The management sees robust demand from shale gas industry in North America.The management said it is not affected by the shift towards EVs. The management said it plans to work on aluminium forging for EVs.The stock currently trades at 20.4 times FY19e and 18.2 times FY20e earnings, which is reasonable given the strong earnings growth in the next two years.

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May 29, 2018 / 08:41 PM IST

Modi govt's attitude 'dictatorial' towards states: TDP

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) today adopted a new political resolution in which it lambasted the Modi government for its "dictatorial" attitude and vowed to unite regional parties to take on the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The resolution read: "The Centre is weakening the financial condition of states... The unilateral style of functioning of the Modi government has led to loss of trust of states in the central government. The states feel that the concept of federalism is only on paper."


Representative Image

Pakistan and Indian Director Generals of Military Operations (DGMO) today agreed to undertake "sincere measures" to improve the prevailing security situation on the Line of Control. A special hotline contact was established between the two top military officials today, the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the media wing of the Pakistan Army, said in a statement.

Both DGMOs reviewed the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and Working Boundary and mutually agreed to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation ensuring peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders, the statement said.

They agreed to fully implement the ceasefire understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit and to ensure that the ceasefire agreement will not be violated by both sides from now on, it said.

They also decided to follow restraint and address issue through existing mechanisms.

"Both DGMOs also agreed that in case of any issue, restraint will be exercised and the matter will be resolved through utilisation of existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and border flag meetings at local commander's level," the statement added.
Ajay Piramal, Chairman, Piramal Enterprises

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Piramal Enterprises (PEL) is considering a re-entry into the domestic formulations business, according to a report by Mint.

The development comes eight years after the Ajay Piramal-led conglomerate sold its portfolio to US-based Abbott Laboratories for $3.72 billion. Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Chairman Ajay Piramal said the company's non-compete pact with Abbott for the formulations business ends in September, and the company will be reviewing whether or not it wants to re-enter the segment.

Before selling it to Abbott, Piramal manufactured, marketed and sold branded pharmaceutical products in India, Nepal and Sri Lanka through its domestic formulations business.

However, despite selling the business, Piramal retained operations such as critical care, over-the-counter consumer products, custom manufacturing for third parties, manufacture and supply of active pharmaceutical ingredients, diagnostic medical devices, and equipment and diagnostic services.

The company is also considering setting up an asset management business as part of its strategy to focus on fee income, the report stated, citing a top company official.

Piramal Enterprises on Monday posted a huge jump in its March quarter net profit to Rs 3,944 crore, benefiting mainly from a Rs 3,500-crore tax write-back on the merger of subsidiary firms. Its profit for the corresponding period last year stood at Rs 311 crore.

Normalised for the gain, the Mumbai-based company's bottom line grew by 21 percent to Rs 375 crore, having been restricted by an increase in tax outgo.
Capital and commodities market regulator SEBI has called for a meeting of stock exchanges and clearing corporations on June 6 to discuss various issues, including technical glitches, a source told Moneycontrol.

The source said the regulator was not comfortable with recurring technical glitches on the bourses. The move stems from the recent stoppage of National Stock Exchanges NOW web-based trading software platform.

NSE had issued two versions. In the media version, they stated there is no problem in the trading software. But in a reply to the Association of National Exchanges Members of India, they acknowledge the problem, the source said.

The regulator wants to avoid such instances going forward by improving transparency.

The source said the regulator may discuss inter-operability between clearing corporations. SEBI wants to implement the Secondary Market Advisory Committees report on inter-operability as soon as possible. Chairman Ajay Tyagi may discuss the timeline and some pending issues related to it, the source said.

In 2015, a SEBI panel headed by noted banker KV Kamath had first mooted the inter-operability option for investors. However, the regulator raised concerns on issues like the model  common or discretionary of inter-operability. Another concern was on margins. Although it has prescribed collateral that can be used as margin, it raised the issue for better clarity among participants.

What is the inter-operability option?

Clearing and settlement of shares happen at clearing houses. Traders need to maintain various types of margins and collateral with the clearing house. Currently, clearing house services are not inter-operable. So, a trader wishing to settle his trade at a different clearing house needs to put up a separate margin and collateral, increasing his costs. With inter-operability, a trader can settle his trades by paying margins and collateral at only one clearing house.

The inter-operability issue resurfaced last year after a glitch forced NSE to halt futures and options and cash trading on the Nifty for over three hours. If the norms were in place, trading would not have been affected and traders could have bought and sold stocks on the BSE with the same margin.

On the cards is also a discussion on extension of timing of derivative contracts. Since brokers are not comfortable with single stock derivatives in the absence of a cash market, the Association of National Exchanges Members of India (ANMI) had petitioned SEBI requesting that trading hours not be extended. The regulator had called a meeting of brokers on May 25 but had to cancel the same on account of the NSEs NOW glitch.

Sources said SEBI may also take up the R Gandhi committee report on regulations pertaining to Market Infrastructure Institutions (MIIs). Only a part of this report has been made public.
(Image: Shutterstock)

The high drama around Karnataka elections has just about settled with a new government in power. Entrepreneurs of Bengaluru-based startups are sure that the push behind entrepreneurship and digital innovation will continue with the new government but poor infrastructure remains a pain-point.

The state has several policies favouring startups. But if we want to scale and create a dynamic ecosystem for startups, infrastructure has to be smoothened out. Not much has been done in that regard, said Raja Lahiri, Partner, Grant Thornton India.

The leading parties in the recently concluded Karnataka elections actively tried to appeal to the urban vote bank by showing support for startups. While BJP targeted the tech-savvy population of Bangalore by engaging with other tech companies, Congress in its manifesto listed a number of other efforts to boost entrepreneurship in Karnataka. Subsidy is one of the significant ones, under which, startups will be eligible to get up to Rs 1 crore as subsidy. The subsidy would have a grant component of up to Rs 25 lakh and soft loan of about Rs 75 lakh at the rate of 6 percent interest.

The manifesto also envisaged housing over 20,000 tech-based startups, including 6,000 product startups, by 2020 through its Multi-Sector Startup Policy. The party claimed that such efforts will translate into 1.8 million job opportunities for the state.

However, entrepreneurs Moneycontrol reached out to, believe theres a lot more to achieve, which include infrastructure development, ironing out transportation issues, besides forming favourable policies around filing for an exit and bankruptcy.

Gaurav Dhawan, founder of fin-tech startup WealthApp, feels the new government is unlikely to introduce any new schemes at least for a year of its incumbency. Echoing the sentiment of other entrepreneurs, Dhawan however stressed, that a smart city vision should be created for Bangalore with better connectivity, better commutation, and employing hi-tech solutions for civic issues such as polluted lakes and damaged roads.

Since Congress is part of the government in power, they are most likely to maintain status quo on the policies they have already introduced. But the government must look at ironing out infrastructural issues, he says.

Karnataka was the first state to announce a startup policy, in 2015, with a five-year time frame (till 2020). The policy aims to support startups through strategic investment and policy interventions. Rs 300 crore corpus was also set up to be disbursed in the form of grants equity to startups, and micro-and-small enterprises.

The state government has also introduced several schemes and policies to support startups through mentorship. It has gone ahead and incubated several of these startups under the Startup Cell.

Entrepreneurs agree that the concerted push from the government has helped startups in creating opportunities for new ideas and proof of concept. Karnataka government allows selected startups to work on civic initiatives taken by the State. However, awareness around the funding assistance is very low, especially beyond the metros, the entrepreneurs say.

According to the Startup India Policy website, DIPP has till now recognised 6,096 companies in India as startups. But only 74 of these startups have been approved for availing tax benefits, as of January 2018.

Some funds such as Chiratae Trust, which was sanctioned the highest corpus of Rs 90 crore under the Funds-of-Funds (FFS) managed by SIDBI, funded just 10 startups till September. Several others including Omnivore Partners India Fund II, Aavishkar Bharat Fund, Stakeboat Capital Fund, IndiaQuotient II, and Kitven Fund III have funded a limited number of companies with the government money.

Moreover, governments funding is for seed-stage startups, which is not enough to scale up. To do that, startups will have to turn to venture capitalists. So, it makes sense for the new government to take up issues that make inception, funding, and exit of startups difficult, a new entrepreneur, attached to the Startup Cell, said.

Aniket Deb, founder of B2B packaging marketplace startup Bizongo, says that no government, whether it is led by BJP or Congress, can ignore the wave of entrepreneurship. The Centre has set the tone. There are efforts to take entrepreneurship in smaller town also, which wouldnt be possible without political will, he says.

But all agree that there is a need to create success stories with better promotion and execution, if the governments startup policy is to be a success. Or else, it will be limited to be an incubation platform for young startups at best.
Praveg Communications (India) Ltd.

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Drugmaker Aurobindo Pharma share price fell more than 7 percent intraday on Tuesday after March quarter earnings missed analyst expectations on Monday.

Consolidated profit during the quarter slipped 0.65 percent to Rs 528.8 crore but revenue from operations grew by 11.2 percent to Rs 4,049.1 crore compared to year-ago.

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) increased 9.3 percent year-on-year to Rs 788.1 crore but margin contracted 30 basis points to 19.5 percent.

A Reuters poll of analyst estimates had forecast profit at Rs 588.7 crore and revenue at Rs 4,173.3 crore for Q4FY18.

Sales of formulations or generic drugs, which contribute about four-fifths of total revenue, grew 12.8 percent to Rs 3,248.6 crore, compared with Rs 2,879.4 crore in the year-ago period.

Sales of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), the key raw materials that go into the production of drugs, rose 4.8 percent to Rs 799.6 crore.

The US formulation business contributed 45 percent to the total revenue and grew 5.8 percent to Rs 1,738.8 crore due to new product launches.

The European Union formulations business contributed 28 percent of total revenue and grew 48.2 percent to Rs 1,151.6 crore driven by strong growth in some of the key markets. The company said it has transferred manufacturing of 83 products from Europe to India to cut costs.

"The rising competition and price erosion of generic Renvela its key contributor during previous quarters in the US and lack of significant approvals to offset that loss has impacted the profitability in Q4F18," said an analyst who tracks pharma. Renvela is used in treatment of chronic kidney disease.

At 11:21 hours IST, the stock price was quoting at Rs 585.30, down Rs 19.80, or 3.27 percent amid high volumes on the BSE.
Ion Exchange (India) | Rakesh Jhunjhunwala holds a 5.29 percent stake in the company as on June 20. FIIs up their shareholding on June 20 to 1.79% from 1.63% on March 20.

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Akash Jain

Ion Exchange: Buy | Target - Rs 550 by FY19-end

The company is in its 53rd year of operations and was formed in 1964 as a subsidiary of a UK company called Permutit and it has become a wholly-owned Indian company in the year 1985. Currently the company represents India as a global MNC and operates out of almost all major countries in the world, either directly or through representatives in these countries.

Ion Exchange India Limited is a pioneer in the field of Water Management and Waste Management in India. The company is headquartered in Mumbai and has six manufacturing facilities and assembly facilities across India and has also presence abroad. The company has expanded its footprints globally and possesses a diversified product range. It offers one stop water and non-water treatment solutions catering to diverse segments like infrastructure, industry, institutions, municipal, homes and communities, urban and rural.

It is engaged in providing solutions across the water cycle from pre-treatment to process water treatment, waste water treatment, recycle, zero liquid discharge, sewage treatment, packaged drinking water, sea water desalination etc. In addition, engaged in manufacturing ion exchange resins, speciality chemicals for water and waste water treatment as well as non-water applications. The company has over 50 patents to their credit and 100+ products commercialized. The company exports to Africa, Japan, Middle East, Russia, South East Asia, Europe, UK, USA, Canada and neighbouring countries.

The company operates in three segments which are:

a) Engineering (60%): Provides comprehensive and integrated services and solutions in water & waste water treatment including Sea Water desalination, Recycle and Zero liquid discharge plants to diverse industries.

b) Chemicals (30%): Provides a comprehensive range of resins, speciality chemicals and customized chemical treatment programmes for water, non-water and specialty applications.

c) Consumer Products (10%): Caters to individuals, hotels, spas, educational institutions, hospitals, laboratories, railway and defence establishments providing safe drinking water and a clean environment.

The Company has marquee clients:

a) Industrial  NTPC, NPC, Reliance, IOCL, JSW, CPCL, L&T, Essar group, IRCTC, BHEL, Tata Group.

b) Institutional  Leela, Military Engineering Services, Taj Hotels, Holiday Inn, Hyatt Regency, Oberoi Hotels, Apollo Hospitals, Escorts Heart Institute, DLF, Puravankar.

c) International  Cargill, Technip France, Unilever group, Jurong, Thyssenkrupp (Uhde), Jacobs, Kawasaki, Mitsubishi, PDO Oman, Emirates Steel, IKPP Indonesia.

In Q4FY18, recovery was witnessed in the engineering segment witnessed post November 2017 continued in this quarter resulting in increase in sales and profitability. The Management expects improving order visibility in the capital goods industry.

With regards to Sri Lanka Project worth Rs 1,300 crore, 17 percent of the total order has been completed. In FY19, incremental 35 percent of the project would be completed and balance in FY20.

In the Chemicals segment, there was improved off take due to seasonality in certain product segments resulting into higher sales growth over the previous quarters. However, margins have remained under pressure due to rising commodity price. The management is taking steps to reduce the impact of surge in crude oil prices. It is likely to pass on the increased costs to its customers. The Company has planned a capex of Rs 50 crore in FY19, out of which Rs 15 crore would be spent on Ankleshwar plant. The asset turnover is expected to be around 1-1.5 times from the capex.

However, there are some concerns with regards to its subsidiaries incurring loss and also facing some SEBI enquiry, which are pending with SAT.

The company has decent return ratios: ROE: 19.6 percent and ROCE of 24.3 percent on consolidated basis.

We recommend a Buy with a target of Rs 550 by FY19 end. In fact, we recommend the stock for including in standard portfolio for long term wealth creation.

Disclaimer: The author is Vice President - Equity Research, Ajcon Global. The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
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Aditya Agarwala

The Nifty bounced back sharply in the last three trading sessions after witnessing a similar correction last week. Following this upmove, the index is approaching its 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level placed at 10,735 levels. A sustained trade above this Fibonacci resistance can extend the upmove to 10,820-10,930 levels.

However, failure to trade beyond 10,735, i.e. its 61.8 percent Fibonacci retracement level, could resume the downside correction, dragging it lower to 10,550-10,325 levels. The index has entered into a volatile trading range, suggesting a rise in the volatility index in coming sessions which can lead to further choppiness.

The midcap and smallcap indices continue to underperform the headline index, leading to a divergence, confirming the view that the market could witness choppy trading in coming sessions.

Here is the list of stocks that can deliver 9-16 percent return in 3-4 weeks:

Nilkamal Ltd: Buy| Target: Rs 1,975| Stop loss: Rs 1,600| Return: 16%

On the weekly chart, Nilkamal Ltd. (NILKAMAL) has broken out from a consolidation channel and is approaching the upper end of the Triangle pattern placed at Rs 1,975 (as indicated on chart) indicating bullishness building up in the stock.

A sustained trade above Rs 1,730 with healthy volumes can take the stock to the upper end of the pattern placed at Rs 1,975. Further, on the daily chart, it has taken support at the 61.8% Fibonacci retracement level and turned upwards affirming bullishness.

Moreover, RSI has witnessed a range shift after taking support at the 40-level entering the bull zone affirming bullishness. The stock can be bought in the range of Rs 1,705-1,710 for targets of Rs 1,895-1,975, keeping a stop loss below Rs 1,600.

The New India Assurance Company Ltd: Buy| Target: Rs 790| Stop loss: Rs 690| Return 9%

On the daily chart, the New India Assurance Co. Ltd. (NAICL) has turned upwards after breaking out of a Triangle pattern suggesting bullishness dominant in the stock.

Further, it has broken out on healthy volumes affirming the bullishness. The RSI has turned upwards breaking out of the upper Bollinger Bands suggesting extended bullishness in the coming trading sessions.

The stock may be bought in the range of 720-725 for targets of 760-790, keeping a stop loss below 690.

Axis Bank Ltd: Buy| Target: Rs 600| Stop loss: Rs 519| Return 10%

On the weekly chart, Axis Bank Ltd. (AXISBANK) is on the verge of a breakout from an Ascending Triangle pattern suggesting bullishness building up in the stock.

Further, on the daily chart, it has turned upwards after taking support at the 50% Fibonacci retracement level placed at 520 and has broken out from a consolidation phase affirming bullishness.

The RSI has entered in the bull zone after bearing out of broken out from upper Bollinger Band. The stock may be bought in the range of 544-547 for targets of Rs 585-600, keeping a stop loss below Rs 519.

Disclaimer: The author Technical Analyst at YES Securities (I) Ltd. The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on Moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.
A private security guard stands in front of the main gate of Sterlite Industries Ltd's copper plant in Tuticorin

State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT) has cancelled the land it had allocated for the second copper unit of Vedanta Sterlite.

SIPCOT is owned by the Tamil Nadu government.

The move comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government ordered permanent closure of the Sterlite copper plant at Thoothukudi.

13 people died in violent protests at Thoothukudi last week. The protesters were against expansion of the copper plant due to environmental concerns.

The plant, which has a capacity of 400,000 tonnes per annum, was in operation for 22 years until March 27 this year. Since March 27, it had been closed for maintenance and license renewal.

Tamil Nadu Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam has said the state government is ready to face all legal challenges required to keep the plant permanently closed.
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Vedanta Ltd today termed as "unfortunate" the Tamil Nadu government's order to close down the Sterlite copper plant at Tuticorin and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development. This follows Tamil Nadu government today ordering the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin following last week's violent protests over pollution concerns during which 13 people were killed in police firing.

"Closure of Sterlite Copper plant is an unfortunate development, especially since, we have operated the plant for over 22 years in most transparent and sustainable way, contributing to the Tuticorin and state's socio-economic development. We will study the development and decide on the future course of action," Vedanta Ltd said in a statement.

The government's decision came a day ahead of the start of the state Assembly session where it is likely to come under intense Opposition fire over the Tuticorin incidents.

"Now the plant is permanently closed. The Government Order (GO) has been implemented," Tuticorin District Collector Sandeep Nanduri said.

The closure of the copper plant caps sustained protests and campaign for the last several years by the local people against copper factory over environmental pollution concerns.

The GO said it endorsed the recent closure direction of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and also asked the TNPCB to "seal the unit and close the plant permanently".

Chief Minsiter K Palaniswami said the government has issued the GO in deference to the sentiments of the people.

The locals were protesting for the closure of the factory for 99 days. Protesters turned violent on May 22, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police action against them last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Asked what he had to say to the people of Tuticorin, the chief minister said, "Peace has returned to the town and it must continue, and people should cooperate with the government. Their demand has been fulfilled by Amma's government."

Palaniswami said people of Tuticorin were seeking permanent closure of the plant since it did not meet the environment related conditions of the National Green Tribunal and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.
Ion Exchange (India) | Rakesh Jhunjhunwala holds a 5.29 percent stake in the company as on June 20. FIIs up their shareholding on June 20 to 1.79% from 1.63% on March 20.

The Himachal Pradesh High Court today took suo motu notice of the crisis in water supply in Shimla Town and asked whether any new construction should be allowed to come up within the municipal limits or not.

A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Karol and Justice Ajay Mohan Goel said, The problem of water scarcity within Shimla town, as highlighted, takes us to yet another issue and that being as to whether any new construction should be allowed to come up within the municipal limits of Shimla town at all or not."

The bench said that the town, except for one, did not have its own perennial source of water, which is required to be pumped from the river sources at a distant place.

"Whether the present holding capacity is sufficient enough to cater to the ever-growing urban population or not, is an issue which certainly needs to be addressed, it said and directed the municipal commissioner and engineer to remain present in the court during hearing tomorrow.

Advocate General Ashok Sharma informed the high court that the highest authority was already seized of the matter and appropriate steps were being taken for immediately redressing the problem.

We are fully in agreement with the submissions made by the Advocate General that long term solution to the problem can be found with the construction of check dams and reservoirs where water can be stored for longer period of time and utilised at the time of water scarcity, more so, during summer months," the bench observed.
Representational Image

The Monsoon is here and it is the one time of the year that even business news turns into a fairly detailed weather forecast. Of course, largely because India is still, for the most part, an agrarian economy, especially in terms of employment. A good monsoon is generally good news for markets in India. And for politics. Governments are known to have crumbled because of droughts following below average monsoons.

Anyway, back to the rains. The Southwest Monsoon hit Kerala, marking the arrival of the rainy season in the country. The private weather forecaster Skymet said the Monsoon would hit the Kerala coast on May 28. However, the India Meteorological Department, in its morning bulletin, declared that the Monsoon would hit Kerala in the next 24 hours.

One of the primary parameters for the declaration of monsoon is that 60 percent of 14 available stations in Kerala and the southern coast of Karnataka report rainfall of 2.5 mm or more for two straight days. Other parameters are that the westerly winds must be up to 15,000 feet above mean sea level and outgoing long-wave radiation should be less than 200 wm-2 (watt per square metre).

Skymet is clear that the monsoon arrived on Monday, even if the IMD is more comfortable with May 29th as the date that the monsoon makes landfall. The long-wave radiation is 140 wm-2. Rain for two consecutive days has been recorded in almost all weather stations even the wind criteria have matched. (We can) safely say the Monsoon has hit Kerela," said Mahesh Palwat, Vice-President of Meteorology and Climate Change at Skymet.

In any case, IMD declared the arrival of monsoon this morning. Three days ahead of the normal, said the met department. Widespread rainfall was reported across Kerala over the last four days. The monsoon is set to have a normal advance over the subcontinent. The US Joint Typhoon Warning Centre located a low-pressure area 795 km South, South-East of Kolkata but that looks headed for Northern Myanmar over the next 24 hours.

So why do we care so much about this particular weather forecast? Rural consumer demand and farmer suicides. Consider this. Two consecutively good monsoons - thats in two years - have played a key role in reviving demand for consumer goods in rural India. Executives in the consumer goods industry observe that uncertainty over the macroeconomic situation, and in the job market, may have dented consumer confidence in urban areas but rural households are spending more. Two consecutive years of the better monsoon  in FY17 and FY18  led to better crop yields. Word of a massive hike in MSP rates has also lifted consumer confidence in rural areas. MSP for pulses has already been revised once. In certain states, like Madhya Pradesh, MSP for wheat is already at its peak  thanks to the upcoming state election.

What it boils down to is this: Equally-distributed rain usually sees a healthy uptick in demand for products from rural areas, and results in an increase in rural citizens' purchasing power. Which is good for Bharatdeshs economy overall. Ergo, the Indian economy is heavily dependent on monsoon rain. Sectors such as agrochemicals, FMCG, automobile, rural-focused non-banking financial services companies (NBFCs) are likely to witness marked benefits from a stable monsoon.

DK Aggarwal, Chairman, and MD, SMC Investments and Advisors, doesnt hedge his bets when it comes to the importance of the monsoon. "Monsoon rains are the lifeblood for the Indian economy and are very critical for the farm sector, which accounts for about 15 percent of India's economy. There is a very strong correlation between the monsoon and the performance of the Indian economy along with the stock market," he told Moneycontrol.

He added that "A good monsoon creates positive reading about the economy among investors, including FIIsa stronger economic outlook would lift the sentiments of investors, mainly companies selling products in rural areas from the sectors such as FMCG, consumer goods, automobiles."

"Indian companies derive a significant portion of their earnings from the rural areas of the country. Some companies are directly dealing in the agriculture market like seeds, agrochemicals, fertilizers etc, said Deepak Jasani, Head of Retail Research at HDFC Securities. He adds that deficient/excess rainfall leading to crop losses result in lower earnings for farmers resulting in lower rural demand and lower sales. Another sector affected due to the health of the rural economy is banks, NBFCs, and micro-finance institutions."

Other analysts noted that banks, FMCG, and the automobile sector make up more than half the Nifty's weight. Any change in the expectations of earnings in these sectors, on the basis of the monsoon, is positive for these stocks and to the index as a whole.

So how does the overall monsoon look like this year? The met, in its first stage of the forecast, sees a 'normal' monsoon this year, likely around 97 percent of the long period average. In 2017, the southwest monsoon was near-normal at 95 percent of the long period average, but patchy.

Lets define what a normal monsoon is, in India. The IMD describes the average, or normal, rainfall as between 96 percent and 104 percent of a 50-year average of 89 cm for the four-month rainy season that runs from June to September. You know, the months that are declared off-season by hotels in Goa.

2017 saw a healthy monsoon in general. Saurashtra and western Rajasthan received 40% excess rain but Uttar Pradesh and Vidarbha received 30% less than average.

In 2016, India received 95 percent of its normal monsoon rains. June and July received more than normal while August and September saw deficits. Prior to 2016, India had weathered back-to-back droughts for two years. That was just the fourth time in more than 100 years, hurting incomes and driving farmers to suicide. Some facts are morbid. This issue receives little coverage but, to see the impact of a good monsoon, 2016 saw the lowest number of farmer suicides in 20 years. How many? 11,370. 2015 witnessed 12,602 farmer suicides. The worst affected states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Telangana, and Andhra.

Experts have warned that the monsoon is changing. The geographies affected in 2017 also seem to be part of a pattern as evidence from 60 years of rainfall data shows extreme monsoon events are concentrated along a band running through central India from Saurashtra-southern Rajasthan all the way up to Assam.

That said, the forecast for this year seems to be in the positive. Over the last three decades, the governments weather modellers predicted a normal monsoon in all but five occasions. Staying with that trend, ahead of an important election year, the Meteorological Department forecast has pegged the upcoming monsoon as normal.
Donald Trump and Narendra Modi

The United States on Monday said it is working on adding more flexibility to its law that sanctions countries like India for buying Russian weapon systems, but sounded off New Delhi against going ahead with the Rs 40,000 crore deal for five S-400 defence missile systems with Moscow.

Congressman Mac Thornberry, who is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Pentagon, all military services and the Department of Defense agencies, said there was "concern" in the US - both in the administration and in the Congress - that the deal would "complicate our ability to work on inter-operability".

India has recently concluded price negotiations with Russia for a nearly Rs 40,000-crore deal to procure S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for the Indian Air Force. The two countries are now trying to find a way to evade US sanctions.
Monsoon_Rain_weather_monsoon_rain

The Southwest Monsoon hit Kerala, marking the arrival of the rainy season in the country, private weather forecasting agency Skymet said.

"There are Monsoon-like conditions over Kerala and we can say that the annual rainfall season has arrived," Skymet CEO Jatin Singh told PTI.

However, the India Meteorological Department (IMD), the country' official weather forecaster, in its 8.15-am bulletin, said Monsoon would hit Kerala in the next 24 hours.

The Skymet, in its forecast, said that Monsoon would hit the Kerala coast on May 28, while the IMD has made a prediction for its arrival on May 29.

According to the IMD, if after May 10, 60 per cent of the available 14 stations --Minicoy, Amini, Thiruvananthapuram, Punalur, Kollam, Allapuzha, Kottayam, Kochi, Thrissur, Kozhikode, Thalassery, Kannur, Kudulu and Mangalore -- report rainfall of 2.5 mm or more for two consecutive days, the onset of Monsoon over Kerala can be declared on the 2nd day. This is one of the main parameters for the declaring the arrival of monsoon.

Besides this, the other parameters for the arrival of Monsoon should be that the westerly winds must be up to 15,000 feet above main sea level and outgoing long-wave radiation should be less than 200 wm-2 (watt per square metre).

"The long-wave radiation is 140 wm-2. Rain for consecutive two days have been recorded in almost all weather stations and even the wind criteria has matched to safely say that the Monsoon has hit Kerela," said Mahesh Palwat, Vice-President (Meteorology and Climate Change) of Skymet.

Conditions are favourable for further advance of Southwest Monsoon into some parts of South Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Comorin Maldives area, some parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, some more parts of South Bay of Bengal, remaining parts of Andaman Sea and Andaman and Nicobar Islands during the next 24 hours, the IMD said in its forecast.

"The Monsoon is expected to hit Kerala in the next 24 hours," Mritunjay Mohapatra, Additional Director General, IMD said.
Tuticorin: Smoke billows from burning barricades as agitators march through streets demanding the closure of Vedanta's Sterlite Copper unit, as the protest entered the 100th day, in Tuticorin, on Tuesday. The agitation turned violent with police opening fire in which at least one man was killed. (PTI Photo) (PTI5_22_2018_000185B)

The Tamil Nadu government today ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the Vedanta group's copper plant in Tuticorin following last week's violent protests over pollution concerns during which 13 people were killed in police firing.

Soon after the issuance of the Government Order (GO), top Tuticorin district officials sealed the copper smelter unit premises and pasted the order at the main gate.

Palaniswami told reporters in Chennai the "plant has been permanently closed".

The government's decision came a day ahead of the start of the state Assembly session where it is likely to come under intense Opposition fire over the Tuticorin incidents.

"Now the plant is permanently closed. The GO has been implemented," Tuticorin District Collector Sandeep Nanduri said. Reacting to the closure, Vedanta Ltd termed it "unfortunate" and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.

"Closure of Sterlite Copper plant is an unfortunate development, especially since, we have operated the plant for over 22 years in most transparent and sustainable way, contributing to the Tuticorin and state's socio-economic development. We will study the development and decide on the future course of action," Vedanta Ltd said in a statement.

The closure of the copper plant caps sustained protests and campaign for the last several years by the local people against copper factory over enivornmental pollution concerns.

The Government Order (GO) said it endorsed the recent closure direction of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and also asked the TNPCB to "seal the unit and close the plant permanently".

The document cited the Constitution's directive principles of state policy (Article 48-A) enjoining protection of environment and provisions of the Water Act, 1974, to order the permanent closure of the copper factory "in the larger public interest".

It referred to the PCB order of April 9 refusing to renew its consent to allow Vedanta's copper smelter plant at Tuticorin to operate.

The order recalled how on May 23 the TNPCB had issued directions for closure of the unit and disconnection of power supply to it. The power supply was disconnected a day later.

Chief Minsiter K Palaniswami said the government has issued the GO in deference to the sentiments of the people.

The locals were protesting for the closure of the factory for 99 days. Protesters turned violent on May 22, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police action against them last Tuesday and Wednesday.

Asked what he had to say to the people of Tuticorin, the chief minister said, "Peace has returned to the town and it must continue, and people should cooperate with the government. Their demand has been fulfilled by Amma's government."

Palaniswami said people of Tuticorin were seeking permanent closure of the plant since it did not meet the environment related conditions of the National Green Tribunal and the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

Recalling the efforts initiated by late J Jayalithaa in 2013 for the closure of Sterlite plant following a gas leak incident that year, he said on March 29, 2013, the unit's closure was ordered. Subsequently, power supply to it was discontinued and the unit was shut.

However, the plant approached the National Green Tribunal which allowed operations on August 8, 2013, he said.

The government had appealed against this direction in the Supreme Court and its petition is pending there, he said.

On April 9, the TNPCB had rejected a plea of the plant management for renewal of consent as pollution control norms were not being followed, and since May 24 the unit was not getting power and water supply, he said.

He said representatives of the protesting groups met him, Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam and other top government officials at the Secretariat today.

Earlier, Panneerselvam met those injured in last week's police-public clashes and firing at a government hospital in Tuticorin and asserted that the government will take "resolute" steps for the permanent closure of the copper plant.

"Today, the main demand of the people is that the copper plant should be permanently closed. In keeping with their demand, it is shut now. I would like to make it clear that Sterlite plant will be permanently shut," he said.

Quoting Jayalalithaa's popular slogan of "Makkalal Naan, Makkalukagavey Naan (I am by the people and I am for the people)," Palaniswami said his was "Amma's government" that followed in her footsteps and was committed to the welfare of the people.

"In deference to the opinion and sentiments of the general public, it was decided to close down the Sterlite plant and a Government Order has been issued today," he said. Reacting to the plants's closure, DMK working president M K Stalin said "It is an eyewash, a drama." Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Haasan described the closure as a victory for the might of the people.

Top actor Rajinikanth, who is set to enter politics, said the closure was a "victory," adding it was dedicated to the people who lost their lives in the police firing.
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By any measure, Anil Agarwal is a successful entrepreneur.

Starting as a scrap dealer, Agarwal built a mining empire turning around government-owned enterprises, setting up facilities in places where bigger names feared to tread and taking bets that others initially scoffed at, and later grudgingly admired. His Vedanta Resources was the first Indian company to list on London Stock Exchange, and Agarwal announced his arrival on the global scene with a palatial house at Mayfair, the tony neighbourhood in the UK capital.

Vedanta Resources is today one of the top ten mining giants in the world, with revenues of USD 15.4 billion last year.

At the same time, Agarwal has been dogged by controversies and brickbats in equal measure all throughout his career.

Agarwals latest battle ground is Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu, where group company Sterlite operates a copper smelter. The facility is in the news after the state government closed it down, following death of 13 protesters who were alleging pollution by the smelter.

A dismayed Agarwal said in an interview to a business daily that the company followed strict rules on treatment of effluents. If some independent agency comes in to verify, they are most welcome, he said in the interview.

Allegations though have shadowed the facility since it came up in the 1996. In fact, Agarwal had initially wanted to set up the facility in Ratnagiri in Maharashtra, but had to back off in the face of sustained resistance from environmentalists. He succeeded in setting up the smelter in Thoothukudi, but allegations of pollution persisted.

Locals claimed that Sterlite let out effluents into the sea by linking its drainage pipes to those of another company, which eventually drained out the waste into the sea.

Protesters even landed up in front of Agarwals house in London, bringing world-wide attention.

The 13 deaths have now prompted calls from the UKs Labour Party for Vedantas delisting from the LSE to remove its cloak of respectability.

Like in the past, now too Agarwal has blamed vested interests for protests in Thoothukudi.

Similar script

A few years ago, a similar script played out in the interiors of Odisha. Vedanta wanted to mine bauxite mine from Niyamgiri to feed its alumina refinery. It was part of Agarwals grand plan to have an integrated aluminium plant that had the lowest costs in the world.

But protests from tribals and high profile campaigns by international NGOs built a tidal wave of opinion against the project. Some of Agarwals reputed investors, including Pension Fund of Norway and the Church of England, sold their shareholding in Vedanta. Eventually, local 12 Gram Sabhas rejected the mining proposal in 2014.

Then too, Agarwals colleagues had alleged an international conspiracy to stall Vedantas progress.

Many see these controversies as a price Agarwal has to pay for chasing assets with low cost of production. His extremely profitable copper mines in Zambia were alleged to have contaminated water tables in villages in its periphery.

Or, is it a perception problem? Those close to the billionaire entrepreneur claim Agarwals lack of articulation seems to go against him.

Whatever his oratorical skills or the lack of them, Agarwal has given ample evidence of his ability to scale up businesses. Within two years of acquiring Sesa Goa, the iron ore miner, Agarwal had increased production by over 50 per cent. Similarly, he turned around Balco and Hindustan Copper, both government companies that were divested.

Balcos disinvestment though was clouded under suggestions that it was sold for a song.

Corporate responsibility

Agarwal has taken steps to change Vedantas perception in public.

After high profile investors sold their stakes in Vedanta, Agarwal hired a PR agency. In 2005, he created a group head post for CSR, an area that may not have been at the top of priority list till then.

At investors meets, Agarwal now begins his presentation with companys performance on safety, environment and sustainability. The companys website now prominently displays its sustainability report.

But are these steps enough?

For instance, Vedanta is still not part of the International Council on Metals and Mining, which has leading miners such as BHP and Rio Tinto as members. Members of the Council adhere to principles that ensure sustainable mining and are audited by a third party.

As Agarwal fights another round of public protest, negative perception and government action, the billionaire now needs to do more.
(Image: Reuters)

Former union minister Arun Shourie recently launched his book titled, "Anita Gets Bail: What Are Our Courts Doing? What Should We Do About Them?" where he talks about the country's judiciary system.

In an interview with The Economic Times, the ex journalist spoke of the role the Supreme Court played during the recently-concluded Karnataka Assembly elections, the stability of coalition governments, on the Narendra Modi wave and more.

Here are edited excerpts from the interview:

On being asked about the Supreme Courts intervention during the Karnataka election:

"That is deemed to be the discretion of the governor. But the court has said that it will go into whether he had any ground to do so at all. Here, the provision of the Constitution is that the governor will invite that party or combination of parties which he thinks can provide a stable government. So, the court said it will not inquire into his judgement, but would put the judgement to test."

Shourie said that the apex court gave out sagacious orders to prevent corrupt practices such as horse trading from taking place. However, the Congress had also moved the top court to check the authority/role of the governor in the formation of the government in the case of a hung assembly.

When he was asked if coalition government can be stable:

"If Kumaraswamy does a Nitish Kumar and allies with the BJP tomorrow, the recoil among people will be such that they will say only Modi knows how to rule. Today, the Modi government is doing as little as the UPA. But it is dividing the country and endangering our defence, while our foreign policies are a complete failure...But these people are disregarding all of that and behaving in a manner that will lead citizens to conclude that they need to bring Modi back. Itll be a great betrayal of the countrys and their personal interests if they dont see the avalanche that is descending on them."

Shourie said that coalition governments have been successful in the past, but that depends on the leader whos running it. He said that it was shortsighted of the newly formed Congress-JD(S) coalition in Karnataka to have squabbles about petty issues such as portfolios, asserting that it painted the wrong picture before the citizens of the country.

On being asked if the Karnataka election was a microcosm of what might happen during the general elections in 2019:

"If these people dont take precautionary measures, everyone will be buried including themselves. I dont say it is inevitableI feel Modi can be checked. After all, at the height of his popularity he got only 31% of the voteYou need to come to a pledgethat in every constituency we will have only one candidate against a BJP candidateAnd there must be discipline and an embargo on speaking about other partiesModis victory is not a foregone conclusion. I think the time to read election forecasts is always after the elections."

Shourie said that the Modi wave can be checked if the opposition/regional parties take precautionary measures, follow discipline, and have an understandingparticularly with respect to seat sharing. He pointed out at the disenchantment emerging in BJPs allies saying it was an encouraging sign for the Opposition.

When Shourie was asked as to what it would take to haul the BJP juggernaut considering there hasnt been one galvanizing face on the other side he said:

"Like I said, leave it to the good sense of regional bosses to decide the distribution of seats. Work on a minimum programme for everybody. And there doesnt necessarily need to be one face. Morarji Desai and Charan Singh were not alternatives to Mrs Gandhi. But she was defeatedfrom Amritsar to Bhubaneshwar she got only one seat. Was VP Singh an alternative to Rajiv Gandhi? What needs to be done is to have one candidate in each constituency against the BJP so that the 69% is not split. That is what Modi capitalizes on."

On being asked about the judiciary under duress:

"We need to name and shamelike in the case of Jayalalithas disproportionate assets case, where it didnt take much to see the idiocies and perversities in Justice Kumaraswamys pronouncements. They need to be held up as an example in law schools as what not to do. And nobody pursued him and questioned him after that."

"Lastly, we must have stricter rules for admission of cases. To decide whether Vande Mataram was written in Sanskrit or Bengali, a whole research team was set up by a judge who gave a lecture on the importance of language. They want to waste timethey think this is eloquence. The Supreme Court should focus on cases where there is a clear violation of law; if the lower court has completely violated the law in pronouncement or distorted the facts; if some new facts have emerged; if a provision of the Constitution has been violated. Instead we have minor traffic offences going up to higher court."

Shourie said that the judiciary needs to be put under scrutiny and that the media should play a vital role in doing so. He said that the judges operate in a cozy club and quote poems and make grand pronouncements in judgements since they know that no-one is reading their judgements. Shourie pointed out that the judiciary also needs to be proactive as far as the implementation and follow up of their order is concerned. He also said that impeachment as the only resort was rather problematic as it was a political process.
GTPL Hathway | In FY21 so far, the stock price has gained 237 percent to Rs 137.35 as of October 14. The company's FY20 total debt reduced by 49 percent to Rs 148 crore compared to its previous fiscal year while it has witnessed decent sales and profit growth of 91 percent and 253 percent respectively.

Hero Electronix, a Hero Group company, has acquired Gurgaon-based Zenatix, an enterprise-focused Internet-of-things company.

Founded in 2013 by IIT-Delhi engineers, Zenatix has built its own proprietary IoT stack, which includes hardware, cloud-based software and big-data analytics.

Its our first entry into the IoT space. Were also building our own IoT platform which is consumer facing. Well be announcing the product towards the end of this year, said Ujjwal Munjal, Founder Director, Hero Electronix.

While Hero Electronix works in some areas in auto technology but that is entirely independent of the rest of the group, said Munjal. The company was set up by the Hero Group over two years ago to tap into emerging digital opportunities

The company did not disclose the value of the transaction. The original plan for Hero Electronix was to invest Rs 1,000-1,200 crore. Of that, we have already invested Rs 350 crore so far, said Nikhil Rajpal, CEO, Hero Electronix.

India is projected to have an installed IoT device base of about 2 billion units by 2020 according to National Association of Software and Services Companies.

Hero Electronix has in the past invested in Tessolve, a Bengaluru-based semiconductor company, Malaysia-based Spectrum Integrated Technologies SdnBhd and the test lab business of Singapores Lynxemi Pte. In 2015, Hero Electronix also acquired MyBox Technologies, one of Indias largest multi-operator manufacturer of digital set-top boxes in the country.

For IT businesses to succeed, they should have an end to end technology, and we have built that in-house, so it is easier to scale. Another thing for a business to succeed is the ability to drive a lot more intelligence controls through artificial intelligence and ML. Though AI, we can predict when an equipment is likely to fail, said Rahul Bhalla, CEO, Zenatix.

Zenatixs current customers include companies like Vodafone, Mother Dairy, and Aviva Insurance. They also count some banks, ATM management companies, retail chains and QSR outlets as customers.

According to Rajpal, the sweet spot for Zenatix is solving unique Indian problems. For instance, a big freezer at one of their clients wasnt performing up to the mark because the operator would open the door to cool himself in the heat. Some customers even asked if the company could detect a dog inside the ATM.

According to Hero Electronix, using its machine learning-based model, Zenatix analyses over 10 million data points every hour and helps provide customers help in areas such as predictive maintenance and consumer experience analytics.

Hero is looking at 100,000 deployments for Zenatix in the next three years.

Post the acquisition, Hero Electronix plans to widen the reach of Zenatix by foraying into global markets in countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and so on, as they have similar challenges as the India market.
Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy

Ramakrishna Upadhya

Unable to have his coalition Cabinet even six days after being sworn in as Chief Minister of Karnataka, is HD Kumaraswamy getting ready to implode?

The JD(S)-Congress coalition, having defeated the BJP in the numbers game, put up a nationally-televised mega show on May 23 when Kumaraswamy and G Parameshwara took oath as CM and Deputy CM respectively, in the presence of a galaxy of non-BJP opposition leaders.

But since then, the leaders of the two parties have held several rounds of meetings, both in Bengaluru and New Delhi, but have failed to arrive at a consensus on Cabinet formation.

The JD(S) leaders are peeved that the Congress, after extending unconditional support to Kumaraswamy as CM, is putting forth several tough conditions on the ministry formation.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi, after a couple of preliminary meetings, left for the United States along with his mother Sonia Gandhi for her medical check-up, and he is expected to be back only next week.

Rahul Gandhi had authorised senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad to hold negotiations with the JD(S) along with Karnataka brigade, consisting of Siddaramaiah, Parameshwara, Mallikarjun Kharge and DK Shivakumar. But they failed to make a breakthrough.

At the heart of the problem is Congress demand that being the larger partner, it should get major portfolios like finance, home, water resources, excise, health and Bengaluru development. But Kumaraswamy wants to keep finance and home with himself, citing precedents'.

Showing his frustration at the stonewalling tactics of the Congress, Kumaraswamy said he was at the mercy of the Congress leaders, more than being obliged to the people of Karnataka.

BJP leader BS Yeddyurappa immediately jumped at it and said it is a shame that a chief minister had to behave like a slave before the Delhi leaders and by doing so, Kumaraswamy had insulted six crore Kannadigas.

Kumaraswamy has come under pressure from the BJP to implement his pre-poll promise of waiving all the loans taken by farmers from the scheduled, cooperative and rural banks amounting to Rs 53,000 crore. During election campaign, he had repeatedly said he would announce loan waiver within 24 hours of coming to power".

After becoming CM, he tried to dodge the issue saying his promise was conditional on his party getting majority on its own and now he could not do anything without consulting the Congress. He, however, appealed to the farmers in distress not to take their own lives as he would definitely do something for them.

On the floor of the assembly, Yeddyurappa had reminded Kumaraswamy about his promise and warned that he would ask the farmers to observe a statewide bandh if the government did not deliver on its promise.

After the failure of talks with the Congress leaders on Monday in New Delhi, Kumaraswamy told reporters that he would make a big announcement in Bengaluru on Wednesday for the benefit of farmers.

Apparently, he has decided to take the bull by its horns and offer a suo motu relief to the farming community and challenge the Congress leaders to take a stand on the issue.

Adding to Kumaraswamys worries, state intelligence reports have warned that the delay in Cabinet formation is causing a lot of disquiet among legislators and at least 11 of them  whose names are not on the probables list  have met separately discussing their future course of action.

These names include some of those the BJP had approached after Yeddyurappa had been sworn in as chief minister on May 19 and the party was desperately trying to stitch together a majority.

Congress senior leader DK Shivakumar, who played a key role in keeping the Congress flock together, has made it clear that since he was not considered for Deputy CM post, he should be given an important ministry, besides being made the KPCC president. Hes strongly being opposed by the Lingayat lobby, headed by Shamanur Shivashankarappa and MB Patil.

In whatever manner Kumaraswamy finally manages to complete his Cabinet of 34 ministers, unhappiness is bound to remain in both the parties.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their meeting at the Peace House. (Reuters)

South Korea's President Moon Jae-in said on Monday there could be more impromptu talks and summits with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, as U.S. officials prepare for a historic meeting between President Donald Trump and Kim.

Moon and Kim Jong Un held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed that a North Korea-U.S. summit must be held.

"What's more important than anything from the latest inter-Korean summit was that the leaders easily got in contact, easily made an appointment and easily met to discuss urgent matters, without complicated procedures and formalities, just like a casual meeting," Moon told a meeting with senior secretaries.

Trump last week pulled out of the meeting with Kim, planned for June 12 in Singapore, before announcing he had reconsidered and American and North Korean officials were meeting to work out details.

On Sunday, the U.S. State Department said U.S. and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom, a village in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that runs along the heavily armed border between North and South Korea.

A "pre-advance" team of U.S. officials was also travelling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans there, the White House said.

Asian stocks and U.S. share futures gained on Monday, while shares in South Korean construction and railway firms surged after Trump said his officials and North Korea have resumed talks to prepare for the summit in June.

Shares of Shinwon Corp, which used to operate factories in the Kaesong industrial region near the Demilitarized Zone, jumped 22 percent, while Hyundai Engineering & Construction gained 24 percent.

"PROFESSIONAL TEAM"

A U.S. official told Reuters that Sung Kim, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea, was leading the American delegation to meet North Korean officials at the border.

"Its a good thing to have him onboard," said a former senior South Korean official who worked with Sung Kim in past. "Hes capable, level-headed, cautious, and has solid grasp of the issues and knows North Koreans well. But at the same time he has healthy scepticism."

Pentagon official Randall Schriver was also part of the U.S. team, the U.S. official said. The Washington Post first reported the team met with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister. The U.S. delegation also included Allison Hooker, the Korea expert on the White House National Security Council.

After weeks of political posturing by both Trump and Kim, analysts welcomed the news the United States had dispatched a team of seasoned negotiators to hold several days of preparatory talks with the North Koreans.

"Sending such an experienced and professional team signals that the Trump administration is getting serious about the specifics of an agreement," said former U.S. deputy assistant secretary of defence for East Asia, Abraham Denmark. "It's also an implicit acknowledgment that running this negotiation out of the Oval Office has not worked, and that lower-level officials are needed to work out the details before a summit can take place."

Still, with only a few weeks left until the scheduled summit, such talks are unlikely to reconcile the differing positions over Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal, he said.

"No matter how experienced and knowledgeable these officials are, they will not be able to change the fundamental challenge between the United States and North Korea over its status as a nuclear power."

ADDITIONAL TALKS

North Korea has faced years of economic sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs since it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

The United States has struggled to slow the isolated country's weapons programs, which have become a security priority for Washington given Pyongyang's promise to develop a nuclear-tipped missile capable of hitting the U.S. mainland.

In remarks on Sunday, Moon acknowledged Pyongyang and Washington may have differing expectations of what denuclearisation means and he urged both sides to hold working-level talks to resolve their differences.

The United States has demanded the "complete, verifiable, and irreversible" dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear weapons program. Pyongyang has rejected unilateral disarmament and has always couched its language in terms of denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

In previous, failed talks, North Korea said it could consider giving up its arsenal if Washington removed its troops from South Korea and withdrew its so-called nuclear umbrella of deterrence from South Korea and Japan.

Moon said Saturday's summit with Kim, which was organised on short notice after the North Korean leader requested a meeting, should be a model for increased contact between the leaders of the two Koreas.

"If we could hold working-level, back-to-back talks on both sides of Panmunjom if urgently necessary in addition to formal summits, it would expedite faster advancement of inter-Korean relations," Moon told his aides.
Donald Trump

President Donald Trump confirmed today that a senior North Korean official is en route to New York as part of preparations for a planned summit with leader Kim Jong Un. "We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump wrote in a tweet.

General Kim Yong Chol landed at Beijing airport today and will continue on to New York the following day after talks with Chinese officials, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported earlier, quoting diplomatic sources.

The trip is part of a flurry of diplomacy as preparations gather pace for the on-again, off-again summit between Trump and North Korea's leader, scheduled to take place in Singapore on June 12.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in talks with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their meeting at the Peace House. (Reuters)

A team of American diplomats involved in preparatory discussions with North Korea ahead of a potential summit between President Donald Trump and the North's leader Kim Jong Un left a hotel in Seoul today amid speculation that they are resuming the talks.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the American officials including Sung Kim, the US ambassador to Manila, were heading to the border village between the two Koreas, where they met with North Korean officials on Sunday.

Trump withdrew from a planned June 12 summit with Kim last Thursday, citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting in Singapore could still happen.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim, met with the North Korean leader in a surprise meeting on Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

In their second meeting in a month, Moon said Kim expressed willingness to cooperate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with Trump.

But Kim also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States over its promise to end hostile policies against North Korea and provide security assurances if the country does abandon its nuclear weapons, Moon said.

Despite Kim's apparent eagerness for a summit with Trump, there are lingering doubts on whether he would ever agree to fully relinquish his nuclear weapons when he may see them as his only guarantee of survival. Moon has insisted Kim can be persuaded to abandon his nuclear facilities, materials and bombs in a verifiable and irreversible way in exchange for credible security and economic guarantees.

US and South Korean officials haven't confirmed the details of the pre-summit negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang at the Korean village of Panmunjom, which straddles the border inside the Demilitarized Zone. The officials may discuss bridging the gap between Washington and Pyongyang on what a deal on the North's nuclear weapons would look like.

There's also speculation that American officials are trying to persuade the North Koreans to export a certain number of its nuclear warheads overseas at an early stage as proof of its commitment to denuclearize.

US officials have talked about a comprehensive one-shot deal in which North Korea eliminates its nukes first and receives rewards later. But Kim, through two summits with Chinese President Xi Jinping in March and May, has called for a phased and synchronized process in which every action he takes is met with a reciprocal reward from the United States.

Seoul has been advocating an alternative approach in which the North's comprehensive commitment and credible actions toward denuclearization are followed by a phased but compressed process of inspection and verifiable dismantling. Before he canceled the summit, Trump did not rule out an incremental approach that would provide incentives along the way to the North.
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and United States President Donald Trump (Image: Reuters)

U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed North Korea by phone on Monday and confirmed they would meet before an expected U.S.-North Korea summit, the White House said.

A White House statement said that in their call, Trump and Abe "affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs."

Earlier, Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted Abe as saying that the two leaders had agreed to cooperate to make the summit between the U.S. president and North Korean leader meaningful.

Trump last week pulled out of the summit with Kim, planned for June 12 in Singapore, before announcing he had reconsidered and that U.S. and North Korean officials were meeting to work out details.

On Sunday, the U.S. State Department said U.S. and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom, a village in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that runs along the heavily armed border between North and South Korea.

A "pre-advance" team of U.S. officials has also traveled to Singapore to meet with North Koreans there, the White House said.

While both Trump and Kim have appeared eager to hold the summit, the two sides have remained far apart on the key issue of denuclearization, with North Korea rejecting U.S. demands for it to unilaterally abandon a nuclear weapons program that now threatens the United States.

The White House gave no details as to when the Trump-Abe meeting might take place, but both leaders are due to attend the G7 meeting of big industrial powers that runs from June 8 to

9 in Canada. Japanese media have also quoted government officials as saying Abe could visit Washington for talks with Trump before the G7 meeting.
NASAs Chief Strategist David Ndii says the current wave of corruption scandals to hit the country is a plan to finish Deputy President William Ruto politically.

According to the controversial public intellectual, DP Ruto is being targeted by unnamed people to carry the corruption blame so as to scuttle his chances of clinching the top seat in 2022.

Speaking during an interview with KTN News on Sunday night, David Ndii said the plot is also aimed at sanitising President Uhuru Kenyattas legacy.

Its like in the Bible where Jesus cast out demons from people and put them in pigs and then the pigs went over a cliff. So if you want to sanitise Uhuru Kenyatta, you have to cast out the demon of corruption (that occurred) over the first four years which he presided over and put it somewhere.

The convenient place to put this is in William Ruto and his patronage network. So what you are seeing is an exercise of self-preservation and I think it is the wrong way to go about it, said Ndii.

According to the economist, President Uhuru is seeking a way of legitimising his leadership after a hotly contested 2017 election.

Ndiis allegations were dismissed by Government Spokesman Eric Kiraithe who was also a panelist at the interview. He asserted that the Jubilee administration recognises that there are criminals inside the government and it is committed to ensuring they face the law.

Kenyans should get it clear that the deputy president is part and parcel of the efforts to fight corruption in Kenya. This is not a political game. It is about accounting for public money. Seeming to ride a dead political horse over the bitterness of a lost election for far too long is beside the point, stated Kiraithe.

This comes after DP Ruto assured Kenyans that action will be taken against all officials who will be found to have a hand in the corruption scandals regardless of the position they hold in government.

We have achieved a lot in the past five years and we wont allow that progress to be sacrificed at the altar of a few corrupt officials in government. Such characters must be smoked out and charged for the offences committed, said Ruto.
Volpes team still meets with probably 90% of their clients face-to-face, for at least an hour. Theyre happy to communicate how their clients prefer, but he credits that initial meeting to their high conversion ratio.

When you get them in your office and you sit across the table from them and you meet them and youre face-to-face and you build that human interaction and that trust, I think thats what sets us apart . . . its also less likely that youre going to lose their business because they dont trust you or theyre going to shop around.

Volpe is a journeyman, having been in the business since he was 19 years old. Whenever naysayers start getting down on the current market or the outlook for the industry, he offers a reminder that the industry is a cyclical one, and each cycle sets up prospects for even more business down the line.

Its not the end of the world. This is not the first time rates have gone up, weve just been spoiled for a very long time with rates being so low. But it also sets up an opportunity down the road for refinances. So you have to look at the big picture there and not panic, and when things get tight, you buckle your belt, Volpe said. Those lenders who, all they did was refinances, its going to be hard to try to play catch up if they havent already been cultivating those relationships. You have to go with the market. Theres an opportunity in every market, and you just need to know where youre at.

Volpe is known for is his creative thinking when it comes to matching certain loans with certain lenders, something that he attributes to liking challenges as well as referencing past deals.
The views expressed below are personal and do not reflect the views of nairobiwire.com

By Pius Kamau/Freethinkers Initiative Kenya (FIKA)

Dear Kenyans, some of us are exceedingly getting irritated and angry at the absurd levels of political ignorance & naivety that a significant section of the general public including the media is displaying.

PLEASE, STOP ASKING UHURU KENYATTA TO FIGHT CORRUPTION  why you ask?, Ill keep it short and precise.

The Jubilee regime is a CARTEL CONTROLLED OUTFIT.

It is an ethnic controlled bandit outfit that poses as a Government, it is funded by cartels, it is run by cartels and its very survival depends on these cartels.

 Uhuru Kenyatta, being part of one of Kenyas biggest cartel families, is part of the cartels.

 Uhurus next of kin/relatives including  (wife, sister, brother, mother, cousins, uncles) are all part of the cartels that are chocking this countrys economy to death.

 Uhurus advisers, cronies, political allies, social friends, family friends are part of the cartels.

 William Ruto is one of the major cartels in Kenya.

 William Rutos allies, cronies, foot soldiers, business associates, social friends are part of the cartels.

The Mount Kenya Oligarchs that fund Uhuru Kenyattasnow oftensham elections are some of the major cartels in the country.

Cabinet Ministers, secretaries, and other state-appointed agencies all form part of this viscous cartel syndicate.

The people arrested or supposed to be arrested are small fish, the big fishes, the masterminds always go scot-free, have you solved the problem by arresting the small pawns and leaving the masterminds to plot their next moves?

The JUBILEE regime is basically just a HUGE CARTEL SYNDICATE run by wealthy Kikuyu and Kalenjin thugs posing as a Government and pretending to be carrying out the constitutional mandates required of a genuine Government, same case applied to Kibakis/Mois/Jomos thieving outfits, however, former bandit outfits did a lot less damage to our economy compared to Uhurus Cartel Juggernaut as everyone can clearly see or feel.

You dont do the same thing over and over expecting different results  that is the epitome of insanity in its purest form.

Revolutions start with MENTAL AWARENESS, get to know how your political system actually works or operates, then by that, the general populace can actually form more cogent strategies and tactics on how best to BRING THE ENTIRE SYSTEM DOWN so that we can start afresh.

The other thing is, I personally encourage Kenyans to be more SKEPTICAL and CRITICAL when analysis politics or when forming political judgments. This should be STRICTLY BUSINESS, look at Kenya as your own company, how would you want your company to be run? how would you deal with incompetent employees? how would you solve inefficiencies, cases of theft, lack of growth? stagnationetc?

Dont ever make the mistake of analyzing politics EMOTIONALLY, keep your emotions aside, use reason, logic, facts, critical thought, skepticism, objectivity and most of all, be intellectually honest with yourself.

Having said all that, the onus is on you Kenyans, educate and inform yourselves, know your systems then lets continue resisting and exposing this system, its our fight, it takes time, no one said revolutions are easy, Burkina Faso keeps on doing it, KENYA CAN DO IT. We are known to be some of the most active and suave social media users in the world, some of the best in Africa, let us use this strong tool for political awareness folks and we will eventually triumph!!
With the state budget deadline days away, lawmakers are talking a bit more about whats on the table, but most of the conversations are happening behind closed doors.

One rank-and-file Republican says the process is more of the same behind-closed-doors politics that hurts taxpayers.

There was a meeting last week between Gov. Bruce Rauner and the four legislative leaders, but no update on budget progress was provided. However, state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, said as a member the House budget working group, he thinks things are going well.

Ive been really impressed with the bipartisan nature in the fact that all four caucuses are working together, Harris said. We know theres some tough decisions to close this final gap.

Several sources with knowledge of the numbers put the gap at a couple hundred million dollars. Some of the unresolved issues include a $230 million capital bill for a new Quincy Veterans Home, a possible sale of the Thompson Center in Chicago, and how much will be cut from the Local Government Distributive Fund.

However, state Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, said whats happening behind closed doors is more of the same.

We have a tax increase of 32 percent in the income tax rate and we have political insiders behind closed doors that will continue that tax hike, McSweeney said.

Lawmakers last summer, in overtime session, passed a budget and the 32 percent increase in the individual income tax rate over the governors veto.

Harris said that extra money is helping.

We did generate a surplus of about $518 million in cash from additional revenue collections, Harris said. That money will help pay down some of the states backlog, he said.

But Harris said budget negotiators are still hashing out how to close the gap.

No one wants to raise taxes, Harris said. No one wants to cut key services, but its gonna have to be done and were focusing right now on what needs to be cut.

McSweeney said there needs to be pension reform, cuts to group health insurance for state employees, administrative efficiencies, and cuts to Medicaid with an effort to get more federal Medicaid dollars.

We need a taxpayer rebellion in this state, McSweeney said. [This budget] is another insider deal and I hope the governor doesnt sign off on it.

McSweeney filed a revenue estimate of $32.4 billion that would require lawmakers to repeal the tax increase. Leading Republicans in both the House and Senate have been pushing for a revenue estimate of nearly $38 billion, which includes last summers tax increase.

The governor needs to take a stand, McSweeney said as he urged Rauner to support his revenue estimate that assumes last summers tax increase is repealed.

If Rep. McSweeney has a budget to go with his revenue estimate  wed love to take a look at it, Rauner spokesperson Rachel Bold said in an email.

Real, bipartisan negotiations for the FY19 budget are ongoing, she said. The governor has been clear about what he would support  a full-year balanced budget with no tax increase.

Bold said Rauner has supported pension reform and has pushed for a consideration model he has said would withstand constitutional scrutiny.

On finding Medicaid savings, Bold said the Rauner administrations Healthcare Fraud Elimination Task Force found $450 million in Medicaid fraud. She also said the administrations reboot of Medicaid Managed Care will save taxpayers $1 billion over the next four years and a federal waiver recently approved will allow $2 billion to be used for innovative behavioral health initiatives.

Lawmakers have until May 31 to pass a balanced budget with simple majorities.
MACOMB (AP)  Authorities say 41 small animals were found dead inside a closed pet store in western Illinois where the electricity had been disconnected.

Macomb Police Chief Curt Barker said Tuesday that police received a complaint on Saturday about Macomb Pet Land, where officers faced an overwhelming smell of dead animals and ammonia. The dead animals included rabbits, hamsters, snakes and mice. No dogs or cats died.
To the editor:

Since 2015, I have written many letters to this paper concerning endemic gun violence in America, all of them in response to almost bi-monthly mass shootings.

My outrage at this ongoing national perversion is all too apparent.

Americans should be ashamed that it can be more dangerous to attend our schools than it is to stand a military post in the worlds trouble spots. Tellingly, too few of us are ashamed.

I am often reminded these days of the Irish poet, Yeats, similiarly distressed and flummoxed by his own countrymen:   the best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.

Americans become apoplectic about foreign terrorism and demand immediate and draconian counter-measures (i.e. renditioning, torture, bombings), oblivious that we are more likely to drown in our bath tubs than to be harmed by a terrorist. Meanwhile, we ignore the salient fact that since 9/11, tens of thousands of Americans (mostly innocents) have died in daily domestic gun mayhem, all across the land, in all kinds of communities.

How effortlessly we Americans dance around this ignominious fact of ourselves, this clear-to-the-whole-world proof of our collective cowardness. We watch indifferently how our lickspittal politicians suggest the most pathetic, ignorant and palliative solutions. Now they bellow a new chorus  arm the teachers!

I taught high schoolers for almost 40 years. With all due respect to policemen and soldiers, teachers by definition work in totally different environments. Teachers have to be models for various learning behaviors, to better discipline and direct inexperienced and unworldly youngsters to some understanding of the world they are obliged to live in. Rules and decorum are indeed essential to classrooms.

But teachers have to be much more than enforcers and protectors.

Anyone who has ever stood before a class of learners knows their primary task has to do with communication techniques  precise presentation, adept questioning, give-and-take discussion and a respect for difference. Once you visibly arm a teacher or put a gun in the desk drawer with the chalk, paper clips and slide rules, you have made him a very different kind of model.

This country is awash in guns, fear, hate and violence, an altogether lethal mix. Arming teachers will not change that. Once again, you will just be addressing symptoms and outcomes, not causes.

Richard Nelson

Jacksonville
'Akufo-Addo is not in support of ...
President Uhuru Kenyatta on Monday vowed to deal firmly and decisively with all unethical people caught in the web of corruption.

The President, reiterating his anti-graft message, said all Kenyans entrusted with responsibility must be ethical and ready to serve with a high sense of morality.

We are not going to tolerate unethical people. People with responsibility must be ready to serve and not to be served, said the Head of State.

He said ethics is not about getting big positions of authority in government but how those entrusted with responsibility exercise that authority.

President Kenyatta spoke at State House, Nairobi when he presented Kenya High School with a new 51-seater bus and gym equipment, all valued at Sh 8 million.

The modern gym equipment includes a Treadmill, Cross-trainer, Rower machine, Upright bike, Roman chair and a Recumbent bike.

The visit by the Kenya High School fraternity was a follow-up visit done to the school by President Kenyatta on May 18 this year, where he laid the foundation for an ultra modern kitchen and dining hall, and a state-of-the-art science resource center.

The President told the over 300 exuberant form four students who visited him at State House alongside their teachers and members of the Board of Governors that he had met part of the promise and that he expects them to fulfill their part of the bargain.

He said besides working hard to emerge tops in this years Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exams, the students had also promised to be disciplined and ethical.

 I am really counting on you girls to also fulfill part of your promise. And it is not just about exams. What you become as a person is very important. We want people who can contribute positively to our society, he told the excited students.

School Chief Principal Flora Mulatya thanked the President for his recent visit to the school and the new donations.

She said President Kenyattas administration had implemented a host of initiatives that allow access to quality education including the Sh 3.7 billion comprehensive medical cover for 2.8 million students under the National Hospital Insurance Fund.

Other initiatives by the Government include increased capitation to schools for infrastructure development and enhanced fees for students from Sh 12,870 to Sh 22,244.
Ugandan businesswoman Zari Hassan has effectively ruled out ever getting back with Diamond Platnumz.

The mother of five dumped the philandering Bongo Flava star on Valentines Day. Over three months later, Zari has hinted that the biggest mistake she made was thinking she could change Diamond.

Zari made the revelation on social media while responding to a fan who begged her to forgive Diamond.

Mama Nillan forgive baba Nillan just the family issues he will be okay I know you have given him a holiday but now its over come back to him, please. Diamond Platnumz is just a man, he can change, begged the fan.

To which Zari responded, The biggest mistake women make in a relationship is thinking they can change a man.

Earlier this month, Zari also ruled out getting into another relationship saying her focus is on business and her children.

The queue of men waiting to date me is unbelievable but Im enjoying my life right now. When Im ready Ill open up to the next person but right now, its just me and my babies, claimed Zari.

She continued, My goal this year is to open up a fast food franchiseone Like KFCSo my effort, energy, and thoughts are all invested in this investment and not the next guy. Dreams are valid right?
During the Democratic Weekly Address, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) criticized President Trump for rising gas prices and stated that the policies he and Republicans support are putting Big Oil, OPEC, Russia, and China first, and the American consumer last.

Markey was Tuesdays KVML Newsmaker of the Day. Here are his words:

Hello, Im Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, and as we head into Memorial Day weekend and the summer driving season, American families are facing gas prices that are up nearly 25 percent since President Donald Trump took office. And that means that American consumers are paying $350 more per year to fill up their gas tank since President Trump took office, and that is a result of the misguided policies of President Trump and the Republicans in Congress.

President Trumps incoherent foreign policy is contributing to rising oil prices by heightening tensions in the Middle East and other hotspots around the world.

President Trumps decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran deal is now further roiling oil markets, and because of these actions, gas prices could keep going further up this summer, and the American family is going to pay the price for this Trump oil risk tax.

For the poorest Americans, this Trump oil risk tax will completely wipe out any tax benefits from the recently-passed GOP tax plan, and the lowest 40 percent of earners are projected to get roughly $200 this year from the GOP tax plan but that is going to be dwarfed by the $350 more that they will be paying for gas thanks to President Trumps policies.

Donald Trump loves having his name on things  towers, steaks, universities. Now his name is associated with higher gas prices for all American families.

But while this consumer is going to get tipped upside down at the pump, Big Oil is going to benefit from $25 billion dollars in tax cuts this year alone from the tax plan. And that is on top of the $7 to 8 billion dollars a year that they already get in permanent tax breaks and free drilling loopholes.

And how are the oil companies spending this GOP windfall? Well, Big Oil is buying back tens of billions of dollars worth of their own stock  pumping up their own profits rather than helping consumers at the pump.

Exporting U.S. oil is only a further giveaway to Big Oil, which is projected to earn $500 billion in new revenue over the next 20 years because they can charge more for their oil overseas than they can charge here in the United Sates, and instead of keeping our oil here to benefit American families and ensure our energy security, we are sending it overseas to benefit foreign nations like China.

We are now exporting more than 2.5 million barrels a day of American crude oil  even while we still import that exact same amount from OPEC and the Middle East. That makes no sense.

And the response to these U.S. oil exports, OPEC, Russia, and other nations are colluding to simply cut their production by an equal amount to keep their prices high.

But President Trump is doing nothing to hold OPEC and Russia accountable. Senate Democrats are calling on him to immediately begin negotiations with this cartel to put an end to their manipulation of oil markets that is harming American consumers.

And finally, at the behest of Big Oil and Big Auto, the Trump administration wants to roll back our historic fuel economy emissions standards of 54.5 miles per gallon.

These standards are projected to save American consumers more than $1 trillion and reduce our reliance on foreign oil, but President Trump wants to put us in reverse and undermine this money-saving program for American families.

President Trump says his agenda is America First. But the policies that he and Republicans are pursuing are putting Big Oil, OPEC, Russia, and China first, and the American consumer last.

It is time for that to end.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak with you, and God bless America.

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.
A mommy-and-me photo Ivanka Trump tweeted over the weekend has been called "tone-deaf" after recent reports of migrant families being separated at the U.S.-Mexican border.

On Sunday Trump shared a photo of herself and her son, Theodore, smiling and looking into one another's eyes with the caption, "My [emoticon heart]! #SundayMorning."

Some found the post insensitive in light of the emergence of multiple reports detailing U.S. border agents separating children from parents who have illegally crossed the border and placing them in protective custody as their family members await possible legal repercussions.

A report released last week by the American Civil Liberties Union claimed border agents abused and neglected scores of unaccompanied minors under the Obama Administration between 2009 and 2014.

In April the New York Times and Associated Press reported authorities had lost contact with nearly 1,500 migrant children who had been placed with U.S. sponsor families. The government bears no legal responsibility for the children, a senior official told a Senate committee.

The hashtag #WhereAreTheChildren began trending last week, and continued to trend Sunday when Ivanka Trump shared the photo with her son, a move deemed callous by many on Twitter.

"Your timing in posting this picture is outrageous," tweeted @barbjcarp.

"Thank you @Ivanka for reminding us that 'you get to be a mom.' I pray for the missing children," wrote @DarlenyCepin.

Ivanka Trump has yet to respond to the backlash. Earlier in the week, she called for a national paid family leave policy for the workplace.

"We need a national #PaidLeave policy to ensure #FamilyBenefits for all in our country!" the tweet said.
Once triggered, asthma symptoms can go from minor to critical in just a matter of minutes.

The shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and tight chest can feel like a walking nightmare as you gasp for your next breath.

On average, 11 Americans people die every day because of asthma. Asthma also accounts for one-quarter of all emergency room visits every year.

However, these extremes can be prevented and education and an action plan is the key.

To better share asthma education, Covenant Health Plainview is hosting an Asthma Awareness Forum at 5:15 p.m. Tuesday, May 29, inside the hospitals Max Gabriel Room.

The best thing you can do is have an action plan and know your medications, said Covenant Respiratory Therapist Bernice Camarillo, who will host the event Tuesday.

Camarillo explained knowing your triggers, breathing trends or peak flows as well as your symptoms will help prevent a serious attack.

Asthma is a chronic illness that affects the lungs and makes it hard to breath. During an attack, Camarillo says your lungs start to contract and become inflamed. The stiff and swollen lungs make it hard to let air in and the person will begin struggling to breath.

Camarillo said there are different levels of severity when it comes to asthma. During the Green Zone a person with asthma is controlled and is normally living out their day.

During this time, patients can check their breathing with a Peak Flow meter, which is usually given to patients once they have been diagnosed with asthma. The meter helps to tell a persons lung capacity.

While in the Green Zone, a person is using 80 to 100 percent of their lung capacity.

However, various triggers can cause a patient to experience some symptoms of asthma.

Triggers can include pollen, animal dander, tobacco or second-hand smoke, cold air, eating certain foods, mold and exercise.

In the West Texas area, agriculture can also flare up conditions as cotton, gins and other crops and local plants can irritate the lungs.

External factors can also have an effect as stress can lead to an asthmatic flare up.

At this time, a patient starts to see symptoms as their asthma worsens. A peak flow meter would indicate a person is using around 50 to 79 percent of their lung capacity during the Yellow Zone.

Camarillo says this is where it is important to know your average peak flow range, as well as your symptoms, medications and your plan of action before it gets out of hand.

This is where you are going to take action, said Camarillo.

According to your plan of action, this is the point you would take medications, most commonly through an inhaler.

After administrating medication, a person will then monitor their symptoms to figure if they are subsiding or increasing.

Camarillo says this is why it is important to know your body, especially your peak flows, so you can gauge your condition.

When it comes to a plan of action, Camarillo said you have to be prepared for any situation as well as identifying possible asthma triggers.

For example, if you know youre about to engage in a physical activity or come into contact with smoke or pollen, keep your medication close to you in the case you are triggered.

It is also very important to know your long-acting medications and your short-acting medications, you have to know the difference, said Camarillo.

Knowing the difference can prevent over medicating which can have some bad effects during an attack.

Most times during these episodes, medications will help a person return to their normal breathing.

However, when symptoms are becoming too intense, a person may be entering the Red Zone or a full-blown asthma attack. During this time, inflammation and lung constriction is at its worse.

At this point, youre using less than 50 percent of your lung capacity, said Camarillo.

Camarillo explained that the transition time between yellow to red can be a long as a few days or a few minutes.

Once you are in the Red Zone, you have to get help, said Camarillo.

During an attack, every second is critical as swelling and tightness will soon cause the lungs to stop working if not medically treated.

Camarillo said this is the time to rush to the emergency room or call an ambulance.

But getting to that point can be prevented through preparation and education.

Knowing your triggers and the possibly of encountering them as well as knowing your symptoms and medication can help a person better manage their asthma.

On Tuesday, Camarillo said her program will help teach kids and adults how to avoid triggers and create an action plan.

The forum is free to the public and refreshments will be served.
Houston's Enterprise Products Partners and London's Navigator Holdings announced Tuesday that construction has begun on their ethylene export terminal at Enterprise's Morgan's Point facility on the Houston Ship Channel.

The terminal, a joint venture of the two companies, will have the annual capacity to export approximately 2.2 billion pounds of ethylene, a building block of many plastics. It's expected to being operating late next year.
When Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Calvert championed a Second Chance job fair at the AT&T Center in 2015, he didnt expect to see some 1,800 previously incarcerated job seekers walk through the doors.

It was a few months into his first term, and one of his goals was to double the number of businesses willing to consider a pool of candidates often ruled out from the first glance at their job application.

Weve more than doubled that to over 800 employers, Calvert said last week. I think that mass is talking to other employers and saying that these folks are really good workers.

Calvert said he was most proud that many are still in jobs they got from that fair.

The AT&T Center itself was in the midst of a more than $110 million-plus renovation that year and contractors and subcontractors were desperate for labor to make their schedule. In the end, about 40 percent of those who worked on the renovation were either from the beleaguered East Side neighborhood, previously incarcerated, or both.

There were literally people in tears among those previously incarcerated because they said, We didnt think anybody cared about us, we thought we were the outcasts of society, Calvert recalled.

The more people working, the less that theyre a drain on social services, so this is helping families and individuals stand up and get self-sufficiency, he said.

Three years later, job prospects for those with criminal records may be better than ever. The nations April unemployment rate was 3.9 percent, a more than 17-year low, and businesses of all sizes are saying that the strong economy has them eager to expand, if only they could find qualified workers.

A recent survey commissioned by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the Charles Koch Institute found that just 14 percent of human resources professionals were unwilling to hire candidates with criminal records.

Turn to Tuesdays Business section or click here on ExpressNews.com to read more about hiring practices for people with criminal backgrounds.

Lynn Brezosky is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of her stories here. | lbrezosky@express-news.net | @lbrezosky
Rolls-Royce has been selected to supply its MT30 gas turbine to power the 30FFM, a new class of frigates for the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF). The selection means Japan is the fifth nation to select the MT30 for a major naval ship building programme.

Rolls-Royce has been selected to supply its MT30 gas turbine to power the 30FFM, a new class of frigates for the Japan Maritime Self Defence Force (JMSDF). The selection means Japan is the fifth nation to select the MT30 for a major naval ship building programme.

MHI showcasing its 30FFM / Future Multi Mission Frigate concept model at Sea Air Space 2018



Sam Cameron, Rolls-Royce, Senior Vice President  Defence, said: Japans selection of the MT30 is very significant and means that the three largest users of marine gas turbines, have all endorsed the capabilities of the MT30 and selected it to power significant future programmes.

The MT30 is the worlds most power dense marine gas turbine in service today, a key feature for naval ships where high power in minimum space, whilst meeting the operational power demands of the future, is essential. The increased demand for power by the worlds navies is a clear trend and for Japan we will deliver a power rating in excess of 40 megawatts, the highest so far for this gas turbine unrestricted by global climate conditions.

The power and performance of this modern gas turbine is providing shipbuilders and system designers with new options, choices and the ability to futureproof their latest naval platforms, combined with the additional benefits of through-life power retention with ultra-low on-board maintenance requirements.

We have a long and successful history of powering Japans naval fleet which stretches back almost 50 years and our strategic relationship with local partner Kawasaki Heavy Industries has seen us provide more than 200 gas turbines. We look forward to the next chapter in this successful relationship with 30FFM.

Video: MHI Future multi mission frigate.



Construction of the first of the 30FFM class frigates will begin next year, with entry into service expected around 2022.

The MT30 recently powered the UK Royal Navys new aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth during a programme of successful sea trials. It is also powering the US Navys Freedom Class variant of the Littoral Combat Ship, and their new DDG-1000 destroyers. The Republic of Korea Navys first FFXII frigate, powered by a single MT30, entered service earlier this year and Italy has selected the engine for its new Landing Helicopter Dock programme.

The future Multi Mission frigate / 30FFM conceptual model at Sea Air Space 2018 on MHI booth.


Starting three years ago, the largest U.S. banks vowed to cut back on lending to the coal industry.

The bank has a responsibility to help mitigate climate change by leveraging our scale and resources to accelerate the transition from a high-carbon to a low-carbon society, Bank of America said in its coal policy in May 2015.

Their pledges seemed so dramatic that Paul Argenti, a professor of corporate communication at Dartmouths Tuck School of Business, began citing them in lectures as a rare example of a corporate principles trumping profits. I read it as: They were done, he said.

But the banks, it turns out, never actually promised to walk away from coal completely. And now, with coal companies enjoying a small resurgence under the Trump administration, banks are again embracing the industry.

At the time of the pledges, the three biggest coal mining companies were in bankruptcy, the United States was signing a pact to reduce carbon emissions, and cheap natural gas was forcing coal-fired power plants out of business. There were few coal loans to make.

But Peabody Energy, Arch Coal and Alpha Natural Resources have emerged from bankruptcy, their balance sheets scrubbed clean. President Donald Trump has vowed to support the industry.

Five of the countrys biggest banks are lending tens or hundreds of millions of dollars to coal companies again, in one case eclipsing what they lent in 2014, before the industry entered a nose dive, according to an analysis by Rainforest Action Network, a liberal environmental group.

JPMorgans coal lending increased to $654 million 2017 from $32 million in 2015, according to the analysis. That was more than the $570 million the bank lent to coal interests in 2014. The vast majority of JPMorgans coal loans in 2017 were to Peabody, which emerged from bankruptcy that April.

Morgan Stanleys coal loans, though well below their 2014 levels, more than doubled from 2015 to 2017. And though their loans to coal companies havent quite reached earlier levels, Goldman Sachs and Bank of America each added new coal loans last year, the analysis shows. Citigroup made more such loans in 2016 and 2017 than it did in 2015, though well below its 2014 figure.

Combined, the five banks issued about $1.5 billion in new coal-related loans last year, according to Rainforest Action Network.

The analysis includes loans to companies like Glencore and BHP Billiton, which produce commodities like copper and oil in addition to coal. It weights each loan based on the percentage of the companys business that comes from coal. Fifteen percent of Glencores assets are in coal, for example, so a $229 million loan that Bank of America made to Glencore last year was given a value of $34 million.

The analysis looked only at new loans, not at the banks overall exposure to the coal industry.

The banks made their pledges around the time that world leaders negotiated the Paris agreement to reduce carbon emissions. Some of the banks vowed to curb lending to new coal-fired power plants in wealthy countries and to plants that did not use pollution-mitigating technology.

In November 2015, for example, Morgan Stanley said it would reduce financing for projects using mountaintop removal, in which mountains are dynamited to reveal coal seams. In March 2016, JPMorgan said it would eliminate such financing, as well as stop lending to new coal mines.

The promises generated a flood of publicity. Heres Another Big Sign the Coal Industry Is Burning Out, Fortune reported. Wall Street checks out of coal mines, CNBC announced. The New York Times quoted a historian who suggested that John Pierpont Morgan himself might not have lent to coal companies in the current environment.

Banks used the pledges as part of a broader effort to project a green corporate image. Citigroup listed its reduced lending as the first item in the environmental section of its 2016 report on its citizenship initiatives. Bank of America and JPMorgan were lead sponsors of Climate Week NYC 2016, a gathering of world leaders and corporate executives who discussed ways to fulfill the Paris accords goals.

Even experts got the impression that banks were abandoning coal.

A few years ago when a lot of these major banks came out and said that they would no longer be supporting the sector, I think, a lot of people generalized in a major way, said Chiza Vitta, an analyst at Standard & Poors. The sector is in decline, but it remains a very important component of electricity generation.

The banks left themselves plenty of room to respond if the coal industry recovered.

Few coal mining companies still use mountaintop removal. And it is far more common for companies to expand existing mines than to break ground for new ones.

Environmental groups are crying foul.

It wasnt an environmental policy, said Alex Bozmoski, managing director of RepublicEn, a conservative environmental activism group. It was financial and risk management policy that was used by communications departments.

Alison Kirsch, a spokeswoman for Rainforest Action Network, said the banks initial pledges had left huge loopholes, which she said JPMorgan in particular was shamelessly exploiting.

We disagree with the reports conclusions, said Brian Marchiony, a JPMorgan spokesman. Over the last two years, we have declined to participate in dozens of transactions related to coal-fired power plants and coal mining, and our credit exposure to companies deriving the majority of their revenues from coal has declined by about a third.

Kelly Sapp, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, said the company was adhering to its 2015 pledge. We have been reducing our credit exposure over the past several years to companies focused on coal mining while growing our financing of renewables, she said. Our policy is not changing.

Representatives of Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley declined to comment.

Part of the reason that coal has been resurgent is that it is used to fuel blast furnaces in which steel is made. The Rainforest Action Network analysis doesnt differentiate between loans for so-called metallurgical coal and coal used in power plants.

Randall Atkins, who briefly worked as a JPMorgan investment banker specializing in the coal industry and now runs Ramaco Resources, a small coal producer based in Kentucky, said the banks rapprochement with coal companies was Banking 101. Coal producers appear financially healthier now, he said, so banks think they can make money lending to them.

The banks are receptive to come back in and do normal lending in the space, he said.

Not every coal company is having an easy time getting a loan. Grant Quasha, chief executive of Paringa Resources, said his company had no loans from major U.S. banks. Some of their policies prohibit loans to projects like the new Poplar Grove mine, which Paringa is developing in Kentucky.

For smaller companies such as ourselves, its still very difficult to obtain financing, Quasha said. It exists, its just very expensive.

Argenti, the Dartmouth professor, said he would no longer cite the banks coal pledges in his classroom lectures on corporate responsibility.

A lot of what passes for sustainability is actually nothing more than public relations, he said.
The European Union will put in place one of the toughest data privacy laws in the world this week. The law, among other things, gives people in Europe the right to obtain the personal data companies have on them.

That is a sweeping right to data access that Americans dont have.

So we decided to conduct a privacy experiment: Request our data in both Britain and the United States, to get a sense of how easy it will be for people in Europe to access their personal information compared with people in the United States.

We conducted our experiment using a 20-year-old law in Britain that entitles individuals to see the personal data held about them by companies in that country. The British law provides similar data access rights as the coming European rules, known as the General Data Protection Regulation  offering a sense of how the new law might play out.

Prashant, an editor in London, and Natasha, a technology reporter in New York, requested their records in their respective countries from Amazon, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, their mobile providers and marketing analytics companies that profile users.

The results were not what we expected.

Quantcast, an analytics service that categorizes and targets online users for marketing purposes, sent me a spreadsheet with about 200 entries tracking my activities. They contained an astonishing degree of detail about my life.

It showed that I had used OpenTable to make a dinner reservation in March at a casual Indian restaurant in London, that I had read a CNN article on President Donald Trumps steel and aluminum tariffs, that I was looking to buy a new cellphone and was considering a trip to Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Then there were the 343 marketing classifications Quantcast had obtained about me from data brokers, companies that sell consumers details for marketing purposes.

The categorizations had me pegged as a heavy spender on pet food (I have a cat), an owner of a flat-screen TV, and part of a likely nonsmoking household. My colleagues in London will be unsurprised to learn that among my interests are biscuits and chocolate.

But the report also suggested there was a 3 percent likelihood that I am a woman above the age of 65, and that I own a car. (I am, to be clear, a man in my 30s. I got my first drivers license a few months ago and do not own a car.)

My spreadsheet from Quantcast contained just one single line of data: It showed that on Jan. 19 at 7:01 p.m., I read an article on Forbes.com about how Google was eliminating certain features for parents to control their childrens web-browsing. The spreadsheet even listed the author of the article: Kevin Murnane.

As with all these companies, Prashant and I acted as much as possible like regular consumers when we initially requested our information. But after our requests, we followed up with the companies as reporters. When I contacted Quantcast to ask why I had received only one line of data, a spokesman said users privacy settings could influence what details Quantcast collected. (I use various software tools to monitor tracking.)

The Quantcast spokesman added that the company responded to data access requests under European law. So sending me any data at all had been an error  because consumers in the United States do not have a comprehensive right to obtain copies of the data held by U.S. companies.

Amazon sent lists of the items my wife and I had bought through the site, the credit cards we used to buy them, the addresses the items were shipped to and the devices we had used to access Amazon services.

But we had expected to receive a more substantial data trove from Amazon. So I wrote back to Amazon asking again for all of the details the company had on me, including our households video-viewing data.

The company said it was investigating and would send the missing data when it was ready. There is still no sign of it. An Amazon spokesman added that the company was committed to complying with the new European privacy law.

strong>Natasha:/strong> I used Amazons self-service tool to download a copy of my purchase orders  including batteries for the outmoded BlackBerry phone that I was having trouble giving up in 2015. (I now own two iPhones.)

But I wanted the complete history of my account, such as my Amazon searches.

Amazon responded to my email request by telling me to call the company  because it was not safe to get account details via email due to security reasons. Then I called Amazon customer service and was put on hold for 15 minutes while an agent scrambled to figure out a response.

Finally, the agent came back on the line only to tell me that Amazon was keeping records on me for business purposes  but would not share them with me. Its all private, the agent said. I dont have access to that information to provide you unfortunately.

LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook provide self-service tools for users to download certain information  such as their posts and messages. Google offers a tool where users can download files of the Google searches they have made, as well as the sites Google has tracked them to, their YouTube history and Calendar data. We used these systems and obtained some of our information.

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebooks chief executive, recently told a Senate hearing that his companys download tool contains all of the information that users have put into Facebook or that Facebook knows about them.

But Facebook actually collects much more data about its users. In addition to the updates and photos you submit to the site, for instance, Facebook collects data about users activities on millions of non-Facebook sites that use tools like the services Like button. And those tools allow the company to amass detailed information about users web-browsing.

We were unable to obtain that kind of information, however.

We each asked Facebook for copies of our web-browsing data, as well as any data the company acquired about us from data brokers or other services. We made similar requests of Twitter and LinkedIn, which can also collect details about users activities on other sites as well as personal details from third parties like employers or advertisers.

None provided us with copies of that raw information.

Instead, from LinkedIn, we each received emails directing us to use the companys self-service tool. Among other things, our LinkedIn downloads included the email addresses of our connections.

From Twitter, we received emails saying the company required copies of our government-issued ID cards before it would provide user details beyond those available from the companys self-service tool. Natasha, who regularly covers privacy, was hesitant to entrust Twitter with a copy of her ID card. Prashant sent his ID to Twitter and received data about a week later, soon after we contacted Twitters press department. The new set of information included IP address logs, direct messages and every GIF he has ever posted (there were a lot).

Facebook told Natasha that its self-service data download tool has been reviewed by our data protection regulator and would allow her to access all of your Facebook data. The company told Prashant that the self-service tool would allow him to access only the Facebook information available to you and that the company isnt able to provide additional information.

Matt Steinfeld, a Facebook spokesman, said the social networks ad preferences tool reflected information it received about users from data brokers and advertisers. The company recently said it was building a tool to show users a list of the apps and websites that Facebook receives data from when users visit them.

After we contacted LinkedIns press department, we received emails the next day saying that the company was working on our requests. A LinkedIn spokeswoman said that users could automatically download the most commonly requested data and that the company did not currently plan to change its data request process.

We were not just seeking our data for datas sake.

As we all become more aware of fraudulent news and online voter manipulation, researchers, journalists and consumers have been seeking their personal details from companies to try to understand how we might be manipulated. The incomplete responses from tech companies do not bode well for such research efforts.

Nor does it seem to bode well for the companies, which will soon be facing the new European privacy regulations.

After we wrote to our cellphone carriers to ask for our records, for instance, Natasha at least heard back from T-Mobile, who told her that it would release her phone records only if the company received a subpoena compelling it to do so.

Prashant did not hear back at all from Three, his mobile phone service. When he contacted the company as a reporter, Three said it could not give details on the particular case for privacy reasons, but added that it would typically send a letter asking for proof of identity before proceeding with a data request. Prashant and his wife, whose name the phone contract is in, never received such a letter.

A spokeswoman for the Information Commissioners Office in Britain told us that companies that failed to respond to data subject access requests could be in breach of the countrys data protection law.

Under that law, penalties for noncompliance can reach 500,000 pounds (more than $670,000). And noncompliance with the new European law could come with higher penalties: up to 4 percent of a companys global annual revenues, or 20 million euros, whichever is greater.

Even for a tech giant, that could get expensive.
NEW YORK - About 12:30 p.m., CNN flashes the news. "Ty Cobb's out!" rings out in the writers' room of "Late Night With Seth Meyers."

"The lawyer Ty Cobb?" another writer asks. "The mustache!"

Down the hall at 30 Rockefeller Center, showrunner Mike Shoemaker pops into Meyers' office to tell him about Cobb's departure from President Donald Trump's legal team. Meyers already knows.

How big of a deal is this? Meh, by 2018 standards. But Meyers and his writers have learned to be on alert. "If more than five people are looking at one TV, you know something's happening where we're going to have to tear up our script," Meyers later explained. He literally shredded a segment on the air last year after a particularly wild Trump news conference.

We're more than a year into the Trump presidency, and the dizzying headlines come and go so quickly that 9 a.m. reports feel irrelevant by 5 p.m. And late-night hosts, while duty-bound to entertain, have also become Anti-Trump America's Guide to What It All Means.

So, how do these shows navigate the avalanche of news and quickly turn the latest political plot twist into comedy?

To find out, we spent a day inside NBC's "Late Night With Seth Meyers," helmed by a host who's become one of the most incisive joke-slinging critics of the administration. We followed Meyers, writers and producers through rapid-fire script readings, last-minute sketches, breaking news alerts and a taping before a studio audience to see what it takes to make late-night TV in the unpredictable Trump era.

"We thought the campaign was the World Series," Meyers said in an interview, "but it turned out it was just spring training for this."

---

8:30 A.M.

On a Wednesday earlier this month, Meyers arrives at work having already read the draft of the "Closer Look" segment that writer Sal Gentile emailed him overnight. This longer comedic deep-dive has become the show's trademark.

Today's first draft focuses on the Iran nuclear deal and Trump's colorful former physician, Harold Bornstein. Wearing a hoodie and sneakers, Meyers sits in his office as he adds jokes and asks Gentile if there's a way to mention Vice President Mike Pence praising former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio yesterday as a champion of "the rule of law" - the same Arpaio who was convicted of contempt of court.

Meyers is well-suited to this late-night TV moment. He spent 13 seasons down the hall at "Saturday Night Live," including a stint as "Weekend Update" anchor and writing powerhouse political sketches, including Tina Fey's famous turn as Sarah Palin. His 2011 White House correspondents' dinner jokes mocking Trump's presidential aspirations have since become folklore. (Did the disses motivate Trump to run?)

Meyers took over Jimmy Fallon's 12:30 a.m. time slot in 2014, but the show found its voice in the crowded late-night field during the 2016 campaign, as it doubled down on politics from an unapologetically liberal point of view.

Late-night shows "are as different as the people, so Seth's views are this way," Shoemaker said. "If he had different views, we would just do that."

Armed with Meyers' instructions, Gentile heads to the bright and airy writers' room, where 14 other writers sit at desks lined up around the perimeter. Some chat in pairs, speaking just above a murmur as they work on future sketches. Others scroll through headlines - Trump has proposed a sixth military branch, the space force - and send monologue jokes to head writer Alex Baze, who worked with Meyers on "SNL."

"So, then we'll fight in space?" writer Ally Hord asks aloud while reading from her computer. She laughs. "This is insane."

Trump gets made fun of a lot in this room, but it isn't ground zero for the Resistance: "We do want to just make jokes about what's happening on any given day," Meyers said. "And he just happens to be the thing that's happening on every given day."

By 10:30 a.m., Gentile has figured out how to connect Arpaio to Bornstein in the "Closer Look" script. Mixing comedy and news has been Gentile's life since college, and by 2014, he was performing improv and sketch comedy in New York while also producing for MSNBC's Chris Hayes when he heard about Meyers hiring for his new nightly show. "Man, that would be a dream job," Gentile thought to himself. A chance encounter with showrunner Shoemaker led to him now spending his days and nights watching the news and writing 30-page "Closer Look" scripts.

Today, he sets aside the Iran deal section - maybe it'll work for tomorrow's show - and he focuses the segment on Bornstein and others in Trump's orbit. With all this drama, Gentile writes, "it's worth checking in on America's Plan B, Vice President Mike Pence."

"There are so many disparate news events happening that are so head-spinning ... and you're trying to figure out like, 'How do these things relate to each other?' " said Gentile. "As much as possible we want to synthesize and contextualize, through comedy, the news for you."

---

11 A.M.

All of the comedy that ends up on air goes through Meyers' office, where he and his head writer dissect what makes a gag work. Today, they're going over next week's "Jokes Seth Can't Tell," a recurring sketch in which Meyers recites the joke setups before writers Amber Ruffin, a black woman, and Jenny Hagel, a gay woman, deliver the punchlines.

Ruffin spent years performing improv full-time and at one point tried out for "Saturday Night Live." She didn't get cast. "I was devastated," she recalled. But a couple days later, Meyers, who had seen Ruffin perform at his former improv theater, called and asked her to join his new show. Two years after that, she recommended Hagel, a hard-working improv comic she met a decade ago in Denver.

Meyers, as he often does during script meetings, speed-reads aloud but rarely misses a word. Ruffin and Hagel deliver punchlines about Meghan Markle, lesbian characters in "Mulan" and Kanye West, who praised Trump and called slavery a choice.

As they discuss the script, Meyers keeps returning to the rapper. Have they seen his interview on TMZ? Have they heard his new song with T.I.?

"It's a crazy thing that Kanye is doing," says Meyers. "Where he's like, 'I'm going to say a lot of things that you hate, but I'm saying them from a place of love,' and I feel like it all ends with a hug."

Ruffin's explanation for his behavior: "You gotta have black friends!" Everyone laughs. "I know people say it to white people, but it's twice as important for black people! You can't just be running around repeating what you've heard white people say."

Ruffin clearly has a lot to say about Kanye, and the story could change any minute. As they leave the meeting, Baze asks her if she has any Kanye ideas for tonight's show.

It turns out that she thought of one last night. She and Hagel will have about an hour and a half to put something together.

---

12:30 p.m.

"I think if I just - 'I rap about slavery, just, like this,'" Ruffin says in her best Kurtis Blow '80s rap voice. "They don't rhyme in any kind of way - uhhh!"

Hagel laughs. They're in the writers room improvising a purposefully bad rap, and writing the lines as they go. Hagel asks, "Can we reverse engineer, and tell me what you want to say without thinking of it as a rap?"

Ruffin refers to the duo as "little murderers" who can attack a project quickly: "Something black will happen and I'll be like, 'I got to talk about this today.' And then it happens with Jenny, and she'll be like, 'Something gay happened and I have to talk about this today.' "

The two keep writing as the Cobb news breaks and Gentile and others head to the 1 p.m. "Closer Look" meeting in Meyers' office. The host scrolls through Twitter on his phone, sharpens a pencil and says, "I figure - I don't know if we'll put in Ty Cobb."

The group discusses the departure like they're in a newsroom: Was this expected? How does this relate to previous Trump team departures?

Still, Meyers doesn't see his role as delivering the news.

"There's times where despite our best efforts we can't find a good enough joke to keep an important part of the news story in," Meyers explains. "Whereas journalists keep it in because it doesn't require a joke, we're apt to drop it because our ego doesn't want to live through silence. So that's why people should read the newspaper."

Maybe a Cobb joke works better for the monologue, they figure. Meyers then powers through the "Closer Look" script, using his Trump voice as needed. He pauses briefly to make tweaks and discuss a reference to DJ Qualls, that obscure, scrawny early-2000s actor. You'll know him if you saw him, maybe?

Head writer Baze brings up a clip of Trump in which he proposes the space force and then says, "Does that make sense?"

"I just like that even he - that idea is so stupid that even Trump is like, 'Does this make sense?' " Baze says. " 'Am I saying words right now?' "

That goes into the script.

A lot of people assumed Trump's election would be good for comedy. Meyers isn't so sure. Yes, "the years I worked on 'SNL' where the news in Washington was a debt ceiling, like, those things were death to write about," Meyers said. But, "you do like topics to change every now and then."

In some ways, they do. Meyers said the Trump era has also ushered in a cast of characters, like in a sitcom. "So it's not just Trump," Meyers explained. "All of a sudden you have two weeks where there's Scaramucci comedy" or "three months of Bannon comedy."

Today, it's Bornstein comedy. The eccentric figure is back in the news after claiming Trump associates raided his office. He also rocks shoulder-length hair and looks like a middle-aged stoner - at least according to "Late Night" writers.

"I have a feeling the last president Bornstein remembers is LBJ," Meyers reads from the script. "'All I remember is we were protesting LBJ, I lit up a joint, and then I was doing this interview.' "

Meyers pauses. "Sometimes the news is drier than this," he says.

It is?

---

2 P.M.

The monologue writers pack into Meyers' office and listen to him run through jokes about everything from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's tweets to how it feels to step on Legos. Baze has managed to whittle down the mountain of jokes to 86. Twenty-five will make it to rehearsal.

Ruffin and Hagel stand by the window overlooking West 50th Street and hand Meyers a draft of the Kanye sketch, which will end the monologue. He reads the setup: "Now, commenting on a black man's opinion about slavery is not something I'm comfortable doing."

"But I am!" Ruffin interrupts. She wants to speak "directly to the hearts of young people" influenced by West's statements "using the most powerful art form known to man: rap. Hit it!"

Ruffin two-steps in the crowded room and does her best Sugarhill Gang impersonation as she raps about why Kanye needs black friends. It's an office a cappella performance - and she crushes it.

"Amber, when was the last time you listened to a rap song?" Meyers reads.

"1990!"

She finishes, and Meyers softly says, "We should just try it, right?"

Ruffin and Hagel rush off. They still need to finalize the script, the outfit and the instrumental track.

"I wanted to do the rap, and so they let us," Ruffin said. "This place is ridiculous."

---

4:15 P.M.

Meyers, still in his hoodie, stands on the Studio 8G set before a crowd of roughly 40 people recruited from the halls of Rockefeller Center to watch the rehearsal. He explains that they are his test audience - their laughter will shape the show.

Unlike other network late-night hosts, Meyers sits at his desk for the monologue. Baze listens to the audience reactions and writes a question mark next to jokes that work. He then turns to the writers and asks them to come up with more about smaller news stories, to balance out the political material. He aims for 50-50.

The rehearsal tests some complex camera movements for Ruffin's rap, which now has a throwback beat and more dancing. It can also inspire new jokes: Meyers riffs that Bornstein looks like a guy who's late for a puppet show. That goes in the script.

As soon as the rehearsal ends, Meyers and his writers huddle on set and race through "Closer Look" edits, marking what to keep and what to cut. There's no time for debate or chewing over punchlines.

Gentile pitches a way to mention Cobb after all, when they bring up the president's legal woes.

And that obscure '90s actor? The crowd didn't get it.

Meyers says, "Bye DJ Qualls."

---

5:15 P.M.

As Meyers gets dressed down the hall, Wally Feresten and his cue card team sit in what looks like a wood shop. Feresten has 99 "Closer Look" cards to change, and the final monologue script is running a little late. "Someone's computer wasn't working, I think," he says.

It's that kind of technical glitch that the cue cards protect against, especially with Feresten at the helm. He's done the cards at "SNL" for 27 years. On "Late Night," "if we're running late or we get stuff late, then they can hold the show for five or 10 minutes. With 'SNL' you can't. So we're used to doing things fast."

The final script arrives and Feresten flips through pages, sticks white tape over deleted lines on the cards and writes new lines with a fat marker. By 6 p.m., he's in Meyers' dressing room, holding up cards. The host, now in a navy suit, reads them rapidly to catch any errant words.

No big last-minute additions today; mercifully, there are no early-evening news alerts.

"I have had so many days where I'm literally sprinting down the hallway from our office at one end of the floor down here to run into Seth's dressing room and discuss possibly adding some news that just broke at 6 o'clock," says Gentile. "You have to be less precious and just come up with a joke as quickly as you can."

By 6:15 p.m., Meyers greets tonight's guests - Lord Huron, Priyanka Chopra and Mike O'Brien. He then stands just behind the door to the stage as three wardrobe and makeup people touch him up. "I feel like a car in a NASCAR race," Meyers jokes.

---

6:28 P.M.

Feresten carries the stack of cards onto set. The cameras roll. The 8G Band plays and as the announcer declares "From 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York, it's 'Late Night With Seth Meyers,'" Meyers dashes over to his desk.

And off he goes, delivering seven monologue jokes - including a lone nonpolitical one about ham-flavored ice cream.

Ruffin pops into view, as the audience cheers. She's a fan favorite. They also clap to the beat, which didn't happen during rehearsal and could drown her out. "Please stop clapping," she asks quickly, and then goes back to her enthusiastic performance with a smile.

"African-Americans' history should be a great source of pride!" she raps. "To imply that slaves had a choice minimizes slavery, and undercuts the strength of the black community! Something, that Kanye, used to be a part of. Uhh!"

"How crazy that she knew to say, 'stop clapping,' " Shoemaker remarks backstage afterward.

"So few people," Meyers says. "Nobody would be that smart."

After she finishes, Ruffin reviews the tape to see if the timing with the cameras needs to be changed before the show airs. But she's not mulling over the performance.

"Because it's every day, you never feel like it just hangs over you," she says. "You always have tomorrow."

The taping finishes about 7:30 p.m. Ruffin sits alone in the writers' room, working on a sketch for tomorrow. And Gentile goes home to flesh out the "Closer Look" draft about the Iran nuclear deal. Today's 10-minute Bornstein rant is in the books, and Gentile has already moved on. "Even if I wanted to go home and sort of dwell on today's news, the news would not allow me," he says. "Like, something would happen."

It's past 9 p.m. when Gentile starts to close his laptop. And at that moment he hears Rudy Giuliani on Fox News say the president repaid his personal lawyer for hush money to a porn star.

Gentile reopens his laptop and starts an all-new Giuliani "Closer Look" segment. He emails the draft to Meyers at 4 a.m., just hours before he's back at Studio 8G to help make another hour of late-night TV.

---

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Video: From the writers' room to rehearsal to show time, here's a behind-the-scenes look at how "Late Night with Seth Meyers" is made in the Trump era.(Erin Patrick O'Connor,Nicki DeMarco/The Washington Post)

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Video: Seth Meyers talks about what Trump means for comedy, what SNL taught him and why he feels awkward doing jokes standing.(Nicki DeMarco,Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

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Video: Kanye West called slavery "a choice," which led "Late Night" writer Amber Ruffin to rap that he has "no black friends." Here's how the sketch came together.(Nicki DeMarco,Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

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Video: In addition to being in the cast and host of "Weekend Update," Seth Meyers was the head writer at "Saturday Night Live." Here's how the experience influences how he hosts "Late Night."(Nicki DeMarco,Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post)

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Ron Funches, the comedian who took to Twitter to vent about his San Antonio experience, says TMZ is now getting involved in the feud.

"Just got interviewed by TMZ about San Antonio," he tweeted late Monday night. "If I'm gonna get blackballed from a town at least I picked the right one."

Funches had five shows at Laugh Out Loud Comedy Club from May 17-19. His resume includes work with the Kroll and Eric Andre shows, roles on New Girl, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Undateable, voice projects on Trolls and Bob's Burgers and of course, standup comedy. But he gave San Antonio the vaudeville hook after a weekend of weak laughs and being bothered by "non-cops" about his smoking.

RELATED: Comedian unhappy with San Antonio shows leaves a crude message for the city

During his three-day San Antonio stint, he complained about the city via Twitter.

"Who knew San Antonio wouldn't be a strong market for me," he said on Friday with four shows still left to go.

In a subsequent tweet, he aired more grievances towards San Antonio.

"Smoked 3 joints been bothered by non cops 6 times," he said 30 minutes later. "Suck my d--k San Antonio."

Funches' TMZ interview has not yet been published on the popular tabloid website, but some of his followers are already reacting to the tweet.

"You gotta forge a friendship with Kawhi Leonard over this," comedian Ian Karmel joked.

Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for MySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye


Like most San Antonio visitors, members of Depeche Mode checked out the River Walk while in town.

Aside from strolling the emerald gem, Martin Gore, Andy Fletcher and Christian Eigner stopped at MadDog's British Pub to catch the UEFA finals on Saturday, according to bar management.

Multiple Instagram photos posted by Danny Badiola, director of operations at the bar, show Gore, Fletcher and Eigner at the British-themed spot.

Badiola was not immediately available to comment on Depeche Mode's visit, but did respond to a fan account in the comments of one of the posts.

RELATED: Photos: Spurs star among fans spotted at Depeche Mode show in San Antonio

"They watched UEFA Finals in my Bar, MadDogs British Pub in San Antonio," he replied. "They were so nice! All four of them were present except for Gahan. The bodyguard was a bit lenient and allowed some of my guests to take their picture on their way out."

Depeche Mode went on to play at the AT&T Center Sunday night, where Dave Gahan met Spurs' Tony Parker, who gifted him a personalized jersey.

Other fans were able to meet Depeche Mode, or at least snap a photo of them strolling downtown San Antonio, see all the photos in the gallery above if you just can't get enough.

Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for MySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye


Astronaut Alan Bean, the fourth person to set foot on the moon who retired from NASA to blaze new trails as an accomplished artist of lunar landscapes sprinkled with moon dust, died Saturday at Houston Methodist Hospital. He was 86.

Family members said Bean, the last living member of the Apollo 12 crew, suffered from a brief illness after traveling in Indiana two weeks ago. Friends recalled him among the greats of a generation, and also as a genuinely good guy.

"Alan Bean was the most extraordinary person I ever met," astronaut Mike Massimino said in a statement. "He was a one-of-a-kind combination of technical achievement as an astronaut and artistic achievement as a painter."

Bean was born in Wheeler in the Texas Panhandle, and grew up in Fort Worth. He dreamed of becoming a naval aviator and began his flight training at 17. He graduated from the University of Texas with a degree in aeronautical engineering.

ean trained as a Navy test pilot under fellow Apollo astronaut Charles "Pete" Conrad, who later played a key role in helping him make the cut as one of 14 trainees in NASA's third class of astronauts in October 1963.

"You had to be superhuman," said Keith Cowing, editor of the American space program blog NASA Watch. "You had to be a fighter pilot and pass all kinds of physicals. You had to be capable of sitting in a spacecraft that would blow up and not let that bother you."

Cowing said the early astronauts had to show they could work with people, follow directions and make decisions with a level head under extreme physical stress.

Bean's remarkable 18-year career at NASA included 69 days in space and 31 hours on the moon's surface.

His first journey to the moon took place in November 1969, just four months after the historic Apollo 11 landing with astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. Bean's quick thinking helped keep the mission on track when lightning struck the rocket during the launch of Apollo 12, said Herb Baker, a former manager of the operation support office at Johnson Space Center.

Lightning struck the command module Yankee Clipper shortly after liftoff during a thunderstorm at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. With the capsule hurtling about 5,000 mph spaceward, all of the warning lights on the instrument panel lit up. The Yankee Clipper's main power was gone. Mission Control sent a somewhat cryptic message to flip the "SCE to AUX" or backup mode. There were more than 100 switches on the control panel. Neither of his co-pilots knew where to look, but Bean knew where the switch was and brought the power back. If the crew had not found the switch, they would have had to abort the mission.

Instead, on Nov. 19, 1969, Bean and Apollo 12 commander Conrad landed on the Ocean of Storms and he became the fourth human to set foot on the moon. During two moonwalks, Bean helped deploy several surface experiments and installed the first nuclear-powered generator station.

Joking rapport

Back on Earth, Bean maintained a joking rapport with his crewmates, including Richard F. Gordon Jr., who didn't get a chance to step onto the moon, as his role was to remain on board the craft.

The crew all drove matching gold Corvettes. When Conrad and Bean returned to the capsule after their moon walk, they were so coated in moon dust that Gordon  like the proud owner of a freshly waxed vintage car  exclaimed to them, "Holy smoke. You're not getting in here and dirtying up my nice clean command module."

"I made them strip, take every bit of clothes off they had," he said in a NASA oral history. "So they passed the rocks over, they took off their suits, passed those over, took off their underwear, and I said, 'OK, you can come in now.'"

Bean was commander on the second Skylab mission where he spent 60 days living in space, from July 29 to Sept. 25, 1973. While there, he tested a prototype of a Manned Manuevering Unit and took one spacewalk outside the Skylab.

He retired from NASA in 1981 and went on to make art, even though he hadn't picked up a paintbrush until age 30, having enrolled in a night school art class as a Navy test pilot in Maryland, according to Chronicle archives.

More than 40 of his works were displayed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 2009 in honor of the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 and 12 moon landings.

Strongest, kindest man

Before his venture into space, Bean had been a skilled, if amateur, painter. After he returned, his colleagues urged him to take up the brush to share his impressions of a sight few Earthlings would see.

"You can create the very first paintings in all of history of a place other than our own planet," they said, according to www.alanbean.com the website where Bean promoted his works. "Your paintings will forever be the first paintings of the many other worlds humans will visit as the centuries unfold."

"Because of this unprecedented opportunity and challenge, I resigned from NASA in 1981 to devote all of my time and energy to painting, celebrating the great exploration that was Apollo," the website says. He described his works as a mixture of painting and sculpture, textured with lunar tools, sprinkled with small bits of Apollo 12 spacecraft and moon dust from the Ocean of Storms."

Bean began painting full time in his home studio. His Apollo-themed paintings garnered hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Michael Coats, former director of the Johnson Space Center, said he first met Bean when he acted as a sort of "den mother" for Coats and his colleagues in the 1978 class of astronauts, which was the first group to include women and people of color.

Coats said everyone was surprised when Bean took up painting, but they enjoyed the result.

"I wish I could afford one of his paintings," he said.

Bean's wife of 40 years, Leslie, said in a statement that he was "the strongest and kindest man I ever knew."

"He was the love of my life and I miss him dearly," she said.

In addition to his wife, Bean is survived by two children from a previous marriage.
Not living in San Antonio proper can be frustrating, a funny Twitter trend is showing.

In recent days, users nationwide have been sharing how they try to explain their neighborhoods when their home isn't technically inside the city limits of the nearest major metropolis.

It's unclear which tweet started the trend, but some credit a tweet from October 2017 by Twitter user @JayyWavve as the prototype.

RELATED: San Antonians, Texans describe where they live in hilarious online trend

People who live in places like Schertz, Castroville, Floresville, Helotes and Uvalde participated in the ongoing joke.

The tweets showed that when they get frustrated trying to familiarize people with their postcodes, they just revert to the closest big city  San Antonio in this case  and tie in some exaggerated stereotypes.

"San Antonio...I live in San Antonio," Twitter user @2morruff9 said. "Basically drink from the Riverwalk and sleep in the Alamo."

See how some others explain where they live in the slideshow above.

Madalyn Mendoza is a digital reporter for MySA.com. Read more of her stories here.| mmendoza@mysa.com | Twitter: @MaddySkye


1 School shooting: Students returning to class Tuesday at a Texas high school where 10 people were killed less than two weeks ago were greeted by an increased police presence and supporters holding signs saying Santa Fe Strong and United We Stand. Tuesday marked the first day of class at Santa Fe High School since the mass shooting that left eight students and two substitute teachers dead. Students who had classes in the area of the May 18 shooting were first allowed to enter at about 8 a.m., followed by the rest of the student body about two hours later. Authorities have charged student Dimitrios Pagourtzis with capital murder in the attack.

2 Governor resigns: Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens resigned amid criminal and legislative investigations stemming from an extramarital affair and campaign finance questions over alleged misuse of a charity donor list. The 44-year-old Rhodes Scholar and ex-Navy SEAL made the announcement Tuesday. The resignation takes effect Friday. A St. Louis grand jury indicted Greitens on Feb. 22 on one felony count of invasion of privacy. Prosecutors say he took a compromising photo of a woman with whom he had an affair without her consent in 2015, before his election. The woman told a legislative committee Greitens restrained, slapped, shoved and threatened her during sexual encounters. Greitens has denied criminal wrongdoing.
"A deeper understanding of electrochemical processes is important in the quest for more efficient, renewable forms of energy," says Emory physical chemist Tim Lian, shown in his lab. Photo by Stephen Nowland, Emory Photo/Video

The U.S. Department of Defense awarded $7.5 million to Tianquan (Tim) Lian, professor of physical chemistry at Emory University, to lead an investigation of electrochemical processes underlying fuel-cell technology. The award comes through the DoDs highly competitive Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative, or MURI. The program funds teams of investigators from more than one discipline to accelerate the research process.

A deeper understanding of electrochemical processes is important in the quest for more efficient, renewable forms of energy, Lian says. His lab develops sum-frequency generation spectroscopy to selectively probe reactions on the surface of an electrode. The technique can provide insights into the fundamental steps involved in energy generation, conversion and storage technologies  ranging from solar cells, to fuel cells and batteries.

Fuel cell electric vehicles use a fuel cell instead of a battery  or in combination with a battery  to generate electricity for power. While they have lower emissions and higher fuel-efficiency than internal-combustion engines, fuel cell vehicles are currently limited to lighter fuels, such as hydrogen.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research accepted the MURI proposal from Lian, principal investigator of the project, and his colleagues from five other universities, including Yale, Cornell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California. Together, the researchers encompass the disciplines of advanced spectroscopy, electrochemical mass spectroscopy and electrochemical theory to model, test and interpret reactions.
A Florida high school teacher who, with the help of his students, killed two raccoons and a possum by drowning them in a tub of water will not face criminal charges, the state's prosecutors announced.

Dewie Brewton III, a former agricultural teacher at Forest High School in Ocala, Florida, "did not intend to torture or torment these nuisance animals," and the killings are legal under state law, according to a four-page memo released Friday by Brad King, state attorney for Florida's Fifth Judicial Circuit.

Criminal charges against Brewton, who took early retirement amid a public outcry and an investigation by state officials, wouldn't hold up in court because Florida law allows the killing of nuisance animals, and there's no evidence that he tormented them with no justifiable reason, the memo said.

"The decision to decline to file charges is not made in a vacuum," according to the memo, adding that Brewton "was simply attempting to protect his class' school project in an appropriate manner."

Brewton told investigators that raccoons were likely killing farm animals that his students were raising as part of their agricultural class. The students cared about the chickens, even naming some of them. But after a few weeks, eight chickens were found dead. Brewton then decided to trap the likely culprits "to stop the incessant and unnecessary killing" of the chickens, the memo said. Even the students expressed their desire to kill the nuisance animals.

The memo went on to explain how Brewton and his class settled on drowning the animals.

Some students suggested shooting them, but Brewton explained that bringing a gun to the school violates policy. Bludgeoning them to death was too brutal. The most humane way, he told investigators, was to drown the animals.

"When he decided to employ this option, he told students that any student that did not want to witness or be involved with this removal of these nuisance animals could stay in the classroom with a paraprofessional," the memo states. "Some students stayed behind in the classroom, and others went to assist in the removal of the nuisance animals."

A 14-second video published by WKMG showed a group of Brewton's students filling a tub with water and later keeping a trapped raccoon submerged. The video was reportedly taken by a student who was upset over what happened to the animals, the student's mother told WKMG. The raccoons and the opossum were killed May 14, according to the mother, whom the station did not identify.

"It made me sick to my stomach. It's terrible. It still does make me sick to my stomach," the mother told the station.

According to the state attorney's office, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission began an investigation after receiving an anonymous complaint from a mother of a student.

The incident brought scrutiny on Brewton, who had been with Marion County Public Schools for more than 30 years. The school district launched an investigation, and placed him on paid administrative leave. Brewton later decided to take an early retirement, effectively ending the district's investigation, school officials said.

Heidi Maier, the district's superintendent who had recommended that Brewton be fired, said in an earlier statement that school officials are "appalled" by the teacher's actions.

"Marion County's education standards - in fact, Florida's education standards - do not include activities for the destruction of live animals, nuisance or not," the statement states. "While law enforcement determines whether this teacher's actions were legal or not, his actions before students are entirely unacceptable and cause us great concern."

The American Veterinary Medical Association's 102-page guideline states that drowning "is not a means of euthanasia and is inhumane." But according to the state attorney's memo, the guideline also says that drowning is not an acceptable primary means of euthanasia and does not explicitly say whether the method should be considered appropriate under certain circumstances.

In Brewton's case, that he considered other alternatives but found them to be inhumane "casts further doubt" on prosecutors' ability to prove a crime had occurred beyond a reasonable doubt, the memo states.

And while videos of the incident have been made public, students - not Brewton - were largely seen in the footage. For prosecutors to use the videos as evidence in court would require them to question the students - something to which most parents have objected.

Brewton's early retirement and the intense media scrutiny to which he has been subjected are a "fitting resolution," the memo states, noting a public reaction for and against Brewton.

Brewton was nominated in 2010 for Teacher of the Year. He also was an adviser for the school's National FFA Organization club.

The club's alumni group expressed its support for Brewton, describing the teacher as someone who had spent late nights and weekends to help his students.

A number of states, including Florida, allow the killing of nuisance animals as long as doing so complies with local and state ordinances. The American Veterinary Medical Association also lists 20 methods that it considers to be unacceptable forms of euthanasia. Among them are burning, rapid freezing, use of cyanide, smothering, hypothermia and drowning.

But proving that a crime had occurred can sometimes be difficult. In another case in Ocala, Florida, for example, a man accused of snipping the tails of four kittens using rusty scissors was acquitted earlier this month of animal cruelty charges.

A similar case in Pennsylvania had a different resolution. A man accused of drowning raccoons pleaded guilty in December to two counts of animal cruelty after a judge issued an opinion saying that raccoons deserve protection and that drowning them is prohibited by state law.
American mixed martial arts fighter Jeff Monson was granted citizenship by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday.

Monson, a Minnesota native and former Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion, applied for Russian citizenship in 2016 after stating he had "the Russian soul." Known in the ring as "The Snowman," Monson lauded the nation's "culture of social responsibility" and "humanness" in a 2016 essay for Newsweek, traits that he said were borne of the nation's communist past.

"I felt deep down right away that this is my home - the one place I feel at peace with myself and my surroundings," he wrote.

Later that year he obtained ceremonial passports from Kremlin-aligned proto-states, the Luhansk People's Republic in eastern Ukraine and the Republic of Abkhazia in western Georgia.

"He's a fairly famous person in the sporting world and is famous in his discipline across the world," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday when asked why Putin had agreed to grant Monson Russian citizenship, according to Reuters.

Monson is the latest celebrity to be granted Russian citizenship in recent years. French actor Gerard Depardieu, U.S. boxer Roy Jones Jr., and Hollywood actor and producer Steven Seagal have all declared Russian allegiance.

Russian law allows the president to grant citizenship to foreigners "in recognition of their achievements or services to the country," according to Russian government-funded news site RT.

Monson, 47, grew up in Washington state to a father in the United States military and a mother who was a nurse, he wrote in Newsweek. He became a vocal critic of American foreign policy in the late 1990s after his professional fighting career began to take off internationally. For years, he showed off tattoos of a hammer and sickle and of one man shooting another labeled with the word "capitalism" during his fights.

"I saw the poverty kids are still forced to endure in places like Brazil; to me, this was unjustifiable given the huge military budgets of superpowers like America, which should lead by example, give more and defend less," he wrote. "These awakenings became a cornerstone of my belief in communism and that the world must do away with class hierarchy and institutions that promote inequality. In short, when I first visited Russia in 2011, it was with a very open mind."

Putin watched Monson fight in 2011, later calling the heavyweight to tell him "you might be an American but you have the Russian spirit, because the Russians never give up," Monson told NBC News.

Monson's public statements moved from anti-American to pro-Kremlin and even pro-Soviet. Even before initiating his nationality change, he entered the ring to the Soviet national anthem, according to the government-owned TASS news service, which first announced his new citizenship status. He began celebrating Russian national holidays with fans and spent time with high-ranking Russian officials connected to the nation's MMA ranks.

The former UFC fighter has competed in a variety of fighting promotions, in both heavyweight and light heavyweight divisions.
The European Union's top two officials made dramatic interventions in the Italian political crisis as they distanced themselves from Germany's EU commissioner over comments indicating he was telling Italians how to vote.

Amid surging bond yields across the euro area triggered by Italy's political crisis, European Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger told Deutsche Welle that he expected financial markets to become so volatile they teach voters to turn their backs on non-mainstream parties, according to video excerpts of the interview the broadcaster posted in a tweet. Oettinger later apologized for the remarks.

"My concerns and expectations are that the coming weeks will show that developments in markets, government bonds and Italy's economy could be so drastically impacted that they serve as a signal to voters not to vote for populists on the right and left," he said in the interview. Oettinger said he could "only hope" that the market turmoil already seen will encourage people "not to hand power" to nationalist groups.

In a rare show of public disagreement among EU officials, EU President Donald Tusk posted his own message on Twitter a short time later. "My appeal to all EU institutions: please respect the voters," he said. "We are there to serve them, not to lecture them #Italy."

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, head of the EU executive in Brussels, followed with a statement saying that he was convinced that "Italy's fate does not lie in the hands of financial markets." The commission's chief spokesman called the remarks attributed to Oettinger "unwise."

Italy is in political limbo after the populist League and Five Star Movement's effort to form a government fell apart on President Sergio Mattarella's veto of their proposed finance minister. A technocratic government, which could be sworn in as early as Wednesday, is unlikely to survive subsequent parliamentary votes of confidence, meaning Italy will probably move to new elections as soon as the summer.

Tuesday evening Oettinger apologized for his remarks in the interview, saying he "did not mean to be disrespectful," according to a statement. "I fully respect the will of voters being left, right or center and in every country," he said.

It's not the first time the Oettinger, an ally of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has hit the headlines for the wrong reasons. In 2016, he caused an outcry after he referred to Chinese people as "slit eyes," said women couldn't succeed professionally without quotas and questioned the merits of gay marriage. Earlier that year, he failed to disclose a flight on the private plane of a German businessman.

In 2011, when Japan was struggling to contain an accident at the Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear power plant crippled by an earthquake and tsunami, he jolted investors by saying a "major disaster" may be on its way, before admitting his remarks were based partly on media reports.
An entire nation plans to undergo a government-mandated Facebook ban.

The government of Papua New Guinea announced Tuesday that it will block the social network for a month to allow researchers to identify fake accounts and users who post pornography and misinformation, according to the Papua New Guinea Post-Courier.

Papua New Guinea's communications minister, Sam Basil, told the newspaper that the temporary shutdown would give researchers a chance to analyze how Facebook is used in the country and to explore the development of its own social network for the nation's citizens. Basil said preventing access to Facebook in the country could reveal benefits to the population or lead to the conclusion that people are actually better off without it.

Basil did not say when the ban would begin, according to the Post-Courier.

Facebook said in a statement to The Washington Post on Tuesday, "We have reached out to the government to understand their concerns."

According to government estimates cited by the Australian Broadcasting Corp., about 600,000 to 700,000 people in Papua New Guinea use Facebook, out of a population of roughly 8 million.

Facebook, which has more than 2 billion users, is facing mounting pressure from skeptical governments around the globe. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg endured rounds of grilling by dozens of U.S. lawmakers last month, during which he repeatedly apologized and promised changes to privacy policies after the Cambridge Analytica scandal. And last week, Zuckerberg fielded questions in Brussels from frustrated members of the European Parliament who needled him over the company's recent controversies over privacy and misinformation.

The recent hearings in Europe and the United States also reflect a growing unease with Facebook's dominant position in the marketplace, with lawmakers pressing Zuckerberg to identify which companies closely compete with his. Critics of Facebook say the company deserves robust scrutiny, considering its history of apologies and promises. Some have argued that Facebook should be broken up or face new regulations that address the increasing power and influence of massive technology platforms.

The month-long censorship in Papua New Guinea may also lead to the creation of an alternative to the Silicon Valley-based Facebook, Basil suggested. "If there need be, then we can gather our local applications developers to create a site that is more conducive for Papua New Guineans to communicate within the country and abroad as well," Basil told the Post-Courier.

Earlier this year, officials in Sri Lanka imposed a week-long ban on the social networking site. The government banned Facebook on the grounds that the platform was being used to fuel sectarian violence in the country. Authoritarian governments, including Iran and China, have also blocked access to Facebook as part of broader efforts to censor media and the flow of information.
House lawmakers are raising concerns that a powerful facial recognition tool Amazon is marketing to local law enforcement agencies could be used to inappropriately surveil innocent Americans and reinforce racial profiling of black communities.

In a pair of separate letters to Amazon chief executive Jeff Bezos late last week, two House Democrats and the Congressional Black Caucus are seeking answers about Rekognition, the service the company is selling for an extremely low price to law enforcement agencies in Oregon and Orlando that allows police to scan footage of crowds for possible suspects in real time.

Reps. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., and Keith Ellison, D-Minn., want Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, to turn over a full list of agencies that use Rekognition and provide assurances that the company is taking steps to root out the potential for bias in the software. They pointed to recent studies showing that facial recognition software consistently misidentified black people and women more often than white people and men.

Cleaver told me that it was up to companies such as Amazon "to hire diverse leadership to ensure that these artificial intelligence technologies do not adversely affect communities of color."

"If industry leaders won't step up with their own policy improvements," Cleaver told me in an email, "make no mistake about it, Congress will do it for them."

The Congressional Black Caucus argued that an "algorithmic bias" could drive law enforcement to unfairly target African Americans and that Rekognition could also be turned against immigrants and protesters. "Surveillance of perfectly legitimate and constitutionally protected activity will only further erode the public's trust in law enforcement," wrote Chairman Cedric L. Richmond, D-La. "We urge you to be thoughtful, deliberate, and assiduous as development of this technology advances."

Rekognition appears to push the boundaries of how controversial facial recognition systems are used by law enforcement - but lawmakers may have a tough time regulating these systems, even as Republicans and Democrats alike say they are ripe for abuse.

Washington hasn't come close to keeping pace with technological breakthroughs on facial recognition technology, says Alvaro Bedoya, director of the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown University Law Center, which published a sweeping study in 2016 examining the risks to privacy and civil rights posed by facial recognition systems. "Not any state nor Congress has passed a law that comprehensively regulates this technology," Bedoya said.

There has also been little pressure from constituents. "Because major law enforcement agencies have used this in secret, the public hasn't had a chance to say what it thinks about it," Bedoya said. "The technology has moved much quicker than public awareness and, until recently, public opinion."

Documents released by the American Civil Liberties Union last week kicked off a debate about Rekognition, at least among privacy experts and lawmakers.

My colleague Elizabeth Dwoskin sums up how the program works: "It can identify up to 100 people in a crowd, the documents said. The sheriff's office of Washington County, Ore., built a database of 300,000 mugshots of suspected criminals that officers could have Rekognition scan against footage of potential suspects in real-time. The footage could come from police body cameras and public and private cameras." On top of that, the services are cheap: The county apparently pays Amazon between $6 and $12 a month for the service.

Not even the FBI is using its facial recognition software to track people in real time, Bedoya notes. Rather, in the FBI's system, officers can look for a suspect by feeding a photo obtained during an investigation into federal and state databases containing photos of hundreds of millions of people culled from mugshots, driver's licenses, passports and other documents. The ACLU's findings are the "clearest example yet that these dragnet, real-time face recognition systems are real," Bedoya said.

Lawmakers have already shown an interest in setting rules about how agencies more broadly use facial recognition systems. During a heated hearing last March, Republicans and Democrats from the House Oversight Committee grilled Kimberly Del Greco, deputy assistant director of the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, saying the bureau's facial recognition system trampled on innocent Americans' privacy. Some lawmakers proposed requiring the FBI to get a warrant before using facial recognition to identify a suspect, as law enforcement officers do when they need a wiretap.

But since Amazon is marketing Rekognition to local law enforcement, it would largely be up to states, cities and even individual police departments to set rules for how law enforcement agencies use it. Currently, few such rules exist. And getting consistent laws across the board would likely prove a challenge.

Still, Bedoya says there could be a parallel in how the Justice Department and some local law enforcement agencies took steps to contain the use of StingRay devices, which simulate a cell-tower to surreptitiously collect data from people's phones. At the urging of Congress and advocacy groups, they set policies requiring warrants to use the devices. "It's not unheard of," he said. Cities or states could also bar the use of facial recognition in body cameras. And one way Congress could get involved would be to deny federal funding to local agencies that use facial recognition services that don't meet certain standards.

Amazon defends the technology. Spokeswoman Nina Lindsey told Elizabeth that the technology could be used to help locate people who have been abducted or gone missing, and she noted that during the royal wedding this month, clients used Rekognition to identify wedding attendees.

"Amazon requires that customers comply with the law and be responsible when they use [Amazon Web Services]," she said. ". . .When we find that AWS services are being abused by a customer, we suspend that customer's right to use our services."
Eric Pevzner MPH PhD leads the CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), which has strong ties to Rollins. Many alumni and faculty have EIS on their resumes, and students have opportunities to work with the program.

When Dr. Eric Pevzner was an MPH student in the late 1990s, one of his favorite courses was an epidemiology seminar that met every Tuesday morning down the street from Rollins School of Public Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). One week he might hear about a rash of unexplained hospitalizations in a rural town. The next he might listen to a discussion about the spread of a new disease in a remote region of Africa. And the next he could hear about response efforts to a catastrophic hurricane.

Pevzner was listening to the reports of the CDCs Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officersthe agencys elite disease detectives. The officers in the two-year postgraduate fellowship are deployed to investigate disease outbreaks or natural disasters, knocking on doors, interviewing people, gathering and analyzing data to get to the bottom of the incidents. They work in anonymitytheir names dont make the headlines, but they are the first responders to the outbreaks that do.

Pevzner never lost his enthusiasm for the EIS program. Following his PhD, he went on to become an EIS officer in the Class of 2005. (The EIS identifies its classes by the year in which fellows enter, not graduate.) Then in June 2017, he assumed the helm as chief of the EIS program.

In many ways, Pevzner personifies the close ties between Rollins and the EIS program. Like Pevzner, many Rollins alumni go on to become EIS officers. Some of Rollins most well-known faculty have EIS posts on their CVs. MPH and PhD students have several options to work with the EIS program during their Rollins years. And new EIS officers spend their first four weeks in the program in Rollins classrooms taught in part by Rollins faculty.

One of the things that makes Rollins unique is its extremely close connection with the CDC, and with the EIS program, says Pevzner, who also serves as adjunct professor in the department of behavioral sciences and health education.

Each year, 500 to 600 professionals apply for between 60 to 80 positions in the EIS program. Rollins and Emory alumni claim a disproportionate number of slots. Between 2009 (the first year the EIS program began tracking the schools from which its officers came) and 2015, 70 of the 566 EIS officers who went through the program had an Emory degree under their belt. Of the 149 officers currently serving, 28 have at least one degree from Emory.

Perhaps all these Rollins alumni are drawn to the program because theyve been taught by former EIS officers. To name but a few, Dr. Philip Brachman, Class of 1954, served as the second chief of the EIS from 1970 to 1981 and became a recognized anthrax expert during his time as an EIS officer. Brachman taught at Rollins until he passed away in 2016. Dr. Eugene Gangarosa, Class of 1964, founded the Rollins Center for Global Safe WASH. Dr. John McGowan Jr. was in the Class of 1969, and his daughter, Angie McGowan, was in the Class of 2002. Current faculty members with an EIS history include Drs. Ruth Berkelman, Patrick Sullivan, Scott McNabb, and Godfrey Oakley. Dean James Curran was named an honorary member of the Class of 2004 (and his daughter, Katie Curran, was in the Class of 2014). The list goes on.

Rollins students also have several opportunities to work directly with the EIS program. Through the Student Outreach and Response Team (SORT), students can help EIS officers with their disease response. During the Ebola outbreak, 45 SORT volunteers helped update the spotty maps of the affected areas with critical details such as exact locations of villages, roads, and buildings so responders could better direct their efforts.

More recently, the EIS reached out to SORT to help with contact tracing in a brucellosis outbreak in Texas traced to raw milk products from one dairy. Initially, brucellosis causes fever, aches, and fatigue, but if untreated, people can develop lifelong complications, such as arthritis and heart problems. We needed to follow up with so many people in at least seven states who were potentially exposed to tainted products, but we just didnt have the resources to do it, says Pevzner. The students were able to make a truly significant contribution to our effort. For the EIS program, SORT is an invaluable source of public health skilled labor.

Students in the Rollins Earn and Learn (REAL) program can get posts with the EIS program. In this capacity, they might help with efforts to recruit EIS officers, plan and implement the annual EIS conference, and track outbreak investigations. The Rollins REAL students contribute in many roles that allow this program to function as it does, says Pevzner.

Rollins alumni who go on to become EIS officers will find themselves back in familiar territory. Each new class starts with a four-week coursesort of an epi boot campwhich is held on the Rollins campus. Three epidemiology professorsDrs. Patrick Sullivan, Michael Goodman, and Jodie Guestteach some of the didactic portion of the course. The fact that we have faculty who are doing cutting-edge epidemiological research to provide that level of teaching to our officers is a tremendous benefit to the program, says Pevzner.

Alumni Profiles

Rollins alumni have helped EIS disease detectives solve innumerable outbreaks. Click on the profiles below to have a look at a few:
An Odessa man was arrested May 23 after allegedly sexually assaulting a child, according to an Odessa Police Department press release.

Leoncio Antonio Espinoza, 43, was arrested on a second-degree felony charge of sexual assault of a child.

An investigation revealed that the victim had been sexually assaulted by Espinoza for the past 10 years, according to the press release.

If convicted of the second-degree felony charge, Espinoza could face up to 20 years imprisonment.
Google Maps

One person was shot and another stabbed in southwest Houston Monday afternoon, according to police.

Officers rushed to the 8800 block of South Braeswood around 3:30 p.m. for a reported assault.
A federal judge Tuesday denied bail to a conspiracy theorist who claims the November mass shooting in which 26 people were killed at First Baptist Church of Sutherland Springs never took place.

During a hearing Tuesday, testimony that agents found 10 guns and nearly 1,000 rounds of ammo at the Lockhart home of Robert Mikell Ussery after his arrest on May 23 helped sway U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Bemporad to deny Ussery release on bail. The judge agreed with federal prosecutors that Ussery may be a danger to the community.

Ussery, 54, who refers to himself as Side Thorn Journalist, and his girlfriend, Jodi Mann, known as Conspiracy Granny, were initially arrested March 5 on state charges of resisting arrest, trespassing and other counts after allegedly walking onto the churchs lawn and confronting Pastor Frank Pomeroy, whose daughter was among those killed by a gunman.

Special agent Kaitlyn OConnell with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said the feds were called in by Texas Rangers after the incident.

He was talking about the mass shooting, OConnell said. He was saying it didnt actually happen and that it was a hoax.

The agent also said Ussery used profanity, and told Pomeroy that the people would hang him and that (Ussery) would (urinate) on him.

Though the pair made bail on the state charges, the matter resulted in a restraining order being issued against them, according to testimony and court records.

During the incident, the pair had Go-Pro video recording equipment that recorded the encounter. That helped agents develop a federal case against him. When ATF agents reviewed the video, it showed Ussery handled a gun by the pickup the pair were in, placed it under a mat in the truck and told Mann that if theres a question about the gun by police, Mann should claim ownership, OConnell testified.

Ussery was convicted of felony burglary of a vehicle in 1984 in Brazoria County and is barred by federal law from possessing a gun.

Some time after the church confrontation, Ussery went to the FBI to claim he was getting death threats.

Last week, authorities from Caldwell County called Ussery in to talk to him about the alleged death threats, but it was part of an operation to get him away from his home to serve a search warrant at his home and arrest him on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm, OConnell testified.

OConnell said agents found 10 guns on the property, including a .50-caliber rifle, two assault-style rifles, two shotguns and nearly 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

Guillermo Contreras is a San Antonio Express-News staff writer. Read more of his stories here. | gcontreras@express-news.net | @gmaninfedland
Several residents of Schertz and Cibolo discovered flyers from the neo-Nazi group Blood and Soil tossed in their front yards on Monday.

The flyers, which have a heading of "Keep America American," urge residents to report undocumented immigrants to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were sealed in plastic baggies and weighed down with small stones and at the bottom of the flyers is a phone number for ICE and the URL for Blood and Soil's website.

"Blood and soil" was a key Nazi slogan expressing desire for a racially pure, Aryan homeland. The Blood and Soil movement in the U.S. has consisted mainly of masked men posting their flyers on university campuses in the middle of the night.

RELATED: Texas State officials investigating after flyers promoting white supremacy found on campus

Tannya Lee, 44, who discovered one of the flyers outside of her home in the Heights of Cibolo neighborhood, said nothing so openly racist has happened in her community, which she described as diverse and open.

Lee said several people in her neighborhood found the flyers, and many others posted about it in a Facebook group for residents of Schertz and Cibolo.

"Most people were pretty upset and aggravated," she said. "It's been a mixed response, but the majority were pretty appalled, especially when they discovered the group (Blood and Soil) is a neo-Nazi group."

She said she was personally offended by the flyers because her mother is Mexican, and she has several other family members who had to work for years to become legal citizens. She knows many others who had to flee from Mexico or face starvation or violence related to the drug trade.

"It's just a very sad situation because they know they're not wanted, and they're hated, but they have to come because they'll either starve or be in danger," she said.

Flyers and banners promoting white suppremacy, including several from the same group, were also found on the Texas State University campus in San Marcos multiple times last fall. The university denounced the messages and police ultimately gave criminal trespass warnings to five men authorities said were responsible.

RELATED: Texas State University police catch culprits reportedly responsible for white supremacist banners

Cibolo City Manager Robert Herrera said city officials were "saddened to see the racist flyers thrown on some of the lawns of residents."

"Cibolo is a diverse town that is one of the safest cities in the area. We want all of our families to feel safe, and encourage reporting this type of propaganda to the Cibolo Police Department. We will continue to track and find the organization members who are spreading this hateful message," he said.

Lee said the other residents of her neighborhood plan to keep an eye out for any other flyer distributors.

"If you're going to put something in my yard, I think you should be able to be open about it, put your name behind it," she said. "If you're doing it in a hidden way, it's because you know there's something wrong with it."

Text "NEWS" to 77453 for breaking news alerts from mySA.com

Caleb Downs is a crime reporter for mySA.com. Read more of his stories here.| cdowns@mysa.com | Twitter: @calebjdowns
A California man was shot in the knee Monday evening at a convenience store on the near East Side, police said.

The victim was a guest at the Holiday Inn Express in the 1300 block of East Commerce Street, just east of St. Paul Square, and had walked to a nearby convenience store around 10:20 p.m.
SWAT negotiators persuaded a man threatening to kill himself in the parking lot of a San Antonio Walgreens to drop his weapon and turn himself over to authorities.

Police said the man's girlfriend broke up with him Monday evening in the parking lot of the Walgreens at Interstate 35 and O'Connor Road. She ran into the store, and he left the parking lot, firing a single gunshot into the air as he did so, authorities said.
Story Highlights 63% of Republicans say moral leadership is very important

Down from 86% under Clinton

59% of U.S. adults say Trump provides weak moral leadership

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Republicans are much less likely now than they were during the Bill Clinton years to say it is very important for the president to provide moral leadership for the U.S. Democrats, on the other hand, are more likely to believe moral leadership is important now, with Donald Trump in office, than they were under Clinton.

Importance of President Providing Moral Leadership for the Country, by Political Party, During the Clinton and Trump Administrations How important do you think it is for the president to provide moral leadership for the country -- very important, somewhat important, only slightly important or not at all important? Clinton administration ( 1994-1999 ) Trump administration (2018) Change % % pct. pts. U.S. adults 72 66 -6 Republicans 86 63 -23 Independents 69 62 -7 Democrats 64 77 +13 Figures are the percentage who say it is "very important." Clinton data based on an average of four polls conducted between 1994 and 1999. Trump data based on May 1-10, 2018, poll. Gallup

Across four polls conducted during the Clinton administration, an average of 72% of U.S. adults said it was very important for the president to provide moral leadership for the country. A May 1-10 update of the question finds 66% of Americans holding that view.

The modest change at the national level obscures more significant shifts among partisans -- a 23-percentage-point decline among Republicans and a 13-point increase among Democrats.

Both Clinton, a Democrat, and Trump, a Republican, faced substantial controversy during their presidential campaigns, and it followed them after they were elected president. It appears that some partisans may discount the importance of the president providing moral leadership when a sitting president from their own party is under scrutiny. At the same time, some supporters of the opposition party may magnify the importance of moral leadership when this is a weak area for the incumbent.

This turning of the tables is evident in the flip in Republican and Democratic views about the importance of the president providing a good moral role model between the Clinton and Trump eras. Republicans, by 22 points, were much more likely than Democrats to say it was very important for the president to be a moral leader when Clinton was in office. Now with Trump in office, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to hold this view, by 14 points.

Independents are slightly less likely now (62%) than during the Clinton years (69%) to regard presidential leadership on morals as important.

##SPEEDBUMP##

Americans Say Trump Provides Weak Moral Leadership

By 59% to 40%, Americans believe Trump provides weak rather than strong moral leadership. Republicans and Democrats diverge greatly on this question, with 77% of Republicans believing Trump provides strong moral leadership and 91% of Democrats saying he provides weak leadership. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats believe his moral leadership is "very weak." Independents are much more negative than positive about Trump's leadership on morals.

Overall, what kind of moral leadership do you think Donald Trump provides as president -- [ROTATED: very strong, somewhat strong, somewhat weak (or) very weak]? Very strong Somewhat strong Somewhat weak Very weak Total strong Total weak % % % % % % U.S. adults 11 29 18 41 40 59 Republicans 22 55 14 8 77 22 Independents 9 29 24 36 38 60 Democrats 2 6 13 78 8 91 May 1-10, 2018 Gallup

The partisan difference could result from Democrats being convinced that any questions about Trump's moral character are true, while Republicans would tend to be more skeptical. To the extent that people's conceptions of a president's moral leadership are related to his policy positions, Republicans would likely be satisfied with Trump's positions on such ethics-related issues as abortion, immigration and the environment, while Democrats would find his views and actions on these highly objectionable. It is also possible partisans may just more superficially respond positively to any question about a president of their own party and negatively to a question about a president of the opposing party.

Gallup asked U.S. adults to assess Bill Clinton's moral leadership twice during his presidency, and the results varied. In 1996, more Americans regarded his leadership in this area as strong (53%) rather than weak (45%). Two years later, when Clinton's affair with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky was the focus of a federal investigation, 30% said the president provided strong moral leadership and 68% weak leadership.

Democrats' opinions about Clinton's moral leadership in 1996 were similar to Republicans' views of Trump today. Seventy-eight percent of Democrats thought Clinton was a strong moral leader in 1996, while Republicans and independents were more likely to regard him as weak.

After the Lewinsky scandal, all party groups' opinions of Clinton worsened, including a 32-point drop in the percentage of Democrats regarding him as a strong moral leader.

Overall, what kind of moral leadership do you think Bill Clinton provides as president -- [ROTATED: very strong, somewhat strong, somewhat weak (or) very weak]? Very strong Somewhat strong Somewhat weak Very weak Total strong Total weak % % % % % % 1996 May 9-12 U.S. adults 11 42 27 18 53 45 Republicans 4 25 31 39 29 70 Independents 6 40 34 16 46 50 Democrats 22 56 17 4 78 21 1998 Sep 14-15 U.S. adults 10 20 23 45 30 68 Republicans 4 9 13 72 13 85 Independents 8 23 24 43 31 67 Democrats 19 27 30 22 46 52 Gallup

Gallup has asked this moral leadership question only during the Clinton and Trump administrations, as it was less of an issue for presidents whose administrations were far less consumed by scandal.

Implications

On the whole, Americans believe the president should provide moral leadership for the country. However, Republicans' and Democrats' commitment wavers when moral leadership is a point of concern for their own party's president.

Arguably, Trump and Clinton have had more character concerns than other recent presidents, but their political allies stood by them. Doing so may have forced their supporters to minimize the importance of having a president who is a strong moral leader. At the same time, those who opposed the president may have played up the importance of that presidential responsibility.

Partisans also find ways to regard scandal-plagued presidents as exhibiting strong moral leadership, either because they discount the moral charges against them or because they focus more on the president's issue positions.

These findings underscore the degree to which partisanship colors views of the president, but also how extensively opinions on seemingly normative questions are subject to change, depending on the prevailing political conditions.
AUSTIN -- "Liberal Lupe" could have been "Whiplash White."

Internal campaign documents from Gov. Greg Abbott's campaign reveal plans to tag Houston entrepreneur Andrew White as "Whiplash White" had he won the Democratic primary runoff a week ago. Apparently denigrating nicknames are all the rage.

The attack campaign was to have featured a website and press releases, much like the one against Valdez that Team Abbott went live with weeks before the runoff, when it appeared she could emerge the Democratic Party nominee.

"Too liberal for Texas" was the tagline for their blast against Valdez, the former Dallas County sheriff who won last Tuesday by a five percent margin -- a much-thinner margin of victory than expected. Valdez won the primary by about 16 points.

Had White pulled off a surprise victory, records obtained by the Houston Chronicle show Abbott's campaign against him would have blasted him for flip-flopping on being pro-choice (his political position) and pro-life (his personal stance).

Ditto for gay marriage, which he publicly supported even though he was an elder of a conservative Presbyterian church that was dead-set against homosexuality and gay marriage. He resigned as an elder after a controversy.

On border security, the Abbott campaign planned to blast White for owning a company that sells border-security gear -- a tie that he at first defended and later promised to sell the firm if he survived the runoff.

"Andy White is giving the voters of Texas collective whiplash as he continues his campaign," a never-issued press release stated.

"In his effort to defeat Lupe Valdez in the primary, Andy moved as far to the left as possible, contradicting his previous positions. Our campaign can't wait to see which position he will flip-flop on tomorrow, giving the voters of Texas even more whiplash."

The Abbott campaign declined to comment on the never-launched strategy, which Abbott insiders privately confirmed.

White chuckled when told of the campaign.

"Kind of creative but not accurate," he said. "My personal positions on those issues never changed. I'm not surprised. Anything that's low and avoids the real issues that face Texas, that's what the Abbott campaign does."

Besides, with Abbott's $41 million campaign war chest, he has enough cash to gin up attack campaigns that never see the light of day.
MEXICO CITY (AP)  Mexican authorities have arrested the wife of the leader of Jalisco New Generation, one of the country's fiercest drug cartels, as well as a top lieutenant for the organization, setting the western state of Jalisco on high-alert for possible reprisals.

Interior Minister Alfonso Navarrete said at a Sunday press conference that marines took into custody Rosalinda Gonzalez Valencia, the wife of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as "El Mencho," the night before in the city of Zapopan. Gonzalez is accused of managing the cartel's finances.

RELATED: 18 facts about the Jalisco New Generation Cartel

At the same location, the marines also captured Gerardo Botello Rosales, aka "El Cachas," who is believed to run the cartel's operations in the states of Guanajuato and Michoacan. Botello is accused of homicide, kidnapping and extortion. He has an outstanding order for extradition from the state of Oregon for a 2002 homicide, Navarrete said.

Saturday's arrests are part of the "siege" on El Mencho, said Alejandro Hope, a Mexican security expert. "They have been hunting him with greater intensity since the end of last year."

Navarrete declined to speculate on whether government agents were close to detaining the cartel leader. But he said he hopes to soon have news.

"I once heard that they arrived at a place and that he had just left because the coffee was still steaming," said Navarrete.

Jalisco New Generation has a reputation for battling with government agents. Navarrete said he anticipates a "violent reaction" from the cartel, adding that government officials have taken precautions to prevent or respond to possible aggressions.

RELATED: Mexican authorities capture top Gulf Cartel leader

The cartel brazenly shot down a Mexican military helicopter with a rocket launcher in 2015, prompting Mexican officials to declare an all-out offensive against the criminal group. Tensions spiked again this past February, after the cartel allegedly abducted and murdered two federal agents in the Pacific state of Nayarit.

Jalisco state Gov. Aristoteles Sandoval said earlier Sunday that the state is "calm" amid stepped-up security.

Jalisco New Generation is believed to primarily traffic methamphetamine while also selling cocaine, heroin and marijuana. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said in its October 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment report that the organization has distribution hubs for illicit substances in Los Angeles, New York and Atlanta.
For Latinos trying to survive the Age of Trump with their dignity intact, the hate just keeps on coming.

Americans cant make up their minds whether they want to appropriate Latino culture or stamp it out altogether. One minute, everyone in the country is going loco for Latinos; the next, theyve just gone plum loco.

Its time to take inventory. I dont want to keep you here you all week, so lets only focus on 10 incidents from the past several months.

Columnist Ann Coulter told radio host Lars Larson that putting the National Guard on the U.S.-Mexico border wont be enough to stop immigrants from crossing it unless theyre going to shoot one and send a message to the rest. Message received: Coulter is a ghoul.

Bragging about his deportation record, President Donald Trump told a delegation of California officials: Were taking people out of the country. You wouldnt believe how bad these people are. These arent people. These are animals. The next day, Trump claimed he was referring only to MS-13 gang members.

White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said that undocumented immigrants from Latin America do not assimilate very well because they are often poorly educated and overwhelmingly rural people who dont have skills. Of course, much the same thing was said about Kellys Irish ancestors.

Fox News contributor Tomi Lahren came to Kellys defense and insisted that welcoming immigrants with low skills and low education who speak foreign languages is not what this country is based on. Quite right. Its more accurate to say that low-skilled immigration is what this country was built on.

In Havre, Montana, at a gas station near the U.S.-Canada border, two women were singled out and questioned by a Border Patrol officer who suspected they were undocumented immigrants. The probable cause? The women were speaking Spanish. Both are U.S. citizens. So linguistic profiling is a thing now?

At a Starbucks in Southern California, a young man ordered a white mocha and an iced caramel macchiato. The word Beaner, a racial slur for Latinos, was on the labels attached to his drinks. Starbucks apologized and said it is investigating the incident. The company has a Venti-sized image problem.

An angry white lawyer named Aaron Schlossberg was caught on video berating two women for the sin of speaking Spanish at a New York deli. He threatened to call Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He later apologized and claimed that he is not racist. Sure. He just plays one in videos.

An Albertsons grocery store in San Diego ran afoul of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after allegedly subjecting Latino employees to a hostile work environment. What caused the hostility? The employees were speaking Spanish. The company said in a statement that it has no set language policy. Remember when being bilingual was an asset?

Fox News host Tucker Carlson invited Cesar Vargas  an undocumented immigrant and lawyer  onto his show and bullied him. Carlson told Vargas  who wants to become a U.S. citizen  Im an American and youre not. I dont think you should become a citizen. Could we take a vote on whether ugly Americans should be able to keep their U.S. citizenship?

In Georgia, Republican gubernatorial candidates targeted Mexican immigrants. State Sen. Michael Williams campaigned in a deportation bus adorned with a message: Danger! Murderers, rapists, kidnappers, child molesters, and other criminals on board.

Another candidate, Secretary of State Brian Kemp, has bragged he owns a big truck just in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take em home myself. Georgia is famous for its peaches, but these jokers seem like lemons.

What in the world is going on? If this keeps up, Latinos in the United States are going to get our feelings hurt. We might even conclude that  even with all the Help Wanted signs  you dont want us around. Someone may have to leave.

Were not leaving. No way, Jose. The people who should skedaddle are the ones with the problem. You have the problem. So what else can we say  except adios.

ruben@rubennavarrette.com
The number of tragedies taking place around the world  including in Texas and in San Antonio  continue to unfold at an alarming rate daily. Their political, personal and emotional fallout is crushing. The lives of those directly affected will never be the same.

For those of us who open our hearts to their grief  well, we are affected in many ways, too. How can we talk about these unspeakable acts perpetrated by humans on humans in a meaningful way? Is it possible to talk about these issues without mentioning blame, criminality and morality? What other way is there to talk about murderers, adulterers, pedophiles, embezzlers and criminals?

In June 2017, San Antonio became a Compassionate City by signing a Charter for Compassion.

In most cases, we choose from the news media the guidelines that will frame our social discourse. Complex stories are simplified for us in their telling; facts and context are arranged in an appealing manner. We choose how we feel about reality as a result.

We take sides, and become judge and jury. Apart from the perpetrator and their actions, what we say about what we think or feel can take on a weight and a purpose that can be supportive or divisive. This awareness enables us to choose to contribute constructively or negatively to the general discussion and atmosphere surrounding the events.

We can be part of a solution or, unwittingly, add to the problem.

Responding with compassion to wrongdoers is such an extreme act, surpassing forgiveness in its unreasonableness. While not dismissing wrongdoers heinous acts, absolving them of their responsibility or marginalizing their victims, can we afford to eliminate compassion from an informed reaction to victim and perpetrator alike?

Being angry and wanting revenge for victims is our default mode, but this is far less than what we are capable of as thinking, feeling human beings. We can bring more to the discussion than right and wrong, black and white, an eye for an eye.

Compassion is as radical a choice now, as it has always been, because like forgiveness, it requires tolerance of cognitive dissonance, a state of internal conflict caused when our attitudes diverge from our beliefs.

Our fear that acts of wrongdoing could happen to us, our loved ones or any other human is what makes invective rhetoric seemingly fitting and effective but inadequate when it comes to the profound reasoning we are capable of.

When so challenged, can we respond in terms that prioritize kindness, consideration or thoughtfulness? Can we take a step back, reflect and then put forward the better version of ourselves?

Under many circumstances this is not likely to happen, but we must know that this is an option, that there are other ways than what has become commonplace. Strength is rarely associated with thoughtfulness, compassion or love, but these are the qualities that make us human and can make our contributions to public debate truly compelling.

Do we want to let go of those parts of ourselves? Blame, acrimony, vengeance are part of us, too, but they need not dictate how we treat one another. Justice is not arrived at by public bullying. Acting and reacting have become privileged over reflecting and responding thoughtfully.

About that Charter for Compassion.

Is a community that extends compassion to some and not all truly compassionate? If we want our social discourse to be fair and meaningful, then we have to think in humane terms about both victims and their abusers.

There is no positive evolution in meanness. San Antonio is not going to be a better city because intolerance is normalized in our personal lives, political policies or social interaction any more so than violence.

Treating others as we want to be treated means all others.

We can do this. We need to do this.

Claudia Ladensohn of San Antonio is a former chairperson of the Texas Commission on the Arts.
The nation has before it what was once unthinkable coming from a post-Nixon president: the attempt to criminalize or otherwise punish political opposition or squelch necessary investigation.

President Donald Trump had flirted with this through his calls for the Justice Department to essentially reopen the email case against Democratic presidential opponent Hillary Clinton. Also, by his constant denigration of the Justice Department  including its attorney general and deputy  and the FBI investigators looking into possible collusion with Russian and obstruction of justice. This all represents undue pressure on what is supposed to be an independent law enforcement agency.

But he crossed the line recently when he demanded the department investigate the folks investigating him; he alleges they planted a spy in his campaign to frame him for collusion with Russia.

This actively threatens the investigative autonomy of the Justice Department merely to further a presidents political interests  in this case, political survival and, perhaps, evading prosecution or impeachment. Sadly, the department has partly acquiesced.

And this threat is only underscored by a presidential order for the Justice Department to brief the House Intelligence Committee on this spying. This occurred Friday and apparently amounted to nothing noteworthy to report. But this coerced briefing was in and of itself an assault on both the agencys independence and its need for confidentiality.

We already knew there was no insertion of a spy, only true investigative craft. There were, first, warnings to the Trump campaign that Russia was poised to attempt to influence it; second, there were actual attempts  active contacts, on top of a robust Russian fake news misinformation push  and then there was use of an informant to determine what campaign aides said and did.

To not have taken this last step would have been a dereliction of duty by the FBI. Its called investigation.

And if the purpose of this spy insertion was to derail the Trump campaign, the FBI had a funny way of accomplishing this. There was FBI silence on disturbing items already known about Russia and the Trump campaign during the presidential election, but pretty much a public shaming of Clinton for her email actions  while clearing her  and then prematurely reopening only to suddenly close the investigation days before the election.

This may have helped torpedo a campaign, but it wasnt Trumps.

But the real importance of this latest demand of Justice that it investigate whether the Trump campaign was spied upon is that it unhinges the presidency from what had been a norm  the prohibition for the nations chief executive to direct individual Justice Department investigations.

This undermines prosecutorial independence. The only question is whether Trump is doing this to discredit an investigation that appears to be closing in on him on a number of fronts, or as pretext for firing Rod Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general who, after Attorney General Jeff Sessions recusal, is overseeing special counsel Robert Muellers investigation. Trump would presumably try this if he ordered Rosenstein to fire Mueller and the deputy refused.

Such a firing would set up an entirely different constitutional crisis, on par with President Richard Nixons Saturday Night Massacre in which he forced Justice Department resignations to force the firing of the special prosecutor looking into the Watergate scandal. That path led to a threat of impeachment, which Nixon headed off by resigning the presidency.

We wonder if there is any such backbone today in opposing a president who undermines U.S. institutions.

Rosenstein has met this latest Trump demand with a deferral  asking the inspector general looking into the FBI investigation to look at this also. While not the full investigation Trump asked for, it is nonetheless a dangerous bowing to an improper demand, a precedent that threatens Justice Department independence. It only encourages Trump to up his demands.

Meanwhile, GOP members of the House Intelligence Committee and other congressional leadership continue to enable the president in this or look away as if nothing is happening.

The nation is on treacherous constitutional footing at the moment. As a result, its clear that a culmination of Muellers investigation would be better happening sooner rather than later. We urge that this happen has soon as is practically possible.

Meanwhile, all Trump requires here to avoid accountability is for good people to remain accommodating or silent. And, sadly, that appears to be precisely what is happening.
The South may just rise again.

The nation's fastest-growing cities are mostly far from the ultrapricey tech hubs on the West Coast and the soaring skyscrapers on the East Coast, according to a recently released U.S. Census Bureau report. Instead, about more than half of the 15 cities that saw the biggest population booms were in the South, in areas where unemployment is generally low and companies are hiring.

That means home prices are rising in those cities as longtime and new residents compete for a limited number of homes for sale.

"Increases in population definitely drive demand for the housing market," says Chief Economist Danielle Hale of realtor.com. "Sellers can expect that if they price a home well and it's in good condition [they may] see maybe even multiple offers come in. Buyers in these areas can expect that they need to make a quick decision if they want to nab a home."

Remember the Alamo? Yep, that's San Antonio, site of the ill-fated battle between Texan independence fighters and Mexican troops in 1836. These days, the Texan city about an hour and a half southwest of Austin and three hours west of Houston is rallying residents for a different reason. It saw an influx of more than 24,200 new residents from July 1, 2016, to July 1, 2017, according to the report. That was the most of any U.S. metroand it was already the country's seventh most populous city.

"Our cost of living is much more reasonable than most places," says local real estate agent Scott Jauregui, of Keller Williams Realty. About a third of his buyers are from out of town, particularly California and Florida, as well as flood victims from Houston.

The military town, home to the Air Force's Joint Base San Antonio and USAA, a financial services firm formed to serve the military community, is also seeing more tech companies opening up shop. And that means plenty of good-paying jobs luring residents in.

To meet that demand, builders are putting up scores of single-family homes in several large, master-planned communities on the west side of the city. And move-in ready, three-bed, two-bath abodes priced under $250,000 are going off the market in a matter of days, Jauregui says. Many are located in suburban-style neighborhoods within the city limits.

"San Antonio is such a diverse city, and it has something for everyone," he says.

Phoenix saw the second most growth, at just over 24,000 new residentsand the housing market is feeling the impact.

"Supply is at record lows, and prices continue to climb," says Tucker Blalock, an associate broker at The Brokery, in Phoenix. Many of his clients are coming into the area from California, and still see the Phoenix housing market as filled with bargains.

"Even as prices increase, they perceive the market as still having tremendous value compared to where they are coming from," Blalock says.

15 of the fastest-growing cities

1. San Antonio, TX

2. Phoenix, AZ

3. Dallas, TX

4. Fort Worth, TX

5. Los Angeles, CA

6. Seattle, WA

7. Charlotte, NC

8. Columbus, OH

9. Frisco, TX

10. Atlanta, GA

11. San Diego, CA

12. Austin, TX

13. Jacksonville, FL

14. Irvine, CA

15. Henderson, NV

The post The Fastest-Growing U.S. Cities Aren't Where You'd Expectand Home Prices Are Rising in Them appeared first on Real Estate News & Insights | realtor.com.
Former president Robert Mugabe has accused his successor Emmerson Mnangagwas government of allegedly spying on him and sabotaging his business interests, in the latest sign of a widening rift between the one-time close associates.

Mugabe poured his heart out to his friend President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, who jetted into the country on Thursday to try and reconcile the 94-year-old politician with Mnangagwa.

The two met for three hours at Mugabes Blue Roof mansion in Harare where on Friday the former president also disclosed that he was increasingly feeling unsafe in Zimbabwe.

The old man told president Nguema that EDs administration was harassing his family and at some point he regretted the good things he had done for the current leaders, a reliable source disclosed yesterday.

He spoke of how he shaped Mnangagwa and (vice- president Constantino) Chiwengas careers by helping them against all odds.

He narrated the source of the problems and what he thinks should be done to restore the relationship.

He spoke of how the military and other spy agencies were busy spying on his family, those who work for him being subjected to questioning again and again and to some extent his freedom being curtailed.

Even as he complained, Mugabe, the source said, showed willingness to engage Mnangagwa

He complained that the military was harassing his people and he was unsure of what would become of his family if he was to die today.

The purpose of the meeting was for Nguema to get an understanding of how his friend was coping and if he had challenges.

The old man did not hide his frustration with the ED regime and what he had hoped would happen.

He said the regime was blaming every bad thing on him as if he was running the country alone.

He said the current regime blames him for the economic crisis yet Mnangagwa and Chiwenga were his strong pillars who implemented most government programmes.

After the outpouring of emotions, sources said Nguema offered Mugabe refuge if he felt he was not welcome in Zimbabwe.

Mugabe reportedly responded by saying this is my home, I will die here. I will visit you as and when I want to but I will never abandon my people.

He was told that he should make amends with the current regime and stop working with the opposition as this was destroying his legacy.

He was also told that Nguema would raise his complaints with Mnangagwa but most importantly, he must not fight them as this would affect his family interests.

Nguema, the sources said, also narrated how he survived an attempted coup during the same time Mugabe was toppled.

He reportedly said: you must be thankful my brother that these people left you alive and you are still at your home.

President Nguema said there seemed to be some capitalists who were funding illegal removal of sitting presidents for their benefit.

During his 94th birthday celebrations in February, Mugabe complained that he was being mistreated by the new government and said he felt betrayed by Mnangagwa.

Nguema was in Zimbabwe on a two-day state visit, which saw him hold talks with Mnangagwa, but sources said the main reason he was in the country was to encourage Mugabe to make peace with the new administration.

Meanwhile, Mnangagwa yesterday told a memorial service at his farm in Masvingo that he was a god of peace who came after a god of war in a subtle dig at Mugabe. He also said no one gave him a chance to get the presidency after he was fired by Mugabe last year.

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EQUATORIAL Guinea President and close friend to former President Robert Mugabe reportedly told the ousted leader to count his blessings for having his life spared during the November coup that saw the last of the veteran leaders 37 year rule.

This is according to a local weekly which quoted sources privy to Mugabes meeting with President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo who flew into the country last week to meet his old friend.

Mugabe was ousted November last year when the military seized control of government and pressured him to resign.

When he resisted a voluntary exit, his military captors threatened to withdraw his security and allow protesting citizens angered by his dictatorial rule to come and yank him from his home with possible disastrous consequences.

But Nguema reportedly told his old friend he should instead be relieved his allies turned enemies did not entertain plans to lynch him during dramatic events of November.

He (Nguema) reportedly said: you (Mugabe) must be thankful my brother that these people left you alive and you are still at your home.

Nguema, a former military lieutenant, knew exactly what he was talking about, having ascended to his job after overthrowing his own uncle August 1979 in a bloody coup, immediately placing him on trial for genocide and executing him by firing squad a month later.

During their meeting at the Blue Roof, Mugabes private home, the ex-Zimbabwean leader reportedly expressed his frustrations with the Emmerson Mnangagwa regime for allegedly ill-treating him but rejected an offer by Nguema to grant him exile if he felt he was not welcome in Zimbabwe.

The Equatorial Guinea leader is further said to have pleaded with his 94 year-old friend to abandon his support of the opposition for fear of stretching the patience of the new government that has been honourable enough to grant him his freedom in the wake of his ouster.

He was told that he should make amends with the current regime and stop working with the opposition as this was destroying his legacy.

He was also told that Nguema would raise his complaints with Mnangagwa but most importantly, he must not fight them as this would affect his family interests.

Mugabe has endorsed the newly formed National Patriotic Front which comprises his axed Zanu PF followers and is seen as an attempt to divide the ruling partys support in elections due this July.

Mnangagwa on Saturday told a memorial service at his farm in Masvingo that he harboured no ill feelings against those who abused and humiliated him when he was still Vice President.

Nguema remains one of Africas strongmen having now led the oil producing country for nearly 39 years while surviving some coup attempts one of which was stifled by Mugabe back in 2005.

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- Nigerians have been urged by Governor Abubakar Bello to give President Buhari a second chance

- He declared his support for Buhari's re-election bid, describing it as encouraging and soul lifting

- According to him, a political strategy to lead a successful campaign for the President to get re-elected has already been set in motion

Niger state governor, Abubakar Bello, on Monday, May 28, enumerated reasons Nigerians should cast their votes for President Muhammadu Buhari come 2019.

Bello, who made the remark while speaking with newsmen in Minna, said President Muhammadu Buharis decision to seek a re-election was a welcome development. According to him, the decision of President Buhari to seek for re-election in 2019 is to lay concrete foundation for the political growth of the country, NAN reports.

I appeal to Nigerians to appreciate the presidents declaration of intent to run again; strong in our conviction that he will continue to run an open and transparent government if given a second chance.

We owe ourselves the duty to ensure that President Buhari continues beyond 2019 so that he could consolidate on the tremendous achievements so far recorded, he said.

READ ALSO: Goodluck Jonathan's Democracy day message to Nigerians

He said that Buhari remains a stabilising factor in strengthening the nations hard-earned unity.

I am in full support and throw my weight behind the idea of President Muhammadu Buhari seeking a second tenure in 2019. It is encouraging and soul lifting. We have already set in motion a political strategy to lead a successful campaign for the President to get re-elected, he said.

Bello explained that President Buharis efforts to diversify the economy yielded fruits in many folds, making agriculture to take the drivers seat and offering employment opportunities to millions of hitherto deprived Nigerians.

"Mr Presidents zeal in fighting corruption with emphasis on loot and assets recovery is the best thing that had happened to our country. Stolen monies, where they were stashed abroad, were being recovered.

The ongoing fight against insurgency, militancy, cattle rustling and armed bandits is paying result," he said.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Bello called on eligible Nigerians who had not register to take the advantage of the ongoing continuous voters registration exercise to do so. He said that it was only by so doing that the partys candidates seeking elective positions could emerge victorious.

He also called on leaders of political parties to preach peace and be tolerant to ensure peaceful conduct of the elections.

Recall that on Monday, April 9, President Buhari had announced that he would seek re-election in the 2019 presidential election. The president made the announcement during the National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

According to him, he was responding to the clamour by Nigerians to re-contest in 2019.

Following his announcement, some Nigerians took to social media in support of the president's decisions while others criticised him, noting that he had earlier said he wasn't going to run for a second term.

President Buhari's Return Will Teach Nigerians Sense on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit
- Atiku Abubakar has called on the federal government to address the insecurity in the country

- The former VP said the FG must put an end to its blame game

- According to Atiku, the history of conflict affected countries like Somalia, Rwanda should serve as a warning to all Nigerian leaders

A former vice president of Nigeria, Atiku Abubakar has urged the federal government to focus on tackling insecurity ravaging the country.

Atiku in his Democracy Day message said the federal government must end its blame game and fight insecurity.

In a statement, personally signed by Atiku on Tuesday, May 29, the 2019 presidential aspirant said Nigeria's current challenges required new thinking and strategies which should take into account the sacrifices made by democrats who fought hard to enthrone democracy.

READ ALSO: He can even change our names to anything he wants - Senate, Reps react as Jega accuses NASS of corruption

Atiku said: Even as we celebrate, my fellow patriots, let us spare some time to reflect and to mourn all those murdered in the ongoing needless killings across our dear country."

These Nigerians have been killed in the continuing murderous rampage of criminal elements across the country but especially in Borno and Yobe, and the Benue River Valley, stretching from Adamawa through Taraba to the confluence of Kogi and Benue, and including Nasarawa, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, and Zamfara.

Others have been killed by armed robbers, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and other marauding bandits. The killings have even extended to sacred places of worship where innocent Imams and Christian clergy and worshipers are slaughterred," Atiku said.

READ ALSO: Not Too Young to Run Bill and 6 major takeaway from Buhari's Democracy day speech

The recent history of Somalia, Rwanda, Burundi and the Central African Republic, among others, should be a strident warning to all of us, especially those in government whose primary responsibility is the protection of the citizens, but who have been dithering, making contradictory and ridiculous excuses and engaging in diversionary finger-pointing," he said.

PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android, read best news on Nigerias #1 news app

Meanwhile, Legit.ng previously reported that, President Muhammadu Buhari said that government is boosting the capacity of our security agencies through recruitment of more personnel, training and procurement of modern equipment.

The president made the statement while delivering his 2018 Democracy Day speech to Nigerian on Tuesday.

President Buhari also assured assured Nigerians that his administration will not rest until all criminals and their sponsors are brought to justice.

President Buhari's Return Will Teach Nigerians Sense on Legit.ng TV

Source: Legit.ng
Italian politics are messy even at the best of times. The battle over forming a government took a nasty turn. Well give a short overview and then make a few observations, in the hopes of eliciting informed reader input.

The right wing Lega Nord, or League party, which won in the wealthy north, was seeking to form a coalition with 5 Star, which led the polls in the South. One of the things they agreed on is opposition to the Eurozone, so that looked likely to feature even more prominently in any joint policies than it had in their respective campaigns.

The coalition had proposed seating Paolo Savona, a very vocal critic of the Eurozone, as finance minister. The president, Sergio Mattarella, nixed the appointment, which he has the power to do. The coalitions proposed prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, abandoned his efforts to form a government.

Mattarella has proposed that Carlo Cottarelli, a former IMF official, form what amounts to a caretaker government, with his key task to get a budget passed, which would have the convenient effect of calming down Mr. Market for a while. Italian bond spreads are at their highest premium to German bunds in four years.

However, Lega Nord and 5 Star supporters are not surprisingly up in arms, so the current conventional wisdom is that there will be snap elections in the fall instead.

Mattarella was seeking to appease the bond gods. From the Financial Times:

Mr Mattarella, who has the power to approve or block cabinet appointments, considered Mr Savona a threat to Italys position in the eurozone, at a time when Italian debt was already taking a big hit in the markets. The uncertainty over our position in the euro alarmed Italian and foreign investors who invested in shares and companies, Mr Mattarella said. The rise in the [bond] spread increases the debt and reduces the opportunity to spend on social measures. It burns companies resources and savings and foreshadows risks for families and Italian citizens.

Unfortunately, that didnt work as planned. Mr. Market at first liked the idea, with both the Euro and Italian bond prices rising, but then went into full reverse when they saw the severity of the political backlash.

Note that despite Savona, the proposed economics minister, having a fabulously acid tongue, he had said he would uphold Eurozone rules. So was the issue that Savona was seen as such a fierce opponent to the Euro that hes renege on his promise or that he could be still be plenty disruptive while not crossing any official lines?

The flip side, as Politco snarked in its daily e-mail:

All the fuss, remember, because the president of the Republic rejected one minister (and this is not the first time that has happened)  who seems to have been so crucial to the whole project that without him, its better not to govern at all.

Even though the caretaker Cottarelli does not on paper have the votes to secure a majority, its premature to rule that out. Remember there are other factors that come into play.like looking responsible, particularly when Italian banks are still mighty wobbly, and not wanting to have to campaign again, particularly for any representatives who won with less than comfortable majorities.

The right is the big winner in this upset.

Poll out tonight in Italy: M5S drops below 30%, Lega flying: 27.5%, Forza Italia continues its fall, everyone else flat pic.twitter.com/D7GiEwqJtE  Alberto Nardelli (@AlbertoNardelli) May 28, 2018

This is not a constitutional crisis. This is a very bitter, high stakes political crisis, but there are not yet any constitutional issues in play, despite 5 Star calling for Mattarella to be impeached.

The underlying issue is austerity and budget constraints. Italys economic distress comes from having its GDP contract over the last decade. It needs deficit spending. Eurozone budget rules severely constrain running fiscal deficits.

The worst is the Eurocrats should know better by now. Even the chief economist of the IMF, Olivier Blanchard, said his own data showed that for weak economies, fiscal multipliers were greater than one. That is economist-speak for deficit spending results in even greater economic growth, so that the end result is that debt to GDP ratios fall.

Similarly, Yanis Varoufakis proposed a finesse during the 2015 Greek debt negotiations, a European infrastructure bank. The reason for focusing on infrastructure is it provides for even more fiscal bang for the buck, potentially $3 of GDP growth for every dollar spent. However, colleagues who believe that the Eurozone needs to relax its budget rules said the infrastructure bank idea would run afoul of them as currently constituted. Predictably, Germany nixed the idea.

A fall vote as a de facto vote on the Eurozone.or not? The press has been quick to seize on the notion of an election in the autumn as a vote on the Euro. But it isnt so clear cut, and the two leading parties may not play that up as much as one might anticipate despite that being their biggest area of common ground.

Recall that in Greece, which has suffered far more under austerity that Italy has, in 2015, the Greeks wanted relief but did not want to leave the Eurozone. It was only some time after Syriza knuckled under to the Troika, that Greek votes turned against the Eurozone.

Italian polls show majority support for staying in the Euro. Like Greece, they want to remain but to have more room to spend. So making Eurozone exit, as opposed to Eurozone reform, the campaign pitch might backfire, and Lega Nord and 5 Star pols have to know that. So until we have the government fall and see how Lega Nord and 5 Star position themselves, its too early to say how the campaigns will address the Eurozone choke chain.

Financial time moves faster than political time and may affect outcomes. Italy has been in the throes of a slow-motion banking crisis since mid-2016. The fall in Italian bond prices will put weak institutions under even more pressure. From a Don Quijones post yesterday:

A recent study by the Bank for International Settlements shows Italian government debt represents nearly 20% of Italian banks assets  one of the highest levels in the world. In total there are ten banks with Italian sovereign-debt holdings that represent over 100% of their tier-1 capital (which is used to measure bank solvency), according to research by Eric Dor, the director of Economic Studies at IESEG School of Management. The list includes Italys two largest lenders, Unicredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, whose exposure to Italian government bonds represent the equivalent of 145% of their tier-1 capital. Also listed are Italys third largest bank, Banco BPM (327%), Monte dei Paschi di Siena (206%), BPER Banca (176%) and Banca Carige (151%). In other words, despite years of the ECBs multi-trillion euro QE program, which is scheduled to come to an end soon, the so-called Doom Loop is still very much alive and kicking in Italy. The doom loop is when weakening government bonds threaten to topple the banks that own the bonds, and in turn, the banks start offloading them, which causes these bonds to fall further, thus pushing the government to the brink.

Quijones pointed out that French and Spanish banks are big holders of Italian debt too. So too much Italian political stress could morph into financial freakout. Contagion, anyone?

I suspect it did not go unnoticed that European officials were just about as unhelpful as they possibly could be when Italy was pressing for a waiver from its budget rules so it could rescue its banks. In other words, well see soon enough how committed the upstart parties are to their principles when following through with them could produce a banking crisis.
By Irina Slav, a writer for the U.S.-based Divergente LLC consulting firm with over a decade of experience writing on the oil and gas industry. Originally published at OilPrice

I personally think none of us will be able to get around it, Vitols chief executive Ian Taylor said last week, commenting on the effects that renewed U.S. sanctions against Iran will have on the oil industry.

The sanctions, to go into effect later in the year, have already started to bite. French Total, for one, announced earlier this month it will suspend all work on the South Pars gas field unless it receives a waiver from the U.S. Treasury Departmentsomething rather unlikely to happen. The French company has a lot of business in the United States and cannot afford to lose its access to the U.S. financial system. So, unless the EU strikes back at Washington and somehow manages to snag a waiver for its largest oil company, Total will be pulling out of Iran.

Other supermajors have not dared enter the country, so there will be no other pullouts of producers, but related industries will be affected, too, in the absence of a strong EU reaction to the sanctions. For example, Boeing and Airbus will both have their licenses for doing business in Iran revoked, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said, which will cost them some US$40 billionthe combined value of contracts that the two aircraft makers had won in Iran.

Tanker owners are also taking the cautious approach. They are watching the situation closely, anticipating Europes move, but acknowledging that the reinstatement could have significant ramifications for the maritime transport industry, as per the International Group of PI & Clubs, which insures 90 percent of the global tanker fleet.

Everyone is waiting for Europe to make its move even as European companies in Iran are beginning to prepare their exit from the country. Everyone remembers the previous sanctions, apparently, and they dont want to be caught off guard. But the signals from Europe are for now positive for these companies, of which there are more than a hundred.

Earlier this month, an adviser to French President Emmanuel Macron saidthat Europes response to the thread of U.S. sanctions on Iran will be an important test of sovereignty. Indeed, unlike the last time there were sanctions against Iran, the European Union did all it could to save the nuclear deal and has signaled it will continue to uphold it.

While some doubt there is a lot the EU can do against U.S. sanctions, there is one 1996 law dubbed a blocking statute that will ban European companies from complying with U.S. sanctions, which would put companies such as Total between a rock and a hard place.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said two weeks ago the commission will amend the statute to include the U.S. sanctions again Iran and that the amendments should be completed before the first round of sanctions kicks in in early August.

Many observers believe that if the sanctions are only limited to the U.S. and no other signatory to the nuclear deal joins them, the effect will be limited as well. As McKinsey analyst Elif Kutsal told Rigzone, Market fundamentals are not expected to change structurally given that Iran doesnt export crude oil or refined products to the U.S. and exports go mainly to Europe (20 percent) and Asia Pacific (80 percent). Therefore, if the sanctions are only limited to the United States, then this could cause short-term volatility in prices until a new/revised agreement framework is put in place.

And this is where Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei scored a goal: He demanded that the European Union provide guarantees it will continue to buy Iranian crude. If it doesnt, he said, Iran will restart its nuclear program. Now, if this happens, the EU will not have much choice but to join the sanctions, and then hundreds of thousands of barrels of Iranian crude could be cut off from global markets.

However, even this will result in only a temporary decline in supplies, according to Kutsal, and others that believe that Asian imports from Iran will offset the effect from the U.S. sanctions. According to this camp, the only thing that can unleash the full effect of sanctions is the UN joining the sanction push against Iran.
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NATO Allies and partners are staying the course in their support to the financial sustainment of the Afghan security forces. At the yearly plenary meeting of the Afghan National Army (ANA) Trust Fund Board, held today (Tuesday, 29 May 2018) at NATO Headquarters, they reviewed  together with representatives of the donor community  the Trust Fund management arrangements and implementation.

They exchanged views on the coordination taking place in Afghanistan between the Afghan authorities and the broader international community on the funding streams in support of the Afghan security forces, and on plans by the Afghan authorities to increase their yearly security expenditures and continue their reforms to enhance good financial governance. They discussed future funding requirements for the Afghan security forces. Participants included also Mr. Eklil Ahmad Hakimi, Afghan Minister of Finance; Mr. Maarten Boef, Deputy Director for Security Policy at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Dr. Colin F. Jackson, US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia; Major General Robin L. Fontes, Commander of the Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan; and Ms. Barbara Pesce-Monteiro, Director of the United Nations Development Programme Representation Office in Brussels.

In the framework of the Chicago Summit in 2012, the international community committed to supporting the Afghan security forces beyond the end of 2014 transition period and pledged funding for 2015 to 2017. At the Warsaw Summit in 2016, nations agreed to continue the financial support for the sustainment of the Afghan security forces until 2020, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General said. The Afghan National Army Trust Fund has played an essential role in boosting Afghan security, by connecting donations with worthwhile projects. The upcoming Brussels Summit in July offers an opportunity to highlight donors continued commitment to the financial sustainment of the Afghan security forces, he pointed out.

As of 28 May 2018, total contributions made to the Afghan National Army Trust Fund amount to more than 2.3 billion U.S. dollars. The NATO-run Afghan National ArmyTrust Fund is one of three funding streams used by the International Community to channel its financial support to Afghanistans security forces and institutions. The other two are the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan (LOTFA), administered by the United Nations Development Programme, and the United States Afghanistan Security Forces Fund (ASFF). LOTFA is used to pay the salaries of police and correction personnel and to build the capacity of the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and the police. The ASFF is subject to a US-Afghan bilateral agreement and pays for equipping and running Afghanistans security forces.

The Afghan National Army Trust Fund Board is composed of national representatives of donor nations and the Trust Fund manager (represented by the United States). The NATO Secretary General and a donor nation representative co-chair the Board in plenary sessions. Plenary meetings of the Board were held on 1 September 2014, 26 June 2015, 11 May 2016, and 2 May 2017.
The 11th annual NATO Days in Georgia took place from 16 April to 1 May 2018. President Giorgi Margvelashvili opened the event in the capital, Tbilisi. More than 60 activities were held in eight regions across the country, aiming to raise awareness of NATO-Georgia cooperation.

One of the main events, the NATO-Georgia Public Diplomacy Forum, took place in Tbilisi. Participants included President Margvelashvili, Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, Speaker of the Parliament, Irakli Kobakhidze, and United States Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs A. Wess Mitchell.

NATO Assistant Secretary General for Public Diplomacy Ambassador Tacan Ildem delivered a keynote speech at the Forum and took part in a panel discussion with the Georgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mikheil Janelidze. Ambassador Ildem reflected on the main outcomes of the meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers on 27 April 2018 and commended Georgias contribution to NATO missions.

Allies unanimously support Georgias aspiration to join NATO and the ministers recognise the strong public support for that aspiration. They also welcome the positive trend of reforms and democratic transformation in Georgia and they reiterated their support for the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia within its internationally recognised borders, he said.

The event was organised by the NATO and EU Information Centre, with the support of Georgias Foreign and Defence Ministries, NATO Public Diplomacy Division, the NATO Liaison Office in Georgia and the Embassy of Bulgaria to Georgia.
(Natural News) In a stunning report last week The New York Times admitted what more and more Americans had come to suspect: That the Obama administration launched a counterintelligence operation against the 2016 Trump campaign that included the cultivation of spies within the organization.

The report, which claimed in its headline that the spies were really informants, based its characterization on the premise that the underlying counterintelligence investigation was based on actual evidence that members of the Trump campaign were in cahoots with a foreign government  Russia  to undermine the American political process.

There is no evidence any of that is true or was ever true. In fact, House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., has said as much.

In April, in an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Nunes said that the FBI and Justice Department launched their operation against Team Trump without any actionable intelligence  a requirement to open a counterintelligence operation that includes spying on American citizens.

This is really important to us because the intelligence investigation uses the tools of our intelligence services that are not supposed to be used on American citizens, Nunes said.

So, weve long wanted to know what intelligence did you have that actually led to this investigation. So what we found now after the investigators have reviewed it is, in fact, there was no intelligence, he added. (Related: House Freedom Caucus chair Meadows to Rosenstein: Give ME documents; you cant investigate yourself.)

Its Over

Now, in a separate interview with Bartiromo earlier this month, Nunes discussed a recent report that the person widely believed to have cultivated the sources within the Trump campaign  longtime Republican operative and Cambridge University Prof. Stefan Halper  was very handsomely paid for work with the U.S. in 2016 and 2017 in the amount of $411,575, according to The Gateway Pundit.

If its true that he was the spy working to infiltrate the Trump campaign organization  and the FBI paid him to do that based on a fabricated national security/counterintelligence investigation  then its over, Nunes told Bartiromo.

If any of that is true, if they ran a spy ring or an informant ring and they were paying people within the Trump campaign, if any of that is true that is an absolute red line, he said.

Theres not an honest person in this country who could believe that taxpayer dollars going to fund this ring and operate like this what is said in The New York Times that has quite a bit of detail on it, if any of that is true its a red line in this country.

You cant do this to political campaigns, he continued. According to them, this was done in the spring before the counter-intelligence was even open. If thats true, we need to know about it If they paid someone its an absolute red line and this is over with.

Watch:

Nunes isnt the only one concerned about the chilling effect this egregious abuse of power has had on the Trump campaign and future political campaigns.

Writing for The Hill, Mark Penn, who served as a pollster and political adviser to President Bill Clinton from 1995-2000, including during his impeachment, deeply criticized the ongoing limitless investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller, adding that the effect it will have on future campaigns will be irreparable if it isnt curtailed.

Stopping Mueller isnt about one president or one party. Its about all presidents and all parties. Its about cleaning out and reforming the deep state so that our intelligence operations are never used against opposing campaigns without the firmest of evidence, he wrote. Its about letting people work for campaigns and administrations without needing legal defense funds. Its about relying on our elections to decide our differences.

Read more about this developing scandal at Trump.news and JamesComey.news.

J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.

Sources include:

TheGatewayPundit.com

TheNationalSentinel.com

TheHill.com
(Natural News) Recent research has shown that children who are infected with malaria are more attractive to malaria-carrying mosquitoes as compared to healthy kids. It stated, children who were infected with a malaria parasite, Plasmodium, emit a specific odor which attracts mosquitoes even more.

Although the finding is truly alarming, this allowed researchers to conduct further studies on the said odor to learn more about the behavior of the parasite. According to Jetske de Boer from the Wageningen University and Research in the Netherlands, the smells are fairly common; describing them as fruity or grassy.

The compounds heptanal, octanal and nonanal were found to be the combination of chemicals emitted by infected children. Moreover, more of these aldehydes are emitted from the skin when the density of parasites in a childs blood is higher.

Now that we have identified and quantified the aldehydes associated with malaria infection, we understand more of the parasites infection route, de Boer revealed. (Related: Toxic malaria vaccine to be tested in Africa, even after Health Ranger reports on a botanical alternative with an astounding 100% cure rate.)

Wageningen University and Research teamed up with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine to conduct more focused studies on the matter. Support from different stakeholders was granted to the team, especially since malaria is a huge health issue the whole world is still dealing with.

Chemical ecologist Mike Birkett of the Department of Biointeractions and Crop Protection in Rothamsted emphasized that their findings serve as evidence that malarial mosquitoes find a human host more attractive. He added this breakthrough provides opportunities to use the human compounds as biomarkers of malaria and create better insect traps to lure mosquitoes.

As part of the teams initiative, researchers based in Kenya did an odor sampling which involved 56 children aged between 5 and 12. A foot of each of the kids was wrapped in a special plastic, and air was blown inside for three hours. Using a filter, the foot odor is collected and contained.

Each sample was studied in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine by researcher Ailie Robinson. Results have proven that children who were previously bitten malarial mosquitoes have higher chances of attracting or getting bitten again by said parasites.

Malaria in numbers

In December of 2016, the World Health Organization reported that even though increased prevention and countermeasures were provided, the number of deaths caused by malaria is still high. Around 445,000 people died in 2016 alone, while 216 million cases of malaria infection were recorded in 91 countries. Whats scarier is the fact that nearly half of the worlds population is at risk of contracting the virus.

The numbers are overwhelming, but fortunately, with continued efforts from both the governments and non-government units, the mortality rate from malaria has significantly dropped by 29 percent since 2010. Early diagnosis can prevent malaria-caused deaths, so its important that people know the early signs and symptoms of a possible carrier of malaria.

shaking chills that can range from moderate to severe

high fever

profuse sweating

headaches

nausea

vomiting

abdominal pain

diarrhea

anemia

muscle pain

convulsions

coma

bloody stools

At the end of the day, prevention will always be better than cure. If youre traveling to places where malaria is widespread, consult the doctor about possible preventive measures you can take. Also using a mosquito net, especially at night, can help reduce the risk of getting bitten by these parasites. It is also advisable to do regular residual spraying to remove traces of mosquitoes in the area.

Read more about infectious disease at Infections.news.

Sources include:

AlphaGalileo.org

WUR.nl

Healthline.com
(Natural News) Get ready for more police state invasion into your personal privacy, compliments of globalist technocrat Jeff Bezos and his multinational Amazon empire.

New reports explain that the online retail giant has now begun marketing a new facial recognition software to police departments all across the country that privacy experts are worried will eventually be used for more Big Brother spying.

Known as Rekognition, the tool is already being used by at least one police agency in Oregon to compare photographs of unidentified suspects against a database of mug shots from the local jail  a common and legitimate use for this type of technology. But its what else this technology could be used for that has many people worried.

Should police officers one day have the facial recognition software embedded into their body cameras, for instance, it could allow for innocent civilians to be tracked in real time. The tool could also end up making its way inside safety and traffic cameras for similar purposes.

Whoever the government wants to keep an eye on or monitor, in other words, will be easier than ever to track  which is completely antithetical to the civil rights outlined in the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

People should be free to walk down the street without being watched by the government, wrote the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and several other privacy activist groups in a joint letter to Amazon.

Facial recognition in American communities threatens this freedom.

Read PrivacyWatch.news for more news on how the government is teaming up with corporations like Amazon to advance the New World Order.

Amazon: dont worry; we would never do anything illegal (cue creepy laugh)

Completely not shocking is Amazons denial that its Rekognition tool is being, or ever will be, used for anything illegal. The sheriffs office in Washington County, west of Portland, the first law enforcement agency to adopt its use, claims the same thing

Both Amazon and Washington County insist that Rekognition is basically the best thing since sliced bread, as its merely used for solving crimes and increasing public safety. And because it costs about $400 to launch and $6 per month, its impressively affordable.

But its potential for abuse is enormous, skeptics warn. Even Amazons own Ranju Das, the head of Amazons Rekognition division, admitted that its purposes is recognizing people and tracking people.

Amazon also admits that it will receive feeds directly from the cameras and search them against photos of people being sought by law enforcement in order to notify the authorities. In other words, Amazon is becoming the fascist arm of the American police state, and is now openly admitting this.

This is apparently music to the ears of the Orlando Police Department in Florida, which has indicated that it plans to launch a pilot program using Rekognition technology  much to the chagrin of privacy watchdog groups like the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Clare Garvie, an associate at the Center on Privacy and Technology at the Georgetown University Law Center, is also concerned about the technology and the negative impact she believes it will have on free speech rights.

Rogue police forces might use it to videotape public demonstrations, as one example, and use it to target political dissenters who are merely exercising their First Amendment rights. She compares this hypothetical situation to police walking through a demonstration and demanding that everyone there produce identification  which is illegal under the U.S. Constitution.

This raises very real questions about the ability to remain anonymous in public spaces, Garvie is quoted as saying in opposition to Rekognitions use by law enforcement. See PoliceState.news for more coverage of techno-tyranny.

Sources for this article include:

NaturalNews.com

Breitbart.com

Law.Cornell.edu
(Natural News) Everyone knows that too much alcohol is bad for your health, but a new study says that it can also result in a loss of hearing. Researchers have found that one of the best ways to save your hearing and keep your eardrums intact is to avoid alcoholic beverages, especially if youre planning to attend music festivals and any other loud, outdoor events.

According to the study, males who opted not to wear earplugs while drinking or taking drugs were the ones who were most prone to severe hearing loss, as well as tinnitus  the medical term for ringing in the ears. They were also the ones who tended to linger near the loudspeakers during music events, especially as they consumed more alcohol.

The study involved 18 men and 33 women  all aged between 21 and 23  who were all asked to attend an outdoor music festival in the Netherlands. Of the 51 participants, 25 were given earplugs to use.

According to Dr. Veronique Kraaijenga, one of the researchers of the study from the University Medical Centre Utrecht, among those who attended the festival, those who were not provided with ear protection were more likely to experience hearing loss if they got inebriated and used drugs. (Related: Natural help for relieving and treating tinnitus.)

Based on the findings, researchers were able to confirm that noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is more likely to be developed by those who attend loud outdoor events such as music festivals, clubs, and concerts.

The team said they thought the problem was only temporary, but admitted they could not yet be sure. Physicians should consider these factors to raise awareness about the combined risk of attending music festivals without using earplugs while consuming alcohol or drugs, Kraaijenga added.

How alcohol increases the risk of hearing loss

Too much of a good thing is bad for you, goes the old saying. The same can be said for alcohol: While studies have linked some benefits from moderate consumption, others have found that drinking excessively can impact your health negatively. It not only affects your liver; heres how it can damage your hearing as well:

It damages the auditory nerves  Just like everything else in our body, the ears send signals to the brain so they can process whatever it is were currently hearing. Excessive drinking impairs a persons auditory cortex, affecting the transfer of auditory information. Simply put, too much alcohol makes it difficult to understand what others are saying, even if our ears are not damaged. It damages ear hair cells  The sounds our ears receive are processed and transmitted by tiny hair cells present inside our ears. Drinking too much will destroy these cells, which, unfortunately, do not regenerate, and could result in hearing loss. It makes you feel dizzy  Drink too much, and the alcohol mixes with the fluid found in our inner ears. The morning after is much worse: The alcohol remains in that part of the ear even if most of the alcohol has exited the bloodstream, causing dizziness and hearing impairment. It causes tinnitus  The condition isnt life-threatening, but it can feel and sound annoying. Technically speaking, the condition is a ringing or a buzzing sound coming from inside our ears after drinking too much alcohol. Some experience it for just a couple of hours while some, like musicians, suffer from it for a lifetime.

So the next time youre going to a loud event, try laying off the alcohol  and put on some earplugs. Youll thank yourself the morning after.

Discover ways to naturally treat ear problems by visiting NaturalCures.news today.

Sources included:

TheLondonEconomic.com

HealthyHearing.com
(Natural News) Blacks continue to vote overwhelmingly for Democrats because they think the party of the mule is a better arbiter of civil rights and has a superior record when it comes to battling racism.

Neither of these beliefs is true.

The Democratic Party has long buried its history as the party of racism and black genocide, having formed and then supported the KKK while implementing Margaret Sangers Planned Parenthood vision of exterminating as many black babies as possible.

As for civil rights, Democrats could never have made any progress during the 1960s movement without the support of Republicans. But today, there remains a black-oriented civil rights crisis that is of Democrat creation: The mass murder of mostly young black men by other young black men in Chicago, which is about as deep blue as it gets.

So bad is the violence and so high the death rate in the nations third-largest city  a virtual gun-free zone  that on the campaign trail in 2016, then-GOP nominee Donald Trump promised to send in the Army to clean up the streets.

Well now, one professor is calling on the president to make good on his pledge; its gotten that bad in the Windy City. (Related: San Francisco has become such a filthy liberal s##thole that even the TOURISM industry is begging city leaders to clean it up.)

A call for help

Writing in The Hill, Jason D. Hill of DePaul University in Chicago is pleading with Trump to do something radical: Suspend U.S. law, the 1870s-era Posse Comitatus Act, then send in armed troops to restore order to parts of the city that have become nothing less than a war zone.

He writes:

Wannabe-commandos terrorize neighborhoods, challenging not only local authorities but the very authority you exercise as president of this great nation. The potency of your own presidency is ridiculed when thugs and barbaric criminals take it upon themselves to establish lawless fiefdoms, usurping the law and order on which this republic was built and upon which its continued existence depends, as they kill innocent lives. 

I ask that you use your powers to suspend the dated Posse Comitatus Act, which unfairly limits your ability to use domestic militarization to respond to crises. Posse Comitatus makes no mention of the use of the militia, the National Guard, the Navy or the Marines. You can suspend this law and send in the forces necessary to quiet our streets and restore safety to at-risk neighborhoods.

For the record, Posse Comitatus may be dated, as Hill suggests, but its passage was as vital then as its continued existence is now. A Reconstruction-era law, it forbade federal military forces from being utilized in a law enforcement capacity. The reasoning was clear: The military exists to destroy opposing armies and conquer nations, not police American streets.

And no, presidents cannot merely suspend laws or create them out of whole cloth. Well, okay, Obama did it, but only because a highly partisan Congress allowed him to do so.

That said, Hill  a Jamaican immigrant who came to the U.S. more than three decades ago and worked his tail off to eventually earn a doctorate  has a point in that Trump is not necessarily powerless here to use some form of the military in order to accomplish the same objective. He could activate the National Guard and probably ought to, though as a state force first. Presidents have traditionally been hesitant to task Guard troops because they are first-responders when it comes to local and regional disasters.

Whats noteworthy about Hills plea is that hes bringing some needed attention to a national scandal that reeks of Left-wing failure: Vast segments of Chicago are under siege by criminal gangs that are little better than ISIS, and its obvious more Democratic leadership isnt the solution.

Read more about the collapse of our inner cities at Collapse.news and MartialLaw.news.

J.D. Heyes is editor of The National Sentinel and a senior writer for Natural News and News Target.

Sources include:

TheHill.com

NaturalNews.com
NASA captures Hawaii's new volcanic fissures from space, releasing satellite photos of the new and dangerous hot spots in the islands.

The Kilauea Volcano has been erupting for over 30 years, but when powerful earthquakes hit Hawaii starting April 30, the seismic activity prompted gas and lava to burst through the ground in newly created fissures.

The NASA Photos

NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on the Terra satellite shot the images of the fissures on May 6. In the image above, the newly formed fissures and new lava flow are identified as the yellow areas as detected by ASTER.

A second photo from NASA show yellow and green streaks that represent the plumes of sulfur dioxide gas.

The images allow scientists to track the movement of lava and sulfur dioxide.

New Volcanic Activity In Hawaii

NASA's Earth Observatory revealed that a lava lake overflowed numerous times in the last week of April 2018. When the crater partially collapsed, the lake drained and magma traveled underground causing earthquakes to hit Kilauea's East Rift Zone. Within days, a number of fissures cracked the ground open, spewing lava and wreaking havoc in the Leilani Estates subdivision.

Scientists are still not sure what caused the crater to collapse or the magma to get drained from the system, but volcanologist Wendy Stovall of the U.S. Geological Survey offers two possibilities for the occurrence.

"Either there's an increase in magma supply, or something blocked the system, something blocked the pathway out of the system," she tells NPR.

More sulfur dioxide are also being released as the magma reaches the surface.

"The process is similar to what happens when a bottle of soda is opened," Ashley Davies, a volcanologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explains to Earth Observatory. "The bubbles of sulfur dioxide and other volatiles, including water and carbon dioxide, begin to rise through the liquid magma and concentrate in the magma closest to the surface, so the first lava to erupt is often the most volatile-rich. There's usually an increase in sulfur dioxide output right before lava reaches the surface, as the gas escapes from the ascending magma."

The dramatic changes in the island's volcanic landscape have proven to be a devastating event for Hawaii.

The latest Hawaii's Civil Defense Agency alert reported 14 volcanic fissures as of Tuesday, May 8. The lava spans 104 acres with 35 structures already destroyed.
The Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance celebrated the launch of the third destroyer Sydney at the Techport Australia facility in Osborne, South Australia. Sydney has now joined the second Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD), Brisbane, alongside the wharf at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.

The Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance celebrated the launch of the third destroyer Sydney at the Techport Australia facility in Osborne, South Australia. Sydney has now joined the second Air Warfare Destroyer (AWD), Brisbane, alongside the wharf at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.

The Air Warfare Destroyer Alliance launched the third destroyer 'Sydney' at the Techport Australia facility in Osborne, South Australia.

AWD Program Manager Commodore (CDRE) Craig Bourke congratulated the workforce on achieving this significant milestone. Over the past ten years, we have seen more than 5,000 people and 1,500 suppliers contribute millions of hours of effort to the AWD program  the most complex defence project ever undertaken in Australia.

The complexity of this project is reflected in the sophistication of the AWDs  these warships will provide a true step-change in capability for the Australian Defence Force. As the most potent warships Australia has ever possessed, all three destroyers feature an advanced anti-submarine warfare capability, state-of-the-art radar technology and an air defence system capable of engaging enemy aircraft and missiles at an extended range, said CDRE Bourke.

AWD Alliance General Manager Paul Evans also acknowledged the complexity of the AWD program and emphasised the cooperative role required between industry and Defence to deliver this capability.

The AWD program is a further demonstration of the important role that industry plays as a fundamental input into capability for Defence. This sovereign shipbuilding and combat systems integration industry that has been built through the AWD program has helped us exceed our Australian Industry Capability targets by almost 20 per cent, said Mr Evans.

Together, the AWD Alliance has worked to transform a brownfield site into a functioning shipyard that has continued to improve processes, skills and efficiency. This is a credit to the 1,600 highly skilled people still actively working on the AWD program today  from pipefitters and welders to program managers, systems integrators, procurement officers and administrators.

Raytheon Australia Managing Director Michael Ward welcomed the launch of Sydney and commented on the sovereign combat systems integration capability that the company has built over the past decade through the AWD program.

As Australias largest and most capable combat systems integrator, Raytheon Australia has a highly skilled South Australian workforce, which includes more than 350 combat system integrators, engineers and program managers working as part of the AWD Alliance team currently delivering Australias most lethal and sophisticated warships.

Raytheon Australia has worked closely with the Commonwealth to architect, design, test and integrate Australias most advanced and complex combat system on time and on budget. The AWD combat system integration activities represent some of the most advanced and complex engineering and project management skills in this country.

Todays milestone is a credit to the AWD workforce and is a reflection of our long-term investment to build a local combat system integration capability. The success of the combat system integration activity is a source of tremendous pride for Raytheon Australia. Not only have we performed admirably on this project but we have built for Australia a national asset in combat system integration, said Mr Ward.

ASC Shipbuilding Acting CEO Jim Cuthill said the launch of Sydney represents the capability of Australias shipbuilding industry in building highly capable and complex warships for the Royal Australian Navy. The launch of the third destroyer Sydney marks a decade of hard work, commitment and collaboration by ASC Shipbuilding and its AWD Alliance partners, said Mr Cuthill.

With the building of each ship, the ASC Shipbuilding workforce has demonstrated continuous improvement and innovation  I congratulate the workforce on building this impressive warship, and the two that came before it, he said.

Navantia Australias Chairman Warren King said Sydney and her sister ships represent the capability of the Australian defence industry. Navantia Australia is very proud of our role as ship designer of these state-of-the-art warships and as shipbuilding management services provider for the AWD Alliance, said Mr King.

The launch of Sydney, the third of her class today, is a significant milestone for us as the AWD program signalled the beginning of Navantias relationship with the Royal Australian Navy and Australian industry. Since entering service in late 2017, HMAS Hobart has continually established herself as the Royal Australian Navys most capable and advanced warship.

The Hobart class destroyers not only deliver revolutionary air defence capabilities against advanced aircraft and cruise missile threats, but these formidable warships are also providing the Navy with unsurpassed anti-submarine warfare capabilities. Sydney, together with her sister ships, HMAS Hobart and Brisbane, are true examples of Australian defence industry capability  designed for Australia and built by Australians, said Mr King.
Northern California authorities have arrested two flight school employees on suspicion of kidnapping a student pilot and trying to send him back to his native China.

Redding police say instructor Jonathan McConkey and his assistant, Kelsi Hoser, were taken into custody May 25 at the city's airport. It wasn't known Monday if they have attorneys.

Tianshu Shi, a trainee in the US on a student visa, sustained minor injuries.

Sgt. Gary Meadows says the pair assaulted Shi at his apartment and brought him forcibly to the airport.

Shi tells the Record Searchlight newspaper he recorded the confrontation. On the recording a male voice says: "The United States government needs you out of this country." A female voice says: "If you don't go with us, you go to jail."
Butterfly expert Tom Emmel has died

Internationally known lepidopterist Tom Emmel died Saturday apparently of natural causes while traveling in Brazil. In April, a butterfly Emmel collected as a teen in Mexico was recognized as a new species and named in his honor. Below is the original story about that recognition.

In 1959, a then-teenage lepidopterist Thomas Emmel collected 13 fawn-colored butterflies in the highlands of Mexico.

Nearly 60 years later, those butterflies are finally being recognized as a new species by his colleague Andrew Warren, who named the butterfly Cyllopsis tomemmeli to honor Emmel, now 76 and an internationally recognized Lepidoptera expert at the University of Florida.

Its a fitting tribute to a dedicated scientist and his lifetime devotion to understanding butterflies and sharing his knowledge and passion with the world.



Tom Emmel in 1949 with his butterfly collection. Photo courtesy of Tom Emmel.



Hes the only person who ever collected it, and it was on this remarkable expedition when he was 17 years old, said Warren, senior collections manager of the Florida Museum of Natural Historys McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity at UF.

Warren and a team of colleagues published the species name and description today in the journal Zootaxa.

Back to 1959: Emmel nabbed the specimens on a three-month expedition through southern Mexico and British Honduras, where he accompanied ornithologist L. Irby Davis to record bird songs. Davis had offered him a simple deal: If Emmel would manage the parabolic reflector at dawn and dusk, he could spend the rest of his time collecting butterflies, his primary interest.

By the end of the trip, Emmel had collected several thousand specimens, including the nine male and four female Cyllopsis tomemmeli he netted at the edge of a pine-oak forest in Chiapas, a state on the Mexico-Guatemala border. At the time, he knew only that they were satyrs, describing them in his notebook as medium-sized, velvety brown with row of odd-shaped blue ocelli on hind wings, underside very colorful with bands.

The satyrs traveled with Emmel, founding director of the McGuire Center, for decades and through several cross-country moves before finally landing at the center on the University of Florida campus. Grouped with other unsorted Cyllopsis butterflies, they garnered little attention until last fall, when Warren recognized them as an undescribed species.

Thats when serendipity stepped in.

I pulled out that drawer and immediately thought, Thats new, Warren said. I went upstairs to Toms office and said, Hey, what were you doing on March 26, 1959? Tom said, Oh, well, it was a beautiful sunny morning. I was in the highlands of Chiapas.

A few days later, Emmel was at the Xerox machine, copying the detailed field notes hed taken on the satyrs in 1959.







The butterflys underside, left, shows the jagged bands characteristic of Cyllopsis. Emmel described the butterfly in his notebook as medium-sized, velvety brown with row of odd-shaped blue ocelli on hind wings, underside very colorful with bands. Florida Museum photo by Kristen Grace.



Naming the species after Emmel was a natural choice, Warren said.

Although other scientists have scouted the same Mexican highlands, no other Cyllopsis tomemmeli specimens are known besides Emmels.

His legacy also includes his mentorship of countless professional and amateur lepidopterists, including Warren, who was a high school butterfly enthusiast when he first met Emmel at a summer butterfly biology workshop.

He has supported me in my research in various ways ever since, Warren said. Hes inspired a lot of people over the years, not just in Lepidoptera but in a lot of fields. He also founded the only institution in the world thats solely dedicated to butterfly and moth research. That was Toms big vision, and he made it happen.

Cyllopsis tomemmeli rounds out the total known species of Cyllopsis butterflies to 30. Cyllopsis are adept at carving out a home in small pockets of habitat, which could explain why this species has not been rediscovered, Warren said.

The butterfly is about 2 inches wide and dusky brown with jagged red-brown bands on the underside, a characteristic feature of Cyllopsis species. Also notable are two pairs of spots flanked by lines of metallic scales that Warren thinks mimic the eyes and legs of jumping spiders.

Females are slightly paler than males, and male Cyllopsis tomemmeli have furry scales, likely scent distributors, Warren said.

By the time Emmel traveled to Chiapas, he had already been studying and collecting butterflies for nearly a decade. He was 8 years old when his father made butterfly nets for him and his brother John, unsuspectingly launching a lifelong obsession for both.

He thought we would be interested, Emmel said. To his great surprise, and eventually regret, it consumed us as a hobby and finally became a profession for me and a continued avocation for my brother.

Emmel said Cyllopsis tomemmeli, a new species hiding in plain sight, is an example of the value of museum collections.

The fact that something can be preserved for future students and professional people to study at a time when new techniques are available to verify the discovery is very important, he said. It shows just how long specimens can be preserved, hundreds of years in a museum, and still be invaluable to understanding the changes that have occurred. Climatic change, pesticides, heavy metal pollution in the air  all that is recorded in the wings and bodies of butterflies.

Study co-authors are Shinichi Nakahara of the Florida Museum and the UF department of entomology and nematology, Jorge Llorente-Bousquets and Armando Luis-Martinez of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and Jacqueline Miller of the Florida Museum.

Nakahara is supported by funding from the U.S. National Science Foundation.
A pastor in Palo Alto, California, has resigned after criticizing the citys wealthy progressive residents on Twitter, but he isnt apologizing for calling it an elitist sh__ den of hate.

The Rev. Gregory Stevens  a 28-year-old associate pastor with the First Baptist Church of Palo Alto  sparked an online controversy when he used his Twitter account to call the city disgusting and criticize the citys social justice on Earth Day, calling it a f_____ joke.

He later deleted the tweets, but they were posted on a public document along with other items from a city council meeting, including a conditional use permit which would allow the church to lease space to community groups for dance troupes and mental health counselors, the Palo Alto Daily News reported.



The city, after some contention, approved the permit at the May 14 meeting in a 7-2 vote.

Stevens said in a statement that he resigned to help minimize the negativity focused on the good community work being done at the First Baptist Church of Palo Alto, SFGate reported.



I tweeted to vent my frustration, and I acknowledge that I did so in an unprofessional and often hurtful way. My Twitter community has always been a small group of progressive ministers and Leftist political activists to whom my rants were geared, Stevens said.

He underscored in the statement why he was critical of Palo Alto, a city where home prices now average in the millions thanks to the booming tech industry.



In my experience of trying to work with this community for almost 3 years, I believe Palo Alto is a ghetto of wealth, power, and elitist liberalism by proxy, meaning that many community members claim to want to fight for social justice issues, but that desire doesnt translate into action, Stevens wrote. If the same energies used to organize neighbors around minor parking issues, a young girls choirs, and nasty tweets were honed to fight actual injustices, Palo Alto would be a very different city. Palo Alto needs more action, less lip service.

On social media, Stevens tweets received a mixed response.



Pastor Gregory Stevens is an actual hero, and 100 percent correct. If Jesus was here today, he wouldn't be turning over the tables of money changers in the temple, but instead be taking an axe to Silicon Valley, tweeted Matthew Hughes, a reporter for NextWeb in the UK.

I'm not religious, but if I was a man of faith, I'd want someone like Gregory Stevens guiding me, another Twitter user said.

Palo Alto Vice Mayor Eric Filseth called the tweets vile, the Daily News reported.

Stevens told KQED: "I'm making a moral claim against Palo Alto, and so for those people who think buying Teslas is going to save the world, [and they] want to make a moral claim to me because I used the wrong word? I mean this is exactly what I mean by elitist Palo Alto liberalism. In a liberals mind in Palo Alto, it's civility that you're supposed to have, and not a passion and a fire for equality, for equity and for justice,"

According to the First Baptist Church of Palo Alto website, Stevens has been an associate pastor for faith formation and public life since August 2015. A graduate of the University of South Florida, Stevens completed his Master of Divinity degree at Claremont School of Theology in southern California in May 2015. He has a background in pastoral leadership and community organizing, and has received outstanding recommendations and references for his creativity, vision, hard work, and ability to relate to people.

Besides bashing Palo Alto, he also ranted about bathroom lines, Beyonce and car scents in his tweets.

Stevens also tweeted that he plans to move to San Francisco once his lease was up in Palo Alto.

"I can't figure out how to grow a church," Stevens wrote on March 20. "I can't even get 3 people around a table of free food to talk about compost as a metaphor for social/personal change. #bye."
A judge on Tuesday weighed how much information to release about the arrest of a former police officer accused of being the Golden State Killer.

Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Michael Sweet began considering the issue after a hearing where attorneys for suspect Joseph DeAngelo argued that sharing the details could lead to an unfair trial.

Sweet indicated he's likely to release some information and is working with prosecutors and defense attorneys to determine how much to redact, which would continue to shield some details from public view.

The Associated Press and other news outlets are pushing for information from search and arrest warrants to be made public.

Transparency helps the public act as a check on the legal process and ensures investigators are acting appropriately, said Duffy Carolan, a lawyer for the news outlets.

"The press, the public and the victims deserve open proceedings," she argued.

Authorities arrested Joseph DeAngelo, 72, in April and said he is responsible for at least a dozen killings and roughly 50 rapes in the 1970s and `80s. Investigators have searched his home in Citrus Heights, California, his computer and his cellphone.

Defense attorneys said the warrants include information about other allegations against DeAngelo that can no longer be tried, as well as details on evidence and methods.

Making that information public could taint jurors and witnesses, defense lawyer David Lynch said.

"We have witnesses to events decades ago. Fading memories are going to be a huge issue in this case," he said.

Prosecutors did not object to the documents being released but want to shield some information, including investigatory techniques and victim and witness identities.
Monday was a very unwelcome moving day at the Berkeley Marina, where dozens of RV campers have been forced to move out from spaces theyve been parked in illegally for months.

Memorial Day was the deadline for the campers to leave, and police arrived early in the morning to enforce it.

But while the RVs indeed moved, some didn't go far. They found a parking lot at a restaurant down the road, and appear to be staying put, saying they have nowhere else to go.

Camper Naomi Gonzales says shes worried about her familys future. They had been camping in their RV along Marina Way near the Berkeley Marina since last July.

"I dont know why this is happening," she said. "This is all we have."

The city of Berkeley says the campers have created a health and safety risk. Construction crews will begin revamping the area this week.

"Were trying to be very patient and work through the process and work with people so we avoid tows and citations as our last resort," Berkeley police Lt. Kevin Schofield said.

Marina tenants, too, are concerned about public safety and health. One man who keeps his boat at the marina says tenants have been dealing with syringes, human waste and criminal behavior. He says one camper even threatened his life.

"This person had me inside the restrooms, threatening to kill me with a rock if I get out of the restroom because when I went in, I shut the door behind me, and he wanted in the restroom," the tenant, named Bruce, said.

Campers, meanwhile, say they have been good neighbors. They say they have nowhere to go.

"Where are we going to move it?" Gonzales said. "And then when they come and tell us to move from there, where are we going to move to then?"

A spokesman for city says now that the campers have moved to another part of the marina theyll have to assess what to do next.
Ever heard of an office where shoes are optional?

San Francisco startup, Gusto, is changing the way their employees spend their workdays by creating a shoe-less work environment.

The shoe-less work environment concept started in the early days of the company and eventually developed into a tradition that was carried over to their new Pier 70 office.

We started Gusto six years ago in a house in Palo Alto. Three of us as co-founders were living there at the time and we always took our shoes off at home, thats just how we were raised, said CEO and co-founder, Josh Reeves. We took our shoes off working in the house, we moved to an office and we kept that tradition.

Jennifer Gonzalez / NBC Bay Area

As weird as a no-shoes office sounds, Reeves explained that theyre not overly regimented and are pretty flexible with their employees. If someone is uncomfortable going barefoot in the office they have full autonomy to wear socks or slippers. The company also carries socks and disposable slippers for guests who visit.

The whole concept was just to make you feel comfortable, so its a way to ground you, said Gusto employee, Charles Sim.

Unlike most offices, Gustos was inspired to feel like a living room in an effort to make it feel like a home. The entrance of their Pier 70 office is lined up with shoe cubbies and as you walk toward the center of the building youll find an array of couches and rugs with a few workstations.

Launched in 2012, Gusto is a middleman management company that helps employers automate and simplify payroll, benefits and HR. The company now serves over 60,000 businesses nationwide.



People spend a lot of time at work, so many of us, including myself, spend the majority of our day here, said Reeves. Everyone at Gusto is here because they want to help the customer, its just that while were doing that we want to make sure our space is an environment where we feel proud and excited to spend a lot of time.
The Poor Peoples campaign began with Martin Luther King in 1968 as a way of bringing economic justice to poor people living in the US. On Monday, the campaign joined forces with Veterans For Peace on Boston Common, with a message for Memorial Day that is also a call to action.

It was a festive atmosphere amid a sea of tents and tourists laid out on Boston Common, but upon closer look, it was clear it was not a party.

Savina Martin, with the Massachusetts Poor People's campaign, called it a sad day, not a celebration, which brought Veterans, clergy and peace advocates together for nonviolent action to challenge the war economy and gun violence - on a day memorializing those sent off to war.

Especially the young children who are going into the military from high school thinking that theyre going to live a better life and they come home in body bags, Martin added.

Fifty-three percent of the federal discretionary budget is going to war and meanwhile a lot of programs for people who need help are being cut, said Michael Mclaughlin, a volunteer with the Massachusetts Poor Peoples campaign:

Other goals include protecting veterans rights  like the right to hospitalization.

Al Johnson, with Veterans for Peace, is not happy the US has canceled peace talks with North Korea, pulled out of the Iran nuclear agreement and opened a US Embassy in Jerusalem.

This is well beyond Donald Trump. Look it... Weve been out here for Barack Obama, George Bush a whole lot of them and the question of war, we might as well have been on two different planets," Johnson said.

Tuesday, the protesters will rally at the State House followed by a sit in where protesters say they are prepared to be arrested to have their message heard.
The town of Brookfield canceled its Memorial Day Parade as residents continue to recover from heavy storm damage when tornadoes hit the state earlier this month.

The local VFW still held their annual Memorial Day service at Williams Park, but it wasnt as well attended as usual.

Given everything this town has been through in the past two weeks, local veterans say it was still important to remember what the day is really all about.

We usually have a parade, and all the schools are marching, and the fire trucks are all out, and the place is wall to wall people, explained Brookfield resident Barbara Menendez.

This Memorial Day there was just a quiet ceremony to honor the fallen, attended by about 50 people.

It feels lonely. Instead of hearing marching bands youre hearing chainsaws, Menendez said.

None of my friends are even having barbeques today. Everybody is busy in clean-up either of their house or someone elses house, she added.

Not even the utility crews took a holiday. Bucket trucks still line the sky where poles were snapped by the storm.

It doesnt feel like celebrating at all. In fact, it seems like weve been through a battle here. So, no celebration this weekend, Fred Herpel said.

Blue tarp covers a hole in Herpel's home where one of two dozen trees toppled over in the storm.

It hit about six feet away from me and the wind was blowing sideways, he said.

The towns parade was canceled in part because there werent enough bodies to run it.

Our Emergency staff has been working for two weeks. Theyre exhausted, said First Selectman Steve Dunn.

Still, the local VFW stepped in to make sure those who put down their lives for their country werent forgotten.

The meaning becomes a little bit sharper, focused because of the loss, we think about the loss of everything at this point, said Bob Brown, the Brookfield VFWs vice-commander.

Firefighter and veteran Lou Menendez has been on the front lines the last two weeks but says what he's thinking about the most this Memorial Day isn't the storm.

Seeing what happened to people and the loss here, which is small compared to the loss of somebody who died in service to their country, Lou Menendez said.

Dunn told NBC Connecticut they will make up the parade on either the Fourth of July or Labor Day. In the meantime, theyre tallying up the losses to apply for FEMA funds. So far, the town is up to $4.5 million in storm damage.
Multiple fire departments responded to fight a raging house fire on the New London Turnpike in Norwich Monday evening.

The fire occurred in East Great Plain Volunteer Fire Company district. Crews from multiple other departments also responded to provide mutual aid.

At one point flames could be seen shooting out of the home on the 500-block of New London Turnpike. The fire started around 5 p.m. but took hours to completely extinguish.

"We thought it had it licked very early on...then it reared its angry head at us and we had to pull crews out on a few different occasions," said East Great Plain Fire Chief Keith Milton.



Fire officials said two or three people were inside the home when the fire started, but they escaped safely. The American Red Cross has responded to assist the displaced residents.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Tuesday, Starbucks will close 8,000 of its stores to train 175,000 employees on anti-implicit racial bias guidelines. The training comes after two black men were arrested inside a Starbucks coffee shop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Leaders of the coffee giant apologized for the event and quickly pledged to create training curriculum to address the problem.



Meanwhile, community leaders in Dallas are using the incidents to shine a light on the broader and pervasive issues of explicit and implicit bias and how they impact people, particularly those of marginalized groups, in society. The event is called "Coffee Break," and will be hosted by several groups, including the Dallas Bar Association.

"Coffee" stands for Communities Organized for Fairness Equality and Empowerment.

The mission behind the town hall is to facilitate dialogue on the pervasive issues of explicit and implicit bias in our society, as well as to craft a statement reaffirming our community's collective commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Its extremely harmful not to address problems we know exist, and even more harmful to deny the existence of explicit and implicit bias, said Dallas attorney Paul K. Stafford. The goal is to take a pro-active approach, a continuing discussion and an interactive approach to addressing issues that are embedded in American society. Bias impacts hiring practices, the way in which we interact with one another. If were truly a society that values equality and diversity, we have to talk about these thing."

Experts say unconscious bias impacts or behavior and treatment toward others in ways we don't recognize. Researchers at Harvard University created an "Implicit Association Test." The test is free and allows anyone to gauge their level of bias. You can access the test here.



Faith leaders, politicians, members of the Dallas-Fort Worth civic, corporate, and professional communities will be in attendance.

"Coffee Break" is from 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Belo Mansion

2101 Ross Ave.

Dallas, TX

The event is free and open to the public.


For the many families whose loved ones disappeared during war, Memorial Day is another reminder of the questions that still linger.

A North Texas woman is among them, but as she waits for answers to what happened to her dad, a stranger wants to bring comfort that their loved one may be lost, but he'll never be forgotten.

Louann Pike is still haunted by her darkest day.

"I saw the car coming and I knew and I wouldn't open the door. Finally opened it and they said Louann, plane went down but he's only missing. Okay, I can live with that," Pike said.

Her husband, Lieutenant Commander Dennis Pike, was forced to eject during a bombing run over Laos on March 23, 1972. 46 years later, his family still lives in limbo.

"You always believe that eventually one day he would be released or he would find his way home," said Shannon Spake, who was just two and a half when her father disappeared.

Spake now travels the country to honor prisoners of war and those missing in action. She rides a motorcycle with Run For The Wall, an organization with the motto "we ride for those who can't". The group makes annual trips to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.

NBC 5 talked to Spake about Lieutenant Commander Pike from her home in Haslet two years ago. That story just reached Marianne Horn in Connecticut Sunday night.

"It was an amazing feeling to see the family of somebody's name that I had cherished and grown up with," Horn said.

She's been holding onto an original POW bracelet with the navy pilot's name for decades. The bracelets were sold during the war, letting strangers show support for captured and missing troops.

Horn sent us a picture of it to show the Pike family, with plans to give it to Spake.

We connected the two women by phone on Monday.

"It means the world to us as a family," Spake told her.

"He's meant something to me since I was 7 years old. I held onto that bracelet and I'm not even sure why," Horn replied.

Both were just kids during the 70's, but now share the legacy of a man, lost during Vietnam.

In the hours following their phone conversation, Horn and Spake made plans to meet in Washington D.C. this June. Spake is attending the National League of POW/MIA families there and hopes to leave the bracelet at the Vietnam Memorial.

So far, LCDR. Pike's family has recovered 22 artifacts, including his U.S. Navy helmet and flight suit, but not his body. He's been labeled "Presumed killed in action," but the family never gave up hope that he may have survived.
A man was arrested Tuesday morning, accused of crashing a stolen vehicle into a home in Dallas, police say.

No one inside the house on the 4600 block of Bradshaw Street was injured when the car came crashing into family's living room at about 4:40 a.m.

A woman told police she'd stepped away from her running vehicle to talk with a family member and that an unknown person jumped into her vehicle and drove away.

The woman then got into her family member's car and followed the thief, police said.

As he was trying to get away, the driver apparently lost control of the woman's SUV and crashed into the home.

Dallas Fire-Rescue said when they arrived at the home the driver was found lying in the yard. He was hospitalized with injuries that were not life threatening.

KRLD reported the driver of the stolen car, whose name has not yet been released, was the only one injured.

An 11-year-old boy, Derryck Denwitty, told NBC 5 he thought he was dreaming when the car hit but that he started screaming for his family when he smelled smoke.

"I was very scared. I screamed at the top of my lungs," Denwitty said, adding that he was thankful God got them out of the home safely.

George Kemp, who said the crash sounded like a tractor-trailer, was inside the house when he heard his son scream.

"I knew something hit the house, I didn't know what hit the house, but it sounded like an 18-wheeler," Kemp said.

After the crash, Kemp said he and his family made their way downstairs and escaped the house through the garage after being unable to get out the front door.

Gage said he didn't know what caused the person to crash into his home, but that he hoped he was OK. With his family safe, Gage said everything he needs has been taken care of and that he's leaving the rest to God.

"Satan, your assignment against my family's been canceled in the name of Jesus," Gage said. "I'm going to let go and let God [handle it]. I'm not going to worry about it. Everything else can be replaced. "

Gage said he was told his home was not stable and that he family would have to find another place to live until it could be repaired. DFR said their Urban Search and Rescue Team stabilized the home so that belongings could be removed.


UF taps proven leader as its first chief diversity officer

The University of Florida has named Antonio Farias, currently vice president for equity and inclusion/Title IX officer at Wesleyan University, as its first chief diversity officer and senior advisor to the president.

Farias will assume the new post effective July 9. His annual salary will be $280,000.

In his new position, Farias, 52, will hold a cabinet-level spot while overseeing universitywide efforts to advance equity, diversity and inclusion, and establish a new standard of inclusive excellence.

I am thrilled that Antonio will be joining the University of Florida, UF President Kent Fuchs said. He has a strong track record and enjoys tremendous respect at a national level. We created this position because UF, like many other Southern universities, has a legacy that includes not always welcoming people of diverse backgrounds. This is a significant step in addressing the cultural changes that must continue to take place at the University of Florida. Antonio is well-equipped to tackle these challenges.

At Wesleyan, where he has worked since 2013, Farias has worked closely with the offices of Academic Affairs, Admissions, Student Affairs, and University Relations on issues of inclusion and equity as they relate to race, ethnicity, sex, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, political affiliation, and national origin in the areas of recruitment, admission, retention, hires, promotion, and fundraising. He has been responsible for maintaining proper university reporting procedures and policies as they pertain to federal and state laws.

From 2005 to 2013, Farias was chief diversity officer for the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, where as the inaugural CDO, he helped develop a metrics-driven, leadership and values centered inclusion and diversity strategy for the academy that eventually shaped strategy for the 47,000-member organization. He also developed retention programs for faculty as well as students of color, first-generation students, women, LGBTQ, and students of various faith/non-faith backgrounds; implemented pre-orientation programs for first-generation and students of color; and conducted inclusion and diversity workshops throughout the Coast Guard leadership framework. Prior to that, he held positions at Mercy College, Hunter College and Colgate University, all in New York.

As a product of public education, and an educator who has been graced with seeing real lives impacted by educational opportunities, Im deeply honored to have been selected as the inaugural CDO at a time when UF is poised to make the next great leap in excellence. My wife and I very much look forward to fully immersing ourselves in the Gainesville community and contributing to the Gator Good.

Farias said he looks forward to meeting with UF student, faculty and staff and members of the Gainesville community soon after his arrival.

Farias holds a bachelors degree in comparative literature and a masters degree in comparative ethnic studies, both from the University of California, Berkeley. He later earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of California, Riverside.
Dozens gathered outside the newly-renovated Veterans Memorial Wall in Mira Mesa for the communitys first-ever Memorial Day ceremony.

Among them was Marine Corps veteran Roy Zanni. He has attended thousands of services.

"My record for one day is 11 details in one day," Zanni said.

He always goes in uniform and stands away from the crowd. "I can't stand anywhere close to a family. I just can't," he said.

Thats because Zanni prefers to be heard, not seen. "When I'm playing, I can see over the bell. Sometimes I look, sometimes I don't," he said.

Zanni is the assistant director for the California arm of Bugles Across America.

The non-profit started in 2000 to provide live Taps for military funerals, instead of a recording.

You hear me play today, or you hear one of our buglers play anywhere, you can hear some heart. Thats the difference. Thats the difference right there, Zanni said.

Zanni puts his heart on display almost every day of the week because, not only is he a patriot, hes still here. "I have a little bit of survivor's guilt, so it's a good way for me to get that out of there."

Zanni is one of just four active members of Bugles Across America here in San Diego.

He said in just the last few years, theyve gone from covering two-to-three services a month to about 80.

To find out how you can request a bugler or to volunteer, click here.
Some parents are expected to keep their kids out of class Tuesday in protest of controversial sex education program at San Diego schools.

A group called "Concerned Parents of San Diego" has scheduled a "Sex Ed Opt Out Day, " a one day protest against the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) boards refusal to remove what the parents call graphic and inappropriate sex education curriculum known as SHEP.

The group has scheduled a rally outside of school district headquarters prior the school board's regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday.



"We're asking, not only a massive opt-out day where people don't go to school at all, we're asking them to opt out once the ciriculum is taught over the next several weeks," said attorney Dean Broyles. "We want to make clear, we're not against sex education; we just want sex education that's age-appropriate, medically accurate and aligns with community values.

The school district says the curriculum, taught to sixth-, eighth- and tenth-grade students, is in compliance with state law, is researched-based and increases the overall well-being of students.

The district had previously released the following statement, but did not address the call to keep students out of school for a day:

We encourage all parents to learn the facts about sexual health and how we teach it. Weve created a website to make it easy for parents to get the information they need. Our education program was constructed with input from parents, faith leaders and community residents to comply with the new California Healthy Youth Act. After being informed about the program, less than 1 percent of parents chose to exclude their children from learning about sexual health when the curriculum was implemented districtwide last school year. Anyone who wants more information on sexual health should visit https://www.sandiegounified.org/shep."

Ashley Bever, a mother and substitute teacher, says the district is simply not listening to parents who are concerned with SHEP.

She showed NBC 7 a book called "It's Perfectly Normal," literature used as supplemental teaching material for the program. The book contains pictures that the station couldnt show on TV.

"The curriculum talks about things like self-pleasuring, so to have an adult cross that line and talk to children about pleasure, highly inappropriate," Bever said.

Parents have brought the issue to the school board at least three times in the last year and the board has yet to formally address their concerns.
The U.S. "continues to actively prepare" for an "expected summit" between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the White House said Tuesday as diplomatic efforts were underway on two continents to prepare for the historic meeting.

Trump confirmed that a top North Korean official, Kim Yong Chol, is headed to New York for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It marks the latest sign that prospects for the summit are growing, just days after it was ostensibly called off by Trump. In addition, teams of U.S. officials have arrived at the Korean demilitarized zone and in Singapore to prepare for the meeting.

The summit had been scheduled for June 12 in Singapore, but Trump announced last week that he had decided to "terminate" the meeting following a provocative statement from the North and its decision to skip planning talks and ignore preparatory phone calls. White House officials have characterized the letter from the president to Kim as a negotiating tactic, designed to bring the North back to the table.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that since the letter, "the North Koreans have been engaging," with the U.S.

"The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore," she said in a statement Tuesday.

South Korean media had reported earlier that Kim Yong Chol's name was on the passenger list for a fight Wednesday from Beijing to New York. Kim was seen in the Beijing airport on Tuesday by Associated Press Television. U.S. officials familiar with planning said he was scheduled to meet with Pompeo on Thursday.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. "Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!"

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee. He will be the highest-level North Korean official to travel to the United States since 2000, when late National Defense Commission First Vice Chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

Pompeo has traveled to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, twice in recent weeks for meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and has said there is a "shared understanding" between the two sides about what they hope to achieve.

Meanwhile, a team of American diplomats is holding preparatory discussions with North Korean officials at the DMZ. The group first met with their counterparts Sunday, and was seen leaving a Seoul hotel on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether they went to Panmunjom, a village that straddles the border inside the DMZ. The U.S. officials are led by Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, who formerly was the U.S. ambassador to Seoul and a top negotiator with North Korea in past nuclear talks. It includes senior officials with the National Security Council and the Pentagon.

The White House emphasized that it has remained in close contact with South Korean and Japanese officials as preparations for the talks continue. Sanders said Trump will host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June 7th to coordinate their thinking ahead of the summit. Trump hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week.

South Korean media also reported that a North Korean delegation arrived in Singapore on Monday night, where other U.S. officials, led by White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, are preparing for the summit.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Washington and Pyongyang were engaging in "working-level" talks to arrange the possible summit, but said it couldn't confirm specifics.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday morning in an appearance on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" that the president had "sent over two delegations - one for logistics and one for more diplomatic purposes that are on the ground making the logistic preparations for June 12.

"But, as the president has said," she added, "if it doesn't happen June 12 it could happen thereafter."

Moon, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim Jong Un, held a surprise meeting with the North Korean leader Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

In their second meeting in a month, Moon said Kim Jong Un expressed a willingness to cooperate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with Trump. But the North Korean leader also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States to end hostile policies against North Korea and provide security assurances if the country does abandon its nuclear weapons, according to Moon.

At their first meeting on April 27, Kim Jong Un and Moon announced vague aspirations for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and permanent peace, which Seoul has tried to sell as a meaningful breakthrough that increases the chances of successful talks between Kim and Trump.

Their second meeting came after inter-Korean relations had chilled in recent weeks, with North Korea canceling a high-level meeting with Seoul over South Korea's participation in a two-week military exercise with the United States that ended last week.

Associated Press writers Jill Colvin and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.
A worker at a Little Caesars pizza shop in Florida fatally shot a man wearing a clown mask who attacked him with a wooden pole and scissors, officials said.

The incident happened just before midnight Saturday as the employee was leaving the pizza chain's Holly Hill restaurant after closing, WESH reported.

Police said the suspect hit the employee with a wooden pole until it broke then tried to stab him with scissors. The worker pulled out his gun, for which he has a concealed weapons permit, and fired several shots at close range. The attacker was taken to a nearby hospital where he later died.

The employee, identified as Heriberto Feliciano, was hospitalized for face and shoulder injuries, police said.

Surveillance video from the restaurant shows the suspect in the clown mask walking outside the restaurant and attacking the employee as he locked up the shop.

Police haven't released the name of the suspect.
What to Know The remains of Colonel Peter Stewart were found during an excavation in the country 52 years after he was listed as missing in action.

Stewart left behind his wife, Margaret, and six children. His now 94-year-old widow and their kids now can give their hero a proper burial.

A Central Florida family is final getting a sense of closure after the remains of their husband and father have been found  over a half century after his plane was shot down while serving in Vietnam.

The remains of Colonel Peter Stewart were found during an excavation in the country 52 years after he was listed as missing in action following the 1966 incident. Officials told his family that those remains will arrive back in time for Fathers Day so that he can be buried in his hometown of Winter Haven.

"I've been using the term bittersweet. It's tough, but I'm glad it's finally here," his son, Jim, told NBC affiliate WFLA-TV.

Stewart had flown 70 combat missions during World War II and later reenlisted for the Korean War before  at the age of 48  joining again to fly combat missions during the Vietnam War starting in 1965.

Stewart left behind his wife, Margaret, and six children. His now 94-year-old widow and their kids now can give their hero a proper burial.

It's hard to relate to and it's hard to explain it to others," said Jim. "Tears of happiness, we finally got closure on that, Jim Stewart said.

The remains of Col. Stewart will arrive in Tampa from Hawaii on Saturday, June 16th, where the family will greet him. A funeral mass is scheduled for two days later.
What to Know An ex-math teacher at a NY middle school was sentenced to prison and probation after pleading guilty in connection to sexting with student

Michael Cognato, 35, pleaded guilty in March to attempted use of a child in a sexual performance and second-degree criminal contempt

Cognato, of Bethpage, Long Island, taught at Intermediate School 93 in Ridgewood,Queens

A former math teacher at a Queens middle school was sentenced to prison and 10 years probation after pleading guilty in connection to engaging in sexually explicit communications with a 15-year-old girl who was once his student, authorities say.

Michael Cognato, 35, pleaded guilty in March to attempted use of a child in a sexual performance and second-degree criminal contempt, according to the Queens District Attorney's Office. He was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail and 10 years probation.

Cognato, of Bethpage, Long Island, taught at Intermediate School 93 in Ridgewood, Queens.

Between July 2017 and September 2017, Cognato engaged in sexually explicit conversations with the victim and induced her to send him sexually explicit videos and photographs of herself, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says, adding that Cognato, also admitted to violating the order of protection by contacting the victim following his arrest.

As part of his plea agreement, Brown resigned from the New York City Department of Education, surrendered his New York State teaching license, must successfully complete a sex offender program and will be on the sex offender registry for life as a level two sex offender.

He preyed on this young student whom he had once been entrusted to teach. This case should serve as a clear and unmistakable warning that parents must be mindful of the people their children communicate with online, Brown said in a statement.
What to Know Ray Wallace, the founder of Upper West Side gym Fitness RxN has been arrested on forcible touching and sex abuse charges

At least two Yelp users have accused him of groping, kissing or biting them during training sessions

One reviewer posted that Wallace began a round of training sessions by telling her "your butt is amazing. I'm going to make it amazinginger"

The founder of a New York City gym has been accused of groping, kissing and biting at least one member of the fitness center.

The NYPD said that Ray Wallace, the owner of Fitness RxN on the Upper West Side, was arrested on forcible touching and sex abuse charges on Wednesday morning.

According to the New York Post, which first reported the arrest, Wallace allegedly grabbed a woman's behind and grabbed her without permission during a training session in October.

At least two Yelp users also posted to the reviews site that Wallace -- who club members call "Mr. Ray" -- had touched or kissed them inappropriately. The Post reports that one of the two women later went to police.

One reviewer posted that Wallace began a round of training sessions by telling her "your butt is amazing. I'm going to make it amazinginger" before eventually escalating to "butt grabbing, jiggling, smacking."

She added that during one of the sessions, Wallace told her he needed to take "before" photos of her and bit and kissed her right buttock in a back office. She said that after the encounter, she left, canceled her following sessions and got her boyfriend to write an email saying he made her uncomfortable and asking for a refund.

She said that Wallace later texted and "apologized 'for any miscommunication.'"

"He knows he was being a creep. Women, beware," the reviewer warned.

Attorney information for Wallace wasn't immediately available. NBC 4 New York has reached out to the gym seeking comment.
A child left home alone as his father claimed to be searching for a job fell from a second-story window in Delaware County.

Upper Darby police arrested the 3-year-olds parents for leaving the boy home alone inside the family apartment along Hampden Road Monday, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by NBC10.

Officers and paramedics arrived to the home around 5:30 p.m. Monday to find the 3-year-old boy with a head injury, police said. It appeared he had fallen from a second-floor window. Medics rushed the boy to the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia where he was listed in guarded condition.

No one could locate the boys parents. Officers forced their way into the home to find a window missing its pane of glass and no one else inside.

"What amazes me is how you can leave a small child alone at 3 years old, you know that child is going to get into some sort of danger," Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said.



As police waited to execute a search warrant for the apartment, the boys mother, Lea Rosine Dezai Epse Wanhi, showed up around 7:45 p.m. Police then called the boys father, Legbo Thierry Wanhi, who said he was near Love Park in Center City Philadelphia at the time. He arrived to the police station around 9 p.m.

Upper Darby Police Department

Neither parent speaks English, Chitwood said. Through a translator, Thierry Wanhi told investigators he knowingly left his son home alone, police said. He said he left the apartment between 4:45 to 5 p.m. in search of work. He knew the boys mother was at work all day and wouldnt be home until at least 6 p.m.

"Quote claims on Memorial Day he went out to find a job," Chitwood said.



Both parents were arraigned on child endangerment and reckless endangerment charges Tuesday. Bail was set at 10 percent of $30,000. It was unclear if they have attorneys who could comment for them.

Police contacted child youth services to further investigate.
Margie Dillon fought back tears as she stared at photos of her son.

Ill never really see him again, she said. Just through these pictures.

Her son Ryan Dillon, 17, was on the 400 block of Hoffman Street in South Philadelphia Friday around 1 p.m. when a gunman opened fire. Dillon was shot four times, including once in the head and once in the stomach. He was taken to Jefferson Hospital where he was pronounced dead about a half hour later.

Dillons loved ones gathered at the scene of his murder Monday. They lit candles and consoled each other as they reminisced about the high school junior, who wouldve been 18 years old in two weeks.

Everybody can tell you a funny story about him, Dillons mother said. Something goofy that he did to them or for them. He just wasnt mean.

Dillons parents told NBC10 he was executed though they have no idea why. They also said Dillon tried running for his life when the gunman opened fire.

Everybody that knows me knows that Im telling the truth, Dillons father, John Dillon, said while in tears. He was a good kid. He didnt deserve this.

As his family mourned, they also pleaded for help in their search for justice.

Look in the mirror tonight and know that you know something and just do the right thing, Dillons uncle, Mike Dillon, said. Thats all they want.

If you have any information on the shooting, please call Philadelphia Police.

A GoFundMe page was created to help with funeral costs and for a reward to help capture Dillon's killer.


The head of the worlds chemical weapon watchdog is questioning whether Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has declared his entire chemical arsenal, NBC News reported.

Ahmet Uzumcu, the director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) pointed out that attacks involving chlorine barrel bombs and the nerve agent sarin have continued despite a landmark agreement that won the group a Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.

The use of sarin in February 2017 raised concerns that Syria may have kept certain banned substances despite the government saying it surrendered its stockpile of chemical agents in 2013, Uzumcu said.

Syrian "authorities have to explain in a plausible, technically plausible manner why the samples collected by our experts did prove the existence of certain chemicals which were never declared," Uzumcu said in an interview with NBC News. "So they should explain why those chemicals were present in such places."
On the morning of March 30, 2018, a gray sedan traveling westbound on Calle Cristobal collided crashed into Judy Bui's car as she turned onto the road from Caminito Propico out of the Tierra Mesa neighborhood in Mira Mesa.

That's where her life ended.

Her son, 4, had serious injuries including a broken pelvis, ribs, knee and fractured skull.

"The very first thing that went through my mind was not again because we have had several crashes here," neighbor Lara Janda said the day of the accident.

After that accident, NBC 7 investigates put in a California Public Records Request for citation reports for the 7100 to 7300 blocks of Calle Cristobal from the last 10 years.

Not including Bui's fatal crash, there were 13 other accidents caused by things like speeding and improper turns.

Neighbors say there needs to be a police presence to stop drivers from speeding.

One resident named Neha said, Easily people are going 70, 80 miles per hour.

Before Bui was killed, Neha, who lives nearby, said she contacted the City to file a complaint.

If you take the barriers out, reduce the speed limit, have the cops give out some tickets, people will get used to getting tickets on this street and cant go fast.

Neha said she had a few conversations with a city representative, but nothing changed.

He said 'It's not that easy. These things don't just happen right away, there is a process,' she recalled. "What more can I do?

NBC 7 Investigates asked Lt. Brent Williams from the San Diego Police Department what, if anything, they were doing to make the area safer.

In an email, he told NBC 7 Investigates, I checked with our Traffic Division and The get it done app. The Police Dept hasn't received any citizen complaints about this intersection.
More than 5,000 pounds of cocaine seized by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) in the waters near Central America were offloaded in San Diego Tuesday.

The 5,271 pounds of drugs estimated to be worth more than $78 million were seized during a two-day period in May by Coast Guard crews from Port Angeles, Washington.

The cocaine will be turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration for destruction, USCG said.

U.S. Coast Guard - Defense Media

The crew also detained six suspected drug smugglers who will have trials in the U.S.

Active, the Coast Guard cutter used in the interceptions is a 53-year-old, 210-foot ship homeported in Port Angeles, Washington. The average lifespan of a cutter is 40 years, according to USCG.

"Just to keep a 53-year-old ship in prime condition is a feat in and of itself, and [the crew has] done that and much more," the ship's commanding officer, Cmdr. Chris German, said.
What to Know Get out early Sunday then scope out some museums: It will be a muggy, hot day and storms arrive in the afternoon.

Scattered showers shouldn't wash out your Memorial Day plans, so just bring your rain gear to a parade or BBQ feast.

Welcome to Memorial Day! Got an extra day off? Congratulations! There are parades, concerts and more in D.C., but also it's such a good chance to take a day trip even if you stayed in town for the weekend.

As 2018 (slowly but surely) rolls into summer, here are some fun things to keep in mind:

Remembrances, Memorials and Celebrations

Rolling Thunder

9 a.m.-3 p.m.; various locations including National Mall and Arlington National Cemetery

The rally's organizers say they aim to honor the more than 85,000 prisoners of war or people missing in action. Events happened all weekend, with plenty more set for Monday. You can head down to the National Mall to see bikers roaring through "Thunder Alley" (aka Constitution and 22nd streets NW) throughout the day. Monday's schedule also includes a wreath-laying at Arlington National Cemetery and an annual observance at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. See details here.

National Memorial Day Parade

Monday, 2 p.m., downtown

The largest Memorial Day parade in the county honors fallen soldiers from all American wars, from the Revolution to Iraq and Afghanistan. The parade will travel along Constitution Avenue between 17th and 7th streets NW. Get there early for a good seat. You can also stream the parade online.

Rockville Hometown Holidays Music Festival & Memorial Day Parade

Through Monday, Rockville

Take in the Rockville Concert Band and a Memorial Day ceremony before the annual parade in downtown Rockville. Planners say more than 20,000 are expected to attend this year.

DC Black Pride 2018

All weekend, various venues

Liberation DC is hosting events at clubs and hotels across the city. All-weekend passes start at $80, while cover charges for individual events run about $10.

Old Rag

This mountain in Shenandoah is a challenge  but a rewarding one. Here's our guide of do's and don'ts to taking the hike. (Important: Bring water and show up early!)

Do's and Don'ts: Hiking Old Rag Trail in Shenandoah National Park

Virginia Day Trips

Whether you're feeling like a trip to Kings Dominion, want to hike Great Falls or descend into Luray Caverns, there's lots of great day trips in the commonwealth:

Top 10 Virginia Day Trips for Spring

Maryland Day Trips

Explore a new-to-you spot in Maryland: Ride the Capital Wheel at National Harbor, hop on the mountain coaster in the Deep Creek Lake area, or stroll and shop your way through Annapolis or Frederick. Find ideas for Maryland trips here:

Top 10 Maryland Day Trips for Spring

New Jersey

Really pumped to visit somewhere new? Here's our top picks in New Jersey:

15 New Jersey Towns Perfect for a Summery Getaway

Swimming

We know heading to the shore can be a traffic nightmare. So we've rounded up the places you can go without suffering the Bay Bridge:

10 Places to Swim If You Want to Avoid Bay Bridge Traffic

Art and Exhibits

Pike and Rose's "The Beach"

Open daily, Rockville

Now open for summer, a parking lot at Pike & Rose has transformed (via 250 tons of sand) into a staycation destination. Check out our preview here:

This summer, 250 tons of sand will transform a parking lot at Pike & Rose into a staycation destination.

World's Biggest Bounce House

Through Monday, Fort Washington, Maryland

Is this REALLY the world's largest bounce house? We'd like to find out. Tickets range from $9 to $25.

ARTECHOUSE

All weekend, Southwest Waterfront

A one-of-a-kind experience from Paris has made its way to the District. Through June 30, art lovers have the chance to dance, celebrate and immerse themselves in the wonders of light.

Immersive Art Exhibit Celebrates the Wonders of Light

Alexander Hamilton: Soldier, Secretary, Icon

Through March 3, National Postal Museum

If you didn't have the staying power to snag tickets to "Hamilton" at the Kennedy Center, explore the National Postal Museum's dive into the life of the former secretary of the Treasury.

Outbreak: Epidemics in a Connected World

Through 2021, National Museum of Natural History

You have plenty of time to check this one out, but the new exhibit digs into the science of spreading disease through case studies.
Facing another seasonal worker shortage this summer, a Maine resort has completely given up on applying for foreign worker visas and is finding success recruiting in Puerto Rico.

"It's really a win-win," said Sebasco Resort owner Bob Smith. "We need staff ... and they need opportunities."

His seaside resort in Phippsburg hired six people from Puerto Rico last year. This summer, that number has more than doubled.

Unlike many other New England businesses in the tourism industry, his staffing levels are in "good shape" heading into their busiest season.

"I love it here," said maintenance worker Luis Morales. He enjoyed his experience working in Maine so much that he recruited several friends from his hometown of Comerio, Puerto Rico, to work at Sebasco.

"He said, 'If you want to see one of the most beautiful places in the USA, you can come with me to Maine,'" said Jose Burgos while he worked with Morales sanding a deck Tuesday.

Both Burgos and Morales said the wages are better in Maine, and they enjoyed the scenery and fresh air. Back home, their communities are struggling to rebuild after Hurricane Maria.

"Everybody in Puerto Rico needs help," said Burgos. "It's too hard to be there at this time."

For employers like Smith, it's much easier to hire help from U.S. citizens from Puerto Rico. Smith said he gave up on the H2B foreign worker visa program, and knows fellow business owners who relied on it are in trouble, now that the visa program has hit its cap.

Hiring workers locally has also been a challenge. This spring, the unemployment rate in Maine hit a record low at 2.7 percent.

"We've done job fairs, we've worked with the department of labor, we've done everything we can to find people locally to fill these jobs but it's not enough to meet those needs," said Smith.

The positions pay well: between $12-$15 per hour. Smith said it's so vital to fill them that he is paying for some workers from Puerto Rico to fly to and from Maine for the summer. Once they arrive, they have housing and meals at the resort.

"I think it's a good gig," said Smith.

Burgos and Morales agree.

"I want to say to all the people in Puerto Rico, if they want to find a beautiful place to live, or a beautiful place to work, come to Maine," said Burgos. "You can find new people, new seasons, and the beautiful beaches here."
A 6-week-old baby girl who was brought to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center with severe injuries last week died Monday morning, according to police.

Police identified the baby as Emily Babilonia. Her injuries included cranial bleeding, bruising to the brain, bruising on both sides of her jaw and rib fractures, according to police and court paperwork. She had been placed on life support, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

She was pronounced dead at 9:40 a.m. Monday, according to police, and the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner will conduct an autopsy.

Police arrested the parents, 23-year-old Edwin Babilonia and 20-year-old Ashley Perez, of Hartford, on Friday and prosecutors called the case "heinous."

The investigation started when police responded to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center on Thursday to investigate and officers spoke with Perez, who said the baby was unusual throughout the night.

The court paperwork is redacted but it says Perez told them she woke up around 3 a.m. and the baby would not stop crying, so she and Babilonia took turns passing the baby back and forth to try to calm her down and the baby fell back to sleep around 4 a.m.

Then the baby woke up again at 6 a.m., so Perez tried to reach the pediatrician, but no appointments were available until 12:30 p.m., so they brought her to Connecticut Childrens Medical Center.

Because of the severity of the babys injuries, police brought the parents to the police station to interview them.

Perez told police that the baby was crying and she thought she was hungry. After several attempts to calm the infant down, Edwin Babilonia told Perez to give him the baby, but he was holding her awkwardly and dropped her, according to police paperwork.

As the baby cried and screamed, Edwin Babilonia grabbed her and took her to the bathroom and turned on the faucet, Perez said, according to police. Then she heard choking and gargling and Babilonia said to keep calm and shut up. Then, Perez said, she heard a thud and crying.

When Edwin Babilonia came out of the bathroom, he handed the baby to Perez and went to sleep, the court paperwork says.

The baby was limp and wheezing and Perez said she put her in the crib, watched her for a few minutes and then went to sleep. When she woke up again, they called the pediatrician, then got into the car to bring the baby to the hospital, according to court records.

On the ride over, they discussed what they were going to tell the doctors and police and she claimed Edwin Babilonia told her to lie and not blame him, according to Perezs account in the incident report.

Edwin Babilonia initially said Perez had abused the baby on several occasions, but police confronted him about inconsistencies in the statements and he confessed to accidentally dropping the baby and washing her face, according to police.

Then he said he woke Perez, told her the baby was not right and they needed to go to the hospital and she told him to wait for the pediatrician, but then they brought her to the hospital, according to police.

In an interview on Friday morning, police said the babys injuries appeared to have happened over several days.

The baby is a twin and the twin is in custody of the state Department of Children and Families after being evaluated.

Edwin Babilonia and Perez were initially charged with risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons. Officials said neither parent had a prior record and that officials from DCF said they had no prior involvement with the family.

Police have also charged Edwin Babilonia and Perez with first-degree assault and protective orders have been issued. They are due back in court on June 8.

The Hartford Police Department is working with the Connecticut State's Attorney's Office to determine appropriate charges following the child's death.

Edwin Babilonia's attorney said his client claims the kids were having trouble sleeping and the injuries were accidental.
A woman is dead after a stabbing that happened Monday evening in Lawrence, Massachusetts, according to police.

Lawrence police responded to 41 Doyle Street in the Tower Hill section of the city around 5 p.m. after receiving a 911 call from a third party who said his friend called him requesting an ambulance.

Upon arrival, authorities found a husband and wife both suffering from stab wounds in what appears to be a domestic violence incident.

Both the man in his early 30s and the woman in her late 20s were taken to Lawrence General Hospital and then transferred to Boston area hospitals. The woman died from her injuries. The man was undergoing surgery late Monday night for his injuries. There was no update on his condition.

Neither has been identified.

This incident is under investigation.

No other information was immediately available.
An independent oversight group wants an audit of the medical contractor that provides services to Maine's youth detention center.

The Bangor Daily News reports that the Board of Visitors for the Long Creek Youth Development Center called for the review of Tennessee-based Correct Care Solutions.

Tonya DiMillo, the board chairwoman, wrote in the most recent annual report that are "serious safety and quality concerns" despite the best efforts of staff.

Joseph Jackson of the Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition said Correct Care has been under fire for years because of ongoing complaints.

The request for an audit comes as Correct Care and the Maine Department of Corrections are accused of denying emergency medical care to an 11-year-old boy. A lawsuit accuses correction officers of knocking out the boy's teeth.
A person was hit and killed by an MBTA Commuter Rail train Tuesday in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

The commuter rail confirmed earlier that service was delayed on the Framingham/Worcester Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail due to police activity.

Transit police announced at 4 p.m. that a person had died after being struck on the tracks. Foul play was not suspected.

Police in Wellesley say they are working with transit police to investigate the incident on the tracks near the intersection of Central Street and Weston Road.

All trains on the line were expected to experience delays.

No further information was immediately available.
Many students at Massachusetts Institute of Technology are nervous after seeing a string or recent assaults on women who have connections to the MIT community.

The most recent incident happened at an MIT fraternity house, when a burglar allegedly assaulting a woman who was sleeping.

It happened around 5:30 Sunday morning at the Phi Kappa Theta house on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston.

Police say a woman sleeping woke up to a man touching her leg.

A brother of the fraternity did not want to talk to NBC10 Boston about the disturbing incident, but investigators say the suspect ran away using the back stairs.

This campus isnt as safe as I thought it would be, MIT freshman Kendall Yu said.

Yu is one of many students sharing that sentiment after the recent string of assaults this month on women connected to MIT.

"There are these things that are coming out a lot recently but for me it's just kind of been there the whole time," said another MIT student.



In the early hours of May 19, a woman says she was raped at the Theta Delta Chi fraternity house on Memorial Drive in Cambridge.

On May 5, a woman said she was sexually assaulted at a party in a dorm. According to MIT Police, the victim was talking to the suspect at that party. She then woke up next to the suspect with no memory of how she got there.

Some students at MIT say they wish the university would do more to raise awareness and prevent sexual assaults.

It kind of happens a lot, just not everyone reports it, one student said.

MIT Police are still investigating all three incidents.
The US Coast Guard has suspended their search for a missing teen kayaker in Old Saybrook that began after a boater found an overturned kayak Monday afternoon.

USCG officials said they were searching 18-year-old William Zadrozny after the capsized kayak was found at the mouth of the Connecticut River between the two break walls around 4:55 p.m.

Keith Williams, of the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection's environmental conservation police, said they found Zadrozny's car in the parking lot of North Cove and believe he left from there at some point early Monday afternoon.

Crews searched for approximately 24 hours. The search was suspended indefinitely Tuesday evening pending new information.

After working with our port partners to search extensively throughout the night and today, weve made the difficult decision to suspend the search, said Cmdr. Andrew Ely, chief of response, Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound in a statement. The decision to suspend is never made lightly, and our hearts go out to the family and friends of William Zadrozny.



Officials said they are in contact with his family. Zadrozny is believed to have been wearing work boots, a gray and yellow jacket and jeans.

A personal flotation device and fishing gear were found attached to the kayak, Williams said. It is a state law to wear a lifejacket while on a paddlecraft from October 1 through May 31.

While the air temperatures have been warm, water temperatures are in the mid-50s, officials said.

Old Saybrook police said 10 mutual aid fire agencies were searching a 10-nautical mile radius for Zadrozny.

We are searching in the Connecticut River and we are also searching outside the mouth of the Connecticut River, both to the east and the west. Were searching with boats, with a helicopter, and with a plane, Andrew Ely, of the Coast Guard, said.

We are covering the area thoroughly, looking all along the shoreline, looking at any buoys or any other things that float that maybe he could be hanging onto, he added.

This incident is not related to the search for two missing boaters in Groton, fire officials confirmed.
The search has been suspended for two friends who went missing after sailing off the coast of Connecticut Sunday and Coast Guard officials found the boat the two were traveling near Greenport, New York.

Spencer Mugford, 21, and Sofia McKenna, 20, were last seen off the coast of Avery Point in Groton on Snapchat at 2 a.m. Sunday, state police Trooper Kelly Grant said, and the search began after the two were overdue to return.

They were in a boat that had been donated to the UConn campus at Avery Point, Andrew Ely, of the U.S. Coast Guard, said during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Spencer is a UConn student, according to Keith Williams, of Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Environmental Conservation Police.

The Coast Guard, along with state and local agencies, searched 2,025 square-miles for 71 hours before suspending the search.

U.S. Coast Guard Commander Andrew Ely said search crews found a 14-foot white and blue sailboat with no mast on Truman Beach, near Greenport, New York on Monday afternoon. Ely said officials believe this is the vessel the pair was on when they went missing. The boat was empty when it was found.

So the waters here are in the low 50s, and if a persons immersed in waters like this they probably have less than 20 hours of what we would consider survival time if they dont have a life jacket with them, Cmdr. Andrew Ely, chief of response, Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound said.

Suspending a search for missing or overdue boaters is never an easy decision to make after an extensive search, Ely said. We search for every person as if we are searching for one of our own. We extend our deepest condolences to the family and friends of Spencer Mugford and Sophia McKenna.

Officials initially believed Mugford and McKenna were on a two-person paddleboard because of a Snapchat Sofias mother, Michelle McKenna, received. It was only after officials saw another image that they were able to determine it was a small sailing hull.

Im praying theyre still alive, Michelle McKenna, said.

Miracles do happen, maybe somebodys already found them. I dont know. But we got to keep faith, she said.

Mugford was reported to be wearing a blue tank top and salmon colored shorts.

A helicopter crew from Coast Guard Air Station Cape Cod in Massachusetts and a 45-foot Response Boat from Coast Guard Station New London launched and were part of the search. The Coast Guard brought in a fixed-wing plane to search. State police and DEEP also had boats in the water assisting with the search.

Anyone with information is requested to please contact the Coast Guard Sector Long Island Sound command center at 203-468-4401.

Coast Guard officials encourage everyone to wear a lifejacket when on the water. Ely also suggested bringing a marine radio rather than a cell phone because cell service is not guaranteed out on the water and phones might not work properly when wet.

Editors note: Officials initially thought the missing boaters were on a two-person paddleboard, but later determined their vessel was actually a small sailboat. The story above has been updated to reflect that information.
Thirteen people were arrested at a U.S. Customs and Border Protection checkpoint on Interstate 93 in the middle of New Hampshire on Memorial Day, authorities confirmed.

They were taken into custody at an immigration checkpoint on I-93 in Woodstock for immigration law violations, a Border Patrol spokesperson said.

The identities of those arrest, their countries of origin and their specific charges were not released.

Border Patrol spokesperson Stephanie Malin said U.S. law allows agents to set up "critical" checkpoints away from the border to interrogate, arrest and collect evidence.

Border Patrol "is committed to the fair, impartial and respectful treatment of all members of the trade and traveling public, and policy prohibits the consideration of race or ethnicity in law enforcement, investigation, and screening activities, in all but the most exceptional circumstances," Malin said in a statement.

The Union Leader reports that 16 arrests made by police and Border Patrol agents last summer in Woodstock were unconstitutional.

Plymouth District Court Judge Thomas Rappa reportedly said the searches against those arrested were done in violation of the New Hampshire Constitution. Those searches yielded mostly possession of small amounts of marijuana.


For smokers and former smokers, the threat of lung cancer always lurks in the shadows.

To flush it out of the darkness, some decide to get their lungs scanned by a CT machine, which can find a tumor early enough to stop it  or set off a false alarm that turns out to be nothing.

Others may avoid the scans, or don't know they should have one, even though they are the type of person who has the most to gain from screening, according to official recommendations in effect for the last five years.

Now, a new study shows how to personalize the lung cancer screening decision for every patient. The results could help doctors fine-tune their advice to patients, so that it's based not just on a patient's individual lung cancer risk and the potential benefits and harms of screening, but also on a likely range of patient attitudes about looking for problems and dealing with the consequences.

Published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, the study forms the backbone for new free online decision tools aimed at physicians and their teams, and at members of the public.

The tool for clinicians, called Lung Decision Precision, was designed by a University of Michigan and Veterans Affairs team to help clinicians talk with patients and their loved ones about whether to a lung CT scan might be a good idea for them.

The same team has also launched a website for patients and their loved ones, www.shouldiscreen.com, that gives easy-to-understand information about the positives and potential negatives of lung cancer screening, and allows individuals to calculate their personal risk of lung cancer.

Tanner Caverly, M.D., M.P.H., led the team that did the new computer-based simulation analysis using data from major studies of lung cancer screening, and national data on the potential screening population under the current guidelines.

"Our model is built on a comprehensive view of net benefits for individual patients, which incorporates the best evidence for personalizing the pros and cons of screening and assumes that not all patients will feel the same about screening and its consequences," explains Caverly, an assistant professor in the Division of General Medicine and Department of Learning Health Sciences at the U-M Medical School. "This allows us to identify which patients are in the preference-sensitive zone for the decision about screening, and which ones have a very clear potential benefit to them."

Any person with an annual chance of lung cancer between 0.3 percent and 1.3 percent, and a life expectancy of more than 10 years, falls into that latter high-benefit category, he notes. This accounts for about 50 percent of all Americans who qualify for screening under the current guidelines.

But for most of the rest, their personal preferences should play a large role in determining if they should get screened. For instance, this might include how much they dislike getting medical tests in general, how they feel about the potential unintended consequences of looking for a problem when they feel fine, and how they view the process of having to get follow-up scans and lung biopsies if the screening scan shows something suspicious.

In fact, for them personal preference is more important to their decision than the false-positive rate for lung CT screening (which outnumber true cancers 25 to 1), and the negative impacts of being over-treated for a lung cancer that was not highly dangerous.

At the same time, people who fall into the potential pool of screening candidates but have a short life expectancy and a low risk of lung cancer should not be screened.

The model could help physicians prepare for conversations with patients about lung screening, customized to the patient in front of them.

"If a physician is not clear about the potential benefit for a patient who's in the high-benefit zone, they could miss an opportunity to do something really good for them, to say, 'I don't recommend this for everyone but I recommend it for you'," Caverly says. "But coming across strong for screening with a patient who has a fine balance of pros and cons could miss an opportunity to give them a choice, to tell them that their decision depends on the kind of person they are."

While the study looked specifically at the evidence around lung cancer screening, its authors note that the underlying analytical method could lead to personalized health decision tools for other situations.

Looking at lungs

The researchers focused on lung cancer -- the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women  because of the recent move to encourage certain smokers and former smokers between the ages of 55 and 80 to get screened for it.

A major study published in 2011 showed that some members of this group could survive longer if they had CT screening to find the earliest signs of lung cancer, which is diagnosed in more than 230,000 Americans every year.

Two years later, a national panel recommended it for people between the ages of 55 and 80 who had been or still were heavy smokers (an average of a pack of cigarettes a day for 30 years, who currently smoke or quit less than 15 years ago).

The recommendation comes with exceptions, even among this group, including patients whose overall health meant they have a life expectancy of less than 10 years, and those who aren't strong enough to withstand lung surgery if a scan shows signs of cancer.

Now, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which made the initial recommendation, is preparing to revisit its guidance on this topic.

Caverly and his colleagues  including senior author Rafael Meza, Ph.D., who is coordinating principal investigator of the Cancer Intervention and Surveillance Modeling Network (CISNET) lung group that did the decision modeling that supports the current Task Force recommendations -- hope their new study will inform that process. Meza is an associate professor in the U-M School of Public Health.

They're studying how the online tool can be used by physicians and the medical team members who assist with screening. They're also thinking about whether it could be included in the online systems that patients use to communicate with their clinic ahead of an appointment, and the clinical reminder tools that prompt physicians to talk with patients about preventive services that might be right for them.

The physician-focused tool produces a colorful display that places the individual patient somewhere along a green and yellow line. If a patient is deep in the yellow, they likely have a small but non-zero benefit with screening and screening will depend highly on patient views.

The closer they fall to the divide between green and yellow, the more likely it is that screening will benefit them. And if they're deep in the green zone, the physician should encourage them more strongly to get screened. The site generates other visual representations, and handouts for patients and their spouse or other loved one.

The team, including co-author Rodney Hayward, M.D., of General Medicine and the VA Ann Arbor Healthcare System and Pianpian Cao, doctoral student in Epidemiology, hopes to test the model's usefulness for other types of health services that are used by many people and have good data available about their benefits, risks and patient preferences.

This includes cancer screening, disease prevention, chronic disease management approaches and more.

"This method can incorporate anything that moves the needle on risk and benefit, and that involves patient preferences about time, dollars and worry," Caverly explains. "As a clinician I'd like to have this for many of the things I do, where it would be meaningful to know how beneficial something could be for the individual patient, and we could talk about whether it's indicated for them."
New Delhi: Fortis Healthcare ton Tuesday initiated a fresh time-bound bidding process for its sale after terminating the offer made by the Munjal-Burman combine, in yet another twist in the race for the cash-strapped healthcare chain.

The deadline for submitting fresh binding bids has been set at June 14, Fortis Healthcare said on Tuesday, a day after the Munjal-Burman combine had given their consent to re-open the bidding process.

After it started the process to seek buyers for its business in late March, Fortis Healthcare elicited good response from potential bidders, with some of them making competing offers, before the board accepted the offer by the Munjal-Burman combine.

In a regulatory filing on Tuesday, Fortis Healthcare said its board has decided to initiate a fresh, time-bound process to optimise the short and long term interests of the company as well as its shareholders.

After its two-day meeting that began on Monday, Fortis board decided to invite three entities that had put in binding offers  Munjal-Burman combine, TPG-Manipal consortium, and Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad  to participate in the fresh bidding process subject to certain conditions.

This decision has been taken based on the suitability of the offers evaluated earlier. The three entities would have to confirm adherence to the new bidding process by May 31 while other interested parties are required to submit an Expression of Interest (EoI) by the same date.

As per the latest timeline, binding bids should be submitted on June 14 between 8.30 am to 9.30 am.

"Munjal-Burman consortium's offer accepted by the board (of Fortis) on May 10, 2018 stands mutually terminated," the filing said.

Under the offer that was earlier accepted by the Fortis board, Munjal-Burman combine was to invest Rs 1,800 crore.

Fortis Healthcare said EoIs submitted by new bidders would be evaluated on the basis of various factors, including their financing capability, ability to consummate the transaction in a timely manner as well as requisite internal and external approvals.

Shortlisting of new bidders would be completed by June 1 and there would be a 10-day due diligence period before the deadline for binding offers ends on June 14.

As per the fresh criteria, the buyers have to make a minimum investment of Rs 1,500 crore into Fortis Healthcare by way of preferential allotment apart from having a plan for funding the acquisition of RHT Health Trust (RHT) and a plan for providing exit to private equity investors of diagnostic arm SRL.

Among others, the bids should be unconditional as well as mention about the source of funds for the transaction and elaborate on the plans for retention of current management and employees.

Last week, Fortis board was reconstituted after shareholders had voted out its director Brian Tempest, who was among the four directors whose removal was sought by two institutional investors.

Three other directors  Harpal Singh, Sabina Vaisoha and Tejinder Singh Shergill  had resigned ahead of an Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM) on May 22. During the meeting, shareholders voted out Tempest.

Interestingly, these four directors were among those who had favoured the binding offer made by Munjal-Burman combine.

Earlier this month, both Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhard and Manipal-TPG combine extended the deadline for the Fortis Healthcare board to accept their revised offers.

The shortlisted bidders would have 10 days for financial and legal due diligence. They would also have an opportunity to interact with the management and advisors who have conducted vendor due diligence (VDD) for the company. This would be subject to the bidders entering into a non-disclosure agreement with the company.

The bidders would also have access to Fortis Healthcare's unaudited balance sheet details with schedules as on March 31, 2018 and an update on the status of major litigations and ongoing investigations.

Following the board revamp, Suvalaxmi Chakraborty, Ravi Rajagopal and Indrajit Banerjee have joined as independent directors.
Billionaire Sunil Mittal, chairman of Bharti Airtel, is likely to put in over USD 1 billion in son-in-law Sharan Pasrichas Ennismore hospitality properties in London, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Mittal, who heads Indias biggest mobile-phone operator, will be drawing the proceeds from a unit of Mittals Bharti Group that handles the founding familys wealth. The investment will fund acquisitions by Pasrichas Ennismore, a developer that owns the Gleneagles resort and Hoxton hotel chain expanding in the US and Europe.

The influx will be aiding Pasricha in setting up new hotels in urban areas in US. and European cities. Hoxton is known for its casual atmosphere and affordable rates. The chain currently operates two hotels in the London neighbourhoods of Shoreditch and Holborn and one each in Amsterdam and Paris.

Pasricha, before venturing into the hotel business ran a media startup, followed by a leather-goods factory and private equity. The billionaire son-in-law acquired the first Hoxton in Shoreditch, an east London neighbourhood known for street art. The second in Holborn in 2014 was followed by Amsterdam in 2015 and Paris in 2017.

According to the official website, Hoxton is developing hotels in New York Citys neighborhood of Williamsburg, Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon, with plans to start opening some of them this year. By 2020, the firm expects to add locations in Chicago, San Francisco and in Londons Southwark and Shepherds Bush.

Ennismore also acquired the 232-room Gleneagles resort in Scotland in 2015 and is planning a new chain called NoCo  a budget hotel format it is positioning as less boring  to open its first location in 2019.


Lucknow: Thunderstorm and lightning struck parts of Uttar Pradesh, claiming ten lives and leaving five others injured, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

As many as six persons were killed and three others injured in Unnao district last night, Principal Secretary, Information, Avinish Awasthi said. There are reports of two persons each being killed in thunderstorm in Kanpur and Rae Bareli, he said.

The incidents also left some hutments damaged in Unnao and Rae Bareli districts. Respective district magistrates have been directed to undertake rescue works and ensure distribution of relief in 24 hours, Awasthi added.

DM Unnao, Ravikumar said while two deaths were caused due to lightning others died in incidents of house collapse and uprooting of trees and electric poles. Movement of traffic on the main Hardoi-Unnao road was hit because of uprooted trees which were later removed, the DM said, adding that life has been adversely affected in several parts of the district because of the thunderstorm.

The Met department had warned that thunderstorm/duststorm were likely at isolated places over eastern parts of the state on Monday night. They have warned that rain or thunderstorm are very likely at isolated places on the state in the next two days.

Thunderstorm has left a spate of destruction this month claiming several lives. On May 2-3, a storm had killed 134 people and injured over 400 in five states and Uttar Pradesh was the worst affected, accounting for 80 deaths, most of them in Agra district.

Meanwhile, news agency ANI reported that 12 people died and 28 were injured after thunderstorm hit different parts of Jharkhand, while 17 were killed in Bihar.

Principal Secretary of Bihar Disaster Management Department Pratyaya Amrit said, "CM Nitish Kumar has ordered to give an ex-gratia of Rs 4 lakh each to the kin of those who lost their lives in the massive thunderstorm on Monday night. Efforts are being made to complete the process on Tuesday itself."
New Delhi: The suspense over the new Solicitor General of India keeps growing.

While this coveted position of the law officer has been vacant for more than six months now, it seems not even one official meeting has taken place to pick the new SG, nor have the names been shortlisted till date.

The position of SG is vacant since November 1, 2017 after senior advocate Ranjit Kumar resigned from the post, citing personal reasons.

But a response from the Union Law Ministry to an RTI application now indicates that no formal steps have been taken to find his replacement even after six months.

Replying to an RTI application by CNN-News18, the Law Ministry has said it has no information about the meetings conducted to select the new SG or the names of the lawyers in the zone of consideration.

Further, the Ministry has stated that no information is available with it regarding the lawyers who have either turned down the position or those who have sought to stake claim to the top post.

The RTI response has also maintained that the Law Ministry, which notifies the appointments of the law officers in the country, has no information about when can one expect the post to be filled up.

This reply had only added to the mystery over the new SG even as the position has been vacant for one of the longest periods by any government.

It is a rare instance when the post of SG is not filled up after a resignation by an incumbent has come through.

The names of the law officers, including the SG, is approved by the Appointments Committee of Cabinet (ACC).

Sources tell CNN-News18 that the government has been in a fix over appointing the new SG.

It needs to decide whether to appoint one of the current Additional Solicitors General (ASGs) as the SG or to pick some other senior lawyer.

On the question of elevating one of its ASGs, sources in the government add, there has been an issue of seniority among the ASGs while a veteran lawyer, who was sought as a neutral choice, turned down the offer around three months ago.

The Law Ministry's RTI response has however made it very clear that the government is yet to resort to official steps for making the appointment while a very significant position remains unoccupied.
The CBSE Board will publish CBSE 10th Result 2018, CBSE Class 10 Result 2018 today at 13:20 pm. To check out the upcoming CBSE 10th Result 2018, all the candidates are asked to login to the official website of department i.e. cbse.nic.in, cbseresults.nic.in. The Board conducted the CBSE 10th examination from March 5 - April 4. Students can get their Class 10 result directly to their Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the Internet on that day using Microsoft's "SMS Organizer".

LIVE UPDATES

13:20 pm CBSE 10TH RESULT DECLARED

12:40 pm CBSE 10th Class Result | If the official website fails to open the Students can check their Class 10 result on these websites as well

12:30 pm CBSE 10th Result 2018 | Know What the Board has to tell you

12:00 Noon CBSE Class 10 Result | The pass percentage of government-aided schools in Delhi this year was 82.79 as against 80.32 in 2017. The pass percentage of private schools was 88.35 this year as compared to last year's was 84.20.

The pass percentage of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya was 99.17 this year as compared to last year's 97.04. Kendriya Vidyalayas had a pass percentage of 98.06 this year as compared to last year's 96.59.

11:55 am: CBSE class 10 results | This year's batch is the first batch to appear for the Class 10 board examinations after the CBSE decided to junk the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and reintroduce the board exams. Over 16 lakh students appeared for Class 10 exams this year.

11:45 am: CBSE Class 10th Result 2018 | As the CBSE declared Class 12 results on May 26, Delhi was third in terms of pass percentage after Thiruvananthapuram and Chennai. The overall pass percentage was 83.01 per cent as against last year's 82.02 per cent. The best performing region was Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala with a pass percentage of 97.32. Chennai region's pass percentage was second best at 93.87, while Delhi's pass percentage was 89. Last year, Delhi's pass percentage was 88.37.Girls outshone boys in the Delhi region as well with a pass percentage of 93.19 as against boys' 84.93.

11:40 am: CBSE Result 2018 | As many as 110 cases of students resorting to unfair means were reported during the Class 12 Board exams this year, the CBSE said today. Last year, the number stood at 119. Guwahati saw the maximum number of such cases -32, an increase from last year's 27. It was followed by the national capital that saw 19 such cases, an increase from last year when eight such cases were reported, the Board said. Panchkula was at the third spot where 16 such cases were reported.

11:30 am: CBSE Class 10 Result 2018 | The Delhi police has sent to the CBSE a list of students who had allegedly received the leaked class 10 mathematics and class 12 economics question papers after the board sought it from the crime branch, an official privy to the probe said. A senior Crime Branch officer said the CBSE had requested them to provide details of students who had received the leaked papers. Last week, the police sent an investigation report to the board mentioning the names of over 60 students, he said, adding, these students were quizzed by the Crime Branch while it was probing the case.

11: 25 am: What After Checking Your CBSE Class X Board Results 2018 | After checking your Class 10 Results, you can also choose to download a soft copy of the results or take a printout of the mark sheet from the exam results website.

11:15 am: CBSE Class 10th Result 2018 | Chech the result via IVR: An IVR system will allow you to access your results via a call which is charged at 30p per minute for every roll number.

11:05 am: CBSE 10th Result 2018 | Candidates need to follow the following steps to check their CBSE Board Result 2018

Log on to the official website cbseresults.nic.in, cbse.nic.in

Search for the name like, CBSE 10th Result 2018, CBSE Class X Examination 2018

Click on that link

Enter Roll Number, Date of Birth

You will see your CBSE Board Result 2018, save it and take a printout.

10:52 am: CBSE class X Board Results | The students can check theor Class 10th Result on Official School Websites. If you are still not sure of your results till you receive it from your school, then you can also access your school's websites which may post it.

10: 45 am: CBSE Board Class 10th Result 2018 | In a first ever move, students had access to an observation system which will allow them to give feedback on the question paper within 24 hours of giving the exam. This feedback was considered by the group responsible for the marking scheme of the class X board exams 2018.

10:40 am: CBSE Result 2018 for 10th Class | Science: The most sought-after course in after the Class 10 boards, the main subjects are Physics, Chemistry and Math. Students then have to make a choice between Computer Science and Biology, based on their preference. Choosing the science stream leads to career options like engineering and the medical field

10: 30 am: CBSE 10th Result 2018 | There is a lot of thought that goes into selecting the right stream and each candidate faces doubts over whether to go with their favourite subject, choose their major strength, or work based on their future goals. Peer and parental pressure also play a major part in this choice.

10:15 am: Class 10 CBSE Result 2018 | After a span of 7 years, the Central Board of Education has made the 10th board examination compulsory.

10:10 am: CBSE 10th Result 2018 | Anoushka Chandra, who stood second in the CBSE Class 12 examination with a score of 498 out of 500, is still to come to terms with her achievement. Chandra, a student of Seth Anandram Jaipuria School in Ghaziabad, told PTI, "I can't put it into words. Yes, we had thought that results would be good. Being the all-India second topper has been the best moment of my life. We have not decided how we will celebrate this moment."

10:00 am: CBSE Class 10th Result 2018 | Meet CBSE Class 12th topper Meghna Srivastava, who has topped the CBSE Class 12 examination, is a fan of thriller series, loves baking cakes to beat stress and looks up to Meghan Markle. She topped the CBSE Class 12 examination by getting 99.8%. She secured 499 marks out of 500.

9:45 am: CBSE Result 2018 | DTC Driver's Son Prince Kumar Tops CBSE Class 12 Exam in Science Stream. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia congratulated Kumar and said that it was a "very proud moment" for him.

9:40 am: The CBSE Board declared the Class 12th Result May 26 at 12:19 pm

9:30 am: Class 10 CBSE Result 2018 | As students are waiting anxiously for their Class 10 Result. Students can read List of Websites to Check Result

9:15 am: CBSE Class 10th Result 2018 | This year the class X exams are to be mandatory after a gap of 7 years.

9:00 am: CBSE Board Result 2018 | Brief Details about the Board ahead of CBSE 10th Result 2018 Name of Department- Central Board of Secondary Education. Name of Examination- CBSE 10th Board Exams 2018. Releasing Date - 30th May 2018 (Tentative). Official Website- cbseresults.nic.in

8:55 am: CBSE 10th Result 2018 | Students can calculate their Class 10 result grae percentage following these steps - calculating your CGPA is not altogether essential since it is mentioned on the mark sheet and report card, but if you want to calculate your CGPA, you can follow the process below:

Get the grade points for the five main subjects. For example , subject 1: 8, subject 9, subject 3: 10, subject 4: 9, and subject 5: 8 Add these together. For example, 8+9+10+9+8 Divide the cumulative figure by 5. For example 44/5 = 8.8 Your CGPA is 8.8

To calculate your percentage, you have to multiple the same by 9.5. For example 8.8*9.5=83.6%

8: 40 am: CBSE Board Class 10 Result 2018 | The CBSE Board has issued a notification for its students ahead of Class 10 CBSE Result 2018. The School Education Secretary in HRD Ministry, Anil Swarup, took to the micro-blogging site Twitter and extended his best wishes to all the students eagerly waiting to check their CBSE Board Result 2018.

All the best to CBSE students of class 10. You have done your bit. Let not the results make you nervous because you have no control over them. You can't do anything now. You will reap the fruits of what you have sown. Be contented with what you get. And then, build your future  Anil Swarup (@swarup58) May 29, 2018

8:15 am: CBSE Class 10th Board Result 2018 | The CBSE Board Result 2018 notification was issued by the Anil Swarup on Monday at 2 pm.

Results of CBSE Class 10 examinations for 2017-18 to be declared by 4 pm on 29th of May, 2018  Anil Swarup (@swarup58) May 28, 2018

8:10 am: CBSE Result 2018 | For the typing error in CBSE 10th English paper, the CBSE Board has decided to give two marks to all those students who had appeared for the paper.

8:00 am: CBSE Board Result 2018 | Students who are waiting with much anticipation for their CBSE 10th Result 2018 can look up to these websites aswell bse.examresults.net , results.nic.in/index , results.gov.in

7:50 am: CBSE Class 10 Board Result 2018 | Candidates can check their class 10th result via SMS as well. The respective operator will charge at 50p per SMS, students can receive their CBSE Class 10th result 2018 on their phones with this service. In order to get your results through SMS, type CBSE10 (roll number) and send it only for 50 paise charge per message. CBSE has provided different numbers for different networks to send this message.

BSNL: 57766

57766 Aircel: 5800002

5800002 Idea: 54321, 51234

54321, 51234 Tata Teleservices: 5333300

5333300 Airtel: 54321202

54321202 NIC (National Informatics Centre): 9212357123

7:45 am: CBSE 10th Result 2018 | Students can get their Class 10 result for CBSE directly to their Android smartphones even if they are not connected to the Internet on that day using Microsoft's "SMS Organizer".

7:40 am: The Board will put out the CBSE 10th Result 2018 on its official website cbse.nic.in, cbseresults.nic.in

7:35 am: In 2018, 28.24 lakh students registered to appear for the CBSE board exams. Out of these, 16.38 lakh students (16,38,428) appeared for the class X boards and 11.86 lakh students (11,86,306) appeared for the class XII board exams in 2018.

7:30 am: CBSE Class 10 Result 2018 - This year the class X exams are to be mandatory after a gap of 7 years.

How to Check CBSE 10th Result 2018 via Roll Number?
New Delhi: Not one but four students topped the CBSE Class 10 examinations as the results were declared on Tuesday. One boy and three girls from different parts of the country scored a stellar 499 out of 500 marks in their Board examinations.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared the Class 10 board exam results on Tuesday. The overall pass percentage was 86.70.

This time as well, girls, with a pass percentage of 88.67, did better than the boys, who registered a pass percentage of 85.32.

Four students -- Prakhar Mittal of DPS Gurgaon, Rimzhim Agarwal of RP Public School, Bijnor, Nandini Garg of Scottish International School, Shamli and Sreelakshmi G of Bhavan's Vidyalaya, Kochi -- topped with 499 marks out of 500, the board announced.

While seven students secured the second position with 498 marks, 14 students bagged the third spot with a score of 497.

The top three performing regions are -- Thiruvananthapuram (pass percentage 99.60), Chennai (97.37) and Ajmer (91.86).

Delhi recorded a pass percentage of 78.62.

As many as 1,31,493 candidates secured 90 percent marks and above, while 27,426 candidates secured 95 percent marks and above, the board said.

The pass percentage for differently-abled students was 92.55, with Anushka Panda of Sun City, Gurgaon and Sanya Gandhi of Uttam School, Ghaziabad topping in the category by securing 489 marks out of 500. Somya Deep Pradhan of JNV, Dhanpur in Odisha bagged the second spot with a score of 484.

As many as 135 candidates in the differently-abled category secured 90 per cent marks and above, while 21 of them secured 95 per cent marks and above, the board said.

As many as 1,86,067 candidates got compartment.

The board exams this year were marred by controversy with question paper leaks being reported from Delhi-NCR and Jharkhand.

The HRD Ministry had decided against conducting a re-examination of the Class 10 mathematics paper in the "interest of students".

This was the first batch to appear for the Class 10 board examinations after the CBSE decided to junk the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) and reintroduce the board exams.

Over 16 lakh students had appeared for the Class 10 CBSE exams this year.
New Delhi: Former President and a career Congressman Pranab Mukherjee will speak on nationalism at an RSS event at Reshim Bagh in Nagpur in June.

Pranab is invited as the chief guest at the valedictory session of the Tritiya Varsh Varg or the Third Year Course organised by the RSS.

Mukherjee will focus on what is the real meaning of nationalism, he is expected to be slightly critical of the way the meaning of nationalism has been distorted to suit political ends.

Last year in October, while addressing the students of Aligarh Muslim University, on the bi-centenary celebration of the founder of Mohammedan Anglo Oriental College, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Mukherjee said that the attempts to redefine the concept of nationalism in India were not needed as Indian nationalism is not like the concept of European nation states.

He has been critical of the attempts made from time-to-time to redefine definitions of nationalism.

The Sangh leadership invites eminent people every year for the annual event held at its headquarters at Reshim Bagh in Nagpur.

We have invited the former President of India and in fact he has given his consent for participating in the program, RSS Akhil Bhartiya Prachar Pramukh Arun Kumar told News18.

It is a convention that the chief guest at the Tritiya Varg Varsh also gives the valedictory address to mark the culmination of yearly training programs run by the RSS.

The invite to Mukherjee, an avowed Congressman during his years in active politics, is being viewed with renewed interest in political circles.

A source close to Pranab Mukherjee played down the brewing controversy.

The day Pranab Mukherjee became the first citizen of the country he dissociated himself from active politics and any political ideology in his professional life, said a source close to Pranab.

"He (Pranab) met with RSS chief while being the president, he met the Congress chief, the BJP chief and several other organisations and those organisations in turn invited him. Out of mutual courtesy, he has accepted invitations from various organisations, including the RSS. So why so much attention only to RSS. Why wasnt there a question raised when he went to a function of Seva dal or any other organisation," said a source close to Pranab.

Former MP and Delhi Congress leader Sandeep Dikshit said as a Congress leader and minister, Mukherjee has spoken about the RSS and the BJP many times on various issues and dubbed it as "bad" and "worst" outfit, which is "communal" and "anti-national".

"Pranab Mukherjee used to say that the RSS is a bad and the worst organisation in the country. Its leaders have no morals and RSS is corrupt and spreads lies. He (Mukherjee) has also said that the RSS is anti-national, unpatriotic and communal.

"If the RSS has invited a person with such views, does this mean that the RSS admits that his (Pranab's) views about the organisation were correct," Dikshit asked.

Pranab Mukherjees participation in the RSS event is likely to cause some unease within the Congress, especially for a party which has maintained an arms distance from the organisation it has been fighting ideologically with since Independence.

Congress president Rahul Gandhi has minced no words about his partys stand on the RSS. In fact, he is currently facing a defamation suit for having allegedly accused the RSS of being responsible for Mahatma Gandhi's assassination.

While in office, Pranab Mukherjee had also invited RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat for lunch at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Mumbai: In a major catch, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has seized over 2.5 tonnes Tramadol tablets, containing psychotropic substance, used by ISIS terrorists to suppress pain and to overcome fatigue, from a factory in Palghar near here.

Tramadol, a painkiller, is abused all over the world by drug addicts.

It is used as an opioid mainly by terrorists of ISIS to suppress pain and fatigue, official sources said.

These seized tablets were meant for illegal export to the Middle East and some other countries, they said.

India recently brought the drug within the ambit of the Narcotic Drugs & Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act, 1985, making its production and sale without the approval of the Central Bureau of Narcotics, Gwalior, illegal.

Acting on intelligence, searches conducted yesterday by the DRI officials at the factory premises resulted in the recovery of Tramadol tablets and Tramadol powder, worth several crores of rupees in international drug market, an official statement issued today said.

Further searches conducted at a warehouse situated at Dronagiri, Raigad district, resulted in the recovery of 959 cartons containing 4,48,68,000 Tramadol tablets.

Thus, Tramadol tablets totally numbering 6,11,48,000 (2,708 kg or 2.7 tonnes) and 56.4 kgs Tramadol in powder form, which were manufactured and attempted to be cleared by the drug syndicate, were seized, it said.

The seized narcotics are worth at least Rs 50 crore in the international market.

The director of the factory and a chemist have admitted to their roles in the illegal manufacture of psychotropic substance in large quantity on behalf of a merchant exporter based in Haryana and were arrested, the DRI said in the statement.

Besides, a middleman, who had placed orders for such a huge quantity on behalf of the exporters and had paid him advance for procurement of raw materials, was also arrested, it said.
A 77-year-old UK couples dream holiday plans in India were shot down after authorities at Goa Airport refused to allow them in and sent them back on the same 10-hours long flight that the two had arrived on.

The couple, Ned Beercroft and his wife Margaret, were rejected entry into India due to a glitch in their Visas. The date of entry on the Visas had expired just five minutes before they checked into the country.

The error occurred due to the time difference between Goa and Gatwick (about 4 hours 30 minutes) the place where the couple flew from at 9.15 am on March 21. They only reached India at 00.05 am on March 22.

Since the date of arrival on their visas was for March 21, the couple were rejected entry into the country and sent back on the same 10-hour long flight that they had arrived on from Gatwick.

Both Ned and Margaret have allegedly been ill ever since the incident.

The couple has complained to the Indian Embassy about their ordeal but has not heard back from them yet, The Sun reported.

According to the report, the couple had allegedly splurged on a 2,000 holiday package in a hotel in Goa and they had to return without any refunds.

Its not good for anyone to be on a plane for that long, let alone when you get to our age. Why they had to send us home for the sake of five minutes on a piece of paper is beyond us. The hassled couple told The Sun.

The couple, who were both dyslexic, had got a friend to fill out the visa details online for them.

Weve wanted to go to India for ages, but were certainly not going back now, Ned, who is a retired moving man from Kent, asserted.
New Delhi: Just a day after 13 crucial bypolls ahead of the 2019 General Elections were marred by VVPAT glitches and allegations of EVM malfunctioning, Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat has said that the Commission has devised a strategy to counter such errors by training the polling staff and the district and state level training masters.

CEC also stated that there was no EVM malfunctioning and all VVPAT errors were due to the new machines handled by not adequately trained polling staff.

Four Lok Sabha seats and nine Assembly constituencies went for by polls on Monday across 10 states and this time, too, the Election Commission received complaints of EVM malfunctioning.

CEC, while dismissing any malfunctioning of EVMs, pointed out how the Commission is focusing more on maintenance of machines and training of staff to avoid such errors.

After the hiccups in the latest bypoll, the Commission has drawn a strategy to counter it. We have trained the state level master trainers. We will now train district level master trainers and all this will be done to reduce the number of man-made complaints. These are new machines and wherever new machines are used, due to lack of training and lack of maintenance, there are some errors in such situations, said the CEC.

CEC has also blamed the VVPAT glitches on the sensors placed on new machines which tend to not work properly when under heat and sunlight.

VVPAT was being used for the first time. There was training given and in spite of that there were some errors. There are sensors in these machines which often get affected by light and heat and since these are newly manufactured, some errors creep in. We had a stock of only 20,000 VVPAT machines, so on one hand these are new machines, and on the other hand training of polling staff has also been for the first time, said the CEC who also stated that earlier these machines were used only on pilot basis.

Rawat maintained that when the VVPAT was introduced on pilot basis in Punjab, failure rates were so high that the Commission thought that at least 50% reserved machines will be kept.

However, countering the allegation of mass EVM malfunctioning, the CEC stated that Mondays bypoll glitch was usual.

EVM Ballot units failure rate has been 0.75%, CU's failure rate was 0.81%, and VVPAT failure rate was around 11%. Earlier, when it was used on pilot basis in Punjab, Uttarakhand, Nagaland, etc has seen a failure rate of 8% to 10%, said the CEC.

The EVM-related complaints also came from UP's Noorpur Assembly seat, which has become another high-stake election in the state after a shock defeat suffered by the BJP during the earlier by-elections for Gorakhpur and Phulpur Lok Sabha seats -- the first vacated by UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Polling for Palghar and Bhandara-Gondia LS seats in Maharashtra was also marred by instances of alleged malfunctioning of EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs).
Samrala, Ludhiana: In a novel protest against the recent hike in fuel prices, farmers in Ludhiana deposited the keys to their tractors to the administration, claiming they cannot drive them anymore due to skyrocketing diesel prices.

Hundreds of farmers took to roads in the town of Samrala in Punjabs Ludhiana, driving up in tractors and handing over their keys to city officials.

We cant afford to fill out tractor fuel tanks and have handed over our keys to the administration, a farmer said.

When the government needed farmers, it gave the slogan Jai Jawan Jai kisan but now we are dying but the government is paying no heed, the protesting farmers said during the march, which had been organised by Bharti Kisan Union Rajewal.

Diesel prices have risen by Rs 3 recently.

While a litre of diesel would cost between 60-65 paise in 1966-67, prices have now touched a record Rs 70 per litre. The figures represent an almost 150 per cent hike. In comparison, the prices of wheat and paddy have increased only by 23-25 per cent.

On one hand, the fuel prices are increasing and on the other we are not getting proper power supply for paddy. Because of lack of power supply farmers are forced to use diesel gensets which is burning a hole in our pockets, one of the protesting farmers told News18.

The farmers also submitted a memorandum with the Sub-Divisional Magistrate of Ludhiana. However, the SDM refused to take the farmers tractor keys, agreeing instead to receive the memorandum of demands raised by the farmers.

Farmers said they are going on leave from June 1-10 during which they will not supply vegetables, foodgrain, milk etc.

Whoever wants these things can buy directly from the farmers at the price they ask for, the protesters said.
New Delhi: In what may be described as the first Confidence Building Mechanism (CBM) between India and Pakistan off late, the armies of the two countries have decided to restore the 2003 ceasefire agreement at the border.

According to officials, a hotline was established between the Director Generals of Military Operations (DGsMO) of India and Pakistan and both agreed to stop violating the ceasefire.

Ministry of Defence (MoD) officials said that routine talks were first held between senior military officers of the two countries on May 22, following which the DGMO talks were held on Tuesday. MoD officials added that the talks were held at the behest of Pakistan.

The existing Hotline mechanism was initiated by Pakistans DGMO at 1800 hours (IST). Both the DGsMO reviewed the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and IB in J&K. Indian Army DGMO agreed with the proposal to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation to ensure peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders.

The Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), publicity wing of the Pakistani military, in its statement on the issue said: "Both DGMOs reviewed the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and working boundary and mutually agreed to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation ensuring peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders.

The officials also agreed to fully implement the ceasefire understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit and to ensure that the ceasefire agreement will not be violated by both sides from now on," it added.

The 2003 ceasefire agreement was a result of high-level diplomatic dialogue between the two countries to establish peace following the December 13, 2001 Parliament attacks.

Sources in the Ministry of Defence said that the idea to restore the 2003 agreement along the Indo-Pak border had been in the works for some time. "Ceasefire had already been dead. There was no ceasefire along the LoC for quite some time now. So there were some talks to ease pressure on civilians, on either side of the border, and stop the constant shelling," said a top retired army officer, who was privy to the consultation on the issue.

Last couple of years have seen an unprecedented spike in the number of ceasefire violations which had made the current situation untenable. In 2010, the official number of ceasefire violations by India were 70 and those by Pakistan were 113.

Since then there was a constant escalation in the number of ceasefires which reached a crescendo in 2017, the year after Kashmir saw a huge turmoil with the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani. That year there were 971 ceasefire violations by India, as reported by Pakistani army, and 1970 ceasefire violations by the Pakistani Rangers and its army.

This year alone, in the first five months, there have already been 1050 ceasefire violations by Pakistan, and 633 ceasefire violations by the Indian army. Thousands of civilians on either side of the border have had to flee their homes, schools and offices, repeatedly since the beginning of the year. Towns after towns and villages are lying empty in several border districts in India.

Just a week ago, nearly 80,000 civilians fled over a hundred villages in Araria, Samba and RS Pura districts of J&K due to constant shelling by Pakistani troops. Villagers quoted by several media outlets say that they had never seen this level of shelling near border areas since the 1971 war.

At least 18 security personnel and 25 civilians have lost their lives in shelling in areas adjoining the border. So severe is the situation that the local administration had to expedite the construction of community bunkers in border towns. There are 43 community bunkers in various districts of Jammu at present. Each bunker can accommodate up to 30 people.

Though there has been a rise in shelling across the border, but signs of a thaw in relations between the two countries have become visible.

In an interview to the Indian Express, the Indian High Commissioner to Islamabad Ajay Bisaria, had said India and Pakistan had been working "in recent months on small steps forward, particularly on the humanitarian side, to build an atmosphere of trust between the countries."

One of these steps, Bisaria said, was a proposed exchange of all prisoners, "particularly those in the vulnerable category (women, seniors and the mentally challenged). We have had some traction this year, including on agreements to exchange medical delegations and resuming the institutional mechanism of the Joint Judicial Committee, which will inspect jails and accelerate the process of repatriation of prisoners.

Apart from this, the Indian High Commissioner said, there were other "signs of positivity". One of them, in an attempt to reduce tension in the valley, has been the suspension of military operations in Kashmir, which has come popularly to be known as the "Ramzan Ceasefire".

Following this India also sent its team to a three day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) anti-terror conference in Islamabad earlier this month.

The first comprehensive signs of the thaw may have come last month, from the chief of Pakistan's "deep state" itself. It was in April, when the Pakistani army chief General Qamar Bajwa, in a passing out parade of Pakistani army cadets had said that "peaceful resolution of India-Pakistan disputes, including the core issue of Kashmir, can be found through a comprehensive and meaningful dialogue."

When defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman was asked to respond to this, she said, "Any call for peace from Pakistan will be taken seriously by India." Home minister Rajnath Singh, had also, in a recent interview said, If Pakistan is ready to talk, why wont we talk? We want to have good relations with our neighbour."
New Delhi: Leaving no stone unturned to strengthen his Act East Policy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is all set visit Indonesia on Tuesday.

Efforts to enhance coordination between New Delhi and Jakarta is already underway with the Indonesian capital giving India access to a port in Sabang, economically and militarily.

Gaining access to that island is a shot in the arm for India as its barely 500 km from the entry point of the Malacca Strait.

While Modis visit to Indonesia works in complete tandem with his Act East Policy, China continues to loom over each move. Along with giving access to India in Sabang, it has also inked several infrastructure projects with China. With Jakarta trying to strike an amiable with both countries, it is now up to PM Modi to ensure that the world sees India-Indonesia as close maritime partners.

An archipelago of islands, Indonesia is one of the few countries in the region that is yet to use its maritime might to its full capacity, something that has been accepted by its maritime affairs coordinating minister Luhut Pandjaitan during his visit to India recently, where he said that his country had forgotten about the sea.

Under President Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, Indonesia has in the recent past increased its diplomatic activities and more significantly in the maritime areas. Indonesia has also made it quite clear that did not want to be controlled by Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and that the Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF) was its way of balancing Xis project.

Launched in 2014, GMF aims to place Indonesia as an active player in determining the future of the Pacific and Indian Ocean Region. The United States of America supports the GMF, thus making it more relevant, if not less, in the global corridor.

Equally important it is to consider the change in Indonesias positioning in the global theatre. Indonesia has unilaterally rejected a solo power claim on the South China Sea. Last year, Indonesia named the sea near Natuna islands as North Natuna Sea to counter Chinas controversial nine-dash line, differentiating its territorial claims in maritime.

Indonesias renewed interests in maritime security and prowess, despite Chinas aspirations and ambitions, work well for India. Other than access to port infrastructure development and freedom of navigation, stronger relations with Indonesia would make India more inclusive in the efforts to ensure regional security and economic development.

As Pandjaitan said, Ties between India and Indonesia are important to the balance of power in Asia.
Maharashtra HSC Result 2018 | The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary & Higher Secondary Education has issued a notification that it has announced the Maharashtra HSC Result 2018, Maharashtra Result 2018, MSBSHE Result 2018 at a press conference in Pune. The Maharashtra Board released the Maharashtra HSC Class 12th Arts Result 2018, Maharashtra HSC Class 12th Science Result 2018 and Maharashtra HSC Class 12th Commerce Result 2018 on its official website www.MaharashtraEducation.com, mahresult.nic.in at 1 pm. The Maharashtra HSC result 2018 has been declared at the press conference in the state board headquarters in Pune addressed by the State Board chairman Shakuntala Kale. Total percentage for Maharashtra Result 2018 is 88.41%.The Number of students registered: 1418645. The number of students appeared: 1416986, the number of students passed: 1252817. 1.25 lakh students who scored 75% and above. 5.07 lakh students have scored above 60%.

The Maharashtra Board conducted the MaharashtraThe Number of students registered: 1418645. The number of students appeared: 1416986, the number of students passed: 1252817. 1.25 lakh students who scored 75% and above. 5.07 lakh students have scored above 60%. board 12th examination 2018 between 21 February and 20 March through nine divisional boards, that are primarily located at Mumbai, Pune, Nasik, Aurangabad, Kolhapur, Latur, Nagpur, Amravati and Ratnagiri. The Maharashtra HSC Results 2018, Maharashtra HSC Results 2018, Maharashtra board 12th results 2018 will be made available on maharashtra.indiaresults.com, result.mkcl.org, results.gov.in, www.examresults.net/maharashtra The Maharashtra Board officially announces the Maharashtra board 12th results 2018 on the website www.MaharashtraEducation.com, mahresult.nic.in

The HSC results will come first followed by the SSC results, Board official was quoted as saying in the report. The result will also be made available on result.mkcl.org, examresults.net, and results.gov.in. Students would require their roll number to download the Maharashtra 12th Result 2018 mark sheets from the website. Some more details related to the result have been elaborated below.

Here are the steps to check Maharashtra HSC 2018 exam results:

- Visit the official website mahresult.nic.in

- Click on the link which says Maharashtra Board Class 12th Results OR Maharashtra HSC Result 2018

- Enter your roll number and other required details

- Download the MSBSHSE Maharashtra HSC Class 12th Results 2018 and take a print out for future reference

Students can also request their Maharashtra Board Result 2018, Maharashtra HSC Result 2018 through SMS.

To receive results via SMS, type MHHSC SEAT NO and send it to 57766.

Around 14,85,132 students registered to appear for the exams conducted in 9,486 junior colleges and 2,822 centres across the state of Maharashtra. Of the total students registered, 5,80,820 students were for Science, 4,79,863 students for Arts, 3,66,756 students for Commerce, and the 57,693 students for the vocational stream. In 2017 also, the Maharashtra Board had declared the result for Class 12th exam on 30 May.
Neemuch: An 80-year-old farmer in Madhya Pradesh has been asked to sign a peace bond, which seeks assurances that he would not disrupt peace in the area during the upcoming farmers rally to observe the first anniversary of Mandsaur protests, in which six farmers were killed in police firing.

The octogenarian, Ganeshram Patidar, who can barely walk without support, lives in Neemuch in Malwa region. He is one of the 1200 trouble makers identified by the administration from across the state.

To protest the police firing that took place on June 6 last year, many farmer organisations will hold a "Gaon bandh" from June 1-10 during which no farm produce would be allowed to be transported outside villages.

The administrations decision to send the bond to the elderly farmer has not gone down well with farmer bodies and the Congress has also raked up the issue. The partys state head, Kamal Nath, said it showed the governments high-handedness.

80         ,          ,    ,      ...  ,   ...  ...              ... pic.twitter.com/iR4v0DmIcX Office Of Kamal Nath (@OfficeOfKNath) May 29, 2018

An 80-year-old farmer made to submit the peace bond. Thousands of farmers and traders issued notices. Arrangement of tear gas shells, canes. By doing all this, Shivraj government itself is triggering lawlessness and vitiating the atmosphere, he tweeted.

As the news of the bond spread in the area, members of Bharatiya Kisan Union reached the local police station and shouted slogans. They also submitted a memorandum against it to the tehsildar.

Home minister Bhupendra Singh, however, claimed the state government had not ordered any submission of peace bonds. If any elderly man is made to submit the bond, it is condemnable, said Singh.

Speaking to News18, local farmer and Congress member Umrao Singh Gurjar, confirmed that many farmers had received the notices from the administration. He said it was a way to intimidate the farmers ahead of the stir.

Gram sevaks, ASHA, USHA workers, teachers, health workers, revenue staff and government staffers are being ordered to reach Mandsaur on May 30 to attend CM Shivrajs public meeting, alleged Gurjar.

Shivrajs public meeting on May 30 has been organised to pre-empt Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, who will visit Mandsaur on June 6 and hold a public meeting.

According to Makrand Deuskar, the IG (Intelligence), additional force have been deployed in 35 districts of the state in the wake of the planned farmers stir. Around 10,000 canes, chest guards and additional vehicles have also been supplied to these districts.

Besides, local police, around 5,000 jawans have been sent to these districts.

Meanwhile throwing his weight behind the farmers stir, former union minister Anil Shastri who was in Bhopal on Tuesday, claimed that those who sprayed bullets on farmers are now making them submit the peace bonds.

Responding to Congress jibe, senior BJP leader Prabhat Jha said that the Congress was making a condemnable effort to do politics using the dead. Whatever untoward happens during the proposed agitation, Congress would be held responsible for that, he said.
Kottayam: The main accused in the shocking case of alleged honour killing in Kerala, brother-in-law of the deceased, has been taken into custody a day after Kevin P Josephs body was recovered from a nearby stream in Thenmala of Kollam district.

The newly-married Dalit man was allegedly abducted by the brides brother and a gang of armed men. Kevins bride Neenu went to the police on Sunday to lodge a complaint against her brother and the gang while the police took almost 30 hours to take action.

23-year-old Kevin P Joseph, a resident of Nattassery in Kottayam, a Dalit Christian, was allegedly abducted by a 10-member armed gang sent by the family of his wife Neenu Chacko from Thenmala in Kollam district.

Incidentally, the bride's father Chacko John is a Roman Catholic while mother Rehna is a Muslim. Chacko has also been taken into custody in Kannur while he was returning from Bengaluru.

Neenu, who collapsed on hearing the news of the death of her husband, has been admitted to the Kottayam Medical College Hospital.

On Sunday, Neenu had approached Gandhinagar police station in Kottayam accompanied by her husband's friend and relatives seeking action against the abductors. However, the police refused to register a complaint or take any immediate action. The 20-year-old alleged in her complaint that the police cited lack of personnel due to the visit of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.

Kevin and his relative, 31-year-old Anish, were abducted early on Sunday morning. The abductors left Anish on the way after thrashing him severely. Anish has been admitted to the Kottayam medical college hospital with serious injuries.

A case has been registered against 10 unidentified persons in connection with the incident.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that he has directed the DGP to form a special team.
A three-member team of doctors specialising in neonatal intensive care and child birth has submitted its report to the state government over the deaths of 111 infants this year at the G K Hospital in Bhuj and has given a clean chit to the hospital.

After visiting the hospital and speaking to various people, including patients and their relatives, the investigating team has said that the treatment given to the newborn babies who have died were as per protocol and guidelines.

According to data provided by the G K General Hospital and the state government, there have been 111 deaths of infants at the hospital this calendar year. In 2017, 258 deaths of infants were reported while 184 deaths were deported the previous year in 2016. In 2015, 164 infant deaths were reported in the G K Hospital in Bhuj. Of the 111 deaths reported this year, as many as 26 infants have died at the hospital in May itself.

The three-member team of doctors who visited the G K Hospital on Saturday include Dr Himanshu Joshi, head of the paediatric department of the Gandhinagar Civil Hospital; Dr Bhadresh Vyas, head of the paediatric department of the Jamnagar Medical College and Civil Hospital; and Dr Kamal Goswami, head of the gynaecology department of the Rajkot Civil Hospital.

The three officials spent about four hours inspecting facilities at the G K Hospital and talking to doctors, patients and relatives of patients.

The panel observed in its report that a majority of the patients were admitted in the G K Hospital with fatal complications like neonatal sepsis, birth asphyxia and congenital malformations and that a significant number of these cases were referred to Gujarat Adani Institute of Medical Sciences (GAIMS) from other hospitals. The panel has however, recommended training for the hospital staff.

GAIMS Medical Director Dr Gyaneshwar Rao said, "We are satisfied that the panel report reiterated our stand. We will continue to work with the government to attract and retain qualified specialist doctors at this facility."

The team of doctors visited the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). They also visited the gynaecology department and inspected facilities and operation theatres.

However, Congress leaders of Kutch district, who also reached the hospital at the time of the inspection, alleged that this was nothing but an attempt to cover up the wrongdoings of the hospital. The Congress workers even created ruckus outside the hospital while the inspection team arrived and sought to know why a coordination committee headed by the district collector had not met even once to oversee operations of the hospital.

GPCC spokesperson Dr Manish Doshi alleged that it appears as if the state government is trying to cover-up the deaths of infants at G K Hospital. The entire network of Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs) is in a shambles in Kutch and across the state. The deaths of infants in G K Hospital is a reflection of how vibrant the health scenario is in Gujarat. And it now appears as if the government is trying to brush the whole incident under the carpet. The Congress demands that the inspection report be made public and the report should address the main issue of how so many infants have dies at the hospital, he told News18.

Speaking to News18, Dr Himanshu Joshi, head of the three-member committee, said the report has been submitted to the state government. We have inspected various departments and have recorded the statements of doctors, other hospital staff, patients and relatives of patients. We cannot disclose details of the report. It is for the state government to make it public, he added.

In 2009, the Gujarat government decided to rope in a corporate entity  The Adani Group  to manage the G K General Hospital at Bhuj. The hospital, badly damaged during the 2001 earthquake, was rebuilt at a cost of Rs 100 crore and it was decided that the medical college attached to it would also be run by the Adani group.


New Delhi: On the eve of his visit to Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said today that India had a robust strategic partnership with all the three countries and his visit would provide a further boost to the country's Act East Policy.

In Singapore, he will deliver the keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security meet, on June 1. "This will be the first time that an Indian Prime Minister would deliver this address. It would be an opportunity to articulate India's point of view on regional security issues and maintenance of peace and stability in the region," he said.

In a statement posted on his Facebook page, the prime minister said he would be in Jakarta today on the invitation of Indonesian President Joko Widodo.

"This is my first visit to Indonesia as Prime Minister. I am looking forward to my discussions with President Widodo on 30 May, as also to our joint interaction with the India-Indonesia CEOs Forum. I will also address the Indian community in Indonesia," he said.

He said India and Indonesia enjoyed strong and friendly ties and shared deep historical and civilisational linkages.

"Both countries are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, plural and open societies. I am confident that my visit to Indonesia will create greater synergy between Asia's two largest democracies and further elevate our bilateral ties," he said.

He said, on May 31, on his way to Singapore, he will make a brief halt in Malaysia to congratulate the new Malaysian leadership and looks forward to meet Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

"In Singapore, I will be focusing on enhancing India-Singapore partnership in areas of Fintech, skill development, urban planning and artificial intelligence. Singapore entities have become major partners with India in areas like urban development, planning, smart cities and infrastructure development. My visit in Singapore presents an opportunity for both countries to engage further," he said.

On 31 May, Modi will visit the India-Singapore enterprise and innovation exhibition and will also address a business and community event followed by a roundtable meeting with select top CEOs of Singapore to discuss business and investment opportunities.

On June 1, the prime minister will call on Singapore President Halimah Yacob and hold delegation level talks with Singapore Prime Minister Lee (Hsien Loong).

"(I) am looking forward to my visit to the Nanyang Technological University where I would interact with young students," he said. Later in the evening, he will deliver the keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue.

"This will be the first time that an Indian Prime Minister would deliver this address. It would be an opportunity to articulate India's point of view on regional security issues and maintenance of peace and stability in the region," he said.

On June 2, he will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Gandhiji's ashes were immersed in sea on March 27, 1948. He would also visit some places of worship that have civilisational linkages with India.

"The last element of my programme would be a visit to the Changi Naval Base in Singapore where I will visit the Indian Naval Ship INS Satpura and interact with officers and sailors of the Indian Navy and Royal Singapore Navy.

"I am confident that my visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore will provide a further boost to our Act East Policy and enhance our relations and engagements with all the three countries," he said. India's Act East Policy, that was introduced by the Modi government, focusses on the extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region.
Bengaluru: The Karnataka distributor of the Rajinikanth-starrer Kaala has said that he wont voluntarily distribute the film in the state.

This comes in the wake of a number of protests by Kannada groups calling to boycott the film in the state.

Theatre owners in Karnataka, too, have said that they will not screen the film in any theatre.

Release of the Pa Ranjith direction was earlier deferred and was supposed to release on June 7 across states. However, as it is headed for a worldwide release, Kaala may not see the light of the day in Karnataka.

The film run into trouble following Rajinikanths statements on the ongoing Cauvery water distribution issue.

"We held discussions with the film chamber. The chamber has asked all its members to not release the film in the state. We have voluntarily decided not to release the film considering the sentiments of the people in the state. From what we see, it doesn't look like this issue is going to be resolved before the movie releases," said Saurav Sharma, head of Goldie films that has acquired the distribution rights for Kaala in Karnataka.

Sa Ra Govindu, president of Karnataka film chamber of commerce said that the films of both Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth will not be released in the state.

"They have made statements related to Cauvery that are unacceptable to the people of Karnataka. We don't need their films. Kannadigas are upset with the actor's statements and so in the interest of the state we are not releasing Kaala," he said.

The Karnataka film chamber called for a meeting on Tuesday after several Kannada groups called for boycott of the film.

Chamber office-bearers say the decision by the distributor who had bought the rights for the films release in Karnataka several months ago, has voluntarily chosen not to release the film here as he doesnt want to evoke any protests.

Rajinikanth had reportedly asked the new Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy to release to Tamil Nadu its share of Cauvery water as mandated by the Supreme Court.

Kumaraswamy hit back at the actor in no time and said If there is water in Karnataka it is possible for us to give them water. I request Rajinikanth, please come and see the situation in our dams, what has happened to our farmers. After seeing that, if you (Rajinikanth) still want water, let's discuss.
New Delhi: The United States has said it is working on adding more flexibility to its law that sanctions countries like India for buying Russian weapon systems, but sounded off New Delhi against going ahead with the Rs 40,000 crore deal for five S-400 defence missile systems with Moscow.

Congressman Mac Thornberry, who is the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, which oversees the Pentagon, all military services and the Department of Defense agencies, said on Monday that there was "concern" in the US - both in the administration and in the Congress - that the deal would "complicate our ability to work on inter-operability".

India has recently concluded price negotiations with Russia for a nearly Rs 40,000-crore deal to procure S-400 Triumf air defence missile systems for the Indian Air Force. The two countries are now trying to find a way to evade US sanctions.

Recognising that the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CATSA), that was signed in August last year, "does not have much flexibility", the US Congressman said the National Defense Authorisation Bill 2019, which was passed in the House last week, adds more flexibility.

The CATSA mandates the US administration to punish entities engaging in significant transaction with the defence or intelligence sectors of Russia, North Korea and Iran. This impacts India, which depends on Russia for its military supplies.

Significantly, it could come in the way of India acquiring US-built Predator drones which could have been used in operations against terrorist launch-pads along the Line of Control with Pakistan.

"So, there is an understanding in the administration and the Congress that some additional flexibility in that law is needed. And it's not just India that's in that situation, there other nations in that," Thornberry told reporters.

Thornberry added that the new bill allows the US Secretary of Defence some discretion to allow any concession if a country is willing to reduce its dependence on Russian equipment.

"Now, some of the (Indian) government officials with whom we have met, believe that the language (of the Bill) could be improved. And so, I am certainly willing and anxious to hear suggestions not only from Indian governments but also other governments who may be affected on this by improving the language," the Congressman added.

"If there is concern that any country...it's not just India that is looking at acquiring it or any country that requires that system, it will complicate our ability to work on inter-operability together. So, that completely separate and apart from any sanctions, legislations. I hope that the (Indian) government will take its time and consider very carefully in acquiring that system (S-400) because of the difficulties it may present," he added.
Chennai: In the wake of anti-Sterlite protests in Thoothukudi, State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu on Tuesday cancelled the land it had allotted to Vedanta Sterlite for phase two in Tuticorin. The move comes a day after the state government had ordered to shut down the copper plant permanently.

There have been a series of agitations and protest against the establishment of Copper Smelter Plant (Phase II) by M/s Vedanta Limited at SIPCOT industrial complex in Tuticorin, expressing concerns about the pollution caused by the existing Copper Smelter plant of M/s Vedanta Limited. The people of the area have been raising concern about their health on account of the operation of the plant, the order issued by SIPCOT managing director K Srinivasan said.

The order added that the land allotment for proposed expansion of Copper Smelter Plant (phase II) is cancelled in larger public interest, and the land price collected for allotment will be refunded as per norms of SIPCOT.

A day earlier, Tamil Nadu chief minister EK Palaniswami had announced that a government order has been issued, directing the state pollution control board to seal Vedanta group's copper plant in Thoothukudi, and close it down "permanently" following last week's violent protests during which 13 people were killed in police firing.

The Government Order (GO) said it endorsed the recent closure direction of the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board, and also asked the TNPCB to "seal the unit and close the plant permanently".

The document cited the Constitution's directive principles of state policy (Article 48-A) enjoining protection of environment and provisions of the Water Act, 1974, to order the permanent closure of the copper factory "in the larger public interest".

The chief minister said the government has issued the order in deference to the sentiments of the people. "This government follows the footsteps of Amma (late chief minister Jayalalithaa). This government is for the people," he said.

The locals were protesting for the closure of the factory for 99 days. Protesters turned violent on May 22, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police action against them last Tuesday and Wednesday.

The move is being seen as a damage control move as the AIADMK government had come under fire from opposition parties, activists and human rights bodies over the police action.
Guwahati: The Congress party and two ministers of the ruling coalition in Assam joined a day-long fast called by the All Assam Students Union (AASU) in Guwahati on Tuesday to protest against the Centres proposed move to introduce the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016.

The stir, held at the AEI Field, Chandmari, was led by 28 ethnic student organisations along with protesters from Northeast Students' Organization (NESO). Eight tribal literary bodies also joined the symbolic fast.

The AASU warned the Centre against the passing of the Bill, calling it communal, unconstitutional, anti-indigenous and anti-northeast.

Samujjal Bhattacharya, chief advisor of All Assam Students' Union and NESO, reiterated that they will not allow the Northeast to become a dumping ground for illegal Bangladeshis.

All sections of people took part in the mass fasting today. It is a strong warning to both the Centre and the state government not to impose the Bill on Assam and Northeast. Assam should get constitutional safeguard as per Assam Accord, and the international border should be sealed. At the same time, there should be a bipartite agreement between the Government of India and Bangladesh to deport illegal migrants, said Bhattacharya.

The AASU has further threatened to restrict the movement of ministers and MLAs in and out of their constituencies as a mark of protest. A decision about their next step would be taken at a meeting convened on June 2.

The movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has brought about a unification of various state groups, manifesting anti-bill sentiments and advocating for indigenous rights.

The Assam Primary Teachers Association and the Sadou Axam Karmachari Parishad (SAKP) also lent support to the fast that saw the overwhelming presence of freedom fighters, veterans, litterateurs, artists and journalists.

Meanwhile, former Assam chief minister and AGP leader, Prafulla Kumar Mahanta, who also took part in the protest, said that the Bill violated the salient features of the Constitution as well as certain provisions of the Assam Accord. The AGP once again threatened to break away from the BJP-led government if the Bill was passed.

All organisations that took part in the Assam Agitation (1979-1985) and their leaders have come forward to support this hunger strike. The central government should try to understand the sentiments of the people. If the Bill is passed, it will violate the cause of Assam Accord, said AGP president and Agriculture minister Atul Bora, who termed the Bill as a threat to the culture, language and identity of the indigenous people.

We are committed to oppose the Bill. In forging an alliance with BJP, the prime issue was the implementation of Assam Accord in letter and spirit, said AGP leader and Water Resources Minister, Keshab Mahanta.

Protesters in Brahmaputra valley, opposing the proposed amendment to the Citizenship Act of 1955, see it as a move to endorse Hindus from Bangladesh who migrated to Assam after 1971. The government has not responded to the issue yet.

(With inputs from Bishnu Saikia)
Kolkata: A 23-year-old woman was allegedly burnt to death by her husband and in-laws in Bengals West Midnapore district allegedly because of her dark complexion.

Shrabani Maity, who was from Chakmokrampur in Kharagpur, succumbed to her burn injuries at Midnapore Medical College and Hospital on Monday night.

Based on her fathers complaint, police arrested her husband Saurabh and his mother, Sumitra, on Tuesday.

Her family members are alleging that she was burnt alive because of her dark complexion. Investigation is still on and we are trying to find out whether she was actually killed because of her skin colour or not, Kharagpur ASP Y Raghubanshi said.

In March this year, Shrabani had given birth to a girl child and cops said they are trying to find out whether this was the reason behind her killing.

The incident has sent shock waves in her locality as her neighbours demanded stern action against her in-laws and husband. They also gathered in front of her house and raised slogans.

The victims father, Netai, alleged that the accused used to torture his daughter every day because of her complexion.

It was an arranged marriage and initially everything was all right. But after a few months, they started beating her up over trivial issues. They also demanded dowry to compensate for her complexion, he told News18.

He added, Yesterday (on Monday) afternoon we got the news of her death from the neighbours. We rushed to the hospital to see her lying there with burn injuries all over her body. Kerosense had been poured over her. We want stern action against her in-laws and husband. They killed my daughter brutally.
Low-cost carrier Norwegian Air has launched a new feature that allows holidaymakers to see what kind of weather they're in for before booking their flight.

Along with airfare prices, Norwegian's new digital route map will filter destinations based on the user's desired temperature at the time of travel.

Travelers in search of hot climes can dial up their search to 30 degrees C (86 degrees F), while those who are prone to wilt in the heat can adjust the filter to as low as -15 degrees C (5 degrees F).

Serious heat-seekers are out of luck, however, as the filter maxes out at 30C.
This weekend Bulgari revealed Lady Kitty Spencer as its new brand ambassador, signed up to show off the band's prestigious creations. It's a smart choice for the jeweler, since Lady Diana's niece is currently a rising star of the fashion world whose career looks set to take off in a big way in the coming years. So who is this British model?

Born in England, Kitty Spencer is the eldest daughter of Charles Spencer, the ninth Earl Spencer, and the former model Victoria Lockwood. The 27-year-old is, in fact, Lady Diana's niece and the cousin of Princes Harry and William. Despite this prestigious entourage, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed model still seems to have her feet on the ground, having grown up out of the media spotlight in South Africa before perusing activist and philanthropic activities.

More than just a pretty face

As well as her good looks and dream body, Kitty Spencer has a solid academic record. The budding model first studied psychology and English literature in South Africa, before getting a master's degree in luxury brand management in England. She also studied art history in Florence.

As well as her philanthropic activities, Kitty Spencer has an interest in fashion. Even before making her runway debut, she was spotted on the front row of fashion shows for some of the most prestigious labels, from Dior and Zimmermann to Schiaparelli, Bottega Veneta and Michael Kors.

A post shared by Kitty Spencer (@kitty.spencer) on Nov 10, 2017 at 8:19am PST

Dolce & Gabbana and Bulgari

A turning point in Kitty Spencer's modeling career came in 2017, when she was named as an ambassador for Dolce & Gabbana. Represented by Storm Model Management, she has featured in several of the brand's advertising campaigns, whether alone or joined by other "celebrity offspring." She also walks the runway for the Italian fashion house at Milan Fashion Week. This exceptional partnership is likely to open many doors for the budding model.

A post shared by Kitty Spencer (@kitty.spencer) on Dec 31, 2017 at 9:14am PST

May 19, the world's gaze was firmly fixed on Windsor, UK, for the eagerly anticipated wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Among the many glittering guests, Kitty Spencer, in particular, made a lasting impression in a hand-painted floral gown from Dolce & Gabbana. Her picture went viral on social media in just a few hours, boosting her Instagram following to some 356,000 users.

A post shared by Kitty Spencer (@kitty.spencer) on May 20, 2018 at 5:52am PDT

One week down the line, it's hardly surprising to see Kitty Spencer snapped up as an official ambassador for the jewelry house Bulgari -- a role that should put the rising star even more firmly in the spotlight.
Vancouver's transit system has announced plans to pull a public announcement campaign that used Morgan Freeman's voice following allegations of sexual assault which surfaced Thursday. But Vancouverites won't be left in the lurch: looks like homegrown Hollywood star Seth Rogen could fill the silence.

Freeman had lent his iconic voice to the city's Translink system as part of a campaign with VISA Canada. As of next month, commuters and riders at select SkyTrain stations and bus routes throughout the city were to hear Freeman reminding them about new mobile payment features and to mind their manners.

But on Thursday, following an explosive report from CNN in which several women accused the actor of inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment, TransLink released a brief statement announcing plans to suspend the campaign:

"In light of information we've learned through news stories on May 24, 2018, of serious allegations against actor Morgan Freeman, TransLink has decided to pause his voice announcements as part of a VISA ad campaign on the transit system. We will be reaching out to VISA to discuss further."

When Vancouver Sun reporter Stephanie Ip tweeted a shout-out to @SethRogen, suggesting he be used to voice the announcements, the Vancouver native and Hollywood actor was quick to respond in the affirmative.

Lots of emails today were along the lines of: "What, there wasn't a Canadian actor who could've done the job?" After some thought, I do have a suggestion: @Sethrogen. I would happily listen to him announce my transit stops all day, every day BUT ONLY IF IT COMES WITH THE LAUGH. https://t.co/o0v5FWlocj Stephanie Ip (@stephanie_ip) May 23, 2018

"Yo if they need a replacement now let me know."

That led to direct exchange with TransLink's Twitter people, in which he tweeted "Hit me up."

Yo if they need a replacement now let me know. Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) May 24, 2018

So Seth, how many RTs to make this happen for Toronto? TTC Customer Service (@TTChelps) May 25, 2018

"Thanks for the offer Seth. Let's DM and talk."

Folks on Twitter are also asking another Vancouver-Hollywood export to join.

"I think @VancityReynolds [Ryan Reynolds] could help you guys out with some voice over too."

And not to be left out of the fun, Toronto's transit system the TTC also piped in, after a city counsellor invited Rogen to front their public transportation system.

Ill do the whole country! Seth Rogen (@Sethrogen) May 25, 2018
Sonam Kapoor has once again found herself in the midst of a Twitter frenzy after the actress was spotted wearing her mangalsutra, an auspicious necklace that a groom ties around the bride's neck in an Indian wedding ceremony, as a bracelet during the promotions of her upcoming film Veere Di Wedding.

While most of the fashion police praised Sonam for setting the new trend, many Twitter users slammed the actress for "disrespecting" the Indian culture and the sacred institution of marriage.

"Mangalsutra is not compulsion but it is love by wife for her husband. And it should always be nearby heart for which it is weared in neck. This bollywood is declining our culture day by day as they grow up in foreign. So they are mixture of indian+foreign," a Twitter user wrote.

One user posted, "So mangal sutra can be wore as bracelet... you don't follow religion don't. Why all this drama?" while another said, "This is the problem of so called feminests... Not following tradition is absolutely fine but tweaking it to your convenience is WRONG."

Earlier, the actress was brutally slammed for changing her last name to Ahuja shortly after her wedding. Sonam tied the knot with Anand, a Delhi-based businessman, in a private ceremony on May 8 in Mumbai.
The theatrical trailer of superstar Rajinikanth-starrer gangster drama Kaala was unveiled on Monday. The 90-second clip introduces viewers to Rajinikanth as a saviour of the masses of Mumbai's largest slum, Dharavi. After Kabali, once again Thalaivar dons his gangster avatar with ease as he makes a blockbuster entry.

Directed by Pa Ranjith, Kaala is set in the backdrop of Mumbai city and and has an ensemble cast that includes Nana Patekar, Huma Qureshi, Sampath, and Samuthirakani in key roles. Touted as one of the biggest Tamil releases, Kaala has been produced by Rajinikanth's son-in-law Dhanush, who shared the trailer on social media, writing, IT'S FINALLY TIME, #THEKINGARRIVES in style! Presenting to you, our Superstar Rajinikanth's, much anticipated #KAALATrailer. #KingKariKAALAnTrailer #Kaala #JUNE 7 TH WORLDWIDE RELEASE." (sic)

The trailer, which has already gone viral on the internet, also features several whistle-worthy dialogues and a quick cameo of Bollywood star Huma Qureshi. It has already garnered 2.1 million views on YouTube and is expected to break all the records as the superstar has a massive fan following across the globe.

Veteran star Nana patekar is playing the role of a corrupt politician who claims that "anybody who opposes me... will die". The film is set to release worldwide on June 7.
New Delhi: Three days after changing his stance on demonetisation and questioning the benefits of the exercise, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday upped the ante against the Centre and reiterated his partys demand of awarding special category status to the state.

Kumar also questioned the benefit of the 15th finance commission, which has sent southern states on a war path against the central government over the proposal to use the 2011 Census instead of 1971 for allocation of tax funds to states. He said that while using the new population data was the right move, Bihar would not see any benefit and its share has actually gone down.

Kumars demand for special status comes after coming under pressure from former ally turned foe, RJD chief Tejashwi Yadav, who has repeatedly accused the Bihar CM of forgetting about the demand after allying with the BJP last year.

Elaborating on why Bihar should be eligible for the special status, he drew attention to the Bihar State Reorganization Act, 2000. The act, Nitish said, mandated the constitution of a special cell under the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission to look into the special financial needs of Bihar arising out of the reorganization of the state.

He demanded a similar kind of set up under Niti Aayog as it has replaced the Planning Commission.

Nitish said that analysis of data on development shows that some states were far below the national average on multiple parameters like per capita income, education, health, electricity, institutional finance and other indices of Human Development.

Any rational economic strategy should foster both investment and devolution patterns which would enable these states to reach the national average within a stipulated time frame. Our demand for Special Category Status for Bihar emanates from this very premise, he said.

He said that his government has repeatedly raised the demand to the central government to accord special category status to Bihar, as it will enhance the availability of resources by lowering the state contribution in centrally sponsored schemes, improve access to external resources, act as a catalyst for private investment based on tax breaks and concessions and act as a spur to employment generation and improve life quality.

He also questioned the much-hyped revenue sharing formula of the 15th finance commission, which raises the states share from 32 per cent to 42 per cent, terming it a compositional shift.

The increase in tax transfers was negated to a large extent by the reduction in allocations by the Centre for the central plan schemes and the centrally sponsored schemes to the states and union territories, he said.

Furthermore, the state-wise distribution pattern also led to a decrease in Bihar's share from 10.91 per cent to 9.66 per cent. In fact, in the recommendations of the last four finance commissions, our share in the divisible pool of taxes has steadily gone down  from 11.58 per cent in eleventh to 11.02 per cent in twelfth to 10.91 per cent in thirteenth and then to 9.66 per cent now, he said.

Nitish also drew attention to the yearly devastating floods that ruin agriculture and said the state government has to incur heavy expenditure on relief and rehabilitation.

Strongly pitching for relying on the latest census for distributing resources, he said, It is our firm view that latest population data is of utmost importance to capture the demographic change and it helps to assess the needs of the people quantitatively. Ultimately, basic entitlements are to be ensured to every citizen or else only "islands" of development would be created, he said.

Therefore, 15th FC's term of reference to consider the population of 2011 for horizontal and vertical distribution is a welcome step and was long overdue. Some of the states are opposing this but their disagreement is not logical as the ToR recognizes the efforts of states in population control, he added.
New Delhi: On completion of four years of the Narendra Modi government, BJP chief Amit Shah, along with six cabinet ministers, met top functionaries of the RSS to deliberate on government programmes and policies.

The coordination meetings facilitated by the RSS are held every year for interactions between all the Sangh affiliates and the BJP.

Representatives from 35 RSS affiliates will participate in these meetings presided over by senior Sangh functionaries.

Joint General secretary Krishna Gopal and Suresh Soni are representing the Sangh top brass in the ongoing deliberations being held at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi.

Both Sangh leaders and ministers also deliberated over the policies related to Human Resource Development Ministry, including the education policy.

The meeting assumes significance as it is being organised at a time when the Modi government has entered the election year.

During the deliberations, all Sangh affiliates presented their reports about the performance of the various ministries. The ministers also shared details of work done by the government and the projects or schemes that have been undertaken or were in pipeline, the sources said.

The meetings are likely to continue for two more days, and some senior ministers are expected to attend them.

RSS spokesperson Arun Kumar said, "Organisations working in the same field occasionally come together to share their experiments, experiences and observations. To enable detailed discussions these organisations are grouped in various groups working in the same field. They are grouped as seva (Service activities) vaicharik (Intellectual arena), arthik ( Economy), shiksha (Education) , samajik (social activities) etc. Such group meeting are taking place every year since 2007.

He insisted that no policy decisions are taken in these meeting,
Lucknow: After the EVM and VVPAT malfunctioning in Kairana and Noorpur bypolls, the former CM and National president of Samajwadi Party, Akhilesh Yadav, attacked BJP and demanded use of ballot papers in all the upcoming polls in the country.

Addressing a press conference at the party headquarters in Lucknow, Akhilesh Yadav also said that it should be interrogated why EVMs and VVPATs malfunctioned in the areas which were strongholds of the gathbandhan candidate.

Raising questions over VVPAT and EVM, Yadav said, Today people have lost faith in EVMs and VVPAT machines, they dont want to rely on them anymore. When developed nations rely on ballot papers all over the world, then why can't we conduct polls with ballot papers? Also, it should be probed why EVMs and VVPAT machines malfunctioned, mostly in the areas which were considered as the strongholds of the Gathbandhan candidate.

It seems this was all done as a part of strategy to keep such voters away from voting who were against BJP. Even lathicharge was done in areas where gathbandhan candidate was doing good.

When BJP saw all the parties going to Election Commission to lodge complaints over faulty EVMs, BJP too ran to lodge complaint just to hide their flaw. At least now they also admit that EVMs can malfunction. The reason given by EC was hilarious, it exposes BJPs strategy to stop people from voting against them, added Akhilesh.

The former CM of UP insisted that all the future polls should now be conducted through ballot papers. Our PM also held a roadshow to influence voters, but the voters still voted against BJP in huge number in Kairana and Noorpur. I still raise my old demand of conducting all the future polls via ballot paper. I will also speak to all the other parties and take some decision on protest against using EVMs in polls, he said.

However, as per EC sources, the failure on part of the ground staff led to heating of the machines.

They alleged that officials who skipped training programmes and spent time on their phones during training placed the machines at places where heat sensitive nature of the device created problems.

Kairana is being seen as a popularity test for the ruling BJP in the electorally crucial state of UP. The bypoll was necessitated by the death of BJP MP Hukum Singh and his daughter Mriganka is the party's candidate -- pitted against Rashtriya Lok Dal's Tabassum Hasan supported by the Congress, SP and BSP.

The Noorpur bypoll was necessitated by death of sitting BJP MLA Lokendra Singh Chauhan. The BJP has fielded his wife Avani Singh, while SP has given ticket to Naeemul Hasan.
New Delhi: The delay in cabinet expansion of the Congress-JD(S) alliance government in Karnataka is on account of unresolved issues on power sharing arrangement, including appointment of two deputy chief ministers from the Congress quota.

Sources have told News18 that Congress is insisting on its earlier demand for two deputies to CM HD Kumararaswamy, both from the Congress.

Only G Parmeshwar was sworn in as deputy CM last week along with Kumaraswamy as the two partners clarified the expansion would follow after the floor test in the Assembly.

With BJP walking out, the Kumaraswamy government easily won the vote of confidence on the floor of the House. But it has been one week since and a couple of visits to Delhi since taking oath, Kumaraswamy has not been able to get Congress on board on getting his full cabinet sworn.

Kumaraswamy has already said that he was at the 'mercy' of the Congress, not the 6.5 crore people of the state indicating difference over portfolio allocation.

Sources also say the Congress is also insisting on allocation of some plum portfolios, especially after having sacrificed the CMs post despite being the senior partner in the alliance.

The party has been asking for at least 22 ministerial berth, including ministries of Finance, PWD and Energy.

Congress President Rahul Gandhi has already briefed senior Congress leaders on the contours of agreement to be thrashed out before the swearing in of the full cabinet.

Rahul had left for the US on Sunday accompanying his mother who has to undergo a medical check-up there.

Among those present during the deliberations on Monday were Ahmed Patel, Ashok Gehlot and K C Venugopal, who is the AICC general secretary in charge of the state. Kumaraswamy was joined by JD(S) leader Danish Ali during the discussions with the Congress leadership.

Later, senior party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, state Congress leader Siddaramaiah, deputy chief minister G Parameshwara and DK Shiva Kumar joined their senior leadership in the "negotiations".

After the meeting, Kumaraswamy exuded confidence that an amicable power sharing arrangement will be worked out.

"We discussed the portfolios. The discussions remained inconclusive, but ended on a positive note. Very soon we will sort out the issues," Ali told PTI.
New Delhi: The BJP took a swipe at Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Monday, saying he was the "chief manager (CM)" of the Congress's ATM in the state and that he was lying prostrate at the feet of the Gandhi family.

The saffron party's attack on the JD(S) leader came after the latter's comments in Bengaluru on Sunday that he was at the mercy of the Congress and not the people of Karnataka as his government had not received the full mandate, which his party had sought in the recently held Assembly election in the state.

"Nothing can be sadder than this. This is absolutely demeaning to the democratic fabric of the country and akin to an abuse of India's democracy," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters here.

He described the current situation as a fallout of the Congress-JD(S) alliance's mockery of the popular mandate in the southern state for petty political interests.

The BJP had emerged as the single-largest party in the Karnataka Assembly election by bagging 104 of the 222 seats that went to the polls, but fell short of a majority, allowing the Congress and the JD(S) to join hands and form the government in the state.

Patra alleged that for the Congress, Karnataka was its ATM and it had found a chief manager in Kumaraswamy, while the government in the southern state would be run from Janpath -- a reference to the residential address of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

"The Congress has found a new manager for its ATM in Karnataka. We can say this after his (Kumaraswamy's) statement. People are asking who is their chief minister," the BJP spokesperson said.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's words, he said for the BJP, the country was family, while for the Congress, the "first family" of the party was the country.

"Kumaraswamy is lying prostrate at the feet of a family," Patra said.

He added that former prime minister Manmohan Singh used to blame the compulsions of coalition politics in the face of allegations of corruption in his government and said there was a feeling of deja vu in Karnataka.

Patra also claimed that various opposition parties were not accepting Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the leader of an anti-BJP coalition.

To a question, the BJP leader claimed that the saffron party would form the next government in Odisha, where Assembly polls will be held simultaneously with the Lok Sabha election in 2019.
Mumbai: The BJP and the Shiv Sena may have some differences, but they can't do without each other, Union minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday suggested and wanted the alliance of the two parties to continue.

Against the backdrop of acrimony between the two parties during the Palghar Lok Sabha bypoll campaign, Gadkari maintained the saffron alliance does not have any ideological differences, adding there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics.

"It is an alliance done by (Sena supremo) late Bal Thackeray and (late BJP leader) Pramod Mahajan on the issue of Hindutva and both parties have no ideological differences. I want the alliance to continue," he said.

He was addressing a press conference here to highlight the Narendra Modi government's achievements in the last four years.

Quoting a Marathi proverb "Tujha majha zame na, tujha vachun karme na" (we have lot of differences, but still can't live without each other), he said the situation between the saffron allies was similar to it.

To a query if he would mediate between the two parties ahead of the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra polls next year, Gadkari said he was too busy with his ministerial work in Delhi and that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP chief Raosaheb Danve were capable of handling the situation.

Asked further whether he would intervene if the BJP asks him, he said, "Yes I would do so. Anything can happen in politics. There are no permanent friends or enemies."

On the opposition criticising former president Pranab Mukherjee for accepting the RSS invitation to speak at its function in Nagpur, Gadkari said, "The RSS is not Pakistan's ISI. The RSS is an organisation of nationalists."

"Mukherjee's acceptance of the invitation is a good start. Political untouchability is not good," he said.

Mukherjee, who has been a Congress veteran, has been invited to be the chief guest at the valedictory function of Sangh Shiksha Varg -- a training camp for the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh volunteers -- at the RSS headquarters in Nagpur, scheduled on June 7.

The former president has accepted the invitation, an RSS functionary said yesterday.

To a question on if he would return to state politics, Gadkari said, "I wasn't interested when I was shifted to Delhi as the BJP's national president. Now, I like Delhi and don't want to come back."

The Union minister also said that during the 48 months of the Modi government a lot of work was done as compared to the "48 years of the Nehru-Gandhi family rule".

"(These) 48 months have seen a qualitative performance in socio-economic transformation of the country," he said.

"We don't say we have fulfilled all the promises. But the work is in progress. There is a lot to be done in the agriculture field and also to reduce the petrol and diesel prices," he noted.

"No one is satisfied 100 per cent. 'Acche din' (good days) depends on one's belief," Gadkari said, when asked about the BJP's "Acche Din" slogan in 2014 and the present tagline of "Saaf Niyat Sahi Vikas".

Replying to queries on the opposition's demand for reverting to ballot boxes in polls, he said malfunctioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) machines was a serious thing and the Election Commission should deal with it.

"If the Congress wins Punjab and forms the government in Karnataka, the EVMs are good and if we win, there is EVM problem. This is immature," he quipped.

"The Election Commission is an independent and impartial body to conduct polls. The decision whether to shift to ballot boxes from EVMs is to be taken by the EC," the senior BJP leader said.

Downplaying the row over a controversial audio clip of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis exhorting party workers to win the Palghar bypoll at any cost and using any means, he said the CM's intention behind making the statement was different.

"I know Fadnavis since his childhood. He is very cultured and sophisticated. His intentions of making the particular statement were different," Gadkari said.

On the BJP's promise of separate statehood to Vidarbha region, he said the party was in favour of smaller states.

"For creation of a separate state, there is a constitutional provision of two-third majority in Parliament. Without Congress' support, Vidarbha can't be created. Whenever we get adequate support, Vidarbha will happen," he said.

Meanwhile, Gadkari said Maharashtra's irrigation potential is 18 per cent at present.

With the Centre's support to complete 108 pending irrigation projects in the state, the potential will go up to 40 per cent, he said.

The transport minister said that work on the Mumbai-Vadodara stretch of the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway project will begin in a fortnight. The total project is estimated at Rs 1 lakh crore and the Mumbai-Vadodara stretch would cost Rs 44,000 crore.

The Expressway will pass through the backward regions of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra, he added.
Lucknow: Allegations of EVM malfunctioning returned to haunt the Election Commission as four Lok Sabha seats and nine assembly constituencies went for bypolls on Monday.

Right from Kairana in western Uttar Pradesh to Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and sole parliamentary seat in Nagaland, victory or defeat was going to be analysed as referendum on four years of Modi rule, especially in the build up to 2019 general elections.

But even before the results were out, the bypolls were marred by controversies over unprecedented complains of EVM/VVPAT malfunctioning reigniting demand for going back to ballot papers.

While murmurings in political quarters have continued about possible misuse of EVMs, the debate this time has shifted from EVM being 'faulty programmed' to suit a particular party to 'malfunctioned EVMs' being deliberately used in selected areas, with intent to deny a section of voters their voting rights.

Though in the process of secret ballot, it will not be wise to label a particular area of being conducive to a political party 'A', 'B' or 'C'.

But if we take Kairana Lok Sabha seat as a test case then allegations which had been very strongly made by joint opposition, which includes the Samajwadi Party, RLD and Congress, is that faulty EVMs were purposely used in areas dominated by Jat, Muslim and Dalit population to deny voters their right to franchise and, thereby, help the BJP.

Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav and RLD leader Jayant Chaudhary were quick to get on social media on the polling day asking if malfunctioned EVMs were just a technical fault or a larger conspiracy.

In series of tweets, Akhilesh went on to say Democracy is in danger.

Its a fact that such large number of cases of EVMs not working was rarely reported in previous elections.

In Kairana alone, more than 150 cases of EVMs not working were reported.

EC officials had a tough time dealing with complaints. The argument about VVPAT system developing snag due to heat wave, failed to convince many.

Akhilesh Yadav, in his press conference on Tuesday, said, Heat wave was all across Kairana then why did EVMs in particular areas only developed snag due to high temperature.

Almost similar charges were also raised by the high powered delegation to Election Commission of India yesterday, comprising Ramgopal Yadav of the SP, Ajit Singh of the RLD and RPN Singh from the congress party.

Down in Maharashtra, it was NCP's Praful Patel who launched a scathing attack on EVMs. He questioned 'why were faulty EVMs brought from Surat to Palghar and Bhandara Gondiya'.

He further said, Its a clear attempt to deny a section of voters of their right to vote and its high time Election Commission go back to old system of ballot paper.

Now with EC ordering for repoll on 73 booths in Kairana and 43 in Bhandara Gondiya, opposition is seeing it as a major victory.

Samajwadi Party MLC Sunil Singh Sajan said, I had been personally involved with party duty in Kairana and can therefore say with confidence that most of these 73 booths where repoll will take place on May 30 are areas of our strength. No doubt there was a conspiracy behind EVMs going wrong on these booths.

CPI(M)'s state council member Pradeep Sharma said, Malfunctioned EVMs can be part of larger conspiracy to help BJP. We also have confirmed reports about how police force was also used in many areas of Kairana to prevent people from casting their vote.

Meanwhile, BJP's state General secretary and MLC Vijay Bahadur Pathak rubbished such allegations.

He said, We have firm faith in EC and abide by its decision. The party will win the Kairana seat with a good margin.
Vistara has come up with a unique robot using Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology that can assist customers, address their queries and entertain them. Named RADA, the robot is aimed at helping the airline offer an enhanced on-ground service to its customers. During its initial stage, RADA will be placed at Vistaras Signature Lounge at Delhi Airports Terminal 3 from July 5, 2018, to assist customers using the lounge before they board their flights. Vistara states that RADA will be further developed over a period of time in terms of functionality and features for future use cases, after gauging customer feedback.

At present, the robot can scan boarding passes and further provide information on the terminal, departure gates, weather conditions of destination city, real-time flight status as well as information about Vistaras products and services. It greets customers and interacts with them using basic hand movements, and is capable of moving around in the lounge on predefined pathways. Additionally, it can engage with kids and adults alike by playing games and other multimedia content such as songs and videos.

Commenting on the introduction of RADA, Vistaras Chief Executive Officer, Leslie Thng said, With RADA, we aim to change the way people interact and fly with an airline. We will be developing RADA based on customer feedback and equipping it with the most effective features in the time to come.

Also read: Robots Not a Threat to Human Labour: Microsoft Chief Satya Nadella

RADA has been envisioned and incubated under Vistaras Innovation initiative. It is conceived, designed and engineered by its team of technology experts and apprentices from Tata Innovation Lab with support from students of reputed institutions. Vistara claims that it is one of Indias most economical robots which is completely made of indigenous components, thus making a compelling Make in India story.

RADA is built on a chassis of four wheels, enabling it to rotate 360 degrees, and it has three in-built cameras for cognitive interaction. Combining these components with an effective voice technology, Vistara has developed the robot to provide a simple solution to cater to the emerging and future trends.

Explaining what sparked the idea behind RADA, Vistaras Chief Information and Innovation Officer, Ravinder Pal Singh, It was a realisation that the talented, young employees engaged in ground services, gain immense customer service experience on the job, but the limited scope of their routine work could challenge their true potential. Some of them spend decades within the walls of an airport, assisting customers. Therefore, we thought of inventing a robot that can help us enhance customer experience by gradually taking over the routine, mundane tasks."

He further adds "The basic premise of the thought was to develop a simple and extremely cost-effective practical robot that can engage in basic human interaction to begin with, and can further be developed to perform more complex tasks, as consumer habits continue to evolve in the technological age where humans and machines will complement and create an evolved harmonious evolution.

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Microsoft's Indian-origin chief, Satya Nadella, does not believe in the "fallacy" that robots will overtake human labour and is confident that artificial intelligence (AI) will solve more problems than cause them. The 50-year-old chief of the tech major, in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, expressed optimism in the impact of technology on human lives if applied ethically.

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"I don't believe in that lump of labour fallacy, we don't know all the jobs that are going to be there," he said in reference to robots versus human labour.

If robots do replace humans, he says mechanisms such as universal basic income may be needed, drawing comparisons with the labour movement, but that humans will always need jobs. "There is a certain amount of dignity to what is work so we need to have an incentive system," he said.

Also Read: Lenovo Z5 With All Screen Display to Launch on June 5

"What I think needs to be done in 2018 is more dialogue around the ethics, the principles that we can use for the engineers and companies that are building AI, so that the choices we make do not cause us to create systems with bias... that's the tangible thing we should be working on," he added.

On Brexit, the Microsoft chief believes the UK has "great human capital, great industry, a great system" and therefore in the future it will continue to thrive, with some "turns".

The software giant, responsible for Windows, Office and Internet Explorer, has changed under Nadella's command, the newspaper notes. "What we have learned is to just be consistent in building trust and just making sure that you're not just measuring your success by your own success," Nadella says.

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Palpa, Peru: Archaeologists using drones have discovered more than 25 geoglyphs etched into a swath of coastal desert in southern Peru near the Nazca Lines, a culture ministry official said Monday.

Most of the newly found geoglyphs, which include figures of a killer whale and a woman dancing, appear to have been made by the Paracas culture more than 2,000 years ago, hundreds of years before the Nazca people created similar giant drawings nearby, said Johny Isla, an archaeologist who heads the culture ministry's conservation efforts in the region.

An additional 25 geoglyphs that had previously been spotted by local residents have also been mapped with drones, Isla said.

Drones "have allowed us to broaden our documentation and discover new groups of figures," Isla said on a tour of the geoglyphs in the province of Palpa.

But unlike the Nazca lines, most of which can only be seen by flying above them, many of the so-called Palpa Lines were carved into hillsides and can be seen from below, Peru's culture ministry said in a statement.

The geoglyphs created by the Nazca and Paracas cultures are striking reminders of Peru's rich pre-Columbian history and are considered archeological enigmas, as no one knows for sure why they were drawn, or so large and for so long.

"In total we're talking about 1,200 years in which geoglyphs were produced" in the region, said Isla.

Declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994, the Nazca Lines have faced damage by squatters looking for land to settle on and motorists veering off a nearby highway.

In 2014, environmental group Greenpeace apologized to Peru for staging a picture to protest dirty fuels at the Nazca geoglyph of a hummingbird, which government officials said was damaged as a result.

Isla said the Greenpeace incident prompted the culture ministry to ramp up efforts to protect archaeological sites in the region, helping lead to the new discoveries.

"We still haven't walked among them, we've only taken pictures. This is the first stage of research," Isla said.
Johannesburg: A nine-year-old Indian-origin girl was today killed in a botched car hijacking, leading to angry protests by the community members in the Indian township of Chatsworth in Durban.

The girl, Sadia Sukhraj, was on her way to school with her father when three armed men allegedly accosted and hijacked the car she was in and sped away with her.

In an ensuing chase in which the hijackers and community members shot at each other, the hijackers crashed the car they were in. The girl was found shot and critically injured while one of the hijackers tumbled out of the car dead.

She was rushed to a hospital but succumbed to her serious injuries.

A second hijacker was arrested by an off-duty policeman, while the third one escaped.

Following the incident, more than 3,000 members of the community converged outside Chatsworth police station calling for urgent police action.

As the small contingent of officers at the police station allegedly came under severe verbal abuse and threats of physical action from protestors, they resorted to firing rubber bullets, tear gas, and stun grenades to disperse the crowd, which included scores of children.

Mahendra Lillkan, chairperson of the local Crime Forum, said there had been a spike in crime in the area, despite community patrols at night.

"It seems that the criminals have now resorted to striking at soft targets, such as parents taking their children to school, as we have seen with this tragic incident."

Police and community leaders have appealed for calm amid fears that the protests would escalate tomorrow as the distraught family prepared for the funeral.
Tokyo: A top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Singapore on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said on Tuesday, the latest indication that the on-again-off-again summit with U.S. President Donald Trump may go ahead.

Kim Chang Son, Kim's de facto chief of staff, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, the report said.

At the same time, a team of U.S. government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The White House said a "pre-advance" team was traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans.

The reports indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week. A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at the Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was "going there to play," according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Meanwhile, North Korea's Kim Yong Chol, a senior official dealing with inter-Korean affairs was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said citing an unnamed source.

Due to sanctions against him, Kim Yong Chol is banned from visiting the United States normally. His visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted Kim Yong Chol for supporting the North's nuclear and missile programmes in 2010 and 2016, respectively.

Yonhap added Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport. Yonhap did not say whether Choe would be accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

In a flurry of diplomacy over the weekend, Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-U.S. summit must be held.

And on Sunday, the U.S. State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led that American delegation, an American official told Reuters.

Moon said on Monday that there could be more impromptu talks between the two Koreas in the lead-up to the summit.

In Kim and Moon's first, upbeat meeting on April 27, they agreed to seek the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula - but didn't define what that meant, or how that would proceed.

Since then, North Korea has rejected U.S. demands for it to unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons programme that experts say could threaten the United States.

Pyongyang also demanded the United States halt future joint military drills with South Korea if it truly wishes for talks with North Korea, the North's Rodong Sinmun said on Tuesday. In response to reporters' questions regarding the report, South Korea's defense ministry said it does not have plans to change joint exercise schedules with the United States military.

Analysts believe Washington is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree on sufficient steps towards denuclearisation to allow a summit to take place.

North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programmes as a deterrent against perceived aggression by the United States, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

It has long said it is open to eventually giving up its nuclear arsenal if the United States withdraws its troops from South Korea and ends its nuclear umbrella alliance with Seoul.
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FactSet Research Systems is bringing on an addition 150 people in Norwalk, giving it 1,050 total as it moves its headquarters next year a short distance to the former Xerox headquarters in The Towers office park.

FactSet furnishes financial industry clients with live market feeds and analysis, competing with Bloomberg, Thomson Reuters and a host of smaller entities focused on varying niches. In its second fiscal quarter ending in February, FactSet booked $53.1 million in profits as revenue rose 14 percent from the prior years period to $335 million.

The state of Connecticut is furnishing a $6.5 million grant to support FactSets expansion in Norwalk, subject to the approval of the State Bond Commission, which meets Friday. A FactSet contact did not say whether the company has sought tax credits as well, with FactSet having received tax credit incentives in two previous packages from the state of Connecticut, in 2005 and 2012 when its local workforce totaled 640 people.

Under CEO Phil Snow, FactSet is spending nearly $50 million of its own funds to move its headquarters a few blocks to 45 Glover Ave. from Merritt 7 Corporate Park just off the Merritt Parkway. As of Tuesday, FactSet listed about 40 open jobs in Norwalk of about 130 globally  one of them the key post of chief financial officer, with CFO Maurizio Nicolelli leaving the company at the end of the year after 22 years with FactSet.

If I see us ticking up in terms of business, I can pull that lever to do a little bit more hiring in those key areas that we need, Nicolelli said in mid-May, speaking in mid-May at a London investment conference sponsored by Barclays. If I see us slowing down a little bit, then Im able to rejigger a little bit our investment levels, which ... really at the end of the day, its headcount  70 to 75 percent of our total expenses is people.

The company has yet to indicate whether it will fill the Norwalk jobs with new hires or transfers, whether from existing offices or those of any acquired businesses. In London, Snow said his company is scouting possible acquisition targets among firms that provide information pegged to regulatory developments.

FactSet this month launched an Open:FactSet data exchange that provides a standardized platform for alternative sets of data it provided on a custom basis previously, or not at all.

A lot of our biggest clients are starting to ask for more alternative data, and weve noticed a lot of them ... have set up groups to on-board data (and) create a data lake, Snow said. It made sense for a lot of them to outsource this to us, so weve had conversations with hundreds of alternative data providers  shipping, satellite, sentiment, weather, credit card, those kinds of data sets  and theyre very excited about coming to FactSet to put their data in this new area of our platform.

Alex.Soule@scni.com; 203-842-2545; @casoulman
Editors note: This is the first of a series of profiles on candidates for the U.S. House from Connecticuts 5th District.

SIMSBURY  Mary Glassman thought she would never return to elected office.

But on March 30, the former eight-term first selectman of Simsbury, got a call from her Los Angeles-based son, who had already spoken to her two other grown children.

He said, Mom, I think you should run for Congress, and I told him I didnt think there was an opening, Glassman said. But he said, No, Mom, theres going to be an opening, and I think its time for you to step up.

Her son was right.

Four days later, following revelations that she covered up an office abuse scandal, U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Esty announced she would not seek a fourth term representing Connectiuts 5th Congressional District.

That same day, Glassman jumped into what had suddenly become Connecticuts most competitive congressional race.

In doing so, Glassman entered under circumstances similar to those in 1991, when a candidate for Simsbury first selectman suddenly dropped out of the race and Glassmans husband, Andrew, talked her into running.

Somebody dropped out and I dropped in; its fate, I guess, said a smiling Glassman, a two-time Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor and the manager of the Capitol Region Education Council. I really felt obligated to run, because this is such an important seat.

Glassman, who is being challenged in the Aug. 14 primary by former star Waterbury high school teacher Jahana Hayes, insists that being elected eight times as a Democrat in a Republican town and working in the state capital earned her the partys endorsement at the district nominating convention two weeks ago.

But Glassman concedes the 5th District is difficult to win, because of its diversity of cities and towns and because it encompasses so much of northwestern and central Connecticut.

It is probably the toughest to win of all the congressional districts because it was held by a Republican for 24 years, and because it is important to the nation, Glassman said of a district that voted for Democrat Hillary Clinton by just over 50 percent in the 2016 presidential election. I spoke with Elizabeth about it, and she said its a tough district.

Glassmans strategy over the next 11 weeks is to listen to as many voters as she can and to share her story, which she describes as a 5th District story.

That story takes lessons from growing up in an immigrant home in New Britain, where Glassman learned the importance of service, and where she learned government assistance can make lives better. Her story takes lessons from her political experience, which has taught her to temper toughness with kindness and to balance courage with cooperation.

Glassman says the way to show voters what shell do for them in Washington, D.C., is to tell them what she has done in office.

State Rep. Bob Godfrey, D-Danbury, her law school classmate and longtime friend, agrees.

She was the CEO of Simsbury for a long period of time, so she must have been doing something right, because Simsbury is hardly a Democratic stronghold, said Godfrey, who represents Danbury. She is smart, she is a hard worker, and she is really experienced in public policy, which are all important qualities to be a member of Congress.

Glassman will spend the summer raising money. Her campaign had raised $170,000 by the end of last week, with plans to raise $340,000 more by the primary, she said.

Hayes, the 2016 National Teacher of the Year, has been in the race for four weeks and has only begun to raise money. After losing the party endorsement to Glassman by three votes, Hayes issued a challenge to supporters to raise $10 from 1,000 donors in 24 hours.

By contrast, Esty had $1.5 million on hand when she dropped out of the race.

People of the 5th

When Glassman speaks with voters in the 5th District, she is struck by how engaged they are  and by how exasperated they are.

They are frustrated with the process in Washington. Glassman said. On an issue like health care, they want to know, Why cant we get simple, basic health care? Why does it have to cost so much? They really dont want to hear finger-pointing or excuses. They want to hear about results.

As such, Glassman believes she is positioned to identify with voters concerns about everything from Social Security to school security.

We are working hard to listen to voters and to understand how we can leverage local, state and federal policy to make a difference in their lives, Glassman said. Without having the benefit of serving locally and at the state level, I would not have the ability to understand how all of government can work together.

The values she learned as a child, started with her mother, a Jewish immigrant from Russia, who was a single mother for a while after the death of her father, an immigrant from Italy. Her mother kept the family afloat with the help of Social Security.

She taught us never to forget where we came from, and to focus on being kind and making a difference, Glassman said of her mother, who turns 90 this year. We need to make sure that all kids have the same opportunity and hope that they can do better.

Glassmans best friend from kindergarten agrees the heart of Glassmans service ethic is in her early childhood experience.

She is just a warm-hearted and intelligent person who always has other human beings at heart, said Heidi Calderone, of Berlin. What I dont like about politicians is you really cant trust them, but I have always felt like I can trust her.

Trust in Esty was a casualty in late March, when Heart Connecticut Media broke news that she failed to act quickly to remove her former chief of staff, after learning of allegations that he punched and sexually harassed a former employee in Estys office.

Esty admitted she covered up the scandal by giving her ex-chief of staff a favorable review that helped him get a job with the Ohio office of Newtown-based Sandy Hook Promise.

At the time the scandal broke, there was only one other candidate in the race to represent the 5th District  Republican Manny Santos.

Santos, the GOPs endorsed candidate, is in a primary against Southburys Ruby ONeill and Watertown businessman Richard Dupont.

Meanwhile, it remains to be seen what effect the Esty scandal will have on the primary race in a midterm election year when Democrats hope to capture control of the House of Representatives from Republicans.

Already, Glassman said, voters are seeking assurances that Estys replacement has the ability to run an office that is open and inclusive.

I think that is a fair issue for voters in this race, to ask, Have you managed people? Have you managed staff? Glassman said. Voters want to be sure that you have the management experience to run an office that is respectful, and that is free of sexual harassment.

rryser@newstimes.com 203-731-3342
As you settle back into work after a relaxing holiday weekend, you probably have a larger-than-average influx of emails to sift through. Their subject lines read along the lines of, Please update your information and consents, Updated terms of service and privacy policy and more.

This is all thanks to a new law out of Europe, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). But dont blame European lawmakers for the fact that youre getting all of these messages at once.

The European Union passed the GDPR in April 2016, and tech companies had more than two years to prepare before enforcement of the law began on May 25, 2018. Given that the web is a global network, the GDPR has required that all digitally operating companies that have European citizens as users to make changes to the ways in which they collect, store and process user data -- or else pay hefty fines.

In a nutshell, organizations cant collect data without user consent, and they are required to fulfill users requests to delete any information theyve collected on them. Users will also be able to download all of the data an online service provider has on them and see how that organization has been using it.

Related: Here's How to Download and Delete Your Facebook Data

Its a tall order to get companies and users alike to care about data privacy at scale. Its complicated, because laws have frequently come into effect reactively, not proactively. People take privacy for granted, and often, it takes a massive breach for people to get concerned, such as when it came to light in March that years-old Facebook data -- from 87 million users -- had gotten into the hands of political consultancy Cambridge Analytica.

That scandal inspired congressional hearings with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in the hot seat, and given the impending GDPR, he testified before the EU as well. The scandal hasn't made a dent in Facebook usage.

The same passiveness goes for the GDPR: Many online service providers scrambled to get their policies updated and their users in the know, thus the 11th-hour emails that arrived en masse leading up to May 25. Its likely that most people wont read them, but in one way or another, many organizations email subscriber lists are going to dwindle because of them.

Did you read any of the privacy notices you got via email?  Entrepreneur (@Entrepreneur) May 29, 2018

Several of the emails lead with desperate pleas, e.g. Please dont go! because their aim is for the user to opt in, giving organizations permission to continue the data-sharing relationship, a.k.a. keep them on their marketing lists. They want you to renew your vows, if you will. If you dont, companies are supposed to unsubscribe you. That might sound like a long overdue spam spring cleaning. But the problem is, the service providers are making users do all the work -- and all at once -- if they want to stay in the loop.

Then, there have been reports that these emails are all for naught, based on a misunderstanding of the GDPR. Some companies already have the necessary consent from their user contacts. Now, the emails theyre sending might backfire if people get unsubscribe-happy amid the email flood.

Even though tech giants such as Facebook and Google have been more publicly under fire for their misuse of data, some have argued that the GDPR gives bigger organizations an advantage. If a lesser-known entity asks a user to consent to data access, it might be met with more skepticism, or seen as less legitimate. This is an opportunity for users to think hard about which organizations they trust and why.

Youre quite likely to click I Consent or Yes when a GDPR form is put in between you and your next hit of Facebook dopamine, John Battelle writes for NewCo Shift. Youre utterly unlikely to do the same when a small publisher asks for your consent via what feels like a spammy email.

Related: The Weirdest Things People Agree to in Terms of Service

As for the updated service agreements themselves, youve probably wondered, do these companies really expect every user to read every new contract thats dropped into their inbox? Despite the fact that the GDPR specifies that companies must write their privacy policies in clear and plain language, many of the updated policies consist of the opposite. Googles, Facebooks, Twitters and LinkedIns are now more verbose, according to The Wall Street Journal. It seems like a classic case of cramming: the dilemma of, I would have written you a shorter note if Id had more time to edit down my rambling first draft.

This is just one way in which companies were unprepared for Fridays enforcement. Publications under the Tronc family, such as The Chicago Tribune and The Los Angeles Times, are among those that have blocked European citizens from accessing their websites while they continue getting their GDPR ducks in a row. Many other U.S.-based publications presented opt-in messages or pared-down websites to their audiences.

Even if you click the x on policy update prompts, and even if you (inevitably) dont read all of the emails, it cant hurt to keep them on file. You never know when youre want to take a glimpse at the data youve shared with a social network, app or other service -- and possibly wipe the record clean. Some of those emails might point you in that direction if that day ever comes.

Related:

Here's Why Your Inbox Is Filled With Privacy Policy Emails

Alexa Is Listening. Here's How to Keep Your Voice Assistant From Recording You.

Apple Will Let All Users Download Their Collected Personal Data



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Picture Mark Zuckerberg in your mind. Whats he wearing? That's right. A t-shirt.

In fact, Zuck's signature gray t-shirt has become a fixture of his personal brand. If you didnt picture that item of clothing, you probably imagined him wearing jeans and a hoodie, or some similarly casual combination. Those choices represent a significant departure from the typical business suits of CEOs past, and Zuckerberg certainly isnt alone in this trend.

Related: What Is Business Casual? Here Are 9 Classic Looks for Men.

Dig through images of founders and employees from a few dozen different startups, and youre bound to see a full spectrum of wardrobe choices, from founders well groomed and wearing fitted suits, to professionals dressed like college freshmen, with the median falling somewhere between true casual and business casual.

The whole trend has become so popular, among founders as well as employees, that it has a name: startup casual. But even if you are adopting the prototypical startup culture, should you dress that way? And should you allow your employees to follow suit (so to speak)?

There are a few possible motivations for this style of attire, based on psychological reasoning.

For example:

1. Decision-fatigue mitigation

Mark Zuckerberg claims that he wears the same jeans and gray T-shirt every day so he doesnt expend any unnecessary mental energy on a decision that doesnt matter. By his reasoning, wearing whatever you want (or wearing the same outfit every day) is a way to spare yourself from the anguish of decision fatigue (which is a real psychological phenomenon).

Given that decision fatigue can interfere with your decision-making abilities and add stress to your already-stressed life, this is sound reasoning. But given that decision fatigue is an accumulation of stress from many decisions, opting out of just one decision may not be enough to counteract it.

2. The underlying message

The casual dress code in Silicon Valley originated in part as a message about the nature of work. According to a piece by Deirdre Clemente in The Atlantic, Life is less formal; the concept of going to the office has fundamentally changed; American companies are now more results-oriented than process-oriented.

Startup entrepreneurs would rather their employees focus on being productive, thinking creatively and getting results than on adhering to a strict formula; this philosophy may also be partially responsible for the increase in flexible hours and work-from-home opportunities.

Dressing casually, therefore, could send a message to your team that what someone does is more important than what he/she wears.

Related: What's the Difference Between Business Casual and Smart Casual? A Handy Guide on How to Dress. (Infographic)

3. Independent thinking

Uniforms have long been used as a tool to encourage behavioral conformity -- in prisons, schools and workplaces, alike. For example, one 2011 study found that sharing the same visual cue can promote group identification process and eventually induce stronger conformity.

For institutions with mandatory attendance and large groups to manage, this can be a good thing. But for startups, which rely heavily on creativity and independent thought, that kind of groupthink can be self-defeating.

Dressing casually, in your own style, may encourage employees to choose their own attire, possibly influencing them to break from established norms, to come up with more inventive ideas and voice more opposing opinions.

4. Approachability

Dressing casually may also benefit you by making you seem more approachable. Employees who see their boss in casual clothing may be more likely to voice concerns, ideas and suggestions, which is beneficial for keeping your organization up to date and high in morale.

However, theres evidence to suggest that the way you dress can change how youre perceived in many different dimensions, including your intelligence, confidence, trustworthiness, responsibility, authority and organization.

And, as you might expect, the more professionally you dress, the better, for displaying these categories.

Understanding your priorities

The motivations are clear, but the question remains: Is it a good idea for you, the entrepreneur/founder/CEO of your organization, to dress casually?

That all depends on your priorities. There are some objective benefits to dressing casually and having your employees do likewise, such as setting a tone to favor results over processes and discouraging conformity and groupthink.

Related: How to Do Business Casual With Exquisite Style

But on the other hand, dressing formally can help you establish and reinforce your reputation.

In any case, unless youve already proven yourself, dressing formally should be your default for meetings with clients, investors and other VIPs. How you handle matters internally is a question of preference and philosophy.

Related:

Move Over, 'Business Casual.' There's Another Kid on the Block: 'Startup Casual.'

What Is Business Casual? Here Are 9 Classic Looks for Men.

How to Do Business Casual With Exquisite Style



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
Employers are actively working to make the cliche another cog in the machine a thing of the past. Their priorities have shifted from treating employees like drones to understanding who they are as people. To achieve this, leaders are focusing on ways to make the workplace more human.

Related: What Happened to the Workplace? How to Make It More Human.

In fact, a January study of 738 HR professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management and Globoforce found that 75 percent of companies examined were actively trying to create positive relationships and teamwork in the office. Seventy-five percent said they were working to create a compassionate culture; 73 percent were focusing on employee appreciation.

While these are all good goals, as with any company change, there are bound to be hiccups. To smoothly transition to a more human workplace, you need to understand the road ahead. Here are some suggestions:

Differentiate between 'supporting' and 'fixing.'

Part of creating a more human workplace is getting to know employees as complete people with goals, families and interests. When leaders take the time to learn this information, a deeper bond is forged in the workplace.

For example, Murray Nossel, the New York-based founder and director of the storytelling-based business communications solution Narativ, said he encourages employees to share their story, in order to improve company communications. However, he found that when employees talked about past traumas, he felt a knee-jerk reaction to help. Meetings became about sharing and processing emotions, which bled into the rest of the workday, Nossel said in an email.

Thankfully, Nossel showed some wisdom about the underside of getting to know employees -- getting overly involved.

Nossel said he had to realize it was not his or his team members job to fix the underlying issues of these stories. They could listen to the facts, but their task ended at offering external resources rather than trying directly to help.

When you, as a leader, find yourself in an emotional conversation, prioritize listening. Let the employee share what he or she is facing, and that trauma's personal impact. Often, listening is all such a person needs from a leader. Should employees need more help, its better to direct them to a professional.

Have the right infrastructure in place.

Many employee benefits sound great in theory, but there needs to be a solid foundation and support system to make them effective. Leaders need to make sure the proper procedures, communication channels and guidelines are set up. Otherwise, benefits aimed at creating a more human workplace will fail.

For example, Susan Matejka, director of leadership development at the Chicago-based HR consulting firm Cognos HR, had a client who wanted to institute an unlimited PTO policy. At first, that benefit seemed like a great move and helped attract talent. But it quickly took its toll on business outcomes.

What they discovered is that many employees were taking full advantage (some up to 40 days per year) of this benefit, Matejka said in an email.

Related: 4 Ways Innovative Companies are Celebrating Their Employees

When introducing new benefits, make sure they have a slow rollout period. This will allow you to collect data and see what unforeseen obstacles pop up. Through trial and error, employers can refine benefits and avoid major backfires.

Create a two-way street.

Many leaders think that creating a human workplace is just about giving. The more benefits and perks, the better the employee experience, right? Wrong, because this this attitude misses the point.

Human relationships are two-way. This isnt about organizations just giving more to their people; its about a reciprocal, adult relationship that creates a platform for mutual success, Lori Ames, said via email. She's founder and president of the Babylon, N.Y-based company ThePRFreelancer, Inc., for nonfiction authors.

If a company is built on benefits, employees wont be truly invested in team success. Instead, leaders shold focus on finding employees who align with the organizations mission, vision and values. Their priority needs to be contributing to a working relationship rather than receiving great perks.

Stop thinking like a tech company.

The relationship between technology and the human workplace is interesting. Its only been since automation and AI tools started taking over repetitive jobs that employers have begun prioritizing the deeper needs of employees. Yet, as a company begins to rely more heavily on tech, it may also start behaving more like a tech company -- no matter what the industry.

As [technology] reshapes the world of work, companies are going to need to start thinking like learning companies, Jeremy Auger, chief strategy officer of Ontario-based online education platform D2L, said by email.

Focus on all the ways employees can grow and evolve while they're working at your organization. Curiosity is a part of human nature, and its up to you as leader to provide learning opportunities. For example, schedule a day once a month when employees can shadow co-workers in other departments. This will give them a chance to learn and to see the company from a new perspective.

Related: Seven Employee Warning Signs

Just continue to recognize that fine but all-important line between getting to know employees and getting overly involved.

Related:

Want to Make Your Workplace More Human? Here Are 4 Foolproof Ways.

Common Bad Habits Millennials Need to Stop Making at Workplace

5 Habits Millennial Workers Should Start Right Now



Copyright 2018 Entrepreneur.com Inc., All rights reserved
OTTAWA, May 29, 2018 /CNW/ - CannaRoyalty Corp. (CSE: CRZ) (OTCQX: CNNRF) ("CannaRoyalty" or the "Company") today announced the Company's financial results for the three-month period ended March 31, 2018. All figures are reported in Canadian dollars ($), unless otherwise indicated. CannaRoyalty's financial statements are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS").

"Over the past six months, we have announced the acquisition of substantial revenue generating cannabis operators, including distribution operations that generated US$31.9 million in revenue in 2017, transforming CannaRoyalty into a major cannabis product distributor in California and into what we expect will be one of the largest revenue producers in the Canadian publicly-traded cannabis space," said Marc Lustig, CEO of CannaRoyalty. "Our team has targeted distribution not only for its attractive near-term economic potential but also for its strategic position between California's leading growth brands and most licensed dispensaries in the state. By fostering strategic relationships with both constituencies, we expect to generate significant organic growth, while building an information advantage and poll position to assess and execute on accretive opportunities for the Company. Over the past several months we have also established a beachhead in Canada to eventually bring our leading products home and we expect to continue to make progress on this significant opportunity over the balance of the year and as the Canadian regulations continue to develop."

Q1 Highlights and Recent Developments

For a more comprehensive overview of these highlights and recent developments, please refer to CannaRoyalty's Management's Discussion and Analysis of the Financial Condition and Results of Operations for the Three Months Ended March 31, 2018.

On May 11, 2018 Trichome and CannaRoyalty jointly closed a first tranche of $500,000 under a credit agreement to provide up to $2.5 million to 180 Smoke, a leading Canadian online and retail vaporizer products company.

Trichome and CannaRoyalty jointly closed a first tranche of under a credit agreement to provide up to to 180 Smoke, a leading Canadian online and retail vaporizer products company. On April 18, 2018 , CannaRoyalty announced it was planning to acquire 100% of FloraCal Farms, a licensed ultra-premium craft cannabis producer. The acquisition of FloraCal will add branded premium cannabis flower and pre-roll products to CannaRoyalty's diverse portfolio.

, CannaRoyalty announced it was planning to acquire 100% of FloraCal Farms, a licensed ultra-premium craft cannabis producer. The acquisition of FloraCal will add branded premium cannabis flower and pre-roll products to CannaRoyalty's diverse portfolio. On March 27, 2018 , CannaRoyalty announced it had closed the acquisition of Alta Supply Inc. a California based licensed cannabis distributor and of Kaya Management Inc., the exclusive manufacturer and license holder of rights for Bhang brand vaporizer products in California , as well as the acquisition of the exclusive statewide manufacturing and distribution rights to Bhang edibles and Bhang concentrates in California .

, CannaRoyalty announced it had closed the acquisition of Alta Supply Inc. a based licensed cannabis distributor and of Kaya Management Inc., the exclusive manufacturer and license holder of rights for Bhang brand vaporizer products in , as well as the acquisition of the exclusive statewide manufacturing and distribution rights to Bhang edibles and Bhang concentrates in . On March 25, 2018 , the Company announced that it entered into a binding term sheet for the acquisition of 100% of River Distribution and its affiliates to further expand its owned-distribution network across the state of California .

Financial Highlights  Q1  2018

Operating Results

All comparisons below are to March 31, 2017, unless otherwise noted

Revenues were $643,437 as compared to $301,111 .

as compared to . Gross margin was ($29,630) as compared to $244,473 .

as compared to . Operating expenses were $4.5 million as compared to $3.1 million .

as compared to . Net loss of $4.7 million as compared to $2.1 million .

as compared to . Net loss per share of $0.10 as compared to $0.05 .

as compared to . Adjusted EBITDA loss of $2.1 million as compared to $1.6 million .

as compared to . Adjusted EBITDA loss per share of $0.05 as compared to $0.04 .

Balance Sheet

All comparisons below are to December 31, 2017, unless otherwise noted

Cash and cash equivalents of $6,056,470 as compared to $4,522,644 .

as compared to . Total assets of $67,670,691 as compared to $46,139,757 .

as compared to . Current assets of $11,530,330 as compared to $7,947,975 .

as compared to . Current liabilities of $7,928,271 as compared to $2,134,270 .

as compared to . Long-term debt of $2,569,094 as compared to $2,258,467 .

as compared to . Shareholders' equity of $53,740,121 as compared to $40,468,344 .

Results of Operations (Summary)

The following tables set forth consolidated statements of financial information for the three-month periods ending March 31, 2018 and March 31, 2017. For further information regarding the Company's financial results for these periods, please refer to the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the periods ended March 31, 2018 and March 31, 2017 and the Company's Financial Statements for the periods ended March 31, 2018, published on CannaRoyalty's issuer profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com and the Company's website at www.cannaroyalty.com.

Revenue Components



Three months ended March 31



2018 2017 Product sales

$ 84,773 $ - Services

429,817 71,045 Royalties

119,058 211,322 Interest income

9,789 18,744 Total

$ 643,437 $ 301,111







Cost of sales by revenue type



Three months ended March 31



2018 2017 Cost of product sales

$ 75,673 $ - Cost of services

209,023 11,810 Cost of royalties

388,371 44,828 Total

$ 673,067 $ 56,638







Gross margin amounts and percentages by revenue type



Three months ended March 31

2018 2017 Products

$ 9,099 $ - Services

220,794 59,235 Royalties

(269,312) 166,494 Interest

9,789 18,744 Total

$ (29,630) $ 244,473



Three months ended March 31

2018 2017 Products

11% n/a Services

51% 83% Royalties

(226%) 79% Interest

100% 100% All Types

(5%) 81%







Operating Expenses



Three months ended March 31



2018 2017 Sales and marketing

$ 478,516 $ 236,860 Research and development

75,965 476,241 General and administrative

3,750,426 2,137,188 Amortization of intangibles

175,107 202,472 Total

$ 4,480,014 $ 3,052,761

Adjusted EBITDA2



Three months ended March 31

2018 2017 Add (Subtract)



Net loss for the period $ (4,654,473) $ (2,053,785)

Amortization of property and equipment 45,268 41,742

Amortization of intangible assets 175,107 202,472

Amortization of royalty investments 388,370 28,263

Interest expense 319,990 17,620

Interest income (9,789) (18,744)

Current income taxes 434 -

Deferred income tax recovery 168,813 (78,372) EBITDA (3,566,280) (1,860,804)

Gains on investments (342,106) -

Impairment of convertible notes receivable 375,472 -

Listing expense - 38,193

Gain on reclassification to assets held for sale - (98,674)

Adjustment from non-completion of share swap transaction - 183,475

Share based compensation 1,940,043 1,158,396

Gain on dilution of equity accounted investment (846,925) (1,132,107)

Transaction costs on acquisitions 282,126 -

Foreign exchange 76,030 125,652 TOTAL ADJUSTED EBITDA $ (2,081,640) $ (1,585,869) Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - basic and diluted 45,075,695 38,865,970 ADJUSTED EBITDA per share - basic and diluted $ (0.05) $ (0.04)

2Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA per share are non-IFRS measures. See "Adjusted EBITDA" in the Company's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the three and twelve-month periods ended March 31, 2018.

Share Capital

The Company's authorized share capital is an unlimited number of common shares of which 46,907,628 were issued and outstanding as at March 31, 2018 (December 31, 2017  43,898,445 common shares). The Company has issued 4,109,650 RSUs that have not been exercised as at March 31, 2018 including 2,375,922 that have vested (December 31, 2017  4,153,150 including 1,933,587 that had vested). As of March 31, 2018, there are share purchase warrants and broker warrants outstanding that can potentially be converted to 2,623,491 shares (December 31, 2017  4,112,712).

Conference Call

CannaRoyalty will host a conference call on, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 at 8:30 a.m. (Eastern Time) to discuss its 2018 first quarter financial results. The call will be chaired by Marc Lustig, Chief Executive Officer, Afzal Hasan, President and General Counsel and Francois Perrault, Chief Financial Officer.



Participant Dial-in Webcast Reference Number Conference Call 647-427-7450; or 1-888-231-8191 https://bit.ly/2G0yhbz

Replay (available for 2 weeks) 416-849-0833; 613-667-0035; or 1-855-859-2056

5898535

About CannaRoyalty

CannaRoyalty is an active operator and investor in the global cannabis industry, with a strong focus on California, the world's largest cannabis market. Our core mission is to become the leading global consumer product goods company for discerning cannabis consumers. We are currently focused on building a diversified portfolio of manufacturing, distribution, intellectual property, and infrastructure assets to achieve this goal. Our leadership team combines a passion and hands-on understanding of the cannabis industry, with seasoned financial and legal expertise. CannaRoyalty's shares trade on the Canadian Stock Exchange (CSE) under the symbol CRZ and internationally on the OTCQX under the symbol CNNRF.

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 CannaRoyalty's 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," and similar expressions, are forward- looking statements.

Forward-looking statements may include, without limitation, statements including the Company's expectations with respect to pursuing new opportunities, anticipated timing for release of the Company's financial results and filing of its final prospectus, and its future growth and other statements of fact.

Although CannaRoyalty 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; changes 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. CannaRoyalty disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise such information, except as required by applicable law, and CannaRoyalty does not assume any liability for disclosure relating to any other company mentioned herein.

Consolidated Statements of Loss and Comprehensive Loss

In Canadian dollars







Three months ended March 31,

2018 2017 Revenue $ 643,437 $ 301,111





Cost of sales (673,067) (56,638) Gross margin (29,630) 244,473





Operating expenses





Sales and marketing 478,516 236,860

Research and development 75,965 476,241

General and administrative 3,750,426 2,137,188

Amortization of brands and technologies 175,107 202,472



Loss from operations (4,509,644) (2,808,288)





Other income (expenses)





Changes in fair value of investments 342,106 -

Impairment of convertible notes receivable (375,472) -

Profit from equity accounted investees, net of tax 453,804 942,397

Foreign exchange loss (76,030) (125,652)

Interest expense (319,990) (17,620)

Adjustment from non-completion of share swap transaction - (183,475)

Listing expense - (38,193)

Gain on reclassification to assets held for sale - 98,674

Interest income - -



Net loss before tax (4,485,226) (2,132,157)







Current tax expense (434) -

Deferred tax expense recovery (168,813) 78,372



Net loss for the period $ (4,654,473) $ (2,053,785)







Other comprehensive loss for the period





Foreign currency translation differences 545,605 (87,180)



Total comprehensive loss for the period $ (4,108,868) $ (2,140,965)





Net loss per common share - basic and diluted $ (0.10) $ (0.05)





Weighted average number of common shares outstanding - basic and diluted 45,075,695 38,865,970





Total net loss for the period attributable to:





Owners of the company $ (4,629,003) $ (2,037,970)

Attributable to non-controlling interest (25,470) (15,815)

$ (4,654,473) $ (2,053,785) Total comprehensive loss for the period attributable to:





Owners of the company $ (4,083,398) $ (2,125,150)

Attributable to non-controlling interest (25,470) (15,815)

$ (4,108,868) $ (2,140,965)

Consolidated Statements of Financial Position

In Canadian dollars













March 31, 2018 December 31, 2017







ASSETS



Current





Cash $ 6,056,470 $ 4,522,644

Amounts receivable 1,099,646 1,429,123

Inventory 3,015,273 270,169

Prepaid and other assets 727,472 250,744

Loans receivable - current 631,469 1,102,168

Convertible notes - current - 373,127



11,530,330 7,947,975







Non-Current





Loans receivable - 66,421

Interest in equity accounted investees 4,087,128 3,596,333

Investments 17,665,449 17,243,342

Royalty investments 7,311,573 5,834,613

Property and equipment 1,329,338 1,084,098

Intangible assets 12,528,608 5,607,598

Goodwill 13,218,265 4,759,377



56,140,361 38,191,782











Total Assets $ 67,670,691 $ 46,139,757







LIABILITIES



Current





Amounts payable and accrued liabilities $ 6,898,672 $ 1,606,689

Loan payable 533,274 425,345

Current tax liability 496,325 102,236



7,928,271 2,134,270







Non-Current





Convertible debt 1,461,614 1,431,950

Line of credit 1,107,480 826,517

Deferred tax liability 3,433,205 1,278,676



6,002,299 3,537,143



Total Liabilities $ 13,930,570 $ 5,671,413







SHAREHOLDERS' EQUITY





Share capital $ 61,233,717 $ 50,007,891

Share subscription and contingent shares 5,839,730 -

Warrants reserve 2,575,947 4,149,703

Contributed surplus 11,720,275 9,902,292

Accumulated other comprehensive loss (487,114) (1,032,719)

Accumulated deficit (27,119,958) (22,381,817)

Non-controlling interest (22,476) (177,006)



Shareholders' Equity 53,740,121 40,468,344











Total Liabilities & Shareholders' Equity $ 67,670,691 $ 46,139,757

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

In Canadian dollars











Three months ended March 31



2018 2017







CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) OPERATING ACTIVITIES



Net loss for the period $ (4,654,473) $ (2,053,785) Items not affecting cash:





Bad debts expense (20,903) (13,318)

Non controlling interest - (15,815)

Gain from equity accounted investees (453,804) (942,397)

Amortization of property and equipment 45,268 41,742

Amortization of intangibles 166,868 202,472

Amortization of royalties 388,370 21,121

Amortization of fees related to line of credit 197,630 -

Share based compensation 1,940,043 1,158,396

Deferred tax expense (recovery) 168,813 (78,372)

Loss on impairment of convertible notes receivable 375,472 -

Accretion of derivative assets and liabilities 14,664 -

Gain on reclassification of assets held for sale - (98,674)

Gain on investments (342,106) -



(2,174,158) (1,778,630) Changes in non-cash items relating to operations:





Decrease (increase) in amounts receivable 75,133 (249,641)

Decrease in inventory 13,401 41,085

Increase in prepaid and other assets (288,276) (58,918)

(Increase) Decrease in accounts payable and accruals 440,819 (408,506)

Increase in current tax liability 434 -



(1,932,647) (2,454,610)







CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) INVESTING ACTIVITIES





Purchase of property and equipment (20,530) (70,304)

Purchase of Kaya and Alta, net of cash received 733,321 -

Purchase of interests in equity accounted investments - (1,601,218)

Royalty financing arrangements (1,290,000) -

Loans advanced to debtors, net of repayment (916,360) (664,535)



(1,493,569) (2,336,057)







CASH FLOWS FROM (USED IN) FINANCING ACTIVITIES





Proceeds from shares in bought deal financing, net of issuance costs - 10,963,049

Proceeds from issuance of warrants, net of issuance costs - 2,787,000

Proceeds from exercise of warrants 4,738,146 29,250

Proceeds from shares issued to minority holders of Trichome 180,000



Proceeds from issuance of stock options - 25,000

Tax withholding paid on exercise of restricted share units - (13,110)



4,918,146 13,791,189 Effect of movement of exchange rates on cash held 41,896 -







INCREASE (DECREASE) IN CASH 1,533,826 9,000,522







CASH, BEGINNING OF PERIOD 4,522,644 2,945,895







CASH, END OF PERIOD $ 6,056,470 $ 11,946,417

SOURCE CannaRoyalty Corp.

For further information: Marc Lustig, CEO, [email protected], 1-844-556-5070, www.cannaroyalty.com; Jonathan Ross, LodeRock Advisors Inc., [email protected], 416-283-0178
Jeff Bezos says his Blue Origin space venture will work with NASA as well as the European Space Agency to create a settlement on the moon.

Even if Blue Origin cant strike public-private partnerships, Bezos will do what needs to be done to make it so, he said here at the International Space Development Conference on Friday night.

Bezos laid out his vision for lunar settlement during a fireside chat with Alan Boyle, which took place just after he received the National Space Societys Gerard K. ONeill Memorial Award.

In the short run, Blue Origins objective is to reduce the cost of access to space  initially with its New Shepard suborbital spaceship, and then with its orbital-class New Glenn rocket in the 2020s.

In the long run, Bezos vision is to smooth the way for millions of people working in space. Those people just might live and work in hollowed-out asteroids  a concept that was proposed decades ago by ONeill, a Princeton physicist whose ideas on space settlement fueled Bezos passion for the final frontier.

Blue Origin has a lunar lander on the drawing boards thats designed to be capable of delivery 5 tons of payload to the lunar surface. Thats hefty enough to be used for transporting people  and with enough support, it could start flying by the mid-2020s.

Blue Origin has proposed building its Blue Moon lander under the terms of a public-private partnership with NASA. By the way, we will do that, even if NASA doesnt do it, Bezos said. Well do it eventually. We could do it a lot faster through a partnership.

The space agency is just starting to consider its options for a heavy-duty lunar lander  and Blue Origin is sure to face competition from other companies, including SpaceX as well as United Launch Alliance and Masten Space Systems.

Bricks have been 3D printed out of simulated moondust using concentrated sunlight. This ESA project took place at the DLR German Aerospace Center facility in Cologne, with a 3D printer table attached to a solar furnace, baking successive 0.1 mm layers of moondust at a temperature of 1000C. A 20 x 10 x 3 cm brick for building can be completed in around five hours. DLR Colognes solar furnace has two working setups: as a baseline, it uses 147 curved mirror facets to focus either actual sunlight into a high temperature beam, employed to melt together the grains of regolith. But this mode is weather dependent, so a solar simulator was subsequently employed as well  based on an array of xenon lamps more typically found in cinema projectors.
The German cabinet has agreed to grant compensation of up to EUR1 billion (USD1.17 billion) to the utilities forced to shut down their nuclear power plants by the Energiewende, or energy transition, that the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel introduced in response to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant accident in Japan in March 2011. At that time, Germany was obtaining around a quarter of its electricity from 17 nuclear reactors operated by EnBW, EOn, RWE and Vattenfall.

The cabinets approval of a draft law at a regular meeting in Berlin yesterday follows a ruling two years ago by the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe that the 2011 decision to withdraw all of Germanys nuclear power plants by the end of 2022 violated some property rights, enabling the possibility of compensation for the utilities affected.

The draft law envisages compensation for RWE and Vattenfall for losses incurred as a result of Energiewende. A specific figure could only be calculated in 2023, the cabinet said, but the German Environment Ministry (BMU) has said payments for the two utilities would not exceed a low single-digit-billion-euro amount and would more likely be in the high three-digit-million-euro range.

Other Nuclear News

Unit 5 of the Yangjiang nuclear power plant in Chinas Guangdong province has been connected to the electricity grid, China General Nuclear (CGN) announced yesterday. The unit  the first ACPR1000 reactor to be built and the first Chinese unit to feature a domestically-developed digital control system  is scheduled to enter commercial operation later this year.
HAMDEN  Town residents came together Monday to celebrate five servicemen killed in Vietnam whose names grace streets in the Honor Hill neighborhood, as a memorial commemorating their lives and service was unveiled.

The names of Major Pierce Irving Robertson, Capt. Oscar Biehl Jr., Spec. 4th Class Ralph Paul Costanzo, Cpl. Donald Porter Ferguson and Cpl. Robert Berton Read are etched onto the monument, which lies at the base of an American flag at 61 Costanzo Court.

Members of the Costanzo, Ferguson, Read, and Robertson families attended the Memorial Day ceremony.

A few years in the future, unfortunately, therell be no one left that knew my uncle Pierce firsthand. No one to tell his story  no one to let everyone know that he graduated from Hamden High School, he went on to UConn, became a career Army officer, and on Oct. 9, 1966, while piloting a Huey helicopter in Vietnam, was killed in action, said Derek Dunn, the nephew of Pierce Robertson. And so to have this memorial to tell his story in perpetuity... just really means the world to us.

Richard Ferguson said the name of his brother, Donald, was engraved at a memorial at Yale  but to him, the recognition bestowed Monday was I think, for me, this will be the one that means the most.

Were very appreciative of this recognition. My brother was an amazing young man, said Ferguson. Thank you very much for doing this  it was really wonderful.

Neighborhood residents Cliff Pollack and David Johnson led the effort to create the monument and, along with Mayor Curt B. Leng and Town Clerk Vera Morrison, spoke during the proceedings.

Leng thanked Pollack and Johnson for their efforts. He said the moment was bittersweet, like Memorial Day, as a chance to both remember and celebrate veterans, itself.

Im so sorry for your loss, Leng told the assembled family members. But at the same time, Im also very inspired to see the strength of this neighborhood and the fortitude of these two gentlemen to make sure these lives are always remembered and that Honor Hill will be known throughout the town.

Thank you all for being here, Johnson said to those in attendance. This is so important.

Just as the speeches came to an end, the clock struck three, and those in attendance observed a minute of silence, in accordance with others around the country.

The sounds of the moment came to the fore  the waving of the flag, the chirps of birds and frogs, the murmur of children  as the crowd paused to mark the sacrifice of those killed while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The monument was then unveiled, and the names of the five Hamden residents who gave their lives to protect their friends, neighbors and countrymen, were brought into the sunlight.

william.lambert@hearstmediact.com
GUILFORD  The Connecticut Wildlife Rehabilitators Association is offering a monetary reward for information regarding the death of a mother fox, according to a release.

The release said the fox was found dead on a Indian Cove Association yard with a severed foot, most likely due to being caught in a leg hold trap, officials said. The fox leaves behind five small fox kits, who have been seen romping in a neighbors yard, the release stated.

People overreact to foxes because they have a misguided notion that the foxes will drag off their children, said CWRA President Laura Simon in a statement. They dont realize that the average fox weighs only 12 pounds and primarily hunts small rodents, the exact animals people may not want in their yards. Kids are of zero interest to a healthy fox.

Recent scientific research points to the benefits foxes provide in helping reduce Lyme disease risk. In a recent article published by the Royal Academy, researchers found predation was linked to less Lyme disease, the release said.

In other words, the the more foxes you have, the fewer mice and small rodents there are to host the Lyme-disease causing tick, said Diane Honer, a CWRA member who photographs foxes, in the release. It is heart-breaking to see how hard the father fox is working to try caring for the kits in the mothers absence.

Simon said in the release that this incident underscores how vital it is for Connecticut to ban the use of the leg hold traps, with eight states  Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Washington  having already banned or severely restricted the use of these traps.

In Connecticut, more than 6,500 wild animals are legally trapped each year using body-crushing and leg-hold traps, according to the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection statistics. This figure does not include non-target animals, such as owls, hawks, dogs and cats, which unknowingly get caught in these traps, the release said.

The CWRA is offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction. Anyone with information should contact the CWRA at 203-393-1050. All calls will be kept confidential, but contact information must be left.
WEST HAVEN  Veterans, civic groups, fraternal organizations, service clubs and marching bands participated in the citys annual Memorial Day parade on Monday.

This years parade grand marshal was Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9422 Commander Freddy Jackson, an Army veteran who served in Colorado and Korea from 1963 to 1966, during the time the Vietnam War was taking place.

The West Haven Veterans Council originally chose Jackson to lead the 2016 and 2017 parades, but both were canceled because of rain.

The parade ran along Campbell Avenue from Captain Thomas Boulevard to Center Street for a total of 1.5 miles.
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After nine years serving in senior positions in Nordea, Head of Personal Banking Sweden and Country Senior Executive Sweden, Anna Storakers has decided to leave Nordea.

After many great years at Nordea and in my mid-career phase, I have decided that it is time for me to think about the next phase of my career. This is a personal decision. I will stay in Nordea over the coming months to ensure a smooth transition, says Anna Storakers.

Anna Storakers has participated in Nordeas transformation during the last decade through her different positions, among them as Head of Banking Sweden and Head of Group Strategy and Corporate Development.

I am very proud of the cultural and digital transformation journey at Nordea, and how much we have accomplished together in bringing the bank into the future. Some examples are that Nordea in Sweden today runs 40% of advisory meetings online and the launch of Apple Pay last fall. The large investments into technology and compliance have put Nordea in a good position. So I feel confident in leaving Nordea at this stage, knowing that the bank is well prepared for the future. I am every day impressed by the quality of people in Nordea, and the many achievements made, says Anna Storakers.

Anna Storakers will keep close contact with Nordea, since she will continue in one or more of the board positions she has today in Nordea such as Nordea Life Holding.

Anna Storakerss manager, Topi Manner, Head of Personal Banking and a member of Group Executive Management, is sad to see Anna leave Nordea.

I truly regret that Anna will leave our bank. At the same time, I would like to sincerely thank Anna for her great work, leadership and many accomplishments. She is a colleague who will be missed. Anna has built a strong and very capable management team that I trust to deliver on our plans for Sweden until we have a new person in place, says Topi Manner.

The process to find Annas successor will start immediately. Anna Storakers will stay in Nordea in her current role until 1 September.

For further information:

Afroditi Kellberg, Chief Press Officer Sweden, +46 733 50 55 99

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Like many of todays true crime authors, filmmakers and podcast hosts, Dostoyevsky wrote about crime (in both his fiction and journalism) as a way to uncover the lapses and deficiencies, as he perceived them, in the legal code. Unlike contemporary consumers of true crime, who find themselves in the middle of a larger national conversation about police brutality and racial bias in sentencing, Dostoyevsky was writing at a time of tremendous enthusiasm and hope regarding the future of Russian jurisprudence. In 1864, Czar Alexander II instituted sweeping changes to the legal code, the most radical of which was the introduction of the jury trial. Dostoyevsky shared the countrys excitement over the changes, writing to a friend: We will have just courts everywhere. What a great regeneration that will be! (... I keep thinking and dreaming of all these things, and my heart beats faster over it.)

Dostoyevsky himself had been victim to an overzealous judicial system. In 1849, he was sentenced to death for participating in the Petrashevsky Circle, an intellectual society influenced by the French utopian socialists. In an event that became pivotal to his ideas on mercy, punishment and death, he watched as the first group of his co-conspirators was rounded up for the firing squad, only to learn, minutes before it was his turn to die, that the sentenced had been commuted.

Despite his initial excitement about the legal reforms, over the course of covering the new trials (which, as part of the reforms, were now open to the public), he began to have serious doubts about the courts. For one, Russian juries produced an unusually high number of acquittals (about 40 percent in all cases). Dostoyevsky was likewise inclined toward clemency, writing approvingly of the acquittal of a pregnant woman named Kornilova who threw her 6-year-old stepdaughter from a four-story window. But what concerned him was that with acquittals came a tendency to view sympathetic justice solely through the prism of legal exoneration. Where was the space, he wondered, to properly attend to the moral regeneration of those who had committed acts of violence?

Dostoyevsky ultimately wanted people to feel more at ease with the concept of guilt, to embrace it as a feature of common humanity and to recognize our own complicity in the everyday acts of violence (cruelty, lack of love, stinginess) that drive people to moral transgressions.

He devoted his final novel, The Brothers Karamazov, to developing the idea of collective guilt. At the books center is the murder of Fyodor Karamazov, a derelict father who was violent, abusive and selfish, leading all his sons to, consciously or subconsciously, desire his demise. Though ultimately killed by his illegitimate son, the other children all come to accept their own culpability in the steps that led to their fathers murder. The eldest, Dmitri, is eventually falsely accused (another sign of Dostoyevskys disenchantment with the post-reform courts), but he is ready to accept moral culpability, he says, because everyone is guilty for everyone else.
The European Unions new digital privacy law, the General Data Protection Regulation, doesnt just protect European residents or citizens. The law covers data subjects.

You are a data subject. If you got an email in the last few days from an online shopping website advising you of new privacy policies that are compliant with the rule, you are likely a data subject of Europe, even if youve never been to Europe and dont even have a passport.

A data subject is defined as a natural person inside or outside the European Union whose personal data is used by a controller or processor; in a curious inversion, it is individuals who are the subjects of data, not the data that is secondary to the individual.

The term started appearing in privacy regulations in the early 1980s. But it is mainly because of the internet that our digital lives have actually become de-territorialized. Our bodies can only be in one place at a time, but data can be in multiple locations at once. Digital information is split up, fragmented, multiplied and dispersed. We dont always know where our files, emails and photos are stored; who ends up mining them for information; or how those mining them put the insights they gather to use.
[This article was updated on Fri., July 13]

New Yorkers, get ready for another chance to marvel at Manhattanhenge.

For two days every spring and summer, the sunset lines up with Manhattans street grid, creating a gorgeous celestial spectacle. For a brief moment, the suns golden rays illuminate the citys buildings and traffic with a breathtaking glow.

Its the best sunset picture of the year that you will have in this beautiful city, Jackie Faherty, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History said to The Times last year. Sometimes they call it the Instagram holiday.

Manhattanhenges name is a homage to Stonehenge, the monument in England believed to have been constructed by prehistoric people and used in rituals related to the sun. During the summer solstice, the sunrise there is perfectly framed by its stone slabs.
Work friendships are great.

This is an obvious statement, but it also happens to be a fairly popular subject of study among organizational psychologists. Consider, for example, a recently published meta-analysis in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin that analyzed 26 studies on work and friendship and concluded that teams made up of friends tended to perform better than teams made up of strangers.

Twenty-six studies to confirm the fact that, yes, work friendships are great.

Yet having and keeping friends at work can feel more complicated than these studies let on. Say youre leading a big project, and your friends contribution to that project is a total mess. Or maybe your friend is lately not doing her share of the work, which means you are too often doing it for her. What are you supposed to say? What are you supposed to do? And how can you say or do that without damaging your friendship in the process?

And theres the rub: If we befriend someone at work, its likely that we also need to work with them, said Jessica Methot, associate professor of human resource management at Rutgers University, who has studied the weirdness inherent in being friends with your co-workers.

In 2015, for instance, Dr. Methot and her colleagues published a study in Personnel Psychology on so-called multiplex relationships, a rather fussy term used in the psychological literature to describe people who are both genuine friends and direct co-workers. This is the person you work closely with every day  not just a pal in another department or a sometimes lunch companion.
Hungary has dealt a blow to the propaganda machine of the separatists by affirming that it has not accredited a Polisairo representative in Budapest.

This denial was issued after a pro-Separatists website claimed that Ahmed Slimane was appointed as Polisarios diplomatic representative in Hungary.

In reaction to this fake news, Hungarian authorities sent a letter to Moroccos Ambassador in Budapest explaining that Hungary does not maintain ties with the Polisario.

Hungarian authorities said that Ahmed Slimane has no diplomatic status and is not a member of any diplomatic mission in Hungary.

They added that Slimane is a Mauritanian national chairing the Africa-Europe foundation.
Two American delegations, one in Singapore and one in North Korea, are attempting to work out a meeting between the two leaders. Mr. Trump canceled the meeting in a letter to Mr. Kim on Thursday but has been working to reconstitute it ever since, posting Twitter messages that say he is confident the North Korean economy will prosper if an accord is reached.

The delegation in Singapore is discussing the logistics of a meeting, to be held June 12 or afterward. The other, led by Sung Kim, an American diplomat with long North Korea experience, is meeting senior officials of the North Korean Foreign Ministry at the Demilitarized Zone to work on the wording of what kind of communique might be issued by the two leaders. But the White House and State Department have said nothing about the details of those discussions.

In an interview, Dr. Hecker said he was making the Stanford study public to advance discussion of a complicated topic that will be at the heart of Mr. Trumps encounter with Mr. Kim in Singapore, if that meeting happens. So far, the denuclearization agenda has been a mix of bold claims by the administration about what it will demand, and vague generalities from the North.

Were talking about dozens of sites, hundreds of buildings, and thousands of people, Dr. Hecker said Friday. The key to dismantling the sprawling atomic complex, begun six decades ago, Dr. Hecker added, is to establish a different relationship with North Korea where its security rests on something other than nuclear weapons.

Dr. Hecker cautioned that his teams road map left room for many knotty points of negotiation  such as where to draw the line between civilian and military nuclear activities. At first, the Trump administration said the North must give up all enrichment of uranium, which can fuel not only bombs but reactors that illuminate cities. Last week, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said for the first time that he needed some negotiating space on that question.
WASHINGTON  Representative Tom Garrett, Republican of Virginia, announced Monday that he is an alcoholic and that he will not run for re-election in November in order to seek treatment.

Any person  Republican, Democrat or independent  who has known me for any period of time and has any integrity knows two things: I am a good man and Im an alcoholic, Mr. Garrett said in an emotional video statement released by The Washington Post.

He added: This is the hardest statement that I have ever publicly made by far. Its also the truth.

The announcement followed a week of whiplashing rumors about Mr. Garretts congressional office and plans for re-election. Several unidentified former staff members accused Mr. Garrett and his wife of requiring personal favors from employees, such as grocery shopping and pet care, according to Politico. Mr. Garretts chief of staff also left his position last week.
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo  Officials began vaccinating health workers and others against Ebola on Monday in Bikoro, where an outbreak of the disease was declared at the beginning of May.

Congos health minister, Oly Ilunga, traveled to oversee the vaccinations of at least 10 people in Bikoro, where at least five of the 12 deaths tied to Ebola have been reported.

The director of the Bikoro Hospital, Dr. Serge Ngalebato, said he and other health officials had been vaccinated for protection so they could treating patients with the disease.

We who are on the front lines of caring for the sick, Dr. Ngalebato said in a telephone interview. We are reassured.
So, rather than patch together a Harlequinade based on the versions he knew or dream up his own, like Balanchine, Mr. Ratmansky went back to a trove of dance notations kept at Harvard: detailed scores written out in a system of lines, dots, arrows, Xs and Os. Stepanov Notation, as the system is called, was developed by the dancer Vladimir Ivanovich Stepanov in Russia in the 1890s. Note-takers sat in studios, scribbling in real time as the dancers rehearsed.

This labor-intensive system fell out of use after the Russian Revolution, when people had more important things on their minds. In the decades since, few people have bothered to learn how to decode the notes. (One of the few was Sergei Vikharev, who remounted several ballets using notes in Russia.)

Why bother with them at all? For Mr. Ratmansky, Petipas choreography mattered. Its about the steps, he said. Choreography is a text, and this is the text we have. You wouldnt change Balanchine or Fokine, so why Petipa?

Five years ago, Mr. Ratmansky and his wife, Tatiana, a former dancer who assists him in his reconstructions, sat down to figure out what the notes actually contained. What they found has surprised and delighted him. The key is the simplicity of the phrases, he said. Petipas choreography is so simple, and so wise. Everything feels inevitable.
AMSTERDAM  With populist politicians across the Continent attacking the European Union and negotiations underway for Britain to leave the bloc, the very idea of a unified Europe seems to be under threat. Some artists feel the union needs to rethink its public image and refine its communications strategy to combat these attacks. In other words: to rebrand Europe.

The German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans has teamed up with a friend, the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, to encourage artists and other creative people to brainstorm ways for Europe to better present itself to the public.

They put out a call in March for rebranding proposals, asking: How can the European Union be valued by its citizens and be recognized as a force for good, rather than as a faceless bureaucracy? They requested ideas for communicating the advantages of cooperation and friendship amongst people and nations.

More than 400 proposals from 43 countries poured in. A German fashion designer had an idea for a unisex jacket that would serve as a ticket for public transportation in all 28 member states. A dance troupe with members from Albania, France and Italy proposed filming folk dances at European historical sites that could then be broadcast or viewed with virtual reality goggles. A musician from Hungary proposed a new anthem, and dozens of artists sent sketches for new European Union flags and designs for new euro bills and coins. Several proposals suggested the bloc needed to develop a new sense of humor.
A law firm representing Morgan Freeman sent a 10-page letter to CNN on Tuesday protesting a report last week in which several women, mostly anonymous, said they had experienced some form of sexual harassment from the actor.

The letter said the networks reporting was a product of malicious intent, falsehoods and reflected an absence of editorial control, and journalistic malpractice. The letter also said it is clear that CNN has defamed Mr. Freeman. Mr. Freemans team demanded a retraction and a public apology.

Most of the letter involves Chloe Melas, the CNN reporter who was also one of the two authors of the piece. Ms. Melas wrote that Mr. Freeman made sexually suggestive comments to her at a publicity event last year for Going in Style, a film starring Mr. Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin. After that, she began looking for other women who had worked or interacted with Mr. Freeman and eventually found several who described unwanted touching or suggestive comments, she wrote.

Mr. Freemans lawyers said that Ms. Melass reporting on a story that she was part of made her biased from the start.
THERE ARE NO GROWN-UPS

A Midlife Coming of Age Story

By Pamela Druckerman

288 pp. Penguin Press. $27.

No doubt about it, middle-aged women are having a moment. Isabella Rossellini was recently reinstated as the face of Lancome after being fired by the French cosmetics house in 1996 for, she says, being too old (she was a haggard crone of 43). At this years Academy Awards, a majority of the best actress nominees were over 40 and the winner, Frances McDormand, is 60. This marked a great leap forward for Hollywood, which has traditionally cast women older than 38 in five roles: crazy mother-in-law, cameo librarian, Shirley MacLaine, lady with a dog at the crime scene or frumpy yet endearing confidante of the hero, a guy who was two years above said actress at college. You could call this the Harrison Ford Problem.

Ageism may well be the last taboo, but keeping it in place is not just male prejudice but the females secret dread of losing her youth. Rossellini says that Lancome told her women dream of looking young. How does it feel to have your sexual currency depreciate that abruptly  and what stock, if any, can replace it? There has been remarkably little good writing about this thorny topic but here, with excellent timing, comes Pamela Druckermans pitch-perfect and brutally frank There Are No Grown-Ups.

In her 2012 memoir, Bringing up Bebe, Druckerman created a surprise best seller by observing the way the French manage to raise delightful, polite kids who eat everything on their plates while eagerly debating the merits of Jean-Paul Sartre. It provided the perfect escapist reading for American parents who tiptoe round their own young like a terrified concierge on a short-term contract.

In There Are No Grown-Ups, the American-born author is still living in Paris with her British husband and three children, but lately she has noticed something subtly and disturbingly different about the way she is treated in restaurants. Around her 40th birthday, there is a collective code switch as waiters start calling her madame instead of mademoiselle. Logically, Druckerman knows she is entering middle age  she observes it in the lines on the faces of her peers  but I just didnt expect madame to happen to me, or at least not without my consent.
In addition, Mr. Coe was also at pains to debunk what he called many of the misleading and bogus claims around synthetic diamonds: that they are more sustainable alternatives to mined stones, with shorter supply chains and smaller carbon footprints.

Given the pressure required to create lab-grown diamonds, its akin to the Eiffel Tower being stacked on a can of Coke, he said. If you look at the detailed numbers, the energy consumption levels between natural and man-made diamonds are in the same ballpark.

This is not the first time De Beers has created brands and advertising strategies in response to disruption in the diamond market since it gave up its monopoly in 2000, abandoning its 60-year policy of controlling supply and demand to concentrate on mining and marketing instead.

In 2002, after fashion brands such as Dior and Chanel began seriously penetrating the fine jewelry market, selling the importance of their design expertise, De Beers entered into a joint venture with LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton and founded De Beers Diamond Jewelry. (De Beers had been forbidden to directly sell or distribute its diamonds in the United States because of longtime antitrust issues, since settled.) In 2017, De Beers bought out the 50 percent stake owned by LVMH to take full control of the brand.

Owning the brand gives De Beers a much better view on what you think people will pay for medium- and long-term supply, Mr. Cleaver said. Its an exceptionally valuable business for us in that sense. So is Forevermark. That brand, which focuses on responsibly sourced gems, was created in 2008, partly in response to consumer appetite for conflict-free diamonds.

Lightbox is fully in line with this strategy. Synthetics are fun and fashionable, but they are not real diamonds in my book, Mr. Cleaver said. They arent rare or given at lifes great moments. Nor should they be.
LONDON  JAB Holding Company, the deal-hungry conglomerate, has bought dozens of coffee brands and begun branching out to doughnuts. Now, it has set its sights on sandwiches.

The company said on Tuesday that it would buy a controlling stake of Pret A Manger, the British sandwich chain that is a mainstay of London office workers, from an investment firm to expand its food-and-beverage empire.

The deal was valued at about 1.5 billion pounds, or nearly $2 billion, including the assumption of debt, according to two people briefed on the transaction, who were not authorized to speak publicly.

With the deal, JAB has taken another step in becoming a force in the food world. Since 2012, the company  backed by Germanys wealthy and secretive Reimann family  has spent tens of billions of dollars to assemble a huge portfolio of eating and drinking brands. (The conglomerate also owns the cosmetics maker Coty, as well as stakes in the household goods giant Reckitt Benckiser and the fashion label Bally.)
Of course, Mr. Trump could keep extending the deadline, since he has the leeway to push it out to early next year. But every time he does that, the tariffs threat loses potency. In that scenario, a deal in which not much changes would be more likely than an outright victory for the United States or a full-blown trade war.

So far, the public has not been able to tell what the Trump administration really wants. In two weeks, that may be possible.

 Peter Eavis

The Justice Dept. finally approves the Bayer-Monsanto deal

The $66 billion union of the two can move forward, after the department imposed what it called the biggest-ever divestiture of assets for a merger approval.

Bayer will have to sell $9 billion worth of assets to win the Justice Departments approval, the regulator said on Tuesday. Among them are businesses that compete with Monsanto today, including seeds for cotton and soybean and its Liberty herbicide unit, which competes with Monsantos Roundup. Bayer will also have to sell some research projects.

Whats notable about the announcements is that they fall in line with the antitrust philosophy of Makan Delrahim, the departments antitrust chief. They emphasize structural changes to the company  as in sales of businesses  rather than behavioral remedies, in which companies agree to change their conduct.

To Mr. Delrahims mind, the behavioral approach, which was used in Comcasts takeover of NBCUniversal, makes the Justice Department an ongoing regulator. Thats something that he has said the department would not do.

What Mr. Delrahim said of Tuesdays agreement:

This comprehensive structural solution to significant horizontal and vertical competition concernsthe largest merger divestiture ever required by the United Statespreserves competition in the sale of these critical agricultural products and protects American farmers and consumers, said Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim of the Antitrust Division. We commend the parties for working with the Antitrust Division to resolve our concerns on behalf of American consumers.

 Michael de la Merced

What the investor thinks can make the E.U. better

In an opinion piece written for Project Syndicate, the billionaire says that everything that could go wrong has gone wrong for Europe. His solution? The E.U. should reinvent itself, focusing on the biggest challenges that he thinks it faces, from immigration, austerity, and nations leaving the political bloc.
British paper, the SUN, wrote that Iran used its notorious military unit, the revolutionary guard Al Quds Brigade (IRGC) to train the Polisairo separatist group in their rear-base in Algeria.

Ayatollah Khameneis elite Revolutionary Guards Corps is now believed to be training and arming the Polisario Front, an anti-Western rebel movement in Morocco, the paper said.

Citing reliable sources, former Israeli ambassador to the UN Dore Gold told the paper that the Iranian extremist military unit has now spread its tentacles into the Western Sahara conflict and is helping the Polisario.

Its doing this via its embassy in Algeria, using it as a base, he said.

Iran believes it has to spread the Islamic revolution, and its been trying to do this ever since 1979, he added.

Morocco severed ties with Iran which it accuses of facilitating an alliance betwen Hezbollah and the Polisario.

Morocco said Hezbollah, with help of Iran and Algeria, sent military experts to train Polisario separatists on guerrilla warfare and supplied them with surface-to-air missiles.
When I wrote my first Economic Scene column six years ago, the unemployment rate languished at 8.2 percent as the job market painfully recovered from the jolt of the Great Recession. By last month, only 3.9 percent of working-age Americans who sought a job didnt have one.

You are welcome.

Im kidding, of course. How could anybody claim credit for the performance of something as vast and complex as the American labor market? My columns probably didnt have anything to do with the doubling of the Standard & Poors 500-stock index, either, or even with the sixfold rise in digital-only subscriptions to The New York Times.

To the contrary, as I write what will be the last column of my tenure, I cant help but acknowledge how little purchase my writing has had on the substance of reality. In particular, it has had no discernible effect on what one might call Americas fundamental paradox.

The United States is one of the richest, most technologically advanced nations in the history of humanity. And yet it accepts  proudly defends, even  a degree of social dysfunction that would be intolerable in any other rich society.
Challenge in History and Logistics

It always seems to me that theyre doing it to save face. It is, to me, too little too late, said Doug Brandt, who was sitting at a Starbucks cafe in New York with two other men on Tuesday afternoon, several minutes before the store would close. But it cant hurt.

One of the men, DeMonie Jackson, joined in. Its not Starbucks that needs the training, he said. Its the police.

Not even Starbucks pretends that the training will solve systemic racism and abuse. But the company is trying to start a dialogue.

We also have to recognize that there will be some customers for some reason or another who are having a bad day, and thats the moment of truth where we have to perform, Mr. Schultz said.

We as a company are systemically dealing with things that are far, far out of the control of Starbucks as a company or the four walls of our stores, he said.

Putting aside whether a corporation is well equipped to address hundreds of years of racism, Starbucks is also up against a customer is always right ethos. And it is putting the burden on employees to rethink their own prejudices to offer better customer service, while doing little to help Starbuckss nearly half-minority work force address the bias it may face from customers.

Then there are the more logistical concerns. Brian Nosek, a psychology professor at the University of Virginia who was consulted on the training, worried that Starbucks was moving ahead too quickly. Productive sessions, he said, require concrete goals, specific behavioral standards and a clear metric for evaluating performance.

Training to make a caramel macchiato can be quite effective, he said. Training to be unbiased toward your fellow human doesnt achieve any of those criteria.
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.
WASHINGTON  Lowes, the large home improvement retailer, announced Tuesday that it will no longer sell paint strippers that contain the chemicals methylene chloride and NMP, which have been blamed in dozens of accidental deaths.

The Obama administration, in its final days, concluded that the two chemicals represented unreasonable risks and moved to ban them for use as paint strippers. But the Environmental Protection Agency has not enacted the ban.

For now, Lowes says it will voluntarily remove from its shelves 19 products that contain either of the chemicals, which go by such brand names as Klean Strip, Goof Off and Jasco, many of them made by W.M. Barr in Memphis, Tenn.

The products will be removed by the end of the year, the company said. .

We care deeply about the health and safety of our customers, and great progress is being made in the development of safer and more effective alternatives, said Mike McDermott, Lowes chief customer officer.
Still, amid all the hand-wringing over politics and privilege, it was Ms. Miless win that somehow captured hearts. In her own small way, she was like Meghan Markles mother, Doria Ragland, at the royal wedding: a secondary character in a larger, predominantly white narrative who emerged as an African-American beacon.

Her honor acknowledges and celebrates generations of restaurant and home cooks whose recipes got lost in the their employers brands, said Toni Tipton-Martin, a food journalist whose 2015 book, The Jemima Code: Two Centuries of African-American Cookbooks, explored the history of black cooks in America.

Bill Addison is the national restaurant critic for the website Eater and the chairman of the Beard Foundations restaurant-award committee, which develops the list of nominees but doesnt know the winners until the ceremony. That night in Chicago, he said, he cried big, salty tears when he heard Ms. Miless name.

Mr. Addison was moved because his committees effort to put forth a more diverse slate of candidates had paid off, and also because he, himself a former pastry chef, loves Ms. Miless peach cobbler with a passion that borders on fanaticism.

You dont understand, he said. Its the best peach cobbler Ive ever had. All of her cobblers are great, but the peach is the one that makes my soul burst into four-part harmony.

John T. Edge, the food writer and historian who directs the Southern Foodways Alliance, has long been a devoted fan, too. Like many, he came to know Ms. Miles by way of her coconut pecan cake, a rich cousin of a traditional Southern coconut cake, dressed up in Chantilly cream frosting.
If Ive made dinner at Lady of the House sound like a block association meeting, I apologize. It isnt. In context, the scrap-saving comes across as creativity, and the local ingredients arent treated like sacred relics. The kitchen puts food on plates with an openhanded generosity, which may explain why the restaurant has been getting noticed by national media, including, last week, Food & Wine magazine, which named Ms. Williams one of the best new chefs of the year.

Ms. Williams pursues a style of hospitality that is historically female and that doesnt get talked about much in the restaurant business. It is a domestic style, the style of mothers and grandmothers for whom welcoming guests was among the few realms of undisputed control many of them enjoyed in the era before feminism.

Its a style that recognized the power that comes from feeding visitors, from teaching them about the place theyre in by handing them something delicious theyve never had back at home.

You can see it in Ms. Williamss opening gambit, the Irish crackers and hot tea. What an odd way to start a restaurant dinner, but what a smart way to say, This is mine, and youre welcome to it.

Lady of the House, 1426 Bagley Ave., Detroit; 313-818-0218; ladyofthehousedetroit.com

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A few days before his 2019 Louis Vuitton cruise show, held in the Miro labyrinth at the Foundation Maeght in Saint-Paul de Vence, the designer Nicolas Ghesquiere put up what seemed like a very strange post on his Instagram account: Happy to renew my commitment with the beautiful house of @louisvuitton. #notgoinganywhere.

It has become almost expected that once a month, if not more often, some fashion house will announce it is parting ways with its erstwhile star designer, and the gossip engine is often in overdrive with speculation about who will go next. But a designer announcing he is not going anywhere? That, in fact, the news is  no news? That is the clearest statement yet of the current instability in fashion.

As to why he did it: Mr. Ghesquiere, speaking on the phone from the South of France, said he wanted to celebrate what he characterized as a happy marriage (and, presumably, squash rumors to the contrary). Also, he added, to make public the fact that I have much more to say creatively at Vuitton.
We made a presentation of evidence and advocacy to DOJ without having seen the prosecution memo, a defense lawyer, Andrew Good, who represented Dr. Goldenheim, said in a statement. No charge of false testimony or concealment of abuse was brought because none of that happened. Mr. Friedman did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Mr. Brownlee, the United States attorney, later testified that he believed the misdemeanor charges against the executives were appropriate given the evidence. But former government officials said he was upset by the departments decision not to support more serious charges.

A former Drug Enforcement Administration official, Joseph Rannazzisi, said Mr. Brownlee told him that the decision had left him with little choice but to settle the case because his small team of prosecutors faced being overwhelmed by Purdue Pharmas unlimited resources.

He told me he was outgunned, Mr. Rannazzisi said. Mr. Brownlee, who is now in private practice, declined to comment.

At a court hearing held in 2007 to approve the settlement, a prosecutor who had worked on the case, Randy Ramseyer, said the misdemeanor pleas by the three officials would send a message to drug industry executives that they faced being held to a higher standard.

But drug companies continued to flood areas rife with drug abuse with more opioids. Starting in 2007, the year of the settlement, distributors of prescription drugs sent enough pain pills to West Virginia over a five-year period to supply every man, woman and child there with 433 of them, according to a report in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
We are honoring each of the Top 10 winners of our Fifth Annual Student Editorial Contest by publishing an essay a day. You can find them all here.

Below, an essay by Anushka Agarwal, age 16.

_______

When I was five, I needed someone to hold my hand as I entered school. When I was twelve, I needed someone to point to the entrance, but I could walk in alone. Now, at sixteen, I dont need anyone  Im a different person: independent and mature. Yet, I am treated as if Im still a child.

After the horrific Florida shooting, students walked out of their classes in honor of the 17 lives lost. As noted in How Young is Too Young for Protest? A National Gun Violence Protest Tests Schools, even Utahs Wood Cross Elementary School staged a protest in the school gym to allow the students to experience a little civil disobedience.

Like Wood Cross, the administration at my school staged our protest. The day before the walkout, a minute-by-minute schedule and list of guidelines  including the only two doors we could exit from  were uploaded onto Facebook. The next day, our obedient student body shuffled into the fenced area between our school buildings only to witness teachers comments about how cute we were and their apologies for being 60 seconds behind schedule. By 10:05, the end of the designated shouting time, my friends and I lowered our posters in defeat.
Falco grew up in Austin, Tex., in a Sicilian family that came to central Texas at the turn of the 20th century to farm. His great-grandmother made the first pizzas he ever ate, and he ate them a lot: Super legit Sicilian grandma pies, he told me. Lots of sauce, bread crumbs and olive oil, onions and green olives, very little cheese.

Falco liked those pizzas, he said. He really liked them. But he was a child in suburban Texas in the 1990s, and the pizza he loved  passionately  was the one everyone else loved, too: personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut, sweet-sauced and pillowed with mozzarella, above a thick, golden crust. He would tell his grandmother that, and reflecting on the memory now, he said, I wish I could go back in time and punch that kid in the face. But not because the Pizza Hut pizzas were bad! They werent, Falco said. They were delicious in their own particular way, buttery of crust and stringy with salty cheese, swabbed with sweet red sauce.
Algerian newspaper El Watan on Monday reported the arrest of more than a hundred jihadists in southern Algeria, including several members of Ansar Eddine group, a news confirming that Algeria remains a rear-base for terrorists and separatists roaming in the Sahara and Sahel zones.

The newspaper, citing Algerian security sources, said there are 105 Malian terrorists waiting to be expelled. After consultation with Malian consular authorities in Algiers, and because of the danger they represent, it has been decided that Algeria will fly the terrorists back to Bamako, the paper said.

El Watan, which described the arrested individuals as dangerous elements belonging to terrorist groups operating in northern Mali, including Ansar Eddine, said these elements were tasked with creating terror cells in the Algerian territory and setting up there a base for their terrorist activities.

The paper, giving details on these groups activities, noted that they started by structuring themselves in five Wilayas in the south of the country, where they set up dormant cells.

El Watan explained that they had apparently considerable means making it possible for them to establish in Algeria a large rear-base for terrorist organizations. The Algerian daily added that there were among the arrested jihadists notorious leaders, wanted for their criminal activities in the Sahel region.

According to the paper, an impressive quantity of weapons, ammunition and explosives has been seized during the arrest operation.

Algerian authorities are seriously concerned by the presence of these terrorists in the country, especially as on the other side of the border, in Mali, Niger and Libya, the situation is going from bad to worse with the prevailing chaos and the proliferation of terrorist and criminal organizations, notes the paper.
Todd R. Howe, the federal governments disgraced star witness who was arrested midway through his testimony in a recent Albany corruption trial, will not be called to testify in a second such trial scheduled to begin in two weeks, prosecutors disclosed on Tuesday.

Although the prosecutors did not state a reason, there seemed to be little doubt that they had calculated that any benefit his testimony could provide in the trial might be outweighed by the potential harm it could cause.

Mr. Howe, a former lobbyist in Albany and Washington who had worked for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo when Mr. Cuomo served as secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development during the Clinton administration, had already pleaded guilty to eight felonies, and was cooperating with prosecutors in the trial of Joseph Percoco, a former top aide to Mr. Cuomo.

Mr. Howes arrest in February came after he admitted on cross-examination during Mr. Percocos trial that he had attempted to defraud a credit card company  in violation of his cooperation deal with the government, which included a provision that he commit no further crimes whatsoever. Mr. Percoco was nonetheless convicted in March.
Jane Meyer, a spokeswoman for the mayors office, said that Ms. McCrays public schedules listed fund-raising calls made on behalf of the fund, but an analysis of those schedules showed just three such calls in the first three years Mr. de Blasio was in office. The pace appeared to pick up last year, with 16 calls on the schedules and seven more in the first two months of this year.

City Hall later provided a list of 44 people contacted by Ms. McCray in 2015 and 2016. Several people on the list, when asked about the call, either did not remember the interaction or did not recall discussing donations.

She makes calls to share what our priorities are and to get attention and interest from others, said Mr. Bloch, describing Ms. McCray as a key part of the organizations fund-raising. He said that she does not typically make direct requests for money, which is a task that he or another staffer will do in follow-up calls.

However, of the 25 one-on-one calls identified on the schedules, in only three cases did the person or the organization they were associated with follow up with a donation, according to a list of contributions provided by the fund.

One exception was Marilyn Simons, a philanthropist married to the hedge fund billionaire James Simons. The couple donated $260,000, earmarked for Ms. McCrays mental health initiative, in 2015 and 2016. Ms. McCrays schedules show that last year she made three calls to Ms. Simons, in July, September and December. In December, the Simonses made another donation, of $250,000. A spokeswoman said that they had pledged an additional $250,000, which will be paid this year.

Ms. Simons declined to be interviewed.

But another pattern is revealed by the calls: almost half of those contacted by Ms. McCray were contributors to her husbands mayoral campaigns (the Simonses each gave the maximum donation to Mr. de Blasios re-election campaign last year). In at least two cases, a person made a campaign donation to Mr. de Blasio within days of one of Ms. McCrays calls on behalf of the fund.
CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y.  Jurors in the federal bribery trial of Edward Mangano, the former Nassau County executive, began deliberations anew on Tuesday after an alternate replaced one of the existing jurors amid assertions that the atmosphere in the jury room had turned noxious.

Judge Joan Azrack of Federal District Court in Central Islip announced early on Tuesday that one of the jurors, No. 5, was not present and had informed the court that she was ill. It soon became clear that the juror would not be returning.

When the judge asked prosecutors and defense lawyers how they wanted to proceed, Kevin Keating, a lawyer for Mr. Mangano, quickly asked for a mistrial.

Mr. Mangano, who served eight years as Nassau Countys top elected official, is accused of helping a restaurateur obtain loans and county contracts in return for gifts. He was arrested in 2016 on charges of conspiracy, bribery, fraud and extortion.
Nowhere is the demise more keenly felt than in New Jersey, where the countrys first corporate campus was built in Murray Hill by AT&T Bell Labs in 1942. The state experienced perhaps the biggest building boom of office parks during the 1980s.

The model as it played out in New Jersey is now seemingly obsolete, said Louise A. Mozingo, the chairwoman of the department of landscape architecture and environmental planning at University of California, Berkeley.

Suburban office parks have lost their luster for a variety of reasons, including a growing preference among younger workers for life in more dynamic urban centers than in sometimes staid and sleepy suburbs. And the rapid pace of technological advancement has made the need for many clerical and processing jobs and the real estate to house those workers increasingly obsolete.

But it was the recession and its aftermath that sounded the death knell for many suburban parks; New Jersey lost about 100,000 office-related jobs since 2008, according to James W. Hughes, a professor at Rutgers University. By 2010, the majority of the states suburban office inventory was between 20 and 30 years old, built during a much more primitive information technology era.
When it comes to President Trumps legal health and welfare, few recent events have borne as much potential risk as the extraordinary raids that federal agents conducted last month on Michael D. Cohen, his longtime lawyer and fixer. Seizing boxes of documents and about a dozen cellphones, iPads and computers, the agents were looking for evidence that Mr. Cohen broke the law in his wide-ranging business deals  among them, hush-money payments that he made to women who claimed they had affairs with Mr. Trump.

While it is possible that the early-morning searches could eventually result in criminal charges, the broader inquiry that led to them is, for now, bogged down in two legal disputes about the cache of materials that was seized. On Wednesday morning, five sets of lawyers in the case are expected to appear in Federal District Court in Manhattan to work toward resolving both of the quarrels  negotiations that will affect how the case moves forward.

The most important (and, perhaps, most complicated) argument concerns the question of whether any of the paperwork or data swept up in the raids may be protected by the lawyer-client privilege that Mr. Cohen shared with Mr. Trump. After the raids, Mr. Cohens lawyers asked the judge in the case, Kimba M. Wood, for an order to prevent the government from making that decision, saying that they and lawyers for Mr. Trump were best suited to determine the issue of privilege. Calling that request unusual, federal prosecutors told Judge Wood that, under normal circumstances, a team of their colleagues who were not directly involved in the matter would be the ones to sort through the materials and set to the side any that contained privileged information.

But Judge Wood decided to appoint an independent arbiter, or a so-called special master, to review the materials. And for the last four weeks or so, the special master, Barbara S. Jones, a former federal judge, has been doing just that, slowly returning to the government those documents that are not protected by lawyer-client privilege.
A lawyer for Harvey Weinstein said on Tuesday that the woman prosecutors say Mr. Weinstein raped at a Manhattan hotel in 2013 had a decade-long romantic relationship with him both before and after the alleged attack.

The lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, made the statements outside Manhattan Criminal Court after a closed-door hearing in the chambers of the judge overseeing a grand jury that is investigating rape and sexual abuse allegations against Mr. Weinstein, the once-powerful movie producer who has been accused of sexual misconduct and harassment by more than 80 women.

Mr. Weinstein was arrested on Friday on a criminal complaint charging him with forcing one woman, an aspiring actress, to give him oral sex during a meeting at his TriBeCa office in 2004 and of raping a second woman at the DoubleTree by Hilton Metropolitan Hotel in 2013.

Having had a long-term consensual relationship with a woman is not a defense against rape. Husbands and domestic partners, for instance, can be charged with rape if they use force or threats to compel a partner to have sex.
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Two disturbing stories about immigrants have been getting attention in recent days: one, that the federal government has lost track of almost 1,500 immigrant children; and, two, that the Trump administration has begun separating children from their parents at the United States-Mexico border.

Both stories are true. But the first seems to be less alarming than it initially sounds  while the second is deeply alarming. I wanted to offer a quick overview.

First, the missing children: A federal official acknowledged during recent Senate testimony that the government no longer knew where 1,475 undocumented immigrant children were located. These children were among more than 7,600 who had recently come to the border unaccompanied. Most were living with an adult sponsor, who had agreed to take them in, but 1,475 couldnt be accounted for.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia  Call them hoppers, call them frogs, as soon as the surprise outcome of Malaysias recent election became clear, politicians from the losing parties started jumping over to the winners side. The moment the long-ruling coalition Barisan Nasional was voted out of power on May 9, it started to disintegrate.

But even with Pakatan Harapan, a collection of long-suffering underdog parties, now in charge, the mass defections already are endangering Malaysias democracy: The system risks swinging from being dominated by one overbearing coalition to being dominated by another overbearing coalition.

When ballot counting ended on May 10, the morning after the election, Pakatan Harapan (and its regional ally in the state of Sabah) had won 122 out of 222 seats in the lower house of Parliament. That camp now controls 126 seats, after members of Barisan Nasional and putative allies jumped ship.

The uptick may seem marginal, but it reveals a much broader trend that has troubling implications.

May 9 was also voting day for the assemblies of 12 of Malaysias 13 states. According to the initial results, Pakatan Harapan won five of those, Barisan Nasional won two (down from nine) and the Islamist party known as Pas won two. No single party won a majority in Kedah, Perak or Sabah.
With the primary season winding down and the midterms soon upon us, its time to point out that this election is not about what you may think its about. It is not a choice between the particular basket of policies offered by the candidates for House or Senate in your district or state  policies like gun control, right to choose, free trade or fiscal discipline. No, what this election is about is your first chance since 2016 to vote against Donald Trump.

As far as I am concerned, thats the only choice on the ballot. Its a choice between letting Trump retain control of all the key levers of political power for two more years, or not.

If I were writing the choice on a ballot, it would read: Are you in favor of electing a majority of Democrats in the House and/or Senate to put a check on Trumps power  when his own party demonstrably will not? Or are you in favor of shaking the dice for another two years of unfettered control of the House, the Senate and the White House by a man who wants to ignore Russias interference in our election; a man whose first thought every morning is, Whats good for me, and can I get away with it?; a man who shows no compunction about smearing any person or government institution that stands in his way; and a man who is backed by a party where the only members wholl call him out are those retiring or dying?

If your answer is the former, then it can only happen by voting for the Democrat in your local House or Senate race.
[READ: When the President Testified: People in the Room Recall Clintons 1998 Interrogation]

Background reading:

 Mr. Trump has assailed the Russia investigation as a politically motivated witch hunt brought about by Democrats who oppose his presidency. The partisan narrative bears similarities to the one promulgated by Mr. Clinton and his supporters during the inquiry into whether he had lied under oath about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky; Hillary Clinton characterized the matter as a vast, right-wing conspiracy against her husband.

 How will the president fare in the Russia investigation? Heres a look at several possible outcomes, including a finding of no wrongdoing, impeachment and indictment.

 Some Republicans are seizing on the specter of impeachment to energize voters ahead of midterm elections, and Democrats are divided on how to respond.

 Several people who were in the room with Mr. Clinton during his grand jury testimony on Aug. 17, 1998 recall their experience of his interrogation.

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.
International businesswoman/White House adviser Ivanka Trump discusses U.S. economic policy in New Hampshire on April 17, 2018. Photo: Bloomberg/Bloomberg via Getty Images

There are many different theories about why President Trump suddenly developed an interest in saving Chinese jobs on May 13; one involved the possibility that he saw it as another way to enrich himself. About 72 hours before Trump started tweeting about ZTE  the Chinese telecommunications company being crushed by U.S. punishments for sanctions violations  the Chinese government agreed to pump $500 million into an Indonesian theme park that will feature several Trump-branded properties.

The ink is barely dry on a letter from 60 Democratic lawmakers demanding an ethics investigation into the presidents relationship with China, and now there are new questions about his daughters business ties to Beijing. On Sunday, China approved Ivanka Trumps seventh trademark in the last month, raising concerns about the White House advisers conflicts of interest. The New York Times reports:

Six days before the ZTE announcement [on May 13], China said it approved five of Ms. Trumps trademarks, according to data from Chinas trademark office. Then, on May 21, China awarded Ms. Trump two more trademarks in snacks, spices and bleaching preparations. In total, Ms. Trump now has 34 trademarks in China that would allow her to capitalize on her brand in the worlds second-largest economy.

The timing may seem suspicious, but experts doubted that it was directly tied to ZTE. Still, some suggested her trademarks are moving more quickly than usual. Ivanka applied for six of the trademarks in March 2017, and another in May 2016. Charles Feng, head of the intellectual property division at the law firm East & Concord Partners, told the paper it usually takea China up to 18 months to get trademarks approved.

Laura Young, a trademark lawyer at Wang & Wang, didnt think the timing was that unusual, but she noted that celebrities are often treated differently. When a person is famous, and the examiners say: Oh, Ive heard of this person, it can be decided more quickly than if the examiner is not sure and has to consult others or go to a committee, Young said.

Ivankas representatives said they were merely preventing others from profiting off her name, but its hard to sort out whether shes getting special treatment as a First Daughter and White House adviser because she refused to divest herself fully of her businesses and her ties to the Trump Organization.

This certainly is far from the first time the blurring of her business and political roles has raised concerns about conflicts of interest. Some of her other trademarks were approved on the same day she and her father met Chinese president Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. In February 2017, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway plugged Ivankas clothing line on Fox News, and the president refused to discipline her. Several months later the State Departments Twitter feed was caught promoting her book Women Who Work. In March of this year we learned that shes still earning more than $1 million annually from the Trump Organization, which continues to do business around the world.

Of course, its unlikely that Ivanka will face any consequences for these conflicts of interest. President Trump has more than 100 trademarks in China, and lawsuits that allege hes violating the Constitutions emoluments clauses are still working their way through the courts.
After stretching to buy a home, many buyers find themselves with little left over to fix the place up. But with a little planning and lots of patience, its possible to find the time and money for all those home improvements. As one homeowner discovered, the secret is simple: Renovate one room at a time.

That is the approach Ryan Pittington took after buying his first apartment, an $855,000 two-bedroom, one-bathroom near the Castro in San Francisco. Instead of cutting corners so he could afford to redo the place all at once, or taking out a construction loan, he decided to slow-walk his home makeover, strategically building in pauses between projects so he could replenish his budget.

I wanted it to look fresh and new, said Mr. Pittington, 33, who heads user operations for Asana, a task-management app that helps teams organize, track and manage work flow. So he decided to start with a little upgrade to make it look livable, he said, and wait to do larger projects.

Gina Gutierrez, an interior designer who styled Mr. Pittingtons previous home, a rental apartment, drew up a master plan that prioritized some of the most impactful  and cost-conscious  upgrades.
Traveling in a horse-drawn buggy, a group of schoolgirls dressed in white pass through a small Australian town and pull off their gloves, their expressions giddy and relieved. They are headed to a picnic  and a tragedy  in the Australian countryside, and their headmistress, Mrs. Appleyard, had instructed them to wear their gloves until they escape the townspeoples watchful glares.

The scene is part of Amazons six-episode remake of Picnic at Hanging Rock, the story of the disappearance of three girls and a teacher during a school outing. It was famous first as a novel by Joan Lindsay and then as a 1975 film by Peter Weir that was so moody that it has served as inspiration for designers as diverse as Alexander McQueen, Erdem Moralioglu and Raf Simons.

They were all taken by the dark-edged innocence of the original designs, and now the remake is set to do the same for a new generation.

Starring Natalie Dormer as Mrs. Appleyard, a headmistress hiding a secret about her past, the whole thing is about repression, said Larysa Kondracki, one of the shows directors and its showrunner. The costumes are not decoration, Ms. Kondracki said, but an extended symbol of the societal oppression women faced during the Victorian era.
At some point in the trip, I said, Wow, you have a lot of freckles! Who has more? I then blushed because I couldnt believe I just asked him that question. Jared put his arm next to my freckly arm and we compared  he definitely had me beat.

As the ride came to an end, I went back and forth in my head thinking, Should I ask this guy for his number? I chickened out. As I watched him walk away, I said to myself, If hes the one, then well meet again.

About a month after LouFest, I decided to get back on Bumble, the dating app. Id gone on several Bumble dates before, but took a break because I wasnt finding much out there. I kept swiping through these bachelors profiles and then  boom! It was Jared! I quickly sent him a message without thinking twice.

He responded within 24 hours and asked me out. We went on our first date the following day, and then had three more dates. By the end of the first week, we were in love. I called my mom and was like, This is it.

After eight months of dating, he got down on one knee and popped the question.

Mr. Thomas: I was late getting to the Uber, but when I did, I saw the most beautiful girl sitting in the drivers seat. Ill never forget the great big smile she had on her face. We talked the whole trip  18 minutes long, $16.10  and I remember thinking how cool and easy to talk to she was. When the ride finally came to an end, I got out, and Micaela drove away. I turned to my cousin and said, Micaela: That was the one that got away.

Why didnt you ask for her number? she asked. I told her I choked under pressure.

Even though I was surrounded by great music, good beer, and enjoying a perfect fall day in St. Louis, I couldnt help thinking about that pretty girl who drove me to Loufest who was so friendly and amicable. I halfheartedly joked with my cousin and said, I wonder what Micaela is up to right now, and I wonder if shes thinking about me, too. But that was it. I never saw or heard from her again  until one Monday morning I woke up early to go to work, and noticed a message on my Bumble dating app. It said:
In November 1989, Potsdamer Platz was known as the death strip  a wasteland between the two parts of the Berlin Wall. But after the wall fell, Potsdamer became a major site of celebration and reunification. Today, old graffiti-tagged slabs stand as harmless relics, and the long scar of the walls foundation runs through the bustling intersection.

It is also near the posh Ritz-Carlton, Berlin, where I found myself during a recent visit, on a mission to discover how to conquer Berlin  already a relatively cheap European city  on a tight budget. To get a sense of the citys high-end options, I walked from the Potsdamer U-Bahn station through the plaza and into the lobby of the hotel, where I was greeted by Thomas Munko, its chief concierge.

Mr. Munko happens to be born and raised in Berlin  an advantage as a concierge, certainly. But to achieve success in the hospitality industry, Mr. Munko emphasizes other, less tangible skills. Its more important to have the right service attitude and, it sounds very old school, bu t: m anners, he said. Mr. Munko then related a story when a guest nearly forgot a wedding anniversary and needed a handwritten poem delivered, last minute, to his wife in Los Angeles. A courier from Berlin would have taken 48 hours, Mr. Munko explained, so he arranged to have a member of his staff fly it to the United States and deliver it by hand.

With that same make-it-happen attitude, Mr. Munko agreed to assist me with my own project: designing a day itinerary for a fictitious wealthy client in Berlin with a budget of $1,000, about 830 euros. I would then endeavor to tweak that itinerary so that it fits my slightly more modest budget of $100. Berlin proved more than up to the challenge and made my job easy; while the city certainly features a fair number of luxury options, it hasnt lost its populist edge.
[Read more about the new governor of Missouri.]

Missouri will remain firmly in the hands of Republicans, who control both the governors office and the legislature. Rarely has a lieutenant governor in Missouri taken over in this way, midway through a term; in 2000, Mel Carnahan, then the governor, was killed in a plane crash and Roger Wilson, the lieutenant governor, took his place.

Mr. Greitenss public problems began in January with his admission of an extramarital affair. He and his wife, Sheena, described the situation as a deeply personal mistake in a joint statement, adding: Eric took responsibility, and we dealt with this together honestly and privately. But in the months that followed, the scandal only grew, even as Mr. Greitens tried to move past it, making statements on tax cuts and funds to produce biodiesel.

The governors former hairdresser described an alarming sexual encounter, in which she said that he had taken a photo and threatened to share it if she told anyone about them. All the while, questions began to emerge about whether he had used the veterans charity list to help his political campaign in 2016.

Mr. Greitenss resignation ends the need for an impeachment process. But it is unclear whether his criminal problems are over. The prosecutor in Jackson County, which includes much of Kansas City, is still investigating him and could refile an invasion-of-privacy charge that was dropped earlier this month, stemming from the hairdressers accusation that Mr. Greitens had taken an explicit photo.

In addition, the governor faces one felony charge: tampering with computer data, in connection to misuse of the donor list. A lawyer for Mr. Greitens has called the charge absurd.

Shortly after he announced his resignation, Kimberly Gardner, the St. Louis prosecutor, said in a statement that she had reached a fair and just resolution of the computer tampering charge, and that details would be announced Wednesday.

Mr. Greitens offered few details about his decision to resign, and Missouri politicians speculated about reasons he might have quit now  after months of fighting back. Earlier on Tuesday, a judge had ordered the governors campaign fund and a political action group tied to Mr. Greitens to turn over documents to lawmakers considering impeachment, a decision seen as a major blow to the governor.
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Last updated: June 5, 2018

Tuesday is a big Election Day in California. Democrats are battling to make sure they are not shut out of three Republican-held congressional districts that otherwise seem ripe for Democratic takeovers. And California is taking a big step toward electing its next governor to succeed Jerry Brown  and toward sending Senator Dianne Feinstein back to Washington to serve a sixth term.

The stakes are high in no small part because of Californias unconventional election system: The top two finishers in todays nonpartisan, open primary will go on to face each other in November. The problem for Democrats is that they have so many candidates competing in three districts for a finite number of voters that Republicans might end up capturing both top slots.
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VISALIA, Calif.  Amid neat rows of orchards, on cattle ranches and dairy farms across the southern territory of Californias San Joaquin Valley, the churn of daily life offers few hints of an imminent political spectacle. This is another California, where conservative values are often taken for granted, and where the tide of liberal resistance runs as dry as its unirrigated dirt.

Consider Representative Devin Nunes, in the states 22nd Congressional District. He has become a lightning rod on the left over his animated defense of President Trump in the investigation into Russian meddling during the 2016 election. Yet as national Democrats spend millions of dollars trying to seize Republican seats in California in the midterms, noisy advertising and political commotion ahead of the June 5 primary appear to have scarcely penetrated the minds of voters in this part of the state.

In 2016, the 22nd District overwhelmingly went for Mr. Trump, and voters are quick to write off criticism of Mr. Nunes, whose family farming background many closely relate to, as television spin and partisan bickering.

On a sunny day on Visalias quiet main street, Will Dixon, 41, said he believes Mr. Nunes has done a lot for the valley and its farmers. Mr. Dixon, who has lived in the area his entire life, said that he heard some grumbling on television about Mr. Nunes becoming a character in the Russia investigation, but said he feels that the congressman has shown he is committed to his constituents.
CARVILLE: I was pretty pissed off about the whole thing if you want to know the truth. All of this goofy land deal, it was all crap and now its something in a civil deposition  I just thought it was way, way beyond anything that had anything to do with being president.

APPERSON: Ken disclosed before the testimony the existence of the blue dress and the semen stain and that the positive DNA test had confirmed it was the president. I believe that no reasonable prosecutor would ever have done that  no ethical requirement to do that and it would be contrary to everything we know as a prosecutor. And yet Ken did that. I have criticism of him doing that as a prosecutor, but my God it speaks to his thorough decency and belies this notion that he was out to get the president.

STARR: Maybe other prosecutors would make a different kind of judgment and think of it more tactically. I thought of it in more historic terms. This was an unfortunately unhappy episode on American history and we needed to bring it to conclusion as quickly as possible. I think we owed the president an extra measure of respect.

WISENBERG: I was kind of obsessed with what his lawyer had done. His lawyer had actually tried in the Paula Jones deposition  Robert Bennett  had tried to keep questions from being asked at all about Monica Lewinsky. Bennett stood up and said: We object to this. Its in bad faith. We have an affidavit here [from Ms. Lewinsky] that says there is no sex of any kind going on. Im not quoting verbatim. [I asked Clinton about it.] He says, It depends on what the meaning of is is. His point being that because Bennetts statement was in the present tense that there was nothing technically wrong with Bennetts statement. The idea was basically that, Since I wasnt having sex with Ms. Lewinsky during the deposition in front of Susan Webber Wright, that Mr. Bennett hadnt said anything untruthful.

STARR: I think we all took note of it. I certainly wasnt startled. I dont recall looking up. I was just listening and taking it all in.

WISENBERG: On the performance level, I thought he was doing very well and was pretty much kicking our [butt] until that statement. He was giving very narrative answers, getting his side out. I thought it was very effective. I mean, hes a great politician.

STARR: I was taking a lot of notes. I was not making it a point to read body language or glance at his lawyers. Im a note taker.
These four American Green Berets were killed last fall when their patrol was ambushed in Niger. The Defense Department launched an investigation into what happened. But helmet camera footage from one of the soldiers allowed us to reconstruct some of the attack. Its the morning of Oct. 4, 2017. A convoy of around eight American and Nigerien army vehicles leaves the village of Tongo Tongo after a mission in the area. Theyre quickly ambushed by militants loyal to Islamic State. Footage of that fight shows that two American vehicles are separated from the convoy. The others had fled or were hit. We see seven soldiers taking cover. The attackers are somewhere in this area. An American soldier we believe to be Staff Sergeant Jeremiah Johnson wearing a helmet camera enters the white vehicle and drives it a short distance. He steps out and begins firing towards the tree line. Then, he runs for cover behind the white vehicle, and the video cuts to a new scene. Next, we only see the black car and three soldiers  Staff Sergeants Johnson, Wright, and Black. The white car has disappeared, and we dont know how much time has elapsed. Wright drives the car toward the mark of a red smoke grenade. The smoke could be to mask their movements from the militants, or to mark their position for supporting units. Johnson, taking cover at the rear, fires toward the tree line. After theyve reached the smoke, theres a cut in the video. In the next scene, the red smoke has cleared. The car begins to move again, when Johnson and Black fall. Black is unresponsive. Johnson regains his footing. He moves forward and starts searching. It could be for support or for the enemy. Wright then drags Black to cover, behind the car. He aims back towards the treeline. The scene ends. The militants are closing in. We dont know how much time has passed here, but Wright changes his direction of fire. He and Johnson begin running without covering each other. This suggests theyre about to be overrun. The situation is too desperate. There are more edits to the video, but were able to map their final steps. Johnson is seriously wounded and falls, but then moves about another 40 feet. Militant fire seems to be coming from this area. Wright stops running and shoots. A short time later, two armed militants appear on screen. Johnson appears to be unconscious. Still, he is shot by the militants at close range. Staff Sergeant Wright dies just feet away. For them, the ambush is over.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, writing for an eight-justice majority, said the case involved a clash of those two principles.

The question before the court, she wrote, is whether the automobile exception justifies the invasion of the curtilage. The answer is no.

To allow an officer to rely on the automobile exception to gain entry into a house or its curtilage for the purpose of conducting a vehicle search, Justice Sotomayor wrote, would unmoor the exception from its justifications, render hollow the core Fourth Amendment protection the Constitution extends to the house and its curtilage, and transform what was meant to be an exception into a tool with far broader application.

Indeed, its name alone should make all this clear enough, she wrote. It is, after all, an exception for automobiles.

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented, saying the search had been reasonable and thus constitutional. The motorcycle, he wrote, was just a cars length or two from the curb. If the motorcycle had been parked at the curb, instead of in the driveway, he wrote, it is undisputed that Rhodes could have searched it without obtaining a warrant.

In defending the search, Virginia officials urged the Supreme Court to draw a distinction between enclosed structures like garages and other areas around a home. Justice Sotomayor said that would give richer people more protection.

Virginias proposed bright-line rule automatically would grant constitutional rights to those persons with the financial means to afford residences with garages in which to store their vehicles, she wrote, but deprive those persons without such resources of any individualized consideration as to whether the areas in which they store their vehicles qualify as curtilage.
When you play the game of thrones, you win or you become a Fox News pundit. Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images

About six weeks before President Trump was inaugurated, a Trump transition staffer explained the power struggle between newly named White House chief strategist Steve Bannon and chief of staff Reince Priebus with a reference to a certain bloody HBO drama. In this administration, titles will not matter, the staffer told New York. Its like Game of Thrones.

As Trump brought his chaotic management style to the White House, the Game of Thrones references continued with a relentlessness that can only be compared to Tyrions wit, or perhaps the shows commitment to depicting gore and nudity.

A year ago, George R.R. Martin got in on it himself. I think Joffrey is now the king in America, he told Esquire. And hes grown up just as petulant and irrational as he was when he was 13 in the books.

In July 2017, right-wing radio host Larry OConnor said it was lazy to think of the Trump administration as a reality show  its more like Game of Thrones. He went on to explain that Trumps hiring of Anthony Scaramucci days earlier was a rejection of the advice of Hand of the King Reince Priebus.

.@LarryOConnor: "[The Trump administration] is more like 'Game of Thrones' with all of the shifting alliances and hidden agendas." pic.twitter.com/GBvJPvFiSf  FOX Business (@FoxBusiness) July 25, 2017

Shortly after Scaramuccis ten-day rein as communications director came to a tragic end, Al Gore commented on the spate of White House firings, saying, Last week somebody said it was like the Red Wedding in Game of Thrones  people coming and going and Im going to fire everybody. It was really wild.

Former VP Al Gore compares Trump admin. to Game of Thrones: Its deeply troubling https://t.co/hRCFIKRWOx  MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 3, 2017

Three months later, Senator Marco Rubio jokingly lamented that if hed kept a closer eye on the drama in Westeros, hed have beaten Trump in the primaries. If Id have watched [Game of Thrones] two years ago, I wouldve been president, he said. Its got a lot of good strategies.

And of course, its not just politicians and pundits. Journalists have continually described the backstabbing among Trump staffers as something out of Martins five-plus fantasy tomes. Reacting to reports that current chief of staff John Kelly is feuding with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, Fox News Chris Wallace commented in March: Game of Thrones has nothing on this White House and this administration right now.

But now thats all in the past. The Washington Post reported on Monday that in the two months since the departure of Hope Hicks, the communications director post has been left vacant, with Trump essentially functioning as her replacement  and standing in for other top aides:

The president also has unofficially performed the roles of many other senior staffers in recent months, leaving the people holding those jobs to execute on his instincts and ideas.

In this new Trump-centric universe, the warring between different West Wing tribes  or great houses, if you will  is no more. While Trumps current advisers have their differences, theyre not battling to impose their worldview on the White House :

Largely gone are the warring factions that dominated life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the first year of Trumps term, replaced by solo players  many with personal connections to the president and their own miniature fiefdoms  laboring to do their jobs and survive.

Trump has brought in a handful of senior people who believe in him personally, are temperamentally in sync with the brash boss and are invested in his political success more than some of his first-year aides were.

So, how would those close to Trump describe this entirely new atmosphere within the White House? Well, its a lot like Game of Thrones  but in, like, a different way:

At least two people in Trumps circle  one current White House official and one former  likened the dynamic in the West Wing to HBOs Game of Thrones. They chose the show, they said, not because of the internecine conflicts and deadly family feuds, but because of the general sense of confusion and seesawing fortunes.

I would liken it to Game of Thrones a little bit, not for the obvious reason, but from a factual standpoint, said the current official. No one knows where anyone else is, and everyone is playing everyone else a little bit. Everyone is essentially in business for themselves.

This seems like an opportune moment to branch out into other prestige-drama references, or at least a different HBO show. But perhaps its best to wait until Ivanka gains sentience, tinkers with Jareds programming, and enlists his help in staging a (metaphorically) bloody robot rebellion against the man who created her.
Judge Baker has yet to make the findings requested by the appeals court. Once she does, further appeals are likely. Planned Parenthood said it would again ask Judge Baker to block the law while the case moves forward.

Arkansas has three abortion clinics. One, in Little Rock, offers both medication and surgical abortions. The others, in Little Rock and Fayetteville, offer only medication abortions.

In its appeal to the Supreme Court, the local Planned Parenthood affiliate said it contacted every qualified doctor it could identify. None of them, the group said, was willing to enter into the contract required by the law. This was unsurprising, Judge Baker found, as doctors in Arkansas who perform abortions risk being ostracized from their communities and face harassment and violence toward themselves, their family, and their private practices.

Arkansas officials told the Supreme Court that Planned Parenthood had not tried hard enough or told the doctors how much it was willing to pay.

If the law were to go into effect, Planned Parenthood told the justices, only surgical abortions would be available in Arkansas. This will particularly affect women who strongly prefer medication abortion, the group told the Supreme Court, including those who find it traumatic to have instruments placed in their vaginas because they are victims of rape, incest, or domestic violence, as well as women for whom medication abortion is medically indicated and safer than surgical abortion.

In their Supreme Court brief in the case, Planned Parenthood of Arkansas & Eastern Oklahoma v. Jegley, No. 17-935, Arkansas officials responded that there is no right to choose medication abortion.

The Arkansas law is quite similar to one in Texas that was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2016.

Writing for the majority in the 5-3 decision, Justice Stephen G. Breyer said the Texas law, which required doctors performing abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital, placed a substantial obstacle in the path of women seeking abortions and amounted to an undue burden on abortion access in violation of the Constitution.
WASHINGTON  Trying to turn the tables politically on President Trumps own immigration policy, administration officials on Tuesday defended new measures they are taking to separate children from migrant parents who cross the United States southern border without authorization, blaming the situation on Democrats who have bitterly denounced it.

Top officials from the White House, the Justice Department and the Department of Homeland Security argued that a series of court rulings and laws that existed when Mr. Trump took office had essentially given them no choice but to carry out a policy that many human rights groups have condemned as inhumane.

The officials said it was Democrats, who have opposed Mr. Trumps efforts to impose stricter immigration policies, who were forcing them to use the bare-knuckle tactics.

A nation cannot have a principle that there will be no civil or criminal immigration enforcement for somebody traveling with a child, Stephen Miller, Mr. Trumps senior adviser for policy and an architect of the presidents immigration agenda, said during a conference call with journalists.
Of the 293 women who ran or are running for House and Senate as challengers so far, 54 are taking on incumbents in their own parties, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Thirty-four are in Democratic races.

The crop of renegades this year roughly falls into two categories: candidates already in public office, and newcomers who draw on some history in activism. Several of those first-time candidates are facing daunting odds because they are running in staunchly Republican districts or have little money or political networks. Past elections have generally favored candidates with traditional political experience. But then, conventional wisdom has a checkered recent track record: In that regard, Mr. Trump has shown the way.

I feel this year we are seeing far more women who woke up one morning, turned on the TV and said, if he can be president I can run for the state legislature, Congress or governor, said Debbie Walsh, the director of the center at Rutgers. I dont know if this will be an anomaly or this is the beginning of a shift.

For many candidates and strategists, the oft-invoked analogy for the 2018 campaigns is 1992, when women swept into office in part on a tide of outrage about the grilling of Anita Hill by an all-male, all-white Senate Judiciary Committee during the Clarence Thomas hearings.

Marsha Blackburn first ran for Congress in 1992, when she was Tennessee businesswoman and local Republican county chair. She had an anti-regulation, lower taxes message, but ended up losing to the Democratic incumbent. She was undeterred. Drawing on the skills and connections she forged, she went on to win a seat first in the State Legislature and then, by 2002, in Congress. You begin to build that network, she said. Then you use that network.

She is now running for the Senate seat vacated by Bob Corker, in a tough race against Phil Bredesen, the former Democratic governor. Tennessee, she points out, has never elected a woman senator or governor.
The surveyors used off-road vehicles because of the continuing threat of landslides in mountain areas. In part of Culebra, a small island off the main island of Puerto Rico, they arrived planning to interview 35 households. Only one person remained. It was a bathroom and half a room, said Domingo J. Marques, an associate professor of psychology at Albizu University San Juan, who helped conduct the study with his students and who himself lacked power and running water for months after the hurricane. All the other houses were gone.

Those conditions, he said, made clearer why the governments official death count was incomplete. Even if they were really doing a good job, it was really hard unless you did something like we did  go talk to people on the ground, he said. People, he added, died alone in their houses. Nobody went there. Some of them were covered by a landslide, and months after theyve not recovered the bodies.

Notably, abnormally high death rates continued at least through the end of December. They didnt show any sign of coming down in the several months following the hurricane that we were looking at, said Caroline Buckee, an associate professor of epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health and the studys other senior author.

There is clearly an excess mortality, and lets not argue very specific numbers, said Dr. Gilbert Burnham, a professor of international health and founder of the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins University, who was not involved in the research, but has performed similar studies assessing deaths, including in Mosul, Iraq.

Dr. Burnham said that despite the studys limitations, including the difficulty of estimating Puerto Ricos total population in light of migration, and the possible oversampling of smaller populations in more remote areas, such surveys should become a standard activity in post-disaster situations, because they help reveal vulnerabilities that can be addressed to save lives.

Dr. Burnham and another expert unaffiliated with the study agreed with the researchers that the toll could be even higher than estimated if adjusted for the fact that people who died alone could not be surveyed. It just is stunning how poor our information was as to what was happening in Puerto Rico, said Leslie Roberts, a professor and director of the program on forced migration and health at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

The use of surveys to assess the extent of deaths and suffering in disasters, and to guide improvements, extends back decades. Particularly important was a series of studies in Bangladesh in 1970 and 1971, which revealed that women died at a higher rate than men from a massive cyclone that the researchers estimated killed at least 224,000 people.
[ABC canceled the hit sitcom Roseanne hours after Ms. Barrs racist tweet.]

In another tweet, Ms. Barr accused Mr. Soros of wanting to overthrow the United States by backing candidates for district attorney who will ignore U.S. law & favor feelings.

Ms. Barr also retweeted a user who asserted that Black Lives Matter and anti-fascist activists are Soros-sponsored front groups. The user referred to Mr. Soros as the terrorist in chief.

The assertions about Mr. Soros that appeared throughout Ms. Barrs timeline are baseless. Even the conservative National Review, while critical of Mr. Soros, has called the Nazi smear a slander.

In a statement in response to her tweet, a spokesman for Mr. Soros called her claims insulting.

George Soros survived the Nazi occupation of Hungary as a 13 year old child by going into hiding and assuming a false identity with the help of his father, who managed to save his own family and help many other Jews survive Holocaust, the statement read.
Since marriage is a partnership, Id like to know who I am and what Im able to offer financially and how stable I am, before Im committed legally to someone, Ms. Simson said. My mom says Im removing all the romance from the equation, but I know theres more to marriage than just love. If its just love, Im not sure it would work.

Sociologists, psychologists and other experts who study relationships say that this practical no-nonsense attitude toward marriage has become more the norm as women have piled into the work force in recent decades. During that time, the median age of marriage has risen to 29.5 for men and 27.4 for women in 2017, up from 23 for men and 20.8 for women in 1970.

Both men and women now tend to want to advance their careers before settling down. Many are carrying student debt and worry about the high cost of housing.

They often say they would like to be married before starting a family, but some express ambivalence about having children. Most important, experts say, they want a strong foundation for marriage so they can get it right  and avoid divorce.

People are not postponing marriage because they care about marriage less, but because they care about marriage more, said Benjamin Karney, a professor of social psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Andrew Cherlin, a sociologist at Johns Hopkins, calls these capstone marriages. The capstone is the last brick you put in place to build an arch, Dr. Cherlin said. Marriage used to be the first step into adulthood. Now it is often the last.

For many couples, marriage is something you do when you have the whole rest of your personal life in order. Then you bring family and friends together to celebrate.
KARACHI, Pakistan  Heat waves have become common this time of year in Karachi, Pakistans sprawling seaside port city. Still, the latest one caught its 20 million residents off guard.

It was all anyone here could talk about last week as people moved lethargically about their days, helpless to avoid temperatures that sometimes soared to above 110 degrees Fahrenheit, leaving people in a fever-like haze, even in the shade.

The heat, radiating from roads and cement buildings well into the night, was made worse by the citys notorious lack of green space. Shops and households that can afford air-conditioners cranked them up, but most people were left with few options: wet washcloths and electric fans, and those only for the few hours when the power was on.

The streets, normally congested with traffic, became eerily empty around noon. The traffic police listlessly motioned at cars from under umbrellas as people made their way indoors or hid for a few moments in the shadow of one of the citys many concrete towers  anywhere that could provide some respite.
Chinas Foreign Ministry would not confirm the former spymasters presence in Beijing, even though video footage showed him at the airport after his arrival from Pyongyang.

In recent weeks, China and the United States have been vying for the attention of Kim Jong-un, with Mr. Trump accusing China of contributing to a toughened North Korean stance on denuclearization after the North Korean and Chinese leaders met this month.

If the former spy chief met with senior Chinese officials in Beijing, he might risk angering Mr. Trump again, diplomats said. His stop in Beijing could also be related to his presence on a sanctions list that bars him from entering the United States.

An American diplomat said a waiver would have to be granted for such an individual to enter the United States, although it was likely one would automatically be given under extraordinary circumstances like these.

Mr. Kim was probably headed to New York, where North Korea has a mission to the United Nations, rather than to Washington because it was easier for him to get a visa there, another American diplomat said. North Korean diplomats and officials are not allowed to travel more than a few miles outside New York City.

Kim Yong-chol has already met Mr. Pompeo twice in Pyongyang. On the second visit, Mr. Pompeo expected to come away with a set of details for the Singapore summit meeting relating to the denuclearization of the North, but failed to do so. After the second meeting this month, Mr. Pompeo returned to Washington with three Americans who had been detained in North Korea.

In his most recent meeting with Mr. Pompeo, Mr. Kim struck a defiant tone, saying at a luncheon that North Koreas willingness to enter into talks was not a result of sanctions that have been imposed from the outside. But he reminded the visiting Americans that North Korea intended to focus all efforts into economic progress in our country.
The latest search for MH370  the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared four years ago en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people onboard  has ended in failure, the company behind the search said on Tuesday.

The company, Ocean Infinity of Houston, which scoured the seabed for any sign of wreckage with support from the Malaysian government, announced that the search was winding down with no evidence of the planes whereabouts.

Part of our motivation for renewing the search was to try to provide some answers to those affected, Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinitys chief executive, said in a statement. It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search without having achieved that aim.

He did not rule out a future resumed hunt.

The plane, a Boeing 777 operated by Malaysia Airlines, deviated from its planned route north on March 8, 2014, for reasons that are still unknown. After traveling south over the Indian Ocean, the plane is believed to have flown for about five hours before probably running out of fuel and disappearing.
Other statements made by Mr. Durrani include Pakistans role in fomenting popular unrest in Kashmir, the disputed Himalayan region that is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan. Officially, Pakistan has always maintained that it supports the population in Kashmir morally and diplomatically and denies any role in the armed, anti-India insurgency in the disputed region.

India, however, has directly accused Pakistani military intelligence of long supporting militancy in Kashmir and the attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba militants that killed more than 160 people in Mumbai in 2008.

While Mr. Durrani has received sympathy in India for the scrutiny he now faces, in Pakistan, he has been criticized.

Several Pakistani civilian leaders have questioned Mr. Durranis actions and statements attributed in the book. Raza Rabbani, an influential opposition senator, said during a Senate session last week that any civilian teaming up with an Indian would have been quickly branded as a traitor.

It is shocking that on one hand Pakistan and India relations are at an all-time low and on the other hand, former spy chiefs of both the countries are teaming up to write a book, Mr. Rabbani said.

Adeeb Z. Safvi, a retired Pakistani Navy captain and defense analyst, said Mr. Durrani had shunned protocol by publishing the book without getting it reviewed by security services first, as is the custom with many countries, including the United States.

It is rare for former powerful generals to be held accountable or questioned for their actions. Mr. Durrani also served as the director general of military intelligence and retired in 1993, but he has remained active in public life, having later served as Pakistans ambassador to Germany and to Saudi Arabia as well.
May cause historic public-health crisis if used as expected. Photo: George Frey/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Like so many of our nations current crises, the opioid epidemic was born of a highly profitable lie: that extended-release opioid painkillers were far less addictive than the ordinary kind.

When Purdue Pharma set out to make a killing off of pain pills in the 1990s, two primary obstacles stood its way: Opioids were among the worlds oldest drugs, so low-cost generic versions of them were widely available  and most doctors believed that such painkillers carried a high risk for addiction and abuse.

With OxyContin, the drugmaker aimed to clear both hurdles at once. The drugs novel, extended-release formulation could be patented  and then sold as a breakthrough that rendered OxyContin uniquely nonaddictive, and therefore, safe to prescribe for long-term use.

This was a clever play, but it suffered from one small flaw: There was little-to-no evidence to support support Purdues claim. Fortunately for the company, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gave Purdue the green light to say that OxyContins slow release was believed to reduce its appeal to drug abusers, who presumably favored a more immediate high.

In an internal 1995 report, Purdue hailed the FDAs finding as so valuable that it could function as their new drugs principal selling tool. Still, Purdue felt that the regulators approved language could use a bit of tweaking; instead of telling doctors and consumers that OxyContins formula was believed to make it relatively less appealing to drug abusers than Vicodin, Purdue advertised the drug as posing little-to-no risk of abuse and addiction, at all.

In truth, both the claim that the FDA approved  and the one that Purdue proceeded to make  were utterly false. The speculation that a slow-release formula would make OxyContin unappealing to drug abusers was irrational. Making a long-duration painkiller meant concentrating more narcotic into each individual pill. And since opioid addicts do not typically use pills as directed  but rather, crush them up for snorting or injecting  Purdues innovative opioid was actually more appealing as a street drug than any of its rivals.

The companys top executives would eventually testify to Congress that they were unaware that OxyContin was being widely abused until the early 2000s. In 2007, Purdue and three of its executives pleaded guilty to federal charges of misbranding drugs  and were forced to pay a $635 million fine. By that point, Purdue had already made many billions of dollars off of OxyContin  and 29,600 Americans had already died from overdosing on the opioid.

But a Justice Department report newly obtained by the New York Times shows that Purdue was aware of its drugs popularity with drug addicts and pill mills by the late 1990s, and that federal investigators wanted to charge three of the companys top executives with felonies. Had those charges been brought, Purdues senior management could have found themselves in federal prison. But George W. Bushs administration did not support the move, and prosecutors settled for pushing a misdemeanor misbranding case, instead.

Here is a sampling of what Purdue executives knew and when they knew it, according to Justice Department investigators:

Prosecutors found that the companys sales representatives used the words street value, crush, or snort in 117 internal notes recording their visits to doctors or other medical professionals from 1997 through 1999.

We have in fact picked up references to abuse of our opioid products on the internet, Purdue Pharmas general counsel, Howard R. Udell, wrote in early 1999 to another company official[I]n 1998, as OxyContins marketing campaign was taking off, Purdue Pharma learned of a medical journal study that appeared to undercut its central message  that OxyContin, as a long-acting opioid, had less appeal to drug abusers.

In the study, which was published in The Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, researchers from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver interviewed local drug dealers and abusers to learn what legal drugs sold for on the black market. They found that MS Contin commanded the highest price of any prescription opioid with a 30-milligram tablet that cost $1 at a pharmacy bringing up to $40 on the street.

Two years later, as OxyContins abuse publicly exploded in early 2000, a Purdue Pharma executive described in an email to Mr. Friedman, the chief executive, how he was reminded of what he had seen earlier managing MS Contin sales in the Midwest.

I received this kind of news on MS Contin, all the time and from everywhere, the companys vice-president of marketing, Mark Alfonso, wrote in June 2000. Some pharmacies would not even stock MS Contin for fear they would be robbed. In Wisconsin, Minnesota and Oklahoma, we had physicians indicted for prescribing too much MS Contin.

Mr. Friedmans response, prosecutors reported, was to forward that email to Mr. Udell with a question: You want all this chat on email?



The U.S. government believes that the narcotics trade is so morally odious  and societally damaging  it will give small-time crack dealers lifelong prison sentences for a first offense, and put tens of thousands of Americans behind bars merely for possessing illegal drugs. Currently, Attorney General Jeff Sessions is pushing to make prison sentences for drug offenses even more draconian, while the president routinely suggests that preventing the importation of narcotics to the U.S. justifies subjecting undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers to cruel and unusual punishments.

And yet, all the while, the government has allowed Purdue Pharma to collect more than $35 billion for engineering an opioid crisis that killed 42,200 Americans in 2016 alone  without attempting to put any of its executives in prison for their borderline-homicidal acts of fraud.

This failure to impose law and order on white-collar drug cartels has only emboldened them. While American doctors have soured on OxyContin in recent years  with prescriptions for OxyContin dropping by nearly 40 percent since 2010  Purdue is looking to maintain profits by exporting our nations opioid epidemic to Europe and the developing world. All around the globe, Purdues international brand, Mundipharma, is working to overcome opiophobia  its term for foreign doctors mistaken belief that prescription opioids carry a high risk of abuse. As the Los Angeles Times reported in 2016:

For generations, physicians have been taught that opioid painkillers are highly addictive and should be used sparingly and primarily in patients near death. Mundipharma executives and consultants call this opiophobia and top company officials have said publicly that success in new markets depends on defeating this mind-set.

These tactics are nearly identical to those the company deployed in the United States in the mid-90s. If the effects of that marketing prove identical, the results will be catastrophic; many of the developing countries that Mundipharma is targeting have far fewer resources than America does for providing drug treatment and rehabilitation.

Many progressives deride the War on Drugs as an utter failure. Some radicals disagree  arguing that it has actually been a smashing success, because the goal of the policy was never to deter drug abuse, so much as to keep anti-drug bureaucracies well-funded, and American prisons well-stocked with unruly workers that capital no longer has a use for.

When the government refuses to aggressively prosecute Purdue Pharma executives  while doling out life sentences to street-corner pushers  it lends credence to the the far lefts case.
WASHINGTON  Myanmars military campaign to kill or drive away its ethnic minorities is worsening despite a growing international outcry, according to a State Department religious freedom report that was released on Tuesday.

Violence against the Rohingya, nearly all of whom are Muslim, in the countrys Rakhine state has been likened to ethnic cleansing and has tarnished the reputation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate whose party now controls Myanmar. The new report found that an unknown number of Rohingya are displaced throughout Myanmar, formerly Burma, and an estimated 688,000 have fled to neighboring Bangladesh.

Additionally, the State Department said authorities in Myanmar were doubling down against ethnic minorities with a new campaign against the largely Christian minority in Kachin state. Fighting between the government and rebels in Kachin has flared for decades but restarted in earnest in 2011, according to the report.

The United Nations estimates that 100,000 civilians remain displaced in both Kachin and Shan states as a result of that fighting, the report said. Religion and ethnicity in Myanmar are closely linked.
OTTAWA  The Canadian government on Tuesday said it would buy an oil pipeline to the countrys west coast, ensuring that its widely protested expansion will go forward.

The Trans Mountain pipeline, which carries oil from Alberta to a port in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, has become a flashpoint in a wider debate in Canada over the environmental impact of tapping Albertas oil sands.

Critics view the sands as a particularly dirty energy source. Similar objections drove efforts to block the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to the United States.

Environmentalists and some indigenous groups have strongly opposed the expansion of the pipeline, citing environmental concerns. The province of British Columbia is trying to block it in the courts.
BERLIN  A rejected asylum seeker from Iran suffered serious injuries when he set fire to himself on Tuesday at a town office in Germany, the authorities said.

The police said the 35-year-old man entered the office in Goppingen, a town near the southwest city of Ulm, at midday and asked two employees for help, showing them papers indicating that his application for German asylum had been rejected.

Staff members said they would help, but the man became aggressive and pulled a bottle out of his backpack, poured liquid over himself and set fire to himself as the two workers fled, the police said.

A third worker grabbed towels from a housekeeping cart and suffocated the flames.

The police said the man was taken by helicopter to a hospital where he was being treated for severe burns.
BRUSSELS  A prison inmate on a 48-hour leave fatally shot two police officers and a civilian and then took a woman hostage at a school in the eastern city of Liege on Tuesday, before being killed by the police, officials said. No students were injured.

The goal of the attacker was to target the police, Lieges police chief, Christian Beaupere, said. The assailant, a Belgian, had a long criminal record, and prosecutors said they were investigating the attack as a terrorism episode.

Prosecutors said the assailant attacked two female police officers from behind with a knife around 10:30 a.m., stabbed them several times in the back, took their weapons, and used them to shoot and kill the officers.

The attacker also shot and killed a young man sitting in a parked car in central Liege, before running away. He then took a female cleaner hostage in the nearby Atheneum Leonie de Waha school, a public institution with several hundred students ages 3 to 18.
[Update: On May 30, Arkady Babchenko appeared at a news conference to announce that his reported killing had been staged as part of an elaborate police operation.]

MOSCOW  A Russian journalist who fled his homeland last year to escape a campaign of intimidation that he said was so personal, so scary that I was forced to flee was shot and killed on Tuesday in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.

The killing of the journalist, Arkady Babchenko, a former war correspondent who stirred fury among Russian nationalists with his sharply critical coverage, is the latest in a series of attacks, many of them fatal, on outspoken foes of President Vladimir V. Putin, both inside Russia and beyond.

The Ukrainian police said the journalist was found, bleeding, by his wife in their Kiev apartment building and then rushed by ambulance to a hospital. He died en route from what the police said were multiple gunshot wounds to his back.
LONDON  Medical workers in Britain who treated the former Russian spy Sergei V. Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, initially feared that they would be inundated with civilian casualties from a lethal, Soviet-developed nerve agent and that their colleagues had been exposed, they have told the BBC.

The accounts suggest that the British authorities were deeply apprehensive about the possibility of a larger health crisis in the hours after the Skripals were found unconscious on March 4, in what was initially believed to be an opioid overdose.

That evening, after hearing that Mr. Skripal had been a Russian spy, medical workers set aside that theory and began to catalog symptoms of poisoning by an organophosphate, or nerve agent.

There was a real concern as to how big this could get, Lorna Wilkinson, the nursing director at Salisbury District Hospital, said in an interview with the BBC Two program Newsnight that will be broadcast on Tuesday. Have we just gone from having two index patients having something that could become all-consuming and involve many casualties? Because we really didnt know at that point.
JERUSALEM  Islamic militants in Gaza attacked southern Israel with rockets and mortars on Tuesday and Israel responded instantly with a wave of airstrikes across the Palestinian territory, a sharp escalation of violence after weeks of deadly protests, arson attacks and armed clashes along the border.

The exchanges were the most intense cross-border hostilities in Gaza since the two sides fought a 50-day war in the summer of 2014. By 10 p.m. on Tuesday, Israel said there had been 70 rockets or mortars fired from Gaza throughout the day.

The military wing of Hamas  the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza  claimed responsibility jointly with another faction, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Earlier in the day, it was initially assumed that Islamic Jihad was behind most of the attacks after Israel killed three of its members on Sunday.

Bombing will be met by bombing and blood for blood, the two groups said in the joint claim.

Israel responded with airstrikes on 35 targets in Gaza after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel held Hamas responsible for the mortar attacks. Israels Iron Dome antimissile system intercepted dozens of incoming projectiles, according to the military.
PARIS  The leaders of rival Libyan factions agreed Tuesday to work together on a legal framework for holding presidential and parliamentary elections this December in a deal being pushed by Frances president to bring stability to Libya and stem the flow of migrants to Europe from its shores.

It was latest of numerous international efforts to find a political solution to the chaos plaguing Libya since the ouster of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in 2011. But analysts said the election timetable was extremely optimistic and that the agreement, as with previous efforts, risked being undermined by opposition from armed groups on the ground.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Libyan leaders will set election rules by mid-September, hold the vote on Dec. 10 and ensure that voters and candidates will be safe. The leaders also agreed to eventually streamline their parallel government structures and merge their armed forces and other security entities.

Power in Libya is divided between two rival governments, in the east and west of the country, and a plethora of armed groups that pledge allegiance to either administration, or none.
President Trump and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Hungarian communist leader Matyas Rakosi invented the phrase salami tactics to describe how his party established a dictatorship. The phrase has come to describe a way of taking power in increments, by forcing your opponent to repeatedly choose between either giving up a small concession  a slice of the salami  or staging a total confrontation.

As Rakosi later wrote, Hungarys communists wanted full control of the state, but had to leave their goal ambiguous at the outset, because discussion of a dictatorship of the proletariat as our final aim would have caused alarm among our partners in coalition. They initially joined a broad coalition of parties to run the government, but in progressive steps, they would demand the ouster of the most objectionable members. This work we called Salami Tactics, by which we cut out in slices reaction hiding in the Smallholders Party, he explained. Eventually, Rakosis party had sliced away enough that the opposition could no longer stand in the way of their gaining complete power.

To the extent President Trump has a conscious strategy against the Russia investigation, this is it. If Trump had baldly demanded a year ago that he be handed full control over the prosecutorial powers of the Justice Department, many of his coalition partners (Republicans in Congress) would have revolted. Instead he has encroached step by step upon the Departments independence. At each step, his opponents have had to choose between giving him one more slice of salami and staging an irrevocable breach. The salami is getting shorter, and Trumps final demands are drawing closer.

Since Watergate, which revealed the potential for abuse inherent in a law-enforcement agency under presidential control, the Department of Justice has operated under a series of formal and informal protocols designed to prevent politicians from interfering with its investigations. One of those regulations, a 1976 law giving the FBI director a ten-year term (to protect him from answering to the president) that could not be renewed (to prevent him from amassing unaccountable power) was blown through almost immediately, when Trump fired James Comey in May 2017. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein could have resigned rather than put his name on a transparently disingenuous letter justifying Comeys firing. But Rosenstein may well have figured that, if he resigned, Trump could simply install a more pliant replacement.

Rosensteins willingness to write a letter supporting the firing was the first slice of salami. Many more have followed. In violation of Department rules against sharing information about ongoing investigations, Rosenstein has shared documents used in the Mueller probe with Congress, and given Congress access to Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications. The rules also prevent the Department from communicating directly with the president about an active investigation, but after Trump viewed this distancing as an affront, Rosenstein is now giving up on this rule, too.

On each of these individual fights, Rosensteins decision can be justified. Does he want to make a public stand over some relatively minor point of Justice Department protocol, at the risk of setting up an unstoppable Constitutional crisis? If he gives up another slice of salami, the Department stays in place and he lives to fight another day. At some point, however, he will have surrendered so much control that there will be nothing left to fight for.

In the meantime, Trumps disguised ends are growing increasingly naked. Over the weekend, Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani called the Mueller investigation illegitimate. Rather than denying that Trumps campaign colluded with Russia, he is portraying collusion as some murky and undefinable act. Look, you cant say youre spying on the Russians if what youre trying to do is to show the Russians are colluding, whatever the hell that means, with the Trump campaign, he told Bill Hemmer. You go out to the outer orbit [of the campaign], how do I know whats going on?, he declared on CNN. But I dont think that would matter. You cant, you know, theres just collusion with a guy 50 rungs down on the campaign? Not that Im saying it happened, but if it did, I dont know what that means.

So now Giuliani is simultaneously all but conceding that members of the Trump campaign colluded with Russia, and calling the entire investigation illegitimate. Trumps defensive line on the facts of the case is retreating at the same moment his procedural attack on the investigation is advancing. Republicans are converging on the position that they have the right to decide which laws matter and who should be investigated.

This increasingly aggressive posture appears to be following a predetermined schedule. Congressional Republicans are determined to seize control of the Mueller investigation before voters have a chance to strip them of the majority that gives them the power to do it. As Devin Nunes stenographer Kimberly Strassel recently reported, the pressure to use these tools to get disclosure is growing, as congressional Republicans worry about losing their oversight authority in the midterms, and suspect the Justice Department is stringing them along for that very reason.

Rosenstein may well be trying to mollify his tormentors through a policy of slow-moving appeasement. Contrary to myth, appeasement sometimes works.

On the other hand, its hardly guaranteed that Democrats will take the gavel out of Nuness hands in the midterm elections. James Comey gave in to Republican demands and compromised FBI policy by announcing his investigation of Hillary Clinton because he believed Democrats were bound to win the 2016 presidential election. If Republicans maintain their majority in November, Rosenstein and the Justice Department will suddenly be staring down an emboldened Republican Party prepared to take whatever remains of his independence.
Four years of Modi govt: An Amul like movement for tribals on the cards

4 years of Modi sarkar: How Home Ministry took the fight to the naxals

Feature

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The Narendra Modi government completed four years in office. The government has taken several key decisions in the past four years. For the Ministry of Home Affairs, headed by Rajnath Singh, the big challenges were the naxal problem and terrorism especially in the Kashmir Valley.

Data provided by the Home Ministry shows that there has been a major reduction in violence where Left Wing Extremism is concerned. Incidents of violence reduced by 36.6% from 6524 to 4136 the ministry says. Let us take a look at the other key initiatives.

Road Connectivity Project For LWE Affected Areas: Government has approved in Dec 2016 a project named 'Road Connectivity Project for LWE Affected Areas' for construction of 5412 km roads in 44 districts of 9 LWE affected States at an estimated cost of Rs. 11725 crore. Sanction already conveyed to States for 3775.56 km of roads.

Special Central Assistance (SCA) for 35 most LWE affected districts: This is a new Scheme with an outlay of Rs. 3,000 crore (Rs. 1,000 crore per annum). Under the scheme funds will be provided to 35 most affected LWE districts to fill the critical gaps in public infrastructure and services, which are of emergent nature. Rs.175 crore has been released under the scheme in 2017-18.

Constitution of Empowered Committee under AS (LWE): An Empowered Committee was constituted under Additional Secretary (LWE) to monitor and guide developmental initiatives through co-ordination with various Central Ministries.

Formation of Committees: Two committees have been formed in May 2017 for improving operational performance of forces in LWE areas. These are:-

Committee for use of Cutting Edge technologies in LWE Theatre.

Committee for fixing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for LWE Theatre.

The committees have already submitted the reports. Technologies have been identified and KPIs are finalized.

Major Achievements (Security Related Issues):

Reduction in Violence (Comparative Analysis of LWE Scenario: 2010 to 2013 & 2014 to 2017). A comparison of various statistics of LWE violence over last four years (2014 to 2017) with preceding three years (2010- 2013) indicates a significant improvement in the LWE scenario in the country. Important parameters are as under:-

Incidents of violence reduced by 36.6% from 6524 to 4136.

LWE related deaths decreased by 55.5% from 2428 to 1081.

Elimination of LWE cadres increased by 14.6% from 445 to 510.

Surrenders by LWE cadres increased by 143% from 1387 to 3373.

Geographical Spread reduced

States reporting violence reduced from 10 (2013) to 9 (2017).

Districts reporting violence reduced from 76 (2013) to 58 (2017).

Police Stations reporting violence reduced from 330 (2013) to 291 (2017).

Raising of CRPF Bastariya Battalion: In order to enhance local representation in SF and also provide employment to local youth, a Bastariya Battalion has been raised. 743 Scheduled Tribes candidates from four most affected LWE districts of Chhattisgarh, Bijapur, Dantewada, Narayanpur and Sukma have been recruited. This figure includes 242 female candidates. All recruitment formalities have been completed and training is in progress.

Assistance under Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme: Under this scheme assistance is provided to 106 LWE affected districts for operational needs of Security Forces. Rs 1120.73 crore was disbursed over last four financial years (2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17 & 2017-18) as compared to Rs 875 Cr in the preceding four financial years (2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14).

Fortified Police Stations Scheme: The scheme was approved in 2010. 386 Police Stations out of 400 have been completed. 320 Police Stations constructed in the last four years.

Major achievements on development related issues:

Road Requirement Plan Phase-I (RRP-I) (MORTH): RRP-I is under implementation for improving road connectivity in 34 LWE affected districts of 8 States i.e. Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh. It envisages construction 5,422 km road length with an estimated cost of  8,585 crores, of which, 4537 km roads have been completed of which 1608 km roads constructed in last four years in most difficult areas.

LWE Mobile Towers Project (DoT): The scheme was approved in 2014. 2329 towers have been installed to improve connectivity in LWE affected areas. Further 4072 mobile towers are under consideration in Phase-II.

Skill Development (MOSDE): Launched in 2011 in 34 LWE affected districts. The scheme has been extended to 47 LWE affected districts in 2016 in which 47 ITIs and 68 Skill Development Centre would be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs. 407.85 crores. Of these 15 ITIs and 43 SDCs have been established.

Financial Inclusion: The Department of Posts is opening 1789 Post Offices in 32 most LWE affected districts, where, there is no Post Office within 03 km of distance. Of these 565 Post offices are opened. Besides, the Department of Financial Services has opened 428 new Bank branches and installed 1045 ATMs in 35 most affected LWE districts in 33 months ( from 01.04.2015 to 31.12.2017).

Government on 27.09.2017 has approved continuation of existing schemes till 2020 with increased outlays and additional features.

SCHEMES OF MHA

Security Related Expenditure (SRE) Scheme: The Government of India reimburses the LWE affected State Governments the security-related expenditure incurred on; ex-gratia payment to the family of civilian/security forces killed in LWE violence. training and operational needs of security forces, rehabilitation of surrendered Left Wing Extremist cadres, security-related infrastructure for village defense committees and publicity material. The scheme has been strengthened with substantial increase in the rate of reimbursement. In addition, new items like compensation for incapacitation of security forces and property damage have been included for the first time.

Special Infrastructure Scheme (SIS) including construction of 250 Fortified Police Stations in LWE affected states: The Scheme has been revived for strengthening of the Special Intelligence Branches (SIBs) & Special Forces of the States and construction of 250 Fortified Police Stations in LWE areas. The next phase of fortification of police stations has been subsumed in Special Infrastructure Scheme.

Increase of grant:

The immediate grant to the surrendered LWE cadres increased from

Rs. 2.5 Lakh to Rs. 5.00 Lakh - For Higher Rank LWE cadres

Rs. 1.5 Lakh to 2.5 Lakh - For Middle/Lower Ranks

The monthly stipend increased from

Rs. 4000 to Rs. 6000/- per month

Ex-Gratia payment increased from:

Rs. 1 Lakh to Rs. 2 Lakh- To the family of a civilian killed

Rs. 3 Lakh to Rs. 20 Lakh- To the family of a security personnel killed.

Honorarium to SPOs increased from Rs. 3000/- to Rs. 6000/- per month.

New items included for the first time:

Ex. Gratia payment

Rs. 5 Lakh - to the security personnel permanently incapacitated during LWE attack.

Compensation to property Damage

Rs. 3 Lakh- For security personnel

Rs. 1 lakh- for civilians.
Four years in office, resolving OROP and surgical strikes were the highs for the Defence Ministry

Feature

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

One Rank One Pension was a huge issue and one of the biggest challenges for the Narendra Modi led NDA government at the Centre which completed four years in office. It was an issue concerning lakhs of ex-servicemen who guarded the nation without fear or favour.

The Defence Ministry had its task cut out and it managed to resolve the issue. The ministry says that the issue was resolved after four years and the decision announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The other big news where this ministry is concerned was the surgical strikes on Pakistan.

OROP:

Status Report on implementation of OROP benefits as on 30.09.2017 and compiled up to 31.12.2017 As per the reports received from the CGDA, a sum of Rs. 4,161.45 crores, Rs. 2,397.22 crores, Rs. 2,320.7 crores and Rs. 1,859.72 crores have been paid towards first, second, third and fourth installment of OROP arrears respectively. 20,43,354 Ex-Servicemen/family pensioners, 15,94,063 Ex Service men, 15,71,744 Ex-Servicemen and 13,28,313 Ex-Servicemen are the beneficiaries during these four instalments respectively. Total arrears paid Rs. 10,739.09 crores.

Other measures for ex-servicemen:

Number of scholarships under Prime Minister Scholarship Scheme has been enhanced from 4000 to 5500 from academic year 2015-16.

Marriage Grant for daughter has been enhanced from Rs. 16,000/- to Rs. 50,000/- from April 2016.

Web portal has been launched by Kendriya Sainik Board on March 11, 2016 for online process of applications.

INS Kalvari:

INS Kalvari: Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the naval submarine INS Kalvari to the nation on 14 December 2017.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi dedicated the naval submarine INS Kalvari to the nation on 14 December 2017. Brahmos, the World's fastest supersonic cruise missile created history in November 2017 when it was successfully flight-tested first time from the Indian Air Force's frontline fighter aircraft Sukhoi-30MKI.

The surface-to-air missile Akash was successfully launched.

The first ever tri-services exercise INDIRA between India and Russia was conducted in October, 2017.

Special campaign to celebrate Armed Forces Flag Day to honour the martyrs and the men in uniform.

The first ever Indian circumnavigation of the globe by all-women crew on Indian Navy sailing vessel INSV Tarini. The Tarini was flagged off on 10th September 2017 and is expected to return to Goa in April 2018. The expedition titled 'Navika Sagar Parikrama' is in consensus with the national policy to give women power to attain their full potential.

Other Initiatives:

Defence Travel System has been rolled out wherein defence units can book tickets online.

The project has been implemented by Railways. Both rail and air travel modules have been developed. As of 28th December 2017, 5759 defence units have been covered under the system out of the existing 10675 units. A total of 12,19,969 beneficiaries have been enrolled on the system till date. On an average, 5.1 lakh rail tickets are being booked through the system with an average expenditure of Rs 70 crores per month. The system is continuously under up-gradation based on new IT developments, new requirements and feedback.

A comprehensive web based interactive Pension Disbursement System for Defence Pensioners will be established. This system will receive pension proposals and make payments centrally. This will reduce the grievances of defence pensioners.

SIMPLIFIED 'MAKE-II':

Defence Acquisition Council, chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in its meeting on 16 January 2018, cleared a simplified 'Make-II' procedure to enable greater participation of industry in acquisition of defence equipment.

This process will greatly help import substitution and promote innovative solutions.

This simplified 'Make-II' procedure will amend the existing 'Make Procedure' in Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP)-2016.

Rafale:

The Government of India signed an Inter-Government Agreement (IGA) with Government of France for procurement of 36 Rafale aircraft on September 23, 2016. The delivery of the aircraft would commence in September 2019 and would be completed by April 2022.

The IGA includes initial consignment of weapons, maintenance support through Performance Based Logistical (PBL), simulators and associated equipment. The IGA also includes discharge of 50 percent offsets by the French Industrial Suppliers.

Rafale is an omni-role fighter, which will provide long-range capability to engage targets in depth and will provide a strong weapons and systems capability edge over our adversaries. The weapons include air-to-air Beyond Visual Range (BVR) METEOR missile which is superior to the proposed MICA BVR Missile for MMRCA package. For ground targets, Rafale is equipped with long-range SCALP precision guided air-to-ground weapon which will provide a strong attack capability for striking precision targets. In addition, the Rafale for IAF has certain Indian specific enhancements which will provide the aircraft with better capabilities including engine start from high altitude airfields.

AGNI-V

Test flight on 26th December, 2016.

The test flight further boosted India's indigenous defence capabilities and deterrence levels.

Surgical Strikes:

In order to protect Indian borders and put an end to cross-border terrorism Indian Army conducted surgical strikes in PoK on 29th September, 2016.

Surgical Strikes reflect zero tolerance for terror

On 18th September 2016, terrorists struck at an army camp at Uri and martyred our Jawans. In response:

Indian Army conducted surgical strikes at several terrorist launch pads to pre-empt infiltration by terrorists.

Significant casualties were caused to terrorists and those providing support to them.

Indian army struck a blow to terrorist infrastructure and designs.

International community reacted overwhelmingly in India's favour.

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 6:48 [IST]
How 1st woman porter at Jaipur railway station stormed the male bastion to feed her kids

Feature

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Jaipur, May 29: While public and private sectors are still debating over "breaking the glass ceiling" by honouring efficient women with top jobs, a woman porter (coolie) in the busy Jaipur railway station in Rajasthan challenged patriarchy and social barriers to feed and educate her three teenage children.

Manju Devi is no ordinary woman. She is the first woman porter of the North-West Railways. Her story of grit, determination and hard work to join a profession which is largely male-dominated is something every woman can take inspiration from.

Tragedy struck Manju almost 10 years ago when her husband, a coolie in the same railway station where she is working now, died. Along with losing her beloved husband, Manju was left with the responsibility of raising her three children.

Initially, it was very difficult as Manju faced staunch opposition from her immediate family members. It is her mother Mohini Devi who encouraged her to take up her husband's profession and join the male force to ferry heavy luggage from one point to another at the railway station.

Dressed in a red kurta and white salwar, every day Manju carries bags and boxes of passengers at the station and earn her livelihood. It is the badge no. 15, which belonged to her husband, is the most priced-possession her husband has left behind for her. Every porter authorised by the railways wears a steel, golden badge in their arms.

When she first approached the authorities asking for her husband's badge, they told her she won't be able to do the job as it needs a lot of stamina. Moreover, there was no woman porter at the station. However, in front of her determination and an immediate need for a job made them reconsider their perceived notion and allowed her to work in the railway station.

Today, she is managing to take care of her family despite all the odds. Her story came to the limelight when recently the ministry of women and child development decided to felicitate her along with 112 women achievers. Others who were honoured by the ministry included former beauty queens--Aishwarya Rai and Nicole Faria-- mountaineer Bachendri Pal, Anshu Jamsenpa, missile woman Tessy Thomas and private detective Rajani Pandit.

When asked how she manages to carry heavy luggage, she was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times, "I weighed 30 kg and the passengers' luggage was also 30 kg but it was nowhere to the burden of feeding three children."
Wilbur Ross will be traveling to China next weekend to pursue Trumps demands for major changes in Chinese trade practices. Photo: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

In what appears to be an effort to ratchet up pressure on China to make greater concessions in ongoing trade negotiations, the Trump administration announced today it was moving forward with tariffs and other trade restrictions associated with U.S. claims of intellectual property theft by Chinese enterprises. But the actions will not be implemented until mid-June or early July. The New York Times describes this statement as a gesture designed to ensure that Beijing does not misunderstand recent conciliatory remarks from Washington as indicating any change of heart on the underlying issues:

The White House said in a statement that the United States would move ahead with its plan to levy 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of imported Chinese goods, despite recent remarks by Steven Mnuchin, the Treasury secretary, and other administration officials that the tariffs would be suspended while the countries continued their negotiations 

The White House said the Trump administration would also move forward with restrictions on Chinese investment and with stronger export controls meant to limit the access that Chinese people and companies have to American technology  a measure the administration said was for national security purposes.

The final list of items subject to the new tariffs will be released on June 15, with formal imposition of these duties occurring a few days later. And the investment and export control actions will be officially promulgated on June 30.

With Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross heading to China this weekend for the next round of negotiations, there is some doubt about the administrations ultimate objective: Is it trying to change the nature of Chinas economic system, or does it simply want to improve the trade balance between the two countries?

Mr. Trump has often talked about challenging what he has described as Chinas unfair trade practices, but his advisers are deeply divided over the best course for doing so. Some, like Mr. Mnuchin, have focused on a potential compromise deal that would require China to buy huge amounts of American products while still forestalling the possibility of a trade war.

Other advisers have pushed for tougher action, demanding that China make substantial reforms to its economy to end the subsidies it provides to developing industries and to allow American companies equal access in the Chinese market. Those requests in particular have provoked a backlash from China, which has threatened its own potential set of tariffs on $50 billion in American goods.

Tensions between the U.S. and China may have been reduced somewhat by Trumps action last week to ease sanctions that threatened the viability of Chinese telecom giant ZTE, in response to a personal request from President Xi Jinping. Todays announcements were a reminder that a trade war remains entirely possible.
More bomb blasts, less fidayeen hits: Lashkars new mantra in Kashmir

Feature

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

There was a terror attack in Shopian earlier today in which three Army personnel were injured. The explosion took place between the Sugan and Chillapora area in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir.

It has now been ascertained that this was the handiwork of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and what is even more worrying is that the outfit which was looking for an IED expert has found one.

The bomb maker has been identified as Umar Hanzulla, a local operative who was roped in by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba to prepare bombs. The outfit has been on the lookout for a bomb expert in the wake of the group suffering several casualties in the recent past. The keen interest in finding a bomb maker is also an indication, that the group would reduce fedayeen strikes for now and concentrate on explosions at Army installations.

In today's attack, the Lashkar-e-Tayiba operatives triggered an IED blast at 7.50 am. The target was the Casper vehicle of the Indian Army's 44 RR. The bomb was timed to explode at the time the vehicle was passing through the area.

Hanzulla according to sources is an expert at preparing bombs. Intelligence Bureau officials say that he hails from Shopian district and was trained in Pakistan about a year back. He uses ordinary items such as cans, pressure cookers etc to prepare the bombs.

He has been placed on the wanted list and nabbing him is of primary importance for the security forces. Currently is the only expert that the Lashkar-e-Tayiba has in the Valley and the agencies would look to nab him before he imparts training to others.

The Lashkar-e-Tayiba according to the Intelligence Bureau would increase bomb attacks. This is a turn away from the fedayeen strikes and bomb attacks involve an element of surprise. Moreover the casualty rate in bomb attacks for the terrorists is lower as they just plant the bomb and flee. Such attacks also keep the security forces on tenter-hooks all the time.
Shame on us for letting mob beat, police register case against mentally-challenged man in UP

Feature

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Lucknow, May 29: We have truly turned into a mobocracy, where the masses (read majority) can brutally attack and kill anyone at will in the name of Hindu religion. In the last few years, several cases of mob vigilantism have come to light where the minorities (read Muslims and Dalits) have been beaten and killed in the name of protection of cow and Hindu religion.

From Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Una in Gujarat, a mob attacking victims always belongs to the Hindutva brigade known to be close to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre.

Recently, a Muslim man would have been beaten to death by an infuriated Hindu crowd in Ramnagar, Uttarakhand. Thankfully, brave Sikh police officer Gagandeep Singh risked his life to rescue the victim. The man in his 20s became a target of Hindu anger because he was seen with a Hindu girl near a temple.

Of late, Hyderabad too is witnessing mob fury as innocents are being targeted over suspicion of child lifting. Reports stated that one transgender and a mentally-challenged man were beaten by people in two separate incidents in the past two days.

While the transgender died, the mentally-challenged man was saved just in the nick of time by an alert police force.

On Tuesday, reports came in that a mentally-challenged man in Agra, Uttar Pradesh was brutally beaten by a crowd. What was his crime? He allegedly vandalised a statue of a deity in a temple in Shahganj area.

First, the man was tied to a tree and then people took turns to beat the helpless victim, stated a report by ANI. The worst part is that instead of immediately taking action against the culprits, the police registered a case against the victim.

Now, the victim is in police custody. Thankfully, the police decided to probe the incident of beating of the man too, but definitely a decision they should have taken much earlier.

"Agra: Man tied to a tree & beaten up by people after he allegedly vandalised statue of a deity in a temple in Shahganj. He was later handed over to police. Police say 'Case registered. We're being told he's mentally challenged. Probe on. Him being beaten up is also being probed'," tweeted ANI.

Agra: Man tied to a tree & beaten up by people after he allegedly vandalised statue of a deity in a temple in Shahganj. He was later handed over to police. Police say 'Case registered. We're being told he's mentally challenged. Probe on. Him being beaten up is also being probed' pic.twitter.com/R126RnkPfY  ANI UP (@ANINewsUP) May 29, 2018

If this is the state of affairs where lawmakers are readily buying the argument of a mob accused of beating a mentally-challenged man, then our democracy is witnessing one of its worst times. Think again, where in a civilised world a disabled man is beaten mercilessly for a statue, even if that piece of structure represents someone's religion?

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 12:15 [IST]
How do naxals procure sophisticated weapons: It was the LTTE which aided them

Abducted CoBRA jawan Rakeshwar Singh Manhas released by Naxals after six days of captivity

AK-47s stolen from COD Jabalpur supplied to naxals, criminals says NIA in chargesheet

Naxals from Telangana were in the process of making grenade launchers, IEDs: NIA

3 naxals killed in encounter in Chhattisgarh

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

Three Naxals were killed in an encounter with security forces in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon on Tuesday a day after 12 Naxals were arrested from separate places in insurgency-hit Bijapur district.

Meanwhile, NIA arrested 15 Maoists and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from Bokaro.

NIA arrested 15 Maoists and recovered huge cache of arms and ammunition from Bokaro. #Jharkhand pic.twitter.com/y0xREY7vQa  ANI (@ANI) May 29, 2018

Bijapur Superintendent of Police Mohit Garg told PTI that six Naxals were apprehended from the forest near Dalla village under Basaguda police station limits, five from areas falling under Bedre police station and one from Tarnichhilpatpara in Jangla village.

Early this month, three Naxalites carrying cash rewards on their heads were killed in two encounters with security forces in Sukma district. According to their ranks, they carried rewards of Rs 8 lakh on their heads.
As Assam protests over citizenship bill, local BJP netas join force against Modi govt

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Guwahati, May 29: In Assam, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government is facing a very difficult and delicate situation. On the one hand, the Narendra Modi government at the Centre is hell-bent on passing the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016, on the other hand, the BJP government in Assam is facing the wrath of the locals for "bowing in front of the diktats of the saffron party" at the cost of disturbing the demographic structure of the state.

As massive protests against the bill continued across Assam on Monday too, several BJP leaders, including a few MLAs, have openly expressed their opposition to the bill which "threatens the very existence of indigenous people by turning them into minority in their own home state".

The vocal protest by Assam's BJP leaders against the bill is a clear indication of rebellion against the Modi regime by its own people.

Those who are opposing the bill within the BJP said that allowing citizenship to Hindu Bangladeshis would pose a threat to the identity of the Assamese people and affect the interest of the indigenous people of the state.

State cultural affairs minister Naba Kumar Doley said the issue was related to people's emotions and the government would not do anything to harm the interests of Assam.

"We cannot accept the Bangladeshis. I will not remain as an MLA if they are allowed to come in. We will force them to leave," BJP MLA Binod Hazarika told at a public meeting in his constituency, Chabua.

Bokajan BJP MLA Numal Momin said the Assamese people could not become a minority community in their own state and that he would always work for the indigenous people of the state.

Other BJP MLAs, including Suren Phukan, Terash Gowalla, Jogen Mohan and Debananda Hazarika, said chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal would not do anything that would impact the interests of Assam and its people.

Lahowal's BJP MLA Rituparna Baruah claimed that there was a "conspiracy" against Sonowal to destabilise his government, but did not elaborate. Reacting to Baruah's claim, state BJP chief Ranjeet Kumar Dass told reporters that he would seek a reply from the MLA to clarify about the "conspiracy".

On the bill, he said, "Let us wait till June 30, when the final draft of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) will be published. We will make our stand public after that."

Replying to a question, he said BJP allies, the Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bodoland People's Front (BPF), who were opposed to the bill, would not part ways with the saffron party and the Sonowal government would complete its five-year term.

Large-scale protests took place across Assam on Monday against the bill with a number of groups burning the effigies of Prime Minister Modi, Union home minister Rajnath Singh and CM Sonowal, taking out processions and blocking rail and road traffic.

The Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chhatra Parishad (AJYCP) burnt the effigies of Modi, Singh and Sonowal at Nalbari. The members of All Assam Sutia Students' Union blocked the rail traffic at Sarupathar, prompting the police to detain a number of agitators, an official said.

Thousands of slogan-shouting protestors, carrying banners against the bill, marched through towns across the state, before submitting memoranda addressed to the PM to the respective district deputy commissioners.

The agitators shouted slogans refusing to take the "burden of foreigners" and criticised the BJP-led government in the state for supporting the Centre's attempt to amend the bill, which they described as "a destroyer of ethnicity, culture and language of the local indigenous people of Assam".

The All Assam Students' Union (AASU) took out processions at many places across the state against the passage of the bill, which proposes to give citizenship to non-Muslims from neighbouring countries.

AASU chief advisor Samujjal Bhattacharya told reporters, "There is a continuous people's movement against the bill. Organisations, individuals and various other forums have united as the proposed bill will cause a great damage to Assam's political future and the survival of its indigenous people, their identity, culture and land."

"The Centre should immediately take steps to withdraw the bill from Parliament," he said, claiming that it sought to make fundamental alterations in the citizenship and immigration norms by relaxing the requirements for getting Indian citizenship.

The Asom Yuba Chatra Parishad, the All Boro Students' Union, the All Assam Adivasi Students' Union, the Missing Students' Union, the Gorkha Students' Union, the Sodou Assam Karmachari Parishad, former ULFA members, the Krishak Mukti Sangram Samiti, among others, joined the protests.

The All Assam Karbi Students' Union (AAKSU), the All Assam Adivasi Students' Union (AAASU), the All Assam Tea Tribe Students' Association (AATTSA) and the All Assam Karmachari Parishad (AAKP) joined an AASU protest march in Tezpur.

Political observers say as the protesters are determined to stop any attempt to threaten their existence, thus the ongoing agitation against the bill is likely to continue till the Modi government agrees not to amend the original bill of 1955.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 8:37 [IST]
Bank Strike: Several public sector banks to remain closed across India tomorrow

Bank strike on March 15, 16: Branches to be shut for next four days

Bank strike today: List of services which will be affected

Bank strike Day 2: PSB bank services hit, unions warn may go on like farm stir

Bank strike: This state likely to be worst hit

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

The two-day nationwide bank strike called by the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) on May 30 and 31 to press for higher wage revision is likely to hit banking operations in West Bengal.

The Indian Banks Association (IBA) has proposed a two per cent revision in wages for employees of public sector banks, which the unions had refused to accept.

West Bengal convenor of UFBU (the umbrella unit of seven banking trade unions) Siddhartha Khan said that in the last wage revision in 2012, employees had received a wage rise of 15 per cent.

There are nearly 10,000 branches and 21,000 ATMs with 70,000 employees of public sector banks in the state.

Khan also said that the RBI should publish the list of wilful defaulters and conduct forensic audit of stressed assets.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 7:47 [IST]
Never imagined I would reach here: PM Narendra Modi on completing 20 years in public office

Non-inclusion doesnt reduce my stature: Maneka Gandhi on being dropped from BJP executive committee

BJP attacks Rahul, Priyanka for turning blind eye to atrocities on Dalits in Cong-ruled states

Bypolls 2018: Parties play blame game over faulty EVMs, EC says reports exaggerated

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Bypolls to four Lok Sabha constituencies, including the politically-crucial Kairana, and ten assembly seats in 10 states were held on Monday amid complaints that electronic voting machines were not working at some places.

Polling was held for Lok Sabha seats are Kairana in Uttar Pradesh, Palghar and Bhandara-Gondiya in Maharashtra and the sole parliamentary constituency in Nagaland. The by-elections will also be held in Noorpur (Uttar Pradesh), Shahkot (Punjab), Jokihat (Bihar), Gomia and Silli (Jharkhand), Chengannur (Kerala), Palus Kadegaon (Maharashtra), Ampati (Meghalaya), Tharali (Uttarakhand) and Maheshtala (West Bengal). Counting will take place on May 31.

Newest First Oldest First EVM machines are sensitive to heat and dust. We knew about it and were prepared for it. We had engineers to tackle the problem, says EC official Malfunctioning was reported in 384 VVPAT machines. Of this 29 were in Noorpur. Apart from this, three EVMs also malfunctioned in Shamli. 54% turnout in Kairana, 61% in Noorpur Kairana parliamentary constituency has five assembly segments -- Shamli, Thana Bhawan and Kairana in Shamli district, and Gangoh and Nakur in Saharanpur district They said, the voting percentage in Ampati was 90.42 per cent, in Gomia and Silli it was 62.61 and 75.5 per cent respectively, while 70 per cent voting was recorded till 5 pm in Maheshtala, and Jokikhat registered 53 per cent polling till 5 pm. According to election commission sources, there were no reports of any untoward incident from anywhere. The Lok Sabha and Assembly byolls in northeastern and eastern states passed off peacefully today amid tight security with 70 per cent voters exercising their franchise for the lone parliamentary seat in Nagaland, election commission sources said. 54.17% polling in Kairana bypoll and 61% IN Noorpur assembly bypoll: EC 54.17% polling in Kairana bypoll and 61% IN Noorpur assembly bypoll: EC Some VVPAT machines malfunctioned at the time of voting. It was due to scorching heat. We solved the problem by repairing most of them. The machines which could not repaired, were immediately replaced. News of re-polling is wrong, says Abhimanya Kale, Bhandara DM. "The polling percentage till 5pm is 70.01," said an Election Commission official Counting of votes for Shahkot assembly seat to take place on May 31 75%and 62% voter turnout recorded in Jharkhands Silli and Gomia assembly constituencies, says Chief Electoral Officer L Khiyante. Former Punjab home minister Brij Bhupinder Lalli has been arrested for taking his licensed revolver inside the polling booth in Malsian. In Maharashtra, Election Commission officer said 156 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) or EVMs were replaced. Reports said defective machines hit polling in both Palghar and Bhandara-Ghondiya. Mriganka Singh, BJP Candidate from Kairana Lok Sabha bypolls, says, "There was massive technical snag in the EVMs and total breakdown of systems. My supporters went back without voting as machines were not working. My party leaders have approached the EC regarding the matter." BJP delegation met EC officials in Delhi over reports of malfunctioning in EVMs during by-polls today. All the electors who are in the queue in the polling booth, at the time of close of voting, should be facilitated to cast their votes. This is given due publicity by the concerned district election machinery in the polling areas, says Election Commission 69% voter turnout recorded till 5 pm in Shahkot assembly by-election in Punjab 70.01% voter turnout recorded till 5 pm in Maheshtala assembly by-poll in West Bengal. "The issues were being faced in VVPAT machines and not EVMs. The problem has been solved now. Some machines have been replaced at some booths. The voting is now running smoothly," says Vikram Singh, District Magisterate of Shamli SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav, says, " After multi-party delegation met Election Commission over by-polls in Kairana and Noorpur. We demanded from EC, re-polling in places where more than 1 and a half hours were wasted and extra time after 6 pm for voters in places where less time was wasted so that they can vote." The Election Commission termed as "exaggerated projection of reality" reports of 'large scale' failure of EVMs during Lok Sabha and Assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, reports PTI The voter turn out in Maheshtala was recorded at 67 percent till 3 pm. 41% votes polled till 3 pm in Raja Rajeswari Nagar constituency of Bengaluru. Moderate polling has been recorded in the Raja Rajeshwari Nagar constituency amid tight security, an official said on Monday. Over 40 percent polling was recorded till 1 pm in Shahkot Assembly constituency of Punjab. "44 percent polling has been recorded till 1 pm in Shahkot Assembly constituency," Punjab's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S Karuna Raju told PTI. The Election Commission clarified that that there were no cancellations in Bhandara-Gondiya, according to News18. Earlier, there were reports that polling was cancelled in at least 35 polling stations after serious malfunctioning in the VVPAT EVMs. Leaders from both parties are set to meet EC officials at 3.15 pm, as per reports. Punjab Congress Chief Sunil Jakhar holds press conference while bypoll is underway in Shahkot. Jakhar attacks Modi government over petrol prices, says state government is about to waive off farm loans. SAD has filed complaint with CEO as opposition alleges violation of model code of conduct. 19.25% voter turnout recorded till 1 pm in #Palghar by-poll Maharashtra Dr Prashant Narnaware, Returning Officer on Palghar by-poll, says, "Encountered problems and panic in the initial hours. Nothing has happened after 12 pm. The new machines are working properly. We are in consultation with Central Election Commission about extension of voting time." Polls will also be held in RR Nagar (Karnataka) Rajrajeswari Nagary Assembly seat in Karnataka, will also go on polls for which was suspended following the recovery of nearly 10,000 voter ID cards from a flat in the constituency. Both BJP and Congress had indulged in a blame game after officials said prima facie that most of the voter ID cards recovered seemed genuine. The by-election in Meghalaya's Ampati seat will witness a fight between the Congress and the BJP-backed National Peoples Party. An independent candidate is also in the fray. Former Meghalaya Chief Minister Mukul Sangma has vacated the Ampati seat which necessitated the by-poll. Though there are five candidates in the fray, the Tharali Assembly by-poll in Uttarakhand is likely to be a straight contest between BJP and Congress. The by-poll in Mahestala Assembly seat in West Bengal will mainly witness a three-corner contest with the ruling Trinamool Congress, the BJP and the Left Front in the fray. TMC has fielded Dulal Chandra Das, husband of MLA Kasturi Das who passed away in February, while CPM has gone with Pravat Chowdhury. The BJP has put up Sujit Kumar Ghosh. In Jharkhand's Gomia Assembly seat, though there is a total of 13 candidates, but the main contest is between BJPs Madhavlal Singh, AJSU's Lambodar Mahto and Jharkhand Mukti Morchas Babita Devi, wife of disqualified MLA Yogendra Mahto. In Silli, , of the total ten candidates, the main contest will be between the former deputy chief minister and AJSU president Sudesh Mahto and Seema Mahto, wife of disqualified MLA Amit Mahto. Amid alliances, break-ups, and splits, the Sahkot bypoll in Punjab is emerging as a high-octane contest between Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dali (SAD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party. The Shahkot bypoll was necessitated following the death of SAD MLA Ajit Singh Kohar. The Bhandara-Gondiya and Palghar Lok Sabha seats are also going to be a prestige battle for BJP, as these seats were previously being held by the BJP. By-election to Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha seat was necessitated when in early December 2017, sitting member Nana Patole quit the BJP and the Lok Sabha seat to join the Congress, while the Palghar seat in north Konkan fell vacant after sitting BJP MP Chintaman Vanga died on 30 January following a heart attack. The by-poll in Maharashtra's Palus Kadegaon was necessitated because of the death of sitting Congress MLA and former minister Patangrao Kadam. The by-poll in Kerala's Chengannur constituency was necessitated following the death of sitting MLA KK Ramachangran Nair (CPM) in January this year. Chengannur has always voted for the Congress except on four occasions when it went with the communists. In Bihar, it would be another test of strength between Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and RJD of Lalu Prasad at Jokihat in Araria district. The by-election to the Jokihat Assembly seat in Bihar has been necessitated due to the resignation of JD(U) MLA Sarfaraz Alam, who quit the party earlier this year and got elected on an RJD ticket to the Lok Sabha from Araria, a seat held by his late father Mohammad Taslimuddin. The by-election will also be held in the lone Nagaland Lok Sabha seat which was necessitated after the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) leader Neiphiu Rio, now chief minister of Nagaland, resigned as a Lok Sabha member in February. It will be a test of strength between the candidate of the Naga People's Front (NPF) supported by Congress and the nominee of the ruling People's Democratic Alliance (PDA). The contest in Kairana will be watched with considerable interest also because BJP is fielding Mriganka Singh, daughter of the sitting MP Hukum Singh whose death necessitated the by-election. Mriganka had unsuccessfully contested Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls in 2017 from Kairana where she was defeated by Nahid Hasan, son of former MP, the late Munawar Hasan, by over 21,000 votes Polling has begun for the by-elections. The by-polls are being held in 4 Lok Sabha and 10 assembly constituencies All eyes are on the Kairana Lok Sabha constituency. Voting got underway here a while ago. This is yet another big test for the BJP which takes on a joint opposition. Voting is underway at the Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituency in Bengaluru. Polling in this constituency was postponed owing to a huge Voter ID scam. A Court had recently ordered filing of cases against the Congress candidate, Muniratna. In Kerala, Saji Cherian, Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate for Chengannur assembly by-poll arrives at SNDP Lower Primary School polling station in Kozhuvalloor village to cast his vote Polling is underway at the Maheshtala assembly constituency in West Bengal. Security heightened in the wake of voting in RR Nagar. 10 CRPF platoons, 15 KSRP platoons, 9 flying squads deployed to prevent untoward incidents In Kairana ByPoll, Voting stalled at Public Inter College, Kairana due to faulty VVPAT Voting is underway in West Bengal's Maheshtala assembly constituency. It was necessitated with the death of MLA Kasturi Das. Her husband Dulal das is contesting on behalf of TMC. Voting underway at a polling station for Bhandara Lok Sabha by-poll seat Bihar: Voting underway at a polling booth for Jokihat assembly by-poll Reports of EVM malfunctioning in at least 7 polling centres in Shamli, Uttar Pradesh Congress and Shiv Sena are both not contesting the Bhandara-Gondiya Lok Sabha seat where the main fight is between Hemant Patle of the BJP and Madhukar Kukde of the NCP. Five percent voting was recorded in Bihar's Jokihat till 8am. Mriganka Singh, BJP's Kairana candidate, says, "It was only development and good governance, that we have focused on. If you want to have a better future for Kairana, vote for BJP". In Uttarakhand, Polling agents of all political parties demand a new Electronic Voting Machines (EVM ) after mock poll at a polling booth in Sarpani was stalled due to faulty EVM Polling agents of all political parties demand a new Electronic Voting Machines (EVM ) after mock poll at a polling booth in Uttarakhand's Sarpani was stalled due to faulty EVM. According to reports, Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad Ravan, who was arrested for his alleged role in the Thakur-Dalit clash in Saharanpur last year, has announced his support for the joint opposition candidate Tabassum Hasan in the Kairana bypolls Maharashtra: Voting has not started at polling booth number 170 in Arjun-Morgaon area of Gondiya, due to faulty EVM
Congress refrains from commenting on Pranab Mukherjee attending RSS event

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Congress is bemused over reports of former president Pranab Mukerjee's decision to be a chief guest at an RSS event in Nagpur on June 7 and refrained from commenting on it. Congress is indeed in a fix because party president Rahul Gandhi targets RSS at almost every rally and function. Rahul had even tried to link RSS with recent deaths during anti-Sterlite protests in Tamil Nadu's Thoothukudi.

Another thing is that both Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi are out of the country and this makes it more difficult for the Congress to react on the matter.

According to the RSS, Mukherjee will be the chief guest at its valedictory session of the 'Tritiya Varsh Varg' or the Third Year Course on June 7. Mukherjee is said to have given his consent to participate in the programme.

"He is an intelligent person. He has been the President of India. He is secular minded. So there will be no change in his behaviour by going there. He will remain the same," former Union Minister and senior Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde told The Indian Express.

Former defence minister AK Antony refused to comment on the matter altogether, saying that he was not aware about it.

Congress' Manish Tewari said "the best person to answer that question is the former President himself", as per an Indian Express report.

"The invitation was extended to him. He has accepted the invitation. Ostensibly he is going. So therefore, if there are any queries with regard to that, he is the best person to answer that," said Tewari.

RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha said that questions raised on RSS-Hindutva have been answered by Mukherjee accepting the invitation.

"Former President Pranab Mukherjee's acceptance to attend RSS event in Nagpur sends a message to the country that on vital issues there should be dialogue and adversaries are not enemies," Sinha reportedly said.

[Former President Pranab Mukherjee to address RSS event in Nagpur on June 7]

Mukherjee, 82, demitted office of president in July last year and has been a Congressman for decades having worked closely with former prime minister Indira Gandhi as well as Rajiv Gandhi. In his last tenure before demitting office, he served as finance minister in the UPA II government headed by former prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Bengaluru to face power cuts today: Full list of areas likely to be affected

Court reserves order in Vidvat assault case

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

The 63rd Sessions Court in Bengaluru reserved its order in connection with Vidvat assault case on Tuesday. Mohammed Nalapad Harris, former general secretary of the Bengaluru city Youth Congress and son of Congress MLA NA Harris was rejected bail on Friday.

Recently, the CCB sleuths had filed a chargesheet pertaining to the case.

In March, the bail was denied by Magistrate Parameshwar of on grounds that the police had not yet recorded the statement of Vidvat. The bail of six others who had been arrested was also denied. The magistrate also rejected the bail on the grounds that they may tamper with evidence.

Nalapad was arrested after he and friends brutally assaulted 24-year-old Vidvat in an uptown farzi cafe in the city on February 17.

On February 21, Nalapad filed for bail. In his application, he said that invoking IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) was a wrong step by the prosecution. His plea claimed that the section was added due to his political connections and the media scrutiny of the case.

Special public prosecutor Shyam Sundar, who is representing Vidvat, dismissed the pleas by pointing out that Vidvat was injured by the brutal assault by Nalapad and his associates who punched and kicked him.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 18:04 [IST]
Chhota Shakeel may be with bhai, but the succession battle is killing the D-Syndicate

Dawoods brother Iqbal hospitalised

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Iqbal Kaskar, the brother of fugitive Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, was tonight admitted to J J hospital here after he complained of chest pain and giddiness, sources at the hospital said.

Kaskar (56), who has been lodged in the Thane Central Jail, was referred to the hospital by the prison authorities, they said.

Kaskar was brought to the hospital at 10.15 PM, the sources said, adding that he is stable at present and his general condition is good.

His medical evaluation is underway, they said. Kaskar was arrested by the Thane Police in connection with an investigation into an extortion case in September last year.

Kaskar, who was deported from the UAE in 2003, is suspected to have been operating the real estate business of his brother in Mumbai, police had said.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 8:12 [IST]
Endgame Syed Salahuddin: The death of the Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The United Jihad Council is a conglomerate of several terrorist groups and is headed by the Hizbul Mujahideen chief, Syed Salahuddin. In the past few months, there has been immense pressure on him to step down, a development that man himself had termed as fake.

While the UJC denied any such developments, Intelligence Bureau officials say that in the wake of Salahuddin lacking any inspiration, he is being pressurised to step aside yet again. The Pakistan's ISI and army want a change to be effected immediately as they feel that the Hizbul Mujahideen has contributed the least to the fight in Kashmir over the past two years.

When one says Hizbul Mujahideen, a reference to Burhan Wani is immediately made. Since he decided to take the social media route, he had become an instant star among the locals and the recruitments surged in no time. The youth looked up to him and joined the outfit in his name.

None of the youth of Kashmir relate to Salahuddin and him staying on top makes no sense to the ISI any longer. As part of the plan, the Hizbul Mujahideen was tasked with the day to day operations in the Valley while the Jaish and Lashkar-e-Tayiba would be used for the bigger attacks. Both the Lashkar-e-Tayiba and the Jaish come under the UJC which is headed by Salahuddin.

Many within the other terror groups have questioned the rationale of having Salahuddin as the head, especially at a time when he does not matter in his own state of Kashmir. While Salahuddin continues to remain the head of the UJC, the post is a monumental one. He is not being allowed to take any decisions as the major ones are made by the likes of Maulana Masood Azhar or Hafiz Saeed, of course in consultation with the ISI.

Intelligence Bureau officials tell OneIndia that they see the same happening with the Hurriyat too. Gradually, the funding has reduced to both the Hurriyat and Hizbul and the entire battle is being taken over by the Jaish and Lashkar. If one tracks all the recent attacks, they have been undertaken by the Jaish or the Lashkar. The Lashkar-e-Tayiba has intact set up a dedicated module to prepare bombs while the Jaish looks to infiltrate Pakistanis to carry out fidayeen strikes.

IB sources say that Salahuddin is no longer a charismatic leader. There is not a single aspiring terrorist in Kashmir who would join the ranks if his name is cited. In fact there is a great deal of anger against him as many believe that he was too busy filling up his own coffers instead of fighting for the cause. The Hizbul Mujahideen changed heavily under Burhan Wani. He became a source of inspiration for many aspiring terrorists. He had a dedicated team of 11 persons including him. However each one of them was killed in encounters while one surrendered.

With the Burhan gang perishing the Hizbul Mujahideen has completely failed to fill up that vacuum and the fact that Salahuddin is the chief is making no impact on the prospects of the outfit. Sources say that Salahuddin has been given the option of a decent exit. However he seems to be clinging on to the post although his clout has declined to almost nil.

Pakistan which is busy with the elections for now would not want to drastically alter anything for now. However post July they would look to start afresh and sources in India say that Salahuddin would not be part of that plan.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 15:57 [IST]
New Yorks May 28-June 10, 2018 cover. Illustration: Zohar Lazar

For New York Magazines May 28June 10, 2018, issue cover story, contributing editor Adam Sternbergh takes a look at the most-talked-about college course in America, which isnt about making money or saving the world, but about how to be really, truly happy. Sternbergh outlines the core lessons from Professor Laurie Santoss PSYCH 157: Psychology and the Good Life, why the course resonates with students right now, and how to apply it to your own life.

Much as Laurie Santos didnt set out to create the most popular course in the history of Yale, I didnt set out thinking this story would have a positive effect on my own well-being, Sternbergh says. But it definitely did. Especially in these times, its inspiring to have a conversation about happiness with people who are legitimate experts on the subject.

For a story about learning to be happy, we literally put smiles on faces, New York art director Thomas Alberty says coolly about the inspiration behind the issues cover. But, he adds, illustrator Zohar Lazar is a genius with a wide range of styles and sense of humor. He was perfect for defacing a photo with a happy face.
R&AW mapped Balakot 15 years back, but it needed guts to hit it

Not just Balakot, R&AW had codified 30 other terror camps close to army installations in Pak

'Nationalism alright if looked at broadly, not narrowly', says former RAW chief

Former ISI chief Durrani files contempt case for not removing his name from no-fly list

The batch of 1984 and how they are guarding India

Former ISI chief Durrani placed on ECL: Ex-RAW chief AS Dulat calls it 'unfortunate'

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Former RAW chief AS Dulat on Tuesday dubbed the Pakistan Army's decision to place former ISI chief Asad Durrani's name in the exit-control list (ECL) for co-authoring a book with him as "unfortunate".

Lieutenant General (retd) Durrani, who headed the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) from August 1990 till March 1992, along with Dulat has written a book "The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace".

"His views are well-known. There are no new things in the book. This is very unfortunate that such things are being done to Asad Durrani," Dulat told news agency ANI.

"Things written in book are his (Asad Durrani) memories. Even former Pak's foreign secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan said that 26/11 Mumbai attacks destroyed Pakistan's credibility in Kashmir. If a former Foreign Secretary can get away with it, why not ISI chief," he added.

Pakistan army chief spokesman Maj-Gen Asif Ghafoor said that a formal court of inquiry headed by a serving lieutenant general has been ordered to launch a probe into the controversial book

Pakistan's army had last week summoned Durrani to seek his explaination over a book he co-authored with Dulat, accusing him of 'violating' the military code of conduct.

In a statement on Monday, DG ISPR said that the complement authority was also approached to place General Durrani's name on the exit-control list (ECL).

On May 25, former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif sought an urgent meeting of the National Security Committee to discuss the content of Durrani's book while former chairman of Pakistan's Senate Raza Rabbani slammed the book authored by rival spy agency chiefs, PTI reported.

In the book, Durrani has made observations like former Pakistani prime minister Yousaf Raza Gillani had complete knowledge about the US Navy Seals operation against Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad where he was gunned down in May 2011 and that a special deal was made between the US and Pakistani governments on this.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 13:09 [IST]
Funeral procession of a bike: Here is why the Congress did it

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Amid the constant rise in fuel prices, a local Congress leader along with some locals took out a 'Shav Yatra' or funeral procession of a motorcycle on a hand pulled cart at Jaipur.

Decorated with flowers, the cart with motorcycle was pulled by Congress leader Suresh Mishra and some others.

They took out the symbolic procession for nearly one and a half km area in Bhankrota area. Fuel prices have put extra burden on people and have disturbed their budget. But the government is taking no measures to control the prices, Mishra said.

He said there is outcry and resentment among the public and the government should immediately take steps to provide relief.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 8:30 [IST]
India voices serious concern over increasing spread of terrorism in Africa at UN

India, Pakistan DGMOs agree to follow ceasefire understanding of 2003

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

A special hotline contact was established between the Director General of Military Operations (DGMO) of Pakistan and India on Tuesday.

Both DGMOs reviewed the prevailing situation along the Line of Control and Working Boundary and mutually agreed to undertake sincere measures to improve the existing situation ensuring peace and avoidance of hardships to the civilians along the borders," a statement said.

The DGMOs have agreed to fully implement the ceasefire understanding of 2003 in letter and spirit and to ensure that the ceasefire agreement will not be violated by both sides from now on.

The officials also agreed that in case of any issue, restraint will be exercised and the matter will be resolved through utilisation of existing mechanisms of hotline contacts and border flag meetings at local commander's level.

The latest round of discussion came a month after similar discussions were held between the two countries over the issue of Pakistan-sponsored terrorism in the Kashmir Valley.

The unscheduled DGMO-level talks were held on April 27, on a request by Pakistan, wherein the Pakistani DGMO accused Indian security forces of resorting to unprovoked firing along LoC, the Indian Army had said in a statement.
IPS officer found dead under mysterious circumstances in Lucknow

India

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

IPS officer Rajesh Sahni, 1992 batch, was found dead under mysterious circumstances at the ATS office in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow on Tuesday.

According to News 18 reports, the officer shot himself in the office itself. Meanwhile, the police department is in shock after the death of Rajesh Sahni. All the senior officers of the police reached the spot at Anan Fanan.

Anand Kumar, ADG, Law and Order, said, "Rajesh Sahni Addl SP ATS committed suicide by shooting himself on the temple at 1245 hrs in his office with an official weapon. The reason for suicide is being ascertained."

Recently, Rajesh Sahni-led team of ATS officers arrested the suspected agent of Pakistani intelligence agency Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) from Pithoragarh in Uttarakhand. Suspected Agent Ramesh Singh had bugged an Indian diplomat's house in Pakistan and provided Information to Pakistan's spy agency ISI while working as a domestic help till last year.
Is it chief minister Kumaraswamy or chief manager of Congress Ktaka ATM? BJP has an answer

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Bengaluru, May 29: Newly-sworn in Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy has come under fire after he made the controversial remark that "he was at the mercy of the Congress" on Sunday in Bengaluru.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leaving no stone unturned to attack the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) coalition government after the CM's foot in mouth moment where he clearly stated that his government is dependent on the Congress as the people did not give the JD(S) full mandate to rule the state.

The BJP took a swipe at Kumaraswamy on Monday, saying he was the "chief manager (CM)" of the Congress' ATM in the state and that he was lying prostrate at the feet of the Gandhi family.

"Nothing can be sadder than this. This is absolutely demeaning to the democratic fabric of the country and akin to an abuse of India's democracy," BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra told reporters.

He described the current situation as a fall out of the Congress-JD(S) alliance's mockery of the popular mandate in the southern state for petty political interests. The BJP had emerged as the single-largest party in the Karnataka Assembly election by bagging 104 of the 222 seats that went to the polls, but fell short of a majority, allowing the Congress and the JD(S) to join hands and form government in the state.

Patra alleged that for the Congress, Karnataka was its ATM and it had found a chief manager in Kumaraswamy, while the government in the southern state would be run from Janpath -- a reference to the residential address of former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.

"The Congress has found a new manager for its ATM in Karnataka. We can say this after his (Kumaraswamy's) statement. People are asking who is their chief minister," the BJP spokesperson said.

Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's words, he said for the BJP, the country was family, while for the Congress, the "first family" of the party was the country. "Kumaraswamy is lying prostrate at the feet of a family," Patra said.

He added that former PM Manmohan Singh used to blame the compulsions of coalition politics in the face of allegations of corruption in his government and said there was a feeling of deja vu in Karnataka.

Patra also claimed that various opposition parties were not accepting Congress president Rahul Gandhi as the leader of an anti-BJP coalition.

After the Karnataka Assembly election results threw a fractured mandate, the Congress and the JD(S) quickly stitched an alliance on May 15 (the day results were announced). The new coalition government agreed that Kumaraswamy will be the CM, despite his party and pre-poll alliance partner Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) having won just 38 seats.

The Congress has won 78 seats. Last week, only Kumaraswamy and deputy CM G Parameshwara took the oath of office. The state is still waiting for the appointment of rest of the ministers in the Kumaraswamy cabinet. The entire process has got delayed as Congress president Rahul Gandhi has gone abroad for the medical treatment of his mother and former Congress president Sonia Gandhi.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 9:54 [IST]
Maharashtra unlock 2.0: Despite remaining in level 1 category, some Covid lockdown curbs to remain in Nagpur

Its confirmed, Pranab Mukherjee will attend RSS event on June 7

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

Putting speculations to rest, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has confirmed that former president Pranab Mukherjee will attend its event 'Varsh Tritiya Varg' or the Third Year Course on June 7.

Eye brows were raised when it was first reported that Mukherjee would attend the event because Congress president Rahul Gandhi is a staunch critic of the RSS and leaves no stone unturned to target the nationalist organisation at almost every rally or function.

"This isn't surprising for those who know and understand the Sangh, because RSS has always invited prominent people of the society in its programmes. This time, we invited Dr Pranab Mukherjee and it's his greatness that he has accepted our invitation," news agency ANI quoted an RSS statement as saying.

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that there should not be any political untouchability in the country.

"If former President Pranab Mukherjee joins, it is good. What is the problem if the former President visits RSS event. RSS is an organisation of the nation," he said.

Congress, meanwhile, is bemused over Mukerjee's decision to be a chief guest at the RSS event and refrained from commenting on it.

[Congress refrains from commenting on Pranab Mukherjee attending RSS event]

Congress' Manish Tewari said the best person to comment on the matter is "the former President himself".

"The invitation was extended to him. He has accepted the invitation. Ostensibly he is going. So therefore, if there are any queries with regard to that, he is the best person to answer that," said Tewari.

RSS ideologue Rakesh Sinha earlier said that questions raised on RSS-Hindutva have been answered by Mukherjee accepting the invitation.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 14:32 [IST]
If floor test is not taken on Monday, Karnataka could well stare at Presidents Rule

Karnataka cabinet: With both sides hard bargaining, state has a govt with no ministers

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

After a hard fought battle, Karnataka finally got a government, but ironically it has no ministers in it. The dead-lock over the allocation of portfolios between the Congress and JD(S) continues with no finality on who gets what.

With Rahul and Sonia Gandhi abroad, the discussions are being led by Ghulam Nabi Azad who held a series of meetings with Karnataka, Chief Minister, H D Kumaraswamy. The first stumbling block has been the finance portfolio which both parties are keen on keeping.

Kumaraswamy is keen on keeping the finance portfolio with himself as he wants to fulfil the promise of waiving off farm loans. This was part of the JD(S) manifesto, but the Congress had made no such poll promise. During the first meeting, Azad cited to Kumaraswamy instances where the deputy CM in Karnataka has always retained the home portfolio. When Siddaramaiah and B S Yeddyurappa were deputy CMs in 2004 and 2006 respectively, both had held the finance portfolio.

However Kumaraswamy was not acceptable to this demand and even said that he would step down. This led Azad to change his track and he is said to have agreed to the demand. He even conveyed this to Rahul Gandhi on phone. Kumaraswamy made it clear that he was ready to compromise on the other portfolios, but not regarding finance and PWD.

The talks as of now remain inconclusive. Sources say that a final call would be taken only after Rahul and Sonia return to India. Tentatively the final call would be taken before June 4, following which the council of ministers would be sworn in.

For now the two parties have come to an agreement on a couple of portfolios. If the JD(S) decides to bargain harder, then the Congress is likely to ask for a term sharing arrangement. The post of a second deputy CM is also a contentious issue which is likely to be sorted out later.

For now the Cabinet would be expanded in phases. The intention is to get the government running and then sort out the remaining issues later. The first list of portfolios to be allocated would be finance, home, PWD, rural development, Bengaluru development and Panchayat Raj. Tentatively it has been decided that the JD(S) would get to keep the finance and PWD portfolios, while the rest would go to the Congress.

While the Congress seems to be taking time on the issue, the JD(S) on the other hand is on tenterhooks. Many within the party did not expect the Congress to bargain this hard especially when it was they who offered support first. The Congress has done many flips flops since the time it had offered support.

When it become clear that no party had got a clear mandate, it immediate declared outside support to the JD(S). A few hours later, the party said it would be part of the government and Kumaraswamy would be the Chief Minister. The Congress then came up with the demand for a deputy CM which was agreed to by the JD(S).

Following this the party had asked for a second deputy CM's post, which the JD(S) did not agree to.

Following this came a statement from deputy CM, Dr. G Parameshwar who said that there was no commitment from their side about a full term. This gave the clear indication that the Congress wanted the CM's post on a rotational basis.

The tug of war over the allocation of portfolios is expected to continue for a few more days and a clear picture would be available only in the first week of June.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 10:42 [IST]
'Modi promised loan waiver to farmers, but wrote off bank dues of his industrialist-friend'

Farmers will become lethargic says Manohar Khattar on loan waiver

Loan waiver: CM Kumaraswamy to hold meeting with farmers association tomorrow

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Under pressure to deliver on his promise of a farm loan waiver, Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy has called for a meeting with farmers association at Vidhana Soudha on Wednesday to discuss the issue.

This comes days after former chief minister BS Yeddyurappa ramped up the pressure on the Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) government, giving it a deadline of week for the announcement.

Meanwhile, a group of pro-Kannada organisations have demanded that the chief minister waive farm loans and give a compensation of Rs 25 lakh to each family of those farmers who committed suicide.

The president of Kannada Okkoota (federation), Vatal Nagaraj today wrote to the chief minister and asked him to immediately waive farm loans.

He said many farmers committed suicide for failing to repay their loans.

Nagaraj told PTI that the Okkoota would give a week's time till the cabinet is formed and then it would intensify its pressure on the government to waive farm loans.

Kumaraswamy said on Monday that he would inform the people about the waiver of Rs 53,000 crore worth of farm loans, which he had promised, on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Kumaraswamy said that he would resign if he was not able to waive loans and asked people to "wait for 2-3 days". "I definitely do not need to learn how to be pro-people from the BJP. People should not fall victim to political witch-hunt of BJP leaders," the CM said.

On the loan waiver issue, he said: "I am not at the mercy of the 6.5 crore population of the State, but obligated to the Congress."

"I am have become the Chief Minister for the welfare of the farmers. I am with you (farmers)," he said, accusing the former Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa of instigating farmers on this issue and dividing the society.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 17:58 [IST]
Married woman held captive for days, gang-raped by 5 men in Ballia, UP

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

Lucknow, May 29: One more gang-rape case has come to light from Uttar Pradesh, this time from Ballia district of the state on Tuesday.

The victim, a 26-year-old married woman, was held captive for days and allegedly raped by five persons in the district, the police said.

On Monday, the woman's husband lodged a police complaint regarding the horrific incident. The police report stated that the victim was kidnapped by the rapists when she was on her way to a market on May 13 and taken to an unknown place where she was raped.

The woman managed to escape when the culprits were in an inebriated state and returned home, SP Sriparna Ganguli told PTI. The victim has been sent for medical examination. An FIR has been lodged and efforts are on to nab the culprits, the SP added.

In the last few months, the nation has witnessed alarming rise in the number of cases of rapes, especially of minor girls. Angry citizens of the country protested on roads in various parts of the country over the horrific rape cases reported from Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua and Uttar Pradesh's Unnao in April.

Both the cases caught the attention of the nation because of its barbarity and open support for the accused from a section of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). After its "studied silence" over crimes against women, especially minor girls, the Narendra Modi government approved the ordinance to allow courts to award death penalty to those convicted of raping girls under 12 in April.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 13:22 [IST]
Modi govt's attitude 'dictatorial' towards states: TDP

India

pti-PTI

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Tuesday adopted a new political resolution in which it lambasted the Modi government for its "dictatorial" attitude and vowed to unite regional parties to take on the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The resolution read: "The Centre is weakening the financial condition of states... The unilateral style of functioning of the Modi government has led to loss of trust of states in the central government. The states feel that the concept of federalism is only on paper."

The "dictatorial" attitude of the Modi government, its "unilateral and anti-people decisions, misuse of central intelligence agencies and regulatory agencies to suppress political opponents have become a matter of grave concern in the Indian polity", it read.

"On the occasion of the swearing-in ceremony of H D Kumaraswamy, leaders of various political parties had assembled in Bangalore as a token of solidarity among regional political parties.

"N Chandrababu Naidu was a tall leader in this meet and it was a clear indication that regional political parties are going to be a power to reckon with in the 2019 elections as an alternative to national parties to form a government in Delhi," the TDP resolution said.

"We ended the alliance with the NDA only in the interests of the states... The BJP is resorting to conspiracy to destabilise us. We are not afraid of anyone. Ready to sacrifice everything.

"We will not stop until Andhra is given special status and the Polavaram project completed," Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said in his concluding address at Mahanadu, the TDP's three-day annual conclave here.

"The Centre has not been releasing funds for Amaravati because it does not want a world-class capital city to come up in Andhra Pradesh. Then why should we pay taxes to the Centre at all?" he asked.

He also rubbished the opposition's criticism that his government was spending all the money at its disposal on developing Amaravati, the proposed ultra-modern state capital, at the cost of other developmental works.

Ratcheting up his attack on the Centre, he said, "In 2014, the unemployment rate was 3.4 per cent and now it is 6.23 per cent. Where is the 'sabka sath sabka vikas' that Modi promised to the people of the country."

He also denounced the Congress for "not doing justice to the people of Andhra and Telangana" at the time of the bifurcation of the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh.

"We asked the Congress to do justice to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, but they did not do it. They lost in both the states," he said.

"TDP will bring drastic changes in national politics. Will win all 25 LS seats in 2019 elections, NDA won't come to power," Naidu said.

State Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu said the Modi government was taking "dangerous steps" against constitutional values and that it would be "dethroned by united regional parties" in the 2019 general elections.

He also said that former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP veteran L K Advani respected the Constitution, but Modi and party chief Amit Shah were "destroying the democratic system" in the country.

"The Modi government's policies are against secularism. The ruling party uses RSS cadres, who have a fascist mentality. It is also spoiling fiscal and political values," he alleged.

"There's no democratic system under the Modi government. We respected Vajpayee and Advani who revered and protected the Constitution. But then came the Modi-Shah duo. They destroyed the entire democratic system," the minister alleged.

The Centre is interfering in the working of the 15th Finance Commission, he told reporters.

The Modi government is taking "dangerous steps against constitutional values and the TDP will unite all regional parties to stop it in 2019", Ramakrishnudu alleged.

The BJP government would be "dethroned" by an amalgamation of regional parties, he said, but parried a query on who would be the prime ministerial face if a united front comes into being.

Declaring Yeddyurappa, who was implicated in corruption cases, the chief minister of Karnataka, supporting people such as "mining mafia" Gali Janardhan Reddy and Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and preaching against corruption is a joke by the BJP government, the TDP leader said.

"Yeddyurappa, Janardhan Reddy and Jaganmohan Reddy, who returned from jail, appear to be role model for BJP leaders," the TDP said.

Open support to Jaganmohan Reddy to "weaken the court cases against him is a glaring example of the BJP's encouragement for the people who are causing hindrance in the projects of the Andhra Pradesh government", it said.

Approaching the NGT on flimsy grounds, false cases against the Polavaram project and delays in release of funds by the government are examples of collusion between the BJP with the YSRCP, Naidu's party alleged.

The "political manipulations" witnessed in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh at present are glaring examples of the BJP's conspiracy to weaken efficient leaders in the state, the TDP alleged.

By using the Finance Commission, the Modi government started "causing losses the progressive states".

"The Finance Commission is a Constitutional body which independently distributed the resources to states and the Centre as per Schedule 7 of the Constitution.

"However, the recent guidelines of the 15th Finance Commission reveal that the terms of reference prescribed by the Centre hit the financial capabilities of the states," the TDP said in its resolution.

PTI
Photo-Illustration: retailers

Sweating, both literally and figuratively, stinks. No guy wants to go through the day worrying if hes emitting BO, or that he cant lift his arms without revealing serious pit stains. To find out what products are most effective at controlling sweat and odor, we reached out to five dermatologists, three personal trainers, and three mens grooming experts. Since choosing a deodorant is such a personal decision, and everyone has different body chemistry, its hard to proclaim one specific deodorant the best overall. So we broke everything down by what it is (stick, roll-on, wipes) and what the experts say its best for (whether thats masking scents, stopping sweat, or both), noting which options come recommended for the heaviest sweaters among us.

Before we get into all of that, its important to clarify what were talking about when we talk about deodorant and anti-perspirant. Deodorants technically only mask or neutralize the body odor caused by bacteria, whereas an anti-perspirant temporarily suppresses the flow of sweat, says Jennifer Chwalek of Union Square Laser Dermatology. As she explains, the metallic salts in anti-perspirants  typically aluminum compounds  create a plug in the sweat duct reducing the flow of sweat. So one type makes you smell good, and the other stops you from sweating. For that reason, Jeremy Fenton of the Schweiger Dermatology Group and Samer Jaber of Washington Square Dermatology agree that the gold standard for sweat and odor protection is a combination anti-perspirant deodorant.

Another quick point of clarification: Youve also probably heard a lot about aluminum-free deodorant or natural deodorant. The two terms essentially mean the same thing, says Jaber. Natural deodorants are aluminum-free products, he explains. Aluminum salts are the only FDA-approved chemical anti-perspirant. Aluminum can be irritating to sensitive skin, so if youre prone to rashes or itchiness, you might want to opt for a deodorant-only product that kills odor-causing bacteria. Fenton says to look for ingredients like zinc, witch hazel, or essential oils that have antibacterial properties, such as lemongrass, sage, and tea tree, or baking soda, which neutralizes odor. And Corey Hartman of Skin Wellness Dermatology adds that people with melanated skin especially should consider an aluminum-free product, because when melanin is irritated by aluminum it can result in visible skin marks that can take days or weeks to go away.

Best roll-on anti-perspirant for heavy sweaters

Certain Dri Prescription-Strength Clinical Anti-perspirant Roll-on, 4-Pack $28 $28 Certain Dri is two of our experts favorite brand for excessive sweating. One of the keys when youre using it is to apply at night, Fenton says. You want the aluminum to settle down in the sweat glands, he says, which is harder to do during the day when youre actively producing sweat. Because its so strong, both Fenton and Dr. Dhaval Bhanusali of Hudson Dermatology recommend starting slowly  every other night at first  to avoid irritation. Theres a cumulative effect as it settles into the pores, Fenton says, so using it every 48 to 72 hours may be all you need. $28 at Amazon Buy $28 at Amazon Buy

Best anti-perspirant wipes for heavy sweaters

SweatBlock Anti-perspirant Wipes, 10 Count $20 for 10 $20 for 10 If you want something equally powerful that requires even less usage, Chwalek recommends these anti-perspirant wipes. Endorsed by the International Hyperhidrosis Society, one SweatBlock wipe can be effective for up to seven days. Like Certain Dri, SweatBlock is supposed to be applied at night. But if leaving the house in the morning without applying anything feels strange to you, Fenton says you can use a non-anti-perspirant deodorant in the morning for added odor protection. Strategist contributor Carlo Dellaverson, a self-proclaimed card-carrying member of the excessive-sweating community, says SweatBlock wipes have taken on a sort of cult status among excessive sweaters, for when nothing else works. $20 for 10 at Amazon Buy $20 for 10 at Amazon Buy

Best anti-perspirant stick deodorant for heavy sweaters

Best anti-perspirant for heavy sweaters with sensitive skin

Vanicream Anti-Perspirant Deodorant $9 $10 now 10% off $9 If you have particularly sensitive skin but still need a strong anti-perspirant, Jaber, Hartman, and Bhanusali recommend Vanicream. It has a high concentration of aluminum to prevent sweating, but its free of all fragrances, dyes, lanolin, parabens, and pretty much any other potentially irritating ingredients. If someone has eczema or contact dermatitis, I recommend this, says Hartman. $9 at Amazon Buy $9 at Amazon Buy

Best anti-perspirant deodorant for moderate sweaters

Best anti-perspirant deodorant for moderate sweaters with sensitive skin

Dove Men+Care Anti-perspirant Deodorant Stick, Extra Fresh $6 $6 The experts say unscented products are generally the best for sensitive skin, since chemical fragrance and even essential oils can be irritating for some people. For those folk, Jaber and Bhanusali specifically recommend this fragrance-free Dove stick, which is also alcohol free and contains moisturizing ingredients. (Four experts told us the active ingredient in Dove, aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex, is less irritating on the skin than some of the harsher chemicals in other deodorants.) Doves line for men currently lacks an unscented anti-perspirant deodorant, but those who would prefer something from that line can find a lightly scented one further down on this list. $6 at Walmart Buy

Best roll-on anti-perspirant deodorant for moderate sweaters with sensitive skin

Best anti-perspirant deodorant for dry skin

Old Spice GentleMans Blend Anti-perspirant Deodorant, Aloe & Wild Sage $8 $8 Hartman says that people with chronic dryness often find that anti-perspirant deodorants dry them out even more. Thats why he recommends this newer option from Old Spice to all of his patients who complain of dry skin. Its formula includes moisturizer and the same less-irritating ingredient (aluminum zirconium tetrachlorohydrex) found in the Dove anti-perspirant deodorant above. As someone whose skin reacts badly to aluminum, Hartman adds that this is what he uses himself; his son, who has atopic dermatitis, also uses it. $8 at Target Buy

Best scented natural deodorant

Ursa Major Hoppin Fresh Deodorant $18 $18 If any type of aluminum anti-perspirant irritates your skin or if sweat isnt a big problem for you, it may be time to try a deodorant-only product. Just be ready. Chwalek says, If you do switch from an anti-perspirant to a natural deodorant, you may feel extra wet at first, as they really dont reduce sweat. But that doesnt mean it wont be effective, says Chad Beightol, the owner of mens grooming boutique Consigliere who has been using non-anti-perspirant deodorant for several years. As he explains, a good natural deodorant employs ingredients that fight the bacteria that cause odor. Beightol told us that, after trying out a bunch of natural deodorants, this eucalyptus-scented stick is the one that works best for him. I swear by it, he says. The deodorant contains hops, which, while great at making beer, are also effective at fighting bacteria and microbes, he says. $18 at Amazon Buy $18 at Amazon Buy

Best natural deodorant for sensitive skin

Native Deodorant, Unscented $12 $15 now 20% off $12 Fenton reminds us that even scented deodorants without anti-perspirant can be irritating because of the chemicals that may compose their fragrances. So those with sensitive skin who would prefer a natural deodorant should look for one without fragrance, he says. While Fenton recommends the unscented natural deodorant from Jason, we could find it available only online at just one retailer. For another option, you might consider Natives unscented aluminum-free deodorant, which one writer of this story (Louis Cheslaw) uses. According to him, one stick lasts for months, goes on dry, and is irritation free. $12 at Amazon Buy $12 at Amazon Buy

Best anti-perspirant deodorant for working out

Best natural deodorant for working out

Art of Sport Clear Stick Aluminum-Free Deodorant, Rise Scent $7 $7 Given their lack of aluminum, its understandable to question natural deodorants ability to keep you dry during sweaty activities like working out. But this one manages to do just that, according to certified personal trainer Ariel Brill. Its one of my daily workout deodorants, he says. Its all-natural, made for athletes, and feels soothing on the skin. Even though its not an anti-perspirant, Brill doesnt see a big difference in how much he sweats between using this and his anti-perspirant. Active ingredients include matcha and arrowroot powder, and he likes the Rise scent, which contains cedar and vanilla. $7 at Target Buy

Additional reporting by Karen Iorio Adelson, David Notis, and Louis Cheslaw.

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Navratri 2021: BMC caps height of Durga idols, says no garba events in Mumbai

Mumbai drugs case: Anti-drugs officer alleges he is being spied on

Mumbai: Flames erupt at a sweet shop in Malad

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

A major fire broke out at a sweet shop in Mumbai's Malad area. As many as 12 fire tenders have been rushed to the spot to douse the flames, said reports.

There is no report of any injury or causality so far.

On Sunday (May 27) evening, three people were killed and nine were injured in a major fire that broke out at Techniplus one building in Mumbai's Goregaon locality. Out of the nine injured, eight were firemen of Mumbai Fire department. The incident had taken place at a building on SV road.

In March, a major fire had broken out at the godown of Eastel Metal Company in Kalachowki area of Mumbai.

In January, a major fire broke out on the fourth floor of an industrial complex at Lower Parel in central Mumbai, in which a fire officer was injured.
28th NHRC Foundation Day programme: Over 650 fast track courts set up in India, says PM Modi

PM Modi at G20 extraordinary summit: Need to ensure Afghan territory not used for terrorism

PM Modi reaches Jakarta on first leg of 3-nation tour

India

oi-Madhuri

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday reached Jakarta on the first leg of his three-nation visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

PM Modi will hold a summit with the country's President Joko Widodo tomorrow in Jakarta.

This will be his first official visit to that southeast Asian nation. The two leaders will then inaugurate a kite festival jointly organised by Museum Layang Layang of Jakarta and the Kite Museum of Ahmedabad. Modi will also address a CEOs forum and the Indian community in the southeast Asia's largest nation.

On 31 May, Modi will visit the India-Singapore enterprise and innovation exhibition and will also address a business and community event followed by a roundtable meeting with select top CEOs of Singapore to discuss business and investment opportunities.

On June 1, the prime minister will call on Singapore President Halimah Yacob and hold delegation level talks with Singapore Prime Minister Lee (Hsien Loong). Later in the evening, he will deliver the keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue.

On June 2, he will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Gandhiji's ashes were immersed in sea on March 27, 1948. He would also visit some places of worship that have civilisational linkages with India.

India's Act East Policy, that was introduced by the Modi government, focusses on the extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region.

(with PTI inputs)
'Stick to party's official stance on Article 370': Congress after Digvijay Singh's remarks spark controversy

Nitin Gadkari withdraws defamation case against Digvijay Singh

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday withdrew the defamation case against Congress leader Digvijay Singh after he expressed regret over his statement.

A joint application for withdrawal of the case was filed before Delhi's Patiala House Court, which has been accepted.

Nitin Gadkari had filed a defamation case against Congress leader Digvijay Singh for dragging his name into alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks.

According to the complaint, Singh had named Gadkari in the allocation of coal blocks to a company belonging to BJP Rajya Sabha member Ajay Sancheti, said to be Gadkari's close associate.

"He (Digvijay Singh) has stated that I have business relations with Ajay Sancheti, MP, and to give the impression that I have been responsible for allocation of coal mines to him, which is totally wrong," Gadkari said.

He added that he has no direct or indirect business relations with Sancheti or his companies. Gadkari said such statements published in newspapers and aired on news channel were totally false.

"These false and defamatory statements have spoiled my reputation and image in the eyes of the society and country. These statements have been made intentionally with the intention and knowledge to harm my reputation and lower my image in the eyes of the public," Gadkari said.

He requested the court to take action against Digvijay Singh under section 499 (Defamation) of the Indian Penal Code(IPC) and to summon him.

In his complaint filed through advocate Ajay Digpaul and Anil Soni, Gadkari had alleged that Singh had made false, baseless, scandalous, fabricated and defamatory remarks against him.

The applicant said that it was done with wrongful intent to malign and tarnish the image of the complainant.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 17:14 [IST]
Kanpur firing: On suspicion of tipping off Vikas Dubey, UP Police suspends Vinay Tiwari

Kanpur firing: Officer claims no record of DSP writing letter on 'links between gangster'

Ballia firing: Five people taken into custody, hunt on for BJP leader who opened fire

One person injured in firing at Gate no. 2 of Tis Hazari Court in Delhi

India

oi-Madhuri

One person was injured in firing at Gate no. 2 of Tis Hazari Court in Delhi on Tuesday.

According to reports, a 15-year-old minor opened fire at an accused named Dinesh who being escorted for a hearing.

The incident occurred at the court's Gate No. 2 and security personnel immediately rushed in to apprehend the accused and bring the situation under control. The injured person was immediately rushed to the hospital nearby.

While the motive has not yet been ascertained, ground reports suggested that the area around the gate where the incident occurred has been cordoned off.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 14:25 [IST]
Dr. Kafeel Khan ordered to be released, detention under NSA set aside

Pankaj Saran appointed Deputy National Security Advisor

India

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

The current ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran on Tuesday was appointed deputy National Security Advisor for a period of two years.

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved Saran's appointment as the deputy NSA for a period of two years, on deputation basis initially till the date of his superannuation, i.e., November 30, 2018, then on re-employment on contract basis, an order issued by Personnel Ministry said.

The 1982 batch officer of Indian Foreign Service (IFS) was in November 2015 appointed as the India's envoy to Russia.

He had held various positions in India and abroad including the country's High Commissioner to Bangladesh. He also served as the joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office between 2007 and 2012.

Former chief of the Intelligence Bureau, Ajit Doval is the National Security Adviser.
UGC to be repealed? Centre likely to form new commission for higher education

Prof. S C Sharma appointed as the news NAAC director

India

oi-Oneindia Staff

By Oneindia Staff

New Delhi: Bangalore-based National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has got a news director. A distinguished educationist, Prof. S C Sharma has been appointed as the new Director of NAAC.

Prof Sharma assumed charge on May 28, 2018 and his appointment will be for five years. He took charge from Dr Latha Pillai, Adviser, NAAC and Director (Acting).

HRD Ministry spokesperson informed that the term of previous Director Prof. D P Singh ended on December 2017.

Prof has about 30 years of rich professional experience as educationist, researcher and as an administrator, who is the former Vice Chancellor of Tumkur University.

As the Vice Chancellor of Tumkur University, Prof. Sharma had undertaken the task of rebuilding the University and establishing the state-of-the-art infrastructure by approaching several entrepreneurs for help.

Gnana Taranga, a virtual university programme is a unique initiative of its kind in the country by Prof. Sharma, which is aimed at enhancing the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) by taking the University to the doors of the needy and the poor in rural and remote areas of the district.

This is to recall that the NAAC is an autonomous body established by the University Grants Commission (UGC) of India to assess and accredit institutions of higher education in the country.

It is an outcome of the recommendations of the National Policy in Education (1986) which laid special emphasis on upholding the quality of higher education in India.

To address the issues of quality, the National Policy on Education (1986) and the Plan of Action (POA-1992) advocated the establishment of an independent national accreditation body.

Consequently, the NAAC was established in 1994 with its headquarters at Bangalore.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 21:12 [IST]
40 days on since 370 gone: How security agencies have foiled Pak ploys

Fresh incidents of stone pelting in Northeast Delhi: Situation very tense

Six injured as miscreants pelt stones at Sealdah-Rajdhani Express

India

oi-Madhuri

Some unidentified miscreants pelted stones on Sealdah Rajdhani Express at Manpur Junction on Monday night, injuring at least 6 passengers. The injured passengers were provided with first-aid.

Also, the glasses of the trains were later changed at Gaya Junction railway station.

It is learnt that the miscreants pelted stones at two bogeys of the train, shattering the glasses.

Meanwhile, local authorities, said that, it attempted to apprehend the people responsible for the incident immediately after they pelted stones but they managed to escape under the cover of the night sky.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 8:32 [IST]
Orange, yellow alerts for Mumbai in the next couple of days: IMD

Parts of Delhi-NCR witness moderate to heavy rainfall; IMD predicts more rain to continue in NCR today

Southwest Monsoon has set in over Kerala today, says MET Department

India

oi-Madhuri

The India Meteorological Department on Tuesday said that Southwest Monsoon has hit most parts of Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu, which is 3 days ahead of its normal date.

The MET department also said that the monsoon arrival may advance to parts of northeastern states and Karnataka in the next 48 hours.

The arrival of Monsoon in Kerala marks the start of the four-month-long rainy season in India.

Skymet, a private weather forecasting agency and a rival of the IMD, had said that the monsoon made its arrival in Kerala on Wednesday itself.

The IMD department in April predicted that there will be 97% normal monsoon for the year 2018-19, which could be a good news for the rural economy that suffered due to the twin impact of drought years and demonetisation.

The IMD had earlier said that conditions were favourable for the further advance of the Monsoon into some parts of South Arabian Sea, remaining parts of ComorinMaldives area, some parts of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, some more parts of South Bay of Bengal, remaining parts of Andaman Sea and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
Hopeful IT panel will take up Pegasus; officials may have been instructed to skip last meet: Tharoor

Sunanda Pushkar had injuries on body prior to death reveals prosecution

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

I have no desire to live...all I pray for is death." This is what Sunanda Pushkar wrote in an e-mail to her husband Shashi Tharoor nine days before she was found dead in a luxury hotel room here, the police told the court.

The police also said that Sunanda's death was due to poisoning and 27 tablets of Alprax were found in her room but it was not clear how many pills she had consumed.

While quoting from the charge sheet, the Delhi Police told Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Samar Vishal that Sunanda had injuries on her body which were received prior to her death which is reflected in the post-mortem report.

In an e-mail sent to Tharoor on January 8, 2014, she had written, "I don't care about the test. I have no desire to live...all I pray for is death," the police claimed.

Sunanda's mail and messages on social media should be taken as a "dying declaration", the police told the court, which reserved for June 5 its order on whether to summon Tharoor as an accused in the case.

Referring to Section 113A of the Indian Evidence Act, Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava said, "It is presumed that if she has committed suicide, she must have been subjected to cruelty before death. Court may take cognisance of this fact that it is a case of abetment, as the death has taken place within seven years of the marriage, and under the law, a case of abetment is made out." Under Section 113A of the Act, a court "may presume, having regard to all the other circumstances of the case, that ... suicide had been abetted by her husband or by such relative of her husband" if she kills herself within seven years from the date of her marriage.

To drive home the point that Pushkar was subjected to cruelty, he also alleged that Tharoor did not bother to take care of his ailing wife who was suffering from high fever.

He said that Pushkar used to write poems, the contents of which showed that everything was not right with her.

The Delhi Police had on May 14 accused the Lok Sabha MP from Thiruvananthapuram of abetting Pushkar's suicide and urged the court that he should be summoned as an accused in the four-and-half year-old case, claiming there was sufficient evidence against him.

In a nearly 3,000-page charge sheet, the police has named Tharoor as the only accused while also alleging that he had subjected his wife to cruelty.

The couple's domestic servant, Narayan Singh, has been named one of the key witnesses in the case. Tharoor has not been arrested in the case.

Pushkar was found dead in the suite of a luxury hotel in south Delhi 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.

Under section 498A, the maximum punishment is up to three years of imprisonment, while jail term of up to 10 years is prescribed under section 306.

The charge sheet, which includes several annexures including medical reports, said that Pushkar died within four years of her marriage with Tharoor. The couple had entered the wedlock on August 22, 2010.

The suite of the South Delhi hotel, where Pushkar had died, was sealed by the police on the night of her death for investigation. An FIR was registered by the police on January 1, 2015 against unknown persons under IPC section 302 (murder).

According to prosecution sources, the charge sheet has mentioned that Pushkar was allegedly subjected to mental as well as physical cruelty.

The special investigation team on April 20 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 Congress MP's wife.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 7:21 [IST]
Teesta Setalvad gets relief from arrest

India

oi-Vicky Nanjappa

The Gujarat High Court extended the protection from arrest to activist Teesta Setalvad and her husband Javed Anand till June 13, in a Rs 1.4 crore fund embezzlement case.

Earlier , Justice A Y Kogje, in whose court the matter was listed, recused himself from hearing it saying "not before me." The matter was then taken up by the court of Justice Biren Vaishnav, who extended the activists' interim protection from arrest till June 13. The court has listed the case for next hearing on June 12. The Supreme Court had last month granted temporary relief to Setalvad and Anand, extending their interim protection from arrest and transit anticipatory bail from May 2 to May 31, granted to them by the Bombay High Court.

The Supreme Court had said the duo will not be arrested till May 31, but before that they would have to approach the competent court in Gujarat which will decide the matter on merits. Setalvad and Anand had moved the Gujarat High Court after a lower court rejected their anticipatory bail plea in the Rs 1.4 crore fund embezzlement case related to their NGO Sabrang Trust. The duo had moved the plea for anticipatory bail after an FIR lodged against them on March 30 this year by complainant Raeeskhan Pathan.

Opposing the bail plea in the lower court, the Crime Branch had claimed that the couple misused the money granted to their NGO by the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development between 2010 and 2013 for their "personal and political cause".

In its submission, the Crime Branch said the accused misused the funds "to pay witnesses in serious cases in Gujarat (2002 riot cases) to make false deposition." During this period, Setalvad worked as the field co-coordinator for her NGO - Citizen for Justice and Peace, while her husband Javed Anand worked as the trustee of the Sabrang Trust. The ministry had granted Rs 1.4 crore between 2010 and 2013 to the NGO for a scheme under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Under the 'Khoj project', the Sabrang Trust had published literature and pamphlets that spread communal enmity which is "dangerous for the country's unity", the police said.

In their defence, Setalvad and Anand had told the court that the books published by them were written by some enowned writers, like Govind Pansare and Savitriben Phule, and were approved by the HRD Ministry. They also provided details of bank accounts related to the fund, saying all payments were made through cheques and were transparent. They claimed the police wanted their custody on "false complaint" and that the complainant, Pathan, had a "personal grudge" against them.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 7:02 [IST]
Photo: Courtesy of the vendors

There are no shortage of options for men when it comes to shaving. Some swear by more old-school wet shaving methods, using a safety razor or a straight razor with shaving cream. Others prefer cartridge razors, like a classic Gillette, which offer more of a middle ground in terms of effort. Theyre designed to be as simple as possible, but shaving cream is still required. The cost of regularly replacing their blades can make this option pricier with time, even though the razors themselves are usually cheap. And if youre not careful with one, you could easily end up with a face full of toilet-paper-covered cuts and the occasional razor burn. A lot of guys get irritation from blades, as barber Mark Miguez, co-owner of New York Citys Friend of a Barber, puts it. Thats why he says using electric razors can be so much better for the skin. (And, over time, your wallet.)

Powered by motors and high-tech cutting mechanisms, electric razors are without a doubt the most efficient option, requiring minimal maintenance and prep. Thats partly because many nowadays are designed to work on dry and wet hair. As Chad Beightol, the owner of mens grooming boutique Consigliere, in the East Village, puts it: There was a time when electric razors would burn the skin and not get a very close shave, but that time has long passed. Modern electric razors are great.

Since everyones skin and shaving preferences are different, its hard to choose a one-size-fits-all electric razor. According to the 20 experts we spoke with  including 14 professional barbers  a foil razor will provide a slightly closer shave than a rotary-style razor. But one limitation with foil razors is that they really only work well on short facial hair. For that reason, we decided to structure this list slightly differently than usual, designating separate best overall rotary and foil electric razors. In fact, because rotary and foil electric razors each work better for different types of facial hair, having one of each in your arsenal wouldnt be excessive if youre truly looking for a professional quality electric shave at home. Use a rotary for cutting down short enough, then a foil to get super close, explains Vince Garcia, the owner of L.A. barbershop Grey Matter, who told us he likes to use both on his clients (who include some of the NBAs biggest names).

Best overall rotary electric razor

Philips Norelco 6800 Rechargeable Cordless Wet/Dry Electric Shaver $100 When it comes to ease of use and efficiency, a rotary-style razor will likely be the best all-around option. I swear by the Philips Norelco triple-head models, says Beightol. They get as close a shave as a safety razor without that scraped-skin feeling. Patrick Butler, the technical director of education at Floyds 99 Barbershop, seconds this: Norelco definitely leads the way with their electric rotary razors. While the experts tended to agree that a foil razor will provide a slightly closer shave than a rotary-style razor, they all noted the limitation that foil razors really only work well on short facial hair. A foil razor is most effective if you use it regularly, daily to every three days, says Beightol, whereas a rotary gets a very close shave and can be used when you have up to seven to ten days of growth. That flexibility is one of the main reasons we feel this is the best overall, as is the fact that this electric rotary razor will work on wet hair in addition to dry hair. When your hair is wet, it softens, which allows the blade to move much better, preventing any irritation, says barber Craig Whitely, explaining why many men prefer those wet shaving methods we referenced earlier. Butler uses this razor if hes in a hurry and his beards dry, and also in the shower with shave gel when he wants a smooth finish. When former Strategist deputy editor Jason Chen tested out a selection of electric razors on his own face, an older version of this Norelco rotary was his top pick. I love this shaver: Its lightweight, feels good in the hand, and catches hairs on the first pass with hardly any effort, wrote Chen, adding that out of all the electric razors he tried, it provided the smoothest, most effortless shave. Beightol adds that since rotary-style razors have a larger surface area, it takes less time to pass over your face for a full shave. Steve Waldman, the technical artistic director at Hair Cuttery Family of Brands, appreciates how this razor contours to the faces bone structure, providing a close shave even along the jaw and across the neck. $100 at Amazon Buy

Best (less-expensive) rotary electric razor

Philips Norelco 3100 Rechargeable Electric Trimmer $66 Beightol uses the less-expensive version of the same razor as the one featured above. (He thinks the 6800 would be worth it if you have the budget, since it allows for a faster and more comfortable shave.) The heads of the 3100 still pivot, just not as dynamically as those of the 6800. Beightol says hes been using rotary electric razors for over a decade and that he has always stuck with a relatively simple model like this one. $66 at Walmart Buy

Best overall foil electric razor

Braun Series 9 Electric Wet/Dry Electric Razor With Charge/Clean Stand $270 When it comes to foil electric razors, the Braun Series 9 is the cream of the crop, says master barber Angelo Ruscetta of American Haircuts in Kennesaw, Georgia. He told us it shaves almost as close as a straight razor and, after he uses it, I cant feel any stubble. Brittany Raposo, a barber at the Paul Labrecque Salon and Skincare Spa, says it can cut through even the coarsest beards. Barber David Kim also likes the Series 9, describing it as really big in the industry. Like the Phillips 6800, it was designed to also work on wet hair, meaning that even though youre cutting as close as possible the face, your skin shouldnt feel any irritation afterward. Garcia also uses this electric razor in his shop, and told us he recommends it to clients for home use. In addition to getting nice and close, he says that the higher quality of Braun blades makes them less prone to irritating sensitive skin, because theyre able to achieve as much power with thinner metal on the foil; the thicker the foil, the harder it is for the blade to cut hair, and the more it pulls. Garcia adds that hes had to replace the blades on cheaper foil razors because theyve dulled down over time, but says hes never had to do that with his Braun. Whitely, another fan, praises Brauns technology, explaining that the brand has perfected the balance between a strong motor and a gentle shave in this and other models on this list. It is, of course, quite pricey, but its worth noting that this is Brauns top-of-the-line model, made in Germany and packed with features like an automatic self-cleaning base. The ability to disinfect between uses, which helps prevent shaving-induced breakouts, is especially important to men who shave their heads, adds Ruscetta  so this would be a great choice for anyone looking for a razor that can shave their face and give them that cue-ball look. $270 at Target Buy $240 at Amazon Buy

Best (less-expensive) foil electric razor

Braun Series 7 Wet/Dry Foil Shaver $290 now 31% off $200 Whitely told us that this slightly less expensive (and older) Braun model basically gives you the best of the above Braun Series 9 razor, but at a fraction of the price. He compares it to buying last years BMW: Youre still getting a great machine, just not the latest upgrades, which he says are merely bells and whistles. Says Whitely: I dont think its necessary to go for the Series 9; the motor in the Series 7 is the same powerful, amazing Braun motor. Importantly, he adds, it also works in the shower. $200 at Walmart Buy

Best (even-less-expensive) foil electric razor

Panasonic Arc5 Wet/Dry Electric Razor $145 While Kim acknowledges the Braun Series 9 is the best in its class, he told us hes found this Panasonic foil electric razor to be comparable in terms of quality, but for $200 less. He uses it every day, telling us that it provides a very smooth cut thats never harsh on the skin and that the razors flexible head moves really well, so that you can get to every area of your face without having to angle your arm. He prefers to shave while his hair is dry, but Kim adds the razor is true to its wet/dry name: You can use this on wet hair and run it under water without any problems. $145 at Amazon Buy $145 at Amazon Buy

Best barbershop-style foil electric razor

Andis 17150 ProFoil Lithium Titanium Foil Cordless Shaver $58 Should you be looking for something thats simple and gets the job done, we are happy to report the experts have another favorite foil electric razor thats surprisingly utilitarian, and substantially less expensive than a lot of the other options on the market. Almost every single barber we spoke with mentioned this razor. Its not exactly designed for consumers  note the clunky box shape and not super-appealing gray plastic  but its the model most of the experts trust to deliver professional-grade results and handle a high volume of use, relying on it for everything from a face shave to skin fades for haircuts to cleaning up their clients necks. Master barber Karac Ruleau of Mott NYC told us its what he uses at the shop and at home. It gives you a super-close shave without any razor burn. Its light, durable, inexpensive and doesnt require a frequent charge. He also told us that he often spots contestants using it when hes watching RuPauls Drag Race, which he takes as a strong endorsement. Multiple experts assured us that theres no reason for this razor to only be used by barbers. Though some do note that you might need to be more aware of technique than you would otherwise (since it doesnt have a pivoting head), and, as with any electric razor, its important to swap in new blades as recommended by the manufacturer. $58 at Amazon Buy $58 at Walmart Buy

Best (ergonomic) barbershop-style foil electric razor

Best streamlined barbershop-style foil razor

BaBylissPRO FX01 Single Foil Shaver $55 now 11% off $49 Conventional foil electric razors, like those weve mentioned thus far, are designed with multiple foils so that they can more efficiently cover a wider surface area. But according to Tuft NYC barber Alejandro AJ Albano, who has been cutting hair for more than two decades, some folks may find those multiple foils a bit unwieldy. He is one of those folks, which is why he prefers this streamlined razor with only one. I prefer having one straight bar because its more conducive to having control when youre shaping up, he says. Albano, who has used razors from Andis and Wahl, adds that the FX01 is compact and lightweight but still feels more solid than the plastic ones from those brands. This one also has a sleeker body compared to those other barbershop models, which he thinks look a little dated. Lesley Bryant, owner of the Lady Clipper Barbershop in Washington, D.C., has similar praise for this razor, adding that it really traps every hair. $49 at Walmart Buy $55 at Amazon Buy

Best electric razor for stubble

Wahl Peanut Cordless Clipper/Trimmer $76 now 13% off $66 The Wahl Peanut is technically a beard trimmer designed to be used with guards to cut hair at specific lengths. But three experts  Beightol, celebrity groomer Jason Schneidman (the owner of THEMENSGROOMER), and Rafael Tadgieve (the owner of Rafaels Barbershop Vintage in the East Village)  gave us the same tip: Using it on your face without a guard will cut your hair right to that five o clock shadow length. Bryant thinks its particularly well-suited for those with sensitive skin, too, since it doesnt cut so close to the skin. Tadgieve adds that the Peanut, unlike some of the bulkier and more advanced razors out there, is small and easy to clean. He prefers the corded version because it has a little more power, but Schneidman thinks this cordless model is just as good for personal use. $66 at Amazon Buy $83 at Sally Beauty Buy

Best electric razor for styling

Philips Norelco OneBlade $35 now 14% off $30 In our roundup of the best razors for men, celebrity groomer Marissa Machado told us about the Philips Norelco One Blade, which made the list as the best electriccartridge hybrid razor. Its really an all-in-one product, she said, noting that it comes with useful trimming attachments and the razor itself gives a smooth finish. Like the Peanut above, its a trimmer-style razor, so its not going to be as close of a shave as a foil or rotary, but it should be just right if youre going for a five oclock shadow look, or want to trim down longer beard hair. And the fact that this ones designed more like a cartridge razor makes it a bit easier to maneuver than the Peanut, which means creating neat lines around the ears and jawline will be even easier. In addition to being a great tool for styling facial hair (long or short), contributor Kurt Soller notes that its also great for traveling. The small size, decent battery life, and punchy color make it just right for my Dopp kit. $30 at Amazon Buy $33 at Walmart Buy

Best electric shaver for bald heads

Skull Shaver Pitbull Gold PRO Head and Face Shaver $90 $110 now 18% off $90 Those with bald heads should look for an electric razor thats easily maneuvered and that doesnt miss hairs, Raposo says. Waldman adds that the key is to find one with pivoting and adjustable blades that can navigate the heads uneven landscape. Both believe this Skull Shaver shaver fits the bill, with its ergonomic handle and rotary blades. The blades cut close but skip over any of the scalps irregularities and wont irritate the skin, according to Raposo. Waldman recommends going in with a gentle pressure and maintaining even contact for the best shave. $90 at Walmart Buy $110 at Amazon Buy

Best easy-to-clean electric shaver

Philips Norelco Shaver 7700 Electric Shaver $112 $150 now 25% off $112 This wet and dry electric shaver is high on Butlers list of favorites thanks to its cleaning pod  just dip the top of the razor into it once you shave and within a minute, the head is washed and ready for another round. For a very close shave, Butler likes to leave on a shave gel for a minute or two before going in a circular motion that goes with the grain and then against to pick the hair up and shave it close. He adds that this comes with a convenient pop-up trimmer, which helps clean up your hairlines perimeter and sideburns. $112 at Amazon Buy $112 at Amazon Buy

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Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.
Thunderstorm likely in parts of UP in next 3 hrs

India

oi-Vikas

By Vikas

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) has issued a warning saying that thunderstorm accompanied with rain may lash parts of Uttar Pradesh in the next three hours.

Hardoi, Sitapur, Farrukhabad districts and adjoining areas could be affected by thunderstorm, rain, quall and hailstone, ANI quoted IMD statement as saying.

Several parts of north India are likely to witness thunderstorm, accompanied by gusty winds and moderate squall on Tuesday (May 29). Wind speed is expected to vary between 50 and 70 km per hour, according to the IMD.

IMD issued an alert on Monday saying "under the influence of a western disturbance, a cyclonic circulation over Haryana and a west-east tough from northwest Rajasthan to central Madhya Pradesh in lower levels" will bring light to moderate rainfall in north India.

In the first week of May, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) had issued a warning of thunderstorm accompanied with squall and hail in large parts of northern and eastern India, prompting authorities to put various emergency measures such as part-closure of schools and cancelling leave of civic officials in place.

Delhi and adjoining areas in Northern India have been facing repeated warnings and thunderstorms for the past two weeks.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 10:38 [IST]
Mysuru gang-rape case: HD Kumaraswamy says 'follow what was done in Hyderabad'

Will HDK compromise interest of Kannadigas to retain power asks BJP

India

oi-Staff

By Oneindia Staff Writer

Karnataka BJP leaders flayed Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy's remark that he was at the "mercy" of Congress and not the people of state, saying that he was "deriding his own people" and doubted his credentials to serve them.

Union Minister D V Sadananda Gowda took to twitter asking Kumaraswamy if he would compromise the interests of Kannadigas just to retain power.

"Sri @hd_kumaraswamy Honble @CMofKarnataka says he is indebted to @INCIndia not to 6.0 crore Kannadigas. Sir I would like to ask u 1) will u compromise interest of Kannadigas just to retain your power 2) Whats your local standee for corrupt congress is it partnership enterprise (sic)," he tweeted.

The party said that Kumaraswamy should not have "stooped" so low.

"This statement of H D Kumaraswamy proves that he cares two hoots to six crore people of Karnataka. A democratically elected CM could not have stooped much lower than this in deriding his own people.

"One can only imagine the kind of loot he will preside to impress his Congress bosses," the BJP in Karnataka tweeted.

BJP's IT cell chief Amit Malviya termed the chief minister's remarks as "the most brazen admission ever" and expressed apprehensions that Karnataka "will bleed" under the present state government "while JDS-Congress fill up their coffers".

"I dread to think what will happen to the state when the Chief Minister doesn't feel compelled to serve the people, but the party that put him in power. Karnataka will bleed while JDS-Congress fill up their coffers," he said.

Kumaraswamy had yesterday stated he was at the 'mercy' of the Congress, not the 6.5 crore people of the state.

"Mine is not an independent government. I had requested the people to give me a mandate that prevents me from succumbing to any pressure other than you. But today I am at the mercy of the Congress. I am not under the pressure of the 6.5 crore people of the state," he had said.

BJP MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar said it is the "worst kind" of Congress politics with willing and shameless regional parties.

"Victory of Democracy" this gang called it - lets call it what it is - worst kind of #CongressPolitics with willing n shameless "regional" parties," he tweeted, tagging it to Kumaraswamy, AICC President Rahul Gandhi, CPI(M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechuryand Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's twitter accounts.

"And the new @CMofKarnataka @hd_kumaraswamy reveals whose mandate he has - he represnts not the peoples mandate but the rejected @INCKarnataka mandate!," he tweeted.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 8:21 [IST]
Afghan special forces botch up operation, kill nine civilians

International

pti-PTI

Jalalabad (Afghanistan), May 29: Afghan special forces have killed nine civilians in an apparently botched operation in the eastern province of Nangarhar, officials said today. The victims were related to Afghan Senate chairman Fazel Hadi Muslimyaar, provincial spokesman Attaullah Khogyani told AFP.

"A delegation from Kabul has been sent to Nangarhar to investigate the incident," he added.

The provincial health director confirmed the dead and wounded were brought to local hospitals in Jalalabad. Details of the attack late last night in Chaparhar district remained unclear and there was no immediate comment from the defence ministry. The Senate is parliament's upper house.

Civilian casualties remain high in Afghanistan's grinding conflict with more than 10,000 killed or wounded in 2017, according to the UN. The majority of casualties were caused by the Taliban and other militants. But pro-government forces, including international troops, were responsible for 20 per cent of the civilian casualties last year -- a seven per cent increase from 2016.

The increase was partly due to a growing number of aerial bombings by Afghan and foreign forces, the UN said. The US is the only international force known to be carrying out air strikes in Afghanistan. Earlier this month President Ashraf Ghani apologised after the UN released a blistering report into an Afghan Air Force strike in Kunduz on April 2 which killed 36 people including 30 children. The UN investigators could not confirm if the casualties in that incident were all civilians.

PTI
Talks with China will not help says USA NSA on situation on Ladakh

20 members of a family removed from US flight after mask of 1 slipped under nose

AUKUS will be game-changer in Indo-Pacific, won't compete with Quad: US Deputy Secretary

Falling tree kills 2 journalists reporting on severe weather in North Carolina

International

pti-PTI

Tryon (US), May 29: A television news anchor and a photojournalist colleague were killed on Monday in North Carolina while covering the very fringes of the large system whose core made landfall hundreds of miles (kilometers) away on the northern Gulf Coast.

North Carolina's governor is urging his state's residents to exercise caution as rains from a subtropical depression spread into his and other Southern states, noting the deaths of two broadcast journalists killed by a falling tree as they reported on the severe weather associated with Alberto.

Authorities said a tree became uprooted from rain-soaked soil and toppled on the news team's SUV, killing the two instantly.

"Two journalists working to keep the public informed about this storm have tragically lost their lives, and we mourn with their families, friends and colleagues," Cooper said in a statement.

"North Carolina needs to take Alberto seriously. I urge everyone to keep a close eye on forecasts, warnings and road conditions, especially in western North Carolina where even heavier rain is predicted."

The dead were identified as working for a station based in Greenville, South Carolina. WYFF-TV Anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer both had worked in the Greenville market for more than a decade, anchor Carol Goldsmith said on air, breaking the news of their deaths yesterday.

"Mike and Aaron were beloved members of our team  our family," Goldsmith said. The men were driving on US Highway 176 near Tryon when the large tree fell on their vehicle, North Carolina Highway Patrol Master Trooper Murico Stephens said. McCormick and Smeltzer had just interviewed Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant.

They told Tennant to be careful with Alberto's remnants expected to bring more heavy rains and mudslides to North Carolina. He told them to be careful too.

"Ten minutes later we get the call and it was them," Tennant said at a news conference, his voice cracking.

A woman died in a mudslide on May 19 not far from the area and officials in one especially hard-hit county were asking people living in vulnerable areas to voluntary leave before the weather got worse. Neither Stephens nor Tennant directly blamed the up to 2 inches of rain that fell yesterday for the deaths.

The fire chief said the roots of a large tree were loosened in ground saturated by a week of rain. The TV vehicle engine's was still running and the transmission was in drive when crews found it. The men died instantly, said Tennant.

McCormick was a weekend anchor for the Greenville station and covered Spartanburg and surrounding areas. He came to the station in April 2007. Smeltzer worked in Greenville for more than a decade, coming to WYFF-TV from a different station in the market. He touted on his Twitter biography of winning four Emmys.

WHNS-TV reporter Derek Dellinger competed with McCormick and Smeltzer, but also considered them friends. He called Smeltzer a perfectionist and McCormick a hard worker and a nice guy.

"Despite being the competition, I had interactions with (McCormick) both in and out of work, and we would talk about work issues, talk about life  everything," Dellinger said, calling him "a good guy" with a warm heart.

PTI
France offers citizenship and job to immigrant who saved child

International

oi-Chennabasaveshwar

By Chennabasaveshwar

A Malian man, who saved the four-year-old baby clinging to a railing from fourth-floor balcony, was offered French citizenship and a job by President Emmanuel Macron on Monday.

Mamoudou Gassama, an illegal immigrant from Mali, scaled the facade of a Paris apartment block to save a boy who was about to fall from a fourth-floor balcony. The video of Gassama's "Spider-Man" act has gone viral.

The heroic act didn't take long take to get the attention of President Emmanuel Macron. The President congratulated Gassama for "an exceptional act" and said France would give him a job in the emergency services.

"I did it because it was a child," French newspaper Le Parisien quoted Gassama as saying. "I climbed .... Thank God I saved him."

Gassama is being offered a spell of community service work at the Paris emergency services. An official website says the work pays about 480 euros ($558) a month for a fixed 11-month period, reports Reuters.
India snubs US ban on Iran, says it abides only by UN sanctions

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

New Delhi on Monday, May 28, showed its intent to continue friendship with Iran without any interruption by saying that it abided only by sanctions that the United Nations has imposed on the West Asian country and not by individual countries. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said this at a press conference held on the fourth anniversary of the Narendra Modi government and observers felt it was an indirect snub to the United States.

US President Donald Trump announced his country's withdrawal from the Iran deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) of 2015, calling it "flawed" and ordered sanctions to be reimposed on Iran. This raised the prospects of turmoil in West Asia once again since the deal was aimed at containing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Trump's decision to scuttle the Iran deal did not only put India's economic (oil) interests in trouble but also its strategic interests. India has been working closely with Iran to develop its Chabahar Port to beat Pakistan and China in the regional strategic competition and the US's sudden escalation of things with Iran is going to hurt India's interests. India eyes closer ties with Afghanistan and Iran to contain Pakistan and also challenge China's growing influence on the route to Central Asia.

Swaraj's stance that India will determine its stance on Iran independently shows how much significance New Delhi attaches to its relations with Tehran.

The foreign minister's statement came hours before she met her Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, who is in India to seek New Delhi's support for the multilateral nuclear deal that Trump scrapped. Zarif is visiting several key countries in the wake of Trump's decision to mobilise support. Countries like China and Russia have already backed Iran on the deal.

After Swaraj's meeting with Zarif ended, a government official said India wanted countries that are in the deal (four permanent UN Security Council members besides Germany and the European Union) to constructively engage with Tehran in the wake of the US's sudden exit, agencies reported.

The Chabahar Port issue also came up at the discussion between the two foreign ministers. India is also worried that a break in the momentum over the port diplomacy could see Iran extending hand towards its rivals like Pakistan and China, jeopardising its plans completely. Iran has already invited Pakistan to become a part of the Chabahar development process - a call that would leave New Delhi jittery.

India's relations with Iran witnessed an upswing since Modi's visit to Tehran in 2016 when the two countries signed several agreements, including one on the development of the Chabahar Port. They also signed a trilateral pact featuring Afghanistan for better connectivity between all the countries.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani also visited India in February this year during when the two sides pledged to improve their cooperation in various sectors. They also included one about leasing a part of Chabahar Port to Indian hands for a period of 18 months.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 13:04 [IST]
Collapse of Kabul will go down as one of the greatest defeats in American history: Donald Trump

Thousands of terrorists might have been airlifted out of Kabul: Trump slams Biden

Never in history has withdrawal from war been handled so badly: Trump

June 12 summit: Donald Trump confirms senior North Korean official headed to US

International

oi-Deepika

By Deepika

US President Donald Trump has confirmed reports that a senior North Korean official was headed to the United States for talks on an upcoming summit between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Taking twitter Trump wrote: "We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!"

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

Kim is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee tasked with inter-Korean relations.

Trump on Friday said his summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong-un could still happen on June 12 after officials on both sides started talking, a day after he cancelled it, citing Pyongyang's "open hostility".

Trump said the lines of communication had opened between the two countries after Trump administration officials yesterday said that the North Koreans had become unresponsive, leading to the planned summit's cancellation.

"We'll see what happens. We are talking to them now," Trump said at the White House before boarding Marine One for a commencement address in Annapolis.

"They very much want to do it. We'd like to do it. We will see what happens," he said.

Trump appeared to be optimistic even about the cancelled June 12 summit in Singapore. "It could be even on 12th June, he said in response to a question. "We will see what happens," said the US President.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 17:31 [IST]
Modi in Indonesia: Much before Indias Act East Policy, this Odisha leader embraced Jakarta

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Much before India articulated its 'Look East' and 'Act East' policies that aimed at embracing countries of Southeast and East Asia, a prominent political figure from India had set up close ties with Indonesia. It was the legendary leader from Odisha, Biju Patnaik (1916-97) who had continued with the civilizational and cultural links that his state had shared with the Southeast Asian archipelago in the past, to have an enduring relation with the Sukarno family.

Patnaik, is also credited with naming the daughter of Sukarno - Indonesia's first president - as Megawati who was born on a rainy day (hence the daughter of clouds). Megawati also went on to become Indonesia's president in 2001 and ruled for three years.

Patnaik, who was Odisha's third chief minister and father of the current incumbent Naveen, reached out to Indonesia during its years of colonisation under the Dutch. In July 1947, he flew to Jakarta to bring leaders of Indonesia's independence movement to India at the order of Jawaharlal Nehru. His role in rescuing Indonesia's first prime minister Sutan Sjahrir from the house arrest imposed by the Dutch is still remembered as a daring act. Indonesia did not forget Patnaik's contribution and conferred him with its highest honour - Bintang Jasa Utama - in Jakarta in 1995, two years before he died.
Modi visit: India-Indonesia relations interplay of hard & soft power, says Jakarta Post piece

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi embarked on his maiden visit to Indonesia on Tuesday, May 29, the media of the archipelago, also the largest Muslim state in the world, came up with a decent coverage of New Delhi's relations with Jakarta.

In an opinion piece titled 'India-Indonesia relations: Between soft and hard power' penned by a Vadodara-based independent Indian researcher for The Jakarta Post, it was said that focused engagements with Southeast and East Asian countries have been a highlight of the four-year-old Modi government.

It said the relations between India and Indonesia have seen an interplay of soft and hard power.

"During the entire Cold War period, despite common cultural links India hardly invoked these in its foreign relations with the Southeast Asian region. Soft power started featuring prominently in India's foreign policy only in the post-Cold War period. The second factor was strategic orientation of foreign policy which was also absent during the Cold War. Although this situation has started changing the use of strategic thinking or hard power is still in a developmental stage in Indian diplomacy," The Jakarta Post piece said.

It said Modi's visit to Indonesia - his first as the prime minister - is likely to strengthen strategic cooperation between New Delhi and Jakarta. It also said strategic links with Indonesia help India with a platform to broaden its "maritime outreach", something which lacked focus for a long time.

According to the piece, Indonesia has a maritime significance for India for two reasons. First, it is a maritime neighbour of India and secondly, it covers a huge water area covering the Indian Ocean and South China Sea and forms a part of the new strategic entity - the Indo-Pacific. This is particularly keep in the face of the strategic rivalry that India and other Southeast Asian countries have with regional hegemon China.

"China's strategic assertion has caused regional and extra regional powers to concentrate on and create a formidable deterrent entity of Indo-Pacific, where powers such as the United States, Japan and Australia have increasingly encouraged India's active role," the piece said, though adding: "But India's participation in the proposed security arrangements of the Indo-Pacific would need many details to be worked out."

It said India's strategic partnership with the Southeast Asian countries look promising in the current situation and in the near future.

During his visit to India earlier this month, Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan stressed the importance of India-Indonesia strategic partnership to facilitate balance of power in the region and promote counterterrorism and anti-piracy operations. He also said that Indonesia did not focus much on its maritime domain and added that for both India and Indonesia, the maritime domain is an emerging strategic area where they can cooperate to promote interests - individual as well as collective, the article added.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 12:14 [IST]
Centre renames 2 prominent institutes after Sushma Swaraj on the eve of her birth anniversary

Nepal terms Swaraj's remarks on Modi's Janakpur reception as 'unfortunate'

International

pti-PTI

Nepal on Tuesday termed as "unfortunate" the remarks of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj that Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed lakhs of "Indians" during a civic reception in his honour in Nepal's Janakpur recently.

Addressing a press conference on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the NDA government in New Delhi, Swaraj on Monday said Modi is the first prime minister of the country who has from America's Madison Square to Janakpur (in Nepal) addressed lakhs of Indians and reached out to them.

Hours later, she apologised for her remarks.

In a statement today, Nepal's Foreign Ministry spokesperson said the reference made about the public participation at the civic felicitation programme held in honour of Prime Minister Modi in Janakpur on May 11 was "unfortunate."

"It has come to the notice of the Government of Nepal that she has publicly admitted her mistake and apologised for the same. The Government of Nepal sincerely thanks all those who raised concerns over this issue," the spokesperson said.

Social cohesion and harmony characterise the Nepali way of life that is reflective of national unity among people living in all regions, which should be respected by all, the official added.

Janakpur is known as the birth place of Sita, the wife of Lord Rama.

During his visit, Modi offered prayers at Janaki temple which was built in memory of Sita in 1910.

PTI
Photo: picture alliance/picture alliance via Getty Image

With the quantity of kid-friendly media increasing at roughly the same rate as parental fatigue from having to listen to all that media, its never been more important for your kids to have their own headphones  and those headphones need to be designed specifically for them. According to Dr. Ike Iheagwara, audiologist and owner of the Center for Healthy Hearing New York, children have smaller ears and shorter ear canals, so sound has a greater impact on them. When you add to that that kids are starting to listen to music or programming at a much younger age, they have a greater chance of damage over time, he says.

All the experts we spoke to  including pediatric otologists and neurotologists, otolaryngologists, and audiologists  agree that the most important thing to look for are headphones with whats called an output limiter. Basically, its a switch that keeps the headphone volume below 85 decibels, the Occupational Safety and Health Administrations recommended maximum for kids. These switches arent foolproof, however. Any smart kid could jury-rig it to exceed the limit, and lower-quality headphones may surpass 85 decibels anyway, even though they state otherwise. Plus, there are certain apps that can be used to override the maximum decibel level. So supervision is key. If you arent sure if your kids headphones are too loud, New York audiologist Dr. Dominick Servedio suggests this easy test: Sit next to your child while hes wearing his headphones, and talk to him. He should be able to clearly hear you. If not, its either too loud or hes messing with you.

Over-the-ear headphones are preferred by most experts, since theyre easier to use in young children and generally more comfortable. And, as Dr. Michael Rothschild, the director of pediatric otolaryngology at the Mount Sinai Hospital explains, You can see when a child is wearing them so you can control the volume, he says. The other benefit? Over-the-ears are more fun. You can put Frozen characters or whatever on them. If you have older kids, however, they might be more interested in earbuds, which Dr. Darius Kohan, director of otology/neurotology at Lenox Hill Hospital, says its fine to indulge. Here are the ten best kid-friendly in-ear and over-the-ear headphones. Whatever pair you choose, our experts recommend limiting kids listening time to four hours a day. Even if theyre budding DJs.

Puro Sound Labs BT2200 Premium Kids Headphones $99 Puro Sound Labs BT2200 came up more than once as the best set of headphones for kids, and Kohan says it checks off a lot of boxes: Its volume limiter works whether youre going wireless or using a USB cord (and has been tested to restrict volume in both formats), it has a resilient aluminum frame, and it is noise-canceling and comfortable. These headphones are pricier than the others on this list, but that might be worth it to you for the technology and added safety features. $99 at Amazon Buy $99 at Amazon Buy

Puro Sound Labs Junior Jams $79 Kohan also likes these less-expensive volume-limiting headphones from Puro, which work either with a cord or Bluetooth connection, and have an aluminum frame and studio-sound quality. That last attribute may not seem so important in headphones for a child, but according to Joey Bernstein, associate professor of otolaryngology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, The poorer the quality of the sound, the more kids are likely to crank up the volume to unsafe levels. This one has a daisy-chain system, so two toddlers sitting in a car together could listen at the same time while watching a show on a shared iPad. $79 at Amazon Buy $79 at Amazon Buy

Onanoff Buddyphones Explore Foldable Volume Limiting Kids Headphones $30 Another option Kohan suggested is this award-winning corded BuddyPhones model for kids. It comes with as assortment of stickers, and its foldable, in case your kids are toting it on flights. The soft padded cups on the ears and a durable plastic frame make it comfortable and able to withstand any flinging and bending. Plus, a stackable audio jack means kids can share a device with up to four (Onanoff headphone wearing) friends. $30 at Amazon Buy $30 at Amazon Buy

JLab Audio JBuddies Kids  Volume Limiting Headphones $20 Kohan likes these smaller headphones for younger children, which have a volume knob on the side thats easier for parents to adjust. At $20, you might not get the same sound quality as you would from the Puro, but, as Rothschild notes, You dont need to spend a fortune to let your child hear Peppa Pig or Daniel Tiger in perfectly acceptable clarity. And you still get a lifetime warranty. $20 at Amazon Buy $20 at JLab Audio Buy

Kidz Gear Wired Headphones for Kids $20 now 5% off $19 Heres another popular model for kids thats worth looking into. These headphones are lightweight, with crisp and clear sound. They even adjust to fit adults in a pinch. The volume-limiting adapter caps sound levels at at around 82 decibels, but be aware that theres the option to disconnect the adapter, so parents should be vigilant about making sure its always in use. Like the JLabs above, these also come with a lifetime warranty. $19 at Amazon Buy $19 at Amazon Buy

CozyPhones Kids Headphones with Ultra-Thin Speakers and Fleece Headband $15 CozyPhones contain ultrathin speakers in a soft, stretchy headband that can be more comfortable than traditional headphones (so comfortable that kids can often fall asleep while wearing them). They come in a range of designs including cats, unicorns, pandas, foxes, sharks, and even Batman and Sesame Street characters. Even though CozyPhones do go up an extra five decibels, Kohan still likes them because they have many safety features and an accessible price. $15 at Amazon Buy $15 at Amazon Buy

get the strategist newsletter Actually good deals, smart shopping advice, and exclusive discounts. Email This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Terms & Privacy Notice By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice and to receive email correspondence from us.

The Strategist is designed to surface the most useful, expert recommendations for things to buy across the vast e-commerce landscape. Some of our latest conquests include the best womens jeans, rolling luggage, pillows for side sleepers, ultra-flattering pants, and bath towels. We update links when possible, but note that deals can expire and all prices are subject to change.

Every editorial product is independently selected. If you buy something through our links, New York may earn an affiliate commission.


Paraguay: Alicia Pucheta to become first woman president

International

pti-PTI

Asuncion, May 29: Paraguay will have a woman president for the first time in its history, at least temporarily, after outgoing leader Horacio Cartes stepped down ahead of schedule. Vice President Alicia Pucheta, 68, will complete Cartes's mandate after he resigned to become a senator.

On August 15, fellow conservative Mario Abdo Benitez, elected in April 22 polls, will begin his five-year term as president of one of Latin America's poorest countries. The parliament is due to confirm Cartes's resignation and proclaim Pucheta as interim president tomorrow.

Opposed to the legalization of abortion, Pucheta is from the right-wing Colorado Party, which has been in power in Asuncion for decades. Opposition Senator Desiree Masi said she does not see Pucheta's nomination as an advance for women in Paraguay.

"A woman who has shown her complete submission to those in power does not represent us," she said. "One day, a woman will be come to power as she should, through the ballot box," she added.

But Lilian Samaniego, a senator from the Colorado Party, hailed the former lawyer's accession to the position as an example to "motivate Paraguayan women to continue to fight for real equality of opportunity with men."

Paraguay has just eight women among its 45 senators, and 11 among the 80 members of the lower house. Cartes's resignation had been expected since he was elected to the Senate in the April elections. The new senators are to be sworn in on June 30. Landlocked Paraguay -- sandwiched between Argentina, Bolivia and Brazil -- enjoyed consistent economic growth during tobacco magnate Cartes's five years in power, but failed to shake off persistent poverty, corruption and drug trafficking.

It remains a land of contrasts, still marked by the 1954-1989 dictatorship of general Alfredo Stroessner. Despite an official campaign against endemic corruption, Paraguay remains 135th out of 180 countries on the 2017 corruption index of Transparency International.

PTI
PM Modi at G20 extraordinary summit: Need to ensure Afghan territory not used for terrorism

PM Modi set to visit largest Muslim country Indonesia besides Malaysia & Singapore starting today

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on the eve of his five-day visit to Indonesia, Malaysia and Malaysia on Monday, May 28, that India had a strong strategic partnership with the three South-east Asian countries and his tri-nation visit would give a boost to New Delhi's Look East Policy.

This is the first time that Modi will visit Indonesia - the world's largest Muslim country - in his four-year rule at the Centre. He has visited Singapore twice and Malaysia once in 2015.

In his third visit to Singapore this time, Modi will address the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security meet of several Asia-Pacific states, on June 1. It will be the first time that an Indian PM would address this high-profile meet.

"It would be an opportunity to articulate India's point of view on regional security issues and maintenance of peace and stability in the region," PTI quoted Modi as saying.

Modi first stop will, however, be Indonesia where he will meet its president Joko Widodo on Wednesday, May 30. He would hold a joint interaction with the India-Indonesia CEO forum and also address the Indian community-based in Indonesia. Modi said this in a Facebook post.

Stressing on India-Indonesia relations, Modi said: "Both countries are multi-ethnic, multi-religious, plural and open societies. I am confident that my visit to Indonesia will create greater synergy between Asia's two largest democracies and further elevate our bilateral ties."

On May 31, Modi will make a brief stop in Malaysia to congratulate Mahathir Mohamad, the 92-year-old leader who recently became the prime minister of the country after winning a historic election.

Modi will thereafter head to Singapore. "In Singapore, I will be focusing on enhancing India-Singapore partnership in areas of Fintech, skill development, urban planning and artificial intelligence. Singapore entities have become major partners with India in areas like urban development, planning, smart cities and infrastructure development. My visit in Singapore presents an opportunity for both countries to engage further," he said in his Facebook post.

On June 1, Modi will meet Singapore President Halimah Yacob and hold delegation-level talks with its Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

Loong said after Modi's informal meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in April that India and China are new powers that growing in strength and influence as the global strategic balance was shifting and it opened new opportunities for cooperation for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Singapore is the current chair of the regional grouping.

On June 2, Modi will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Mahatma Gandhi's ashes were immersed in sea on March 27, 1948. He will wind up the tour with a visit to the Changi Naval Base in Singapore. There, he will visit the Indian naval ship of INS Satpura and speak with officers and sailors of the India Navy and Royal Singapore Navy, the PM informed via Facebook.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 6:56 [IST]
Why did Narendra Modi ignore Indonesia, a key maritime nation, for so long?

International

oi-Shubham

By Shubham

Foreign policy is one sector on which Prime Minister Narendra Modi has always put a special stress in the last four years since coming to power.

He has paid visits to several countries across the globe and his intensity of foreign trip has been so high that people have mocked and criticised when he returned to India saying "PM Modi visits India".

For such a globe-trotting leadership, it is quite unusual that it decided to pay a visit to Indonesia, Asia's seventh-largest country and the largest in Southeast Asia, in its last year in power. For a proactive leader like Modi who has shown his preference for the 'long term' benefits in bilateral relations, did this visit to the world's largest Muslim state come a bit too late? He has already visited the other two countries in his latest foreign trip itinerary, namely, Malaysia and Singapore, but in Indonesia, he will set his foot for the first time.

India-Indonesia joint drill of 2016 remained obscure

Even though Modi has emphasised on bettering relations with India's immediate and not-so-distant neighbours (Indonesia's Aceh province in not too far from the Andamans), Indonesia has surprisingly not featured in his radar so far. India and Indonesia conducted a 17-day joint patrolling exercise in the Andaman Sea in October 2016 which was the 28th such coordinated patrol and second bilateral maritime exercise between the two nations but it went largely under-reported, thanks to the US presidential election and the move for demonetisation in India.

In the later days too, India's 'Act East' policy was more identified with New Delhi's engagement with countries like Japan, Australia and Vietnam but not Indonesia.

But India has a large similarity with Indonesia in terms of size, population, religion, political functioning and share a long socio-cultural history with the archipelago, which should have seen them facilitating their ties in current times more intensely.

India and Indonesia have a complex relationship

During the early period after independence, India and Indonesia worked closely towards laying the foundation of the non-aligned political platform and promote an Asian-centric brand of diplomacy. The Asian Relations Conference in the late 1940s and the Bandung Conference in the mid-1950s showed the deep solidarity that existed between New Delhi and Jakarta.

From the 1960s, as the Nehruvian era drew to an end, India's clout in Southeast Asia diminished. The prevalent Cold War, too, created political tension in the region while the India-China war of 1962 hit India's diplomatic stature.

Indonesia, around this time, turned more hostile towards India by forging a friendship treaty with China in 1961 and supporting Pakistan during the Indo-Pak war of 1965. India's good relations with the then Malaysia also did not help its relations with Indonesia and there were even prospects of military confrontation between India and Indonesia over the Andamans and Nicober Islands.

In the 1980s, Indonesia was more concerned about India's naval ambitions in the Andamans but it was only after several initiatives of confidence-building were taken that this concern was alleviated and the two Asian powers began to see a betterment of their ties.

Towards the end of the 20th century and from the early 21st century, both countries set up bilateral agreements and worked on better strategic cooperation. Currently, Indonesia is India's second-largest trading partner in Southeast Asia.

Indonesia's President Joko Widodo, who also came to power in 2014 like Modi, is a leader who knows no reservations when it comes to serving Indonesia's own interests.

Besides looking to gain from both China and the US economically, Widodo has also focussed on improving Indonesia's status as a maritime power (under Widodo, it is known as "maritime fulcrum") and bettering the country's maritime security.

From a traditional non-claimant state in territorial water disputes, Indonesia has become increasingly more assertive about its maritime rights, sometimes even to the extent of sinking of foreign vessels entering its territorial waters.

India, too, has asserted its maritime ambitions in recent years, more as a response to China's intrusion in its backyard and although both look assertive, the maritime plans of India and Indonesia put them on the same page to strive for a cooperative venture, especially against China's grand plans of expanding hegemony in Southeast and South Asia.

India and Indonesia can make an excellent maritime alliance

It is difficult to understand why the Modi government left addressing its relation with Indonesia for the last moments of its tenure. Modi even visited tiny island states like Fiji in the past besides coastal African states like Mozambique and Tanjania in eastern part of the continent as part of its plan to counter China but did not go to Indonesia.

Widodo himself visited India twice in 2016 and 2018 emphasising his country's relation with India. Did the Modi government ignore it for far too long for being a Muslim state? Or did the historical complexity of the relationship make India hesitant about embracing Indonesia?

A concrete planning over maritime cooperation with Indonesia can be a major foreign policy move by the Modi government on its China policy. But it is far too late now to reap the benefits of this policy over the long term, in case the 2019 Lok Sabha elections produce a result shocking for Modi.

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Story first published: Tuesday, May 29, 2018, 16:27 [IST]
Bankers, fund managers, internet geeks, and just about any businessperson with an interest in digital technologies meet today at Kampala Serena hotel for the Africa Blockchain conference. The two-day conference is expected to belly up support for a type of technology that has raised suspicion and hype in equal measure, writes JEFF MBANGA.

Ever since Bank of Uganda warned the public against trading in crypto currencies such as bitcoin, arguably the most popular digital asset on the blockchain platform, this form of business has been received with a timid embrace.

ViVA International and Buganda Land Board officials during a tech customization workshop

But with the Blockchain conference, one expects a better understanding of the risks and opportunities. Basically, blockchain is an online platform that allows transactions in digital assets. The assets can vary from land to cars to currencies. One of the advantages of blockchain technology is that it opens up new markets for assets and reduces the cost and time of transactions.

Uganda has not been left behind and a number of businesses are already trading in blockchain technology. The following list, by no means exhaustive, represents some of the businesses dealing in blockchain technology in Uganda.

ViVA International

If there is one thing that Buganda kingdom has had challenges with, it is cleaning up its land registry of fraudsters. To try and solve this problem, Buganda Land Board (BLB), the land registry arm of Buganda kingdom, signed an agreement with ViVa International, an international technology firm, to get landowners within the boards system into a more secure online platform, where duplication of land titles is nearly impossible.

ViVa Internationals introduction of smart electronic cards for landowners has made it hard for forgeries, but also laid the ground for integration into blockchain technology. This process of integrating landowners within BLBs system into blockchain technology should be completed before the end of 2018.

According to ViVa International, Each registered BLB landowner will be provided an exclusive blockchain identity, populated with his or her land records and biometric (palm vein) identification.

The user will also be given vault storage capability, so they can upload and securely store their other important documents like birth certificates, drivers license, and bank account information.

There are a number of advantages that the landowners will enjoy if they sign up with blockchain, ViVa International says.

This will allow landowners to go to a bank for a loan and prove to the bank that they are who they say they are, and that they have a valid title to their land, with only a Land Electronic card, and without turning over any documents, the company said.

There will be an opportunity for BLB to enter into the bitcoin space too. ViVa International says BLB will deposit a certain number of bitcoin tokens into the account upon registration.

These tokens can be used to pay for identity transactions, or allowed to grow in value through appreciation. In this way, the owner can enter the bitcoin economy in a controlled, no-risk way, and learn about how it operates.

Great Lakes Coffee

On the foothills of Mount Elgon in eastern Uganda, farmers sweat it out by plowing the rich soils to plant coffee, waiting for the proceeds from their harvest to make ends meet.

The farm-gate prices compared to the true value of their coffee are depressing. Ugandas coffee industry is crowded with all kinds of middlemen. Some say there can be up to eight different middlemen between the farmer and the export market.

The middlemen out-bargain the farmers by paying them peanuts while they themselves demand a higher price from the next agent. In the end, farmers get very little. That is not all. Since the middlemen are largely motivated by greed to make as much money as possible, proper standards of the coffee are ignored.

Great Lakes Coffee, a Ugandan coffee-exporting company, is trying to solve that problem. The company has adopted blockchain technology to try and fix this problem.

Late last year, Great Lakes Coffee partnered bext360, a company that describes itself as one that develops technologies to streamline critical supply chains in emerging economies, and Coda Coffee, a Denver-based coffee roaster, to offer farmers more.

Under the partnership, bext360 undertook a pilot programme where bextmachines were deployed in eastern Uganda with Great Lakes Coffee at the washing stations on its farm, allowing farmers to deposit their coffee cherries for analysis and paid for their harvest.

In April, bext360 said: Using machine vision, artificial intelligence along with blockchain technology from Stellar.org, the bextmachine evaluates and sorts coffee cherries and parchment, based on quality (farmers with bigger and riper cherries are compensated more).

The machine then links this output to special crypto tokens, tracking the produce across its lifespan, and in this case to where the coffee was roasted in Denver, Colorado, USA by Coda Coffee. Each evaluation and transaction relating to the coffee  including farmer identification, quality, purchasers and payouts  is recorded on the blockchain providing complete visibility to end consumers.

The company announced that it had released the worlds first blockchain-traced coffee.

Be Forward car importing firm

There is a new currency that the public can use to buy vehicles - bitcoin. Be Forward, one of the most popular online vehicle importing firms, now allows customers to buy cars using bitcoin.

Be Forward has a partnership with Coinify, an international bitcoin processor, to allow customers purchase cars using crypto currencies. According to Be Forward, interested clients can inform the companys sales representative of their intention to buy cars using bitcoin.

According to Be Forward, the conversion rate from the United States dollar to bitcoin is valid for 15 minutes after you proceed to check-in.

Coinify says Bitcoin can be sent anywhere in the world with much lower fees in a matter of seconds. This will make it faster to confirm your payment and arrange the product shipment consecutively. Customers could also save the expensive transfer fee. Be Forward imports cars mainly from Japan.

Modularity Grid Mandulis energy

One of the most common debates on the electricity industry is the amount of money consumers pay in power tariffs. From big manufacturers to small barber shops, the cost of power tends to eat up a sizeable chunk of their profit margins.

To bring down power tariffs, government is trying to come up with a number of initiatives, one of them being able to create more demand power for the excess available power.

The argument is that the more people demand for power, the lower the tariffs will fall because there will be little excess power. This is where Modularity Grid platform, which is co-founded by Mandulis Energy Limited, comes in.

Mandulis Energy says it is developing 8MW of power (16 sites with 500kW each) that use gasification to turn agricultural residues into base load power for micro grids in rural farming communities.

The project is being run by Mandulis, the French NGO ACTED with support also coming from USAIDs Power Africa Programme. According to the concept, the modularity grid platform uses artificial intelligence and blockchain for the control and management of electricity generation and distribution.

The company adds: For us, internet and electricity are inextricably linked.

Their connection enables us to provide homes, businesses and industries, with electricity that is not only productive but crucially, also efficient, reliable and affordable. Our aim is to unify the highly fragmented electricity market, on a single platform, with a user-centered solution, that addresses the energy trilemma.

These are still baby steps for Modularity Grid. But should this blockchain concept ease distribution and access to power, then the energy industry could see a concept that brings down power tariffs in Uganda.

jeff@observer.ug
The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Monday approached the Competition Commission of India against the multi-billion dollar deal between US-based Walmart and Flipkart. Earlier this month, Flipkart sold its 77 per cent stake to Walmart in USD 16 billion deal. The CAIT is against this deal as it claims that the entry of US retail giant in India will create an unfair competition and hit small traders on offline platform.

In a statement, the traders body said that it has filed its objection petition in CCI against the deal. It said: "The merger of two companies will create an unfair competition and uneven level playing field and will indulge in predatory pricing, deep discounts and loss funding."

The CAIT said that Flipkart is a combination of exclusive tie-ups and preferential sellers where even online vendors face discriminatory conditions. After the deal, Walmart would sell its inventory on the platform of flipkart.com either directly or through a web of associated preferred sellers, it claimed. "This will create an unhealthy competition much to the disadvantage of both offline and online sellers," CAIT said.

Before approaching to CCI, the traders body wrote two letters to Commerce Minister Suresh Prabhu to express the business community's concerns. In one of its letters, the CAIT called Walmart 'a US version of The East India Company'. In the letter written recently, the traders body said: "Walmart is nothing but a US version of The East India Company which conquered the country."

The CAIT feared that Walmart will penetrate the retail trade through e-commerce and indulge in predatory pricing with deep discounting which will eventually create an uneven playing field for domestic players. "It will source globally the cheapest material and will dump in the country to wipe out the competition. As of now, no rule or law exists which can put restrictions on such practises of any company," the letter had stated.

It accused the US retail giant of having hidden agenda and said that the deal will "offend FDI policy once it is implemented and will create an uneven level playing field beside accomplishing hidden agenda of Walmart to reach out to offline trade through e-commerce way".

The body had also demanded that a national policy for e-commerce be framed at the earliest and a regulatory authority be constituted to regulate the online retail business in India. "...and till such time, the deal should be put in abeyance by the Government and a close scrutiny should be held in the entire deal," it had said.

Earlier on May 7, the traders body had sought Suresh Prabhu's intervention ahead of the Flipkart-Walmart deal. The CAIT had argued that the government should make it mandatory that such deals can take place only when 75 per cent of the sellers on an e-platform give their assent since they would be the worst sufferers.

(With inputs from PTI)
The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board's decision to permanently close the Vedanta Group's copper plant in Tuticorin following the protests and subsequent deaths is likely to have far-reaching economic fallout. The closure of the Sterlite Copper plant will not only hurt one third of domestic supply but will also lead to a temporary spurt in domestic prices, costing India around $2.8 billion in forex annually. As Vedanta's copper smelter serves over 800 small and medium enterprises, over 32,500 direct and indirect jobs could be affected. The company says the decision to shut down the plant would make India a net importer of copper. The state government has endorsed the board's decision, and also asked it to close the plant permanently, but the company is deciding on the future course of action. Vedanta Chairman Anil Agarwal, in an e-mail interview with BusinessToday.In talked about the allegations against the facility, and how the company plans to handle the situation.

The Tamil Nadu government has shut the Tuticorin plant "in public interest" according to the closure notice. What was you first reaction when you heard about this notice?

Closure of Sterlite Copper plant is an unfortunate development, especially since we have operated the plant for over 22 years in most transparent and sustainable way, contributing to the Tuticorin and the state's socio-economic development. We will decide on the future course of action.

Now that the plant is shut, what's your next course of action? How do you plan to deal with the current crisis?

We will decide on the future course of action, in due time.

There are multiple allegations of violation of environmental norms against the facility. How do you plan to address these allegations?

Sterlite Copper is among the best copper smelters in the world in terms of environmental practices and the entire plant complex uses the best in class technologies from around the world. We have invested more than Rs 500 crore in environmental protection measures which is among the highest spend by any industry standard.

We have the confidence to undergo scrutiny by any technical committee and prove to the people that all the allegations related to health concerns were done with mala fide intentions.

The exemption from environmental clearance in the SIPCOT facility is alleged to have been a case of gross favouritism?

Any industrial/land policy applies that to Sterlite will also apply to other industries in the state or the country. It is worth noting that Sterlite Copper has been subject to various stringent regulations like zero liquid discharge wherein not a single drop of waste water can be let out of the company premises whereas various other industries are allowed to let out their effluents. So it is baseless to state that Sterlite was in receipt of gross favaouritism.

Natives there say the effluents are causing cancer and other diseases?

We follow stringent environment norms. We have enough data and research reports to prove that none of the allegations are true. We are also open to scrutiny by any independent technical committee either from India or from any part of the world to prove that Sterlite Copper is among the best smelters in the world with world class environmental practices.

Vedanta is committed to sustainable operations across all business units. The company holds strong values and abides by every rule and regulation laid out by authorities while developing our assets. We sincerely follow zero harm, zero discharge and zero waste policy across units.

The protests against Sterlite Copper have taken a political hue. What do you think is fueling this?

We have strong reason to believe that the current protests are being orchestrated by anti-developmental activists.

Vedanta and Sterlite have faced similar protests from environmentalists in Niyamgiri as well as in Goa. How are these any different? And is there any correlation between these?

We are the only resources (mining) company in India. Secondly, we are the only company listed there and listed outside (LSE). And we have been openly championing about our country's natural resources and not depend on imported coal, or iron ore, copper, crude oil.

In the past too, other companies such as Tata, Maruti, Hindalco etc have faced such events. Unfortunately, misinformation spread by vested interests gets taken on the face value by the public at large, leading to such incidents. But it becomes dangerous when anti-social elements masquerade as activists.

You have mentioned foreign hands behind the protests. Who are you referring to? Can you name them?

We will leave it to the government authorities to conduct a detailed investigation into the forces behind the protests.

Do you plan to restart the plant at all now? Or, is there a plan to shift this plant elsewhere?

The need of the hour is the restore peace to the city of Thoothukudi and show our solidarity with the families that lost their loved ones in the violence. The company will decide on the future course of action after looking at all available options.

The second plant is also under scanner with allegations of non-compliance. Will you consider shifting the second plant to another location?

The company will decide on the future course of action after looking at all available options.

Most political parties have jumped into the fray. And all of them seem to be opposing the plant. How are you planning to handle this?

My request is to keep business away from politics. All over the world, successful economies don't mix politics with business. Having said that, it is very important for the government to get to the bottom of this episode.

The protests had been brewing for some time. Did you anticipate it would become violent and lead to a closure?

It is unfortunate what happened about 5 km away from our plants. When we had the information that something like this was being planned for the 22nd, we reached out to the court and the court was quick to inform the local administration for it to be prepared which led to the imposition of section 144 in the area.

Have you had any dialogue with protesters before and after the incident? What have been their primary demands?

Even before these protests started, the company followed the practice to invite people from various walks of life to visit our factory and witness first hand, the best practices adopted and in the same lines we had even extended the invitation to several activists and leaders but none of them visited. We are open to meeting and clarifying the doubts of the people of Thoothukudi about any aspect of the company's operations.
Pak Army to investigate Asad Durrani on his spy book

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Army on Monday set up a court of inquiry to investigate former director general of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) retired Lt Gen Asad Durranis collaboration with A.S. Dulat, former chief of Indian spy agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing), in what is being seen as a lightning-rod book project that has stirred heated controversy, and asked the government to impose travel ban on him (Gen Durrani).



A formal court of inquiry headed by a serving lieutenant general has been ordered to probe the matter in detail. Competent authority has been approached to place the name of Lieutenant General Asad Durrani (retd) on Exit Control List (ECL), ISPR Director General Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor tweeted.



Mr Durrani had earlier been called to the General Headquarters to provide his personal clarification over his involvement in the book project and the assertions that he has made in the book. The book The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI, and the Illusion of Peace was last week launched in India. It contains conversations between Mr Durrani and Mr Dulat that were mediated by an Indian journalist.



The two former spies have in the book touched upon some of thorny issues that have kept Pakistan-India ties strained for decades and at times pushed them to the brink of war. These issues include terrorism, particularly the Mumbai attacks, Kashmir, spy wars and the influence of defence bureaucracies and spy agencies in the two countries.



The military is taking it as a potential case of violation of Military Code of Conduct, which it says is applicable to all serving and retired military personnel. Section 55 of the Military Law, which relates to conduct unbecoming of an officer is considered to have a very wide scope.



The court of inquiry would look into the book and determine if its content and Mr Durranis involvement with the book was culpable and then based on its findings it would make recommendations to the army chief on how to proceed further with the matter.



In the worst-case scenario, former military officers fear, court martial proceedings could be initiated against him. If the army chief determines that there is sufficient ground to start court martial, then the process would begin with the recording of the summary of evidence.



It is the first stage in the process in which the court would examine the available evidence and find if some wrong has been committed, a retired military officer explained, adding it was more of an official inquiry.



Although no time frame has been provided for the court, but another retired officer said such courts usually worked on a daily basis.



The book contains several controversial statements attributed to Mr Durrani, including those on the independence enjoyed by ISI in its decision making, the 2011 US Special Forces Operation in which terror kingpin and Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden was eliminated, the possible eventual outcome of spy Kulbhushan Jadhavs case and probably the way the Kashmir movement was planned to be controlled, but many believe that he did not spill any classified secrets.



Defence analysts, however, say he could be at fault for not getting prior permission for the book and then not getting his part vetted and cleared by the army, which is the usual procedure.
Shannon Beaudry Kaneshige comes to Bodhi Research Group with 15 years of experience in cultural institutions, nonprofits, small businesses, and start-ups. Most recently Ms. Kaneshige consulted with environmental, charitable, and social justice organizations in Honolulu, Hawaii, assisting them with the creation of internal policy, business plans and program evaluations. Ms. Kaneshige has a Masters in Sociology.

"Shannon's background in sociology gives her a unique understanding of institutions and culture. Her work experience includes a considerable amount of professional writing and governance review within organizations," stated CEO, Dr. Ranjan Bhaduri. "Bodhi Research Group is about quality, integrity, and service. Ms. Kaneshige's work will uphold those characteristics, and she will contribute to the firm's success."

Bodhi Research Group is an independent, conflict-free firm that is fully focused on research and education in the alternative investments arena. Bodhi Research Group compliments the internal teams of Pensions, Endowments, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Foundations, Family Offices, and Financial Institutions that are investing in alternatives.
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From Robert Reich Blog

I spent last week at a conference in South Korea, during which time Trump went from seeking a meeting with Kim Jong Un to cancelling it, then suggesting it might be back on.

"What does Trump want?" South Korean officials at the conference kept asking me. Notably, no one asked what the United States wants. They knew it was all about Trump.

Trump's goal has nothing to do with peace on the Korean peninsula, or even with making America great again. It's all about making Trump feel great.

"They are respecting us again," Trump exulted to graduating cadets at the Naval Academy last Friday. "Winning is such a great feeling, isn't it? Nothing like winning. You got to win."

In truth, the United States hasn't won anything, in Korea or anywhere else. After 15 months of Trump at the helm, America is far less respected around the world than it was before.

The only thing that's happened is Trump is now making foreign policy on his own -- without America's allies, without Congress, even without the State Department. Trump may consider this a personal win but it hardly makes America safer.

Some earnest foreign policy experts are seeking to discover some bargaining strategy behind Trump's moves on North Korea. Hint: There's no strategy. Only a thin-skinned narcissist needing flattery and fearing ridicule.

Trump got excited about a summit with Kim when he thought it might win him praise, even possibly a Nobel Peace Prize. He got cold feet when he feared Kim might be setting Trump up for humiliating failure. Now he's back to dreaming about the Prize.

The delicate balance in Trump's brain between glorification and mortification can tip either way at any moment, depending on his hunches. All international relations become contests of personal dominance.

He rejected the 2015 Iran treaty for no apparent reason other than Obama had entered into it. Trump couldn't care less that by doing so he has harmed relations with our traditional allies, who pleaded with him to stay in. And he's undermined America's future credibility. Why would any nation (including North Korea) enter into a treaty with the United States if it can break it on the whim of a president who wants to one-up his predecessor?

Ditto with the Paris climate accord. Obama got credit for it, so Trump wants credit for unilaterally sinking it.

Trump has demanded that America's nuclear arsenal be upgraded. Why? Since 1970, the United States has been committed to nuclear nonproliferation. What changed? Trump. A more powerful arsenal makes him feel more powerful -- "respected again."

It's not about American interests in the world. It's about Trump's interests.

Wonder why Trump promised to lift trade sanctions on ZTE, China's giant telecom company? ZTE has been trading with North Korea and Iran, in violation of American policy. Everyone around Trump advised against lifting the sanctions.

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"Memorial Day is a time to remember, appreciate, and honor the selfless patriots who gave the ultimate sacrifice in service to freedom. At a time when our country seems so divided, we must not forget that it is because of their service and sacrifice that we live in the most free and prosperous nation on Earth." --Congressman Tom Garrett

It would be difficult to count all of the lies in the above statement. Let's just highlight a few.

Let's start with "most free."



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The British-based Legatum Institute, which ranks the United States 18th in overall "prosperity," ranks it 28th in "personal freedom."[i] The U.S.-based Cato Institute ranks the United States 24th in "personal freedom" and 11th in "economic freedom."[ii] The Canadian-based World Freedom Index ranks the United States 27th in a combined consideration of "economic," "political," and "press" freedoms. [iii] The U.S.-government-funded Freedom House ranks the United States 16th in "civil liberties."[iv] The French-based Reporters Without Borders ranks the United States 43rd in "press freedom."[v] The U.S.-based Heritage Foundation ranks the United States 18th in "economic freedom."[vi] The Spanish-based World Index of Moral Freedom ranks the United States 7th. [vii] The British-based Economist Magazine's Democracy Index has the United States in a three-way tie for 20th place. [viii] The CIA-funded Polity Data Series gives the U.S. democracy a score of 8 out of 10, but gives 58 other countries a higher score. [ix] Some of these sources' conceptions of freedom are at odds with each other, as well as with my own conception of a good society. The point is that virtually nobody, on the left or the right or anywhere else, ranks the United States as the leader in liberty, by any definition -- not even in the "economic liberty" of capitalism. Related, albeit inversely, to freedom is incarceration, where the United States does rank first in overall number of prisoners, and in per-capita rate of imprisonment (with the possible exception of the Seychelles Islands). [x]

Let's also consider "most . . . prosperous."

The United States has the largest nominal gross domestic product (GDP). [xi] In GDP based on purchasing power parity (PPP), however, the United States trails China and the European Union. [xii] (PPP is a means of calculating exchange rates between currencies that controls for variations in cost of living and pricing.) In neither measure of wealth is the United States a leader per capita. [xiii] And, even if it were, that wouldn't mean what it sounds like for most people in the United States, because this country with the biggest bucket of cash also has it distributed the most unequally of any wealthy nation, giving the United States both the biggest collection of billionaires [xiv] on earth and the highest or nearly highest rates of poverty and child-poverty among wealthy nations. [xv] The United States ranks 111th out of 150 countries for income equality, according to the CIA [xvi], or 100th out of 158, according to the World Bank [xvii], while for equitable distribution of wealth (a very different measure from income), according to one calculation [xviii], the United States ranks 147th out of 152 countries.

In December 2017, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty issued a report on the United States that included these lines:[xix]

US infant mortality rates in 2013 were the highest in the developed world.

Americans can expect to live shorter and sicker lives, compared to people living in any other rich democracy, and the "health gap" between the US and its peer countries continues to grow.

US inequality levels are far higher than those in most European countries.

Neglected tropical diseases, including Zika, are increasingly common in the USA. It has been estimated that 12 million Americans live with a neglected parasitic infection. A 2017 report documents the prevalence of hookworm in Lowndes County, Alabama.

The US has the highest prevalence of obesity in the developed world.

In terms of access to water and sanitation the US ranks 36th in the world.

America has the highest incarceration rate in the world, ahead of Turkmenistan, El Salvador, Cuba, Thailand and the Russian Federation. Its rate is nearly five times the OECD average. [OECD means the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, an organization that has 35 member countries.]

The youth poverty rate in the United States is the highest across the OECD with one quarter of youth living in poverty compared to less than 14 percent across the OECD.

The Stanford Center on Inequality and Poverty ranks the most well-off countries in terms of labor markets, poverty, safety net, wealth inequality, and economic mobility. The US comes in last of the top 10 most well-off countries, and 18th amongst the top 21.

In the OECD the US ranks 35th out of 37 in terms of poverty and inequality.

According to the World Income Inequality Database, the US has the highest Gini rate (measuring inequality) of all Western Countries.

The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality characterizes the US as "a clear and constant outlier in the child poverty league." US child poverty rates are the highest amongst the six richest countries -- Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden and Norway.

So, not most prosperous, not by a very long shot. What about opportunity or social mobility? Isn't the "freedom" of the United States in fact bound up with the idea that, while most people are not the wealthiest, any of them could become the wealthiest with enough hard work? In reality, while there are always exceptions, there are less upward mobility and more firmly entrenched economic classes in the United States than in other wealthy countries. [xx]

Now, consider "gave the ultimate sacrifice."

The fact is that the "volunteer" military is the one "volunteer" activity on earth that one is not permitted to cease volunteering for. Desertion means punishment. Nor is the expected end date of a contract enforceable if the military should happen to choose to extend it. Nor is signing up in the first place always strictly voluntary.

According to the Not Your Soldier Project:

"The majority of military recruits come from below-median income neighborhoods.

"In 2004, 71 percent of black recruits, 65 percent of Latino recruits, and 58 percent of white recruits came from below-median income neighborhoods.

"The percentage of recruits who were regular high school graduates dropped from 86 percent in 2004 to 73 percent in 2006.

"[The recruiters] never mention that the college money is difficult to come by -- only 16 percent of enlisted personnel who completed four years of military duty ever received money for schooling. They don't say that the job skills they promise won't transfer into the real world. Only 12 percent of male veterans and 6 percent of female veterans use skills learned in the military in their current jobs. And of course, they downplay the risk of being killed while on duty."

In a 2007 article Jorge Mariscal cited analysis by the Associated Press that found that "nearly three-fourths of [U.S. troops] killed in Iraq came from towns where the per capita income was below the national average. More than half came from towns where the percentage of people living in poverty topped the national average."

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The decision to deploy four multinational battalions in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on the basis of rotation was taken after NATO summit in Warsaw in 2016. The core of the contingent in Latvia is Canada, in Lithuania -- Germany, in Estonia -- the United Kingdom and in Poland -- the United States. However, this decision also had some negative consequences, especially for local residents of the host nations.

The authorities of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have signed special agreements on the legal status of foreign military personnel before arrival of NATO soldiers in the Baltic States. These soldiers in the Baltics have a number of benefits. They enjoy legal immunity, are freed from paying taxes, and they also have a possibility to buy food and alcohol at favorable prices in specially-built stores.

It sounds good, but the inhabitants of the Baltic republics are unhappy with the fact that their authorities have granted the NATO soldiers with a special status. Foreign military personnel were found guilty of dozens of episodes connected with disturbance of public order in the past two years.

It's scandalous that these hooligans have suffered very mild punishment for their criminal actions--or absolutely avoided responsibility. The list of such crimes is too wide. Here are only the main ones.

Three British army officers drunkenly clashed with the Latvian police on a night out in Riga in April, 2018. One of the junior officers was detained for a couple of hours while another was repelled with pepper spray during the "altercation" on a boozy outing in the Latvian capital.

Also it is possible to mention a case of debauch arranged by drunken German soldiers in the Lithuanian city of Rukla last year. A quarrel arose between the soldiers. Verbal clarification of the relationship had quickly developed into a fight. As a result -- one of the servicemen was hospitalized.

One more incident occurred with drunken British soldiers who had staged a fight with local residents in Riga's McDonald's. The British who started the fight had hastily left Latvia to avoid criminal liability for beating the Latvian Axel Aizkalns. It became known only this month that the British Military Court decided to impose only a fine per culprit.

Let's continue the list of crimes -- the fight was staged by five drunken Czech military in February 2017 in Klaipeda; four drunken German soldiers were beaten in Jonava in June 2017. Drunken Dutch soldiers staged a fight over the bill in the restaurant a month later.

All brawlers eventually went to their homeland: the Lithuanian police detained them, but each time released. Lithuania and other Baltic countries have no right to prosecute NATO servicemen for crimes committed in the Baltic territories.

It can be assumed that the soldiers for the international battalions are chosen from the most undisciplined and aggressive groups of persons. NATO leaders send them to the Baltic States to avoid such crimes in their home countries.

By the way, all information on drunken debauches of NATO soldiers is being kept secret. Thugs are being just expelled from the Baltic countries to their homeland. The main reasons for these crimes are called "Moscow's hand" and "Kremlin propaganda", which are trying to blacken the international NATO defenders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia from Russian occupation.

But it looks like as if a behavior of these "defenders" in the Baltic countries is a real occupation, but not a protection.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
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The United States should help its allies and partners in Europe to strengthen their defense in the face of Russian aggression. The call for this is contained in the draft of law on the policy and budget of the US Department of Defense for a new fiscal year. It was supported by the Senate Committee of the US Congress on Armed Services on 25 of May.

According to the explanatory materials, China and Russia are recognized as strategic rivals. The draft of this law says that the policy of the United States is to apply an integrated approach to strengthening the defense of allies and partners in Europe. The main goal is to deter, and, if necessary, to react to Russian aggression.

Senators also want to call on the Minister of Defense to consider new steps for strengthening the advanced presence in Europe.

At the same time, the House of Representatives adopted the draft of defense budget on Thursday. This draft provides $ 6.3 billion for the deterrence initiative in Europe to increase the number of American military personnel based in the Baltic region.

It should be noted that the militarization of Eastern Europe by United States has become the most significant military activity since the end of the Cold War. By the way, the leaders of the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance increasingly talk about possible armed conflict with Russia.

The initiative to deploy and expand the presence of US troops and heavy weapons in Europe is supported in Poland and the Baltic countries. They argue that militarization will strengthen European security from the Russian threat.

Unfortunately, there is also a negative side of this situation -- the strengthening of the US military presence strengthens at the same time the dependence of other countries on Washington. The risk of armed conflict with Russia is also increasing.

It is necessary to understand that the economies of our countries (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia) heavily depend on EU loans and grants. However, governments invest funds collected from taxes and other budget revenues in the arms race. We can trace the development of military infrastructure and combat potential, military budgets are steadily growing; the number of foreign troops in the Baltic region also increases. We as ordinary people are being told endlessly about the aggression of Russia, which still does not attack.

The reality is that military spending forces the government to reduce spending on our health care, culture, education and other social programs. Thus, there is no need to remind that there is a massive outflow of population from Latvia. And now this beautiful country is the leader in terms of population decline in the EU. Increasingly dissatisfied teachers and doctors organize spontaneous rallies in Lithuania -- they just do not have enough salaries for a decent life.

Against the background of the suffering of ordinary people, our government increases spending on the military -- new facilities are being built, multimillion-dollar deals on the purchase of weapons are being concluded.

Of course, we must be ready for war and be able to defend ourselves. But the situation is dangerous when people start to think that government has just forgot about them. It is sad to watch our homeland is loosing its independence. Instead of providing balanced and profitable policy, our authorities are completely subordinate to Washington.

But let's be honest -- President Trump protects only the interests of America, and he does not care about small European countries like Lithuania and Latvia. It seems that the time has come to resolve urgent economic and social issues. Thinking about defense, one should not forget about the life of ordinary people.
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From Alon Ben-Meir Website



In Syria Israeli military are on' high alert' after 'abnormal' Iranian military activity was allegedly spotted in Syria.

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In early April, Trump stated that the US should withdraw its military forces from Syria. Secretary of Defense Mattis seems to have persuaded Trump to postpone this plan for at least six months, citing strategic necessity, with which I fully agree. Beyond that, however, US forces must not only remain in Syria, but be further augmented to make the US a credible player in shaping a permanent solution to the war that ravaged the country, ensuring the security of our allies, and stabilizing the region.

We must carefully review the advantages and disadvantages of leaving or staying, especially now that the turmoil in the region is likely to intensify rather than subside in the wake of the US' withdrawal from the Iran deal. The reasons for staying and further boosting US forces in Syria are manifold.

First, the pull out of US forces within the next six months -- at a time when Iran is in the process of establishing several permanent military bases in Syria, loaded with medium and long-range missiles that can reach any part of Israel -- is a recipe for war between Israel and Iran. Although Israel has and will continue to attack Iranian military installations in Syria, the presence and further augmentation of US forces will, in and of itself give credence to the US' recent demands that Iran leave Syria and stop threatening Israel's existence with impunity.

Second, whether or not Iran continues to adhere to the terms of the nuclear deal, the American withdrawal from it would motivate Iran to further destabilize the region, support extremist groups, and accelerate its ballistic missiles program. The question is, will Iran end its malignant activities and walk away from the central pillars of its foreign and security policies, including its involvement in Syria and Yemen? There is no doubt that the continued and enlarged American military presence in Syria would force Tehran to think twice before it further entrenches itself in the country, fearing American retaliation that Iran cannot take lightly.

Third, for decades our allies in the region (the Gulf states, Jordan, and Israel) have and continue to depend to various degrees on the US' protection of their national security. It is true that the US has a huge military and naval presence in the Mediterranean and the Gulf, but America's beefed up presence in Syria, where the real battle for dominance between adversarial powers in the region is taking place, is central. Without American military presence, the US will not be in a position to influence the development of events post-ISIS' defeat. It will be left to Russia, Iran, and to a lesser extent Turkey to determine the future of Syria, when in fact American allies in the region will be adversely affected in one form or another by the nature of any outcome.

Fourth, the continuing military presence of the US and its further enlargement will prevent ISIS from reemerging in Iraq and Syria. No one should mistake the defeat of ISIS in the battlefield with its ideological durability. They have already emerged in many countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe, and remain a menace to America's friends and allies in the region. The US' military presence on Syrian soil has both practical and symbolic implications that ISIS cannot ignore, given their experience in fighting US forces, which was the most significant factor that led to their ultimate defeat.

Fifth, nothing will deter the main antagonistic players in Syria -- the Assad regime, Russia, Iran, and Turkey -- other than a robust American military presence. These countries understand the language of force better than anyone else. I am not suggesting the US should ready itself to fight against any of these powers. The mere American presence, however, sends a clear message that the US intends to play a weighty role in the search for a solution that will protects its own national interests and those of its allies.

Sixth, since the advent of the Obama administration and now under Trump, the US by its own inconsequential involvement has sent a clear signal that it has no geostrategic or security interest to be deeply involved in Syria's civil war. The US merely settled on providing marginal financial and limited military training to the rebels in their fight against the Assad regime. This indecisive approach was nothing but a dismal failure. The absence of American military muscle in Syria has marginalized the US while allowing Russia, Iran, and Turkey to disregard the US without suffering any consequences.

The robust American military presence in Syria allowed Iran to play a major role in the country and secure a contiguous landmass from the Gulf to the Mediterranean; gave an entirely free hand to Russia, making it the ultimate arbiter in the country; emboldened Turkey to conduct massive military incursions into Syria aimed at establishing a permanent presence in the country; and raised serious doubts about America's commitment to its allies' security in the region.

This dangerous slide cannot be reversed by simply bombing some of Assad's chemical facilities and storage, as Trump has done twice in the past because of Assad's use of chemical weapons against his own civilians. Although killing nearly 4,000 Syrians over the past seven years with chemical weapons is atrocious and beyond the pale, what about the more than 500,000 who were mercilessly slaughtered by conventional weapons?

America's military absence is a factor, and no one who knows the dynamic of the conflict, the power plays, and the continuing volatility of the region can suggest otherwise. Even a cursory review of the conflicts currently raging in the Middle East suggests that the US' stature is diminishing, and we are much worse off today than we were in the year 2003.

The disastrous Iraq War has massively destabilized the region and we are still suffering from its consequences. The war gave rise to the bitter Sunni-Shiite conflict, Iran was handed a golden opportunity to entrench itself in Iraq and subsequently in Syria while playing a significant role in the civil war in Yemen, it galvanized the emergence of ISIS, and thrust the Middle East into turmoil, the end of which is far from in sight.

Yes, history is instructive, and the US, regardless of its global geostrategic national interests, cannot involve itself in every conflict. That said, the US must not be paralyzed by past misguided policies. The US has moral and practical obligations to carefully examine each conflict on its own and determine its long and short-term ramifications if we act, and what would happen if we don't.

The US cannot impact the development of events in Syria without a credible and strong military backing to deter any adversary from acting in any way deemed inconsistent with the US' and our allies' interests. I hope that Secretary of Defense Mattis, who seems to have a clear grasp of the reality in Syria, will convince Trump to embrace this approach and prevail.

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From Paul Craig Roberts Website



Vladimir Putin

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Russian president Vladimir Putin's speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Conference last weekend shows the Russian government's ensnarement by neoliberal economic policy. Putin defended globalism and free trade, and he warned that crisis will result from the breakup of the global system.

In fact, crisis is the result of globalism and neoliberal economics. For Russia neoliberal economics means both economic and political crisis.

Neoliberal economics produces domestic economic crisis, because it diverts employment in high-productivity, high-value added activities, such as manufacturing and tradeable professional skills such as software engineering, from developed economies, such as the US, UK, and Europe, to economies where wages are much lower. Neoliberal economics is also the basis for financialization, which diverts the economic surplus from real investment into debt service. Together these devastating impacts of neoliberal economics kill economic growth. Just look at the no-growth experience of the Western world in the 21st century, where growth has been limited to the prices of financial assets while well-paid employment disappears.

The problem is not only that neoliberal economics is a device for financialization and the ruination of populations for the benefit of oligarchs and global corporations. The larger problem is that The Russian government's belief in neoliberal economics makes Russia impotent to withstand pressure from Washington. Russia cannot stand up to Washington or even to Israel, because the government believes that Russia's economic success depends upon being integrated into the Western economic system. To keep the door open, Russia continually accepts provocations which encourages more provocations.

There are situations in which this is statesmanlike and commendable, but not this situation because the crisis goes beyond economics. Putin's prudent diplomacy is perceived in Washington as weakness. The neoconservatives who control the US government are committed to US hegemony. They are already over-filled with hubris. Each time they witness Putin back away, they become more confident that they can, with more pressure, force Russia into submission.

For example, the neoconservatives read Putin's stand-down in the face of Trump's missile attack on Syria, an attack based on an obvious fake news event, as a lack of nerve. Putin's acceptance of Washington's attack was very damaging to Russia's credibility with Washington's neoconservatives. What they saw was Putin accepting an attack on an ally to whose defense Russia had committed armed forces. What is the point of clearing Syria of American supported jihadists and then allowing Washington and Israel to attack Syria?

I have explained Putin's stand-down as his gamble that Washington's aggression could break apart Washington's European empire as long as Russia does not exercise force in a way that would scare the Europeans. In other words, Putin is behaving carefully, not rashly. This is admirable, especially as Putin has super weapons against which the West has no defense.

My concern is what happens if Putin's bet doesn't pay off, and the effect of Putin's restraint is to convince the neoconservatives that Russia can be bullied into submission. I do not think Russia can be bullied into submission, but the neoconservatives will have Russia in a corner where Russia has to fight or surrender. Russia will fight, and it will be the end of us all.

In other words, if Putin's admirable strategy fails, the neoconservatives, who are already more full of hubris than was Hitler when he sent the Wehrmacht marching off into Russia, will push Russia to the point of war.

Therefore, I have suggested a different strategy: that Putin put his foot down. For example, he could stop accommodating US and Israeli attacks on Syria. These attacks are illegal under international law. They are the actions of war criminals under the Nuremberg Standard established by the US itself. Putin could supply Syria with the S-300 missile defense system, but at the request of Washington and Israel Putin has not fulfilled the contract, another example to the neoconservatives of Putin's lack of nerve, a misreading that encourages Washington in its provocations.

A foot-down strategy carries the risk of scaring the Europeans about Russian aggressiveness, which is the way the presstitute Western media would report it. However, this strategy does not carry the risk of convincing hubristic neoconservatives that Putin is a p*ssy. The effect on Washington could be positive and push Washington back to the time when the US was respectful of the Soviet Union. The effect on Europe could be to make Europe aware that the conflict that Washington is initiating is what threatens Europe, not a threat from Russia.

The evidence is clear that the neoconservatives are discounting Russia as nothing more than a short-term obstacle to US world hegemony. Let's attempt to weigh some of the evidence in behalf of Putin's diplomatic strategy. French President Macron, Washington's puppet, who has French troops in the US-occupied part of Syria, is toasted by RT for going to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum with the mission of "keeping Russia in the European family."

Is Macron, who has French troops in Washington-occupied Syria, breaking with Washington, or is Macron playing Putin along by encouraging Putin in his belief that Europe will break from Washington and welcome Russia into the "common European home," thus encouraging more concessions from Putin.

Is the Russian government being deluded into making more concessions and accepting more requests that serve the agenda of Washington and Israel instead of Russia and her allies? Washington's latest request is that Putin encourage Iran to withdraw its military contingents from Syria. Putin did as requested, but Iran refused on the grounds that, unlike the US, France, and Washington's mercenary jihadists, Iran is in Syria at Syria's requests. The result is that Washington and Israel, both of which continue to attack Syria, have succeeded in creating tensions between Russia and Iran.

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Trump is fine-tuning 21st century authoritarianism.

Conservatives love authoritarian voters. Authoritarians come in two varieties-- people who are dominators, who love to tell people what to do and how to think and people who love to and need to be dominated and told what to do. Authoritarians of both varieties are brutally cruel.

Robert Altemeyer, a world renowned expert on Authoritarians explains, "the hostility you find so often in authoritarian followers is based upon more than anything else they are just being very frightened; and feeling that they are the good guys, they are god's designated hitters, and so they can go and attack whom they want because it's all in a good cause." Altemeyer describes authoritarian followers as being self-righteous.

This authoritarianism plays beautifully into the hands of anti-regulation, anti-government types, like the Koch brothers.

The problem is that certain authoritarian, top-down institutions are inconvenient for corporate authoritarians, like big government and even some iterations of religions. Now, corporate authoritarians do not have natural followers, outside their employee based. So they parasitize by tapping the authoritarianism of evangelicals and white supremacists.

Trump is playing right into this fine-tuning by attacking big government-- one of the authoritarian forms anti-regulation corporatists oppose. And Trump attacks the media and law enforcement agencies, also authoritarian powers that are inconvenient to corporatists.

So Trump is engaging in a culling of authoritarian forces. By intensifying the enmity towards government, towards media, even towards the Pope, Trump is strengthening the bond between right wing conservatism and evangelicals and white supremacists. The face of this ugly concoction is a mix of billionaires and evangelical leaders, like Franklin Graham.

What will the future look like with this corporate-evangelical authoritarianism?

Privatization will expand: When corporations, wealth and authoritarian religion are celebrated, privatization, especially privatization with religious ties will continue to grow.

Wealth inequality will continue to worsen: Authoritarian followers will even embrace this as signs of the worthiness of the dominators they obey.

Erosion of Government: Trump and conservatives are aggressively undermining the institutions of government-- laws, the system of justice

Endangering journalists and the media:

Government of and by the people is a relatively new idea, a result of the idea of democracy. Democracy has no place in the world of billionaires, the ultra wealthy and Evangelicals.

The problem is, the current leadership of the Democratic party also embraces wealth and corporate influence as their means for holding on to their deck chairs on the titanic.

The solution to this world-wide affliction is to embrace the bottom-up aspects of being human that support democracy and equality. That is what humans evolved, over millions of years, to become. Civilization brought surpluses that led to militarization and policing to protect the surpluses which authoritarians claimed, where narcissists were encouraged to take, take take.

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In April, a year after its introduction in the US Senate by Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the US House of Representatives passed the End Banking for Human Traffickers Act, "an act to increase the role of the financial industry in combating human trafficking."

Of four quick and easy tests for bad legislation, the bill passes three:

First, it's "bipartisan." While many construe bipartisanship as a good thing, "the best of both worlds," in practice the opposite is usually true. Each party gives the other the worst thing it wants -- control of this or that piece of your life -- in trade. In this case, no such trade is really required, because Rubio and Warren are aligned on both elements of the issue. Both of them want control of your genitalia and both of them want control of your bank account.

Secondly, it exploits moral panic to discourage scrutiny of its actual effects. In this case, the trending buzz word is "human trafficking." In theory, that term means sexual enslavement of adults and/or sexual exploitation of children for profit. In practice, it always boils down to just another excuse for harassing adult sex workers trying to make a living and, contra all the "for the chillllllldren" posturing, taking food out of the mouths of THEIR children (if not taking away their children entirely).

Thirdly, it doesn't even bother to hide the fact that it's yet another attempt to conscript supposedly private sector actors into conducting (and reporting on) intrusive search-like activity that, if done directly by government employees in similar en masse fashion, might be held accountable to inconvenient standards like probable cause, warrants, etc.

The only test the bill fails is the "warm, fuzzy, and/or patriotic-sounding acronym" test. EBHTA? No CASH (Cute Acronym Skills Hero) bonus for the congressional staffer assigned to come up with that title.

The bad news is that if this bill passes the Senate and is signed into law, sex workers -- already pushed to the economic margins in various ways by law enforcement, social stigma, and the poverty that often precedes the sex work career path -- are going to have an even harder time opening or keeping checking or savings accounts at traditional banks, and therefore a harder time successfully applying for credit lines or home or car loans.

The good news is that the bill, whether it passes or not, will inevitably strengthen the counter-economy. Sex workers will turn to (or remain with) barter, cash, and cryptocurrency rather than trust what wealth they have with institutions subject to regulation by the likes of Warren and Rubio.

That eternal counter-economy serves workers, traders, and entrepreneurs as opposed to empowering politicians and their cronies. The Soviet Union ruthlessly attempted, and utterly failed, to suppress it for 70 years, even when at times it was the only thing standing between the Russian people and starvation.

Rubio and Warren and friends will fail too. Unfortunately, working people are the eggs they break in pursuit of an authoritarian omelet.
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
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Donald Trump supporters

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Why are Donald Trump's die-hard followers so fanatically steadfast in their support for such a flawed man? Because they are just like him, and his presidency validates their own distorted values and myopic view of the world.

"Others" have been closing in on them. Foreigners are encroaching on their territory by way of physical space, race, religion, language and lifestyle. Fear is the common thread. But now, after years of feeling repressed and persecuted for their beliefs and attitudes, they have at last been set free to reveal what they really think about their "elitist" jailers.

Thus, Trump is their spokesman hero, a liberator who perfectly articulates everything they had to keep bottled up and hidden away. He alone has freed them from their social and political dungeon. They have, in effect, connected their psychic wellbeing and self-worth to one person, a savior they would follow to the gates of perdition.

Trump wasn't that far off the mark when saying he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and people would still love him. Why? Because without Trump they simply would not be.

And that makes them members of a cult.
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This article originally appeared at TomDispatch.com. To receive TomDispatch in your inbox three times a week, click here.

Once upon a time, dystopian fiction was left to the novelists: Aldous Huxley, George Orwell, Margaret Atwood, Philip K. Dick. And once upon a time, the futuristic dreams of the military were distinctly upbeat. They were of generals leading armies to victory, of air power causing the morale of enemy nations to collapse (with surrender on the menu), of admirals dominating the seven seas with a fleet beyond compare -- 11 aircraft carriers included -- that would awe the rest of the world.

That was then; this is now. These days you're likely to hear the word "victory" in Washington about as often as "peace." In fact, according to the Washington Post, the futuristic phrase of the moment at the Pentagon, the one regularly on the lips of "senior officers," is the dystopian "infinite war." In translation: almost 17 years after the administration of George W. Bush launched its Global War on Terror and American military conflicts began to spread across the Greater Middle East, Asia, and Africa, no end is in sight. Ever. And that's not just a passing phrase in the Pentagon's arsenal of words. As TomDispatch regular Nick Turse makes clear today, as early as 2016, the Pentagon's fantasists were already producing dystopian scenarios of the first order, bloodcurdling tales of a forever-war-fighting future as an over-muscled replication of the present never-ending war on terror. They were already, that is, beginning to write their own Brave New World (of War), their own 2084, their own The Lieutenant's Tale, their own Do Drones Dream of Electric Terrorists?; they were, in short, creating stunningly well-funded gravestones for the American (and global) future. But let Turse tell you the rest. Tom

Narco-Corruption, ISIS 3.0, and the Terror Drone Attack That Never Happened

Pentagon Documents Detail Dystopian Dangers

By Nick Turse For almost 20 years, U.S. drone warfare was largely one-sided. Unlike Afghans and Yemenis, Iraqis and Somalis, Americans never had to worry about lethal robots hovering overhead and raining down missiles. Until, that is, one appeared in the skies above Florida. But that's a story for later. For now, let's focus on a 2017 executive order issued by President Trump, part of his second attempt at a travel ban directed primarily at citizens of Muslim-majority nations. It begins: "It is the policy of the United States to protect its citizens from terrorist attacks." That sentence would be repeated in a January report from the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States." Meant to strengthen the president's case for the travel ban, it was panned for its methodological flaws, pilloried for its inaccuracies, and would even spur a lawsuit by the civil rights organization, Muslim Advocates, and the watchdog group, Democracy Forward Foundation. In their complaint, those groups contend that the report was "biased, misleading, and incomplete" and "manipulates information to support its anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim conclusions." To bolster the president's arguments for restricting the entry of foreigners into the United States, the DOJ/DHS analysis contained a collection of case summaries. Examples included: the Sudanese national who, in 2016, "pleaded guilty to attempting to provide material support to ISIS"; the Uzbek who "posted a threat on an Uzbek-language website to kill President Obama in an act of martyrdom on behalf of ISIS"; the Syrian who, in a plea agreement, "admitted that he knew a member of ISIS and that while in Syria he participated in a battle against the Syrian regime, including shooting at others, in coordination with Al Nusrah," an al-Qaeda offshoot. Such cases cited in the report, hardly spectacular terror incidents, were evidently calculated to sow fears by offering a list of convicted suspects with Muslim-sounding names. But the authors of the report simply looked in the wrong places. They could have found startling summaries of truly audacious attacks against the homeland in a collection of U.S. military documents from 2016 obtained by TomDispatch via the Freedom of Information Act. Those files detail a plethora of shocking acts of terrorism across the United States including mass poisonings, the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and that "People's Armed Liberation (PAL) attack on U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) headquarters in Tampa, Florida, [by] a drone-launched missile." That's right! A drone-launched missile attack! On CENTCOM's Florida headquarters! By a terrorist group known as PAL! Wondering how you missed the resulting 24/7 media bonanza, the screaming front page headlines in the New York Times, the hysterics on Fox & Friends, the president's hurricane of tweets? Well, there's a simple explanation. That attack doesn't actually happen until May 2020. Or so says the summary of the 33rd annual Joint Land, Air, and Sea Strategic Special Program (JLASS-SP), an elaborate war game carried out in 2016 by students and faculty from the U.S. military's war colleges, the training grounds for its future generals and admirals. PALing Around with Terrorists The 2016 edition of JLASS-SP was played out remotely for weeks before culminating in a five-day on-site exercise at the Air Force Wargaming Institute at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama. It involved 148 students from the Air Force's Air War College, the Army War College, the Marine Corps War College, the Naval War College, the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy, the National War College, and the National Defense University's Information Resources Management College. Those up-and-coming officers -- some of whom will likely play significant roles in running America's actual wars in the 2020s -- confronted a future in which, as the script for the war game put it, "lingering jealousy and distrust of American power and national interests have made it politically and culturally difficult for the United States to act unilaterally." Here's the scene as set in JLASS-SP: while the U.S. is still economically and militarily powerful into the next decade, anxieties abound about increasing constraints on the country's ability to control, dictate, and dominate world affairs. "Even in the military realm... advances by others in science and technology, expanded adoption of irregular warfare tactics by both state and non-state actors, proliferation of nuclear weapons and long-range precision weapons, and growing use of cyber warfare attacks have increasingly constricted U.S. freedom of action," reads the war game's summary. While the materials used are "not intended to be an actual prediction of events," they are explicitly meant "to reflect a plausible depiction of major trends and influences in the world regions." Indeed, what's striking about the exercise is how -- though scripted before the election of Donald Trump -- it anticipated many of the fears articulated in the president's December 2017 National Security Strategy. That document, for instance, bemoans the potential dangers not only of regional powers like Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea, but also of "transnational threats from jihadist terrorists and transnational criminal organizations," undocumented immigrants, "drug traffickers, and criminal cartels [which] exploit porous borders and threaten U.S. security and public safety."

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Bioplastic Composites Market, New R&D Activities, Opportunities, Forecast 2023

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Bioplastics are derived from renewable feedstocks such as corn, sugarcane, and cellulose. The preference towards bio-based plastics has increased significantly, due to their eco-friendly nature, abundant availability of renewable feedstocks, and favorable government policies the aid the use of bioplastics in various industries. Moreover, bioplastics are widely applicable in rigid packaging, flexible packaging, textiles, consumer goods, agriculture, construction, electrical & electronics, and other industries. Furthermore, the fusion of bio-resources such as plant-derived natural fibers into bioplastic composite structures has gained traction in designing and engineering of bioplastic composites. The natural fibers used in the bioplastics help to enhance the specific properties such as stiffness & thermal behavior, reduce the price of bioplastics, improve the bio-based share of bioplastics, and refine their recyclability.For More Info, Get Sample :Environment-friendly properties of bioplastics and their high consumer acceptance significantly drive the growth of the global bioplastic market for injection molding. Furthermore, favorable government policy towards the use of bioplastics and adequate accessibility of renewable raw material sources fuel the market growth. However, high cost of bioplastics and their limited performance restrain the growth of the bioplastic composites market. On the contrary, decrease in dependency on petroleum resource and increase in R&D activities for bioplastic are expected to provide lucrative future opportunities for the market growth.The report segments the global bioplastic composites market for injection molding on the basis of polymer, fiber type, end-user industry, and geography. Based on polymer, the market is bifurcated into natural polymer and synthetic polymer. Natural polymer is further classified into polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA), polylactic acid (PLA), and others, whereas synthetic polymer is subsegmented into epoxy, polypropylene, and others. By fiber type, the market is divided into wood fiber composites and non-wood fiber composites. The wood fiber composites segment is further categorized into hardwood and softwood, while non-wood fiber composites is divided into flax, hemp, jute, and others. Depending on end-user industry, the market is fragmented into transportation, electrical & electronics, building & construction, aerospace & defense, consumer goods and others. Geographically, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.The key players operating in the market include Arkema, Mitsubishi Plastics, Inc., Huntsman Corporation, BASF SE, Toray Industries, Inc., Natureworks LLC, Corbion NV, Dow Chemical Company, and Solvay SA, Braskem.KEY BENEFITS Porters Five Force's analysis helps in analyzing the potential of buyers and suppliers and the competitive scenario of the industry for strategy building. It outlines the current trends and future scenario of the bioplastic composites market for injection molding from 2017 to 2023 to understand the prevailing opportunities and potential investment pockets. Major countries in each region have been mapped according to their individual revenue contribution to the global/regional market. An in-depth analysis of the current research & clinical developments within the market is provided along with the key dynamic factors. The key drivers, restrains, and opportunities and their detailed impact analyses have been elucidated in the study. The profiles of key players along with their key strategic developments have been enlisted in the report.Key Market SegmentsEnquire About Report :By Polymer Natural Polymer Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA) Polylactic Acid (PLA) Others Synthetic Polymer Epoxy Polypropylene OthersBy Fiber Type Wood Fiber Composites Hardwood Softwood Non-Wood Fiber Composites Flax Hemp Jute OthersBy End-User Industry Transportation Electrical & Electronics Building & Construction Aerospace & Defense Consumer Goods OthersBy Geography North America U.S. Canada Mexico Europe Germany France Spain Italy UK Rest of Europe Asia-Pacific China Japan India Australia Rest of Asia-Pacific LAMEA Brazil South Africa Saudi Arabia Rest of LAMEAAlso Request For Discount :Table Of Content CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION CHAPTER 2: EXECUTIVE SUMMERY CHAPTER 3: MARKET OVERVIEW CHAPTER 4: BIOPLASTIC COMPOSITES MARKET FOR INJECTION MOLDING MARKET, BY POLYMER CHAPTER 5: BIOPLASTIC COMPOSITES MARKET FOR INJECTION MOLDING MARKET, BY FIBER TYPE CHAPTER 6: BIOPLASTIC COMPOSITES MARKET FOR INJECTION MOLDING MARKET, BY END-USER INDUSTRY CHAPTER 7: BIOPLASTIC COMPOSITES MARKET FOR INJECTION MOLDING MARKET, BY REGION CHAPTER 8: COMPANY PROFILESAbout UsWe have a large database of quality and precise market research reports that will be very beneficial for your organization. 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Polymer-derived Ceramics Market 2018-2022 : Global Snapshot Analysis

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A new research study titled, Polymer-derived Ceramics Market 2018-2022 has been added to the comprehensive repository of Orbis Research.The polymer derived ceramics market is projected to have high growth with a CAGR of REDACTED, in terms of value, during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific is projected to be the fastest-growing and largest region. In 2016, Asia-Pacific was a substantial contributor of polymer derived ceramics in the global market. This is mainly due to the high growth in aerospace, industrial, energy, and semiconductor and electronics industries in the region. The increasing demand for industrial and aerospace OEMs industry coupled with developments in the semiconductor and electronics industry are likely to favor the regional PDCs growth. North America is the second largest region, in terms of value and volume. It comprises three major countries, namely the United States, Canada and Mexico, with high consumption of polymer derived ceramics. These polymer derived ceramics are used in applications such as aerospace, energy, industrial, and semiconductor and electronics. Europe, being a mature market, has moderate growth in polymer derived ceramics. Germany is the leading market in Europe, due to the increasing demand of PDCs in the aerospace, consumer goods, automotive, and construction industries. The presence of a large number of manufacturers and formulators in this region is likely to promote the growth of the polymer derived ceramics market.Download a PDF Sample of this Report @The global polymer derived ceramics market is segmented based on its types and end-use. The major types of PDCs considered in this study are SiC and Si3N4. These types can be used in end-use industries such as aerospace, energy, industrial, and semiconductor and electronics. Polymer derived ceramics have excellent strength compared to other traditional ceramics such as steel, alumina and alloys.As shown in Summary Table A the global market for polymer derived ceramics has increased from REDACTED in 2016 to REDACTED by 2022, at a CAGR of REDACTED during the forecast period. Demand for these types of materials is increasing in all the industry sectors analyzed in this study. Medical, automotive, and aerospace end-use industries accounted for a share of REDACTED in 2016 and are the largest and fastest-growing markets for polymer derived ceramics, with energy & power and electronics & semiconductors also having a significant share at REDACTED in 2016.Enquiry before buying report @Report Scope:The scope of the report covers the overview of the global market for polymer derived ceramics and analyses of global market trends, with data from 2015, considering the base year of 2016, and providing estimates for 2017 to 2022 with projection of CAGR in the forecast duration.The report includes discussion of technological, regulatory and economic trends that are affecting the market. Further, it explains the major drivers and regional dynamics of the global polymer derived ceramics market and current trends within the industry.The report includes discussion of end-use industries such as aerospace, industrial, energy, microelectronics and others.The report concludes with a special focus on the detailed profiles of the major vendors in the global polymer derived ceramics market.Access the complete report with TOC & List of Tables @Report Includes:- 58 data tables and 14 additional tables- An overview of the global market for polymer-derived ceramics within the industry- Analyses of global market trends, with data from 2016 and 2017, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2022- Segmentation of the global polymer-derived ceramics market by type, end-user industry and region, in value and volume terms- Assess market trends, issues and forecasts impacting the global polymer derived ceramics market- Discussion of technological, regulatory and economic trends that are affecting the market- Detailed profiles of the major vendors in the global polymer derived ceramics market including CeramTec, COI Ceramics, Inc., Japan Fine Ceramics Co., Kyocera and Plasma Processes, LLCCompanies Mentioned:ANTS CERAMICS PVT. LTD.CERAMTECCOI CERAMICS, INC.HITACHI CHEMICALS CO. LTD.JAPAN FINE CERAMICS CO.KiON Corp.KYOCERAMATECHNIPPON CARBON CO. LTD.PLASMA PROCESSES, LLCSTARFIRE SYSTEMS, INC.UBE INDUSTRIES LTD.Table of ContentChapter 1 IntroductionMarket DefinitionMarket SegmentationStudy and ObjectivesScope of the ReportIntended AudienceMethodology and Information SourcesGeographic BreakdownAnalyst's CredentialsRelated BCC Research ReportsChapter 2 Summary and HighlightsChapter 3 Market OverviewIntroductionSupply ChainMarket DynamicsDriversGrowing Polymer Derived Ceramics Market Due to its Process Ability Being EasyHigh Demand from Aerospace IndustryRestraintsHigher Price Due to Increasing CustomizationOpportunitiesTechnological Advancements in CeramicsGrowth of Nanotechnology in Polymer-Derived Ceramics Owing to Its Superior PropertiesChapter 4 Market Breakdown by TypeIntroductionSiCSi3N4OthersChapter 5 Market Breakdown by End-use IndustryIntroductionAerospaceSemiconductor and ElectronicsEnergyIndustrialChapter 6 Market Breakdown by RegionOverviewNorth AmericaNorth America Polymer-derived Ceramics Market OverviewAsia-PacificAsia-Pacific Polymer-derived Ceramics Market OverviewEuropeEurope Polymer-derived Ceramics Market OverviewRest of the World (RoW)Rest of the World Polymer-derived Ceramics MarketSouth AmericaMiddle East and AfricaChapter 7 Competitive LandscapeIndustry Structure and OverviewMarket Ranking of Top 5 CompaniesPorter's Five Forces AnalysisThreat of New EntrantsThreat of SubstitutesBargaining Power of SuppliersBargaining Power of BuyersCompetitive RivalryPatents ReviewChapter 8 Company ProfilesANTS CERAMICS PVT. LTD.Business OverviewProduct PortfolioCERAMTECBusiness OverviewCOI CERAMICS, INC.Business OverviewProduct PortfolioHITACHI CHEMICALS CO. LTD.Business OverviewProduct PortfolioJAPAN FINE CERAMICS CO.Business OverviewProduct PortfolioKION CORP.Business OverviewProduct PortfolioKYOCERABusiness OverviewProduct PortfolioRecent DevelopmentsMATECHBusiness OverviewProduct PortfolioNIPPON CARBON CO. LTD.Business OverviewFinancial PerformanceProduct PortfolioPLASMA PROCESSES, LLCBusiness OverviewProduct PortfolioSTARFIRE SYSTEMS, INC.Business OverviewProduct PortfolioUBE INDUSTRIES LTD.Business OverviewFinancial PerformanceProduct PortfolioChapter 9 Appendix: List of AbbreviationsAbout 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 Information:Hector CostelloSenior Manager  Client Engagements4144N Central Expressway,Suite 600, Dallas,Texas  75204, U.S.A.Phone No.: +1 (214) 884-6817; +9164101019Email: sales@orbisresearch.com
Biorefinery Market - Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2023

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Global Biorefinery Market: OverviewThe global market for biorefinery has been expanding at a sturdy rate over the past decade and is expected to attract commendable demand over the forthcoming years. Biorefineries are sometimes called as environment-friendly power houses because they convert biomass into usable power. Furthermore, the emission from the conversion of biomass into power is also minimal which is beneficial for the environment. A thermal reactor is used to fractionate the biomass into linear and sequential patterns through steam hydrolysis. biorefineries have become central units for heat generation and production of electricity in rural areas. Furthermore, the government has been assisting the biorefineries in their region which has skyrocketed demand within the global market. Biorefineries produce several components that can be used as raw materials in other industries including bio enzymes, adhesives, polymers, and fibers. The energy requirements of a number of households are expected to be resolved once bio refineries take swing across regions. Moreover, the demand within the global market for bio refineries is also driven by the assistance provided by governments and other public sector entities across the globe.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The global market for biorefineries has been segmented based on the following parameters: feedstock, product, application, and region. Each of these segments give a widespread purview of the global market.The report is a succinct analysis of the forces that have shaped the global market for biorefineries. Moreover, the opportunities that float in the market have been juxtaposed with the restraints to balance the stakes within the market. Regional analysis of the global market for biorefinery has also been covered within the report.Request TOC of the Report @Global Biorefinery Market: Key Trends and OpportunitiesDespite the paced growth of technologies across the globe, the problem of uniform electric supply still remains a huge challenge. Hence, the ability of biorefineries to convert biomass into electricity has given an impetus to the growth of the global market. The strict rules stipulated by the government with regards to the burning of bio fuels have brought biorefineries to the fore. This has also been a major driver of demand within the global market for biorefinery and has aided the growth of the global market. Biotechnologists and chemists across the globe have been popularising bio-fuels which has given a boost the demand within the global market. Besides this, the developing countries have become ardent consumers of biorefineries due to their inability to go for high-end options. However, the investment required to set up a biorefinery is extremely high, and this could also hamper market growth.Global Biorefinery Market: Regional OutlookThe availability of biomass plays the most important role in deciding the lucrativeness of a biorefinery. Hence, regions with substantial amount of biomass are expected to be at the forefront of growth in the global market. The market in North America has been growing at a decent rate due to the emergence of several new and advanced biorefineries. Furthermore, the abundant availability of biomass across Asia Pacific has contributed to thr growth of the global market.Read Comprehensive Overview of Report @Global Biorefinery Market: Competitive LandscapeThe market players are expected to concentrate on procuring raw materials at a swift pace in order to cater to the ever-expanding demand for power. Some of the key players in the global market for biorefinery are Bayer Material Science LLC, Dominion Energy Services Company, Inc., and Du Pont De Nemours.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
Plastic Packaging Market 2018 Global Leading Companies - Mondi Group, Sealed Air Corporation, Sonoco Products Company, Amcor Ltd, BASF SE, Crown Holdings Inc, Bemis Company Inc

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Market research future published a half cooked research report on Global Plastic Packaging Market. The global market for global plastic packaging market is expected to grow over the CAGR of around 5% during the period 2016 to 2022.Market HighlightsPlastic with its properties such as durability and lightweight is been considered as one of the most preferred packaging materials. High aesthetic value and barrier properties of plastic further always stands out when compared to the conventional packaging material.The Global Plastic Packaging Market is driven by the growth in healthcare and food & beverage industries. Rapid urbanization and increased purchasing power is followed by drastic change in lifestyle of average consumers. This change in lifestyle has resulted in changing consumer preferences. This can be seen with the high dependency on packaged and processed food items. The increasing working population has fueled the demand for packaged foods to save time and efforts. Food and beverage was valued as the largest application market for plastic packaging in 2015 with over 54% of the volume consumption.Get Report Sample@Furthermore the increasing awareness about health risks and diseases globally has augmented the market for healthcare products. This has opened doors for plastic packaging in healthcare industry. With increased disposable income in emerging nations of APAC, there has been high spending by average consumers in their healthcare and medical. APAC was valued as the fastest growing market for plastic packaging in 2015 with 35% of total volume consumption.The global plastic packaging market is expected to cross USD 400 Billion at the end of the forecasted period and is expected to show a staggering growth at CAGR of approximately 5% from 2016 to 2022.Key PlayersThe key players of global plastic packaging market report include- Amcor Ltd, BASF SE, Crown Holdings Inc., Saint-Gobain, Bemis Company Inc., Huhtamaki Oyj, Mondi Group, Sealed Air Corporation, Sonoco Products Company, Constantia Flexibles International GmbH, Ampac Holdings LLC and Wipak Group among others.Market Research Analysis:Plastic is one of the most preferred packaging material by the companies and the consumers due to its properties such as rigidness, lightweight and durability. The applicability in the packaging market across all applications and industries has widened over a period of time. With rapid economic development in emerging nations, there is a change in lifestyles of common people. This induces the packaging in both food & beverage and healthcare industries.It is expected that the Global Plastic Packaging Market will advance with higher growth rate as compared to previous years. The current challenge for the market is fluctuating material costs. The growing population and urbanization in the emerging economies is driving the market of plastic packaging along with potential growth in food & beverages and healthcare industries over the next five years, especially in APAC. Rigid packaging was valued as the most important segment, which accounted for largest market share in 2015. Rigid packaging is expected to continue the growing trend in coming years. Flexible packaging is also expected to have a steady market during the forecast period.Scope of the reportThis study provides an overview of the global plastic packaging industry, 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, and Rest of the World. The report also provides a forecast, focusing on the market opportunities for the next five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the global plastic packaging market as types and application. On the basis of types it is segmented as rigid packaging and flexible packaging. On the basis of application it is segmented as food & beverage, healthcare, personal care and others.APAC will be the fastest growing marketAPAC is expected to dominate the market for global plastic packaging. The region accounted for over 35% of total volume consumption in 2015 and is expected to show rapid growth by 2022. This share would be attributed to the rapid economic growth, change in lifestyle which induces the demand for packaged food from the region. The pharmaceutical industries also have an expanding market in APAC which further increases the demand for plastic packaging for medicines and other related products.North America, Europe and RoW are also expected to show steady growth in global plastic packaging market by 2022. The food and beverage sector in Europe is expected to boost further in coming years. This would widen the scope for plastic packaging industries.Browse Full Report@Product Analysis Product matrix which gives a detailed comparison of the market for different recycled product typesAdditional Information Regulatory Landscape Pricing Analysis Macroeconomic IndicatorsGeographic Analysis Geographical analysis across 15 countriesCompany Information Profiling of 10 key market players In-depth analysis including SWOT analysis, and strategy information of related to report title Competitive landscape including emerging trends adopted by major companiesBrief TOC :1. Executive Summary2. Research Methodology3. Market Dynamics4. Global Market, By PackagingType5. Global Market, By Technology6. Global Market, By Application7. Global Market, By End-user8. Regional Market Analysis9. Competitive Analysis10. Conclusion11. List Of Tables12. List Of FiguresAsk for your specific company profile and country level customization on reports.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.Market Research FutureMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Pellet Fuel 2018 Global Industry Key Players - German Pellets , Enviva , Pinnacle , Vyborgskaya Cellulose , Rentech Market Analysis And Forecast To 2025

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Global Pellet Fuel MarketThis report studies the global Pellet Fuel market status and forecast, categorizes the global Pellet Fuel market size (value & volume) by manufacturers, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top manufacturers in North America, Europe, Japan, China and other regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America, and Middle East & Africa).Request a Sample Report @The major manufacturers covered in this reportGerman PelletsEnvivaPinnacleVyborgskaya CelluloseRentechRWE InnogyGraanul Invest GroupGreen Circle Bio EnergyZilkha Biomass EnergyInternational WoodFuelsGeneral BiofuelsBlueFire RenewablesPacific BioEnergyProtocol EnergyPfeifer GroupBiomass Secure PowerViridis EnergyWesterveltNew Biomass HoldingEnergexLigneticsEquustockFram Renewable FuelsBear Mountain Forest ProductsGeographically, this report studies the top producers and consumers, focuses on product capacity, production, value, consumption, market share and growth opportunity in these key regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanOther Regions (India, Southeast Asia, Central & South America and Middle East & Africa)The 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 intoIndustrial Waste and Co-ProductsFood WasteAgricultural ResiduesEnergy CropsVirgin LumberOn 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, includingThermal Energy (Heat)Feedstock (biofuels)Power GenerationDirectCofiringThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Pellet Fuel capacity, production, value, consumption, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025);Focuses on the key Pellet Fuel 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 Pellet Fuel 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 StakeholdersPellet Fuel ManufacturersPellet Fuel Distributors/Traders/WholesalersPellet Fuel Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsAvailable CustomizationsWith the given market data, Researcher offers customizations according to the company's specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:Regional and country-level analysis of the Pellet Fuel market, by end-use.Detailed analysis and profiles of additional market players.Table of Contents-Key Points CoveredGlobal Pellet Fuel Market Research Report 20187 Global Pellet Fuel Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 German Pellets7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Pellet Fuel Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 German Pellets Pellet Fuel Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Enviva7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Pellet Fuel Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Enviva Pellet Fuel Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Pinnacle7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Pellet Fuel Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Pinnacle Pellet Fuel Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Vyborgskaya Cellulose7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Pellet Fuel Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Vyborgskaya Cellulose Pellet Fuel Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Rentech7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Pellet Fuel Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Rentech Pellet Fuel Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 RWE Innogy7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Pellet Fuel Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 RWE Innogy Pellet Fuel Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business OverviewContinued.Complete Report Details @Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, HadapsarPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Oil and Gas Upstream Equipment Market culminated highest CAGR during 2017-2025

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Global Oil and Gas Upstream Equipment Market: OverviewThe global market for oil and gas upstream equipment market is growing at the back of the advancements in the oil and gas industry. Oil and gas upstream equipments are used for conducting a range of operations in the oil industry and are an indispensable part of tthe latter. It is anticipated that the demand within the global market for oil and gas upstream market would reach unprecedented heights over the coming years because of the rapid adoption of technologies in the oil and gas industry. A number of stakeholders and sellers in the oil and gas market have given a seal of credibility to the oil and gas upstream equipment. The current economic downturn may have affected the market for oil and gas upstream equipment but the demand is expected to be restored over the coming years. The growth rate of the market over the coming years is projected to outdo the growth rate that ecisted over the past years.Request Sample Copy of the Report @The global market for oil and gas upstream equipment can be segmented based on the type of equipment, application, and region. A number of drivers of demand within the market relate to the aforementioned segments, and hence, it is important to analyse each of these segments.The report is a depiction of the possible trends and opportunities that are projected to surface in the market over the coming years. The drivers of demand within the global market for oil and gas upstream equipment have been elucidated in this report. Furthermore, the strategies of market players and development of regional segments have also been explained throughout the report.Global Oil and Gas Upstream Equipment Market: Trends and OpportunitiesThe demand for oil and gas upstream equipment depends on the price of crude oil and the operations of the oil and gas industry. When the prices are stable and the industry is willing to invest in new technologies, the demand escalates to unprecedented heights. Besides this, the demand within the market is also driven by the offshore and onshore operations undertaken by the oil an gas industry. Since the prices of crude oil are expected to stabilize over the forthcoming years, the demand within the market is expected to elevate to new heights. Furthermore, the drilling operations of the companies in the oil and gas industry have also increased in recent times. This has also created commendable opportunities for growth for the market players operating in the global oil and gas upstream equipment market.Request TOC of the Report @Global Oil and Gas Upstream Equipment Market: Regional OutlookThe market for oil and gas upstream equipment has been expanding at a sturdy rate across the Middle East and Africa. The large scale operations undertaken by the oil and gas sector of the region has been the key driver of demand in the regional market. The market in the Middle East and Africa is expected to keep treading along a profitable growth path over the years to come.Global Oil and Gas Upstream Equipment Market: Competitive LandscapeThe market players have resorted to a range of strategies in order to establish their supremacy in the global market for oil and gas upstream equipment market. Research development has been a key highlight of the efforts of the market players to attain stability and security in the market. Some of the key market players are Aker Solutions, Halliburton, and GENERAL ELECTRIC.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
Biohacking Global Market 2018: Key Players Fitbit, apple, Synbiota, THE ODIN

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Introduction:Also known as Do-It-Yourself (DIY) biology, biohacking is one of the revolutionary change in the field of synthetic biology. It is done by people with an urge of innovation and development of new products that can blend various aspects of synthetic biology and technology. Biohackers are people who perform lab experiments to explore new possibilities of biotechnology, molecular biology, genetic engineering and many other aspects of biology. They perform various experiments on the body, for instance, inserting microchips to control stress level or monitor heart rate.GET SAMPLE REPORT @The global biohacking market is segmented on the basis of type, product, application, and end user.On the basis of type, market is segmented into outside biohacking, and inside Biohacking, with outside biohacking being the largest market.On the basis of product, the market is segmented into sensors, smart drugs, strains, and othersOn the basis of application, the market is segmented into synthetic biology, genetic engineering, forensics sciences, diagnosis & treatment, drug testing, and others. Synthetic biology is the largest market.On the basis of end user, the market is segmented into pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies, forensics laboratories, and others.Key Players:The leading market players in the global Biohacking market include Fitbit, Inc. (U.S.), Apple (U.S.), Synbiota (Canada), THE ODIN (U.S.), HVMN, Inc. (U.S.), Thync Global Inc., U.S.A. (U.S.), Moodmetric (U.S.), and others.Study objectives of biohacking market: To provide insights about factors influencing and affecting the market growth To provide historical and forecast revenues of the market segments and sub-segments with respect to regional and country-level markets To provide historical and forecast revenue of the market segments based on types, products, applications, end users, and its sub-segments. To provide strategic profiling of key players in the market, comprehensively analyzing their market share, core competencies, and drawing a competitive landscape for the market.Target Audience: Medical devices manufacturers Medical devices distributors Hospitals & Clinics Potential investors Key executive (CEO and COO) and strategy growth managerKey Finding Outside biohacking segment accounted for the largest market share in 2016 which is valued at USD 3,712.01 Smart drugs segment accounted for the largest market share in 2016 Americas region captures the largest market and is expected to reach USD 10573.53 million by 2023 Globally, Asia Pacific the fastest growing region in the global biohacking market.Table of Content: Key Points1 Report Prologue 152 Market Introduction 193 Research Methodology 224 Market Dynamics 275 Market Factor Analysis 346 Global Biohacking Market, By Type 397 Global Biohacking Market by Product 418 Global Biohacking Market by Application 479 Global Biohacking Market, By End User 54ContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Edible Films and Coatings Market Segmentation, Industry trends and Development to 2027

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Future Market Insights (FMI) in its recent outlook titled Edible Films and Coatings Market: Global Industry Analysis (2012  2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017-2027), projects that in terms of value, the global edible films and coatings market revenue will expand at a CAGR of 4.5% during the forecast period. In terms of revenue, the global edible films and coatings market is estimated to account for US$ 2,139.1 Mn by 2017 end and this is anticipated to increase to US$ 3,336.7 Mn by the end of the forecast period in 2027.Market Analysis Based on TaxonomyThe global edible films and coatings market is segmented on the basis of ingredient type, application, and region. By ingredient type, the market is segmented into protein, polysaccharides, lipids, and others. The protein segment is expected to dominate the global market over the forecast period due to its widespread application in the food and pharmaceutical industry. Improvement of technologies and prices of raw materials are factors that will ensure polysaccharide remains an important ingredient type over the forecast period. Use of polysaccharides and protein films for the production of edible packaging films can offer lucrative growth opportunities for sustainable solutions due to reduced dependency on fossil fuel. Materials such as composite films, lipid, polysaccharides, and protein-based materials can offer new functionalities such as computability and biodegradability. The protein segment is estimated to account for a relatively high value share of 41% by 2017 end, and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 5.0% in terms of value over the forecast period.Request for sample Report:By application the global edible films and coatings market is segmented into dairy products, nutritional products, bakery & confectionary, fruits & vegetables, meat, poultry & fish, and others. The fruits and vegetables and meat, poultry & fish segments are anticipated to capture a large share of the global edible films and coatings market during the forecast period. There is a shift from conventional case-ready packaging to portion-size packaging. This packaging format uses a primary package for the whole set of portioned fresh food and secondary packages for individual food products. Use of portion-sizes for food products allows consumers to use required amounts of meat and reduce wastage of food products. This, in turn, is expected to create highly lucrative opportunities for food packaging manufacturers by increasing sales and would also boost existing revenue generation of edible films and coatings. The fruits and vegetables segment is estimated to account for a relatively high value share of 26.0% by 2017 end, and is anticipated to register a CAGR of 4.7% in terms of value over the forecast period.Market Analysis by RegionThis report covers trends driving each segment and offers analysis and insights regarding the potential of the edible films and coatings market in specific regions with region wise drivers, restraints, opportunities and trends. North America is expected to dominate the global edible films and coatings market and is projected to hold a value share of more than 30% throughout the forecast period. The APEJ regional market is expected to witness a high growth rate in the global edible films and coatings market through 2027 in terms of demand, followed by Latin America and Japan. The MEA market for edible films and coatings is also anticipated to witness a substantial consumption rate over the forecast period.Visit For Table of Contents:Vendor LandscapeEdible films and coatings market players profiled in the report include Tate & Lyle PLC, Dupont de Nemours and Company, Ashland INC., Ingredion INC., Koninklijke DSM N.V., Cargill Inc. Devro Plc.,Kerry Group PLC, Nagase & Co. Ltd., FMC Corporation, MonoSol, LLC., CP Kelco, WikiCell Designs Inc., FUERST DAY LAWSON HOLDINGS LIMITED, W Hydrocolloids, Inc., Watson Foods CO. INC., Mantrose-Haeuser Co., Inc. (RPM International), Pace International LLC., Proinec (Production and Innovation on Edible Coatings, SL), Takikawa Oblate Corporation, Limited.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.CONTACT:FUTURE MARKET INSIGHTS616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Global Roofing Panels Market to grow at a CAGR of 5.26% during 2017-2021 | Key Challenges and Prominent Players Analysis

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Roofing panels can be defined as a variety of roof coverings designed to provide buildings with protection from external elements, allow positive drainage of water from the roof surface, and to keep contents and occupants dry and comfortable.The global roofing panels market to grow at a CAGR of 5.26% during the period 2017-2021. The report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global roofing panels market for 2017-2021. To calculate the market size, the report considers the revenue generated from sale of roofing panels.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography:- Americas- APAC- EMEAClick to get Sample PDF:Technavio's report, Global Roofing Panels Market 2017-2021, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors- ArcelorMittal- OmniMax International- Kingspan Group- Lindab- NCI Building Systems- Palram Industries- RautaruukkiOther prominent vendors- AEP Span- AGWAY METALS- AmeriLux International- ATAS International- Avcomposites- BEMO- Berridge Manufacturing- Bigbee Steel Buildings- BlueLinx Corporation- BlueScope- Brett Martin Plastic Sheets- Carlisle Companies (Carlisle SynTec System)...........View Complete TOC with Tables and Figures at:Key questions answered in this report- What will the market size be in 2021 and what will the growth rate be?- What are the key market trends?- What is driving this market?- What are the challenges to market growth?- Who are the key vendors in this market space?- What are the market opportunities and threats faced by the key vendors?- What are the strengths and weaknesses of the key vendors?ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Mr. NachiketAlbany NY - 12207United StatesTel: +1-518-621-2074Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Email: sales@researchmoz.us
Turmeric Market Segmentation, Industry trends and Development to 2027

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The global turmeric market is prognosticate to witness a significant rise in coming years. The worldwide turmeric market is very aggressive and broadened because of the nearness of a substantial number of provincial and universal sellers over the globe. A portion of the central point in charge of the developing deals volume and market offer of the seller incorporate organization's image esteem, nature of turmeric, estimating, dispersion, and other such separating factors. Additionally, these merchants confront market difficulties, for example, extraordinary rivalry, fluctuating crude turmeric costs, and dangers related with unfavorable climate conditions. Moreover, to maintain in the market, these merchants are progressively concentrating on recognizing their item offerings through an unmistakable and one of a kind incentive. The food and beverage fragment represented the larger part market share amid 2016 and will keep on dominating the market for the following four years.Request for sample Report:Earth Expo Company, Shah Ratanshi Khimji, ITC Spices, Nani Agro Foods are some of the prominent players in the global turmeric market. Apart this, Gandhi Spices, Green Earth Products, Shalimar Food Products, Taj Agro International, Everest Spices, Grover Sons, MDH Spices, and Sino-Nature are some of the other major players in the worldwide market. As per a report by Future Market Insights titled, Turmeric Market: Western Europe to Dominate in Terms of Value Share Throughout the Forecast Period: Global Industry Analysis (2012 - 2016) and Opportunity Assessment (2017 - 2027), income from worldwide turmeric was evaluated more than US$ 2,700 mn in 2012 and more than US$ 3,160 mn in 2016. The worldwide turmeric market is estimated to achieve a market valuation of somewhat more than US$ 5,650 Mn before the finish of 2027, extending at a CAGR of 5.5% over the gauge time frame. As far as volume, the utilization of turmeric is assessed to be 1,049,490.5 MT by 2017 end, and is gauge to achieve 1,696,519.8 MT by 2027 end, growing at a CAGR of 4.9% amid the conjecture time frame.Small Scale Food Processors to BE a Major Contributor in the Enhancement of Ethnic TasteDevelopment of spice sector in European Union will keep on witnessing a development at a huge pace in the coming years attributable to expanding fame of ethnic taste in the locale. Nearness of multicultural populace in Europe and developing pattern of setting out to an ever increasing number of outlandish spots have moved European shoppers taste to Indian nourishment and flavors bringing about expanding interest for flavors including turmeric. Small scale food processors, retailers and ethic nourishment have high presence in creating ethnic sustenance taste in Western Europe. Be that as it may, substantial retailers and multinationals are additionally progressively dynamic in this market which is expanding the income offer of turmeric in the worldwide turmeric market.Another pattern seen in Western Europe is that it is a center for home grown items. Western Europe is considered as a moment biggest center point for home grown items as it speaks to a huge offer in European pharmaceutical market.Visit For Table of Contents:Change in Health Perception to Support the Global Market Demand for TurmericIn spite of the fact that the relative market share of natural curcuma longa is little in Europe, interest for guaranteed natural sustenance supplements still keeps on developing. Accreditation for natural flavors including curcuma longa powder is basic pre-imperative for marketing the item as natural particularly in universal markets. Natural accreditation is favored by sustenance supplements than for home grown prescription as the later can't be marked as natural. Sustenance supplements for the most part includes an ostensible measure of Curcuma longa extricates and a substantially higher one of fillers, which don't require any natural confirmation.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.CONTACT:FUTURE MARKET INSIGHTS616 Corporate Way, Suite 2-9018,Valley Cottage, NY 10989,United StatesT: +1-347-918-3531F: +1-845-579-5705Email: sales@futuremarketinsights.comWebsite:
Wood Preservative Market expected to stand at between USD 2.09 billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 5.4% between 2017 and 2022

Wood Preservative Market, Wood Preservative

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The report "Wood Preservative Market by Formulation (Water-Based, Oil-Based, Solvent-Based), Application (Residential, Commercial, Industrial), and Region - Global Forecast to 2022", The global wood preservative market was valued at USD 1.61 Billion in 2017, and is projected to reach USD 2.09 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 5.4% from 2017 to 2022.Browse 248 Market Data Tables and 39 Figures spread through 208 Pages and in-depth TOC on "Wood Preservative Market - Global Forecast to 2022"Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report.The market is driven by the increased demand for wood preservative from various applications, such as structural & decking, fencing, landscaping, utility, railroad, and marine.Water-based is estimated to be the largest formulation segment of the global wood preservative market.The water-based segment is estimated to be the largest formulation segment of the global wood preservative market in 2017. Water-based wood preservative include Copper azoles, Ammoniacal Copper Zinc Arsenate (ACZA), Chromated Copper Arsenate (CCA), ACQ compounds, copper-HDO, and borates. These preservative are generally used in all applications and offer better performance for residential and commercial applications. Water-based wood preservative leave the wood surface clean and dry, keeping it open to be painted even after the treatment. In contrast to this, oil-based wood preservative, for instance, creosote leaves an oily surface which is not paintable. Light organic solvent preservative contain volatile organic compounds, which can evaporate and are hazardous to the environment. This makes the water-based wood preservative popular than other formulations. The demand for treated wood is continuously rising due to growing awareness regarding the use of wood preservative for the long life of wood and wooden constructions. The demand for the treated wood is propelled by the increasing disposable income of the population in the emerging regions. The use of CCA is restricted to industrial applications only and hence the demand for less harmful preservative such as copper-HDO and ACQ is expected to increase during 2017-2022.Request FREE Sample Pages @Residential application accounted for the largest application of the global wood preservative market in 2016The residential application constituted for the largest share of the wood preservative market in 2016. Treated wood is used in structural, decking, fencing, and landscaping in residential applications. Wooden floor constructions are easy to maintain and are aesthetically attractive. Wooden houses also provide insulation from the cold environment, which helps keep the houses warm internally. Therefore, the applications of wood in residential constructions, decking, fencing, and landscaping are growing in developed as well as emerging countries.Key companies profiled in the global wood preservative market research report include BASF Wolman (Germany), Koopers (US), Lonza (US), LANXESS (US), KMG Chemicals (US), Troy Corporation (US), Viance (US), Dolphin Bay (US), Remmers (Germany), and Wykamol (UK).Download FREE PDF Brochure @The global market for resin capsules is dominated by the presence of large players such as Sika AG (Switzerland), Orica Limited (Australia), Barnes Group Inc. (U.S.), DYWIDAG-Systems International (Germany), Rawlplug (Poland), Bohle AG (Germany), Sormat OY (Finland), Fischer Holding GmbH & CO. (Germany), Arkema SA (France), and Hexion Inc. (U.S.).About MarketsandMarketsMarketsandMarkets 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.MarketsandMarketss 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. SalgarkarMarketsandMarkets INC.630 Dundee RoadSuite 430Northbrook, IL 60062USA: 1-888-600-6441sales@marketsandmarkets.com
EMEA Cardiac Valve Market 2018 Drivers; Enhanced at a CAGR of 6.5% | By Diseases Aortic Valve Replacement, Heart Valve Disease, etc.  Outlook to 2023

Cardiac Valve Market

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EMEA Cardiac Valve Market 2018 Research Report implements an exhaustive study on Market Research Future. This Report Cover Key Market Driver, market size, growth rate, opportunities, market Dynamics and Overall Analysis. And also cover the other information such as Cardiac Valve market trends, Prominent players, chapter-wise Description followed by various user perceptions and Forecast till 2023.EMEA Cardiac Valve Market - SynopsisThe EMEA cardiac valve market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.5% during the forecasted period. The market is driven by increasing number of people with cardiovascular diseases and increasing number of cardiac surgery. Additionally, increasing prevalence of diabetes and obesity, adoption of deskbound lifestyle, rising geriatric population, and excessive use of tobacco and alcohol boost the market growth. On the other hand, higher cost of treatment methods may hamper the growth of the Europe and the Middle East & Africa cardiac valve market.Cardiac valve or heart valve allows blood to flow in only one direction through the heart; human heart is made of four valves. A cardiac valve opens or closes compulsory on differential blood pressure on each side.Avail Premium Sample copy @EMEA Cardiac Valve Market - Top VendorsMedtronic, Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (U.S.), Boston Scientific Corporation (U.S.), St. Jude Medical, Inc. (an Abbott Laboratories Company) (U.S.), LivaNova PLC (U.K.), Symetis SA (Switzerland), Jenavalve Technology, Inc. (Germany), CryoLife, Inc. (U.S.), TTK HealthCare (India), Colibri Heart Valve, LLC (U.S.), Lepu Medical Technology Co., Ltd. (China), and Braile Biomedica (Brazil)EMEA Cardiac Valve - SegmentationThe EMEA cardiac valve market is segmented on the basis of types, by diseases, by treatment, and by end users.On the basis of types the market is segmented into trans-catheter heart valve, tissue heart valve, and mechanical heart valve, others.On the basis of disease, the market is segmented into aortic valve replacement, heart valve disease, mitral valve stenosis, and others.On the basis of treatments, it is segmented into valve replacement, valve repair, and others.On the basis of end users, the markets segmented into cardiac research institute, hospital & clinics, and others.EMEA Cardiac Valve Market - Regional AnalysisThe Europe is the second major contributor to the global cardiac valve market. Total Europe and the Middle East & Africa cardiac valve market in 2016 was approximately USD 15 million. Germany and France are the major contributor to this market due to a huge number of patient with different cardiovascular diseases. About 9.2% of total population in France have cardiovascular diseases, which is the major factor responsible for the growth of the market.Get Illustrious Discount @The Middle East & Africa is expected to hold a least market share owing to less availability of medical facilities, and less development in healthcare domain.TOC of Cardiac Valve Market Research Report- Europe, Middle East & Africa Forecast till 2023:1 Report Prologue2 Market Introduction2.1 Introduction2.2 Scope of Study2.3 Research Objective2.4 Assumptions & Limitations2.4.1 Assumptions2.4.2 Limitations3 Research Methodology3.1 Research Process3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research4 Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restraints5 Market Factor Analysis5.1 Porters Five Forces Model5.1.1 Bargaining Power Of Suppliers5.1.2 Bargaining Power Of Buyers5.1.3 Threat Of New Entrants5.1.4 Threat Of Substitutes5.1.5 Intensity Of Rivalry5.2 Supply Chain Analysis6. Europe, Middle East & Africa Cardiac Valve Market, By Type.TOC CONTINUEDGet Customized Report, Speak to Analyst @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.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune  411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Bile Duct Cancer Market Ready to Hit at a CAGR of 9.2% by 2023 | Pfizer, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Bristol-Myers Squibb, etc till 2023

Bile Duct Cancer Market

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Market Research Future published a research report on Global Bile Duct Cancer Market and Provide Market analysis, size, share and future growth of industry. The Global Bile Duct Cancer Market is expected to grow at an approximate CAGR of 9.1% during the forecast period. Report provide unique information which is unavailable on any other source and forecast up to 2023Bile duct cancer or cholangiocarcinoma is a rare form of cancer occurring due to uncontrolled growth of abnormal cells within the bile ducts, which can affect surrounding healthy tissues and organs like pancreas and can eventually spread to other areas in the body. Bile duct cancer can be diagnosed by imaging tests, blood test, abdominal ultrasound, biopsy of the affected tissue and other methods.According to the American cancer society, 30,200 estimated deaths have occurred in U.S in 2017 and 42,220 new cases of intrahepatic bile duct cancer are expected to occur in U.S. in 2018 .The growing prevalence of bile duct cancer is likely to boost the market in forecast period.The Global Bile Duct Cancer Market accounted to USD 154.5 million in 2017 and is forecasted to demonstrate a radial growth by 2018, Global Bile Duct market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 9.1% during forecasted period 2018-2023.Get PDF Sample Copy of Report @Key players for Global Bile Duct Cancer MarketThe key players for the Global Bile Duct Cancer Market are Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (U.S.), F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd (Europe), Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.(Israel), Eli Lilly and Company(U.S.), Sanofi (France), Fresenius Kabi AG (Germany), Mylan N.V. (U.S.), Pfizer Inc.(US), Johnson & Johnson (U.S.), Celgene Corporation(U.S.) and others.Competitive Landscape of Global Bile Duct Cancer MarketThe Global Bile Duct Cancer Market appears to be highly fragmented and highly competitive due to new product launches and increasing clinical research. The key player have developed strategic approaches to increase their foothold in this market. The major key players are located in North America region like Pfizer Inc., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company increasing the market revenue in the region.Pfizer Inc. is an American Global research based pharmaceutical company with its headquarter in New York City. Pfizer is engaged in developing, producing and manufacturing healthcare products. The major sector includes immunology, oncology, cardiology, endocrinology, and neurology. Pfizer Inc. has two business segments, Pfizer Innovative Health and Pfizer Essential Health. The company has its market in over 125 countries.Eli Lilly and Company is a leading Global pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in Indiana, U.S. with its product sold in over 120 countries and manufacturing plants located in 17 countries. The company operates in two segments human pharmaceutical and animal healthcare. The human pharmaceutical segment includes immunology products, endocrinology products, neuroscience products, oncology products, and cardiovascular products. The Company's major oncology products include Altima, Cyramza, Gemzar, and Portrazza.In March 2018, Eli Lilly and Company announced successful completion of its primary phase 3 REACH-2 trial study in trial biomarker selected population for CYRAMZA (ramucirumab), a single agent in the second-line treatment of people with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).The trial met its primary and secondary endpoint. This study proves beneficial for the company as CYRAMZA has demonstrated survival benefits in four regressive tumor type and as single agent in hepatocellular carcinoma.Get an Exclusive Discount on Report @Segmentations for Global Bile Duct Cancer MarketThe Global Bile Duct Cancer Market is segmented on the basis of types, diagnosis, treatment, and end users.On the basis of types, the market is segmented into intrahepatic, extrahepatic, and others.On the basis of diagnosis, the market is segmented into blood tests, abdominal imaging, surgery, and others. The diagnosis segment by abdominal imaging is sub segmented into endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography (PTC), magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), and others.On the basis of treatment, the market is segmented into chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and others. The chemotherapy segment is sub segmented into 5-fluorouracil, gemcitabine, cisplatin, and others.On the basis of end users, the market is segmented into hospital &clinics, academic institutes, research organizations and others.Some Brief Table of ContentChapter 1. Report PrologueChapter 2. Market Introduction2.1 Definition2.2 Scope of The Study2.2.1 Research Objective2.2.2 Assumptions2.2.3 LimitationsChapter 3. Research Methodology3.1 Introduction3.2 Primary Research3.3 Secondary Research3.4 Market Size EstimationChapter 4. Market Dynamics4.1 Drivers4.2 Restrains4.3 Opportunities4.4 ChallengesTOC ContinuedLIST OF TABLESTable 1 Bile Duct Cancer Industry Synopsis, 2017  2023Table 2 Global Bile Duct Cancer Market Estimates And Forecast, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 3 Global Bile Duct Cancer Market By Region, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 4 Global Bile Duct Cancer Market By Types, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 5 Global Bile Duct Cancer Market By Diagnosis, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 6 Global Bile Duct Cancer Market By Treatment, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 7 Global Bile Duct Cancer Market By End Users, 2017  2023, (USD Million)Table 8 North America Bile Duct Cancer Market By Types, 2017  2023, (USD Million)ContinuedAccess Complete Report @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), Statistical Report, Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Contact Us:Market Research FutureHadapsar, Pune  411028Maharashtra, IndiaPhone: +1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Metal Roofing Market to Make Great Impact in Near Future by 2017 - 2025

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As the name suggests, metal roofing is a roofing system made of metal or tiles. Metal roofs have a lifespan of approximately one hundred years and majority of manufacturers provide a 50-year warranty, which reflects positively on the sales of metal roofing and is expected to continue doing so during the forecast period. Installation of metal roofing offers a myriad of advantages, such as distinctive beauty, energy efficiency, fire safety, elimination of leaks & ice dams, high wind resistance and curbs fungus or moss growth. Attributing to such favorable properties, metal roofing is expected to garner attention from end users and the market is expected to gain traction over the forecast period. Metals roofs are generally 100% recyclable and reflect heat and sunlight. They also minimize energy loss and energy cost and their light weight makes them suitable for use in old buildings as they provide integrity to the structure. Metal roofs also provide resistance against wind. Developing countries, such as India and China, are estimated to drive the metal roofing market. For instance, in 2015, the State Council of China announced the renovation of 8 million apartments and construction of 16 million new apartments.Rapid urbanization, rising construction industry and development of new products and technology are expected to drive the metal roofing market during the forecast period. Investments by the governments of emerging economies, such as China, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, in the construction industry, coupled with the long lifespan, easy installation and high durability of metal roofs, are expected to further propel the global metal roofing the market during the forecast period. Rise in the number of commercial projects across the globe, such as hotels, hospitals and schools, is expected to accelerate the growth of the metal roofing market during the forecast period. Favorable properties of metal roofs, such as noise reduction, improved quality of air and reduction in cost incurred for air conditioning, are expected to drive the metal roofing market during the forecast period. High investment cost associated with the installation and high capital cost for Metal roof is expected to act an obstacle in the growth of Metal Roofing Market during the forecast period. In the snowy areas metal roof is not preferred as the snow slips and falls on property or pedestrians which is expected pose restraint in the growth of the Metal Roofing Market.Request Sample Report @Asia Pacific is expected to witness robust growth in the metal roofing market, owing to the rising infrastructural development in commercial and industrial sectors, particularly in emerging economies, such as India and China. Along with this, migration of population from rural to urban areas in these economies is expected to propel the demand for metal roofs, thereby leading to the growth of the metal roofing market during the forecast period.North America and Europe are expected to witness significant growth in the metal roofing market. This can be attributed to the high standard of living in these regions, which is leading to the renovation of building projects. The metal roofing market in Latin America and Middle East & Africa (MEA) regions is expected to grow during the forecast period as Manufacturers are establishing long term contacts with customers.Visit For TOC@Examples of some of the market participants in the metal roofing market are: Metal Sales Manufacturing Corporation, Jinhu Color Aluminum Group, Ideal Roofing Co. Ltd, Reeds Metals, Inc., ATAS International, Inc., DECRA Roofing Systems, Inc., Firestone Building Products, Carlisle SynTec Systems, BlueScope Steel Limited, The OmniMax International, Inc.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:
Ammonium Chloride Market Analysis, Growth by Top Companies, Trends by Types and Opportunities Till 2023

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The global ammonium chloride market is growing, due to high demand of nitrogen source in fertilizers and increasing base of end-use industry. Solvay process is the principal manufacturing process of ammonium chloride. In some industrial processes, the process is also intended to minimize the ammonia release.Request sample copy of report here :Another key manufacturing processes of ammonium chloride is the reaction of ammonia with hydrochloric acid solution or hydrogen chloride gas. Among the various applications of ammonium chloride, the fertilizer segment held the largest share in the global market in 2015, and it is anticipated to retain its dominance during the forecast period.The increasing usage of ammonium chloride in applications other than fertilizers is anticipated to create ample revenue generation opportunities for the producers of ammonium chloride. However, the stringent regulatory requirements in healthcare industry and low nitrogen content in ammonium chloride, in comparison to ammonium nitrate or urea is expected to hinder the growth of the global market to some extent.Ammonium chloride is an inorganic compound and a white crystalline salt having high solubility in water. It is formed due to the condensation of gases derived from burning of coal, and its natural and mineralogical form is known as Sal ammoniac.Geographically, the global market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and Rest of the World. The manufacturing processes and applications of ammonium chloride are analyzed at regional level, in terms of volume as well as value.Read summary of report here :Some of the key players operating in the global market include BASF SE, Dallas Group of America Inc., Central Glass Co. Ltd., CNSG Anhui Hong Sifang Co. Ltd., Jiangsu Debang Chemical Industry Group Co. Ltd., Jiangsu Huachang Chemical Co. Ltd., and Dahua Group.About P&S Market ResearchP&S Market Research is a market research company, which offers market research and consulting services for various geographies around the globe. We provide market research reports, industry forecasting reports, business intelligence, and research based consulting services across different industry/business verticals.As one of the top growing market research agency, were keen upon providing market landscape and accurate forecasting. Our analysts and consultants are proficient with business intelligence and market analysis, through their interaction with leading companies of the concerned domain. We help our clients with B2B market research and assist them in identifying various windows of opportunity, and framing informed and customized business expansion strategies in different regions.Contact:P&S Market Research347, 5th Ave. #1402New York City, NY - 10016Toll-Free: +1-888-778-7886 (USA/Canada)Email: enquiry@psmarketresearch.comWeb:
Global 3D Metrology Market Research Report 2018 Analysis and Forecast to 2022

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Report Description3D Metrology is an emerging measurement solution among various industries, as it enables manufacturers to monitor the quality and efficiency of the components required to build the desired industrial products. These measuring systems are used for a wide range of measurement tasks, namely analyzing the surface, shape, and dimension of the machine parts and tools at every stage of the manufacturing process. Coordinate measuring machine (CMM), optical digitizers & scanners and 3D x-ray/ CT inspection systems are widely used products to measure dimensions, temperature and humidity of a component during manufacturing and assembling processes.GET SAMPLE REPORT @Major market players namely Hexagon AB, Carl Zeiss, Nikon 3D Metrology, Faro Technologies and others provide 3D Metrology services. Among them, Carl Zeiss, a leading 3D Metrology solution provider manufactures coordinate measuring machines (CMM) to serve the automotive market.The changing consumer demand for industrial products and the growing technological advancement in measurement techniques has developed the need for more precise and accurate industrial products. To provide products with assured quality and longer durability, automotive, aerospace, packaging, electronics and mechanical engineering industries are implementing 3D Metrology solutions widely. Automotive is the largest end-user segment in 3D Metrology market.High demand by industry manufacturers to introduce 3D techniques in robots configured with accuracy measuring program is supporting the 3D metrology measurement process. It also helps in reducing human errors during the process, in turn, adding to the future market growth of 3D metrology.Global 3D Metrology Market Analysis & Forecast, from 2016-2022 To provide a detailed analysis of the market structure, along with the forecast of the various segments and sub-segments of the 3D metrology market To provide insights into factors affecting the market growth To analyze the 3D metrology market based on Porter's five force analysis 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 Pacific, and Rest of the World To provide country-level analysis of the market concerning the current market size and future prospects To provide country-level analysis of the market for a segment on the basis of technology, product, and end-users 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 & acquisitions, new product developments, and research & developments in the 3D metrology marketKey Findings The global 3D metrology market is expected to reach USD ~8 billion by 2022 By technology, the 3D profilometry segment has dominated the market in 2015 and is estimated to grow at a rate of 11.66% CAGR By product, coordinate measuring machine (CMM) segment has dominated the market in 2016 and is estimated to grow at a rate of 10.98% CAGR By end-user, automotive has dominated the market in 2016 and is estimated to grow at a rate of 10.56% CAGR Geographically, Europe region has been projected to hold the largest market share in global 3D metrology market, followed by North America and Asia Pacific, respectivelyKey PlayersThe prominent players in the 3D metrology market are Hexagon AB, Mitutoyo Corporation, Carl Zeiss, Nikon Metrology, Bruker Corporation, Olympus Corporation, Keyence Corporation, KLA-Tencor Corporation, AMETEK, Cyber Optics, Wenzel, and others.Regional Analysis of 3D metrology Market Estimation and ForecastThe global 3D metrology market is estimated to grow at a promising rate in the upcoming years. Europe is the leading region followed by North America, Asia Pacific, and Rest of the World. Growing adoption of robotics in automation, energy harvesting, and semiconductor wafer inspection is majorly responsible for driving the growth of 3D metrology market.Target Audience Technology investors Research institutes System Integrators Research/Consultancy firms 3D Metrology Product & Device Manufacturers Original Technology Designers & Suppliers Raw Material Suppliers Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMS) Original Device Manufacturers (ODMS) Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)Table of Content: Key Point1 Executive Summary2 Market Dynamics3 Global 3D Metrology Market, By Technology4 Global 3D Metrology Market, By Product5 Global 3D Metrology Market, By End-Users6 Global 3D Metrology Market, By Region7 Consumption Volume, Consumption Value, and Sale Price of 3D Metrology Products,By Region8 Supply, Consumption, Import and Export of 3D Metrology Products9 Competitive LandscapeContinuedACCESS REPORT @Get in touch:LinkedIn:Twitter:Facebook:Wise Guy Reports understand how essential statistical surveying information is for your organization or association. Therefore, we have associated with the top publishers and research firms all specialized in specific domains, ensuring you will receive the most reliable and up to date research data available. We also provide COTS (Commercial off the Shelf) business sector reports as custom exploration agreeing your particular needs.WISE GUY RESEARCH CONSULTANTS PVT LTDOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersPune - 411028Maharashtra, India
unblu announces strategic expansion with new London office

unblu - customer engagement and collaboration

In a strategic move to expand their presence in the UK market, the software company unblu announced the opening of a new office in London. The move is a natural progression for the software company to support its long-standing local clients, while pursuing new opportunities. unblu has been working with UK clients since its inception and it is a strategic area of growth for the company. Weve been consistently pursuing this market, but from outside of the UK. Our efforts have paid off, and its the right time for us to continue our expansion in the market with our new London location as a base, said Haldimann.Sean Crouch will be heading the London office as Sales Manager for the UK and Ireland. Sean is passionate about delivering an excellent digital customer experience and Im delighted to have him on board to guide us into this new phase of growth. His expertise and enthusiasm are a great asset to our team, said Haldimann.Prior to joining the unblu team, Crouch spent four years at Adobe, selling digital marketing solutions to large financial service organisations. Crouch has more than twenty years of experience in enterprise software solutions, working with several major CRM software companies. His extensive background in digital customer experience is a great fit for the company. unblu helps financial providers to bring the human touch to their online interactions with customers, enabling advisors and clients to engage and collaborate in real time around their banking web and mobile applications.I'm excited to join unblu because it's a unique solution that helps banks and financial institutions engage with their customers as if they were in the same room together, enabling the natural flow of a conversation, online, said Crouch. Thats a game changer for the industry.unblu helps the worlds leading banks deliver the in-person experience online. We provide highly secure engagement and collaboration software enabling banks to substantially enrich the digital experience of their clients. unblu's suite helps to increase revenue and efficiency while reducing costs and improving digital customer interaction.unblu Inc.Centralbahnplatz 10 - 4051 Basel - Switzerland
Global Vacuum Pump Filters Market Forecast 2018-2025 Piab, Parker Hannifin, Ohio Medical, Helapet

Vacuum Pump Filters Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Vacuum Pump Filters Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Vacuum Pump Filters market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Vacuum Pump Filters market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Vacuum Pump Filters market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Parker Hannifin, Scientific Instrument Services, Ohio Medical, Mass-Vac, CAG Purificatio, Piab, Helapet, Graver Technologies, Cumberland Vacuum Products.The Global Vacuum Pump Filters Market 2018 report includes Vacuum Pump Filters market Revenue, market Share, Vacuum Pump Filters industry volume, market Trends, Vacuum Pump Filters Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Vacuum Pump Filters Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Vacuum Pump Filters manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Vacuum Pump Filters Market Segmented Based on Application - Medical, Industrial, Others.Vacuum Pump Filters Market Segmented Based on Type - L-Style, T-Style, Clamp-Style.Further, the Vacuum Pump Filters report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Vacuum Pump Filters industry, Vacuum Pump Filters industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Vacuum Pump Filters Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Vacuum Pump Filters 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 Vacuum Pump Filters market revenue worldwide.Finally, Vacuum Pump Filters 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:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Steam Flow Meters Market Forecast 2018-2025 Raytek, ABB, Tecfluid, MITUTOYO, Aalborg Instruments

Steam Flow Meters Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Steam Flow Meters Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Steam Flow Meters market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Steam Flow Meters market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Steam Flow Meters market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - ABB, ROSEMOUNT, Raytek, YOKOGAWA, MITUTOYO, E+H, SMC, Endress+Hauser, GE, Alia Group, Aalborg Instruments, EMCO Controls, Siemens, Spirax Sarco, Systec Controls, ONICON, Tecfluid.The Global Steam Flow Meters Market 2018 report includes Steam Flow Meters market Revenue, market Share, Steam Flow Meters industry volume, market Trends, Steam Flow Meters Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Steam Flow Meters Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Steam Flow Meters manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Steam Flow Meters Market Segmented Based on Application - Chemical, Oil & Gas, Pharmaceutical, Power.Steam Flow Meters Market Segmented Based on Type - Ultrasonic Flowmeters, Vortex Shedding Flowmeters.Further, the Steam Flow Meters report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Steam Flow Meters industry, Steam Flow Meters industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Steam Flow Meters Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Steam Flow Meters 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 Steam Flow Meters market revenue worldwide.Finally, Steam Flow Meters 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:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global LNG Bunkering Market Projected to Touch 22,540 kilo tons by 2025

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An insightful study, titled LNG Bunkering Market has been freshly broadcasted to the vast research repository of Market Research Reports Search Engine (MRRSE). This research study provides detailed comprehensions and forecasts future growth of the global market with an in-depth study of the factors impacting revenue growth throughout the mentioned forecast period. Further, a deep analysis on the major players from diverse regions is also present in the report.Get Sample Report for more Professional and Technical insights @A thorough overview and analysis of the global LNG bunkering fuel market has been featured in a market intelligence report published recently.The report includes an analytical study of the markets historical statistics to give insights into the growth trajectory showed by the global market for LNG bunkering in the past and predicts the markets growth trajectory from 2014 through 2025. It states that the market, which had a valuation of 70 kilo tons in terms of capacity in 2013, will expand at a staggering 63.6% CAGR and rise to 22,540 kilo tons by 2025.The report is titled LNG Bunkering Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast, 2014 - 2025 and can be found on the company website for sale.Natural gas is one of the most commonly used fossil fuels for power generation across the globe and is touted to be the fuel of the 21st century owing to its cleaner nature as compared to other popular fossil fuels such as coal and oil. Natural gas is liquefied to make it more viable for transport and use with ease across several end-use applications.When used as a fuel for ships, liquefied natural gas is known to bring down sulfur oxide emissions by as much as 90-95% as compared to traditional bunker fuels. This factor is expected to have a significant impact on the global bunkering fuel market, which is exploring new and better bunkering fuel options to comply with the increasingly strict regulations being imposed to cut down sulfur emissions in marine environments. As marine vessels spend most part of their voyage time in emission control zones (ECA), shipping companies are projected to adopt LNG as a safer and equally efficient fuel in the near future.For the ease of comprehension, the global LNG bunkering market has been segmented in the report on the basis of two criteria: end-user and geography.The key end users of LNG bunkering market examined in the report are container vessels, bulk and general cargo vessels, tanker vessels, and ferries and offshore support vessels (OSVs). Of these, the segment of ferries and offshore support vessels accounts for a dominant share in the global LNG bunkering market. Over the reports forecast period, the segment of containers is projected to significantly aid the expansion of the global LNG bunkering market, primarily owing to the rising container traffic in Asia Pacific and Europe.Based on geography, the market has been segmented into Europe, Asia Pacific, North America, and Rest of the World (RoW). Of these, Europe has emerged as the leading regional market for LNG bunkering industry due to the presence of a majority of LNG bunkering stations in the region. The LNG bunkering market in North America is projected to benefit from the continuously declining prices of natural gas in the region.Some of the major vendors operating in the global LNG bunkering market profiled in the report are Harvey Gulf International Marine LLC., GDF SUEZ S.A, Skangass AS, Korea Gas Corporation, and Gasnor AS.View Complete TOC with Table and Figure at @Despite increasing opportunities for eco-friendly fuels such as LNG, lack of specialty ports and terminals for fuel handling is slowing the utilization of this fuel. Currently, LNG is used as a bunker fuel for only 45 vessels that trade majorly in the inland waterways of Northern Europe.However, due to the anticipated sulfur emission regulations further restricting the use of petroleum fuels, the development of LNG bunkering ports has gained momentum in other European regions and North America.In North America, increasing shale gas exploration activities have led to plunging natural gas prices, which is expected to boost sales of LNG bunker fuel in the region. In Asia Pacific, countries such as China and South Korea have invested substantially in LNG bunkering terminals. In this region, regulations pertaining to LNG as a bunker fuel will not come into effect before 2020. Hence, Asia Pacific is expected to majorly contribute to the growth of the global LNG bunkering market from 2020 onwards.Due to these reasons, by capacity, the global LNG bunkering market will exhibit a robust 63.6% CAGR from 2014 to 2025.Major Companies in Global LNG Bunkering MarketBomin Linde LNG GmbH & Co. KG, Korea Gas Corporation, Skangass AS, GDF SUEZ S.A., Gasnor AS, and Harvey Gulf International Marine LLC are the major companies that operate in the global LNG bunkering market.Global LNG Bunkering Market by End UserContainer VesselsTankers VesselsBulk & General Cargo VesselsFerries & OSVGlobal LNG Bunkering Market by RegionalNorth AmericaEuropeAsia PacificRest of the World (RoW)This report gives you access to decisive data such as:Market growth driversFactors limiting market growthCurrent market trendsMarket structureMarket projections for the coming yearsKey highlightsOverview of key market forces propelling and restraining market growthUp-to-date analyses of market trends and technological improvementsPin-point analyses of market competition dynamics to offer you a competitive edgeAn analysis of strategies of major competitorsAn array of graphics and SWOT analysis of major industry segmentsDetailed analyses of industry trendsA well-defined technological growth map with an impact-analysisA clear understanding of the competitive landscape and key product segmentsRelated any Query Click Here @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:
Global Turbojet Engines Market Forecast 2018-2025 Safran, GE Aviation, Chrysler, Dongan Engine Manufacturing

Turbojet Engines Market

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http://www.qymarketstudy.com/report/global-turbojet-engines-market-9387

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Turbojet Engines Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Turbojet Engines market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Turbojet Engines market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Turbojet Engines market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - GE Aviation, Lockheed Martin, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Safran, CFM International, Hindsutan Aeronautics, Chrysler, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Dongan Engine Manufacturing, Aeroengine Corporation of China.The Global Turbojet Engines Market 2018 report includes Turbojet Engines market Revenue, market Share, Turbojet Engines industry volume, market Trends, Turbojet Engines Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Turbojet Engines Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Turbojet Engines manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Turbojet Engines Market Segmented Based on Application - Civil Aircraft, Military Aircraft.Turbojet Engines Market Segmented Based on Type - Low Thrust Turbojet Engine, High Thrust Turbojet Engine.Further, the Turbojet Engines report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Turbojet Engines industry, Turbojet Engines industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Turbojet Engines Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Turbojet Engines 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 Turbojet Engines market revenue worldwide.Finally, Turbojet Engines 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:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Unit Load Devices Repair Market Forecast 2018-2025 Brambles, Satco, Zodiac Aerospace, Envirotainer

Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Satco, Inc., ACL Airshop, Brambles Limited, TransDigm, Zodiac Aerospace, CSAFE, Cargo Composites, DoKaSch GmbH, VRR Aviation, Envirotainer.The Global Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair Market 2018 report includes Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair market Revenue, market Share, Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair industry volume, market Trends, Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair Market Segmented Based on Application - Cargo, Civil, Others.Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair Market Segmented Based on Type - Containers, Pallets.Further, the Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair industry, Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair 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 Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair market revenue worldwide.Finally, Unit Load Devices (ULD) Repair 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:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Market Forecast 2018-2025 Koyo Thermos Systems, ALD, Systherms, Carbolite Gero

Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Vacuum Hardening Furnaces market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Vacuum Hardening Furnaces market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Vacuum Hardening Furnaces market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - ALD, Carbolite Gero, ECM Technologies, G-M Enterprises, Ipsen International GmbH, Koyo Thermos Systems, Materials Research Furnaces, Solar Manufacturing, Systherms GmbH, T-M Vacuum Products.The Global Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Market 2018 report includes Vacuum Hardening Furnaces market Revenue, market Share, Vacuum Hardening Furnaces industry volume, market Trends, Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Vacuum Hardening Furnaces manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Market Segmented Based on Application - High Speed Steel Hardening, Die Steel Hardening, Alloy Steel Hardening, Stainless Steel Quenching, Other.Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Market Segmented Based on Type - Electric Heat Source Type, Gas Heat Source Type.Further, the Vacuum Hardening Furnaces report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Vacuum Hardening Furnaces industry, Vacuum Hardening Furnaces industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Vacuum Hardening Furnaces Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Vacuum Hardening Furnaces 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 Vacuum Hardening Furnaces market revenue worldwide.Finally, Vacuum Hardening Furnaces 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:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Titanium Product Market Forecast 2018-2025 Ineos, Sumitomo, Toho Titanium, Titanium Metal, DuPont

Titanium Product Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Titanium Product Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Titanium Product market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Titanium Product market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Titanium Product market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - Huntsman International, DuPont, Ineos, Iluka Resources Ltd, Sumitomo Corporation VSMPO-AVISMA Corporation, Toho Titanium Co., RTI International Metals, Allegheny Technologies Incorporated, Titanium Metal Corporation, Tronox Limited (U.S), Indian Rare Earths Limited (India), Sierra Rutile Limited (U.K).The Global Titanium Product Market 2018 report includes Titanium Product market Revenue, market Share, Titanium Product industry volume, market Trends, Titanium Product Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Titanium Product Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Titanium Product manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Titanium Product Market Segmented Based on Application - Aerospace & Marine, Industrial, Medical, Pigments, Additives & Coatings, Energy, Others.Titanium Product Market Segmented Based on Type - Titanium Concentrate, Titanium Tetrachloride, Titanium Sponge, Ferrotitanium, Titanium Pigment.Further, the Titanium Product report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Titanium Product industry, Titanium Product industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Titanium Product Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Titanium Product research report includes the products that are currently in demand and available in the market along with their cost breakup, manufacturing volume, import/export scheme and contribution to the Titanium Product market revenue worldwide.Finally, Titanium Product 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:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Global Large Format Display Market Forecast 2018-2025 Sharp Corp, E INK HOLDINGS, LG DISPLAY, SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS

Large Format Display (LFD) Market

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A comprehensive market study on "Global Large Format Display (LFD) Market 2018-2025" examines the performance of the Large Format Display (LFD) market. It encloses an in-depth Research of the Large Format Display (LFD) market state and the competitive landscape globally. This report analyzes the potential of Large Format Display (LFD) market in the present and the future prospects from various angles in detail.Leading Manufacturers Analysis such as - SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS, LG DISPLAY, NEC, Sharp Corp, LEYARD OPTOELECTRONIC, BARCO NV, SONY, TPV TECHNOLOGY LTD, E INK HOLDINGS, INC, AU OPTRONICS CORP.The Global Large Format Display (LFD) Market 2018 report includes Large Format Display (LFD) market Revenue, market Share, Large Format Display (LFD) industry volume, market Trends, Large Format Display (LFD) Growth aspects. A wide range of applications, Utilization ratio, Supply and demand analysis are also consist in the report. It shows manufacturing capacity, Large Format Display (LFD) Price during the Forecast period from 2018 to 2025.Request Sample Copy of Report:Firstly, the report covers the top Large Format Display (LFD) manufacturing industry players from regions like United States, EU, Japan, and China. It also characterizes the market based on geological regions.Large Format Display (LFD) Market Segmented Based on Application - Business, Infrastructure, Industrial, Other.Large Format Display (LFD) Market Segmented Based on Type - UP TO 500 NITS, 501-1000 NITS, 1001-2000 NITS, 2001-3000 NITS, Other.Further, the Large Format Display (LFD) report gives information on the company profile, market share and contact details along with value chain analysis of Large Format Display (LFD) industry, Large Format Display (LFD) industry rules and policies, circumstances driving the growth of the market and compulsion blocking the growth. Large Format Display (LFD) Market development scope and various business strategies are also mentioned in this report.Browse Full Report Here:The Large Format Display (LFD) 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 Large Format Display (LFD) market revenue worldwide.Finally, Large Format Display (LFD) 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:QYMarketStudy.com is a single destination for all the industry, company and country reports. We have a leading market intelligence team which accredits and provides the reports of some of the top publishers in the field of the technology industry.Contact Us:3626 North Hall Street (Two Oak Lawn),Suite 610,Dallas, TX 75219, USAContact No. +1-214-661-1669Web:Email: sales@qymarketstudy.com
Italy Cards And Payments Market Growth Forecast to 2022

Cards and Payments Market in Italy

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researchFOLKS Italy Cards and Payments Market report offers a distinct range of possibilities in the market of payment cards along with the accurately validated statistics of operational cards in the market and their total transactional values. It suggests profitable marketing strategies considering the competitive landscape in the market, purchase trends, payments options in online trade and significant government frameworks impacting the overall payment cards market of Italy.Our report kindles the hidden opportunities with dependable information about different types of card transactions, volumes of cardholders, market proportion, current accounts, increase within the number of cards, credit cards outstanding balances, transactional values, details of the issuers at the side of available banking schemes and futuristic analysis of overall cards and payment marketplace in Italy.Italy Cards and Payments Market - Highlights of the report:The emergence of digital banks is accelerating the shift towards electronic payments in Italy. Some of those include mobile-only bank by German-based N26 allowing consumers to conduct banking transactions entirely on their mobile phones, Hello Bank!, by Banca Nazionale del Lavoro (BNL), and buddybank, launched by UniCredit Bank offering current accounts, credit and debit cards, personal loans, and 24/7 personal assistance to customers.Apple launched Apple Pay, Sweden-based company Seamless launched its Seqr mobile payment app, US carrier billing service provider Boku acquired mobileview Italia gaining access to 87 million mobile subscriptions, and PayPal partnered with Vodafone to enable contactless payments by linking customer accounts to the Vodafone Wallet in Italy to benefit from the growing preference of alternative payments.For Full Report @The campaigns to increase awareness about the benefits of electronic payments like the No Cash Day Project by the government and national project in association with Maestro, Mastercard, Visa, UBI Banca, Bancomat Consortium, and Banco Popolare were successful in making Bergamo as a cashless city. Citizens there were offered discount coupons and vouchers on a daily and monthly basis resulted in the exceeding target of 611,623 cashless transactions against the set goal of 565,000 transactions in May 2015.List of companies mentioned in this report are:BancoPostaPoste ItalianeBanca Nazionale del LavoroIntesa SanpaoloUniCredit BankBanco BPMBNP ParibasCartaSi AgosPostepayPayPalBanca dItaliaBancomatVisaMastercardAmerican ExpressKey Questions answered by the report:What is the market size of the Italy Cards and Payments Market?What are the major operators and issuers in the Italy?What is the current state of emerging payment technologies?Reasons to purchase this report:Track key industry trends, opportunities and threats related to the Italy Cards and Payments Market and each market within itGain insights into the competitive landscape of card issuers for both, debit cards and pay later cardsGain insights into marketing strategies used by market players for various card types in the ItalyGain insights into key regulations governing the Italy Cards and Payments MarketScope of the report:This report provides an inclusive analysis of the Italy Cards and Payments MarketIt provides current values for the Italy Cards and Payments Market for 2017 and forecast figures for 2022It details the different demographic, economic, infrastructural and business drivers affecting the Italy Cards and Payments MarketAbout Us:researchFOLKS is one of the fast-growing market research firms which offers a range of company and industry intelligence reports. Our reports are produced in presentation format with actionable insights that quickens your decision making. With an experienced team of Analysts, we offer on-demand research solutions that are perfect for businesses who are looking to get a totally different perspective and reports to meet their customized needs.Contact Info:Name: Mr. SaiEmail: p.sai@researchfolks.comOrganization: researchfolksAddress: 4451 Breezy Bay Circle,Henrico, United States,VA 23233Phone: +1 (540) 313-6329researchFOLKS is one of the fast-growing market research firms which offers a range of company and industry intelligence reports. Our reports are produced in presentation format with actionable insights that quickens your decision making. With an experienced team of Analysts, we offer on-demand research solutions that are perfect for businesses who are looking to get a totally different perspective and reports to meet their customized needs.united states
Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market Market Growth Opportunities 2018  North America, China, Japan and Europe

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.In this report,the global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025,growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) market competition by top manufacturers,with production,price,revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingStora EnsoBinderholzKLH Massivholz GmbHMayr-Melnhof HolzMHM Abbund-ZentrumHasslacher NoricaMerk TimberLignotrendEugen DeckerThoma HolzSchilliger HolzW. u. J. DerixHMS BausystemeStructurlamGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The study of market segmentations that has been offered with the publication that explores some of the most significant categories of the world Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) market is deemed significant for the growth of industry participants. Segments that have been analyzed in the publication could be related to product, end use, application, and geography.A group of experienced analysts who have prepared the said report delves deep into the various factors that hinder or fuel the world market for Cross Laminated Timber (CLT). It also discovers and mentions the important trends that are emerging in the said market. Cashing in on all of these market data and statistics that have been garnered so far, it has come up with the best course of action for all the stake holders of the market.Table of ContentsGlobal Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market Research Report 20181 Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT)1.2 Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Adhesive-bonded CLT1.2.4 Mechanically Fastened CLT2 Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Capacity,Production,Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) Supply (Production),Consumption,Export,Import by Region (2013-2018)View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global Tax Management Software Market Size, Status and Forecast 2022 : Avalara, Longview, TaxSlayer

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Tax Management Software Market Size,Status and Forecast 2022" to its huge collection of research reports.This report studies the Tax Management Software market status and outlook of global and major regions, from angles of players, regions, product and end Application/industries; this report analyzes the top players in global and major regions, and splits the Tax Management Software market by product and Application/end industries.The global Tax Management Software market is carefully analyzed in the report with key focus on how certain factors could bode well in the near future. Researchers authoring the report have also shed light on factors that could restrain the growth of the market. Continuing further, the report offers a broad account of trends and opportunities that players could cash in on if they are to improve their shares of the market. Each trend or opportunity could be significant for the rise of the market and for players to overcome market challenges. The overview section gives a rough idea of the market and its scope for the said forecast period.Order a Free Copy of Sample Report @The global Tax Management Software market is valued at 3115.97 million USD in 2017 and is expected to reach 4585.48 million USD by the end of 2022, growing at a CAGR of 8.03% between 2018 and 2022.The Asia-Pacific will occupy for more market share in following years, especially in China, also fast growing India and Others regions.North America will still play an important role which cannot be ignored. Any changes from North America might affect the development trend of Sales Tax Software.Europe also play important roles in global market, with market size of 1869.91 million USD in 2017and will be 2843.9 million USD in 2022, with a CAGR of 8.75%.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Tax Management Software for these regions, from 2013 to 2022 (forecast)United StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaOthersOn the basis on the end users/Application, this report coversPersonal UseCommercial UseRegional analysis provided in the report takes into account all key regions of the global Tax Management Software market. It brings to light significant factors that could propel the growth of leading regional markets in the near future. Moreover, it provides accurate data and market projections for all of the regional segments studied in the report in order to give a clear picture of their current growth and that for the coming years. The researchers have also segmented the market based on other categories such as product and application. Each segment has been comprehensively analyzed based on various aspects.The competitive landscape of the global Tax Management Software market is analyzed in great detail for readers to gain sound understanding of the nature of competition and other vital aspects. Each player studied in the report is profiled based on its recent developments, market share, and other important factors.Obtain Table of Content @Table of Contents1 Industry Overview11.1 Tax Management Software Market Overview11.1.1 Tax Management Software Product Scope11.1.2 Market Status and Outlook11.2 Global Tax Management Software Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)21.3 Classification of Tax Management Software by Product81.4 Tax Management Software Market by End Users/Application122 Global Tax Management Software Competition Analysis by Players152.1 Global Tax Management Software Market Size (Million USD) by Players (2013-2018)152.2 Competitive Status194 Global Tax Management Software Market Size by Product and Application (2013-2018)824.1 Global Tax Management Software Market Size by Product (2013-2018)824.2 Global Tax Management Software Market Size by Application (2013-2018)834.3 Potential Application of Tax Management Software in Future854.4 Top Consumer / End Users of Tax Management Software85List of Tables and FiguresFigure Global Tax Management Software Market Size (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2013-2022)2Table Global Market Tax Management Software Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions 2013-20222Figure United States Tax Management Software Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2022)3Figure EU Tax Management Software Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2022)4Figure Japan Tax Management Software Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2022)5Figure China Tax Management Software Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2022)6Figure India Tax Management Software Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2022)7About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:
Beraprost Market Status and Business Outlook 2018: Pfizer, Sawai Seiyaku, Teva, Towa Yakuhin, Toray

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Beraprost Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Beraprost market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Global Beraprost market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingAsahi Kasei PharmaShin PoongShiono KemikaruOhara YakuhinPfizerSawai SeiyakuTevaTowa YakuhinYoshindoTorayAstellasKaken SeiyakuGreen CrossChoseido PharmaceuticalGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @The report also examines the competitive landscape of the Beraprost market by profiling each and every player based on their business attributes. This includes sales and revenue figures, product portfolio, key competitive strategies, and prospects in the short term. It extensively relies on primary as well as secondary research and standard analytical tools such as Porters five forces analysis and SWOT analysis to present a near-conclusive growth analysis of the Beraprost market.Table of ContentsGlobal Beraprost Market Research Report 20181 Beraprost Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Beraprost1.2 Beraprost Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Beraprost Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Beraprost Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 40g1.2.4 20g1.3 Global Beraprost Segment by Application1.3.1 Beraprost Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Pulmonary Hypertension1.3.3 Reperfusion Injury2 Global Beraprost Market Competition by Manufacturers2.1 Global Beraprost Capacity, Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.1 Global Beraprost Capacity and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Beraprost Production and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Beraprost Revenue and Share by Manufacturers (2013-2018)2.3 Global Beraprost Average Price by Manufacturers (2013-2018)3 Global Beraprost Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Beraprost Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Beraprost Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Beraprost Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Beraprost Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Beraprost Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Beraprost Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)View Complete TOC with tables & Figures @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Global WAN Optimization Solutions Market Size, Status and Forecast 2025 : Cisco Systems, Symantec, Exinda, Inc.

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global WAN Optimization Solutions Market Size,Status and Forecast 2025" to its huge collection of research reports.The report on the global WAN Optimization Solutions market is a scientific study for a know-how of present state of the market. It portrays vital market statistics through graphs and pictorial representations. It also divides information under appropriate subheads for easy browsing and reading comprehensibility.The report sets out basic overview of the WAN Optimization Solutions market, which includes definitions, application scope, industry statutes and industry policies. A glance into recent industry news is also presented here. Following this, it sheds light on vital indicators which include demand drivers, challenges, and opportunities. To that end, it factors in research and development initiatives, technological advancements, and various macro and micro indicators.Interpret a Competitive Analysis with Free Sample Report :This report studies the global WAN Optimization Solutions market, analyzes and researches the WAN Optimization Solutions development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia. This report focuses on the top players in global market, likeArray NetworksCisco SystemsCitrix SystemsRiverbed TechnologySymantecAryaka Networks, Inc.Exinda, Inc.Silver Peak, Inc.NTT CommunicationsMarket segment by Regions/Countries, this report coversUnited StatesEUJapanChinaIndiaSoutheast AsiaMarket segment by Application, WAN Optimization Solutions can be split intoCSPsNetwork OperatorsEnterprisesOthersIn order to conduct an in-depth study of the market, the report segments it based on different criteria. This includes product, application, technology, and end user. It then breaks each segment into smaller components to comprehend the growth behavior and to examine which ones hold promise. Based on geography, the report segregates the WAN Optimization Solutions market into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Africa, and South America. It tries to find regions that spells maximum opportunity for savvy players.The report also examines the competitive landscape of the WAN Optimization Solutions market by profiling each and every player based on their business attributes. This includes sales and revenue figures, product portfolio, key competitive strategies, and prospects in the short term. It extensively relies on primary as well as secondary research and standard analytical tools such as Porters five forces analysis and SWOT analysis to present a near-conclusive growth analysis of the WAN Optimization Solutions market.Get more information from Table of Content:Table of Contents1 Industry Overview of WAN Optimization Solutions1.1 WAN Optimization Solutions Market Overview1.1.1 WAN Optimization Solutions Product Scope1.1.2 Market Status and Outlook1.2 Global WAN Optimization Solutions Market Size and Analysis by Regions (2013-2018)1.3 WAN Optimization Solutions Market by Type1.4 WAN Optimization Solutions Market by End Users/Application2 Global WAN Optimization Solutions Competition Analysis by Players2.1 WAN Optimization Solutions 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 FutureList of Tables and FiguresFigure Global WAN Optimization Solutions Market Size (Million USD) Status and Outlook (2013-2018)Table Global WAN Optimization Solutions Revenue (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Global WAN Optimization Solutions Market Share by Regions (2013-2018)Figure United States WAN Optimization Solutions Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure EU WAN Optimization Solutions Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure Japan WAN Optimization Solutions Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)Figure China WAN Optimization Solutions Market Size (Million USD) and Growth Rate by Regions (2013-2018)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:
Glasses-Free 3D Displays Market 2018 Forecast- Evistek, KDX, Leyard, Inlife-Handnet, Stream TV Networks

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Market Research Report 2018 to its huge collection of research reports.In 2017, the global Glasses-Free 3D Displays market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.The major manufacturers covered in this report-AlioscopyEvistekKDXLeyardInlife-HandnetStream TV NetworksTCLExceptional 3DYUAN CHANG VISIONRealCelVision DisplaySeefeldGet PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @On the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoLight barrier technologyLenticular Lens Technology Glasses-Free 3D DisplaysOn 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, includingTVAdvertising DisplayMobile DevicesOthersThe vendor landscape has also been clearly explained in the report with key focus on company profiling of leading players of the global Glasses-Free 3D Displays market. Critical aspects such as degree of competition and entry of new players could be largely detailed in the report. Market estimates are said to have been considered based on various factors such as technological, economic, social, and political.Table of ContentsGlobal Glasses-Free 3D Displays Market Research Report 20181 Glasses-Free 3D Displays Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Glasses-Free 3D Displays1.2 Glasses-Free 3D Displays Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20172 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type5.1 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Production and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.2 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.3 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Price by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Global Glasses-Free 3D Displays Production Growth by Type (2013-2018)Read Complete Table of Content @QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:Email: sales@qyresearchreports.com
Move over re-skilling & upskilling! Techies now need to Multi-skill!

Bangalore, 28 May, 2018: The most coveted tech skills today may not be relevant five years from now, says a skill report released by Edureka, a global e-learning platform. While the importance of re-skilling has been stressed enough, skilling with the right technologies and with more than one technology, is as important as re-skilling itself, according to the report. More importantly, the report states that continuous re-skilling is not an option anymore, but a necessity in todays volatile job market and IT professionals need to invest in learning new skills 15-20 times to achieve career growth.These are the key findings of The fastest growing tech skills 2018, a report released today by Edureka.KEY REPORT FINDINGS: Professionals with 10-15 years of experience are driving demand for online courses in trending technologies. New-age technologies like AI, IoT, RPA, Blockchain are being adopted across industries and new job roles that didn't exist a year ago are being introduced today. 40 and outdated is a real worry driving mid managers and senior professionals to up-skill. Entry-level professionals make up the second biggest category of learners after mid to senior professionals, reflective of the skill gap between industry and academia. IT-Software sector contributes to the biggest chunk of learners and Finance and Banking sector comes in second, although there is a big gap between the two. Demand for courses in trending technologies is also seen from traditional industries such as Pharma, Telecom, and Retail in addition to new-age and IT sectors. In India, Bangalore leads the demand for all fast-growing technologies. The other metros also drive major demand, but there is a substantial demand from Tier II and III cities too. Interest in training for Cloud Computing and DevOps, Data Science and Big Data Frameworks is highest among non-metros and tier 2 cities in comparison to metros.The report is based on an analysis of 16,000 + learners from Edurekas learner community across the world. It lists the fastest-growing technologies for 2018 and provides a road-map to re-skilling for technology professionals.The list of fastest growing tech skills features many new entrants such as Artificial Intelligence which has seen a 100% increase in learners in the last 6 months at Edureka, and IoT, which until a year ago did not have job roles dedicated to it. Blockchain is another technology witnessing demand for hiring across geographies and has seen more than 25% of senior professionals with 15+ years experience up-skilling. This is in sync with the industry trend of global organisations and start-ups innovating on blockchain. Robotic Process Automation is the other new entrant with jobs being created in multiple domains.What Is Hot What Is NotAI and IoT Single Big Data FrameworkBlockchain QlikviewRobotic Process Automation Manual TestingCloud Computing and DevOps Web developmentData Science Java, Linux fundamentalsBig Data FrameworksVineet Chaturvedi, Co-Founder, Edureka, said, At a time when the average life span of a technical skill is very low, up-skilling constantly has become a necessity for IT professionals. However, many of them are in a rush to future-proof their careers and are enrolling in courses without evaluating the longevity of the skills they are honing. A combination of skills is recommended for technology professionals looking to future-proof their careers. A core skill which is in demand also needs to be augmented with upgrades and other new technologies. Our report seeks to list the tech skills that will help professionals plan for their career growth in a dynamic, global industry.Increasing Demand in the Last 6 MonthsMore than 100% increase in learners for Artificial Intelligence course at Edureka Cloud Computing and DevOps combination has seen a steady growth of 35%60% increase in demand for Edurekas Blockchain course 60% increase in the learners for Data Science78% increase in takers for Robotic Process Automation course 40% increase in learners opting for more than one Big data framework200% of increase in learners for IoTEdurekas report gives an in-depth understanding of which tech skills to invest in this year, evolving job trends in each technology, the industry applications, sector specific job roles, average salary, experience range of learners, learner job profiles, besides the top locations for these jobs in India and rest of the world.About Edureka:Edureka is a global e-learning platform for live, instructor-led training in trending technologies. They offer short term courses supported by online resources, along with 24x7 lifetime support. Edureka has an unwavering commitment to help working professionals keep up with changing technologies. With an existing learner community in more than 100 countries, Edurekas vision is to make learning easy, interesting, affordable and accessible to millions of learners across the globe.Nabanita Mondal, Consultant-Brand Communication7674949966PRHUB Integrated Marketing Communication Pvt. Ltd.Flat 312, 3rd Floor, Solitaire Abode,Ameenpur Road, Kailash Nagar, (Near Sridevi Theatre), Chandanagar, Serilingampally,RR Dist-500050, Telangana
Global Canine Stem Cell Therapy Insights on Future Growth Prospects and Industry Trends Analyzed till 2026

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Market Research Report Search Engine (MRRSE) recently announced the addition of a new research study to its comprehensive collection of research reports. The research report, titled Global Market Study on Canine Stem Cell Therapy: Ongoing Clinical Trials and Focus on Advancements to Push Adoption in Veterinary Clinics offers a detailed analysis of the market providing insights into the market dynamics that are expected to influence the overall market positively in the next few years. Furthermore, the product segmentation, drivers, barriers, key geographical segments, and the competitive scenario of the Global Canine Stem Cell Therapy Market have been elaborated upon in the research report.Get Sample PDF for more Professional and Technical insights @Despite the economic and political uncertainty in the recent past, the global healthcare industry has been receiving positive nudges from reformative and technological disruptions in medical devices, pharmaceuticals and biotech, in-vitro diagnostics, and medical imaging. Key markets across the world are facing a massive rise in demand for critical care services that are pushing global healthcare spending levels to unimaginable limits.A rapidly multiplying geriatric population; increasing prevalence of chronic ailments such as cancer and cardiac disease; growing awareness among patients; and heavy investments in clinical innovation are just some of the factors that are impacting the performance of the global healthcare industry. Proactive measures such as healthcare cost containment, primary care delivery, innovation in medical procedures (3-D printing, blockchain, and robotic surgery to name a few), safe and effective drug delivery, and well-defined healthcare regulatory compliance models are targeted at placing the sector on a high growth trajectory across key regional markets.Parent Indicators HealthcareCurrent expenditure on health, % of gross domestic productCurrent expenditure on health, per capita, US$ purchasing power parities (current prices, current PPPs)Annual growth rate of current expenditure on health, per capita, in real termsOut-of-pocket expenditure, % of current expenditure on healthOut-of-pocket expenditure, per capita, US$ purchasing power parity (current prices, current PPPs)Physicians, Density per 1000 population (head counts)Nurses, Density per 1000 population (head counts)Total hospital beds, per 1000 populationCurative (acute) care beds, per 1000 populationMedical technology, Magnetic Resonance Imaging units, total, per million populationMedical technology, Computed Tomography scanners, total, per million populationResearch MethodologyPMR utilizes a triangulation methodology that is primarily based on experimental techniques such as patient-level data, to obtain precise market estimations and insights on Molecule and Drug Classes, API Formulations and preferred modes of administration. Bottom-up approach is always used to obtain insightful data for the specific country/regions. The country specific data is again analysed to derive data at a global level. This methodology ensures high quality and accuracy of information.Secondary research is used at the initial phase to identify the age specific disease epidemiology, diagnosis rate and treatment pattern, as per disease indications. Each piece of information is eventually analysed during the entire research project which builds a strong base for the primary research information.Primary research participants include demand-side users such as key opinion leaders, physicians, surgeons, nursing managers, clinical specialists who provide valuable insights on trends and clinical application of the drugs, key treatment patterns, adoption rate, and compliance rate.Quantitative and qualitative assessment of basic factors driving demand, economic factors/cycles and growth rates and strategies utilized by key players in the market is analysed in detail while forecasting, in order to project Year-on-Year growth rates. These Y-o-Y growth projections are checked and aligned as per industry/product lifecycle and further utilized to develop market numbers at a holistic level.On the other hand, we also analyse various companies annual reports, investor presentations, SEC filings, 10k reports and press release operating in this market segment to fetch substantial information about the market size, trends, opportunity, drivers, restraints and to analyse key players and their market shares. Key companies are segmented at Tier level based on their revenues, product portfolio and presence.Access Complete Report with Table of Content @Please note that these are the partial steps that are being followed while developing the market size. Besides this, forecasting will be done based on our internal proprietary model which also uses different macro-economic factors such as per capita healthcare expenditure, disposable income, industry based demand driving factors impacting the market and its forecast trends apart from disease related factors.Standard Report StructureExecutive SummaryMarket DefinitionMacro-economic analysisParent Market AnalysisMarket OverviewForecast FactorsSegmental Analysis and ForecastRegional AnalysisCompetition AnalysisTarget AudienceProduction CompaniesSuppliersChannel PartnersMarketing AuthoritiesSubject Matter ExpertsResearch InstitutionsFinancial InstitutionsMarket ConsultantsGovernment AuthoritiesMarket TaxonomyThe global canine stem cell therapy market has been segmented into:Product Type:Allogeneic Stem CellsAutologous Stem cellsApplication:ArthritisDysplasiaTendonitisLamenessOthersEnd User:Veterinary HospitalsVeterinary ClinicsVeterinary Research InstitutesRegion:North AmericaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificJapanMiddle East & AfricaAbout Market Research Reports Search EngineMarket 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  12207(United State)United States Telephone: +1-518-730-0559(CANADA)Email: sales@mrrse.comWebsite:
Unisecure Data Centers Introduces Managed CDP Backup Solutions

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To finding the right backup technology is a big challenge in IT industry, Unisecure provides CDP Backup service technology which runs on Multiple platforms, different Technologies and Operating Systems.Philadelphia, US, 29th May 2018 | Unisecure provides world-class Data Center facilities and now introduced Continuous Data Protection (CDP) backup Services for Backups in environments which runs on many platforms, different Technologies and Operating Systems.Why CDP Backup Services ?CDP is also known as real-time backup or continue backup of PCs data by automatically saving all changes made to that data. This technology gives you opportunity to bring back your data backup to the end moments before your original data got screwed because of some malfunction practices.CDP backups are creating and keeping all information available with easy and quick access. This backups preserve many retention points. You can preserve till 30 retention over 30 days also grant you to control data save points within the given period. For crash issue, our Bare-Metal restore will completely recover your server with all contents including pre-set.Changes in the Data Storage are saved into a separate storage location when CDP is utilized.Features of Managed Backup services :Data Retention PoliciesRecovery Point ArchivingBare-Metal RestorePowerful File ExcludesPoint-in-Time snapshotsPortable Storage BackupCPD provides restore options for :MailsMessagesData-base, Files and LogsComputer filesCrash consistent imagesAbout Unisecure Data CentersUnisecure data centers guarantee 99.995% uptime, high-density redundant power, flexible configurations, carrier-neutral facilities, and 24x7x365 customer support. We have 5 data centers among which 2 are located in Philadelphia and Conshohocken, U.S embed with Information Security Management System (ISMS) to examine risks and develop better processes for security our data centers are most secure and reliable. Our data centers offer services from VPS hosting packages, colocation services, and Best Dedicated Server Hosting to the firewall and advanced backup solutions. We have 50000+ customers over 17 countries including brands such as Canon, DHL, HP, Microsoft, Pepsi, Mc Donalds, Bacardi, Nabard, Sony,Raymond,Sunsilk,Tata, Pepsi Godrej, HP, Fever 104 EM and much more.For more information about their services, visitMedia ContactJennifer ThomasContact: +1 347 960 6628Email: jennifer@unisecure.comUnisecure Data Centers, US.(Philadelphia & Conshohocken)70-26 Groton Street,Forest Hills, NY,New York,11375-5102, US
Laser Hair Loss Treatment 2018 Global Market Outlook,Research,Trends and Forecast to 2022

Laser Hair Loss Treatment Market

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Laser Hair Loss Treatment 2018 Global Market Outlook,Research,Trends and Forecast to 2022.The analysts forecast the global laser hair loss treatment market will post a revenue close to USD 280 million by 2022.Laser devices used for hair loss treatments are non-invasive treatment devices. These devices use low level lasers technology (LLLT) for hair loss treatments. These are also known as soft lasers or cold lasers. These lasers penetrate the scalp and stimulate the roots of hair, which increases blood circulation and stimulates hair growth.Get a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comCovered in this reportThe report covers the present scenario and the growth prospects of the global laser hair loss treatment market for 2018-2022. To calculate the market size, the report presents a detailed picture of the market by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources.The market is divided into the following segments based on geography: Americas APAC EMEAThe report, Global Laser Hair Loss Treatment Market 2018-2022, has been prepared based on an in-depth market analysis with inputs from industry experts. The report covers the market landscape and its growth prospects over the coming years. The report also includes a discussion of the key vendors operating in this market.Key vendors Apira Science Capillus Eclipse Aesthetics HairMax iRestore NutraStimMarket driver Increasing technological advancement and innovation For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket challenge High cost of hair loss treatment laser devices For a full, detailed list, view our reportMarket trend Increase in home care products For a full, detailed list, view our reportKey questions answered in this report What will the market size be in 2022 and what will the growth rate be? What are the key market trends? What is driving this market? What are the challenges to market growth? Who are the key vendors in this market space?Report Details @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsPART 01: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYPART 02: SCOPE OF THE REPORTPART 03: RESEARCH METHODOLOGYPART 04: MARKET LANDSCAPE Market ecosystem Market characteristics Market segmentation analysis Product typesPART 05: MARKET SIZING Market definition Market sizing 2017 Market size and forecastPART 06: FIVE FORCES ANALYSIS Bargaining power of buyers Bargaining power of suppliers Threat of new entrants Threat of substitutes Threat of rivalry Market conditionPART 07: CUSTOMER LANDSCAPEPART 08: MARKET SEGMENTATION BY END-USER Segmentation by end-user Comparison by end-user Males  Market size and forecast 2017-2022 Females  Market size and forecast 2017-2022 Market opportunity by end-userPART 09: REGIONAL LANDSCAPE Geographical segmentation Regional comparison Americas  Market size and forecast 2017-2022 EMEA  Market size and forecast 2017-2022 APAC  Market size and forecast 2017-2022 Market opportunityPART 10: DECISION FRAMEWORKPART 11: DRIVERS AND CHALLENGES Market drivers Market challengesPART 12: MARKET TRENDS Increase in home care products Increase in non-invasive therapies Rapid growth of e-commerceContinued..For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
EHR Software Market by Product Types(Android, Apple OS, Windows Phone), Application(Hospital,Clinical,Personal), Top Manufactures(AdvancedMD, CareCloud, Athena Clinicals), Industry Vertical, and Region  Global Forecast to 2025

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Global EHR Software Market Research Report 2018This report studies the global EHR Software market, analyzes and researches the EHR Software development status and forecast in United States, EU, Japan, China, India and Southeast Asia.Get sample copy of this report:Companies Profiled in this report includes: AdvancedMD, CareCloud, Athena Clinicals, Practice Fusion, eClinicalWorks, Greenway Health, ChartLogic, Aprima, Accenture, EpicCareElectronic health records (EHR) are the digital version of a patients medical history, which is maintained by the healthcare provider over time, and may include all of the key executives clinical data relevant to that individual care under a particular provider. EHRs include data ranging from demographics, problems, progress notes, vital signs, medications, past medical history, immunizations, radiology reports, to laboratory data.Get Discount of this report:The report also provides an estimation of the overall market size in terms of both value and volume and offers qualitative and quantitative insights into the key segments and the geographical subdivisions of the Global ehr software market. It also provides a comprehensive study of the development trends and government regulations and policies in each of the geography. According to the report, equipment and raw material are two primary components of the manufacturing process of Global ehr software marketTable of Content:Global EHR Software Market Research Report 20181 EHR Software Market Overview2 Global EHR Software Market Competition by Manufacturers3 Global EHR Software Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018)4 Global EHR Software Supply (Production) , Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018)5 Global EHR Software Production, Revenue (Value) , Price Trend by Type6 Global EHR Software Market Analysis by Application7 Global EHR Software Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 AdvancedMD7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 EHR Software Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 AdvancedMD EHR Software Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 CareCloud7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 EHR Software Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 CareCloud EHR Software Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Athena Clinicals7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 EHR Software Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Athena Clinicals EHR Software Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview8 EHR Software Manufacturing Cost Analysis9 Industrial Chain, Sourcing Strategy and Downstream Buyers10 Marketing Strategy Analysis, Distributors/Traders11 Market Effect Factors Analysis12 Global EHR Software Market Forecast (2018-2025)Complete Report:Contact Info:Name: Sameer JoshiEmail: sales@reportsweb.comCompany Name: ReportsWebWebsite: Reportsweb.comPhone: +1-646-491-9876ReportsWeb.com is a one stop shop of market research reports and solutions to various companies across the globe. We help our clients in their decision support system by helping them choose most relevant and cost effective research reports and solutions from various publishers. We provide best in class customer service and our customer support team is always available to help you on your research queries.533, 5th floor, Amanora Township,Amanora Chambers, East Block,Kharadi Road, Hadapsar, Pune-411028
Waterjet Technology solves future Rocket Science

www.waterjetsweden.com

/ins Sending satellites into orbit is today a large and global industry. In Sweden you find the world leading supplier of Payload Adapters and Separation Systems for commercial launch vehicles. They manufacture systems compatible with all commercial satellite buses in the world today. Market leadership means constant investigation of ways to develop the rocket science even further. This time it led to new ways of processing their thick carbon fiber materials.The purpose of the Payload Adapter and Separation System is to bring a satellite into orbit. The systems ensure that satellite and rocket remain securely attached to one another during the tough journey into space, and then deliver the valuable payloads into orbit with precision.The Payload Adapter of today is made out of aluminum and carbon fiber technology. The two parts are thoroughly bolted together into one big cone, several meters in diameter. The design has an impressive performance. Over 600 separations have been carried out in orbit with a 100 percent success rate.But calculations have shown that Payload Adapter Systems in 100% carbon fiber would improve weight and stiffness significantly. A design that could increase both rocket efficiency and investment payback. Instead of bolting the two Payload Adapter pieces together the same design as on glulam beams could be used  finger joints. A design that enables a big contact surface, a strong joint and is suitable when joining similar materials.Since neither milling nor sawing was applicable for processing this kind of design, and Water Jet Sweden was contacted to conduct live waterjet test cutting.- Complex carbon fiber geometries are generally difficult to process efficiently without using waterjet cutting technology, Tony Ryd, CTO at Water Jet Sweden, explains.The test was performed by cutting 47 mm long finger joints in a cone shaped 12 mm thick carbon fiber material with a circumference of 7,2 meters. The incision needed a tolerance of 0.1 mm around the circle, to be able to safely be glued together. A highly advanced FiveX machine system from Water Jet Sweden was chosen for the test.- Our FiveX machine system is unique since it has a combination of extreme precision and a full 3D abrasive cutting ability. It is specially designed for this kind of advanced applications, cutting with a repetition accuracy of +/- 0.025 mm, tells Tony Ryd.The was successful and gave to clear conclusions. First of all, it proved that full carbon Payload Adapters are possible on future launch vehicles, and secondly, it showed that abrasive waterjet cutting is a suitable cutting technology for carbon materials and future rocket science.FactsAfter more than 30 years Water Jet Sweden in Ronneby Sweden has become one of the leading European manufacturers of water jet cutting systems, with an international footprint and customers in more than 40 countries around the globe. The ambition is to be the obvious first choice for customers worldwide who seek solutions in water jet cutting where high quality, high technical content and high service standards are the basic elements.Water Jet Sweden develops, manufactures and markets advanced solutions for water jet cutting and provides a quality aftermarket offer with service and parts.INS Trade Media ServiceIso Roobertinkatu 20-2200120 Helsinki+358 (0)9 6120 990
eVisions One Vision 8 Platform Achieves SAP Premium Certification with SAP ERP

www.evision-software.com

http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/legal/copyright/index.epx

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (29 May 2018)eVision today announced that its One Vision 8 platform has achieved premium certification from SAP for integration with the SAP ERP application. The powerful two-way integration helps users of both SAP ERP and the eVision One Vision platform to get the most out of these solutions.Customers benefit from greatly improved interoperability with SAP applications and with the large ecosystem of solutions that run on SAP ERP. eVisions One Vision platform can fully integrate with SAP ERP, meaning that critical information can now be pulled from and pushed to Permit Vision, Shift Vision, Barrier Vision, Change Vision and other eVision solutions. This information includes work orders, (overdue) maintenance orders, HR qualification data, and more, with One Vision now also capable of pulling master data and customizing data directly from SAP ERP. Choosing an SAP-certified solution can also help reduce overall IT investment costs and risks, and supports data integrity across customers IT landscapes.Ralph Maroun, eVisions Senior Manager Technology & Solutions, stated: Our long-standing relationship with SAP has enabled our clients to utilize previously disparate systems efficiently and effectively. Now, with the SAP premium certification for One Vision 8, the benefits of integration can be seen throughout the entire One Vision platform, empowering crew and management to use the systems to their fullest extent.This advanced integration between SAP ERP and the One Vision platform further improves continuity and simplicity across the breadth of situations which require data to be pulled into eVision systems, from planning a permit, to equipment data, to advanced Functional Location mapping. Making processes not only simpler but easier to understand as well, allows the workforce to get to work quicker with better information. Premium integration with SAP ERP is the pinnacle of this, and we look forward to measuring the benefits of this powerful collaboration, said Maroun.About eVisioneVision Industry Software creates best-in-class Control of Work software. Innovative solutions that improve the way oil, gas, chemical and other hazardous industries operate on a global and local scale. eVision enables you to increase the safety and speed of your operations, supporting you in reaching your operational excellence and safety objectives. eVision solutions are fully configurable to match your organization's wishes and requirements, while ensuring unprecedented ease-of-use and full compliance with the latest protocols and regulations.Major organisations such as Shell, Statoil, BP, Qatar Petroleum, Repsol-Sinopec and many more have selected eVision as their Control of Work vendor of choice, solidifying eVision as industry leader of its domain. With offices worldwide and partnerships with the worlds leading system integrators, eVision provides high-quality delivery and support, on location, at all times. For more information, please visit# # #SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE (or an SAP affiliate company) in Germany and other countries. Seefor additional trademark information and notices.All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.Daan SavalleMarketing Manager+31702182427daan.savalle@evision-software.comeVision Industry SoftwareLange Vijverberg 32513 AC The HagueThe Netherlands
Bitcoin Electricity Consumption  Part 2

https://smarterbusiness.co.uk/

The debate rages on as bitcoin electricity consumption increasesEarlier this year, we published an article on bitcoin electricity consumption, reporting how Iceland has become one of the top locations for cryptocurrency servers, which now exceed the consumption of private energy users.Now, the criticism amongst ecological circles and the debates around bitcoin electricity consumption have been fuelled by a paper by Alex de Vries of PwCs Experience Center in Amsterdam.His paper, Bitcoins Growing Energy Problem, concludes that bitcoins electricity consumption could soon be heading above a consumption rate of 8 gigawatts (GW) per year.The papers findings:At the moment, the bitcoin network consumes at least 2.55 GW of electricity  as high as the annual energy consumption of Ireland.This could reach a consumption of 7.67 GW in the future  close to the energy consumption of the entire nation of Austria (8.2 GW).By the end of 2018, the mining of bitcoin could be using as much as 0.005% of the entire worlds energy use.The reality is that bitcoin uses a massive amount of energy. Author Alex de Vries says: The bitcoin development community is experimenting with solutions such as the Lightning Network to improve the throughput of the network, which may alleviate the situation. For now, however, bitcoin has a big problem and it is growing fast.Why does bitcoin mining require so much energy?The bitcoin mining process uses computers with software that can solve complex mathematical problems. A new block is added to the blockchain every time a new problem is solved, rewarding the miner with bitcoins. This process requires a lot of energy because the computers need to ledger all the transactions so that the same coins arent spent twice  this takes time and consumes a lot of electricity.How can bitcoin electricity consumption become sustainable?De Vries research reveals that if the price of bitcoin continues to go down, and the amount of energy needed to mine it continues to rise, bitcoin investment could become inefficient.One of the ways this can be avoided is if the world shifts to 100% renewable energy in the years ahead. With renewables, the environmental and efficiency concerns around bitcoin energy usage would be negated.But is it possible to go 100% green?New research from Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews journal found that a shift to total renewable energy using contemporary technology is both possible and affordable.Co-author of the research, Brian Vad Mathiesen of Aalborg University says: There are some persistent myths that 100 percent renewable systems are not possible. Our contribution deals with these myths one-by-one, using all the latest research. Now lets get back to the business of modelling low-cost scenarios to eliminate fossil fuels from our energy system, so we can tackle the climate and health challenges they pose.If we were to eliminate fossil fuel usage, this would eliminate the environmental and efficiency challenges caused by energy-intensive bitcoin mining.Its not impossible to imagine a world in which bitcoin is used exclusively, backed by green energy. If theres one thing weve learnt over time, its to never say neverSmarter Business is one of the UKs leading independent consultancies, helping businesses secure the most comprehensive savings solutions from utilities contract management and procurement to business loans and facilities maintenance.John De Mierre HouseBridge RoadHaywards HeathWest SussexRH16 1UAinfo@smarterbusiness.co.uk
Global Paper Pulp Market 2018 | Northwood, Kamloops, Celgar, Harmac

Paper Pulp

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Press Release - 29 May2018Global Research and Development News --. ."Global Paper Pulp Sales Market Report 2018" with coming years Industries Trends, projections of Global Growth, Major key player and Case study, Review, Share, Size, Effect.' 'In this report, the global Paper Pulp market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K MT), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Paper Pulp for these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndia. . Get Sample Report_' 'Global Paper Pulp market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Paper Pulp sales volume, Price (USD/MT), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingNorthwoodKamloopsCelgarHarmacCatalyst PaperHowe SoundGold RiverBowaterSmurfit KappaPotlatchCascadeInternational PaperAraucoIlim GroupHu'nan Tiger Forest & Paper GroupYunNan YunJingYunnan FengHuangAracruzSuzanoAl-PacPeace RiverWinstoneOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBSKPBHKPBCTMPOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingPaper IndustryOther. . More Clear Details get Table of Contents_' 'Global Paper Pulp Sales Market Report 20181 Paper Pulp Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Paper Pulp1.2 Classification of Paper Pulp by Product Category1.2.1 Global Paper Pulp Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Paper Pulp Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 BSKP1.2.4 BHKP1.2.5 BCTMP1.3 Global Paper Pulp Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Paper Pulp Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Paper Industry1.3.3 Other1.4 Global Paper Pulp Market by Region1.4.1 Global Paper Pulp Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Paper Pulp Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 China Paper Pulp Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 Europe Paper Pulp Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Paper Pulp Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Paper Pulp Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Paper Pulp (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Paper Pulp Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Paper Pulp Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2025)2 Global Paper Pulp Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Paper Pulp Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Paper Pulp Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Paper Pulp Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Paper Pulp (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Paper Pulp Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 Global Paper Pulp Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3 Global Paper Pulp (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Paper Pulp Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global Paper Pulp Revenue and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4 Global Paper Pulp (Volume) by Application3 United States Paper Pulp (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Paper Pulp Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 United States Paper Pulp Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 United States Paper Pulp Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.3 United States Paper Pulp Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)3.2 United States Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)3.3 United States Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)3.4 United States Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)4 China Paper Pulp (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Paper Pulp Sales and Value (2013-2018)4.1.1 China Paper Pulp Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.2 China Paper Pulp Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.3 China Paper Pulp Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)4.2 China Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)4.3 China Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)4.4 China Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)5 Europe Paper Pulp (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Paper Pulp Sales and Value (2013-2018)5.1.1 Europe Paper Pulp Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.1.2 Europe Paper Pulp Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.1.3 Europe Paper Pulp Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)5.2 Europe Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)5.3 Europe Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Europe Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6 Japan Paper Pulp (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Paper Pulp Sales and Value (2013-2018)6.1.1 Japan Paper Pulp Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.1.2 Japan Paper Pulp Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.1.3 Japan Paper Pulp Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)6.2 Japan Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)6.3 Japan Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)6.4 Japan Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)7 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp (Volume, Value and Sales Price)7.1 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp Sales and Value (2013-2018)7.1.1 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)7.1.2 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)7.1.3 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)7.2 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)7.3 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)7.4 Southeast Asia Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)8 India Paper Pulp (Volume, Value and Sales Price)8.1 India Paper Pulp Sales and Value (2013-2018)8.1.1 India Paper Pulp Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)8.1.2 India Paper Pulp Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)8.1.3 India Paper Pulp Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)8.2 India Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)8.3 India Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)8.4 India Paper Pulp Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)9 Global Paper Pulp Players/Suppliers Profiles and Sales Data9.1 Northwood9.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.1.2 Paper Pulp Product Category, Application and Specification9.1.2.1 Product A9.1.2.2 Product B9.1.3 Northwood Paper Pulp Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)9.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.2 Kamloops9.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base and Competitors9.2.2 Paper Pulp Product Category, Application and Specification9.2.2.1 Product A9.2.2.2 Product B9.2.3 Kamloops Paper Pulp Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)9.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview9.3 CelgarContinue.....ResearchMoz is the worlds fastest growing collection of market research reports worldwide. Our database is composed of current market studies from over 100 featured publishers worldwide. Our market research databases integrate statistics with analysis from global, regional, country and company perspectives. ResearchMozs service portfolio also includes value-added services such as market research customization, competitive landscaping, and in-depth surveys, delivered by a team of experienced Research Coordinators.Researchmoz Global Pvt. Ltd.90 State Street,Albany, NY 12207,United States,Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free),Tel: +1-518-621-2074
Clinical Gloves Industry 2018 Top Manufacturers - Ansell, Top Glove, Carda Group, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, 3M, Terumo, B. Braun, Smith & Nephew

Clinical Gloves Market

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https://www.marketexpertz.com/report-detail/clinical-gloves-market-size-share-trends-analysis-report-by-product-by-application-by-region-and-segment-forecasts-2018-2025

A new market assessment report on the Clinical Gloves market provides a comprehensive overview of the Clinical Gloves 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.Download FREE Sample Copy of Clinical Gloves Market spread across 113 PAGES, profiling 19 companies and supported with Tables & Figures is now available at @Scope of the Report: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. 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 Clinical Gloves market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report covers:Ansell, Top Glove, Carda Group, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, 3M, Terumo, B. Braun, Smith & Nephew, Medline, Halyard Health, Smiths Group, Weigao, BSN medical, Lohmann & Rauscher, Baxter, Ammex Latex Gloves, Hartalega, Shandong Yuyuan Latex GlovesMarket Segment On the basis of Application, Report covers: Hospital Clinic OthersMarket Segment On the basis of Product, Report covers: Disposable Medical Gloves Reusable Medical GlovesPurchase Clinical Gloves Market Report@The research provides answers to the following key questions: What is the estimated growth rate and market share and size of the Clinical Gloves market for the forecast period 2018 - 2025? What are the driving forces in the Clinical Gloves 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 Clinical Gloves 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?There are 12 Chapters to deeply display the Clinical Gloves market.Chapter 1 covers the Clinical Gloves Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2 talks about the top manufacturers and analyses their sales, revenue and pricing decisions for the duration 2018 and 2025;Chapter 3 displays the competitive nature of the market by discussing the competition among the top manufacturers. It dissects the market using sales, revenue and market share data for 2018 and 2025;Chapter 4, shows the global market by regions and the proportionate size of each market region based on sales, revenue and market share of Clinical Gloves, for the period 2018- 2025;ContinueBrowse the Full Report@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 empowers the business evangelists, manufacturers and business owners build a robust strategy when it comes to making an investment.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 CityNY 10005 United Statessales@marketexpertz.com+1-800-819-3052
Global Fluid Power Systems Market 2018 Top Manufacturers : Parker, Eaton, Tokyo Keiki, ROBECK, Hyvair

Qyresearchreports

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https://www.qyresearchreports.com/report/global-fluid-power-systems-sales-market-report-2018.htm/toc

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Qyresearchreports include new market research report "Global Fluid Power Systems Sales Market Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In 2017, the global Fluid Power Systems market size was xx million US$ and it is expected to reach xx million US$ by the end of 2025, with a CAGR of xx.x % between 2018 and 2025.Market these days have to function is a dynamic business environment. With consumer preference evolving rapidly, business are required to have winning strategies up their sleeves to gain competitive advantage. This report includes valuable market intelligence for consumers as well as companies operating in the global Fluid Power Systems market. Besides offering a comprehensive overview of prevailing trends, the report covers round-up analysis of strategies they adopted over the years. The report covers their strengths and weaknesses and presents insights into key opportunities and potential threats for the market players.Fill the form for an exclusive free sample of this report @The major players covered in this reportParkerEatonTokyo KeikiROBECKFlowtech FluidpowerFPS Fluid Power SolutionsFurness Fluid PowerSirus Fluid PowerStansted Fluid PowerErnst Fluid PowerGeographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringUnited StatesEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaKey StakeholdersFluid Power Systems ManufacturersFluid Power Systems Distributors/Traders/WholesalersFluid Power Systems Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsThe report classifies the global Fluid Power Systems market based on various criteria. It also studies factors enabling growth in the market across these segments. For the purpose of the study, it also segments the market in terms of region. Share held by these regions in the global Fluid Power Systems market is also calculated to enable readers have an executive-level blueprint on the global market. Information included in this market study is obtained via in-depth primary and secondary research. Furthermore, key data and statistics are obtained from trusted sources from within the industry. The report also includes expert opinions for stakeholders to have a better perspective about the investment feasibility in the global Fluid Power Systems market.The effect of prevailing economic and regulatory trends is also studied in detail. Furthermore, the report examines the effect of key strategies adopted by the market players over the last few years. Information thus compiled is presented in coherent chapter-wise format in the report. It therefore provides a birds eye view of the global Fluid Power Systems market.Interested in report: Please follow the below link to meet your requirements:Table of Contents1 Fluid Power Systems Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Fluid Power Systems1.2 Classification of Fluid Power Systems by Product Category1.3 Global Fluid Power Systems Market by Application/End Users1.4 Global Fluid Power Systems Market by Region1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Fluid Power Systems (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Fluid Power Systems Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Fluid Power Systems Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2025)2 Global Fluid Power Systems Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Fluid Power Systems Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Fluid Power Systems Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Fluid Power Systems Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Fluid Power Systems (Volume and Value) by Type2.3 Global Fluid Power Systems (Volume and Value) by Region2.4 Global Fluid Power Systems (Volume) by ApplicationList of Tables and FiguresFigure Product Picture of Fluid Power SystemsFigure Global Fluid Power Systems Sales Volume Comparison (K Units) by Type (2013-2025)Figure Global Fluid Power Systems Sales Volume Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 2017Figure Global Fluid Power Systems Market Size (Million USD) by Regions (2013-2025)Figure United States Fluid Power Systems Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Europe Fluid Power Systems Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure China Fluid Power Systems Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Japan Fluid Power Systems Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)Figure Southeast Asia Fluid Power Systems Revenue (Million USD) and Growth Rate (2013-2025)About Us:QYResearchReports.com delivers the latest strategic market intelligence to build a successful business footprint in China. Our syndicated and customized research reports provide companies with vital background information of the market and in-depth analysis on the Chinese trade and investment framework, which directly affects their business operations. Reports from QYResearchReports.com feature valuable recommendations on how to navigate in the extremely unpredictable yet highly attractive Chinese market.Contact Us:1820 AvenueM Suite #1047Brooklyn, NY 11230United StatesToll Free: 866-997-4948 (USA-CANADA)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Web:
Europe Pure Nicotine Market | Global Industry Survey, Trends, Outlook, Overview and 2022 Forecast

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https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/europe-pure-nicotine-market-2476

Market Overview:Increase in demand for the Pure Nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products is influencing the growth of Pure Nicotine market.Pure nicotine is a colorless liquid with a characteristic acrimonious odor. It is a colorless liquid that turns brown and smells like tobacco when exposed to air. It is the purest and freshest nicotine solution available in the market that is derived from the finest, pesticide-free tobacco leaves. It is naturally sourced, filtrated, extracted, separated and distilled to amass a true and clean nicotine produce.The Europe pure nicotine market has witnessed continued demand during the last few years and is projected to reach 5.521 Kilo tons at a CAGR of 5.83% by 2022. Increase in demand for the nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products will drive the higher demand for the pure nicotine in the coming years. Increase in demand across various applications including e-liquid, smoking cessation products, bio pesticides and other industrial purposes is driving higher demand for pure nicotine.Europe pure nicotine market, based on application, is segmented into e-liquid, smoking cessation products, pharmaceuticals, bio-pesticide and others E-liquid dominated and having more than 50% market share in the year 2017 and is projected to grow at the highest CAGR at 5.85% during the forecast period followed by smoking cessation products with market share more than 25% and growing at CAGR of 5.8% for the corresponding period. The innovations in pure nicotine products and process prime objectives include achieving reductions in cigarette consumption by providing various product forms, flavors, and packaging styles is supporting the market growth.Try Sample Report Here @Latest Industry Updates:Dec 2017 Biohit Oyj and R-kioski Oy have signed an agreement for the distribution of the smoking cessation product, Acetium lozenge in Finland. The contract is a non-exclusive distribution agreement. The new Acetium lozenge is an effective and safe product that helps quit smoking without nicotine.Nov 2017 The Food and Drug Administration is taking new steps to encourage the development of innovative nicotine-replacement therapies to wean smokers off conventional cigarettes.March 2015 MOLIQ launched 20 delicious liquids available in 10ml plastic bottles and five nicotine strengths including 0mg, 6mg, 9mg, 12mg and 18mg.Nov 2014 Chemnovatic launched new website where one can find all VAPY and VAPY Complex flavors as well as Nic Shot nicotine shots.Competitive Analysis:With the entry of industry players in the Pure Nicotine segment, a trend of solid, volume-driven growth has been observed in the market with the development of different varieties of product types. With companies aiming to capture a considerable share of the market segment as early as possible, they are competing and experimenting with various advantage points. Acquisitions and partnership with small companies are other strategic movements made by the key players. The best long-term growth opportunities for this sector can be captured by ensuring ongoing process improvements and financial flexibility to invest in the optimal strategies.The key players profiled in Pure Nicotine are as Chemnovatic (Poland), Contraf Nicotex Tobacco GmbH (Germany), Nicobrand Limited (Ireland), Purenic (BGP Europe AG) (Basel)Market Segments:The Europe Pure Nicotine market has been divided into type, application, and country.On The Basis of Type: Liquid and PowderOn The Basis of Application: e-liquid, smoking cessation products, pharmaceuticals, bio-pesticides and othersOn The Basis of Country: Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Poland and Rest of EuropeAccess Report Details @Regional Analysis:The Europe Pure Nicotine market is segmented into Bulgaria, Italy, Germany, Poland and Rest of Europe. Rest of the Europe part accounted for the largest market share which is more than of 50% in 2017, with a market volume of 2.063 kilo tons and is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.38% during the estimated period. Germany and Poland are anticipated to grow at a moderate rate in pure nicotine market in Europe.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.Contact:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Glacial Acetic Acid Market 2018 Major Suppliers - Celanese, Eastman, BP, LyondellBasell, BASF, Lonza, ChangChun Group, Showa Denko, Qingdao Huatuo Chemicals Co. Ltd

Glacial Acetic Acid Market

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The latest market intelligence study on Glacial Acetic Acid market relies on statistics derived from the application of both primary and secondary research to present insights pertaining to the operational model, opportunities and competitive landscape of Glacial Acetic Acid market for the forecast period, 2018 - 2025.Download Sample Copy of Glacial Acetic Acid Market spread across 119 PAGES, profiling 14 companies and supported with Tables & Figures is now available at @Scope of the Report:In addition, the research on the Glacial Acetic Acid market concentrates on extracting valuable data on swelling investment pockets, significant growth opportunities and major market vendors to help understand business owners what their competitors are doing best to stay ahead in the competition. The research also segments the Glacial Acetic Acid market on the basis of the end-user, product type, application and demography for the forecast period 2018 - 2025.Market Segment on the basis of manufacturers, the report covers the following companies-Celanese, Eastman, BP, LyondellBasell, BASF, Lonza, ChangChun Group, Showa Denko, Qingdao Huatuo Chemicals Co. Ltd, Zhengzhou Kelai Chemical Co. Ltd, HarvinImpex, Ultra Chemical Works, Akchem, EnterprisesOrder Glacial Acetic Acid Market Report@Market Segment on the basis of Product, the report covers: Synthetic Bacterial FermentationMarket Segment on the basis of application, the report covers: Pharmaceuticals Food & Beverages OthersThere are 12 Chapters to deeply display the Glacial Acetic Acid market.Chapter 1, to describe Glacial Acetic Acid Introduction, product scope, market overview, market opportunities, market risk, market driving force;Chapter 2, to analyze the top manufacturers of Glacial Acetic Acid, with sales, revenue, and price of Glacial Acetic Acid, in 2016 and 2018;Chapter 3, to display the competitive situation among the top manufacturers, with sales, revenue and market share in 2016 and 2018;ContinueBrowse the full 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 CityNY 10005 United Statessales@marketexpertz.com+1-800-819-3052
Latin America Biostimulants Market Key Players Analysis | BASF SE, Sapec Group, Arysta Life Science Limited, Isagro S.P.A | Asserts MRFR

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Market Overview:Biostimulants are among some of the earliest agricultural inputs being used to improve crop performance and quality. Biostimulants complements conventional agriculture, providing crop nutrition and crop protection. Agricultural biostimulants include different formulation and use of various substance that are applied to plants, seed or soil in order enhance the physiological processes of crops along with improving crop productivity.A plant biostimulant is biological substance or extracts used as plant supplements with the aim to enhance nutrition efficiency, abiotic stress tolerance and others, regardless of its nutrients content. Furthermore, plant biostimulants also designate commercial products containing mixtures of such substances and microorganisms.The intensive use of fertilizers and agrochemicals in modern agriculture adversely affect the soil quality, gradually resulting in degradation of its physicochemical properties. Biostimulants restores and repair degraded agricultural soils and re-establish a productive soil ecosystem and rebuild a healthy and fertile soil. Rising consumer indulgence and consumer willingness to pay for natural and healthy products will fuel the demand of biostimulants. Hence globally, biostimulants market is growing at the rate of 10% during 2018 to 2023.Receive a Sample Report @The growing demand for organically produced foods is growing rapidly which is influencing higher demand and use of biostimulants. The increasing level of investment in research to identify organic molecules and right formulation to improve the plant metabolism and enhance plant performance in a short period of time and in a cheaper way. Biostimulants find its application in diverse spectrum which include agriculture and horticulture.Major Key Players:This report includes a study of strategies used in the market, mergers and acquisitions in native starches, multiple product launch by Biostimulants market players. It further includes product portfolios and developments of leading major players which includesBASF SE (Germany)Sapec Group (Trade Corporation International) (Spain)Arysta Life Science Limited (Japan)Isagro S.P.A (Italy)Valagro S.P.A (Italy)Koppert B.V (The Netherlands) andItalpollina (Italy)The Latin America biostimulants market is highly competitive due to the presence of some well-established regional and global players. The competitive environment of this market is projected to intensify with an increase in product portfolio increasing number of current key players. The Latin America biostimulants market is segmented on the basis of by type, crop type, active ingredients, application and country.The quality of soil will be crucial factor crop health and crop productivity. Use of biostimulants impart additional nutrients or growth factors that are crucial in altering soil and plant metabolic activities to improve crop growth and yield. Biostimulants are used to restore degraded soils by regulating soil pH and help in soil management. Use of chemical inputs for soil management is unfavorable to soil-based microbes/fungi and has detrimental effect on them.These factors will support the growth of biostimulants market in Latin America during the forecast period 2017-2023.Access Report Details @Regional Analysis:The Latin America Biostimulants market includes countries such as Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and rest of Latin America. Among these Brazil dominates the market and will continue to dominate the market during the forecast period 2017-2023. Mexico is estimated to grow at a highest CAGR during the forecast period, rising demand for organic food ingredients and clean label food & beverages in recent years has been observed.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.ContactMarket Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312Email: sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Dehydrated Onion Global Market 2018: Key Players  Sensient Natural Ingredients, Olam International, Van Drunen Farms, Goldwood Moulton, Classic Dehydration

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Dehydrated Onion IndustryDescriptionWiseguyreports.Com Adds Dehydrated Onion -Market Demand, Growth, Opportunities and Analysis Of Top Key Player Forecast To 2023 To Its Research DatabaseThis report studies the global Dehydrated Onion market status and forecast, categorizes the global Dehydrated Onion market size (value & volume) by key players, type, application, and region. This report focuses on the top players in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, South America, and Middle East & Africa.The major manufacturers covered in this reportSensient Natural IngredientsOlam InternationalJain Farm Fresh Foods LtdVan Drunen FarmsRocky Mountain Spice CompanyGoldwood Moulton (Oldershaw Group)Garlico Industries Ltd.Classic DehydrationOceanic Foods Ltd.Daksh Foods Pvt. Ltd.Natural Dehydrated Vegetables Pvt. Ltd.Darshan Foods Pvt. Ltd.B.K. Dehy FoodsMurtuza Foods Pvt. Ltd.Pardes Dehydration CompanyJiyan Food IngredientsEarth Expo CompanyKisan FoodsThe Dehydrated Garlic and Onion CompanyRequest for Sample Report @Geographically, this report studies the key regions, focuses on product sales, value, market share and growth opportunity in these regions, coveringNorth AmericaEuropeAsia-PacificSouth AmericaMiddle East & AfricaOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoBy VarietyWhite OnionsRed OnionsPink OnionsHybridBy NatureOrganicConventionalOn 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, includingFood ProcessingDressing and SaucesReady MealsSnacks & Savory ProductsInfant FoodsSoupsOthersThe study objectives of this report are:To analyze and study the global Dehydrated Onion sales, value, status (2013-2017) and forecast (2018-2025).Focuses on the key Dehydrated Onion manufacturers, to study the sales, value, market share and development plans in future.Focuses on the global key manufacturers, to define, describe and analyze the market competition landscape, SWOT analysis.To define, describe and forecast the market by type, application and region.To analyze the global and key regions market potential and advantage, opportunity and challenge, restraints and risks.To identify significant trends and factors driving or inhibiting the market growth.To analyze the opportunities in the market for stakeholders by identifying the high growth segments.To strategically analyze each submarket with respect to individual growth trend and their contribution to the marketTo analyze competitive developments such as expansions, agreements, new product launches, and acquisitions in the marketTo strategically profile the key players and comprehensively analyze their growth strategies.Key StakeholdersDehydrated Onion ManufacturersDehydrated Onion Distributors/Traders/WholesalersDehydrated Onion Subcomponent ManufacturersIndustry AssociationDownstream VendorsLeave a Query @Table of ContentsGlobal Dehydrated Onion Market Research Report 20181 Dehydrated Onion Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Dehydrated Onion1.2 Dehydrated Onion Segment By Variety1.2.1 Global Dehydrated Onion Production and CAGR (%) Comparison By Variety (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Dehydrated Onion Production Market Share By Variety (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 White Onions1.2.4 Red Onions1.2.5 Pink Onions1.2.6 Hybrid1.3 Dehydrated Onion Segment By Nature1.3.1 Organic1.3.2 Conventional1.4 Global Dehydrated Onion Segment by Application1.4.1 Dehydrated Onion Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.4.2 Food Processing1.4.3 Dressing and Sauces1.4.4 Ready Meals1.4.5 Snacks & Savory Products1.4.6 Infant Foods1.4.7 Soups1.4.8 Others1.5 Global Dehydrated Onion Market by Region (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Dehydrated Onion Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.5.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.4 Asia-Pacific Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.5 South America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5.6 Middle East & Africa Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.6 Global Market Size (Value) of Dehydrated Onion (2013-2025)1.6.1 Global Dehydrated Onion Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.6.2 Global Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025)....7 Global Dehydrated Onion Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Sensient Natural Ingredients7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Sensient Natural Ingredients Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Olam International7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Olam International Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Jain Farm Fresh Foods Ltd7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Jain Farm Fresh Foods Ltd Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Van Drunen Farms7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Van Drunen Farms Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Rocky Mountain Spice Company7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Rocky Mountain Spice Company Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Goldwood Moulton (Oldershaw Group)7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Goldwood Moulton (Oldershaw Group) Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Garlico Industries Ltd.7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Garlico Industries Ltd. Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Classic Dehydration7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Classic Dehydration Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.9 Oceanic Foods Ltd.7.9.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.9.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.9.2.1 Product A7.9.2.2 Product B7.9.3 Oceanic Foods Ltd. Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.9.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.10 Daksh Foods Pvt. Ltd.7.10.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.10.2 Dehydrated Onion Product Category, Application and Specification7.10.2.1 Product A7.10.2.2 Product B7.10.3 Daksh Foods Pvt. Ltd. Dehydrated Onion Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.10.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.11 Natural Dehydrated Vegetables Pvt. Ltd.7.12 Darshan Foods Pvt. Ltd.7.13 B.K. Dehy Foods7.14 Murtuza Foods Pvt. Ltd.7.15 Pardes Dehydration Company7.16 Jiyan Food Ingredients7.17 Earth Expo Company7.18 Kisan Foods7.19 The Dehydrated Garlic and Onion CompanyBuy Now @Continued...Contact Us: Sales@Wiseguyreports.Com Ph: +1-646-845-9349 (Us) Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (Uk)About Us:Wise Guy Reports Is Part Of The Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. And Offers Premium Progressive Statistical Surveying, Market Research Reports, Analysis & Forecast Data For Industries And Governments Around The Globe. Wise Guy Reports Features An Exhaustive List Of Market Research Reports From Hundreds Of Publishers Worldwide. We Boast A Database Spanning Virtually Every Market Category And An Even More Comprehensive Collection Of Market Research Reports Under These Categories And Sub-Categories.Addres:Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt LtdPune  411028Maharashtra, GlobalPh: +91 841 198 5042
Piston Market 2018-2022 Global Key Players: MAHLE GmbH, Arias Pistons Ltd, Shandong BinzhouBohai Piston Co., Ltd, Burgess-Norton Mfg. Co., Inc, Ming Shun Industrial Co. Ltd, Ross Racing Pistons

Piston Market 2018

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Piston Market Share, Size, Trends, And Business Opportunity Analysis Report 2018 include historic data, with forecast data to 2022. Piston Market report is helpful for future strategy development, and to know about Market Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, And Global market size, share, Growth, Trends, key players forecast to 2022Global Piston Market Information Report by Material (Steel, Aluminum), By Coating (Thermal Barrier, Oil Shedding, Dry Film Lubricating, Others), By Vehicle Type (Passenger Cars, Light Commercial Vehicle, Heavy Commercial Vehicle) and By Region - Forecast to 2022Market Scenario:A piston is an important component of automobile internal combustion engine, which transfers power within the cylinder of vehicle and delivers energy to the crankshaft after each power stroke during the cycle of an engine.The booming automotive industry is directly leading to the growth of the piston market. High end-bikes require a double engine cylinder consisting of two pistons. Therefore, the increase in demand of high end automobiles is leading to the increase in demand of pistons. Light weight pistons help in achieving fuel efficiency in automobile users. Thus, the rapid increase in the fuel prices is leading to the increased use of light weight pistons, thereby leading to the growth of the market.Get Sample Report of Piston Market @Key Players:The key players of global piston market are Aisin Seiki Co., Ltd. (Japan), Federal-Mogul Corporation (U.S.), Rheinmetall Automotive AG (Germany), MAHLE GmbH (Germany), Arias Pistons Ltd (U.K.), Shandong BinzhouBohai Piston Co., Ltd. (China), Burgess-Norton Mfg. Co., Inc. (U.S.), Ming Shun Industrial Co. Ltd (Taiwan), Ross Racing Pistons (U.S.), Shriram Pistons and Rings ltd. (India) and others..Scope of the ReportThis study provides an overview of the global piston market, tracking three 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 five years for each region. The scope of the study segments the Global Piston market by its material, coating, vehicle type and region.By MaterialSteelAluminumBy coatingThermal BarrierOil SheddingDry Film LubricatingOthersBy vehicle typePassenger carsLight commercial vehicleHeavy commercial vehicleBy RegionNorth AmericaAsia PacificEuropeRest of the WorldRegional Analysis:Asia-Pacific region is expected to grow the highest with the increasing number of vehicles in developing nations such as India and China. The growth of the piston market in the Asia-Pacific region is due to the increasing per capita income of the individuals here, which is leading to the adoption of high-end automobiles, thus increasing the use of pistons. Prevalence of major automobile manufacturers in the region is also contributing to the growth of the piston market.The report for Global Piston market of Market Research Future comprises of extensive primary research along with the detailed analysis of qualitative as well as quantitative aspects by various industry experts, key opinion leaders to gain the deeper insight of the market and industry performance. The report gives the clear picture of current market scenario which includes historical and projected market size in terms of value, technological advancement, macro economical and governing factors in the market. The report provides details information and strategies of the top key players in the industry. The report also gives a broad study of the different market segments and regions.Get Complete Report Details of Piston Market @Table of Contents1... Executive Summary2 Research Methodology3... Market Dynamics4... Global Piston Market, By Material5... Global Piston Market, By Coating6... Global Piston Market, By Vehicle Type7 Regional Market Analysis8... Competitive AnalysisLIST OF TABLESTABLE 1 GLOBAL PISTON MARKET, BY MATERIALTABLE 2 GLOBAL PISTON MARKET, BY COATINGTABLE 3 GLOBAL PISTON MARKET, BY VEHICLE TYPETABLE 4 GLOBAL PISTON MARKET, BY REGIONSTABLE 5 NORTH AMERICA PISTON MARKET, BY MATERIAL..LIST OF FIGURESFIGURE 1 RESEARCH COATINGFIGURE 2 GLOBAL PISTON MARKET: BY MATERIAL (%)FIGURE 3 GLOBAL PISTON MARKET: BY COATING (%)FIGURE 4 GLOBAL PISTON MARKET: BY VEHICLE TYPE (%)FIGURE 5 GLOBAL PISTON MARKET: BY REGION.ContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.CONTACT US:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.com
Industrial Floor Scrubbers Market 2018-2025 Top Players : Tennant Company, Nilfisk-Advance, Factory Cat, Bortek Industries, Hako Holding, Wiese, IPC Gansow

Industrial Floor Scrubbers Market

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The latest report, Industrial Floor Scrubbers market enables stakeholders to gain insights into their potential consumers to construct more effective marketing strategies for the forecast period, 2018 to 2025. Most importantly, the document empowers business owners to seek information about potential consumers and where they can find them. With an exclusive coverage of the top vendors, the study enables business owners to know more about the local market and locate potential consumers.Download Sample Copy of Industrial Floor Scrubbers Market spread across 118 PAGES and supported with Tables & Figures is now available @The comprehensive study offers an overview of the current state of development of the business as well as predicts the course of progress across different regions. A large number of factors including the major driving forces, threats and opportunities are taken into account to present an analytical picture of the industry portrayed in the report.The research further examines and provides data on the market by type, application and geography interspersed with illustrations and other graphical representations. The market analysis not only determines the attractiveness of the industry but also the evolving challenges and opportunities and their association with the weaknesses and strengths of prominent market leaders.Market Segment by manufacturers, the report covers the following companies:Tennant Company, Nilfisk-Advance, Factory Cat, Bortek Industries, Hako Holding, Wiese, IPC Gansow, Comac, Tornado Industries, Fimap, WieseOrder a copy @Market Segment on the basis of Product, the report covers: Walk-behind Ride-onMarket Segment on the basis of application, the report covers: Manufacturing and Warehousing Transportation Hospitality OthersKey Topics Covered: Industrial Floor Scrubbers Market Overview Global Industrial Floor Scrubbers Market Competition by Manufacturers Global Industrial Floor Scrubbers Capacity, Production, Revenue (Value) by Region (2013-2018) Global Industrial Floor Scrubbers Supply (Production), Consumption, Export, Import by Region (2013-2018) Global Industrial Floor Scrubbers Production, Revenue (Value), Price Trend by Type Global Industrial Floor Scrubbers Market Analysis by Application Global Industrial Floor Scrubbers Manufacturers Profiles/AnalysisComplete report is available now at@The study segments the complete Industrial Floor Scrubbers market on the basis of different application, end-use, end-user, and production capability. From a business standpoint, the industry has been thoroughly examined across various countries located in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and others. The size of the industry for the forecast period 2018 - 2025 is evaluated on the basis of current sales figures and past financial report can be used to forecast the future sales.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 CityNY 10005 United Statessales@marketexpertz.com+1-800-819-3052
Vehicle Intelligence System Market Size, Emerging Technologies, Future Trends, Competitive Analysis and Segments Poised for Strong Growth in Future 2022

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Denso Corporation (Japan), Delphi Automotive PLC (U.K.), Autoliv Inc. (Sweden), Magna International Inc. (Canada), Robert Bosch GmbH (Germany), Mobileye NV (Israel), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), Continental AG (Germany), Wabco Holdings Inc. (Belgium), and Valeo SA (France) are some of the prominent players profiled in MRFR Analysis and are at the forefront of competition in the Global Vehicle Intelligence System Market.Vehicle Intelligence System Market  OverviewVehicle intelligence systems comprise of electromagnetic and electronic devices which operate with radio transceivers and computer controlled devices. These systems communicate with the surroundings of the vehicle and assists the driver for a better driving experience.The global vehicle intelligence systems market is majorly driven by the increasing concerns about pedestrian safety, the increase in demand for enhanced driving experience, and the rise in sales of premium vehicles in developing economies. The other factors driving the growth of the market are strict automobile standards set by governments, need for higher safety of passengers and drivers in vehicles and the increasing rate of road accidents which lead to adoption of vehicle intelligence systems.The demand for safety features is increasing as consumers expect high quality products. However, the cost of developing vehicle intelligence systems is very high. The vehicle intelligence system contains numerous software-driven electronic components, which increases the overall cost of the vehicle. This increases the difficulty of Original equipment manufacturers in incorporating the systems in all vehicle segments.Blind spot detection system is helpful to alert the driver regarding any obstacles which come in the blind spot zone of the vehicle. Adaptive headlights have the capability of automatically adjusting the intensity of light in corners and dark conditions. Such lights help to avoid dazzling.Get Sample Report of Vehicle Intelligence System Market@Vehicle Intelligence System Market  Competitive AnalysisThe Market is witnessing increased competition and is expected to further intensify during the forecast period. The players in the market incorporate acquisition, collaboration, partnership and expansion in order to gain competitive advantage in this market and to maintain their market position.Technological advancements in the manufacturing of the vehicle intelligence system and the increasing research and development expenditure by the key players is expected to increase the level of competition in the Vehicle Intelligence System Market.Industry/ Innovation/ Related News:Oct, 2017- Denso Corporation focused on developing automated driving technologies that will help to deliver safe, reliable and flexible mobility for all people, as well as enable the efficient transportation of goods. DENSO also exhibited the fundamental products in areas such as the advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) locator and in-vehicle V2X devices.Sep, 2017- Delphi Automotive PLC signed a partnership agreement with LeddarTech to develop solid-state LiDAR technology. Delphi and LeddarTech proprietary signal processing technology, will collaborate to develop a low-cost, corner LiDAR solution.Dec, 2016 - Autoliv, Inc. launched a learning, intelligent vehicle system to facilitate collaboration and shared control between driver and vehicle. This is done in order to attain trust and facilitate required safety in autonomous driving.Sep, 2016 - WABCO Holdings Inc. and Mobileye N.V. entered into partnership to develop solutions for commercial vehicles that leverage advanced emergency braking ADAS functionalities and Mobileyes REM technology that provides real-time data for precise localization and high-definition lane data.Get Report Details of Vehicle Intelligence System Market@Vehicle Intelligence System Market  SegmentationThe vehicle intelligence system market can be segmented in to two key dynamics for the convenience of the report and enhanced understanding;Segmentation by Vehicle Type - passenger vehicles, commercial vehiclesSegmentation by Road Scene Understanding- RTS (Road tracking system), RSD (Road sign detection system), NVS (Night vision system) and othersSegmentation by Advanced Driver Assistance & Monitoring  ACC (Adaptive cruise control system), BSD (Blind spot detection system), PA (Park assist system), TJA (Traffic jam assist system), DMS (Drowsiness monitoring system) and othersSegmentation by Regions: North America, Europe, APAC and Rest of the World.Vehicle Intelligence System Market  Regional AnalysisAsia Pacific region is expected to dominate the Vehicle Intelligence System Market owing to mounting automobile demand and increase in disposable income of people. Increasing disposable income and launches of new car models by original equipment manufacturers is also contributing towards the growth of the market. The nations such as China and India account for a major chunk of the global vehicle production. The region provides the manufacturers advantages in terms of low-cost labor and raw materials.Europe region is expected to grow with the highest CAGR during the forecast period. Original equipment manufacturers in the region possess considerable technological capabilities and are thus able to offer advanced intelligence systems for vehicles. The growing adoption of advanced technologies in various vehicle segments is expected to hasten the growth of the vehicle intelligence systems market in Europe region..ContinuedAbout Market Research Future:At Market Research Future (MRFR), we enable our customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through our Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.CONTACT US:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.com
X-Ray NDT Equipment 2013 Global Market Key Players  GE Measurement & Control, Olympus Corporation, Magnaflux, YXLON, Nikon Metrology NV, Zetec, Mistras, karl deutsch, Proceq, Sonatest-Analysis and Forecast to 2023

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Description :X-Ray NDT Equipment-Global Market Status and Trend Report 2013-2023 offers a comprehensive analysis on X-Ray NDT Equipment industry, standing on the readers perspective, delivering detailed market data and penetrating insights. No matter the client is industry insider, potential entrant or investor, the report will provides useful data and information. Key questions answered by this report include:Worldwide and Regional Market Size of X-Ray NDT Equipment 2013-2017, and development forecast 2018-2023Main manufacturers/suppliers of X-Ray NDT Equipment worldwide, with company and product introduction, position in the X-Ray NDT Equipment marketMarket status and development trend of X-Ray NDT Equipment by types and applicationsCost and profit status of X-Ray NDT Equipment, and marketing statusMarket growth drivers and challengesRequest For sample Report @The report segments the global X-Ray NDT Equipment market as:Global X-Ray NDT Equipment Market: Regional Segment Analysis (Regional Production Volume, Consumption Volume, Revenue and Growth Rate 2013-2023):North AmericaEuropeChinaJapanRest APACLatin AmericaGlobal X-Ray NDT Equipment Market: Type Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume, Average Price, Revenue, Market Share and Trend 2013-2023):CRDRCTGlobal X-Ray NDT Equipment Market: Application Segment Analysis (Consumption Volume and Market Share 2013-2023; Downstream Customers and Market Analysis)ElectricityOil and gasAutomotiveAerospaceGlobal X-Ray NDT Equipment Market: Manufacturers Segment Analysis (Company and Product introduction, X-Ray NDT Equipment Sales Volume, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin):GE Measurement & ControlOlympus CorporationMagnafluxYXLONNikon Metrology NVZetecMistraskarl deutschProceqSonatestUnionDndtHuariAolongZhongke InnovationComplete Report Details @Table Of Content :Chapter 1 Overview of X-Ray NDT Equipment1.1 Definition of X-Ray NDT Equipment in This Report1.2 Commercial Types of X-Ray NDT Equipment1.2.1 CR1.2.2 DR1.2.3 CT1.3 Downstream Application of X-Ray NDT Equipment1.3.1 Electricity1.3.2 Oil and gas1.3.3 Automotive1.3.4 Aerospace1.4 Development History of X-Ray NDT Equipment1.5 Market Status and Trend of X-Ray NDT Equipment 2013-20231.5.1 Global X-Ray NDT Equipment Market Status and Trend 2013-20231.5.2 Regional X-Ray NDT Equipment Market Status and Trend 2013-2023Chapter 2 Global Market Status and Forecast by Regions2.1 Market Development of X-Ray NDT Equipment 2013-20172.2 Production Market of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Regions2.2.1 Production Volume of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Regions2.2.2 Production Value of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Regions2.3 Demand Market of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Regions2.4 Production and Demand Status of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Regions2.4.1 Production and Demand Status of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Regions 2013-20172.4.2 Import and Export Status of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Regions 2013-2017Chapter 3 Global Market Status and Forecast by Types3.1 Production Volume of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Types3.2 Production Value of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Types3.3 Market Forecast of X-Ray NDT Equipment by TypesChapter 4 Global Market Status and Forecast by Downstream Industry4.1 Demand Volume of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Downstream Industry4.2 Market Forecast of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Downstream IndustryChapter 5 Market Driving Factor Analysis of X-Ray NDT Equipment5.1 Global Economy Situation and Trend Overview5.2 X-Ray NDT Equipment Downstream Industry Situation and Trend OverviewChapter 6 X-Ray NDT Equipment Market Competition Status by Major Manufacturers6.1 Production Volume of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Major Manufacturers6.2 Production Value of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Major Manufacturers6.3 Basic Information of X-Ray NDT Equipment by Major Manufacturers6.3.1 Headquarters Location and Established Time of X-Ray NDT Equipment Major Manufacturer6.3.2 Employees and Revenue Level of X-Ray NDT Equipment Major Manufacturer6.4 Market Competition News and Trend6.4.1 Merger, Consolidation or Acquisition News6.4.2 Investment or Disinvestment News6.4.3 New Product Development and LaunchChapter 7 X-Ray NDT Equipment Major Manufacturers Introduction and Market Data7.1 GE Measurement & Control7.1.1 Company profile7.1.2 Representative X-Ray NDT Equipment Product7.1.3 X-Ray NDT Equipment Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of GE Measurement & Control7.2 Olympus Corporation7.2.1 Company profile7.2.2 Representative X-Ray NDT Equipment Product7.2.3 X-Ray NDT Equipment Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of Olympus Corporation7.3 Magnaflux7.3.1 Company profile7.3.2 Representative X-Ray NDT Equipment Product7.3.3 X-Ray NDT Equipment Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of Magnaflux7.4 YXLON7.4.1 Company profile7.4.2 Representative X-Ray NDT Equipment Product7.4.3 X-Ray NDT Equipment Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of YXLON7.5 Nikon Metrology NV7.5.1 Company profile7.5.2 Representative X-Ray NDT Equipment Product7.5.3 X-Ray NDT Equipment Sales, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin of Nikon Metrology NVContinued.CONTACT US:NORAH TRENTPartner Relations & Marketing Managersales@wiseguyreports.comPh: +1-646-845-9349 (US)Ph: +44 208 133 9349 (UK)Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Research Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Acaricides Market Analysis, Top Key Players| E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, Chemtura USA Corp., FMC Corporation, Arysta Life Science Corporation , Bayer Aktiengesellschaft and BASF SE

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Market Scenario:Acaricides help in improving agricultural productivity by restricting the growth of arachnids such as ticks and mites. Additionally, increased demand for Acaricides for adequate disease control support and increased crop productivity has uplifted the global Acaricides market. Moreover, high acceptance of modern farming techniques among the crop cultivators is adding fuel to the growth of Acaricides market. Additionally, rising demand for agricultural products such as fruits, vegetables, cereals, and pulses is projected to drive the growth of the global Acaricides market over the forecast period.Receive a Sample Report@Key Players:Some of the key players profiled in the global acaricides market: E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), Chemtura USA Corp. (U.S.), FMC Corporation (U.S.), Arysta LifeScience Corporation (Japan), Bayer Aktiengesellschaft (Germany), BASF SE (Germany), Nissan Chemical Industries, Ltd. (Japan), Syngenta AG (Switzerland), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), and Merck & Co., Inc. (U.S.)Regional AnalysisThe global Acaricides market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world (RoW). The Asia Pacific region is leading the global Acaricides market followed by Europe. India and China are the major contributors to the growth of Acaricides market in this region. Furthermore, high demand for agricultural products from the farmers is considered to be the key driving factor in the Asia Pacific market. Additionally, regulatory approval for the use of Acaricides agricultural products for crop protection is projected to raise the growth of the Acaricides market.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.WantStats Research and Media Pvt. Ltd.Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Global Nematicides Market is projected to grow at a CAGR over 4.7% during the period 2018- 2023

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Market Overview:Increasing demand for agricultural products is driving the growth of the market due to increased crop production along with food security and crop-damage. Additionally, high acceptance for integrated pest management (IPM) by the crop cultivators is adding fuel to the growth of the nematicides market.Market Forecast:Nematicides are widely used in the agricultural segment to restrict the nematode attack on the agricultural produce by inhibiting or killing the nematodes responsible for the crop diseases. Increasing demand for food grains coupled and shrinking cultivating land are expected to drive the demand for nematicides. Apart from the agriculture use, nematicides are increasingly used in the horticulture, floriculture, domestic, and commercial pest management program.Receive a Sample Report@TOP Key Players:Some of the key players profiled in the global nematicides market: BASF SE (Germany), E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (U.S.), Monsanto Company (U.S.), The Dow Chemical Company (U.S.), Bayer CropScience AG (Germany), FMC Corporation (U.S.), Syngenta AG (Switzerland), Ishihara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd. (Japan), Valent U.S.A. Corporation (U.S.), Adama Agricultural Solutions Ltd. (Israel)Regional Analysis:The global nematicides market is segmented into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and rest of the world (RoW). The North American region is dominating the nematicides market followed by Europe. The U.S. accounts for a higher use of nematicides for the protection of fruits and vegetables from nematodes owing to increasing awareness about the benefits of using nematicides. Furthermore, high demand for organic fruits and vegetables from the farmers is considered to be key driving factor in this region.Furthermore, increasing consumer awareness and growing demand for organic fruits, vegetables, cereals, and pulses has uplifted the demand for nematicides in the European countries like Germany, France, and the U.K, which is anticipated to boost the growth of the nematicides market during the review period.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.WantStats Research and Media Pvt. Ltd.Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Integrated Cardiology Devices Market 2018: Key Players-Medtronic (US), Boston Scientific Corporation (US), Jude Medical (US) and Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (US) upto 2023

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Market Synopsis of Global Integrated Cardiology Devices MarketMarket ScenarioIntegrated cardiology devices are equipment in which surgeons perform critical cardiac surgeries using multiple devices. Integrated cardiology devices are the future devices for human circulatory system. These modern devices are used for early diagnosis and better treatment of diseases. During last few years, sheer growth is observed in integrated cardiology devices due to increase in heart related problems. In recent times this is the most promising market. According to WHO 30% of the deaths caused globally is due to heart diseases and there were an estimated 17.5 million deaths from cardiovascular diseases worldwide in 2015 alone and the cost of readmissions for cardiovascular diseases is extremely high.View Reports Sample @The major driving forces are increasing prevalence of cardiovascular diseases, growing adoption rates of minimally invasive surgeries and technological advances introduced in this field. Furthermore, the dominance of heart related diseases are increasing due to unhealthy lifestyle habits, for example lack of physical activities, high tobacco intake, and consumption of alcohol. Furthermore technological advancements such as miniaturization, increasing efficacy and efficiency of devices is a major driving factor. The integrated cardiology devices market also favors small innovative players with proprietary novel technologies and strong intellectual property rights. Thus a strong regulatory environment and innovation ecology is necessary which will result in greater investment and lead to a strong future market.Lack of knowledge among people and expensive treatment are the factors which restrained the growth of the market. The lack of infrastructure and specialty hospitals in the developing and poor regions of the world is another hindering factor for the market.The global integrated cardiology devices market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 12.4% during forecasted period 2017-2023.Intended Audience Integrated Cardiology devices manufacturers Integrated Cardiology devices suppliers Research and development (R&D) companies Market research and consulting service providers Academic institutes and universitiesSegmentationThe global integrated cardiology devices market is segmented on the basis of types, applications and end users.Based on types, the market is segmented as Cardiology EMR Software, EHR (Electronic health record), FFR (fractional flow reserve), Optical Coherence Tomography, others.On the basis of application, they are segmented sudden cardiac arrest, internal monitoring, Cardiac resynchronization therapy, Cardiothoracic surgery, others. Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) is an effective therapy in heart failure.On the basis of end users, the market is segmented into catheterization laboratories, Hospitals and others.Regional AnalysisThe Americas accounts for a significant market share owing to high expenditure on the health care especially of the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, the greater number of cardiac surgeries procedures due to greater healthcare penetration in the U.S. and Canada drives the integrated cardiology devices market. The high concentration of the major hospitals in the developed countries of this region coupled with good reimbursement rates is adding fuel to the market growth. Moreover, the large share of cardiology devices and surgeries in the returns of hospitals favors the market. The large number of medical devices companies in the U.S. is also a cause for the faster development of integrated cardiology devices market in the US.Europe is the second largest market in the world due to growing medical devices industry and healthcare penetration. The European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. Germany is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period due to its large medical devices industry.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly; China and India are likely to lead this market due to fast growing healthcare sector and large unmet needs over the forecast period. South East Asian countries such as China, India, and Malaysia are projected to contribute highly to the market growth. The growing penetration of healthcare industry in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the future integrated cardiology devices market in the region.Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are estimated to drive the Middle East & African market. Other Middle East nations to watch out for are Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Iran. The African region is expected to witness a poor growth owing to poor economic and political conditions, and poor healthcare development. Other regions are expected to be laggards due to poor social development and tribal identities such as sub Saharan Africa.Request Full Report @Key PlayersMedtronic (US), Boston Scientific Corporation (US), Jude Medical (US), Edwards Lifesciences Corporation (US), Abbott Laboratories (US), Johnson and Johnson (US), Getinge (Sweden), Terumo Corporation (Japan), Lepumedical (Bejing), Acrostak (Switzerland), Koninklijke Philips N.V. (Netherlands), Athenahealth, Inc. (U.S),others.Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Fibrous Dysplasia Treatment Global Key Players -Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc, Amgen Inc and AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc, Market Analysis and Forecast to 2023

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Market ScenarioFibrous dysplasia is a rare and chronic bone disorder in which fibrous tissue develops in place of normal bone, weakens the affected bone, and deform or fracture it. As per reports from The Johns Hopkins University, the exact cause of fibrous dysplasia is unknown, but it is believed to be due to a chemical irregularity in a specific bone protein. This bone protein abnormality may arise due to a gene mutation present at birth, although it is not known to be an inherited disorder.It often results in uneven growth of bones, pain, brittle bones, and bone deformity. In fibrous dysplasia, the most commonly affected bones includes femur (thighbone), tibia (shin bone), ribs, skull, facial bones, humerus (the bone of the upper arm), pelvis, vertebrae in the spine (less often).View Reports Sample @The fibrous dysplasia market growth is majorly attributed to the increasing prevalence of the bone disorders. Moreover, some cases of fibrous dysplasia leads to cancer, which is likely to drive the market growth.Currently, no cure is available for fibrous dysplasia. However, present treatment methods helps to prevent complications, such as recurrent bone fractures to help make the condition less severe.According to reports from International Osteoporosis Foundation, Each year an estimated 1.5 million individuals suffer a fracture due to bone disease. The risk of a fracture increases with age and is more in women. Furthermore, globalization in healthcare has increased the market growth. Established market players in the developed countries leads the globalization by pushing new products and services into developing countries and emerging economies.However, high cost of the current treatment methods and lack of alternative methods for the treatment of fibrous dysplasia may slow the market growth during the forecast period.The global fibrous dysplasia market is expected to grow at a CAGR of ~6.2 % during the forecast period 2017-2023.Intended Audience Pharmaceutical Companies Research and Development (R&D) Companies Government Research Institute Academic Institutes and Universities Medical Research Laboratories Market Research and Consulting Service Providers Potential InvestorsSegmentationsThe global fibrous dysplasia market is segmented on the basis by diagnosis, by treatment, and by end user.On the basis of diagnosis, it is segmented into X-rays, CT scans, MRI, bone scan, biopsy, and others.On the basis of treatment, it is segmented into medications, surgical, and others. The medications is further segmented into bisphosphonates, intravenous (IV) pamidronate, calcitonin, raloxifene, and othersOn the basis of the end user, it is segmented into hospitals & clinics, research centers, and others.Regional AnalysisThe Americas dominate the global fibrous dysplasia market owing to well-developed technology, increasing patient with bone disorders, high healthcare spending, and increasing government support for research & development. Furthermore, increased R&D activities and the concentration of major companies have fuelled the growth of the market in this region.Europe holds the second position in the global fibrous dysplasia market owing to the government support for research & development and availability of funds for research. This is expected to continue to drive the European market over the forecasted period.Asia Pacific is the fastest growing market owing to the presence of rapidly developing healthcare technology, increasing patient population, and high healthcare expenditure. Moreover, increasing demand for new treatment methods in countries such as India is likely to emerge as the fastest growing market across the globe. Furthermore, increasing demand for quality devices in the healthcare is projected to lead to the use of advanced equipment, which, in turn, may increase the market growth of the fibrous dysplasia in the region.On the other hand, the Middle East & Africa holds the least share of the global fibrous dysplasia market due to limited screening, ignorance of diseases, and poor access to treatment, especially, in African region. Majority of the market of this region is held by the Middle East due to a well-developed healthcare sector and huge healthcare expenditure.Request Full Report @Key PlayersSome of key the players in the market are Novartis AG, Pfizer Inc, Amgen Inc, AVEO Pharmaceuticals Inc, Bayer AG, Bellicum Pharmaceuticals Inc, MediaPharma srl, Merck & Co., Inc, Merrimack Pharmaceuticals Inc, Oncolys BioPharma Inc, United Therapeutics Corp and others.Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Bioactive Fillings Market, Global Key players- Septodont, Inc., DePuy Synthes, Medtronic and Stryker during 2017 to 2023

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Market Research Future with their unique quality of simplifying the market research study, announces a deep study report on Bioactive Fillings Market Research Report- Global Forecast till 2023 Gives industry size, top players and worldwide demandMarket Synopsis of Global Bioactive fillings MarketMarket ScenarioBioactive fillings are surface reactive glass-ceramic biomaterials and have interaction with biological tissues. Bioactive fillings have biocompatibility and bioactivity and thus have a high application as implant material in the human body to repair and replace diseased tissue. Bioactive fillings reacts with the biological tissues in two phases. In the first phase, alkali metal ions are leached from the glass and replaced with hydrogen ions and in the second phase, the Si-O-Si bonds in the silica matrix undergo hydrolysis, yielding a gel-like surface layer rich on Si-O-H groups. In the ultimate stage, calcium phosphate-rich layer forms over the surface of the filling, sealing any further leaching. Bioactive fillings, interact with the body, and have been used in orthopaedics for decades. Bioactive fillings are made from compounds such as silicon oxide, calcium oxide, and phosphorous oxide, and has antimicrobial effect due to the release of calcium and phosphate ions which have an antibacterial activity and also tend to neutralize the local acidic pH. Bioactive fillings prolong the life of fillings because their antibacterial effects and replacement of lost minerals.View Reports Sample @The market drivers for global bioactive fillings market are rise in demand due to growing population, technological advancements, greater emphasis on restorative procedures, rising safety and success of bioactive fillings treatment, and others. The market restraints are poor mechanical weakness, low fracture resistance, poor load-bearing capacity and mechanical strength, possible toxicity, high cost of bioactive fillings treatment, rejection of the bioactive fillings and others.The global bioactive fillings market is expected to reach USD 6.8 billion by 2023, and the market is projected to grow at a CAGR of ~ 9.2 % during the forecast period 2017-2023.Intended Audience Global Bioactive fillings manufacturers & suppliers Research and development (R&D) companies Hospitals and clinics Academic institutes and universitiesSegmentsThe global bioactive fillings market has been segmented on the basis of material, applications and end user.Based on the material, the market has been segmented as silicon dioxide based, calcium oxide based, phosphorus pentoxide based, and sodium oxide based.Based on the applications, the market has been segmented as orthopedic, dental, tissue engineering and others.Based on the end user, the market has been segmented as orthopedic hospitals, dental hospitals, research and academics and others.Regional AnalysisThe Americas account for a significant market share owing to high expenditure on the health care especially of the U.S. and Canada. Additionally, the greater number of restorative procedures in the U.S. and Canada drives the bioactive fillings market. The high concentration of the major hospitals in the developed countries of this region coupled with good reimbursement rates is adding fuel to the market growth. Moreover, the large share of surgical restoration segment procedures in the returns of hospitals favors the market. The large number of medical devices companies in the U.S. is also a cause for the faster development of bioactive fillings market in the US.Europe is the second largest market in the world due to growing medical devices industry and healthcare penetration. The European market growth is led by countries such as Germany and France. Germany is expected to be the fastest growing market over the assessment period due to its large medical devices industry and its large research base.Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly. China and India are likely to lead this market due to fast growing healthcare sector and large unmet needs over the forecast period. The South East Asian countries such as China, India, and Malaysia are projected to contribute highly to the market growth. The growing penetration of healthcare industry in the Asia Pacific region is expected to drive the future bioactive fillings market in the region.Gulf nations such as Saudi Arabia and the UAE are estimated to drive the Middle East & African market. Other Middle East nations to watch out for are Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt and Iran. The African region is expected to witness a poor growth owing to poor economic and political conditions, and poor healthcare development. Other regions are expected to be laggards due to poor social development and tribal identities such as sub Saharan Africa.Request Full Report @Key Players in the Global Bioactive fillings MarketSome of the key players profiled in the report are Septodont, Inc., DePuy Synthes, Medtronic, Stryker, Zimmer Biomet, SCHOTT AG, Aap Implantate AG, GNI GROUP LTD., Arthrex, Inc., Baxter, and others.Market Research Future (MRFR), enable customers to unravel the complexity of various industries through Cooked Research Report (CRR), Half-Cooked Research Reports (HCRR), Raw Research Reports (3R), Continuous-Feed Research (CFR), and Market Research & Consulting Services.Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India
Overview of Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market 2023 - Innovative Technologies to Bolster Future Factories

Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market by Manufacturers, Countries, Type and Application, Forecast to 2023" to its huge collection of research reports.A virtual private network (VPN) extends a private network across a public network, and enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. ("In the simplest terms, it creates a secure, encrypted connection, which can be thought of as a tunnel, between your computer and a server operated by the VPN service.") Applications running across the VPN may therefore benefit from the functionality, security, and management of the private network.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Scope of the Report:This report focuses on the Virtual Private Network (VPN) in Global market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application.Market Segment by Manufacturers, this report coversPrivate Internet AccessNord VPNTorGuardCyber GhostHotspot ShieldIP Vanish VPNBuffered VPNGolden FrogVPN PureExpress VPNSafer VPNMarket Segment by Regions, regional analysis coversNorth America (United States, Canada and Mexico)Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy)Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia)South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia)Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)Market Segment by Type, coversRemote Access VPNSite-to-Site VPNOthersMarket Segment by Applications, can be divided intoPersonal VPN UsersCorporate VPN UsersTable of Contents1 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Virtual Private Network (VPN)1.2 Classification of Virtual Private Network (VPN) by Types1.2.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue Comparison by Types (2017-2023)1.2.2 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue Market Share by Types in 20171.2.1 Remote Access VPN1.2.2 Site-to-Site VPN1.2.3 Others1.3 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market by Application1.3.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size and Market Share Comparison by Applications (2013-2023)1.3.1 Personal VPN Users1.3.2 Corporate VPN Users1.4 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market by Regions1.4.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size (Million USD) Comparison by Regions (2013-2023)1.4.1 North America (USA, Canada and Mexico) Virtual Private Network (VPN) Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.2 Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Virtual Private Network (VPN) Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.3 Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) Virtual Private Network (VPN) Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.4 South America (Brazil, Argentina, Colombia) Virtual Private Network (VPN) Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.4.5 Middle East and Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa) Virtual Private Network (VPN) Status and Prospect (2013-2023)1.5 Global Market Size of Virtual Private Network (VPN) (2013-2023)2 Manufacturers Profiles2.1 Private Internet Access2.1.1 Business Overview2.1.2 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Type and Applications...3 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Competition, by Players3.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Share by Players (2013-2018)3.2 Market Concentration Rate3.2.1 Top 5 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Players Market Share3.2.2 Top 10 Virtual Private Network (VPN) Players Market Share3.3 Market Competition TrendGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @4 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Market Size by Regions4.1 Global Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Market Share by Regions4.2 North America Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.3 Europe Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.4 Asia-Pacific Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.5 South America Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.6 Middle East and Africa Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5 North America Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue by Countries5.1 North America Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue by Countries (2013-2018)5.2 USA Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.3 Canada Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.4 Mexico Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6 Europe Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue by Countries6.1 Europe Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue by Countries (2013-2018)6.2 Germany Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.3 UK Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.4 France Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.5 Russia Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.6 Italy Virtual Private Network (VPN) Revenue and Growth Rate (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.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Global Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Market 2025 | Microsoft/Nokia, Samsung, Fujitsu, Airvana LP, Cisco, Huawei, Ericsson and Others

Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Market

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Global Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Market Report 2018" to its huge collection of research reports.In this report, the global Small Cells and Femtocells market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report split global into several key Regions, with sales (K Units), revenue (Million USD), market share and growth rate of Small Cells and Femtocells for these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringUnited StatesChinaEuropeJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaTo Get Sample Copy of Report visit @Global Small Cells and Femtocells market competition by top manufacturers/players, with Small Cells and Femtocells sales volume, Price (USD/Unit), revenue (Million USD) and market share for each manufacturer/player; the top players includingMicrosoft/NokiaSamsungFujitsuAirvana LPCiscoHuaweiEricssonAlcatel-LucentNecContelaSpidercloud WirelessOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoPicocellFemtocellMicrocellOn the basis on the end users/applications, this report focuses on the status and outlook for major applications/end users, sales volume, market share and growth rate for each application, includingRetail and Public LocationEducationHospitalityBFSIHealthcareTransportationOthersTable of ContentsGlobal Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Market Report 20181 Small Cells and Femtocells Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Small Cells and Femtocells1.2 Classification of Small Cells and Femtocells by Product Category1.2.1 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Market Size (Sales) Comparison by Type (2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Market Size (Sales) Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Picocell1.2.4 Femtocell1.2.5 Microcell1.3 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Market by Application/End Users1.3.1 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Sales (Volume) and Market Share Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Retail and Public Location1.3.3 Education1.3.4 Hospitality1.3.5 BFSI1.3.6 Healthcare1.3.7 Transportation1.3.8 Others1.4 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Market by Region1.4.1 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Market Size (Value) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 United States Small Cells and Femtocells Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 China Small Cells and Femtocells Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Small Cells and Femtocells Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Small Cells and Femtocells Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value and Volume) of Small Cells and Femtocells (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2025)2 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Competition by Players/Suppliers, Type and Application2.1 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Market Competition by Players/Suppliers2.1.1 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Market Share of Key Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.1.2 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Revenue and Share by Players/Suppliers (2013-2018)2.2 Global Small Cells and Femtocells (Volume and Value) by Type2.2.1 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.2.2 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Revenue and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)2.3 Global Small Cells and Femtocells (Volume and Value) by Region2.3.1 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.3.2 Global Small Cells and Femtocells Revenue and Market Share by Region (2013-2018)2.4 Global Small Cells and Femtocells (Volume) by ApplicationGet Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @3 United States Small Cells and Femtocells (Volume, Value and Sales Price)3.1 United States Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Value (2013-2018)3.1.1 United States Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.2 United States Small Cells and Femtocells Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)3.1.3 United States Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)3.2 United States Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)3.3 United States Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)3.4 United States Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)4 China Small Cells and Femtocells (Volume, Value and Sales Price)4.1 China Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Value (2013-2018)4.1.1 China Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.2 China Small Cells and Femtocells Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)4.1.3 China Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)4.2 China Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)4.3 China Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)4.4 China Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)5 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells (Volume, Value and Sales Price)5.1 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Value (2013-2018)5.1.1 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.1.2 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)5.1.3 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)5.2 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)5.3 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)5.4 Europe Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (2013-2018)6 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells (Volume, Value and Sales Price)6.1 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Value (2013-2018)6.1.1 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells Sales and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.1.2 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells Revenue and Growth Rate (2013-2018)6.1.3 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Price Trend (2013-2018)6.2 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Players (2013-2018)6.3 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Type (2013-2018)6.4 Japan Small Cells and Femtocells Sales Volume and Market Share by Application (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.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
U.S. Asset Management It Solutions Market To Rise At A CAGR Of 5.1% Between 2016 And 2024 Will Become Worth US$1,298.2 Mn

Asset Management IT Solution Market

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Researchmoz added Most up-to-date research on "Asset Management IT Solution Market - U.S. Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, and Forecast 2016 - 2024" to its huge collection of research reports.Asset management refers to managing tangible or intangible assets. An asset management company serves as an advisor to clients, with a goal to maximize returns. Asset management firms are hired by institutional investors such as pension funds, corporations, and high net worth individuals. The asset management firms need IT solutions for managing assets such as equity, fixed income, real estate, commodities, and international investments. These IT solutions consist mainly of software solutions for business operations including portfolio management, compliance, and trade execution among others.To Get Sample Copy of Report visit @U.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market: Scope and MethodologyThe U.S. asset management IT solution market report provides an analysis of the U.S. asset management IT solution market for the period 2014  2024, wherein 2015 is the base year and the period from 2016 to 2024 is the forecast period. Data for 2014 has been included as historical information. The report covers all the prevalent trends playing a major role in the growth of the asset management IT solution market over the forecast period. It also highlights various drivers, restraints, and opportunities expected to influence the market growth during the said period.The study provides a holistic perspective on market growth, throughout the above forecast period in terms of revenue estimates (in US$ Mn), across different geographies in the U.S., which include Northeast, Midwest, West and South. The report provides cross-sectional analysis of the U.S. asset management IT solution market in terms of market estimates and forecasts for all the segments across different geographic regions. This research report provides in-depth analysis of the U.S. asset management IT solution market on the basis components, deployment model and geography. The report also includes U.S. asset Management player profile and asset managers IT viewpoint deploying IT solutions and services for managing assets.Some of the key analytical pointers in the research study include Porters Five Force Analysis, and key market indicators which include industry outlook of investment management firms (asset managers) in the U.S. and key mergers and acquisition in the field of asset management IT solutions from vendor as well as buyers point of view.Applications encompassed in the research study include portfolio management, compliance, risk management, client statements & reporting, trade order management, workflow automation, benchmarking, and cash flow & accounting. Whereas services encompassed in the report scope include enterprise data management, data integration, reporting solutions & services, operation support & monitoring, application development and maintenance, and resource managementThis research study on the U.S. asset management IT solution market provides a detailed analysis of various components and their respective applications and services. The report also offers in-depth analysis of various factors such as market drivers, restraints, and growth opportunities affecting the market dynamics. These factors enable the analysis of various trends that would impact the market during the forecast period from 2016 to 2024. The report includes a comprehensive coverage of the underlying economic and technological factors under key trend analysis influencing the asset management IT solution market.U.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market: Competitive DynamicsThe report aims to provide strategic insights about the investment management firms deploying IT solutions with the detailed analysis of their requirements pertaining to IT solutions. Some of the key industry players in the asset management IT solution include Hewlett Packard Enterprise Development LP, FundCount, SoftTarget Inc., SimCorp Inc, QED Financial System, eFront Financial Solutions, Broadridge Investment Management Solutions, ProTrak International, SunGard Financials and CreditPoint Software.Key asset managers profiled in the research study along with their IT viewpoints and requirements include Barings Corporate Investors, Geode Capital Management, The Carlyle Group LP, Voya Investment Management, Lazard Asset Management, Bridgewater Associates and Hartford Investment Management. Co among others.Get Complete TOC With Tables and Figures @U.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market Segmentation:U.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market, by Component- Application- Portfolio Management- Compliance- Risk Management- Client Statements & Reporting- Trade Order Management- Workflow Automation- Benchmarking- Cash Flow & Accounting- Service- Enterprise Data Management- Data Integration- Reporting Solutions & Services- Operation Support & Monitoring- Application Development and Maintenance- Resource ManagementU.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market, by Deployment Model- On-premise- Cloud-based- HybridU.S. Asset Management IT Solution Market, by Geography- Northeast- Midwest- West- SouthAbout 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.ResearchMozState Tower,90 State Street,Suite 700,Albany NY - 12207United StatesEmail: sales@researchmoz.usWebsite @Tel: 866-997-4948 (Us-Canada Toll Free)Tel: +1-518-621-2074Follow us on LinkedIn @
Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Market Segment by Applications, Manufacturers, Regions and Forecast to 2025

Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment 2018

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WiseGuyReports.Com Publish a New Market Research Report On  Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Market Segment by Applications, Manufacturers, Regions and Forecast to 2025.In this report, the global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment market is valued at USD XX million in 2017 and is expected to reach USD XX million by the end of 2025, growing at a CAGR of XX% between 2017 and 2025.Geographically, this report is segmented into several key Regions, with production, consumption, revenue (million USD), market share and growth rate of Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment in these regions, from 2013 to 2025 (forecast), coveringNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndiaGet a Sample Report @For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comGlobal Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment market competition by top manufacturers, with production, price, revenue (value) and market share for each manufacturer; the top players includingBuckman Laboratories InternationalBest Water Technology (Bwt) AgCalgon Carbon CorporationCulligan International CompanyDanaher CorporationDegremont SasDoosan Heavy Industries & Co. LtdEbara CorporationEcolab IncAccepta LtdAquatech International CorporationAshland IncIde Technologies LtdIon Exchange (India) LimitedKemiraPalintest LtdPentair International SarlThe Dow Chemical CompanyThermo Fisher ScientificVa Tech Wabag LtdVeolia Environnement SaXylem IncGe Water & Process TechnologiesHitachi Plant Technologies LtdHyflux LtdIde Technologies LtdOn the basis of product, this report displays the production, revenue, price, market share and growth rate of each type, primarily split intoMedia Filtration EquipmentMembrane Filtration EquipmentOn 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, includingMunicipal ApplicationsIndustrial ApplicationsReport Details @Table Of Contents  Major Key PointsGlobal Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Market Research Report 20181 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Market Overview1.1 Product Overview and Scope of Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment1.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Segment by Type (Product Category)1.2.1 Global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Production and CAGR (%) Comparison by Type (Product Category)(2013-2025)1.2.2 Global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Production Market Share by Type (Product Category) in 20171.2.3 Media Filtration Equipment1.2.4 Membrane Filtration Equipment1.3 Global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Segment by Application1.3.1 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Consumption (Sales) Comparison by Application (2013-2025)1.3.2 Municipal Applications1.3.3 Industrial Applications1.4 Global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Market by Region (2013-2025)1.4.1 Global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Market Size (Value) and CAGR (%) Comparison by Region (2013-2025)1.4.2 North America Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.3 Europe Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.4 China Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.5 Japan Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.6 Southeast Asia Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.4.7 India Status and Prospect (2013-2025)1.5 Global Market Size (Value) of Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment (2013-2025)1.5.1 Global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Revenue Status and Outlook (2013-2025)1.5.2 Global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production Status and Outlook (2013-2025).7 Global Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Manufacturers Profiles/Analysis7.1 Buckman Laboratories International7.1.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.1.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Product Category, Application and Specification7.1.2.1 Product A7.1.2.2 Product B7.1.3 Buckman Laboratories International Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.1.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.2 Best Water Technology (Bwt) Ag7.2.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.2.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Product Category, Application and Specification7.2.2.1 Product A7.2.2.2 Product B7.2.3 Best Water Technology (Bwt) Ag Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.2.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.3 Calgon Carbon Corporation7.3.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.3.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Product Category, Application and Specification7.3.2.1 Product A7.3.2.2 Product B7.3.3 Calgon Carbon Corporation Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.3.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.4 Culligan International Company7.4.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.4.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Product Category, Application and Specification7.4.2.1 Product A7.4.2.2 Product B7.4.3 Culligan International Company Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.4.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.5 Danaher Corporation7.5.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.5.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Product Category, Application and Specification7.5.2.1 Product A7.5.2.2 Product B7.5.3 Danaher Corporation Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.5.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.6 Degremont Sas7.6.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.6.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Product Category, Application and Specification7.6.2.1 Product A7.6.2.2 Product B7.6.3 Degremont Sas Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.6.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.7 Doosan Heavy Industries & Co. Ltd7.7.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.7.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Product Category, Application and Specification7.7.2.1 Product A7.7.2.2 Product B7.7.3 Doosan Heavy Industries & Co. Ltd Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.7.4 Main Business/Business Overview7.8 Ebara Corporation7.8.1 Company Basic Information, Manufacturing Base, Sales Area and Its Competitors7.8.2 Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Product Category, Application and Specification7.8.2.1 Product A7.8.2.2 Product B7.8.3 Ebara Corporation Wastewater & Water Treatment Equipment Capacity, Production, Revenue, Price and Gross Margin (2013-2018)7.8.4 Main Business/Business OverviewContinued..For more information or any query mail at sales@wiseguyreports.comABOUT US:Wise Guy Reports is part of the Wise Guy Consultants Pvt. Ltd. and offers premium progressive statistical surveying, market research reports, analysis & forecast data for industries and governments around the globe. Wise Guy Reports features an exhaustive list of market research reports from hundreds of publishers worldwide. We boast a database spanning virtually every market category and an even more comprehensive collection of market research reports under these categories and sub-categories.Office No.528,Amanora Chambers,Magarpatta Road,Hadapsar,Pune-411028.
Grinding Machinery Market Scenario, Leading Players, Segments Analysis and Growth by Forecast to 2023

Grinding Machinery Market 2018

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Grinding Machinery Market Share, Size, Trends, And Business Opportunity Analysis Report 2018 include historic data, with forecast data to 2023. Grinding Machinery Market report is helpful for future strategy development, and to know about Market Drivers, Restraints, Opportunities, And Global market size, share, Growth, Trends, key players forecast to 2023Global Grinding Machinery Market by Types (Cylindrical, Surface, Gear, Tool & Cutter and Others), End-User (General Machinery, Automotive Machinery, Precision Machinery, and Others) & by Region - Global Forecast to 2023The global grinding machinery market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 4.2% during the period.Key Players:Robert Bosch Tool Corporation (Germany), Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. (U.S.), Makita Corporation (U.S.), Hilti Corporation (Liechtenstein), Husqvarna (Sweden), Techtronic Industries Co. Ltd (Hong Kong), Snap-on (U.S.), Hitachi Koki Co. Ltd. (Japan), Festool (Germany), and Otto Baier GmbH (Germany) are some of the leading players operating in this market.Get Sample Report of Grinding Machinery Market @Grinding Machinery Global Market  SegmentationBy TypesCylindricalSurfaceGearTool & CutterOthersBy End-UserGeneral MachineryAutomotive MachineryPrecision MachineryOthersBy RegionAsia PacificNorth AmericaEuropeRest of WorldIndustry NewsIn October, 2016  A leading grinding machinery manufacturer developed two new versatile grinding machines Grupos Diferenciales. These newly developed grinders are able to make possible to turn, measure and grind large parts using a high-efficiency process that ensures the highest quality. However, the new developed grinding machines will enhance the companys sustainability in the market, which will result in generating higher growth for the grinding machinery market.In August, 2017  Gleason expanded its presence in India market. The reason behind this expansion is that, Gleason is doing exceptionally well in the Indian market and to increase its customer base, the company has come up with this decision. The new expansion is going to establish in Bangalore. With this expansion, the global grinding machinery market would be generating higher growth in the market and will enhance the companys position.Market Synopsis of Global Grinding MachineryGrinding Machinery is used for the common form of abrasive machining. The process involves material cutting which consists of an abrasive tool whose cutting elements are grains of abrasive material known as grit. These grits are characterized by sharp cutting points, high hot hardness, and wear resistance.The growth of global grinding machinery market can majorly be attributed to growing global automotive industry and rising demand from end-use industries. Also, the growing number of innovation in grinding machines, is expected to boost the market growth. Several companies have continuously been focusing on evolving grinding machinery market by developing technologically advanced grinding machines. This has led to the introduction of advance machinery that helps in the manufacture of precise and accurate products in lesser time and at lower costs.Get Complete Report Details of Grinding Machinery Market @Table of Contents1 Executive Summary2 Research Methodology3 Market Dynamics4 Global Grinding Machinery Market, By Types5 Global Grinding Machinery Market, By End-User6 Regional Market Analysis7 Competitive AnalysisContinued.About Us: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 the prime objective to provide optimum quality market research and intelligence services to our clients. Our market research studies depending on products, services, technologies, applications, end users, and market players for global, regional, and country level market segments enables our clients to know more consequently do more, which gives them answer for their each and every important question. In order to stay updated with technology and work process of the industryCONTACT US:Market Research FutureOffice No. 528, Amanora ChambersMagarpatta Road, Hadapsar,Pune - 411028Maharashtra, India+1 646 845 9312sales@marketresearchfuture.com
ATEQ Corp. Opens New Sales & Service Office in Silicon Valley, CA

ATEQ's new Silicon Valley Office

www.atequsa.com

www.atequsa.com

Santa Clara, CA. ATEQ announces the opening of a new Sales & Service Office in Silicon Valley, CA. This office is at 1600 Wyatt Drive, Ste 13, Santa Clara, CA 95054. It will serve as a facility for leak testing sales, service, training and repairs for customers in the western region of the United States.This office will be managed by Jim Burch, longtime ATEQ West Coast Territory Manager, and Bruno Rousseau, Global Manager of ATEQ TPMS Tools Division. They are joined by Adrian Wang, Field Office Engineer. A Business Development Engineer and Service & Support Technician will soon join the team. The Santa Clara office will serve as the primary sales and service location for new and existing customers in the following states: CA, OR, WA, ID, NV, UT, AZ, NM, CO, MT and WY.With the addition of this new West Coast facility, ATEQ seeks to improve customer satisfaction by reducing sales lead time and service turnaround time while discovering new potential customers in the area.Opening an office on this side of the country became essential when we received large contracts with customers in this area. We wanted to be able to provide them a local service facility and have staff readily available for fast on-site maintenance, commented Burch.This location is one of three offices in the United States. The USA headquarters is in Livonia, MI and another new office was also recently established in Chattanooga, TN. ATEQ North America also has an office in Mississauga, Ontario Canada and in Queretaro Mexico. For more detailed information about all of ATEQs global locations, visit atequsa.com/locations.ATEQ is a global manufacturer of compact leak/flow testing instruments used for non-destructive quality testing in a variety of industries to ensure the integrity of manufactured products. Instruments are fast, reliable, accurate, and repeatable and feature pressure decay, mass flow, electrical, tracer gas or mult-channel leak testing technologies. With locations in 42 countries and more than 40 years of experience, ATEQ is able to provide exceptional sales and services to customers worldwide.ATEQ Corp.35980 Industrial Rd.Livonia, MI 48150734-838-3100PR Contact: Heidi Franklinhfranklin@atequsa.com
Cold Chain Logistics Industry in China 2018-2022 | Estimated CAGR of 14.7% between 2017-2022

China Cold Chain Logistics Industry Report, 2018-2022

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"China Cold Chain Logistics Industry Report, 2018-2022"The market demand for food cold chain is on a steady rise in the wake of rapid development of Chinas economy, the accelerated process of urbanization as well as the changes in the structure of residents food consumption. In the meantime, the governments at all level have been investing more in construction of cold chain infrastructure, being conductive to the fast development of cold chain logistics. In 2017, the market size of cold chain logistics in China rose to RMB258.8 billion, showing a CAGR of 20.5% during 2010-2017. As the cold chain policy and standards grow clear in China, the rising of fresh food e-businesses and the deepening of financial innovation will facilitate progresses in the cold chain logistics industry in the future. Till 2022, Chinas cold chain logistics market will be worth RMB512.9 billion, remaining a CAGR of 14.7% between 2017 and 2022.Request for Sample Pages for this report:In China, the demand for cold chain logistics comes mainly from agricultural products including meat, aquatic products, quick-frozen food, fruits & vegetables, and dairy products. In 2017, cold chain circulation transport in China reached 417.63 million tons, an upsurge of 13.8% from a year earlier, and it is expected to report 618.08 million tons in 2022, with an estimated AAGR at 8.2% during 2017-2022. If based on cold chain circulation transport, fruits & vegetables cold chain is the biggest market segment for the moment, while the demand for cold chain of aquatic products is growing rapidly. With the growing maturity of cold chain technologies, these two kinds of products will seize more market shares. Additionally, pharmaceuticals, particularly vaccines, blood products and diagnostic reagents will be a key growth engine of cold chain logistics.Browse detailed TOC and List and Tables & Figures:Competition in the industrial chains of cold chain logistics is presented as follows:- Logistics operation: a majority of cold chain logistics enterprises are generally engaged in both cold storage operation and cold chain transportation and they have strong competences, such as Xianyi Holding, Swire Cold Chain Logistics, and Zhengming Modern Logistics.- Cold storage operation: Chinese cold storage market is scattered with a low concentration degree and featured with strong regionality. In 2017, the top ten cold storage enterprises boasted cold storage volume of 27.71 million cubic meters together, accounting for 23.2% of market shares. The representative players consist of Xianyi Holding, Swire Cold Chain Logistics, and China Merchants Americold, all of which are in possession of a grand cold storage network nationwide.- Refrigerated truck: Of the first echelon of refrigerated trucks, Foton, JAC and Dongfeng Motor sweep nearly 60% market shares together. The brands in second echelon are composed of FAW, Qingling Motors, Henan Bingxiong Special Vehicle Manufacturing, China International Marine Containers (Group) Ltd (CIMC), KF Mobile Systems, Zhenjiang Speed Automobile Group, and Jiangling Motors Co., Ltd. (JMC), holding 27% market shares in all. The remaining shares go to other special vehicle refitting factories and small firms.- Refrigerating equipment: the large freezing and refrigerating equipment market is a duopoly and firmly occupied by Yantai Moon Co., Ltd and Dalian Refrigeration Co., Ltd, while Fujian Snowman Co., Ltd targets the cold chain logistics market and extends industrial chains.Make specific inquiries regarding this report:China Cold Chain Logistics Industry Report, 2018-2022 by ResearchInChina highlights the followings:- Cold chain logistics industry (definition, classification, composition structure, market features, business model, industrial policies, etc.);- Cold chain logistics market in China (market size, demand, competitive landscape, market structure, development prospects as well as analysis of cold chain logistics in key areas like the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region);- Cold Chain logistics market segments (features, demand, etc. of cold chain markets like fruits & vegetables, meat, quick-frozen rice and flour products, aquatics and dairy products);- Cold storage market (overview, total capacity, regional analysis, competitive pattern and predictions);- Refrigerated truck market (overview, overall size, regional analysis, competitive landscape and forecasts);- Refrigerating equipment market (overview, overall size, regional analysis and competitive landscape);- 20 cold chain operation enterprises (profile, business performance, revenue structure, cold chain business, development strategies, etc.);- 12 refrigerated truck manufacturers (profile, business performance, revenue structure, refrigerated truck business, development strategies, etc.);- 5 refrigerating equipment manufacturers (profile, business performance, revenue, cold chain equipment business, development strategies, etc.).Contact:ResearchByMarketsMs. Lia Seth | Client Relations Managerenquiry@researchbymarkets.comAbout Us:Research By Markets is an online Market Research Report Repository.Our repository contains reports segmented by Geography and Industry. We cover all major Industry Verticals - Information Technology, Semiconductor, Electronics, Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Automotive, BioTechnology, Energy & Power, Banking and many more.Research By MarketsE-3, Ganga Homes,Behind Bank Of India,Viman Nagar,Pune 411 014.Maharashtra, India
Automotive Shock Absorber Industry in China | Estimated 180 Million Shock Sbsorbers required by 2022 in Chinese Aftermarket

China Automotive Shock Absorber Industry Report, 2018-2022

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"China Automotive Shock Absorber Industry Report, 2018-2022"Shock absorber, an essential part of automotive suspension system, can absorb body vibration and make driving more smooth and comfortable. The Chinese market demand for automotive shock absorber reached 225 million units in 2017, a year-on-year rise of 7.2%, and is expected to hit 318 million units in 2022 thanks to rapid expansion of the automobile (NEV in particular) market.Request for Sample Pages of this Report:OEM market: the demand for automotive shock absorber has much bearing on Chinas automobile output. The countrys car production rose by 3.2% from a year ago to 29.02 million units in 2017 and is expected to reach 34.55 million units in 2022, boosting the demand for automotive shock absorber from 116 million units in 2017 to 138 million units in 2022, presenting a CAGR of 3.6%.After-sales maintenance market: massive car ownership creates a large after-sales market. An estimated 180 million shock absorbers will be needed in the Chinese automotive aftermarket in 2022.Enterprise landscape: the key players in the Chinese shock absorber market include sole proprietorships or joint ventures of world-renowned shock absorber firms (ZF, Tenneco, KYB, Mando, SHOWA, ThyssenKrupp, etc.) and local Chinese peers (Nanyang Xijian Auto Shock Absorber, ADD Industry (Zhejiang), Chengdu Jiuding Science & Tech. and BeijingWest Industries, etc.).Browse detailed TOC and List of Tables & Figures:Attracted by Chinas enormous AM demand, global and local Chinese shock absorber producers have quickened their presence in shock absorber market. The Tennecos new shock absorber project in Changzhou city, which began construction in Sept 2017, will be built at the end of 2018, adding 18 million units/a.BeijingWest Industries, a joint venture of Shougang Group, has kept expanding its capacity worldwide since the acquisition of automotive suspension system business of US auto parts supplier- Delphi in 2009 and now is capable of producing 15.50 million shock absorbers annually. The company put its 4 million units/a new plant in Czech Republic into production in June 2017 and then began construction of a new plant in Indiana, U.S. which is expected to reach designed capacity (4 million units/a) in 2020.Technically, there is an ever higher demanding on intelligence and comfort of shock absorber system. Adaptive adjustable shock absorber, compound shock absorber, intelligent shock absorber and electromagnetic-current shock absorber represent main development directions. Meanwhile, as the car becomes more lightweight, the lighter, smaller and higher-performance semi-active & active shock absorber systems will prevail.Make specific inquiries regarding this report:China Automotive Shock Absorber Industry Report, 2018-2022 focuses on the followings:- Policies on shock absorber and technical trends;- Development and trends of global automobile market and Chinese passenger car, commercial vehicle and new energy vehicle (NEV) market;- Chinese automotive shock absorber market (demand, OEM market, AM market, enterprise landscape, development trend, etc.);- 18 Global and Chinese shock absorber manufacturers (operation, development strategy, etc.).Contact:ResearchByMarketsMs. Lia Seth | Client Relations Managerenquiry@researchbymarkets.comAbout Us:Research By Markets is an online Market Research Report Repository.Our repository contains reports segmented by Geography and Industry. We cover all major Industry Verticals - Information Technology, Semiconductor, Electronics, Manufacturing, Food & Beverages, Telecommunications, Healthcare, Pharmaceutical, Automotive, BioTechnology, Energy & Power, Banking and many more.Research By MarketsE-3, Ganga Homes,Behind Bank Of India,Viman Nagar,Pune 411 014.Maharashtra, India
Muvi to Present the Worlds First Hybrid OTT Platform at NAB Show Shanghai 2018

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Muvis feature-rich hybrid OTT (Over-The-Top) platform combines cross-device reach with great user experience and monetization models to wow consumers and win wallet shareMuvi, known for its end-to-end OTT platform, today announced its plan to present the worlds first Hybrid OTT Platform at NAB Shanghai 2018 from 15-17 June. Muvis award-winning OTT platform is the worlds fastest deployable OTT platform. It is also the worlds only platform that offers broadcasters, content/media owners and distributors the ability to create, manage, deliver, and monetize ANY content on ANY platform using ANY monetization method, whether advertising, subscription, transaction or a hybrid model.Muvi enables content owners to launch own-branded multi-screen video/audio streaming platform offering Live as well as on-demand (VOD) content instantly!In 2018, close to 229 million people in China will watch video via a subscription streaming service that bypasses traditional distribution. 37% of digital video viewers in China will watch online content using a subscription OTT video service this year, such as iQiyi, Youku Tudou or Tencent Video. The subscription OTT market in China grew by more than 80% in 2017. By 2019, more than two-fifths of digital video viewers in China will use an OTT service. To win the next generation of viewers, the broadcast and media industry professionals must serve next-gen viewing experience, said Anshuman Das, CEO Muvi. Traditional players and new streaming services must take bold action to become the next iQiyi or Youku before iQiyi or Youku become a pay-TV providerand platform is a defining factor, he advised.Unlike traditional players which only offers a video player-based solution, Muvi is an enterprise-grade end-to-end OTT Platform which takes care of all technical aspects enabling users to launch a service like iQiyi, Youku, Tencent Video, LeTV, PPTV in a click without the need for any IT resources or coding knowledge!Muvi offers the most advanced OTT platform with features not found in traditional offerings on the market. Muvi brings together live TV, on-demand content, and subscription VOD all in one place and takes care of everything from hosting to CDN, CMS, Transcoding, DRM, HTML5 Player, Payment Gateway, Monetizations, User Management, Analytics, Website and Mobile & TV Apps.Muvi will be exhibiting its OTT platform at booth J-06 at NAB Shanghai from 15-17 June 2018. To meet us at NAB Shanghai, book your slot atMuvi is a New York-based company. Muvis end-to-end Video/Audio Streaming Platform helps content owners launch their own-branded Multi-Screen OTT service. Includes everything you need  complete IT infrastructure, CDN, DRM, CMS, Transcoding Engine, HTML5 Video/Audio Player, Payment Gateway, User and Subscriber Management, Invoicing & Billing, Multiple Monetization Models, Playout Engine, Website & Apps for Mobile & TV.START 14-DAY FREE TRIAL:3rd Floor, IDCO Tower 2000 (mini tower), Mancheswar Industrial Estate, Rasoolgar, In front of Bharat Motors, Bhubaneswar, Odisha 751010PRESS CONTACTPoonam SinghHead - Marketingpoonam@muvi.com
Medicinal Cannabis Market - Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends, And Forecast To 2025

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Medicinal cannabis, or medicinal marijuana, is a therapy that has garnered global attention owing to its application in treatment of chronic ailments and the controversies surrounding legal, ethical, and societal implications associated with application. Cannabis has more than hundred active compounds, two of which are -- Cannabidiol (CBD) which does not alters the consciousness and is used for medicinal properties and another component include delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) which causes intoxication.Medicinal usage of cannabis is performed to curb disease or health conditions such as blood pressure, memory, concentration, appetite, sensory stimulus, glaucoma, seizures, weight loss, schizophrenia, multiple sclerosis (MS), Huntingtons disease, anorexia, chronic motion sickness, failure to thrive in infants and post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) in veterans. Cannabis is also alluring for consumers since it is relatively safer to use as compared to opiates. Moreover, marijuana is known to be a fantastic muscle relaxant and appears to ease the pain of multiple sclerosis, lessen the tremors in Parkinsons and nerve pain. Additionally, medicinal cannabiss application in treatment of fibromyalgia, endometriosis, interstitial cystitis, irritable bowel syndrome, Crohns disease has been successful. Furthermore, pain and wasting syndrome associated with HIV and other conditions of chronic pain have also found cannabis as significant medicine in their treatment methods is projected to accelerate the market growth over forecast period.Request For Free Sample Of The Report @Growing R&D activities in the medical cannabis market and gradual approval of medicinal cannabis products globally are also expected to enhance the market growth. For instance, in March, 2017, the German parliament signed a law allowing the use of cannabis for medicinal purposes if it is prescribed by a medical practitioner to a patient suffering from severe health issues such as chronic pain, vomiting, and nausea. Moreover, purchase of cannabis products is allowed from pharmacies on the basis of a valid prescription. However, cultivation of marijuana is still a criminal offence in many countries. Thus, suppliers depend on other economies to import medicinal cannabis implying a huge potential for growth of the medicinal cannabis industry in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. However, consumption of cannabis excessively may induce tachycardia or increase the risk of heart attack, particularly for users with existing heart disease or arrhythmias and is therefore a constraint for the growth of the industry.The medicinal cannabis market is segmented on the basis of point of sale, active ingredient, therapeutic application and geography. The point of sale segment is further bifurcated into dispensaries, online pharmacy and hospital pharmacy. On the basis of active ingredient, the market is classified into Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD) whereas based on therapeutic application, the market is bifurcated into pain, arthritis, neurological disease neurological applications and other applications. Furthermore, neurological applications is segmented into epilepsy, multiple sclerosis and other neurological applications. Geographically, the market is divided into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa and Latin America.The North America region is expected to dominate the market over the forecast year owing to legalization of Marijuana in U.S. In the U.S., manufacturers of Medicinal cannabis are focusing on expansion of their product business. For instance, in July 2016, Insys Therapeutics, Inc. received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for dronabinol oral solution- Syndros, an orally administered liquid formulation of the pharmaceutical cannabinoid dronabinol is indicated to be used in the treatment of anorexia pertaining to AIDS and cancer chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting. Furthermore, in 2016, Medical Marijuana, Inc. launched the HempMeds Mexico which is a CBD hemp oil product and the company intends to expand its cannabis business in the Latin America.The market in Middle Easter and Africa region is estimated to grow during the forecast period. Among the GCC countries, Israel has approved the medical cannabis product. In Africa region, the governments in Lesotho and Malawi in South Africa have granted the license for medicinal marijuana in 2017 and Verve Dynamics, a Cape Town-based alternative medicines company has received a license from the government of Lesotho to cultivate the cannabidiol (CBD) medicinal cannabis.Get more Information about this Report@Some of the key players operating in the global medical cannabis market include Medical Marijuana Inc. ,Aphria, Inc., Aurora Cannabis, Inc., MGC Pharmaceuticals Limited, Tilray, Medreleaf Corporation, BOL Pharma, Canopy Growth Corporation, Insys Therapeutics Inc. and GW Pharmaceuticals, plc.About Us-Xpodence Research is a U.S. based Market Research Company and offers the most extensive collection of progressive surveying syndicated and customized research reports of various categories for private and public industries across the globe.We offer the comprehensive market research solution for all the industries by performing the in-depth study of industry trends, verticals globally. We believe in building an eternal bond with our customers through providing them inclusive research study both customized and syndicated based on their specific requirements.The organizations in every industry such as Technology, Pharmaceuticals, Consumable Goods, Food & Beverage and others demands a market-based solutions for various significant decisions based on productivity and output globally. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact Us-Xpodence ResearchUSA Office244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email-sales@xpodenceresearch.com
Global Fragrance Fixatives Market Analysis 2012-2017 and Forecast 2018-2023

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The global Fragrance Fixatives market will reach xxx Million USD in 2018 and CAGR xx% 2018-2023. The report begins from overview of Industry Chain structure, and describes industry environment, then analyses market size and forecast of Fragrance Fixatives by product, region and application, in addition, this report introduces market competition situation among the vendors and company profile, besides, market price analysis and value chain features are covered in this report.Product Type Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Major Company of Product Type etc.):SclareolideAmbroxideGalaxolideIso E SuperSucrose Acetate IsobutyrateAmbergrisCastoreumCivetClary SageOthersRequest For Free Sample Of The Report @Company Coverage (Sales Revenue, Price, Gross Margin, Main Products etc.):Eastman ChemicalTokos BVLotioncarfter LLCParis FragrancesSVP ChemicalsSynthodor CompanyPFW Aroma ChemicalsZakiLandmark Perfumes & AromaticsThe Essential Oil CompanyApplication Coverage (Market Size & Forecast, Different Demand Market by Region, Main Consumer Profile etc.):Fine FragrancesHomecare ProductsColor CosmeticsHaircare ProductsSkincare ProductsOthersObtain Report Details @Region Coverage (Regional Production, Demand & Forecast by Countries etc.):North America (U.S., Canada, Mexico)Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Italy, Russia, Spain etc.)Asia-Pacific (China, India, Japan, Southeast Asia etc.)South America (Brazil, Argentina etc.)Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, South Africa etc.)"About Future Genic ReportsFuture Generic Reports is a market research and consulting organization, offering premium collection of market research reports, custom research and consulting services to corporations, no-profit organizations and government institutions across the globe.The wide range of information is presented by a team of well-trained researchers of specific sectors through exhaustive research. We deliver premier market research services that cover all industry verticals, including chemicals and material, automotive, healthcare, electronics & semiconductor, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and technology and media.We believe in building an eternal bond with our clients through offering them inclusive research study meeting their specific requirements. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact us-USA Office244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesUK Office109 ,Straford Street,LeedsWest Yorkshrie LS11 6JGUnited KingdomSend Us An EmailE-mail: sales@futuregenicreports.comCall UsToll Free: +1- 844-445-2861Phone: +1- 347-983-9688
E-SIM Card Market - Swift Uptake of Industry 4.0 Technology

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E-SIM card or Embedded Subscriber Identity Module Card is the upgraded version of conventional SIM card which is compatible with all major carriers regardless the type of network. These SIM cards are integrated in the devices which is rewritable and compliant by all operators. The technology is physically integrated into the device during manufacturing process and supports isolated provisioning in such a way that the SIM cannot easily be removed from the device and replaced with another SIM.The e-SIM is already a mainstream technology in the cellular machine to machine (M2M) market. However, the technology will benefits the consumers and will create opportunities and challenges for operators, IoT device manufacturers, Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), SIM vendors, and service providers across various industries.Request For Free Sample Of The Report @With the implementation of the technology, manufacturers are not required to accommodate a SIM card slot creating further flexibility in terms of deign. For instance, Apple Inc. chose e-SIM technology to employ in Apple Watch 3, shrinking the size without sacrificing battery. The technology will also benefit the international travellers in swapping the SIMs, and services in order to stay connected. Although; universal adoption of e-SIM has to be approved by all major carriers and Apple & Googles Pixel 2 are the only carriers of the technology, paving hurdle for the industry growth.The global market is rising progressively owing to several advantages of E-SIM card over conventional SIM cards in terms of standardization of technical specifications, compact design, reduced operational costs and logistics. Furthermore, ease of switching service providers in real time and, vast growth opportunities in rising application in automotive sector is also anticipated to enhance the growth over the forecast period. However, conceivable resistance shown by service providers towards the adoption, as e-SIM cards eliminates consumers visit to the physical stores of mobile network operators (MNOs) may hinder the market.Based on application, the E-SIM card industry is segmented into wearable & companion devices, Machine to Machine (M2M), smartphones, tablets & laptops. Machine to Machine segment is further segregated to connected cars, utilities and others. Connected cars segment under M2M, contributed leading revenue generation for rising implementation in automotive industry for weather information and infotainment.Obtain Report Details @Europe region is projected to contribute majorly in revenue generation globally owing to favorable government initiatives for the employment of Industry 4.0 technology & solutions. North America market is expected to witness gradual growth owing to home to key players as well as rise in technological adoption of e-SIM cards in M2M devices. China, Japan, South Africa and Brazil are few other countries which are projected to witness growth over the forecast period. Key industry players are Apple Inc., Deutsche Telekom AG, Gemalto N.V., Samsung, NTT DOCOMO Inc., Sierra Wireless Inc., OT-Morpho, Giesecke & Devrient GmbH, Telefonica S.A., and ST Microelectronics.About Us-Xpodence Research is a U.S. based Market Research Company and offers the most extensive collection of progressive surveying syndicated and customized research reports of various categories for private and public industries across the globe.We offer the comprehensive market research solution for all the industries by performing the in-depth study of industry trends, verticals globally. We believe in building an eternal bond with our customers through providing them inclusive research study both customized and syndicated based on their specific requirements.The organizations in every industry such as Technology, Pharmaceuticals, Consumable Goods, Food & Beverage and others demands a market-based solutions for various significant decisions based on productivity and output globally. Our services are tailored specifically to our clients by proposing them the potential outcome, based on our in-depth analysis and insights for exploring the growth strategies through providing the best possible decision for quality production.Contact Us-Xpodence ResearchUSA Office244 , Madison AvenueNew York City, NY - 10016United StatesToll Free +1- 844-445-2861Email-sales@xpodenceresearch.com
Biometric Sensors Market: Global Industry Analysis, Size, Sales and Forecast By 2023 : CrossMatch Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Fulcrum Biometrics (U.S.), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), 3M (U.S.), ZKTecoInc (China),

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Biometric sensors integrate with the physical traits of human body identification with digital technology in order to provide biometric security. Biometric security sensors which is based on matching the algorithms and template database available to the live biometric samples with the already stored samples in the database. Some of the physical traits used to prepare desired templates are face metrics, fingerprints and vein structures in hands among others. Some of the major driving factors of the market growth are the increasing concerns of privacy and security along with growing demand for smart gadgets with biometric security systems. The conversion of a biometric feed such as voice, face and fingerprints etc. into an electric signal via a transducer also known as a biometric sensor. Sensors generally are used to measure temperature, pressure, light, electrical capacity and speed. They are also lightweight and compact in design. Biometric sensors can also be installed in devices very conveniently. Fast verification and identification are some of the key attributes of biometric sensors. Weeding out various security related issues from different domains has resulted to be breakthrough technologies used in biometric sensors.Report For Report Sample:During the forecast period from 2015 to 2023, there is an expected positive growth due to factors such as increasing emphasis on better security and safety, application of fingerprint scan, facial scan and hand scan.A huge opportunity in the financial sector has been created for biometric security sensorsdue to the increasing emergence of mobile and online financial transactions. The advanced technology of biometric sensors can be used in a wide number of applications such as automotive, consumer electronics, commercial centers and hospitality industries. In sectors where safety, privacy and security are of primary concern, biometric sensors are expected to find opportunities in applications such as making transactions and operations.Some of the standard feature in consumer electronic products are biometric and fingerprint sensors. The key manufactures of smartphones and other gadgets have started offering fingerprint sensors as a part of certain products sensing the consumer preference for security and privacy. The increasing demand for biometric security technology is ion the rising trend due to the fact that the users of smartphones and other smart gadgets have become more familiar and comfortable with using security tools such as fingerprint identification for gaining access. The growing demand for tablets, smartwatches, wearable devices and other consumer electronic products are acting as one of the major drivers for this market. Furthermore, some of the factors acting as restraining factors for the market include limitation of application indifferent geographical regions due to cultural barriers and lack of standardization in the process of implementation and development of technical standards. However graphene enabled sensors are the future of the biometric sensor market.The market based on types is segmented into capacitive sensors, optical sensors, thermal sensors, ultrasound sensors and electric field sensors (eField). Further the market based in terms of application, has been segmented into voice scan, finger scan, hand scan, facial scan, iris scan, vein scan and others. Also by end use, the market is segmented into consumer electronics, commercial centers and buildings, defense and security, medical and research labs, banking and financial services sector among others.The global biometric sensors market is categorized geographically into North America, Europe, Asia Pacific and Rest of the World (RoW). The scope of the report is to offer an insight into biometric sensors market in these regions based on revenue (USD million) and volume (million units).Competitive profiling of leading players in the industry and their market share to aid in strategic decision making are also included in the report. A proper insight into market dynamics, industry competition and strategies adopted by market leaders is provided by the market attractiveness analysis and company market share analysis.Request Report Discount:The report also breaks down and reviews the factors impacting the market growth, which can be appropriately described as market drivers, restraints and opportunities. The various existing trends and their impact on the market growth is determined with the help of these factors. Overall taking into consideration the various factors which are affecting the biometric sensor market, the report also includes a holistic analysis of the global biometric sensor market and provides an estimate of growth for the period of 2015 to 2023.The top leading players in the biometric sensors market are CrossMatch Technologies, Inc. (U.S.), Fulcrum Biometrics (U.S.), Infineon Technologies AG (Germany), 3M (U.S.), ZKTecoInc (China), NEC Corporation (Japan), Safran (France), Precise Biometrics Ab (Sweden), Suprema Inc. (South Korea) and IDEX ASA (Norway) among others.Report Analysis:About Us:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalised in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trends.Contact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI)101 Maimuna ApartmentKoliwada Vasai WestMumbai-401201Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com
Lingerie Market: Global Industry Analysis, size, sales and Forecast by 2024 : Jockey International Inc. (Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S), Hanes (North Carolina U.S.), Groupe Chantelle (Cachan, France), LVMH (Boise U.S),

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Lingerie market has occupied a significant position in the apparel industry in recent years as it not only serves its functional benefits but also is considered as an basic necessity to every woman. The the global lingerie market has been bifurcated on the basis of product types into bras, knickers and panties, lounge wear, shape wear and others which includes baby doll, corsets, chemises and chemisoles among others. Bra as an essential necessity and also a fashion accessory to every women and it has captured the largest market share in 2015. Knickers and panties also occupied a significant position in the same year, thus contributing significantly to the overall market size of the lingerie industry.The market is further segmented on the basis of distribution channel into online stores and storefront. Online stores captured the largest market in 2015 due to high penetration of internet services and rapid advancements in the field of technology, thus creating a strong platform for the manufacturers of lingerie Further, the e-commerce giants are engaged in strong promotional activities due to which they provide with continuous discount options and various other offers which attract both consumers and manufacturers to avail this platform.Report For Report Sample:Females in the developing countries are experiencing latest trends towards carrying themselves in public. They are changing their outlook towards accepting innerwear as a casual affair and take time to choose and make a purchase. The outerwear of women has undergone a dramatic change and due to this women prefer selecting inner wear, especially bras that can match with their attire. They try to purchase lingerie depending on the occasion or event, such as there are special sport wear bras for gymnasium purpose. It can be demonstrated from the product differentiation brought by the lingerie manufacturers over online and retail stores. Thus this is a key factor complementing the growth of the global lingerie market.Lingerie has witnessed a rapid acceptance in the fashion industry. Women from all backgrounds want to try out the latest trends in the inner wear segment. Most of the large brands have exclusive stores in shopping malls or independent stores. In developing countries like India and China, brands like Jockey try to reach out to customers through small roadside innerwear shops. Additionally, lingerie is available at stores as well as online. Brands like Victoria Secret have country specific websites for easier transactions and shipment.However, the lingerie wear maintains high cost for advertisement and other marketing promotions. This is due to the cost of celebrities or models that are hired for being featured in the photo shoots. Moreover, the destination or location cost of the photo shoot depends and therefore larger brands do not compromise in keeping high cost for their lingerie wear. Therefore, this factor is majorly hindering the growth of the market and the impact of the same is likely to reduce by the end of the forecast period.Moreover, the global lingerie market is experiencing moderate growth in the apparel segment as nowadays individuals are more inclined towards branded items, most of which are usually priced on the higher end. People from all backgrounds and income group want to avail a comfortable and lasting inner wear that can be fashionable as well as skin-friendly. There are many local brands or companies that manufacture cheap quality products to cater to the wide population in the under developed or developing countries. Mergers and acquisitions are a strategic way of entering the market and understanding the current needs and preferences of the population. Through this, the large companies will benefit in capturing the market and at the same time, will enable the small companies to fight for a better position in the market..Moreover, in this report the study provides different countries included in different regions such as North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America and Middle East and Africa. North America includes U.S. and Rest of North America. Europe includes U.K., Germany, France, Russia, Italy and Rest of Europe. Asia Pacific includes countries such as India, China, Japan and Rest of Asia Pacific. In addition, Middle East and Africa includes country such as UAE, South Africa and Rest of Middle East and Africa. Latin America comprise of countries such as Brazil and Rest of Latin AmericaAsia Pacific is anticipated to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. Transition in the lifestyle of the consumers which is backed by rapid urbanization and increasing purchasing power is a major factor behind the high growth of this market in Asia Pacific. Further, consumer exposure to the same by way of advertisements through televisions, and print media among others is another key factor responsible for the growth of the Lingerie Market in this region.Some of the major key players operating in the global contact lens market are, Jockey International Inc. (Kenosha, Wisconsin, U.S), Hanes (North Carolina U.S.), Groupe Chantelle (Cachan, France), LVMH (Boise U.S), L Brands Inc. (Columbus, Ohio), MAS Holdings Limited (Colombo, Srilanka), Ann Summers (London, U.K.), Marks and Spencer (London U.K), PVH Corporation (New York, U.S) among others.Request Report Discount:The report analyzes the factors that are driving and restraining the growth of the lingerie market. This report will help manufacturers, distributors and suppliers to understand the present and future trends in this market and formulate strategies accordingly.The global lingerie market can be segmented as follows;-Global Lingerie Market, by Type Bra Knickers and Panties Lounge wear Shape wear OthersGlobal Lingerie Market, by Distribution Channel Online Stores Store FrontReport Analysis:About Us:Research Report Insights (RRI) is a leading market intelligence and consulting firm. We deliver a host of services including custom research reports, syndicated research reports, and consulting services which are personalised in nature. RRI delivers a complete packaged solution to clients; this combines current market intelligence, technology inputs, statistical anecdotes, valuable growth insights, 360-degree view of the competitive framework, and anticipated market trends.Contact Us:Research Report Insights (RRI)101 Maimuna ApartmentKoliwada Vasai WestMumbai-401201Phone - +1-631-721-4201Website:Email: sales@researchreportinsights.com
Courtesy of USFS

Six months after the devastating Eagle Creek fire in the Columbia River Gorge was fully contained and a winter came and went, fire crews are suppressing a hotspot Tuesday morning, according to U.S. Forest Service officials.

A caller alerted emergency personnel to the area east of the Herman Creek Trailhead about 3 miles east of Cascade Locks after spotting a glow from the woods bout 2 a.m.

The Forest Service dispatched two engines and a hand crew to the area, roughly half a mile east of the trail site.

Don't Edit

Courtesy of USFS

The Eagle Creek fire started in September and burned about 50,000 acres before it was declared 100 percent contained in late November.

But Rachel Pawlitz, a Forest Service spokeswoman, said containment does not mean extinguished. Trees can retain burning embers throughout the winter, she said, through snow and ice.

The main factor is that it dried back out, she said of the hotspot.

Unfortunately, she added, this is may not be the last hotspot.

Its also not the first hotspot reported on the Eagle Creek fire. In March, Oregon Department of Transportation officials spotted a flareup while conducting a routine flight over the territory to look for fallen trees blocking roads or streams.

Don't Edit

Courtesy of USFS

Pawlitz said ODOT in April reported a smoking tree in the Mt. Hood National Forest portion of the Eagle Creek fire territory, but the tree was no longer on fire on a subsequent flight.

An already unusually dry spring in the Columbia River Gorge could translate to more fires, flareups, and trail closures as crews are called again to battle the blazes.

Pawlitz said Tuesdays hotspot is further reminder that hikers and campers need to learn how to correctly extinguish campfires.

Youve got to put your hand on it, she said, and realize its stone cold.

Without such assurances, Pawlitz said, wildfires are possible.

Don't Edit

Courtesy of USFS

Its also important that outdoor recreators follow any existing prohibitions on fires.

Fireworks, she added, are always outlawed on public lands.

The Vancouver teen, who started the fire with a firework, was ordered earlier this month to pay $36 million in restitution.

-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen
Tuesday 29 May 2018 10:38am



Dr Janet Stephenson

New research from the University of Otago has uncovered the secrets to help children become better energy savers  and it is calling on parents and schools to take note.

The paper, which is the first of its kind in New Zealand to understand how children save electricity in the household, has been published in the journal Energy Research & Social Science.

The researchers found that teaching children how to save energy at home is extremely important, and perhaps more effective than targeting teenagers. This is so that they can provide an internal foundation for when they manage their own household energy consumption as independent adults.



The authors recommend that parents give the children some control over some of the energy-consuming appliances as well as daily routines and rules accompanied by explanations to help children develop energy-saving patterns.

The paper, led by PhD candidate Ikerne Aguirre-Bielschowski, adds that parents who nag their children and have inconsistent patterns are unlikely to have an impact on their children.

Centre for Sustainability director Dr Janet Stephenson says it is an important piece of research in an area where there has been limited work throughout the world.

Children dont just suddenly wake up one day as young adults knowing how to use energy efficiently, Dr Stephenson says.

The best years for learning skills and habits for efficient energy use is prior to teenagehood. Once young people go flatting, if they dont have these skills under their belt, they may have a few expensive and uncomfortable years until they learn, or they may never.

The research also calls on schools to develop compulsory energy literacy programmes to provide a conscious approach to saving power.

The research argues using energy literacy in a school context will help create more communication between parents, and in the home through school projects and homework.

Dr Stephenson says parents and schools need to take notice with better programmes in schools to support energy literacy.

There needs to be a better appreciation amongst parents of what it takes for a child to become energy literate; and also how energy literate children can help the whole household become more energy efficient.

The emergence of technologies such as video games and child-friendly household appliances could also be used to encourage better energy saving.

Dr Stephenson adds the media influence on what children consume through cartoons, magazines and advetisements is also an avenue for helping to normalise energy saving.

We are hoping to see better approaches amongst energy utilities and government agencies about how the learning process of becoming energy literate starts at childhood.

For further information, contact:

Janet Stephenson

Director, Centre for Sustainability

University of Otago

Tel 03 479 8779

Ikerne Aguirre-Bielschowski (currently in Brussels)

Email ikerne.aguirre@unimelb.edu.au
His body has aged, he now walks with a cane, but he can recall every date and detail of the three years he served as an Army Ranger during Wor
The Thumb community of Caro is searching for its fourth city manager in 19 months after Chris Olson, formerly of Beaverton, recently resigned.

Olson resigned from Beaverton in August after working two years of his three-year contract. Two months later he joined the Caro community as its city manager. His Beaverton departure came amid allegations of him sleeping inside of city hall, not following city council directives and excessive legal fees.
Seventeen-year-old Aubrey Brown was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 13, so raising awareness is personal.

"More people than you think are affected by epilepsy - 1 in 26 to be exact," Brown said. "It affects more people than many other diseases and illnesses yet, it receives less funding."

Aubrey and her family wanted to make a difference so they decided to get involved in the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan's Summer Stroll for Epilepsy. Through the stroll, they are able to raise awareness and funding, as well as connect with other families like theirs.

The Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan's Summer Stroll is the organization's largest fundraiser of the year, with about 3,000 people gathering in Midland, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Metro Detroit for inspirational morning walks that bring people together throughout Michigan. The money raised at the strolls funds the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan's programs and services. The awareness raised and sense of community that the event promotes helps to combat the stigma associated with epilepsy and show people that the foundation is here for them.

The foundation will be hosting the Midland Summer Stroll for Epilepsy on Saturday, June 2 at Dow Diamond. Check-in will begin at 8 a.m. Registration fee is $25 for adults and $15 for children. The morning includes breakfast snacks, choose-your-own-raffle, prizes, music, and a walk throughout downtown Midland.

Brown encourages others to join the stroll. "It's inspirational and raises money for awareness and education," she said.

For more information on the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan or to register for any of the Summer Strolls, log onto www.epilepsymichigan.org/stroll or call 1-800-377-6226 ext. 1236.
After the conclusion of the annual Memorial Day parade on Monday, one Gold Star Mother reminded spectators of the meaning of the holiday and encouraged them to honor the ultimate sacrifice many have made for our country.

Beneath the shelter of the Central Park band shell, the H.H. Dow High School marching band played the theme songs of the five military branches as well as George W. Meyers Homeward Bound before Kim Burgess took the stage. Burgess son, Marine Lance Cpl. Ryan Burgess, was killed in action Dec. 21, 2006, while on his second tour of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

He protected my back, but I could not protect his, Kim said.

Ryan joined the U.S. Marines in 2004, just a year after graduating from Meridian Public Schools. At his graduation from boot camp in San Diego, California, Kim was amazed to see over 200 boys transformed into men.

One of the first things Ryan said to me was Yes, maam. At that moment I realized the transformation. That yes, maam' was more rewarding to me than the first time he called me mommy as an infant.

Kim explained that after graduation her son chose to serve in the infantry as a machine gunner. While Kim was concerned for Ryans safety, she was proud of her son and what he stood for.

Ryan faced many challenges during his two tours of duty. In the midst of his first tour, shrapnel from an explosion hit his eye and arm. He recovered quickly and was eager to keep serving. On Nov. 17, 2006, he was injured when an improvised explosive device hit the Humvee he was riding in. Kim believed that if her son could survive these two incidents, he could survive anything.

Two months later, the 21-year-old was killed instantly when another IED hit his Humvee.

From that day forward, Memorial Day took on a whole new meaning for us, Kim stated.

While the Midland community honored the death of a decorated soldier  one of five who have died during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts  the Burgess family mourned the loss of a son and a brother. Kim shared how Ryans dreams of finishing college, going into business with his dad and starting a family of his own were left unrealized. As time passed, she was strengthened by the support of Ryans military family and in turn reached out to support other grieving families.

As hard as it is, I can truly say I know how it feels when I reach out and hug another grieving family member. I hope in some way I can help with their anguish. My sons story is no different than that of any other.

To honor Ryans memory, Sen. Jim Stamas signed Senate Bill 481, now Public Act 52 of 2018 on March 8, designating a portion of US-10 in Sanford as the Marine Lance Corporal Ryan Burgess Memorial Highway. In addition, the Burgess family is planning to build a memorial to Ryan in Sanford.

Kim encouraged those present at Mondays ceremony to continue to reach out to families of the fallen and express their support and gratitude.

We want to know our sons and daughters died for thankful people, she explained. Teach your children and grandchildren about the importance of Memorial Day.

She also urged spectators to continue to participate in all Memorial Day activities from enjoying candy from the parade, to talking about the sacrifices made, from visiting military graves to offering a prayer for the fallen during a cooking out.

Our veterans have earned that right for you, but dont forget to thank them for that right. Memorial Day is by far the most important day provided to all us by those willing to serve and die for this country.
Saginaw Valley State University celebrated the excellence, dedicated care and leadership delivered by six registered nurses in the Great Lakes Bay Region during the eighth annual Carleen K. Moore R.N. Nursing Excellence awards ceremony May 16.

Established by SVSU's Department of Nursing through support provided by Terry Moore and his wife Carleen K. Moore, the awards recognize outstanding nurses in multiple career paths, including clinical bedside nurses, nurse educators, nurses in the community and nurses in long-term care and rehabilitation facilities.

The 2018 recipients include:

 Edwin Vazquez, who works in the mental health unit at MidMichigan Medical Center-Gratiot. He is one of the three recipients of the Nursing in the Acute Care Environment award. His nomination letter read, "Edwin has stepped up as a leader. He motivates others by appealing to higher ideals and moral values. Every nurse on the unit shares that they love working with him and appreciate his integrity and learning orientation. Edwin Vazquez is an excellent role model to nurses at all experience levels."

 Brenda Harris, who works in the McLaren-Bay Region electrophysiology lab. She is one of the three recipients of the Nursing in the Acute Care Environment award. Her nomination letter read, "Brenda always has her patients' safety, concerns and fears in mind as she provides care. Often seen holding a patient's hand, using touch to reassure and speaking in a quiet soothing voice, she sets an example for how all nurses should care for patients."

 Amy Slough who works in the Towne Center Surgery Center at Saint Mary's of Michigan. She is one of three recipients of the Nursing in the Acute Care Environment award. Her nomination letter read, "Amy is a quick learner who leads by example. She is not afraid to speak up when she has a concern or an idea of how to do something better. She will come in early and stay late. She has a strong work ethic and friendly personality."

 Jessica Fodrocy, who works as a breast cancer nurse navigator at MidMichigan Health. She is the recipient of the Nursing in the Community award. Her nomination letter read, "Jessica easily connects with patients and quickly builds trust and respect that is critical to guide them through their desired cancer treatment. Jessica educates women on how to prevent breast cancer, promote early detection, and she guides them through to survivorship."

 Jennifer Whyte, who works as a behavioral health program manager at McLaren-Bay Region. She is the recipient of the Nursing Education award. Her nomination letter read, "For those who have the privilege to work closely with Jennifer, they have had the opportunity to see a nursing professional who is dedicated to nursing excellence, passionate about preventing illness in the community and compassionate about the daily struggles that patients and families endure as they navigate the health care system."

 Jill Hegenauer, who works for Covenant HealthCare. She is the recipient of the Long-Term Care/Rehabilitation award. Her nomination letter read, "Jill demonstrates the 'We Care' values of Covenant with every shift that she works, from start to finish. She exhibits a caring attitude and always treats residents with dignity and as unique individuals."

Carleen K. Moore worked as a licensed practical nurse for almost 15 years before returning to nursing school to become a registered nurse. She then worked in the critical care units at MidMichigan Medical Center-Midland for the next 11 years before retiring from full time nursing in 2001. Moore and her husband, Terry, believe in the importance of recognizing and encouraging nurses who demonstrate excellence in their field.
GLAAD is collaborating with Bonnier Publishing USA for a series of children's picture books aimed at integrating LGBTQ representation in children's literature with the release of Prince & Knight, among other books.

LGBTQ Awareness

The partnership aims to advance positive representation of LGBTQ lives, stories, and experiences at every stage of people's lives. Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD president and CEO, explains that the goal is to make children become aware of the LGBTQ community at an early age through books. This way, they learn to accept, understand, and eventually show kindness to members of the community.

"It's so important that my two kids and others like them see their families reflected in the media," Ellis says in a joint statement.

The collaboration intends to release at least four new queer-inclusive works across formats and genres each year for young people up to the age of 14. Shimul Tolia, CEO of Bonnier Publishing USA, acknowledges the publisher's responsibility to release "meaningful, socially conscience books for every reader."

Prince & Knight

Prince & Knight from author Daniel Haack is the first of the 2018 titles that represent the LGBTQ community. The picture book tells the story of a prince who struggles to find a bride. He eventually finds his happily ever after not from a beautiful maiden but rather from a knight in shining armor.

Prince & Knight features colorful illustrations by Stevie Lewis and is already available in the market. It was released on May 1.

"Kids deserve to see their own lives and their families represented. I thought it'd be cool to take these classic fairy tale tropes of Prince Charming and the knight in shining armor and tell a story in which not only do they save the day, but they find true love in each other, too," Haack tells Huffington Post.

Haack has so far received positive reviews on his book even those coming from straight families. The first-time author hopes that his book gives readers the understanding that LGBTQ people are just as capable of being heroes who are deserving to be loved and to fall in love.

Other books in the collaboration aside from Prince & Knight, include Jack (Not Jackie), which hits shelves in October. The book tells the story of a character named Susan, whose sister identifies herself as "Jack" instead of "Jackie."
United Spaces has signed an agreement with Swedavia for a long-term collaboration on the Office One complex adjacent to Stockholm Arlandas terminal buildings.

The SkyCity Office One complex at Stockholm Arlanda Airport is 15,000m, comprises 10 storeys and is located immediately adjacent to the airports international Terminal 5 and domestic Terminal 4. The property will now be a unique co-working venue that United Spaces, a Nordic co-working company, will operate on Swedavias behalf.

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Karl Wistrand, CEO of Swedavia Real Estate, said, Stockholm Arlanda Airport is poised to become the leading meeting place in the Nordic region for business meetings and conferences. The airport is a unique place to establish a growing business based on the future way of working  open, international, flexible and with a focus on meetings between people.

We are really pleased that United Spaces has chosen to set up operations and offer its office solution at Stockholm Arlanda Airport.

The office space is soon to be inaugurated, with its opening expected to take place in March 2019.

Goran Garberg, CEO of United Spaces Network Offices, added, The office property market is undergoing a global transformation, with technology and new forms of work changing our demands for offices. Co-working spaces bridge the property owners requirements for long leases and the tenants desire for short leases and flexible solutions.
PrivateVPN is a very easy-to-use VPN service with fair speeds and the ability to access a variety of region-specific services including Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Its also well priced around $60 per year.

PrivateVPN in brief:

P2P allowed: Yes

Yes Business location: Sweden

Sweden Number of servers: 200+

200+ Number of country locations: 63

63 Cost: $60 per year

$60 per year VPN protocol: OpenVPN

OpenVPN Data encryption: AES-128-GCM(server-side negotiation can improve to AES-256)

AES-128-GCM(server-side negotiation can improve to AES-256) Data authentication: SHA-256 with HMAC

SHA-256 with HMAC Handshake encryption:TLS-ECDHE-RSA-AES256-GCM-SHA384(AEAD)

Sweden-based PrivateVPNs catch phrase is unlock anything, protect everything. And lets be honest, thats all most of really want from a VPN. This simple and easy-to-use service has something for everyone.

It offers a higher degree of complexity and choice for VPN users who want it, as well as a far simpler interface for those new to VPNs. Beyond speeds, PrivateVPN promises Netflix access in several countries, as well as access to other premium streaming services.

Note: This review is part of our best VPNs roundup. Go there for details about competing products and how we tested them.

IDG PrivateVPN in Simple mode.

Since the last time we looked at it PrivateVPN has undergone some changes. The service still offers two basic interface modes: Simple and Advanced. The simple mode is the first thing that all users see, and the new design is very similar to many other VPNs. It offers a single-pane window that is not adjustable in terms of size. It has a large Connect/Disconnect button in the center, and below that is a location tile, and then below that is the button to switch to Advanced View. When a connection is active, it says in large green letters VPN Is ON, and below that theres a timer showing how long youve been connected to the VPN.

Click on the location tile, and you can pick from PrivateVPNs more than 200 servers in 63 different countries. PrivateVPN used to offer specific servers for Netflix and other specialty services, but now you can just choose the country you want and connect. PrivateVPN says it supports Netflix streaming in 21 different countries including the U.S., Canada, and the UK.

PrivateVPN has also added ping times to each server location from your actual location to help find the best server in your desired country.

After youve picked the server location you want, click Connect and youll be up and running. Once youre connected, your new IP is displayed at the top of the window.

Features and services

IDG PrivateVPNs Advanced view.

If youre a basic VPN user, thats about all you need to know to use PrivateVPN. Experienced users, however, can click the Advanced button in the lower-right corner of the window to see a larger interface.

At the top of the window is an on/off button. The left-hand rail also offers several menu options: Dashboard, Settings, Connection Guard, Stealth VPN, and Help & Support. The Dashboard allows you to pick not only the location, but the type of VPN protocol to use, as well as the level of encryption for OpenVPN. This dashboard also shows how much data youve used during your session in gigabytes.

The Settings section lets you adjust various options, most of which are not enabled by default, such as booting PrivateVPN on system startup, connecting automatically on startup, and minimizing the app window on startup.

Connection Guard houses options such as IPv6 and DNS leak protection, and an internet kill switch, all of which are enabled by default. Theres also an application guard that terminates certain apps when the VPN connection drops.

The Stealth VPN setting is new and is for getting around VPN blockers and DPI (deep packet inspection) firewalls. If you find you arent getting through you can specify a port to see if that works.

As for PrivateVPNs Netflix promises, all of these options worked as advertised, but as always, this could change at any moment given Netflixs adversarial stance towards VPNs.

PrivateVPNs pricing has changed since last time we looked and is a little strange compared to the competition. There is no longer a one-year option (technically it was 13 months). Instead, it has a standard two-year price for $60 total, and then the company charges $60 per year after that. In other words, new customers get one year free. If two years is too long a commitment, theres a month-to-month option of $9, or three months for $18. PrivateVPN offers apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS.

Performance

IDG PrivateVPNs Connection Guard.

PrivateVPN had acceptable speeds in our tests. The service retained 27.25 percent of the base speed across five locations over multiple testing days. Thats quite a drop from the 50 plus percent average we saw last time. Still PrivateVPNs speeds should be acceptable for most uses.

Privacy, anonymity, and trust

PrivateVPNs privacy policy says it does not track your web activity or any traffic while using the companys VPN. It does, however, set cookies and track usage on its sitethe cookies part is not surprising since you need that to log in to the site to access your account. To set up an account, the company requires an email address, and it sends a confirmation message to make sure the address is authentic.

Payments are accepted via credit card, PayPal, and Bitcoin, allowing for varying levels of pseudo-anonymity.

PrivateVPN is owned by PrivateVPN Global AB, which is based in Sweden. The company chief is Martin Muller.

Conclusion

PrivateVPN is a good choice for Netflix access, ease of use, and flexibility for power users. The first two years are available at a good price, and after that the pricing is pretty standard.

That you can now pick locations based on ping speed is an excellent addition, and the increase in servers and locations is also good.

Editors note: Because online services are often iterative, gaining new features and performance improvements over time, this review is subject to change in order to accurately reflect the current state of the service. Any changes to text or our final review verdict will be noted at the top of this article.
Petoskey artist to open mobile art trailer, store

A desire for a more functional and portable vending store has led one Petoskey artist to build a new one slated to open next week.
PRESS RELEASE: Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC)

You could win this bike!

The Ante Up for Trails campaign is open until 11:59pm on Tuesday, May 29, 2018! Click here to donate now!

Today is your last chance to donate $5 to support trails in Santa Cruz County for the opportunity to win an Ibis! One lucky donor will ride away with a new $9,500 Ibis bicycle in the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC) Ante Up for Trails campaign. Donors receive one entry for every $5 donated to the MBOSC, but you only have until tonight to enter! The campaign closes Tuesday, May 29, at 11:59pm PDT. The winner then gets to pick the production Ibis bicycle of their choice as the prize. Donations can be made here This campaign has been a huge success, and you can help drive it past the finish line. MBOSC and Ibis already achieved the original fundraising goal of $70,000, and now they're aiming for a stretch goal of $80,000. Imagine what that could do for trails in Santa Cruz County! You can help reach this goal by making a donation to MBOSC for the chance to win an Ibis!While this campaign has been live, the MBOSC team has been busy constructing a brand new trail in Scotts Valley, and by the time the winner receives their new Ibis, this trail will be ready to ride. The new trail is located in the beautiful Glenwood Open Space Preserve in Scotts Valley, and it will provide local schools and the community a new resource for recreation and connection with the environment. Not to mention, it will be an awesome lunch ride opportunity for the employees of Scotts Valley based bike industry brands Fox, Bell, Giro, Blackburn, and Easton. MBOSC performed the trail design, and along with its eager volunteer network, put shovels to the ground for the actual trail construction. Fundraisers like the Ante Up for Trails campaign made this project possible.MBOSC was founded in 1997 to support, preserve, and expand trail access and responsible mountain biking in Santa Cruz County and has since become a highly skilled trail stewardship organization with expertise in advocacy, trail and bike park design, construction and maintenance, and project funding. They are driven by passionate volunteers and high-caliber professional staff who promote legal and sustainable mountain bike access through trail building, hosting races and events, and collaborating throughout the county.MBOSC has proven to be an invaluable partner for local land managers, investing nearly $1,000,000, over 10,000 hours of staff time, and over 20,000 hours of volunteer time (a $550,000 value) in trail construction and maintenance since 2012. They are focused on furthering their mission to make Santa Cruz the best place to be a mountain biker.
Fly by Midnight, the retro-pop duo from Staten Island, is about to release their latest single, "All the Feels," along with prepping for their upcoming Firefly festival slot.

This brand new song is bound to be one of the essential feel-good anthems of the summer  and the boys had some serious fun with it.

Fly By Midnight

Popdust caught up with the duo right in the midst of all their travel and growing popularity to find out more about their inspirations, reflections and upcoming projects.



1. How does the journey feel so far from where you guys started?

Justin: I mean, it's crazy. I think when looking at our career together, which has probably been about three years now, the progression within the last six months has been quicker than anything's ever been. Everything's happening super quick and we couldn't be more grateful.

Slavo: It's insane to see that from day one, we really haven't backtracked at all or had a moment where we were like "Oh, I regret that." It's all part of the journey and we've always had moments where we see progression, and like Justin said, these last last six months have been a crazy jump. We're very grateful and super excited for what's to come.

Justin: I think especially with the shows coming up  we're headlining New York City and L.A. and we're playing Firefly Festival. We're doing everything ourselves. We're not with a label yet, we're not with a booking agency. We're just two dudes in a studio on Staten Island and what we've been able to accomplish thus far we're really proud of.

2. What inspired your latest single, "All the Feels?"

Slavo: Justin and I sit down together and write a lot together and one night, we were looking on Spotify, and Justin saw that there's a playlist called "All the Feels." Obviously that phrase has been coined over the past few months, and we thought it'd be pretty cool to write a song about it. And whatever we wrote, it was just around the idea of that specific Spotify playlist. You can easily make the song about intimacy and loving someone, but we kind of just made it about your everyday cup of coffee  things that make you smile, just random stuff.

Justin: When we wrote the song, Slavo and I were in a really good place with our careers, our lives, our friends and family. It's really just a very general song about feeling good and we really wanted that to resonate with fans. I think it's such a positive record.

3. Who picked the funky outfits?

Justin: You know what's funny about the outfits  we tried to do something that's super out there because obviously it's a narrative video. We were going for, initially, something that was medieval looking, like French apparel. Slavo came across a Google search of a guy  what was he wearing?

Slavo: Like George Washington, basically.

Justin: Yeah, it was like with a wig and stuff. It was extreme and we didn't even know if we could get our hands on that so we ended up going for something that was a little more modern.

Slavo: People comment on our YouTube videos all the time and they're like, "How long does it take for you guys to figure out your outfits?" It's funny because it was probably just an hour long conversation and scrolling through some web pages  we pointed to what we wanted and ended up wearing it in the video.

Fly By Midnight

4. What's your songwriting process like?

Justin: I think it varies from song to song. It's always a lot easier coming through a session when it's not exactly a real story, but a real feeling that we can emote into the song from our personal lives.

Slavo: I remember we were jamming out to melodies which was the first thing that started ["All the Feels"]. One of the things for us is that we get super excited about something, like we're going to like it and want to release it, and this was one of those things, especially when we heard the melody and just the vibe of the piano and the chord progressions.

Justin: We always know. At the time when we wrote the song, we knew we were going to release it next. We actually had something on deck that we wanted to come out but then we were like, "All the Feels" has to come out ASAP because we felt so strongly about it.

5. Are you guys nervous to play at Firefly?

Slavo: We don't really have time to think about it really, we have so much going on in our personal lives. Sometimes if I do think about it, I'll get very excited and I'm sure on the day of, I'll be extremely nervous.

Justin: Yeah, we're just very excited for everything right now. Before the show, there are definitely nerves  but the good kind, like the kind that keeps you on the tip of your toes, instead of going to the bathroom and throwing up.

6. How did you get the slot and what did you feel when you first heard about it?

Slavo: It's funny, the story behind getting this Firefly gig  big shoutout to ReverbNation. They've actually hooked us up with a lot of gigs. They're a big supporter of what we do and we really appreciate them and everything they've done. But this specific incident, Justin was like "Yo, I submitted this thing a while ago [to Firefly]." We've never really heard of Firefly, but it was kind of cool. Within the next eight weeks, we realized we were moving up the ranks and eventually top five. We realized we needed to get serious about this because we might win.

Justin: When you get an email saying you're playing at the biggest festival on the east coast, I thought it was a scam. We told our fans to vote for us and it's a cool feeling  there's a lot of politics and a lot of major label artists at these festivals. But for us, it was really fan-driven and I think that says a lot about our fans and how passionate they are about our project.

7. What's next for the group?

Slavo: For us, we're always making music and writing. Our journey right now is trying to figure out if we want to keep being independent or find a label, which is pretty exciting but also pretty stressful. The most important thing is to make sure our fans know we appreciate them and to keep making content. In this era, you have to keep making music and keep putting out content. For us, it's obviously very fun to make content so it's a very exciting time. That's our journey and we do whatever we can to keep the fans happy.

Justin: Yeah, more music, more videos, more everything.

Follow Fly By Midnight on Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Amber Wang is a freelancer for Popdust and various other sites. She is also a student at NYU, a photographer and intern at the Stonewall Inn National Monument.

POPDUST | Read More ...



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On weekends and after work when he has time, Marc Burrows loads a flat plastic box  the kind you would slide under the bed  full of syringes, condoms, medical waste containers and pamphlets in the trunk of his sedan.

He finds a spot in a troubled Greenville neighborhood and sets up a little table with water bottles scattered on top, to draw people in. And he waits.

It may not be legal but that's not important to Burrows, an addiction counselor who has been trying with all his energy to give drug users clean needles in his spare time.

He's not worried about getting arrested, though technically he could be popped if he were carrying around drug-tainted syringes. Every chance to have what he sees as a positive impact on a drug user's life is a thrill to him.

"I cant cram it down their throat, I cant force anyone to believe in it, but I can educate them about the facts," he said.

Maybe it was his own brush with the liver infection hepatitis C. Or seeing patients with addictions in his counseling practice with sores on their arms.

Or the frustration of how cheap new needles are compared with how much it costs to treat HIV or hepatitis C.

With deaths from prescription opioid overdoses on the rise, the state's drug agency is not focused on IV drug use. But heroin deaths are increasing every year and meth is on its way back. Injection drug use and infectious disease come hand in hand. Burrows didn't want to wait for South Carolina to get a law on the books.

About half of the people he talks to think he's crazy, he said.

The syringe exchange strategy has proven useful in other states. It is has been accepted by the research community for decades. Burrows' is the only one listed in South Carolina. Anywhere.

Twenty-nine states have no law on the books allowing for a needle exchange, including South Carolina, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But only 11 states don't have an exchange, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, suggesting Burrows is not alone. Neighboring Georgia has a program in Atlanta, but no law allowing for it, for example.

"It's really a form of civil disobedience, but one that has a load of scientific research behind it," said Paul LaKosky, executive director of the North American Syringe Exchange Network, based in Washington.

There is some personal history for 33-year-old Burrows: He grew up in suburban New Jersey where he and his friends would sometimes share needles to shoot up. When one of his friends got arrested and tested for viral hepatitis in jail, he told Burrows he should get himself checked. He was 18 when he found out he was positive for hepatitis C.

"It was devastating at the time. It destroyed my life," he said. "I thought it was a death sentence."

Burrows has been drug-free for about seven years. He got the drug Harvoni, expensive but miraculous, about three years ago. Burrows said he's been lucky to have good health insurance.

Passage of disease by intravenous drug use is common. There were 4,293 new cases of hepatitis C diagnosed in the state in 2015; 689 people were diagnosed with HIV. Treating each of the viruses is costly, and both are on the rise in South Carolina.

In 2014, patients who visited the hospital with hepatitis C were charged $45,950 on average in 2014, according to the federal Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.

Jimmy Mount, spokesman for the state's Department on Alcohol and Drug Abuse Services, said advocating for needle exchanges is not an agency priority.

Prescription opioids, such as painkillers like Oxycontin, remain the top concern for most agencies because they account for more deaths than heroin, according to information from the state Department of Health and Environmental Control.

LaKosky pointed out most prescription opioid abusers go on to use heroin, the cheaper option. And he said anything that can be swallowed or smoked can also be injected.

"I understand that people struggle with this idea," LaKosky said. "When you really take a good look at it, it is the best approach available to a terrible problem."

Michael-Devereux Louis Bertin, executive director of the S.C. Harm Reduction Coalition, said his group has also been advocating for a syringe exchange law. At the moment, it's a bit of a legal gray area. Having a used needle could count as possession of drug paraphernalia.

The harm reduction coalition is working on setting up mobile HIV and hepatitis C testing. They also advocate for making Narcan more widely available, and not only to police and treatment clinic staff.

Burrows said he met with the Greenville County Sheriff's Office, and they agreed to hand out some of his information when they respond to opioid-related calls. Sgt. Ryan Flood, spokesman for the office, couldn't confirm there was an agreement with Burrows but he said it was possible.

Burrows began dispensing syringes years ago with the clients at his addictions counseling practice. He was noticing sores on their arms or they would admit they were using. So he would give them packs of clean needles.

Today, almost every weekend, Burrows loads the trunk of his white sedan and finds a place to camp out. He's been met with skepticism and distrust at times. Some think he's promoting drug use.

It's all a work in progress.

On the side of the car and emblazoned on his T-shirt: a decal showing a man struggling up a steep cliff and someone reaching a hand down to help.
Mary Katherine, who also goes by MK, covers health care for The Post and Courier. She is also pursuing a master's degree in data science. She grew up in upstate New York and enjoys playing cards, kayaking and the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Hannah Alani is a reporter at The Post and Courier covering race, immigration and rural life across the Palmetto State. Before graduating from Indiana University and moving to Charleston in 2017, her byline appeared in The New York Times.
Syndicated and guest columns represent the personal views of the writers, not necessarily those of the editorial staff. The editorial department operates entirely independently of the news department and is not involved in newsroom operations.
Editorials represent the institutional view of the newspaper. They are written and edited by the editorial staff, which operates separately from the news department. Editorial writers are not involved in newsroom operations.
Jazz pianist Fred Hersch, joined by bassist John Hebert and drummer Eric McPherson, played at the College of Charleston's TD Arena on Sunday.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 14:02:01

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aben Resources Ltd. (TSXV:ABN) (OTCQB:ABNAF) (Frankfurt:E2L2) ("Aben" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Company has commenced trading on the United States OTCQB Marketplace.

Aben Resources common shares commenced quotation on the OTCQB Venture Marketplace under the symbol ABNAF, effective at the market open on May 29th, 2018. Aben's common shares are also quoted on the TSX Venture Exchange and the Frankfurt Exchange.

OTC Markets Group Inc., located in New York, N.Y., operates the world's largest electronic interdealer quotation system for broker dealers to trade over 10,000 securities not listed on any other United States stock exchange. North American and international investors can now trade and find news, current financial disclosure, and real-time level 2 quotes for Aben Resources at the OTC website.

Jim Pettit, Aben Resources CEO stated: "The OTCQB listing gives our shareholders another avenue for trading, which is particularly useful for those living in the United States. It should also benefit Aben by broadening our access to capital for our projects."

About Aben Resources:

Aben Resources is a Canadian gold exploration company developing projects in British Columbia's Golden Triangle, the Yukon, and Saskatchewan.

Golden Triangle, B.C. claims map: http://www.abenresources.com/i/maps/ABN_Golden_Triangle_map.jpg

For further information on Aben Resources Ltd. (TSXV:ABN), visit our Company's web site at www.abenresources.com.

Aben Resources has approx. 78.8 million shares issued and outstanding.

ABEN RESOURCES LTD.

"Jim Pettit"

____________________________

JAMES G. PETTIT

President & CEO

For further information contact myself or:

Don Myers

Aben Resources Ltd.

Director, Corporate Communications

Telephone: 604-639-3851

Toll Free: 800-567-8181

Facsimile: 604-687-3119

Email: info@abenresources.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 release includes certain statements that may be deemed to be "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that management of the Company expects, are forward-looking statements. Although management 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 the forward-looking statements. The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements if management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements, include market prices, exploration and development successes, continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Please see the public filings of the Company at www.sedar.com for further information.

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: Aben Resources Ltd via Globenewswire


PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 12:50:16

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for Zichain--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Zurich, Switzerland (FSCWire) - Zichain (). has issued a press release with the following headline:Advisory Board AppointmentTo 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 Zichain, 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:Source: ZichainDate: May 29, 2018Time: 6:50 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of Zichain 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: 2018-05-29 14:33:07

BOSTON and TORONTO, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AGF Management Limited (TSX:AGF.B) today announced it successfully completed its acquisition of 100% of FFCM, LLC (FFCM) earlier this month to further strengthen their quantitative investing and ETF platform brought to market under the AGFiQ banner.

"Today, we further build on our strategic plan to diversify across the investment spectrum," said Judy Goldring, Executive Vice-President and Chief Operating Officer, AGF. "Through organic growth and acquisition we have been able to launch new platforms and develop innovative products."

In November 2015, AGF acquired the majority of the equity of FFCM, a Boston-based boutique asset manager and ETF strategist whose expertise is delivered through a family of factor-based alternative and smart-beta ETFs and a number of ETF managed solutions.

The acquisition resulted in the launch of AGFiQ Asset Management (AGFiQ), a quantitative investment platform powered by the intellectually diverse, multi-disciplined team that combines the complementary strengths of investment professionals from AGF, Highstreet Asset Management (Highstreet) - which became a part of the AGF family through an acquisition in 2006 - and FFCM.

AGFiQ came to market as a combined platform in late 2017 and has since delivered nine ETFs to the Canadian marketplace and secured over $US 400 million in institutional funding for an AGFiQ custom solution in the United States over the last three months.

"We had the foresight to see that by combining the research acumen, investment capabilities and intellectual capital of Highstreet and FFCM we could effectively expand our presence in the quantitative investment space," added Goldring.

"This is a natural next step in our partnership and reinforces that we are a part of the AGF family," said Bill Carey, Chief Executive Officer, FFCM. "Partnering with AGF has allowed us to grow our research, marketing and product development capabilities, while also bringing us operational scale and efficiencies."

"This acquisition supports the long-term diversification of our investment capabilities allowing us to deliver value-added and differentiated opportunities within our yield, global and quantitative platforms to provide our global client base with the outcomes they seek," said Kevin McCreadie, President and Chief Investment Officer, AGF Investments Inc.

About AGF Management Limited

Founded in 1957, AGF Management Limited (AGF) is a diversified global asset management firm with retail, institutional, alternative and high-net-worth businesses. As an independent firm, AGF brings a disciplined approach to delivering excellence in investment management and providing an exceptional client experience. AGF's suite of diverse investment solutions extends globally to a wide range of clients, from financial advisors and individual investors to institutional investors including pension plans, corporate plans, sovereign wealth funds and endowments and foundations.

AGF has investment operations and client servicing teams on the ground in North America, Europe and Asia. With $37 billion in total assets under management, AGF serves more than one million investors. AGF trades on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol AGF.B.

About AGFiQ Asset Management

AGFiQ Asset Management is the quantitative investment platform for AGF powered by an intellectually diverse, multi-disciplined team that combines the complementary strengths Highstreet Asset Management Inc. (Highstreet), located in London, Ontario and FFCM, LLC (FFCM), located in Boston, and are supported by a team of 20 investment professionals from across AGF and its affiliates, managing AUM of approximately C$5.7 billion. AGFiQ's portfolio and investment management team has extensive experience in quantitative investing and research with a core investment discipline focused on factor-based investing. AGFiQ is grounded in the belief that investment outcomes can be improved by assessing and targeting the factors that drive market returns.

Media Contact

Amanda Marchment

Director, Corporate Communications

416-865-4160

amanda.marchment@agf.com
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 14:03:15

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FSCwire / Press ReleaseThe following press release was disseminated by FSCwire for BeWhere Holdings Inc.--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---Toronto, Ontario (FSCWire) - BeWhere Holdings Inc. (TSX Venture:BEW). has issued a press release with the following headline:BeWhere Holdings Inc. Receives 20,000 Unit Order to Support Fleet Completes Innovative M-IOT SolutionsTo 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 BeWhere Holdings 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/BeWhere Holdings Inc.Source: BeWhere Holdings Inc. (TSX Venture: BEW, OTCQB: BEWFF)Date: May 29, 2018Time: 8:00 AM EDT--- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ---The story mentioned above was issued on behalf of BeWhere Holdings 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: 2018-05-29 15:04:02

NOT FOR RELEASE, PUBLICATION OR DISTRIBUTION IN OR INTO THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA OR TO ANY PERSON LOCATED OR RESIDENT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ITS TERRITORIES AND POSSESSIONS, ANY STATE OF THE UNITED STATES OR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Canamex Gold Corp. (the "Company" or "Canamex") (CSE:CSQ) is pleased to announce it has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with Global Emerging Markets ("GEM") for a $CAD 20 million financing facility.

$CAD 20 Million Financing Facility

The Company has entered into a non-binding letter of intent with GEM for a $CAD 20 million financing facility. The terms are non-binding until definitive documentation governing the proposed financing is executed.

GEM is USD $3.4 billion alternative investment group that manages a diverse set of investment vehicles and has offices in Paris, New York and Los Angeles. Since 1991, GEM has completed over 370 transactions across 70 countries. Further background information regarding GEM can be found here: http://gemny.com/about/ourfirm.shtml

STO Price Increase

On May 15, 2018, the Company launched a non-brokered private placement to accredited investors, of GOLDUSA ("GOLDUSA" or "Token" ticker symbol "GOLD") Ethereum ERC20 Crypto Tokens via a Security Token Offering ("STO").

In accordance with the STO terms, the Company has elected to increase the STO subscription offer price for subscriptions received from 0900 PST on Wednesday, May 30, 2018 to $US 4.25 per GOLDUSA token. This is 35% discount to $US 6.50 value per token, based on $US 1300 per oz. gold price.

Further general details of the STO, are as follows:

Exposure to gold-asset-backed token at a substantial discount to the spot gold price



Each GOLDUSA Token represents 1/200 oz. gold



Minimum subscription: 25,000 GOLDUSA Tokens



Purchase methods accepted: Fiat currencies, Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC).



For whitepaper, FAQs, and other considerations: https://canamexgold.com/goldusa/



For subscription: https://ezclosing.ca/private-placements/canamex-goldusa/



GOLDUSA (symbol GOLD) ERC20 security token Etherscan technical details are as follows: https://etherscan.io/token/0xe341e1a59a75f74f344c5461c8b2e55a75152833

About the Company

Canamex Gold Corp. is a public listed company registered in British Columbia, Canada, trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE), and is engaged in fast-tracking toward development of the Bruner Gold Development Project in the prolific gold jurisdiction of Nye County, Nevada. The region is home to several producing and past-producing mines along the Walker Lane Trend. Canamex completed a positive Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) on the Bruner Gold Development Project in 2016. Based on additional drilling conducted on the property, the company completed an updated PEA in 2018, which increased the resources and improved the economics of the project. Canamex is now moving the Bruner Gold Project forward into permitting and development on the strength of this positive updated PEA and the improving gold price environment. The second asset is the Silverton Gold property, a gold exploration project, in Nevada, which has geological similarities to the Long Canyon gold deposit in Nevada, being mined by Newmont Mining. The Company has signed Agreements with Harmonychain AS, for Ethereum Blockchain Smart Contract Security Tokens for Gold and Silver, as an alternative means of raising capital, potentially without equity dilution. The Agreements secure the exclusive rights to various Ethereum Token domain names, ticker codes, and associated smart contracts, for Gold and Silver. The rights also extend to patents pending and trademarks associated with these security token financing models, including ChainDelivery(TM) royalty stream delivery queuing systems. Further information is available at https://canamexgold.com

Greg Hahn (CPG#7122), President & COO of the Company is the qualified person who has reviewed and approved all technical disclosures in this release.

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

David Vincent

Chief Executive Officer and Director

david.vincent@canamexgold.com

Mike Stark

Chairman of the Board

Contact: (604) 833-4278

mike.stark@canamexgold.com

The Canadian Securities Exchange accepts no responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 10:26:40

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Real-time smart meters to improve efficiencies at DEEP C Industrial ComplexHANOI, VN, May 29, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - KDDI subsidiary KDDI Vietnam held successful validation tests of an IoT-based smart metering system March 21-22 in the DEEP C Industrial Zone at Haiphong, north Vietnam. It was the first time an IoT system of this kind has been used at an industrial zone in Vietnam. On May 15, KDDI Vietnam and Dinh Vu Industrial Zone JSC concluded an MoU on implementing the IoT-based services at DEEP C Industrial Zone.Haiphong is the largest port city in northern Vietnam, and home to many Japanese companies. DEEP C was established with the Dinh Vu Industrial Zone. DEEP C HP I features the logistic advantages of the port facility and an industrial park with the tax benefits and stable utilities of the economic zone. DEEP C HP II celebrated its opening on May 15 as well, a second facility expected to attract companies from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, the U.S. and Europe.KDDI Vietnam employed a LPWA (LoRa)* system in setting up the advanced metering at DEEP C, which features IoT-enabled remote monitoring. Connecting electric power meters to LoRa devices makes it possible to transmit data to the LoRa gateway approximately four kilometers away, monitoring data in real time, eliminating the need site visits to read meters and check the operational status of hardware, and enabling more efficient use of electric power. Plans call for further collaboration in LPWA-enabled remote monitoring of smart meters, security, wind-power generation and other features.As the KDDI Group works to achieve its goal of 'Integrating Telecommunications and Life Design', it strives to be a company that is always offering exciting new ideas. We provide powerful support for the global business operations of our client companies, creating new customer experience value.*LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) is an energy-saving wide-area wireless system optimized for IoT devices, with low energy consumption, performing data transmission over long distances. LoRa (name & logo) copyright Semtech Corporation.Please contact:KDDI Vietnam, HanoiT: +84-24-3826-2001U: http://vn.kddi.com/en/ E: hni-sales@ kddivietnam.com *This release is an abridged translation of the full announcement:Copyright  2018 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Asia Corporate News Network.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 16:28:08

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# 415 Words

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Real-time smart meters to improve efficiencies at DEEP C Industrial ComplexHANOI, VN, May 29, 2018 - (ACN Newswire) - KDDI subsidiary KDDI Vietnam held successful validation tests of an IoT-based smart metering system March 21-22 in the DEEP C Industrial Zone at Haiphong, north Vietnam. It was the first time an IoT system of this kind has been used at an industrial zone in Vietnam. On May 15, KDDI Vietnam and Dinh Vu Industrial Zone JSC concluded an MoU on implementing the IoT-based services at DEEP C Industrial Zone.Haiphong is the largest port city in northern Vietnam, and home to many Japanese companies. DEEP C was established with the Dinh Vu Industrial Zone. DEEP C HP I features the logistic advantages of the port facility and an industrial park with the tax benefits and stable utilities of the economic zone. DEEP C HP II celebrated its opening on May 15 as well, a second facility expected to attract companies from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, China, the U.S. and Europe.KDDI Vietnam employed a LPWA (LoRa)* system in setting up the advanced metering at DEEP C, which features IoT-enabled remote monitoring. Connecting electric power meters to LoRa devices makes it possible to transmit data to the LoRa gateway approximately four kilometers away, monitoring data in real time, eliminating the need site visits to read meters and check the operational status of hardware, and enabling more efficient use of electric power. Plans call for further collaboration in LPWA-enabled remote monitoring of smart meters, security, wind-power generation and other features.As the KDDI Group works to achieve its goal of 'Integrating Telecommunications and Life Design', it strives to be a company that is always offering exciting new ideas. We provide powerful support for the global business operations of our client companies, creating new customer experience value.*LPWA (Low Power Wide Area) is an energy-saving wide-area wireless system optimized for IoT devices, with low energy consumption, performing data transmission over long distances. LoRa (name & logo) copyright Semtech Corporation.Please contact:KDDI Vietnam, HanoiT: +84-24-3826-2001U: http://vn.kddi.com/en/ E: hni-sales@ kddivietnam.com *This release is an abridged translation of the full announcement:Topic: New ServiceSectors: Telecoms, Transportation/Logistics, Daily Finance, Energy, Travel & Tourism, Daily News, Alt. Energy, Engineering, Local, ASEAN, Local BusinessFrom the Asia Corporate News NetworkCopyright  2018 ACN Newswire. All rights reserved. A division of Asia Corporate News Network.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 08:02:02

Patron Capital Acquires Prime Paris Office Building

Redleaf Communications

Henry Columbine/Rishi Banerjee

t: +44 (0) 20 3757 6890

e: patron@redleafpr.com

Patron Capital, the pan-European institutional investor focused on property backed investments, has acquired Le Magnum, an office building located in one of the most sought-after locations of Greater Paris in Levallois-Perret. Patron acquired the building for 71.5 million from the open-ended real estate fund Deka-Immobilien Europa with the support of Cleaveland, Patrons asset management partner.

Built in 1994 and renovated in 2008-2009, the postmodernist property offers 10,550 sqm of floor space and is fully leased to LOreal, the French cosmetic products manufacturer, until the middle of 2019. Patron plans to redevelop the building to provide a contemporary, high-quality headquarters office building, fitting with its immediate neighborhood, designed to attract first-class tenants.

The acquisition was made via Patrons latest fund, Patron Capital, L.P. V.

Keith Breslauer, Managing Director of Patron Capital, said:

In a prime and increasingly popular location close to Pariss CBD, this property represents an exceptional opportunity to add value through asset management and an in-depth understanding of the local property market.

Having raised 949 million to invest in property and property-related investments in Western Europe, and with a history of over 18 years investing in France, we currently see significant potential in France and are actively looking to acquire further assets and platforms to grow our portfolio within this market.

Dominique Bonin, Co-Founder of Cleaveland, added:

This is a building with significant value creation potential in one of the most prime districts of Greater Paris. We are pleased to be continuing our long-standing partnership with Patron Capital to reposition Le Magnum to create a sustainable office building with very high specifications.

-ends-

Notes to Editors

About Patron Capital Partners

Patron represents approximately 3.4 billion of capital across several funds and related co-investments, investing in property, corporate operating entities whose value is primarily supported by property assets and distressed debt and credit related businesses.

Since it was established in 1999, Patron has invested in over 74 investments and programs involving over 65 million square feet (6 million square metres) in 16 countries and a significant focus in France, with many of these investments realised.

Investors represent a variety of sovereign wealth funds, prominent universities, major institutions, private foundations, and high net worth individuals located throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. The main investment adviser to the Funds is Patron Capital Advisers LLP, which is based in London, and Patron has other offices across Europe including Barcelona, Milan and Luxembourg; the group is comprised of 76 people, including a 43-person investment team.

Further information about Patron Capital is available at www.patroncapital.com

About Cleaveland

Cleaveland was established in 2005 and is now fully owned by Edmond de Rothschild since June 2016. It is a French AMF registered Investment/Asset, OPCI and FPS Manager specialising in the acquisition and asset management of real estate assets in France with approximately 5.4bn of assets and 59 vehicles under management. The company mainly focuses on offices, retail, industrial & logistics products.

About Deka

DekaBank is the Wertpapierhaus (securities services provider) of the German Savings Bank Finance Group. Together with its subsidiaries it forms the Deka Group. The Deka Group has total customer assets of around EUR 283 billion (as at 31/12/2017) and more than four million securities accounts, making it one of the largest securities services providers in Germany today. It provides retail and institutional clients access to a wide range of investment products and services. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2018.

The Deka Groups global real estate expertise is pooled in its Real Estate Division. The two investment companies, Deka Immobilien Investment GmbH and WestInvest Gesellschaft fur Investmentfonds mbH, and the service company, Deka Immobilien GmbH, manage and service around EUR 32 billion in real estate assets (as at 31/12/2017).

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180528005

Real estate investor @PatronCapital acquires Le Magnum office building in Levallois-Perret, Greater Paris, from Deka-Immobilien Europa for 71.5m and seeks further opportunities to grow its portfolio in France
Pharmaceutical Packaging Market report categorizes global market by Material (Plastic & Polymers, Aluminum Foil, Glass and Others), by Product Type (Plastic Bottles, Blister Packs, Pre-Fillable Syringes and Others)

Pharmaceutical Packaging Market

PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 13:17:52

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Coherent Market Insights

Mr. Shah





Coherent Market Insights





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#3200





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Tel: +1-206-701-6702



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# 655 Words

Mr. ShahCoherent Market Insights1001 4th Ave,#3200Seattle, WA 98154Tel: +1-206-701-6702CEO+1-206-701-6702

Pharmaceutical packaging, also known as drug packaging, involves activities from pharmaceutical production to distribution to the end user, through the distribution channels. Technological advancements, rise in demand for devices of drug delivery, increasing demand for eco-friendly and reusable packaging, rapid development in healthcare services coupled with rapid urbanization especially in the emerging economies such as India, and China are some of the major factors responsible for the growth of the pharmaceutical packaging market at the global level.However, fluctuating prices of the raw materials used for the manufacturing of pharmaceutical packaging products is one of the major factors restraining the growth of the market currently. However, the impact of this restraint is expected to remain medium throughout the forecast period.Ask for detailed Sample of the Research Report @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/insight/request-sample/891 Sale of counterfeit medicines is another major factor that is hindering the growth of the market at present. Asia Pacific accounts for a large share for the sale of counterfeit medicines. Counterfeiters use regular packaging for the sale of counterfeit medicines, which is greatly hindering the growth of the pharmaceutical packaging market in the region. However, the impact of this restraint is expected to subside by the end of the forecast period on account of rising consumer awareness about counterfeit medicines, rising media interference regarding the same and stringent actions taken up by the governing bodies. For instance, in 2017, under the new Anti-Falsification Directive in Europe, drugs that are prescribed by the doctors will have to be provided with a unique code number, which will signify that the packaging is authentic and new.North America dominated the pharmaceutical packaging equipment market in 2016, accounting for a market share of over 40% and is expected to retain its position throughout the forecast period. U.S. is the major contributor to the growth of this market and is expected to project a strong growth during the forecast period on account of frequent product launches by the major manufacturers in the field of pharmaceutical packaging. Furthermore, large presence of major manufacturers operating in the pharmaceutical industry such as Pfizer are creating huge opportunities for the manufacturers of pharmaceutical packaging in the country, which in turn is augmenting the growth of this market in North America.Asia Pacific market is expected to project the highest CAGR of 10.37% during the forecast period due to growing urbanization and rising demand for healthcare services. India, Australia, China, South Korea and Japan are some major economies contributing to the growth of pharmaceutical packaging market in this region.On the basis of material, plastics and polymers segment dominated the pharmaceutical packaging market in 2016, with a revenue of US$ 34.68 billion in the same year. Availability of numerous grades for plastic, easy handling due to light weight and its property of being chemically inert are some of the major factors responsible for the large market share of this segment.On the basis of product, plastic bottles are witnessed to lead the market throughout the forecast period.Among the end users of pharmaceutical packaging, the pharmaceutical manufacturing segment dominated the market in 2016, and is expected to lead the market throughout the forecast period. However, contract packaging is expected to have rapid growth due to increasing number of manufacturing facilities, especially in the developing countries coupled with increasing efforts taken up by the manufacturers in order to minimize costs and maximize product development.Get More Information @ https://www.coherentmarketinsights.com/market-insight/pharmaceutical-packaging-market-891 North America led the pharmaceutical packaging market in 2016 and is expected to retain market dominance throughout the forecast period. However, Asia Pacific is anticipated to exhibit the fastest growth in the pharmaceutical packaging market during the forecast period.Major Players in Global Pharmaceutical Packaging MarketMajor players operating in the market of pharmaceutical packaging include Amcor Limited, Berry Plastics Corporation, MeadWestvaco Corporation, Becton Dickinson and Company, Owens-Illinois Inc., West Pharmaceuticals Services Inc., Schott Pharmaceuticals Services Inc., RPC Group Plc and Graphic Packaging International Inc.
PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 10:19:01

The Technical Analyst Announces Award Winners

Global Markets Media

Jim Biss, +44 (0) 1483 573150

jb@globalmarkets-media.com

The Technical Analyst has announced the winners of its 2018 awards, celebrating the best in technical analysis research and trading software for the global financial markets.

The Technical Analyst Awards, now in their tenth year, are judged by an independent panel of experienced industry experts. They celebrate the most insightful technical analysis research and highest quality trading software available for the institutional markets.

Matthew Clements, editor of The Technical Analyst comments, Over the last decade we have witnessed two major developments. Firstly - with the rise of systematic trading, machine learning and AI - trading systems have become incredibly sophisticated in terms of enabling users to develop and implement trading and investment strategies. Secondly, the global financial crisis and MiFID II have resulted in a significant increase in the number of independent research houses.

"The industry is increasingly dynamic and we are delighted to have had an unprecedented number of outstanding entries for our tenth anniversary Awards. Congratulations to all winners and finalists.

The winners are:

BEST BANK FOR EQUITY RESEARCH

Oppenheimer & Co.

(Ari Wald, Technical Analyst)

BEST BANK FOR FX RESEARCH

RBC Capital Markets

(George Davis, Chief Technical Analyst, Fixed Income & Currency Strategy)

BEST BANK FOR FIXED INCOME RESEARCH

RBC Capital Markets

(George Davis, Chief Technical Analyst, Fixed Income & Currency Strategy)

BEST BANK FOR COMMODITIES RESEARCH

Goldman Sachs

(Sheba Jafari & Jack Abramowitz, FICC Market Strategy)

BEST BANK FOR EMERGING MARKETS RESEARCH

Bank of America Merrill Lynch

(Paul Ciana, Chief FICC Technical Strategist and Stephen Suttmeier, Chief Equity Technical Strategist)

BEST BANK FOR MULTI-ASSET RESEARCH

Banque Pictet & Cie

(Stephane Bultey, Technical Analyst)

BEST INDEPENDENT RESEARCH HOUSE FOR EQUITIES

Joint winners: The ECU Group / Lowry Research Corporation

BEST INDEPENDENT RESEARCH HOUSE FOR FX

Adcock Analysis

BEST INDEPENDENT RESEARCH HOUSE FOR FIXED INCOME

Futurestechs

BEST INDEPENDENT RESEARCH HOUSE FOR COMMODITIES

Marex Spectron

(James Dima, Technical Analyst)

BEST INDEPENDENT RESEARCH HOUSE FOR EMERGING MARKETS

BBSP Research

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The Technical Analyst  a division of Global Markets Media Ltd - brings institutional technical research and strategy ideas to the global financial markets, supported by regular events, training courses and annual awards. With a readership comprising traders, fund managers and hedge funds, The Technical Analyst publishes technical analysis, market outlooks and trading strategies from banks, brokers and academics.

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PR-Inside.com: 2018-05-29 07:33:01



's-Hertogenbosch, 29 May 2018

In the period from 22 May 2018 until 28 May 2018 Van Lanschot Kempen has repurchased 23,542 of its own shares (depositary receipts for Class A ordinary shares). The shares were repurchased at an average price of 25.76 per share for a total amount of 606,469.

These repurchases are part of the share buy-back programme for at most 400,000 of own shares, which was announced on 22 February 2018. The total number of shares repurchased to date is 218,824.

More information, including a detailed overview of the repurchase transactions under this programme, is available on www.vanlanschotkempen.com/sharebuyback.

Media Relations: +31 20 354 45 85; mediarelations@vanlanschotkempen.com

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About Van Lanschot Kempen

Van Lanschot Kempen, a wealth manager operating under the Van Lanschot, Evi and Kempen brand names, is active in Private Banking, Asset Management and Merchant Banking, with the aim of preserving and creating wealth for its clients. Van Lanschot Kempen, listed at Euronext Amsterdam, is the Netherlands' oldest independent financial services company with a history dating back to 1737.

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Source: Van Lanschot Kempen via Globenewswire


Nnimmo Bassey is a Nigerian architect, environmentalist, activist, author and poet. He was one of Time magazines Heroes of the Environment in 2009. Mr Bassey is the Director of the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), an environmental think tank and advocacy organisation.

There has been a protracted debate over the application of genetically modified crops into the food system of the country. These debate has birthed two groups, pro-GMO and anti-GMO. The former is for while the latter is against the application.

However, in this interview with PREMIUM TIMES Ebuka Onyeji, Mr Bassey speaks on the dangers and health implications of consuming GM foods. He also explained the threat GM crops will pose to the countrys agricultural system if fully adopted among other sundry issues.

Excerpts

PT: What are GMOs?

Bassey: Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are organisms whose genetic materials had been altered by inserting materials from unrelated species. Basically at that level of alteration, new organisms that do not and can not occur in nature are produced. It involves cross specie manipulations and exchange of materials. For example you take a genetic material from a tree and put in a fish or in an animal and vice versa or you take a genetic material from a human and put in a plant to achieve certain objectives. Biotechnology is actually an ancient thing, it has been used in making yogurts, bread and local brews; but the concern is about modern genetic engineering, modern biotechnology in particular where crops are genetically modified through modern genetic engineering.

PT: Your organisation has been campaigning against GM crops and foods. What really are your concerns?

Bassey: Our concern is not limited to food, its not just about what is on the plate; its also what happens in the environment and affects the totality of what supports our existence. We believe that an unhealthy environment can not produce a healthy population. When you lose biodiversity, you are losing capacity to produce a healthy environment or a resilient environment or to allow people to produce food that will best support them. Genetic engineering of any specie has the tendency to reduce diversity. Maybe, there are hundred varieties of maize, and you genetically engineer one and release it to the environment, it is going to cross pollinate with other varieties and once this dominant artificially generated trait enters into the ecosystem it will bring other varieties in a position where they can be affected by disease or by pests or by something that was attracted by that new element that has been introduced, thereby eliminating the capacity of other varieties to survive.

PT: So how would you rate the safety of GM foods for consumption?

Bassey: First of all I believe modern genetic engineering in agriculture is totally unnecessary, its like a solution looking for a problem. There is nothing they (GMOs) do that normal crops do not do. They dont yield higher than normal crops and this is very easy to see. In USA, almost all the corn are genetically engineered but the bulk of the corn variety in Europe are not. There, agricultural practises are almost the same but there is no much difference in the yield. Now the health problems caused by GM foods comes from two major angles and these are two major reason why crops are engineered. They are engineered to withstand the herbicides produced by the companies who manipulate the seeds because nobody makes the seeds ab initio. Now when the herbicide is sprayed across the field and these GM seeds are planted, every other thing dies including the organisms in the soil. A lot of things will be killed in the process including useful soil nutrients. Some of these herbicides will penetrate the crops. Though they wont kill the one you planted, but its already there. And when you eat these foods, the chemicals will now be transmitted into the human body. That is why there is a concern about diphosphate which is one of the major component in Mosantos herbicide, one of the most popular in the world today. Lots of research have shown that this is something to really be worried about, but the GM industry has this peculiar way of pushing back the argument. When someone argues against GMOs, they will say he is being emotional, unscientific and cannot back arguments with facts. What they have forgotten is that science is not neutral, people make hypothesis based on what they want to achieve and they pursue it. Useful science must be in the service of the society. It must meet the needs of the society, it must not harm the society. The purpose of the people who make these seeds is just to sell their chemicals and seeds. Its purely business and not charity, its not helping anybody. It is just meant to control and dominate the food system. Again, these seeds are manipulated to make the plant itself a pesticide. So when you eat a plant like that you are actually eating a pesticide. Who wants to eat a pesticide?

PT: But International organisations such as World Health Organisation (WHO), Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Bank have approved and certified GMOs as very safe, what do you have to say about this?

Bassey: These organisations are good and well recognised. I agree. But sometimes they are circumscribed by certain interests. They are not neutral in some cases. What they do does not align with popular interest around the world.

PT: Are there proven side effects from consuming GM foods?

Bassey: Yes! there are a lot of research and publications where guinea pigs are used to test these things because what affects guinea pigs is most likely to affect humans. It can affect internal organs and cause tumours. It can affect fertility rate and so many other things. The most common is allergen, it can make people get allergic. People say Americans dont fall dead in the streets because they are eating GMOs. But you have to ask questions about the health system in the U.S. Do we have the same here in Nigeria or in Africa? What are the possibilities of people choosing what they want to eat. If I want to eat garri, I get the eba on my plate and I just deal with it. I dont put salad inside it or add anything else, its just eba and my soup which I dont even chew, I swallow it. But Americans, just like Indians, China and other places eat pieces of different things, so the impact of GM foods will be huge on Nigerians and Africans than in these other places. We are just taking an unnecessary gamble with our health in our already highly incapable and challenged health system. Its just adding more to our problems from food that we can avoid, its like calling for a disaster.

PT: Promoters of GMOs argue that its not a threat but a compliment to the normal conventional system; proffering solutions in areas where there are challenges that can not be solved through conventional ways. So with the forgoing in mind, dont you think applying GMOs will help our already challenged agricultural system?

Bassey: We have challenges, that is true. But the question is what is the best solution. Are we going to think that GMOs are the silver bullet? They say it is going to compliment, but the problem is that there will be no coexistence between GMOs and natural crops of the same variety because GMOs are going to impact the natural variety and they will lose biodiversity thereby loosing resilience. And when you lose biodiversity you lose food security. If you pick any variety of crop you are not going to find that same variety everywhere, what you will see will be mixed.

GMOs are not natural and they can not coexist with natural crops. If they are natural, there is no need for those who produce them to hold patent rights. You hold a patent to something that is unique and different from others. We have ecological challenges, that is true. But they forget that there are native species that we need to protect and propagate to tackle some of these challenges. Our department of agriculture in schools and the research institutions should not lose sight on local varieties, they should research on them and provide ways of growing them in better ways and manage them. Why we have so much desertification in the north is not because our desert is spreading but because of the way we manage our vegetation. The southern Niger republic is greener than Nigeria. We need to bring better practices. And Im happy the government is proposing the green wall that will go from Timbuktu to Dakar, the Sahel of Africa. If that wall is planted with native species that are economically useful to the communities and provided with adequate water, and farmers are provided support to protect them, then it will thrive. Ive been to Southern Burkina Faso where farmers use local technology in planting, they trap soil water and use organic matter to fertilise the soil. We can learn all these things from Mali, Niger and other countries. Its not about GMOs. These genetic engineering does not begin and end in food. How come in Nigeria, its only food that we are talking about. We are concerned because the regulatory system in Nigeria is completely defective.

PT: But why do you think GMO is not the best solution?

Bassey: There are already existing solutions as I mentioned earlier. GMO is about business. And increasingly, the seed companies are now coming together and this will bring about concentration of food power in few hands; and then these companies are more powerful than any government in the world; and these companies can get any government official to dance to their tune and then of course officials in government agencies will pretend to be autonomous whereas they are the apron springs of cooperate interest.

We are at a very big risk of making ourselves recolonised through GMOs. The solution is agro-ecology. In 2008 there was a report issued by the United Nations, World Bank and other agencies, the recommendation of the report called science at the crossroad was that the future of food supply in the world depends on small scale farmers and that is because they do and support agriculture that works with nature. Fighting against nature is a waste of energy because nature will always triumph.

PT: Which one is better: GM foods or normal foods? And what are the reasons for your answer?

Bassey: Normal crops are 100 per cent safe and better, they are suitable. The beauty of nature is that it grants different locations to specific kinds of food. That is why we have different types of foods in all parts of the world. When you go to a lab and try to create a uniformed code for food, when there is a disaster you can not control it. Food is culture and that is why it is called agriculture.

PT: Do you think the application GMOs in Nigeria will monopolise the food system? What are your reasons?

Bassey: Yes, introducing GMOs especially when it comes from institutions that Nigeria respect will completely overtake and destroy normal varieties. If IITA that is experimenting on GM cassava develops food that will be introduced to the market, farmers trust IITA and they will say give us IITA stem and before you know it will spread all over the country and all over the tropics. Its a big threat to our food system because the nature of the GM cassava is not the same as the natural cassava or any other natural food around it. Now we already have super weeds, super bugs, super insects in America and then of course if you engineer a crop or pesticide to kill a particular pest, then other pests will appear, there is always a balance in nature. When you destroy a natural process, it will affect something else and of course when you keep spraying these herbicides, you will start having weed resistance and you will have to use a stronger herbicide to kill the weed that you provoked because nature is fighting back, trying to survive and you are killing organisms in the soil. A tea spoon full of soil contains billions of organisms and you destroy them thinking nothing will happen. GMO is a biodiversity erosion and you can not debate it.

PT: Promoters of GMOs argue that its critics are Agro-allied industries whose products are threatened by GM seeds. Has there ever been a platform where pro and anti-GMO groups come together to place these arguments side by side in a bid to find a common ground?

Bassey: The argument about whether our arguments are backed by scientific facts is just useless and a clever way to avoid responding to the issues. Each time HOMEF and other organisations send objections to advertised applications by the National Biosafety Management Agency (NBMA), our objections are written by scientists, by geneticists. We review them before its submitted. We are not frivolous about these arguments and this campaign. GMOs are something we are strongly against and our conviction is based on evidence. When the agency receives objections, they will acknowledge it then the next day they will approve. They dont consider our arguments. The promoters of GMOs are not the only ones who study genetic engineering. There are some people who study and are opposed to it, there are also people who study and see nothing wrong with it for whatever reasons. And as to whether there has been a forum where the two sides meet; yes of course. Three years ago, there was a biotechnology conference convened by the ministry of environment with the ministry of science and technology and agriculture. All of us were there, we all tabled our points and there were experts from the African Union and ECOWAS. The ECOWAS official there that day stressed on the precautionary principle which is the core part of regulation of GMOs. When there is a doubt in anything you do, pause first until you remove that doubt and that is what regulators should be doing. We are saying before anything can be adopted we have to know how safe they are and be sure that we have the freedom to choose what to eat. Dont ambush me to eat what I dont want to eat and this is what is going to happen in Nigeria with regards to maize, cassava, cowpea and the rest of them. There is no choice.

Nnimmo Bassey, director of HOMEF

PT: So do you think Nigeria has adopted GMOs?

Bassey: In 2015 we introduced the NBMA; and less than a year after, we have already issued permits on GMO foods. This should be the fastest agency in the world to do that. It is almost like a GM permitting agency rather than regulatory agency. There are many illegal GM foods already in Nigeria in the supermarkets which are not labelled as GM. In 2006 there was a release of liberty link GM rice that were found in Europe and other parts of the world which is yet to be approved, we just decided to check if its in Africa and we found it in Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra-Leone by just going to an open market and randomly picking rice, its like looking for a pin in a haystack and we still found it. This shows the prevalence of illegal foods already here. There are many illegal things already, so forget about adoption because we are not serious with regulation. You know about WACOT company case which brought GM rice worth $9 million dollars into the country, they were told to repatriate it and the ministry of environment went to the FEC to announce how well they are regulating biosafety and they were applauded. But while this is going on, the NBMA advertised that the same company is planning to bring in GM corn in the country and they gave them three years permit to bring in anything they want; so on what basis can that be done? Just by one fact sheet by the EU showing variety of corns approved at a lab in Zurich saying this is what the EU has approved? This is not enough for us to issue permits. That EU approves doesnt mean we approve, they have their own laws and we have ours. They have to be tested here first, they have to be subjected to our own environmental conditions before you can approve. Our agencies fast track the issuance of these permits, they even fast track the process by giving just one week to regularise. The law says if you want to import GM product you must give notice for 270 days and not 7 days. Before you even get the permit from the agency to bring in any product you have to get a certificate from NAFDAC to say that this is safe before NBMA will approve but in the case of WACOT, we wrote a letter to NAFDAC to know if they certified the products before the approval was issued. But till today they have not replied to out letter.

PT: What do you make of Nigerias regulatory agencies in handling GMO issues?

Bassey: I think they dont have the capacity to manage and assure Nigeria of biosafety, they dont have a good law. The law needs to be reviewed or repealed. Give Nigerians a law that assures strict liability for those who want to use us as guinea pigs. We need a better law for the regulatory agencies, better equipment for testing and risk assessment. NAFDAC needs to be revamped and customs needs to be checking properly things that come into the country. Nigeria is very porous and anything can go in. We are unprotected.

PT: Your organisation has repeatedly kicked against commercialisation and confined field trials and shipment of GMOs in Nigeria, can you briefly explain more on this?

Bassey: Like I said before, fast tracking of applications should not subvert the peoples voice. There should be public participation in this and when they throw away our objections, they should explain to us clause by clause why they rejected our arguments. They cant just be silent. What they do is just acknowledge receipt of our letter and the next thing you will see is that they will make approvals. Nigerians have the right to know why their opinion is being treated shabbily. We have a very bad legal environment to protect Nigerians in terms of biosafety and biosecurity and we are at great risk of loosing biodiversity or exposed to an untold health defect and impact and there will be no remedy.

PT: Why you think the opinions of Nigerians are not well sort regarding issues of adopting GMOs and what do you have to say about awareness campaign on GMOs?

Bassey: It is unfortunate that Nigerians dont have enough information on these things and that is the place of the media, civil society groups and farmers. But there is little to what we can do. We need to invest a lot in creating awareness about these issues. When Brekete radio did a program on GMO here in Abuja, people were really alarmed by what they are hearing. They dont really know what is happening.

PT: What kind of impact will GMOs have on Nigerian farmers and our agricultural system?

Bassey: It will take over everything. Just as citizens will be eating what they dont know, farmers will be planting seeds that they dont understand and two things will happen: farmers will come to understand that these are not seeds that they can preserve after harvest because the productivity will keep on diminishing over the years instead of improving. Before, you just have to pick the best seeds but on this, no matter how good the seeds are, the yield is going to decline. The farmers will know they need more inputs to get more outputs so its going to be a burden on farmers. They tried BT cotton in South Africa and it failed woefully and farmers went into penury. They have to abandon the farms. Burkina Faso which is our neighbour tried BT cotton and it produced poor quality fibre. So the government had to abandon it. This is the same variety we want to bring into the country. What they are saying is that it did not work there because the genetic gene inserted was in a wrong geo-plant . Now if there was a problem in insertion, it shows that what they presented as a precise science is actually not precise because when you tamper with nature it will fight back. GMOs do not have a long history and if there is a disaster everything will be wiped out. The agro-chemical companies will tell you that farmers will not have any problem if they apply the herbicides as specified in the packets, now how many Nigerian farmers will apply it strictly and scientifically according to specification on the packets.

PT: What is your take on labelling of GM products?

Bassey: It is just like labelling cigarette packets that it kills but people still choose to smoke. So labelling GMOs alone shows there is a problem though it gives people choice on what they eat but labelling will not work in Nigeria. This is our position because you can not label akara. Nobody is going to put up a signboard that he or she is selling GMO corn, akara, moi-moi or beans. We have to understand the socio-cultural context which we operate. We have to see the way we live. What happens in the U.S. and Europe may not be good for us just like we dont have the same environment, the same whether, the same seeds and same plants. Almost all the seeds that we are bringing in are not developed here in Nigeria. GM cassava is developed in a lab in Switzerland; the corn GM is developed in the U.S.

PT: How best do you think the government can handle issues on GMOs and food security for Nigerians?

Bassey: The African Union produced a model law for biosafety which African countries are supposed to adopt and modify. But what we are having is far cry from what was agreed years ago. And it is because of dependency on the West. We are still under neocolonialism with colonial thinking of agencies of government dependent on aid which doesnt build independence. We depend on so called expertise and technology and finance all the time while we waste our own resources. The struggle for independence has not been won sufficiently in Nigeria and Africa. It is a continuous struggle. We are talking about food justice. We need to know what we are eating and be proud to eat what we produce. The future of this nation will continue to depend on the small scale farmers. We need to help them grow in terms of rural infrastructure, storage facilities, processing facilities among others, putting a good marketing and pricing formula. This is the area to invest in. Teach young Nigerians agro-ecology, how to grow crops on principles that work with nature. But what we have is bio labs here and there. Where are the labs teaching us how to grow things in nature. Nigeria have to invest 10 per cent of the annual budget in agriculture. The point is that once you allow GMO into the environment, you can not withdraw or call it back. When you release lethal organisms into the environment ,you can not recall them. The precautionary principle is such a cardinal principle in terms of biosafety regulation.
As the industrial action embarked upon by the Joint Health Sectors Union (JOHESU) enters its seventh week, a group, Activists United Against Graft and Anti-People Policies, has called on the Nigerian government to implement the no work, no pay, policy on the striking workers.

Addressing a press conference in Lagos on Monday, Mark Adebayo, the groups coordinator, said the government must act decisively to end the protracted strike.

As a union whose services have to do with saving lives, it is most regrettable that instead of always exploring all avenues of dialogue in addressing their grievances with government, health sector workers embark on strike at the often without critically considering the cost in human lives, said Mr Adebayo.

There is no gainsaying that many patients in Nigerian hospitals come from poor family backgrounds and the JOHESU strike is having negative effects on them because they cannot afford private hospital bills.

It is very unfortunate and highly condemnable, their conduct in the past couple of weeks in which they have rejected all entreaties by the national assembly, elder statesmen, notable groups and associations that they should shelve the ongoing strike while negotiation continues. 

JOHESU, an association of health workers except medical doctors and dentists, embarked on an industrial action to protest among other issues, salary adjustments, promotion arrears, and improved work environment for its members.

One of its key demands, an upward adjustment of their salaries, is being opposed by medical doctors.

Mr Adebayo accused the health workers of demanding salary parity with medical doctors, describing it as pathetic.

This is indeed a tall dream that it is as unrealistic, impracticable and unreasonable.

This is the act of sabotage by JOHESU to undermine the expertise, competence and acquired skill of a medical practitioner. JOHESU, as it is presently constituted are afraid of its shadows primarily because government has issued a directive to management of all the tertiary and specialized medical facilities not to pay for the days in which JOHESU members across the nation willingly absconded from duty especially after a court of competent jurisdiction has ordered that the strike be suspended.

A National Industrial Court in Abuja had ordered the striking union to resume at their duty posts with immediate effect, an order ignored by JOHESU.

Last month, the Nigerian government threatened to enforce its no work, no pay policy on the striking workers.

On Monday, Isaac Adewole, the Minister of Health, maintained that those who participated in the strike would not be paid even if the strike is called off.

Mr Adebayo urged the government to ensure it carried out its threat to the letter.

And very strict punishment should be meted out to any worker who fails to comply to the rule of law which is far above individuals or associations parochial interests.

Adequate disciplinary actions should be applied without delay to those committing the illegality of disobeying a lawful court order by continuing the wasting of Nigerian lives as a result of this harrowing strike. There are legions of qualified Nigerian medical personnel and deserving employable Nigerian youth who are jobless in the country.

They should be given the opportunity to replace those who are not ready to value the lives of Nigerians because of narrow sectoral interests.
Insurgents ravaging the North-eastern part of the country have been degraded in capacity, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.

Today, the capacity of the insurgents has been degraded leading to the re-establishment of authority of government and the release of captives including, happily, 106 Chibok and 104 Dapchi girls, and over 16,000 other persons held by the Boko Haram, Mr Buhari said in his Democracy Day Speech.

The description is the latest of this administration and in particular, Mr Buhari. At several other times, he had used terms such as technically defeated, beaten to describe the status of the group.

Other officials including military chiefs have also claimed, at different times, that the terror group has been defeated, a claim faulted by many Nigerians who make reference to the continuous killings by the terror group.

The presidents statement on Tuesday appears a clarification of his controversial declaration in December 2015 that the insurgent group has been technically defeated.

Since Mr. Buhari made the statement, hundreds of Nigerians have been killed in suicide attacks, and coordinated attacks on communities in the North-east region.

Similarly, in his 2018 New Years Day speech, Mr President said the insurgents have been beaten.

We have since beaten Boko Haram, he said. Isolated attacks still occur, but even the best-policed countries cannot prevent determined criminals from committing terrible acts of terror as we have seen during the past years in Europe, Asia, Middle East, elsewhere in Africa and in America.

In his latest description, Mr Buhari flashed back to the situation before his ascension.

Public safety and security remains the primary duty of this government. Before this administration came into being three years ago, Boko Haram held large areas of land spanning several Local Governments in the North East.

Since assuming office, Mr President said, the fight against Boko Haram has led to release over of 16,000 people.

He commended the Armed Forces and the multi-country security force for the feat.

I want to commend members of the Multinational Joint Task Force drawn from Niger, Benin, Chad, Cameroon and our own country in collaboration with the International Community who are assisting in the fight against insurgency in the North East.

I also commend the gallantry of members of our Armed Forces and other security agencies that have continued to provide security for lives and properties across the country. State and Local traditional authorities are helping with much needed intelligence in this fight against insurgency.

Mr Buhari pledged his administrations commitment to end the insurgency.

This administration is pained over the grievous loss of lives and properties occasioned by the carnage of insurgency and other forms of criminality in the country. I wish to assure Nigerians that we will not rest until all criminal elements and their sponsors are brought to justice, he said.

The Boko Haram insurgency has caused about 100,000 deaths since 2009 according to the Borno government.

The terror groups activities, which spread as far as Abuja and Kano at its peak, have now been largely limited to the three North-eastern states of Adamawa, Borno and Yobe.
The shortage of teachers in Akwa Ibom public secondary schools has reached a disastrous level.

Eunice Thomas, a former commissioner for education in the state, understood the enormity of the crisis at hand and made two attempts at tackling it.

As a commissioner then, she declared a state of emergency on education in the state when she came across the startling revelation that several public schools were without teachers in English Language, mathematics, and other subjects.

And yet students in the affected schools were taking part in external examinations like the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) and the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).

A geology graduate, Mrs Thomas, while still doing her official job as a commissioner, volunteered and began teaching chemistry and biology lessons at a public school near her home at Etoi, Uyo, to prepare the students for their WASSCE examinations, she told PREMIUM TIMES.

Just when she began rallying ministry officials, policy experts, principals and teachers for the onerous task of turning things around, she was sacked by the then governor, Godswill Akpabio. She had stayed for only six months in office as education commissioner.

Three years after she left office, Mrs Thomas, still worried about the shortage of teachers in public schools in the state, launched a non-profit called Teachers Volunteers Scheme (TVS).

A shocking data released by TVS in 2016 showed that 616 teachers were teaching English Language to 400,603 students across 250 public secondary schools in the state, while 415 teachers were taking that same number of students mathematics.

The student-teacher ratios for English Language and mathematics in the state in 2016, according to TVS, were 1: 650 and 1: 965 respectively.

Eunice Thomas

According to Mrs Thomas, 480 university graduates have so far volunteered for the TVS.

Unfortunately, the scheme was discontinued after three months because people erroneously thought she created it to mobilise support for a particular politician who was running for the governorship of the state, she said.

Mrs Thomas said she is working on a plan to revive and reform the scheme.

As at today, there are still several public secondary schools in the state without teachers in many subjects, according to an extensive PREMIUM TIMES investigation.

For instance, Ukpaubong Community Secondary School, Itam, in Itu Local Government Area, has no teacher in computer science, Christian religious studies, accounting, and insurance. Another school in Itu, Ntiat/Mbak Comprehensive Secondary School, Itu Urban, has no teacher in introductory technology, Christian religious studies, physical and health education, and Ibibio language.

Still in Itu, African Church Secondary Commercial School, Oku Iboku, has no teacher in physical and health education, Ibibio language, government, marketing, Christian religious studies, geography, and accounting.

Atakpo Comprehensive Secondary School, Mbiaya Uruan, Uruan Local Government Area, has no teacher in the following subjects: government, physics, geography, French, and Ibibio language.

The situation is worse in primary schools, this newspaper learnt.

Its a bad situation, the state Chairman, Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT), Etim Ukpong, who is also the state leader of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) told PREMIUM TIMES.

During the 2016 May Day rally in Uyo, Mr Ukpong publicly told the state Governor, Udom Emmanuel, that the classrooms in our schools are virtually without teachers.

A retired permanent secretary, ministry of education, revealed to this newspaper that 17,300 new teachers were needed to fill the vacuum in public secondary schools in the state as at 2013.

For that year, he said, the state had only 6,000 to 7,000 teachers in all the 250 public secondary schools.

English Language, mathematics, geography, and economics are among the subjects that were critically in need of teachers, the retired permanent secretary said, adding that there were not up to 50 teachers teaching home economics in all the secondary schools in Akwa Ibom.

READ PART ONE OF THIS SERIES HERE: INVESTIGATION: Learning In Tears: Inside the massive decay in public schools in oil-rich Akwa Ibom

Botched effort at teachers recruitment

The Akwa Ibom government in 2012 took over six community secondary schools from their original owners and consequently offered direct employment to their teachers and the non-teaching staff. But the process of perfecting the employment contract came to an inconclusive and embarrassing end because of the action of corrupt state officials who wanted to use that avenue to smuggle people into the state civil service.

You could imagine small community schools producing about 546 staff! the NLC chairman, Mr Ukpong, told PREMIUM TIMES. Naturally, the governor was not happy with it.

The government set up a committee headed by the then Head of Civil Service, Cecilia Udosen, to look into the problem. The committee pruned the number down to 444. But the current administration rejected it, saying that to accept it would mean accepting illegality.

That is where we are right now, Mr Ukpong said.

But while the corrupt officials who caused the disruption walked away unpunished and are still in the state public service, the affected teachers have not received their salary for about four years now. Moreover, the government is yet to clearly define their status (even though they were given letters of employment by government).

Decayed building at Qua Iboe Church Senior Science College, Ndon Eyo, Onna

Till date, the teachers have continued to teach in their respective schools, with the hope that someday the government will regularise their contract. Fifteen of them have died so far while waiting for that hope to be fulfilled, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.

In an attempt to call attention to their plight, one of the teachers in January 2016 threw himself into the front of a moving vehicle in Governor Emmanuels convoy near the entrance gate of the Government House, Uyo.

He got hit by the vehicle and was also beaten up by security officials attached to the governor, those who witnessed the incident said.

During the 2016 May Day rally at the Uyo Township Stadium, the teachers smuggled themselves into the NUT line during the march-past.

When they reached the spot where Governor Emmanuel was taking salute, they brought out their hidden placards and displayed them before the governor to tell of the injustice done to them.

The state chairman of NUT, Mr Ukpong, during the rally, pleaded with the governor on behalf of the teachers.

For the free and compulsory education to be meaningful, many things have to be done. One of them, Sir, is to employ teachers, Mr Ukpong told the governor.

The set of teachers brought in through the State Secondary Education Board, and who have been working without salaries since January 2013 can help narrow the yawning gap. They are not many, we plead on their behalf, he said.

One of the affected teachers, Uwem Bassey, told PREMIUM TIMES, Were going through terrible suffering. The way and manner we have been treated is enough proof that the people of this state have lost their humanity.

Mr Bassey, 49, says his survival and that of his three children now depend on his wife who deals on fairly used shoes.

Im appealing to the governor to intervene for the sake of our lives, he said with teary eyes. Please let the government think about us.

Also, the state government in 2015, during the last days of Godswill Akpabio administration, hurriedly recruited 5,000 teachers for public secondary schools.

But after the teachers received their employment letters and were waiting for posting to schools, Mr Akpabios successor, Governor Emmanuel, terminated their appointment on the ground that the recruitment process was tainted by fraud.

Since then the case has dragged on with some of the teachers suing the government for wrongful termination of employment.

Others resorted to prayers, with the hope that God would touch the heart of the governor to rescind his decision.

The recruitment is being done piecemeal after the government administered a new test to the 5,000 teachers in February 2017.

In August 2017, the government announced the employment of 1,500 teachers, out of the 5,000.

One of the newly recruited teachers told PREMIUM TIMES that she paid N500, 000 bribe to a government official before she was finally employed.

Two of the recruited teachers also told this reporter that they know of people who didnt write the February 2017 test but were able to get employment letters after paying between N300, 000 to N500, 000 bribe.

The government, this April, released additional 500 names of newly employed secondary school teachers from among the 5,000. The contract letter says their employment took effect from April 1, 2018, but they are yet to be called to assume duties or posted to schools as at the time of filing this report.

The 1,500 teachers employed in August 2017 havent been paid their September and October 2017 salary; the government started paying them from November, even when the contract paper says their employment took effect from September of that year, according to PREMIUM TIMES investigation.

Teachers building beautiful houses from proceeds of examination malpractice.

Apart from inadequate number of teachers, there is also the problem of poor teacher quality, low morale and widespread corruption within the teaching practice in the state.

Nicholas Luke, a retired secondary school teacher in the state told this reporter, What has finally killed the education system in the state is examination malpractice masterminded by teachers.

Mr Luke said the enrolment of students in the SS 3 in rural communities is usually high because of how teachers assist students in such communities to cheat in external examinations.

The question is, why are teachers deeply involved in examination malpractice? And the answer is, because the teacher feels that the politician owns a four-storey building, while he doesnt own even a bicycle.

Today, teachers are now building beautiful houses from proceeds of examination malpractices. I know some of them. A teacher that is on level 10 has a two-storey building, courtesy of examination malpractice.

Its endemic, he said.

Teachers salary, because of special salary structure, is slightly better than that of their counterparts in the Akwa Ibom state civil service.

A fresh university graduate employed as teacher in the state public school earns about N50, 000 monthly salary, compared to a civil servant whose salary is about N45, 000.

A school principal receives between N350, 000 and N400, 000 as monthly salary.

But that doesnt mean all is well financially with teachers in the state, according to experts in the education sector.

As a principal of a school on level 17, for example, your counterpart in the ministry is a director and is entitled to an official car, and a few other things, said a former teacher who retired as a director in the states education ministry.

In fact, there are people who work in the ministry, they are not up to level 12, but at the end of the month what they take home is better than what the principal gets.

Where a vehicle is not there, a director in the ministry is entitled to an imprest which allows him hire vehicle for official duties. A principal isnt entitle to an official vehicle, he will have to find his way or pay from his salary, he said.

Government officials and experts attribute the problem of education in the state basically to poor process of recruiting teachers and poor funding.

Eno Usoro, a professor of business education at the University of Uyo (Uniuyo), Akwa Ibom State, said many people who studied education at the university are outside the classrooms, while those who studied other courses are the ones recruited as teachers.

Antiaobong Ekong, a professor of agriculture education in Uniuyo and a former commissioner for education in the state, corroborated Mrs Usoros claims. Those who didnt study education are always the first to be employed as teachers by the government because of political connection, he said.

You cant sow yam and then expect to harvest cocoyam, the state chairman of NUT, Mr Ukpong, said of the poor qualities of teachers in the public schools. If the teachers are of poor quality, it means the society itself is of poor quality.

There was a time in this country when a teacher was the best gentleman around. Today, the society treats teachers poorly. The teachers are not given due respect. It is the societal factors that have made them not to be effective, he said.

A retired official in the education ministry told this newspaper that things have degenerated to an incredible level where teachers in the state now feel ashamed to publicly introduce themselves as teachers.

If you introduce yourself as a teacher, people usually think you are some kind of a misfit, economically, said the retired official.

There is a subtle stigma here  people think that teachers dont have money and cannot be as rich as people in other professions.

He said the discrimination against education as a discipline starts right in the university.

A student scores 250 point in JAMB and go into the university to study medicine. Another student scores 250 and go in to study education. But if the state government wants to give bursary or scholarship, the guy studying medicine gets three times more than what the guy studying education gets.

So, it would look as if teaching is not as important as other professions.

Dilapidated staff quarters, Lutheran Senior Science College, Ibakachi, Ikono

Thats how teachers are generally treated, he said.

He continues, The present turnout from our schools, I am not sure will be competent to handle positions in the near future. Even in journalism profession, you would have come across a number of people who cannot write a good news report for people to read.

These are happening as a throwback for the neglect of teachers who feel they are not sufficiently motivated to do their best.

Emem Edoho, a former president of the National Association of Akwa Ibom State Students (NAAKISS), said the size of the population of graduates and school certificate holders who cant write a good sentence is an indicator of the extremely deplorable and degraded standard of education in the state.

I hired a lawyer to defend my town union recently in Eket High court over a civil claim. To my greatest surprise, the lawyer, could not move a motion in the open court. I had to debrief him and secure the services of a competent lawyer in Uyo, Mr Edoho said.

I am aware of a graduate in my workplace who cannot write a memo. I am also aware there are worse cases, a lawyer in the state, Mbebe Albert, told this newspaper.

Blame the government, not teachers.

Most people who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES said the state government should rather be blamed for the ineffectiveness and corruption among teachers in public schools.

They cited the delay in payment of salary, non-payment of promotion arrears, leave grants, and gratuities, as well as corruption among government officials and the political class as having far-reaching negative impact on the teaching profession in the state.

When we talk about payment of promotion arrears, leave grants, and gratuities to the teachers in Akwa Ibom, the administration of Udom Emmanuel is the worst in the history of the state, said a secondary teacher who didnt want his name mentioned for fear of being victimized.

The teachers in this state are suffering. They are angry with the governor, he said.

During the 2016 May Day rally, the state Chairman of NUT, Mr Ukpong, took time to explain to Governor Emmanuel the issues around

promotion arrears, the leave grants, and gratuities.

An average public servant has only three occasions when he can mould blocks (to build his personal house), Mr Ukpong told Governor Emmanuel.

These are when he is paid leave grants, when he is paid promotion arrears, and at retirement when he is paid gratuity.

If he is denied these, or any of the three, he is most likely not going to be able to mould blocks, talkless of being able to build a house for himself throughout his life.

We humbly plead that you help us, Sir, the NUT leader said.

Next of kin put pressure on government over teachers gratuities

The governments inability to pay gratuity to primary school teachers who died while serving the state has emboldened their relatives to come together to form a pressure group called Next of Kin of Late Primary School Teachers in Akwa Ibom State.

For several months now, the group has held regular protest march against the government.

Next of Kin group protesting at the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly

That is besides writing protest letters to public officials, including Governor Emmanuel and the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Onofiok Luke.

The police in January 2017 arrested three members of the group and charged them to court for protesting in front of the Government House gate. The court found them not guilty.

Some members of the group said the government has paid them part of their late parents entitlements. Others said they were still waiting for payment.

Benson Udo, one of the group leaders, told PREMIUM TIMES they were hopeful, despite their travails.

Though wearied and tempted to lose faith because of not getting a response to the several letters we have sent to your office, we are still confident that this government isnt just a listening one but also an active one, the group told Governor Emmanuel in a 2016 letter.

It is bad that our loved ones died in active service. Our inability to receive their entitlement many years after is like walking through the valley of death. Paying us the money will bring huge consolation.

Ninety-nine per cent of us that voted for you could not have been wrong, they told the governor.

The then commissioner for education in the state, Paul Udofia, declined comment for this report when he was contacted by PREMIUM TIMES before he was eventually sacked by Governor Emmanuel.

His successor, Victor Inoka, also declined comment, saying having just been appointed to office, he was still studying the situation.

The way forward.

A state of emergency should be declared for 10 years in the education sector in the state, says the former NAAKISS president, Mr Edoho, who sees primary education as the weakest link, where the rot is most severe.

When the foundation is weak every other thing erected on it cannot stand. We need to redesign the curriculum for primary education, recruit qualified instructors and counsellors for each school.

Teachers training colleges should be reintroduced at least one per senatorial district to retrain our teachers. Recruitment of teachers should be reformed and made transparent and devoid of all forms of favouritism. Educational supervisors should be deployed and strengthened across the state to monitor both the conduct of the teachers and students, he said.

This is the third in a six-part series on how corruption, poor planning, shoddy policy implementation, and outright neglect led to the near-collapse of public education in Akwa Ibom, one of Nigerias richest states.

This investigation is supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the International Centre for Investigative Reporting.
Some lawmakers in the Lagos State House of Assembly have expressed divergent opinions over President Muhammadu Buharis achievements in his 2018 Democracy Day broadcast.

While some of the lawmakers in interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos commended the president for tackling corruption and security, others said that he had not done enough.

Tunde Braimoh, the Chairman, House Ad hoc Committee on Information, Strategy and Security, said that the Buhari administration had initiated a new beginning from the misrule of previous administrations.

Mr Braimoh said: The APC government had to begin afresh and start re-engineering, reworking, retooling and repositioning of the whole country by fighting impunity.

Good enough, the president has done so well by laying foundation for solid rebirth of the country. This foundation is not ephemeral, cosmetic or deceptive but pragmatic.

We are maximising our gains even with little resources. The government has been able to reduce frivolous and wasteful leakages.

The era of corruption, wastages and impunity has become unpopular and a thing of the past.

And if we can achieve conquering corruption, impunity, wastages and leakages, what we have should be enough to make life better for Nigerians.

Mr Braimoh said that the growth in the external reserve was giving Nigeria a good image in the international community as well as in the ease of doing business.

Also speaking, Abiodun Tobun, representing Epe Constituency 1 in the Assembly, said the presidents achievement in tackling corruption gives hope to ordinary Nigerians.

The lawmaker advised Nigerians to appreciate the present administration for its stand against wastages and leakages.

President Muhammadu Buhari has done a lot on security and his anti-corruption drive is yielding results and very soon Nigerians would feel the impacts of his government.

Security wise, kidnapping, bombings and vandalism here and there have been reduced and the federal government is laying the foundation for infrastructure, Mr Tobun said.

In his view, Adebisi Yusuff, representing Alimosho Constituency I said, Putting bias apart, Buharis administration has scored above average in governance, ensuring security, tackling corruption and boosting the economy.

This government is on course, lets give him another four years and Nigerians will see wonders.

Dipo Olorunrinu, representing Amuwo Odofin Constituency I, believes the president had not done enough on security, economy and the fight against corruption.

Mr Olorunrinu, the only PDP lawmaker in the House, said that the exchange rate and cost of living was still very high, adding that the incessant killings in some parts of the country indicate insecurity.

We have not started any change at the national level. It is just a government of excuses, victimisation and complaints.

There has not been any basic agenda to move the nation forward. Things are still hard for the ordinary Nigerians, he said.

NAN reports that the president on May 29 addressed Nigerians in a nationwide broadcast to commemorate the 19th year of democracy and the third anniversary of his administration.

The president, who commended Nigerians for support, expressed his commitment to achieving the three cardinal points of security, corruption and economy to lead the country into a new era of justice and prosperity.

Presenting his scorecard, Mr Buhari said that his administration had delivered on security, fight against corruption, employment, transport, power and education among others and was working hard to revamp the economy.

(NAN)
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said his administrations whistle-blowing policy has helped to recover over N500 billion.

He said this during his Democracy Day speech which aired at 7:00 a.m. Tuesday.

The figure appears to contradicts that provided by Ibrahim Magu, acting head of the anti-graft agency, EFCC, who said his agency recovered only N29 billion as at the end of October 2017

As at the end of March, Kemi Adeosun, the finance minister, gave N7.8 billion, $378 million and 27,800 as the total recovered through whistle-blowing tips. The figure, totalling N143 billion, was provided as part of the activities of Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit (PICA).

In his address Tuesday, the president said PICA has helped his anti-corruption efforts and led to the removal of over 52,000 ghost-workers from federal payroll and a more efficient public service.

While it has been difficult to independently confirm Mr Buharis achievements in the ghost-working menace, his claim that over N500 billion was recovered through whistle-blowing did not appear to have come from the agency in charge of the policy.

The N13 billion National Intelligence Agency cash stashed away in Ikoyi, Lagos, and the $9 million buried in a Kaduna slum were the biggest recoveries made through the policy, which took effect in December 2016.

Although the initiative buoyed the administrations overall loot recovery efforts, only a fraction of recovered funds had come as a result of the policy.

In general, the total loot recovered by the Buhari administration has been difficult to ascertain. The recovered loot is segregated from the assets and recoveries still undergoing litigation at various courts for potential forfeitures to government.

At least two senior officials have provided contradictory figures while speaking about recovered loot.

In November 2017, Mr Magu said the EFCC recovered N739 billion in two years.

Earlier this year, he said his agency recovered N511 billion in 2017 alone.

But in a February 2018 letter, Kemi Adeosun, the finance minister, challenged Mr Magus claims. She said only N91 billion was recovered since Mr Buhari assumed office in May 2015 as computed by the Accountant-General of the Federation.

Mrs Adeosun asked Mr Magu to explain how he came about the humongous figures he was bandying in the media.

After the memo was leaked in late March, Ms Adeosuns office and the EFCC said there was a mishap in reconciliation of figures and promised to address contradiction.

No update has been provided by either of them ever since.

Even if the president was alluding to the overall recovery by his administration, his N500 billion claim contradicted the N739 billion by Mr Magu and the N91 billion by Mrs Adeosun or N143 billion by Ms Adeosun.

Observers are baffled by the numerous contradictions that seem to show a lack of coordination amongst government officials.

We were made to understand that all recovered funds pass through the same channel, so why the contradiction, said political analyst, Sola Olubanjo.

What is the sense in the president given a figure different from the one given by the minister in charge of finance and the one given by the anti-corruption agencies, Mr Olubanjo said. It is unfortunate.

Presidential spokespersons Femi Adesina and Garba Shehu did not immediate return requests for comments.

Ayo Akanji, a media strategist for the All Progressives Congress, said there was no contradiction in the real sense, only difficulties in reconciliation of figures.

The figures are being reconciled as we speak, Mr Akanji told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Tuesday morning. The Ministry of Finance and the EFCC have been making separate recoveries, but there will be reconciliation soon.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) has congratulated Nigerians on the 2018 Democracy Day celebration.

In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the APC boasted of a stronger democracy and polity 19 years after returning to democratic rule.

It said Nigeria has conducted successive elections and has continually improved on the transparency and credibility of the electoral systems.

While stating that military rule is now distant memory in Nigeria, it called on Nigerians to work collectively to improve democracy because regardless of its imperfections, democracy remains the best form of government that can best serve the interest of our people.

It pledged commitment to address the countrys current challenges, which find expression in the economy and security. It also urged all Nigerians to continue to pray and support the current administrations effort to build a peaceful and greater nation.

But the Social Democratic Party (SDP) disagrees with such optimism. It said 19 years of democratic rule should have called for drum-beating and dancing, but Nigerias experience rather calls for finger-biting over failed expectations.

It said Nigeria still wallows within the confines of a country with potentials for greatness, instead of living the reality of its potentials.

According to a statement by its National Secretary, Shehu Gabam, the SDP said the fight against corruption retains its position in the rhetoric of successive governments.

It said Nigeria suffers from other ailments such as poor leadership, devaluation of the currency from N90/$1 to N360/$1, collapse of the economy  as most privatised industries are comatose or dead  high rate of unemployment and under-employment  as graduates are encouraged to engage in low-paying menial jobs or low-value trade in the name of entrepreneurship.

It said other ailments include: division of the country along ethnic, regional and sectarian lines; incessant killings by bandits and insurgents, such that the lives of Nigerians now seem worthless; abuse of human rights, especially by security agencies; lack of governance and general insecurity in rural areas and the spread of despondency among the people, to the point that they have begun to lose faith in the country and rather call for fragmentation of Nigeria along regional lines.

In spite of this situation, we wish to congratulate Nigerians because in the last 19 years, there has been a seamless transition of government from one administration and even party to another in tandem with the spirit of demoskratos, the Greek-word origin of democracy, which means the power of the people, it said.

With the 2019 elections around the corner, the party stressed the need to re-invent the wheel of governance in Nigeria, as the current wheel is not driving the nation to the Promised Land.

In a congratulatory message, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) stated that democracy day reminds Nigerians of their commitment to building a just society.

The NLC President, Ayuba Wabba, in a statement lamented that those elected to serve as democratic leaders have not only turned around to serve themselves but continue to exploit every given opportunity to turn the Nigerians into paupers.

The President of the Nigeria Labour Congress, NLC, Ayuba Wabba. [Photo credit: Pulse.ng]

Beside the frequent unlawful dipping of fingers into the public till, everything including salaries, pensions, perquisites, ways and means are skewed in their favour to the exclusion of workers.

For us in the labour movement, a democracy that does not allocate resources in such a manner that ensures equity, justice and sustained national development or cohesion is beggarly.

We reason that Nigerian workers are frequently turned into canon fodder by the Nigerian political elite in their high stakes political games and mindless scramble for the commonwealth, he said.

Mr Wabba also decried the escalating costs of living, devaluation of the Naira, general hardship in the land and the fact that a Nigerian worker is still forced to survive on N18,000 as minimum wage with not a few states owing backlog of salaries and pensions.

He said whiile pensioners wallow in misery and unimaginable suffering, the members of the political elite led by state governors as a matter of law and policy, take in advance whopping severance packages to which they are not entitled in the first place.

Our schools and health facilities have become sorry relics of what they used to be in the first decade post-independence.

The spate of killings, general wave of violence and insecurity across the country further traumatise the hapless citizenry.

In spite of the great effort by the Buhari administration to fight corruption, corruption keeps fighting back more viciously.

While, unarguably, our electoral processes are improving by the day, the same cannot be said of elections conducted by State Electoral Commissions. Worse still, we are worried by the political intolerance of governors and their philistinal behaviour, completely at variance with what obtains at the centre, he said.

He challenged Nigerian workers to seek to rebuild an enduring political platform that would offer the fullest essence to our age-long struggle for a society where no one is oppressed, cheated, excluded, isolated or left behind.

A former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, also congratated Nigerians. He said the integrity of Nigerias electoral process and ability of government to be accountable to the people are the minimum requirements to appreciate the sacrifices of those who gave their all for the enthronement of democracy in the country.

In a statement he signed, Mr Abubakar, a presidential aspirant, called on all Nigerians to spare some time to reflect and to mourn all those murdered in the on-going needless killings across our dear country.

He decried the continuing murderous rampage of criminal elements across the country but especially in Borno and Yobe, and the Benue River Valley, stretching from Adamawa through Taraba to the confluence of Kogi and Benue, and including Nasarawa, Plateau, Southern Kaduna, and Zamfara. Others have been killed by armed robbers, kidnappers, cattle rustlers and other marauding bandits.

He made reference to a letter he sent to the Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria recently on these killings where he explained that only the government can stop these senseless killings if Nigeria is to avoid major and further damage to the fabric of its fragile unity.

He said the popular clamour amongst Nigerians is the need to make government more responsive and responsible.

As the nation goes through a cycle of elections in the coming months, it is important that the integrity of the electoral process is sacrosanct with guarantees of free and fair election. Democracy is by itself a self-correcting concept, but only if there is guarantee of credibility in the electoral process.

We have mourned Nigerian souls to terror attacks enough for us to learn that it is insufficient that the Federal Government has exclusive statutory mandate in providing security for our people.

Our economy has become too exposed to the vagaries of global oil prices for us not to decipher that we need to invest massively in infrastructure and liberalise the economy to create fresh opportunities for the people. Our communities and associations have become so divided and apart that we cannot even begin to confront the most basic of our challenges when we dont share a mutual sense of belonging.

These are some of the challenges that we must begin to re-evaluate their manifestation, and the significance of our celebration of democracy today should mean that we employ the broadmindedness and participatory notion of democracy in seeking solutions to them, he said.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday commended the role of women in Nigerias democratic growth.

The president made the commendation in his Democracy Day speech aired in commemoration of his third year in office.

There have been calls for the inclusion of more women in politics and public administration in Nigeria.

The government has also been accused of not giving women opportunities to contribute to nation building with critics saying only few women got top positions in the current administration.

Last Friday, some female members of the state Houses of Assembly requested to have the post of Nigerias vice president reserved for women

The women, who visited the president under the auspices of the Conference of Nigeria Female Parliamentarians, also urged Mr Buhari to consider picking a female running mate for the 2019 presidential election.

Apart from the vice president slot , the female legislators also asked Buhari to make it compulsory for one out of three senators produced by each state of the federation to be a woman. In addition, they also demanded that three out of nine members of the House of Representatives from each state should be women.

But in his response, Mr Buhari jocularly told the women that their demand for a female vice president was a threat to the current holder of the office, Yemi Osinbajo.

It is a pity that the vice president is not here; but I am sure the Secretary to the Government of the Federation will brief him that his position is ( being ) threatened, the president replied.

Similarly, while speaking with some Nigerian governors wives on Sunday, the president reiterated the federal governments support to all groups involved in the fight against drug abuse, challenges facing women and children in IDP camps as well as women and youth empowerment.

Mr Buhari, who was meeting the governors wives for the first time, said Nigerians remained grateful to them for their love and concern for the less privilege in the society.

He also expressed delight at the various programmes by the wives of the 36 state governors aimed at touching the lives of Nigerians, especially women and children.

In his speech Tuesday morning, Mr Buhari again acknowledged the contributions of women to nation building.

It is pertinent to also make mention of the immeasurable contributions of the Nigerian woman to national development and advancement of democracy, over the last three years, he said.

The government and people appreciate you all as mothers of our great country.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday condemned the deaths caused by clashes between farmers and pastoralists, saying his administration would deal with the culprits.

The unfortunate incidences of herdsmen and farmers clashes in several communities which have led to high number of fatalities and loss of properties across the country are being addressed, Mr Buhari said in his Democracy Day address to the nation Tuesday morning.

The president said security agencies would hunt down the culprits and their sponsors and they shall be made to face the full wrath of the law.

All the three tiers of government are presently engaged with communities and religious organisations to restore peaceful co-existence among Nigerians, he added.

The president also condemned the rising cases of kidnapping across the country and similarly promised to ensure that the maximum weight of the law is applied against suspects.

Mr Buhari used the speech, which will be the last in his first term, to emphasise his administrations three-pronged focus of security, anti-corruption and economy.

While the president has received media attention for his anti-corruption efforts, the recent upsurge in killings linked to herdsmen has cast his administrations security credentials in questionable light.

Over 1,400 villagers have been killed this year alone in attacks security agencies repeatedly blamed on deadly herdsmen.

Scores of communities in Benue Taraba, Nasarawa and Kogi have been deserted as a result of frequent invasions by the killers.

Benue authorities estimate that 400,000 residents have been displaced, with at least half of those currently putting up at internally displaced persons camps run by the state government.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo visited some of those camps during a tour of some of the affected states last week.

Security agents are not spared in the killings. The Nigerian Army, State Security Service, Civil Defence, police and local vigilante groups have all suffered casualties involving over 50 personnel this year alone.

The president had described the attacks as being carried out by remnants of a militia armed by late Libyan dictator, Muammar Gadaffi. He added that the attackers were moving their weapons through the Sahel into Nigeria.

Earlier in January, Inspector-General Ibrahim Idris walked back his claim that the attacks were communal clashes between farmers and herdsmen.

A few weeks later, he told a Senate committee that the killings were being carried out by herdsmen, but blamed Benue States anti-open grazing law.

The police chief said the attacks may not ease until the law is suspended, warning other states across the country against enacting similar statutes.

The Nigerian Army and Civil Defence have also stopped describing the killings as emanating from clashes between herdsmen and farmers.

Mr Buharis determination to keep seeing the carnage as a clash between farmers and herdsmen could further contradict accounts of security agencies and alienate victims, said security analyst, Gbenga Williams.

The president seems to disagree with the age-old parlance that a problem identified is already half solved, Mr Williams told PREMIUM TIMES by telephone Tuesday morning. Unless the president knows something that even the security agencies do not know.

Mr Williams said the attacks used to have elements of clashes between farmers and herdsmen in the past, but the latest string is unmistakable.

Even in Kaduna and Zamfara States where bandits appeared to have overrun several communities and killed hundreds, the killings cannot be described as a clash, the analyst said.

What we have witnessed with the latest killings is that audacious killers are on the loose and the security agencies, although ill-equipped, are doing their best to contain them, Mr Williams said.

The least the president could do is to avoid being seen as downplaying or muddling the realities of the victims, he added. Otherwise, he risks fueling not just the suspicion of the affected states but the dangerous allegations of federal collusion by persons like Theophilus Danjuma.

Mr Danjuma, a former army chief, earlier in the year accused the army of complicity in the killings in the North-central particularly in his native Taraba State.

The army later absolved itself of any complicity after investigating Mr Danjumas claims.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday failed to comment on the status of his administrations effort to rescue the Dapchi schoolgirl, Leah Sharibu, still in Boko Harams captivity.

He also did not speak on the status of the over 100 Chibok girls still with the Boko Haram over four years after they were kidnapped.

Instead, Mr Buhari chose to celebrate the degradation of the sect.

Today, the capacity of the insurgents has been degraded leading to the re-establishment of authority of government and the release of captives including, happily, 106 Chibok and 104 Dapchi girls, and over 16,000 other persons held by the Boko Haram, Mr Buhari said in his Democracy Day Speech.

The Buhari administration secured the release of about 106 of the Chibok girls kidnapped from their secondary school in Chibok, Borno State in April 2014 during the Goodluck Jonathan administration. The girls were released in negotiations with the sect. However, over 100 of the about 276 originally kidnapped are still believed to be with the terrorists.

Miss Sharibu was one of the 110 girls abducted by Boko Haram from Dapchi Government Science and Technical School, Yobe State, on February 21.

About 33 days after their abduction, the sect released 104 of the girls. Five were said to have died while Miss Sharibu was said to have been held back because she refused to denounce her Christian religion.

President Buhari had in the past assured Nigerians that he will not relent in his effort to ensure the release of the teenager whose 15th birthday was spent with her abductors. Over three months after her kidnap, however, the president failed to rekindle hope for her release or offer a status update in his speech.

This may not go down well with critics, especially some Christians, who have accused Mr Buhari of not doing enough to secure the release Miss Sharibu.

Addressing journalists in Abuja in March, spokesperson of the Congress of Northern Nigeria Christians, Larry Yammai, called on Mr Buhari to do all within his powers to rescue Miss Sharibu, tying the abduction to a destruction project against Christians.

The truth is very obvious that the destruction project of Boko Haram is very much targeted at Christians. CNNC strongly condemns this evil tendency and urges President Buhari to urgently intervene for the immediate release of this young girl, Mr Yammai said.
Many Nigerians are reporting less use of generators due to improved power supply, President Muhammadu Buhari said on Tuesday.

The president spoke in his broadcast to Nigerians to mark this years Democracy Day.

In the area of power generation, Nigerians from all parts of the country continue to report better power supply and less use of generators. This underscores the effectiveness of the methodical plan to deliver incremental and uninterrupted power supply to our homes, markets, offices and factories.

The country achieved 5,222.3 MW representing the highest peak of power generated onto the national grid and delivered to customers in December, 2017. With new facilities, repairs and rehabilitations by government and private investors, generation capability now exceeds 7,500 MW, he said.

The presidents claim is expected to remain contentious among Nigerians as many parts of the country still experience several hours and days of darkness. In some parts of states like Ondo and Lagos, residents have not had electricity for several months due to challenges with the electricity distribution companies on diverse issues such as transformers.

On Tuesday, the president also spoke strongly against continuous deployment of estimated billing to electricity consumers.

Issues around estimated billing of power consumers have been on for years forcing the government to mandate electricity distribution companies (DISCOs) to be more proactive.

In April, a bill to criminalise the issuance of estimated electricity bill emerged at House of Representatives. The bill is sponsored by the Majority Leader of the House, Hakeem Gbajabiamila.

In his Democracy Day speech, Mr Buhari expressed his administrations intention to allow lawful interventions from interested parties to eliminate estimated billing.

President Muhammadu Buhari

This administration is committed to lawful interventions to ensure the operators of the distribution business live up to expectations especially in the areas of distribution capacity, service delivery, collection efficiency, and metering to eliminate contentious estimated billing, he said.

Mr Buhari recently accused a former President, Olusegun Obasanjo, of not delivering on a $16 billion power project.

One of the former Heads of State between that time was bragging that he spent more than 16 billion American dollars, not Naira, on power. Where is the power? Where is the power? And now we have to pay the debts.

Mr Obasanjo responded, describing Mr Buharis statement as one made out of ignorance.
President Muhammadu Buhari has said that there is no hiding place for fugitives who plundered the resources of the nation.

The president reiterated this in his Democracy Day speech which aired Tuesday at 7:00 a.m.

The president noted that the fight against corruption through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission has resulted in recoveries of billions of Naira.

The anti-graft fight has also led to forfeiture of various forms of assets which has improved Nigerias international image and regional cooperation, he said.

We have retained the services of one of the worlds leading assets tracing firms to investigate and trace assets globally. This is in addition to the exploitation of provisions of existing Treaties, Conventions as well as Bilateral Agreements with Multilateral bodies and Nations, Mr Buhari said.

Nigeria has also signed Mutual Legal Assistance Agreements to ensure that there is no hiding place for fugitives.

According to the president, various policy measures already put in place to stem the tide of corrupt practices are yielding remarkable results.

Some of these key reform policies, he said, include the Treasury Single Account, the Whistle Blowing Policy, Presidential Initiative on Continuous Auditing, among others.

The Treasury Single Account (TSA) has realised Billions of Naira being saved from maintenance fee payable to banks. N200 Billion has also been saved from elimination of ghost workers in public service.

The Whistle-Blowing Policy has helped to recover over N500 billion.

The Presidential Initiative on Continuous Audit set up with a mandate to validate controls, assess risks, prune personnel costs, ensure compliance with Public Financial Management reforms has helped to identify and remove over 52,000 ghost workers from the Federal Government MDAs Payroll.

The Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS) aimed at expanding tax education and awareness has offered the opportunity for tax defaulters to regularise their status in order to enjoy the amnesty of forgiveness on overdue interest, penalties and the assurance of non-prosecution or subject to tax investigations.

The president also explained that the Sovereign Wealth Fund project portfolio has been expanded with an injection of $650 million so as to strengthen its investment in local infrastructure, power, health, re-construction of infrastructure.

He listed some of the projects to include the Abuja-Kano road, Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, East West Road (Section V) and the Mambilla Hydro-electric Power project as well as the construction of the 2nd Niger Bridge.

The Nigerian government has in recent time made significant headway in the recovery of assets believed to have been stolen by past government officials.

Earlier in May, the federal government announced that $320 million stolen funds by late military dictator, Sani Abacha , would be spent on the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme of the administration to support the poor.

Speaking further on Tuesday, the president reiterated his administrations commitment to fighting corruption.

The second primary object of this administration is to fight corruption headlong, he said.

Like I have always said, if we dont kill corruption, corruption will destroy the country.

Three years into this administration, Nigerians and the international community have begun to applaud our policies and determination to fight corruption. We are more than ever before determined to win this war, however hard the road is. I therefore appeal to all well-meaning Nigerians to continue to support us in this fight.
A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos in a landmark judgement has ordered President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently instruct security and anti-corruption agencies to forward to him reports of their investigations into allegations of padding and stealing of some N481 billion from the 2016 budget by some principal officers of the National Assembly.

The court also ordered President Buhari to direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Abubakar Malami, SAN, and/or appropriate anti-corruption agencies to without delay commence prosecution of indicted lawmakers.

The judgment was delivered Monday by Justice Mohammed Idris following a mandamus suit no: FHC/L/CS/1821/2017 brought by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).

The court also ordered President Buhari to direct the publication of the report of investigations by security and anti-corruption bodies into the alleged padding of the 2016 budget.

In the suit brought against the President of Nigeria and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Justice Idris further held that Mr Buhari in the exercise of his executive powers has a duty to ensure compliance with the provisions of article 22 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights, holding further that Mr Buhari is expected to use his executive powers for the public good of Nigeria.

Article 22 of the African Charter provides that, All peoples shall have the right to their economic, social and cultural development with due regard to their freedom, and that States shall have the duty, individually or collectively, to ensure the exercise of the right to development.

The court also granted an order directing Mr Buhari to urgently halt alleged attempt by some principal officers of the National Assembly to steal N40 billion of the N100 billion allocated by his government as zonal intervention in the 2017 budget.

Mr Buhari is also ordered to closely monitor and scrutinise the spending of N131 billion (accrued from increased oil bench mark) allocated for additional non-constituency projects expenditure, to remove the possibility of corruption.

The court held that SERAP, being a human rights non-governmental organisation has sufficient interest in the way and manner public funds are being utilized in this country.

SERAP deputy director Timothy Adewale said: This judgment confirms the pervasive corruption in the budget process and the prevailing culture of impunity of our lawmakers as well as the failure of the authorities to uphold transparency and accountability in the entire budget process and implementation. The judgement is an important step towards reversing a culture of corruption in the budget process that has meant that many of our lawmakers see the budget more as a meal ticket to look after themselves than a social contract to meet peoples needs and advance equity and development across the country.

This is a crucial precedent that vindicates the right to a transparent and accountable budget process and affirms the budget as governments most important economic policy document, which is central to the realization of all human rights including the rights to health, water, and education. We are now in the process of obtaining a certified copy of the judgment. SERAP will do everything within its power to secure the full and effective enforcement of this important judgment.

It would be recalled that SERAP last year filed the suit after the organisation said it received credible information from multiple sources that the Department of State Services (DSS) and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have completed investigations into the allegations of padding of the 2016 budget, completed their reports, and indicted some principal officers of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and that the accounts of some of the principal officers containing allegedly illicit funds have been frozen, and that the case files for the prosecution of those indicted were ready.

The suit filed on SERAPs behalf by its counsel, Joke Fekumo, read in part: Unless the principal officers indicted in the alleged padding of the 2016 budget are prosecuted and any stolen public funds recovered, the Federal Government will not be able to stop padding of future budgets. Alleged corruption in the budget process will not just melt away or simply evaporate without addressing the fundamental issue of impunity of perpetrators.

Addressing alleged corruption in the budget process by pursuing prosecution of indicted principal officers of the National Assembly will provide an important opportunity for the Federal Government to reignite the fight against corruption and fulfil a cardinal campaign promise, to show that the Federal Government works on behalf of the many, and not the few, as well as jumpstart economic activities and break the back of the recession.

Publishing the report of the investigation of the alleged padding of the 2016 budget, and prosecuting suspected perpetrators are absolutely important to avoid another padding, which the Federal Government can ill afford.

The allegations of crime of budget padding against the indicted principal officers of the National Assembly is a gross deprivation of the good people of Nigerias legitimate wealth and natural resources. We respectfully urge your Lordship to hold that the citizens of Nigeria have been deprived of their natural wealth and the indicted principal members be prosecuted by the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation.
The management of Air Peace airline on Monday sued some of its passengers for assault and malicious damage to property after persons aboard an Abuja-Lagos flight protested a lengthy flight delay.

The incident, which happened last Friday, saw at least four passengers charged before an Ikeja Magistrate Court for assaulting the airlines pilot and damaging a car belonging to the company.

The passengers denied any wrongdoing.

PREMIUM TIMES learnt that trouble began after a 7.40 p.m. flight was repeatedly delayed till about 12.30 a.m. on Saturday.

The flight was postponed three times between 7.40 p.m. and 9.35 p.m. when they sent the last notice of postponement, one of the passengers, told PREMIUM TIMES.

After then until the flight left Abuja at about 12.30 a.m., there was no official communication on the status of the flight from the airline. We were only told to prepare to board at any time.

A staff of the airline had told us not to be offended that the company would compensate us for the delay when we get to Lagos.

However, on arrival in Lagos at about 1.30 a.m., the airline officials refused to fulfill their pledge to compensate the people on board, the passengers said.

When the passengers got to Lagos, some of them didnt have anywhere to sleep, some of them had missed their connecting international flight, another passenger who declined to be named said.

They now asked the crew members that they were told in Abuja that they would be compensated, that they should tell them who to talk to. They (the crew) told them they didnt know about that, that they are tired.

The passenger said the refusal by the airline to fulfill their promise sparked an argument between the aircrafts crew and some of the passengers.

During the whole thing, a guy was hit by one of the cars of the airline present and he angrily broke the glass of the car.

N40,000 had already been paid for the replacement of the broken glass by Saturday morning. FAAN (Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria) heard the fracas and invited passengers to understand what was going on but after the broken glass, they transferred the case to the police station.

We were told to come to the police station today (Monday) for settlement and Im surprised the airline is saying it wants to go to court.

Two passengers were charged before I.A Abina, a magistrate, on a three-count charge of malicious damage and they pleaded not guilty.

Two others allegedly absconded and are now at large, according to the police.

The magistrate granted the two passengers a N100,000 bail with two sureties, fixed May 30 for the perfection of the bail, and July 2 for mention.

Phone calls to Air Peaces official lines were not answered.

Last year, the airline charged about three passengers, who said they raised safety concerns before a flight, to court after accusing them of being disruptive.
The Governor of Borno State, Kashim Shettima, has explained why he has been unable to commission most of the projects his administration embarked upon since he assumed office seven years ago.

The governor, who came into power on May 29, 2011 said though he inherited a state that was enmeshed in the ongoing Boko Haram war, he was able to roll out several people-oriented projects before the conflict worsened.

Mr Shettima spoke during an evening breaking of fast session with journalists in Borno on Sunday.

He tailored his speech in response to the pleas addressed to him by the director, radio and public relations, University of Maiduguri, Danjuma Gambo, who led the media delegation to Government House, Maiduguri.

Mr Gambo, who spoke on behalf of the media executives and journalists after meals, begged the governor to leave behind legacies that will be directly beneficial to the people of the state.

The don said he was aware of the numerous projects that are either ongoing or at the final stages of completion.

He said by the provision of the Constitution of Nigeria, your Excellency has only one year to spend as governor of Borno State. And on behalf of the entire working journalists in the state, who have so far sacrificed their safety to stay in Borno despite all the security risks, that you should try as much as possible to leave behind projects that will be directly beneficial to the people of Borno state.

Mr Gambo asked the governor to try as much as possible to commission some of the projects so that change of policy due to change in government may not render the project inaccessible to the people of the state.

He also pleaded with the governor to ensure that the housing projects that are yet to be commissioned or completed are considered.

Mr Gambo, who commended the governor for being the first to invite him to a Ramadam (Muslim lent) breaking of fast at the government house in his over three decades stay in the state also called on the state government to allow journalists access to projects being carried out in the rural areas.

As journalists, it is our duty to follow the money as well as projects in every nook and cranny of the state, he said.

In reaction, Governor Shettima commended the resilience of the journalists in Borno State even as he sought for their forgiveness, in any way his actions or inactions may have offended them.

According to Mr Shettima, this might be the last time I may have the chance to have this kind of gathering with the respected creme de la creme of the media in Borno State.

And this occasion behoves on me expressing my gratitude for your partnership which I so much value and appreciated. And I also want to apologise to everyone of you here as well as the people of the state for whatever way I may have wronged you. I am human and not immune from making mistakes, he said.

Mr Shettima then explained why his administration had not been able to officially commission projects, mostly housing projects, since he assumed office.

Borno State Governor, Kashim Shettima

At the height of the Boko Haram insurgency, people may not appreciate some of the efforts of this government. We embarked on massive construction of houses in Maiduguri; we constructed houses along the four major routes leading to most of the local government areas, we never knew the insurgency would degenerate to that level that such houses would be used as a saving grace.

We just felt that by engaging the youth through such projects; by diverting their attentions from all sorts of social vices, we will be able to immune them from being co-opted into Boko Haram.

Unfortunately, the security situation deteriorated; IDPs were moved into the houses under construction and it became morally difficult for us to tell them to get out of those houses. That was the moral impediment we had in not commissioning those houses.

But be rest assured that, especially as we move on with the emerging peace we are enjoying, in the next two to three months, we are going to commission all our existing projects, he said.

The governor said his administration also invested in the education and industrial sectors with the aim of empowering the youth.

For the industrial estates, about 11 industries are coming up. There are primary schools that we are building in Maiduguri that are even better than some of the state universities. In the next two to three months, there will be a true change in the face of Borno State.

Within the span of 5km in a particular location in Maiduguri where we have large population, we are building five mega schools. In Maiduguri alone, we are building ten mega schools and some of them have up to 60 classrooms that can accommodate 2500 students and we are going to feed them (pupils) one meal per day.

It is not all about building schools, but also the issue of human capacity is key. I am sorry to say that we are intellectually malnourished and we need to salvage our situation through education.

Acknowleding that the state may not have the wherewithal to pay teachers with the increased number of schools in the state, the governor pleaded with residents to join him and other public office holders to render free teaching serving in the public schools.

I plead with anybody who has the flair or the capacity to teach, even if it is for an hour or two, to lets get into those classes to teach, he said.

I promise to lead by example in that respect by going into the classroom to teach. The students could be inspired to achieve even greater academic feat if they see a governor coming to their class to teach. It is not all about money, but community service.

If we want to live in this part of the country called Nigeria, we have no option than to invest in education. The world has left us far behind; we are at a time when people are talking about artificial intelligence, or kinetic engineering and we are still struggling with how to build classrooms or get students to learn.

By 2050 Nigeria will be the third most populous nation on earth with a population of about 440 million; and by 2050, 70 per cent of Nigerians will live in northern Nigeria. So if we want to live in this part of Nigeria in peace we have to invest in education.

He also spoke on strides in agriculture.

In the area of agriculture, we have invested so much. Recently, I asked one of the state governors if his state has up to a hundred tractors and he told me that honestly we have not even started buying tractors yet. We have invested more than N30 billion on agricultural equipments that are state-of-the -art and also in all the agricultural value chain. And this will be deployed massively into the rural areas once the security situation improved. 

Rice Farmers used to illustrate the story [Photo Credit: Agro Nigeria]

He also spoke on how he had been able to ensure religious harmony in the state.

The beauty of Borno is that in spite of the crisis that we went through, the pains and losses that the conflict has caused us, we have refused to let it assume a religious dimension. We have lived as brothers and sisters confronted with a common problem.

Borno State, rocked by an unending insurgency did not mark the May 29 Democracy day that was observed in most states across Nigeria.
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.




End

-- Coming 30 May, some 1,000 of the brightest young minds from around the world will gather in Singapore for #UNLEASH2018, an innovation lab dedicated to creating innovative solutions for the world's most pressing issues.They come as part of UNLEASH 2018  a global programme that aims to create innovative, implementable and scalable solutions towards the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).For a week, the 1,000 selected millennial thought leaders will work on challenges in eight different themes, each tied to an SDG, which are: Food, Health, Education & ICT, Water & Sanitation, Energy, Sustainable Cities & Communities, Responsible Supply Chain & Consumption, and Climate Action.Can the world end poverty by 2030? Some 1000 of the brightest young minds from around the world are gathering in Singapore to work on precisely that. They come from different backgrounds and have different expertise; and they're all keen to do their part to contribute back to society.Corporate360 CEO Varun Chandran has been selected to take part. Here is what he has to say about trying to make the world a better place.'Quality Education is the foundation of modern societies. Having the right skills and knowledge can lift one out of poverty. If we can help to develop people through education, then they can come up with their own ideas, and this will hopefully create a kind of snowball effect that is  opportunity awareness, innovation of products and solutions with societal impact, entrepreneurship & job creation for overall economic growth progressively touching the lives of all segments of people in the community.A couple years ago, a group of C360 colleagues, volunteers and I visited some rural villages in Kerala, India. Besides building houses, toilets and providing monthly food kits for the villagers, we started a bus service for a school in one of the villages. We also set up a skill based digital training program for students. The purpose is to empower these youth with modern day skills so that they can make a sustainable livelihood. We opened an office in a rural town and created over 150 meaningful jobs for rural youth and women. It reinforced to me the importance of vocational and digital skills training and how it can help people.'C360 is proud that one of our employee have been chosen to take part in UNLEASH. During #UNLEASHLAB2018 ( https://www.facebook.com/ hashtag/unleashlab2018? source=fe... ), Varun will work with global teams to develop solutions to SDG4: Quality Education. Since 2015 Corporate360 has reached more than 500 children through a wide variety of education projects in rural villages of Kerala. As part of our commitment to Social Responsibility, we were out to volunteer in the community for rural youth development. Last year we saw over 50 volunteers go out to volunteer giving over 300 hours of time to the local community across remote villages in Kerala, so we can make a real difference to the local community.This engagement gives us a solid understanding of opportunities and challenges within youth development and education sector in remote rural areas. Our vision is that all children should be empowered to learn and that this should be achieved through partnerships and a focus on innovation to create sustainable change that enables children living in poverty to learn and develop their potential.#bethedifference #socialimpactAbout Corporate360Our software product allows businesses to avail accurate marketing intelligence data, while help creating employment and digital skill development among women, youth and physically challenged from marginalized communities across Asia. For more details visit www.corporate360.us Follow us on(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpUrcYRisLaAPX1AaR_K_yQ),(https://www.facebook.com/corporate360)(https://twitter.com/corporate360)
A total of six RCI Gold Crowns were awarded across the Memories Resorts and Royalton Luxury Resorts brands located throughout the Caribbean in Jamaica, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.

RCI Gold Crown 2018 - TravelSmart VIP

Contact

Rebecca Tunstall

TravelSmart VIP

***@travelsmartvip.com Rebecca TunstallTravelSmart VIP

End

-- TravelSmart VIP, Sunwing Travel Group's exclusive vacation membership, has been awarded the coveted RCI Gold Crown Resort awards by RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange, for several of their luxurious all-inclusive resorts; being the first time this company gathers so many RCI distinctions in one single year.The RCI Gold Crown resort recognition program honors affiliated properties that consistently offer superior vacation experiences with only a limited number of properties meeting the requirements for recognition. To receive an RCI Gold Crown Resort award, established standards have to be met based on exit survey scores from Members.The categories of the survey include sections on hotel facilities, the quality of hospitality and attention as well as employee service and professionalism, amongst others.The TravelSmart Club Resorts honored by this prestigious resort recognition program include the Royalton Riviera Cancun in Mexico, Memories Splash Punta Cana, Royalton Punta Cana and CHIC Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic as well as the Royalton White Sands Montego Bay and Royalton Negril in Jamaica.This is the fourth consecutive RCI Gold Crown awarded to Royalton Riviera Cancun and CHIC Punta Cana, and the third for Royalton White Sands Montego Bay."It is an honor for our resorts to be consistently recognized by RCI. These awards demonstrate our continuous commitment to providing our members with the highest levels of accommodation and service." said the Marketing Director of TravelSmart VIPAbout TravelSmart VIP: TravelSmart offers a vacation loyalty membership program for avid travelers that is filled with VIP perks at exclusive resorts. Uniquely positioned as the only one of its kind that is part of a major vertically-integrated travel provider, TravelSmart members receive unique access to exclusive airfares and other travel benefits. For more information, please visit www.TravelSmartVIP.com About RCI: RCI is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange with over 4,300 affiliated resorts in nearly 110 countries. RCI pioneered the concept of vacation exchange in 1974, offering members increased flexibility and versatility with their vacation ownership experience. Today, through the RCI Weeks program, the week-for-week exchange system, and the RCI Points program, the industry's first global points-based exchange system, RCI provides flexible vacation options to its 3.8 million RCI subscribing members each year
WOODBRIDGE, N.J., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Lucosky Brookman LLP (www.lucbro.com), a leading corporate finance and securities law firm, has been honored as the recipient of the "2018 Excellence Award  Boutique Law Firm of the Year" by Acquisition International Global Media.

The "Boutique Law Firm of the Year" award recognizes a law firm with substantial experience in the areas of mergers and acquisitions and corporate finance. Comprehensive analysis and research is undertaken when determining the recipients of this award. The award is presented to a law firm and its attorneys whom have demonstrated exceptional overall performance during the past year, as well as outstanding efforts and achievements identifying, coordinating and completing important transactions. Special consideration is given to such factors as performance, growth, innovation and thoughtful leadership.

"We are honored to have received this award," said Managing Partner, Joe Lucosky. "It is a pleasure to know that our tireless efforts on behalf of our clients do not go un-noticed. We pledge to continue working diligently for our clients as we seek to assist them with additional sophisticated and accretive transactions."

ABOUT LUCOSKY BROOKMAN LLP

Lucosky Brookman is a corporate finance and securities law firm with offices in New York and New Jersey, representing both domestic and international clients in sophisticated corporate and securities transactions, mergers and acquisitions, secured and unsecured lending transactions, PIPEs and general corporate matters. The Firm provides a broad range of legal services within each of its Corporate, Securities, Mergers & Acquisitions, Banking & Finance, Business Planning & Start-Up, and Litigation & Arbitration practice areas.

CONTACT

Lucosky Brookman LLP

101 Wood Avenue South, 5th Floor

Woodbridge, New Jersey 08830

Phone: 732 395-4400

Facsimile: 732 395-4401

Email: [email protected]

Web: www.lucbro.com

ATTORNEY ADVERTISING

This press release may be considered advertising under the rules of some states. Prior results cannot and do not guarantee or predict a similar outcome.

SOURCE Lucosky Brookman LLP

Related Links

http://www.lucbro.com


"The Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine transforms physicians into scientists who cure disease," said Annette T. Lee, PhD, dean of the Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine. "Our two most recent graduates personify this mission through their research in inflammation and bone cancer and the promise of discovering new treatments for these conditions."

The Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine is a PhD program for physicians who wish to pursue careers in biomedical research. During their training, Elmezzi students conduct research in Feinstein Institute laboratories to advance biomedical knowledge, pursue new therapeutic approaches and diagnostic tools. During commencement exercises, students who completed their dissertation studies were granted the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Molecular Medicine. This year, two graduate students received their degrees:

Caroline Maloney , MD, PhD , for her research repurposing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug, gefitinib, to prevent metastasis in osteosarcoma, a common form of bone cancer, after surgical removal of the tumor. Her thesis is titled: " The Role of Receptor Interacting Protein Kinase 2 in Macrophage-Promoted Invasion Metastasis in Osteosarcoma ."

, for her research repurposing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drug, gefitinib, to prevent metastasis in osteosarcoma, a common form of bone cancer, after surgical removal of the tumor. Her thesis is titled: " ." Ibrahim Mughrabi , MD, PhD, for his work examining the FDA approved drug galantamine as a method to pharmacologically stimulate the vagus nerve to reduce inflammation. His thesis is titled: "The Suppression by Chronic Pharmacological Vagus Nerve Stimulation: In vitro and In vivo Evaluation of Galantamine in a Model of Auto-inflammation."

Along with celebrating and recognizing this year's graduates, Drs. Bissell and Zador were presented with honorary degrees, Candidate for Degree of Doctor of Science honoris causa. Dr. Bissell studies the role of extracellular matrix (ECM) and microenvironment in regulation of tissue-specific gene expression, in particular in breast cancer, which has changed paradigms. Dr. Zador, studies how brain circuitry gives rise to complex behavior and is developing new methods to determine the complete wiring instructions of the mouse brain at single-neuron resolution using high-throughput DNA sequencing.

To find out more about the Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine and its programs, click here.

About The Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine

Located in Manhasset, NY, The Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine is part of Northwell Health and functions in partnership with The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. The Elmezzi Graduate School of Molecular Medicine was established in 1994 and is a PhD program for physicians who wish to pursue careers in biomedical research. The program is an individually tailored program with a strong emphasis on translational research. For more information, visit ElmezziGraduateSchool.org.

About the Feinstein Institute

The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research is the research arm of Northwell Health, the largest healthcare provider in New York. Home to 50 research laboratories and to clinical research throughout dozens of hospitals and outpatient facilities, the Feinstein Institute includes 4,000 researchers and staff who are making breakthroughs in molecular medicine, genetics, oncology, brain research, mental health, autoimmunity, and bioelectronic medicine  a new field of science that has the potential to revolutionize medicine. For more information about how we empower imagination and pioneer discovery, visit FeinsteinInstitute.org.

Contact: Heather E. Ball Mayer

516-465-4917

[email protected]

SOURCE Feinstein Institute for Medical Research

Related Links

http://www.feinsteininstitute.org


OAK HILL, W.Va., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- With over 2,000 people headed to a scenic mountaintop in the wooded wilds, the biggest music festival in West Virginia is set to begin its 5th year of celebration. Advanced tickets for ACE Adventure Resort's annual Mountain Music Festival (https://aceraft.com/mountain-music-fest/) held from May 31st  June 2nd are on sale now and will also be available at the gate.

Umphrey's Mcgee on the mountaintop stage at ACE Adventure Resort during Mountain Music Festival 2017. Festival participants at Mountain Music Festival playing on the beach at Wonderland Waterpark during the event in 2017.

Mountain Music Fest 2018 (MMFest) promises to be the most fun-filled and activity packed in the resort's history. MMFest starts off with a Thursday pre-party on the 31st at ACE Adventure Resort's social hub and meeting place: The Lost Paddle. Including an outside deck overview of the Wonderland Waterpark nestled between two mountains, the stage is set in the onsite bar/restaurant for performances from Aqueous, The Kind Thieves, and Bennett Wales and The Relief. Thursday tickets are exclusive and limited in number. Campers are also encouraged to get the best camping spots for the weekend by arriving early.

This year's MMFest headliners are Umphrey's McGee and Big Something, who are both playing two nights. Umphrey's McGee has been performing for over 18 years, averaging more than 100 concerts annually. With nine studio albums also to the band's credit, as well as selling more than 4.2 million tracks online, Umphrey's McGee consistently sets and achieves new goals for itself since its formation on the Notre Dame, Indiana campus back in 1997. This is their second year playing at MMFest.

Big Something has played MMFest from the very beginning, five years ago, and has become an ACE crowd favorite. Soaring guitars, synths, horns and stunning vocals comprise this six-piece powerhouse. With a sound that is both unique and timeless, fusing elements of rock, pop, funk and improv, Big Something always takes its listeners on an unforgettable musical journey.

General admission tickets to MMFest include access to the wide variety of music shows from 25 different bands; free family workshops including art, yoga and meditation; as well as all the adventure activities normally available with ACE like ziplining, whitewater rafting and hiking. Two and three-day general admission ticket deals include a waterpark pass and mountaintop tent camping that can be upgraded to car camping.

For those who want the ultimate experience, there are multiple VIP packages available. All VIP packages include car camping upgrades, ACE Adventure Resort mountain adventures like whitewater rafting and ziplining, access to the VIP lounge and viewing area, free concert merchandise, as well as various other VIP perks like meet-and-greets, discounts and free sponsor swag.

America's largest adventure resort has held MMFest on ACE's 1500-acre property in the mountains of West Virginia since 2014. Nestled on top of Wonderland Mountain, the festival encompasses four stages and the surrounding countryside, with plenty of food and drink available all weekend. Some of the other bands performing at MMFest include: Perpetual Grove, Pimps of Joytime, Travers Brothership, The Manor & Friends, The M.F.B., LITZ, The Fritz, Broccoli Samurai, Matt Mullins & The Bringdowns and the Parachute Brigade. Festival seekers are asked to go online for more details and to see the full musical line up.

About ACE Adventure Resort

ACE Adventure Resort is a family friendly 1500-acre wooded property situated next to West Virginia's New River Gorge. The resort offers nearly year-round outdoor fun ranging from rock climbing, mountain biking, horseback riding and white-water rafting, to swimming, hiking and camping. With established campgrounds that also house comfortable cabins, visitors can enjoy all the amenities of home as they vacation within the wild beauty of the West Virginia mountains.

Contact:

Chris Colin

717-495-0919

[email protected]

SOURCE ACE Adventure Resort
CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- AIC today announced a new 2U dual controller all-flash NVMe JBOF appliance series, the J2024-04, designed to address storage challenges in next generation high performance data centers. The J2024-04 is equipped with 24 Dual Port U.2 NVMe SSD drives, dual CRPS redundant power supplies with four PCIe x16 slots connecting to 4 BCM58800 NetXtreme S-Series PCIe storage adapters, making it ideally suited to support ultra-high performance high availability (HA) storage applications involving all-flash appliances. This new JBOF series is capable of >10M IOPS of sustained fabric performance.

AIC's J2024-04 is a 2U 24-Bay Dual Controller All-Flash NVMe JBOF Appliance

"We observe the trend of disaggregation of storage leveraging the inherent benefits of NVMe drives like lower latency and protocol overhead. NVMe and NVMe over Fabrics (NVMeoF) uniquely can achieve the goal to disaggregate the storage space with block access, enabling scale-out and low latency operations in Data Centers. AIC's newest JBOF based on Broadcom's low power and highly integrated BCM58800 is an optimized NVMeoF storage box designed to manage NVMeoF targets more efficiently than using x86 or other more complex solutions," said Michael Liang, CEO of AIC.

"Broadcom's technology leadership will continue to enable new applications as we accelerate the growth of network-connected NVMe SSD storage," said Dan Harding, vice president of marketing of the Compute and Connectivity Division at Broadcom Inc. "By integrating a 100G Ethernet NIC, hardware acceleration for storage, NVMeoF, and eight high performance 3GHz A72 cores, our BCM58800 establishes a new level of storage scalability and performance for IOPS-intensive, low latency applications in AIC's J2024-04 platform."

Applications include support for massive databases with scale-out storage and real-time analytics for cloud and mega data centers. J2024-04 is also ideal for use in content distribution networks as well as in any environment that must meet high performance and high-density benchmarks.

From data mining to modeling dynamic systems such as the weather or aggregated consumer shopping patterns, J2024-04 will help enterprise organizations meet their bandwidth, storage and performance objectives while staying within their data center budget.

AIC will demonstrate the J2024-04 in Booth L1018 at the Computex Taipei 2018 in Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center from June 5th to 9th. With distinguished zones for Cloud Data Center and Edge Computing at Computex this year, AIC will showcase a complete product line of new generation OCP Rack, High-availability and All-Flash Array NVMe storage servers.

Contact AIC

Leslie Tran

[email protected]

909-895-8989 ext.109

About AIC Inc.

AIC is a leading provider of both standard OTS (off-the-shelf) and OEM/ODM server and storage solutions. With expert in-house design, manufacturing and validation capabilities, AIC's products are highly flexible and configurable to any form factor, standard or custom. AIC leads the industry with 20+ years of experience in mechanical, electronic, system-level engineering as well as a dedication to innovation. Headquartered in Taiwan, AIC has offices and operations throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. For more information, please visit: http://www.aicipc.com

SOURCE AIC
MINNEAPOLIS, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ally Law, a global legal network that includes 65 member firms and 2400 lawyers worldwide, hosts today a special client conference in London entitled "Global Strategies for Law and Business." The event features a keynote address by noted journalist, author and political advisor, Alastair Campbell. Mr. Campbell is perhaps best known for his work as spokesman, campaign director and Downing Street Press Secretary for Tony Blair during Mr. Blair's tenure as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

Said Alfonso Gonzalez Uribe, president of Ally Law and a partner in Mexico City-based law firm Cornejo Mendez Gonzalez & Duarte, "With 160 clients and lawyers attending our conference, we'll be examining major trends involving cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies, the impact of millennials in the workplace, data breach prevention and response, and the role of outside counsel in managing risk. We bring together some of the world's finest legal and business minds to help our clients become better prepared for global corporate success."

Added Roger Franklin, chair of the Program Committee and a partner at London-based Edwin Coe, "As today's business, legal and regulatory environment seems to change by the hour, corporate leaders and in-house counsel are finding it increasingly difficult to identify core businesses opportunities and respond to growing risks. Our series of discussions is designed to better equip clients for the challenges they face in the boardroom, in the courtroom and beyond."

About Ally Law

Ally Law firms provide sophisticated legal services to major corporations, with a sharp focus on value and efficiency. Our 60+ firms include more than 2300 lawyers in 100 business centers worldwide. With origins in the International Alliance of Law Firms, many of our member firms have worked together for decades. Each has been subject to a rigorous vetting process and many are ranked by respected legal guides, including Chambers, The Legal 500 and Best Lawyers. For more information, visit www.ally-law.com.

Press contact:

Wendy Horn

Ally Law

[email protected]

+1.612.770.6046

SOURCE Ally Law

Related Links

http://www.ally-law.com


The exhibition scale of Livestock Taiwan is 1.5 times larger than 2017's debut. Themed pavilions such as "Veterinary Medicine," "Biogas Power" and "Feed & Feed Additives," will be introduced to provide visitors various farming techniques. A total of 850 sqm taken by the three pavilions is believed to satisfy buyers' needs and perk up aggressive buying. The exhibitors and showcased brand countries include Japan, South Korea, Italy, Germany, Austria, Ireland, France, Spain, Malaysia, China, USA, Switzerland and so on.

"The Southeast Asia governments' promotion on biogas energy has created wide commercial opportunities for swine business. Livestock Taiwan Expo & Forum makes 'Biogas Pavilion' debut which is launched in due time. It is not only a professional platform in guiding market trends, but also a good path in exploring international business," said Sabine Liu, General Manager of UBM Taiwan.

Taiwan's leading technology R&D institution, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) Biogas Power Office, will host the topical conference "Circular Economy: Biogas Policies and Current Practices" and call for Taiwan vendors. They are Capital Machinery Limited for biogas generators, Universe Circular Technology Co. for whole plant design, Cheng-Feng Environmental Technology for biogas desulfurization and purification equipment, Kigent Corp. for biogas FRP digesters, Macro-e Technology Group for biogas system design & equipment, and Monicon for cloud-based monitoring modules of biogas generators.

Animal healthcare to expand further

The rapid increase of global food demand grows as fast as the business of animal medicine and vaccines. The exhibitors, San Heh Pharmaceutical, Tafong Pharmaceutical, Spiregene Biotech Healthecare (Sintong Animal), Vetnostrum Animal Health, Jaritec Industrial and Henan Muxiang Veterinary Pharmaceutical, will display all kinds of animal healthcare and vaccine products onsite of the show. "Lunaizer Sterile Powder," "NasherFreea," "Florfenicol Soluble Powder," and "PYRSVAC-183," for example, are aims of treating respiratory diseases for swine. The exhibitors are very confident that their products will have some traction in the global market.

Outstripping veterinary vaccines, large expansion of global farming scales accelerates the prosperity of feed additives. The development of feed additives in the next decade will head toward to "eco-friendly, efficient, and safe." Global animal feed additives market will be achieving revenue more than USD 200 million in the forecast period by 2020, according to Forward China's report.

As shown in the proof of the concept, SYNLAC FeedAd, produced by Synbiotech, applied highly viable bacterial counts and formulated to improve feed conversion ratio and immunity; whereas, Kanvergen introduced NCG, an essential support factor that efficiently promotes production and metabolism to reduce the risk of pig's fetal growth retardation. Both products will be showcased at the show and are expected to grab buyers' attention.

The second edition of Livestock Taiwan Expo and Forum will be held in conjunction with Aquaculture Taiwan and Asia Agri-Tech from July 26-28. The three-day trade show contains one-on-one business matchmaking programmes and over 40 thematic seminars and conferences.

Online visitor registration is now open. For more visitor information and details, please refer to the official website http://www.livestocktaiwan.com or contact Ms. Sophia Lu (TEL: +886-2-2738-3898; FAX: +886-2-2738-4886; Email: [email protected]).

About UBM Asia (www.ubmasia.com)

Owned by UBM plc, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, UBM Asia was awarded "Asia's Most Reliable Trade Show Organiser Award" in Hong Kong's Most Valuable Companies Awards (HKMVCA) 2016.

About news release, please contact:

Ms. Joy Chou UBM Asia Ltd., Taiwan Branch

TEL: +886-2-2738-3898

FAX: +886-2-2738-4886

Email: [email protected]

Website: www.livestocktaiwan.com

SOURCE UBM Asia Ltd., Taiwan Branch

Related Links

http://www.livestocktaiwan.com


FRANKFURT, Germany, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

FRA/gk-rap - At Fraport AG's regular Annual General Meeting (AGM) held today (May 29), CEO Dr. Stefan Schulte presented the results of a highly successful 2017 fiscal year (ending December 31). Commenting on the Group's positive business performance, Schulte said: "Supported by strong traffic growth, both our revenue and adjusted earnings reached new record levels. We achieved our targets in full and are well positioned to continue this growth trend." Group revenue climbed by almost 13.5 percent to 2.93 billion. The first-time consolidation of Fraport's Greek airports contributed a significant 235 million to Group revenue. The slight decline in operating earnings (EBITDA) can be attributed to extraordinary effects in the previous 2016 business year. In particular, Fraport's strong earnings in 2016 resulted from the compensation payment received for the Manila project and from the sale of shares in Thalia Trading Ltd. Adjusting for these one-off effects, EBITDA increased by around 18 percent to just over 1 billion, while the adjusted Group result (net profit) improved by 21.6 percent to about 360 million.

International business gaining momentum

Fraport's international business segment made a significant contribution to the Group's strong performance, boosting its share of total operating earnings from 24 percent in 2016 to 32 percent in fiscal year 2017 (also adjusted for special effects). A marked increase in passenger traffic at all of Fraport's Group airports worldwide triggered the growth of this segment. In the long term, Fraport's strategy is to further increase the segment's share of earnings. With the operational takeover of airports in Greece and Brazil, Fraport has reached important new milestones in expanding its international portfolio. Dr. Schulte said: "By continuously expanding our international portfolio, we are utilizing additional growth opportunities. As a result, we are giving our company an even stronger and broader business footing, and, above all, we are generating more revenue."

Frankfurt Airport sees strong growth

At Fraport's Frankfurt Airport (FRA) home base, passenger traffic increased by 6.1 percent to 64.5 million passengers in 2017. This growth trend has continued throughout the first four months of 2018, with passenger numbers rising by 8.7 percent. FRA's strong passenger growth stems, in particular, from traditional network carriers - with Lufthansa being the main growth driver. CEO Schulte stated: "Frankfurt Airport will always remain a premium hub with a clear focus on providing best transfer processes and world-class connectivity. To fulfil this commitment, however, passenger screening processes at German airports need to be streamlined. Compared to Germany, other international hub airports benefit from more efficient and simpler processes that allow about twice as many passengers to be screened per checkpoint, in the same amount of time. Therefore, we urgently need the appropriate decision-making by the responsible German Ministry of the Interior to achieve acceptable waiting times again at the security checkpoints."

Targeted infrastructure development at FRA

To accommodate the expected long-term growth in the aviation market, Fraport continues to advance its targeted infrastructure development. The construction of FRA's new Terminal 3 is proceeding as scheduled. Fraport is awaiting the construction permit from the City of Frankfurt for the new Pier G, which will be realized earlier than originally scheduled. Dr. Stefan Schulte explained: "With these investments, we are opening a new chapter for Frankfurt Airport. Our investments will ensure that, in a growing aviation market, we will be able to provide the necessary capacities to airlines now and in the future."

Outlook for 2018 confirmed

Based on the positive performance in the year to date, Fraport is maintaining its guidance for the full 2018 fiscal year. Passenger traffic at FRA is expected to reach between 67 million and 68.5 million passengers, representing an increase of more than 6 percent. Fraport expects the Group revenue to grow up to some 3.1 billion (adjusted for IFRIC 12 effects). Group EBITDA is forecast to range between about 1,080 million and 1,110 million, while Group EBIT is expected to be between approximately 690 million and 720 million. The Group result is also anticipated to rise significantly to between about 400 million and 430 million. The Executive Board and Supervisory Board will propose to the Annual General Meeting a dividend of 1.50 per share for the 2017 fiscal year - the same amount as in the previous year. Fraport plans to increase the dividend for fiscal year 2018.

For further information about Fraport AG please click here: http://ots.de/7L590

Print-quality photos of Fraport AG and Frankfurt Airport are available for free downloading via the photo library on the Fraport Web site. For TV news and information broadcasting purposes only, we also offer free footage material for downloading. If you wish to meet a member of our Media Relations team when at Frankfurt Airport, please do not hesitate to contact us. Our contact details are available here.

Fraport AG

Torben Beckmann

Phone: +49-69-690-70553

Corporate Communications

E-mail: [email protected]

Media Relations

http://www.fraport.com

60547 Frankfurt, Germany

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FrankfurtAirport

For further information about Fraport AG please click here.

SOURCE Fraport AG
Parties also extend Faroe Island conservation deal

ST. ANDREWS, N.B, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - The Atlantic Salmon Federation (ASF) and the North Atlantic Salmon Fund (NASF) have signed new agreements with commercial fishermen in Greenland and the Faroe Islands that will protect thousands of adult wild Atlantic salmon from commercial nets and longlines, allowing them to return to North American and European rivers.

The new Greenland Salmon Conservation Agreement will be for a period of 12-years (2018-2029). Representatives of ASF, NASF, and the Association of Fishers and Hunters in Greenland (KNAPK) finalized the agreement on May 24th in Reykjavik, Iceland, after more than 12-months of negotiations. The Faroe Island agreement between ASF, NASF, and the Faroese Salmon Fishing Vessel Association (Laksaskip) was signed in Reykjavik on May 22nd, continuing a decades-long suspension of commercial salmon fishing dating back to 1991.

The coastal waters of Greenland and the Faroe Islands are critical ocean feeding grounds for large wild Atlantic salmon from hundreds of rivers in North America and Europe. Commercial catches in these areas are known as "mixed-stock" fisheries because salmon are captured from relatively healthy populations as well as endangered ones. This impacts vulnerable rivers like the Penobscot River in the US and the St. John River in Canada, as well as iconic rivers with reduced counts, such as the Tweed in Scotland, Iceland's Big Laxa, and the Alta in Norway.

"Significantly reducing the harvest of wild Atlantic salmon on their ocean feeding grounds is meaningful and decisive, not only for salmon conservation, but also for global biodiversity and the health of our rivers and oceans," said ASF President Bill Taylor.

'"The best way to save North Atlantic salmon is to reduce the number killed," stated NASF US Chairman Chad Pike. "The unique ocean environment surrounding Greenland and the Faroe Islands is where large, mature fish from over 2,000 rivers throughout the North Atlantic are known to spend their winters feeding. These conservation agreements create sanctuaries for wild salmon at these critical habitats, which is a historic win for salmon conservation."

Under the terms of the agreement, the Greenland and Faroese delegations to the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO) will declare zero commercial quotas at next month's international summit in Portland Maine. As a result, mature salmon that would otherwise be removed by commercial nets will begin returning to their home rivers in the spring of 2019.

In exchange for no commercial salmon fishing in Greenland, ASF and NASF will financially support alternative economic development, scientific research, and education initiatives focused on marine conservation. A subsistence harvest by licensed recreational fishermen for personal and family consumption will continue.

In the Faroe Islands, a historic agreement has been in place since 1991 and its salmon fishery has been closed since that time. Orri Vigfusson, founder of the NASF, negotiated the transaction with the forward-thinking Faroese government, who were pioneers in marine conservation, and have recently emerged as leaders in sustainable aquaculture regulation.

Under previous ASF-NASF-KNAPK Greenland Conservation Agreements, scientific and regulatory authorities reported increases in the number of large salmon returning to North American and European rivers. In this case, a 12-year commercial fishing hiatus will provide relief for two entire generations of wild Atlantic salmon and population benefits are expected to be significant.

All money required to support these agreements is raised privately from donors and supporters of ASF and NASF.

For a backgrounder and pictures of the signing visit: http://asf.ca/asf-and-nasf-sign-12-year-salmon-agreement-with-greenland-f.html

The Atlantic Salmon Federation was formed in 1948 to conserve, protect, and restore wild Atlantic salmon and their environment.

The North Atlantic Salmon Fund is a U.S. non-profit corporation founded in 1996, with affiliates in Iceland, Scandinavia, and western Europe.

SOURCE Atlantic Salmon Federation

Related Links

http://www.asf.ca


Beck/Arnley has a vast portfolio of products, with over 24,000 parts for 1800 foreign nameplate vehicles that meet OE specifications for form, fit and function. The refreshed website, www.beckarnley.com , offers an enhanced user experience and will benefit technicians and consumers alike. Featuring an enhanced part finder that provides users with a more robust look-up system, making it easier to find the right part or fluid for one's needs, the site also debuts a modern look-and-feel.

"Beck/Arnley has been providing parts since 1914, and we thought that it was the perfect time to enhance and reimagine the brand, which over time, has developed into the place to find top-quality replacement parts for Asian and European vehicles," said Lou Kafantaris, Senior Manager, Marketing, Beck/Arnley, Federal-Mogul Motorparts.

"We do not operate on a 'one size fits all' model, but instead our product specialists work with a network of global sourcing partners on a part-by-part, one-at-a-time basis, offering the best products to give our customers the opportunity to install the right part with confidence," added Bob Anderson, Senior Director of Product Development, Beck/Arnley, Federal-Mogul Motorparts. "We encourage all of our customers to 'Check with Beck' when sourcing replacement parts for their foreign vehicles."

To 'Check with Beck,' contact your Federal-Mogul Motorparts representative for more information, or visit our new website at www.beckarnley.com.

About Federal-Mogul

Federal-Mogul LLC is a leading global supplier of products and services to the world's manufacturers and servicers of vehicles and equipment in the automotive, light, medium and heavy-duty commercial, marine, rail, aerospace, power generation and industrial markets. The company's products and services enable improved fuel economy, reduced emissions and enhanced vehicle safety.



Federal-Mogul operates two independent business divisions, each with a chief executive officer reporting to Federal-Mogul's Board of Directors.



Federal-Mogul Motorparts sells and distributes a broad portfolio of products through more than 20 of the world's most recognized brands in the global vehicle aftermarket, while also serving original equipment vehicle manufacturers with products including braking, wipers and a range of chassis components. The company's aftermarket brands include ANCO wipers; Beck/Arnley premium OE quality parts and fluids; BERU* ignition systems; Champion lighting, spark plugs, wipers and filters; Interfil filters; AE, Fel-Pro, FP Diesel, Goetze, Glyco, National, Nural, Payen, Sealed Power and Speed-Pro engine products; MOOG chassis components; and Abex, Ferodo, Jurid and Wagner brake products and lighting.

Federal-Mogul Powertrain designs and manufactures original equipment powertrain components and systems protection products for automotive, heavy-duty, industrial and transport applications.



Federal-Mogul was founded in Detroit in 1899 and maintains its worldwide headquarters in Southfield, Michigan. The company employs nearly 55,000 in 24 countries. For more information, please visit www.FMmotorparts.com.

*BERU is a registered trademark of BorgWarner

CONTACT:

Karen Shulhan (Federal-Mogul Motorparts)  248.354.4383

[email protected]

Drew Shippy (Pinnacle Media)  330.688.3500

[email protected]

SOURCE Federal-Mogul Motorparts

Related Links

http://www.FMmotorparts.com


BRUSSELS, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Brussels Court of First Instance (attachment section) on May 25, 2018, rejected Kazakhstan and the National Bank of Kazakhstan's petition to lift the Stati Parties' attachment of assets held by the Bank of New York Mellon (BNYM).

The Stati Parties had made this attachment in Belgium to guarantee the enforcement of two Swedish arbitral awards issued in their favor under the Energy Charter Treaty, granting damages of about US$520 million. Kazakhstan and its National Bank both sought to quash the decision authorizing this attachment by invoking several different legal arguments, all of which the Brussels Court rejected, reaffirming the validity of the attachment. This latest judgment helps clear the way for enforcement of the arbitral award against Kazakhstan, and protection of international investors in general.

Kazakhstan first disputed the Belgian Court's jurisdiction, arguing that the attached assets (cash and securities) are to be located in England (at the London branch of BNYM). The Court rejected this argument, confirming its jurisdiction to order the attachment. This jurisdiction derives from the fact that the third-party debtor, BNYM, has its registered office in Brussels.

Kazakhstan and the National Bank also had argued that the Belgian attachment would be contrary to English law, and therefore BNYM would have no obligations towards Kazakhstan but only towards the National Bank of Kazakhstan, with the attached assets enjoying immunity from enforcement under English law. Instead the Belgian Court confirmed the validity of a Belgian third- party attachment with an international dimension, in this case against a foreign State, to be determined by Belgian law. The Court applied the principle of territoriality, which is central to attachment law.

The Court also confirmed that all common law conditions for conservatory attachment were fulfilled at the time of the attachment, rejecting counterarguments by Kazakhstan and the National Bank. The Court confirmed the urgency of the attachment, attaching particular weight to the persistent refusal by Kazakhstan  despite the two final Swedish decisions definitively confirming the validity of the arbitral awards - to voluntarily comply with these final and binding arbitral awards, in each jurisdiction where enforcement proceedings are initiated:

"[Kazakhstan] clearly does not want to pay its debt to the Stati-Parties and tries as much as possible to escape from forced enforcement and attachment measures by repeatedly contesting the validity of the arbitral awards and invoking immunity from enforcement."

Second, the Court ruled that the claim of the Stati Parties against Kazakhstan is certain, fixed and due, and that there is no violation of public policy, contrary to what is alleged by Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan then put forward the argument that the Stati Parties would not be allowed to attach the assets in the hands of BNYM, as there would be no direct contractual relationship between itself and BNYM, but that such relationship would exist only between BNYM and the National Bank of Kazakhstan. The court rejected this argument.

Finally, Kazakhstan invoked the Belgian and international (customary) rules on immunity for foreign States and foreign central banks against enforcement. The Court thus had to determine whether the attached securities and cash are used or are intended for use by Kazakhstan "for other than non-commercial governmental purposes." The Court said Kazakhstan failed to demonstrate that the attached assets are used (or intended) for sovereign purposes and rejected the argument.

The amount due under the arbitral awards was approximately US$520 million. Taking into account the discrepancy between the judgment and the US$22 billion of frozen assets, the Stati Parties told the Court they were willing to accept reducing the attachment to US$530 million. The Court as a result agreed to limit the attachment to US$530 million.

The Stati Parties have also requested permission from the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in Stati et al. v. Rep. of Kazakhstan to take steps to enforce and execute the $520 million arbitral award, including by attaching Kazakh state commercial assets in the United States. The Stati Parties expect the D.C. court to rule soon on this motion, filed April 23, 2018, at which time they will move to seize any such assets that their ongoing investigation reveals.

The Stati Parties have already begun the process of obtaining discoverywhich, under U.S. law, permits a judgment creditor to obtain information concerning a judgment debtor's assets on a worldwide basisfrom both Kazakhstan and from the U.S.-based financial institutions that manage its assets.

Indeed, a U.S. federal court has recently ordered a major U.S. financial institution to provide testimony concerning Kazakh state assets. The Stati Parties are seeking additional discovery, including the deposition of a senior U.S.-based Kazakh government official.

The Stati claims originally arose out of Kazakhstan's seizure of the Stati Parties' petroleum operations in 2010. The Stati Parties acquired two companies in 1999 that held idle licenses in the Borankol and Tolkyn fields in Kazakhstan. They invested more than US$1 billion over the ensuing decade to turn the companies into successful exploration and production businesses. By late 2008, the businesses had become profitable and had yielded considerable revenues for the Kazakh state.

Just as the Stati Parties expected to start receiving dividends, more than half a dozen government agencies carried out numerous burdensome inspections and audits of the companies' businesses that resulted in false accusations of illegal conduct directed at the Stati Parties and their Kazakh companies, including criminal prosecutions of their general managers on false pretenses. Kazakhstan's actions challenged the Stati Parties' title to their investments, subjected them to hundreds of millions of dollars in unwarranted tax assessments and criminal penalties and ultimately led to the seizure and nationalization of their investments by Kazakh authorities in 2010.

MEDIA CONTACTS

Kimberly Macleod

(917) 587-0069

[email protected]

Chris Winans

(908) 309-3959

[email protected]

SOURCE The Stati Parties
BERGEN, Norway, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BerGenBio ASA (OSE:BGBIO) will host a conference call on Monday, 4 June at 8:30 AM CEST to present updated interim clinical and biomarker results from its ongoing Phase II development programme with selective AXL inhibitor bemcentinib. The data will be presented at the Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting and at a reception hosted by BerGenBio (details below).

Conference call details:

The call will be hosted by BerGenBio senior management and take place on:

Monday, 4 June 2018 at 8:30 AM CEST.

To take part, please dial in 5-10 minutes prior to the scheduled start using below phone number and confirmation code 1068189:

Norway +47-2100-2608

United Kingdom +44-(0)-330-336-9106

United States +1-323-794-2594

A slide deck presentation to accompany the call will be made available at www.bergenbio.com in the Investors / Presentations section from 8:00 AM CEST on 4 June 2018.

Presentations to be made during the annual ASCO meeting:

Saturday 2 June, 6:00  8:00 PM CDT, Chicago School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL

BerGenBio reception

New interim Phase II clinical trial data with bemcentinib and selected pre-clinical data to be discussed by BerGenBio principal investigators and invited key opinion leaders

For further details and to receive an invitation, please email to [email protected]

Monday 4 June, 8:00 AM - 11:30 AM CDT, ASCO Annual Meeting, McCormick Center, Chicago, IL

Interim clinical data from clinical trial ref. BGBC008  Poster Board: #292, Abstract 3078

Interim clinical data from clinical trial ref. BGBC003  Poster Board: #80, Abstract 7020

To be discussed at the Poster Discussion Session. 11:30 AM - 12:45 PM CDT

Biomarker study  Poster Board: #385, Abstract 2559

Monday 4 June, 1:15 PM  4:45 PM CDT, ASCO Annual Meeting, McCormick Center, Chicago, IL

Interim clinical data from clinical trial ref. BGBIL006  Poster Board: #375, Abstract 9548

The posters presented at ASCO will be made available www.bergenbio.com in the Investors / Presentations section at the time of presentation.

-End-

About BerGenBio ASA

BerGenBio ASA is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing a pipeline of first-in-class AXL kinase inhibitors as a potential cornerstone of combination cancer therapy. The Company is a world leader in understanding the essential role of AXL kinase in mediating aggressive disease, including immune evasive, drug resistant, metastatic solid and haematological cancers.

BerGenBio's lead product, bemcentinib (BGB324), is a selective, potent and orally bio-available small molecule AXL inhibitor in four Company sponsored Phase II clinical trials in major cancer indications, with read-outs anticipated during 2018. It is the only selective AXL inhibitor in clinical development.

The Company sponsored clinical trials are:

Bemcentinib with TARCEVA (erlotinib) in advanced EGFR mutation driven non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Bemcentinib with KEYTRUDA in advanced adenocarcinoma of the lung, and

Bemcentinib with KEYTRUDA in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC).

Bemcentinib as a single agent and combination therapy in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) / myeloid dysplastic syndrome (MDS)

The clinical trials combining bemcentinib with KEYTRUDA in adenocarcinoma of the lung and TNBC are conducted in collaboration with Merck & Co., Inc. (Kenilworth, NJ, USA), through a subsidiary.

In addition, a number of investigator-sponsored trials are underway, including a trial to investigate bemcentinib with either MEKINIST (trametinib) plus TAFINLAR (dabrafenib) or KEYTRUDA in advanced melanoma, as well as a trial combining bemcentinib with docetaxel in advanced NSCLC.

BerGenBio is simultaneously developing a companion diagnostic test to identify patient subpopulations most likely to benefit from treatment with bemcentinib. This will facilitate more efficient registration trials and support a precision medicine based commercialization strategy.

The Company is also developing a diversified pre-clinical pipeline of drug candidates, including BGB149, an anti-AXL monoclonal antibody.

For further information, please visit: www.bergenbio.com

KEYTRUDA is a registered trademark of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA, TARCEVA is a registered trademark of OSI Pharmaceuticals, LLC., marketed by Roche-Genentech. TAFLINAR is a registered trademark of Novartis International AG and MEKINIST is a registered trademark of GSK plc.

Contacts

Richard Godfrey

CEO

BerGenBio ASA

+47-917-86-304

Rune Skeie

CFO

BerGenBio ASA

[email protected]

+47-917-86-513

Media Relations in Norway

Jan Petter Stiff

Crux Advisers

[email protected]

+47-995-13-891

International Media Relations

David Dible

Mark Swallow

Marine Perrier

Citigate Dewe Rogerson

[email protected]

+44-207-638-9571

Forward looking statements

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements, which as such are not historical facts, but are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. These assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this announcement by such forward-looking statements

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This information was brought to you by Cision http://news.cision.com

http://news.cision.com/bergenbio-asa/r/bergenbio---invitation-to-conference-call--interim-update-on-ph-ii-clinical-programme-with-selective,c2533435

SOURCE BerGenBio ASA

Related Links

http://www.bergenbio.com


TROY, Mich., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Bianchi Public Relations, Inc. and the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) announced today the slate of new officers for one of the world's largest PR agency networks. The appointments were announced during the consortium's recent bi-annual meeting in Toronto, Canada. The three-day event, where the group's leadership teams discuss best practices and find new ways to collaborate and develop business partnerships globally, included key break-out sessions on the #metoo movement, promoting news literacy in the age of fake news and creating a safe workplace for employees.

At the Toronto meeting, attended by members from more than 31 regions from around the globe, PRGN members elected C.L. Conroy, president and CEO of Miami, Florida-based The Conroy Martinez Group as its 26th president to lead the worldwide network of 51 independently owned firms for the next 12 months. Christina Rytter, managing director and founder of Copenhagen, Denmark-based Scandinavian Communications, assumes the role of immediate past president and chair of the Advisory Board. Other officers named include: President-elect Aaron Blank, president/CEO of Seattle-based The Fearey Group, Secretary Leeza Hoyt, president of Los Angeles-based The Hoyt Organization and Sean Dowdall, General Manager and Chief Marketing Officer of San Francisco-based Landis Communications, Inc., who will serve as Treasurer.

"With 51 agencies on six continents, the network is as strong as ever," said Conroy. "We are excited to offer multi-disciplinary firms in practically every corner of the world helping our clients have a global footprint where ever they need it."

Founded in 1992 by a group of visionary public relations leaders, with more than $101 million in revenues and approximately 1,000 professionals in 51 locations, PRGN is one of the world's largest international public relations networks.

"Bianchi PR has been a proud PRGN member since 2014," said James A. Bianchi, president of Bianchi PR. "Our partner agencies meet twice a year at our conferences. We have close, personal relationships with our 50 independent agency partners around the world that allow us to serve clients however and wherever they need."

PRGN partners meet twice a year in cities around the world. The next meeting will be held in October 2018 in Bucharest, Romania. Agency members are independent, local, owner-operated public relations and marketing communications firms that share expertise and resources, while providing broad-based comprehensive communications strategies to clients worldwide. Companies or organizations interested in the services of PRGN's local agency network can visit www.prgn.com for more information.

Independent agencies interested in joining the network can visit the member recruitment section of the PRGN website for more information or email its membership chair, Lynn Erasmus, General Manager, HWB Communications at [email protected].

About Bianchi Public Relations

With special expertise in business-to-business PR and social media for automotive and mobility technology suppliers  and the professional service firms that serve them  Bianchi PR was founded in 1992 and is perennially ranked among the top independent PR agencies based in Metro Detroit.

Among Bianchi PR's ongoing business-to-business PR clients are Accuride Corp., Adient, ATA National Title, BASF Automotive Coatings, Cooper Standard, Freudenberg-NOK Sealing Technologies, Jaffe Raitt Heuer & Weiss, KIRCO, Schaeffler Group, SRG Global and Yanfeng Automotive Interiors. The firm's experience also includes work with consulting firms and multiple industry trade organizations. For more information, visit http://www.bianchipr.com or call 248-269-1122.

About Public Relations Global Network (PRGN)

Clients across six continents depend on the combined resources of the Public Relations Global Network (PRGN) to deliver targeted public relations campaigns in markets around the world. With revenues of more than $101 million (US), PRGN is one of the world's largest international public relations networks. PRGN harnesses the resources of 51 independent public relations firms and more than 1,000 communications professionals to connect international companies and organizations with individual and culturally diverse markets globally. Visit PRGN online at www.prgn.com or on twitter at @PRGN.

SOURCE Bianchi Public Relations

Related Links

http://www.bianchipr.com


ATLANTA, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CapTech, an IT management consulting company, is pleased to announce its partnership with Scheller College of Business at Georgia Tech Business Analytics Center. As a result of its partnership, CapTech is joining other local companies as Executive Council members, in supporting programs that benefit students, industry, and the analytics community.

"The Business Analytics Center serves as a platform for business analytics efforts, bringing together organizations, thought leaders, talented students, and world-class, interdisciplinary faculty at Georgia Tech to educate and exchange best practices for applying analytics to solve business problems," said Ramon Matos, a senior manager in CapTech's Atlanta Office. "We are very excited to join this innovative network, as well as meet and engage with the student talent."

"The Business Analytics Center is proud of its partnership with our Executive Council members and the exchange of knowledge that it affords. We are delighted to welcome CapTech as one of our generous industry partners and Executive Council members," said Dr. Sri Narasimhan, IT Management Professor and Faculty Co-Director of the Business Analytics Center.

"Executive Council partners are key contributors to our center's mission  including the annual Scheller College of Business Analytics Forum and the Business Analytics Best Practices Breakfast series. Our partners help shape the organization, develop future leaders in analytics, and provide benefits to our communities through experiential learning opportunities for our students, event participation, and networking opportunities," said Keith Werle, Managing Director of the Business Analytics Center.

Executive Council partners engage with analytics students in George Tech Scheller College of Business' MBA and MS Analytics programs and provide top business analytics talent with internships and full-time positions, as well as practicum course projects and guest lectures.

About CapTech: CapTech (www.captechconsulting.com) is a national IT management consulting firm that bridges the gap between business and technology. We partner with some of the world's most successful companies to design, develop, and manage technical and digital solutions that delight customers, drive insights, and meet strategic objectives. Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, CapTech has locations in Atlanta, Baltimore, Charlotte, Chicago, Columbus (Ohio), Denver, Orlando, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.

About the Business Analytics Center at Scheller College of Business: The Business Analytics Center serves as a platform for business analytics efforts, bringing together organizations, analytics thought leaders, talented students, and a world-class, interdisciplinary faculty at Georgia Tech to educate and exchange best practices for applying analytics to solve business problems.

About Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business

Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business is located in Atlanta, home to 17 of the nation's Fortune 500 companies, and is strategically centered in the world-renowned Technology Square district. This positioning at the intersection of business and technology provides students with an unparalleled opportunity to learn in one of the nation's premier high-tech business centers. The College offers globally-recognized, highly-ranked business programs including full-time, evening, and executive MBA degrees, undergraduate and Ph.D. degrees, and executive education programs. Interdisciplinary centers and programs encourage collaboration in research, teaching, and experiential learning within Georgia Tech in some of today's most sought-after arenas including sustainability, business analytics, leadership, ethics, innovation, entrepreneurship, supply chain, international business, and more. In partnership with several Georgia Tech Colleges, Scheller College offers joint MS degrees in Quantitative and Computational Finance and Business Analytics. Non-degree programs provide executives and professionals with company-specific and open enrollment offerings in areas such as digital disruption, innovation management, supply chain, business analytics and Lean Six Sigma for continued learning. More information can be found at www.scheller.gatech.edu

Contacts:

Emily Krause, Director of Marketing

CapTech

[email protected]

804.615.3712

Leslie Strickler, President

Etre Communications

[email protected]

804.240.0807

Lou Anne Nabhan

Etre Communications

[email protected]

804.241.7872

SOURCE CapTech

Related Links

http://www.captechconsulting.com


PALO ALTO, Calif., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today CarSmartt, (OTC-CRSM), our COO Vito Visconti, is pleased to announce that on January 25 ,2018 Carsmartt, Inc. has entered in to an agreement with Archer Robotics, LLC., the companies agreed to establish a project and implementation plan to provide an autonomous vehicle platform for CarSmartt, focused on Parcels delivery with driverless cars.

Over the past 4 months, Archer through its Aitheon Team has been running a very successful ICO and to date has raised over $23,500,000.

Carsmartt with the help of Aitheon will launch the Carsmartt ICO. Mr. Vito Visconti announced the ICO will be completed in approximately 3 more months. Mr. Visconti stated, this ICO will be sufficient to fund the Carsmartt application with Aitheon and implement an aggressive marketing program with its new CoinSmartt Token.

The alliance will allow Aitheon and CarSmartt to test and proceed with a packages delivery service that will use a fleet of blockchain-operated, driverless vehicles controlled by artificial intelligence. In the months ahead, the partnership will roll out domestically in Las Vegas, Nevada, followed by Miami, Florida.

Aitheon's technology platform will power the driverless cars to arrive to the delivery location. Upon arrival, users will be notified via text with the location of the parked vehicle. When a user arrives at the vehicle to receive their package their identification will be verified, the car will unlock and they can retrieve their package.

About: CarSmartt

CarSmartt Inc. is a startup company of the revolutionary APP.CARSMARTT.COM a ride sharing concept located in Palo Alto CA. (Silicon Valley), at CarSmartt we aim to make long distance traveling safer and more affordable, while connecting with people along the way. CarSmartt members can choose to share a ride or ship a package with the option of applying insurance coverage. All CarSmartt drivers are subject to a background check to reassure the safety of passengers. CarSmartt is currently now active in the USA, Italy, Mexico and Colombia. However, our company will soon continue to expand to Europe, Canada and Latin America.

About: Aitheon

AITHEON is the digital ecosystem that enables symbiosis between Humans and A.I. / Robotics, helping organizations to thrive, while also creating workforce opportunities in an era where automation is reducing jobs. We are the bridge for businesses, workers, robotics suppliers, coders, and professionals to integrate, producing world class results.

www.aitheon.com

CONTACT

CarSmartt

228 Hamilton Ave.

Palo Alto, CA 94301

Website: http://www.carsmartt.com

Phone: 650-460-7416

Email: [email protected]

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT

Statements in this press release that are not historical fact may be deemed 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. Although CARSMARTT, Inc. believes the expectations reflected in any forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, CARSMARTT, Inc. is unable to give any assurance that its expectations will be attained. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include the company's ability to meet the conditions necessary to, among other matters, obtain a public listing on a major national exchange.

SOURCE CarSmartt Inc.

Related Links

http://www.carsmartt.com


Jessica Tan, Deputy Group CEO, Chief Operation Officer (COO) and Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of Sanofi, Olivier Charmeil, Executive Vice President of General Medicines & Emerging Markets, Alex Cruau, Consul General of France in Shanghai and Chunlin Jin, Director of Shanghai Health Development Research Center witnessed the signing of the MOU at Ping An headquarters in Shanghai. Jean-Christophe Pointeau, Country Chair of Sanofi China, and Ericson Chan, CEO of Ping An Technology, signed the MOU on behalf of both parties.

Ms. Tan explained that, in recent years, Ping An has been focused on the application of leading-edge technologies in the smart healthcare field, with the aim of becoming a leader in artificial intelligence (AI). Sanofi is not only a top-tier multinational pharmaceutical company, but also a leader in the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases. The cooperation will help promote the growth of the healthcare industry and set a good example for the development of smart healthcare.

Previously, cooperation between Chinese insurers and multinational companies mainly focused on serious diseases including cancers. This time, Ping An Group and Sanofi will leverage their experience and advantages, starting with chronic diseases and then expanding to the main diseases that present an overall threat to the health of the Chinese population, providing better services for physicians and patients at primary hospitals and laying a foundation for deeper and broader cooperation in the future.

Based on its smart healthcare platform, Ping An Group's subsidiary Ping An Technology, the implementer of the project, will be engaged in the application and development of leading-edge technologies including AI algorithms and models as well as big data and will develop AI-based disease screening, risk prediction and clinical decision support system (CDSS) products. "Healthcare is closely related to people's lives. Ping An Technology has extensive experience in disease screening and prediction, and has established partnerships with nearly 50 hospitals for its integrated smart healthcare platform, which has been in clinical use at primary hospitals," the Ping An Technology CEO, Mr. Chan, said.

The Shanghai-based French consul general, Mr. Cruau, congratulated the strategic cooperation, saying: "We are happy to witness the cooperation between the two companies. Sanofi is the largest biopharmaceutical company in France and Ping An is a leading financial services group in China. I look forward to seeing the chemistry between the two companies during their cooperation, a cooperation that is certain to facilitate the economic, healthcare and social development of the two nations."

As one of the first multinational pharmaceutical companies to have entered China more than 35 years ago, Sanofi is always at the forefront of providing innovative healthcare solutions for Chinese people," said Olivier Brandicourt, CEO of Sanofi. "We are pleased to join hands with Ping An that is not only a leading insurance company, but also a pioneer in the country's Internet-based healthcare ecosystem. Our shared vision over patient empowerment and online support to healthcare professionals lays a great ground for our future collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders."

About Ping An

As China's first joint stock insurance company, Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China, Ltd. ("Ping An") strives to become a world-leading technology-powered personal financial services group. Today, it is an integrated, compact, multi-functional financial services group with services that include insurance, banking, and investment. As of 31 December, 2017, the Group had over 166 million retail customers. At the end of December 2017, the Group's consolidated total assets reached RMB6.49 trillion, while equity attributable to share holders of the parent company stood at RMB 473,351 million. Ping An Life and Ping An Property & Casualty are both ranked as the second largest in China, and Ping An Annuity is the top-ranked in China in their respective areas by premium income.

Its subsidiary Ping An Bank is China's first joint stock bank. The Company's key areas of business include investment, with subsidiaries such as Ping An Trust,Ping An Securities and Ping An Asset Management. Furthermore, Ping An strives to develop internet finance, including Lufax, Ping An Good Doctor, Ping An Haofang, E-Wallet, One Connect, Ping An Healthcare Management Services, Wanjia Healthcare. It has achieved significant growth in both the scale and user base of internet finance. As of 31 December, 2017, the number of internet users of the Company reached 436 million.

Ping An ranked 16th in Forbes' 2017 Global 2000, and it ranked 39th in Fortune Magazine's 2017 Global 500 Leading Companies. Ping An also ranked 61st in WPP Millward Brown's BrandZTM Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands.

For more information, please visit http://t.sina.com.cn/pingan, http://t.qq.com/pingan or www.pingan.com.cn.

About Ping An Technology

Ping An Technology, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ping An Group, is committed to using AI, intelligent cognition, blockchain, cloud and other cutting-edge technologies to create a new cloud-based life for people. As a subsidiary, Ping An Technology is the high-tech core and tech business incubator among Ping An Group, and be responsible for the development and operation of the critical platforms and services for Ping An Group. As an independent entity, with smart technology as a means and smart manufacturing as a blueprint, Ping An technology focuses on the finance, healthcare and smart city areas, applies the technological capabilities certified by international authoritative certifications to actual business scenarios, creates a closed-loop ecosystem, and actively practices the corporate philosophy of changing life with technology.

More than 4,000 IT professionals and management experts form a high-level R&D force to provide expert-level technical support for the stable and reliable operation of the platform. The established cloud ecosystem has already carried over 400 million of Internet users.

About Sanofi China

In 1982, Sanofi opened its first office in China. Sanofi China has a diversified business that ranges from pharmaceuticals to human vaccines (Sanofi Pasteur). Sanofi's China headquarters in Shanghai are supported by 11 branches in Beijing, Tianjin,Shenyang, Jinan, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Fuzhou and Urumqi. As of 2016, Sanofi had around 9,000employees in China.

Sanofi has three manufacturing facilities in China to meet the increasing demand of the China market. These plants are located in Beijing, Hangzhou and Shenzhen.

With Shanghai as headquarter of Sanofi China R&D and Asia Pacific R&D Hub, Sanofi's capabilities span the entire R&D value chain from drug target identification to late-stage clinical studies. Sanofi focuses on China and Asia Pacific's unmet medical needs, such as liver diseases, diabetes, oncology and cardiovascular diseases.

SOURCE Ping An Technology
BROOKLYN, N.Y., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Chris Carey Advisors assisted the CEO of a $200M revenue NJ Contractor on his purchase of the majority ownership in the company. As part of the transaction, Chris Carey Advisors secured purchase and working capital funding from a prominent international bank. The CEO and his family had a minority position and with this transaction now own all of the outstanding shares of the company. Chris Carey Advisors played a key role in establishing the valuation, structuring the purchase and raising the necessary capital.

The Brooklyn-based financial and business advisory firm recently earned the "Turnaround Consultant of the Year" award specifically for its recent turnarounds of Benco, Inc. (Fairfield, NJ), EZ Mailing Services, Inc. (Elizabeth, NJ) and a major real estate developer in Brooklyn, NY.

Chris Carey, founder and CEO of the firm, also had been named "Chapter 11 Reorganization of the Year" by M&A Advisor in 2017; "Turnaround of the Year" by the Global M&A Network as the best value-creating restructuring transaction for 2016; "Entrepreneur of the Year" by New Jersey magazine; and "Small Business Philanthropist of the Year" by the Community Foundation of New Jersey. He has been featured in numerous business periodicals, including Business Week, Forbes, Inc., The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, and is a frequent speaker at high-profile industry and business conferences.

Editorial Contacts: Mary Weaver, [email protected], 908-642-4666

Lorna Pappas, [email protected], 973-786-7771

SOURCE Chris Carey Advisors

Related Links

http://www.chriscareyadvisors.com/


The second leg of Soul2Soul: The World Tour kicks off May 31st in Richmond, Virginia and first features Caitlyn Smith as the opening act, then Devin Dawson, Brothers Osborne, NEEDTOBREATHE, Seth Ennis, Midland, Margo Price, and more.

"Tim McGraw and Faith Hill put on an amazing show and it is truly my honor to join the tour team," said Clay Hutson.

Well-respected in the world of live performances, Hutson has worked with the likes of Kid Rock, P!nk, Kelly Clarkson, and Guns 'n' Roses. For over 20 years he has helped musicians put on live performances, excelling with sound engineering, stage management, and tour production.

In Hutson's early days he worked as a sound engineer and toured as part of the Billy Graham sound team. Later, it was Hutson's love of rock 'n' roll that drove him to follow his heart and focus on the music industry. He went on to travel throughout Europe, Australia, and North America, helping some of the world's greatest musicians put on the most entertaining live shows in front of sold-out audiences.

"I like to be known as the hardest working guy in the room," said Hutson. "I find that artists truly appreciate the efforts that are put into their stage shows, which, in turn, allows for the reputation of the business to continue to grow with each successful endeavor."

For information or to purchase tickets for Soul2Soul: The World Tour, please visit http://soul2soultour.com/. For more information about Clay Hutson and the production services he offers, please visit https://clayhutson.com/.

About Clay Hutson

Clay Hutson is a sound engineer, a stage manager, and a tour producer based out of Nashville, TN. He is someone who helps put on live performances and makes sure that everything works out well in front of the crowd. He is an ambitious individual who has a passion for music and everything related to it.

Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn and @clayhutson1

SOURCE Clay Hutson

Related Links

https://clayhutson.com


ROHNERT PARK, Calif., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Competency-based learning is a recently emerging college style that specifically takes students out of the classroom and lets them learn at their own pace and time. A few schools and districts across the country have been testing out this new method, enough to give accredited degrees. However, it is still college, and depending on what these courses cost, student loans may ultimately need to be taken out to get the proper tools to the student. Ameritech Financial, a document preparation service company, can help federal student loan borrowers apply for income-driven repayment programs if payments become overwhelming even if they have taken competency-based learning courses.

"Different teaching styles work better for various individuals. A competency-based program where a student doesn't have to step foot inside of a classroom can be great news for those who can't leave home for whatever reason," says Tom Knickerbocker, executive vice president of Ameritech Financial. Competency-based education allows a student to take as long as needed to fully understand a subject before moving on, with more personalized help than a traditional college can offer. The locations that offer these competency-based learning courses have seen positive results around the education that these students receive. With the courses being set to change only when a student can show a strong understanding of the subject, a student can more solidly master the subjects at hand and be confident when applying gained knowledge to that student's life and occupation. However, these methods of teaching and learning may not be for everyone. A strong amount of self-discipline is required to complete these courses. Some students also benefit from the structure of a traditional college setting.

Between the various options available, many potential students can look forward to attending college in the way that is right for them. Student loans don't pay for just tuition though, and even individuals in competency-based learning courses may need the assistance of student loans to be able to complete the work for a degree. For reasons outside of personal control, it may become difficult to repay student loans. Various income-driven repayment programs can be applied to for a potentially easier time of repayment. Ameritech Financial can assist federal student loan borrowers to apply for these programs, regardless of what kind of schooling they attended. "Being able to work from home and still take college courses can open the door for many more people to be able to get a degree that can put them farther ahead in life, and I think that is wonderful. Society should never stop trying to find ways to accommodate more people in productive ways," said Knickerbocker.

About Ameritech Financial

Ameritech Financial is a private company located in Rohnert Park, California. Ameritech Financial has already helped thousands of consumers with financial analysis and student loan document preparation to apply for federal student loan repayment programs offered through the Department of Education.

Each Ameritech Financial telephone representative has received the Certified Student Loan Professional certification through the International Association of Professional Debt Arbitrators (IAPDA).

Ameritech Financial prides itself on its exceptional customer service.

Ameritech Financial Newsroom

Contact

To learn more about Ameritech Financial, please contact:

Ameritech Financial

5789 State Farm Drive #265

Rohnert Park, CA 94928

1-800-792-8621

[email protected]

Related Images

college-at-home.jpg

College at Home

pinkypills/Bigstock.com

image2.png

Related Links

Ameritech Financial

Related Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRza8MbLvuM

SOURCE Ameritech Financial

Related Links

https://ameritechfinancial.com


"Our goal at TrueLook is to put our camera technology easily into the hands of construction workers who can use it to make decisions both big and small," said Ken Pittman, chief marketing officer for TrueLook. "Previously users had to access photos within TrueLook separately. Now, if contractors are collaborating on a site plan in PlanGrid, TrueLook users can attach pictures directly to that plan, create albums for the images and email photos to other PlanGrid users," It's seamless interactivity that makes the platforms work together more efficiently."

TrueLook provides construction jobsite camera technology including live jobsite viewing, construction time-lapses, HD security recording, and drone photography. PlanGrid's construction productivity software enables users to collaborate in real-time on all project documents, such as plans, punch lists, RFIs and daily reports. The integration of TrueLook with PlanGrid allows users to select, manage and organize TrueLook photos directly through PlanGrid and access Plangrid contacts from within TrueLook.

"With immediate access to TrueLook's project imagery within PlanGrid, our customers can collaborate in real-time and make better decisions on the jobsite," said James Cook, head of strategic alliances and partnerships at PlanGrid. "We welcome TrueLook to our expanding partner ecosystem and are proud to be able to offer our customers even more powerful tools to extend their PlanGrid investment."

TrueLook continues to enhance their offerings through software integrations and hardware upgrades. The PlanGrid integration is one of four recent integrations and new camera technology will be unveiled later this year.

About TrueLook

TrueLook is the only construction camera company to combine live jobsite viewing, project time-lapsing, and HD security recording in one turnkey system. They provide the best project management tools, at a lower price, with the industry's most user-friendly interface. TrueLook has been a pioneer of new construction camera technologies for over 20 years. Their cameras capture over 50,000 time-lapse photos every day across the U.S. and Canada, and have delivered more than two billion images to customers. To find out more, visit www.TrueLook.com or call 866-811-2321.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Heather Ripley

Ripley PR

865-977-1973

[email protected]

SOURCE TrueLook

Related Links

http://www.TrueLook.com


HOUSTON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Cook Medical must pay $1.2 million to compensate a man who was implanted with a Cook Celect IVC filter, said a Texas jury Thursday. Following a three-week trial, the jury of 12 ruled Cook must pay for injuries following a Celect filter's implantation in Jeff Pavlock on March 3, 2015. A 35-year-old Houston-area firefighter, Mr. Pavlock sued Cook after its Celect inferior vena cava filter required open laparotomy surgery to remove.

Cook promoted its Celect IVC filter as retrievable, but the filter put into Mr. Pavlock's inferior vena cava tilted, perforated his IVC, duodenum and aorta, and was pressing against his spine and renal artery, making it impossible to remove without major surgery. Two previous removal procedures had failed.

There was much conjecture from both sides about how much the results of the invasive surgery affected Mr. Pavlock now and could affect him in the future. Defense pounced on the Plaintiff side's analysis that any spinal stenosis Mr. Pavlock may have is asymptomatic for now but could become symptomatic in the future. Nobody could say for certain whether or not Mr. Pavlock would suffer symptomatic stenosis in future or how much trauma he suffered from the surgery.

Attorney David Matthews argued for the plaintiff in closing that Cook knew its Celect had perforation problems before it was cleared by the FDA, yet pushed it to the market anyway. He showed the jury several independent studies that found Celect had a perforation rate of greater than 79 percent, while the Cook-sponsored study the company presented to the FDA prior to Celect's 510(k) clearance in 2008 showed a zero percent perforation rate. Mr. Matthews also reminded the jury that he had shown evidence that as few as one percent of adverse events are reported by doctors to a medical device maker.

To explain or dismiss the large gap between independent and Cook-sponsored study findings, defense attorney John Mandler said, "They have their favorite studies and we have ours." Cook's attorneys had also refuted trial evidence of doctors reporting only 1-5% of actual adverse events related to medical devices. In closing, Mr. Mandler called the low-reporting evidentiary studies a "conspiracy theory."

Cook issued a press release the next day vowing to appeal the jury verdict.

Freese & Goss and Matthews & Associates Law Firm represented the plaintiff. Faegre Baker Daniels represented Cook. The actual jury award was $1,240,500.

SOURCE Matthews & Associates Law Firm

Related Links

https://dmlawfirm.com/


NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CoreView, a global leader in Office 365 management, tenant segmentation, security, and change management for the enterprise, today announced an investment led by Insight Venture Partners, a New York-based venture capital and private equity firm. In addition, CoreView announced the appointment of David Moran as CEO, an industry veteran with extensive experience scaling enterprise software businesses globally.

CoreView previously operated as 4ward365, a subsidiary of 4ward. The new brand reflects the growing centrality of cloud and hybrid solutions to enterprise IT, making visibility and control essential to day-to-day operations. Founders David Mascarella and Ivan Fioravanti are proud that CoreView is the first Italian entity to receive funding from Insight Venture Partners. They will work as Chief Global Strategist and CTO, respectively, to scale the business globally and execute company's long-term vision.

"The CoreView team has created a best-in-class product offering, and I am delighted to take on the role of CEO," said David Moran. "Partnering with Insight Venture Partners means we have access to their global resources and expertise for scaling our business, and we are excited to work with them as we accelerate the growth of the company. We will now look to deepen our offering in the Office365 ecosystem as well as developing solutions for hybrid and other cloud environments."

CoreView provides a comprehensive suite of enterprise Office365 management tools, including:

virtual tenant segmentation and administration,

cost analytics and license optimization,

usage reporting,

delivery of just-in-time training content to stimulate change management, and

comprehensive security alerts and compliance auditing.

CoreView has customers across all major verticals in the US and Europe. The investment by Insight Venture Partners will accelerate the global scaling of CoreView.

"CoreView has a unique offering that directly addresses a range of challenges enterprises face when migrating to a cloud environment, especially when making the move to Office 365," said Phil Vorobeychik, Principal at Insight Venture Partners. "We're thrilled to welcome Dave, David, Ivan and the CoreView team to our portfolio, and we look forward to the next chapter of their story."

About CoreView

CoreView, provides enterprises and Microsoft partners the ability to manage, control and obtain valuable information across all aspects of their Microsoft Office 365 investment. This information allows organizations to improve security, achieve compliance, optimize licensing, and deliver operational improvements. Our mission is to help customers maximize their ROI in any cloud productivity suites.

For more information on CoreView, visit www.coreview.com.

About 4ward

Founded in 2002, 4ward is an innovator in digital transformation, recognized for best-in-class services, particularly as a Microsoft partner. 4ward has been awarded the Microsoft Country Partner of the Year for Italy 2 years in a row, awarded the Most Valuable Application Lifecycle Management partner within the Western European region 5 times, and awarded the 2017 Office365 Partner of the year for Italy. 4ward will continue to build, deliver, and maintain complex cloud applications & infrastructures for customers as an independent entity.

About Insight Venture Partners

Insight Venture Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight has raised more than $18 billion and invested in over 300 companies worldwide. Our mission is to find, fund and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. Across our people and our portfolio, we encourage a culture around a core belief: growth equals opportunity. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

SOURCE CoreView

Related Links

http://www.coreview.com


BEIJING, May 28, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Asia's fastest growing co-working space, Ucommune, has announced the establishment of its first blockchain research lab, with an inauguration ceremony held in Beijing today. This marks the brand's official foray into the blockchain sector, making the event first of its kind in the coworking industry.

In support of central Chinese government's drive towards blockchain adoption and digital economy, Ucommune is initiating a blockchain platform for its community members to build their blockchain solutions upon. In addition, they will also be creating innovative blockchain solutions for co-working spaces on the blockchain platform.

"Our foray into blockchain reflects Ucommune's commitment in providing decentralised and trusted services to our growing and diversifying community member base. The new lab will conduct in-depth research on blockchain application for coworking and develop a whitepaper that sets the industry benchmark. We are also leveraging blockchain for custom-made solutions to better serve our millennials members," says Mr. Ma Zhiyu, Director of the Ucommune Blockchain Lab.

Mr. Ma amasses decades of experiences in IT software developments. Since 2017, Mr. Ma started to get involved in blockchain and has mentored several young entrepreneurs in the field. In addition, he is interested in the application of blockchain to areas such as healthcare, big data, blockchain sourcing, sport gaming, celebrity IP and copyright training applications and has founded a blockchain lab named Astar.

Partnering Mr. Ma would be Ucommune's CTO, Mr. Xu Binchao, on the blockchain development. Mr. Xu has over 15 years of experience technology development. He specializes in product design and application of new technology. He has led various team to design and operationalize various internet businesses. In addition, he has amassed a wealth of knowledge in search engine optimisation and development. Mr. Xu is optimistic about creating a blockchain-enabled coworking eco-system.

"Ucommune Blockchain Lab aims to enable and empower a trust-based virtual network that helps businesses of varied sizes to collaborate, source and trade efficiently and transparently. Drawing on our technological know-how and expertise, we are on track to connect enterprises across the entire value chain to form a smart contract platform that all member companies can build their sub-chains upon," said Mr. Xu.

Supporting both technical leads would be Mr. Josh Zhang. He is currently the Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Partner of Ucommune, overseeing strategic planning, government relations, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and innovation programs of the company. Mr. Zhang will provide the business strategy to ensure the commercial viability of the project.

"Blockchain is a dynamic technology with several commercial use cases. Given the wide array of choices available, Ucommune will conduct our due diligence to discover the requirements, price points and preferences of our clients. This will inform our blockchain product development strategy and also customize the platform to suit other entrepreneurs," said Mr. Zhang.

Prior to joining Ucommune, Mr. Zhang was the director of APEC China Business Council, an arm of APEC. During his tenure as an aide to Jack Ma, Chairman of Alibaba, Mr. Zhang was in charge of the Group's external affairs and was the main driver behind the company's partnership with countries in the Asia Pacific region. An early pioneer in China's technology incubation industry, he was awarded the 'Global Shaper' prize by the World Economic Forum. He also mentored start-ups at the Technology Center of Peking University.

Quest of community expansion

With the merger of Woo Space, Wedo, New Space and Workingdom earlier this year, Ucommune has undoubtedly cemented its leadership position in China. Boasting presence in 160 locations from 36 cities globally, Ucommune connect 120,000 individual members and 7000 corporate members with a total space of 400,000 square metres.

In the earlier part of the year, Ucommune has launched its proprietary application UBazaar. It aggregates local suppliers, services and merchants which simplified various transactions. The UBazaar mobile app has so far achieved over 500,000 downloads, 100,000 active users in 160 communities.

"As we celebrate the third anniversary of Ucommune, I am proud to see that we have built a strong platform that empowers entrepreneurs with equal opportunities. We have provided the space for 150 enterprises with over 20 million users. We are committed to unleash the potential of co-working spaces globally through incorporating cutting-edge technology such as blockchain," said Dr. Mao Daqing, founder and Chairman of Ucommune at the World INS Conference, a proprietary event of Ucommune held in the City of Xi An last week.

For further information please contact:

Helena Ma

Email: [email protected]

SOURCE Ucommune
The PAO Pearl Specialist Certification Course was created in 2016 by Jeremy Shepherd, CPAA treasurer and founder of PearlParadise.com and Pearl-Guide.com , in partnership with the world's biggest pearl producers. Those groups include: The Tahitian Pearl Association of French Polynesia, Jewelmer, the Japan Pearl Exporters' Association, Paspaley, Atlas Pearls and J. Hunter Pearls Fiji. PAO brings together the expertise and passion of pearl farmers, retailers, processors, wholesalers, and importers, all with the shared goal of promoting the pearl industry.

"Most industry education focuses on diamonds and colored gemstones, and we discovered that many jewelry experts don't have a deep understanding of pearls and how to appraise them," explains Shepherd about the reason for creating the course.

PearlsAsOne.org is the most comprehensive pearl education available in the trade. The course is divided into 10 modules and covers topics like the history of the pearl industry, pearl valuation, and current production methods. To date, more than 20,000 have taken the English-language course (PAO is available in seven languages).

The CPAA's marketing initiatives heavily focus on social media advertising to drive interest in pearl education and a growing consumer demand for the organic gem. The Tahitian Pearl Association of French Polynesia (TPAFP) is funding these efforts for 2018 because it supports the changesincluding a new website and original contentbeing made by CPAA to reinvigorate the U.S. pearl market.

"Pearls have the most inspiring story in all of jewelry, and the monies made available by the TPAFP are being strategically spent to create knowledgeable collectors and fans all over the world," says Jennifer Heebner, the recently appointed executive director of CPAA and a 20-year veteran of the jewelry industry.

CPAA is a nonprofit group whose goals are to improve retail marketability of pearls and cultivate demand among consumers. For more information about becoming a certified pearl expert, please visit PearlsAsOne.org. To learn more about the Cultured Pearl Association of America, please visit CPAA.org.

SOURCE The Cultured Pearl Association of America

Related Links

http://www.cpaa.org


BOSTON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- CyberSaint Security, a cybersecurity software company providing a comprehensive solution to cyber-resilience, compliance and risk management through the CyberStrong Platform, today announced the closing of a $3 million growth round of financing. The proceeds will be used to expand its worldwide sales team and fuel continued platform innovation. The round was co-led by Audeo Capital and founding investor, BlueIO.

The exponential increase in cyberattacks and data breaches in the last few years has created a desperate need for both the private and public sectors to organize their cybersecurity defenses. Governments and industry groups have responded with a dramatic increase in new regulations, mandates, and compliance frameworks to provide guidelines by which their constituents can address cybersecurity threats. CyberSaint's CyberStrong Platform empowers organizations to implement automated, intelligent cybersecurity compliance and risk management rapidly, thoroughly, and continuously.

"We co-founded CyberSaint with the mission to provide organizations with a platform that would enable them to treat cybersecurity as a core business function," said Dave Furneaux, CEO of BlueIO. "We are grateful that the experienced builders at Audeo Capital have joined our team to execute on our shared vision."

"Helping customers easily adopt powerful frameworks such as the NIST CSF and enabling them to report to constituents in an automated, continuous, business-driven process powered by patented AI addresses a large gap in the market," added CyberSaint Founder and CEO, George Wrenn.

"The dramatic increase in cyber threats and attacks have put companies in the unenviable position of protecting themselves from the unknown. Most enterprises are trying to best understand how to protect themselves today, while building a strong foundation of protection for the future.

"CyberStrong is a comprehensive cyber security platform that helps companies address and remediate current weaknesses in their security methodology while helping them build world-class security programs that can comply to and adopt complex rules and government regulations. CyberSaint's sophisticated yet easy-to-implement and operate platform positions enterprises to protect their most valuable resources. Audeo Capital is excited to partner with BlueIO and the CyberSaint team to enable our customers to become cyber strong in today's world of continued cyber uncertainty," stated Robert Forman, Managing Partner of Audeo Capital.

Built upon a proprietary, patent-pending technology stack, CyberStrong's AI and Machine Learning capabilities augment and enhance compliance and risk programs, using cyber-risk profiling, optimization, measurement, documentation and workflow that enables continuous compliance with even the most complex cybersecurity standards.

The Platform leverages its NIST-based rules engine to score an organization's cybersecurity posture through the continuous assessment of applications, vendors, internal systems and environments. Credible risk data, intuitive dashboards, actionable threat intelligence and C-level reports strengthen cybersecurity transparency and communication between both the IT and business stakeholders.

CyberStrong's early adopters include recognized industry leaders in biotech, education, aerospace, semiconductor manufacturing, environmental services, critical infrastructure and more, including Fortune 500 companies. The company's Partner Program was also launched this quarter with partnerships from organizations such as GuidePoint Security, Netanium, Blum Shapiro (Baker Tilly International), and others.

About CyberSaint

CyberSaint Security empowers organizations to implement automated, intelligent cybersecurity compliance and risk management that enables measurement, enhances communication and improves cybersecurity resiliency. The CyberSaint team's intellectual DNA winds deeply through the academic, tech, and investment communities in Boston, the White House, RSA, IBM, EMC, MIT, Harvard, University of Cambridge, KPMG and others.

For more information: https://www.cybersaint.com

CONTACT: Alison Furneaux, (781) 690-9122, [email protected]

SOURCE CyberSaint Security

Related Links

https://www.cybersaint.com


SAN DIEGO, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Denovo Biopharma LLC, a pioneer in using precision medicine to develop innovative therapies, today announced that Wen Luo, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer, will be meeting with investors at the Morgan Stanley 4th Annual China Summit on Wednesday, May 30, 2018 in Beijing. Denovo will host one-on-one meetings with interested investors during the conference.

About Denovo Biopharma

Denovo Biopharma is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that applies novel biomarker approaches to precision drug development to re-evaluate medicines that have failed in broad patient populations. The company applies its expertise to archived clinical samples to discover genomic biomarkers correlated with patients' responses to drug candidates retrospectively. Denovo then designs and executes efficient clinical trials in targeted patient populations to optimize the probability of a successful trial. Denovo is enrolling patients in the U.S. and China with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) in a Phase 3 clinical trial for its lead product product candidate, DB102, which was in-licensed from Eli Lilly. The company has two additional late stage programs: DB103, for schizophrenia, and DB104, for depression. For additional information please visit www.denovobiopharma.com.

Contact:

Robert H. Uhl

Managing Director

Westwicke Partners

(858) 356-5932

[email protected]

SOURCE Denovo Biopharma LLC

Related Links

http://www.denovobiopharma.com


Starting June 4, Discovery Familia will premiere popular and successful home renovation and food competition programs such as Remodelacion en pareja (Fixer Upper) , Rescatando propiedades ( Flip or Flop) , Los cazahogares ( House Hunters) , Chopped: Eliminado (Chopped) y Juegos en el super con Guy ( Guy's Grocery Games) . It will also offer content featuring Latin American personalities, such as Locos x el Asado .

Well-known personalities including Chip and Joanna Gaines, Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay, Ted Allen, and Alton Brown will join the network's programming line-up by sharing their culinary, home improvement and decorating expertise, bringing at the same time all the drama and stress that comes with cooking contests and home renovations.

New series descriptions are as follows:

Juegos en el super con Guy (Guy's Grocery Games)- Monday, June 4 -7pm ET

Guy Fieri sends four talented chefs running through the aisles in a grocery store cooking competition. The chefs are hit by real-world challenges like finding workarounds when all the essential ingredients are suddenly "out-of-stock" or having to create a masterpiece when you can only cook with "5 items or less" or on a $10 budget.

Locos X el Asado- Monday, June 4 -9pm ET

Hosted by "El Laucha" and his friends, the show takes place in a homie space covered with local flavors while they prepare extraordinary asados, show a variety of cooking techniques and details about the different meat cuts, sauces, and secret tricks. The new series also takes on a tour of Buenos Aires and its surroundings, and introduces unique characters.

Remodelacion en pareja (Fixer Upper)- Wednesday, June 6- 9pm E/P

Chip and Joanna Gaines help homebuyers in Waco, Texas, look past the superficial and buy the worst house in the best neighborhood. With his expertise in construction and her keen design sense, Chip and Jo transform potential-rich houses into their clients' dream homes.

Rescatando propiedades (Flip or Flop)- Wednesday, June 6- 10pm E/P

Flipping team Tarek and Christina have viewers on the edge of their seats as they purchase dilapidated properties for cash and then renovate and flip them for resale.

Chopped: Eliminado (Chopped)- Sunday, June 10 - 9E/P

Chopped is a cooking competition that's all about skill, speed and ingenuity, where four up-and-coming chefs compete before a panel of three expert judges. Course by course, the chefs must take a basket of mystery ingredients and turn it into an extraordinary meal. Host Ted Allen leads the high-energy, high-pressure competition, and in the end, only one chef will make the cut and win $10,000.

Sabotaje en la cocina (Cutthroat Kitchen)- Sunday, June 10- 9E/P

The new series hands four chefs $25,000 and the opportunity to spend that money on helping themselves or sabotaging their competitors. Ingredients will be thieved, utensils destroyed and valuable time on the clock lost when these chefs compete to cook delicious dishes while also having to out-plot the competition. With Alton Brown as the devilish provocateur, we see just how far one chef will go to ensure they have the winning dish.

Los cazahogares (House Hunters, House Hunters International and Tiny House Hunters)- Friday, June 22- 7pm ET

These series take viewers behind the scenes as individuals, couples and families learn what to look for and decide whether or not a home is meant for them. Focusing on the emotional experience of finding and purchasing a new home, each episode shows the process as buyers search for a home whether it's in their home town, across the globe or looking to downsize their living space.

Derrota a Bobby Flay (Beat Bobby Flay)- Monday, July 9- 10pm E/P

In this competition series, two talented chefs go head-to-head for the chance to put their culinary skills to the test against Bobby Flay. The winner moves on to the ultimate battle -- facing off against Bobby Flay -- but not without an advantage: our challenger chooses the dish they will both be judged on. Can Bobby come up with the winning dish with no time to prepare?

About Discovery Familia

Part of Discovery Communications, Discovery Familia is a Spanish-language network dedicated to Hispanic women and the things that matter in their lives. During the day, the Discovery Kids block provides a safe environment for children with entertaining, programming, and in the evening, the channel offers programming for women, focusing on topics such as home decor, food, health, beauty and family. Discovery Familia also reaches audiences across screens on the ''Discovery Familia GO'' TV Everywhere app. For more information, please follow us on Facebook @discoveryfamilia, Twitter @ DiscoveryFam and Instagram @ Discovery.familia.

SOURCE Discovery Familia
CUPERTINO, Calif. and MODI'IN, Israel, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- DustPhotonics, a high performance optical networking company enabling revolutionary cost-effective data communications at up to 400Gbps, today announced production ramp and volume availability of QSFP28-SR4 optical transceivers. The 100Gbps transceivers incorporate DustPhotonics's patented passive alignment technology eliminating manual active alignment allowing for a vast reduction in manufacturing costs. The QSFP28-SR4 is the industry's most highly competitive solution for short reach, high-density applications over multimode optical fiber in data centers, cloud and HPC applications.

"The DustPhotonics design enables one versatile production line supporting all multi-mode form factors from 25Gbps all the way to 400Gbps," says Kobi Hasharoni, CTO and co-founder, "this allows for optimization in creating a cost-effective, streamlined solution now and for future product generations to come."

DustPhotonics is driving the mass adoption of optics to 400Gpbs by demonstrating next generation optical connectivity with its QSFPDD-SR8 transceiver at the Optical Fiber Conference (OFC) in March 2018. The 400Gbps product line of transceivers complies with the QSFPDD and OSFP Multi-source Agreements (MSA) and leverages years of design expertise. DustPhotonics is currently accepting volume orders for the shipment of QSFP28-SR4 and will be sampling 400Gbps transceivers later this year. For more information, please contact DustPhotonics at [email protected].

ABOUT DUSTPHOTONICS INC.

DustPhotonics enables mass adoption of optical connectivity in next generation data center, cloud, HPC and enterprise networks by offering unprecedented low-cost solutions. The Company's short to midrange optical transceivers and active optical cables (AOC) support all form factors at data rates up to 400Gbps. Founded in 2017 with venture funding from leading private technology investors, DustPhotonics is headquartered in Modi'in, Israel with business operations located in Cupertino, California. For additional information, please visit www.dustphotonics.com

Press Contact:

Melissa Kallos

DustPhotonics, Inc.

+1 408-758-8575

[email protected]

www.dustphotonics.com

SOURCE DustPhotonics

Related Links

http://www.dustphotonics.com


TSX: ELD NYSE: EGO

VANCOUVER, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Eldorado Gold Corporation ("Eldorado" or "the Company") today provides an update on the permitting status for the following capital projects.

Tocantinzinho, Brazil

The mining concession, which permits mining and commercial production at the Tocantinzinho project, was issued on May 18, 2018 by the federal branch of the Brazilian Ministry of Mines. This permit, in addition to the Environmental Construction Licenses, issued by the Environmental Agency of the State of Para, completes the permits required for project construction. The project plan is currently undergoing an optimization phase to improve capital costs and the economics of the project. Eldorado's Board of Directors will assess next steps for the project after completion of this work.

Ksladag, Turkey

Eldorado's wholly owned subsidiary, Tuprag Metal Madencilik Sanayive Ticaret A.S., has received confirmation from the Turkish Ministry of Environment and Urbanization ("MoE"), that the proposed construction of the mill at the Kisladag site is permissible under the existing Kisladag Environmental Impact Assessment ("EIA"), approved by the MoE in 2014. Eldorado does not expect to make any material amendments to the existing EIA as the mill site falls within the EIA approved project boundaries and meets other existing EIA requirements. The installation and construction of the Kisladag mill remains subject to further routine permitting, which will be submitted to the relevant Ministries for approval following detailed design work.

As referenced in Eldorado's press release dated March 21, 2018, the feasibility study for the Kisladag mill is expected to be completed later this year, with a final investment decision by the Eldorado Board of Directors expected shortly thereafter.

Lamaque, Canada

As disclosed in the Company's First Quarter results release dated April 26, 2018, the mining lease for the Triangle deposit was received in early 2018. This key permit enables production from the Triangle deposit, currently expected in early 2019.

Underground development continues ahead of schedule while refurbishment of the Sigma mill is ongoing. The Company continues to progress infill drilling and extension drilling with the goal of converting resource to increase the Proven and Probable reserves as well as growing resources at Triangle and other known mineralized zones and new targets.

Kassandra Mines (Skouries, Olympias and Stratoni), Greece

Eldorado continues to discuss the need to approve outstanding permits for the development of its Kassandra assets with the government of Greece. The Company remains committed to developing its Kassandra assets, including Skouries, in accordance with its contractual and other legal obligations, which Greek court rulings have consistently supported. Eldorado's compliance with its legal obligations was confirmed by the recent positive arbitration decision (disclosed on April 4, 2018), which found the Company not in breach of the provisions of its Transfer Contract with the Greek State.

The transition of the Skouries site to care and maintenance is expected to be complete by the end of Q2 2018. Ongoing care and maintenance costs are estimated to be $3-5 million per year for 2019 and beyond.

About Eldorado Gold

Eldorado is a gold and base metals producer with mining, development and exploration operations in Turkey, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Canada and Brazil. The Company has a highly skilled and dedicated workforce, safe and responsible operations, a portfolio of high-quality assets, and long-term partnerships with local communities. Eldorado's common shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: ELD) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: EGO).

Cautionary Note about Forward-looking Statements and Information

Certain of the statements made and information provided in this press release are forward-looking statements or information within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and applicable Canadian securities laws. Often, these forward-looking statements and forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "expects", "is expected", "budget", "continue", "projected", "scheduled", "estimates", "forecasts", "intends", "anticipates", or "believes" or the negatives thereof or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved.

Forward-looking statements or information contained in this release include, but are not limited to, statements or information with respect to: our expectation as to completion dates, investment decisions, production dates and costs and our strategy, plans and goals, including our proposed exploration, review, development, construction, permitting and operating plans and priorities, related timelines and schedules.

Forward-looking statements and forward-looking information by their nature are based on assumptions and 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 or information.

We have made certain assumptions about the forward-looking statements and information, including assumptions about the geopolitical, economic, permitting and legal climate that we operate in; the future price of gold and other commodities; exchange rates; anticipated costs and expenses; production, mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical recoveries, the impact of acquisitions, dispositions, suspensions or delays on our business and the ability to achieve our goals. In particular, except where otherwise stated, we have assumed a continuation of existing business operations on substantially the same basis as exists at the time of this release.

Even though our management believes that the assumptions made and the expectations represented by such statements or information are reasonable, there can be no assurance that the forward-looking statement or information will prove to be accurate. Many assumptions may be difficult to predict and are beyond our control.

Furthermore, should one or more of the risks, uncertainties or other factors materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in forward-looking statements or information. These risks, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, the following: geopolitical and economic climate (global and local), risks related to mineral tenure and permits; gold and other commodity price volatility; recoveries of gold and other metals; results of test work; revised guidance; risks regarding potential and pending litigation and arbitration proceedings relating to the Company's, business, properties and operations; expected impact on reserves and the carrying value; the updating of the reserve and resource models and life of mine plans; mining operational and development risk; foreign country operational risks; risks of sovereign investment; regulatory risks and liabilities including, regulatory environment and restrictions, and environmental regulatory restrictions and liability; discrepancies between actual and estimated production, mineral reserves and resources and metallurgical testing and recoveries; risks related to the impact of the sale of our Chinese assets and the acquisition and integration of Integra on the Company's operations; additional funding requirements; currency fluctuations; community and non-governmental organization actions; speculative nature of gold exploration; dilution; share price volatility; competition; loss of key employees; and defective title to mineral claims or properties, as well as those risk factors discussed in the sections titled "Forward-Looking Statements" and "Risk factors in our business" in the Company's most recent Annual Information Form & Form 40-F. The reader is directed to carefully review the detailed risk discussion in our most recent Annual Information Form filed on SEDAR under our Company name, which discussion is incorporated by reference in this release, for a fuller understanding of the risks and uncertainties that affect the Company's business and operations.

Forward-looking statements and information is designed to help you understand management's current views of our near and longer term prospects, and it may not be appropriate for other purposes.

There can be no assurance that forward-looking statements or information will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, you should not place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements or information contained herein. Except as required by law, we do not expect to update forward-looking statements and information continually as conditions change and you are referred to the full discussion of the Company's business contained in the Company's reports filed with the securities regulatory authorities in Canada and the U.S.

Except as otherwise noted, scientific and technical information contained in this press release was reviewed and approved by Paul Skayman, FAusIMM, Chief Operating Officer for Eldorado Gold Corporation, and a "qualified person" under NI 43-101.

Mineral resources which are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. With respect to "indicated mineral resource" and "inferred mineral resource", there is a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and a great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. It cannot be assumed that all or any part of a "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource" or "inferred mineral resource" will ever be upgraded to a higher category.

Cautionary Note to US Investors Concerning Estimates of Measured, Indicated and Inferred Resources

The terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource", "indicated mineral resource", "inferred mineral resource" used herein are Canadian mining terms used in accordance with NI 43-101 under the guidelines set out in the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and Petroleum (the "CIM") Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as may be amended from time to time. These definitions differ from the definitions in the United States Securities & Exchange Commission ("SEC") Industry Guide 7. In the United States, a mineral reserve is defined as a part of a mineral deposit which could be economically and legally extracted or produced at the time the mineral reserve determination is made.

While the terms "mineral resource", "measured mineral resource," "indicated mineral resource", and "inferred mineral resource" are recognized and required by Canadian regulations, they are not defined terms under standards in the United States and normally are not permitted to be used in reports and registration statements filed with the SEC. As such, information contained herein concerning descriptions of mineralization and resources under Canadian standards may not be comparable to similar information made public by U.S. companies in SEC filings.

Accordingly, information herein containing descriptions of our mineral deposits may not be comparable to similar information made public by US companies subject to the reporting and disclosure requirements under US federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder.

SOURCE Eldorado Gold Corporation
NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on HIV will be delivered by Elton John in front of an invited audience of politicians, health workers, journalists, civil society leaders, celebrities, and people living with HIV, on June 8th, 2018 in London.

The lecture was launched by United Kingdom's National AIDS Trust (NAT) in 1999 as a living tribute to Princess Diana (who was a patron of NAT until her tragic death in 1997). This lecture is being delivered in partnership with Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) and is supported by Gucci. Sir Elton follows in the footsteps of Kofi Annan and Bill Clinton who delivered previous NAT lectures in Diana's memory in 1999 and 2001, respectively.

During the lecture, Elton will set out a vision for an AIDS free future. He will call on governments and the private sector to show leadership and accountability in order to reach the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to end AIDS by 2030. He will also reflect on his close friendship with Princess Diana and their shared commitment to ending HIV.

Elton said, "I am delighted to be able to deliver this lecture and to remember the enormous contribution Diana, Princess of Wales made to this cause. In the quarter century since the Elton John AIDS Foundation was established, the global AIDS fight has changed beyond recognition. Yet tolerance and courage has never been more important in the fight to create an AIDS-free generation and make the world a more accepting place for those living with HIV."

Deborah Gold, Chief Executive of NAT said, "It's an honor to have Sir Elton John deliver our Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on HIV. In our 30th year, it is particularly timely to focus on the challenges ahead in the fight against HIV, as well as paying tribute to the lasting impact of Princess Diana's work.





"2018 is a critical time in the global HIV epidemic. We have all the tools we need to beat HIV, yet we lack the level of investment or political priority necessary to use them fully. We are delighted that Sir Elton John, who has enormous credibility in this battle, will be speaking on this subject."





Anne Aslett, Executive Director of EJAF UK said, "The Elton John AIDS Foundation has been a supporter of the National AIDS Trust from its inception. We share a commitment to ending AIDS in the UK and around the world. Today, we are at a critical inflection point where we can commit to consigning this disease to history, or we will blight another generation with death and loss."

Notes to editor:





The event is called The Diana, Princess of Wales Lecture on HIV. It will take place at 3pm , in London on June 8 th, 2018. Photographs, with selected quotes from the speech will be available on the evening of June 8 th, 2018.There may be opportunities for access to filmed excerpts. Please contact NAT for more details. For interviews or further comment, from NAT please email Senior Communications Officer Charlie Alderwick on [email protected] or call +44.20.7814.6727 (for out of hours press enquiries call +44.75.8009.4013).

About the Elton John AIDS Foundation

At the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF), we believe AIDS can be beaten. We act on that belief by raising funds for evidence-based programs and policies and also by speaking out with honesty and compassion about the realities of people's lives. Sir Elton John created EJAF 25 years ago, first in the United States in 1992 and then in the United Kingdom in 1993. Through the generous support of far-sighted individuals, foundations, and corporations, the two foundations together have raised more than $400 million over the past quarter century to challenge discrimination against people affected by the epidemic, prevent infections, provide treatment and services, and motivate governments to end AIDS. The U.S. foundation focuses its efforts on programs in the United States, the Americas, and the Caribbean, while the U.K. foundation funds HIV-related work in Europe, Asia, and Africa. Join us in speaking out, taking action, and contributing to our efforts to achieve a world without AIDS.



For more information please visit www.ejaf.org.

American Airlines is the official sponsoring airline of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

About the National AIDS Trust

The National AIDS Trust (NAT) is the United Kingdom's leading charity dedicated to transforming society's response to HIV. We provide fresh thinking, expertise and practical resources. We champion the rights of people living with HIV and campaign for change.

Shaping attitudes. Challenging injustice. Changing lives.

www.nat.org.uk

Media Contact:

Cara Hutchison

Rogers & Cowan

212-878-5026

[email protected]

SOURCE Elton John AIDS Foundation
The Stuttgart Solar Energy Center spans 475 acres, approximately seven miles southeast of Stuttgart, Ark. Construction lasted eight months and generated a significant economic boost to Arkansas County and the state, by creating hundreds of construction jobs and stimulating the purchase of regional goods and services from more than a dozen local vendors.

"We are pleased to work with our partners at Entergy to bring the largest solar energy center in Arkansas online," said Armando Pimentel, president and CEO of NextEra Energy Resources, the world's largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. "This solar energy project will provide millions of dollars in additional tax revenue to Arkansas County and will generate cost-effective, home-grown solar energy for Entergy customers for years to come."

The facility features more than 350,000 photovoltaic solar panels that convert the sun's energy into electricity. The solar energy center has a capacity to generate 81 megawatts of electricity, or enough to power more than 13,000 homes. A subsidiary of NextEra Energy Resources built the facility and will own and operate it. The energy will serve Entergy Arkansas customers under a 20-year power purchase agreement.

"Over our 105 years in business, Entergy Arkansas has generated power with sawdust, water, coal, oil, natural gas, nuclear, and now the sun," said Rick Riley, president and CEO of Entergy Arkansas. "Through this investment with NextEra Energy Resources, we are further diversifying our power generation resource mix and providing Entergy Arkansas customers with access to additional clean, renewable and affordable energy."

Over its operational life, the Stuttgart Solar Energy Center is expected to generate nearly $8 million in additional revenue for Arkansas County, with much of that funding going to help Arkansas County Public Schools.

"We are already seeing the project's impacts in Arkansas County through new jobs and school funding," said Bethany Hildebrand, executive director and CEO of the Stuttgart Chamber of Commerce. "We are thrilled to host the state's largest solar facility and know it will continue to provide benefits to our community."

NextEra Energy Resources

About NextEra Energy Resources

NextEra Energy Resources, LLC (together with its affiliated entities, "NextEra Energy Resources"), is a clean energy leader and is one of the largest wholesale generators of electric power in the U.S., with more than 19,000 megawatts of net generating capacity, primarily in 32 states and Canada as of year-end 2017. NextEra Energy Resources, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's largest operator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. The business operates clean, emissions-free nuclear power generation facilities in New Hampshire, Iowa and Wisconsin as part of the NextEra Energy nuclear fleet, which is one of the largest in the United States. NextEra Energy Resources, LLC is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE). For more information, visit www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.

Entergy Arkansas

Entergy Arkansas provides electricity to approximately 700,000 customers in 63 counties. Entergy Arkansas is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR), an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including nearly 10,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.8 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of approximately $11.5 billion and more than 13,000 employees.

SOURCE NextEra Energy Resources

Related Links

http://www.NextEraEnergyResources.com


ST. PAUL, Minn., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ergotron creates innovations that improve how people interact with technology, helping them to feel healthier and be more productive. To continue to meet the needs of its customers and fuel growth ahead of the next wave of technology innovation, the company today announced the addition of several new corporate leaders focused on product development, marketing and technology.

"Ergotron pioneered the sit-stand movement, which has continued to gain popularity over the past several years," said Pete Segar, CEO of Ergotron. "To accelerate our growth and provide more innovative solutions for our customers, it is critical to invest in the leadership of our teams. This group brings the fresh perspective and broad experience we need to continue innovating across all areas of our business."

Ergotron welcomes three key executive hires to the organization:

Charles S. Christ Jr. , Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer and SVP of Product Development: Leveraging his expertise in technology, materials and product development, Christ will build the future vision for Ergotron products and technology with the goal of improving how Ergotron's customers work and learn, and interact with technology. Christ previously held leadership positions at Donaldson Company Inc. and Kodak, and received a doctorate in chemistry from University of Florida and completed post-doctoral work at MIT .





, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer and SVP of Product Development: Leveraging his expertise in technology, materials and product development, Christ will build the future vision for Ergotron products and technology with the goal of improving how Ergotron's customers work and learn, and interact with technology. Christ previously held leadership positions at Donaldson Company Inc. and Kodak, and received a doctorate in chemistry from and completed post-doctoral work at . David Denham , VP of Global Marketing: With more than 15 years of experience leading consulting and advertising agencies, David Denham will manage and evolve Ergotron's global brand and digital marketing strategy to position the company for future growth. Prior to joining Ergotron, Denham served in agency leadership roles at Peterson Milla Hooks (PMH), space150 and Colle McVoy and has worked with a variety of consumer brands including Indian Motorcycle, Sleep Number, Cannondale, PepsiCo and Sony Electronics.





, VP of Global Marketing: With more than 15 years of experience leading consulting and advertising agencies, will manage and evolve Ergotron's global brand and digital marketing strategy to position the company for future growth. Prior to joining Ergotron, Denham served in agency leadership roles at Peterson Milla Hooks (PMH), space150 and and has worked with a variety of consumer brands including Indian Motorcycle, Sleep Number, Cannondale, PepsiCo and Sony Electronics. Jim Orrock , VP of Product Development: Jim Orrock brings decades of experience in developing devices for a variety of markets and a strong systems background to his global responsibility for all product management operations. Orrock's previous experience includes research and development at Honeywell, engineering roles at FSI International, Physical Electronics and ReVera. Most recently, at Stratasys, he was responsible for the vision and strategy for new products targeted at end-use part manufacturing applications in aerospace and auto markets.

To learn more about Ergotron, visit Ergotron.com or call 800.888.8458.

About Ergotron

Ergotron, Inc. is a global design and manufacturing leader of leading digital display mounting, furniture, and mobility products that have been improving the human interface with digital displays for 35 years. This history of innovation and passion for differentiation is evidenced in over 192 patents and a growing portfolio of award winning brands WorkFit, LearnFit, StyleView, TeachWell, Neo-Flex, Anthro and OmniMountfor computer monitors, notebooks, tablets, flat panel displays and TVs. Ergotron's products incorporate patented CF lift and pivot motion technology to achieve less effort and more ergonomic motion for a healthier and more interactive user experience when viewing any digital display. Ergotron is headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, with global sales presence in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

SOURCE Ergotron, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ergotron.com


YIWU, China, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Yiwugo.com, the official website of the largest commodity wholesale market in the world, recently signed an exclusive partnership agreement with Bridge One World Ltd. concerning the operation of the overseas service station in Canada. According to the agreement, Bridge One World Ltd. will offer Canadian purchasers access to Yiwu Market with one-stop services from customs clearance and warehousing to international logistics, etc.

As one of the most influential portals to represent China's specialized physical markets, Yiwugo.com has insisted on the O2O (online-to-offline) strategy and made a name for itself as a trustworthy e-business platform that links overseas buyers with local suppliers whose authenticity and reliability are endorsed by the unique operation model of Yiwugo.com.

Having engaged in international business with China for over two decades, Bridge One World Ltd. is dedicated to forging an efficient link between Canadian purchasers and Yiwu suppliers through this partnership. One-stop services such as commodity selection, acceptance checks, international warehousing, logistics, customs clearance, and door delivery in Canada are well on the way.

As explained by an official at en.yiwugo.com, the export orders received by Yiwu Market have a tradition of being dominated by mixed purchases and LCLs, but the majority of Yiwu suppliers are not eligible to provide direct international logistics and warehousing to overseas buyers. In this context, en.yiwugo.com decided to join hands with a third party to provide one-stop foreign-trade services for overseas buyers, including safe payment, commodity checks and acceptance, customs declaration and clearance, international logistics, and overseas warehousing and distribution.

In recent years, cross-border e-commerce has become a major powerhouse for steady growth of China's foreign trade and a key engine for innovation-driven development. In addition to an optimized supportive system for cross-border services, China has also seen an upgraded ecosystem for cross-border e-commerce. Mr. Wang Jianjun, CEO of Yiwugo.com, identified global strategy as a marketing priority of Yiwugo.com in 2018. By relying on, serving and integrating with the physical market, en.yiwugo.com is oriented towards trustworthy services for overseas buyers who engage in cross-border e-business. More functions will be launched to enable more overseas purchasers to access Yiwu Market and trade with local suppliers through Yiwugo.com. In addition, in-depth cooperation will be expected in overseas marketing between Yiwugo.com and overseas service station operators.

Contact of Yiwugo.com Overseas Service Station in Canada

Contact: Fares Daou

Mobile: +86-159-2426-1880

Phone: +86-159-2426-1880

E-mail: [email protected]

Address: 2159 Calixa Lavallee, Laval, Quebec, Canada

SOURCE Yiwugo

Related Links

http://Yiwugo.com


LOS ANGELES, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In the wake of recent senseless acts of violence, especially in schools, the mental health watchdog Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR) urged state authorities and educators not to adopt "mental health screening" in schools in the false hope that it could prevent the violence. Such screening could exacerbate the issue if it leads to children being prescribed psychotropic drugs, CCHR says. Independent of CCHR, Dr. David Healy, an international expert in psychopharmacology, estimated that 90 percent of school shootings, over more than a decade leading up to 2012, were linked to SSRI antidepressants (e.g., fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, etc.).[1] Dr. Healy further warned: "Violence and other potentially criminal behavior caused by prescription drugs are medicine's best-kept secret."[2]

CCHR says school mental health screening & psychotropic drugs can contribute to senseless violence acts

In an international study released earlier this year, CCHR documented 36 school shootings and school-related acts of violence that date back to 1988. All of the crimes were committed by people either taking or withdrawing from psychiatric drugs. The end result was that 172 people were wounded and 80 were killed, according to the study and, as covered recently by the online news service, The Blaze. Read the report here.

Recent cases have reinforced CCHR's position. On May 20, police charged a 62-year-old father with first-degree murder after they say he intentionally drove his Jeep into a North Carolina restaurant, killing two family members. He had gone into the restaurant with the family before he excused himself. Family members were eating appetizers and assumed the man had got up to use the restroom. Moments later, he slammed his vehicle at a high rate of speed into the area where he knew his family was seated. According to the man's pastor, he was prescribed antidepressants as well as anti-anxiety medication. He allegedly told the pastor that he was taking them properly and that he was seeing a psychiatrist, as well as his family physician.[3]

On May 19, The West Australian reported that an Australian grandfather, aged 61, shot dead his wife, daughter and four grandchildren within weeks of starting an antidepressant. According to the article, the newer antidepressants "boost serotonin levels in the brain" and "in rare cases, they can contribute to extreme violence, murder and suicide, particularly in the first few weeks they are taken." A family friend told the newspaper, "I feel for the sake of society that these mind-altering drugs should be exposed as dangerous."[4]

Courts Recognize Drug Risks

It is these dangerscovered in drug regulatory agency warnings and by many experts in CCHR's study, "Psychiatric Drugs Cause Violence and Suicide," that educators and state official need to be aware of, CCHR says.

Courts have recognized the contributing role psychiatric drugs play in violent crimes.

In January 1999 , University of North Dakota student aged 27, shot and killed his five-week-old daughter and wounded himself after taking a stimulant drug for a couple of weeks. After the first week of taking it, he described delusions and hallucinations. Shire Richwood, the manufacturer of the drug, issued a statement to the court that psychosis is a side effect of this class of stimulants. Charges were dismissed against a young man after various doctors reported that he suffered from "Amphetamine-Induced Psychotic Disorder."[5] (In 1994, the Food and Drug Administration [FDA] wrote to Dr. Mark Abramowicz regarding a draft article on stimulant drugs for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, suggesting that "toxic psychosis" deserved mention in the paragraph on adverse effects. The New York Times recently referenced the FDA's medication guide on methylphenidate which says to watch for "new or worse aggressive behavior or hostility.")

On May 25, 2001 , an Australian judge blamed the antidepressant sertraline for turning a peaceful, law-abiding husband into a violent killer. The man had no history of violence or suicidality and had remained gainfully employed throughout his life. Judge Barry O'Keefe said that had the defendant not taken the antidepressant, "it is overwhelmingly probable that [his wife] would not have been killed..."[6] He was sentenced to three years in prison.

In June 2001 , a Wyoming jury awarded $8 million to the relatives of a non-violent family man and doting grandfather who had gone on a shooting rampage after taking an antidepressant, prescribed for anxiety. Two days later, the father put three bullets each through the heads of his wife, his daughter, and his nine-month-old granddaughter before killing himself. The jury determined that paroxetine "can cause some people to become homicidal and/or suicidal" and that the drug was 80 percent responsible for the ensuing acts.[7]

Mental Health Screening Creates More Problems

In the wake of the terrible shooting tragedy at Santa Fe High School in Texas, leaving ten dead, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hosted roundtable discussions in the hopes of developing solutions to improve school safety statewide. Whether the Texas shooter was taking psychotropic drugs or not for his alleged disturbed behavior, there are concerns that Texas may want to implement wider mental health screening which, while sounding optimistic could simply fuel the problem.

The Texas Criminal Justice Division of the governor's office provided $565,000 to the Telemedicine Wellness, Intervention, Triage, and Referral (TWITR) Project at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center to identify junior high and high school students most at risk for committing violence in schools and intervene before it happens.[8] The grant term was between September 2014 and August 2016. Through the program, at-risk students at 10 West Texas school districts who showed aggressive or harmful behavior were identified and then screened for potential psychiatric services.

Since its launch, more than 400 students have been referred to the program, with 200 getting screened for alleged anxiety, depression, loneliness, isolation and whether they're prone to violence or violent thoughts.[9] This is an astounding figure, CCHR says, considering that psychiatrists admit they have no means of predicting violence. In an article in the Rutgers Law Review, Henry Steadman and Joseph Cocozza also concluded, "There is no empirical evidence to support the position that psychiatrists have any special expertise in accurately predicting dangerousness."[10]

Further, psychiatrists' diagnostic methods are subjective and several screening methods have extraordinarily high false-positive ratesi.e., a high risk of being erroneously labeled with a mental disorder and drugged.

The TWITR Project reported:

38 (17%) were sent to psychiatric hospitals or emergency rooms.

44 (20%) sent to alternative placements, which could be a disciplinary campus or a psychiatric based alternative educational placement.

57 (26%) were referred for other services for things like anxiety, eating disorders, etc.

65 were referred for suicidal ideation or self-harm.

94 students were referred to the TWITR project for anger or violence.

Karen Effrem, MD, a pediatrician and president of Education Liberty Watch (formerly Ed Watch), points out a number of problems with the project. "While federal, state, and local officials are trying to improve student safety in the wake of the tragic Parkland, Fla., school shooting [and now Santa Fe High School shooting], the heightened concern over student mental health has greatly increased efforts to screen students for mental health issues."[11]

Dr. Effrem stated, "There are so many problems with the foundation of these programs, it is difficult to know where to begin. Let's start with the admitted subjectivity of mental illness diagnostic criteria. As the latest version of the American Psychiatric Association's (APA) diagnostic handbook was about to be published, Dr. Dilip Jeste, APA's president at the time, admitted: 'At present, most psychiatric disorders lack validated diagnostic biomarkers, and although considerable advances are being made in the arena of neurobiology, psychiatric diagnoses are still mostly based on clinician assessment.'" In other words, as Thomas Insel, former Director of the National Institute of Mental Health said, psychiatric "diagnoses are based on a consensus [vote] about clusters of clinical symptoms, not any objective laboratory measure."[12]

Dr. Effrem cited the World Health Organization (WHO) that addresses how complicated it is to diagnose children and teens: "Childhood and adolescence being developmental phases, it is difficult to draw clear boundaries between phenomena that are part of normal development and others that are abnormal."

"The accuracy of mental screening instruments is also important to discuss given that both programs are doing mental screening in the schools. The Columbia Suicide Screen has a false positive rate of 84 percent. Others recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics have false positive rates of 71 percent and 59 percent," Dr. Effrem further stated.

Additionally, the drugs prescribed to treat childhood/teen disorders, such as SSRI antidepressants, "are associated with suicidal thoughts and attempted suicide in children and teens. In fact, these medications are under the FDA's black box warning, the agency's most serious warning short of a ban. The SSRI drugs are also associated with violent reactions, including murderous rampages like school and other mass shootings," Dr. Effrem points out.

Often antidepressants are combined with other classes of psychotropic drugs like antipsychotics. Says Dr. Effrem, "However, these other drugs have very serious additional side effects, including permanent abnormal movements, brain damage, obesity, diabetes, and heart attacks." Therefore, "using mental screening and medication for these issues is like trying to put a bandage on a broken leg.

A renowned side effect of antipsychotics (and sometimes antidepressants) is akathisia (a, without; kathisia, sittingan inability to keep still). As CCHR's report covers, "It's a torturous condition where the sufferer feels an incredible, irresistible restlessness that creates constant repetitive movements like pacing, rocking back and forth or swaying. This side effect has been linked to assaultive, violent behavior.[13] The person may experience violent, aggressive impulses or feel suicidal, although they often can't pinpoint the source of their distress, even though it can feel unbearable."[14] In CCHR's study of more than 60 acts of violence, antidepressants were referenced about 48 times; benzodiazepines/sedatives about 12; antipsychotics and stimulants (methylphenidate) at least six times each (some perpetrators took multiple psychotropic drugs.)

Texas already has a history of adopting dangerous psychiatric recommendations, namely the Texas Medication Algorithm (flow chart) Project (TMAP) developed in a collaborative effort between the pharmaceutical industry, prominent University of Texas psychiatrists and state officials in the department of mental health.[15] Texas initiated the TMAP drug protocol in 1997, recommending the prescription of the newer more expensive psychiatric drugs, especially antipsychotics. The Texas health department received almost $6 million in contributions from a pharmaceutical company and other parties to implement TMAP. The psychiatrists in charge of determining the TMAP guidelines all had major ties to the pharmaceutical companies that funded its development. TMAP meant crippling health care costs, with Texas Medicaid spending on five antipsychotic drugs skyrocketing from $28 million in 2002 to $177 million in 2004.[16] Lawsuits eventually put an end to TMAP.[17]

CCHR warns that mental health screening and the inevitable resulting increased psychotropic drug prescriptions will not only escalate state budgets for no equitable or positive returndecreased violencebut more importantly, will put more students, teachers and the community at risk of increased violence.

As a nonprofit, CCHR relies on memberships and donations to carry out its mission and actions to curb psychotropic drug use, including maintaining a psychiatric drugs side effects database for consumers, parents and families to easily access information about adverse drug effects, studies and drug regulatory agency warnings. Click here to support the cause.

Contact: Amber Rauscher, [email protected] or (323) 467-4242.

References:

[1] "Psych meds linked to 90% of school shootings, WND, 18 Dec. 2012,

http://www.wnd.com/2012/12/psych-meds-linked-to-90-of-school-shootings/#i1JviHwg3g2T7KSt.99.

[2] John Horgan, "What '60 Minutes' Gets Wrong in Report on Mental Illness and Violence," Scientific American, 2 Oct. 2013, https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/what-e2809c60-minutese2809d-gets-wrong-in-report-on-mental-illness-and-violence/.

[3] "Man Who Crashed Into Restaurant Killing 2 Was Severely Depressed: Pastor," wfmynews2.com, 21 May 2018, https://www.wfmynews2.com/article/news/local/man-who-crashed-into-restaurant-killing-2-was-severely-depressed-pastor/83-556684229.

[4] Trevor Paddenburg, "Margaret River shootings: Grandfather taking antidepressant medication before murders," The West Australian, 19 May 2018, https://thewest.com.au/news/south-west/margaret-river-shootings-grandfather-taking-antidepressant-medication-before-murders-ng-b88841069z.

[5] "Prescription: concentration. The number of prescriptions for Adderall is rising, as is the number of students using the drug for academic and recreational purposes," Oregon Daily Emerald, 2 May 2005; "Man who Shot Child Sues Drug Company," Herald, 23 Sept. 2000.

[6] Sarah Boseley, "Prozac class drug blamed for killing," The Guardian (London), 25 May 2001, https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/may/26/sarahboseley.

[7] Jim Rosack, "SSRIs Called on Carpet over Violence Claims," Psychiatric News, Vol. 36, No. 19, 5 Oct. 2001.David Healy, Andrew Herxheimer, and David B Menkes, "Antidepressants and Violence: Problems at the Interface of Medicine and Law," PLoS Medicine, Sept. 2006, 3(9): e372, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1564177/.

[8] "After Santa Fe shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott sees a West Texas mental health program as a statewide model," Texas Tribune, 19 May 2018, https://www.texastribune.org/2018/05/19/after-santa-fe-high-school-shooting-gov-greg-abbott-wants-school-menta/.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Joseph J. Cocozza and Henry J. Steadman, "The Failure of Psychiatric Predictions of Dangerousness: Clear and Convincing Evidence," Rutgers Law Review, Vol. 29, No. 5, Late Summer 1976, pp. 1099-1100.

[11] Karen Effrem, MD., "Parents Beware: Mental Screening of Students Ramps Up in Texas," The National Pulse, 12 Apr. 2018, https://thenationalpulse.com/commentary/parents-beware-mental-screening-students-ramps-up-texas/.

[12] Thomas Insel, "Transforming Diagnosis," NIMH Website, Apr. 29, 2013, https://www.nimh.nih.gov/about/directors/thomas-insel/blog/2013/transforming-diagnosis.shtml.

[13] Crowner ML, et al., "Akathisia and violence," Psychopharmacol Bull, 1990, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1973544; Morrison-Valfre, Michelle. Foundations of Mental Health Care. St. Louis, MO: Elsevier, 1997, pg. 367, https://books.google.com/books?id=ctXsAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA367&lpg=PA367&dq=akathisia+and+assaultive+behavior&source=bl&ots=XFMBOSsmdB&sig=sdz1eU026fukvJNkCsMmReXmqaE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjWl4-TlvfSAhUO92MKHea6AQUQ6AEIJzAD#v=onepage&q=akathisia%20and%20assaultive%20behavior&f=false.

[14] "Akathisia: 15 Things to Know about This Horrible Condition," MedPro, 24 Jul. 2017, https://www.medprodisposal.com/akathisia-15-things-to-know-about-this-horrible-condition/.

[15] Report on TMAP by whistleblower Allen Jones, Revised edition, posted on psychrights.org, 20 Jan. 2004, http://psychrights.org/Drugs/AllenJonesTMAPJanuary20.pdf.

[16] http://www.aliveandwell.org/html/the_bigger_picture/US_Government_Pushes_Mental_Health_Tests.html.

[17] "J&J Paid Texas Official to Speak Around the U.S., Jury Told," Bloomberg News, 11 Jan. 2012, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-01-11/johnson-johnson-paid-texas-official-to-speak-around-the-u-s-jury-told.

SOURCE Citizens Commission on Human Rights International
Damle most recently served as General Counsel and Associate Register of Copyrights at the US Copyright Office, the federal agency charged with administering the country's copyright regime. In that role, he provided guidance on the full suite of responsibilities the Copyright Office dischargesfrom the promulgation of industry-shaping regulations, to the resolution of disputes over ratemaking and registration, and beyond. Damle also played a critical inter-governmental role, advising and assisting Congressional offices, the Department of Justice, and other federal agencies on matters implicating federal copyright policy. From 2006 to 2013, he served as an appellate litigator in the Department of Justice's Civil Division, where he was lead counsel in more than 40 appeals, with a focus on intellectual property, separation of powers, and administrative law matters.

Michael Egge, Office Managing Partner of Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C., said: "We are delighted to welcome one of the nation's most prominent copyright practitioners to our team. Sy is a game-changer in the copyright space because of his unique and varied insight and experience across copyright policy, regulation and federal court litigation. We will deliver phenomenal results to our clients by drawing on Sy's extraordinary experience in Washington, including as General Counsel of the US Copyright Office. We are excited to welcome him to our team."

Jennifer Barry, Global Co-Chair of the firm's Intellectual Property Litigation Practice, added: "Sy is ideally positioned to help our clients navigate a rapidly evolving copyright regime. Unprecedented legal questions have arisen in the age of digitization, particularly within the arts and technology sectors. Sy's pragmatic and forward-thinking approach to the law will be an essential resource for our clients as the stakes continue to rise in IP disputes."

Andy Gass, a San Francisco partner and leading copyright litigator, said: "Sy has spent years engaging at the highest levels with the suite of challenges our clients facefrom navigating rate-setting proceedings in the music industry to software licensing disputes and beyond. He will be a uniquely valuable addition to our team."

Damle is the fourth prominent lawyer to join Latham's Intellectual Property Litigation Practice in Washington, D.C. in recent months, following the arrivals of Tara D. Elliott, Jamie Underwood, and Kevin Wheeler.

"I am honored to be joining Latham & Watkins' stand-out team of IP litigators," Damle said. "The firm has earned a reputation as a uniquely influential, up-and-coming leader in the copyright field, offering a dynamic, cross-disciplinary practice. I look forward to collaborating with my Latham colleagues on some of the most cutting-edge and crucial legal matters facing clients."

Damle previously clerked for Judge Sandra Lynch of the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. He received his undergraduate degrees in engineering and economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999, and he graduated first in his class from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2005. Prior to attending law school, Damle was a software developer.

About Latham & Watkins (lw.com)

Latham & Watkins delivers innovative solutions to complex legal and business challenges around the world. From a global platform, our lawyers advise clients on market-shaping transactions, high-stakes litigation and trials, and sophisticated regulatory matters. Latham is one of the world's largest providers of pro bono services, steadfastly supports initiatives designed to advance diversity within the firm and the legal profession, and is committed to exploring and promoting environmental sustainability.

Notes to Editors

1 Latham & Watkins operates as a limited liability partnership worldwide with affiliated limited liability partnerships conducting the practice in France, Italy, Singapore, and the United Kingdom and as affiliated partnerships conducting the practice in Hong Kong and Japan. Latham & Watkins operates in South Korea as a Foreign Legal Consultant Office. Latham & Watkins works in cooperation with the Law Office of Salman M. Al-Sudairi in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

Contacts

Michael Egge, Washington, D.C. Office Managing Partner: +1.202.637.2285

Jennifer Barry, Global Co-Chair of the Intellectual Property Litigation Practice: +1.858.523.3912

Andy Gass, San Francisco Partner: +1.415.395.8806

SOURCE Latham & Watkins LLP

Related Links

https://www.lw.com


CHRISTIANSBURG, Va., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- FoxGuard Solutions, Inc. recently released its new Sentrigard Security Platform, which was demonstrated at the SAME/Joint Engineer Training Conference & Expo in Kansas City, MO on May 24, 2018. Industrial Control Systems are the critical infrastructure for the health and success of critical operations. FoxGuard has been securing ICS equipment for many of their valuable control system OEM partners for over ten years. Additionally, FoxGuard received funding from the US Department of Energy to build a patch management program, as well as the US Department of Defense to develop a cybersecurity platform. Both programs are specifically geared at protecting industrial control systems, so FoxGuard has been securing this equipment from many angles.

The newly released Sentrigard Security Platform delivers a defense in depth strategy to secure client assets using best in class software and hardware solutions. It is imperative to keep a watchful eye on critical systems by monitoring the steady-state. Once "normal" has been established, it is more effective and efficient to recognize when something has changed and needs to be inspected closer. To make it even easier, FoxGuard's platform will be delivered on hardware that has already been configured, set up, tested and is ready to go upon delivery with simplified dashboards.

With a heightened sense of awareness through real-time monitoring and alerts, along with vulnerability notification, take the appropriate action to defend against possible attacks. Additionally, FoxGuard provides due diligence to increase patching velocity of this equipment  providing yet another layer of protection. Having a multi-layer plan-of-attack ensures you're tackling this with a defense in depth approach.

Key Elements:

Network Monitoring

Asset Identification

Change Management

Patch & Update Management

Patch Availability Report



Patch GAP Analysis



Vulnerability Notification

Intrusion Detection

Log Management

Backup & Recovery

Remote Access

About FoxGuard Solutions, Inc.

FoxGuard Solutions develops custom cyber security, compliance and industrial computing solutions. FoxGuard provides reliable, secure and configurable patch management reporting services, which include availability reporting and applicability analysis for information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) assets used in critical infrastructure environments. Visit foxguardsolutions.com/Sentrigard to learn more.

Media Contact

Marcie Killen

Marketing Manager

p. 540-382-4234

e. [email protected]

SOURCE FoxGuard Solutions, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.foxguardsolutions.com


The new additions to GCL-SI's high-efficiency portfolio come in two series, normal single-glass photovoltaic (PV) modules and glass-to-glass bifacial modules. The power output of the single-glass MBB polycrystalline modules hits 305W in mass production, making them the normal-type polycrystalline modules with the highest output in the world. The wattage for the single-glass monocrystalline modules has reached 315W, 10W higher than the standard output in China's Top Runner Program.

"Our new lineup of modules that feature MBB technology are game-changers for us. They allow us to offer high efficiency, reliability and application flexibility at lower production costs, which makes them accessible to a wider range of potential customers," said Luo Xin, the president of GSL-SI. "Our overseas sales volume has doubled in the past year. Going forward, we will expand our operations into emerging markets, especially countries that fall within China's Belt and Road Initiative, by developing or investing in industrial parks, with the goal of achieving 50% of our sales overseas by the end of 2018, and 70% by 2020."

MBB technology brings a 2% increase in cell efficiency and 30W increase in power output to modules. In addition, the glass-to-glass bifacial modules vastly increase the power generation potential of each surface. These new products showcase not only the company's technological advancements, but also a variety in product lineup. A portfolio of both monocrystalline and polycrystalline modules will create an advantaged position in the industry for GCL-SI, leading to growth in market share.

The emergence of new technologies such as Polycrystalline Black Silicon PERC, Monocrystalline PERC, N-type Monocrystalline and many others, along with highly differentiated products and technology breakthroughs, have cut production costs and boosted performance and efficiency. As a result, the PV market is enjoying steady growth and emerging markets especially are growing rapidly.

The world's leading manufacturer of PV modules, GCL-SI serves both domestic and global markets with various needs and application conditions with high-efficiency cell modules. The company is able to address specific customer needs by creating tailor-made integration system solutions. GCL-SI has been making inroads in smart manufacturing, improving product performance and production efficiency with new technologies such as automation, digitalization and the Internet of Things.

About GCL-SI

GCL System Integration Technology Co., Ltd. (SZ: 002506) (GCL-SI), is part of the GOLDEN CONCORD Group (GCL). GCL-SI delivers a one-stop, cutting-edge, integrated energy system and is committed to becoming the world's leading solar energy company.

SOURCE GCL System
DUBLIN, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Biological Safety Cabinet Market by Type (Class I, Class II (Type A, Type B), Class III), End User (Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Companies, Diagnostic & Testing Laboratories, Academic & Research Institution) - Global Forecast to 2022" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The biological safety cabinets market is projected to reach USD 205.9 Million by 2022 from USD 144.3 Million in 2017, at a CAGR of 7.4% during the forecast period

Growth in the biological safety cabinets market is mainly driven by factors such as favorable regulations, increased risk of pandemics and communicable diseases, and pharmaceutical companies, and rapid growth in the number of biologics. The biological safety cabinets market is segmented on the basis of type, end user, and region.

By type, the market is segmented into Class I, Class II, and Class III biological safety cabinets. The Class II biological safety cabinets market is expected to grow at the highest CAGR during the forecast period. The primary reason for this is the high level of protection offered by these cabinets against infectious agents and the increase in the number of biologics used to treat various diseases.

The global biological safety cabinets market is categorized on the basis of end users into pharmaceutical & biopharmaceutical companies, diagnostic and testing laboratories, and academic & research institutions. The highest CAGR during the forecast period is likely to be registered by the pharmaceutical & biopharmaceutical companies segment. This is primarily due to the increasing number of research and development activities and the need to ensure the safety of laboratory personnel.

Geographic segments in this report include North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and RoW. In 2017, North America held the largest share of the market. The large share of the North American segment can be primarily attributed to the increasing biomedical research and R&D by pharmaceutical companies in that region, growing stem cell research, government support for research in the US, and government support for the development of protein drugs in Canada.

Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction



2 Research Methodology



3 Executive Summary



4 Premium Insights

4.1 Biological Safety Cabinets: Market Overview

4.2 Biological Safety Cabinets Market Share, By Region and End User (2017)

4.3 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2017 vs 2022

4.4 Geographic Snapshot of the Biological Safety Cabinets Market



5 Market Overview

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Market Dynamics

5.2.1 Drivers

5.2.1.1 Favorable Regulations Driving the Use of Biological Safety Cabinets in the Healthcare Industry

5.2.1.2 Increased Risk of Pandemics and Communicable Diseases

5.2.1.3 Increasing Number of R&D Activities in Biopharmaceutical and Pharmaceutical Companies

5.2.1.4 Rapid Growth in the Number of Biologics

5.2.2 Restraints

5.2.2.1 Alternative Containment Cabinets

5.2.2.2 High Cost of Biological Safety Cabinets

5.2.3 Opportunities

5.2.3.1 Emerging Economies



6 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Class I

6.3 Class II

6.3.1 Class II Type A

6.3.2 Class II Type B

6.4 Class III



7 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Companies

7.3 Diagnostic and Testing Laboratories

7.4 Academic & Research Institutions



8 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Region

8.1 Introduction

8.2 North America

8.2.1 US

8.2.2 Canada

8.3 Europe

8.3.1 Germany

8.3.2 France

8.3.3 UK

8.3.4 Rest of Europe

8.4 Asia Pacific

8.4.1 Japan

8.4.2 China

8.4.3 India

8.4.4 Rest of Asia Pacific

8.5 Rest of the World



9 Competitive Landscape

9.1 Introduction

9.2 Market Ranking Analysis

9.2.1 Thermo Fisher Scientific

9.2.2 Esco Micro

9.2.3 Labconco

9.2.4 the Baker Company

9.3 Competitive Scenario

9.3.1 Product Launches, Approvals, and Deployments

9.3.2 Expansions

9.3.3 Partnerships and Collaborations

9.3.4 Acquisitions



10 Company Profiles

10.1 Thermo Fisher Scientific

10.2 Labconco

10.3 Esco Micro

10.4 The Baker Company

10.5 Kewaunee Scientific

10.6 NuAire

10.7 Germfree Laboratories

10.8 EUROCLONE

10.9 Cruma

10.10 Air Science

10.11 Berner International

10.12 BIOBASE



11 Appendix

11.1 Discussion Guide

11.2 Knowledge Store

11.3 Introducing RT: Real-Time Market Intelligence

11.4 Available Customizations

11.5 Related Reports

11.6 Author Details



List of Tables:

Table 1 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 2 Class I Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 3 Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 4 Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 5 Class Ii Type A Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 6 Class Ii Type B Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 7 Class Iii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 8 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 9 Biological Safety Cabinets Market for Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Companies, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 10 Biological Safety Cabinets Market for Diagnostic and Testing Laboratories, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 11 Biological Safety Cabinets Market for Academic & Research Institutions, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 12 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Region, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 13 North America: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 14 North America: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 15 North America: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 16 North America: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 17 US: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 18 US: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 19 US: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 20 Canada: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 21 Canada: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 22 Canada: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 23 Europe: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Region, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 24 Europe: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 25 Europe: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 26 Europe: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 27 Germany: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 28 Germany: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 29 Germany: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 30 France: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 31 France: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 32 France: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 33 UK: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 34 UK: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 35 UK: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 36 RoE: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 37 RoE: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 38 RoE: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 39 Asia Pacific: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Country, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 40 Asia Pacific: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 41 Asia Pacific: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 42 Asia Pacific: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 43 Japan: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 44 Japan: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 45 Japan: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 46 China: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 47 China: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 48 China: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 49 India: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 50 India: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 51 India: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 52 RoAPAC: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 53 RoAPAC: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 54 RoAPAC: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 55 RoW: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Thousand)

Table 56 RoW: Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 57 RoW: Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2015-2022 (USD Million)

Table 58 Product Launches, Deployments, and Approvals 2015-2018

Table 59 Expansions, 2015-2018

Table 60 Partnerships and Collaborations, 2015-2018

Table 61 Acquisitions, 2015-2018



List of Figures:

Figure 1 Research Methodology: Global Biological Safety Cabinets Market

Figure 2 Research Design: Global Biological Safety Cabinets Market

Figure 3 Breakdown of Primary Interviews: By Company Type, Designation, and Region

Figure 4 Sampling Frame: Primary Research

Figure 5 Market Size Estimation Methodology: Bottom-Up Approach

Figure 6 Market Size Estimation Methodology: Top-Down Approach

Figure 7 Data Triangulation Methodology

Figure 8 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2017 vs 2022

Figure 9 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By Type, 2017 vs 2022

Figure 10 Biological Safety Cabinets Market, By End User, 2017 vs 2022

Figure 11 The Biological Safety Cabinets Market in Asia Pacific to Witness the Highest Growth During the Forecast Period

Figure 12 Increasing Number of R&D Activities in Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Companies to Drive the Growth of the Biological Safety Cabinets Market

Figure 13 Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Companies Accounted for the Largest Share of the Market in 2017

Figure 14 Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets to Continue to Dominate the Biological Safety Cabinets Market in 2022

Figure 15 Asia Pacific to Register the Highest CAGR During the Forecast Period

Figure 16 Biological Safety Cabinets Market: Drivers, Restraints, and Opportunities

Figure 17 Class Ii Biological Safety Cabinets Will Continue to Dominate the Market in 2022

Figure 18 Class Ii Type A Biological Safety Cabinets to Register the Highest Growth During the Forecast Period

Figure 19 Pharmaceutical & Biopharmaceutical Companies Dominated the Biological Safety Cabinets Market in 2017

Figure 20 North America to Dominate the Biological Safety Cabinets Market in 2022

Figure 21 North America: Biological Safety Cabinets Market Snapshot

Figure 22 Europe: Biological Safety Cabinets Market Snapshot

Figure 23 Asia Pacific: Biological Safety Cabinets Market Snapshot

Figure 24 Rest of the World: Biological Safety Cabinets Market Snapshot

Figure 25 Key Developments in the Biological Safety Cabinets Market, 2015-2018

Figure 26 Global Biological Safety Cabinets Market Ranking, By Key Player, 2016

Figure 27 Thermo Fisher: Company Snapshot (2017)

Figure 28 Kewaunee Scientific: Company Snapshot (2016)





Companies Mentioned





Thermo Fisher Scientific

Labconco

Esco Micro

The Baker Company

Kewaunee Scientific

NuAire

Germfree Laboratories

EUROCLONE

Cruma

Air Science

Berner International

BIOBASE





For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/r92kmt/global_biological?w=5

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ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends.

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DUBLIN, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

The "Next Generation Sequencing Market to 2025 - Global Analysis and Forecasts by Product, Service, Application & End User" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The next generation market is estimated to account for US$ 26,501.2 Mn by the end of 2025, escalating at a CAGR of 21.1% during the forecast period from 2018 to 2025, rising from US$ 5,731.3 Mn in 2017

The growth of next generation sequencing market is attributed to the substantial decline in the prices of sequencing. For example, the cost of sequencing in 2006 was around US $ 10 billion, which eventually dropped down to US$ 5,000 billion in 2012. Various market players such as Roche and Illumina have introduced sequencing techniques which have reduced the cost associated with sequencing.

However, there are risks associated with genetic data which prove to be a major restraint in the market for next generation sequencing. One of the prominent risk associated is targeted marketing of drugs to individuals and family groups. Genetic data is also sold by companies to outside parties.



For instance, 23andMe sold access to its database to around 13 other party pharmaceutical firms. Such risks associated with genetic data is likely to hamper growth of the market over the coming years. Recent developments in technologies has enabled companies to produce sequencing in a single day at the cost of about $15 per sample. It results in effective delivery of target and whole genome data for thousands of samples at a reasonable cost



The market for next generation sequencing has witnessed remarkable growth opportunities in North America. Factors such as increasing focus of market players in the US and Canada, grants & funds by NIH in US and rising prevalence of Cancer in Mexico is likely to boost the growth of NGS market in North America



Key Topics Covered:



1 Introduction

1.1 Scope of Study

1.2 the Insight Partners Research Report Guidance



2 Key Takeaways



3 Next Generation Sequencing Market Landscape

3.1 Market Overview

3.2 Market Segmentation

3.2.1 Next Generation Sequencing Market - by Product

3.2.2 Next Generation Sequencing Market - by Technology

3.2.3 Next Generation Sequencing Market - by Application

3.2.4 Next Generation Sequencing Market - by End User

3.2.5 Next Generation Sequencing Market - by Region

3.3 Pest Analysis



4 Next Generation Sequencing Market - Key Industry Dynamics

4.1 Key Market Drivers

4.2 Key Market Restraints

4.3 Key Market Opportunities

4.4 Future Trends

4.5 Impact Analysis



5 Next Generation Sequencing Market Analysis- Global

5.1 Global Next Generation Sequencing Market Overview

5.2 Global Next Generation Sequencing Market Forecasts and Analysis

5.3 Market Positioning/Market Share

5.4 Performance of Key Players

5.5 Expert Opinions

5.6 Clinical Trials Analysis



6 Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - Product

6.1 Overview

6.2 Product Market Forecasts and Analysis (Us$ Mn)

6.3 Platforms Market

6.3.3 Hiseq Series Market

6.3.4 Miseq Series Market

6.3.5 Solid Market

6.3.6 Ion Torrent Market

6.3.7 Pacbio Rs Ii and Sequel Systems Market

6.3.8 Other Platforms Market

6.4 Services Market

6.4.3 Sequencing Services Market

6.4.3.2.1 Rna Sequencing Services Market

6.4.3.2.2 Whole Genome Sequencing Services Market

6.4.3.2.3 Whole Exome Sequencing Services Market

6.4.3.2.4 Targeted Sequencing Services Market

6.4.3.2.5 Chip Sequencing Services Market

6.4.3.2.6 Other Sequencing Services Market

6.4.4 Data Management & Analysis Services Market

6.4.4.2.1 Ngs Data Analysis Market

6.4.4.2.2 Ngs Data Analysis Software & Workbenches Market

6.4.4.2.3 Other Data Management & Analysis Services Market

6.5 Consumables Market

6.5.1 Overview

6.5.2 Consumables Market Forecasts and Analysis (Us$ Mn)

6.5.3 Sample Preparation Consumables Market

6.5.3.1 Overview

6.5.3.2 Sample Preparation Consumables Market Forecasts and Analysis (Us$ Mn)

6.5.3.3 Dna Fragmentation, End Repair, A-Tailing, and Size Selection Kits & Reagents Market

6.5.3.4 Library Preparation & Target Enrichment Kits & Reagents Market

6.5.3.5 Quality Control Kits & Reagents Market

6.5.4 Other Ngs Consumables Market



7 Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - Technology

7.1 Overview

7.2 Technology Market Forecasts and Analysis (Us$ Mn)

7.3 Genome Sequencing Market

7.4 Exome Sequencing Market

7.5 Resequencing & Targeted Sequencing Market

7.5.1 Overview

7.5.2 Resequencing & Targeted Sequencing Market Forecasts and Analysis (Us$ Mn)

7.5.3 Dna-Based Resequencing & Targeted Sequencing Market

7.5.4 Rna-Based Resequencing & Targeted Sequencing Market

7.6 Other Sequencing Technologies Market



8 Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - Application

8.1 Overview

8.2 Application Market Forecasts and Analysis

8.3 Diagnostics Market

8.4 Drug Discovery Market

8.5 Precision Medicine Market

8.6 Other Applications Market



9 Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - End User

9.1 Overview

9.2 End User Market Forecasts and Analysis

9.3 Academic & Research Institutes Market

9.4 Pharmaceutical & Biotechnology Companies Market

9.5 Hospitals & Clinics Market

9.6 Other End Users Market



10 North America Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - Country Analysis



11 Europe Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - Country Analysis



12 Asia Pacific Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - Country Analysis



13 Middle East and Africa (Mea) Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - Country Analysis



14 South and Central America Next Generation Sequencing Market Revenue and Forecasts To 2025 - Country Analysis



15 Industry Landscape

15.1 Organic Growth Strategies

15.1.1 New Product Launches

15.1.2 Marketing & Promotional Activities

15.2 Inorganic Growth Strategies

15.2.1 Partnerships, Collaborations, and Joint Ventures

15.2.2 Mergers & Acquisitions

15.2.3 Geographic Expansions



16 Next Generation Sequencing Market, Key Company Profiles



Illumina, Inc.

Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.

Qiagen N.V.

Beijing Genomics Institute

Perkinelmer, Inc.

F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG

Agilent Technologies

Eurofins Scientific

Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Ltd.

Macrogen, Inc.

For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f8vfcp/global_next?w=5





Media Contact:

Laura Wood, Senior Manager

[email protected]



For E.S.T Office Hours Call +1-917-300-0470

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Related Links

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The application enables users direct a percentage of their earnings toward projects associated with 17 global Sustainable Development Goals created by the United Nations as part of its 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

GShare's philanthropic features represent a significant step in GNation's mission to harness the humanitarian power of the world's gamers, who represent one in every three people on the planet.

GNation President Sergey Sholom said the features will help GNation build a better world through gaming. "At GNation, we've always believed that the world's gamers can achieve great things when they come together to support a common cause," he said. "We're extremely proud to align GShare with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, giving gamers a convenient way to raise funds for causes they're passionate about.

"The nation of gamers is not divided by borders, race, or language. We're united by our shared love of gaming. When more than two billion gamers combine their passion for competition with a desire to change the world, their potential to achieve important goals is limitless."

GShare's philanthropic features let users select a percentage of their earnings to fund projects that fulfill the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by using a sliding scale ranging from zero to 100 percent. Each user will be able to select which causes to support.

"For 2,000 years, since the first Olympics began, games have brought people together in the spirit of peaceful competition," Sholom says. "Today, a PC role-playing game can bring together players from rural China, from equatorial Africa, from Sao Paulo and Berlin and Montreal. The gaming community spans languages, religions, cultures, and continents. Working together, the worldwide community of gamers can save the world. And we believe they will."

GShare (beta) is available for download at https://gn.org/gshare. Additionally, GNation will demonstrate the GShare app at the E3 Expo gaming conference in Los Angeles, South Hall, booth 837, June 12-14, 2018. If you are interested in meeting with GNation at the show, please email Jennifer Handshew at [email protected].

About GNation

GNation is a worldwide alliance of gamers, game publishers, and technology leaders, GNation is dedicated to making gaming a more fulfilling and profitable part of everyday life. Sponsors and members include GameCredits, Team Secret, DetonatioN Gaming, Xsolla, Microsoft, One for All Foundation, United Nations Office for Partnerships, DiffCat, DFF, Moregeek, and Datcroft Games. For more information visit www.gn.org.

SOURCE GNation

Related Links

https://www.gn.org


COLUMBIA, Md., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Global performance improvement solutions provider GP Strategies Corporation (NYSE: GPX) was recognized as a Top 500 Design Firm in Engineering News-Record's (ENR's) April 2018 Sourcebook.

"We are pleased to be recognized by ENR as part of this design and engineering community for the fourth consecutive year," stated Eric Rodgers, Senior Vice President, Engineering & Technical Services, GP Strategies. "This acknowledgement reinforces our proud history in engineering and technical services and speaks to GP Strategies' diverse and global capabilities in helping our clients achieve success in their operations. We provide engineering services through our Lorien division in the EMEA region and are currently building our Bogota, Colombia, engineering capabilities. Integrating those services with our US-centric engineering offerings will strengthen GP Strategies, shaping us as a leading company for multinational clients that seek a comprehensive set of services."

GP Strategies has decades of experience in providing design, build, and management of specialized facilities, technology reequipping, and manufacturing scale-up. The Company's multidisciplinary design teams include registered civil, mechanical, chemical, electrical, and fire protection engineers. Specialty engineering and design services are provided across a variety of markets, including aerospace, manufacturing, energy, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, metals, and other industrial sectors.

About GP Strategies

GP Strategies Corporation is a global performance improvement solutions provider of training, digital design solutions, management consulting, and engineering services. GP Strategies' solutions improve the effectiveness of organizations by delivering innovative and superior training, consulting, and business improvement services customized to meet the specific needs of its clients. Clients include Fortune 500 companies, manufacturing, process and energy industries, and other commercial and government customers. Additional information may be found at www.gpstrategies.com.

 2018 GP Strategies Corporation. All rights reserved. GP Strategies and the GP Strategies logo design are trademarks of GP Strategies Corporation.

SOURCE GP Strategies Corporation

Related Links

http://www.gpstrategies.com


BOSTON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Boston-based Gravyty Technologies, the industry's leading provider of AI-enabled fundraising software, announced today that it has successfully completed its second round of funding, raising $2 million with the leadership of Boston's NXT Ventures and Launchpad Venture Group. The round also includes the support of John Huysmans, Stage 1 Ventures, and The Venture Capital Fund of New England. This latest round follows a breakout year in which the two-year-old company significantly grew its revenue, tripled the size of its team, and released its initial suite of AI products, including First Draft, the company's revolutionary self-writing email product.

The Gravyty team

"Our customers are always at the center of all that we do. These added resources are an important milestone on our mission to revolutionize the way nonprofit fundraisers use technology to build and manage relationships with their most important donors," said Adam Martel, Gravyty's Co-founder and CEO. "These funds will allow us to accelerate the development of our suite of AI products, improve our core technology, and further ensure that our customers are successful in achieving their amazing missions."

Founded in 2016 at Babson College, Gravyty offers a radical new approach to fundraising for nonprofit organizations by shifting the organization's focus from simply aggregating and storing data to enabling action on data to generate revenue. First Draft, the company's flagship product, delivers to fundraisers draft emails for their most important major and mid-level prospective donors throughout the year. Written using artificial intelligence, these emails can then be be edited and personalized instantly. By utilizing advanced machine learning techniques, First Draft has the unique ability to learn from the user's edits and refine its understanding of the fundraiser's writing style and relationships with individual donors. Gravyty also makes it easy to automatically update the CRM systems-of-record as fundraisers work. This breakthrough technology ultimately allows fundraisers the ability to manage relationships with a larger pool of donors and spend more time inspiring donors to make transformational gifts to support their missions.

Co-founder and CTO Rich Palmer remarked, "Artificial intelligence---namely machine learning, deep learning, and computational linguistics---is already having a profound impact on the way organizations build relationships to support their missions. With the help of these cutting-edge, cost-effective technologies, AI-enabled products such as First Draft allow for personalization at scale, without fundraisers needing to do more work. It's like having ten copies of yourself working toward the same goal."

"Gravyty is at the forefront of the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning for nonprofit organizations," said Raymond Nobu Chang, Managing Director of NXT Ventures. "We are so proud to be the first early-backer of this amazing team and we believe their passionate pursuit of customer success through innovation and delivery of disruptive technology will revolutionize the entire nonprofit fundraising industry, and likely more."

Gravyty's top investment priorities for this new round of funding include expansion of the company's customer success and marketing teams, additional sales resources, and accelerated development and delivery of Gravyty's suite of AI products.

"We've been impressed with the Gravyty team since we first started working with them in 2016, and it has been fantastic to see the strong customer response to the First Draft product," said Christopher Mirabile, Managing Director of Launchpad Venture Group. "Having seeded the company, it was a natural fit and a distinct pleasure to work with them to co-lead this round with Raymond Chang and NXT Ventures."

About Gravyty

Gravyty leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to automate the most time-consuming processes for frontline fundraisers. Their products empower fundraisers to build lasting donor relationships and raise more revenue for their missions in ways never before possible. Led by former fundraiser Adam Martel and AI technologist Rich Palmer, Gravyty was founded at Babson College and is driven by their motto, "You shouldn't have to learn your software; your software should learn you!"

For additional information on Gravyty's products and services, email: [email protected].

About NXT

NXT Ventures was established for the purpose of discovering and enabling the next truly disruptive early-stage companies. Additionally, NXT focuses on companies with potential to transfer and create cross-border synergies between the United States and Asia.

About Launchpad Venture Group

Launchpad Venture Group is a Boston-based investing group focused on early stage investments primarily in the sectors of high tech and life sciences. Launchpad is the largest angel group in the Northeast and one of the largest and most active angel groups in the U.S.

Contact:

Allison Grinberg-Funes

617-903-7578

SOURCE Gravyty Technologies

Related Links

https://www.gravyty.com


BRENTWOOD, Tenn., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- HCTec, a leading provider of healthcare workforce optimization solutions, announced today a multi-year electronic medical record (EMR) application managed services support agreement with Adventist Health. HCTec is providing technical and clinical support for Adventist's EMR needs in its Oregon facilities.

Adventist Health, which operates primarily on a Cerner clinical and revenue cycle platform, has more than 50 ambulatory clinics that also utilize Epic software in the Pacific Northwest. This partnership transfers EMR support operations for the ambulatory clinics to HCTec. "Our application managed services division is on the forefront of this innovative model for EMR support," said HCTec's Founder and President William Bartholomew. "We are excited to begin this new partnership with Adventist Health. Successful relationships and excellent support provided to our numerous other clients was a key differentiator in leading Adventist Health to partner with HCTec."

The managed services agreement with HCTec provides support of EMR application services, maintenance tasks, new clinic builds and future projects. These services are provided through a combination of on-site analysts, trainers, and management, along with remote support from HCTec's Nashville and Atlanta service center locations. "This is a strategic partnership approach for Adventist Health to manage our clinical application stack, including Epic for our ambulatory clinics in an efficient, best practice methodology with HCTec," said Jennifer Stemmler, Adventist Health's IT Innovation and Strategy Leader.

HCTec's Managed Services division provides industry-leading, service level agreement-based application support and maintenance. HCTec's certified and highly-skilled U.S.-based staff deliver healthcare-specific support 24/7. "Our clients come to us because of our deep expertise supporting the major EMR systems in use today," said HCTec's CEO Bill Grana. "Our flexible approach lets us quickly adapt and respond to our customers' ever-changing needs."

About HCTec

HCTec is a KLAS-rated leading provider of hospital IT and revenue cycle workforce optimization solutions including specialized skills staffing, consulting, and managed services. Our solutions help hospitals reduce operating costs, improve quality, and optimize labor forces across a wide range of mission critical clinical and business applications, technical services, and revenue cycle processes.

About Adventist Health

Adventist Health is a faith-based, nonprofit integrated health system serving more than 75 communities on the West Coast and Hawaii. Founded on Seventh-day Adventist heritage and values, Adventist Health provides care in 19 hospitals, more than 280 clinics (hospital-based, rural health and physician clinics), 13 home care agencies, seven hospice agencies and four joint-venture retirement centers.

Contact Robert Borella, Vice President of Marketing, for more information:

hctec.com | [email protected] | 615.577.4030

SOURCE HCTec

Related Links

http://www.hctec.com


NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A New York cardiologist, Dr. Perry Frankel, is suing Aetna for breach of contract with his practice, Advanced Cardiovascular Diagnostics (ACD) in a lawsuit filed today, May 29, 2018. The suit, filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, is the result of a year-long battle to pay out nearly $1 million worth of legitimate claims for Covered Services of Aetna plan members. Aetna ordered ACD to cease all medical care provided specifically by its mobile clinic in May 2017. The lawsuit follows a protest outside of the Aetna building in New York earlier this month. Dozens of Black and Latino union and city workers affected by the blackballing of ACD screenings, proven to save lives, urged Aetna to reinstate ACD coverage to their plans. ACD made repeated attempts to ask Aetna why it honored claims for some ACD services and refused others, but never received an explanation. Soon after, Aetna dropped Dr. Frankel as a provider altogether, leaving hundreds of members claims unpaid.

"Aetna's reckless behavior has already compromised the health and well-being of thousands," said Dr. Perry Frankel, President and chief cardiologist of ACD. "This is life-or-death for countless members whose claims have been denied without cause or explanation."

ACD mobile clinics provide important on-site cardiac screenings at union and church locations in medically underserved communities across New York City. This prompted Black and Latino union leaders and rank and file patients of Dr. Frankel's to rally outside of the Park Avenue Aetna headquarters in a protest, which took place on May 9, 2018, one year after Aetna first ordered ACD stop mobile clinic visits. "Aetna's sudden refusal to pay more than $900,000 of medical claims for hardworking union and city workers under their coverage is nothing more than corporate greed and discrimination," said Attorney Todd Cushner of Cushner & Associates, P.C., the firm representing Dr. Frankel and ACD in the suit. "My client has faithfully honored his agreement [Specialist Physician Agreement Execution Sheet] since 1998, but the same cannot be said for Aetna who is effectively restricting access to lifesaving healthcare from municipal workers."

The complaint cites Breach of Implied Covenant of Good Faith and Fair Dealing which is a violation of New York law. Other infractions Aetna could be found guilty of:

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, 42 U.S.C  80001, et seq. ,

, New York Public Health Law  4406(1);

 4406(1); New York Public Health Law  4406-(d)(2)(a);

 4406-(d)(2)(a); New York Public Health Law  4406-(d)(2)(d);

 4406-(d)(2)(d); New York Public Health Law  4406-d(5);

 4406-d(5); New York Insurance Law  3224-a (the Prompt Payment Law);

 3224-a (the Prompt Payment Law); New York Insurance Law  4803(b)(1).

CONTACT: Hank Sheinkopf (212) 725-2378

SOURCE Advanced Cardiovascular Diagnostics (ACD)
SAN FRANCISCO, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- City Attorney Dennis Herrera today issued subpoenas to Uber and Lyft to turn over records on whether they classify drivers as employees or private contractors, as well as records on driver pay and benefits. The subpoenas follow the California Supreme Court's recent ruling on the definition of an employee versus an independent contractor.

These subpoenas are the latest component of Herrera's investigation into whether ride-hailing companies comply with San Francisco ordinances. In light of the California Supreme Court's decision that companies must affirmatively prove a worker is an "independent contractor" before denying that person the wages and benefits guaranteed to California employees, Herrera seeks proof that Uber and Lyft have lawfully classified drivers as independent contractors or provide their drivers with minimum wage, sick leave, health care contributions and paid parental leave.

"San Francisco's laws help ensure that employers provide a fair day's wage for a fair day's work," Herrera said. "Our laws also guarantee employees basic humane benefits like sick leave, health care, and paid parental leave. We are not going to turn a blind eye if companies in San Francisco deny workers their pay and benefits. We are not going to tolerate any company shirking its responsibility to pay for benefits and shifting that burden onto taxpayers when drivers without health insurance turn to the emergency room. If your company is valued at $62 billion, you can afford to give your workers health care."

Uber and Lyft, whose core business is driving passengers from one place to another, have traditionally designated their drivers as independent contractors. On April 30, the California Supreme Court ruled that companies must classify their workers as employees, unless the company can prove a specific worker: (a) works outside the company's control and direction; (b) does work outside the usual course of the company's business; and (c) has an independent trade, occupation, or business of the same nature as the work she or he does for the company.

"The California Supreme Court has spoken on the definition of 'employee' in a way that directly affects San Francisco's worker protection laws, including our Minimum Wage Ordinance and Health Care Security Ordinance," Herrera said. "We don't know whether these ride-hailing companies are breaking the law until they provide the information we seek in these subpoenas. We are going to ensure that these companies comply with the Supreme Court's ruling and with San Francisco's laws."

The City Attorney's Office served administrative subpoenas today on Lyft, Inc., Uber, Inc. and Uber's affiliate, Rasier CA-LLC. The subpoenas seek:

a complete list of drivers who began or ended at least one ride in San Francisco from 2015 to the present;





from 2015 to the present; documentation showing whether the company classifies those drivers as an employee or an independent contractor for purposes of San Francisco and/or California law;





and/or law; documentation on hours, wages, health care payments and other benefits for drivers classified as employees; and





proof that any driver classified as an independent contractor meets all three criteria set by the California Supreme Court.

"The argument that these companies have tried to use in the past  that they're just a technology platform  doesn't pass the smell test," Herrera said. "People go to Microsoft or Salesforce for software. People go to Uber or Lyft for a ride."

About the Investigation

Today's subpoenas are the second set of subpoenas issued by the City Attorney's Office for Uber and Lyft, which the state designates as transportation network companies, or TNCs. The first set of subpoenas was issued in June 2017 as part of an investigation into discrimination, disability access, public safety and potential violations of other state and local laws. Lyft is providing the subpoenaed information in that ongoing investigation. Uber was directed to do so by the court but has appealed.

About the Supreme Court Case

The California Supreme Court's landmark decision on independent contractors was issued on April 30, 2018, in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court of Los Angeles.

Additional documentation is available on the City Attorney's website at: https://www.sfcityattorney.org/category/news/uber-and-lyft/

SOURCE City Attorney of San Francisco

Related Links

http://www.sfcityattorney.org


BARCELONA, Spain, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Digital innovations are changing the way healthcare is delivered, leading to improvements in patient safety and outcomes

HIMSS Europe and Elsevier, the information analytics business specializing in science and health, are proud to announce the winners of the Europe HIMSS-Elsevier Digital Healthcare Awards.

The highly anticipated awards, held at the HIMSS Europe & Health 2.0 Conference on May 28 in Sitges, Spain, recognized two organizations for outstanding achievement and innovation in the implementation and usage of health information and technology. This year saw a record 21 hospitals enter across the following categories:

Outstanding ICT Achievement Award Winner: ASST di Vimercate, Italy

The winning project ' Introduction of a Computerized Decision Support Solution ' from ASST di Vimercate detailed the integration of a sophisticated Clinical Decision Support Solution (CDSS) in the Vimercate Hospital in Italy . The CDSS consists of algorithm-based software on bed-side mobile devices which identifies high risk cases, pushing therapeutic and diagnostic options to healthcare professionals, increasing safety and improving patient outcomes. Through a randomized control trial, which the hospital ran to compare the integration of the CDSS to the pre-existing standard practices, a notable increase in the resolution rate, as compared to a control group, was observed.





The winning project ' from ASST di Vimercate detailed the integration of a sophisticated Clinical Decision Support Solution (CDSS) in the Vimercate Hospital in . The CDSS consists of algorithm-based software on bed-side mobile devices which identifies high risk cases, pushing therapeutic and diagnostic options to healthcare professionals, increasing safety and improving patient outcomes. Through a randomized control trial, which the hospital ran to compare the integration of the CDSS to the pre-existing standard practices, a notable increase in the resolution rate, as compared to a control group, was observed. Outstanding ICT Innovation Award Winner: Saglik Bilgi Sistemleri Genel Mudurlugu (SBSGM)

The winning project 'Unimpeded Health Communication Center' (ESIM) was established with the aim to overcome communication problems for the over three million people affected by speech and hearing impediments in Turkey . ESIM, a smartphone application, offers users sign language translator support to assist them in overcoming common challenges in their care, such as booking appointments and maintaining regular contact with their doctor. The entry stood out as an excellent example of an innovative use of digital healthcare to improve the access of care to disabled individuals.

The applications were judged by a panel of seven leading healthcare professionals from across Europe:

Jordi Piera Jimenez (CIO, Badalona Serveis Assistencials, Spain )

(CIO, Badalona Serveis Assistencials, ) John Rayner (Regional Director, HIMSS Analytics - HIMSS Europe - HIMSS UK)

(Regional Director, HIMSS Analytics - HIMSS Europe - HIMSS UK) Tim Morris (Product & Partnership Director EMEALA/APAC, Elsevier)

(Product & Partnership Director EMEALA/APAC, Elsevier) Jan Boers (CIO, OLVG, Netherlands (EMRAM stage 6))

(CIO, OLVG, (EMRAM stage 6)) Jose Pedro Almeida (Head of Analytics & Data Science, Sao Joao Hospital Center, Portugal )

(Head of Analytics & Data Science, Sao Joao Hospital Center, ) Marco Foracchia (Azienda USL di Reggio Emilia - IRCCS, Servizio Tecnologie Informatiche e Telematiche, Responsabile Struttura Informatica Clinica, Italy )

) Richard Corbridge (CDIO, Leeds Teaching Hospitals Trust)

Tim Morris, Product & Partnership Director at Elsevier, EMEALA/APAC, and member of the judging panel, said, "It has been encouraging to see the breadth and dedication of health providers in using technology to improve patient care across Europe. Elsevier is proud to partner with HIMSS to recognize and highlight how these institutions are delivering better quality outcomes."

John Rayner, Regional Director, HIMSS Analytics for Europe and Latin America, remarked, "From the inception of the HIMSS-Elsevier Digital-Healthcare Award more than five years ago we've seen how far institutions across the globe have come in implementing advanced technology solutions. By recognizing information technology best-practice we hope that more institutions will see the potential of such technology to improve outcomes for the patients they care for."

The HIMSS-Elsevier Awards were hosted in Europe for the second time and have previously been celebrated in the Asia Pacific region for more than five years and the Middle East region for three. It reflects Elsevier's ongoing global commitment to supporting healthcare providers to continually evolve, to meet the needs of a changing population. All the nominated projects use robust data and insight to streamline systems and make better use of healthcare practitioner skills in order to better manage patients and improve clinical outcomes.

About the HIMSS Europe & Health 2.0 Conference

HIMSS Europe and Health 2.0 are collocating the most influential digital health conference of 2018. The HIMSS Europe 18 & Health 2.0 Conference will be held on 27 - 29 May in the beautiful coastal Spanish town of Sitges, located just 25 minutes away from Barcelona. The conference included sessions which will address the whole spectrum of the digital health ecosystem with the aim to reach key audiences in the sector: from hospital CEOs to innovative SMEs and start-ups, as well as CMOs, clinicians and nurses. Conference themes included: digital transformation, cybersecurity, interoperability and data into knowledge.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a global information analytics business that helps institutions and professionals advance healthcare, open science and improve performance for the benefit of humanity. Elsevier provides digital solutions and tools in the areas of strategic research management, R&D performance, clinical decision support and professional education, including ScienceDirect, Scopus, SciVal, ClinicalKey and Sherpath. Elsevier publishes over 2,500 digitized journals, including The Lancet and Cell, 38,000 e-book titles and many iconic reference works, including Gray's Anatomy. Elsevier is part of RELX Group, a global provider of information and analytics for professionals and business customers across industries. www.elsevier.com

Media contact

Christopher Capot, Global Communications

Elsevier

+1-917-704-5174

[email protected]

SOURCE Elsevier
SAN FRANCISCO, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- SaaScend, a demand generation and Salesforce consultancy for the B2B and hyper-growth technology markets, today announced its acquisition of Dashtab, an inside sales workflow acceleration and lead management platform.

Learn how Dashtab can help your SDR workflow at www.saascend.com/dashtab.

Dashtab was purchased from and developed by Bitmatica, a San Francisco-based digital product consultancy that provides training, product acceleration, and design and engineering services to its enterprise clientele.

Originally released in 2015, Dashtab has seen enormous growth in dynamic and agile markets since its initial release. Today, it has served customers who are shattering all expectations of growth in Silicon Valley, including; WeWork, Intercom, and CloudVelox.

"As one of the earliest adopters of Dashtab, our team immediately fell in love with the product for its fluidity, ease of access, and clearly solved a major gap for lead management in Salesforce," said Craig Jordan, Founder of SaaScend.

Dashtab serves as one of Bitmatica's first internally-built direct-to-enterprise products, designed to dramatically reduce time spent on data entry by users of Salesforce. The company utilized its user experience and product expertise to optimize and automate Salesforce lead management by deeply embedding themselves with Salesforce's customers, understanding their needs, and building an innovative workflow to automate the sales outreach process.

"As a business, we're thrilled that an organization like SaaScendexclusively focused on helping B2B organizations improve their marketing and sales developmentwill be able to grow the product and expand our offering to more industry verticals and customers," said Matt Hubert, co-founder of Bitmatica.

In the past, Bitmatica has developed and co-developed digital products for organizations such as Capital One, Autodesk, and Stanford University. Collaborating with internal product teams, Bitmatica has helped enterprises bring new digital concepts to reality, including 3D printing, financial services, logistics, healthcare, and more.

"We hope that our core clientsenterprises focused on digital innovationwill be able to use Dashtab as a case study on successful software product strategy and execution," said Hubert. "Bitmatica will continue to prototype and incubate internal concepts that will either be spun out or acquired, and we look forward to SaaScend demonstrating the growth potential of innovative user experiences in the sales space."

About SaaScend

SaaScend is a holistic growth consulting company, primarily working with emerging technology and SaaS startups.

Media Contact: Tami McQueen 404-408-2208 [email protected]

SOURCE SaaScend
VIENNA, Austria, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- iComply Investor Services (iComply), a Canadian RegTech company offering the world's first automated compliance software for blockchain securities and cryptocurrencies, is announcing that the company was named the top blockchain solution at GovTech.Pioneers.

GovTech.Pioneers is Europe's leading event for politicians, public CIOs and other leaders of the $400 billion GovTech market. Of the over 350 startups from 65 countries and four continents that entered the competition, iComply was named the top blockchain solution.

"We are excited to receive this recognition from GovTech.Pioneers, it has helped us engage leading European states to demonstrate how decentralization can enable a more efficient market with higher standards of investor protection - even compared to traditional capital markets. The cryptocurrency, security token, and ICO markets have become notorious for scams and misinformation, our solutions are built to help regulators and investors separate the good from the rest," said Matthew Unger, CEO of iComply Investor Services.

iComply's first product, iComplyICO, is a regulatory software that uses Prefacto technology to apply real-time compliance and governance to the secondary trading of tokens on open public ledgers such as Ethereum.

"With Prefacto, non-compliant trades can be denied or escalated to the ICO issuer's compliance team for manual review. This helps issuers make sound decisions based on quantified AML, risk, compliance, and governance standards. Once a trade is approved or rejected the issuer can be completely transparent with their regulator using the Compliance Ledger," added Unger.

The company's second product, iComplyKYC was designed to bridge the gap between traditional finance and cryptocurrency markets by improving record keeping, transparency, and reporting capabilities. The term "KYC" is not standardized among service providers. Most ICO issuers and cryptocurrency exchanges today do not meet the requirements set by financial oversight agencies such as Fintrac, Fincen, European Commission or OFSE. Some of the largest KYC providers do no OFAC screening, and most only call a single national PEP list for the U.S. and do not meet all regulatory requirements.

Currently, iComply is the only compliance provider in the cryptocurrency market that offers both sanction limitations to token trading and comprehensive risk reporting on cryptocurrency wallets and source of funds.

iComply identified this gap as an opportunity to use blockchain technology to enhance the best practices of traditional sanction screening, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing for the decentralized financial markets.

Since the company's first product release was announced by Bloomberg Law in February, iComply achieved six-figure ARR within its first month and has attracted senior compliance and regulatory officials to the team including Jeff Bandman and Manny Alicandro.

About iComply

iComply Investor Services Inc. (iComply) is a regulatory technology company focused on using blockchain and artificial intelligence to build a better capital market with robust, secure, and immutable record keeping, reporting, and transaction monitoring. The technology also interacts beyond blockchain and can be used by traditional and decentralized companies alike. iComply has released two products, both adding critical pieces of compliance infrastructure: iComplyICO and iComplyKYC. iComplyICO uses iComply's proprietary PrefactoTM technology which enables compliance and governance in the secondary trading of open and public blockchains and is technology agnosticmeaning that new blockchains, mesh networks, or centralized trading systems can be integrated securely. iComplyKYC is an industry leading KYC, AML, risk solution for decentralized finance and cryptocurrency applications. An integrated ecosystem, iComply's technology enables an efficient workflow and record keeping between investors, regulators, securities issuers, and capital markets service providers. Learn more: iComplyICO.com

Contact:

Brittany Whitmore

1-778-238-6096

[email protected]

SOURCE iComply Investor Services

Related Links

http://iComplyICO.com


NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The ID2020 Alliance has named four new members to its Board of Directors: Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance; Kim Cameron, Architect of Identity at Microsoft; Blythe Masters, CEO of Digital Asset; and David Treat, Managing Director and Global Head of Accenture's Blockchain Practice.

ID2020 is a growing global alliance of international NGOs, private companies, and UN agencies working together to address the lack of recognized identity that affects more than one billion people around the world. Alliance partners are committed to using technology to accelerate access to digital identity for those living without a recognized form of identity. We set global technical standards and finance projects to implement digital identity solutions that are personal, private, portable, and persistent. Partners include Accenture, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Hyperledger, iRespond, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Microsoft, and UN-ICC.

"We are thrilled to have such an inspirational group of individuals  all cutting-edge in their respective fields  join our board," said Dakota Gruener, Executive Director of the Alliance. "ID2020 has always been governed by strong leaders who are dedicated to our mission of providing a decentralized, privacy-ensuring, user-controlled digital identity. Our new board members all embody this ethos."

Berkley, Cameron, Masters, and Treat join ID2020's expanded Executive Board, composed of individuals from the banking, technology, public, and international sectors. Other Board Members include: John Edge, Co-Founder and Chairman of ID2020; Chip Dempsey, Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC); Elana Broitman, Director of New America NYC; and Oliver Bussmann, Founder of Bussmann Advisory.

Dr. Seth Berkley is a leader in the global health field. He founded the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) in 1996, and currently leads Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance as CEO. "Digital identity has the capacity to enable access to vital, life-saving services in many different development and humanitarian contexts, including by accelerating access to basic health care systems," said Dr. Berkley. "I am excited to join ID2020's Executive Board, and guide the organization and partners in harnessing innovative technologies and multi-sectoral collaboration to benefit the world's most vulnerable populations."

Kim Cameron is Microsoft's Chief Architect of Identity. He is the originator of the 7 Laws of Identity, published in 2006, which codified best practices for architecting digital identity solutions. Of his appointment to the ID2020 Executive Board, he notes: "We're excited at the opportunity to work with ID2020 to use a set of new emerging technologies in ways that will empower people around the world and enhance their personal privacy."

Blythe Masters is the CEO of Digital Asset, a financial technology firm. Masters joined Digital Asset in 2015 after 27 years at JP Morgan, where she served in various senior positions, including on the bank's Executive Committee. "I am delighted to join the board of ID2020, an organization dedicated to dramatically accelerating global access to digital identity," said Masters of her appointment to the ID2020 Board. "ID2020's open and collaborative model will enable the world's most vulnerable populations to access secure, digital identification. I'm excited to lend my experience in financial services and technology to guide the future of the organization."

David Treat leads Accenture's blockchain practice, and is also a board member of Linux's Hyperledger and the Ethereum Alliance. Paul Daugherty, Accenture's Chief Technology & Innovation Officer, said: "We congratulate ID2020 and this outstanding group of new directors. As an innovation-led company, Accenture is committed to delivering technology innovations with purpose. David Treat's broad expertise in distributed ledger technology makes him an outstanding addition to the ID2020 board at a time where privacy and digital security are more important than ever. Accenture is proud to support ID2020 and pleased to have one of our leaders join its board."

Read more about ID2020's Board of Directors at https://id2020.org/governance-2/

About the ID2020 Alliance

The ID2020 Alliance is an innovative public-private partnership committed to improving lives through digital identity. The Alliance brings together multinational institutions, philanthropy, business, and governments to set the technical standards for a safe, secure, and interoperable digital identity that is owned and controlled by the user. It funds high-impact pilot projects that bring digital identity to vulnerable populations, and uses the data generated to find scalable solutions and inform public policy. Partners include Accenture, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, Hyperledger, iRespond, Kiva, Mercy Corps, Microsoft, and United Nations International Computing Centre.

Contact: Emily Rutland, [email protected]

SOURCE ID2020 Alliance
NASHVILLE, Tenn., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Following up on their successful debut CD, Nashville based indie band Incognito Cartel is raising the bar with their sophmore album, Last Bus Stop. The full-length 10 song CD is slated for worldwide online release on June 15, along with a CD release party that night at world-famous Bobby's Idle Hour in Nashville. This will be preceded by a soft release on June 2 at the Barrel Festival in Coopertown, TN, where Incognito Cartel is a featured act for the second consecutive year.

Incognito Cartel (l-R): Terri Templeman (bass, vocals), Steve Rempis (guitar, vocals), Tom Templeman (guitar, vocals), Don Gaylord (keyboard, vocals) Incognito Cartel: Last Bus Stop CD cover

A preview of the first 4 songs can be viewed here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1e6l504lp4lqwcy/AADA_-azbnadfGB-9FPy1GK2a?dl=0

"Incognito Cartel's new album is a big growth step for the band," said Woodcraft Music spokesman Douglas MacCormac. "The sound is a bit more diversified and polished. Last Bus Stop definitely moves Incognito Cartel to a whole new level, both lyrically and musically. The familiar innocent pop songs are still there in songs like "Message Hearts," "Bright Tailed," and "Kiss Me Once"; but the band expands into new territory with deeper and somewhat darker songs such as the title song "Last Bus Stop," "Lost Orchids," and "Different Place."

Incognito Cartel is the brainchild of songwriters/guitarists Tom Templeman and Steve Rempis, who both desired to play in a band again after years of being indie songwriter/artists. They were quickly joined by Tom's wife, veteran bassist Terri Templeman, and mutual friend keyboardist/songwriter Don Gaylord, who is also the band's third songwriter. Currently playing drums is Matthew Burgess, after the band parted ways with drummer Neil Pond. A permanent replacement is being brought up to speed and will be announced at a later date.

All songs on the CD are written or co-written by Incognito Cartel's trio of writers. The sole outside writer, Randy Finchum, co-wrote the opening song, "Good To Go Again," with guitarist Steve Rempis. The band also wishes to acknowledge the following people for their efforts in this endeavor: Scott Neubert, producer; Kyle Hershman, engineer; photographers Christine Humphries and Stefano Armaroli; and Beverly Wall, who designed the Incognito Cartel logo on the front cover and on the CD itself. The final cover design was created by Christine Humphries, Steve Rempis, and Tom Templeman.

Incognito Cartel can be seen live in the following locations:

Saturday, June 2, 1:45pm at the Barrel Festival in Coopertown, TN

Friday, June 15, 8:00 pm (CD release party) at Bobby's Idle Hour, Nashville, TN

Sunday, June 17, 7:00 pm (unplugged). Commodore Grille, Nashville, TN

Sunday, July 8, 7:00 pm (unplugged). Commodore Grille, Nashville, TN

Saturday, July 28, 7:00 pm, Copper Vault, Springfield, TN

Additional dates are posted as they are confirmed at www.incognitocartel.com

Incognito Cartel's CD Last Bus Stop will be priced at $10.00 + $4.30 shipping, and will be available starting June 15 at the following sites.

www.incognitocartel.com

https://www.facebook.com/incognitocartel

https://incognitocartel.bandcamp.com/releases

CDBaby site TBA on June 15

FOR INQUIRIES /OR / ACCESS TO THE FULL CD FOR REVIEW /OR / TO SCHEDULE AN INTERVIEW CONTACT: Woodcraft Music Tom Templeman, [email protected] (615) 477-4401

SOURCE Woodcraft Music

Related Links

http://www.incognitocartel.com


NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The overwhelming success of SuchApp's Strategic Partnership with the Billionaire Society has prompted Mr. Prashant Mehta from India's prestigious Mehta family to invest significantly in SuchApp, the world's first blockchain messenger and all-inclusive 5G ecosphere.

The Mehta family has offices in New York, London, Antwerp, and Mumbai and have been pioneers in the diamond industry for more than eight decades. Prashant Mehta is managing Hallmark Diamonds, the largest diamond wholesale company in the world since 1999.

SuchApp Screenshots

"We think that cryptocurrency and blockchain technology has the power to enrich the lives of businesses and individuals in a number of different ways," said Prashant Mehta, business mogul and graduate from the Yale School of Management. "SuchApp is unique in that it uses blockchain technology to bring real value to everyday people. Once released, we believe that SuchApp has the power to not only increase communication between friends and family, but help Indian business and entrepreneurship grow to record levels."

According to Ronny Shany, CEO of SuchApp, "we are excited to partner with the Mehta family and are grateful for their assistance in helping further mainstream blockchain adoption. With SuchApp, users enjoy a previously impossible messaging experience while being able to buy and sell goods and services using SPS tokens directly inside the app without having to go through third-party services like cryptocurrency exchanges."

SuchApp is more than just a messaging service  it's an all-in-one social platform that supports 4K streaming and recorded video, text chats, and VoIP communication between two or more parties. SuchApp also has a number of innovative business tools to help small and large businesses implement marketing campaigns, loyalty reward programs, and customer service initiatives.

In addition, the Mehta family also owns the top hospital in India, Lilavati Hospital, which is currently valued at $2.1 billion and has a business turnover of more than $700 million.

Visit the SuchApp website today to learn more about this revolutionary messaging service and its upcoming ICO, which is set to launch in the next few days.

About SuchApp

SuchApp brings the content of social media platforms to messaging. It's the first-ever 5G messaging service that provides 4K video, text, and VoIP communication, content creation, marketing, and e-commerce all under one platform and driven by blockchain technology. Visit the SuchApp website to learn more about the company's ICO.

Media contact:

Dennis Lewis

[email protected]

407-476-3836

SOURCE SuchApp

Related Links

https://www.suchapp.io


DANVILLE, Calif., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- 29 million people have type 2 diabetes in the U.S. making it big business for pharmaceutical companies. Released in 2013, Invokana was heralded as a new lifestyle drug and the "darling" of diabetic medications. It was even said to help patients lose weight and reduce high blood pressure! However, this miracle pill wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Kaiser Permanente in California urges its doctors not to prescribe this drug and to closely monitor those patients who are on it. Dr. Steven Nissen, Chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, states that he is "uncomfortable prescribing [Invokana] in view of the amputation risk." He also calculated that one out of every 69 patients who takes canagliflozin for five years will have a drug-related amputation. Clearly this drug should be taken off the market since toe, foot, and partial leg amputations are twice as likely on Invokana as compared to other diabetic medications.

What is Invokana?

Invokana is a type 2 diabetes medication that works in a different way than past diabetes medications causing excess glucose to exit the body through urine. And since it functions differently, logic would dictate that extensive testing should take place but sometimes profits exceed logic. From the time that Invokana was released in 2013 and Invokamet in 2014, two FDA warnings have been issued addressing the increased risk for amputations (May 2016 and an update in May 2017).

The Problems with Invokana

You should know about the risks of Invokana because it is another dangerous example of pharmaceutical companies putting profits above patients:

According to current litigations, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, the makers of Invokana and Invokamet, knew the risks of their drug but failed to warn patients. They even defended and misled doctors and patients concerning the unfavorable findings.

There are alternative diabetes drugs on the market that don't have FDA amputation warnings.

Janssen should have conducted long term tests to assess that kidney damage, diabetic ketoacidosis, and doubled toe, foot and lower limb amputation risks were possible BEFORE giving it to patients.

Further Information

For more information about Invokana, please visit the Periscope Group website at periscopegroup.com/injuries/invokana-invokamet. For interviews or to tell your story, contact Jennifer Stanich-Banmiller at (925) 964-1485 or [email protected].

SOURCE Periscope Group

Related Links

https://www.periscopegroup.com/


"Jennifer has a very diverse background and proven track record of stepping up and meeting challenges," says Kenda Caskey, vice president, Oil, Gas and Chemical Group , Burns & McDonnell. "She leads by example, immersing herself in delivering solutions for clients and empowering others to do the same. She also inspires others to volunteer their time and resources by demonstrating contagious passion and enthusiasm."

As part of the Oil, Gas and Chemical Group at Burns & McDonnell, she provides civil engineering services for projects ranging from railroads to ponds, keeping waterways safe for clients. Taylor also specializes in stormwater management and highway engineering, providing a unique perspective when combined with her dual bachelor's degrees in business and civil engineering.

Taylor has been an active ASCE member since college, serving as a past Kansas City Section president and member of the national organization's Sustainability Committee. In addition to her work with ASCE, Taylor is a Girl Scouts Daisy Troop co-leader and Blue River Watershed Association Board president.

For photos and support materials, please visit our MEDIA KIT.

About Burns & McDonnell

Burns & McDonnell is a family of companies made up of more than 6,000 engineers, architects, construction professionals, scientists, consultants and entrepreneurs with offices across the country and throughout the world. We strive to create amazing success for our clients and amazing careers for our employee-owners. Burns & McDonnell is 100 percent employee-owned and is proud to be on Fortune's 2018 list of 100 Best Companies to Work For. For more information, visit burnsmcd.com.

Contact: Mary Young, Burns & McDonnell

816-822-4369

[email protected]

SOURCE Burns & McDonnell

Related Links

http://www.burnsmcd.com


SALT LAKE CITY and RENO, Nev., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- JMH Premium (http://www.jmhpremium.com) announces its new distribution relationship for flavor bases, sauces, seasonings, and more with BakeMark USA within key markets in Reno and surrounding areas.

JMH Premium Flavor Solutions

BakeMark is known as the market leader which offers a wide-range of bakery ingredients, products and supplies. Whether a Chef bakes from scratch, or from mixes & bases, or may even prefer the convenience of frozen bakery products, BakeMark delivers what is needed by restaurants and food service organizations to ensure customer satisfaction. "With this new relationship with JMH Premium, BakeMark will serve the customers in these markets to expand their offering to include a wide array of flavor solutions. These would include marinades, garvies, soup and sauces, and even rubs and seasonings that will serve our new customers through BakeMark very well," said Carlos Perdomo, Sr. Account Executive with JMH Premium.

"We are excited to be working with BakeMark, and met so many of their customers as we attended their customer event on May 15-16, 2018. We look forward to serving their customers and sharing a taste of just a few of our products that can help them in their restaurants and food service kitchens," related Jay Fallon, Corporate Research Chef with JMH Premium. "And we will be happy to come and share one-on-one with Chefs and culinary teams to help them solve problems in their kitchens. Existing customers of BakeMark can just call their BakeMark representative and we'll be on our way."

Customers who are looking for speed-scratch flavor solutions in the following markets should reach out to their BakeMark representative and see the inventory of products available to help them reduce cost, improve flavor and reduce training time in their kitchen: Sparks, Carson City, Gardnerville. BakeMark will also service Lake Tahoe, Central Nevada and Eastern Nevada which includes Elko, Wendover to the Utah Border. BakeMark also offers service throughout Southeastern California (Mammoth, Bishop) and Northeastern California. Any customers who previously purchased through other distributors in these markets can now purchase their JMH Premium products through BakeMark as well.

About JMH Premium

JMH Premium provides Flavor Solutions created by Chefs, Culinary Experts and our Food Scientists to Food Service, Industrial Manufacturers and Casinos throughout North America. Our products are selected by Chefs, Restaurants, Hotels, Casinos, Hospitals and Food Manufacturers to meet their Flavor needs. We support our customers in every phase of development from ideation, recipe development, ingredient sourcing, production of samples and tastings, and providing finished products that create great cuisine.

Food Safety and regulatory compliance are a top priority for JMH Premium. In addition to meeting the FDA, USDA, and HACCP standards, we have quality and safety systems in place to make sure you are receiving the highest quality products.

Our Production Facilities can handle small batch kettle up to large scale orders. Our test kitchen, created in conjunction with Welbilt, is open to our customers to work directly with our Chefs, R&D and Culinary Teams to create flavors, recipes and taste finished flavors in a same-day service facility. Learn more at www.jmhpremium.com.

Contact:

Laura Guthrie

[email protected]

801-326-8492

SOURCE JMH Premium

Related Links

http://www.jmhpremium.com


FORT PIERCE, Fla., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The 2018 Causeway Boat and Marine Show is set to sail into Fort Pierce on June 9-10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Causeway Cove Marina, 601 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida. Boats and commercial marine vendors will fill the marina both on land and in the water.

2018 Causeway Boat and Marine Show is set to sail into Ft. Pierce on June 9-10 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Causeway Cove Marina, 601 Seaway Drive, Fort Pierce, Florida. Boats and commercial marine vendors will fill the marina both on land and in the water.

Treasure Coast boat dealers will be competing for your business, as they go head to head with incredible deals on new and used boats. Unlike auto shows, boat shows are the place to buy. New and closed out models are available to buy right at the show, often at some of the best prices of the year, as dealers generally offer special show pricing or other incentives. Plus, it's the perfect time to order a new boat to ensure it arrives ready to launch in the summer.

Participating boat dealers include Seagate Marine, Top Notch Marine, Route 1 Motorsports, M and M Marine, Jupiter Pointe Boat Sales, Nifty Boats, Legacy Marine, Bad Cats, East Coast Boat Works, Liquid Planet Marine, Marine Max, and Sovereign Marine.

While boats are the main attraction, this show offers much more. The marina will be packed with an impressive display of marine accessories and a wide range of other types of marine products, hardware, electronics, nautical hardware, clothing, shoes, and nautical gifts.

Bargain hunters looking for deals can visit marine booths as vendors exhibit and sell their nautical and marine related merchandise and services during the two-day marine event. The nautical flea market area will have antique collectibles and maps, marine artifacts, rods, reels, lures and lines, boating apparel, taxidermy, diving equipment, and much more.

In addition to the boats and marine merchandise, seafood vendors will be ready to satisfy hungry customers, offering delicious seafood including conch, shrimp, crab, and fish served up many different ways. Live local bands will play on the main stage while customers do their shopping.

Visit the 2018 Causeway Boat and Marine Show website for more information, special hotel rates and specific driving directions: http://www.CausewayBoatMarineShow.com. Admission is free, event site parking is $10. Exhibitor applications are still being accepted. For information visit the website or contact Under the Sun Promotions, Inc. at 954-205-7813.

Related Links

Causeway Boat and Marine Show

Florida Nautical Flea Markets

SOURCE Causeway Boat and Marine Show

Related Links

http://www.causewayboatmarineshow.com


WASHINGTON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The U.S. Department of Justice announced today that Inchcape Shipping Services Holdings Limited and certain of its subsidiaries (collectively, Inchcape) will pay $20 million to settle allegations that it knowingly overbilled the U.S. Navy for services provided to Navy ships from 2005 to 2014 in ports around the world. Inchcape, one of the world's largest providers of marine support services, is headquartered in the United Kingdom and is a subsidiary of the Istithmar World investment firm and the Dubai government-owned Dubai World.

The whistleblower suit against Inchcape was filed in 2010 under the qui tam provisions of the U.S. False Claims Act by three former senior employees of the company who are represented by the whistleblower law firms Vogel, Slade & Goldstein and Katz, Marshall & Banks. The former employees are Larry Cosgriff, a retired Naval Reserve Intelligence Officer and Senior Vice President of Inchcape's Government Services Division from 2007 to 2010; Noah Rudolph, a former Special Agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and CFO of the Government Services Division from 2008 to 2009; and Andrea Ford, an Inchcape government services manager from 2007 to 2010.

Under the False Claims Act, private citizens may bring suit on behalf of the United States and share in any recovery. In this case, Cosgriff, Rudolph and Ford will receive $4.4 million, 22% of the settlement proceeds.

As a ship husbanding services provider, Inchcape entered into contracts with the Navy to supply goods and services to Navy ships at ports in regions throughout the world, including southwest Asia, Africa, Panama, North America, South America and Mexico. Inchcape's services typically included arranging for pilots and tugs and other port services, renting vehicles and other onshore items, procuring food and removing sewage for thousands of port calls by Navy ships.

The lawsuit alleged that Cosgriff, Rudolph and Ford resigned from the company after discovering the alleged multi-million dollar overbilling scheme and bringing it to the attention of the company's CEO Claus Hyldager and other senior executives, only to be rebuffed in their effort to stop the fraud and prevent further illegal acts. In July 2009 the three contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation and provided evidence of the alleged worldwide fraud against the Navy. Hyldager resigned from Inchcape in 2015. Inchcape subsequently hired new senior management who were not implicated in the fraud.

Whistleblower lawyer Janet Goldstein credited the success of this case to the tireless efforts of her courageous clients, and the first-rate work of Department of Justice lawyers Brian Hudak and Robert Chandler, who blazed the trail in prosecuting this type of fraud. Goldstein also singled out the qui tam whistleblower provisions of the False Claims Act, without which, Goldstein said, "this case probably would never have seen the light of day." "It is an unfortunate reality, Goldstein explained, "that sometimes government entities are reluctant to acknowledge that they have been defrauded. Instead of aggressively rooting out fraud and corruption, they sweep reports of improper conduct under the rug. The qui tam provisions upend this paradigm. They empower whistleblowers to file lawsuits that, by law, must be investigated and, upon unsealing, their allegations become part of the public record."

The lawsuit describes a host of methods that Inchcape allegedly used to overcharge Navy ships, from small Coast Guard cutters to the largest aircraft carriers. Among the allegations:

- In the Persian Gulf, during the contract period of 2005 to 2014, Inchcape routinely inflated the prices on multiple vendor invoices by 15-20% or more and pocketed the difference as profit. In one example, the complaint cites a four-day call by the USS Eisenhower in Jebel Ali in 2009 in which Inchcape's Dubai office booked a gross profit margin of $222,788.

- In Panama, Inchcape submitted false claims for Panama Canal tolls; in one example charging over $14,000 for two Navy ships when the actual bill had been less than $7,000.

- In South Africa, Inchcape marked up vendor invoices for barges, cranes, forklifts, portable toilets, South African tours, hotel bookings and a host of other goods and services.

- In Mexico, during port calls to Cozumel, Mazatlan and Acapulco, Navy ships were routinely charged up to 10 times the true cost of services ranging from ship pilots to long distance telephone airtime.

"Under its husbanding contracts, Inchcape pledged to 'bring the highest level of commitment' to obtaining goods and services for Navy ships at fair prices," said whistleblower counsel Debra Katz. "The lawsuit alleges that, instead, Inchcape conspired with its subsidiaries and vendors to gouge the Navy wherever and whenever possible."

The case is captioned US ex rel. Rudolph, Ford & Cosgriff v. Inchcape Shipping Services, et al., No. 1:10-cv-01109 (D.D.C.).

SOURCE Katz, Marshall & Banks; Vogel, Slade & Goldstein

Related Links

https://www.vsg-law.com


CLEVELAND, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- KeyBank today announced the 14 regional winners of the second annual Small Business is Key Contest. For each region, the winning Small Business will receive a $5,000 grant from KeyBank.

Xavier Creative House (Atlantic Region)

The Adirondack Wood Floor Co. (Capital New York Region)

Laci's Tapas Bar (Central New York Region)

B&B Gear and Machine Co. Inc. (Central and Southwestern Ohio Region)

Double Eagle, Inc. ( Colorado )

) Dances with Wood, Inc ( Connecticut and Massachusetts )

and ) Reel's Auto Sales, LLC (Eastern Ohio Region)

FiftyFlowers ( Idaho and Utah )

and ) Johnson County Senior Services ( Indiana , Northwestern Ohio and Michigan )

, and ) Robert Raleigh and Sons Inc. and The John Richard Raleigh III Scholarship Fund ( Maine and Vermont )

and Sons Inc. and The John Richard Raleigh III Scholarship Fund ( and ) Gwynn's Coffeehouse ( Oregon and Alaska )

and ) Hanky Pies ( Washington State )

) Perks Cafe (Western New York Region)

Pamela's P&G Diner (Western Pennsylvania Region)

"At KeyBank, we understand small businesses are core to communitieswhen small businesses succeed, communities thrive, so we are excited to celebrate best-in-class examples with this year's Small Business is Key Contest winners," said Jamie Warder, Head of KeyBank Business Banking. "We're looking forward to continuing our partnership with local businesses and seeing the positive outcomes they have on their local communities."

Created in 2017, the Small Business is Key Contest, in alignment with Small Business Month, highlights the lasting impacts of small businesses. Each regional winner was selected based on the business's impact on the community it serves and the degree to which it makes the community a better place. The contest is an opportunity for KeyBank to invest back in the communities they serve.

KeyBank is deeply committed to helping clients and communities thrive. In 2017, the bank launched a $16.5 billion National Community Benefits Plan, including a $2.5 billion commitment to small business lending over five years.

About KeyCorp

KeyCorp's roots trace back 190 years to Albany, New York. Headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, Key is one of the nation's largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $137.0 billion at March 31, 2018. Key provides deposit, lending, cash management and investment services to individuals and businesses in 15 states under the name KeyBank National Association through a network of approximately 1,200 branches and more than 1,500 ATMs. Key also provides a broad range of sophisticated corporate and investment banking products, such as merger and acquisition advice, public and private debt and equity, syndications and derivatives to middle market companies in selected industries throughout the United States under the KeyBanc Capital Markets trade name. For more information, visit https://www.key.com/. KeyBank is Member FDIC.

SOURCE KeyBank

Related Links

https://www.key.com


Bridger Aerospace has signed a firm aircraft purchase agreement with LAAM for up to five Viking CL-415EAF aircraft, with the first two aircraft scheduled for delivery in early 2020 timed to support the 2020 aerial firefighting season in the United States, and the remaining three aircraft delivered in subsequent years.

To initiate the CL-415EAF program, eleven specially selected CL-215 candidate aircraft will be supplied by LAAM and undergo the modification process at LAAM's Calgary facilities utilizing Viking supplied conversion kits. LAAM expects to employ nearly two-hundred technical and support staff members in the coming months, and is currently working with the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT) to develop innovative technologies and provide assistance in support of this program.

With the execution of the aircraft purchase agreement, Bridger's Founder & President Tim Sheehy stated, "We are pleased to be the launch customer for LAAM and Viking's new Enhanced Aerial Firefighter aircraft program. Bridger has continually positioned itself on the forefront of next generation aerial firefighting techniques and this is yet another step in that direction. We look forward to receiving these aircraft to combat the ever-increasing wildfire danger in the United States, and we believe that the CL-415EAF aircraft is an ideal platform for that mission."

Robert Mauracher, Chief Operating Officer for LAAM, commented, "We are very excited to be partnering with Bridger Aerospace as the first international launch customer for the CL-415EAF program. Bridger's recognition of the benefits offered by an amphibious aircraft to protect the environment and local communities throughout the United States is a key indicator of the suitability of the CL-415EAF for the US firefighting market, and we look forward to working together in the development of these aircraft."

LAAM converted CL-215 aircraft will form the basis of the Viking CL-415EAF aircraft, complete with a new integrated digital avionics suite, Pratt & Whitney PW123AF turbine engines, increased fireretardant capacity, and improvements to numerous aircraft systems.

The Viking CL-415EAF represents the evolution of the type, providing best-in-class water drop performance utilizing the higher delivery 2-door water drop system combined with a zero-timed maintenance program and factory-supported warranty program. All obsolete components impacting the worldwide fleet of CL-215 & CL-415 aircraft will be replaced in the CL-415EAF, and the upgraded aircraft will be designed to failsafe FAR 25 certification criteria with no preset life limit.

The very short scooping distance of the CL-415EAF aircraft will outperform competitors from initial attack to sustained major fire suppression, and the combination of safety and longevity represents exceptional value inherent in purpose-built aerial firefighting amphibious aircraft.

The completed CL-415EAF aircraft is the only aerial firefighter with factory OEM support offered by Viking's Customer Service & Product Support division, including management of all Continuing Airworthiness, warranty items, in-service engineering, initial provisioning, as well as offering Viking's M+ all-inclusive maintenance support program. All improvements and obsolescence issues addressed by Viking for the CL-415EAF aircraft will become the new aircraft production standard should Viking elect to launch the manufacture of an all new, next generation CL-515 multi-purpose amphibious aircraft.

About Bridger Aerospace:

Headquartered in Bozeman, MT Bridger Aerospace is a leader in the Air Attack segment of the aerial forest firefighting sector. Bridger operates air attack, aerial imaging and aerial survey aircraft across all 50 states and is an awardee of the first UAV Operations contract for US Wildfire Response. Bridger and its predecessor companies have been flying in support of the US forest fire fighting sector since 2002. For additional information, please visit www.bridgeraerospace.com.

About Viking Air Limited:

Headquartered in Victoria, BC, Viking is the global leader in utility aircraft services, and the manufacturer of the world-renowned Series 400 Twin Otter. Viking is the Original Type Certificate holder for all out-of-production de Havilland aircraft, DHC-1 through the DHC-7, and provides exclusive spare parts manufacturing and product support for the legacy de Havilland fleet. In 2007 Viking launched the Twin Otter Series 400 production program, and to date new Viking aircraft have sold to 30 countries worldwide.

In 2016, Viking acquired the Type Certificates (manufacturing rights) for the Canadair CL-215, CL-215T, and CL-415 aircraft. With this transfer, Viking assumed responsibility for all product support for the global fleet of 170 aerial firefighters.

Viking is managed by Longview Aviation Capital and forms part of the portfolio of a prominent Canadian family investment firm that maintains a long-term investment horizon and is one of the leading investors in the Canadian aerospace industry. For additional information, please visit www.vikingair.com.

About Longview Aviation Asset Management:

Longview Aviation Asset Management Inc. (LAAM) was established in 2016 to provide attractive financing and lease options, as well as trade-in aircraft capabilities, for aircraft supported and manufactured by Viking Air Limited (Viking).

In 2018, LAAM, in partnership with Viking, formally launched the CL-415EAF "Enhanced Aerial Firefighter" aircraft conversion program. The CL-415EAF combines the proven performance of the CL-215 airframe with modern upgrades to create the next generation of the world's only purpose-built aerial firefighter and multi-mission amphibious platform.

For additional information, please visit www.lvaam.ca.

SOURCE Bridger Aerospace Group

Related Links

http://www.bridgeraerospace.com


TYSONS CORNER, Va., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Management Concepts, today announced their attendance of The National Professional Development Institute (PDI), the premier training event of the American Society of Military Comptrollers (ASMC), from May 28th to June 1st in Denver, Colorado.

Management Concepts will lead four mini-courses, one workshop, and exhibit at Booth #201 to showcase training courses and consulting solutions in support of the DoD FM Certification Program.

Robert Black, Senior Instructor at Management Concepts will lead:

Internal Controls: Meeting Federal Requirements for Accountability on June 1 st at 9:15am

at Cost Benefit Analysis on May 31 st at 9:15am

Phil Davidson, Senior Instructor at Management Concepts will lead:

Antideficiency Act (ADA): The 4-4-4 Plan to Avoid Violations on June 1 st at 3:45pm

at Budgeting and Accounting: Making the Connection on May 31 st at 2:00pm

Ralph Charlip, Instructor at Management Concepts will lead:

Leading Teams on June 1 st at 9:15am

The company will also host a learning event to meet with government leaders and professionals across all industries and agencies on Wednesday, May 30th from 5pm to 8pm in the Hyatt Regency Denver at the Colorado Convention Center.

Management Concepts presence at PDI creates an opportunity for the company to support the President's Management Agenda and the Office of Personnel Management in training and sharing resource management knowledge and best practices to meet the complex challenges of today's fiscal environment.

To view the full PDI program, visit https://engage.asmconline.org/pdi2018/program

About Management Concepts

Management Concepts is the nation's premier provider of professional development, performance improvement, and talent management solutions for the public sector. Since 1973, we've collaborated with and supported every major agency in the Federal government, thousands of state and local government offices, numerous non-profit organizations and universities, and hundreds of corporations; unleashing the potential of more than one million individuals and enhancing the performance of teams and organizations.

To learn more about Management Concepts, visit http://www.managementconcepts.com

Contact Information

Michelle Clark

703.270.4023

[email protected]

SOURCE Management Concepts

Related Links

http://www.managementconcepts.com


Just South of the Canadian border in Central Washington, Tonasket is home to some of the world's most productive orchards. This ideal climate sees approximately 300 days of sunshine a year providing a cannabis grow season that can last approximately 164 days.

The sun-grown season is currently underway in Tonasket. Sun-grown cannabis can be as terpene-rich as indoor, demonstrating the unique aroma and flavor profiles imparted by the culmination of various factors including growing location, soil, elevation and climate.

To take advantage of the sun-grown season, Marapharm is currently funding the preparation of the Property for this summer's cultivation and fall harvest. All above-ground irrigation has been installed and growing areas constructed for both Licensees. The Licensees have also secured all necessary operating permits and approvals needed to bring cannabis plants on site starting the last week of May.

In addition, the Licensees have secured the services of Mr. Ian Dykstra to manage the day-to-day operations of the Licensees. Mr. Dykstra is a master grower who has extensive cannabis growing experience and owns his own cannabis production license. He recently won "Best Light Dep Flower - THC" at Sun Cup 2018. To date, Mr. Dykstra has ensured preparations at the Property are under budget and on schedule.

The Licensees will cultivate up to 40,000 sq. ft. of cannabis plant canopy. Marapharm anticipates to be processing this sun-grown cannabis product at the licenced facility located in Lynden, Washington.

"We are excited to assist our Washington partners commence planting and growing in Tonasket. For the "cannassieur," it is the experience of seeking unique nuances of flavor imparted by the earth which can be detected in sun-grown cannabis". Linda Sampson, CEO

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


CITY OF INDUSTRY, Calif., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently named 52 of Beauty Inc.'s Top 100 beauty companies  and the largest privately-owned beauty company, Markwins Beauty Brands has earned its reputation as home to some of the fastest-growing brands in the mass market. CEO Eric Sung-Tsei Chen built the California-based company through a scrappy eye for acquisitions, a focus on delivering innovation and value, and an unfailing desire to exceed consumers' expectations. Much of that can be attributed to the brand's vertical business model where all business activities are Markwins-owned. And consumers are clearly responding positively as the Markwins portfolio, a strategic umbrella of non-competing brands which includes Physicians Formula, wet n wild, Lip Smacker, Black Radiance, Bonne Bell, and Markwins Beauty Collections, reported growth of 35% in 2017 and with companywide sales of more than $580 million.

According to Chen, the keys to success are straight-forward, but nuanced. "While value is important in the mass market, people want more than just a good price. Today's consumers do their research. With social media, they know the trends and they know about formulations. They expect quality and they let you know if you don't meet their needs. We keep that in mind with everything we do, because we want to take care of our consumers."

Over the past year, Markwins Beauty Brands consumers have seen Physicians Formula roll out evolved branding along with product development innovation leading to sales growth in new retail outlets of 237%. Influencer favorite and social media darling, wet n wild, captured attention with limited edition, trend-driven launches like the Unicorn Glow and Midnight Mermaid collections while also introducing 2017's #1 foundation launch in mass market (IRI)  Photo Focus Foundation, which helped drive a 77% increase in the brand's face business. The iconic Lip Smacker brand also laid claim to 10% growth in year-over-year sales. North America's #1 ethnic beauty brand, Black Radiance, continued to own 51% dollar share of total ethnic cosmetics.

Chen helps drive excellence by keeping it all in the family. Not only does his vertically integrated philosophy ensure all aspects of the business operate in-house, including Research & Development, Sales and Marketing, Manufacturing and Operations but Chen's three children also have key roles in the business, including VP of Marketing for Physicians Formula, Alice Chen. Together they safeguard accountability and accessibility that keeps the focus on innovation and consumer satisfaction from conception to launch.

What's next for Markwins? Continued growth that taps into markets worldwide and an ongoing pursuit of the right acquisitions, especially in the skincare arena. Whatever happens, expect it to happen fast.

SOURCE Markwins Beauty Brands
NORTHFIELD, Ill., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In line with Medline's focus on skin health, more than a dozen skin health clinical leaders will share insights on the latest wound care trends impacting WOC nurses during the company's live, in-booth news show at this year's WOCN Society's 50th Annual Conference in Philadelphia. As America's aging population continues to grow, chronic wounds are becoming increasingly prevalent and more difficult to treat, stressing the urgency of education to support clinical practice.

"Fifty years ago, WOC nurses treated wounds and taught patients how to care for their skin. The increase in chronic conditions in the United States has led to health systems taking a more proactive approach toward preventative care," says Margaret Falconio-West, a CWOCN and vice president of clinical services at Medline. "The role of WOC nurses has evolved into assessing and recognizing patients who are at risk and putting forth best practices to prevent skin breakdown."

The news show experience called "The Pulse" will air live June 3 and June 4 at Medline's booth 742. Attendees can hear from such experts as Dr. Joyce Black, Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and best known for her work with the National Pressure Ulcer Advisory Panel (NPUAP). As a national wound care expert, Dr. Black's work to identify the problem of deep tissue pressure injury and clarify its definition helped lead her to receiving the NPUAP President's Recognition Award.

Additionally, Dr. Greg Schultz, Professor and Director of the Institute for Wound Research at the University of Florida and member of the Global Wound Biofilm Expert Panel, will speak to biofilm's impact on wounds and strategy for implementing an effective biofilm wound care plan. Dr. Schultz has authored more than 300 scientific publications that have been cited more than 17,000 times.

Find the complete lineup for "The Pulse" at http://medlineconferences.com/wocn2018 or catch the live YouTube stream at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IH76P_Z8RQQ for the Sunday, June 3 broadcast and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mq4W_b5TFMs for the Monday, June 4 show.

Products to Support Clinical Practice

The company will also highlight its comprehensive portfolio of solutions to support clinical practice from prevention to treatment:

Skin Champion Program : Pressure injuries impact 2.5 million people a year and result in more than 17,000 lawsuits annually. Educational tools can help empower staff to perform at their very best. Medline's Skin Champion Program was developed by certified WOC nurses and features pre-built educational modules to address four common issues impacting wound care, including pressure injuries, skin care, wound etiologies and special populations.

: Pressure injuries impact 2.5 million people a year and result in more than 17,000 lawsuits annually. Educational tools can help empower staff to perform at their very best. Medline's Skin Champion Program was developed by certified WOC nurses and features pre-built educational modules to address four common issues impacting wound care, including pressure injuries, skin care, wound etiologies and special populations. PluroGel  : The unique burn and wound dressing is 100 percent water-soluble, bio-compatible, cell-friendly and non-ionic. It aids in the creation of an optimal moist wound healing environment that helps to protect healthy tissue and soften wound debris.

: The unique burn and wound dressing is 100 percent water-soluble, bio-compatible, cell-friendly and non-ionic. It aids in the creation of an optimal moist wound healing environment that helps to protect healthy tissue and soften wound debris. Comfort Glide : Repositioning, transferring and lifting patients multiple times a day takes a toll on caregivers and patients. Comfort Glide products, such as the Comfort Glide Air help reduce the effort needed for patient movement and promote a safe environment for caregivers and their patients

: Repositioning, transferring and lifting patients multiple times a day takes a toll on caregivers and patients. Comfort Glide products, such as the Comfort Glide Air help reduce the effort needed for patient movement and promote a safe environment for caregivers and their patients Remedy: Leading skin care brand that follows care in formulation, proven performance and complete product selection to meet clinical needs.

Meet the Author of "Chicken Soup for the Nurses Soul"

A compensation and productivity survey completed by WOCN members indicated that having inadequate time to complete their job and working too many hours are the most common areas contributing to job dissatisfaction. These factors often lead to burn out, making self-care essential to help nurses stay nurtured and balanced. That's why Medline is partnering with LeAnn Thieman, an expert in nurse recruitment, nurse retention and work life balance, and also author of 14 "Chicken Soup for the Soul" books. On Tuesday, June 5, Thieman will sign and distribute copies of "Chicken Soup for the Nurses Soul" at the Medline booth. Listed on The New York Times Best Sellers list, the book tells stories from all types of nurses, including the patients that have impacted them, their personal ups and downs as nurses and tips to help encourage empowerment. To be eligible to participate in the book signing, conference attendees must stop by the Medline hosted breakfast on Tuesday at 7 a.m. EDT to receive a voucher.

Additionally, visit https://www.medline.com/pages/clinical-expertise/advanced-wound-care/ to see how Medline is raising the standard of wound care through innovation.

About Medline

Medline is a global manufacturer and distributor serving the healthcare industry with medical supplies and clinical solutions that help customers achieve both clinical and financial success. Headquartered in Northfield, Ill., the company offers 550,000 medical devices and support services through more than 1,400 direct sales representatives who are dedicated points of contact for customers across the continuum of care. For more information on Medline, go to www.medline.com or http://www.medline.com/social-media to connect with Medline on its social media channels.

SOURCE Medline

Related Links

http://www.medline.com


VANCOUVER, British Columbia, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- MYM Nutraceuticals Inc., (CSE: MYM) (CSE: MYM.CN) (OTC: MYMMF) ("MYM") is pleased to announce that it has engaged world renowned greenhouse expert Casey Houweling to oversee the set-up of greenhouse operations and best practices in growing and harvesting at the 1.5 million square foot, Weedon, Quebec project.

Mr. Houweling is founder and builder of one of the largest, most technically advanced and environmentally friendly greenhouse operations in the world  he is also President of Glass Investments Inc, a private consulting firm which specializes in greenhouse building and operating best practices.

"The addition of Casey Houweling to the team is a giant step forward in establishing a world-class growing facility in Weedon, Quebec," said Rob Gietl, CEO of MYM. "Mr. Houweling is a respected global leader in the greenhouse industry and will prove to be a valuable asset in the successful construction and operating practices of the 1.5 million square foot Weedon project. MYM understands that lower production costs achieved from large scale production will drive success in coming years. As competition ramps up, operations with higher costs will suffer as cannabis prices drop."

Over his career, Mr. Houweling has successfully designed intellectual property for the greenhouse industry which has lowered costs, improved yields, and reached the highest standard of product. Mr. Houweling will incorporate commercial techniques and systems gained from his greenhouse experience in Canada and the USA and apply them to the Weedon, Quebec project.

Simply put, his experience in building, operating and refining greenhouse technologies over his lifetime is without question unparalleled anywhere in the world.

Mr. Houweling will work with project experts and stakeholders to prepare a site layout, provide capital cost estimates, and design operating specifications suitable for a cannabis greenhouse. He will also assist in the financial feasibility studies and procurement of equipment from his global contacts.

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 is a shareholder in two production projects in Quebec that when completed will have over 1.5 million sf of production space. MYM is also a shareholder 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).

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Rob Gietl, CEO

MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.

www.mym.ca

Keep up to date with MYM on our social media channels:

Twitter: @MYM_Nutra

Facebook: @mymcanada

Instagram: @MYM_Nutra

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.

Investor Relations

Terry Brown

+1-855-696-2261

[email protected]

SOURCE MYM Nutraceuticals Inc.

Related Links

http://www.mym.ca


WASHINGTON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA will host a media briefing at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, June 4, on the agency's mission to explore Earth's ionosphere and the processes there that impact life on Earth's surface. The event will air live on NASA Television, the agency's website and Facebook Live.

Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will study the layer of charged particles extending from about 50 to 360 miles above Earth's surface, through which radio communications and GPS signals travel, and the processes there that can distort or even disrupt these signals. Knowledge gleaned from this mission will aid in mitigating its effects on satellites and communications technology worldwide.

The event will be held at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Participants will include:

Willis Jenkins , ICON program executive at NASA Headquarters, Washington

, ICON program executive at NASA Headquarters, Thomas Immel , mission principal investigator at the University of California Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory

, mission principal investigator at the Space Sciences Laboratory Rebecca Bishop , ionospheric research scientist at Aerospace Corporation

, ionospheric research scientist at Aerospace Corporation Douglas Rowland , mission scientist at Goddard

Media who would like to attend the briefing or participate by phone must email their name, media affiliation and phone number to Karen Fox at [email protected] by 12:30 p.m. June 4.

The public can send questions on social media by using #askNASA at any time during the event.

ICON will launch June 14 Eastern time on an Orbital ATK Pegasus XL rocket from Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands and deploy from Orbital's L-1011 Stargazer aircraft.

For more information about the mission, visit:

https://nasa.gov/ICON

SOURCE NASA

Related Links

http://www.nasa.gov


Nature's Path welcomes all to #pipeup and support renewable energy to help solve climate change and protect the planet we love. How we leave the earth is our collective legacy.

RICHMOND, BC, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Today, Nature's Path Foods, North America's largest organic breakfast food company, is turning off its worldwide website, and replacing it with a message for urgent change to voice its opposition to the proposed pipeline expansion in western Canada, and to raise awareness for the importance of investing in infrastructure to support a low-carbon economy. The company's goal is to urge government and welcome all to join them on the path forward to renewable energy. People can visit NaturesPath.com to help raise awareness for renewable energy by downloading call-to-action artwork created by BC artists to share on their social channels (#pipeup), and to sign a petition asking the Canadian government to walk away from investment into fossil fuels and rather, invest in renewable energy to help solve climate change.

"We believe businesses can be a force of good and have a critical role today to drive our future towards a low-carbon economy," says Jyoti Stephens, Nature's Path Vice President of People, Culture and Mission and second generation of the family-owned company. "Unless we pipe up and collectively push for change, the planet we love remains at risk. We are asking people to help raise awareness for the need for renewable energy and petition the federal government to say no to the proposed pipeline expansion."

Nature's Path believes access to clean water and food free of contaminants is a basic human right, and the future of humanity depends on alternative solutions to fossil fuels. The proposed pipeline expansion means a seven-fold increase in coast-to-port tanker traffic in Vancouver, increasing the risk of an oil spill disrupting sensitive aquatic and animal habitats plus BC's coastline, while leaks along the pipeline path can contaminate farmland impacting food production and the livelihood of many.

"Nature's Path has a long and proud history of doing what we believe is right for the planet," adds Stephens. "We believe the expanded pipeline deepens our dependency on fossil fuels and further contributes to climate change, plus it presents an increased risk of a catastrophic leak impacting the health of our precious agriculture land and water systems."

Nature's Path operates with a commitment to sustainability with the goal to be climate neutral by 2020. The company's path to contribute to a future low-carbon economy ranges from supporting green energy projects throughout North America by purchasing renewable energy credits, to using all organic ingredients in its products preventing over 19,000 tons of synthetic fertilizers from being used on farmland over the past two years alone. All of the company's manufacturing plants are Zero Waste Certified and Nature's Path was the first cereal company in North America to receive this designation in 2016.

About Nature's Path Foods

Nature's Path Organic Foods, is a privately held, family-owned company, producing USDA and Canadian Certified Organic and Non-GMO Project Verified breakfast and snack foods sold in grocery and natural food stores in over 50 countries around the world. Committed to the triple bottom line socially responsible, environmentally sustainable and financially viable, Nature's Path works diligently to support communities and champion the cause of people and planet. Brands include Nature's Path, Love Crunch, Qi'a, Que Pasa, Flax Plus, and EnviroKidz. Founded in 1985, Nature's Path is headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia and employs hundreds of valued team members at its four facilities in Canada and the United States. For more information, visit http://www.naturespath.com/or follow on Twitter @NaturesPath and Instagram @NaturesPathOrganic.

SOURCE Nature's Path Foods Inc.
CHARLOTTE, N.C., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) approved two rate change requests from Piedmont Natural Gas, which together decrease the average residential customer's monthly bill by $1. In May 2018, Piedmont Natural Gas filed requests with the NCUC to change two separate components of its billing rate  the Integrity Management Rider (IMR) and the benchmark commodity cost of natural gas.

The IMR rate change results in a decrease of $.44 per dekatherm for residential customers and a decrease of $.26 per dekatherm for small and medium general-service customers. The benchmark commodity cost of natural gas is increasing from $2.50 per dekatherm to $2.75 per dekatherm.

These rate component changes together result in a residential customer billing rate decrease of $.19 per dekatherm and will take effect June 1, 2018. This will be Piedmont's fourth rate decrease for North Carolina customers in 2018. With this latest rate decrease included, the average residential customer's monthly bill has decreased by approximately $6.

Piedmont requests occasional rate adjustments to reflect changes in the commodity price of the natural gas Piedmont purchases for its customers. By law, Piedmont is not allowed to mark up the cost of natural gas and must pass through the actual cost on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company whose principal business is the distribution of natural gas to more than 1 million residential, commercial and industrial customers, as well as power plants, in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Piedmont is routinely recognized by J.D. Power for excellent customer satisfaction, and was named by Cogent Reports in 2017 as one of the most trusted utility brands in the U.S.

Piedmont Natural Gas is a subsidiary of Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK).

Headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., Duke Energy is one of the largest energy holding companies in the U.S., with approximately 29,000 employees and a generating capacity of 49,500 megawatts. The company is transforming its customers' experience, modernizing its energy grid, generating cleaner energy and expanding its natural gas infrastructure to create a smarter energy future for the people and communities it serves.

A Fortune 125 company, Duke Energy was named to Fortune's 2018 "World's Most Admired Companies" list and Forbes' 2018 "America's Best Employers" list.

More information about the company is available at duke-energy.com. The Duke Energy News Center includes news releases, fact sheets, photos, videos and other materials. Duke Energy's illumination features stories about people, innovations, community topics and environmental issues. Follow Duke Energy on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Media contact: Jennifer Sharpe

Office: 704.731.4108 I 24-hour: 877.348.3612

[email protected]

SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas
The recently released book features praise from Melinda Gates, Ralph Nader , and Dr. Paul Farmer of Partners In Health, among others.

Cummings, age 81, is known for founding Greater Boston commercial real estate firm Cummings Properties and growing it from one small building to debt-free 11 million-square-foot portfolio. In recent years, the Cummings name has also been associated with more than $220 million in grant funding awarded through the eponymous foundation Cummings established with his wife, Joyce, in 1986.

Although he founded and published three local newspapers, including Woburn Advocate and Stoneham Sun, in the early 1990s, "Starting Small" is Cummings' first book.

"Many people over the years have encouraged me to write down stories about everything from my childhood entrepreneurial ventures to my business philosophies to my thinking about philanthropy," said Cummings. "With a strong, capable management team now fully running all aspects of Cummings Properties without me, I finally had the time to put pen to paper."

Since his memoir's April 2018 release, Cummings has appeared on many Boston media outlets, including WBUR's "Radio Boston," "NECN Business Report," WGBH's "Greater Boston," and WBZ's "Nightside with Dan Rea."

"Starting Small" can be purchased online at Amazon and at www.cummings.com/book. One hundred percent of all proceeds go to charitable purposes, according to Cummings.

Joyce and Bill Cummings were the first Massachusetts couple to join the Giving Pledge. They have received several honorary doctoral degrees and have three times served as college commencement speakers. Among dozens of recognitions, they have recently received a Friend of Israel award, a Real Estate Visionary of the Year in 2014, and the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce named them both to its Academy of Distinguished Bostonians. Joyce and Bill have lived in Winchester, Mass. for more than 50 years.

Contact: Kerry Crisley, [email protected]

Download our logos. Follow us on Twitter.

SOURCE Cummings Properties, LLC

Related Links

www.cummings.com


The report also examines the rise of Chinese cities, whose improvement in the report has outpaced nearly all other global regions.

CHICAGO, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- New York and San Francisco have retained their status as the world's most competitive and influential cities, according to the newly released Global Cities 2018 report from A.T. Kearney. This year's report combines the Global Cities Index and Global Cities Outlook to help multinational businesses assess the best places for expansion, investment, and recruiting new talent. The Index and Outlook studies complement one another and provide a look into both the current performance of the world's top cities and the potential of upcoming urban powerhouses. The report also highlights the success of China's super cities, which are increasingly drawing talent and corporate investment from around the globe.

"As we've seen with Amazon's second headquarters search in the US, competition between cities is real and the stakes are exceptionally high," said Mike Hales, A.T. Kearney partner and co-leader of the study. "Many cities fail to identify the advantages of investing in the right areas to attract investment and talent until it is too late. We hope this report helps companies identify places that offer current opportunities as well as future potential, and gives cities a basis for more proactive strategies toward urban development and transformation."

2018 Global Cities Index

2018 Global Cities Index, top 10

2018 Rank 2017 Rank 2018 Outlook City 1 1 2 New York 2 2 3 London 3 3 4 Paris 4 4 14 Tokyo 5 5 54 Hong Kong 6 8 30 Los Angeles 7 6 5 Singapore 8 7 15 Chicago 9 9 47 Beijing 10 11 22 Brussels

The 2018 Index finds New York City to be the world's most powerful and influential city for the second year in a row. The Global Cities Index provides insights into the performance and reach of the world's most influential cities. It is based on 27 metrics spanning five dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. New York cemented its top spot this year by showing strong improvements in business activity, while also leading the global scores in human capital. "As companies experience strategic shifts in their businesses, Index insights can be crucial inputs into decisions on where and how to operate to win the war for growth and sustain performance with the right talent mix," said Nicole Dessibourg-Freer, co-author of the report and a consultant with A.T. Kearney.

2018 Global Cities Outlook

2018 Global Cities Outlook, top 10

2018 Rank 2017 Rank 2018 Index City 1 1 20 San Francisco 2 2 1 New York 3 4 2 London 4 3 3 Paris 5 11 7 Singapore 6 16 22 Amsterdam 7 7 32 Munich 8 5 24 Boston 9 8 41 Houston 10 6 17 Melbourne

For the fourth consecutive year, San Francisco holds on to the top position in the Global Outlook rankings. Driven by the high-growth companies in Silicon Valley, San Francisco continues to excel in innovation. The Global Cities Outlook identifies emerging cities that can rival established leaders based on 13 metrics across four dimensions: personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance.

"It's ecosystems with the strongest commitment to innovation and development that are emerging as the world's best cities," said Erik Peterson, partner with A.T. Kearney and managing director of the firm's Global Business Policy Council. "Now more than ever, it's vital for cities to attract investment that drives growth. The cities highlighted in our report have discovered the right mix of ingredients to do so."

Learning from the Success of Chinese Super Cities

The annual scores of the seven Chinese cities highlighted 10 years ago in the original Global Cities Index have grown by an average 1.8 percent annually, outpacing all other regions in the report except Africa. A.T. Kearney digs into why these cities are so successful and the lessons others can learn from their urban transformation efforts.

"We've been tracking several Chinese cities over the past decade and have seen how coordinated local, regional, and national strategies and a holistic development approach have led to significant improvements," said Andres Mendoza Pena, A.T. Kearney partner and co-author of the study. "The urban infrastructure in China is creating a really exciting business environment where tech start-ups can flourish. We're also seeing more and more top talent attracted by the wealth of cultural and educational opportunities in China."

Click here to view A.T. Kearney's full 2018 Global Cities report.

2018 A.T. Kearney Global Cities Index and Global Cities Outlook Methodologies

The Global Cities Index examines the current performance of cities based on 27 metrics spanning five critical dimensions: business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience, and political engagement. It provides insights into the current global reach, performance, and level of development of the world's largest cities. It also allows for the comparison of diverse cities and for the identification of core strengths and distinctive differences.

The Global Cities Outlook evaluates a city's future potential based on the rate of change for 13 leading metrics across four dimensions: personal well-being, economics, innovation, and governance. These metrics help evaluate long-term investment and success by assessing elements such as environmental performance, infrastructure, and innovation capacity. In this way, the Outlook brings a forward-looking perspective to city-level policies and practices that shape future competitiveness, identifying growing cities that are likely to be the most prominent global cities of the future.

About A.T. Kearney

A.T. Kearney is a leading global management consulting firm with offices in more than 40 countries. Since 1926, we have been trusted advisors to the world's foremost organizations. A.T. Kearney is a partner-owned firm, committed to helping clients achieve immediate impact and growing advantage on their most mission-critical issues. For more information, visit www.atkearney.com.

MEDIA CONTACT

Bill C. Smith

Makovsky

+1.212.508.9627

[email protected]

SOURCE A.T. Kearney

Related Links

http://www.atkearney.com


NYSE, TSX: NTR

CALGARY, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Nutrien Ltd. ("Nutrien") announces its intention to conduct a placement of up to all of its 20,166,319 Series B common shares in Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. ("SQM") to Chilean investors, certain other non-U.S. persons and to qualified institutional buyers ("QIBs") within the meaning of Rule 144A under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The Placement is being conducted through a bookbuild auction on the Santiago Stock Exchange in a process known as subasta de libro de ordenes, in compliance with Chilean law and the rules of the Santiago Stock Exchange. The price and allocations resulting from the auction are expected to be announced by the Santiago Stock Exchange before trading of SQM shares commences in Santiago on June 1, 2018.

Nutrien does not intend to make sales to any person that, after giving effect to the offering, together with its affiliates, will become a beneficial owner of more than 5 percent of the outstanding equity securities of SQM. By participating in the offering, each purchaser of Series B common shares is deemed to represent and warrant to Nutrien that, immediately after giving effect to the offering, neither it nor any of its affiliates (acting alone or as a part of any group (within the meaning of Section 13(d) of the U.S. Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the "Exchange Act")) will (1) become a beneficial owner (as defined pursuant to Rule 13d-3 or Rule 13d-5 under the Exchange Act) of more than 5 percent of the outstanding equity securities of SQM as of the date of the offering or (2) be required to file a Schedule 13D or Schedule 13G with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

This announcement does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which any offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification of such securities under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction. No securities have been registered under the Securities Act, and any securities that may be offered may only be sold to QIBs, to non-U.S. persons outside the United States in compliance with Regulation S under the Securities Act or pursuant to another applicable exemption from registration under the Securities Act and, and in each case, in compliance with applicable securities laws.

About Nutrien

Nutrien is the world's largest provider of crop inputs and services, playing a critical role in helping growers increase food production in a sustainable manner. We produce and distribute over 26 million tonnes of potash, nitrogen and phosphate products world-wide. With this capability and our leading agriculture retail network, we are well positioned to supply the needs of our customers. We operate with a long-term view and are committed to working with our stakeholders as we address our economic, environmental and social priorities. The scale and diversity of our integrated portfolio provides a stable earnings base, multiple avenues for growth and the opportunity to return capital to shareholders.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements and other information included in this press release constitute "forward-looking information" or "forward-looking statements" (collectively, "forward-looking statements") under applicable securities laws (such statements are usually accompanied by words such as "anticipate", "expect", "believe", "may", "will", "should", "estimate", "intend" or other similar words). All statements in this press release, other than those relating to historical information or current conditions, are forwardlooking statements, including, but not limited to the timing of the settlement date. Forwardlooking statements in this press release are based on certain key expectations and assumptions made by Nutrien, some of which are outside of Nutrien's control. Although Nutrien believes that the expectations and assumptions on which such forwardlooking statements are based are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on the forwardlooking statements because Nutrien can give no assurance that they will prove to be correct. Forwardlooking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or expectations expressed in this press release. Nutrien disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forwardlooking statements in this press release as a result of new information or future events, except as may be required under applicable U.S. federal securities laws or applicable Canadian securities legislation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

Investor and Media Relations:

Richard Downey

Vice President, Investor & Corporate Relations

(403) 225-7357

Investor Relations:

Jeff Holzman

Senior Director, Investor Relations

(306) 933-8545



Todd Coakwell

Director, Investor Relations

(403) 225-7437

Contact us at: www.nutrien.com

SOURCE Nutrien Ltd.

Related Links

www.nutrien.com


MALVERN, Pa., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ocugen, Inc., a rapidly growing ophthalmology company developing a rich clinical pipeline of innovative therapies that address rare and underserved ocular diseases, today announced that it will present at the 2018 BIO International Convention, taking place June 4-7, 2018, in Boston.

Shankar Musunuri, Ph.D., Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Ocugen will highlight Ocugen's industry-leading ophthalmology pipeline, which includes small molecules, highly targeted biologics, and a novel gene therapy platform. Ocugen anticipates entering Phase 3 clinical trials in the coming months for its two lead programs in ocular graft versus host disease and dry eye disease.

Presentation Details:

Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Time: 3:45pm ET

Location: The Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Theater 1

About Ocugen, Inc.

Ocugen, Inc., is a rapidly growing ophthalmology company developing a rich clinical pipeline of innovative therapies that address rare and underserved ocular disorders. The Company's lead programs in ocular graft versus host disease (OCU300) and dry eye disease (OCU310) are expected to enter pivotal clinical trials in 2018. OCU300 received the first and only orphan drug designation for ocular graft versus host disease, providing certain regulatory and economic benefits. Ocugen is also developing novel biologic therapies for retinitis pigmentosa (OCU100) and wet AMD (OCU200), as well as a groundbreaking modifier gene therapy platform with potential to address a broad spectrum of inherited retinal disorders (OCU400). For more information, please visit www.ocugen.com.

Contact:

Ocugen, Inc.

Kelly Beck

[email protected]

+1 484-328-4698

SOURCE Ocugen, Inc.

Related Links

http://www.ocugen.com


RENO, Nev., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Olea Sensor Networks, a leader in intelligent sensors and analytic software for sensor network-based systems, will showcase the latest versions of their vital sign and life presence detection technologies during the 2018 Sensors Expo and Conference in San Jose at the San Jose Convention Center next month.

Olea will offer demos of their OSN Quadcorder technology for remote health monitoring applications which received media attention by CNET at CES 2018. Powered by the latest version of Oleasense software and software analytics, it offers unmatched vital sign collection and biometric authentication capabilities. In addition, Olea will demonstrate their next gen version of OleaVision technology for Life Presence Detection which addresses a variety of in-vehicle, industrial and security applications.

"At Olea, we have been able to achieve remarkable fidelity in our wireless vital sign and human presence detection signals and we are very excited about the increased capabilities of the new generation of Olea core technologies," explained CEO/CTO and Founder, Frank Morese. "The range of applications and industries we serve continues to expand. There has never been a more exciting time for Olea and we look forward to exploring new and interesting possibilities in the world of IoT."

As in previous years, Olea Sensor Networks will be offering private demos and meetings, by appointment, on June 26th, 27th and 28th, in a suite at the Hilton hotel which is immediately adjacent to the Convention Center. You may also visit with them on the expo hall floor at Booth #535 belonging to Sensaggio Technologies, Olea's representative internationally.

Olea currently offers their technologies and development platforms for non-clinical research and development use, including field trials and testing.

About Olea

Olea Sensor Networks, incorporated in 2011, develops intelligent sensors and analytic software for advanced "Internet of Things" (IoT) service solutions including a wide variety of applications such as Connected Care, Connected Car and Industrial Safety. Olea specializes in developing non-intrusive sensing technologies and wireless sensor networks including OleaSense, vital sign biometrics technology for advanced safety systems and autonomous driving sensing applications and OleaVision, for Life Presence Detection safety systems. Olea is located in Reno, Nevada. For more information go to www.oleasys.com. Follow us on Twitter @OleaSys.

Olea, Olea Sensor Networks, Olea HeartSensor, Olea HeartSignature, OleaSense, OleaVision, BalancedSense, RespiroTrack, IoT Intelligent Partitioning Architecture, OSN Quadcorder, DrowseAlert are trademarks of Olea Systems, Incorporated. Other trademarks (registered or otherwise), names and brands may be claimed as property of Olea Systems, Incorporated or by others.

Contact:

Andrea Morese

(775) 636-7680

[email protected]

SOURCE Olea Sensor Networks

Related Links

http://www.oleasys.com


JACKSONVILLE, Fla., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- One Call, a growing healthcare company and the nation's leading provider of specialized solutions to the workers' compensation industry, announced the establishment of a new offering, One Call Government Solutions. This dedicated offering will focus on addressing the unique needs of state and federal governments, including government sponsored programs.

"One Call's established, proven model addresses the workers' compensation industry's biggest challenges and is a natural fit for the government sector," said Bob Zeccardi, chief business development officer at One Call. "With our innovative solutions already prevalent in the private sector, One Call developed a dedicated offering that supports our full suite of services to foster integration across the continuum of care for state and federal injured workers."

One Call Government Solutions provides dedicated resources with the necessary requirements and training to support state and government contracts. In addition to personnel investments, strategic investments, including HITRUST certification and physical security enhancements, will continue both internally and externally to achieve continued success in this sector. One Call also revised participation requirements to enhance credentialing standards for its nationwide provider network.

One Call's innovative solutions combine technology and services to help lower costs while getting patients the care they need, when they need it and where they need it. Their expansive network of providers, combined with a powerful operational platform and clinical expertise, will offer government agencies a holistic injury management solution for greater quality, improved service and faster appointment scheduling to deliver optimal outcomes.

For more information on One Call Government Solutions, please visit www.onecallgov.com.

ABOUT ONE CALL

One Call is a growing healthcare network management company and the nation's leading provider of specialized solutions to the workers' compensation industry. We are passionate innovators providing comprehensive solutions that deliver more efficient and cost-effective claims resolution through an expansive network of high quality providers. One Call has locations throughout the United States and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. For more information, visit www.onecallcm.com or follow One Call on Twitter @onecallcm.

Media Contact: Jessica Taft

One Call, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications

[email protected]

SOURCE One Call

Related Links

http://www.onecallcm.com


Researchers at the University of Massachusetts have recently discovered the use of oregano essential oil to combat the adverse effect of certain tough, drug-resistant bacterial strains. To infuse the essential oil into a water based bacterial ecosystem, the team of researchers designed nanocomposites filled with carvacrol extracted from oregano. Even as diverse uses of essential oils continue to be researched and incorporated in the healthcare and pharmaceuticals industry, the global consumption of oregano essential oil is expected to steadily peak in the coming years.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661339/Persistence_Market_Research.jpg )



This is just one of the various factors boosting global revenue of the oregano essential oil market, which is projected to reach a valuation of US$ 7,452.1 thousand by 2025, up from a market size of US$ 4,572.2 thousand in 2017. This is reflective of a robust growth rate of 6.3% during the period 2017 - 2025.

Oregano Essential Oil Market Research Report Overview @ https://www.persistencemarketresearch.com/market-research/oregano-oil-market.asp

Global Consumption Trend Indicative of Multiple Regional Factors Driving Adoption

The utilization of oregano essential oil across the globe is predominantly based on a variety of factors ranging from purchasing power to innovation in use cases. For instance, consumers in the First World are more liberal in the use of natural ingredients such as essential oils in their food products and cosmetics, cost complexities notwithstanding. An established awareness of the health benefits of natural plant based ingredients is the primary driving force behind increased adoption across these regions.

Then again, consumers in Japan and China prefer the use of essential oils in aromatherapy and skin/hair care formulations. Utilization of essential oils in countries of the Asia Pacific like India is driven by the cultural factor, where such oils are increasingly used in traditional religious and medical practices. Having said this, Western influence has slowly seeped into the rest of the world, and essential oils such as oregano are finding application in the food and beverages industry as preservatives and in the cosmetics and pharmaceuticals industries as key components of various formulations.

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Another trend driving adoption of oregano essential oil in the Eastern countries is the influx of European and Mediterranean cuisines that largely incorporate the use of oregano in various dishes. Moderate consumption of oregano essential oil has been observed across the Asia Pacific region in the last few years and this is likely to continue in the near future.

Food and Cosmetics to be Largest End Users of Oregano Essential Oil

Oregano oil is used as a natural preservative in the food and beverages industry, especially in the preservation of processed food. The natural antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of oregano make it an excellent natural agent for preserving processed food products particularly meat and meat based products. Essential oils are also largely used in pharmaceutical and cosmecutical formulations. Personal care products use bio-active oils in shampoos and body creams and lotions and this has led to an increase in demand for essential oils in this industry. Oregano is used as a prime ingredient in certain cosmecuticals, and this is driving global demand for oregano essential oil exponentially.

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Multi-level Marketing to Remain Established Distribution Channel for Oregano Essential Oil

The global oregano essential oil market structure is governed by the multi-level marketing (MLM) channel and market consolidation can be witnessed at the global level, with limited regional players constituting a fraction of the market. MLM companies hold about 40%-45% of the global market share and target the lucrative regions of Europe and North America, owing to high consumption levels across countries in these geographies.

It is but obvious that the utilization of essential oils like oregano will continue to expand, with companies exploring different application areas across various end-use industries. Does this indicate a significant revenue boom in the coming years? If the robust growth rate is any indication, will the market grow beyond US$ 10 Mn beyond 2025? Or will the high price points of essential oils pull the plug on market growth? Find out by speaking to the team of F&B analysts at Persistence Market Research.

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Persistence Market Research Overview

Persistence 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.

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Leading the evening's charge will be Master of Ceremonies, Debby Ryan who has established herself as one of the industry's most exciting and promising young actresses in television and is known for her roles in "Cover Versions", "Insatiable", and "Jessie". OIC's Stand for Kids Gala stage will be headlined by Tony, Emmy and Golden Globe nominated performer Matthew Morrison.

At the gala Harry McKellop, Ph.D will be honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his prolific work which has resulted in 12 patents to date on novel methods to reduce polyethylene wear in orthopedic implants. As a teacher and mentor, he has touched the lives of countless orthopedic fellows, residents and volunteer student workers who spent time in his labs over the past three decades.

The Automobile Club of Southern California has been a supporter of the children served by OIC for 40 years and will be honored with the Corporate Pinnacle Award.

UCLA Health will be honored with the Power of Partnership Award in honor of the 20-year anniversary of UCLA and OIC alliance. The unique partnership between UCLA and OIC creates a platform for unparalleled contributions to patient care, scientific discovery in orthopedic surgery and musculoskeletal medicine.

OIC's 2018 Stand for Kids Annual Gala Committee and Honorary Committee Members are Ty & Holly Burrell, Claudia Costa, Fred & Katie Cromer, Henri & Jennifer Courpron, Jonathan Davis, Jr., & Rachel Davis, Stuart & Jenny Douglas, Leonard & Rachael Feder, Bradley J. Feld, America Ferrera and Ryan Piers Williams, Heather Freedman, James Gallagher, Kathryn Gallagher, Peter Gallagher & Paula Harwood, Christopher & Anel Lopez Gorham, Hill Harper, Anjelah Johnson & Manwell Reyes, Ana Ortiz & Noah Lebenzon, Kerbanu Pudumjee, Anthony A Scaduto, M.D., Jason & Shawn Silletti, Myriam Silva, M.D., Mauricio Silva, M.D., Marianne Trintignac. For more information on the event, visit StandForKids.org.

About Orthopedic Institute for Children:

Orthopedic Institute for Children (OIC) was founded in 1911 as Los Angeles Orthopedic Hospital. Focused solely on musculoskeletal conditions in children, OIC receives 70,000 patient visits each year. In alliance with UCLA Health and with the support of the OIC Foundation, OIC advances pediatric orthopedics worldwide through outstanding patient care, medical education, and research. Locations in downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica, Westwood and Calexico treat the full spectrum of pediatric orthopedic disorders and injuries. The same world-renowned care that OIC makes available to privately insured patients, is also made available to kids who are underinsured or have no insurance. For more information, visit ortho-institute.org.

CONTACT:

Innovative-PR for Orthopedic Institute for Children

Jennifer Betts

[email protected]

323.207.7882

SOURCE Orthopedic Institute for Children

Related Links

http://ortho-institute.org


NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM), operator of financial markets for 10,000 U.S. and global securities, today announced Emergent Capital, Inc. (OTCQX: EMGC), a specialty finance company that invests primarily in life settlements, has qualified to trade on the OTCQX Best Market. Emergent Capital upgraded to OTCQX from the OTCQB Venture Market.

Emergent Capital begins trading today on OTCQX under the symbol "EMGC." U.S. investors can find current financial disclosure and Real-Time Level 2 quotes for the company on www.otcmarkets.com.

"Congratulations to Emergent Capital on upgrading to the OTCQX Best Market from OTCQB," said Jason Paltrowitz, Executive Vice President of Corporate Services at OTC Markets Group. "OTCQX is designed for established, investor-focused companies that meet high financial standards and follow corporate governance best practices. We look forward to supporting Emergent Capital in the next stage of the company's growth."

Pat Curry, CEO of Emergent Capital, commented, "Since completing the corporate recapitalization of Emergent in July 2017 and joining the company as CEO in October 2017, we have focused on enhancing transparency and implementing best practice corporate governance. Upgrading from OTCQB to OTCQX is the next logical step in our strategy as we work to unlock and maximize shareholder value."

Emergent Capital was sponsored for OTCQX by Kelley Drye & Warren LLP, a qualified third-party firm responsible for providing guidance on OTCQX requirements and recommending membership.

About Emergent Capital

Emergent Capital is a specialty finance company that invests primarily in life settlements, which provide liquidity for the owners of life insurance policies that face a short-term cash need or can no longer afford their insurance premiums. One division of EMGC acquires life insurance policies in the secondary and tertiary life settlement markets and invests in assets with high, uncorrelated returns backed by typically investment-grade rated life insurance carriers. Headquartered in Boca Raton, FL, with an office in New York City, the Company has 12 employees. Founded in 2006 as Imperial Holdings, LLC and rebranded as Emergent Capital, Inc. in September 2015, the company has been public since 2011. EMGC owns a portfolio of over 600 life insurance policies with an aggregate death benefit of approximately $2.9 billion.

About OTC Markets Group Inc.

OTC Markets Group Inc. (OTCQX: OTCM) operates the OTCQX Best Market, the OTCQB Venture Market and the Pink Open Market for 10,000 U.S. and global securities. Through OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN, we connect a diverse network of broker-dealers that provide liquidity and execution services. We enable investors to easily trade through the broker of their choice and empower companies to improve the quality of information available for investors.

To learn more about how we create better informed and more efficient markets, visit www.otcmarkets.com.

OTC Link ATS and OTC Link ECN are operated by OTC Link LLC, member FINRA/SIPC and SEC regulated ATS.

Subscribe to the OTC Markets RSS Feed

Media Contact:

OTC Markets Group Inc., +1 (212) 896-4428, [email protected]

SOURCE OTC Markets Group Inc.

Related Links

http://www.otcmarkets.com


CINCINNATI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PatientPoint, the trusted leader in patient and physician engagement solutions, has received 14 Hermes Creative Awards for creative excellence. Content from two PatientPoint ProgramsPatientPoint Communicate and PatientPoint Educatewon six Platinum, seven Gold and one Honorable Mention awards. The Hermes Creative Awards is one of the world's largest competitions honoring the messengers and creators of traditional and emerging media. As a Platinum award winner, PatientPoint is joined by some of the world's most recognizable brands, including Pepsi, Hilton, Citi, UPS and Allstate.

PatientPoint is the most decorated point-of-care education and engagement provider with more than 500 content and creative awards. The company delivers patient education through a cohesive point-of-care communication platform that leverages critical touchpoints such as waiting rooms, exam rooms and the back office to increase patient-physician engagement and improve outcomes.

Unlike most of its competitors, PatientPoint develops the majority of its content internally using a highly customized approach. The PatientPoint Content & Creative team tailors education to individual specialtieswith input from practicing physiciansas well as to the spaces in which it will be shown to ensure that it meets the unique needs of patients and providers in the point-of-care environment.

The Hermes Creative Awards are administered and judged by the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP), the industry's pre-eminent third-party evaluator of creative work. In a recent blog post highlighting the Platinum award-winning PatientPoint segment "Manage Insomnia with Medicines," the AMCP described PatientPoint as an organization with a mission to create content "to educate patients about medical problems they may face, and provide soothing explanations and solutions to those problems. The technique is incredibly imaginative, taking concepts and turning them into colorful messaging."

"Every piece of content that we create is designed to equip patients with relevant, easy-to-understand and actionable information that can help them have better conversations with their providers and live better lives," said PatientPoint Senior Vice President, Content and Creative, Kate Merz. "This recognition from the Hermes Creative Awards for all 14 of our submissions motivates us to continue to create superior-quality education that helps patients find the wordsor informationthey need to make that next engagement with their doctor, often one that will have a meaningful impact on their health."

Entries for the Hermes Creative Awards, which include 200 categories encompassing print media, campaigns and emerging media, originate from diverse organizations ranging from individual communicators to media conglomerates to Fortune 500 companies.

PatientPoint 2018 Hermes Creative Awards:

Platinum:

Bladder Cancer (Brochure)

Healthy Living with HIV (Brochure)

Insomnia (Brochure)

Manage Insomnia with Medicines (Waiting Room Educational Segment)

Metastatic Breast Cancer (Brochure)

Prenatal Vitamin Tips (Waiting Room Educational Segment)

Gold:

Birth Control (Brochure)

Caregiver Tips (Waiting Room Educational Segment)

Hepatitis C (Brochure)

The HPV Vaccine and Your Child (Brochure)

Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (Brochure)

Type 2 Diabetes (Brochure)

What's Your Blood Type? (Waiting Room Educational Segment)

Honorable Mention:

Take Painkillers Safely (Waiting Room Educational Segment)

About PatientPoint

PatientPoint powers more effective patient-physician engagements across all points of care. With 30 years of unrivaled experience and continual, meaningful innovation, we are trusted consultants to healthcare providers and sponsoring brands. Using superior analytics and insights, we craft customized programs that make every doctor-patient engagement better. From primary care to complex specialties, from practices to hospitals, PatientPoint provides a cohesive communication platform that enriches the entire care experience and delivers proven results. By the end of 2018, PatientPoint programs are on track to impact patient-physician discussions in more than 51,000 physician offices and 1,000 hospitals nationwide. Learn more at patientpoint.com.

SOURCE PatientPoint

Related Links

http://www.patientpoint.com


CALGARY, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ - Pembina Pipeline Corporation ("Pembina" or the "Company") (TSX: PPL;NYSE: PBA) announced an update to its 2018 guidance range and will host its annual Investor Day.

Pembina announced today that based on strong year-to-date results and the outlook for the remainder of the year, the Company has updated its 2018 Adjusted EBITDA guidance range to $2,650 to $2,750 million.

"We are seeing strong customer demand for our services, leading to increased utilization in the Pipelines and Facilities Divisions, and rising commodity prices are driving solid performance in our Marketing business," said Mick Dilger, Pembina's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Accordingly, we are raising the bottom end of our guidance range by $100 million."

Pembina's annual Investor Day will be held today at the Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto, Ontario, with a corporate presentation scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET. The presentation will feature Pembina's executive team providing an update on corporate strategy, a business overview including project updates, and a review of Pembina's financial position.

A live webcast of the conference call can be accessed on Pembina's website at pembina.com under Investor Centre, Presentation & Events, or by entering: https://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?target=reg20.jsp&referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pembina.com%2Finvestor-centre%2Fpresentations-and-events%2F&eventid=1586882&sessionid=1&key=175EA88F028C9CD48628882A2542CE5DTag=&sourcepage=register in your web browser. After the presentation a copy of the presentation and an archive of the webcast will be available on the website.

About Pembina

Calgary-based Pembina Pipeline Corporation is a leading transportation and midstream service provider that has been serving North America's energy industry for over 60 years. Pembina owns an integrated system of pipelines that transport various hydrocarbon liquids and natural gas products produced primarily in western Canada. The Company also owns gas gathering and processing facilities and an oil and natural gas liquids infrastructure and logistics business. Pembina's integrated assets and commercial operations along the majority of the hydrocarbon value chain allow it to offer a full spectrum of midstream and marketing services to the energy sector. Pembina is committed to identifying additional opportunities to connect hydrocarbon production to new demand locations through the development of infrastructure that would extend Pembina's service offering even further along the hydrocarbon value chain. These new developments will contribute to ensuring that hydrocarbons produced in the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin and the other basins where Pembina operates can reach the highest value markets throughout the world.

Pembina strives to provide sustainable, industry-leading total returns for our investors; reliable and value-added services for our customers; a net positive impact to communities; and a safe, respectful, collaborative and fair work culture for our employees.

Pembina's strategy is to:

Preserve value by providing safe, environmentally conscious, cost-effective and reliable services;

by providing safe, environmentally conscious, cost-effective and reliable services; Diversify by providing integrated solutions which enhance profitability and customer service;

by providing integrated solutions which enhance profitability and customer service; Implement Growth by pursuing projects or assets that are expected to generate cash flow per share accretion and capture long-life, economic hydrocarbon reserves; and

by pursuing projects or assets that are expected to generate cash flow per share accretion and capture long-life, economic hydrocarbon reserves; and Secure Global Markets by understanding what the world needs, where they need it, and delivering it.

Pembina is structured into three Divisions: Pipelines Division, Facilities Division and Marketing & New Ventures Division.

Pembina's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under PPL and PBA, respectively. For more information, visit www.pembina.com.

Forward-Looking Information and Statements

This news release contains certain forward-looking information and statements (collectively, "forward-looking statements") that are based on Pembina's current expectations, estimates, projections and assumptions in light of its experience and its perception of historical trends. In this news release, such forward-looking information and statements can be identified by terminology such as "guidance", "outlook", "expects", "will", and similar expressions suggesting future events or future performance.

In particular, this news release contains forward-looking statements, including certain financial outlooks, pertaining to, without limitation, the following: anticipated future adjusted EBITDA; expectations around continuing producer activity and development; the ongoing utilization and expansions of and additions to Pembina's business and asset base, growth and growth potential. These forward-looking statements are being made by Pembina based on certain assumptions that Pembina has made in respect thereof as at the date of this news release, regarding, among other things: oil and gas industry exploration and development activity levels; the success of Pembina's operations and growth projects; prevailing commodity prices, margins, volumes and exchange rates; that Pembina's future results of operations will be consistent with past performance and management expectations in relation thereto; the continued availability of capital at attractive prices to fund future capital requirements relating to existing assets and projects, including but not limited to future capital expenditures relating to expansion, upgrades and maintenance shutdowns; that any third party projects relating to Pembina's growth projects will be sanctioned and completed as expected; that any required commercial agreements can be reached; that all required regulatory and environmental approvals can be obtained on the necessary terms in a timely manner; that counterparties to material agreements will continue to perform in a timely manner; that there are no unforeseen events preventing the performance of contracts; that there are no unforeseen material construction, integrity or other costs related to current growth projects or current operations; and prevailing interest and tax rates.

Although Pembina believes the expectations and material factors and assumptions reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date hereof, there can be no assurance that these expectations, factors and assumptions will prove to be correct. Readers are cautioned that events or circumstances could cause results to differ materially from those predicted, forecasted or projected. By their nature, forward-looking statements involve numerous assumptions, known and unknown risks and uncertainties that contribute to the possibility that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward-looking statements will not occur, which may cause actual performance and financial results in future periods to differ materially from any projections of future performance or results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements and information. These known and unknown risks and uncertainties, include, but are not limited to: the ability of Pembina to raise sufficient capital (or to raise sufficient capital on favourable terms) to fund future expansions and growth projects and satisfy future commitments; failure to negotiate and conclude any required commercial agreements or failure to obtain project sanctioning; increased construction costs, or construction delays, on Pembina's expansion and growth projects; labour and material shortages; non-performance of agreements in accordance with their terms; the impact of competitive entities and pricing; reliance on key industry partners, alliances and agreements; the strength and operations of the oil and natural gas production industry and related commodity prices; the continuation or completion of third-party projects; actions by governmental or regulatory authorities including changes in tax laws and treatment, changes in royalty rates or increased environmental regulation; adverse general economic and market conditions in Canada, North America and elsewhere; construction delays; labour and material shortages; and certain other risks detailed from time to time in Pembina's public disclosure documents including, among other things, those detailed under the heading "Risk Factors" in Pembina's management's discussion and analysis and annual information form for the year ended December 31, 2017, which can be found at www.sedar.com.

The forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by the above statements, and speak only as of the date of this document. Pembina does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or information contained herein, except as required by applicable laws. The forward-looking statements contained in this document are expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. Readers are cautioned that management of Pembina approved the financial outlook contained herein as of the date of this press release. The purpose of the financial outlook contained herein is to give the reader an indication of the value to Pembina of planned capital projects and ongoing operations. Readers should be aware that the information contained in the financial outlook contained herein may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Non-GAAP Measures

The intent of Non-GAAP measures is to provide additional useful information respecting Pembina's financial and operational performance to investors and analysts and the measures do not have any standardized meaning under IFRS. The measures should not be considered in isolation or used in substitute for measures of performance prepared in accordance with IFRS. Since Non-GAAP financial measures are unlikely to be comparable to similar measures presented by other companies, securities regulations require that Non-GAAP financial measures are clearly defined, qualified and reconciled to their nearest GAAP measure.

In this news release, Pembina has used the term adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (Adjusted EBITDA), which does not have any standardized meaning under IFRS ("Non-GAAP Measures"). Readers are encouraged to refer to Pembina's management's discussion and analysis for the period ended March 31, 2018, which is available online at www.sedar.com, www.sec.gov and through Pembina's website at www.pembina.com for Pembina's Non-GAAP definitions, quantifications and reconciliations.

SOURCE Pembina Pipeline Corporation

Related Links

http://www.pembina.com


GURUGRAM, India, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Poland logistics market by service mix (freight forwarding, warehousing and value added services), by industries (manufacturing, retail, motor vehicle & parts, food, plastic, furniture, paper and others). Freight forwarding market by freight mode (land and pipeline freight, water freight and air freight), by international and domestic freight forwarding, by major flow corridors (European countries, Asian Countries, North American countries and rest of the world), by delivery (normal and express). Poland warehousing market by geography (Warsaw, Silesia, Poznan, and others), by business model (Industrial/ Retail/ Agriculture, Container Freight/ inland Container Deport and Cold Storage), competitive scenario, future outlook and projections. Poland express logistics market by air and ground express, by B2B, B2C and C2C segment, by international and domestic express logistics service, competitive scenario, future outlook and projections. Snapshot on E-commerce logistics, Poland CEP (Courier, Express and Parcel) market, cold chain logistics, third party logistics. Competitive landscape of major players (PKP Cargo, DSV Group, Kuehne + Nagel, LOTOS Kolej Sp. Z. o. o, Yusen Logistics (Polska) Sp. z o.o., DB Schenker, DHL Poland, Raben Group and DPD Polska) in Poland logistics market.

Logistics market in Poland has been supported by the stable financial economy of the country and increasing trade with the European countries.

The increasing consumption in the country, growth of the e-commerce sector along with rising number of retail outlets will lead the growth of the Polish logistics market in the upcoming years.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/661352/Ken_Research_Logo.jpg )

The Polish economy in the past few years has gradually revived from the global economic crises of 2008. The increasing trade between Poland and European countries has provided a boost to the logistics industry in the country. Since 2014 the trade balance has been positive and is likely to continue the trend on the back of a positive economic outlook. Export and import of goods contribute substantial share to the overall revenue of the logistics market. Increase in Polish exports to the European Union countries in the coming years will be one of the key factors propelling the logistics market in the country. The GDP growth rate in the country is also positive and is increasing owing to the growth of the manufacturing and agricultural sector. The growth trend in these industries is likely to continue in the future and fuel the logistics market in the country.

More warehousing hubs are likely to gradually come in eastern region of the country. The logistics industry in Poland is now focusing on to create warehousing hubs and cater to the Central and Eastern European Region. Robust growth in the e-commerce, retail and FMCG sector will be the driving engines of the warehousing sector in the country. With the growth of the freight forwarding and warehousing industry the market for value added services is also likely to grow.

Companies are likely to introduce more efficient and time saving services that will benefit the client. The express logistics market is likely to witness double digit growth on the back of growth in e-commerce sector. The need for cold chain services will also grow as the trade and consumption of perishable goods will grow. The market share of 3PL industry is likely to augment in the future; also companies are likely to introduce 4PL and 5PL services in the future. All these factors combined together will provide sustainable growth to the logistics industry in Poland.

Ken Research in its latest study, Poland Logistics and Warehousing Market Outlook to 2022- by Domestic and International Freight Forwarding, Warehousing, Express Logistics, Cold Chain, Third Party Logistics, E-commerce Logistics suggests that the logistics and warehousing market in Poland will grow at a gradual rate owing to the rise in trade, growth of the manufacturing sector and increasing consumption in the country.

Key Topics Covered

Poland Logistics and Warehousing Market Introduction Comparative Analysis of Poland Logistics and Warehousing Market with Global Logistics and Warehousing Market Transport and Logistics Infrastructure Value Chain Analysis Poland Logistics and Warehousing Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2011-2017 By Service Mix (Freight Forwarding, Warehousing Services and Value-Added Services), 2011-2017 By Regions By End Users (manufacturing, retail, motor vehicle & parts, food, plastic, furniture, paper and others), 2017

Poland Freight Forwarding Market

Market Overview and Genesis

Market Size, 2011-2017

Market Segmentation By Normal and Express Delivery, 2011-2017 By Freight Movement (Sea, Road, Air and Rail) By International and Domestic Freight Forwarding, 2017 By Flow Corridors (European countries, Asian Countries, North American countries and rest of the world), 2016

Competition Scenario

Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022

Poland Express Logistics Market Market Overview and Genesis Snapshot on CEP (Courier, Express and Parcel) Market Market Segmentation, 2016-2017 By International and Domestic Express, 2016 By Air and Ground Express, 2016-2017 By B2B, B2C and C2C, 2017 Competitive Scenario in Poland Express Logistics Market Poczta Polska InPost Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022

Poland E-Commerce Logistics Market Market Size By Logistics Revenue and Shipment, 2015-2017 Market Segmentation, 2017 By Channel (3PL Companies and E-Commerce Merchants), 2017 By Speed of Delivery (2 Day Delivery, 1 Day Delivery, Same Day Delivery, Within 2 Hours and Delivery Beyond 2 Days), 2017 By Area of Delivery (Intercity and Intracity), 2017 By Payment Method (Cash on Delivery and Others), 2017 Competitive Landscape of Major Players Competition Scenario Market Share of Major Players Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022

Snapshot of Poland Cold Chain Logistics

Snapshot on Poland 3PL (Third Party Logistics) Market

3PL (Third Party Logistics) Market Poland Warehousing Market Market Overview and Genesis Value Chain Analysis Market Size, 2011-2017 Market Segmentation, 2017 By Geography ( Warsaw , Silesia, Poznan, and Others), 2017 By Business Model (Industrial / Retail Freight, Container Freight, Cold Storage, Agriculture and Others), 2016 Competition Scenario in Poland Warehousing Market Poland Warehousing Future Outlook and Projections, 2018-2022 Emerging Warehousing Technological Innovations in Poland

Company Profiles of Major Players in Poland Logistics and Warehousing Market PKP Cargo DSV Group Kuehne + Nagel inc Lotos Kolej Sp. Z o.o. Yusen Logistics (Polska) Sp. z o.o. DB Schenker DHL Poland Raben Group DPD Polska Rhenus Other Players Operating in Poland Logistics and Warehousing Market

Logistics and Warehousing Market

For more information on the research report, refer to below link:

https://www.kenresearch.com/automotive-transportation-and-warehousing/logistics-and-shipping/poland-logistics-market/149100-100.html

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UAE Logistics Market Outlook to 2019 - Driven by Infrastructural Investment and Expanding Foreign Trade

Dubai has been the biggest contributor to the UAE logistics market driven by its Free Zones and tax free structures also presence of Jebel Ali Port makes Dubai the most promising market.

Philippines Logistics Market Outlook to 2020 - Driven by Customized Logistics, E-commerce Activities and Changes in Freight Forwarding

The government of Philippines is spending an increasing amount of its budget on the infrastructural development. From 2010 to 2015, the budgetary spending increased by 240.8%.

Saudi Arabia Logistics & Warehousing Market Outlook to 2020 - Expanding Industrial and Retail Activities Supported by Infrastructure Spending to Support Growth

Saudi Arabia cold chain market has grown at a substantial CAGR from 2010-2015 due to the increasing contribution from the fruits and vegetables production.

Contact Us:

Ken Research

Ankur Gupta, Head Marketing & Communications

[email protected]

+91-124-4230204



SOURCE Ken Research
NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- In her powerful new book "B.O.S.S.: Break Out Silent Soldier," a traumatic, roller-coaster true story of Jody Paar, best-selling author Jody Paar gives readers an inside glimpse of the underworld of sex trafficking right here in the United States. Jody reveals the deceit and tactics used to lure young girls in American small towns and cities.

B.O.S.S. book cover, releasing book in New York May 31, 2018, at the International Book Expo

Paar grew up in the deep South, lost her innocence and lived in fear for years before overcoming and inspiring others. In her debut memoir/self-help book, Jody Paar tells her heart-touching story of fear, overcoming shame and finding her voice.

In this first of a three-part series, Jody empowers women globally from the page to the stage and her story produces change in the lives of women globally - and the ripple effect is evident and transformative.

Jody Paar is a small-town Southern girl. She was the baby of the family and was supposed to be a boy but came out all girl. She sparkled from the moment she came into the world.

As a little girl, Jody was always in her mom's makeup and heels. "I will be a star one day," she would say into her hairbrush. Jody always lit up a room and never met a stranger, even as a child. She would talk to anyone, even if they wouldn't talk to her. When she became a teenager, she began to rebel. The struggle of learning disabilities that she hid from everyone was starting to dim her light. She had no problem making friends and enjoyed her classmates, but never felt like she fit in. She was always the first to take up for someone being bullied. The only fight she ever got into was with a boy who was bullying her little cousin. Jody won. She was fearless as she confronted the bully, even though she was smaller than he was. She stood tall for what she believed in. She was taught not to fight, but if there's a purpose behind it, win. That message has stuck with Jody her whole life.

Jody was very sheltered growing up. She thought everyone around her lived a safe life like she did. Jody didn't really know that evil existed because it didn't in her world. With hormones raging and thinking she knew it all, Jody couldn't wait to leave home. At the age of 18, Jody walked out of her safe home and discovered a dangerous world faster than she ever thought imaginable. She found herself running from a past that haunted her every move. She was face to face with the devil and her life would change forever.

Life happens, but we must go on. Jody did her best to act as a normal person day to day. Jody was no longer the outgoing person she was before. Every person she met she feared what they wanted with her. She was a good actress and smiled to hide the pain. The truth was inside she was so full of fear with every move she would make. She felt like a failure with little education and the stupid one in the room. The one good thing was it didn't stop her from surviving. The show must go on and it did. Jody may not have had education, but she had something else. She has a personality that sparkles and a heart of gold.

How does a small-town girl with little education write a book? She just starts typing and before she knows it has written a three-book series about her life in only two weeks. Jody has hidden for decades. She is now ready to share her story of her traumatic roller-coaster life. She spares no details as she goes deep into the darkness of the chains that held her captive.

Jody Paar will be releasing her new book May 31, signing her new book and speaking at the New York International Book Expo and Book Con in New York City May 31-June 1, 2018, at Javits Center.

http://www.bookexpoamerica.com/

FROM THE AUTHOR:

"As a silent soldier, I was walking around with this huge chain of fear attached to me. I had so much anxiety even just leaving the house.

"Fear had this soldier in the darkest room with chains on my hands and feet. So many silent soldiers are walking around today. They live in fear with everything they do.

"The good news is that freedom is on the way! In this series, I will continue to take you down the path of my life and each chain that is attached to me. In my life, I found myself in some very bad situations.

"Spoiler alert! The good news is that each one of these chains fell off of me, and they can fall off of you, too. With love, Jody"

Media Contacts

For interviews contact:

Media Company:

James Paar

Paar Media Group

(651) 675-7783

[email protected]

Publisher: Michael Butler

Beyond Publishing

(918) 955-3227

[email protected]

Related Images

b-o-s-s-break-out-silent-soldier.jpg

B.O.S.S. Break Out Silent Soldier

B.O.S.S. book cover, releasing book in New York May 31, 2018, at the International Book Expo

image2.png

Related Links

Pre-Order Book

Order Autographed Copy

SOURCE Jody Paar
SHANGHAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- PPDAI Group Inc. ("PPDAI," "Paipaidai," or the "Company") (NYSE: PPDF), a leading online consumer finance marketplace in China, today announced its participation in the following investor conferences:

Bank of America Merrill Lynch APAC Financial Conference 2018, June 11 - 12 at the Fullerton hotel in Singapore

at the Fullerton hotel in CICC Investment Conference, June 20 , at the Pudong Shangri-La hotel in Shanghai

, at the Pudong Shangri-La hotel in Deutsche Bank Access Asia Internet Corporate Day, June 28 - 29 at the Winchester House in London

Management will meet with institutional investors throughout these events. For additional information, please contact your respective institutional sales representative at each sponsoring bank.

About PPDAI Group Inc.

PPDAI is a leading online consumer finance marketplace in China with strong brand recognition. Launched in 2007, the Company is the first online consumer finance marketplace in China connecting borrowers and investors. As a pioneer in China's online consumer finance marketplace, the Company benefits from both its early-mover advantages and the invaluable data and experience accumulated throughout multiple complete loan lifecycles. The Company's platform, empowered by its proprietary, cutting-edge technologies, features a highly automated loan transaction process, which enables a superior user experience, as evidenced by the rapid growth of the Company's user base and loan origination volume. As of March 31, 2018, the Company had over 71 million cumulative registered users.

For more information, please visit http://ir.ppdai.com.

For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

In China:

PPDAI Group Inc.

Jimmy Tan / Sally Huo

Tel: +86 (21) 8030 3200 Ext. 8601

E-mail: [email protected]

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Ross Warner

Tel: +86 (10) 5730-6200

E-mail: [email protected]

In the United States:

The Piacente Group, Inc.

Brandi Piacente

Tel: +1-212-481-2050

E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE PPDAI Group Inc.

Related Links

http://ir.ppdai.com


Since 2002, Quorum Canada has had a successful history of working with Canadian customers to become the leading provider of operational accounting software for midstream and pipeline companies in Western Canada. In 2016, Quorum Canada introduced a Canada-specific edition of the U.S. market-leading myQuorum Land Management software. And with the acquisition of Entero Corporation last month, Quorum Canada has broadened its portfolio to include Entero MOSAIC reserves management, budget and planning, capital management, and petroleum economics for upstream as well as Entero ONE liquids logistics and scheduling for midstream.

To support accelerated growth in Canada, Quorum announced the promotion of Roy Queener as president of Quorum Canada and the addition of two executives who joined as part of the acquisition of Entero: Mike Lake as president of the Entero MOSAIC Division at Quorum Software and Steve Robb as vice president of the Quorum Canada sales organization.

"Each of these new leaders plays a strategic role in cementing our leadership in the Canadian oil and gas market, including cultivating relationships with customers and supporting them with solutions that are leading the digital transformation of the oil and gas industry," said Perry Turbes, President and CEO of Quorum. "We look forward to having them help shape Quorum Canada in roles that will grow our customer base and evolve our software through customer-led innovation."

Roy Queener, President of Quorum Canada

Roy Queener, president of Quorum Canada, joined Quorum in 2005, developing over a decade of experience delivering technology to the oil and gas industry for companies ranging from juniors to supermajors. Throughout his tenure, Queener has cultivated a strong passion for driving a customer focus and creating innovative solutions. Prior to joining Quorum Canada, Queener was responsible for Quorum's midstream and transportation commercial activities in the U.S. His role in the successful implementation of Quorum's software with upstream and midstream energy companies in Canada, driven from his deep understanding of customers' needs, led to successive promotions that now see him leading Quorum Canada as president of the business unit. Queener holds a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas (UT) at Austin. He resides in Calgary with his wife and two sons.

Mike Lake, President of the Entero MOSAIC Division at Quorum

Mike Lake was the founder and CEO of MOSAIC Integration, which was acquired by Entero Corporation in 2003. At Entero, Lake held the position of COO and led operations for MOSAIC and Entero ONE, including project consulting and client services. Lake now serves as president of the Entero MOSAIC Division at Quorum Software, and he brings over 30 years of experience in oil and gas, software technology and business advisory with companies like Gulf Canada, Norcen Energy Resources Ltd, Deloitte Consulting and Launchworks. Mr. Lake holds a BSc in Engineering from Queen's University and an MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business.

Steve Robb, Vice President of Sales at Quorum Canada

Steve Robb joins Quorum Canada from Entero Corporation, where he was responsible for accelerating the company's growth and market presence as executive vice president of sales and marketing. Robb brings over 25 years of experience in oil and gas software, business development, sales, marketing and strategic product positioning, delivering growth for some of the most recognizable products in the industry. He now serves as vice president of the Quorum Canada sales organization. Robb attended Niagara College, obtained an Electronics Engineering Technician diploma and is certified as an Engineering Technologist (CET).

About Quorum Software

Quorum Software offers an industry-leading portfolio of finance, operations and accounting software that empowers energy companies of all sizes to conquer their most complex business challenges. From the field to the back office, defying complexity is coded in our DNA and our software. This unmatched experience is why Quorum is the choice of eight of the largest public energy companies worldwide, 75 percent of LNG exporters throughout North America and 80 percent of all natural gas processed in the United States. Designed for digital transformation, the myQuorum software platform delivers open standards, mobile-first design and cloud technologies to empower innovation at the speed of thought. At Quorum, we're helping visionary leaders transform their business, and the energy industry, for a digital world. For more information, visit www.quorumsoftware.com.

Contact: Kelsey Marklund, 403-471-1284, [email protected].

SOURCE Quorum

Related Links

http://www.quorumsoftware.com


"This menu embraces everything there is to love about summer," said Chef Dustin Hilinski, Executive Chef and Director of Culinary at Red Lobster. "We've paired fresh, vibrant flavors  like coconut, pineapple and lemon  with perfectly prepared lobster and shrimp to give our guests the ultimate summertime seafood dining experience."

This year's Lobster & Shrimp Summerfest lineup at Red Lobster includes:

NEW! Cedar-Plank Seafood Bake: Jumbo shrimp and petite Maine lobster tails with garlic and Red Lobster's signature Chesapeake seasoning, roasted on a cedar plank with smoked sausage. Served with fresh corn and potato wedges.

Jumbo shrimp and petite lobster tails with garlic and Red Lobster's signature Chesapeake seasoning, roasted on a cedar plank with smoked sausage. Served with fresh corn and potato wedges. NEW! Caribbean Lobster and Shrimp: Grilled rock lobster tail topped with a coconut beurre blanc and pineapple relish, paired with Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp. Served with rice and choice of side.

Grilled rock lobster tail topped with a coconut beurre blanc and pineapple relish, paired with Parrot Isle Jumbo Coconut Shrimp. Served with rice and choice of side. Lobster and Shrimp Overboard: A grilled Maine lobster tail, garlic-grilled jumbo shrimp skewer, langostino lobster-and-shrimp zoodle pasta and hand-battered jumbo shrimp. Served with rice and choice of side.

A grilled lobster tail, garlic-grilled jumbo shrimp skewer, langostino lobster-and-shrimp zoodle pasta and hand-battered jumbo shrimp. Served with rice and choice of side. NEW! Langostino Lobster-and-Shrimp Zoodle Pasta: Langostino lobster and shrimp tossed in a lemon-and-roasted-garlic sauce with linguini and spiralized zucchini, fresh tomatoes and basil.

Red Lobster is also adding a new option to the recently debuted Tasting Plates menu  NEW! Tuna Poke. Guests who visit during Lobster & Shrimp Summerfest will be among the first to try the new Hawaiian-inspired dish, which features sushi-grade ahi tuna in a soy-sesame marinade, topped with green onions and served with tortilla chips.

Guests are invited to share their Lobster & Shrimp Summerfest experiences on Red Lobster's Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. To earn points and redeem tasty rewards, sign up for Red Lobster's app-based loyalty program, My Red Lobster Rewards(SM). The free app is available for iOS and Android. To view the complete Red Lobster menu, place a to-go order, find a restaurant location or to join the Fresh Catch News, visit Red Lobster's website.

About Red Lobster Seafood Co.

Red Lobster is the world's largest and most loved seafood restaurant company, headquartered in Orlando, Fla. With a proud heritage and an even brighter future, Red Lobster is focused on delivering the highest quality, freshly prepared seafood at reasonable prices. Red Lobster can deliver great value because of its size and scale as the largest restaurant purchaser of seafood in the world. With more than 55,000 employees in over 700 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, and a growing international footprint, Red Lobster is more committed than ever to be not just the biggest seafood restaurant, but the best. To learn more, visit http://www.redlobster.com or find us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/redlobster or Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/redlobster.

Contact: Nicole Bott, [email protected]

SOURCE Red Lobster Seafood Co.

Related Links

http://www.redlobster.com


LONDON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

International Travel Management Company, Reed & Mackay, joins forces with Hillgate Travel.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/662772/Reed_and_Mackay_Logo.jpg )

The two businesses are renowned for the quality of their service and industry leading technology, a combination that sets them apart in the corporate travel and events arena and will see them carve out a truly differentiated space on the global stage.

The addition of Hillgate Travel takes Reed & Mackay's global turnover past the 600m mark. With both businesses in growth phase and enjoying enviable client and employee retention, this move will see the collective business accelerate the evolution of their suite of industry leading technology, across the key international markets of their prestigious client base.

Fred Stratford, Group CEO, Reed & Mackay, commented, "This is a really exciting time for our people and our clients. There is a passion for service at the heart of both businesses that makes this a very natural fit. Together we will be even stronger."

"Both Hillgate and Reed & Mackay have invested heavily in our wholly owned, client facing technology. We are very excited about the opportunity to bring together the best features from both platforms, accelerating our delivery of industry leading technology to our clients," commented Anthony Rissbrook, CEO, Hillgate Travel.

"Our clients are increasingly looking for a level of service synonymous with the Hillgate name in key international markets. The investment that Reed & Mackay has made in their wholly owned presence across the globe and in their international partnership will bring great benefit to our client base," commented Hillgate's Chairman, Jeremy Bull.

Stratford continues, "I have great admiration for the business that Jeremy Bull and his team has built. Hillgate has an excellent reputation and has always shared our client first ethos. I am very pleased to welcome them to Reed & Mackay."

This latest chapter in Reed & Mackay's story of growth will drive further strength across their wholly owned offices in support of their client's growing footprint. Reed & Mackay's International Partnership further augments their global coverage with 4000 travel experts across 40 countries.

About Reed & Mackay

Established 50 years ago, and born from close working relationships with the Law, Insurance and Finance community, Reed & Mackay is today recognised as a global leader in the travel and event management arena. With wholly owned offices across EMEA, APAC and the US, their global presence is further augmented by Reed & Mackay's International Partnership with over 4000 experts across 40 countries. Their brand promise of extraordinary service is underpinned by best in class proprietary technology across the globe.

About Hillgate

Hillgate Travel is a leading independent travel management company with over 30 years' experience. Exceptional service and a total focus on the customer sets them apart. As a leader in travel technology, Hillgate Travel has built an enviable reputation for delivering high-quality, made-to-measure services for its clients.

For more information, please visit https://www.reedmackay.com.

SOURCE Reed & Mackay
Conducted via an online survey every year, the 2018 GRIT Top 50 Most Innovative list was developed using an aggregate total of 8,492 responses from market research suppliers, clients and insights professionals globally. The report notes, "Only brands that received 22 or more mentions made it on to the list, which is a higher threshold than in the past. This is a reflection of the vast number of companies mentioned and the competitiveness now in play for companies vying to be identified with the 'innovative' brand attribute."

As this list is based on responses from industry peers, GreenBook has referred to it as a "useful snapshot" for strategic planning purposes, highlighting companies who successfully use innovation to drive brand awareness. Survey takers on the client side identified "new methodologies," "approach," and "use of technology" as the key drivers to innovation.

"To provide our customers with the agility and accuracy they need in a complex, fast-moving marketing environment, we must continue to be in the vanguard for developing and delivering leading solutions based on opted-in, first-party data," said Gary S. Laben, CEO of Research Now SSI.

"Our strategy is to add value with a set of offerings grounded in high-quality data delivered via automation, while collaborating with our customers to help them solve business challenges," he continued. "We all are grateful at Research Now SSI that our customers and the industry have acknowledged our efforts, reflected in the GRIT ranking, especially in what the report notes is a more competitive landscape."

About Research Now SSI

Research Now SSI is the world's leading global provider of first-party consumer and professional data based on extensive, proprietary market research panels. Around this core asset of opted-in, managed data, the company has built innovative data services and solutions that bring the voice of the individual to the entire marketing spectrum, from research to marketing to advertising. Research Now SSI serves more than 4,000 market research agencies, media and advertising agencies, consulting and investment firms, and healthcare and corporate customers in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. For more information about our range of data-driven offerings, go to www.researchnow.com and www.surveysampling.com.

Kate Brunkhorst

[email protected]

SOURCE Research Now SSI

Related Links

https://www.researchnow.com


MILLERSBURG, Pa., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Four residents at Premier at Susquehanna for Nursing and Rehabilitation recently celebrated their graduation from the PEER (Pennsylvania's Empowered Expert Residents) Program, which trains residents at long-term care facilities to serve as advocates that enhance the quality of care and life for their peers, by working with both Premier staff and their fellow residents.

The PEER group participated in five 2-hour training sessions; providing them with the education and tools they need to support their fellow residents. Sessions include information on resident rights, various roles of facility staff, tools-such as the "ladder of resolution"  that can be used in solving problems, respecting confidentiality and how to report abuse.

"As a resident, I found the training helpful and useful," said graduate resident Blaine Paulus. "The training modules provide a lot of good information that will help us help those in need. We are fortunate to have an engaged facility that encourages us to remain active and involved, and I am really looking forward to serving as a PEER representative."

Graduates were presented with a diploma, special name badge and door sign by Shannon Vallier, Long Term Care Ombudsman for Dauphin County Area Agency on Aging. Graduates from Premier at Susquehanna are: Norma Graeff, Blaine Paulus, Mary Saltzer and Janyce Vansickle.

Dan Daub, Administrator at Premier at Susquehanna, stated, "We are very proud of our latest group of residents upon the completion of their PEER Training. Their commitment to helping others is commendable, and our staff will support their efforts in every way possible. We believe a strong PEER program enhances our facility and the quality of life for each of our residents. We appreciate the support of the Agency on Aging as well as our Ombudsman in helping our residents attain this goal!"

Premier at Susquehanna is one of only five PEER-participating facilities in Dauphin County.

Media Contact: Jeff Deutsch, [email protected]

About Pennsylvania's Empowered Expert Residents (PEER) Program

The State Long-Term Care Ombudsman Office expanded its volunteer efforts in training residents living in long-term care facilities when it implemented the PEER program in 2002. State certified ombudsmen teach residents residing in long-term care (LTC) facilities about their rights and how to advocate and maintain their rights for themselves and their fellow peers.

Residents are taught how to work with facility staff to enhance their quality of care and life for all residents. Self-resolution and empowerment are themes consistently emphasized in all statewide trainings. The PEER program also offers residents additional information and resources that helps them to be a part of the solution.

In Pennsylvania, we believe our PEERs become the residents with the solutions. Currently, the program exists in 58 out of the 67 counties, and over 2,100 residents have been trained. Our goal is to continue to expand the program statewide.

SOURCE Premier at Susquehanna for Nursing and Rehabilitation

Related Links

http://premiersusquehanna.com


TUCSON, Ariz., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- RightSure Insurance Group announced the acquisition of Tucson-based ETNA Insurance Agency effective May 21, 2018. This purchase is RightSure's eleventh book of business acquisition.

Based in Arizona, RightSure is licensed to sell personal, commercial and life insurance products in 42 states. Last year, the growing insurance agency introduced RATEGuardTM by RightSure  an AI-powered insurance management platform that automatically shops up to 40 carriers in preparation for each client's renewal.

With this acquisition, ETNA Insurance Agency customers will gain free access to RATEGuard, as well as other advantages such as concierge-level service through RightSure's call center. Current ETNA executives and employees will be retained by RightSure and will continue to operate at the current ETNA location, providing further continuity during the change of ownership.

"We're super excited to bring our innovative service model to ETNA customers," says President, R. Jeffery Arnold. "With our new RATEGuard technology, you can feel confident that you're getting the best coverage and rates every year."

With the acquisition of ETNA, RightSure will add State of Arizona Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) services to its service lineup. This means that customers can take care of their MVD needs (such as renewing a registration or processing a title change) at their RightSure office, saving time and avoiding long lines.

The new ownership has been well-received by ETNA clients, who welcome access to RightSure's highly advanced technology and customer-focused system.

About RightSure Insurance Group

Headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, RightSure Insurance Group is a full-service independent insurance agency providing insurance products to families and businesses in 42 states. By using a unique, client-centered approach combined with superior technology, RightSure presents clients with a wide range of insurance options and a seamless purchasing process. To learn more, visit https://www.rightsure.com or call 520-917-5295.

Media Contact:

Evie Quintana,

[email protected]

520-777-1125

SOURCE RightSure Insurance Group

Related Links

https://www.rightsure.com


MIAMI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Rokk3r Fuel ExO, a $150 million global venture capital fund based in Miami, Florida, is proud to announce a strategic venture capital partnership with the Holt Fintech Accelerator Program.

The Holt Fintech Accelerator Program is based in Montreal and extends the entrepreneurship legacy of Sir Herbert Holt, Quebec's energy pioneer, who created one of the largest privately owned utility firms in the world. The partnership will enable Rokk3r Fuel ExO, which targets startups with exponential models in the segments of fintech, property tech, artificial intelligence/machine learning and IoT, to gain exclusive access to deal flow, with the Holt Fintech Accelerator Program serving as a pipeline to emerging tech and world-class talent in fintech.

"Rokk3r Fuel ExO is proud to align with the Holt Fintech Accelerator Program, which will carry the vaunted legacy of Sir Herbert Holt into the 21st century, and far beyond," said Rokk3r Fuel ExO Managing Director Jeff Ransdell. "This partnership allows the Rokk3r idea-to-exit ecosystem to be leveraged by our partners at the Holt Accelerator and gives our investors access to a larger universe of exponential organizations to invest in."

Rokk3r Fuel ExO has developed a disciplined process that taps the diverse genius of its founders to identify concepts and ideas that address humanity's grand challenges, exhibit exponential growth characteristics, and offer the potential to create value for entrepreneurs, institutions, and individual investors. Recent successes include Taxfyle, a peer-to-peer tax filing platform with more than 40,000 users; AdMobilize, whose AI/machine learning software, used in 470 cities in 82 countries, is disrupting traditional advertising; and HYP3R, a marketing-tech startup named the seventh "most innovative company in the world" on Fast Company's 2018 social media list.

"At Holdun, we are very honored and humbled to announce this partnership with Rokk3r Fuel ExO. By merging our experts and our specialties together, more startups will be able to benefit from our services and our council in their development. This will help make our program the ideal infrastructure to integrate fintech and exponential technologies industries", says Brendan Holt Dunn, CEO of Holdun Family Office Limited Founder and Managing Partner for the Holt Fintech Accelerator Program.

The Holt Accelerator is currently engaged in a global search for the next 400 rising stars in fintech to take part in the program, and it encourages all interested candidates to submit their applications through the Holt Accelerator website by July 29th for a chance to participate. The company offers participants a unique opportunity to benefit from hands-on help through committed partners, trainings, world-class mentors, immersion in the fintech environment, board meetings and financial investments. The Holt Accelerator Program is also the only accelerator offering one of Canada's largest applied AI solution providers, Stradigi AI, an undeniable resource for all fintechs wishing to get ahead. Everything is thought through to get the best out of the program and unleash the selected startups' full potential.

About Rokk3r Fuel ExO

Rokk3r Fuel ExO is a Miami-based, global venture capital firm that invests in exponential technologies on an international level, working with founders through a tested co-building strategy to help the next generation of innovators access the resources needed to grow. As the dedicated investment group connected to Rokk3r Labs, the firm uses a tested methodology of risk-mitigated, early-stage investing by working with a global network of professional company builders and partners to incorporate venture intelligently into their investment portfolios. Rokk3r Fuel ExO is committed to both early stage and later stage investing and is the largest exponential technology venture capital fund east of Silicon Valley. Visit http://www.rokk3rfuel.com.

About Holdun

The Holt-Dunn family is the direct legacy of Sir Herbert Holt, and one of Montreal's finest. Their ancestor immigrated to Canada in 1873 and built the Montreal Light, Heat & Power Company, which would later be expropriated and is now known as Hydro-Quebec. Business people at heart, members of the family founded or owned over 300 companies locally and internationally. At one time, the family possessed assets accounting for about three billion dollars (equivalent to forty billion dollars in today's currency). That amount was 10 times larger than the Canadian government's circulating currency. Sir Herbert Holt was inducted into the Canadian Business Hall of Fame in 1979 and is, to this date, the longest-serving chairman and president of RBC (from 1908 to 1934). His participation was crucial in turning RBC into the country's largest bank and the third largest in North America.

For more information, contact:

Jared Shapiro, The Tag Experience - [email protected] - +1-917-553-4542

Genevieve Sorel, Citoyen Optimum - [email protected] - +1-514-973-2135

SOURCE Rokk3r Fuel

Related Links

http://www.rokk3rfuel.com


PHOENIX, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Safecut Knife - a new kind of ergonomically designed paring knife with a patented built-in thumb protector  will soon be available to consumers through a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. The knife promises greater safety in the kitchen by introducing a detachable thumb and finger guard that prevents unwanted mishaps while preparing food.

Safecut Knive easy steps Avoid cuts, use Safecut Knife

Leizer Rodal, inventor and owner of Safecut Knife stated "Statistics show, that 69% of women cut towards their thumb or fingers while prepping in the kitchen. Almost half of that percentage, admits that cutting this way is their preferred way of cutting. That's why I invented the Safecut Knife, because I saw the need for a new kind of safe, everyday kitchen knife that can prevent the thousands of painful cuts each year."

The Safecut Knife features an integrated thumb protector in the bottom portion of the knife. When removed, the protector can be placed onto the user's thumb or fingertip  allowing the sharp blade to cut and move safely against the finger without hassle. Additionally, the Safecut Knife will come with an ergonomic handle for a better grip, and a stainless-steel blade. The dishwasher safe product will be available in four different sizes depending the user's preference.

The company plans to launch the product with early bird discount availability on Kickstarter.com by mid-June.

"By subscribing early, consumers will have access to the special early bird discount, available in limited quantities to the first backers of our revolutionary product," said Rodal. So, if you are not a Chef and like to cut or peel towards your thumb or fingers, that's where the Safecut Knife comes into play. Adding safety in the most convenient way. We are incredibly excited to be officially launching our Kickstarter campaign in June."

About the creator

Leizer Rodal is the creator and owner of Safecut Knife. He is originally from Italy and has always pursued his passion for new inventions. He is a father of four and lives in Phoenix, AZ. "It took some time to get here, but when you really want something to happen you have got to focus and fight every day to achieve your goal."

For more information, or to see a Safecut Knife demonstration video, visit: https://safecutknife.com/.

Contact: Leizer Rodal

Safecut Knife

[email protected]

602-730-2627

3104 East Camelback Rd.

#1108

Phoenix, AZ 85016

SOURCE Safecut Knife

Related Links

https://safecutknife.com


The application is free to download from the App Store or Google Play. Users can create up to 6 buttons that, when pressed, will activate any trigger script or actions residing in Conductor. No heavy programming is required  the app simply needs the IP address of the server and the name of each script to get up and running in minutes.

The app offers two ways to communicate with the Conductor server to maximize its responsiveness. The first is ideal when users are on campus and their mobile device is on the same wireless LAN as the Conductor server. A geolocation feature prompts the app to reconnect to the Conductor server in the background whenever the device enters range. This can help keep the app ready for fastest response when you're on campus.

The second method ensures that users can trigger Conductor actions even when off campus or not on the network. Although this method is slower (since the app needs to trigger the Conductor script/action via a the telephone network), it ensures the app can function wherever the user is so long as he or she is within cellular network range.

About the Conductor paging, bell, and emergency response platform

FrontRow's versatile Conductor platform replaces separate conventional systems with a single communication and control system that makes it possible for schools to do far more than ever before, including managing paging, bells, intercom, and emergency response on a campus. With Conductor, as part of their Emergency Preparedness Plan, schools can activate emergency announcements, display information on digital signage, lock doors, send private alerts, and take other actions to help keep everyone aware and safer.

About FrontRow

FrontRow helps schools communicate effortlessly with students, groups, and devices. More than 15,000 schools choose FrontRow for its easy-to-use products, better academic outcomes, and a more efficient campus. FrontRow ed tech solutions include:

FrontRow is part of the William Demant Groupfounded in 1904 and listed on the Copenhagen Stock Exchange (CSE3247)through 45 Group companies in over 20 countries, its consolidated sales exceed US$1.9 billion.

Photos

Please follow this link for Conductor App image

FrontRow Logo

Please follow this link for FrontRow's logo.

SOURCE FrontRow

Related Links

http://www.gofrontrow.com


DES PLAINES, Ill., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Honeywell (NYSE: HON) announced today that Shandong Tianhong Chemical Co., Ltd. has chosen Honeywell UOP's C 3 Oleflex propane dehydrogenation (PDH) technology to produce 250,000 metric tons per year of polymer-grade propylene at its facility at Dongying in China's Shandong Province.

Honeywell will provide licensing, the process design package, proprietary and non-proprietary equipment, on-site operator training, technical services for startup and continuing operation, and key catalysts and adsorbents for the project. The announcement marks Honeywell's 32nd award in China for Oleflex technology.

"Customers such as Shandong Tianhong Chemical need to build and start up their propylene plants quickly so they can accelerate their return on investment," said John Gugel, vice president and general manager of Honeywell UOP's Process Technology and Equipment business. "Honeywell UOP helps them achieve this with Oleflex technology, which is extremely efficient and features a proven basic design package that significantly shortens the build schedule."

Honeywell UOP's C 3 Oleflex technology uses catalytic dehydrogenation to convert propane to propylene and is designed to have a lower cash cost of production and higher return on investment compared with competing technologies. Its low energy consumption, low emissions and fully recyclable, platinum-alumina-based catalyst system minimizes its impact on the environment. The independent reaction and regeneration sections enable steady-state operations, improved operating flexibility, and a high on-stream factor and reliability.

Honeywell UOP also licenses C 4 Oleflex technology, which converts butanes to butylenes, the primary ingredient for making high-octane fuel additives and synthetic rubber. Including this project, Honeywell UOP's Oleflex technology has been selected for 52 out of 64 propane and isobutane dehydrogenation projects globally since 2011.

Since the Oleflex technology was first commercialized in 1990, Honeywell UOP has commissioned 29 units for on-purpose propylene and isobutylene production. Global production capacity of propylene from Oleflex technology now stands at approximately 6.8 million metric tons per year.

Shandong Tianhong Chemical Co. Ltd. manufactures specialized chemical products, including methyl methacrylate (MMA). A subsidiary of China Wanda Group, Shandong Tianhong Chemical markets its products for the tire, acrylonitrile, chemical and carbon black industries.

Honeywell UOP (www.uop.com) is a leading international supplier and licensor of process technology, catalysts, adsorbents, equipment, and consulting services to the petroleum refining, petrochemical, and gas processing industries. Honeywell UOP is part of Honeywell's Performance Materials and Technologies strategic business group, which also includes Honeywell Process Solutions (www.honeywellprocess.com), a pioneer in automation control, instrumentation and services for the oil and gas, refining, petrochemical, chemical and other industries.

Honeywell (www.honeywell.com) is a Fortune 100 software-industrial company that delivers industry specific solutions that include aerospace and automotive products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes, and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help everything from aircraft, cars, homes and buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, please visit www.honeywell.com/newsroom.

SOURCE Honeywell

Related Links

http://www.honeywell.com


Over 6000 delegates attended the event, representing American destinations and travel product who were selling to buyers of travel to the United States who came from over seventy countries. The trade show is organized by the US Travel Association and sponsored in a major way by the national tourism marketing agency, Brand USA. The leaders of both organizations, Roger Dow, President of US Travel, and Chris Thompson, President of Brand USA, are members of Skal International in its Washington club.

During the three days of IPW, Turkkan and her team met with national travel industry leaders, some of the international buyers, and dozens of local tourism officials who either presently are involved in Skal clubs or have an interest in starting ones in their communities. The Skal team had discussions with representatives from more than forty states during the three days.

Turkkan reported, "Our presence at IPW, thanks to the cooperation of US Travel, was another big boost to demonstrating that Skal is a way for communities engaged in the travel industry to have a strong local organization that supports tourism at every level, mentors younger people within the industry, develops careers, grows business through our global network, and gives back to the home area in which a club is located.

"Our conversations from coast to coast and even the American islands demonstrated a renewed interest in Skal and what it brings to the industry, its communities, and, most importantly, its members.

"Our national executive committee will be digesting these conversations and target a small number of communities for new Skal clubs in 2018, while prioritizing strengthening existing ones and adding other locales for clubs in 2019 and beyond. We had so many good dialogues that it will take a little time to evaluate where to concentrate our efforts immediately."

Skal International USA has been growing its clubs. Starting in 2017, clubs were added in Richmond, Virginia, and Southwest Florida with new ones due to be finalized this year in Central California and the Valley of the Sun (Phoenix area), Arizona.

Skal International USA is currently the largest National Committee in Skal International with 2,000 members and 49 clubs nationwide. For more information on SKAL International and SKAL USA, and to find out more about membership, go to www.skalusa.org

Steve Richer -Director of PR & Communications, SKAL USA

Contact# 228-586-7004

SOURCE Skal International USA
NEW YORK, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Sterling Talent Solutions (Sterling), the world's leader in employment background screening solutions, announced today the appointment of William (Billy) Greenblatt as Chief Executive Officer effective immediately. Greenblatt is the founder of the company and has served as its Chairman since 2014.

"I am proud and excited to return to the CEO role at Sterling," said Greenblatt. "We're the best team in the industry, with the strongest balance sheet, and the biggest commitment to innovationbar none. The opportunity to work with clients to re-invent the industry we invented was too good to pass on. I couldn't resist coming back," he continued.

With more than 40 years of experience, Greenblatt is widely considered to be one of the pioneers of the background screening industry. Under his leadership from 1975  2014, Sterling fundamentally transformed the way companies, both large and small, hire and retain the best talent for their organizations. In 2015 the Merchant Banking Division of Goldman Sachs and affiliated investors acquired a majority interest in the company.

"Billy is a truly exceptional growth company CEO. His deep industry expertise, outstanding leadership skills and incredible energy make him well positioned to succeed in this role," commented Chris Crampton, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and member of Sterling's Board of Directors. "As the background screening industry continues to evolve, we are highly confident that Billy and his leadership team will produce strong growth and drive innovation for Sterling's outstanding customer base," he continued.

About Sterling Talent Solutions:

Sterling Talent Solutions, the world's largest background screening provider, provides hiring peace of mind by delivering a simpler, smarter background screening experience for organizations worldwide. Our comprehensive suite of cloud-based background screening solutions deliver accurate, reliable results and tools to maintain compliance throughout the hiring cycle.

With 20 offices in nine countries and growing, Sterling conducts over 100 million searches annually. Our team of more than 4,400 employees proudly serves over 25,000 customers around world. Sterling is accredited by the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS). Visit www.sterlingtalentsolutions.com.

Sterling Talent Solutions is a service mark of Sterling Infosystems, Inc.

Media Contact:

David Feder

[email protected]

SOURCE Sterling Talent Solutions

Related Links

http://www.sterlingtalentsolutions.com


VALLEY COTTAGE, New York, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ --

Lightweight Automotive Composite Sales Uplift Markets within Emerging Economies

Robust expansion of construction, automotive, and consumer electronics sectors are prominently driving the market growth in China and developed markets, whereas escalating adoption of lightweight composites by automakers will elevate volume sales of structural adhesives in developing economies such as Latin America, Middle East and Africa, and South East Asia Pacific. The report projects MEA as a highly opportunistic region through 2028.

(Logo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/677274/Future_Market_Insights_Logo.jpg )



Budding Industries Enable China to be Investor's Hub through 2028

China, one of the major economies, will continue to witness robust infrastructural development and fostering industrial production. While the recent strategic and political transformations have successfully managed to uplift China as a global hub for investors, a majority of leading companies have pre-established manufacturing facilities in China for structural adhesives. Stringent competition among top players in Chinese market has been enabling China to retain its dominance in the global structural adhesives market. North America and Europe will reportedly be the next key markets by 2028, as indicated by Future Market Insights.

Request a Sample Report with Table of Contents and Figures: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sample/REP-GB-2667

Structural Adhesives Gain Strong Impetus through Energy Generation Applications

Adoption of structural adhesives is evidently increasing in the building and construction sector for a reliable structural performance. Moreover, a majority of automotive OEMs are increasingly focusing on maintaining a sustainable vehicle design, which is fueling the demand for structural adhesives. Future Market Insights predicts that structural adhesive manufacturers are likely to encounter with attractive opportunities in energy and electronics component industries, as these end-users have been observed to increase investments in structural adhesives. Transportation industry will also generate significant demand for structural adhesives in near future, followed by the energy generation sector. Wind energy generation sector will also create attractive opportunities in an effort to achieve reduced weight and improved load bearing capacity. Booming renewable energy generation will also continue to push structural adhesives' demand through the forecast period.

Preview Analysis Global Structural Adhesives Market Segmentation By Application - Transportation, Automotive, Aerospace, Marine, Electronic Components, Building & Construction, Energy, Others; Product Type - Epoxy-based, Acrylic-based, Polyurethane-based, Cyanoacrylate, Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/structural-adhesives-market

Emphasis on Expansion in Developing Countries & Long-term Collaborations Strengthen Structural Adhesives Market Players

In an effort to mitigate for aggressive competition from China-based companies, a majority of key manufacturers are currently focusing more on long-term supply agreements with leading OEMs. Moreover, development of bio-based, environmentally-friendly, low-emission adhesives will remain a popular trend among competitors operating the global structural adhesives market landscape. Product innovation is expected to remain an attractive segment in the industry, witnessing significantly growing investments. The report also throws light on rapid expansion of production capabilities of some of the key players, within Chinese and other lucrative Asian markets.

"At an estimated CAGR of 5.3% during 2018-2028, the global structural adhesives market is expected to attain a value of over US$ 16 billion by the end of 2028," says a research analyst at Future Market Insights.

Our advisory services are aimed at helping you with specific, customised 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-2667

More from FMI's Chemicals & Materials Market Intelligence:

Ceramic Tiles Market Segmentation By Product - Floor Tiles, Wall Tiles; By Application - Residential Replacement, Commercial, New Residential: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/ceramic-tiles-market



Segmentation By Product - Floor Tiles, Wall Tiles; By Application - Residential Replacement, Commercial, New Residential: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/ceramic-tiles-market Engineering Plastics Market Segmentation By Product Type - Polyamides (PA), Polycarbonates (PC), Polyoxymethylene (POM), Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and Styrene Acrylonitrile (SAN), High Performance Polymers, and others; By Application - Automotive and transportation, Electrical and electronics, Construction, Medical, Industrial and machinery, Packaging and Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/engineering-plastics-market



Segmentation By Product Type - Polyamides (PA), Polycarbonates (PC), Polyoxymethylene (POM), Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT), Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) and Styrene Acrylonitrile (SAN), High Performance Polymers, and others; By Application - Automotive and transportation, Electrical and electronics, Construction, Medical, Industrial and machinery, Packaging and Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/engineering-plastics-market Sputter Coatings Market Segmentation By Target Types - Metal and Element, Alloys, Compounds; By Application - Flat Panel Display, Solar Panel, Architectural Glass, Semiconductors, Others: https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/sputter-coating-market

About Us

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Tampa General Hospital joins a growing ecosystem of such artificial-intelligence-based centers including The Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and Humber River Hospital in Toronto. TGH has set aside 9,000-square feet for the Center, which will open in 2019.

The center will be powered by GE's Wall of Analytics, which continually examines data that recommends actions to reduce delays in patient progression, predict and prevent risk, and balance staff workload. The magic of the center is the combination of artificial and human intelligence to help caregivers achieve more efficient hospital operations.

The center will house staff members from different hospital departments that will use the artificial intelligence data to improve patient transports, reduce patient wait times, enhance the coordination of services and speed up the discharge process.

"We want to leverage this system to improve efficiency and shorten the time patients are in the hospital by better managing their care," said John Couris, president and CEO of Tampa General. "This technology will help to reach our goal of providing coordinated patient care after they leave the hospital. We are excited to be working with GE on this project. We believe in GE."

"Tampa General will be a great partner. They are a highly aligned and focused organization. We expect that will translate to both speed to patient impact and innovation," adds Jeff Terry of GE Healthcare. "We're honored to have Tampa General Hospital join GE's command center community."

Tampa General Hospital, a 1010-bed non-profit academic medical center, delivers world-class care as the region's only center for Level l trauma and comprehensive burn care. It is one of the nation's busiest adult solid organ transplant centers and is the primary teaching hospital for the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine. Advancing medicine through innovation, Tampa General houses a nationally accredited comprehensive stroke center, an 82-bed Level IV neonatal intensive care unit, and a state-certified spinal cord and brain injury rehabilitation center. For more information, go to www.tgh.org.

Contact:

TGH:

John Dunn

813.844.7357

[email protected]

GE Healthcare:

Jennifer Fox

414.530.3027

[email protected]

SOURCE Tampa General Hospital

Related Links

http://www.tgh.org


Memorial Day is almost here, and although The Quoddy Tides does not typically profile military servicemen and women before the Civil War, the 200th anniversary of the return of Moose Island from British control to the United States provides the opportunity to look back at the role Eastport played in the War of 1812 and to remember those who served during the war.

On June 30, 1818, the British flag flying over Fort Sherbooke on Moose Island in Eastport was lowered. At once, the stars and stripes was raised in its place and the fort renamed Fort Sullivan. After all, the U.S. Army had waited for two weeks until a ship finally came to carry the British off.

This was not only an emotional moment for the island's residents, who had endured a four-year occupation, though a kindly one, but a crucial moment in Maine and United States history - the last captured territory on the U.S. mainland to be returned.

Among the British who served in the 102nd Regiment of Foot during the occupation, which had begun four years earlier on July 11, 1814, were two officers, Lt. Walter St. John and Lt. Thomas Raymond, who didn't return home and are buried in Hillside Cemetery in Eastport.

"Tales of British officers who occupied Eastport," recounted by Wayne Wilcox in The Quoddy Tides' December 25, 2009, edition, stated, "Lt. Walter St. John was born about 1786, probably on the Caribbean island of Barbados. The evidence from his military records is minimal, at best, but it does suggest that he may have been from the St. John family of Barbados."

"In spring of 1814 orders were received for the 102nd Regiment to make ready for an attack on the eastern frontier of the United States at Moose Island, Maine. In the afternoon of July 11, 1814, the British fleet with the 102nd Regiment aboard its ships sailed into the harbor of Eastport. Because of the superior British force, the American commander of Fort Sullivan surrendered without firing a shot."

"Lt. St. John, a member of the 102nd Regiment, did not participate in the attack and capture of Eastport because of an illness. He remained at Bermuda when the fleet sailed for Passamaquoddy Bay. He recovered somewhat from his sickness and left Bermuda on June 25 aboard the transport ship Phoenix. The lieutenant arrived in Eastport on July 14, still ill. It was reported that St. John was probably ill the whole time he was stationed at Eastport. In the casualty returns of the 102nd, Lt. St. John is listed as deceased on May 28, 1815, at Moose Island. He has the unfortunate distinction of being the only officer of the 102nd to have died during the four years of military occupation.

"At the time of his death, he was single and left no will. The inventory of his effects consisted of 40 pounds sterling, 4 shillings, 5 pence. Lt. Saint John was given a full military funeral and buried in the English corner of the 'old' town cemetery off Water Street above Little's Cove. A large white marble headstone was placed on his grave inscribed 'Walter St. John Esq., Lieut. 102nd Reg. died 29 May, 1815 in the 29th year of his age.'

"Years later, information was discovered by members of the Eastport Masonic Lodge, Eastern Lodge No. 7, that Lt. St. John was a member of the Masonic order. In the fall of 1854, St. John was removed from the "old" cemetery and transferred to a plot in front of the Masonic tomb in Hillside Cemetery east. He was buried next to another Mason and fellow British officer, Lt. Thomas Raymond of the Royal Navy."

Lt. Thomas Raymond, Royal Navy, master of H.M.S. Menai, Freemason, is also buried in front of the Masonic tomb in Hillside Cemetery. Born in 1782 in Aldborough, Suffolk, he joined the Royal Navy at age 19 in 1801, trained at Portsmouth on the H.M.S. Rattlesnake, Coureaux, Comet and Noble. After nine years of training, he passed the exam for rank of lieutenant in 1810. He was at Saint John and Halifax and visited Eastport a number of times on the Menai. He died on Deer Island.

The occupation of Eastport was family friendly, except for the murder of a young woman by Pvt. John Shea, a soldier in Captain Henry Steele's company. The unfortunate victim, Jane Evans, was a housekeeper of the regiment's commanding officer, Lt. Col. Joseph Gubbins, and she had also been raped. While incarcerated, Shea took his own life. No one wanted to bury him near anyone else, so his remains were deposited at Cony Beach, Shackford Head. The body was apparently not buried very far down, so that Shea's bones were discovered by children many years later.

The grave of American privateer and Dartmoor Massacre survivor Simon Harrington also is located in Hillside Cemetery. Born in 1788, he was from Eastport but sailed out of New York City on the privateer Zebra. On his return trip from France in April of 1813, he was captured by H.M.S. Pyramus. Harrington became a prisoner of war and sent to Dartmoor Prison where, on April 6, 1815, three months after the war ended, seven Americans were killed and 60 wounded. Harrington was released on May 1 after 741 days in captivity but lived to be an old man. He passed away in 1868.

Another War of 1812 veteran on the American side buried at Hillside Cemetery is Dr. Micajah Collins Hawkes. Born in Lynn, Mass., in 1785, he was brought up a Quaker and remained a member of that sect until he was dismissed for marrying "outside of the meeting." After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1808, the oldest in his class, he began studying medicine with Dr. William Ingalls of Boston and was about ready to begin practice when the War of 1812 began. He enlisted as a surgeon's mate on a privateer and was captured but soon released. Directly afterward, he was appointed surgeon to the U.S. sloop of war Hornet, which was captained by James Lawrence, and was present at the defeat of the British brig Peacock off Demera on February 24, 1813. On his way back to New York, he met with an accident which left him slightly lame for life. In 1817 he opened his office in Eastport and became contract surgeon to the garrison and later collector of the port and district of Passamaquoddy. He passed away at age 78 in November of 1863.

Also buried in Hillside Cemetery is Lt. Colonel Oliver Shead, who was commander of a regiment raised in July of 1812 for the purposes of defending life and property of Eastport and Robbinston residents. Born in 1777, Shead became clerk to Nathaniel Goddard, the second person to set up a business in Eastport. He built the first two-story house on Moose Island and became the first postmaster in 1802.

The terms of active duty for those serving in the six companies in Shead's regiment were short, most until September when three full companies of Massachusetts infantry were expected.

When he died on November 18, 1813, on his way to work, Oliver Shead was only 36 years old.

"The treaty to end the British occupation in Eastport was separate from the Bay of Fundy Treaty," points out Ruth McInnis of the 1818 celebratory event. "It was a peaceful surrender, but it took two weeks before someone picked them up and, with the Americans camped up by city hall, it does seem that the British must have been nervous until a ship showed up."

The British attack of 1814 had given an impetus to the push for Maine statehood, since the prevailing feeling of Mainers was that Massachusetts had not fulfilled its obligations of defense and support. The continued occupation of Moose Island, a burr in the side, kept up the momentum.

The Border Historical Society in Eastport is celebrating the anniversary of the surrender with a day of events on June 30, which will include reenactments, concerts and a walking tour.
TORONTO, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Tequity's client, TGO Consulting, has been acquired in a strategic transaction by SHEA Solutions Inc., a leading expert in business optimization. Tequity acted as the exclusive financial advisor to TGO Consulting.

Harvesting Strategic Value in Technology Company M&A Transactions Tequity's Client TGO Consulting has been Acquired in a Strategic Transaction by SHEA Solutions Inc.

SHEA Solutions Inc. successfully helps clients leverage technology to meet their business objectives in business intelligence and analytics, sales and operations planning, ERP software, and infrastructure. SHEA has global experience with hundreds of clients across North America, Europe, and Asia, and vertical domain expertise in aerospace, defense, distribution, manufacturing, financial services, transportation, and public sector.

TGO Consulting has been providing financial systems consulting and support to businesses since 1988. TGO's deep knowledge and experience with financial systems helps to strengthen and enhance SHEA's leadership in business solutions.

"This is a merger for growth for both companies," stated Jeffrey Hunt, President, SHEA Solutions Inc. "TGO's deep consulting and business experience enhances SHEA's ability to offer extended technology solutions."

The acquisition enhances SHEA's continued growth in using technology to optimize business processes for their clients and solve business problems. With the addition of TGO's GP practice, SHEA is very excited about now being able to support the full Microsoft stack. This enables the company to fully leverage TGO's deep consulting and business expertise for their combined customer base.

"Working with SHEA will broaden our service offerings to our existing clients," stated Tracey Crane-Whitehouse, Chief Operations Officer, TGO Consulting. "We are very excited at the opportunity we see to grow TGO and the extended cloud services we can now offer."

Crane-Whitehouse is staying on after the SHEA acquisition and is very excited about the new business opportunities the combined company can offer. TGO Consulting will continue to offer the same services as before, plus more with the addition of SHEA's experience with cloud-based solutions and extensive business intelligence capabilities.

TGO's two other founding partners, George Braun and Orgad Gratch, are moving on to build True Sky, a corporate performance management software company that simplifies the budgeting process.

About SHEA Solutions Inc.

As experts in business optimization, we design processes and implement solutions that result in smarter, leaner, more profitable organizations. Operating since 1997, SHEA Solutions Inc. is a global integrator of ERP, Business Intelligence, Analytics, Microsoft Office 365, and Microsoft Azure cloud solutions to mid-market organizations, with offices in Canada, US, UK, India, and Philippines.

See http://www.shea.ca for additional information

About TGO Consulting

Since 1988, TGO Consulting has provided innovative business solutions designed to improve the productivity and performance of organizations. We help our clients become industry leaders through the use of effective software systems and solutions, focusing on providing exceptional service and delivering tangible results.

See http://www.tgo.ca for additional information

About Tequity Inc.

Tequity provides exit, merger, and carve-out advisory services exclusively to mid-market Software, IT Services, and Technology companies across North America and around the globe. We assist CEO's and shareholders to find the right strategic buyers and achieve optimal outcomes in a transaction. As business operations and growth specialists who have built companies, raised capital, and successfully exited, we bring real life experience to any M&A discussion.

See http://www.tequityinc.com for additional information

Contact:

Diane Horton, CBI, CM&AA

VP Corporate Development

416.483.9400 x103

[email protected]

SOURCE Tequity Inc.

Related Links

http://www.tequityinc.com


SKOKIE, Ill., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The AZEK Company ("AZEK"), an industry-leading manufacturer of beautiful, low-maintenance residential and commercial building products, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Versatex, a leading innovator and manufacturer of highly engineered cellular PVC products, providing AZEK with an additional growth platform for expanding the company's building envelope offerings.

Versatex manufactures and sells high-quality, premium branded exterior trim, sheet, mouldings and other innovative products with an expanding range of building applications. Similar to AZEK, Versatex has developed a business with strong brands that stand for quality and customer-oriented innovation.

Jesse Singh, Chief Executive Officer, AZEK said, "AZEK's acquisition of Versatex will further expand and diversify our broad portfolio of high-quality home exterior and outdoor living products that help contractors, builders, developers and homeowners beautify homes. Versatex's focus on exterior trim and mouldings will complement our presence in exterior decking, trim, mouldings and columns, and Versatex's strength in sales execution will be a strong counterpart to our R&D and material science capabilities."

"Versatex shares our values, with a focus on high quality and differentiated products. The expansion of our product line and added R&D and marketing resources will enable us to better serve our customers and dealers with innovative products, while positioning us to continue to benefit from the ongoing shifts in customer preference towards alternative materials. It is our plan to maintain Versatex's go-to-market approach and existing distribution model post-close," Singh added.

John Pace, CEO, Versatex, said, "Our companies have complementary strengths as well as a shared commitment to premium quality, customer service and product innovation. We look forward to working together with AZEK to address the opportunities that alternative materials offer the building envelope market."

Closing is subject to regulatory review. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

CONTACTS

Jonathan Skelly

The AZEK Company

847-626-1545

[email protected]

ABOUT THE AZEK COMPANY

The AZEK Company LLC is an industry-leading manufacturer of beautiful, low-maintenance residential and commercial building products, committed to innovation, sustainability and research and design. Headquartered in Skokie, IL, in the greater Chicago area, the company also operates highly automated manufacturing facilities in Scranton, PA, and Wilmington, OH. The company's products are marketed under several brands, including AZEK and TimberTech for residential building materials, Scranton Products for commercial building materials, and Vycom for industrial building materials. For additional information, visit azekco.com.

ABOUT VERSATEX

Versatex manufactures and sells high-quality, premium branded exterior trim, sheet, mouldings and other innovative products with an expanding range of building applications. The company was founded in 2003 and is based in Aliquippa, PA. For additional information, visit versatex.com.

SOURCE The AZEK Company

Related Links

http://www.azekco.com


"Since 1972, Houlihan's has been tracking the most significant shifts in American eating and dining habits -- from seasonal menus to leveraging trends our guests enjoy. That's why we wanted to be the first full-service concept to feature the Impossible Burger at outlets nationwide," said Michael Archer, chief executive officer of HRI. "Houlihan's customers are asking for the Impossible Burger by name, and we're happy to give them exactly what they want."

Houlihan's will serve the Impossible Burger with cheddar, special sauce, lettuce, and tomato on a brioche bun. The Impossible Burger will be $11.50 and served with french fries.

BIG TASTE, SMALL FOOTPRINT

In development since 2011, the Impossible Burger debuted in July 2016 at Chef David Chang's Momofuku Nishi in Manhattan. The Impossible Burger is the only plant-based burger to win a 2017 Tasty Award and a 2018 Fabi Award from the National Restaurant Association, and it's beefing up sales at restaurants nationwide.

The Impossible Burger is now available in nearly 2,000 restaurants nationwide, including beloved "better burger" concepts Fatburger, Umami Burger, Hopdoddy, The Counter, and B Spot, the Midwest burger restaurant owned by Chef Michael Symon. White Castle is currently the largest single restaurant group to serve Impossible Foods' flagship product, with the $1.99 Impossible Slider featured at 140 outlets.

Impossible Foods launched production in September at its first large-scale manufacturing plant, in Oakland, Calif. With demand still outstripping supply, the company is now hiring for a second shift to double production this summer. Just last month, Impossible Foods launched in Asia -- its first market outside the United States.

The Impossible Burger is made from simple ingredients, including water, wheat protein, potato protein and coconut oil. One special ingredient  heme  contributes to the characteristic taste of meat and catalyzes all the other flavors when meat is cooked.

Impossible Foods discovered a scalable, affordable way to make heme without animals: The company engineers and ferments yeast to produce a heme protein naturally found in plants, called soy leghemoglobin. The heme in the Impossible Burger is identical to the essential heme humans have been consuming for hundreds of thousands of years in meat  and while it delivers all the craveable depth of beef, it uses far fewer resources.

The Impossible Burger is produced without hormones, antibiotics, cholesterol or artificial flavors. It uses about 75% less water, generates about 87% fewer greenhouse gases, and requires around 95% less land than conventional ground beef from cows.

ABOUT IMPOSSIBLE FOODS

Based in Redwood City, Calif., Impossible Foods makes delicious, nutritious meat and dairy products directly from plants  with a much smaller environmental footprint than meat from animals. The privately held company was founded in 2011 by Patrick O. Brown, M.D., Ph.D., formerly a biochemistry professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at Stanford University. Investors include Khosla Ventures, Bill Gates, Google Ventures, Horizons Ventures, UBS, Viking Global Investors, Temasek, Sailing Capital and Open Philanthropy Project.

More information:

www.impossiblefoods.com

www.twitter.com/impossiblefoods

www.facebook.com/impossiblefoods

www.instagram.com/impossible_foods

Press kit: https://impossiblefoods.app.box.com/v/presskit

Media Contact: [email protected]

To order the Impossible Burger for your restaurant:

[email protected]

ABOUT HOULIHAN'S

Houlihan's Restaurant + Bar believes in happy hour, good tunes and cooking from scratch with real, whole ingredients. Established in 1972, there are 46 company-owned Houlihan's and 22 franchised restaurants primarily throughout the Midwest and the eastern U.S. Houlihan's Restaurant + Bar is owned by Leawood, Kan.-based Houlihan's Restaurants, Inc. (HRI), which develops and owns restaurant concepts in the polished casual and fine dining space. HRI's portfolio is comprised of 85 company-owned and franchised locations across the United States including Houlihan's Restaurant + Bar, J. Gilbert's Wood-Fired Steaks & Seafood, Bristol Seafood Grill, Devon Seafood + Steaks and TBD Bar + Social.

Media Inquiries:

Maggie Miller

Crossroads

Cell: 618.334.7891

[email protected]

SOURCE Impossible Foods

Related Links

impossiblefoods.com


PETALUMA, Calif., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Holidays are, to many individuals, an important part of societal traditions and can be meaningful in maintaining a positive mentality. The hard part comes into play as a business owner: when to give holiday time off to employees and pay for employee time off in that instance. Brandon Frere, a successful CEO of several companies and proud entrepreneur, advises keeping in mind the potential for holiday time off for employees while balancing what that could mean for the company.

Federal holidays are the most commonly recognized potential days off for employees. The decision to give employees the days off may depend on the business: are the employees based in the retail or food industry or a different sort of business? Businesses that cater to the public and day-to-day needs have a harder time closing down on the holidays. Certain holidays like Christmas or Easter may observe shorter hours, but as not every person celebrates the same holidays, not everyone can keep the same business schedule. Keeping in mind how running a business on a larger federal holiday can affect clientele, as well as employees, is important.

"A decent rule of thumb for deciding if it is a good idea to give employees the day off from work is if many employees would consider trying to take that day off anyway," says Frere. If employees would be trying to take that day off, and customers for the business would not likely be trying to ask for the service a business provides on a holiday, then it can be easier to simply close the doors for the day and let people have the day off.

The next issue that can come up, if having decided to give employees the time off, can be if they should be given pay for the day or not. According to the Fair Labor Standards Act, it is only required that employees be paid for time worked. This can worry some employees who live paycheck to paycheck. If affordable, it can be an act of good will to give employees the pay that they would normally earn for that day. Or if the day cannot be given off and employees have to still work, giving some sort of extra pay can appease employees who wanted the day off but had to reluctantly stay.

"The choice, in the end, is up to each individual business owner, and for them to decide what is best for the company. Balance, as always, is a key factor in many business-related decisions," says Frere.

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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SOURCE Frere Enterprises

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On February 20, 2018, the Company announced the results of the pre-feasibility study for the Arctic Project and on April 6, 2018 filed a National Instrument 43-101 technical report titled "Arctic Project, Northwest Alaska, USA, NI 43-101 Technical Report on Pre-Feasibility Study". See the news release at https://Trilogy PR Feb 20 2018 and the technical report which is available on the Company's website at www.trilogymetals.com or on the Company's profiles at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

The Board of Directors has recently approved a $6.7 million budget to advance the Arctic Project towards feasibility and permitting. The focus of the Arctic work program for the remainder of the year, is to be on geotechnical and hydrological engineering studies at the Project's proposed waste and tailings sites with the objective to advance the engineering design for these facilities to a feasibility level of study. A number of geotechnical and hydrological drill holes are to be completed to support this effort. The Company also expects to gather extensive environmental data for a variety of studies to support the submission of a mine permit application in 2019.

Bornite Project

A $10 million budget for Bornite, funded under the Option Agreement with South32 Limited ("South32"), was approved earlier this year by the Company's Board of Directors and the Trilogy-South32 Technical Committee. Early in December 2017, South32 committed to fund the $10 million towards the 2018 budget for the Bornite Project. The funds, which represent the second $10 million payment under the Option Agreement and maintains the agreement in good standing, were fully received in January 2018. For more information on the Option Agreement see the Company's press release on April 10, 2017 (https://Trilogy PR April 10 2017).

This year's program will include approximately 8,000 meters of drilling in a combination of in-fill and expansion drill holes in and around the known deposit. The 2018 program will follow up drilling completed during the 2017 exploration program which was one of the larger programs in the history of drilling at the Bornite Project. During 2017, the Company drilled nine diamond drill holes comprising 8,437 meters to test the extension of the of the currently defined resource. These holes represented 300 and 400 meter step outs and defined a minealized footprint measuring 1,500 meters by 2,500 meters defined by a 50 Meter % copper - that is 50 meters averaging at least 1% copper or better (see Figure 1 - Grade x Thickness Map). The 2017 drill holes were too far apart for resource estimation purposes, although every hole did encounter significant mineralization. The 2018 drill program will in-fill and expand on the 2017 drill program. See 2017 drill results announced on September 18, 2017 and December 4, 2017 (https://Trilogy PR Sep 18 2017 and https://Trilogy PR Dec 4 2017). The first two drill rigs for the 2018 program have already arrived at camp with drilling expected to begin in early June. A third drill rig is expected to arrive during the second week of June and begin drilling shortly thereafter. In addition, a 12-line kilometer 2D seismic survey commenced in early May. This seismic survey is designed to track the massive sulfide zones as well as basement and other structures to assist with exploration targeting. The seismic program is expected to be completed in mid-June with data processing and evaluation taking place in July and August.

On May 3, 2018, the Company announced that work had been initiated to estimate a cobalt resource for the Bornite Project. Preliminary results from our on-going metallurgical studies on the cobalt mineralization so far have demonstrated consistent and well distributed cobalt mineralization. Therefore, based on the results, the Company has already commenced work on a cobalt resource estimate, which, when completed, would be in addition to the copper resource for the Bornite deposit. Work so far has been focused on examining metallurgical products from both the in-pit resource area and the higher-grade below-pit copper resource area at Bornite along with petrographic and microprobe work. Results are expected to be released shortly.

Ambler Mining District Industrial Access Project (AMDIAP)

The Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority ("AIDEA") submitted permit applications for the AMDIAP, a proposal for the construction and operation of a 211-mile (340 Km) long all-season controlled-access industrial road connecting the Ambler Mining District with the Dalton Highway.

On April 30, 2018, the Bureau of Land Management ("BLM") released the Ambler Road Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Summary Report (see BLM's website at https://BLM's AMDIAP Website). Permitting of the AMDIAP under the National Environmental Policy Act ("NEPA") Environmental Impact Statement ("EIS") process has now concluded the "Scoping Phase" of permitting and has moved to the "Draft EIS Phase". Per the BLM's website, the Draft EIS is scheduled for the end of March 2019.

Approximately 20 miles of the proposed AMDIAP road crosses lands managed by the National Park Service ("NPS"). The Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act ("ANILCA") requires that right-of-way access be permitted across NPS lands for this project. In addition, ANILCA directs that an Environmental and Economic Analysis ("EEA") be prepared for the right-of-way across NPS lands in order to: 1) determine a preferred road alignment, and 2) develop appropriate terms and conditions for the right-of-way permit. Two alternative routes are being considered: North Route and South Route. The NPS has published the following Project Schedule indicating completion of the Final EEA by Winter 2018 on their website at https://www.nps.gov/gaar/learn/management/ambler-row.htm.

National Park Service  Project Schedule

Tentative Date Planning Phase Fall 2017  Winter 2018 Public Input & Public Scoping Meetings Winter 2018  Summer 2018 Prepare Draft EEA Summer 2018 Public Meetings and Public Review of Draft EEA Fall  Winter 2018 Prepare Final EEA Winter 2018 Release Final EEA

Rick Van Nieuwenhuyse, Trilogy Metals President and CEO said: "We are pleased with the progress being made by the Park Service and BLM towards advancing the AMDIAP through the Federal permitting (NEPA EIS) process. We look forward to continuing to work with AIDEA and the Stakeholders in the region to ensure that this Private Industrial Road meets and exceeds everyone's expectations to minimize potential impacts, and bring long term jobs and other benefits to the region and to the State of Alaska. AMDIAP will greatly facilitate further development in the Ambler Mining District."

Qualified Person

Andrew W. West, a Certified Professional Geologist, and the Exploration Manager for Trilogy Metals Inc., is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101. Mr. West has reviewed and verified the technical information in this news release and approves the disclosure contained herein.

About Trilogy Metals

Trilogy Metals Inc. is a metals exploration and development company focused on exploring and developing the Ambler mining district located in northwestern Alaska. It is one of the richest and most-prospective known copper-dominant districts located in one of the safest geopolitical jurisdictions in the world. It hosts world-class polymetallic volcanogenic massive sulphide ("VMS") deposits that contain copper, zinc, lead, gold and silver, and carbonate replacement deposits which have been found to host high grade copper mineralization. Exploration efforts have been focused on two deposits in the Ambler mining district - the Arctic VMS deposit and the Bornite carbonate replacement deposit. Both deposits are located within the Company's land package that spans approximately 143,000 hectares. The Company has an agreement with NANA Regional Corporation, Inc., a Regional Alaska Native Corporation that provides a framework for the exploration and potential development of the Ambler mining district in cooperation with local communities. Our vision is to develop the Ambler mining district into a premier North American copper producer.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes certain "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" (collectively "forward-looking statements") within the meaning of applicable Canadian and United States securities legislation including the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including, without limitation, the expected drilling and other work to be conducted at the Bornite Project and Arctic Project and the anticipated expenditures of approved budgets, drilling for the 2018 program at the Bornite Project, the expected announcement and timing of a cobalt resource at the Bornite Project, the focus and objective of the Arctic Project work program, gathering of extensive environmental data at the Arctic Project and the submission of a mine permit application in 2019, the AMDIAP EIS process and schedule, the AMDIAP road meeting and exceeding expectations to minimize potential impacts and bring long term jobs and other benefits to the region and the State of Alaska, the AMDIAP greatly facilitating further development in the Ambler Mining District and the development of the Ambler mining district into a premier North American copper producer, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are frequently, but not always, identified by words such as "expects", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "potential", "possible", and similar expressions, or statements that events, conditions, or results "will", "may", "could", or "should" occur or be achieved. These forward-looking statements may include statements regarding perceived merit of properties; exploration plans and budgets; mineral reserves and resource estimates; work programs; capital expenditures; timelines; strategic plans; market prices for precious and base metals; or other statements that are not statements of fact. Forward-looking statements involve various risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations include the uncertainties involving success of exploration, development and mining activities, permitting timelines, requirements for additional capital, government regulation of mining operations, environmental risks, unanticipated reclamation expenses; mineral reserve and resource estimates and the assumptions upon which they are based; assumptions and discount rates being appropriately applied to the PFS; our assumptions with respect to the likelihood and timing of the AMDIAP; capital estimates; prices for energy inputs, labour, materials, supplies and services the interpretation of drill results, the need for additional financing to explore and develop properties and availability of financing in the debt and capital markets; uncertainties involved in the interpretation of drilling results and geological tests and the estimation of reserves and resources; the need for cooperation of government agencies and native groups in the development and operation of properties as well as the construction of the access road; the need to obtain permits and governmental approvals; risks of construction and mining projects such as accidents, equipment breakdowns, bad weather, non-compliance with environmental and permit requirements, unanticipated variation in geological structures, metal grades or recovery rates; unexpected cost increases, which could include significant increases in estimated capital and operating costs; fluctuations in metal prices and currency exchange rates; and other risks and uncertainties disclosed in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended November 30, 2017 filed with Canadian securities regulatory authorities and with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission and in other Company reports and documents filed with applicable securities regulatory authorities from time to time. The Company's forward-looking statements reflect the beliefs, opinions and projections on the date the statements are made. The Company assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements or beliefs, opinions, projections, or other factors, should they change, except as required by law.

Cautionary Note to United States Investors

This press release has been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all resource and reserve estimates included in this press release have been prepared in accordance with Canadian National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum (CIM)CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves, adopted by the CIM Council, as amended ("CIM Definition Standards"). NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Canadian standards, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and resource and reserve information contained herein may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the term "resource" does not equate to the term "reserves". Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. The SEC's disclosure standards normally do not permit the inclusion of information concerning "measured mineral resources", "indicated mineral resources" or "inferred mineral resources" or other descriptions of the amount of mineralization in mineral deposits that do not constitute "reserves" by U.S. standards in documents filed with the SEC. Investors are cautioned not to assume that all or any part of "measured" or "indicated resources" will ever be converted into "reserves". Investors should also understand that "inferred mineral resources" have a great amount of uncertainty as to their existence and great uncertainty as to their economic and legal feasibility. Under Canadian rules, estimated "inferred mineral resources" may not form the basis of feasibility or pre-feasibility studies except in rare cases. Disclosure of "contained ounces" in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. The requirements of NI 43-101 for identification of "reserves" are also not the same as those of the SEC, and reserves reported by Trilogy Metals in compliance with NI 43-101 may not qualify as "reserves" under SEC standards. Arctic does not have known reserves, as defined under SEC Industry Guide 7. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits set forth herein may not be comparable with information made public by companies that report in accordance with U.S. standards.

________________________________________

 See the latest resource statement in the report titled "Amended NI 43-101 Technical Report on the Bornite Project, Northwest Alaska, USA" released on October 12, 2017 with an effective date of April 19, 2016 on the Company's website at www.trilogymetals.com and on the Company's profile at www.sedar.com and www.sec.gov.

SOURCE Trilogy Metals Inc.

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RICHMOND, Va., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Corporation (NYSE: UVV) today announced that on Tuesday, May 22, 2018, its Board of Directors set the date of the Annual Meeting of Shareholders as Thursday, August 2, 2018. It will be held at 2:00 p.m. at the Company's headquarters building. The Board of Directors set the record date for the Annual Meeting of Shareholders as June 12, 2018.

Headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, Universal Corporation is the leading global leaf tobacco supplier and conducts business in more than 30 countries. Its revenues for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2018, were $2.0 billion. For more information on Universal Corporation, visit its website at www.universalcorp.com.

SOURCE Universal Corporation

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TOKYO, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Astellas Pharma Inc. (TSE: 4503, President and CEO: Kenji Yasukawa, Ph.D. "Astellas") announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted, with Priority Review, the company's New Drug Application (NDA) for gilteritinib for the treatment of adult patients who have relapsed or refractory (resistant to treatment) Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) with a FLT3 mutation as detected by an FDA-approved test. Currently, there are no FLT3-targeting agents approved for the treatment of relapsed or refractory FLT3 mutation-positive (FLT3mut+) AML.

"FLT3 mutations impact approximately 30 percent of AML patients and are often associated with poor survival outcomes. Many with this condition relapse after treatment or don't respond to currently available treatments. Simply put, they need more options," said Steven Benner, M.D., senior vice president and global therapeutic area head, Oncology Development, Astellas. "The FDA's acceptance of this NDA, with Priority Review, represents a significant milestone for gilteritinib and Astellas in our mission to help AML patients and the physicians who treat them."

The NDA is based on the ongoing Phase 3 ADMIRAL trial investigating gilteritinib for the treatment of adult patients with FLT3mut+ relapsed or refractory AML. The Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) goal date for a decision by the FDA is November 29, 2018.

The FDA grants Priority Review designation to applications for drugs that, if approved, may offer significant improvements in the safety and effectiveness of the treatment of serious conditions when compared to standard applications. Under Priority Review, the FDA aims to take action on an application within six months of NDA filing, as compared to ten months under standard review.

Previously, gilteritinib was granted both Orphan Drug designation and Fast Track designation by the U.S. FDA. Gilteritinib also received Orphan Designation from the European Commission (EC) and Orphan Drug Designation from the Japan Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW). The MHLW also granted SAKIGAKE designation to gilteritinib for relapsed/refractory AML.

About Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) is a cancer that impacts the blood and bone marrow, and its incidence increases with age. The American Cancer Society estimates that in 2018, approximately 19,000 new patients will be diagnosed with AML in the U.S.1 In Western Europe, there are around 13,000 new cases of AML every year.2 In Japan, approximately 5,500 patients are diagnosed with AML each year.3

About Gilteritinib

Gilteritinib is an investigational compound that has demonstrated inhibitory activity against FLT3 internal tandem duplication (ITD) as well as FLT3 tyrosine kinase domain (TKD), two common types of FLT3 mutations that are seen in approximately one-third of patients with AML. Further, gilteritinib has also demonstrated inhibition of the AXL receptor in AML cell lines. Astellas is currently investigating gilteritinib in various AML patient populations through several additional Phase 3 trials. Visit AstellasAMLTrials.com to learn more about ongoing gilteritinib clinical trials.

Gilteritinib was discovered through a research collaboration with Kotobuki Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Astellas has exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture and potentially commercialize gilteritinib.

The safety and efficacy of the agent discussed herein are under investigation and have not been established. There is no guarantee that the agent will receive regulatory approval and become commercially available for the uses being investigated. Information about pharmaceutical products (including products currently in development), which is included in this press release are not intended to constitute an advertisement or medical advice.

About the ADMIRAL Trial4

The Phase 3 ADMIRAL trial (NCT02421939) is an open-label, multicenter, randomized study of gilteritinib versus salvage chemotherapy in adult patients with FLT3 mutations who are refractory to or have relapsed after first-line AML therapy. The primary endpoints of the trial are Overall Survival (OS) and complete remission/complete remission with partial hematologic recovery (CR/CRh) rates. The study was designed to enroll 369 patients with FLT3 mutations present in bone marrow or whole blood, as determined by central lab. Subjects were randomized in a 2:1 ratio to receive gilteritinib (120 mg5) or salvage chemotherapy.

About Astellas

Astellas Pharma Inc., based in Tokyo, Japan, is a company dedicated to improving the health of people around the world through the provision of innovative and reliable pharmaceutical products. For more information, please visit our website at www.astellas.com/en.

Cautionary Notes

In this press release, statements made with respect to current plans, estimates, strategies and beliefs and other statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements about the future performance of Astellas. These statements are based on management's current assumptions and beliefs in light of the information currently available to it and involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors include, but are not limited to: (i) changes in general economic conditions and in laws and regulations, relating to pharmaceutical markets, (ii) currency exchange rate fluctuations, (iii) delays in new product launches, (iv) the inability of Astellas to market existing and new products effectively, (v) the inability of Astellas to continue to effectively research and develop products accepted by customers in highly competitive markets, and (vi) infringements of Astellas' intellectual property rights by third parties.

1 American Cancer Society. Key Statistics for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (01-04-2018), https://www.cancer.org/cancer/acute-myeloid-leukemia/about/key-statistics.html. Last accessed 03-12- 2018.

2 Kashyap A. Decision Resources Group. Acute Myeloid Leukemia: disease landscape and forecast (10-2017).

3 Kantar Health. Treatment Architecture: United States acute myeloid leukemia. CancerMPact (12-2017).

4 ClinicalTrials.gov. A Study of ASP2215 Versus Salvage Chemotherapy in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) With FMS-like Tyrosine Kinase (FLT3) Mutation (04-25-2018). https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02421939?cond=02421939&rank=1. Accessed 04-26-2018.

5 Gorcea CM, Burthem J, Tholouli E. ASP2215 in the treatment of relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia with FLT3 mutation: background and design of the ADMIRAL trial. Future Oncol (epub) 03-02-2018.

SOURCE Astellas Pharma Inc.

Related Links

https://www.astellas.com


MUMBAI, India, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Further to our announcement dated May 24th, 2018 the Company has received an order dated May 28, 2018 from the Government of Tamil Nadu directing the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) to seal the Company's 'Copper Smelter Plant 1 at Thoothukkudi District, Tamil Nadu' and to close the said plant permanently.

The Company is further studying the order and shall keep the stock exchanges updated on any developments.

Also the SIPCOT vide its letter today, has informed the Company regarding cancellation of 342.22 acres of land allotted to the company for the proposed expansion 'Copper Smelter Plant 2 Project' at Thoothukkudi District, Tamil Nadu. The land price for the same shall be refunded by SIPCOT as per their norms.

About Vedanta Limited

Vedanta Limited is a diversified natural resources company, whose business primarily involves producing oil & gas, zinc - lead - silver, aluminium, copper, iron ore and commercial power. The company has a presence across India, South Africa and Namibia. Vedanta Ltd has a portfolio of world-class, low-cost, scalable assets that consistently generate strong profitability and have robust cash flows. The company holds industry-leading market shares across its core divisions.

Vedanta Limited is the Indian subsidiary of Vedanta Resources Plc, a London-listed company. Governance and Sustainable Development are at the core of Vedanta's strategy, with a strong focus on health, safety and environment and on enhancing the lives of local communities. The company is conferred with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) 'Sustainable Plus Platinum label', ranking among the top 10 most sustainable companies in India. To access the Vedanta Sustainable Development Report 2017, please visit http://sd.vedantaresources.com/SustainableDevelopment2016-17/

Vedanta Limited is listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange in India. The company is in the Nifty 50 Index and has ADRs listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more information please visit www.vedantalimited.com

Vedanta Limited

Vedanta, 75, Nehru Road

Vile Parle (East), Mumbai - 400 099

www.vedantalimited.com

Registered Office:

Regd. Office: 1st Floor, 'C' wing, Unit 103

Corporate Avenue, Atul Projects,

Chakala, Andheri (East),

Mumbai  400 093

CIN: L13209MH1965PLC291394

Disclaimer

This press release contains "forward-looking statements"  that is, statements related to future, not past, events. In this context, forward-looking statements often address our expected future business and financial performance, and often contain words such as "expects," "anticipates," "intends," "plans," "believes," "seeks," "should" or "will." Forwardlooking statements by their nature address matters that are, to different degrees, uncertain. For us, uncertainties arise from the behaviour of financial and metals markets including the London Metal Exchange, fluctuations in interest and or exchange rates and metal prices; from future integration of acquired businesses; and from numerous other matters of national, regional and global scale, including those of a political, economic, business, competitive or regulatory nature. These uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially different that those expressed in our forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to update our forward-looking statements.

For further information, please contact:

Communications

Arun Arora

Head Communications

Tel: +91-1244593000

[email protected]



Investor Relations

Rashmi Mohanty

Director  Investor Relations

Tel: +91-22-6646-1531

[email protected]



Aarti Raghavan

VP  Investor Relations



Sneha Tulsyan

Associate Manager  Investor Relations

SOURCE Vedanta Limited

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DALLAS, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Versatex Holdings, LLC ("Versatex" or "the Company"), a leading manufacturer of cellular PVC building products serving both the new construction and renovation/remodel markets, has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by The AZEK Company ("AZEK"). Versatex's management team will remain with the business and continue operations from its production facility in Aliquippa, PA.

Versatex, a Highlander investment since September 2014, is a leading innovator and manufacturer of high-quality, branded exterior trim, sheet, mouldings and other innovative products with an expanding range of building applications.

Mark Blanchat, Chairman of Versatex and a Partner at Highlander, stated, "John Pace and his team have done a tremendous job growing Versatex and enhancing the business. Versatex has continually grown in revenue and profitability while significantly expanding its salesforce and investing substantially in its production facility and capabilities. The Company's success has been achieved through strong leadership and superior management execution. The team's efforts have positioned the Company for greater future success, as cellular PVC building products continue to gain share from legacy wood-based offerings and achieve broader adoption in new geographies."

Jeff L. Hull, Highlander's President and Managing Partner and board member of Versatex, added, "We thank Versatex's employees for their hard work in advancing the Company over the past four years, and wish John and his team the very best. Versatex is an exceptional company and we are extremely proud to have been associated with it."

John Pace, CEO of Versatex said, "We are excited to enter into this agreement with AZEK, which is an ideal partner for us. Our companies have complementary strengths and a shared commitment to premium quality, customer service and product innovation. We thank Highlander for its tremendous support and look forward to working together with AZEK to address the opportunities that alternative materials offer the building envelope market."

Rothschild & Co. is serving as the exclusive financial advisor to Versatex in connection with this transaction.

About Highlander Partners

Highlander Partners, L.P. is a Dallas-based private investment firm with over $2.0 billion of assets under management. The firm focuses on making investments in businesses in targeted industries in which the principals of the firm have significant operating and investing experience, including basic manufacturing, food, chemicals, building materials, consumer products, and others. Highlander Partners uses a "buy and build" investment approach, creating value by helping companies grow organically and through acquisitions. For more information, visit www.highlander-partners.com.

About Versatex Holdings LLC

Versatex manufactures and supplies cellular PVC building products. The Company's products include trimboards, sheets, cornerboards, beadboards, skirtboards, wraps, beaded profiles, soffit systems, molding profiles, and finishing products. It markets and sells its products through distributors/dealers in the United States and Canada. The Company was founded in 2003 and is based in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania. For more information about Versatex, please visit www.versatex.com.

SOURCE Highlander Partners, L.P.

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ANDERSON, Calif., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Vietnam Veteran Steve Trammell, CEO of Eagle Iron Works, was moved to honor and remember military heroes 26 years ago. In 1992, Trammell created his first brass eagle, which was named "In the Belly of the Eagle." The sculpture honors fallen Vietnam soldiers. Today, Trammell has a series of six eagle sculptures. He was inspired by the eagle symbol of the U.S. National Defense Service Medal and so his sculptures take on a similar look.

Steve Trammell

Trammell was a U.S. Army combat soldier in the late 1960s. He witnessed first-hand the tragedy of the Vietnam War and the tremendous loss of human life, including that of friends. Trammell refers to the Vietnam War as "his war" and will explain that while he wasn't wounded, he nearly died from malaria contracted in the jungle. He is grateful for the helicopter pilot that risked his own life to dip into the jungle to pull Trammell's almost lifeless body out. A few years ago, Trammell also had major surgery to remove a tumor, a result of Agent Orange, on his left knee.

"When I was creating the first eagle sculpture, I was able to release a lot of pain from my own experiences in Vietnam. For me, these eagles are the perfect way to honor and remember all those who made the ultimate sacrifice," says Trammell.

After finishing his first sculpture, Trammell continued on. The second eagle Trammell created honors his family friend Airman 1st Class Joshua Woody and 19 others of the U.S. Air Force's 440th Wing (Provisional) who were killed when a truck bomb exploded near building 131 at Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia on June 25, 1996. The third in the series is dedicated to the 52 U.S. Elite Special Forces lost in Mogadishu, Somalia, during "Black Hawk Down" in October 1993. The fourth brass eagle stands proudly at five feet tall with spread tail feathers honoring the fallen Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines personnel lost in the Korean War during 1950-1953.

The fifth in the series is a seven-foot-tall brass eagle weighing in at 1,200 pounds. This is dedicated to all of the 241 service personnel including 220 Marines who were killed during the Beirut barracks bombing on October 23, 1983. This is noted as the deadliest attack against U.S. Marines since the battle over Iwo Jima in February 1945.

The final eagle in the series is a nine-foot-tall stainless-steel eagle. The sculpture is lighted from within throughout its entire body including the wings and head. This eagle has not been dedicated to any specific war. Trammell hopes that its new owner will find a final place of honor for it to reside. Trammell will also create a plaque of choice for this memorial.

The eagle sculptures have traveled thousands of miles on display at various events. Now that Trammel is semi-retiring, he'd like to find more permanent places for them to reside like at one of the U.S military academies, the Smithsonian or in one of the nation's military cemeteries such as Arlington National Cemetery, Golden Gate National Cemetery or the National Cemetery of the Pacific. Trammell is also open to groups who might like to continue to promote these memorials by bringing them out on tour. Trammell has offered to deliver the eagle sculptures to their new owners for free if within 1,500 miles of Eagle Iron Works in Anderson, California.

For further information about the purchase of the eagles in the full series of six or individual eagles and commissioned pieces, contact Carole Ryan, project manager, at 530-410-3734 or contact Eagle Iron Works at 530-365-1078 and email: [email protected].

About Steve Trammell

Steve Trammell is a Vietnam veteran and CEO of Eagle Iron Works. He created a series of six eagle sculptures in honor and memory of U.S. military heroes, wars and tragedies.

Related Files

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2YQV7-FHtI

SOURCE Steve Trammell
MONT ALBERT, Australia, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- After gaining considerable popularity in the US safety razor market over the past four years with models such as The Chieftain, The Vulcan, The Odin and The Godfather being continuously ranked in the Top 10 Bestsellers and "Most Wished For" lists on Amazon.com, Vikings Blade has decided it was time for them to do their part for the environment.

Vikings Blade The Godfather Vikings Blade The Chieftain (ODIN Limited Edition)

The luxury high-end grooming family boutique hailing from Australia has recently announced their participation in the eco-friendly movements around the world by switching to 100% environmental friendly packaging materials.

Vikings Blade has always been known for their immaculate customer service, and through this constant communication with their customers Vikings Blade realized that more and more users were now making the switch from disposable razors to safety razors. Beside the huge cost saving benefits of safety razors, consumers are starting to make conscious efforts to reduce landfills and clean up the environment.

The reality of the shaving industry is that all razors are packaged in high-density polyethylene plastic cases and blades are usually enclosed in polyethylene terephthalate holders.

This is standard practice adopted by big brand razor companies and still in use today with no sign of stopping due to the low cost of plastic packaging. A quick look on the internet at popular marketplaces such as Amazon, Walmart and eBay shows that most razor products on the market still involve the use of plastic in one way or another. For example, the multiple steel blades on most disposable cartridge razors are often secured by a large plastic casing and a lubrication strip, both of which are non-biodegradable or non-recyclable and can only be disposed of in landfills. Similarly, metal safety razors although are more environmental friendly are still packaged in plastic cases or holders which also end up as landfill waste.

As an early and active participant in recent eco friendly movements, Vikings Blade safety razors uses fully biodegradable materials for their packaging and cases despite a reduced profit margin.

Lars Henriksson, production manager at Vikings Blade, said in an email that, "We are going to be completely honest here: as a small family business we are not claiming to revolutionise this industry or save the world or anything like that. Consumers are smart enough to see through such charitable claims. We're just here to build some meaningful and solid products and make a living at the same time. But what is living if we don't protect the environment and the society that we live in? I heard stories of some factories dumping chemical waste into the ocean to save money and I don't like the sound of that. The razor industry is not that bad but still, I don't want my grandchildren to clean up the landfills that this industry has created. With recent eco friendly movements being stronger than ever, someone in the razor industry has to start first, and we don't mind being that company. Sooner or later other companies will start doing the same thing and everyone will benefit in the long term."

For more information on how to go completely eco friendly and reduce landfill waste with a safety razor, visit VikingsBlade.com or contact Vikings Blade at [email protected]4pr.com.

Contact:

Carrie Lee

+85281932510

[email protected]

SOURCE Vikings Blade
Prior to joining the Weinberg Foundation, Graham served as Director of Student Ventures at Johns Hopkins University, where he led entrepreneurship and innovation initiatives, including FastForward U and the Social Innovation Lab, which helped transform new technologies and novel ideas into viable ventures.

"I am incredibly excited to announce that Darius will be joining the Foundation as Program Director, Baltimore," said Aaron Merki, Managing Director, Programs and Grants and Program Director, Older Adult Services for the Weinberg Foundation. "His expertise in strategy development and execution, as well as his strong commitment to civic engagement, makes him the perfect fit for this position. Darius brings a thoughtful approach to all that he does, and we are thrilled to have him join our team."

Graham previously founded DC Social Innovation Project, a nonprofit that provided funding and pro bono assistance to help launch and grow innovative, grassroots community initiatives in Washington, DC. He is a former Social Entrepreneur-In-Residence at University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business and has served as a mayor-appointed commissioner on the District of Columbia Commission on National & Community Service. Graham began his career as an associate in the financial restructuring group at the law firm Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP.

He received a B.A. summa cum laude from Florida A&M University and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley  School of Law, where he served as an editor of the California Law Review and as editor-in-chief of the Berkeley Journal of African-American Law & Policy. A former Global Shaper with the World Economic Forum, Graham has been recognized by Baltimore Business Journal as one of Baltimore's 40 Under 40 and is a graduate of the Greater Baltimore Committee's Leadership Program. He serves on CLIA's Board of Directors, the Baltimore Museum of Industry's Board of Trustees, and the Baltimore Community Foundation's Impact Investing Subcommittee.

About The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, one of the largest private charitable foundations in the United States, provides approximately $100 million in annual grants to nonprofits that provide direct services to low-income and vulnerable individuals and families, primarily in the United States and Israel. Grants are focused on meeting basic needs and enhancing an individual's ability to meet those needs with emphasis on older adults, the Jewish community, and the Foundation's priority communities of Maryland, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Hawaii, Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, rural communities in the United States, and the State of Israel. The trustees, some of whom also serve as executive officers of the Foundation, are Chair Robert T. Kelly, Jr., Donn Weinberg, Alvin Awaya, Fay Hartog-Levin, and Paula B. Pretlow. Rachel Garbow Monroe serves as the Weinberg Foundation's President and Chief Executive Officer. For more information, please visit www.hjweinbergfoundation.org.

Media Contact: Craig Demchak, 443-738-1159

[email protected]

SOURCE Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation

Related Links

http://www.hjweinbergfoundation.org


"With the approval of zEEG, healthcare professionals and patients now have access to an EEG system that provides a simple, easy and convenient experience with the benefit of quick and smart analysis of data through our cloud platform," said Aswin Gunasekar, MS, MBA, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Zeto, Inc. "Our goal was to find a technology that would not only democratize access to EEG with a seamless platform but also unlock the potential of AI, opening up significant opportunities for conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, concussion and sleep disorders. We are proud to have developed a solution that presents a paradigm shift for EEG."

A clinical study demonstrated that the zEEG headset provided EEG signal quality that was comparable to an approved, traditional EEG system. 30 patients in two study cohorts (EEG patients and healthy volunteers) were studied for specific time periods (up to 2 hours), and the zEEG was found to perform at least as well as the reference device based on predefined acceptance criteria. Study results will be published in the coming months.

"This approval is particularly meaningful to the Epilepsy Foundation, since the zEEG system was selected as the winner of the 2016 Epilepsy Foundation Shark Tank and was also awarded a New Therapy Commercialization Investment in 2017," said Jacqueline French MD, Chief Scientific Officer of the Epilepsy Foundation and Professor of Neurology, NYU Langone Health's Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. "We saw a great potential for the electroencephalogram, an old diagnostic technique, to take a great leap into the modern age, making it more accessible for diagnosis of epilepsy."

The FDA approved the Zeto EEG system in April 2018. Zeto plans to continue working with leading hospital beta customers in preparation for a commercial launch later in the year.

About Zeto, Inc.

Zeto, Inc. is a privately held medical technology company located in Santa Clara, CA focused on transforming the way electroencephalography (EEG) is done at hospitals. Zeto's revolutionary platform brings the traditional EEG procedure to the 21st century by offering zEEG, a zero-prep, wireless, easy-to-wear headset with 19 dry electrodes that can be positioned as per the 10-20 EEG system, backed by a cloud platform that offers instant upload, tools for analysis and remote interpretation by neurologists. The company plans to leverage its platform technology to improve access and affordability to brain wave testing and achieve better outcomes for neurological conditions such as epilepsy, stroke, concussion and sleep disorders, among others.

Media Contact:

Marites Coulter

Direct: 415-819-2214

Email: [email protected]

Website: http://zeto-inc.com/

SOURCE Zeto, Inc.

Related Links

http://zeto-inc.com


LITTLE ROCK, Ark., May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Zips Car Wash, (www.zipscarwash.com) known for their unlimited wash clubs and advances in industry technology, is taking their forward-thinking to a new level with a Rewards App. Partnering with San Francisco-based Thanx, Zips Car Wash has just launched an app-based customer engagement program for their loyal customers, which rolled out May 1 at over 40 stores and was available at an additional 25 stores on May 15. Patrons can download the app here.

The new mobile app highlights Zips Car Wash's commitment to its customers while allowing the growing company to better understand their customers' behavior with data-driven insights. Additionally, Thanx offers a way for guests to leave direct feedback to Zips Car Wash.

"With our recent growth to 115 stores, we are very excited to offer a rewards-based app to our loyal customers to earn free washes, refer friends and make purchasing a car wash even quicker and easier," said Zak Hemphill, Vice-President of Technology and Organizational Development at Zips Car Wash. "The app is geared toward both our Unlimited Wash Club members and cash-paying customers and offers benefits for both groups," he added.

Existing Club Members can link their account to the app and receive rewards for paying on a monthly membership. Rewards include free washes to use on a second vehicle or give to a friend.

In addition to wanting more customer data, Zips Car Wash selected Thanx in part because of the ease of use for customers. Rather than go the traditional route with a punch card or additional hardware at the Point of Sale, Zips Car Wash was excited by Thanx' ability to track customer spending and reward customers simply by allowing customers to pay as usual. Customers can now earn rewards on their smartphones automatically through the Thanx app each time they visit any Zips Car Wash location.

"We didn't want to make customers enter in a phone number or scan a QR code  often times we have long lines and didn't want to slow down any customers," said Hemphill. "Our goal is to make sure that our customers feel appreciated and rewarded for their loyalty to our company, and we wanted to do that in a modern way," he added.

New users receive a free car wash upon sign-up and another free wash with every $100 spent. Additionally, for every new customer that is referred by a friend and signs up with the app, both parties will receive a free wash. The free wash will appear in the app and once the customer chooses to redeem the wash, there is a 60-minute period to use it.

"Zips Car Wash is promoting the app in store and online. Once customers are enrolled, they don't have to take any additional action to earn progress toward rewards. This is why the Thanx loyalty program keeps 90% of its customers engaged years after they join, while other loyalty programs have trouble retaining more than 40%," says Zach Goldstein, CEO of Thanx.

Thanx has a network of businesses across the country. By joining the Zips Car Wash Rewards program, you can also access the other businesses in your area that offer rewards through Thanx.

About Zips Car Wash: Zips Car Wash (www.zipscarwash.com), headquartered in Little Rock, AR, operates 115 locations in 11 states, including Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Zips Car Wash offers four levels of car wash packages in the convenient form of a ride-thru car wash experience. Zips Car Wash also offers free self-serve vacuums and Unlimited Wash Club Memberships at all locations.

About Thanx:

Thanx is the system-of-record for customer data, providing offline businesses with an end-to-end view of their customers and automated tools for real-time mobile engagement that is proven to drive incremental revenue. With Thanx, businesses can access individual customer records to explore spend, visit frequency, demographics, and sentiment. And, advanced campaign tools allow businesses to launch automated campaigns that are proven to win back lost customers, increase visit frequency and drive spend. If Thanx sounds like an easy-to-use CRM with advanced loyalty features, you're right. Thanx is loyalty reimagined. For more information, visit www.thanx.com.

SOURCE Zips Car Wash

Related Links

http://www.zipscarwash.com


Baghdad, May 29 : The Iraqi parliament on Monday approved manual recounting of 10 per cent of votes in the May 12 parliamentary election amid allegations of fraud, forgery and irregularities.

With the attendance of 165 lawmakers at the emergency session, the parliament passed a draft bill to recount 10 percent of the votes, Xinhua reported.

And if one quarter of the 10-percent votes are found with irregularity, the recounting would be carried out for all the votes across the country, said a statement of the parliament.

The decision will also cancel the votes of the polling centres outside Iraq if irregularities were found, as well as the results of the "conditional voting" in the refugee camps, according to the statement.

The "conditional voters" refer to those who showed any IDs to prove their Iraqi citizenship instead of valid voting cards.

In addition, recounting of the votes at the polling stations in the ethnically-mixed city of Kirkuk will be held, as well as for some polling stations that were already cancelled by the electoral commission in the disputed areas claimed by both Baghdad central government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region.

On May 19, the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) announced the final results of the parliamentary election, which showed that the al-Sa'iroon Coalition, led by Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, was the front-runner by winning 54 of the 329 parliament seats.

The al-Fath Coalition, led by Hadi al-Ameri, came in the second place with 47 seats, while the al-Nasr Coalition, led by Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, came in third with 42 seats. The State of Law Coalition, headed by Vice President and former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, garnered 25 seats.

Many Iraqi parties, especially in the Kurdistan region and the disputed areas including Kirkuk province, have complained about irregularities and forgery in the parliamentary election.

The complaints put the electoral commission under pressure, as it has not carried out manual recounting of many ballot boxes and depended only on the electronic counting of the votes.

Earlier, Riyadh al-Badran, head of the electoral commission, told a press conference "there is no justification for a manual recount yet," despite many complaints about voter fraud.

On May 17, UN Special Envoy to Iraq Jan Kubis issued a statement, calling on the IHEC to carry out an immediate and thorough investigation into all complaints concerning the election.

The Iraqi parliament also called on May 19 for measures to instill confidence in the election process after receiving complaints from political entities about alleged irregularities.

On May 24, the Iraqi Council of Ministers (cabinet) met with top judicial and intelligence officials and the IHEC's security committee to discuss immunity of the electronic devices used in casting and counting the votes for the first time in the Iraqi election, a government statement said.

The cabinet appointed a special committee to investigate the allegations, whose results would be handed to the council of ministers, high judicial council and the federal court, according to the statement.

On May 12, Iraq held the first parliamentary election since defeating the Islamic State (IS) militant group in last December.
London, May 29 : Roman Abramovich, the Russian billionaire owner of the Chelsea FC, has flown to Tel Aviv after being found eligible for Israeli citizenship following days of uncertainty over his UK visa renewal.

Immigration officials told the BBC late Monday that he was interviewed last week at the Israeli embassy in Moscow after his UK investor visa reportedly expired some weeks ago.

Abramovich, 51, would be the richest person in Israel. He is worth $11.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine The delay in issuing Abramovich a new visa comes amid increased diplomatic tensions between London and Moscow after the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in southern England.

Abramovich did not attend the FA cup final at Wembley earlier this month when Chelsea beat Manchester United.

Israeli media reports have said that he has been given an identity card in Israel under the Law of Return, which allows Jews to become citizens of Israel, the BBC reported.

The Times of Israel said the Interior Ministry had confirmed Mr Abramovich arrived in Israel on Monday and that he had emigrated to the country.

He is a frequent visitor to Israel and bought a hotel in Tel Aviv in 2015 which according to reports, has been converted into his residence.

Israel passport holders are allowed to enter Britain without a visa for short stays.

The move could pay off financially as new Israeli citizens are exempt from paying tax on foreign income for 10 years.

Abramovich bought Chelsea FC in 2003. He reportedly sold dolls before making his fortune in oil in the 1990s after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.

He has previously served as Governor of Russia's Chukotka region.
Sydney, May 29 : The Papua New Guinea government is planning to shut down Facebook for a month to understand users' behaviour and safeguard them from fake news.

According to a report in The Post Courier on Monday, Communication Minister Sam Basil said the shutdown would enable the department and Papua New Guinea National Research Institute conduct research on how the social networking site is being used by users.

"The time will allow information to be collected to identify users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information on Facebook to be filtered and removed," Basil was quoted as saying.

The effort is seen as to plug loopholes after the British political consultancy firm Cambridge Analytica improperly shared personal data of of 87 million Facebook users.

The data was gathered via a quiz app "thisisyourdigitallife" developed by Aleksandr Kogan, then a psychology researcher with University of Cambridge, and his company Global Science Research (GSR) which pulled out Facebook users' data in 2014-2015.

According to Basil, the move will allow genuine people with real identities to use the social network responsibly.

Facebook was yet to comment on this development.

The government is also aiming to enforce the Cyber Crime Act.

"We cannot allow the abuse of Facebook to continue in the country. I will now work closely with the police for them to be properly trained and informed to fully enforce the Cyber Crime Act," said Basil.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week apologised for the Cambridge Analytica data breach in front of the European Parliament (EU) leaders.

Zuckerberg stressed that the social networking giant is trying to plug loopholes across its services, including curbing fake news and political interference on its platform in the wake of upcoming elections globally, including in India.
New Delhi, May 29 : Google on Tuesday celebrated Danish chemist Soren Peder Lauritz Sorensen who introduced the pH scale to the world with an interactive Doodle.

Sorensen's method of expressing acidity -- the negative logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration (pH) -- still has a wide range of real-world uses.

For example, in agriculture, the pH value can indicate the moisture associated with a soil, which can reveal what crops are suitable for the soil and what adjustments farmers must make to adapt it for growing any other crops.

Born in Haurebjerg in 1868, Sorensen was initially interested in studying medicine at University of Copenhagen. But he eventually spent more time studying chemistry and obtained his PhD in 1899.

Sorensen did most of his research in Carlsberg Laboratories. He became the director of its chemical section in 1901. While at Carlsberg, Sorensen started to study amino acids, proteins and enzymes.

As hydrogen ion concentration played a key role in enzymatic reactions he devised a simple way of expressing it, according to EuCheMS, the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences.

He found that by taking a negative logarithm of hydrogen ion concentration a convenient scale can be established. This is the well-known pH value.

He also developed buffer solutions to maintain constant pH of solutions (Sorensen buffers), EuCheMS noted in a short biography of the scientist in its website.

The Google Doodle on Tuesday allows users to see for themselves the pH value of different food items, including tomatoes and eggs in a scale of 1 to 14.

Sorensen retired from his post at Carlsberg in 1938. He died in Copenhagen in 1939.
Tusayan (Arizona), May 29 : Here I was standing overlooking centuries of ancient history at one of the seven natural wonders of the world. Painted in the bright hues of orange, brown and green with the Colorado river flowing beneath it, even time stands still at the Grand Canyon.

I started my journey to the South Rim of this majestic wonder from a city called Sedona located in Arizona's Red Rock, to a small little town called Tusayan. The South Rim is the most visited side of the Grand Canyon and is open to the public 12 months a year, while the North Rim which has the famous Antelope Canyon and the Horse Shoe Bend, remains closed in the winter and opens for tourists from May.

To experience the Canyon, one can either opt for a helicopter, choose the Pink Jeep services, stay at a lodge inside the park or can either hike or cycle around.

I opted for the Pink Jeep service, which begins from the National Geographic Grand Canyon Visitor Centre in Tusayan. The drive is about 20 minutes. Also it is advisable to carry food supplies, water and a light jacket.

The 443 km-long Grand Canyon's story began over 1,800 million years ago as volcanic island chains collided with a young, developing North American continent. The collisions were violent. After the rocks cooled, the core of the mountains were exposed as a hard rock plain under a mantle of mineral soil. Thus, the foundation of the Grand Canyon was laid.

The Colorado river made its way through the Canyon only some five million years ago. It carved its way down towards sea level triggering erosion and carrying debris to the river's delta in the Gulf of California. One can taste the water at various springs located throughout the park area.

The flowing of the river did most of the Canyon's carving.

It receives all four seasons in a year although rainfall and snow have reduced over time due to global warming.

The drive to the Canyon was full of information provided by our jeep's driver, William, a full-blooded Hopi Native American. The Hopis were one of the first settlers in the Canyon.

"Our tribe came here thousands of years ago and have been here ever since," said William whose Hopi name is "Sohveymah" meaning the Milky Way Galaxy.

Besides the Hopis, the Navajo, Havasupai and the Yavapai tribes also settled in and around the Canyon.

According to modern day anthropologists, the native people arrived in the North American continent via the Bering Strait in Asia some 150,000 years ago.

"We are the oldest living culture in the Americas. Even after so many years, we keep our own records and know exactly where we come from. We were brought here by divine guidance," William added.

There are currently about 13,000 Hopis in Arizona.

To experience the Canyon first hand, I took a short hike down the Hermit's Trail, one of the five hiking trails in the South Rim. Going down the trail is quite easy in the beginning, but it gets steeper and rockier. The trail starts at Hermit's Rest and ends at Santa Maria Spring with a natural water pool and waterfalls. A word of advice: It would be best served to wear hiking shoes and apply loads of sunscreen lotion.

The rocks lining this trail are full of fossilised shells of various extinct sea animals as this area was under water before the Canyon rose. One needs to pay full attention to their surroundings while hiking. Clicking pictures while walking is a no-no as danger lurks at every step. According to park data, one person reportedly falls to his/her death every two months.

Flora and fauna thrives in this area. The vegetation includes drought-tolerant plants as well as a mixture of evergreens and desert plants. Pinion pines, yuca juniper, banana yucca and some 15 different species of cacti are found here. Animals include the elk and mule deer, bobcats, rattle snakes, cottontail rabbit, different species of birds and even mountain lions.

Besides the Canyon, the South Rim has plenty other offerings such as the Yavapai Geology Museum which provides an insight to the origins of the Canyon; the Grand Canyon Village that hosts historic buildings such as the El Tovar Hotel and Bright Angel Lodge; Hopi House Gift Store and Art Gallery, a historic souvenir shop built in 1905; and the Grand Canyon Depot also known as the Grand Canyon Railroad Station which was constructed in 1909.

I ended my visit with a 40-minute IMAX film on the Canyon and lunch at the National Geographic Grand Canyon Visitor Centre.

No matter how many books one reads or films one watches about the Grand Canyon, true justice is done only when one personally witnesses this natural treasure trove of ancient history. In that, I was doubly lucky.

(Karishma Saurabh Kalita's visit was sponsored by Brand America. She can be contacted at karishma.k@ians.in)
New Delhi, May 29 : Reliance Infratel, a subsidiary of Reliance Communications (RCOM), has informed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Tuesday that an amicable settlement has been arrived at with its minority investors holding 4.26 per cent equity in the company, and consent terms will be filed shortly.

In a regulatory filing, RCOM said: "The settlement with the minority investors paves the way for vacation of the stay granted by the NCLT on the sale of RITL's tower and fibre assets, and will enable the company to proceed with asset monetisation of Rs 8,000 crore as soon as the company exits the debt resolution process under NCLT, for which its appeal, supported by all its lenders, is fixed for hearing today i.e. , that is, Tuesday, May 29, 2018 before the Hon'ble NCLAT."
New Delhi, May 29 : As cybercrime becomes the new battlefield, Microsoft at its headquarters in Redmond, Washington, is working round-the-clock to intercept, analyse and mitigate threats -- creating a road-map for various industry stakeholders to plan relevant actions.

The Global Cybercrime Centre is witnessing in real-time at least one billion end-point devices being infected from over three million unique IP addresses worldwide -- from Seattle to New Delhi.

The 100-member strong Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) at the centre is using Next-Gen technology -- Cloud, Big Data, Machine Learning (ML) and Business Intelligence (BI) -- to improve the security of its products and services, protect vulnerable populations, fight malware and reduce digital risks.

According to Shilpa Bratt, Director (Shared Services) of Digital Crimes Unit, a team of 3,500 professionals is looking at security, built into Microsoft products and services, using frameworks such as the security development lifecycle and operational security assurance.

"We see cyber threats coming in real time. We can look at top threats and the most infected countries. This is like reverse Olympics where you don't want to be on the top," Bratt told a select media delegation visiting the campus earlier this month.

Nearly 30 people sit at the DCU and the rest in around 30 offices globally, including in India. Microsoft has set up a Cybersecurity Engagement Centre in New Delhi to empower organisations with information and techniques to secure critical information infrastructure and help reduce malware and digital risk.

The biggest threat, according to the Indian-origin Microsoft executive, is inside the Dark Web -- part of the World Wide Web (www) that requires special software to access websites and other services.

"Based on the research we've done, we've identified 20 markets in Dark Web that are selling over 12 million corporate credentials.

"Who is behind the crime? You've probably heard of the basement hacker or the hobbyist hacker but it has evolved over the years and has now switched to organised crime syndicates and nation-state attacks, that are out for financial and political gains," she emphasised.

According to her, $8 trillion will be the estimated cost of cybercrime to the global economy by 2022.

Today, about 90 per cent of successful cyber attacks start with a phishing email.

"And who are the victims? The victims are all of us -- individuals, businesses, governments and our families at the end of the day," she added.

The DCU has people from various walks of life -- investigators, attorneys, analysts, engineers and business professionals.

"We come from all walks of life but we are very passionate. We have this common thread that runs through us -- to protect customers, enforcement action against cybercriminals and bring those to justice," Bratt noted.

The DCU is housed in one of the 122 buildings at the sprawling Microsoft campus -- in the close vicinity of the company's legal department or CELA (Corporate External and Legal Affairs).

Cybercrime is constantly evolving and entering new areas like tech support fraud and online child exploitation, among others.

Back in 2009, Microsoft partnered with New Hampshire-based Dartmouth College to develop a technology called "PhotoDNA" that creates a hash to uniquely identify an image, and store that hash at the back-end to match similar images online to prevent child pornography.

Today, over 130 organisations including Facebook and Twitter, are using "PhotoDNA". The Indian government recently announced to collaborate with the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the US to curb the circulation of rape videos and child porn.

"We offer 'PhotoDNA' for free to any company who can legitimately use it. It is a very robust technology. The amount of false positives is very minuscule. Because it has existed for some time and we've iterated on the technology, it is becoming better and better," Bratt informed.

To bolster its efforts, Microsoft has also collaborated with various stakeholders like law enforcement agencies, cyber security vendors, customers, NGOs and academia.

"The team that sits in this lab is our analytics and innovation team which is constantly looking for insights in the data that can help us drive progress when it comes to fighting cybercrime. When we find something that works, we create a proof of concept, pilot it, incubate it and operationalise that analytic," she informed.

"Innovation is very critical in this field. We are trying to stay one step ahead of cyber-criminals and what is working in our favour is amazing talent at Microsoft that specialise in ML and AI," Bratt said.

(Nishant Arora can be contacted at nishant.a@ians.in)
Jaipur, May 29 : A man disguised as a devotee attacked a priest of a Brahma temple in Rajasthan's Pushkar district for allegedly not allowing President Ram Nath Kovind to enter the sanctum sanctorum, police said on Tuesday.

The accused, Ashok Meghwal, stood in a queue and attacked the priest Mahadevpuri as soon as his turn came to offer prayers According to Pushkar station incharge Mahaveer Sharma, Meghwal who claims to be a doctor, was mentally unstable.

The President, who was on a recent trip to Pushkar, offered prayers on the temple's doorstep since his wife had a knee problem.

However, a few miscreants circulated messages on WhatsApp that Kovind was not being permitted to enter the temple premises.

The attack was caught on camera and the footage went viral where the accused is seen waving his sharp-edged weapon for a few minutes scaring other devotees.

This attack has raised several questions on the security arrangements of the temple where each and every devotee needs to go through a metal detector test to enter the premises.
Thiruvananthapuram, May 29 : The rainy season arrived in India almost three days ahead of the forecast with Kerala coasts receiving the first showers of the Southwest monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said on Tuesday.

"Widespread rainfall occurred over Kerala during the past three-four days. The 14 rainfall monitoring stations for Monsoon onset over Kerala have reported more than 60 per cent rainfall since May 25," the IMD said.

The Southwest monsoon has advanced into remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, Comorin -- Maldives area, entire Lakshadweep, some parts of Tamil Nadu and some more parts of southwest, central and northeast Bay of Bengal.

The monsoon marks the beginning of the rainy season as it advances northward.

India is set to get a normal monsoon in 2018, with average rainfall likely to be around 97 per cent -- essential for its economy.
New Delhi, May 29 : Full-service carrier Vistara on Tuesday said it has created RADA, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered robot that can assist customers, address their queries and entertain them.

During the initial stage, RADA will be placed at Terminal 3 of Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi from July 5 and will assist customers using the lounge before they board their flights, Vistara said in a statement.

"With RADA, we aim to change the way people interact and fly with an airline," said Vistara CEO Leslie Thng.

RADA will be further developed over a period of time in terms of functionality and features for future use cases, after gauging customer feedback, the company said.

At present, the robot can scan boarding passes and further provide information on the terminal, departure gates, weather conditions of destination city, real time flight status as well as information about Vistara's products and services.

It can greet customers and interact with them using basic hand movements, and is capable of moving around in the lounge on predefined pathways.

Additionally, it can engage with kids and adults alike by playing games and other multimedia content such as songs and videos, Vistara said.

"We will be developing 'RADA' based on customer feedback and equipping it with the most effective features in the time to come. Our steadfast focus remains to be on delighting customers across all touchpoints, and we're confident that 'RADA' will help us take the 'new feeling' to the next level," Thng said.

The robot is built on a chassis of four wheels, enabling it to rotate 360 degrees, and it has three in-built cameras for cognitive interaction.

Combining these components with an effective voice technology, Vistara said it developed the robot to bring out an innovative solution to assist customers.

TATA SIA Airlines Limited, known by the brand name Vistara, is a joint venture between Tata Sons Limited and Singapore Airlines Limited (SIA) with Tata Sons holding the majority stake of 51 per cent in the company.
Ranchi, May 29 : Maoist guerrillas early on Tuesday shot dead an employee of a road construction company in Jharkhand's Latehar district, police said.

The banned militants raided the company's camp office in Keeta village. The victim was identified as Sanjay Sao.

The police team reached the spot and sent the body for an autopsy. The denial of 'levy' is said to be the reason behind the killing.
Paris, May 29 : Rafael Nadal was one set away from victory before rain interrupted his match against Italy's Simone Bolelli in the men's singles first round of the French Open.

The same day witnessed last year's runner-up Stan Wawrinka bow out through full sets, reports Xinhua news agency.

Ten-time winner Nadal saw a change of his first opponent at Roland Garros this year, as lucky loser Bolelli replaced injured Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine in the main draw on Monday.

Bolelli kept himself within touch from Nadal through his powerful backhand, as he held serves for a 4-4 tie after the eighth game, but the "King of Clay" broke Bolelli's service in the 10th game to set the opening set 6-4.

Bolelli heated up quicker after the interval and finished his break in the first game, before extending his lead to 3-1. Nadal, in quest for his 11th title at Roland Garros, then won five games in a row to move on.

After Bolelli took away the first three games of the third set, the downpours delayed the duel to Tuesday.

Maria Sharapova, who made her return to Roland Garros after two years, also needs to play her first round against Richel Hogenkamp of the Netherlands one day later than schedule.

Wawrinka, who lost to Nadal in last year's final, showed little positive sign of coming back from his knee injury, as he lost to Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (5), 6-3.

However, the Swiss shrugged off any connection between the tough loss and his knee plague.

Novak Djokovic swept Grand Slam titles two years ago in Paris, while competing in this year's tournament as No. 20 seed, his lowest Grand Slam seeding since the 2006 U.S. Open after an elbow injury forced him to be sidelined from many tournaments last year.

The Serbian saw off Brazil's Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, joining seeded players Dominic Thiem, Diego Schwartzman and Sam Querrey in the second round.

"It has been difficult to face the most challenging injury that I have ever had," recalled Djokovic.

"It's been a long 12 months behind me, but I'm starting to play better. In the past couple of weeks, I feel like playing pain free, not thinking about the elbow," he added.

Second-seeded Caroline Wozniacki withstood challenge from Danielle Collins of the United States to move past the women's singles first round 7-6 (2), 6-1.

Women's prominent names Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova also marched on, while former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka fell short at 7-5, 7-5 against Katerina Siniakova.

China's Zhang Shuai, Peng Shuai and Duan Yingying will kick off their campaign at the 2018 French Open on Tuesday.
Kathmandu, May 29 : Nepali President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Tuesday granted amnesty to 816 prisoners, a presidential spokesman said here.

Chhabindra Parajuli, the spokesman at the President's Office, said that the 816 inmates were granted amnesty on the occasion of the 11th Republic Day in line with the Article 276 of the constitution, reports Xinhua news agency.

On Monday, a cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli had recommended the President grant amnesty to the prisoners.
Washington, May 29 : Any diplomatic agreement in which North Korea agrees to give up its nuclear weapons could take as long as 10 years to implement, according to a new analysis by US experts.

The assessment, released late Monday by the experts at Stanford University, comes as the White House is trying to verify how committed North Korea is to denuclearisation and how it could be achieved, ahead of a potential summit between the two countries' leaders, CNN reported.

Siegfried Hecker, a nuclear scientist who has previously travelled to North Korea to inspect its nuclear site, co-authored the assessment with Robert Carlin, a Korea analyst who spent years at the CIA and State Department, and Elliot Serbin, Hecker's research assistant.

They identified 22 specific programmes or activities, such as the country's nuclear weapons stockpile, its missile arsenal or its nuclear reprocessing facilities, that US negotiators need to address with North Korea.

Halting or suspending many of these will likely take less than a year, the authors estimate, but eliminating or setting limits on them will take six to 10 years.

Last week, President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled his planned Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, reports CNN.

But after a flurry of diplomatic activity, Trump has hinted that the talks may be back on track. American officials are in Singapore and South Korea to prepare for the summit's potential revival.
Manila, May 29 : The Philippines has warned China that it will go to war if Beijing crosses a red line by unilaterally mining the natural resources of the South China Sea, the country's Foreign Minister said.

In a speech on Monday, Foreign Minister Alan Peter Cayetano defended the Philippines government from allegations that they were taking a soft policy on Chinese militarization of the South China Sea.

"President (Rodrigo Duterte) has already said that. If anyone gets the natural resources in the Western Philippines Sea, South China Sea, he will go to war," Cayetano said.

Tensions in the hotly disputed region have risen amid reports of the Chinese military landing bombers on their artificial islands for the first time.

Under Duterte, who took office in 2016, the Philippines toned down its rhetoric towards China on the dispute. Cayetano said his department was repeatedly told to "file a protest" over Beijing's actions in the South China Sea, CNN reported.

"We are taking all diplomatic actions at the right time," he said, adding that "China had been told of the red lines".

But he said it was unfair to single out China for its advanced militarization in the South China Sea. "If there is more than one country militarizing, and it's not only the islands, if huge navies are sailing through the area, is that not militarization?" he said. "So we don't even have a definition of militarization."

Cayetano's speech came as the US Navy sailed two warships within 12 nautical miles of China's artificial islands in the Paracels, as part of their freedom of navigation exercises in the contested waters.

Manila is pursuing a joint exploration agreement with Beijing for oil and natural gas reserves in their claimed territory in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims a huge swathe of territory across the South China Sea, known as the "nine-dash line", from its southern Hainan province all the way down to the waters north of Malaysia.

To reinforce its claims to the territory, the Chinese government has built a series of artificial islands in the Paracel and Spratly Island chains, with radar facilities and airstrips.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly stated that the territory in the South China Sea falls under its jurisdiction. But its position overlaps competing territorial claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan and others.

An international tribunal ruled in 2016, in a case brought by the Philippines, that most of Beijing's stated claims in the South China Sea were illegal under international maritime law.
Lucknow, May 29 : An Additional Superintendent of Uttar Pradesh Police's Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) shot and killed himself inside his office on Tuesday afternoon, police said.

Rajesh Sahini of the Provincial Police Service (PPS) posted at the ATS Headquarters in the posh Gomtinagar area here, shot himself in the head, said an officer.

Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Law and Order, Anand Kumar confirmed the incident to IANS and said the entire department was shocked by his action. "He was one of our finest...its a great loss."

Kumar, however, said the department was still not sure what exactly triggered such an extreme step. No suicide note has been recovered so far.

Sahini was instrumental in the arrest of a suspected Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) operative of Pakistan's intelligence agency from Uttarakhand only last week.

He asked his driver to bring his service revolver. Minutes later he shot himself, an officer at the Headquarters said.

The police has seized the revolver used in the suicide and launched a probe.

Sahini was a 1992 batch PPS officer and had been behind many successful operations of the state police.

Born in 1969 in Patna, Sahini had "zero error monitoring and professionalism", a senior officer said.
Washington, May 29 : An international team of scientists has created a toaster oven-sized chemistry laboratory for a rover that will drill beneath the Martian surface looking for signs of past or present life.

The lab, called the Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer or MOMA, is a key instrument on the ExoMars Rover which is scheduled to launch to Mars in July, 2020 from the Baikonur spaceport in Kazakhstan, NASA said in a statement.

ExoMars Rover is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Russian space agency Roscosmos, with a significant contribution to MOMA from NASA.

"The ExoMars Rover's two-meter deep drill will provide MOMA with unique samples that may contain complex organic compounds preserved from an ancient era, when life might have gotten started on Mars," said MOMA Project Scientist Will Brinckerhoff of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Although the surface of Mars is inhospitable to known forms of life today, there is evidence that in the distant past, the Martian climate allowed the presence of liquid water -- an essential ingredient for life -- at the surface.

This evidence includes features that resemble dry riverbeds and mineral deposits that only form in the presence of liquid water.

NASA has sent rovers to Mars - such as the Opportunity and Curiosity - that have found additional signs of past habitable environments.

The ExoMars rover will be the first to explore deep beneath the surface, with a drill capable of taking samples from as deep as two metres (over six feet).

The MOMA instrument will be capable of detecting a wide variety of organic molecules.

Organic compounds are commonly associated with life, although they can be created by non-biological processes as well. They contain carbon and hydrogen, and can include oxygen, nitrogen, and other elements.

To find these molecules on Mars, the MOMA team had to take instruments that would normally occupy a couple of workbenches in a chemistry lab and shrink them down to roughly the size of a toaster oven so they would be practical to install on a rover.

While the instrument is complex, MOMA is built around a single, very small mass spectrometer that separates charged atoms and molecules by mass.

The basic process for finding Martian organic compounds can be boiled down to two steps -- separate organic molecules from the Martian rocks and sediments and give them an electric charge so they can be detected and identified by the mass spectrometer, NASA said.
Lucknow, May 29 : Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said a total of 619 terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir had been killed in gun battles with security forces as he highlighted the all-round improvement in internal and external security under the Narendra Modi government.

He also clarified that the operations against militants had not been stopped during the holy month of Ramadan but had just been suspended. "It is not ceasefire but a temporary suspension of operations," he said, adding that the army is free to respond to any terrorist attack.

Addressing media persons here, the senior BJP leader said the number of terrorists killed in the previous UPA-II government was 471.

"There has been no compromise on the unity and integrity of the nation and we are proactively pursuing operations against the terrorist groups and subversive elements," Singh added, but did not respond to a query on how many security personnel were killed in this period.

He however said that respecting the supreme sacrifice of the security personnel in the line of duty for the nation, the Union Government had scaled uo the ex-gratia sum from Rs 50 lakh to Rs one crore for their families.

Rajnath Singh also said that incursions had also decreased during the four years of the Modi government and it had come down by 85 per cent in the northeast.

Compared to a high of 2,418 Maoist incidents under the UPA regime, only 1,481 incidents have taken place in the NDA rule, he said. "In 2013, Maoists were active in 76 districts but there area of influence and operations has shrunk to 58 districts in the last four years," he added.

He also said that to secure the country's boundaries, a new border security system was being started under which LED lights would be installed along with new technique radars on the borders.
New Delhi, May 29 : The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday said that it has seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition from Jharkhand's Bokaro in connection with its ongoing probe into seizure of over 1,100 Aadhaar cards and guns from Maoists after an gunfight in March.

The case was registered by the Jharkhand Police on March 6 in Dumri police station of Giridih district.

AN NIA official said its team has recovered 10 .303 rifles, a 9mm carbine, a 9mm Browning pistol, one DBBL, two SBBL, Rs three lakh in cash, a large quantity of ammunition, levy receipts and other incriminating materials, from Lugu Pahar area of Bokaro, following a a tip off about the arms dump by the Maoist Mahavir Manjhi alias Charlees during interrogation.

"Upon receipt of the information, the NIA team, with the assistance of Jharkhand Police and CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) recovered the above-mentioned weapons and other materials under section 27 of the Indian Evidence Act," the NIA official said.

Earlier, the Jharkhand Police had arrested 15 armed Maoist cadres including functionaries of CPI-Maoist from Dumri in Giridih and recovered 12 other weapons including AK-47, Insas, SLR and .303 rifles from them.

It said 60 ATM (SBI) cards, 199 letters of thanks issued by the Allahabad Bank for opening accounts and 1,125 Aadhaar cards were also recovered during the operation.
Kolkata, May 29 : West Bengal Police on Tuesday seized a huge cache of explosives, including gelatine sticks and detonators, from a house in the state's Birbhum district and arrested one person in this connection, a senior officer said.

"We recovered more than 50,000 detonators and 11,000 pieces of gelatine sticks from a house in Birbhum's Nalhati on Tuesday morning. It is one of the biggest explosives seizures in the state in recent times," Birbhum Superintendent of police Sudhir Kumar Neelkantha told IANS.

Acting on a tip-off, the police raided a house in Nalhati's Bahadurpur village and seized the explosives and arrested the owner of the house, Angur Sheikh.

However, Kumar said, it needed to be investigated whether the explosives were brought to aid illegal mining activities in the locality or for some other reason.
Mumbai, May 29 : Queen Maxima of The Netherlands will meet Mumbai's famed Dabbawalas - tiffin-box carriers at Andheri station here on Wednesday, an association spokesman said on Tuesday.

According to Mumbai Dabbawalas Association spokesperson Subhash Talekar, Queen Maxima will visit the Dabbawalas at their duty switch point near Andheri railway station on Wednesday afternoon.

"We shall welcome her in a traditional Maharashtrian style. On behalf of all the Dabbawalas, we shall gift her with a 'dabba', our well-known trademark, as a souvenir," he said.

Dabbawalas' leaders like Shantaram Karvande and Ulhas Muke among others shall be present to greet Queen Maxima, he added.

According to Talekar said that some Dabbawalas have suggested to present the visiting dignitary with a 'dabba' full of special Marathi cuisine.

"However, the traditional Marathi food that we prepare is very rich, spicy, and oily, which probably the Queen may not relish," he said.

The Dabbawalas plan to show her their working in the suburban local trains, how the tiffin-boxes are sent without error to over a lakh customers since over a century in summer, winter or monsoons.

The Argentina-born Queen Maxima, 47, arrived in India on Monday in her capacity as the UN Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development.

She has already met President Ram Nath Kovind and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, besides other top officials in the capital before her Mumbai visit.
Brussels, May 29 : A man shot dead two police officers and a civilian before being gunned down by security officials in the Belgian city of LiAge on Tuesday.

Prosecutor Philippe Dulieu said the assailant followed and attacked police officers with a knife, before taking a gun from them and opening fire. He then got into a vehicle parked nearby and killed a 22-year-old passenger, the BBC reported.

The gunman then fled to the nearby Waha secondary school and took a woman hostage, who was rescued unharmed. Police killed the assailant in a shoot-out that left two other officers injured, officials said.

Regional Governor HervA Jamar said no students at the school were injured during the attack.

The man's motive was not clear but the incident was being treated as terrorism. Police sources quoted in the local media said the man was heard shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest" in Arabic).

Belgian broadcaster RTBF said the gunman had only been released from prison on Monday. It said that he may have been radicalised while in jail.

Footage on the social media showed people running to safety as several gunshots rang out.

Belgium remains on alert after attacks in 2016 claimed by the Islamic State terrorist group left 32 people dead.

Later that year a man attacked two police officers with machetes while shouting "Allahu Akbar" before being shot dead.
New Delhi, May 29 : The Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed a Madhya Pradesh High Court order sentencing to death two men convicted of kidnapping, gang-raping and murdering an 11-year-old girl.

A vacation bench of Justice L. Nagaswara Rao and Justice Mohan M. Shantanagoudar sought the state government's response on the plea by the accused challenging the high court order upholding their conviction and death sentence by a trial court.

The Madhya Pradesh High Court by its May 9 judgment said: "The only punishment which the accused persons deserve for having committed the reprehensible and gruesome murder of innocent child to satisfy their lust is nothing but death."

On April 15, 2017, the accused -- Baghwani and Satish -- kidnapped the girl and throttled her to death after raping her.

The high court noted that a helpless child of 11 years, who had gone to keep her belongings in the house of Satish, was kidnapped and raped. She was also subjected to carnal intercourse and made to suffer untold pain and agony.

The accused, it said, did not stop there but strangulated her and threw her half naked body near a road, in total disregard of decency and respect for a dead body.

The court said the accused showed "lack of any remorse", as after committing the crime they acted "normal" and asked for liquor.

Recalling the sequence of crime, the court had said: "In our considered view, the capital punishment to the accused persons is the only proper punishment and we see no reason to take a different view than the one taken by the trial court."

Observing its anguish over the increasing incidents of rapes of minors, it said: "We are immensely appalled by the alarming increase in the recent incidents of child rapes and also being aware of the rising anger of society over rape of minor across the country, therefore, consider death sentence as a measure of social necessity and also a means of deterring other potential offenders."
New Delhi, May 29 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday directed media organisations to remove news items disclosing the identity of an eight-year-old girl who was raped and murdered in Jammu and Kashmir's Kathua district.

The direction by a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankar came after it was told that despite the court's order to not identify the girl, some of the news organisations are still naming the child in news items.

The court sought the names of such media organisations.

Observing that notice has not been served to one of the newspapers till now, the court said it was shocking that a newspaper is not aware of pending litigation despite the wide publicity of the news related to the matter.

The court noted that none from that media organisation had turned up for appearance before it and listed the matter for July 16 for further hearing.

It had observed that several internet platforms and social networking sites are extensively displaying the photographs and the name of the victim.

The court last month directed 12 media organisations to pay Rs 10 lakh each as compensation for disclosing the identity of the girl, saying that there were long term repercussions for the victim's family, especially for the women members, due to such kind of reporting.

The court said they had violated the law and could be punished under Section 228-A of the Indian Penal Code.

Under Section 23 (Procedure for media) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, any person who discloses the identity of a child victim could be sentenced to a minimum six months' imprisonment, it said.

The minor in Kathua was held captive inside a temple and sedated before being repeatedly raped and murdered.
Panaji, May 29 : The Congress's Goa unit on Tuesday said that it will petition President Ram Nath Kovind to appoint a "full-fledged Chief Minister" in the absence of Manohar Parrikar, who is in the US for treatment of pancreatic cancer.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting of the Congress legislative party, state Congress President Girish Chodankar said that law and order and the state administration had come to a standstill in the absence of a fully functional Chief Minister.

He said Parrikar had completed a "century" of days he has been absent from Goa.

"We have repeatedly petitioned the government and the Governor that Goa needs a functioning Chief Minister. There has been no response. We have no option now but to meet the President of India and brief him about the unconstitutionality of the Goa government without the CM," Chodankar told reporters here.

"Parrikar has completed a century as far as his absenteeism is concerned. And now the ruling BJP has the audacity to tell us that a state is functioning well without the Chief Minister. Even when a regular government officer goes on leave, he delegates his charge to another officer. Parrikar should have delegated responsibility before leaving for treatment," the Congress leader said.

Before leaving for the US, Parrikar appointed a Cabinet Advisory Committee comprising of three ministers, which the Congress claimed is "unconstitutional".
Ranchi, May 29 : Two armed Maoist guerrillas were arrested in Jharkhand's Simdega district on Tuesday, police said.

According to police, the members of the banned People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) were arrested during a search operation, undertaken on information that the Maoists were going to hand over a looted bike and cash to the PLFI area commander.

Police launched search operation at Jeraikela of Simdega and caught the duo, who were on a motorbike, despite their attempt to escape. One of the arrested insurgents was identified as Ghurghur Singh, resident of Odisha's Sundargarh district.

Police seized one home-ade pistol, two mobile phones, live cartridges and the looted bike.
Chennai, May 29 : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K.Palaniswami on Tuesday said the order issued by the state government shutting down the Sterlite Copper plant is legally valid and blamed the DMK for the violence in Thuthookudi on May 22.

Speaking in the assembly, he said the Government Order closing down the Sterlite Copper's smelter plant in Thuthookudi is valid as the Central Pollution Control Board has not issued any order contrary to it.

Popularly known as the Sterlite plant, the Sterlite Copper is a 400,000 tpa copper smelter plant owned by Vedanta Ltd.

Palaniswami also said it was the DMK government that gave the nod for expansion of smelter capacity.

Citing the action taken by the government before the May 22 police firing on the anti-Sterlite protestors, he said the government had held 14 rounds of talks with the members of the movement.

Palaniswami said a crowd numbering around 20,000 people tried to march to Thuthookudi collectorate and police resorted to baton charge on May 22.

He said DMK leader Geetha Jeevan defying the prohibitory orders staged an agitation when the violence broke as the protestors were instigated by some political parties and anti-social elements.

Thirteen people were killed in the police firing on anti-Sterlite Copper protestors as they turned violent and indulged in arson.

For more than two decades, the people of Thuthookudi have been protesting against the copper smelter plant.

Following the death of 13 persons in the police firing, the Tamil Nadu government orderd closure of the smelter plant.

Not satisfied with the closure order, major opposition party DMK decided to boycott the state assembly sessions until the Tamil Nadu cabinet takes a policy decision to shut down the Sterlite Copper smelter plant.

In a statement issued by the party, Whip R. Chakrapani said the Palaniswami government issued an order closing down the copper smelter plant without convening a cabinet meeting and taking a policy decision.

Contending this would enable the company to seek relief from the courts, he alleged that the Chief Minister was not sincere about shutting down the plant.

The DMK lawmakers on Tuesday attended the Assembly wearing black shirts to condemn the May 22 police firing.
Guwahati, May 29 : Thousands of persons participated in a mass hunger strike here on Tuesday to protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016.

The protest at the Assam Engineering College ground in Chandmari area was led by the All Assam Students Union and supported by at least 28 other organisations, including the Asom Gana Parishad, a partner of the BJP-led government in Assam, and the Congress.

"Assam is not a dumping ground. We have registered our protests against the bill several times. We will not accept it at any cost," AASU Adviser Samujjal Bhattacharyya said while addressing the gathering at the protest site.

Protests have become the order of the day in Assam since a Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2016 visited the state this month.

"The infiltration from Bangladesh has impacted the demographics in Assam. The central and Assam governments must respect the Assam Accord, which clearly said that the cut-off date for identification and deportation of Bangladeshis is the midnight of March 24, 1971," Bhattacharyya said and warned of a massive agitation in case the Centre and state went ahead with the passage and implementation of the bill.
Dubai, May 29 : Citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be able to travel to Canada without procuring a visa from June.

The announcement came during a meeting between UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Canada's Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Ahmed Hussen in the Canadian capital Ottawa on Monday, the news agency reported on Tuesday.

Abdullah bin Zayed said the move affirmed the "distinguished ties" between the UAE and Canada.

According to the decision taken by the Canadian government, UAE citizens will no longer need a visa from June 5 to travel to Canada for short stays up to six months.

However, UAE citizens will still need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) to fly to, or transit through a Canadian airport. The eTA allows Canadian officials to screen travellers for admissibility before they board their flight to Canada.

Around 40,000 Canadians live and work in the UAE, with some 150 Canadian companies operating in the country. On Monday, the UAE said its citizens will be allowed to travel visa-free to Guyana, located on the northeast coast of South America.
New Delhi/Bengaluru, May 29 : AirAsia India (AAIL) on Tuesday refuted any "wrong-doing" after the CBI registered a case against AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes for allegedly trying to circumvent rules to get an international flying license for the airline.

According to the airline, it is co-operating with all regulators and agencies to present the correct facts.

"In November, 2016 AAIL had initiated criminal charges against its ex-CEO and had also commenced civil proceedings in Bangalore for such irregularities," Air Asia India's Director Shuva Mandal was quoted as saying in a statement.

"We hope to bring early resolution to all such issues."

The airline's defence comes after the CBI registered a case against the Malaysian billionaire.

The probe agency said that searches were held in multiple locations in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru in connection to the case.

"A case has been registered against Fernandes and some other unidentified persons linked to the firm (AirAsia India)," Gaur said.

Gaur said Fernandes had lobbied and was trying to violate rule 5/20 that requires an airline to have a minimum of five years of flying and 20 aircraft to apply for international licenses.

Interestingly, in 2016, the 5/20 norm was amended. Currently, a domestic airline requires 20 aircraft to apply for international flight rights.

BJP's Rajya Sabha member and former Union Minister Subramanian Swamy tweeted: "Finally the CBI is presently raiding Air Asia offices including of the CEO's. It is arising from my PIL in Delhi HC."

Presently, the Delhi High Court is hearing a case filed by Swamy against the grant of a flying license of AirAsia India.

The firm -- AirAsia (India) -- is a joint venture between Tata Sons and AirAsia Berhad, with AirAsia Investment.

The budget carrier commenced operations on June 12, 2014 and currently flies to 20 destinations across India with a fleet of 18 A320 aircraft.
Paris, May 29 : Leading members of rival Libyan factions and the international community on Tuesday signed an accord in Paris paving the way for legislative and presidential elections to be held in the war-torn North African nation by the end of the year.

French President Emmanuel Macron has been a leading figure in the global efforts to pull Libya back from the brink of being a "failed state" and had petitioned internationally-recognized Fayez Seraj, who controls the capital, and Khalifa Haftar, who holds power to the east to come to an agreement.

The parties agreed to a ballot on December 10, 2018, Efe news reported.

Macron hosted the rival leaders at the Elysee presidential palace in Paris with top officials from the EU, including foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and representatives from the African Union and the Arab League.

The UN would be responsible for aiding the country, which has been consumed by civil war since the toppling of dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, in its bid to hold free and fair elections.
New Delhi, May 29 : Indian Ambassador to Russia Pankaj Saran was on Tuesday appointed the deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) for a period of two years.

A 1982 batch IFS, Saran before being appointed as Ambassador to Russia in January last year was the Indian High Commissioner to Bangladesh from March 2012 to December 2015.

He was joint secretary in the PMO from 2007 to 2012.
New Delhi, May 29 : The RSS invite to former President Pranab Mukherjee for an event at its Nagpur headquarters sparked off a controversy, as the Congress and left leaders expressed unhappiness over his acceptance while the BJP and RSS saw nothing wrong in it.

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) said in a statement that Mukherjee's acceptance of the invite for the June 7 function was not "surprising".

Its leader Narender Kumar said that Mukherjee will be the chief guest at the concluding function of "Tritiya Varsh Varg" or third-year course and address the 'swayamsevaks'. RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat will be the main speaker.

"Those who know the sangh and understand it, it is not surprising for them or nothing new. It is normal for them because the RSS has been inviting prominent persons and those engaged in social service. This time, the RSS invited Dr Pranab Mukherjee and it is his greatness to have accepted the invitation," an RSS statement said.

The organisation said that the 25-day "Tritiya Varsh Varg" is held every year at Nagpur in which members from all over the country take part for training.

The statement said that even Mahatma Gandhi visited the RSS camp at Wardha and later stated that he was impressed by the "strict discipline, simplicity and lack of discrimination" in the organisation.

Former President Zakir Husain, socialist leader Jayaprakash Narayan and General (later Field Marshal) K. M. Carriappa were other personalities who attended RSS events.

Union Minister and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari said that there should be an exchange of views and political untouchability was outdated.

"We should meet each other, talk to each other, respect views. The notion of political untouchability is outdated. Those who practice this say others are communal but they are themselves communal," Gadkari said.

Congress Spokesperson Tom Vadakkan did not comment on Mukherjee's acceptance of the RSS invite.

"At this point, I have no comments to offer. Let the event take place first, only after that it will be appropriate to give comments. If you know everything about the history and the specialisation of the RSS and BJP, then I would not like to comment any more on that," he said.

But party leader and former MP Sandeep Dikshit asked if Mukherjee had changed his views on the RSS or the organisation had accepted the views of the former President.

Dikshit said that Mukherjee, who had served the Congress for decades before being appointed President in 2012, had told them that "there is no organisation as cheap, dirty, crafty, untruthful and unpatriotic as the RSS".

He said Mukherjee had said that the RSS should not exist in the country even for a minute.

"Such a person who considers the RSS poisonous, dirty, even worse than snake... such a person is being called by the RSS. On what issue are they calling. Has Pranab Mukherjee changed his views or there is no self-respect left in the RSS," Dikshit said.

Communist Party of India leader D. Raja said that it was for Mukherjee to decide on the invite.

"He is not a child. He is a former President. He was one of the top leaders of the Congress. He has been holding many important positions in the government. He is one of the elderly statesmen in the country today. Whether he has accepted, whether he will go I don't know. It is for him to decide."

"If you ask me, I will say I will not go. Why should I go? I know the RSS agenda. If I were in his place, I will not go," he said.

Rakesh Sinha, who teaches at Delhi University and is Honorary Director of the India Policy Foundation, said Mukherjee's acceptance of the invitation was a message to the nation that on vital issues there should be dialogue and adversaries are not enemies.

"Moreover, the question raised on RSS Hindutva is philosophy of Hinduism by contemporary political forces is being answered by Mukherjee's acceptance of invitation," he said.

Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Manoj Jha said Mukherjee will tell the RSS to "have a delete button in their divisive politics".

"I am sure Pranab Mukherjee ji will tell them what liberal India is," he said.

However, senior party leader Tejashwi Yadav said it was Mukherjee's decision and he would not like to comment.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy said that the Congress leaders should follow in the footsteps of Mukherjee.

"I think more senior Congressmen should do this because we need a national outlook and that can be done only when outside the political spectrum... they should assemble and educate the people on the virtues of nationalism," he said.

Samajwadi Party Spokesperson Ghanshayam Tewari said too much politics should not be read into the issue.

"It only goes on to prove that once you are President of India, any organisation could seek your guidance," he said.
New Delhi, May 29 : Delhi Lt. Governor Anil Baijal on Tuesday asked the Delhi Transport Department to take up the matter of using CNG buses with the neighbouring states.

His suggestion came as he chaired a meeting at the Raj Niwas here convened by the Environment Pollution Control Authority (EPCA) to discuss and review the issues of traffic management and environmental pollution in and around ISBT Anand Vihar where three terminals - bus, metro and railways - converge.

During the meeting, also attended by Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot, Environment Minister Imran Hussain and representatives from Railway and Metro, he directed the Transport Commissioner to take up the matter regarding the use of CNG buses with the neighbouring states.

Baijal also fixed the deadline of September 30 to complete the various ongoing works to control air pollution in the area.

He also directed the departments to take stringent actions against the violators.
Jerusalem, May 29 : Israel launched a massive airstrike on the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, hitting 35 targets and a cross-border tunnel, the latest in a back-and-forth exchange of fire after Palestinians launched mortars from Gaza into Israel.

The Israeli military in a statement said the airstrike was in response to the barrage of 28 mortar shells that Gaza militants fired at Israel on Tuesday morning. The attack from Gaza caused no major damage except for a man who was slightly injured in the hand, it said.

The airstrike was carried out by Israeli fighter jets and aircraft which struck over 35 targets at seven terrorist sites, according to the statement.

It further said that the Israeli Defence Forces targeted six military compounds, munition storage warehouses, naval targets and terrorist headquarters and the Army also hit "an offensive terror tunnel" belonging to Hamas in the area of the Kerem Shalom crossing near Rafah.

The tunnel started within the Gaza Strip, crossed into Egypt's Sinai Desert before stretching into Israeli territory, it added.

But media reports from Gaza said what was hit by Israel was in fact "a smuggling tunnel" used to transfer goods to the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Also, Gaza's Ministry of Education reported that a school was badly damaged by Israeli airstrikes in the central Gaza Strip, where high school students were taking final exams, but with no injuries.

The latest escalation began on Sunday after an Israeli tank killed three Palestinian members of the Islamic Jihad militant group, in response to an explosive device placed on the Gaza-Israel boundary fence.

Tensions have increased along the Gaza-Israel boundary since the start of the Great March of Return protests on March 30. Since then, some 121 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli gunfire, the vast majority during demonstrations along the boundary fence.
Kathmandu, Nepal: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has expressed its serious concerns over the controversial remarks made by External Affairs Minister of India Sushma Swaraj.





Issuing a press statement on Tuesday, the MoFA has said the reference made about the public participation at the Civic Felicitation program held in honor of the Indian Prime Minister of India in Janakpur on May 11, 2018 was unfortunate.





The MoFA has issued the statement just a day after Swaraj publicly admitted her mistake and apologized for the same, thanks to the widespread criticism, though the government had not spoken even a single word promptly.





The Main opposition party Nepali Congress had also criticized the statements. Nepali Congress youth leader and member of the parliament Gagan Kumar Thapa had twitted a message criticizing the External Affairs Minister of India Swaraj for the comments.





Regrettable that India's External Affairs Minister @SushmaSwaraj described Janakpur's population that @narendramodi greeted as Indians. One wonders what the confusion was, or if this was casual undermining of Nepal's sovereignty, Thapa has states in his tweet message.





While addressing a press conference on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the NDA government, Swaraj had said that no prime minister of India before Modi had addressed lakhs of Indians in Nepal's Janakpur recently.
New Delhi, May 29 : Swaraj India leader Yogendra Yadav on Tuesday warned that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will face the anger of the farmers in the 2019 general elections.

He made the remarks at a meeting arranged by the All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee which marked June 5 as 'Mandsaur Shaheed Kisan Smriti Diwas' as six farmers were killed in the police firing in Madhya Pradesh's Mandsaur in 2017.

Criticising the inaction of the Madhya Pradesh government, he said that six farmers and a child named Abhishek were killed by police, but "to this day no concrete action was taken against the police officers responsible for this heinous murder".

Last year farmers demanding the better price for the crops triggered the widespread protest in Mandsaur, in which six people killed in police firing. Initially the Madhya Pradesh government denied police firing but finally Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan confirmed it The committee members demanded the immediate arrest of the of police personnel responsible for the killing of the six farmers.

The committee also met President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday and urged him to immediately pass the two bills prepared by the farmers of the country and asked him to arrange a parliament session to resolve the agrarian crisis.

Briefing the media about the interaction with the President, AIKS leaders said 21 political parties have signed their support for the bills and expressed confidence in passing both the bills.

Describing the four years regime of the prime minister as anti-farmer, V.M. Singh, the national President of Rashtriya Kisan Mazdoor Sangathan said: "Modi should immediately waive the crop loans of the farmers unconditionally in one go."

Expressing disappointment at the rising fuel prices, he said that this has terribly hit the farmers, most of whom use diesel generators as there is absence of electricity in most of the villages.
Kolkata, May 29 : St. Xavier's College of Kolkata has decided to open up its central research facility for researchers and faculty of other institutions and start a faculty development programme for teachers of other colleges and universities, a top official said here on Tuesday.

The college will also open a counselling cell for parents, which will be an extension of similar facilities now provided to students who require it regularly, college principal Reverend Father Dominic Savio told mediapersons.

The college is also coming up with an E-attendance system, own faculty development programme and other expansions related to teaching, learning, research and consultancy, said Savio.

"Such academic expansion will create new goals and drive the college in new directions and will attract talents that otherwise tend to migrate out of state," he said.

Teachers will be provided Tabs through which they will manage attendance, communicate with students and share content.

"Our college is introducing a mobile application for attendance management of students in a secure, paperless environment by making use of the e-resources of the college," he said.

On the faculty development programme, he said: "This will be a collaboration between the college and the St. Xavier's University. A teacher-learning research centre is also being planned."

As per the recommendations of the University Grants Commission, the college has decided to extend the choice-based credit system (CBCS) to the Science and Arts Department from the current academic year.

The system was introduced in the Commerce and Business Administration Department last year.

"Advantage of CBCS is that if a student wants to shift to St. Xavier's Mumbai or somewhere else, he can easily do it from the next semester," he added.

The college will start post-graduate courses in English, Political Science or International Education in its old campus on the city's Park Street and Bengali in the new facility at Raghavpur in South 24 Parganas district where the medium of instruction is Bengali.

Over the next two years, the college will also have Ph.D programmes in almost all subjects.

"The fees in the new campus in the rural area is less but there is no compromise in teaching, learning and the facilities," the principal said.

The college now spends around Rs 70 lakh each year on scholarships for needy students.

The sole purpose of building the rural campus is to attract students from the interiors of West Bengal.

"We believe in educating people, especially the first generation learners, those who are coming to study from a family for the first time," he said.

The college alumni association plans to start a new chapter in South Africa, which would take its number of international chapters to ten. "The purpose of having so many chapters is to spread the Xaverian spirit," he said.

Besides, there were also plans to set up a community radio in collaboration with the alumni association.
New Delhi, May 29 : A new shelter home for widows, with capacity for 1,000 people, has been constructed in Uttar Pradesh's Vrindavan by the Union Women and Child Development Ministry, an official statement said on Tuesday.

The ministry signed an MoU on Tuesday with Uttar Pradesh's Women and Child Development Department, which has been assigned to look after the functioning of the shelter home.

"The MoU shall be in force for a period of two years which may be renewed for further period on satisfactory running of the home," said the statement.

According to the MoU, the state will be responsible for activities including setting up mechanism for identifying beneficiaries, providing residential care to the widows, and deploying staff as per norms with prescribed qualification and experience.

The MoU further stated that senior officials of the state will visit and check the staff periodically to monitor their performance.
New Delhi, May 29 : Expressing dissatisfaction over the Central government's execution of Chardham all-weather highway project in Uttarakhand, the National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Tuesday asked the authorities to stop dumping muck in the river.

The Tribunal also noted that the project's execution was being done without having proper permission with regard to forest land and environment clearance.

The 900-km-long highway, which will reach Hindu pilgrimages of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri in Uttarakhand, is being built through 53 separate projects rather than a single project. According to the petitioners, the project had been broken down to avoid taking clearances.

The NGT also sought a detailed list of all 480 sites designated for dumping muck as part of project and directed the Central government to submit clearances obtained to for muck dumping, which also involves forest land.

A bench headed by Acting Chairperson Justice Jawad Rahim and comprising Justice S.P. Wangdi and expert member Nagin Nanda, was hearing an ongoing matter on alleged environmental violations by the Centre in executing the Rs 12,000-crore Chardham highway widening project.

The bench said that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) was still vague on the issues of environmental clearances for certain stretches, slope stabilization and forest clearances it had obtained to fell trees and dump muck in the Himalayan state.

"We do realize that this project is of national importance, but why aren't the permissions and other things in order? We have repeatedly mentioned that we have to comply with the principle of sustainable development," Justice Rahim said.

The bench has directed the government to immediately stop muck dumping and listed the matter for Wednesday for further hearing.
Rome, May 29 : Italy's Foreign Minister Angelino Alfano on Tuesday sharply rebuked European Union Budget Commissioner Guenther Oettinger for allegedly suggesting that negative investor sentiment would deter Italians from voting for populist parties in future.

"Markets have nothing to teach our electorate. Italians know how to vote and a lot can be learned from Italian democracy.

"In mature democracy like ours, the result of a free and fair vote must be respected - whether you like the outcome or not," Alfano said in a statement, adding: "Brussels would do well to avoid declarations that aid those who want to break with Europe".

The grassroots Five-Star Movement and the far-right, eurosceptic League party also blasted Oettinger, who in an interview with Germany's Deustche Welle radio station due to be published later, reportedly states: "The negative development of the markets will lead Italians not to vote much longer for the populists."

Five-Star and the League, which won over half the votes cast in Italy's inconclusive March 4 national election this month unveiled an anti-austerity programme of government which roiled markets at home and abroad and sent jitters through the 28-member bloc. The joint agenda includes billions of euros of tax cuts, extra welfare spending, a reversal of pension reforms and a review of EU treaties.

Although the nascent populist government collapsed last week after Italy's President Sergio Mattarella vetoed its choice of a prominent eurosceptic for Finance Minister, Five Star and the League are expected to score an even bigger victory in a re-vote likely to be held in September.
Chandigarh, May 29 : High drama was witnessed near a police station in Mohali town, adjoining Chandigarh, in Punjab on Tuesday as a number of transgenders carried out a "naked" protest.

Some of the transgenders took off their clothes on the busy road near the Mataur police station on Tuesday evening and stopped cars and other vehicles passing that way.

A few of them then climbed on the bonnets and roof of cars and carried out their protest.

As onlookers were shocked by the naked protest, police, including women police officials, rushed to the spot to remove the transgenders from there.

However, the protesters refused to move and continued for a few minutes.

The transgenders were protesting against an alleged "fake news" published in a daily newspaper that members of their community were way-laying motorists and people on the airport road and extorting money.

The protesters also damaged some of the private cars.

Police did not register a case immediately.
Mumbai, May 29 : Fortis Healthcare's (FHL) Board has decided to initiate a fresh round of bidding after the consortium of Hero Enterprise Investment Office-Burman Family Office gave its consent to reopen the bidding process.

According to a BSE filing made on Tuesday, the Board in its meeting on Tuesday "has decided to initiate a fresh, time-bound process to optimise the company's and shareholders' short and long term interests".

"Further, based on the suitability of the offers evaluated earlier, the Board has decided to invite 3 of the bidders namely Munjal-Burman Consortium, TPG-Manipal Consortium, and IHH Healthcare Berhad to participate in the process, subject to their confirming adherence to the process... no later than 5 p.m. IST on 31st May 2018," the filing said.

As per the filing, other interested parties will be able to submit their Expression of Interest (EOI) till this time.

The development comes a day after the Hero Enterprise Investment Office-Burman Family Office consortium gave its consent "to reopen the bidding process to enable the company to move ahead with the fund-raising transaction".

The offer made by the consortium was selected for the sale of the healthcare major's business on May 10.

On Monday, FHL said that it has received the consortium's consent letter stating: "While we continue to be of the firm view that our offer is the best offer received by the company till date, we believe that this situation may have arisen largely on account of the lack of information available to the stakeholders."

"... and keeping in mind the dilemma of the company, if any, we provide our consent for the company to reopen a bidding process in order to facilitate the company to expeditiously finalise and close its fund-raising so that the company's business does not suffer any further, thus ensuring that the larger interest of the company are served," said Sunil Kant Munjal and Anand C. Burman in a joint letter sent to the company.

Fortis' board had received offers from suitors such as Hero Enterprise Investment Office-Burman Family Office, Fosun Health Holdings, Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad, Manipal Hospital Enterprises and Radiant Life Care for infusion of funds.

However, the company's Board on May 10 decided to recommend the offer of the Munjal-Burman consortium for sale of its business to the shareholders for their approval.

The deal envisaged an infusion of Rs 800 crore via a "Preferential Allotment of Equity Shares at Rs 167 per share or as per SEBI ICDR guidelines whichever is higher...".

It also encapsulates a "Preferential Issue of Warrants of Rs 1,000 crore at Rs 176 per share or as per SEBI ICDR guidelines whichever is higher."

Since then, three of the company's board members resigned and another one was ousted by the shareholders during a recently held Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM).

Following the EGM, new independent directors joined the company's Board.

Besides, the consortium of Manipal Health Enterprises (MHEPL) and private equity (PE) firm TPG made a "modified" new offer which values the company at Rs 9,403 crore at a share price of Rs 180 per share.

In addition, Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Berhad made an "Enhanced Revised Offer" to invest directly into the company at Rs 175 per share cost.
Chandigarh, May 29 : Three cow smugglers were arrested from Haryana's Rewari following a gunfight that left two policemen injured, a police spokesman said here on Tuesday.

"The Haryana Police has arrested three persons in connection with cow smuggling, including a most wanted cow smuggler of Rajasthan from district Rewari. The most wanted criminal, identified as Suba alias Sabudin, a native of village Palla in Mewat, is kingpin of cow smuggling gang. Delhi Police has also announced a reward of Rs 50,000 on his arrest," the spokesman said.

He said that all three accused were arrested following a gunfight in the Sodawas-Padmada area in Rewari.

"Two police personnel - ASI Ranbir and Head Constable Ravi Dutt - also received bullet injuries," the spokesman said.

He said that police had received information that cow smugglers in a Tata 407 canter carrying cows were heading towards Rewari and a team blocked the road. The cow smugglers them changed their route, after firing several rounds at police.

"They again opened fire at the police team after breaking barricades near village Majri, leading bullet injuries to two police personnel. Showing exemplary courage, the police team nabbed all the three accused alongwith Tata 407 vehicle near village Sodawas-Padmada," the spokesman added.
New Delhi, May 29 : The Supreme Court will hear, on Friday, a habeas corpus petition seeking production of former United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) peace negotiator Rebati Phukan, who is missing since April 22.

The vacation bench of Justice L. Nageswara Rao and Justice Mohan M. Shatnanagoudar agreed to hear the habeas corpus petition after it was mentioned on Tuesday for an urgent hearing.

The petition has been moved by Rebati Pukhan's son Kaushik Pukhan who has said that his father left Pune for Guwahati on April 19 after meeting his family but went missing subsequently and has sought direction to the Central, Assam and Meghalaya governments to produce his father.

Seeking the transfer of investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation or any other independent agency, he has also sought direction to Assam Police to produce a status report on its investigation to trace his father.

Kaushik Pukhan has also sought security for himself, his family and journalist Aamir Hazarika who had informed him regarding the whereabouts of Rebati Pukhan in Shillong.

Kaushik Pukhan has said that he has come to know that on April 20, his father attended a secret meeting with Shantanu Thakuria, a retired bureaucrat, and Pranab Pathak, Advocate General, Assam High Court, wherein a proposed memorandum to negotiate with ULFA chief Paresh Baruah was being discussed before being presented before Prime Minister Narendra Modi soon.

The petitioner further said that it has come to his knowledge that on April 22, his father, as per his routine, went for his morning walk, at about 7 a.m., leaving behind his wallet, mobile phones, medicines and a religious chain which the he would wear after his morning walk.

The same morning when the maid reached his rented accommodation at about 7:30 a.m., she found that the house's main door was open, no one was inside and the servant had left after cooking food, says the habeas corpus petition.

Recalling the different peace parleys undertaken by Rebati Pukhan to bring peace in Assam, his son said that it has come his knowledge that his father on his return to Guwahati, made several calls to various unknown numbers, mostly Delhi numbers, but he himself tried to reach those numbers, the calls would not get through.
New Delhi, May 29 : Budget passenger carrier SpiceJet on Tuesday said that it will launch flight operations from Delhi to Kanpur under the air regional connectivity scheme UDAN from July 3.

"Tickets for the RCS seats on this flight will be available at Rs 2,313 (all in)," the company said in a statement.

"With the introduction of the daily direct flight services on the Delhi-Kanpur-Delhi route, passengers from Kanpur can now conveniently travel to a host of other cities both on SpiceJet's domestic as well as international network via multiple onward connections from Delhi."
Kathmandu, Nepal: The Supreme Court (SC), the Apex Court of the country, has upheld the governments decision to grant amnesty to the murder-convict erstwhile Maoist leader Bal Krishna Dhungel.





The SC has issued a verdict on Tuesday denying to issuing any interim order in a writ petition filed against of the government proposal to grant amnesty to murder-convict Maoist leader Dhungel.





Responding to the writ petition filed by senior advocate Dinesh Tripathi seeking the apex court intervention against the government's preparations to pardon Dhungel, a division bench of Justices Meera Khadka and Tanka Bahadur Moktan has denied issuing the interim order.




Kolkata, May 29 : Terming Ashok Mitra as one of the most outstanding figures in post-independence India, Left economist Prabhat Patnaik on Tuesday said his contribution to the cause of communism was likely to remain underestimated.

"I feel Ashokda is one of the most outstanding figures in post-independence India because of the remarkable qualities that he had.. Of course, he was brilliant,... he had a sense of humour, which could be directed against himself.

"He was ideologically very firm, never budged an inch in his ideological commitments. But at the same time he was very charming, very gracious, very courteous to others," Patnaik said at the condolence meeting for Mitra organised by the Left Front.

Recalling his association with Mitra for close to 50 years, he said he was an ideal communist intellectual "because he had a remarkable combination of qualities of head and heart".

According to Patnaik, Mitra's contribution to the Left movement was in terms of ideas.

"Ashokda's contribution to the cause of the Left, to the cause of communist is likely to remain underestimated. Ashokda's contribution to the left was in terms of ideas."

As the Finance Minister of the first Left Front government, Mitra played a big role in ensuring the regime broke the "agrarian impasse in the state, which was a colonial legacy", he said.

While there was a substantial investment in agriculture, it was for the first time that the tillers of the land got rights over the harvest, Patnaik said, also referring to Mitra's contribution in the first Left Front government raising the issue of centre-state relations.

"As the LF called for a relook a the distribution of powers, it caught the imagination of the people all over the country. Mitra became a known figure across the country as the Finance Minister of Bengal."

Patnaik regretted that Mitra's resignation from the LF ministry in 1986 over some questions of principle related to education saw the issue of centre-state relations receding to the background.

"It is to Ashoke da's credit that he saw the fight for an authentic democratic structure as really a fight for democracy."

Left Front chairman Biman Bose, state CPI-M Secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra and other Left leaders also spoke on the occasion.
Washington, May 30 : President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that a senior North Korean official is headed to New York to discuss a possible summit between the US President and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Yong Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York," Trump said on Twitter.

"Solid response to my letter, thank you!," the president added, without providing any further details.

Kim Yong Chol will be the highest-raking North Korean official to visit the United States in nearly two decades.

The vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee is scheduled to arrive in the United States on Wednesday, where he will help put the final touches on the June 12 Singapore summit and meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who recently visited North Korea on two separate occasions, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, Efe reported.

Last Thursday, Trump sent a letter to the North Korean leader calling off the meeting, citing Pyongyang's "hostility."

A day later, however, the US president said that the summit could still go on as planned.

On Monday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington had decided to hold off on implementing new sanctions against North Korea while talks to relaunch the summit were held.

If it takes place, the Singapore summit will be the first meeting between a US president and a North Korean leader in the almost seven decades since the 1950-1953 Korean War.
Washington, May 30 : The US Supreme Court on Tuesday in an 8-1 ruling limited the scope of police searches, ruling that police officers must have a warrant to go through a vehicle parked at a home or on its surrounding property.

The final decision reversed a Virginia Supreme Court ruling that found the Fourth Amendment's automobile exception allows for warrantless searches of vehicles anytime, anywhere, including at a home or on its surrounding property, which is known as curtilage, Xinhua reported.

Citing court precedent in her majority opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor said a search within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment has occurred when a law enforcement officer physically intrudes on the curtilage to gather evidence.

"Such conduct as this is presumptively unreasonable absent a warrant," she said.

She said the lower court ruling would grant constitutional rights to people with the financial means to afford residences with garages in which to store their vehicles, but deprive people without such resources any individualized consideration as to whether the areas in which they store their vehicles qualify as curtilage.

The Virginia case centers on Ryan Collins, who argued police had violated his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure when they trespassed on the property of his girlfriend's house, lifted the tarp that covered a black and orange motorcycle, ran its plates and confirmed it was stolen, said the report.

Police had suspected the motorcycle was stolen after Collins twice eluded officers who had tried to pull him over for a traffic infraction and found pictures of the bike parked at the top of a driveway on Collins's Facebook page.
The pausing of new housing approvals in selected suburbs across Sydney by the NSW Planning Minister Anthony Roberts comes at a pivotal period in the construction boom phase.

Capturing understandable community concerns, Roberts said councils needed to take a bit of a breath to be able to play catch up with infrastructure.

But the intervention could reap havoc as property developers seek out alternate projects in less congested suburbs or pack up altogether.

Sydneys crane construction count has already recently eased from its late 2017 peak.
MC Test Service Inc. (dba MC Assembly) has been awarded a new contract to support the U.S. Army Tank Command (TACOM) in Warren, Mich. Were honored for the opportunity to support the U.S. Army and our nations platforms. We look forward to sustaining this application with the highest level of quality and reliability for many years to come.

MC Test Service Inc. (dba MC Assembly), a leader in electronics manufacturing, engineering, test, sustainment and support for advanced electronic systems and sub-systems assembly, has been awarded a new contract to support the U.S. Army Tank Command (TACOM) in Warren, Mich.

The new contract calls for MC Assembly to provide the manufacturing, engineering test and support of critical card assemblies for TACOM. MC Assembly will provide the reprogrammable circuit card assemblies used in the M1A1 Abrams main battle tank ballistic computer system. The application will support domestic and foreign applications.

Were honored for the opportunity to support the U.S. Army and our nations platforms, said MC Assembly President and Chief Executive Officer George Moore. We look forward to sustaining this application with the highest level of quality and reliability for many years to come.

The TACOM announcement comes on the heels of MC Assembly being awarded a Defense Logistics Agency contract to support the manufacturing, engineering, test and support of an Analog-to-Digital Converter Module (ADCM) supporting the Fire Control Computer.

MC Assembly was also recently awarded a new contract by the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Logistics Command in Albany, Ga., to fabricate and test a Weapons Control Unit in support of USMC tactical ground vehicles.

Earlier this year, MC Assembly successfully completed a financial audit by the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA).

Our goal is to offer best-in-class services to our customers, Moore said. Our DCAA certification and recent government contract wins show that the federal government is taking notice of the quality and commitment of MC Assembly.

MC Assembly is a world class manufacturing, engineering, test and support company that employs the latest in manufacturing technology to support defense and aerospace requirements. MC Assembly provides state-of-the-art electronics including electronic warfare sub-systems, tactical, transport, rotorcraft sub-systems, C4ISR products, intelligent networking, communications sub-systems and test systems.

MC Assembly is certified to quality standards AS9100, ISO9001:2008 and FAA. The electronics manufacturer also implements LEAN manufacturing processes.

For more information about MC Assembly, please visit http://www.mcati.com.

About MC Assembly

MC Assembly (http://www.mcati.com), based in Melbourne, Fla., with additional operations in Billerica, Mass., and Zacatecas, Mexico, is a national leader in the contract manufacturing arena with annual revenues of approximately $200 million. It provides turnkey solutions to original equipment manufacturers and focuses on assembly of medium volume, medium mix printed circuit boards assemblies (PCBAs) and box builds. MC Assembly's capabilities include surface mount and pin-through-hole interconnection technologies, PCB and box build, DFM, DFT, DFA engineering, in-circuit, functional and environmental testing, and full box-build direct order fulfillment.
Companies in various industries host LGBTQ employee resource groups, and publishing is no exception. We spoke with representatives of such groups at four houses; all have related goals but each has a different way of organizing.

Some are grassroots affairs spearheaded by passionate advocates. Others work closely with human resources and company executives. Regardless of structure, members and allies alike have discovered how queer employee groups can enrich workplaces and publishers relationships with readers.

DIY Community

Nora Alice Demick, who works in marketing at Riverhead, Viking, and Penguin Books, cochairs the Penguin Random House LGBTQ Network with Tan Chan, a designer. They inherited the group from founder Emanuel Xavier, a poet, author, and activist who works in special markets at PRH. Xavier launched the network in 2011 on the heels of the company creating a video for the It Gets Better project, which supports bullied LGBTQ youths.

Demick and Chan took the lead in 2017, and one of their first changes was to add the Q to the groups name. We thought this would better represent the different orientations and gender identities that we have here at PRH, and we wanted people to know that we acknowledged their existence, Demick says. We want people, LGBTQ or otherwise, to know that were here. That was one of the biggest issuesno one knew that there was an LGBTQ network at PRH.

In the past year, the network has expanded from brown bag lunches and happy hours to fundraising and volunteering. We did a huge, successful bake sale for the Trinity Place Shelter, a homeless shelter for LGBTQ youth in Manhattan, Demick says. We sold out in an hour and had to go scrounge up croissants because we didnt have anything else left to sell.

About 150 employees have signed up for the groups mailing list. The network will participate in New Yorks Pride March again this year and is organizing book giveaways and panel discussions throughout June. Activities come to a head during Pride Month, but the group also pursues long-term projects, such as its crowdsourced bibliography of LGBTQ literature.

To look back and see that we have all these titles by LGBTQ individualsas a queer person, its empowering, Demick says. It makes me confident every single day walking into work.

Leading by Example

At Macmillan, after the 2014 launch of the We Need Diverse Books campaign, several employees realized the company wasnt doing enough. The discussion sort of arose like a volcano, says Angus Killick, associate publisher at Macmillan Childrens. He and Monique Patterson (editorial director, romance, and executive editor at St. Martins Press) cochair the diversity and inclusion council, which was created in 2015.

Were trying to infuse the organization with multiple touch points on diversity, so that people are more aware during their daily lives at work, Killick says. To that end, the diversity council offers programming and workshops on bringing books with diverse perspectives to market, where editors, marketers, and publicists come together over lunch to discuss past strategies and hear new ideas. Killick says the childrens divisions Reading Without Walls program, started by former National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature and First Second graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, has been a big inspiration for the council.

The idea is to get people reading books that they wouldnt normally pick up, Killick says, whether in topic, voice, or genre. For Pride Month in June, well ask divisions to suggest books, and then well pile them up in the lobby. Employees will be invited to choose a title, spend some time with it, and pass it along to a friend.

Actively promoting diversity within the publishers output has driven a big change in how Killick, for one, sees the overall Macmillan catalogue. Nowadays, you can promote an LGBTQ book alongside any other book that were publishing, he says. Were not siloing the publishing of those books any longer. Its about the quality of the book more than it is the topic.

Simon & Schusters 10-member Diversity Council, founded in 2001, has a deep history of outreach and partnerships. In order to reach as culturally a diverse community as we can with all of our books, we have to be represented by as culturally diverse people as we can be, says Joy Bertan, director of talent acquisition and diversity initiatives at S&S. The council, which focuses on programs and volunteer opportunities, can be a serious time commitment, she says: This isnt something you just say youre a part of.

Bimonthly author events have been a hit with employees, Bertan says, such as the recent q&a with transgender activist Janet Mock, whose Surpassing Certainty (Atria) was recently released in paperback. Laurent Linn, art director at S&S Books for Young Readers, presented his debut YA novel, Draw the Line (McElderry), when it pubbed in 2016.

Amanda Armstrong, who has led the S&S Diversity Council for 12 years, is especially proud of the way the group has facilitated volunteer work at the company; employees have donated their time to LGBTQ-oriented nonprofits including the Trevor Project, Housing Works, and the Ali Forney Center as part of the companywide community outreach day. She sees the encounters as enriching to S&S as a publisher and an employer because they raise questions that extend beyond that day of service. How do we define what we did, and incorporate what weve learned? she asks. How does that help us to look for the next book, to look for the next author, to look for the next person were looking to hire?

Filling a Need

In August 2017, academic and professional publisher Elsevier had thriving pride groups in its offices in Amsterdam, Philadelphia, and in Iloilo and Manila in the Philippines, as well as a newly established chapter in Chennai, India. David Parsons, publisher of the Elsevier journal Data in Brief, recalls saying to himself, New York is one of our biggest officesits a shame that were in the birthplace of the gay rights movement and we have nothing to show for it.

Three months later, Elsevier Pride N.Y.C. held its first meeting. After just four hour-long get-togethers, the groupnow called RELX Pride N.Y.C., thanks to the increasing interest its drawn from employees throughout the companys parent organizationhas begun to find its voice. In the beginning, we had no idea what our purpose was, except that we were all gay, Parsons says. It was like, okay, this cant just be gay club. We felt like there was a good opportunity for us.

The group has had some early successes, including fundraising $1,350 for AIDS Walk New York 2018, which the company will match. Parsons is particularly excited about one plan for fall, when group members will go into New York City high schools to show queer students that its possible to come out and have a great, stable life. The group is also organizing an in-house workshop about pronoun usage and advocating for a gender-neutral bathroom.

Because of the pride group, Parsons has also found a community at work that he hadnt thought was available to him. I feel like theres a palpable improvement just in general communication within my office, he says. Its the first time Ive ever interacted with people from different silos. Were not all super like-minded, so Im glad we came together.

Reaching Out

Publishers LGBTQ groups are having an influence not just on employees, but also on their authors. Some editors have mentioned that there is an active LGBTQ network to queer authors that theyre considering acquiring, as an incentive, PRHs Demick says; the groups presence may serve as evidence of extra consideration in supporting an authors book. Marketers and editors contact Chan and Demick for advice on targeting potential booksellers and readers. Thats my dream, to be able to help this process along, Demick says.

More people are joining these efforts. At Macmillan, Killick estimates between 35 and 40 employees from across the company make time for the Diversity and Inclusion Council and its committees, including the head of human resources and the houses employment lawyer. A full-time consultant joined in February as a project manager. Parsons counts between 10 and 20 active members of the N.Y.C. Elsevier/RELX Pride chapter, with 40 on its mailing list.

Simon & Schusters Armstrong notes the difference efforts such as pronoun education have made in the hiring process. You can see when people come in and interview with us, that they felt that they can actually work here, like everyone else, she says.

Demick has a big vision for PRHs network going forward. I want every single person [at PRH] to come to us and let us know that theyre publishing an LGBTQ-oriented book, she says. I want to increase everything that were doing so that we can have more time and more space for all the people that should be involved with this.

As Demick is quick to point out, that includes allies, too. Anyone who wants to come and be supportive is totally welcome, she says. Theyre probably just going to have to watch RuPauls Drag Race or something.

Esther Bergdahl is a freelance journalist in Brooklyn who writes about creativity and culture.

Below, more on the subject of LGBTQ publishing.

Rainbow Connection: LGBTQ Publishing 2018

LGBTQ community building takes many forms, including literary festivals, writers retreats, and online outreach.

LGBTQ Publishing 2018

Select 2018 books with LGBTQ themes.
Canal 13 has fired over a third of its workforce following inking an outsourcing agreement with Spains Grupo Secuoya.





According to Sindicato TV 13 , Canal 13s union, nearly 300 workers have been dismissed over the last days. The layoffs conditions have been agreed with the union.The broadcaster argues that the measure is necessary to secure its survival. The same situation drove the free-to-air (FTA) network to sign an agreement earlier this month with Grupo Secuoya to carry out a business reorganisation and outsource most of its services. The main goal of this outsourcing agreement is to reduce Canal 13s expense.We have known for a while that the strategic alliance between Canal 13 and Group Secuoya would result into massive dismissals in the network, which have now been confirmed, pointed out the union.
Linn spent a decade in law enforcement prior to transitioning into teaching on a university level. He presently teaches as an Assistant Professor in the Social Science Department at Shorter University. He can be found on Twitter @Professor_Pitts and is writing a dissertation on gatekeepers in Countering Violent Extremism programs in the United States. Divergent Options content does not contain information of an official nature nor does the content represent the official position of any government, any organization, or any group.

Title: The Conflict of a New Home: African Migrants and the Push/Pull Factors during Acculturation

Date Originally Written: February 13, 2018.

Date Originally Published: May 28, 2018.

Summary: Whether migrant has voluntarily relocated to the U.S. from a country in turmoil or a refugee being resettled to the U.S., the individual may still face factors that pull them towards the conflict of their homeland and may push them from full acculturation in their new society.

Text: While it is important for the U.S. to have good foreign policies that are able to help address turmoil in African countries, equally important is the posture taken by entities in the U.S. towards migrants that may have moved or been displaced. According to Boyle and Ali [1] the general theories of migration include three broad categories concerning acculturation (the process of social, psychological, and cultural change that stems from blending between cultures) at the end of the migrants journey. The categories include group dynamics, reception of the new society, and the nature of the exit from their home country. All of these categories serve as excellent assessment points for developing an understanding of the issues faced by migrants. For the purposes of this assessment, the primary focus is group dynamics and the reception of a new society. If policy makers understand the nuances of group dynamics and the reception possibilities of a new society, they will be better prepared to provide good governance.

Group dynamics include cultural aspects and family dynamics illustrated by interactions within extended families and communities. These group dynamics can be problematic as Boyle and Ali explain as family structures are impacted by what U.S. law has deemed a family such as the exclusion of polygamy, the allowance of only nuclear family members to migrate as a group, and the lack of elder support in their transplanted home. Boyle and Ali further indicate that coni?icts from their home countries have already broken some families apart. Each migratory situation will vary depending on the state of being a migrant or a refugee as noted by Bigelow [2]. Boyle and Ali further speci?ed that the loss of extended family members severely impact the migrant families such as limiting child care and a lack of traditional family roles. In seeking to properly conceptualize these aspects, a purposeful interview was conducted with a migrant. In personal communications with Mia (pseudonym), she noted her family moved to the U.S. when she was approximately eight years of age and she is now 21 years of age. The relocation to the U.S. was prompted by tribal coni?icts that limited opportunities in her home country in Central Africa. She confirmed that since arriving in the U.S., the lack of extended family was problematic, especially regarding the roles her parents once held in their home country. In general, these issues would categorically further migrant reliance on state resources such as outside parties to resolve disputes and the social service programs.

The reception of the new society as noted by Boyle and Ali entails a period of adaptation and sometimes it is a struggle due to the removal of family support. Whereas dependence on social service programs may provide time for adaptation and development of social capital, it may not completely replace the extended family. Mia stated she found it difficult to acculturate due to bullying, issues with racial identity, and struggles adapting academically primarily based on differences in English, a point supported by Bigelow. Mia was bullied by African-American children in part due to misperceptions, African-Americans view (sic) Africans as savages, uneducated, and poor, Mia remarked. Continuing, she said often time I do not see myself as black but as African. It is an interesting concept supported by the work of Bigelow revealing migrant parents of Somali youth were concerned about the perceptions of the interactions with African-American children, especially if their children are viewed as unruly. Mia noted the parental views had merit concerning an understanding of the difficult transitions to life in the United States. While Central African and Horn of African nations are distinct entities in different regions of the Africa, Mia described the cultural contexts as thats just African, She found friendship with children who had relocated from Kenya and Nigeria. Bigelow noted that the migrant children are living in two worlds, their world at home and their world at school. This two-world construct was also supported by Zhou [3] in a discussion of cultural identity and the impact on children of migrants.

Another point of reception in a new society deals with the aspects of understanding local laws during a period of acculturation. The transition can be aided by groups and religious organizations seeking to aid in the transition to the U.S. While recent arrests and later convictions of Minnesota-based Somalis seeking to join the Islamic State captured headlines, consider efforts of municipal agencies in Minnesota [4] and Clarkston, Georgia located on the outskirts metro-Atlanta. According to David (personal communications), a missionary in Clarkston, the city was chosen to be a refugee resettlement area in the 1990s. He noted the area was a prime location for refugee resettlement due to the high degree of apartment complexes (near 80%), featured a low-cost of living, it was close proximity to a major airport, and it had a public transit available to Atlanta. Moreover, he detailed that Time Magazine deemed this portion of Clarkston as the most diverse square mile in the U.S. As an example, approximately 100 languages were spoken at Indian Creek Elementary School in Clarkston. When asked about the Somali population, David stated it was previously the largest migrant population in Clarkston but population dynamics recently shifted due to the Myanmar Crisis. Clarkston is a success because people who come to the U.S. as a result of U.S. asylum and refugee resettlement programs not only have a place to settle, but that place has many features which, according to Salehyan and Gleditsch [5], can help minimize tensions during acculturation. Clarkston, through its ability to make acculturation smoother, allows grievances to be addressed early so they do not lead migrants down extremist pathways.

Regarding grievances and tensions, Somalis, like most inhabitants of developing countries, have a legacy of distrust with the police [6] an aspect intensified by recent efforts of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials [7]. Boyle and Ali found Somali men feel persecuted in the United States by law enforcement mainly due to enforcement of laws such as domestic violence. Whereas in Somalia, the family elder may intervene to address problems, due to aforementioned issues the elders are not present. Law enforcement officers have a great deal of discretion in their daily activities, unless arrest is mandated by statute such as domestic violence. Even if law enforcement acts in good faith with the intent of upholding the law, issues could still arise. Weine, Eisenman, Kinsler, Glik, and Polutnik [8] identified that law enforcement may create resentment and ultimately diminish cooperation from communities if these communities are policed in a way seen as culturally incompatible. Weine, Eisenman, Kinsler, Glik, and Polutnik suggested a community health approach. This approach was indirectly supported by Boyle and Ali in their examination and later assessed by Cummings, Kamaboakai, Kapil, and Stone. In closing, while generous U.S. policies enable migrants to come to the U.S., unless the location where they finally arrive is prepared to receive them, and local capabilities are ready to provide close and continuing support during acculturation, the migrant will likely continue to face a friction-?lled existence. This existence may make the migrant feel pulled back home and simultaneously pushed into a new society which they do not understand.

This article appeared originally at Divergent Options.

Endnotes:

[1] Boyle, E.H., & Ali, A. (2010). Culture, structure, and the refugee experience in Somali immigrant family transformation. International Migration, 48(1), 47-79.

[2] Bigelow, M. (2010). Mogadishu on the Mississippi: Language, racialized identity, and education in a new land. New York: Wiley-Blackwell.

[3] Zhou, M. (2003). Growing Up American: The challenge confronting immigrant children and children of immigrants. Annual Review of Sociology. 23. 63-95. 10.1146/annurev.soc.23.1.63.

[4] Cumings, P., Kamaboakai, E. T., Kapil, A., & Stone, C. (2016). A Growing Community: Helping Grand Forks increase inclusion of new Americans.

[5] Salehyan, I., & Gleditsch, K. S. (2006). Refugees and the spread of civil war. International Organization, 60, 335-366.

[6] Haugen, G. A., & Boutros, V. (2015). The locust effect: Why the end of poverty requires the end of violence. Oxford University Press.

[7] Redmond, J. (2017, April 13). Immigration arrests target Somalis in Atlanta area. Atlanta Journal Constitutional. Retrieved from https://www.ajc.com/news/immigration-arrests-target-somalis-atlanta-area/uYatzrGTOkEGWuwocYmReJ/

[8] Weine, S., Eisenman, D. P., Kinsler, J., Glik, D. C., & Polutnik, C. (2017). Addressing violent extremism as public health policy and practice. Behavioral sciences of terrorism and political aggression, 9(3), 208-221.
"Oh ship of state, new waves push you out to sea...."

Horace, Odes

By definition, as long as particular countries regard their nuclear status as an asset, every state that is a member of the so-called nuclear club is a direct beneficiary of the Cold War. This is because all core elements of any national nuclear strategy, whether actual or still-contemplated, were originally conceptualized, shaped, and even codified within the earlier bipolar struggles of post World War II international relations.[1] Nonetheless, as the world now enters into a more-or-less resurrected form of this initial struggle the strategic postures of each extant nuclear weapons state are being modified within the still-developing parameters of Cold War II.

These parameters, it follows, warrant very careful further study by both scholars and policy makers. Already, they are in constant flux, transient, changing in both foreseeable and prospectively unseen ways. Among other things, such critical parameters or boundaries will become increasingly vital and potentially even determinative. In this regard, a great deal will depend upon the precise manner in which this reborn bipolar rivalry impacts the various basic elements and circumstances of nuclear deterrence postures.

Flags Of Israel, Great Britain, France, Russia And The United States (Shutterstock)

In turn, this manner will depend very considerably upon multiple and overlapping national nuclear power alignments with either Russia or the United States, or conceivably with both.

Antecedent to such starkly complex considerations, much will also depend upon the expected rationality or non-rationality of each relevant national nuclear power, and on certain plausible interactions or synergies between core nuclear adversaries and their respective alliances. Regarding the first concern, Israel's planners will need to bear in mind the timeless wisdom of German philosopher Karl Jaspers: "The rational is not thinkable without its other, the non-rational, and it never appears in reality without it."[2]

The frontispiece of Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, engraved by Abraham Bosse (Wikimedia)

Never without it. This is an absolutely rudimentary understanding for anyone engaged in strategic nuclear matters. "Everything is very simple in war," counsels Carl von Clausewitz in On War, "but even the simplest thing is difficult."[3] Today, this correspondingly useful insight remains valid not only during periods of conflict, but also in those unsteady periods of latent hostility between possible or still-impending wars. Interestingly, this expected validity during a cold war was already seen by the seventeenth-century English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes. In his classic Leviathan, this early political thinker opines that a condition of war obtains not only during unambiguous periods of "actual fighting," but also whenever there merely exists a "known disposition thereto."[4]

Accordingly, even during the expansive pre-nuclear era in world politics, a precarious logic of deterrence existed within the global state of nature. Already, there was operative an evidently fearful condition of raw competition, corrosive violence, and seemingly perpetual anarchy.

Significantly, even for Hobbes, and long before the advent of any nuclear weapons, the worst state of war would have to be characterized by an utterly dreadful equality, a bellum omnium contra omneswherein "the weakest has strength enough to kill the strongest."[5]

In any such worst case configurationmost apparent today where nuclear proliferation had managed to continue without meaningfully effective inhibitionsthe life of both individual human beings and entire states would inevitably be "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short."[6] For Israel, the shifting parameters of a Second Cold War and related issues of enemy rationality could have indeterminate or foreseeable effects upon its presumptive nuclear doctrine and strategy. This includes, of course, the various diverse issues surrounding choices between nuclear ambiguity and nuclear disclosure.

Historically, the former posture has prevailed unchallenged until today, and can be referred to metaphorically as Israel's bomb in the basement. Still, as a bipolar axis of conflict is now being aggressively reaffirmed in world politics, and as prospects for enemy irrationality are arguably greater than before, Jerusalem will soon have to make appropriate modifications to its nuclear deterrence doctrine and posture.

Until today, in principle at least, this national doctrine and posture have remained determinedly ambiguous. At the same time, traditional ambiguity had already been effectively breached at the highest possible level by two of Israel's prime ministers, first, by Shimon Peres, on December 22, 1995, and then again by Ehud Olmert on December 11, 2006. Peres, speaking to a group of Israeli newspaper and magazine editors, then affirmed publicly: "...give me peace, and we'll give up the atom. That's the whole story."[7]

 but wrongly  interpreted as mere "slips of the tongue."[8]

When Olmert later offered similarly general but also revelatory remarks, they were widelybut wronglyinterpreted as mere "slips of the tongue."[8]

Today, as Moscow and Washington once again become recognizably bitter adversariesmost obviously in their fundamentally different positions and involvements in Syria and throughout the wider Middle Easta basic question must again be raised in Jerusalem: Is comprehensive nuclear secrecy necessarily in the best survival interests of the Jewish State?[9]

To respond effectively, Israel must start with the problematic assumption that in any such complex strategic matters, truth could sometimes be counter-intuitive. A full answer to this challenging query must therefore be grounded in the tangible expectations and exigencies of formal strategic doctrine. Whatever else Jerusalem may already have in mind concerning such indispensable doctrine, its response ought never be just a series of incremental ad hoc decisions or otherwise unreflective policies, that is, positions that are invented and re-invented from one specific crisis to the next.

Any purposeful loosening of Israeli nuclear ambiguity would need to be subtle, nuanced, more-or-less indirect, and visibly incremental. Contrary to the often parodied views of any such prospective disclosure that may be found in popular news stories or on television, this loosening would not have to take the expressly provocative form of openly forthright or otherwise official Israeli policy pronouncements. Instead, Israels nuclear status could be allowed to leak out on its own, thereby allowing a point to be made without precipitating any immediate sense of crisis.

Among other things, formal doctrine would represent the indispensable framework from which any gainfully pragmatic Israeli nuclear policy of ambiguity or disclosure could then be suitably extrapolated. In all military institutions and traditions, such doctrine must describe the tactical manner in which pertinent national forces ought to fight in plausible combat situations.

There is more. The central importance of codified Israeli military doctrine lies not only in the particular way it can animate, unify, and optimize national military forces, but also in the expectedly efficient manner that it can transmit certain desired messages to an enemy state, enemy states, or sub-state proxies. Understood in terms of Israel's strategic nuclear policy, any indiscriminate, across-the-board ambiguity could prove injurious to the country's national security rather than beneficial. Although possibly counter-intuitive, this is the case because any truly effective deterrence and defense could sometimes call for a military doctrine that is at least partially recognizable by adversary states, and also by certain sub-state proxies.

IN ORDER TO PERSUADE WOULD-BE ADVERSARIES NOT TO STRIKE FIRST, IN THESE CIRCUMSTANCES A MANIFESTLY COMPLEX EFFORT OF DISSUASION, PROJECTING TOO MUCH SECRECY COULD QUICKLY PROVE COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE.

In any routine military planning, having available options for strategic surprise can be helpful, if not fully prerequisite, to successful combat operations. But successful deterrence is another matter entirely. In order to persuade would-be adversaries not to strike first, in these circumstances a manifestly complex effort of dissuasion, projecting too much secrecy could quickly prove counter-productive.

In the matter of Israel and its potential enemies, any sincere military success must lie in credible deterrence, and not in actual war-fighting. Examined in terms of ancient Chinese military thought offered by Sun-Tzu in The Art of War, "Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."[9] With this worthy dictum in mind, there are times for Israel when successful deterrence policies could require the deliberate loosening of information that had formerly been tightly held. In essence, such information could concern Israel's capabilities, its intentions or both complex qualities taken together.

Looking ahead to the emerging Cold War II, such information would also need to be rendered compatible with Jerusalem's preferred and specific superpower alignments. More than likely, Jerusalems alignments will still favor ties to Washington over Moscow, but it is also not inconceivable that the current incoherence within relevant U.S. foreign policies could temper this historical preference.

The War Room and the Big Board in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (Wikimedia)

Sometimes, strategic truth must be counterintuitive. There are foreseeable circumstances wherein ordinary secrecy could actually be too much secrecy, thereby undermining any country's national security. We may recall, in this connection, a popular Cold War era movie in which Dr. Strangelove, an eccentric strategic advisor to the American president discovers, to his horror, that the existence of America's doomsday machine had never been made known in advance to the Soviets.

"The whole point of the doomsday machine is lost," complains Dr. Strangelove, "if you keep it a secret." To have been suitably deterred, the film instructs, and not too subtly, the Soviets ought to have first been given sufficiently prior warnings of the doomsday machine. This device, after all, had been designed solely to ensure the perceived automaticity of America's nuclear retaliatory response. Remembering the commonly-held strategic posture known as Mutually-Assured Destruction (MAD), this response would have been instantly recognizable to the Kremlin as massive and assuredly destructive.

AS INSTRUMENTS OF DETERRENCE, NUCLEAR WEAPONS CAN SUCCEED ONLY IN THEIR PROTRACTED NON-USE.

It follows from all this that Israel's nuclear weapons must consistently remain oriented to deterrence ex ante, and not to actual war fighting or revenge ex post. As instruments of deterrence, nuclear weapons can succeed only in their protracted non-use. Once they have been used for tangible battle, deterrence by definition, will have failed. It is also worth noting that, once actually used, any traditional meanings of victory, especially if both sides are already nuclear, would instantly become moot.

The Cold War is over, and Israel's emerging deterrence relationship to a prospectively nuclear Iran is not reasonably analogous or even comparable to the historic American-Soviet Balance-of-Terror.Still, there are crucial elements of Cold War superpower antagonisms that will necessarily and substantially impact Israel's nuclear strategic choices. This means that Israel must never construct its own nuclear strategic doctrine and policy apart from various close assessments of U.S.-Russian relations.

THE COLD WAR IS OVER, AND ISRAEL'S EMERGING DETERRENCE RELATIONSHIP TO A PROSPECTIVELY NUCLEAR IRAN IS NOT REASONABLY ANALOGOUS OR EVEN COMPARABLE TO THE HISTORIC AMERICAN-SOVIET BALANCE-OF-TERROR.

There are also certain Cold War deterrence lessons to be learned and adapted by the Jewish State to the current situation. More precisely, any unmodified continuance of total nuclear ambiguity concerning Israel's (a) strategic targeting doctrine; (b) secure basing modes; and/or (c) capacity to penetrate a designated enemy's active air defenses, could cause a newly-nuclearizing or still-nuclearizing enemy state such as Iran to critically underestimate Israel's retaliatory capacity or resolve.

As a subsidiary but still urgent nuclear concern, Israeli planners will need to continually assess the capability and intentions of Pakistan, an already-nuclear Islamic state, and one that has openly declared a nuclear war fighting concept of national nuclear deterrence. Returning to the formative lexicon of the Cold War, this non-Arab Islamic state has made a formal shift from mutual assured destruction to nuclear utilization theory. In the specialized discourse and parlance of all orthodox nuclear strategic theory, this represents an overt shift from MAD (mutual assured destruction) to NUT (nuclear utilization theory).[10]

Going forward assorted uncertainties surrounding the presumed components of Israel's nuclear arsenal could lead enemy states to sometimes reach a wrong conclusion. In part, this is because Israel's willingness to make good on any threatened nuclear retaliation could then be seen, widely perhaps, as inversely related to weapon system destructiveness. Ironically, if Israel's nuclear weapons were sometime believed to be too destructive, they might not deter.

In the future, any continuing policy of complete ambiguity could cause an already nuclear enemy state to overestimate the first-strike vulnerability of Israel's nuclear forces. In part, at least, this overestimation could be the result of a too-complete silence concerning measures of protection that had been deployed to safeguard Israeli nuclear weapons. Such silence, in turn, could be the product of Israel's perceived alignments with one or the other current superpower by any then-relevant regional foe.

TA test of the Arrow-3 interceptor by the Israel Missile Defense Organization and the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. (MDA Image)

A related problem could be the product of certain Israeli doctrinal obfuscations regarding the country's defense potential, a silence that could be mistakenly understood by certain enemy states, as an indication of inadequate Israeli Ballistic Missile Defense. To be maximally useful, certain relevant strengths and capabilities of Arrow-3 and other interrelated and multi-layered elements of active defense could therefore need to be revealed, perhaps even in previously unimaginable operational detail. Going forward, certain elements of strategic truth could be counter-intuitive. Once again, the then-prevailing conditions of Cold War II could expect to have certain meaningful impacts upon any such considered revelations. Further examination of such prospective impacts can be found in Part II of this essay, forthcoming.

Louis Rene Beres is the author of many books and monographs dealing with nuclear strategy and nuclear war. His twelfth and latest book is Surviving Amid Chaos: Israel's Nuclear Strategy. He has lectured widely on law and strategy issues at both United States and Israeli military and intelligence institutions. This article appeared originally at Strategy Bridge.
Yesterday was Tehran and today it's Moscow. As the United States, Russia and China engage in a great power competition, growing tensions between Washington and Moscow could soon have a major effect on U.S. relations with other countries. Upset by the Kremlin's actions around the world, U.S. lawmakers are hoping to hit Russia where it hurts most, its defense and energy business, through the Countering America's Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which applies secondary sanctions to countries engaging in business with Moscow in these fields. CAATSA has faced some resistance  not least from the commander in chief himself  but its gradual implementation promises to have far-reaching effects on all concerned.

A Potent New Process

Secondary sanctions are hardly new to U.S. foreign policy. Washington used them extensively against Tehran in an effort to force the Islamic republic to modify its behavior before the Iranian nuclear deal's signing in 2015. But Russia occupies a different position from Iran in the international system as a great power that boasts robust energy relationships with Europe and China, as well as diverse defense ties with many states, particularly in Asia and the Middle East. CAATSA also targets Iran, along with North Korea, yet it is the secondary sanctions against Russia  especially those stipulated in sections 231 and 232 of the act  that could affect the United States' partnerships the most.

Under Section 231 of CAATSA, any third-country firm or individual that engages in a "significant transaction" with Russia's defense or intelligence sectors will face a penalty. Companies and individuals can apply for an exemption from the sanctions. Getting one, however, would require U.S. authorities to certify not only that the exemption would not harm the United States' national security interests but also that Russia had made "significant efforts to reduce the number and intensity of cyber intrusions."

Given that the Kremlin is unlikely to meet the second condition anytime soon, countries wishing to continue trade with Russia's defense or intelligence sectors could opt for a waiver under Section 231. The waiver, which has a maximum length of 180 days, requires U.S. officials to certify that the applicant is "substantially reducing the number of significant transactions" with targeted Russian interests. (The U.S. Congress is also currently considering the 2019 National Defense Authorization Bill, legislation that would replace the waiver process with an upfront certification that determines whether the entity in question is taking "significant and verifiable steps" or "has agreed to reduce reliance" on Russia over a "specified period.") But the waiver could draw unwanted attention to countries engaged in trade with Russia and give Washington leverage to try to exact concessions from them.

The waiver could draw unwanted attention to countries engaged in trade with Russia and give Washington leverage to try to exact concessions from them.

Section 232, meanwhile, focuses on energy, targeting investments of $1 million or more in Russian pipelines or support for building or operating pipelines  in goods, services, technology and information  worth an annual total of at least $5 million. Unlike those prescribed under Section 231, Section 232 sanctions are discretionary rather than mandatory.

Off to a Slow Start

U.S. President Donald Trump opposed CAATSA (the act largely stems from a unilateral initiative by Congress, which took action out of concern that the U.S. leader could become too conciliatory toward Russia). Nevertheless, it passed by veto-proof majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives alike. The president then delayed its implementation beyond the Jan. 29 congressional deadline, arguing that the date signified the start, rather than the end, of the process.

Facing growing pressure from Congress, Trump has signaled that he will begin applying the law. The State Department has tried to define "significant transaction" and is already engaged in conversations with many countries on their relationships with Russia. At the same time, U.S. diplomats also tried to entice countries to expand their defense ties with Washington to compensate for the loss of Russian supplies. The overtures suggest that CAATSA's aim is not simply to penalize Russia for its perceived bad behavior but also to expand U.S. arms sales wherever possible. Still, some prominent members of the U.S. Congress are dissatisfied with the progress toward implementing the act. Key Democrats, such as Sen. Robert Menendez, and some Republicans, in fact, recently requested a rare multiagency investigation into the delays in the law's application. But regardless of the snags in its implementation, CAATSA demonstrates that the United States is more strident than ever in pushing other countries to reduce their defense and energy ties with Russia.

Addressing Russia's Worldwide Influence

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Russia is the world's second-largest arms exporter. From 2013 to 2017, the country accounted for 22 percent of the globe's weapons exports, lagging behind only the United States at 34 percent. (All other exporters' contributions, by contrast, are in the single digits.) Russia also has numerous clients in diverse fields that purchase its air defense systems, aircraft, missiles, ships, armored vehicles and aircraft engines. Nearly two-thirds of Russia's exports go to Asia, though

Regardless of the snags in its implementation, CAATSA demonstrates that the United States is more strident than ever in pushing other countries to reduce their defense and energy ties with Russia.

the Middle East and Africa also receive a significant portion of the country's arms.

Russia's deepest defense relationships are with China, India and Vietnam, which together account for 58 percent of Russian exports. China has received top-of-the-lineRussian equipment of late, including the S-400 air defense system and Su-35 aircraft, while India and Vietnam have been purchasing and using Russian equipment since Soviet times. Farther afield, Russia has signed major arms deals with Indonesia and Turkey, and it's in talks with Saudi Arabia and Qatar over the sale of the S-400 system. The United Arab Emirates, too, is considering the purchase of Su-35 aircraft. Although these countries are some of Russia's biggest customers  or prospective customers  they aren't the only ones that could run afoul of CAATSA. States such as Algeria, Myanmar, Malaysia, Kazakhstan and Ethiopia also could soon find themselves in hot water with the United States because of their "significant" defense relationships with Russia.

Mulling a Response

China

As one of the biggest purchasers of Russian arms, China will likely have the most difficulty scaling down its ties with Russia  all the more so since Washington has already targeted Beijing in separate trade disputes. Its connections with Russia are so deep and strategic that China will be unlikely to make more than token concessions on its core defense purchases from Moscow. (But even without the threat of U.S. sanctions, China is destined to purchase less Russian military hardware as it develops technology that would allow it to

As one of the biggest purchasers of Russian arms, China will likely have the most difficulty scaling down its ties with Russia  all the more so since Washington has already targeted Beijing in separate trade disputes.

manufacture its own arms.) Similarly, major energy projects such as the Power of Siberia gas pipeline from Russia to the Far East are more or less irreversible.

India

Russia also has deep relations with China's rival over the Himalayas, India. Moscow supplies most of the arms for the Indian military, including combat aircraft, naval destroyers, battle tanks and a lone nuclear submarine. The BrahMos missile  the product of Russian-Indian cooperation  is a signature success for New Delhi's defense establishment that also has great export potential. Furthermore, Russian arms deals offer generous terms, such as technology transfers and opportunities for joint production, that are important to India's strategic autonomy doctrine.

If push comes to shove, India will not sacrifice its relationship with Russia. Instead, it will try to compromise with the United States by purchasing more U.S. arms or by signing the two outstanding foundational defense agreements with the country. Despite its historical links with Moscow, New Delhi has expanded its security and economic relationship with the United States over the past two decades to try to increase its clout in the global system. Their ties are now strong, and India increasingly relies on the United States to balance China's rise in Asia. As a result, Washington has greater leverage over New Delhi, which, in turn, is more vulnerable to CAATSA's stipulations than Beijing is. In the longer run, however, the CAATSA process could rekindle anti-American sentiment in the Indian defense bureaucracy and the political class, two decades after a reset in U.S.-Indian relations consigned such nationalism to the margins.

Vietnam

In Southeast Asia, Vietnam  whose military gets nearly all its equipment from Russia  also has been more open to U.S. defense ties since the United States lifted an embargoon lethal arms sales to Hanoi in 2016. The United States has sold patrol boats to Vietnam, and a U.S. aircraft carrier even docked at the country's Cam Ranh naval base. Even so, Vietnam's connections to the United States remain limited at this nascent stage of their rapprochement. That means Vietnam will be in a stronger position than India in negotiations with Washington over CAATSA  even though it has deeper ties with Russia. In fact, the CAATSA process could discourage Vietnam from further building its defense relationship with the United States, if only to avoid future compromises to its strategic autonomy.

Indonesia

Indonesia could go either way in its ties with Russia. Its military has long relied on suppliers from multiple countries, including Russia, with which it is drafting a strategic partnership agreement. Indonesia reportedly defied U.S. pressure in February when it proceeded with a new order for 11 Su-35 jets in a deal with Moscow. At the same time, though, the Southeast Asian country counts the United States as a major export destination and tends to be less assertive than Vietnam.

Turkey

Toward the other end of Eurasia, Turkey would seem to be an unexpected target for CAATSA as a member of NATO, the gold standard for U.S. alliances. But Ankara has been moving to engage in more transactional relationships with all powers, including putative ally the United States. In a symbolic departure from the practices of alliance behavior, Turkey inked an agreement to acquire the S-400 air defense system from Russia, a NATO adversary.

The Trump administration has demanded that Ankara scuttle the deal, only to trigger a hostile response from the Turkish government. Now the U.S. Congress appears to be upping the ante with a draft defense bill that would include provisions to suspend the sale of 100 F-35s to Turkey until U.S. authorities provide a report assessing the effects of Washington and Ankara's strained relations on U.S. operations in Turkey. And as in military matters, so in energy: Ankara is expected to defy Washington on the Turk Stream natural gas pipeline between Russia and Turkey, which could become a target of sanctions. If the United States becomes insistent in its demands, Ankara could use its cooperation in Syria as further leverage against Washington.

The Gulf States

Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, have far fewer defense ties with Russia than with the United States, meaning they will find it easier to demonstrate a reduction in defense transactions with Moscow.

Germany

In terms of energy, another of the United States' most enduring allies, Germany, will find itself in the CAATSA crosshairs. Large European energy firms such as Royal Dutch/Shell, Uniper, OMV and Engie could all suffer U.S. sanctions because of their financial involvement in Nord Stream 2, a controversial pipeline that will bring natural gas directly to Germany from Russia. Germany, which has publicly condemned CAATSA's provision regarding Nord Stream 2, is well-placed to resist U.S. demands, thanks to its position as a major global player. Yet its strong economic ties with the United States will also make it vulnerable to punitive U.S. action.

Risks and Rewards

Secondary sanctions are part of the United States' broader strategy to achieve a set of objectives with regard to an adversary by imposing its laws on other countries. Washington has applied extraterritoriality in this way

If CATSAA succeeds, the rewards for Washington will be nothing less than altering Russia's behavior or curtailing its influence in the international system.

several times in the post-Cold War era, to Cuba, Iran and Libya in the 1990s, and once again to Iran in the 2000s.

Most countries view energy and defense as delicate areas in which market dynamics compete with strategic considerations. Defense relations, however, naturally involve sensitivities that exceed those of energy ties. Price negotiations are often protracted, and it might take years to complete an order. Any major weapons system, moreover, requires contracts for maintenance, spare parts and potential upgrades. Supplier reliability is a huge concern  as are technology transfers and joint production, which importers value. Consequently, reorienting core defense relationships can be quite disruptive for the importer.

The CAATSA process is full of lofty ambitions. If it succeeds, the rewards for Washington will be nothing less than altering Russia's behavior or curtailing its influence in the international system. But it also carries risks. In today's world, middle powers are increasingly assertive and refuse to tie themselves to any single great power. The United States' reliance on the blunt tool of extraterritoriality could eventually backfire if it's not careful.

This article appeared originally at Stratfor Worldview.
Aerial bombing against civilian cities was not a new phenomenon; the British had already experienced such raids in WW1 conducted by German Zeppelins. However, the advance in aircraft technology brought bombing to a new level. Even Prime Minister Winston Churchill said "our supreme effort must be to gain overwhelming mastery in the air. The fighters are our salvation, but the bombers alone can provide the means to victory." As the war progressed heavy bombers such as the British Avro Lancaster bombers made their entrances in the war and carpet bombing entire industrial cities with their great payloads. The lack of accuracy for these bombing missions often inflicted damage to non-military areas; the Allies knew it, but felt it was an inevitable part of war. Some precisely used this tactic against Germany, such as Royal Air Force Bomber Command's Air Marshal Arthur Harris. His area bombing campaigns were meant to demoralize the German population, but it became a matter of controversy immediately following the war as his campaigns were accused of being terror bombing.

Bombing of Munster

Munster, Germany saw its first large scale bombing on 5 Jul 1941 when 63 British Wellington bombers arrived shortly after midnight with 396 500-pound bombs, 50 250-pound bombs, and almost 6,000 4-pound incendiary bombs. The city was caught unprepared, with anti-aircraft weapons not arriving until 8 Jul. Prior to the bombing, historian Dr. Franz Weimers was hired by the city to chronicle the war, and he was given permission to wonder the streets to make observations and take photographs even during air raids. On 9 Jul, he wrote of what he had witnessed that morning after the British bombers had already left.

The poor people who stood at corners and in the squares with their few retrieved belongings but did not know where to go were a pitiful sight to behold. The authorities responsible for providing accommodation, such as the Red Cross, the security service, and deployed battalions, were all working at it at full speed, and consequently all homeless people could be accommodated in the evening, even if some of the solutions were only provisional.

The city continued to receive bombings throughout the war. By the end of the war, more than 90% of the Old City and more than half of the city overall were destroyed.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. (AP)  Twenty-three years ago, Scott Baugh was a little-known Southern California lawyer whose conservative politics and youthful brio impressed Republican U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who steered his new protege to a seat in the state Legislature.

Now, Baugh wants the congressmans job.

What was once a political kinship forged around the values of the Reagan revolution has deteriorated into a nasty rivalry in a state where Republicans can scarcely afford it.

Democrats are pursuing a string of Republican-held House seats in California, four of them partially or entirely in Orange County. But in the 48th District, Rohrabacher also is fighting off one of his own.

In a worst-case scenario, the intraparty feud could cost the GOP a seat in a year when the balance of power in Congress might hinge on a handful of California races.

Its a dangerous situation, said Republican national committeeman Shawn Steel, whos known Rohrabacher since the 1960s and is backing his friends bid for a 16th trip to Capitol Hill.

The bad blood between the old allies appears to stem at least partly from Baughs belief that the congressman reneged on plans to retire at the end of the current term. It also reflects a new reality in the increasingly Democratic state: Republicans fighting over their shrinking turf.

Rohrabacher, 70, is a one-time Cold Warrior who became Russias leading defender on Capitol Hill. His name has come up in the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election; he has denied any wrongdoing.

The guitar-strumming, surfing-loving congressman is a former speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan. He also is widely known for his longtime support for legalized marijuana.

Hes been depicting Baugh in campaign ads as an ethically challenged lobbyist who, if elected, would become a perfect member of the swamp in Washington, echoing President Donald Trumps criticism of Beltway politics.

To Baugh, his ersatz mentor has become the embodiment of all thats wrong with Washington  a perpetual incumbent with little to show for it.

The 55-year-old Baugh, who spent a decade leading the Orange County Republican Party, has been stuffing mailboxes with postcard-like ads mocking the congressmans numerous overseas trips, including multiple visits to Russia.

They do call me Putins favorite congressman, one jeers, the flip side carrying a rendition of Moscows famous domes of St. Basils Cathedral.

Part of the uncertainty in the race comes from a crowded field in the June 5 election combined with Californias so-called jungle primary system, in which all candidates are listed on a single ballot. The top two vote-getters advance to a November runoff, regardless of party affiliation.

Voters in the coastal district are seeing a barrage of ads backed by millions of dollars from candidates in both major parties, as well as outside groups.

The rift has divided Republicans in Orange County, once considered a GOP fortress where Democrats have been making inroads. Rohrabachers district, which includes wealthy seaside enclaves like Newport Beach as well as inland suburbs, is among seven in California held by Republicans but carried by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race, making them targets this year.

As a durable incumbent, Rohrabacher can claim an advantage  he won the district by nearly 17 points in 2016, though he hasnt faced a tough race in recent memory.

The party establishment is behind him. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes is headlining a fundraiser for him next month. And in March, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy and other prominent Republicans sent Baugh a scalding letter, urging him to step away.

Limited resources and volunteer energy must be directed toward defeating Democrats, they wrote, calling his campaign destructive to the Republican Party of Orange County which you helped build.

Baugh remains undeterred.

The longer you stay in Washington, the less likely youll get anything done, he said in an interview.

Rohrabachers campaign did not respond to a request for an interview.

The congressman faced controversy last week after telling a group of real estate agents in Washington that homeowners should be able to refuse to sell their property to gays and lesbians. The Orange County Register reported that the remarks prompted the National Association of Realtors to withdraw its recommendation that members send campaign contributions to Rohrabacher, and that the congressman denied hes trying to shore up his conservative flank to fend off Baugh.

Democrats have their own problems: too many candidates, which could water down the partys chances.

Several Democrats are among the top spenders in the race, including businessman Harley Rouda, whos backed by the partys campaign arm in the House, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. But Neuroscientist Hans Keirstead snagged the endorsement from the state Democratic Party.

Ironically, theres also the possibility that Baughs candidacy turns out to be a blessing for Republicans.

With 16 names on the ballot in a district with a Republican pedigree and a double-digit registration advantage for the GOP, its mathematically possible that two Republicans advance to the runoff, shutting out the Democrats in November.

Congressional Democrats eager to keep Baugh out of the runoff have been running ads that recall his 1999 agreement to pay a $47,900 penalty for campaign-finance violations during his first race for the Assembly in 1995.

Its all been wearying for Huntington Beach retiree Sharon Cress, a registered Republican, who sees a campaign focused on insults, not issues.

The ads from the two Republicans are all mudslinging, said Cress, who worked in real estate. Its just awful. I probably wont vote for either one of them.
By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 05/29/2018



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Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.
The Green of the valley has been regularly witnessed the blood of militants, Kashmiris, personnel from armed forces and now even those of tourists. In the month of May (2018) earlier this year a school bus was stoned leading to the death of an eleven year old child. This is the background in which Mehbooba Mufti the Chief Minister of Kashmir, sitting on the heap of a coalition, which is ideologically spilt down to the last, requested for a unilateral ceasefire in Kashmir in the holy month of Ramadan. Kashmir lately has witnessed increased violence as Central Government, which is calling the shots in Kashmir has adopted the iron fist policy substituting the earlier one of being part sensitive to the grievances of local population. It is during this period that the fake encounter of Burhan Wani unleashed a series of protests, and the disgruntled and alienated youth intensified their favorite method of protest, astone peltinga. Now the frustration levels of the protesters are so high that they are not scared of the consequences of the repressive steps of the state.

The earlier UPA era of adialogue with firm handlinga has given way to the muscular, hyper nationalist high handed attitude, which in turn has increased the incidences of violence in the valley. So far in 2018, forty militants, twenty four soldiers and thirty seven civilians have lost their lives. While PDP earlier was talking separatist language, it tied up with Hindu nationalist BJP, which has been asking for abolition of article 370, the autonomy clause, for the sake of grabbing power. BJP as such is wearing its anti minority stance on its sleeves and is out to undermine the Muslim majority of the state. Mehbooba Mufti is in the catch 22 situation, neither can she exercise the policies which can sooth local sentiments nor is she able to counter the high handed Hindutva policies of its ally BJP. While the major implementation of the high handed attitude is from the center, Mufti seems to be a mute witness barring probably the lone example of Kathua rape and murder where she could assert and the BJP leaders had to bite the dust.

The present scenario, worsening by the day, may affect the tourism, which is the prime source of revenue in the state. The plight of average Kashmiri needs all the empathy as with BJP rule in the center matters have taken an adverse direction. The simmering discontent, which came out in the form of stone pelting is worsening by the day due to lack of mechanisms of democratic protests and the possibility of dialogue from the authorities. Chief Minster has been calling for dialogue but she has been overruled by the BJP, as its interests are to keep up the intimidating dominating attitude for its electoral and divisive Hindu nationalist goals.

Most of the times; all the blame of discontent is passed on to the instigation from Pakistan alone. The fact is that Kashmiris are dissatisfied due to multiple factors, role of Pakistan being just one of these. The Al Qaeda clones are another and the attitude of the army is not helping the matters in any way. Armyas basic duty is to protect the borders from the enemies. Here a civilian area is under armyas control from decades. Armyas attitude was exemplified when Farooq Ahmad Dar, a weaver, who had come to cast his vote, was used as a human shield and army is trying to defend the action of the officer who subjected a civilian to such an ignominy. He was tied for over five hours and now he stands to live with humiliation all his life. Can such attitudes let the people live their lives in the normal way in such a situation? Earlier there were articulations about autonomy to state assembly, as promised in the treaty of accession; itas no more on the mind of those in the power. The central hallmark of democracy is the process of dialogue, which is missing in the state. Many earlier leaders had attempted to bring peace; Vajpayeeas famous doctrine was aiming at peace, progress and prosperity in the Valley by bringing in the spirit of Insaniyat (Humanity), Jamhuriyat (Democracy) and Kashmiriyat (Identity of the people of Kashmir). It also aimed at improving relations with Pakistan. Mehbooba Mufti is reminding the present rules of Vajpayee doctrine, but her plea seems to be falling on deaf ears.

UPA II undertook a major step by appointing a team of interlocutors. Dileep Padgaonkar, M M Ansari and Radha Kumar. They undertook extensive interaction with diverse groups within the state and submitted their recommendations, which were basically asking for promoting autonomy of state assembly, dialogue and improvement of relations with Pakistan. The report is lying deeply ignored. It is time that this report, the last major step at reconciliation on the issue, is revived to bring in peace in the Valley. The BJPas role in the alliance has been very negative and has marginalized the Muslim community in a Muslim majority state. Can Mehbooba Mufti assert herself to articulate the democratic aspirations of the people of Kashmir are the question we need to ask. The anger of people against Mufti has grown immensely. The ceasefire declared by the Government is a welcome move and it needs to be backed up by humane policies to restore peace in the valley.
Fifteen Cambodians imprisoned on charges widely viewed as politically motivated are suffering as the result of undue punishment in jail, according to two opposition officials who visited them Tuesday.



Son Chhay, the former chief whip of the now-dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), and Tie Vannol, president of the Candle Light Party, spoke with the 15 imprisoned CNRP members, supporters and activists during their monthly visit them at Prey Sar Prison and deliver donations from supporters.



Eleven of the 15 have been incarcerated since 2014 for their alleged role in a July 15, 2014 demonstration held by the CNRP against government manipulation of the general election a year earlier, and restrictions on peaceful assembly, that turned violent when police tried to forcibly remove protesters. In July 2015, they received sentences for insurrection of from seven to 20 years in prison.



The other threeRoeun Chantra, Yun Kim Huor, and Yea Thongwere initially arrested for their participation in the demonstration, but were convicted in cases related to comments they posted on their Facebook accounts and have been in prison for more than two years.



Son Chhay told RFAs Khmer Service after the visit that the prisoners were being denied basic rights in jail.



These 15 people should not face such punishments such as being denied access to radios, or paper to write down their thoughts, or from meeting with their families in a normal manner because a huge glass barrier was installed [at the visitation room]  and they can only read each others lips, he said.



Also, when these 15 prisoners are allowed to leave their individual cells for outdoor exercise, once they come out, they are placed in another similar kind of cell, meaning that they may not walk freely outside before returning to their own cell.



Son Chhay said that the prisoners had complained to prison officials, but that the officials told him that changes could only be made to their treatment on the guidance of the chief of the prison department.



However, the chief of the prison department is apparently afraid of [Prime Minister Hun Sen] after the prime minister blamed him for a previous mistake, he said.



That is why he is punishing these 15 people so severely, and I want the Ministry of Interior or the prime minister to be made aware of this, so that they reconsider their cases. Such treatment is above and beyond their punishment, and their cases should be reviewed for their release.



Earlier this month, New York-based Human Rights Watch had called on Cambodia to quash the politically motivated insurrection convictions against 11 of the CNRP members ahead of a May 10 court decision on their appeal.



Human Rights Watchs Asia director Brad Adams called their 2015 conviction one of the first of many bogus cases brought against the opposition after the party nearly won the disputed 2013 elections and suggested that incarcerating them was part of a bid by Hun Sen and the CPP to stave off defeat at the ballot-box.



However, after deliberating for two minutes, Judge Plang Samnang said Cambodias Court of Appeal in the capital Phnom Penh decided to uphold the Phnom Penh Municipal Courts verdict and ordered the continued detention of the 11 people, without providing a reason for the ruling.



Ballot positions



Meanwhile, the National Election Commission (NEC)Cambodias top electoral bodyon Tuesday announced the results of a drawing to determine the ballot position of each of the countrys 20 political parties registered for the July 29 election.



In a statement, NEC chairperson Sik Bun Hok called the results really significant, as they will provide favorable conditions for political parties related to electoral campaign and [help] voters easily recognize the political party they prefer.



Prime Minister Hun Sen took to his Facebook account after the announcement to congratulate his ruling Cambodian Peoples Party (CPP) on securing number 20 on the ballot, which he said is easy to remember for our general citizens nationwide.



Sam Inn, the secretary general for the Grassroots Democracy Party (GDP), wrote on Facebook that his partys securing the seventh position on the ballotthe position held by the CNRP in the countrys 2013 electionsignaled a rebirth of the spirit of number seven, suggesting that the GDP was the natural replacement for the dissolved opposition party and could replicate its success in this years ballot.



Former CNRP president Sam Rainsywho is living in self-imposed exile to avoid convictions widely seen as politically motivateddismissed Sam Inns comments, saying the GDPs position was purely a coincidence, and warned voters that his party was nothing like the CNRP, which was banned by the Supreme Court in November over allegations it was involved in a plot to overthrow the government.



In Cambodia, under Hun Sen, everything is fake, including democracy, development, rule of law, and the election, he said.



The party standing on number 7 is a fake party, and we ask our citizens not to pay any attention to it  Please only pay attention to the CNRP, which calls upon you all not to participate in such a fake and theatrical election, that is seen as a devolution of democracy in Cambodia.



Ensured victory



Analysts told RFAs Khmer Service that regardless of the position of each party on the ballot, the CPP is likely to obliterate the competition because it has no true challenger, following the dissolution of the CNRP.



The CPP will surely receive overwhelming support because the other 19 parties cannot compare to it, said election expert Yoeung Sotheara.



In terms of their weight, they are much lighter and so cannot be appropriate challengers for the ruling party. Nevertheless, it is their rights to participate.



Youth voter analyst Hang Vitou told RFA that Cambodians clearly understand that the other parties are puppet parties that are only taking part to create a scenario for the ruling party, in order for it to cling to power.



But he said that even if fewer voters support the ruling party than did in the countrys previous election, the CPP could still win the election compared to the other parties.



The other parties are taking part in the election, but compared to the CPP, they dont enjoy much support  due to their ability, potential and officials, he said.



Hang Vitou said he expects the voter turnout to be significantly lower than the previous election due to absence of the CNRP, adding that Hun Sen had already ensured his victory after dissolution of the main opposition party.



Reported by RFAs Khmer Service. Translated by Sovannarith Keo. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has dismantled the in-depth features department at a major newspaper in Beijing, after sending in a top official to make sweeping changes that led to the resignations of dozens of editorial staff, RFA has learned.



Four journalists have left the Beijing-based Legal Evening News since the in-depth section of the newspaperwhich had won a reputation for cutting-edge investigative reporting and in-depth features on crime and social issueswas abolished earlier this month, according to various sources in the industry.



One media source told RFA on Tuesday that the rumors were true, but declined to give any further information, owing to the shroud of official secrecy around the story.



"I can only confirm this, because I haven't seen any news on what is happening at the Legal Evening News released to the public yet; nothing," the source said. "I don't know if you can use that."



The move comes after the Communist Party Youth League committee appointed a high-ranking official in charge of the Beijing Youth Daily, Peng Liang, to take over at the paper, sparking dozens of resignations in protest.



The paper now runs an operation that is much thinner on original content, and with far fewer staff, overseas media reports have indicated.



The abolition of the in-depth features section was initially reported by its former editor Zhu Shunzhong on a social media group chat on May 4. But Zhu's post was deleted just one minute after posting, a source inside the Legal Evening News told RFA.



The source said that the editorial department has complained to management about the number of resignations as a result of the recent changes at the paper.



A journalist who answered the phone at the Legal Evening News on Tuesday declined to comment.



"I'm not really sure about this," the reporter said. "All the sections are managed by the editor-in-chief and the editorial team."



A second journalist who asked to remain anonymous estimated the number of resignations at the newspaper at around 90, since Peng's arrival.



He said that while just four journalists had quit as a result of the closure of the in-depth features department, many more remain worried that the paper will lose a considerable portion of its readership without that section.



Wang Lin, Tang Haifan and Zhu Shunzhong were the main trio of editors responsible for the Legal Evening News' in-depth features department.



Zhu has already been targeted by the Communist Party's powerful propaganda department, who had him taken on forced "vacation" last year after he posted messages it considered politically sensitive to his friends group on the social media app WeChat.



Some of the problematic content related to the targeting of hundreds of Chinese rights lawyers in a nationwide crackdown since July 2015, in particular the accusations of subversion that many faced.



In recent years, the in-depth features department conducted lengthy coverage and extensive follow-up reports on a number of high-profile legal cases, including the case of a woman's murder in Hohhot, capital of the northern Inner Mongolia region, for which an innocent ethnic Mongolian youth, Huugjilt, was executed in 1996.



Serial rapist and murderer Zhao Zhihong later confessed to the murder.



Factory worker Huugjilt, 18, was executed just 61 days after being found guilty of raping and killing the victim, official media reported. He was later exonerated following retrials in 2014 of both Huugjilt and Zhao, and the Legal Evening News' in-depth coverage was widely seen as contributing to the outcome.



Other papers



According to Bruce Lui, senior journalism lecturer at Hong Kong's Baptist University, the changes at the paper are the latest in a long string of similar moves at other newspapers.



Recent developments at the paper echo the 2006 closure of Freezing Point, the cutting-edge news supplement to the prestigious China Youth Daily newspaper, after that paper was temporarily closed for 'rectification.'



The supplement's editors Li Datong and Lu Yuegang were transferred to work in the papers news research department, which they jokingly referred to at the time as being sent to "the warehouse."



"Large numbers of investigative journalists and investigative departments have been done away with, and this latest example shows us that the media are under massive pressure and low morale," Lui said.



"A lot of mainland Chinese journalists are in a very difficult situation, and are having to make compromises," he said.



As President Xi Jinping embarks on a second, unlimited term in office following the annual National People's Congress (NPC) in March, he is strengthening the ruling Chinese Communist Party's hold on all forms of public expression, enlarging its powerful propaganda department to absorb all government agencies responsible for regulating the mass media, and exporting its ideology to the rest of the world via a new mega-broadcaster.



Former Freezing Point editor Li Datong, who posted and forwarded an open letter opposing indefinite presidential rule on the social media platform WeChat, has likened the move to the massive Nazi propaganda takeover of books, newspapers and all forms of public speech in Germany during the 1930s.



Sichuan-based writer and publisher Huang Zerong, better known by his pen-name Tie Liu, said the changes at the Legal Evening News come as no surprise.



"This is to be expected at a time when there is an emphasis on ideological unity," Tie told RFA on Tuesday. "The news industry has to do as it is told, because they have to eat."



"All news content is being unified now, and local newspapers daren't report anything [independently]."



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
China harshly ramped up its repression of religious groups operating outside of state control last year, jailing and harassing the leaders of Christian churches and throwing thousands of ethnic Uyghur Muslims suspected of religious extremism into re-education camps, the U.S. State Department said in an annual report released on Tuesday.



In China, the State Departments 2017 International Religious Freedom Report said, there continued to be reports of deaths in detention of religious adherents, as well as reports of the abuse, jailing, and torture of followers of both registered and unregistered groups.



In northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, authorities restricted Uyghurs participation in the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan and other religious observances, the report said, adding that hundreds of thousands of Uyghur Muslims have been forced into camps scattered across Xinjiang.



Extensive and invasive security and surveillance practices have [also] been instituted, the report said.



Since April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring strong religious views and politically incorrect views have been jailed or detained in re-education camps throughout Xinjiang, where members of the ethnic group have long complained of pervasive discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese rule.



China's central government authorities have not publicly acknowledged the existence of re-education camps in the XUAR, and the number of inmates kept in each facility remains a closely guarded secret, but rights groups and exiled Uyghur activists estimate that between 800,000 and 1 million Uyghurs have been detained throughout the region since April 2017.



'A very troubling country'



In Tibetan areas of China, meanwhile, Buddhist practitioners were subjected last year to forced disappearance, physical abuse, and prolonged detention without trial because of their beliefs, the State Department said.



Travel restrictions hindered traditional religious practices and pilgrimages, the report said, adding that repression increased around politically sensitive events, including the birthday of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.



Authorities often justified their interference with Tibetan Buddhist monasteries by claiming the religious institutions [had] engaged in separatist or pro-independence activities and undermined the leadership of the Communist Party of China.



Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom Sam Brownback said China, a State Department-designated Country of Political Concern since 1999, remains a very, very troubling country on religious freedom, noting especially the situation in Tibet and the numbers of Uyghurs now being held in re-education camps.



That was a concept you thought was gone decades ago and [is being] experienced in a growing amount, Brownback said. Thats why we put it forward in this report for greater action to take place.



Large-scale abuses



Meanwhile in Myanmar, the country formerly known as Burma, government troops and others engaged last year in large-scale abuses, including killings and rape, against Rakhine states Rohingya Muslim ethnic group and ethnic minority communities in other parts of the country, the State Department report said.



Because religion and ethnicity are often closely linked, it was difficult to categorize many incidents as being based solely on religious identity, the report said, adding however that religious minorities including Christians and Hindus elsewhere in Myanmar reported restrictions on religious practice and travel throughout the year.



Myanmars government and army have vehemently denied allegations that security forces indiscriminately killed, tortured, and raped Rohingya and burned down their homes, despite statements by the U.N. and others that the crackdowns, which together drove between 700,000 and 800,000 Rohingya across the border to Bangladesh, amounted to ethnic cleansing.



The destruction of religious texts and property and the refusal by authorities to grant permits for the building or renovation of religious structures were also reported during the year, the State Department said.



The State Department had asked for permission last year to go into Rakhine state to inspect conditions for itself, Brownback told reporters at the State Department on Tuesday.



I had asked for access into Myanmar and to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi [and] to go into northern Rakhine State, where the problems have been most acute, although theres plenty of problems in various places of Myanmar. And I was denied those accesses, Brownback said.



I dont think youve seen progress taking place there in the country, Brownback added.



If anything, the administration there is doubling its effort and going after the [majority Christian] Kachin in the northern part of the country, and the refugee numbers are increasing in the northern part now of Burma, Brownback said.
Plainclothes officers in northeastern China's Shandong province guarding the home of democracy activist Zhao Wei, , who was placed under house arrest on May 14, ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the port city of Qingdao on June 9.

Authorities in the northeastern province of Shandong are implementing draconian public security measures, including racial profiling of the Uyghur Muslim population, ahead of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in the port city of Qingdao on June 9.

An employee who answered the phone at top hotel in Qingdao said there are restrictions on ethnic minority groups, particular the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs from the northwestern region of Xinjiang, who are no longer allowed to check into the city's hotels.

"Xinjiang ID cards? Are they Han Chinese? If so, no problem. If they're Uyghur, I'd have to run it by the local police station beforehand," the employee said.

Several other employees at hotels in the city confirmed they had been told to check ethnic minority guests with police before allowing them to check in. Chinese ID cards have an entry for the card-holder's ethnicity.

Authorities are also requiring local businesses to replace the Wi-Fi connections they offer to customers with a government-approved router engineered to prevent people from circumventing the complex set of blocks, filters and human censorship known as the Great Firewall.

In Qingdao, the new routers will be supplied by a company called Qingdao Hongji Security Engineering, an employee confirmed to RFA in a recent interview.

"They have to pay a deposit of 100 yuan to us," the employee said.

"It's just for people supplying Wi-Fi to anyone who comes in off the street."

"This is a unified policy on the part of the government: they must all be swapped out," he said. "We are just in charge of installing them. I'm not too sure what happens if you don't change the router and then offer your Wi-Fi to other people."

A Qingdao resident surnamed Li said there is a visibly increased police presence on the streets of the city, as well as in public transport stations.

"There are a lot of security checks. It's very strict," Li said. "But the real reason they need all of this prevention is [the government] themselves."

"They are on tenterhooks because of all the bad things they have done," she said.

Critics under house arrest

Critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party are also being placed under house arrest ahead of the summit, activists said.

Democracy activist Zhao Wei, who lives in Shandong's Liaocheng city, said he was placed under house arrest on May 14, just before he had planned to travel to Beijing, as part of "stability maintenance" measures ahead of the summit, which will be chaired by President Xi Jinping.

"I just thought they had come to have a chat with me, to tell me not to go to Beijing," Zhao told RFA in a recent interview. "But now they have placed a guard of four plainclothes officers and one uniformed cop outside my door."

"I am now being watched 24 hours a day: they're not letting me leave," he said. "They are holding the SCO summit ... in Qingdao in June," he said.

Zhao, who once took part in the 1989 student-led pro-democracy movement, said the move could also be linked to the forthcoming 29th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre that put a bloody end to weeks of protest on Tiananmen Square and across the country.

Retired Shandong University professor Sun Wenguang has also been placed under house arrest at his home, sources said. Recent calls to Sun's cell phone rang unanswered.

Activists, said the authorities have placed restrictions on freedom of movement across the city ahead of the summit, including checking the ID of anyone seeking to visit a residential compound across the city.

A Qingdao-based rights activist surnamed Zhang said the authorities have also clamped down on anyone pursuing complaints against the ruling Chinese Communist Party, and police have been detaining petitioners as a preventive measure ahead of the event.

"There are more restrictions now, and nobody is allowed to petition," Zhang said. "If you do, you'll be detained."

"People are mostly too worried to go out and about," she said.

Social media accounts shut

Zhang said police are also targeting anyone whose social media accounts are frequently shut down, usually because they have posted or retweeted something considered "sensitive" under increasingly draconian controls on public speech.

"If your accounts get shut down a lot, then they will be watching you more," she said. "Everything is dominated by the summit and by stability maintenance right now."

Zhang said she knows of several practitioners of the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, which Beijing has designated an "evil cult," who have been detained in recent days, as well rights activists and petitioners.

Authorities have also stepped up controls on the city's migrant population, she said.

"They are checking very carefully, including hotel registrations ... and you have to even register at bathhouses after 10.00 p.m.," she said. "They are targeting the migrant population ... but they've stopped demolitions and evictions [of migrant workers] ahead of the summit."

A migrant worker from Shandong's Jiaozhou city who was violently evicted from his home along with his family in April said the evictions have temporarily stopped.

"There are more restrictions ahead of the summit in Qingdao," he said.

"Everyone knows that anyone in a vehicle heading in to Qingdao can be pulled over while the cops search the vehicle and the people."

"There is an obvious reason for this, but there is also a hidden agenda," he said. "They are watching people round the clock, setting guards outside your door, and they watch you wherever you go."

President Xi will chair the 18th SCO Summit from June 9-10 in Qingdao, Xinhua reported on Monday.

The regional grouping of China, Russia, India, Pakistan and their neighbors in Central Asia aims for greater cross-border cooperation between its members.

However, the SCO has been accused by rights groups of facilitating each others' human rights abuses, while justifying them as being part of antiterrorism cooperation.

Reported by Wong Siu-san and Sing Man for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Qiao Long for the Mandarin Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Laid-off teachers who worked for years on non-civil service contracts have protested across China in recent weeks over a lack of redundancy pay, pensions, or new job opportunities.



On Sunday, around 200 former teachers gathered outside government offices in Lu'an city, in eastern Anhui province. They were ordered to leave by police, who detained 16 people.



"Sixteen teachers have been detained by police, which I think is an inappropriate use of the law, because they used violence, in particular on the large number of women," a source close to the protests surnamed Yao told RFA on Monday. "There were three or four police officers to one person."



"Whether it is wages or other benefits, these teachers are entitled to this remuneration, which they earned with the sweat of their brow," Yao said. "Some teachers have received it, while others haven't, which is wrong."



Teachers in China can be hired on civil service or non-civil service (minban) contracts, and those employed on the latter frequently complain of wages that are below a minimum living standard and that often go unpaid for months.



They also complain of a lack of pensions and other benefits after retirement, or when they are laid off.



An official who answered the phone at the Lu'an municipal education bureau on Monday confirmed the protest had taken place.



"We are dealing with this right now," an official said when contacted by RFA. "But we are still investigating, so I can't really give you a detailed picture right now. Please check our website."



Crude, basic methods



The Lu'an city government apologized at a news conference on Tuesday over the treatment of the teachers, who mostly hailed from the city's Jinan and Yu'an districts.



"At 8:40 am on [Sunday], petitioning teachers gathered at the southern gate of the Lu'an municipal government, and the number of people present kept growing," the government said in a statement.



"Comrades from the municipal party committee and the municipal government rushed to the scene to talk to the petitioning teachers without blocking their way."



Police told the teachers that they had violated petitioning regulations, and that they should immediately cease petitioning, it said.



"A small number of public security police employed crude and basic enforcement methods, and in this regard, the Lu'an People's Government expresses its sincere apology," it said, adding that a disciplinary investigation of police methods is currently under way.



But the government insisted that it doesn't owe the teachers any pay or benefits.



"The governments of Jinan and Lu'an districts strictly implemented national and provincial policies on wages, and had paid all elementary and high-school teachers' wages in full. There were no wages owing to the teachers," the statement said.



Former Anhui prosecutor-turned-rights activist Shen Liangqing said the teachers had clearly suffered a violation of their legitimate rights and interests.



"The situation of these teachers is somewhat more vulnerable than that of civil servants," Shen said. "It is perfectly normal for them to express their dissatisfaction."



"The main problem is the way governments are treating them across China," he said. "Their right to complain should be protected, but the local authorities usually act to suppress them instead."



'We are in despair'



And on May 21, more than 2,000 teachers across the northern region of Inner Mongolia took to the streets of the regional capital Hohhot, gathering in front of the government complaints department, a New York-based rights group reported this week.



The unemployed kindergarten, elementary, and high-school teachers protested the ruling Chinese Communist Party's current policy of shutting down schools offering Mongolian-medium teaching, as well as widespread layoffs of ethnic Mongolian teachers, the Southern Mongolia Human Rights and Information Center (SMHRIC) said in a report on its website.



The protesters, many of whom wore traditional Mongolian clothes, demanded reemployment, compensation, and a pension plan for unemployed teachers, it said.



"Governments at every level have failed to implement relevant laws and regulations to address the requests of minban and substitute teachers ... [while] local governments have shirked responsibility for years," SMHRIC quoted the teachers as saying in an open letter to the authorities.



"We are helpless. We are in despair. We are confused. We are pained, and we are outraged," the teachers wrote.



Since 2000, the Chinese government has put increasing pressure on the traditional way of life of ethnic Mongolians, using "ecological" migration policies to prevent them from grazing their livestock, and eliminating Mongolian-medium education in local schools, leaving many minban teachers out of work.



Reported by Qiao Long for RFA's Mandarin Service, and by Wen Yuqing for the Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.
Ichiro Maruyama (top L), Japan's ambassador to Myanmar, meets officials from the Arakan National Party in Sittwe, capital of western Myanmar's Rakhine state, May 29, 2018.

Japans ambassador to Myanmar advised the dominant ethnic Rakhine political party in the countrys beleaguered Rakhine state that it should work to resolve the Rohingya Muslim crisis as soon as possible during a visit to the area to discuss the plight of refugees from an ongoing conflict.

Attacks by a Muslim militant group on police outposts in northern Rakhine in August 2017 prompted a crackdown by Myanmar forces who carried out indiscriminate killings, torture, rape, and arson in communities where the stateless and persecuted Rohingya lived.

The campaign drove nearly 700,000 Rohingya into neighboring Bangladesh, where they now live in sprawling refugee camps.

During a meeting in Rakhines capital Sittwe, Ambassador Ichiro Maruyama told Tun Aung Gyaw, general secretary of the Arakan National Party (ANP), and other party officials that the political organization should work to clear up the crisis which the United Nations and others have said amounts to ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

He said we should solve it quickly because it has stirred huge global interest, Tun Aung Gyaw said.

We told him this Bengali issue couldnt be resolved in a short time and that we would need time to slowly find a lasting solution, he said, using a derogatory name for the Rohingya, who are considered illegal immigrants from Bangladesh and subjected to systematic discrimination in Myanmar.

They are also denied citizenship though many have lived in the country for generations.

Myanmar officials are in the process of reviewing applications from Rohingya refugees who fled the crackdown to return to Rakhine state, pending verification.

Rights groups and the U.N. have called on Myanmar to guarantee the safety of Rohingya who are repatriated and allow them to become citizens.

The ANP does not object to granting citizenship to those who qualify under Myanmars 1982 Citizenship Law, but its wants the central government to clearly declare that those who do not qualify for citizenship will be rejected, Tun Aung Gyaw said.

ANP officials also told the ambassador that the government will not keep all the Rohingya who return confined to Rakhine state, but will give them the freedom to travel across the country.

Maruyama, who arrived in Sittwe on May 27, has also met with Rakhine state officials and Muslim villagers and visited Rohingya repatriation centers.

Though authorities have approved for repatriation hundreds of Rohingya from a list of more than 8,000 provided by Bangladesh, official returns have not yet begun. Myanmar officials say the country has been ready to accept back refugees since Jan. 23, but they have blamed delays in the process on their Bangladeshi counterparts.

Japan is the fourth largest investor in Myanmar after Singapore, China, and the Netherlands. The country has provided financial support for numerous large-scale infrastructure projects with its investment in Myanmar hitting an all-time peak of roughly $1.48 billion in fiscal year 2017, according to Myanmars Ministry of Planning and Finance.

Refugees arrested, released

The Japanese ambassadors advice came days after 58 refugees, presumed to be Rohingya Muslims, returned to Myanmar on their own without first being verified by officials and processed through repatriation centers in Rakhine state.

Authorities arrested them and handed down some prison sentences, though they later all received a pardon from President Win Myint and were released from prison. From there, they were sent to the Nga Khu Ya reception camp where they will be verified as eligible for return and transferred to the transit camp at Hla Phoe Khaung.

Myanmar has agreed to take back Rohingya refugees who want to return voluntarily to Rakhine state if they can prove residency in the region prior to October 2016, when Muslim militants launched a deadly smaller-scale attack on border guard stations.

A Myanmar delegation led by Myint Thu, permanent secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited Bangladesh's capital Dhaka on May 15-18 to discuss the repatriation of verified displaced persons, including security for the prospective returnees and the involvement of U.N. agencies in the process of repatriation and resettlement.

The Myanmar side repeated its readiness to accept back verified Rohingya and Hindus who also had fled northern Rakhine during the crackdown.

Despite these efforts, the procedures for systematic repatriation are still not yet widely known by the displaced persons, said a statement issued by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyis office on May 27 following the arrests of the 58 refugees who returned to Myanmar on their own.

As a result, the displaced persons who no longer find it tenable to continue their stay in the camps in Coxs Bazaar began returning to Rakhine state of their own volition and under their own arrangements, it said.

Reported by Min Thein Aung for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Myang Nyane and Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Myanmars military is not responsible for the delay in holding the third round of the governments key peace initiative to bring security forces and ethnic armed groups to the negotiation table in a bid to end decades of civil war that have stymied the countrys political and economic development, a Defense Ministry official said Monday.

Though State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi has sought to hold talks between factions every six months since the first meeting under the 21st-Century Panglong Conference, also known as the Union Peace Conference, in August and September 2016, subsequent rounds have been delayed by ongoing fighting between the national army and ethnic militias in some of Myanmars far-flung regions.

The second set of talks was held in May 2017, while the third one was slated for this month. But ethnic armies that have already signed a nationwide cease-fire agreement (NCA) with the government said they had to attend other meetings in May to prepare for the countrys political dialogue.

Intensified clashes between Myanmar forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) this year in northern Myanmars Kachin state have raised questions about the militarys possible role in hindering the talks.

If armed groups follow the path of the NCA, then there should be no reason to delay peace, Brigadier General Aung Kyaw Hoe of the Defense Ministry told reporters during a press conference in Naypyidaw in response to a question about the possibility of a cease-fire in Kachin state and the holding of the next round of peace talks.

The delay of the third Panglong Conference and peace process is not on account of the military, he said. It is because of the rights that ethnic armed groups receive in their territories and the reasons they are fighting against the government army.

The ongoing hostilities in Kachin state are a result of KIA attacks on the government armys battalions and headquarters, Aung Kyaw Hoe said.

The KIA's political wing, the Kachin Independence Organization, has not signed the NCA.

If the KIA stays only in its own territory, there would not be any fighting, Aung Kyaw Hoe said.

Another reporter noted that former President Thein Sein, under whom the NCA was signed by eight ethnic armed groups in October 2015, ordered the military during his term not to launch offensives against the KIA. He then asked Aung Kyaw Hoe what the military would do if current President Win Myint issued the same order.

The brigadier general responded that the armed forces would carry out the presidents order if it was issued in accordance with the law.

The military is working according to states the lead, Aung Kyaw Hoe said. The president is the leader of the country. We are ready to do what he orders if he does it according to the law.

Displacements and protests

A surge in fighting this year in the long-running civil war between the KIA and the Myanmar army has displaced more than 7,400 civilians in Hpakant, Tanaing, and Injangyang townships since early April, according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Groups in various cities and towns staged protests calling on the military to end the hostilities and on the Myanmar government to rescue civilians trapped in war zones with little or no food. Authorities arrested some protest leaders who have been charged with unlawful assembly or defamation of the military, and in some instances jailed.

The Myanmar military has accused the KIA of illegally using the areas natural resources and taking money from mining businesses that should otherwise go to the state, while the ethnic militia believes the government army has stepped up its attacks on rebel-held territory in hopes of gaining control before the next round of peace negotiations.

Armed conflict between the two groups and human rights violations have displaced more than 100,000 civilians since June 2011, when a 17-year bilateral cease-fire agreement between the two sides broke down.

Reported by Wai Mar Htun for RFAs Myanmar Service. Translated by Khet Mar. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
A young Uyghur woman has gone missing after returning to her home in northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) from studying abroad in Malaysia, and is believed to be detained in a political re-education camp, according to her Germany-based sister.



Gulgine Tashmemet flew home to Ghulja (in Chinese, Yining) city in the XUAR's Ili Kazakh (Yili Hasake) Autonomous Prefecture on Dec. 26 last year after completing her masters degree at the University of Technology in southern Malaysias Johor state, her sister, Gulzire recently told RFAs Uyghur Service.



When she was in Malaysia she lost contact with the family completely  [so] she decided to go home to see our parents and our younger brother, as she was extremely worried about them, Gulzire said of her sister, who had recently received a scholarship to pursue a doctorate degree at the school beginning in February.



I repeatedly told her not to return, but she didnt listen. She said, I must go and find out what is happening to our parents before I can restart my studies.



Gulzire said that Tashmemet had to delete her as a WeChat messaging service contact to avoid attracting unwanted attention from local authorities in Ghulja for exchanging messages with a member of the Uyghur exile community, so the only way she could signal that she had arrived home safely was to change her profile picture to one of their mother.



I could only see the changes to her profile picture when I signed in to WeChat, Gulzire explained, adding that she had also asked her sister to change her picture once a week after arriving in Ghulja to indicate she remained free.



She changed her profile picture to my mothers after she arrived home, but that picture hasnt changed since  My mother also removed me from WeChat in January, Gulzire said.



When I contacted a friend asking for information [about my family], she informed me that my sister had been taken for re-education, and immediately after messaging me, she deleted me from her WeChat contacts.



Since April 2017, Uyghurs accused of harboring strong religious views and politically incorrect views have been jailed or detained in re-education camps throughout Xinjiang, where members of the ethnic group have long complained of pervasive discrimination, religious repression, and cultural suppression under Chinese rule.



Over the past year, Chinese authorities have ordered Uyghurs studying abroad in countries including Egypt, Turkey, France, Australia, and the U.S. to return to Xinjiang, and have subsequently detained some of them in the camps, according to reports.



Promise to return



Gulzire said that her sister had last visited home from Malaysia in March 2017 during spring vacation, and underwent a full investigation by local authorities at the time.



A blood sample was taken for the DNA database, and she was made to provide a copy of her passport and other requested documents, along with a letter of promise stating that she would return on the completion of her studies, she said.



She said at the time that the political climate was extremely tense, and that she was only allowed to leave the country after signing the pledge to return.



Gulzire noted that Malaysia is among dozens of countries Chinese authorities say are off limits to Uyghurs because of the risk of extremist Muslim indoctrination, and suggested that studying there may have led her sister to come under greater scrutiny.



Before returning home, Tashmemet told her sister that she had informed her university about the situation with her family, and university officials promised that if she didnt return by the end of Februarywhen she was to begin her doctorate studiesthey would make inquiries through the Chinese embassy in Malaysia.



Tashmemet brushed off Gulzires concerns about her safety, saying that even if I were taken for re-education, they would release me after three to six months, and that if I dont return, they will take our parents away.



She specifically asked me not to get involved if anything happened to her, Gulzire told RFA.



I hoped that I would have received some news by now, but it has been over six months and it has been impossible to find any answers, so I decided to speak to the media and human rights organisations, as there is no point in keeping it quiet any longer.



Camp network



China's central government authorities have not publicly acknowledged the existence of re-education camps in the XUAR, and the number of inmates kept in each facility remains a closely guarded secret, but local officials in many parts of the region have in RFA telephone interviews forthrightly described sending significant numbers of Uyghurs to the camps and even described overcrowding in some facilities.



Maya Wang of the New York-based Human Rights Watch told The Guardian in January that estimates of XUAR residents who had spent time in the camps went as high as 800,000, while at least one Uyghur exile group estimates that up to 1 million Uyghurs have been detained throughout the region since April 2017, and some Uyghur activists say nearly every Uyghur household has been affected by the campaign.



Last month, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio and U.S. Representative Chris Smiththe chair and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on Chinacalled on U.S. Ambassador to China Terry Branstad to visit Xinjiang and gather information on the detention of Uyghurs, which they termed "the largest mass incarceration of a minority population in the world today.



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 Gulchehra Hoja for RFA's Uyghur Service. Translated by RFA's Uyghur Service. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Afghan forces have killed nine people, mostly civilians, by mistake during a raid on a house in the eastern province of Nangarhar, officials say.

Attaullah Khogyani, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told RFE/RL on May 29 that eight people, including a child and a woman, were also wounded in the operation carried out by Afghan special forces in the Chaparhar district overnight.

An investigation was being conducted into the incident, Khogyani said.

Some reports said a local police commander and a number of relatives of Fazilhadi Muslimyar, the chairman of the upper house of parliament, were among those killed.

Provincial Governor Hayatullah Hayat said Afghan forces raided a house where gunfire had been coming from, but the casualties were identified as mostly civilians once the operation ended.

Nangarhar Province, on the border with Pakistan, has seen growing violence this year.

Earlier this month, the provincial governor was dismissed over deteriorating security in the province.

Both Taliban and the Islamic State group are active in eastern Afghanistan.

With reporting by AP, Khaama Press, and Pajhwok
A UN report says violence against Afghan women, including honor killings, often goes unpunished despite state efforts to prosecute such crimes.

The UN Human Rights Office and the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) said in a May 29 report that the use of mediation in cases of violence against women often ends in alleged criminal suspects not facing trial and receiving no punishment.

UNAMA said victims were often pressured into agreeing to mediation, a practice that is widely used by community leaders and local and regional councils to resolve conflicts.

"The wide use of mediation when a woman or girl has been beaten, mutilated, or murdered, or when she has been the victim of that awful concept of 'honor killing,' normalizes such violence and makes it much more likely to recur," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein said.

He added that such practices also eroded "the confidence of women -- and the wider public -- in the legal system."

The report -- Injustice And Impunity: Mediation Of Criminal Offenses Against Women -- evaluated 237 documented cases of violence against women between August 2015 and December 31, 2017; 280 cases of murder and "honor killings" in 2016 and 2017, and discussions with some 1,826 mediators.

The report also describes the experience of women who underwent mediation after originally filing a complaint with the authorities.

Many women who were interviewed for the report spoke of intense pressure from family and community members to agree to mediation, while others said they preferred mediation because of perceived faults in the justice system, including allegations of corruption.

Mediation was also valued because it resulted in a quick resolution of the complaint.

"The report's findings, including details indicating unchecked impunity in 'honor killings' and the murder of women, signals that justice for Afghan women victims of violence remains severely inadequate," said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN secretary-general's special representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA.

"The government has taken concrete steps to establish measures for accountability, and our report recognizes this, but the reality is that brutal violence against women continues to take place," Yamamoto said.
Azerbaijan has inaugurated the first phase of the Southern Gas Corridor (SGC) project aimed at transporting natural gas from the Caspian Sea to Europe, bypassing Russia.

"With this project we are creating a new energy map of Europe," President Ilham Aliyev said on May 29 at the opening ceremony near the Azerbaijani capital, Baku.

During the event attended by Western dignitaries, Aliyev turned on the taps at the Sangachal gas terminal.

The Southern Gas Project aims to transport gas 3,500 kilometers from the Caspian Sea to Europe, which is looking to reduce its reliance on Russian supplies.

The project comprises three linked pipelines that will bring gas from Azerbaijans vast Shah Deniz 2 natural gas field across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania, and the Adriatic Sea to Italy.

It is expected to bring around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe a year starting in 2020. Another 6 billion cubic meters of gas will go to Turkey.

The expanded South Caucasus Pipeline (SCP) will transport gas from Azerbaijan to Turkey, where it will feed into the Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline (TANAP). From Turkey, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) will take the gas on to Italy.

The total investment in Shah Deniz 2 and pipeline infrastructure is estimated to be more than $40 billion.

Aliyev praised support from the United States, Britain, and the European Union in the project and the "strong" cooperation between Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Georgia in building the pipeline.

"This project takes into account the interests of everyone -- suppliers of gas, transit countries, and consumers," he added.

Many activists have slammed the project, saying that Western governments have turned a blind eye to rights violations in Azerbaijan and charging that it will serve to enrich Aliyev's inner circle.

Aliyev, 56, secured a fourth consecutive presidential term last month in an election that international observers said was marred by "serious irregularities" and a lack of real competition.

With reporting by AFP


A hospital consultant who treated former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia, for exposure to a military-grade nerve agent did not at first think the two would survive, he said in an interview with BBC's Newsnight.

"When we first were aware this was a nerve agent, we were expecting them not to survive. We would try all our therapies. We would ensure the best clinical care. But all the evidence was there that they would not survive," said Stephen Jukes, an intensive-care consultant, in an interview scheduled to be broadcast on May 29.

The Skripals were brought in for emergency care at the hospital in Salisbury, England, after being found unconscious on a bench in the town on March 4.

Upon admission, the medical team suspected the two were experiencing an opioid overdose, doctors told the BBC, but that diagnosis quickly changed to nerve-agent poisoning.

Once doctors determined that the Skripals had been poisoned with the military-grade nerve agent Novichok, they said their main goal was just to keep the Skripals alive.

The two were heavily sedated and given heavy doses of drugs designed to protect them from the effects of the poison and to help restart their bodies' natural production of a key enzyme needed to overcome the poisoning.

Doctors described their fear and shock to the BBC when police officer Nick Bailey, one of the first on the scene to rescue the Skripals, was admitted shortly after they were with similar symptoms. Hospital staff said they wondered at that point if they too might fall victim to the nerve agent.

"When the PC was admitted with symptoms, there was real concern as to how big this could get," said Lorna Wilkinson, the director of nursing at the hospital.

Wilkinson told the BBC she feared the incident "could become all-consuming and involve many casualties.... We really didn't know at that point.

Both of the Skripals and Bailey survived and have been discharged from the hospital.

While they are still alive, Christine Blanshard, the hospital's medical director, told the BBC that doctors "don't know" what the long-term prognosis is for such people who have been exposed to Novichok.

Staff said the hospital received advice and help processing tests from international experts, including those from the nearby Porton Down defense-research laboratory, renowned for its chemical-weapons expertise.

Yulia Skripal was discharged in April but it was several more weeks before her father was well enough to be released.

Yulia Skripal said in a video last week that her recovery had been "slow and extremely painful" and that she was lucky to have survived.

Britain blamed Russia for poisoning the two and, along with its Western allies, expelled dozens of diplomats in response.

Russia has repeatedly denied involvement.

With reporting by BBC 2, Reuters, and The Guardian
India will keep trading with Iran and Venezuela despite the threat of penalties for violating U.S. sanctions recently announced against the two countries, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has said.

India is currently a top destination for Iran's oil exports. Asked about the U.S. move to withdraw from the Iranian nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions at a news conference on May 28, Swaraj said that India's policy was to honor only UN sanctions, not sanctions imposed by individual countries.

Swaraj's comments came before a meeting with her Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in New Delhi at which they discussed strategy in the aftermath of the U.S. decision.

An Indian government statement afterward said Zarif briefed Swaraj about his discussions with European, Russian, and Chinese leaders about preserving the Iran deal without the United States.

India continued to trade with Iran during previous rounds of U.S. sanctions, but after UN sanctions were imposed in 2006, it had to cut Iranian oil imports because they choked off its banking channels and insurance coverage for oil tankers.

While European countries have continued to grant Iran the sanctions relief promised under the 2015 nuclear deal in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear activities, the United States is moving to reimpose tough sanctions on Tehran and has warned that foreign companies that deal with Iran could themselves be punished under the measures.

Major European companies, including Total and Allianz, already have announced they will withdraw from Iran unless the United States grants them waivers from the sanctions.

But Swaraj said New Delhi will not be dictated to by other countries.

"We don't make our foreign policy under pressure from other countries," she said, adding that New Delhi only honors sanctions imposed collectively by members of the United Nations.

"We believe in UN sanctions, but not in country-specific sanctions," she said.

Bilateral trade between India and Iran amounted to $12.9 billion in 2016-17. India imported $10.5 billion worth of goods, mainly crude oil, and exported commodities worth $2.4 billion.

India has other interests in Iran, in particular a commitment to build the port of Chabahar on the Gulf of Oman.

The port is being touted as a way for India to establish trade routes that bypass rival Pakistan.

Media reports have speculated that India could revive a rupee-rial payment arrangement with Iran to shield exporters from the reach of U.S. sanctions, which prohibit using the U.S. dollar or U.S. financial system in business transactions with Iran.

Washington has also tightened sanctions recently against Venezuela over the controversial reelection of President Nicolas Maduro.

Swaraj said India would continue trading with Venezuela, but there was no plan to use a cryptocurrency Caracas recently created to pay for oil.

"We cannot have any trade in cryptocurrency, as it is banned by the Reserve Bank of India. We will see which medium we can use for trade," she said.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters
An Iranian man has set himself on fire at a German regional government office where he had sought help after receiving notice that his asylum request had been rejected.

Authorities say the 35-year-old, who was not named by police, approached two female officials at the Goeppingen district office near Stuttgart on May 29 and showed them his asylum rejection letter.

"The officials agreed to help him. But the man became aggressive," police said in a statement. "He took a bottle from his backpack and doused himself with a flammable liquid, they said.

As the officials rushed to seek help, the man "went up in flames," police added.

Another official quickly put out the flames with a cloth, but the Iranian man suffered severe burns and was taken to hospital by rescue helicopter.

Since 2015, Germany has taken in some 1.2 million refugees who are seeking asylum.

More than half have been from war-torn Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Amid growing opposition from German voters over the influx, the German government has been trying to bring down the number of new arrivals.

Based on reporting by AFP and dpa
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he will seek support from European powers for his position that Iran should be denied any military presence in Syria.

"We believe that there is no place for any Iranian military presence, anywhere in Syria," Netanyahu told his parliamentary faction in remarks broadcast on May 28.

"These things, of course, reflect not only our position. I can safely say that they also reflect the views of others in the Middle East and beyond the Middle East," he said.

Netanyahu said he will press German and French leaders on a visit to Europe next week on the issue of Iran's military presence in Syria and the U.S. decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal.

Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel on the June 4-6 trip. Netanyahu said he might also meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Iranian military advisers and allied militia have been providing critical support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad throughout his seven-year civil war against Sunni rebels.

In recent months as Assad's forces have made gains reasserting control over Aleppo, Damascus, and other Syrian population centers, Israel has warned against the possibility of Iran becoming militarily entrenched in the neighboring country.

Israel was one of the few countries that supported U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers earlier this month.

The Jewish state has argued that the lifting of UN sanctions under the nuclear deal in exchange for curbs on Tehran's nuclear activities allowed Iran to expand its presence in the Middle East, both through its own forces and though proxy groups such as Lebanon's Hizballah militia.

Based on reporting by AFP and Reuters
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz authorities are investigating the brutal stabbing death of a 20-year-old woman by a man who had abducted her hours earlier near Bishkek as part of a longstanding but illegal Kyrgyz practice known as "bride kidnapping."



The father of the woman, identified as Burulai Turdaaly Kyzy, told RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service that the attacker had allegedly carved her initials and that of a different man she had originally planned to marry into the womans body.



Local prosecutors said they had opened a criminal probe into Turdaaly Kyzy's death, which occurred at a local police precinct where she and her abductor had been taken after being detained by law enforcement.



The 29-year-old alleged attacker, who has not been identified, was hospitalized after stabbing himself, officials said.



Relatives said Turdaaly Kyzy, a graduate of a medical school in the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek, had been planning to marry a Kyrgyz man identified only by his first initial "N." A ceremony was set for August.



In late April, the attacker, who worked as a minibus-taxi driver in Bishkek and drove near her house, abducted Turdaaly Kyzy, as part of a historical practice in which Kyrgyz men kidnap women and force them to marry them.



But, according to Turdaaly Kyzys father, Turdaaly Kojonaliev, the family was able to locate her and prevent the forced marriage from occurring.



The incident frightened Turdaaly Kyzy, another relative said, and she moved in temporarily with her aunt in another part of the district. But she returned to her home village of Sosnovka, about 20 miles west of Bishkek, on May 27 to help her mother, as part of the celebrations for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.



That evening, Kojonaliev told RFE/RL, the man abducted Turdaaly Kyzy a second time, as she was on her way to a store in Sosnovka. Her father tried to follow them in his car, and later contacted police to report the kidnapping.



Several hours later, Kojonaliev spoke to his daughter by phone from the police precinct where she had been detained along with her abductor. She said she was unhurt.



When her father arrived at the police precinct, officials said that Turdaaly Kyzy and her abductor had been allowed by investigators to be alone in a room together, for unknown reasons.



Nazira Imangazieva, a spokeswoman for district police, said officers broke into the room after hearing sounds of a fight.



Kojonaliev said the attacker had not only stabbed Turdaala but carved into her body her initials and that of her fiance.



When I examined the body of my daughter, I saw that [the initials] N and B and a cross were cut into it with a knife, he told RFE/RL.

Police 'Negligence'



The district prosecutor, Mambetaly Turdumamatov, suggested that police were to blame for her death.



"The police officers showed negligence and did not fulfill their assigned duties," he said. "How did the suspect bring the knife to the police station? Where did the knife come from?:



A relative of the attacker also suggested that police were partially to blame.



"He even made inscriptions on her body. First he stabbed her three times, and then made inscriptions. Why didn't the police officers do anything before? If they were close, they would come running to the girl's screams," the man, who asked not to be identified, told RFE/RL.

Bride kidnapping, which is known to happen in parts of Central Asia, the Caucasus and other places, has been illegal for years in Kyrgyzstan, but prosecutions have been rare.



In 2012, Kyrgyz lawmakers strengthened the punishment, raising the maximum prison term from 3 to 10 years.



Women and human rights defenders have long complained that police, prosecutors ignore such complaints, or often try to force the two sides to resolve the matter peacefully between themselves.



According to some unconfirmed reports, police may have sought to do that with Turdaaly Kyzy and her abductor.



Taalaybek Alybayev, a member of a public board with oversight of the national Interior Ministry, blamed indifference on the part of police investigators.



"This is not negligence, but a crime," Alybayev said. "Police officers should have had control of everything. Where did the knife come from? This is evidence of the lack of professionalism of police officers who didnt do their duties properly."

With reporting by RFE/RLs Kyrgyz Service
BISHKEK -- Kyrgyz investigators have interrogated former Prime Minister Sapar Isakov for a third time over a power-plant accident that left many residents of Bishkek without heat for days last winter.

"I have no fear of being detained. To detain someone, you need grounds, for example when a person violates the laws. I'm clean," Isakov told RFE/RL outside the State Committee for National Security (UKMK) building in Bishkek, where he was summoned on May 29.

Isakov had already been questioned twice 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.

Isakov has suggested he believes the state may mount a corruption case against former officials over the heating outages, but said former President Almazbek Atambaev and his team had "worked in a clean way, with no corruption whatsoever."

The pressure on Isakov was seen as among several examples of an ongoing rift between President Sooronbai Jeenbekov and his predecessor, Atambaev, who backed Jeenbekov in the October 2017 presidential election but has criticized him in recent weeks.

Last month, 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.
A gunman shot dead two police officers and a bystander in the Belgian city of Liege during what officials say was a terrorist attack by a radicalized "lone wolf" just out of prison.

The gunman, who was shot dead after the attack, was identified by public broadcaster RTBF as a 36-year-old petty criminal and drug dealer who had been let out of prison on a day-release release program a day before the May 29 killings.

A Belgian lawmaker said the gunman had been on an antiterrorist police watch list after being radicalized in jail, apparently as a convert to Islam - raising questions about why he apparently was freed unsupervised and expected to return.

Prosecutors said the gunman fled the scene of the shooting, which occurred in central Liege on May 29, and took a cleaning woman hostage at a nearby school before he was shot dead.

Liege Police Chief Christian Beaupere said the gunman's motivation was to "harm police officers, that is to say to harm the institution, the state of Belgium."

Four police officers were injured, three of whom are still in hospital, Beaupere said.

The assailant had fired at police with two service weapons taken from the officers he killed, each of which was loaded with 17 bullets, Beaupere said.

"There are elements that point in the direction that this is a terrorist act," said Eric Van Der Sypt, spokesman for the Belgian federal prosecutors office.

Belgian police and military have been on alert since suicide bombers killed 32 people at Brussels airport and on its subway system in 2016.

Those attacks were claimed by the Islamic State extremist group.

With reporting by AFP and AP


The United States says religious persecution continues to be widespread around the globe as it unveiled its annual report on religious freedom, with violations cited in Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, among other countries.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the 2017 International Religious Freedom Report "is critical to our mission to defend religious liberty," as he presided over the release of the report at the U.S. State Department in Washington on May 29.

The United States remains "committed to protecting religious freedom around the world, both now and in the future," Pompeo said, noting that the report "documents across 200 countries and territories reports of violations and abuses committed by governments, terrorist groups, and individuals so that we may work together to solve them."

In Russia, the report notes that, although the constitution provides for religious freedom and the right to worship and profess one's religion, "the government prosecuted individuals of many denominations for unauthorized missionary activity under the amendments to antiterrorism laws passed in 2016, known as the Yarovaya Package."

The report singles out the situation of the Jehovahs Witnesses, whose activity was criminalized, after the Supreme Court ruled in April 2017 that the sect was an extremist organization and prohibited them from operating in the country. The court upheld the ruling on appeal in July.

'Physical Assaults'

The sect has been operating in Russia and across the former Soviet Union since the early 1990s and claims some 170,000 adherents in Russia.

The report notes that, although "there were fewer instances of violence based on religious identity than in prior years, there were also reports of physical assaults on Jehovahs Witnesses and Muslims, as well as other attacks on individuals, "possibly based on both their ethnicity and religion."

In Ukraines Crimean Peninsula, which Russia illegally annexed in 2014, Russia-led forces continued to control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts and to detain and imprison religious leaders, said the report, noting that a military tribunal in Donetsk sentenced an academic specializing in religious studies to 32 months in prison. The academic was later released in a prisoner exchange with the Ukrainian government.

In Iran, which the United States in 1999 designated as a Country Of Particular Concern (CPC) under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998, the penal code provides for the death sentence for "proselytizing and attempts by non-Muslims to convert Muslims, as well as for moharebeh (enmity against God) and sabb al-nabi (insulting the prophet)," the report notes.

Iran continued to execute people charged with enmity against God, "including four prisoners at Rajai Shahr Prison in December 20, and four men charged with waging 'war on God' in Kerman Province in September [2017]," the report said, adding that authorities "continued to harass, interrogate, and arrest Bahai's, Christians (particularly converts), Sunni Muslims, and other religious minorities."

In Afghanistan, "conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and is punishable by death, imprisonment, or confiscation of property," the report says.

According to the Afghan Supreme Court, the Baha'i faith "is a form of blasphemy and is punishable by death. However, there were no reported prosecutions for apostasy or blasphemy," the report noted.

The Afghan branch of the Islamic State group and the Taliban "continued to target and kill members of minority religious communities."

Neighboring Pakistan continued to enforce blasphemy laws, "whose punishment ranges from life in prison to the death sentence for a range of charges, including 'defiling the Prophet Muhammad.'"

The report says that at least 50 individuals were imprisoned on blasphemy charges,"at least 17 of whom had received death sentences."

The document singles out an incident in April 2017, when a mob shot and beat to death student Mashal Khan at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, "following an accusation of blasphemy later deemed by investigators to be false, which prompted widespread condemnation in the country."


Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky district court has authorized the pretrial detention of a man accused of vandalizing a 19th-century painting by Russian realist painter Ilya Repin at the state-run Tretyakov Gallery.

Igor Podporin, a 37-year-old resident of the city of Voronezh, is to remain in custody through July 26 while awaiting trial on charges of attacking and damaging the canvas.

Investigators in the case told the court on May 29 that the charges have been reclassified to criminal "destruction of or damage to the most valuable objects of cultural heritage."

If convicted, Podporin could face up to six years in prison.

Podporin's lawyer said earlier that Podporin had admitted his guilt to an aggravated criminal act.

But Podporin told the court on May 29 that he has not pleaded guilty, saying that everyone pressured him to make a confession, including the Tretyakov Gallery staff.

Prosecutors say Podporin used a metal pole from a barricade in the gallery to smash the protective glass of the painting and to rip the canvas on May 25.

The painting, from 1885, depicts Ivan the Terrible holding his son after mortally wounding him in a fit of rage.

It is considered the most psychologically intense of Repins paintings -- an expression of the artist's revolt against violence and bloodshed.

Podporin reportedly justified the act of vandalism because of the "falsehood of the historical facts depicted on the canvas."

Russias Sberbank said on May 28 that it would fund restoration efforts that could cost up to $160,000.

Based on reporting by Current TIme, TASS, and Interfax
Russia's communications regulator says it has asked U.S. technology giant Apple to help it block the popular messaging service Telegram in Russia.

Roskomnadzor's press service on May 28 said the regulator sent a letter to Apple asking it to block push notifications for Telegram users in Russia, ensuring that Apple phone and tablet users do not receive alerts about new messages and rendering the application less useful.

The regulator, which started enforcing a court ban on Telegram on April 16 after the company refused to give Russia's Federal Security Service access to private conversations, also asked Apple to no longer make the free Telegram app available for download in the country.

Also on May 28, Russian state news agency TASS reported that Roskomnadzor was working with U.S. technology giant Google to implement the ban against Telegram.

Roskomnadzor in its letter to Apple said the company should "inform us as soon as possible about your company's further actions to resolve the problematic issue" with Telegram, or face "possible action by the agency."

Russian news agency Interfax quoted Roskomnadzor director Aleksandr Zharov as saying that Apple had one month to reply to the regulator's request. He declined to say what action Roskomnadzor might take if Apple refused to comply, but told Interfax that the company was legally bound by the court ban on Telegram.

RFE/RL's requests for comment were not immediately answered by Apple.

A Moscow court last month banned Telegram following a long-running battle with the authorities over access to its securely encrypted communications. The ban has provoked repeated protests in Russia by thousands who use and support the popular messaging service.

The service was created by Russian entrepreneur Pavel Durov, who has vowed to reject any attempt by the country's security services to gain forced access to messages.

Telegram lets people exchange messages, stickers, photos, and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people. It has attracted more than 200 million users since its launch by Durov and his brother Nikolai in 2013.

While Roskomnadzor moved to block Telegram after the court ruling, it has acknowledged only limited success at disrupting and reducing Telegram's operations by between 15 percent to 30 percent.

Zharov and other Russian officials have claimed the ban against Telegram is justified because the service has been used in the planning of terror attacks around the world.

With reporting by AFP, TASS, and Interfax
A banned film star's death has prompted mass demonstrations in Tehran.

Thousands of Iranians took to the streets on May 27 to pay tribute to Nasser Malek Motiee, who died at age 88.

Malek Motiee was a superstar before the Islamic Revolution, but he disappeared from screens after 1979 like many other prerevolutionary artists.

The Islamic regime associated him with Western-style decadence. But his popularity endured, even among young Iranians.

Demonstrators chanted slogans, condemning Iran's Islamic regime for blacklisting Malek Motiee and ignoring him in state-run media.

Witnesses reported that security forces used tear gas to disperse the demonstrators.


Large parts of western Uzbekistan and northern Turkmenistan are recovering from a severe salt storm that has damaged agriculture and livestock herds.

The three-day storm hit Uzbekistan's Karakalpakstan and Khorezm regions, as well as Turkmenistan's Dashoguz Province, beginning on May 26.

The salt -- lifted from dried-out former parts of the Aral Sea -- left a white dust on farmers' fields and fruit trees that is expected to ruin many crops.

The storm also caused flights at the Urgench airport to be canceled, made driving hazardous, and caused breathing difficulties for many people.

Particularly hard hit by the storm, which reached speeds of more than 20 meters per second, were the Uzbek regions of Khorezm, Navoi, and Bukhara.

Remnants of the storm were also reported as far south as Ashgabat, the capital of Turkmenistan.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Temirbek Bobo, 80, told RFE/RL's Uzbek Service that it was the first time he had seen such a harsh storm.

"I've seen the wind bring sand before, but this was the first time I saw salt. This event can be called a catastrophe," said Bobo, who lives in the Takhiatash district of Karakalpakstan. "The whole day there was nothing but salt rain [coming down]. The sun was not visible."

He added: "Nature began to take revenge on us for [what we have done] to the Aral Sea."

A representative of the Karakalpakstan's Council of Ministers, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the council had not received any instructions regarding the situation, but suggested that the region's Agricultural Ministry may have.

RFE/RL's Uzbek Service was unable to reach Karakalpakstan's Agricultural Ministry for comment.

Salt storms are common in areas near the Aral Sea, but this one carried salt over a much wider area.

Once one of the four largest seas on Earth, intensive irrigation projects set up by the Soviets in the 1960s led to its desiccation.

The runoff from nearby agricultural fields has polluted the remaining parts of the Aral Sea with pesticides and fertilizers, which have crystallized with the salt.

Inhalation of the salt can cause severe throat and lung problems. The salt also can poison farmers' produce and cause chemical damage to buildings.

With reporting by AKIpress
The United Nations is investigating attacks on hospitals and clinics in Syria carried out after their locations were disclosed to Russia, the UN aid chief says.

"We are investigating a number of cases of medical facilities being attacked shortly after having been deconflicted," Mark Lowcock, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, told the UN Security Council on May 29.

Lowcock did not provide details but emphasized his concern, saying "It is an issue on which I may have to come back to you."

Four health facilities -- two in Eastern Ghouta and two in northern Homs - were hit this year after their GPS coordinates were shared with Russia and the United States.

Russia co-chairs a UN humanitarian task force with the United States and also provided critical military backing to Syrian government forces in their offensive to retake Eastern Ghouta.

The two sites hit in Ghouta were a hospital in the town of Arbin in late March and a children's hospital in Douma in early April, Panos Moumtzis, the UN regional coordinator for Syria says.

In Homs, two facilities in the town of Zafraniyeh were hit in late April.

Lowcock told the council that a total of 92 attacks have been documented against Syrian health facilities and personnel during the first four months of 2018, killing 89 people and wounding 135.

Attacks on hospitals and medical facilities are a violation of international humanitarian law.

Based on reporting by AFP, AFP, and Reuters
Cancun bank robbed by three armed men

Cancun, Q,R.  A Banorte bank in the city of Cancun was robbed Monday morning by three armed men.

The robbery took place at the Banorte in Plaza Las Palmas in Cancun when three armed men reportedly entered the bank. The trio entered the bank at 9:45 a.m., yielding weapons and leaving with an estimated 100,000 peso.

Emergency 911 activated a Red Code after receiving a call of armed assailants entering the bank. Ambulances were also called to the scene with the notification that the assailants were assaulting those inside.

In a matter of minutes, police arrived and cordoned off an area around the intersections of La Costa and Xcaret Avenues in Supermanzana 36 in an attempt to find the men responsible for the robbery.

Witnesses said that after the men were handed the money, they got into a private car and fled, however, no one was able to provide a direction. Police began a search operation and managed to arrest one man allegedly linked to the robbery.

The arrested man was handed over to the Public Ministry while police reviewed surveillance cameras to identify other assailants.
Mexican tequila anticipated to be second most consumed globally

Tequila makers say that with the continued growing consumption of Mexican tequila, it could become the second most consumed alcoholic beverage in the world by 2021.

In a press conference, Ridolo Gonzalez Gonzalez, president of the National Chamber of the Tequila Industry, said that for more than two decades the tequila industry has been growing steadily.

By 2021 it will be the second fastest growing spirit drink in the world, stressed the CNIT president, who added that the diversification of markets is an arduous task that the sector has had.

He reported that the tequila category will have a compound annual growth rate of 3.2 percent preceded only by whiskey that they estimate will register a growth of 3.4 percent.

I must emphasize that by 2021, it is projected that the consumption of tequila in the world will reach 34.7 million 9-liter boxes against the more than 31 million that were consumed in 2017, he said.

He explained that the United States is the key market for Mexican tequila followed by Canada. He said that in South America and Europe, much has been gained for the export of tequila.

Tequila has reached unexpected places. Places like Latvia and South Africa are currently located in the top 10 export destinations for our tequila as part of the work of the Chamber in search of diversifying markets, he said.

Gonzalez said that this year alone they are anticipating a 3 percent growth in the global market, adding that in recent years, the consumer trend has focused on premium and higher segments.
Mexico Navy rescues drifting boat off Chetumal

Chetumal, Q.R.  The Navy of Mexico performed an emergency rescue Monday after a fishing boat became stranded off the state coast.

The Secretary of the Navy of Mexico reported that personnel belonging to the Naval Station of Search Rescue and Maritime Surveillance of Chetumal, rescued seven people on board a boat named La Pikuss.

The rescue was launched after they received an emergency call reporting a boat, La Pikuss, with seven on board was drifting.

A Mexican Navy crew headed out to sea where they found the boat drifting approximately 28 kilometers (15 nautical miles) southeast of Chetumal. The boat and its seven crew members were participating in the Virgen de Fatima fishing tournament.

La Pikuss was towed to a Chetumal dock where medical staff from the Naval Search Station of Chetumal were waiting. All seven Mexican nationals on board La Pikuss were found to be in good health.
ARSONISTS struck multiple times across Rotherham over the Bank Holiday Weekend targeting vehicles, a garage and rubbish.

Firefighters from Dearne station were called to York Street, Mexborough, on Saturday (26) at 10.40pm to tackle a car fire.

A spokeswoman for South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue said firefighters were at the scene until 11pm. The car was a Nissan Navaro.

Firefighters from Dearne, Adwick and Edlington were called to Derry Grove, Thurnscoe, at midnight on Sunday (27) to a fire in a garage. Crews left the scene at around 1.25am.

A Ford Transit was deliberately set ablaze on Packman Lane, Harthill, at 9.15pm on Monday (28) and Aston firefighters brought it under control within 45 minutes.

Firefighters from Rotherham station were called to a rubbish fire on North Drive, Northfield Industrial Estate at 4am on Tuesday and were at the scene for around 30 minutes.
He pulled himself from balcony to balcony to the fourth floor and did it successfully. the boys parents were not at home at the time. Video of Mamoudou Gassamas spectacular rescue went viral on social media. Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo called him to thank for his act of courage. She referred to him as the Spiderman of the 18th, referring to the Paris district where the rescue took place, calling him an example for all citizens.



The man saving the kid

President Emmanuel Macron met him on Monday at the Elysee Palace. He personally thanked Mr Gassama, gave him a medal for courage and said he would also be offered a role in the fire service. President Macron promised also Mr Mamoudou would be made a naturalised citizen. The government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux tweeted: This huge act of bravery, faithful to the values of solidarity of our Republic, must open the doors to our national community. Rights group SOS Racisme also referred to the event: Mamoudou Gassama serves as a useful reminder to us that people without papers are human beings withgreat bravery that many have shown in their perilous journey to Europe  bravery that they often continue to display here. The young Malian had arrived in France a few months ago dreaming for a better life.
The latest search was performed by the US-based Ocean Infinity which had been using a deep-sea vessel to survey a vast area of the southern Indian Ocean. No plans are to begin any new searches. The plane disappeared on 8 March 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. The plane losed contact less than an hour after take-off, with no distress signal or message sent. Investigators have very limited information about the planes last hours. In the absence of an official explanation conspiracy theories have abounded.

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke says a full report into the planes disappearance will be published in the future but has not given a date. Australian Transport Minister Michael McCormack said the four-year search had been the largest in aviation history and tested the limits of technology and the capacity of experts and people at sea. Possibly after many years, a project to map the ocean floor may also offer answers. Seabed 2030 is a collaborative project between the Nippon Foundation and GEBCO. It aims to bring together all available bathymetric data to produce the definitive map of the world ocean floor by 2030 and make it available to all.
In what can be termed as a serious security lapse, a host of unidentified bikers were caught on video performing stunts along the new Eastern Peripheral Expressway. This incident was reported just a few hours ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi visit to the area to officially declare the expressway open for use by general commuters.

Visual recorded the bikers at Ghaziabads Dasna area on Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) which is just a few kilometers away from where the inauguration was supposed to take place the next day posing a serious security lapse. A part of this EPE is still under construction, but despite this fact, the bikers managed gained entry into the area to perform these dare devil stunts. Watch the video below.

The group of bikers are not only endangering their own lives, but that of others as well. In their attempt to perform stunts, which includes wheelie and stoppies, the bikers are not paying attention to the road traffic.

They are also seen making turns in the middle of the road, and then riding in wrong side direction. They are seen doing this non stop, perfecting their stunt. Sadly, the cops are yet to identify these bikers.

Delhi-Meerut Expressway along with EPE will significantly bring down number of vehicles entering Delhi. This will not only reduced pollution to a great extent but will also see a marked reduction in travel time. EPE is Indias first solar powered expressway. This 135 km long expressway will offer signal free connectivity between Ghaziabad, Greater Noida, Faridabad and Palwal.

It has been built in a record time of 17 months and extends from Kundli and ends at Pawal in Haryana. Once open to general public, over 2 lakh vehicles plying over the expressway and will not need to enter New Delhi.
Aftek Motors, a Lucknow based automobile manufacturing company, showcased a host of two wheeler products ranging from 110cc to 250cc at the 2018 Auto Expo. Not much have been heard of these motorcycles after the Expo. But thanks to Youtuber Indian Stuff, the motorcycles have now been spotted again, lying in a parking lot of a building.

At the Auto Expo, it was revealed that the company plans launch of its first product, Aftek Zontes R250 by end of this year. The same bike, which has been spotted by Ashu Jaiswal of Indian Stuff in the video below.

Aftek Zontes R250 naked motorcycle gets LED headlamps, fully digital speedometer display and a fuel tank lid under a plastic flap that opens from the key slot area. It receives petal discs at the front and rear and USD or upside down forks in the front and gas charged mono shocks at the rear. It also gets Bosch sourced ABS on front and rear brakes and Delphis Fuel Injection technology.

Engine specifications include a 250cc, single cylinder, 4 stroke, oil cooled engine offering 18kW peak power and 23 Nm peak torque mated to a 6 speed transmission.

The motorcycle weighs a total of 159 kgs and is capable of a top speed of 145 kmph while it will compete with KTM Duke 250, Yamaha FZ25 and NS200 Pulsar on its successful entry into the countrys two wheeler segment. No details of pricing have been announced as on date and could be revealed closer to launch.

Aftek Motors is an Indian startup. The company has big plans, including setting up a plant in Lucknow with installed capacity of 1.2 lakh units on a one shift basis. The company also plans to appoint a network of dealerships across India. In the first phase they plan to add 42 dealerships in UP, Gujarat, Maharastra, AP and Telangana which is set to expand to 100 main dealers by the end of this year. They will also export bikes, as earlier this month the company appointed a distributor in Nepal.
[JOHANESBURG] South African city of Cape Town has been experiencing a severe water crisis, making it come closer to other large cities globally such as Sao Paolo in Brazil that had intermittent water shut-offs in 2015.

The Western Cape Province of South Africa has for three years suffered the most sustained and punishing drought in years, experts say.

And according to Bernelle Verster, a researcher at the FutureWater Research Institute, University of Cape Town (UCT), the population has doubled in the last 30 years, thus increasing the demand for water, adding that the city, province and national governments did not plan for such an extreme drought.

Kevin Winter, an environmental and geographical scientist at FutureWater, UCT, told SciDev.Net this month (15 May), The ultimate trigger is climate change, which has exposed all the weaknesses in [the water supply] system.

The ultimate trigger is climate change, which has exposed all the weaknesses in [the water supply] system. Kevin Winter, FutureWater

Winter explains that the frontal systems that originate in the southern Atlantic and bring cold, rainy weather to the Cape of Good Hope have recently often bypassed the most southerly part of the continent, a development that has scientists thinking hard and seeking solutions.

The Western Cape does not have the same vulnerability to the El Nino Southern Ocean Oscillation as the rest of South Africa, and scientists are wondering whether this change has been spurred by warming oceans or disturbances in the upper atmosphere, Winter adds.

The problem is not limited to the Western Cape though, writes Zachary Donnenfeld and others in a South African report published in March 2018.

Dam levels in South Africas Eastern Cape have fallen to worrying levels for extended periods.

According to South Africas Department of Water and Sanitation, dams in Lesotho were at 38.1 per cent in March.

Malawi is experiencing the most severe prolonged dry spells, added ACT Alliance, a global humanitarian organisation, in an alert published in February this year.

Francois Engelbrecht, an atmospheric modeller at South Africas Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, says that temperatures across semi-arid southern Africa will increase by more than six degrees Celsius before 2100, with a generally drier climate, more frequent droughts and heat waves. He adds that solutions have to be found.

Day Zero  when the taps run dry  has been postponed at least, thanks to residents reducing water usage from 540 litres per household daily in January 2015 to 280 litres in January 2018; and to 60-80 per cent reductions in water use by the provinces economically crucial agriculture sector, according to Carl Oppermann, general manager of Agri-Wes, the Western Cape affiliate of Agri-SA, a century-old federation of organisations representing various agricultural sectors. Agriculture uses about a third of the provinces water.

The knock-on effects include significant reductions in seasonal work for vulnerable farm workers.

Technology such as desalination plants is in the works, as is the use of groundwater although the city is cautious about drilling into groundwater resources, according to a letter from senior scientists warning of dangers to water quality and the integrity of water catchments released on 16 February.

But fundamentally, we need a change of mindset to value water, Verster says.

Seeing water as precious could drive careful use such as strict control of leaks and water wastage; re-use, with many residents are now using greywater to flush their toilets, as well as more targeted use in agriculture, Verster adds.



This piece was produced by SciDev.Nets Sub-Saharan Africa English desk.
Over the last century, scientists have struggled with a lingering question in geology: Why do the structure and elevation of some mountains continue to evolve long after the tectonic forces that formed them cease?

Using a new model to explore the undercurrents of mountain landscapes, Assistant Professor Sean Gallen from Colorado State University found that there is an ebb and flow of activity in these mountains, even in places that are tectonically inactive or past the point of mountain "building."

Gallen's study, which analyzed peaks in two of the most visited national parks in the United States, the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Great Smoky Mountains, puts to rest a century-old debate over the westward course of the Tennessee River.

Based on the findings, Gallen said this river system diverted from a more direct southerly route to the Gulf of Mexico about 10 million years ago. The river's reorganization can be traced to erosion and is reflected in the DNA of fish and salamanders in the waterway. This suggests a link between mountainous landscape dynamics and the evolution and diversity of aquatic species.

The study, "Lithologic controls on landscape dynamics and aquatic species evolution in post-orogenic mountains," was recently published online in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Mountain landscapes remain active over millions of years

Traditionally, scientists thought that rugged mountainous terrain is slowly and steadily worn away to a flat surface when a tectonic episode ends. But Gallen discovered that mountain landscapes are quite active due to variations in the strength of the underlying rock.

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He used modeling techniques to uncover the impact of the erosion of harder rock in these national parks. Gallen found that when harder rocks erode, exposing softer surfaces, waterfalls form at geologic contacts.

"This increases the erosion rates and rejuvenates the landscape," Gallen, a researcher in the Department of Geosciences, explained. And when the waterfalls make their way to a watershed divide, the divide will migrate in the direction of the lower erosion rate.

"This has a cascading effect, enhancing the erosion rates of one basin but, in the other, reducing those rates," he explained.

'The river is happy'

Gallen said this novel finding helps explain the long and winding path of the Tennessee River system, which flows from the Appalachian Mountains and takes an abrupt turn to western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. The river then meets up with the Ohio River and empties into the Mississippi River.

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"This is one of these irregular features people have been curious about," said Gallen. "It's unusual to see a river take this long path. Something happened; it used to flow directly to the south."

The scientist also found geological evidence in the upper river basin of a relatively recent diversion of the river's course -- dispersal of sediment in the Gulf of Mexico.

"Even though it's a longer travel distance, with the modern configuration and rock types, it's the path of least resistance," he said. "The river is 'happy' in this position."

Based on his analysis, Gallen is now teaming up with biologists and other scientists to delve more deeply into what he has uncovered.

"This debate about the Appalachian Mountains has been going on since 1894," he said. "I'm most interested in uncovering what's caused these disruptions."

Tennessee River biodiversity

The Tennessee River basin has the largest diversity of freshwater fish in a temperate climate in the entire world. Outside of the tropics, it's a very important place to study biodiversity, and researchers have been analyzing the DNA of small minnows known as darters found there. It is well-documented in biology, but not understood, that 10 million years ago, there was a spike in divergence of this species, along with several other aquatic species. Gallen said it's possible that the waterfalls act as barriers; fish can go down the waterfall but cannot go back upstream. This could help explain why there are so many different lineages of these species, over time.
A star that wanders too close to the supermassive black hole in the center of its galaxy will be torn apart by the black hole's gravity in a violent cataclysm called a tidal disruption event (TDE), producing a bright flare of radiation. A new study led by theoretical astrophysicists at the University of Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute and UC Santa Cruz provides a unified model that explains recent observations of these extreme events.

The breakthrough study, published in Astrophysical Journal Letters, provides a new theoretical perspective for a fast-growing research field.

"Only in the last decade or so have we been able to distinguish TDEs from other galactic phenomena, and the new model will provide us with the basic framework for understanding these rare events," said coauthor Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, professor and chair of astronomy and astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz and Niels Bohr Professor at the University of Copenhagen.

In most galaxies, the central black hole is quiescent, not actively consuming any material and therefore not emitting any light. Tidal disruption events are rare, only happening about once every 10,000 years in a typical galaxy. When an unlucky star gets torn apart, however, the black hole is "overfed" with stellar debris for a while and emits intense radiation.

"It is interesting to see how materials get their way into the black hole under such extreme conditions," said first author Jane Lixin Dai, assistant professor at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study. "As the black hole is eating the stellar gas, a vast amount of radiation is emitted. The radiation is what we can observe, and using it we can understand the physics and calculate the black hole properties. This makes it extremely interesting to go hunting for tidal disruption events."

While the same physics is expected to happen in all tidal disruption events, about two dozen of which have been observed so far, the observed properties of these events have shown great variation. Some emit mostly x-rays, while others emit mostly visible and ultraviolet light. Theorists have been struggling to understand this diversity and assemble different pieces of the puzzle into a coherent model.

In the new model, it is the viewing angle of the observer that accounts for differences in the observations. Galaxies are oriented randomly with respect to the line of sight of observers on Earth, who see different aspects of a tidal disruption event depending on its orientation.

"It is like there is a veil that covers part of a beast," Ramirez-Ruiz explained. "From some angles we see an exposed beast, but from other angles we see a covered beast. The beast is the same, but our perceptions are different."

The model developed by Dai and her collaborators combines elements from general relativity, magnetic fields, radiation, and gas hydrodynamics. It shows what astronomers can expect to see when viewing tidal disruption events from different angles, allowing researchers to fit different events into a coherent framework.

Survey projects planned for the next few years are expected to provide much more data on tidal disruption events and will help greatly expand this field of research, according to Dai. These include the Young Supernova Experiment (YSE) transient survey, led by the DARK Cosmology Centre at the Niels Bohr Institute and UC Santa Cruz, and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescopes being built in Chile.

"We will observe hundreds to thousands of tidal disruption events in a few years. This will give us a lot of 'laboratories' to test our model and use it to understand more about black holes," Dai said.

In addition to Dai and Ramirez-Ruiz, the coauthors include Jonathan McKinney, Nathaniel Roth, and Cole Miller at the University of Maryland, College Park. State-of-the-art computational tools were employed to solve the puzzle, and the simulations were carried out by Dai and Roth on the recently acquired large computer cluster made possible by a grant from the Villum Foundation for Jens Hjorth, head of DARK Cosmology Centre, as well as clusters funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and NASA.
This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.

Dido Grigorov is 30 years old and lives in Varna, Bulgaria. He has been in the SEO industry for over a dozen years and is an avid speaker, contributor and friend of the industry. He is an SEO at the core, from technical SEO to link building and much more - he loves SEO inside and out.

He often participates in SEMrush webinars, he is super active at local conferences in Bulgaria and he has spoken at more international events as well, including BrightonSEO. He is also very active in local online forums and communities helping those folks get better at SEO and build relationships within the industry.

Anton Shulke nominated him and wrote:

Dido is open to help /paying a huge attention to the details.

Dido Grigorov Bio: Dido is a 30 year old SEO specialist and lives in and is a native of Varna, Bulgaria, but with regular business trips to London, England - one of his favorite cities in Europe. He has 14 years of experience in SEO, with over 200 successful projects from different countries in the world - England, Germany, Switzerland, France, USA, Canada, Italy and others.

He focuses on almost all aspects of SEO - technical, on-page / on-site optimization, but mostly on Semantic optimization, content marketing, analysis and improvement of link profiles of websites through a variety of creative practices.

Dido is a regular participant of SEMrush webinars from the Live Site Audits series, with one single and several webinars behind him. He is also a lecturer at numerous local conferences in Bulgaria devoted to online marketing, b2b marketing and OA Conference - one of the largest in the Balkans for search engine optimization and digital marketing. Soon he was a visitor at the BrightonSEO conference too.

Dido regularly helps by participating in various marketing and SEO groups and forums online.

In his work, He strives to build an individual approach and tactics for any business based on creative approaches and with an orientation towards creating an audience or taking into account the characteristics of the current one of each business, providing good User Experience in the form of search results and content pages.

Favorite thing about the SEM community? What I like most in the SEO community is all the cohesiveness and readiness for help from colleagues. There is no significant competition, but rather friendship, a desire to learn new things, to discover new things and to share knowledge.

I am happy to be part of this community! I'm glad how creative and dynamic it can be and how much we can learn from each other. Quite often in online discussion or conferences during networking, we also come to fundamental conclusions, practices and know-how, and that's a real goldmine!

I also like the diversity of people in SEO - different cultures, different approaches in different countries, people with diverse experience and education.

One piece of advice to the SEMs out there? The world of SEO is dynamic, but it's not easy at all. Despite the difficulties, do not stop learning, do not be ashamed to participate in forums and groups online. Do not be ashamed to ask questions and do not stop testing. Engage with SEO influencers! This is the only way to reach fundamental knowledge and build know-how.

Be creative and proactive! Keep track of your results and keep an eye on how you can improve your content strategy, both for a business and for its audience. Think about what content formats you can use to impress visitors of any business website, what exactly is searched for in each phrase, how it is drawn, what the user expects to see, what issues it solves, and how you can improve it in order to distinguish yourself. The content strategy must evolve continuously.

Favorite things in general? When I do not do SEO I like to play the piano, I have been playing since 6 years old. I love going to concerts, taking pictures of nature, going out with friends and of course spending time with my girlfriend.

I love reading books, Google patents, tracking trends in SEO, and watching video courses on text retrieval, data mining, MapReduce, artificial intelligence, and the semantic web at all.

What you want to be known for in the SEM space? Semantic optimization and SEO & Content creative approaches for providing of the best results by query in Google. I love to apply SEO tactics entirely oriented to the requirements and characteristics of the users of any business niche.

I also love the semantic optimization of texts and websites at all, testing and adhering to the Knowledge Graph entry rules and its elements, the Featured Snippet, etc. I strongly believe that semantic SEO will become more and more important according to the results I see in my projects, every day, that have already been successful in Google's elements of the search results.

To learn more about Dido, follow him on Twitter and connect with him on LinkedIn.

This is part of the say something nice about an SEO/SEM series - feel free to nominate someone over here.
Even Trevor D. Traina, who was raised amid all the pomp and circumstance that San Francisco society can muster, had to have been impressed by the level of decorum at his coronation Thursday morning as U.S. ambassador to Austria.

Arriving by motorcade to the 13th century Hofburg imperial palace in Vienna, the ambassador-designate presented his credentials in the form of a sealed letter from the White House to Alexander Van der Bellen, federal president of the Republic of Austria. Van der Bellen accepted them during a half-hour ceremony marked by an honor guard and anthems.

That marked the start of foreign service for the San Francisco tech entrepreneur, but also the ending for a secretive and grueling yearlong process.

Traina has been vetted and grilled for top-level security clearance, had friends and business colleagues questioned by the FBI, and had 10 years of taxes and financial records inspected for conflicts of interest. Many were found, and he had 90 days to divest of major stock holdings.

Now Playing: Photography collector and ambassador Video: SFChronicle

Sure, these are a rich persons problems, but Traina did not need the job, or the paycheck. An ambassador is paid from $124,000 to $187,000 a year. While unaware of what his pay would be, Traina described it in general as a government salary. Not market rate, during a recent interview at his Jackson Square office.

In late March, Traina was sworn in at a small ceremony at his home in Pacific Heights. But until Thursdays transfer ceremony in Vienna, he had not been officially accepted by the Austrian government. In between, he was willing to discuss what he went through over the course of a year to pass muster with both the State Department and the U.S. Senate.

He also answered the question every San Franciscan wants to ask. I did not give money to the Trump campaign, he said, but I have given money to a lot of Republican causes over the years.

Traina, who turned 50 on May 16, is a registered Republican. Records kept by the website OpenSecrets.org show he donated $33,900 each, the maximum allowed, to two Republican political action committees in 2017, before his nomination. An additional $31,000 in Republican PAC donations was made in 2017 by Trainas mother, Dede Wilsey, the longtime board president of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

These donations are nothing compared to the deepest-pocketed, but it shows that he is a player, almost overnight, said Sheila Krumholz, executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research organization in Washington, D.C.

If patronage was involved in his selection, Traina said he knew nothing about it. Its one of those mysterious processes where it is unclear who gets picked or how, he said.

 Carina Karlovits / HBF

But it did not come as a bolt out of the blue. His maternal grandfather, Wiley T. Buchanan Jr., had been ambassador to Austria in the 1970s under President Gerald Ford. Traina was just 7 or 8 years old and a student at Cathedral School for Boys on Nob Hill when he was taken abroad by his mother for the first time to stay with his grandparents at the same home that he now occupies.

My whole life I have wanted to be an ambassador, because it was what my grandfather did, Traina said. When I was a boy, one of my most formative memories was learning what all the people who work in an embassy actually do. It instilled in me a hunger to be in that process.

From that point on, he went about building his resume for the job. He studied political science at Princeton and international relations at Oxford before coming back to earn a masters from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley.

The ambassador, who is also called chief of mission, is the highest-ranking American in that country and serves as the personal representative of the U.S. president. The job requires managing a diplomatic staff of more than 200, while implementing and promoting the presidents foreign policy in Europe.

The fiction is that all you do is throw a lot of cocktail parties and it is about entertaining, Traina said. The fact is that you are really in charge of a very complicated mission with a dozen or two dozen agencies all reporting to you.

Traina is not the first person to figure out that the job of ambassador is more than clinking Champagne glasses. Another San Franciscan, Eleni Kounalakis, wrote a book on the topic, titled Madam Ambassador, and published it in 2015 when she returned from her tour in Budapest as ambassador to Hungary.

Trevor has probably been at the FBI, at the CIA, at the Department of Homeland Security and at the Treasury. That is how it is for everyone I know who has been through the process, said Kounalakis, now a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor of California. You have to get a top-secret SCI (sensitive compartmented information) clearance. Thats the one Jared Kushner couldnt get until recently.

When Traina was first contacted by the White House last summer, he was advised not to tell anyone and to expect a lot of paperwork.

Then more paperwork than even I expected arrived, he said. All kinds of long forms to fill out. One was more than 100 pages long.

He had to hire a lawyer and an accountant to sort it all out, and among the details to be disclosed was every foreign trip he had taken for the past 15 years, with whom he had met and for what purpose. Then the FBI checked it all out independently.

I think 30 people were interviewed, he said. Neighbors from everywhere I have ever lived. I went to school in England. They went there and interviewed people.

This went on for six months before Traina got the call, in December, that he had cleared the FBI background check. In January, he traveled east for five weeks of intense study at the George P. Shultz National Foreign Affairs Training Center in Arlington, Va.

Trevor was one of my star students, said Robert Mandell, former ambassador to Luxembourg, who runs the training program. It takes from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily to teach his students that you are not a CEO. You cannot fire people easily, Mandell said. You have to learn how to be the leader of a team.

Liz Hafalia / The Chronicle

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.

Last fall, Austria elected a 31-year-old chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, who formed a coalition government with the far-right Freedom Party. But one of Mandells lessons is to avoid partisan politics, either in Austria or America.

Politics is hard to avoid, particularly in the appointment process. Some nominees get hung up for months over political grievances in the Senate. But Traina sailed through in record time. He cleared the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by unanimous voice vote on March 20 and was unanimously confirmed by the full Senate one week later.

Then came the pain of divestiture. Elected officials can put assets into a blind trust. Ambassadors dont have that option. Trainas middle initial, D, stands for Dow. He is a descendant of Herbert Henry Dow, founder of Dow Chemical. He was born with stock holdings and added to them early.

I started trading stocks when I was in fifth grade, he said.

He sold his first company, the online shopping service CompareNet, to Microsoft in 1999 and was deep into Amazon.

Almost any prominent American company whose stock I own I have to sell, he said. This was painful for me.

The pain has been eased by shipping over fine-art photography from his vast collection, along with wine made with grapes from vineyards owned by Traina and his wife, Alexis Swanson Traina. She will bring the kids to Vienna once school is out, along with the family Jack Russell terrier and dachshund to run on the lawns Traina can still remember from his childhood visit.

The residence, on the outskirts of town, was built in 1931 in the Bauhaus Modernist style, and it is where President John F. Kennedy first met Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev on June, 3, 1961. A guest wing was added in the 1970s, and Traina can expect a revolving door, said Kathryn Hall, a Berkeley-born lawyer who was ambassador to Austria in the 1990s.

Dignitaries will stay at the residence because it is a secure environment, Hall said. You might have somebody from the NSA (National Security Agency) or Congress.

Hall said there is a household and groundskeeping staff of 15, including a chauffeur to drive Traina in a black Cadillac sedan to the embassy 45 minutes away. He can expect to be there at his desk at least eight hours a day, and then dancing the Viennese Waltz with Austrian society. The formal ball season in Vienna lasts three months, night after night.

Its funny, because I have never been involved in politics or diplomacy, Traina said. But I do want to serve my country.

Sam Whiting is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: swhiting@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @SamWhitingSF Instagram: @sfchronicle_art

Online video

Ambassador Trevor Traina packs up his photography collection for Austria: http://bit.ly/trevortraina
Do Uber and Lyft stiff their drivers on wages?

A legal push by the ride-hailing companies hometown of San Francisco could lead to the drivers becoming employees rather than independent contractors.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera subpoenaed the companies on Tuesday for records of driver pay and benefits, as well as their classification as independent contractors, rather than employees. The move follows a groundbreaking California Supreme Court decision that makes it harder for companies to claim that gig workers are not employees.

San Franciscos laws help ensure that employers provide a fair days wage for a fair day's work, Herrera said, adding that laws also guarantee benefits like sick leave, health care and paid parental leave. We are not going to turn a blind eye if companies in San Francisco deny workers their pay and benefits.

Uber declined to comment.

Lyft has a long track record of working collaboratively with policymakers, including the S.F. City Attorney, on important issues, said spokesman Adrian Durbin. We look forward to helping the City Attorneys office fully understand Lyfts business model, including our relationship with drivers.

Median Lyft driver earnings in San Francisco are more than $25 per hour before expenses, which typically range from $3 to $5 an hour, he said.

The city wants a complete list of drivers who worked in San Francisco since 2015 and information on their hours, wages and benefits. It seeks documentation on how they are classified and proof that those classified as independent contractors  virtually all drivers  meet the criteria set by the California Supreme Court decision.

Uber and Lyft fiercely resist attempts to make their drivers employees because such a move would increase their labor costs significantly. The recent state high-court ruling creates a tougher test for classification, but it would take either lawsuits or actions by cities such as San Francisco for widespread shifts to occur.

Companies are never going to say, OK, well reclassify all our folks as employees, said Drew Amerson, a visiting assistant professor at UC Hastings Startup Legal Garage. Typically that would happen as the product of a single-driver lawsuit or class action. The city attorney is shortcutting that process.

Such a maneuver is even more vital because most Uber and Lyft drivers have agreed to binding arbitration, removing their ability to band together in a class-action lawsuit, said Bill Gould, a law professor emeritus at Stanford and former chair of the National Labor Relations Board, whos writing a book on the gig economy.

This is very important in circumventing these mandatory arbitration clauses, he said. It couldnt come at a more propitious time in light of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on arbitration, which virtually shut down private enforcement.

While Herrera has not said what hell do once he gets the data, lawyers said the subpoena is likely a prelude to prosecuting Uber and Lyft over driver status.

Reading the tea leaves, I assume hes headed down that path, said Aaron Kaufmann, a partner at labor-law firm Leonard Carder in Oakland. If so, it could be very significant because he has the ability to get systemic relief, at least for drivers in San Francisco.

Air Quality Tracker Check levels down to the neighborhood Ratings for the Bay Area and California, updated every 10 minutes

Others said that any lawsuit would likely end up affecting all drivers in California.

The California Supreme Courts ruling, which is not yet finalized, said workers can be independent contractors only if their tasks are outside the scope of the hiring companys business, the company does not control how they work, and they run an independent business doing that work.

To me its clear that under that test (ride-hailing drivers) come out as employees, Kaufmann said. Drivers provide the very services that Uber and Lyft are in the marketplace to provide. I think thats what Dennis Herrera is banking on, and its a pretty good bet.

Studies have shown that some drivers make less than minimum wage. If they were employees, Uber and Lyft would have to provide minimum wage, overtime, workers compensation and unemployment coverage, and reimbursement for business expenses like fuel and maintenance.

Uber, which is worth $62 billion, can afford to provide health care, Herrera said, noting that uninsured people often wind up in the emergency room with taxpayers picking up the tab for their care.

Herrera has been on a campaign to force Uber and Lyft to reveal more about their inner workings so he can see whether they comply with local laws. Last year, he issued subpoenas about their local operations, seeking to gauge their impact on traffic, access for disabled and low-income riders and other issues. In February, Lyft eventually complied with that subpoena, but Uber is fighting it.

Carolyn Said is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: csaid@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @csaid
Almost every day, people come up to Emilio Castillo and tell him they cant believe Tower of Power, the Oakland funk band he co-founded in 1968, has been around for 50 years.

He always replies the same way: Neither can I!

Castillo still has vivid memories of meeting baritone sax player Stephen Doc Kupka that year at the Alameda County Fair over the Fourth of July weekend, and together forming the band with the express mission of getting to play at concert impresario Bill Grahams famed Fillmore Auditorium.

Not only did Graham ask them to play, but he signed Tower of Power to his San Francisco Records imprint, releasing the groups breakthrough 1970 debut, East Bay Grease.

Coming up behind psychedelic rock acts like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, Tower of Power came to be known for carving its own show-stopping R&B niche across the bay with horn-driven, era-defining hits like Down to the Nightclub and What Is Hip?

Weve always pushed the bar musically from a rhythmic standpoint, said Castillo, 67, a tenor sax player and vocalist, taking a breather at his home in Phoenix last week. We have our own signature. We have our own voice. Thats what youve got to find.

That voice will be recognized by the city of Oakland with a Tower of Power Day celebration on the steps of City Hall at noon on Thursday, May 31, followed by a pair of homecoming shows at the Fox Theater on Friday and Saturday, June 1-2.

The 10-piece band also has a new album, Soul Side of Town, its first in nearly a decade, that prominently features longtime players Kupka, drummer David Garibaldi and bassist Francis Rocco Prestia.

The musicianship in this band is off the chain, Castillo said. These guys are world-class players.

The album also features Tower of Powers latest vocalist Marcus Scott, who was brought on after Carlos Santana lured away Ray Greene  although Greene may drop in on the shows at the Fox Theater, along with several other former members, including keyboardist Chester Thompson and saxophonist Lenny Pickett, who now leads the Saturday Night Live house band.

Castillo said the group has learned to roll with the punches. In its prime, Tower of Power was one of the most in-demand horn sections on the West Coast, performing with the likes of Elton John, Bonnie Raitt and Huey Lewis and the News; all while pointing the way forward for brass-heavy ensembles like Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire.

Signing to Warner Bros. for 1972s Bump City, the multiethnic group had a spectacular run with uninhibited, brass-heavy releases like 1973s Tower of Power, 1974s Back to Oakland and 1975s Urban Renewal, all prominently featuring iconic imagery of the bands hometown.

When the sound of the pop charts shifted, the band temporarily lost its footing, hitting a low point with the 1979s disco driven Back on the Streets, which was recorded for Columbia. But not for long.

The record company wanted to us to sound like other bands and no matter how many times we tried to please them we ended up sounding like Tower of Power, Castillo recalled. So I said, Lets just make the music weve been making. As soon as we did that, things started to get better.

It wasnt always an easy path.

Vocalist Rick Stevens, who joined Tower of Power in 1969, replacing Rufus Miller, left the group after its second album was released, just as it was on the cusp of a major breakthrough.

It was chaos, Stevens said in an interview with The Chronicle in 2013. Egos, drugs, women. I lost all feeling. I was drained.

In 1976, Stevens was convicted of murder for killing three people in a drug deal gone wrong in Los Gatos. Sentenced to death, he was paroled by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2012 after 36 years behind bars.

He died in 2017, the same year Garibaldi and bass player Marc Van Wageningen were struck by an Amtrak train crossing the tracks to get to a performance at Yoshis nightclub in Oaklands Jack London Square.

They both suffered serious injuries but have since returned to the lineup.

It was beyond anything Id ever felt or experienced, Garibaldi said. I had broken bones, a traumatic brain injury, couldnt walk or feed myself and, realistically, I didnt know what to expect.

After being home about a month, I got up one morning and was able to put my pants on by myself. That was a huge moment. From that moment on, I knew Id be OK. That thought helped me to heal and get back to my life.

The group lost another longtime family member, trumpet player Mic Gillette, who died suddenly of a heart attack in 2016.

Castillo got sober in 1988 and turned to God, after making what he describes as every mistake he could possibly make during the bands first two decades.

Weve had very trying times, Castillo said. Weve had horrific things happen. Weve lost people that we love. But weve never thought about stopping. My resolve has always been there.

Aidin Vaziri is The San Francisco Chronicles pop music critic. E-mail: avaziri@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @MusicSF

Tower of Power: 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, June 1-2. $59.50-$79.50. Fox Theater, 1807 Telegraph Ave., Oakland. http://thefoxoakland.com
More than 8,000 Starbucks stores, including more than 100 in the Bay Area, closed early on Tuesday afternoon for employee antibias training.

The training is a direct result of the April 12 incident where two black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks.

Roughly 175,000 Starbucks employees are expected to take part in the training, which was developed with feedback from advocacy groups like the Perception Institute and the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund.

San Francisco is home to 81 Starbucks outposts, making it the largest food chain in the city. (Subway, the sandwich maker, comes in second place with approximately 44 stores.)

The closures in San Francisco began around 2 p.m. A handful of exceptions, including the Macys Union Square location, as well as outposts located within Safeway and Target stores, remained open later.

Claire Spears was trying to visit a Starbucks at Fourth and Mission streets when she saw signs indicating it was closed for a staff meeting. She was aware of the training, she said, but had forgotten it was happening Tuesday.

Its not just training, its a lifetime thing, said Spears. You can have a day of training, but where do you go from here?

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Last month, the owner of a gourmet popcorn shop in Emeryville was accused of (and later apologized for) using a racial slur against black customers.

The Starbucks incident rekindled conversations about a 2015 incident of racial bias reported by W. Kamau Bell, the comedian and writer, at Berkeleys Elmwood Cafe. The coffee shop suddenly shuttered in late April, and reopened with a new name and new owners several weeks later.

Sarah Fritsche is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: sfritsche@sfchronicle.com Twitter/Instagram: @foodcentric
 "Cell Phones and 'Excessive Contact': The Contradictory Imperatives Facing Californias Parole-Eligible Lifers" | Main | Another helpful review of analysis of huge set of federal sentencing outcomes 

May 28, 2018

Sad uncertain realities behind ugly headline about child rape sentencing

The headline of this story understandably caught my attention and had me wondering: "California man sentenced to 90 days of house arrest for rape of 5-year-old girl." A bit of digging revealed, via press reports here and here, a bit more of the story behind the story that would seem to partially explain this outcome. Excerpts below come from the two linked pieces, respectively:

A 79-year-old man who pleaded no contest to felony statutory rape of a child was sentenced this week to 90 days' detention and will not have to register as a sex offender. The sentence upset the parents after they gave emotional testimony at the hearing.... Despite the word "rape," the crime did not involve penetration, said Robert Himelblau, supervising deputy district attorney for San Joaquin County. Gregory Davenport, an attorney for Burgess, said the charge is based on a claim by the girl's mother that she saw Burgess stick his hand down her daughter's pants in 2016. At the hearing, the judge reminded the parents that they thought the plea agreement was fair when it was reached.... Davenport told the Associated Press on Friday that Burgess accepted the plea deal despite being innocent because he is in frail health and wanted to move on with his life. Burgess denies ever touching the child inappropriately. "The whole case was based upon some minor touching that my client denied even occurred," Davenport said.... Lyle Burgess, 79, was sentenced by San Joaquin County Superior Court Judge Ron Northup to either 90 days in an alternative-work program or in-home detention plus five years of informal probation. He does not have to register as a sex offender. Burgess, who founded Rare Parts Inc. in Stockton in 1981  an automotive parts manufacturer and distributor  will in all likelihood opt for in-home detention due to his frail physical and mental health, according to defense attorney Gregory Davenport. My client maintains his innocence, Davenport said outside the courtroom. During Wednesdays sentencing hearing, both parents of the victim gave emotional testimony about what their daughter has been going through, the impact on their family and their dissatisfaction with Burgess conviction. The parents names are not being used to protect the identity of the minor victim. Our daughter has been harmed by this man continuously, the victims mother said through tears, describing two incidents she says she witnessed between Burgess and her daughter at Burgess cabin in Calaveras County in the fall of 2016. Im incredibly disgusted by his behavior and continuously disgusted by his lies, she said before describing his sentence as getting off so easy and not registering as a sex offender. I want other kids to be protected by possible future abuse by this man, she said. The victims father, who has known Burgess for more than two decades, said: I dont have too many prized possessions in this world other than my family. (My daughter) will remember this the rest of her life. She sleeps on the floor outside our room. Northup told the parents their statements do have an impact but courts are somewhat limited in ruling on a negotiated plea and reminded them that at the time it was reached, they felt it was fair. The parents and the victim recently filed a civil case against Burgess seeking unspecified damages for sexual abuse and intentional infliction of emotional distress.... Davenport, Burgesss attorney, said: I believe the allegations are motivated by greed. They are using this instance to try to gain financially.

I do not know the ins-and-outs of California plea and sentencing procedure, but these articles suggest that the sentence here was largely determined by the terms of a plea deal (and one that the parents of the victim assented to). This other local article, notably, provides this additional (confounding?) account of matters from the prosecutors:

According to the San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office, Burgess' sentence was initiated by the county court because of his age and health. When Burgess was arrested in 2016, he was originally booked on four counts of lewd acts upon a child. The charge was later changed to unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor, though the DA says there were no allegations the girl was "sexually penetrated." Prosecutors say the plea deal was agreed upon by both Burgess and the girl's family.

I do not know what it means for this sentence to have been "initiated by the county court because of his age and health," but I do know it now sounds as if the sentencing judge largely attributes the outcome to the plea deal and the prosecutions largely attribute the plea deal to the sentencing judge. As I see it, sadness persists from every perspective in this case. And I surmise from my Twitter feed that the case is generating anger, too, and I wonder if recall or other campaigns targeting the judge or DAs might be in the offing.

May 28, 2018 at 04:25 PM | Permalink

Comments

It's just not the same without Bill Otis using this as an opportunity to screech about how this is just another example of defense attorneys being pro-child rape.

Oh Bill, where have you gone!?!

Posted by: Anonuser879 | May 28, 2018 5:16:32 PM

The victim needs to be removed by child welfare authorities. She was delivered to the predator, and was not supervised well enough. Put this child in foster care.

Posted by: David Behar | May 28, 2018 10:18:57 PM

I miss Bill Otis also. He took on all omers on this site and I was one that enjoyed reading battle.

He is on to the Us sentenceing commission, so I heard.

Posted by: MidWestGuy | May 28, 2018 10:25:35 PM

Berman refuses to remove the vile personal attacks on Bill because they are made by libtards. Berman is totally biased.

Posted by: David Behar | May 28, 2018 11:46:40 PM

I am biased against your silly rants, David, that is true. I have repeatedly asked you to limit them. You have not, so I delete them.

Posted by: Doug B | May 29, 2018 9:19:41 AM

I am biased against bees. I've only ever encountered a fraction of the total bee population, but I judge the entire population of bees based on the behavior of those few bees. I'm not proud of myself. Oh, and bears...definitely biased against bears too.

Posted by: anonuser879 | May 29, 2018 9:46:51 AM

San Joaquin County routinely sentences petty theft to 10 days, when the defendant is black or brown, so Burgess must be white, and be part of the white power elite of San Joaquin County.

Posted by: Rocky Bay | May 30, 2018 2:54:59 PM

Im a CA crim def Attorney. THIS IS JUST A GUESS but I think its a good one. It sounds as though the defendant has dementia. Neither the jails nor prisons are equipped to handle an inmate with this condition. Its very possible he was even in the early stages when he engaged in the behavior. The DA pushed for prosecution for the benefit of his victim and her family, something which is understandable.

Believe me, San Joaquin Co courts are extremely conservative. Were he of sound mind, the court would have banished him long enough to ensure he died in prison.

Posted by: GAYLE Gutekunst | May 31, 2018 6:01:09 PM

Personally, I am so thoroughly sick of the stupid, stupid, very uninformed people who live in the U.S. who still have opinions. What is the average IQ in the U.S. anyway? The vast majority of people in our country are just stupid, awful, hateful people, are they not? I'm not a genius but I have enough sense to have an open mind at least and to realize that nearly every situation is very nuanced with many facts that I don't know. The vast majority of people just make me puke.

Anyway, it seems as financial gain is very often tied to these criminal cases. That ought to be fixed somehow. Anyone have any great ideas? Getting a person convicted of a crime should not help anyone in any way, financially or otherwise. Other than the "help" of just the person being punished, of course. People, private prisons, private probation companies, "counseling" companies, etc., etc., etc., etc., etc., should never benefit from convicting people. Quite obviously it debases justice and destroys any moral superiority and respect it could and should have.

Bill Otis might've been a decent person, I didn't read enough from him to recall. But I do know that he was biased to the point that he sometimes would just ignore known facts. It destroyed his judgement and intelligence more than once. That is a big flaw.

Posted by: FRegistryTerrorists | Jun 1, 2018 8:57:50 AM

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On the eve of its 30th anniversary, St. Helena restaurant Terra will close at the end of service on Saturday, June 2, marking the end of one of Wine Countrys most influential restaurants. During the restaurants life span, its chef-owners  Lissa Doumani and Hiro Sone  came to define a modern California cuisine in their use of European and Japanese influences.

The reason for the closure, said Doumani, who owns the restaurant with husband Sone, isnt profitability. Were making money (but) we cant get staff, she says.

Napa restaurants have had a hard time attracting talent for years, but as the summer tourist season approaches, the issue has grown particularly acute. The main issue, Doumani thinks, is housing. Before the fires, it was ridiculously expensive, but sometimes (staff) could find granny units. After the fire all those went to locals that were put out of their homes. Its the right thing to have happened, but there are consequences.

Terra, with its handsome stone walls and precise, delicate California cuisine, has been a stalwart presence in St. Helena so long that few Bay Area diners can remember its founding.

The couple met in 1983 when Sone took a job at Spago in Los Angeles just as Wolfgang Pucks restaurant was hitting its peak. A Japanese company had tapped him to be the chef of Spago Tokyo and sent him to California to apprentice for a year. There he met Doumani, then a pastry cook. The two reunited a few years later in Tokyo, and when Doumani returned to California, Sone followed her. In September 1988, they took over La Belle Helene, renaming it in the process.

Sone has always been Terras chef, Doumani its pastry chef. Over the years, their Mediterranean-inspired food has increasingly showed the culinary influence of Sones upbringing on a rice farm in Miyagi Prefecture, Japan.

John Storey/Special to the Chronicle

Terra was on Michael Bauers first Top 100 Restaurants list for the Chronicle a quarter-century ago and has remained there for its duration. Over the years, Sone and Doumani have opened other restaurants  notably Ame and Urchin Bistrot in San Francisco, which have both since closed  and have split their flagship into a restaurant and a bar.

Having recently re-upped their lease for another 10 years, Sone and Doumani had no expectation of closing. But due to short staffing, Sone has been working several stations in the kitchen, and Doumani has even been pressed into service in the kitchen. Theyve mulled over dozens of ways to restructure the restaurant to require fewer employees. You play all these scenarios in your head, she says. But none of them make enough of a difference.

Food Guide Top 25 Restaurants Where to eat in the Bay Area. Find spots near you, create a dining wishlist, and more.

Once the couple had made the decision to close, the changes happened quickly. This weekend Doumani and Sone told the staff  one of whom has worked there for 20 years  about the restaurant closing, and they have just a few days to get the word out to customers. Next, theyll have to sell the business, and then they can figure out what might be next.

For years, theyve talked  joking? dreaming? a little of both  of running a tiny bistro where the couple could work supported only by one or two additional employees. It was one of those retirement dreams, Doumani says. Were not ready to retire. We just need to get away from the stress of what this is.

Jonathan Kauffman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkauffman@sfchronicle.com. Twitter/Instagram: @jonkauffman.
The Future Bars crew is at it again.

The cocktail gurus behind San Francisco hotspots Bourbon & Branch , Pagan Idol and Rickhouse are in the process of obtaining a liquor license and moving into the former home of Gitane, the stylish San Francisco date-night spot which, coincidentally, closed on Valentines Day.

Future Bars partner Sheehy told Inside Scoop the opportunity for both the liquor license and the Gitane space came with little notice, so details at this point are still coming together. The ultimate goal, he said via email, is to open a neighborhood bar at that location, similar to our Lark Bar, he said, referring to the companys Third Street bar.

Sheehy and his team are acquiring the the Type-48 license formerly belonging to La Oficina ( 4234 Mission St.), an Excelsior bar with a lengthy history of criminal activity. The bars license was indefinitely suspended by the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control in April after a six-month investigation discovered people inside were selling drugs, as well as refilling empty bottles of alcohol with liquor purchased at other retail businesses. ABC also discovered the business was being run by owners who had not been approved by the department.

Stay tuned for more details on the Future Bars project.

Justin Phillips is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jphillips@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @JustMrPhillips
Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley said she was driven to her calling in life by two early adult experiences. One was her work as a rape-crisis advocate in college, where she saw up close how the system was failing victims. The other was a cancer diagnosis at age 22, where she was advised that she was likely to die.

If I live, its going to mean something to someone, she told herself.

OMalley, the countys top prosecutor since being appointed by the Board of Supervisors in 1999, has achieved national recognition as a leader on issues such as violence against women, human trafficking and elder abuse. She has sponsored or been a main advocate of critical state legislation to advance the prosecution of such issues. She is serious, effective and dedicated to smart-on-crime innovations such as bail reform and finding alternatives to incarceration for lower-risk offenders.

With OMalleys record of competence and accomplishment, it is no surprise that she has obtained endorsements from a wide swath of leaders who share her determination to synchronize law enforcement and social justice, including Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., and Thelton Henderson, a civil rights icon who as a federal judge demanded and oversaw great strides in the treatment of state prison inmates.

OMalley would seem to be an unlikely target from a challenge by a self-proclaimed progressive. But this is a democracy, which prospers when conventions are questioned and new ideas are proposed, and OMalley is facing her first real re-election test from civil rights attorney Pamela Price.

Prices campaign has been vigorous, well funded in independent expenditures from New York billionaire George Soros as part of a broader effort against incumbent district attorneys  and, in some cases, divorced from reality.

This is no small concern about Price. A district attorneys overarching commitment should be fidelity to the facts.

Our editorial board witnessed one of Prices foul shots during our on-the-record meeting with her. She said the death penalty would be off the table with her, and that it should be an issue in this race with 75 capital cases pending in Alameda County. She was pressed on the issue, because OMalley has insisted that of the 203 potential capital cases during her tenure, she pursued the death penalty in only one.

Price stood her ground at the meeting. However, she later followed up with an email to acknowledge that she had misspoken, and was referring to the 75 open murder cases in the county. OMalley was seeking the death penalty in none of those.

Price also has made an issue of the racial disparities that are pervasive throughout the system, and has pledged to do her part as district attorney to alleviate them. The concern about institutional bias against racial minorities is legitimate, but Prices solution is not.

Asked if she would take a suspects race into consideration when weighing whether to prosecute a case, Price did not hesitate: Certainly.

The aim of reform should be to identify and eliminate biases, not create new ones by giving a defendant the benefit of the doubt on the basis of his or her skin color.

If there is a healthy upshot to this campaign, it is in pushing OMalley to confront her blind spots in an otherwise accomplished tenure. She has been resistant to sentencing reforms such as Prop. 47, the voter-approved 2014 initiative that downgraded certain misdemeanors. And although OMalley later gave the money to a womens shelter, her campaigns receipt of a $10,000 donation from a Fremont police union at a time when its officers conduct in a fatal shooting was being reviewed by her office was, at best, a bad look.

OMalley has insisted that, When cops break the law, we prosecute them.

In overall knowledge, management experience and perspective on the competing demands of the office, OMalley is the clear choice.

Price has a really strong focus against law enforcement, OMalley said. This is a law enforcement job.

It is, and the occupant of that office must appreciate the need to both enforce the law and persuasively advocate for reforms in the system. OMalley has, and she gets our endorsement in the June 5 primary.

This commentary is from The Chronicles editorial board. We invite you to express your views in a letter to the editor. Please submit your letter via our online form: SFChronicle.com/letters.
I was violently assaulted by an intruder in my Berkeley home in 2015. The man charged with my attack is an alleged serial rapist who is accused of going on to rape and murder a woman named Randhir Kaur 10 days after he assaulted me. Remarkably  and tragically  these attacks were preventable. They are also one thread in a larger national story that is only recently getting the attention it deserves: the backlog of untested rape kits in police departments across the United States.

I did not know at the time of my attack that my alleged assailant kidnapped and sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman and 15-year-old girl in Berkeley in 2008. A rape kit from one of the victims was collected at a nearby hospital and turned over to the Berkeley Police Department. Instead of processing that kit in an effort to identify and pursue the perpetrator, it was locked away in an evidence room where it would collect dust until 2014.

Had investigators tested the DNA from this rape kit, they would have immediately identified the assailant, a repeat criminal whose DNA was already in the national database stemming from a 2005 felony gun conviction. Instead, the evidence was shelved and he was allowed to remain free to rape and murder for another seven years. In the words of Assembly member David Chiu, D-San Francisco, Kaurs slaying was absolutely horrifying and tragically avoidable, and exactly why we need every rape kit in the state to be tested.

This would be a chilling story if it were an isolated case of one overlooked or mishandled rape kit. But the reality is far worse.

This untested rape kit was one of 1,900 throughout Alameda County stored away until Alameda County District Attorney Nancy OMalley began eliminating the backlog in 2014. And it isnt just Alameda County that has failed. An estimated 13,000 rape kits still sit untested throughout California, and a staggering 400,000 across the country. Many of these victims have lost their chance to ever see justice served, as the statute of limitations has run out.

What kind of collective mentality within our countrys law enforcement agencies resulted in these horrifying statistics? How many lives have been tragically impacted by this thinking? Testing of rape kits historically has been voluntary for law enforcement, and police departments across the country have chosen to ignore this evidence.

Imagine investigators were routinely locking away and ignoring critical evidence in other crimes: video footage in kidnapping cases, fingerprint evidence in burglaries. The implausibility of these scenarios highlights the degree to which sexual assault has been treated as a fundamentally different category of crime.

Law enforcement officials across the country have offered versions of the same explanation for their handling of rape kits, often resting on the argument that in many reported rapes the assailant is an acquaintance and DNA evidence is therefore not needed. This argument carries a strong whiff of the rape is only real if the assailant is a stranger attitude. This attitude is both ignorant and dangerous.

Research by Case Western Reserve University reveals that a third of serial rapists have a mix of acquaintances and strangers among their victims. By deprioritizing rape kit evidence from acquaintance rape, law enforcement ignores critical DNA evidence that can link these offenders to the stranger assaults we know many of them also commit.

The cost of processing rape kits, generally between $500 to $1,500 per kit, is cited as an additional justification for ignoring them. Are we, as a society, really prepared to say that rape is just too expensive to prevent and prosecute?

A number of people urged me to take legal action against the Berkeley Police Department. My first instinct was to dismiss the idea, not wanting the departments limited resources to be spent on a lawsuit when there are so many areas where those resources are desperately needed. Upon reflection, however, I wondered whether such a suit might raise awareness about the issue and put pressure on departments across the country to examine and change their practices with regard to rape kits. I consulted an attorney, who informed me that legal action was likely futile.

Police departments are protected by broad immunity when it comes to how they handle evidence. Failure to test rape kits would likely be considered an act of omission rather than an act of commission. Acts of omission are defined by their lack of action  and by extension lack of presumed bad intention  and confer protection against liability. Pending lawsuits in Houston, Memphis and San Francisco are testing the resilience of this defense.

If our law enforcement agencies are protected by immunity, then who gets held accountable? Kaur died because the Berkeley Police Department determined  consciously or unconsciously  it was not worthwhile to test the rape kits in its possession. Where is her justice?

Thankfully, laws are changing. SB1449 would mandate the timely processing of all rape kits and is one step closer to becoming law after a critical vote Friday in the Assembly. But as we know, laws can be changed overnight  attitudes are more stubborn.

The time for our underlying attitudes about sexual assault to change is long overdue. Until the pervasive mind-set that sanctioned the dismissal of this evidence on such a staggering scale changes, we have a problem.

Changing these attitudes begins by exposing the devastating consequences of law enforcements pattern of ignoring rape kits and unveiling the biases that allowed that pattern to go unexamined this long. Kaur cannot voice her outrage and demand an apology. But I can.

Not an apology to me, but to all the victims impacted by the Berkeley Police Departments failure to treat this crime with the seriousness it requires. And that apology must abstain from excuses and instead demonstrate sincere, critical self-reflection about the collective mentality that permitted this to happen.

Owning up to mistakes does not undermine public trust in law enforcement. On the contrary, it is what is required to demonstrate the integrity upon which trust is built.

I have had many positive interactions with Berkeleys police force over the years and appreciate the difficult work its officers do. But this was an enormous failure, and the Berkeley Police Department needs to publicly acknowledge its mistake, apologize and treat rape kits as the invaluable crime-fighting tools they are. Law enforcement agencies across the country need to do the same.

Ann Reidy is a Berkeley resident who was assaulted in her home in 2015. She is advocating for laws that will require law enforcement agencies to perform timely testing of rape kits.
It could be a very short evening for plenty of candidates next Tuesday, with their political dreams dying just minutes after the polls close in California.

With more and more people casting ballots by mail, that first crush of early results represents an ever-growing percentage of the total vote.

When those 8:01s (shorthand for the time of first reports) come out and someone is up by 10 points, theres not a lot more to look at, especially in what could be a typically low-turnout primary, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data, which supplies voting and voter information to political campaigns.

About 61 percent of California voters are signed up as permanent vote by mail, which means they get a ballot delivered to their mailbox nearly a month before election day. In San Mateo, Napa and three other counties this year, everyone got a mail ballot, whether they wanted one or not.

If a lot of those mail ballots are returned before election day, there might not be enough votes left to count to offset a candidates early lead. Read the complete story.

Jeff Chiu / Associated Press

The roundup

Stanford sex-assault fallout: Judge Aaron Persky could be the first California judge to be recalled since 1932, thanks to the light sentence he handed out in the Brock Turner case. [Chronicle]

Predicting Newsom: What kind of governor would Gavin Newsom be? His time as San Francisco mayor could be telling. [Chronicle]

Buying influence? Whos behind the all the money pouring into San Franciscos mayoral campaign is turning into one of the races biggest issues. [Chronicle]

Soros and the DA: Billionaire George Soros is turning the race for Alameda County district attorney into a test case for progressive prosecution politics. [Chronicle]

OK to discriminate? An Orange County House Republican facing a tough re-election campaign says homeowners should be free to refuse to sell to gays and lesbians. [Chronicle]

Hidden messages: California governor candidates see hidden messages in campaign ads. [Chronicle]

Running low: The Republican with the best shot of making it into the runoff election for governor is all but out of campaign cash. [Chronicle]

Managing Trump: A top Mexican official talks about handling U.S. relations in the age of Trump. [Chronicle]

Political calendar: A calendar for election night watch parties and other political events. [Chronicle]

Voter guide: Heres one-stop shopping for coverage of state and local races and measures on next Tuesdays ballot. [Chronicle]

The Political Punch newsletter publishes every Tuesday and Thursday between noon and 3 p.m. It is produced by the staff of the San Francisco Chronicle and edited by politics editor Trapper Byrne. Email: tbyrne@sfchronicle.com
It could be a very short evening for plenty of candidates next Tuesday, with their political dreams dying just minutes after the polls close in California.

With more and more people casting ballots by mail, that first crush of early results represents an ever-growing percentage of the total vote.

When those 8:01s (shorthand for the time of first reports) come out and someone is up by 10 points, theres not a lot more to look at, especially in what could be a typically low-turnout primary, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data, which supplies voting and voter information to political campaigns.

About 61 percent of California voters are signed up as permanent vote by mail, which means they get a ballot delivered to their mailbox nearly a month before election day. In San Mateo, Napa and three other counties this year, everyone got a mail ballot, whether they wanted one or not.

If a lot of those mail ballots are returned before election day, there might not be enough votes left to count to offset a candidates early lead.

But those mail ballots are only one thing that make next weeks election hard to predict. In a recent article on the Capitol Weekly website, Mitchell pointed to a number of problems wreaking havoc with polling that attempts to show how the various candidates and campaigns are doing.

One has to do with how much weight to give to the expected vote from different regions. For example, more than 27 percent of the states voters live in Los Angeles County, compared with 20 percent in the Bay Area. So you might think a candidate who runs well in L.A. would have an advantage.

But the turnout in and around San Francisco is far higher than in Southern California, which helps explain why six of the eight statewide officials elected in 2014 were from Northern California.

In the 2014 gubernatorial primary, Mitchell reported, there were 1.3 million more registered voters in Los Angeles County than in the Bay Area. But with a 31 percent to 17 percent turnout advantage, the Bay Area ended up casting 280,000 more votes.

As of late last week, 23 percent of the ballots returned for this primary election had come from the Bay Area, compared with 14 percent from Los Angeles.

That means the Bay Area is over-performing by about 90,000 votes, Mitchell said.

That could be good news for former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom in the governors race. And its a potential concern for former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Treasurer John Chiang, who both live in Los Angeles County and are hoping to finish in the top two on Tuesday to advance to the general election.

Mitchell also warned that polls may be overestimating the Latino turnout, another factor that could hurt Villaraigosa.

While Latino registration is on the rise, now standing at about 25 percent of the states voters, turnout isnt increasing nearly as quickly, especially in primary elections, Mitchell said.

Democrats also might want to curb their oft-stated expectations for a statewide sweep in contested congressional elections, he said.

Waves dont happen in primaries, Mitchell said  because they typically attract older, more conservative voters who skew Republican. Its in a runoff, where its one-on-one, good versus evil, where political waves take place.

But there is a rule-of-thumb way to gauge Democratic enthusiasm and the partys chances in November, Mitchell said.

At the end of the day next Tuesday, count up the votes for all the Democrats (in a district) and compare that to the votes for all the Republicans, he said. If Democrats get more total votes, thats huge and shows real vulnerability for Republicans.

John Wildermuth is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jwildermuth@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jfwildermuth
 Another helpful review of analysis of huge set of federal sentencing outcomes | Main | "In Justice Today" has now become "The Appeal" 

May 29, 2018

SCOTUS limits reach of Mandatory Victims Restitution Act in Lagos ... and talks about Fourth Amendment

The US Supreme Court handed down two opinions and a dismissal this morning, all from the criminal side of its docket. The one sentencing decision came in Lagos v. United States, No. 16-1519 (S. Ct. May 29, 2018) (available here). Here is hope the unanimous opinion by Justice Breyer gets started:

The Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 requires defendants convicted of a listed range of offenses to reimburse the victim for lost income and necessary child care, transportation, and other expenses incurred during participation in the investigation or prosecution of the offense or attendance at proceedings related to the offense. 18 U.S.C. 3663A(b)(4) (emphasis added). We must decide whether the words investigation and proceedings are limited to government investigations and criminal proceedings, or whether they include private investigations and civil proceedings. In our view, they are limited to government investigations and criminal proceedings.

Got that? The short Lagos opinion goes on to provide a mini-primer on federal restitution statutes, but both the issue and the opinion here ensures this ruling will not be too long remembered.

Also not to be too long remembered is a DIG (dismissed as improvidently granted) from SCOTUS today in City of Hays, Kansas v. Vogt, No. 16-1495. The only SCOTUS decision today likely to get any real attention is a Fourth Amendment ruling in Collins v. Virginia, No. 16-1027 (S. Ct. May 29, 2018) (available here). Justice Sotomayor starts the opinion for the Court off succintly: "This case presents the question whether the automobile exception to the Fourth Amendment permits a police officer, uninvited and without a warrant, to enter the curtilage of a home in order to search a vehicle parked therein. It does not." Justice Alito dissents alone, starting this way: "The Fourth Amendment prohibits 'unreasonable' searches. What the police did in this case was entirely reasonable. The Courts decision is not."

The merits aside, the Collins decision will really garner attention because of a lengthy concurrence by Justice Thomas. Writing alone, he urges the Court to reconsider the reach of the exclusionary rule. Here is how his opinion starts and ends:

I join the Courts opinion because it correctly resolves the Fourth Amendment question in this case. Notably, the only reason that Collins asked us to review this question is because, if he can prove a violation of the Fourth Amendment, our precedents require the Virginia courts to apply the exclusionary rule and potentially suppress the incriminating evidence against him. I write separately because I have serious doubts about this Courts authority to impose that rule on the States. The assumption that state courts must apply the federal exclusionary rule is legally dubious, and many jurists have complained that it encourages distort[ions] in substantive Fourth Amendment law, Rakas v. Illinois, 439 U.S. 128, 157 (1978) (White, J., dissenting).... In sum, I am skeptical of this Courts authority to impose the exclusionary rule on the States. We have not yet revisited that question in light of our modern precedents, which reject Mapps essential premise that the exclusionary rule is required by the Constitution. We should do so.

May 29, 2018 at 10:35 AM | Permalink

Comments

Justice Thomas quotes Akhil Amar, whose views on various subjects he might not be as likely to cite, but do not see a reference to Fourth Amendment expert Orin Kerr. I recall reading a history/article of his that is at least more agnostic on the matter. Perhaps, he will write something later at Reason/Volokh Conspiracy.

Posted by: Joe | May 29, 2018 10:54:40 AM

I found this statement in Breyer's opinion to be an interesting inclusion:

"And one begins to doubt whether Congress intended, in making this restitution mandatory, to require courts to resolve these potentially time-consuming controversies as part of criminal sentencingparticularly once one realizes that few victims are likely to benefit because more than 90% of criminal restitution is never collected. See GAO, Federal Criminal Restitution: Most Debt Is Outstanding and Oversight of Collections Could Be Improved 25 (GAO18203, 2018) (explaining that the Justice Department considers 91% of outstanding criminal restitution to be uncollectible)."

Seems like a bit of a dig at the government. I know from personal experience that getting court ordered restitution doesn't actually mean you get anything, but I wasn't aware the numbers were so high on the federal level. If Congress were really that concerned with compensating victims it could pass legislation that requires restitution in certain situations be paid by the government, and then the offender is on the hook to the government for the amount. I would think the government has better resources to secure collection than a victim (maybe not GE). But since that would probably be expensive legislation, it's more likely the restitution charade continues.

Posted by: Anonuser879 | May 29, 2018 5:34:45 PM

Joe, I don't think you can point directly to the exclusionary rule in historic practice at the time of adoption of the Constitution. But you can point to doctrines that did exist at the time to provide for a firm basis for the rule existing. The big example I always point to is the nullity doctrine. Any action done in violation of the Constitution is void. This doctrine, of course, would be very uncomfortable for the modern Court because it would also removed good faith qualified immunity. There's a case where an individual killed someone in defense of a Supreme Court Justice. All parties agreed that, even though he was acting on the orders of the President of the United States, if there was no lawful authority, he would not be entitled to any kind of immunity.

Anyway, the doctrine can be extended pretty clearly to same logic in Weeks. If the police had no lawful authority to search property, they had no lawful authority to possess or use the evidence found during that search. That's the fundamental premise of the exclusionary rule as it was initially conceived. Unfortunately, as time went on, the courts have changed the rationale to instead say the purpose is to deter the police from illegal conduct and that it's an entirely prophylactic rule not constitutionally required. This change to deterrence as the purpose only really serves to undermine the exclusionary rule and to downplay the connections to the common law.

Posted by: Erik M | May 30, 2018 2:45:47 PM

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San Francisco honored veterans who gave their lives in Americas wars in a sunny Memorial Day celebration that mixed solemn remembrance with pomp and patriotism, and just a touch of politics, at the San Francisco National Cemetery at the Presidio.

Under clear skies, in uncommonly warm weather, and surrounded by an abundance of stars and stripes, more than a thousand people gathered in the San Francisco National Cemetery at the Presidio Monday for its 150th Memorial Day commemoration.

American flags lined the cemetery gates and wound their way through the white headstones on the lush green hillsides overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, Crissy Field and Alcatraz Island. A small flag, along with a single red rose, was placed in front of each of the 26,425 graves.

The citys official remembrance began with the raising of a huge American flag over Pershing Square at the Presidios main post. A march from the Officers Club to the main gate of the cemetery followed, with a marching band leading the way and veterans groups and a collection of brightly colored classic cars behind.

A bright orange Coast Guard helicopter flew overheard to open the official commemoration ceremony. Soon after, a four-gun salute boomed, and the speeches began.

While some people strolled through the headstones, most sat or stood somberly in front of a stage where dignitaries, including Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Mark Farrell, honored members of the American military who gave their lives in war.

The event was described as apolitical, and no names or titles were mentioned. But the current climate in Washington drew at least some commentary.

Feinstein spoke of the difficulty of working in Washington these days, calling it a place of unpredictability, and questioning the nations direction.

As she looked out on the nearby graves, only hundreds of feet away, she said, she couldnt help but get emotional and wonder about the relatives of those who died fighting for their country.

What are their families doing now? she said. How would they regard this country now? Are we a country that stands for the rights of everybody? That fights for the rights that we believe in, hallowed into our Constitution, which in my view is the most important document that makes this the great democracy that it is?

Newsom spoke of the diversity of San Francisco, California and the nation, thanking those who gave their lives to protect democratic values.

He also talked about the importance of honoring veterans who come back and will never be the same, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or physical injuries.

The mostly quiet commemoration concluded with a loud 21-gun salute from three howitzers at the Presidios main post. The citys annual ceremony dates back to 1868, the year the national day of remembrance, originally known as Decoration Day, started.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan
San Franciscos restrictions on outdoor advertising signs, permitting the signs only where advertisers conduct business, were left intact Tuesday when the U.S. Supreme Court turned down a challenge by business groups.

The city ordinance was challenged by Contest Promotions, a company that runs raffles for prizes such as movie and concert tickets and leases space for signs in local stores where the raffle tickets are sold. Those displays were banned by the most recent version of the ordinance, enacted in 2014, which allowed commercial ad signs only for the primary business on the premises.

City voters had approved an earlier, somewhat less restrictive version in 2002, primarily aimed at billboards. While both measures banned new off-site advertising signs, they allowed those already in place to remain.

In a 2015 lawsuit, Contest Promotions argued that the ordinance was discriminatory and violated free speech. The company cited a Supreme Court ruling, also in 2015, that found an Arizona town violated freedom of speech by setting tighter limits on signs that advertise local church services than on signs that carry political or ideological messages.

But U.S. District Judge Susan Illston dismissed Contest Promotions suit, saying the Supreme Court ruling in the Arizona case did not involve commercial speech, which has been granted lesser constitutional protection than noncommercial expression and is subject to more government regulation.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco upheld Illstons decision last August, citing its previous rulings that allowed cities to ban commercial billboards and other off-site advertising in order to promote safety and aesthetics.

The Pacific Legal Foundation, a business-supported property-rights group in Sacramento, and similar organizations in Arizona and Georgia urged the Supreme Court to take up the Contest Promotions case and apply its 2015 ruling to commercial advertising. The company, in its appeal, argued that San Franciscos ban on off-site advertising had no logical relationship to aesthetics or traffic safety.

There is no reason to believe off-premises signs are uglier, or more distracting to motorists, than on-premises signs, said the companys lawyers.

San Francisco, in its court filing, said city officials had concluded in 2002, when the first ordinance was passed, that additional commercial billboards could distract motorists and pedestrians and contribute to blight and visual clutter. The city also said the Supreme Court had upheld San Diegos ban on off-site commercial advertising in 1981, though Contest Promotions said the two laws were different.

The high court denied review Tuesday without comment.

City Attorney Dennis Herrera said the courts action upholds what San Franciscans voted for in 2002, affirming their right to have a say on the billboards that appear in their city.

Representatives of Contest Promotions declined to comment.

The case is Concert Promotions vs. San Francisco, No. 17-1152.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @BobEgelko
Salesforce reported Tuesday that it had first-quarter profit of $344 million (76 cents per share), after reporting a loss in the same period a year earlier. Analysts had expected 46 cents.

The San Francisco cloud software company said its revenue during the quarter was $3.01 billion, which also topped forecasts. It projected earnings in the current quarter of 46 to 47 cents per share.

Salesforce shares were up about 4 percent in after-hours trading after closing at $126.48. The stock has gained 24 percent this year.

CEO Marc Benioff has expanded Salesforces ambitions. The company bought MuleSoft for $6.5 billion  its largest-ever purchase  in a deal completed in May.

HP Inc.

HP Inc. on Tuesday reported fiscal second-quarter profit of $1.06 billion (48 cents per share), in line with analysts expectations.

The Palo Alto maker of personal computers and printers said it had revenue of $14 billion in the period, which topped forecasts.

For the current quarter, HP expects its earnings to range from 49 to 52 cents per share.

After closing at $21.30, HP shares were up 10 cents after hours. The stock is up roughly 2 percent since the beginning of the year.

Automakers

Another

Tesla crash

Authorities say a Tesla sedan in Autopilot mode crashed into a parked police cruiser in Southern California Tuesday.

Police Sgt. Jim Cota said the officer was not in the police SUV during the crash in Laguna Beach. The officers vehicle ended up with its two passenger-side wheels on a sidewalk.

Cota said the Tesla driver suffered minor injuries.

Teslas semiautonomous Autopilot mode has come under scrutiny following other recent crashes. The Palo Alto carmaker says the function is not designed to avoid a collision and warns drivers not to rely on it entirely.

Cybercrime

Yahoo hacker

gets 5 years

A Canadian computer hacker was sentenced Tuesday to five years in prison in connection with a huge security breach at Yahoo that federal agents say was directed by Russian government spies.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria in San Francisco also fined 23-year-old Karim Baratov $250,000.

Baratov pleaded guilty in November to nine felony hacking charges. He acknowledged that he hacked thousands of Yahoo accounts for seven years ending with his arrest last year.

Baratov charged customers to obtain another persons webmail passwords by tricking them to enter their credentials into a fake password reset page.

Prosecutors allege that the Russian security service hired the Kazakhstan-born Baratov to target email accounts using information obtained from the Yahoo hack. His attorneys said Baratov didnt know he was working for the Russian spy agency.

Chronicle News Services
WASHINGTON  The Trump administration injected a fresh layer of uncertainty into its trade dispute with China on Tuesday, saying that it would impose tariffs and other punitive measures on Beijing after all, intensifying pressure on both countries as trade talks continue and as a summit between the United States and North Korea looms.

Barely a week after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the trade war with China was on hold and that tariffs would be suspended as talks continue, the White House said that the United States would move ahead with its plan to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion worth of imported Chinese goods within the next month.

The renewed threat came before a second round of high-profile trade talks that begin this weekend, when Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is scheduled to visit Beijing to try to resolve a dispute that has threatened to tip the worlds two largest economies into a trade war. President Trump, who said last week that he was not happy with the way the first round of talks with China went, has increasingly seized on the threat of tariffs as a cudgel to force concessions from other countries.

For many trading partners, Trumps approach has produced confusion and uncertainty. Last week, the administration announced a sweeping new investigation that could result in tariffs on imported automobiles, a move many trade advisers said was designed to increase pressure on Mexico and Canada in negotiations over the North American Free Trade Agreement. On Friday, temporary exemptions to steel and aluminum tariffs that the White House granted to the European Union, Canada and Mexico are set to expire, raising the question of whether the countries will fold to Trumps trade requests or fight back with retaliation of their own.

Hours after the planned tariffs on China were announced, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce accused the White House of going back on its word, and hinted that Beijing expected such a reversal.

We feel surprised by the tactical statement issued by the White House, and yet it was also unsurprising, an unnamed spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said through Xinhua, the official news agency. This is clearly contrary to the consensus that China and the U.S. reached not long ago in Washington. No matter what measures the U.S. side unveils, China has the confidence, the capacity and the experience to defend the interests of the Chinese people and core national interests. China urges the United States to move toward each other in the spirit of the joint announcement.

The last round of talks concluded May 19 with the countries issuing a joint announcement that revealed little progress toward resolving a long list of complaints the U.S. negotiators had previously identified. Trump, who made getting tough on China a centerpiece of his presidential campaign, has often talked about challenging what he has described as Chinas unfair trade practices. But his advisers are deeply divided over the best course and some, like Mnuchin, have focused on a potential compromise deal that would require China to buy huge amounts of American products while still forestalling the possibility of a trade war.

Other advisers have pushed for tougher action, demanding that China make substantial reforms to its economy to end the subsidies it provides to developing industries and to allow U.S. companies equal access in the Chinese market. Those requests in particular have provoked a backlash from China, which has threatened its own potential set of tariffs on $50 billion in American goods.

On Friday, Trump said he had reached a deal that would allow embattled Chinese telecom firm ZTE to remain in business, raising criticism from Congress that he was backing off from his tougher promises on trade.

The administrations statement Tuesday suggested that the hard-liners were, for now, once again winning the internal trade war.

In April, the administration detailed a list of Chinese goods that would be subject to tariffs, including flat-screen TVs and medical devices. It then held a series of hearings on the tariffs, giving the public a chance to influence the targeted products. On Tuesday, the White House said it would compile the final list of goods that will subject to the tariffs by June 15, and the duties would be imposed shortly after that.

The White House also said the administration would move forward with restrictions on Chinese investment and with stronger export controls meant to limit the access that Chinese people and companies have to U.S. technology  a measure the administration said was for national security purposes.

Those restrictions will be announced by June 30 and adopted soon after that, the administration said, adding that the United States would also continue to pursue a trade case it has filed against China at the World Trade Organization involving intellectual property rights.

Trade talks between the two countries will continue, the statement said, and the United States has asked Beijing to remove all of its many trade barriers that prevent U.S. companies from doing business in China, and has also said that tariffs and taxes between the two countries be reciprocal in nature and value.

Ana Swanson is a New York Times writer.
A 22-year-old man was injured Monday evening when a suspect stole his scooter after knocking him down with a dog in San Francisco, authorities said.

The Memorial Day attack occurred about 6:45 p.m. near the intersection of Larkin and Hemlock streets, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
With high Consumer Reach Points (CRPs), Vinamilk shines bright as the most chosen dairy brand in Hanoi, Da Nang, Ho Chi Minh City and Can Tho, and rural areas across the country in 2017.



As the most popular fast-moving consumer goods brand in Vietnam, Vinamilk has various dairy products favoured by local shoppers like Ngoi Sao Phuong Nam, Ong Tho and Susu.



Unilever, Masan Consumer and Vinamilk were in the top three of brand owners in the four cities and rural areas. In the food sector, Masan and Vinamilk were the two most-chosen brands while Unilever secured its stronghold in the non-food sector.



Katar Worldpanels annual Brand Footprint study is based on research from 73 percent of the global population, a total of one billion households in 43 countries across five continents.



As part of the study, Kartar Worldpanel tracks more than 18,000 brands around the world across beverages, food, dairy, health and beauty and home care. This years ranking analysed the brands in the 12 months to November 2017.



Brand Footprint is set apart from other brand rankings by providing information on real consumer behaviour rather than attitude. Consumer Reach Points (CRPs) from the basis of the ranking. The metric measures how many households around the world are buying a brand (penetration) and how often (frequency).

Vietnamplus
A man was critically injured Saturday after an unknown suspect stabbed him while he was walking in San Franciscos Golden Gate Park, authorities said.

The incident occurred just after 11 p.m. at La Playa Street and Lincoln Way on the southwest edge of Golden Gate Park, according to the San Francisco Police Department.
The United States Geological Survey has been tackling plenty of serious questions surrounding the Kilauea volcano but, in a surprise turn of events, decided to address one Twitter user's light-hearted inquiry about putting the volcano to work.

"Is it safe to roast marshmallows over volcanic vents?" asked Twitter user @JayFurr Monday. "Assuming you had a long enough stick, that is? Or would the resulting marshmallows be poisonous?"

VOLCANO TIMES: Volcanic ash swamps Hawaii school, turning tennis court gray

The social media team over at USGS Volcanoes good-humoredly tackled the question and quickly shot down the idea, writing, "Erm...we're going to have to say no, that's not safe. (Please don't try!)"

"If the vent is emitting a lot of SO2 or H2S, they would taste BAD," the tweet continued. "And if you add sulfuric acid (in vog, for example) to sugar, you get a pretty spectacular reaction."

The subsequent thread of replies to this Twitter exchange wondered what, exactly, "a pretty spectacular reaction" meant, and a few Google search-adept readers tweeted videos of the result. (Spoiler: It is a pretty spectacular reaction.)

The Twitter question brought a bit of levity to the situation as the Hawaii region is dealing with lava fissures, volcanic ash and vog  volcanic smog  which have impacted the Big Island since the Kilauea volcano first became active earlier this month.

KILAUEA VOLCANO: An explainer on 'vog' and its impact on Hawaiian residents

Evacuation orders are in place for areas near the volcano and the lava has destroyed about 82 structures, including 37 homes. Still, no one had yet thought about marshmallows ... until now.

"Hmm," replied @JayFurr. "Okay, what about roasting hot dogs?"

The USGS Twitter account remained silent on that one.

The Associated Press contributed to this article.
SAN FRANCISCO  In the three months before she was even born, Elianna Constantino received five blood transfusions and a bone-marrow transplant. All were given with a needle passed through her mothers abdomen and uterus, into the vein in her umbilical cord.

Elianna, born Feb. 1 with a robust cry and a cap of gleaming black hair, has a genetic disease that usually kills a fetus before birth. The condition, alpha thalassemia major, leaves red blood cells unable to carry oxygen around the body, causing severe anemia, heart failure and brain damage.

The transfusions in the womb kept her alive, but only treated her illness. The bone-marrow transplant has the potential to cure it. Whether it will succeed is still too soon to tell.

Elianna and her mother, Nichelle Obar, were the first patients in an experiment that pushes the limits of fetal therapy, a field already known for its daring.

If the treatment works, it could open the door to using bone-marrow transplants before birth to cure not just Eliannas blood disease but also sickle cell anemia, hemophilia and other hereditary disorders, some so severe that the prenatal diagnosis may lead parents to end the pregnancy.

Bone marrow is considered a potential cure because it teems with stem cells, which can create replacements for cells that are missing or defective as a result of genetic flaws.

This line of work moves the field of fetal surgery, which currently consists of big operations for anatomic disorders, in a new direction of molecular and cellular therapies given non-invasively, said Dr. Tippi MacKenzie, a pediatric and fetal surgeon who is leading the study at the UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital San Francisco, part of the University of California, San Francisco.

Obar, 40, and her husband, Chris Constantino, 37, are healthy but learned during her first pregnancy that they are thalassemia carriers. There are several forms of the disease, and worldwide about 100,000 children a year are born with severe cases. Millions of people are carriers, most commonly those from Asia, the Mediterranean, Africa or the Middle East.

Carriers are generally healthy, but when two have children together, the children are at risk for the disease. Obars ancestry is Filipino and Puerto Rican; her husbands is Filipino. They live in Kilauea, on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Their first child, Gabriel, now 3, is healthy. But each child they conceive has a 1 in 4 chance of being affected, and during Obars second pregnancy, her doctors were on the lookout for the disease.

They found it. An ultrasound at 18 weeks showed that Eliannas heart was twice the size it should have been, and fluid was accumulating around her lungs and other organs. Blood flow through her brain was abnormally rapid, a sign of severe anemia.

Everything pointed toward alpha thalassemia major  the worst form of the disease. Obars doctor and genetic counselor warned her and her husband that their daughter might not survive.

Her heart was working so hard, Obar said, with tears in her eyes.

By this point in pregnancy, the second trimester, an affected fetus has little or no working hemoglobin, the molecule that carries oxygen to cells all over the body. Tissues are suffocating, and the heart struggles to compensate.

Some medical references describe the illness as incompatible with life, and most fetuses die in the womb from heart failure. The pregnancy may end in miscarriage, and parents may not know why. Many do not know they are carriers.

Sometimes, as the fetus weakens, a phenomenon called mirror syndrome occurs: The mother also becomes ill, with severe high blood pressure and other problems that can kill her unless the pregnancy is ended.

Infants with untreated alpha thalassemia major who somehow survive until birth almost always have severe brain damage from lack of oxygen.

Transfusions into the umbilical cord during pregnancy can save the fetus and may prevent brain damage. The child will then require transfusions every three or four weeks for life; the procedures cost about $50,000 a year and pose their own risks, especially a dangerous buildup of iron.

A bone-marrow transplant after birth can cure the disease, but only if a matching donor is found. The transplant also has dangers, and costs about $150,000.

Many obstetricians do not even tell patients about transfusions, MacKenzie said.

Everyone now is told to abort, said Dr. Elliott Vichinsky, one of her research partners and the founder of the Northern California Comprehensive Thalassemia Center at the UCSF Benioff Childrens Hospital Oakland. We understand families should make that decision if thats right for them. Were just saying they should be given the information that there are other options.

Some doctors are wary of transfusions because they think that even if the child survives, there is still too high a risk of significant brain damage. A report last year on an international registry of survivors found that 20 percent (11 of 55) had serious delays in their neurological development. Another article found delays in 29 percent (4 of 14).

MacKenzie and Vichinsky said they did not try to discourage parents who preferred abortion. But some parents would rather avoid it.

These are not unwanted pregnancies, MacKenzie said. Were as pro-choice as you get. These are wanted pregnancies for whom therapy could be offered. And you can have a choice to terminate or you can have a choice to have therapy, but the bottom line is you have to be given those choices. And we recognize thats a very personal choice, but we as doctors need to be providing you with those choices.

Obars genetic counselor mentioned termination  but also transfusions. She and her husband chose transfusions.

The counselor also described MacKenzies study. The chance that the transplant might help their daughter appealed to them, though they understood that it was an experiment and that there were no guarantees. At this early stage in the research, the primary aim of the study was to find out whether the treatment was safe.

The general goal of fetal therapy is to act early enough to minimize or even prevent lasting harm from severe problems that start in the womb. With a bone-marrow transplant, the added advantage of giving it before birth is that the fetal immune system is not yet fully developed, so it is unlikely to reject the transplant.

In contrast, when transplants are given after birth, the child first needs an arduous course of chemotherapy to wipe out the immune system and prevent rejection. That treatment itself can be fatal: The death rate is about 7 percent, mostly from infection.

Bone-marrow transplants in fetuses, sometimes using the father as a donor, were first tried in the 1990s. Some worked, but most failed, and doctors mostly abandoned the procedure, MacKenzie said.

But research continued in animals, and a key finding emerged. The mother, not the fetus, was rejecting transplants that came from fathers or other donors.

A possible solution became evident. Everybody has a perfect donor when theyre a fetus, and thats the mom, MacKenzie said.

Genetically, the mother is not a complete match  half the fetal genes come from its father  but shes still the ideal donor before birth, because during pregnancy the maternal and fetal immune systems are at peace. Mother and child tolerate one another: Their cells do not fight. The truce ends at birth, or shortly before, when the infants immune system starts to work.

It may seem puzzling to give a fetus with a genetic disease stem cells from the mother who passed on the bad genes. But it can work. If the mother is a healthy carrier, her stem cells also have copies of the good genes that the child needs.

People have two copies of nearly every gene, one copy from each parent. Alpha thalassemia major involves two genes, and two flawed copies of each.

A fetus with the disorder has four bad copies. But each parent has only two bad copies  and two good ones. So the mothers stem cells can produce healthy blood cells for the child.

On Obars first visit to UCSF in October, at 21 weeks of pregnancy, Elianna was so sick that the team feared she was near death, and gave her a transfusion almost immediately, MacKenzie said. She quickly began to improve.

The team then drew bone marrow from Obars hip bones, and along with Eliannas second transfusion  about a week after the first  they dripped in about 50 million of her mothers stem cells, an enormous number compared with usual transplants.

Stem cells home in on the bone marrow, and the reason for such a big dose was to give the new cells the best possible chance to displace Eliannas defective ones and produce a healthy blood supply for her. She had three more transfusions over the next few months, until her birth.

In one sense, the experiment has already been a success: there have been no adverse effects to mother or baby, so the treatment seems safe.

Im thrilled that it was safe and it was feasible, MacKenzie said, adding it was also important to get the message out that fetal transfusions for alpha thalassemia are lifesaving. She expects to perform transplants on a few more patients, see how they fare and then decide how to proceed.

So far for Elianna, in her first three months, there has been no obvious benefit from the transplant. Like all children with her blood disorder, she needs a transfusion every three weeks.

But tests have found some of her mothers stem cells in her blood. Whether they will start to help her is unknown. If they do not, her parents could eventually opt for a bone-marrow transplant to cure the disease and free her from a lifetime of transfusions.

In that case, if some of her mothers cells persist, they may make it possible for her to accept another transplant from Obar with less chemotherapy than the procedure usually requires.

Those decisions are a long way off.

Eliannas doing great, Obar said. Im not disappointed at all. If it works, great. If it didnt, were OK with it. Well celebrate all the little accomplishments. Im glad we did it.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
Purdue Pharma, the company that planted the seeds of the opioid epidemic through its aggressive marketing of OxyContin, has long claimed it was unaware of the powerful opioid painkillers growing abuse until years after it went on the market.

But a copy of a confidential Justice Department report shows that federal prosecutors investigating the company found that Purdue Pharma knew about significant abuse of OxyContin in the first years after the drugs introduction in 1996 and concealed that information.

Company officials had received reports that the pills were being crushed and snorted; stolen from pharmacies; and that some doctors were being charged with selling prescriptions, according to dozens of previously undisclosed documents that offer a detailed look inside Purdue Pharma. But the drugmaker continued in the face of this knowledge to market OxyContin as less prone to abuse and addiction than other prescription opioids, prosecutors wrote in 2006.

Based on their findings after a four-year investigation, the prosecutors recommended that three top Purdue Pharma executives be indicted on felony charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, that could have sent the men to prison if convicted.

But top Justice Department officials in the George W. Bush administration did not support the move, said four lawyers who took part in those discussions or were briefed about them. Instead, the government settled the case in 2007.

Prosecutors found that the companys sales representatives used the words street value, crush, or snort in 117 internal notes recording their visits to doctors or other medical professionals from 1997 through 1999.

The 120-page report also cited emails showing that Purdue Pharmas owners, members of the wealthy Sackler family, were sent reports about abuse of OxyContin and another company opioid, MS Contin.

We have in fact picked up references to abuse of our opioid products on the internet, Purdue Pharmas general counsel, Howard R. Udell, wrote in early 1999 to another company official. That same year, prosecutors said, company officials learned of a call to a pharmacy describing OxyContin as the hottest thing on the street  forget Vicodin.

Udell and other company executives testified in Congress and elsewhere that the drugmaker did not learn about OxyContins growing abuse until early 2000, when the U.S. attorney in Maine issued an alert. Today, Purdue Pharma, which is based in Stamford, Connecticut, maintains that position.

The episode remains relevant as lawmakers and regulators struggle to stem a mounting epidemic that involves both prescription opioids and, increasingly, illegal opioid compounds like heroin and counterfeit forms of fentanyl. President Donald Trump has declared the problem a public health emergency.

Over the past two decades, more than 200,000 people have died in the United States from overdoses involving prescription opioids. States and cities continue to file a wave of lawsuits against Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers and distributors.

A spokesman for Purdue Pharma, Robert Josephson, declined to comment on the allegations in the report but said the company was involved in efforts to address opioid abuse.

Suggesting that activities that last occurred more than 16 years ago are responsible for todays complex and multifaceted opioid crisis is deeply flawed, he said in a statement.

In 2007, Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty to a felony charge of misbranding OxyContin while marketing the drug by misrepresenting, among other things, its risk of addiction and potential to be abused. Three executives  the companys chief executive, Michael Friedman; its top medical officer, Dr. Paul D. Goldenheim; and Udell, who died in 2013  each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor misbranding charge that solely held them liable as Purdue Pharmas responsible executives and did not accuse them of wrongdoing. The company and the executives paid a combined $634.5 million in fines, and the men were required to perform community service.

The head of the Justice Departments criminal division at the time, Alice S. Fisher, did not respond to emails seeking comment about the decision not to pursue indictments. That decision followed meetings with a Purdue Pharma defense team whose advisers included Rudy Giuliani, a former U.S. attorney and former New York mayor. Giuliani, who was then regarded as a potential Republican presidential candidate, is now a legal adviser to Trump.

The Justice Department hailed the settlement as a victory. But several former government officials said the decision not to bring more serious charges and air the evidence prosecutors had gathered meant that a critical chance to slow the trajectory of the opioid epidemic was lost.

It would have been a turning point, said Terrance Woodworth, a former Drug Enforcement Administration official who investigated Purdue Pharma in the early 2000s. It would have sent a message to the entire drug industry.

Prosecutors did not accuse any Sackler family members of wrongdoing. But they wrote that Richard Sackler was told in 1999 while he was president of Purdue Pharma about discussions in internet chat rooms where drug abusers described snorting OxyContin, which contains oxycodone, a powerful narcotic. Other family members, including Raymond and Mortimer Sackler, the drugmakers founders, were sent reports about the abuse of OxyContins predecessor drug, a long-acting form of morphine sold as MS Contin, the report said.

A spokesman for Sackler family members involved with the company, Linden Zakula, declined to comment. Richard Sackler, who is now a director of Purdue Pharma, also declined to comment.

The three executives, who prosecutors described as reporting directly to the Sacklers, have always asserted they had done nothing wrong and had moved quickly to address the drugs growing abuse after they became aware of it in 2000.

Everyone was taken by surprise by what happened, Goldenheim testified in 2001. We launched OxyContin in 1996, and for the first four years on the market, we did not hear of any particular problem.

A Powerful Marketing Claim

When the Food and Drug Administration approved OxyContin in late 1995, the agency permitted Purdue Pharma to make a unique claim for it  that its long-acting formulation was believed to reduce" its appeal to drug abusers compared with shorter-acting painkillers like Percocet and Vicodin.

The FDA decision was not based on findings from clinical trials, but a theory that drug abusers favored shorter-acting painkillers because the narcotic they contained was released faster and so produced a quicker hit.

Purdue Pharma viewed the agencys decision as so valuable that it could serve as OxyContins principal selling tool, an internal 1995 company report shows. The drugmaker admitted in 2007, when confronted with evidence gathered by prosecutors, that it trained sales representative to tell doctors that OxyContin was less addictive and prone to abuse than competing opioids, claims beyond the one approved by the FDA.

But even as Purdue Pharma aggressively promoted OxyContin as safer, prosecutors wrote, it soon learned that drug abusers were seeking out OxyContin and its other long-acting opioid, MS Contin. The reason: They had far higher narcotic levels than standard, shorter-acting painkillers, and could be snorted or injected intravenously.

In May 1996, five months after OxyContins approval, Richard Sackler and Udell were sent an older medical journal article describing how drug abusers were extracting morphine from MS Contin tablets in order to inject the drug, prosecutors reported. A Purdue Pharma scientist researched the issue and sent his findings to several Sacklers, the government report states.

I found MS Contin mentioned a couple of times on the internet underground drug culture scene, the researcher wrote in that 1996 email. Most of it was mentioned in the context of MS Contin as a morphine source.

By the following year, prosecutors wrote, Purdue Pharma learned that drug addicts in Australia and New Zealand were abusing MS Contin, and Goldenheim was sent an article from American Family Physician, a publication, about the ease of extracting morphine from MS Contin.

Then in 1998, as OxyContins marketing campaign was taking off, Purdue Pharma learned of a medical journal study that appeared to undercut its central message  that OxyContin, as a long-acting opioid, had less appeal to drug abusers.

In the study, published in The Journal of the Canadian Medical Association, researchers from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver interviewed local drug dealers and abusers to learn what legal drugs sold for on the black market. They found that MS Contin commanded the highest price of any prescription opioid with a 30-milligram tablet that cost $1 at a pharmacy bringing up to $40 on the street.

In an accompanying editorial, a Canadian physician, Dr. Brian Goldman, wrote that the findings turned thinking about the supposed safety of long-acting opioids like OxyContin on its head by showing that drug abusers coveted such drugs.

This should ring alarm bells, Goldman, who was then a paid speaker for Purdue Pharma, wrote in the editorial.

Purdue Pharma did not send the Canadian study to the FDA or tell its sales representatives about it. Instead, one sales official testified later to a federal grand jury that the company gave him an older survey to show doctors that had concluded that drug abusers were not attracted to time-release opioids.

Josephson, the Purdue Pharma spokesman, said it was not required to tell the FDA about the Canadian study or editorial. He addedthat the company did not consider the small studys results significant because it was already known that morphine could be abused.

In March 1998, a few months before the studys publication, Udell, the chief counsel, sent seven members of the Sackler family a memo titled MS Contin Abuse, described by prosecutors as containing articles from Vancouver-area newspapers about the drugs abuse there and the price MS Contin was bringing on the street.

Two years later, as OxyContins abuse publicly exploded in early 2000, a Purdue Pharma executive described in an email to Friedman, the chief executive, how he was reminded of what he had seen earlier managing MS Contin sales in the Midwest.

I received this kind of news on MS Contin, all the time and from everywhere, the companys vice president of marketing, Mark Alfonso, wrote in June 2000. Some pharmacies would not even stock MS Contin for fear they would be robbed. In Wisconsin, Minnesota and Oklahoma, we had physicians indicted for prescribing too much MS Contin.

Friedmans response, prosecutors reported, was to forward that email to Udell with a question: You want all this chat on email?

We Have a Credibility Problem

By 1997, Purdue Pharma was also aware that OxyContin was becoming a popular topic online, according to one email cited in the prosecution report previously published in Fortune magazine. As sales of the drug began to boom, prosecutors found, so did the number of reports the company received about abuse, addiction and crimes connected to the drug.

During one brief period in 1999, they reported, company officials learned from articles in small-town newspapers and other sources that a doctor in Pennsylvania had stopped writing prescriptions for OxyContin because patients eager to get more of the drug were getting arrested for altering them; that a Connecticut man had been arrested for trying to illegally purchase OxyContin; that a man in Massachusetts had told the police that he preferred crushing the drug because it worked better if he sniffs it; and that a pharmacy in Maryland had been robbed of OxyContin.

I continue to see OxyContin increase in abuse with our doctor shoppers and sellers, a drug investigator near Cincinnati wrote in a message that was forwarded to Udell, prosecutors reported.

Mark Ross, a former company sales representative, testified during a grand jury appearance that after he warned a manager that one doctors office was filled with drug seekers he was told his job was to sell drugs, not to determine if a doctor was a drug pusher, according to a summary of his testimony in the report.

A sales representative in Jacksonville, Florida, also questioned the companys claim that OxyContin had less abuse potential after the arrest of a doctor there on charges of illegally prescribing the opioid and other drugs, an email cited by prosecutors shows.

I feel like we have a credibility problem with our product, the sales representative, Jim Speed, wrote in a 1999 email.

By late 1999, other doctors had been arrested nationwide on similar charges. But when one Purdue Pharma executive, Dr. J. David Haddox, suggested after the arrest in Jacksonville that the company adopt a crisis-response plan, Friedman responded that he did not think such action was needed, prosecutors wrote.

I simply do not want us to overreact to this specific story, he wrote, according to prosecutors. This has not been a repetitive pattern or something new.

Settlement Talks Begin

In mid-2006, prosecutors notified Purdue Pharma and the three executives about the charges they planned to seek. Over a two-day meeting in September, a high-profile team of defense lawyers rebutted those allegations and argued that the governments case would collapse when tested in court, according to lawyers present. They also presented evidence which they said proved that the executives were unaware of significant OxyContin abuse before early 2000.

The prosecutors and their boss, John L. Brownlee, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Virginia, were not swayed.

In late September 2006, the recommendations for indictments were forwarded to Justice Department headquarters in Washington. A few weeks later, defense lawyers representing Purdue Pharma and the executives met with top Justice Department officials to again make their case.

Top officials such as Fisher, the head of the departments criminal division, soon made it clear that they did not support the indictments, former government lawyers said. Talks to resolve the case through a plea bargain began.

We made a presentation of evidence and advocacy to DOJ without having seen the prosecution memo, a defense lawyer, Andrew Good, who represented Goldenheim, said in a statement. No charge of false testimony or concealment of abuse was brought because none of that happened. Friedman did not respond to requests seeking comment.

Brownlee later testified that he believed the misdemeanor charges against the executives were appropriate given the evidence. But former government officials said he was upset by the departments decision not to support more serious charges.

A former Drug Enforcement Administration official, Joseph Rannazzisi, said Brownlee told him that the decision had left him with little choice but to settle the case because his small team of prosecutors faced being overwhelmed by Purdue Pharmas unlimited resources.

He told me he was outgunned, Rannazzisi said. Brownlee, who is now in private practice, declined to comment.

At a court hearing held in 2007 to approve the settlement, a prosecutor who had worked on the case, Randy Ramseyer, said the misdemeanor pleas by the three officials would send a message to drug industry executives that they faced being held to a higher standard.

But drug companies continued to flood areas rife with drug abuse with more opioids. Starting in 2007, the year of the settlement, distributors of prescription drugs sent enough pain pills to West Virginia over a five-year period to supply every man, woman and child there with 433 of them, according to a report in the Charleston Gazette-Mail.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
iStock/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) -- The Supreme Court is nearing the busiest part of its term, which usually ends in June, when it normally issues some of its most significant decisions.



Here are some cases to watch in the coming weeks.



Freedom of religion or discrimination?



In Masterpiece Cakeshop, Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission the court will decide if a Colorado baker has a constitutional right to deny service to a gay couple because of his religious beliefs.



The owner of a bakery called Masterpiece Cakeshop, Jack Phillips, told a gay couple in 2012 that he would not sell them a wedding cake because he does not design cakes for gay weddings.



The couple filed a complaint with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission arguing that Phillips violated Colorado law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.



State courts agreed with the couple but Phillips has appealed the decision, saying that baking is a form of artistic expression, and that if he were compelled to bake a cake for a gay couple, it would violate his First Amendment right to freedom of religion.



The Trump Justice Department has sided with Phillips in the case, arguing that because of the symbolism a wedding cake has as part of marriage ceremony, it constitutes an artistic expression that should be protected as freedom of speech.



The case has also drawn attention from dozens of First Amendment, religious freedom, and LGBTQ advocacy groups who have filed amicus briefs arguing on behalf of both sides.



The courts decision in this case could have implications for freedom of speech and anti-discrimination laws alike because the justices will have to rule, not only on whether a wedding cake is protected speech, but on how states should enforce anti-discrimination laws that could be seen as infringing on speech.



Cell phone privacy



In Carpenter v. the United States, the court is considering whether police officers need a warrant before they can access cell phone records that reveal a persons location.



The plaintiff, Timothy Carpenter, was convicted of multiple robbery and firearms offenses but challenged his conviction because the police officers investigating his case didnt have a warrant for his cell phone records, according to ABC News Supreme Court Contributor Kate Shaw.



The government has argued that police didnt need a warrant because the phone company already had Carpenters cell phone records and so he had no reasonable expectation of privacy.



The case could have major implications for privacy in the digital age and for how much companies are required to protect data that could give away specific information about an individual.



Carpenter is being represented by the ACLU, and major companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook have filed briefs agreeing with his argument that users should have a reasonable expectation of privacy because data transmitted by devices like smartphones could reveal so much personal information.



Fees for public unions



In Janus v. American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Council 31, shortened to Janus v. AFSCME - the court will decide whether government workers can be required to pay fees to unions even if they arent members.



A Supreme Court ruling in 1977 found that government employees can be required to pay fair share fees to unions because the fees pay for contract negotiations that could benefit all employees, even if they arent part of the union.



But in this case, Mark Janus, a public employee in Illinois, argues that the fees violate his First Amendment right because he doesnt agree with all of the unions political views.



The court also looked at the 1977 ruling in 2016 but was split 4-4 after the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, with conservative justices in favor of overturning the previous ruling.



Unions for teachers and other public employees argue that the court should uphold the 1977 ruling, saying that unions supported by fees advocate for all employees through collective bargaining.



Political gerrymandering



The issue of gerrymandering  or whether the borders of state political districts are drawn to advantage one political party over another  has been especially controversial over the last year and garnered even more attention ahead of the 2018 and 2020 elections as the court considers cases that could have an impact on congressional districts in multiple states.



In Abbott v. Perez, the court will have to decide whether to overturn a Texas state courts decision concerning congressional and state political districts redrawn after the 2010 census.



A state court found the districts boundaries violated the Voting Rights Act because they were drawn in a way that diluted the Latino and African-American vote. The court and state panels have since redrawn the maps but the high court will still have to decide if it has the jurisdiction to intervene and whether the current maps also discrimination against certain groups.



In a separate case, Benisek v Lamone, the court will consider political boundaries in Maryland. That case looks at whether the boundaries of congressional districts in the state led directly to Democratic victories in the 2012, 2014, or 2016 elections.



Online sales taxes



In South Dakota v Wayfair the court is being asked to decide if a state can force online retailers to collect sales tax on purchases, even if they have no physical presence in that state.



South Dakota is asking the justices to overturn a 1992 Supreme Court ruling that said retailers do not have to collect state sales tax on purchases on online purchases if the company has no physical presence in that state.



But online shopping has exploded since then and the South Dakota attorney general argued that the state is missing out on massive tax revenue from companies like Wayfair, which sells furniture online. South Dakota passed a state law in 2016 that said retailers with more than $100,000 in annual sales  or 200 sales per year  have to pay state sales taxes, even if they dont have any stores or offices in the state.



Lawyers for Wayfair, joined by online retailers Overstock.com and NewEgg, argued that if there is a change to how taxes are collected that should be legislated by Congress, not through the courts. The companies also argued that the growth of online shopping has made tax systems even more complex and that overturning the previous ruling would make the system overly complicated.



If the court overturns the previous ruling it could mean that the cost of online transactions will go up as states impose sales taxes, which some groups say would level the playing field for small businesses.



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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera issued administrative subpoenas to Uber and Lyft today, commanding them to show whether they classify their drivers as employees or independent contractors.



The subpoenas also ask for information on wages, paid sick leave and health care expenditures for any drivers viewed as employees.



The two ride-booking companies are both based in San Francisco and now operate nationally and, in the case of Uber, worldwide.



They have maintained since their founding that their drivers are independent contractors, which would free the companies from obeying laws on minimum wage, sick leave and health care benefits.



They say the independent contractor status gives the drivers the benefits of independence and flexibility.



Herrera's subpoenas come in the wake of an April 30 California Supreme Court decision that tightened the definition of independent contractors within the state.



The court, ruling in the case of drivers for a Southern California package delivery company, said workers must meet all of three criteria in order to be classified as independent contractors.



The three requirements are that workers must be "free from the control and direction" of the hiring company; perform work that is "outside the usual course of the hiring entity's business"; and be customarily engaged in an independently established trade, occupation or business.



While asking for wage information on any drivers listed as employees, the subpoenas also demand documentation from Uber and Lyft on how drivers they classify as independent contractors meet those three standards.



"We are not going to turn a blind eye if companies in San Francisco deny workers their pay and benefits," Herrera said in a statement.



"We don't know whether these ride-hailing companies are breaking the law until they provide the information we seek in these subpoenas," he said.



The subpoenas were issued under Herrera's authority to investigate compliance with San Francisco laws requiring minimum wage, paid sick leave and employer contributions to health care insurance. The city's minimum wage is now $14 per hour and will rise to $15 on July 1.



The subpoenas apply to data about Uber and Lyft drivers who began or ended at least one ride in San Francisco between 2015 and the present.



Uber spokesman David White said, "We are unable to provide a comment."



Lyft spokesman Adrian Durbin said, "Lyft has a long track record of working collaboratively with policymakers, including the San Francisco city attorney, on important issues.



"We look forward to helping the City Attorney's Office fully understand Lyft's business model, including our relationship with drivers," Durbin said.



Durbin said that in the San Francisco region, the median Lyft driver earnings are more than $25 per hour before expenses, which typically range from $3 to $5 per hour.



The state high court's April 30 decision was unanimous and was written by Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye.



She wrote, "Although in some circumstances classification as an independent contractor may be advantageous to workers as well as to businesses, the risk that workers who should be treated as employees may be improperly misclassified as independent contractors is significant in light of the potentially substantial economic incentives that a business may have in mischaracterizing some workers as independent contractors."





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The median price for homes sold last month in the San Francisco Bay Area was a new record, according to data from CoreLogic, a market research firm.



The price rose to $850,000, up $20,000 from the previous peak set in March.



Year-over-year, the median home price is up $100,000 or 13.3 percent.



CoreLogic analyst Andrew LePage said while the area has experienced strong gains in home prices, part of the increase was due to a shift in the mix of homes sold.



LePage said a higher share of sales occurred in mid- to high-priced areas.





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A multiple-vehicle collision has closed at least the two right lanes of westbound Interstate Highway 580 in Dublin early this morning, according to the California Highway Patrol.



The CHP said the collision is located just west of the freeway's interchange with Interstate Highway 680. There is no estimated time of reopening and delays are expected.



No further information was immediately available.





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SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)



California Lt. Gov. and gubernatorial candidate Gavin Newsom will be starting his statewide courage for a change bus tour today at San Francisco City Hall.



Newsom will be heading on a seven-day journey across the state before the June 5 primary election. Today, he'll start the tour on the Polk Street side steps of City Hall in San Francisco before making stops in Monterey and San Luis Obispo.



The City Hall event is scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. He will then travel to meet with Sierra Club members at Window on the Bay Park in Monterey at 1 p.m. Newsom's final bus tour event of the day is scheduled to be a meet-and-greet with voters with San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon at 4:45 p.m.





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OAKLAND (BCN)



A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the alleged abuse of three puppies found this Memorial Day weekend in East Oakland, according to Pet Food Express.



Two German Shepherds were found around 12:30 a.m. Sunday and a Husky was found around 2:30 p.m. today in a trash heap at 89th Avenue and G Street.



One German Shepherd puppy may not survive.



"We are offering the reward to encourage someone to come forward who has information about who is harming these puppies so we can stop it from happening again," Pet Food Express owner Michael Levy said in a statement. "We are all animal lovers at Pet Food Express and want to protect them as best we can."



Officials with the company said they were considering offering a reward when the two German Shepherds were found, but when the injured Husky was found, it became clearer that animal abuse is probably occurring.



The puppies are receiving care from Rocket Dog Rescue and Oakland Animal Services.





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Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith has faced criticism from her opponents leading up to the June 5 election where they are seeking to replace her.



The candidate who has been the most outspoken about Smith, basing much of his platform on the mistakes of the current administration, is retired county undersheriff John Hirokawa.



On his campaign website, Hirokawa says the office needs new leadership.



"The department has made a number of mistakes recently that cannot be repeated, caused by leadership acting with political expediency in mind, instead of public safety," the website reads.



Hirokawa's campaign manager Jeffrey Cardenas said in a statement that Smith lacks public trust and confidence to continue with her position because of "her efforts to undermine reform and independent oversight at every turn."



Another candidate, Deputy Joe La Jeunesse, said in a statement in April that it is "long past time for a thorough house-cleaning in the Sheriff's Office."



La Jeunesse called out Hirokawa for his criticism of Smith, specifically in an alleged investigation-tampering scandal she was allegedly involved with in 1992 that was recently brought back to the public's attention, saying that he found it suspicious that Hirokawa served alongside Smith for 38 years and didn't know anything about it.



Smith most recently issued a statement on an article that a local news outlet published in April, denying the allegations that she tampered with an internal affairs investigation into accusations that she discriminated against a male co-worker.



"The record of these nearly 30-year-old false allegations is clear," Smith said in a statement, which is posted on her campaign website. "The county investigated the allegations and found no merit to them."



Former San Jose police Capt. Martin Monica, who previously ran against Smith for her position in 2010, has not publicly denounced Smith, the first female sheriff in California's history.



Monica has championed his original campaign cause of implementing community policing, an aspect that was discussed after Smith came under fire for an allegedly delayed response to a 2007 incident involving the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl at De Anza College in Cupertino.



At the time of the 2010 election, Smith acknowledged that the Sheriff's Office could have dedicated more resources to the investigation but that their initial response was not slow and that the investigation was thorough and complete.



Smith has faced scrutiny not just from her competitors, but also from the community this year.



Smith made headlines specifically when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were "mistakenly admitted" into the county's Main Jail in San Jose and interviewed four inmates, as well as when her office commissioned a report on jail reform that the county's Board of Supervisors voted not to hear.



Inmates at both county jail facilities also went into a nearly two-week hunger strike last month to demand better conditions.



All four candidates running against five-time sheriff Smith mention jail reform as one of their top priorities on their websites.



Former bailiff and candidate Jose Salcido described Santa Clara County jails as "in crisis," saying that morale in the sheriff's office is at an all-time low.



"It's time for a change," Salcido's website reads. "You deserve a sheriff that will bring the Sheriff's Department into the 21st century."



In Smith's candidate statement, she commented that she feels as though her experience can help in the "uncertain times" that the county and country are facing.



"We need a seasoned leader who can stand up for victims and protect our community," she concluded.





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OAKLAND (BCN)



The founder of an Oakland-based coffee company will be touring black-owned Philadelphia coffee shops Tuesday and said racial bias training by Starbucks is only a good start to eliminating bias.



Keba Konte, founder of Red Bay Coffee, will be in the City of Brotherly Love where two African American men were arrested by police April 12 for being in the store for an extended period without buying something.



In the wake of the public outrage about the arrests, Starbucks is closing all company-owned stores and offices Tuesday afternoon to train employees on understanding racial bias and the history of public accommodations in the U.S.



While in Philadelphia, Konte will be holding a conversation on social media about inclusiveness in the coffee industry. The conversation will be on Facebook Live and Twitter.



Red Bay Coffee is composed entirely of women, people of color and the formerly incarcerated.



Sixty percent of the company's leadership is women, Konte said.



He said, "It's just the right thing to do."



Red Bay Coffee wants to right the wrongs in the industry.



But Konte said it will take generations as well as deep changes to reverse the racial bias built into U.S. society. He said the bias such as what happened at Starbucks will continue until the leadership of corporations is as diverse as the communities they serve.



Not only is diversity the right policy, Konte said, "it's a competitive advantage."



Millennials are very conscious of the ethics of the companies they choose to patronize, he said.



Since the arrests at Starbucks, support for Red Bay Coffee has grown, with retail store visits up 62 percent and online sales up 110 percent.



Tuesday's training at Starbucks isn't a solution, the company said, just a first step.



The day's training will lay a foundation for future efforts to eliminate bias and increase diversity, equity and inclusion, company officials said.



The two men arrested April 12, Donte Robinson and Rashon Nelson, reached a financial settlement with Starbucks. The company's CEO Kevin Johnson flew to Philadelphia to meet with the pair after the arrests.



Both groups have committed to communicating with one another as a way to develop actions and opportunities, according to Starbucks.



Konte said Red Bay Coffee is now working to expand nationwide, hoping to be an example for competitors. This year Konte plans to open stores in Philadelphia, San Francisco, Richmond and Baltimore.



He said the company's also looking to open a store in Atlanta.





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The Contra Costa County coroner's office has identified a motorcyclist who died after a crash in Marin County on Sunday as Welmar Garcia, 32, of San Francisco.



Garcia was riding a motorcycle on state Highway 1 just south of Fairfax-Bolinas Road near the Bolinas Lagoon when he slid off the road and down into a rocky area, according to the California Highway Patrol.



CHP officers responded to the crash around 11 a.m. and a CHP helicopter flew Garcia to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek. Garcia died at the hospital around 1 p.m.







A man who died after being transported to a hospital in Vallejo with major injuries suffered in a collision on Interstate Highway 80 in Crockett early Friday morning has been identified by the Solano County coroner's office as Jaipal Walia of Fairfield.



The crash that killed Walia, 67, occurred around 3:55 a.m. near the Pomona Street off-ramp from eastbound Highway 80, but it was preceded by an earlier crash that had happened around 1:20 a.m.



A big-rig overturned and caught fire. The driver, a 29-year-old Hayward man, was rescued by good Samaritans and suffered only minor injuries, but the crash blocked the whole roadway and led to traffic congestion.



More than two hours later, Walia was approaching the scene of the initial crash and hit the back of a different big-rig that had stopped in traffic.







The Napa County Sheriff's Office has identified a man who died after he jumped into the Napa River earlier this month as John Spencer Loftus, 24, of Napa.



A witness saw a man in his underwear running erratically along the riverbank in the Oxbow Preserve open space area on McKenzie Drive around 8:50 p.m. on May 19, Napa police said.



The witness said the man jumped into the river and then yelled for help. Police arrived and tried to throw the man a rope but he couldn't reach it because of vegetation along the riverbank.



The Napa Fire Department responded with a boat and rescue swimmer. Loftus was unconscious and unresponsive when he was removed from the water.



The cause of death is pending results of toxicology tests, sheriff's Capt. Steve Blower said. Loftus was living in his car at the time of his death, Blower said.







Three firefighters were injured while responding to a car crash on eastbound state Highway 4 in Bay Point on Monday, a fire spokesman said.



The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District responded to the crash shortly after 6 p.m. near San Marco Boulevard, according to Fire Capt. Steve Aubert.



While firefighters were attending to victims from the three-car crash, a fourth vehicle hit a car involved in the original crash.



The crash impact thrust the car into the firefighters. One was taken to a hospital with minor injuries and was later released.



Two other firefighters were able to jump onto the hood of the car as it came toward them, and were treated and released at the scene.







A 39-year-old woman suffered life-threatening injuries Friday afternoon in San Francisco's Pacific Heights neighborhood after a man allegedly shot her and then fled, police said.



The shooting occurred around 1:15 p.m. in the 2600 block of California Street.



The victim and the suspect, a 35-year-old man, allegedly got into an argument outside when the suspect shot her. The man then took off running and responding officers were unable to locate him, according to police. More information on the suspect was not immediately available.







A suspect allegedly knocked a man off his scooter in downtown San Francisco on Monday evening and then rode off on it, according to police.



The robbery occurred around 6:45 p.m. near Larkin and Hemlock streets, police said.



The victim, a 22-year-old man, was riding his scooter when the suspect used his dog to push the man off. The suspect, described as a man in his 30s, then rode away and remains at large, police said.



The victim was injured but did not go to the hospital, according to police.







A man was transported to a hospital in serious but stable condition after being assaulted and stabbed by a group of men in Salinas early Sunday morning, according to police.



Salinas police responded to a report of a victim of a stabbing in the 900 block of Work Street at 4:21 a.m., police said.



Upon arrival, police found a 49-year-old victim suffering from multiple stab wounds. He was then transported to the hospital and officers gathered preliminary information from the scene, according to police.







Sonoma County sheriff's deputies are looking for a driver who crashed a stolen vehicle and then fled, leaving an injured passenger behind early this morning, a sheriff's sergeant said.



A deputy tried to stop a speeding black Honda Civic that drove through a stop sign on Windsor River Road in Windsor around 1:40 a.m. today, sheriff's Sgt. Spencer Crum said.



The driver drove southeast toward Santa Rosa at up to 70 mph before crashing into a tree stump in the 2800 block of Porter Creek Road and fleeing on foot into the woods, Crum said.



Deputies found an injured 32-year-old woman in the Honda and she was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital for treatment of minor injuries.



The Honda had a "for sale" sign in the window and deputies called the registered owner, who had parked the Honda in a business park in Ukiah in an attempt to sell it, Crum said.





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Four men have been arrested in connection with a Dolores Park stabbing that sent a man to the hospital Sunday evening, police said.



Officers responded to the park at 7:20 p.m. to reports of a fight and found a man with stab wounds, police said.



The man was taken to the hospital and is expected to survive.



The names of the suspects who were arrested aren't being released yet, Officer Robert Rueca said.







A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the alleged abuse of three puppies found Memorial Day weekend in East Oakland, according to Pet Food Express.



Two German Shepherds were found around 12:30 a.m. Sunday and a Husky was found around 2:30 p.m. Monday in a trash heap at 89th Avenue and G Street.



One German Shepherd puppy may not survive.



"We are offering the reward to encourage someone to come forward who has information about who is harming these puppies so we can stop it from happening again," Pet Food Express owner Michael Levy said in a statement. "We are all animal lovers at Pet Food Express and want to protect them as best we can."



Officials with the company said they were considering offering a reward when the two German Shepherds were found, but when the injured Husky was found, it became clearer that animal abuse is probably occurring.







People living in their vehicles at the Berkeley Marina left Marina Boulevard when ordered to do so by police Monday morning, one of the vehicle dwellers said.



The 20 to 25 people living in vehicles have relocated to the parking lot of the Hs. Lordships restaurant at 199 Seawall Drive, according to a vehicle dweller who goes by her first name, "Amber."



"The police came and told everybody we had to leave right then or they would start towing peoples' homes, so we had to move as quickly as we could," Amber said.



The vehicle dwellers were living in about a dozen large recreational vehicles lined up on Marina Boulevard.



Most of them have moved to the Hs. Lordships parking lot. Hs. Lordships is closing July 2, according to the restaurant's website.







The founder of an Oakland-based coffee company will be touring black-owned Philadelphia coffee shops today and said racial bias training by Starbucks is only a good start to eliminating bias.



Keba Konte, founder of Red Bay Coffee, will be in the City of Brotherly Love where two African American men were arrested by police April 12 for being in the store for an extended period without buying something.



In the wake of the public outrage about the arrests, Starbucks is closing all company-owned stores and offices this afternoon to train employees on understanding racial bias and the history of public accommodations in the U.S.



While in Philadelphia, Konte will be holding a conversation on social media about inclusiveness in the coffee industry. The conversation will be on Facebook Live and Twitter.



Red Bay Coffee is composed entirely of women, people of color and the formerly incarcerated.







A housing symposium, "Envision the Possibilities in Alameda County," is slated to take place in Berkeley today as the Bay Area and the state face a worsening housing crisis.



The free all-day Northern Alameda County Housing and Urban Development Symposium is slated to take place at Berkeley City College, 2050 Center St., starting at 8:30 a.m.



The aim of the event is to showcase Alameda County housing resources and safety net programs that faith institutions and community organizations can use to help county residents get affordable housing and avoid being displaced.







The families of two men shot to death by San Francisco police are holding a news conference today regarding the city's district attorney's decision not to seek charges against the officers involved.



San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced his decision Thursday. The men died in separate officer-involved shootings; Luis Gongora Pat was killed April 7, 2016, and Mario Woods was killed Dec. 5, 2015.



"The black and brown communities of San Francisco are coming together to protest the district attorney's decision and the legacy of police brutality and police impunity in the city," said Adriana Camarena, speaking on behalf of advocacy group Justice For Luis Gongora Pat.



Camarena's group is partnering with the group Justice for Mario Woods to put on the news conference from noon to 2 p.m. on the steps of San Francisco's Hall of Justice at 850 Bryant St.



Gwen Woods, the mother of Mario Woods, is scheduled to speak at the news conference. Jose Gongora Pat, brother of Luis Gongora Pat, and his cousin Luis Poot Pat are slated to deliver a message from the widow of Luis Gongora Pat, organizers said.





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The ploy would go something like this: A San Franciscan, bent on a morbid curiosity, would walk through the doorway into 818 Montgomery Street. Tickets to look around a museum of oddities and illnesses of the human body were $1. The morbid display had a reputation, but the sideshow was still shocking: Dissected, diseased torsos, mummified bodies, skeletons, monstrous tumors, decapitated heads of murderers, a "Cyclops baby" with an eye in the middle of its forehead and a humanoid figure with "six legs, four arms, and three ears." Then Dr. Louis J. Jordan would pounce.

The horrifying visuals were used to startle visitors into agreeing to an unexpected medical examination by Dr. Jordan. The proprietor would convince his guest with an alarmist lecture warning of some dire, unseen malady, which inevitably would require pricey medication to cure.

That was the long-running scam of Dr. Jordan, who after opening his "Pacific Museum of Anatomy and Science" in San Francisco in 1865, made a tidy living dishing out unnecessary and ineffective medical treatment.

Jordan probably wasn't a doctor at all, nor was he the only Jordan running the same scheme. Similar outfits popped up around the same time in Boston, New York and Melbourne, Australia, all run by a Dr. Jordan (or Jourdain) with a different first name.

But San Francisco's museum, located in what's now downtown, was likely the most profitable, according to a San Francisco Chronicle reporter named Millie Robbins who dug through historical archives in 1966. One of his advertising tactics was to send off self-help books to men he found in voter rolls.

Robbins' report, written in three parts, says Dr. Jordan claimed he was born in England and was educated at New York's Bartholomew Hospital and Eclectic Medical School. He also said he was a doctor from Edinburgh who was a member of the Royal College of Surgeons in London. It's not clear what, if any, of that was true.

The mysterious medicine man was married to a Scottish woman named Jessie, and they had two children, named Henry and Maria. Three Irish servant girls lived with them to assist his family at their residence at 211 Geary Street.

At some point before the museum moved from Montgomery Street to Market and Fourth streets, in 1881, an actual San Francisco physician by the name of J.F. Gibbons got wind of the faux practice. Gibbons had recently traveled to London, where at a similar Museum of Anatomy  this one run by a Dr. Kahn (who was eventually declared a "fraud" and shut down)  he was handed a book called "The Philosophy of Marriage and Catalogue of Dr. Kahn's Museum."

He leafed through it, took it home with him, and likely forgot about it. But one day a new patient, who had been swindled by Jordan, brought Gibbons one of Jordan's books titled "The Philosophy of Marriage and Catalogue of Museum." It was identical to the one Gibbons had acquired in London, except that where there was "Kahn" in his book, this one read "Jordan."

That wasn't Gibbons' only patient who had been previously swindled by Dr. Jordan. Another was a coal miner, from Idaho.

"He had been under Dr. Jordan's treatment three months and paid him $600"  over $2,100 in today's money  "without any benefit," Gibbons wrote in the California State Journal of Medicine in 1916. The man took the expensive "medicine" for three months and when he returned to Dr. Jordan and was re-examined, he was told "his case was 10 times worse than he thought it was in the first place," and that $500 more in medicine was required. Dr. Gibbons later treated the man for "a nominal fee."

In another instance, Dr. Jordan so badly frightened another miner from Nevada that the man handed over a $10,000 check he had just received  $217,000 today  for an unnecessary treatment.

In the medical journal, Gibbons recounts Dr. Jordan's method:

"After a man had gone through the museum and seen the horrible models, real or imaginary (more imaginary than real) put there for effect, it impressed him so he must consult Dr. Jordan about his case, if not, it might end badly. So he would go to the doctor and pay $5 for a thorough examination, including the urine. After the doctor examines the urine, he tells the victim he finds much semen and particles of his brains in it and if not attended to soon, his case will turn out like the bad case he saw in the museum, that he had cured. It was an easy matter to land the victim after the bad scare he got in the museum."

A while later, Gibbons visited Paris, and while there, near the Medical Department of the University of France, he found a store that sold surgical instruments and teaching tools to help identify maladies. The store proprietor, finding out that Gibbons was a doctor in San Francisco, told him that he had sold $4,000 worth of "real and imaginary preparations" to another doctor in the same city, named Dr. Louis J. Jordan.

"(He said) if I wanted a model made to represent any disease he would carry it out in wax, rubber or plaster colored to nature," Gibbons recalled. "I told him I was not interested in that line."

Dr. Jordan, or whoever he was, eventually sold the museum to a retired physician named Dr. John Hastings, who took up the Dr. Jordan name himself, probably for marketing purposes. Gibbons says that "to the credit and memory of Dr. Hastings whilst he had it I heard no complaints." Hastings ran the place until he died.

The museum changed hands a couple more times  briefly to an advertising agent who then sold it to a pharmacist named Oesting for a cheap price  before boards of medical examiners and the federal courts shut it down.

It's unclear what happened to the supposed Dr. Louis J. Jordan. Gibbons hints that the "medical frauds" involved with the museum went to prison, but the 1960s Chronicle reporting states that he was arrested and charged with financial fraud in New York, before he skipped town. Perhaps he went on to pop up as Dr. Jordan again in some other unsuspecting town.

Alyssa Pereira is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at apereira@sfchronicle.com or find her on Twitter at @alyspereira.


TORONTO  Canadas federal government said Tuesday it is buying a controversial pipeline from the Alberta oil sands to the Pacific Coast to ensure it gets built.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeaus government plans to spend $3.4 billion to purchase Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain pipeline.

The pipeline expansion would triple the capacity of an existing line to ship oil extracted from the oil sands in Alberta across the snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies. It would end at a terminal outside Vancouver, resulting in a seven-fold increase in the number of tankers in the shared waters between Canada and Washington state.

Facing stiff environmental opposition from British Columbias provincial government and activists, Houston-based Kinder Morgan earlier halted essential spending on the project and said it would cancel it altogether if the national and provincial governments could not guarantee it.

It must be built and it will be built, Finance Minister Bill Morneau said. Make no mistake: This is an investment in Canadas future.

The pipeline would allow Canada to diversify and increase exports to Asia, where it could command a higher price. Canada has the worlds third largest oil reserves but 99 percent of its exports now go to refiners in the U.S., where limits on pipeline and refinery capacity mean Canadian oil sells at a discount.

The project has pitted oil-rich Alberta against coastal British Columbia, where concerns about fisheries, real estate values, tourism and ocean ecology are high. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson calls the pipeline an unacceptable risk that threatens 10,000 jobs in the harbor.

Indigenous leaders and environmentalists have pledged to do whatever necessary to thwart the pipeline, including chaining themselves to construction equipment.

Bob Gillies is an Associated Press writer.
JERUSALEM  Israeli jets on Tuesday bombed targets in the Gaza Strip hours after militants from the territory fired fired at least 50 rockets and mortars shells toward communities in southern Israel in what appeared to be the largest single barrage since the 2014 war.

The Israeli military said no one was hurt and that most of the shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, though one landed near a kindergarten shortly before school opened.

The high volume of projectiles came as tensions have been running high in recent weeks following the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians from Israeli fire during mass protests along the border. Israel says it holds Gazas Hamas rulers responsible for the bloodshed.

Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it, and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the barrage.

Shortly after that warning, Israeli jets began dropping bombs on what security officials in Gaza said was an Islamic Jihad militant training site.

Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah in the coastal strip, and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported.

The Israeli military said it carried out over 35 air strikes on seven sites across Gaza, including an unfinished tunnel near the city of Rafah that crossed under the border into Egypt.

The sudden surge in violence brought back memories of the devastating 2014 war between Israel and Hamas. That round of fighting began with tit-for-tat attacks on both sides and escalated into a full-blown war that inflicted heavy damage on Gaza.

We are prepared for a great variety of scenarios, said the armys chief spokesman, Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis. The way the coming days look will depend on the choices of the Hamas terrorist organization.

Islamic Jihad was believed to be behind the mortar fire, which appeared to be retaliation for the deaths of three of its fighters in an Israeli air strike earlier this week. But Israel believes Hamas, a larger Islamic militant group that controls Gaza, gave Islamic Jihad a green light to strike.

We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to the Zionist crimes, said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.

Elsewhere in Gaza, two fishing boats carrying students and medical patients set sail for Cyprus in an attempt to break an 11-year naval blockade that Egypt and Israel imposed after Hamas seized power in Gaza. Hamas acknowledged it was mostly a symbolic act.

Israeli troops boarded one of boats without incident on Tuesday and detained 17 people. The ship will be towed to the port at Ashdod. The second boat returned to Gaza on its own.

Aron Heller is an Associated Press writer.
1 Military tribute: Military officials from the U.S., France and Germany took part in Memorial Day ceremonies at an American cemetery in northern France on Sunday to mark the centennial of the battle of Belleau Wood, a turning point in World War I and a key moment in Marine Corps history. The ceremony was held at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery in the village of Belleau. More than 5,000 people attended the event celebrating the fierce, monthlong battle considered the first major engagement of U.S. troops in the war, especially Marines whose bravery helped the Allied Forces win in Belleau.

2 Abbas health: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas doctor said Sunday that the 83-year-old will spend another day in the hospital, abruptly reversing a previous announcement that he would be discharged and adding to the uncertainty surrounding the Palestinian leaders health. Abbas was hospitalized last week with a fever, just days after undergoing ear surgery. Palestinian officials said he had pneumonia and was on a respirator, receiving antibiotics intravenously. Abbas has a long history of health issues, ranging from heart trouble to a bout with prostate cancer a decade ago. Abbas has no deputy, and his latest health scare has revived anxiety over a potentially chaotic or even bloody succession battle.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia  The head of a U.S. technology company that scoured the Indian Ocean seabed for more than three months looking for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 said on Tuesday he was disappointed the hunt failed to find any wreckage and hoped to take part in a future search.

Malaysia said last week the search by Texas-based Ocean Infinity would end on Tuesday after two extensions of the original 90-day time limit.

Ocean Infinity chef executive Oliver Plunkett said the search would soon end after covering more than 43,000 square miles of remote ocean floor  an area more than four times larger than the zone targeted by experts as the most likely crash site on March 8, 2014.

I would firstly like to extend the thoughts of everyone at Ocean Infinity to the families of those who have lost loved ones on MH370. It is therefore with a heavy heart that we end our current search, Plunkett said in a statement.

Plunkett said he was pleased to hear the new Malaysian government had made finding the Boeing 777 that vanished with 239 people aboard a priority.

Whilst clearly the outcome so far is extremely disappointing, as a company, we are truly proud of what we have achieved both in terms of the quality of data weve produced and the speed with which we covered such a vast area, Plunkett said.

We sincerely hope that we will be able to again offer our services in the search for MH370 in the future, he added.

Malaysia signed a no cure, no fee deal with Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean by Australia, Malaysia and China was called off. Ocean Infinity stood to be paid $70 million if it had found the wreckage or black boxes. No other search is scheduled.

Eileen Ng is an Associated Press writer.
BEIJING  The top nuclear weapons negotiator for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was headed for New York on Tuesday and expected to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as officials race to settle on an agenda for a June 12 summit meeting between Kim and President Trump in Singapore.

Trump said on Twitter that Kim Yong Chol, one of the most trusted aides to the Norths leader and a former intelligence chief, was heading now to New York. In a reference to the moves made since he canceled the on-again-off-again summit meeting, the president added, Solid response to my letter, thank you!

The former intelligence chief, who is 72, has been at the side of the North Korean leader, 34, during a recent whirl of diplomacy, meeting with the South Koreans in the Demilitarized Zone dividing the peninsula and with the Chinese.

Kims trip to the United States starts the most important negotiating track leading up to the summit meeting. Over the weekend, a team of U.S. diplomats met with North Korean officials in the Demilitarized Zone and White House logistics experts have been talking with North Koreans in Singapore about arrangements for the leaders meeting there.

But a trip to the United States by Kim Yong Chol  who has served the three leaders of the Kim dynasty that has ruled the North  signaled that negotiations were reaching a critical point.

Kim would be the highest-ranking North Korean official to visit the United States since 2000, when Vice Marshal Jo Myong Rok invited President Bill Clinton to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, with the prospect of sealing an agreement on curbing the Norths missiles that never came to fruition.

A diplomat in Beijing, where Kim stopped overnight Tuesday, said it was not immediately clear whether the negotiator would meet with the Chinese again before going on to New York, where he is expected to arrive Wednesday.

Kim was probably headed to New York, where North Korea has a mission to the United Nations, rather than to Washington because it was easier for him to get a visa there, another U.S. diplomat said. North Korean diplomats and officials are not allowed to travel more than a few miles outside New York City.

Jane Perlez and Choe Sang-Hun are New York Times writers.
WASHINGTON  The United States has identified at least three Islamic State leaders accused of planning and directing an ambush last October in Niger that killed four U.S. soldiers, officials said, locking the U.S. military in an additional and possibly lengthy campaign to hunt and kill members of a little-known extremist group in northwest Africa.

The group, known as ISIS in the Greater Sahara, claimed responsibility in January for the Oct. 4 attack that killed Army Sergeant La David Johnson, 25; and Staff Sergeants Bryan Black, 35; Jeremiah Johnson, 39; and Dustin Wright, 29.

The group was designated a foreign terrorist organization by the State Department two weeks ago.

One of the three militants who led the ambush, Doundoun Cheffou, is most likely alive, according to government documents that were described by two U.S. military officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The two other militants were killed in the ambush.

Cheffous whereabouts is unknown, according to the documents. The U.S. soldiers and Nigerian troops were searching for Cheffou, a one-time cattle herder and a senior lieutenant of a former affiliate of al Qaeda, when they left their base on the fateful mission in October that is now code-named Operation Desolate Bastion by the Pentagon.

Representatives from U.S. Special Operations Forces and the State Department  and, most likely, the CIA  met at a base in Niger last month to examine a web of intelligence surrounding the ambush.

They singled out high-ranking militants that led the group of fighters that attacked the team of U.S. soldiers, including Green Berets, and their Nigerian counterparts. But the officials at the meeting also identified roughly 20 low-level fighters, according to the documents that outline the discussion. The Pentagon has said that the U.S. team involved in the ambush killed 20 to 25 militants.

French and Nigerian security officials say ISIS in the Greater Sahara has 40 to 60 core members. It is often joined by sympathetic villagers and it has temporary alliances with other local groups.

Thomas Gibbons-Neff and Helene Cooper are New York Times writers.
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The open-access journal Medicine Anthropology Theory has published a special collection of essays titled Critical perspectives on US global health partnerships in Africa and beyond. Here are the abstracts:

Introduction: Critical perspectives on US global health partnerships in Africa and beyond

Nora Kenworthy, Lynn M. Thomas, Johanna Crane

[Excerpt] [] This issue examines the longue duree of partnerships in global health, exploring how and why they are formed, persist, change, and/or dissolve over time, and how differently situated actors have understood and constructed partnerships in and across various locales. The authors also attend to the ways that broader political, economic, cultural, and academic settings give rise to, and reinforce, partnership as a mode of process and an ongoing aspirational ideal.

What the word partnership conjoins, and what it does

Janelle S. Taylor

This essay proposes that global health partnership might usefully be conceived as a boundary object, in that the terms capacity to encompass widely divergent and incompatible understandings, and to facilitate mutual misunderstandings, is a crucial part of how it works in the world to help bring together assemblages of people and organizations across great distances and steep gradients of inequality.

Partnerships for now? Temporality, capacities, and the durability of outcomes from global health partnerships

Iruka N. Okeke

Scientific alliances are typically referred to as collaborations but in recent times, those with global health or other development goals are increasingly referred to as partnerships. I observe that one of the features common to this type of partnership is temporality: flagship programs are frequently initiated but less commonly sustained. Thus the pressure that short-term transnational projects place on African health and educational systems that implement them is sometimes hard to justify. I suggest that one reason for the short life spans of partnerships is inadequate attention to the need to build hard and leadership capacities: infrastructure, managerial expertise, administrative capabilities, and the capacity to improvise at African partner institutions.

Is Africa part of the partnership?

Yap Boum II

This essay presents an African perspective on medical research partnerships done in Africa. While African institutions have a long history of establishing research partnerships with Western institutions it is important to assess how they have been contributing to this relationship. After describing how partnerships are established and how they currently function for many institutions, I discuss how mutual and antagonistic interests can affect those global health relationships that finish in divorce. I end with defining the place of Africa in its partnerships with Western institutions in medical research, and argue for a new mind-set that would bolster African ownership and funding of research done in Africa.

Collaboration and discord in international debates about coca chewing, 19491950

Adam Warren

This essay complicates our thinking about unequal North-South collaborations by considering how distinct scientific traditions, national politics, forms of racial thinking, and conditions of internal colonialism in the global South shape relations with individuals and entities based in the global North. It does this by examining conflicts between Peruvian scientists and the United Nations Commission for the Study of the Coca Leaf, which visited Peru and Bolivia in 1949 to investigate the health effects of coca consumption on highland Indigenous populations. Sent at the Peruvian governments invitation, commission members saw themselves as conducting a field survey. However, they quickly found themselves embroiled in conflict with a Peruvian high-altitude physiologist, Carlos Monge, who sought long-term, laboratory-based collaboration. Monges scholarship and experiments proved controversial for UN authorities because they emphasized the racial alterity of highland Indigenous peoples even as he and his peers disagreed about the health effects of coca chewing.

Habit or addiction? Collaboration and misunderstandings in international debates about coca-leaf chewing

Rossio Motta-Ochoa

[Excerpt] It is a pleasure to comment on Adam Warrens thoughtful and engagingly written account of the mid-twentieth-century collaboration between representatives of the United Nations Commission for the Study of the Coca Leaf and Peruvian scientists and authorities. Although outside of my immediate field of expertise, this topic is familiar to me for several reasons. As a Peruvian, I grew up exposed to the constant and continuing lay and academic discussions about the benefits and harms posed by coca-leaf chewing. Furthermore, as a medical anthropologist, I did my doctoral fieldwork in a major Peruvian psychiatric hospital where one of the vocal detractors of coca-leaf chewing, Dr. Carlos Gutierrez-Noriega, conducted part of his research about the effects of coca and cocaine. My experience as a postdoctoral fellow in an addiction unit at the University of Sherbrooke and as an ethnographer who has conducted extensive research with people who use cocaine in Montreal, Canada, has also influenced my reading of Warrens essay.

Friends, partners, and orphans: Relations that make and unmake a hospital

Jenna Grant

The essay juxtaposes three moments of medical infrastructure and technology aid in Phnom Penh, Cambodia: 1960, 2010, and 2005. The operative terms of these moments are relationship terms: friendship, partnership, and orphan. The 1960 gift of a hospital, equipment, and training made a friend, and reciprocity involved political alignment at the level of the nation-state. The 2010 gift of equipment and training made a partner, and reciprocity involved brand alignment spread across diverse government ministries, public hospitals, private universities, and private businesses. Focusing on the materiality of technology and infrastructure gifts brings us to the orphan. The orphan is a gift that turns toxic. Its toxicity is health-threatening if there is no infrastructure to secure it. The elaborate partnerships required to identify and secure orphan sources of radiation show how gifts of medical technology and infrastructure exist beyond their immediate utility to humans. What technology of partnership will the medical physicist of 2050 unearth, and what ethic of relationality will come to care for, repair, and secure it?

Cobalt diplomacy in Cambodia

Rethy Chhem

[Excerpt] Medical diplomacy  the winning of hearts and minds of the people by exploiting medical care, expertise, and personnel to help those who need it most (Thompson 2005, 3)  both produces positive health outcomes in the recipient country and helps the donor country to build symbolic capital and prestige, while simultaneously improving relations between the two countries (Feinsilver 2010, 86). Governments are not the only actors to engage in medical diplomacy in global health settings. Since the end of World War II, a myriad of new actors with various agendas have stepped into this emerging field of diplomacy, including multinational corporations selling medical equipment, philanthropic organizations, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) (Adams et al. 2008). During my tenure as director of the Division of Human Health at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, my team and I published a paper on global health diplomacy that reviewed the agencys program activities in human health, which focus on radiation medicine and cancer, and on the peaceful applications of atomic energy within the context of global health diplomacy (Deatsch-Kratochvil et al. 2013). The idea of reflecting on the role of cobalt radiotherapy machines in medical diplomacy was born from that seminal paper, leading to the title chosen for this current essay.

Donor data vacuuming: Audit culture and the use of data in global health partnerships

Sarah Gimbel, Baltazar Chilundo, Nora Kenworthy, Celso Inguane, David Citrin, Rachel Chapman, Kenneth Sherr, James Pfeiffer

In this essay, we seek to understand how the stunning rise of data vacuuming, necessitated by the pretense of partnership within global health, has fundamentally altered how routine health data in poor countries is collected, analyzed, prioritized, and used to inform management and policy. Writing as a team of authors with experiences on multiple sides of global health partnerships in the United States, Mozambique, Nepal, Lesotho, Kenya, and Cote dIvoire, we argue that solidarity-based partnership between donor and recipient countries is impossible when evidence production and management is effectively outsourced to external organizations to meet the criteria of donor partners. Specifically, to meet the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, equity-oriented strategies are critically needed to create data collection, analysis, and use activities that are mutually beneficial and sustainable.

NGOs, partnerships, and public-private discontent in Nepals health care sector

David Citrin, Hima Bista, Agya Mahat

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) have become increasingly popular models of collaboration in the global health arena to deliver, scale, and evaluate health care services. While many of these initiatives are multicountry, large-scale partnerships, smaller NGOs play increasingly central roles in new forms of privatization. This article draws on our collective experiences working in a PPP between the nongovernmental organization Possible and the Ministry of Health in Nepal to ethnographically examine the fragile and contested nature of these arrangements in the Nepali context, amidst an increasingly privatized health care landscape that is resulting in widespread discontent and distrust throughout the country, as well as financial hardship. We discuss the Possible PPP as one approach that simultaneously seeks to strengthen public-sector health care systems, yet still taps into some of the promises, anxieties, and blind spots  such as the broader social determinants of health  inherent in new forms of public-private global health work.

Academic dependency: A postcolonial critique of global health collaborations in oncology

Tamer M. Fouad

[Excerpt] As a medical oncologist at the National Cancer Institute in Egypt and an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Texas, MD Anderson Cancer Center, I participate in multicenter international cancer research collaborations. In addition, my role as an official coordinator for Egypt involves working in close cooperation with the Global Academic Program at MD Anderson to develop and encourage collaborations in oncology between the two institutions. I also serve on the editorial board of the Journal of Global Oncology, published by the American Society of Clinical Oncology. My aim in this article is to reflect on the dynamics of scientific collaboration in the relatively new field of cancer medicine with a special focus on a specific type of collaboration between institutions in the West and their counterparts in postcolonial countries. Although I use examples from my own experience in Egypt, the discussion presented here applies more broadly to the challenges facing postcolonial countries that participate in global oncology collaborations. In particular, I would like to focus on the elements that prevent postcolonial countries from breaking a cycle of academic dependency. Among the characteristics of academic dependency is the inability to initiate and conduct science at a global level, a reliance on foreign aid, and a dependence on Western research agendas and priorities (Alatas 2003).

The trouble with inequalities in global health partnerships

Carina Fourie

In this essay, I offer a philosophicalethical analysis of inequalities in global health partnerships. Using literature from medical anthropology and the health sciences as a basis, I begin by distinguishing two categories of concern. First, I identify the inequalities between partners, such as between research institutions in the United States and African countries, which can include resource, epistemic, and power inequalities, and, second, I highlight associated concerns such as the lack of acknowledgement of inequalities. I then focus on what might be ethically wrong with these inequalities, emphasizing that there can be significant instrumental and noninstrumental harms associated with them. By underscoring what may be ethically troubling about inequalities in global health partnerships, this essay provides preliminary guidance on how to create more equal and more equitable relationships between partners in the field of global health.

Global health enabling systems: Accounting and critique in the era of America First

Johanna T. Crane

This think piece argues for the importance of administrative and bureaucratic labor mundane things  in maintaining US-African global health research partnerships and the power relations within them. The daily work of accounting, compliance, and risk management undertaken by global health enabling systems created by US universities contrasts with global healths heroic self-image and conjures up negative imaginaries of intransigent African bureaucracies, crumbling communication infrastructure, and corruption. These negative imaginaries help to authorize forms of US fiscal and administrative control that may contradict global healths ethic of partnership and its related goal of building capacity in low-income partner nations, as well as feed creative accounting practices by both partner entities. Critiquing these inequalities may seem risky in an era of America First and threatened cuts to global health funding. In fact, advocating for equity in global health partnerships and prioritizing the building of African institutional capacity are only made more urgent by the current political climate.

Drone philanthropy? Global health crowdfunding and the anxious futures of partnership

Nora Kenworthy

This piece explores some of the dynamics of global health crowdfunding by examining the work of Watsi, a highly successful crowdfunding platform that raises funds to cover the costs of medical care for patients in countries throughout the global South. While Watsi relies on a somewhat traditional formula for fundraising that uses individual patient stories to attract donations, its origins, aims. and values reflect an imagined (and perhaps, probable) future of global health partnerships. What relationships and connections are enabled in this future space? What subjectivities, anxieties, and values are brought to the fore by Watsis modes of work? And what forms of intimacy and estrangement are enabled by such connections and relations? Watsi represents, I argue, a new kind of drone philanthropy that both disrupts and evokes older forms of partnership, affiliation, and connection among donors, organizations, and individual recipients of aid.

Critical perspectives on global health partnerships in Africa

Celso A. Inguane

[Excerpt of Conference Report] On 8 February 2018, the colloquium Critical Perspectives on Global Health Partnerships in Africa was held at the University of Washington (UW), Seattle. It was sponsored by UWs Simpson Center for the Humanities and organized by Lynn M. Thomas (UW Seattle, History), Johanna Crane and Ben Gardner (UW Bothell, Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences), and Nora Kenworthy (UW Bothell, Nursing & Health Studies). The colloquium was a discussion between Iruka Okeke (Pharmacology, University of Ibadan) and Paul Farmer (Partners in Health, Brigham and Womens Hospital, and Harvard University) with an audience of faculty, students, and community members interested in global health, and it was moderated by Gardner and Kenworthy. The colloquium addressed issues raised by the collaborative project Humanistic Perspectives on US Global Health Partnerships in Africa and Beyond, and was preceded the night before by the Katz Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities, given by Farmer, and, earlier in the day, by a discussion between Farmer and medical anthropology and global health students, and a working lunch with members of the collaborative project.

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The man tasked with reviewing cafe and pizza giant Retail Food Groups business following revelations it was driving franchisees to financial ruin has been promoted to chief executive.

The company, which owns Gloria Jean's, Donut King, Michel's Patisserie and Crust Pizza, said on Tuesday that managing director Andrew Nell would leave the group with immediate effect.

Retail Food Group managing director Andre Nell: leaving on Tuesday. Credit:AAP

Richard Hinson would run the business as group chief executive in a move the company said reflected its commitment to bridging the gap between RFGs head office and its franchise network.

Mr Hinson joined the company in January and was tasked with reviewing the business after Fairfax Media revealed that high franchise fees and food ingredients costs were ravaging store owners finances and sending many to the wall.
SafeWork NSW inspected a Botany chemical plant on Tuesday after employees were locked out, raising concerns about the safe handling of potentially dangerous chemicals.

The results of the inspection are expected on Wednesday.

A spokesman for SafeWork NSW said its "inquiries remain ongoing".

"There are no further updates at this stage," he said.
For Father Peter Smith, the choice of adding solar panels to his presbytery roof in inner-Sydney's Leichhardt wasn't just about cost savings but also protecting the environment.

His 7.2-kilowatt system should repay the $8000 cost in five years but, more importantly, help him promote the "Caring for Creation through Solar" project aimed at bringing renewable energy to more parishioners in the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese.

"If I'm going to advertise, I'd better be first," Father Smith said. "We're looking at the climate issue and just caring for Creation."

Father Peter Smith of St Columba's Catholic Parish in Sydney's Leichhardt is leading the way on solar, as the renewable energy surge gathers momentum nationally. Credit:James Brickwood

The renewables message is catching on, with the latest annual report by the Clean Energy Council revealing "a record year for records", according the industry group's chief executive, Kane Thornton.
Doctor groups have long been warned against accepting drug company sponsorship in case they are influenced, but a Fairfax Media analysis has found one particular organisation is aggressively seeking financial support, collecting close to $1 million in six months.

The Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand (HSANZ) and its sub-groups received $972,000 in 50 separate payments from 17 pharmaceutical companies, including Roche, Amgen and Novartis, between May and October last year.

Haematology Society of Australia and New Zealand obtained almost $1 million worth of sponsorship payments from drug companies in six months. Credit:James Davies

To put that into perspective, the second biggest total amount accepted by an organisation - the Australian Rheumatology Association - was about half that, at $538,000.

Dr William Stevenson, HSANZ's new president, said they "retained independent control" of all educational content at its "non-biased" forums.
And, with such a high run-up in their share prices, Chowdhary remains cautious on the sector. North America is where most of the action on cannabis is occurring; though Europe's largest economy, Germany, is also well advanced on the use of medicinal cannabis. Loading Canada approved medical use of cannabis in 2001 and is close to becoming the first wealthy country to legalise recreational use of cannabis by adults, probably by the end of this year. In the United States, each state makes the laws on cannabis and estimates are that about 30 states allow use of medical cannabis and in nine of those states, it is legal to use cannabis for recreation.

New Frontier Data estimates US cannabis sales could triple from just under US$7.5 billion in 2016 to US$24 billion by 2025. Illustration: John Shakespeare Credit: Australian exports allowed In Australia the federal government legalised patient access to Australian-grown and manufactured medicinal cannabis in 2016, subject to state and territory regulations. There are differing limits and restrictions on the use of medicinal cannabis, depending on the state of territory.

In giving the green light to allow exports of medicinal cannabis, the government wants to foster the local market to secure supply for domestic patients but it also recognises that cannabis is a global market. Most of the ASX-listed cannabis stocks are not cultivators nor seeking to become cultivators, but are working on the development of cannabis-based pharmaceuticals. There is controversy over the effectiveness of cannabis-based medicines. Some experts believe the hype over medicinal cannabis has surged way past the science. When cannabis does work, the effect is often small, they say. Stewart Washer, the vice president of business development at AusCann, who is also a director of Zelda Therapeutics, says there is a "continuum" within the ASX-listed cannabis sector from "plant to patient".

For example, Zelda is doing research in new areas like insomnia and cancer to see if cannabis works there, Dr Washer says. Cann Group, on the other hand, is primarily a cultivator and the first Australian operator to begin growing cannabis plants in Australia. Chronic pain management AusCann is looking mainly at cannabis for the treatment of chronic pain. It's taking the best genetics in the world [with the aim] of ending-up with a pill for chronic pain control, Dr Washer says.

The aim is to have a pill not only to treat Australians but to export around the world. The major shareholder in AusCann is the Canadian-listed Canopy Growth Corporation, the world's biggest medical cannabis company. The main way to control chronic pain is with opiates, but they are addictive and can kill through respiratory failure. A big crisis in health at the moment is prescription opiates and we need an alternative, Dr Washer says. Graham Witcomb, an analyst with Intelligent Investor, who lives in Vancouver, issued a report last year in which he said he had never seen such feverish capitalism in action.

It seems every second billboard has a cannabis-related message  where to find prescribing doctors, growers, business advisors, websites and retail outlets, he said. He reckons there are more cannabis outlets in Vancouver than McDonalds restaurants, even though cannabis use for recreation is still illegal in Canada. Risky business Witcomb said there is a lot of difference between forecasting significant growth in demand and picking the individual companies that will benefit from it. He said todays supply and demand imbalance is likely to be short lived. More cultivation licences are being granted in Australia and overseas, but there is no cap on the number of licences.

The large agricultural conglomerates are also unlikely to let the opportunity go, Witcomb said. And, as cigarette sales become harder won, it will not be long before big tobacco outfits decide to take a slice of the pot pie, he said. Predicting long-term profitability for these stocks is next to impossible and with no money coming in and lots going out as they build their facilities, the companies have kept themselves afloat largely through capital raisings and taking on debt, he said. Elio D'Amato, director of research and education at Lincoln Indicators, says there are just too many uncertainties with these stocks to recommend them to investors. DAmato says the financial fundamentals need to catch-up with their share prices.
The reliability of flights between Canberra and Sydney has improved significantly since the route topped the nation for cancellations last year, government statistics reveal.

In October last year, the Canberra to Sydney route had the worst cancellation rate in Australia, with 8.1 per cent of flights between the cities canned.

Canberra Airport chief Stephen Byron, who has repeatedly spoken out against flight cancellations on the Canberra to Sydney route. Credit:Dion Georgopoulos.

The federal governments domestic airline performance report for April showed this cancellation rate has since dropped 7 percentage points.

Only 1.1 per cent of flights from Canberra to Sydney were cancelled in April.
Staff will walk off the job at Canberra's UNSW campus today after negotiations regarding their latest enterprise agreement stalled.

About 50 local academic and professional staff will strike for 24 hours seeking better working conditions for current casual workers and better managed teaching loads.

Staff at UNSW will strike for 24 hours from 9am on Wednesday. Credit:Louise Kennerley

Staff want working hours that match their working time, leave for staff facing domestic violence and genuine representation for Indigenous staff.

There will be a visible presence of striking staff outside the campus between 8am and 9am.
A man who claimed George Takei sexually assaulted him is facing backlash after walking back those statements.

Former model Scott Brunton previously said that Takei had drugged him and touched his genitals without his permission in 1981, according to Gay Star News. Brunton later said the actor did not assault him after reports over conflicting info in his story came out.

He was 20 years older than me and short, Brunton said. And I wasnt attracted to Asian men I was a hot, surfer, California boy type, that he probably could have only gotten had he bought, paid for or found someone just willing to ride on his coattails of fame.

An Observer report talked to toxicologists and ruled out the possibility of a spiked drink. The report also pointed out that Brunton also mixed up details to different publications, including saying Takei was shirtless to one but in a white t-shirt to another.

Takei has maintained his innocence since Brunton had initially made the allegation against him in 2017.

The events he describes back in the 1980s simply did not occur, and I do not know why he has claimed them now, Takei tweeted.I have wracked my brain to ask if I remember Mr Brunton, and I cannot say I do.

The events he describes back in the 1980s simply did not occur, and I do not know why he has claimed them now. I have wracked my brain to ask if I remember Mr. Brunton, and I cannot say I do. /2  George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) November 11, 2017

Since retracting his claims, Burton said he has been called a racist and a liar.
In all the commotion around China in recent days, the true importance of Andrew Hastie's speech in Parliament has been lost. Hastie was defending free speech against Beijings use of lawfare.

Hastie noted that Chinese-Australian billionaire Chau Chak Wing was suing Australian media outlets for reporting allegations that he acts on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party and was the person behind the bribing of the UN official. The MP said he was speaking up under the protection of parliamentary privilege because defamation actions against major media outlets, including Fairfax Media, are having a chilling effect on the free press.

Andrew Hastie was using parliamentary privilege to strike a blow for free speech. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Hastie told Parliament that the CCP is working covertly to influence public debates in Australia and that any attempt to silence the media through defamation actions cannot stand. Reinforcing the message on Thursday, ASIO chief Duncan Lewis warned parliamentarians that foreign actors are secretly influencing and shaping the public debate in this country.

Last November I experienced this chilling effect personally. The original publisher of my book exposing the CCPs influence activities pulled out citing its fear of vexatious litigation sponsored by Beijing. Chaus legal actions against Fairfax and the ABC were at the centre of the companys assessment. Other publishers shunned the book for the same reason.
A 48-year-old man charged over the importation of 59 kilograms of cocaine in a shipment of frozen fish last week was found dead in his jail cell within 48 hours of his arrest.

Dimitrios Mavris, from Woolloomooloo, was expected to apply for bail at Central Local Court on Wednesday, after he was arrested by Australian Federal Police officers last Wednesday evening on arrival at Sydney International Airport.

59 kilograms of cocaine was seized by AFP officers, after it was discovered concealed in two shipping containers of frozen fish from Peru. Credit:AFP

However NSW Police and Corrective Services NSW have both confirmed Mr Mavris was found dead in his jail cell in Surry Hills last Friday. It is understood he may have died by suicide.

"Corrective services officers located the 48-year-old man deceased in his cell about 6.20pm on Friday May 26," police said in a statement.
A man who shot a fellow reveller in a Sydney hotel room after partying with him at a Kings Cross strip club for nearly 30 hours has been found guilty of his murder.

A NSW Supreme Court jury found Hasan Fazlilar, 32, guilty of the charge, and of possessing an unauthorised firearm, on Tuesday morning after just a day of deliberations.

Donovan Mileham was shot in the Fraser Suites serviced apartments in the CBD.

Donovan Mileham bled to death on the floor of a room in the Fraser Suites serviced apartments in the CBD after Fazlilar shot him in the thigh in November 2015.

The jury heard over the course of the three-week trial details of how Mr Mileham, 44, arrived with a group at the Love Machine strip club and brothel at about midnight on Thursday, November 12.
It would be useful to know when theyre planning to do backburns,'' she said. ''There are days where I would avoid going out if I knew in advance.'' NSW Rural Fire Service spokesman Ben Shepherd said the smoke was not expected to clear until Wednesday. The RFS was working closely with the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage (OEH) and the Bureau of Meteorology to keep to a minimum the effect on air quality of hazard-reduction burning, Mr Shepherd said. Asthma Australia fielded several calls from frustrated individuals whose chronic lung conditions were triggered by the smoke caused by the weekend's hazard-reduction burns and exacerbated by the still conditions.

Senior Research Fellow at the Menzies Institute for Medical Research Dr Fay Johnston said

by the time smoke was visible, people with respiratory and heart problems were already exposed to the harmful particles. Smoke penetrates very quickly, Dr Johnston said. If you dont get the heads-up and you wake up with smoke everywhere your condition can be made worse well before the health alerts are sent out.'' Smoke covers Sydney Harbour from a controlled burnoff. Credit:Janie Barrett Dr Johnston said at least one person would almost certainly die prematurely as a result of Tuesday's poor air quality. Paramedics had responded to almost double the number of people with asthma and breathing difficulties on Tuesday morning compared with the same time last Tuesday: 41 versus 21 people between midnight and midday.

By 2.30pm, Sydney paramedics had responded to 53 cases, almost one third of them young children. Up to 14 people died as a result of hazard-reduction burns in Sydney in May 2016, a rapid assessment study found. Hazard-reduction burns and bushfires were linked to 197 premature deaths and 1200 hospitalisations in Sydney between 2001 and 2013, showed a separate study co-authored by Dr Johnston. Smoke blankets Sydney, as seen from Dover Heights. Credit:Peter Rae Tuesdays conditions will cause a spike in hospitalisations and hundreds additional visits to GPs and other health services, Dr Johnston said.

It has a major impact on the health system and there needs to be a systematic plan between agencies." Loading Predicting the effects of hazard reduction burning on air quality in specific geographical areas was a fraught process involving complex calculations. Hazard-reduction burns had only recently begun affecting air quality at this magnitude, Dr Johnston said. ''Between 1994 and 2015 there were days when smoke particles were higher due to planned burns but never the severe impacts weve seen in last three years, she said, though the reasons were not clear.

Backburning was an absolute necessity to guard against bushfires, Dr Johnston said, but Tuesday again demonstrated that it also posed a major health risk that needed to be addressed. A better co-ordinated inter-sectoral response was needed, involving NSW Health, the OEH and NSW RFS to give the public advanced warning when hazard reduction burns could significantly affect air quality, Dr Johnston said. The OEH update their air quality data online hourly and have an opt-in sms alert service and the NSW RFS post burns updates to its website. But Dr Johnston and the CEO of Asthma Australia, Michele Goldman, said the measures for advanced warnings were not good enough. Were talking about a whole population who are not going to look at a website [to check burns plans] every single morning," Dr Johnston said.

Thick smoke over Sydney as hazard reduction continues. Credit:David Porter Theyre not meteorologists. Theyre not going to know when smoke is going to fill up the [Sydney] basin. Ms Goldman said at-risk individuals needed ample warning. I appreciate NSW Health is working hard to get the message out there, but if the community is asking for more forewarning it is incumbent on [all agencies] to do better, she said. They called for a real-time SMS alert system for individuals with respiratory conditions, and comprehensive media alerts as soon as hazard-reduction burns were planned.

We need to give people as much notice as possible so they can make decisions to avoid unnecessary exposure, Ms Goldman said. Loading A spokesman for NSW Health said the department provided warnings based on the forecast and air quality monitoring system run by the OEH. NSW Health Director of Environmental Health Dr Ben Scalley said more could be done in this space and it's an important thing to work on in the future". Dr Scalley said the OEH's monitoring system was an excellent service. He urged people sensitive to smoke to sign up to its alerts.
One of the players in the 2009 contract killing of Sydney businessman Michael McGurk, Fortunato "Lucky" Gattellari, has penned an emotional letter pleading for his release from prison saying he's gone to "to hell and back".

Lucky Gattellari has been in protective custody for many years, his lawyer said. Credit:Daniel Munoz

The handwritten letter was given to the State Parole Authority on Tuesday as a last ditch attempt to convince the panel to grant his release, having already served his non-parole period of 7 years for being an accessory before the fact to the contract killing of McGurk, which was ordered and paid for by property developer Ron Medich.

But the letter was to no avail, with the board refusing his parole at Tuesday's review hearing.
A paramedic has suffered injuries to his eyes from shards of glass after a man allegedly flagged down and attacked an ambulance in a south-east Queensland city.

Maryborough Ambulance officer in charge Marco Polino said a team of two paramedics and a paramedic student were on their way to Hervey Bay Hospital with a patient on board when the attack occurred.

Damage sustained to an ambulance vehicle from an alleged attack in Maryborough on Monday night. Credit:Queensland Ambulance Service

"During that transport the crew was flagged down by a member of the public on the side of the road," Mr Polino said.

"As they approached this member of the public he pulled out a metal pole and began striking the front driver's side windscreen of the vehicle."
Jeremiah Riley knows all about the 'government agencies, debt collectors, Australia Post representatives and salespeople' who come knocking on the door of indigenous communities in Western Australia's North West.

He worked as a chief executive officer of an indigenous community about 200 kilometres north of Broome for two-and-a-half years, and said scammers deliberately preyed on those who lived and worked under the umbrella of the community.

Western Australia has recorded the lowest amount of reported losses from scammers in 2017.

"Its quite surprising being the chief executive officer of a community because from day one all the way through to [February], I would receive emails, a lot of faxes, and telephone calls from people trying to sell us crap or trying to impersonate particular branches of the government," Mr Riley said.

"The most common one was people trying to sell us crap at ridiculously overpriced prices. People tried to sell us printer ink at ten times the price.
One of Western Australia's biggest gold miners has flagged potential job losses and a hiring freeze at the famous Kalgoorlie Super Pit mine following two separate rock falls earlier this month.

KCGM temporarily suspended its operations after rock falls on the eastern wall of the pit on May 14 and 15, and has now announced a reduction in the workforce over coming months due to an exclusion zone established around the fall area.

Two rock falls forced the suspension of work earlier this month. Credit:Ryan Stuart

It was understood contractors and employees were told about potential job losses during a staff briefing on Monday.

KCGM general manager Cecile Thaxter told workers until experts could understand the impact of the rock fall on the mine planning and sequencing, work rates would be reduced to ensure the safety of employees.
Philadelphia-based Stephen Starr is equal parts theatrical producer and restaurateur. Thats no surprise considering that he opened his first business in the mid 70s, when he was only 21, a diner and comedy club called Grandmom Minnie's. He then went on to open a cabaret, a concert venue and a disco. Starr then founded The Concert Company, which brought large-scale stadium acts to Philadelphia. He sold that company in 1990 with the idea of going into theatrical and film production.

Instead he founded Starr Restaurants, opening his next restaurant, Continental Restaurant & Martini Bar, in Philadelphia. To his way of thinking, dining out isnt that far removed from attending a play or concert, Restaurants and films must have all the same elements: the right cast, art direction, lighting. Its about the theater of going out.

Its a philosophy that has served him well. Starr now has 20 restaurants in Philadelphia, running the gamut of cuisine and concepts; Barclay (prime steakhouse), Buddakan (modern Asian), The Dandelion (English pub), Fette Sau (BBQ), Jones (American comfort food), Parc French bistro, El Rey (traditional Mexican) and El Vez, serving modern Mexican fare.

A strong supporter of Dining Out for Life, he also oversees restaurants in New York, New Jersey and here in South Florida. In addition to two Bal Harbour and one Miami spot, he has two restaurants in the Fort Lauderdale W Hotel, Steak 954 and the newly opened outpost of his popular Philadelphia and New York City restaurants, El Vez.

El Vez showcases classic Mexican fare with an emphasis on Baja-style cooking that celebrates fresh seafood. Its open-air dining room spills out onto an expansive patio overlooking A1A. Large tables, cut from slabs of wood are surrounded by bar stools, making it a perfect gathering spot for large parties. Smaller tables line the perimeter, offering space for intimate dinners and smaller gatherings. Although you could grab a quick bite here, the atmosphere is so inviting that youll want to settle in for a relaxing evening, and thats not a problem; the staff is more than happy to accommodate you. Theres no feeling of being rushed out to clear a table, the servers and staff act like the best dinner party hosts.

None of this would matter if the food wasnt good and its not only good, its terrific! Starter options include three different guacamole recipes; Classic (with cilantro, lime, onion, serrano chilies and tomato), Tito Santana (with chunks of mango, red pepper and jicama with plenty of heat provided by habanero and serrano chilies), or Verde (with mixed herbs and Meyer lemon zest and a subtle smokiness provided by poblanos). The ceviche section of the menu provides not only traditional versions of the titular dish, shrimp and seafood cocktails, but also tostadas showcasing the marinated seafood served atop large tortilla chips. Tuna tostadas dishes up five portions swathed with chipotle mayo and crispy onions. Each chip provides 2-3 bites, so the dish is easily shared. Other starter selections include nachos, quesadillas and queso fundido, Mexicos version of fondue.

The menu offers up a variety of taco platters; seafood options include breaded mahi, grilled shrimp or snapper. Carnivores can enjoy carnitas, chicken, steak or lamb. The mahi and lamb offer up two plump tacos, while the remaining options deliver three, all good-sized portions. Enchilada platters include a choice of chicken, black bean or seafood (with shrimp and King crab). If you want to make your meal more substantial order a side dish. Among the offerins are skillet potatoes, which showcase tender, creamy Yukon Golds in a Chihuahua cream sauce. Fried shallots and a touch of chipotle provide the perfect finish for the dish. Other side options, all large enough for the table to share, include; plantains con queso, roasted seasonal vegetables, black beans and rice, refried black beans and an ear of grilled corn served elote-style.

If youd prefer something a little more elaborate as an entree. Try the Tacos al Carbon, prepared for two, the build your own taco platter offers a choice of chicken, steak or shrimp with grilled vegetables. Citrus-marinated grilled chicken, whole fried yellowtail snapper or branzino and a chipotle-rubbed flat iron steak are other entree possibilities.

It would be easy to over-do it at El Vez, but youll want to save room for dessert. The selection isnt vast, but each is a delight. My favorite is the El Vez sundae; with vanilla bean ice cream, chili-chocolate brownie pieces, crunchy peanuts and caramel. Churros arrive freshly made and crispy from a sprinkling of sugar, with dulce de leche and spicy hot chocolate sauces for dipping. What would a Mexican meal be without some Margaritas? El Vez has a wide array of choices from the traditional to exotic (burnt grapefruit!). There is an equally abundant selection of tequilas and Mexican beers to sample.

Youd expect a restaurant in an ocean-front W Hotel to be pricey and thats what makes El Vez even better. You can easily get way with dinner for two for less than $25 a person, without drinks. As an added bonus, valet parking is only $5 with validation. With all that going for El Vez, youve got no excuse not to make a run for the border (technically, AIA is the Eastern border of the U.S.).

Steve Starrs other South Florida Restaurants include:

Le Zoo

9700 Collins Ave., Miami Beach

305-602-9663

lezoo.com

Makoto

9700 Collins Ave., Miami Beach

305-864-8600

makotorestaurant.me

Upland

49 Collins Ave., Miami Beach

305-602-9998

uplandmiami.com

Steak 954

401 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. Fort Lauderdale

954-414-8333

steak954.com
Brewery staff have been working overtime to get the business back up and running and, as of late last week, are now serving guests at their upstairs bar.

Billabong Brewery sustained extensive damage during the blaze which was largely contained to the office, lounge bar and library area.

A craft brewery just south of Perth is rising from the ashes after fire tore through its Myaree premises two weeks ago.

Billabong owner Alan Proctor, who started the business in 1993, said temporary power was established to the brewhouse a couple of days after the fire and he was confident gas would be reconnected within the next 48 hours for the boilers to again power the brewerys major kettles.

Despite the bad luck with the fire we have had a great amount of support that has helped us get back on our feet, Mr Proctor said.

And we were determined to get back up and running as soon as possible because we really want to look after our customers. We dont have a business without them.

It has been great to see so many of our brew-on-premise customers stick by us and be ready to rejoin us when were back operating this week.

There is still some minor cleaning to do in the brewhouse and the office area will be out of action for some time, but Mr Proctor said the situation could have been a lot worse if local firefighters hadnt been able to contain the blaze.
Premier Mark McGowan has defended the state authority responsible for prescribed burns as the clean-up continues from bushfires that swept through Western Australia's south.

Superintendent Dominic Wood took this photo of the fires threatening homes in Albany. Credit:Dominic Wood

Mr McGowan said people would want to point fingers but he believed the conditions that caused more than 50 separate fires to burn out of control in the City of Albany last week were "very difficult to predict and very difficult to prevent".

The blaze destroyed at least one home and buildings on a holiday-stay farm, and killed hundreds of livestock and native wildlife.

"Two of the fires as I understand it were the result of long-standing prescribed burns so they'd been in place for some weeks," Mr McGowan told reporters on Monday.
Barnaby Joyce used to rejoice in the title of Australias best retail politician.

It was one of those insider political terms that meant he could sell his story to anyone from a barman to a babys mum, because he talked easily to all he encountered - and he made it his business to encounter as many voters in as many environments as he could, from the street to the cattle saleyards to the RSL club.

His colleagues loved the Barnaby style. Got a problem in your electorate? Get Barnaby in and hed have the local pub rocking in no time. Problem solved.

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce is now a lonely figure in Parliament. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

But now Barnabys retailing himself for real. He's allowed the market to put a price on his story: a reported $150,000 from Channel 7 to have Barnaby and his newish partner, former staffer Vikki Campion, tell the world the story that not long ago they were insisting was a private matter. Presumably one or the other will be dandling their baby, Sebastian, for the cameras, for the money is supposed to be going in a trust for Sebastians future use.
More than 120 pregnant whales were slaughtered in the latest Japanese whale hunt in Antarcticas Southern Ocean, new documents show, reigniting calls for Australia to step up efforts to stop the annual killing spree.

A further 114 immature whales were killed as part of the so-called scientific whaling program, according to meeting papers from the International Whaling Commissions scientific committee meeting this month.

A minke whale is unloaded in Kushiro, a port on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, in 2013. Credit:AP

Japan insists on conducting its annual summer whale hunt  including killing in Australian whale sanctuaries - despite international condemnation.

The latest figures show that of 333 minke Antarctic whales killed last summer, 181 were females. Some 122 females, or 67 per cent, were pregnant.
One of Bill Shortens most trusted allies in the Senate has distanced herself from former NSW Labor premier Bob Carr in a dispute over a series of questions in parliament that targeted a key government adviser on China.

Victorian Labor Senator Kimberley Kitching, a long-term friend of the Opposition Leader, declared she had never met Mr Carr and did not plan to do so, making it clear she had not been in contact with him about the questions she asked about the adviser.

Senator Kimberley Kitching during an estimates hearing at Parliament House on Tuesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Fairfax Media revealed on Tuesday that Mr Carr helped arrange the questions to be put to a Senate committee through NSW Senator and former state government colleague Kristina Keneally.

Mr Carr, who heads the Australia China Relations Institute at the University of Technology, Sydney, denied he was the source of the questions but other sources disputed this.
[We commit] to relentlessly seek to identify and deal with any person in our organisation whose standard of integrity or behaviour falls beneath that required of an ABF officer, which damages the 99 per cent plus of our people who are dedicated to their work in protecting our community and live by a set of values that most of us here share today. - Sally Whyte Decentralisation: next steps explained While the government's decentralisation agenda seems to have slowed down, we have had an update on where it's at. Acting deputy secretary Marie Taylor told senators there are seven agencies that are still going through the process of having their business cases for decentralisation analysed. Ms Taylor wouldnt confirm which agencies or functions there were. More light was also shed on just how many jobs will be moving as part of the changes announced in this year's budget. Just 98 positions will be "decentralised," 50 of which are from Canberra. The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations will move 10 jobs from Canberra to Darwin. The Indigenous Affairs Group Regional Network will move seven positions from Melbourne to Shepparton, and 25 from Sydney's CBD to Parramatta. The Unique Student Identifier Register will move 40 positions from Canberra to Adelaide and the Office of the National Rural Health Commissioner will create four positions in Adelaide. The Department of Infrastructure is moving three positions from Canberra to Perth, and nine jobs related to the Inland Rail project will be in Toowoomba, Dubbo and Wodonga. - Sally Whyte John Lloyd's emails to the IPA interrogated

Is he or isn't he? The second day of estimates was devoted to finding out just what was happening with the possibility of an investigation into Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd. If you need to catch up, here are the steps we went through, to eventually find out that the Merit Protection Commissioner may still choose to open an inquiry. John Lloyd refuses to say whether he is under investigation John Lloyd not under investigation after PM&C received allegations John Lloyd still faces possible investigation over allegation APVMA: some unparliamentary language in tense hearing

Its a long saga, and the story is nowhere close to ending. The Coalitions flagship decentralisation project, the pesticides authoritys move to Armidale, is under way. Its chief executive Chris Parker fronted estimates with a glowing report of how staff up there were finding it. Dr Parkers exchanges with senators were at times terse, and at most other times cordial. But a dose of unparliamentary language woke up anyone struggling to stay interested, when Dr Parker challenged some figures Labor senator Anthony Chisholm presented to him from Grain Producers Australia, about the cost of a delay to a new agriculture chemical product. I reckon thats bullshit, Dr Parker said flatly. You show me that figure, and you show me that product, and Ill start assessing it tomorrow. The witness is channelling Bill Heffernan, committee chair Barry OSullivan replied.
The Defence Department has moved to stop non-public servants from signing contracts after allegations were raised of contractor misbehaviour on Australia's $50 billion new submarines build.

Defence officials say it is investigating complaints raised in an internal memo about contractors on the project, which is expected to deliver 12 submarines over several decades as the nation's largest military procurement program.

The memo said contractors had signed contracts on behalf of the department's science and technology group, and paid invoices without apparent oversight by Defence staff, among several other complaints.

The program to replace Australia's submarines is expected to cost $50 billion. Credit:Image courtesy of Naval Group

Associate secretary Rebecca Skinner told a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday the group, following the claims, made changes requiring that only public servants sign contracts.
Nairobi: Kenyan authorities have charged 54 people, mainly civil servants, in an investigation into the theft of nearly $US100 million ($130 million) of public funds, a rare move to hold officials to account for corruption in a nation where it is widespread.

Among the civil servants and businesspeople charged was the head of the National Youth Service, senior accountants at the government agency, and the chief internal auditor at the National Treasury, chief prosecutor Noordin Mohamed Haji told a news conference.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta arrives at Buckingham Palace in London for dinner during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. Credit:AP

President Uhuru Kenyatta's pledged to stamp out corruption when he was first elected in 2013, but critics say he has been slow to pursue top officials. No high profile convictions have occurred since he took office.

Haji said 20 of the individuals had been taken into custody. He called on the rest to hand themselves in and said the suspects would be charged in court on Tuesday with crimes including abuse of office.
Dili: An East Timor opposition coalition, including a party led by independence hero Xanana Gusmao, won a majority of the seats in the May 12 election, a court has confirmed.

The new ballot was called to end months of deadlock in the country, where there had been a minority government led by Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri since July 2017.

Electoral workers open a ballot box during the vote counting at a polling station following the parliamentary election in Dili, East Timor on May 12. Credit:AP

His party had protested about alleged irregularities during the vote, but the appeal court rejected the complaint.
(WB) Hawaii Gov. David Ige on Friday signed into law a bill that would ban so-called conversion therapy for minors.

Sexual orientation is not an illness to be cured  we accept you just the way you are, said Ige in a tweet that included a picture of him signing the bill.

Signed SB270, prohibits therapists from #conversiontherapy to patients under 18. Im proud to join the 11 other states and send a strong message to our #LGBT youth: that sexual orientation is not an illness to be cured  we accept you just the way you are. #BornPerfect #HIGov pic.twitter.com/wEa3cmibeS  Governor David Ige (@GovHawaii) May 25, 2018

Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin in a statement praised Ige.

So-called conversion therapy is a dangerous and inhumane form of child abuse that has no basis in science and is uniformly rejected by every major mental health and child welfare organization, said Griffin. We thank the many advocates, allies, parents and survivors who spoke out against this abusive practice and urged their elected officials to adopt these crucial protections.

Mathew Shurka  a gay man with the National Center for Lesbian Rights Born Perfect campaign who underwent conversion therapy when he was 20-years-old  is among those who testified in support of the bill in the Hawaii State Legislature. Shurka on Friday in a statement said he could not be happier that Hawaii has taken this important step to protect the health and safety of its LGBTQ youth from this terrible practice.

Ige signed the bill 10 days after Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan enacted a bill that bans conversion therapy for minors in his state.

D.C., Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Illinois, New Mexico, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington also ban conversion therapy for minors.

A bill that would ban the widely discredited practice for minors in New Hampshire is currently awaiting Republican Gov. Chris Sununus signature. The California Assembly last month approved a bill that would classify conversion therapy as a fraudulent business practice in the state.

 Michael K. Lavers, Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBTQ Media Association.
North Korean leader Kim's de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore, the scheduled site of the meeting, via Beijing late on Monday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. At the same time, a "pre-advance" US team was in Singapore to meet North Koreans. In Singapore, a team of US officials was at a hotel on the resort island of Sentosa but declined to comment. Nuclear negotiations North Korea has faced years of isolation and economic sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes since it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

But events have moved quickly since Kim made a conciliatory New Years address at the end of last year, following months of sharply rising tension and war-like rhetoric between Trump and Kim. The latest flurry of diplomacy began on Saturday, when Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-US summit must be held. On Sunday, the US State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former US ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led the US delegation. Sung Kim will meet North Korean Foreign Ministry official Choi Sun Hee again on Wednesday on the border, Yonhap reported, citing a diplomatic source, adding that the agenda for the Trump-Kim summit would be roughly worked out. While likely substantive, those discussions could be upstaged by any talks between Kim Yong Chol and officials in the United States, said Evans Revere, a former senior diplomat who dealt with North Korea under US president George W. Bush.

The future of North Korea's nuclear programme, which has been a source of international tension for decades, US security guarantees and coordination for a Trump-Kim summit are likely to be at the top of the agenda, analysts said. "The most important agenda item would be the method of denuclearisation," said Moon Sung-mook, a former South Korean military official who negotiated with Kim in the past. "We can expect that Kim [Yong Chol] is visiting the US in order to do final coordination ahead of the June 12 summit." In Kim Jong-un and Moon's first meeting on April 27, they agreed to seek the "complete denuclearisation" of the Korean peninsula but did not define what that meant or how that would proceed. Since then, North Korea has rejected US demands for it to unilaterally abandon its nuclear programme, which experts say could threaten the United States.

North Korea also demanded the United States stop military exercises with South Korea if it truly wished for talks with North Korea, the North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper said. South Korea's Defence Ministry said it did not have plans to change exercise schedules with the US military. North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programmes as a deterrent against what it sees as US aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. Senior visit Kim Yong Chol has played a central role in the recent thaw in relations between North Korea and South Korea, as well as the United States.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted him for supporting the North's nuclear and missile programmes in 2010 and 2016, respectively, so a visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted. During his tenure as a senior intelligence official, Kim was accused by South Korea of masterminding deadly attacks on a South Korean navy ship and an island in 2010. He was linked by US intelligence to a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014. North Korea denied any involvement in the attack on the ship and on Sony Pictures. When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was "going there to play", according to Nippon Television Network. Choe Kang Il, a North Korean Foreign Ministry official involved with North American issues, also was spotted at Beijing airport, according to Yonhap.
Beijing: North Korea's top nuclear weapons negotiator was headed for New York on Tuesday and plans to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as officials race to settle on an agenda for a June 12 summit meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump in Singapore.

Trump said on Twitter that Kim Yong Chol, one of the most trusted aides to the North's leader and a former intelligence chief, was "heading now to New York."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, right, with Kim Yong Chol. Credit:AP

In a reference to the moves made since he canceled the on-again-off-again summit meeting, the president added, "Solid response to my letter, thank you!"

Kim will meet with Pompeo this week, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday.
Beijing: Analysts say Australia faces a "lose, lose" situation as US President Donald Trump renews trade war threats with China, pushing Beijing to accept contracts with US food and energy suppliers that overlap significantly with Australia's traditional exports.

The White House on Tuesday abruptly set a June 15 deadline for naming a list of $US50 billion ($66 billion) in Chinese technology products to be hit with a 25 per cent tariff.

The tariffs would be imposed "shortly afterward".

Investment restrictions and export controls to prevent "Chinese persons and entities" gaining "industrially significant technology" would be announced on June 30, the White House said.
Geneva: The Syrian government of President Bashar Assad has been accused of using chemical weapons, barrel bombs and torture against its own people during a seven-year civil war.

On Monday, it took up the rotating presidency of the UN-backed Conference on Disarmament.

The move was met with outrage from Western governments, but there was little they could do to prevent Syria from taking over the world's only permanent multilateral body for negotiating arms control agreements for four weeks.

Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus in 2013. Credit:AP

The leadership structure was set up to prevent major powers dominating the forum, and with Syria following Switzerland in the alphabetical list of member states, the path was cleared for what the US ambassador to the conference, Robert Wood, condemned as "one of the darkest days" in the forum's history.
First Cobalt Announces Upcoming Battery Metals&Mining Conferences

Posted by Publisher Internet

First Cobalt Corp. (TSX-V: FCC, ASX: FCC, OTCQX: FTSSF) (the ?Company?  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=db8vIJ5fkO8&t=4s) today announces its management team will be participating in three upcoming conferences:

 TD Battery Metal Round Table, London

President and CEO Trent Mell will available for one-on-one meetings June 18 & 19. Registration through TD Bank.

 EV Momentum / Benchmark Minerals World Tour, Berlin

President and CEO Trent Mell will present on Wednesday, June 20

 Benchmark Minerals World Tour, London

President and CEO Trent Mell will present on Friday, June 22

Details and registration for both Benchmark events is available here http://benchmarkminerals.com/events/world-tour-2018/

The Company will be available for one-on-one meetings during all conferences.? ????

First Cobalt?s merger with US Cobalt Inc. (TSX-V: USCO, OTCQB: USCFF) received overwhelming support by US Cobalt shareholders on May 17 and the transaction is expected to close on or about May 31. Under the terms of the merger, First Cobalt will acquire all of the issued and outstanding shares of US Cobalt on the basis of 1.5 First Cobalt common shares for each US Cobalt common share issued and outstanding (press release March 14, 2018).

This transaction will strategically position First Cobalt as a leading non-DRC cobalt company with three significant North American assets: the Iron Creek Project in Idaho, which has a historic mineral resource estimate (non-compliant with NI 43-101) of 1.3M tons grading 0.59% cobalt; the Canadian Cobalt Camp, with more than 50 past producing mines; and the only permitted cobalt refinery in North America capable of producing battery materials.

Corporate Update

On December 1, 2017, the Board of Directors approved a grant of stock options, performance share units (PSUs) and deferred share units (DSUs) to certain directors, officers, employees and consultants pursuant to the Company?s long-term incentive plan. Following review by the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX), these stock options, PSUs and DSUs were cancelled on May 25, 2018 as the manner in which the grants were made complied with TSX-V rules but not ASX requirements. The Board intends to re-issue the options, PSUs and DSUs to these holders on the same terms and exercise price as previously granted. The Company will be calling an annual and special meeting of its shareholders to be held on June 26, 2018, where it will seek to approve, among other things, an amended and restated long-term incentive plan that contains certain language required by the ASX Listing Rules and in the case of directors, the re-grant of such awards upon the same terms.

About First Cobalt

First Cobalt aims to create the largest pure-play cobalt exploration and development company in the world. The Company controls over 10,000 hectares of prospective land covering over 50 historic mines as well as mineral processing facilities in the Cobalt Camp in Ontario, Canada. The First Cobalt Refinery is the only permitted facility in North America capable of producing cobalt battery materials.

First Cobalt seeks to build shareholder value through new discovery, mineral processing and growth opportunities, with a focus on North America.

On behalf of First Cobalt Corp.

Trent Mell

President & Chief Executive Officer

For more information visit www.firstcobalt.com?

In Europe:

Swiss Resource Capital AG

www.resource-capital.ch

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release may contain forward-looking statements and forward-looking information (together, ?forward-looking statements?) within the meaning of applicable securities laws and the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, are forward-looking statements. Generally, forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of terminology such as ?plans?, ?expects\-\-, ?estimates?, ?intends?, ?anticipates?, ?believes? or variations of such words, or statements that certain actions, events or results ?may?, ?could?, ?would?, ?might?, ?occur? or ?be achieved?. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results, performance and opportunities to differ materially from those implied by such forward-looking statements. In particular, forward-looking information included in this news release includes, without limitation, the anticipated closing date of the Transaction, the receipt of final court approval and other regulatory approvals. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements are set forth in the management discussion and analysis and other disclosures of risk factors for each of First Cobalt and US Cobalt, filed on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. Although First Cobalt and US Cobalt believe that the information and assumptions used in preparing the forward-looking statements are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on these statements, which only apply as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed times frames or at all. Except where required by applicable law, First Cobalt and US Cobalt disclaim any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Historic Estimates

US Cobalt considers the cobalt and copper tonnage and grade estimates above as historical estimates. The historical estimates do not use categories that conform to current CIM Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves as outlined in National Instrument 43-101, Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects (?NI 43-101?) and have not been redefined to conform to current CIM Definition Standards. They were prepared in the 1980s prior to the adoption and implementation of NI 43-101. A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the historical estimates as current mineral resources and US Cobalt is not treating the historical estimates as current mineral resources. More work, including, but not limited to, drilling, will be required to conform the estimates to current CIM Definition Standards. Investors are cautioned that the historical estimates do not mean or imply that economic deposits exist on the Iron Creek property. US Cobalt has not undertaken any independent investigation of the historical estimates nor has it independently analyzed the results of the previous exploration work in order to verify the accuracy of the information. US Cobalt believes that the historical estimates are relevant to continuing exploration on the Iron Creek property.

?
More samples of comets are urgently needed to better understand the early history of the solar system, say researchers analyzing comet dust brought back to Earth by NASAs Stardust mission in 2006.

Those dust particles are from Comet 81P/Wild (also known as Wild 2) and date to the beginning of the solar system, containing clues about its earliest history.

"The future of Stardust science," a paper published last year in the journal Meteoritics & Planetary Science, summarizes the roughly 150 scientific publications based on Stardust mission science. It makes an important point about the limits of our knowledge of the early protosolar disk of gas and dust from which the solar system formed  that Wild 2 and other Kuiper Belt comets (those originating from the ring of icy bodies beyond the orbit of Neptune) are poorly represented in our samples of extraterrestrial material. [NASA's Stardust Mission Brings Cosmic Dust to Earth (Photos)]

In contrast, asteroids are represented in our collections by meteorites and have been well documented for over a century, while moon material has been collected and brought to scientists for analysis by the Apollo astronauts.

Andrew Westphal, a senior member of the Stardust team and an astrophysicist at the University of California, Berkeley, urged investigators to seek out more Kuiper Belt material to study on Earth because of its unique origins.

"As you sample farther and farther out in the solar system, you sample material that is more and more primitive," said Westphal, the lead author of the paper. "Particularly when you get a sample from a comet, you get a sample [that has been] in deep freeze for 4.6 billion years."

Approximately 10 percent of a typical Kuiper Belt comet is unaltered interstellar material. Some of this material consists of pre-solar grains  circumstellar dust grains condensed in the outflows (emissions) of other stars long before our solar system formed. Most of the interstellar material, however, probably formed in the interstellar medium.

A view of Stardust's sample-return capsule after it successfully touched back down on Earth, under parachute, in 2006. (Image credit: NASA)

Little information on water

Determining whether liquid water was ever present within Wild 2 is also an important goal of comet investigators. Astronomical evidence shows that cometary water may have variable deuterium-to-hydrogen (D-to-H) ratios, and that the average ratio differs from that of water on Earth.

A famous example of this is Comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko, which was studied up close by the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission from 2014 to 2016. Other cometary D-to-H ratios have been measured by ground-based telescopes.

If comets have different D-to-H ratios in their water than Earth's water does, this likely means that comets did not deliver the majority of water to Earth's surface. Instead, investigators speculate it was asteroids that brought the water, but more study is needed of both asteroids and comets to help confirm the hypothesis.

Unfortunately for Stardust investigators, no "volatiles"  molecules with low boiling points, such as water  survived slamming into the spacecraft's aerogel and aluminum foil collector at 6.1 kilometers per second (3.8 miles per second, or 13,680 miles per hour). That situation has made it challenging to advance the science on cometary D-to-H ratios.

"The rocks survived, but no water was preserved," Westphal said. "Some rare organics, however, did preserve their D/H ratios."

The investigators also looked for phyllosilicates, which are clays that preserve water inside of them, but studies of particles collected by Stardust have not yielded any phyllosilicates to date.

A potential interstellar dust track (circled) in Stardust's aerogel collector. (Image credit: UC Berkeley/Andrew Westphal)

There may be another opportunity to study the material from a comet. The proposed Comet Astrobiology Exploration SAmple Return (CAESAR) probe  one of two "New Frontiers" mission finalists NASA is considering for launch in the mid-2020s  is designed to snag samples from Comet 67P and return them to Earth.

Westphal's research on stardust is supported by NASA's Emerging Worlds program and the Laboratory Analysis and Return Samples (LARS) program.

This story was provided by Astrobiology Magazine, a web-based publication sponsored by the NASA astrobiology program. This version of the story published on Space.com.
Former Vice President Joe Biden will be working with the YMCA on an inclusion campaign for LGBT people.

The Biden Foundation will assist in starting the program, according to PinkNews. The initial rollout of the program will last three years and start at a few locations of the YMCA before going nationwide.

The Y (YMCA) is committed to addressing critical social issues and helping all people reach their full potential with dignity and respect, Kevin Washington, president and CEO of the YMCA, said. Our commitment is rooted in our inclusive mission and our belief that communities are stronger when everyone has the opportunity to thrive.

The program will involve youth programs, staff training and best practices guidelines for staff regarding LGBT issues, according to PinkNews. The Gill Foundation and the David Bohnett Foundation will provide funding for the campaign.

The Biden Foundation is committed to changing our culture so that everyone, including LGBTQ people, feel supported and affirmed, Louisa Terrell, executive director of the Biden Foundation, said.

No timetable has been given for the rollout of the program.
STS-6 crewmates Don Peterson (at right) and Story Musgrave perform the first shuttle-era spacewalk outside Challenger in 1983.

Astronaut Donald Peterson, who trained for a classified military space station program before becoming one of the first people to spacewalk from the space shuttle, has died.

Peterson's death on Sunday (May 27) at age 84 was noted by the Association of Space Explorers, a professional society for individuals who have flown in space.

"So sad to report that we have lost another member of the astronaut family," wrote the association on its Facebook page on Monday. "Fair skies and tailwinds, Don."

Peterson transferred to NASA in September 1969, two years after he was chosen by the U.S. Air Force among its third group of candidate pilots to crew the planned Manned Orbiting Laboratory (MOL). The clandestine reconnaissance platform was canceled however, before it could be launched, leading to Peterson and several of his fellow MOL trainees joining NASA's astronaut corps. [The U.S. Military's MOL Space Station in Pictures]

"You might think that there was a lot of I mean, a bunch of screening and testing and all that. As far as I know, there was none," Peterson recounted in a NASA oral history in 2002. "There were fourteen people who were crew on the MOL program, and they took the seven youngest people."

"I am sure they did that because they figured it would be a while before we'd get a chance to fly," he said.

Arriving at the civilian space agency in the midst of the Apollo program, Peterson in fact waited 14 years for his opportunity to fly into space, ultimately being named to the maiden crew of the space shuttle Challenger.

NASA portrait of STS-6 mission specialist Don Peterson. (Image credit: NASA)

On April 4, 1983, Peterson lifted off aboard the winged orbiter, together with STS-6 commander Paul Weitz, pilot Karol "Bo" Bobko and fellow mission specialist Story Musgrave. The five-day flight included deploying the first Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-1) to support communications between the space shuttle in Earth orbit and mission control on the ground.

Three days into mission, Peterson and Musgrave made history, becoming the first astronauts to wear Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) spacesuits and exit a space shuttle through its airlock for an extravehicular activity (EVA), or spacewalk.

"That was fun," recalled Peterson.

The 4-hour and 10-minute EVA had Peterson and Musgrave attach tethers and work their way to the back of the orbiter's 60-foot (18-meter) payload bay. There, they worked with the cradle that supported the TDRS for launch. It had been tilted forward to deploy the satellite. The two spacewalkers used a wrench to manually lower it, simulating what they would need to do if the cradle had become stuck. [The Most Memorable Spacewawlks of All Time]

"We had foot restraints, but it took so long to set them up and move them around, that we didn't want to do that. So I just held on with one hand, actually, to a piece of sheet metal, which is not the best way to hold on, and cranked the wrench with my other hand, and my legs floated out behind me," Peterson described. "As I cranked, my legs were flailing back and forth, like a swimmer, to react the load on the wrench."

The movement rotated the waist ring on his spacesuit, such that the seal keeping it air tight popped out.

"I've got an alarm," Peterson told Musgrave, knowing they were out of contact with mission control at the time.

"Story stopped what he was doing and came over. We were trying to check what was going on and the seal popped back in place and the leak stopped, so we went ahead and finished the EVA," Peterson said.

Before heading back into Challenger, Peterson and Musgrave went for a bit of ride in the hope of seeing the stars.

The two realized that the space shuttle regularly flies with its payload bay pointed towards Earth, but if it were to point the other way, out into space, as they orbited over the night side of the planet, they might get a good view of the universe.

"When [we] were on the daylight side at noon, [the shuttle] went into what [I] called the 'Ferris wheel mode," Peterson recounted in 2002. "You know how a Ferris wheel seat goes around and it never changes attitude? Well, that's what we did."

The maneuver worked great for getting photos of Earth below, but not so much for stargazing.

"There's lot of light in the payload bay, and the helmet's got these big [lights]. You couldn't see anything. I mean, it was just too much glare," explained Peterson. "So we got over in a corner [of the cargo bay] and kind of shielded our eyes, and you could see a little patch of sky but that was about the best we could do."

STS-6 mission specialist Don Peterson with commander Paul Weitz on space shuttle Challenger in 1983. (Image credit: NASA)

Peterson and Musgrave rejoined Weitz and Bobko inside Challenger and two days later, the four crewmates returned to Earth, landing at Edwards Air Force Base in southern California on April 9, 1983.

STS-6 marked Peterson's only spaceflight. He logged a total of 5 days, 23 minutes and 42 seconds traveling 2.1 million miles (3.4 million kilometers) while completing 81 orbits around the planet.

He resigned from NASA in November 1984.

Donald Herod Peterson was born Oct. 22, 1933 in Winona, Mississippi. He earned a bachelor of science degree from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York in 1955 and received a master's degree in nuclear engineering from the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson in Ohio in 1962.

Prior to applying for the MOL program, Peterson served for four years as a flight instructor and military training officer with the Air Training Command, three years as a nuclear systems analyst with the Air Force Systems Command and one year as a fighter pilot with Tactical Air Command.

He graduated from the Aerospace Research Pilot School and accumulated more than 5,300 hours flight time, including more than 5,000 hours in jet aircraft.

Peterson retired from the Air Force as a colonel after his transfer to NASA. His first assignment in a civilian capacity was as a member of the Apollo 16 support crew, including serving as a Capcom (capsule communicator) in mission control.

His primary service to NASA though, was in support of the space shuttle.

"In fact, most of my career was spent working shuttle," noted Peterson. "I worked the avionics systems, which were the computers, guidance, navigation control, the air data system, some of the other things."

After departing the space agency, Peterson went to work as a consultant, advising on crewed aerospace operations.

"Basically I did the same kind of things as a consultant I had done as an astronaut. I worked for several different companies and I worked on things like crew interface and crew procedures and habitability, that is, all the things you put on a spacecraft so people can live there and be reasonably comfortable," said Peterson.

Peterson continued that work full time through 1993, and then part time, eventually retiring less then occasional public appearance by the early 2000s.

Peterson is survived by a son, Don, two daughters, Jean and Shari, and a brother, Gil. His wife of 60 years, Bonnie Ruth Love, preceded him in death in 2017.

Follow collectSPACE.comon Facebookand on Twitter at @collectSPACE. Copyright 2018 collectSPACE.com. All rights reserved.
Virgin Galactic's newest space plane has taken to the skies again.

The suborbital SpaceShipTwo vehicle, known as VSS Unity, completed its second-ever powered test flight today (May 29), soaring high over California's Mojave Desert.

"The focus of today's flight was to expand our understanding of the spaceship's supersonic handling characteristics and control system's performance with vehicle parameters that were closer to the ultimate commercial configuration," Virgin Galactic representatives wrote in a statement. "This involved shifting the vehicle's center of gravity rearward via the addition of passenger seats and related equipment." [Virgin Galactic's VSS Unity Spaceliner in Pictures]

During the flight, they added, VSS Unity fired its rocket motor for 31 seconds, as planned, and reached a top speed of Mach 1.9 and a maximum altitude of 114,500 feet (34,900 meters). (Mach 1 is the speed of sound, which is about 767 mph, or 1,235 km/h, at sea level.)

The two-pilot, six-passenger SpaceShipTwo is hauled aloft by a carrier aircraft known as WhiteKnightTwo and then is dropped from an altitude of about 50,000 feet (15,000 m). The space plane then engages its onboard rocket motor to blast itself upward.

Today's mission was the 13th flight overall for VSS Unity, which was unveiled in February 2016. Four have been "captive-carry" tests, in which the space plane remained attached to WhiteKnightTwo, and seven have been unpowered "glide flights." The other powered test flight occurred on April 5.

VSS Unity is carried aloft by Virgin Galactic's WhiteKnightTwo aircraft on May 29, 2018. (Image credit: Virgin Galactic via Twitter)

That was a huge milestone for Virgin Galactic; it was the first powered mission since Oct. 31, 2014, when the company's previous SpaceShipTwo, VSS Enterprise, broke apart midflight. The tragic accident killed co-pilot Michael Alsbury and seriously injured pilot Peter Siebold.

Investigators later determined that a design issue allowed Alsbury to unlock SpaceShipTwo's "feathering" descent system prematurely. Engineers addressed that problem before building VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic representatives have said.

The only people aboard Unity during today's flight were pilots Dave Mackay and Mark "Forger" Stucky. But the vehicle could begin flying paying customers as early as this year if the test campaign continues to go well, Virgin Galactic representatives have said. Company founder Sir Richard Branson has said he plans to be on the vehicle's first commercial flight.

"Today we saw VSS Unity in her natural environment, flying fast under rocket power and with a nose pointing firmly towards the black sky of space," Branson, who was on the ground along the space plane's flight path today, said in the same statement.

"The pathway that Unity is forging is one that many thousands of us will take over time, and will help share a perspective that is crucial to solving some of humanitys toughest challenges on planet Earth," he added.

Tickets to ride SpaceShipTwo currently sell for $250,000 apiece. Passengers will experience several minutes of weightlessness and get to see the curvature of Earth against the blackness of space during their suborbital ride.

But Unity won't just be about tourist joyrides; the vehicle will also fly a variety of scientific experiments to space and back.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
Windhoek (Namibia), May 28, 2018 (SPS) - The SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL) staged a peaceful demonstration at the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation (MIRCO), on Monday, 28 May 2018, in solidarity with the people of Western Sahara.



The Demonstration coincides with a State Visit of His Excellency, Mr. Brahim Ghali, President of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR), to the Republic of Namibia, from 27-29 May 2018.



The SWAPO Party Youth League members handed over a petition to Honourable Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, in which they expressed support for the right to self-determination an independence of the people of Western Sahara.



The SPYL urged the Namibian Government and people to continue their support for the cause of the people of Western Sahara, and to continue the call on the United Nations, to ensure that the Sahrawi people exercise their full right to self-determination, without further delays.



Honourable Nandi-Ndaitwah promised that the Namibian Government remains steadfast in its call for the right to self-determination of the people of Western Sahara.



She further informed the gathered youth that the petition would be forwarded to the relevant UN institutions, for appropriate attention. (SPS)



062/SPS/ministry of international relations and cooperation namibia
Who could that be? I thought. It was such an aggressive knock - definitely not friendly - that I froze. I finally stood up and walked to the door. I opened it with purpose, ready to confront the person on the other side.

He said: "Your neighbors called the police for a disturbance."

It was 3 p.m. on a Saturday, last fall.

An hour before this unexpected visitor, I had been admiring a beautiful sunny day in Chapel Hill, North Carolina - finally, a day off from my residency in internal medicine. I'd recently found out not only that I had been accepted to a cardiology fellowship but also that I was pregnant! My husband and I are newlyweds, and this was our dream.

I wanted to celebrate by putting some '90s pop and hip-hop on the stereo. I started singing and dancing around the apartment. When a song had a lot of bass, I turned down the volume so as not to disturb anyone. I had not played this kind of music in a while. If I play it in the car, I often turn it down or off when driving near my neighbors or where I work. Although I hear other drivers blaring loud rock or country music all the time, I know an African American playing my type of music tends to draw negative attention. Nevertheless, this music was what I needed to embrace the joy I felt.

After about an hour, I had run through my playlist and started to wind down. I washed my hair and wrapped it. Dressed in comfortable clothes, I sat on the couch. I turned off the stereo and turned on CNN to catch up on the news.

Then came the knocks.

On my doorstep was a man with a gun; it was a police officer. He spoke abruptly and was frightening.

"Is someone else in here?" he said. His hand was near his hip, close to the gun in its holster.

"No, I'm alone," I blurted, startled.

"I need to see your identification."

More for you Two sprinters gave the black-power salute at the Olympics; it took them decades to recover from that gesture

"Why? I live here." I felt bullied my own apartment.

"I have to report this incident, and I need your identification."

Feeling helpless, I reluctantly turned and walked to get the license out of my wallet. I handed it to him. "So what happens now?" I asked, deflated.

He explained that he would have to report the incident, but nothing really happens unless there is a repeated offense. I hardly felt listening to the Notorious B.I.G. at 3 p.m. on a Saturday was an "offense." I've lived in many cities, and I could not imagine calling the police on a neighbor for anything like this. And I'm confident that my Caucasian neighbors would not have involved the police if some of the music they heard hadn't been hip-hop.

I cannot prove that this was an act based on bias. But in studying and practicing medicine, I have developed skills in pattern recognition. They are well adapted to making a diagnosis of racism.

After that incident, I could not sleep for a few nights, because of how hurt I felt. Having a policeman approach and confront me left me feeling embarrassed, humiliated and powerless. I felt like an unwanted outsider in a community of which I thought I was a member.

Not long ago, two African-American gentlemen were arrested in a Starbucks in Philadelphia while simply waiting for a colleague; I understand how fearful and helpless they must have felt. Then there was the woman wrestled to the floor by police at a Waffle House; I can relate to her likely feelings of anger mixed with submission. These scenarios aren't new, nor are the emotions they stir up in us. As people of color, we've learned to present ourselves in an assimilated manner to shield ourselves from overpolicing. The poet Paul Laurence Dunbar described it best: "We wear the mask that grins and lies."

---

Branch is a senior resident in internal medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
STAMFORD  A New York woman has been accused of sucker-punching a Harbor Point bar patron and then hitting an off-duty police officer who was escorting her outside.

Sgt. Kenneth Jarrett said the incident occurred Monday night at Sign of the Whale when a woman bumped into Lilijana Memlia, 26, of Bronx, N.Y. Jarrett said witnesses told officers Memlia punched the woman in the face after the victim said excuse me to her for the bump.
D ixons Carphones shares dived on Tuesday after new broom Alex Baldock launched a blistering attack on the previous management and warned about profits.

Baldock replaced Sebastian James as chief executive at the electrical-goods-cum-mobile-phones seller eight weeks ago. Today he said: Our opportunity lies in making the most of [our] strengths, which we are nowhere near doing. And we must: nobody is happy with our performance.

The firm said profits will be 300 million for 2018/19, significantly below analysts consensus of 383 million, as it tries to simplify the business, which also owns Currys and PC World.

Shares fell 55.4p to 178p hitting investors including Carphone Warehouse founders Charles Dunstone, who owns 10%, and David Ross, who has 4.7%.

Baldock, the former boss of Very.co.uk owner Shop Direct, tried to reassure City analysts. He said: Were working at pace to set out a clear, much sharper vision for the business with much less dabbling in peripheral opportunities.

He referred to the now-ditched HoneyBee, its loss-making software arm, and its joint venture with mobile network Sprint.

The new management team will beef up the website, invest 30 million to correct recent underinvestment in staff and offer extra training, which is expected to cut the waiting times for shoppers calling with queries.

Dixons Carphone will also close 92 stores in a bid to keep a lid on costs, but staff will be moved to new roles.

Despite Tuesdays profit warning, same-store sales were up 4% for the 16 weeks to April 28, thanks to its international business. However, the company admitted the UK market is still challenging as fewer people change their phones, hitting Carphone Warehouse. Shoppers are also buying more washing machines and fridges, which cost more to deliver and install, rather than higher-margin goods like computers, for example.

Our performance is unacceptable in mobile and we wont tolerate it, said Baldock. The mobile phone business has struggled with competition.

When former chief James, the incoming UK boss of Boots, exited the business in January, he was praised by chairman Lord Livingston. He said that James did a tremendous job and profits have been more robust under his watch, despite the share price halving.
F orget Brexit or restoring public trust in finance, being left behind in technology is the greatest existential threat that UK financial services face. According to one senior City banker, adapting to technology is what will make or break us and another warned that if the industry does not reinvent itself, it will be blown to pieces.

This is just a taste of the fears expressed by 30 or so chief executives and chairmen at some of the UKs biggest financial services companies, views given privately in a new survey carried out by Accenture. Asked to rate the big challenges of the next decade, 74% of those interviewed put not being able to keep up with technological advance  from IT to Artificial Intelligence  on top.

About half said they were worried by the industrys poor reputation and 21% said attracting talent is going to be tough as all the brains go to Google. A similar number said profitability and restoring trust were important. Brexit, by contrast, came bottom of the list with only 11% seeing it as a big issue.

Even Sushil Saluja, managing director of financial services at Accenture, who oversaw the survey, was surprised at the outcome. We know that technology is a huge concern but had not realised just how worried the industry is. It was very revealing.

Most surprising, he says, was the industrys candour in acknowledging that AI, robotics, machine learning and blockchain are all causing technology to change so rapidly that firms face a bleak choice  adapt or die.

The top three tech threats highlighted by the industry leaders are: upgrading legacy systems to modern architectures, challenges from fintech creating new digital business models and cybersecurity. One boss said: If you are not built with the latest systems  and 99% of companies are sitting on the wrong systems  you will become irrelevant very quickly. Another warned: Every board I sit on is obsessed with cybersecurity it could theoretically destroy your business. And another said: What is happening with the Russians and Chinese is terrifying. They are hacking in, looking at your computers and getting out before you know it.

As always, there is a silver lining, particularly for insurance companies. Saluja says the premiums paid to insure firms against cybersecurity are minuscule compared with the cost of cyber crime which Accenture estimates at about $450 billion (340 billion) globally.

Yet some banks are ahead of the curve. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is a leader in AI as is Denmarks Nordea, whose boss recently described the bank as a tech company with a balance sheet. Nordea has chatbots called Nova and Nora dealing with basic customer services, and spends about 900 million (790 million) a year on AI to improve customer services.

Saudi Arabia is an interesting case, and the new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence. When he visited the UK a few months ago, his trade delegation headed for Level 39  the specialist fintech incubator  at Canary Wharf for a forum on innovation, coming away having signed many new deals.

Indeed, the Saudis caused a stir last year by giving citizenship to Sophia, one of the worlds most advanced humanoid robots, becoming the first robot in the world to be given a nationality. Modelled on Audrey Hepburn  and not wearing a hijab  Sophia uses visual data processing and facial recognition to make contact with humans, and gets smarter with time. One Saudi bank recently installed new AI software interface which recognises multiple Arab dialects, and can answer around 17 of the questions most commonly asked by customers.

You can see why the UKs legacy bankers are less concerned by Brexit or restoring their reputation than catching up with the industrys innovators and disrupters.
The Cygnus resupply ship from Orbital ATK is now open for business and the Expedition 55 crew has begun unloading the 7,400 pounds of cargo it delivered Thursday morning.

The orbital residents are also conducting space research and preparing for a crew swap in early June.

There are now four spaceships parked at the International Space Station, the newest one having arrived to resupply the crew early Thursday morning. Astronauts Drew Feustel and Norishige Kanai opened Cygnus' hatches shortly after it was installed to the Unity module. The cargo carrier will remain attached to the station until July so the astronauts can offload new supplies and repack Cygnus with trash.

NASA astronaut Scott Tingle, who caught Cygnus with the Canadarm2 robotic arm, swapped out gear inside a small life science research facility today called TangoLab-1. Tingle also joined Kanai later in the day transferring frozen biological samples from the Destiny lab module to the Kibo lab module.

The duo also joined Commander Anton Shkaplerov and continued to pack gear and check spacesuits ahead of their return to Earth on June 3 inside the Soyuz MS-07 spaceship. When the three crewmates land in Kazakhstan, about three and a half hours after undocking, the trio will have spent 168 days in space and conducted one spacewalk each.

Three new Expedition 56-57 crew members, waiting to replace the homebound station crew, are counting down to a June 6 launch to space. Astronauts Serena Aunon-Chancellor and Alexander Gerst will take a two-day ride to the space station with cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev inside the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft for a six-month mission aboard the orbital laboratory.

On-Orbit Status Report

NanoRacks-Remove Debris (RemDeb): The crew pressurized and performed a leak check of the Japanese Experiment Module Airlock (JEMAL) and then extended the Airlock slide table into the JEM this morning. They then removed the Handhold Experiment Platform (HXP) Adapter and the Multipurpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) from the Slide Table. These activities are the initial preparation steps for the launch of the RemDeb, planned for June 19th. NanoRacks-Remove Debris demonstrates an approach to reducing the risks presented by space debris or "space junk". Collisions in space may have serious consequences, but research has shown that removing the largest debris significantly reduces the chance of collisions. NanoRacks-Remove Debris uses a 3D camera to map location and speed of debris and then deploys a net to capture and de-orbit simulated debris that is up to 1 meter in diameter. Ground experts will then analyze video of the demonstration runs.

Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) Video Upgrade Equipment (VUE): Today, the crew replaced the VUE in the MSG that failed on March 1st. In concert with the ground they then performed a video checkout to verify MSG VUE functionality.

Multi-Use Variable-G Platform (MVP): As part of the ongoing validation of the MVP, the crew removed adherent cell modules that were installed in the MVP on May 18th. MVP is used to conduct research in space with a wide variety of sample types, such as fruit flies, flatworms, plants, fish, cells, protein crystals and many others. It includes internal carousels that simultaneously can produce up to 2 g of artificial gravity. Each carousel hosts 6 separate removable experiment modules on each carousel. Video and still imagery, including microscopy, can be included. The platform also provides temperature and humidity controls and monitors and records oxygen and carbon dioxide levels.

TangoLab: The crew swapped cards containing experiment cubes from the TangoLab-1 and -2 facilities today. TangoLab-1 and -2 are reconfigurable general research facilities designed for microgravity research and development and pilot manufacturing in the ISS.

Orbital ATK (OA)-9 Cygnus Ops: This morning, the crew continued transferring cargo, payloads, and trash between Cygnus and ISS. The day's goal was to clear the inner core of stowage, creating a "corridor" within Cygnus for crew translation and to provide a workspace. The crew now has access to payloads and nearly all of the cargo inside the Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM), allowing them to begin unpacking bays and loading them with trash as soon as they are cleared.

Today's Planned Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Microbial Tracking-2 Sample MELFI Insert

ISS Crew and  (RSA Flight Control Team) weekly conference

Reconfigure AL Flexible Duct into Node 1

Multi-use Variable-g Platform Cell Module Removal

Cygnus Cargo Operations

Equipment transfers from 1_1_131_1 area

 53S stowage operations prior to undocking

EXPRESS Rack 7 Laptop Computer Software Load

MERLIN Sample Transfer (while MERLIN is in Cygnus)

Copy - micro-accelerometer data to laptop

TangoLab-1 Card Cube Replace

JEM Airlock Press

24-hour ECG Holter Monitoring

Restow Vestibule Outfitting Kit (VOK)

JEM Airlock Leak Check

SOKOL leak check

TangoLab-2 Card Cube Replace

Kazbek fit check (Soyuz 738)

Filling 

JEM Airlock Slide Table (ST) Extension to JPM Side

Soyuz Space suits 1,2 dry init

Crew Departure Preparations for Return to Earth

Handhold Exp Platform Adapter removal.

Microgravity Science Glovebox High Definition Video Drawer Install

Public Affairs Office (PAO) Social Media Event

LBNP () training (preliminary)

Multi-Purpose Experiment Platform (MPEP) Removal JEM Airlock Slide Table

JEM Airlock Slide Table (ST) Retraction from JPM Side

Polar Cygnus Uninstall, Transfer, And EXPRESS Rack Install

Activation of Windows 7 OS on RSK2 laptop.

Microgravity Science Glovebox Activation

Miniature Exercise Device Hardware Search

Environmental Health System (EHS) - Formaldehyde Monitoring Kit (FMK) Operations

Soyuz Space suits 1,2 dry terminate

Replacement of urine receptacle () and filter-insert (-) in [].

Environmental Health System (EHS) Grab Sample Container (GSC) Sampling Operations

KUBIK Temperature Logger Deinstallation

Microgravity Science Glovebox High Definition Video Drawer Checkout

KUBIK Temperature Adjustment to 38C

KENTAVR fit check

 Reconfiguration in MRM1

SEPARATION. -- Flush.

Drying Soyuz suit gloves

Photo TV Soyuz Imagery from Cupola and DC-1

Cygnus Cargo Operations Conference

Microgravity Science Glovebox High Definition Video Drawer Checkout

TangoLab-1 Card Cube Replace

EDV-Y Inspection and Photographs

EXPRESS Rack 7Laptop Computer Software Load

Acoustic Monitor Data Transfer and Stow

Polar Sample Transfer to MELFI

Drying the third Soyuz Spacesuit and Soyuz gloves

Soyuz Space suits and gloves closeout

Reconfigure AL Flexible Duct into Crewlock

Space Headaches - Weekly Questionnaire

Completed Task List Activities

None

Ground Activities

All activities are complete unless otherwise noted.

Cygnus Cargo/Payloads Support

JEM Airlock Ops Support

Three-Day Look Ahead:

Saturday, 05/26: Housekeeping, Crew Off-Duty

Sunday, 05/27: Crew Off-Duty

Monday, 05/28: Cygnus Cargo, Biomolecule Sequencer, ETVCG Teardown, Cygnus Emer OBT, NR Barrios PCG, Active Tissue Equiv Dosimeter, Subsa h/w gather, Soyuz OBT, KUBIK 6, MD Stow, ELF Cartridge Clean, RAM Retrieve

QUICK ISS Status - Environmental Control Group:

Component - Status

Elektron - Off

Vozdukh - Manual

[] 1 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV1") - Off

[] 2 - SM Air Conditioner System ("SKV2") - Off

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Lab - Operate

Carbon Dioxide Removal Assembly (CDRA) Node 3 - Standby

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Lab - Operate

Major Constituent Analyzer (MCA) Node 3 - Idle

Oxygen Generation Assembly (OGA) - Process

Urine Processing Assembly (UPA) - Standby

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Lab - Full Up

Trace Contaminant Control System (TCCS) Node 3 - Off

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R olls-Royce hailed a new jet engine called the Pearl on Tuesday which will enable planes to go farther, faster, quicker and quieter.

The Pearl 15 engine will be fitted to Bombardiers new Global 5500 and Global 6500 business jets used by the super-rich and corporate customers.

On take-off, the engine promises 9% more thrust but will be 2 decibels quieter than Rolls current BR700 business jet engine.

The 5500 plane, which costs $46 million, can fly non-stop from Sao Paulo to Paris while the Global 6500 can run from Hong Kong to London but costs $10 million extra.

The planes will enter service by the end of next year. Rolls-Royce shares fell 2% or 18.2p to 825p.

The new engine was developed at Rolls-Royce's factory in Dahlewitz, Germany.

Civil Aerospace president Chris Cholerton said: Our teams have worked hard behind the scenes to develop this new engine and we are proud, once again, to lead the way in business aviation.


But the big shock is Woodford Patient Capital Trust.

This is of course the fund run by star manager Neil Woodford.

It looks as if it may fall out of the FTSE 250 for the first time since it listed in 2015, with the shares now trading around 26p below the 1 launch price.

Successes in the fund include Benevolent AI, Oxford Nanopore and Purple Bricks, though these have been outweighed by poor performance from stocks like Prothena, Circassia and Northwest Biotherapeutics.

Investing in early stage companies clearly comes with risks attached and, as the title of the trust suggests, a good deal of patience is required.

It is worthy of note that the trust works on a no win, no fee basis, so the investment manager shares in the financial fortunes of investors.
H ere the Evening Standard business team highlights all the major tech news today.

Top story sees Italian digital wealth manager Moneyfarm announce a massive investment round of 40 million led by Allianz Asset Management.

The funding, the largest round secured by a European digital wealth firm to date, will be used to pay for its expansion plans.

The investment arm of global insurer Allianz first invested in Moneyfarm in September 2016. The companys assets under management has grown by over 50% to 400 million over the last nine months.

Meanwhie in the US investment firm KKR has confirmed it would buy BMC Software from owners including Bain Capital and Golden Gate Capital, adding to a series of bets it has made on companies which provide software and IT systems for corporations.

Houston-based BMC, which provides software that helps companies organise their tech support functions, was taken private for $6.9 billion in 2013 by a group led by Bain and Golden Gate, after pressure from activist hedge fund Elliott Management Corp.

The New York Post reported last week that BMC could be worth around $10 billion. The statement today gave no indication of the deal value.

KKR has invested about $26 billion in the technology sector over the past decade, and BMC will join a portfolio that includes Mitchell, Epicor and Calabrio - all firms that make software used by businesses.

KKRs acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of 2018.

Credit Suisse, Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, Macquarie and Mizuho Bank provided financing for the acquisition.

Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley were BMCs financial advisers, while Macquarie Capital advised KKR.

Finally Papua New Guinea's government is planning a month-long national Facebook ban to research the effects the social network has on the island nation's population and to allow the authorities to identify fake accounts.
T he disruptive impact of populism is loudly discussed and lamented. But its near cousin, impossibilism, may be a potent threat, not least because there is such a lot of it about. Impossibilists are currently either in control of the main political parties or jostling for leadership in the near future.

They pay homage to a notion that springs from splits in Marxist-Leninism about the conditions for revolution. The original Impossibilists at the end of the 19th century resisted social reforms as a distraction from the main task the shadow chancellor has now embraced a century after the Russian revolution  the overthrow of capitalism itself.

But impossibilism is a state of mind that reaches well beyond the Left. It thrives when groups seeking power do so by the pursuit of outcomes that are unworkable but which cause problems for those dealing with the messy business of imperfect reality.

Impossibilists are harder for their opponents to nail than populists because in their modern form they are politer and more stealthy. In the Tory ranks, their instincts have thrived since the referendum among hardline Brexiteers. They add to Mays many woes in the negotiation of a Brexit deal by creating the threat of imminent implosion if she brings back anything that looks like a feasible compromise to keep her party together and fulfil the referendum result  while inflicting minimum economic damage.

Anne McElvoy

The heir to Boris Johnsons crown on this score is Jacob Rees-Mogg. He has just explained that Theresa May is the most impressive and dutiful leader of the Conservative Party  while also insisting that her bargaining strategy is a total failure and agitating for her to pursue an all-or-nothing stance on hard Brexit, with the likely outcome of no deal and even less goodwill than currently exists on shadowing the EU customs union.

The mantle of chief impossibilist has thus passed from Boris to a younger version of himself, leading a sub-tribe of insider-outsiders who are very clearly Conservative by affiliation and instinct but thrive by preserving a distance from pragmatic colleagues.

The logical consequence of Rees-Mogg's position  that no thinkable deal with the EU is possible after March next year  is to oppose May outright. After all, her negotiating stance is to tease out every strand of possible compromise and keep hoping for an 11th-hour concession from EU negotiators. One senior Brexit talks official calls it riding the bike very slowly while trying not to fall over. It may not produce much to cheer about but it is a dogged attempt at damage limitation.

Really, Rees-Mogg supports neither the spirit nor the letter of this approach. The Governments pursuit of a softer Brexit rests on long transitions and shadowing the customs union while being technically outside it. Moggmentum has a defining belief that Brexit means exiting the single market, the customs unions and most, if not all, of the other key institutions barring the Eurovision Song Contest as soon as the UK leaves the EU next year .

Impossibilists can stay within their original party, edging closer to outright revolt, without having to nail their colours to some external mast.

The underlying message to Tory members is that yeoman Brexiteers would have somehow prevailed with ornery Brussels negotiators, without ever having to explain why.

"Impossibilists are harder to nail than populists because in their modern form they are politer and more stealthy"

The other great advantage to this is Rees-Moggs ability, as a backbencher, to disavow ambition, while keeping himself in with a key part of the future selectorate. Rees-Mogg has led Michael Gove in Conservative Homes opinion poll of best future leaders, according to the membership, for three months. He does not have to pretend to enjoy the sham of Cabinet unity like Johnson, nor, like Sajid Javid, the less impossibilist contender from the Right, to take on the risks of exposure to real decision-making running the Home Office.

The Mrs Merton question is: why do hard Brexiteers keep May in power? Whatever the flannel, they do not rate her. Nor will they be content with any outcome she can muster with the EU.

The answer lies with the other grand exponents of impossibilism in British politics, namely Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell, and the uncertain outcome for deep-blue Conservatives of an early election. Most Tory MPs at Westminster now think Labour is more beatable than they did  tepid local election results make a Red Surge less bankable than it looked after the botched Tory result of June 2017.

But as one key (Eurosceptic) donor told me in the past few days: We could still manage to lose to Corbyn, if we put our minds to it. That outcome would be a lot more shaming than de facto persistence with the customs union. Mays main hedge against an outright challenge to her leadership is the abiding fear that the group prompting it will end up in the dock if the ensuing chaos splits the party to Corbyns benefit.

All of this holds true, only because the degree of impossibilism on the other side of the House is so deep. The shadow chancellor overtly seeks to bring about the end of capitalism.

The ends and the means are swimmingly vague, which serves to patch over another batch of irreconcilable values that haunt Labour. These require the remaining moderates to believe that a durable form of accommodation with the Corbyn leadership is possible. An advanced form of this self-deception holds that, by some alchemy, an entire ideology of revolutionary change will morph into a slightly more Leftish version of the late John Smith.

None of this does much to address where Britain fits into the wider world, and how we can leverage our real global strengths and address our weaknesses in health, education and the sundry other areas of national life we have come to neglect as a matter of course.

Yes, the league of impossibilists are an eccentric, exciting bunch who enliven Westminster and our TV screens. But the clue is in the name. The sequel is, inevitably, The Undeliverables.
O NE of the consequences of the Windrush scandal has been a massive media and public education crash course on the arrival of HMT Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks on June 21, 1948, and the contribution of the Windrush generation to Britain.

We need to remember that many aspects of British society today would be unrecognisable without the contributions which immigrants have made: from the NHS to the monarchy, our language, literature, enterprise, fashion, music, politics, science, our culture and food, even humour.

In 2018, as part of the 70th anniversary of the Windrush arriving, we as a nation have failed. We have created no substantive commemoration for the Windrush generation and other migrant communities who see themselves as British. What about a series of commemorative stamps, special banknotes, or even a national oral history programme?

Whatever the idea, we need a permanent marker for Windrush. The 70th anniversary is a chance to reach across many different ethnic, faith and family heritages, to reject prejudice and intolerance, and to shape a fair and inclusive future. We need a permanent marker: I call on the Prime Minster to have a national Windrush Day on June 22.

Patrick Vernon

EDITOR'S REPLY

Dear Patrick

You are right that the Windrush scandal has had many positive effects. Not only has it forced Downing Street to reverse its policy of creating a hostile environment for people who came to our country years ago. It has also ensured that we have started to hear the positive case for immigration, and the enormous contribution migrant communities have made to all areas of national life.

It is the beginning of the fight back against those forces in our politics and media which, in recent years, have exploited fear of outsiders for their own ends. I agree with you that the 70th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush is a great opportunity to celebrate the generation of our citizens who came from the Caribbean to enrich our society, and also to make a further statement about the advantages of immigration in general. You have a suggestion for a national celebration; lets now hear the Governments.

George Osborne, Editor

We are scared to open our windows

MICHAEL Goves advice to open windows to ventilate the home to protect us from air pollution will sound very strange to many Londoners [Families told open your windows to get rid of air pollution May 22]. The Governments Clean Air Strategy, released last week, had some headline-grabbing ideas. But the advice to open windows will seem particularly bizarre to families living near one of Londons numerous polluted roads.

Without firm measures to clean up the citys air, Londoners will continue to feel apprehensive about letting it waft into their homes. The new strategy is a welcome attempt to look at many sources of pollution but without urgent action to tackle pollution from vehicles, people will continue to suffer the consequences of illegal levels of air pollution for years to come.

Andrea Lee

ClientEarth

Now we know the real cost of Brexit

Before she became parliamentary under secretary at the Department for Exiting the European Union, Suella Braverman told a Question Time audience that any talk of a Brexit divorce bill was nothing but more Project Fear which should come with a health warning: Dont believe it. Now she has admitted that we will be handing over tens of billions in return for nothing.
Until recently, I didnt count myself as an outdoorsy person.

I travel to work via the Tube, not on two wheels. Id rather be watching telly than hanging out in a tent. And I count trekking to a pub garden on a sunny day as a fresh-air pursuit. Then I signed up for a 26-mile charity hike in August through the Wye Valley in Wales. Needless to say I was about as prepared for this as a picnic faced with a bad weather forecast. What I soon came to realise is that rambling is not a stylish sport.

While the trend for a functional aesthetic  fashion calls it gorpcore, I prefer practi-cool  has led in a rise in style plates sporting designer fleeces, anoraks and geography-teacher sandals, these are often better equipped for trekking through fashion week crowds than scaling a mountain. If you really want to be a serious walker you have to be serious about your clothing. And that means throwing all fashion sense out of the window. Or so I thought.

During extensive research, in which I pitted my vanity against a desire to minimise chafing around the 15-mile mark, I concluded that it is possible to stay fashion-forward in the middle of nowhere.

The North Face

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Lets start with the boots. Turns out, a tractor sole and set of bungee-cord laces do not a hiking boot make. And after a few days lusting over Pradas burgundy velvet pair  cute with this seasons checked pencil skirt, not so much when caked in mud  I stepped into the world of Gore-Tex linings in search of a more practical pair.

I was delighted to discover that New Balance stocks an aesthetically pleasing pair  the 1400vls in plain black with teal accents (90)  which are as light as a walking shoe but built for rugged terrain. The waterproof membrane also keeps your feet dry, while the brands Rollbar technology (a moulded plate under the heel to stop feet from rolling inwards) supports the ankle. Timberland has also cornered the non-ugly, non-blister-inducing market with its Chocorua Trail boots (130), decked out in abrasion-resistant, waterproof brown leather with a moisture-wicking lining and cushioned footbed.

Gore-Tex

The second most important piece of equipment is your socks, a far more outdoorsy friend tells me. Socks! Who even knew you needed to think about socks?

Apparently Stance did, as it has a selection of thermo-regulated styles designed especially for hiking with anatomical cushioning and crucially, a selection of jazzy patterns (24).

Once youve stocked up on emergency Compeed, theres the not so small matter of the rest of your outfit to think about. For that, there is Tog 24, a one-stop shop for technical clothing that wouldnt look out of place in your every-day wardrobe. The wind- and water-resistant softshell jackets (50) are available in shades from black to raspberry and feature a sleek, demi-funnel neck, while the breathable packable waterproofs (80) come in a selection of pleasing neutrals from navy to charcoal.

20L daypack, 50 Tog 24 / Tog 24

Another revelation are its technical backpacks (from 40), which come in three sizes  12-, 20- and 30-litre  each of which loosely translates in non-walker speak as water plus snacks, plus spare clothes and plus charger/portable hairdryer/mini BBQ/other essentials you might need when venturing outside the M25.

If in any doubt, set your compass for The North Face. As popular with country types as style-conscious urbanites, its new Khumbu collection, which lands today, features items such as the 1990 Mountain Q anorak (85) reworked in sunny shades inspired by Nepalese prayer flags.

The North Face
Review at a glance









E nid Marx isnt a household name, but her work with pattern has infiltrated our public consciousness. Her designs for the moquette patterns on seating in trains and buses immediately evoke the mid-century sophistication that survived on public transport for decades and is now much in need of resurrection. Marxs Shield pattern should be instantly revived by TfL.

Indeed, her patterns are her best work  theres an exquisite beauty in her block-printed textile designs and in her covers for Chatto and Windus books, which make them covetable as objects even before a page has been turned.

Her figurative illustrations, particularly those using lino cuts, are charming, although presented en masse as here, her style begins to wear thin. But Marx had a real knack for capturing the personality of the animal kingdom and particularly cats: Feline Phantasy is typical in its balance of refinement and naivety.

That folkiness relates to the collection of popular art that Marx gathered with her lifelong partner the historian Margaret Lambert, which is shown in part here. Like mid-century design, folk art is more zeitgeisty now than for some decades; few designer-illustrators can claim to be as influential as Marx 20 years after their death.

The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures 1 /13 The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Frieze Sculpture, Regents Park, July 4  October 7 2018 PA The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Barrels and the Mastaba 1958-2018, Serpentine Gallery and Serpentine Lake, June 19  September 9 2018 AFP/Getty Images The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Anthea Hamilton: The Squash, Tate Britain, March 22  October 7 2018 PA The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures The London Open 2018, Whitechapel Gallery, June 8  August 26 2018 French and Mottershead The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Angela de la Cruz: Bare, Lisson Gallery, Bell Street, July 4  18 August 2018 Photographer: Jack Hems/Angela de la Cruz/Courtesy Lisson Gallery The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Katharina Grosse: Prototypes of Imagination, Gagosian Britannia Street, May 16  July 27 2018 2018 Katharina Grosse and VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn. Photo: Jens Ziehe. Courtesy of the artist and Gagosian The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures My name is lettie eggysrub, Heather Phillipson, Gloucester Road Station, June 7 2018  June 2019 G.G. Archard The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Disappear Here: On perspective and other kinds of space, Royal Institute of British Architects, May 2  October 7 2018 Andy Matthews The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Christopher Le Brun: New Paintings, Lisson Gallery, Lisson Street, July 4  August 18 2018 Photographer: George Darrell/Christopher Le Brun/Courtesy Lisson Gallery The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Tomma Abts, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, June 7  September 9 2018 Tomma Abts, Installation view, Serpentine Sackler Gallery, London (7 June 9 September 2018)  2018 readsreads.info The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Charmed Lives In Greece, British Museum, March 8  July 15 2018 Private Collection, UK/2018 Craxton Estate/DACS. The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures BP Portrait Gallery, National Portrait Gallery, June 14  September 23 2018 The best free exhibitions in London right now - In pictures Sculpture in the City, The City, June 27  April 2019 PA Wire/PA Images
C oca-Cola has unveiled an alcoholic drink for the first time in its 125-year history.

The drinks giant launched a fizzy lemon flavoured alcopop in Japan yesterday  aimed at young women. The three drinks range from three per cent to eight per cent alcohol in a bid to cash-in on the growing market of young drinkers.

The three new Lemon-Do drinks are available in the southern Kyushu region of Japan. A 350 ml can will set customers back 150 yen, which is around 1.

The recipes are a closely guarded secret but the drinks are modelled on the countrys popular Chu-Hi drinks which are a mix of local spirit and fruit flavours.

Chu-Hi - an abbreviation for shochu highball - has been marketed as an alternative to beer and has proved popular with female drinkers. The most popular flavours are strong citrus ones such as grapefruit or lemon. Japanese brands like Suntory, Asahi and Kirin currently dominate the sector for canned Chu-Hi drinks.

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Coca-Cola says there are no plans to bring the new drinks range to markets outside Japan.

Masaki Iida, spokesman for Coca-Colas Japanese unit, said: This is a pilot project in the region which has a sizeable market,

Alcopops boomed in Europe and the UK in the 1990s with the likes of Smirnoff Ice, Hoopers Hooch and Two Dogs dominating the market.

However, the drinks proved controversial with critics claiming they encouraged young people to drink alcohol due to their sugary taste.
T oday marks Vesak Day or Buddha Day, a day where Buddhists and followers come together to celebrate the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Buddha.

These three life events are said to have happened on the same calendar day over the course of Buddha's life. But why is it celebrated on 29th May this year?

For this and other interesting facts on Vesak Day, keep reading...

When is Vesak Day held?

Vesak Day is held according to Asian lunisolar calendars and is celebrated in Vaisakha month of both the Buddhist and Hindu calendars.

Almost always, it is held on the first full moon in May, and is observed by Buddhists (and a number of Hindus) in India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Tibet, Bhutan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines and Mongolia, as well as in China, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Who is Gautama Buddha?

Gautama Buddha, the ascetic, the sage, is the central figure of Buddhism.

It was he who, seated under a pipal tree - or Bodhi tree - obtained 'Enlightenment' following 49 days of meditation.

It was he, too, who discovered the Four Noble Truths, which led to the Noble Eightfold Path to liberation, otherwise known as the 'Middle Way'.

Made up of eight divisions, the Middle Way comprises teachings in: right view, right resolve, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness and right samadhi (practicing four stages of meditation).

How is Vesak Day celebrated?

Around the world, Buddhists and followers congregate in temples before dawn to raise the Buddhist flag before singing hymns of praise for the holy triple gem: The Buddha, The Dharma (his teachings), and The Sangha (his disciples).

Flowers, candles and joss-sticks may be laid to symbolise how life - like flowers, flickering candles and burning joss-sticks - can wither and decay.

A day of vegetarian eating is encouraged, primarily because followers must refrain from killing of any sort on this day.

In some countries, thousands of animals, birds and insects are set free, to symbolise the liberation of those suffering imprisonment.

Acts of kindness to help the less fortunate are encouraged; a number of followers, for instance, donate money or gifts to charitable causes. And acts of happiness are carried out too - not those which satisfy the desires of the self, but those which focus on community: decorating temples or creating scenes from Buddha's life for public display.
A convicted fraudster who owes taxpayers more than 65 million has taken nearly 360 flights worldwide in the past five years, in an extraordinary spending splurge carried out in defiance of law enforcers.

Prosecutors say Gerald Smith has used private jets as well as business and first class flights to travel in luxury despite claiming to be too poor to pay back his criminal profits.

The most expensive include visits to Dubai, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Vancouver and the Maldives, accompanied by stays in top hotels on at least some occasions.

The allegations will intensify concerns about the ability of criminal Mr Bigs to avoid repaying their debts.

Dozens of flights to Europe, including Nice, Mallorca, Vienna, Zurich and Ibiza, are also revealed in court documents.

Court list of Gerald Smith's flights 49,425 Heathrow to Dubai 34,752 Heathrow to Dubai 31,700 Heathrow to Mexico City 24,604 Heathrow to Hong Kong 19,626 Heathrow to Vancouver 17,200 Heathrow to Dubai 16,972 Vancouver to Heathrow 15,364 Gatwick to Bermuda 13,071 Heathrow to Buenos Aires 10,316 Heathrow to Vancouver TOTAL 232,226 Heathrow to: Dubai, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Mexico City, Doha, Geneva, Toronto Gatwick to: Maldives, Bermuda, Alicante, Barcelona, Malaga, Berlin Luton to: Palma de Mallorca, Malta, Perugia, Olbia (Sardinia), Nice, Geneva, Malaga, Krakow, Vienna, Sion (Switzerland), Valencia, Paris, Florence, Barcelona, Milan, Luxembourg, Edinburgh, Inverness Jersey to: Vienna, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Ibiza, Barcelona, Nice, Vienna, Isle of Man, Luton, Southampton, Denham (Buckinghamshire) RAF Northolt to: Palma de Mallorca Farnborough to: Nice Jersey to: Vienna, Palma de Mallorca, Malaga, Ibiza, Barcelona, Nice, Vienna, Isle of Man, Luton, Southampton, Denham

The three-day trip to Dubai made by Smith and his entourage cost just under 50,000. The legal papers show another eight occasions on which his flight and hotel bill is said to have topped 10,000.

They further suggest that during one 12-month period alone, Smith made 105 private jet flights, taking in destinations ranging from Florence and Provence to Barcelona and Malaga, at a total cost of 980,000.

Another 275,000 was spent flying Smith and his associates on British Airways during the same period. Smith, 66, is fighting being sent back to jail for his failure to pay a 41 million confiscation order.

The penalty was imposed in 2007 by a judge at Blackfriars crown court, after his conviction a year earlier for stealing 35 million from dot.com company Izodia.

Smith, who was jailed for eight years, has claimed he wants to pay but is un-able to do so because his wealth is tied up in assets he cannot access owing to ongoing complex civil litigation.

But the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which has been battling for years to obtain payment, believes he has the cash. It wants the courts to enforce a default sentence that would put the fraudster back behind bars for an additional eight years. His debt now totals more than 65 million because of interest charges.

Dubai: one of Gerald Smith's alleged destinations / AFP/Getty Images

In an attempt to prove his defiance, it has submitted a batch of documents highlighting a conspicuously lavish lifestyle at a time when he appeared to have no assets.

It includes a full list of flights they claim Smith has taken, including three one-way British Airways trips from London to Dubai costing 49,425, 34,752, and 17,200; and a 24,604 journey from Heathrow to Hong Kong. Other extravagances include trips costing 15,364 to Bermuda, 13,071 to Buenos Aires and 31,700 to Mexico City.

The Maldives: one of Gerald Smith's alleged flight destinations / NurPhoto via Getty Images

A 7,594 flight from Gatwick to the Maldives is also listed, along with journeys between London and Vancouver costing 10,316, 16,972, and 19,626.

The files reveal frequent use of private jets. One document states that between October 2014 and September 2015 Smith flew on 105 private jet flights with NetJets to destinations including Palma de Mallorca, Geneva, Jersey, Milan, London, Barcelona, Malaga, Provence, Florence, Paris, Nice, Valencia, Isle of Man and Vienna at a cost of 980,000.

The bill was paid by Smiths former wife Dr Gail Cochrane  with whom he remains on close terms, the documents say  but he has habitually used a variety of devices, including members of his family, corporate structures, and nominee or trust arrangements to conceal his true ownership of property.

Another document, prepared for the court by the SFO, de-scribes how receivers from accountancy firm KPMG went to Mallorca to inspect properties believed to be Smiths assets. They found that he was already there, prompting inquiries into his previous travel which showed that Smith has not only travelled to Mallorca ... but has made ... a number of other journeys over the last five years; a total of 177 outbound journeys have been found.

Court battles: the disputed Jersey property / Jersey Evening Post

The files, submitted to Folkestone magistrates court, which is overseeing enforcement of Smiths confiscation order, add that there is limited information as to how the travel has been funded, although some was paid for by his ex-wife Dr Cochrane and others from company accounts.

The legal papers add: Where possible the cost of flights has been ascertained  there are nine such occasions where, together with what appears to be payments for luxury hotels, the costs for flight and accommodation are over 10,000. The documents highlight assets investigators believe were bought with Smiths criminal profits. These include 14 flats in a Holborn mansion block, together worth 16 million; two villas in Mallorca worth 5 million; land at Lake Como and Umbria in Italy; a ski lodge in Whistler, Canada; a 12 million mansion in Jersey where his ex-wife lives; a Chicara Nagata motorcycle and gold leaf style aluminium wall art.

The ownership of a 200,000 car and another high value vehicle is also un-der investigation. The new revelations about the fraudsters lifestyle follow a High Court hearing last December over separate civil litigation, in which Smith and other potential creditors are battling over assets worth as much as 200 million in a complex legal saga.

Nick Candy with Holly Valance / Dave Benett

It has involved hundreds of days in court, dozens of lawyers and costs estimated at tens of millions of pounds. There have been allegations of computer hacking and the planting of child pornography, a no-holds-barred court battle with multi-million-pound Formula 1 investor Andy Ruhan, and tortuous financial dealings involving property and companies around the world.

Smith told the hearing in December that he wanted to use the money he believes he is owed to pay his confiscation order. He also sought to mount a claim against money raised from the sale of two Kensington hotels once part-owned by the Candy brothers.
An assigned outside post and three inside leavers did not dissuade Kenrick N from his preferred style of racing and at the end of the mile, the local wonder from down under notched another big win in the $14,000 Winners-Over feature pace at Plainridge Park on Memorial Day Monday in front of a large trackside crowd.

Leaving from post seven, driver Ron Cushing floated Kenrick N off the gate and waited for Sailor Jerry (Nick Graffam), Quick Shot (Drew Campbell) and Pretty Boy Hill (Greg Merton) to find the pylons before he urged his horse to the front just before they hit the half in :53.4. From there the race was basically over.

Moving up the backstretch, there were three horses out and three horses in behind the leader but none were making any headway. Cushing popped the plugs right at the three-quarter pole and Kenrick N responded big time. Under mild urging Kenrick N opened up a quick three-length advantage as they approached the top of the stretch where Cushing looked over his shoulder and saw the gap he had opened. Then he simply put his hands in his lap and let Kenrick N cruise to the wire at his own pace a wrapped-up, four-length winner in 1:50, which was a new lifetime mark.

Now sporting two wins, a second and a third in five North American starts since arriving in April, Kenrick N ($4.40) is well on his way to a career year for owners Kevin Sywyk and Ron Cushing and his trainer Heidi Gibbs.

In the secondary feature $12,000 condition pace, Mysharona Bluechip (Greg Merton) played give-and-go with Treasure Mach (Ron Cushing) before taking the lead for good at the quarter pole, en route to a solid one-length victory in 1:51.3.

It was the third win on the last four starts for Mysharona Bluechip ($7.00) and his owner A Piece of the Action LLC. Eric Beach was the successful trainer.

Three drivers won nine of the eleven races on Monday. Shawn Gray registered a grand slam while Greg Merton scored a hat trick and Drew Campbell doubled up.

Racing resumes on Tuesday at Plainridge Park with post time at 4 p.m.

(Standardbred Owners of Massachusetts)
A manhunt has been launched after a thug punched a sales assistant in the face before stealing a watch worth more than 10,000 from a busy east London shopping centre.

The suspect asked to try on the expensive Breitling Super Avenger II watch at the Brietling store in Westfield, Stratford, before assaulting the staff member and making off.

Flying Squad detectives have released CCTV images of a man they are trying to trace following the assault and theft which unfolded in the busy shopping complex on Saturday, January 6.

Scotland Yard said the victim, also a man, did not suffer lasting injuries in the attack.

The CCTV stills were taken before the assault and theft took place in the busy Westfield shopping centre / Metropolitan Police

In statement, officers said: Detectives would like to hear from anyone who can name the male shown in the CCTV stills which were captured inside the shopping centre before the offence was committed.
A drunk airline passenger was arrested after urinating in his seat and harassing staff during a 10 hour flight from Las Vegas.

Police boarded a Virgin Atlantic plane at Gatwick after Irishman Shane OGrady, 30, swore loudly and abused staff before relieving himself in front of mortified passengers.

Airline staff reported the man to police while still in mid-air after he became abusive when he was refused alcohol.

When they put the seatbelt signs on in a bid to defuse the situation, staff told passengers they were still able to use the toilets  but OGrady urinated in his seat instead.

After doing so, he was given a sleep suit  which authorities said is usually kept for first class passengers - to change into.

Passengers were left stranded after the company expectantly 'stopped trading' / Getty Images

After being arrested on the Boeing 747 last Wednesday, OGrady, a sign writer of no fixed address, pleaded guilty the following day at Crawley Magistrates Court to being drunk on board an aircraft.

He was fined 1,000 and ordered to pay 85 costs and a 100 victim surcharge, as well as being banned from Virgin Airlines for life.

Sergeant Darren Taylor, of Sussex Police, said: There are always a few individuals who overstep the mark. Those who ignore our advice will be dealt with robustly, as is highlighted by this case.
W ith his guitar, boots and baseball cap, Rett Russell could be mistaken for a Tube busker dreaming of striking it lucky as he sings for his supper.

In fact, the musician performing self-penned country and western songs of broken hearts and good times gone bad is the 170,000-a-year chief executive of London Ambulance Service.

Garrett Emmerson, 52, is looking forward to picking up his guitar again after a busy year helping to bring LAS out of special measures. The NHS watchdog last week upgraded its rating to good, earning Mr Emmerson praise from Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

Its certainly true I have not done much guitar-playing in the last 12 months, he said. Its something I have always enjoyed. Its a means of escaping the day-to-day. The nice thing is I can go away from this job and be the guy in the corner [of the pub] on a Friday night.

Garrett Emmerson in his job as chief executive of London Ambulance Service

Mr Emmerson arrived at LAS a year ago from Transport for London, where he was in charge of roads. He said his alter ego led to teasing by Boris Johnson. Rett Russell also suffered the occasional online jibe from taxi drivers.

The previous mayor referred to me by my stage name at a TfL board meeting, but nobody picked it up, he said. I dont think its a big secret. But its a bit left-field when people find out.

He has released two albums and numerous videos on his website and has busked at North Greenwich Tube station as well as performing in pubs and bars across the UK. He donates proceeds to the Railway Children charity.

Three of his songs made the top 10 of the Hot Disc British & Irish Country Music Charts. He has received airplay on 50 country music radio stations in the UK, Europe and North America. He was nominated in the best newcomer category of the 2016 Hot Disc Awards.

Last years songs included She Got The Cowboy. One NHS source said: Who knew they put a cowboy in charge of the ambulance service?

He said he was not alone among TfL top brass in being an amateur musician. Communications director Vernon Everitt and London Transport Museum director Sam Mullins both front bands, and former TfL commissioner Sir Peter Hendy performs Ian Dury songs.
T he family of a Londoner who has spent four years on death row in Ethiopia today said they still cant believe it after he was pardoned by the countrys government.

Andargachew Tsege, 63, learned on Saturday that he was one of hundreds of prisoners set to be released under reforms brought by forward by new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.

An outspoken critic of the regime in Addis Ababa, Mr Tsege was sentenced to death in 2009 in absentia whilst living in London, where he moved in 1979.

In 2014 he was kidnapped at an airport in Yemen and imprisoned in Ethiopia. Since then he has been unable to communicate with family including his partner Yemi Hailemariam and their three children, who live in Islington.

Speaking at the familys home, the prisoners brother Bezuneh, 55, told the Standard: We feared for his life. People die nearly every day in Ethiopia for politically motivated reasons.

We werent able to speak [for the last four years]. Not even his family - no communication at all.

We still cant believe it [that he was pardoned]. What has happened over the last four years has been extremely difficult. The way he was taken was without any due process  kidnapped from an international airport for being critical about the government.

It was reported that Mr Tsege could be released within days, although his brother said the family werent sure exactly when the release would be.

Mr Tsege was a leading figure in the opposition party Ginbot 7 who campaigned for increased democracy and human rights.

The self-styled reform movement was labelled a terrorist organisation by prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who resigned in February following years of violent protest.

When Mr Tsege first moved to Britain he continued to work as Ginbot 7s secretary general and became one of the most prominent opponents of the leading Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front party.

His brother added: When Andargachew came here he was still very active in Ethiopian politics. He has a lot of followers..

There are 575 other inmates due to be released, but Mr Tsege was one of a few who were mentioned by name in the announcement by Attorney General Berhanu Tsegaye on Saturday.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, Mr Tseges local MP, welcomed the news of his pardon on Twitter.

The pardons are part of reforms that the government in Addis Ababa has pledged to undertake after violent unrest broke out three years ago.
H undreds of protesters have descended on Whitehall to demonstrate against Tommy Robinsons arrest for 'breaching the peace' outside a courthouse.

Whitehall had to be closed to traffic as a huge group gathered outside Downing Street on Saturday afternoon, chanting Mr Robinsons name.

It comes after the founder of the English Defence League was apprehended by police while streaming a Facebook live video outside a grooming trial in Leeds on Friday morning.

In the footage, he can be seen being led to the back of a van and asking Am I being arrested? I'm 'causing a breach of peace'...I'm being arrested for breaching the peace.

The incident has triggered a furious reaction from his fans, who could be heard chanting shame on you outside Whitehall.

Footage showed one man being lifted up to the top of the gates before turning to the crowd and pumping his fist.

Tommy Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League, was arrested after filming a video outside a courtroom / PA Archive/PA Images

Police officers could be seen attempting to keep the demonstration under control as violence threatened to break out at one point, with some protesters pushing officers.

Many protesters could be seen holding aloft #FreeTommy signs or waving flags, including the St Georges Cross, the Union Jack and the UKIP logo.

One woman held a cardboard sign which read: Free the truth teller. Free Tommy.

The protest later moved down the road to Parliament Square. Meanwhile, almost 70,000 people have signed a petition calling for Mr Robinson to be freed.
F arkhad Akhmedov, the Russian billionaire at the centre of the UKs biggest divorce case, has warned his estranged wife Tatiana Akhmedova that he will fight in every jurisdiction her efforts to seize his art collection  understood to be in excess of 90 million  after his 34 million Rothko and nine Warhols were impounded as part of financial proceedings. The couple, who were married 20 years ago and have two sons, have been locked in dispute since 2013. In 2016 a High Court judge ordered Akhmedov (left) to pay Akhmedova (far left) 453million: which included his 350,000 Aston Martin, his modern art collection, valued at 90 million and the contents of their former home, valued at almost 2.5 million.

In March lawyers for Tatiana alleged that Farkhad had sought to conceal his assets to avoid paying her, including a 377ft super-yacht originally built for Roman Abramovich, and sought a freezing order on his assets.

Akhmedovs art collection includes eight Warhols of Marilyn Monroe, another of Brigitte Bardot and a second Rothko. Also frozen is his collection of Holland & Holland shotguns, which can sell for up to 200,000 each.

The oligarch , who featured on an American list of Russian businessmen with close ties to President Putin, started out selling sable furs. He moved with his family to London in 1993. He claims he divorced his wife in Moscow in 2000 and that she only sought financial settlement in London after he sold his shares in ZAO Northgas, a Russian company, for 1 billion in 2012 and therefore refuses to abide by the court order.

Tatianas is backed by Burford Capital, a firm chaired by Sir Peter Middleton, former head of the Treasury and the ex-chair of Barclays.

A spokesman said: Mr Akhmedov has made it clear he will fight this ruling for as long as it takes in every jurisdiction.

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Rocketman, the Elton John biopic, is filming in Camden and needs help finding a location. I will be scouting round the area and would be happy to pop by and have a look, a letter sent to locals from the location manager explains. Hopefully theyll leave it still standing.

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FOOD critic Jay Rayner hosted the MHP Communications 30 to Watch awards on Wednesday. He reminisced about editing the Leeds student magazine in the Eighties. Conscious of fears over Aids, he decided to offer free condoms with every issue. The printers pondered how to attach them to the mag. How did it they do it? They used a pin.

Gandy reveals he's fashioning a new role as he wings it at polo bash

David Gandy and Stephanie Mendoros (Photo Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images

David Gandy is stepping behind the camera. The model, who walked in the Olympics opening ceremony alongside Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell, has announced a new string to his bow: he is directing a series of films to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the RAF. He has also been keeping busy by appearing at The Oxford Union earlier this week, where he looked back on his long career and criticised brands that appropriate other cultures in their designs.

But all work and no play makes David a dull boy, and last night he and his girlfriend, criminal lawyer Stephanie Mendoros, were at Casa Cruz in Notting Hill for Cartiers launch of the polo season. Lady Mary Charteris, fashion designer Alice Temperley and models Amy Jackson and Neelam Gill joined the fun. Polo star Adolfo Cambiaso, the 10-goal legend regarded as the worlds greatest player, was among the Argentinian horsemen who came along for a drink.

SW1A

DOUZE points to Philip Hammond (below). Yesterday he spoke at the European Business Summit in Brussels. Sixty-two years ago today  as a war-torn Europe rebuilt itself  countries across our continent came together to form a positive vision of a tolerant, free Europe where talent and hard work was recognised and established a new pan-European partnership, he said. I am not speaking about the Treaty of Rome, or the formation of the European Economic Community... but of the first Eurovision Song Contest.

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Liam Fox, the International Trade Minister was pictured last night with Paul Ryan, the US Republican Speaker of the House. Ryan wrote: We stand ready to forge a new trade agreement with Great Britain as soon as possible. Great news, although we wont be able to sign trade deals, in theory, until March 2019. Ryan is stepping down in January.

Quote of the day

Im sure lots of people will throw their hats in the ring for that. I think I will be one of them. Kirsty Wark tells Good Housekeeping that she has her eye on David Dimblebys Question Time chair

The wild antics that escaped Foxs gaze

Foxy lady: Emilia Fox (Photo Dave Benett/Getty Images) / Dave Benett/Getty Images

Boris Johnson isnt the only one to have been pranked. Actor Emilia Fox endured it while filming Silent Witness.

For my birthday, the regulars all dressed up in animal costumes and were dancing through the set to that song What the Fox Says, she told us at last nights launch of Four Seasons Residences London at Ten Trinity Square. Then the whole crew seemed to have a rave in the studio, but I didnt notice it at all: when Im doing post-mortem scenes Im really focused.
M ary McCartney has revealed that she got into trouble with a member of the public recently, for taking their picture without permission while on the Tube.

McCartney is a professional photographer (as her mother Linda was) and has been working on a project entitled #someone, for which she photographs strangers who are striking or well-dressed on her phone.

Normally she asks for permission before taking the shots, she says, but while on the Tube recently she saw a woman and secretly took her picture before approaching her. McCartney (left), speaking at the National Portrait Gallery last Thursday as part of the PHOTO London show, said that the passenger was incensed by what shed done.

Youve already taken it so why are you asking me now? she said.

McCartney says she apologised profusely, but the woman refused to accept her apology and was only satisfied when McCartney deleted the photograph from her phone.

Taking pictures of strangers  particularly on the Underground  has become a controversial issue. There was huge outcry when a website featured photos of women eating on the Tube. It was described as sexist, intrusive and debasing.

McCartney says she found her encounter shocking but that usually members of the public are positive and happy to be pictured.

Her website and Instagram feeds both feature multiple portraits of members of the public, including a man with a skateboard, white trousers, and black shirt with flames on the arms that was taken on the Tube and a person lying stretched out at a train station with their shoes off and face obscured by a waiting room wall.

Among McCartneys well-known subjects are the Blairs. She took the first official portrait of Tony, Cherie and their son Leo in 2000.

The daughter of Beatle Paul McCartney has also photographed her sister Stella, the fashion designer whose dress the Duchess of Sussex wore to her wedding reception on Saturday.

Romantic Mandys republican jolly

How times change. Peter Mandelson was so moved by the royal wedding he says he is now considering marrying his long-term partner, Reinaldo Avila da Silva.

But when Prince Charles wed Lady Diana, the life peer was one of a group of trade unionists who got on a ferry and sailed off on The Republican Away Day.

The event was described as an alcohol-fuelled trip to Boulogne for those who so despised the patriotic crowds lining the Mall that they could not bear even to be in the same country.

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Alex Ellis, director general at the Department for Exiting the European Union, once appeared on Brazilian TV dressed as James Bond. Ellis, then ambassador to Brazil, appeared on a show called The Noite in 2015. He entered to the 007 theme tune in a tux then shot a cameraman. An international man of mystery.

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Pippa Middletons royal wedding dress attracted a lot of media attention in the US. Her pale-green outfit adorned with pink blossoms  by design brand The Fold  turned heads but Americans compared it to a popular drink: the floral pattern and green shade made her look uncannily similar to a can of Arizona iced tea.

Charity-shop look for Emma and Lily at their own unique royal wedding bash party

Actor Lily James joined broadcaster Emma Freud for a royal wedding party like no other over the weekend. The pair decided to spend the day dressed in wedding gowns purchased from Oxfam.

Freud, journalist and partner of screenwriter Richard Curtis, later spoke of her terrible decision to don a 1970s nylon nightie for the occasion. What was I thinking? she asked.

The well-behaved brides were initially pictured in front of the television, patiently waiting for the ceremony to begin. But within a few hours, they were swigging from champagne bottles and filling up on party food. We let ourselves down. I know this now, added Freud.

The party included cardboard cut-outs of the Queen and a Beatles/ wedding mashup cake created by Norfolk bakery El's Cakes. The All You Need is Love-themed cake was made for the cast of Curtis and Freuds new Beatles movie, which James is starring in.

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Boris Johnson (below) has been conducting a series of humorous photocalls while in South America  perhaps to counteract what seems like more veiled challenges to Theresa May over Brexit. One involved posing with a manatee. The author Antoinette Moss remarks: Not surprising that Boris feels at home with the manatees. They are animals which stay afloat by farting.

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World leaders may have stayed away from the royal wedding but Parliament had one representative: Sir Nicholas Soames, MP and grandson of Winston Churchill. He was seated next to David and Victoria Beckham. It was the most memorable, moving, touching, never to be forgotten, sun-lit day in which there was not a false note, Soames says. Perfectly done. So truly privileged to be there. And how was sitting next to Posh Spice? She was very gracious.

Quote of the day

This dress enhanced the Meghan-ness of the new Duchess, rather than transforming her into someone else

Former Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman gives her verdict today on the Duchess of Sussexs Givenchy dress

Tuckers top of agenda at Campbell talk

Alastair Campbell: / Mike Marsland/WireImage

Alastair Campbells notoriety as Britains most famous spin doctor has been superseded  by a fictional character. The audience at a Mind fundraiser he addressed in Guernsey on Friday were far more interested in his take on Malcolm Tucker, the foul-mouthed character in TV comedy The Thick of It, than the real New Labour years. The audience were invited to submit questions. The number on Tucker outstripped anything on Blair or Brown. Campbell offered a signed book for the wittiest question. The winner? Do you like Jeremy Corbin? [sic] and, unrelated to this, What are your views on assisted dying?

Sarah Jane and Henry share royal wedding tips

Before the big day on Saturday, did Henry Conway give Sarah-Jane Mee other a pep-talk? The pair were at the launch of The Little Blue Door on Thursday evening and Conway, something of a royal expert, must have given Mee some encouragement before she headed to Windsor to cover the event.

The venue, found at the Parsons Green end of Fulham Road, is a new bar and restaurant with a flatshare feel.
B rexiteers in the Cabinet have challenged costings of the max fac customs option, with one branding a civil service estimate of almost 20 billion a back of the envelope job.

Ministers are digging in for a battle over rival plans for post-Brexit borders, between a customs partnership that keeps some existing EU rules and the rival maximum facilitation proposal that would replace border checks with tracking technology and trusted status for importers and exporters.

Supporters of max fac have dismissed evidence from the head of HM Revenue and Customs, Jon Thompson, that it would be vastly more expensive. A minister claimed his estimates were about five times too high because they were based on outdated examples.

Current border technology is 15 years old and in that time there have been huge advances, the minister said. You only have to think about how far phones have moved on to see the potential for improvement.

Theresa May is considering bringing forward a key Commons vote on whether to stay in a Customs Union, aiming to settle the matter before an EU summit on June 28 and 29.

A source close to the negotiations said the case for an early vote was that it would avoid the possibility that Parliament might vote for a different policy later on, therefore undermining the Governments negotiating hand.

Nicky Morgan, chairman of the Commons Treasury committee which took evidence from Mr Thompson last week, said the Brexiteer reaction suggested they were running from the truth.

Rather than yet again trying to undermine the advice of somebody who looked at this in detail, the Brexiteers need to confront the reality which is that they are potentially asking business to shoulder a huge new burden, she said. Manufacturers, car makers and Eurotunnel warned this weekend of higher costs and job losses if the UK does not stay in a customs union. EEF, the Manufacturing industry group, said max fac was naive.

The Brexit Cabinet sub-committee is said to be divided 6:5 for the max fac option. Full Cabinet will decide after two working groups finish examining flaws in each.

Separately, a row has broken out between the Treasury and the Bank of England over City of London regulation after Brexit. Chancellor Philip Hammond wants to retain maximum City access to the European market by keeping the UK close to EU rules, but a Bank official told the FT this would mean the UK being a rule-taker.
A campaign to secure a second Brexit referendum within a year is set to be launched in the coming days, billionaire tycoon George Soros has announced.

The Hungarian-born investor claimed the UKs prolonged divorce from the European Union may help persuade Britons by a convincing margin to vote to remain in the bloc.

Speaking ahead of the Best for Britain campaign launch, Mr Soros said changing the minds of the British public would be in keeping with revolutionary times like present.

During a speech in Paris on Tuesday, the 87-year-old said: Brexit is an immensely damaging process, harmful to both sides... divorce will be a long process, probably taking more than five years.

George Soros delivers his speech entitled "How to save the European Union" / AP

Five years is an eternity in politics, especially in revolutionary times like the present.

He went on: Ultimately, its up to the British people to decide what they want to do. It would be better however if they came to a decision sooner rather than later.

Thats the goal of an initiative called the Best for Britain, which I support.

George Soros, left, attends the European Council On Foreign Relations Annual Council Meeting in Paris / AP

For Europe to take the potential reversal of the decision seriously the British public must express its support for the movement by a convincing margin, he added.

Thats what Best for Britain is aiming for by engaging the electorate. It will publish its manifesto in the next few days.

This year, Mr Soros pledged an additional 100,000 to his initial 400,000 donation to support the campaigns efforts to derail Brexit.

Mark Carney: Families 900 worse off since Brexit

The tycoon had previously denied accusations that he was "undermining democracy" and hit back at what he called "toxic personal criticism" against him.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, he said Best for Britain had his "wholehearted support" and that he had never made a secret of his opposition to Brexit.

He said: "The fact that conditions are unsatisfactory does not mean that they can't get worse. That is what has happened in Britain.

"Before the referendum Britain was doing better economically than the rest of Europe. But this has now been reversed, with Continental economies powering ahead while Britain lags behind."
D efence Secretary Gavin Williamson was cut off live on air by infuriated broadcaster Richard Madeley for not giving straight answers.

The veteran TV host pulled the plug on his interview with the senior Tory after he challenged him over the Salisbury poisoning case.

After asking him three times whether he regretted having told Russia to shut up and go away in the aftermath of the attack, the Good Morning Britain presenter suddenly announced interview terminated, adding it would be helpful if you answered a straight question with a straight answer.

Mr Madeley, who was standing in for Piers Morgan, said: Do you regret telling Russia to shut up and go away? Mr Williamson please answer the question.

Mr Williamson replied: I think what everyone saw is Russias actions against our citizens in a city here in the United Kingdom...

Youre telling us what we know, Mr Madeley, 62, interrupted. We know what happened. We know what happened in Salisbury...the question is...Ill try it one more time ... do you regret using very casual Trump-esque language like shut up and go away?

Cut off: Gavin Williamson's interview on GMB was cut short

Mr Williamson said: Well what was right is actually we came together with our allies...

Okay, alright. Alright. Interview terminated because you wont answer the question, Mr Madeley said before crossing through a list of interview questions.

Turning to viewers he said: It would have been so easy to have said no I dont, I think it was an appropriate expression or to say on reflection I should have been a bit more formal. Easy.

Mr Williamson, 41, was derided when he told reporters in March this year how Moscow should go away and shut up after they had criticised the expulsions of diplomats after the Salisbury attack and comparisons were made to a new Cold War.

Yulia Skripal, 33, and her former Russian spy father Sergei, 66, were poisoned with a nerve agent on March 4 in the Wiltshire city and the incident sparked a major diplomatic row with Russia.

Mr Williamson took part in this mornings interview live from an enclosure at West Midland Safari Park. He was there to announce a new anti-poaching initiative with Malawi.

Wearing a checked shirt and suit jacket, the Secretary of State was joined by a number of elephants who wandered into shot during his car crash breakfast TV interview.
The second/final event for the travelling members of the CKG Billings Harness Drivers Series who ventured to Canada was contested at Woodbine Mohawk Park on Monday evening (May 28).

When the judges posted the official sign, Steve Oldford, who was up behind Adversity, had romped over eight others in a 1:56.3 clocking.

We started slow but finished strong, Oldfield said via telephone after his driving victory.

When the wings of the starting gate folded, Bob Davis gunned Burnin Money to the front and they led the field by the first stanza in :28. At that point, Oldfield was viewing the front-end action from fifth position along the pylons, some seven lengths of the leader.

Everyone found a hole and we were all following Bob's (Davis) lead, and he rolled on to a three-length lead as he took us by the half in :57, Oldford explained. And as we headed for the three quarters, Burnin Money's strides began to shorten  many of us were looking to move up.

First to do so was Bobby Ciavardini with Overcomebyvictory, followed by Oldford with the eventual winner.

Adversity cleared and by the time they rounded the final turn he was three lengths in front. Philippe Trudeau followed Oldford's lead with Charmbro Chrome and they were third as the field headed for home. But Overcomebyvictory faded in the lane and Charmbro Chrome finished second. Blameitonthewhisky (Jason Sgrignouli) got up for third money. Overcomebyictory was just that, as he faded to fourth.

Adversity is owned by the Jemaxpo Racing Stable and is trained by Jason Ryan. Sent off as the odds-on favourite, Adversity paid $3.40 for win.

(With files from the Billing Series)
A n East End comedy club that helped boost the fledgling careers of Mike Myers and Paul Merton is to be rebuilt underneath a new Travelodge.

Comedian Lee Hurst, best-known for his appearances on the former TV quiz They Think It's All Over, has signed a deal with the budget hotel chain for a new club in Bethnal Green.

It will demolish the building currently occupied by his FymFyg Bar  previously known as the Backyard comedy club  in Cambridge Heath Road and create a purpose-built venue beneath a seven-storey, 131-bedroom hotel.

When Hurst set up the club in 1987, it was based in the nearby Approach Tavern and its Friday night sessions helped launch the careers of Mike Myers  star of Wayne's World, Austin Powers and Shrek  Harry Enfield, Jo Brand, Paul Merton and Jack Dee.

He found the 300-seat venue in Cambridge Heath Road in 1998. This closed in 2007 and reopened as the FymFyg Bar a year later. It has hosted Harry Hill, Jimmy Carr and Alistair McGowan.

Now after fears that his club could be lost to developers  Hurst considered standing in the 2004 London mayoral elections to highlight his concerns  he has backed a planning application that has been submitted by Travelodge to Tower Hamlets council.

He said: "The redevelopment of Cambridge Heath Road is bringing back to life a small section of Bethnal Green that has been left behind since the closure of the factories.

"For the comedy club, the chance to design a venue from scratch rather than utilise an existing building means I will be able to create a location which has the audience at its heart.

"I'm excited to help with the continued regeneration of Bethnal Green."

If planning permission is granted, the club will close for a year and reopen next year. Travelodge hopes to open the hotel by early 2012, in time for the Olympics  the main stadium is only two Tube stops away.

Travelodge says it expects to be the biggest hotel brand in the capital by 2012, with 46 hotels due to open.
F ourteen people have been injured and a driver has been arrested after a bus ploughed into 25 vehicles in Kent.

The driver of the bus is being held by police on suspicion of careless driving.

Dramatic images showed a trail of the destruction following the smash close the town's train station.

Kent Police and fire crews rushed to Hythe Street to reports of a multi-vehicle crash just before 7pm.

Some 25 cars were damaged in the crash / Tony Brown

Officers said 25 cars were damaged and 14 walking wounded were treated for minor injuries at the scene.

The crash involved a 480 service to Swanscombe, Northfleet and Gravesend.

Horrified witnesses described scenes of panic and "total carnage".

Tony Brown, who saw the smash happen, told the Standard the bus appeared to plough into cars waiting at traffic lights on Hythe Road.

He said: There was no visibly seriously injured people, but lots of people in shock and damaged cars.

Gravesend, Meopham, Strood and Doddington were particularly badly hit with images showing cars submerged and rainwater as high as the windows of some homes.

Storms and flash floods hit London and the south east 1 /15 Storms and flash floods hit London and the south east Londoners caught in a downpour in Victoria as storms hit the capital again today PA A man jogs along the Southbank during a rain shower Getty Images Two people walk along the Southbank during today's deluge Getty Images Grim conditions: a mother shields her child from the rain Getty Images Londoners took shelter as storms hit the capital. There was also heavy flash flooding in Kent Getty Images A Londoner cowers from the thunderstorm today PA Brolly weather: Londoners take shelter PA Commuters brave the rain near Victoria station PA People in Kent were hit by flash flooding after torrential downpours Rupert Parry Cars and homes were submerged in standing water Rupert Parry Roads became rivers after the downpour Rupert Parry And gardens were left unrecognisable Rupert Parry Motorists were left stranded on the M2 as the flooding caused severe delays Twitter/@LanderoiD The flooding also sparked severe disruption on roads in Sittingbourne Twitter/@Honestliars1 There were also flash floods in Strood Twitter/@DrTardisBox

Meanwhile in Sittingbourne drivers said "every road is like a river" as traffic was brought to a standstill by the severe conditions.

A Kent Police spokesman said: "Officers were called at 6.48pm on Tuesday 29 May to Hythe Street.

Kent flooding: Swathes of Gravesend, Strood and Meopham submerged as flash floods hit south-east England

"The South East Coast Ambulance Service and Kent Fire and Rescue Service are also at the scene.

"A total of 25 vehicles have been reported damaged. Fourteen people are reported to be walking wounded and are receiving treatment at the scene.

"A man has been arrested on suspicion of careless driving and remains in police custody."
C ars were submerged and railway lines blocked as flash flooding hit swathes of Kent and south-east England during a huge thunderstorm today.

The south-east of England was hit by spectacular lightning and torrential downpours throughout Tuesday afternoon.

Gravesend, Meopham, Strood and Doddington were particularly badly hit with images showing cars submerged and rainwater as high as the windows of some homes.

Meanwhile in Sittingbourne drivers said "every road is like a river" as traffic was brought to a standstill by the severe conditions.

Parts of London were also hit by flash floods including Bexleyheath, Erith, Blackfriars and Stratford.

Storms and flash floods hit London and the south east 1 /15 Storms and flash floods hit London and the south east Londoners caught in a downpour in Victoria as storms hit the capital again today PA A man jogs along the Southbank during a rain shower Getty Images Two people walk along the Southbank during today's deluge Getty Images Grim conditions: a mother shields her child from the rain Getty Images Londoners took shelter as storms hit the capital. There was also heavy flash flooding in Kent Getty Images A Londoner cowers from the thunderstorm today PA Brolly weather: Londoners take shelter PA Commuters brave the rain near Victoria station PA People in Kent were hit by flash flooding after torrential downpours Rupert Parry Cars and homes were submerged in standing water Rupert Parry Roads became rivers after the downpour Rupert Parry And gardens were left unrecognisable Rupert Parry Motorists were left stranded on the M2 as the flooding caused severe delays Twitter/@LanderoiD The flooding also sparked severe disruption on roads in Sittingbourne Twitter/@Honestliars1 There were also flash floods in Strood Twitter/@DrTardisBox

The flash floods severely impacted Southeastern rail services with Network Rail tweeting an image of a level crossing at Gillingham partly under water.

By 6pm, passengers were told to avoid St Pancras station because of overcrowding as trains were heavily disrupted.

Gardens disappeared after the heavy downpours / Rupert Parry

Network Rail has warned passengers that disruption will continue "for some time" as the rain moves across the country.

Meanwhile, drivers on the M2 faced long delays after heavy rain left the carriageway flooded.

Cars were submerged in Strood / Twitter/@DrTardisBox

The motorway was closed westbound between junctions 4 and 5 near Sittingbourne and Stockbury while traffic officers dealt with "a large amount of standing water" following the heavy rain fall.

There were delays of more than an hour and a half up to junction 7, officials warned.

Highways England said there were also related problems on the A249 and the roundabout.

Cars were submerged as flooding hit Sittingbourne / Twitter/@honestliars1

Kent's Road Policing Unit urged passengers to take extra caution due to the weather conditions.

"Heavy rain in the mid Kent area, please drive slowly, leave bigger gaps and be aware of surface water," the force wrote on Twitter.

Motorists were trapped in cars as the severe weather took hold, with some reporting delays of up to two hours.

Motorists were stranded on the M2 as the road was transformed into a river / Twitter/@LanderoiD

One woman shared a picture of lorries wheel-deep in standing water on the M2.

She wrote: "The #M2 is a little bit wet!"

Josh Coupe reported "miles of queues" between Faversham and Sittingbourne due to the rain.

Meanwhile Renee Smith tweeted a picture of her cat - also in the car - peering out of the window, writing: "Kitty is not impressed that the #M2 is closed. Moved 15 miles in two hours."

Clare Carmen shared a series of videos as she drove around Sittingbourne, showing cars navigating large amounts of water on roads.

She wrote: "Sittingbourne town centre. Every road is like a river."

A heatwave across the UK has been blighted by thunderstorms over the last four days with more expected throughout the remainder of Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.

Forecasters have warned that spray and flooding could lead to difficult driving conditions and road closures, while flooding or lightning strikes could cause power cuts in some areas.

The Environment Agency has issued 35 flood alerts, warning residents across great swathes of England to "be prepared" for possible flooding.

Flooding in Pinnocks Avenue, Gravesend, Kent / Joe Dagger

Those off for half-term have been told to beware of potential flash floods and sudden worsening of visibility amid heavy rain and balmy temperatures.

The Met Office issued a yellow alert warning of thundery rain or showers which could bring local flooding to parts of southern England and Wales through Tuesday and into Wednesday morning.

It comes after one elderly man lost his life in the early hours of Monday when his vehicle became submerged in Walsall, and multiple rescues had to be carried out from cars, buses and homes on Sunday, the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service technical rescue unit said.

Flash floods: Cars are submerged in Gravesend, Kent / Joe Dagger

Cavendish in Suffolk was the warmest recorded spot on Monday, peaking at 27.3C, a few degrees shy of the April high of 29.1c in central London.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland all spiking temperatures on Monday, with Dunstaffnage in Argyll reaching 27.1C, Hawarden Airport in Clwyd reaching 24.9C, and Castlederg in County Tyrone reaching 25.1C.
P ret A Manger is set to be sold to a German family for 1.5 billion.

The sandwich chain is to be sold by private equity firm Bridgepoint to JAB, the investment vehicle of Germany's wealthy Reimann family.

Bridgepoint, which bought Pret for 364 million in 2008, had been considering listing the firm in New York.

Pret chief executive Clive Schlee said: "This is a day of celebration at Pret.

"This agreement recognises the hard work of all our amazing teams around the world. Bridgepoint has been wonderful owners of the business for more than a decade.

"All of us at Pret believe JAB will be excellent long-term strategic owners. JAB believes in Pret's values and supports our growth plans."

Pret has 530 stores worldwide and is rapidly expanding globally in countries such as the US, China and France.

It booked revenues of 879 million last year.

Olivier Goudet, JAB partner and chief executive, said: "We're very excited to partner with Pret and its talented team to continue their extraordinary growth story.

"Management's proven track record and commitment to customer service, investment in innovation and approach to freshly prepared food position Pret well as it capitalises on evolving consumer taste and lifestyle preferences.

"We look forward to working with Clive Schlee and his management team, while promoting the Pret brand and supporting Pret's impressive culture for the next phase in the company's growth with JAB."
A team of scientists have identified 58 new "cleverness" genes that could help in the fight against dementia.

A team led by the University of Edinburgh found significant small signals from 148 genomic regions that were related to having better cognitive function.

Fifty eight of these genetic signals have not been reported before.

These regions contained genes that have previously been associated with better brain structure, and with lower risk of neurodegenerative and neurodevelopmental disorders, and physical and psychiatric illnesses.

Scientists said the results could help understanding of the declines in cognitive function that happen with illness and as people age and cause conditions such as dementia.

The study analysed data from 300,486 people aged between 16 and 102 who had taken part in 57 cohort studies in Australia, Europe and North America.



Dr Gail Davies from the University of Edinburgh's Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology said: "This study has identified many genetic differences that contribute to the heritability of thinking skills.

"The discovery of shared genetic effects on health outcomes and a brain structure provides a foundation for exploring the mechanisms by which these differences influence thinking skills throughout a lifetime."

Those who took part in the study undertook thinking tests and also underwent DNA tests to make sure that they did not have dementia or a stroke.

The study also found that the genetic signature associated with increased general cognitive function is also associated with better cardiovascular and mental health, decreased risk of lung cancer and longer life.
T orrential rain and thunderstorms are expected to cause travel chaos during the morning rush hour in parts of the UK, amid warnings that more severe weather is on the way.

A yellow weather warning is in force across the south of England until 9am.

Another is in force for Scotland, Northern Ireland and the west of England between 9am and 10pm.

Flooding has resulted in delays and cancellations to trains across swathes of the country while roads have also been closed.

After an overnight amber weather warning for the south-west of England and south Wales, Great Western Railway is running emergency speed restrictions, while severe disruption is being reported on parts of the Northern rail network.

Train passengers in the Midlands could find their journeys affected after lightning strikes damaged equipment between Birmingham New Street and Wolverhampton.

Didcot Parkway railway station floods as torrential rain hits the UK

Network Rail said disruption there was expected until about 9am.

It comes after storms and heavy downpours caused problems in some parts on Thursday afternoon and overnight.

Flights from Gatwick Airport were cancelled due to the severe weather conditions, with 48 easyJet services affected.

Ryanair cancelled a "small number" of flights. Delays and cancellations were also reported at Heathrow.

Rosemary Powell, 58, said her journey from Heathrow to Newcastle was delayed by seven hours after her flight was cancelled.

She told the Standard: "I arrived at the airport to find that the plane was cancelled.

"I never had an email to say it was cancelled or to explain. I was put on a flight seven hours later.

"I had to queue again to ask about compensation and was given a desultory 10 voucher for food and drink."

Passengers have reported being left stranded at airports across Europe because of the extreme weather.

On Thursday evening, Didcot Parkway railway station in Oxfordshire flooded, leaving passengers to wade through deep waters or be helped by firefighters.

Travellers posted to social media to report raw sewage flowing from drains, while one commuter said she had been given a piggy back through a flooded underpass.

Met Office meteorologist John West said a "lively" day was in store on Friday, despite a bright start for some.

He said: "It will be a warm and humid day, with some decent spells of sunshine. But with the temperatures rising and an awful lot of moisture in the air, we'll see more heavy showers and thunderstorms returning by early afternoon.

"This will affect Northern Ireland, Scotland and western parts of England and Wales.

"With some torrential downpours, it is likely that we will see some localised flooding."

'Mother of all thunderstorms' 1 /11 'Mother of all thunderstorms' Lightning over the Suleymaniye Mosque in Dalston as the mother of all thunderstorms swept over London Andrew Lanxon Hoyle/@Batteryhq/P The thunderstorm illuminates the night sky over the Thames in this picture from Tower RNLI TowerRNLI/PA A lightning bolt arcs over London's skyscrapers Reuters The display of lightning in a Twitter picture that passed near Reigate @robinpeyton Lightning in south-west London @NitaiLevi/Twitter This time-lapse image shows lightning striking behind Big Ben in central London James Brewin/PA Lightning above Wembley Stadium REUTERS Londoners run for cover as a lightning bolt darts across the sky over Kings Cross @pamelsaurusrex/PA Lightning over the Shard @samueltwilkinson /PA Lightning seen from a bedroom window as it strikes above a street in south London REUTERS There were between 15,000 and 20,000 lightning strikes over the UK last night REUTERS

Forecasters predict up to 1.8 inches of rain could fall in the space of an hour in some parts, rising to 3.6 inches over three hours.

South-west parts of England were worst-affected overnight, with Gloucestershire County Council reporting multiple calls to the fire service over flash flooding.

The Environment Agency has urged people to check their flood risk and warned people not to drive through flood water.

Kate Marks, Environment Agency flood duty manager, said teams would work "24/7" to operate flood defences, clear blockages in rivers and streams and support partners at any incidents of surface water flooding.

"With heavy rain forecast during rush hour, drivers should stay up to date with the latest weather forecast and travel information before making their journey," she said.
A Russian journalist harshly critical of the Kremlin has been shot and killed in Ukraine, according to local police.

Arkady Babchenko, 41, was reportedly found bleeding in his apartment block in Kiev by his wife and died in an ambulance on Tuesday.

Ukrainian officials said they assume the journalist, who had said he received death threats, was targeted because of his work.

Police said he suffered multiple gunshot wounds to his back.

Ukrainian police guard the entrance to the home of Arkady Babchenko in Kiev following the shooting / EPA

"The first and the most obvious version is his professional activities," Kiev Police Chief Andriy Krishchenko said.

Mr Babchenko previously worked as a presenter on Ukrainian channel ATR TV, and has written about his military service.

The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York said on Twitter that "Ukrainian authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation" into Babchenko's death.

Mr Babchenko was scathingly critical of the Kremlin's policies, assailing Moscow's annexation of Crimea, its support for separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine and the Russian campaign in Syria.

Police attend the scene in Kiev / EPA

Ukrainian and Russian officials traded finger-pointing over his death.

Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker who serves as an adviser to the interior minister, said on Facebook that investigators would be looking at "Russian spy agencies' efforts to get rid of those who are trying to tell the truth about what is going on in Russia and Ukraine."

Gerashchenko said Mr Babchenko's killer was waiting for him on the staircase inside the journalist's building and shot him in the back as he was going out to buy bread.

In Moscow, officials and lawmakers criticized Ukrainian authorities for their alleged failure to protect journalists.

Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the Kremlin Human Rights Council, said Mr Babchenko's death was a "clear provocation."
T he Belgium terror suspect had been jailed numerous times and appeared in national security reports about terrorism before shooting dead two police women and a 22-year-old man in Liege.

The suspect has been named as Belgian national Benjamin Herman and is understood to have been on two-day release from prison for "family leave" when the attack took place.

He was due to travel back to his home town of Rochfort, just 40 miles from Liege, during his release despite prison officers branding him "extremely violent".

According to state broadcaster RTBF Herman, who was born in 1982, had a criminal record that included a number of convictions for theft, assault and drugs offences.

Forensic tents at the scene of the attack in Liege / REUTERS

The federal prosecutors office declined to comment on the identity of the attacker.

But at a press conference about the attack Prime Minister Charles Michel said the convict had appeared on national security reports about radicalisation.

Anti-terror police flock to the scene of the attack / EPA

He said he was mentioned "in notes that did not primarily target him, but others or other situations."

Mr Michel added that Hermans name did not appear on a list maintained by an anti-terror assessment group.

He said there was no reason to give the attacker such qualification.

Emergency services swarmed Liege city centre / AFP/Getty Images

According to news agency AFP, Herman had been radicalised in prison and converted to Islam.

The suspect knifed the two officers before grabbing one of their weapons and turning it on them during his rampage.

He then gunned down a 22-year-old man at a nearby park before seeking refuge at Lieges Waha secondary school where he briefly held a cleaner hostage.

Forensic officers in Liege / REUTERS

The woman was unharmed as the gunman fled the building and was shot dead by officers lying in wait outside.

He is said to have shouted Alluh Akbar  Arabic for God is Greatest as he launched his attack around 10.30am on Tuesday.

He opened fire after being stopped by the two officers for routine documents checks close to city centre cafe.

Two police officers and passer-by shot dead in Belgium 1 /14 Two police officers and passer-by shot dead in Belgium Emotional: A police officer puts up his hand to cover his face at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium REUTERS Explosives experts arrive at the scene of a suspected terror attack in Liege EPA A bomb squad arrives at the scene of a suspected terror attack in Liege EPA Armed police stand behind a car at the scene of the shooting in Liege, Belgium REUTERS An ambulance car is seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege REUTERS A police cordon and police in vests at the scene of a fatal shooting in Liege REUTERS Ambulance vehicles arrive at the scene of the fatal shooting AFP/Getty Images Forensics experts after two police officers and a passer-by were shot dead during a terror attack in Liege, Belgium REUTERS Police special forces are seen during a shooting in Liege REUTERS People run from the scene of a suspected terror attack in Belgium REUTERS/VICTOR JAY Police special forces on scene after the fatal shooting REUTERS Police officers are seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege REUTERS Armed police walk past emergency services vehicle following the shooting REUTERS Four forensics officers near to the scene of the shooting REUTERS

His aim was to "target the police, Lieges police Chief Christian Beaupere said.

Witnesses described seeing a man dressed all in black and wearing a backpack carrying out the brutal attack.

Images on social media showed pedestrians fleeing with the sounds of gunshots and sirens in the background.
T he two female police officers and a car passenger shot dead in a suspected terror attack in the Belgian city of Liege have been named.

Soraya Belkacemi, 53, and Lucille Garcia, 45, were killed when a prisoner on day leave from jail stole their handguns as the horror unfolded on Tuesday.

The attacker, named by local media as Belgian national Benjamin Herman, then took a female cleaner hostage at a high school.

Cyril Vangriecken, 22, was in a car when he was shot and killed by the gunman / Facebook

He was later shot dead by police and the cleaner was released.

Tributes have poured in for the three people killed in the attack, with Liege police sharing an image of the two officers killed.

Theresa May condemns knife and gun attack in Belgium

Alongside the picture, posted on the forces Facebook page, a message read: Our entire police corps is in mourning and offers sincere condolences to the families of his two colleagues and the young man, a passenger from a car.

Our four other injured colleagues are out of danger, one of them has been sutured and left the hospital, the other three have been operated and are still hospitalised.

There are no words sufficient to describe the emotion that motivates all our colleagues. All of you thank you for your many support brands, they are valuable and help them keep the strength to stand up as a brave police and Belgian Police. Because beyond liege, it's an entire integrated police force.

Forensic police investigate at the scene of the shooting in Liege / AP

Colleagues of the two officers described them as wonderful women, mothers and policewomen.

Mr Vangriecken's father told BFMTV that his son was focused on his studies, adding: My son was a perfect child. When I say perfect, it was perfect.

Two police officers and passer-by shot dead in Belgium 1 /14 Two police officers and passer-by shot dead in Belgium Emotional: A police officer puts up his hand to cover his face at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium REUTERS Explosives experts arrive at the scene of a suspected terror attack in Liege EPA A bomb squad arrives at the scene of a suspected terror attack in Liege EPA Armed police stand behind a car at the scene of the shooting in Liege, Belgium REUTERS An ambulance car is seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege REUTERS A police cordon and police in vests at the scene of a fatal shooting in Liege REUTERS Ambulance vehicles arrive at the scene of the fatal shooting AFP/Getty Images Forensics experts after two police officers and a passer-by were shot dead during a terror attack in Liege, Belgium REUTERS Police special forces are seen during a shooting in Liege REUTERS People run from the scene of a suspected terror attack in Belgium REUTERS/VICTOR JAY Police special forces on scene after the fatal shooting REUTERS Police officers are seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege REUTERS Armed police walk past emergency services vehicle following the shooting REUTERS Four forensics officers near to the scene of the shooting REUTERS

The terror suspect had been jailed numerous times and appeared in national security documents, according to reports.

Herman is also understood to have been on two-day release from prison for "family leave" when the attack took place.

He was due to travel back to his home town of Rochfort, just 40 miles from Liege, during his release despite prison officers branding him "extremely violent".

According to state broadcaster RTBF Herman, who was born in 1982, had a criminal record that included a number of convictions for theft, assault and drugs offences.

Liege shooting: Two police and passer-by dead in Belgium

The federal prosecutors office declined to comment on the identity of the attacker.

But at a press conference about the attack Prime Minister Charles Michel said the convict had appeared on national security reports about radicalisation.

He said he was mentioned "in notes that did not primarily target him, but others or other situations."

Mr Michel added that Hermans name did not appear on a list maintained by an anti-terror assessment group.

Belgian Special Police at the scene of the shooting / AP

He said there was no reason to give the attacker such qualification.

According to news agency AFP, Herman had been radicalised in prison and converted to Islam.

The suspect knifed the two officers before grabbing one of their weapons and turning it on them during his rampage.

Crowds look on in the aftermath of the attack (REUTERS) / REUTERS/VICTOR JAY

He then gunned down Mr Vangriecken at a nearby park before seeking refuge at Lieges Waha secondary school where he briefly held a cleaner hostage.

It is believed he shouted Alluh Akbar  Arabic for God is Greatest as he launched his attack around 10.30am on Tuesday.

The gunman opened fire after being stopped by the two officers for routine documents checks close to city centre cafe.

His aim was to "target the police, Lieges police Chief Christian Beaupere said.

Prime Minister Theresa May has denounced a "cowardly" attack.

A man stabbed two officers and took their guns before shooting them and a 22-year-old man sitting in a vehicle

In a message on Twitter shortly after the outrage, Mrs May said: "My thoughts are with the victims of today's cowardly attack in Belgium and their grieving families.
D onald Trump has caused outrage by boasting that American service members killed in action would be happy with the way he is running the country.

Scores of people, including veteran groups, took to social media to hit out at the US Presidents Memorial Day tweet to his 52.3 million followers on Monday.

In his widely criticised message, Mr Trump said those who died in battle would be very happy and proud of the US best economy in decades and of the rebuilding of our Military.

The post, which has been shared more than 22,000 times on the social media app, read: Happy Memorial Day! Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today.

Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!

President Donald Trump prays during a Memorial Day wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Monday / AP

Responding to the post, National Security advisor and retired soldier Paul Eaton wrote: Mr. President: My father was MIA in Vietnam for 30 years. I will visit him at Arlington today. There is nothing happy about.

Ricardo Rosa, 57, an Army veteran from Brooklyn, also hit out at the US leaders message, saying: he always makes it about himself.

Hes always doing that. Hell tweet something that should be a nice, but then make it about him, Mr Rosa told the New York Post.

Hell tweet about what he wants, it cant just be about Memorial Day. He doesnt really care about black or Hispanic people.

What is he doing for our homeless veterans? Or our service members coming back with PTSD. They are the ones who need help.

Veteran group VoteVets branded the post the most inappropriate Memorial Day Mr Trump has ever made.

Donald Trump, secretary of defense Jim Mattis, and chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen. Joseph Dunford stand for "Taps" during the ceremony / AP

A statement on its Twitter page read: This is the most inappropriate #MemorialDay comment that a @POTUS has ever made. Self-promotion on a day to remember the fallen, and wishing those remembering their deceased loved ones a happy holiday is appalling. #CadetBoneSpurs.

Others compared his message to the Memorial Day tweet posted by former president Barack Obama, who wrote: We can never truly repay the debt we owe our fallen heroes.

But we can remember them, honour their sacrifice, and affirm in our own lives those enduring ideals of justice, equality, and opportunity for which generations of Americans have given that last full measure of devotion.
In the June 2018 issue of Hoof Beats, USTA President Russell Williams outlined the USTAs opposition to the proposed legislation, H.R.2651, being considered by the U.S. House of Representatives.

The USTA is calling on everyone in the harness racing industry to contact their local legislators to express their opposition to the bill. Read on to find out how and why.

If you need further information or have any questions, please contact USTA Director of Marketing and Communications Dan Leary at [email protected] and put H.R.2651 in the subject line.

Dont We Have Better Things to Do?

(by Russell Williams, USTA president)

Proposed House bill H.R.2651 is federal legislation that isnt good for harness racing

State governments, through their racing commissions, have regulated medication in horse racing for about 60 years. The Horseracing Integrity Act of 2017, or H.R.2651, now pending in Congress, would preempt long-established state regulatory authority, add about three new layers of regulation at the federal level, and impose the costs of it all on horse racing.

H.R.2651 proposes a private, independent, self-regulatory, nonprofit corporation to be known as the Horseracing Anti-Doping and Medication Control Authority (HAMCA). HAMCA would be charged with developing and implementing a medication control program for Thoroughbreds, Standardbreds, and Quarter Horses. It would operate under the ultimate authority of the Federal Trade Commission rather than the Department of Agriculture.

At the next level down, HAMCAs board would be composed as follows: the chief operating officer of the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA), six USADA members, and six members that USADA would appoint. The odds on whether any of the 13 members of this board might have any connection with harness racing are impossible to calculate, partly because at no point has anyone representing harness racing been consulted in the preparation of this legislation, with the possible exception of three harness tracks all controlled by the same person.

H.R.2651 is the brainchild of the Coalition for Horse Racing Integrity (CHRI), which alleges failure to finalize an interstate compact on racing medication as the reason this federal legislation is needed. The Jockey Club, along with a number of Thoroughbred entities that The Jockey Club guides for purposes of this legislative enterprise, leads CHRI. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) is also a member of CHRI.

Contrary to law and policy existing today in every racing state, H.R.2651 bans all race-day medication. Frank Stronach asked for this as a precondition to the Stronach Group (which owns six Thoroughbred tracks across the country) joining CHRI. This clause in the federal bill would ban the use of furosemide (marketed under the brand names Lasix or Salix). But the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) opposes such a ban, observing that there is no evidence that furosemide either enhances performance or masks substances that might do so, and that using the only medication proven to alleviate exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage is simply the humane way to race horses.

Also on the humane front, in the September/October 2017 issue of its magazine, HSUS describes the use of furosemide, the only medication currently permitted on race day, as follows: Currently, a patchwork of state laws enables trainers to give horses drugs that mask pain, allowing the animals to race even when injured.

As a revealing aside, in April 2018, HSUS condemned anyone who would call for a heavy-handed government to impose its will from Washington. HSUS used those words in opposing a separate piece of federal legislation. But HSUS evidently supports heavy-handed government in the case of H.R.2651. Unfortunately, by spreading among its many members (HSUS has claimed to have millions of members) an opinion that is unfounded and contrary to the official position of veterinary medicine, HSUS is only darkening the future of all types of horse racing.

The federal bill disregards any differences between the racing models of different breeds. State racing commissions, on the other hand, and the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) do recognize the importance of these differences in regulating racing medication.

Historically, Congress has appropriated federal anti-doping funds and granted them to USADA to help cover the cost of drug testing in human sports, which is USADAs sole area of expertise. But H.R.2651 contains no provision for federal funding for HAMCA. Instead, it imposes assessments on state racing commissions as its basic funding mechanism.

HAMCA can also borrow money, and the bill states that assessments on state commissions can be used to liquidate loans. Yet HAMCA gets to determine its own budget, giving it a blank check to impose unlimited new costs on racing.

It is only reasonable to project that the operating costs that HAMCA would impose on racing would be substantial. For example, in calendar year 2016, state racing commission expenditures in Pennsylvania alone exceeded $16 million. If more money is to be spent, instead of supporting a redundant, inexperienced, and uncontrolled new federal spending organization, we should consider supporting existing medication research as well as any of the other efforts that are already being made to support and improve the sport.

Contact your legislators and ask them to oppose H.R.2651 and any companion legislation that may emerge in the Senate. You can find your representative in the House at www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and your senator at www.senate.gov/reference/common/faq/How_to_correspond_senators.htm.

Following is a sample letter that you can use to send by email or regular mail to your Congressman/Congresswoman. Or as an alternative, you are encouraged to call your representative to express your opposition to H.R.2651.

Date

Honorable XX

XX [OFFICE BUILDING] House Office Building

Washington, D.C. 20515

Dear Congressman/Congresswoman XX [Last name]:

As you know, several states support and host pari-mutuel wagering on horse racing. On the other hand, in some states that do not host such betting, there are significant horse breeding and training businesses throughout the state, along with county fair racing, for example. Many of our states residents, including myself, enjoy and are supportive of the horse industry. In that context, I and many others who are supportive of the horse industry are very concerned about, and have strong feelings against, H.R.2651, the Horse Racing Integrity Act of 2017.

If enacted, H.R.2651 would be significantly burdensome to the horse industry in that it would create a new, duplicative regulatory bureaucracy at the federal level, on top of an existing state regulatory structure that is operated in 34 state racing jurisdictions around the country -- a system that has functioned well for over 100 years. Moreover, it is likely that this new bureaucracy would create a new structure of fees and taxes to cover some of the federal costs of the new regulatory structure, and those fees and taxes would come from horse owners and the industry at-large.

In addition to the regulatory burdens noted above which would be created under H.R.2651, the bill seeks to ban the drug Lasix, or Furosemide. This drug is used in horses to control or prevent Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhages (EIPH), or bleeding. Horses often experience EIPH during intense exercise, such as during races.

Lasix is recognized as an effective, preventative treatment for bleeding in the lungs of horses, which is the reason its use is recognized by the North American Association of Racetrack Veterinarians and the American Association of Equine Practitioners as safe and effective. These veterinarians believe that the use of Lasix to treat bleeders is in the health and welfare interests of the animals.

According to a recent American Horse Council study, the horse racing industry contributes some $36 billion annually to the national economy and provides about 240,000 direct jobs. Any measure which will add further regulatory and cost burdens will only harm those state and local economies that depend on the industry. Accordingly, I urge you to oppose H.R.2651 or any identical or similar companion measure.

Sincerely,
A terrorist gunman shouting 'Allahu Akbar' knifed two policewomen before grabbing one of their weapons and shooting them dead before going on a rampage in the Belgian city of Liege today.

The attacker also shot dead a 22-year-old man before being killed by anti-terrorist officers.

The suspect, who was reportedly dressed in black and wearing a backpack, opened fire after being questioned in a routine documents check by officers in the street near a cafe in the centre of the city.

He is said to have disarmed one of the officers and opened fire.

Police special forces stand next to a man lying down on the pavement who is believed to be the shooter / REUTERS

Police said the attacker was a prison inmate who had been granted a few hours release on Monday but failed to return to prison. The attacker was known drug offender, according to reports.

Although the motive for the attack was not immediately clear, Belgium terror prosecutors have now taken over the case.

Police redirect traffic in the Belgian city of Liege / AFP/Getty Images

The drama unfolded soon after 10.30am local time, when gunfire was heard near the Cafe des Augustins in the city centre.

Two police officers and passer-by shot dead in Belgium 1 /14 Two police officers and passer-by shot dead in Belgium Emotional: A police officer puts up his hand to cover his face at the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium REUTERS Explosives experts arrive at the scene of a suspected terror attack in Liege EPA A bomb squad arrives at the scene of a suspected terror attack in Liege EPA Armed police stand behind a car at the scene of the shooting in Liege, Belgium REUTERS An ambulance car is seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege REUTERS A police cordon and police in vests at the scene of a fatal shooting in Liege REUTERS Ambulance vehicles arrive at the scene of the fatal shooting AFP/Getty Images Forensics experts after two police officers and a passer-by were shot dead during a terror attack in Liege, Belgium REUTERS Police special forces are seen during a shooting in Liege REUTERS People run from the scene of a suspected terror attack in Belgium REUTERS/VICTOR JAY Police special forces on scene after the fatal shooting REUTERS Police officers are seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege REUTERS Armed police walk past emergency services vehicle following the shooting REUTERS Four forensics officers near to the scene of the shooting REUTERS

Images of social media showed pedestrians fleeing with the sounds of gunshots and sirens in the background.

Police take cover during the terror attack in Liege, Belgium / REUTERS

One witness said on Twitter: Lot of police at the Boulevard dAvroy in Liege right now. I heard gunshots. I saw people fleeing in my street.

Explosives experts at the scene in Liege / EPA

A local police source said: Two officers were hit and then the man went on the run. He was seen running into the Waha secondary school, where he is said to have taken a female cleaner hostage.

Police speak with parents of children at a nearby high school in Liege / AFP/Getty Images

Minutes later, anti-terrorist special forces police could be seen surrounding the area, which went into lock down.

They are said to have shot the suspect dead at the school. Two more police officers were injured in the exchange of fire.

Forensics experts speak at the scene of a suspected terror attack in Liege / REUTERS

The school cleaner was not believed to have been hurt in the shoot-out.

The source said: The gunman was then neutralised, confirming that he was shot dead. He was heard shouting Alluhu Akbar  Arabic for God is the Greatest.

Catherine Collignon, a spokesman for Liege prosecutors, confirmed four deaths in total.

She confirmed that terrorism was considered the principal motivation for the attack by those leading the judicial enquiry.

The attacker had been stopped by the officers for a routine documents check close to the Boulevard dAvroy.

None of the children in the Waha school were hurt in the attack.

Belgiums anti-terrorist crisis centre was monitoring the situation, Interior Minister Jan Jambon said on Twitter.

People are seen leaving the area following the shooting / REUTERS

Belgium has been the target of terrorist attacks by Islamic State operatives in recent years, leading to a massive increase in security across the country.

In March 2016, a Brussels-based Isis cell murdered 32 people in the Belgium capital in coordinated bomb attacks on the city airport and an underground train station.

Police and ambulances are seen at the site / AFP/Getty Images

The killers were all linked to the November 2015 attacks on Paris, in which 130 people lost their lives.

Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region of Belgium, was also the scene of a shooting attack in 2011.

Police redirect traffic in Liege following the incident / AFP/Getty Images
I talian police are investigating a wave of death threats against President Sergio Mattarella after his decision to block the appointment of a Eurosceptic finance minister sparked outrage from supporters of two populist parties.

The country was plunged into political chaos on Sunday when the president effectively prevented the 5 Star Movement and far-Right League party from forming a government, even though they had won a total of nearly 50 per cent of the vote in the March elections.

The president vetoed the parties proposed finance minister, the Eurosceptic Paolo Savona, and appointed his own choice of interim prime minister, Carlo Cottarelli, a former International Monetary Fund official known for his austerity measures. The main Italian stock market index fell more than two per cent today amid the turmoil.

The investigation by Italys postal police is focused on 10 pages of tweets and Facebook messages ranging from insults to death threats against the president, according to Italian reports.

President Mattarella, a 76-year-old former minister and judge from Palermo, cradled his dying brother, Piersanti, in his arms when he was gunned down by the Sicilian mafia in 1980. Sergio Mattarella you deserve the same from the mafia that killed your brother Piersanti 38 years ago, said one tweet. Hes the only Mattarella that I want to remember!

Another said: You should end up like your piece of shit brother. While one said: They killed your brother, isnt that enough for you? Other comments on social media said the mafia had killed the wrong brother and threatened the president would face a worse fate. Many accused him of being a dictator who had carried out a coup detat.

Among those under investigation are an unnamed police officer from Catania and Vittorio Di Battista, the father of Alessandro Di Battista who is one of the young leaders of the 5 Star Movement.

Rome prosecutors have opened an investigation into comments Vittorio Di Battista allegedly published on May 23 on Facebook  since withdrawn  where he urged Italians to violently assault the Quirinale Palace, the presidents official residence in Rome, like the French mob did at the Bastille during the 1789 Revolution.

Social media has also been filled with messages of support for the president.
T his is the moment a man racially abuses a worker at a fast food restaurant for not honouring his burger voucher.

The man launches a vile tirade against the server at the Jack in a Box restaurant in Manvel, Texas where at one point he threatens to send her "back to Mexico."

The video was posted to Facebook by Luptia Rangel who wrote: "Never thought i'd experience racism so close."

In the video, the man dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans tells the woman behind the counter: "I'm going to buy you a bus ticket back to where you came from. I'm going to get you fired out of here."

The man threatened the server at the Jack in a Box restaurant ( Luptia Rangel) / Luptia Rangel

Another member of staff steps in to try and identify what the issue is.

The man responds "She lied her a** off. She thought she could get away with it."

While the member of staff tries to tell the man that he will be getting what he had asked for, the man interjects and claims he had seen the woman dropping food.

He then asks the woman's name and says "goodbye Maria. I'm going to buy you a ticket back to Mexico."

The man then storms out of the premises.

The video has been viewed over 86,000 times with many people sharing their outrage at the footage.

Jason Steinberg wrote: "Another day, another angry racist."
S tarbucks is set to close thousands of stores for staff training on racial bias after a damaging row.

The rapper Common is set to feature in a series of videos played at the sessions aimed at tackling unconscious bias.

The move comes as the coffee shop giant tries to restore its tarnished image as a cafe where all customers are welcome.

After the arrests of two black men who went into a branch in Philadelphia to try and use the bathroom in April, the coffee chain's leaders apologised and met with the two men.

Starbucks has put together a curriculum for its 175,000 staff, which will see staff "move into a real and honest exploration of bias" where, in small groups, they can share how the issue comes up in their daily work life.

The US company has described it as a "collaborative and engaging experience for store partners to learn together".

"Unconscious bias training is used by many corporations, police departments and other organisations to help address racism in the workplace. The training is typically designed to get people to open up about implicit biases and stereotypes in encountering people of colour, gender or other identities.

The Perception Institute, a US consortium of researchers consulting with Starbucks, defines implicit bias as attitudes - positive or negative - or stereotypes someone has toward a person or group without being conscious of it.

Rashon Nelson, left, and Donte Robinson, right, have reached a financial settlement over their arrests in a Philadelphia Starbucks / AP

A common example, according to some of its studies, is a tendency for white people to unknowingly associate black people with criminal behaviour.

Many retailers including US retail giants Walmart and Target said they already offer some racial bias training.
T wo journalists have been killed after a tree fell on their car as they reported on the severe weather on the fringe of a subtropical storm when it made landfall in Florida.

News anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer, who both worked for South Carolina's WYFF-TV, died on Monday while on assignment, it was reported.

Police said a large tree toppled onto their television news vehicle near Tryon, North Carolina, after they had interviewed a fire chief about the severe weather.

It was expected to hit parts of the US with drenching rains, blasting winds and possible tornadoes before weakening as it moves further inland.

Beachgoers walk on Okaloosa Island in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, as Subtropical Storm Alberto approaches the Gulf Coast / AP

Many of the northern Florida panhandle's beaches were empty of the crowds typical for Memorial Day, a holiday across the US to remember those who died serving in the country's armed forces.

Alberto passed the coast at Laguna Beach with maximum sustained winds of 45mph (72km/h), US meteorologists said.

Heavy rainfall associated with subtropical storm Alberto cuts off the national highway in Santa Clara / AFP/Getty Images

"It's maintained its strength and wind speeds overnight, and it looks like it's headed for landfall at Panama City, Florida," said National Weather Service meteorologist David Roth.

"It has maximum sustained winds of 65 mph, which is about 10 miles shy of being a hurricane. This is definitely a dangerous storm."

Thousands of Florida residents evacuated homes on Sunday as the storm headed north through the Gulf of Mexico.

Alberto, the first named Atlantic storm of 2018, spun up days before the formal June 1 start of the hurricane season.

There were a number of deadly hurricanes in the United States and Caribbean last year that struck places including Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico, causing hundreds of billions of dollars in damage, massive power outages and devastation to hundreds of thousands of structures.

Alberto was expected to drop as much as 12 inches (30 cm) of rain, slamming an area from Mississippi to western Georgia, the US National Hurricane Centre, based in the Miami, said.
O ne of Kim Jong-uns top officials is thought to be travelling to the US as preparations for a historic summit appeared to remain on track.

Gen Kim Yong-chol, a top military figure in North Korea, was scheduled to fly out on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

If his trip is confirmed, he would be the most senior North Korean official to meet with top officials in the US since Jo Myong-rok, a marshal, met with then-President Bill Clinton at the White House in 2000.

Kim Yong-chol at Beijing airport on Tuesday / AP

He wrote that he had no choice but to cancel the meeting, which was scheduled to take place in June, because Kim jong-un had shown "tremendous anger and open hostility in a recent statement".

A day later, Mr Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries are said to be meeting to work out details.

Kim Chang-son, Kim jong-un's de facto chief of staff, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

Trump: Summit Cancellation Setback for the World

At the same time, the White House said a "pre-advance" team was travelling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans.

US government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left US Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The reports indicate that planning for the summit is moving ahead.

When Kim Chang-son was asked by a reporter at the Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the US, he said he was "going there to play," according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Choe Kang-il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport, according to Yonhap.
P olice are investigating footage of an officer punching a woman in the head during an arrest on a US beach.

Video circulating on social media showed three officers trying to detain a 20-year-old woman on a beach in New Jersey.

The woman, named by police as Emily Weinman, was later charged with two counts of aggravated assault on a police officer, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

The footage, taken on Saturday, appears to show an officer from the Wildwood Police Department punching a woman twice in the head. It does not show what led to the confrontation.

The footage, shot on Saturday, has triggered an investigation

Police said the officers involved have been reassigned to administrative duty as an investigation is held.

Wildwood Police Chief Robert Regalbuto said he finds the video "alarming" but doesn't want to "rush to any judgment" until the investigation is complete.

A grab from the video showing the incident in New Jersey

Wildwood Mayor Ernie Troiano Jr. told The Philadelphia Inquirer that the episode was a "shame," but said police would soon release body camera footage showing officers being insulted and spat upon. Weinman is also charged with spitting at an officer.

"It wasn't just that this officer decided to beat her up," he said. "That wasn't the case."

Troiano declined comment on the use of force, saying he didn't know the whole story, but added: "We don't like to see anyone get hit, period. But then again, when you have someone who's aggressively attacking you or spitting at you. I wasn't there. I don't know."

He also expressed frustration at the amount of underage drinking, saying no one is allowed to drink in public or on the beach in Wildwood unless they are attending an event that has received a permit to allow drinking.
M ark Wright has revealed he checked in with wife Michelle Keegan after a raucous Las Vegas stag do.

The TV presenter joked in an Instagram video about the boys checking in with their wives to let them know theyre alive following his brother Joshs stag party over the weekend.

Following the lavish weekend at the Wet Republic in Vegas, Wright took to social media to update fans on his antics.

He then documented his trip home looking worse for wear as he posed with a large smoothie.

Long-distance marriage: Mark Wright with Michelle Keegan / Dave Benett

He wrote: Large Vit C drink on the final day in @vegas is a must.

The 31-year-old relocated to Los Angeles for work whilst his other half remains in England.

Mark Wright talks long distance marriage to Michelle Keegan

Wright recently revealed that he is still so in love with wife Keegan adding that the couple aim to see each other at least once every three weeks.

Speaking about their relationship on Lorraine earlier this month, Wright said: Yeah were back and forward all the time. We kind of make sure its every three weeks maximum.

Michelle Keegan - In pictures 1 /23 Michelle Keegan - In pictures Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan Tim P. Whitby/Getty Images Brassic Sky UK Our Girl BBC Ordinary Lies BBC Coronation Street Getty Images Michelle Keegan and Mark Wright Getty Images Tina and Bboby Our Girl BBC Mark Wright and Michelle Keegan arriving at the National Television Awards 2017 Ian West/PA Michelle Keegan attends the ITV Gala in 2016 Dave Benett Michelle Keegan arrives for the Revlon Choose Love Masquerade Ball in 2016 Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images Michelle Keegan attends the launch of Michelle Keegan's new collection in collaboration with Lipsy at Nobu Berkeley in 2016 Michelle Keegan arriving at the National Television Awards 2016 Ian West/PA Michelle Keegan's Wedding Day in 2015 Michelle Keegan attends the Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women Of The Year awards in 2015 Dave Benett Michelle Keegan attends the House of Fraser British Academy Television Awards in 2015 Michelle Keegan Michelle Keegan for Lipsy Michelle Keegan for Lipsy Michelle Keegan attends the British Heart Foundations Roll Out The Red Ball at Park Lane Hotel in 2015 Michelle Keegan attends the National Television Awards in 2014 Coronation Street

"People say that long distance relationships don't work. But why can't they? Just because on paper they don't work.

As long as you see each other enough - why can't it work? It actually keeps things fresh.

While we're both young and conquering our dreams. I'm out there trying to make something happen, she's around the world acting.
N icole Kidman has revealed how she would go home and cry alone in the bath after a day playing a victim of domestic abuse in her hit show Big Little Lies.

The Oscar-winner, 50, is an executive producer of the drama series, along with Reese Witherspoon, and plays Celeste Wright, a role which has earned her a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild award and an Emmy.

Kidman spoke of the toll the part took on her in her cover story for Julys new-look Tatler, the first issue under the editorship of Richard Dennen.

You have to delve into parts where you go, OK, whats the truth of this character? she told the magazine. We had to be really honest. Youre playing love, but youre playing love that is so damaging to each of the people.

Girl talk: from left, Shailene Woodle, Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman in the hit TV drama Big Little Lies / HBO

I would come home and cry after doing Big Little Lies. I would cry alone. I would sit and I would have a bath and cry. And feel very distressed and not know exactly what to do about it.

Her co-stars on the show include Witherspoon, Laura Dern and Shailene Woodley. Meryl Streep is joining for the second series, which will be broadcast next year.

Golden Globes 2018 Winners - In pictures 1 /24 Golden Globes 2018 Winners - In pictures Laura Dern, from left, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley pose in the press room with the award for best television limited series or motion picture made for television for "Big Little Lies" at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel AP Gary Oldman accepting the award for best actor in a motion picture drama for his role in "The Darkest Hour," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards AP The cast and crew of "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" AP prah Winfrey accepting the Cecil B. DeMille Award AP Sterling K. Brown poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a television series - drama for "This Is Us" AP Laura Dern, Nicole Kidman, Zoe Kravitz, Reese Witherspoon and Shailene Woodley pose backstage after winning the award for Best Television Limited Series or Motion Picture Made for Television for "Big Little Lies." Reuters lisabeth Moss accepting the award for best actress in a drama series for her role in "The Handmaid's Tale," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards AP James Franco, left, winner of the award for best performance by an actor in a motion picture - musical or comedy for "The Disaster Artist," and Dave Franco pose in the press room with poses in the press room at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel AP Sam Rockwell embraces his wife Leslie Bibb as he poses with the award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture for his role in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri". Reuters Alexander Skarsgard accepting the award for best performance by a supporting actor in a series, limited series of film made for TV for his role in "Big Little Lies," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills AP Nicole Kidman poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actress in a limited series or a motion picture made for television for "Big Little Lies" at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel AP Laura Dern accepting the award for best supporting actress in a series, limited series or motion picture made for TV for her role in "Big Little Lies," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills AP Allison Janney accepting the award for best supporting actress in a motion picture for her role in "I, Tonya," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills AP Ewan McGregor accepting the award for best actor in a limited series or motion picture made for TV for his role in "Fargo," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards AP Aziz Ansari accepting the award for best actor in a comedy series for his role in "Master of None," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hill AP Frances McDormand accepting the award for best actress in a motion picture drama for her role in "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hill AP Saoirse Ronan accepting the award for best actress in a motion picture comedy or musical for her role in "Lady Bird," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills AP Guillermo del Toro poses in the press room with the award for best director - motion picture for "The Shape of Water" at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel AP Reese Witherspoon, foreground, with the cast and crew of "Big Little Lies," as she accepts the award for best limited series or motion picture made for TV at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards AP Gary Oldman poses in the press room with the award for best performance by an actor in a motion picture - drama for "Darkest Hour" at the 75th annual Golden Globe Awards at the Beverly Hilton Hotel AP Sterling K. Brown accepting the award for best actor in a TV drama series for his role in "This Is Us," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills AP Alexander Skarsgard accepting the award for best performance by a supporting actor in a series, limited series of film made for TV for his role in "Big Little Lies," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills AP Amy Sherman-Palladino, foreground, accepting the award for best TV series, musical or comedy for "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel," at the 75th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Beverly Hills AP AP

The new series could add to Kidmans haul of trophies, which she said she gives to her mother Janelle. Thats a big thing when you have a mother who has helped shape you and probably didnt have the career she deserved, she said.

So, in some ways thats my way of going, Look Mama, look! This is yours too.

Dennen, a former Evening Standard columnist, took the helm at Conde Nasts high society magazine following the departure of Kate Reardon last December.

Read the full interview with Nicole Kidman in Tatler / Victor Demarchelier/Tatler

Dennen, a great-grandson of First World War commander Field Marshal Haig, went to St Andrews with Prince William and the Duchess of Cambridge. He follows in the footsteps of Tina Brown and Geordie Greig, former editor of this newspaper.

Dennen previously edited the magazines Little Black Book, an annual list of the nations most eligible men and women.

He said of his appointment earlier this year: I am thrilled to be returning to Tatler, the original social media. Having admired the way it has covered British society over the last three centuries, I cant wait to continue that success story.

The Tatler I edit will access an even wider world, featuring arresting and impossibly glamorous fashion and lifestyle.
P eter Andre has revealed he was inspired by the Royal Wedding for his forthcoming wedding anniversary to wife Emily.

The Mysterious Girl singer told how the royal nuptials have pushed him to throw a big anniversary party.

Andre and his 28-year-old wife, who he shares two children with, will celebrate three years as a married couple on July 11.

Writing in his column for New! Magazine, he explained: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's wedding was a wedding with soul. It was definitely different, but good different.

The newly married Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle and Prince Harry (PA) / Steve Parsons/PA

We watched the ceremony and I loved how at the start it was so British and then all of a sudden it was just pure American. There was no in between.

''The whole wedding fever got me thinking that Emily and I should throw a big anniversary party to celebrate our marriage.''

The 45-year-old also admitted that for his first anniversary with his other half he was baffled by what to buy her as a present.

At the time, he joked: ''I'll definitely plan something romantic for Emily, we'll probably go out for dinner.

We're supposed to give each other gifts made of paper so maybe I'll give her my autograph.''

The newly anointed Duke and Duchess of Sussex saw an A-list slew of guests in attendance including Hollywood stars George and Amal Clooney, David and Victoria Beckham and Priyanka Chopra.
Australian Churches Call for Peace in South Sudan

Contact: World Council of Churches Media Office , +41 79 507 6363



GENEVE, May 29, 2018 /



Photo: A child in a camp of internally displaced persons in Wau, South Sudan. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance GENEVE, May 29, 2018 / Standard Newswire / -- The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) drew together 27 Australian-Sudanese and South Sudanese leaders from seven churches for a national consultation held 15-16 May in Canberra.Photo: A child in a camp of internally displaced persons in Wau, South Sudan. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/ACT Alliance

Participants issued a "Unity Statement for Peace" at the end of the consultation, which was presented to the Addis Ababa peace talks and South Sudan Council of Churches on 17 May.

The meeting was held at the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture.

The statement was read by Ismail Wais, Intergovernmental Authority on Development special envoy for South Sudan.

The Australian Sudanese and South Sudanese church leaders in Canberra represented seven different denominations and six different Australian states and territories.

The statement reads: "We acknowledge the impact of war in giving rise to conflicting loyalties based on tribe, denomination and nationality within South Sudan and the South Sudanese diaspora in Australia."

The statement resolves to build unity and model one people within the diaspora in Australia.

"We long for there to be, and we pray for, peace and unity within the leadership and people of South Sudan based on universal values for good government," the statement reads.

NCCA Unity Statement of Peace sent to South Sudan Peace Talks

WCC member churches in South Sudan


A stage invader has crashed the second semi-final of Britain's Got Talent pressing three out of four judge's buzzers.

The man appeared to run from the audience after a performance by illusionists Magus Utopia during Tuesday nights live show.

He then ran along the front of the judges table and pressed three out of four red buzzers as they gave feedback to the group.

Amanda Holden and co-star Alesha Dixon appeared shocked, before Simon Cowell exclaimed that it was one of those nights.

Unimpressed: Judge Simon Cowell pressed his own buzzer in retaliation / ITV

Solo host Dec assured the act that those buzzers didnt count before Cowell slammed down on his button as his verdict on the intruder.

A relieved Holden and Dixon returned to their seats as Cowell moved on with his feedback for the hopeful Dutch act.

Holden had originally been left terrified by the act, when one of the performers suddenly appeared behind her at the close of the routine.

Donnelly, hosting alone from Londons Hammersmith Apollo, joked about another quiet night, following last nights weather-induced technical fault.

He said: Apologies about our unwanted guest. Some people just cant keep their hands off our buzzers!

A spokesman for BGT: "A member of the audience ran up and pressed the judges buzzers at the end of Magus Utopias act. The man was quickly apprehended by security and removed from the building.

A severe thunderstorm knocked transmission off air for around 15 minutes just after the first act, Cali Swing, had performed on Monday evening.

When broadcast finally resumed, Cowell joked that Ant McPartlin didnt have to do that and that he would return next year.
L ove Island 2018 is just one week away and now we can get our first look at the contestants looking for love.

Series four kicks off on Monday 4 June with 11 singletons ready to take the villa by storm in their quest for love over eight weeks, with host Caroline Flack and narrator Iain Stirling there to take us through every step of the drama and action.

Among this years contestants is a familiar face to the reality scene, models, personal trainers and even a doctor.

Here are the 11 hopefuls looking for love in the Spanish sun in series four in - what ITV are describing as - a eight week hotbed of high drama, heartbreak, makeups and break ups

Laura Anderson

The 29-year-old Scot is swapping life as cabin crew for life in the villa, describing herself as looking for a rugged, real man adding that age isnt a big deal. Lauras claim to fame is that she once served Magic Mike star Channing Tatum on a flight.

Dani Dyer

Daughter of EastEnders actor Danny Dyer, 21-year-old Dani appeared on ITV2 screens briefly earlier this year in Survival of the Fittest. Dani ended up pulling out of the competition very early on after injuring her shoulder in the first task, with the barmaid being linked to a stint on Love Island ever since.

Dani describes herself as looking for somebody genuine but admits she worries about dating on national television.

Love Island 2018 - ITV2

Hayley Hughes

Model Hayley will be strutting her stuff in the Love Island villa, looking for somebody will a nice personality who knows how to treat a girl. The 21-year-olds biggest worry is that nobody will step forward for her when coupling up.

Kendall Rae-Knight

The former Miss North West is leaving the world of retail management behind for the luxury for the Balearic Islands hoping for something long term to come out of her experience on Love Island.

Host: Caroline Flack will present once again / ITV

Samira Mighty

Samira, a West End Performer, has appeared in Dreamgirls and Mamma Mia! on the London stage. The 22-year-old is looking for the full experience on the show, adding that her career has often stopped her meeting people as shes free in the day and not evening. But it may not just be love Samira wants, as the star says she is open to finding a best friend or even herself.

Love Island bosses 'to crack down on smoking' after complaints last series

Niall Aslam

The 23-year-old student is swapping books and construction work for building the foundations for finding love. Coventry-born Niall is most worried about being voted out first and isnt afraid to step on any of the other guys toes when it comes to getting his girl.

Eyal Booker

The 22-year-old model has been previously linked to the show, with his impressive portfolio. Now confirmed, Eyal admits his only concern is his mum, grandma or sister seeing something they might not want to see.

Adam Collard

Geordie Adam is already stating his claim as one half of this years bromance, saying that a loyal friendship is just as important as finding  or not finding  Mrs Right. The personal trainer, 22, just wants to get on with everybody  but this is Love Island, so well see.

Morning After: Kem Cetinay and Arielle Free will host a podcast talking over all the action / ITV

Jack Fincham

The 26-year-old Kent stationary seller is looking to swap staplers for suncream in a bid to find that special somebody. Jack isnt in the market for a fake girl and hopes to find somebody he genuinely likes and has a laugh with.

Dr Alex George

The A&E worker surely has the honour of the first titled contestant and is already toying with the idea of being the next TV doctor. The 27-year-old, who hails from North Wales, is hoping to find love first and foremost but also friendship. At least he probably knows how to fix a broken heart.

Wes Nelson

The final singleton of the 11 is 20-year-old Wes, from Staffordshire. The electrical and nuclear systems engineer is looking for somebody to have sparks fly with and to tame him.
S oon you could be choosing a computer over a doctor when it comes to a cancer diagnosis.

According to a new study, an artificial intelligent (AI) system outperformed dermatologists when it came to diagnosing skin cancer.

The computer, a deep learning convolutional neural network (CNN), was trained by a team from Germany, France, and the US, by looking at over 100,000 images of cancerous moles and benign spots.

After its training, the scientists put the computer to work by pitting it against 58 dermatologists from 17 countries around the world.

After being shown images of different types of moles, the CNN was able to accurately detect skin cancer in 95 per cent of the images.

The human dermatologists, on the other hand, accurately detected cancer 86.6 per cent of the time.

The CNN missed fewer melanomas, meaning it had a higher sensitivity than the dermatologists, said the studys first author, Holger Haenssle from Germanys University of Heidelberg, in a statement.

This meant the computer also misdiagnosed fewer benign moles as malignant. This could result in less unnecessary surgery, according to Haenssle.

In the future, the AI could be used as a tool for faster and easier diagnosis of skin cancer.

The use of AI in health care, whether it's cancer diagnoses or in eye disease research, is still a relatively new practice. Companies like IBM and Microsoft have been using the technology to improve cancer diagnoses and treatment plans for the past few years, as well as charities such as Cancer Research.

However, there is more of an emphasis on using this technology in the UK. Earlier this month, UK prime minister Theresa May pledged millions in government funding for research into using AI to fight cancer.

May said AI could be used to help stop 22,000 cancer deaths a year by 2033.
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Prospects for the continuation of the political dialogue in the favourable context of the economic co-operation relations between Romania and the United Kingdom were discussed on Tuesday at a meeting between Romania Senate Chairman Calin Popescu-Tariceanu and a delegation of the Romania-United Kingdom Parliamentary Friendship Group led by MP Bob Blackman.

According to a Senate press statement, the delegation also included MP Drew Hendry, Romania's honorary consul in Inverness, and John Grogan.

"The meeting allowed for a review of the main issues of interest on the bilateral agenda and of the prospects for the continuation of the political dialogue, in the context of the favourable economic co-operation relations between the two countries, the bilateral strategic partnership and the attention granted by the Parliament of Romania to the sizeable Romanian community in the UK. On the European context of the dialogue between the two countries, Popescu-Tariceanu expressed his belief that the negotiations on the UK's exit from the EU will follow a systematic and predictable process that will form the basis for the future European Union - UK relations, with the signing of a reconciliation agreement representing a first step in this direction."The Romanian side also spoke about the importance attached by the Romanian Parliament as a representative forum to Romanians abroad, highlighting the need for the European citizens' rights to free movement continuing to be respected based on the principle of reciprocity and non-discrimination.Tariceanu unveiled a series of priorities of the internal agenda, mentioning the importance of Romania finalising the process of legislative reforms in fundamental areas for strengthening the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, with the protection of citizens' rights and freedoms being front and centre. He said that correct information and close communication with external partners will lead to this goal being met.Also attending the meeting were the British ambassador in Bucharest Paul Brummel and Romania's ambassador to the UK Sorin Dan Mihalache.
Minister of National Defence Mihai Fifor, on Monday, met with the French Minister of Armed Forces, Florence Parly, with whom he discussed about the harmonization of standpoints regarding the eastern flank security on the occasion of the upcoming NATO Summit in Brussels, in July, and about the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union.

"The meeting that I had last evening with Mrs. Florence Parly, the Minister of the Armed Forces of France, represented an excellent occasion for us to have more consistent discussions related to the cooperation agenda between Romania and France. In the context of the preparations for this July's NATO Summit in Brussels, we agreed on the harmonization of standpoints related to security on the eastern flank of the Alliance, and Mrs. Parly assured me that France will treat the Black Sea region as a matter of importance. Thus, France will continue this year with the visit programme of the French ships in the Black Sea, in which context Mrs. Minister assured me of France's support in ensuring an advanced presence, coherently adapted, in the region," Fifor wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

He told the French official about the priorities of the Romanian presidency of the Council of the European Union."Considering that, in January 2019, Romania will take over the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, I discussed with Mrs. Parly about our country's priorities and the challenges facing the Union, both at internal and external level, at this point. I told her that very important for us will continue to be the project Europe of Defence, the launch of real cooperation projects in the defence field within PESCO, as well as the transatlantic relation for NATO and the EU," showed the Minister of Defence.Mihai Fifor underscored that "in a Europe where challenges and threats are increasingly more diverse and complex, there is need of consistence, of an accelerated path and visible results in the cooperation between the European states."The two officials also tackled such topics as the possibility of bilateral cooperation including in the technical-military field and they agreed on continuing discussions on different levels, with a view to developing European defence industries.
Deputy Prime Minister Ana Birchall met on Tuesday with a delegation of the UK Parliament's friendship group with Romania, made up of Bob Blackman, John Grogan, Drew Hendry and Carol Monaghan, context in which she reiterated, regarding the Brexit topic, the importance of defending the rights of the Romanian citizens and their families who live, work or study in the United Kingdom.

According to a release of the Government, during the talks the importance of the Strategic Partnership with the UK was underscored, a partnership which has a solid foundation in the security area, the economic sphere, as well as multiple opportunities of development.

In respect to the Brexit topic, the Romanian official reiterated the importance of defending the rights of the Romanian citizens and their families who live, work or study in the United Kingdom, underscoring that "Romania will further support the UK in remaining as close as close as possible to the European Union even after the Brexit comes into force."Furthermore, the Romanian side appreciated the support that the UK grants to the Black Sea region, the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans.Moreover, Deputy PM Ana Birchall conveyed to the British partners that Romania grants a special importance to the relationships with the UK, including in view of strengthening the parliamentary diplomacy.
Crin Antonescu could be a "solution" for a coalition of all the right wing parties, the leader of the People's Movement Party (PMP), Senator Traian Basescu, told national television channel TVR on Monday evening.

"He (Antonescu - editor's note) could be a solution, given the confidence that he enjoys. He left on time, in full glory. He left on time, before letting people see that the king is empty. He could bring all the right wing parties in one coalition," Traian Basescu said, in answering to a question about the possibility that Antonescu be the leader behind which all the right wing forces could coalesce.

Basescu rejected the idea that Dacian Ciolos could be the leader of a right wing coalition.When asked if he would agree on PMP to also coalesce behind Antonescu, Basescu said that "the PMP for sure, yes," but he for one "would continue on his own path."
Romania's Foreign Minister Teodor Melescanu on Monday attended a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Council (FAC) held in Brussels that focused on recent developments in Iran and Venezuela, the situation in Congo, and the post-Cotonou framework.

According to the Foreign Ministry (MAE), the Iran debate focused on recent developments following the withdrawal of the United States of America from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). Foreign ministers from the EU member states reiterated their support for keeping agreement in place and the need for Iran to continue its full implementation. They also advocated maintaining the EU's solidarity position on this matter and taking steps to identify the best solutions to protect the economic and commercial interests of European business operators who might be affected.

Melescanu reiterated support for the efforts of France, Germany and the UK (E3) to further implement the JCPOA, as well as the key importance of the dialogue with the US in identifying a durable solution to the Iranian case. He said that "Romania will support the continuation of diplomatic efforts, including the E3 and US dialogue for real progress and a sustainable and comprehensive solution to the Iranian file," said MAE.The discussion on Venezuela took place after a recent presidential election there.The ministers criticised the election framework, highlighting the failure to observe the principles of political pluralism, democracy, transparency and the rule of law. They agreed on the need to extend individual sanctions. Melescanu said that "the only way to solve the crisis is a negotiation process that includes all Venezuelan political forces and defines the political and economic future of the country."The situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo was addressed in the light of the elections scheduled for December this year and a worrisome local humanitarian situation. Melescanu reiterated the importance for all political players to observe the Saint-Sylvestre Agreement signed on December 31, 2016, to embark on a comprehensive dialogue to avoid creating additional political tensions that could postpone a solution to the current crisis.At an informal breakfast, the foreign ministers approached the situation in the Gaza Strip, expressing concern over the violence that led to a large number of protesters being injured.The ministers reiterated their support for the two-state solution and the call to avoid any unilateral measures that could increase tension in the region. Melescanu mentioned Romania's equidistant position on the Middle East Peace Process, "consistently supporting the need for a just and lasting settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by implementing the solution of two states that co-exist in peace and security."MAE also shows that on the side-lines of the FAC meeting an informal working breakfast was held with Macedonian Foreign Minister Nikola Dimitrov, hosted by the foreign ministers of Bulgaria and Austria. The exchange of views revealed general support for a stronger EU commitment to the Western Balkans region to facilitate the reform processes associated with the European perspective. The progress made by Skopje on the path of reforms was welcomed and encouraged. Foreign Minister Melescanu, who also had a bilateral meeting with Macedonian counterpart Nikola Dimitrov, reiterated Romania's support for the European prospects of the Western Balkans.
Romanian-language tuition is essential abroad, given that Romania has a second generation of children born abroad, Minister for Romanians Abroad Natalia-Elena Intotero said on a working visit to Italy she started on Monday.

According to a press statement released by the Ministry for Romanians Abroad (MRP), the visit started on Monday with Intotero attending an event in Turin called "Educational projects and strategies for pupils in the European context of work-related emigration in Europe," organised by teacher of Romanian Language, Culture and Civilization Mariana Paliev in collaboration with the director of the Duca d'Aosta School.

Taking part in the activity were school inspectors, school directors from Romania and about 30 teaching staff from Prahova County. The main topic of discussion was the equivalence of studies in other countries and measures taken by the Romanian government to support Romanian-language education abroad."Education in Romanian language is essential abroad, given that Romania has a second generation of children born abroad. That is why it is important to support the efforts of teachers and educators who teach in Romanian. I want to thank you all for your work and to assure you that you have a partner in the institution that I represent, and in the Romanian state. Moreover, we would be very pleased that together, through joint actions, we can support the establishment of as many Romanian Language and Civilisation classes as possible, so that our children have access to learning in Romanian, no matter where they are," said Intotero.Intotero also presented an educational package that the Ministry of National Education prepares in collaboration with MRP and mentioned some more than 5,000 scholarships offered by the Ministry of Education for the bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree classes for Romanian youngsters abroad who can come to study in Romania.Intotero invited the attending teachers to participate as volunteers in the 2018 edition of the ARC Camps programme and to take part in the "Information at Home! Safety Abroad!" campaign.Also on the first day of her visit, Intotero met Romanian associations in Turin to discuss funding offered by MRP and the ways in which the Romanian government can further support the Romanian community of Italy. The importance of information campaigns, as well as the urging to submit projects to MRP and to participate in ministerial camp programmes was reiterated.The visit continued on Tuesday with Intotero meeting representatives of the local and regional administrations of Piedmont.
The Liberals are taking steps to notify the Venice Commission via the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on the changes to the Criminal Codes, Chairman of the National Liberal Party (PNL) Ludovic Orban announced.

"Today we decided for PNL to start the procedure to notify the Venice Commission via the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, specifically via the Monitoring Committee and the Committee on Legal Affairs on the proposals to amend the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. We consider it is absolutely necessary that the Venice Commission also expresses an opinion on these amendment bills. We resort to this procedure because, regrettably, this time again the parliamentary majority has rejected the request submitted by the PNL parliamentary group for the Parliament leadership to notify the Venice Commission before putting up the amendments for debate and adoption," Orban said at the end of the meeting of the PNL Executive Bureau at the Palace of Parliament.

Orban underscored that this move is "perfectly legitimate and normal for an EU member country."The Liberal head mentioned that PNL has previously succeeded in notifying the Venice Commission via the PACE Monitoring Committee on the changes to the justice package.
Former Prime Minister and leader of the Pro Romania Party Victor Ponta says that the main objective of the party that he leads is to change the Dancila Government by 1 January 2019.

He stated on Monday evening, in a broadcast at the Realitatea TV private television station, that the future prime minister will be endorsed by both the Pro Romania Party and the Social Democratic Party (PSD).

"On 1 January 2019, when Romania will take over the presidency of the Council of the European Union, let us have a government of competent people, speakers of foreign languages, professionals. (...) Until then, let us succeed in firstly convincing the people of the PSD because they hold the majority and the others to make a government that, for six months, will set an example in Europe, so they can say 'what a Prime Minister I've met in Romania, what a Minister of Agriculture, of Education," Ponta stated.He mentioned that he doesn't believe that a change of a functioning parliamentary majority is possible, adding that the future PM should not be anti-PSD.Victor Ponta also stated that the Pro Romania Party won't endorse a government led by leader of the National Liberal Party Ludovic Orban.Furthermore, the Pro Romania Party leader admitted that his party might nominate a candidate for the presidential elections of 2019 that will also have the support of the Social-Democrats."We, because the PSD is not fit to propose a candidate, we will propose a candidate belonging to the centre-left wing, and also endorsed by the PSD and by Romania and by all those who are belonging to the centre-left wing," Victor Ponta added.
Acting as decision-making chamber, the Senate rejected on Tuesday by a vote of 96 to 9 the legislative proposal for the autonomy of the Szekely Land.

The initiator of the bill, deputy of the Hungarian Democratic Union of Romania (UDMR) Kulcsar-Terza Jozsef-Gyorgy argued that the piece of legislation does not propose any border change, but only seeks territorial autonomy for the Szekely Land inside the Romanian state.

According to the bill "the inhabitants of Szekely Land are constituted as an autonomous community" as an expression of this region's historical identity, in order to ensure equal opportunities for the citizens and to protect the Hungarian national identity.The autonomy of the community represents the right and effective capacity of the autochthonous majority community of this historical region to have self-administration prerogatives and certain state prerogatives so as to handle on its own responsibility and in the interest of the entire community a major part of public interest issues, in line with the principle of subsidiarity, the bill states.According to the document, "Szekely Land becomes an autonomous region with legal personality inside Romania, and the competencies of the region are set forth in the present Statute of the region or in international law". "The region has decision-making right and management right in the fields falling under its specific competencies, and this right includes adopting and exercising a region-specific policy," the draft regulatory act also provides.The same project mentions that "the territory of the autonomous region comprises the present Covasna and Harghita counties, as well as the historical seat of Mures, belonging to Mures County".The Senate's Administration Committee issued a rejection report for the legislative proposal on ground that it "introduces new territorial - administrative units that are not provided for in the Constitution of Romania."
The way it works was well displayed, May 25th, on the opinion page of Americas largest-circulation newspaper, USA Today. Each of the three articles there presumed that the US Government is fighting for the publics interests, and that the countries it invades or threatens to invade are evil. It is all, and always, propaganda for the US military, which is the reason why the US military is the most-respected institution in the United States, despite being the most wasteful and the most corrupt of all federal Departments.

The US public dont think of the military as being driven by the military corporations  Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, etc.  each corporation deriving that multi-billion-dollar profit annually from selling weapons to the US and to its allied governments, but the public are indoctrinated constantly to think of the US military instead in an admiring way, as if it were being led by and represented the US troops who are operating those weapons to kill foreigners in countries that actually never had invaded nor threatened to invade America, and those troops are Americas presumed heroes, when Americans rate the military as Americas best institution.

But this is no longer World War II  its a very different time and country  when the US was, at least to a substantial extent, a democracy, and it helped the Soviet and British Governments to defeat the fascist dictatorships, which wanted to become the capitalist global empire that the US aristocracy now wants to be. America, now, is fascist  the country that has invaded Vietnam and Iraq and Libya and Syria and Yemen, and that perpetrated coups in Iran and Indonesia and Chile and Ukraine, and many other countries, though none of those countries had ever invaded or threatened to invade America. Sheer aggression has become Americas bad habit.

Continual wars are needed by Lockheed Martin and the other such government contractors; and, so, enemy lands must be targeted by those weapons and those troops, to kill millions of people there, and to destroy the infrastructure that provides the residents there sustenance. Otherwise, why would these weapons even be bought (with taxpayers money), at all? Americas international corporations profit from it, but Americas taxpayers pay the immense (over trillion-dollar annual) tab for it.

The market for these weapons cannot continually expand  meet corporate executives' constant and (in the military field) cancerous growth-addiction  unless new targets for the public to fear and hate (Iran, North Korea, Russia, China, Venezuela, etc.) can be developed and intensified in its publics deceived mind. Americas news media perform that function, for corporate America, to open up extraction-lands (for oil, metals, etc.), and to establish new military anchors there (such as the US now is doing, for example, in Syrias oil-producing region). This isn't only for corporations such as Lockheed Martin, which manufacture those weapons, but it is also for corporations such as ExxonMobil, which are extractive industries and require extractions from countries all over the world, not merely within America.

Here, then, is how this mass-indoctrination is done, to manufacture the publics consent for continual invasion-and-occupation:



The lead opinion-piece In the May 25th USA Today was the editorial, Our View: Donald Trump, deal-breaker in chief, and it established the tone and theme for the entire page, by mixing together, and confusing readers to apply the same standards to, commercial foreign polices such as tariffs, and military foreign policies such as denuclearizing North Korea (so as ultimately to conquer that nation). Consequently, USA Todays editorial about Trumps cancellation of his summit with Kim Jong-un argued: "The list of broken or endangered agreements keeps growing: The Paris climate accord. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement. Those multi-national agreements were presented in terms of Democratic-versus-Republican-Party domestic political conflict, as being the sitting Republican US Presidents undoing of what the previous Democratic Party President (Obama) had done, and thus repositioned the issue subtly out of either the commercial or the military international field, into the American aristocracys domestic squabbles. Here, this major US news-medium was taking sides in the US aristocracys partisan split, and favoring the Democratic Party side of the US aristocracy, against the Republican Party side of the US aristocracy. But what does this intra-aristocratic domestic squabble have to do with US relations with North Korea  the supposed topic here?

Americas aristocracy are united supporting conquest. However, there are differences of opinion about how to go about doing it. Then, the editorial said: In other words, Trump's pretty good at deal-breaking. It's deal-making where he stumbles: Even as he pulled out of an agreement preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear bomb, Trump pushed for an even more ironclad deal stripping North Korea of the same weapons. As enticements, he promised Kim major US investments ('His country will be rich') and safety and security ('He will be happy')  strange offerings for a dictator who operates one of the world's last, brutal gulag systems, imprisoning tens of thousands. This editorial took a clearly partisan pro-US-regime, anti-North Korean regime, PR stance, without so much as just mentioning that, even according to pro-US estimates, North Koreas percentage of population that are in prison is no higher than is Americas percentage who are in prison. So, one of the worlds last, brutal gulag systems isnt clearly a worse one in that regard, than is the US Government itself. All the propaganda (such as this in USA Today) is pure uninformative and misleading indoctrination (PR), instead of being informative and trustworthy journalism. This newspaper sides with Americas aristocracy against North Koreas aristocracy, and with the Democratic Party faction of the US aristocracy against the Republican Party faction of the US aristocracy; but, this editorial provides no evidence for the particular prejudices it promotes. And it pretends to be about Trumps cancellation of that summit.

Next on the editorial page was "Donald Trump is onto something (or, on the printed page, Opposing view: Todays failure might be tomorrows success), in which the editors selected Republican Party propagandist, Kenneth Rapoza of Forbes, argued Trump brought tariffs back to life.  Trump is trying to manage trade outcomes to the benefit of US citizens. How did Trumps tariffs-policy relate to the proposed summit between him and Kim Jong-un? Obviously, the editors of USA Today didnt really care about that. This is how much they insult the intelligence of their readership (if not of themselves). The only difference between the pro and the contra here was the difference between the Democratic and the Republican Parties.

Finally, the third article was My hope for this Memorial Day, authored by PBS documentary film-maker Michael Epstein. He opened The night before I left for Iraq, I put my two young daughters to bed. Then, after more irrelevancy, he noted that, I did not go to Iraq as a Marine or a soldier. I went as a filmmaker. Still, as I lay next to my youngest daughter, it struck me that if something were to happen to me in Iraq,  Storytelling, like that, engages readers at the surface-level, and presses the buttons of readers propaganda vulnerabilities, for the desired atmosphere  here, in order for this non-soldier writer to pretend he understands the problems that Americas troops face. But then he incoherently proceeds to saying, in no relevant context, that he wants to regularly remind myself of the burden carried by the many for the benefit of the few  and he provides there no indication as to whom are the many and whom the few. One might try to guess that the few are the small percentage of Americans who are in the military, but that wouldnt actually fit into the given context, because hes supposedly discussing instead the burden carried by the many for the benefit of the few.

Is he talking there about the burden carried by the many taxpayers, for the benefit of the few troops? But, those troops arent actually the people who become enriched by Americas invasions and occupations  the owners of US military contractors such as United Technologies and Lockheed Martin, and of extractive industries, are those people, and they arent even peripherally mentioned. Then, he continues this nonsense by saying, As a nation we excel at waging war, yet we are criminally indifferent to its costs and consequences. But his article makes no mention of the costs and consequences to the residents in the lands where these troops invade and occupy, other peoples lands  and thats the vast majority of the costs and consequences of these invasions and occupations. His article simply ignores the death and destruction that the troops amongst whom he was embedded, were perpetrating upon the residents; he doesnt care about those victims, at all; they dont figure among his concerns; he doesnt mention them. He then refers to Sebastian Junger, whose film about the Afghanistan War, Restrepo,' which he co-directed with Tim Hetherington, is the gold standard for documentary war reporting. The film-maker of Restreppo was embedded with US troops in 2007 during their occupation of Afghanistan fighting against the Taliban, which (though Epstein makes no mention of the fact) the US and Sauds had created in 1979 in order to defeat the Soviets. US troops were actually fighting against a monster that the US and Sauds had jointly created, with assistance from yet another ally of the US aristocracy: Pakistans aristocracy.

Discordantly, another page in that same days issue of USA Today headlined "Afghanistan stabilization effort failing after 17 years of US work, watchdog report says, and reported that:

"The US governments 17-year effort to stabilize parts of war-torn Afghanistan has mostly failed, according to a report released Thursday by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. The damning report finds that much of the $4.7 billion spent on programs to stabilize areas cleared of insurgents has been largely wasted  some of it siphoned off by corrupt officials, some of it paying for projects that did more harm than good. All told, the US government has appropriated about $126 billion to rebuild the country.  The huge flows of money into the impoverished country had the opposite effect of what was intended, the report says.  'By fueling corruption and the populations disillusionment with its government, the coalition undermined the very government it sought to legitimize and drove support for the insurgency,' the report says."

So: who benefited from this death and destruction? Of course, the owners of Americas gigantic weapons-manufacturing firms did. And who suffered? Most of all, the residents in the invaded lands did, and do (though they werent even tokens considered in USA Todays journalism).

There is nothing unique about USA Today, in any of this. For example, on the day before they ran those articles, the New York Times had bannered "North Korea Says It Will Give Trump Time and Opportunity to Reconsider and reported that North Korea appeared to shift the blame to the United States but provided no evidence that the blame belonged to anyone but Americas own President. How could North Korea have shifted the blame for Trumps sudden termination of preparations for that summit? The NYT published that propaganda, treating its readers as fools who wouldnt notice the ridiculousness of their shift the blame accusation against North Korea. Those readers pay subscription-fees to subject themselves to such propaganda as that.

On May 22nd, the independent investigative historian, Gareth Porter, had headlined How Corporate Media Are Undermining a US-North Korea Nuclear Weapons Deal, and he described the prior consistent record of US major news media, as serving, in the North Korean matter, the function of propaganda agents for the owners of Americas giant weapons-making firms.
Ramzy BAROUD

60 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on May 15, simply for protesting and demanding their Right of Return as guaranteed by international law.

50 more were killed since March 30, the start of the Great March of Return, which marks Land Day.

Nearly 10,000 have been wounded and maimed in between these two dates.

Israel has the right to defend itself, White House officials announced, paying no heed to the ludicrousness of the statement when understood within the current context of an unequal struggle.

Peaceful protesters were not threatening the existence of Israel; rock throwing kids were not about to overwhelm hundreds of Israeli snipers, who shot, killed and wounded Gaza youngsters with no legal or moral boundary whatsoever.

8-months old, Laila al-Ghandour was one of the 60 who were killed on May 15. She suffocated to death from Israeli teargas. Many, like her, were wounded or killed some distance away from the border. Some were killed for simply being nearby, or for being Palestinian.

Meanwhile, Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President, Donald Trump, ushered in a new era of international relations, when she and her companions unveiled the new US Embassy in Jerusalem.

She was all smiles while, at the exact same moment, hundreds of Gazans were being felled at the border. The already dilapidated hospitals have no room for most of the wounded. They bled in hallways awaiting medical attention.

Ivanka has never been to Gaza  and will unlikely ever visit or be welcomed there. Gazans do not register in her moral conscience, if she has any beyond her immediate interests, as people deserving of rights, freedom and dignity.

At the border, many Gaza kids have been coloring their bodies in blue paint, dressing up in homemade costumes to imitate characters from the Hollywood movie, Avatar. They hoped that, by hiding their brown skin, their plight and suffering could be more relatable to the world.

But when they were shot, their blood gave them away. They were still human, still from Gaza.

The international community has already condemned Trumps decision to relocate his countrys embassy to Jerusalem, and declared his recognition of Jerusalem as Israels capital null and void, but will it go further than mere words?

Will the international community remain trapped between hollow statements and no action? Will they ever truly recognize the humanity of Laila al-Ghandour and all the other children, men and women who died and continue to perish under Gazas besieged skies? Will they ever care enough to do something?

The plight of the Palestinians is compounded with the burden of having a useless leadership. The President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, has been busy of late, demanding allegiance from the occupied Palestinians in the West Bank. Large signs and larger banners have been erected everywhere, where families, professional associations, unions and companies have announced, in large font: the Renewal of Loyalty and Support to President Mahmoud Abbas.

Renewal? Abbas mandate expired in 2009. Besides, is this what Abbas and his Fatah party perceive to be the most urgent matter that needs to be addressed, while his people are being massacred?

Abbas fears that Hamas is using the blood of the Gaza victims to bolster its popularity. Ironically, it is a shared concern with Israeli leaders, the likes of Israeli army spokesman, Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus. The latter said that Hamas has won the PR war at the Gaza border by a knockout.

This propaganda is as false as it is utterly racist; yet, it has persisted for far too long. It proposes that Palestinians and Arabs lack human agency. They are incapable of mobilizing and organizing their collective efforts to demand their long-denied rights. They are only pawns, puppets in the hands of factions, to be sacrificed at the altar of public relations.

It did not dawn on Conricus to note that, perhaps, his army lost the PR war because its brutes shot thousands of unarmed civilians who did nothing, aside from gathering at the border demanding an end to their perpetual siege; or that, just maybe, the PR war was lost because Israels top leaders announced proudly that Gazans are fair game, since, according to Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, there are no innocents in Gaza.

Ivanka will go down in Israels history as a hero. But Palestinian Resistance is not fueled or subdued by Ivanka, but by the sacrifices of the Palestinians themselves, and by the blood of Laila al-Ghandour, who was denied even a celebration of her first birthday on Gods besieged earth.

The US government has decisively and blatantly moved to the wrong side of history. As their officials attended parties, galas and celebrations of the Embassy move, whether in Israel or in Washington and elsewhere, Palestinians dug 60 more graves and held 60 more funerals.

The world watched in horror, and even western media failed to hide the full ugly truth from its readers. The two acts  of lavish parties and heartbreaking burials  were beamed all over the world, and the already struggling American reputation sank deeper and deeper.

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, may have thought he had won. Comforted by his rightwing government and society on the one hand, Trump and his angry UN bully, Nikki Haley, on the other, he feels invulnerable.

But he should rethink his power-driven logic. When Gazan youth stood bare-chested at the border fence, falling one drove after the other, they crossed a fear barrier that no generation of Palestinians has ever crossed. And when people are unafraid, they can never be subdued or defeated.

counterpunch.org
The US State Department has warned Syria against launching an offensive against terrorist positions in southern Syria. The statement claims that the American military will respond if Syrian forces launch an operation aimed at restoring the legitimate governments control over the rebel-held areas, including the territory in southwestern Syria between Daraa and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Washington is issuing orders to a nation whose leadership never invited America in in the first place! The very idea that another country would tell the internationally recognized Syrian government that it cannot take steps to establish control over parts of its own national territory is odd and preposterous by any measure.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said Washington would respond with "firm and appropriate measures." But does the US have any legal grounds for responding with any measures at all? What is it actually doing in Syria? And wait a minute  President Trump recently solemnly promised to leave! Indeed, there is no justification for the US military presence, especially after the Islamic State ceased to be a factor influencing the events there, once that force had been reduced to insignificance. It would have been totally routed a long time ago if America had not intervened, allowing the remnants of the militant group to survive. Wasnt it President Trump who said many times that the only justification for the US presence in Syria was the need to fight the Islamic State and nobody else? Wasnt it he who happily declared the final victory over the terrorist group? That mission has been accomplished and yet the US is still there, issuing warnings and instructions that others must comply with or else.

The statement calls on Moscow to use its influence with the Syrian government to prevent the liberation of the captured areas in accordance with last years de-escalation agreement between Russia, the US, and Jordan. Moscow has also called on Washington not to destabilize Syria with missile and air strikes and to do something about the humanitarian catastrophe in southwestern Syria, but is anyone listening? Last month, Russian President Putin said in a statement that any cooperation with the US in Syria had been suspended after the April attacks, which the Russian government viewed as an act of aggression against a sovereign state. It was not Moscow who started the whole thing, rendering all previous arrangements null and void. Assistant Secretary of State Wess Mitchell told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on April 18 that Washington was ready for an armed clash with Russia in Syria. This statement did not go unnoticed in Moscow.

Although it is a guarantor of the de-escalation zone in southwest Syria, what has the US done to prevent the rebels from attacking Syrian forces and staging all kinds of provocations?

What about the 12,000-strong Southern Front that has amassed in southern Syria preparing for an assault on Syrian forces? Is that not a violation of the agreement in regard to the de-escalation zone? They plan to capture Daraa and turn it into the capital of a would-be quasi-state supported by the US and Israel. A false-flag chemical attack cannot be ruled out. The militants have some experience staging such provocations. The logistics for this force involve crossing the Jordanian-Syrian border under the guise of providing humanitarian assistance. Has any de-escalation agreement given a green light to such activities?

The situation could have been discussed during the recent Astana meeting, but the US was conspicuously absent while encouraging military preparations in the province of Deir ez-Zor.

The US warning coincides with the news that the US is going to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory. And any foreign presence there  such as Iranian, for instance  would be viewed as a threat to Israels sovereignty, and of course America would be ready to help its old friend and ally. The Heights are Syrian land. They were captured during the 1967 war and illegally annexed by Israel in 1981. That move has not been recognized internationally but the US is ready to defy the rest of the world. Its not the first time. The embassy in Israel was moved to Jerusalem, the Iran deal was unilaterally torn up  the list of examples illustrating US scorn for international opinion can go on.

Despite its stated intentions to leave, the US warning shows that it will stay in Syria for a long time and its future plans have little to do with the Islamic State. The goal is the partition of Syria, with large swaths of its territory remaining under Americas control, including the Daraa province. The US absence at the Astana meeting confirmed its plan to stymie the ongoing Russia-led peace efforts in favor of seeing Syria divided and using other venues for peace talks in order to diminish Russias influence, isolate the Assad government, and squeeze Iran out. Step by step, Americas uninvited intervention in Syria is exacerbating the situation, increasing the risk of a wider conflict. If this plan to create a quasi-state in southern Syria goes through, this will be the beginning of the reshaping of the Middle East in accordance with Washingtons vision for the world at its best.
Besides reviewing the implementation of Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) reforms, the top civilian and military leadership also mulled over the regional situation and issues pertaining to eastern and western borders of the country, sources added.

Sources said the matter of a controversial book co-authored by former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani was also discussed in the high-level huddle.

Yesterday, following the outburst of former ISI head Asad Drunai controversial book, the military started the probe against him and Chief of Army Staff directed to concern authority to place his name on Exit Control List.EX ISI Head Durranias Name To Be Put On ECL: ISPRLieutenant General (retd) Asad Durrani, the former chief of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), will be probed by a Court of Inquiry for views attributed to him in his book The Spy Chronicles, said the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif while weighing on the controversy surrounding book penned down by former chief of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lt Gen (retd) Asad Durrani remarked that there is no point in investigating just one person.

Durrani, who served as the chief of Pakistan's premier intelligence agency from August 1990 to March 1992, landed in hot waters over remarks made in a book, titled The Spy Chronicles: RAW, ISI and the Illusion of Peace, which he co-authored with former chief of Indian intelligence agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) AS Dulat.

While speaking to journalists outside accountability court on Tuesday, Nawaz remarked that Asad Durrani wrote the book but former president General (retd) Pervez Musharraf and former Chief of General Staff (CGS) Shahid Aziz also gave statements.

A national inquiry commission should be formed after an advisory meeting to go into depth of the issue, said the deposed premier. Asad Durrani has made important statements in the book.

On Monday, Durrani appeared before Pakistan Army's General Headquarters (GHQ) to explain his position on the book.

Major General Asif Ghafoor, director-general of the Inter-Services Public Relations, wrote on Twitter that a formal Court of Inquiry headed by a serving lieutenant general had been ordered to probe the matter in detail.

Durrani's summoning to the GHQ came after former premier Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Senator Raza Rabbani voiced their reservations over the book.

'Nasirul Mulk is an exemplary person'

Over appointment of Justice (retd) Nasirul Mulk as countrys caretaker prime minister, Nawaz said that he has an exemplary personality. Everyone should hail the decision of appointing him as caretaker PM.

Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Khursheed Shah had announced that Justice (retd) Mulk will take reigns as caretaker premier while addressing a press conference along with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and National Assembly speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq on Monday.

Nawaz further shared that lives of politicians have been put in danger after taking security away from them. If an accident occurs then who will be responsible for it, he questioned.
Chief of Army Staff COAS General Qamar Javed Bajwa on Monday congratulated youth of erstwhile FATA on the successful and historic merger of tribal areas into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, while meeting with the representatives of FATA Youth Jirga, said ISPR.

COAS Bajwa commended motivation and passion of the youth in realisation of this merger, and said that the mainstreaming shall bring enduring peace, stability and socio-economic development of the long-neglected and terrorism rid area, said the armys media wing.

The state is determined to root out extremism and terrorism for which youth has a great role to play. Focus on your peaceful endeavors, participate in political and democratic activities. We have achieved peace at a very high cost of blood and national exchequer and we shall never let it lose, COAS said.

COAS lauded youth for their determination and support to Pakistan Army in the fight against terrorism. He valued their views regarding future of Pakistan.

He said that achievements through sacrifices of brave tribals are being consolidated while we transit from relative stability to enduring peace.

COAS also shared his engagement with Afghan leadership for enhanced cooperation and security measures along Pak-Afghan border. He advised the youth to continue playing their role towards peace and progress of Pakistan as they are the future leaders.

The Jirga acknowledged and appreciated Pakistan Army's efforts for bringing back peace, stability and socio-economic development in the area. They also acknowledged COASs special interest towards mainstreaming the area.

COAS emphasized the representatives to be aware of inimical forces who wish to exploit fault lines and try to reverse our gains.
Norway's Parliament Rejects 'Google Tax' Proposal

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

29 May 2018

Norway's parliament, the Storting, has rejected a legislative proposal for the introduction of a tax on digital business models, labeled the "Google tax," recommending instead that the Government explore the issue of digital taxation in partnership with the OECD.

In rejecting the proposal, introduced by parliamentary commissioner Une Bastholm of the Green Party, parliament urged the Government "to significantly reinforce the work of taxation of multinational companies with little physical presence, including through active work in the OECD and support for the work of the G20."

Bastholm's proposal requested that the Government investigate options for the taxation of value creation in Norway by online platforms with no taxable physical presence in the country.

Parliament called on the Government to provide the legislature with an assessment of how Norway will follow up the OECD's work in this area no later than the fall of 2019. However, it also said that, at the same time, the Government should also assess the suitability of temporary taxes on digital companies and evaluate the possible consequences of introducing a tax on digital companies similar to that proposed by the European Commission in March 2018.

Under the Commission's proposal, the EU would impose an interim tax on the turnover of certain companies engaged in digital activities that would otherwise go untaxed, at a rate of three percent. This would apply to revenues created from selling online advertising space; created from digital intermediary activities; and those created from the sale of data generated from user-provided information.

The Commission's proposal also included a longer-term solution, under which the EU will seek to achieve international consensus under the leadership of the OECD, which would establish new digital permanent establishment rules.

In January 2018, the Government said that it is considering possibilities for the taxation of multinational companies' "value creation" in Norway, including in the area of value-added tax, although it said that it would prefer a multilateral agreement on any new measure.

In a letter to the parliamentary finance committee dated January 18, Finance Minister Siv Jensen wrote that the proposals under consideration are aimed at "global technology companies" with high volumes of sales in the Norwegian market, but with "little or no physical presence there."

However, Jensen made clear in the letter that Norway supports a multilateral solution to the problem, to avoid taxpayer uncertainty and unintended consequences.

"I think this is the key to effectively taxing multinational companies, while reducing the potential for unfortunate adjustments and cases of double taxation. Common solutions will provide more predictability for taxpayers," she concluded at the time.
Think Tank Argues Against UK 'Robot Tax'

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

29 May 2018

In a new report, the Institute of Economic Affairs in the UK has argued against the need for the UK to introduce a so-called "robot tax," on profits from automation.

The IEA's report argues that the panic surrounding technological development and the expanding use of robots is largely overstated, based on speculation and limited facts. It said: "In the UK we have at least as high a proportion of the population employed as 100 years ago: technology creates new jobs as well as destroying old ones. Calls for a 'robot tax' to mitigate for a 'robocalypse' are misguided."

The report from the IEA argues that trying to implement such a tax would be beset with complications and in practice could, even if successful, protect just 15 percent of UK workers' jobs. "Shoring up existing jobs in this way could also deter the creation of new jobs as expanding firms would find it more difficult to recruit, and lead to a decrease in investment, as the UK would be out of step internationally," the IEA said.

"There is scant evidence that job displacement is moving faster than the economy's ability to develop new types of employment. Many new jobs are now in small businesses, or amongst the self-employed or 'gig-economy.' These jobs have grown rapidly because, despite decades of growing employment legislation, the UK labor market is still less regulated than many other countries in Europe. Nor are these all low-paid jobs: higher-paid jobs are also growing and the proportion in the top-three occupational categories has actually grown in the last decade."

The IEA opined that a robot tax would have to be based on the profits generated by a robot, arguing it would effectively be a new form of corporation tax. It said a tax on profits from automation would be an inefficient tax, having a negative impact on growth, investment, and innovation, and added that imposing a robot tax when no other nation is doing so would result in the UK losing investment and therefore be uncompetitive.

Report author Len Shackleton said: "We must not be afraid of technological change and the rise of robots. New technology offers us improved living standards and a better quality of life and there is little evidence that job displacement is moving faster than the economy's ability to develop new types of employment. It is often overlooked that with technological change has come the creation of many new jobs already, including IT and scientific professionals. While the future may be uncertain, we should not be pushed into premature and damaging policy interventions on the basis of fears and panics. Protecting against a potential shake-up in the labour market with measures such as a robot tax, subsidies, or further regulation is not the way to go."
Its hard to believe the South African government officials have been living under a rock, and have no idea that Israel completely withdrew from Gaza thirteen years ago.

More likely, this was motivated by what the WSJ calls the South African Governments devotion to anti-Israel ideology, which is so strong and virulent that they refused Israels offer to help with the impending Day Zero in Cape Town, when all the water taps are scheduled to be completely dry.

Via Algemeiner.

The South African government became a laughing stock on Twitter on Thursday after it called on Israel to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, even though it already did so in 2005.

Israel unilaterally pulled all its soldiers and residents out of Gaza in 2005, nearly four decades after it took control of the coastal enclave from Egypt during the 1967 Six-Day War. Gaza is now ruled by the Hamas terrorist group, which has fought several wars against Israel over the past decade.

On Thursday morning, South Africa issued several tweets citing harsh government criticism of the Jewish states response to last weeks Hamas-orchestrated riot on the Israeli-Gaza border in which more than 60 Palestinians  mostly terrorists  were killed.
Something to look forward to: The road to implementing 4G LTE was a long and arduous journey. It took nearly four years to design and implement the current standard of wireless communication. Now, 5G has been drafted and is ready for the Phase-1 standard in just 27 months.

Beginning in April 2016, Samsung Electronics hosted the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) as the first meeting to discuss 5G standards. Over 80 telecommunications businesses were present. Two years later in May 2018, Samsung held a second meeting in Busan, Korea to complete the standardization process.

Using feedback from the Busan meeting this year, 3GPP will announce the 5G Phase-1 Standard at its general meeting held in the United States in June.

Next generation services using 5G will offer up to 20 times more performance than current 4G LTE options. In highly select markets, 5G will be available as soon as this year, but do not expect widespread availability for several more years.

A significantly faster development time for 5G is largely thanks to Japan, Korea, and the United States. An original target of 2017 was set by Samsung, but compromises were made to allow other participants in discussions to finish LTE projects before moving on to 5G.

Green lights from the FCC to go ahead with greater-than-6GHz frequencies offered the opportunity to push towards 5G in full force. As one of the leaders in 5G development, Samsung has registered over 1,200 patents related to 5G as of May this year.

Commercialization of 5G will be a heated race in the second half of 2018 once the Phase-1 standard is made available. There will be no time to delay for semiconductor manufacturers hoping to grab a piece of the revenue generated by a global roll out of next generation networking.
Why it matters: Election interference was rampant on Facebook during 2016, partially due to the many fake accounts on the platform. Facebook has taken steps to address the problem, but world governments have begun to initiate deeper investigations into the matter. Papua New Guinea's government will be shutting down the social media website for a month for precisely that reason.

Facebook may have emerged relatively unscathed from recent data privacy and election interference controversies, but world governments aren't letting the platform off the hook just yet.

According to Papua New Guinea Today, the country plans to shut down Facebook for a full month while they conduct "research and analysis" into the platform's use among citizens.

"The time will allow information to be collected to identify users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information on Facebook to be filtered and removed," PNG's Communication Minister Sam Basil said in a statement.

It's not clear how the country intends to filter or remove Facebook content they deem unsavory, though.

At any rate, after the country deals with the fake account issue, "genuine people with real identities [will be able to] use the social network responsibly," according to Basil.

It sounds like PNG might also be attempting to determine whether or not their citizens are better off without Facebook in their lives.

According to PNG Today, the Minister said the country's government would be able to "better analyse the positive impact" the shutdown may have on the population, while also weighing the "impact of progress without or with" its use.

Basil even hinted at the possibility of the PNG government creating a social network of its own, one that is "more conducive" for PNG citizens to communicate with each other using "genuine profiles."

Image courtesy Scuba Diver Life
"It has been 529 years since the cry of the rebellion of our Indigenous peoples, who resisted and battled to defend these lands from the Spanish invasion," tweeted Venezuela's... | Read More
Both sets of plans were lodged with the City of Yarra in April and are still in the early stages of development.

And United Petroleum boss Eddie Hirsch has proposed an 11-storey office building for a site he owns close to company headquarters on Hoddle Street.

Cadence Property Group has lodged an application for a 12,300 square metre office development on Victoria Crescent, near the CUB brewery operations on the Yarra river.

Developer enthusiasm shown for Collingwood city-fringe offices is spilling over Hoddle street into the Abbotsford industrial precinct.

There are currently more than 190,000 square metres of office space in Yarras pipeline with three suburbs accounting for 89 per cent of approved projects: 28,353 square metres in Cremorne; 48,000 square metres in Richmond and 57,000 square metres in Collingwood.

Yarra currently has around 1.06 million square metres of commercial space and is forecasting a further 389,000 square metres of space will be required in the next 13 years.

Abbotsford, which falls outside of the Richmond and Collingwood employment precincts, but is close to the Eastern Freeway and the railway line, is starting to generate some momentum.

Colliers International director Rob Joyes said Some tenants want the amenity of the city fringe area but they dont have the budget to pay for Cremorne or Collingwood.

The area around Johnston Street and Victoria Park has gentrified and the infrastructure works on Hoddle Street should improve the traffic flow, Mr Joyes said.
The details of the settlement over a more $300 million coal royalties dispute between mining giant BHP and the Queensland government will stay under wraps.

In a Supreme Court hearing that lasted just three minutes, barrister John Sheahan, for BHP, confirmed the matters had been resolved.

BHP and the Queensland government have reached a confidential settlement over a long-running coal royalties dispute. Credit:Bloomberg

BHP and its coal partner, Mitsubishi, launched legal action to dispute a government demand for $329 million, in relation to a government reassessment of royalties relating to BHP's Singapore marketing office, going back to 2005.

On Monday, the court was told an "agreement in principle" was reached, and negotiations on the out-of-court settlement were expected to be finalised within the day.
Private equity group Blackstone's $3.14 billion proposed offer for the listed Investa Office Fund has been well received by analysts, who doubt any third party could emerge to scupper the deal.

But the indicative offer was made by Blackstone Singapore, which is a closed end fund, expiring in 2023. That has raised some questions as to whether Blackstone has an intention to embark on an asset sale program of Investa's properties, should any formal offer be successful.

Blackstone has been active in the Australian market, with the listing of its Top Ryde shopping centre, valued at about $700 million and the half share of 275 Kent Street, Sydney for about $850 million. Charter Hall remains the favourite to buy the office site.

Blackstone has listed the Top Ryde shopping centre, Sydney for sale

No formal offer has been made, but the proposal is for an equivalent $5.25, less any Investa distribution from Investa after May 4.
He said the group has had early wins but is facing significant supply chain and production delay risk, so the companys decision to add battery manufacturing further reduces its margin of safety. Youve got a great entrepreneur [in Tesla owner Elon Musk] who has had some favourable early wins to be able to get the business off the ground with the benefit of an ex-Toyota production line, funding from Uncle Sam [the US government], and getting the branding right by pitching an electric vehicle at the right time, Mr Mitchell said. But I think now, the decision to move into storage batteries and into a mass market vehicle is one we struggle with. Teslas advantage isnt in production scale. Tesla has to be careful to try and not do too many things. Tesla is vastly over weighted compared to its peers, despite holding a much smaller market share. Credit:Jeff Chiu

He said Tesla was brave to internalise storage production but it will require heavy levels of capital investment outside of their principal areas of capability. An industry source familiar with Tesla said moving manufacturing of batteries in-house was a move to future-proof the company. "A lot of other car makers are saying they'll move more models to electric vehicles but what you need is a big factory to do so, so where are their factories?" he asked. "By having it in-house, battery technology also gets better as the manufacturer has a direct line of sight on its development." The worlds largest electric car battery maker, Chinese firm Contemporary Amperex Technology, has also faced headwinds this week, reining in the scale of its initial public offering to only half of its original plan.

Tesla would need a strategic investor, they need a SoftBank Vision fund, a [Chinese tech investment firm] Tencent, or a very large-cap tech stock to bail them out, Mr Mitchell said. The [automotive industry] is out of favour  I dont think its because investors think Tesla is going to disrupt the incumbents  I think its out of favour because investors are worried about where we are in the cycle. This is the industry that Tesla is entering. Outside of China, we dont see many regulators willing to subsidise the uptake of mass-market electric vehicles." He said Teslas success with the Hornsdale battery installation in South Australia is a landmark but that the industry needs government support. The tech is on a pretty deliberate cost reduction line but we still see it as a five to 10-year story, and then it needs the money to actually be available.

For grid-scale batteries, we dont see any regulator [globally] willing to subsidise that." Tesla decline to comment. Batteries in Australia Tesla is also facing increasing competition as Australias grid-scale battery leader.

Lyon Australia announced on Tuesday that it is building three major batteries as storage for its solar farms. It is building a 20-megawatt battery at Cape York, Queensland, an 80-megawatt battery in Nowingi Victoria, and a 100-megawatt battery in Riversdale, South Australia, only 230 kilometres from Teslas 100-megawatt installation. More Australians are installing battery storage alongside their rooftop solar panels. Lyon has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the worlds largest gas buyer, JERA, and Fluence  a joint-venture between Siemens and AES  to build grid-scale batteries in Asia Pacific. This collaboration agreement positions Lyon, JERA and Fluence to lead the world in the deployment and use of utility and industrial scale battery storage, Lyon chairman David Green said.

Fluence vice president for global market, Jan Teichmann said this agreement will help Australia in its energy evolution. Australia is working to solve difficult grid-in-transition issues at scale as they usher in the next generation electricity network that is cleaner, lower cost, and more reliable, he said. At the smaller scale, German home battery maker Sonnen has signed a 60 million Euro agreement with Shell to accelerate its growth in Australia and the US. This will be a boon for South Australia, after Sonnen announced earlier this year its intention to build a new battery manufacturing plant in Adelaide, building 50,000 new batteries over the next five years. There were approximately 20,800 battery storage system installed in Australian homes in 2017, a three-fold increase on the 6750 installed in 2016.
Over two dozen mortar shells were fired at Israel about 7 a.m. Tuesday by Islamic Jihad terrorists based in the Gaza Strip.



The Iron Dome anti-ballistic system intercepted mortar shells headed toward inhabited areas.



One man was slightly injured after shrapnel from one of the shells hit his hand.



The attack came as parents were beginning to send their children to school.



The volley of shells is being billed as the single-largest ballistic attack on Israel from Gaza since the 2014 Operation Protective Edge.



The Islamic Jihad threatened this week to respond to an IDF attack in Gaza in which three of its fighters were killed.

One of the shells landed just outside an empty kindergarten in the Eshkol region, less than an hour before students were due to arrive, a spokesperson for the community said.



The kindergarten  along with all other schools  was set to open as usual, despite the attack.

Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said Tuesday that security and political officials agreed all options are on the table with respect to the crisis in Gaza, including the possibility that Israel could re-occupy the coastal Strip.



Speaking to the Hebrew-Language Radio Darom, Shaked said it was a miracle that nobody was killed in a mortar strike on a kibbutz adjacent to Gaza Tuesday morning, adding that had the incident included Israeli fatalities, it could have led to war.



Our reaction must be very strong, Shaked said, as if (Israeli) blood had been spilled. All options are on the table. We must seize the opportunity of this miracle to respond strongly.



Shaked explained that during security consultations in recent days, political leaders and military officers have seen eye-to-eye on the need to respond forcefully to cross-border attacks. The only consideration for the officials has been to ensure they make the right move at the right time, she said.



Should we comprehensively defeat Hamas? When you say that, it means bringing down the Hamas government, which would mean whatever it means.



Asked whether that could include ordering the IDF to re-occupy the area, which Israel vacated in August 2005, Shaked said, Yes. That includes (the possibility) that we might re-conquer the Strip. That option is definitely on the table. We have to face the truth, she said.

The Hamas and Islamic Jihad - no doubt in revenge for Jerusalem's recognition - fired a heavy barrage of rockets at Israeli locations Oh, I have no doubt Jerusalem's also one of their excuses for this latest barbarism.But for now it's bound to be dangerous to send the children to schools in this situation. Justice minister Ayelet Shaked says it's possible the army could invade Gaza to deal with this:And it makes no difference whether anyone died or not from the attack; they have to act in order to prevent the likelihood from happening, because it's entirely possible it could. We can't allow such tyrannical entities as Islamic Jihad and Hamas to continue reigning in Gaza any more than the PLO.

Labels: anti-americanism, anti-semitism, islam, Israel, Jerusalem, jihad, terrorism, United States, war on terror
Myer is facing a backlash from the high-profile brands that run concession outlets inside its stores after telling them their staff have to help Myer customers buy products outside their brand's area.

Myer customers had complained of encountering a "I don't work for Myer' attitude, where brand-partner team members refuse to assist customers in Myer stores", the company told its concession partners in a letter sent earlier this month.

Customers are being met with a "I don't work for Myer" attitude. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

"Feedback indicates that customers continue to experience this poor level of service," Tony Sutton, Myer's executive general manager of stores and experience, wrote.

"Customers expect that when they enter a Myer store and interact with team members that they are able to receive assistance and service, regardless of the brand they work for."
More than 6000 customers who used an online form to contact supermarket chain Ritchies Supa IGA have been warned their details may have been accessed after its website was hacked.

Affected customers received an email at 2.30pm on Monday informing them their name, email address and phone number may have been accessed by an unknown entity, which hacked into the independent retailer's website several weeks ago.

Ritchies CEO Fred Harrison said a malicious code was embedded into the website, which caused users to be redirected to another website. Credit:Wayne Taylor

The company's service provider alerted the company to the breach after the website crashed.

"We were advised by our [service] provider we were hacked ... basically there was an attack by an unidentified entity on our external-facing website, which was hosted on third-party servers," the company's CEO, Fred Harrison, told Fairfax Media.
There's a school of thought that the commercial network version of breakfast television  that creamy ladle of bantering co-hosts, the weather presenter with wanderlust, the giveaways, and the quick summation of everything else  is out of date in a digital world.

But having watched a week's worth it may well be the future. The likes of Seven's Sunrise and Nine's Today are television for the clickbait age, an autoplay video you're shown again and again.

The smiles are brighter than ever, but the professionalism can't always patch over the cracks. Both shows run from 5.30am until 9am, mirrored in their timeslot like so much else is between these perpetual rivals, and they're defined by repetition.

The news cycle established at the show's opening carries on throughout the morning, accentuating a flaw until it is seemingly glaring; a Today spot on an Italian castle going on the market just looped brief real estate footage until it looked like an uncomfortable glitch.
Multi-millionaire philanthropist and enigmatic Sydney identity Susan Wakil AO has died, aged 84.

Mrs Wakil leaves behind her husband of 62 years, Isaac Wakil, who on Wednesday announced his wife's death in a notice expressing his "great pain and shock".

Susan Wakil leaves behind her husband of 62 years, Isaac Wakil.

"Her generous and vibrant personality will be deeply missed and forever remembered by many wonderful and admiring friends and our large and caring family," the notice said.

Mr Wakil said in the notice he had decided to take "one year of mourning" and "requests friends and family bear with him".
There could soon be no excuse for performing an illegal U-turn with Brisbane City Council pushing to replace existing wordy signs with more visual signage.

State government web-crash data showed crashes following dangerous U-turns led to more than three deaths a year.

A U-turn awareness sign on Beaudesert Road, Moorooka. Credit:Google Maps

The councils infrastructure chairman Amanda Cooper said illegal U-turns were not only dangerous to the driver and other motorists but contributed to traffic congestion.

Council is seeking permission from the state government to use new high-visibility warning signage to help more motorists understand where motorists are permitted to perform U-turns, Cr Cooper said.
Driving. It's all very modern and convenient until you get to the parking.

Then who among us hasn't circled blocks, muttering darkly about "other drivers" and how we could've been there by now if we had caught the train.

But, as they say, there's an app for that.

Or six of them in fact, that now claim to be able to show drivers where there are vacant on-street parks available in the city.

The Age took one of the apps, UbiPark, for a test drive one Monday.
"He [Kyan] was bleeding from the nose, a significant amount of blood on the right hand side of the nose," Mr Laird told Melbourne's County Court on Tuesday.

David Laird was called to Box Hill police station after his son was arrested on Christmas morning in 2014. Credit:Daniel Pockett

Mr Laird arrived to find Kyan in an interview room, his face streaked with blood.

Before dawn, David Laird was called to Box Hill police station to collect his teenage son, Stuart, who with friend Kyan Foster had been caught by officers with a bong and a small amount of marijuana.

In the car on the way home after the 2014 incident, Stuart claimed Kyan had been assaulted, and that he had captured a video of the alleged attack on his mobile phone.

"Conversations took place in the motor vehicle on the way home; he [Stuart] told me about his telephone being taken from him and the video."

The video had been deleted, and that is perhaps where most fathers would have left the matter.

But Mr Laird, the boss of a technology company, suspected the footage still existed somewhere in his son's phone and set about trying to retrieve it, the court heard.

He turned to Google and tracked down Payam Data Recovery  a specialist used by Victoria Police, Mr Laird told the court  which managed to retrieve the video.
Rank-and-file Christians are at odds with religious leaders on euthanasia, with some denominations more supportive of voluntary assisted dying than others.

As an ACT parliamentary inquiry into the end-of-life choices available to Canberrans continues, a survey of 1004 people has revealed how nearly half (48 per cent) of people with religious beliefs supported assisted dying laws.

Nearly half of people with religious beliefs surveyed supported voluntary assisted dying.

This is despite a hardline stance from some religious orders against legalising the practice.

One of the report's authors, Anthony Hogan - who is an adjunct research professor with the Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture - said the findings supported the idea that some formal theological positions do not reflect the "views of the pews".
Yes, youre right to obsess about the $94,000 a year salary point. Thats what both sides want, because both think theyre winners from it. Earn more and youre better off with Morrisons cuts. Earn less and youll plump for Shorten. The governments decision to alight on that particular dollar figure wasnt an accident.

If youre pro-government youll proclaim its a masterful balance of the need to encourage (rich) people through tax relief while keeping debt down. If pro-Labor you simply laugh and point out Scott Morrisons tax cuts are so far in the future (two elections away) theyre irrelevant and enthusiastically back Bill Shortens bigger, and more widely spread, promises.

The real problem with the political muck thats being thrown around today is its obscuring the real issues. Both sides are brilliant illusionists while the reality is hidden. Take the budget.

Its far more than the ordinary person earns  but not swinging voters in the electorates that will decide the election.

Yes, average earnings are just $61,968. Ordinary full-time total earnings, however, averaged $84,661 with growth of 2.2 percent. The government believes this (fiscal) point, together with growth prospects, is critical. It will switch the deciding voters in critical seats. Forget the unemployed and those just hanging on  theyll never vote Liberal. Ignore students. Go for aspirational Aussies, on families, on the beloved average Australian, one partner earning more, the other reaping less. Do the numbers in critical electorates and hope, pray, theyll stick with the government because theyll be better off than those around them. Fuel their desire to pull away from the crowd.

Morrisons tune sounds discordant. Thats because hes personally spent so much time with the dog-whistlers he doesnt know how to serenade normal people any more. His music jars. Thats because its pitched at a lower, self-interested note. His fiddling, slashing the tax-take and quarantining government give-aways to the richer half of the population lacks an over-arching theme. Morrison doesnt care. Hes only interested in 51 per cent of the people. In marginal electorates Australia-wide. This budget does it.

Malcolm Turnbull lacks the ability to orchestrate any revival, but Shortens consistently proven he cant pull away either. The government believes that the current gap in the polls (four points) is easily surmountable in a campaign. At least two percent will flip during a strong campaign; another two will baulk at changing government as they stand in the ballot booths with their pencils poised.

And dont forget, well have Mid Year Economic Fiscal O to demonstrate, however improbably, an even earlier return to surplus than predicted in the budget.
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Chinese security officials who detained a Sydney academic in 2017 spent a full day interrogating him about Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbulls hand-picked China adviser, according to information gathered by national security officials.

In March, 2017, Australian academic Chongyi Feng was prevented from leaving Guangzhou and subjected to interrogation. Credit:Steven Siewert

Chongyi Feng, an Associate Professor in Chinese Studies at the University of Technology Sydney, was detained and questioned by Chinese officials during a visit to China in March last year about his links to liberal intellectuals in mainland China and contacts in Australia.

Fairfax Media can reveal that during the interrogation, Chinese state security officials demanded information about adviser John Garnaut, who at the time was working on an ASIO inquiry commissioned by Mr Turnbull.

The inquiry was aimed at assessing the extent of Beijings intelligence and interference operations in Australia.
Labors dominant Right faction has often been a voice for moderation and common sense in party affairs. At other times, for example, during the Rudd-Gillard merry-go-round, it has acted like an indiscriminate wrecking ball. Now, as more details emerge of the activities of agents of Chinese influence in Australia, it is key figures in Labors Right faction whose names are being mentioned again and again.

Bob Carr at Chongqing Eling Park, China.

The latest revelations, as reported yesterday in The Age, focus on efforts by former NSW premier Bob Carr to counter what he sees as the China panic spreading through Australias political and media class. Mr Carr, it has emerged, prevailed on ALP senator Kristina Keneally to quiz the Turnbull government on the credentials of its key adviser on Beijings espionage and political interference activities, John Garnaut. (Mr Garnaut is a former China correspondent for this newspaper.) Ms Keneally placed questions on notice concerning Mr Garnaut, and conscripted Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching, another member of the Right, to take up the white-anting of Mr Garnaut during estimates.

As a former foreign minister, and current director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney, Mr Carr has every right to enter the growing debate about how China seeks to influence us. The unsettling thing, in this instance, is that he should do so, not in his own name or under the flag of his institute, but by mobilising his network of influence within the Labor Party, just when Labor needs to be erring on the side of caution where Chinas influence is concerned.

It is worth remembering that a spot opened up for Ms Keneally in the Senate only as a result of the forced resignation of Sam Dastyari, who was the senior figure in the NSW Right when Ms Keneally was premier. Mr Dastyari had to quit over his close relationship to Huang Xiangmo, a business figure with close links to the Chinese Communist Party. Mr Huang has been a significant donor to Labor, as well as to the Liberals. He also provided generous funding to set up Mr Carrs institute at UTS.
More than a year after Canberra and the Andrews government agreed to work together on a $10-billion-plus rail link to Melbourne Airport, just $3 million has been spent on a business case that will dictate where it will run.

It is the latest sign that planning for the rail project, first promised in 1963, is unlikely to be finished anytime soon  despite a raft of promises by both Malcolm Turnbull and Daniel Andrews since last April.

A rail route to Melbourne Airport is still a long way off. Credit:Craig Abraham

Federal transport bureaucrats last week came under questioning in the Senate over why planning for the long-promised rail route was taking so long to get underway.

Their answers revealed that  despite pledges from the Prime Minister and the Victorian Premier in April 2017 that planning was underway  little formal work has been completed.
Pressure is mounting on the state government to sign up to a national compensation scheme for victims of institutional sexual abuse after South Australia joined the program yesterday.

The National Redress Scheme was a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into institutional child sexual abuse and would provide payments of up to $150,000 for victims.

Liberal MP Steve Irons during debate on the National Redress Scheme for Institutional Child Sexual Abuse Bill 2018, in the House of Representatives at Parliament House. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Swan MP Steve Irons, who grew up as a state ward, called on the McGowan government to join the $3.8 billion scheme following South Australia's announcement, which left WA the only jurisdiction yet to join.

But Attorney General John Quigley said he was still waiting for the "fine print" before he signed off on the scheme, which he estimated would cost the state between $600-$750 million.
A computer screen on Monday displays an announcement on the Chinese Trademark Office website approving of the Ivanka Trump trademark to be used in a wide variety of products from beverages to instant noodles and spices. Credit:AP

At around the same time, US President Donald Trump vowed to find a way to prevent a major Chinese telecommunications company, ZTE, from going bust, even though the company has a history of violating American limits on doing business with countries like Iran and North Korea.

Ivanka Trump, daughter of US President Donald Trump, watches the men's Big Air snowboard competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Credit:AP

Beijing: China this month awarded Ivanka Trump seven new trademarks across a broad collection of businesses, including books, housewares and cushions.

Still, the timing is raising questions about the Trump family's businesses and its patriarch's status as commander-in-chief of the United States. Even as Trump contends with Beijing on issues like security and trade, his family and the company that bears his name are trying to make money off their brand in China's promising market.

In total, China has approved 13 Ivanka Trump trademarks in the last three months and granted provisional approval for eight more, the Associated Press reports.

This month's slew of approvals appear to have been granted along the same timeline as Ivanka's previous requests, experts said. But more broadly, they said, Ivanka's growing trademark portfolio in China and the family's business interests there raises questions about whether Chinese officials are giving the Trump family extra consideration that they otherwise might not get.

Famous company: Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, with their wives, first lady Melania Trump and Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan, Ivanka Trump, and her husband, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner, left, at dinner at Mar-a-Lago last year. Credit:AP

These critics say the foreign governments that do business with Ivanka Trump they are dealing with the President's daughter  a person who also works in the White House.
Toyota Still No. 1, Mercedes Passes BMW for No. 2 in Ranking of Most Valuable Car Brands







Washington DC May 29, 2018; The AIADA newsletter reported that Toyota held on to its title as the world's most valuable car brand for the sixth year in a row while Mercedes-Benz passed BMW to finish No. 2 for the first time in the annual ranking, reports Automotive News.

Tesla, meanwhile, increased its brand value 60 percent to get within striking distance of Audi. Toyota's brand value increased 5 percent to nearly $30 billion because of strong demand for its SUVs in Europe and the United States and because of the automaker's consistency, according to the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands study released by market researcher Kantar Millward Brown. "SUVs remain desirable products to those who put a high value on their safety and power," Peter Walshe, Global BrandZ director at Kantar Millward Brown, told Automotive News Europe. "Overall, the Toyota brand is incredibly reliable and represents fantastic value and quality." Toyota has been No. 1 in 11 of the 13 years the study has been carried out. In the years it wasn't No. 1, 2010 and 2012, it finished in second place. Read more here.
Nissan To Cut North American Production By 20%







U.S. accounted for 28% of Nissan's worldwide sales of 5.77 million units for the year ended March 31

TOKYO May 29, 2018; The Nikkei Asian Review staff reported that Nissan Motor is slashing production as much as 20% in North America to cope with a U.S. automobile market where sales declined for the first time in eight years in 2017.

Cuts are already afoot at two assembly plants in the U.S. and three in Mexico. Workers will stay home an extra two or so days a week. Lines will slow to the point where output drops roughly 10% to 20% on the year by summer.

Employees will not be let go, and production lines will not be completely halted. But parts suppliers have been informed of the reductions, which are likely to temporarily impact their earnings. Nissan's cutbacks are expected to wrap up by autumn, when the redesigned Altima sedan launches.

The Japanese automaker previously focused on building up market share in the U.S., where demand steadily recovered since the 2008 global financial crisis. This approach included high-volume, low-margin sales to rental car companies, as well as generous sales incentives. Nissan's incentives apparently averaged at least $4,000 per vehicle in the previous term, above the industry average of $3,600.

The corporate sales and discounts boosted short-term turnover but would harm brand value and weigh on business in the long run. Starting this fiscal year, Nissan will reduce volume corporate sales along with incentives, shifting from a scale-based strategy to one focused on profits.

The Altima and the Rogue sport utility vehicle are among Nissan's best-selling models in the U.S. The company holds the sixth-largest share there, behind the likes of General Motors and Japanese peers Toyota Motor and Honda Motor.

The U.S. accounted for 28% of Nissan's worldwide sales of 5.77 million units for the year ended March 31. The production cuts are projected to deflate U.S. sales by 3% to 1.55 million this fiscal year.

Nissan produces most of its passenger vehicles for the U.S. market at five American and Mexican plants, with some imported from Japan and elsewhere. It also assembles Infiniti luxury vehicles in Mexico via a joint venture with Daimler.

Complete Article
Mazda - 50 Million Vehicles Made in Japan







HIROSHIMA, Japan, May, 28 2018; Mazda Motor Corporation has announced that cumulative production in Japan reached 50 million units on May 15. The company held a commemorative ceremony today at its Hofu Plant in Yamaguchi prefecture. Representative Director, President and CEO Masamichi Kogai, executive officers and union representatives were in attendance. The 50 million-unit milestone was achieved 86 years and seven months after Mazda produced its first three-wheeled truck in October 1931.

"Mazda began making cars 86 years ago, and now we've reached 50 million units of production in Japan. Even making 1 million cars a year, it would take 50 years to reach this milestone, showing just how long Mazda's history is," said Kogai at the ceremony. "Moving forward, Mazda will continue to build a strong brand through a variety of initiatives. Our plants in Hofu and Hiroshima will continue to evolve and act as parent factories, rapidly deploying their technologies and skills to our overseas plants. I'd like us all to work together to ensure these plants continue to embody the kind of technical prowess that does justice to Japan's proud history of Monotsukuri."

Mazda began its journey as an automaker in 1931, when it started producing three-wheeled trucks in Hiroshima. In 1960 it commenced production of the R360 Coupe micro-mini, marking a bold entry into the passenger car market. Vehicle manufacture started at Hofu Plant in Yamaguchi in 1982, and domestic production duties have since been shared between the Hofu and Hiroshima Plants. The production techniques and flexible production systems developed at these plants have helped Mazda to grow its business. Mixed production lines capable of producing different models on a single line enable manufacture of multiple models at low volumes, a breakthrough in the traditional tradeoff between product variety and competitiveness and volume efficiency. In 2016 and 2017, the company took steps to increase its production flexibility for crossover models and create a framework capable of responding quickly to changes in demand. The domestic plants take the lead with Mazda's global car-making; production techniques and technologies established in Japan are then rolled out to overseas facilities.

Mazda aims to sell 1,660,000 cars this fiscal year, the final year of its Structural Reform Stage 2 medium-term business plan, and plans to establish a global production framework capable of manufacturing two million units annually by fiscal year ending March 2024. Mass-production of vehicles featuring next-generation technologies and design is slated to start in 2019, and the company will continue expanding its production framework in an effort to get cars to customers as quickly as possible.

Aspiring to create a world in which cars can co-exist sustainably with people, society and the earth, Mazda will continue to enrich people's live through various touchpoints, including the manufacture of high-quality cars, and become a brand with which customers feel a strong emotional bond.

About Mazda

Mazda Motor Corporation started manufacturing tools in 1929 and soon branched out into production of trucks for commercial use. In the early 1960s, Mazda launched its first passenger car models and began developing rotary engines. Still headquartered in Hiroshima in western Japan, Mazda today ranks as one of Japan's leading automakers, and exports cars to the United States and Europe for over 30 years. For more information, please visit www.mazda.com
Next Gen Hyundai Engine Gets Big Investment and More People

Expansion Brings 50 New Jobs to Alabama with a Capital Investment of $388 million

MONTGOMERY, Ala., May 29, 2018 Governor Kay Ivey joined Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC President and CEO Dong Ryeol Choi today to announce that Hyundai is investing $388 million to construct a plant dedicated to manufacturing engine heads and enhance existing operations to support production of new models of Sonata and Elantra sedans. The investment will create 50 new jobs.

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) is preparing for the next-generation Hyundai engine, which requires new technologies and components as a part of its assembly process. The capital investment will be spent on equipment for the engine head machining plant and updating technology in an existing engine plant.

Hyundai is an important member of Alabamas dynamic auto industry, and this expansion at its Montgomery manufacturing facility will power the global automakers drive for future growth in the U.S., Governor Ivey said. Hyundais significant new investment is a strong testament to the companys confidence in its Alabama operation and in its highly skilled workforce.

With our latest expansion, HMMA continues to show its strong commitment to the people of Montgomery and the people of Alabama, Hyundai President and CEO Dong Ryeol Choi said at todays announcement. Hyundai is continuing its track record of investing in new manufacturing technologies to ensure the long-term success of our Alabama assembly plant.

It will cost approximately $40 million to construct the 260,000-square-foot building that will house the head machining equipment. Construction on the engine head machining plant is scheduled to be completed in November 2018. This project will free up space to expand engine assembly lines in one of HMMAs existing engine plants.

The new engine head machining facility will be operational by mid-2019. HMMA produces engines for Sonata and Elantra sedans and the Santa Fe crossover utility vehicle. HMMAs two engine plants are capable of producing approximately 700,000 engines per year to support the vehicle production at both HMMA and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia in West Point, Georgia.

HMMA, which started vehicle production in May 2005, is the River Regions largest private manufacturer with 2,700 full-time and 500 part-time employees.

We are so very honored that Hyundai has once again chosen to significantly invest in Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, said Judge Charles Price, 2018 chairman of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. As home to Hyundais only North American manufacturing facility, the Montgomery community pledges to continue our enormously successful 16 year partnership for this new expansion and beyond.

###

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, headquartered in Montgomery, Ala., is an independent manufacturing operation of Hyundai Motor Company, based in Seoul, Korea. HMMA currently produces the 2018 Sonata and Elantra sedans and 2018 Santa Fe Sport CUV. Hyundai cars and sport utility vehicles are distributed throughout the United States by Hyundai Motor America and are sold and serviced by more than 900 Hyundai dealerships across North America.
ELKHART LAKE, Wis.; The Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA) held its annual Spring Rally last week at Road America  one of the worlds premier road racing tracks. Over the course of two days, more than 80 media members from across the country had the opportunity to put more than 90 vehicles through their paces in a variety of driving opportunities, including on-track, street, off-road and autocross.

Automakers selected the MAMA Spring Rally to showcase their latest cars, trucks, and SUVs, and a few even gave the assembled MAMA journalists in-depth presentations on the hottest new or soon-to-be-released vehicles in their lineups.

2019 Nissan Altima

Nissan kicked off the MAMA Spring Rally with a breakfast presentation featuring the official unveiling of the Altima Edition ONE, a limited-production launch edition of the all-new 2019 Nissan Altima sedan. The presentation marked the first time the sixth-generation Altima has been seen outside of an auto show.

The Edition ONE features exclusive 19-inch dark gray aluminum-alloy wheels, rear spoiler, external ground lighting, illuminated kick plates and Edition ONE badging and floormats. In addition, buyers have access to the new Edition ONE Nissan Concierge, an exclusive premium service that features 24/7 live assistant access (dinner reservations, event ticket purchases, etc.) that can be reached in-vehicle or through a compatible smartphone, smartwatch or smart speaker apps. The service is no-charge for the first three years of Edition ONE ownership.

Nissan announced that reservations open June 15th for the Altima Edition ONE and other 2019 Altima models, all of which are slated to go on sale this fall.

2019 RAM 1500

The redesigned 2019 Ram 1500 is lighter, more aerodynamic, more spacious, and more fuel-efficient than the previous-generation model, and MAMA members got a detailed overview of this groundbreaking new full-size pickupas well as on-road and off-road driving opportunities. Highlights of the all-new Ram include an overall weight reduction of 225 pounds, towing capacity of up to 12,750 pounds, and an available UConnect 4C infotainment system with a massive 12-inch touchscreen.

As we introduce the new 2019 Ram 1500, we were thrilled to give more than 80 journalists the opportunity to experience the no-compromise truck that is changing the way truck buyers view strength, efficiency, capability, technology, and luxury, said Jim Morrison, Head of Ram Brand  FCA North America.

Hemi-powered Ram 1500 Quad Cabs and Crew Cabs are in dealerships now, with a starting price of $31,695 plus $1,645 destination fee; regular-cab and mild-hybrid eTorque models are due later this year.

2019 Acura RDX

MAMA Spring Rally attendees were among the first journalists to drive the all-new, third-generation RDX. Acuras popular compact SUV is redesigned for 2019, gaining an A-Spec performance model, a more spacious cabin, an innovative True Touchpad remote-interface infotainment system, and all-new turbocharged 2.0-liter 4-cylinder engine that puts out 272 horsepower. Designed, developed, and manufactured in America, the 2019 Acura RDX is slated to arrive in dealerships this summer.

2019 Volkswagen Jetta

Volkswagen opened the second day of the MAMA Spring Rally with a breakfast highlighting its redesigned Jetta compact sedan, which was also on-hand for journalist test drives at the event. Based off Volkswagens award-winning MQB architecture, the 2019 Jetta dons a new sophisticated coupe-like exterior design, offers impressive interior space, competitive fuel economy and upscale technology features, from available automatic cruise control to available 10-color ambient lighting.

The 2019 Volkswagen Jetta is arriving in dealerships now, with a starting price of $18,545.

2018 Hyundai Kona

Hyundai helped close the two-day MAMA event with a presentation on its new entry into the subcompact crossover market. The 2018 Kona offers eye-catching urban smart armor exterior styling, a choice of a 147-hp 2.0-liter 4-cylinder or a 175-hp turbocharged 1.6 four, and a host of available advanced safety features.

Hyundai Motor America was pleased to showcase the all-new Kona at the MAMA Spring Rally. A crossover for Urban Adventurers, the new CUV offers youthful design, sporty driving character, leading safety technology and advanced infotainment features in an affordable, compact footprint, appealing to consumers with active lifestyles and adventure-oriented driving environments, said Michele Tinson, Midwest Communications, HMA.

The 2018 Hyundai Kona is on sale now, with a starting price of $19,500; the pure-electric 2019 Hyundai Kona Electric is slated to join the lineup late this year in select states.

FVOTY and LFVOTY Finalists Announced

MAMA has expanded its Family Vehicle of the Year award this year by adding a new luxury vehicle division, and an impressive roster of 16 FVOTY candidates and 11 LFVOTY contenders were available for test drives at the Spring Rally. To qualify for the awards, a vehicle must have 4 doors and be new or significantly updated within a year of the Spring Rally. MAMA members digitally voted for their choices via an online survey at the event, and those votes were compiled to produce the following finalists:

Family Vehicle of the Year:

2018 Buick Regal TourX

2018 Ford Expedition

2018 Hyundai Kona

2018 Mazda6

2019 Ram 1500

2019 Volkswagen Jetta

Luxury Family Vehicle of the Year:

2019 Acura RDX

2018 Kia Stinger

2018 Land Rover Range Rover Velar

2019 Volvo XC40

These vehicles will join another round of finalists that will be chosen at the 2018 MAMA Fall Rally this October. A final round of online voting will determine the two winners, which will be announced at the MAMA Breakfast that opens the 2019 Chicago Auto Show Media Preview.

About the Midwest Automotive Media Association

Founded in 1991, the Midwest Automotive Media Association (MAMA) is one of the most prestigious automotive press associations in the industry. MAMA's mission is to provide a forum in the Chicago area for newsworthy people, major issues, and new products in the automotive industry.

For more information, please visit www.mamaonline.org
Supreme Court. Photo: Robert Alexander/Getty Images

The Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal to one of Arkansass restrictive abortion laws  a decision that effectively bans all abortion by medication, and could leave the state with just one abortion-providing clinic.

The Arkansas law in question, the Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act, requires that all doctors who provide abortion medication have a contract with another physician who has hospital admitting privileges. The thinking goes that should complications arise, the aforementioned physician could help handle them.

Nine months after the controversial law passed in March 2015, Planned Parenthood of the Heartland sued to block the ban, and a federal judge in Little Rock issued a temporary restraining order because the act resembles one that the Supreme Court ruled to be unconstitutional two years ago. In July 2017, the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the lower courts stay to be lifted and sent the case back down to the lower court.

Today, by rejecting the appeal, the Supreme Court allowed the lower courts restraining order to lapse. As of now, the Arkansas law is expected to go into effect in mid-July.

Following the Supreme Courts decision today, Brandon Hill, a physician and the president & CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, expressed his deep disappointment and pledged to fight the law.

We are working urgently to restore access to medication abortion services at our health centers in Fayetteville and Little Rock, he said in a statement. We will not stop fighting to ensure that every woman has access to essential, constitutionally-protected care, without politicians controlling when, how or why.

According to their press release, Planned Parenthood is [moving] swiftly for emergency relief in the district court  a response that is supported by other reproductive rights organizations, such as NARAL Pro-Choice America.

#SCOTUS declined to hear a challenge to an Arkansas anti-choice law today. This de facto ban cuts off access to safe, legal abortion for most Arkansas women. Forcing people to travel 760 miles to access care is the definition of an undue burden. #KeepClinicsOpen #StandWithPP pic.twitter.com/WB8ObfGOtR  NARAL (@NARAL) May 29, 2018

Planned Parenthood executive vice-president Dawn Laguens also released her own statement, which reads: Arkansas is now shamefully responsible for being the first state to ban medication abortion. This dangerous law also immediately ends access to safe, legal abortion at all but one health center in the state. If thats not an undue burden, what is? This law cannot and must not stand. We will not stop fighting for every persons right to access safe, legal abortion.
Assemblyman Travis Allen speaks at a rally in San Diego, just across the border from Tijuana, Mexico, on May 27, 2018. Allen is a Republican candidate for governor of California. (Sophia Fang/Epoch Times)

Allen Rallies For Secure Borders and the California Governorship

SAN DIEGO, Calif.A week before the California Primary, over a hundred people gathered in an empty field in San Diego Otay Business Park just across the border from Tijuana International Airport, in support for Travis Allen, GOP candidate for the Governor of California.

On Sunday May 27, with the crowd repeatedly chanting Take back California and Build that wall, Assemblyman Travis Allen of Huntington Beach spoke through a loudspeaker: There is only one true conservative in this race. I am Travis Allen. I will be the next governor of California!

Undeterred

On May 18, President Trump tweeted his endorsement of the other GOP candidate, John Cox.

Allen spoke to an enthusiastic crowd that the people that elected the President are who the President has endorsed  the people of California that want to take their state back. I was the first one to talk to President Trump and Jeff Sessions to come to California and sue California over the illegal sanctuary state. We have now done that.

I was the first one to tell Californians that we are not only going to secure that border but also build that wall. I am the only candidate in the entire race that always had a consistent story. I am the one who always tells you truth, always a rock solid conservative!

Grassroots Support Some supporters drove for hours to the border rally. Joann Krobeil of Huntington Beach, is an avid supporter of Allen, and has been volunteering since January. I see things in my own town change. I HAVE to do something. I think Allen has the energy to take over Sacramento. He is a three-time assemblyman, he knows what kind of battle he needs to do. He had a plan since day one. All the opposition guys they dont have a plan, or are catering to the norms.

Jessica Tan and Bill Zeng of San Diego brought their 8-year-old twin boys to the rally. There is a large group of Chinese people supporting Allen, because he is against the SCA5, in favor of cutting taxes, these are all in line with our interests. There are many other reasons why we support him. Tan said.

Zeng added that years ago when SCA5 was initiated, Allen was against it. He was with us all the way. But we are not sure about John Cox, whether he really means it or just to say so to get votes. SCA5 is a ballot initiative that would overturn Proposition 209, which eliminated race as a factor in educational admissions, public hiring, and public contracts. Asians have been discriminated against by race-based admission policies in education.

Build That Wall

We are here to rally for a secure border. This was what Allen said right after he arrived at the rally.

U.S. is a magnet. We are the greatest country in the world. We have the right to secure our borders, to build that wall, Allen said, and the crowd chanted Build that Wall!

It sends a message that we are a nation of laws, we are a constitutional republic, we are founded on the U.S. constitution, which says that immigration and border security is a federal issue.

Golden State Alliance

Travis Allen is member of the Golden State Coalition, which consists of constitutional conservatives running for offices.

Paul Taylor, founder of the Coalition and candidate for U.S. Senate, was at the rally. Taylor said that he would work together with Trump and Allen to make things happen in California.

We are going to work with Trump, Taylor said. The sanctuary state is the U.S. federal law that has been broken. You need the help from someone in the Senate to stand up for you, for this state. We are going to make things happen in this State. You will have the best advocate as a conduit between Trump and Travis Allen.

Another member of the Coalition, David Hernandez, who is the candidate for lieutenant governor, was also at the rally. This is about fighting the left and [the lefts] making our young people in those schools hate free market capitalism, and favor socialism and communism that is responsible for the murder of 25 million people as a viable option. Believe me, this is a war, and we are winning. They know it. The fight will continue.

The Allen supporters decorated the empty field with American flags and all types of signs for Allen and also Trump. With music playing and people lining up to get T-shirts signed by Allen, there were cheers, laughter, and voices saying, Lets all take pictures and tweet it to Trump!
Kriti Sanon wins hearts with her performance at closing ceremony of IPL

Kriti Sanon last delivered a sleeper hit Bareilly Ki Barfi enthralled her audience with some of her chartbuster songs at the closing ceremony of the Indian Premier League over the weekend.

Kriti Sanon marked her successful four years in Bollywood last week just in time for her IPL finale performance. Kriti Sanon performed on chartbuster songs from her films she gave in the past four years.

Delhi girl Kriti Sanon shot to fame with her debut in 2014 with Heropanti, the actress delivered foot tapping numbers with her very first appearance. Over the years, Kriti has left the masses captivated with a number of chartbuster songs.


An Israeli army tank keeps position on a hill overlooking the Gaza Strip on May 29, 2018 along the border between Israel and the coastal Palestinian enclave. (Jack Guez/AFP/Getty Images)

At Least 70 Mortar Shells Strike Israel, Largest Since 2014

A barrage of mortar shells was fired toward several locations in Southern Israel on Tuesday morning, amid heightened tensions along the Gaza border.

According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) latest update on the attacks, Approx. 70 mortars & rockets were launched from Gaza into Israel in several barrages & single launches, some of which were Iranian-made rockets.

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror organizations commited acts of terrorism against Israel throughout the day pic.twitter.com/LjqzOrur92  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 29, 2018

Initial reports had the total number of shellings much lower.

The rockets were launched from Gaza and most were intercepted by the IDFs Iron Dome aerial defense system, according to Israels Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Sirens rang out throughout the areas.

One of the rockets exploded in an Israeli Kindergarten yard. No injuries reported, the ministry tweeted.

Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus is reporting from the Israeli kindergarten that was hit by several mortars earlier this morning. The kindergarten is located in a kibbutz near the Gaza Strip pic.twitter.com/vZBa0y0UJm  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 29, 2018

The Hamas terrorist group and Iran backed-Islamic Jihad have claimed responsibility for the terrorist rocket attacks on Israel according to a Tuesday, May 29, update from the official Embassy of Israel.

At this time, Europe and the US have issued high-level condemnations of Hamas  it is these statements that can put pressure on Hamas and stop its violence, the embassy tweeted.

There were no reports of major material damage, but the sheer number of shellings appeared to mark the largest attack from the Gaza Strip since the 2014 war, which was then known in Israel as Operation Protective Edge.

On Tuesday afternoon, the United States called for an emergency meeting between the UN secretary council to discuss the latest attacks on Israel. The department said they are expecting the meeting to take place tomorrow on Wednesday afternoon.

Video footage of the strike on a Hamas terror tunnel near the Kerem Shalom Crossing and terror sites in the Gaza Strip: pic.twitter.com/XLyOveHXNA  IDF (@IDFSpokesperson) May 29, 2018

Mortars fired by Palestinian militants hit civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten. The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, Nikki Haley, the US Ambassador to the United Nations said in a statement.

Haley also stressed that the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for the events in Gaza.

The border area along the Gaza strip has been under pressure in the past few weeks as Palestinians protested the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt in 2007 when the Hamas terrorist group seized power.

Amid the attacks, the Israeli Navy also apprehended a Palestinian boat that had attempted to breach the legal naval blockade. After a search, the boat will be towed to the Israeli Navy base in Ashdod.

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Cornelia Frances arrives during the Channel Seven Perth Telethon at The Perth Convention Exhibition Centre on Oct. 4, 2008 in Perth, Australia. (Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Australian Veteran Actress Cornelia Frances Loses Battle with Cancer at 77

Beloved Australian actor Cornelia Frances has passed away overnight after losing her battle with cancer.

The 77-year-old veteran star, who played Morag Bellingham on the long-running television soap opera Home and Away, was surrounded by friends and family when she died on May 29 in Sydney, reported Newscorp.

Cornelia Frances was a unique person, a spokesperson for the Seven Network said in a statement.

Her on-screen presence inspired a generation of actors. This gift was coupled with an ability to bring a sense of dignity and presence into each room she entered. Her energy and character will be missed.

Frances was born in Liverpool, England, and moved to Australia in 1970 where she started her career in acting. She was diagnosed with bladder cancer in 2017.

I discovered I had bladder cancer. This then spread to my hip bone which fractured, and then I almost died from loss of blood due to an ulcer in my throat. Despite all this, I am still here, as the old song goes, Frances told The Sunday Telegraph in January this year.

Her son Lawrence shared a moving photo of his mother on Instagram showing her final days.

A very personal photo of my mum during one of her resting moments, she is so peaceful, soft and serene. I truly love this woman, he wrote.

Along with Home and Away, the six-time Logie nominee is well known for her role as a game show host on The Weakest Link in the early 2000s. She also played sister Grace Scott in The Young Doctors and Barbara Armstrong in Sons and Daughters.

Ray Meagher, who played Frances on-screen brother, Alf, in Home and Away, said that Frances will be missed.

We had a moment of silence for her on set this morning and shell be sadly missed by both cast and crew, he told Newscorp.

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A worker uses a crane to lift a roll of steel at a shipyard in Nantong City, in China's eastern Jiangsu Province, on May 19, 2018. (AFP/Getty Images)

Canada Initiates Dumping Inquiry Into Steel Imports From China, Vietnam, and South Korea

The Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT) said on May 28 that it has initiated a preliminary dumping inquiry into steel imported from China, Vietnam, and South Korea.

The tribunal will investigate whether the alleged dumping and subsidizing of cold-reduced flat-rolled sheet products of carbon steel from these countries have harmed Canadas steel industry.

CITT, which operates in Canadas trade remedy system and reports to parliament, said it will determine the results of the investigation on July 24 and will provide the reasons for the same on August 8.

Canadas steps follow U.S. actions from last week when the United States Commerce Department had slapped steep import duties on steel products from Vietnam that originated in China, after a final finding they evaded U.S. anti-dumping and anti-subsidy orders.

The global steel industry is struggling with a glut of excess production capacity, much of it located in China, that has pushed down prices.
This combination of pictures created on May 24, 2018 shows U.S. President Donald Trump at the National Building Museum May 22, 2018 in Washington, DC, and an undated photo released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on May 10, 2016 of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on May 9, 2016. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI,KCNA/AFP/Getty Images)

Cancellation of Trump-Kim Summit Was the Right Move

To demonstrate that North Korea is true to its determination to denuclearize, it blew up 3 tunnels at its Punggye-ri nuclear test site on May 24.

The demolition show is a part of Kim Jong Uns grand deception. Research based on satellite images and seismic data shows these tunnels were partially or completely collapsed in the September 2017 nuclear test. They are of little or no value to North Korea. That no nuclear expert was allowed to inspect the site suggests the conclusions of the study were very likely correct.

On the other hand, the destroyed tunnels are a small part of the giant Punggye-ri site. There may be other tunnels that are still functioning. Moreover, the Punggye-ri complex may not be the only nuclear facility North Korea has. And if Kim Jong Un decides there is a need, North Korea can easily build a new test site.

But Kim Jong Uns deception goes beyond the demolition show. North Korea declared it wanted to permanently denuclearize the Korean Peninsula. To this end, the United States would have to recognize North Korea as a nuclear state and to remove security threats against the country. Then in a few decades, if North Korea feels secure enough, it will entertain the idea of nuclear weapons reduction.

In other words, the chance Kim Jong Un gives up his nuclear bombs is smaller than Hillary Clinton admitting that she is to blame for her 2016 election defeat. His willingness to denuclearize is as fake as the Trump-Russia collusion myth.

President Donald Trump was right to cancel the summit. The meeting is not likely to produce any results. The goals of the United States and North Korea are worlds apart. North Korea refused to send lower-level officials to discuss the logistics of the summit, not to mention policy negotiations. Why waste time on a meeting that is doomed to be futile?

The cancellation denies Kim an opportunity to pull off a political stunt. Kim Jong Un is not a run-of-the-mill strongman. Duplicity and cruelty are encoded in his DNA. He may have ordered the assassination of his half-brother with VX nerve agent. He executed his uncle Jang Song Thaek, calling Jang worse than a dog. He enjoys killing people in the most horrible ways possible, such as by anti-aircraft guns, flamethrowers, and mortars. Kim Jong Un appeared to want the meeting badly, but not because he is seeking world peace. He wants legitimization and recognition.

Trumps cancellation also sends a message to China that it should stop giving bad advice to North Korea. The world was amazed that the two Koreas agreed to discuss a permanent end to the Korean war. North Korea released 3 American hostages.

After Kim Jong Uns visits to China, however, North Korea suddenly had second thoughts. But the strong statements then made by North Korea backfired. North Korea was apparently shocked by the summits rescission. If Kim Jong Un has a brain, he should understand it is North Korea that bears the brunt if diplomacy fails and the crippling sanctions continue, not China. Next time he may want to think again when he takes advice from China.

Cancellation of the summit does not mean the United States gives up on North Korea. Walking away from the meeting may help pave the way to more productive engagements. One of Trumps tweets sums up the situation perfectly: Negotiations 101: The best deals you can make are the ones you walk away fromand then get them with better terms. Severe sanctions will change Kim Jong Uns mind. One day, the little Rocket Man may even learn how to bargain.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Yulia Skripal, who was poisoned in Salisbury along with her father, Russian spy Sergei Skripal, speaks to media representatives in London, on May 23, 2018. (Dylan Martinez/AFP/Getty Images)

Doctors Who Treated Skripals Uncertain About Their Long-Term Health

LONDONThe doctors who treated a Russian former spy and his daughter after they were poisoned with a nerve agent in Britain say they dont know what the pairs long-term health outlook isand initially feared the incident could have been much worse.

Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russias military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain, and daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Staff at Salisbury hospital, where they were treated, told the BBC that some started to wonder whether they too would fall victim to the nerve agent.

Asked about the long-term impact of the poisoning on the Skripals health, the hospitals medical director, Christine Blanshard, said the prognosis was uncertain.

The honest answer is we dont know, she said, according to extracts of an interview released by the BBCs Newsnight program.

Britain has said that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals, and Western governments, including the United States, have expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats. Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning and retaliated in kind.

Yulia Skripal spoke to Reuters last week, saying her recovery had been slow and extremely painful and that she was lucky to have survived.

Hospital staff too said that they expected the Skripals would die as a result of the poisoning.

All the evidence was there that they would not survive, said Stephen Jukes, an intensive care consultant who treated the Skripals a week after they arrived at the hospital.

He added that the medical team initially suspected the Skripals were suffering an opioid overdose before the diagnosis quickly changed.

The cathedral city of Salisbury was transformed by the incident, with major shopping areas cordoned off while decontamination of locations the Skripals visited took place.

A policeman was admitted to hospital with symptoms after attending to the Skripals, and hospital staff feared that the incident might have been far more serious than first thought.

When the [policeman] was admitted with symptoms there was a real concern as to how big could this get, Lorna Wilkinson, director of nursing at the hospital, said, adding she feared it could have become all-consuming and involve many casualties.

We really didnt know at that point.

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Florida Woman Receives Shockingly High Water Bill

A Florida woman was left stunned after opening her water bill for the month of April.

Kathy Woelfel of Sun City Center said that the bill was for $1270.25.

It said that I had used over 167,000 gallons of water, she told Fox 13. There is just no way that I could have used that much water.

According to her account, she has never used more than 4,000 gallons of water per cycle. Her typical bill is around $45.

The Hillsborough County Department of Public Works said the bill was correct and that it was due to Woelfels sprinkler system.

But Woelfel hired three different companies to go to her house and check to make sure the water supply wasnt leaking anywhere.

All three said there are no leaks and that they dont agree with the countys sprinkler theory.

All the people that checked my system told me, Thats impossible, your yard woulda been flooded, your neighbors yards woulda been flooded, and it would be running down the street,' she said.



Woelfel then sent a letter to the county asking for a bill adjustment but the department rejected the appeal.

Thats when Woelfel contacted Fox 13. Officials contacted by the broadcaster admitted the bill appears to contain errors.

Officials are now working with Woelfel to figure out why the bill came in so high.

Its an extraordinary amount, I know that were working with our customer right now to make sure that we have it under control, said Public Utilities Division Director of Enterprise Solutions Koni Cassini.

Woelfel said she only had to pay her normal amount as the investigation continues. In the meanwhile, shes shut off her sprinkler system.

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Former Trump campaign associate Carter Page arrives at a courthouse in New York City, N.Y., on April 16, 2018. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Former Trump Campaign Volunteer Caught in Spygate: FBI Ruined My Life

Carter Page, former volunteer adviser to the campaign of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, has detailed how an FBI investigation based on unfounded claims led to his ruin, both financial and personal.

Rather than the investigation itself, it was the constant leaks to the media regarding the allegations against Page that caused him the most difficulty. Even though the allegations ultimately proved to be unsubstantiated, the damage was done. People distanced themselves from him, his business declined, and even his girlfriend left him.

When Page visited his girlfriend in late 2016 in her London apartment, she was freaking out with the fake news about me, he said.

Talking with her later in the evening after dinner, she told me that she didnt want me staying there anymore, and that our relationship was over, he told The New York Post.

Page began his journey to the Trump campaign in late 2015, when he made contact with Ed Cox, chairman of the New York Republican State Committee, who introduced him to a few people in the campaign in early 2016, according to Pages testimony to the House intelligence committee.

On March 21, 2016, Trump was interviewed by the editorial board of The Washington Post. At the onset of the interview, he was asked about his foreign policy team and whether he could reveal some names before announcing it officially.

Trump was handed a piece of paper by an aide and read five names. One of them was Page.

Page testified he never actually spoke with Trump, not even through text or email. He was mostly sending emails with ideas to some people in the campaign and, according to The Washington Post, attended three dinners held for the campaigns volunteer foreign policy advisers.

A Naval Academy and New York University grad, Page worked as an investment broker at Merrill Lynchs Moscow office from 2004 to 2007. He then founded his own investment firm, Global Energy Capital, and wrote articles and gave speeches as a foreign policy expert.

After Trumps mentioning Page, his name piqued the interest of Julia Ioffe, a journalist who, as a Russia wonk, dug deep into Pages history and, after several months of research, had a piece on him published by Politico on Sept. 23, 2016.

Based on Ioffes research, Page seemed to exaggerate his Russian contacts. He held a mid-level post at Merrill Lynch without any high-level access to Russian elites. His investment firm didnt seem to get anywhere. Its Manhattan address next to the Trump Tower turned out to be a co-working space. His writings were pro-Russian in tone, like those of other Westerners doing business in Russia, Ioffe noted.

During the campaign, Page said he was an investor in Gazprom, a massive Russian natural gas company. He later said the stake was actually minuscule and that he had sold it in August 2016 at a loss.

The same day as Ioffes, another story about Page came out, written by Yahoo News Michael Isikoff.

It seemed to take full advantage of Pages inflated profile, portraying him as a man with extensive business interests in Russia, who runs a consulting firm located around the corner from Trump Tower, that specializes in oil and gas deals in Russia and other Central Asian countries.

The article alleged Page opened up private communications with senior Russian officials, by meeting with Igor Diveykin, a high-ranking Russian official, and Igor Sechin, a top executive of a major Russian oil company Rosneft, during a short Moscow trip in early July 2016.

No evidence has emerged substantiating the claims. Page denied under oath ever meeting either individual.

Isikoff attributed the claims to a Western intelligence source, who was later revealed to be Christopher Steele, the former MI6 British intelligence agent who was paid by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to dig up dirt on Trump.

Using mostly Russian sources, Steele put together a dossier characterized as salacious and unverified by then-FBI Director James Comey. Steele provided the dossier to the FBI, which used it as justification to spy on Page.

Then-CIA Director John Brennan allegedly promoted the dossier to Democratic leaders in Congress during the campaign and later lied about it under oath.

Steeles employer, opposition research firm Fusion GPS, directed him to brief media, including Yahoo News, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN, and The New Yorker, on the contents of the dossier, according to court documents filed in the UK.

It is not clear when the FBI started to spy on Page. In early July, Page was contacted by Stefan Halper, a Cambridge professor with links to CIA and MI6, who was revealed to be a mole for the FBI investigation.

The two met at a Cambridge symposium held July 1112, 2016, shortly after Page returned from the Moscow trip, and remained in contact for 14 months.

Between 2012 and Sept. 26, 2016, Halper was granted research and consultancy contracts totaling over $1 million from a Defense Department strategy think tank directly under the Defense Secretary.

On Oct. 21, 2016, the FBI obtained a warrant to spy on Page. A major part of the application for the warrant was the Steele dossier, according to a memo by the Republican majority on the House intelligence committee. The warrant extensively cited the Yahoo article as if it corroborated the dossier claims, the memo stated, but the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which issued the warrant, wasnt informed that the dossier was actually paid opposition research and that the Yahoo article was based on it.

Based on the intelligence agencies two-hop rule, the warrant allowed the FBI to not only access Pages electronic communications, but also metadata, including the phone records of all people he was in contact with and all people in contact with them reaching back 18 months. That would likely involve many, if not all, in the Trump campaign.

Two days after the Yahoo article, Page sent a letter to Comey, offering to answer any questions the FBI may have. He wasnt interviewed until March 2017, he said, and he hasnt been charged with any crimes.

Page said the spying on him and the leaking of false information about him to the media was politically motivatedbecause he volunteered to help Trump.

Just as Trump did, he described the spying on the campaign as worse than the Watergate scandal.

The crimes that have already been committed against President Trump, myself, and the entire Trump movement are much worse, Page said.

Starting to look like one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history. SPYGATE  a terrible thing! Trump said on Twitter on May 24.

Clapper has now admitted that there was Spying in my campaign. Large dollars were paid to the Spy, far beyond normal. Starting to look like one of the biggest political scandals in U.S. history. SPYGATE  a terrible thing!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2018

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Four Dead After Gunman Shoots Police in Belgium

BRUSSELSA gunman killed two police officers and a passer-by on Tuesday before being himself shot dead in the center of the eastern Belgian city of Liege, public broadcaster RTBF said on its website.

Belgiums anti-terrorist crisis center was monitoring the situation, Interior Minister Jan Jambon said on Twitter. It was unclear, however, what lay behind the incident in which the man had also taken a woman hostage, according to RTBF.

Two other police officers had been injured, Belga news agency said. A spokeswoman for the Liege public prosecutors office confirmed that two police officers had been shot dead and the gunman neutralized but could not confirm other details.

Coups de feu a Liege, evacuation du boulevard dAvroy. Beaucoup de voitures de police sur place + secours #Avroy #Liege #gunshot pic.twitter.com/CLXo16nST3  Victor  (@VICTORJ_FR) May 29, 2018

Images on social media showed people scurrying for safety on Lieges central boulevard dAvroy with shots and sirens being heard in the background. One video showed two police in body armor moving into position.

Liege, an industrial city close to the German border in the French-speaking Wallonia region, was also the scene of a shooting in 2011, when a gunman killed four people and wounded over 100 before turning the gun on himself.

Belgium has been on high alert since a Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died.

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A man holds a poster during a rally against the nuclear deal with Iran in Times Square in New York on July 22, 2015. (Kena Betancur/AFP/Getty Images)

Is the North Atlantic Partnership in Danger?

European politicians are furious over the Iran deal, but still need US protection

While the Soviet threat remained during the Cold War, Europeand especially Germanywas highly appreciative of the United States. However, the relationship began to deteriorate in the late 1960s, enhanced by Soviet disinformation and supported by protest movements of the so-called 1968 Generation and the Vietnam War.

Since then, Europes relations with the United States have become increasingly schizophrenic: Europe still needs American protection, while at the same time intensifying its relationships with Russia and China. This, however, is insufficient to balance Europes position as a North Atlantic and Eurasian region, due to a lack of military power.

To keep good relationships, Europe needs both sides. However, in instances of tensions between the Atlantic partners, the European public and politicians have, especially over the past 20 years, taken a very one-sided course and mostly have blamed the United States.

Presidential Issue

This has been especially striking in the relationship with U.S. presidents. In Europe, President George W. Bush was considered a danger, while President Barack Obama was well-liked.

Now, Donald Trump is considered a major threat to world peace. However, if one ignores his sometimes rash behavior, one can find sound policies and people in his administration who consider Europes protection a top priority.

There is a European schizophrenia in the admiration of President Barack Obamas policies and the claim that presidents Bush and Trump hurt the transatlantic relationship. Both the Bush and Trump administrations have considered Europe an important issue, while Obamas pivot to Asia had a distinctively different orientation. Europe was clearly a less significant concern.

In fact, one year after leaving office, Obamas decision to pull out of Iraq and destabilize the Syrian regime, as well as get rid of the Libyan regime altogether, have helped ISIS and other terrorist groups. The European refugee crisis is a direct result of these policies, yet Obama remains as popular as ever.

On the other hand, Trumps decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear agreement has again caused strain in the relationship. Some claim the move is a major threat to the international framework and stability. According to the European mantra, there is one culprit: Donald Trump. On the surface, this might appear correct, but if we dive a little deeper, the story looks somewhat different.

Irans politics, as well as its military and paramilitary activities, including the support of terrorism, are destabilizing the entire Middle East. Tehran intends to become the dominant regional power and advances that agenda with all means.

It supports civil wars and threatens Israels very existence. Moreover, it poses an existential danger to Saudi Arabia, doing its utmost to control Syria and Yemen. Its support of terrorist organization Hezbollah weakens Lebanon, strengthens its own access to the Mediterranean, and makes possible direct attacks on Israel. All of this also presents significant challenges for Turkey.

Iran Delusion

The Iran nuclear agreement, which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, plus Germany, did not include any neighboring countries.

It contained no provision that protected Irans Middle Eastern neighbors from its subversive and terrorist agitation. The agreement was a priority for Obama, and the administration was in a rush to conclude it, but the Europeans could have pointed out this problem.

Leaders in the UK, Germany, and France are now appalled that the new administration withdrew from the deal. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel both visited Washington in April, begging Trump to maintain the agreement.

Macron tried to use French grandeur and youthful charm, while Merkel tried the German attitude of Bedenken (compunction)both in vain. Does that mean that Washington made the wrong move and that the White House is at fault? Not necessarily.

Since the 2016 U.S. presidential campaign, it had been well-known that Trump considered the agreement deficient and that he wanted a replacement. Once Trump was elected, London, Paris, and Berlin had ample time to try to renegotiate with the other partners of the agreement. This was neglected, and Trumps move wasnt exactly a surprise.

Now the UK, France, and Germany are paradoxically seeking the support of Russia and China to counterbalance the United States.

Washington may have been the trigger, but European negligence was the cause of the current situation. And the losers are not only the countries of the Middle East, but also the Western alliance.

Prince Michael of Liechtenstein is the executive chairman of trust company Industrie- und Finanzkontor, and founder and chairman of Geopolitical Intelligence Services. This article was first published by GIS Reports Online.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on April 30, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Liberals Rage at Trump Over Photo of Caged Children, But Theres a Problem

President Donald Trump spotlighted the hypocrisy exposed in Twitter messages by prominent liberals who shared a photo taken in 2014 and used it to criticize the current administration.

On Sunday, New York Times Magazines editor in chief Jake Silverstein, Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, and CNN reporter Hadas Gold were among a group of liberals who posted a photo of children sleeping inside a cage at a detention facility. The photos were accompanied with veiled diatribes aimed at the Trump administration.

But upon finding out that the photos were taken during the Obama administration, Silverstein, Favreau, and Gold deleted their tweets and extinguished the related outrage. But before the tweets were taken down, the internet noticed. And so did Trump.

Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obamas term showing children from the Border in steel cages, the president wrote. They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires.

By the time the photos in question were taken on June 18, 2014, more than 47,000 unaccompanied children illegally crossed the U.S. border. The crisis was covered by liberal media, but outrage against the president at the time was nowhere to be found in 2014.

But in 2018, many were ready to use the dated story as another excuse to attack Trump.

This is happening right now, Favreau wrote. And the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible.

All of these photos are disturbing, but the first two are especially awful, wrote Silverstein.

First photos of separated migrant children at holding facility, wrote Gold.

Gold and Silverstein wrote tweets to explain why they deleted their messages. Gold wrote that she took down her message because it gave impression of recent photos. Silverstein blamed his family for distracting him.

Trump used the opportunity to point to his solution to mass illegal immigration.

Dems must agree to Wall and new Border Protection for good of country, he wrote. Bipartisan Bill!

Democrats have so far unanimously opposed Trumps plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico. The children in the photos crossed the same boundary illegally in 2014.

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Man Discovers Crying Baby Left Outside His PubYou Wont Believe Whos Responsible

A pub in New Zealand has declared itself no longer a gaming venue, after the devastating discovery of a toddler crying in a capsule on the footpath outside while his mother was playing on a pokie machine was made.

The owner of Rawene Masonic Hotel, Glen Dick, heard a crying baby outside, minutes after a young local girl [walked] in one early afternoon  and [asked] if she can get $20 out by EFTPOS. He obliges with her request and she then continues into the gaming room.

I walk to the front door and look out. With nothing to see there, I proceed to our other entry and to my amazement/disgust, there on the footpath, outside our hotel is a baby capsule with a toddler in it.

I take the capsule inside and ask this young girl if this baby is hers.

She replied with Yes, but my car isnt here.

Dick blurted a few choice words and asked the mother to leave.

She replied, But I still have money in the machine.

Dick pushed the collect button and told the woman no you dont, take your child and leave.

He then posted the exchange on Facebook after the event and announced the removal of the pubs 7 pokie machines.

To which he adds, the allure of the gaming machines attributes to the problem of rising unemployment rates in Northland.

And devised a way to fix the problem by removing the attraction to the problem.

The decision to remove the machines was long overdue, as he clarified that both he and his partner had discussed the idea since last December when they had signed the contract.

While it might compromise the business a little, he had asked his community to support his resolution.

We couldnt go to bed at night, thinking possibly that the same thing could happen again, he told Yahoo7 News.

Since the publication of the Facebook post, Glen Dick has received overwhelming support, both locally and globally.

If these gaming machines can influence people to this kind of behaviour, then we want nothing to do with it and we hope that we have the support from our community with our decision.

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New Details Emerge on North Korean Officials Visit to New York

One of the top North Korean officials is coming to New York and will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Meanwhile, meetings are taking place, he said, in preparation of a summit between Trump and the communist dictator Kim Jong Un. The summit is planned on June 12 in Singapore.

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea, Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday, May 29. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

Kim Yong Chol, vice-chairman of the Workers Party of Korea, was previously the director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the Norths main intelligence agency.

He will meet with Pompeo later this week, the White House said in a Tuesday releasethe most senior North Korean official to meet with top officials in the United States since 2000.

During the historic meeting of North and South leaders on April 27, they agreed to seek the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. Plans were then already underway for Kim Jong Uns summit with Trump.

Trump called the June 12 summit off on May 24, after North Korea pulled out of a scheduled second meeting with South Korea, threatened to call off the summit, raised the prospect of nuclear war, and insulted Vice President Mike Pence.

I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting, Trump wrote in a published letter to Kim Jong Un.

North Korea responded with a conciliatory statement and Trump said on May 25: very productive talks were underway to reinstate the summit.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting with Kim Jong Un on Saturday, May 26, at the Panmunjom border village between the North and South.

The two leaders candidly exchanged views about making the North Korea-U.S. summit a successful one and about implementing the Panmunjom Declaration, South Koreas presidential spokesman said in a statement.

And on Sunday, the U.S. State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led that American delegation, an American official told Reuters.

The preparations now seem to be in full swing.

Kim Jong Uns de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

At the same time, a pre-advance team was traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans, the White House said.

U.S. government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport, according to Yonhap. It did not say whether Choe is accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

Kim Yong Chol has been a central player in the recent negotiations between North Korea and South Korea, as well as the United States.

He was part of the Norths delegation to the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea; he joined Kim Jong Un in both of his two meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April and May; and hosted Pompeo when he visited Pyongyang most recently early this month.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted Kim Yong Chol for supporting the Norths nuclear and missile programs in 2010 and 2016, respectively.

Due to sanctions against him, Kim Yong Chol is banned from visiting the United States normally. Any visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.

During his tenure as a senior intelligence official, Kim Yong Chol was accused by South Korea of masterminding deadly attacks on a South Korean navy ship and an island in 2010, and was linked by U.S. intelligence to a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014. North Korea denied any involvement in the attacks.

Epoch Times reporter Ivan Pentchoukov and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Imperative to dismantle North Korean weapons, say Trump, Abe

Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump spoke by telephone a day after American and North Korean officials met AP file photo

AFP , Washington :

President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Monday that it is "imperative" to completely dismantle North Korea's nuclear weapons and ballistic missile program, the White House said.

The US and Japanese leaders will meet ahead of a much anticipated summit with North Korea's Kim Jong Un back on schedule for June 12 in Singapore just days after Trump announced he was canceling it.

The American president said the summit could go ahead as planned following a more appeasing statement from Pyongyang and productive talks with North Korean officials.

Japan, which has by far the hardest line compared to neighbors China and South Korea, has been left uneasy by the pace of events, and by what it sees as an unwarranted softening toward an untrustworthy Pyongyang. Abe and Trump spoke by telephone a day after American and North Korean officials met at a border truce village to prepare for the summit.

During a telephone call, the pair "discussed recent developments in North Korea and confirmed they would meet again to continue close coordination in advance of the expected meeting between the United States and North Korea," a White House statement read.

"The president and prime minister affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Korea's nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs."

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief. Pyongyang has a different view of denuclearization and remains deeply worried that abandoning its deterrent would leave the country-and its leader-vulnerable, especially while the United States maintains a robust military presence in South Korea.

As a decorated war hero who once took out three machine gun nests with nothing but grenades, Choi Deuk-soo knows firsthand what is at stake should US-North Korean peace talks fail - and he is doubtful of an imminent breakthrough. The wizened 91-year-old is one of just five people still alive to have been awarded South Korea's top military medal, the Taeguk, given for a suicidally brave charge he made up an enemy-held hill in the end stages of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, AKA Tommy Robinson, former leader of the EDL (English Defence League) is escorted away by police in central London on April 1, 2017 following the deadly terror attack against the British Parliament on March 22. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images)

Protests Sparked Worldwide as British Journalist Sentenced for Reporting on Human Trafficking Trial

Tommy Robinson, a British journalist and former leader of the English Defence League (EDL) has been jailed for 13 months, reports confirmed.

Robinson was sentenced to 10 months for contempt of court and a further three months for breaching the terms of a previous contempt offense. A ban in the UK on reporting his sentence was lifted after it was challenged by the media.

The 35-year-old was arrested last Friday, May 25, outside Leeds Crown Court for filming alleged child-trafficking gang members entering the court for trial. Video footage, that was shared widely across social media shows Robinson being surrounded and arrested by police.

Tommy Robinson has been arrested in Leeds court for reporting on grooming gangs.pic.twitter.com/Hf2rXrVwrJ  Ashraf Sherjan (@ASJBaloch) May 25, 2018

Robinson, a citizen journalist, has been publicly speaking out against the threat of Islamic extremism and terrorism for nearly a decade.

In recent times, Britain has been hit by multiple child-sex scandals from gangs filled with mostly Muslim men.

The most notable case, known as the Rotherham child exploitation scandal, found that an estimated 1,400 children were abused in the South Yorkshire town between 1997 and 2013, according to a 2014 government report.

The report found that the majority of the perpetrators were Muslim men who targeted girls aged between 12 to 16. The scandal has been described as one of the biggest and worst in UK history.

The arrest of Robinson sparked massive protests outside Downing Street as supporters of free speech called for his release. There appeared to be thousands in attendance.

Meanwhile, a recent Change.org petition calling for his freedom rapidly gained over 470,000 signatures at the time of this publication.

Tommy Robinson has been arrested and jailed for reporting on Muslim grooming gangs, the petition states. A job that he chooses to do with no regard for his own safety, informing the public of all the wrongs committed in the name of Allah.

On social media, the protests continued, as users used the hashtag #FreeTommy to raise awareness. Marches across the UK have also been scheduled.

https://twitter.com/Swede_Watch/status/1001181952395939840

The arrest sparked worldwide attention, as hundreds of citizens in Australia also came together to protest outside a British Embassy in the country. Many held up #FreeTommy signs in both Sydney and Melbourne. Similar events took place in Canada as well.

The group that Robinson helped c0-found years ago, the EDL, is opposed to the spread of militant Islam.

According to the groups website, they stand for free speech in practice and free speech in the law.

Our activities are peaceful. We are committed to non-violence, the website states.

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This Country Is Banning Facebook for a Month: Heres the Reason Why

The government of Papua New Guinea, a country located in the Pacific, has announced that it will ban Facebook for a month to study the effects that the worlds largest social network is having on its citizens.

The move, meanwhile, will also crack down on fake users, according to the Australia Broadcasting Corporation.

Less than 10 percent of the countrys population of 8 million have access to the Internet, let alone Facebook, the BBC reported.

Communication Minister Sam Basil told the Post-Courier: The time will allow information to be collected to identify users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information.

He added: We can also look at the possibility of creating a new social network site for PNG citizens to use with genuine profiles as well.

If need be then we can gather our local applications developers to create a site that is more conducive for Papua New Guineans to communicate within the country and abroad as well, he said.

Facebook has not responded to the move.

Papua New Guinea isnt the first country to ban Facebook for a period of time. In March, Sri Lanka blocked Facebook and Facebook-owned WhatsApp to respond to posts that called for attacks on Muslims.

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Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, attends the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Pyeongchang Stadium on Feb. 25, 2018. (Patrick Semansky/AFP/Getty Images)

Top North Korean Official Heading to New York, Will Meet State Secretary Pompeo

One of the top North Korean officials is coming to New York and will meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Meanwhile, meetings are taking place, he said, in preparation of a summit between Trump and the communist dictator Kim Jong Un. The summit is planned on June 12 in Singapore.

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea, Trump said on Twitter on Tuesday, May 29. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

Kim Yong Chol, vice-chairman of the Workers Party of Korea, was previously the director of the Reconnaissance General Bureau, the Norths main intelligence agency.

He will meet with Pompeo later this week, the White House said in a Tuesday releasethe most senior North Korean official to meet with top officials in the United States since 2000.

During the historic meeting of North and South leaders on April 27, they agreed to seek the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. Plans were then already underway for Kim Jong Uns summit with Trump.

Trump called the June 12 summit off on May 24, after North Korea pulled out of a scheduled second meeting with South Korea, threatened to call off the summit, raised the prospect of nuclear war, and insulted Vice President Mike Pence.

I was very much looking forward to being there with you. Sadly, based on the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in your most recent statement, I feel it is inappropriate, at this time, to have this long-planned meeting, Trump wrote in a published letter to Kim Jong Un.

North Korea responded with a conciliatory statement and Trump said on May 25: very productive talks were underway to reinstate the summit.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting with Kim Jong Un on Saturday, May 26, at the Panmunjom border village between the North and South.

The two leaders candidly exchanged views about making the North Korea-U.S. summit a successful one and about implementing the Panmunjom Declaration, South Koreas presidential spokesman said in a statement.

And on Sunday, the U.S. State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led that American delegation, an American official told Reuters.

The preparations now seem to be in full swing.

Kim Jong Uns de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

At the same time, a pre-advance team was traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans, the White House said.

U.S. government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport, according to Yonhap. It did not say whether Choe is accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

Kim Yong Chol has been a central player in the recent negotiations between North Korea and South Korea, as well as the United States.

He was part of the Norths delegation to the closing ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea; he joined Kim Jong Un in both of his two meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April and May; and hosted Pompeo when he visited Pyongyang most recently early this month.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted Kim Yong Chol for supporting the Norths nuclear and missile programs in 2010 and 2016, respectively.

Due to sanctions against him, Kim Yong Chol is banned from visiting the United States normally. Any visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.

During his tenure as a senior intelligence official, Kim Yong Chol was accused by South Korea of masterminding deadly attacks on a South Korean navy ship and an island in 2010, and was linked by U.S. intelligence to a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014. North Korea denied any involvement in the attacks.

Epoch Times reporter Ivan Pentchoukov and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party Central Committee, watches the closing ceremony at the Pyeongchang Olympics in South Korea on February 25, 2018. (Reuters/Patrick Semansky/Pool/File Photo)

Top North Korean Officials Travel to US, Singapore in Summit Preparations

SEOUL/TOKYONorth Korea has dispatched top officials to the United States and Singapore, media reported on Tuesday, the latest indication that the on-again-off-again summit with U.S. President Donald Trump may go ahead.

North Koreas Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers Partys Central Committee, was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency said, citing an unnamed source.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

At the same time, a pre-advance team was traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans, the White House said.

U.S. government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The reports indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week citing inflammatory comments made by Kims subordinate. A day later, North Korea sent a warm and productive statement to Trump, after which Trump said that the planned June 12 summit with Kim may still happen as scheduled, with officials from both countries now meeting to work out details.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at the Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was going there to play, according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport, according to Yonhap. It did not say whether Choe would be accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

Senior Visit

If his trip is confirmed, Kim Yong Chol would be the most senior North Korean official to meet with top officials in the United States since Jo Myong Rok, a marshal, met with then-President Bill Clinton at the White House in 2000.

A former military spy chief, Kim Yong Chol has been a central player in the recent negotiations between North Korea and South Korea, as well as the United States.

Kim Yong Chol joined Kim Jong Un in both of his two meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April and May, and hosted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo when his visited Pyongyang most recently early this month.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted Kim Yong Chol for supporting the Norths nuclear and missile programs in 2010 and 2016, respectively.

Due to sanctions against him, Kim Yong Chol is banned from visiting the United States normally. Any visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.

During his tenure as a senior intelligence official, Kim Yong Chol was accused by South Korea of masterminding deadly attacks on a South Korean navy ship and an island in 2010, and was linked by U.S intelligence to a cyberattack on Sony Pictures in 2014. North Korea denied any involvement in the attack on the ship and on Sony Pictures.

Diplomatic Negotiations

In a flurry of diplomacy over the weekend, Kim Jong Un and South Koreas Moon held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-U.S. summit must be held.

And on Sunday, the U.S. State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led that American delegation, an American official told Reuters.

In Kim and Moons first, upbeat meeting on April 27, they agreed to seek the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

Analysts believe Washington is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree on sufficient steps toward denuclearization to allow a summit to take place.

By Christine Kim and Kaori Kaneko

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Trump Endorses California Gubernatorial Candidate John Cox

President Donald Trump endorsed Republican candidate John Cox for California governor in a tweet on May 18, less than three weeks before the 2018 California primary election.

In Californias top-two system for the primary election, all candidates will be on the ballot regardless of their political affiliations, but only the candidates who finish in first and second place will advance to the November general election.

Two new polls, the USC Dornsife/Los Angeles Times poll and another by the Public Policy Institute of California, showed that current Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, was in the lead, while Cox and Democratic candidate Antonio Villaraigosa trailed behind Newsom in a close race for second place.

Winning second place is now the focus of the gubernatorial race in California, because whoever wins it will be the one running against Newsom in the November runoff.

Cox is a businessman who has been active in politics but has never won any public elections for government or legislative offices. Villaraigosa, a career politician and former mayor of Los Angeles, has been supported by many prominent Democrats and national celebrities, including Michael Bloomberg, the 10th-richest man in the world and a former mayor of New York City.

The recent exchanges between the campaigns of Cox and Villaraigosa have become increasingly negative as the race heats up.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Bloomberg, Netflix founder Reed Hastings, and other wealthy charter-school supporters are spending millions on a campaign to get Villaraigosa into the runoff with Newsom. This campaign, aimed at Republican voters, includes promoting the idea that Cox is a Democrat in disguise, according to the Los Angeles Times.

In a press conference in Burlingame, California, Cox told San Francisco Bay Area media, I call on Mr. Bloomberg today to renounce the efforts of an independent expenditure committee for Mr. Villaraigosa, because they are mounting one of the most devious campaigns with a complete lack of integrity.

Cox said in the press conference that the liberal Democratic special interests had not only lied about him, but also made it seem as if they were trying to help his Republican opponent.

Coxs Republican opponent in the gubernatorial race, Travis Allen, is currently a Republican assemblyman in Californias Orange County. The two polls showed that Allen was behind Newsom, Cox, and Villaraigosa in a distant fourth place.

Im going to call upon the members of the media, Im going to call upon all people of California to rise up against what is going on, Cox said in the Burlingame press conference.

Cox added that organizations funded by Bloomberg and others were sending out mailers with lies about Cox. As a result, some Republican voters were misled and believed that those mailers were sent to them for the purpose of helping Allens campaign.

Allen, who gained endorsements from more than 20 California GOP county committees, was once tied with Cox. However, after Trump endorsed Cox in his tweet, Allen began to trail behind Cox. Several top GOP leaders in California have endorsed Cox.

Bloomberg, a tycoon in financial services, technology, and media, was once a Democrat and switched to Republican before winning the New York mayoral election. He left the Republican Party in his second term as mayor, and he was later elected mayor a third time as an independent. At the 2016 Democratic National Convention, he gave a speech calling for the election of Hillary Clinton.

In California, the strong anti-Trump movement after the 2016 presidential election once made many voters in this blue state believe that having ties with Trump would be a death factor for any candidate running for public office. Now, however, the tide seems to have turned, and many Republican and independent candidates are not afraid of speaking to the public in support of Trumps policies.

I was endorsed by President Donald Trump; Im very proud of that, Cox said in the press conference.

Trump may have gained more support in California because of the success of his policies. Cox said that the economy is expected to achieve over 3 percent growth this year for the first time in many years, and the unemployment rate is historically low.

Trumps endorsement of Cox fits in with Trumps wish to make changes in the political world by bringing in outsiders, as well as the presidents attempts to bring in people with more business experience.

I was endorsed because Im a businessman who is interested in good policy. I am interested in results. I am running for governor to deliver a better quality of life to the people of California, Cox said in the press conference.

Cox also said there were 19 governors around the country who were businessmen before taking office, reflecting what he believed about why he got the endorsement from Trump.

As Trump tries to change the establishment by bringing businesspeople to the political world, Californians are now seeing strong resistance from the establishment in Sacramento. In the gubernatorial race, California voters will decide whether they want Sacramento to change its approaches to the issues facing the state, or to replace the old politicians with new ones who move in the same direction.
Trump Makes Surprise Announcement on China Tariffs

The United States will levy a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods imported from China, the White House announced on Tuesday, May 29.

The tariff will apply to products containing industrially significant technology. The Trump administration has collected feedback from consumers on potential items and the final list will be announced by June 15.

From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and to be reciprocal, President Donald Trump said in a statement.

Trump has long said that China has taken advantage of the United States with unfair trade practices, including industrial subsidies and prohibitive trade barriers. The communist regime has also engaged in rampant intellectual property theft. Trump is using trade negotiations to recoup the losses.

The announcement comes as a surprise since Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier this month that the imposition of tariffs would be suspended as American negotiators continued trade talks with their Chinese counterparts.

The White House initially proposed $150 billion in tariffs. The reduction to $50 billion is a sign of Trumps standard approach to negotiations: ask for way more than you can get and settle for a better deal than most would deem possible.

The United States Trade Representative will also continue a dispute settlement with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China. The dispute was initiated in March over Beijings discriminatory technology licensing requirements, the White House said.

The Trump administration has already won a WTO trade dispute with China in February. As a result, China terminated unfair antidumping and countervailing duties on poultry exports, according to the White House.

The United States is also preparing to implement investment restrictions and export controls meant to restrict access of Chinese people and companies to American technology. The list of restrictions will be announced by June 30, the White House said.

Last week Trump said he had reached a deal to let Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE stay in business. Trump has said that ZTE is part of the larger trade talks.

The United States imposed crippling sanctions on ZTE due to national security concerns. The impact of the sanctions prompted a personal plea from Chinese Premier Xi Jinping for Trump to step in.

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President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on April 30, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

Trump Points Out Bias Exposed in Twitter Fiasco by Prominent Liberals

President Donald Trump spotlighted the hypocrisy exposed in Twitter messages by prominent liberals who shared a photo taken in 2014 and used it to criticize the current administration.

On Sunday, May 27, the New York Times Magazines editor in chief Jake Silverstein, Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau, and CNN reporter Hadas Gold were among a group of liberals who posted a photo of children sleeping inside a cage at a detention facility. The photos were accompanied with veiled diatribes aimed at the Trump administration.

But upon finding out that the photos were taken during the Obama administration, Silverstein, Favreau, and Gold deleted their tweets and extinguished the related outrage. But before the tweets were taken down, the internet noticed. And so did Trump.

Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obamas term showing children from the Border in steel cages, the president wrote. They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires.

By the time the photos in question were taken on June 18, 2014, more than 47,000 unaccompanied children had already illegally crossed the U.S. border. The crisis was covered by liberal media, but outrage against the president at the time was nowhere to be found in 2014.

But in 2018, many were ready to use the dated story as another excuse to attack Trump.

This is happening right now, Favreau wrote. And the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible.

All of these photos are disturbing, but the first two are especially awful, wrote Silverstein.

First photos of separated migrant children at holding facility, wrote Gold.

Gold and Silverstein wrote tweets to explain why they deleted their messages. Gold wrote that she took down her message because it gave impression of recent photos. Silverstein blamed his family for distracting him.

Trump used the opportunity to point to his solution to mass illegal immigration.

Dems must agree to Wall and new Border Protection for good of country, he wrote. Bipartisan Bill!

Democrats have so far unanimously opposed Trumps plan to build a wall on the border with Mexico. The children in the photos crossed the same boundary illegally in 2014.

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Diplomatic flurry suggests US-North Korea summit may go ahead

Kim Yong Chol, center , a former military intelligence chief who is now Kim Jong Un\'s top official on inter-Korean relations, walks upon arrival at Beijing airport in Beijing on Tuesday.

Reuters, Seoul :

North Korea has dispatched top officials to the United States and Singapore, media reported on Tuesday, the latest indication that an on-again-off-again summit with U.S. President Donald Trump may go ahead.North Korea's Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee, was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said, citing an unidentified source.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's de facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, meanwhile, flew to Singapore via Beijing late on Monday, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.

At the same time, a "pre-advance" U.S. team was traveling to Singapore to meet North Koreans, the White House said. U.S. government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations, Joe Hagin, left U.S. Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The reports indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week.

A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

In Singapore, a team of U.S. officials, with a fleet of idling vehicles on standby, was at a hotel on the resort island of Sentosa but declined to comment.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was "going there to play", according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport, according to Yonhap. It did not say whether Choe would be accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

China's foreign ministry said it had no information to offer on any North Korean officials traveling to the United States via Beijing.

North Korea has faced years of isolation and economic sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs since it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

But events have moved quickly since Kim Jong Un made a conciliatory New Year's address at the end of last year, following months of sharply rising tension.

In a flurry of diplomacy over recent days, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-U.S. summit must be held.

On Sunday, the U.S. State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former U.S. ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led the U.S. delegation, an official told Reuters.
File photo of chickens eating from a row of feed bins at C&A Farms in Fairmont, N.C., on June 10, 2014. (Randall Hill/Reuters)

US Seeks End to China Poultry Import Ban

BEIJINGThe United States is pushing China to drop a ban on U.S. poultry imports as part of trade talks, according to three sources briefed on the matter, eyeing a potential $600 million market for chicken feet and other parts.

Along with better access for genetically modified crops, the issue will be a top priority as U.S. Under Secretary of Agriculture Ted McKinney heads to Beijing this week as part of a U.S. trade delegation, the sources said.

China already imports about $1 billion of poultry a year from other countries and accounts for most of the world trade in chicken feet, a specialty dish in many regions and a popular snack throughout the country.

Washington wants Beijing to end the ban on U.S. products imposed in January 2015 after outbreaks of avian influenza. The industry believes it can quickly re-establish its position against competitors such as Brazil.

Our birds are bigger. China has a preference for jumbo-sized paws, said Sarah Li, Greater China director of the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, referring to an industry name for chicken feet.

The talks come as the two sides near a deal that could see China cutting tariffs on car imports and buying more American farm goods in return for Washington lifting its ban on U.S. firms supplying Chinese telecoms firm ZTE.

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared to confirm the ZTE reprieve in a tweet late on May 25.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) did not respond to requests for comment on May 28, which was a national holiday.

Chinas General Administration of Customs, which handles quarantine issues for agricultural imports, did not respond to a fax seeking comment on the issue. The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs did not respond to a fax seeking comment.

Outdated Ban in Sights

Among the many issues that Washington wants resolved to improve market access and boost sales of its farm goods, poultry is one of the top items, said one of the sources who has been briefed on the matter.

Beijing removed anti-dumping tariffs on U.S. poultry in February after eight years, but its 2015 bird flu ban remains in place.

Washington has said those restrictions are no longer valid with the last case of a highly lethal form of the virus reported more than a year ago.

The United States, like other countries, also argues that such bans should be limited to the regions or states where a case is discovered.

Since the ban, some U.S. chicken feet are sold to Hong Kong or Vietnam, with the rest being rendered for use in animal feed, said the USA Poultry and Egg Export Councils Li.

We believe there are no technical concerns about [flu] outbreaks in the U.S., she said, citing positive feedback from Chinese officials after site inspections in the United States last summer.

The potential value of U.S. poultry exports to China is estimated at up to $600 million, according to one of the sources.

Access for poultry and other products has already been raised by Under Secretary of Agriculture McKinney on a China trip two weeks ago, according to a statement from the Customs administration released after the talks.

The Chinese regime, meanwhile, is still seeking access for its cooked poultry products in the U.S. market. Currently, China can export cooked poultry that has been processed in China, but the animals must be raised and slaughtered in Canada, Chile, or the United States.

Last July, the first shipment of cooked chicken from China arrived in the United States, according to a Washington Post report, but consumer groups expressed concerns about public health risksgiven Chinas poor record of food safety. Chicken from China would not be labeled, and Qingdao Nine-Alliance Group, the first Chinese exporter, did not specify the name brand the products were to be sold under, according to the report.

The USDA has since proposed a rule that would allow China-raised chicken into the United States. Citing former USDA officials, the Post reported that Chinese trade negotiators had demanded approval of Chinese poultry in exchange for opening markets to more U.S. goods.

By Dominique Patton. Epoch Times staff member Annie Wu contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump participates in the departure of Moon Jae-in, President of the Republic of Korea, at the White House in Washington on May 22, 2018. (Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times)

White House to Impose Tariffs on $50 Billion of Chinese Goods

The United States will levy a 25 percent tariff on $50 billion of goods imported from China, the White House announced on Tuesday, May 29.

The tariff will apply to products containing industrially significant technology. The Trump administration has collected feedback from consumers on potential items and the final list will be announced by June 15.

From now on, we expect trading relationships to be fair and to be reciprocal, President Donald Trump said in a statement.

Trump has long said that China has taken advantage of the United States with unfair trade practices, including industrial subsidies and prohibitive trade barriers. The communist regime has also engaged in rampant intellectual property theft. Trump is using trade negotiations to recoup the losses.

The announcement comes as a surprise since Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said earlier this month that the imposition of tariffs would be suspended as American negotiators continued trade talks with their Chinese counterparts.

The White House initially proposed $150 billion in tariffs. The reduction to $50 billion is a sign of Trumps standard approach to negotiations: ask for way more than you can get and settle for a better deal than most would deem possible.

The United States Trade Representative will also continue a dispute settlement with the World Trade Organization (WTO) against China. The dispute was initiated in March over Beijings discriminatory technology licensing requirements, the White House said.

The Trump administration has already won a WTO trade dispute with China in February. As a result, China terminated unfair antidumping and countervailing duties on poultry exports, according to the White House.

The United States is also preparing to implement investment restrictions and export controls meant to restrict access of Chinese people and companies to American technology. The list of restrictions will be announced by June 30, the White House said.

Last week Trump said he had reached a deal to let Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE stay in business. Trump has said that ZTE is part of the larger trade talks.

The United States imposed crippling sanctions on ZTE due to national security concerns. The impact of the sanctions prompted a personal plea from Chinese Premier Xi Jinping for Trump to step in.

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White Woman Calls 911 on Black Real Estate Investor

Police officers in Tennessee defended a black real estate investor after a white woman called 911 on him.

Michael Hayes is a real estate investor who was visiting Memphis to look at homes.

I was at a house I had under contract to do an inspection, get some pictures, Hayes told WMC.

Hayes owns his own company called Hayes Investment Deals.

He was pulling boards off of the windows when a neighbor came outside and asked what he was doing. He showed her his sign in the front yard and told her he had the paperwork.

But the neighbor, Tiffany Albert, wasnt satisfied with the explanation and called the police.

She was saying things like I have no right to be there, Hayes said. What am I doing in the neighborhood. Get your sign and go.

Albert argued that the house was boarded up because people had been using it to use drugs, and didnt want the boards removed.

Two police officers soon arrived at the house and spoke with Hayes. When they realized he was on a business visit, they told Albert he was allowed to be there.

Were going to let him do his job, the officers said. Albert was unhappy and told Hayes to hurry up.

Hayes commended the officers and how they handled the situation.

Woman who reported real estate investor as trespasser: nothing racist about it #wmc5 >>https://t.co/zK7xPbj3gb pic.twitter.com/wR30hDNCFv  WMC Action News 5 (@WMCActionNews5) May 16, 2018

Understand whats going on now in America with people calling the police on people for no reason, Hayes said. I understand that could have went completely different way. When they came out there they made me feel safe.

Albert told WMC that her calling the police wasnt racist, and noted she would support the house being renovated. Hayes hasnt decided whether to invest in the house as of yet.

Im Spanish, Albert said. My boyfriend is black. Its nothing racist about it.

Hayes video of the incident has been viewed over one million times. After finishing the inspection, he recorded another video in which he says he believes Albert called the police because he is black, the Daily Mail noted.

I dont look threatening, he said. I keep my business cards on me. I keep contracts on me. I keep signs on me, just so people will know, Hey. Im here to look at a house. But at the end of the day, she just did not want me in her neighborhood.

Real estate agents in Texas told Fox 26 that the incident made them upset.

I am more than pissed off, said Mish Guillory.

You know what we do for a living? We meet with strangers and we go into empty houses. Its dangerous anyway. Now we have to worry about this crazy lady with the cats, watching Family Feud and peeping out of windows and making phone calls.

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Chinese leader Xi Jinping outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China on Aug. 31, 2017. (Jason Lee/Reuters)

Xi Jinping Calls for Chinas Tech Self-Reliance Amid ZTE Troubles

Amid an escalating crisis within Chinese telecom firm ZTE, Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke at a conference for Chinese state scientists and engineers about the countrys need to become technologically self-reliant.

Only when we have fully grasped key technologies, can we fundamentally protect the countrys economic and national security, Xi said on May 28, according to a transcript published by state-run media Xinhua.

Operations have screeched to a halt at Chinas second largest telecoms company, after the United States imposed a ban that prohibited U.S. companies from selling tech parts or software to ZTE. The penalty was issued in April after ZTE was found to have defied terms of an agreement it signed in 2017 for violating U.S. sanctions against Iran and North Korea.

ZTE relies heavily on U.S.-imported chips and optical modules for manufacturing its smartphones. A 2016 report released by a Chinese regime-affiliated think tank found that the firm purchased 53 percent of its chips from American firms, worth $3.1 billion. It predicted that any U.S. sanctions would have a detrimental effect on ZTE and the Chinese tech industry in general.

The recent ZTE ban has only highlighted the innovation gap China still faces as it struggles to produce the chips critical to manufacturing practically all electronic devices. In fact, semiconductors make up one of Chinas largest import categories by value.

Xis recent speech demonstrates how politically importantand urgentthe Chinese regime views tech innovation, as ZTE has become ensnared in broader trade negotiations between China and the United States. U.S. President Donald Trumps administration is currently negotiating a way for ZTE to continue running its business in exchange for China eliminating tariffs on U.S. agricultural goods or agreeing to buy more U.S. imports, sources have told Reuters.

The Chinese regime had earlier outlined in its economic plan, Made in China 2025, how it seeks to attain self-sufficiency, and then eventually dominate global supply chains, in 10 major tech sectors.

Xi repeated those ambitions at the conference. Self-reliance and innovation are inevitable on our path to becoming the worlds science and tech leader.

The United States punitive tariffs on Chinese tech products, announced in March, had targeted Made in China 2025 as evidence of the Chinese regimes strategic scheme to acquire and steal intellectual property for its national interests.

ZTE fit into that mold. Taiwan tech publication IP Observer found that between 2009 and June 2017, ZTE was the defendant in more than 140 patent lawsuits in the United States. Around the world, it faces over 240 lawsuits, including in China, Germany, Holland, France, Canada, Australia, and India.

Back in October 2017, the U.S. Commerce Department published its investigation of ZTE, detailing how it engaged in shady practices in its dealings with Iran, such as labeling transactions with Iran as Qatar instead; offering monetary awards to staff to complete projects with Iran; and finding third parties to act as middlemen for shipping goods there.

Tech website Techcrunch also found that ZTE refused to pay royalties for using other companies intellectual property.
NEW HAVEN  The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search Monday at 10:30 p.m., for two people in the water after a 14-foot white and blue sailboat with no mast was found on Truman Beach, near Greenport, N.Y.

Spencer Mugford, 21, and Sophia McKenna, 20, were last seen aboard a white tandem kayak via social media at 2 a.m., Sunday morning.
Once a certain degree of business success has been achieved, it's easy to feel ready for the challenges -- and benefits -- of further growth. But there are many factors to consider: what business formation might be best, which solutions will match your businesses structure and how to make the right moves to sustain growth without throwing cold water on it.

Growing your business the wrong way is obviously not the best course of action -- yet thats what happens every day. Slow, incremental growth can keep you from serving a customer segment begging for your product. Explosive growth may leave your existing market feeling lost as it tries to navigate a forest of new products.

Even large, established businesses can discover how expansion can become a company's death knell if handled poorly. Radio Shack, Best Buy, Target and Disney each suffered when they didn't adequately plan for expansion.

American environment advocate Edward Abbey once said, "Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of the cancer cell. At least for a business, potential damage from unplanned and uncontrolled growth can be mitigated by avoiding the following mistakes.

Offering a shoddy loyalty program.

While not practical for business startups or initial coming-to-market scenarios, a loyalty program offered by a business ready for expansion may pay off in improved customer loyalty and satisfaction. Just make sure the deal is affordable and that time and resources are available to manage it.

Not being able to devote the right resources to the program means failure before launch. To solve this problem, many small and medium-size businesses contract with rewards apps like Perkville or FiveStars. Both apps, like your existing sales system, can be formatted as a unique loyalty program that won't adversely impact current initiatives.

Hiring in haste.

While hiring new staff can alleviate stress and provide room to focus on vital details, there is a downside. Training new hires brings a transition that could hinder overall productivity for a spell. Hiring is a costly move, so the idea should be weighed carefully before starting a new-employee search.

If you've done due diligence and still decide additional staff is the right step, there are some must-dos to avoid killing the business. Keep a list of tasks for a new employee to assume and look for ways to assign them to them. Especially important for a small business is making sure the right person for the job has the right disposition as well as the right skill set. The attitude and work ethic of one person can change (for better or worse) the atmosphere of your overall operation.

Opening new locations.

Often the most risky thing entrepreneurs think of when they speak of business expansion is opening a new location. Expansion through brick-and-mortar locations demands an abundance of thought, preparation and planning.

Related: Opening a Second Location? Here's What to Keep in Mind.

Not managing the competition or failing to be hyper-aware of your budget can lead to failure. Street and foot traffic at a new location must be evaluated, and proper staffing is essential.

Not realizing that all business formats do not succeed by adding locations can be a dream killer as well. Carpet installation, car repair and other industries with plug-and-play skills can work from multiple locations. But businesses where the product demands hands-on attention from staff or where a service provider does all the billable work do not.

Ignoring cybersecurity measures.

Almost all small to medium-size businesses have an online presence. That makes them automatically at risk of a cyber-crime attack, which, if unprepared for, can turn a business expansion into a nightmare. Try to imagine what your business would be like without telephones, the internet or computers -- for a whole week.

Quality security software helps, but the owner must account for human error as well, especially when receiving or sending emails. Make sure each of your employees is trained in recognizing a fake or malicious email and that they know not to open one.

Related: What Small Business Owners Need to Know About Cybersecurity

Despite your best efforts, cyber crooks continually look for new ways to hack systems and bust through firewalls. Constant vigilance is key. Utilizing a service like cyber-protection insurance helps ensure internal security policies are updated as the business expands.

Failing to diversify.

Successful businesses adapt. Savvy companies anticipate. Market changes can force a business out of its niche. Diversifying into complementary lines and services help can grow it by introducing new streams of income. Expand beyond your target market, and your financial success may be more likely to happen.

Failing to partner up.

To expand your base, consider partnering with another business that has a similar target customer. For instance: an owner of a fitness studio might think about partnering with a nearby sporting goods store to create a unique package for their health-minded customers. The possibilities for cross-promotion are unlimited, from discounts to buy one/get one deals.

Related: Why Small Businesses Should Partner Up With Other Brands

It doesn't matter if your expansion is a small baby-step or a giant leap, strategic planning is required because growth can kill or boost your business. No single method guarantees overnight success, but the right strategy blended with the right mindset will grow your business and position it for the future.

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Expanding Your Business? Ignore These Pitfalls at Your Peril

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How to Map Out Your Startup Business Expansion in a Volatile Market



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NORWALK  Frank N. Zullo, a lifelong Norwalker, local attorney and three-term Democratic mayor who steered the city through the turbulent 1960s and later ran for governor, has died. He was 85.

Zullo died peacefully at Norwalk Hospital on Saturday. He is survived by his wife Berenice (Fischler) Zullo, their daughter, Lesley Anne, and several nieces and nephews.

When elected in 1965 at age 33, Zullo was Norwalks youngest mayor.

While mayors invariably find themselves tackling road paving, school spending and property taxes, Zullo had to address much larger issues and did so with passion, according to Thomas A. Flaherty, his childhood friend, former law partner and a past corporation counsel.

As mayor, and for some time after, he was the heart and soul of the city of Norwalk, said Flaherty, who grew up near Zullo off West Avenue. He had an extraordinary ability to work with people, and he steered the city through a chaotic time in which the Vietnam War was going on and the Cold War was in full sway.

Former Councilwoman Patsy Brescia attributed the city averting racial violence during the civil rights movement to Zullos leadership. Zullo brought people together and took several local African-American students to Washington, D.C. to honor assassinated civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., according to Brescia.

The 60s were a turbulent time in our country and we were the only city out of the top 10 (in Connecticut) not to have a racial uprising, and I attribute that largely to Franks leadership and intelligence, Brescia said.

Brescia counted patience, kindness and generosity of spirit among Zullos other strengths and credited his administration with building Norwalk High, Marvin and Jefferson Elementary schools.

Mentor to many

Mayor Harry Rilling, like Flaherty, grew up near Zullo off West Avenue and regularly sought his advice as a police officer and later as the citys police chief.

Frank would always talk to me with fatherly advice whenever I needed it, and when I decided to run for mayor, Frank was very supportive, very encouraging and gave me lots of advice and told me lots of stories of the time when he was mayor  he had an incredible memory for detail, Rilling said. Everyone loved and respected Frank. He was such a gentlemen. Weve lost a true Norwalk son.

In honor of his passing, Rilling ordered that flags at all city buildings be flown at half-staff through June 1.

Former Mayor Bill Collins, a fellow Democrat, described Zullo as a great mentor to himself and to others in changing times.

He helped bring the Democratic Party out of its smoke-filled room days, said Collins, who served on the council during Zullos last mayoral term. Before Frank, it was more based on good ol boy politics. He helped smooth the way of getting me on the city council, and I appreciated his insistence on hiring good people.

That insistence translated to service on city boards and commissions.

If public service-oriented people in the community get a feeling that the guy in charge cares about things and wants improvements, they tend to serve, and that happened during Franks time, Collins said. Really good people were eager to serve on the Board of Education when Frank was the mayor.

Alex Knopp, another former Norwalk mayor, said he first met Zullo in 1966 when they served, respectively, as a summer intern in the Washington office of U.S. Rep. Don Irwin and as Irwins campaign manager.

From that time forward I always thought of him as Mr. Norwalk, said Knopp, who also served as a state representative.

Knopp described Zullo as a big-city mayor right out of central casting. Zullo loved Norwalk and had a huge impact on expanding its schools, improving police-community relations and creating a citywide public library system, he said.

When Knopp was first elected mayor in 2001, he turned to Zullo for guidance and was told that a new mayor must launch big projects while also addressing residents day-to-day concerns.

Then he launched into a 15-minute narrative of how he spent his first week as mayor checking every day to see whether the (Department of Public Works) employees had removed a flattened dead skunk in the road that he had pointed out to the DPW, Knopp said. It was a typical Zullo-esque animated discussion, full of Franks insights into human nature, his entertaining humor about elective office and all combined with his practical advice.

John Reilly, former editor emeritus of The Norwalk Hour, was city desk editor at the local newspaper when Zullo was first elected mayor in 1965. He said Zullo had a great news sense  he knew how to time events so they would get the best press  and generated interest in Norwalk from afar.

If I had to pick the best mayors of Norwalk, hed be in the group, Reilly said. He just kind of got the city to be recognized as a good place to live and work. I think he set an example for city officials. He was a straight shooter and he was a good manager.

A life of public service

Zullo was born in Norwalk on June 3, 1933, and attended Fairfield College Preparatory School, Fordham University and Fordham University Law School. An attorney by profession, he was active in Norwalk politics and the community at large throughout his life.

In addition to serving as mayor from 1965 to 1971, he helped form the Connecticut Conference of Mayors and served three years as a trustee and member of the executive board of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, according to his biography on the First Taxing District webpage. He was the campaign treasurer for U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., for his campaigns from 1980-2010.

Zullo also threw his hat into the ring for the office of governor of Connecticut in 1974 and faced three fellow Democrats, ultimately losing to Ella Grasso.

He was young, full of energy, a brilliant guy, and he would have been a terrific governor, Collins said.

For all his public service, Zullo had other passions. A YMCA swim team coach during college and law school, he chaired the Water Safety Program of the Norwalk-Wilton Chapter of the American Red Cross Board for many years, teaching hundreds of young people swimming and lifeguard skills. He also played the trumpet.

In 1958, Zullo was named Young Man of the Year by the Norwalk Junior Chamber of Commerce. The next year, he entered the partnership of Tierney & Zullo. Except for his three mayoral terms and six months of active duty with the National Guard, he practiced law full time for more than 50 years. He was a general practitioner specializing in planning and zoning, and real estate development, according to his obituary.

Elizabeth Suchy, a local land-use attorney, described Zullo as a friend and mentor who took a chance on her after she graduated law school.

I learned all about lawyering and the law and what the profession was all about from him, Suchy said. He was a fine man, one of integrity, honesty and compassion, and I will miss his presence and his insights. I really do owe a debt of gratitude to him for everything he taught me.

Zullo was a member of the Democratic State Central Committee for many years. Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Norwalk Hospital from 1979-1981, he served as a trustee almost continually since 1971.

Since 1992, he served as a trustee of the University of Bridgeport, as well as as board chairman and co-chairman since 2001. He sat on the Board of Trustees of The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk, and was a commissioner and chairman of the First Taxing District Water Department up until his death.

Frank was a very meticulous and a very people-pro person, said taxing district General Manager Dominic DiGangi. He knows that we owe our obligation to our electors and our customers and that they clearly came first.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Friday, June 1, at St. Philip Church, 25 France St. in Norwalk, with burial afterward at Riverside Cemetery. His family will receive friends at the Magner Funeral Home, 12 Mott Ave., on Thursday, from 5 to 8 p.m. In lieu of flowers, donation in his name may be made to St. Philip Church.

Norwalk Hour Managing Editor Thane Grauel contributed to this report.
NORWALK  Police Officer Tyrone Boyd, an expert in drunk driving enforcement, was training new recruits at the Police Academy in Meriden recently when an opportunity opened up.

The head instructor at the academy suggested I take the Drug Recognition Expert certification, Boyd said. We have been seeing an increase in people driving under the influence of drugs.

Boyd recently completed the intensive course at the Meriden academy, which included two weeks of training, followed by one week of drug evaluations and an overview of drug evaluation procedures.

As part of the process, Boyd traveled to Maricopa, Arizona, recently where he conducted evaluations of people in custody.

During the evaluations I formed an opinion of which of the seven drug categories the person was under the influence of, Boyd said.

Drugs include seven categories: central nervous system depressants, central nervous system stimulants, hallucinogens, dissociative anesthetics (PCP is an example), narcotic analgesics, inhalants and cannabis.

The main thing about PCP is the way it disconnects people from the rest of their senses, Boyd said. People can go from being extremely calm to ultra-violent.

Narcotic analgesics which include opium, heroin, morphine and oxycontin. If a driver is under the influence of one these drugs, Boyd said, their reflexes and movements are slow and they may appear to doze off.

We call that on the nod, he said. The individual will just nod out.

For cannabis, Boyd said some of the clues to police are drivers who drift between lanes, sit at green lights, and appear to be extremely relaxed.

Ive had people say to me Its legal  I have a medical marijuana card, but its still against the law to drive under the influence of marijuana, Boyd said. Ill ask people Is alcohol legal? Yes, you can go buy 12 beers, but can you drink 12 beers and go drive a car? No. This is the same thing.

Boyd is one of a handful of officers in the area with drug recognition expert certification and one of only 51 in Connecticut. Wilton, Greenwich and State Police Troop G.

Impaired driving is a serious matter and puts everyone at risk, said Norwalk police Lt. Terry Blake. Officer Boyds certification allows us to increase our enforcement capabilities.

Blake said the Norwalk program is funded by the State of Connecticut. The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) coordinates the International Drug Evaluation and Classification Program with support from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Drugged driving on the rise

Were seeing more and more drugged driving, Boyd, a 17-year veteran of the Norwalk police force said. We are seeing people driving around on high potency pain pills, for example.

According to the AAA, prescription drugs are the most prevalent of all drugs found in drugged drivers involved in fatal crashes (46.5 percent). The percentage has continually increased since 2005.

Benzodiazepines and opiates are the two prescription drugs most commonly found in fatal and seriously injured drivers.

In the last decade, the number of Americans taking at least one prescription drug increased by 10 percent, the use of multiple prescription drugs increased by 20 percent and the use of five or more prescription drugs increased by 70 percent, according to the AAA. The average number of prescriptions dispensed annually has increased 62 percent since the early 90s, rising from 7.8 per person in 1993 to 12.6 per person in 2010.

There are people who drink alcohol while taking medications and that mix doesnt help things, Boyd said.

Boyd, who is also a Field Training Officer for Norwalk police, has received an award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving each year for the past 10 years in recognition of his enforcement against drunk drivers.

More than 10,000 innocent men, women and children are killed by drunk drivers each year, Boyd said. People need to take this seriously. It could happen to anyone.

Testing for drugged driving

When an officer conducts a traffic stop and if the driver appears to be under the influence but doesnt smell like booze, I am asked to come out to evaluate, Boyd said.

The 12-step DRE evaluation is standardized and is conducted the same way for every suspect.

The first step is a breath alcohol concentration test. If the suspects impairment is not consistent with the test, results, the officer may request a drug recognition expert evaluation.

The DRE conducts a preliminary investigation of the subjects attitude, coordination, speech, breath and face and checks pupils. If the appearance is caused by a medical condition, assistance is requested.

Four psychophysical tests are then administered: Balance; Walk and Turn; One Leg Stand and the Finger to Nose.

The DRE takes the persons vital signs. The subjects pupil sizes are examined under various lighting conditions.

Another part of the evaluation is to look at skeletal muscle tone.

Boyd said certain categories of drugs may cause the muscles to become rigid, others cause loose muscle tone.

With some stimulants, the muscles become very rigid, Boyd said. With narcotics, muscles become flaccid.

The subject is checked for recent injection sites.

The Miranda rights are read to the individual and they are asked about drug use.

Boyd then forms an opinion as to whether or not the subject is impaired by drugs and what category of drugs is involved

After completing the evaluation, the DRE normally requests a urine, blood and/or saliva sample from the subject for a toxicology lab analysis.
NORWALK  Police are searching for suspects after a fraudulent phone purchase from an online seller ended up in a robbery attempt.

Around 1:15 p.m., Monday, May 28, police were dispatched to a store at Darinor Plaza, 500 Connecticut Ave., on a report that a man who was yelling for help was being chased around the store by another man.
Cold storage now in 'Green Category

Business Desk :

The government has included the Cold Storage in 'Green Category' under the Bangladesh Environment Conservation Act.

The policy reform came into force following the recommendation of the Business Initiative Leading Development (BUILD) at its 5th Private Sector Development Policy Coordination Committee Meeting at the Prime Minister's Office in the city recently, said a press release on Tuesday.

Chief Executive Officer of the BUILD Ferdaus Ara Begum hailed this effort of the Ministry of Environment and Forests and the Department of Environment that enables the entrepreneurs of the sector to contribute more to the country's agro business economy.

Bangladesh has limited post-harvest storage infrastructure such as Cold Storages (current capacity 2.4 million MT in 393 cold storages all over the country against the demand of 4.5 million MT).

The shortage contributes to 40 percent post-harvest losses worth USD 430 million a year-mostly borne by the farmers, also discouraging processors from investment (valued at USD 64 million) while Bangladesh needs at least 6.5 million MT or 1,244 cold storages to strive to reach 10 percent cold storage infrastructure by 2022.
GLEN CARBON  Timothy McLean is being held at the Madison County Jail on $200,000 bail on felony charges ranging from hate crimes to criminal damage to property.

In all, the Madison County States Attorneys Office charged him on Tuesday with 22 counts.

Two of those counts  one dealing with a hate crime and the other a Violation of the Cemetery Protection Act  pertain to the incident Saturday at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Glen Carbon in which more than a hundred headstones were allegedly spray painted with swastikas.

Six others deal with incidents that allegedly happened at various sites around Glen Carbon on April 1.

According to one charge, McLean allegedly spray painted swastikas on St. James Lutheran Church, at 146 N. Main St., and two others allege that he did the same to St. Cecilias Church, at 155 N. Main St., and Glenview Church of the Nazarene, at 400 Glen Carbon Road.

McLean is also alleged to have spray painted swastikas on a home in the 200 block of Glen Carbon Road.

Fourteen of the 22 felony charges deal with similar incidents in Edwardsville. According to those charges, McLean allegedly spray painted swastikas on the side of a 2014 Lexus, a 2012 Toyota Rav 4, a 2015 Chevrolet van, and a 2018 Hyundai Sante Fe. McLean also allegedly spray painted seven homes along Sunset Hills Boulevard in Edwardsville.

On Tuesday, Glen Carbon police issued a press release thanking Edwardsville police and Illinois State Police for assisting with the investigation.

We would like to thank the citizens who worked with law enforcement authorities to bring this case to a swift resolution, the press release also noted.

Associate Judge Neil Schroeder set McLeans bond at $100,000 for the Glen Carbon incidents and an additional $100,000 for the incidents in Edwardsville.

McLean was taken into custody shortly after the swastikas were discovered.

It wasnt the first time he has had run ins with local law enforcement.

On June 24, 2014, prosecutors alleged that he used his cell phone to make derogatory remarks to Glen Carbon police, then hung up. A digital 911 map showed that the calls came from the 500 block of Glen Crossing Road, according to court records. At the time, McLean denied making the call.

The officer who drove out to the area found McLean walking away from that area. The officer then asked someone at the Glen Carbon Police Department to call the number of the phone that had just called 911. Moments later, the police departments phone number showed up on McLeans phone, according to court records.

McLean was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. In May of 2015, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 30 months in prison. Prior to the plea, McLean had served time at the Alton Mental Health Center after a court psychiatrist evaluated him and recommended that he be found fit to stand trial.

McLean has an extensive criminal record in Madison County. Among the earliest charges was a charge that he threatened a public official, for which he was sentenced to two years in prison.

He also has convictions for residential burglary, theft and disorderly conduct.
9 hours ago

EXPLAINER: Why Social Security COLA will jump next year

WASHINGTON (AP)  Rising inflation is expected to lead to a sizeable increase in Social Security's annual cost-of-living adjustment, or COLA, for 2022. Exactly how much will be revealed Wednesday morning after a Labor Department report on inflation during September, a data point used in the final calculation. Over the last 10 years, the Social Security COLA has averaged about 1.7% annually as inflation remained low.

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French family of rescued boy thanks hero Malian `Spiderman`

AFP :

The family of the young boy saved by "Spiderman" Mamoudou Gassama in a daring rescue that won him global acclaim and a promise of French citizenship has thanked the Malian youth for his quick thinking.

Gassama, 22, scaled four storeys of an apartment bloc in France on Saturday to rescue the four-year-old who was spotted dangling from a balcony. On Tuesday, French authorities began the first steps towards making him a citizen in recognition of his bravery. The boy's father, who had been living alone with him in Paris, had left him alone to go out to the shops and then remained on the street to play Pokemon Go, according to French investigators.

The boy's mother learned the news of the rescue on Reunion Island-the French Indian Ocean territory where she and the father were born and where she still lives. Reacting to Gassama's intervention on Antenne Reunion radio late Monday, the woman, who was not identified, said: "We can only thank him and thank heaven he was so reactive."

She said French police phoned her to tell her the news. "Then I saw video on the internet. But I should not have watched it because you know it's your son in the video."

Just half an hour earlier she had spoken to both father and son in a video call, she said.

"Things could have turned out much worse so I am relieved," she said, adding that she was impatient to be reunited with her son and husband. The boy's paternal grandmother, who also lives in Reunion, told RMC radio Tuesday that she was "very moved" by the images of the rescue and sent "huge thanks" to Gassama.

"He's really a hero," she said. "He did not stand by and watch, he saved my little sweetpea."

Gassama, who had been living in France illegally since September 2017, arriving via the Mediterranean migrant route, told President Emmanuel Macron on Monday that he "did not think twice" before springing into action.


Raj, Sylhet, Barishal City Corpons poll on July 30

Staff Reporter :

The election of Rajshahi, Sylhet, and Barishal City Corporations will be held on July 30.

Chief Election Commissioner KM Nurul Huda announced the election schedule for the three city corporations in a press briefing at the Nirbachon Bhaban in Dhaka on Tuesday.

Asked whether the MPs would be able to join the campaigns with the candidates, Election Commissioner Rafiqul Islam said, the matter is still under evaluation and afterwards it will be sent to the Law Ministry for further vetting. If the ministry's approval is published through a gazette notification before June 13, the lawmakers can campaign at Rajshahi, Sylhet and Barishal city polls, he added.

According to the election schedule, the deadline for the submission of nomination papers is June 28.

The dates of scrutinisation are July 1 and 2-the last date of withdrawal being July 9.


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Stony Point throws topping off party sets final beam in construction

A Stony Point topping off party on Monday provided tours and a look inside the construction site.
Another 12 killed

Staff Reporter :

The countrywide anti-drug crackdown continues, twelve more people were killed early Tuesday in what the law enforcers called gunfights.

Thus the number of deceased described as drug dealers, has reached 117 since May 12.

However, the incidents reported by the law enforcement authorities could not be verified independently. The opposition and human rights bodies termed the deaths in reported gunfights as extra-judicial killings.

In 'gunfights' with the Rapid Action Battalion(RAB) and the police, the 12 people were killed in Dhaka, Thakurgaon, Brahmanbaria, Barguna, Cumilla, Mymensingh, Satkhira, Kushtia and Jashore.

In Dhaka, Sumon alias Khuku Sumon, 42, a drug suspect, was killed in a reported gunfight with police at Asian City Park in the capital's Dakhshin Khan area around 12:15am.

Tapan Chandra Saha, Officer-in-Charge of Dakhshin Khan Police Station, said that they recovered a shooter gun, two rounds of bullets, four crude bombs and 1,000 pieces of Yaba tablets from the spot.

Two policemen were injured, he added.

Haripur police said, a suspected drug trader Harun, 45, was killed in a gunfight in Panchgharia of Haripur upazila, Thakurgaon. He was son of Abdul Aziz from Sheetalpur village.

The police said that they ran a drive in the Panchgharia area around 2:00am. The drug traders opened fire sensing their presence, the police added. In retaliation the police opened fire and the drug traders fled.

The law enforcers then arrested injured Harun from the spot and rushed him to Thakurgaon Modern Sadar Hospital. The on-duty physician declared him dead. The police recovered 110 bottles of phensedyl, four cartridge caps and four local firearms. The law enforcers also claimed that four of their members were also injured in the 'gunfight'.

The resident medical officer of the Thakurgaon Hospital Subrata Kumar Sen said, the police brought the man at hospital around 3:00am. He was already dead by that time, he said.

The Haripur Police Officer-in-Charge (OC) Ruhul Kuddus said, Harun was a listed drug trader and an accused in seven cases under the anti-drug law.

In Satkhira, alleged drug peddler Anisur Rahman, 42, was killed in a reported gunfight at Chitla, Kolaroa upazila. He was son of Surat Ali from the village of Pakuria in Deyara union.

The Kalaroa Thana Officer-in-Charge Biplab Kumar Nath said, being informed of a 'gunfight' between two groups of drug traders Chital, Kushalia, a team of the police led by sub-inspector Sirazul Mahmud went to the spot. As the law enforcers opened blank fire, the drug traders ran away. The police arrested injured Anisur Rahman from there.

The law enforcers reportedly recovered a one-shooter gun, two bullets and 70 Yaba tablets from the spot.

As Anisur was rushed to the Kolaroa Health Complex, the physician declared him dead. There were signs of bullet hit in his head.

OC Biplab alleged that Anisur was a Yaba trader. Tel cases were filed against him with the Kolaroa Police Station.

The Jashore police said, two 'drug traders' were killed in a 'gunfight' around 3:00am Tuesday in Chachra Roypara Government Primary School compound of Jashore.

The deceased were Asar Ali, 56, son of Jahan Ali from Mandalgati village, and Manik, 26, son of Sekandar Ali from Chachra Roypara. Jashore Kotwali Police Sub-Inspector Manjurul Islam said, the police came at the Chanchra Roypara school compound following information about a 'gunfight' between two groups of drug traders there. Sensing their presence, the drug traders fled the spot. The police said they recovered two dead bodies from the area along with two pistols, two bullets, five cartridge caps and 600 yaba tablets.

Two other 'drug peddlers' were killed in another reported gunfight in Shehala Math at Daulatpur, Kushtia.

The deceased are Mukaddes Ali, 42, son of Rezaul Islam from Munshiganj, Ramkrishnapur and Fazlur Rahman alias Title, 48, son of late Yakub Ali from Pragpur Bazar.

Daulatpur Police inspector Asgar Ali said, the police conducted a raid around 3:00am on Monday. The drug traders opened fire against the law enforcers, they claimed. In retaliation, the police opened fire and two drug traders were killed. They were then taken to the Daulatpur upazila health complex where the physician confirmed their death.

Asgar Ali claimed, three of the police personnel were injured in the 'gunfight'. The law enforcers recovered firearms, bullets and huge drugs from the spot, they said.

At least eight cases in connection with drug trade and hijack, were filed against each of the deceased, added Asgar Ali.

In Cumilla, two suspected drug traders -- Liton alias Kana Liton, 43, son of Abdus Samad of Poiyapathor area, and Baten, 34, son of Sahid Miah of Bakhornagar village of Muradnagar upazila -- were killed in a reported gunfight with the police in Gunjar area around 12:30am.

The police recovered a pipegun and 400 bottles of Phensidyl from the spot, said AKM Manjur Alam, OC of Muradnagar Police Station. Three policemen were injured during the incident, he added.

In Mymensingh, suspected drug trader Mizan, 45, son of Nurul Islam of Dakhshin Kachina village in Bhaluka upazila, was killed in a reported gunfight with the police around 2:10 am. Ashiqur Rahman, Officer-in-Charge of Detective Branch of district police said law enforcers recovered 100 grams of heroin, three bullet shells and a machete from the spot.

Mizan was accused in nine cases including drug and robbery, he added.

In Barguna, a suspected drug trader named Firoz Mridha, 45, son of Hashem Miah of Ward No 4 of Betagi Municipality, and an accused in nine cases, was killed in a reported gunfight with members of Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Kumrakhali village under Kajirabad union around 4:30am.

Mammunur Rashid, OC of Betagi Police Station, said a revolver, a shooter gun, four round, bullets and 240 Yaba tablets were recovered from the spot.

In Brahmanbaria, suspected drug trader Jony Mia, 30, son of Firoz Miah of Baganbari area in Akhaura upazila, and accused in eight cases, was killed in a reported gunfight between two groups of drug trader in Khalajora area of Akhaura municipal around 2am.

On information, the police recovered the body and a pipe gun, a cartridge and sharp weapons from the spot, said Mosharaf Hossain, OC of Akhaura police station.

The law enforcers said that Yaba, cannabis, phensedyl and other drugs along with local and foreign firearms were recovered from almost all the spots the raids were conducted.

Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal has said the anti-drug drive will continue until the situation comes under complete control.




CALGARYAn independent probe of the Calgary Police Services use of lethal force released Tuesday calls for expansive overhauls to how Alberta regulates police and investigates when officers are accused of shooting civilians.

The findings outlined a series of recommended reforms for both the citys police and the province, flagging gaps in training and lambasting systemic delays in the investigations of fatal confrontations with police.

Police Chief Roger Chaffin said the force fully accepts the recommendations and will now work on putting them into action, including pushing the province for change.

Sanctity of life is the overarching principle of policing, said Chaffin.

Our goal, obviously, is not to end peoples lives. But it is a sober task and its something that those particular issues (outlined in the report) are going to have to address in the near future.

Chaffin ordered the yearlong review of the services use of lethal force last May after a spike in shootings by officers. The nearly 400-page report authored by retired Court of Queens Bench chief justice Neil Wittmann didnt aim to lay blame for any specific incident  instead, it examined systemic issues within the force that may have played a role.

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Wittmann interviewed 190 people over the past year  including the families of those killed in police shootings  working out of a secure office at Calgary police headquarters. He went on a ride-along, listened to police scanners and was granted largely unfettered access to documentation. During the review, which ended April 30, Calgary police officers were involved in five shootings.

The former judges final report, addressed to Chaffin, outlines 65 specific recommendations. Among them are ongoing training for police officers on the front lines, increased presence of non-lethal weapons, more reporting on the use of body cameras and extra emphasis on de-escalation techniques and handling of mental health crises.

However, many of those recommendations are also aimed at reforming the way Alberta regulates all its police services. The issue also came up last month at a provincial inquiry into Calgary police handling of complaints against officers, in a motion that went before city council Monday and a recommendation last year from the Alberta Association of Police Governance (AAPG).

Police Act reform is imperative, said Calgary police commission chair Brian Thiessen on Tuesday.

I think there is a rising chorus of voices calling for that.

Wittmann recommended imposing strict deadlines on investigations into deaths involving police officers. He also suggested extra funding for the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT), which investigates such incidents, and clarifications of the provinces power to force police services to comply.

It takes an average of three years for the province to complete an investigation into a fatal encounter with an officer, Wittmann said.

For the sake of justice and the needs of officers and affected persons, the complexity and seriousness of these investigations can no longer be used as an excuse for inordinate delays, Wittmann wrote in the report.

Other suggestions included releasing full reports on such investigations, much the way Ontario does today, and reviewing Ontarios police regulations for examples of how Albertas processes could be improved.

Police handling of those facing mental-health and addiction-related crises was also a major theme in Wittmanns findings.

Wittmann recommended Calgary police implement a version of the Memphis method  in which an officer specially trained in de-escalating mental health crises is present for every call where thats a factor. Though the citys police education system is good in most areas, its lacking in such training, he said.

What is not done is an emphasis on the soft skill, Wittmann said. That is, trying to get a police officer into a position where he or she is not required to use force. That is the best way, in my judgment, to avoid the use of lethal force.

He also suggested working with Alberta Health Services and the City of Calgary to develop better strategies for helping people in the midst of such crises.

Wittmann noted that Calgary police took steps to remedy issues flagged during the review before it was even complete  something he called commendable. One such problem is the forces lack of a proper code of ethics, which Calgary police are now in the process of formalizing.

He also said he was conscious of police response to visible minorities, particularly the citys Indigenous population, but said it was never a concern in his findings related to use of force.

Other suggestions related to more ongoing training for officers on the front lines and measures to raise staff morale.

In a press conference Tuesday morning, Wittmann wouldnt directly say if the services use of force is excessive. He said he hadnt done a comparison to other police forces in Canada, but that such incidents made up a fraction of a per cent of Calgarians overall interactions with officers.

Both Thiessen and Chaffin pledged to work to implement the reforms as quickly as possible, though they acknowledged some items would take time to figure out.

We can assure you this report wont gather dust, Thiessen said.

Emma McIntosh is an environment, justice and investigative reporter based in Calgary. Follow her on Twitter at @EmmaMci

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DSE for tax breaks to boost share market

Special Correspondent :

Office bearers of the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE) have urged the government to bring changes in its tax policy for the publicly listed companies and bourses in the upcoming budget in order to infuse the much-needed vibrancy in capital market.

They made the plea on Tuesday at a meeting with Finance Minister AMA Muhith held at the latter's Secretariat office in Dhaka.

DSE President Prof Dr. Abul Hashem, Directors Sharif Ataur Rahman, Md. Hanif Bhuiya and Minhaz Mannan Emon and Managing Director K.A.M. Majedur Rahman, CFO Abdul Matin Patwary, Manager Md Milon Miah, noted stock market broker Ahmed Rashid Lali, President of DSE Brokers Association (DBA) Mostaque Ahmed Sadeque and Director Ahmed Rashid were present at the meeting.

During the meeting, DSE directors also asked the minister for lowering of corporate tax to 15 percent for publicly listed companies for the next fiscal year 2018-19 to encourage more companies to enlist in the capital market. Currently, publicly listed companies have to pay a minimum of 25 percent and maximum of 40 percent tax based on their business category.

DSE earlier placed its budget proposal to the National Board of Revenue (NBR).

"Our meeting was mainly focused on our budget proposal," DSE's Managing Director K.A.M. Majedur Rahman told The New Nation while emerging the meeting.

He said the honourable minister gave a patience hearing to our proposals saying he would try his best to accommodate those in the next budget.

"The minister is very sympathetic to us. And we hope he will fulfill our budget wish list considering interest of the national economy as well as the need for boosting the capital market," he added.

DSE's budget proposals also include increasing the ceiling of tax-free dividend income up to Tk100,000 from the existing Tk25,000, reduction of reduce turnover tax to 0.015 percent from 0.05 percent.

The DSE has also sought a three-year tax holiday on sales proceed of shares as well as exemption from capital gain tax on block shares in the fiscal year 2018-19.

"Such tax breaks and measures would help increase the investment capacity of the country's prime bourse, give a good shape of its ongoing reform activities and boost investors confidence," said Majedur Rahman.

He said the DSE de-mutualisation scheme is a continuous process. We need the government's all-out policy supports to complete the process successfully.
EDMONTONAs Edmonton-area mayors met at city hall Monday to cheer on the Kinder Morgan pipeline, one law professor said the project has become more important for politicians than it is for the economy.

Its probably over-hyped when you look at it in the context of the entire economy or economic activity  certainly of Canada, and even I think in relation to Alberta, said Eric Adams, an associate professor at the University of Alberta.

Thats not to say its not an important project for the health of an important sector. But where I think it is clearly more important is in the political stakes that the project has been elevated to.

Adams said the project is absolutely crucial for the credibility of Rachel Notleys provincial government, and to a lesser extent for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as both have essentially guaranteed the pipeline will be built.

And it looks like the Canadian government will ensure that happens.

Later Monday, The Canadian Press reported that Finance Minister Bill Morneau will make an announcement Tuesday morning regarding the federal governments resolution.

Read more:

Trudeau summons cabinet for urgent meeting on Trans Mountain pipeline

Morneau will choose one of three options according to CP: buy and build the pipeline expansion, then sell it when its complete; buy the pipeline on an interim basis and sell it and leave investors to complete the construction; or leave Kinder Morgan in charge but cover any cost increases as a result of political interference.

Kinder Morgan has given Ottawa until Thursday to resolve the issue and calm investors in the face of the B.C. governments legal challenge.

In Albertas capital, The Edmonton Metropolitan Region Board, made up of mayors representing 13 municipalities, met at city hall Monday to urge other orders of government to come to an agreement in time for the projects deadline.

Board member and Spruce Grove Mayor Stuart Houston said elected officials in the region have a responsibility to their constituents to speak up in support of the project.

Were at a crossroads in this country in regards to the transmission of our oil, Houston said. To get our oil to tidewater and to get a fair price for our oil, its absolutely critical that the capital region steps up like other municipalities have done in support of this.

The board will advocate for the pipeline at the annual Federation of Canadian Municipalities convention starting Thursday in Halifax, N.S.

Edmonton Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Janet Riopel said she is optimistic an agreement will be reached.

Riopel called the pipeline fundamentally important for future investment in Canada.

Its not just about a pipeline. Its about our ability in this country to get projects done, major infrastructure projects done, she said. Failing to build this pipeline is going to send really dangerous signals to investors.

Kinder Morgans proposed $7.4-billion expansion of the Trans Mountain oil pipeline to Canadas Pacific Coast stirred a heated dispute between the NDP premiers of Alberta and British Columbia.

In April, Kinder Morgan threatened to walk away from the project if the federal government cannot neutralize opposition from the B.C. government by May 31.

In early May, Alberta passed a bill giving Notley the authority to shut off the oil flow to B.C. The B.C. government retaliated by suing Alberta and calling the bill unconstitutional.

Adams said turning off the taps might be unrealistic.

The Alberta government would first have to proclaim Bill 12 into law, and then Energy Minister Margaret McCuaig-Boyd would have to restrict the flow of energy products through a licence with a set of conditions attached to it.

The process would take at least several days and likely miss the deadline.

Even after the fact, Adams said it would be hard to push through. He said the Alberta government would find itself in court almost immediately facing an injunction from B.C., and the courts would likely pause the manoeuvre until the case was resolved.

B.C., I think, is on relatively strong footing in asserting that any steps taken to turn off taps is going to encounter constitutional difficulties for the Alberta government. Because its the relatively clear wording of Section 92A (2) of the Constitution Act which seeks to prevent provinces from punishing one another in precisely this kind of scenario, he said.

So turning off the taps is easy to say, and it may be effective sabre-rattling, but it is very likely difficult to achieve constitutionally.

He said the added push from governments will probably tip the scales in favour of the pipeline going forward, but added that its completion is by no means a certainty.

Adams said its hard to know how committed Kinder Morgan is to the project and whether their threat to pull out has been a ploy to coax governments to the table.

If that was the strategy then they probably got what they wanted, which was a greater set of protections from the federal government, he said. If they want out entirely, theres nothing stopping them as private industry from saying this is no longer an effective use of our capital, and simply walking away.

With files from The Canadian Press

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EDMONTONA man was taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries after an altercation between several men erupted in gunfire late Monday night in downtown Edmonton, police say.

According to a release, at 10:45 p.m., the Downtown division beat officers heard what they believed to be gunfire in the area of 104 Street and 100 Avenue.

Witnesses told StarMetro they heard six gunshots around the vicinity of the Red Arrow bus station.

Police arrived to find an injured 22-year-old man, who was treated and transported to hospital.

The release states that the incident was not random and they are searching for the shooters.

At this point public safety is not believed to be at risk.

In an email Red Arrow vice-president Dean Wright wrote: We are co-operating with authorities and the investigation is ongoing.

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HALIFAXA Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission board of inquiry has found widespread racial discrimination in Halifaxs transit department, which created an unbearable workplace for at least one employee.

The decision comes more than a decade after an employee of Halifax Transit filed formal complaints of racial discrimination against HRM. The mans name is protected under a publication ban and he is referred to as Y.Z.

Y.Z. first filed complaints to the commission in July 2006, but he said the threats and bullying started long before that. Racial intolerance created a poisoned work environment for him  a white man  starting in the early 1980s, following his marriage to an African Canadian woman. Y.Z. and others made complaints directly to HRM prior to him filing with the commission, but he said HRM was unresponsive.

The decision lists a number of specific incidents of racial discrimination in the transit department, including one from 2001. Arthur Maddox, a transit employee who is named in the report 88 times, was fired after threatening violence against an African Nova Scotian colleague, Randy Symonds.

After Maddoxs firing, the union representing transit employees voted on whether they would challenge the termination. At the time of that vote, writing appeared on the wall of the mens bathroom: All minorities not welcome, show you care, burn a cross  a member of the Baby Hitler.

Maddox was reinstated, at the unions urging, about eleven months after his termination. Union president Ken Wilson was contacted Tuesday, but was busy in meetings for the remainder of the day.

Shortly after Maddoxs return, Y.Z. said Maddox tried to run him over with a bus, which Maddox denied. Y.Z. believed Maddox blamed him and his wife for his termination.

Cathy Martin, a friend and coworker of Y.Z., testified to the board of inquiry that Maddox was once belligerent towards Y.Z. and his wife at a work barbecue. In testimony, Martin remembered Maddox saying: Who invited those people here?... We dont want those kind of people here, they werent invited.

She and others testified to hearing racial slurs including the n-word and wagon burner from Maddox and others on a regular basis. Martin said she heard another mechanic say he wouldnt train no good-for-nothing Indian, referring to an Inuit colleague.

In 2004, Y.Z. said the stressful work environment led him to take leave from his job. He returned to work on light duties in 2006 for less than six months, as stated in the agreed history of the Human Rights inquiry. He left his job on disability again in early 2007 and has been unable to work at all since that time.

As of March, Maddox was still working for HRM, according to comments from Lynn Connors, chair of the board of inquiry, in the decision.

The irony does not escape the Chair that Arthur Maddox, who was the perpetrator of most of the wrong doing in the workplace of the Respondent is still the only one that continues to be employed there, she said. It is the evidence of a number of witnesses that came in contact with Mr. Maddox that his behaviour was, at least in part the reason for their departure from that work environment.

HRM spokesperson Nick Ritcey said Tuesday Maddox is no longer employed by HRM, though he would not say when or how his employment ended.

While specific transit employees, such as Maddox, are prominent in the testimony and evidence from the inquiry, the decision holds HRM responsible.

HRM is vicariously liable for actions of its employees if they do not take adequate and appropriate steps to correct the situation, Connors wrote in the boards decision.

Connors said HRM counsel submitted that the comments and dialogue of the co-workers and management are defensible under freedom of expression rights, which she did not accept.

Halifax CAO Jacques Dube issued an apology the same morning the boards decision was released.

I apologize, on behalf of the Halifax Regional Municipality, to the complainant and family, he said in a release.

After Dube issued the apology, Y.Z.s lawyer, Bruce Evans, said his client hadnt received the apology, and wished to make no further comments.

At this time, Y.Z. has not received any communication from Halifax Regional Municipality apologizing for acts of discrimination, Evans stated Tuesday afternoon.

Damages have not yet been decided upon for the case. Connors said in the report she was waiting for further information from HRM, and a report on lost income. The Human Rights Commission has scheduled a remedy hearing for next Monday, at which time the board will discuss the awarding of damages, or assignment of mandated training.

In the apology, Dube said while the municipality has taken concrete steps to build a culture of diversity and inclusion, we have more to do. He added that racial harassment and discrimination are not tolerated from HRM employees.

Just a few weeks ago, a group of municipal employees protested anti-Black racism in the workforce outside city hall.

Halifax activist and academic El Jones said Tuesday the apology from city hall seems hypocritical after the municipality spent lots of money and time over the past 12 years fighting Y.Z.s case.

Im assuming that were on the hook for that (as taxpayers) so I just think thats interesting, that they were so resistant to acknowledging this and fought it tooth and nail. And then, only when they basically cant deny it do they issue an apology, Jones said in an interview.

I dont think it shows a particular good faith in dealing with racism.

Jones said shes left wondering who at HRM knew of Y.Z.s case and the details of racism and abuse and authorized lawyers to fight the case, including Mayor Mike Savage and the regional council members.

Why would nobody say, Why dont you just admit this and settle?

Jones, who has been speaking up about racism for years in her activism and time as the citys former poet laureate, said Halifax needs to stop the pantomime of surprise and shock that comes every time a case of racism, racial profiling or other discrimination comes up because racism obviously exists systemically and as part of everyday life.

This case especially shows a particular depth of racial hatred that extended to Y.Z. as a white man just because of his association with his African Nova Scotian wife, or Black or Indigenous colleagues, Jones said.

Its a very stark demonstration of why white supremacy exists in the first place, why its instituted, because it is a construction  and this is the purpose it serves, so that when white people break ranks they become punished. They become exiled, they become alienated and they essentially become treated like n-words too, Jones said.

And then the same stuff is unleashed. Maybe its helpful for people to see that, to understand that yeah, when you stop supporting these power structures, you can be victimized by them too.

In 2017, the United Nations called Halifax out for deep-seated anti-Black racism and made dozens of recommendations for redressing past and present wrongs.

With files from Haley Ryan, Yvette dEntremont and Canadian Press

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When Caryn and David Crabb held their son, Triston, for the first time in March, 2018, they couldnt believe their dearest wish had finally come true.

Its been two years since the Australian couple first shared their surrogacy story with the Toronto Star.

During the Stars Made in Canada series, which looks at this countrys booming international surrogacy industry, the Crabbs and their Canadian surrogate, Paula Capa, a teacher in Kitchener, struggled to become parents.

Obviously weve been waiting forever for this, David says. And now weve got one beautiful little angel sent from heaven.

Caryn and David spent six years trying to conceive. Caryn underwent 14 rounds of IVF in Australia before the couple turned to Canadas surrogate market in 2015. Initially, the Crabbs were using their own embryos, but in the spring of 2016 they ran out and needed to secure new embryos.

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David calls their failed transfers their disappointments, most of which occurred during the Stars series. When many of the other couples followed by the Star succeeded, and the Crabbs didnt, they refused to give up.

Caryn, unable to dislodge the smile from her face while she rocks Triston, remarks that its taken an army to get them to this point.

Of that there is no doubt.

Hundreds of people lent support to the Crabbs and they needed every well wish they could find. They came so close to not achieving their dream.

In December 2016, days before Christmas, Caryn and David received shattering results: their fourth transfer in eight months with Paula failed and they were out of embryos.

We dont have good news, wrote Caryn in an email to Star reporters at the time. We are devastated and heartbroken. No next steps yet.

Caryn and David retreated into themselves. Caryn asked friends and family to stop talking about the surrogacy. David tried to reconcile his feelings while working away from home for long stretches.

After a few weeks they went away together on a camping trip trying to see if there was any fight left.

I said to my husband I dont think I can do this anymore, its too much for me,  says Caryn. He had the strength to go Im going to pick you up and take you through and we can do this,  she says.

However, Caryn and David couldnt afford the $10,000 needed for the new embryos and to cover the cost of another transfer. So Caryn decided to ask the online surrogacy community for advice.

She got a message from a couple who didnt have any wisdom to offer, but did have two embryos left from their successful surrogacy that they wanted to donate to Caryn and David.

I couldnt believe someone had reached out to us. I called David bawling and then he was bawling, says Caryn.

That moment is just indescribable.

Then began the most anguishing part of the journey.

The clinic the donor embryos were at was not the same clinic Caryn, David and Paula were using.

It took six months of fighting and paperwork to get the donor embryos released to Caryn and David.

At one point Caryn was in contact with the clinic nearly every day asking when the embryos would be released. The donor couple, too, were required to fulfil exhaustive requirements, including a psychological evaluation, before the clinic would authorize the transfer.

It was hell, says David of the agonizing wait and each day brought a new fear that either the donors or Paula would back out.

Thats the part that gets me really emotional, says David. Paula said Im with you guys to the end. Who does that? If everyone in the world was like that the world would be a much better place.

Finally the embryos were released and the transfer to Paula was booked.

In July 2017, five days after the fifth transfer, Caryn and David were babysitting their nephew when Paula sent a text that simply said Caryn and a picture of a pregnancy test with the letters B-F-P: Big Fat Positive.

I burst into tears and said, were having a baby,  says Caryn. We were in such disbelief.

The Crabbs filmed their friends and family members as they broke the news. The final video is a montage of tears, shouts of joy and heart-warming disbelief.

At two months old, Triston is completely unaware of the extraordinary circumstances of his birth and the no less than Herculean effort it took to get him into the world.

Nor is he aware that he may be one of the surrogate babies who pushes Canada to rethink the way it approaches reproductive regulation.

Canadas 2004 Assisted Human Reproduction Act allows reimbursement for expenses incurred by sperm and egg donors and surrogates during the course of either their donation or pregnancy, but doesnt allow financial payment or in-kind benefits.

The potential punishment for breaking these rules is as severe a murder sentence  up to 10 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

Quebec Liberal MP Anthony Housefather plans to table a bill May 29 , that will attempt to decriminalize payment to surrogates, egg and sperm donors.

Its a move intended to bring Canada in line with the policies in the U.S. where surrogates can make between $20,000 to $40,000 per pregnancy and egg donors can be compensated in excess of $10,000 per donation.

Caryn and David are interested in the potential changes because they believe it will bring more awareness to the industry and that it is a fairer arrangement for surrogates.

Some hope allowing compensation of surrogates will encourage more women to participate.

In Canada it can take up two years to match with a surrogate. For the Crabbs, it was their best option. Surrogates in Australia are like unicorns, says Caryn and adoption takes a minimum of seven years.

For now though, the Crabbs are relieved to be moving on from the surrogacy world and taking Triston home.

It still doesnt feel real, says Caryn, of the arrival of the baby she has wanted for so long, before the familys long trip back to Australia a month after Tristons birth.

I know that sounds funny, but I still have this fear that someone is going to take him away from me. I think its going to be nice to be home and to go This is happening. This is our baby that we get to keep forever. 

For Paula, its the end of a chapter and  despite spending the two years in nearly daily contact with Caryn and David  she insists she isnt holding them to any sort of relationship in the future.

There shouldnt be any expectations of what comes after, says Paula. No one should be doing this as a surrogate to get a family for yourself. Youre doing this so someone else can have a family.

Caryn and David are less convinced about everyone walking away into the sunset: Triston has a Canadian brother they met before leaving and who they want him to know and Paula has a unique place in all their lives.

Weve known each other for two years now. Its more than just a surrogate. Paula is our family, says Caryn.

That connection is more than her doing what shes done. Her honesty and the constant support and just wanting to get back up and do it again holds dear to our hearts.
Southern cooking, the down-home cooking associated with the Southern United States is the second most popular genre of cookbooks I get in the mail from publishers  just behind the burgeoning vegan-centric field.

This stick-to-your-ribs cuisine  think grits, cornbread, barbecue, fried chicken and mac and cheese  is central to a vast culinary region that covers about a quarter of the United States that was born from centuries of influence from European, Caribbean, African, Native and Latin cultures.

But the cookbooks I get are not as diverse as that influence would suggest. They are typically penned by white authors about their experience in the south and cooking the food they ate as kids. Theres nothing wrong with that, but considering the richness and long, uncomfortable history of southern cuisine, I want more diverse voices so I can get a better understanding of southern cookings past and present.

The best-known southern cookbook author is the late Edna Lewis, whose grave in her hometown of Freetown, Va., reads Grande Dame of Southern Cooking. Her cookbook The Taste of Country Cooking, published in 1976 ($28, Knopf Doubleday) is considered the bible of southern cooking and is still reprinted.

For recent recommendations, I turned to culinary scholar Michael Twitty.

Twitty is the Virginia-based food historian and authority on the history and nuances of southern cooking. His 2017 book, The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African-American Culinary History in the Old South ($36, Amistad), won two James Beard Foundation awards (considered the Oscars of food) in early May and he is the first African-American author to take home the top honour of Book of the Year since the awards inception in 1990.

His book and his website, Afroculinaria, tackle race through a culinary lens and trace southern cooking and Twittys familial roots to the days of slavery and further.

Like Twitty himself, an African-American who converted to Judaism and is openly gay, southern cooking is multi-faceted.

People think they know each other through food but if they dont know the history, the angst, the pain and pleasure behind the food, they dont get it, says Twitty, who adds that Asian-American authors such as Amy Tan or Maxine Hong Kingston give him insight into what it means to be Chinese in contemporary America.

For Twitty, southern and soul food is an ever-evolving cuisine involving interactions between diasporas, not just those from African and Caribbean nations, but from all the different communities that make up todays America. He recommends the recently released Between Harlem and Heaven: Afro-Asian-American Cooking for Big Nights, Weeknights and Every Day ($49, Flatiron Books) written by JJ Johnson and Alexander Smalls of Harlems Cecil Steakhouse and the adjacent Mintons Playhouse music lounge.

They look at the commonalities of the people who lived next to them, in this case East Asian and South Asian communities living alongside African communities in the new world, Twitty says. What ingredients and dishes they have in common; what stories of oppression, survival and resilience they share.

Between Harlem And Heaven explores the intersection of African, American and Asian flavours throughout history, including how the Indian flatbread known as the roti made its way to Malaysia and Trinidad. The resulting recipes in the book include a grilled watermelon salad dressed with shisho leaves, cornbread croutons and a lime-mango dressing, as well as a gumbo with roots in Senegal, Cajun spices and dried shrimp, normally found in Chinese cooking.

Twitty also recommends the just-released Soul: A Chefs Culinary Evolution in 150 Recipes ($40, Southern Living) by chef Todd Richards of White Oak Kitchen and Cocktails and Richards Southern Fried in Atlanta.

Hes bending the definition of soul food in a way thats respectable and realistic, says Twitty. Hes showing you theres a lot more diversity within the traditional canon of soul food than people realize.

The recipes are organized by its main ingredient with little introductions on its usage in soul food. The chapter on collards shows the greens versatility and pushes how diners expect to see the vegetable used in southern cooking with recipes for collard green ramen inspired by a Chinese restaurant Richards frequented as a kid, collard waffles for brunch, smoked turkey and collards, and pickled collard green stems as a tasty way to reduce food waste.

Food writer and podcast host Nicole A. Taylor is another food personality to look out for, Twitty says. Taylor, a Georgia native, moved to Brooklyn a decade ago and wrote The Up South Cookbook: Chasing Dixie in a Brooklyn Kitchen ($35, WW Norton) that connects her southern roots with her new life in New York.

I dont think Nicole Taylor gets enough credit for her work, Twitty says. She talks about being a southerner outside the south trying to make southern food in an area with southern influence.

Her book contains childhood recipes (grits, casseroles, mac and cheese) mixed with her experience in multicultural Brooklyn such as chaat masala popcorn inspired by the owner of a local Indian condiment maker, crowder peas (a starchy pea related to the black-eyed pea common in Southern cooking) seasoned with Middle Eastern zaatar as well as pesto made from collards.

Twitty also wants readers to keep an eye out for Jamaican sisters Michelle and Suzanne Rosseaus upcoming October release, Provisions: The Roots of Caribbean Cooking ($39, Da Capo Lifelong Books) that contain 150 vegetarian recipes, and is a followup to their first cookbook, Caribbean Potluck. I just received an advanced copy of it and Im aching to try out the recipes, Twitty says. They show the breadth of Caribbean cookings vegetarian side. No fish at all.

While a cookbooks main objective is to equip the home cook with a slew of delicious recipes and kitchen skills, its also important for the book to educate the reader on the history and nuances of the cuisine.

One of the things I love about my book being out there is that people have told me they made the food with their children  and these arent black people, they are white folks  and saying they started talking about the history of the food or learned to grow the food I wrote about, Twitty says. Im proud of that and thats how we change peoples minds and hearts for the good, to understand that we all have so much in common but different narratives to our understanding of being human.

Michael Twittys Country Captain A La Hazel

Country Captain is a curried chicken and rice dish popular in the Lowcountry region of South Carolina and Georgia. It is believed to have been influenced by the spice trade with India and as Twitty notes, it was made by enslaved cooks in plantation kitchens. At its most simple, the dish is fried chicken stewed with onions, curry powder, tomatoes, bell peppers and garlic thats served with white rice and garnished with sliced almonds and raisins, though every household and restaurant will have their own variations. This recipe comes from Twittys grandmother, Hazel.

For the Kitchen Pepper

This spice blend dates back to colonial times in America and England and comes in many variations, but is typically a blend of black and white pepper with warm spices such as ginger, allspice and cinnamon. Twittys recipe calls for Ceylon cinnamon, which is also known as Mexican cinnamon or canella and is milder than regular cinnamon. Ceylon cinnamon can be found at Spice Traders on Queen St. W. or at Latin grocers (check out Kensington Market). In lieu of Ceylon cinnamon, use regular cinnamon.

1 tsp (5 mL) each black pepper, white pepper, red pepper flakes, ground mace, ground Ceylon or regular cinnamon, ground nutmeg, ground allspice, ground ginger

Combine spices together. Store in an airtight container in a cool place.

Makes 1/4 cup (60 mL) kitchen pepper.

For the Chicken Rub

Twitty prefers the Sun Brand of madras curry powder as well as Bells poultry seasoning, but I used the Chief brand of madras curry powder and Presidents Choice poultry seasoning, both found at No Frills. If you cannot find madras curry powder, substitute with the same amount of regular curry powder with a pinch of cayenne. The original recipe also calls for Fish Pepper Sauce, a hot sauce made with an heirloom pepper with roots in African-American cooking but since its not widely available, Twitty suggests red pepper flakes.

8 pieces skin-on, bone-in chicken (thighs, legs, drumsticks, breasts cut in half)

1 tbsp (15 mL) kosher salt

1 tsp (5 mL) each kitchen pepper (see above), ground cinnamon, red pepper flakes, Madras curry powder, poultry seasoning

Pat chicken dry with paper towel. Transfer to large mixing bowl. Add salt, kitchen pepper, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, curry powder and poultry seasoning. Mix everything well with hands, coating every part of chicken. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 to 4 hours, or preferably overnight.

For the Country Captain

Twittys grandma would serve her Country Captain with relishes, little bowls of raisins, sliced green onion, carrot shavings, chopped tomatoes, fresh parsley and coconut flakes added as garnish.

Carolina Gold, a starchy long-grain white rice, once the most popular rice grown in America and historically grown and harvested by slaves, is traditionally the rice of choice to serve with this chicken. Today its more of a niche product and while it can be ordered online through specialty producers such as Anson Mills, Twitty suggests basmati rice as a more available option. Substitute the flour for rice flour or cornmeal and choose a specified gluten-free vegetable broth to make this gluten free.

3 cups (750 mL) basmati rice

5 cups (1250 mL) water

1/4 cup (60 mL) canola oil or bacon fat

1 large red onion, chopped

4 cloves finely minced garlic

1 tbsp (15 mL) finely chopped fresh ginger

1 large green bell pepper, seeds and ribs removed, chopped

1 tbsp (15 mL) Madras curry powder

1 tsp (5 mL) kosher salt

2 tsp (10 mL) kitchen pepper (see above)

28 oz (796 mL) can crushed tomatoes with juice

5-1/2 oz (156 mL) can tomato paste

1L (4 cups) no salt-added vegetable broth

1 cup (250 mL) vegetable or canola oil, or 1/2 cup (125 mL) oil mixed with 1/2 cup (125 mL) bacon fat

1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour

Sliced green onion, raisins, carrot shavings, chopped tomatoes, slivered almonds, fresh parsley, coconut flakes, for garnish (optional)

Rinse rice in a fine strainer under cold running water for 1 to 2 minutes. Transfer to a large pot and add water. Cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce to a simmer over low heat. Replace cover and let cook until rice is fluffy and liquid has evaporated, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove lid. Fluff rice with fork. Cover with lid to keep warm. Set aside.

While rice is cooking, in a large heavy-bottom pot, heat 1/4 cup (60 mL) oil or fat over medium-high heat. Add onion, garlic, ginger and bell pepper. Saute until onions have softened and become translucent, about 5 to 8 minutes. Stir in curry powder, salt, kitchen pepper, crushed tomatoes with juice and tomato paste. Continue to stir for 3 to 4 minutes. Add broth. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

Meanwhile, prepare seasoned chicken for frying. In a large heavy-bottom pot, heat 1 cup (250 mL) oil or bacon fat mixture over medium-high heat. In a shallow bowl, dredge chicken in flour. Dust off excess flour. In batches, shallow-fry chicken for about 4 to 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is golden-brown.

Transfer chicken to a plate lined with paper towel. Add chicken to pot of simmering sauce. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Turn down to a simmer over low heat. Cover and cook for about 35 minutes to allow chicken to finish cooking and liquid to thicken into a stew. Turn off heat and let chicken to rest for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve with cooked rice and garnishes, if using.

Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Karon Liu is the Stars food writer and is based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @karonliu
OTTAWAIndigenous Services Canada is failing to measure and accurately report the social and economic gaps between First Nations people on reserves and other Canadians, auditor general Michael Ferguson said Tuesday.

There are so many discussions about the need to close the socio-economic gaps between Indigenous people and other Canadians in this country and we dont see those gaps closing, Ferguson told a news conference after his spring report was tabled in Parliament.

We dont even see that they know how to measure those gaps.

The centrepiece of Tuesdays report was the embattled Phoenix pay system for federal civil servants, which Ferguson described as an incomprehensible failure  a description he also ascribed to Canadas intractable failure to get better results for Indigenous people.

I concluded that I have to refer to that as an incomprehensible failure as well.

Indigenous Services Canada is not using large quantities of socio-economic data provided by First Nations and other sources, the report found. It has also failed to engage meaningfully with First Nations people in order to report whether the quality of life on reserves is improving.

The Indigenous Services index used to measure social and economic well-being is not complete, Ferguson said, because while it includes education, employment, housing and income, it lacks certain other factors important to First Nations people, such as health, environment, language and culture.

Fergusons audit also found that the education gap has not improved in the last 15 years, that the department did not measure the education gap on reserves and that the information reported by the department was inaccurate.

The departments method of calculating and reporting the on-reserve high school graduation rate of First Nations students overstated the graduation rate, because it did not account for students who dropped out between Grades 9 and 11, it said.

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Using department data from the 2011-12 to the 2015-16 fiscal years, Fergusons auditors calculated graduation rates that accounted for all students who dropped out in Grades 9, 10 and 11. His office found rates that were 10 to 29 percentage points lower than those reported by the department.

That means that while the department reported a graduation rate of about 46 per cent of First Nations students, Fergusons report showed that only about 24 per cent of students who started in Grade 9 actually finished high school within four years.

The department did not report on most education results to determine if the gap was closing, nor did it collect data to improve programs or inform funding decisions, or assess data for accuracy and completeness, Ferguson found. It was also unable to report how federal funding for on-reserve education compares with funding levels for other education systems across the country.

Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott said the government is committed to prioritizing education and the well-being of Indigenous Peoples.

Our government is resolute in renewing the relationship we have with Indigenous Peoples, said Philpott, adding that the government is taking steps to eliminate the gaps.

Ferguson also looked at how Employment and Social Development Canada implemented, monitored, reported on and improved two programs aimed at helping Indigenous people find work.

He found the department did not collect data or identify performance indicators that would show whether the Aboriginal Skills and Employment Training Strategy and the Skills and Partnership Fund were increasing the number of people getting sustainable employment.

Ferguson said that while the goal of the programs is to help Indigenous people find sustainable employment, the department didnt define what that work looked like  making a part-time job or a five-day temporary assignment on a construction site qualify as sustainable.

Labour Minister Patty Hajdu said the government is working with Indigenous partners to co-develop and implement the new Indigenous Skills and Employment Training program.

The audits findings highlight the legacy of decades of underfunding for Indigenous communities under previous governments, Hajdu added.
OTTAWAFormer overseas hostage Joshua Boyle, awaiting trial on assault charges, is slated to hear Friday whether hell be released on bail.

Ontario Court Justice Robert Wadden is expected to hand down the decision following a two-day hearing that wrapped up Tuesday.

Boyle was arrested by Ottawa police in December and charged with various offences including assault, sexual assault, unlawful confinement and causing someone to take a noxious substance.

The charges against Boyle relate to two alleged victims, but a court order prohibits publication of any details that might identify them or any witnesses.

Boyle and his American wife, Caitlan Coleman, were seized in 2012 by a Taliban-linked group while on a backpacking trip in Afghanistan.

The couple  along with the three children they had during five years in captivity  were freed by Pakistani forces last October.

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After returning to Canada, the family stayed for several weeks with Boyles parents in Smiths Falls, Ont. They had been living in an Ottawa apartment for about a month when Boyle was arrested.

An initial evaluation found Boyle fit to stand trial, but he underwent a fuller assessment at a mental health centre in Brockville, Ont. The confidential psychiatric evaluation was completed earlier this spring.

Lawrence Greenspon, one of Boyles lawyers, said earlier this year his client had been taking medication and that he hoped the treatment would continue once Boyle returned to an Ottawa detention centre.

Details of this weeks bail hearing cannot be reported due to a publication ban.

Boyle attended high school in Kitchener, Ont., and earned a degree from the University of Waterloo in 2005.

He was briefly married to Zaynab Khadr, sister of Toronto-born Omar Khadr, who spent years in a U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after being captured in Afghanistan.

In 2011 he married Coleman, who grew up in rural Pennsylvania, during a lengthy trip the pair took to South America.

The following year, they set off for Russia and travelled through Central Asia for several months, winding up in strife-torn Afghanistan.

In an email sent shortly before their capture, Boyle said he was in an internet cafe in an unsafe part of Afghanistan.

In June 2014, Colemans family released two videos of their daughter and Boyle in captivity. In the clips, they called on the U.S. government to free them.

Another video was posted to YouTube in August 2016. The couple soberly warned they would be killed by the hostage-takers unless Kabul abandoned its policy of executing captured prisoners. They urged Canada and the United States to pressure Afghanistan into changing its policy.

The familys dramatic rescue last October made global headlines and prompted a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

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OTTAWA  Canadas diplomatic service has come under fire for taking months to notify the foreign affairs minister and top officials about cases where Canadians detained abroad are being tortured or mistreated.

The criticism stems from a review conducted by federal auditor general Michael Ferguson into 15 such cases last year as part of a broader examination of the consular services offered by Global Affairs Canada to Canadians travelling abroad.

The auditor generals report found that consular officials responded quickly when there was a report of suspected torture or abuse against a Canadian detained in another country by getting in contact with the person.

But officials took between one and six months to formally assess the credibility of such allegations, Ferguson found, and another 29 days on average to flag cases of mistreatment to management  and 47 days to notify the minister of cases of torture.

The requirement to report cases of torture was a key recommendation put forward by Justice Dennis OConnor in 2004, following his inquiry into the arrest and detention of Maher Arar.

However, in our view, taking three months or more to advise the minister about whether a Canadian detained abroad is being or has been tortured does not meet the intent of Justice OConnors recommendations, the auditor generals report said.

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We note that of the 15 cases we reviewed, it added, six Canadians remained detained abroad as of March 2018.

OConnor also recommended training for all consular officials on how to determine whether someone has been tortured or mistreated in prison, but Ferguson said the instructions that have been established are far from adequate.

Not only did about half of consular officials receive their training more than five years ago, without any update or refresher, the actual lessons lasted about an hour and were very broad, he noted.

Those lessons lack necessary but basic details, such as how to conduct prison visits and how to identify signs of mistreatment and torture, Ferguson told a news conference.

In fact, we found that when consular officers contact Canadians arrested abroad, in many cases they do it from their own desk by email or telephone instead of visiting the Canadians who have been arrested or detained, as their procedures say they should.

In response to the report, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Global Affairs Canada was working on a new training regime as part of an overall effort to modernize the consular services for Canadians travelling abroad.

It was also looking to expand its outreach to Canadians, improve updates to its travel advisories and review and update service standards, she added.

We know that there remains work to be done, Freeland said in a statement. Global Affairs Canada remains firmly committed to supporting Canadians abroad and providing timely and appropriate consular services.

Ferguson also found mixed results when it came to consular officers contacting the estimated 1,600 Canadians arrested and detained for more than a day between January 2016 and October 2017, cases in which there were no concerns about abuse.

The department aims to get in contact with all such Canadians within 24 hours, which it either did or tried to do in about two-thirds of the cases. It also tried to reach or successfully stayed in contact with most of those detained longer than a week, though not all.

We also found that consular officers did not document their assessments of the vulnerability of imprisoned individuals in order to identify which individuals might require more frequent contact and oversight, the report said.

As a result, we found a high level of inconsistency in the frequency of contact, with no explanation.

And while the department was applauded for providing prompt online travel advisories when there were crises, the report said it did not regularly review and update its advice and advisory website for other travel destinations.
OTTAWA  Canada needs stronger cybersecurity and data protection efforts to guard the integrity of its elections and its citizens personal information, according to the whistleblower at the heart of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal.

Christopher Wylie told a House of Commons committee Tuesday that Cambridge Analytica was just the canary in the coal mine when it comes to shadowy use of citizens data to try and sway elections.

Cambridge Analytica is the beginning, its not the end, said Wylie, the Canadian who helped set up the company in 2013.

What CA has exposed is how easy it is to  take funds from mysterious sources and then go interfere with elections in cyberspace. What it really shows is how the internet and the growing digitization of society has opened up vulnerabilities in our election system.

Cambridge Analytica has been accused of making use of data harvested from millions of Facebook users, without their knowledge or consent, to provide psychographic analysis of voters to political campaigns. The company and its affiliates had clients in numerous countries, but are most commonly connected to the Leave campaign in the Brexit referendum and several key players around Donald Trumps 2016 presidential campaign.

An estimated 87 million Facebook users had their data harvested through a personality quiz app, including 622,161 Canadians. Under Facebooks terms and conditions at the time, however, the researcher behind the app could obtain data not just from those who took the quiz, but their extended social network.

Wylie, a British Columbia-born political operative, helped establish Cambridge Analytica. He had previously worked in the offices of Liberal leaders Stephane Dion and Michael Ignatieff, but told MPs Tuesday his work didnt involve psychographic profiling or the micro-targeting of voters.

Wylie, who now lives in the U.K., said the growth of the internet, social media platforms and the increasing digitization of citizens personal lives have made it easier create division among voters.

Previously, if you were a foreign actor, youd have to physically come to a country to interfere (with an election). Now you dont, Wylie said.

So I think moving forward we need to look at cybersecurity as a priority for elections, and that we have to understand that we may look at social media, as domestic political players, as a communications space  If youre a malicious foreign actor, you look it as an information battlefield.

So you dont look at these people as voters, you look at them very much as targets for manipulation and targets for division.

The Liberal government recently tabled legislation to change Canadas election laws, including measures it said are aimed at protecting the integrity of the 2019 vote.

Bill C-76 would put limits on the political activities of third-party pressure groups, and forbid those groups from accepting foreign funding to fuel their activities during an election period  although critics argue that doesnt go far enough.

The legislation also forbids companies that sell advertising space from knowingly accepting domestic political ads from foreign entities. And it requires parties to create privacy policies, including revealing what information they collect  although there remains no independent oversight of parties data practices.

When asked if Canadian political parties should be subject to the countrys privacy laws  they currently arent  Wylie cautioned against creating an overly restrictive environment for parties legitimate voter outreach efforts.

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OTTAWAThe Liberal governments $4.5-billion Trans Mountain pipeline purchase was met with swift criticism Tuesday, as environmental groups and Indigenous leaders vowed to keep protesting the controversial expansion project and opposition politicians slammed the move.

We are absolutely shocked and appalled that Canada is willingly investing taxpayers money in such a highly controversial fossil fuel expansion project, said Grand Chief Stewart Philip, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs, in an emailed statement. We will not stand down no matter who buys this ill-fated and exorbitantly priced pipeline.

On Parliament Hill, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May called the purchase an historic blunder with taxpayer dollars, citing a document from the National Energy Board that says Kinder Morgan bought the existing pipeline from its previous owner for $550 million in 2007  a far cry from what the Texas company will get by selling it to Ottawa, she said.

She also accused Trudeaus government of writing a blank cheque for the pipelines construction costs, which Kinder Morgan has previously pegged at $7.4 billion.

It seems completely insane, May said. Im quite certain that this will go down as an epic financial, economic boondoggle.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the decision leaves taxpayers on the hook for Trudeaus failure to manage the energy file. Kinder Morgan wasnt asking for the money. They were asking for certainty and a pathway to get the get the project built, he said. The prime minister is forcing Canadian taxpayers to pay for his failure.

Bill Morneau laid out Tuesday the federal governments plan to buy Trans Mountain and Kinder Morgan Canadas core assets for $4.5 billion. The finance minister says the move will ensure the oilsands pipeline expansion gets built. (The Canadian Press)

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The Council of Canadians, meanwhile, attacked Ottawas purchase as a Big Oil bailout that would not remove obstacles to the pipeline expansion. Greenpeace, in its own statement, said Trudeaus government has signed up to captain the Titanic of tar sands oil pipelines, putting it on a collision course with its commitments to Indigenous rights and the Paris climate agreement.

There were voices of support, however. Canadas Building Trades Unions lauded the courage and vision of the government and said Ottawa can expect to sell the pipeline in the future so that taxpayers wont lose out.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce was also supportive of the move, arguing in a statement that it will allow oil companies to sell Alberta bitumen at higher prices and thus bring economic benefits to the country. At the same time, the chamber said the purchase was only necessary because Canadas regulatory system is broken and that urgent changes are needed to ensure the country can still attract investment.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is accusing Justin Trudeau of trying to buy his way out of a problem after the government announced a deal to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline assets from Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion. (The Canadian Press)

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Chamber Judge stays Khaleda's bail in 2 Cumilla cases

Staff Reporter :

The Appellate Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday stayed the High Court order that granted bail to BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia for six months in two criminal cases filed in Cumilla.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Hasan Foez Siddique passed the order after hearing the appeal petitions filed by the government seeking stay on the HC order. Chamber Judge sent also the petitions to the full bench of the Appellate Division for further hearing.

Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said, the full bench will hear the petitions on Thursday. Advocate Khandker Mahbub Hossain appeared in the Chamber Court on behalf of BNP Chairperson while Attorney General Mahbubey Alam stood for the State.

On Monday, a High Court bench of Justice A K M Asaduzzaman and Justice J B M Hassan granted bail to BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia for six months in two criminal cases filed in Cumilla. But she was denied bail in another case filed at Narail from the same bench.

Meanwhile, hours after she secured the bail, the government filed separate appeals with the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the High Court's order.

Chamber Judge of the Appellate Division Justice Hasan Foez Siddique fixed Tuesday for hearing the petitions. Finally the Chamber Judge sent the petitions to the full bench for detail hearing.

After the Chamber Court's order, Khaleda's lawyer Khandker Mahbub Hossain said, "The release of Begum Khaleda Zia depends on the government's good will. But the government wants to keep her in jail and to establish 'BAKSAL' in Bangladesh undisturbed. They want one-party rule in the country. But I believe, their dream will not be successful." Protesting Khandker Mahbub Hossain's speech, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam said, "That Khaleda Zia's release depends on the government's good will is a contemptuous statement. We have court. The court is granting bail to Khaleda and also staying it."

Among the three cases, two were filed in Cumilla on charges of vandalising vehicles on January 25 in 2015, killing seven persons and injuring 25-26 others by setting fire to a passenger bus in Chauddagram on February 2, 2015.

The third one was filed by one Raihan Faruki Imam with a Narail court on September 24, 2015, against Khaleda for making a statement about the number of freedom fighters and Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The High Court denied bail in the case saying that "the petition was not properly moved".

On May 20, Khaleda's lawyer M Masud Rana filed the petitions with the consent of the BNP chief.

Earlier, on May 16, the SC upheld a HC order that granted bail to Khaleda for four months in Zia Orphanage Trust case in which she was sentenced to five years imprisonment.

But, she is still in the jail as she has been shown arrested in seven other cases including the three.

According to media reports, the BNP chairperson is now facing a total of 36 cases.

Meanwhile, the High Court bench of Justice M Enayetur Rahim and Justice Shahidul Karim on Tuesday fixed Thursday to pass order on two other petitions filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in two other cases filed in Dhaka, Barrister A K M Ehsanur Rahman, another lawyer of Khaleda Zia said. These two bail pleas were filed on May 22 in two other cases lodged in Dhaka in 2016 on charges of observing "fake" birthday and "demeaning" Bangladesh's national flag.


OTTAWAA Liberal backbencher has tabled a private members bill in the Commons aimed at easing some of the concerns of surrogate mothers or people who help them.

The proposed legislation amends the current Assisted Human Reproduction Act, which Montreal-area MP Anthony Housefather said is not working.

It does not work for donors, surrogates, intended parents, children born of donation, or those who seek to assist them such as doctors, attorneys and agencies, he told a news conference Tuesday.

Housefather said there are currently criminal prohibitions for the purchase of sperm or ovum, while that is not the case for any other bodily materials or organs which are all regulated by provincial law.

The Liberal MP said women have the right to choose what they want to do with their bodies and criminal law should not prevent them from seeking a child.

Today, our law can send someone to prison for up to 10 years for wanting to help someone have a child and doing it in a wrong way, Housefather said. This is on par with some terrorism offences and makes no sense.

Read more:

Dream comes true for Australian parents with Canadian surrogate

Opinion | Anthony Housefather: Paying for surrogacy, sperm and human eggs should not be crime

Opinion | Argument of paying for surrogacy, sperm and eggs based on misinformation

Housefather said provisions in Bill C-404, which would amend the existing act, provide assurances a woman cannot be forced or encouraged to become a surrogate mother.

The act would be amended to decriminalize payment for sperm or ovum donation and for surrogacy.

Housefathers amendment, subject to Sec. 9 of the act, specifies a sperm or ovum donor must be at least 18 years of age, must have the capacity to consent to the donation and must not be coerced into donating.

Sec. 9 prohibits any person from obtaining sperm or ova from a donor under 18, or using it, except for the purpose of preserving it for the minors own future reproductive use.

Another proposed amendment states that a surrogate mother must be at least 21 years of age, must have the capacity to consent to becoming a surrogate mother and must not be coerced into becoming a surrogate mother.

Another change would allow for the purchase of other human reproductive material.

Housefather said a group of eight Liberal MPs have already begun working to promote his proposed legislative measure, but he does not know when it will be debated in the Commons.

The government website says its estimated that up to one in eight Canadian couples experiences infertility.

It adds that Canadians experiencing infertility as well as single parents and same-sex couples are increasingly turning to assisted human reproduction procedures to help build their families.

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WHITEHORSEA man who was originally charged with two counts of second-degree murder after the bodies of two women were found in Whitehorse last year is now facing a first-degree murder charge in one of their deaths.

The RCMP says Everett Chief is charged with first-degree murder in the death of Wendy Carlick and second-degree murder in the death of Sarah MacIntosh.

The charge was upgraded when the 44-year-old man appeared in territorial court.

The bodies of Carlick, who was 51, and 53-year-old MacIntosh were found in April of last year in a home belonging to MacIntosh.

Police say MacIntosh was a member of Kwanlin Dun First Nation in Whitehorse and Carlick a member of the Kaska Nation in British Columbia.

Carlick became an advocate for missing and murdered Indigenous women after the body of her daughter, Angel Carlick, was found in a forested area outside Whitehorse in 2007.

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OTTAWAThe failed federal public service pay system was the result of a government culture that stands in the way of helping people, auditor general Michael Ferguson said Tuesday as he issued his latest report to Parliament.

The problem-plagued Phoenix pay system was mismanaged from the very beginning and is just one of the incomprehensible failures of the government over the last decade, Ferguson told a news conference after tabling the report.

Auditors also found flaws in Canadas military justice system; in how government surplus assets are disposed of; and in Ottawas failure to close socio-economic gaps between on-reserve First Nations people and other Canadians.

The building and implementation of Phoenix was an incomprehensible failure of project management and oversight, Ferguson said, adding later that the government has reached a critical moment where it needs to reflect on how to change the way it does business.

The report on Phoenix  the second in six months  prompted the countrys biggest civil service union to call for a wider investigation.

It is clear a public inquiry is needed, said Chris Aylward, president of the Public Service Alliance of Canada.

We need to build on what we found out today . . . so that we can ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.

The pay system was never properly tested before its launch in February 2016 and Phoenix executives either didnt understand or ignored warnings of problems, choosing to place potential savings targets ahead of system readiness, said Fergusons spring report.

Phoenix executives were more focused on meeting the project budget and timeline than on what the system needed to do, the report concluded.

Read more:

Auditor general says feds fail to measure social, economic gaps between First Nations and others

Ten cases dropped due to persistent, unnecessary delays in military justice system: auditor

Diplomats taking too long to report torture of Canadians detained abroad: auditor general

The former Conservative government had projected that Phoenix, conceived in 2009, would save taxpayers about $70 million annually by requiring fewer people to work on pay files.

So far, however, its estimated that the system could cost $1.2 billion by the time it is stabilized, which could take years.

More than half of the federal governments 290,000 employees have reported being affected by Phoenix over the last two years. Some have been overpaid, some underpaid and others not paid at all  in some cases for months.

How a system with such glaring shortcomings could be fully launched without raising alarms at the highest levels came down to who was minding the store, said the report.

Overall, we found that there was no oversight of the Phoenix project, which allowed Phoenix executives to implement the system even though they knew it had significant problems.

It meant the deputy minister in charge of the project didnt receive independent information showing that Phoenix was not ready, auditors concluded.

The report recommended that an oversight mechanism be put in place before any new IT projects are launched.

In response, Treasury Board President Scott Brison said his department will ensure independent reviews are conducted on all such projects in future and that the deputy ministers and senior executives responsible for them are made aware of the findings.

Some of this needed culture change is simply a matter of unleashing the creativity, energy and enthusiasm of Canadas world-class public service, Brison said, although he cautioned that making such a shift would not happen overnight.

Auditors found that Public Services and Procurement Canada, which is responsible for the pay system, was aware of significant failings even before the launch, but appeared to ignore the warning signs.

Concerns about Phoenix raised by other departments and agencies caused Treasury Board to hire Gartner, an IT consulting firm, in December 2015 to assess the governments readiness for Phoenix.

Gartner identified several risks and recommended Phoenix be launched in a limited number of departments with less complicated pay needs and that Phoenix and the old pay system be run in parallel in case anything went wrong.

Phoenix executives ignored the findings, the auditors concluded.

Auditor general Michael Ferguson said fixing the troubled Phoenix pay system should be a top priority for the federal government. Public Services Minister Carla Qualtrough admits it took time to get to the bottom of the issues. (The Canadian Press)

The Trudeau government has apologized repeatedly for the suffering felt by public servants under Phoenix and has pledged to compensate those who have incurred out-of-pocket expenses. It has also tried to distance itself from the debacle, referring to Phoenix as the Conservative pay system.

Civil service unions, however, blame the Liberals, insisting the current government is responsible for paying its employees.

The Conservatives have also deflected blame; Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer has argued that, ultimately, it was a Liberal government decision to press the start button.

In its latest report, the auditor generals office was also critical of Canadas military justice system, saying delays have resulted in at least one court martial case being thrown out, with others facing charges never going to trial.

The report also found that the government routinely sells off surplus assets at fire sale prices when goods or equipment could be reused by other federal organizations instead. Based on the governments own accounting, auditors said assets were sold for less than two thirds of their value with almost no consideration given to repurposing.

One department, however, was held out as an example of the benefits of reusing assets. Auditors said the Canada Revenue Agency saved more than $4.5 million over three years by adopting reuse practices.

Ferguson also called for a fundamental rethink of how the government provides social services to Indigenous Canadians.

The auditor was particularly critical of Indigenous Services Canada for overstating on-reserve high school graduation rates among First Nations students by up to 29 per cent.

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OTTAWA  The federal auditor general fired a rocket at Canadas military justice system Tuesday, citing a failure to deal with persistent and unnecessary delays as the reason several serious cases have had to be abandoned in recent years.

Michael Ferguson assigned blame to all involved for the glacial pace with which military justice is dispensed, including military police, prosecutors, commanding officers and the Judge Advocate General.

Among the problems: lengthy investigations; delays in deciding whether to lay charges; overly long periods of time setting up courts martial; and even issues with regards to letting accused service personnel access defence lawyers.

As a result, 10 court-martial cases have been dropped since January 2016 because they didnt move along fast enough, Ferguson revealed, including one that was already underway and involved a charge of assault causing bodily harm.

Delays run counter to the principle that an accused has the right to a speedy trial, Ferguson told a news conference after his spring report was tabled in Parliament. They also leave victims and their families waiting for answers.

The Canadian Forces has known about the problems for at least a decade, the auditor added, but has failed to correct them.

Read more:

Phoenix pay system was bungled from beginning, bureaucrats to blame, auditor general says

Diplomats taking too long to report torture of Canadians detained abroad: auditor general

Auditor general says feds fail to measure social, economic gaps between First Nations and others

The military has been working to stamp out sexual misconduct in the ranks after some victims complained that their cases were not being properly handled.

Tuesdays report comes only a few weeks after the Trudeau government unveiled proposed legislation designed to streamline parts of the military justice system while better supporting the rights of victims, a bill Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan highlighted on Tuesday.

The auditor generals recommendations will greatly assist us in ensuring that the military justice system continues to serve the best interests of Canadians and the armed forces, Sajjan said.

There have been unacceptable delays in the military justice system and we have already started to make improvements.

The Defence Department also said it was introducing a new computer system to better track cases and ensure they dont suffer from lengthy delays. It is expected to be up and running in September 2019.

But Ferguson repeatedly lamented what has become a pattern in which ministers and departments say all the right things in response to his reports by agreeing with his findings and promising to address them, only to have them come up again later.

There were a number of studies done over the last 10 years indicating that the Canadian Armed Forces need to improve the military justice system, he said.

I dont think there ever is a good explanation for why recommendations like that are not followed up.

In most of the cases reviewed by Ferguson and his staff, officials involved did not provide any justification for the time taken, even though it often exceeded established standards.

The average case that did go to court martial ended up taking 17.7 months from the time charges were laid, the auditor generals report said  just inside the 18-month limit set by the Supreme Court for most cases in 2016.

That limit applies to military tribunals as well.

Better communication between the different parts of the military justice system and case management from the top is whats called for, Ferguson said, adding that a comprehensive review of the system is long overdue.

The Judge Advocate General, which acts as superintendent of the military justice system, did conduct a partial review last year in which some senior commanders voiced their own frustration with system, including how slowly it operates.

But both the JAG and Ferguson said there were problems with the way that review was conducted.
UCLUELET, B.C.A search is underway on Vancouver Island for two British Columbia men who have not been seen for almost a week.

A RCMP news release says 37-year-old Daniel Archibald and 43-year-old Ryan Daley docked their sailboat in Ucluelet harbour on May 13 and then left it three days later.

Both men were carrying large duffel bags and Daley was also wearing a yellow and green backpack.

The news release says the men have had no contact with friends or family in Squamish since last week.

Friends have launched a Facebook page saying its believed Archibald and Daley were heading to a residence in Jordan River, B.C., and likely intended to hitchhike the nearly 300 kilometre route.

Ucluelet dockmaster Kevin Cortes was the last to see them on May 16 and says they had paid for one month of moorage for their newly purchased boat, which they had bought in Panama.

When they left they had full packs, so they wouldnt have been going hiking because they left with a lot of gear, Cortes said.

I assumed they were going home, or at least in that direction.

Archibald and Daley were healthy but tired after a long trip, Cortes said, adding there was nothing out of the ordinary about them during the three days they spent in Ucluelet.

There is video footage from the day they left the harbour and Cortes said he thinks they got a ride from someone in the harbours parking lot, but its out of camera range.

Police want to speak to anyone who may have seen the pair, both described as 5-foot-9. Archibald is of average build with strawberry blonde, short hair, and Daley has short, dark hair and hazel eyes.
HALIFAXTwo advocacy groups are seeking to intervene in the judicial review of the case of Abdoul Abdi, a former Somali child refugee fighting to stay in Canada.

Lawyers for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association and Justice for Children and Youth argued in Federal Court on Tuesday that their groups would offer unique perspectives about the issues surrounding Abdis case.

The Canada Border Services Agency detained Abdi, who was never granted Canadian citizenship while growing up in foster care in Nova Scotia, after he served about five years in prison for multiple offences including aggravated assault.

The application for judicial review seeks to challenge the governments decision to refer his case to a deportation hearing, arguing the decision was unreasonable, unfair and contrary to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and international law.

Both groups argued before Justice Ann Marie McDonald in Halifax that their positions would assist the court in arriving at a decision in Abdis case  one they claim will have wider implications for vulnerable youth in Canada.

Young people who have grown up in the care of various child welfare organizations across the country are often placed in a position where they are not provided with adequate protection, in the sense that they havent been provided with an opportunity to apply for Canadian citizenship, Jane Stewart, a lawyer for the Justice for Children and Youth, said outside court.

Read more:

Opinion | Canadas failed commitment to international human rights law in the Abdoul Abdi case

Deportation hearing for former child refugee Abdoul Abdi deferred until after judicial review

Opinion | Shree Paradkar: Canadas institutions repeatedly failed former child refugee Abdoul Abdi

Theyre then exposed to the jeopardy of deportation as adults in a way that other young people may not be. Its a situation that affects Mr. Abdi, but unfortunately its a case that affects young people across the country. His situation isnt unique and its a situation that plays out over and over again.

Nasha Nijhawan, a lawyer for the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, said her organization wants to ensure that any time government is making a decision such as this, it does so in a manner thats in accordance with Charter values and takes into account any Charter issues that are raised by the facts of that case.

It raises questions about where the Charter fits into that analysis and how Canadians or permanent residents of Canada might expect the protection of their rights and freedoms in that context, said Nijhawan.

Its a question of perpetuating disadvantage against someone who has suffered disadvantage in the past.

But Heidi Collicutt, a lawyer representing the Minister of Public Safety, argued the groups did not meet the criteria to be intervenors in the case.

Collicutt argued the groups do not offer a unique perspective, but rather bolster and supplement Abdis position.

McDonald reserved her decision.

Abdis lawyer Benjamin Perryman said his client is feeling stressed ahead of the judicial review hearing, scheduled for June 19 in Federal Court in Halifax.

Hes still in this place of limbo, said Perryman. When the government of the country youve lived your whole life in is seeking to deport you to a war zone, that is obviously stressful, and that uncertainty I think would be crippling to most Canadians.

Abdi, who was born in Saudi Arabia in 1993, lost his mother in a refugee camp when he was four and came to Canada with his sister and aunts two years later. He was taken into provincial care shortly after arriving in Canada.

He was moved 31 times between foster homes. He lost his native language and developed behavioural problems that advocates say were not adequately treated. Those issues led to problems with the justice system and his non-citizenship put him at risk of deportation.

Abdis case has prompted supporters to call on the Nova Scotia government to intervene on his behalf, and sparked protests at events with federal leaders including a town hall earlier this year with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Lower Sackville, N.S.

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The city of Toronto budget is getting a boost thanks to a busy commercial real estate market that could soar higher thanks to marijuana legalization.

Land transfer revenues in the first three months of 2018 were $30.7 million over the official prediction, thanks to a number of (commercial) transactions, Joe Farag, the citys acting chief financial officer, told budget committee. The revenue simply was much greater than anticipated.

The commercial boom more than made up for a slumping residential real estate market which pumped $10 million, or about five per cent, less than budgeted into the city treasury, he said Monday.

More than ever, the citys ability to pay for goods and services is tied to property sales. City council has ended years of extremely conservative forecasts for land tax revenue and is instead banking on more than $800 million this year to help pay the bills.

That approach was criticized by some councillors, who said the city has opened itself to a crisis and deep service cuts if real estate tanks. Former city manager Peter Wallace routinely warned council about an increasing reliance on the land sales levy.

Farag told councillors that sagging residential tax revenues continued into April but so did strong commercial sales. The home sales dip cut the budget surplus to $24 million.

Councillor John Campbell asked Farag if there are contingency plans should things go south very quickly. Farag assured the budget committee he doesnt think that will happen.

Our projections are that were going to meet budget, and the budget for this year is I believe $817 million, he said. Its really early in the year to tell you what that number will be, but we think well be able to meet it.

The city might not have to worry, based on predictions of one real estate expert who says demand for Toronto office, industrial, retail and multi-residential properties often outstrips supply.

We expect the market to stay strong in 2018 and 2019, said Gaurav Mathur, manager of capital markets research at JLL Canada, in an interview.

Thats based on the investor interest we see  there is a lot of money in the commercial real estate market looking for product to buy, which means the market is quite strong.

Marijuana companies buying sites to set up shop should further buoy the market in suburban Toronto and beyond, Mathur added.

Its a new industry opening up and will have a pull going forward, but I think its too soon to say that what were seeing now is because of one particular industry, he said.

For the overall budget, city staff are predicting overspending this year of $10 million due to factors including an influx of refugee claimants into city shelters and $3.8 million in extra police overtime.

Those costs are expected to be partially offset by factors including increased revenue from new developments and continued underspending in municipal licensing and standards (division) on salaries and benefits from vacant positions.
A Toronto man pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter, ending a 14-year legal saga around the significance of the teardrop tattoo under his right eye.

Warren Abbeys plea marks an end to a tangled story that began in 2007, when he was acquitted of first-degree murder in the 2004 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Simeon Peter in Scarborough. At that time, the trial judge ruled the Crown could not call an expert witness to testify that Abbeys facial teardrop tattoo might have meant he killed someone.

The Crown appealed and at a second trial in 2011, the expert, Ottawa sociologist Mark Totten, was allowed to testify. That time, Abbey was convicted and sentenced to life in prison.

But last summer, Ontarios top court ordered Abbey to stand trial for a third time, finding Tottens evidence to be unreliable and his testimony full of inaccuracies and even falsehoods.

On Monday in Ontario Superior Court, the need for that third trial ended when Abbey admitted shooting the victim, believing he was a member of the rival Galloway Boys who had robbed him. (Abbey was affiliated with a Scarborough street gang known as the Malvern Crew.)

Peter, who went by the nickname Sammy, was not known to police and not known to be associated with any gangs.

Read more:

Ten years after he was acquitted, this Toronto man faces a third trial for the same murder

Ontarios top court orders third trial in teardrop tattoo murder case

Family in anguish after third trial ordered in Simeon Peters killing

Abbey, now 32 years old, has served 10 years, nine months and 22 days in custody, and was sentenced to time served plus one day. He was released Monday, a fact Peters family members drew attention to in their victim-impact statement. The family wrote they have come to terms with losing a funny, lovable, kind and down to earth person, but all these years later, the wound has been torn open and we are forced to relive this nightmare.

With the rewriting of this ugly chapter our family for the rest of our lives now will have to wonder when were out in public if we will ever be in a situation where we have to face him, Warren Abbey the man who admitted shooting Sammy ... Sammy was robbed of his life our family was robbed of life and the accused, Warren Abbey gets his back.

On January 8th, 2004, our family lost a son, we lost a brother, and all because of the cruel, heartless and monstrous actions of one person, Warren Abbey. Simeon (Sammy) Peter was an innocent individual who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

According to the agreed facts filed in court, Abbey told a witness that on that day he followed the victim, who turned and appeared to be trying to pull a gun out of his pant area.

Abbey, in response, based on past knowledge of incidents with Galloway Boys members, pulled out a firearm and fired several shots in the males direction, the statement says.

The male was seen to run into a nearby driveway and crouch down. Abbey moved forward to see what the male was doing and at the same time fired one more shot, turned and ran away from the area. He fled through some houses and eventually returned home.

In an interview last year with the Star, Peters parents and two of his three sisters said the teardrop issue has overshadowed their loss of a devoted son and brother who was looking for a job that day in 2004 so that he could save up and open his own clothing line.

He would say to my relatives, he said once I start working, Momma can stay home, Peters mother Marcelina said.

Abbeys defence lawyer Liam OConnor spoke to his client after his release Monday night.

God is good, OConnor wrote in an email, quoting his client  and echoing what Abbey said in a court foyer, minutes after his initial acquittal in 2007.
A man shot and killed in Yorkville late Monday night was a self-described tech junkie and CEO of a Toronto-based startup of a messaging platform called Vleepo.

Toronto police received a call at around 11:30 p.m., after witnesses reported a shooting and a person lying on the sidewalk at the intersection of Bay St. and Yorkville Ave. Matthew Staikos, 37, of Toronto, was found dead at the scene, police said.

The suspect fled the area in a vehicle described as a silver or grey four-door Mercedes.

Staikoss death is the latest in a rash of shootings across the city over a 30-hour period. At around the same time Monday night, another shooting occurred near Yorkdale Shopping Centre; aA man in his 20s was taken to hospital with serious, but non-life-threatening injuries, paramedics say.

Just a day earlier, four separate shootings rocked the city. Three people were hurt and Venojan Suthesan, a 21-year-old York University student, was killed at Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute in Scarborough.

No suspect information has been released for any of the Sunday night shootings.

According to police stats, there have been 162 shootings this year as of Sunday, an 11 per cent increase from the same time last year.
Ryan Aporbo was desperate when he lost his job as a restaurant cleaner amid Albertas economic recession and faced possible removal to his native Philippines.

Then the temporary foreign worker said he found an ad from Toronto-based A&L Hammer Workforce Management Inc., which recruits workers for nursing homes, construction, agriculture, factories, meat packing plants, hotels and restaurants.

Aporbo said he was told by the agencys owner, Liwayway Lily Miranda, that a farm in East Gwillimbury was looking for mushroom pickers. For nine months, from April 2016 to January 2017, he says he worked at the Sharon Mushroom Farm on a visitor visa instead of a work permit.

He is now among a group of Filipino workers suing Miranda, A&L Hammer and Sharon Mushroom Farm in small claims court, alleging they were improperly charged thousands of dollars in fees for legal advice and labour market impact assessments, which are a prerequisite for the work permits they never received. They are asking for refunds.

The employer, not the workers, has the sole responsibility in paying the cost for the processing and application fees to secure a positive labour market impact assessment, the workers say in the statement of claim.

They allege that Lily was without authority to collect those fees, and instead passed all financial burdens to the plaintiffs, taking advantage of their ignorance.

They also claim that despite paying the fees, they did not receive work permits.

In a joint statement of defence, the defendants say Miranda never provided legal advice to the plaintiffs, nor did she collect fees for that purpose.

They say the fees charged to the workers covered government fees and expenses for an immigration lawyer, as well as the labour market impact assessment fees.

The statement of defence says A&L merely assisted the complainants individually in its role as a recruiter contracted by Sharon Mushroom Farm, and the farm had no agreement for services or direct engagement with the plaintiffs.

SMF (Sharon Mushroom Farm) is not involved in any capacity with regards to any applications for foreign worker status made by the plaintiffs with the assistance of counsel, said the statement of defence by A&L and the mushroom farm.

A&L merely recruits, assists the applicants to obtain job offers by potential employers and then the applications for foreign worker status are referred to an immigration lawyer.

Aporbo, who has a university degree in agriculture from the Philippines, said in an interview that he was brought to Calgary under the temporary foreign worker program in 2013.

After he was let go in June 2015 when his work permit expired, he successfully got his visa extended but was unable to find another job. When he started working at Sharon Mushroom Farm in April 2016, he said he only had a visitor visa.

Aporbo said he paid A&L Hammer a total of $1,371 in May and June 2016 for a labour market assessment application, as well as a work permit and a multiple entry visa, for which he was issued receipts by the recruiter. He said he never received a new work permit to work for the mushroom farm despite the payment.

I had the experience with the process working in Alberta. I knew I would need the labour market impact assessment and work permit to work in Canada legally, said Aporbo, who is now in Canada on a temporary permit while his humanitarian application for permanent residence is in process. But I had no choice.

Earlier this month, Canada Border Services Agency announced Miranda, Sharon farm owner Laxman Marsonia and his son-in-law, Yatin Bera, had been charged with trafficking and misrepresentation-related offences under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. They appeared in a Toronto court on Monday, where the case was adjourned until June 29.

It was not clear if those charges were related to the allegations made in small claims court. CBSA would not reveal details of the case, but said in a statement that there are serious consequences for those who break Canadas immigration laws, including possible criminal convictions, court-imposed fines, probation periods and incarceration.

Neither the workers claims nor the border agencys allegations have been proven in court.

Immigration lawyer Guidy Mamann, who is acting for the farm and the recruitment agency in relations to the CBSA charges, said the immigration law casts a very wide net in its definition of human trafficking to include activity that is not human trafficking by the normal dictionary meaning.

Farm operators cant bring in the workers from abroad because the process is so onerous, expensive, difficult to navigate, and is very very unforgiving. The slightest error can have draconian consequences, as you can see here, Mamann said in an email.

Lily has been trying to serve Canadian farmers the best way she can by helping them get foreign workers who will help them get their produce to market. If there were regulatory oversights, these could have easily been dealt with ... through the regulatory compliance process rather than the criminal process. No doubt the authorities are aware of the tremendous shortage of available labour that Canadian farmers are facing.

Criminal lawyer Leora Shemesh, a co-counsel for Miranda in the border agency charges, said her client has yet to receive documents from the Crown on the substance of the allegations.

Its premature for me to comment, said Shemesh in a phone interview. (Mirandas) position is she has done nothing wrong.

Correction - May 31, 2018: This article was edited from a previous version that misspelled Guidy Mamanns surname.

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Restorate non-party caretaker govt in Constitution: BNP

Staff Reporter :

The BNP on Tuesday demanded restoration of polls-time non-party caretaker government in the Constitution in order to conduct the next general election under it.

"To hold free, fair and acceptable national polls, there is no 2nd option, but to restore a non-party neutral government in our national Constitution. The government has to insert the caretaker government system in the Constitution," BNP Standing Committee Member Barrister Moudud Ahmed said it while addressing a discussion meeting in the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, in the capital. The programme was organised by the BNP marking the 37th death anniversary of its founder late President Ziaur Rahman. Moudud Ahmed said, the BNP has raised the concept of election-time government, but they are yet to reveal the framework. The BNP leader disclosed the party's three-point agenda to end the present 'one-party rule'. He said their first agenda was to free their jailed chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia. "No election would be allowed without Khaleda Zia, he said.

Their second agenda is to unite all democratic and patriotic forces, apart from BNP-led alliance, in order to form a national unity and to take preparation for taking the streets.

"And our third agenda is holding mass movement across the country and compel the government to hold general election under a non-party neutral caretaker government," the former Law Minister said. BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir presided over the discussion.

Mirza Fakhrul demanded replacement of the present Election Commission by a new commission.

"We are clearly demanding a new EC, as the incumbent EC is serving the interest of the government. They are changing rules to help the ruling Awami League," Mirza Fakhrul said.

BNP Standing Committee Member Dr. Khandakar Mosharraf Hossain has asked the party men to be ready for all out movement. "The agitation will not stay within the walls. We must take to the streets to meet our demands to free democracy," he said.

The party Standing Committee Members Gayeshwar Chandra Roy, Dr. Abdul Moin Khan, Nazrul Isalm Khan, Vice-Chairmen Major Hafiz Uddin Ahmed (rtd) and Selima Rahman, among others, were present.


The victim of a shooting in Scarborough late Sunday night has been identified as a student at York Universitys Schulich School of Business.

Venojan Suthesan, 21, was killed at around 11:55 p.m. at Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute, near Washburn Way and Tapscott Rd. He was a third-year accounting student.

Homicide Det. Andy Singh told reporters Monday that Suthesan finished his shift at a local restaurant Sunday night, and arrived home at 11 p.m. He left half an hour later for the gym, and ended up at the scene, where he was shot.

Singh described the suspect as male, dark-skinned, 5-foot-10, wearing a light-coloured hoodie and brown khaki pants. He was last spotted fleeing the scene heading south on Washburn.

Police believe the suspect had been waiting for Suthesan. The way the scene reads right now, it seems very targeted, Singh said.

He said that a vehicle was circling the area at the time, which led them to believe that the attack was premeditated.

Veno was regarded as an incredibly bright, energetic, kind and compassionate individual, who was always there to help out his fellow students, Rhonda Lenton, president of York University, said.

On behalf of the entire York community, I extend my heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and colleagues, Lenton said, adding that Yorks flag would be lowered to half-staff in his honour, and our team is reaching out to the community members who are most directly affected.

Pearson Collegiate and Dr. Marion Hilliard Senior Public School, which is next door, were closed Monday due to a police investigation, but will reopen Tuesday morning, the Toronto District School Board said in a tweet.
MONTREALA Montreal factory owner has been found guilty of illegally manufacturing pistol-sized submachine-guns  some of which were used by Toronto criminals  after claiming in court he thought he was making paintball guns.

It had to look as real as possible, Jean-Pierre Huot, 61, owner of Perfection Metal Inc., testified in court.

Huot was found guilty by a jury on Saturday of six counts of making prohibited firearms and silencers. He was acquitted of two charges of possession of an unloaded weapon with easily accessible ammunition.

Between 2014 and 2018, Montreal police connected more than 30 of the illegal TEC-9-style guns produced by Perfection Metal to major investigations. Eighteen of the guns were found at crime scenes throughout Quebec and Ontario, including four in the GTA, a Crown attorney told the Montreal Superior Court.

A La Presse investigation found that some of those crimes included murders and attempted murders involving outlaw bikers and mobsters.

One of the semi-automatic assault guns was used in the Nov. 13, 2016, robbery of a brothel on Bonis Ave. in Scarborough, near Sheppard Ave. E. and Birchmont Rd., according to Quebec court documents.

Huot argued at his month-long trial that he intended only to make imitation guns for paintball.

If lethal weapons were manufactured by his company rather than paintball guns, it was done without his knowledge, Huot testified. He told court, I have too big fingers and I do not have the dexterity to assemble a TEC-9, and added, For me, paintball, there is nothing criminal.

Court heard the handguns were capable of firing a blast of 32 bullets and were equipped with silencers to muffle the sound of gunshots.

No one was injured in the Scarborough brothel robbery, in which seven people were ordered to the floor at gunpoint, court documents state. The heist netted two robbers two cellphones, $650 in cash and a jacket worth $2,400.

A witness, who was not identified in court, testified Huot told him the guns required silencers because the customers were playing paintball at night and did not want the guns to make too much flash and noise.

The same witness testified Perfection Metal made about five dozen of the guns between 2013 and 2014.

The La Presse investigation found one of the guns was used in the unsolved murder of a mobster who was a bitter enemy of the late Vito Rizzuto, a Montreal Mob boss with influence across Ontario.

Rizzuto died in December 2013, reportedly of cancer  although questions remain about his death.

Company executive Pierre Lariviere, 63, was also charged with possession and manufacture of prohibited weapons and possession of prohibited firearms without the necessary licences and registration. Lariviere was found not guilty of all charges.

The case was heard by Superior Court Justice France Charbonneau, who chaired a long-running public inquiry that found corruption was widespread in Quebecs construction industry.

According to court documents, Huot told police that the guns sold for $800 each.

The trial heard that one of the guns was used in the unsolved murder of Montreal gang leader Ducarme Joseph, a foe of Rizzuto, on Aug. 1, 2014.

Joseph was shot several times in the head in northeast Montreal. Two of the knock-off TEC-9-type guns were found at the murder scene, along with three dozen cartridges.

One of the guns found by police was used in the murder of convicted sex offender Mario Bourgeois, who was shot several times outside a halfway house in the east Montreal neighbourhood of Rosemont on Feb. 11, 2015, according to the La Presse investigation. The submachine-gun used to kill Bourgeois was found in the snow near the scene; that murder also remains unsolved.

Another of the assault pistols was used in the unsolved May 6, 2014, murder of biker Richard Rousseau, 50, of the Blatnois Motorcycle Club, which is connected to the Hells Angels, La Presse found.

Rousseau was travelling in a wheelchair when he was shot dead in the suburb of Terrebonne.
Two young men and a woman are in police custody after heavily armed officers raided a Cabbagetown high school Tuesday over reports of a person with a gun.

Officers at 51 Division and the Toronto Police canine and emergency task force units rushed to Parliament and Winchester Sts. just after 9 a.m. responding to a 911 for a robbery, said police spokesperson Caroline de Kloet.

Police then entered Monseigneur Fraser Colleges St. Martin campus, an alternative and adult Catholic secondary school.

The school administration placed the building under lockdown as police arrested two men under 18 years-old. A woman, whose age is unconfirmed, was also arrested nearby.

The lockdown has since been lifted, and the investigation is ongoing.
An ex-Toronto justice of the peace, who was fired this month for interfering in a criminal case involving his partner, has been charged with assaulting her, the Star has learned.

While Tom Foulds, 60, faces an assault charge, the complainant herself has also been charged with assault with a weapon, with Foulds being the alleged victim.

Based upon my review of the evidence provided to date, I am firmly of the view that there is no merit to (the charge against Foulds). If anything, Mr. Foulds was assaulted and only used reasonable force in self-defence, Foulds lawyer, Daniel Kirby, told the Star in an email earlier this month.

The alleged victim has been charged with assaulting him with a weapon. His injury was minimal and the complainant in the charge against him suffered no injury. Once this matter is thoroughly reviewed by the Crown attorney, I would be shocked if it were allowed to proceed.

Foulds case was heard at the College Park courthouse Tuesday, the same courthouse where Foulds presided for years as a justice of the peace. Foulds himself did not attend the brief hearing.

The case is being prosecuted by a Crown attorney from outside Toronto, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General said.

The Crown said in court it has now completed its disclosure of the evidence to the defence. The case returns to court June 12.

Foulds is alleged to have assaulted the woman on March 16, according to court records, and has been ordered to stay at least 25 metres away from her.

The alleged assault occurred on the same day that Foulds filed a motion with the Justices of the Peace Review Council to reconsider its decision finding him guilty of judicial misconduct for interfering in a previous criminal case involving his partner. That motion was later denied.

The alleged incident was not brought up on March 23 before a discipline panel of the council regarding the appropriate punishment that should be handed down for the judicial misconduct. (The panel ultimately made the rare recommendation to the attorney general that Foulds be fired.)

While his partners name is not covered by a publication ban in the criminal proceedings, it is covered by a ban with relation to Foulds discipline proceedings, in which she was identified simply as AA. There is no indication the alleged assault involving Foulds had anything to do with the discipline proceedings.

In those proceedings, the discipline panel found that Foulds repeatedly tried to insert himself in a criminal case in which AA was the alleged victim of an assault by a man identified only as BB. The charge against BB was later stayed by the Crown.

Foulds signed what is known as the information laying out the charge against BB, despite knowing who he was; repeatedly asked Crown attorneys at the College Park courthouse about the case, as they tried to brush him away; and signed the subpoena requiring his partner AA to testify.

It was the second time that Foulds had been found guilty of judicial misconduct by a discipline panel over a conflict of interest. He had previously been suspended for seven days without pay in 2013 for interfering in the health inspection of a friends restaurant.
A group of democracy and human-rights organizations unveiled a plan on Tuesday to install a bronze sculpture of an empty chair in Toronto, in memory of late Chinese writer and activist Liu Xiaobo.

A long-time, fierce critic of the Chinese government on issues of freedom and democracy, Liu died of liver cancer last year while serving an 11-year prison sentence. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China, according to the Nobel committee.

But the government of China refused to grant Liu permission to travel for the ceremony in Oslo The Nobel Prize committee symbolically placed his award on an empty chair in a bold statement about his absence.

We want to memorialize him the best way we can, said Cheuk Kwan, spokesperson for the Toronto Association for Democracy in China. The group is one of the organizations working to raise at least $50,000 for the production and installation of the chair sculpture.

Renowned Canadian sculptor Ruth Abernethy will work on the project. Her other works include the Glenn Gould statue at the CBC building in Toronto and the Oscar Peterson sculpture at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.

The plan, according to Kwan, is to have the installation ready in time for next years 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Theres no word yet about where exactly the chair will be installed, but Kwan said it will be in a public space like a park or city square.

Liu became famous for his literary critiques against the Chinese government in the 1980s, when he was a visiting scholar at various universities across the world. He returned to China to support the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, and was imprisoned several times for his participation in movements for democracy and human rights.

Kwan, who was living in Hong Kong during the time of Tiananmen Square massacre, followed Lius activism and was inspired by his tireless efforts to always stand up for what is right, regardless of the challenges.

This is transcendent. Its not just a Chinese human rights struggle. Its a universal struggle, he said.

Amnesty International Canadas secretary general Alex Neve said Lius legacy is to remind people of their responsibility to confront injustice and be courageous while doing so.

That the Chinese government refused to release him, even as he was honoured with the Nobel Peace Prize and even as he was in the final weeks of his life, is illustrative of how deeply entrenched contempt for human rights is in China, he wrote in a statement.

This tribute to a remarkable man, and through him, to the precious importance of our shared universal human rights, is fitting, timely and deeply moving.

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PORT COLBORNE, ONT.Doug Ford said Tuesday that he will give a full account of how a Progressive Conservative government would pay for all of its election promises by the end of this campaign.

The PC leader did not provide a specific date, however, with little more than a week remaining until Ontario voters go to the polls.

Speaking to a group of seniors at a retirement home in the Niagara Region, Ford listed cost-cutting promises his party has made, including lower gasoline prices, reduced hydro rates and income tax cuts.

Asked by reporters when hell release a comprehensive list of those promises with costs attached, he said the PCs have been rolling out our plan throughout the campaign.

Every single day, we have a press conference, we roll out our plan. Every single day we put a cost beside our plan, Ford said.

 We put a price tag beside every single item and each and every one of you (reporters) that follows us around, and every day I hold a press conference and tell you about our great plan.

But by the end of this campaign, we will have a fully costed platform.

Read more:

Horwath says Fords lack of a platform is insulting to voters

For victory, NDP needs young supporters to ride the orange wave to election polls, expert says

Opinion | Susan Delacourt: What is it that is driving Ontario voters?

Ford has come under increasing pressure from his rivals to tell voters how the PCs would pay for their campaign promises.

But while the Tories are the only party without a fully costed platform, Ford charged that NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is running on a platform that doesnt add up.

Every dollar they want to spend is coming out of your wallet, he said, while the PCs will put money back in your wallet.

Ford told the seniors that his is the only party they can trust to create good jobs and keep our economy strong so we can hire more nurses, more doctors, more teachers and protect the services we need.

The Liberals and NDP have warned that Ford would need to cut tens of thousands of jobs to come up with the $6 billion he has said the province could easily save through efficiencies, while the PC leader has insisted that no jobs would be lost.

On Tuesday, the Liberals went a step further, posting a list of Fords pledges that they claim would cost taxpayers some $40 billion over the term of a Ford government.

Given the lack of transparency, the most reliable place to find numbers is through what Doug says in press conferences when pressed by journalists and what has been reported in the media, the Liberals said in a news release.

It details costs from Fords pledges, including the $2 billion annual loss of revenue from cancelling the cap-and-trade program, $1.3 billion annually for a 1 per cent reduction in the corporate tax rate and $1.2 billion a year for cutting gasoline taxes by 10 cents a litre.

Horwath has also been pressuring Ford to release a costed version of his platform, given that advance polls are already open for the June 7 election.

With files from Rob Ferguson

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WASHINGTON  I fact-check everything U.S. President Donald Trump says. Every week, the Star posts my updated list of Trumps false claims.

And then, every week, at least one Trump opponent scolds me for calling them false claims.

LIES!!!!! CALL THEM LIES, GOD DAMMIT!!! one man, Devin Comiskey, tweeted to me in mid-May. Why do people continue to whitewash what he does?

Comiskeys call-them-lies plea gained momentum on Twitter this weekend. Hundreds of liberals, including celebrities like John Cusack and Chrissy Teigen, criticized a prominent New York Times reporter, Maggie Haberman, for calling two of Trumps latest false claims demonstrable falsehoods rather than lies.

I called those two claims lies. (One a ridiculous lie, one a big lie.) Over my 19 months of fact-checking almost every word out of Trumps mouth or Twitter feed, Ive used lie to describe dozens of other Trump claims. Ive quoted a historian saying Trump is the biggest liar in the history of the presidency. Ive said that I personally think the president is a serial liar.

I also dont think that lie should be the word we use for every one of his inaccurate statements. And I dont think reporters should be blamed or shamed for choosing different words where appropriate.

A lie is a false statement made intentionally. (Merriam-Webster: Lie, verb: to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive.) In some cases, its safe to say Trump is intentionally trying to deceive. In other cases, its far less clear that hes being wrong intentionally  because, with Donald Trump, you regularly cant rule out the possibility that he is confused or ignorant.

If we journalists are going to present ourselves as arbiters of truth, we have to stick to what we know is true. And that means not calling something a lie when we dont have a reasonable certainty that Trumps intention is deception.

What does that mean in practice? It means choosing our terminology  lie, false claim and falsehood, misleading, and so on  on a case-by-case basis.

Making the right decision case-by-case means, in my opinion, that lie should be used a lot more than almost every major U.S. news outlet currently uses it. It is obvious that there are numerous instances in which Trump is lying. In these obvious instances, I share the frustration of people like Comiskey with other reporters reluctance to say the word that is plainly appropriate.

Trump clearly lied when he said in April that millions and millions of people, in many places, like California, illegally vote more than once in the same election. There is no basis whatsoever for this claim.

Trump clearly lied when he said in March that Conor Lamb, the Democratic candidate in a House race in Pennsylvania, had proclaimed, I love the tax cuts. In fact, Lamb had campaigned against these Trump tax cuts.

Trump clearly lied when he said in July that he got a call from the head of the Boy Scouts to praise his controversial speech to a scout event. As the White House was later forced to admit, there was no phone call at all.

Trump clearly lied when he said at a presidential debate in 2016 that Muslim associates of the perpetrators of the terror attack in San Bernardino, California saw the bombs all over the apartment and didnt call the police. Simply didnt happen.

And Trump is not only lying when he makes up a supposed event out of thin air. He is also lying when he uses wildly inaccurate numbers.

But some words are more appropriate than lie in other cases in which the intent is harder to discern.

At a rally in Michigan in April, Trump proclaimed, This is the state where Henry Ford invented the assembly line. Ford did not invent the assembly line: it was pioneered in the Michigan auto industry by Ransom Eli Olds. Did Trump intentionally lie about auto history for some odd reason, or did he or his speechwriters just read this popular misconception about Ford somewhere? Im inclined to think it was the latter.

When Trump mused, at a press conference with Finlands president, that Finland has been free of Russia for 100 years, was he lying, or was he just unaware that Finland fought wars with the Soviet Union in the 1930s and 1940s, not even 80 years prior? I think its quite likely Donald Trump is not very familiar with Finnish history, so I play it safe and call that a false claim, too.

When Trump says the U.S. has 32,000 soldiers in South Korea, is he lying, or is he misremembering last years correct number, 23,635 active troops? Im just not sure about that either.

And when he says he has cut more regulations than even the president who served for 16 years, is he intentionally exaggerating the length of the longest presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelts 12-year tenure, or did he hear that Roosevelt was elected four times and not know that Roosevelt died early in his fourth term? Either one is possible; Im inclined to guess hes being intentional. But Im a reporter, and I cant guess when calling someone a liar, so I use false claim.

The thing is: its bad whether its intentional or unintentional, a false claim or a lie.

When I defend my use of false claim by pointing out that Trump might be confused or ignorant, some scoffing critics will ask: and thats somehow better?

Its not. Calling a claim false isnt an attempt to excuse it.

Its not good that the president deliberately utters inaccurate things. Its also not good that the president so frequently utters inaccurate things because he doesnt know what he is talking about.

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WASHINGTON  U.S. President Donald Trump has three days to decide if hell hit Canada with steel and aluminum tariffs, and the Canadian government is again hinting at retaliation if he does.

Our government always is very ready and very prepared to respond appropriately to every action. We are always prepared and ready to defend our workers and our industry, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said in Washington on Tuesday.

Canadian steelworkers should absolutely know that the government of Canada has their back, she said.

Freeland had a two-hour meeting with Trump trade chief Robert Lighthizer. She said they talked about the tariff threat, but she would not say what Lighthizer told her.

Trump temporarily exempted Canada from the tariffs  25 per cent on steel, 10 per cent on aluminum  when he announced them in March, and then granted an extension of the exemption that is set to end Friday. His administration described the extension as final, but Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross later hinted that Trump might offer another extension if NAFTA talks were going well.

Freeland said the Canadian government considers the tariff issue entirely separate from the NAFTA negotiation. She said it just doesnt make sense to subject Canada, a close U.S. ally, to a tariff whose official justification is national security.

Freeland issued a similar retaliation threat when Trump began threatening the tariffs, saying in March that Canada would respond to tariffs with measures to defend its trade interests and workers.

The president of the Canadian Steel Producers Association, Joseph Galimberti, said Tuesday that he has been given no information about where the talks stand.

Freeland plans to visit Washington for two days. She said a primary focus of her meeting with Lighthizer was NAFTA rules governing automotive trade. Negotiations on the continental trade pact appear to have stalled over Mexicos unhappiness with a Lighthizer proposal designed to wrest some auto manufacturing back to the U.S.

Canada now faces a second tariff threat from the U.S. Last week, Trump announced his administration would begin looking at the possibility of a tariff  also on supposed national security grounds  on foreign cars and auto parts.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expressed strong concerns about Trumps move in a phone call with the president on Friday, the prime ministers office said in a statement. Freeland said she did not discuss the matter with Lighthizer, since it is Rosss responsibility.

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SAN FRANCISCOA Canadian young computer hacker who American investigators say unwittingly worked for Russian spies was sentenced to five years in prison Tuesday for his role in a massive security breach at Yahoo that U.S. federal agents say was directed by a Russian intelligence agency.

U.S. Judge Vince Chhabria also fined Karim Baratov $250,000 during a sentencing hearing in San Francisco.

Baratov, 23, pleaded guilty in November to nine felony hacking charges. He acknowledged in his plea agreement that he began hacking as a teen seven years ago and charged customers $100 per hack to access web-based emails. U.S. prosecutors allege he was an international hacker for hire who indiscriminately hacked for clients he did not know or vet, including dozens of jobs paid for by Russias Federal Security Service.

Baratov, who was born in Kazakhstan but lived in Hamilton, charged customers to obtain another persons webmail passwords by tricking them to enter their credentials into a fake password reset page.

He was arrested in Hamilton in March 2017 under the Extradition Act after American authorities indicted him for computer hacking, economic espionage and other crimes.

After Baratovs guilty plea, his lawyers told reporters he hacked only eight accounts and did not know that he was working for Russian agents connected to the Yahoo breach.

Hes been transparent and forthright with the government since he got here, lawyer Andrew Mancilla said at the time.

In August 2017, Baratov decided to forgo his extradition hearing to face the charges in California. His Canadian lawyer at the time said that the move was to speed up the legal process.

Meanwhile, U.S. prosecutors said in court papers that Baratovs Russian-language website named webhacker advertised services for hacking of email accounts without prepayment.

They said Russian security service hired Baratov to target dozens of email accounts using information obtained from the Yahoo hack. Prosecutors argued that Russias Federal Security Service targeted Russian journalists, U.S. and Russian government officials and employees of financial services and other private businesses.

Baratov and his lawyers also said his work with the Russia spy agency was unwitting.

The court documents allege Baratov claimed he could access webmail accounts maintained by Google and Russian providers such as Mail.Ru and Yandezx. He would provide customers with a screenshot of the hacked account and promised he could change security questions so they could maintain control of the account.

The U.S. Justice Department also charged two Russian spies with orchestrating the 2014 security breach at Yahoo to steal data from 500 million users. Dmitry Aleksandrovich Dokuchaev and Igor Anatolyevich remain at large and prosecutors believe they are living in Russia, which doesnt have an extradition treaty with the United States.

He is alleged to have collected more than $1.1 million in fees, which he used to buy a house and expensive cars.

Deterrence is particularly important in a case like this, the judge said during the hearing. He rejected prosecutors call for a prison sentence of nearly 10 years, noting Baratovs age and clean criminal record prior to his arrest.

Lawyer Amedeo DiCarlo, who represented Baratov while he was in Canada, said in an email that Baratov is satisfied with the courts decision.

The judge used all criteria possible to assist Karim and, given the time he had already served and the time expected to serve, he will be out in approximately three years, DiCarlo said. The justice system worked for a man who took responsibility and Im sure he learned many lessons.

Baratov has been in custody since his arrest last year. He told the judge Tuesday that his time behind bars has been a very humbling and eye-opening experience.

He apologized to those he hacked and promised to be a better man and obey the law upon his release. The judge said it is likely Baratov will be deported once he is released from prison.
Ever since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared without leaving traces four years ago on March 8, 2014, theories about its disappearance have drawn global attention.

They might very well remain theories forever.

The four-year search for MH370 is coming to an end as private Texas-based contractor Ocean Infinitys search vessel, equipped with underwater sonar drones, is expected to head back from the Indian Ocean amid rising costs and deteriorating weather. No precise date was provided by the search firm, but Malaysias new government had already hinted last week that the efforts would soon draw to a close.

We sincerely hope that we will be able to again offer our services in the search for MH370 in the future, Oliver Plunkett, the CEO of Ocean Infinity, said in a statement.

It was the latest of many such efforts to find the missing plane, but this time there are no plans to launch more missions.

Australia, Malaysia and China teamed up for a joint search for MH370 until last year, but stopped their efforts, saying that the hunt would only be relaunched if there were specific hints pointing to a new, specific location. Malaysia signed a contract with Ocean Infinity this January, promising the company $70 million (U.S.) in case it managed to find the wreckage. Under the agreement, the company agreed to work for free if it failed to locate it.

Despite mounting costs, the search was extended twice in recent months and covered a seabed area the size of 43,000 square miles  about half the size of Indiana.

MH370 disappeared on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014 with 239 people on board.

New questions over the planes disappearance were raised two weeks ago, when a team of analysts assembled by an Australian TV channel said the 53-year-old pilot may have committed suicide  killing 238 people with him.

According to that theory, the pilot may have depressurized the plane, knocking out anyone without an oxygen mask and explaining the mysterious silence as the plane disappeared from radar or why the wreckage wasnt found along its projected flight path.

Investigators have disputed that possibility, reemphasizing that they believe everybody on the plane  including the pilot  fell unconscious. The uncontrolled aircraft later ran out of fuel, investigators believe, and crashed into the sea.

Only the wreckage itself could help to determine what really happened on board of MH370, but chances of that ever happening further diminished with Tuesdays announcement.

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Government must compensate the abused female workers sent for money

Last Sunday, some 40 female workers, mostly from Saudi Arabia, returned home leaving behind a terrible experience of sexual abuse, physical torture and payment irregularities of wages. Furthermore, they returned empty handed. They landed at Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in the evening and were found to be at a loss as to how to go home and show their faces to family members, relatives and neighbours.

Nevertheless, the latest batch of female workers returned after more than 100 returned home from Saudi Arabia two weeks ago in two batches with similar tales of torture and abuse by their employers who reportedly treated women as sex slaves.

The million dollar question in this regard, why the government is sending such unskilled female workers to the Gulf countries and particularly to Saudi Arabia despite repeated protests from civil society leaders and human rights organizations to ban sending female workers due to lack of security and protection. Already, other countries such as Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Philippines have stopped sending their female workers on safety grounds. Why Bangladesh government is still sending women workers when the question of national dignity is also at stake?

Reasonably enough, the government has focused to increase the number of its success stories - especially exporting the local workforce to international markets - therefore exhibit increased earnings from foreign remittance inflow.

However, remittance inflow, in any manner, should not come at the cost of the physical and mental humiliation suffered by our women workers sent to Saudi Arabia. We warned before about the reputation in the Middle East that generally they use our girls like prostitutes. The government did not pay any heed but earned money by sending to be abused.

Any responsible government would felt ashamed and guilty for sending our girls to be abused and tortured. Our government is so anxious to earn money that suffering our women does not matter.

They should have protested strongly through the ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that as Muslims their men have behaved disgracefully to our women and send them without paying their dues. That as a nation we feel insulted. That should not be happened.

The government has been making money by using our girls abroad and the government must take responsibility for their treatments as well compensate for the losses. We want our government to be responsible and reasonable.






TEHRAN, IRAN  Iranian university students in a meeting with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei offered harsh criticism of the countrys direction, local media reported Tuesday, an unusually frank discussion showing the concerns many feel over the Trump administrations pullout from the nuclear deal with Tehran and Irans battered economy.

One student in particular offered a list of problems confronting Iran and directly asked Khameni, whom hard-liners view as second only to God, how he would respond to them.

While concerns regularly come up during the annual audiences that Khamenei holds during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan, the fact that these criticisms received publicized attention in Irans tightly controlled media is telling. Already, farmers and truck drivers have been protesting and on strike in the country.

At Mondays audience with Khamenei, university student Sahar Mehrabi read a speech in which she recounted the numerous crises now facing the country.

Among them, she listed Irans intensified systematic inequality in social classes, the decline of public trust and the increase in environmental crisis and shantytowns. She also mentioned high unemployment, the challenges faced by minority groups and the way hard-line elements within Irans judiciary and security system fabricate security cases in a delusional way to target activists.

What answer does Your Excellency have in response to questions, criticisms and protests, she asked.

In his own speech, Khamenei acknowledged many of the shortcomings, saying that removing problems is not as easy as the students expect. He said one solution can be the injecting of revolutionary, motivated and committed young people into the governmental apparatuses.

Growth of the society requires freedom of expression, Khamenei said.

Khameneis Twitter account also acknowledged the criticisms.

The pro-reform Mardomsalari daily newspaper published Mehrabis remarks and other websites also carried her full speech, which included a call for deepening democracy in Iran.

Iran is a Shiite theocracy overseen from the top by Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state. However, it also holds regular elections for its presidency and parliament. Its politics include everything from hard-liners who recently set alight a paper American flag on the floor of the parliament in protest over the U.S. decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal, to reformists who want to see change in Irans government.

However, bubbling frustrations over the economy and other issues led to nationwide protests in December and January that saw violence and anti-government chants. Khamenei has advocated recognizing peaceful protests.

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JERUSALEM Palestinian militants bombarded southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortar shells Tuesday, while Israeli warplanes struck targets throughout the Gaza Strip in the largest flare-up of violence between the sides since a 2014 war.

The Israeli military said most of the projectiles were intercepted, but three soldiers were wounded, raising the chances of further Israeli retaliation. One mortar shell landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The sudden burst of violence, which stretched past midnight with no signs of slowing, follows weeks of mass Palestinian protests along the Gaza border with Israel. Over 110 Palestinians, many of them unarmed protesters, have been killed by Israeli fire in that time. Israel says it holds Gazas Hamas rulers responsible for the bloodshed.

Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it, and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies and have fought three wars since the Islamic group seized control of Gaza in 2007.

The last war in 2014 was especially devastating, with over 2,000 Palestinians killed, including hundreds of civilians, and widespread damage inflicted on Gazas infrastructure in 50 days of fighting. Seventy-two people were killed on the Israeli side.

Tuesdays violence bore a striking resemblance to the run-up to past wars. In the early morning, Palestinian militants fired over two dozen mortar rounds into southern Israel, including the shell that landed near the kindergarten.

The Israeli military confirmed over 60 airstrikes throughout Gaza, including an unfinished tunnel near the southern city of Rafah that crossed under the border into Egypt and from there into Israeli territory. It said other targets included sheds of drones, a rocket manufacturing workshop, naval weaponry, military and training facilities and a munitions manufacturing site. No Palestinian casualties were reported.

Palestinian militants continued to fire additional barrages toward southern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the area throughout the night.

Read more:

Israeli soldiers shoot and kill at least 55 Palestinians during mass protests in Gaza

Opinion | Rosie DiManno: Hamas disastrous schemes make this the right moment to show solidarity with Israel

Palestinians ask ICC for immediate probe against Israel over policies, Gaza violence

Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the chief military spokesman, threatened tougher action and said it was up to Hamas to stop the situation from escalating.

These strikes will continue to intensify as long as necessary if this fire continues, he told reporters outside Israeli military headquarters.

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant issued a joint statement Tuesday, claiming shared responsibility for firing rockets and projectiles against Israeli communities near Gaza.

They said Israel began this round of escalation by targeting their installations in the past two days, killing four militants. It was the first time the armed wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for rocket attacks out of Gaza since the 2014 war.

An Islamic Jihad spokesman, Daoud Shehab, claimed that Egypt had brokered a ceasefire deal to go into effect at midnight. But more than an hour after the deadline, rocket fire and Israeli airstrikes were continuing. Shehab said some militants rejected the ceasefire and were continuing to fire rockets. There was no Israeli comment on the purported ceasefire plan.

Hamas has been severely weakened by the three wars with Israel, as well as a stifling Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has brought the local economy to a standstill.

Hamas initially billed the weekly border protests as a call to break through the fence and return to homes that were lost 70 years ago during the war surrounding Israels establishment.

But the protests appear to be fuelled primarily by a desire to ease the blockade. Gazas unemployment rate is edging toward 50 per cent, and the territory suffers from chronic power outages.

With limited options at its disposal, and a failure so far of the protests to significantly ease the blockade, Hamas appears to be gambling that limited rocket fire might somehow shake up the situation.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes.

Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities.

Also Tuesday, two fishing boats carrying students and medical patients set sail from Gaza Citys port, aiming to reach Cyprus and break the Israeli blockade, which has restricted most activity along the coast. Hamas acknowledged it was mostly a symbolic act.

One of the boats quickly turned around, while the Israeli navy intercepted the second vessel after it ventured beyond a10-kilometre limit imposed by Israel.

The Israeli military said the boat was intercepted without incident, was taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod and the 17 people aboard would be sent back to Gaza.

In southern Israel, angry residents complained about the renewed rocket fire.

Adva Klein of Kibbutz Kfar Aza said she only got about two hours of sleep because of the frequent incoming fire and the warning sirens. Other residents reported machine-gun fire from Gaza.

Its been a really scary morning, said Adele Raemer of Kibbutz Nirim.

Regional councils near the Gaza border instructed residents to stay close to bomb shelters.

The high Palestinian death toll in the border protests has drawn strong international criticism of Israel, with rights groups saying Israels use of live fire is illegal because in many cases it has struck unarmed protesters who did not pose an imminent threat to Israeli soldiers.

But on Tuesday, the Palestinians came under criticism.

The United States condemned the attacks out of Gaza and called for an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the Security Council should be outraged and respond.

The European Unions foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called for an immediate halt to the rocket and mortar fire.

Indiscriminate attacks against civilians are completely unacceptable under any circumstances, she said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it had instructed embassies around the world to seek similar condemnations of the Palestinian fire.

Israel has rejected the criticism of its response to the protests, saying it is defending its border and nearby communities. It accuses Hamas of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of protests and using civilian demonstrators as human shields.

Hamas has vowed to continue the border rallies.

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WASHINGTONRapid-fire diplomacy played out on two continents Tuesday in advance of an expected summit between President Donald Trump and North Koreas Kim Jong Un, the strengthening resolve coming after a series of high-risk, high-reward gambits by the two leaders.

Officials wont say that the June 12 Singapore summit is back on, but preparations on both sides of the Pacific are proceeding as if it is. Two weeks of hard-nosed negotiating, including a communications blackout by the North and a public cancellation by the U.S., appeared to be paying off as the two sides engaged in their most substantive talks to date about the meeting.

Trump tweeted Tuesday that he had a great team working on the summit, confirming that top North Korean official Kim Yong Chol was headed to New York for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. In addition, teams of U.S. officials have arrived at the Korean demilitarized zone and in Singapore to prepare for the meeting.

Solid response to my letter, thank you! tweeted Trump. He announced he had decided to terminate the summit last week in an open letter to Kim that stressed American military might, but also left the door cracked for future communication. White House officials characterized the letter as a negotiating tactic, designed to bring the North back to the table after a provocative statement and a decision to skip planning talks and ignore preparatory phone calls.

But aides almost immediately suggested the meeting could still get back on track. And after a suitably conciliatory statement from North Korea, Trump said the same.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that since the letter, the North Koreans have been engaging with the U.S.

Read more:

Opinion | Thomas Walkom: Korean peace process doesnt need Trump

Trump says U.S. team in North Korea planning summit with Kim Jong Un

Trump made a mess of North Korea talks, experts say

Trump views the meeting as a legacy-defining opportunity to make the nuclear deal that has evaded others, but he pledged to walk away from the meeting if he believed the North wasnt serious about discussing dismantling its nuclear program.

U.S. officials cast the on-again, off-again drama as in keeping with Trumps deal-making style, and reflective of the technically still-warring leaders testing each other. In his book The Art of the Deal, Trump wrote: The worst thing you can possibly do in a deal is seem desperate to make it. That makes the other guy smell blood, and then youre dead. The best thing you can do is deal from strength, and leverage is the biggest strength you can have.

After the Norths combative statements, there was debate inside the Trump administration about whether it marked a real turn to belligerence or a feint to see how far Kim could push the U.S. in the lead-up to the talks. Trump had mused that Kims attitude had changed after the North Koreans surprise visit to China two weeks ago, suggesting China was pushing Kim away from the table. Trumps letter, the aides said, was designed to pressure the North on the international stage for appearing to have cold feet.

White House officials maintain that Trump was hopeful the North was merely negotiating, but that he was prepared for the letter to mark the end of the two-month flirtation. Instead, the officials said, it brought both sides to the table with increasing seriousness, as they work through myriad logistical and policy decisions to keep June 12 a viable option for the summit.

The flurry of diplomatic activity intensified Tuesday after South Korean media reported that Kim Yong Chols name was on the passenger list for a fight Wednesday from Beijing to New York. Kim was seen in the Beijing airport on Tuesday by Associated Press Television. U.S. officials familiar with planning said he was scheduled to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday.

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice-chair of the North Korean ruling partys central committee. He will be the highest-level North Korean official to travel to the United States since 2000, when late National Defence Commission First Vice-Chairman Jo Myong-Rok visited Washington, South Koreas Unification Ministry said.

Pompeo has travelled to Pyongyang, North Koreas capital, twice in recent weeks for meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and has said there is a shared understanding between the two sides about what they hope to achieve.

Meanwhile, a team of American diplomats is holding preparatory discussions with North Korean officials at the DMZ. The group first met with its counterparts Sunday, and was seen leaving a Seoul hotel on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether they went to Panmunjom, a village that straddles the border inside the DMZ. The U.S. officials are led by Sung Kim, the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines, who formerly was the U.S. ambassador to Seoul and a top negotiator with North Korea in past nuclear talks. It includes senior officials with the National Security Council and the Pentagon.

The White House emphasized that it has remained in close contact with South Korean and Japanese officials as preparations for the talks continue. Sanders said Trump will host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on June 7 to co-ordinate their thinking ahead of the summit. Trump hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week.

South Korean media also reported that a North Korean delegation arrived in Singapore on Monday night, where other U.S. officials, led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin, are preparing for the summit.

South Koreas Foreign Ministry said Washington and Pyongyang were engaging in working-level talks to arrange the possible summit, but it couldnt confirm specifics.

Moon, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim Jong Un, held a surprise meeting with the North Korean leader Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

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MOSCOWA Russian journalist harshly critical of the Kremlin was shot and killed in the Ukrainian capital Tuesday, and the national police said they are assuming he was targeted because of his work.

Ukrainian police said Arkady Babchenkos wife found him bleeding at their apartment building in Kyiv and called an ambulance, but Babchenko died on the way to a hospital.

Police said he had multiple gunshot wounds on his back.

The first and the most obvious version is his professional activities, Kyiv Police Chief Andriy Krishchenko said in televised comments.

Harlem Desir, the media freedom representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, said he was horrified by Babchenkos death.

I call on Ukraine authorities to conduct immediate & full investigation, he tweeted.

The Committee to Protect Journalists in New York said on Twitter that Ukrainian authorities should conduct a swift and thorough investigation into Babchenkos murder.

Babchenko, 41, was scathingly critical of the Kremlins policies, assailing Moscows annexation of Crimea, its support for separatist insurgents in eastern Ukraine and the Russian campaign in Syria.

Ukrainian and Russian officials immediately traded finger-pointing over his death.

Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker who serves as an adviser to the interior minister, said on Facebook that investigators would be looking at Russian spy agencies efforts to get rid of those who are trying to tell the truth about what is going on in Russia and Ukraine.

Gerashchenko said Babchenkos killer was waiting for him on the staircase inside the journalists building and shot him in the back as he was going out to buy bread.

Ukrainian police released a sketch of a suspect based on witness descriptions of a grey-bearded man in his 40s wearing a baseball cap. They said the gunman may have had accomplices.

In Moscow, officials and lawmakers criticized Ukrainian authorities for their alleged failure to protect journalists.

Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the Kremlin Human Rights Council, said Babchenkos slaying was a clear provocation. The Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that bloody crimes and total impunity have become routine in Ukraine.

Another renowned journalist, Pavel Sheremet, a native of Belarus who had worked for Russian media outlets in the past, was killed in a car bombing in central Kyiv in July 2016. The case has remained unsolved.

Ukraine is becoming the most dangerous country for reporters, Russian lawmaker Yevgeny Revenko said in remarks carried by the state RIA Novosti news agency.

In March 2017, renegade Russian lawmaker Denis Voronenkov was shot and killed at the entrance of an upscale hotel in Kyiv. Ukrainian prosecutors alleged that Voronenkov, who had toed the Kremlin line while serving as a Russian lawmaker but turned into a Kremlin critic after his 2016 move to Ukraine, was killed on orders from a Russian crime lord.

Babchenko served in the Russian army and fought during the first separatist war in Chechnya during the 1990s. He later became a journalist and worked as a military correspondent for several Russian media outlets. He also published several books based on his wartime experiences.

Some of his articles and posts outraged many Russians. In one, he said he felt no regret about the deaths of Russian army choir members and others from a December 2016 plane crash as they were heading to perform before Russian troops in Syria. Several Russian lawmakers even called for stripping Babchenko of his citizenship over the comment.

Babchenko left Russia in February 2017, saying he was receiving threats and concerned he might be jailed.

He moved to Kyiv last fall, where he worked as a host for the Crimean Tatar TV station, ATR.

Just hours before he was shot, Babchenko wrote on Facebook that he narrowly escaped death exactly four years ago when the Ukrainian military refused to take him on a helicopter heading to the front line in eastern Ukraine. The aircraft was shot down minutes later.

I was lucky, it was my second birthday, he wrote Tuesday.

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CHICAGOAt least seven people were killed and 32 others were wounded by gunfire in Chicago over the sweltering Memorial Day weekend as more than 1,000 extra police officers patrolled the streets, beaches and parks.

Shootings happened in neighbourhoods stretching as far south as West Pullman and Brainerd, to West Side communities like Austin and East Garfield Park and to Northwest Side areas that usually dont see much violence like Portage Park and Albany Park. One strangulation death also was reported.

With the shooting tally from 3 p.m. Friday through 6 a.m. Tuesday, this years Memorial Day weekend was less violent than last year. For the entire holiday weekend in 2017, 45 people were shot, 7 of them killed, according to data kept by the Tribune. Seventy-one people were shot, six fatally, throughout the same weekend in 2016 one of the most violent Memorial Day weekends in years.

The extended weekend is typically one of the busiest of the year for the Chicago Police Department. More than 1,000 extra officers were deployed to address any flare-ups in violence.

Speaking to reporters Monday afternoon at Foster Avenue beach, Deputy Chief Al Nagode said hes had officers on bicycle patrol riding through the beaches north of Fullerton Avenue and other officers monitoring neighbourhoods for retaliation after previous shootings.

Were balancing the officers that I need on the lakefront, and Ive got my gang teams and my (saturation) teams and those guys that are working in the districts targeting not only the individuals that are driving the violence but the gangs that are creating the culture thats allowing this violence to occur, said Nagode, who oversees street patrol operations on the North, Northwest and West Sides.

Officers also descended on beaches and parks south of Fullerton, the downtown area that includes North Michigan Avenue and the South Loop. Much of their efforts focused on large groups of youths that were at times roaming through those areas, some of them causing disruptions to people and businesses. In one instance, groups of teens damaged property at a Target store at Roosevelt Road and Clark Street, Chicago police said.

Several people from these crowds were arrested on misdemeanour reckless conduct and disorderly conduct offences during the weekend. Officers would corral the groups onto CTA Red Line trains at Chicago Avenue and State Street, forcing them to ride toward the South Side, police sources said.

The crowds swelled so much at Chicago and State that, according to CTA spokesperson Irene Ferradaz, a Red Line train was stopped for almost 15 minutes at the request of police to get people off the train. Buses were also deployed to transport people away from the area.

Much of the teenage crowd aboard the trains exited at 35th Street and tried to make their way east toward the lake, only to be met by more cops along the way, police sources said. At least one robbery was also reported involving the crowds Sunday night.

A lot of it is the nuisance that theyre doing. Its part of what we get with teens, said Nagode. The resources it would take me to lock up 100 kids who were fighting would be tremendous, so we have to mitigate, stop the problem and do whats necessary to make (everyone) safe.

Chicago police efforts included pre-weekend raids with federal agents, leading to more than 100 arrests, mainly on illegal guns and drug charges. In the last few years, these raids have become highly publicized by Chicago police ahead of holiday weekends.

Also this weekend, a Chicago police sergeant was grazed by a bullet in her ballistic vest Saturday night when someone from an SUV shot at another vehicle in the citys West Town community. Early Sunday, a 19-year-old woman attacked two Chicago Fire Department paramedics in the back of an ambulance that was also struck by a bullet during the episode in West Englewood.

Six fatal shootings happened in parts of the South and West sides long stricken by violence, drug-dealing and poverty. But the first homicide occurred Friday in the West Garfield Park neighbourhood when a woman was found by a passerby strangled in a vacant lot outside an abandoned building in the 4500 block of West West End Avenue.

The first person shot to death during the weekend was in the Brainerd neighbourhood, when 36-year-old Michael Bell was shot and killed and a second man was wounded, Chicago police said. Two people, at least one of them armed with a gun, approached Bell and the second victim and asked for a cigarette before opening fire, police said.

Bell had been shot at least two other times in his life, in September 2012 and April 2001, according to police.

Early Saturday, 34-year-old Timothy Brown was found fatally shot outside an apartment building in the 2300 block of West 70th Street in West Englewood. The area where Brown was killed is known for narcotics activity and detectives are looking at his death as possibility being drug-related, police said.

About 8:40 p.m. Saturday, 20-year-old Bobbieana Slyons was with her mother and daughter when she was shot and killed in the 800 block of West 76th Street in the Auburn Gresham community. Police said the gunfire was believed to have come from a red car and she was not the intended target.

About 20 minutes later and nearly 9 kilometres away, China Marie Lyons-Upshaw, 17, was shot and killed inside her bedroom at her home in the 800 block of East 49th Street in the Bronzeville neighbourhood. Police spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said on Monday officers were looking for a male companion who is believed to be the shooter and detectives are trying to figure out if he fatally shot Lyons-Upshaw accidentally.

Hours after Lyons-Upshaws death, in what was believed to be an unrelated shooting, a man was found gunned down about a block or two away with a bullet wound to his chest. Police said the victims body was found inside a vehicle in the 5000 block of South Drexel Boulevard about 8 a.m. Sunday.

Early Monday around 1 a.m., Jeremy Ross, 31, was fatally shot in his head and chest near Flournoy and Laramie avenues in the Austin community. Guglielmi said Ross and the shooter were arguing over a girl before the shooter opened fire then ran away.

The final fatal shooting of the long weekend happened around 9:10 p.m. on Monday in the West Sides Lawndale neighbourhood.

A 30-year-old man was found shot in the head in the 800 block of South Albany Avenue.

Neighbours told police they heard gunshots and saw five juveniles running from the area.
WASHINGTONU.S. President Donald Trump made 26 false claims last week, including big lies about immigration, the Russia probe, and the New York Times.

Trump repeated some of his most frequent inaccurate statements about trade and the economy. He also made a bunch of new things up.

He claimed that there was a law forcing his administration to separate children from their parents at the border, and he suggested it was up to Democrats, not him, to change this law. (No such law exists. Separation is his own policy.)

He claimed that there was a spy placed in his campaign by the people investigating the campaigns connections with Russia. (In fact, the FBI used an informant outside the campaign, a Republican professor, to make contact with campaign members.) He also claimed that the former director of national intelligence, James Clapper, had confirmed that there was a spy in the campaign (Clapper had explicitly said this was not true).

And he claimed the New York Times had invented a senior White House official it quoted in a story on his North Korea policy. (The official gave a formal in-person briefing to reporters at the White House; the administration insisted that news outlets call him a senior White House official).

Trump is now up to 1,617 false claims for the first 493 days of his presidency, an average of 3.3 per day.

If Trump is a serial liar, why call this a list of false claims, not lies? Click here for our detailed explanation. The short answer is that we cant be sure that each and every one was intentional. In some cases, he may have been confused or ignorant. What we know, objectively, is that he was not telling the truth.

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As politicians argue about climate change and carbon pricing, one undeniable fact is getting lost: the world is moving to a cleaner, smarter, low carbon economy.

That is not a left wing or right wing issue. It is an environmental and economic reality. One that requires leadership from an Ontario government of any stripe  through smart policies, incentives and (yes) carbon pricing, to help Ontarians prepare for and prosper in a changing world.

Look around, you can see the change happening. High efficiency buildings with next generation lighting and energy management systems; electric cars on roads lined with bike paths; solar panels on rooftops and farmers fields; industries adopting state-of-the art clean technologies.

These once-rare things are increasingly common, and soon they will be the norm. Clean energy now draws more investment than fossil fuel energy worldwide. The sale of gas-powered cars has been banned by 2040 (or sooner) in many countries, including Britain, China, India and France.

This shift to a clean economy is being driven, in large part, by the concerted efforts of governments around the world (spurred by the Paris Climate accord) to bring in low-carbon policies and incentives. This has helped to unleash private initiative and accelerate the pace of clean technology development  reducing the costs of solar panels and electric car batteries by 80 per cent in the past seven years, for example.

Ontario has been among the global front-runners in this economic shift. Like other leading governments, it has used a mix of public policies and incentives to help accelerate the move to energy efficient buildings, smarter transportation, cleaner industries, and greener power. For example, by phasing out coal-based power, the province massively reduced greenhouse gas emissions and harmful air pollution  saving thousands of lives and billions of dollars in health costs.

Opposing View: Carbon taxes do not curb emissions or help battle climate change

Have your say

The centrepiece of Ontarios efforts has been a cap-and-trade system, linked to California and Quebec. This system puts a price on carbon, to reflect the real environmental costs  an approach that is widely supported by economists as well as business and environmental leaders, because it is the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions, stimulate innovation, and drive energy efficiency.

That is why carbon pricing is now used in seven of worlds 10 largest economies. It isnt a left wing or right wing idea. In fact, Canadas first two pricing systems were brought in by right wing governments in Alberta and B.C. And it is championed by conservative leaders around the world, such as Angela Merkel, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Preston Manning. It reduces emissions at less cost than any other type of policy.

It is no coincidence that the four provinces that have priced carbon had the strongest GDP growth in Canada last year (including Ontario). In fact, since B.C. brought in its carbon tax in 2008, it has reduced emissions by 7 per cent more than the rest of Canada (for sectors it covers), while its GDP growth has outpaced the rest of Canadas by two-to-one.

Similarly, in Europe, firms covered by its cap-and-trade system have substantially outperformed their peers on both emissions reduction and economic performance over the past decade.

Ontario is still too early in its cap-and-trade experience to evaluate the exact impacts. But on the whole its mix of low-carbon policies, pricing and incentives has worked pretty well. Since 2005, the province has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 22 per cent, while its GDP has grown by 17 per cent.

These results are impressive, but Ontario cant rest on its laurels.

The shift to a cleaner, more innovative economy is underway around the world. Canadian governments have a history of taking far-sighted action to help us prepare for these kinds of major global economic changes  like the shift to free trade in the late 1980s, where Brian Mulroneys Conservatives led the way (and also signed the first global Climate Change Convention).

We face a similar challenge, and opportunity, now. And we need the same kind of policy leadership from Ontarios next government  whoever it is  to help our businesses, workers and families prepare for and prosper in this time of global economic and environmental change.

There is no more important issue for the provinces future in this election.

Stewart Elgie is a professor of law and economics at the University of Ottawa.

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Leaders lock horns in the home stretch, May 28

After listening to the debate on Sunday night, Premier Kathleen Wynne stood high above the others with a platform, a progressive record, calm demeanour and respect for her opponents. Fifteen years of Liberal government yielded mistakes, as would any government of that duration. Despite these, she continues to demonstrate a readiness to continue on perhaps the most progressive agenda of any provincial government in Ontarios history. Liking her is a personal choice, of course, but she has little to be sorry for with all she has begun to do regarding early childhood education, senior care, road and bridges infrastructure, climate change, increased minimum wage, free pharmacare for youth and others, free tuition for many of those who would be financially prohibited from attending college or university and so much more. Of course we have to pay for this through our taxes. Things arent free. The NDP knows this but arent forthcoming as to where the money is coming from to pay for their socialist ideological agenda wherein everything is free. Doug Ford does not belong in the conversation of the premiership, with no transparent agenda. Change for the sake of change is immature and short-sighted. Governing a province takes careful planning with rollout over often a significant period of time. Ontario deserves a premier with vision, a plan, a responsible fiscal sense, persistence in fighting through often rough water and the ability to work with the federal and other provincial governments. Of the three main contenders this time around, Wynne is the best choice for the job.

Peggie Fitzpatrick, Bracebridge, Ont.

All three leaders came to play on Sunday evening, but Kathleen Wynne and Andrea Horwath came to play chess and Doug Ford was content playing a simple game of checkers. In a way, the elites against which he rails are people with complex ideas. He wants to go back to a simpler time, when floods racing through the Baltimore area or droughts in the Southwest or Lyme disease migrating into Canada have no impact on a decision to lower gas prices and get people driving their cars more. But then, such considerations of global warming didnt seem to affect the automakers either, with their heavy investment in vans and SUV crossovers. Both Wynne and Horwath impressed as highly principled, and neither was willing to tolerate mudslinging references to candidates praising Hitler or bashing veterans.

Ron Charach, Toronto

It is disappointing and negligent on the part of Elections Ontario not to hold leadership candidates to account regarding a fully costed platform prior to voting. The electorate deserves to know what is promised and what it will cost. Also, candidates at all levels should be required to be present at community debates and to speak to the issues. This is a minimum commitment.

To not do so alters the nature of democracy and promotes blind allegiance to parties without fully considering important issues at the ballot box. If Elections Ontario will not hold parties to account, who will?

Diane Sullivan, Toronto

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I was Jordan Petersons strongest supporter. Now I think hes dangerous, May 26

Im not exactly a Jordan Peterson defender, but what exactly was the point of publishing the recent article by his former colleague Bernard Schiff? It comes off, more than anything else, as a resentful attempt to discredit Peterson as an angry and unstable person  a madman, actually, out to bring out the worst of people. Thats a major (yes, major) claim coming from an academic, and any responsible one knows it deserves a lot more justification based on the actual ideas of Peterson, in this case his published philosophical world view, and not anecdotes and hearsay about Schiffs personal experience with him. As someone who gives the clear impression that he was friends with Peterson, I find the article wholly dishonourable as well. If you think your friend is losing it, talk to them. See whats going on. They might be in serious pain or dark place that you should help them out of. You dont got tattling to the newspaper about how dangerous you think he is.

Paul Salvatori, Toronto

Jordan Peterson worked with my legal consulting company, Praxis Partners, in his early days at the University of Toronto. He provided assessment and counselling services to many of our brilliant but sometimes troubled lawyers and accountants. I did not then agree with all of Petersons ideas, nor he with mine, but I always left our discussions and debates feeling very much alive and energized. I recognized Jordan for what he is  a brilliant, divergent thinker and a provocateur. He has this rare ability to shake up our thinking and, yes, to stir reaction.

I have not seen Peterson much recently, but I have nothing but admiration and respect for him as a free thinker. I have always been confident in my own ability to form ideas and opinions, enough so to realize what a refreshing and necessary breath of fresh air it is to have someone shake up my thinking. It is far too easy for us all to settle in to comfortable complacency and go along with the flavour of the month. Peterson is one of the greatest free thinkers and speakers of our time, and I hope that people everywhere debate with him, shout in protest against or for him, but just engage our lazy brains. He is a most welcome wake-up call, and I for one hope and pray that he has a platform to be the grand provocateur that we do desperately need in these times.
Facts or fear? Arithmetic or anger?

The winner of the Ontario election, it seems, will be the one who figures out whether the huge band of undecided voters  still making up their minds in the final two weeks of the campaign  are driven by emotion or reason; personality or policy.

If populism is truly a force in this Ontario campaign, as many say it is, the smart money may be on emotion and personality.

No one is calling this an issue-based campaign in Ontario. Doug Ford and the Conservatives havent even unveiled a platform and the NDP has been surging in the polls  despite a major math error in its platform costing.

Meanwhile, Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne and NDP Leader Andrea Horwath keep saying that its a stark choice voters are facing. But when undecideds are drifting from left to right in voting intention, it doesnt seem too many Ontarians are bound by ideology.

So the persuasion game in the final leg of the Ontario election will be heavily influenced by what people are feeling, not what theyre thinking, public-opinion experts say.

Read more:

For victory, NDP needs young supporters to ride the orange wave to election polls, expert says

Doug Ford promises fully costed platform by the end of this campaign

Beleaguered Wynne joins Ford on anti-NDP bandwagon, warning Andrea Horwaths party would be bad for business

Its personality plus policies, with a heavy dose for a desire to change, says David Coletto, whose Abacus Data firm has been conducting running Ontario Pulse polls throughout the campaign.

That said, however, Coletto adds: I dont necessarily think its pure emotion thats driving voters in this election. Many are rational in their desire for change and are thinking carefully about the kind of change they want.

Coletto said that the stalled momentum for Fords campaign is evidence that undecided voters are looking for something more than the Conservative pitch, which is almost entirely aimed at those angry with Wynne. The NDP, in the same vein, is framing itself as the anti-anger choice, but both challengers to Wynne are talking a lot about voters emotions.

That may be the best strategy. While people are looking for rational change, in Colettos view, their emotions may be shaping what they see as reasonable.

How you feel in Ontario at the moment is a good guide to how youre thinking, says Heather Bastedo, managing director of New Square, a non-profit initiative that has been looking into how the election is being viewed by working-class and elite Ontarians.

Many peoples votes, says Bastedo, will turn on how well people feel they are doing in the current economic climate.

Voters who feel theyre doing well are not as concerned with government mismanagement, for instance, and more inclined to like the incumbent Liberals. But if youre struggling, youre between the PCs and NDP, says Bastedo.

In short, emotion is important when it comes to economic well-being and voting intentions, but so is geography and gender. Undecided men lean toward Ford, while its looking like slightly more undecided women are leaning toward Horwath or none of the above.

As for geography,if youre inside the GTA, youre more likely to be concerned about affordable housing, and outside the GTA, electricity (costs) takes that spot, Bastedo says. In turn, you will look for facts or leaders to support you or turn against those who you feel are responsible.

This choose-your-facts phenomenon is increasingly being discussed in public-opinion circles. It was discussed extensively earlier this month, for instance, at the annual conference of the American Association of Public Opinion Research in Denver.

Doug Anderson, from Earnscliffe Research in Ottawa, was at that conference and said it featured some bracing reminders about the limits of reason and rationality in public opinion. Anderson was particularly struck by one presentation, by Duke Universitys Brian Guay, which showed just how much people will cling to information they like, even when shown it is incorrect.

Heres how Anderson summed up Guays findings:

Whether one is good with numbers or bad, stubborn or willing to change, he found the same thing: people dont tend to change their preferred policy even when they have been shown to base those opinions on incorrect information, he said. Facts, in that regard, matter less than something else.

Anderson called it disconcerting, but he said it did go some way in explaining how U.S. President Donald Trump and other populist-style leaders can get away with fake facts. Its all about delegating or contracting out the hard thinking.

People are not stupid, but they are placing faith that a person or party has thought it through rather than thinking for themselves, says Anderson. And we, as a species, find it very hard to admit we are not being the wise consumers of information we know we should be.

This could mean, depressingly, that the final days of the Ontario election campaign could be anything but rational and reasonable.

David Coletto, for what its worth, is slightly more optimistic. His Ontario Pulse polling puts the provinces undecideds now at slightly more than half of the total electorate. If this provincial election is anything like the last federal one in 2015, peoples minds will keep changing all the way up to voting day on June 7.

Coletto has separated this floating undecided group into three camps at the moment:

One he defines as those who want change and are open to voting PC and NDP. They tend to favour the PCs but are open to voting NDP.

The next group Coletto calls truly free agents  voters who are more likely to be influenced by those in their lives who guide their political choices. These are bandwagon voters, he says.

Have your say

And the last group: People who cant stand Ford and want a progressive(ish) government. They were leaning Liberal when the campaign started but have increasingly moved to the NDP as its become clear they are the alternative to Ford. They are strategic, and ideology and government approach guides their thinking and behaviour.

Coletto believes that all these dynamics within the undecided camp would tend to favour the NDP. They offer voters the best of both worlds  change and no Ford, he says.

Then again, that could be just the feeling for now  and emotions in politics make things unpredictable.

Susan Delacourt is a former Star reporter who is a current freelance columnist based in Ottawa. Follow her on Twitter: @SusanDelacourt

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Diplomats expressed concern for extra- judicial killing

Diplomats, stationed in Dhaka, yesterday expressed deep concern over the "extra-judicial killings" in the ongoing nationwide anti-narcotics drive, as per a local daily report.

They expressed the concern as a delegation from the international affairs sub-committee of ruling Awami League briefed them about the current political situation of the country, said three AL leaders present at the briefing. More than one hundred persons have already been killed causing a wave of concern among all sections of people not directly beneficiaries of the government. Over 7,000 other "peddlers" have also been held.

The question cannot be asked expecting an answer why the government was indifferent for so many years allowing drug traffickers to run their illegal business. The diplomats were told that the government would investigate whether the law enforcers had used any "excessive powers" during the raid. The diplomats also wanted to know from the delegation members about the government's plans for the next parliamentary elections and making them inclusive.

The diplomats also wanted to know whether the AL feared any confrontation over the upcoming parliamentary polls, slated for December. In reply the AL team said the party was always in favour of free, fair and inclusive elections. It blamed the BNP for creating chaos during polls. The party also apprised the diplomats about alleged corruptions committed by Khaleda Zia and her son BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman.

Extra-judicial killings have been going on for a while now--it seems unlikely that the government will end the killing spree. It has said the process is continuous one. This judge, jury, and executioner style killings is inhuman and not the rule of law. It is not civilised for a free country to kill people without trial and without proving through a process to their guilt.

We are so helpless that we cannot assure our people safety of life.
Elections are sometimes about change. But they are always about choice  thats democracy.

What makes this campaign so strange is how hard the three major party leaders are trying to limit your choices to just two picks  by eliminating one of their rivals as so unqualified as to be unelectable.

Which makes this the most bizarrely binary three-way race ever.

The NDPs Andrea Horwath set the stage early by declaring that voters had already disqualified Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne at the starting line. Citing an insatiable appetite for change, Horwath confidently framed the ballot question as a two-way choice between herself and Doug Fords Progressive Conservatives.

By her logic Ford is utterly undeserving, leaving her, naturally, as the default choice  the only choice.

Ford, for his part, quickly bought into Horwaths premise, echoing her attacks on Wynnes Liberals as irredeemably doomed. The difference, of course, is that he concludes the NDP are dangerously unqualified to govern.

Read more:

Kathleen Wynne says you may not like her but she can protect against the danger her rivals would pose

NDPs Horwath goes to Etobicoke North to warn Ontarians cant afford Ford

Doug Ford says a fully costed PC platform is coming  but wont say when

And so, by a process of elimination, Ford offers his Tories as the only viable and electable alternative, making himself the primary binary option.

Now, a third voice is struggling to make itself heard. On the strength of a winning performance at Sunday nights televised leaders debate, Wynne is making the case that voters woke up this week to a more difficult dilemma  a third kind of binary.

The difference? Wynne takes as her starting point that Ford is unqualified to be premier, and instead wants voters to compare her Liberals with Horwaths New Democrats before making their final choice.

Much of this may be wishful thinking by Wynne. But she is warning voters to be careful what they wish for.

Meeting with the Toronto Stars editorial board Monday, she made the case that the more voters see and hear of Ford, the more they are turning away from him. Wynnes challenge, of course, is that the more voters veer away from Ford, the more they may view Horwaths New Democrats as the best way to block him.

Certainly, in swaths of the province where the Liberals have long been uncompetitive  Windsor, London and the southwest, much of eastern Ontario, and almost all rural ridings  this election is a two-way PC-NDP race.

But in Toronto and parts of the GTA, it may be a different story. We dont know yet whether this traditional electoral fortress is crumbling or remaining loyally Liberal  just that in the 2014 election, Horwaths New Democrats were almost wiped out.

This time, both parties are competing for much of the same territory on both policy and geography, vying for voters in the 416 and 905 regions. Both leaders are offering variations on pharmacare and cheaper child care, while promising a $15 minimum wage.

But in Sundays debate, and at Mondays editorial board meeting, Wynne argued that the NDP are too rigidly ideological and beholden to left-wing union views  the mirror image of Fords right-wing, anti-union Tories. Amid the binary choices of a two-way campaign, she is recasting herself as the third way.

The Liberal party has been in power since 2003, but a recent Forum Research survey shows Kathleen Wynnes party losing momentum, sitting at just 14 per cent, behind the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives. How does Wynne plan to turn that around?

Wynne returned to the issue of a long-running strike at York University  now in its third month and deemed hopelessly stalemated by an outside investigator. The NDP blocked back-to-work legislation before the election, and Horwath told the editorial board last week that shed still oppose it after the election if she won power.

Wynne also questioned the NDPs insistence on targeting only non-profit child care under its subsidized plan for infants and toddlers, noting that Horwaths approach would exclude families now enrolled in pre-existing for-profit daycare centres. Most outside experts rate the Liberal program, offering free child care for preschoolers, as more practical and better designed.

While the NDP shares similar values, Liberals embrace practical solutions, and Im not going to let ideology get in the way, Wynne argued. We really, I believe, run the most progressive government in North America.

Vote now:

Of course, it may be that Wynnes attempt to cast the campaign as a contrast between Liberals and New Democrats is beside the point. Perhaps Fords Tories will ultimately form a majority government on the strength of their bedrock rural support and pockets of populist fervour.

Even if the PCs fall short of a majority, Ford may still be so far in front of the opposition parties in a minority legislature  NDP, Liberal, and possibly Green  that they cant (or wont) stop him from being premier. In which case, all those fantasies of binary choices will be overtaken by the realities of a multiple-choice election.

Thats democracy  its all about choices.

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A rare, genuinely heroic moment was captured on cameras Saturday when 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama scaled four storeys to rescue a child hanging off a balcony in France. The migrant from Mali was nimble, strong, light-footed and incredibly brave when he so readily risked his life to save another.

In the bargain, he offered some desperately needed inspiration to a bleak world that had shrugged with indifference weeks prior when he along with thousands embarked on the perilous boat journey out of Mali across the Mediterranean Sea to the shores of Europe.

For his efforts, he was given French citizenship, a medal and a job as a firefighter.

Awww, right? So wrong.

It has been sickening to see the celebration around French President Emmanuel Macron rewarding Gassama with citizenship that turned the man who, until Sunday, was among the illegals reviled by the xenophobes and racists, into a noble savage now deemed worthy of being allowed into France.

It turned citizenship into some kind of a prize to be given by the rich to the deserving poor. As if the French have any kind of moral standing in denying access to a man who comes from the once-rich land it tried to civilize.

Frances celebration of its own goodness has only served to reinforce the good immigrant/bad immigrant stereotype that informs xenophobic rhetoric. It allowed the people, who even last year were participating in anti-African immigrant rallies, to say, see, were not racist. See, were not Islamophobic.

Yet they're also saying youre ordinary until we deem you worthwhile. To win our approval, you must strive to please us, be more like us and less like you.

You did something exceptional, Macron told Gassama in a cringeworthy moment of condescension. Its not enough for a Black man, in this case, a Black Muslim man, to be human. He had to be superhuman to be considered worthy of simply existing in France.

But in thinking thus, France isnt exceptional at all.

Canadian immigration rules require people with documents to come with a high education skills, a clean bill of health and a financial cushion all so as to not strain our systems. That makes immigrants healthier and more educated than Canadian citizens but even better-than-average is somehow not quite good enough to be considered equal.

Imagine the exceptionalism required of the undocumented people trying for a shot at a better life.

And now consider its not just immigrants that are considered outsiders, but also Indigenous and racialized people within. Black people, so foundational to the wealth built on this continent, are the perennial other.

A few days ago, the video media company Now This shared a video of an American Black man making a plea for his humanity.

Consider this mans words before you call the cops on a Black person, says the tweet by Now This. The man says things such as I hate spiders, I am a vegetarian, I spend almost every Sunday morning teaching kids in Sunday school, My father is a veteran, I dont own a gun.

Whats the point of this video other than to allow people with anti-Black sentiments to take a moment to feel sorry for this specific Black person and then move on, feeling good about having taken a moment to feel sorry? See, were not racist.

But dare a Black person have a flaw, and that small piece of goodwill dissipates. They deserve whatever happens to them.

In 2017, when a Toronto man recorded police arresting and Tasering a man who was already on the ground near Ryerson University, police said the man was known to police. Thats all it took for Toronto media to not further investigate the story from the point of view of the arrested man. Just the fact of being known to police, whatever that means, meant he had lost his rights.

None of this is new. That is depressing.

Back in 1955, months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat in a Montgomery bus, a 15-year-old by the name of Claudette Colvin had been arrested for exactly that. But she was dark skinned and she became pregnant. That made her an imperfect victim. So she was cast aside as the face of resistance  civil rights activists recognized that her flaws would distract from the issue of segregation and rights.

While holding out on humanity in expectation of flawlessness is the ultimate racism, selectively doling out that humanity, and celebrating that as an act of generosity is delusional if not diabolical.
Justin Trudeau will be hauling a huge pipeline with a huge price tag into next years federal election campaign.

Its guaranteed to break some furniture on his way to potential re-election because he is now the Pipeline Prime Minister who has just taken a multi-billion dollar risk with our money.

This is dangerous business, both politically and financially.

The Liberal government will own the Trans Mountain pipeline twinning project on the west coast, but it will also own all the baggage that comes with a project that is still not guaranteed to be built.

Buying the pipeline was the least palatable option available to a prime minister who has repeatedly called the project a matter of national interest.

But every other option had turned dry.

Certainly no Liberal strategist in the wake of the 2015 election glow could plot a course in which the environment and economy going hand-inhand meant buying an aging pipeline for $4.5 billion.

This is merely the down payment before construction on the pipeline twinning, estimated by Kinder Morgan to cost $7.5 billion, has even begun.

Unless it can quickly unload the project on private investors  and they dont appear to be in ready supply  this issue will transcend the environment versus economy debate, will go far beyond Alberta versus British Columbia, beyond the debate on Indigenous rights and beyond the public protests which seem certain to make this one hot, emotional summer in B.C.

We all own it now.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau sold the move Tuesday as a shrewd investment, a temporary nationalization that may end up costing taxpayers nothing, perhaps even making money.

Bill Morneau laid out Tuesday the federal governments plan to buy Trans Mountain and Kinder Morgan Canadas core assets for $4.5 billion. The finance minister says the move will ensure the oilsands pipeline expansion gets built. (The Canadian Press)

If this works, it will protect jobs, it will help the chances of the re-election of Rachel Notleys New Democrats in Alberta and with that, improve the chances of Trudeau forging a national climate pricing program.

It will open up the Asian market for land-locked Alberta bitumen.

And Trudeau can tell voters, I built it.

If, in fact, it gets built and legal challenges or civil disobedience do not eventually kill it.

That is just the first risk. There is a string of ifs longer than the pipeline route.

Maybe they can find a pension fund or another energy company or a First Nations community to buy this project, but if no buyer is found, Ottawa has a pipeline project that is going to run into the billions of dollars with an uncertain payout.

This does not send a message to international investors that Canada, as Morneau, put it, can get big things done. It tells the world that to get big things done, the government has to step in as the foreign investor takes its money and runs.

A prime minister who styled himself as a progressive environmental champion will now be known as the leader who purchased a pipeline to ensure it was built.

Although the expansion does have some Indigenous support, this action will make mockery of Trudeaus reconciliation efforts and Indigenous opposition was redoubled Tuesday in the wake of this announcement.

As British Columbia Premier John Horgan reminded reporters Tuesday, Alberta and the federal government have both purported to embrace the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples but are now skating away from that commitment  and the spirit of reconciliation  by ignoring the rights of Indigenous communities along a pipeline corridor.

And then there is the opposition on the ground in Burnaby.

The country will be watching as emotional protests are no longer centred on a federally-approved project being built by a company from Texas, but are now centred on a federally-owned pipeline and the federal government itself.

Confrontation in Burnaby will build and Trudeau will have to answer for that.

If there is a major spill on the coast, that could cement Trudeaus legacy.

The Liberal government should have seen this train bearing down on it a year ago, but it ultimately had to bow to a timetable set by the energy company.

Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer is accusing Justin Trudeau of trying to buy his way out of a problem after the government announced a deal to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline assets from Kinder Morgan for $4.5 billion. (The Canadian Press)

If this expansion is being built by a private company this time next year, Trudeau may find some relief, but this will cost him both in British Columbia and Quebec where the steamrolling of provincial wishes by the federal government do not sit well with voters.

Tuesday was a great day for a Texas-based energy behemoth, but it was something less than that for Canadian taxpayers.

And for Trudeaus Liberal government, nationalizing a pipeline may simply be a precursor of tougher days ahead.

Tim Harper is a former Star reporter who is a current freelance columnist based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @nutgraf1

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Good news in hard times, hooray! Let joy be unconfined. The May 25 Irish referendum repealing a law banning abortion was the best evidence that women and men can work together for womens rights and win the day.

When the Eighth Amendment died, Ireland embraced sunlit modernity.

It had done so with the help of the Irish young flying home to vote and a campaign to extract Ireland from a shaming, punitive Catholic Church long discredited by pedophile scandals. Britain had done its part, admitting more than 170,000 desperate Irish women in the last 35 years after they took ferry or plane to England for an abortion and then headed back, pale and perhaps bleeding.

Catholic-run Ireland  where every sperm is sacred  insisted women leave the country to do their dirty deed. Britain said hello, heres medical care, would you like to sit down, have a cup of tea?

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said the landslide vote was the day we came of age as a country. The day we took our place among the nations of the world.

And to think Ireland freed its young women just as the U.S. stepped back into barbarism state by state, banning abortion, arresting women for miscarriages and locking up birth control. Poland, which bans almost all abortion, plans to ban them even in cases of fetal abnormality. In March, more than 55,000 women showed up for angry street protests against this.

Authoritarian governments are on the march. Abortion is completely prohibited in El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua, and highly restricted in many other South American countries, the Guardian reports. The U.S. is keeping pleasant company, is it not?

Canada is gradually improving access to the abortion pill across each province. The Ontario government mandated bubble zones around abortion clinics, preventing protesters from tormenting, spitting on, and attacking patients and staff.

And Canada now allows assisted dying, though tragically not in dementia cases, and we will have to keep fighting. Social progress on health has a way of vanishing if you take your eye off it for a minute.

The next Irish battle is ensuring that a new law regulating abortion isnt restrictive or intimidating.

Current planning suggests that abortion would be allowed up to 12 weeks, which is far too early a cut-off.

It would be allowed up to 24 weeks if there were a fatal fetal abnormality, a risk to a womans life or serious harm to her health, and after that, only in cases of fatal fetal abnormality. It is not clear what fatal specifically refers to.

And two doctors must give permission, an appalling system that Canadas Supreme Court discarded in 1988 in the Morgentaler decision. This rule, as one activist said, would make Irish doctors the new priests.

Remember that in 2012 Irish doctors refused to perform an abortion and watched for days as a pregnant woman, Savita Halappanavar, slowly miscarried and died of sepsis. Now, eerily, those same doctors might decide.

The devil is nestled in the details, filing his claws on his horns. It is possible to win a referendum and then craft rules so narrow that a poor woman would have to beg for an abortion.

Why not allow women to request an abortion simply because they want one?

It was interesting to see Donegal as the only county in all of Ireland to have voted No, making an embarrassing red No spot on a voting map turned riotous green with Yes wins. Its a large northern rural county with older voters, the young having left long ago for jobs and urban life.

Every nation has its Donegal.

Even in pro-choice Canada, anti-choice protesters will still show up at Parliament Hill, on the street and at public schools, filming students without permission and handing out dubious fetus photos that anger some students and distress others.

You will find ugly postcards in your mailbox and banner ads on public buses purporting to show the horror of women taking charge of their bodies.

Thats the Donegals on the move, trying to make us more American. They will find Canadians not as polite as usual. They will find this particular Canadian quite irate.
VANCOUVERIn 2006, Carrier Sekani Family Services released a report recommending a network of 22 safe houses for women fleeing violence be built along B.C.s Highway of Tears.

Twelve years later, that network has yet to materialize. But this week, with $1.89 million in federal funding from the new National Housing Strategy, construction got underway for one safe house on the Woyenne Indian Reservation in Burns Lake. It will open in March 2019.

Our proposal, years ago  weve been advocating for over a decade  was to have culturally-appropriate safe houses, we called them clan houses, within our communities, and thats what we hoped wed be able to do eventually down the road, said Mary Teegee, executive director of Carrier Sekani Family Services.

But its the first step in what we want to do to keep mothers and their children together when they are fleeing a violent situation.

Highway 16 between Prince George and Prince Rupert became known as the Highway of Tears because of the disappearance of nine women, many of them Indigenous, from the highway between 1989 and 2006. Many members of the communities along Highway 16 believe the number of victims could be higher.

Because of the whole nature of the background story of all the missing women, the assumption is that the women had no place to go and this would be at least people along that corridor know that this facilitys available to them, said Bernard Patrick, housing and infrastructure director for the Lake Babine Nation.

The safe house that will be built in Burns Lake will be able to house 23 people. While there is already a safe house in the community, the new building is badly needed, said Patrick; people looking for a bed at the existing building are often told there is no room.

The new transitional housing could also help women keep their families together, said Teegee: Were really looking at it  more as a family rather than women running away and having to leave her children, or in some cases where the Ministry (of Children and Family Development) gets involved and the children are removed because of a violent situation at the home.

Teegee said its also important for the safe houses to offer culturally appropriate services for Indigenous people, where the definition of family includes a close-knit circle of cousins, aunts and other relatives, and the clans of the mother and the father have specific responsibilities to the children in a family.

With our people, ceremony is very important, added Teegee. We have a letting-go ceremony, we use the smoke or the fire  there are different things that we do when it comes to healing and to strengthen an individual.

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VANCOUVERAlbertas threat to halt the flow of oil to British Columbia should be seen as political posturing  and businesses should stay calm, says one B.C. economist.

Albertas NDP government says Bill 12, passed earlier this month, would give the province new powers to restrict the flow of energy resources to B.C.

The legislation, known as the Preserving Canadas Economic Prosperity Act, means Alberta can identify companies shipping products to B.C.  such as natural gas, crude oil and refined fuels like gasoline, diesel and jet fuel  and determine how that energy is shipped. The province could then place restrictions on pipelines, as well as transport via rail or truck.

I see Bill 12 as a symbolic gesture from Alberta, said Werner Antweiler, associate professor at UBCs Sauder School of Business. He believes that the B.C. and Alberta governments are demonstrating to voters that theyre standing up for their respective provinces.

Businesses concerned about the potential effects of Bill 12 shouldnt panic, he stressed. Alberta really overstepped its jurisdictional boundary, intruding on what really is federal jurisdiction.

The war of words and legislation started after B.C. said it would halt expansion of Kinder Morgans Trans Mountain pipeline in the province while it conducted a further study on the effects of a possible bitumen spill. That sparked a confrontation between B.C. on one side, and Alberta and the federal government on the other.

The Alberta government cannot unilaterally stop the flow of petroleum produced by private corporations and physically impede the flow across provincial boundaries, Antweiler explained. If B.C. were to file an injunction application, it would be extremely likely to succeed, he added.

Should Bill 12 be invoked, Antweiler said oil supplies would likely come from refineries in Washington state to make up for any shortfall from Alberta. Any additional cost from the rerouting would potentially mean consumers will have to pay a small premium at the pump, he said.

Attorney General David Eby revealed that B.C. has drawn up two contingency plans if Alberta decides to close the oil taps, which the opposition Liberals say would jack up gas prices and cripple the provincial economy.

Brian Ahearn, vice-president of the Canadian Fuels Association, which represents the petroleum refining sector, told StarMetro that the Calgary-based organization is concerned about the implementation of the bill and has asked to be included in the consultation process before regulations are written.

He doesnt believe the export infrastructure through the U.S. is developed enough to deliver the volume that B.C. needs to meet its demand should Bill 12 be invoked.

However, Tim McMillan, president of the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, said he believes B.C.s demand could be met through refineries in Washington state for an increased cost.

But, he said, B.C. Premier John Horgan is in an untenable position.

I find it ironic that British Columbias premier is trying to source products from Washington state that has voted against a price on carbon, that brings its crude oil into those refineries by ship through the ... (Strait of) Juan de Fuca.

With files from David P. Ball, Catherine Griwkowsky, and Ameya Charnalia

Jenny Peng is a Vancouver-based reporter covering business. Follow her on Twitter: @JennyPengNow

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VANCOUVERYoung people in B.C. who have been in government care are five times more likely to die than the rest of the provinces youth, according to a new report from the Coroners Service of British Columbia.

Dylan Cohen, a youth organizer for First Call Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition and a former youth in care, called the findings really heavy, though he said he wasnt that surprised to see the statistics.

Im unsurprised by the data because the community has known for a long time that supports arent meeting our needs, Cohen told StarMetro. And the results of that are tremendously awful.

The report looked at the deaths of 200 young people ages 17-25 who died in transition from government care in B.C. between 2011 and 2016.

Of the 200 total deaths, 123 were accidental, with nearly three-quarters of those related to illicit drug overdose. Nearly a quarter of the total deaths were suicides.

These deaths represent 13 per cent of the total number of deaths of youth and young adults in the province over the same time period.

Indigenous youth and young adults are vastly overrepresented in these statistics as well, accounting for more than a third of the total deaths.

Between 2001 and 2016, the B.C. Liberals were responsible for tens of millions of dollars in cuts to supports for children and youth in care, according to data from the Hospital Employees Union.

Cases like the tragic death of Alex Gervais in 2015 are directly attributable to the failure of government to take action to broaden support for youth aging out of care, said Cohen.

Gervais was 18 years old and in provincial care when he fell from the window of the hotel where hed been left by himself for three months following the closure of his group home.

Michael Egilson, chair of the so-called death review panel which submitted the report, told StarMetro that youth in care face a double-transition as they turn 18  a transition from childhood into adulthood, and a transition out of a suite of supports they may be underprepared to lose.

Egilson said the recommendations laid out in the report identify a need to work directly with young people themselves to determine how their access to governmental support can be improved to keep them from falling through the cracks.

If you design services, even if theyre good services, if theyre delivered in a way that people arent going to access for whatever reason  then youre not going to be effective, he said.

Cohen said young people with traditional family structures have all kinds of ongoing emotional, financial and housing supports available from their relatives. Youth in care, on the other hand, must apply to the Ministry of Children and Family Development for support through an Agreement with Young Adults (AYA) to obtain access to resources beyond their 19th birthday.

Most youth in care, said Cohen, are unaware this program exists  a claim backed up by the findings of the new report.

In order to qualify, youth must meet one of several criteria including holding down a part-time job or being involved in part-time study. This criteria, said Cohen, means only the most successful former youth in care have access to continuing support, while the most vulnerable are left to fend for themselves.

Government programs for youth aging out of care are high-barrier and dont support the folks who need it, he said. Losing all of your supports at 19 is devastating  What we need is not eligibility criteria, we need universal supports.

The report likewise acknowledges youth aging out of care may not yet be ready to fully meet the administrative requirements of AYAs. Many are still dealing with past trauma, mental health challenges or life issues and need additional flexibility for meeting AYA requirements.

A key recommendation of the report is amending the AYA to allow for universal eligibility  a reform Cohen says the community of current and former youth in care has spent years calling for.

Katrine Conroy, B.C.s minister of children and family development, told StarMetro her ministry accepts all the reports recommendations, and has already begun working towards implementing several of them. Conroy said these include better communication between ministries, allowing for year-round payments for AYAs, and increasing the age at which young adults can access supports to 27.

This is a priority for my ministry and personally its a priority for me, she said. So were going to move forward on this as quickly as possible.

Cohen, however, said there is a difference between accepting all of the recommendations and implementing all of them.

I think that we have a new relationship with this government and a commitment to action on this file, he said, adding he has faith the B.C. NDP is serious about taking responsibility for the welfare of the provinces most vulnerable youth and young adults.

But it cant happen in five years, he said. It has to happen tomorrow.

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VANCOUVERB. C. Indigenous leaders and environmentalists say the federal governments decision to buy the Trans Mountain pipeline to transport crude oil from Alberta to the West Coast only increases their determination to stop construction on the project, while political observers say this decision has put the federal government in a difficult position.

Will George, the Tsleil-Waututh Nation member leading the resistance movement behind the traditional Coast Salish Watch House, built to keep an eye on Kinder Morgans Burnaby Mountain property, said his first reaction was sadness.

Its really heartbreaking that the government continues to treat First Nations this way and ignore our rights, George said in an interview.

It didnt come as a surprise, though. We were preparing for this. We didnt want this decision, but this changes nothing.

Far from dampening Indigenous protests, George said they would redouble their efforts. Were going to remain the fierce opposition that we have been. And were going to ramp it up even more.

He called the $4.5 billion investment the federal government has agreed to make in the pipeline ridiculous, especially considering many First Nations communities in Canada do not have clean drinking water.

Read more:

On Refinery Row, pipeline debate more personal than political

Justin Trudeaus $4.5 billion Trans Mountain pipeline purchase met with a storm of criticism

Opinion | Vicky Mochama: What to do now that youve bought a pipeline

Georges sentiments were echoed by the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs. No means no  the project does not have the consent it requires, and we will not stand down no matter who buys this ill-fated and exorbitantly priced pipeline, said Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of the union.

Premier John Horgan said the federal government  and the Alberta government by extension  were violating their commitments to reconciliation with First Nations by propping up the pipeline.

He said the federal governments decision doesnt change his commitment to doing everything in his power to stop the pipeline. And if there was any good news to come of Tuesday mornings decision, Horgan said, it was that the government of Canada would be directly accountable for the pipeline, rather than Kinder Morgan, a Texas-based company.

Im concerned that there could be catastrophic consequences of a diluted bitumen spill in B.C. regardless of the owner of the pipeline, Horgan said, speaking to reporters Tuesday. Were trying to make sure were doing everything that we humanly can to protect the interests of British Columbians.

Meanwhile, B.C. opposition leader, Andrew Wilkinson of the B.C. Liberals, placed the blame for the federal governments decision squarely at the feet of the Premier.

Kinder Morgan decided to sell the entire existing pipeline and the only purchaser is the government of Canada. That is entirely the fault of John Horgan, he said.

It will mean much less federal funding for British Columbia projects because they already used up their budget to buy a pipeline that nobody else wanted.

Horgan refuted that, saying, the accountability for those decisions should rest with those who made them, namely the governments of Canada, and of Alberta.

Andrew Weaver, leader of the BC Greens, supported Horgans statements and slammed the federal government for what he called a shameful call.

B.C. Chamber of Commerce president Val Litwin came out in support of the governments decision, saying I take this to be the most unequivocal and clear statement yet  theyll be breaking ground this summer for sure.

He called the outstanding legal challenges to the pipeline tactical impediments, that he expects will be dismissed by the courts in short order.

Litwin added, though, that the federal government stepping in and buying the pipeline will not inspire greater confidence in investing in Canada.

What is a greater concern is the signal we continue to send to the international investment community and to Canadians, Litwin said, about the energy business in Canada.

But B.C. environmental groups were quick to admonish the federal government, and state their support for Indigenous groups opposing the pipeline.

Mike Hudema, a Greenpeace climate campaigner, vowed that the pipeline will not be built.

The Indigenous-led, people-powered movement that led Kinder Morgan to abandon ship on this project is stronger than ever and will not back down, Hudema said in a statement, pointing to more than 200 protesters who have been arrested in the last several months.

Caitlyn Vernon, campaign director of the environmental group Sierra Club B.C., said the decision was outrageous.

The prime minister has underestimated the degree to which British Columbians love this coast and will do what it takes to protect it, she said.

The cities of Vancouver and Burnaby, and the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish First Nations, are all participating in a legal challenge against the pipeline, arguing that the permit process was flawed.

Councillor Charlene Aleck, speaking on behalf of the Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, said the federal court is the biggest obstacle for the project to proceed.

We remain dedicated to our sacred responsibility which is the stewardship of the Burrard Inlet, Aleck said.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson called the federal governments decision appalling and pointed out local governments could be on the hook for cleaning up any oil spill that happens  something environmentalists say is likely given the pipeline would result in a seven-fold increase in tanker traffic at the Port of Vancouver.

He referred to the citys current efforts to recuperate costs it incurred while cleaning up an oil spill in English Bay in 2015.

Three years after a relatively minor spill in Vancouvers waters, we are still fighting to recover our costs  $550,000  from the Federal Governments Ship-Source Oil Pollution Fund. A recent offer from the fund was less than 30 per cent of our clean-up costs, said Robertson in a statement.

Ian Campbell, hereditary chief of the Squamish nation issued a video statement, saying he was deeply disappointed in the federal government.

Now, more than ever, we need governments who are willing to transition to 100 per cent renewable energy.

George Hoberg, who teaches at UBCs School of Public Policy and Global Affairs, said he was shocked that the federal government would go so far as to buy what he called dirty energy infrastructure.

A lot of people supported this government because they thought they were serious about addressing climate change and improving Canadas image worldwide, he said in an interview.

This is definitely a setback for that image and a big blow to the people who supported the Trudeau government for that reason.

But the governments decision could do more than hurt them in opinion polls, he said  it could put the federal government in a bind if those opposed to the pipeline won any one of a number of court cases, including one against the National Energy Boards decision to approve the project in 2016, which Hoberg says he expects to see a decision in soon.

Changing the ownership of the project doesnt alter the political and legal risk created by the court case. It could strike down the permit authorizing Kinder Morgan, which would mean Canadians just spent $4.5 billion dollars on a worthless asset, Hoberg said.

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EDWARDSVILLE  Route 66 enthusiasts and car club members will be motoring on the Illinois Route 66 Blue Carpet Corridor Saturday-Sunday, June 9-10, to celebrate the famous Main Street of America on the Blue Carpet Corridor Coalitions fourth annual festival weekend.

From Auburn south to Collinsville on several historic alignments of Route 66, fourteen communities will be highlighting the Miners, Mobsters, and Mother Road history of this section of Route 66 with car shows, festivals, vendors, museum and attraction open hours, historic tours, childrens activities, food, photo ops, a car cruise, trolley tours, live podcasts, artists, an author fair, souvenirs, photo ops, and the Route 66 Royalty Car Cruise.

Visitors may start their tour at Auburn on the north end of the corridor or at Collinsville on the south, or in any town they choose. Communities participating this year are: Auburn, Virden, Girard, Carlinville, Gillespie, Staunton, DeCamp Station, Hamel, Edwardsville, Litchfield, Mt. Olive, Glen Carbon, Troy, and Collinsville.

Souvenir Blue Carpet Corridor 2018 passports will be available for free in all the participating communities, and visitors can get a unique stamp in each town. The complete schedule of passport stops and activities is available to view or download at www.bluecarpetcorridor.org.

Passport Stop open hours will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. Most events and attractions will also follow that schedule, and some events, such as the Edwardsville and Staunton Route 66 festivals, will also feature evening hours with live music, food, and beverages. Many Passport Stops will offer souvenirs, vendors, local information and tours, food, and/or live music.

Car clubs also have the option of beginning at either end of the corridor. Car club members take photos of their cars at the passport stops to document their clubs total number of Passport Stop check-ins. The club with the most Passport Stop check-ins takes home the Route 66 Royalty traveling trophy for the next year. Complete car cruise rules at www.bluecarpetcorridor.org.

For more information go to www.bluecarpetcorridor.org, email il66bcc@gmail.com, or call (618) 307-5049.
ALTON  Thousands of people came out Monday morning for the 151st Alton Memorial Day Parade.

World War II veteran E. Dean Browning, 92, of Godfrey served as the parade marshal.

As always, the parade included units ranging from military vehicles to local politicians. New this year was a float honoring wounded Vietnam War veterans.

The parade is sponsored by the East End Improvement Associations Parade Committee, and is co-sponsored by Upper Alton Association Inc., with assistance in staging by the Alton Area Optimist Club.

Prior to the 10 a.m. start, people were lining up, with most of the early arrivals securing a spot in the shade along College Avenue.

Willie Stegall, of Alton, was sitting under a tree at the intersection of College and Humbert.

Its pretty good, a nice spot in the shade, he said.

Not everybody was so lucky.

As the parade was being organized, an ambulance was dispatched to Alton Middle School after someone reportedly fainted.

Alton Township Supervisor Donald Huber, one of the organizers, was directing traffic at the school entrance when a woman came over and told him.

He called for an ambulance, which arrived a few minutes later. No information was available about the victim.

Huber continued directing traffic  mostly people dropping off parade participants.

Its kind of fun, he said. This is kind of easy compared to the Halloween Parade.

As the start time drew closer, more people were lining the streets, or watching from porches.

George Goeken, 93, was sitting on a porch along College Avenue, talking and reminiscing about previous parades.

He recently went to a garage sale and found a photograph of himself riding a bike in the parade about 80 years ago.

We decorated our bikes with crepe paper, he said.

Unfortunately, Goeken wasnt able to obtain the photograph.

The guy said Ill send it to you and he never sent it, Goeken said. I went back to the house and he wasnt there, he moved.

He note that the parade is the oldest of its kind in the nation, something that is a point of pride among many.

Its a tradition that was started at the end of the Civil War, said Connie Markley, founder of the Pietown Flower Guard, which collected live flowers along the route to place on veterans graves at North Alton Cemetery.

Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day began in May 1868 as a way to honor both Union and Confederate soldiers who died during the Civil War. Many times the ceremonies and efforts were headed by women. This was especially true in the South, because so soon after the Civil War it might have been considered treasonous for men to organize memorials to Confederate soldiers.

Among the groups lining up at the front of the parade was the Alton High School Junior Air Force ROTC. Cadet Captain Summer Murphy, an AHS junior, said these kinds of events were fun, but also important.

I believe we should pay respect, she said.

For one former member who marched with the group, Memorial Day was taking on a new meaning.

Recent AHS graduate Jacob Steward spent four years in the AHS ROTC group, and on Sunday is leaving to report to U.S. Army basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Its to honor the guys whove fallen, the ones who didnt get to come back and enjoy the rest of their lives, he said. As you get older you get to understand whats behind it.

The parade started at approximately 10 a.m., hitting large crowds at the intersection of College and Washington.

One of the first groups to hit the streets was the Ainad Rolling Nobles.

We do roughly 30 parades a year, said member Asheley Lybarger, of Bunker Hill.

He said it takes about a week to get the bikes, all 1972 MDT Mud Bugs, ready to roll. As the bikes age, he said some parts are getting harder and harder to get, and they have to machine some parts from scratch.

Part of the reason is that the U.S. government banned the sale of three-wheeled ATVs in 1988, but the Rolling Nobles are considered a specialty unit. The vehicles they have were originally purchased in 1972 by the group and have been continuously used ever since.

The parade took roughly 55 minutes to pass through the intersection of Washington and College.

A post-parade ceremony honoring veterans was held at the Avenue of the Flags on the north end of the Upper Alton Cemetery. Girls in the Pietown Flower Guard and other volunteers helped decorate the more than 3,000 veterans graves with fresh flowers as part of the commemoration.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins at 618-208-6447.
The Undead Archives

I have finally salvaged my pre-Blogger TDR archives and added them into Blogger. They are almost totally in the form of one giant post for each month. And the formatting strayed from the originals. Sorry. But historians everywhere can rejoice that this treasure trove of my thoughts is restored to the world.
JERSEYVILLE  When he took over as Jersey Countys engineer 16 years ago, Tom Klasner said there were 19 structurally deficient or obsolete bridges in the county.

That is not an uncommon problem across the nation, with many experts saying it is getting worse.

But in Jersey County, while it took some time, today that number is down to five, with plans in the works to replace another one this summer.

That accomplishment was recently cited when Klasner was named 2017 Rural County Engineer of the Year during the National Association of County Engineers annual conference in late April.

Klasner was also cited for other projects, streamlining operations in the department and developing a new office/maintenance facility.

Toms experience in both private and public sectors enables him to be an innovator to further stretch his countys tax dollars, said Buchanan County, Iowa Engineer Brian Keierleber, president of the NACE.

Klasner said he knew he had been nominated, because the state organization had asked him to submit information for the national conference, held in late April in the Wisconsin Dells.

However, he was very shocked and very surprised to win the award.

They put my picture up on the monitor with five other people, he said last week. They started reading a description about this county engineer and when they got two or three sentences in I thought This is me.

I was totally surprised, he added. And I know there were some county engineers who were up for the award that I knew. A rural county engineer is anything under 100,000 in population. Thats a lot of counties when you look throughout the U.S.

He noted that the Urban County Engineer of the Year Award went to Carl Schoedel of Kane County, Illinois.

It was quite impressive for us to receive both awards this year, Klasner said.

Klasners work with county bridges was among the achievements cited. He said in many cases the bridges had timber piles dating from the 1920s to the 1950s and were going bad.

They used a lot of timber pile in the 50s, he said. They would build the bridge with timber pile, but the deck may be concrete and last a lot longer than the timber pile.

They got to the point where they were deteriorating, he added. Thats always a concern, especially with people taking farm equipment across them. You have to worry about the safety of the traveling public.

Another major improvement was the new Highway Department facility on Illinois Route 16, which was built about 11 years ago.

Our guys worked out of an old apple shed, he said. It was a big change.

During the wintertime, the guys would plow snow and bring their truck in and it would have snow on it, he said. When they came in the next morning it still had snow caked up underneath it. Now we have a heated garage that warms it up. Its much easier on the equipment.

He also said his office was moved from the County Courthouse to the new facility, making it much easier to keep up on what is happening.

The county is responsible for approximately 120 miles of road, including Otterville Road, Delhi Road and Range Line Road. There are also 379 miles of township roads in Jersey County.

Right now one of Klasners biggest concerns is getting ready for the new intermodal facility being planned along Range Line Road.

Were looking at some different things we need to do to that road to anticipate the additional truck traffic that is going to come out on that road, he said.

Reach reporter Scott Cousins 618-208-6447.
GLEN CARBON  As they do each Memorial Day, hundreds drove the flag-covered grounds of Sunset Hill Cemetery in Glen Carbon to pay their respects to lost loved ones.

This year, however, they did so just two days after more than 200 headstones had been vandalized with spray-painted swastikas.

Now 34-year-old Timothy V.A. Mclean of Glen Carbon is being held in custody in the Madison County Jail awaiting formal charges.

As it stands, he is expected to be charged with a hate crime and institutional vandalism, according to a press release from the Glen Carbon Police Department.

The Sunset Hills Estates subdivision, just across Route 157 in Edwardsville, was also vandalized as dozens of swastikas were spray painted on homes, vehicles, mailboxes and the subdivisions entrance sign.

The headstones, old office building and other fixtures at the cemetery were also spray painted with swastikas during the act, which took place late Friday or early Saturday.

Sunset Hill Funeral Home Director Lyle Hill said Monday he has never encountered such an act.

Its the first time since Ive been around here. Ive been around 27 years. First time Ive seen any damage like that, Hill said.

More than 26,000 individuals are buried at Sunset Hills, which is known for, among other things, placing hundreds of flags across its grounds for its annual Memorial Day service, which includes a balloon launch, singing of the national anthem and presentation of colors.

Hill first heard about the vandalism Saturday morning and said he and his crew had to wait until police officers had secured the site and gathered evidence before cleanup could begin.

I first heard about it Saturday morning. I was down in Collinsville and my brother called me, he lives across the street there, and he said apparently they got the cemetery, Hill said. It was about 10 or 10:30 before the police released it before we could start cleaning.

Hill said power washers were the primary cleaning tool used to remove the spray paint, and 10 men were involved in getting the cemetery ready for Mondays service.

We pretty much got it all done Saturday, Hill said. It pretty much came clean. The old office got hit pretty badly and it all came off.

What didnt come off with the initial cleaning will be addressed later and Hill said a new solution will be used.

Apparently theres some different stuff we just found out about called Elephant Snot and its supposed to work real well. Theres a couple of marks we didnt quite get and were going to try this, Hill said.

The incident has drawn national attention and one reason might be that Glen Carbon and Edwardsville are such quiet communities.

Glen Carbon Mayor Rob Jackstadt said, after speaking Mondays Memorial Day Service at the Glen Carbon Veterans Memorial, that such incidents dont really speak to who the residents of the community are.

What happened in Sunset Hill is not reflective at all of Glen Carbon residents. Glen Carbon was a mining town that acted as sort of a melting pot, including immigrants that care for each other and still do today, Jackstadt said. Were known for being a town that has a strong community interest and its certainly a repugnant act that doesnt reflect our Glen Carbon residents at all.

The Edwardsville Police Department and Illinois State Police were also involved in the investigation.
GODFREY  The Swarovski Waterschool USA program is looking for fifth through seventh-grade teachers (formal and nonformal educators) who want to educate their students about water and river systems and engage them in a community action project.

Participating teachers will attend one free two-day teacher workshop either June 25-26 or June 28-29, and receive funding for their classes to attend field trips, participate in stewardship activities and connect their students with their worldwide peers.

Students will discover that there is nothing more relevant to our lives than learning about the water source that sustains us and how we impact that water source, Swarovski Waterschool Educator Elizabeth Flotte said. We will equip our students with this knowledge so that they may be inspired to pass it on to their communities. Best of all, you will have the opportunity to connect your class with students from another global Swarovski Waterschool program in Austria, Brazil, China, India, Thailand or Uganda.

All formal and nonformal educators from Illinois and Missouri who can commit to leading students in a community engagement project during the academic year are welcome to register. Teams of educators from the same school are encouraged to attend.

However, priority will be given to educators teaching in districts immediately adjacent to the Mississippi or Illinois rivers in the following counties: Illinois  Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Madison or St. Clair; Missouri  St. Charles, St. Louis or St. Louis City.

After attending one of the two-day workshops, teachers will receive a free educator tool-kit, learning materials aligned to Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards, and other benefits such as professional development hours and access to funding and logistical support for stewardship projects and field trips, like bus and substitute teacher reimbursements.

Educators can register at http://bit.ly/SwarovskiWaterEdWrkshp18. The registration deadline is June 17. For more information, contact NGRREC Swarovski Waterschool Coordinator Natalie Marioni at nmarioni@lc.edu.
The late Helen Thomas, a veteran White House correspondent, was brutally frank in 2010 when a rabbi who was making a short film asked whether she had anything to say to Israel.

Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine, she replied. Remember, these people are occupied and its their land. Its not Germany, its not Poland.

The filmmaker asked where the Israelis should go, Thomas answered, They should go home. When asked where she meant by home, Thomas told him, Poland, Germany and America and everywhere else.

Her remarks drew swift condemnation when the interview went public. Thomas issued a half-hearted apology but her career was in ruins.

Ive talked to any number of people over the years who share Thomas belief that the modern state of Israel, which owes its existence to a 1948 vote by members of the United Nations, is a diplomatic blunder. Look at the constant conflict between Israel, the Palestinians and the neighboring Arab states, they say. And it all began with the creation of Israel. Some have even voiced Thomas opinion that Israelis should go home.

Well, heres the problem with that. Seventy-five percent of Jewish Israelis were born in that country, so Israel  not Germany, Poland or some other nation is indeed their home.

Its a popular misconception that Jewish immigration to the region that became modern Israel didnt begin until the conclusion of World War II, when Holocaust survivors journeyed there to begin new lives. Jews, in fact, began leaving Czarist Russia and Russian-occupied Poland for Palestine in the late nineteenth century. Why? Because the Catholic Poles and Orthodox Russians relentlessly persecuted them. Jews were unwanted in both those Christian nations. Between 1882 and 1914, approximately 65,000 Jews moved to Palestine.

About 100,000 Jews immigrated to Palestine between 1919 and 1928, when it was under British control, in the hope of becoming citizens of a Jewish state. The British government in 1917 had issued the Balfour Declaration, which stated in part: His Majestys government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people. This declaration is ironic in light of Englands expulsion of Jews from that nation in 1290. Jews were not permitted to live in England again until 1657.

A quarter million Jews moved to Palestine during the period 1929 to 1939, when World War II began. They were fortunate. The Nazis and their allies in German-occupied countries systematically murdered six million Jews.

According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, About 85,000 Jewish refugees.reached the United States between March 1938 and September 1939, but this level of immigration was far below the number seeking refuge. Our nation in 1939 refused to admit over 900 Jewish refugees who were on board the St. Louis, as I noted in my 2016 column We turned our back on Jewish refugees.

Yet another popular misconception is that there was no animosity between Jews and Arabs in Palestine until just before the creation of Israel in 1948. During a series of riots in 1929, Arabs murdered 133 Jews and injured well over 200. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem in 1941 met with Hitler in Germany and told him that the Germans and Arabs had the same enemies: the English, the Jews and the communists. The Mufti asked Hitler to declare that Germany favored the elimination of the Jewish national home in British-controlled Palestine.

Most nations, whether Christian or Muslim, have pretty dismal records when it comes to allowing their Jewish residents to live in peace. Even democratic nations, such as the United States, have never been particular eager to accept Jews who are fleeing persecution and methodical mass murder. Modern Israel was created because Jews needed a nation where they wouldnt suffer persecution, expulsion or genocide. Israel was voted into existence so that Jews could depend on each other for their survival.

History indicates that they cant depend on us.

John J. Dunphy is the author of Lewis and Clarks Illinois Volunteers and Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois. He owns The Second Reading Book Shop in Alton.
GREAT EXUMA, BAHAMAS - JUNE 04: Hudson Sheaffer (L) and Sasha Pieterse attend Sandals Emerald Bay Celebrity Golf Weekend on June 4, 2016 in Great Exuma, Bahamas. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for Sandals)

Pretty Little Liars star Sasha Pieterse tied the knot with fiance Hudson Sheaffer in Castle Leslie this weekend, and did so looking like a fierce fairytale princess.

Wedding guests share some snaps of the bride-to-be at her rehearsal dinner the night before the big day wearing a stunning floor length strapless white gown, and while for some bride that would have made for quite the guna, it was merely a warm up for Sasha's show-stopper of a wedding day dress.

The bride wore custom Christian Siriano on the day, which featured a fabulous full ruffle ballgown skirt and sexy off-the-shoulder straps.

She accessorised her gorgeous gown with earrings and a bracelet from Dublin jeweller Voltaire Diamonds.

The wedding was styled by Ennis-based Irish wedding planners House of Hannah, who specialise in fabulous fine art weddings - so no doubt the decor at Castle Leslie was absolutely breathtaking on the day!

Sasha had previously explained that she wanted a 'minimal' dress, saying "thin straps, low back, very minimal full skirt" would be more her style.

However the bride clearly changed her tune as soon as she tried on her fabulous frock - proving that the bridal shops are right, you should always try on different styles, even when you think they won't suit you!

The bride, who now appears in the PLL spinoff The Perfectionists, looked like a true natural beauty on the day, with a subtle smoky eye and a pink lip by make-up artist Kirin Bhatty, and picture-perfect loose waves coutesy of hairstylist Ryan Richman.

The couple tied the knot in Castle Leslie Estate, Monaghan, after Hudson popped the question back in December 2015.

Video of the Day

Ive known him for so long, and its so incredible having someone like that supporting you and knowing without a doubt that they are going to be there no matter what happens, the bride said last year.

Their photos, shared exclusively by People, were by renowned US wedding photographer Elizabeth Messina.
With wedding season just about in full swing and RSVPs nearing their deadlines, it's important to know just what you're getting yourself in for at your mate's big day.

And while some people might be a tad shocked by Prince William's apparent 'wet knickers' joke in his best man's speech at the most recent British royal wedding (the context for which, at the time of writing, has not been revealed) it takes more than a slightly lewd joke to truly shock the most seasoned of guests.

Here's some of the craziest things Reddit users have experienced at a friend's nuptials.

1. The ol' zombie speech

"The bride delivered beautiful, heartfelt serious vows during the ceremony and when it came time for the groom to step up, he made a joke about how he can't wait to see her pregnant and fighting off zombies. It was mortifying and you could see the disappointment on her face." - NewDriverStew

2. The day-after party the couple weren't invited to (Ouch)

"My parents threw a competing after-wedding brunch to my ownand didnt tell me or my wife. No one from my side came to ours because they assumed that plans had changed. My mother stole them all away with her dirty trick.

"I found out about the plot when my aunt kissed me goodbye at the end of my wedding and said shed see me tomorrow, at the hotel. The actual brunch was at my in-laws house.

"When I confronted my parents about it, they said I should thank them for spending the moneyand I should have been there.

"I think this all happened because my parents are jealous of my in-laws, who are successful, well off, generous, and loving." - Thrownsjsididkej484

3. The great unwrapping

"Couple opened their wedding gifts at the reception and we all had to watch like it was a birthday party for a toddler. There were lots of gift comments that would have been better in private." - TheFire_Eagle

4. Sad soup kitchen

"The wedding was at a soup kitchen the couple sometimes volunteered at, presumably to remind us how selfless they are. Hundreds of homeless people were gathered outside and if the couple had said "hey, dress casual because if you're coming to our wedding you'll be helping serve the homeless" I would have been all for it - instead we stood there in nice clothes eating food while all the homeless people watched through the fence. Extremely awkward, totally classless." - SOdhner

Video of the Day

5. A very emotional translator (Awh)

"The couple were Irish and Lithuanian, and the ceremony was conducted in Lithuanian, by a Lithuanian officiant, a translator had been provided to allow the English speaking guests to follow proceedings, but she was so overwhelmed by the occasion, she broke down in floods of joyful weeping.

We assumed she was a family member of the bride helping out, but apparently she was an official Lithuanian government translator with no prior connection to anyone or the occasion..." - PeterPawlettsBaby

6. Princess for the day

"There was the Disney princess themed wedding where all the bridesmaids were dressed as different Disney princesses, but for some reason the groomsmen were the 7 dwarves. Everyone was way too into it and it was creepy."

7. Smooth criminal

"In addition to organ music, the couple hired a string quartet because the groom was a cellist. At one point in the ceremony, the groom made a surprise move by going over to the string quartet and - placing the cello between his legs and the bow in his hand - played a love song to his new bride.

"The minister took a dim view because the piece was secular (not "authorized" by the church). But the congregation loved it - and so did the teary-eyed bride!" - Back2Bach

8. Personal photoshoot

"One of the bridesmaids dragged the photographer away to give her a personal photoshoot (photos of her and the groom, and a handful of just her posing)" - MILthrowaway1776

9. One wedding and a funeral

"At my uncle's wedding the mass had to be rushed and cut massively short because the priest had messed up the timings and booked a funeral for 20 mins into the wedding slot. So he cut speeches short (by clicking his fingers and saying that's enough), skipped songs, kept telling anyone walking up to hurry up etc. All the photos and videos outside of the church either have a dead body in the background or loads of people in black, crying their eyes out." - X0AN

10. Oh deery me

"I once saw a guy get bit by a deer at a wedding. He was feeding it wedding cake.

Ok, the guy was me, and I was really drunk." - ElPatoLibre
The personal letters of Alan Rickman have revealed that the late actor was "frustrated" by one of his most iconic roles, Severus Snape, the sneering teacher in the Harry Potter movies.

The revelation was made in the letters that were released for an auction. The archive was a personal collection of papers and letters that span Rickman's 40-year-long career as an actor, reported Deadline.

In one particular letter, director David Heyman wrote to him, "Thank you for making HP2 (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) a success. I know, at times, you are frustrated but please know that you are an integral part of the films. And you are brilliant."

A note written by the actor while working on 2009's Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince suggests he was unhappy about the lack of attention given to his character.

In the note titled "Inside Snape's Head," Rickman wrote, "It's as if David Yates (director) has decided that this is not important in the scheme of things i.e teen audience appeal."

The archive, which has been valued at 950,000 pounds includes letters from the Prince Charles, Bill Clinton and Tony Blair, as well as Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who thanks Rickman for "doing justice to my most complex character."

There are also heartwarming letters from actors including Kate Winslet, who starred with him in A Little Chaos as well as a note from Nicole Kidman who called his performance in the London production of Private Lives "inspiring."

Other items include Rickman's copy of the script for his first film, 1988's Die Hard,in which he played the terrorist Hans Gruber.

The archive has been assembled by BAFTA-nominated actor and bookseller Neil Pearson, working with Rickman's estate.

The actor died at the age of 69 in 2016 from pancreatic cancer.
Yes, the decision belongs on the local level

No, no one should be able to dictate whether people wear masks

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Four men were arrested and three juveniles apprehended for allegedly making fun of a man dressed as goddess Kali and then stabbing him to death, police said on Monday.

The four arrested men were identified as Naveen (20), Aman Kumar Singh (20), Mohit Kumar (25) and Sajal Kumar Maheshwari (19), they added.

On the intervening night of May 22 and 23, the body of a man was found from the NSIC jungle with multiple stab injuries on the chest, face and head.

The deceased was identified as Kalu alias Kalua. After the post-mortem, the body was handed over to his brother for the last rites.

Kalu, an orphan, was raised in a "dharamshala" near Kalkaji Mandir, the police said.

He used to dance and roam around with eunuchs. He was a devotee of "Maa Kali" and on Tuesdays and Saturdays, used to project himself as the goddess, wearing a black salwar suit with a red chunni and anklets, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southeast) Chinmoy Biswal said.

On the night he was killed, Kalu was dressed as the goddess.

The police questioned several persons. On the basis of a tip-off, the accused, including the juveniles, were apprehended from Govindpuri yesterday, the DCP added.

During interrogation, the accused told the police that they had consumed liquor and were near the NSIC jungle main gate when they saw Kalu passing by. Seeing his attire, they started mocking him.

As Kalu told them not to make fun of him, the accused caught hold of him, forcibly took him inside the jungle and started beating him up. They then stabbed him with a Swiss knife, the police said.

The deceased succumbed to his injuries on the spot and the accused fled on their motorcycles. Five motorcycles were also recovered by the police at the instance of the accused.

One of the accused, Naveen, is pursuing his graduation through correspondence from the Delhi University. He is a first-year commerce student.
Even as the brutal murder of a youth in Kottayam district of Kerala has sparked off widespread protests and outrage in the state, the victim's fiancee said that her parents were aware of the conspiracy.

Kevin P. Joseph (23), belonged to a family of converted Christians, was found dead a day after he was abducted by a gang of men over his relationship with Neenu Chacko, 20, belonged to the family of an inter-religious married couple.

My parents were not happy with the financial status of Kevin. I left home after my relatives came to know about my relationship, Neenu told Manorama News. Neenu belongs to a wealthy family in Kollam district while Kevin, hailing from Kumaranallore in Kottayam, was not affluent.

I will not return even if my parents call me back, she said.

Police have arrested three people in connection with the murder, presumably a case of honour killing. Those arrested were identified as Ishan, Niyaz, and Riyaz. Niyas is a local DYFI leader.

Neenu's brother Sanu Chacko is the main accused in the case. Sanu, along with his parents, is still absconding.

Even though we are not legally married, I am Kevin chettan's wife. I will live in his house, looking after his parents and sister, Neenu said.

Kerala Human Rights Commission said it was suspected to be a case of honour killing and ordered the state police chief to submit a report in three weeks if there was any negligence from the side of the police in investigating the case.

Meanwhile, police said Sub-Inspector M.S. Shibu and Grade ASI Sunnymon of the Gandhinagar police station were suspended on Monday by Ernakulam Range IG Vijay Sahkare for laxity.
The adage that failures can teach many lessons seems quite...
It's the real thing, now. All the showers of the past few days were trailers. Southwest monsoon 2018 has officially hit the Kerala coast on Tuesday, and the Indian Meteorological Department is justifiably jubilant. It's prediction was bang on. A few days ago, it had said the monsoon would hit mainland India ahead of its June 1 date. In fact, it had accurately predicted May 29 as the day of landfall.

Today, the southwest monsoon has further advanced into the remaining parts of southeast Arabian Sea, Comorin-Maldives area, entire Lakshadweep, most parts of Kerala, some parts of Tamil Nadu ... Thus the southwest monsoon has set in over Kerala ... three days ahead of its normal date,'' said the IMD.

It added that conditions were favourable for further advance of the monsoon into some parts of central Arabian Sea, remaining parts of Kerala, some parts of coastal and south interior Karnataka, some more parts of east central and northeast Bay of Bengal and some parts of the northeastern states during the next 48 hours.

So how do meteorologists distinguish monsoon from pre-monsoon? There are a set of conditions which have to be met. These include:

Widespread raifall during the last three to four days (The 14 rainfall monitoring stations for monsoon onset over Kerala have reported over 60 rainfall from May 25)





Westerly winds have strengthened in the lover levels and deepened with westerly/west southwesterly winds (approximately 4.5 km) over the south Arabian Sea from Tuesday morning





There is persistent convection as seen by the Outgoing Long wave Radiation values



In addition, they have also noticed:

That an eastwest shear zone runs roughly across the south peninsula at 3.1 km above mean sea level





A well marked low pressure area over southeast and east central Arabian Sea off north Kerala and Karnataka coasts





Another well marked low pressure over northeast Bay of Nengal which is likely to concentrate into a depression over the next 12 hours.

Over the next two days, the monsoon is predicted to march further, covering all parts of Kerala, south interior Karnataka and some parts of the north eastern states.

Apart from predicting an early monsoon, the IMD had also, in its first monsoon prediction in April, said that this year should see a normal rainfall. Both these are good news to a country that is largely rain fed, and whose economy is still dominated to a large extent by the behaviour of the monsoon.

The Indian monsoon is a maverick. It's unpredictable on a number of counts, from the date of onset to the speed at which it progresses. These are independent of the actual performance of the monsoon. And the mid-monsoon lulls follow their own pattern. India has invested in a multi-crore Monsoon Mission, which, through computers, satellite imagery and several models, try to pin the accuracy of their predictions, so that the nation can be prepared. The mission, which was launched around 2011, has markedly improved the accuracy of predictions.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is looking forward to discussing a range of regional issues during his upcoming three-nation visit to Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia that begins on Tuesday, and boost the Act East Policy.

He took to his Facebook account to inform that the visit is aimed at enhancing India's relations and engagements with all the three countries, which forms Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Prime Minister will begin his visit to Indonesia where he will be holding detailed discussions with President Joko Widodo in Jakarta. He will also interact with Chief Executive Officers and the Indian community in Indonesia.

It will be followed by a brief stopover at Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur, where Prime Minister will congratulate the newly elected Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr Mahathir Mohammad.

While in Singapore, Prime Minister Modi plans to focus on developing a bilateral partnership in several areas including financial technology, skill development, urban planning and artificial intelligence.

Further leaders of both countries will hold discussions on possible business and investment opportunities.

Prime Minister is scheduled to visit the India-Singapore enterprise and innovation exhibition. Later he will address a business and community event followed by a roundtable meeting with select top CEOs of Singapore to discuss business and investment opportunities.

On Friday, he will call on his Singaporean President Halimah Yacob. Further, he is scheduled to hold delegation-level talks with Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong followed by a visit to Nanyang Technological University where he shall hold an interactive session with students.

Later in evening, Prime Minister Modi will deliver a keynote address at Shangri-La Dialogue and will also be the first Indian leader to do so.

"It would be an opportunity to articulate India's point of view on regional security issues and maintenance of peace and stability in the region" the post read.

The next day, Prime Minister Modi will unveil a plaque at Clifford Pier, where Gandhiji's ashes were immersed in the sea on 27 March 1948.

He is also expected to visit some specific places which share the features of Indus civilisation.

Prime Minister would conclude his visit by going to Changi Naval Base in Singapore where he shall visit Indian Naval Ship INS Satpura and interact with officers and sailors of the Indian Navy and Royal Singapore Navy.
If former president Pranab Mukherjee is going to be the chief guest at an RSS function on the invitation of the organisation's chief, Mohan Bhagwat, BJP president Amit Shah is personally reaching out to intellectuals. The aim behind Shahs move is to get the intelligentsia on the side of the saffron party ahead of the 2019 general elections.

In a deeply connected world, people are increasingly relying on the statements by intellectuals, be it on social media or TV, to form their opinions. The BJP has sharpened its strategy from holding intellectual meets during election season to individually meeting the intellectuals and making them aware of the BJP's work and the achievements at the four-year milestone of the Narendra Modi government.

Shah started the campaign on Tuesday as he went to meet former army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag and then went to meet constitutional expert Subash Kashyap.

As part of the Sampark for Samarthan campaign, met former Army Chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag ji at his home in Delhi to discuss and brief him on the several achievements and initiatives undertaken by Modi sarkar since it was voted to office 4 years ago, Shah tweeted after his meeting with the retired army general.

After Shah, 4,000 other BJP leaders, which includes all its elected representatives like MPs, MLAs, councillors, and party office bearers will be reaching out. In an elaborate plan drawn up by the party, each of these 4,000 leaders will be interacting with at least 25-50 intellectuals including former Supreme Court and High Court judges, retired senior army and civil services officers and eminent personalities from the fields of cinema, arts, culture and sports.

The idea behind this move is to engage with the social influencers, who, in turn, would help keep the narrative positive towards the ruling party.

Interestingly, there have been reports that the Congress is planning a similar initiative to reach out to intellectuals, so that they can be connected to the party's ideology. Congress chief Rahul Gandhi has been aiming to turn the 2019 elections into a battle of ideologies as opposed to a clash of personalities.

The groundwork for the 2019 elections has already begun.
External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on Monday apologised for saying that Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed lakhs of "Indians" in Nepal's Janakpur recently.

She tweeted an apology after people on Twitter, including a Parliamentarian from Nepal, pointed out that Modi addressed Nepali people in Janakpur earlier this month and not Indians.

"This was a mistake on my part. I sincerely apologise for this," Swaraj tweeted on Monday night along with a video of her comments about Modi's efforts to reach out to Indian dispora abroad, including in Nepal.

This was a mistake on my part. I sincerely apologise for this. pic.twitter.com/S1CpLv8uu0  Sushma Swaraj (@SushmaSwaraj) May 28, 2018

Earlier addressing a press conference on the occasion of the fourth anniversary of the NDA government, Swaraj said no prime minister before Modi had tried to reach out to the Indian diaspora at such a large scale.

"Narendra Modi is the first prime minister of the country who has from America's Madison Square to Janakpur (in Nepal) addressed lakhs of Indians and reached out to them," Swaraj had said.

Nepali Congress leader and Parliamentarian Gagan Thapa criticised Swaraj for the comments and wondered whether it was a "casual undermining of Nepal's sovereignty".

"Regrettable that India's External Affairs Minister @SushmaSwaraj described Janakpur's population that @narendramodi greeted as Indians. One wonders what the confusion was, or if this was casual undermining of Nepal's sovereignty," he tweeted.
The allotment of land for the proposed expansion of Vedanta Group's Sterlite copper plant in Tuticorin was on Tuesday cancelled "in larger public interest" by the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu Ltd (SIPCOT), an official release said.

The move comes a day after the Tamil Nadu government ordered the state Pollution Control Board to seal and "permanently" close the original Sterlite plant following last week's protests over pollution concerns, during which 13 people were killed in police firing and dozens injured.

"As the allotment of land for the proposed expansion has been made by SIPCOT, in larger public interest, the land allotment made by SIPCOT for proposed expansion of copper smelter plant (Phase-2) by Vedanta Ltd is hereby cancelled," SIPCOT said in its communication to the Vedanta Group.

"The land price collected for the said land allotment will be refunded as per the norms of SIPCOT," it said.

There have been a series of agitations against the establishment of a copper plant at the SIPCOT industrial complex in Tuticorin, about 600km from Chennai, expressing concerns about the pollution caused, it added.

An official release here said, "The cancellation of allotment of 342.22 acres of land has been made in larger public interest and this has been communicated to the company."

Chief Minister K Palaniswami had on Monday said the state government had issued the directive to seal and 'permanently' close the copper unit, in deference to the 'sentiments' of the people.

"In deference to the opinion and sentiments of the general public, it was decided to close down the Sterlite plant and a government order has been issued," he had said.

Vedanta Limited termed the closure "unfortunate" and said it would decide the future course of action after studying the development.

The Madras High Court had on May 23 stayed the expansion of Vedanta's copper smelter plant in Tuticorin district on a petition filed by environmental activist Fathima Babu.

The petitioner submitted that Vedanta should be restrained from carrying out activities in the lands on which the proposed copper smelter-unit II was being constructed.

The court had also directed the Centre to submit within four months a report after holding a public hearing in the district to invite public opinion on the plan for expansion.

The locals were protesting for the closure of the factory for 99 days.

Protesters turned violent on May 22, the 100th day of their stir, and 13 people were killed in police action against them.

Investigation handed over to CB-CID

State DGP T.K. Rajendran on Tuesday transferred the investigation of the firing incidents to the Crime Branch-Crime Investigation Department (CB-CID) of the state police. The police have faced severe criticism for opening fire. The government has also been accused of trying to coerce families of dead protesters to accept their bodies in an attempt to derail possible inquiries.
A top aide to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Singapore on Monday night, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said on Tuesday, the latest indication that the on-again-off-again summit with US President Donald Trump may go ahead.

Kim Chang Son, Kims de facto chief of staff, flew to Singapore via Beijing on Monday night, the report said.

At the same time, a team of US government officials, including the White House deputy chief of staff for operations Joe Hagin, left US Yokota Air Base in Japan for Singapore on Monday, NHK said.

The White House said a pre-advance team was traveling to Singapore to meet with North Koreans.

The reports indicate that planning for the historic summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is moving ahead after Trump called it off last week. A day later, Trump said he had reconsidered, and officials from both countries were meeting to work out details.

When Kim Chang Son was asked by a reporter at the Beijing airport if he was flying to Singapore for talks with the United States, he said he was going there to play, according to footage from Nippon Television Network.

Meanwhile, North Koreas Kim Yong Chol, a senior official dealing with inter-Korean affairs was scheduled to fly to the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Koreas Yonhap news agency said citing an unnamed source.

Due to sanctions against him, Kim Yong Chol is banned from visiting the United States normally. His visit to the United States would indicate a waiver was granted.

The United States and South Korea blacklisted Kim Yong Chol for supporting the Norths nuclear and missile programmes in 2010 and 2016, respectively.

Yonhap added Choe Kang Il, a North Korean foreign ministry official involved with North America issues, was also spotted at Beijing Capital International Airport. Yonhap did not say whether Choe would be accompanying Kim Yong Chol.

In a flurry of diplomacy over the weekend, Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a surprise meeting on Saturday at the border village of Panmunjom, during which they agreed the North Korea-US summit must be held.

And on Sunday, the US State Department said American and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom. Sung Kim, the former US ambassador to South Korea and current ambassador to the Philippines, led that American delegation, an American official told Reuters.

Moon said on Monday that there could be more impromptu talks between the two Koreas in the lead-up to the summit.

In Kim and Moons first, upbeat meeting on April 27, they agreed to seek the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula - but didnt define what that meant, or how that would proceed.

Since then, North Korea has rejected US demands for it to unilaterally abandon its nuclear weapons programme that experts say could threaten the United States.

Pyongyang also demanded the United States halt future joint military drills with South Korea if it truly wishes for talks with North Korea, the Norths Rodong Sinmun said on Tuesday. In response to reporters questions regarding the report, South Koreas defense ministry said it does not have plans to change joint exercise schedules with the United States military.

Analysts believe Washington is trying to determine whether North Korea is willing to agree on sufficient steps towards denuclearisation to allow a summit to take place.

North Korea defends its nuclear and missile programmes as a deterrent against perceived aggression by the United States, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War, which ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.

It has long said it is open to eventually giving up its nuclear arsenal if the United States withdraws its troops from South Korea and ends its nuclear umbrella alliance with Seoul.
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.

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View MarketBeat's top stock picks here.
Albany

Mary Darcy, the co-creator of the popular All Over Albany news and culture website, is going to start splitting her time between the Capital Region and New York City, where her husband has taken a job at Columbia University.

But don't expect Darcy to drop her job with All Over Albany, which she runs with Greg Dahlmann through a company called Uptown/Downtown Media LLC.

"My husband got a job at Columbia University," Darcy told the Times Union on Tuesday. "We are keeping our house and will spend time between Albany and New York City. That's basically the only change."

Darcy's husband, Peter Caracappa, was until recently a lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, teaching mechanical aerospace and nuclear engineering. He is taking a new job at Columbia as executive director of radiation safety programs and chief radiation safety officer for the university and its affiliated hospitals and research labs.

All Over Albany is a digital media force in the Capital Region with a steady stream of advertising. Its Facebook page alone has 10,493 followers, while the site's Twitter account has 58,000 followers. (The Times Union Twitter account has 97,700 followers.)

Darcy recently took to Facebook to explain to her fans and friends why she had been posting photos and updates on the couple's move to New York City.

"The Capital Region is hard to leave, so, for now, we won't. We're keeping our home and I'm keeping All Over Albany. What I do for the business can be done from anywhere," Darcy wrote. "We'll spend a lot of time on Amtrak, but (like Joe Biden) we like the train. We have a small campus apartment for six months, so we're taking our time finding a place here. I'll spend more time in Albany this summer."

Darcy said there will be no changes in her role at All Over Albany. She says that Dahlmann does most of the writing and editing for the site, and her job with the enterprise is mostly event planning, marketing and sales.

"All of that plus the writing I am responsible for can be done from anywhere in the world," Darcy said. "I'll be doing it from Albany some weeks and New York City others."

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Darcy also said she and her husband will continue their work locally with the Schenectady Light Opera Co. this summer: Caracappa is directing the production of "In The Heights," a musical that will run in September. The cast for "In The Heights" was just announced after auditions were held last week.

Darcy, a former radio and TV producer, is also active in the local theater scene; she's the assistant director of SLOC's staging of "In The Heights."

"Mary will continue to work on All Over Albany and has a few theater projects still to come," Caracappa wrote on his Facebook page last month. "So the question is more likely to become 'Weren't you leaving?'"
Albany

A future mixed-use project on Central Avenue will include a Whitney Young Health primary care center and Equinox offices in addition to apartments and retail space.

Larry Regan, president of Ardsley-based Regan Development Corp., recently received the green light from the city planning board to start working on the project, a five-story building with 71 apartments at 526 Central Ave.

Whitney Young, which will occupy about 10,000 square feet, is partnering with Equinox on the facility. Equinox, a nonprofit organization that provides services for people with chemical dependency and mental health issues as well as victims of domestic violence, will use about 4,000 square feet. There will be additional retail space for two or three storefronts.

The apartments will be a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom units with rents ranging from the low $700s to $1,400.

"These are designed for young professionals who want to live and work in the city," Regan said.

They expect to start construction by year's end and the project will take about 15 months to build out, Regan said.

The site's location on a busy stretch of road and proximity to public transportation made it appealing, Regan said. It is a brownfield and clean-up has already begun.

In 2011 Capitalize Albany Corp. bought the development rights to a since-demolished former police station on the site for $500,000, according to a 2013 Times Union article. Sarah Reginelli, the organization's president, said she's "really excited" about the project.

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"It will have amenities that don't currently exist on Central Avenue," Reginelli said. "It's the right project for that site."

The developer met with neighborhood groups several times and was responsive to their input, she added.

Regan Development has worked on projects ranging from affordable rentals to apartments for young professionals to affordable housing in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The company developed the Lion Heart Residences, an apartment complex in Cohoes.

miszler@timesunion.com 518-454-5018  @madisoniszler
Albany

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is unfairly directing millions of dollars from a state climate change program to benefit Long Island residents at the expense of upstaters and the poor, according to an advocates' report issued Tuesday.

Between 2013 and 2017, more than $200 million from the state Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a program meant to cut greenhouse gas emissions from electric power plants, was funneled to the Long Island Power Authority, according to the report from Environmental Advocates of New York.

Since that started, LIPA also pared back what it spends on efficiency and renewable energy programs.

RGGI funds come from power plant owners, which in turn are folded into the price of power paid for by utilities and their millions of customers across the state.

RGGI requires power plant owners in New York and eight other states to buy permits, called credits, to cover emissions of greenhouse gases. An international scientific consensus blames greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel combustion as fueling ongoing man-made climate change.

Since RGGI started in 2003, New York has gotten more than $1 billion in such fees, which are aimed at energy efficiency programs, as well as renewable power projects. The funds are controlled by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

As NYSERDA began sending RGGI funds, LIPA began cutting back on its own renewable program spending, which fell from $115 million to $81 million from 2013 to 2016, according to the report. That mean less pressure to raise the revenue from its own 1.1 million customers in Nassau and Suffolk counties, and the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens.

LIPA has annual revenues of about $3.6 billion. Because of RGGI funding, LIPA customers are getting a benefit that is not being provided to customers of other utilities, raising questions of fairness, said Conor Bambrick, author of the report and air and energy director at EANY.

The report also questioned the use of another $170 million in RGGI funds to support a program aimed at replacing local property taxes on mothballed power plants and a tax credit program for homeowners who install alternative energy systems.

"New York is redirecting these funds and missing a real opportunity to be a leader on climate change," he said. "Until the administration's choices match their rhetoric, New Yorkers, especially those in in vulnerable communities, will continue to miss out on the full health and economic benefits associated with clean energy."

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Bambrick said the property tax program has unfairly subsidized the property taxes of power plant owners who can later reopen power plants. In 2016, in Dunkirk, Chautauqua County, RGGI funds paid about$5.5 million in property taxes on a coal-fired power plant owned by NRG Energy.

The tax credit program benefits primarily middle- and upper-class homeowners, while leaving out poorer neighborhoods, Bambrick said. He called for the Cuomo administration to commit to spending more RGGI funds on poorer communities and areas most affected by power plant pollution.

John Williams, director of policy and regulatory affairs for NYSERDA, said that LIPA does collect from its ratepayers to fund programs. While the state is helping susidize the authority, the state also takes a "comprehensive perspective" on how to allocate RGGI resources statewide.

Williams also noted that the power plant tax program and the renewable energy tax credit programs were reached through the state budget process, which required agreement from state lawmakers.

New York is one of nine states in RGGI, the nation's first cap-and-trade program, which was spearheaded by former GOP Gov. George Pataki. The program also includes Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont. In New Jersey, former Gov. Chris Christie, a Republican, pulled his state out of RGGI in 2011.
Washington

President Donald Trump's hard-line views on trade, a staple of his message long before he entered politics, are beginning to collide with the cold realities of global geopolitics.

Trade talks on China and the North American Free Trade Agreement have hit stumbling blocks, posing a challenge for a president who vowed to make trade deals more equitable for the United States during his 2016 campaign and who famously tweeted that trade wars are "easy to win."

Trump's trade agenda  at least lately  has not been so easy.

After threatening China with $150 billion in tariffs, Trump's administration has suspended plans to impose the tariffs for now and the president tweeted Wednesday that a "different structure" would be needed in the trade talks involving the world's two largest economies.

The president has bemoaned the massive U.S. trade deficit with China  $337 billion last year  as evidence that Beijing has been complicit in abusive trading practices and outsmarted his predecessors.

Pointing to a pause in the trade dispute, the administration pointed to China's plans to "significantly increase" its purchases of U.S. goods and services and make "meaningful increases" in U.S. exports of agriculture and energy products. Financial markets, wary of a calamitous trade war, were relieved.

But Beijing did not agree to any specific dollar amounts, despite the Trump administration's push to lower the U.S. trade deficit by at least $200 billion. And doubts remain about whether China will address allegations the Chinese engage in cybertheft of trade secrets, force U.S. companies to transfer some of their technology in exchange for market access or back away from its China 2025 plan to dominate emerging technologies.

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"Chinese r laughing at us again. They have never delivered on 1 promise in the past. Appeasement is the devils friend," tweeted Dan DiMicco, a former Nucor steel chairman and trade adviser to Trump's campaign and transition team, last week.

On Friday, the U.S. reached a deal on ZTE Corp. that will allow the Chinese telecommunications giant to remain in business. Under the deal, ZTE will oust its management team, hire American compliance offers and pay a fine  on top of the $1 billion it's already paid for selling equipment to North Korea and Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions. In return, the U.S. Commerce Department will lift a seven-year ban on ZTE buying components from U.S. companies. Trump said earlier that a resolution would help U.S. firms that supply ZTE with components, but members of Congress, including several Republicans, warned that the U.S. is being too lenient.

"ZTE presents a national security threat to the United States  and nothing in this reported deal addresses that fundamental fact," said Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Maryland Democrat. "If President Trump won't put our security before Chinese jobs, Congress will act on a bipartisan basis to stop him."

Trump's team, has hit an impasse with Canada and Mexico on negotiations over NAFTA. The president has sought to overhaul NAFTA as a way of returning automobile production to the U.S. and reduce America's trade deficit with Mexico. But the talks are running into the complications of Mexican elections in July and the U.S. midterm elections in November along with a dispute over rules for car production.
Chicago

Donda's House seems to miss the old Kanye.

The Chicago nonprofit  named after West's late mother, a former Chicago State University professor  announced Saturday it's changing its name.

On Friday, Donda's House posted a statement on its website  which now appears to be offline  addressing West's insufficient "financial support" of the organization as well as his recent controversial endorsement of President Donald Trump.

A weekend Twitter feud between Kim Kardashian West and Che "Rhymefest" Smith, the South Side rapper and activist who co-founded Donda's House, gained traction after Rhymefest tweeted at Drake, asking him to support the organization and calling out Kanye's lack of support for Chicago youth.

Rhymefest, Kanye and Executive Director Donnie Smith  a former Chicago Public Schools teacher and Rhymefest's wife  created the nonprofit to honor West's mother and provide arts education to Chicago youth.

Kardashian West accused Rhymefest of not being able to "sustain the foundation."

"You better believe I will make it my mission to take Donda's House from you and let my children run it the way it should be run!" she tweeted.

Rhymefest fired back with his own Twitter statement.

"I spoke to your husband about peace, and balance, as well as about the work that we have been doing in Chicago regarding Donda's house. He was more interested in his record," Rhymefest wrote.

"How can you criticize an organization that you've never physically been to OR that you've never even talked to the Executive Director or any of the team," Rhymefest's statement continued. "And lastly, I actually knew and was mentored by Dr. Donda West personally, and have met with and spoke to hundreds of her students and mentees who not only support the work that we are doing in Chicago, but compel it."

Donda's House released another statement on social media Saturday night.

"This has been an incredibly difficult decision but the social media quotes from Kim Kardashian West, as well as the expressed interest of her family running the organization, has brought us to this decision," the statement said about the name change.

Donda's House has not yet announced its new name.

"This was a painstaking effort by many people to take the research, the writing, the career, everything that was documented about Dr. West from her time at Chicago State University," Exavier Pope, a Chicago lawyer and board member of Donda's House, told the Tribune on Sunday about the nonprofit's founding.

"We've touched hundreds of young people's lives in the city of Chicago," Pope said. "We've all sought to bring honor to the legacy of Dr. West, and I think it's unfortunate that a personal issue that has nothing to do with the organization itself is harming the organization."

Pope said that the statements released by the board weren't a clapback against Kanye West, but that his words should be able to stand alone from Dr. West's legacy. "The statements were designed to say, hey, listen, no matter what Kanye says, this is about the kids," Pope said.
Arrested Development

Netflix, 8 p.m.

Season premiere! The Bluths are back and finally getting the award they think they deserve  for family of the year. It's a development that will help Lindsay (Portia de Rossi) as she begins her campaign for Congress. But whatever happens, Michael (Jason Bateman) will always come back to save the family. Probably. Along with Bateman and de Rossi, the rest of the original cast returns, and it was announced that Jeffrey Tambor  who was let go from Amazon's "Transparent" over harassment allegations  will also appear in Season 5 as Bluth patriarch George.

Mary Kay Letourneau: Autobiography

A&E, 8 p.m.

This all-new episode reveals the surprising story of the Seattle area schoolteacher whose love affair with then 13-year-old Vili Fualaau became an international media sensation  and sent her to prison for more than seven years. Now 56, Mary tells the deeply emotional story of how her forbidden relationship with Fualaau developed, the legal troubles and media firestorm that followed, the scandal's effect on the couple's daughters and their eventual marriage, and what their life is like today. Other interviews include the 34-year-old Fualaau, Mary's lawyers, her friends and a fellow prison inmate.

Monsters of the Abyss

Animal Planet, 8 p.m.

Marine investigators Richie Kohler and Evan Kovacs are on the hunt for sea monsters in the British Isles in this two-hour Monster Week special. They are drawn to the North Channel by the recent discovery of a German U-boat wreck that may be the legendary UB-85, long-rumored to have been attacked by a sea monster in the waning days of World War I. Along the way, they travel to Scotland to meet recent eyewitnesses to the famed Loch Ness Monster to investigate possible links between "Nessie" and the beast that may have attacked the sub.

Beat Shazam

FOX, 8 p.m.

Season premiere! In this interactive game show, pairs are pitted against the clock and other teams as they attempt to identify hit songs. The team with the most money banked will then go against the popular song-identifying app Shazam for the chance to win up to $1 million. Jamie Foxx returns as the series' host, and his daughter Corinne, an actress, model and writer, joins the series as its new DJ.

America's Got Talent

NBC, 8 p.m.

Season premiere! After enjoying its most-watched season, which saw 12-year-old singing ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer take home the grand prize, the talent competition series is back for Season 13. Judges Simon Cowell, Mel B., Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel, along with host Tyra Banks, return.

American Experience: "The Chinese Exclusion Act"

PBS, 8 p.m.

Examine the origin, history and impact of the 1882 law that made it illegal for Chinese workers to come to America and for Chinese nationals already here to become U.S. citizens. It remained in force for more than 60 years.

Love Connection

FOX, 9 p.m.

Season premiere! Andy Cohen returns as host of the series that puts a fresh spin on the classic dating show. Each episode features single men or women in search of love, with Cohen bringing his personal brand of audacious fun to the series as he learns about their experiences with potential suitors.

Animal Kingdom

TNT, 9 p.m.

Season premiere! In last season's shocking cliffhanger, Baz (Scott Speedman) was shot while on his way to Mexico after framing Smurf (Ellen Barkin) for murder. Season 3 opens with Smurf in jail and her grandson J (Finn Cole) in charge of the family business. The Cody men find themselves increasingly divided as they fight for both control and their independence, but they have to come together when outside threats emerge. Deran's (Jake Weary) drifter dad Billy (Denis Leary) comes back to make amends but may have other motives.

Hunting Nazi Treasure: "Missing Masterpiece"

AHC, 10 p.m.

Hitler invaded Poland to find lebensraum or "living space" for the German people. Instead, he laid waste to towns and cities, murdered millions and stole mountains of treasure. In this episode, the team investigates the Nazi looting of Poland, specifically the still-missing painting "Portrait of a Young Man" by Renaissance artist Raphael.

Hunting ISIS

History, 10 p.m.

New series! With no pay or U.S. government support, justice-minded Americans  both ex-military and civilian  are volunteering on the ground in the fight against the terrorist group ISIS. This six-part documentary series, shot in Iraq and Syria, tells their stories.

World of Dance

NBC, 10 p.m.

Season premiere! Last summer's No. 1 new series is back, again giving dancers a platform to showcase their talents and compete for a grand prize of $1 million before a judging team of dance superstars  Jennifer Lopez (also an executive producer), Derek Hough and Ne-Yo  and host/mentor Jenna Dewan Tatum.

Queen Sugar

OWN, 10 p.m.

Season premiere! There's something fishy on location in New Orleans for Queen Sugar's third season  and it's the real (and pungent) seafood farm where Kofi Siriboe, as earnest Ralph Angel Bordelon, is shooting. No spoilers, but executive producer Kat Candler hints of the big picture: "Legacy, identity and blood of the land are themes that weave through all the characters." The thoughtful drama's season premiere spans two episodes.

100 Code

WGN America, 10 p.m.

New series! When two mismatched detectives try to catch a serial killer who leaves his blonde, blue-eyed victims in fields of flowers, let's just say it's no bed of roses. In this moody new thriller, damaged NYPD detective Tommy Conley ("Lost"'s Dominic Monaghan) and by-the-book Swedish cop Mikael Eklund (the late Michael Nyqvist of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo") can't seem to stop butting heads when they should be sniffing out dead bodies.

Brought to you by the publishers of TV Guide.
Rome

Italian populists vowed Monday to convert voter anger over their thwarted bid to govern for the first time into a kind of plebiscite on the European Union, financial markets and eurozone membership as the country found itself propelled to fresh elections as soon as late summer.

Amid political turmoil, Carlo Cottarelli, an economist with International Monetary Fund experience, was asked by the Italian president to assemble a technocrat government to take the country to elections.

With weeks of political uncertainty taking a toll on Italy's bond and stock markets, Premier-designate Cottarelli said the return to the polls could come as early as after the August vacation break or, at the latest, at the start of 2019.

Only five days ago, another Premier-designate, political novice Giuseppe Conte, stood in the same spot in the Quirinal presidential palace and declared he would he would work to create a "government of change" in what would have been Italy's  and western Europe's  first populist government.

That dream deflated dramatically Sunday night when President Sergio Mattarella refused to submit to populist demands that he approve their proposed economy minister, who in the past has recommended having a "Plan B" to exit the eurozone if EU strictures become too tight for Italy.

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"This isn't democracy, this isn't respect for the popular vote," railed Matteo Salvini, a firebrand populist whose right-wing League was one of the anti-EU parties foiled by Mattarella. "It's just the last gasp of the strong powers who want Italy as a frightened, precarious slave."

"The next elections will be a plebiscite: the people and real life versus the old castes and the 'Lords of the Spread,'" Salvini said, referring to financial speculators.

Milan-based economist Nicola Nobile said the upcoming election could shape up as a "de facto referendum on Italian membership in the eurozone."
ALBANY  A female attorney who said she was sexually harassed and mistreated by a high-ranking state official filed a discrimination complaint on Tuesday against New York state and the agency where she alleges the former deputy director was never held accountable for treating women as sexual objects.

The complaint filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission targets James "Jay" Kiyonaga, who has been the subject of complaints filed by women at various state agencies where he has worked since 2002.

Kiyonaga is the second-in-command at the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities, the state's second-largest agency. He was the target of workplace complaints filed by women while previously working for the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs, the Division of Budget, and the Division of Criminal Justice Services.

The EEOC complaint filed by Patricia Gunning, a former high-level attorney at the Justice Center, cited a "complete failure of the governor's office and the state to deal with this serial sexual harasser and discriminator ..."

"By September 2017, Mr. Kiyonaga's 15 years in state employ had a consistent pattern," the complaint states. "He fostered a boys' club atmosphere in the agencies where he worked. He favored women he found attractive. He retaliated against women who complained."

The EEOC complaint was filed less than three weeks after a Times Union story raised questions about how state agencies and the administration of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo have dealt with the complaints against Kiyonaga and others embroiled in workplace misconduct, including sexual harassment.

Gunning's complaint alleged Kiyonaga engaged in repeated sexual harassment, favored or promoted women who "were a willing recipient of his sexual advances," and "distorted Justice Center policy to accommodate his romantic liaison."

Gunning said the Justice Center's general counsel told her that a report on Kiyonaga's conduct was going to be kept on file in their office, but would not be made part of his personnel file  the same way that DCJS handled a similar matter involving Kiyonaga in 2012.

Sexual discrimination and retaliation have no place in the workplace. Not in Hollywood, not in the boardroom, and certainly not in New York state government, said Ilann M. Maazel, a lawyer for Gunning. We are calling on Gov. Cuomo to take swift and appropriate action.

In 2012, a few female employees at DCJS filed a complaint about inappropriate and sexually charged conversations that took place in Kiyonaga's 10th-floor office. Wanda Troche, a former affirmative action officer for the agency, said her investigation was overtaken by the agency's human resources director, Karen Davis, and Mark Bonacquist, the agency's first deputy commissioner.

Troche said she later was told that a sealed envelope apparently documenting something about the case  she wasn't told what it contained  was placed in Kiyonaga's personnel file. The envelope had a notation that it could only be opened by Bonacquist or Davis, she said.

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Troche, who retired from the agency in 2015, said the incident was part of a pattern in which the agency's human resources director intervened in matters involving high-level appointees such as Kiyonaga, who transferred to another state agency not long after the incident.



In a federal complaint filed in 2011, Lynn A. Rowe, who worked with Kiyonaga at the Budget Division, said he mocked the way she walked and also made belittling remarks about her hearing. Rowe, according to the complaint, suffers from a serious muscular disease that affects her motor skills, including her ability to walk.

Gunning, a former prosecutor who was appointed by Cuomo as a special prosecutor and inspector general at the Justice Center, filed formal complaints against Kiyonaga that included an accusation he screamed at her in front of colleagues several months after she accused him of manipulating policy decisions to benefit a subordinate who was his romantic interest.



"He repeatedly retaliated against me before he got moved along (to another agency)," Gunning said in a recent interview, adding that she was forced to resign, in part, from the fallout of the agency's inaction.

Gunning said she also complained that Kiyonaga had made sexually charged comments about female members of her staff as well as other inappropriate comments related to sex. Again, she said, nothing was done.

Spokespersons for the Justice Center and Cuomo did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, referred Gunning's allegations to the inspector general's office after Gunning contacted her several months ago. Gunning contacted the governor's office, she said, after Justice Center officials had stated publicly that they investigated the allegations and determined they were unfounded, even though some of the incidents were witnessed by other employees.

On Friday, a female attorney for DCJS filed an unrelated federal lawsuit against multiple state officials, including Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, alleging her civil rights were violated when she was terminated from her job at the agency  but ultimately demoted  for cooperating in an unrelated sexual harassment investigation involving a former forensics director.

The lawsuit was filed by Gina L. Bianchi against Leahy Scott, DCJS Commissioner Michael C. Green and two other DCJS leaders, general counsel John Czajka and Davis, the human resources director.

Bianchi said her confidential testimony as a witness to the former director's alleged misconduct was turned over to DCJS officials without her knowledge last year and used to interrogate her before she was fired. Under state hiring regulations, she was allowed to fall back to a junior-level attorney's position but suffered a $44,000-a-year pay cut.
STATEN ISLAND  Fourth-graders at Blessed Sacrament School recently re-enacted some of the steps their ancestors may have taken upon arriving as immigrants to the United States.

The West Brighton school was decorated to look like the Great Hall of Ellis Island to celebrate Immigration Day in April.

The event was organized by teachers Jennifer Belford and Nicholas Siggia as an interactive history lesson incorporating English language arts reading and writing techniques.

The class prepared for the event by viewing the virtual Ellis Island experience, researching family histories and creating costumes.

Students checked in for their "boat trip," then traveled past the Statue of Liberty and had their passports stamped at Liberty Island. They then entered the "Great Hall," where family members' stories were displayed in pictures and words.

Students proceeded to the character station, where they were asked if they were married and had kids, if they were willing to learn the English language, and if they had at least $30 to their name.

The student-immigrants then went to a health check station, a citizens' test station and a "green card" station, where they were granted permission to enter the United States.

View the gallery above to see the students dressed as immigrants.

As part of our education column, In Class, we are highlighting some of the activities Staten Island students are engaged in  both inside and outside the classroom.

Here's a look at some additional recent education-related happenings.

FIELD WORK CLASSES

At Gaynor McCown High School, classes stopped for a week in April for students to take a week-long intensive course in a field they are passionate about, such as learning the history of fashion, how NYPD trains new recruits and the food industry.

As part of the field work program, students visited various places, including: a chocolate museum, Coney Island, MetLife Stadium, an ABC TV studio, a police academy, a farm, and historically significant spots on Staten Island.

"I was able to procure a firsthand experience as we watched the backstage filming procedure on the live interview show, 'The View'," recalled Amanda Singler, who took the class Student News Network as part of the intensive.

McCown students also went rock-climbing, hiking and created their own documentaries.

"My most valuable experience I gained during this intensive was going hiking at the Greenbelt," said Josiah Reyes, who took the course titled Passport to Adventure. "It was a great experience because I learned a lot about nature and was able to step out of my comfort zone by going hiking and being one with nature."

Teachers at the New Springville school spent months designing the field work program.

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"It is about depth vs. breadth," said teacher Kevi Langis. "Memorable learning experiences often occur when we dig deep and explore the many perspectives of one specific topic."

Langis said intensives are a way to dig deep into one topic and to take a student's passion and explore potential careers related to it.

RUN FOR CANCER

When eighth-grader Emilyrose Gagliardi was diagnosed with ewing sarcoma, a rare type of cancer that occurs in bones or in soft tissue around the bones, Totten Intermediate School (I.S. 34) wanted to show its support.

"When we learned of Emilyrose's diagnosis, we knew we had to aid the Gagliardi family in covering expenses," said Kim Giaccio, an eighth-grade English teacher.

More than 300 students, staff and family gathered on May 7 for the Totten Tie Dye 2K Color Run. Funds raised during the event went toward Gagliardi's medical expenses.

Principal John Boyle, who kicked off the festivities, said: "One of the things that makes us so special as a school, is that whenever one of our own is in need, we always rally around that person."

The event raised over $9,000 for the Gagliardi family with the help of the school community, the Parent Teacher Association and local sponsors.

Do you have a story idea for the new In Class education column? Email education reporter Annalise Knudson at aknudsonsiadvance.com.
Toledo, Ohio

No longer a novelty, drones are becoming an everyday tool for more police and fire departments, new research has found.

The number of public safety agencies with drones has more than doubled since the end of 2016, according to data collected by the Center for the Study of the Drone at New York's Bard College.

The center estimated that more than 900 police, sheriff, fire and emergency agencies now have drones, with Texas, California, and Wisconsin leading the way, the study showed.

While many law enforcement drone units are in place in just a fraction of the public safety agencies around the country, police and fire departments are continuing to find new uses for the remote-controlled aircraft.

They're being deployed to take photos of car accidents, guide firefighters through burning buildings and search for missing people and murder suspects.

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Some believe they will change policing much like laptops in patrol cars.

"With this new environment we're in with active shooters and mass shooters, you can be all over a school campus and see everyone who's running out," said Grady Judd, a Florida sheriff, who this year used money from drug seizures to buy 20 drones to cover all of Polk County night and day.

He stressed that the drones will be used only in emergency situations and not to spy on people. About a third of states, including Florida, require police to get a warrant before using drones in a criminal investigation.
ALBANY - Democrats have found their candidate to replace state Sen. Kathy Marchione as Republicans continue to narrow their field of contenders.

Aaron Gladd of Brunswick has emerged as the Democratic candidate in the 43rd Senate District, which includes Columbia County and parts of Rensselaer, Washington and Saratoga counties. The race for Senate seat follows Marchione's announcement last month that she will not run for re-election in Novemeber.



He grew up in Saranac Lake and received a master of public administration degree from the Nelson Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy. In 2011, Gladd enlisted in the Army and in four years in the military rose to the rank of first lieutenant and served as a ground-combat platoon leader in Afghanistan.

"New Yorkers need a fighter who has the passion to serve and the character to get it done," Gladd said in a statement. "I was proud to serve my country in Afghanistan, and as state senator I will serve my community and fight to restore hope, compassion and opportunity to upstate New York."

He is the deputy director of policy for Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo's administration and worked on expanding broadband access, implementing paid family leave and the opioid epidemic. He previously worked for state Sen. Tom Libous and U.S. Rep. Michael McNulty.

Columbia County Democrat Koethi Zan, who was considering a run for the seat, is supporting Gladd.

Republicans are looking to make their selection in advance of the petitioning process, which begins June 5, and the county committees have endorsement meetings this week.

"We'll get behind that one individual who is selected by the four committees," Saratoga County Republican Committee Chairman Carl P. Zeilman said.

Saratoga County Clerk Craig Hayner and Rensselaer County Clerk Frank Merola opted not to seek the Senate seat, but at least six candidates are vying for the party's nomination.

Halfmoon Councilwoman Daphne Jordan, who is the legislative director for Marchione, got into the race last week and has the support of her town's Republican committee. She was also endorsed by Stillwater Republican Lisa Bruno, who was initially pursuing the seat.

"I will carry forward Sen. Marchione's proud tradition of serving and helping others, standing strong for what is right, and working for an agenda based on affordability, opportunity and security so all New Yorkers can succeed and realize their dreams," Jordan said in a statement.

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Waterford Town Board member Frank McClement has also been racking up support for the Republican nomination, with endorsements coming from Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo and Saratoga County Board of Supervisor members John Lawler, Art Johnson and Edward Kinowski.

McClement, who is an Army veteran and served overseas, is the Saratoga County veterans director.

"It has been my privilege to work with our veteran community to help provide them with quality housing, health care and employment opportunities while unfortunately being all too often frustrated by dealing with a federal and state government bureaucracy that doesn't seem to listen or to care," he said in a statement. "These are the same problems that too many of the residents in the 43rd District also face. I will fight for them as I have for veterans."

Republicans Gerard Zabala of Wilton, Chris Boyark of Mechanicville, Eric Wohlleber of Poestenkill, Marlene Tuczinski of Columbia County, McClement and Jordan were scheduled to meet with the Saratoga County Republican Committee.

Zeilman said he isn't concerned about the selection process dragging on and said they are doing the proper vetting to find the best candidate. "There's no rush to just throw somebody into that position," he said. "We're right on schedule with the petition time."



The district leans conservative with some 6,000 more active Republicans than Democrats.

David.Lombardo@timesunion.com - 518.454.5427 - @Poozer87


NEW YORK  Veterans and active duty military members honored the memory of those killed in service at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum.

The annual Memorial Day event at the aircraft carrier-turned-museum on Manhattan's west side featured the unfurling of a giant American flag, as well as the laying of ceremonial wreaths, a rifle salute and the playing of taps.
Most people have seen advertisements for crisis pregnancy centers; think of roadside billboards reading, "Scared? Pregnant? Need Help?" However, awareness of CPCs remains low. That may change this June, when the Supreme Court will rule on National Institute of Family and Life Advocates v. Becerra, a challenge to California's Reproductive FACT Act.

The California law ensures women have comprehensive reproductive health information by requiring medically unlicensed CPCs to disclose that they are unlicensed. It also requires that CPCs provide information about full spectrum reproductive service availability. It is not surprising that NIFLA, a national CPC umbrella organization, is challenging this law, as it undermines their deceptive business model.

CPCs have a long, well-documented history of deception and misinformation surrounding contraception and abortion care. Despite having names like A Choice for Women, the primary purpose of CPCs is to keep people from obtaining an abortion at any cost

To the unsuspecting eye, it can be difficult to differentiate CPCs from medical clinics. CPCs are designed to look like a doctor's office, with staff wearing scrubs, white coats and stethoscopes to create a medical atmosphere. Most CPCs perform pregnancy tests; some offer sexually transmitted infection screening or ultrasounds.

Despite their appearance, however, CPCs are run by pro-life religious organizations, which is frequently undisclosed. Staff are usually volunteers with minimal medical experience. The lack of medical knowledge becomes apparent during subsequent counseling sessions, which are designed to dissuade people from seeking an abortion. One CPC counselor in Texas recounted numerous medical problems following her abortion, including infertility and kidney failure requiring dialysis, neither of which are associated with abortion. The language the counselor used was completely inaccurate but so technical ("there's a thing in your body called IgA that controls the immune system and (because of the abortion) it started attacking my kidneys") as to be confusing to even those familiar with medical terminology.

This is fairly standard for CPCs; systematic reviews of CPC websites reveal prevalent misinformation surrounding abortion, with 80 percent of centers making reference to the long-refuted linkages between abortion and mental health problems, cancer, and infertility. In a study of CPCs, between 67 percent and 100 percent, depending on the state, suggested a link between abortion and poor health outcomes  even death. Literature provided by CPCs suggests that contraception is ineffective and dangerous. Most also tout the idea of depression or substance abuse as a consequence of abortion, referring to it as a "post-abortion syndrome," despite the American Psychiatric Association's statement to the contrary. There is no scientific data to support any of these assertions, but it does not stop CPC counselors from making them. The ultimate goal is to frighten their clients away from even thinking about getting an abortion.

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As a physician, I feel obligated to combat CPCs. They are abusing trust in medicine by masquerading as health care organizations. Not only does this rob patients of their autonomy, it undermines the provider-patient relationship. There is also an issue of safety  patients with serious medical problems could come to harm if they take advice from CPC counselors.

There is no question that abortion is a contentious issue that evokes strong emotions, making medical providers reluctant to join the debate. However, my patients depend on physician expertise outside of the exam room just as much as inside it. Doctors owe it to their patients to support legislation like the FACT Act, oppose state funding of CPCs, and spread awareness of CPC misinformation. A similar law in New York would go far in ensuring justice in access to accurate information and health care for my patients.
[May 28, 2018] Impact of Policies and Guidelines on the Cybersecurity Industry in Asia-Pacific, 2017-2018 - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "Impact of Policies and Guidelines on the Cybersecurity Industry in Asia-Pacific, 2017" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The report covers the study of policies/guidelines issued by the regulatory bodies or cybersecurity agencies of two countries in the Asia-Pacific region. The two countries covered in this issue are Singapore and China. The objective of this study is to identify the impact of these policies on the cybersecurity industry in the two countries, based on an observation of what deems to be a significant policy/guideline provided by government authorities. The report includes interpretation services and highlights of areas which may impact the country of study. Growth opportunities and a call to action are provided to highlight the areas of growth driven by the newly introduced policies or guidelines. In January 2018, the Cyber Security Agency of Singapore (CSA) released the Cybersecurity Bill. The main areas highlighted in the notification include the holistic approach it takes in applying the bill to all Critical Information Infrastructures (CIIs), addressing the Commissioner's powers in investigating cybersecurity incidents, the nee for CIIs to carry out regular risk assessments and audit, the need for cybersecurity service providers to be licensed, and the various penalties that apply for any failure to comply.



The Cybersecurity Bill in Singapore poses some challenges for CIIs as they may not have the expertise to ensure adherence to the Bill. As such, business opportunities arise for the cybersecurity industry, especially for the service providers and educational institutes as they provide services to CIIs to help them fill the gaps for ensuring compliance with the Bill. In June 2017, a fundamental law in cybersecurity came into effect in China. The implementation of the Cybersecurity Law has strengthened China's regulatory regime in protecting cyberspace sovereignty and tightening the control over national security issues. The new law requires network operators and critical information infrastructure (CII) operators to comply with the stated security obligations. The law not only lays emphasis on data security, but also stresses the protection of individual information.

Key Issues Addressed How will the policy/guideline provided by the government authorities impact the cybersecurity industry in the two countries in question?

What is the implication of the policy/guideline for the industry stakeholders?

What are the highlights of areas that may impact the country of study?

Which industries will be affected by the issued policy/guideline?

What are the growth opportunities entailed by the issued policy/guideline?

What are the notable activities from cybersecurity authorities in the countries being discussed? Key Topics Covered: 1. Research Methodology 2. Executive Summary 3. Singapore Policy and Guidelines Report 4. China Policy and Guidelines Report 5. Growth Opportunities and Call to Action For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/khbsf6/impact_of?w=4 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180528005312/en/

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[May 28, 2018] VersaPay Announces 2018 AGM Results

TORONTO, May 28, 2018 /CNW/ - VersaPay Corporation (TSXV: VPY) ("VersaPay" or the "Company"), today announced that the results of resolutions proposed at its Annual General and Special Meeting of shareholders held on May 28, 2018. Shareholders elected returning directors, Art Mesher (Chairman), Mark Kohler, Sheldon Pollack, and Craig O'Neill (CEO), as well as two new directors, Brandon Nussey and David Dobson. Brandon Nussey  Mr. Nussey has almost 20 years of experience as a technology executive. From 2000 to 2007, he was in a series of roles with increased responsibility at The Descartes Systems Group, ultimately being appointed as the Chief Financial Officer in 2003. He helped lead a turnaround of the business that resulted in significant operational improvement and numerous industry awards. After serving as an Executive in Residence at Communitech, helping early stage companies in all aspects of their business, Mr. Nussey joined as Chief Financial Officer and member of the Board of Directors of D2L Inc (formerly Desire2Learn), a SaaS based education technology provider where he held that role for eight years. He led the company through hyper-growth and drove the company's growth financing of $165 million. Currently, Mr. Nussey is Chief Financial Officer of Lightspeed POS Inc., a cloud-based Point of Sale solution provider, leading the company's finance, legal, human resources, data and IT teams. Mr. Nussey is also Treasurer and a Board member of the Loran Scholars Foundation, one of Canada's most prestigious scholarship programs, and named one of the Financial Post's Top Charities in Canada. David Dobson  Mr. Dobson joined Digitl River in February 2013 as the company's Chief Executive Officer. Digital River currently operates as a private company, being acquired by Siris Capital for US$850 million in 2015, representing a more than threefold increase in enterprise value. Prior to his current role, Mr. Dobson served as executive vice president and group executive at CA Technologies Inc. His team had responsibility for a US$4 billion P&L. Prior to joining CA Technologies, Mr. Dobson served as president of Pitney Bowes Management Services (PBMS), a $1 billion revenue division of Pitney Bowes Inc. Previously, Mr. Dobson was chief executive officer of Corel Corporation, a $300 million global provider of leading software titles, including CorelDraw, WordPerfect and WinZip. During his three years at Corel, the company grew revenue 20% year over year, completed three successful acquisitions, and increased profits by more than 30% each year. In 2006, he was instrumental in leading the company's successful initial public offering. During Mr. Donson's leadership at Corel, the company's market value increased more than six times. Before joining Corel in 2005, David spent 19 years at IBM, where he held a number of senior management positions, including Corporate Vice President, Emerging Business Opportunities, and General Manager, IBM Printing Systems Division. He was a member of IBM's Senior Leadership Team and is a member of the board of directors of John Wiley & Sons.



Shareholders also voted in favour of the other resolutions put before the meeting, including the appointment of KPMG LLP and the replenishment of the number of common shares available for issuance upon the exercise of options issued under the Company's option plan. The Company also announced the reappointment of its current senior officer team, consisting of:

Craig O'Neill, Chief Executive Officer;

Shouvik Roy, Chief Financial Officer;

Eddie Chan, Chief Technology Officer;

Geoff Coutts, Vice President, Sales; and

John McLeod, Vice President, Marketing. About VersaPay VersaPay is a Fintech company and leading provider of cloud-based invoice-to-cash solutions, enabling businesses to provide a superior customer experience, get paid faster, streamline financial operations, and dramatically reduce DSO and costs. VersaPay ARC is the new standard in accounts receivable and collections management with a customer self-service environment to view invoices online, collaborate on inquiries and disputes, and facilitate secure online payments (ETF/ACH and credit card). Businesses gain access to a suite of powerful tools that enable efficient collections, cash application and real-time insight into accounts receivable. VersaPay ARC automatically reconciles payments and account information through integrations with a wide range of ERPs and accounting software providers. More information about VersaPay can be found on the Company's website at www.versapay.com or under the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com. SOURCE VersaPay Corporation

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[May 28, 2018] USI Announces SOM IoT Module Products with NXP And Qualcomm Solutions

SHANGHAI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Following product's high integration and specification application demands, USI (SSE-601231) R&D team, leading global electronics design manufacturer, utilizing its leading technology in the wireless communications module market, announces its WiFi and WWAN SOM (System on Module) IoT module with NXP and Qualcomm solutions to provide customers with a variety of solutions for Internet of Things scenario. As indicated in IHS's latest market analysis report, with the IoT's smart household appliance market becoming ever more prevalent, the entire market sales figure is expected to surpass US$2.2 billion by 2020. This suggests that there will be in excess of 470 million household electric appliances via the IoT worldwide by 2020, encompassing 186 million smart air-conditioners, 131 million smart washers and dryers, 120 million smart refrigerators, 11 million smart stovetops, 17 million smart dishwashers, and so on. USI's WiFi SOM IoT module adopts NXP i.MX serial microprocessors, combining with ARM microprocessor, eMMC, DDR3 memory, WiFi, BLE/BT, dual-frequency antenna and related technologies, supporting the choice of various memory spaces, and also provide various WiFi specification options (802.11ac/ 802.11abgn/ 802.11n). The module also support a dual-frequency antenna design, enabling the customers to operate an internal antenna or utilize a built-in reserved antenna jack for an external antenna design. Said product supports wide temperature industrial specifications and provides solutions for various application scenarios on Internet of Things such as smart home appliances and smart home security. Moreover, USI, having years of experience in modules and rugged handheld for many years, has extensive experience in offering diversified product solutions. USI said: "In terms of product requirements, our customers not only look for a miniaturization and robust design but also desire the development time can be shortened and more comprehensive. Or WWAN SOM IoT module adopts Snapdragon, SDM660, APQ8009 by integrating a majority of the system functions and also including the application processor, memory cache, power processing chip, and related wireless transmission functions. The WWAN SOM IoT module can provide different choices on specific product applications, such as Rugged Handheld, Mobile POS, Rugged Tablet, Wearable Device, and Car Terminal."



USI's WiFi and WWAN SOM IoT module enables its customers to be more competitive in product launching schedule. The design and product WiFi certification time can be shortened by up to 80%, and the cost of engineering development can reduce up to 50% of RD personnel engineering costs and minimize costs. In addition, on varied product developments, it is easier to duplicate the same platform, to reduce the design risk, and also to maintain the intended product performance.

The collaborating partners of USIs' WiFi and WWAN system-level SOM IoT module products are targeted at smart home appliances, smart home brands, mobile POS, and industrial application system integration (SI, System Integration). The company has discussed product specification design and development with customers in Europe, America, Japan and China. About USI (SSE: 601231) USI is a leading global D(MS)2 company providing design, miniaturization, material sourcing, manufacturing, logistics, and after services of electronic devices/modules for brand owners. USI is a member of ASE Group and has been listed in Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2012. It has many years of experience in the electronics manufacturing services industry and leverages the industry-leading technology of ASE Group, which enables USI to offer customers diversified products in the sectors of wireless communication, computer and storage, consumer, industrial, and automotive electronics worldwide. Through the sales service network in North America, Europe, Japan, Mainland China, Taiwan, and manufacturing sites in Mainland China, Taiwan and Mexico. USI has about 16,000 people worldwide. For more information, please visit the website www.usish.com. Product Contact SOM IoT Module with NXP Solution

Donny Tsai

Tel: +886-49-221-2700 #26610

email: donny_tsai@usiglobal.com SOM IoT Module with Qualcomm Solution

Tetsuya Chuang

Tel: +886-49-221-2700 #26029

email: tetsuya_chuang@usiglobal.com Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180528/2143544-1-a

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20180528/2143544-1-b

SOURCE USI

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[May 29, 2018] Nebulas CTO Robin Zhong: "Super nodes lead to community splits", and three criteria for evaluating 'blockchain 3.0'

Robin Zhong, the co-founder and CTO of Nebulas, a next generation public blockchain, participated in a panel discussion at the Blockchain Without Borders Summit in New York City. Speaking alongside Ronghui Gu, co-founder of Certik, and Huo Li, VP of Huoqiang, Robin touched upon the flaws in super-node, or distributed proof-of-stake (DPoS), systems implemented by some blockchain projects, and described three key criteria to define "Blockchain 3.0." SAN FRANCISCO, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The New York stop of the Blockchain Without Borders Summit opened was held in Manhattan on May 13th. One of the opening summits of New York Blockchain Week, the event attracted top blockchain top players, investors and media from around the world. Nebulas co-founder and CTO Robin Zhong participated in the event, speaking on a panel alongside Ronghui Gu, co-founder of Certik, Huo Li, the vice president of Huoqiang and Golden Financial Partners, and more. The esteemed panelists talked about "Super Node VS Blockchain 3.0" and debated the implementation of super nodes in blockchain, concurring that this model poses the risk of causing a split in a blockchain community. Moreover, the panelists pointed out that the legitimacy of a "blockchain 3.0" can be evaluated according to three criteria: developer-friendliness, upgrade-scalability, and return on value. "Blockchain 3.0 needs to meet three conditions" Thanks to the advent of tokens and blockchain-based data exchanges, blockchain will create a more fair economic model for users than the Internet, explained Robin. And by doing so, blockchain 3.0 will transform today's technological and economic models. Technically, it should be safer and simpler, and scalable than previous models. Economically, it will put more emphasis on sustainable development." More specifically, Robin believes that blockchain 3.0 needs to meet three conditions: First, allow simple and convenient blockchain app development, to encourage the emergence of a blockchain app ecosystem similar to oday's the Internet app ecosystem.



Second, functions can be rapidly expanded to respond to rapidly changing use cases. Third, implement appropriate business model and economic model to ensure the system can grow for the long-term.

"There is little point talking about TPS without any actual apps." While discussing the controversy of super node implementations, and whether EOS is a fitting representative for blockchain 3.0, Robin said that TPS is very important for blockchains, referencing Nebulas' performance of 2,000 TPS, which is 20 times superior to Ethereum's. However, the argued that there is no point in talking about TPS if the use-cases  and users  on a blockchain to create these transactions aren't on the blockchain yet. In the current context, it's more important to devote resources towards incubating dapps that can attract users, and motivating collaborative development, to create a useful and thriving blockchain ecosystem. "Supernodes may not be able to become the dominant business model in the future" Gu Ronghui, co-founder of CertiK, believes that security issues with EOS don't just stop at with the large token holders (super nodes) and the level of code. Rather, community equity should also be taken into consideration. Zhong Kui Bai shared a similar opinion. Their concern is that super-nodes may have conflicting interests with the community or, put another way, it's possible that large capital's profit-seeking motivations will diverge from the community's long-term vision of developing the ecosystem. This can lead to project stagnation or worse consequences. Therefore, blockchain projects that propose super-node schemes need to face this contradiction. Long-term development can only be achieved only if the projects help the community develop and give back to the community, and if the interests of the community are always consistent. Because of this difficulty, super nodes may not be able to become the dominant business model in the future. "Blockchain 3.0 will be the phase of blockchain technology for general public" Mainstream user adoption will finally happen during the blockchain 3.0-stage, Robin predicts, thanks to the arrival of killer apps. The recently-launched Nebulas Incentive Program is an example of an initiative that is trying to accelerate the arrival of this future. Nebulas is awarding 460,000 NAS bonuses to reward developers and promoters who contribute to the growth of the valuable killer apps. With this program, the hope is to incubate killer blockchain apps so that more people will adopt blockchain technology as quickly as possible. As reflected in this program, Nebulas has a mechanism that allows developers to benefit directly from its blockchain, such that anyone who truly contributes to the blockchain system can earn substantial rewards. About Nebulas: Nebulas is a new generation public blockchain aiming at a continuously improving ecosystem. This blockchain proposes three core innovations: 1. Value Ranking To enable value discovery in blockchain, Nebulas Rank measures multidimensional data in the blockchain world, and powers the platform's decentralized search framework. 2. Self-evolution To avoid the damage caused by forking to the blockchain, Nebulas Force enables rapid iteration and upgradability to its blockchain without the need for hard forks. 3. Native incentive With forward-looking incentive and consensus mechanisms, Nebulas Incentive rewards developers and users who contribute to the sustainability and growth of the ecosystem. View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nebulas-cto-robin-zhong-super-nodes-lead-to-community-splits-and-three-criteria-for-evaluating-blockchain-3-0-300655609.html SOURCE Nebulas

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[May 29, 2018] Global Air Based C4ISR Market Trends, Industry Progress & Challenges 2018-2023, With an Expected CAGR of Over 6% - ResearchAndMarkets.com

The "Global Air Based C4ISR Market - Global Trends, Industry Progress and Challenges (2018 - 2023)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The air-based C4ISR market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 6.04% during the forecast period. The military is evolving at a fast rate, propelled by developments in the industry and by the cutting-edge capabilities emerging from Pentagon research organizations like the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. APAC, which is expected to grow significantly as compared to the other regions, consists of countries with high military expenditure, such as India and China. With geopolitical tensions in the South China Sea and border issues in multiple countries, procurement of C4ISR will increase across the region. China, South Korea, Japan, and Indonesia are the key growth countries in this region. Integrated C4ISR will allow the military to own thearchitecture, system, and data, which reduces vendor lock-in and helps eliminate inefficiencies. In addition, the ability to create a modular architecture fosters innovation and reuse across the enterprise. To achieve this, government and military organizations will shift away from proprietary, closed, contractor-owned C4ISR systems to an enterprise architecture that is standard, open, and government-owned to ensure system interoperability and data integration. This approach calls for the government to develop enterprise blueprints with detailed designs for intersystem interfaces and specifications.



Companies Mentioned Elbit Corporation

Harris Corporation (News - Alert)

General Dynamics

ThalesRaytheon Systems

The Boeing Company

CACI International Inc

BAE Systems (News - Alert) Plc

Lockheed Martin

Northrop Grumman Corporation

Kratos Defense and Security Solutions

Rheinmetall Defense

Denel Key Topics Covered:

1. Introduction 2. Research Methodology 3. Market Insights 4. Market Dynamics 5. Air-Based C4ISR Market Segmentation By Type 6. Air-Based C4ISR Market Segmentation By Geography 7. Competitive Landscape 8. Company Profile 9. Future Outlook For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/l55qh2/global_air_based?w=4 View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005617/en/

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[May 29, 2018] BIOLIFE4D Establishes Operations in Houston as Part of Commercialization Strategy for Life-Saving 3D Bioprinting Technology

CHICAGO, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BIOLIFE4D, a biotech pioneer leveraging advances in tissue engineering to 3D print human organs viable for transplant, today announced it is now a resident company at Johnson & Johnson Innovation, JLABS (JLABS @ TMC) at the renowned Texas Medical Center.

Operating in Houston will play a critical role as BIOLIFE4D continues the development of its innovative technology and core mission of being able to 3D bioprint a viable human heart for transplant. This is a significant step forward for BIOLIFE4D in our quest to commercialize our 3D bioprinting technology and produce alternative viable treatment options for heart disease, such as patches, valves, and eventually, a human heart for transplant, said Steven Morris, CEO, BIOLIFE4D. Combined with our presence in Chicago and the agreements we signed with Northwestern University earlier this year, we have successfully penetrated two of the leading medical hubs in the world, and further positioned ourselves for success. Our presence in Houston furthers BIOLIFE4Ds deep relationship with the medical and scientific community within the state of Texas. A significant portion of the Companys leadership, such as Chief Medical Officer Dr. Jeffrey Morgan and Chief Science Officer Dr. Ravi Birla, have noteworthy connections within the region, including the Texas Medical Center and Texas Heart Institute. Many of the other top heart centers are also located within Houston, including Debakey Heart and Vascular Institute and Texas Childrens Hospital. Our presence in Houston will be instrumental to the success of our research operations at BIOLIFE4D said Birla, Chief Science Officer, BIOLIFE4D. Furthermore, access to collaboration with innovative biotechnology companies in the Houston area, in the heart of the Texas Medical Center, provides access to thought leaders in the field of heart research, thereby accelerating our research towards bioprinting human hearts. JLBS @ TMC is a 34,000-square-foot life science innovation center, located in Houston, Texas. The labs provide a flexible environment for start-up companies pursuing new technologies and research platforms to advance medical care. Through a "no strings attached" model, Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJI) does not take an equity stake in the companies occupying JLABS and the companies are free to develop products - either on their own, or by initiating a separate external partnership with JJI or any other company.



BIOLIFE4D will be able to collaborate with renowned area medical centers such as MD Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine, Methodist, UTHealth, and Rice University. To see how BIOLIFE4Ds process starts with a patients own cells and ends with a functional human heart ready for transplant, please watch this video.

To learn more about BIOLIFE4D and to express interest in investing please watch this video or visit https://biolife4d.com/invest/. About BIOLIFE4D BIOLIFE4D is a pioneering biotech company laser focused on leveraging advances in life sciences and tissue engineering to 3D bioprint a viable human heart suitable for transplant  lifesaving technology that gives patients the gift of time. With BIOLIFE4D, a patient-specific, fully functioning heart will be created through 3D bioprinting using the patients own cells  eliminating the well-known challenges of organ rejection and long donor waiting lists that plague existing organ transplant methods. Financed through equity crowdfunding, BIOLIFE4D is driving a movement to transform the treatment of heart disease, the leading cause of death among both men and women globally. Learn more and invest at biolife4d.com. Connect with us on social media on Twitter (@BIOLIFE4D), Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Securities are offered pursuant to a Regulation A+. Investors are encouraged to read the Offering Circular and exhibits and consult with their tax, legal, or financial professional prior to investing. Forward Looking Statements

We caution you that, whether or not expressly stated, certain statements made in this news release that reflect management's expectations regarding future events and economic performance are forward-looking in nature and, accordingly, are subject to risks and uncertainties. All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are forward-looking statements. In some cases, forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as "believe," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "potential," "continue" or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include risks and uncertainties, and there are important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Investors should not place any undue reliance on forward-looking statements since they involve known and unknown, uncertainties and other factors which are, in some cases, beyond the Companys control which could, and likely will, materially affect actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements. Media Contact

Matthew Bretzius

FischTank Marketing and PR

biolife4d@fischtankpr.com

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[May 29, 2018] Civica acquires master data management company VisionWare

GLASGOW, Scotland, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The Civica Group ("Civica" or "the Group"), an international market leader in business-critical software applications, digital solutions and managed services, has announced that Civica UK Limited, the company's wholly owned subsidiary, has acquired master data management company VisionWare Limited. Based in Glasgow, Scotland, and with operations in the UK and the US, VisionWare is a provider of innovative master data management (MDM) solutions for local, regional and state government and healthcare. Its products and services deliver to organizations a complete, single view of their customers, enabling more efficient data-driven processes and intelligent automation. The company has been recognized as an innovator by Bloor Research and included in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for MDM of customer data solutions. In keeping with Group strategy, VisionWare adds customer-relevant technology and expertise which is complementary across Civica's leading family of business-critical software and services for the public sector. It also builds on the recent launch of Civica's Digital division and strengthens the company's capability to accelerate transformation of public services through digital technology and automation. In addition to a significant presence in the UK and Asia Pacific, Civica is active in both the US and Canada. The Group has a 16-year unbroken record of profitable growth, and as part of its strategic direction to increase its scale of activity within government and healthcare globally, the business is eager to develop opportunities in the US and Canada and is committed to supporting Nort American customers.



Master data is a fundamental enabler for digital business platforms. VisionWare's MDM solutions allow customers to break down the silos that hold data and create a single view, whether of citizens, patients or members, underpinned by smart matching technology to synthesize data across multiple systems. VisionWare customers include North Lanarkshire Council, which won a 2017 digital engagement award for its customer portal project, Mecklenburg County, BUPA and Premera Blue Cross, the largest health plan in the Pacific Northwest. In the UK the two companies are already working together as part of Civica's strategic partnership at Hull City Council.

Wayne Story, Civica Group CEO, said, "I am delighted to welcome VisionWare to the Group. The public sector and healthcare are facing major change, while emerging technologies as part of a broader digital revolution are also driving a massive shift. Together we have a stronger capability to help customers extract maximum business value from their data, with the opportunity to expand further on the current activities of both companies and to capitalize on key opportunities, from digital engagement to machine learning." Gordon Cooper, VisionWare founder and CEO, said, "All organizations are dealing with exploding volumes of data and recognize the enormous value locked away in fragmented data assets which can help to deliver a better customer experience and greater efficiency. Master data management solutions have an increasingly important role to play, and we are excited about our increased ability to grow and expand as part of the Civica Group." About Civica Civica (www.civica.com) is a market-leading specialist in business-critical software, digital solutions and managed services that help teams and organizations around the world to transform the way they work. Combining exceptional customer focus, experience and commitment, Civica supplies more than 3,000 major customers in 10 countries around the world. About VisionWare VisionWare is a leading provider of Master Data Management (MDM) solutions for healthcare and local government organizations. It provides the tools for both government entities as well as healthcare providers, payers, and technology companies to make critical advancements in digital transformation, analytics, citizen/patient engagement, quality improvement, and compliance. Its solution suite will match, verify, govern, and integrate data, providing one rich, comprehensive view of organizations' patients or citizens. VisionWare has the flexibility to work with multiple systems and across a variety of data silos. Contact: Tim Busche, timbusche@envhs.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/civica-acquires-master-data-management-company-visionware-300655336.html SOURCE VisionWare

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[May 29, 2018] Vet Online Supply Issues Chairman Update Letter

Kelseyville, CA. , May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vet Online Supply, Inc. (OTC PINK:VTNL) (Vet Online Supply or the Company), the rapidly growing CBD Pet product company, today announced the issuance of a shareholder update letter from its Executive Chairman and Executive Officer, Daniel Rushford. Dear Fellow Shareholder, Vet Online Supply continues to be hard at work, globally. We have had a fast start to 2018 with excellent results in the first and second quarters through the collective group initiatives of Matthew Scott and his key sales executives and sales support; Samuel Berry and his key operations, technical support and service delivery; William Heseltine and his key legal counsel and oversight development; Ben Borgers and K. Thomas and their accounting and finance; and, as always, Daniel Rushford and his indomitable leadership, especially in the sales arena, to make things happen; We are pleased to report that our executive team, with its key leadership management team, is continuing to produce results. We have a very big and bright 2018 planned. So far this year, in the first 2 quarters our company has signed $9 million of new contracts, spanning the CBD industry on the west coast from Los Angeles to Seattle, with near future contracts for national distribution projected at $75M. I am extremely proud of our accomplishments as we have accelerated the growth this year. We expect the pace to accelerate during the year and our reported results will reflect th hard work that has gone into the continued growth of our company.



Vet Online Supply is executing improved capital market initiatives in 2018. We are embarking on multi-city road-shows throughout the year in the United States. We have just completed our first launch of our CBD brand of pet products for dispensaries throughout the west coast with excellent participation and reception of the brand and its story. A major focus for Vet Online Supply in 2018 is to target high quality long-term focused institutional shareholders and high quality research coverage. We stand behind the efficacy of our brand products and the value they add to the pet market worldwide. We are proud of our growth and potential with substantial inventory, manufacturing and product support to operate and grow our business. We are putting these dollars to work throughout 2018 (and beyond) in a manner that we believe will yield the maximum shareholder value for profitable sales growth, and product and services development.

www.vetonlinesupplies.com ABOUT VET ONLINE SUPPLY: Vet Online Supply Inc. The company manufactures its own brand of holistic pet products to promote health and well being. The goal of "Vet Online Supply" is to provide the $38B industry with value priced and superior quality holistic pet products. Safe Harbor for Forward-Looking Statements: This news release includes forward-looking statements. While these statements are made to convey to the public the company's progress, business opportunities and growth prospects, readers are cautioned that such forward-looking statements represent management's opinion. Whereas management believes such representations to be true and accurate based on information and data available to the company at this time, actual results may differ materially from those described. The Company's operations and business prospects are always subject to risk and uncertainties. Important factors that may cause actual results to differ are and will be set forth in the company's periodic filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Contact: Meridian Consulting 323-364-3793

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[May 29, 2018] International Endeavors Corp to launch Canadian distribution of the Off Grid Grow Lab

TEMECULA, Calif., May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via OTC PR WIRE -- International Endeavors Corp (OTC:IDVV) is pleased to announce that it has made a strategic commitment for the opening of distribution centers in the Canadian Recreational and Medical marijuana market. In the agreement IDVV will open and supply distribution centers with its Off Grid Grow Lab (OGGL) Each distribution location will be equipped with fully built OGGL in both 30 and 40 versions ready for drive off. Our trained sales crew will open each location and train local staff for daily operations.

About the OGGL: The OGGL is the 1st purpose built self-contained off grid growing laboratory. Built around low cost shipping containers the OGGL ships with integrated solar modules and lithium phosphate batteries coupled with generator backup for 24 hour power to the grow. The OGGL has been configured for the 3 stages of growing: Vegetative/ Flowering and Cloning. Andrew Read has stated As Canada legalizes cannabis IDVV will be there to support new farmers and large cannabis factories with off grid operations through our distribution centers. We see huge upside potential for our Canadian distribution facilities and are excited to help industry experts and new cannabis enthusiasts setup off grid growing centers throughout Canada Nearly five million Canadians spent money on marijuana last year, spending an average of about $1,200 each, according to new federal data. That's one of the main takeaways of a Statistics Canada report released Thursday that attempts to quantify the size of the market leading up to legalization this summer. The almost $6-billion figure compares with the just over $22 bilion that Canadians spent on alcohol last year, and the $16 billion they spent on tobacco products. In terms of production, however, the marijuana industry is now bigger than Canada's beer or tobacco industries. The country produced:



About $3.4 billion worth of cannabis in 2014.

About $2.9 billion in the brewing industry.

$1 billion in tobacco products. Source CBD.CA http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marijuana-industry-1.45003152 OGGL Off Grid Grow Lab https://drive.google.com/file/d/1f7TnB45Iipbz1rrrrnTyFsGVjYym82ms/view

About International Endeavors Corporation International Endeavors Corporation is a company focused on building IP in the Medical Marijuana and Legal Cannibas Industry through the creation of Biomedical Devices, Clean Energy Solutions and Patents. (IEC) is also engaged in locating and acquiring established companies, brands and technologies. The Companies portfolio includes commercial and agricultural land and buildings. Forward-Looking Statements are included within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements regarding our expected future financial position, results of operations, cash flows, financing plans, business strategy, products and services, competitive positions, growth opportunities, plans and objectives of management for future operations, including words such as "anticipate," "if," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "expect," "intend," "may," "could," "should," "will," and other similar expressions are forward-looking statements and involve risks, uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control, which may cause actual results, performance, or achievements to differ materially from anticipated results, performance, or achievements. International Endeavors Corporation ( IDVV ) is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaim any such obligation to) update or alter our forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Contact: Nate Engel CEO Phone: 951-296-1024 Email: nate@internationalendeavorscorp.com

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[May 29, 2018] Zest Labs CEO Peter Mehring to Speak on Panel at GS1 Digital Convergence Forum

Zest Labs, an AgTech company, today announced that CEO Peter Mehring will participate in a panel discussion titled, "Brand Building Through Earned Trust," at the GS1 Digital Convergence Forum, on June 7 in Phoenix, Arizona. Mehring will be speaking on the panel along with Myron Burke (senior director, emerging technologies, Walmart Inc.) and Azeem Malik (blockchain business development, IBM (News - Alert) ). The panel will be moderated by Robert Tercek, digital futurist and digital media pioneer. Zest Labs is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ecoark Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX: ZEST), to be renamed Zest Technologies, Inc. The "digital future of food" is becoming reality and the industry has been working on end-to-end supply chain visibility for years. However, with the rapid evolution of technology, we have the automation and ubiquity needed to achieve aspirational business objectives in areas of transparency, sustainability, and profitability. Join this panel for a discussion on the art of the possible.







Who: Peter Mehring, CEO, Zest Labs Myron Burke, senior director, emerging technologies, Walmart Inc. Azeem Malik, blockchain business development, IBM Robert Tercek, digital futurist and digital media pioneer (Moderator) What: "Brand Building Through Earned Trust" When: Thursday, June 7, 2018 at 9:25am MT Where: JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge 5350 E Marriott Drive Phoenix, AZ

The Digital Convergence (News - Alert) Forum is offered through GS1 US, a member of GS1 global, and is a not-for-profit information standards organization that facilitates industry collaboration to improve supply chain visibility and efficiency through the use of GS1 Standards. About Zest Labs

Zest Labs is an AgTech company modernizing the post-harvest fresh food supply chain to improve food safety and reduce food waste by 50% or more. Our flagship solution, Zest Fresh, provides autonomous, field-to-shelf visibility for proactive decision making to improve delivered freshness and reduce shrink. Integrated blockchain technology provides true transparency for food safety, product freshness and traceability. Zest Fresh improves product margins and increases customer satisfaction and brand loyalty while promoting sustainability. To learn more about Zest Labs, please click here. To watch a video about Zest Fresh, please click here. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005120/en/

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[May 29, 2018] Northern Light's CEO Describes "The Path to Cognitive Search" at Data Summit 2018

BOSTON, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- A generational shift in online business search is occurring as a result of the maturation and commercial availability of machine learning technology, Northern Light CEO David Seuss told an audience of business technology leaders at Data Summit 2018 in Boston last week. "Business search is far more complex than consumer search, because it's about mastering a topic, such as 'what are our competitors up to' or 'what do our customers care about,' rather than simply finding a fact, like 'what time will the movie start,'" Seuss said. "Since 1994, when the first search engine was deployed, the business search process is largely unchanged: A user entered search terms in a field, hit the search button, got a list of documents called search results, reviewed the list to find a few that might be relevant, downloaded one document, manually scanned it to see if it's on point, and then returned to the list and continued the process until frustrated or out of time. "Users are overwhelmed and tired, and would love to dispense with search altogether," Seuss explained. "What people really want is a personal search assistant. They demand to know why the machine can't jus read all those documents for us and tell us what it finds. Well, now it can. Machine learning can change the entire business search paradigm."



Seuss went on to describe the deeper insights that organizations and their knowledge workers can glean as a result of cognitive search, and how the new paradigm specifically supports the work styles and information consumption preferences of Millennials, who soon will represent a majority of the workforce. Seuss' talk, entitled "The Path to Cognitive Search," was part of the Cognitive Computing Summit, a specialized conference track at Data Summit 2018, an intense two-day immersion into the major technologies and strategies for becoming a data-driven business held last week in Boston.

About Northern Light

Northern Light has been providing knowledge management platforms for competitive intelligence and market research insights to global enterprises since 1996. The company pioneered the application of machine learning and artificial intelligence for the automated analysis and extraction of meaning from large collections of market research and competitive intelligence. Northern Light's current clients include 10 of Boston Consulting Group's 50 "Most Innovative Companies" of 2016, and Fortune 1000 leaders across multiple industries such as information technology, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, and life sciences. Northern Light has over 250,000 users of its strategic research portals. Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, Northern Light has unique content aggregation partnerships with more than 150 of the world's leading syndicated technology and industry research publishers, aggregates business and technology news from over 6,500 news sources and is a charter member of the Center for Complex Systems and Enterprises at the Stevens Institute of Technology. Media Contact: David Domeshek

(508) 873-7068

195956@email4pr.com View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/northern-lights-ceo-describes-the-path-to-cognitive-search-at-data-summit-2018-300655170.html SOURCE Northern Light

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[May 29, 2018] Ontario ENERGY STAR Canada Partners Recognized for Leadership in Energy Efficiency

OTTAWA, May 29, 2018 /CNW/ - Energy efficiency can save Canadians money, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a clean economy that includes good, middle-class jobs. With the value of the energy efficiency market expected to grow to $550 billion by 2035, Canada has the opportunity to promote energy efficiency and deliver economic growth through investments in innovation. Through the voluntary leadership of businesses and organizations, we can see the transition to a low-carbon economy in action. Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Jim Carr, today recognized the national winners of the 2018 ENERGY STAR Canada Participant Awards, and the first certified ENERGY STAR commercial and institutional buildings in the country, for helping Canada build a clean energy future and address global climate change. Among the winners were nine organizations and 40 buildings from Ontario. The ENERGY STAR Canada Participant Awards  now in their 15th year  recognize organizations that have demonstrated excellence in promoting the most energy-efficient products and new homes available on the market in Canada. They represent utilities, manufacturers, retailers, associations and homebuilders that are helping Canadian consumers and businesses save money while also addressing climate change. In March, the ENERGY STAR Canada program expanded to include the certification of seven types of commercial and institutional buildings, which encourages and recognizes top energy performance in commercial offices, K12 schools, hospitals, medical offices, senior care communities and residential care facilities, supermarkets and food stores, and ice and curling rinks. The "Wh will be the first?" challenge distinguishes buildings that are among the first certified buildings in Canada.



For the complete list of this year's winners, please visit 2018 Award Winner Profiles. The Minister also announced that automotive and commercial baking sectors now have access to Energy Performance Indicator (EPI) benchmarking tools. The ENERGY STAR for Industry certification, launched in August 2017, is designed to help Canadian manufacturers reduce energy costs and remain competitive.

Quote "Investing in our homes and buildings is one of the easiest ways to combat climate change. On behalf of all Canadians, I am proud to recognize these Ontario-based businesses for their superior energy performance and ongoing leadership in improving energy efficiency in Canada."

Jim Carr

Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Quick Facts Through the national Generation Energy dialogue, Canadians agreed that energy-efficient buildings and homes are a critical component in the transition to Canada's clean energy future.

clean energy future. ENERGY STAR Canada is a 17-year-long energy efficiency success story. The program is a voluntary partnership between the Government of Canada and more than 1,500 organizations working to use our natural resources more wisely through greater energy efficiency. The program is administered and promoted by Natural Resources Canada.

is a 17-year-long energy efficiency success story. The program is a voluntary partnership between the Government of and more than 1,500 organizations working to use our natural resources more wisely through greater energy efficiency. The program is administered and promoted by Natural Resources Canada. Behind each ENERGY STAR label is a product, home, building or industrial facility that is independently certified to use less energy and cause fewer of the emissions that contribute to climate change. ENERGY STAR is Canada's simple choice to save energy and money and protect our environment. Associated Links 2018 Award Winner Profiles

ENERGY STAR Canada

ENERGY STAR certification for commercial and institutional buildings

certification for commercial and institutional buildings ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager

Portfolio Manager ENERGY STAR for Industry Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan); @ENERGYSTAR_CAN (https://twitter.com/energystar_can). NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available at www.news.gc.ca. SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

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[May 29, 2018] Manitoba ENERGY STAR Canada Partners Recognized for Leadership in Energy Efficiency

OTTAWA, May 29, 2018 /CNW/ - Energy efficiency can save Canadians money, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and create a clean economy that includes good, middle-class jobs. With the value of the energy efficiency market expected to grow to $550 billion by 2035, Canada has the opportunity to promote energy efficiency and deliver economic growth through investments in innovation. Through the voluntary leadership of businesses and organizations, we can see the transition to a low-carbon economy in action. Canada's Minister of Natural Resources, the Honourable Jim Carr, today recognized the national winners of the 2018 ENERGY STAR Canada Participant Awards, and the first certified ENERGY STAR commercial and industrial buildings in the country, for helping Canada build a clean energy future and address global climate change. The two award winners from Manitoba are Manitoba Hydro, for the 2018 Promotional Campaign of the Year, and Artis REIT, for certifying a property at 360 Main in Winnipeg. The ENERGY STAR Canada Participant Awards  now in their 15th year  recognize organizations that have demonstrated excellence in promoting the most energy-efficient products and new homes available on the market in Canada. They represent utilities, manufacturers, retailers, associations and homebuilders that are helping Canadian consumers and businesses save money while also addressing climate change. In March, the ENERGY STAR Canada program expanded to include the certification of seven types of commercial and institutional buildings, which encourages and recognizes top energy performance in commercial offices, K12 schools, hospitals, medical offices, senior care communities and residential care facilities, supermarkets and food stores, and ice and curling rinks. The "Who will be the first?" challenge distiguishes buildings that are among the first certified buildings in Canada.



For the complete list of this year's winners, please visit 2018 Award Winner Profiles. The Minister also announced that automotive and commercial baking sectors now have access to Energy Performance Indicator (EPI) benchmarking tools. The ENERGY STAR for Industry certification, launched in August 2017, is designed to help Canadian manufacturers reduce energy costs and remain competitive.

Quote "Investing in the energy efficiency of our homes and buildings is one of the easiest ways to combat climate change. On behalf of all Canadians, I am proud to recognize these Manitoba-based businesses for their superior energy performance and ongoing leadership in improving energy efficiency in Canada." Jim Carr

Canada's Minister of Natural Resources Quick Facts Through the national Generation Energy dialogue, Canadians agreed that energy-efficient buildings and homes are a critical component in the transition to Canada's clean energy future.

clean energy future. ENERGY STAR Canada is a 17-year-long energy efficiency success story. The program is a voluntary partnership between the Government of Canada and more than 1,500 organizations working to use our natural resources more wisely through greater energy efficiency. The program is administered and promoted by Natural Resources Canada.

is a 17-year-long energy efficiency success story. The program is a voluntary partnership between the Government of and more than 1,500 organizations working to use our natural resources more wisely through greater energy efficiency. The program is administered and promoted by Natural Resources Canada. Behind each ENERGY STAR label is a product, home, building or industrial facility that is independently certified to use less energy and cause fewer of the emissions that contribute to climate change. ENERGY STAR is Canada's simple choice to save energy and money and protect our environment. Associated Links 2018 Award Winner Profiles

ENERGY STAR Canada

ENERGY STAR certification for commercial and institutional buildings

certification for commercial and institutional buildings ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager

Portfolio Manager ENERGY STAR for Industry certification Follow us on Twitter: @NRCan (http://twitter.com/nrcan); @ENERGYSTAR_CAN (https://twitter.com/energystar_can). NRCan's news releases and backgrounders are available at www.news.gc.ca. SOURCE Natural Resources Canada

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[May 29, 2018] HCL Infosystems Registers Rs. 3,612 Crore Revenue in FY18 from Continuing Operations, an Increase of 12% Y-o-Y

NEW DELHI, May 29, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- - Q4FY18 revenue from continuing operations was Rs. 1,067 Crore*, Y-o-Y increase of 51% - Distribution Business revenue for FY18 stood at Rs. 3,016 Crore, Y-o-Y increase of 22% FY18 Business Highlights of Continuing Operations: FY18 revenue was Rs. 3,612 Crore vs. Rs. 3,225 Crore in FY17, an increase of 12% Y-o-Y

vs. Rs. in FY17, an increase of 12% Y-o-Y Distribution Business revenue for FY18 stood at Rs. 3016 Crore , Y-o-Y increase of 22% FY18 Annual revenue of Enterprise Distribution was Rs. 1,524 Crore vs. Rs. 1,168 Crore in FY17, Y-o-Y increase of 30%. Consumer Distribution clocked revenue of Rs. 1,492 Crore in FY18 vs. Rs. 1,298 Crore in FY17, an increase of 15%.

, Y-o-Y increase of 22% Profit / (Loss) before interest, tax and exceptional items was Rs. (30.7) Crore vs. Rs.30 . 5 Crore in the preceding year

vs. . in the preceding year Profit / (Loss) before tax and after exceptional items was Rs. (201.6) Crore in the FY vs. Rs. (133) Crore in the preceding year. Exceptional items include impairment of Goodwill for Learning business Rs. 31.4 Crore in FY18 and for FY17 the impairment of Goodwill for Learning business which was Rs. 11 Crore Revenue from discontinued operations in FY18 was Rs. 434 Crore and Profit / (Loss) before tax was Rs. (507) Crore including exceptional item of Rs. 412 Crore (Goodwill impairment for Services) Q4FY18 Business Highlights of Continuing operations: Q4 FY18 revenue was Rs. 1,067 Crore vs. Rs. 705 Crore in Q4FY17, an increase of 51% Y-o-Y.

vs. Rs. in Q4FY17, an increase of 51% Y-o-Y. Distribution business revenue increased from Rs. 504 Crore in Q4FY17 to Rs. 908 Crore in Q4FY18, a growth of 80% Y-o-Y Enterprise Distribution revenue stood at Rs. 444 Crore in Q4 FY18 vs. Rs.338 Crore in Q4FY17, an Y-o-Y increase of 31% Consumer Distribution clocked revenue of Rs. 464 Crore in Q4FY18 vs. Rs.166 Crore in Q4FY17, an increase of 179%

in Q4FY17 to Rs. in Q4FY18, a growth of 80% Y-o-Y Profit / (Loss) before interest, tax and exceptional items was Rs. (17) Crore in Q4FY18 vs. Rs. (8.6) Crore in Q4FY17

in Q4FY18 vs. Rs. in Q4FY17 Profit / (Loss) before tax and after exceptional items was Rs. (80) Crore in the quarter vs. Rs. (59.2) Crore in the corresponding quarter in the last financial year

in the quarter vs. Rs. in the corresponding quarter in the last financial year Exceptional items include impairment of Goodwill for Learning business Rs. 31.4 Crore considering the termination of the Business Transfer Agreement with M/s. Everest Edusys and Solutions Private Limited Revenue from discontinued operations in Q4 FY18 was Rs. 102 Crore and Profit / (Loss) before tax was Rs. (47) Crore including exceptional item of Rs. 22 Crore (Goodwill impairment for Services) HCL Infosystems, India's pioneer IT Services, Solutions & Distribution Company, today announced its financial results for the year ended March 31st, 2018.



Mr. Rangarajan Raghavan, Managing Director, HCL Infosystems Ltd., commenting on the results said, "FY18 was an eventful year for our company. The highlight of the year was the robust performance of our Distribution business with annual revenue of Rs. 3,016 Crore with healthy growth rates. The year also witnessed optimization of certain businesses which has enabled us to journey ahead on a stronger footing. We took certain strategic decisions whereby the Domestic Services business is being divested & the Care business has been divested to strategic buyers. Even so in Q4FY18 the Y-o-Y revenue growth from continuing operations was substantial." Distribution Business:

The Distribution Business reported robust revenue of Rs. 908 Crore in the quarter. In FY18 the Consumer Business underwent a successful transition from a single brand to a multi-brand distribution model with engagements with leading brands like Apple, HMD (Nokia), Samsung and Microsoft. The partnership with HMD Global continued for Nokia on a stronger note contributing to overall revenues. Also, in September 2017 the partnership with Apple was a highpoint in the unfolding of the multi-brand journey. In the year, new and flagship mobile phone models were launched by the Principals which led to increased business traction. Consumer Distribution clocked revenue of Rs. 464 Crore in Q4FY18 versus Rs. 166 Crore in Q4FY17, an increase of 179% Y-o-Y. In the quarter Consumer Distribution performed well in new lines of businesses - a Direct to Consumer (D2C) initiative was kick-started in the quarter by partnering with HMD for Nokia.com. In other channels like MFI and Online Marketplace the business made a start through its alignment with Samsung. Gross margin dropped in Q4FY18 due to supply mismatch of new products launched and lower demand of new models. Enterprise Distribution registered a Y-o-Y growth of 31% with revenue of Rs. 444 Crore in Q4FY18 versus Rs. 338 Crore in Q4FY17. In the quarter the business won contract from marquee customers from various verticals including BFSI and ITeS. The division also has laid special emphasis on driving and building emerging technology businesses like Cloud, Security, Hybrid Infra and Collaboration. Enterprise Distribution also signed a strategic partnership with Alibaba Cloud Services for the market in the country. The Enterprise Distribution Business during the year launched the P3 or Premier Partner Programme which led to increased engagement with the target partner community. Within the programme, select channel partners are enabled to grow their respective business by offering business aligned new-age technologies to customers Overseas Business: The Overseas Services business in Singapore also posted growth in the quarter as well as in FY18. In Q4FY18 the business posted an 18% Y-o-Y growth over Q4FY17. In FY18 the business grew 16% Y-o-Y over FY17 with good profitability. System Integration (SI) & Solutions Business: The SI and Solutions business reported revenue of Rs. 56 Crore in Q4FY18. In FY18 the business registered revenue of Rs. 182 Crore with focus on project execution. The total order book size stood at Rs. 690 Crore as on 31st March 2018. The company successfully concluded a capital raising exercise for Rs. 499 Crore by way of a rights issue to its existing shareholders at a price of Rs. 47 in December 2017. The promoters subscribed to 89% of the issue. The Board of Directors in its meeting held on January 31, 2018 also approved the sale of CARE business, a division of HCL Services Limited (wholly owned subsidiary) on slump sale basis, to QDigi Services Limited (Earlier known as HCL Computing Products Limited HCPL) and then transfer of entire shareholding of QDigi Services Limited to M/s Quess Corp Limited. Pursuant to above, the CARE Business division has been transferred to QDigi Services Limited on March 31, 2018 and entire shareholding has been transferred to M/s Quess Corp Limited on April 11, 2018. The Board of Directors of HCL Infosystems Limited (the Company) in its meeting held on 9th February, 2018 had approved, sale of HCL Services Limited (consisting of Domestic Enterprise Services Business), a Wholly owned subsidiary to M/s Karvy Data Management Services Limited for a consideration of approximately Rs.108 (including tax refunds payable to the extent received). The consideration is subject to final adjustments at time of closing date. This transaction excludes IT & Facility unit and investment in Singapore & its subsidiaries. About HCL Infosystems HCL Infosystems is an IT Services, Distribution and Digital Solutions Company, enabling organizations attain and sustain competitive advantage by leveraging Information and Communication Technologies. It offers a portfolio of capabilities spanning IT & System Integration services to value-added distribution of technology, mobility and consumer products. For more information, please visit us at www.hclinfosystems.com About HCL Founded in 1976 as one of India's original IT garage start-ups, HCL is a pioneer of modern computing with many firsts to its credit, including the introduction of the 8-bit microprocessor-based computer in 1978 well before its global peers. Today, the HCL enterprise has a presence across varied sectors that include technology, healthcare and talent management solutions and comprises three companies - HCL Infosystems, HCL Technologies, and HCL Healthcare. The enterprise generates annual revenues of over US $8 billion with more than 120,000 employees from 140 nationalities operating across 39 countries, including over 500 points of presence in India. For further information, visit www.hcl.com

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[May 29, 2018] Insight School of Michigan to Hold Commencement Ceremony

Insight School of Michigan (ISMI) will celebrate the Class of 2018 at an in-person commencement ceremony on Friday, June 1 at the Grand Ledge High School Auditorium. An online public charter school serving students in grades 6 through 12, ISMI's mission is to provide students who are struggling with their education an alternative learning program that helps them stay in school, earn a high school diploma and prepare for success in college, life and work. Among the Class of 2018's 120 students, graduates report having been accepted to more than a dozen colleges and universities, including: Ball State University, Grand Valley State University, Michigan State University, Wayne State University, Lake Michigan College, and Henry Ford (News - Alert) Community College. Two students will begin military service with the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps, an others will enter the workforce.



"As ISMI seniors get ready to take on the next chapter in their lives, the Class of 2018 is set up for success," said Kevin P. Chavous, K12 President of Academics, Policy and Schools. "It is gratifying to offer K12-powered students a personalized education that meets the diverse needs of all students." Jasmine Teutsch will serve as valedictorian, and plans to attend a four-year college to study graphic design and writing. Thomas Brancheau will serve as salutatorian. Miss Teutsch, as well as Mr. Chavous, will speak at the ceremony. Mr. Chavous, ISMI Head of School Teresa Boardman and graduating students are available for media interviews.

Details of the graduation ceremony are as follows: WHAT: Insight School of Michigan 2018 Graduation

WHEN: Friday, June 1, 2018, 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: Grand Ledge High School Auditorium, 820 Spring St, Grand Ledge, MI 48837 About Insight School of Michigan Insight School of Michigan (ISMI) is a tuition-free online public charter school authorized by Central Michigan University that serves students in grades 6 through 12. As part of the Michigan public school system, ISMI is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the rigorous, innovative and interactive curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of proprietary K-12 curriculum and online education programs. For more information about ISMI, visit mi.insightschools.net. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005144/en/

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[May 29, 2018] Utah Virtual Academy to Celebrate Record Number of Graduates on June 1

Utah Virtual Academy (UTVA), an accredited online public charter school for students statewide, will hold an in-person graduation ceremony on Friday, June 1 at 6 p.m. at East High School in Salt Lake City. Utah Speaker of the House Greg Hughes (News - Alert) , a strong supporter of school choice, will deliver the keynote address. "Congratulations to the Utah Virtual Academy Class of 2018," Hughes said. "Graduation is the first step in these students' life journeys. They should feel extremely proud to have reached this milestone." Of this year's school-record 160 graduates, 35 percent are graduating with honors. Class of 2018 valedictorian Lynn Ricks and co-salutatorians Amanda Baird and Matthew Johnson will address their classmates. Ricks, who also earned her associate degree from Snow College thanks to concurrent enrollment, plans to study biology at University of Utah in the fall. Baird will attend BYU-Idaho, and Johnson will enroll at Weber State University. UTVA is also proud of 54 early graduates in 2018, including 34 seniors who finished their high school requirements after the fall semester, 19 juniors and one sophomore. UTVA's graduates have benefitted from a rigorous and engaging curriculum while receiving instruction from state-certified teachers, which enables students to find post-high school success. The school offers an active, supportive school community, a range of extracurricular ctivities and a robust Advanced Learner Program which allows high school students to get ahead by earning college credits through in-person and online concurrent enrollment opportunities.



UTVA also offers the Destinations Career Program, which prepares full-time students in grades 9-12 for college and careers and provides them with relevant technical skills in two career fields - information technology and health sciences. "Our staff is proud of the commitment, motivation and drive demonstrated by our high school graduates," said UTVA head of school Meghan Merideth. "We look forward to their future successes and the many positive contributions they have in store for society."

The graduates report that they have been accepted to colleges and universities across the country, including University of Washington, Utah State University, Wichita State University, California Polytechnic State University, Dixie State University, Snow College, Salt Lake Community College, New York Film Academy in Los Angeles and the U.S. Air Force Academy Prep School. In addition, two students plan to join the armed forces. Students choose online school for a variety of reasons, including a safe learning environment, advanced learning options and the ability to support extracurricular pursuits or medical needs. Media is welcome to attend graduation. Details are as follows: Utah Virtual Academy Graduation

Friday, June 1, 2018 - 6 p.m.

840 S 1300 E

Salt Lake City, UT 84102 UTVA head of school Meghan Merideth and graduating seniors will be available for media interviews. About Utah Virtual Academy Utah Virtual Academy (UTVA) is an accredited online public charter school that serves Utah students in kindergarten through 12th grade. As part of the Utah public school system, UTVA is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the curriculum provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs. UTVA also offers individual course options for high school students enrolled in their resident district program, an approved charter school, private school or home school as part of the Statewide Online Education Program (SOEP). For more information about UTVA, please visit http://utva.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005907/en/

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[May 29, 2018] Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy to Hold Commencement Ceremony

Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy (MGLVA) will celebrate the Class of 2018 at an in-person commencement ceremony on Sunday, June 3 at Waverly High School in Lansing. An accredited, full-time, online public charter school serving students in grades K-12, MGLVA is available tuition-free to students across the state. Of this year's graduating class of 199 students, 22 are graduating with honors. Collectively, the class reports having been accepted to colleges and universities across the country, including: Arizona State University, Baker College, Grand Valley State University, Pennsylvania State University, Rasmussen College, Schoolcraft Community College and Western Michigan University. "We are proud of the Class of 2018 and all they have accomplished, and can't wait for them to shine their light into the world," says Kendall Schroeder, MGLVA Head of School. "Our online learning platform allows our students to lay a solid foundation for thir next chapter, whether they plan to continue their education or enter the workforce."



Adam Eastling will serve as valedictorian, and plans to attend Muskegon Community College. Tottiona Bushell will serve as salutatorian, and will pursue a public policy degree at Schoolcraft Community College. Both students are among MGLVA's 24 Legacy Graduates, those students who have completed their entire high school careers at the online school. MGLVA students access a robust online curriculum in the core subjects and a host of electives, and attend live virtual classes taught by Michigan-licensed teachers. MGLVA graduates earn their high school diplomas as they explore their interests in a personalized, online learning environment.

Adam and Tottiona, along with MGLVA Board President Dave Ohman, will speak at the commencement ceremony. Mr. Schroeder, recently named K12's Head of School of the Year, as well as graduating seniors will be available for media interviews. Details of the ceremony are as follows: WHAT: Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy 2018 Graduation Ceremony

WHEN: Sunday, June 3, 2018, 2:00 p.m.

WHERE: Waverly High School, Auditorium, 160 Snow Road, Lansing, MI 48917 About Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy Michigan Great Lakes Virtual Academy (MGLVA) is a full-time, online public charter school, authorized by Manistee Area Public Schools and serves students in grades K through 12. MGLVA is tuition-free, giving parents and families the choice to access the engaging curriculum and tools provided by K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), the nation's leading provider of K-12 proprietary curriculum and online education programs. For more information about MGLVA, visit mglva.k12.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005146/en/

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[May 29, 2018] Oncolytics Biotech Announces New OTCQX Ticker Symbol

CALGARY, Alberta and SAN DIEGO, May 29, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oncolytics Biotech Inc. (TSX:ONC) (OTCQX:ONCYD), currently developing REOLYSIN (pelareorep), an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus turning cold tumors hot, today announced that following its share consolidation, the Companys new ticker symbol on the OTCQX is ONCYD.

About Oncolytics Biotech Inc.

Oncolytics is a biotechnology company developing REOLYSIN, also known as pelareorep, an intravenously delivered immuno-oncolytic virus. The compound induces selective tumor lysis and promotes an inflamed tumor phenotype -- turning "cold" tumors "hot" -- through innate and adaptive immune responses to treat a variety of cancers. Oncolytics' clinical development program emphasizes three pillars: chemotherapy combinations to trigger selective tumor lysis and immuno-therapy and immune modulator (IMiD) combinations to produce innate and adaptive immune responses. Oncolytics is currently planning its first registration study in metastatic breast cancer, as well as studies in combination with checkpoint inhibitors and targeted and IMiD therapies in solid and hematological malignancies. For further information, please visit: www.oncolyticsbiotech.com.



This press release contains forward-looking statements, within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended and forward-looking information under applicable Canadian securities laws (such forward-looking statements and forward-looking information are collectively referred to herein as forward-looking statements). Forward-looking statements, including the Company's belief as to the potential and mode of action of REOLYSIN, also known as pelareorep, as a cancer therapeutic; and other statements related to anticipated developments in the Company's business and technologies involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the availability of funds and resources to pursue research and development projects, the efficacy of pelareorep as a cancer treatment, the success and timely completion of clinical studies and trials, the Company's ability to successfully commercialize pelareorep, uncertainties related to the research and development of pharmaceuticals, uncertainties related to the regulatory process and general changes to the economic environment. Investors should consult the Company's quarterly and annual filings with the Canadian and U.S. securities commissions for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on forward-looking statements. The Company does not undertake to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable laws. Company Contact

Michael Moore

Vice President, Investor Relations & Corporate Communications

858-886-7813

mmoore@oncolytics.ca

Investor Relations

Robert Uhl

Westwicke Partners

858-356-5932

robert.uhl@westwicke.com





Media Contact

Jason Spark

Canale Communications

619-849-6005

jason@canalecomm.com







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SIGGRAPH 2018 Technical Papers Program to Present Computer Graphics Innovations from 38 Countries

SIGGRAPH 2018, the world's leading annual interdisciplinary educational event showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques, will present 128 cutting-edge Technical Papers from around the world, showcasing significant, scholarly new work. The 45th SIGGRAPH conference will take place 12-16 August at the Vancouver Convention Centre. To register for the conference, visit s2018.SIGGRAPH.org.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529006099/en/

"DeepMimic: Example-Guided Deep Reinforcement Learning of Physics-Based Character Skills"  2018 University of California, Berkeley and University of British Columbia (Graphic: Business Wire)

SIGGRAPH 2018 Technical Papers were chosen through a rigorous peer-review process by a prestigious international jury of scholars and scientists. Each chosen paper adheres to the highest scientific standards and will be published in a special issue of ACM Transactions on Graphics. In addition to papers selected by the conference jury, select papers that have been published in ACM Transactions on Graphics during the past year will also be showcased in Vancouver.

"Vancouver is about to be brimming with the who's-who of graphics. Be they students, engineers, or professors, everybody with a passion for tech and graphics converges to the SIGGRAPH conference to learn about the most innovative and novel ideas in the field. The technical papers, in particular, are always trend-setting," said Mathieu Desbrun, SIGGRAPH 2018 Technical Papers Chair and the Carl Braun Professor at the California Institute of Technology.

Highlights of this year's Technical Papers program include:

Looking to Listen at the Cocktail Party: A Speaker-Independent Audio-Visual Model for Speech Separation [Israel, U.S.]

Authors: Ariel Ephrat, Google (News - Alert) Inc., Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Inbar Mosseri, Oran Lang, Tali Dekel, Kevin Wilson, Avinatan Hassidim, and Michael Rubinstein, Google Inc.; and, William Freeman, Google Inc., Massachusetts Institute of Technology ( MIT (News - Alert) )

A trained, machine-learning model is presented, utilizing both the visual and auditory signals of an input video to separate the speech of different speakers in the video. (link)

Mode-Adaptive Neural Networks for Quadruped Motion Control [United Kingdom, U.S.]

Authors: He Zhang, Sebastian Starke, and Taku Komura, University of Edinburgh; an, Jun Saito, Adobe (News - Alert) Research







This paper proposes a data-driven approach for animating quadruped motion. The novel architecture, called Mode-Adaptive Neural Networks, can learn a wide range of locomotion modes and non-cyclic actions. (link)

Skaterbots: Optimization-based Design and Motion Synthesis for Robotic Creatures with Legs and Wheels [Switzerland, U.S., Canada]

Authors: Moritz Geilinger, Roi Poranne, and Stelian Coros, ETH Zurich, Department of Computer Science; Ruta Desai, Carnegie Mellon University; and, Bernhard Thomaszewski, Universite de Montreal

"Skaterbots" researchers propose a computation-driven approach to design optimization and motion synthesis for robotic creatures that locomote using arbitrary arrangements of legs and wheels. (link)

DeepMimic: Example-Guided Deep Reinforcement Learning of Physics-Based Character Skills [U.S., Canada]

Authors: Xue Bin Peng, Pieter Abbeel, and Sergey Levine, University of California, Berkeley; and, Michiel van de Panne, University of British Columbia

This paper presents a deep reinforcement learning framework that enables simulated characters to imitate a rich repertoire of highly dynamic and acrobatic skills from reference motion clips. (link)

Automatic Machine Knitting of 3D Meshes [U.S., Switzerland]

Authors: Vidya Narayanan, Lea Albaugh, Jessica Hodgins, and James McCann, Carnegie Mellon University; and, Stelian Coros, ETH Zurich, Carnegie Mellon University

"Automatic" researchers present the first computational approach that can transform 3D meshes, created by traditional modeling programs, into instructions for a computer-controlled knitting machine. (link)

Instant 3D Photography [United Kingdom, U.S.]

Authors: Peter Hedman, University College London; Johannes Kopf, Facebook (News - Alert)

In less than 60 seconds, the authors turn color-and-depth images from a dual-lens camera phone into a highly detailed 3D panorama, which can be viewed with head motion parallax in VR. (link)

Deep Video Portraits [Germany, France, United Kingdom, U.S.]

Authors: Hyeongwoo Kim, Ayush Tewari, Weipeng Xu, and Christian Theobalt, Max Planck Institute for Informatics; Pablo Garrido and Patrick Perez, Technicolor (News - Alert) ; Justus Thies and Matthias Niessner, Technical University of Munich; Christian Richardt, University of Bath; and, Michael Zollhofer, Stanford University

Our novel deep video portrait approach enables full control over a target actor by transferring head pose, facial expressions, and eye motion with a high level of photorealism. (link)

The Technical Papers program also offers a unique opportunity to hear from all authors in a fast-paced, 2-hour window, during the Technical Papers Fast Forward event. This eagerly awaited Sunday evening session offers an entertaining, illuminating summary in which authors are allowed 30-seconds each to "wow" the crowd with their results and entice attendees to hear their complete paper presentations throughout the conference week.

For more information about research at SIGGRAPH, listen to this podcast with Pixar's Ed Catmull and Tony DeRose or watch the 2018 Technical Papers preview trailer. The Technical Papers program is open to Full Conference and Full Conference Platinum attendees only.

About ACM, ACM SIGGRAPH and SIGGRAPH 2018:

ACM, the Association for Computing Machinery, is the world's largest educational and scientific computing society, uniting educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire dialogue, share resources, and address the field's challenges. ACM SIGGRAPH is a special interest group within ACM that serves as an interdisciplinary community for members in research, technology, and applications in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH is the world's leading annual interdisciplinary educational experience showcasing the latest in computer graphics and interactive techniques. SIGGRAPH 2018, marking the 45th annual conference hosted by ACM SIGGRAPH, will take place from 12-16 August at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, B.C.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529006099/en/
[May 29, 2018] Klick Health's Holly Henry & Sensei Labs' Tara Vanderloo recognized on 2018 PM360 ELITE 100

Klick Inc. today proudly announced that Holly H. Henry, PhD and Chief Medical Officer at Klick Health and Tara Vanderloo, Vice President of Customer Success at Sensei Labs, have been recognized as 2018 PM360 ELITE 100 award winners in the Strategist and Disrupter categories. In announcing Henry's award, the magazine said she "knows the world of medical strategy like the back of her hand (having) established some of the pharma industry's most successful Medical Strategy groups. So it's hardly any surprise to hear that as Chief Medical Officer at Klick Health, Holly brings new approaches to things like how to launch a product in a rare disease space or how to approach early commercialization in today's quickly evolving digital world. Shifting mindsets over the years from 'I don't know what medical strategy is' to 'I need medical strategy,' Holly has consistently stated (and won) her case for medical strategy, proving its value and need in a campaign." PM360 called Vanderloo a leading digital disrupter, pointing to her focus on helping life science companies evolve and execute faster. "That's no easy feat in the world of pharma marketing. But with the award-winning SenseiOSTM platform, Tara and the Sensei Labs team are working with customers to accelerate their brand launches, collaborate with agencies and vendors to manage and orchestrate hundreds of projects, and operationalize their innovation processes with ease." According to PM360 CEO and Publisher Anna Stashower, "The 2018 ELITE 100 include remarkable individuals and marketing teams who have made their mark on this industry and are helping to push it forward with new ideas, outstanding leadership, and incredible work. We are proud to call them ELITE, and we expect even more great things from them in the future." Klick Co-founder and CEO Leerom Segal said, "Holly and Tara have been steadfast in their quests to move the needle and help lead life science companies into the future. We congratulate them both on receiving this well-deserved honor and are proud that they're part of the Klick family a we continue to build a center of gravity for brilliant minds."



Henry and Vanderloo are the latest Klicksters to be recognized with ELITE awards. Klick Health's Senior Vice President of Medical Communications Victoria Sherriff-Scott and Vice President of Klick Labs Yan Fossat were named to the PM360 ELITE 100 last year. In 2016, Klick President Lori Grant was honored as a PM360 ELITE Mentor. About the PM360 ELITE Awards

In its fourth year, the PM360 ELITE Awards were established in 2015 to recognize individuals who have made a significant impact to the healthcare industry throughout their careers. More than 500 submissions were received and nominees were evaluated based on their accomplishments; testimonials from their bosses, clients, and colleagues; and supporting evidence that reflects the impact of their efforts. A total of 100 winners were selected across 17 categories, including Creative Directors, Data Miners, Digital Crusaders, Disrupters, Drug Researchers and Developers, Entrepreneurs, Launch Experts, Leaders of the Future, Marketing Teams, Master Educators, Mentors, Patient Advocates, PR Gurus, Sales MVPs, Strategists, Tech-know Geeks, and Transformational Leaders.

About Klick Health

Klick Health is the world's largest independent health marketing and commercialization agency. Klick has been recognized as Agency of the Year five times over the last six years by the industry's leading publications. It is laser-focused on creating solutions that engage and educate healthcare providers about life-saving treatments and help inform and empower patients to manage their health and play a central role in their own care. Every solution hinges on Klick's in-house expertise across the commercial universe-strategy, creative, analytics, instructional design, user experience, relationship marketing, social and mobile. Klick's digital health innovation lab, Klick Labs, helps life science organizations advance healthcare through the application of emerging concepts and technologies. Follow Klick Health on Twitter (News - Alert) at @KlickHealth. About Sensei Labs

Rethinking the technology of management, Sensei Labs builds smarter, more intuitive workplace solutions to help rapidly growing companies execute and evolve faster in a way their people love. Powered by data and grounded in experience, the SenseiOS family of work apps are designed to engage people while helping them to communicate, orchestrate work, and make better decisions. The Sensei Labs story started over a decade ago when Klick, its parent company, banned internal task-related email and developed a new kind of operating system that reengineered how individuals, teams, and companies get work done. After receiving global recognition from some of the leading thinkers in management innovation and technology - and inspiring Klick to write the New York Times bestseller The Decoded Company (Portfolio/Penguin) - the system was commercialized as SenseiOS and is now being used by hyper-growth companies around the world. Follow Sensei Labs on Twitter at @sensei_labs. About Klick Inc.

Klick operates with a fiercely independent spirit at the intersection of creativity, data, and technology. The Klick family is a diverse group of people who are driven and connected by a shared culture and commitment to the relentless pursuit of awesome at Klick Health, Katalyst, and Sensei Labs. Established in 1997, Klick has teams in Atlanta, Connecticut, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco and Toronto. Klick has been consistently named a Great Place to Work, Best Workplace for Women, Employee-Recommended Workplace, Best Employer, Fastest Growing Technology Company, and Best Managed Company. For more information on joining Klick, go to http://careers.klick.com. View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529006124/en/

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Get the Note 9 if you want a big-screen phone with a pen and strong cameras. But you may want to splurge on the Note 10 for all the bells and whistles.

The Galaxy Note 10 is here, but last year's Note 9 is worth a look if you're looking for a powerful Android phone, especially when that are plenty of good Note 9 deals.

We expect to see huge savings on the Note 9 over the holidays, so check out our Samsung Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals to stay up-to-date on the latest prices.

The Galaxy Note 9 (starting at $899) has plenty of things going for it, including an S Pen that doubles as a remote control. After spending some time with Samsung's new flagship, most of the key highlights this time around feel more like refinements of a great phablet than bold steps forward, but this is still one of the best Android phones and best big-screen phones you can buy.

If you're not sure which Samsung phone to get, check out our Galaxy Note 9 vs. Galaxy Note 10 face-off and Galaxy Note 9 vs. Galaxy Note 20 comparison to see which of Samsung's most recent phablet generations is worth buying.



Cheat Sheet: What's new with the Note 9?

S Pen is a remote control: The stylus now has Bluetooth connectivity, so you can use it for taking selfies, giving presentations, skipping music tracks and more.

The stylus now has Bluetooth connectivity, so you can use it for taking selfies, giving presentations, skipping music tracks and more. Huge battery: The 4,000 mAh battery is the biggest ever in a Samsung handset, which is a big step up from the Note 8 and its 3,300 mAh power pack. However, our testing has produced only marginal improvements so far.

The 4,000 mAh battery is the biggest ever in a Samsung handset, which is a big step up from the Note 8 and its 3,300 mAh power pack. However, our testing has produced only marginal improvements so far. AI camera: The dual camera on the Note 9 can automatically recognize more than 20 different types of scenes (food, plants, etc.) and adjust the settings to get the best shot.

The dual camera on the Note 9 can automatically recognize more than 20 different types of scenes (food, plants, etc.) and adjust the settings to get the best shot. DeX without the dock. You only need an adapter and an HDMI cable to turn the Note 9 into a mini PC rather than a $69 accessory. The phone doubles as a touchpad.

You only need an adapter and an HDMI cable to turn the Note 9 into a mini PC rather than a $69 accessory. The phone doubles as a touchpad. Water cooled. The Note 9 uses a water carbon fiber cooling system to prevent overheating and deliver sustained high performance, though our testing didn't yield impressive results.

Pricing and availability

When it debuted in August 2018, the Note 9 cost $999 for the 6GB model with 128GB of storage. Several months after its initial release, though, it's not hard to find discounts on the Note 9. As of this writing, Samsung is offering $100 to $200 off the phone depending on which carrier you opt for; the unlocked version of the Note 9 is $100 off at Samsung, too.

The 512GB Galaxy Note 9 costs $1,249, with those same $100 to $200 discounts available at the moment.

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, Verizon Wireless and Xfinity carry the Galaxy Note 9. You can also get it through Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, Sams Club, Straight Talk Wireless, Target and Walmart, as well as Samsung.com.

MORE: Best Galaxy Note 9 Deals



Design: Mostly unchanged

The boldest thing about the Note 9's design is that it now comes in more vibrant hues. The deeper Lavender Purple model pops more than the Ocean Blue version. However, the Ocean Blue comes with a yellow S Pen, which writes in yellow on the display in Screen-Off memo mode, a nice, subtle touch.

Shortly after the phone's release last year, Samsung announced the availability of new Cloud Silver and Midnight Black versions of the Note 9. Cloud Silver is exclusively sold through Best Buy and Samsung's own website, while the Midnight Black variant will be carried at all retailers.

If you can tell the Note 8 and Note 9 apart at a glance, kudos to you: The differences between them are so slight as to be imperceptible.

The Note 9 and Note 8 have identical bodies  both are 6.4 inches long and 0.34 inches deep. The Note 9s display is a smidge larger at 6.4 inches to the Note 8s 6.3-inch panel, which makes it the largest screen Samsungs ever put in a Note device, but youd be forgiven for not noticing.

The new phone is a tiny bit heavier than the Note 8 (7.1 ounces versus 6.9 ounces), but I couldnt feel the difference when holding both devices.

The biggest change is the fingerprint sensor, which Samsung wisely moved from beside the dual-lens camera to beneath it. This makes it easier for those of us with small hands to easily unlock the phone without straining our stubby fingers. Just be aware that the back of the new phone smudges easily.

Galaxy Note 9 specs

Debut Price

$999 (128GB), $1,249 (512GB)

Display 6.4 inches Super AMOLED (2960 x 1440) OS

Android 8.1 Oreo CPU

Snapdragon 845 RAM

6GB, 8GB Storage

128GB, 512GB microSD

Up to 512GB Rear Camera

Dual 12 MP Cameras (f/1.5 and f/2.4) Front Camera

8 MP (f/1.7) Battery

4,000 mAH Battery Life (Hrs:Mins)

11:26

Size

6.3 x 3 x 0.34 inches Weight

7.1 ounces Colors

Lavender Purple, Ocean Blue, Cloud Silver, Midnight Black



Display: Another winner

If theres one thing Samsung excels at, its stunning smartphone screens. The same Super AMOLED panel with quad-HD resolution that you find in the Note 8 and Galaxy S9 is what you get with the Note 9, but then again, its pretty hard to improve upon perfection.

I havent had time to catch up on the second season of Jessica Jones, which I would prefer to watch on my 55-inch TV in the comfort of my living room. But the Note 9s screen is massive, and OLED lends itself to deep, rich colors (moreso than LED panels, which are brighter). Catching up on my favorite Marvel anti-hero series was fully immersive, though I still prefer a TV for my streaming needs.

MORE: Galaxy Note 9 Specs - What You Get

OLED panels are now rivaling LED screens when it comes to brightness, at least when in direct sunlight. Thats definitely true of the Note 9, which hit 604 nits on the light meter in our lab tests. That easily beats the Pixel 2 XLs 438 nits and the iPhone Xs 474 nits, though the S9+ edged out the Note 9 at 630 nits, and nothing really approaches the LG G7 ThinQ, which can clear 900 nits when you max out is brightness settings.

The Note 9 is also incredibly colorful: It reproduces 224 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is better than the Note 8 (204.8 percent), the Galaxy S9 (220 percent), the Pixel 2 XL (120 percent) and the iPhone X (128.6 percent). But the S9+ proves it has the panel to beat, covering an eye-popping 231 percent of the color spectrum.

When it comes to the true-to-life nature of those hues, the Note 9 notched a 0.34 on the Delta-E rating (numbers closer to 0 are more accurate). The Note 8 scored a 0.5. The iPhone Xs OLED panel isnt quite as rich or colorful as the Note 9s, but its colors are more true to life with a Delta-E score of 0.27 (or 0.21 when the iPhones True Tone setting is toggled on).

Overall, the Note 9s display is one of the best around. At its size and price, it should be.



S Pen: More than a stylus

The Notes S Pen seems to get better with every new version of the Note, and the Note 9s iteration is the best yet. Samsung added Bluetooth connectivity so the new S Pen can be used as a remote control for your phone instead of just a simple stylus.

I was surprised at how much I liked using the S Pen remote button. The feature is endlessly customizable and should become even more so now that third-party app developers have access to an S Pen Remote SDK (though Samsung has done a lackluster job at promoting any third-party S Pen improvements that have come out since then). A long press of the stylus button can open any app you choose in the S Pen Remote settings, and then you can assign actions to a single click and double click of the button for any app thats compatible with the S Pen. There are few to start, but we expect a variety of apps to add support for S Pen actions in the future.

I found myself using the S Pen primarily as a camera remote, because pressing the shutter when taking a selfie is a constant struggle for me, especially on a phone as big as the Note 9. With the S Pen in hand, I could hold the Note at any angle and and capture a great photo without dropping the phone just by pressing the remote button.

I also never worried about the S Pens battery, because the pen is usually slotted into the bottom of the phone, which keeps it charged up. If it does die (which it didnt during my use), then sliding it back into the Note for 40 seconds juices it back up to 100 percent.

The Note 9s S Pen offers all the other great little features that the Note 8s version does, including the ability to write notes while the screen is off, translate languages by highlighting text and turn your notes into animated GIFs with the Live Message tool.

As soon as developers are on board with the S Pens remote feature, that might be the best reason to buy a Note 9.

Camera: AI makes photos pop

The Note 9s rear camera is essentially the same 12-megapixel dual-lens shooter Samsung put in the Galaxy S9+, which means you can capture portraits with blurred backgrounds. The camera also sports a dual aperture, which can automatically open at either f/1.5 to f/2.4 for brighter low-light images or crisper shots, depending on your shooting conditions.

But Samsung added artificial intelligence to the Note 9s camera software to set it apart from the other Galaxies. And it really makes a difference.

Samsung isnt the first company to make its camera smart  LG and Huawei flagships both have intelligence baked in for automatically configuring the camera settings depending on what youre shooting. The Note 9 recognizes 20 scenes, including snow, sunsets, beaches and backlit subjects, and adjusts the contrast, brightness, saturation, white balance and other settings youd normally have to manually configure in the cameras Pro mode. You can turn off Scene Optimizer if youd rather take photos without its intervention.

The good news: The Note 9s Scene Optimizer takes your photos to the next level compared to images shot without the feature turned on. In each photo we took, Scene Optimizer increased the contrast and saturation significantly, which made almost every photo look better.

For instance, a dimly lit shot of the gold clock in the center of Grand Central Station looked more vivid with the AI setting, which categorized the train station as nighttime. (An icon appears on-screen in the camera preview to tell you when the Note has recognized the scene type.) The gold clock gleamed in contrast to the window behind it, like a scene out of a Harry Potter film.

In a photo of foliage in Bryant Park, Scene Optimizer brought out the details in the leaves cascading over the planter. The pink petals were more sharply contrasted against the shrubbery in the AI-assisted image.

But sometimes the AI camera goes overboard, like in a photo of a cinnamon-filled pastry. The twisted dough appeared almost orange in the photo, which the camera recognized as food, and the image was overall flat. The pastrys sheen was more accurately captured in the non-optimized image, and you could see the rivers of cinnamon more clearly.

Now, the bad news: Even with AI, the Note 9s camera still falls short of not only Googles Pixel 3, but the previous-generation Pixel 2 as well. In a photo of backlit buildings in midtown Manhattan contrasted against a lawn filled with people relaxing after work, the Pixel 2 XL captured the shade variation in the sky and the light reflected in the building windows, and more accurately painted the deep green trees.

In a photo of me taken using Pixels Portrait mode and the Note 9s version of Portrait mode, called Live Focus, the Pixel picked up the freckles on my shoulders and the detail in my face moreso than the Note 9, which smoothed out my skin but made it look cooler than it is in real life.

The Note 9's camera shines when shooting at night, thanks to the Dual Aperture feature that automatically widens to allow more light in when shooting in dim settings. I took a photo of a rose in my garden at 8:30 p.m. using the Note 9, Pixel 2 XL and iPhone X, and the Note 9's result was the clear winner. The pink petals are saturated and bright, despite the lack of light, and contrast crisply against the green of the leaves. You can also see water droplets from the storm earlier that day. I took the same photo with the Note 9's Scene Optimizer turned on and off, and found the AI didn't improve the detail or saturation in the flower. This is noteworthy because the Galaxy S9+ has the same exact camera as the Note 9, but doesn't have the AI-assisted software in its camera. Turns out you don't need that to capture great nighttime shots.

Since the Note 9 released, Google has introduced a new flagship of its own, as well as a revolutionary new feature called Night Sight. This mode  which is reaching the Pixel 2 as well  improves low-light shooting to rival the Note 9s own capabilities in the dark, even with the AI Scene Optimizer switched on. In the Winter Village at New Yorks Bryant Park, Samsungs handset failed to properly illuminate the trees, the walkway and the side of the New York Public Library. The Pixel 3s Night Sight mode delivered a more impressive image overall, though it did blow out the lighting in some of the storefronts.



Here we see a comparison with Apples iPhone XS, where both devices employed 2x optical zoom to crop in on this picturesque winter scene on the banks of the Delaware River at New Jerseys Washington Crossing State Park. The Note 9s attempt is better exposed overall but cooler, while Apples handset opted for a warmer white balance and did a slightly better job with the highlights, as illustrated by the green traffic light. One notable difference is the way each handset dealt with the falling snow. The iPhone automatically adopted a faster shutter speed, suspending the snowflakes in midair. Meanwhile, the Note 9s slower-acting shutter blended everything together, making the precipitation more reminiscent of rain.



The Note 9 has one smart feature that other AI-assisted cams dont: Flaw Detection. This feature tells you as soon as you snap a pic if something is wrong with it. The camera recognizes if a subject is blinking, if theres too much blur, if your lens is smudged, or if the image is backlit, so you can quickly reshoot in the moment instead of cursing yourself afterward. This really worked  we were able to reshoot a blurry portrait that, at first glance, seemed perfectly fine.

Overall, the Note 9s camera is solid, but its not the best around, even with Scene Optimizer activated. However, being able to ditch AI and shoot in Pro mode when you want to is a nice touch for professional photogs who dont need a boost.

Performance: Fast, powerful, but not any cooler

Like all Android flagships these days, the Galaxy Note 9 packs a Snapdragon 845 processor, but Samsung ups the ante with 6GB of RAM on the standard configuration of the phone, which also offers 128GB of storage. If you want more memory and storage, you can order a Note 9 with 8GB of RAM and a whopping 512GB of storage. But that's not the most interesting part.

Samsung says it's employing a water/carbon fiber cooling so the Note 9 can deliver faster performance over extended periods without throttling, such as when you're playing games. There's a 3x bigger thermal spreader (or heat sink) than in the Note 8, which is designed for better cooling performance. We put that to the test  four tests, to be exact  to see how the addition of water/carbon fiber cooling performs in real life. The verdict: It doesn't. There was no noticeable temperature difference between the Note 9 and Note 8, which has a smaller thermal spreader and lacks water/carbon fiber cooling. We reached out to Samsung for comment on our results, and we'll update this review if they respond.



In terms of how that translates to performance, our test results prove the Note 9 is indeed a powerful phone, though not the fastest Android device around. We ran Geekbench 4, which measures a phone's general performance, on the 6GB version of the Galaxy Note 9 and came up with a multicore score of 8,876. That's a definite improvement over the Note 8 and its Snapdragon 835 processor, which produced a 6,564 score, and the Note 9 outperformed the Galaxy S9+ (8,295) as well.

But the Note 9 didn't match the OnePlus 6 model with 8GB of RAM remains the fastest Android device, with its 9,098 score. We haven't tested the 8GB model of the Note 9, which comes with 512GB of storage and costs $1,249, but it's possible the more expensive Note can rival the OnePlus 6.

As for the iPhone X, which runs on Apple's blazing-fast A11 Bionic CPU, it remains a no-contest. The iPhone X scores 10,357 on Geekbench 4. Its single-core result of 4,055 also tops the 2,452 single-core score turned in by the Note 9. Android phones continue to lag behind Apple's offerings in terms of performance, and the Note 9 doesn't change that.



When it comes to graphics performance, the Galaxy Note 9 pulled ahead of the Galaxy S9+ on 3DMark's Slingshot Extreme 3.1 benchmark with a score of 4,639 compared to 4,634. However, the Note 9 lagged behind the iPhone X (4,994) and the OnePlus 6 (5,124) with 8GB of RAM.



The Note 9 should offer some of the fastest LTE speeds around, as it sports a Cat 18 modem from Qualcomm. This is the same modem in the Galaxy S9 that ran circles around the iPhone X on downloads and uploads, but we'll put the Note 9 through its paces to see if it achieves the same speeds.





Battery: Good, but short of expectations

Samsung put a giant 4,000 mAh battery in the Galaxy Note 9, which means it should last much longer than the companys other phones.

But the Note 9 didnt turn in the best results on the Toms Guide Battery Test (continuous web-surfing over T-Mobiles LTE network until the phone dies) initially lasting 11 hours and 16 minutes. We turned off the phone's adaptive display feature, and retested: the Note 9 lasted an extra 10 minutes on the test.

Dont get me wrong, thats solid enough to land the device on our list of longest-lasting smartphones, where its best time of 11:26 lands it in the top 20. Its also 90 minutes better than the average smartphones battery life (9:48).

However, the Note 9 lasted just 15 minutes longer than the Note 8, which has a much smaller 3,300 mAh battery. The Pixel 2 XL lasted 12:09 on our test, more than a half-hour longer than the Note 9's best time (and Googles flagship has a better camera, to boot). The Galaxy S9+ hits 10:59.

Bixby: Can't rival Siri, let alone Alexa

Samsung is improving its Bixby voice assistant by integrating with more third-party apps and making it more aware of context.

But Bixby is still playing catch-up with rival assistants, such as Amazons Alexa, Google Assistant and even Apples Siri, which still balks at tasks like setting multiple timers. Bixbys new additions, which include the ability to make a restaurant reservation and call an Uber without installing those apps or pressing any buttons at all, are still buggy at this point.

Bixby couldnt understand my requests to book reservations at the popular new bistro Frenchette or an udon noodle shop in midtown. Specifically, Bixby didnt understand the name Frenchette, which it heard as French at or friendship, or the word udon, which it heard as wood-on  instead, it showed me nearby furniture stores. When I asked Bixby to make a reservation for lunch at 2 p.m. nearby, plenty of restaurants close to my office popped up, but most of them were fast-casual spots that dont take reservations.

I tried a different approach: Make a reservation tonight for French.

French restaurants in midtown Manhattan popped up. Bixby asked which one I wanted. At the top of the list was Per Se, so I said, Per Se. Bixby heard, Persei, and I still was no closer to making dinner plans.

Eventually, I mustve overwhelmed the assistant, because an error message popped up: Cant talk to Bixby right now.

Fine. I didnt want to talk to Bixby anyway.

MORE: Alexa vs. Google Assistant vs. Siri

Calling an Uber was much more seamless. After connecting my Uber account to Bixby, I had the assistant hail an UberX to JFK Airport with no issues, and I even knew how much it would cost in advance.

But there are still bugs to be worked out. Bixby doesnt respond quickly, and often mishears what you ask about (as in the restaurant kerfuffle above). If Bixby is going to be the foundation of Samsungs upcoming Galaxy Home speaker, its gonna need a whole lot of work to compete with Alexa.

Bottom line

Samsung has been an innovator with the Galaxy Note lineup, with past models setting the bar for productivity powerhouses with huge screens. But these days, nearly every flagship phone is now giant. Having a cutting-edge processor, pro-level camera and lengthy battery life is no longer special.

Where the Note 9 shines is as a high-performance phone. If your productivity depends on a device that has a giant display and the ability to get more work done with the powerful S Pen, Samsungs latest phone is the one for you. And its ability to connect to an external display with just a cable makes ideal for power users.

The Note 9 is an excellent phone, to be sure, but its not breaking any molds. The battery life is good, but not industry-leading. The camera is good, but Googles 10-month-old Pixel 2 XL is still better, and phones released after the Note 9 came out have raised the bar even higher. Bixby still needs serious work, though no one is buying a Samsung device for its assistant

So, unless you love the idea of using an S Pen, you may want to wait until this fall to compare all of the latest flagships before you buy-including the expected trio of new iPhones. But if you need a big-screen phone, the Note 9 should not disappoint.

Credit: Tom's Guide


Worried that Alexa might be holding onto your conversations longer than it should? Amazon's making it easier to delete conversations its voice-powered digital Echo speakers might have recorded  and you can do it all with the sound of your own voice.

At the same time it announced a new series of Echo devices, Amazon also launched updates to its Alexa Privacy Hub that provides explanations on Alexa privacy controls as well as access to your settings. There are also brand new voice commands that give you immediate control over Alexa recordings.

MORE: Best Amazon Alexa Skills

Fears about Alexa-based smart speakers sending private conversations are common. Amazon VP of public policy Brian Huseman confirmed expectations about how long the company keeps recordings, telling senator Chris Coons (D-DE) that "We retain customers' voice recordings and transcripts until the customer chooses to delete them."

How to delete Alexa conversations with your voice

If you really want to make sure that Alexa isn't keeping a recording of what you've said, you can take advantage of a voice control that erases everything you've said that day. Say "Alexa, delete everything I said today," and anything recorded between midnight and the moment you utter that command will be erased.

You'll have to opt into the feature to be able to delete conversations by voice. In the Alexa app, go to Settings, and select Alexa Account, then Alexa Privacy, and finally Review Voice History. From there, you can toggle on the "Enable Deletion by Voice" feature.

You can also say, "Alexa, delete what I just said" to erase your last request to the voice assistant.

How to turn on auto-delete for Alexa recordings

You can arrange your Alexa history to delete automatically. In the Alexa app, go to Settings > Alexa Privacy > Manage Your Alexa Data. Under 'Manage your voice recordings,' you can use the 'Automatically delete recordings' toggle to make your recordings delete after 3 or 18 months.

How to clear your Alexa history

If you're uncomfortable with the idea of leaving around old voice recordings, there's an old-school way to clear the data on your Alexa devices, though it involves a bit of tapping. Before you start deleting, remember that you're essentially wiping the AI's specialized memory, as it's retaining this information to better serve you.

Still, here's how to clear your Alexa history and delete recordings.

Step 1: Open the Alexa app on your smartphone and tap the menu button to open the sidebar. Select Settings.

Step 2: Select Alexa Privacy.

(Image credit: Credit: Amazon)

Step 3: Select Review Voice History. Here you can enable and disable voice commands for deleting voice recordings, and see audio recordings retained by your device.

(Image credit: Credit: Amazon)

Step 4: Select a recording.

(Image credit: Credit: Amazon)

Step 5: Select Delete Selected Recordings. If you want to scrub Alexa clean of all recordings, tap Today, select All History and tap Delete All Recordings for All History.

(Image credit: Credit: Amazon)

Or you could visit Amazon's Content and Devices page to erase all of your recordings at once. From there, select Your Devices, click on the Alexa device you want to clean up and select Manage Voice Recordings. Select the option that allows you to delete everything.

MORE: For more Alexa-related tips, tricks, and how-tos, check out our complete guide to Alexa.
Tech lobbyists have started their attacks against the European Unions other new privacy regulation, called ePrivacy. Unlike GDPR, which mainly covers how your data is protected by its handlers, the ePrivacy Regulation focuses primarily on the privacy of your online communications.

An Upgrade To The ePrivacy Directive

The ePrivacy Regulation is the successor to the ePrivacy Directive. In the EU, a directive is called a piece of legislation that requires common rules for all the member states, but which each member state can implement the directive in their own way. A regulation is a piece of legislation that applies equally to all the member states.

The ePrivacy Directive, also called the Cookie Law, was made (in)famous by the fact that it required websites operating in the EU to prompt users with a cookie agreement. This ended up educating users to just click agree (most websites didnt implement any other option, anyway), so it has largely been considered pointless.

The GDPR improves on this somewhat by only requiring websites to prompt users with a cookie agreement if they use cookies that are not strictly necessary for the website's function (advertising cookies, etc).

The new ePrivacy Regulation was supposed to pass this month, but got held up by negotiations at the European Council (a group of EU member states prime-ministers and presidents).

Privacy By Design

Besides mandating a unique set of rules for all the EU member states, one of the main changes in the ePrivacy Regulation compared to the ePrivacy Directive is that digital telecommunications providers (Gmail, WhatsApp, Skype, etc) will fall under the same privacy regulations as other types of companies handling communications (post office, internet service providers, etc).

For instance, metadata will need to be anonymized, unless consent is given by the user or the data is necessary for billing. Providers of electronic communications will also need to secure the users communications to the best available technique.

Its not clear whether or not this essentially calls for all messengers to implement end-to-end encryption, but we do know that some EU Parliamentary committees have suggested that this would be the path to go. This could also mean that WhatsApp may keep its end-to-end encryption, even after both of its founders left Facebook.

The ePrivacy Regulation will also control how companies can send marketing messages. For example, those companies that send direct marketing calls will have to use a phone number prefix that reveals them to be calling for marketing purposes.

Lobbyists Attack ePrivacy Regulation

According to a New York Times report, companies have already started to heavily lobby EU officials and show them doomsday financial forecasts, as well as creating worst-case scenario videos with the drawbacks of the ePrivacy Regulation.

A lobbying database created by a nonprofit research group in Brussels, called the Transparency International EU, shows that Cisco, Facebook, Google, IBM, Microsoft, SAP, the American Chamber of Commerce, DigitalEurope, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau Europe, a digital advertising industry group, have all lobbied European Commission (EC) officials about ePrivacy.

Birgit Sippel, a Member of the European Parliament (MEP), hit back against the lobbyists, saying the following, referring to the Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal:

With one click you can manipulate hundreds of thousands or millions of people, whether you know their names or not. That is why protecting privacy is becoming more important, especially in the digital environment.

Sippel is arguing against the surveillance capitalism that has brought riches to many companies, but were now just starting to see that it can also threaten not just user privacy and data protection, but also the stability of democracies.

Industry associations such as the Computer and Communications Industry Association, which represents Amazon, Google, Netflix and others, seem to have been successful in convincing the EU Council to stall the legislation. The group's representatives recently visiting Bulgaria recently, the country that will get to run the European Council for the next six month. The draft law can only be put up for a vote in the European Parliament after the Council has reached consensus.

Sippel also commented on the stalling of the ePrivacy Regulation in Bulgaria:

In my view, we have some weak governments on the Council that are not willing to get into trouble with industry. So, for the time being, they havent found a common position.

Now that technology companies have seen that the EU is quite serious about its privacy laws, they suddenly seem much more interested in talking to officials about them through their lobbying efforts. It now remains to be seen what the results of those talks will be when the European Council finally reaches consensus on the issue, which could be many months from now.
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Prepare to shell out a lot of money if you want to go home with this Escort sedan
As part of its 2nd Annual Africa Day Celebration in Ottawa, the Canada-Africa Chamber of Business on 24 May 2018 held a presentation / panel discussion on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement, followed by a networking cocktail reception.

Keynote speakers for the afternoon session included David Luke, Coordinator of the African Trade Policy Centre, Regional Integration and Trade Division, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa; and Jesse Moore, Chief Executive Officer, M-KOPA Solar. Download their presentation, Africa leapfrogs to wireless energy (pdf).

The event was co-sponsored by the Gowling WLG (Canada) LLP and Global Affairs Canada.

David Luke also addressed a Toronto audience on 23 May on the AfCFTA and what it means for Africa and its trading partners.

AfCFTA and the opportunities and implications for Canada

Presentation by David Luke in Ottawa

AfCFTA: What it means and state of play

On 21 March 2018, 44 African countries sign the AfCFTA, indicating considerable political commitment at the highest level. The Agreement establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area consists of:

Protocol on Trade in Goods

Elimination of duties and quantitave restrictions on imports

Imports shall be treated no less favourably than domestic products

Elimination of non-tariff barriers

Rules of Origin

Cooperation of customs authorities

Trade facilitation and transit

Trade remedies, protections for infant industries and general exceptions

Cooperation over product standards and regulations

Technical assistance, capacity-building and cooperation

Protocol on Trade in Services

Transparency of service regulations

Mutual recognition of standards, licensing and certification of services suppliers

Progressive liberalization of services sectors

Service suppliers shall be treated no less favourably than domestic suppliers in liberalized sectors

Provision for general and security exceptions

Protocol on Dispute Settlement

Rules and Procedures for Settlement of Disputes within the AfCFTA

Phase 2 negotiations

Intellectual property rights

Investment

Competition policies

What does the AfCFTA mean in concrete terms?

Businesses, traders and consumers will no longer pay tariffs on a large variety of goods that they trade between African countries;

Traders constrained by non-tariff barriers, including overly burdensome customs procedures or excessive paperwork, will have a mechanism through which to seek the removal of such burdens;

Cooperation between customs authorities over product standards and regulations, as well as trade transit and facilitation, will make it easier for goods to flow between Africas borders;

Through the progressive liberalization of services, service suppliers will have access to the markets of all African countries on terms no less favourable than domestic suppliers;

Mutual recognition of standards, licensing and certification of service suppliers will make it easier for businesses and individuals to satisfy the regulatory requirements of operating in each others markets;

To protect against unanticipated trade surges, State Parties will have recourse to trade remedies to ensure that domestic industries can be safeguarded, if necessary;

A dispute settlement mechanism provides a rule-based avenue for the resolution of any disputes that may arise between State Parties in the application of the agreement.

And why does it matter?

70% of Africas exports to the RoW comprise extractives (oil, gas, minerals, and metals). These create revenues, but are capital intensive, and volatile in price.

Intra-African trade is different, with extractives only 40%: more value-added, industrial, and better diversified, helping to generate employment, industrialization and sustainable growth.

The AfCFTA helps promote such intra-African trade: ECA estimate it will have the potential to boost intra-African trade by between 52 and 100%, depending on the extent to which tariffs and NTBs are eliminated.

In turn, this helps to fuel sustainable development in Africa.

Next steps for the AfCFTA

Entry into force after 22nd instrument of ratification deposited with the AUC. So far: Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda and Niger have reportedly ratified. After 22nd ratification the AfCFTA Secretariat will be established.

By Jan 2019 countries must also submit:

Schedules of concessions for trade in goods

Schedules of concessions for trade in services

Rules of origin

Countries will begin negotiating Phase II issues by start of 2019: Competition, investment, intellectual property rights and potentially e-commerce

Trade and investment: Canada-Africa opportunities

Canada exports foodstuffs and advanced machinery to Africa. Growth has been slow over last decade. And imports mostly petroleum oils, precious stones, and agricultural products. Imports have fallen with oil prices.

No explicit sectoral investment data for Africa, but Africa accounts for about 50% of other countries to which 2/3rds of Canadas outward investment comprises oil & gas and mining

Opportunities: Need for new thinking

Changing African opportunities

Currently a market of 1.2 billion people, and a combined continental GDP of about $2.5 trillion. The middle class in Africa now represents almost a third of Africas current population and is growing.

However, by 2050 Africa will be home to 2.5 billion people  more than a quarter of what will be the worlds population, with an economy estimated to be worth as much as $29 trillion. By then, the market of just Nigeria will account for around 8 times as many people as Canada. With the AfCFTA, this is an increasingly integrated market.

Petroleum oils, gas and mining will continue to be important for Africa. However Africa now represents new investment opportunities, many of which can draw from Canadian expertise:

Education: Africa has a skill gap of 4.3m engineers and 1.6m agricultural scientists and researchers (ACBF)

Infrastructure: AfDBs Programme for Infrastructure Development in Africa (PIDS) initiative comprises projects focusing on integration, power generation, ICT and water resources  total cost of all projects by 2040 is $360bn

Agriculture and processed agriculture: food security

Draw from Canadian expertise

A services trade and investment focus should be emphasized

Canada can leverage its expertise in tertiary education, clean energy development, technological cooperation on climate change, and agricultural productivity services

Canadas cooperation model with mining companies for improved corporate social responsibility provides lessons for deeper engagement in Africa: lessons learned  both good and bad  can help develop new bilateral trade and investment relationships.

But also a change in perspective: need to good beyond traditional investment and trade opportunities

AfCFTA: what it means for Africa and its trading partners

Presentation by David Luke in Toronto

Rationale

Africas economic structure is broadly similar to Indias:

India is a single consolidated market (7th biggest in the world)  Allows scale economies and competitive businesses

Africa is fragmented over 54 countries and 107 unique land border  Businesses face average tariffs of 6.9% and non-tariff barriers

But India creates far greater excitement for investors.

Consolidating Africas market helps create more exciting opportunities: Facilitating regional value chains; Fostering economies of scale and scope; Better allowing businesses to gain from Africas excellent market dynamics

Providing incentives for investors and opportunities for African businesses

And re-orientating African exports away from extractives dependency: Petroleum oils & gas, minerals, ferrous and precious metals; Volatile prices, produce few jobs, and fluctuating revenues

Because intra-Africa trade is less extractive dependent: Only 40% is extractives (compared to 70% of exports to outside Africa). More balanced and sustainable exports deliver more sustainable growth; More labour intensive and better at fostering structural transformation and long-term sustainable growth

This provides a real development case for continental integration

ECA estimate that the AfCFTA has the potential to boost intra-African trade by 52.3% by eliminating tariffs

With the reduction of NTBs, intra-African trade doubles

ECA estimate all African countries to experience welfare gains

We forecast that the AfCFTA will benefit particularly industrial and value-added exports

These sectors create more jobs for Africas bulging youth population and opportunities for MSMEs than does Africas trade with the rest of the world, which tends to be fuels and minerals

Beyond Africa

Increasing importance of intra-African trade

Intra-African trade will grow, helping to diversify and create a more stable African trade profile  this is because a far larger share of intra-African trade is non-extractives, which are less volatile.

Establishes a more economically reliable and prosperous trading partner.

Trade policy coherence

The AfCFTA is expected to go beyond a traditional free trade area and in doing so will serve as a basis for continental trade policy coherence.

Rather than a patchwork of individual agreements, a consolidated Africa would ensure that all African countries are brought along together in a manner that better suits regional value chains and trade integration.

In looking forward to trade negotiations with the EU, the US post-AGOA plans, and potentially emerging markets like India and China, this will give Africa a stronger negotiating footing.
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We have often complained that making streets faster for fire trucks makes them deadlier for pedestrians.

Two years ago, on MNN, I asked "Why are our cities being designed around the needs of the fire trucks instead of vice versa?" I followed up with San Francisco introduces "Vision Zero" fire trucks. Now Angie Schmitt of Streetsblog writes that Fire departments stopped worrying and embraced safer street design. It's about time, given that, as Charles Marohn notes, it's the "tail wagging the dog when it comes to fire departments mandating urban design standards."

 Strong TownsSchmitt notes that fire departments want wide streets for their large trucks.

 Strong Towns

But things are looking up; in Portland, the fire department worked with the city.

There has been no reduction in response times by working with urban planners and transportation leaders to build out Portland, Myers said on a recent webinar hosted by the National Association of City Transportation Officials.



Schmitt notes that even without smaller trucks, cities can redesign streets so that they are better for pedestrians. "For instance, intersections can have shorter crossing distances and tighter corners while remaining negotiable for fire trucks, as long as the stop bars are set far enough back to allow trucks to complete turns."

 DOTs Volpe Center via Streetsblog

I look at this sketch and cannot imagine a car actually stopping behind that stop bar, so far back that they cannot see what is happening in the intersection. They will just drive up and clog the intersection, which they do anyway. It just ain't gonna happen.

Years ago, working on a big development in Israel, I asked the architect who was also a decorated senior officer in the military what he would do to solve the country's problems. He answered, "I am in artillery, so I would make the country round." He didn't have the power to reshape the country, but fire departments have the power to reshape our cities. Traffic engineers have the power to dictate lane widths and curb radii that move cars fast.

But any city that really cares about things like Vision Zero and stopping the murder of children has to change its priorities.
NorthGate College last week launched its hybrid system EduFlex which allows pupils who cannot be on campus to stream their classes and have the same experience as their peers who are in the physical classroom.
Five people were shot dead in separate incidents during a 24-hour period in Arima, Cocorite and Tunapuna.

These killings have pushed the murder toll to 315. The comparative figure for the same period last year was 318.
"I saw from an earlier thread suggesting driving to Adelaide via Hay route. Any comments about that?"

Adelaide is due west of Sydney. If you are driving to Adelaide just to get there in the shortest time possible, then driving due west of Sydney on the Great Western Highway to Adelaide via Hay is the shortest and most direct route. End of story. Hay is half-way, so it is the logical place to stay overnight for a 2-day drive. Incidentally, Hay is also due north of Melbourne.

On that drive, the mid-section, called the Hay Plain is flat and boring. And can be dangerous. Bends have been put in the road specifically to alleviate the danger of head-on collisions from people not able to focus for long stretches of straight flat road. And then there's the emus. They are big and they run fast. I have had herds of them run in a straight diagonal line right across the road in front of me. So if you see them off to the side of the road, take care.

Before the Hay Plain and after the Hay Plain, particularly after you cross the Murray River, the drive becomes more scenic.

Edited: 3 years ago
Hello,

My wife and I are planning our first trip to Australia this coming xmas/new year (we have 3 weeks). The flights are already booked, we are flying London to Perth on 25/26th Dec 2018 and from Sydney to London on the 14/15th Jan 2019. It is our first time to Australia and there is so much I want to do that 3 weeks in nowhere near long enough! However 3 weeks is all we got. We decided to fly to Perth to rest up after the flight before heading further into Australia. Whether that was a good idea or not, the flight is booked and can't be cancelled. Plus I really wanted to see a bit of Perth.

So as it is Dec/Jan, I have decided to skip the north (Darwin/Cairns). We would like to go but in case we get rained out, it might be best to leave that for another trip. Therefore I have come up with the following. I just want comments on whether it is too much for 3 weeks?

So 4 nights in Perth, which includes a day on Rottnest Island (which looks wonderful!). Day 5 fly to Adelaide, pickup a hire car at the airport and drive to Cape Javis to get the evening ferry to Kangaroo Island. Spend 3 nights on Kangaroo Island before heading back on the morning Ferry to the mainland for a 5 day road trip along the GOR to Melbourne. Arriving at Melbourne, drop the car off are the airport and fly to Uluru for 3 nights, finally flying back to Sydney on the 10th Jan for 4 nights/4 days in Sydney (inc. a day trip to the Blule Mountains).

I know it's not long in Sydney, but we really like wildlife, country, scenary etc. and so prioritising that over city. And I really want to go to Uluru even though I know it it summer, but can't really go all that way without taking in the amazing scenary and atmosphere of the Red Centre.

I appreciate any comments, itinery is not set yet but considering the time when we're travelling I want to get the rest of the accomodation and internal flights booked soon.

Thank you.

Edited: 3 years ago
I fear this would be an incredibly difficult and useless trip. From NYC to Montreal by car takes about 7 hours, assuming you don;t run into traffic or construction - so it would be 14 hours of driving in one day. You don;t plan on doing this alone do you? And how many hours would you have to spend in Montreal?

To go to and from in one day you might be able to fly - I don;t know schedules or costs.
My family (husband and me, plus two boys ages 14 and 12) are planning a trip to CR in December. We are primarily looking for relaxing beach/pool/tropical atmosphere vacation, but we want someplace that also has plenty of activities. Costa Rica seems to have both.

We will probably stay at the Westin in Guanacaste. However, we're considering spending a couple of nights elsewhere to see the volcanoes. I understand it's a fairly lengthy trip to get there, although not tragic.

A few questions:

- Is it worth splitting the trip to see the volcanoes?

- Is there enough to do in the volcano region to make it worth the trip? We're already planning several activities near the Westin, so we don't want to repeat.

- Are there any dangers on that side of the island? I'm not talking generic activity concerns. More issues like personal safety, food or mosquito borne diseases, etc.

- One member of our family has a chronic but well-controlled (knock on wood) medical condition. The only real provision is that he is not allowed to climb to heights without a harness. We're talking ropes/mountain climbing, etc... NOT trails/hiking unless RIGHT against a cliff (he's an avid skier, so you get the picture). In the unlikely chance he should need medical attention, is any available in that location?

Any thoughts are very much appreciated. Thank you!
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Hi!

My husband and I are very quickly putting together a last-minute 10-day trip to Vietnam at the end of June. We've never been and have just started research -- I know this isn't ideal, but this is sort of an unplanned bonus trip for us, so we have a nothing-to-lose attitude about it. (But still want to make best use of our time, the best we can)

Here's a very rough idea of what we're thinking, with some questions. Any/all input and info is much appreciated! (Also we know 10 days is not nearly enough time but sadly this is all we can swing with our jobs, and we don't mind hopping around and staying active)

Fly into Da Nang

Rent a motor bike to ride around central vietnam. We were thinking something like this:

(recommended adjustments, detours, etc. are welcome)

Then, EITHER train to Phong Nha-Ke Bang, see the caves, and overnight train to Hanoi.

OR skip Phong Nha-Ke Bang and just fly stright to Hanoi

Any thoughts on whether seeing the caves are worth the extra time spent getting there?

Spend the rest of our time seeing Northern Vietnam: Ha Long Bay being the main priority, maybe Sapa if there's time, maybe Ba Be or Cuc Phuong National Park if there's time - open to other suggestions.

Fly home out of Hanoi.

We figured it'd be nice to start w/ the more adventurous biking stuff, and then enjoy what I'm assuming will be more comfortable accommodations around Ha Long Bay.

Thanks!
Hello guys! I need your help for my travel itinerary in Japan.

I actually live in Tokyo and in August my boyfriend will come here, so we are planning our 14 days tour. I cant use the JRP because Im here with a student visa, but he could buy the pass.

We are not really city people, we prefer traditional town/village or nature.

My idea is:

Day 1 and 2: Tokyo

Day 3: daytrip to Nikko

Day 4: Takayama

Day 5: Shirakawago (is it ok to visit this area without a car?)

Day 6-7-8: Kyoto

Day 9: daytrip to Nara

Day 10:Himeji (option A: visit Miyajima and Hiroshima / Option B: go back to Hakone?)and Miyajima

Day 11: Miyajima and Hiroshima

Day 12-13: Tokyo

Day 14: Flight

Considering that I cant have a JRP I saw that it is quiet expensive to go to Hiroshima from Kyoto, do you think that Hiroshima and Miyajima are a must?

What do you think about the itinerary?

Thank you very much :)
Macaques shift in the woods, so they're on the move at any time of the day. They can be observed even in the trees on the shuttle bus road, the campsite, near Kappa Bridge (center of things in Kamikochi), or the trekpath to Myojin (like the one I got in the pic) and beyond. At one time while I was coming back from Karasawa, I encountered a throng of them headed by a stout male coming right in my direction face to face. Believe me or not, they were walking in a double-file, forming a long line, yes, cute babies dangling from their mother's necks or getting piggy-backed. Not sure if macaques are polygamous, but the one leading the big party obviously looked as if he was calling the shot: walking tall, he stared me back when we crossed our path. I guess he was testing me to know if I was going to give'em food scared out. Was that a mind-boggling sight or was I scared? You bet it was and that I was. ;) I kept walking, clenching my fists, mustering courage, fixing my eyes to his (yes I now know experts say that's the worst thign to do), thinking like: No way, man, come next year. You won't catch me with that trick of yours. ;) I still remember his half-bluffing/threatening yet half-scared eyes. Maybe he knew his leadership would be at stake had it been him psyched out first by a human.

Back on topic:

5hr-plus is the time only on the way out if you start from Kamikochi... Am not trying to deter you form summiting Mt Yake, but let me make this clear: Mt Yake IS a vol on level 1, puffing out streaks of smoke. Reason I'm saying is because there was another level-1 volcano blowing its top, wreaking havoc on many hikers (58 of them getting killed) just about 3years ago, its location on another Nagano-Gifu border... I wouldn't mind digging an old thread/link about it for you. Anyway, in case you think you need to be well-informed of that past incident, don't hesitate to say so. Like I said in my last post, on Day2 you may like to head from Mt Yake Hut to another one called Nishiho Hut (a 3hr-trek away I guess) and then from here Doppyo Peak (1hr each way). Then backtrack to NH and get down to Kamikochi (about 2.5hr). Drawback is, as against your thoughts, you need to 'backtrack' part of your way: NH to and from DP. Besides, trees on the NH-Kamikochi leg blocks your views, it is said. Yet I'm not sure since I never set my foot on it...

Btw, are you talking somewhere in the Japanese Alps Mountains, re the said 3000m-peaks? If so then you may like to head deeper into 'Kita Alps.' In my case, doing Mt Okuho for example does push the envelope if in 2D/1N hike even under nice weather. But if you're gutsy and experienced and know how to manage with trecherous rocky trekpaths then why not? Likewise, you may like to put your sight on Mt Kitaho or even Mt Maeho. Should you choose to go on less risky treks, Mt Cho and Mt Jonen would be ideal. Yes, you'd have to go down from Mt Jonen to Ichinosawa (trailhead on the Matsumoto side) and then from here take a cab to the nearest possible railroad station: fare being 5000yens, unless you doubleback way more than half way toward Mt Cho so that you'll return to Kamikochi.

With all of that said, it's a whole lot easier said done, I gather... At any event, people climb at their own risk to get tremendous reward. Yes, adding one more day and night makes your plan by far more feasible, imho.

Edited: 3 years ago
How do I get from the airport (JFK, LGA, or EWR) to Manhattan?

What To Do During Layovers?

Vacation Apartment Rentals Violate NYC Laws

Hotels: Kitchenettes and kitchens in 100+ Manhattan Hotels

Hotels: Two queen beds plus a kitchen/kitchenette

Hotels: Guests under 21 years old (but at least 18)

Hotels: Which ones charge an additional Resort or Facilities Fee

Hotels: When is the best time to go for cheaper rates?

What are the Must-See's and Must-Do's?

How Do I Ride the Subway (UPDATED)?

Tips, Hint and Suggestions for First Timers

SCAMS to avoid in NYC

What Will the Weather Be Like During My Trip?

Any Good Websites for Researching My Trip?

How Safe is New York?

Where to Eat in NYC

Where to eat in NYC - Part 2

Celiac in the City? (gluten free)

Which Area Should I Stay In?

Is There Cheaper Lodging Outside Manhattan?

How Much Do I Tip People?

Are the New York Pass, Explorer Pass or CityPass worth it?

How Do I Hail a Taxi?

Public restrooms/toilets. Where do you go when you GOTTA GO?

Where are the best areas for shopping?

How do I find Discount Tickets for Broadway Shows?

Events for Halloween 2019 in NYC

Thanksgiving 2019 in NYC: What to Do & Where to Eat

Christmastime in NYC 2020: Dates for the Trees-Windows-Markets-Ice Skating+MORE!

Christmas Day 2019 in NYC: What to Do & Where to Eat

What Should I Do on New Year's Eve?

How Will I Survive the Cold Weather?

Where are the Farmers Markets and Street Fairs?

What is there to see and do near WTC/SOL/Brooklyn Bridge/SI ferry?

What should I know about visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum?

What Is There to See and Do in Brooklyn?

How Do I Get to the Brooklyn Bridge?

What Is There to See and Do in Queens?

Exploring neighborhoods - where should I go and what should I see?

Which is the best? ESB or TOTR or OWO?

Which are the significant churches in Manhattan?

Hidden Gems in the city - not so touristy

How do I get from NYC to the Meadowlands and back?

I'm Getting Married in NYC...what do I need to do?

Should I Buy Knock-Off Purses?

What to Do with Kids and How to Do It?

What should we do at night -- especially with kids or under 21's?

Places to eat (and drink) with a view

Where is the Old FAQ?

Trip Reports: Families with Young Kids - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Groups of Friends - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Couples - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Families with Teenagers - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Solo Travelers - Add yours!

Trip Reports: Families of Adults - Add yours!
- Njoroge said CBK had issued instructions to banks on how to deal with suspicious transactions

- The regulator in January 2016 introduced new tough rules to monitor large cash transactions

- Banks are expected to know source and recipient if customer deposits or withdraws over KSh 1 million

-The new rule was put in place to curb money laundering and terrorism financing

The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) Governor Patrick Njoroge has issued a stern warning to banks flouting guidelines on large cash transactions and abetting corruption.

Reacting to the ongoing probe at the National Youth Service (NYS) where KSh 9 billion allegedly disappeared, Njoroge said CBK was working closely with the investigative agencies to ascertain which banks were involved in the scam.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

Governor Partrick Njorogo on Tuesday, May 29, said CBK was working closely with investigative agencies in the ongoing probe at the National Youth Service. Photo: CBK/Twitter.

Source: Facebook

READ ALSO: Ulafi wa baba wamfanya bintiye kutalikiwa dakika 15 baada ya harusi

"We had given the banks specific instructions on how they should deal with suspicious transactions. We gave a circular on how they should handle cash more than KSh 1 million.The issue in NYS is more about whether the banks complied with the regulations or not," Njoroge said on Tuesday, May 29.

The governor added CBK was looking at who received the allegedly stolen cash, where it came from and what it was meant for.

"At the end of the day, all those found to be complicit in the NYS issue will be held accountable," he said.

READ ALSO: Reprieve as Supreme Court saves sugar importer from wrath of taxman in KSh 2.5 billion legal battle

The CBK in January 2016 introduced new rules on how banks should deal with transactions involving more than KSh 1 million.

According to the regulations, banks are expected to know the source and recipient if customer deposits or withdraws over KSh 1 million

TUKO.co.ke understands the directive was aimed at increasing traceability of bank transactions and discouraging money laundering and terrorism financing.

READ ALSO: Employees drag oil dealer Engen Kenya to court to avert imminent takeover by rival company

Questions had emerged on how one of the suspects mentioned in the NYS heist was able to transact KSh 59 million without the knowledge of CBK and in view of the existing tough rules.

A 30-year-old business lady identified as Ann Wanjiku Ngirita told detectives NYS wired to her bank account KSh 59 million to supply nothing.

The suspect, who is said to be the rightful owner of Annwaw Investment, was accused of fraudulently receiving money from NYS.

She was arrested together with three of her family members.

The four family members are due in court.

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.

Peter Pepe Interview: From a Conductor to 13.5 Million Business Owner - On Tuko TV

Source: Kenyan Breaking News
- The youthful innovator is using solar to power his homemade car

- Karumbo says he was motivated by his desire to own a low cost vehicle since his childhood

- He studies electrical installation at Kitale Technical polytechnic

- His hybrid car can do 50 km a day due to its power capacity

- Karumbo is appealing for government support to achieve his dream

At a small garage tucked in the heart of Langas Estate in the outskirts of Eldoret Town, Samuel Karumbo is putting together the final touches to what he terms as a trail blazing invention.

He says that while growing up, he badly needed a car but a cost effective one.

Send 'NEWS' to 40227 to receive all the important breaking news as it happens

And out of this necessity, this innovation was born.

READ ALSO: Mtangazaji maarufu wa KTN - Betty Kyalo - alazwa hospitalini

I admired owning a car and since I did not have enough money to buy one, I just sat down and remembered that I am an innovator. That is when I thought of coming up with a unique car, a solar-powered car that does not require any fuel, said Karumbo.

For four months, he converted his small compound into a temporary workshop.

This was his foundry where he transformed concept into reality. His work, he says, has now paid off.

READ ALSO: NYS female suspects show up in court carrying babies

Locals admire the solar-powered car in Langas, Eldoret. Photo: Thaddeus Asesa/TUKO

The solar car is taking advantage of the panels that collect the rays from the sun then convert them into electronic energy then the electronic energy will be stored in the batteries then you can use the energy from the battery to drive the wheel, explained Karumbo who holds a diploma in Electrical Installation from Kitale Technical Polytechnic.

He said the vehicle depends heavily on gravity when on descend. The motor acts as a generator for producing energy for later use.

The car can cover about 50 km in a day, the only challenge being the low speed motor which doesnt allow it to use energy faster.

This hybrid car, or green energy car as he often refers to it, can also be used to charge phones or provide home lighting.

READ ALSO: Raila visits ailing billionaire businessman Chris Kirubi at his Loresho home

The small car that uses solar power that was developed by a 30-year-old student in Eldoret. Photo: Thaddeus Asesa/TUKO

The car which weighs approximately 120 kilograms has three solar panels to propel it. The solar panels have a total of 260 watts which is a lot of energy, he added.

Karumbo said he wants to use the car to create awareness and reach out to people to adopt clean energy to protect the environment.

One of the mitigating interventions that the country should put in place is to promote investments that work towards attaining the goal of using 100% renewable energy from sources such as solar, geothermal, tidal waves, the wind and even municipal waste as opposed to using fossil fuel generated power, explained Karumbo.

He now wants the government to support him manufacture more solar cars.

The car that was developed by the 30-year-old student can do 50 km in a day. Photo: Thaddeus Asesa/TUKO

READ ALSO: Misimamo 17 za uwongo walizowahi kutoa wanawake kwa wapenzi wao kuwahadaa

My dream is that one day the government will support me put up a big workshop so that I can be able to manufacture more solar cars and sell them to Kenyans so that we can get rid of fuel emissions on our roads that has great effect to our environment, he said.

Meanwhile, his innovation has sent a wave of excitement among the residents of Langas.

People take our Langas estate as a place that holds criminals but what we have seen is miraculously (sic) that we have a youth who can actually come up with such an innovation and have other youth emulate him, said Stanley Maingi, a resident.

READ ALSO: 9 infrastructural projects which saw Uhuru win Africa development award

Paul Ogeto, another resident said: We are asking the government to support this young man to get wherever he wishes to reach because he can really do great things in this country.

Karumbo said he has so far spent about KSh 125, 000 to assemble the vehicle and although he has received interest from some buyers he says, that is still further down the road.

Story by Thaddeus Asesa, TUKO Correspondent.

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.

Faces of Kenya: Meet David Kukali the CEO of Moto Mayai - on TUKO TV

Source: Tuko
On Sunday, the Ministry of Health reported that the country had recorded seven more cases of
Today, May 29, 2018, the 2nd Ukrainian-Chinese Forum of Economic Cooperation has been opened at the Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The main purpose of the event is to present the economic potential of Ukraine to Chinese business, to shape the image of Ukraine as a reliable trading partner, and to promote local companies in establishing effective relations with China.

Within the framework of the event, there will be presentations of branches and projects in the field of agricultural complex, energy, infrastructure, tourism and other areas, as well as business negotiations with potential investors from China.

It is expected that more than 75 representatives of public and private investors from China will attend the forum.

The forum's organizers are the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Ukraine and China Overseas Development Association (CODA).

ish
Nord Stream 2 is a political project aimed at splitting the European Union, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

He said this at a joint briefing with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Kyiv on Tuesday, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"Today, Ukraine is making every effort to persuade, including some European partners, that Nord Stream 2 is a purely political, rather than economic project, aimed at breaking the unity of the European Union, causing damage to Ukraine and significantly reducing the level of security throughout the region, and not just the competitiveness of the European economy," Poroshenko said.

According to him, Ukraine expects an "optimal" solution to be found in the Nord Stream 2 issue

Steinmeier, in turn, said that Ukraine's concern that it would cease to be a gas transit country in the future was "groundless."

"You should not blame us, because even if we are talking about Nord Stream 2, we are also talking about Ukraine's future and security. I hope that Ukraine is following Germany's efforts to ensure the transit of natural gas through Ukraine. To this end negotiations are being held not only between Germany and Ukraine, but also with the European Union. I hope that they will bring results in the near future," he said.

Steinmeier is on a two-day official visit to Ukraine at the invitation of President Petro Poroshenko.

op
An interest of German business in cooperation with Ukraine has significantly increased, but the process of economic reforms and the fight against corruption should continue.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said this at a joint briefing with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"The interest of the German economy in Ukraine has significantly increased. More than a thousand German companies operate in Ukraine. Many others are interested in economic opportunities that exist in Ukraine," Steinmeier said.

He added that he as a president would like not only to note this positive dynamics but also to strengthen it.

The German president also stressed that Germany had been always ready to support the process of Ukraine's internal transformation, and noted that "something has been done" in this regard in the past years.

ish
In 2017, a bilateral trade between Ukraine and Germany increased by almost 23%.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said this after a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the press service of the head of the Ukrainian state informed.

"Today, the German president is on an official visit to Ukraine. In the coming days, we expect a visit of the foreign minister. I think that this shows a positive nature of relations between Ukraine and Germany," Poroshenko said.

The head of the Ukrainian state stressed: "I can say that we worked well in the economy. Last year, we had a huge increase in bilateral trade. It grew by almost 23%".

"This is one of the record figures among many countries. I think that this is the result of the full implementation of the Association Agreement, including DCFTA, when both Ukrainian and German commodity producers have unhindered access to the markets. This leads to a significant increase in the volume of mutual trade, which, as I was informed by the first vice prime minister of the Ukrainian government, already reaches 8 billion euros. I think this is a very encouraging figure," Poroshenko said.

According to the president, the intensity of contacts that took place in recent days emphasizes the unique nature of Ukrainian-German relations.

ish
Twenty-eight people have been injured in a road accident involving a passenger bus carrying Ukrainian tourists in Budapest, and eight of them have been seriously injured, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa has said.

"A road accident in Budapest. Unfortunately, Ukrainian tourists were injured. Tentatively 28 people were injured, eight of them seriously injured. The consul is providing assistance," Betsa wrote on Twitter.

A double-deck tourist bus from Ukraine got into a road accident in Budapest late on Monday, May 28. According to Hungarian internet portal Index, the bus hit a 3.65-meter height limiter. About 50 passengers were travelling on the bus.

op
Georgia and Ukraine should get the hope for integration into the North Atlantic Alliance.

This is stated in a final declaration of the spring session of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly (NATO PA), which ended in Warsaw on May 28.

Parliamentarians from NATO nations urged the leaders to maintain a dual track Russia policy of defense and deterrence to counter Moscow's efforts destabilize NATO allies and neighbors, linked with openness to "meaningful dialogue."

Lawmakers also called on the alliance leaders to show unity at their summit in July and demonstrate that the organization remains credible in the face of security threats headed by Russia and terrorism.

Their declaration also urged the leaders to give Bosnia and Herzegovina a reform plan to prepare it for NATO membership, and to back Georgia and Ukraine's hopes of joining NATO.

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To achieve its goals, a UN peacekeeping mission should have broad powers and be deployed throughout the conflict zone, in particular, on the uncontrolled part of the Ukrainian-Russian border.

Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman said this in his address on the occasion of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, the Governmental portal reported.

"The situation is complicated by the fact that the deployment of peacekeepers in Donbas requires an approval by the aggressor state, with which we have different visions of this mission, in the UN Security Council. However, Ukraine is ready to actively defend its position in the future. We will urge the world community to work actively in this direction, as every day of delay claims the lives of our defenders. To achieve its goals, the UN peacekeeping mission should have broad powers and be deployed throughout the conflict zone, in particular, on the uncontrolled section of the Ukrainian-Russian border," Groysman said.

"I am sure that with the support of the international community and the courage of our fighters, we are able to return peace to Ukraine and restore the territorial integrity of the country," the head of the government added.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has discussed with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier the process of liberation of Ukrainian hostages held in the territory of ORDLO and political prisoners from Russian jails.

He said this during a joint briefing of the presidents in Kyiv, an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

"We note the need of the fastest possible release of Ukrainian servicemen, activists and volunteers held in the occupied territory, as well as political prisoners, illegally held in the occupied Crimea and in the prisons of the Russian Federation, including Sentsov, Sushchenko, Balukh and many other political prisoners who were imprisoned because they refused to bring the Ukrainian passport and take the Russian citizenship," Poroshenko said.

He recalled that the process of releasing hostages after a successful operation in December of last year was stopped by the Russian Federation and the militants under its control.

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The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry intends to increase diplomatic and political pressure on Russia due to new arrests and repressions in Crimea.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa said this in Kyiv on Tuesday at a press conference "A New Wave of Political Arrests in Occupied Crimea," according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"On our part, we, first and foremost, will increase political pressure on Russia... Secondly, today our Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin will speak at a special meeting of the UN Security Council on Ukraine, and we are already a non-permanent member of the Security Council. Thanks to our Polish colleagues, today a special session of the UN Security Council will take place, and the minister will speak to condemn Russian aggression and show a terrible picture of repressions in Crimea, recall some of the most resonant cases and urge our partners to increase diplomatic and political pressure, including the sanctions list," Betsa said.

According to her, recent criminal cases in Crimea, including the kidnapping and beating of a delegate of the Kurultai of the Crimean Tatar people, Asan Egiz, are an attempt to discredit the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, which is cynical against the background of an order to Russia on the part of the International Court of Justice to restore the activity of the Mejlis, which was banned by Russia after annexation of Crimea.

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Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said he is convinced that the international community must ensure Russia's responsibility for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in 2014.

He stated this at a joint briefing with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in Kyiv on Tuesday, according to an Ukrinform correspondent.

"The international community must ensure the responsibility of the Russian Federation for 298 innocent victims who represent different countries of the world. This responsibility must be inevitable," Poroshenko said.

He also emphasized that joint and coordinated actions of the international community should ensure that Russia does not repeat such crimes in the future.

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The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry points to political motives behind the persecution of Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko and demands his release, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariana Betsa has said.

"We again emphasize political motives behind the case. We demand the release of journalist Sushchenko - hostage to Russian aggression," she wrote on Twitter on May 28.

As reported, on May 28, the Moscow City Court hosted a session in the case of Ukrainian journalist Roman Sushchenko, who was illegally detained in Moscow, in which the debate between the prosecution and defense parties was held. The prosecution asked for a 14-year prison term for the journalist in a high-security penal colony. According to Sushchenko's public defender, Mark Feygin, the verdict will be announced on June 4, 2018.

As reported, Paris-based Ukrinform correspondent Roman Sushchenko was detained in violation of international rules on September 30, 2016 in Moscow, where he arrived on a private visit.

On October 7, he was charged with "espionage." Russia's FSB claimed that Sushchenko is a member of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. The latter denied this allegation.

The Moscow City Court extended Sushchenko's arrest until September 16.

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Parliamentarians appeal for unity and credibility ahead of the July NATO Summit.

Georgia and Ukraine should be backed in their hopes to join NATO, according to a declaration signed at the NATO Parliamentary Assemblys Spring Session in Poland on Monday.

The Declaration "urges the Heads of State and Government of the member States of the North Atlantic Alliance to reiterate support for Ukraines membership aspiration."

The declaration also urged the leaders to give Bosnia and Herzegovina a reform plan to prepare it for NATO membership, the NATO PA press service reports.

Parliamentarians from NATO nations appealed for Alliance leaders to show unity at their summit in July and demonstrate that the organization remains credible in the face of security threats headed by Russia and terrorism.

Read alsoNATO doesn't plan to cease support of Ukraine despite Hungary's demandLawmakers urged the leaders to maintain a dual track Russia policy of defense and deterrence to counter Moscows efforts destabilize NATO allies and neighbors, linked with openness to meaningful dialogue.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on March 9, 2018, NATO incorporated Ukraine in the list of the aspirant countries.

President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko said that Kyiv would insist on getting a Membership Action Plan.
The NATO chief has confirmed he is in close contact on the issue of national minority languages with the leadership of both countries.

NATO is in a very close contact and cooperation with Ukraine, with regular meetings being held with the country's leadership, including President Petro Poroshenko and Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with Polish President Andrzej Duda in Warsaw following a NATO PA meeting on Monday, May 28.

He also noted that a bilateral NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting at the Ambassadorial level was set to be held later that day.

Read alsoNATO doesn't plan to cease support of Ukraine despite Hungary's demand

"NATO provides strong political and strong practical support for Ukraine because Ukraine is a close and highly-valued partner," he said.

Stoltenberg recognized he was aware of the challenge in convening the NATO-Ukraine Commission meeting at the ministerial level because of the disagreement over the language law between Ukraine and Hungary, which is a NATO Ally.

"I just urge Ukraine and Hungary to try to find a solution to that issue," he said, adding that he had already spoken on the issue both with Prime Minister Viktor Orban and also Petro Poroshenko.

Read alsoPolish FM calls on NATO's Stoltenberg to intervene in Hungary-Ukraine row

"It is about reconciling the need to protect the rights of minorities to speak their languages but also of course the legitimate right of any state to make sure that the people in their country are able to speak the state language. This is a dilemma that I've seen in many countries and it has been possible to find the way to balance those concerns, and I hope there will also be a possibility to find a way to balance that concern in Ukraine.

As reported earlier, Hungary is insisting that NATO review its support programs for Ukraine, thus trying to put pressure on Kyiv to amend the education law in the part of national minority languages, a provision that Hungary finds threatening to rights of a Hungarian minority living in Ukraine.
Every day of delay costs us lives of our defenders, the prime minister stressed.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Groysman says Ukraine will continue to actively defend its position on the deployment of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Donbas.

In his address on the occasion of the International Day of UN Peacekeepers, the head of government said this year marks 70 years since the foundation of the UN peacekeeping mission. Since then, peacekeepers have gone on over 70 missions of varying degrees of complexity in various hot spots across the globe.

"UN 'Blue Helmets' have become a symbol of humanity's aspirations for universal brotherhood and peace, as well as a symbol of hope for people whose land suffers from war," Groysman said.

"Unfortunately, the issue of United Nations peacekeepers is also relevant for our country today. Military, information, economic and cyber aggression of the ruling regime of the Russian Federation and long-term hostilities in the east of our country force us to declare the need for a peacekeeping mission in certain regions of Donetsk and Luhansk regions," he said.

Read alsoPoroshenko: Russian troops will leave Donbas when international peacekeepers deployed"The situation is also complicated by the fact that the approval of the aggressor state in the UN Security Council, with whom we have a different vision of this mission, is required to introduce peacekeepers to Donbas. However, Ukraine is determined to continue to actively defend its position. We will urge the world community to make active efforts in this direction, since every day of delay costs us the lives of our defenders," Groysman added.

He noted that in order to achieve its goals, the UN peacekeeping mission should have broad powers and be deployed throughout the conflict zone, in particular on the uncontrolled section of the Russian-Ukrainian border.

"I am confident that with the support of the international community and thanks to the courage of our fighters, we are able to return peace to Ukraine and restore the territorial integrity of the country," Groysman stressed.
Peskov noted that Putin "said clearly on Sentsov that he had been convicted and serving a sentence for plotting a terrorist act."

Russian President's Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov says Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have not discussed the swap of the illegally condemned in Russia Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov for Chief of RIA Novosti's Kyiv office Kirill Vyshinsky detained in Ukraine.

"As far as I know, no one initiated the exchange issue. I'm not aware of such initiatives being taken," Peskov said answering a question of an UNIAN correspondent on whether the issue was discussed, since the French and Russian leaders mentioned Sentsov and Vyshinsky at a press conference on May 24.

Peskov noted that Putin "said clearly on Sentsov that he had been convicted and serving a sentence for plotting a terrorist act."

Read alsoSentsov agrees to supportive therapy amid hunger strike  Russian Justice Ministry"This is a serious charge. This is not just an accusation, it's a court verdict. As for our citizen [Vyshinsky], who is now being accused of state treason over his professional journalistic activities, we see that this is a completely different situation," Peskov said, adding that this was in Putin's focus.

In addition, responding to a clarifying question who should initiate negotiations on the exchange, Peskov said: "I cannot tell you as I don't have such information. I don't know whether such an initiative is out there."

Read alsoEU calls for immediate release of Ukrainians detained in Russia, occupied CrimeaAs UNIAN reported earlier, when speaking at a joint press conference with Macron in St. Petersburg, May 24, Putin said that "Sentsov was detained rather for plotting terrorist acts than for carrying out his journalistic activities.

In turn, Macron noted that the fate of Sentsov and that of Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov had been discussed at his talks with Putin.
The two-year saga around the creation of the High Anti-Corruption Court has reached the home stretch as last week the relevant bill was finally brought to the Verkhovna Rada's session hall for its final consideration. Although the deputies failed to pass the legislation from first attempt, they have gone through almost a half of some 2,000 amendments.

The bill saw a really thorny path to the session hall. Perhaps, before the Anti-Corruption Court, no other government agency was being created for so long in Ukraine. Initial discussions on a "court above courts" began in 2016, when Kyiv had to acknowledge that the newly created anti-corruption bodies - the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAPO)  were failing to cope with their tasks  that is, to overcome corruption given the existing courts that are far from perfect. After U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch quite bluntly hinted at Ukraine's desperate need for a special anti-corruption court, Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko in December 2016 said that the relevant bill was already being prepared. However, the parliament saw the draft only in a year, in December 2017, when the president submitted it to the Verkhovna Rada as "urgent."

A long way to the ACC creation

The creation of the High Anti-Corruption Court is provided by the law on the judicial system and the status of judges, adopted in June 2016 as part of the judicial reform. According to the legislation, high specialized courts should act within the judicial system as first instance courts aimed to hear certain categories of cases - the High Court of Intellectual Property and High Anti-Corruption Court.

The problem is that the legislators didn't think beyond laying the provision down so its implementation turned out a mess. At first, the discussion went toward an offer to create anti-corruption chambers with existing courts rather than setting up a separate institution. Soon the corresponding draft law was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by the deputy from the pro-presidential BPP faction Seriy Olekseyev.

According to Poroshenko himself, this idea is good because it will take long to create a separate Anti-Corruption Court (it could appear no earlier than 2020); therefore, anti-corruption chambers would be an excellent solution. The idea also found support in the Government and Prosecutor General's Office. Actually, the European Commission also green-lighted the initiative. However, it was the Ukrainian activists who stood strong against the move because they believed that there would be of little use.

"Chambers under existing courts will be dependent and administered from outside. They will not only fail the task of ensuring fair punishment for corruption crimes, but will also become reliable instruments in the hands of bribe-takers. After all, the chambers will be formed, in fact, from the same judges who, at the moment, are dragging out and tearing down the cases already submitted by the National Anti-Corruption Bureau and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office," said Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, an executive director at Transparency International Ukraine.

Washington also supported the idea of an Anti-Corruption Court in the form of a separate structure. Ambassador Yovanovytch in an interview with Novoye Vremya magazine reiterated her country's clear position on the issue  that the the Anti-Corruption Court should be established in Ukraine that would imprison corrupt officials, whose guilt is proved by NABU and SAPO.

Disputable issues

After this, Poroshenko's position has changed: "A separate judicial anti-corruption vertical should be created as part of a separate anti-corruption court, cassation instance of the anticorruption chamber in the Supreme Court and, as the Verkhovna Rada will determine , representations of the anti-corruption court in the regions."

At the same time, another bill on the anti-corruption court was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada by a group of deputies from the Samopomich faction. The draft offered creating the court as a separate body rather than in the form of chambers within the already existing courts. The draft, along with Olekseyev's one, was submitted by Parliament Speaker Andriy Parubiy for a review by the Venice Commission (VC). VC conclusions were not too pleasing as they rejected both bills. At the same time, the VC suggested that Poroshenko submit his own draft law on the Anti-Corruption Court to the Verkhovna Rada. And such a document did surface. It was this bill that the deputies considered last week.

There are several key issues with this bill. First, the norm on the selection of candidates for a new court remains controversial. The draft says that the Supreme Qualification Commission of Judges should do the selection with the help of the Public Council of International Experts. However, the latter will only have the right to advise. In other words, international non-partisan experts are assigned a nominal role in the formation of the Anti-Corruption Court. That contradicts the VC recommendations.

According to Roman Kuybida, deputy head of the board of the Center for Political and Legal Reforms, the right of the Public Council of International Experts to give its negative conclusions about the integrity of certain candidates to the post of a judge without being able to actually form the court structure is fraught with threats. The thing is that the formation of the court must be dealt with by the Higher Qualification Commission, which has already poorly performed during the formation of the Supreme Court. In other words, even if a candidate is rejected by international experts, the Commission may ignore their opinion and push through the selection any candidate the authorities deem loyal.

The second problem, according to Kuybida, is the lack of a special cassation instance where it would be possible to challenge the decisions of the Anti-Corruption Court. According to the presidential bill, the Supreme Court will be the cassation instance for the Anti-Corruption Court.

"The authorities will have the opportunity to monitor the decision of the Anti-Corruption Court through the cassation instance, through controlling the Supreme Court," he said.

The expert believes the solution may lie in the creation of a special anti-corruption chamber in the Supreme Court. Moreover, the selection of judges to the chamber must necessarily be carried out with the participation of international experts. Otherwise, politics will influence judges while the Anti-Corruption Court rulings will be controlled by the authorities.

Delaying the process

However, the way how hard the voting went for the presidential bill and how its second reading is being delayed shows that there is unfortunately no will among the legislators to resolve these problems.

It was assumed that in the second reading and in general, the bill would be considered before summer, but the draft "wandered about" for months - after the first reading it was transferred from the anti-corruption committee to the committee on legal policy, controlled by the president. Here, the bill had every chance of being "buried" forever (committee meetings to consider the draft law were constantly postponed). Recently, IMF spokesman Jerry Rice said that the adoption of an anti-corruption law with amendments that would ensure its full compliance with the recommendations of the Venice Commission is critically important for the Fund's continued lending to Ukraine. And so, the work on the bill re-started again. According to the committee chair, Ruslan Kniazevych, the bill was endorsed, with the exception of 70 amendments concerning the right of veto of the Council of International Experts on candidates for the posts of judges.

"To adopt the law or at least to make it a compromise, no one needs 2,000 amendments," says political analyst Taras Chornovil. "Of course, making amendments is the lawful right of people's deputies, but they use this right differently. For example, someone may have certain views, which the deputies don't wish to abandon, although this completely contradicts the positions that have already been agreed in advance and will only harm the adoption of the law. But there are also amendments aimed at unbalancing and disorganizing the bill to prevent its adoption."

The expert says, today, basically, the deputies work on delaying the adoption process in various ways. "That is, the law is unlikely to be passed - the process is slow and no one is going to accelerate it. Perhaps, only in June will the version pass which will be coordinated as much as possible with international partners," Chornovil said.

Vitaliy Shabunin, director of the Center for Combating Corruption, echoes the expert: "This is a common practice - amendments were filed a month and a half ago. There is a great will of one person - Petro Poroshenko, as well as his entourage  not to have this court created. And they use all possible levers to this end. For some time they succeeded, but they will have to make a decision. If not now, then at the nearest plenary week, in June. This is the deadline, otherwise there will be no IMF tranche, which could trigger a default as early as in a year."

"The discussion is inevitable, but we still have to pass this law," says Volodymyr Fesenko, director of the Penta Center for Applied Political Studies. "But the credibility of the Anti-Corruption Court will depend on several factors. First, on what this law will be like - if it restricts rights of international experts, this will immediately spark criticism on the part of a share of our public and international organizations. Another point is the court composition. Let's say, the bill will pass, and they will start recruiting judges. But, as practice shows, during the selection process there can be conflicts, as it was with the Supreme Court. And the number of problematic judges is something on which the credibility of the Anti-Corruption Court will also depend. Also, much will depend on the very performance of the court."

Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Andriy Parubiy, also confirmed some fears of experts. Closing the latest session week, he drew attention to the fact that without consideration of all amendments to the draft law on the Anti-Corruption Court, the document will not be adopted. So immediately before the vote, the deputies will return to those fundamental amendments, "without which the bill will not be wholesome."

Anastasia Zaremba

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U.S. diplomats reiterate Russia must abide by the Minsk agreements.

The Embassy of the United States to Ukraine has called on Russia to withdraw its forces in Donbas in keeping with the Minsk agreements after another civilian death.

"Civilians continue to die as a result of Russia's war against Ukraine  Daria Kazemirova, who just turned 15 years old, was indiscriminately killed yesterday by artillery while playing in her grandmother's courtyard. Russia must withdraw its forces and implement Minsk," the Embassy said on Twitter on May 29.

Read alsoDonbas update: Ukraine reports 6 WIAs amid 37 enemy attacks

As UNIAN reported earlier, a teenage girl died of a shrapnel wound after Russian-led forces had shelled the village of Zalizne, Donetsk region, on May 28.
The meeting at the ministerial level is also slated for June, Klimkin said.

The Ministry of Education of Ukraine will hold consultations with members of the Hungarian community in Ukraine on the language provisions of the Ukrainian law on education on June 5.

"The Hungarian side will facilitate these consultations so that they succeed. Then two foreign ministers and [two] education ministers will meet with the participation of the Hungarian community in order to find a solution that will work for our citizens of Hungarian origin," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said after a meeting with Hungary's Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto, the Ukrainian news outlet Yevropeiska Pravda said.

Read alsoStoltenberg hopes Ukraine, Hungary able to find solution in language row

According to him, "the logic of the solutions is to remove this discrimination so that teaching the language could be improved so that they [members of the national minority] understand what country they live in, but could fully preserve their identity."

The meeting at the ministerial level is also slated for June, Klimkin said.

As was reported, the Hungarian government has repeatedly stated that it will block cooperation between Ukraine and NATO until Kyiv "restores the rights" the ethnic minorities had previously had in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian's state of health is assessed as satisfactory, according to the report.

Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year prison term in Russia on trumped up "terrorism" charges, has agreed to supportive therapy while he is continuing an indefinite hunger strike demanding that the Kremlin release all political prisoners.

"We inform you that Sentsov O.H., who has refused to eat, is now under dynamic supervision of medical personnel of the institution where he is serving a sentence. Sentsov O.H. has now started receiving supportive therapy, to which he gave his consent," the press service of the Federal Penitentiary Service, subordinated to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation, has reported.

Read alsoSpectacular action held in New York in support of Oleh SentsovThe Ukrainian's state of health is assessed as satisfactory, according to the report.

As UNIAN reported earlier, on May 16, Dmitry Dinze, the lawyer of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov, who is serving a 20-year term in prison in Russia, said his client had gone on an indefinite hunger strike.

Sentsov sent a letter to the chief of the colony to inform about the hunger strike and demand the release of 64 Ukrainian political prisoners as a condition for the end of his protest action.
The batch will arrive in Ukraine only in August-September.

Director of the Public Health Center at the Ministry of Health, Volodymyr Kurpita, says Ukraine has no serums from botulism.

"There is no domestic production of serums from botulism in Ukraine. In general, there are few countries in the world producing them, since it is very difficult to make this medicinal substance with stable quality, therefore it is produced in small batches. In addition, the purchase of serums has never been the task of the Ministry of Health. The department has never purchased this product in the history of independent Ukraine. They were always purchased by local authorities using regional budget funds; as a rule, [they were bought] in Russia. Purchases ceased after the conflict with Russia began," Kurpita said in an interview with RBC-Ukraine media outlet.

Read alsoActing Health Minister Suprun calls for tougher responsibility for refusal of vaccinesAccording to the official, in 2018, the Ministry of Health for the first time allocated part of the funds laid in the state budget for the purchase of medicines for the purchase of serums. Over UAH 40 million is to be spent.

The serum from botulism will arrive in Ukraine only in August-September.
According to intelligence data, three occupiers were killed and another five wounded.

Russia's hybrid military forces mounted 37 attacks on Ukrainian army positions in Donbas in the past 24 hours, with six Ukrainian soldiers reported as wounded in action (WIA).

"Six of our servicemen were wounded in combat and immediately evacuated to hospitals," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) said in an update on Facebook as of 07:00 Kyiv time on May 29, 2018.

"Active fighting continued with the greatest intensity near the town of Zolote and the villages of Krymske and Novotoshkivske in the Luhansk sector, as well as near the towns of Svitlodarsk and Maryinka and the villages of Novoselivka Druha, Novomykhailivka, Starohnativka, Vodiane and Shyrokyne," the report says.

The Ukrainian troops returned fire following enemy attacks from mortars and small arms.

Read alsoJFO: Ukraine reports 2 WIA's amid 22 enemy attacksRussian occupation forces have violated the norms of the International Humanitarian Law three times over the past day, carrying out attacks against civilians. At about 05:00 Kyiv time, the occupiers opened fire from a grenade launcher on the village of Chermalyk. At about 11:40, hiding behind the residential quarters of the town of Horlivka, they started mortaring the village of Zalizne, killing a 15-year-old teenager. At about 15:00, the terrorists opened fire on the village of Pivdenne, which resulted in a civilian sustaining shrapnel wounds.

Criminal cases were opened on the facts of shelling of peaceful settlements by the Russian occupation troops.

No casualties have been reported among the Ukrainian military since the beginning of the day.

According to intelligence data, three occupiers were killed and another five wounded.
The report says militants have earlier carried out large-scale operations only with the participation of regular units of the Russian armed forces, so they cannot advance on their own.

Ukrainian MP and leader of the Information Resistance OSINT community Dmytro Tymchuk says that, despite the recent escalation in Donbas, there is no significant transfer to the area of regular troops from Russia, so the militants are unlikely to have any chances for any large-scale operations.

As Tymchuk told Apostrophe, escalation is observed in various sectors of the front line.

"We see intensified activity on the part of militants, taking into account what is happening near Horlivka, but the escalation is not only there. We are also seeing an escalation west of Donetsk, near Dokuchaievsk, etc.," Tymchuk said.

At the same time, under current conditions, the militants have almost no chance of carrying out a successful offensive on the positions of Ukrainian troops, MP said.

"It is difficult to say how much the degree of tension will grow. We should understand if we take the current configuration of the occupation forces and those formations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine that are involved in the joint Forces Operation, the militants have no chances for any large-scale offensive operation at the operational-tactical level," he said.

Read alsoDonbas update: Ukraine reports 6 WIAs amid 37 enemy attacksAccording to Tymchuk, the militants earlier carried out large-scale operations only with the participation of regular units of the Russian armed forces, therefore they cannot advance on their own.

"But amid escalation, which is now being observed, we do not yet see any large-scale transfer of troops from Russia to the occupied territory of Donbas. The situation may change at any time, but we do not see that at the moment," Tymchuk said.

Ukrainian volunteer activist Yuriy Mysyagin reported earlier, the K-2 combat group, which is part of the 54th brigade, had destroyed military equipment of terrorists at the Svitlodarska Duha bulge.
According to preliminary information, there were no casualties as a result of the blast.

Observers of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) to Ukraine came under militant fire near the town of Toretsk, Donetsk region, today, May 29.

"Today, on May 29, the enemy once again grossly violated international agreements by opening fire on representatives of the OSCE SMM to Ukraine," the press center of Ukraine's Joint Forces Operation (JFO) wrote on Facebook.

Read alsoOSCE SMM reports undetermined explosion close to its patrols in Luhansk regionAs OSCE monitors were launching an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) near the village of Nelipivka, near Toretsk, to carry out aerial observation in the area, at about 11:35, "a mine blew up at a 250m distance from the OSCE vehicle," the report says.

According to preliminary information, there were no casualties in the blast. It has also been established that the shelling came from residential quarters of the occupied town of Horlivka.

The command of the Joint Forces emphasizes the Ukrainian military did not open fire on civilian settlements. The OSCE office was informed of the incident.
The Memorial human rights center has recognized Yegorov as a political prisoner.

A prosecutor in Toropets district court of Tver region, Russia, has requested the court to rule a two-year probation sentence for a local electrician Vladimir Yegorov, charged over his posting against Russian President Vladimir Putin in Vkontakte social network.

Lawyer of the Agora human rights group Svetlana Sidorkina defending Yegorov in court says her client is being accused of public calls for extremism via the internet (Part 2 Article 280 of the Criminal Code), Dozhd reports.

According to Sidorkina, first he was taken into custody, but later the preventive measure was changed to a written undertaking not to leave the place or residence.

The investigation states that Yegorov posted a text "containing in its linguistic structure calls to carry out extremist actions." The text referred to the Russian president.

Read alsoVisiting Russia could end up in prison sentence for journalists: Human rights watchdogAs reported by Grani.ru, Yegorov wrote: "We need to take down down the main Kremlin rat along with his cronies." The publication was accompanied by a photo of Putin with an inscription "Main rat" on his forehead.

"We ask the court to fully acquit Yegorov. He refused to plead guilty. The verdict in this case will be announced on June 5," Sidorkina said.

On June 27, 2017, Egorov had to report to the FSB for questioning, but never did so, which led to him being put on wanted list. A month later, on July 31, FSB operatives detained Yegorov at a border checkpoint with Belarus.

The Memorial human rights center has recognized Egorov as political prisoner.
Four injured Ukrainians were pulled out from under the wreckage.

A tragic accident occurred in Budapest in the evening on May 28, when a double-decker Setra tourist bus from Ukraine rammed a 3.5-meter height limiter on the way to the Ferihegy airport in the 18th district of the Hungarian capital.

As a result of the collision, almost the entire deck was demolished, where two dozen passengers were sitting, mukachevo.net reports.

Rescuers and fire brigades were immediately deployed at the scene. According to the Budapest disaster management, almost 50 passengers were traveling in the bus. It is reported that 28 people were injured, including eight people with severe injuries. There have been no reports on lethal injuries. The bus is registered in Ukraine's Khmelnytskiy region.

The road to the airport was completely blocked due to the rescue operation. Four injured Ukrainians were pulled out from under the wreckage.
Baku, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th May, 2018 ) :Azerbaijan inaugurated on Tuesday part of a pipeline complex that will eventually create the first direct route to transport Caspian gas from one of the world's largest fields to Europe bypassing Russia.

"With this project we are creating a new energy map of Europe," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a televised ceremony where he turned on the taps at Sangachal Terminal, a gas processing facility located some 55 kilometres (35 miles) southwest of the capital Baku.

The Southern Gas Corridor aims to transport gas 3,500 kilometres from the Caspian Sea to Europe through three interconnected pipelines as the West is looking to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

Aliyev praised support from the United States, Britain and the European Union and noted "strong regional cooperation between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia" in implementing the project.

"This project takes into account the interests of everyone -- suppliers of gas, transit countries and consumers," Aliyev said.

"If it were not for the balance of interests then the project would not exist," he said at the ceremony attended by foreign dignitaries including OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo.

- Trump extends support -US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Energy Resources Sandra Oudkirk said President Donald Trump supported the project, saying it would help ensure Europe's energy security.

"The European Union needs to further diversify its import capabilities to satisfy its future energy needs," said for his part Yury Sentyurin, who heads up the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.

He said seven countries and 11 companies were involved.

The $40-billion (35-billion-euro) project consists of three linked pipelines that will bring gas from the vast Azerbaijani Shah Deniz 2 field across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

By 2020, the Southern Gas Corridor is expected to bring around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe a year.

Another 6 billion cubic metres of gas will go to Turkey.

The South Caucasus Pipeline from Azerbaijan will transport gas to Turkey, where it will feed into Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, or TANAP, which is expected to be formally launched next month.

From Turkey, the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline will take the gas on to Italy.

The total investment in Shah Deniz 2 and pipeline infrastructure is estimated at more than $40 billion.

Ilham Shaban, the head of the Oil Research Center in Baku, said the project would help turn the oil-rich South Caucasus nation into a key gas player.

"Since 2007 Azerbaijan has been selling its gas only on the regional level," Shaban told AFP.

"The infrastructure will allow it to ramp up supplies of Azerbaijani gas with each year and export 31 billion cubic meters of gas annually in 10 years."- Rights activists concerned -But many activists have slammed the project, saying Western governments have turned a blind eye to rights violations in Azerbaijan and charging that it would serve to enrich Aliyev's family.

"Azerbaijan should make its contribution to not only Europe's energy security but also to the business of defending human rights," prominent activist Anar Mamedli told AFP.

"Unfortunately, top European countries and the United States see Azerbaijan only as an energy partner and turn a blind eye to rights violations in the country."Last month Aliyev, 56, secured a fourth consecutive presidential term, in elections that international observers said were marred by "serious irregularities" and lack of competition.

He came to power after the death of his father Heydar Aliyev, a former KGB officer and communist-era leader who had ruled Azerbaijan with an iron fist.

Supporters have praised the Aliyevs for turning a republic once thought of as an ex-Soviet backwater into a flourishing energy supplier to Europe.

But critics say they have crushed the opposition and used their power to fund a lavish lifestyle for the president and his family.
ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th May, 2018 ) :Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) will organize a business opportunities conference and award ceremony in Istanbul Turkey on June 27 and 28 to further improve bilateral trade with Turkey.

President of ICCI Sheikh Amir Waheed hosted an Iftar Dinner at his residence on Monday which was attended by Ambassador of Turkey to Pakistan, Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul, Senior Vice Presidents ICCI, M Naveed Malik, Sheikh Abdul Waheed and others were also present at the Iftar Dinner.

Speaking on the occasion, Sheikh Amir Waheed informed the Turkish ambassador that a delegation of about 400 persons of ICCI would attend the conference and hold B2B meetings with Turkish counterparts to explore new areas of mutual cooperation between the two countries.

He said the ICCI will also hold Award Ceremony on June 28 in Istanbul to recognize the contribution of top performing businesses in exports, trade and other fields.

High dignitaries and businessmen have been invited to the award ceremony so that they could see the potential of Pakistan's private sector and explore business match-makings with them, the president of ICCI said.

He said Pakistan and Turkey enjoyed historical friendly relations that should be transformed into growth trade and economic relations between the two countries.

He said the best way to strengthen trade relations was to promote direct connectivity between private sectors of both countries.

Ihsan Mustafa Yurdakul, appreciated the initiative of ICCI for organizing conference and Award Ceremony in Istanbul, Turkey as it would contribute towards improving business linkages between the private sectors of both countries.

He said more such events should be held on reciprocal basis between Pakistan and Turkey in order to develop strong trade and economic relations between the two countries. He assured that Turkish Embassy would facilitate ICCI in holding these events successfully in Turkey.
(@mahnoorsheikh03)

PEMRA had earlier banned the TV host for 30 days

Karachi (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News  29th May, 2018) tv host and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Dr Aamir Liaquat Hussain was recently banned for fueling sectarian debate during his Ramzan transmission.

However, the administration of social media website Facebook has also deleted Dr Aamir Liaquats page after being reported several times, according to recent reports.

The social media users had criticized the TV host for fueling religious sentiments and sparking sectarian debate during his Ramzan show Ramzan mein Bol on Bol TV.

Taking action over the content of the show, Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) banned Liaquat for 30 days under Section 27 of PEMRA Ordinance 2012.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh, A.D. Khawaja on Tuesday underlined the need for ownership of Karachi by all communities and political parties, that required a project like 'Lahore Safe City' for sustained peace and security

KARACHI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th May, 2018 ) :Inspector General of Police (IGP) Sindh, A.D. Khawaja on Tuesday underlined the need for ownership of Karachi by all communities and political parties, that required a project like 'Lahore Safe City' for sustained peace and security.

Dolphen Force is a modern security force which has been delivering its best.

Peaceful and progressive Karachi is vital for the progress and prosperity of the country, he said while speaking at an interactive session with members of Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) here at the Federation House. Senior police officers of the city accompanied the IGP, said a statement.

From FPCCI side, the prominent were FPCCI Vice Presidents Tariq Haleemand Zahid Saeed, former vice president Gulzar Feroz, senior business leader and former senator Abdul Haseeb Khan.

"This is the only city where the people are hostile to each other andeven kill each other simply for this reason," he remarked.

He said, on the arrival of Ramadan-ul-Mubarak, criminals from variousareas of the country did enter the city, along with a large number of beggars.

The Inspector General of Police said that Sindh and Punjab Police havejointly compiled data of criminals, which figures 1.5 million. Police of both the provinces is working in close coordination with each other to control crimes.

He said that mostly the street crimes are not being reported to thePolice. The public should show courage and get FIRs registered against criminals so that the Police could play more effective role in curbing crimes.

He advised the business community to spare some time and see theperformance of the Police at the Reporting Centres set up at various police stations in the city.

He also invited proposals from the business community for furtherimprovements in the Police system.

He also put emphasized on the close liaison between the public and thePolice for establishing sustained peace and secured environment in the city.
Baku, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th May, 2018 ) :Azerbaijan inaugurated on Tuesday part of an ambitious $40-billion pipeline complex that will create the first direct route to transport gas from one of the world's largest fields to Europe bypassing Russia.

"With this project we are creating a new energy map of Europe," Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said in a televised ceremony where he turned on the taps at Sangachal Terminal, a gas processing facility located some 55 kilometres (35 miles) southwest of the capital Baku.

The Southern Gas Corridor aims to transport gas 3,500 kilometres from the Caspian Sea to Europe through three interconnected pipelines as the West is looking to reduce its reliance on Russian energy.

Aliyev praised support from the United States, Britain and the European Union and noted "strong regional cooperation between Azerbaijan, Turkey and Georgia" in implementing the project involving seven countries and 11 companies.

"This project takes into account the interests of everyone -- suppliers of gas, transit countries and consumers," Aliyev said.

"If it were not for the balance of interests then the project would not exist," he said at the ceremony attended by foreign dignitaries including OPEC Secretary General Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo.

- Trump extends support -US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Energy Resources Sandra Oudkirk said President Donald Trump supported the project, saying it would help ensure Europe's energy security.

The $40-billion (35-billion-euro) project consists of three linked pipelines that will bring gas from the vast Azerbaijani Shah Deniz 2 field across Azerbaijan, Georgia, Turkey, Greece, Albania and the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy.

By 2020, the Southern Gas Corridor is expected to bring around 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas to Europe a year. Another 6 billion cubic metres of gas will go to Turkey.

The South Caucasus Pipeline from Azerbaijan will transport gas to Turkey, where it will feed into Trans-Anatolian Natural Gas Pipeline, or TANAP, which is expected to be formally launched next month.

From Turkey, a new Trans-Adriatic Pipeline still under construction will take the gas on to Italy.
Ten people including children were beheaded in a village in northern Mozambique in a weekend attack blamed on suspected militants, local sources said on Tuesday.

Maputo, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 29th May, 2018 ) :Ten people including children were beheaded in a village in northern Mozambique in a weekend attack blamed on suspected militants, local sources said on Tuesday.The attack occurred in Monjane, a village not far from Palma, a small town gearing up to be the country's new natural gas hub."We were informed about this tragedy," Palma's administrator David Machimbuko told AFP.
San Francisco, CA USA (UroToday.com) Brian S. Schwartz, MD (UCSF) moderated the Plenary session on Catheter-Associated UTIs with Dr. Tomas Griebling (University of Kansas), Dr. Timothy Averch (University of Pittsburg), and Dr. Ben Chew (University of British Columbia) as the panelists.Dr. Averch started off the discussion by defining the scope of the problem. The incidence of catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) was 9.4 per 1000 catheterizations in 2001. This led to 13,000 attributable deaths/year, excess length of stay and increased costs. In 2008, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services made it a never event and no longer provided reimbursement for hospital acquired CAUTIs. Following this the CAUTI rate dropped to 5.3 cases in 2010. Risk factors for CAUTIs are female gender, emergency hospital admission, transfer patients and Medicare patients. Many organizations have their own CAUTI definition but the most commonly used one is the CDC definition. The goal for 2020 is a 25% reduction in CAUTIs from the 2015 level. Dr. Averch recommended not prescribing antibiotics if patients have asymptomatic bacteruria and to not place or maintain unnecessary catheters.Dr. Griebling next discussed CAUTIs in the geriatric population. In nursing homes, Foley catheters are present in 13.9% short-term residents and in 7.3% long-term residents. The immune system changes with aging including altered levels of urinary cytokines, increased free radical formation and oxidative stress, decrease in cellular immunity and alterations in natural host-defense mechanisms. Older adults also have co-morbidities that put them at risk including diabetes mellitus and voiding dysfunction. The most common indication for catheters in the geriatric population is urinary retention. Older adults have atypical symptoms including delirium/confusion, anorexia or new onset of urinary incontinence. Dr. Grieblin reiterated that it is very important to distinguish asymptomatic bacteruria and to not treat these patients with antibiotics. The McGreer diagnostic criteria are most commonly used to define UTIs in long-term care facilities. Many quality initiatives are in place to help reduce the number of CAUTIs in nursing homes and there has been significant progress in reducing these episodes.Dr. Ben Chew next discussed solutions to combat CAUTIs and specifically antimicrobial coatings for catheters. No biomaterial exists that can completely withstand the effects of the urinary environment. Initial work using Triclosan loaded ureteral stents showed a decrease in Proteus mirabilis in a rabbit model but the FDA never approved it and it did not have similar results in humans. This is hypothesized to be secondary to the urinary conditioning film that covers coatings and drug eluting surfaces. Currently, Dr. Chew is working with polymer coatings, which has shown an ability to repel conditioning films. Simple coating techniques may help reduce CAUTIs and he encouraged close collaboration with industry colleagues.Dr. Schwartz concluded the session by mentioning that at UTSF when both urine analysis and urine cultures are ordered then the culture is only performed when white blood cells are found in the urine. These reflex culture techniques are recommended to help reduce the unnecessary treatment of asymptomatic bacteruria.Presented by: Brian S. Schwartz, Tomas Lindor Griebling, Timothy Averch, and Ben ChewWritten by: Roshan Patel, Department of Urology, University of California-Irvine at the 2018 AUA Annual Meeting - May 18 - 21, 2018  San Francisco, CA USA
San Francisco, CA USA (UroToday.com) Dr. Joseph Shirk from UCLA Medical Center presented data on using 3-dimensional, virtual reality models of patient-specific anatomy to plan for patients undergoing robotic partial nephrectomy. He foremost introduced that surgeons have mainly been using 2-dimensional CT or MRI images for the initial planning of complex surgeries such as the robotic partial nephrectomy. Contarily, he also found that previous optical and neuroscience research associated accuracy of memory with the encounter of 3-dimensional objects.His study compared 30 retrospective and 30 prospective patients who underwent robotic partial nephrectomy. The surgeons of the retrospective control patients, from previous medical records, used 2-dimensional CT and MRI scans to plan for the operative procedure. However, the prospective intervention patients CT and MRI scans were converted to 3-dimensional virtual reality models for the surgical planning. The converted 3-dimensional virtual reality models were then loaded onto the surgeons mobile phone application to use before and during the surgery. He collected demographic and clinical data from both patient groups. The outcome measures included: (OR) time, clamp time, estimated blood loss (EBL), and hospital stay.His results displayed that using the 3-dimensional virtual reality model had decreased overall operative time (p<0.0001), clamp time, estimated blood loss, and were more likely to stay in the hospital for less than two days. Thus, he concluded that the 3-dimensional virtual reality model played an important role for improving operative planning, impacting outcomes, and providing a benefit for the patient, physician, and hospital. He added that further work should replicate the findings by increasing the randomized controlled trials, integrating test methods into the surgical workflow, and investigating the use and result of other complex case types.Presented by: Joseph Shirk, MDWritten by: Song Park, Department of Urology, University of California-Irvine at the 2018 AUA Annual Meeting - May 18 - 21, 2018  San Francisco, CA USA
San Francisco, CA USA (UroToday.com) Ralph V. Clayman, MD opened the debate by proposing the use of thermal ablation in the case of a 62 year-old healthy man with a 3 cm posterolateral renal mass. This is of relevance as the rising use of computed tomography has lead to the increased discovery of renal masses of 3 cm of less.First up in the debate was Dr. Jaime Landman, who argued for the Pro side of thermal ablation. Dr. Landman began by showing data on the sensitivity, specificity, and complication rates for renal, breast, lung, pancreas, thyroid, liver, and prostate biopsies. He argued that renal biopsies have a more favorable sensitivity, specificity, and complications profile than most other biopsies. Furthermore, Dr. Landman emphasized how 70% of renal masses biopsies reveal benign disease, not requiring surgical intervention.When renal masses do require intervention, percutaneous cryoablation has been shown to not have any significant difference in cancer-specific survival (Pierorazio et al., 2016) and metastasis-free survival (Thompson et al., 2015), when compared to partial nephrectomy (PN). Unfortunately, cryoablation does have a lower recurrence-free survival when compared to PN (89% vs. 99%, respectively). However, Dr. Landman argued that salvage percutaneous cryoablation has an 85% success rate (Okhunov et al., 2016). In addition, cryoablation offers significantly better preservation of renal function when compared to PN (Woldu et al. 2015). Finally, percutaneous cryoablation is a more minimally invasive approach with less morbidity when compared to PN (Pierorazio et al., 2016).Next up was Dr. Ketan Badani who argued for the Con side of ablation. He proposed that incomplete ablations and repeat procedures are a serious problem, especially since percutaneous cryoablation is associated with a significantly increased risk of incomplete ablation and decreased cancer-specific survival, when compared to laparoscopic cryoablation (Aboumarzouk et al., 2018). He went back and highlighted the 15% failure rate of repeat percutaneous cryoablation (Okhunov et al., 2016) and showed that salvage PN for these failures are associated with increased patient morbidity (Jimenez et al., 2016; Karam et al., 2015). Dr. Badani showed a study by Thompson et al. (2015), which found that PN had better metastasis-free survival when compared to percutaneous cryoablation. He also pointed out that, although recurrence-free survival appeared similar between PN and cryoablation, the study was in fact flawed as there was no matching for tumor complexity and significantly more malignant histology in the PN cohort. Finally, he concluded that the complications rate between percutaneous cryoablation and partial nephrectomy are similar, despite ablation being more minimally invasive (Moskowitz et al., 2017).Dr. R. Houston Thompson provided the rebuttal for the Pro side of ablation. Dr. Thompson argued that percutaneous ablation is a viable alternative, per the AUA guidelines, in certain situations. Citing his own work (Thompson et al., 2015), he showed that there were no significant differences in cancer-specific, recurrence-free, or metastasis-free survival between patients who received radiofrequency ablation, cryoablation, and PN. He did concede that percutaneous cryoablation is not perfect and complications (e.g., tumor recurrence, perinephric hematoma, and urine leak) can occur. However, percutaneous cryoablation has applications in those patients with perioperative morbidity, including those with prior abdominal surgery or with difficult-to-manage perinephric fat.Dr. Craig Rogers presented the rebuttal for the Con side of ablation. Dr. Rogers argued that the planets and stars have to align for thermal ablation to be used. In other words, thermal ablation should only be used in those patients with a tumor not too large; not too endophytic; not too cystic; not anterior or medial near bowel; not hilar; not abutting the ureter; not upper pole abutting the lung, pancreas, or spleen; and the patient has to neither be a candidate for partial nephrectomy nor be interested in active surveillance. Finally, he argued that the 62 year-old patient in question is too young with a life expectancy of greater than 15 years, and there is not enough evidence for the use of thermal ablation in these types of patients.A final audience poll conducted by Dr. Clayman showed that 90% would not treat the patient in question with thermal ablation. A second question asked the audience what they would do with their own 3 cm exophytic renal mass. Partial nephrectomy received 60% of the responses and renal mass biopsy received 35% of the responses.Debator(s):Pro - Jaime Landman, M.D., University of California IrvineCon - Ketan Badani, M.D., Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai HospitalPro - R. Houston Thompson, M.D., Mayo ClinicCon - Craig Rogers, MD, FACS, Vattikuti Urology InstituteWritten by: Michael Owyong, Department of Urology, University of California-Irvine at the 2018 AUA Annual Meeting - May 18 - 21, 2018  San Francisco, CA USA
Dr. Benjamin Pradere, the Chief of Clinic at Chru Hopitaux De Tours, presented on the perioperative outcomes using a sheathless method for flexible ureteroscopy (fURS). As a result of advancing capabilities of flexible ureteroscopes, the interest in sheathless and wireless approaches to fURS has increased. The author opened by explaining current literature that correlates ureteral access sheaths (UAS) deployment to a possible increase ureteral damage and ureteral lesions formation during standard fURS. Therefore, the author noted that a sheathless and wireless approaches could decrease these perioperative complications associated with ureteral damage. The author stated the primary objective of the study was to access the sheathless technique compared to fURS with UAS placement during fURS.This was a retrospective single center study which consisting of 400 patients who underwent either fURS with a UAS or fURS using the sheathless technique. All fURS were performed using the ureteroscopes URF P5 Olympus. Data collection consisted of operation time, need for basketing, presence of residual fragments, 3-month post-operative stone free rate, and reintervention rate. During the questioning portion, Dr. Pradere would note that stone free criteria included no stones or presence of stones less than 2mm under post-operative imaging.Stone characteristics such as number of stones, stone size, and stone density, were statistically similar amongst patients who underwent sheathless fURS and fURS with a UAS. Dr. Pradere noted one of the most significant findings was that post-operative complication, stone free rates, and reintervention were not statistically different between both cohorts. In contrast, more stenting and basketing were associate with fURS with UAS placement. Dr. Pradere also addressed that overall operative time was significantly shorter for ureteroscopies with ureteral access sheath, which was approximately 20 minutes less than those patients who underwent the sheathless technique. The presence of residual fragments was not statically significant between either group.Dr. Pradere concluded that the use of the sheathless method has no statistical impact on stone free rate, reintervention rate, and post-operative complication rate. The sheathless methods of fURS did show to take longer overall, suggesting that normal fURS with a UAS might be preferred given faster procedure and lack of significant differences perioperative outcomes. Dr. Pradere did mention that fURS with the sheathless technique might be beneficial when it comes to procedure cost for the lack of a guidewire, UAS, and even stenting. In response to questions about basketing, the author mention that the majority of surgeons used dusting of stones, which was a common topic addressed through the entire session.Presented by: Benjamin Pradere, MDWritten by: Luke Limfueco, Department of Urology, University of California-Irvine at the 2018 AUA Annual Meeting - May 18 - 21, 2018  San Francisco, CA USA
Archbishop Alfred Xuereb (4th from left), Apostolic Nuncio to South Korea was welcomed by bishops on arrival in Seoul on May 27

Archbishop Alfred Xuereb of Malta, Apostolic Nuncio to South Korea conveyed Pope Francis' blessing and wishes for the Church and for peace and reconciliation on the peninsula.

By Robin Gomes

The new apostolic nuncio South Korean has conveyed the support of Pope Francis for peace and reconciliation on the peninsula and pledged to further the unity of the countrys Catholics and pastors with the Holy See.

Archbishop Alfred Xuereb, the Holy Sees new Apostolic Nuncio to South Korea and Mongolia, arrived in Seoul on May 27 at the start of his diplomatic mission in South Korea.

Korean bishops and representatives of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Korea (CBCK) welcomed him at Incheon International Airport where he addressed a press conference.

Commitment to Church

"The prime role of a nuncio," he said, "is to help worshippers and pastors at local churches. I will meet with bishops in Korea as soon as possible and listen to what they have to say."

"I will also work to more closely unify the Holy See and the Korean church," the Maltese archbishop said.

He said that during a farewell Mass with Pope Francis in the Vatican on Thursday, the Holy Father send his apostolic blessing to the Korean bishops and faithful.

Korean peace and reconciliation

He said that the Pope is well informed about the situation on the Korean peninsula and has great hopes that the peace and reconciliation talks that started with the April 27 summit at the Truce Village of Panmunjom will continue and be successful so that future generations will have a peaceful and prosperous future.

He told me, Please assure the Korean people and also the bishops that he will continue praying that future generations will have a future of stability and prosperity, the 59-year old archbishop said during Sunday's press conference.

"As a papal representative in South Korea, he said, I will convey his thoughts and wishes to authorities in Korea."

In the Vatican since 2000, Archbishop Xuereb has served Popes John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Pope Francis. On February 26, Pope Francis appointed him archbishop and Apostolic Nuncio to South Korea and Mongolia. Pope Francis consecrated him bishop on March 19 in Romes St. Peters Basilica.
Tuesday 29 May saw the launch at the Vatican Museums of the third volume in the series of texts on the ethnological collections of the Popes Museums, available in Italian and English, and co-published by Edizioni Musei Vaticani and Aboriginal Studies Press.

By Linda Bordoni

Six years after the inauguration of the new permanent exhibition dedicated to Australia within the Vatican Museums Anima Mundi Section, a significant event took place on Tuesday in the history of the Museums and its mission to build bridges between peoples.



The event in question was the launch of Australia. The Vatican Museums indigenous collection catalogue, co-published by the Aboriginal Studies Press and by the Museums Publishing house.

The volume, curated by Katherine Aigner, in English and Italian, is the third in a series of texts on the ethnological collections of the Popes Museums.



It begins with the history of the creation of the Collection, which now comprises around 300 pieces whose origins date back to the first donations made to Pius XI by the Aborigines of Australia.

As Craig Ritchie, Deputy Chief Executive of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies explained to Linda Bordoni, reconnection is the key word of this innovative publication:

Listen to the interview with Craig Ritchie

Ritchie expressed his satisfaction and appreciation for what he described as a joint effort that highlights the Australian indigenous items the Museum has and in particular, said it is an exciting opportunity to highlight the very long and very ancient culture of Australias indigenous peoples.

Of course the Ethnological Museum dedicated to the cultural, artistic and spiritual traditions of all peoples is an integral part of the Vatican Museums and the Australian Anima Mundi section represents a component in the complex mosaic of humanity, but Ritchie said Its the first time its been put into publication and this makes it available to a much wider audience.

He also recalled the important history behind the Ethnological Museum and its important message to the world.

History of the Anima Mundi Museum

He explained that Pope Pius XI, in the years between the two World Wars, asked for items from various civilizations around the world, where the Church had missions, to be sent to Rome.

Because in the face of rising fascism in Europe, between the 20s and the 30s, and particularly with its very racist element and the idea that only Europe had civilization, it was an important thing to do to show that there are civilizations all around the world he said.

Ritchie remarked on the fact that in Australia, for example, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have been living for 65,000 years  thats not a short period  with deeply sophisticated cultures and values and ideas.

So, he said, its important that we find ways to communicate that - then and now.

An important message today

Ritchie said he believes that it has become ever more urgent to communicate the message that we all share the one planet, and the idea that all cultures and all people have value is really important.

He said that it is a mind blowing and life changing experience to visit the collections and really experience the power of the history and the heritage of humanity.

Something wonderful happens when you bring people together and they understand the world he said, and theres no more powerful place to do that than in the Vatican in Rome

Ritchie explained that the new Catalogue lists all the artifacts and art work that are part of the collection. He said they come from three parts of Australia and constitute a varied representation of Australias indigenous people.

There were over 300 indigenous nations on the continent at the time the British arrived in 1788 he said.

He described the collection as very diverse and very rich and able to really offer a wide perspective and new appreciation.

Were part of the oldest living culture on the face of the earth he said.

Of central importance in drawing up the catalogue is the intent to highlight diversity in accordance with the philosophy of reconnection that characterizes both the recent history of the Australian territory and the section of the Vatican Museums that houses the ethnological collections.

Ritchie also talks about working with Vatican administration and about how a very ancient tradition and a very innovative outlook managed to find a way to collaborate fruitfully and work together.

Describing it as complex but rewarding, Ritchie concludes it has been one of the most positive experiences he has ever been part of!
Rohingya refugees fleeing violence in Myanmar to reach Palongkhali in Bangladesh in Oct, 2017. (AFP or licensors)

An interfaith delegation of Religions for Peace International and Myanmar, including Cardinal Charles Bo of Yangon, recently gathered in Myanmar and also met State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

An international group of inter-faith leaders, including Catholics, have declared their commitment to peace in strife-torn Myanmar, a move welcomed by State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi.

In a May 24 open letter to Myanmar's people, the Archbishop of Yangon, Cardinal Charles Bo and 17 other members of a high-level delegation from Religions for Peace International and Myanmar pledged their commitment to peace and reconciliation efforts in a country experiencing several internal conflicts.

Religions for Peace, founded in 1970, is the worlds largest and most representative multi-religious coalition that advances common action for peace among the worlds religious communities.

Letter presented to Suu Kyi

The letter presented by the delegation to Suu Kyi during a visit to the capital Naypyidaw on May 25, rejected the misuse of religion and race to divide the people of Myanmar, which, it said, goes against the fundamental tenets of the worlds religious traditions and brings about hatred, discrimination and violence.

Religions for Peace stressed the values of compassion and coexistence of the people of Myanmar, recalling how in the wake of the devastating Cyclone Nargis in 2008, Buddhist, Christian, Hindus, Muslims and other groups joined hands in helping out the affected people.

The inter-faith delegation noted growing hostilities and displacement of people particularly in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states and denounced the unjust distribution of Myanmars resources that go to enrich only a few.

More than 670,000 Rohingya, who are mostly Muslim have fled Rakhine for Bangladesh since September to avoid an anti-insurgency campaign by Myanmar's military, which the United Nations has describes as ethnic cleansing.

The representatives of various religions urged the Union Government to make a thorough and transparent investigation into crimes perpetrated in Rakhine State and elsewhere.

Suu Kyis support

Suu Kyi welcomed the delegation's offer to assist with peace efforts and humanitarian aid not only in Rakhine State but also in other parts of the country experiencing ethnic conflicts.

She acknowledged that religious leaders can pave the way for "progress for all" by encouraging their communities to work together and promoting a more inclusive ideology that incorporates those who are "left behind."

Trip into strife-torn territory

Six members of Religions for Peace International, including Cardinal Bo, visited Sittwe and Maundaw in Rakhine State, May 26-28, to better understand the situation of the Rohingya.

During their flight to Maundaw on May 27, the delegation saw hundreds of Rohingya villages that were destroyed during a Myanmar military offensive against Rohingya militants since September last year.

They met Rohingya, Hindu as well as Mro communities in Maungdaw and also visited the towns transit and reception centers.

Father Joseph Mg Win, secretary of Religions for Peace-Myanmar, thought the visit to Rakhine was successful and added that government officials were supportive.



"As religious leaders, the aim of the visit was to learn the truth after closely observing the situation and from that give a true message to the people of Myanmar and to the international community," said Father Mg Win, who is also head of ecumenism and interfaith commission of Yangon Archdiocese.

Along with Cardinal Bo and Father Mg Win were Myint Swe, a leading Buddhist layman from the Ratana Metta Organization, and Muslim layperson Al Haj U Aye Lwin, the chief convener of the Islamic Center of Myanmar.

International members of the group were Norwegian Bishop Gunnar Stalsett of Oslo, the honorary president of Religions for Peace International, and Kyoichi Sugino of Japan, deputy secretary-general of the group. (Source: UCANEWS)
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A man in Poland turned medical equipment into a musical instrument. Wooden tongue depressors used by doctors to examine mouths and throats are popular for making artwork. But an amateur musician spent six months turning 1,300 pieces of wood into a working electric guitar. Arash Arabasadi reports.
Paris, TX (75460)

Today

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. Low 71F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Scattered showers and thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. Low 71F. Winds SE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Afghan Special Forces, backed by U.S. partners, are being accused of killing nine civilians and injuring eight others in eastern Nagarhar province, apparently mistaking them for Islamic State militants.



A provincial government spokesman told VOA Tuesday a majority of the victims from the overnight incident in the volatile Chaprahar district were family members of the chairman of Afghanistan's Senate, the upper house of parliament.

Attaullah Khogyani said a local police commander and his two armed guards were also among those killed. He added that an investigation was launched to determine what prompted Afghan Special forces to undertake the Monday night operation in the area without coordinating it with provincial security institutions.



The central Afghan government has only said it has sent a high-level delegation to investigate the deadly incident, added Khogyani.



"This was an Afghan-led operation. No U.S. Forces-Afghanistan personnel were involved in this operation," the U.S. military said.



Ghulam Haidar Faqirzai, head of the provincial department for refugees and returnees, told VOA the unexpected arrival of security forces in the area in the middle of the night provoked locals to take up arms in self defense believing IS terrorists had attacked them.



That was when Afghan special forces reacted and opened fire on them, said Faqirzai, who also hails from the village where the deadly clash occurred.



A large number of the victims were related to Senate Chairman Fazil Hadi Muslimyar, the official added.



IS runs bases in several southern districts of Nangarhar, including Chaprahar.Afghan Special Forces, with the support of U.S. airstrikes and military advisers, routinely conduct counterterrorism operations in these areas and have killed hundreds of IS fighters.

Civilians continue to bear the brunt of intensified hostilities in Afghanistan.



The United Nations says more than 10,000 civilians were killed or wounded in 2017 and the number of casualties remain high in the current year.



An Afghan Air Force airstrike in April killed 36 civilians, including 30 children in the northern Kunduz province where Taliban insurgents control or strongly contest several districts.



Afghan authorities from the outset had insisted the strike targeted insurgents until a U.N. probe proved them wrong, prompting President Ashraf Ghani earlier this montht o offer a public apology for the deadly incident.
A computer was better than human dermatologists at detecting skin cancer in a study that pitted human against machine in the quest for better, faster diagnostics, researchers said Tuesday.

A team from Germany, the United States and France taught an artificial intelligence system to distinguish dangerous skin lesions from benign ones, showing it more than 100,000 images.

The machine -- a deep learning convolutional neural network or CNN -- was then tested against 58 dermatologists from 17 countries, shown photos of malignant melanomas and benign moles.

Just over half the dermatologists were at "expert" level with more than five years of experience, 19 percent had between two and five years' experience, and 29 percent were beginners with less than two years under their belt.

"Most dermatologists were outperformed by the CNN," the research team wrote in a paper published in the journal Annals of Oncology.

On average, flesh and blood dermatologists accurately detected 86.6 percent of skin cancers from the images, compared to 95 percent for the CNN.

"The CNN missed fewer melanomas, meaning it had a higher sensitivity than the dermatologists," the study's first author Holger Haenssle of the University of Heidelberg said in a statement.

It also "misdiagnosed fewer benign moles as malignant melanoma... this would result in less unnecessary surgery."

The dermatologists' performance improved when they were given more information of the patients and their skin lesions.

The team said AI may be a useful tool for faster, easier diagnosis of skin cancer, allowing surgical removal before it spreads.

There are about 232,000 new cases of melanoma, and 55,500 deaths, in the world each year, they added.

But it is unlikely that a machine will take over from human doctors entirely, rather functioning as an aid.

Melanoma in some parts of the body, such as the fingers, toes and scalp, are difficult to image, and AI may have difficulty recognizing "atypical" lesions or ones that patients themselves are unaware of.

"Currently, there is no substitute for a thorough clinical examination," experts Victoria Mar from Monash University in Melbourne and Peter Soyer of the University of Queensland wrote in an editorial published with the study.
Authorities in Chinas southern Hunan province have revoked the licenses of two rights lawyers, adding their names to a growing list nationwide to face the same fate in recent months.

According to international rights groups, more than a dozen lawyers and several law firms have lost their rights to work and operate, and the actions mark a new wave in a crackdown on rights defenders that began nearly three years ago.

Many lawyers said the administrative penalties imposed by the country's judicial system have created a chilling effect on the local community of right defenders, who are not only deprived of their practice, but their livelihood as well.

During the weekend, the Hunan Justice Department held disciplinary hearings to disbar lawyers Wen Donghai and Yang Jinzhu.

The department did not release a complete account of its final decisions on the lawyers or answer any question when contacted by VOA, but directed inquires to the department's Weibo account.

Lawyers disbarred

The departments statements posted online only gave a terse account of the proceedings. A statement on the website for the Hunan Justice Department said during Yangs hearing on Sunday, the lawyer and investigators had fully presented their arguments.

Another statement alleged lawyer Wen and his supporters got into an argument with a man, whose identity was unclear before his hearing Saturday. Wen later called police and was taken down to a local precinct to lodge a complaint and ended up missing his hearing.

In its statement, the department ruled that Wens hearing was cut short as a result of his unexcused absence and no more hearings will be held to hear his arguments.

Wen said he has filed a complaint to have the justice departments decision overturned, although he suspects his objection will not change anything.

Intimidating lawyers

In July 2015, China began a sweeping crackdown on rights lawyers that has seen more than 300 rights activists arrested, beaten, harassed or put under surveillance.

This is an extension of the July 9 crackdown, aiming to hush the lawyers up so that they wont be able to defend those whose rights are being violated, Wen said.

Wen, formally a police officer, was the defense lawyer for three Guangzhou activists promoting non-violent resistance and civil disobedience. Hes also represented several Falun Gong practitioners and Wang Yu, who was targeted early in the sweeping crackdown began in 2015.



According to Hong Kong-based China Human Rights Lawyers Concerned Group, at least 17 human rights lawyers and three law firms have had their licenses revoked or invalidated over the past eight months for merely doing their jobs.



Outrageous crackdown

To China, this group of lawyers has presented as a very imminent threat, challenging the legitimacy of the regime. So, thats why they seek to crack down [on] these people individually and systemically. I think thats very outrageous, said the rights groups chairman Albert Ho.

Ho urged the international society to continue to speak up. He also suggested Washington impose sanctions on top-ranking Chinese officials to hold them accountable for the policy to purge lawyers.

Wen said despite the suppression, many rights lawyers wont cave in.

Lawyers have obstructed the authorities bashing on the private sector in a fashion similar to the Cultural Revolution. They want lawyers to shut up, Wen said.

The 709 crackdown (July 9, 2015) has failed to do so. Hence, another wave of suppression has begun to mainly impose administrative penalties on rights lawyers, supplemented by criminal detention as both Yu Wenshengs and Li Yuhans cases have shown, he added.



Yu was the defense lawyer of Wang Quanzhang, a rights lawyer who has been held incommunicado since late 2015. Yu openly called for the impeachment of Chinese leader Xi Jinping and political reforms before last years once-in-five-year Communist Party congress.

Days after he was disbarred Yu was arrested in late January, he was formally charged with state subversion and disrupting public service in late April.

Traumatizing experience

Yus wife, Xu Yan, who was also harassed and subpoenaed twice following Yus arrest, which she said has traumatized her and their 13-year-old son.

He [my son] was deeply traumatized this time. In the past two months, he had to keep the nightstand lamp on in his sleep. He now comes home to only stay in his room alone with door shut, Xu said.

As a mother, I felt that he was deeply hurt after he bore witness to several brutal occasions [when Yu was arrested and Xu was subpoenaed for no reasons] she said.

Since the crackdown began, the international community has strongly criticized China for its treatment of rights lawyers and their families. During a two-day visit in China last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel met Xu and Wang's wife Li Wezu, as well as Wang Yu and others to show her support.
The doctors who treated a Russian former spy and his daughter after they were poisoned with a nerve agent in Britain say they don't know what the pair's long term health outlook is  and initially feared the incident could have been much worse.

Sergei Skripal, a former colonel in Russia's military intelligence who betrayed dozens of agents to Britain, and daughter Yulia were found unconscious on a public bench in the southern English city of Salisbury on March 4.

Staff at Salisbury hospital, where they were treated, told the BBC that some started to wonder whether they too would fall victim to the nerve agent.

Prognosis uncertain

Asked about the long term impact of the poisoning on the Skripals health, the hospital's medical director, Christine Blanshard, said the prognosis was uncertain.

The honest answer is we dont know," she said, according to extracts of an interview released by the BBC's Newsnight program.

Britain has said that it is highly likely that Russia was responsible for the poisoning of the Skripals, and western governments, including the United States, have expelled more than 100 Russian diplomats. Russia has denied any involvement in the poisoning and retaliated in kind.

Yulia Skripal spoke to Reuters last week, saying her recovery had been slow and extremely painful and that she was lucky to have survived.

Hospital staff too said that they expected the Skripals would die as a result of the poisoning.

All the evidence was there that they would not survive, said Stephen Jukes, an intensive care consultant who treated the Skripals a week after they arrived at the hospital.

He added that the medical team initially suspected the Skripals were suffering an opioid overdose before the diagnosis quickly changed.

Police officer admitted with symptoms

The cathedral city of Salisbury was transformed by the incident, with major shopping areas cordoned off while decontamination of locations the Skripals visited took place.

A policeman was admitted to hospital with symptoms after attending to the Skripals, and hospital staff feared that the incident might have been far more serious than first thought.

When the (policeman) was admitted with symptoms  there was a real concern as to how big could this get, Lorna Wilkinson, director of nursing at the hospital, said, adding she feared it could have become all-consuming and involve many casualties. We really didnt know at that point.
Health officials in the Democratic Republic of Congo began a vaccination drive to control an Ebola outbreak that has infected more than 50 people and killed as many as 25. But as aid workers and health experts say this vaccination drive is a careful, methodical process in which trust is a key element.



Health officials in the rural corner of northwest Congo that has been hit with Ebola say workers are seeking out those at the highest risk to vaccinate, a move that tries to cut off the virus at the pass while also making good use of the limited supply of the vaccine.



At the moment, officials have only 7,500 doses of the experimental vaccine.



World Health Organization spokesman Tarik Jasarevic explained the campaign, which began this week in the rural communities of Bikoro and Iboko.



"This is not a general mass immunization, as is being done for some other diseases," he explained. "We are looking into people who have been in contact with those who tested positive for Ebola, and their contacts. So we make a ring around the person who contracted the virus."



That is careful work and involves much more than medicine, said UNICEF field worker Jean Claude Nzengu.



He said workers go to the households to talk about the vaccination that stops transmission, the advantage of the vaccination, what the residents need to do, how to behave, and finally take them to be vaccinated.



Congolese health authorities first reported the Ebola outbreak in early May. This is not Congo's first encounter with the often-deadly virus, which causes an acute, serious illness. The WHO puts the survival rate around 50 percent.

Trust

But as health officials learned when Ebola rampaged through West Africa, killing more than 11,000 people between 2014 and 2016, earning public trust is a major element of the fight.



Last week, three infected patients escaped from isolation units in the city of Mbandaka. Two were found dead a day later and the other was found alive and returned to quarantine.



Jasarevic said it takes cooperation from the entire community for an Ebola outbreak to be defeated.



"It is only human that people who have their relatives in isolation units want them to be at home, want them to be with their family at home in what could be the last moments of their lives," he said. "But we need really to explain to everyone how disease is being transmitted. If a person who is sick is in an isolation unit, it not only increases the chance of survival for this patient, but it will also prevent the spread of the virus to the family."



The vaccination drive began last week, with health care workers receiving the first doses.



The experimental vaccine, made by U.S.-based Merck pharmaceuticals, has been shown in trials to be safe for humans.
Australia said Tuesday that it was holding out hope that Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 would one day be found, as the last search of the seabed in the remote Indian Ocean where the plane was believed to have been lost was scheduled to end.

Malaysia said last week that the search by Texas-based company Ocean Infinity would end on Tuesday after two extensions of the original 90-day time limit.

Australian Transport Minister Michael McCormack said the four-year search had been the largest in aviation history and tested the limits of technology and the capacity of experts and people at sea.

"Our thoughts are with the families and loved ones of the 239 people on board MH370,'' McCormack's office said in a statement. "We will always remain hopeful that one day the aircraft will be located.''

Malaysia signed a "no cure, no fee'' deal with Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean by Australia, Malaysia and China was called off. No other search is scheduled.

Australia, Malaysia and China agreed in 2016 that an official search would only resume if the three countries had credible evidence that identified a specific location for the wreckage.

Malaysia said last week that an Ocean Infinity ship Seabed Contractor operating underwater sonar drones had searched more than 96,000 square kilometers (37,000 square miles) of sea. The search area deemed by experts to be the most likely crash site was only 25,000 square kilometers (9,650 square miles), roughly the size of Vermont.

Ocean Infinity did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Boeing 777 vanished on March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. The original search focused on the South China Sea before analysis revealed that the plane had made an unexpected turn west and then south.

Australia coordinated an official search on Malaysia's behalf that scoured 120,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) and cost 200 million Australian dollars ($150 million) before it ended last year.

Danica Weeks, an Australian resident who lost her husband on Flight 370, urged Foreign Minister Julie Bishop to call on Malaysia's new government to be more transparent about what they knew about the mysterious disappearance.

"There've been so many theories and rumors and ... we don't know what is true and what isn't,'' Weeks told Australian Broadcasting Corp.

"I want Julie Bishop to say to the Malaysian counterparts now: What do you have? Where is the investigation at?'' she added.

The director of the official seabed hunt that ended last year, Peter Foley, told an Australian Senate committee hearing last week that he still hoped that Ocean Infinity would be successful.

"If they're not, of course, that would be a great sadness for all of us,'' Foley said.

Jiang Hui of China, whose mother was on board the plane, said in March that he was grateful for Ocean Infinity's courage to mount the search. But he said he hoped it would not be the end if the mission failed and proposed that a public fund be set up to continue the search.

"Without a search, there will be no truth,'' Jiang said.
Palestinian militants bombarded southern Israel with dozens of rockets and mortar shells Tuesday, while Israeli warplanes struck targets throughout the Gaza Strip in the largest flare up of violence between the sides since a 2014 war.

The Israeli military said most of the projectiles were intercepted, but three soldiers were wounded, raising the chances of further Israeli retaliation. One mortar shell landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

The sudden burst of violence follows weeks of mass Palestinian protests along the Gaza border with Israel. Over 110 Palestinians, many of them unarmed protesters, have been killed by Israeli fire in that time. Israel says it holds Gaza's Hamas rulers responsible for the bloodshed.

"Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it, and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Israel and Hamas are bitter enemies and have fought three wars since the Islamic group seized control of Gaza in 2007.

The last war in 2014 was especially devastating, with more than 2,000 Palestinians killed, including hundreds of civilians, and widespread damage inflicted on Gaza's infrastructure in 50 days of fighting. Seventy-two people were killed on the Israeli side.

Tuesday's violence bore a striking resemblance to the run-up to past wars. In the early morning, Palestinian militants fired more than two dozen mortar rounds into southern Israel, including the shell that landed near the kindergarten.

The Israeli military said it carried out more than 35 airstrikes on seven sites across Gaza, including an unfinished tunnel near the southern city of Rafah that crossed under the border into Egypt and from there into Israeli territory. No Palestinian casualties were reported.

Palestinian militants continued to fire additional barrages toward southern Israel, setting off air raid sirens in the area throughout the day and into the evening.

Brig. Gen. Ronen Manelis, the chief military spokesman, threatened tougher action and said it was up to Hamas to stop the situation from escalating.

"These strikes will continue to intensify as long as necessary if this fire continues," he told reporters outside Israeli military headquarters.

Claiming responsibility

Hamas and the smaller Islamic Jihad militant issued a joint statement Tuesday, claiming shared responsibility for firing rockets and projectiles against Israeli communities near Gaza.

They said Israel "began this round of escalation" by targeting their installations in the past two days, killing four militants. It was the first time the armed wing of Hamas has claimed responsibility for rocket attacks out of Gaza since the 2014 war.

Hamas has been severely weakened by the three wars with Israel, as well as a stifling Israeli-Egyptian blockade that has brought the local economy to a standstill.

Hamas initially billed the weekly border protests as a call to break through the fence and return to homes that were lost 70 years ago during the war surrounding Israel's establishment.

But the protests appear to be fueled primarily by a desire to ease the blockade. Gaza's unemployment rate is edging toward 50 percent, and the territory suffers from chronic power outages.

With limited options at its disposal, and a failure so far of the protests to significantly ease the blockade, Hamas appears to be gambling that limited rocket fire might somehow shake up the situation.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the "resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes."

Israel says the blockade is needed to prevent Hamas from building up its military capabilities.

Israeli blockade

Also Tuesday, two fishing boats carrying students and medical patients set sail from Gaza City's port, aiming to reach Cyprus and break the Israeli blockade, which has restricted most activity along the coast. Hamas acknowledged it was mostly a symbolic act.

One of the boats quickly turned around, while the Israeli navy intercepted the second vessel after it ventured beyond a six-mile (10-kilometer) limit imposed by Israel.

The Israeli military said the boat was intercepted without incident and was taken to the Israeli port of Ashdod, where the 17 people aboard would be sent back to Gaza.

In southern Israel, angry residents complained about the renewed rocket fire.

Adva Klein of Kibbutz Kfar Aza said she only got about two hours of sleep because of the frequent incoming fire and the warning sirens. Other residents reported machine- gun fire from Gaza.

"It's been a really scary morning," said Adele Raemer of Kibbutz Nirim.

Regional councils near the Gaza border instructed residents to stay close to bomb shelters.

International criticism

The high Palestinian death toll in the border protests has drawn strong international criticism of Israel, with rights groups saying Israel's use of live fire is illegal because in many cases it has struck unarmed protesters who did not pose an imminent threat to Israeli soldiers.

But on Tuesday, the Palestinians came under criticism.

The United States condemned the attacks out of Gaza and called for an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the Security Council "should be outraged and respond."

The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, called for an immediate halt to the rocket and mortar fire.

"Indiscriminate attacks against civilians are completely unacceptable under any circumstances," she said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry said it had instructed embassies around the world to seek similar condemnations of the Palestinian fire.

Israel has rejected the criticism of its response to the protests, saying it is defending its border and nearby communities. It accuses Hamas of trying to carry out attacks under the cover of protests and using civilian demonstrators as human shields.

Hamas has vowed to continue the border rallies.
Hong Kong scientists and researchers who apply for state grants must show they love the country and Hong Kong, a directive that concerns academics here who fear the nation wants to subject scholars to a patriotic test.

Earlier this month [May], Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed to strengthen Hong Kongs science and technology research by letting Hong Kong scholars seek state grants, a first since Britain returned the territory to China in 1997. But the official Xinhua news agency, a state news outlet, said applicants must show love for the country and the territory.

Several Hong Kong scholars and academics blasted that announcement as a test of patriotism. Carrie Lam, the citys chief executive, said people had misinterpreted the Chinese state guidance.

Of course, in Hong Kong we do expect, whether you are a scientist or researcher, or government official like myself, to love our country and love Hong Kong, Lam told reporters earlier this month. So that is nothing unusual. I think, some commentators have read too much into this term.

But some academics fear the impact of any grant requirement could tamper with scholarship.

We hold the view that if the highly ambiguous and fickle term of love the country and Hong Kong will become a prerequisite for local scientists to apply for the proposed grant, it can establish a very dangerous precedent highly detrimental to our freedom in general and academic freedom, reads the petition started by 23 individuals and academic groups. They worried that such orders would spread to the humanities, social sciences, and law, in a city that has a separate constitution with greater freedoms than mainland China.

By Monday, some scholars said they still were not clear if evidence of state loyalty was mandatory. Its still ambiguous whether it will be a compulsory requirement, said Ming Sing, a sociology professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology who helped to start the petition. We have great worry if nothing is done there is a possibility for it to become a requirement.

The announcement came as the special administrative region of China is working on a bill, under Beijings orders, that Hong Kong residents honor Chinas national anthem. Many democracy advocates here bristle at the requirements that they must solemnly value the Communist song, The March of the Volunteers.

The scholars point out that there have been other attempts by Beijing to instill patriotism in Hong Kong. One recent example came in 2012, with a proposed schools curriculum designed to foster positive feelings about the nation. More than 100,000 protesters to the streets, skewering the plan as brainwashing. Soon after, the Hong Kong government shelved the idea for a mandatory rollout.

More than 20 Hong Kong laboratories and research centers have received national money, part of Xis effort to support Lams goal to make Hong Kong a world innovation hub, according to government reports.

Microbiologist Chen Honglin at the University of Hong Kong said Chinese state money would help his lab pay for more researchers as they scramble to find a flu vaccine for Hong Kong, where thousands were sickened last winter. Most Hong Kong research relies on local government funding, and theres not enough of it. He was able to get $1 million HK ($127,467 US) for three years, not nearly enough to employ 10 people and cover lab costs.

If there is another possibility for funding from mainland China, everyone is happy with that, said Chen. Born on the mainland, he said he had not heard about any need to prove his patriotism. As far as hes concerned, the winners will succeed because of the quality of their ideas.
A High-level panel on migration says sub-regional migration on the continent is brisk and having a beneficial impact on African economies. During a two-day meeting in Geneva, the panel has been exploring ways to maximize these benefits by making migration safe, orderly and regular.

The U.N. Migration Agency reports 1 billion people are currently on the move. Yet, media reports of migration crises such as those in the Mediterranean Sea and along the border between the United States and Latin America tend to paint a negative image of this process. Rarely do they discuss the many contributions made by migrants to their adoptive societies.

Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is chair of the high-level panel on migration. She says it is time to end this misperception of migrants and to demystify migration on the African continent.

Sirleaf says the human tragedy unfolding in the Mediterranean Sea makes it seem that hordes of migrants are fleeing Africa. She tells VOA, though, the number of Africans crossing over is relatively small.

But because they face such hardships, because many times their rights are infringed upon, these get the sensational reports and then it forms this perception that a majority of Africans are trying to leave the continent to seek opportunities," she said, "but, the reality is really far from the perception.

Sirleaf says data show within the continent, 70 percent of the overall migration is Intra-African; that is, Africans moving from one African country to another.

Former Liberian President Sirleaf says the free movement of goods and services, and development strategies require the free movement of people across national boundaries. She says this will enable African countries to explore opportunities and achieve economic transformation.
Rival Libyan leaders and diplomats from more than 20 countries meeting Tuesday in Paris agreed in principle the strife-torn North African state should hold elections later this year.

The summit was French President Emmanuel Macron's second effort to bring peace to Libya.

Macron hailed the declaration, saying it was a turning point in efforts to bring about a settlement in Libya. We now have clear commitments for the country, an approved calendar for parliamentary and presidential elections, he said.

The head of a U.N.-backed "unity" government in Tripoli Fayez al-Sarraj, 75-year-old Khalifa Haftar, whose military forces dominate the country's east, along with the speaker of a parliament based in the eastern town of Tobruk declared the fractured country should hold presidential and legislative elections on December 10, according to French officials.

Maltas prime minister, Joseph Muscat, tweeted confirmation: Positive that all #Libya parties present at #Paris conference agreed timeline leading to elections in December. Let us hope, and help them in keeping this important commitment.



Speaking before the summit began, Macron said, We have every interest, for our security, in working for the stability of Libya.

Some analysts and rights organizations are accusing Macron of impatience and say conditions in war-scarred Libya are not conducive for a free and fair vote. They worry that trying to hold elections this year could trigger more violence in the country that has staggered from crisis to crisis since the 2011 NATO-backed popular ouster of Libyan autocrat Moammar Gadhafi.

The challenge was underlined Tuesday when a group of 13 military councils and brigades in western Libya issued a statement saying Macrons Paris initiative doesnt represent them. They declared their opposition to foreign interference, saying the initiative would end up normalizing military rule" - a reference to Gen. Haftar, a rogue general who broke with Gadhafi years before his ouster and whose forces have been accused of major rights abuses.

President Macron has pushed hard for France to act as a key interlocutor in a bid to coax Libyas many factions to end turmoil, one complicated not only by the many Libyan factions involved,but also by the competing interests of Middle Eastern neighbors and European powers, which back opposing sides.

Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt have backed the French drive for elections, but Frances European neighbors and the Unites States have been more skeptical, and behind-the-scenes have been pushing for an agreement on a constitution first.



In Paris, diplomats Tuesday attempted to establish what should come first with a timetable laid out for a constitutional basis for elections being agreed to in mid-September. That prompted Libyan commentator Mohamed Eljarh to question whether elections would in fact take place this year. There will be no elections before the end of 2018 because there will be no agreement on this constitutional rule, he tweeted.

Islamic State militants last month claimed responsibility for an attack on Libyas election commission in Tripoli that left more than a dozen civilians dead. That attack has prompted fears an election will act as a magnet for militant attacks.

Last year, Macron persuaded Haftar and Sarraj to hold a rare face-to-face encounter in the French capital, which drew criticism from Italian leaders, who say Macron risks making things worse rather than better, by trying to rush a political settlement.



The Italians argue they are closer to Libya, so they are the ones who are impacted the most by jihadist threats and migration from the country, which has been used as the departure point for hundreds of thousands of Africans trying to reach Europe.

Italian politicians say Macron seems eager to seize a greater Libya-role for himself at a time Italy is preoccupied by domestic political troubles.

It's as if Macron wanted to make the most of this moment of absence by Italy on the Libyan dossier, Italian newspaper La Repubblica wrote last week. Italian politicians fear the French government favors Haftar and are shaping the circumstances for the former Gadhafi general to become the key power player in Libya.

On the eve of Tuesdays peace conference, Human Rights Watch issued a report critiquing the idea of holding elections this year, arguing Libya's rival authorities should, at the least, ensure conditions for candidates to campaign freely without undue risk of attacks. HRW said it is concerned there would be no independent audit of the voter registry and questioned whether polling stations can be sufficiently secured.

The international community, but most of all Libyans, need to hear Libyan leaders pledge significant improvements to the rule of law, justice, and accountability  including for their own abusive forces  before organizing elections, said HRW's Benedicte Jeannerod.

The International Crisis Group, another NGO with considerable Libya experience, has also expressed alarm. Much more work remains to be done for a peace-building effort in Libya to succeed, it said.

In Libya as in other peace processes, a delicate balance has to be struck between pushing parties to settle and letting them take ownership, tweeted Jean-Marie Guehenno, a senior advisor to the Swiss-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue.
President Donald Trump on Tuesday seized on an error by liberal activists who tweeted photos of young-looking immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border in steel cages and blamed the current administration for separating immigrant children from their parents.

The photos were taken by The Associated Press in 2014, when President Barack Obama was in office. The photo captions reference children who crossed the border as unaccompanied minors.



Early Tuesday, Trump tweeted: "Democrats mistakenly tweet 2014 pictures from Obama's term showing children from the Border in steel cages. They thought it was recent pictures in order to make us look bad, but backfires. Dems must agree to Wall and new Border Protection for good of country...Bipartisan Bill!"



The immigration debate has reached a fever pitch in recent months following reports that since October about 700 children crossing the U.S.-Mexico border have been separated from their parents.



The number of separated minors is expected to jump once Trump's new "zero tolerance" policy is enacted. That policy, embraced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, would enforce criminal charges against people crossing the border illegally with few or no previous offenses. Under U.S. protocol, if parents are jailed, their children would be separated from them.



"The parents are subject to prosecution while children may not be," Sessions said earlier this month. "So, if we do our duty and prosecute those cases, then children inevitably for a period of time might be in different conditions."



Enter a June 2014 online story by The Arizona Republic titled "First peek: Immigrant children flood detention center."



The story linked to photos taken by AP's Ross D. Franklin at a center run by the Customs and Border Protection Agency in Nogales, Arizona. One photo shows two unidentified female detainees sleeping in a holding cell. The caption references U.S. efforts to process 47,000 unaccompanied children at the Nogales center and another one in Brownsville, Texas.



How or why the story resurfaced on social media four years after it was published is unclear. But among those who took notice was Jon Favreau, Obama's former speechwriter.



In a now-deleted tweet, Favreau wrote: "This is happening right now, and the only debate that matters is how we force our government to get these kids back to their families as fast as humanly possible."



Other liberal activists also linked to the Arizona Republic story using the hashtag "WhereAreOurChildren," which grew out of testimony in April by a federal official that the U.S. government had lost track of nearly 1,500 unaccompanied minor children it placed with adult sponsors in the U.S.



Favreau did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment. But he later issued a corrected tweet: "These awful pictures are from 2014 when the government's challenge was reconnecting unaccompanied minors."



He added: "Today, in 2018, the government is CREATING unaccompanied minors by tearing them away from family at the border."



As the immigration debate lit up social media over the weekend, Trump on Saturday falsely claimed that there was a "horrible law" that separates children from their parents after they cross the border. He has said previously that "we have to break up families" at the border because "the Democrats gave us that law."



That's not true. There's no law mandating that parents must be separated from their children. But if an administration opts to impose harsh criminal charges against an adult for crossing the border illegally, their children would be separated from them as a result.



Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen has defended the Trump administration's practice of separating children from parents when the family is being prosecuted for entering the U.S. illegally, telling a Senate committee earlier this month that removing children from parents facing criminal charges happens "in the United States every day."



A 2008 law, passed unanimously by Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush, says children traveling alone from countries other than Mexico or Canada must be released in the "least restrictive setting" - often to family or a government-run shelter - while their cases slowly wind through immigration court. It was designed to accommodate an influx of children fleeing to the United States from Central America.
Every morning, Asmau Muhammadu removes the wet sheets from her bed and sets them out to dry. She opens the door to let in the fresh breezes that will air out the smell of urine in the mud-walled room. Along with the sheets, she brings out wet rags she uses to line her inner garments.

"I am dealing with yoyon fitsari. I dont know when the urine pours out from my body until I see it leaking down the sides of my legs," says the 27-year-old woman.

Yoyon fitsari is the term used in the Hausa language to describe vesicovaginal fistula (VVF), a medical condition in which a hole between the birth canal and bladder leaves women unable to control their urine. Women with a hole between the birth canal and the rectum, rectovaginal fistula (RVF) experience uncontrollable leakage of stool. Some women have both VVF and RVF.

Some women are born with fistula, which is rare. Other causes include injuries sustained during pelvic surgery and hysterectomies, inflammation and infections in the genital area, and sexual violence.

But the leading cause of fistula is prolonged and obstructed labor. In Nigeria, between 400,000 and 800,00 women are currently living with fistula.

The World Health Organization describes fistula as the single most dramatic aftermath of prolonged or neglected childbirth, and estimates more than two million women live with fistula worldwide.

Young marriage only partly to blame

Nigeria has the worlds highest occurrence of obstetric fistula and the Nigerian government says early marriage is largely to blame. Often, the bodies of young wives are not physically prepared for childbirth.

Muhammadu was married at 12 years old and had her first pregnancy at 15. She labored at home for two days before going to the hospital, but it was too late.

"On the fourth day, I gave birth and my baby wasnt alive," Muhammadu said. Her mother also has VVF fistula. They take care of each other.

But health workers say other cultural factors contributing to the high occurrence of fistula need to be addressed and focusing on early marriage oversimplifies the problem.

"I think we should de-emphasize the issue of early marriage as far as a direct cause of VVF is concerned," says Dr. Bello Lawal, a fistula surgeon and the chief medical director at the Maryam Abacha Women and Children Hospital, the only one in the northwestern state of Sokoto that performs fistula repair surgeries.

"There are some traditional practices whereby a surgical procedure is carried out on a woman who is supposed to have a condition known as goriya, which is supposed to be a growth in the private part, that is supposed to be removed by the traditional barber, and in the process, they usually cause damage to the bladder or they cause damage to the rectum, and that can lead to recto-vaginal fistula or vesicovaginal fistula," Lawal explains.

Traditionally in Hausa culture, barbers are called to remove goiters, remove enlarged tonsils, perform male circumcision and execute yankan gishiri, similar to female genital mutilation.

Goriya is said to be a tumor-like blockage of vaginal tissue, but Dr. Lawal said, "There is no tumor. Most of these cases, which we call goriya, are usually psychological cases." Goriya is a form of the pseudoscience that has led to millions of women developing VVF.

The practice is also performed in cases of infertility.

Lack of skilled doctors

Many women have had several failed fistula repair surgeries. Due to the stigma, most of them say their husbands divorced them. Dozens of former fistula patients live at the back of the Maryam Abacha Women and Children Hospital. They say they cannot go back home to face humiliation in their communities.

Only about a dozen doctors in Nigeria are skilled enough to perform the intricate fistula repair surgery, like Dr. Sunday Lengmang, a surgeon at the ECWA Evangel VVF Center in Jos.

Lengmang is considered one of the most skilled fistula repair surgeons in the world and the Evangel VVF Center is the only hospital in Nigeria that performs urinary diversion surgeries to handle complex fistula cases.

Fistula affects the poorest of the poor in the poorest countries of the world," he said, adding that this means the doctors working in this area must be highly motivated.

"But apart from that, we also have the issue of the difficulty in finding doctors who have the skills, he said.

With about 12,000 new cases reported around the country each year, the 14 Nigerian hospitals that perform repair surgeries are only able to handle about 5,000 operations, leaving an enormous backlog. USAIDs Fistula Care Plus says about 200,000 women in Nigeria are waiting for fistula surgeries.

Hospitals mostly rely on funding from outside of Nigeria. Donations fund the Evangel VVF Center, where surgeries are free of charge for patients. At other facilities, patients bear some of the cost of the surgery, which is about $300.

In her remote village, Muhammadu says her husband has stayed with her, despite her condition, and she is content. He has told her not to go the hospital for treatment since the fistula has not affected her ability to have babies. She has two daughters.

She wants the fistula to go away, but says it is destined by God to happen that way.

This reporting was supported by Code For Africa, a data journalism initiative.
Nigeria has the world's highest occurrence of fistulas - abnormal holes in the birth canal. Between 400,000 to 800,000 women in Nigeria developed the condition while giving birth. The Nigerian government says addressing early marriage will help to reduce fistulas, but health workers say other cultural factors are also to blame for the high rate. Chika Oduah traveled to the cities of Sokoto, Jos and Kaduna to visit fistula treatment hospitals and meet women afflicted with the condition.
Thousands of students continue to attend the University of Maiduguri in northeastern Nigeria despite at least a dozen attacks by the Boko Haram insurgency since the start of 2017. Chika Oduah reports from Maiduguri on how the university has been able to stay open and some would say even thrive amidst the constant danger.
Across Nigeria, citizens gathered in parks, street corners and office spaces on Monday to mark the very first National Day of Mourning.



The event, unprecedented in scale, was not officially endorsed by the government.It was led by civil society activists to protest what they described as the pandemic rise in violent conflicts across Nigeria.



At noon local time, millions of people held a moment of silence to reflect and mourn with families who have lost relatives to violence, terrorism and crime.

Felix Abrahams Obi, a public health activist in Abuja, said the day has become sadly necessary in Nigeria.

Because of the frequency of the killings, it seems as if a whole lot of us Nigerians have become a bit numb to the pain," he told VOA. "Theyre just seen as numbers, 20 people killed. But the people have names, they have families, they have friends, they have goals, they have visions.

Elsewhere, observances were planned by Nigerians living in South Africa, Britain and the United States. Social media users shared their experience with hashtags like #Nigeria Mourns and #One Death Too Many.



Africa's most populous country faces a level of insecurity that many citizens say has increased in the past five years.

One of the National Day of Mourning organizers, a youth advocacy group called "Enough is Enough, Nigeria," said more than 3,000 people have been killed this year alone.

Some try to ignore it.Sometimes I deliberately look away and refuse to think of itits mainly about emotional and mental health, said an Abuja-based Nigerian citizen who asked to remain anonymous. Ive had my share of mourning the last couple of months, lost some close friends and relatives. Theres [only] so much I can take.

Rising herder-farmer conflict

Violence includes the terrorist group Boko Harams war against the government, entering its 10th year. Last Thursday marked 1,500 days since the now-infamous Chibok schoolgirls' abduction. More than 100 of them are still missing.

But theres also a growing conflict involving farmers and nomadic cattle herders in central Nigeria.Farmers accuse herders of encroaching on their land and killing farmers.The herders say they are being attacked by cattle thieves.On a regular basis, local news outlets report clashes that kill dozens of people.

The herders are believed to be from the Fulani ethnic group.Nigerians often accuse President Muhammadu Buhari of being soft on this issue because is Fulani and comes from a family of cattle raisers.The president has vowed to punish the perpetrators, but few arrests have been made.

The clashes also have a religious angle.Most of the herders are Muslim, and last month a Catholic church in the state of Benue was attacked, allegedly by Fulani cattle herders.Seventeen parishioners and two Nigerian priests were killed.



Its been out of control. The most dangerous one is the Fulani herdsmen [issue]. It threatens the existence of Nigeria the way nothing else has ever done, said Rudolf Okonkwo, a New York-based Nigerian journalist and satirist.



Okonkwo is known for his comedic YouTube series, Dr. Damages, in which he pokes fun at Nigerian current affairs.But when it comes to the recent violence in his native country, he says there is nothing to laugh about.



Theres nothing funny. I think its important that Nigerian people rise up and say enough is enough. I mean they say it, but they dont put action behind it because most of the time Nigerians stay at home and comment on social media. The government of Nigeria is so far away from the people. If you dont do anything to make them pay attention to what concerns you, they stay in their cozy places in Abuja and the capitals of states and do what they like.

Security forces responsible too



Nigerian security forces are also seen as contributing to the violence. International rights groups have used them of using heavy-handed force on unarmed activists like the members of the Biafran secessionist movement .



The reckless approach to crowd control favored by the security forces when policing peaceful pro-Biafra protests has left more than 150 dead since August 2015, not to mention cases of enforced disappearance and unlawful detention, said Osai Ojigho, Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.



In 2015, government security agents killed an estimated 300 Shi'ite Muslims when soldiers encountered worshippers at a religious procession in the northern city of Zaria. They arrested and detained the leader of Nigerias largest Shi'ite Muslim organization, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria. Since then, Shi'ite Muslims have been conducting street marches in the Nigerian capital of Abuja where many have been brutally beaten.



President Buhari also says he has done well in helping to secure the nation and recently announced his intention to run in elections set for February 2019. Many Nigerians, however, say he has simply failed to protect the people.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet later this week with a North Korean four-star general in New York for talks related to a planned summit between President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader, according to the White House.

Kim Yong Chol, the vice chairman of the powerful Central Committee and North Korea's former spy chief, departed Beijing on an Air China commercial flight Tuesday for John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Earlier in the day, Trump tweeted that Kim's visit is a "solid response to my letter, thank you!"

"Kim Yong Chol is the man who whispers in Kim Jong Un's ear. Not only does he advise him on strategy but he also conveys the leader's demands. He'll be coming to New York to negotiate on Kim Jong Un's behalf. It's another very strong sign of commitment to this summit," said Jean Lee, director of the Korea program at the Wilson Center.

Tough discussions ahead



Lee, former Pyongyang bureau chief for the Associated Press, tells VOA tough discussions should be expected "as the U.S. and North Korean sides try to get on the same page regarding what the two leaders will accomplish at this anticipated summit."

Trump sent a letter last week to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, saying their scheduled June 12 summit in Singapore would not happen, and blaming what he said was "tremendous anger and open hostility" shown in a statement from Pyongyang. But negotiations between the two countries have continued, including talks at the Korean demilitarized zone.

WATCH: Pompeo N. Korea delegate meet

"If it takes place on June 12th, we'll certainly be prepared. If it, for some reason, takes place at a later date, we'll be prepared for that as well," White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters Tuesday afternoon on Air Force One.

A number of factors will determine when it is scheduled, Sanders added.

"Denuclearization has to be on the table on the focus of the meeting," she explained. "And the president has to feel like we're making progress on that front."

A U.S. delegation is meeting with a North Korean delegation in the demilitarized zone, led by Sung Kim, who is the U.S. ambassador to the Philippines and a former envoy to South Korea. Also present are Allison Hooker, Korea director on the National Security Council, and Randy Schriver, who is the assistant secretary of defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs.

Additional meetings are planned this week.

Separately, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joe Hagin is leading a pre-advance team in Singapore coordinating the logistics of the expected summit.

It has also been announced that Trump is to meet Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the White House on June 7.

Japan concerned

Behind the scenes, Japanese officials have expressed anxiety the Trump-Kim summit might sideline their priorities, especially North Korea's short- and medium-range missiles, and the fate of Japanese citizens abducted over decades by North Korean agents.

"We would like to see comprehensive verifiable irreversible dismantlement [CVID] of nuclear weapons and other weapons of mass destruction, the ballistic missiles dismantled irrespective of range, as well as addressing the abduction issue," Koro Bessho, Japan's ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters on Tuesday.

"Abe wants to get the precise nuance of the U.S. negotiating policy," said Yoichi Sato, a professor of international security studies at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University.

Abe has strongly supported the Trump administration's CVID stance, and Sato tells VOA that "for the U.S. to move from that means there is a great implication for Japan's standing, especially Japan's stance on the presence of U.S. troops on the Korean peninsula."

South Korean President Moon Jae-in could also be going to Singapore next month for a three-way summit with his U.S. and North Korean counterparts, a government official in Seoul said Monday.

After a surprise meeting Saturday with Kim Jong Un, Moon said the North Korean leader is still committed to the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula.

North Korea has rejected unilateral disarmament and called for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula without defining what that entails.

The North Koreans, after expressing initial enthusiasm about diplomacy with the United States earlier this month, did not show up for a preparatory meeting in Singapore.

Angers U.S.

North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui also was quoted by the country's official news agency threatening to use nuclear force and she referred to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy."

That angered Trump, who then wrote a letter to Kim Jong Un calling off their summit.



North Korean state media quickly replied with a conciliatory statement, reporting Kim's "fixed will" that his summit with Trump should go ahead.

For veteran observers of the opaque North Korean regime, the speed and intensity of the turnaround was remarkable.

"Trump is something new and his warnings that military force might be used, I think, have been taken seriously," Grant Newsham, senior research fellow at the Japan Forum for Strategic Studies, told VOA. "Plus, there has been fair amounts of pressure, compared to the past, put on the Chinese economically."
A top-secret report has raised concerns that China has attempted to influence Australia's political parties for the past decade. An investigation into the scale of foreign interference in Australia was ordered by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2016, leading to new proposed legislation which would ban foreign donations to political candidates.

The Australian media claims the report details widespread Chinese interference in Australia. The Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says its contents are classified but the leaked report suggests China has tried to influence every level of government in Australia right down to local councils and attempted to compromise its main political parties.

One of the report's contributors is John Garnaut, a former government advisor who now runs a consultancy company.

He has not publicly commented on the secret document, but did warn about China's influence in Australia when he appeared before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee in March.

Under the uncompromising leadership of President Xi Jinping, China's activities have become so brazen and so aggressive that we cannot ignore it any longer, he said.

The top-secret document helped to convince Canberra to bring in new foreign interference laws, which were introduced into federal parliament last year but have yet to be passed. Officials have stressed the legislation does not single out any single country, although analysts believe the measures are mainly aimed at China.

Last week, the director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, Duncan Lewis, said his country was facing unprecedented interference from overseas.

Foreign actors covertly attempt to influence and shape the views of members of the Australian public, the Australian media, officials in the Australian government, he said.

Beijing has previously accused Prime Minister Turnbull of being anti-China, and of poisoning bilateral relations.

Turnbull must tread a delicate diplomatic path. China is Australias biggest trading partner, while Canberras long-standing military alliance with the United States lies at the core of its national security strategy.
Police in Kyiv say Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko, who fled his country to escape what he called "political harassment," has been shot dead in a killing Ukraine's prime minister blamed on Moscow.

Babchenko was apparently shot in the back on the doorstep of his Kyiv apartment Tuesday after shopping for food, Ukrainian authorities said.

The 41-year-old's death stunned colleagues and added to tension between Moscow and Kyiv, whose ties have been badly damaged by Russia's seizure of Crimea and backing for separatist militants in a devastating war in eastern Ukraine.

Kyiv Police Chief Andriy Krishchenko said in televised comments late Tuesday that police are assuming Babchenko was targeted for his work. "The first and the most obvious version is his professional activities," he said.

In a post to Facebook just hours after news of Babchenko's death emerged, Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman said: "I am convinced that the Russian totalitarian machine could not forgive his honesty and principled position."

But in Moscow, Russia's Investigative Committee distanced the Kremlin from the killing, saying it had launched its own criminal investigation into Babchenko's death.

"The Russian Investigative Committee is not going to ignore brutal crimes against Russian citizens," committee spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko said.

Russian response

Russia's Foreign Ministry issued a statement to "demand the Ukrainian authorities do everything in their power for an immediate investigation," adding that Moscow hopes "the relevant international agencies and nongovernmental organizations will take the investigation process under their control."



On Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the accusation of Russian responsibility for Babchenko's killing is regretful.

Kyiv police spokeswoman Oksana Blyschyk said police received an emergency call Tuesday from doctors who said a woman had called them to say she "found her husband at home in a pool of blood."

Ukrainian parliamentary deputy Anton Heraschenko, who is also an aide to Ukraine's interior minister, said Babchenko had just returned home from a nearby grocery store and was opening his apartment door when an assailant waiting in the stairwell shot him multiple times in the back.

"Arkady's heart stopped in the ambulance on the way to the hospital" in Kyiv, Heraschenko said in a Facebook post.

Meanwhile, in an indication that at least one witness saw the assailant, police in Kyiv late Tuesday released a sketch of a chief suspect.

Babchenko was well-known for his criticism of the Kremlin.

His reporting about Russia's support for pro-Russia separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine saw him become the target of severe criticism from Russian state media and from Russian officials.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's media watchdog condemned Babchenko's slaying and called for swift justice for the killer.

"I am outraged by this horrific act," the OSCE's media freedom representative, Harlem Desir, said in a statement. "I call on the authorities to swiftly and thoroughly investigate the circumstances of this assassination and to bring the perpetrators and those who ordered it to justice."

The media watchdog Committee to Protect Journalists also called for a thorough investigation "to find those responsible for this brutal, silencing crime."

"Babchenko was well-known for his critical journalism, and authorities must consider his murder as an attack on press freedom," Nina Ognianova, CPJ's Europe and Central Asia coordinator, said in a statement.

Babchenko told RFE/RL in December 2016 that "all of the elements" of Russia's state "propaganda machine" were engaged against him after he posted comments to Facebook about the crash of a Russian military plane in the Black Sea.

All 92 people on board were killed, including members of the Russian army's renowned choir, the Aleksandrov Ensemble, which was traveling to give a performance for Russian troops in Syria.

Babchenko said the reaction by state officials and state media to his remarks was intended to send a signal to Russian society that "we must be in one line; we must express sadness; we must appear sad  and anyone who doesn't must be destroyed."

'Forced to flee'

Babchenko told RFE/RL in late 2016 that State Duma Deputy Vitaly Milonov, Federation Council member Frants Klintsevich and Russia media like Channel One and Lifenews were "stitching together some fake news" about him.

Babchenko said: "A major effort is being organized. They aren't investigating why the plane crashed but instead are persecuting me."

In February 2017, writing for Britain's The Guardian newspaper, Babchenko said: "I can tell you what political harassment feels like in [President Vladimir] Putin's Russia. Like many dissidents I am used to abuse, but a recent campaign against me was so personal, so scary, that I was forced to flee."

Babchenko served in the Russia army during the first separatist war in Chechnya in the 1990s before he became a journalist.

He worked as a military correspondent and wrote for several Russian media organizations, including the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily newspaper and Novaya Gazeta, as well as TV Tsentr, and Channel One TV.

He had been scathingly critical of the Kremlin in recent years. He moved to Kyiv in the autumn of 2017, where he worked as a host for the Crimean Tatar TV station, ATR.

Babchenko is the second high-profile Russian journalist to be slain in Kyiv in less than two years.

Authorities in Ukraine are still investigating the killing of journalist Pavel Sheremet in a car-bomb blast in central Kyiv in July 2016.

Sheremet, a Belarusian-born Russian citizen who made Kyiv his permanent home, was well-known as a hard-hitting reporter and commentator who had worked at prominent media outlets in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine during his decades-long career.

Often critical of political leaders, he had received threats and been harassed on several occasions.

RFE/RL's Kyiv correspondent Christopher Miller, Reuters, AP, AFP, Interfax, and TASS contributed to this report.
A prison inmate out on leave ambushed two Belgian policewomen Tuesday in Liege, Belgium, and killed them with their own guns.

Police are investigating the killings as a possible terrorist attack, saying the suspect's aim was to attack officers. They believe he acted alone.

Officials have not yet officially identified the gunman. But Belgian media say he is Benjamin Herman  a 35-year-old who has been in a Belgian prison for more than 10 years for various crimes.

Herman reportedly sneaked up on the two policewomen and stabbed them with a knife before grabbing their guns and shooting them.

He also shot and killed a driver pulling out of a parking space in a nearby high school parking lot before running into the school, briefly taking as many as two hostages.

Herman stormed out of the school, firing his weapons, and was fatally shot by police, but not before wounding four officers, at least one seriously.

It is unclear if Herman's name was on any terror watch list. But Belgian lawmaker George Dallemagne said Herman was likely radicalized in jail.

"The supervision of radicalized prisoners remains tragically flawed," Dallemagne wrote on Twitter.

Belgium has been on high alert for terrorism because of a series of attacks in Brussels over the past few years claimed by Islamic State.
A flare-up of violence along the Israel-Gaza border subsided Wednesday as Palestinian officials said an Egyptian-mediated cease-fire had been reached with Israel.

Israeli officials did not confirm an agreement, but said if mortar and rocket fire from militants in Gaza stopped, then Israel would halt its response attacks.

It is imperative that this period of calm be preserved at all costs, said Nickolay Mladenov, the U.N.s special coordinator for the Middle East peace process. Everyone has a responsibility to do their part to de-escalate and step back from the brink in the interests of their own people and the future of their own children, he added.

Mladenov spoke at an emergency meeting Wednesday of the U.N. Security Council, called by the United States to discuss dozens of rockets and mortars fired by Hamas and allied militant groups from Gaza into Israel since Monday. Israels Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted the projectiles and no Israeli casualties were reported.

Such attacks are completely unacceptable, Mladenov said. The firing of rockets and mortars against civilians cannot be justified under any circumstances.

Israel Defense Forces responded with 65 airstrikes on Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza and destroyed a tunnel near the Kerem Shalom crossing point.

Mladenov warned that this is the most serious escalation since the 2014 conflict between Hamas and Israel. The U.N. envoy has given a series of warnings in recent months that the two parties could be on the brink of another armed conflict.

Hamas openly claims responsibility for this attack, U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said. They do so proudly; their only regret is that the attack did not kill anyone.

Haley urged council members to condemn Hamas and she supported Israels right to defend itself.

Kuwaits envoy Mansour Al-Otaibi has put forward a draft resolution calling for an international protection force for Palestinians. He urged council members to support the measure when it is put to a vote.

Israels envoy, however, called on the council to designate Hamas as a terrorist organization.

It is high time that the international community combat Hamas with the same tools and vigor that it uses against al-Qaida and ISIS, Danny Danon told the council, using an acronym for the militant group Islamic State.

Palestinian envoy Riyad Mansour said he hopes the cease-fire will hold, and he urged the council to act to de-escalate the situation and prevent its descending into more violence.

Tensions along the border have been high for two months, with Palestinians holding protests calling for a right to return to land they fled or were forced to leave when Israel was created in 1948. They have also rallied against a blockade of Gaza that has been in place for more than a decade, as well as the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Israeli forces have killed at least 115 Palestinians since the end of March, drawing criticism for the use of force. Israel has blamed the militant group Hamas for provoking violence and says it has acted to protect the border.
Starbucks is closing its more than 8,000 U.S. stores for a few hours Tuesday for anti-bias training, weeks after police arrested two African-American men in one of the coffee chains locations in the northeastern city of Philadelphia for allegedly trespassing.

The coffee chain's executives apologized for the April 14 arrests of Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson and contacted activists and experts in bias training to develop a curriculum for its 175,000 employees.

The incident has raised the awareness of "unconscious bias training," which police departments, companies and other organizations use to help address racism in the workplace.

An alliance of researchers called the Perception Institute, which is consulting with Starbucks, says implicit biases are attitudes or stereotypes toward people without being conscious of it. The training sessions are intended to encourage workers to open up about implicit biases toward people of color, gender or other identities.

The curriculum used in the sessions was developed with input from the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Perception Institute and other social advocacy organizations.

The sessions feature recorded remarks from executives, a short documentary film and small group conversations during which workers will have "a real an honest exploration of bias."

In the Philadelphia incident, an employee asked Nelson and Robinson to leave after not buying anything and being denied access to the restroom. They were arrested minutes after sitting down for an intended business meeting. Their arrests were recorded on cellphones and went viral.

Nelson and Robinson reached an agreement with Starbucks for an undisclosed amount of money and offers of a free education. They also accepted from the city of Philadelphia a symbolic $1 each and a promise to launch a $200,000 program for young entrepreneurs.

Since their arrests, Starbucks has announced anyone can use its restrooms even if they are not buying anything.
Hurricane Maria claimed more than 4,600 lives in Puerto Rico last year, more than 70 times higher than the U.S. government's official death toll of 64, according to a study published Tuesday by the New England Journal of Medicine.



The findings, based on a survey of thousands of Puerto Rican residents conducted by researchers from Harvard University and elsewhere, show the fatalities occurred between September 20 and December 31, 2017.



The U.S. government's emergency response to the storm had been criticized and President Donald Trump, was faulted when much of the U.S. territory remained without power for months.



The researchers said their latest estimates may be too low and "underscore the inattention of the U.S. government to the frail infrastructure of Puerto Rico."

Maria inflicted about $90 billion in damage to Puerto Rico, which was already grappling with an anemic economy. Researchers have said Maria was the third costliest tropical cyclone to strike the U.S. since 1900.



More than 8 months after the storm, the territory has been slow to recover. Residents continue to suffer from a lack of water, an unstable power grid and a dearth of essential services, forcing many residents to leave.



While the new study puts the death toll at 4,645, it says there is a 95-percent chance the actual number could be as low as 793 and as high as 8,498. Earlier independent studies have estimated the death toll at about 1,000.



The results of the latest study were based on randomly conducted in-person surveys of 3,299 of an estimated 1.1 million Puerto Rican households earlier this year, including homes in remote areas.



To ensure unbiased results, residents were not paid for their responses and were told their answers would not result in any additional government assistance.



Researchers said they could not compare their findings with the latest government tally because their request for access to the numbers was denied.



The Puerto Rican government stopped publicly disclosing its hurricane death figures in December.
Ten people were beheaded in a village in northern Mozambique, police said on Tuesday, as local sources blamed the attack on Islamists.



The predawn attack on Sunday occurred in two small villages close to the border with Tanzania and not far from Palma, a small town gearing up to be the country's new natural gas hub in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.



"There are 10 citizens who have been hideously killed," Inacio Dina, the national police spokesman, told a news conference in Maputo, adding that the attackers used machetes.



Two of those killed were 15- and 16-year-old boys, who had set out in the early hours "hunting mice to eat," said the police. Villagers earlier had said the fatalities included children.



No arrests have been made yet.



'Scary environment'



Without naming the group of attackers, police's Dina vowed that "we will hunt and find them and take them to the court as happened with others," in apparent reference to attacks that occurred elsewhere in the same province in October.



Police reinforcements have been sent to the villages to step up security.



"The environment is scary," Dina said.



Cabo Delgado province has seen a number of attacks by suspected radical Islamists since October.



In the latest attack, one victim was the leader of Monjane village, a local resident said, withholding his name for fear of reprisals.



"They targeted the chief as he had been providing information to the police about the location of al-Shabab in the forests," he told AFP, referring to an armed group believed responsible for a deadly October attack on a police station and military post in the town of Mocimboa da Praia.



Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed then in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack on the country.



The group has no known link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name.



In the following weeks, at least 300 Muslims, including Tanzanians, were arrested and several mosques were forced to close.



Alex Vines, a specialist analyst on Mozambique for the London-based independent policy group Chatham House, told AFP that the "new attacks are unsurprising and a reminder of the seriousness of the situation."



"A number of independent assessments of the situation in Cabo Delgado, conducted over the last three months, have concluded that the security situation [there] remains fragile and continued attacks probable," he said.



'Serious situation'



Police suspect the attackers are hiding in the forests surrounding the villages. A local villager said police were called during the attack but "arrived very late and the attackers were already gone. Nothing was stolen."



"They are becoming much more radical now as they are facing attacks from government," said another villager.



"This attack is a worrying sign of the deterioration of the situation," said Eric Morier-Genoud, a lecturer in African history at the Queen's University Belfast. "On the one hand, the rate of attacks appears to intensify. On the other hand, the methods seem to be radicalized, with decapitations becoming more and more common."



A study published last week by Mozambican academic Joao Pereira said up to 40 members of the radical group "have been trained by movements" that operate in the Great Lakes region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Kenya.



The increase in attacks in the country's north could present a problem for Mozambique, which holds general elections next year and has its eyes set on recently discovered gas reserves.



Vast gas deposits discovered off the shores of Palma could transform the impoverished country's economy.



Experts predict that Mozambique could become the world's third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).



But Morier-Genoud suggested the group won't pose immediate "significant danger" to the gas project, urging that government engages the northern region from social and religious platforms instead of resorting strictly to a military response.



The country's north has largely been excluded from the economic growth of the last 20 years, and the region sees itself as a neglected outpost, giving the radical al-Shabab-style ideology a receptive audience.



Mozambique this month passed an anti-terrorism law that punishes terrorism activity with more than 40 years in jail.
The United States on Tuesday walked out of the Conference on Disarmament to protest Syria's assumption of the rotating presidency of the 65-member U.N. body.

Before staging his walkout, U.S. Ambassador Robert Wood told journalists that handing the gavel of the presidency to Syria marked a sad and shameful day in the history of the conference. He called the development a travesty.



"This is a regime responsible for killing countless of its own civilians, many of whom have been impacted by chemical weapons attacks," Wood said. "This is no normal presidency and thus the U.S. will not treat it as such."

Not lost on the U.S. envoy was the irony that Syria had gassed its own people but was now assuming the presidency of an organization that negotiated the Chemical Weapons Convention. Wood noted the chemical weapons attack in Douma on April 7 was just another tragic example of Syria's disrespect for international law.

"It is important that the United States speak out against the crimes that have been committed by the regime in Damascus," Wood said. "We will do so. We hope that our other colleagues in the Conference on Disarmament will do the same. It is important that we hold this regime accountable for the crimes that it has committed, and the United States will not be silent."

The presidency automatically rotates every four weeks among its 65 members in English alphabetical order. Syria assumed the presidency following the end of Switzerland's four-week term.

Other countries joined the U.S. in voicing their disapproval. Israel's ambassador, Aviva Raz Shechter, walked out of the meeting, calling the situation "unacceptable." France downgraded its presence by not sending its envoy. Britain said it would not take part in the meeting.

Russia spoke up in support of its Syrian ally.
U.S. President Donald Trump has confirmed a top North Korean official is to visit New York for talks related to a planned summit between Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.

"Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York," Trump wrote Tuesday on Twitter.



Hours earlier, news reports said Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Korea's ruling party and former military intelligence chief, was at the Beijing airport. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said Kim planned to fly Wednesday to New York.

Trump sent a letter last week to Kim Jong Un saying the summit scheduled for June 12 would not happen, blaming what he said was "tremendous anger and open hostility" shown in a statement by the North Korean leader.

But negotiations between the two countries have continued, including talks Sunday at the Korean demilitarized zone.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more," Trump said Tuesday.

White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin and others from the Trump administration flew Sunday to Singapore, the planned site for the summit.

"They traveled to Singapore to focus on logistics preparations," a White House official confirmed to VOA News on Monday.

Before the Trump-Kim meeting, the U.S. president also plans to hold face-to-face discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We agreed to meet before the U.S.-North Korea summit," Abe said in Tokyo following a Monday telephone call with Trump.

Trump and Abe also "affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and ballistic missile programs," according to a White House statement.

Trump and Abe are to attend the Group of Seven economic summit June 8-9 in Canada, but may meet at the White House prior to that, according to officials in Washington and Tokyo.



It is unclear when or where Trump and Abe will meet before the anticipated Singapore summit.



South Korean President Moon Jae-In could also be going to Singapore next month for a three-way summit with his U.S. and North Korean counterparts, a government official in Seoul said Monday.



After a surprise meeting Saturday between Kim and Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president said the North Korean leader is still committed to the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula.



The U.S. has called for "complete, verifiable and irreversible" dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal. North Korea has rejected unilateral disarmament and called for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula without defining what that entails.
U.S. President Donald Trump contended Tuesday that prosecutors investigating his 2016 campaign's links to Russia "will be MEDDLING" in November's congressional elections.



Trump offered no explanation how he thinks the legal team of special counsel Robert Mueller would interfere with the voting for all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and a third of those in the 100-member Senate. Last week he suggested that the length of Mueller's year-long investigation could turn voters against candidates he favors and "put some hurt on the Republican Party."

Trump, in a string of Twitter comments, ignored the conclusion last week by his new secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, that U.S. officials expect "continued efforts" by Russia to interfere with the congressional elections, just as the U.S. intelligence community concluded it did in the presidential election two years ago to help Trump win. With the congressional campaigns now in their early stages in many U.S. states five-plus months ahead of the voting, Pompeo said there is much work ahead to mitigate any Russian interference.

The top U.S. diplomat told a congressional hearing that the Trump administration would take "appropriate countermeasures" against any Russian interference in the congressional elections, but acknowledged officials have yet to figure out what "effective deterrence" might work.

As he often has, Trump complained in one tweet that Mueller's legal team includes "13 Angry Democrats," although Mueller is a Republican, once named to head the Federal Bureau of Investigation by Republican President George W. Bush.

"It's a Rigged Witch Hunt," Trump declared, questioning why prosecutors were not investigating his 2016 challenger, "the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton. Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration!"

WATCH: Trump Ramps Up Rhetoric Against Special Counsel Probe

Mueller is in the midst of discussions with Trump lawyers about whether Trump will answer prosecutors' questions about his campaign's links to Russia and whether he obstructed justice a year ago by firing FBI director James Comey when he was leading the Russia investigation before Mueller, over Trump's objections, was appointed to take over.

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, a former New York mayor, said this week that any Trump sit-down with Mueller would not occur before the possible Trump summit June 12 with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore.

Trump said he was "sorry" he was spending so much time on the Russia investigation and said he has "to start focusing my energy" on the nuclear threat posed by North Korea, "bad Trade Deals," the economy and other issues.



In yet another tweet, the U.S. leader again assailed the national news media for its coverage of his campaign and his 16-month White House tenure.

"The Fake Mainstream Media has, from the time I announced I was running for President, run the most highly sophisticated & dishonest Disinformation Campaign in the history of politics," Trump said. "No matter how well WE do, they find fault. But the forgotten men & women WON, Im President!"
South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday a top North Korean official traveled to Beijing, and planned to fly on to New York on Wednesday potentially for talks related to a planned summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un.

Multiple media agencies reported seeing Kim Yong Chol, a former military intelligence chief and current vice chairman of North Korea's ruling party, at the Beijing airport. If he does visit the United States, he would be the most senior North Korean official to do so since 2000.

U.S. and North Korean officials met Sunday at the Korean demilitarized zone, and White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin and others from the Trump administration flew to Singapore, the planned site for the summit.

"They traveled to Singapore to focus on logistics preparations," a White House official confirmed to VOA News on Monday.

Ahead of a Trump-Kim summit, the U.S. president plans to hold face-to-face discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"We agreed to meet before the U.S.-North Korea summit," Abe told reporters in Tokyo following his Monday telephone call with Trump.

In the call, Trump and Abe also "affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, and ballistic missile programs," according to a White House statement.

Both Trump and Abe are set to attend the Group of Seven economic summit June 8-9 in Canada, but the two may meet at the White House prior to that, according to officials in Washington and Tokyo.

The two leaders spoke Monday before Trump went to Arlington National Cemetery for a Memorial Day ceremony. There, the president made no reference to the situation on the Korean peninsula in his 22-minute scripted remarks.

Nearly 34,000 Americans died as a result of hostile action in the three-year war on the peninsula. Hostilities ceased in 1953 with an armistice, but no peace treaty has ever been signed.

It is unclear when or where Trump and Abe will meet before the anticipated Singapore summit, which the U.S. president has said in recent days is likely to occur on June 12 after he declared last Thursday that the summit would not be held on that day.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in could also be going to Singapore next month for a three-way summit with his U.S. and North Korean counterparts, a government official in Seoul said on Monday.

After a surprise meeting Saturday between Kim and Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president said the North Korean leader is still committed to the "complete denuclearization" of the Korean peninsula.

The U.S. has called for "complete, verifiable and irreversible" dismantling of Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal. North Korea has rejected unilateral disarmament and called for denuclearization of the Korean peninsula without defining what that entails.

"In the North Korean mind, denuclearization of the Korean peninsula means really the abrogation of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, complete expulsion  the eviction of U.S. troops and U.S. military assets  from the Korean peninsula," Tufts University professor Sung Yoon Lee told VOA News.

For Kim, "denuclearization cant be a one-sided event that hes giving some stuff up and not getting some comparable U.S. action," according to Bruce Bennett senior defense analyst at the Rand Corporation research group.

There could be division under Kim within North Koreas hierarchy about the diplomatic approach to the Americans, according to Bennett.

"Kim Jong Un has been anxious for a long time, and his father before him, to meet with the U.S. president and develop the appearance for internal political purposes that hes the peer of the American president. The nuclear weapons give him the feeling that he should be able to do that now," Bennett told VOA.

The North Koreans, after expressing initial enthusiasm about diplomacy with the U.S. earlier this month, did not show up for a preparatory meeting in Singapore, threatened to use nuclear force and referred to U.S. Vice President Mike Pence as a "political dummy."

Pence had remarked that North Korea could wind up like Libya  a country mired in chaos since it gave up its nuclear ambitions and saw its longtime dictator killed years later by U.S.-backed rebels.

But North Korean state media subsequently reported on Kim's "fixed will" that a summit with Trump should go ahead.

During Moon and Kims second border meeting Saturday, the two leaders exchanged views on how to prepare for the North's possible summit with Trump.

"It was like an ordinary encounter between friends," Moon told reporters. "What's uncertain for Kim is not his intention to denuclearize, but the U.S. stance in hostile relations with North Korea and whether the U.S. can really secure and guarantee his regime.

VOA's Ira Mellman, Victor Beattie contributed to this report.
Diving into the midterm elections, President Donald Trump is seeking to build a stable of Republicans who will help promote his agenda and serve as a check on Democrats aiming to win majorities in Congress.

Trump is traveling to Nashville, Tennessee, on Tuesday to raise campaign cash for Republican Rep. Marsha Blackburn, the party's leading U.S. Senate hopeful in Tennessee, and headline a rally with his most loyal supporters.



Blackburn is expected to face Democratic former Gov. Phil Bredesen to replace Republican Sen. Bob Corker, who is retiring. The Tennessee campaign is among several races crucial to Trump's plans to maintain control of the Senate, where Republicans are defending a narrow two-seat majority.



Trump is planning a series of political rallies and events in the coming months to boost Republicans and brand Democrats as obstructionists to his agenda. The president held a similar rally in Indiana earlier this month, appearing with Republican businessman Mike Braun and ripping Democratic U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly as a "swamp person" who refused to aid the GOP agenda.



"We're not getting complacent. We can't," Trump said in Elkhart, Indiana. "If we elect more Republicans we can truly deliver for all of our citizens."



Earlier Tuesday, Trump raised the prospect of special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia probe affecting the November elections and blamed Democrats for "Collusion." On Twitter, he said the "13 Angry Democrats'' on Mueller's team "will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans [stay tough!] are taking the lead in Polls." Mueller is a Republican.



Beyond Indiana, Trump has used his Twitter page to boost California Republican gubernatorial candidate John Cox, hoping to strengthen the party's chances of securing a spot on the ballot in November. He has also set his sights on Montana, where Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is seeking re-election in a state Trump carried in a landslide. The two states have primaries on June 5.



The president is raising money later in the week in Texas to benefit Senate Republicans and his 2020 campaign.



Tennessee has a history of electing centrist senators and the race could be complicated by Corker's up-and-down relationship with Trump. Corker once said Trump had turned the White House into an "adult day care center" and the president tweeted that Corker "couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee."



Yet Corker was in the Oval Office on Saturday, receiving praise from the president for his help in securing the release of a man imprisoned in Venezuela. The breakthrough happened after Corker held a surprise meeting in Caracas with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.



In his final year in the Senate, Corker has called Bredesen a friend and said he won't actively campaign against him.



Trump, meanwhile, offered an early endorsement of Blackburn in April, calling her on Twitter "a wonderful woman who has always been there when we have needed her. Great on the Military, Border Security and Crime."



Blackburn, who served on Trump's transition team, has embraced the president and called herself a "hardcore, card-carrying Tennessee conservative."



Bredesen, who is attempting to become the first Democrat to win a Senate campaign in Tennessee since Al Gore in 1990, has aired TV ads in which he says that he's "not running against Donald Trump" and that he learned long ago to "separate the message from the messenger."
The White House says it plans to impose 25 percent tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods that contain "industrially-significant technology" as trade talks between United States and China continue.



The White House said Tuesday the proposed tariffs are in response to China's practices with respect to technology transfer, intellectual property, and innovation. It will announce the final list of covered imports by June 15, 2018, and the tariffs will be imposed shortly thereafter.



The Trump administration made the announcement in a statement called "Steps to Protect Domestic Technology and Intellectual Property from China's Discriminatory and Burdensome Trade Practices."

Other punitive steps include implementing stronger investment restrictions and enhanced export controls for Chinese citizens and companies related to the acquisition of industrially significant technology to protect national security.



The proposed investment restrictions and export controls will be announced by June 30, 2018 and adopted shortly thereafter, according to the White House.

Trade barriers

In addition, the Trump administration said trade talks with China will continue and it will request China remove all of its many trade barriers, including non-monetary trade barriers, and that tariffs and taxes between the two countries be "reciprocal in nature and value."



In response to the latest threat of tariffs from the White House, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said in a short statement it is "surprised" by the announcement but added it "also expects it."

The Chinese ministry's statement claimed the White House move "was apparently contrary to the consensus both sides reached recently."



"China has the confidence, ability, and experience to safeguard its core interests, China urged the United Sates to act in accordance to the spirit of their recent joint statement," it said.



In April, Trump announced he planned to impose tariffs on $150 billion worth of Chinese goods, and Beijing responded by declaring it will retaliate by imposing similar amount of tariffs of imported American goods.

China in violation

The Trump administration's decision to take action is a result of an investigation conducted by the U.S. Trade Representative under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 to determine whether Beijing's trade practices may be "unreasonable or discriminatory" and may be "harming American intellectual property rights, innovation or technology development."

After a seven-month investigation, the USTR found the policies were in violation.



The United States and China subsequently conducted two rounds of trade talks aimed at avoiding a full-blown trade war. The last round of trade talks was concluded on May 19 after both sides reached a deal for Beijing to buy more American goods to "substantially reduce" the huge trade deficit with the United States. But there was no mention of any specific import and export targets in the statement agreed to by the two countries.

Following the trade talks in Washington, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin announced the world's two biggest economic powers have agreed to back away from imposing tough new tariffs on each other's exports.



Trump initially touted the agreement, but later contended he was neither pleased nor satisfied with the result.



U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is set to go to Beijing this week to negotiate on how China might buy more American goods to reduce the huge U.S. trade deficit with Beijing, which last year totaled $375 billion.
Exiled opposition politician Mikheil Saakashvili called on European nations Tuesday to impose sanctions on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and his inner circle, accusing them of violating his human rights.

Saakashvili said that Poroshenko, his former ally, breached international law by stripping him of his Ukrainian citizenship and forcibly kicking him out of the country.

Speaking in The Hague, Netherlands, Saakashvili and a legal expert said sanctions should be used to push Poroshenko into restoring the opposition leader's citizenship and to target assets that Saakashvili alleged Ukraine's leaders obtained illegally.

"We are looking for their assets across Europe to impound them, because they were stolen from the Ukrainian people," he said.

International law expert Geoffrey Robertson said international diplomacy is the best way forward for Saakashvili, who cannot take his case to European courts until he has exhausted his options in Ukraine's slow-moving judicial system.

"There is no immediate solution that European law offers," said Robertson, who accompanied Saakashvili to The Hague. "It is time for diplomatic action to be taken to ensure that Ukraine changes its position."

Saakashvili was Georgia's president from 2004 to 2013, and later was given a governorship in Ukraine by then-ally Poroshenko. However, he has since led anti-government protests and criticized the president for failing to stem corruption.

Saakashvili was detained in February in Kiev by armed, masked men and deported to Poland. His expulsion means he is unlikely to be able to take part in next year's presidential election in Ukraine.

"I don't have personal ambitions," he said when asked about the election. "But I have [the] ambition to help Ukrainian democracy, to help Ukraine in the corruption fight."
The U.S. declared Tuesday that religious freedom is "under assault" across the globe.

"The state of religious freedom is dire," said Sam Brownback, the State Department's ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, as he and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo released the agency's annual report concluding that many countries throughout the world crack down on religious adherents and punish them harshly for their beliefs.

Even as the U.S. works toward a June 12 summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un over Pyongyang's nuclear weapons program, the State Department report singled out the reclusive communist nation for abuses against believers.

WATCH: Religious freedom lacking

"The government continued to deal harshly with those who engaged in almost any religious practices through executions, torture, beatings and arrests," the report said. "An estimated 80,000 to 120,000 political prisoners, some imprisoned for religious reasons, were believed to be held in the political prison camp system in remote areas under horrific conditions."

Brownback said, "What we know is we got a gulag system operating in North Korea, and its been a terrible situation for many, many years. You can go on satellite  open source satellite  and see some of these camps and their situation. You have people that have gotten out and written about the situation in North Korea. We know it is very difficult and desperate, and particularly for people of faith, and thats why North Korea has remained a country of particular concern for us.

Rohingya Muslims

Brownback told VOA it is his view that the purge against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar is "religious cleansing."

"The official legal category is ethnic cleansing, but it is ethnic cleansing in the religious minority, the Rohingya, who are mostly Muslim," he said.

"I think it just keeps getting worse. But that's why people have to step up more aggressively as nations, and pushing back on this against what the military is doing in Burma and what's happening in that country."

Brownback also expressed concern about Nigeria, which he plans to visit soon. "I plan on going to Nigeria. It's a nation of 50 percent Muslim and 50 percent of Christian, and a lot of conflicts. It's the largest country in Africa, population-wise. And we can't afford, neither can the continent or the rest of the world, for Nigeria to come apart at the seams."

The report also condemned abuse of religious believers in China, Iran, Russia and other countries.

The State Department said Beijing "continued to exercise control over religion and restrict the activities and personal freedom of religious adherents when the government perceived these as threatening" the state or the ruling communist party. The report estimated that "hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims have been forcibly sent to re-education centers, and extensive and invasive security and surveillance practices have been instituted."

Brownback said, "You know, that was a concept you thought was gone decades ago and (is) being experienced in growing amounts. The report cites a number of very, very troubling concerns and a decline in religious freedom in China."

In Iran, the report said the government continues to deal harshly with religious minorities, including executing or imprisoning those convicted of waging "war on God."

The State Department said that in Russia, "Authorities continued to detain and fine members of minority religious groups and minority religious organizations for alleged extremism. In one case, there were reports that authorities tortured an individual in a pretrial detention facility. Authorities convicted and fined several individuals for 'public speech offensive to religious believers.'

In releasing the report, Pompeo said, "Advancing liberty and religious freedom advances Americas interests. Where fundamental freedoms of religion, expression, press and peaceful assembly are under attack, we find conflict, instability and terrorism. On the other hand, governments and societies that champion these freedoms are more secure, stable and peaceful. So, for all of the reasons, protecting and promoting global respect for religious freedom is a priority for the Trump administration.

Pompeo said the State Department is convening a ministerial meeting July 25-26 to promote religious freedom, inviting foreign diplomats from "like-minded governments, as well as representatives of international organizations, religious community, and civil society to reaffirm our commitment to religious freedom as a universal human right."

He said the gathering "will not be just a discussion group, it will be about action. We look forward to identifying concrete ways to push back against persecution and ensure greater respect for religious freedom for all.

Brownback said, "The problems are great, but the opportunity for change is, too."
The U.S. Supreme Court is entering the last month of its 2017-2018 session. All the cases before the top U.S. court have been argued; only decisions remain to be handed down, including for major issues such as gay rights, abortion, President Donald Trump's travel ban, gerrymandering, voting rolls and labor unions.

Here are some of the biggest cases awaiting the court's decision before the end of June.

Religious rights vs. LGBTQ rights

One of the biggest high-profile cases before the court deals with the religious rights of individual business owners versus the anti-discriminations laws of a state.

A Colorado case pits the rights of cake shop owner Jack Phillips, a Christian who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple, against a state law that prohibits businesses open to the public from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation.

Similar cases are pending in 21 states with anti-discrimination laws that specifically include the LGBTQ community. Florists, videographers and graphic artists are among businesses being sued for refusing to provide services to same-sex couples on religious grounds.

Anti-abortion centers vs. free speech

The court will decide whether California can require faith-based crisis pregnancy centers to post signs informing their clients that the state provides free or low-cost abortion and contraception services. The state requires this of all licensed facilities that provide prenatal or family planning services.

The centers, which are usually faith-based, argue that requiring the notices violates their free-speech right by forcing them to promote procedures they oppose.

California said notices are required because the centers use deceptive advertising to confuse or misinform women.

Trump's travel ban

Ever since Trump tried to ban visitors and immigrants from several Muslim-majority nations, federal judges in several states have repeatedly blocked the travel restrictions that they called unconstitutional because they discriminated against Muslims. The Supreme Court will now decide whether Trump has the executive power to issue such an order.

The case before the court, Trump v. Hawaii, concerns the 2017 iteration of the travel ban, which restricted travel of citizens from five mostly Muslim countries -- Iran, Libya, Somalia, Syria and Yemen -- as well as North Koreans and some individuals connected to the Venezuelan government  in effect, countering the argument about bias against Muslims by including countries that are not Muslim-majority nations.

The justices allowed that ban to go into effect in December 2017 while the case was pending before the court. The court's more conservative justices appeared to uphold the policy during arguments in April.

Gerrymandering: Voting districts vs. political parties

The court is set to rule on two cases regarding partisan gerrymandering, the practice of drawing election districts that give one political party an advantage over another. In the past, the court has struck down districts drawn along racial lines but never for partisan favoritism.

The justices have heard a case from Wisconsin challenging a statewide map that assured Republicans at least 60 percent of the seats in the state House. The other, from Maryland, shifts voting districts to benefit Democrats.

The court is also considering election maps in Texas that challengers said discriminated against racial and ethnic minorities.

Voting rolls vs. voting rights

The court will decide if a state has the right to purge voters from registration rolls based on their voting record. At issue is Ohio's policy to send a notice to voters who have not exercised their right in two years to confirm their registration. Those who do not respond and do not vote for another four years are removed. The state said it wants to clean up its rolls, but civil rights groups said Ohio has wrongly purged thousands of eligible voters and that the move violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993.

The court will also decide on a Minnesota case that challenges a state law banning voters from wearing political apparel to the voting booth. Challengers claim the law violates their First Amendment rights.

Unions vs. public employees

Labor contracts and unions are at the center of one of the most influential pending decisions. The court will decide if teachers, police officers and other public employees can be required to pay union dues, even if they decide not to join a union. The unions argue that the "fair share fees" cover the cost of collective bargaining that in turn benefit the worker who is not a union member.

In 1977, the court upheld such fees but said workers need not fund unions' political expenses. Challengers said the court needs to end such fee requirements because they violate workers' freedom of speech by forcing them to support groups they may oppose.

The decision could have a broad effect on public sector unions, which cover about 7.2 million employees.
The World Trade Organization is being slowly strangled to death, a retiring trade judge whose replacement has been blocked by the United States said in his farewell speech, delivering a thinly-veiled rebuke to the Donald Trump administration.

Ricardo Ramirez-Hernandez served two terms as a judge on the WTOs Appellate Body, which acts as the final court for trade disputes between countries. Since his departure last year, the United States has been blocking the process to replace him and other judges, throwing the WTO into crisis.

This institution does not deserve to die through asphyxiation, Ramirez-Hernandez said. You have an obligation to decide whether you want to kill it or keep it alive.

In a speech introducing Ramirez-Hernandez, WTO Deputy Director-General Karl Brauner said there was no movement in sight to unblocking appointments.

This is frightening, he said, adding that it was an illusion to believe the WTO could manage without its appeals judges. It remained to be seen if the WTO was an achievement of civilization or only a temporary experiment, he added.

Founded in 1995

The Geneva-based World Trade Organization, founded in 1995, is the final arbiter for trade disputes between its 164 member economies and the main global forum for discussing trade.

Its appellate body normally has seven members, but because of the Trump administration's veto on new hires, only four of the posts are now filled. One judge is due for reappointment in September and two are due to leave next year.

Three judges are needed to hear any case, which means the court will cease to function altogether next year unless Trump lifts his refusal to fill vacancies.

'Unfair' treatment

Trump and his trade advisers take a tough and unorthodox line on what they see as unfair treatment by the trade body.

Ramirez-Hernandez did not point fingers directly at any particular country for the crisis, saying all WTO members were responsible for dealing with problems.

It seems to me that the crisis we now face could have been avoided if it had been addressed face-on, as it began to escalate, he said.
The Movement for Democratic Change led by Nelson Chamisa says the partys primary elections were conducted in a democratic way by an independent commission.

Party chairperson Mogen Komichi told journalists in Harare on Tuesday that we concluded the consensus building process, and we attended to the consensus appeals. We then moved to the next level which was the holding of primary elections. We are pleased that our elections where conducted by an independent commission in a very democratic way. We are pleased as a party.

We are currently dealing with all the primary elections appeals. The Appeals Tribunal is ceased with these matters. However, the party is investigating allegations of violence and those who are found wanting will be penalized. Eighty percent of the constituencies have been covered and we will be done with all the gap constituencies by this Saturday.

Komichi said his party now has a list of parliamentary candidates expected to represent the MDC Alliance in the forthcoming general elections.

However, some members of the party claim that the elections were rigged in favor of certain candidates favored by the status quo.

Some disgruntled members have threatened to vote for opponents in the general polls if primaries are not re-run in several constituencies.

Several party stalwarts, including Gift Chimanikire, James Maridadi, Sesel Zvidzai, Jameson Timba and others bit the dust in the primaries.

Komichi also noted that the some parties affiliated to the MDC Alliance are busy selecting candidates for the council, parliamentary and senatorial elections.

Our Alliance partners are fielding their candidates and we are working closely together to field the best candidate for the area. Negotiations are taking place among our Alliance Partners in areas where, for instance, our candidate is weak and an alliance candidate is strong, so that a stronger candidate will stand in such constituencies. In this process, we have also respected the women and youth quota.

He further said there were anomalies in the registration of many Zimbabweans in the new voters roll as some names are either missing or placed in wrong polling stations.

Today marks the last day of the voters roll inspection. The anomalies have been glaring and telling. These anomalies justify our defeaning calls for an independent audit of the Biometric Voters Roll.

Reported incidences of details sent on cellphones from ZEC not corresponding with the physical roll are worrisome. Some names are entered correctly, but the gender is incorrect. Others have received messages confirming their registration centres but upon physical inspection, realised they had been posted to a different polling station, or their names were missing completely from the roll.

He said the party received reports that some people are re-registering in different wards and constituencies, a situation that may lead to massive rigging.

ZEC officials were not available for comment.

A case in point is the registration of residents of ward 45 in Harare East onto the ward 25 of Goromonzi South voters roll  If ZEC (Zimbabwe Electoral Commission) cannot produce a clean voters roll, then it casts an aspersion on the credibility of this upcoming election. Little wonder why there was little information and voter education on inspecting the voters roll, and the refusal by ZEC to give us a copy of the provisional voters roll.

We demand a searchable copy of this voters roll so that we are able to assist ZEC in identifying all the duplicates and fictitious names in the current roll.
Emirates Islamic, a leading Islamic financial institution in the UAE, has launched a personalised banking experience for its UAE nationals across its product portfolio, encompassing lifestyle privileges, fast service and pricing benefits.

For new salaried accounts, the bank is welcoming UAE nationals with a bonus of up to Dh3,000 ($816) and much more. Emarati customers looking to buy a car will benefit from special pricing as low as 1.99 per cent during Ramadan, coupled with approvals in four hours.



In addition, the banks award winning personal finance product allows Emaratis to benefit from finance amounts of 20 times their salary with a seamless process for payment holidays. The bank will also offer a comprehensive range of home finance solutions from construction finance to releasing cash with discounts on fees and profit rates.



Further, the bank will also offer UAE nationals the premium Emarati Visa Signature Credit Card free for life with outstanding lifestyle and travel benefits, including instant and flexible rewards redemption against shopping at any outlet or website across the globe.



The above perks will complement a range of other banking benefits for Emirates Islamic customers, including free ATM withdrawals at over 800 locations and free over the counter teller transactions at all of the banks branches.



Wasim Saifi, deputy CEO - Consumer Banking and Wealth Management, Emirates Islamic said: We are extremely pleased to launch the exclusive offering for our UAE national customers. This unique banking proposition builds on our existing products and services in addition to new solutions to create a distinct and differentiated offering that caters to the specific needs and lifestyle of our Emarati customers. We are certain that our proposition will strengthen our appeal and be well received by Emarati customers across the UAE.



Emirates Islamic has emerged as a pioneer in Islamic banking and one of the fastest growing banks in the UAE. As an institution with strong roots in the UAE community, we have always endeavoured to provide banking solutions that make a difference in the lives of our UAE national customers. Going forward, we will continue to innovate and add to our product and service portfolio to provide world-class banking to all our customers, concluded Saifi.  TradeArabia News Service
Dubai Investments, a leading, diversified company, is installing the first-of-its-kind coloured Kromatix panels for a kindergarten building by Dubai Municipality in Al Twar, Dubai, through its joint venture entity Emirates Insolaire.



The building will be the first in the UAE to have a coloured solar facade, designed and executed by Emirates Insolaire. The building facade totals 2,000 sq m. As part of its commitment to UAEs sustainability mission, Dubai Investments has provided a total of 800 KromatixTMactive and passive panels.



The attractive facade of the kindergarten is accentuated with solar panels by Emirates Insolaire in different colours, including green, blue, white, orange and red, which offer the building a never-seen-before, colourful aesthetic look.



With the Kromatix panels, the kindergarten fulfils the criteria to be certified as a LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) building.



Khalid Bin Kalban, managing director and CEO of Dubai Investments, said: Dubai Investments is committed to collaborate with Dubai Municipality to implement sustainable projects in Dubai. This is part of the companys pledge to support the UAE Vision 2021 towards a sustainable future. The kindergarten is the first of many projects that Dubai Investments and Emirates Insolaire are working with Dubai Municipality.



He added: Through Emirates Insolaire, Dubai Investments expects to play a pivotal role in the solar sector growth in a big way across Dubai, the UAE and the region.



Marwan Abdulla Al Mohammed, director of general Projects Department at Dubai Municipality, said: Dubai Municipality supports the leaderships sustainability commitment in every aspect of its operations, from sustainable urban planning to green buildings. The kindergarten project with photovoltaic, coloured solar panels from Dubai Investments is a major step forward in this journey and part of the endeavour to pursue a more sustainable development model.



Rafic Hanbali, managing partner of Emirates Insolaire, said: The company has considered as a priority to address schools and universities all over the world. This is part of the objective to help students understand and consider solar energy as part of their lives from a very young age, the way children today experience Information Technology as part of their lives. Kromatix constitutes the skin of the buildings where the children spend their learning days. Emirates Insolaire has so far completed six educational buildings across the world and others are on the way.



The project mirrors the surging demand for solar panel technology across the region and globe. According to an analysis by Frost and Sullivan, the GCC countries are expected to increase their installed solar capacity 50-fold between 2015 and 2025.  TradeArabia News Service
I dont think they would have asked to interview him until they are pretty much finished with everything, Giuliani said. Theyre only going to get one shot at him. They know that. You look pretty amateurish if you interview him and you dont have all the facts gathered.
Dubai's Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) has completed work on 70 free parking spaces for environment-friendly vehicles at 40 paid parking zones across the emirate under its 'Dubai Green Mobility' initiative.



The RTA move comes as part of Phase One of the scheme offering free parking to eco-friendly vehicles in the emirate.



Maitha bin Adai, the chief executive of RTAs Traffic and Roads Agency, said a total of 70 free parking spaces are being designated in 40 parking zones in different parts of Dubai.



"RTA is keen on spreading this initiative to high-density traffic areas and streets across Dubai with the aim of covering most paid parking zones in vital areas. Locations include the Central Business Districts, Trade Centre area, Burj Khalifa, Dubai Marina, Jumeirah Street and Sheikh Zayed Road," stated bin Adai.



"The parking spaces are marked by green-painted frames with signs showing the maximum allowable use time, and the fine applicable on parking violations. Only eco-friendly vehicles are allowed to access these parking slots, and for a time limit of four hours, which will increase the rotation of using each parking," she added.-TradeArabia News Service
The researchers at the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) based in capital Abu Dhabi have found a novel method to easily detect vitamin D deficiency in the human body - through Hair Test, reported state news agency Wam.



The blood tests have been used universally to determine vitamin D deficiency, but by analysing a small sample of hair from the crown of a humans head, the amount of vitamin D can also be found, allowing for early detection of related diseases, said the report citing a senior official of the UAEU.



"Vitamin D deficiency is a huge problem in the UAE because there is a lot of sunshine but we are always indoors and people do not expose themselves to sunlight," stated Dr Iltaf Shah, Assistant Professor of Biochemistry in the Department of Chemistry, College of Science at the University.



"UV B radiation changes sunlight to make vitamin D on our skin. It goes through our liver and kidneys to transform to other metabolites of vitamin D," he explained.



According to him, the biggest disadvantage of vitamin D blood analysis is that it only provides short-term information. "Due to fluctuations in the blood levels of the forms of metabolite found in the hair called 25-hydroxyvitamin D, it is also very difficult to estimate the actual seasonal variations in 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels for a longer period of time," said Dr Shah.



"Hair analysis, on the other hand, provides a wider window of detection, from a month to a year, and the full history of vitamin D absorption and homeostasis in our body," he added.



Recent research shows that vitamin D deficiency is related to many diseases, such as obesity, rickets, osteomalacia, cancer and Alzheimers disease, said the Wam report.



"If you have sufficient levels of vitamin D in your blood, you will have less chance of getting these diseases at a later stage in life," Dr Shah said, adding that individuals are still exploring it.



"People are suffering from vitamin D deficiency; they do not know what to do and the current tests are not enough to give a clear picture. The deficiency of vitamin D could have serious consequences, mainly in pregnant women, lactating women, in the neonates and children that can develop rickets and osteomalacia," explained Dr Shah.



Hoping to file a patent in the near future, Dr. Shah said: "Using segmental analysis, vitamin D hair test can give a longer-term profile of vitamin D, from a month up to a year."



"In the blood, the cut-off limits for vitamin D deficiency are already set but because vitamin D hair test is a new test and we just developed it, we do not know the cut-off levels for vitamin D deficiency yet. This is the next step, where a very high cohort of hair samples will be tried and cut-off levels for vitamin D deficiency will be determined," he added.
Its confronting to think that Australia may find itself in a position where it wont have enough aged care employees to adequately look after our ageing population.

Government forecasts show well need almost a million aged care employees by 2050.



Research by health industry super fund HESTA reveals the challenge of addressing this future shortfall is greater than we thought, with up to 23 per cent of the workforce planning to leave aged care in the next five years. Thats about 84,000 people who, if they leave, will take their valuable skills and experience with them.

Urgent action is needed to keep these employees and attract new ones.
A man already serving more than 12 years in jail for raping a blind woman in Victoria will spend extra time behind bars for sexually assaulting a woman in Perth.

The 21-year-old woman had been drinking and was walking home alone in Northbridge in the early hours of a Saturday in July 2005 when Yaser El Waly offered her a lift in his Mercedez Benz.

The woman had been walking home from Northbridge when she was attacked.

She refused, but he followed her and as she walked past his car in East Perth, El Waly grabbed the woman and forced her into the back seat.

He then raped her.
Saudi Arabia-based LSC Warehousing and Logistics Services was named '2018 KSA Warehousing Service Provider of the Year' at the 2018 Frost & Sullivan Middle East Best Practices Awards Banquet, held earlier this month, in Dubai, UAE.



LSC Warehousing and Logistics Services provides a comprehensive array of best in class services as a leading warehousing and logistics services provider in the kingdom. Its broad ranging services address client needs across transportation, warehousing, freight management, customs compliance and project logistics solutions.



The company provides customised services to its clients on a need basis and tailored to specifications that enhance the widest possible range of business models and profiles, it said.



The company stated: "We are truly honoured to win the award and be recognised in this category by Frost & Sullivan this year. The award underlines our commitment as an organisation to provide the best service in the field.



It added: The fact that we are selected based on a rigorous measurement-based methodology and after a jury validation process clearly shows the high standards of the company and we are proud to have won this award from Frost & Sullivan.



Gopal R, global vice president, transportation and logistics practice, Frost & Sullivan, said: 2017 has been a very successful year for us. We have expanded to add an additional 100,000 sq m in warehouse capacity and experienced a revenue growth of 20 per cent.



Our company has continued to provide customisable services while further enhancing the technologies and processes it can call upon to assist its clients. With an eye on further expansion, we are planning to commission a logistics city, which will add 660,000 sq m to our operations, he said.



We bring together state-of-the-art technology, diversity in services of the highest standards and a customer centric focus to emerge as a prominent provider of warehousing and logistics services in the kingdom, he said.



With a highly customisable, in-house warehousing management system and a process in motion for the development of a new enterprise resource planning system, the company are planning to further optimise its services for the benefit of its clients, said a statement from LSC Warehousing and Logistics Services.



The company has 11 warehouses and three open yards operational in Saudi Arabia with a total warehousing space of 196,600 sq m, it said.



LSC Warehousing and Logistics Services Co has invested in a wide range of technologies in material handling equipment and warehouse infrastructure, robotics, palletisers, pick and place equipment.



The warehousing and distribution wing undertakes packing, crating and removals and also includes customs clearance and door to door services.



Frost & Sullivan Awards recognise companies across regional and global markets for outstanding achievement and performance in superior leadership, technological innovation, customer service, strategic product development, etc.



An eminent jury deliberated on structured data and a research backed presentation/recommendations by our senior industry experts.



Frost & Sullivans industry experts track markets and companies by holding detailed interactions with industry experts, market participants, end users, other stakeholders / value chain players and extensive research of proprietary data, to compile the Jury Evaluation Matrix.



Evaluation by the jury ultimately results in the final awardee, from among the nominees, it stated.  TradeArabia News Service
Barnaby Joyce is taking extended leave from Parliament, Fairfax Media can confirm.

The ongoing soap opera surrounding the former deputy prime minister reared its head again this week, when it emerged that he had accepted cash to conduct an interview with his new partner, former aide Vikki Campion, despite pleading for privacy when news of their affair and pregnancy together broke.

On leave: Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Government sources told Fairfax Media Mr Joyce, who was re-elected last year for the seat of New England in New South Wales, had been granted leave for four weeks.

Sky News presenter Paul Murray broadcast the Seven Network's promotional video for it's paid interview with Mr Joyce and Ms Campion on Tuesday night.
Barnaby Joyce is being warned to expect a backlash from voters on his $150,000 television interview as the former Nationals leader defends the deal in the face of growing rebukes from his colleagues.

Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the court of public opinion would deliver its verdict on Mr Joyce at the next election, suggesting the deal failed the pub test for politicians.

Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce during question time at Parliament House on Tuesday. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Mr McCormack said the interview was a personal matter for Mr Joyce and his partner, Vikki Campion, but made it clear it should not be repeated even though there was nothing in the parliamentary rules to stop it.

I wouldnt do it, he told Fairfax Media.
A fire chief in North Carolina says he spoke to the pair shortly before they were struck and killed by the falling tree. Geoffrey Tennant's voice broke as he recalled receiving a call about the incident then recognising the vehicle under the tree and the two men dead inside.

WYFF-TV Anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were killed by a fallen tree, during subtropical storm Alberto in North Carolina on Monday. Credit:WYFF

WYFF News 4 anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer were on a highway reporting on flooding when the roots of a large tree gave way.

North Carolina: An American television news anchor and a camera operator were killed when a tree fell on their vehicle in Tryon, North Carolina as they worked to report on subtropical storm Alberto.

"It personally affected me a little bit because I had done an interview with Mr. McCormick about 10 minutes before we got the call, and we had talked a little bit about how he wanted us to stay safe and how we wanted him to stay safe," Tennant told reporters.

The ground was saturated from the rain, and a large tree about one metre in diameter fell on the journalists' SUV, apparently as it was driving along Highway 176, Tennant said. When first responders arrived, the engine was running and the transmission was in drive, Tennant said.

"It is a freak of nature," he said.

Tennant thinks the roots of the 91-centimetre-diameter tree were loosened in the ground saturated by a week's worth of rain.

The fringes of Alberto brought up to 50 millimetres of rain to the area on Monday.
"Last year was the year of adjustment. He was constrained by an axis of adults and adjusting to be President," said Thomas Wright, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. "This year is the year of action. He's giving the orders, even if there's resistance. Next year is the hangover year, the year of living with the consequences." The new advisers  including national security adviser John Bolton, economic adviser Larry Kudlow and personal attorney Rudy Giuliani  have generally melded more easily with Trump than their predecessors did. They are generational peers of the 71-year-old President, earned Trump's appreciation for their vigorous defences of him on television over the years and treat him like the boss, even if they do not always agree on specific policies. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has been central to the US' North Korea policy. Credit:AP "The President has exactly the team he's always needed," said Giuliani, 74.

Christopher Ruddy, a Trump friend and chairman of Newsmax, explained the dynamic: "A lot of it is just personal chemistry, getting to know him, and understanding his perspective on things and how he approaches things." Trump recently has been hunting for aides who have shared damaging information with journalists without authorisation, demanding that "leakers" be caught and punished. He has been spurred on by a string of national security-related disclosures, as well as recent reports on communications aide Kelly Sadler's crude comment about Senator John McCain's brain cancer in an internal meeting. "Leakers are traitors and cowards, and we will find out who they are!" Trump tweeted two weeks ago. Since joining Donald Trump's legal team, Rudy Giuliani has escalated attacks on the Department of Justice. Credit:AP

Privately, the President has confronted aides about leaks, questioned who the culprits may be and mused that maybe "someone should be made an example of," according to an administration official. It is unclear how exactly the White House plans to ferret out and fire people it suspects of leaking. Still, Trump's personal interest in the matter has heightened the anxiety and fear of a shake-up inside the building. When Bolton joined the administration in April as the third national security adviser in 15 months, Trump gave him a simple, if stern, directive: "Stop the leaks and fire the leakers." Bolton began by dismissing a number of National Security Council employees, saying the President expected their removal  even though Trump was not personally displeased with those employees, according to current and former White House aides. Bolton, a driving force behind Trump's North Korea strategy, has downsized large group meetings on sensitive national security issues, in part to cut down on leaks. He did not, for instance, convene a National Security Council Principals Committee meeting before Trump's decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal. But Bolton did hold multiple other meetings on the Iran agreement and orchestrated an interagency process, a senior administration official said. He also holds regular Wednesday meetings of the security council's senior directors, the official said.

Though Bolton's initial string of firings rankled some in the White House  and he entered with suspicion because of his reputation in the George W. Bush administration as a bureaucratic infighter  others in Trump's orbit say Bolton, 69, has largely been a team player. They said he has been savvy in aligning himself with some of the administration's rising stars, as well as staying in regular touch with the President. "There's only one bull in this china shop, and I think he gets that," said one Republican strategist in frequent touch with the White House. Trump has an easy rapport with Kudlow, 70, other advisers said, in part because of their long history together in New York. Kudlow, who replaced Gary Cohn as director of the National Economic Council, has tried to temper some of Trump's nationalistic impulses on trade  arguing against tariffs in meetings, for instance, according to administration officials. But on other issues he is very much in sync with Trump, they said. "Kudlow is much more within his philosophical sphere," Giuliani said, adding that though the two men have "some disagreements on trade," they can almost always "meet in the middle."

Known for his pinstripe suits, Kudlow cuts an affable swath through the West Wing and has taken to giving sartorial tips to male colleagues  specifically arguing against brown shoes with blue suits. Ruddy described Trump's management style as "Darwinian." "The President was going to replace weaker people with stronger people," Ruddy said. "He brought on people, saw what worked, and those that worked, like [Secretary of State] Mike Pompeo, got promoted, and those ... who were considered weak aren't there anymore." The result: a White House solar system in which the President functions as the sun and his aides and advisers circle around him, but with no clear lines of orbit. Giuliani, for instance, weighed in during a recent interview with the Washington Post on a topic totally outside his Russia investigation purview: Iran. "The President down the road is thinking regime change in Iran," Guiliani said. "There is no doubt that at some point, we have to make that change. What side of history do you want to be on?"

At least two people in Trump's circle (one current White House official and one former) likened the dynamic in the West Wing to HBO's Game of Thrones. They chose the show, they said, not because of the internecine conflicts and deadly family feuds, but because of the general sense of confusion and seesawing fortunes. "I would liken it to Game of Thrones a little bit, not for the obvious reason, but from a factual standpoint," said the current official. "No one knows where anyone else is, and everyone is playing everyone else a little bit. Everyone is essentially in business for themselves." Loading White House Chief of Staff John Kelly has receded somewhat from public view  especially compared with the early months of his tenure when the retired four-star Marine general attempted to impose military rigour and discipline on a chaotic operation. A senior White House official said Trump has not lost confidence in Kelly, but is instead welcoming more voices in internal discussions. White House officials said a reorganisation of the communications shop is under consideration, though no final decisions have been made. They expect the communications director role to remain vacant for now.

"The President sets the tone for the message," a senior White House official said. "Trying to use a cookie-cutter personnel structure, whether it's communications or anything else, in a very unconventional White House is not necessarily going to work." Initially, after Hicks' March 29 departure, an internal struggle to succeed her broke out between Mercedes Schlapp, the director of strategic communications, and Tony Sayegh, the top Treasury Department communicator. Both had their proponents, but the "nuclear fallout" over the quest to replace Hicks, as one official termed it, left many in the West Wing feeling bruised. Loading Though Trump continues to rage about Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election, the President seems satisfied  for now, at least  with his new legal team, which includes Giuliani and Emmet Flood, the official White House lawyer tasked with handling the probe. Whereas Trump used to leave meetings with his previous legal team red-faced and riled up, said someone familiar with the dynamic, the President these days appears more sanguine after briefings from his lawyers.
WASHINGTON  Five of Connecticuts best young spellers have earned slots in the next round of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, an annual competition that began Tuesday morning with more than 500 spelling whizzes from every state.

Hailing from Bridgeport, Bethel, West Haven, Guilford and Rocky Hill, the five state contestants who moved on spelled their words correctly in an oral spelling round, advancing to Wednesdays second day of competition.

The spellers walked on stage Tuesday having already taken a written exam. For the preliminaries, spellers must complete two oral spelling rounds. Their results, combined with the written test scores, will determine whether they advance to the finals on Thursday.

For Janelle Newell, an 11-year-old sixth-grader from the Multicultural Magnet School in Bridgeport, Tuesdays round was a breeze because she had already studied the word obrok when the judges asked her to spell it.

I had no idea what word I was going to get, it was kind of random, but I was really happy when I recognized the word, Newell said. Obrok is a yearly tax once paid by Russian peasants.

Back in Bridgeport, her social studies teacher, Susan P. Heilweil, said Newells homeroom periods have been spent helping her practice for the bee.

She also spent study halls going through thesaurus and dictionaries, Heilweil said.

Jen Sciarappa, who runs Multiculturals school spelling bee, said Newell is a hard worker.

I had her in my class last year, Sciarappa said. I know from the minute we give out the spelling list she goes home and studies a lot. You can just tell she knew all the words on the list.

In Washington, Roderick Chittem, a 13-year-old from Bethel Middle School, said his nerves havent subsided since he spelled sirocco correctly. Sirocco is a hot wind that blows from North Africa to southern Europe.

Despite the onstage success, he said hes worried that the result of his written exam wont secure him a spot in the finals.

I want to represent my school in the finals, but I dont know if my test score will be enough, Chittem said. It feels amazing that I could be there at all for my school.

Jerry Li, a 13-year-old from E.C. Adams Middle School in Guilford, said he was nervous because he was the first to step behind the microphone among 519 other contestants. But after he correctly spelled unicameral  meaning a single legislative chamber  he decided to take a break for the rest of the day.

When Im competing, I just try to get as much information as I can so I can make sure I know what word Im trying to spell, Li said. Then, I can just spell the word.

Arin Bhandari, a 13-year-old from Hopkins School who lives in West Haven, and Aritra Banerjee, an 11-year-old from the Noah Webster House West Hartford Historical Society who lives in Rocky Hill, will also compete Wednesday.

After the next oral spelling round Wednesday, spellers will be knocked down to 50 contestants for the finals. ESPN livestreams the entire competition from Tuesday to Thursday evening.

Staff writer Linda Conner Lambeck contributed to this report.

Sarah.roach@chron.com
US-based Jaggaer, a leading independent spend management company, will announce innovative new products as well as present its two-year technology roadmap to customers from multiple commercial industries and public sectors, at an upcoming conference.



Jaggaers international conference, REVInternational, will be hosted at the Sheraton Munich Arabellapark Hotel in Munich, Germany, on June 25 and 26.



The conference will gather Jaggaer customers, suppliers, procurement leaders, and partners to share best practices from across Europe and the Middle East, in addition to discussing the latest in eProcurement innovation, trends and strategies, said a company statement.



Jaggaer has also announced a dynamic speaker line-up for its conference, it said.



Jaggaer will specifically address the numerous points of integration between its powerful platforms, designed to cover all types of business spend, it added.



The International Data Corporation (IDC) said that regional organisations will ramp up their IoT investments which is forecast to grow 15 per cent year-on-year in 2018, with spending predicted to reach $6.99 billion in 2018 and $12.62 billion by 2021.



With IoT and digital transformation on the rise in the Middle East, it is now more important than ever to take advantage of powerful analytics embedded into an organisations supply chain to drive business growth, IDC added.



Jaggaer chief executive officer Robert Bonavito will deliver the opening keynote addressing the themes of active customer engagement, listening and innovation.



Bonavito will highlight numerous customer successes and provide a company history delineating the construction of the worlds most comprehensive best-of-breed solutions suite. Futurist Stefan Hyttfors, will provide the signature keynote.



Additional speakers include Diego Pedroli, procurement and logistics director, illycaffe; Dr Klaus Staubitzer, chief procurement officer, Siemens AG; Ervino Riccobon, procurement opinion leader in automotive industry; Alberto Alfonso Kurano, procurement development and processes strategic analyst, CEPSA; Antonio Fioretti, CPO Ansaldo Energia; Hansjorg III, global procurement manager VP, Buhler AG; and Rolf Zimmer, founder and managing director, riskmethods GmbH.



Bonavito continued: This event is a milestone on several levels. It reflects our official launch of our brand in Europe and is an opportunity for us to present our unique vision of digital transformation for the spend management space.



We are here to learn as much as we are here to present ideas, because customer feedback is a critical component of our technology roadmap. We are fully dedicated to the long-term growth of our company and the success of our customers globally through complete utilization of all our solutions on all our integrated platforms, he added.



Dan Quinn, senior vice president at Jaggaer Middle East and North Africa/Tejari, added: With the Middle East experiencing major transformation in the digital world, it is crucial for businesses to understand how to fulfil its true potential and unlock value.



The conference provides the perfect opportunity for procurement professionals to come together to explore ways to maximise their strategic function by leveraging digital transformation, he said.



It is apparent that advancement in technology is becoming increasingly crucial for competitiveness and economic growth in the region. By smartly capitalising on this, there is potential to add trillions to the GDP of economies and revenues of companies operating in the Middle East, he concluded.  TradeArabia News Service
If you need proof of Sen. Chris Murphys national star power, look no further than his campaign contributions.

Actress Meryl Streep and her husband gave $5,400 to Murphys campaign this election cycle, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Rosie ODonnell, listed as a self-employed comic, contributed $1,000.

Fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg handed the Connecticut Democrat $5,400. Law and Order star Sam Waterston gave him $3,500. Grateful Dead founding member Phil Lesh tossed $1,200 to the campaign.

Celebrities arent the only ones dishing out cash to Murphy, who is running for a second Senate term, but is rumored to be a possible 2020 presidential candidate.

Billionaire Hamilton James, executive vice president of the juggernaut investment firm Blackstone Group, contributed $5,400. Walter Robb, a co-CEO of Whole Foods, sent $5,000 to Murphy. And former New York governor Eliot Spitzer gave $5,400.

None of these individuals live in Connecticut.

Even for the average Joe, Murphys campaign appeals across the nation. The senator collected $5.8 million from people in 46 out of 50 states, plus Washington D.C. and the U.S. Virgin Islands, this election cycle, according to FEC data. He also received contributions from individuals in London, Hong Kong, Toronto, Copenhagen, Hamburg and Bordeaux.

Chris is proud of the incredible grassroots support he's received from folks around Connecticut and across the country, said Jenna Lowenstein, Murphys campaign manager. He's received more than 210,000 donations from people who have been inspired to chip in after seeing him stand up and fight for Connecticut values like keeping kids safe from gun violence and ensuring everyone has access to health care.

She pointed out that most of his contributions were $100 or less.

Now Murphy is ranked No. 15 of all senators and Senate candidates, for most contributions raised this election cycle, according to the FEC.

His activism around gun control has propelled him into a national political figure, said Geoffrey Skelley, associate editor of political newsletter Sabatos Crystal Ball, from the University of Virginias Center for Politics.

As the Parkland school shooting was unfolding in February, Murphy spoke out against gun violence on the Senate floor. In 2016, he garnered national attention when he filibustered for 15 hours to prompt a Senate vote on gun control measures.

Ever since the Newtown massacre, he has become a notable spokesperson on behalf of increased gun control in the country, Skelley said. It is one of the reasons people view him as a potential dark horse presidential candidate.

Murphy also knows how to put in the elbow grease to earn supporters dollars, said Stu Rothenberg, senior editor of the political newsletter Inside Elections.

A campaign manager before he launched his own bid for office, Murphy ran Charlotte Koskoff's unsuccessful 1996 campaign for the House of Representatives in what was then Connecticuts 6th Congressional District. He then served eight years in the Connecticut General Assembly and three terms in Congress before running for the Senate in 2012.

In his first race for U.S. Senate, Murphy collected $10.3 million in total contributions, just north of the $9.5 million in contributions he has received since January 2017 alone, FEC data shows.

Chris Murphy is a real nuts and bolts guy, Rothenberg said. He knows how to put together campaigns and fundraising operations.

A national profile

It doesnt hurt that Connecticut  which handed him $2.8 million in individual contributions alone  is one of the wealthiest states in the nation, Rothenberg said. The state also borders the liberal bastions and massive media markets of New York  individuals there gave him $1.1 million, the most of any state after Connecticut  and Massachusetts  where residents coughed up $146,000.

In total, just under half of Murphys individual campaign contributions and transfers came from people outside of Connecticut: $2.3 out of $5.1 million, according to FEC data.

Thats not unusual, experts say. In fact, many senators gather as much as 90 percent of their campaign dollars outside their state or district, said Jennifer Duffy, senior editor for the Cook Political Report.

Murphys out-of-state percentage is actually lower than some senators, she said.

Alabama Democrat Doug Jones, who upset Roy Moore, the GOP Senate hopeful dogged by a sex abuse scandal, is the biggest fundraiser in the Senate. He collected nearly $20 million in out-of-state dollars since 2017, compared to $3.7 million in Alabama, according to the FEC.

Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the second largest Senate fundraiser, drew more than $15 million in out-of-state money, compared to $2.4 million in her state.

As for celebrity money, a vast majority of stars are Democrats, Duffy said, while many businessmen lean Republican  with the exception of Silicon Valley execs and startup CEOs. Famous Democrats may be especially keen to give their money to Murphy because of his gun control activism, she said.

Hollywood and politics have a long history with one another, Skelley said.

Murphy declined to comment on whether he knew any of the celebrities who contributed to his campaign.

An abundance of cash

Murphys campaign had $7.7 million in cash on hand  the most in the Connecticut delegation  as of April 28, the FEC reports. His stuffed campaign wallet gives him a significant edge, in addition to his incumbent status and name recognition, over Republican challengers Matthew Corey and Dominic Rapini.

GOP nominee Corey, a Hartford pub and window washing service owner, has raised $15,229 and had $13,336 in cash on hand as of April, based on FEC numbers. Rapini, an Apple national accounts manager, has fared better with $116,975 raised and $47,517 cash on hand.

Murphy declined to say what he may do with the millions that he likely will not need in the race against Corey and Rapini. Under federal campaign finance law, candidates can save residual funds for future campaigns or give money to charity.

They can also make contributions to other federal or state candidates  a way of building political IOUs that could come in handy in the future, Rothenberg said.

emunson@hearstmediact.com; Twitter: @emiliemunson
STAMFORD  A murder defendant and the victims mother were in the same courtroom last week but under unusual circumstances.

While David McBride waived his right to a probable cause hearing in the 2010 Norwalk slaying of Karl K-Dot Savage, the victims mother was arraigned on identity theft and larceny charges also that day at the Stamford courthouse.

Judicial marshals said they kept the two defendants separated and did not tell them they were both in the same building.

McBrides attorney, Miles Gerety, said his client plans to plead not guilty when he returns to court next month. Gerety said he has never requested a probable cause hearing, which allows a judge to decide if the prosecution has enough evidence to support the murder charge.

Gerety, who was the Danbury courthouses lead public defender until 2013, said witness testimony during the hearing can be used against the defendant even if the person dies or refuses to take the stand during the trial.

McBride, 33, of Bridgeport, was charged this year in the cold case murder and has been remanded to the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution in Suffield in lieu of $500,000 bond.

Savages body was found shot three times in front of the former Nathaniel Ely School in South Norwalk in February 2010.

On Friday morning, Lori Savage, 54, was brought to the Stamford courthouse from the York Correctional Center in Niantic to be arraigned on identity theft, forgery and larceny charges stemming from a Stamford crime reported in 2016.

Savage has been jailed since November while serving an 18-month sentence after pleading guilty to an identity theft case out of Monroe.
An American friend, a fellow critic, recently revisited Hamilton in London. "The Brits," she tweeted afterwards, "Cheer for King George and the American win at Yorktown". It's a telling detail  and not just for its strangely split allegiances. King George lands differently here. He becomes a figure of fun  not a villain, but a jester.

On Broadway, Jonathan Groff played him with a poker face  unflinching, detached, vindictive. The Brit who inherited his heavy crown , Michael Jibson, makes him a baby-faced buffoon. He's a royal whim; an ermine-clad temper tantrum. Instead of Groff's parlous inscrutability, Jibson's George wears his heart on his face. His eyes bulge, his lips pucker. He's gooey, then wrathful, then all kinds of petulant. In short: pathetic. Ludicrously so.

It speaks volumes about how we Brits see ourselves. Even now, almost 250 years on, we're reluctant to address the realities of empire. Theatre can and should redress that.

The other week, in Berlin, I saw a performance lecture by Singaporean artist Ho Rui An. Solar: A Meltdown starts with a sweat: the soaked shirt of a plastic mannequin in Amsterdam's Tropenmuseum. Its uncanniness isn't the only reason it's eye-catching. Here is the figure of a western colonial presence, the anthropologist Charles Le Roux, struggling under the sun's glare  as well he would.

It feels rare to see our sense of colonialism so scrutinised

But Ho reminds us how rare that is; how often colonialists are shown as cool, collected and, yes, civilised figures. In photographs, paintings and films, they gleam in clean colonial whites that reflect the sun's rays. They become brilliant  dazzling bodies that stand out against and rise above their surroundings. Sweeping through cultural representations of colonial history, from The King and I to It Ain't Half Hot Mum, Ho argues that the way we portray colonial rule tends to perpetuate it in subtler ways.

So does the way we ignore it. Something struck me about Solar: how rare it felt to see our sense of colonialism so scrutinized. For me, only Selina Thompson's wrenching solo Salt has come close: her retracing the triangular slave trade route cost her dear, and laid bare the burden she carries with her today as a black woman living in a society built on racist foundations.

Otherwise, in a decade of near-nightly theatregoing, I can count the shows really examining colonialism on two hands. Some have been stunning: Yael Farber's haunting revival of Lorraine Hansberry's Les Blancs and Rufus Norris' white-faced Death and the King's Horseman both used the vast Olivier stage to its full. Danai Gurira's The Convert argued that past sins can't be simply absolved at the Gate  and it'll get a wider audience in a new Young Vic staging this year. South African students tore down more than just statues in The Fall, a Royal Court import from the Edinburgh Fringe. Each of them challenged my preconceptions, but they're few and far between.

Empire  ours and others'  is the root cause of so many global conflicts today

They have predecessors, of course. Colonialism lurks in the background of Our Country's Good, as an Aborigine man observes new arrivals from afar, and in the foreground of Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine, albeit as a prism through which to see extant sexual repression. It's in the lining of John Osborne's The Entertainer: Archie Rice stands for an ailing old England still laughing as the Suez Crisis unfolds. Other plays were more direct. Noel Coward set several plays in the fictional colony of Samolo. Willis Hall's The Long and the Short and the Tall showed a mutiny in Malaysia, the devised Eleven Dead at Hola Camp satirised British atrocities covered up in Kenya, Charles Wood's Monologues at Front of Burning Cities looked, damningly, at the siege of Lucknow in India. Still, not many.

It's not true to say colonisation isn't on the curriculum  academics have proved its presence in schools. It is true to say, however, that it's hardly pressed home. Some history teachers dispatch the subject in a single sitting, others dwell on it for a few weeks. By contrast, we return to the world wars on repeat  plucky Britain saves the world. We teach the Roman invasion as a force for good (Howard Brenton's infamous The Romans In Britain overturns that) and Elizabethan explorers as intrepid and benign; curious souls who lay capes over puddles.

The stage is the place to redress our wilful ignorance

Yet empire  ours and others'  is the root cause of so many global conflicts today. You could call it our collective original sin  just as slavery still defines American society. But where American stages pick at the legacy of slavery, British theatre largely leaves our empire untouched. To see the alternative, look at Swiss director Milo Rau; a maker who always underscores history. In Five Easy Pieces, he offset Belgium's outrage at a serial killer against the country's acts overseas. The Congo Tribunal couched a continual civil war in the carve up of a continent a century before. His theatre opens the aperture to admit our complicity.

Being a public space, vital to our national dialogue, the stage is the place to redress our willful ignorance. It can and should seek to re-examine and re-educate. British theatre's always looked at the state of the nation, but it rarely digs into the nature of that state. Too often, it sticks to the present tense and takes an insular view. While plenty of plays look at immigration and contemporary imperialism  witness Iraq  few reach back to root causes. At a moment when the Empire's being invoked once again, when our Commonwealth connections are held up as our hope beyond Brexit, when the extant notion of a world-beating Great Britain is still doing damage to our society, that project seems more necessary than ever.
Paterson Joseph's theatre career spans over 30 years with some of the country's most respected theatre institutions. His early credits with the RSC included King Lear, Love's Labour's Lost and The Last Days of Don Juan, which earned him second prize in the 1991 Ian Charleson Awards. Other notable stage credits include Othello at the Royal Exchange, Manchester, The Royal Hunt of the Sun and The Emperor Jones at the National. Since 2011, Joseph has been touring his one-man show internationally, and now Sancho: An Act of Remembrance receives its London premiere at Wilton's Musical Hall from 4 to 16 June. We caught up with Joseph to find out more about Sancho and why he decided to tell this story.





Who is Charles 'Sancho' Ignatius?

Very little is actually known about the details of his early life. The theory is that he was born on a slave ship, his mother died  possibly in childbirth  and his father committed suicide very soon afterwards. His owner then sent him, at three years-old, to live with three spinsters in Greenwich, but he ran away because they wouldn't teach him how to read. He was found by the Duke of Montagu who taught him secretly how to read and write and he grew up to be a musician and a composer, and one of the first British Africans to be able to vote.

Why did you want to tell this story?

I was desperate to do a costume drama. A lot of people were saying there weren't any black people in England before the 1940s and the Windrush generation. But I was determined to find some history and I discovered Sancho in a book called Black England by Gretchen Gerzina, he stood out for me because his life was so theatrical and extraordinary.

So was it a case of 'there's not many black roles in costume dramas so I'll write one myself'?

No, not quite. To me, when casting directors and producers deny black people their place in historical dramas, it is based on their ignorance of British and colonial history. That was the point of doing this show, to say 'we were here ages ago, we've been here since Roman Britain'. It's not a story about black people, it's a story about British people and who we are as an island race and how mixed we have always been.

Paterson Joseph in Sancho: An Act of Remembrance

( Robert Day)

What did you make of that Quentin Letts' review?

It's just straight up racism. I don't think it's a complicated issue, if you see somebody in a cast and you think they're a bit sh*t, then they're a bit sh*t, or they're miscast. They're not bad because they're actually from an ethnic minority. That doesn't make sense in anybody's logic. So it can only be that he's a racist and his way of expressing himself as a critic is racist and that should be dealt with.

You've toured this play across America for quite a while, what was the reaction there?

It turned out to be a very modern story because Sancho is desperate to find the right papers in order to be able to vote. When I went to the Kennedy Centre a few years ago, I discovered it was a live story for the people in the audience. These three old African American women got up at the end and said 'sonny that's not an old story, that's happening to us today'.

And now you find yourself bringing the show to London while the country is embroiled in the Windrush scandal...

It's a horrible coincidence. When I started writing this, around 2003, I just saw it as a bit of history to help people to understand how they lived back then. What I did not imagine was that I would be performing this in London when we're having to defend my parent's generation and their right to be British citizens. It's incredible and incredibly sad, but the timing couldn't be more perfect.

Paterson Joseph in Sancho: An Act of Remembrance

( Robert Day)

Does it get lonely doing a one-man show?

I probably wouldn't write a one-man show again, because it is such a lonely pursuit, it's so much better sharing a play with other performers. The worst thing was doing a press night, buying doughnuts and champagne for everybody and then sitting on my own for half an hour after the show because everybody else was doing technical things.

What would like you to do next? Writing-wise and acting?

There's lots of stories I'd like to tell, I'm slightly obsessed with Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania and who Nelsen Mandela looked up to, I want to know who that man is. In terms of performing, I'm just desperate to do Othello again, I haven't felt that for a while, I haven't done it for over a decade but I feel like I'm ready now.
Finland-based Planmeca, a leading dental equipment manufacturer, has announced that its Planmeca Emerald intraoral scanner can now be used for producing orthocaps aligners.



Ortho Caps manufactures and markets transparent orthocaps aligners for teenagers and adults. These are individually adjusted clear plastic trays that exert gentle pressure on the teeth that need to be straightened, said a statement from the company.



Planmeca Emerald users can produce orthocaps aligners through a completely digital process, which saves time and improves patient satisfaction, it said.



After scanning the upper and lower arches as well as the bite of the patient, the scans can be sent directly to Ortho Caps for the designing and manufacturing of orthocaps aligners, it added.



Both Planmeca and Ortho Caps are constantly working on new ways to improve user experience and to offer the smoothest possible workflow both now and in the future, it said.



Ville Salonen, manager for Planmecas Orthodontic product line and business development, said: We are very happy to work with Ortho Caps that has a long history of producing aligners and many pioneering innovations, such as the TwinAligner system.



Their system is one of the most advanced solutions on the clear aligner market and with our integrated workflow, the users can really reap the benefits of digitalisation, Salonen said.



Dr Wajeeh Khan, founder and managing director of Ortho Caps  Germany, said: We are pleased to announce the successful validation of the Planmeca Emerald intraoral scanner for the submission of new orthocaps cases as well as for our treatment evaluation workflow.



I personally had the opportunity to visit the Planmeca manufacturing facility in Helsinki and was greatly impressed by the high product quality standards as well as the dedication of the companys staff, which is so important in manufacturing quality products, he added.  TradeArabia News Service
Manitoba farmers enjoyed a record-smashing year in 2017, reaping $6.5 billion in cash receipts, according to the Statistics Canada annual farm income report.

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This article was published 29/5/2018 (1232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba farmers enjoyed a record-smashing year in 2017, reaping $6.5 billion in cash receipts, according to the Statistics Canada annual farm income report.

The new record is half a billion dollars greater than previous highs in 2016 and 2014. Manitoba didnt even crack the $5-billion mark in receipts until 2012. The rise was mostly due to fantastic crops but also some recovery by the hog sector.

"We grew a whopper of a crop last year, especially wheat crops. There were unheard-of yields in many parts of the province," said Dan Mazier, president of Keystone Agricultural Producers, who farms north of Brandon.

Thats a boost for the entire province. "It means a better bottom line not only for the farmgate but also for the economy of Manitoba," Mazier said.

Manitoba farmers kicked other provinces to the curb with its nine per cent increase in cash receipts. Next highest was Alberta at 4.5 per cent.

The country as a whole saw a 1.8 per cent increase in farm cash receipts, the seventh straight rise. Nova Scotia saw the largest decrease at 5.7 per cent, but New Brunswick, Ontario and Saskatchewan also fell.

A record soybean crop in Manitoba and record yields in wheat and canola are the prime reasons for the great year, Statistics Canada analyst Gail-Ann Breese said.

Crop receipts increased 21.6 per cent for wheat and 32.5 per cent for soybeans in Manitoba. Soybean production was up 30 per cent. Crop receipts doubled those from the livestock sector, compared to 2001 when the receipts from each sector were almost equal.

However, livestock receipts in Manitoba also showed some recovery, climbing 4.9 per cent. Hog receipts were the main factor, rising eight per cent thanks to an increase in prices and the number of hogs marketed. Dairy receipts climbed 10.9 per cent but make up a smaller portion of the overall livestock picture.

"Its good to see some improvement in the hog industry. Its had lots of challenge with markets and disease," Mazier said.

University of Manitoba farm economist Derek Brewin cautioned that 2017 cash receipts dont just contain 2017 crop. "Farm income numbers are always a little dicey because they are greatly affected by inventories," he said. Manitoba farmers had good inventories to sell heading into 2017, and the crop grown in 2017 will likewise be sold this year, which should bode well for 2018, he said.

"I think the concern is transportation" as far as farmers being able to move all the grain they want he said. The rail network was plugged earlier this year, but not as badly as in the 2013-14 crop year.

The bumper year "means everything from being able to pay your bills to a chance to renew if an operations thinking about expanding," Mazier said. "Everybody from the fertilizer manufacturer to the local tire shops, to the people who sell machine parts, to tractor sales, benefits."

It also gives lenders the confidence to invest money when an industry is growing, Mazier said.

While Manitoba had an excellent year  crop receipts alone were up 13 per cent, after a 13 per cent increase the previous year  Saskatchewan crop receipts numbers have been flat the past two years. Last year, parts of southern Saskatchewan suffered extreme drought.

"We were so much more blessed with timely rains and moisture in our soils to grow the kind of crop we did," Mazier said.

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As for 2018, crops are holding so far, despite an unusually dry spring and little soil moisture heading into this year.

Mazier said crops are doing all right on the west side of the province, but its a slightly different story in the Red River Valley.

"In January and February, there was lots of bare ground in the Red River Valley, whereas you go west and we had snow cover all winter," he said.

The Red River Valley is more vulnerable as a result.

"They got half an inch of rain last week and we got not even a tenth of an inch. It was enough for us. But farmers (in the Red River Valley) say their water is already all gone. Its because they dried out so much more in winter."

bill.redekop@freepress.mb.ca
Huntsman Corporation, a global manufacturer of differentiated and specialty chemicals, has announced plans to build a new polyurethanes systems house within the Jebel Ali Free Trade Zone (Jafza) in Dubai, UAE.



Targeted for completion by the second half of 2019, the new facility is aimed at strengthening Huntsman's differentiated downstream capabilities in the heart of the Middle East, said a statement from the US-based company.



The Dubai Systems House will complement the company's two existing facilities in the Middle East, in Turkey (Huntsman EMA) and Saudi Arabia (HAPC - a joint venture with the BCI Group of Companies), forming three strong pillars for growth, it stated.



The Huntsman said its investment will boost the company's systems production capacity in the region and add a new dimension to its polyester polyol capabilities.



Tony Hankins, the president of Huntsman's Polyurethanes division, said: "This is a bold and timely investment, which will serve as a strategic platform to expand our business in the Middle East and North Africa and build our market leading position."



"It represents the next step in our plan to strengthen our downstream network. We now have 30 facilities worldwide, which provide innovative solutions in close proximity to our customers," noted Hankins.



Gulum Kabil, the general manager of Huntsman Polyurethanes' business activities in the Middle East and Turkey, will manage the new systems house.



Steen Weien Hansen, the regional VP of Polyurethanes, said: "The MDI-based systems market in the Middle East has delivered strong growth in the last five years and this trend is forecast to continue at estimated rates of 7 per cent annually."



According to Hansen, the construction of the new Dubai facility will enable the US company to supply traditional and high-end rigid polyurethane formulations from a local source.



"It will also enable us to leverage our development and production know-how in polyester polyol and polyol blends for the fast-growing flexible foam and footwear markets, as well as pre-polymers for adhesives, coatings and elastomers applications," he added.-TradeArabia News Service
The union that represents bus drivers said the city is taking too long to improve service.

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This article was published 29/5/2018 (1232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The union that represents bus drivers said the city is taking too long to improve service.

Aleem Chaudhary, president of ATU Local 1505, said the city shouldnt have to wait for the results of a long-term strategic plan before it improves service.

"We know what the issues are, and transit has been told what the solutions are," Chaudhary said following his presentation Tuesday to the public works committee. "Its like one plus one equals two: if we get more drivers and more buses, the service will improve."

Councillors on the committee were considering a request from the transit administration to combine two studies  a rapid transit master plan; and a transit strategic service plans  into one report.

Administration told the committee recommendations on rapid transit would depend on which recommendations council approves to transits overall service delivery, adding it made more sense to present a single, comprehensive report to council.

Both reports were due in 2019, but Transit is proposing a single report, due in January 2020.

Councillors decided to delay endorsing the proposal until its June 26 meeting, allowing the committee time to review terms of reference for an RFP for a consultant to assist in development of the documents.

Chaudhary told reporters Transit is the only civic department that doesn't have a hiring freeze, but drivers are continuously working overtime.

Transit employs about 900 drivers, Chaudhary said, adding one-third of them are eligible for full retirement and Transit should be hiring 100 to 150 drivers.

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Chaudhary said hes not pleased theres been no move to add security to buses even though that was approved by council last fall.

Chaudhary said council approved $590,000 for Transit security in 2018, but he said theres disagreement  between the union and politicians and the administration members on the transit advisory committee  about how that money should be spent.

The union favours creating a separate Transit police force or hiring Winnipeg police, Chaudhary said, adding the administration wants to use private security.

Chaudhary said the advisory committee's last two meetings were cancelled without explanation.

Coun. Matt Allard, chairman of the public works committee and who was appointed to the transit advisory committee Tuesday, said his priority is for the committee to resume meeting and deal with the security issue.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca
The grounds of the Manitoba legislature contain monuments to Queen Victoria, Louis Riel, Lord Selkirk, Nellie McClung and Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko  but there is no statue paying tribute to any historic First Nations person.

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This article was published 28/5/2018 (1233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The grounds of the Manitoba legislature contain monuments to Queen Victoria, Louis Riel, Lord Selkirk, Nellie McClung and Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko  but there is no statue paying tribute to any historic First Nations person.

A group hoping to change that has been waiting for more than a year for the province to approve or reject its application to erect a statue in the likeness of Chief Peguis.

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Chief Peguis statue at Kildonan Park.

"We think this recognition is long overdue," said John Perrin, co-chairman of the Committee to Commemorate the Bicentenary of the 1817 Peguis-Selkirk Treaty. The group made up of First Nations, Metis, Scottish settlers' descendants and other community organizations says it's not asking for money, but a place on the downtown Winnipeg grounds to commemorate Peguis.

"If Louis Riel is the father of Manitoba, you'd have to argue that Lord Selkirk and Chief Peguis are the grandfathers," said Perrin, president of the Scottish Heritage Council of Manitoba. "The Red River Settlement would not have been possible without the treaty."

In February 2017, the group applied to the legislative building and grounds advisory committee to erect a statue to recognize the contribution of First Nations people in the founding and development of Manitoba, said Perrin. The statue would be a visible and symbolic act of reconciliation in the spirit of the treaty and of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he said.

The plan to erect a Peguis monument has the backing of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs, said Perrin.

The group hopes to receive provincial approval in time to announce a project design competition and fundraising campaign starting June 21, National Aboriginal Day.

"It's now been seven months, and we're anxious to get an answer -- one way or the other," said bicentenary committee co-chairman and Peguis First Nation member Bill Shead.

He and Perrin met with the grounds advisory committee in October, and were told the application met the requirements and would get a positive recommendation. Shead said he can't think of any reason the provincial government would reject a statue honouring the revered Saulteaux chief who died in 1864.

WAYNE CUDDINGTON / OTTAWA CITIZEN National Aboriginal War Monument in Confederation Park.

"Peguis was an enlightened leader who was very concerned about his people and befriended the settlers," said Shead. "He really was a diplomat."

Perrin said they're eyeing a location west of the legislature driveway, and on the same scale as the larger-than-life Queen Victoria statue.

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It could be a statue with the accepted likeness of Peguis (there is no known likeness) and incorporate other elements, said Perrin. (He referenced the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument in Ottawa, that combines the image of an Aboriginal man with a bison, eagle and Indigenous symbolism, as an example.)

But until the group gets approval from the province, it can't do anything.

"We've heard nothing," said Perrin. "We've made repeated inquiries."

A provincial government spokesman said in an email to the Free Press the application "is under consideration."

"We will continue to have dialogue with Indigenous representatives on an appropriate way to honour the Indigenous contribution to our province on the grounds of the legislature," the spokesman wrote.

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
OTTAWA  After Omnitrax refused to repair its washed-out railway to Churchill, and claimed that only its destitute subsidiary could be held responsible for the line, the Denver-based company now says it doesnt even own the Hudson Bay Railway.

This article was published 28/5/2018 (1233 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA  After Omnitrax refused to repair its washed-out railway to Churchill, and claimed that only its destitute subsidiary could be held responsible for the line, the Denver-based company now says it doesnt even own the Hudson Bay Railway.

Meantime, the provincial NDP is asking the company to explain an email in which Omnitrax Canada president Merv Tweed appears to ask for a repair estimate to "be high."

The question surrounds documents Omnitrax filed to the Canadian Transportation Agency. The regulator is probing whether the company violated federal law by discontinuing service on the northern railway, which washed out May 23, 2017.

"None of the various Omnitrax companies are the owner or operator of the railway line in question and none of the Omnitrax entities are federally regulated railway companies holding a Certificate of Fitness under the (Transportation) Act," reads a statement the company filed last November.

The company names a third-party firm as the purported owner of the railway, but the CTA redacted the name of that company due to privacy laws.

NDP MLA Tom Lindsey, who represents Flin Flon, said he expected northern Manitobans to be "shocked" and confused by yet another confusing twist in the Churchill story.

BORIS MINKEVICH / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Omnitrax Canada president Merv Tweed wrote a July 13, 2017 that suggests the company provide a high cost estimate for a news conference to discuss repairs to the rail line.

"All of the sudden now, there's something that says they don't own it? I don't know how that makes any sense," said Lindsey, whose party is the lead complainant in the CTA case.

Meanwhile, a July 13, 2017, email written by Tweed suggests the company provide a "high" cost estimate for a news conference to discuss repairs.

"If you can provide an estimate (be high) by Monday if possible would work. Merv," reads an internal email tabled with the regulator.

On July 18, 2017, Omnitrax held a news conference in Winnipeg about what it would take to repair the line. It pegged the cost of repairs between $40 million and $60 million. A detailed report released later that summer put the cost at $43.5 million.

The Free Press contacted Omnitrax for comment Friday, and had not received a response by Monday afternoon. The companys contracted PR firm noted that Monday was the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S., though it has provided responses from Tweed, its Canadian head, in the past.

The provincial NDP is the lead complainant in the CTA case, following a dozen requests for an investigation, after experts told the Free Press that the regulator could probe the company and possibly order a remedy and costs.

Previously, the regulator dismissed Omnitraxs claim that only its destitute subsidiary, the Hudson Bay Railway Co., could be held responsible for the railway. In a separate lawsuit filed by the federal government, a Winnipeg judge ruled the opposite and stripped the parent company from the lawsuit.

OMNITRAX HANDOUT The Hudson Bay Railway has been out of service since being flooded in spring 2017. Residents who rely on the railway to ship goods, have had to pay much more to receive goods by air.

Its unclear whom Omnitrax believes owns the line. One source familiar with the talks suggested that the party involved is Missinippi Rail, though that firm could not be reached for comment.

In June 2017, Missinippis leader, Grand Chief Arlen Dumas, signed a deal with Omnitrax, before he was elected head of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. That deal would have had Missinippi take over the railway and deep-sea port at Churchill for $20 million. Dumas said he needed federal funds for that arrangement.

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Ottawa never provided money for that deal, which Transport Canada learned about through media reports.

Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr  Manitoba's sole member of the federal cabinet  is responsible for Ottawas response to the Churchill situation; he would not comment Monday about the company's claim that it doesnt own the line.

However, Carr (Winnipeg South Centre) said that talks aimed at transferring the railway and port into local hands  to both Missinippi Rail and a group called One North  are proceeding well. Talks started in September.

"There have been very important and positive conversations in recent times with Omnitrax, and I'm confident that this will result in good news for the people of Manitoba," he said.

Sources familiar with the talks said Ottawa is at the point of negotiating costs with Omnitrax.

dylan.robertson@freepress.mb.ca
A man and a woman are in hospital after a shooting outside Bar Italia on Corydon Avenue early Tuesday.

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This article was published 29/5/2018 (1232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man and a woman are in hospital after a shooting outside Bar Italia on Corydon Avenue early Tuesday.

Winnipeg police said they received a report of shots being fired in the 700 block of Corydon Avenue at about 12:40 a.m., and when they arrived they found an injured 37-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman.

Police said the man is in critical condition while the woman is in stable condition.

Officers closed Cockburn Street between Corydon and McMillan Avenue at 7:30 a.m., with police focusing their efforts on the back alley between the two streets and directly behind Bar Italia.

Dozens of police evidence tags were placed around the alley. One officer took numerous photos of the scene while other officers monitored the perimeter.

Three cars in a row in a taped-off area had damage to their front-right headlights, two looked to have been smashed out while the third was just cracked. Its unclear whether theyre related to the incident.

No arrests have been made.

Police are asking anyone with information to contact the homicide unit at 204-986-6508 or Crime Stoppers at 204-786-TIPS (8477).

No one from Bar Italia returned messages for comment.

Craig Kitching, president of the Corydon BIZ, said "it's unfortunate when somebody gets hurt, but I don't think it reflects on the neighbourhood as a whole."

Kitching said no one knows much about the incident other than it occurred outside. He didn't want to comment about other incidents involving Bar Italia through the years.

Coun. Jenny Gerbasi, the area councillor who also sits on the board of the Corydon BIZ, said in an email "It is a very unfortunate thing to happen but seems like an isolated incident."

For years Bar Italia was an Italian-style coffee shop serving cappuccinos and gelati, but then it became more of a restaurant and regular bar with a long seasonal patio alongside its outer wall.

Along with those changes have come other violent incidents late at night.

A man in his early 20s was shot in the leg and arm by a drive-by shooting outside Bar Italia following a dispute inside in December, 2003.

Bar Italia bouncer Nicholas Somers was charged with manslaughter after 33-year-old Gary Rent died after being punched in May, 2008. Somers was later acquitted by a jury after accepting he acted in self defence.

And two men were stabbed outside the bar in January and rushed to hospital in critical condition, but later upgraded to stable. That incident is still under investigation.

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Kristianne Dechant, of the Liquor and Gaming Authority of Manitoba, said Bar Italia has never been issued with a compliance order for any violations.

She said she couldn't specifically speak about the shooting incident outside Bar Italia.

But Dechant noted that under the Liquor and Gaming Control Act, licensees, including restaurants and bars, have to provide security to not "allow or permit disorderly persons to be in the licensed premises or in the immediate vicinity outside of the licensed premises."

She said while liquor inspectors work with licensees to make sure they have good security processes, sometimes disorderly, violent and/or criminal activities take place that are not related to the licensed establishment, but just happen to occur nearby.

"In these cases, this is not activity that licensees can affect or control."

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca
Many people expected that the end of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. (FFMC) monopoly would lead to a disaster in Manitoba. It has not, fortunately.

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This article was published 29/5/2018 (1232 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Opinion

Many people expected that the end of the Freshwater Fish Marketing Corp. (FFMC) monopoly would lead to a disaster in Manitoba. It has not, fortunately.

In fact, this move by the federal government may revitalize the Indigenous commercial fisheries in the northern part of the province.

Manitoba commercial fishers sell about $60 million worth of fish annually. Its a profitable business.

Manitoba was the last province to withdraw from the Freshwater Fish Marketing Act, which required freshwater fishers to sell their fish through the centralized marketing board. Indigenous fishers in Manitoba, northwestern Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories had to sell their fish exclusively through the FFMC. Only the Northwest Territories remains in the agreement.

FFMC provided a guaranteed customer base because the corporation purchased all commercially caught fish. FFMC also set prices ahead of time so commercial fishers knew the value of their catches before they put their boats in the water.

Northern fishers are predominantly First Nations and Metis. They make up 75 to 80 per cent of FFMCs fishers.

For years, northern fishers complained about the centralization of FFMCs processing plant in Winnipeg and its terrible job at marketing some fish species, called "rough fish" (carp and mullet).

Due to FFMCs regulations and its monopolistic control, fishers saw opportunities, especially in China, pass them by. Northern fishers complained that FFMC was more interested in selling and marketing pickerel caught mainly in Lake Winnipeg than in selling other fish caught elsewhere.

But now there are positive signs that fishers are adjusting to the changes. Very recently, about 100 commercial fishers met in Winnipeg to discuss how they can form a co-operative.

Theres considerable interest from Indigenous organizations. The Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) reportedly gave the fledgling co-op $100,000 to help with startup costs.

MMF president David Chartrand said the federation has already been approached by delegates from China who want to purchase Manitoba fish.

He told the Winnipeg Free Press that "China is running short (of fish for food). They cant sustain what they need for the Chinese population from the ocean. So we can be the fish farm to the world. We have 100,000 lakes."

Northern Indigenous fishers said that the centralization of fish processing in Winnipeg meant the loss of processing jobs.

As a result, the Norway House Fishermans Co-op, the largest single commercial fishing operation in Manitoba, supported the end of the FFMC monopoly.

This could mean increased interest in expanding processing operations  with more jobs  into the north.

Manitoba fishers believe in their ability to process and market fish, as well as their co-ops ability to develop new value-added products and new markets.

The fishers felt that a centralized marketing board lacked the dynamism to adapt to new market realities.

Also, with the advent of the internet and a more highly educated workforce, fishers and co-ops could easily find markets.

No wonder fishers in Manitoba, Ontario, Alberta, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories withdrew from FFMC.

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This is not the first time naysayers who oppose marketing choice predicted doom and gloom and were proven wrong.

Hog producers in Manitoba had a single-desk marketing authority until the late 1990s. The Manitoba government discontinued the board and allowed direct sales between producers and processors. Hog farmers have emerged in a strong position with more hog production than ever.

A more prominent example was the end of the Canadian Wheat Board monopoly. Wheat farmers were divided over that issue, but they have adapted to the new market reality. Canada continues to be the sixth-largest wheat grower in the world.

Discontinuing FFMC should mean a renaissance for commercial fisheries in Manitoba. No one should doubt their ability to do well.

Joseph Quesnel is a research fellow with the Frontier Centre for Public Policy (fcpp.org).

 Troy Media
Today, less than half of millennials believe businesses behave ethically (48 per cent vs 65 per cent in 2017) and that business leaders are committed to helping improve society (47 per cent vs 62 per cent), said a new report.



Following a year marked by significant geopolitical and social change, millennials and Gen Z are sounding the alarm for businesses to step up their efforts to make a positive impact on the broader world, according to the seventh annual Millennial Survey published by professional services firm Deloitte.



Although some leaders are starting to tackle social issues, millennials have become more sceptical overall of business motivation and ethics. The findings were revealed through a survey of 10,455 millennials across 36 countries. Nearly 1,850 Gen Z respondents across six countries who are just entering the workforce were also surveyed about their views on business.



As highlighted over the past six years, millennialsand now Gen Zare acutely attuned to business wider role in society, and overwhelmingly feel that business success should be measured beyond financial performance.



They believe business priorities should be job creation, innovation, enhancing employees lives and careers, and making a positive impact on society and the environment. However, when asked what their organizations focus on, they cited generating profit, driving efficiencies, and producing or selling goods and servicesthe three areas they felt should have the least focus.



They recognize businesses must make a profit to achieve the priorities millennials desire, but believe businesses should set out to achieve a broader balance of objectives along with financial performance.



The results of this years survey indicate that the rapid social, technological and geopolitical changes of the past year have had an impact on millennials and Gen Zs views of business, and it should be a wake-up call to leaders everywhere, said Omar Fahoum, Deloitte Middle East CEO.



These cohorts feel business leaders in the Middle East and globally may have placed too high a premium on their companies agendas without considering their contributions to society at large. Businesses need to identify ways in which they can positively impact the communities they work in and focus on issues like diversity, inclusion and flexibility if they want to earn the trust and loyalty of millennial and Gen Z workers.



Trust gap provides opportunity for business leaders



While millennials view of business has declined sharply, their trust in political leaders is even lower. When asked whether certain groupsincluding leaders of NGOs/nonprofits, business leaders, religious leaders and political leaderswere having a positive or negative impact on the world, only 19 per cent of millennials believe politicians are having a positive impact (compared to 71 per cent negative).



By comparison, 44 per cent of millennials believe business leaders are making a positive impact, and they still have some faith in business ability to enact meaningful change in society. Three quarters of millennials believe multinational corporations have the potential to help solve societys economic, environmental and social challenges. These findings suggest millennials believe business has an imperative to become involved in improving society beyond creating jobs and generating profit.



Loyalty levels recede; diversity/inclusion, flexibility keys to retention



Loyalty levels have retreated to where they were two years ago. Among millennials, 43 per cent envision leaving their jobs within two years, and only 28 per cent are looking to stay beyond five years. This represents a 15-point gap, up seven percentage points from the year prior.



Among millennials who would willingly leave their employers within the next two years, 62 per cent regard the gig economy as a viable alternative to full-time employment. Loyalty is even lower among the emerging Gen Z employees, with 61 per cent saying they would leave their current jobs within two years if given the choice.



So, how can business hold onto them? Both millennials and Gen Z place a premium on factors such as tolerance and inclusivity, respect and different ways of thinking. While pay and culture attract this cohort to employers, diversity, inclusion and flexibility are the keys to keeping millennials and Gen Z happy.



Those working for employers perceived to have diverse workforces and senior management teams are more likely to want to stay five or more years. And among millennial and Gen Z respondents who said they intend to stay with their current employers for at least five years, 55 per cent note greater flexibility in where and when they work now compared to three years ago.



Industry 4.0 leaves millennials, Gen Z feeling unprepared



Millennials and Gen Z are highly aware of how Industry 4.0 is shaping the workplace and feel it has the potential to free people from routine activities to focus on more creative work. However, many are uneasy about its arrival. Seventeen per cent of all surveyed millennials, and 32 per cent of those whose organizations already use Industry 4.0 technologies extensively, fear part or all of their jobs will be replaced. Also, fewer than four in 10 millennials and three in 10 Gen Z workers feel they have the skills theyll need to succeed, and theyre looking to business to help ready them to succeed in this new era.



Respondents are looking for guidance thats far broader than technical knowledge. Young professionals are especially seeking help building softer skills like confidence, interpersonal skills andparticularly for Gen Zethics/integrity aptitude. In their view, though, businesses are not being responsive to their developmental needs. Just 36 per cent of millennials and 42 per cent of Gen Z respondents reported their employers were helping them understand and prepare for the changes associated with Industry 4.0.



The fluctuating loyalty levels showcase a unique opportunity for businesses to double-down on attracting and retaining talent, explained Rana Salhab, Talent and Communications partner, Deloitte Middle East. Businesses need to listen to what millennials are telling us and reimagine how business approaches talent management in Industry 4.0, placing a renewed focus on learning and development to help all people grow in their careers throughout their lifetimes.  TradeArabia News Service
The Bank of New York Mellon pays an annual dividend of $1.36 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 2.45%. The Bank of New York Mellon does not yet have a strong track record of dividend growth. The dividend payout ratio of The Bank of New York Mellon is 33.92%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%. Based on earnings estimates, The Bank of New York Mellon will have a dividend payout ratio of 29.44% next year. This indicates that The Bank of New York Mellon will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

View The Bank of New York Mellon's dividend history.
Boeing and Turkish Technic, the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) arm of Turkish Airlines, have signed a Global Fleet Care supplier agreement.



Turkish Technic is now a strategic Boeing supplier for line maintenance, heavy maintenance of airplanes, component service and repair. Boeing and Turkish Technic will collaborate together in the training and certification of technicians from different parts of the world.



We provide a broad portfolio of MRO services in 50+ International Line Maintenance locations as well as our existing base maintenance facilities in Istanbul and Ankara. In addition to the current services we provide, more will be available to our customers at our brand-new facilities, located Istanbul New Airport as of October 29. We are so glad to announce such a remarkable collaboration with Boeing today, which will significantly contribute and add value to our business in our new home base. Within the extent of Boeing Global Fleet Care program including aircraft maintenance, repair and training, Boeing operators will be able to experience the world-class quality of Turkish Technics MRO services through this agreement, said Ahmet Karaman, general manager of Turkish Technic.



Last year, Boeing and the Turkish Government announced the Boeing Turkey National Aerospace Initiative, launched to support the growth of the Turkish aerospace industry, in conjunction with the targets set by Turkey's Vision 2023 that was specially designed for the 100th establishment anniversary of the Turkish Republic. The initiative outlines a strategic framework that aligns Boeing investment and programmes with the Turkish Government, Turkish airlines, aerospace service companies and industry suppliers in the areas of research, engineering and skills development.



Turkey is one of the Boeings top strategic growth countries, and we see strong capability and growth potential in aviation services and maintenance in Turkey, said Marc Allen, president of Boeing International. Positioning Turkey as a global player in aviation services is one of the key elements of the Boeing Turkey National Aerospace Initiative we announced last year. With this agreement, we are taking our successful collaboration with Turkish Technic one step further in a manner that aligns with the growth of Boeing and Turkey.



Through its Global Services division, Boeing provides technical support to more than 60 customers and over 2,500 airplanes through its Global Fleet Care programme. This customisable portfolio offers engineering and planning activities associated with managing the technical performance of the airplane. A power-by-the-hour based offering, Global Fleet Care solutions in the form of Engineering, Materials and Maintenance programs bring inherent efficiency to airline operations. - TradeArabia News Service


Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a diversified financial institution, provides various financial products and services to personal, business, public sector, and institutional clients in Canada, the United States, and internationally. The company operates through four strategic business units: Canadian Personal and Business Banking; Canadian Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; U.S. Commercial Banking and Wealth Management; and Capital Markets. The company offers chequing, savings, and business accounts; mortgages; loans, lines of credit, student lines of credit, and business and agriculture loans; investment and insurance services; and credit cards, as well as overdraft protection services. It also provides day-to-day banking, borrowing and credit, investing and wealth, specialty, and international services; correspondent banking and online foreign exchange services; and cash management services. The company serves its customers through its banking centers, as well as direct, mobile, and remote channels. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was founded in 1867 and is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

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Boeing Business Jets (BBJ) has won four new orders in 2018 as elite customers continue to favour Boeing's portfolio of ultra-large-cabin, long-range airplanes, the company said at the European Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (EBACE).



The new orders this year follow an impressive 2017 in which customers purchased 16 Boeing Business Jets.



"We continue to see a lot of customer interest in Boeing's family of business jets and that is translating into new orders and a growing backlog," said Greg Laxton, leader of Boeing Business Jets. "Customers seek more space and greater range, which is driving significant growth in the large cabin segment."



Two of the new orders this year are for the BBJ MAX airplane, adding to a backlog of 19 airplanes and making the BBJ MAX one of the selling business jetliners in history.



Based on the new 737 MAX airplane, the BBJ MAX delivers 14 percent better fuel efficiency thanks to advanced engines and improved aerodynamics. The model also features 787-style flight deck displays and multiple advanced new systems.



The BBJ MAX family offers customers more range, comfort, and space than any business jet in its class. The jet is capable of flying 7,000 nautical miles (12,964 km) and features a lower cabin altitude, and bespoke interiors to match any preference.



"The performance advantage of the BBJ MAX is a big sales driver," said Laxton. "The airplane is perfectly suited for discerning customers who want to fly further without stopping."



Boeing celebrated the first BBJ MAX 8 flyaway in April 2018. Additional deliveries of BBJ MAX airplanes are expected in the coming months.  TradeArabia News Service
DTE Energy Co. operates as a diversified energy company, which engages in the provision of electricity and natural gas sales, distribution and storage services. It operates through the following segments: Electric, Gas, Non-Utility Operations, and Corporate & Other. The Electric segment engages in the generation, purchase, distribution and sale of electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers in south-eastern Michigan. The Gas segment engages in the purchase, storage, transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers throughout Michigan and the sale of storage and transportation capacity. The Non-Utility Operations segment engages in gas storage and pipelines, power and industrial projects, and energy trading. The Corporate & Other includes various holding company activities, holds certain non-utility debt, and holds energy-related investments. The company was founded in January 1995 and is headquartered in Detroit, MI.

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Former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakses recent Economic Vision for 20202030 document is a policy blueprint for an authoritarian regime in Sri Lanka.

Addressing the annual conference of the extreme-right Viyath Maga (Professionals for Better Nation) this month, Rajapakse called for a complete overhaul of the economy in order to exploit windows of opportunity for international investment. The essence of his speech was that economic development requires vicious law and order measures.

The Viyath Maga conference was attended by 2,000 invitees at the ultra-expensive Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo on May 13. Participants included former president Mahinda Rajapakse, retired military leaders, business chiefs, highly-paid professionals, some Buddhist clergy and Sinhala extremists.

Gotabhaya Rajapakse is the president of Viyath Maga, established in 2016. The ex-army officer, notorious for his hatred for Tamils and working people, has declared he is prepared to run for president in the next election. He has expressed his admiration for figures such as Donald Trump, the fascistic billionaire US president, and other non-traditional political leaders.

Gotabhaya was appointed defence secretary in 2005 by his older brother, then President Mahinda Rajapakse, in preparation for a resumption of the Colombo regimes war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). He was a leading figure in the presidents cabal that ran the country autocratically, using police-state methods, until his ouster in the January 2015 presidential election.

Significantly, Gotabhaya Rajapakses Economic Vision and Viyath Magas right-wing campaign have intensified in line with the deepening political crisis of the current government of President Maithripala Sirisena and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Last week, LMD, a business magazine, gave voice to the mounting concerns of the corporate elite. According to its survey, the business confidence index dropped to a 70-month low in April. Political uncertainty and disappointing GDP growth numbers seem to be taking a toll on sentiment, it wrote. The economic growth rate last year was 3.1 percent, the lowest in 16 years.

Seeking to exploit this frustration, Rajapakse told Viyath Magas big business audience that Chinas economy would double and surpass the US by 2030 and India would become the worlds third largest economy, with Japan and Indonesia in fourth and fifth places respectively.

Sri Lankas economic policies must be changed without delay in order to focus on Asia and take advantage of Asian growth, Rajapakse said. Any delay would increase countrys economic problems.

Sri Lankan state-owned enterprises, he continued, must generate profits and not create financial problems for the government. The countrys economy had to be transformed into a skilled-labour intensive one in order to reduce the governments wage bill. Free trade zones had to be established across the country, near ports and with proper management, and the rule of law strictly applied, with national defence a priority.

Rajapakse said nothing about the escalating social problems of workers and the poor. Instead, he ended his speech by calling for a Sri Lanka first campaign. In other words, he issued a patriotic appeal for more sacrifice by the working class and harsher austerity measures to boost profits.

Development Strategies and International Trade Minister Malik Samarawickrama responded by declaring that Rajapakses vision was the same as the Sirisena-Wickremesinghe governments policies.

While Colombo is slashing expenditure on education, health and subsidies and privatising state-owned ventures, the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and the business elite are becoming increasingly impatient with the current government. Concerns are being raised about whether it is capable of dealing with the mounting opposition to the austerity agenda by workers, the rural poor and students.

Rajapakses vision and his speech constitute an appeal to finance capital and the corporate elite that he will do everything to intensify the cost-cutting measures and crush all resistance.

The prospective presidential candidate told the Daily Mirror last April: First of all, political stability and investor confidence should be established under a powerful leadership. He added: When an investor comes here, he should see a stable government. In a crude self-promotion, he told Ceylon Today in March, that the president should be an individual who loves this country and who could protect the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unitary status of it.

Sections of the ruling elite are seriously considering whether his ruthless reputation and involvement, along with senior military chiefs, in war crimes and other human rights violations, are necessary qualities for stable governmenti.e., to crush working class opposition to Colombos social attacks.

Together with the commanders of security forces he directed the massive military onslaught in the north and east against the LTTE, expelling thousands of Tamils from their homes and into refugee camps when the civil war resumed in July 2006.

The bloody conflict ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the LTTE and the annihilation of its principal leaders, including those who had surrendered, and the killing of tens of thousands of innocent civilians. Simultaneously in the south of the country, Rajapakse led military-police crackdowns against political opponents, workers and the poor.

Rajapakse was also permanent secretary of the urban development and land reclamation ministry. His main job was to eliminate 60,000 slum dwellings in Colombo and brutally evict thousands of poor families to transform the city into a financial and commercial hub and tourist hotspot.

In June 2011, protesting Katunayake Free Trade Zone workers were attacked by police, who killed one person and injured dozens of others. The following year, special task force police officers killed a fisherman and injured others demonstrating in Chilaw against fuel price hikes.

During a military operation in August 2013 to crush a massive protest of people against environmental pollution at Weliweriya, in the suburbs of Colombo, three young men were shot dead.

Rajapakse, who is promoted in the media as the war-winning defence secretary, also intervened to stop the exposure of military war crimes, illegal police activities and those responsible for communalist violence.

Among Rajapakses enthusiastic supporters are leading Buddhist monks, serving and retired military officers and Sinhala extremists. For years, Gotabhaya and Mahinda Rajapakse have encouraged and nurtured the fascistic Bodu Bala Sena and similar outfits.

Discussions are underway in the parliamentary opposition about its next presidential candidate.

Under Sri Lankas constitution, Mahinda Rajapakse cannot contest the presidency for a third time. A faction of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the newly-formed Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), which he leads, have yet to decide their next candidate.

Although Gotabhaya Rajapakse is not a member of the SLPP, he is trumpeting his ambition to become president and has declared he would renounce his US citizenship to do so. In the meantime, he is attempting to build up his extreme-right base in preparation for the establishment of an even more brutal regime.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have detained nearly 250 undocumented immigrant workers in May as part of escalating operations across the Midwest.

At the start of the month, ICE launched a six-day operation and arrested 78 people throughout the Midwest: 25 were arrested in Iowa, 25 in Nebraska, 15 in Minnesota, 10 in South Dakota and three in North Dakota.

The workers, whose ages range from 20 to 64 years, are originally from Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Kenya, Ivory Coast and Sudan.

This was followed by a six-day operation last week which resulted in the arrest of 156 workers aged 19 to 64 in Chicago, Illinois, and its surrounding suburbs. The detainees came to the US from Mexico, Guatemala, Poland, El Salvador, Honduras, the Philippines, Ecuador, Jamaica, Jordan, Lithuania and New Zealand.

ICE agents reportedly had a list of workers whom they pursued, with some visiting their workplaces without warrants, according to Hoy, the Spanish-language newspaper based in Chicago and California.

Erick Diaz, a worker at a restaurant in St. Charles, a suburb of Chicago, told local news station Fox 32, Well, I was working at my restaurant, typical day, normal day. And we just start seeing undercover cars come in. ICE agents walked in with a photo of a man and demanded to speak to the kitchen staff.

They didnt have no warrant. We told them they cant go in, because obviously no warrant, said Diaz. My restaurant actually closed early because, like I said, all our kitchen guys were afraid to come in cause the ICE guys were coming around. Obviously, you dont want to risk it.

An estimated 511,000 undocumented workers live in Illinois, with a majority of them, 307,000, living in Cook County, which includes Chicago and its surrounding suburbs. Chicago, the third largest city in the country, is estimated to be home to 183,000 undocumented workers.

On May 19, ICE agents conducted raids and arrests in Joliet, Illinois, 45 miles southwest of Chicago. Residents quickly took to Facebook to warn others of their presence.

One resident posted to Facebook: Just heard on the radio that there are ICE agents in the area of Joliet. These agents are in unknown vehicles, they are pulling over drivers and asking for proof of legal status. Share if needed. If u have nothing nice to say then keep it to yourself. This may not affect you directly just keep in mind this could be someones mother, father, son, daughter, sister or brother.

Reporting on the incident, Organized Communities Against Deportations, a Chicago-based immigrant rights organization, noted, We know that in some instances, agents entered peoples homes without a court-issued warrant and stopped people while driving, eventually taking individuals into custody for speeding, blatantly acting outside of their own jurisdiction.

One worker from the Joliet area told the World Socialist Web Site that the presence of ICE has become so common that the school he works for has established protocols for communicating to immigrant students when they should not go outside for fear of them being apprehended by ICE.

Many undocumented workers and immigrants fled their countries to escape from conditions which could have meant their deaths and those of their loves ones. US-backed or -led wars have ravaged countries like Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Guatemala in the 20th century and most recently countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Millions have fled their homes for a better life. But now they now confront a new nightmare. For many, deportation is a death sentence.

Yesterday, the Washington Post reported Prince Gbohoutou, a 26-year-old tattoo artist from Maryland, refused to board a flight back to his home country of Central African Republic where his mother was killed. Gbohoutou and his wife were detained by ICE on April 19 and ordered to be deported.

After the young immigrant refused to leave the van that took him to the airport, an ICE agent beat one of Gbohoutous legs with a baton while other agents tried to pull him out of the van. ICE agents cut his seat belt with a knife, cutting Gbohoutous hand, and handcuffed him to a wheelchair to take him to his flight. However, the airline refused to take him because he was an unwilling passenger.

Ill be killed if I go back, he told the Washington Post from an ICE detention center. Gbohoutou arrived in the United States as a child with his father. His family, including his mother who had remained in the Central African Republic, were denied asylum by the United States, but both his father and Gbohoutou remained.

Soon after being denied asylum, Gbhoutous mother was kidnapped by a rival political group in an attempt to force the return of his father, who worked for the countrys ambassador in the United States. I guess they wanted my dad to go back, Gbohoutou said. They tortured her. And they beat her to death.

The attacks on immigrant workers are escalating. In a statement released on its website, ICE officials reported a doubling of worksite raids across the country in the first six months of the current fiscal year, which began in October 2017, compared to all of the previous year.

So far this fiscal year, ICE has initiated 3,510 worksite investigations nationwide, requested 2,282 I-9 audits of work authorizations for workers, and tallied 594 criminal and 610 administrative workplace-related arrests. From October 2016 to September 2017, the agency initiated 1,716 worksite investigations, requested 1,360 I-9 audits and completed 139 criminal arrests and 172 administrative worksite-related arrests.

As part of the Trump administrations effort to whip up a nationalistic and anti-immigrant fervor in the United States, ICE agents have focused attention on the arrest of immigrant workers, documented or undocumented, with some kind of criminal record. This tactic, with its undeniable fascistic undertones, is aimed at dividing the working class by pitting native-born workers against foreign-born by portraying immigrants as savages, liars, thieves and animals, as President Trump has repeatedly asserted.

The Pew Research Center reported in February that immigrant workers with past criminal convictions accounted for 74 percent of all arrests made by ICE in the 2017 fiscal year. However, the majority of the criminal convictions consist of petty crimes, with the most common conviction consisting of driving under the influence of alcohol, which amounted to 59,985 convictions, or 16 percent of the total. This was followed by possessing and/or selling illegal drugs, totaling 57,438 convictions, or 15 percent of the total. The third most common were immigration offenses, which include illegal entry or false claim to US citizenship, equaling 52,128 convictions, or 14 percent of the total.

At the same time, ICE has drastically increased the arrest of undocumented workers without any criminal record. For example, in the Dallas, Texas region, which had 16,520 arrests last year, the most overall, non-criminal arrests rose by 156 percent. The Atlanta region, which covers Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina, saw a 323 percent increase in non-criminal arrests. Half of ICE enforcement regions saw non-criminal arrests rise by 200 percent or more last year.
WSWS correspondents recently spoke with Terry and Jenny Robinson , who have lived in Williamtown near an Australian air force base for 17 years. The ir property is within the red zone established by the New South Wales Environmental Protection Authority in 2012 after soil and water tests indicated high concentrations of PFAS chemicals (see: Australian government reports whitewash responsibility for toxic foam crisis).

Property prices in the area have plummeted and there are serious concerns over the health impacts associated with the chemicals. Jenny is one of a number of residents suffering from cancer.

Jenny and Terry Robinson

WSWS: What do you think about the government health reports dismissal of the dangers of PFAS chemical contamination?

Terry Robinson: I personally think it is just a fob off, especially with everything that has happened in America, where they have proved it is an issue and that there are definitely health effects linked to it. The government can provide drinking water to certain people but its not stopping the issue. Our properties are still worthless. No ones going to buy them.

WSWS: And the decision by state and federal governments not to compensate people living in contaminated areas, or buy out their properties?

Terry Robinson: Its an absolute disgrace I can understand why theyve done it, because its such a widespread problem. Theyre just mitigating their liability and theyll just ride that to the ground. As other contamination sites began to unfold, that was a bad sign for us, because if it was only one or two sites, they might have done something.

Jenny Robinson: Defence are also doing extensive work on the Williamtown aerospace extensions, but they still havent stopped the contamination coming off the base. They have not tested the soil there because they know it will be contaminated, so its full steam ahead for them.

WSWS: Could you comment on the NSW Health report on the cancer cluster?

JR: NSW Healths study included 1,400 people from as far away as Karuah. They included Williamtown but excluded Fullerton Cove or Salt Ash. Less than 20 percent of the people who were in that study actually live on contaminated land. They diluted the data so they could get the answer they wanted. And they only used evidence from 2005 to 2014. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2016, so I wasnt included.

TR: When Jenny was diagnosed we hadnt really talked to a lot of people in the area, but we gradually noticed a pattern. For example, a gentleman next door died of cancer. We knew someone else on the other side of the road who died of cancer. Jenny basically put together how many people on this corner had cancer-related issues or had died from cancer. On this road here theres been some pretty rare forms of cancer that overseas have been linked to this chemical.

WSWS: Do you think the $74 million in federal funding for PFAS is satisfactory?

TR: No, its a drop in the water. Weve received nothing from them.

The only thing weve had is a blood test. By the time we finally got our tests done, there was a changeover with the company that was doing them and our blood tests werent paid. Ive never had debt collectors chasing me in my whole life, but I did on this occasion because they never paid the bill and we had summons taken out on us.

JR: Before they started the blood tests, there was a drop-in centre where you could talk to various departments. I asked a doctor from NSW Health when we were getting our blood tests. He said there is no point in the blood testing because it will only indicate how much chemical is in your blood, and it cant indicate if you will have health issues.

I asked if we would have follow-up blood tests. Again, he said there wasnt much point because it stays in your blood for a number of years, but they would probably look at doing tests again in five years. I took my beanie off and I was totally bald from the chemotherapy. I said: And Ive got to live five years to find out if its reducing? He got up and walked away.

TR: Theyve got no answers when you confront them. This is going to be the biggest environmental issue in Australia.

WSWS: You have signs in your front yard criticising the air base. Whats been the response?

TR: I was furious over what happened. We had to do something, so we put up a couple of signs. Some of the neighbours had concerns that it would affect real estate prices, but that was early on, now real estate is finished. Ive actually had people who work at the base pull over and ask about the signs. They want to know about this chemical. Theyre concerned too.

WSWS: Are you involved in a legal class action?

TR: Yes, we felt there was nowhere else to go. I knew Defence was never going to walk up my driveway and say: Weve done the wrong thing, heres a cheque for you and well buy you out. That was never going to happen. Its clear now but there were a lot of people holding out for that. There are a lot of people around here who need to get out. Theyre starting to get tired. Were all tired.

WSWS: Whats your experience with government ministers?

JR: Weve had a couple of ministers come up here. We knew that Senator [James] McGrath was coming. He is supposed to be in charge of the governments PFAS taskforce but he was only going to speak to a select number of residents and we werent allowed to let media know.

The media did find out and Defence Minister Marise Payne actually showed up. She didnt have much to say but told the media: Weve all got this in our blood. Its even in my blood.

NSW state Premier Gladys Berejiklian came here recently and wanted to talk to residents. We were invited and so we went. The rest of the people there were just business people and property developers. One of them complained that he had $10 million tied up in property here that he couldnt do anything with.

We came away from the event feeling like were nothing. Were just residents with a property and have got more to lose than the developer. Weve got everything we own tied up here.
The attempt to form a government in Italy of the Five Star (M5S) protest movement and the far-right Lega has failed, for the present. Giuseppe Conte, who was commissioned by President Sergio Mattarella to form the government after being proposed by the two parties, returned his mandate on Sunday evening after just four days.

The reason for Contes withdrawal is Mattarellas refusal to appoint the 81-year-old Paolo Savona as minister of finance and economic affairs. The president had accepted all of the other ministerial proposals, but he rejected Savona on the grounds he planned the exit of Italy from the euro currency.

Mattarella said he was committed to protecting savers in Italy, pointing to the heightened risk premium on Italian government securities and the losses on the stock exchanges with which the financial markets had responded to the prospect of a eurosceptic government. After Contes withdrawal, volatility on the financial markets receded.

Savona is a figure of the Italian establishment. The retired economics professor sat on the board of various banks and companies, was the director-general of the employers association and industry minister under Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. But he now considers Italian accession to the European Union (EU) a historical mistake and the euro a German cage in which the Italian economy is trapped.

On Monday, Mattarella commissioned a man to form the government who stands for the exact opposite. Carlo Cottarelli is a fervent supporter of the euro and European austerity. After his appointment, the 64-year-old promised that a government formed by him would pursue a pro-European course. Italys participation in the euro zone was of fundamental importance, he said. A government under my leadership would guarantee a prudent approach to the budget, he added.

Cottarelli worked for the Italian National Bank in the 1980s and then spent over 25 years at sernior posts with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In 2013, he was savings commissioner in the Democratic Party (PD) government of Enrico Letta and drew up a drastic austerity plan for the state apparatus.

Now Cottarelli is to form a so-called technocratic government of non-party experts, which will adopt a budget and prepare for elections in spring of 2019. However, he needs a parliamentary majority for this, which he is unlikely to receive. So far, only the ruling PD has agreed to support a transitional government under Cottarellis leadership. It is therefore likely that new elections will take place in early autumn of this year.

Both the Lega and Five Star had refused to propose an alternative to Savona, as is customary in Italy, where the president has veto power over every minister. Instead, they are exploiting Mattarellas intervention in behalf of the financial markets, which was welcomed in Brussels, Berlin and Paris, to make a right-wing populist and nationalist appeal.

Five Star boss Luigi Di Maio spoke of a problem for democracy and threatened Mattarella with impeachment.

Matteo Salvini, leader of the Lega, called the former IMF official Cottarelli a representative of those powers...to whose dictates Italy should bow. The Lega would not let itself be blackmailed, he declared, adding that in Italy, the Italians decided, not the Germans.

Salvini said it was now necessary to go to Rome, an allusion to the 1922 march on Rome by the fascist forces of Benito Mussolini.

For Salvinis Lega, new elections in the immediate future could be opportune. It did surprisingly well in the parliamentary elections in March, winning 17 percent of the vote, and became the third strongest party behind M5S (33 percent) and the social democratic PD (19 percent). Since then, it has overtaken the PD in the polls and stands at 24 percent, while the Five Star Movement is stagnating and the PD continues to lose support.

The international financial press assumes that the Lega and Five Star will emerge stronger as a result of the current crisis. For example, the Financial Times wrote: The big danger for Mattarella is that the Five Star and the Lega could emerge even stronger from a new election, as they would probably strongly insist in the election campaign that they were denied the right to rule.

The Neue Zurcher Zeitung commented, Now the populists bitterly accuse the president of undermining democracy and freedom in Italy and conjure up a conflict between the people and the palazzo. Their followers are already posting poisonous messages against Mattarella on the Internet. He is even threatened with impeachment. The election campaign has begun, and it is likely to be much more aggressive than the last one.

The Belgian newspaper De Tijd stated, There is a danger that the principled attitude of President Sergio Mattarella has not prevented the disaster, but only made it bigger. Those who thought the euro crisis had been overcome may have to do their homework again. The hot summer in the south of Europe has begun.

The Lega and M5S are exploiting popular outrage over the EUs austerity policy, which has led, since the 2008 financial crisis, to mass poverty and youth unemployment of more than 30 percent in Italy. But, as the World Socialist Web Site wrote on May 23, in the conflict between the working class and capital, the Lega and M5S stand firmly on the side of the latter. They are merely pursuing a more aggressive nationalist course than previous Italian governments, which were always loyal to the EU.

The joint government programme of the M5S and the Lega provided for massive tax cuts for the rich and the elimination of tens of thousands of civil service jobs, while the social reforms announced, which met with outrage in European capitals, turned out to be a scam.

The two parties signaled to the banks that they accepted their terms. They had already dropped the demand for a euro exit before Mattarella charged them with forming a government. And Prime Minister-designate Conte met with central bank chief Ignazio Visco to reassure him of his loyalty before submitting his ministerial list to Mattarella.

What distinguishes the Lega, and to a lesser extent M5S, is their unbridled agitation against refugees. Their government programme provided for the internment and deportation of hundreds of thousands of refugees. This witchhunting serves to arouse chauvinist hysteria, strengthen fascist forces, increase the powers of the state apparatus and attack the democratic and social rights of the entire working class. There was no criticism of this in European capitals or media because this policy has become the consensus policy of the European bourgeoisie.
Last month, the George Mason University protest group UnKoch My Campus released documents to the public through a Freedom of Information Act request detailing how the Charles Koch Foundation and the Federalist Society, groups dedicated to the promotion of ultra-conservative free market public policy and ideas, maintain control over the appointment of law school and economics professors at the college, a public university in northern Virginia, as part of a nationwide campaign to promote ultra-right politics.

The ideological activities of Charles and David Koch, with a combined net worth of $96.6 billion, extend to universities, colleges and even high schools. Taking advantage of the deficits caused by the decades-long bipartisan assault on public funding for both K-12 and university education, groups like the Koch brothers, the Walton Family Foundation and the Gates Foundation use their grotesque wealth, squeezed from the working class, in an attempt to inculcate young people with libertarian and other right-wing, pro-capitalist ideologies.

In 2016, George Mason University (GMU) received the largest donation in its history, a $30 million gift to its law school. $10 million came from the Koch Foundation and $20 million from the BH Fund, whose president is Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society. The BH Funds secretary and treasurer is Jonathan Bunch, vice president and director of external relations at the Federalist Society, a right-wing organization that lobbies for the appointment of ultra-right judges.

Leo played an instrumental role in getting Federalist Society member and far-right Justice Neil Gorsuch a seat on the US Supreme Court in early 2017, suggesting nominees to the Trump administration and meeting personally with the president. Top donors to the society include Koch Industries, David Koch, and the Charles Koch Foundation. Through the BH Fund, the Federalist Society is intimately involved in faculty hiring, gaining admittance for prospective right-wing law students, and suggesting law graduates to clerk for right-wing judges.

Numerous emails between the Federalist Societys Leo and GMU law school dean Henry Butler show that the society played a role in hiring new professors. In October 2015, for example, Leo emailed Butler about a potential adjunct professor. A few minutes later, Butler replied, Were on it. Other hiring suggestions from Leo came in May 2016 and November 2016.

The released documents also reveal that GMU officials, including University President Angel Cabrera, law school dean Butler, and University Provost S. David Wu misled faculty about the nature of the Koch brothers/Federalist Society gift. Shortly after the law school donation was made, Butler circulated a memo to law school faculty claiming that there are no conditions tied to this gift other than creating scholarship programs. On April 6, 2016, at a faculty senate meeting, Wu similarly stated that the donation came with no strings attached, and the scholarship decisions are made by GMU. The entire $30M is for scholarships for students and nothing else.

On April 27, just days before the release of the documents by UnKoch My Campus, Cabrera claimed, absurdly: [s]ince I arrived at Mason in 2012, I have made it a priority to have all gift agreements clearly uphold our commitment to academic independence. As I have stated before, gifts may be earmarked for programs, scholarships or faculty support, but donors may not determine what is taught, what student is funded, or what professor is hired. If these terms are not acceptable to donors, the gifts are kindly declined.

The direct influence on hiring of professors by right-wing forces is even more explicit on GMUs undergraduate campus. From 2003 to 2011, a number of agreements for hiring professors were entered into with the university that allow donors to determine who is selected for the jobs. In a 2007 agreement, for example, the Koch Foundation, along with another donor, each provided $1.25 million to fund a professorship in the economics department. The agreement provided for a five-member selection committee which would determine, by majority vote, who to hire. Two of the five members of the committee were determined by the donors.

Additionally, donors for the professorships also potentially had a direct role in determining whether professors hired through these agreements could keep their jobs, pending a specially-appointed advisory boards determination (based on the individuals performance or otherwise) that the professor filling the Professorship is no longer qualified to remain at the university.

Cabrera acknowledged that the gift agreements  raise questions concerning donor influence in academic matters  [T]hese agreements fall short of the standards of academic independence I expect any gift to meet. He also conceded that the agreements granted donors some participation in faculty selection and evaluation.

In the wake of the revelations, the GMU faculty senate passed a motion calling for the release of donor agreements for public review within 30 days of formal enactment. Bethany Letiecq, a faculty senator, told reporters We want all gift agreements to be made public so we can discern the full extent of the academic violations that have been occurring here  Its now abundantly clear that the administration of Mason, in partnership with the Mercatus Center and private donors, violated principles of academic freedom, academic control and ceded faculty governance to private donors.

Letiecq was also justifiably bothered by the potential power exerted by donors over hiring and firing of professors, stating, These are all gross violations of academic freedom. Faculty hiring and faculty retention are not the business of donors, in any way, shape or form.

Koch brothers influence at George Mason extends far beyond the financial backing, hiring and firing of professors. According to the Fairfax County Times, the Koch Foundation has donated over $95 million to the University since 2005. The Kochs provided millions of dollars to GMU in the mid-1980s to set up what is now known as the Mercatus Center (Mercatus means market in Latin), which plays a large role in setting Congressional legislative policy. Over the years, at least $30 million of the Kochs donations have gone directly to this Center. Charles Koch and several Koch Industries associates sit on the Centers Board of Directors.

The Koch brothers influence does not stop at George Mason. Over the past few decades, the Charles Koch Foundation has given over $200 million to hundreds of US colleges and universities, usually targeted at economics departments. In 2012, the Kochs spread more than $12.7 million among 163 colleges and universities. A year later, their foundations spent another $19.3 million, spread across 210 college campuses in 46 states and the District of Columbia. In 2014, the Koch Foundation donated $25 million to the United Negro College Fund.

In addition to GMU, the Koch brothers exert substantial control over the economics department at Florida State University (FSU), giving millions to the department since at least 2007.

In a November 2007 memorandum, revealed through a prior FOIA request, Bruce Benson, then-FSUs economics department chairman, explained to fellow economics department faculty that the Koch brothers would not just give us money to hire anyone we want and fund any graduate student that we choose. There are constraints. He added, Koch cannot tell a university who to hire, but they are going to try to make sure, through contractual terms and monitoring, that people hired are [to] be consistent with donor Intent.We cannot expect them to be willing to give us free rein to hire anyone we might wantIf we are not willing to hire [libertarian economics] faculty, they are not willing to fund us  (emphasis added).

In Arizona, twenty percent of new funding for universities will go to two Koch-backed economic freedom schools (at Arizona State University and the University of Arizona). While providing millions to fund Koch brothers initiatives, the state government has slashed K-12 school funding by more than $1 billion since 2008, with the state currently ranking 48th in per-pupil spending. In April, educators went on strike throughout Arizona to oppose such conditions.

The Koch brothers influence also extends to the high school level. Charles Koch funded EDvantage, an online curriculum for high school teachers that criticizes government spending and promotes so-called free market economic principles. EDvantage provides economic lessons, including explaining why the Environmental Protection Agency is bad for the environment; why sweatshops are good for third-world workers; and how the minimum wage leads to unemployment.

Another Koch brothers venture into the mis-education of youth is the Youth Entrepreneurs (YE) program. As with EDvantage, YEs curriculum promotes libertarian notions, such as the conception that the minimum wage hurts workers and slows economic growth; that public assistance harms the poor; while fostering such ruling class ideas as low corporate taxes and little government regulation.

The goal of the YE program, according to publicly available emails from a Google group set up by high school students who were part of a 2009 pilot program, is to turn young people into liberty-advancing agents while inoculating students against left-wing ideas by assigning them to read passages from free-market economists like Friedrich Hayek. We hope to develop students appreciation of liberty by improving free-market education, the Koch associates wrote during the programs initial planning stages. Ultimately, we hope this will change the behavior of students who will apply these principles later on in life.

The YE program is now in schools in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, California, Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Georgia, Kentucky, and North Carolina. The program will begin in Montana next school year.

The Koch brothers growing influence over education is a byproduct of the deliberate and conscious defunding of public education by the Democratic and Republican parties over the last few decades. With growing inequality comes the increasing dominance of the wealthy over all aspects of social life, including the funding of education. As the example of the Koch brothers shows, the ruling class is using its ill-gotten wealth to promote in high school and university students the bankrupt ideas that have led to the unending crises of the capitalist system.
AirAsia X is set to operate seven flights a week to Honolulu, Hawaii from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia via Osaka, Japan, beginning August 16.



The announcement comes on the back of robust demand from Southeast Asia, with the airlines latest promo starting from only RM700 ($175.7) one-way inclusive of taxes.



Guests can grab these limited sale fares to Honolulu from May 28 to June 3, for the travel period August 18 to August 13, 2019. AirAsia Xs award-winning Premium Flatbed is also on sale from only RM2,999 ($752.7) one-way all-in throughout this promo period - a fraction of the business class fare cost for a full service carrier on the same route.



AirAsia X group head of commercial, Barry Klipp, said: Our maiden entry to Honolulu last year with amazing low fares has stimulated demand and generated tremendous interest from the Southeast Asia region. In less than a year, the market has grown exponentially and we are pleased to offer daily departing flights from Kuala Lumpur to Honolulu to meet growing demand and provide a welcome boost for tourism in both regions.



We remain the only low-cost carrier in the world to offer 180-degree lie-flat bed which provides the best low-cost premium experience in the sky, for a similar cost of an economy seat on a full service carrier on a similar one-stop route. Our sale ends soon so we urge value seekers to get in quick to avoid disappointment, added Barry.



AirAsia X currently operates four flights a week from Kuala Lumpur to Honolulu, Hawaii with one-stop in Osaka, Japan. Guests transiting in Osaka do not require a Japanese visa during the two-hour stopover, and can return to their seats on the flight after clearing security with any carry-on luggage or belongings.



Guests can also make use of AirAsia's Fly-Thru service to connect seamlessly to Honolulu from other cities within AirAsia and AirAsia Xs extensive flight network with just one additional stop.



Hawaii, nicknamed the Paradise of the Pacific, is formed by eight islands located right at the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Famed for its stunning natural beauty and unique indigenous culture, this tropical paradise is the only US state located in the Oceania.



Honolulu, the capital city, located on Hawaiis most populous island O'ahu, is a modern city that boasts island charms, including the world-renowned Waikiki Beach, once the site of vacation homes for the kings and queens of Hawaii. - TradeArabia News Service
Majid Al Futtaim, a leading retail and leisure pioneer in the region, has launched its 12th annual Make A Difference Together campaign, which encourages parents to teach their children the value of giving and to instil lessons of giving.



In addition, the campaign aims to stimulate communities to donate together, providing families in need with everyday essentials.



The Make A Difference Together campaign invites parents to educate their children to undertake kind acts that will make a positive difference in the lives of underprivileged families. Commencing on the first day of Ramadan and continuing into Eid, Majid Al Futtaim placed special donation boxes in its shopping malls across Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman and the UAE, encouraging parents and children to donate essential items that include clothes, toys, books, food and electronics. Everyone is invited to follow Majid Al Futtaims Ramadan initiatives and be part of a challenge on social media by using the #Sharetogether hashtag on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.



The Make A Difference Together campaign is aligned with the Human Development pillar of the Year of Zayed initiative and supports Majid Al Futtaims recently launched sustainable development strategy that focuses on transforming the lives of those in the communities it serves, to provide a healthy, fulfilling and sustainable way of life.



Alain Bejjani, chief executive officer at Majid Al Futtaim  Holding, said: We continue our efforts to enhance the social prosperity of the communities in which we operate. In line with our vision to create great moments for everyone, everyday, the Make A Difference Together campaign embraces the act of giving to support those in need during the holy month. The success of our annual campaign is a testament to the giving spirit of our local communities



Majid Al Futtaim team members will also embrace the spirit of giving by taking part in a number of initiatives during the holy month to help construction workers celebrate the joy of Ramadan. Team members will host a special Iftar for workers at Majid Al Futtaim construction sites, preparing goodie bags and gift packs for them as well as partnering with Fitness First to provide classes for workers and labourers. Ahead of the distribution of donated items at the end of the campaign, employees will gather with their families to fill the Eid boxes with the donations made.



Across the region, Majid Al Futtaim is once again partnering with charitable organisations such as the Islamic Association in Bahrain, Ahl Masr in Egypt, Arcenciel and Dar al Aytam al Islamiyah in Lebanon, Dar Al-Atta in Oman, and Red Crescent in the UAE, ensuring timely and appropriate distribution of all donated goods through their humanitarian network during Ramadan. Last year, more than 60 tonnes of books, toys, clothes and other items were donated by mall visitors across the region. - TradeArabia News Service
The aviation community has lost one of its most influential industry player and business leader - Serge Dassault - who passed away on May 28 at the age of 93.



The news came a day prior to the start of European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE2018), taking place from May 29-31 in Geneva.



European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) chairman Juergen Wiese joined today with National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) President and CEO, Ed Bolen, to honor the life and legacy of Dassault Group chairman emeritus, and further announced that the 2018 edition of EBACE would be dedicated to Dassaults memory.



Serge Dassault was a giant and a legend who not only influenced aviation, but also commerce and politics in France and throughout Europe, Wiese stated. We are honoured to dedicate EBACE2018 to this extraordinary industry figure.



Bolen added: Under Serges guidance and inspiration, Dassault Aviation rose to become a global leader in business aviation, military applications and technological advancements. Without question, he will long be remembered as a diplomat, statesman, innovator and leader, not just within the industry, but among all those who have been influenced by his leadership.



Dassault was named chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation shortly after the passing of his father, company founder Marcel Dassault, in 1986. He was later named chairman emeritus in 2000. - TradeArabia News Service
In Stores This Week Around The World - Street Fighter: 30th Anniversary Collection & More
Street Fighter II Still Eludes Me 30 Years On
Neville Longbottom is officially off the market!

Harry Potter actor Matthew Lewis announced on Twitter Monday that he recently married girlfriend Angela Jones in Italy. The actor joked that the nuptials kept him away from seeing one of his favorite bands live after first missing them in L.A.

Not only did I miss @ArcticMonkeys in LA but they were performing in Italy at the same time we were there and my wife made me get married instead. Fuming, Lewis joked alongside a stunning photo of the two from their wedding. He later posted the same picture on Instagram with the American and U.K. flag emojis as the caption.

???????????????? A post shared by Matthew Lewis (@mattdavelewis) on May 28, 2018 at 9:46am PDT

The two reportedly got engaged in Paris by the Eiffel Tower in November 2016, according to a TMZ screenshot of the event planners private Instagram page. The two first met in January of that year at a celebration at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter, where she worked. They later started dating in July 2016.

Lewis told PEOPLE in March 2017 that he and Jones hadnt started planning the wedding just yet. The happy couple stepped out at the premiere of fellow Harry Potter alum Emma Watsons Beauty and the Beast just a few month after their engagement.

Shes American, so weve got quite a lot of things to discuss about location and whatnot before we get anywhere, he said at the time.

Mathew Lewis and Angela Jones

Since he debuted in the big-screen Harry Potter franchise as Longbottom when he was just 12 years old, Lewis has gone on to land roles in Me Before You and Amazons newest series, Ripper Street.

Hes also transformed into a bonafide hottie  posing shirtless on the cover of Attitude magazine in May 2015  with a nearly nude spread inside.
Two female police officers were among three people killed in Belgium on Tuesday when a man stabbed them, took their guns and shot them in what authorities have since deemed a terror attack.

The third victim was a 22-year-old passenger in a car fired on by the suspect, near a school in Liege, about 60 miles east of Brussels, authorities said.

Police later shot and killed the gunman, who first fled into a nearby college and took a female hostage. No students were harmed.

PHOTO: Police officers are seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, May 29, 2018. (Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

PHOTO: Forensics experts are seen on the scene of a shooting in Liege, Belgium, May 29, 2018. (Francois Lenoir/Reuters)

Two police sources told ABC News the assailant is Benjamin Herman, a Belgian national known to police as someone who was radicalized in prison.

He approached the officers from behind, stabbed them multiple times and took their guns, officials said.

Witnesses on the scene told local broadcaster RTBF they were alerted to the incident by the sound of gunfire and panicked crowds.

I was on a bus when we all had to get off, and were told not to proceed because it was dangerous. The police were tense and shouting at us to hide, one witness said.

A teacher at the college spoke to Belgian outlet La Libre, saying, He was behind the doors and he was holding the cleaning lady. When he saw me he pretended to shoot in my direction but he did not really have the space."

"We managed to evacuate all the students from the back, we were lucky to have that possibility, the teacher added.

The Belgium federal prosecutor's office told ABC news earlier on Tuesday it was taking over the investigation from a local Liege prosecutor because "there are elements that make us believe that it was a terror attack."

Belgium remains on high alert following a 2016 attack killed 32.

"Our thoughts are with the victims of this horrible act. We are currently working on determining what happened precisely," the nation's interior minister said on Twitter.

French President Emmanuel Macron addressed the shooting shortly after the attack.

"We learned what happened this morning in Belgium during our meeting and the awful attack which seems to be treated as a terror attack by the public prosecutor's office," he said. "It is probably too early to make any comments but I wanted here to give all the condolences and solidarity of the people of France towards our Belgian neighbors."

Nos pensees sont avec les victimes de cet acte horrible. Nous sommes en train detablir un apercu de ce qui cest deroule exactement.  Jan Jambon (@JanJambon) May 29, 2018
U.S. and North Korean officials are charging ahead with negotiations in multiple locations to set a joint agenda and lay groundwork for the June 12 summit in Singapore between President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un.

Our United States team has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the Summit between Kim Jong Un and myself. I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 27, 2018

Beijing to New York

Kim Yong Chol, a former North Korean spy chief and senior official, and his aide, Choe Kang Il, head of North Korea's Ministry of People's Security, are expected to meet Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in the U.S. this week. The pair arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, reported.

Trump tweeted Tuesday morning that Kim Yong Chol was "heading now to New York."

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

Kim Yong Chol serves as vice chairman of the Central Committee of North Korea's Worker's party, which faces independent sanctions from the U.S. government. He and Pompeo met twice in Pyongyang during Pompeo's first visit, March 31 to April 1, and then again on May 9, when the U.S. secretary of state accompanied the release of three Americans held captive in North Korea.

President Trump will meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June 7th at the White House.

Story continues

Singapore

In Singapore, delegations from Washington and Pyongyang are working out logistics -- where the two heads of state will meet, which officials are to hold how many meetings, security issues and how much will be open to the press.

We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th., and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2018

Trump said on Twitter that the summit could take longer than one day. Pompeo, earlier this month, said after returning from Pyongyang that "in the event that there is more to discuss, therell be an opportunity for it to extend into the second day as well."

Kim Chang Son, a top aide to Kim Jong Un at the State Affairs Commission and known as the leader's de facto chief of staff, arrived in Singapore Monday night. Kim, mainly in charge of protocol matters for the ruling Kim family, is to meet the U.S. delegation led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations Joe Hagin, adding weight that the on-again, off-again, back-on-again June 12 summit is more likely to happen.

Panmunjom

U.S. diplomatic officials with expertise in nuclear issues are talking to the Pyongyang team led by Choe Son Hui, vice foreign minister, at Tongilgak, a building inside the North Korean side of Panmunjom.

Sung Kim, the current U.S. ambassador to the Philippines and former chief nuclear envoy, arrived in Seoul on Sunday inquiring as to Pyongyang's level of commitment to denuclearization. After a round of talks on Monday, the two sides met again on Tuesday, presumably to discuss details, including specific timelines, on how the global community will ensure security for Kim's regime if it relinquished its nuclear arsenal.

The United States delegation consists of Kim, Allison Hooker, Director for Korea for the NSC, and Randy Schriver, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Asian and Pacific Security Affairs at the Department of Defense.

Trilateral summit: Moon, Kim, and Trump?

The idea of a trilateral summit -- Trump, Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- after Trump and Kim speak on June 12 has surfaced in Seoul.

The South Korean government is officially making extra efforts to hush predictions, but a high-level presidential office source told ABC News that leadership is "waiting to see how it turns out," referring to current negotiations between the North and the U.S. "Depending on its outcome, the president could join President Trump and Chairman Kim in Singapore."

Both Koreas said a three-way summit is desirable when the two leaders met for the first time in Panmunjom on April 27.

The day after their second surprise meeting, Moon on Sunday told reporters that "should the North Korea-U.S. summit succeed, I would like to see efforts to formally end the war through a three-way summit of the South, the North and the U.S."

ABC News' Hakyung Kate Lee, Jaesang Lee and Jiweon Park contributed to this report.
Police on Monday afternoon were still searching for an Army National Guard member who was reported missing in the midst of flash flooding that tore through Ellicott City, Maryland, on Sunday, and swept away parked cars and trapping some residents on the upper floors of buildings.

Officials said in a press conference Monday afternoon that they had conducted over 300 rescues in Ellicott City and are still trying to locate the National Guardsman who went missing in the floods, Eddison Alexander Hermond.

Heres what to know about the Ellicott City flooding and recovery efforts:

Who is missing in the Ellicott City floods?

Eddison Alexander Hermond, a 39-year-old active member of the Army National Guard, has been missing since about 5:20 p.m. Sunday, police said, asking anybody with information to call 911. Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said Monday that finding Hermond was a priority.

Were certainly making every effort to locate that individual, he said.

Hermonds friend Joseph Lopez told ABC News that they had been dining at a restaurant in Ellicott City on Sunday when they noticed the parking lot begin to flood. It happened so fast, Lopez said. The main street became a river in less than 20 minutes.

He said Hermond was helping a woman who wanted to leave the Ellicott City restaurant, when he lost his balance and was swept away by the current. Eddison is a great swimmer so Im hopeful that he will be OK, Lopez told ABC News.

How bad is the flooding in Ellicott City?

Officials said the damage in Ellicott City appeared to be worse than damage in July 2016, when another flash flood devastated the Ellicott City community. Ellicott City, located about 12 miles west of Baltimore, is prone to flooding with the areas Patapsco River running through the town.

Ellicott City received nearly 8 inches of rain over a six-hour period on Sunday, most of which fell during an intense three-hour window, creating a true flash flood, meteorologist Mike Muccilli told the Associated Press.

Story continues

They say this is a once every 1,000-year flood and weve had two of them in two years, Gov. Larry Hogan said at a press conference Sunday night.

Commuters are rescued from a flooded car on Columbia Pike after a flash flood in Oakland Mills, Maryland, USA, 27 May 2018. The National Weather Service stated as much as 9.5 inches of rain fell in the area. Flash floods ravage Maryland, Oakland Mills, USA - 27 May 2018

My heart is broken, thinking about what the people are going through here  and the peoples lives who were devastated two years ago, and they rebuilt and now theyre faced with the same daunting task again, Kittleman said at the press conference. We will be there for them, as we were in 2016. But I have no words to say to you and to them right now. Im devastated. Im heartbroken, and I know they are as well.

#HoCoMD we have received an immense outpouring of support for #EllicottCityMD #ECFlood recovery. If u would like to make a monetary donation, visit @CFHoCo: https://t.co/LEcwGToHm4. Pls no unsolicited donations at this time. Updates, follow @HoCoGov & @HoCoGovExec.  Howard County Gov't (@HoCoGov) May 28, 2018

Walking through downtown Ellicott City surveying the damage with Lt. Governor @BoydKRutherford, County Executive Kittleman, and emergency management personnel from the county and state. We stand in solidarity with Ellicott City and Howard County. We are #EllicottCityStrong. pic.twitter.com/tlbU5b3wYQ  Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) May 28, 2018

Law enforcement officials said they were still working to secure the Ellicott City area on Monday morning before allowing residents and business owners to return to their property, reclaim belongings and assess the damage. As of Monday afternoon, the National Weather Service had extended a flood warning in northwestern Anne Arundel County and southeastern Howard County Maryland until 5 p.m. Monday.

We need to ensure the area is safe, Howard County said in a tweet.
Rome (AFP) - Senior Italian politicians on Tuesday called for EU budget commissioner Gunther Oettinger to resign over an "absurd" comment in which he voiced the hope that the country's poor economic situation will keep populist parties out of government.

Italy is facing the likely prospect of fresh elections after President Sergio Mattarella on Sunday blocked a cabinet proposed by the anti-immigrant League and their allies, the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S).

The chaotic developments have spooked investors, who fear another election could see an even better result for the populist, eurosceptic parties.

In an interview with German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, EU commissioner Oettinger said here had been a "noticeable downturn" in government bonds, banks' market values and in Italy's economy in general, which "the government formation may be responsible for".

"I can only hope," he added, "that this will play a role in the election campaign, in the sense of sending a signal to voters not to hand power to populists on the right and left."

His argument was picked up by a journalist in a comment which Oettinger then retweeted; "The markets will teach Italy to vote for the right thing."

Far-right League leader Matteo Salvini immediately pounced upon the message.

"It's crazy, in Brussels they have no shame," Salvini tweeted.

"'The markets will teach Italy how to vote.' That sounds like a threat to me! I'm not afraid," he continued before calling on Oettinger to resign "this afternoon" in a Facebook video.

Even the country's pro-European Democratic Party (PD) had strong words for Oettinger.

"No one can tell Italians how to vote, not least the markets. Italy must be respected," said Maurizio Martina, interim leader of the PD.

Outgoing Minister of Economic Development, Carlo Calenda, also from the PD, called for "an apology or resignation" of the EU commissioner.

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Five Star leader, Luigi Di Maio, also weighed into the debate.

"'The markets will teach you to vote.' The words of the European Commissioner, Mr. Oettinger, are absurd," said Di Maio.

"These people treat Italy like a summer colony where they come to spend their holidays. But in a few months a government of change will be born and in Europe we will finally be respected."

European officials were quick to distance themselves from the remark.

European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas labelled the comment "unwise."

"It is the Italians and only the Italians who will decide on the future of their country. Nobody else," he said.

European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker assured Tuesday that Italy's "fate does not lie" in the financial markets' hands and that Rome will pursue its pro-EU path no matter which party is in power.
For the past school year, Corey Patrick has gotten up at 4:30 a.m. each morning to catch a local bus to get to Tarrant High School, in Alabama, on time.

Earlier this month, he began the journey from his Birmingham home as usual  but this time, in his graduation gown.

Even when he would get out of school he couldnt get from that side of town until 5:19 when the bus runs back over there. So he doesnt make it back this way until about 6:30 or 7 oclock, his mother, Felicia White, told WBRC.

Patrick added to the station: I had to do what was necessary for me to walk this year.

A bus driver took a pair of photos of Patrick as he rushed to make his way to the bus stop that morning, clad in a blue graduation gown. The pictures quickly went viral, amassing more than 40,000 shares on Facebook.

They even caught the attention of comedian Rickey Smiley, host of his self-titled, Georgia-based radio show. On Friday, Smiley gave the teen a car at the 95.7 JAMZ studio.

Little buddy wanted doing this, trying to get no hype on the internet or trying to get no hype on the radio, Smiley said in a video of the sweet gesture. He did it because he wanted his high school diploma.

Smiley said hed supply aids to help Patrick get his drivers license. In the video, Patrick appeared emotional as he and his family marvelled at their new SUV.

The viral photos have changed Patricks life in more ways than one. Along with the vehicle, a GoFundMe page created for the teen has raised more than $11,000.

Patrick has since received a full scholarship to Jacksonville University, according to CBS 42. He told Smiley he plans to study computer science.
Comedian Michelle Wolf addressed her controversial White House Correspondents dinner remarks about Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders in the premiere of her new Netflix show, The Break, on Sunday.

I actually really like Sarah. I think shes very resourceful. She burns facts, and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smoky eye. Like maybe shes born with it, maybe its lies. Its probably lies, Wolf said last month in what turned out to be the most controversial part of her speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner. Trump Administration officials and others accused her of attacking Sanders appearance.

But in interviews after the dinner, Wolf defended her performance and said she wouldnt change a single word. Many comedians also came to her defense and accused White House staffers of hypocrisy.

In the premiere of The Break on Sunday, Wolf addressed the controversy again during a segment in which she discussed the nomination of CIA Director Gina Haspel and whether it is anti-feminist to not support certain women.

After Gina was nominated, my best friend Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted, Any Democrat who claims to support womens empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite,' Wolf said. Well if anyones an expert on hypocrites, its Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Batali, a celebrity chef, has been accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women and is reportedly under investigation by the New York Police Department. Batali had said in a statement to 60 Minutes: My past behavior has been deeply inappropriate and I am sincerely remorseful for my actions.
Kyle Mizokami

Security, Asia

One word: Submarines.



There's Only 1 Way to Stop China from Crushing Taiwan (And Invading)



Taiwans government has for decades tried to procure new submarines without success. Although a strong and vibrant diesel electric submarine industry exists, no country is willing to sell the island nation modern boats and anger China. As Chinas economic clout has grown, it has used the threat of economic sanction to prevent countries from selling arms to what it considers a breakaway province. In 2001 the George W. Bush administration promised to sell the country submarines. The plan ultimately came to nothing as American shipyards built only nuclear-powered submarines, financially unsustainable for Taiwan and a politically a bridge too far even for Washington.

The country with perhaps the most dire need for a modern submarine force in the industrialized world actually has the oldest. Fully half of Taiwans submarine force consists of World War IIera boats, while the other half is just forty years old. The result is a force that is unable to respond to Chinas submarine fleet and cannot adequately protect the country from invasion.

The end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949 resulted in a split between the Peoples Republic of China on the mainland and the Republic of China on the island of Taiwan. The Taiwan Strait, a narrow section of the Pacific separating the two Chinas, is anywhere from 80 to 200 miles wide. Although relatively narrow, the presence of the straitor The Black Ditch as mariners used to call ithas prevented one side from conquering the other and settling the China problem by force.

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From the end of the war to the 1990s, Taiwan enjoyed a slowly ebbing naval superiority that prevented a Chinese Communist invasion. China simply did not have the sealift to transport hundreds of thousands of troops across the strait and conquer Taipei, nor did it have the surface fleet and air force to support an invasion. A consistent double-digit increase in Beijings defense spending since 1992, however, has slowly but surely swung the pendulum to the side of the Communists.

While invasion is still impractical, the Peoples Liberation Army (PLA) grows stronger daily. In its 2017 annual report to Congress, the Pentagon estimates that Taiwans military forces are badly outnumbered by regional PLA forces. China outnumbers Taiwan twenty-four to four in destroyers, forty-two to twenty-two in frigates and seventy-five to forty in coastal missile patrol boats. In submarines, China outnumbers Taiwan thirty-four to four.

A powerful Taiwanese submarine fleet would go a long way towards deterring a Chinese invasion. A submarine threat to a ship-bound invasion force would cause considerable unease to a Peoples Liberation Army Navy entrusted to delivering tens, if not hundreds of thousands of combat troops across hostile waters onto Taiwanese beaches. China would need to devote considerable resources to neutralizing the undersea threat. Compounding the issue is that, unique among modern navies, China has never conducted a antisubmarine warfare campaign in any form.

Taiwans current submarine fleet consists of two Dutch-made submarines, ROCS Hai Lung and ROCS Hai Hu. The Hai Lung class ships were built in the Netherlands from 1982 to 1986 and are elderly by diesel electric submarine standards. Each displaces a maximum 2,600 tons underwater, can make 20 knots submerged, and has a crew of sixty-seven. Main sensors consist of the Thales SIASS-Z integrated passive/active sonar suite, a ZW-06 navigation/search radar. The subs have six 553mm torpedo tubes for Mark 48 heavyweight torpedoes and UGH-84 (Block I and Block II) Harpoon anti-ship missiles. In 2016, The Diplomat reported that Taipei was planning to refit the Hai Lung class to extend their service lives another fifteen years.

Thirty year old submarines are the good news. The bad news is that the rest of Taiwans fleet consists of a pair of exU.S. Navy submarines dating to World War II. The first submarine, ROCS Hai Shih, is the former Tench-class submarine USS Cutlass, while ROCS Hai Pao is the former Balao-class submarine USS Tusk. Both submarines were transferred to Taiwan in the early 1970s for antisubmarine warfare training and were considered, even then, unfit for frontline service. The two submarines were transferred to Taiwan with their torpedo tubes welded shut, but there are reports they have been reopened. They are also capable of laying sea mines.

Taiwans government has for decades tried to procure new submarines without success. Although a strong and vibrant diesel electric submarine industry exists, no country is willing to sell the island nation modern boats and anger China. As Chinas economic clout has grown, it has used the threat of economic sanction to prevent countries from selling arms to what it considers a breakaway province. In 2001 the George W. Bush administration promised to sell the country submarines. The plan ultimately came to nothing as American shipyards built only nuclear-powered submarines, financially unsustainable for Taiwan and a politically a bridge too far even for Washington.

In 2017, Republic of China Navy Chief of Staff Lee Tsung-hsiao announced his country would develop and manufacture a fleet of eight submarines in the 1,200 to 3,000 ton class. Starting in 2016, Taiwan allocated $99 million over four years to cover development costs for the submarines. However, Taiwan cannot reasonably develop all of the necessary technologies involved within a reasonable time frame. In 2017,Defense News reported that Taiwan was struggling with five key technologies, including periscopes and torpedo tubes, and experts believed foreign technology would ultimately be necessary to make the eight submarines a reality. The first submarines are hoped to be ready for service by 2027.

A small, scrappy force of eight Taiwanese submarines would be a powerful deterrent to Chinese military action and a inducement for both sides to settle the China question peacefully. Whether or not Taipei can ultimately built that force is open to question, as Chinese economic, political and military power stifles Taiwans ability to defend itselfeven in peacetime. In the meantime, Taiwans relative weakness against Chinas military power only grows.

Video: US Angers Beijing, Sending Ships Near China-Claimed Islands

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Kyle Mizokami is a defense and national-security writer based in San Francisco who has appeared in the Diplomat, Foreign Policy, War is Boring and the Daily Beast. In 2009 he cofounded the defense and security blog Japan Security Watch. You can follow him on Twitter: @KyleMizokami.

This first appeared in January.

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Liege (Belgium) (AFP) - A gunman killed two female police officers and a man in a parked car in the eastern Belgian city of Liege, before he was shot dead by police.

The assailant is suspected of being radicalised in prison by Islamist militants.

As more information emerges about Tuesday's incident, here is what we know:

- The attack -

- At around 10:30 am (0830 GMT), a man followed two female police officers in Liege, stabbed them several times, then grabbed their firearms and shot them both dead. They were 45 and 53 years old.

- Officials said the officers were "executed" in a targeted attack.

- He then travelled on foot before opening fire on a 22-year-old man in the passenger seat of a parked car, killing him.

- The assailant later entered the Leonie de Waha high school in the French-speaking city, where he took an employee hostage.

- The high school pupils were evacuated from the rear of the building and none were injured.

- Police officers arrived at the school and the assailant opened fire, wounding several of them in the legs. Officers killed him about 30 minutes after the assault began.

- Four police officers were hospitalised with gunshot wounds, including one who was hit in the femoral artery. His life now appears to be out of danger, while another officer has been released from hospital.

- The school will be closed on Wednesday and possibly on Thursday. Students will be given psychological counselling.

- The case has been classified as a suspected "terrorist offence" and handed to the Belgian federal prosecutor's office, which investigates terror cases.

- The assailant -

- The attacker has been identified as Benjamin Herman, according to a source close to the investigation. Born in 1982, he had served prison time for robbery, assault and battery and drug dealing, the source said.

- Amateur footage picked up by AFP shows the gunman shouting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") as he walked through the streets during the rampage. In another video, a short and intense burst of gunfire is audible, after which the man lies on the ground.

- He was last in prison at Marche-en-Famenne, in the French-speaking Wallonia region. Some unconfirmed reports say he had been granted several hours of leave from prison, reportedly to seek work.

- The assailant was flagged by the police for having been in contact with Islamic militants in prison where he was radicalised, the source said.
Sen. Bernie Sanderss former campaign manager says the Vermont independent is taking a good look at whether he should attempt a second presidential campaign.

He is considering another run for the presidency, Jeff Weaver said in an interview with C-SPANs Washington Journal on Tuesday when asked whether Sanderss supporters would get to vote for him in 2020. And when the time comes, I think well have an answer to that, but right now, hes still considering it.

Sanders, who suffered a bitter defeat to Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, has repeatedly refused to discuss his plans for the next presidential cycle. But the liberal firebrand has kept himself in the national spotlight, campaigning for progressive 2018 candidates, traveling to battleground states such as Michigan, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, and hosting live-streamed town halls that have drawn millions of viewers online.

Weaver, meanwhile, has been keeping tabs on 2020 issues too. He has been a constant presence at a series of meetings of the Democratic National Committees Rules and Bylaws committee this year, as it works through potential changes to the presidential primary, including a likely reduction in the number of superdelegates. Weaver was more than an observer at these meetings  he frequently huddled and conversed with members of the committee, a clear sign of interest on the part of Sanderss top adviser in how the primary will be structured.

In a recent interview with Salon, Weaver said he was appointed by Sanders to work on reforms that he hopes will go a long way toward helping to heal the wounds exposed by the bitter primary battle.

Sen. Bernie Sanders replies to a question at a town hall meeting in Jackson, Miss., last month. (Photo: Rogelio V. Solis, File/AP)

Weaver also dismissed concerns about Sanderss age. Sanders will turn 79 in 2020, which would make him the oldest U.S. president ever elected. (President Trump, who turns 72 next month, currently holds that distinction.)

Anybody who follows Bernie Sanders for one day and sees his schedule, and how rigorous it is, and how he drives everybody around him, works them into the ground with the amount of work and energy he has, I think they would understand that his chronological age is just not really a measure of his true age, Weaver said. [He] is an extremely energetic and vigorous person, and has more energy, I would say, than people half his age.

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Last week, Sanders formally announced he will seek reelection in Vermont, where he has served as a U.S. senator since 2006, after serving as the states lone congressman for 16 years.

Earlier this month, Sanders appeared along with several possible 2020 candidates at the annual conference of the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., where he delivered a speech that was notably similar to the one that launched his 2016 presidential campaign.

In his speech, Sanders stressed the need for unity in taking on Trump.

We live in an unprecedented moment in American history, and we need an unprecedented response, he said. Together  black, white, Latino, Native American, Asian American, women and men, gay and straight, young and old  we must not allow Donald Trump or anyone else to divide us up. Because when we stand together as one people, united, fighting for a progressive agenda, there is nothing, nothing, nothing that we cannot accomplish.

Additional reporting by Jon Ward

Read more from Yahoo News:
Palestinian boats carrying people wounded in recent demonstrations in the Gaza Strip have been intercepted by Israeli naval vessels during a desperate effort to break the blockade of the coastal territory.

The main boat in the flotilla is carrying around 20 passengers, accompanied by several smaller vessels, AFP reported. Passengers include students wishing to study abroad, those wounded in recent protests in the Gaza Strip and patients suffering from long-term conditions. The flotilla was intending to reach Cyprus.

According to the We Are Not Numbers organization, the flotilla's lead ship sailed past the limit of the blockade while being shadowed by Israeli warships, with other boats stopped around 6 nautical miles from the coast. The lead vessel is now being towed to Israel, the group reported.

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RTX66MRV

REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

The organization said that some of those accompanying the flotilla set fire to an Israeli monitoring buoy during the breakout effort.

In the past, Israeli vessels have fired warning shots at Palestinian fishing boats approaching the limit of the blockade. A website linked to the flotilla said organizers had warned passengers that the boats could be attacked by the Israeli navy or that they could be arrested.

The names of those sailing with the flotilla have been kept secret to protect their safety. According to organizer Salah Abdul-Ati, the trip will carry the hopes and dreams of the Palestinian people for freedom. Another organizer, Alaa Al-Battah, said the protest is designed to shed light on the suffering of Gazans and to send out a message to the world that we have a right to our land, sea and ports.

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Related: Humanitarians on the high seas: Freedom Flotilla sets sail for Gaza

The launch of the boats marks the eighth anniversary of the 2010 Gaza Flotilla Raid. As an international fleet of activist ships attempted to reach Gaza in spite of the naval blockade, Israeli commandos raided the Turkish Mavi Marmara and killed nine activists; a tenth later died from their wounds.

The organization behind the 2010 flotilla has already launched its 2018 effort, with the boats expected to push for Gaza in mid-July. The flotilla posted a statement to its website saying it salutes this humanitarian mission and calls on the governments and the peoples of the world to act to ensure safe passage of these boats and the civilians on board.

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REUTERS/Amir Cohen

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Last week, Israeli airstrikes targeted Palestinian vessels to be used either in todays flotilla launch or to greet the international fleet attempting to break the blockade in July. The strikes were part of an operation to degrade the underground terror infrastructure of Hamas, the Israeli Defense Forces said.

The launch of the Palestinian flotilla follows several days of tensions and violence that culminated in a large mortar barrage launched from Gaza toward southern Israel on Tuesday, allegedly by the Islamic Jihad group with permission from Hamas.

In response, Israeli airstrikes have been targeting Hamas and Islamic Jihad positions in the Gaza Strip. Amid such escalation, the challenge for the flotilla is even more daunting.

Gaza has been under blockade by Israel and Egypt since 2006 to stop Hamas diverting imported materials to military use. Israel has now started work on breakwater fortifications to help seal off the maritime approaches to the Gaza Strip. The new and impenetrable barrier will effectively prevent the possibility of penetrating Israel by sea, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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London (AFP) - The wrangle over what will happen to the Irish border after Brexit has put the previously unthinkable possibility of reunification of the island of Ireland firmly on the political agenda.

Support for staying in the European Union is increasing in Northern Ireland as the Brexit negotiations falter, according to a study released this month by Queen's University Belfast.

The poll of more than 1,000 residents of Northern Ireland also found 47 percent supported holding a referendum, although only 21 percent said they would currently favour a united Ireland.

The study said the results showed a hard Brexit in which Britain left the EU single market and customs union, combined with an economic downturn could make the prospect of Irish unity "particularly attractive" for the province's Catholic community.

In the 2016 referendum, Northern Ireland voted 56 percent to remain in the EU but, like Scotland, was outvoted by England and Wales and the overall result was 52 percent for Brexit.

The study found support for EU membership has now risen to 69 percent.

"What's becoming increasingly clear is the rise and rise of the Remain vote in Northern Ireland," Colin Harvey from Queen's told a conference organised by the UK in a Changing Europe think tank.

"And I think there is extreme peril and danger in rendering that Remain vote politically and legally meaningless," he said.

- Reunification 'risk' -

Unlike pro-EU Scotland, Northern Ireland could technically stay in the European Union by voting to join the Republic of Ireland.

The 1998 Good Friday peace agreements allow for the possibility of a referendum on Irish unity if the British government judges that the public mood has shifted significantly in favour of the idea.

So far only the nationalist Sinn Fein party, once the political voice of the Irish Republican Army, has called for a vote.

Opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, a supporter of Irish unity, played down the prospect on a visit to Belfast this month, but it is weighing on the British prime minister's mind.

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Theresa May reprimanded a leading eurosceptic in her Conservative party earlier this month for being naive about the possibility, according to a report in The Times newspaper.

After pro-Brexit hardliner MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said Northern Ireland would vote to stay a part of the United Kingdom in the case of a referendum, she reportedly told him: "That's not a risk I'm prepared to take. We cannot be confident on the politics of the situation, on how it plays out".

- Brexit brings 'new dynamic' -

May has vowed to avoid any new border checks after Britain leaves the EU next year amid fears of upsetting the fragile arrangements in a region once blighted by violence.

But her government has yet to find a practical way to do this, while also fulfilling a promise to leave the EU's customs union and single market after Britain's withdrawal.

Under a preliminary deal struck with Brussels in December, Britain as a whole would maintain "full alignment" with EU trade rules if no other arrangement has been found.

Brussels has since come up with a proposal that would effectively keep only Northern Ireland in the EU customs union -- something that pro-British unionists fiercely oppose.

Some British eurosceptics have accused the Irish government of exaggerating the problem and using their leading role in Brexit negotiations in pursuit of a secret agenda to unite Ireland.

In Derry, a border town that was at the heart of three decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland known as "The Troubles", Sinn Fein politician Elisha McCallion warned any new frontier checks would affect her life.

"My child goes to a nursery daily on the other side of the border. I would cross informally the jurisdiction between the north and the south six or eight times a day," she said.

McCallion argued that reunification would be the only solution, adding: "Brexit has flown a new dynamic in the conversation. People are talking about unity regularly."
Once upon a time, long before the European Cup was refashioned into the expanded Champions League format, the requirement for entry were simple: you had to be the reigning champion of your domestic league.

These days, however, domestic success doesnt always correlate with continental glory. Real Madrid have won four of the last five Champions League titles, while claiming just a single Liga title in that period.

How can a team dominate in Europes big club contest but fail to make the grade at home?

Check out FC Yahoos explanation of this phenomenonand be sure to leave your thoughts below the line.
Do dolphins enjoy playing with human companions? No one knows for sure, but a new study indicates that captive bottlenose dolphins react when they know they are going to play with familiar trainers, moreso than they do when they expect to play with toys or when they expect to be left alone.

For a study published recently in the journal Applied Animal Behavior Science, researchers tested captive bottlenose dolphins in French theme park Parc Asterix. They played a different sound before offering the animals different stimuli, including adding toys to the water, bringing a trainer to play with them, and a control, where they left the dolphins to do as they wished.

DolphinKiss

ADRIAN CATU/AFP/Getty Images

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The researchers found that when the dolphins were presented with the sound indicating they would get to interact with people, they would look forward to the interaction more than being offered toys or the control group, according to the study. The researchers came to this conclusion because the animals would engage in spy-hopping, in which they would poke their heads out of the water to see whats happening. According to the study, this "indicates motivation to participate in certain events."

"We've seen this same thing in other zoo animals and in farm animals," Isabella Clegg. lead researcher on the study and animal behaviorologist at Universite Paris 13 in France, told BBC. "Better human-animal bonds equals better welfare."

This study relies on classical conditioning, in which when a person or animal is trained to associate one thing with something else outside their control. The most famous example of this is Pavlovs dogs, in which Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov taught dogs to associate the sound of a bell with being fed. Its a common technique in the study of animal behavior to try to understand if an animal will seek a certain stimulus and the sight, sound or smell associated with it.

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Some news outlets have reported that this new study measures happiness in dolphins. However, according to David Lusseau, professor of behavioral biology at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, who has been working with bottlenose dolphins for around 25 years, Happiness has nothing at all to do with the study.

When theyre spy-hopping theyre trying to look up and see whats happening, Lusseau told Newsweek. It doesnt tell us actually about how the dolphins feel about the interaction, it doesnt mean they are happy.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Havana (AFP) - The chief negotiator of Colombia's ELN guerrillas said Tuesday he is ready to continue talks with the government even if the hardline rightist candidate wins next month's runoff presidential election.

Colombia's last active rebel force, the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN), resumed preliminary peace negotiations with the Bogota government in the Cuban capital Havana earlier this month.

President Juan Manuel Santos is trying to conclude a peace agreement with the ELN similar to the one signed with the larger FARC guerrillas in November 2016. The FARC has since become a political party.

But 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.

On Sunday, hardline conservative candidate Ivan Duque won the first round of Colombia's presidential elections and is favorite to defeat leftist Gustavo Petro in the June 17 runoff.

Duque has vowed to rewrite the FARC deal, which he believes is too lenient on the former guerrillas, and has expressed reservations about the negotiations with the ELN.

"We have received an order: we cannot leave the (negotiating) table," the ELN's chief negotiator Pablo Beltran told AFP.

"If Duque wins, he will find us here. He can put together his delegation and we can continue.

"We live in a world of 'fake news'... All this media war has an effect on people. We must continue to persevere so we can turn a page on war."

Cuba stepped in to host the talks after Ecuador -- which hosted several rounds over a 15-month period since February 2017 -- pulled out last month over an upsurge of violence on its border with Colombia.

In Havana, both sides have expressed a willingness to reach a deal for a longer ceasefire than the one which ended in January after 101 days. That fell through amid mutual accusations of breaches, and a spate of rebel attacks on the military.

"We have made progress on pre-accords on the issue of a bilateral ceasefire," said Beltran. "We hope it will be in place for the investiture of the new government on August 7."

The ELN announced a ceasefire for the period covering the first round of the elections. The group's leadership will make a decision on whether to do the same for the second round, but Beltran said he believed it is "very probable."

The ELN and FARC were formed in 1964 to fight for land rights and protect poor rural communities.
Bogota (AFP) - Colombian former rebel movement FARC said 24 of its ex-combatants had been killed since the beginning of the year, sounding a warning over continued violence threatening Colombia's fragile peace agreement.

The movement, which transformed itself into a political party last year after signing the agreement in 2016, said three of its members were killed last week in the country's southwest while in the process of reintegrating into society.

In total "this is 24 killings of ex-combatants" since early 2018, according to the party's count.

A total of 40 ex-FARC militants had been murdered since the agreement was signed, according to a report president by President Juan Manuel Santos last week.

FARC has repeatedly criticized the government for failing to fulfill its commitments under the deal, particularly regarding protection of former rebels, their families and party activists.

It has voiced fears that extreme right-wing groups were targetting ex-FARC combatants with the complicity of government security forces.

FARC called on both candidates in the June 17 presidential runoff to ensure "the abolition of weapons in politics."

"We are not going to allow the continued murder of those who have laid down their arms to enter in to legal political activity," the group said.

Conservative Ivan Duque, who won Sunday's first round, has based his campaign largely on rewriting the deal on the grounds it was too lenient on former rebels who have waged a five-decade war of terror on Colombians.

His leftist rival Gustavo Pedro, a former member of the M-19 guerrillas, has defended the agreement.
Moroni (Comoros) (AFP) - The head of the Indian Ocean state of the Comoros, President Azali Assoumani, intends to seek re-election next year if constitutional changes are approved in an upcoming referendum, his spokesman confirmed on Tuesday.

Azali, 59, a former colonel who won the last election in 2016, is serving a single five-year term, allowed under the current constitution drafted in 2001.

But a referendum scheduled on July 29 could change the system -- which sees power rotate every five years between the archipelagos three main islands -- and allow Azali to run for two fresh five year-terms.

Presidential and legislative elections, scheduled for 2021, would be held next year.

"If the 'no' wins, the president will end his term and withdraw. If the 'yes' wins, he will resign and will seek another mandate," spokesman Mohamed Ismailla told journalists in the capital Moroni.

"Consulting the people is the most democratic process for modifying the constitution," he said.

Azali's critics say the president is intent on enshrining himself in power and destroying democracy.

He first seized power in a coup in 1999 and ruled until 2006 after winning a democratic election in 2002.

In May 2016 he returned again as president after an election marred by violence and allegations of voting irregularities.

The Constitutional Court has been suspended, demonstrations outlawed and one of Azali's leading critics, former president Ahmed Abdallah Sambi, has been placed under house arrest.

An archipelago of three islands between Mozambique and Madagascar and one of the world's poorest countries, the Comoros has had a long history of coups and political turmoil since it gained independence from France in 1975. A fourth island in the group, Mayotte, remains part of France.
Prague (AFP) - The Czech Republic on Tuesday reopened its honorary consulate in Jerusalem, the CTK news agency reported, after President Milos Zeman voiced his wish to move the Czech embassy to the city from Tel Aviv.

The CTK named Dan Propper, a 78-year-old Israeli businessman of Czech origin, as the new honorary consul.

"I see my contribution as being especially focused on economic relations because I have links to the local entrepreneurial community," Propper told the CTK.

Opened in the early 1990s, the Czech honorary consulate in Jerusalem was closed in 2016 due to the death of the honorary consul.

The Czech Foreign Ministry vowed in April that the decision to reopen the honorary consulate had "no influence on the final agreement on Jerusalem" adding that Prague "fully respects the common position of the European Union that considers Jerusalem as the future capital of both states, that is to say, the State of Israel and the future state of Palestine."

US President Donald Trump broke with decades of policy, moving the US embassy to Jerusalem on May 14, infuriating Palestinians and intensifying protests on the Gaza border, with 60 killed in clashes with Israeli forces that day.

Trump's move ruptured generations of international consensus that Jerusalem's status should be settled as part of a two-state peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.

The Palestinian Authority recalled its envoys to Romania, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Austria after their ambassadors attended an Israeli reception marking the US embassy's move to Jerusalem.

Czech President Zeman, known for his pro-Israel stance, has repeatedly said he also wants to see his country's embassy transferred to Jerusalem.

The Czech Embassy (of Czechoslovakia then the Czech Republic) has been in Tel Aviv since 1949, except during the interruption of diplomatic relations under the former communist regime in Prague between 1967 and 1990.

Any decision to move the embassy would first need to be approved by the Czech government.
Oslo (AFP) - The father of Otto Warmbier, the US student who died after being held in North Korea, said Tuesday he favoured US talks with Pyongyang, a move he hoped would bring "the world's most barbaric dictatorship...out of its hole".

Otto Warmbier was arrested in North Korea for a petty offence and held for more than a year before he was released in a comatose state in 2017.

Warmbier, aged 22, died shortly after he was flown home unconscious. Although North Korea claimed he had contracted botulism in detention, the US has since alleged that he was tortured in custody.

US President Donald Trump is planning to hold a historic summit with North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un, scheduled for June 12 in Singapore.

"The diplomatic track with negotiations, I support them," Otto's father Fred Warmbier said at the Oslo Freedom Forum, an annual gathering of human rights activists in the Norwegian capital.

"Not talking to North Korea has helped foster the world's most threatening, barbaric dictatorship. I don't know if talking to them is going to change them but at least it will bring them out of their hole and force them to engage."

The diplomatic efforts have however not prevented Warmbier and his wife Cynthia from pursuing legal action against North Korea.

The couple has accused the Pyongyang regime in a US court of murder and torture of their son, who was sentenced to 15 years of hard labour for stealing a propaganda poster.

"I'm going to do everything in my power to force them to be answerable to what they did to my son," Fred Warmbier said.
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain's parliament has fixed the date for a debate and vote of confidence in Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy for May 31 and June 1, Spain's leading newspaper El Pais reported on Monday. A parliamentary spokeswoman could not confirm the date. On Friday, Rajoy was threatened with no-confidence motions and demands for a snap election over a graft trial involving members of his party in which a judge cast doubt on his testimony. (Reporting By Jesus Aguado; editing by Sonya E. Dowsett)
After successfully pressuring supermarket chain Publix to halt donations to political campaigns, teen activist and school shooting survivor David Hogg appears to have turned his attention to Trump Tower.

The 18-year-old floated the idea of demonstrating against President Donald Trump and the National Rifle Association with a "Die-In," a version of a sit-in where demonstrators mimic dead bodies, at one of the president's hotels. Like his other protests, the goal would be to pressure legislators into supporting additional gun control.

"So when are we doing a die in at Trump Hotel?" the former Marjory Stoneman Douglas student tweeted, earning more than 26,000 "likes." When a commenter suggested helping to organize a demonstration at one of Trump's Washington D.C. properties, Hogg responded with several wink emojis.

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Trump owns hotel properties in several major cities, including Chicago, Las Vegas, Miami, Manhattan, Waikiki, Washington D.C. and Vancouver.

Hogg also advised his 810,000 followers to start responding to Trump's tweets with a reminder of the president's post-Parkland pledge to ban bump stocks, an attachment that makes a semi-automatic weapon fire faster, and increase the age limit for purchasing a firearm.

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I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health, Trump tweeted on February 22. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue - I hope!

Along with classmates, Hogg has led a number of other large-scale demonstrations since the high school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14. Last Friday, his protest at the Supermarket chain Publix had iterations across Florida, resulting in the store's announcement that it would no longer donate to politicians who support the National Rifle Association. His efforts specifically targeted Florida Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, a major NRA supporter who previously described himself as an NRA sellout. Putnam had counted Publix as one of his top campaign contributors, along with Walt Disney Co.

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"We would never knowingly disappoint our customers or the communities we serve. As a result, we decided earlier this week to suspend corporate-funded political contributions as we reevaluate our giving processes, Publix said in a statement.

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Although Hoggs activism has enjoyed instances of success, it has also made him a target. After seeing a photograph of the teen protesting in the Publix parking lot, a Florida police officer left a comment on Facebook expressing hope that activist be hit with a car. Other public figuresfrom legislators to law enforcement to late-night television hostshave expressed similar sentiments.

Whats more, far-right conspiracy theorists have also flooded the internet with false stories about the teen and his former classmates.

Hogg has attempted to appeal to his detractors.

Talking about these issues is the first step to solving them," Hogg tweeted last Friday. "To the NRA supporters, thank you for making your voice heard. We are fighting for you too. Lets save lives."

david hogg

Joe Raedle/Getty Images

This article was first written by Newsweek

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When it comes to promoting conspiracy theories, Donald Trump Jr. seems to take after his father.

As Roseanne Barr embarked on a Tuesday morning Twitter barrage that led ABC to cancel her sitcom, the presidents son retweeted two of her posts attacking billionaire Democratic donor George Soros, including one that called Soros, a Holocaust survivor, a Nazi.

Donald Trump Jr. retweeted two of Roseanne Barrs claims about George Soros on Tuesday.

An earlier Barr tweet with a racist slur against former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett was cited by the network when it pulled the plug on its top-rated show. Barr has since deleted the tweet, which referred to Jarrett, who is African-American, as the offspring of the Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes.

Trump Jr. did not retweet that one.

Donald Trump Jr., Roseanne Barr (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: Carolyn Kaster/AP, Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

A spokesman for Soros said Barrs false allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust and an affront to Mr. Soros & his family, who against the odds managed to survive.

Right-wing conspiracy theories portraying Soros  who is Jewish and was 9 years old when World War II began  as a Nazi collaborator have become internet staples. Propagated by the likes of former Fox News host Glenn Beck, actor James Wood, and conservative commentators Ann Coulter, Dinesh DSouza and Mike Cernovich, that belief has become an article of faith in some Republican quarters.

But after Beck devoted a show to exposing what he believed to be the secret truth about Soros, Anti-Defamation League director Abraham Foxman issued a statement calling the segment repugnant.

For a political commentator or entertainer to have the audacity to say  inaccurately  that theres a Jewish boy sending Jews to death camps, as part of a broader assault on Mr. Soros, thats horrific, Foxman wrote. While I, too, may disagree with many of Soros views and analysis on the issues, to bring in this kind of innuendo about his past is unacceptable. To hold a young boy responsible for what was going on around him during the Holocaust as part of a larger effort to denigrate the man is repugnant.

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Investor, business magnate, philanthropist and political activist George Soros has been a target of right-wing conspiracy theories. (Photo: Olivier Hoslet, EPA via AP)

Trump Jr., like his father, has a well-documented history of retweeting or liking politically divisive messages on Twitter, as he did in February when he liked a message on the platform that promoted a conspiracy theory about 17-year-old Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, or when, in 2016, Trump Jr. retweeted an attack on Hillary Clinton by Kevin MacDonald, who the Times of Israel called a psychologist notorious for his theories of Jewish manipulation and control.

The Trump organization did not respond to a request for a comment.

Read more from Yahoo News:
Despite President Donald Trump canceling the proposed meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a U.S.-DPRK summit is still likely to happen. Both sides clearly want a summit to take place. However, whether it still takes place on June 12, or whether it takes place later, North Korea in particular is in a better position today than it was six months ago, and the U.S. bargaining position is weaker.

In the current environment, there is almost no possibility of returning to Trumps policy of maximum pressure through economic sanctions; support for any type of bloody-nose U.S. first strike to shock Pyongyang has largely evaporated; and the U.S.not North Koreaappears the truculent negotiating partner.

The past few days of U.S.-DPRK relations have been dizzying. Last week, Pyongyang began to show signs of backing out of the summit, attacking President Trump and in particular his National Security advisor John Bolton, who suggested North Korea follow the Libya model of denuclearization. On Thursday, President Trump released a letter he had sent to Kim Jong Un, canceling the June 12 summit scheduled for Singapore, citing North Koreas unrelenting hostility as the reason.

Pyongyang responded by taking the high road, with the foreign ministry saying they remained open to meeting with the U.S. By Friday, Trump had begun to talk about the summit possibly still happening, saying, We are in contact with North Korea. On Saturday, North and South Korea met for a second time at the demilitarized zone that separates the two countries, with South Korean president Moon Jae-in and the North Korean leader spending two hours talking face to face. And then on Tuesday, a top North Korean aide headed to the U.S. for talks.

Yet the events of this week have not caused the panic that typically accompanies developments in U.S.-North Korea relations. The world is different today than it was six months agoand North Koreas position today is also markedly different.

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Both sides clearly want the summit to happen. Both sides have enormous popularity gains to earn from a meeting, on the world stage and back home. In the U.S., Trump has decided that he will solve the North Korea problem in ways that his predecessors have not. By so publicly making North Korea a priority, and then making initial progress, President Trump has invested a significant amount of energy into the issue. It is unlikely that he would walk away now with almost nothing to show for it.

For North Korea, the first summit with a sitting president since the Korean War not only offers Kim tremendous legitimacy and prestige, it also provides the chance to improve a major relationship. Both the U.S. and North Korea are taking pains to show they are not desperate for a meeting, even while they show a willingness to talk. For Pyongyang, to even be considered to be a valid negotiating partner of the U.S. is a huge improvement in its status. As a result, it is likely that at some point, some type of meeting will take place.

North Korea has benefited in other ways from the prospect of a summit. Even if it does not happen, there are few options left to the U.S. for applying pressure in the short run. South Korea and China widely consider North Korea to be the more engaged partner. Pyongyang has made a range of concessions in the past six months, almost none of which could have been predicted last year: it declared a voluntary halt to long-range missile tests, attended the Pyeongchang Olympics, declared its nuclear test site at Pyungge-ri closed, released three U.S. citizens arrested and held in North Korea, and pledged to be open to denuclearization in some form.

Given these North Korean concessions, a renewed U.S. attempt to implement even harsher economic sanctions will probably not find support in the U.N. or in the region. China and South Korea have expressed a willingness to engage the North diplomatically and even economically, even while U.N. sanctions remain in place.

Furthermore, as long as North Korea is not actively provoking the U.S. with long-range missile tests, any suggestion of a U.S. bloody nose strike will appear unwarranted. It is hard to imagine a scenario where even the most hawkish American advisors are able to convince the president to start a potentially horrific war in the absence of any provocations on the North Korean side.

For the time being, engagement and diplomacy appear to be making progress on the peninsula. If the summit fails to materialize, the U.S. will have few other policies or options available. North Korea is in a better position now than it was before.
Israel warned it was closer to war in Gaza than it had been in years after Palestinian militants fired dozens of mortars at Israeli towns and Israels military responded with heavy airstrikes across Gaza.

In the most serious exchange of fire between the two sides since the end of the 2014 conflict, Israels military said waves of missiles were fired out of Gaza into southern Israel. At least three soldiers were wounded. One shell fell into the yard of a kindergarten, spraying the front of the school with shrapnel.

Israel accused the militant group Islamic Jihad of doing most of the shelling but said Hamas, the Islamist faction which controls Gaza, also participated in the attack. Israeli jets struck more than 30 Hamas and Islamic Jihad bases across Gaza in response, the military said. No injuries were reported in Gaza from the strikes.

Many of the projectiles fired from Gaza were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome missile system Credit: MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images

The exchange of fire comes after weeks of heightened tensions on the Gaza border, where Israeli forces have killed more than 100 Palestinians during protests. Most the dead were unarmed but some were engaged in bomb and gun attacks on Israeli troops.

Although neither Israel nor the Palestinian factions are believed to be looking for a full blown war, the shooting raised concerns about an escalation of violence that could send both sides stumbling into all out conflict.

Israel Katz, the Israeli intelligence minister, said the country was closer to war with Hamas than it had been at any point since 2014. We are the closest to the threshold of war since Operation Protective Edge, he said. We dont want it, and the other side doesnt either, but we have our red lines.

The shelling from Gaza into Israel was widely condemned internationally and Britain said the indiscriminate attacks were completely unacceptable under any circumstances.

The IDF will respond with great force to these attacks. Israel will exact a heavy price from anyone who tries to attack it, and we view Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks against us.  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 29, 2018

The mortar shells and rockets fell in and around Israeli communities near the Gaza border, triggering air raid sirens and sending thousands of Israelis running for bomb shelters. The Israeli military said many of the projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defence system.

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Video from the Israeli kindergarten showed the front of the building had been pockmarked by shrapnel from a mortar. The shell struck at around 7am, before any children had arrived at the school. Seven oclock is the busiest time of day. This could have ended differently, said Merav Cohen, an Israeli mother who lives near the kindergarten.

The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad jointly claimed responsibility for the shelling. "We will not let the enemy impose a new equation involving killing our people for free. The equation we will keep says: shelling for shelling and blood for blood.

Three Islamic Jihad fighters were killed by Israeli forces on Saturday Credit: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Israeli forces killed three Islamic Jihad fighters on Sunday after they tried to plant an explosive near the Gaza border fence, according to Israels military. The Islamist group had vowed revenge for the killings.

Israel has a policy of holding Hamas responsible for any attacks coming out of Gaza, regardless of which group actually did the shooting. We know that Hamas controls the Gaza strip and is able to control what happens, said Lt Col Jonathan Conricus, an Israeli spokesman.

He said Israel was not looking to escalate the situation and that the ball is in Hamas hands as to whether the fighting would escalate.

The Israeli military said the 107mm mortars fired by Islamic Jihad were supplied by Iran, which has long funded the group as a proxy force against Israel. Theres no doubt that the Iranians are involved, the question is how much and at what volume, Lt Col Conricus said.

#Israeli air strikes in central and south #Gaza targeting military positions that belong to islamic Jihad in Gaza , no causalities confirmed by #Palestinian health ministry yet. Photos by journalist Moneeb Saada pic.twitter.com/FOwjp4wUrr  Nasser Atta (@nasseratta5) May 29, 2018

Israeli warplanes struck more 30 targets across Gaza including a U-shaped tunnel, which went from southern Gaza into Egypt and then bent back into Israel, the military said. Ten such tunnels have been destroyed in the last six months, according to Israel.

Hamas and other factions have refrained from firing rockets into Israel since February but there has been a spike in shooting in recent days. On Monday night, heavy machine gun fire from Gaza hit a house in the Israeli town of Sderot.

Alistair Burt, a Foreign Office minister, was in Gaza on Tuesday and condemned the Palestinian shelling. "Indiscriminate attacks against civilians, especially those that risk killing or injuring children, are completely unacceptable under any circumstances, he said.

I condemn the rocket fire from #Gaza into Israel today. Indiscriminate attacks against civilians, especially those that risk killing or injuring children, are completely unacceptable under any circumstances.  Alistair Burt (@AlistairBurtUK) May 29, 2018

He also announced a UK aid package 1.5 million to help hospitals in Gaza treat the wounded 13,000 people wounded during the last two months of protests on the border with Israel.

Separately, Palestinian activists attempted to sail a flotilla out of Gaza in defiance of Israels ten-year blockade of the strip. The Israeli navy intercepted the flotilla and detained 17 Palestinians onboard.
A member of the Army National Guard is missing after a Maryland town was devastated by flooding Sunday.

Eddison Hermond, 39, of Severn, was reportedly trying to help others escape the floodwaters in Ellicott City when he was swept away.

He was last seen around 5:20 p.m. Sunday, during the worst of the flooding, and was reported missing early Monday, police said.

"He has not been located despite ongoing searches of the area," they added.

Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said his priorities are finding Hermond and assessing the damage the waters have inflicted on the area.

Were certainly making every effort to locate that individual, Kittleman said at a press conference.

A massive rainstorm hit the area Sunday, submerging cars, damaging buildings, and putting most of the of the citys epicenter underwater. Nearly eight inches of rain fell in eight hours and floodwaters passed 24 feet, reports said.

It was a repeat of another major flood in 2016, when two people were killed and the city suffered millions of dollars in damage. The citys hub, Main Street, had to be rebuilt. Reconstruction efforts are now back to square one, officials said.

A downtown clock that survived the last flood and became a symbol of the towns resilience was also destroyed on Sunday, Huffington Post reported.

Gov. Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency in Howard County in the aftermath of the storm.

Thirty rescues were carried out Monday morning and more are still underway, CNN reported.

Its just devastating because people have their lives tied up in this and went through a heck of a lot and came back and now theyre starting all over again, Hogan said. They say this is a once-every-1,000-years flood, and weve had two of them in two years."

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Joergen Oerstroem Moeller

Security, Europe

NATO flag flutters next to the U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II fighter in Amari air base, Estonia, April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from JCPOA is one more step in dismantling the edifice built after the end of World War II by the United States and Britain.

The End of the Atlantic Alliance

President Donald Trumps decision to withdraw from JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) is one more step in dismantling the edifice built after the end of World War II by the U.S. and Britain. Trumps decision follows after withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement and the TPP (the Trans Pacific Partnership). Additionally, NAFTA (the North American Free Trade Agreement) may survive, but only if renegotiated. Swipes have also been taken at European allies at various occasions. Finally, the forthcoming negotiations with North Korea will harm U.S. alliances in Asia, with Trump likely to forge an agreement with North Korea that will secure the U.S. homeland while disregarding South Korean, and especially Japanese, interests.

So far, the U.S. has abandoned quickly and without hesitation its role as leader of the global alliance system. Its long-term allies are left baffled, not knowing what to do in a new world order in which with America first has transformed into America only.

Traditional American allies are considered no longer indispensable for projecting U.S. power and their friendship is no longer treasured. America first and America only, signals a swing towards isolationism where international commitments are judged solely by what the bring to the U.S. Trump may well be recorded by history as the first in a line of American presidents taking the nation back to a more isolationist policy similar to America's withdrawal after World War I.

Nowhere is this clearer than in the explosive situation the JCPOA decision implies for the Atlantic Alliance. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was created in 1949 to defend the Western societal system and was kept together by common and shared values strong enough to overrule adversarial interest about economics and trade. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the Soviet Empire removed the raison detre of the alliance and NATO became weaker. Further writing on the wall came in 2003 when two major European allies, France and Germany, said no to participate in the U.S.-led operation against Saddam Husseins Iraq.

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Unless the JCPOA decision turns out to be stage thunder or something else is negotiated  which is probably wishful thinking  the U.S. has confronted its European allies with an unpalatable choice. Americas withdrawal from the JCPOA has pulled the carpet from under its European allies feet and damaged transatlantic unity towards common ends.

Either the European allies maintain the JCPOA or they decide to follow Americas lead, wherever that might take them. Every reason seems to indicate that the Trump administration means business on reimposing sanctions. This means the U.S. will unleash a barrage of economic and trade restrictions against Europe and European companies involved with Iran. If Europe does not comply with these restrictions, or reimpose their own sanctions on Iran, America will see its European allies as no longer valuable or on the same side.

The economic price of American sanctions on European businesses will be high and knowing that many rival U.S. companies will suffer too (such as Boeing) is little consolation. The political repercussions will run deeper. Europeans will rightly feel that they have been snubbed and stepped on. The U.S. simply takes them for granted, expecting its allies will always turn up to do as America wishes, irrespective of interests, views and policies. This is not the kind of alliance Europeans want- they instead would expect normal consultations and due regard to how they feel. The danger is that in the aftermath of American withdrawal from the JCPOA, the strong link of common and shared values will be thrown away. Europeans know NATO was never an equal partnership, but previous the U.S. went a long way to make it look like one. Perhaps those days are over.

Alternatively, European countries might yet decide to follow the U.S. and reimpose Iranian sanctions. This would cause European companies to not honor contracts with Iran and forgo many current and future investment opportunities. Europe may decide that the political and economic price to break away from partnership with the U.S. is too high and too risky. Such a step would signal European acquiescence as a sidekick to Donald Trumps America. This humiliating role would be interpreted as such by the Europeans themselves, the U.S., countries across the middle east, and major powers such as Russia, China and India.

The European dilemma is exacerbated as it is a balancing power. If Europe ends up with the U.S., the other JCPOA signatories will find it difficult to maintain economic and trade links with Iran as U.S. and Europe controls the global financial system and host most global financial institutions. Economic sanctions will squeeze Iran and once more America will have gotten its way. If on the other hand, Europe stays in the JCPOA the combined economic strength of Europe, China, and Russia may thwart the U.S. If this is successful, it will be the first time since 1945 that the U.S. has not been able to impose its will on the rest of the world. The stakes could not be higher. One wonders whether policy makers in Washington have realized this.

In the global power game, Iran and the other partners to JCPOA understand this completely. They will maneuver to push Europe towards staying in the JCPOA further isolating the U.S., which will intensify Americas anger and feeling of desertion if Europe sides with those staying in the JCPOA. When America questions why Europeans should be their friend if they are willing to sacrifice long term links with the U.S., Europes retort will be why did you bring us and yourself in this situation?

Traditional diplomacy tells that some kind of compromise will be sought behind the curtain. But traditional diplomacy has no place on the Trump agenda. There may be efforts to seek such a solution and, in this world, it cannot be totally ruled out. However, such efforts are unlikely. Even if successful a new compromise is successful, European attitudes towards the 2003 Iraq war and the current Iran question indicate that one way or another the Atlantic alliance is breaking up.

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller is a former state secretary in the Royal Danish Foreign Ministry. He is a visiting senior fellow at the ISEAS Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore.

Image: NATO flag flutters next to the U.S. Air Force F-35A Lightning II fighter in Amari air base, Estonia, April 25, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

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The European Union will deploy observers to Zimbabwe's general election expected in July, the first time in 16 years the bloc will monitor polls in the southern African country.

The EU and Zimbabwe's government signed a memorandum on Monday outlining guidelines for election monitors.

Zimbabwe formally invited the EU in March to send an election observation mission.

The elections will be the first since long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was removed from power last November following a brief military take over.

Mr Mugabe's successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, will be squaring off against Nelson Chamisa, 40, of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Crowds cheer at an election rally of President Emmerson Mnangagwa's ruling ZANU PF party in Mutare Credit: Philimon Bulawayo/Reuters

Elections under Mr Mugabe were marred by corruption, intimidation and violence, but Mr Mnangagwa has vowed to hold a free and fair vote.

"EU welcomes the commitment of the government to peaceful, credible, inclusive and transparent elections," Philippe Van Damme, head of the EU delegation in Zimbabwe, said after signing the memorandum with Zimbabwe's foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo.

The memorandum sets out the rights and obligations of the EU observers.

Victoria Falls back on tourist trail after Mugabe ousted from power in Zimbabwe

The new government's "desire to have transparency in the election process (by) inviting different international observers so that they can come and observe our elections... and observe democracy in action," Mr Moyo told journalists after the signing.

The head of the last European Union observer mission, Pierre Schori, was thrown out of Zimbabwe in 2002 on the eve of presidential elections that were condemned as flawed.

In the intervening years the EU did not send missions to other Zimbabwe polls as Mr Mugabe held a firm grip on power until his downfall.

Profile | Emmerson Mnangagwa

Mr Mnangagwa, who has invited the EU and the Commonwealth among a host of foreign monitors to observe the vote, is a veteran hardliner from the ruling ZANU-PF party and was a long-time ally of Mugabe.

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In addition to observing the run-up to the elections and election day itself, the observer mission will also monitor electoral complaints that may be lodged after the elections, the EU mission in Harare said in a statement.

Two US-funded pro-democracy groups on Monday also announced they were deploying observers for the first time to watch the Zimbabwe vote.

The National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute said in a statement they were deploying a joint mission "in response to President Emmerson Mnangagwa's public statements welcoming international observers to monitor the upcoming Zimbabwe elections".
Harare (AFP) - The European Union will deploy observers to Zimbabwe's general election expected in July, the first time in 16 years the bloc will monitor polls in the southern African country.

The EU and Zimbabwe's government signed a memorandum on Monday outlining guidelines for election monitors.

Zimbabwe formally invited the EU in March to send an election observation mission.

The elections will be the first since long-time ruler Robert Mugabe was removed from power last November following a brief military take over.

Mugabe's successor President Emmerson Mnangagwa, 75, will be squaring off against Nelson Chamisa, 40, of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change.

Elections under Mugabe were marred by corruption, intimidation and violence, but Mnangagwa has vowed to hold a free and fair vote.

"EU welcomes the commitment of the government to peaceful, credible, inclusive and transparent elections," Philippe Van Damme, head of the EU delegation in Zimbabwe, said after signing the memorandum with Zimbabwes foreign minister Sibusiso Moyo.

The memorandum sets out the rights and obligations of the EU observers.

The new government's "desire to have transparency in the election process (by) inviting different international observers so that they can come and observe our elections... and observe democracy in action," Moyo told journalists after the signing.

The head of the last European Union observer mission, Pierre Schori, was thrown out of Zimbabwe in 2002 on the eve of presidential elections that were condemned as flawed.

In the intervening years the EU did not send missions to other Zimbabwe polls as Mugabe held a firm grip on power until his downfall.

Mnangagwa, who has invited the EU and the Commonwealth among a host of foreign monitors to observe the vote, is a veteran hardliner from the ruling ZANU-PF party and was a long-time ally of Mugabe.

In addition to observing the run-up to the elections and election day itself, the observer mission will also monitor electoral complaints that may be lodged after the elections, the EU mission in Harare said in a statement.

Two US-funded pro-democracy groups on Monday also announced they were deploying observers for the first time to watch the Zimbabwe vote.

The National Democratic Institute and the International Republican Institute said in a statement they were deploying a joint mission "in response to President Emmerson Mnangagwa's public statements welcoming international observers to monitor the upcoming Zimbabwe elections".
The European Unions General Data Protection Regulation was one of the hot topics debated during the third edition of the CES-inspired digital conference Viva Tech, which brought together such high-profile speakers as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, IBM CEO Ginni Rometty, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi and French president Emmanuel Macron.

Zuckerberg was interviewed by Publicis Groupe chairman Maurice Levy on May 24, a couple of days after appearing at the European Parliament to address data privacy, fake news and his companys monopoly power. At VivaTech, Zuckerberg discussed some of the these hot-button issues, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal, as well as the E.U.s General Data Protection Regulation which kicked off the following day, May 25.

Zuckerberg, who was greeted like a rock star at Viva Tech, said Facebook has been submitting a GDPR privacy flows to users to ask permission about gathering some data from apps they use; and found that the vast majority of people choose to opt in to make it so we can use the data from other apps and websites theyre using to make ads better.

The reality is that if youre going to see ads in a service, you want them to be relevant and good ads, said the CEO.

Zuckerberg said Europeans were particularly concerned about privacy due to the continents history  notably in Germany, where the Stasi (the former East German secret police) spied on the population. Yet, he added that everyone cares about privacy. Thats not only here, thats a global thing, which is why Facebook will be rolling out the GDPR protections to Facebook users all around the world.

Reflecting on the Cambridge Analytica scandal, Zuckerberg reiterated his apologies and said Facebook

was investing in artificial intelligence (AI) and hiring thousands of people to actively prevent and track down bad content.

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By the end of this year were going to have more than 20,000 people at the company working on security and content review to make sure that we get rid of bad content, said Zuckerberg, who added that 99% of the ISIS and Al-Qaeda related content is flagged by (Facebooks) AI system before any person in our community reports it.

Zuckerberg acknowledged that Facebook had not taken a broad enough view of how people might use these tools for harm, and that goes for fake news, for interference in elections, hate speech and for developers potentially using the tools in ways that dont respect peoples privacy.

We need to take a broader view of our responsibility to make sure that were not just reacting to issues as they come up but theyre out there trying to prevent any issues from happening going forward, said the CEO.

The three-day conference, which wrapped on May 26, welcomed more than 1,800 startups from 50 countries and over 100,000 participants, a 47% year-on increase.

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Malian migrant Mamoudou Gassama has received thanks from the family of the boy he rescued - AFP

The family of a small boy found hanging from a balcony in Paris have expressed heartfelt thanks to the Malian migrant who saved him.

"He's truly a hero," the boy's grandmother said of Mamoudou Gassama, who climbed four floors before a crowd of well-wishers to pluck the child from danger.

The four-year-old's father, who had allegedly left him in their flat to go shopping, and then stayed out longer than planned to play Pokemon Go, faces charges of child neglect.

The daring rescue, which has earned him the nickname of Spider-Man, saw Mr Gassama become an overnight national hero and he was offered French citizenship.

President Emmanuel Macron awarded him a medal for bravery after inviting him to the Elysee Palace on Monday and offered him a job in the fire brigade.

Thank you France. Thats all I can say, said Mr Gassama after coming out of the state prefecture in of Bobigny, north or Paris, where he was handed a residency permit while awaiting full citizenship.

It transpires that the boy had left Reunion, the French Indian Ocean island, where his mother and grandmother live, only three weeks ago for Paris to join his father, who works in the capital. His mother and the couple's second child were due to join them in June.

The boy had already fallen one or two floors before somehow managing to grab hold of the fourth-floor balcony, as he is said to have pointed upwards when a resident in the neighbouring fourth-floor flat asked where he came from.

His mother told Antenne Reunion that the boy's father had little experience looking after him on his own and that this was not the first time he had left him alone.

"I can't justify what my husband did. People will say it could have happened to anyone and it has happened to other people. My son was just lucky," she said.

Speaking of Mr Gassamas act, she said: If I were to meet him, I think I would say what everyone is saying: thank you, thank you! At any rate, I wouldnt have been able to go one better than the president. He has been recompensed for his act.

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There have been questions over why a man on the balcony of the neighbouring fourth-floor flat couldnt simply pull him to safety.

Mamoudou Gassam rescues young child from building in Paris Credit: Telegraph

But the neighbour told Le Parisien that he could only hold the boys hand but not pull him up because there was a divider separating the two balconies and he feared dropping him.

"I didn't want to take the risk of letting go of his hand, I thought it better to do things step by step," he said.

The child had been wearing a Spiderman outfit, he said, and was bleeding from his toe and had a torn nail.

The boy was briefly taken into care by French authorities while police questioned his father, who was reportedly devastated, but social services concluded that the child risked no further imminent danger so gave him back custody.

However, the father faces charges of failing in one's legal duty as a parent, punishable by a maximum two years in prison and a fine of 30,000 (26,000).

His mother is also due to be interviewed by social workers in Reunion.

Emmanuel Macron awarded Mamadou Gassama a special medal and diploma for bravery and devotion Credit: POOL

As for Mr Gassama, the 22-year-old left his native Mali in West Africa as a teenager in 2013, according to Le Monde.

He crossed the Sahara desert through Burkina Faso, Niger and Libya and then traversed the Mediterranean to Italy in 2014 at his second attempt. His first bid failed when he was intercepted at sea by police.

He told Mr Macron that he had travelled to France because he did not know anyone in Italy and his brother had been living in France for many years.

According to Le Figaro, he has been living in squalid migrant lodgings in Montreuil, east of Paris, with three brothers and several cousins.
The father of a four-year-old boy who was rescued as he dangled from a balcony in Paris by a migrant from Mali was out playing Pokemon Go while his son almost fell from the building, prosecutors say.

Hero rescuer Mamoudou Gassama, 22, was dubbed Spider-Man after he scaled five floors of the apartment building on Saturday evening and saved the childs life.

French president Emmanuel Macron said Mr Gassama will be given French citizenship for his heroic act, and will be offered a job as a firefighter.

The boys father has been detained for alleged parental neglect after leaving his child alone in the apartment, French media reported.

Mamoudou Gassama makes his way up the building to save the boy (Picture: AP)

Prosecutor Francois Mollins said the father had left the boy to go to the shops, and was playing the virtual reality smartphone game Pokemon Go on his way back to the apartment.

He took a long time to return home because he had decided to play the smartphone game Pokemon Go when he left the store, said Mr Mollins.

He is devastated because he realises what he did, and the tragic consequences that it could have led to.

The prosecutor added that the window of the apartment had been left open and there was no safety grill to prevent the child from falling.

Mr Gassama displays a certificate of courage awarded to him by the Paris Police Prefect (Picture: AP)

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Mr Gassama was walking past the building with his friends on his way to watch the Champions League final when he spotted the child dangling from the balcony.

He climbed up five floors, pulling himself up from balcony to balcony, and whisked the boy to safety as a crowd screamed at the foot of the building in Paris northern 18th district.

Mr Macron said Mr Gassama will be given citizenship if he wants it, and a job as a firefighter.

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Mr Gassama was offered French citizenship by president Emmanuel Macron at the Elysee Palace (Picture: AP)

Bravo, Mr Macron said to Mr Gassama during a one-on-one meeting in a gilded room of the presidential Elysee Palace that ended with the awarding of a medal from the prefecture for courage and devotion.

Mr Gassama said he has papers to legally stay in Italy, where he arrived in Europe after crossing the Mediterranean after a long, rough stay in Libya.

However, he wants to join his older brother, who has lived in France for decades.

Mr Gassama described how he saved the boys life. I ran. I crossed the street to save him, he told Mr Macron.

He said he did not think twice, adding: When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing. Thank God I saved him.

Mr Gassama said was shaking with fear when he took the child into the apartment.

I was trembling, he told Mr Macron.

The president said: Because this is an exceptional act we are obviously, today, going to regularise all your papers, and if you wish we will start naturalisation procedures so you can become French.

The migrant from Mali scaled five floors to grab the dangling boy (Picture: AP)

Mr Gassama told Mr Macron that he arrived in Italy in 2014 after more than a year in Libya, where he was arrested and beaten.

The French president is toughening the nations approach to immigration, and stressed that not all who make the treacherous journey to Europe can be welcomed, but that Mr Gassamas actions were admirable.

You saved a child. Without you, no one knows what would have become of him, the president said. You need courage and the capability to do that.

Working as a firefighter corresponds with his skills, Mr Macron said, and opened the door for him to join.

You have become an example because millions have seen you, the president said.
A Florida police officer could face disciplinary action after he said on Facebook that he hoped some old lady loses control of her car at a protest against gun violence last Friday. The comment was posted beneath a photo of protest organizer and Parkland school shooting survivor David Hogg.

After stiff criticism from Facebook readers, K-9 officer Brian Valenti of the Coconut Creek Police Department deleted the remark. He said it was intended as a joke, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

One reader took a screenshot of the remark and emailed it to Coconut Creek Police Chief Albert Arenal on Saturday, the newspaper reported.

Whether someone agrees with these students or not, it is in very poor taste for a police officer to make the following comment regarding students that have just been through a tragic shooting, she wrote.

Arenal responded that the officers comment was unprofessional and inappropriate and that Valenti will be offering an apology, the Sun-Sentinel reported. The chief said that any other action to be taken concerning the post would be determined this week.

Valenti posted his remark while young activists, including Parkland shooting survivors, were holding a die-in at a Publix supermarket in Coral Springs on Friday. The teens were targeting Publix because the grocery chain had donated $670,000 to Florida gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, a Republican who has called himself a proud NRA sellout.

The protest began with 17 chalk outlines of bodies in the parking lot to remember the 17 people killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February.

Some people supported and others attacked the demonstration on a Facebook page. Valenti wrote: I hope some old lady loses control of her car in that lot. Jus sayin ...

Minutes before the protest began, Publix announced that it was suspending corporate-funded political contributions. Hogg hailed that decision and declared on Twitter: The young people will win.

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On Monday, he asked, So when are we doing a die-in at Trump Hotel?

The young people will win. https://t.co/lBjWSbP9Y4  David Hogg (@davidhogg111) May 25, 2018

So when are we doing a die-in at Trump Hotel?  David Hogg (@davidhogg111) May 28, 2018

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A surfer rescued a bird from the water off the coast of Venice, Florida, on Sunday, May 27, as Storm Alberto traveled north west of the Florida coast.

Nicole Fulwiler, who took this video, said she and her children went to see the surf with the storm and were watching the surfers when they noticed the struggling bird, which she described as a pigeon. A surfer came close enough to the pier that someone was able to get his attention to the bird, she said.

The video shows the surfer paddling to the bird as it flaps in the ocean and allowing the bird to get onto his board. The surfer took the pigeon back to shore and let him off his board so he could rest and dry off, Fulwiler said.

Tropical storm warnings have been issued as Alberto moves closer to the Gulf Coast. Winds of 45 miles per hour have been measured, and heavy rain is expected. Credit: Nicole Fulwiler via Storyful
In this image made from video, Kim Yong Chol, center, a former military intelligence chief who is now Kim Jong Un's top official on inter-Korean relations, walks through Beijing airport after his arrival Tuesday, May 29, 2018. He was at North Korean leader Kim Jong Uns side at the table in last weekends North-South summit, and had been a prominent senior official in other important talks. It was not possible to confirm the reason for his visit to Beijing, or if he would be traveling on to another destination. (AP Photo)
By Rozanna Latiff KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's new government has promised to release a long-awaited report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as a privately funded underwater search ended on Tuesday. Flight MH370, carrying 239 people, vanished enroute from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, becoming one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries. The government of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said last week that U.S. seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity, which had scoured the southern Indian Ocean for the aircraft since January, would end its hunt on Tuesday. The previous administration of Najib Razak, who was defeated in a stunning election upset on May 9, had promised up to $70 million to the Texas-based firm if it found the plane within 90 days. Malaysia's transport minister, Anthony Loke, said a full report into MH370's disappearance would be published in the near future, but he did not give a date. "I can assure you the final report will be published with full disclosure. There will not be any edits, or anything hidden," he told reporters late on Monday. Asked whether the report would refer to controversial elements of the MH370 case, he said: "To me, whatever elements, we will just publish it". Last year, Australian authorities said the MH370 captain had flown a route on his home simulator six weeks before the disappearance that was "initially similar" to the course actually taken by the aircraft. Peter Foley, who led the Australian Transport Safety Bureau's search efforts, told an Australian Senate hearing "control inputs" had been made to fly the airliner off course, but he could not say if one of the pilots had done so. Malaysian investigators said in 2015 they had found nothing suspicious in the financial, medical or personal histories of the pilots or crew. (GRAPHIC: The search for MH370: https://tmsnrt.rs/2L3ZZHo) FAMILIES CALL FOR REVIEW The decision to engage Ocean Infinity came after Australia, China and Malaysia ended a fruitless A$200-million ($159 million) search across a 120,000 square-kilometer (46,332 square mile) expanse of the Indian Ocean last year. This was despite investigators calling for the target area to be extended north by 25,000 square kilometers (9653 square miles). Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Plunkett said on Tuesday their team had searched more than 112,000 square kilometers (43,243 square miles) of ocean floor in a little over three months. While the outcome was "extremely disappointing", Plunkett hoped the company would be able to offer its services again in a future search for the airliner. Asked if China would consider further funding for the search, or whether search organizations had asked China for more resources, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had always maintained close communication with the relevant parties. "We will continue to maintain communication with relevant parties," Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing in Beijing. Voice 370, a group representing the relatives of those aboard the flight, has pressed the new Malaysian government to review all matters related to MH370, including "any possible falsification or elimination of records related to MH370 and its maintenance". Calvin Shim, whose wife was a crew member on the plane, said he was concerned that the accident report would not include key information such as the plane's full cargo manifest and the results of a separate investigation by Malaysian police. "We know that this issue is already four years old and a lot of people involved want closure," he said. "These four years have not been fun to us, the families." Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack said the search had tested the limits of technology and capacity of experts and people at sea. It would only resume if there was "credible evidence which identifies a specific location of the missing aircraft". "We will always remain hopeful that one day the aircraft will be located," McCormack's office said in a statement. The only confirmed traces of the plane have been three wing fragments found washed up on Indian Ocean coasts. (Reporting by Rozanna Latiff; Additional reporting by Jamie Freed in SINGAPORE, Michael Martina in BEIJING and Colin Packham in SYDNEY; Editing by Darren Schuettler)
Fox & Friends contributor Kayleigh Mcenany is calling Michelle Wolf an angry and militant so-called feminist after the comedian mocked White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on her Netflix special.

Fox News contributors are questioning Michelle Wolf commitment to feminism. (Photo: Getty Images)

On Sunday, Netflix debuted Wolfs new show The Break With Michelle Wolf during which Wolf raised the question, Do women have to support other women? in reference to President Trump naming Gina Haspel the first female CIA director, a controversial hire due to Haspels previous involvement in the torture of suspected terrorists. Who knew you could waterboard a glass ceiling til it broke! joked Wolf.

.@kayleighmcenany: Michelle Wolf says shes for womens rights, but yet she tears down women who are on the right pic.twitter.com/rQHB8cng7f  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 29, 2018

During her show, Wolf also disparaged a May 5th tweet from her best friend Sanders which read, There is no one more qualified to be the first woman to lead the CIA than 30+ year CIA veteran Gina Haspel. Any Democrat who claims to support womens empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite.

Wolf said of the tweet, Well if anyones an expert on hypocrites, its Sarah Huckabee Sanders. And for the record, that was not a looks-based joke  that was about her ugly personality.

There is no one more qualified to be the first woman to lead the CIA than 30+ year CIA veteran Gina Haspel. Any Democrat who claims to support womens empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite  Sarah Sanders (@PressSec) May 5, 2018

Wolf was alluding to her White House Correspondents Dinner speech during which she said, I actually really like Sarah, I think shes very resourceful. She burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Like maybe shes born with it, maybe its lies. The bit earned Wolf mass disapproval for mocking Sanders appearance.

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.@JessicaTarlov: Conway, Sanders, and other women in the GOP support policies that hurt women, so its okay to attack these women for that pic.twitter.com/DIYUU64hJo  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 29, 2018

On Tuesday, during Fox & Friends, Mcenany attacked Wolfs Netflix special. Michelle Wolf represents a very angry, militant-type of feminism thats very hypocritical. You know, she says shes for womens rights but yet she tears down women who are on the right. She added, And we see this on the left repeatedly.why arent they celebrating women on the right?

Mcenany, the national spokesperson for the Republican National Committee, provided examples: Sanders, the first mother to assume her role and Kellyanne Conway, the first woman to win a presidential campaign. She added that liberals tear them down in a malicious, angry, vile way.

Fox guest Jessica Tarlov responded that the aforementioned women support policies that hurt women, with examples such as not raising federal minimum wage (adding that two-thirds of people who earn it are women) and attempting to restrict affordable healthcare. This administration doesnt want to give women choices and control over their own body, and thats why its OK to attack these women, said Tarlov.

.@kayleighmcenany: The Republican Party is the party for women pic.twitter.com/t2WwhWEUmc  FOX & friends (@foxandfriends) May 29, 2018

Mcenany argued, We are the party for women and this is a presidency for women while slamming the Hollywood elite, including Wolf, for their lack of support.

Feminism, defined as the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes, is a sticky subject when it comes to politics  many argue that its impossible for conservatives who oppose abortion, contraception, and the gender wage gap, to identify as such.

And some conservative women have expressed disappointment in movements such as the Womens March which ignores their party by focusing on these issues. Others, like Conway, have rejected the term feminism altogether calling it very pro-abortion and very anti-male.

Theres an individual feminism, if you will, that you make your own choicesI look at myself as a product of my choices, not a victim of my circumstances, she said in February at the Conservative Political Action Conference. Thats really to me what conservative feminism if you will, is all about.

However, some disagree  in 2016 when asked on The View, Do you believe you can be pro-life and a feminist? Hillary Clinton said, Yes, I do, absolutely, adding, I respect the opinions and beliefs of every woman. The reason why being pro-choice is the right way to go is because it is a choice, and hopefully a choice that is rooted in the thoughtfulness and the care that women bring to this decision, so of course you can be a feminist and be pro-life.

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Paris (AFP) - The French government reiterated Tuesday a campaign pledge by President Emmanuel Macron to ban glyphosate-based herbicides by 2021, after senators refused to enshrine the pledge into law.

The weedkiller, introduced in the 1970s by US agro-giant Monsanto under the brand name Roundup, is suspected by some scientists of causing cancer, with a 2015 WHO study determining it was "probably carcinogenic".

Last November, a majority of EU member states voted to renew the licence for the product for five years, rebuking French efforts to limit the approval to just three years pending

"The president's commitment to forbidding glyphosate within three years is clear," government spokesman Benjamin Griveaux told Franceinfo radio Tuesday.

"We have said that we are going to work with everyone involved, that we will charge the INRA (National Agriculture Research Institute) with finding alternative solutions for glyphosate," he said.

Senators rejected late Monday amendments that would have given the pledge the force of law, though Griveaux rejected claims the government was ceding to pressure from farm lobbies.

"Have a little bit of confidence, don't always think that constraints, sanctions are the only ways of pursuing efficient public policies," he said.

"(Environment Minister) Nicolas Hulot is working with all players and with INRA, and if we find industrial and scientific solutions allowing France to stop using glyphosate in three years, then everyone will have won," he added.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a barrage of mortar shells at southern Israel on Tuesday, the army said, causing no injuries but raising tensions in the border area.

A statement from the Israeli army said that "25 mortar shells were launched towards several sites in Israeli territory."

"Most of the launches were intercepted by the IDF's (Israel Defence Forces) Iron Dome aerial defence system," the army said.

Police said that "a number of the mortars landed in open areas inside Israel," with no injuries reported.

Two further mortar shells were fired at Israel from Gaza after the initial barrage, the army said.

One mortar shell exploded near a kindergarten building, a military spokesman said. No children were believed to be there at the time.

It appeared to be the largest projectile barrage from Gaza targeting Israel since a 2014 war.

Palestinian security sources said Israeli tanks struck observation points belonging to Hamas and Islamic Jihad near the border. An Israeli military spokesman said he was not aware.

The mortar fire follows deadly mass protests and clashes that began along the Gaza border on March 30.

The protests have called for Palestinians who fled or were expelled in the 1948 war surrounding Israel's creation to be allowed to return to their former homes now inside Israel.

They peaked on May 14, when at least 61 Palestinians were killed as tens of thousands of Gazans protested and clashes erupted on the same day of the US transfer of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Demonstrations and clashes have continued at a low level since then. At least 121 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the unrest.

Israel says its actions are necessary to defend its borders and accuses Hamas of encouraging thousands of Palestinians to break through the border and attack Israelis.

- Activist boat -

On Monday, Gaza's health ministry said one Palestinian was killed by tank fire at an observation point. Israel said it had fired at it after two Palestinians attempted to infiltrate the border fence with the "intention of carrying out an attack." The two were arrested.

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There was also machine gun fire from the Gaza Strip toward Israel later Monday, the military said.

A day earlier, a tank targeted an Islamic Jihad observation point in response to an explosive device being placed on the border fence.

Three members of the militant group were killed, and there was speculation that the Tuesday mortar fire may have been Islamic Jihad's response.

Later on Tuesday, a group of Palestinian activists were due to launch at least one boat to protest and perhaps try to breach Israel's naval blockade.

The destination of the boat, which organisers said would carry patients needing medical care, students and job-seeking university graduates, was not announced.

The Gaza Strip has been under Israeli blockade for more than a decade, with Israel saying it is necessary to prevent the Palestinian enclave's militant Hamas rulers from obtaining means to attack the Jewish state.
TBILISI (Reuters) - Georgia said on Tuesday it had started procedures to sever diplomatic relations with Syria after Damascus recognized its breakaway regions as independent states, a move Tbilisi dubbed manipulation from Russia. Abkhazia and South Ossetia broke away from Georgia in wars in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Georgia and Russia fought a short war over South Ossetia and Abkhazia in August 2008. After it ended, Moscow, whose forces triumphed, recognized both regions as independent countries. The move was followed by Nicaragua, Venezuela and Nauru. Georgia, backed by the United States and European Union, said the Russian operation was a naked land grab. Georgia's Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that recognition of its breakaway regions by Syria was an illegal move and disregarded international law. "With this act the Assad regime declared its support for Russia's military aggression against Georgia, the illegal occupation of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali regions (South Ossetia) and the ethnic cleansing that has been taking place for years," the ministry said in a statement. "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Georgia calls on the international community to duly assess the illegal decision of the Assad regime made as a result of manipulation by the Russian Federation and to undertake the relevant steps in response." (Reporting by Margarita Antidze; Editing by Peter Graff)
Harrison Ford as Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back. (Photo: 20th Century Fox c/o Everett Collection)

When Disney announced in 2013 that new origin films about classic Star Wars characters were in development, fans quickly guessed that Han Solo was at the top of the list. The cocky outlaw turned passionate Rebellion leader, the man who seduced Princess Leia by telling her there arent enough scoundrels in your life, the skeptical loner hopelessly devoted to a Wookiee: Han was the most universally beloved character in the Star Wars universe. But it wasnt always that way. Heres how Harrison Fords space cowboy turned from supporting character to cultural sensation  and why his popularity, ironically, may be waning just as Solo: A Star Wars Story is finally in theaters.

One things for sure: From the very beginning, Han was the cool one. The character was conceived by Star Wars creator George Lucas as a combination of James Dean and John Wayne, with a spaceship in place of a horse or classic coupe. And Ford, although still a relative unknown, approached the role with a hefty dose of the swagger he had road-tested in Lucass previous film, American Graffiti.

Of all the humans in the show, Harrison Ford comes closest to stealing it, Fords co-star Mark Hamill told People in a 1977 article about the Star Wars phenomenon. When I heard him say, Keed, I been from one sida this galaxy to the other, I said, Oh, jeez, this guys got every good line.

Hamill was right (even though Ford doesnt talk like a bandit from The Treasure of the Sierra Madre). However, in most other respects, Han Solo took a back seat to hero Luke Skywalker. Luke inspired more Kenner Star Wars action figures (seven) than any other character. (Han and Leia had five each.) Until Return of the Jedis big reveal, Luke was widely speculated to be the guy who would win Leias heart. Former soap-opera actor Hamill became an instant teen heartthrob, and not incidentally, he was paid substantially more than Ford for the first film.

Harrison Ford in Star Wars. The original 1977 print caption for this photo says, In a scene from George Lucass epic space opera Star Wars, the American actor Harrison Ford as rebel smuggler Han Solo draws a gun against enemies; behind him can be seen a fantastic space shuttle. (Photo: Everett Collection/Mondadori Portfolio)

Though Leia was in a different category, being the only major female character in Star Wars, Carrie Fisher also experienced a massive surge of fame. The daughter of a celebrity marriage, the beautiful and quick-witted Fisher was a natural at doing press, spoofing herself on Saturday Night Live and delivering flawless TV interviews (occasionally in French).

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Meanwhile, Ford had a surprisingly slow crawl to stardom. A decade older than co-stars Hamill and Fisher, who called him Dad on the press tour, Ford didnt click in the same way with the films core audience of young adults and children. And his 10 years of pre-Star Wars film and TV roles had done nothing to raise his profile. As late as June 1977, a month into Star Wars theatrical run, Ford told an interviewer that he had never been recognized by a fan in public.

Even after he made his debut as Indiana Jones in 1981s Raiders of the Lost Ark (two years before concluding his run as Han Solo in Return of the Jedi), Ford wasnt the powerhouse star he appears to be in retrospect. A 1981 article in People declared Ford an interchangeable action star, who cannot be hailed as a new Bogie or Duke, or even the next Newman or Eastwood. No one, the article states, refers to Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark as Harrison Ford films  less a knock on Ford than an observation on the changing nature of stardom in the blockbuster era, but still, the man who played Han is the articles prime example.

Perhaps most telling of all is what Mel Brooks did with the character of Han Solo in his 1987 Star Wars spoof Spaceballs: He combined the character with Luke Skywalker, having Bill Pullman play a lightsaber-wielding space pilot named Lone Starr. From an audience standpoint, Star Wars two leading men were on equal footing: two sides of the same coin. As Fisher declared in a 1980 interview, Luke and Han combined would be the perfect mesh of a guy.

So when, and how, did Han sail past Luke to become the most popular Star Wars character? The shift seems to have happened between the late 1990s and early 2000s, thanks to a confluence of factors. For one thing, Fords action-hero stardom, and sex appeal, proved surprisingly enduring. On top of the Indiana Jones films (each of which made more money than the last), Ford starred in some of the biggest movies of the 1990s: The Fugitive, Clear and Present Danger, and Air Force One. In 1998, Ford was named Peoples Sexiest Man Alive: the oldest celebrity ever to be given the title. In retrospect, then, his breakout role in Star Wars seemed less like a wisecracking sidekick and more like the awakening of a leading man.

While Ford was busy mastering the art of aging, Star Wars fans were also growing up. Luke Skywalker had brought childlike wonder and a dose of post-hippie mysticism to audiences in 1977; 20 years later, fans who attended the 1997 theatrical rerelease of Star Wars no doubt related more to the skeptical Han Solo, his idealism tempered by too many run-ins with the Empire. Han was also the character who everyone left the theater talking about, thanks to both the inclusion of a deleted Han scene (featuring an abysmally animated Jabba the Hutt) and a tweak to the Cantina shootout that made Han fire his weapon in self-defense. The Han shot first backlash galvanized fans around Han Solos rough edges: Like Leia, they wanted the scoundrel, not the naive boy from Tatooine.

Harrison Ford as Han Solo, Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia, and Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker in a promotional shot for Return of the Jedi. (Photo: Mary Evans/Lucasfilm/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection)

And then, of course, the world changed. In the years following Sept. 11, Hollywoods fantasy heroes began to reflect a more violent and uncertain world. Batman, reincarnated as the emotionally tortured Dark Knight in 2005s Batman Begins, became more popular than the eternally optimistic Superman for the first time in the characters history. Iron Man, a cynical wise guy with a heart of gold (sound familiar?), became the hero who launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe in 2008. Even Star Wars went dark, concluding the prequel trilogy in 2005 with Anakin Skywalkers descent into evil in Revenge of the Sith. Mainstream sci-fi embraced dystopia with films like War of the Worlds and I Am Legend. Heroes journeys looked different now; the leading men in genre films needed to be more Han Solo than Luke Skywalker to make it out alive.

In 2003, the American Film Institute announced the results of its 100 Greatest Heroes & Villains poll. Han Solo came in at No. 14 in the heroes ranking. Neither Luke nor Leia (both among the 400 nominated characters) got enough votes to crack the top 100.

That trend continued, as did the medias obsession with pop-culture rankings. Whatever the list, Han was inevitably near the top and almost always ahead of Luke. In 2009, Han came in No. 2 behind Darth Vader on IGNs favorite Star Wars character poll. (Luke was No. 7.) MTVs ultimate Star Wars poll in 2011 also had Han in second place, this time behind Obi-Wan Kenobi and ahead of Darth Vader. (Luke was No. 6.) When Han returned to the big screen in 2015s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, he placed No. 3 in Empire magazines 100 Greatest Movie Characters feature, ranked by reader votes. (Luke was No. 50.)

Harrison Ford as Han Solo, with Peter Mayhews Chewbacca, in The Force Awakens. (Photo: Walt Disney/Lucasfilm Ltd c/o Everett Collection)

Its possible that Han Solos popularity actually peaked around the time of his comeback in The Force Awakens. Disneys movie posters featured 73-year-old Ford with nearly the same prominence as the new, younger stars. And when it came to the trailers, it was Han, once again, who had all the good lines (from Chewie, were home to Its true, all of it.).

For obvious reasons, Han was also the main topic of conversation as Force Awakens audiences exited the theater. At least, he was at first. Between The Force Awakens and Solo, a funny thing happened: Fans became less fixated on Han and more interested in the other characters. Perhaps it was simply the fact that Hans story was over, tragic though his ending may have been. Or maybe audiences were looking for a new brand of hero. After all, Lucas intended Han to encapsulate a certain kind of 20th century masculinity  one that doesnt exactly provoke the same kind of nostalgia among Millennials.

Thats not to say that the character is unpopular. Solo will pull in a big audience; it just would have attracted a much bigger one five or 10 years ago. Fan anticipation of the prequel amounts to a tiny fraction of the buzz that greeted Ford in The Force Awakens. That probably has a lot to do with Ford being gone  but it also has to do with audiences moving on.

In advance of Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017, a few different outlets polled fans about their favorite characters. Han ranked high in all of these, but it was the rankings of the other characters that were more telling. A Total Film poll asking readers for their favorite movie character of all time had a strong showing of Star Wars characters, with Han at No. 3, Leia close behind at No. 10, Luke at No. 47, and even Rey making the top 100 at No. 87. A different poll from Ranker Insights, asking for fans favorite Star Wars characters, placed Han Solo at No. 3, but this time behind Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, with Luke and Leia at No. 7 and No. 8, respectively. Most interesting of all is a Morning Consult poll that asked fans for Star Wars character rankings. This time, Leia was No. 1, followed by Luke at No. 2, with Han trailing at No. 6. Surely, Leia experienced a surge of popularity in the wake of Carrie Fishers death, and Luke gained renewed fan attention with his Last Jedi storyline. But in that last poll, original trilogy characters appeared side by side on the list with characters from the prequel trilogy (Anakin, Padme ) and the Skywalker trilogy (Finn, Rey, BB-8) and Rogue One (Jyn Erso). To fans growing up with so many films, the Star Wars universe looks much bigger, and Han isnt necessarily at the center.

Alden Ehrenreich as Han Solo, with Chewbacca, in Solo: A Star Wars Story. (Photo: Disney)

Based on the early box-office figures, it doesnt seem like the Alden Ehrenreich-led Solo film has reignited fan interest in Han. The film dramatically unperformed over the holiday weekend, with $103 million for the four-day period in North America  about $50 million lower than original projections and the smallest opening for a Star Wars film since Disney relaunched the franchise.

Regardless, theres a generation of original Star Wars fans who will always see Harrison Fords version as the epitome of cool. As director Peter Jackson once told Star Wars Insider, Han Solo is the character that we always wished we could be. I think most of us felt like Luke Skywalker, but we would have loved to have been Han Solo.

Solo: A Star Wars Story is in theaters.

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Bales felt his speech addressed the importance of youth advocacy: Getty Images

The news came just hours before their high school graduation ceremony was set to begin: Valedictorian Christian Bales and student council president Katherine Frantz would not be able to give their speeches.

It was a confusing announcement, as the two students thought administrators at Holy Cross High School  a Catholic school in Covington, Kentucky  had approved their speeches beforehand.

But in a phone call to the students families, the school principal explained that in an emergency meeting the local diocese had deemed the students speeches inappropriate. The diocese had felt that Bales speech, in particular, was aggressive, angry and confrontational, according to the Cincinnati news station WCPO.

Bales, 18, felt that his speech was indispensable. It addressed the importance of youth advocacy at a time when the nation has its eye on teenagers, such as the students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who have campaigned for stricter gun laws since a gunman opened fire on their Parkland, Florida, school in February, leaving 17 people dead.

And it praised his fellow student activists across the political spectrum  from those who spoke out about the Parkland tragedy to those who participated in the antiabortion March for Life in January.

So Bales and Frantz, still hoping to impart their advice to the Class of 2018, delivered their speeches outside after the ceremony through a megaphone.

 The young people will win is a mantra that Im sure many of you have heard if youve been attentive to the media recently. Its a phrase adopted by the prolific Stoneman Douglas teenagers who are advocating for an agenda  our rights to feel secure as humans, Bales said through a megaphone on a grassy lawn to a group of cheering fellow graduates, according to a video obtained by WCPO.

As we enter into the real world, we must remember that we have a voice, Bales said.

Bales went on to say that its sometimes the young who are the wisest, as they have not been desensitized to the atrocities of our world. Therefore, young people must speak candidly about issues and mustnt tremble in the face of the institutions that try to silence them, he said.

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We are dynamic. We are intelligent. We have a voice, and were capable of using it in all communities, Bales said.

Diocese of Covington spokesman Tim Fitzgerald told WCPO that the speeches were found to contain elements that were political and inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church. He added that the students had not met the deadline for turning their speeches in to faculty.

Fitzgerald and Principal Mike Holtz could not be immediately reached for comment.

Bales said he believed that he and Frantz were treated unfairly because of their outspokenness on social issues.

The president is my best friend, and weve been two huge advocates for social reform in our community, which has likely put us on the radar for the diocese, Bales told WCPO.

Bales mother told WCPO that her family has been part of the diocese for years and that Holtz had never called her personally to talk about Bales until last week. An initial phone call, she said, was to ensure that Bales, who identifies as gender non-confirming, would wear mens clothes, formal shoes, a conservative hairstyle and no makeup to the graduation ceremony  as expected by diocesan officials.

Holtzs next phone call was regarding Bales speech.

Marksberry said the staff of Holy Cross had been supportive of her son and so she did not harbour any negative feelings about the situation.

We dont want to be vindictive; we dont want to be vengeful, she told WCPO. Thats not what this is about. Hes earned the right to have a voice.

Bales plans to study biology at the University of Louisville on a full scholarship in the fall, according to WCPO. He hopes to become a conservationist.

We must take what weve learned in this community and apply it to the world we are about to encounter, Bales said in closing his speech.  We are the young people, and we will continue to win.
Budapest (AFP) - NGO workers in Hungary could soon face prison after Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government tabled what it calls the "Stop Soros" laws to parliament Tuesday, targeting "organisers of illegal migration".

According to the text of the legislation, helping asylum-seekers to acquire refugee status could result in jail for up to one year if those persons were not in immediate danger, or had entered Hungary illegally.

"Hungary's security interests must come first," said state secretary Csaba Domotor, adding that the laws reflected the will of the people expressed at a parliamentary election April 8.

Since the vote last month, which Orban's ruling Fidesz party won by a landslide, the fiercely anti-immigration premier has vowed to accelerate a clampdown on NGOs funded by liberal US billionaire George Soros.

Orban, in power since 2010, has long accused the 87-year-old financier, of facilitating migration, and called NGO staff "Soros mercenaries".

Hungarian citizens deemed to have broken the laws could also be banned from going within 8 kilometres (5 miles) of border areas, while foreigners could be handed expulsion orders.

The package is set to be debated next week by the new parliament, in which Fidesz enjoy a powerful two-thirds majority.

Rights groups in Hungary had denounced draft versions of the package published earlier this year as an effort to stigmatise and intimidate voices critical of Orban's hardline anti-migration policies that include border detention camps for migrants.

Brussels and the European Parliament grouping that Fidesz belongs to -- the European People's Party -- have also expressed concerns about the Stop Soros proposals.

The UN's refugee agency the UNHCR urged Hungary Tuesday to "withdraw" the laws, as they "would significantly restrict the ability of NGOs and individuals to support asylum-seekers and refugees".

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In March the EU's rights watchdog the Venice Commission began a probe into the laws' compliance with EU values, and is due to give its opinion next month.

Domotor said Tuesday while the government will listen to the Strasbourg-based body's verdict "no-one can give an ultimatum to Hungary".

In a speech in Paris on Tuesday, Soros said Orban had based his election campaign on "falsely accusing me of seeking to flood Europe, Hungary included, with Muslim refugees".

His Open Society Foundation said this month it was closing operations in Hungary begun in the 1980s and relocating to Germany in response to the "repressive" policies of Orban's government.
By Krisztina Than BUDAPEST (Reuters) - Individuals or groups who help migrants not entitled to protection to submit requests for asylum or who help illegal migrants gain status to stay in Hungary will be liable to jail under legislation submitted to parliament on Tuesday. Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government has also proposed amending the constitution to state that an "alien population" cannot be settled in Hungary, rejecting European Union quotas to distribute migrants around the bloc. In power since 2010, the right-wing nationalist Orban has tightened state control over the media and campaigned on a platform of fierce hostility to immigration - policies that have put him in conflict with the European Union, which funds development policies to the tune of billions of euros a year. The new bill also says that foreigners who sought to enter Hungary via a third country in which they were not directly exposed to persecution would not be entitled to asylum. The draft legislation, which was immediately condemned by the U.N. refugee agency, is part of Orban's campaign against EU migration policies and against George Soros, a Hungarian-born U.S. financier known for funding liberal causes. The legislation comes only weeks after Orban was re-elected by a landslide, and shows a hardening of his stance just as crucial talks begin about the EU's next budget which proposes spending cuts in ex-communist countries of central Europe. The text of the legislation, known as the "Stop Soros" bill and posted on parliament's website, said: "Those who provide financial means ... or conduct this organizational activity (for illegal immigration) on a regular basis will be punishable with up to one year in prison." "We need an action plan to defend Hungary and this is the STOP Soros package of bills," the interior ministry said in a comment accompanying the legislation. It said there were international and also Hungarian organizations helping the entry of illegal migrants to Hungary, adding: "Sanctioning these is justified." It did not name any groups. The government has said the bill intends to deter illegal immigration Orban says is eroding European stability, and risks undermining Hungary's Christian culture. While more than one million mainly Muslim migrants have entered the EU since 2015, few have sought to settle in Hungary. Official data show that in 2017 a total of 1,291 migrants obtained some form of international protection in Hungary, mostly Afghans, Syrians and Iraqis recognized as refugees. The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR urged Hungary to scrap the draft law restricting non-governmental organizations, saying it would deprive refugees and asylum-seekers of vital services and encourage "rising xenophobic attitudes". "UNHCR is seriously concerned that these proposals, if passed, would deprive people who are forced to flee their homes of critical aid and services, and further inflame tense public discourse and rising xenophobic attitudes," the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said in a statement in Geneva. FIERCE CAMPAIGN The new "Stop Soros" bill no longer contains a 25 percent tax that its previous version in February wanted to impose on foreign donations to non-governmental organizations that back migration. But the Hungarian Helsinki Committee, which provides legal aid to asylum-seekers, said the bill was still "unacceptable in a democratic state" and against European democratic values. "The government threatens those who stand up for human rights with the criminal code," the committee said in a statement, stressing that its activities were all lawful. Soros was publicly vilified during Orban's campaign for April elections. Orban's anti-immigration stance is particularly popular with voters in conservative rural Hungary. Orban has accused Soros and the NGOs funding him of plotting to undermine Hungary's Christian character by flooding it with immigrants, an allegation Soros has repeatedly denied. The proposed constitutional amendment submitted on Tuesday would also provide a legal basis for the establishment of new administrative courts and a high court to deal with lawsuits concerning the public sector, flagged by the justice minister earlier this month. (Reporting by Krisztina Than, with additional reporting by Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva; Editing by Richard Balmforth and Mark Heinrich)
Dublin (AFP) - Ireland's government is planning to draw up a new abortion law within weeks after a historic referendum overturned a constitutional ban, Health Minister Simon Harris said on Tuesday.

Speaking to public broadcaster RTE, Harris said he hoped the new law would be enacted by the end of the year.

"I'm determined to finish the job that the people have given me to do," he said while arriving for a cabinet meeting.

But he said there should be "realism" about the scale of the task of introducing abortion in Ireland, which would need changes to the healthcare sector and to medical legislation.

"I would hope that we can publish a bill in the coming weeks" after which it would be put to parliament for approval, he said.

"I'm determined to get it right for women, to get it right for doctors and that's why it will take until the end of the year."

Ireland voted by 66 percent in favour of repealing a ban on abortions after an emotional campaign in which women of all ages shared stories about having to travel to England for the procedure.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, a former doctor who used to oppose terminations, called the referendum a "quiet revolution".

"No more stigma. The veil of secrecy is lifted. No more isolation. The burden of shame is gone," he said on Saturday.

The proposals put forward by the government would see abortion allowed on demand in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and between 12 and 24 weeks in cases of fatal foetal abnormality or a risk of serious harm to the mother's health.

- Blow for Catholic Church -

Varadkar, leader of Fine Gael, and Micheal Martin, head of Fianna Fail, Ireland's other main party, both supported a pro-choice vote but some lawmakers in their parties oppose it.

The legislation is likely to win overwhelming approval given the scale of the 'yes' vote in the referendum.

Campaigners broke down in tears, crowds cheered and champagne corks popped as the result was announced in Dublin on Saturday, with 39 of Ireland's 40 constituencies voting in favour of removing the ban.

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The result was another hammer blow to the Roman Catholic Church's authority in Ireland, coming three years after referendum voters backed legalising same-sex marriage.

Ireland introduced a constitutional ban on abortion following a 1983 referendum. Under current legislation, terminating a pregnancy is only acceptable if a mother's life is in danger. Otherwise, it carries a maximum jail term of 14 years.

The ban has led to thousands of women travelling each year to neighbouring Britain, where terminations are legal, or increasingly turning to abortion pills sold online.

Since 1983, around 170,000 Irish women have gone abroad for terminations.

In the UK, abortion is legal on the British mainland but remains outlawed in Northern Ireland and dozens of British lawmakers have called for a change in the law.
The maritime border between Israel and the Gaza Strip as it is seen from the Israeli side near Zikim - REUTERS

Israel has begun work on a huge fortified breakwater in the Mediterranean sea to prevent infiltration from the Gaza Strip.

The "new and impenetrable" barrier being built off the Zikim beach, a few kilometres (miles) north of Gaza, is in effect a fortified breakwater topped with barbed wire, Israel's defence ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said the breakwater - the first of its kind in the world - was expected to be ready by the end of 2018.

"This is a unique obstacle that will effectively prevent the possibility of penetrating Israel by sea," Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman said in a statement.

"This is another blow to Hamas, which will lose yet another strategic ability in which it invested vast amounts of money," he added, in reference to the Islamist movement that controls Gaza.

In the last Gaza war in 2014, Israeli forces killed four Hamas militants who had managed to infiltrate by sea.

Israel is meanwhile continuing the revamp of its border fence with the besieged enclave - reinforcements include a new massive underground barrier meant to neutralise the threat of tunnels.

Construction began as Gaza activists announced plans to breach the Israeli naval blockade of the territory, which has prevented any vessel travelling more than six nautical miles from the coast since 2007.

Few details were given on the plans, but organisers said the boat would depart on Tuesday at 11:00 am (0800 GMT) carrying patients needing medical care, students and job-seeking university graduates.Its intended destination was not announced.

The boat also brings "dreams of our people and their aspirations for freedom", Salah Abdul-Ati, the organiser, said in a press conference at Gaza City's port.

Organisers said it would be the first attempt to breach the naval blockade from the Gaza Strip side.

The plan comes ahead of the eighth anniversary on Thursday of a deadly raid on the Mavi Marmara, a Turkish-registered ship that was part of a six vessel flottilla that attempted to run the blockade in 2010.

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No other details on the project were provided.

Israel has maintained a naval blockade of Gaza since 2007.

Boats off the strip are generally limited to six nautical miles offshore, and the Israeli navy regularly fires warning shots at Palestinians who breach it.

At least 119 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the Gaza Strip since mass protests and clashes broke out on March 30, according to figures from the Gazan health ministry.
Jerusalem (AFP) - Israel's military struck more than 30 "military targets" in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday in response to a barrage of rocket and mortar fire from the Palestinian enclave, the army said.

Army spokesman Jonathan Conricus told journalists the rocket and mortar fire at Israel was the most extensive since a 2014 war as was Israel's response.

"We just concluded a significant aerial strike where we struck more than 30 different military targets belonging to terrorist organisations," Conricus said.

"Amongst those a tunnel and different components of military infrastructure belonging to Hamas and to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad."

Early Tuesday, a barrage of mortar shells from the Gaza Strip were fired at Israel. Most of the some 28 mortar shells were intercepted by Israeli air defences and no injuries were reported.

Later in the day, Israel said it intercepted further projectiles fired from the Gaza Strip.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but there was speculation the mortars were fired by Islamic Jihad in revenge for a recent incident that left three of its members dead.

Hamas, the Islamist movement that runs the Gaza Strip, said in a statement "what the resistance carried out this morning comes within the framework of the natural right to defend our people".

Tuesday's incidents came after weeks of deadly demonstrations and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border, beginning on March 30.

They peaked on May 14, when at least 61 Palestinians were killed as tens of thousands of Gazans protested and clashes erupted on the same day of the US transfer of its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

No Israelis have been killed.
GAZA (Reuters) - Israeli tank fire killed a Hamas fighter at a frontier outpost on Monday while soldiers chased down and caught two other Gazan militants who tried to cross into Israel, the military said. During their pursuit of the two Palestinians attempting to infiltrate armed with "knives, wire cutters and combustible material", the Israeli soldiers were shot at from inside the Gaza Strip, the military said in a statement. "In response, an IDF (Israel Defense Forces) tank targeted an adjacent military observation post," it said. Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza, said one of its members was killed when the outpost was hit. The two Palestinians who tried to breach the border were being held by Israel, the military said. None of the soldiers was injured. Later in the evening, sirens warning of rocket fire went off in southern Israel, sending residents running for shelter, though the military then said it was machine gun fire from Gaza that set off the alarms. Hostilities over the Israel-Gaza frontier have soared since Palestinians began mass-demonstrations on March 30, which Israel deems to be cover for attempts to breach the border fence. At least 116 Palestinians have been killed and thousands hurt by army gunfire in the protests, drawing foreign censure of Israel's deadly tactics. Israel blames Hamas for provoking the violence, which the group denies. (Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; Editing by Peter Graff)
Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) - Israel struck bases of militant groups in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, the enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas said, hours after nearly 30 mortars rounds were fired at the Jewish state.

At least one base belonging to Hamas and four for Islamic Jihad, an allied group, were struck, security sources said.

A spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group that runs the Gaza Strip, confirmed only that "resistance" bases were being hit.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Israel's military said it was "currently operating in the Gaza Strip. The explosions heard are related to this activity. Details to follow."

The strikes came shortly after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged a "powerful" response to some 28 mortar shells fired at Israel from Gaza early Tuesday.

There were no reports of injuries.

One mortar shell exploded near a kindergarten building, a military spokesman said, causing damage to the structure.

It was the largest projectile barrage from Gaza targeting Israel since a 2014 war, according to Israel's Shin Bet internal security service.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the mortars, which Israeli media speculated were fired by Islamic Jihad.

Israel holds Hamas responsible for any fire from Gaza. It has controlled the Palestinian enclave since 2007.
ROME (Reuters) - Italy's Prime Minister-designate Carlo Cottarelli said on Monday that he will put together a government "very quickly" to accompany the country to fresh elections, to be held in the fall or early next year. "I'll present myself to parliament with a program which - if it wins the backing of parliament - would include the approval of the 2019 budget. Then parliament would be dissolved with elections at the beginning of 2019," Cottarelli said shortly after being named interim prime minister by Italy's president. "In the absence of (parliament's) confidence, the government would resign immediately and its main function would be the management of ordinary affairs until elections are held after the month of August," Cottarelli added. (Reporting by Steve Scherer, editing by Giulia Segreti)
By Steve Scherer and Alberto Sisto

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's president set the country on a path to fresh elections on Monday, appointing a former International Monetary Fund official as interim prime minister with the task of planning for snap polls and passing the next budget.

The decision to appoint Carlo Cottarelli to form a stopgap administration sets the stage for elections that are likely to be fought over Italy's role in the European Union and the euro zone, a prospect that is rattling global financial markets.

The euro zone's third-largest economy has been seeking a new government since inconclusive March elections, with anti-establishment forces abandoning efforts to form a coalition at the weekend after a standoff with the head of state.

President Sergio Mattarella vetoed the parties' choice of a eurosceptic as economy minister, prompting the 5-Star Movement and far-right League party to accuse him of betraying voters.

Both parties dropped drop their plan to take power, switched to campaign mode, and 5-Star called for street protests against the president's rejection of their nominee, 81-year-old Paolo Savona, who has argued for Italy to quit the euro zone.

Cottarelli told reporters after his appointment that elections would be held in the autumn or early next year. He also tried to reassure investors on the Italian economy.

"Speaking as an economist, in the past few days tensions on the financial markets have increased," said Cottarelli, who had served as a cost-cutting tsar to a previous government.

"Nonetheless the Italian economy is still growing and the public accounts remain under control."

The prospect of fresh elections raised fears among investors that the vote could become a de facto referendum on Italy's euro membership. The euro touched a fresh six-month low and yields on Italian debt climbed, increasing the extra borrowing costs or spread that Italy pays in comparison with Germany.

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Already Italian politicians are pondering election tactics.

A 5-Star source said it was considering an election alliance with the League. In March, 5-Star ran its own campaign while the League campaigned as part of a right-wing coalition with the party of former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi.

"This is not a democracy, this doesn't respect the popular vote," League chief Matteo Salvini said after Cottarelli accepted his appointment by the president.

Salvini characterised the move as the death throes of a political establishment intent on keeping Italy "enslaved", and afraid of the reaction of financial markets.

"The next elections will be a plebiscite -- the population and real life against old political castes and the 'lords of the spread'," he said.

FAILURE LIKELY

Salvini is tapping into a belief among many Italians that EU fiscal rules are rigged against Italy, even if many voters do not want to exit the euro.

"The euro has to stay, but we have to make our voice heard," said Roberto DAmelia, 68, a bar owner in central Rome.

At a Rome market, others criticised 5-Star and the League.

"I am a mother of a boy who has to travel the world and so I am convinced an anti-European minister is not the right thing for Italy," said shopper Irene Teramo.

Cottarelli must try in the coming hours to form a government with majority support from parliament. He seems almost certain to fail, at which point the president would swear in him and his proposed cabinet, to serve until the next election.

He has been tasked with passing the 2019 budget by the end of this year, a challenge that may prove impossible without the confidence of parliament. In those circumstances, elections could be held as soon as September.

FUNDAMENTAL CHOICE

In a televised address on Sunday, Mattarella said he had rejected Savona, the coalition's candidate for the economy portfolio, because he had threatened to pull Italy out of the euro zone.

"The uncertainty over our position has alarmed investors and savers both in Italy and abroad," Mattarella said, adding: "Membership of the euro is a fundamental choice. If we want to discuss it, then we should do so in a serious fashion."

The League and 5-Star, which had spent days drawing up a coalition pact aimed at ending a two-month stalemate, responded with fury to Mattarella, accusing him of abusing his office.

The 5-Star leader, Luigi Di Maio, called on parliament to impeach the mild-mannered Mattarella.

"Last night was the darkest Italy's democracy has ever seen," Di Maio said. "The truth is they don't want us to take power."

The 31-year-old said the anti-establishment group would organise rallies across Italy, including in Rome on June 2.

"Make some noise, it is important that we do so all together," Di Maio said in a live address on Facebook in which he reiterated the group had never planned for Italy to quit the euro.

League chief Salvini also threatened mass protests.

"If there's not the OK of Berlin, Paris or Brussels, a government cannot be formed in Italy. It's madness, and I ask the Italian people to stay close to us because I want to bring democracy back to this country," he told reporters.

However, Salvini dismissed Di Maio's impeachment call.

"We need to keep cool. Some things cannot be done in the throes of anger ... I don't want to talk about impeachment," he told Radio Capital.

($1 = 0.8588 euros)

(Additional reporting by Massmiliano Di Giorgio, Giulia Segreti, Giuseppe Fonte, Giselda Vagnoni and Stefano Bernabei; Writing by Mark Bendeich; Editing by David Stamp and Robin Pomeroy)
First daughter Ivanka Trump's company was granted approval to register several trademarks earlier this month, shortly before her father, President Donald Trump, announced he would help save the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE from financial collapse.

Related: Ivanka Trump Accused of Staying Silent on Labor Abuses at Her Clothing Companys Chinese Factories

The approval for five trademarks on May 7 for Ivanka Trump Marks LLC to have rights to baby blankets, bath mats and textiles, among other products, was revealed by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on Friday. The watchdog group wrote on its website that it "isnt the first time that Ivankas and President Trumps business connections to China have raised potential ethics issues," pointing out that on May 13 the president tweeted he was working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to give ZTE "a way to get back into business, fast."

Trending: Russia May Move Iran's Militants From Israel's Border in Unprecedented Deal on Syria, Reports Claim

China gave Ivanka Trump's business final approval for its 13th trademark in the past three months on Sunday, the Associated Press reported, based on trademark office records.

"As a White House adviser, Ivanka has represented the United States at multiple diplomatic events despite the potential conflicts her business interests present," CREW stated on its website. "Although Ivanka has stepped down from her role at her business and has placed it in a trust, she continues to receive profits from the business."

Ivanka Trump Marks LLC applied for the recent wave of trademarks in March 2017, according to CREW. Last year, Ivanka Trump's business was granted preliminary approval for three trademarks the same day she had dinner with Xi at Mar-a-Lago.

Don't miss: Mitt Romney: Trump Wont Be Role Model For My Grandkids Because He Lies and Attacks People

The first daughter's company has been criticized for working with Chinese manufacturers with poor work conditions and pay for workers. Furthermore, the president's controversial trade tariffs on China earlier this year exempted his daughter's Chinese manufacturing partners.

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Also on Sunday, an effort was unveiled by more than 60 House Democrats to demand a federal ethics investigation into the president's decision to ease a ban on ZTE, which breached its agreement to pay a $1.2 billion fine for conspiring to sell American technology to North Korea and Iran. Shortly before that, the Chinese government had granted a $500 million loan to an Indonesian theme park development project that will include several Trump-branded properties.

Ivanka Trump's business did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Newsweek on Monday.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
Tokyo (AFP) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government came under fire Tuesday after a senior MP suggested only women should raise children under three and another urged newly-weds to have at least three kids.

Abe's government has made "womenomics" -- or boosting women's participation in the workplace -- a priority, as the country's workforce drops amid a rapidly ageing population.

But Koichi Hagiuda, a senior member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), touched off a firestorm on Sunday when he said men rearing children might be "unwelcome" for them.

"Children need an environment where they can stay with their mothers ... if you ask infants under three which parent they like more, the answer should be mama, even though there are no firm statistics to support it," said Hagiuda, 54, the LDP's executive acting secretary-general.

Those remarks came after another MP, Kanji Kato, doubled down on comments suggesting young couples should produce at least three children, saying he had received popular backing.

But the leader of the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party lashed out on Tuesday, saying the comments were "intolerable."

"There are many people who cannot give birth to children despite wanting to and there are many single-father families," Yukio Edano said. "Don't they notice these facts?"

Sumire Hamada, from rights group Asia-Japan Women's Resource Center, told AFP that Hagiuda's comments were "out of the question."

"What happened to the government's pledge to build a society where men can participate in child-rearing?

"These comments overturn what the government has said, and I'm sure many fathers have been angered" by Hagiuda's "rude remarks," she said.

Another campaigner said the remarks could encourage men to persist in the long working-hours culture endemic in Japan.

Tetsuya Ando, founder of the organisation Fathering Japan, told AFP: "When he said children under three like mothers more than fathers, that's unacceptable."

"That kind of remark puts pressure on working mothers to stay at home while removing fathers' rights to rear children," said Ando, 55, himself a dad-of-three.
Joel Embiid is keeping his spending part of his offseason taking his game to the streets of Philadelphia.

The 76ers superstar recently played some pickup ball on a Philadelphia blacktop, and a handful of non-NBA caliber players relished the opportunity to play with the big man.

Some of the action was posted on Twitter.

Embiid takes his next victim at 10th and Lombard @SpikeEskin @Michael_Levin pic.twitter.com/U7fW1EXv5D  Ryan Walter (@rjwalter5) May 28, 2018

Neither the considerably shorter defender nor the rim stood a chance on that play. But it would be pretty cool to be able to say you played with Embiid if getting dunked on isnt one of your great fears in life.

Now this.  This is a completely different story.

Heres video, courtesy @astrait25, of Joel Embiid bouncing a ball off a dudes face and then windmilling on his head at a park at 9th and South in Philly. Phenomenal. pic.twitter.com/XS99pFhXat  Rob Dauster (@RobDauster) May 28, 2018

That was disrespectful. That dude with the beard and blue shorts just got clowned to the tune of a ball off his forehead and a windmill dunk in his face. And its been posted on Twitter for all of the internet to mock.

The internet may not know his name, but his friends and family surely do. Was it worth it to play with Embiid to end up being that guy?

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Pippa Middleton is well-known for her chic courtside moments, so its little surprise that the Duchess of Cambridges sister put on yet another stylish display while at the French Open in Paris over Memorial Day weekend.

Middleton and husband James Matthews stepped out in matching Roland-Garros fedoras and Ray-Ban sunglasses, but it was her red Ralph Lauren wrap dress that had everyone talking.

Pippa Middleton and James Matthews wore matching fedoras to the French Open. (Photo: Getty Images)

Still available online for $398, the crepe dress features a whimsical star and sailboat print.

The summer-appropriate look was paired with heeled Castaner espadrilles and an ultra-cute crossbody straw bag by Boho Bags.

Middleton is rumored to be in the early stages of pregnancy, though she has not yet publicly confirmed it.

Meanwhile, back on English soil, big sister Kate Middleton made a surprise appearance at the Houghton Horse Trials, where she was photographed on a day out with Prince George and Princess Charlotte.

The unusually casual display from the royal family saw the duchess wear a blue embroidered smock dress from Zara (priced at $69), which, naturally, has already sold out online.

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Zaras Flocked Print Dress is already sold out online. (Photo: Courtesy of Zara)

Middleton, who could be seen tending to her two oldest children, paired the dress with a black and tan tote bag.

She was last seen at the royal wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, where she wore a lemon-hued Alexander McQueen number and Philip Treacy hat.

Were bookmarking these outfits for our next summer outing. Thanks, ladies!

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Its a whole new world for Kim Kardashian  beautywise, at least.

The reality star is currently sporting new platinum blond locks in honor of her fourth wedding anniversary with Kanye West, who has a soft spot for bleached dos. But a just-released beauty tutorial with a top makeup artist shows Kardashian sporting a statement look thats a little more animated.

In March, Kardashian teased that shed be teaming up with makeup pro Kandee Johnson for a tutorial. As promised, she appears in Johnsons latest YouTube video, which shows her getting a dramatic makeover that transforms her into Princess Jasmine of Aladdin fame.

Johnson used everything from black Urban Decay liner to a glue stick to turn Kardashian, who has dressed up as Princess Jasmine for Halloween, into the Disney character. Thanks to some serious contouring, cartoonish brows, giant gold earrings, and a suitably poofy wig, the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star emerged from the session looking unrecognizable  unless youre her kid and toughest critic.

An excited Kardashian rushed to call up her 4-year-old daughter, North West, but the little girl wasnt buying it.

You dont look like Princess Jasmine, she shot back. Youre really Kim!

Turns out that all the makeup in the world cant mask that voice. But at least Kardashian was impressed.

This is so cute, she gushed to Johnson. I want to go home like this.

One magic carpet ride, coming right up.

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The father of the young boy who was dramatically rescued from a Paris balcony by a Malian migrant was not watching his child because he was out playing Pokemon Go, prosecutors said.

The father of the 4-year-old boy has been arrested on suspicion of "failure to meet parental obligations" after a video of Mamoudou Gassama, dubbed "Le Spiderman," scaling the apartment building's front to rescue to boy was seen around the world.

Gassama, 22, who was living in Paris illegally at the time, was later granted French citizenship by President Emmanuel Macron and offered a job as a firefighter, thanks to his heroics.

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Paris prosecutor Francois Molins told the BFM television network that the child's father had gone grocery shopping but was delayed in coming home because he decided to play the smartphone game after leaving the store.

"He is devastated because he realizes what he did and the tragic consequences that it could have led to, Molins added.

The boys mother was not in Paris at the time, as she was with family members on France's Reunion Island, in the Indian Ocean. The boy had left the island to join his father in the French capital a few weeks ago, with the mother and couple's second child due to join them in June, the BBC reported.

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The boys mother told TV channel Antenne Reunion that the father was not used to looking after the 4-year-old. "I can't justify what my husband did. People will say it could have happened to anyone, and it has happened to other people. My son was just lucky," she said.

RTX66KUR

TAREK DANDACH/via REUTERS

Story continues

The father, who has not been named, is due to appear in court in September to face neglect charges.

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Following the rescue, Gassama was invited to the presidential Elysee Palace by Macron, where he received a gold medal for courage and devotion.

You have become an example because millions of people have seen you. It is only right that the nation be grateful," Macron told Gassama, before informing him that his immigration status would be put in order, Agence France-Presse reported.

Gassama told Macron that God "helped me" during the rescue. When I started to climb, it gave me courage to keep climbing, he said, according to the Associated Press.

Gassama had been working in construction after he arrived in France illegally to join his brother, who has been in the country for decades. He had been granted the right to live in Italy after landing in 2014 following a hazardous journey across the Mediterranean Sea from Libya.

RTX66IBP

Thibault Camus/Pool via Reuters

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Beirut (AFP) - A Lebanese court on Tuesday charged a high-ranking officer with "fabricating" evidence that a prominent actor and writer had been illegally conspiring with Israel, a judicial source told AFP.

Lebanon, which technically remains at war with its southern neighbour, upholds a boycott of Israeli products and of contact with its nationals.

Lieutenant Colonel Suzanne Hajj "was charged with fabricating the case of collaboration with Israel brought against actor Ziad Itani, as well as hacking websites and inventing non-existent crimes", the judicial source said.

Hajj, who headed a unit in Lebanon's Internal Security Forces tasked with fighting cybercrime, was detained for questioning in March over suspicions she had enlisted the help of a hacker to fabricate conversations between Itani and an Israeli woman.

She remained in detention until Tuesday, and was released on the condition that she would continue to appear at the military tribunal for hearings, the source said.

The charges against her are yet another chapter in the strange case.

Lebanese were shocked when news broke in November that Itani had allegedly confessed to having been "tasked to monitor a group of high-level political figures" and their associates on behalf of Israel.

People close to the actor said his "confession" was extracted under duress, though the authorities have denied the accusation.

Lebanese authorities released him in March and simultaneously issued an arrest warrant for Hajj, who they suspected of having framed him.

At the time, a source close to the investigation said Hajj had sought revenge against Itani after he shed light on her liking a controversial post on Twitter last year, after which she was demoted.

Itani has shot to prominence in recent years because of a series of comedy plays on Beirut, its customs and the transformations it has undergone in recent decades.

The works -- particularly "Beirut Tariq al-Jdideh", which refers to a majority-Sunni neighbourhood of the city -- have been very well-received.

Before becoming an actor, Itani worked as a journalist with Lebanon's Al-Mayadeen television channel and with various regional newspapers.
Beirut (AFP) - Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri headed to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for the second time since his shock resignation in the kingdom last year.

On November 4, Hariri announced he was stepping down in a televised address from Riyadh, sparking rumours he was being detained against his will.

After French mediation, however, he rescinded his resignation the following month and was named premier for a third term this month after Lebanon's first parliamentary polls in nine years.

"Hariri headed to Saudi Arabia for a visit expected to last a few days," his office said in a statement late Tuesday.

It is the premier's second visit to Saudi Arabia since his surprise resignation after an earlier trip in February.

Hariri, 48, has started consultations to form a coalition government.

His Future Movement lost a third of its seats on May 6, when voters reinforced the strength of the Shiite group Hezbollah and its allies.

Hariri has been prime minister since December 2016 and served his first term from 2009 to 2011.

Saudi Arabia has long been a key ally of Hariri, while Riyadh's regional foe Iran backs Hezbollah.
Paris (AFP) - Libya fell into chaos after the ouster of strongman Moamer Kadhafi in October 2011, with competing authorities in Tripoli and the east vying for power.

As rival leaders committed to elections at a peace conference in Paris Tuesday, here is a recap.

- Kadhafi killed -

Amid the Arab Spring uprisings, a popular revolt erupts in Libya in February 2011, developing into a NATO-backed conflict.

Long-time dictator Kadhafi, on the run since the capital is captured in August, is killed in October while trying to flee his hometown Sirte as rebels close in.

Days later the rebel National Transitional Council declares Libya's "total liberation".

In August 2012 the Council hands over power to a transitional General National Congress (GNC).

- Rise of radical groups -

US ambassador Chris Stevens and three other American staff are killed in an attack on their consulate in Libya's second city Benghazi on September 11, 2012. An Al-Qaeda-linked group is accused.

A car bomb attack in April 2013 targets France's embassy in Tripoli, wounding two French guards.

Foreign delegations pull out as the country falls into chaos.

- Two governments -

Military strongman Khalifa Haftar, backed by Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, launches an offensive in May 2014 against Islamist groups in Benghazi.

Several military officers join his paramilitary Libyan National Army.

In June, following legislative elections, the GNC is replaced by a parliament dominated by anti-Islamists. But in August Islamist-led militias storm Tripoli and reinstall the GNC.

The country finds itself with two governments and two parliaments.

The June-elected government and parliament, the only ones recognised internationally, take refuge in eastern Libya.

The Islamic State group profits from the chaos, claiming its first attack in Libya in December 2014. The following June it seizes Sirte to the east of Tripoli, but is driven out in December 2016.

- Rival authorities -

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In December 2015 months of negotiations result in accords signed under UN supervision in Skhirat, Morocco, that designate a UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA) for the fractured country.

The unity government takes up office in Tripoli in March 2016 headed by prime minister Fayez al-Sarraj.

But the rival administration in the east remains in place, backed by Haftar and the parliament elected in 2014.

In July 2017 Sarraj and Haftar, meeting in Paris, commit to a ceasefire and elections but there is no development on the ground.

In December 2017 the UN says the two-year-old Skhirat accord is the only viable framework for a solution. Haftar claims it has expired and the GNA's mandate has run out.

He backs the holding of elections in 2018 while implicitly threatening to take power if the political process fails.

- Fresh violence -

In January 2018 fighting at Tripoli's only working international airport kills at least 20 people after militiamen attack in a bid to free jihadist comrades held at a jail there.

The same month nearly 40 people are killed in two car bombings outside a mosque frequented by jihadist opponents in Benghazi.

On May 2 two IS suicide attackers kill 14 people at Libya's electoral commission in Tripoli.

Haftar announces on May 5 an offensive to take the Mediterranean city of Derna from jihadists. It is the only part of the country's east outside the control of his Libyan National Army.

- Polls pledge in Paris -

Haftar, al-Sarraj and other Libyan leaders meet in Paris on May 29, committing after about four hours of talks to hold parliamentary and presidential elections in December, and to accept the results.

The four men represent most but not all of Libya's factions.
Vasiliy Lomachenko Jorge Linares during their WBA lightweight title fight at Madison Square Garden on May 12, 2018 in New York City. (Getty)

Lightweight champion Vasiliy Lomachenko, whose performance in capturing the WBC title from Jorge Linares on May 12 in New York caused some to anoint him as the greatest boxer in the world, will undergo surgery Wednesday in Los Angeles to repair a damaged right shoulder.

The surgery will cancel plans for Lomachenko to fight on ESPN on Aug. 25. Top Rank president Todd duBoef confirmed the news, first reported by ESPNs Dan Rafael.

DuBoef said Lomachenko was injured during the final week of training for the fight, and then had a flare-up during the second round. Lomachenko, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, knocked out Linares with a vicious body shot in the 10th round to win the WBA belt at Madison Square Garden. He said nothing about an injury at the post-fight news conference.

Orthopedist Neal ElAttrache will perform the surgery Wednesday in Los Angeles. He told ESPN he estimated that Lomachenko would be able to return to train by October and to fight in December if all goes well.

After viewing results of an MRI Lomachenko had done in his native Ukraine, ElAttrache told ESPN that he believes surgery is necessary.

There is clear evidence that he had a recent dislocation of the shoulder, and the most common injury that happens when there is a dislocation is a tear in the labrum, ElAttrache told ESPN. His is pretty extensive. A typical tear usually goes from about 2 oclock if youre looking at the face of a clock down to about 6 oclock. His goes almost all the way around. I would say he has significant instability of his right shoulder.

Top Rank had been planning for a lightweight unification bout with WBO champion Ray Beltran on Aug. 25, though there had been hope among some that hed face the more highly regarded Mikey Garcia, the WBC lightweight champion.

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A Canadian dollar coin, is pictured in this photo illustration taken in Toronto January 23, 2015. (REUTERS/Mark Blinch/File Photo)

The Canadian dollar hovered around US$0.77 on Monday, continuing the steady trend downwards over the last six months.

According to CIBC economic analysts, its destined to head even lower.

The latest report out of CIBC Capital Markets suggests that we could see a loonie around US$0.71 in the 2020s.

Perhaps were seeing the first signs of the loonies shift, if you look hard enough, write CIBC economists Avery Shenfeld and Royce Mendes.

The report points to a weakening manufacturing industry and the lack of new industrial growth as part of the problem.

Whats been lacking are ribbon-cutting ceremonies at the new facilities  factories, labs and office towers  needed to expand export capacity, write Shenfeld and Mendes.

When exports were in high gear in the late-1990s, they were accompanied by healthy gains in industrial capacity, growth that has gone missing since then, other than in energy production and a few isolated sectors. The question is, can Canada compete as a location for such facilities?

The report goes on to highlight that other countries offer more cost-effective manufacturing wages for U.S. companies looking to have goods assembled out of country. Mexico, Taiwan and South Korea were all highlighted as alternatives that offer greater savings on wages.

Canadas central bank is also less likely to be aggressive with rate hikes than the U.S., the report explains, as household debt in Canada remain elevated.

Altogether, it paints a pretty grim picture in the near future for the Canadian dollar, one that remains heavily dependent on the outcome of NAFTA talks, which continue to limp along.

If we dont make progress in tilting the playing field back to Canada, there is always the markets invisible hand to do the work for us.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Antananarivo (AFP) - The opposition in Madagascar on Tuesday petitioned the country's top court to unseat 18 of its lawmakers who crossed the floor to join the ruling party.

The move comes just days after the same Constitutional Court ordered President Hery Rajaonarimampianina to form a unity government in a bid to end a political crisis that has plagued the island nation for more than a month.

In the decision on Friday, the court also said a consensus prime minister must be found to lead the country until general elections expected by the end of September.

Opposition MP Jean Brunelle Razafitsiandraofa told reporters the defectors' action following 2013 elections was unconstitutional.

The party with the majority in parliament normally has the right to appoint a prime minister, and if the 18 defectors lose their seats, the opposition will have the upper hand in the selection process.

The large Indian Ocean island nation has been rocked by violent protests against Rajaonarimampianina over electoral laws that the opposition says bar their candidates from standing.

The crisis has triggered international concern, with the African Union, the UN and regional bloc Southern African Development Community (SADC) all dispatching envoys.

Madagascar has seen a series of popular protest movements since gaining independence from France in 1960, often resulting in bloodshed.

Elected in 2013, Rajaonarimampianina has not yet announced whether he will stand for re-election.

But two former heads of state have already mooted runs: Marc Ravalomanana, who was president from 2002 until he was ousted in a 2009 coup, and Andry Rajoelina, who removed Ravalomanana during another coup.

The two former rivals have joined forces in the protests against the government.
A man is missing after "once in 1,000-year" flash flooding has ripped through parts of Maryland for the second time in two years

Howard County Executive Allan Kittleman said the priorities are finding the missing man - identified as Edison Hermond, 39 - and assessing the condition of buildings that house shops, restaurants and families.

We're certainly making every effort to locate that individual, he said. Mr Hermond was reported missing somewhere in downtown Ellicott City, Maryland at 12.30am on Monday. But the Maryland National Guardsman was last seen at around 5pm on Sunday in the Baltimore suburb. According to a friends post on Facebook, Mr Hermondwas helping rescue people at the height of the flooding

Its going to be a long road again, Mr Kittleman told CNN about the second flood to hit the area in 22 months. More than eight inches (20 cm) of rain fell on the town in just five hours on Sunday.

In the July 2016 storm, Ellicott City received 6.6 inches (17 centimetres) of rain over a two-to three-hour period.

Mr Kittleman said this years flooding is worse than the July 2016 waters that caused millions of dollars in damage.

"If you look at the devastation and the damage, I would certainly say it's worse than 2016," he said. "We've had areas that were not even damaged at all two years ago terribly damaged this time."

Dramatic video showed incredibly fast-moving water through the historic main streets, some of them dating back to the 1700s. Cars were swept up in the flow and then deposited on top of one another, on sidewalks, all covered and stuck in mud. Buildings also flooded.

Governor Larry Hogan said that "every bit of assistance" would be provided to the area, but that nobody expected another storm of this magnitude".

Mr Hogan added: They say this is a once every 1,000-year flood and we've had two of them in two years.

Emergency workers have reported no fatalities so far, but they are still working their way through all the damaged areas. Nearly two years ago two people died as a result of the flooding.

Story continues

The fire department had reported that some buildings were collapsing after the ground floors were demolished by the water.

Jessica Ur, a server at a cafe on the city's Main Street, told The Baltimore Sun she saw three or four parked cars being lifted and carried away by the flood waters. Maryland Governor Larry Hogan has declared a state of emergency for the city.

The latest flood will no doubt raise questions about whether enoug was done to protect the area after the flooding of 2016. Mr Hogan said temporary improvements were in place and more things were in the works to reduce the community's vulnerabilities. But he said big changes take time, and no one could expect such a huge flood so soon after the last one.

After the last flood, the state gave Ellicott City $1m for repairs and future flood prevention. "It took two years to get the money and it's ironic that we just got it this month," Mr Hogan said.
By Brendan Pierson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A Maryland man was sentenced on Tuesday to 35 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to support the Islamist militant group al Shabaab by traveling to Somalia to receive military training from the group, federal prosecutors said.

Maalik Alim Jones, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul Gardephe in Manhattan. A lawyer for Jones could not immediately be reached for comment.

Jones pleaded guilty in September, admitting that he carried an AK-47 automatic assault rifle for al Shabaab, which is allied with al Qaeda.

Al Shabaab, which seeks to overthrow Somalias Western-backed government and impose a strict version of sharia, or Islamic law, has carried out violent attacks in Kenya and Ethiopia.

Jones was charged in January 2016. Prosecutors said at the time that Jones, who was born and lived in Maryland, traveled in 2011 to Kenya and then to Somalia, where he was brought to an al Shabaab training camp.

Authorities said Jones trained with the group for three months, reading and interpreting the Koran and learning how to handle weapons, including an AK-47 and rocket-propelled grenades.

He then became a member of a specialized fighting force within al Shabaab known as Jaysh Ayman that carried out attacks and raids across the border in Kenya and participated in a battle against Kenyan soldiers in the Somali town of Afmadow, prosecutors said.

Jones was taken into custody by Somali authorities on Dec. 7, 2015, while he was attempting to procure a boat to depart for Yemen, according to prosecutors.

(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Peter Cooney)
(The Independent)

Los Angeles-based cannabis company MedMen is listing on the Canadian Securities Exchange (CSE) on Tuesday through a reverse takeover of oil and gas shell Ladera Ventures Corp. The acquisition makes the company, hailed by some as the Apple Store of cannabis retailers for its tech-forward, high-end experience, the second U.S.-based cannabis company to list on the alternative stock exchange. The company will be listed under the symbol MMEN.

MedMen has raised a little over US$119 million on its investor roadshow over the past two and a half weeks and has an enterprise value of $1.65 billion says Adam Bierman, MedMens co-founder and CEO.

At this point in time there is no real comparable opportunity for (Canadian investors), they can certainly buy Canadian licensed producers of which there are a handful of really great opportunities, Bierman told Yahoo Canada Finance. But this is the first time that people around the world are getting a pure U.S. opportunity.

The CSE has become a haven of sorts for cannabis companies, with 67 currently listed on the exchange including several with operations in the U.S. Top-tier exchanges  the TSX and TSX Venture Exchange  are still in the midst of sussing out a policy with regulators for cannabis companies with operations in the U.S., according to a report by BNN.

Despite marijuana being legal for either medicinal or both medicinal and recreational use in 29 U.S. states (as of March 2018), it is still illegal on a federal level and therefore most major U.S. exchanges wont list cannabis companies with a U.S. presence.

Canada has been the hub for investors that wanted to get access, says Bierman. Youve got some really strong players that have emerged and I think that they have real sustainable business models.

Then there are operators who have benefited from the so-called green rush.

Perhaps what it means for Canada is the culling of the herd, the line in the sand for when that begins, adds Bierman. I do foresee that type of evolution taking place, our listing really takes us to the next phase of that evolution.

Story continues

The wild west of cannabis investing

Theres a growing list of companies for investors to pick from on the TSX including Aphria, Aurora Cannabis, Canntrust Holdings, Canopy Growth Corporation, MedReleaf and Village Farms International, as well as more than 20 Canadian cannabis companies on the TSXV.

With the volatility of the sector, companies like Toronto-based Horizons ETF and Evolve ETF have both launched Exchange-Traded Funds to help spread investor exposure through a bouquet of marijuana companies.

But Adam Hennick, investment advisor and founder of Hennick Wealth  part of Mackie Research Capital Corporation  says the cannabis market is still the wild west in a lot of ways.

Theres a lot of interest in the sector because of speculative fervour, says Hennick. Im sure theres some sort of PR that makes it look like (MedMen is) the Apple store of pot and look, that may be the case, it may be the great next thing but are you willing to pay $1.6 billion for it?

Some have echoed Hennicks concerns pointing out that the company has yet to post a profit and isnt listing through the initial public offering route, rather its acquiring a pre-existing shell company.

Hennick says the speculation reminds him of a mining company: A mining company drills, they make a discovery, the stock price goes to a place that it may never see again even when it goes to production and thats kind of how I feel with marijuana.

Hes not completely off-base, after all: around 40 (half of Canadas marijuana firms) started in the resource sector before converting to cannabis through reverse takeovers and spinoffs, according to the Financial Post.

But no one can deny that the entrant of major U.S. players and the growing proliferation of cannabis, marijuana technology companies and cannabis-ancillary services across the stock markets are gaining momentum as legalization for recreational purposes rests on the horizon.

Theres a lot of us skeptics out there who go its garbage but a good friend left finance on Bay Street (to create) a global cannabis fund (and) if they work out, they work out massively, he says. But for me, Im rooted in deep value investing with stuff like (cannabis) you either blow up spectacularly or you win spectacularly, and most of the time blow up.

Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android.
Comedian Michelle Wolf has defended the controversial jokes she made about Donald Trumps press secretary, saying they were not about her looks but about her ugly personality.

In a performance at the White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) annual dinner in April, Ms Wolf made headlines and divided opinion in a routine that took aim the president, the media that covers him and the woman paid to speak on his behalf - Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Every time Sarah steps up to the podium, I get excited, the comedian said. Im not really sure what were going to get, you know? A press briefing, a bunch of lies or divided into softball teams. Its shirts and skins, and this time dont be such a little bitch, Jim Acosta.

Later, she continued: I actually really like Sarah. I think shes very resourceful. But she burns facts and then she uses that ash to create a perfect smokey eye. Like maybe shes born with it, maybe its lies. Its probably lies.

Ms Wolfs barbed attack on Mr Trumps press secretary, who was seated just feet away from her in the ballroom of the Washington Hilton, led a number of journalists to issue apologies to Ms Sanders, saying they believed the comedian had gone too far.

Mr Trump said the dinner, which he had boycotted for the second year in succession had been an embarrassment to everyone associated with it, while the WHCA president, Margaret Talev, said there had been dismay among some members.

Last nights programme was meant to offer a unifying message about our common commitment to a vigorous and free press, Ms Talev said. Unfortunately, the entertainers monologue was not in the spirit of that mission.

A number of others, including Ms Wolf, defended her performance and her decision to poke fun at Ms Sanders.

Heres a sketch from the first episode of @thebreaknetflix. Full episode available Sunday!! https://t.co/AvPdzaNhit pic.twitter.com/lScNx8QyDV  Michelle Wolf (@michelleisawolf) May 24, 2018

Now, during the premiere of her new Netflix show, The Break, the 32-year-old once again defended her performance at the journalists dinner and insisted her routine had nothing to do with Ms Sanders physical appearance.

Story continues

That was not a looks-based joke, that was about her ugly personality, she said.

She then added another jab at Ms Sanders, saying she had the the Mario Batali of personalities. Mr Batali, a celebrity chef, is the subject of a number of accusations from women who he assaulted them. He is being investigated by the New York Police Department.

Earlier this month, Mr Batali denied the allegations, saying: I vehemently deny any allegations of sexual assault. My past behaviour has been deeply inappropriate and I am sincerely remorseful for my actions.

Ms Wolf also poked fun of Gina Haspel, who was recently confirmed as Ms Trumps new head of the Central Intelligence Energy, having faced questions after her role overseeing torture and at so-called black sites during George W Bushs so-called war terror.

Who knew you could waterboard a glass ceiling until it broke, she said.

After Gina was nominated, my best friend Sarah Huckabee Sanders tweeted that any Democrat who claims to support womens empowerment and our national security but opposes her nomination is a total hypocrite.

She added: Well if anyones an expert on hypocrites, its Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Tuesday, May 29, 2018

What to watch today

(AP Photo/Ron Todt, File)

Weve got another crisis in Europe, this time in Italy. In recent years, weve heard of risks of a Greek and/or British exit from the European Union and/or euro zone. Now its Italy, the euro zones third largest economy. Italian stocks are plummeting and yields are surging, and the shockwaves are being felt in global markets. U.S. markets were closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday. But futures are deep in the red as we await markets to re-open at 9:30 a.m. ET.

In the week ahead, the biggest economic event in the U.S. will be the May jobs report. On Friday morning, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will release its report on employment in May, with economists expecting the economy added 190,000 jobs during the month with the unemployment rate expected to remain steady at 3.9%.

The weeks biggest corporate news, however, is likely to be Tuesdays closure of Starbucks (SBUX) stores across the country for racial-bias training. This move comes after two black men were removed from a Philadelphia Starbucks in April, sparking outrage and leading the company to change its policies to allow people to stay in their stores without making any purchases.

Read More

Top news

IPhone Screen Makers Fall on Report of Apple OLED Shift in 2019: The shares of Japan Display Inc. and Sharp Corp. fell after South Koreas Electronic Times reported that Apple Inc. (AAPL) has decided to use next-generation screens for all of its new models next year. If true, Apples move would be negative for JDI and Sharp, which have so far been unable to mass produce OLEDs and currently supply LCD screens. [Bloomberg]

Kim Jong Un sends aide to U.S. for pre-summit talks: Kim Jong Un has dispatched a senior aide to the U.S. for talks with American officials ahead of the North Korean leaders planned summit with Donald Trump next month, the Yonhap News Agency said Tuesday. The trip by Kim Yong Chol, North Koreas former spy chief, signals that preparations for the unprecedented meeting in Singapore are moving forward. [Bloomberg]

Story continues

Push for Nafta deal forges on as Congress, tariff deadlines loom: Canadas foreign minister is headed to Washington as the clock ticks down to reach a deal on updating the North American Free Trade Agreement that could pass Congress this year and skirt metals tariffs. Time is running out. The U.S. has exempted Canada and Mexico so far from tariffs on steel and aluminum, but tied that to Nafta talks. Those exemptions are set to expire Friday morning. [Bloomberg]

Chinas Ant Financial raises $10B at $150B valuation: Ant Financial Services Group, operator of Chinas biggest online payment platform by market share, Alipay, has closed its latest funding round having raised $10 billion from a clutch of global and local investors, five people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters. Ants first fundraising targeting global money values the firm at $150 billion. [Reuters]

For more of the latest news, go to Yahoo Finance

People dress as emoji faces to set an Guinness World Record on a school playground on May 27, 2018 in Fuyang, Anhui Province of China. Guinness World Record of most people dressed up as emoji faces was achieved by 932 participants on Sunday in Fuyang. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

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Editors Note: The Morning Brief newsletter is taking a temporary break. While you wont be receiving the newsletter in your inbox every morning you can go to Yahoo Finance at 6:30 a.m. ET to get the mornings top news stories, a synopsis of what to watch in markets and the best of Yahoo Finance Originals. Well be back very soon!
Abuja (AFP) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday said he would approve a new law to reduce the age limit for political office, raising the prospect of younger candidates at next year's general election.

"In (a) few days to come, I will be joined by many promising young Nigerians to sign into law the 'Not Too Young To Run' bill," he said in a speech to mark the country's annual Democracy Day public holiday.

The bill was passed by both houses of parliament last year and later received the constitutionally required approval of two-thirds of state legislatures, leaving the final step of presidential assent.

It reduces the minimum age for presidential candidates from 40 to 35, and state governors and senators from 35 to 30.

The minimum age for national and state assembly members will now be 25.

The overall aim of the change in the law is to increase the participation of young people in politics. More than half of Nigeria's estimated 180 million people are under 30.

The Youth Initiative for Advocacy, Growth and Advancement organisation, which has backed the bill, has said youth inclusion was "a constitutional imperative for democratic development".

Buhari, 75, is hoping to be re-elected to a second, four-year term at elections in February next year, which will be Nigeria's sixth since the restoration of civilian rule on May 29, 1999.

But there have been lingering question marks about his health after he spent several months undergoing treatment in London for an undisclosed illness.

Political candidates are currently jockeying for position to oppose him, but one declared hopeful is former vice-president Atiku Abubakar, 71.
A high school teacher in Ocala, Florida, who was caught on camera getting his students to help him drown raccoons and an opossum will face no criminal charges for the incident.

The state attorneys office announced its decision Friday, The Ocala-Star Banner reported. In a letter explaining the decision, Assistant State Attorney Toby Hunt wrote that now-retired agricultural science teacher Dewie Brewton did not intend to torture or torment the animals.

Brewton sparked widespread backlash earlier this month after a video surfaced of him and a group of students at Forest High School putting a raccoon inside a metal trap into a garbage bin and filling the bin with water. The student who shot the video came home crying about the experience, his mother told local media at the time. The mother said that Brewton and the students had metal rods they used to hold the animals down when they attempted to come up for air.

The following local newscast, which contains some footage from the incident, may be disturbing to some viewers.

The teacher and students believed that raccoons were responsible for the deaths of multiple chickens being raised behind the school.

The school placed Brewton on administrative leave, and Superintendent Heidi Maier called for him to be fired. Instead, Brewton, who taught at the school for 31 years, announced his retirement on May 17.

Its legal in Florida to kill nuisance wildlife, but the law specifies that the killing must be done in a humane way. Florida law states that humane is defined by the standards of the American Association of Zoo Veterinarians or the American Veterinary Medical Association. The AVMA, as the Star-Banner notes, explicitly says that drowning is an unacceptable form of euthanasia.

Hunt also noted that student involvement in the act complicated the possibility of prosecution.

The majority of the video is of the students performing these acts, Hunts letter statement said. A number of parents contacted by FWC indicated that they did not want their children involved in this investigation. In order to introduce these videos into evidence, the state would need someone who was present at the incident to authenticate the videos before they would be admitted into evidence.

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Donald Trump has said he "truly believes North Korea has brilliant potential" as diplomats from US met Pyongyang officials to prepare for his upcoming meeting with leader Kim Jong-un.

The North "will be a great economic and financial Nation one day", the US president tweeted on Sunday night, adding: " Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!"

The border visit by diplomats comes despite Mr Trump having cancelled the historic summit just days ago. The lead US negotiator, former US ambassador to South Korea Sung Kim, arrived in the border village of Panmunjom alongside Allison Hooker, the White House National Security Councils Korea expert. The pair met with Choe Son Hui, the North Korean vice foreign minister.

South Korean president Moon Jae-in said he and Mr Kim had agreed that the 12 June summit should be held successfully, while the State Department said it continue[d] to prepare for the encounter.

Mr Moon noted the North Korean leader had again made clear his commitment to a complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula.

For its part, North Korean state-run media said Mr Kim had expressed a fixed will to meet Mr Trump.

Mr Moon also acknowledged during a news conference in Seoul that Pyongyang and Washington may have differing expectations of what denuclearisation means and he urged both sides to hold working-level talks to resolve their differences.

The tensions of the past weeks, spurred by joint US-South Korea military exercises taking place in the region, appear to have eased somewhat. Mr Trump said earlier in the weekend that things were moving along nicely ahead of the summit he had just cancelled in a letter citing North Koreas open hostility in recent statements.

He noted in the letter that the withdrawal from the Singapore meeting was for the good of both parties, but to the detriment of the world.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency said afterwards that Pyongyangt would not beg for the summit to happen and would not unilaterally denuclearise.

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US vice president Mike Pence had warned the stand-off may end like Libya if Mr Kim did not make a deal  echoing comments by national security adviser John Bolton regarding the Libyan model, which had angered the North Koreans.

The example of Libya has long been cited by North Korea as one of the reasons for it to hold onto its nuclear bombs, with leader Muammar Gaddafi having been ousted and killed after he renounced the atomic weapons. Pyongyang called Mr Pences remarks ignorant and stupid.

And it called the ongoing military drills, which included F-16 fighter jets, a rehearsal for [an] invasion of the North and a provocation amid warming inter-Korean ties and cancelled scheduled peace talks with its peninsular neighbour.

Ri Son Gwon, chairman of North Koreas Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, also called the South Korean government ignorant and incompetent.

That was just weeks after Mr Kim and Mr Moon participated in a historic and opulent ceremony during which they signed the Panmunjom Declaration.

The signing took place in the neutral Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) between the two Koreas and committed both leaders to moving towards an official peace declaration  a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean War.

Pyongyang has also expressed its displeasure with Mr Bolton. He clashed with North Korean authorities when he worked in the administration of former President George W Bush and it seems they have not forgotten it.

Mr Kim said the country has repugnance towards Mr Bolton, particularly after the advisor suggested the president approach the upcoming summit as the US did with Libya in 2004.

The back-and-forth between Mr Trump and Mr Kim holding the meeting is another sign of a relationship characterised by diplomatic drama.

The pair routinely traded barbs in 2017  Mr Trump referring to Mr Kim as rocket man and the North Korean leader calling the president a dotard  as the US president repeatedly hinted that military action would be the only way to stop North Koreas nuclear ambitions.

Pyongyang threatened the Pacific Ocean US territory of Guam, Alaska, Hawaii, and even the west coast of the continental US with its intercontinental ballistic missile tests and development.

Last autumn, Mr Trump said he would unleash fire, fury and frankly power, the likes of which this world has never seen before and totally destroy North Korea.

The United Nations then passed strict sanctions on North Korea including oil and gas, textiles, seafood, and financial transactions. Unlike a number of previous efforts at sanctions one of Mr Kims few allies, China, said it would implement them.

But, by the time the February 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea came around, the two leaders reached a detente of sorts. The thaw continued to the point where Mr Trump felt able to accept an invitation to meet Mr Kim on the spur of the moment, during a visit to Washington by South Korean diplomats.

The decision, made in March, took even his own administration by surprise.
An aspiring nurse says that racially biased guidelines on hair left her no choice but to leave her nursing program.

As New Orleans NBC affiliate WDSU first reported, 29-year-old Jade Payadue claims that the policy on nursing students hair at the University of Holy Cross forced her to withdraw, because her natural hair was considered inappropriate.

When in lab coat or uniform, hair must be neat and may not extend below the bottom of the collar of the lab coat or uniform, the hair section of the schools uniform policy reportedly states. Therefore, long hair must be secured above the collar, off the neck and shoulders, and appropriately contained at the back of the head. If the hair is put up the hair may not be higher than four inches. Hair must be clean with the appearance of being shampooed regularly.

Jade Payadue at her white coat ceremony, where she said an instructor patted her hair down. (Photo: Courtesy of Jade Payadue)

The New Orleans-based university defended the policy in a statement to WDSU, claiming the rules are about safety.

The University of Holy Cross expects all of its students, while doing their clinical rotations at various hospitals throughout the New Orleans area, to comply with Holy Crosss rules and regulations, the statement reads. Those rules and regulations take into account those of the hospitals where its students perform their clinical rotations. The hair rule about which a nursing student complained is for the safety of the nursing students.

But in an interview with Yahoo Lifestyle, Payadue said that the policy targets black women like her who prefer to wear their hair naturally. She has claimed that she was pressured to straighten and trim her hair, which was deemed too big and not neat.

The universitys hair policy is arbitrary and racially biased, she told Yahoo Lifestyle. The way I styled my hair in no way put my patients, myself, or anyone else at risk. I checked the policies of several hospitals the university uses for clinical, and none of them have the same hair policy as the university.

Payadue, who is from Harvey, La., started the University of Holy Cross nursing program in fall 2017 but withdrew on March 12, 2018, after coming into conflict over the hair policy.

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Feb. 6 was the day of our first uniform inspection and the day I was first harassed about my hair, she recalled.

Payadue on Feb. 6, the first time her hair was criticized for violating the schools policy. (Photo: Courtesy of Jade Payadue)

I was bullied by the head of the nursing program and an instructor. My hair was measured, and even after the measurement proved my hair was within the guidelines, I was still told that I must find another way to style it if I wanted to continue in the program.

Payadue did make efforts to appease the school, styling her hair in a twist out and then braids for certain important events.

If I hadnt changed my hair, I would have risked failing the demo exam and not being allowed to attend my first clinical day, she explained. I have noticed other women getting flak about the way they wore their hair. Those women have altered their hairstyles for the most part in order to limit further harassment.

The nursing student measured her hair to prove that it met the schools guidelines. (Photo: Courtesy of Jade Payadue)

But another incident would soon follow and would raise concerns about how the staff treated her.

On Feb. 19, I was told my hair was too big and an instructor patted my hair down without my permission, she continued. This particular incident made me extremely uncomfortable around university instructors and increased the anxiety I already felt due to the situation.

I was also told I was angry and unprofessional when I showed emotions, she added. This situation didnt make me angry  I was hurt, upset, and confused by it all. The multiple times I was pulled into meetings with multiple instructors and the head of the nursing program caused me to become upset at times. Anytime I shed tears, I was accused of being angry.

Historically, black women have been called angry when we show any sign of emotion other than happiness. Its time to rid the country of this stereotype. Black women have every right to show emotions, even anger.

Payadue eventually chose to leave the program and finished her education at another university before continuing on to graduate school. The alternative, she said, was to stay at University of Holy Cross and sign a contract agreeing to counseling and academic probation.

But she says that her falling-out with the school is about much more than hair.

I would describe my hair as full of life, she said. My natural hair is a part of who I am, and it is important for myself and other women of color to be viewed as acceptable the way we were born. We are constantly told our hair is unprofessional and not neat in its natural state, which is unfair.

Its important for me and other women of color to know it is OK to be natural. Straightening our hair and using chemicals is damaging to our hair and our health. We shouldnt need to do this to make others happy or receive an education or job opportunity.

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President Donald Trump dubiously suggested investigators from special counsel Robert Muellers Russia probe will be meddling in the upcoming midterm elections.

Trump tweeted Tuesday that 13 Angry Democrats assigned to the investigation plan to attempt to interfere with the elections, most of which will be held on Nov. 6. As usual, he failed to mention that Mueller himself is a lifelong Republican.

The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

Although Trump has refused to firmly accept that Russia attempted to swing the 2016 presidential election in his favor  as confirmed by the U.S. intelligence community in January 2017  he tweeted with certainty that Muellers investigators would tamper with the midterms.

There is zero evidence to suggest Trumps statement is credible. However, in February, then-Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that Russia was already attempting to meddle in the midterms. He warned that the U.S. is no more prepared now than it was before the 2016 election to prevent Russian interference.

Really, I think its just important to continue to say to Russia, Look, if you think we dont see what youre doing, we do see it and you need to stop. If you dont, youre just going to continue to invite consequences for yourself, Tillerson told Fox News in February.

I dont know that I would say we are better prepared, because the Russians will adapt as well, Tillerson said. The point is, if its their intention to interfere, they are going to find ways to do that. We can take steps we can take, but this is something that, once they decide they are going to do it, its very difficult to pre-empt it.

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Trump has repeatedly attempted to smear the credibility of Muellers investigation. On Sunday, he lamented the young and beautiful lives supposedly destroyed by the phony Russia probe, tweeting that many of them went back home in tatters. Its unclear who he was referring to in his tweet, but at least 19 people, including several of Trumps former campaign associates, have been charged in the investigation.

Minutes after accusing Muellers investigators of election meddling, Trump tweeted Tuesday that he needed to start focusing my energy on other issues.

Sorry, Ive got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc.  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

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Washington (AFP) - Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will host a high-level international meeting on religious freedom, he announced Tuesday, putting the issue at the heart of the US human rights agenda.

The "Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom" will be held between the chief diplomats of "like-minded governments" in Washington on July 25 and 26.

US President Donald Trump's administration has been criticized for downplaying human rights in international relations in favor of seeking America's economic interest.

But Christian conservatives in the cabinet, such as Pompeo and Vice President Mike Pence, have been outspoken in support of religious freedom around the world.

"The ministerial will also be my first to host as a secretary of state, and that's very intentional," Pompeo told reporters at the launch of the annual US religious freedom report.

"Religious freedom is indeed a universal human right that I will fight for, one that our team at the department will continue to fight for, and one that I know President Trump will continue to fight for.

"The United States will not stand by as spectators. We will get in the ring and stand in solidarity with every individual who seeks to enjoy their most fundamental of human rights."

The report, compiled every year by US envoys around the world, covers the state of religious freedom in 200 countries and territories around the world.

In announcing its release, the State Department insisted that, while the report itself is meant to be a simple objective account, it does inform US government decisions.

- Watch list -

In particular, it will serve as a guide when Pompeo decides whether and when to update the US list of "Countries of Particular Concern" -- those that most egregiously limit freedom of conscience.

Currently those countries are China, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan -- with Pakistan on a watch list.

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But, while the United States does protest persecution in these states, the list has not stopped Washington maintaining extremely warm and close ties with Saudi Arabia, for example.

And the US envoy for religious freedom, Ambassador Sam Brownback, was forced to defend America's credibility to issue such a report in the light of Trump's efforts to halt or limit US visas for Muslim travellers.

Rights watchdogs were extremely guarded in their response to the report, concerned that the administration's evident enthusiasm for religious rights in some countries might be used to distract from broader concerns.

"It's clear Secretary Pompeo intends to use this report as a way to elevate the importance of religious freedom, which could be positive as long as doing so does not minimize other rights concerns and truly protects victims of all religious persecution," said Sarah Margon, Washington Director at Human Rights Watch.

And she warned against the administration allowing itself to be "manipulated by ideologues" at home or abroad.

At the launch, special envoy Brownback made particular mention of the fate of Myanmar's Rohingya -- a Muslim minority group that he said faced the "ethnic cleansing of a religious minority."

"I don't think you've seen progress taking place there in the country. If anything, the administration there is doubling now its effort," he said of Myanmar's authorities.

Brownback also warned that China's Muslim Uighurs and Tibetan Buddhists are facing persecution, along with the country's Falun Gong and Christian minority groups.

But, while acknowledging that the situation in Saudi Arabia -- where non-Muslim worship is illegal -- is bad, Brownback said he saw an opening for reform under Washington's ally Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.

"I'm hopeful you're going to start seeing change coming out of that country and that you are starting to see change come out of Saudi Arabia," he said.
Critics slammed President Donald Trump on Monday for using Memorial Day to praise his own performance as president, a departure from the more traditional statements issued by previous administrations.

"Happy Memorial Day!" Trump tweeted Monday morning. "Those who died for our great country would be very happy and proud at how well our country is doing today. Best economy in decades, lowest unemployment numbers for Blacks and Hispanics EVER (& women in 18years), rebuilding our Military and so much more. Nice!"

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The unconventional tweet was sandwiched between an earlier video message that solely praised the country's veterans and a string of tweets that praised Fox News and railed against his political foes. The president also visited Arlington National Cemetery on Monday, where he gave a more conventional speech. Still, critics, including some conservatives, pounced on the president for what many suggested were insensitive and tone-deaf remarks delivered via social media.

"This is perhaps the most disgusting Trump tweet ever," tweeted Nate Bell, a conservative Arkansas politician also known for controversial remarks. "Memorial Day is a solemn day to reflect on the memories of those who paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom, liberty & justice for all. It's NOT a 'Happy' day nor is it a day to tout your draft dodging 'bone spurs' self."

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The editor at large of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard advised his 340,000 followers to ignore the president's message.

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"My advice, FWIW: If you happen to have encountered this tweet, as I did--put it out of mind," wrote Bill Kristol. "There are so many appropriate expressions of respect and appreciation on this Memorial Day that deserve your attention, and that reflect well on the country. Attend to them. Ignore Trump."

Direct replies to the president's tweet also blasted him, with several noting that Trump avoided serving in the armed forces due to "bone spurs," a medical condition affecting the feet that the president used to secure a deferment after having already received several to attend college.

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"Well, he definitely wrote this one himself," wrote Jonah Goldberg, editor of the conservative-leaning National Review.

Others compared it to the Memorial Day statement former President Barack Obama issued during his final year in office, which did not tout his personal or presidential achievements. "This Memorial Day, I hope you'll join me in acts of remembrance," Obama tweeted in 2016. "The debt we owe our fallen heroes is one we can never truly repay."

Former President George Bush also issued statements that contained nary a mention of the economy or job numbers. "Laura and I join our fellow citizens in honoring the courageous souls who have given their lives in defense of our country," he said in 2015, echoing a string of previous statements made by the Bush family on Memorial Day. "Today our hearts go out to America's Gold Star Families, for whom every day is Memorial Day. We honor your loved ones and thank you for service and sacrifice."

This isn't the first time Trump's Memorial Day message has been slammed by critics. In 2015, he wrote on Twitter: "I would like to wish everyone, including all haters and losers (of which, sadly, there are many) a truly happy and enjoyable Memorial Day!" The mention of "haters and losers" was a refrain invoked by Trump on numerous occasions, including the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

GettyImages-488226322

Tom Pennington/Getty Images

This story has been updated to include information about the president's visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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President Donald Trump confirmed Tuesday morning that a top North Korean official was heading to the United States for talks to restart the June 12 summit with leader Kim Jong Un.

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Yong Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York, Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday.

According to the Associated Press, Kim  North Koreas former intelligence chief  would be the most senior North Korean official to visit the U.S. in decades.As Kim Jong Uns righthand man, is a controversial figure in his own right. Trump did not specify who Kim would be meeting with, or if he was heading to Washington D.C. in addition to New York. The AP had spotted him at an airport in Beijing on Tuesday.

Read More: Who Is Kim Yong Chol? Meet Kim Jong Uns Ever-Present Right-Hand Man

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

The announcement seems to be the next step in moving the summit forward, despite the Trumps letter to Kim Jong Un last Thursday telling him it was off. U.S. officials visited North Korea over Memorial Day weekend to speak with their counterparts, a visit that Trump had said was for making arrangements for the summit.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who had been instrumental in encouraging the two leaders to convene, met with Kim Jong Un over the weekend, which South Koreas Yonhap news agency said Kim Jong Un had requested. And after Trump spoke with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday, the White House confirmed the two would stay in close coordination ahead of the expected meeting with North Korea.

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The summit with Kim Jong Un and Trump had been scheduled for June 12 in Singapore. On May 24, Trump sent a letter to Kim Jong Un announcing that he was cancelling the historic meeting because of the harsh rhetoric coming from North Korean officials. They had expressed alarm following comments from National Security Adviser John Bolton comparing their countrys situation to Libya. (In 2003, Libyas former leader Moammar Gadhafi agreed to abandon the countrys nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief. He was overthrown and executed eight years later). After Vice President Mike Pence reiterated the analogy on cable television Choe Sun Hoi, North Koreas Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, called him a political dummy and threatened a nuclear-to-nuclear showdown.

Trump appeared to take credit for the recent developments, callingKim Yong Chols visit, a solid response to my letter. But as TIME reported on Monday, analysts predict that even if the summit ultimately happens, Trump lost significant leverage when he sent that letter.

[Kim could] continue to play nice in public but stall out the process behind closed doors, Adam Mount, a senior defense analyst at the Federation of American Scientists, told TIME. Trump has ensured that he will take most of the blame for a failure of diplomacy.
Canada is tipped to be where the newlyweds are celebrating their honeymoon. [Photo: Getty]

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are currently enjoying life as newlyweds, with the dust barely settled from the worldwide spectacle that was their royal wedding.

Now, having completed their first royal engagement just last week, it would seem a honeymoon is next on the cards for the newlyweds.

The location for Harry and Meghans honeymoon has been kept tightly under wraps, but there have been rumours about where the couple might jet off to.

American gossip site TMZ claims the couple have chosen Canada for their romantic trip.

The source told the US news website that the couple will be staying at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge in Alberta, Canada for their post-wedding getaway.

Not bad, huh?

As for their lodgings, its thought the couple will be occupying the 6,000 sq. foot Outlook Cabin, also named The Royal Retreat no less,

The top tier lodgings comes with a enclosed conservatory and veranda, two fireplace, a large terrace with barbecue and a full kitchen with private catering entrance.

It also includes a massive six bedrooms (four with king-sized beds and two with double beds) and six full ensuite bathrooms.

Bit excessive for just two people, dont you think?

If the rumours are true, Harry and Meghan wont be the first royal visitors of the hotel.

In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother stayed there, while Harrys grandmother has also given the lodge her royal seal of approval having stayed there in June 2005 with Prince Philip.

Interestingly, the Canadian spot is also where Marilyn Monroe and Robert Mitchum filmed the 1954 hit River of No Return.

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It was also reported that both British and Canadian security will be in tow for when the couple arrive.

Canada would seem an apt choice for the couple as its the place where Meghan filmed Suits for seven seasons.

The country is also where the couple made their first public appearance together, stepping out hand-in-hand at the Invictus Games in Toronto.

Harry and Meghan are also rumoured to be spending their honeymoon in Namibia, though others speculate they might return to Botswana, where they said they fell in love under the stars.

The pair might also head over to the Philippines, as it was listed as one of the former actresss dream destinations on her now-deleted blog, The Tig.

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By Natalia Zinets KIEV (Reuters) - A prominent Russian journalist and critic of President Vladimir Putin was shot dead in Ukraine where he had fled into exile following threats, police said on Tuesday. Arkady Babchenko, 41, died of his wounds in an ambulance after his wife found him covered in his blood in their home, police said, adding they suspected the murder was due to Babchenko's professional activities. Babchenko, a former soldier in the Chechen war who became one of Russia's best-known war correspondents, had left his homeland fearing for his life after criticizing Russian policy in Ukraine and Syria. He had been denounced by pro-government politicians in Russia over comments on social media about the Russian bombing of Aleppo in Syria's war, and over his characterization of Russia as an aggressor toward Ukraine. "The first and the most probable version is his professional activity," Kiev police chief Andriy Kryshchenko said at a televised press briefing when asked what police suspected lay behind the murder. Babchenko's wife is in a state of shock and police are unable to speak to her, he said. Ukrainian authorities released a drawing of the man they suspect is Babchenko's assassin, around 40-45 years old, with a grey beard and wearing a cap. Two years ago Pavel Sheremet, a Belarussian journalist known for his criticism of his home country's leadership and his friendship with the slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, was blown up in a car bomb in central Kiev. "Putin's regime takes aim at those who cannot be broken or intimidated," Anton Gerashchenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker and adviser to the interior minister, wrote on Facebook. Babchenko's house had run out of bread and he had gone to the shops to buy some, Gerashchenko said. He was gunned down on Tuesday by someone waiting for him in the stairwell at the entrance to his home. He was shot him in the back several times. "Today in Kiev on the threshold of the apartment where he lived, famous Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko was shot and killed, a consistent opponent of the Putin regime and a friend of Ukraine." In a statement, the Russian foreign ministry said journalists were being killed with impunity in Ukraine. "Bloody crimes and total impunity have become routine for the Kiev regime. We demand that the Ukrainian authorities make every effort to promptly investigate," it said on Facebook. The Investigative Committee of Russia said it had opened a criminal case into Babchenko's death. Babchenko took part in the war in Chechnya as a soldier. He then he became a war reporter for several Russian newspapers. On Feb. 27 last year, he wrote on Facebook that he had left Russia. He reported on Russia sending private military contractors to Syria and the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH-17 in July 2014 in eastern Ukraine, for which investigators last week held the Russian state responsible. Russian authorities again denied any connection with the plane's downing over an area of Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatist forces. In his last Facebook post before he was killed, Babchenko recalled an incident four years ago when he was meant to fly in a Ukrainian military helicopter in Ukraine's embattled Donbass region. The helicopter was overloaded and he was not permitted to fly. It was shot down and 14 people on board were killed. "And I was lucky. Second birthday, it turns out," he wrote. (Additional reporting by Anton Zverev and Polina Devitt in Moscow; writing by Matthias Williams; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
Central American immigrants wait to be transported after turning themselves in to US Border Patrol agents: John Moore/Getty Images

The internet was ablaze this weekend with reports that the US government had lost nearly 1,500 immigrant children inside the country. The news sparked outrage from advocates and activists, with some calling it a "crime against humanity. But experts say the reality  while shocking  isnt so simple.

The backlash started when disturbing quotes from a Health and Human Services (HHS) official starting circulating on social media last week. Steven Wagner, an acting assistant secretary at the agency, told Congress in April that HHS had lost track of 1,475 immigrant children they had placed with sponsors inside the US while their asylum cases were processed.

The admission sparked criticism online, spawning hundreds of tweets under the hashtag #WhereAreTheChildren.

When I think about the 1500 lost children and those who are systematically separated from their mothers at the border, I come back to the same thought: If we cant stop this in America we wont stop it anywhere, tweeted Texas Representative Joaquin Castro.

But the Trump administration shot back, with deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley calling the information misreporting and fake news". So what really happened to those 1,475 children? The Independent spoke with experts to get the real story.

Who are the children who were lost?

The kids were among the thousands of unaccompanied minors who arrived at the US border last year without a parent or guardian. Most came fleeing violence in Central American countries like Honduras and Guatemala, according to immigration attorney Greg Siskind. Many were sent across the border by their parents, in hopes that they would avoid the gang violence plaguing their countries.

Under US law, all unaccompanied children detained at the border are transferred to HHS care. The agency then places the children with sponsors, who are responsible for taking them to hearings and check-ins while their cases are processed.

HHS placed some 7,635 children with sponsors in the US between October 2017 and the end of the year, according to Mr Wagner's Senate testimony. When the agency conducted follow-up calls with the sponsors this year, they found that 6,075 of the children remained with their sponsors, 28 had run away, five had been removed from the country, and 52 had relocated to live with a non sponsor.

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But the agency couldnt account for the remaining 1,475 children, sparking headlines about the hundreds of unaccompanied minors HHS had lost.

Were all 1,475 children actually lost?

According to the Trump administration, no. HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan put out a statement on Monday claiming that the children were not lost  their sponsors had just failed to answer check-up calls from the agency.

The agency makes these calls 30 days after the kids are placed in their new homes, out of an abundance of concern for the welfare of the children, Mr Wagner said in a press briefing. The children are often placed with sponsors who are undocumented immigrants themselves, he added, and are thus reluctant to answer calls from federal immigration enforcement.

There's no reason to believe anything has happened to the kids, Mr Wagner said, emphasising that the children are no longer in HHS custody once they are placed with sponsors.

Still, experts say this isnt exactly a great look for the agency.

I don't think anyone can justify a federal government agency that is supposed to keep tabs on kids in their trust and doesn't do so, said David Leopold, an immigration attorney and former president of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.

This is absolute agency incompetence, he added. They cant keep track of the kids that are in their charge.

Is losing track of unaccompanied children a new problem?

Nope. According to experts, federal agencies have had trouble keeping tabs on these kids for some time. In fact, a 2016 inspector general report showed the federal government could reach only 84% of the children it placed with sponsors that year. More than 4,000 went unaccounted for.

There have been a lot of complaints for the last couple years regarding the policies for kids that were coming across unaccompanied, Mr Siskind told The Independent.  So that hasn't changed that much since the Trump administration.

So why are people worked up about it now?

The news about the missing, unaccompanied children came at a bad time for the Trump administration: The Justice Department had just introduced its new, zero tolerance policy for families who cross the border illegally.

Under this new policy, debuted by Attorney General Jeff Sessions earlier this month, the Justice Department will prosecute all people caught immigrating illegally  regardless of whether they come with their children or not.

That means the government will have to separate these parents from their children while they face criminal charges. According to a Times analysis, more than 700 children have already been separated from adults claiming to be their parents since October.

The Trump administration has portrayed this policy as a common-sense means of cracking down in illegal immigration. "If you cross the border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. Its that simple, Mr Sessions said at a press conference announcing the change.

But advocates say it is an unnecessarily harsh way of dealing with families fleeing unsafe conditions.

[The Trump administration] is holding kids hostage to deter their parents from applying for asylum. Mr Leopold said. The idea is to deter people from coming and applying for protection. That is what authoritarian governments do.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
The Russian oligarch, who is worth an estimated 8.6 billion, instantly became Israels wealthiest person - Reuters

Roman Abramovish has become an Israeli citizen a month after the UK delayed renewing his visa in a move that could allow him to return without one.

The Chelsea FC owner, who is Jewish, exercised his right under Israels Law of Return, which states that Jews from anywhere in the world can become citizens of Israel.

The oligarch, worth an estimated 8.6 billion, instantly became Israels wealthiest person after receiving his citizenship yesterday.

The 51-year-old had been travelling in and out of the UK for years on a Tier-1 investor visa, designed for wealthy foreigners who invest at least 2 million in Britain. He applied to renew the visa in April but did not immediately receive approval from the Home Office amid diplomatic tension between London and Moscow.

It is unclear if the UK decided to reject his application permanently but a source familiar with the matter told The Daily Telegraph that the renewal process seemed to be taking an unusually long time.

Amber Rudd ordered a review of the visa status of wealthy Russians after the Salisbury nerve agent attack Credit: Jack Taylor/Getty Images Europe

Mr Abramovich is believed to have returned to Russia after his visa expired. He did not attend Chelseas 1-0 win over Manchester United in the FA Cup at Wembley on May 19.

Israeli passport holders can travel to Britain without a visa for short periods of time, and can stay as long as six months. Russians must apply for a visa from the British Embassy in Moscow if they wish to travel to Britain.

Mr Abramovich's decision comes after the Government suggested it would take a harder line on Russian oligarchs in Britain following the poisoning of Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March.

Q&A | Roman Abramovichs visa

His private G650 jet touched down at Tel Avivs Ben Gurion airport on Monday and he was immediately granted Israeli citizenship.

A spokesman for the Israeli interior ministry said he applied at the Israeli embassy in Moscow and was found eligible for citizenship after proving his Jewish heritage.

He filed a request to receive an immigration permit, his documents were checked according to the Law of Return, and he was indeed found eligible, the spokesman told Israels Channel 10 news.

Mr Abramovich previously purchased a 17.1 mansion in Tel Avivs upmarket Neve Tzedek neighbourhood. The house was a former hotel and Mr Abramovich bought it from the husband of Gal Gadot, the Israeli actress who starred in Wonderwoman.
Smoke rises from buildings in a rebel-held neighbourhood of Daraa in southern Syria following reported shelling - AFP

Russia and Israel have reportedly reached an unprecedented deal which would allow Bashar al-Assads forces to take remaining rebel territory in southern Syria - so long as Iranian fighters do not participate.

Moscow appears to have capitulated to Israeli demands to hold back Tehran-backed militias 15 miles from the occupied Golan Heights, according to Israeli and Saudi reports.

In return, Israel will not stand in the way of any Syrian regime offensive on the city of Deraa and territory along the Israeli and Jordanian border.

Russia said on Monday only Syrian army troops should be on the country's southern frontiers, which appeared to be directed at Iran.

The deal is said to have been finalised in a phone call days earlier between Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli defence minister, and Sergei Shoigu, his Russian counterpart.

Children play football in front of a damaged building in a rebel-held neighbourhood of Deraa in southern Syria Credit: AFP

It averts a possible direct confrontation between Iran and Israel in Syria, where tensions have heightened between the foes in recent months.

At the same time it reveals growing daylight between Moscow and Tehran, which back the same side in the conflict.

According to Israeli sources, Russia has grown increasingly frustrated with Iran's presence in Syria and is worried that fighting between Israel and Iran threatens its hard-fought victories.

Iran is estimated to have thousands of advisers and fighters in Syria as well as a number of bases, which have become regular targets for Israel attacks.

Flames rise from a missile, which according to the Lebanon national news agency appears to be part of a Syrian air defense missile targeting an Israeli warplane which landed in a lemon grove, in Hasbani village, southwest Lebanon Credit: AP

Israel, which is also said to have received assurances from Moscow that it will not to try to stop any future strikes on Iranian targets, is concerned about Iran and allied Hizbollahs growing arsenal on its doorstep.

Both Russia and Iran have played pivotal roles in helping reverse Assad's fortunes, and Faisal Mekdad, Syria's deputy foreign minister, has reassured Tehran that a pullout is not up for discussion.

Deraa is the obvious next target for Assad, who has repeatedly promised to retake every inch of the country. The only other major opposition stronghold, in Idlib in the northwest, is fraught with complications because of the presence of Turkish troops in the area.

Story continues

Syrian soldiers wave inside a destroyed building nearly a week after retaking the town of Harasta from the rebels, in Eastern Ghouta Credit: AFP

Fighting in southwestern Syria has been contained since last year by a "de-escalation" agreement brokered by Russia, the US and Jordan.

However, the recent victory for the government in Eastern Ghouta on the outskirts of Damascus has relieved pressure on the depleted army and freed up troops.

A pro-government military source confirmed on Tuesday that preparations had been completed for an offensive on Deraa.

"The Syrian army will wage all the battles and has now become strong and capable," the commander said.

This week the army dropped leaflets over the city, urging fighters to disarm. The men of Syrian army are coming. Take your decision before it is too late," they read.

Deraa, known as the cradle of the revolution because of its uprising against Assad in early 2011, is under the control of a patchwork of rebels including the Free Syrian Armys Southern Front.

Like most deals agreed for Syria, where competing international backers have vested interests, no Syrian group was party to the discussion.

Elia Samaan, an adviser in the government's reconciliation ministry, told The Telegraph there was no set deadline for the offensive. "But of course the Syrian government always prefers an agreement over a military operation, he said.

Currently all efforts are being put forth to reach an agreement in the southern area in order to avert a military operation.

The agreement will be a massive blow for the rebels in southern Syria, who have received considerable money and arms from the US, as well as Israel.

The US expressed alarm over the weekend that Syrian regime forces were massing for an assault there, but that was before reports surfaced about the deal.

The US under the Donald Trump administration has backed off its support for the rebels and has given little indication it is prepared to intervene on their behalf.

Officials from Washington are due to have talks with Jordan and Russia about the fate of the south. Jordan fears an offensive there could send thousands of refugees to its border.

Additional reporting by Joseph Haboush in Beirut
A Kremlin spokesman on Monday responded to reports that Poland offered $2 billion for the U.S. to be stationed permanently within its borders for protection from Russia, saying the move could lead to counteraction from the Russian side.

Poland's monetary offer stems from a desire to deter potential Russian aggression, according to a Polish Defense Ministry proposal reported by Poland's Onet.pl news site.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov in a press conference said, When we see the gradual expansion of NATO military structures towards our borders...this of course in no way creates security and stability on the continent, according to Reuters.

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Peskov continued, On the contrary, these expansionist actions of course lead to counteraction from the Russian side in order to balance the parity which is violated every time in this way.

Poland has housed more than 1,100 NATO soldiers, including some from the U.S., south of Kaliningrad for more than a year, but the arrangement is only temporary.

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Vladimir Dzhabarov, first deputy head of the Federation Council's Foreign Affairs committee in Russia, on Monday said that a permanent NATO presence in Poland could make it one of the main targets in case of a possible conflict, adding that Poland becomes the object of a retaliatory strike by placing the base.

The Polish defense military's proposal was sent to the U.S. without clearance from the foreign ministry. Analysts believe it arose out of Poland's lack of trust of its allies in Europe in the event of a conflict with Russia, according to The Moscow Times.

The closer they get to NATO, the more endangered Polands very existence becomes, Dzhabarov said.

Story continues

Since Poland became a NATO member in 1999, many other former Communist nations, including three Baltic republics along the Russia border, have followed suit, angering Russia.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Paris (AFP) - The treasurer of Nicolas Sarkozy's successful 2007 run for the French presidency has been charged as part of an investigation into suspected illicit financing of the campaign with Libyan money, his lawyer said Tuesday.

Eric Woerth, who was budget minister and later labour minister in Sarkozy's government, is facing charges of "complicity in illegal campaign financing", said his lawyer, Jean-Yves Leborgne.

"This indictment is based on the discovery of cash sums, very small if not outright ridiculous considering the cost of a presidential campaign," Leborgne said.

He added that Woerth had told investigators that cash payments totalling some 30,000 euros ($35,000) had been given to campaign workers.

Woerth, a prominent rightwing MP who heads parliament's finance committee, has previously admitted the campaign received cash payments which he said were anonymous donations received by post, a claim contested by others questioned in the case.

Sarkozy has denied claims that he accepted millions of euros from the former Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi, some of it delivered in cash-stuffed suitcases.

After two days of questioning in March he was charged with corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealment of Libyan public money, though he was vowed to clear his name.

- 'Cash in suitcases' claims -

The allegations that Sarkozy took money from Kadhafi -- whom he welcomed to Paris in lavish style shortly after his election -- are the most serious out of several investigations that have dogged him since he left office.

The claims first emerged in 2011, as NATO-backed forces led by France and Britain were preparing to intervene in support of rebels seeking to end Kadhafi's brutal 41-year rule.

Ziad Takieddine, a Franco-Lebanese businessman also charged in the inquiry, has claimed he delivered three suitcases containing a total of five million euros to Sarkozy and Claude Gueant, his associate and later chief of staff, in 2006 and 2007.

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Woerth's lawyer said investigators were implying a link between the cash payments made to campaign staffers and the suspected millions in Libyan funds.

"Eric Woerth firmly contests this reasoning and denounces the claims against him," Leborgne said.

Yet a French TV interview with Bashir Saleh, who ran Libya's sovereign wealth fund under Kadhafi, has heightened investigators' focus on Sarkozy's lavish 2007 campaign.

Saleh has long refused to be questioned by French investigators, but in the report broadcast last week he appeared to confirm payments to the former French leader.

"Yes, it's true. But with who? Me? That's not my job," Saleh said in an interview carried out last September.

"Kadhafi had a special budget for people he wanted to support," Saleh said, claiming it totalled 350 million euros, though without providing details on recipients.

Documents belonging to a second senior Kadhafi loyalist, former oil minister Shukri Ghanem, refer to three payments in 2007 to Sarkozy for at least 6.5 million euros.

Ghanem was found drowned in the Danube river in Vienna in 2012.
Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia on Tuesday rejected French President Emmanuel Macron's comment that Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri had been held against his will in the kingdom in November.

Hariri announced on November 4 that he was stepping down in a televised address from Riyadh, only to rescind it the following month after Macron's intervention.

In an interview broadcast Friday by French broadcaster BFMTV, Macron described how he waded into the crisis after Hariri resigned, allegedly under pressure from the Saudi crown prince.

"Lebanon has since emerged from a serious crisis where, as I recall, a prime minister was held in Saudi Arabia for several weeks," Macron said.

On Tuesday, a Saudi foreign ministry spokesman denied that Hariri was held against his will.

"What the French president said in an interview with channel BFMTV that the kingdom had held Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri is incorrect," he was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency.

"The kingdom of Saudi Arabia was and still supports the stability and security of Lebanon and Prime Minister Hariri," he said.

The spokesman went on to accuse Saudi regional rival Iran and its powerful Lebanese ally, Hezbollah, of stoking instability in Lebanon.

Macron's mediation in the crisis, which led Hariri to travel to Paris and then rescind his resignation, was seen by analysts as exposing the limits of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman's authority.

During a his first visit to France in April as the heir to the Saudi throne, the prince and Macron hailed a warming of ties between Paris and Riyadh but conceded some differences over Iran.

burs-ac/hkb
Riyadh (AFP) - Saudi Arabia is preparing to outlaw sexual harassment, officials said Tuesday, less than a month before the conservative kingdom lifts its decades-long ban on women driving.

The kingdom's Shura Council, which advises the cabinet, approved a draft law on Monday which would introduce a prison term of up to five years and a penalty of 300,000 riyals ($80,000).

The draft bill "is a very important addition to the history of regulations in the kingdom", Shura Council member Latifa al-Shaalan was quoted as saying in an information ministry statement.

"It fills a large legislative vacuum, and it is a deterrent," she added.

The kingdom's driving ban on women is slated to end June 24, as part of a highly publicised liberalisation drive launched by powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who styles himself as a progressive reformer.

The prince has also lifted a decades-long ban on cinemas, allowed mixed-gender concerts and clipped the powers of the long-feared religious police.

But the social reforms appear overshadowed by the recent arrests of at least 11 activists, mostly identified by rights groups as veteran women campaigners for the right to drive and to end the conservative country's male guardianship system.

Authorities have accused the activists of "suspicious contact with foreign parties", providing financial support to "enemies" and attempting to undermine the kingdom's "security and stability".

Reports in state-backed media branded some of the detainees traitors and "agents of embassies".

At least four detained activists were released last week, campaigners including Amnesty International said, but the fate of the others remains unclear.

"Given the significant loosening of certain restrictions on women's activities in Saudi Arabia... it is perplexing why both women and men engaged in campaigning for such positive developments are now being targeted by the authorities," the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said in a statement.

"If, as it appears, their detention is related solely to their work as human rights defenders and activists on women's issues, they should be released immediately."

Saudi authorities have so far not commented publicly on the detentions.
FILE - This Mar. 6, 2016, file photo provided by the U.S. Navy, shows the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG 54) sails in the South China Sea. China says it dispatched warships to identify and warn off a pair of U.S. Navy vessels sailing near one of its island claims in the South China Sea. A statement on the Defense Ministrys website said the Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and Ticonderoga class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam entered waters China claims in the Paracel island group without the permission of the Chinese government.

The US Navy sent two warships to a disputed archipelago in the South China Sea on May 28 in its latest symbolic protest against Chinas claims there.

Reuters first reported that the USS Higgins and the USS Antietam ventured within 12 miles of the Paracel Islands in a demonstration the Pentagon calls a freedom of navigation operation or FONOP. The move signals US rejection of Chinas claims of political control in the South China Sea.

The objective of their sail-by was a speck of land called Woody Island, where China has developed airstrips and port facilities in recent years as part of a broader strategy of establishing bases in these islands to demonstrate and exercise its political claims. This spring, China landed strategic bombers capable of carrying nuclear weapons on the island, a symbolic display of its deterrent power, and satellite imagery showed the arrival of surface-to-air missiles this month.

The Vietnamese government protested Chinas move as a violation of its sovereign claim to the islandsexactly the language used by China to protest US actions today after sending its own warships to warn away the Americans.

You can see the expansion of the Woody Islands roads and buildings in this time-lapse provided to Quartz by satellite-imaging company Planet:

The island is one of many that lay behind the nine dash line, a diplomatic term of art for Chinas political vision for the South China Sea, which is at the center of a web of claims by nearby nations:

China's claim over the South China Sea is different from its neighbors' interpretations.

Complicated.

In March, the US sent a destroyer on a FONOP to the Spratly Islands. In response, China increased its naval activity there, including a parade of warships that was also captured by Planet satellites.

Consistency is key. Doves captured Chinese naval exercises in the South China Sea on 3/26, 3/31, 4/1, and 4/12. pic.twitter.com/BuqH3c28nn  Planet (@planetlabs) April 12, 2018

Tensions in the South China Sea have been simmering for years, but are now complicated by Chinas role in North Korean nuclear talks and growing trade disputes with the Trump administration.

Story continues

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The seven plaintiffs who sued Donald Trump for blocking them on Twitterand essentially wonsaid that if the president still refused to unblock them, they would escalate the case to protect their constitutional rights.

On Wednesday, a federal court judge ruled that Trumps personal Twitter account, and those of other U.S. government officials, were public forums and that blocking critics for voicing their dissenting political views breached the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald in Manhattan stopped short of ordering the president to unblock users, saying instead that "we must assume that the president and [White House Social Media Director Dan] Scavino will remedy the blocking we have held to be unconstitutional." However, days after the ruling, the president still hasn't unblocked his critics, and the plaintiffs arent happy.

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Im still blocked by Trump despite winning a federal lawsuit against him. Every day I remain blocked means the President is infringing upon my First Amendment rights and violating a federal order. Follow the rule of law and the Constitution you swore to protect, Mr. President. pic.twitter.com/HOfdFXRMes  Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) May 24, 2018

Brandon Neely, a police officer in Texas and one of the seven plaintiffs in the lawsuit, told Newsweek on Friday that the group has discussed next steps with their lawyers and are prepared to return to court.

One option could be getting an injunction, Neely said. Eugene Gu, another of the seven plaintiffs, suggested the courts could avoid direct confrontation with the president by ordering Scavino to carry out the unblocking.

Were all willing to take this as far as it needs to go, Neely said. Because its not only just about Trump now, but about setting a precedent for the future.

Story continues

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He added: [The president] is making policies on the fly on social media, and we have the right, as citizens, to be able to look at it underneath our own accounts.

RTS1T9PU

Reuters

Last year, former White House press secretary Sean Spicer announced that Trump's tweets from his personal account represented "official statements from the president. Buchwald said in her ruling that "the president presents the @realDonaldTrump account as being a presidential account, as opposed to a personal account," and that Trump often used his account "to take actions that can be taken only by the president, as president."

Gu and Neely both are pessimistic about whether President Trump will follow the ruling and believe they must take matters into their own hands to ensure that he does not continue to violate the Constitution.

I dont think Trump will unblock me. He thinks the president is above the law and he can do whatever he wants, Neely said. [The seven of us] have all talked about it, and were all in it for the long haul. Well take it to the Supreme Court if we have to.

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Hopefully it doesnt have to go that far, but with [Trump] you just dont know.

The Knight First Amendment Institute of Columbia University filed the lawsuit against Trump last July on behalf of seven people, including Gu and Neely, who were all blocked by the @realDonaldTrump Twitter account at around the same time.

This case requires us to consider whether a public official may, consistent with the First Amendment, 'block' a person from his Twitter account in response to the political views that person has expressed, and whether the analysis differs because that public official is the president of the United States," Buchwald said in her ruling. The answer to both questions is no.

Trump blocked Neely last June, after the police official commented on one of his tweets announcing that he was opening a coal mine in Pennsylvania. Congrats and now black lung won't be covered under #TrumpCare, Neely wrote, and was blocked hours later.

Congrats and now black lung won't be covered under #TrumpCare  Brandon Neely (@BrandonTXNeely) June 12, 2017

The White House did not respond to Newsweeks request for comment about whether the president will comply with the ruling.

This article was first written by Newsweek

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Ryan Pickrell

Security, Asia

What happens next?

Showdown in the South China Sea: Why China or America Won't Backdown

The South China Sea is once again rapidly becoming a major point of contention between Washington and Beijing, with both sides refusing to back down.

Two U.S. Navy warships  the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Higgins and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam  conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea Saturday, sailing within twelve nautical miles of several Chinese-controlled islands in the Paracels, territories the Chinese military forcefully seized from Vietnam in the 1970s. In response, Beijing claims it dispatched warships to drive the U.S. ships away.

Asserting that the American vessels entered Chinas territorial waters without the permission of the Chinese government, the Chinese Ministry of National Defense explained that the Chinese military immediately dispatched warships to identify and inspect the American ships according to law, and warned them to depart. This claim has not been verified.

Nonetheless, China clearly intends to pursue a more confrontational approach. The Chinese army is determined to strengthen the preparations for sea and air combat readiness, raise the level of defense, defend national sovereignty and security, a defense ministry spokesman revealed.

In recent months, China has dramatically bolstered its military presence in the South China Sea.

China dispatched heavy bombers to contested territories in the region in mid-May. A division of the Peoples Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) recently organized multiple bombers, such as the H-6K, to conduct take-off and landing training on islands and reefs in the South China Sea in order to improve our ability to reach all territory, conduct strikes at any time and strike in all directions,' Chinas air force said in an official statement.

The statement described the exercises, believed to have been carried out around Woody Island in the Paracels, as preparation for the West Pacific and the battle for the South China Sea.

Story continues

China has also deployed YJ-12B anti-ship cruise missiles and HQ-9B surface-to-air missiles to islands in the Spratlys, boosting Chinas ability to combat U.S. aviation and naval assets should such action be necessary. Such weapons systems also serve as a warning to other claimant states.

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China always asserts that its actions are defensive in nature, arguing that the deployment of various weapons systems do not constitute militarization and are, therefore, not a violation of past agreements. Those who do not intend to be aggressive have no need to be worried, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in response to questions about the recent missile deployments.

The Chinese military has also installed jamming technology in the South China Sea, escalating tensions.

In response to Chinese activities, the U.S. decided to disinvite China from this years Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, the largest international maritime drills in the world. This action was described as an initial response, indicating that there may be more to come if China does not change its ways.

It is, however, unclear if U.S. actions can successfully reverse current trends in the South China Sea given Chinas level of entrenchment. An international arbitration tribunal rejected Beijings claims to the South China Sea in 2016, the U.S. has been conducting FONOPS since 2015, and various international bodies have attempted to put pressure on China for its assertive behavior at sea, yet China is still moving to dominate the region.

China is now capable of controlling the South China Sea in all scenarios short of war with the United States, Adm. Philip Davidson, the new head of U.S. Pacific Command, said in April.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

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By Amir Cohen and Nidal al-Mughrabi GAZA-ISRAEL BORDER (Reuters) - Palestinian militants launched their heaviest barrages against Israel since the 2014 Gaza war on Tuesday and Israeli aircraft struck back, in a surge of fighting after weeks of border violence. Following militant rocket and mortar launches throughout the day countered by Israeli tank fire and air strikes, the pro-Iran Islamic Jihad militant group said a ceasefire agreement was possible, but Israel said reports of a deal were untrue. "Palestinian factions will abide by calm as long as (Israel) abides by it," Islamic Jihad spokesman Daoud Shehab said. An Israeli official who declined to be named said, "The report about a ceasefire is incorrect." Israeli sirens warning of imminent rocket and mortar strikes sounded late into the night and Israeli aircraft hit 55 militant targets in the Gaza Strip, including a cross-border tunnel under construction, the military said. Israel has long said it would not tolerate such attacks. There was no sign that calm would be restored at midnight (21:00 GMT), when the militants said the ceasefire could take effect. The Israeli military said that by 8 p.m. local time (1700 GMT) militants had fired 70 rockets and mortar bombs into Israel and that three Israeli soldiers were wounded by shrapnel. There were no immediate reports of Palestinian casualties. The armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the firing and said it was in response to Israel's killing of dozens of Palestinians since March 30, mainly in Gaza border protests. Qassam and Jerusalem Brigades (the groups' armed wings) announce joint responsibility for bombarding (Israel's) military installations and settlements near Gaza with dozens of rocket shells throughout the day, they said in a joint statement. "It comes in response to Zionist aggression and crimes against our people and our resistance fighters ... in addition to war crimes conducted by the enemy every day against our people during the marches of return along the border of Gaza Strip. Bombardment for bombardment and blood for blood. Hamas has largely abided by a de-facto ceasefire since the 2014 war. "THRESHOLD OF WAR" Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened security chiefs, and Intelligence Minister Israel Katz said the country was "at the closest point to the threshold of war" since the seven-week conflict with Palestinian militants four years ago. "If the firing (from Gaza) does not stop, we will have to escalate our responses and it could lead to a deterioration of the situation," Katz said on Army Radio. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who heads the Fatah faction that is dominant in the occupied West Bank and is a bitter rival of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, said Israel had used "vigorous aggression" against Gaza that proved it did not want peace. Lieutenant-Colonel Jonathan Conricus, a spokesman for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), said the most extensive strikes from Gaza since the 2014 war had drawn "the largest IDF retaliatory attack" since that conflict. Several militant projectiles were shot down by Israel's Iron Dome rocket interceptor system, others landed in empty lots and farmland. One exploded in a kindergarten yard, damaging walls and scattering debris and shrapnel around the playground, about an hour before it was scheduled to open for the day. Violence has soared along the Gaza frontier in recent weeks, during which 116 Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire at mass demonstrations calling for Palestinians' right to return to ancestral lands now in Israel. A Hamas spokesman defended Tuesday's attacks as a "natural response to Israeli crimes". An Islamic Jihad spokesman said "the blood of our people is not cheap". EXPLOSIONS IN GAZA Plumes of smoke and dust rose from sites hit in the Israeli air strikes. The explosions shook buildings nearby, causing panic among rush-hour crowds on streets and in markets. The Gazan Ministry of Education said shrapnel from one missile flew into a school. Nickolay Mladenov, the United Nations' special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he was deeply concerned by "the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from Gaza toward communities in southern Israel". Amid international condemnation of its use of lethal force at the mass demonstrations that began on March 30, Israel said many of the dead were militants and that the army was repelling attacks on the border fence. Palestinians and their supporters said most of the protesters were unarmed civilians and Israel was using excessive force against them. Off Gaza's coast on Tuesday, the Israeli navy intercepted a boat that organizers of the Palestinian border protests launched from the enclave in a challenge to an Israeli maritime blockade. The military said the vessel was stopped without major incident and was towed to the Israeli port of Ashdod where the 17 people on board would be questioned. The organizer of the boat protest said 14 of the boat's passengers had been returned by land to Gaza but three were detained. More than two million Palestinians are packed into the narrow coastal enclave. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from Gaza in 2005 but, citing security concerns, maintains tight control of its land and sea borders, which has reduced its economy to a state of collapse. Egypt also restricts movement in and out of Gaza on its border. (Additional reporting by Ari Rabinovitch and Ori Lewis in Jerusalem; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky, Andrew Roche, Toni Reinhold)
South Korean President, Moon Jae-in, and North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, had an impromptu summit on Saturday - South Korea Presidential Blue House

Moon Jae-in, South Koreas president may travel to Singapore next month for a three-way summit with the US and North Korea, amid ongoing efforts to find a deal on denuclearisation and peace on the Korean peninsula.

The trip, if it goes ahead, would likely take place around 12 June, to follow on from a bilateral meeting between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, the US president.

The discussions are just getting started, so we are still waiting to see how they come out, but depending on their outcome, the president could join President Trump and Chairman Kim in Singapore, a South Korean official told the Yonhap news agency.

The suggestion came as the June 12 summit, which was called off by President Trump on Thursday after Pyongyang called Vice President Mike Pence a political dummy, appeared to be back on track again following an impromptu meeting of the North and South Korean leaders over the weekend.

I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day. Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen! said Mr Trump in conciliatory tweet on Sunday.

Moon Jae-in, South Korea's president, is emerging as a mediator between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un Credit: AFP/AFP

US officials, including veteran negotiator with the North, Sung Kim, now US ambassador to the Philippines, on Sunday arrived in the demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas, for talks with a senior North Korean delegation about the agenda for the Singapore summit.

Their surprise visit, at the same time as another US delegation was believed to be en route to Singapore to arrange logistics, has revived hopes that the historic summit, a first for a sitting American president and a North Korean leader, may still take place.

Following the second meeting in a month between Mr Moon and the North Korean on Saturday, the South Korean president said Kim was determined to go ahead with the landmark summit.

North Korea's nuclear history: key moments

"He (Kim) also expressed his intention to put an end to the history of war and confrontation through the success of the North-US summit and to co-operate for peace and prosperity," Mr Moon told reporters.

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In an about turn, Mr Trump said at the weekend that the date of June 12 was still under consideration, although his aides have expressed scepticism about the logistics.

North Korea analysts are also doubtful that the summit could produce a substantive outcome, given the gulf that remains between Pyongyang and Washingtons expectations on denuclearisation.

Mr Moon said that Kim was still committed to the complete denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula but would not be drawn on its exact definition.

Experts have suggested that Kim will expect mutual disarmament and never agree to unilaterally give up his nuclear weapons.
At night young men in Mosul walk the streets beating drums to announce the pre-dawn breakfast Ramadan, just one of the traditions specific to the Muslim holy month in the city that has returned since the ouster of the Islamic State group last July. The Islamic State (IS) group which controlled the city for three years before its ouster last July had banned drumming, along with other Ramadan traditions that make up the festive spirit of the dawn-to-dusk fasting month.
A news anchor and photojournalist from a South Carolina news station died on Monday after a tree fell and crushed their vehicle near Tryon, North Carolina.

North Carolina Master Trooper Murico Stephens said that a tree struck a news truck from WYFF-TV News 4, a news station based out of Greenville, S.C., around 2:30 p.m. on Monday on U.S. Highway 176.

WYFF News 4 anchor Mike McCormick and WYFF News 4 photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer died Monday when a tree fell on their SUV. https://t.co/VZZKA6K6qq All of us at WYFF News 4 are grieving. We are a family. pic.twitter.com/IQmZ6prUIH  WYFF News 4 (@wyffnews4) May 28, 2018

The two men killed were anchor Mike McCormick and photojournalist Aaron Smeltzer, who were covering rain impact brought up by Subtropical Storm Alberto. Local anchor Carol Goldsmith, who first broke the news, reported that McCormick had joined the station over a decade ago back in 2007, while Smeltzer had just signed on in February of this year.

"Mike and Aaron were beloved members of our team -- our family," Goldsmith said on air.

See photos from Storm Alberto:



The pair had just wrapped an interview with Tryon Fire Chief Geoffrey Tennant about 10 minutes before the falling tree killed them, with both parties urging the other to be careful as they went about with their days. They are thought to have died immediately on impact, with their car still running with the transmission in drive when their bodies were discovered.

"Ten minutes later we get the call and it was them," Tennant said in a press conference, the Associated Press reported. He also said that the fatal accident was a "freak of nature."

"All of us at WYFF News 4 are grieving," station WYFF-TV said in a subsequent statement. "We are a family and we thank you, our extended family, for your comfort as we mourn and as we seek to comfort the families of Mike and Aaron."

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An Alabama student has been given the gift of a car after pictures of him walking to catch a bus to his high school graduation went viral.

Thousands of messages praising the determination of Corey Patrick came in from across the US after a local bus driver DeJuanna Beasely posted photos of the teenager to Facebook.

Patrick, a graduate of Tarrant High School, had been making the same 90-minute journey all the way through his final year after his family - who do not own a car - moved out of the area.

But Patrick was adamant that he wanted to graduate with his friends. I had to do what was necessary for me to walk this year, he told local news outlet WBRC.

His mother Felicia White said the rest of his family managed to get to the school in time for his graduation and that she was proud of her son.

Corey was getting up at 4.30 in the morning and had to be at the bus stop at 5.41 in the morning for the last year, Ms White said. She added that the outpouring of support for her son and herself was beyond the familys wildest expectations and that she wanted to say thank you to those who had sent messages.

Radio host Rickey Smiley, who has a show broadcast on Birmingham, Alabama station 95.7 Jamz, heard Patricks story and invited him into studio. I need you to go and get your driver's license. We're going to buy you a car, Smiley told Patrick, before handing over the new car the next day.

Corey Patrick is TRULY an inspiration!!!! A post shared by Rickey Smiley (@realrickeysmiley) on May 25, 2018 at 8:38am PDT

Patrick has also received a number of university scholarship opportunities in the wake of viral success of the pictures.

It means everything to me, a clearly-overwhelmed Patrick told TV station CBS 42 while sitting in his car, adding that he had no idea his story would prove so popular.
A sign is pictured at the entrance to a Planned Parenthood building in New York: Lucas Jackson/Reuters

The US Supreme Court has made it possible for Arkansas to ban medication-induced abortions.

The law was passed in 2015 and was challenged by womens health services organisation Planned Parenthood. It states that any physician who "gives, sells, dispenses, administers, or otherwise provides or proscribes the abortion-inducing drug" must have a contract with another physician that has privileges at a nearby hospital.

It is meant to provide follow-up care in case of complications however doctors administering the abortion drugs have had a hard time finding fellow physicians who will partner with them, meaning medication-induced abortions are essentially made impossible.

A medication-based abortion is only available until the ninth week of pregnancy and involves taking a combination of the drugs mifepristone, which makes it difficult for a fetus to attach to the uterine wall, and misoprostol, which essentially causes a miscarriage. It does not involve an invasive surgical procedure.

The court ruling would allow the law to go into effect mid-July even though Planned Parenthood plans to challenge it, but the court ruling did not explicitly state whether it was legal. It was issued without comment and as Bloomberg reported it may be a sign that the courts liberals made a tactical decision not to object publicly at this point.

Planned Parenthood has said it is working swiftly to re-challenge the ruling.

Executive Vice President Dawn Laguens said in a statement that Arkansas is shamefully responsible for being the first US state to outlaw medicine-induced abortions. She called the dangerous also because it limits womens access to safe and legal abortions to just one provider in the entire state, forcing some women - often from poorer communities - to travel hundreds of miles.

She noted the law places an undue burden on women, a factor that Planned Parenthood argued makes the law unconstitutional per the Supreme Court precedent on whether a law is too restrictive to womens access to the services.

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The Arkansas law is similar to a Texas law that the Supreme Court struck down in 2016, which sought to limit access to these types of abortion services with the same physician-pairing scheme.

Planned Parenthoods challenge will likely head to a federal trial court and may reappear at the Supreme Court soon.

It was a federal trial judge that knocked down the Arkansas law, but the state appealed and a three-judge panel said the trial judge had not made crucial factual findings about how many women would forgo or postpone abortions because of the law, Bloomberg reported.

In the meantime, the organisations Little Rock, Arkansas, clinic can still offer surgical abortions as part of its womens health services. However, that and the Fayetteville clinic have to stop offering the medication until the legal challenge is complete.
Maputo (AFP) - Ten people including children were beheaded in a village in northern Mozambique in a weekend attack blamed on suspected Islamists, local sources said on Tuesday.

The attack occurred in Monjane, a village not far from Palma, a small town gearing up to be the country's new natural gas hub in the northern Cabo Delgado province.

"We were informed about this tragedy," Palma's administrator David Machimbuko told AFP, with the information also confirmed by a local resident, who blamed Islamists.

Mozambique's state broadcaster also reported on "10 persons decapitated" in the Palma area.

Police were expected to give a news conference later on Tuesday.

Since October, Cabo Delgado has seen a number of attacks by suspected radical Islamists.

One of the victims of the weekend attack was the leader of Monjane village, a local resident said, without giving his name for fear of reprisals.

"They targeted the chief as he had been providing information to the police about the location of al-Shabaab in forests," he told AFP, referring to an armed group believed responsible for a deadly October attack on a police station and military post in the town of Mocimboa da Praia.

Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack on the country.

The group has no known link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name.

In the following weeks, at least 300 Muslims were arrested and several mosques forced to close.
Maputo (AFP) - Ten people were beheaded in a village in northern Mozambique, police said on Tuesday, as local sources blamed the attack on Islamists.

The pre-dawn attack on Sunday occurred in two small villages close to the border with Tanzania and not far from Palma, a small town gearing up to be the country's new natural gas hub in the northern province of Cabo Delgado.

"There are 10 citizens who have been hideously killed," Inacio Dina, the national police spokesman told a news conference in Maputo, adding the attackers used machetes.

Two of those killed were boys aged 15 and 16 years who had set out in the early hours, "hunting mice to eat," said the police. Villagers had earlier said the fatalities included children.

No arrests have been made yet.

- 'Scary environment' -

Without mentioning the group of the attackers by name, police's Dina vowed that "we will hunt and find them and take them to the court as happened with others", in apparent reference to attacks that occurred elsewhere in the same province in October.

Police reinforcements have been sent to the villages to step up security .

"The environment is scary," said Dina.

Cabo Delgado province has seen a number of attacks by suspected radical Islamists since October.

One of the victims of the latest attack was the leader of Monjane village, a local resident said, without giving his name for fear of reprisals.

"They targeted the chief as he had been providing information to the police about the location of al-Shabaab in the forests," he told AFP, referring to an armed group believed responsible for a deadly October attack on a police station and military post in the town of Mocimboa da Praia.

Two officers died and 14 attackers were killed then in what was believed to be the first jihadist attack on the country.

The group has no known link to the Somali jihadist group of the same name.

In the following weeks, at least 300 Muslims, including Tanzanians, were arrested and several mosques forced to close.

Story continues

Alex Vines, a specialist analyst on Mozambique for the London-based Chatham House told AFP that the "new attacks are unsurprising and a reminder of the seriousness of the situation".

"A number of independent assessments of the situation in Cabo Delgado conducted over the last three months have concluded that the security situation (there) remains fragile and continued attacks probable," he said.

- 'Serious situation' -

Police suspect the attackers are hiding in the forests surrounding the villages. A local villager said police were called during the attack but "arrived very late and the attackers were already gone. Nothing was stolen".

"They are becoming much more radical now as they are facing attacks from government," said another villager.

"This attack is a worrying sign of the deterioration of the situation," said Eric Morier-Genoud, a lecturer in African History at the Queen's University Belfast. "On the one hand the rate of attacks appears to intensify, on the other hand, the methods seem to be radicalised, with decapitations becoming more and more common".

A study published last week by a Mozambican academic Joao Pereira said up to 40 members of the radical group "have been trained by movements" that operate in the Great Lakes region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia and Kenya.

The increase in attacks in the north of the country could present a problem for Mozambique, which holds general elections next year and has its eyes set on recently-discovered gas reserves.

Vast gas deposits discovered off the shores of Palma could transform the impoverished country's economy.

Experts predict that Mozambique could become the world's third-largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG).

But Morier-Genoud suggested the group won't pose immediate "significant danger" to the gas project, urging that government engages the northern region from social and religious platforms instead of resorting strictly to a military response.

The country's north has largely been excluded from the economic growth of the last 20 years, and the region sees itself as a neglected outpost, giving the radical Al-Shabaab-style ideology a receptive audience.

Mozambique this month passed an anti-terrorism law that punishes terrorism activity with more than 40 years in jail.
Geneva (AFP) - The United States led a protest Tuesday against Syria taking over the Conference on Disarmament, calling it "a travesty" at a time when Damascus is widely accused of using chemical weapons.

The US ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament (CD), Robert Wood, briefly walked out of the room in protest when the Syrian representative took the floor.

"Syria's presence here is a travesty," he told AFP just before the session began.

"This regime has committed countless crimes against its own people through the use of chemical weapons, and it is just unacceptable for them to be leading this body," he insisted.

Syria's ambassador Hussam Edin Aala meanwhile slammed the protest as "sensational propaganda" and "characterised by double-standards."

Syria on Monday took over the rotating presidency of the CD, according to a decades-old practice among the body's 65 members following the alphabetical order of country names in English.

But despite the mechanical nature of Syria's arrival at the helm of the CD, following Switzerland and Sweden, a number of country representatives voiced their outrage that a representative of Damascus was presiding over the body that negotiated the chemical weapons ban.

More than 350,000 people have been killed and millions displaced since Syria's civil war began in 2011 with the brutal repression of anti-government protests.

After hundreds of people died in chemical attacks near Damascus in 2013, a deal with Russia was struck to rid Syria of chemical weapons, staving off US air strikes.

But the United Nations and Western countries have accused Damascus of carrying out a number of chemical attacks since then.

A suspected chlorine and sarin attack in the Syrian town of Douma on April 7 this year triggered punitive missile strikes against alleged chemical weapons sites in Syria by the US, Britain and France.

- 'Sad, shameful day' -

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During the first open CD session of Syria's presidency on Tuesday, the United States led a number of diplomats in protest.

Wood briefly left the room when Syria's ambassador Aala opened the session, before returning to voice Washington's displeasure from the floor.

"Today marks a sad and shameful day in the history of this body," he told the assembly.

"Simply put, it is a travesty that the Syrian regime, which continues to indiscriminately slaughter its own people with weapons banned by the Chemical Weapons Convention, should presume to preside over this body," he said.

Wood stressed that the US would not "permit 'business as usual' in the CD while Syria presides over this body."

He said his country would be represented "in this hall to ensure that Syria is not able to advance initiatives that run counter to the interests of the United States.

"But we will fundamentally alter the nature of our presence in the plenaries," he said, before moving in protest to a seat usually reserved for assistants.

Wood's words were echoed by a number of ambassadors from other countries, including Britain and Australia.

"The UK deplores the fact that Syria will assume the presidency of the Conference on Disarmament, given the regime's consistent and flagrant disregard of international non-proliferation and disarmament norms and agreements," British ambassador Matthew Rowland said in a statement Monday.

But he pointed out that all CD members including Syria had to agree to change the rotating system.

The French representative also said Syria "does not have the moral authority to lead this body."

Others, like the representatives of China and North Korea meanwhile offered their "congratulations" to the new president of the CD, while the representative of Syrian ally Russia slammed the US and other critics for "poisoning the atmosphere" at the CD.

In the following volley of accusations, Wood countered that he was "more concerned about the poisoning of the Syrian people".

The CD, which is not a UN organisation but meets at UN headquarters in Geneva, is a multilateral disarmament forum that holds three sessions a year. It negotiates arms control and disarmament accords and focuses on the cessation of the nuclear arms race.
An Arizona teacher didnt know a note to one of her sixth-grade students, more than two decades ago, would one day come full circle.

Christine Gilmer, 33, said her middle school teacher, Judith Toensing, inspired her and opened her mind to world issues.

At the end of the 1997 school year, Toesing wrote on Gilmers report card, Invite me to your Harvard graduation," and wished her the best of luck.

Courtesy: Christin Gilmer

Courtesy: Christin Gilmer

I was in sixth grade and got to learn a lot about the world, Gilmer told InsideEdition.com. She taught me about HIV and how different health issues have impacted people based on their geography.

That knowledge would later inspire Gilmer to pursue an education in public health.

After receiving her masters degree from Columbia University, Gilmer began working toward her doctorate at Harvard University.

As Gilmers 2018 graduation approached, she thanked the people who contributed to her success, including Toensing, in a letter on her Facebook page.

Gilmer even personally delivered an invite to Toensing for the special day.

Harvard school administrators took notice and decided to fly Toensing out for the 2018 Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health's convocation. They also honored the teacher at the ceremony.

I dont think she knew how much she impacted my views of the world, Gilmer said. It was really humbling. I was so grateful I was given the opportunity to thank her.

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Berlin (AFP) - Germany will hold memorial events on Tuesday for five ethnic Turkish victims of a neo-Nazi arson attack 25 years ago, at a time of resurgent xenophobia and simmering bilateral tensions ahead of Turkish elections.

Chancellor Angela Merkel and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will attend ceremonies along with Mevlude Genc, 75, who lost two daughters, two granddaughters and a niece in the 1993 house fire in the town of Solingen.

Despite her huge personal loss in one of post-war Germany's most notorious racist hate crimes, which sparked days of rioting, Genc went on to call for reconciliation, for which she later received Germany's highest civilian honour.

President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, after meeting Genc last Friday, praised her "as a role model for everyone who fights against discrimination, racism and violence" and warned that "the memory of this cruel act must not fade".

Germany has struggled with a new upsurge of racist attacks and far-right activism, including the entry into parliament of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, after an influx of more than one million asylum seekers since 2015.

Turkey's foreign ministry Monday voiced concern that "racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia are on the rise" again in the EU country and called on politicians and media there to "use prudent language".

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel this month received a formal rebuke from the parliamentary speaker for describing immigrants as "headscarf girls, welfare-claiming, knife-wielding men and other good-for-nothings".

- Campaign ban -

While both Germany and Turkey will voice their common sorrow over the tragic deaths, tensions linger between the governments of Merkel and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who faces elections on June 24.

Berlin has barred Turkish politicians from campaigning in the country home to three million ethnic Turks -- the largest diaspora abroad -- some 1.4 million of whom can vote in their ancestral homeland.

Story continues

Several German politicians have cautioned that Cavusoglu must not use the memorial event to campaign for Erdogan's AKP party or deepen divisions in the Turkish-German community.

After Erdogan last year slammed Germany's "Nazi-style" ban on Turkish campaign speeches, Berlin imposed a blanket ban on political events by non-EU politicians within three months of elections in their countries.

Police at a Kurdish rally in Cologne last Saturday prohibited two former lawmakers of Turkey's opposition HDP party from addressing the crowd.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas on Sunday reiterated Berlin's position, while stressing that Cavusoglu's speech would "not constitute election campaigning but commemorate the victims of this terrible attack".

- 'Remembrance, not disputes' -

The issue is highly sensitive, given the horrific nature of the crime a quarter-century ago, and in view of both countries' recent efforts to overcome a rift that deepened especially following Erdogan's crackdown after a failed 2016 coup.

The deadly Solingen blaze was set by four males, aged 16 to 23, from the far-right skinhead subculture that flared in the early 1990s amid an influx of eastern European asylum seekers.

Two women and three girls died, the youngest just four years old, and 14 others including several children suffered injuries.

All perpetrators received maximum jail terms, of 15 years for the adult offenders, and all were released from prison years ago, some early because of good behaviour.

The space where the charred remains of the Genc family house once stood is now a vacant lot where five chestnut trees have been planted to honour the victims.

Merkel, the two foreign ministers and victims' relatives will from 1000 GMT attend a ceremony at the North Rhine-Westphalia state chancellery in Duesseldorf.

From 1400 GMT, Cavusoglu and Maas will join a ceremony in Solingen organised by the town hall, the Genc family, and local Muslim, Christian and civic organisations.

State premier Armin Laschet criticised as "shameful" that the state parliament will not also hold a ceremony in which Cavusoglu could have spoken, saying the focus must be on "remembrance, not political disputes".

Some 400 leftist activists marched in Solingen last Saturday, warning against Germany's newly emboldened far-right.

"Back then they spoke of a 'flood of asylum seekers', today they speak of a 'refugee wave', an equally stupid term," demonstrator Robin Rau told public broadcaster WDR.

"When you look at how the mood was back then and how it is turning again now, I believe it's important to rally in the streets and to speak out against it."
President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of North Koreas ruling Workers Party Central Committee, was on his way to New York to discuss a proposed nuclear summit between the countries.

Kim plans to meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sometime this week, according to the White House.

We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!  Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2018

Trump canceled the summit, set to take place on June 12 in Singapore, on Thursday, citing the tremendous anger and open hostility displayed in a statement North Korea had released that attacked the U.S. Trump changed his tune a day later, hinting the summit could still take place.

Were talking to them now, he said Friday. They very much want to do it. Wed like to do it.

American and North Korean officials have been conducting a series of meetings that were ongoing as of Tuesday, the White House confirmed, adding that a team is already in Singapore preparing for the summit.

Kim will be the highest-level North Korean official to step foot in the country since 2000. Currently in charge of inter-Korean relations, he was the longtime head of North Koreas intelligence agency, making him one of leader Kim Jong Uns most trusted advisers.

South Korea blamed him for the sinking of the Cheonan, a South Korean military ship, in 2010, which killed 46 South Koreans.

He attended the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics earlier this year as part of the North Korean delegation and was photographed sitting next to White House adviser Ivanka Trump, the presidents oldest daughter, during the opening ceremony.

This story has been updated with details about Kim.

Story continues

Ivanka Trump and Kim Yong Chol of the North Korea delegation attend the closing ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics on Feb. 25. (Photo: Lucy Nicholson / Reuters)

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As of Memorial Day, roughly halfway through his second year in office, President Donald Trump has not visited U.S. soldiers on the ground in the Middle Eastsomething that his predecessor President Barack Obama did three months after his inauguration.

Related: Firm tied to Jared Kushners Middle East contact comes under Mueller investigation

Obama visited U.S. troops in Baghdad in April 2009 and made eight visits in all to Afghanistan, while former President George W. Bush traveled in 2003 to see troops in Iraq a few months after the invasion and made a total of four visits to Iraq and two to Afghanistan, according to Axios.

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Trump has visited military servicemen on U.S. soil and in other parts of the world, but not those stationed in the Middle East, where conflict rages on. Trump is responsible for some of the high tension in the regionin December, his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel prompted some Palestinians to burn photos of him and was criticized by many nations.

Earlier this month, the same day that the president announced he was withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian forces reportedly fired 20 rockets at Israel's military bases in the occupied Golan Heights.

On Monday, Trump observed Memorial Day at the Arlington National Cemetery by saying that fallen soldiers "died so that freedom could live."

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"To every parent who weeps for a child, to every child who mourns for a parent and to every husband or wife whose heart has been torn in two today, we ask God to comfort your pain, to ease your sorrow and to wipe away your tears," Trump said during his speech. "This is a very special day, and today our whole country thanks you, embraces you and pledges to you we will never forget our heroes."

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Trump on Monday also bashed Obama via Twitter on issues unrelated to visiting servicemen. The president quoted George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turleys comment earlier in the day on Fox & Friends to back his theory that the FBI under Obama spied on his presidential campaign for politically motivated reasons.

'We now find out that the Obama Administration put the opposing campaigns presidential candidate, or his campaign, under investigation. That raises legitimate questions. I just find this really odd...this goes to the heart of our electoral system.' Jonathan Turley on @FoxNews," Trump tweeted.

This article was first written by Newsweek

More from Newsweek
By Josh Smith and Matt Spetalnick SEOUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top North Korean official was headed to New York on Tuesday for talks with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the latest indication that an on-again-off-again summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un may go ahead next month. Trump confirmed in a tweet that Kim Yong Chol, a former spy chief and trusted adviser to North Korea's leader, was on his way for what would be the highest-level meeting in this week's flurry of diplomatic activity aimed at salvaging the historic summit. "We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea," Trump said in a Twitter post on Tuesday. "Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young (sic) Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the ruling Workers' Party's Central Committee and formerly head of a top North Korean military intelligence agency, will meet Pompeo later this week, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said. "The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trumps expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore," she said. But she stopped short of saying the meeting had been reinstated after Trump canceled it last week in a letter to Kim, citing "open hostility" in North Korean statements. This week's talks are aimed at determining whether North Korea is prepared to make sufficient commitments toward getting rid of its nuclear weapons, a U.S. official said, despite Pyongyang's insistence it will not unilaterally denuclearize. Trump thinks "ongoing discussions are going very well," Sanders said. She was referring to talks over the weekend between U.S. and North Korean officials in the demilitarized zone dividing the two Koreas and a White House logistics team's discussions with North Korean counterparts in Singapore. The senior North Korean envoy was expected to arrive in the United States on Wednesday after speaking to Chinese officials in Beijing, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said. The New York talks suggest that planning for the unprecedented summit, initially scheduled for June 12, is now moving ahead - and possibly into a more advanced phase. Kim Yong Chol will be the most senior North Korean official to meet top officials for talks in the United States since Jo Myong Rok, a marshal, met then-President Bill Clinton at the White House in 2000. Kim Yong Chol coordinated the North Korean president's two meetings with Pompeo in April and May. North Korea has faced years of isolation and economic sanctions over its nuclear and missile programs since it conducted its first nuclear test in 2006. The North had tested missiles believed to be capable of reaching the United States, but Trump has vowed not to let Pyongyang develop one that could deliver a nuclear warhead. A land divided: https://tmsnrt.rs/2KfOFYQ NUKES AND TROOPS North Korea has rejected U.S. demands that it unilaterally abandon its nuclear program. It defends its nuclear and missile programs as a deterrent against what it sees as U.S. aggression. The United States stations 28,500 troops in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-1953 Korean War. Asked what would need to happen for the summit to take place, Sanders told reporters: "Denuclearization has to be on the table and the focus of the meeting." Trumps aides will soon assess whether Kim Jong Un is willing to take serious steps before making a final decision on whether to go ahead with the summit, the U.S. official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. Kellyanne Conway, a top adviser to Trump, told Fox News a summit might not take place on the date originally set but perhaps might go ahead shortly after. Events have moved quickly since Kim Jong Un made a conciliatory New Years address at the end of last year, with Trump in March accepting Kim's invitation to meet following months of sharply rising tension and warlike rhetoric between the two. As efforts intensified to get the summit back on track, the White House also said on Tuesday that Trump would meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington on June 7. APPARENT WAIVER FOR NORTH KOREAN The United States and South Korea blacklisted Kim Yong Chol for supporting the North's nuclear and missile programs in 2010 and 2016, respectively. But he was granted special permission for official travel to the United States, said State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert. During his tenure as a senior intelligence official, Kim was accused by South Korea of masterminding deadly attacks on a South Korean navy ship and an island in 2010. He was linked by U.S intelligence to a cyber attack on Sony Pictures in 2014. North Korea denied any involvement in both attacks. Human rights abuses in North Korea, including violations of religious freedom, are a "matter of discussion" ahead of the planned summit, Sam Brownback, U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom, said on Tuesday. But Washington wants North Korea's nuclear program to be the focal point. A leading U.S. expert, Siegfried Hecker, a former director of the U.S. Los Alamos weapons laboratory in New Mexico who is now at Stanford University, was quoted by Mondays New York Times as saying denuclearization could take 15 years. A report issued on Tuesday by the Washington-based Institute of Science and International Security argued it could be done in as little as two years for verified dismantling of key parts of the nuclear weapons program. (Reporting by Josh Smith and Matt Spetalnick; Additional reporting by Christine Kim, Hyonhee Shin and Jeongmin Kim in Seoul, Lesley Wroughton, Doina Chiacu, David Brunnstrom and James Oliphant in Washington, Michael Martina in Beijing, Kaori Kaneko, Malcolm Foster and Tim Kelly in Tokyo and Fathin Ungku in Singapore; Writing by Alistair Bell, Editing by Bill Trott and Peter Cooney)
Washington (AFP) - US and North Korean officials met Sunday at a border truce village as preparations resumed for a high-stakes, high-drama summit that President Donald Trump suggests could help the North realize its "brilliant potential.

"I truly believe North Korea has brilliant potential and will be a great economic and financial Nation one day," Trump said on Twitter.

"Kim Jong Un agrees with me on this. It will happen!," the president said, confirming that a US team "has arrived in North Korea to make arrangements for the summit" between himself and North Korean leader Kim.

His upbeat language contrasted sharply to that of only three days earlier, when Trump canceled the planned summit, citing "open hostility" from the North. An extraordinary flurry of diplomacy since then -- much of it led by South Korea -- appears to have put the meeting back on track.

Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in met Saturday at the Panmunjom border truce village, in a surprise bid to salvage the June 12 summit planned for Singapore.

Announcing the lower-level talks held Sunday, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said, "We continue to prepare for a meeting between the President and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un."

The Washington Post reported that the US delegation to the Panmunjom meeting -- in the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea -- was led by Sung Kim, a former US ambassador to South Korea and former nuclear negotiator with the North. It said the Americans met with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui.

Tokyo stocks opened higher Monday on the news, although trading was thin.

"Excessive worries receded as efforts resumed for a summit between the US and North Korea," Okasan Online Securities strategist Yoshihiro Ito said in a commentary, which added that uncertainty remains.

The United States currently has no ambassador to South Korea, even as it takes up one of the most delicate diplomatic challenges in years.

Story continues

It remains far from clear how Trump and Kim might be able to bridge what appear to be vast differences in their expectations for what would be a historic meeting. But analysts on Sunday expressed increasing confidence that it will take place.

- Days of brinkmanship -

The apparent progress in the on-again-off-again talks followed a tense and turbulent few days of diplomatic brinkmanship.

Within 24 hours of cancelling the summit Trump reversed course, saying it could still go ahead after productive talks were held with North Korean officials.

"It's moving along very nicely," Trump said at the White House on Saturday. "We're looking at June 12 in Singapore. That hasn't changed."

His abrupt decision to pull out of the meeting had blindsided South Korea and Moon, who had been brokering a remarkable detente between Washington and Pyongyang in a bid to avoid a devastating conflict.

But Trump accompanied the cancellation with a letter to Kim that mixed tough language with an almost beseeching plea to get things back on track. Some critics mocked the letter's tone, but it may have achieved the desired result.

- Kim 'met his match' -

James Clapper, director of US national intelligence under former president Barack Obama, told CNN: "I support the letter that President Trump sent... In some ways, Kim Jong Un may have met his match here with our very unconventional president."

Victor Cha, who was President George W. Bush's top advisor on North Korea and was briefly expected to get Trump's nod as ambassador to South Korea, said Sunday he was now confident the summit will take place.

The Moon and Trump administrations very much want the meeting, he said, "and Kim says he wants a summit, so it's going to happen."

There are still stark differences between what the two sides hope to achieve.

Washington wants North Korea to quickly give up all its nuclear weapons in a verifiable way in return for sanctions and economic relief.

Pyongyang has a different view of denuclearization and remains deeply worried that abandoning its deterrent would leave the country -- and its leader -- vulnerable, especially while the United States maintains a robust military presence in South Korea.

Kim "has almost an emotional attachment and a personal psychological attachment to these nuclear weapons," US Senator Marco Rubio said Sunday on ABC's "This Week." "They make him feel prestigious, they make him feel powerful."

If Trump is unable to negotiate those weapons away and unwilling to live in a world where North Korea poses a nuclear threat, then "you're going to have to do something to go after them at some point," the senator said.

jm/bbk/it/mdl
President Trump on Tuesday accused, without evidence, investigators working on special counsel Robert Muellers Russia probe of a partisan plot to meddle in the 2018 midterm elections.

Trump laid out his latest conspiratorial claim in a series of early-morning tweets that included the false assertion that all 13 members of Muellers team are Democrats. Mueller himself is a Republican.

The 13 Angry Democrats (plus people who worked 8 years for Obama) working on the rigged Russia Witch Hunt, will be MEDDLING with the mid-term elections, especially now that Republicans (stay tough!) are taking the lead in Polls, Trump tweeted. There was no Collusion, except by the Democrats!

Why arent the 13 Angry and heavily conflicted Democrats investigating the totally Crooked Campaign of totally Crooked Hillary Clinton, the president continued. Its a Rigged Witch Hunt, thats why! Ask them if they enjoyed her after election celebration!

The president has repeatedly referred to the federal investigation into the Trump campaigns contacts with Russia as a witch hunt. Last week, Trump sought to spread the completely unproven claim that a spy was placed in his presidential campaign by the deep state  a term some Trump supporters use to describe career government employees supposedly conspiring against the president.

Look how things have turned around on the Criminal Deep State, the president tweeted on May 23. They go after Phony Collusion with Russia, a made up Scam, and end up getting caught in a major SPY scandal the likes of which this country may never have seen before! What goes around, comes around!

Robert Mueller, President Trump. (Photo illustration: Yahoo News; photos: AP)

On Tuesday, the president quoted conservative commentator Mollie Hemingway in another tweet that said Muellers investigation involved far more surveillance than we ever had any idea about.

It wasnt just a wiretap against a campaign aide, he wrote, quoting Hemingway. It was secretly gathering information on the Trump Campaign  people call that Spying  this is unprecedented and scandalous.

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While Trumps evidence-free accusation of the Mueller teams meddling is new, the possibility that the Russia investigation could cloud the midterm elections is not. Earlier this month, Trumps lawyer Rudy Giuliani told the New York Times that Mueller hopes to finish the Russia inquiry by Sept. 1  and that waiting any longer would risk improperly influencing voters in Novembers midterm elections.

Trump concluded his latest tweetstorm with a tacit admission that his focus on pushing back against the Russia investigation is distracting from his other duties as commander in chief.

Sorry, Ive got to start focusing my energy on North Korea Nuclear, bad Trade Deals, VA Choice, the Economy, rebuilding the Military, and so much more, he wrote, and not on the Rigged Russia Witch Hunt that should be investigating Clinton/Russia/FBI/Justice/Obama/Comey/Lynch etc.

But he couldnt resist taking one more swing.

The Fake Mainstream Media has, from the time I announced I was running for President, run the most highly sophisticated & dishonest Disinformation Campaign in the history of politics, Trump tweeted. No matter how well WE do, they find fault. But the forgotten men & women WON, Im President!

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Istanbul (AFP) - Turkey on Tuesday angrily hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron over his backing to the right of freedom of expression for a weekly magazine that called President Recep Tayyip Erdogan "The dictator".

In a tweet, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu also appeared to back pro-Erdogan activists in France who tried to tear down images of the front cover story on newsstands.

"Democracy is not just limited to accepting insults, curses and lies by one side but also taking into account the point of view and sensitivities of the other," Cavusoglu wrote on Twitter in reply to a tweet by Macron.

"What goes beyond that is hypocrisy. And it's in response to that that the Turkish community in France has expressed its civilian and democratic reaction," he added.

A group of pro-Erdogan activists targeted several newsstands in the southern French city of Avignon last weekend, attempting to remove and cover up advertisements for Le Point, the magazine said.

Another poster of the front cover -- a portrait of Erdogan with the headline "The Dictator. How far will Erdogan go?" -- was also targeted by the activists.

Macron had written on Twitter that the actions of the pro-Erdogan supporters were "totally unacceptable" and such posters could not be removed just because they displeased "the enemies of liberty".

"You cannot put a price on freedom of the press, without it, it's dictatorship," he said.

The left-leaning weekly, one of France's most popular news magazines, published an investigation into the Turkish strongman in its latest edition which also included an editorial asking: "Is Erdogan a new Hitler?".

The controversy comes as Erdogan eyes full powers of an executive presidency in June 24 elections to further tighten his grip on the country which he has ruled since 2003 first as prime minister and then head of state.

This is not the first time that Ankara has expressed outrage over a magazine cover in Europe -- in September 2016 Turkey slammed a special edition of German news magazine Der Spiegel that also described Erdogan as a dictator and had the headline "a country loses its freedom".

Ties between Ankara and Paris started the year warmly with a visit by Erdogan to France for a bilateral summit with Macron but have chilled in recent months over disputes on Syria and the Kurds.
London (AFP) - Britain on Tuesday called for a special conference of the global chemical weapons watchdog next month to "strengthen and protect" non-proliferation rules following a series of recent incidents.

"The world came together in 1997 to outlaw the development, stockpiling and use of these vile substances through the Chemical Weapons Convention," Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said in a statement.

"We call on all right-thinking states to come together next month to take action to reaffirm and defend the ban on chemical weapons, and to strengthen the organisation which we have entrusted with overseeing it," he said in a statement.

The Hague-based Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) was set up in 1997 to rid the world of toxic arms and prevent new ones being manufactured. There are now 193 signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention.

Britain said 10 other countries supported its request for a special conference and a total of 64 supportive responses were required for the conference to go ahead.

The head of the OPCW, Ahmet Uzumcu, last week called for his organisation to be given a mechanism to identify the perpetrators of attacks.

"I don't think we can afford to continue to maintain this situation in the absence of an attribution mechanism to investigate, to identify the perpetrators," Uzumcu said at the Chatham House international affairs think-tank in London.

"The international community does need to address this gap."

Uzumcu said the use of nerve agents in poisoning attacks in Kuala Lumpur in 2017 and Salisbury this year, as well as the use of toxic gas in the conflict in Syria, required global action.

Britain has accused Russia of being behind the attack in Salisbury in western England on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia. Moscow has firmly denied this and has challenged Britain to produce evidence for this.

The incident led to a diplomatic stand-off between Russia and Britain at the OPCW, as well as tit-for-tat expulsions of embassy staff between Russia and several Western countries.

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In his talk last week, Uzumcu also pointed to the precedent of the "joint investigative mechanism" set up by the UN Security Council in 2015 to probe chemical attacks in Syria.

It was disbanded last year after Russia vetoed the renewal of its mandate at the UN.

Uzumcu said the mechanism had proved effective, and "found responsibility of use at the level of states" as well as by the Islamic State group.
Bamako (AFP) - United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Mali on Tuesday to show support for UN peacekeepers facing an Islamist insurgency that has killed scores of their colleagues.

Guterres, received at the airport by Malian President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, went to the UN's MINUSMA base for ceremonies marking the International Day of UN Peacekeepers.

Guterres paid tribute to "the brave men and women serving in our mission in Mali, our operation with the highest casualties last year. At their own personal risk, they save lives serving the cause of peace".

Twenty-one troops and seven civilians with MINUSMA died last year, the UN said last week. It was the highest number of fatalities of any UN peacekeeping mission for the fourth year running.

MINUSMA has 12,500 military and police personnel. It has lost more than 160 people since it deployed in 2013 -- a figure that accounts for more than half of UN peacekeeping fatalities over this period.

During his two-day "solidarity visit" to the capital Bamako and the provinces, Guterres will observe the fasting ritual of Ramadan, the UN said.

He is being accompanied by the UN's top officials for peacekeeping and logistical support, and by the head of Unicef, Henrietta Fore.

Northern Mali fell into the grip of al-Qaeda-linked jihadists in 2012.

Most of them were ousted or dispersed by a French military operation, which was launched in January 2013 and continues to this day.

MINUSMA deployed to help stabilise the area, but swathes of the territory remain lawless, and attacks have spilled over to the centre and south of the country and into neighbouring Burkina Faso and Niger.
Sydney (AFP) - A decision by Australia's former deputy prime minister to sell his story about having a love child with a former aide sparked derision Tuesday and calls for politicians to be banned from paid interviews.

Scandal-hit Barnaby Joyce, who was forced to quit in February and move to the backbench over his affair with his 33-year-old former media adviser, will reportedly be paid Aus$150,000 (US$113,000) for a tell-all television appearance by the pair on Sunday.

Malcolm Turnbull said he planned to raise the matter privately with the married Joyce, whose smaller National Party rules alongside the prime minister's Liberals.

"It's certainly not... a course of action that I would've encouraged him to take, I'll put it that way," he told broadcaster ABC.

"I think you can understand how I feel about it but I'll just be circumspect, uncharacteristically circumspect, on this and leave it for a private discussion."

News that Joyce, 50, had left his wife of 24 years for Vikki Campion gripped Australia earlier this year, sparking debate about workplace culture amid the global #MeToo movement against sexual harassment.

The saga took another twist when Joyce questioned the paternity of the baby boy, who has since been born.

Best known outside Australia for threatening to euthanise Hollywood star Johnny Depp's two dogs when they were brought into the country illegally, Joyce claimed Tuesday that it was Campion's decision to accept payment for the interview.

He said the couple had tried to ride out the attention, but the paparazzi would not leave them alone.

"Remember there are other people in this interview being Vikki and (baby son) Seb, so if it was just an interview with me as a politician, sure, I am not going to charge for that," he told The Australian newspaper.

"But that is not what they wanted, they wanted an interview obviously to get Vikki's side of the story.

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"Like most mothers, she said: 'Seeing as I am being screwed over and there are drones and everything over my house in the last fortnight, paparazzi waiting for me, if everybody else is making money then (I am) going to make money out of it.'"

But the decision to accept payment has prompted accusations of hypocrisy -- Joyce had previously made a formal complaint to the Australian Press Council over the media's coverage of the affair.

Nationals minister Darren Chester said serving politicians should be banned from giving paid interviews.

"I think the public is asking the question, is it appropriate for sitting members of parliament to receive money to do media interviews. I think we should have the conversation in the parliament. I'm hoping for that conversation to occur," he said.

Liberals minister Kelly O'Dwyer warned it could backfire for Joyce.

"Ultimately, it's a matter for him and his judgement. I personally wouldn't do it, I don't think it's right, and I think most Australians are pretty disgusted by it," she said.
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The UN Security Council will meet Wednesday to discuss Palestinian rocket strikes on Israel, at the request of the United States which wants the top UN body to strongly condemn the attacks.

The rocket and mortar firings from the Gaza Strip were claimed by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, prompting Israel to respond with air strikes on bases of the militant Palestinian groups.

It was the worst flareup since the 2014 war between Israel in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

"Mortars fired by Palestinian militants hit civilian infrastructure, including a kindergarten," US Ambassador Nikki Haley said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The Security Council should be outraged and respond to this latest bout of violence directed at innocent Israeli civilians, and the Palestinian leadership needs to be held accountable for what they're allowing to happen in Gaza."

The United States circulated a draft statement calling on the council to condemn "in the strongest terms the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants in Gaza" toward Israel, according to a copy of the text seen by AFP.

The council will hear a report from UN envoy for the Middle East Nickolay Mladenov during the meeting scheduled for 3:00 pm (1900 GMT).

Israel's military has said it was not seeking an escalation, but warned Hamas, with whom it has fought three wars since 2008, to rein in its fighters. Three Israeli soldiers were wounded in the exchange of fire.

Islamic Jihad announced an Egyptian-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel.

The confrontation followed weeks of deadly demonstrations and clashes along the Gaza-Israel border.

Dozens of Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the unrest.

The US-drafted council statement would demand that Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other militant groups "cease all violent activity and provocative actions, including along the boundary fence, and cease putting civilians at risk through their actions."

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The council has been divided over the violence in Gaza and it was unclear whether the US-proposed statement would win full backing.

Security Council statements are adopted by consensus by all 15 members.

Separately, council diplomats are negotiating a draft resolution, put forward by Kuwait, that calls for an "international protection mission" to be deployed for the Palestinians.

Diplomats said the United States is likely to use its veto to block adoption of that measure, but Kuwait is hoping to win backing from the 14 other council members to highlight Washington's isolation on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.
The valedictorian of Holy Cross High School in Covington, Kentucky, planned on delivering a graduation speech about the power of young voices on Friday, but he was barred from doing so after church leaders said his speech was inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church. So he went outside after the ceremony and delivered it by megaphone instead.

I didnt think it was very polarizing. It was, like, about empowerment through youth, Bales told local TV station LEX18.

His speech praised the activism of his classmates who responded to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in February, fought to relocate the memorial to Confederate leader Jefferson Davis memorial at the Kentucky state capitol, and participated in the anti-abortion March for Life in January.

The young people will win is a mantra that Im sure many of you have heard if youve been attentive to the media recently, Bales said in his speech, which was shared in full by Cincinatti station WCPO. Its a phrase adopted by the prolific Stoneman Douglas teenagers who are advocating for an agenda  our rights to feel secure as humans. We frequently see these individuals behind a computer screen, and therefore we see them as a separate body from us. However, they possess the same capabilities as us graduates. As we enter into the real world, we must remember that we have a voice.

The young people will win because were finished being complacent, he added toward the end of his speech. Theres a misguided notion that wisdom is directly proportional to age, but were disproving that daily. Sometimes the wisest are the youngest in our lives, the ones who havent yet been desensitized to the atrocities of our world.

Katherine Frantz, the student council president and salutatorian, was also barred from delivering her speech on Friday. Christian and I have worked for four years to earn the right to speak as valedictorian and student council president at graduation, Frantz wrote in a column for the River City News. I was shocked and upset when that honor was taken away from us on the morning of graduation.

Many students and parents spoke out against the schools decision.

The student speeches for the Holy Cross High School graduation were not submitted for review before the deadline. When the proposed speeches were received, they were found to contain elements that were political and inconsistent with the teaching of the Catholic Church, Tim Fitzgerald, spokesperson for the Diocese of Covington, said in a statement, according to local TV station LEX18.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe discussed North Korea by phone on Monday and confirmed they would meet before an expected U.S.-North Korea summit, the White House said. A White House statement said that in their call, Trump and Abe "affirmed the shared imperative of achieving the complete and permanent dismantlement of North Koreas nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons and ballistic missile programs." Earlier, Japan's Kyodo news agency quoted Abe as saying that the two leaders had agreed to cooperate to make the summit between the U.S. president and North Korean leader meaningful. Trump last week pulled out of the summit with Kim, planned for June 12 in Singapore, before announcing he had reconsidered and that U.S. and North Korean officials were meeting to work out details. On Sunday, the U.S. State Department said U.S. and North Korean officials had met at Panmunjom, a village in the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) that runs along the heavily armed border between North and South Korea. A "pre-advance" team of U.S. officials has also traveled to Singapore to meet with North Koreans there, the White House said. While both Trump and Kim have appeared eager to hold the summit, the two sides have remained far apart on the key issue of denuclearisation, with North Korea rejecting U.S. demands for it to unilaterally abandon a nuclear weapons program that now threatens the United States. The White House gave no details as to when the Trump-Abe meeting might take place, but both leaders are due to attend the G7 meeting of big industrial powers that runs from June 8 to 9 in Canada. Japanese media have also quoted government officials as saying Abe could visit Washington for talks with Trump before the G7 meeting. (Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by Peter Cooney)
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand, the world's biggest dairy exporter, will spend more than NZ$880 million ($610 million) in a bid to eradicate the mycoplasma bovis cattle disease, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Monday. About 126,000 cows are expected to be culled, mainly over the next two years, as government and industry work to depopulate all infected farms, the government said in a statement. The disease, which is common in many countries, was first detected in New Zealand at a farm in the South Island last July and some 37 properties have now tested positive for the illness. "Today's decision to eradicate is driven by the government's desire to protect the national herd from the disease and protect the base of our economy  the farming sector," Ardern said in a statement. Mycoplasma bovis can lead to conditions such as udder infection, pneumonia and arthritis in affected cattle, but does not pose a food safety risk or any risk to humans. The initial outbreak led to concerns that the disease could affect market access for New Zealand's dairy products, and caused a brief dip in the New Zealand dollar. The government would contribute about NZ$591 million to the eradication program, while the rest would be borne by industry bodies and farmers, Ardern said. The bulk of the work would take place in the next two years. New Zealand's dairy sector contributes about NZ$7.8 billion annually to the country's gross domestic product and accounts for around a fifth of the country's exports. ($1 = 1.4397 New Zealand dollars) (Reporting by Charlotte Greenfield; editing by Richard Pullin)
A restrained war is taking place between Israel and Iran , and there is hostility between Israel and Turkey . On the other hand, we are tightening our relations with our Sunni neighbors.

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These developments have overturned the alliance of minorities policy developed by Israel diplomacy in the first decades of its existence. In light of its neighbors enmity, it searched forand often foundsecret and open allies which werent Sunni or Arab. Thats how we connected with Iran during the Shah era, with Turkey in the era before the religious awakening, with the Kurds in Iraq, with Ethiopia under Christian rule and with the Maronites in Lebanon.

Now, our friends are some of the countries bordering on Israel, while our enemies are the two big countries in the outer circle.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Israels strong enemies are only growing stronger (Photo: Reuters)

Fostering a friendship with your enemies enemies is a self-explanatory move which has provided us with many advantages, and it seems to me that only in one casethe alliance with the Christians in Lebanonthe losses exceeded the gains. We lost many people there, invested major resources, stirred up the Shiites, and likely sped up Hezbollahs takeover of the neighboring country. This loss was basically the result of our association with the weakening element rather with the intensifying element. Our policy didnt take into account the Christians demographic inferiority, the splits in their camp and their corruption.

The impact of Lebanons demography could have been predicted, but the influence of the other figures was obviously hard to predict, so we can forgive the national assessors for making wrong predictions. The problem is they didnt even deal with it. The Shiites and their ties to Iran werent mentioned in the heated debates the preceded the first Lebanon War, or even in the following years.

Our entanglement in Lebanon is an example of ignoring an implicit future, which may require a change of paradigm. Im not saying that the constraints of the present may be forcing us into a behavior characterized by responding to urgent challenges. Im saying that we have to deal with long-term thoughts, because history wont end after the next war.

Im referring to the concern that were once again failing to properly consider the implication of our alliance with the weakening side of the battle taking place in our region. The weakening side is the Arab Sunni states, while the growing, energetic and promising side is Iran and Turkey. Their advantage stems from their location on the map, from their economic potential, from the size of the class of educated people among their populations, and from the sense of mission they are driven by. Moreover, despite the Iranian and Turkish leaders enmity towards the West, their nations are more open to the modern spirit more than the Arab Sunni states.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman. It will take generations before his monarchy becomes a modern and strong country (Photo: Reuters)

The weakness of our side is clear. Egypt is in a terrible state and its future appears disastrous. Here are a few figures: Nearly 100 million people are crowded together within a strip that makes up about 2 percent of the country; the birthrate, which has dropped, is growing again; about 40 percent of the workforce works in agriculture, which is completely dependent on a river with polluted and waning water; the industrialization rate is extremely slow, and one of the reasons is the illiteracy of half of the population; academic education has hit rock bottom; most young Egyptians are unemployed; the army manages half of the economy, and its failure as a fighting force is demonstrated in the poor battle it is waging in Sinai; most of the population supports the Sharia rule, and most of them are in favor of killing of heretic Muslims; Egypt is at the 106th place in the global Human Development Index.

As for our other friend, Saudi Arabia, some are pinning their hopes on the changes taking place there, inspired by the radiant crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman. At the moment, however, this absolute monarchy is living in the Middle Ages. Even if the anticipated processes do take place there, even if it is spared the violence involved in radical social changes, it will take generations before it becomes a modern and strong country.

Reality has brought us together with miserable friends, but Im not so sure were doing enough to change the stance of our strong enemies, who are only growing stronger.
Fifty years after the Israel Navy's INS Dakar submarine sank in the depths, the Israel Defense Forces and Defense Establishment Archives (IDFA) published on Monday footage of the removal of its remains from the seabed.

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The INS Dakar submarine mysteriously sank in 1968 on its way from Britain to Israel with 69 crewmen onboard. It took some 31 years to finds its remains in the sea's depths.

Documentation of INS Dakar's remains removal (  ")

X

The unique footage revealed Monday showed the submarine's remains at the bottom of the sea and the Israeli and American supervisors watching the removal of the wreckage from the sea.





The Dakar submarine leaving Portsmouth (Photo: Dolphin Navy veterans' NGO)

Former Navy commander Maj.-Gen. (res.) Alex Talunder whose command the Dakar was foundtold Ynet that, "A week before the video (documenting the removal of the INS Dakar submarine from the depthsed) was taken, I was at the search site to watch the Americans working and handling the search gear."

"As I was leaving home on Friday my phone rang. Yechiel Ga'ash, who was the Israeli Navy's representative on the search site, called me. I thought he just wanted to wish me a quiet Shabbat," Tal said.

(Photo: Dolphin Navy veterans' NGO)

"When I heard him I immediately went to the side of the road and stopped the car. My wife asked me what happened and I replied with a shiver, 'The INS Dakar has been found.' I'll never forget the shiver I felt," he added.

Then defense minister Moshe Dayan was also recorded talking at Haifa's naval base several weeks after the submarine disappeared. Dayan could be heard explaining the significance of determining the submarine missing rather than gone.

Footage from INS Dakar's wreckage (Photo: IDF's archive)

"The Dakar is a mystery to us, one we know nothing about except that at a certain moment our connection with it broke," Dayan explained.

"We don't know and are not here to determine INS Dakar's crewmen are gone. We said they are missing," he went on to say.

"It is possible that after a fashion something we can't now expect will be revealed. Or a miracle will occur and someone is found alive somewhere, and can provide an explanation to this mystery," he continued.

(Photo: Dolphin Navy veterans' NGO)

An additional document revealed Monday is a command issued six weeks after the submarine disappeared by the Navy's seventh commander, Maj.-Gen. Shlomo Erell.

"The INS Dakar and its crew were in great shape. We have the utmost confidence in the experience, resourcefulness, professional knowledge and courage of the submarine's commander and crew and have no doubt that they couldn't prevent what happened," the command said.

Ceremony commemorating the Dakar's victims (Photo: IDF's archive)

Maj.-Gen. Erell underlined that the navy took upon itself a mission essential to Israel's security.

"We face our enemies and the seaour only open borderand the sea claims and takes its victims. Despite the grave tragedy, you have shown stamina, maturity and camaraderie," he said proudly.

Erell concluded the command by saying, "The memory of the fallen Navy sailors will never leave us and will serve to guide us as we look ahead, united by the great mission of assuring Israel's sovereignty in spite of heavy costs and sacrifices."

(Photo: Dolphin Navy veterans' NGO)

Finding the missing submarine is an event the Navy's veterans still remember. Dakar crewman Carmel Avraham was taken off of the vessel several days before it embarked.

"I remember the day it was found," the veteran recollected. "I went scuba diving near my house as I usually do on Fridays. I returned home at dusk and I didn't pay attention to my cell phone. As I arrived my wife told me everyone is looking for me."

"This wasn't the first time they (search forces) thought the submarine had been found and it turned out later it wasn't, so I waited for the evening news," he remembered.

(Photo: Dolphin Navy veterans' NGO)

"This time I had a good feeling. I met that day with two other friends who served on the INS Dakar and were saved from it, and as we looked at the photos there was no doubt it was the Dakar. The Navy carried out several specific changes to it," he added.

A central square commemorating the INS Dakar's fallen crewmen will be inaugurated in Caesarea in the coming months.

Dakar's crewmen (Photo: Dolphin Navy veterans' NGO)

Avraham said that he used his position as a member of the Hof HaCarmel Regional Council to get the approval to establish the square.

"To this day, we think about the Dakar's victims and nurture their commemoration," he concluded.
Australia's Defense Ministry has chosen to attach the Israeli-produced anti-tank Spike 2 missile to its new armored fighting vehicle, the Boxer.

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The deal between Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the Australian Defense Ministry could amount to millions of dollars, with the Israeli company agreeingwith the approval of the Israeli Defense Ministryto manufacture the missile in Australia.

Spike missile

The missile's latest generation was selected by Australia after going up against a competing German missile and demonstrating better performances and a preferable integration ability with the Australian army's control system that is manufactured by the Israel-based international defense electronics company Elbit Systems Ltd.

The two missiles underwent firing tests ranging from 2 to 4 kilometers, according to the Jane's Defence Weekly, a magazine reporting on military and corporate affairs.

The missile's next generation, named Gil, ranges to 5.5 Km, weighs 12.7 Kg, and is suitable for launching against tanks and buildings.

The IDF has already ordered 1,000 missiles, and according to foreign sources, Latvia's military has also purchased the missile.

The deal constitutes a significant accomplishment for the Israeli weapons manufacturer which, along with other defense and security industries, is forced to search elsewhere to enlarge the exports of its innovations in accordance with terms imposed on Israel upon signing the 2016 $38 billion aid package with the US State Department.

The 10-year dealthe largest ever delivered by the US to any country in its historyrestricted the sums of US-granted money Israel could use on domestic industries.

Rafael also offers Australia its naval and ground Iron dome systems.

Australia previously purchased Rafael's Popeye missiles against ground targets for their fighter jets.

Neither Australia's Defense Ministry or Rafael have yet to officially announce the deal or comment on it.
A salvo of twenty-eight mortar shells were fired on Tuesday morning at Israeli towns surrounding the Gaza Strip, with at least two exploding inside the communities, one in a kindergarten yard.

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One person was lightly injured in the rapid barrage which began at 6:59am, triggering 24 consecutive Code Red alert sirens to blare throughout the region, and local residents were told shortly after they could leave their bomb shelters and return to normality.

A gardener was lightly wounded in his hand from shrapnel and was taken to Soroka University Medical Center in Beer Sheva where he received treatment.

Rocket fire from Gaza

However, another Code Red alert wailed across the Eshkol Regional Council at 8:02am as two more mortars exploded.

At round 9:45am, yet another mortar was fired from Gaza which landed in open space near an Israeli community in the the same area.

According to the IDF, the majority of the projectiles were intercepted by the Iron Dome missile defense system. A number of the shells also fell in open space near the Israeli towns.

(Photo: Ohad Wais)

"A barrage of 25 mortar shells were launched towards several sites in Israeli territory. Most of the launches were intercepted by the IDF's Iron Dome aerial defense system," the military said in a statement.

Palestinian reports later said that IDF tanks struck a Hamas outpost in Gaza.

A spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror movement praised the mortar shell barrage as a "blessed retaliation of resistance."

"Our people's blood is not cheap and Israel can't continue spilling it without deterrence," he added.

Amid the heightened tensions, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a security consultation at the Prime Minister's Office, with intelligence officials set to attend.

Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon issued a statement shortly after the rocket fire. Mortar fire from Gaza, including one which fell next to a kindergarten, demonstrates the severe danger that Hamas constitutes for the citizens of Israel, he wrote on his Twitter page.

Mortar that fell in the Kindergarten (Photo: Roee Idan)

There is no country that would accept threats of these kinds against its citizens, and we also will not accept them.

On Monday, Israeli tank fire killed a Hamas terrorist at a frontier outpost while soldiers chased down and caught two other Gazan militants who tried to cross into Israel.

The Palestinians arrested were found with knives, bolt cutters and an incendiary material on their person. The Israeli soldiers came under fire while the terrorists were being chased. No Israeli casualties were reported and the forces returned fire, killing at least one member of Hamas's military wing while wounding another moderately.

Mortar lands in Kindergarten yard

Also on Monday evening, several Sderot structures and vehicles were hit by machinegun fire from the Gaza Strip, which triggered a Code Red alarm in the town and nearby communities in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. No casualties were reported.

The machinegun shooting came in the wake of several tense days in the border region, that saw several infiltration attempts by Palestinians followed by IDF retaliatory attacks.

A bullet casing fired from Gaza in Sderot

IDF Spokesperson Ronen Manelis on Sunday warned the Palestinain Islamic Jihad not to "play with fire" after the terror organization threatened retaliation over the IDF's Saturday attack against Hamas posts in Gaza, which claimed the lives of three of its members.

In a post he published on Facebook, Manelis reiterated that the strike targeted a Hamas military complex, and that it was carried out in retaliation to Palestinians infiltrating into Israel earlier in the day to plant an explosive charge along the border.

The latest incidents follow weeks of Palestinian mass-demonstrations along the border, which Israel has argued is used as a cover for attempts to breach the border fence.
Two mortar shells fell in Gaza border communities' open space on Tuesday following a rocket salvo that was launched earlier at Israel from Gaza triggering a code red alert across the Gaza border communities.

In addition, 25 mortar shells were fired at Israel, most of them intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for a security consultation at the Prime Minister's Office Tuesday amid the mortar shells fired at Israeli towns surrounding the Gaza Strip.

Intelligence and Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz and other security elements will attend the consultation.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon issued a statement on Tuesday following the rocket salvo fired from Gaza at Israeli towns surrounding it.

Mortar fire from Gaza, including one which fell next to a kindergarten, demonstrates the severe danger that Hamas constitutes for the citizens of Israel, Nahshon wrote on his Twitter page.

"There is no country that would accept threats of these kinds against its citizens, and we also will not accept them, he added.
EU envoy to Israel Emanuele Giaufret tweeted Tuesday "As kids were preparing for school this morning a barrage of rockets from Gaza fell on southern Israel. One landed outside a kindergarten."

"I know the resilience of communities in southern Israel but indiscriminate attacks are totally unacceptable and to be condemned unreservedly," he added.
A spokesman for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror movement praised Tuesday the mortar shell barrage fired from Gaza at Israeli southern communities as a "blessed retaliation of resistance."

"Our people's blood is not cheap and Israel can't continue spilling it without deterrence," he added.
Dozens of teens joined the combat fitness training session commemorating Duvdevan Unit's Staff Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky , who succumbed to his wounds Saturday after a marble slab had been thrown at him during an operation near Ramallah.

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The combat fitness training was held on the dunes next to Ronen's hometown of Rehovot as part of the "Asa combat fitness training" group with which Lubarsky had trained prior to joining the army.

combat fitness training commemorating Ronen Lubarsky (:  )

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The teens who currently take part in the demanding combat fitness training program requested to hold a training session commemorating the deceased soldier. Yoav Asa, the group's founder, said, "Ronen was one of our alumni and this training is being held in his memory."

Dozens of teens hold a combat fitness training session in the memory of Staff Sgt. Ronen Lubarsky (Photo: Avi Mualem)

"Ronen was a special, modest young man who was willing to do what it takes to achieve his goal. We'll go up and down the hills 20 timeseach lap for a year of Ronen's life," he explained.

Ronen's combat fitness instructor Daniel said, "Ronen excelled in his performances and was chosen to be among those who participate in additional trainings on Fridays."

"We would call (those who arrive on Friday) the 'elite team.' He used to talk with me a lot about Duvdevan since he knew I served there."

"He had gone to the unit's try-outs without telling me because he didn't want me to interfere, it was important for him to make it on his own," he recounted.

Staff Sgt. Lubarsky, who succumbed to his wound after being critically injured during an operation near Ramallah (Photo: Ronen Luvarsky's Facebook page)

"Ronen was so modest that even after he had been accepted to Duvdevan, he didn't tell us," the instructor added.

"Ronen told us how much he loves his Duvdevan team. When he finished his training period in the unit, I went to speak on behalf of the Duvdevan Foundation just before he received his warrior pin," the instructor recollected.

"We spoke and hugged and I was so proud of him. I asked him to watch himself and that was the last time we spoke," he concluded.

Nir Meshulam, Ronen's best friend for the past 16 years, said Ronen was a very modest and quiet person.

"I remember that during combat fitness trainings the instructors would check the soldiers, and his equipment and military gear was always the most neatly organized," he said.

"He would take care of the smallest details in everything he did. When he arrived at Duvdevan I admired his as a younger brother admires his older one," he went on to say.

"When we were in the ninth grade, I passed out in the park on the way home from school. He didn't hesitate and immediately took care of me by bringing me water and accompanying me to my doorstep. He was only in the ninth grade but was very mature," Meshulam said.

Another friend, Stav Toledano, said Ronen was a descent, honest perfectionist.

Ronen Lubarsky (L) and his friend Stav Toledano

"We were together during high school's most significant years. We joined the combat fitness training group together. Ronen wasn't a good runner but he was a person that goes home and works hard," he elaborated.

"Our last conversation was five days prior to his death. We talked about my big brother's wedding and he told me he asked his commander for permission to come to the wedding," he remembered sadly.

"Now he won't be attending the wedding. My heart breaks to know he's no longer among the living," he lamented.

One of Ronen's high school friends added, "Ronen wasn't like the rest of the children in school who are busy with nonsense. He didn't care what everyone around him thought. We were very good friends, he always took care of me."

Ronen Lubarsky (2nd left) and friends (Photo: Nati Levy)

"He would call me if I didn't come to school. He was like a responsible father and he was mature beyond his years," she remembered.

"He sat next to me during a school field trip and opened up to me despite the fact he had never shared anything with others. I was moved by the fact Ronen is sharing with me (his thoughts)," she concluded.

Meanwhile, the IDF operated on Monday in the refugee camp near Ramallah where Lubarsky was killed as part of its attempts to capture the terrorist responsible for his death.

IDF forces surrounded a house in the camp in order to capture all those involved in the soldier's murder, and 13 local residents were injured during skirmishes with the IDF forces.

Several men were detained during the IDF's raid, but the one responsible for Staff Sgt. Lubarsky's death was not one of them.
Israeli aircraft struck a position belonging to the Islamic Jihad militant group in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday after Palestinian militants fired mortar bombs into Israel, residents said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties. An Israeli military spokeswoman declined comment on the report.
The IDF began hitting Palestinian Islamic Jihad targets on Tuesday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond with great power against a flurry of 28 rockets that were fired into Israeli towns bordering the Gaza Strip earlier.

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Israel views gravely the attacks against it and against its communities by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip, the prime minister said at the Ma'alot-Tarshiha Galilee Conference. The IDF will respond with great power to these attacks. Israel will exact a heavy price and I see Hamas as bearing responsibility.

File photo of F-15 (Photo: EPA)

Israeli jets began dropping bombs at what security officials in Gaza called Islamic Jihad militant training site. Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah in the coastal strip and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported.

Despite the number of mortar shells fired from Gaza on Tuesday morning standing at 28, Netanyahu more than doubled the figure in an original post that was later removed on his Twitter feed.

Peaceful protests? 57 rockets were fired at Israeli civilians, including at a kindergarten. Share the truth, he wrote in an apparent error before removing the post and launching a fresh edited statement which said "dozens."

One person was lightly injured in the rapid barrage which began at 6:59am, triggering 24 consecutive Code Red alert sirens to blare throughout the region, and local residents were told shortly after they could leave their bomb shelters and return to normality.

PM Netanyahu speaking in the Galilee conference (Photo: Effi Sharir)

A Hamas spokesperson said: Israel will fail in an attempt to change the rules of the conflict and establish a new equation on the ground. The resistance in Gaza reserves the right to respond and to remain silent in accordance with the interests of our people, and this is not due to weakness.

"We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to the Zionist crimes," said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the barrage proved that the "resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes."

Radwan spoke as two fishing boats carrying students and medical patients set sail out of Gaza City's port, aiming to break 11 years of naval blockade that Egypt and Israel imposed after the mterror group violently took control of the coastal territory.

Original Twitter post

During his speech, Netanyahu addressed the military situation in Syria, reiterating his intention to enforce Israels red lines.

I have made clear many times what our red lines are and we are enforcing them without compromise. Iran cannot be allowed to militarily entrench itself in Syrian and act from there against us or to transfer a lethal weapon from Syria to Lebanon or manufacture one in Lebanon he said, a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that only Syrian government troops should have a presence on Syrias southern border.

Let the world know: Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip continue to attack Israel. Share the truth! pic.twitter.com/wRYnRJ2yK6  Benjamin Netanyahu (@netanyahu) May 29, 2018

However, Netanyahu made clear that Lavrovs staements would not suffice in allaying Israeli concerns. I want to clarify something: We are working against Iranian military entrenchment in any of Syrias territory. We will not make do with the removal of Iranian forces from south Syria alone, he said.

The long-range missiles that Iran is working to install in Syria will endanger us, as it also will beyond a distance of a few kilometers from south Syria. Therefore, Iran must completely leave Syria, the premier explained.

Israel recently notified Russia of its decision to expand its "red lines"as it pertains to operations against Iran in Syriato the entirety of its northern neighbor's territory rather than just the southern portion of the country as it had so far, the Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper reported.

Rocket fire from Gaza

Regarding reports that Israel and Russia had reached an understanding on returning Syrian President Bashar al-Assads army to the border on the Golan Heights and the full removal of Iranian forces, Netanyahu indicated that a full agreement had yet to have been reached.

We dont share an understanding as if we agreed to less than (a full Iranian withdrawal). In any event, we will always work in the interests of our security with or without understandings, he said. We will defend ourselves as an independent force, determined to ensure our security and our future.

As Netanyahu spoke, United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov also condemned the rocket fire from Gaza.

Nikolay Mladenov (Photo: Reuters)

I am deeply concerned by the indiscriminate firing of rockets by Palestinian militants from Gaza towards communities in Southern Israel. At least one of which hit in the immediate vicinity of a kindergarten and could have killed or injured children," the said in a statement.

"Such attacks are unacceptable and undermine the serious efforts by the international community to improve the situation in Gaza. All parties must exercise restraint, avoid escalation and prevent incidents that jeopardize the lives of Palestinians and Israelis.
US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday meetings were being held to set up a summit with North Korea and confirmed that a top North Korean official was en route to New York.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea. Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. KimYoung Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!" Trump said in a Twitter post.
A man killed two policewomen and a bystander in the Belgian city of Liege on Tuesday before being shot dead in a gunbattle at a school in what prosecutors are treating as a terrorist attack.

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The man was named by public broadcaster RTBF as a 36-year-old petty criminal who had been let out on day-release from a local prison on Monday. It said investigators were looking into whether he had converted to Islam and been radicalized in jail.

Gunshots fired in Belgium

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A public prosecutor told a news conference that the man attacked the policewomen from behind with a knife, described as a box-cutter by RTBF, around 10:30 am (4.30 am ET) on a boulevard in the center of Belgiums third city, near the German border.

After stabbing the officers, prosecutor Philippe Dulieu said, the man seized one of their handguns and shot both women dead before walking down the street and shooting dead a 22-year-old man who was sitting in the passenger seat of a parked car.

The man then made his way into a high school where he took a woman employee hostage, triggering a major intervention by armed police. Pupils were moved to safety as a gunbattle broke out that sent people in the street racing for cover. Several police were wounded before the attacker was finally killed.

The event is classed as a terrorist incident, Dulieu said.

The national crisis center, on high alert since past attacks by Islamic State in Paris and Brussels in the past three years, said it was monitoring events but had not raised its alert level - an indication they do not expect related follow-up attacks.

La Libre Belgique newspaper quoted a police source as saying the gunman shouted Allahu AkbarGod is greatest in Arabic.

Gunned down

Images posted on social media showed elements of the drama: Apparently the two police officers, arms bare on what was a hot sunny morning, wearing protective vests and lying in pools of blood a couple of meters apart outside a cafe; the gunman, dressed in black, waving a pistol in each hand, standing in the middle of the road; and finally the assailant emerging from a building onto the street, firing on police, who gun him down.

Prime Minister Charles Michel, expressing his condolences to the families of the victims, said it was too early to say what had caused the incident. King Philippe visited Liege, the biggest city in Belgiums French-speaking Wallonia region.

An industrial powerhouse on the Meuse river, it was the scene of a mass shooting in 2011, when a man killed four people and wounded over 100 others before turning his gun on himself.

A Brussels-based Islamic State cell was involved in attacks on Paris in 2015 that killed 130 people and on Brussels in 2016 in which 32 died. The Brussels IS cell had links to militants in Verviers, another industrial town close to Liege, where in early 2015 police raided a safe house and killed two men who had returned from fighting with radical Islamists in Syria.

European authorities are deeply concerned about the risks of petty criminals, including those not from Muslim backgrounds, being inspired to Islamist violence while incarcerated.
At least 10 code Red alerts were sounded near the Gaza Strip on Tuesday afternoon while the IDF began battering Palestinian Islamic Jihad and Hamas targets in the coastal enclave in retaliation for a salvo of 28 mortar shells that were fired into Israel earlier.

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An IDF soldier was moderately wounded by shrapnel while two other soldiers were lightly wounded. A Sderot resident fell down and suffered contusions while running to a shelter, as three additional civilians suffered panic attacks.

The wounded soldiers being evacuated (:  ")

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An errant Gaza rocket hit an Israel Electric Company facility transferring electricity into Gaza. The rocket damaged equipment, causing three power lines supplying electricity to the strip to malfunction.

IDF attacks in Gaza (Photo: AFP)

The electric company said that an initial evaluation showed it would take several days to fix the equipment and resume regular supply. Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz, however, instructed the company to not put any of its employees at risk and to only fix the damage after calm prevails.

A sudden power outage was subsequently reported in southern Gaza.

A chorus of Code Red alerts wailed throughout the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council as rockets peppered southern Israel, setting off Code Red alarms in Ofakim for the first time.

A second wave was then sounded in Ashkelons industrial region and Sderot, only to be followed by a third wave of three rapid siren blasts. Just before 4pm, five more sirens blared in the south which were followed by two more several minutes later.

After a break of some time, fire from Gaza recommenced shortly after 6pm, with a mortar exploding in open land inside one of the communities in the Eshkol Regional Council. No one was harmed.

The Iron Dome missile defense system intercepted several of the rockets or mortars that whistled through Sderots skies as residents of Israeli towns near Gaza were instructed to return to bomb shelters for a second time in one day.

In total, the Iron Dome system intercepted 25 projectiles between the first barrage and Tuesday afternoon.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will hold urgent consultations Tuesday evening in the wake of the day's events with the participation of Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, Chief of Staff Gadi Eisenkot, Shin Bet Director Nadav Argaman and other defense establishment officials.

The IDF spokespersons Unit confirmed that the army had attacked 30 terror targets since the morning, including a terror tunnel near the Kerem Shalom border crossing which penetrated 900 meters into Israeli territory.

"We've pinpointed 30 mortars with certainty and assume the rest were machinegun bullets," an IDF official said. Apart from the dozens of mortars, the IDF added that several 107 millimeter Iranian rockets were fired as well, with the IDF calling it the "most serious incident since Operation Protective Edge. The Islamic Jihad is endangering civilians in our communities."

The IDF spokesman said the army retaliated to the morning's mortar fire by attacking more than 30 terror targets around the strip, belonging to both Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, including weapons storehouses, outposts and a different Hamas tunnel in the southern strip.

"Hamas has been allowing groups to carry out attacks in the fence's vicinity since Nakba Day (May 15), the statement said. Hamas has felt a sense of failure at reaching the fence and therefore over the past two weeks there has been a change in the number of terror groups reaching the fence under Hamas's direction," the official said.

The IDF began hitting targets in Gaza on Tuesday morning as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to respond with great power to the strip's aggression.

Israeli jets began dropping bombs at what security officials in Gaza called Islamic Jihad militant training site. Smoke was seen rising near the town of Deir al-Balah in the coastal strip and the Israeli military said the explosions there were related to its activity. No injuries were reported.

Israel views gravely the attacks against it and against its communities by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad from the Gaza Strip, the prime minister said at the Ma'alot-Tarshiha Galilee Conference. The IDF will respond with great power to these attacks. Israel will exact a heavy price and I see Hamas as bearing responsibility.
One person was lightly wounded in one of Israel's southern communities by a mortar shell fired from Gaza on Tuesday morning. The mortar shell exploded in a kindergarten yard, causing the man shrapnel wounds to his hand.

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The mortar shell attack was the biggest one since Operation Protective Edge, but parents were nevertheless instructed to send their children to school as usual.

Gaza border communities' residents attacked (:   )

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Code Red alerts blared across the Israeli towns surrounding the Gaza Strip, breaking the morning's routine. Another Code Red alert sounded across the Eshkol Regional Council a bit after 9:30am.

Mortar shells fired at Israeli communities from Gaza (Photo: Oshri Zimer)

Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman convened an urgent status evaluation meeting at the IDF's Kirya headquarters in Tel Avivattended by Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Gadi Eisenkot and the defense establishment's heads.

While a spokesperson for Palestinian Islamic Jihad welcomed the mortar shell barrage, the group refrained from publicly accepting responsibility for the attack.

"The attack is a blessed retaliation of the resistance," the spokesperson said. "Our people's blood is not cheap and Israel can't continue spilling it without deterrence."

Israeli citizens under attack (Photo: Matan Tzuri)

A show planned to take place in Eshkol Regional Council was canceled in the wake of the rocket and mortar shell salvo.

Meirav Cohen, a resident of a kibbutz hit by one of the mortars, said the Code Red alarm sounded as she began making sandwiches for her daughter to take to school.

"I woke up my daughter, and suddenly the Code Red sounded. I ran to wake up my other children, who were still sleeping, and we all went into the bomb shelter," she elaborated.

"We realized it's a real event, heavy (mortar shell) falls sounded," she added.

Despite the fact there were initially no casualties and instructions were given to resume routine, disturbed residents flocked to the emergency centers. Talks were held in schools and kindergartens and are expected to continue over the next few days.

President Reuven Rivlin requested to speak with the children of the kindergarten where a mortar shell exploded earlier this morning.

Mortar shell fired from Gaza (Photo: Roee Idan)

"Good morning to all the children, this is President Ruvi speaking from Jerusalem. I would like to wish you a quiet, pleasant day filled with games, stories, toys and studies," the president said.

"Nechama and I are waiting for you to visit us in Jerusalem in the President's Residence. Have a wonderful morning, children," Rivlin added.

Education Minister Naftali Bennett also spoke with the teacher of the kindergarten where the mortar shell exploded. "I was impressed to know that with the teacher's calmness and quiet leadership, the incident was managed in an orderly manner and without panic," Bennett said.

"The Gaza border communities have our utmost support. I would also like to clarify to our enemies across the border that the violation of routine will be met fiercely," the education minister assured.

The NATAL organizationan Israeli trauma center established to treat victims of terror and warreceived 60 calls Tuesday morning, a higher number of calls than in times of routine.
Iran and European powers have made good progress in talks to end the conflict in Yemen as Tehran has shown itself willing to push for a ceasefire and ease the humanitarian crisis there, according to officials on both sides.

The talks were launched in February as part of efforts to avert President Donald Trump's decision to pull the US out of a 2015 nuclear deal and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.

Created on a separate track to the nuclear negotiations, they are meant to address US concerns over Iran's regional role and show Washington that Europe could prise compromises from Tehran.
The Syrian army has completed preparations for an imminent offensive against rebel-held areas in southwestern Syria, a non-Syrian commander in a military alliance that backs Damascus said on Tuesday, raising the prospect of a major new escalation.

However, a rebel commander in the Deraa region of the southwest told Reuters there was no sign of mobilisation for such an assault and accused Damascus of waging psychological warfare. Nevertheless, rebels had prepared defences, he said.

The rebel-held southwest has come into focus after the Syrian government, backed militarily by Iran and Russia, crushed the last besieged rebel enclaves near Damascus and north of the city of Homs. Damascus has vowed to recover the whole country.
The IDF released a statement Tuesday afternoon saying it was in the process of destroying a "high standard tunnel" near the Kerem Shalom goods border crossing from Israel into the Gaza Strip, with the tunnel crossing a kilometer into Egypt and then returning towards Israelcrossing some 900 meters into the country.

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The tunnel, an army official said in a briefing, was intended for both smuggling operations and terrorism. "It was the tenth tunnel we destroyed," the official said. "It was under construction by Hamas and had yet to be completed. We attacked its shafts on the Rafah side."

IDF footage of the tunnels detonation (:  ")

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The official expounded that the tunnel was "irregular in its characteristics" and noted it was two kilometers in length overall. "It's an extremely long tunnel," the official revealed. "It had exit shafts on the Egyptian side. It was handled with aerial assaults and in the coming hours the portion crossing into Israel will also be dealt with to complete its neutralization."

The Hamas tunnel running under Kerem Shalom was used for both smuggling and terrorism (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis added that Egypt was apprised of the tunnel's existence before the army began destroying it.

IDF footage of the tunnel (:  ")

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"This was a dual-use tunnel, both for smuggling and terrorism," he said, adding it was designed to "bypass (Israel's border security) fence. In fact, it creates a bypass route through Egypt into Israeli territory. It also allows smuggling from Egypt into the Gaza Strip and carrying out terror attacks inside Israel."

(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

The IDF spokesperson noted called the tunnel's length "exceptional," and noted it was "constructed according to building code the Hamas uses to build its tunnels."

Before speaking on the tunnel, the IDF divulged that the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group was behind the salvo of dozens of mortar shells fired at Israeli communities near the Gaza border earlier in the day.

"We've pinpointed 30 mortars with certainty and deduced the rest were machinegun bullets," the official said. Apart from the dozens of mortars, the IDF added that several 107 millimeter Iranian rockets were fired as well, with the IDF calling it the "most serious incident since Operation Protective Edge. The Islamic Jihad is endangering civilians in our communities."

(Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

In response to the morning salvo, an IDF spokesman said the army retaliated by attacking more than 30 terror targets around the strip, belonging to both Hamas and Islamic Jihad, including weapons storehouses, outposts and a Hamas tunnel in the southern strip.

"Hamas has been allowing groups to carry out attacks in the fence's vicinity since Nakba Day (May 15). Hamas has felt a sense of failure at reaching the fence and therefore over the past two weeks there has been a change in the number of terror groups reaching the fence under Hamas's direction," the official said.

The IDF attacked some 30 terror targets around the strip Tuesday (Photo: AFP)

The army spokesman then went on to clarify the Gaza-ruling terror group was steering events in the strip. "This morning's mortar bombs were intercepted by the Iron Dome, which demonstrates (Israel's) technological advancement, but (coverage is) still not hermetic," he said.

An IDF official later specified that the Iron Dome system intercepted 25 mortars of the dozens launched from Gaza, which nevertheless led to five Israelis being wounded lightly to moderately.

The army later reiterated its instruction for Israelis residing on the Gaza perimeter to remain within 15 seconds of shelters at all times.

IDF bombings in Gaza

The official concluded his statement by saying "Hamas will decide the direction the coming days take. Hamas allows the fire, turns a blind eye or is party to it. Hamas is not interested in escalation and yet allows the incidents to continue."

"This is unprecedented fire," he added. "Just like Hamas preserved calm, it now allows the noise and will face the consequences for that."
The IDF's Spokesperson's Unit said the tunnel attacked by the IDF on Tuesday is a Hamas terror and smuggling tunnel.

It was said the tunnel crossed a kilometer into Egypt and then returned towards Israelcrossing some 900 meters into the country.

In addition, the IDF said this "attack was the most extensive one since Protective Edge operation."
Three soldiers have been wounded by the torrent of rockets fired Tuesday from the Gaza Strip, two of them lightly and one of them moderately, the IDF stated.

Additionally, two Israelis in the Gaza vicinity were lightly hurt while hurriedly running to bomb shelters to escape the rockets.

All five were evacuated to nearby hospitals for medical care and are currently in stable condition.
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a Gaza militant group that the IDF says has fired more than 25 mortar shells indiscriminately toward communities in southern Israel Tuesdayin what appeared to be the largest single barrage fired since the 2014 Operation Protective Edgeasserted it does not wish to escalate its current battle with Israel into a full-scale armed conflict.

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"We are not interested in escalation and are not going to war, but we want to respond to Israel's attacks," PIJ said in a statement. "Israel is violating the ceasefire reached after Operation Protective Edge. There should be a Palestinian response to the Israeli escalation that will demonstrate the strength of the resistance."

"We are sticking to the right of return as well as responding to Zionist crimes," said Khaled al-Batsh, an Islamic Jihad leader in Gaza, in an earlier statement.





Palestinian Islamic Jihad holds funeral for one of its three members killed by IDF fire, vows revenge (Photo: EPA)

An official source in the Gaza Strip told Ynet that Egypt is currently negotiating with the Islamic Jihad's leadership to prevent further escalation in the south.

So far, three IDF soldiers were hurt by the incessant fire. Two of them were lightly wounded, while one of them was moderately wounded. The military said that most of the mortar shells were intercepted by the Iron Dome defense system, though one of the shells landed near a kindergarten shortly before it opened.

Mortar that fell in the Kindergarten (Photo: Roee Idan)

The high volume of projectiles came as tensions have been running high along the Israel-Gaza border and a fierce Israeli response was expected.

While the IDF affirmed the attack was launched by the Islamic Jihad, it held Hamas responsible for it, reiterating it is the sole body controlling the strip and is believed to have given the Islamic Jihad the green light to attack.

IDF strikes in the Gaza Strip (:  ")

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"Israel will exact a heavy price from those who seek to harm it and we see Hamas as responsible for preventing such attacks," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the barrage.

In an interview with Ynet, IDF Spokesperson Ronen Manelis said the army is "prepared for the coming days, and how things will go is the choice of (the group) responsible for what is happening in the Gaza Strip, which is the Hamas terrorist organization."

IDF intercepts Gaza rocket (Photo: AFP)

He then went on to call the fire from Gaza "unacceptable," and slammed Iran for providing the two terror groups with funds and weapons.

Ismail Radwan, a Hamas official, said the barrage proved that the "resistance is capable of hurting the occupation and it proved this today by responding to its crimes."

Video: wounded soldiers evacuated after being hit by Gaza rocket fire (:  ")

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Radwan spoke as a boatful of students and medical patients set sail out of Gaza City's port, aiming to break 11 years of naval blockade that Egypt and Israel imposed after the militants violently took control of the coastal territory.

The expedition would be a new way of challenging the blockade but also raised the possibility of more confrontation and violence as Israel bars any boats from Gaza reaching farther out than 6 miles into the Mediterranean Sea.

Ultimately, though, the boat was caught by IDF naval vessels and dragged back to the coastal enclave.

Palestinian naval expedition from Gaza (Photo: MCT)

In southern Israel, angry residents complained about how vulnerable they felt after 15 years of rocket fire threats from neighboring Gaza, which will likely put pressure on the government to retaliate harshly.

Adva Klein, a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Aza, said she only got about two hours of sleep because of the frequent incoming fire and the sirens warning of them. Other residents reported machine gun fire from Gaza as well.

"It's been a really scary morning," said Adele Raemer, a resident of Kibbutz Nirim.

Israelis flee to bomb shelters for cover from Gaza rockets (:   )

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Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman said he was convening the top military brass at his Tel Aviv headquarters to discuss the situation.

On Sunday, Israeli shelling killed three Palestinian militants from the smaller Islamic Jihad group after the troops found a bomb planted along the border. The Islamic Jihad vowed retaliation.

On Monday, a tank fired at a Hamas position in the Gaza Strip, killing one man and wounding another, after Israeli troops came under fire on the frontier while apprehending two armed Palestinians.
Two Code Red alert were sounded in communities within the Eshkol Regional Council.

Shortly after, a mortar shell fired from Gaza exploded in a settlement the Regional Council. There were no casualties.
IDF discredits false rumors spread on social media saying the conflict in the south has spread to Israel's north, stressing to residents living near the Syrian border they are not required to stay within range of a bomb shelter.

"Rumors and false messages have been disseminated on social media and on WhatsApp, please take responsibility and do not distribute the wrong information," the IDF said in a statement addressed to Israel's public.
The US "continues to actively prepare" for an "expected summit" between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the White House said, as diplomatic efforts are underway on two continents to prepare for the historic meeting.

Trump confirmed Tuesday that a top North Korean official, Kim Yong Chol, is headed to New York for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. It marks the latest sign that prospects for the summit are growing, just days after it was ostensibly called off by Trump, as teams of US officials have arrived at the Korean demilitarized zone and in Singapore to prepare for the meeting.
The UN humanitarian chief is urging the Syrian government to allow the delivery of aid to more than 2 million desperate people in hard-to-reach areas.

Mark Lowcock told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that the situation in Idlib, one of the opposition's last remaining footholds in Syria, is "alarming," with airstrikes, clashes between armed groups, overcrowding and severely stretched basic services.

He said the government asked the UN to provide assistance after it retook the former rebel-held Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta and released $16 million. But he said the UN has only received authorization to visit once since mid-March.

Lowcock reiterated the UN's request to facilitate access, saying the government has approved a convoy to aid 70,000 people in Douma, but "facilitation letters have not been provided."
The US "continues to actively prepare" for an "expected summit" between President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Singapore, the White House said, as diplomatic efforts are underway on two continents to prepare for the historic meeting.

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Trump confirmed Tuesday that a top North Korean official, Kim Yong Chol, is headed to New York for talks with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

It marks the latest sign that prospects for the summit are growing, just days after it was ostensibly called off by Trump, as teams of US officials have arrived at the Korean demilitarized zone and Singapore to prepare for the meeting.

North Korean official Kim Yong Chol (R) will meet US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York (Photo: AFP)

White House officials have characterized the letter from the president to Kim as a negotiating tactic, designed to bring the North back to the table. The efforts possibly bore fruit, as White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that since the letter, "the North Koreans have been engaging" with the US.

"The United States continues to actively prepare for President Trump's expected summit with leader Kim in Singapore," she said in a statement Tuesday.

Kim Yong Chol at a Beijing airport (Photo: AP)

South Korean media had reported earlier that Kim Yong Chol's name was on the passenger list for a fight Wednesday from Beijing to New York. Kim was seen in the Beijing airport on Tuesday by Associated Press Television. Sanders said he would meet with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in New York later this week.

"We have put a great team together for our talks with North Korea," Trump tweeted Tuesday morning. "Meetings are currently taking place concerning Summit, and more. Kim Young Chol, the Vice Chairman of North Korea, heading now to New York. Solid response to my letter, thank you!"

Kim Yong Chol is a former military intelligence chief and now a vice chairman of the North Korean ruling party's central committee. He will be the highest-level North Korean official to travel to the United States since 2000, when late National Defense Commission First Vice Chairman Jo Myong Rok visited Washington, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

Pompeo has traveled to Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, twice in recent weeks for meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, and has said there is a "shared understanding" between the two sides about what they hope to achieve. It remains unclear whom Kim Yong Chol will meet in the United States.

Meanwhile, a team of American diplomats are holding preparatory discussions with North Korean officials at the DMZ. The group first met with their counterparts Sunday, and was seen leaving a Seoul hotel on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether they went to Panmunjom, a village that straddles the border inside the Demilitarized Zone.

The US officials are led by Sung Kim, the US ambassador to the Philippines, who formerly was the US ambassador to Seoul and a top negotiator with North Korea in past nuclear talks. It includes senior officials with the National Security Council and the Pentagon.

The White House emphasized that it has remained in close contact with South Korean and Japanese officials as preparations for the talks continue. Sanders said Trump will host Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan on June 7 to coordinate their thinking ahead of the summit. Trump hosted South Korean President Moon Jae-in last week.

South Korean media also reported that a North Korean delegation arrived in Singapore on Monday night, where other US officials, led by White House deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin, are preparing for the summit.

South Korea's Foreign Ministry said Washington and Pyongyang were engaging in "working-level" talks to arrange the possible summit, but said it couldn't confirm specifics. Ministry spokesman Noh Kyu-duk also did not say whether Seoul knew of any US plans regarding Kim Yong Chols visit, such as whether he and Pompeo would meet.

Trump's letter to Kim (Photo: AFP)

Trump withdrew from the planned summit with Kim Jong Un last Thursday, citing hostile North Korean comments, but has since said the meeting in Singapore could still happen as originally scheduled on June 12.

"We are having very productive talks with North Korea about reinstating the Summit which, if it does happen, will likely remain in Singapore on the same date, June 12th, and, if necessary, will be extended beyond that date," Trump tweeted Friday.

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway said Tuesday morning in an appearance on Fox News Channel's "Fox & Friends" that the president had "sent over two delegationsone for logistics and one for more diplomatic purposes that are on the ground making the logistic preparations for June 12."

"But, as the president has said," she added, "if it doesn't happen June 12 it could happen thereafter."

Moon, who has lobbied hard for nuclear negotiations between Trump and Kim Jong Um, held a surprise meeting with the North Korean leader Saturday in an effort to keep the summit alive.

Kim Yong Chol (L) sitting in on a meeting between his country's leader Kim (R) and South Korea's Moon (Photo: Reuters)

In their second meeting in a month, Moon said Kim Jong Un expressed a willingness to cooperate to end confrontation and work toward peace for the sake of a successful summit with Trump.

But the North Korean leader also said he was unsure whether he could trust the United States to end hostile policies against North Korea and provide security assurances if the country does abandon its nuclear weapons, according to Moon.

At their first meeting on April 27, Kim Jong Un and Moon announced vague aspirations for a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula and permanent peace, which Seoul has tried to sell as a meaningful breakthrough that increases the chances of successful talks between Kim and Trump.

Their second meeting came after inter-Korean relations had chilled in recent weeks, with North Korea canceling a high-level meeting with Seoul over South Korea's participation in a two-week military exercise with the United States that ended last week.

Since the 1970s, the United States and South Korea have been holding a major summertime exercise called Ulchi Freedom Guardian that involves tens of thousands of troops.

The White House was quick to capitalize on the summit's public relations, issuing a commemorative coin (Photo: EPA)

South Korea's Defense Ministry said Tuesday there have been no discussions yet between Washington and Seoul on modifying the drills, which usually take place in August.

Despite the North's apparent eagerness for a summit with Trump, there are lingering doubts about whether Kim Jong Un will fully relinquish his nuclear weapons, which he may see as his only guarantee of survival.

Moon has insisted he can be persuaded to abandon his nuclear facilities, materials and bombs in a verifiable and irreversible way in exchange for credible security and economic guarantees.
Residential buildings in the strip have lost power after rockets werte errantly fired by Gaza militants on facilities near the border providing electricity to the Gaza Strip.

Israel Electric Corporation said that according to a preliminary assessment it will take several days to repair the equipment in order to restore regular power supply to the strip.

Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz instructed IEC not to endanger its employees, and to fix the problem only after a lull in firing from the coastal enclave.

Kamil Abu Rokon, IDF's new Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, informed Gaza residents of the accident in an address urging them to renounce Gaza's terror groups.

"It is time to wake up and understand that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are using you as hostages in their attempts to escalate the situation at your expense, when you are the ones who are harmed first and foremost," he wrote in Arabic in his his Facebook page.
German authorities say a rejected asylum-seeker from Iran suffered serious injuries after setting fire to himself at a town office near the southwestern city of Ulm.

Police said the 35-year-old, whose name wasn't released, entered the town office in Goeppingen midday Tuesday and asked two employees for help, showing them papers indicating his application for asylum had been rejected.

Ulm police say the staff assured him they would help, but the man became aggressive and then pulled a bottle out of his backpack, poured liquid over himself and set fire to it as the two workers fled.

A third worker grabbed towels from a cleaner's cart and suffocated the flames.

Police say the man was rushed to hospital by helicopter and is being treated for severe burns.
Jason Greenblatt, US President Donald Trump's Middle-East envoy, denounced the barrage of mortars and rockets launched from the Gaza Strip at Israel Tuesday, tweeting that the attack was "reprehensible" and that "all (Hamas) can offer is terror."

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France also denounced the hostilities perpetrated by the Palestinian terror groups, reiterating its "unconditional commitment to Israel's security."

Palestinian terror groups attacked Israel Tuesday (Photo: AFP)

Three soldiers were wounded lightly to moderately as a result of shrapnel from the barrage, while a civilian was lightly wounded running towards a shelter.

Reprehensible  mortars fired from Gaza at a kindergarten and community in Israel! Hamas has failed  all it can offer is terror. Palestinians in Gaza need real leaders to work on Gazas real problems with its water, its economy and so much more.  Jason D. Greenblatt (@jdgreenblatt45) May 29, 2018

In all, Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired more than 70 rockets and mortars into southern Israel on Tuesday, the largest barrage since 2014's Operation Protective Edge.

The kindergarten hit by a mortar from Gaza (Photo: Reuters)

President Trump's envoy took to Twitter to voice an unequivocally denunciation, writing, "Mortars fired from Gaza at a kindergarten and community in Israel  reprehensible! Hamas has failed  all it can offer is terror. Palestinians in Gaza need real leaders to work on Gaza's real problems with its water, its economy and so much more."

A spokeswoman for the French Foreign Affairs Ministry published a statement on the day's incidents Tuesday afternoon, saying, "France unequivocally denounces fire at civilian populations that only luckily did not claim any victims. France is unconditionally committed to Israel's security."

"France denounces the resumption of violence," the spokeswoman added, "which is not congruent with a peaceful resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

Irish FM Coveney said he strongly condemned the firing of rockets from Gaza at Israel (Photo: Reuters)

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney weighed in as well, tweeting, "I strongly condemn firing of rockets from Gaza at Israel today. I continue to advocate strongly for people of Gaza who live in impossible conditions, but this Hamas-led violence undermines Palestinian cause + is counterproductive to political progress."

Earlier Tuesday, Emanuele Giaufret, the EU envoy to Israel, tweeted, "As kids were preparing for school this morning a barrage of rockets from Gaza fell on southern Israel. One landed outside a kindergarten. I know the resilience of communities in southern Israel but indiscriminate attacks are totally unacceptable and to be condemned unreservedly."

As kids were preparing for school this morning a

barrage of rockets from Gaza fell on southern Israel. One landed outside a

kindergarten. I know the resilience of communities in southern Israel but

indiscriminate attacks are totally unacceptable and to be condemned

unreservedly.  Emanuele Giaufret (@EGiaufretEU) May 29, 2018

The United Nations' envoy to the Middle East Nikolay Mladenov also denounced the attack, saying such attacks on Israel were "unacceptable and interrupted the international community's attempts to improve the situation in Gaza."

"All parties should show restraint and avoid escalation," he advised.

The international chorus of condemnation was possibly cajoled by Israel itself, who called on world governments to condemn rocket and mortar fire from the Gaza Strip.

Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said the government expected "decision makers around the world" to issue "unilateral condemnations of the terror attacks."

The Foreign Affairs Ministry also sent a telegram to all of Israel's diplomats in the world, urging them to work with leaders and media outlets in the countries in which they are stationed.

The telegram instructed them to stress that the campaign was "an attack by terror groups on civilians, which has unfortunately already led to casualties, hence our right to self defense."

The ministry also had Israeli representatives underline that Israel considered Hamas responsible for the escalation.

The army's caricature, showing Gaza draped with Iran, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad's flags (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Working on the same point, the IDF sent a message to the isolated enclave's civilian population. Head of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit's Arab media division Maj. Avichay Adraee tweeted a caricature showing the strip covered with an Iranian flag and the symbols of Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad

An overture to the people of Gaza was above the caricature, saying, "Don't let them push you to escalation!" with the links between Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Iran explained.
The Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror groups put out a statement jointly taking responsibility for the extensive fire targeting Israel's southern communities Tuesday, with the IDF Spokesperson's Unit putting out a concurrent statement issuing stern warnings to the terror groups' leaders.

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Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad's statement said the groups' military wings were jointly responsible for firing dozens of mortars and some rockets at Israel starting Tuesday morning and lasting all through to the eveningeven increasing between 8pm and 9pm.

Schools in Israeli communities around Gaza will operate as usual, until further notice. A final decision on the matter, however, will be made early Wednesday.

File photo. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad accepted joint responsibility for Tuesday's salvo (Photo: Reuters)

"The Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and Al-Quds Brigades take responsibility for bombing military targets and communities in the vicinity of Gaza with dozens of rockets throughout the day," the statement said.

"This was a response to the Zionist aggression and the crimes against our people and the members of the resistance, the last of which was attacking the two military wings' outpostswhich led to the deaths of several of the combatants therein," the message continued.

"The action was added to the enemy's crimes against our people in the Marches of Return along the strip," the terror groups stated, before accusing Israel of starting the latest round of hostilities in an attempt to "get out of paying for its crimes against the peacefully protesting civilians."

Iron Dome springs into action near Ashkelon (Photo: AFP)

"Our retaliation today was a statement that these crimes could not be accepted silently. The resistance is waging a campaign against Israel in a manner serving the interests of the Palestinian people and will not allow (Israel) to force new equations of bloodshed," the statement went on to say.

"We warn Israel against continuing to attack our people. All options are open to the resistancebombings will be met with bombings and blood with blood. We will adhere to this equationno matter the cost," Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad vowed.

The combative statement aside, Palestinian Islamic Jihad later admitted to holding talks with Egypt around achieving calm in the strip's border, but did note its reply to Egypt was that it will "respond to any Israeli aggression."

"The action of Hamas's Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades and and Islamic Jihad's Al-Quds Brigades proves the unity on the ground and reflects the existence of a joint operations room for the resistance, which orchestrates, plans and carries out the actions," the terror group added.

The Palestinian Authority issued a statement of its own Tuesday evening, demanding "urgent international intervention to stop the Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip."

IDF Spokesman Manelis told reporters Tuesday's barrage was a 'serious terror attack against the State of Israel' (Photo: Channel 10 News)

IDF Spokesman Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis told reporters at the IDF's Kirya headquarters in Tel Aviv earlier that Tuesday's events constituted a "serious terror attack against the State of Israel."

"We will not allow it," he added. "This is a loss of control by Hamasafter failing in its attempts to cross the fence and carry out attacks, it chose the route of projectile terrorism."

As a result, Manelis elucidated, the army carried out the most "significant strikes" since 2014's Operation Protective Edge with three waves of attack throughout the day hitting dozens of terror targets.

Manelis also mentioned the strikes' objectives, namely the terror groups' command centers, arms manufacturing sites, training camps and and an irregularly large terror tunnel

IDF Spokesperson's Unit footage of the destroyed tunnel (:  ")

X

"The strikes will only grow stronger if the fire continues," the spokesman warned. "We have no intention of stopping the strikes if the terror continues as it has in the past few hours, and I assume we'll see a growth in the IDF's response."

"The strip's terrorists know full well which assets they lost today," the senior officer assured, "and the fact that Hamas and Islamic Jihad's leaders have been in hiding since the morning is a testament to their understanding of the army's capabilities."

Manelis then noted that further Home Front Command instructions will be issued late Tuesday and Wednesday and added that the army was "prepared for a wide variety of scenarios in all sectors."

"Today's epicenter is the Gaza theater," he continued, "where most of our forces are stationed, and we are determined to return calm and security to the people residing in communities around Gaza."

The IDF will make do with its regular forces for now, Manelis said (Photo: AFP)

"So long as terrorism exists, we endeavor to stop it," the spokesman announced, saying that in the past few weeks the IDF killed more than 120 terrorists near the fence.

Questioned whether the IDF was preparing to call in reservists to bolster its forces, he replied, "We will act as required. We are prepared for a wide variety of scenarios based on our regular forces."
IDF Spokesperson Brigadier General Ronen Manelis called the dozens of rockets fired at Israel Tuesday "a severe terror attack on the State of Israel."

"This is a loss of control by Hamas, after it failed to cross the border fenceit chose a path of terror," he continued. "We carried out three waves of attack on dozens of terrorist targets in the Gaza Strip, including sites for the manufacture of weapons and several tunnels, and the attacks will intensify as much as necessary.

"Senior Hamas figures are hidingand they know why."
The Palestinian Authority issued a statement Tuesday demanding "urgent international intervention to stop Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip."

The IDF carried out the most extensive attack in the Gaza Strip since Operation Protective Edge, following rocket fire into Israel, which Hamas and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for.
Israel's ambassador to the UN, Danny Danon, appealed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Security Council to condemn Hamas for Tuesday's firing from the Gaza Strip at Israel.

Danon wrote in his appeal that "for weeks we warned that the violent demonstrations along the fence with Gaza were not spontaneous protests, but part of a violent and coordinated attack against Israel.

"The shells and missiles fired at our civilians leave no doubt as to the true intentions of those who incited, encouraged and even paid for those ongoing demonstrations."
The IDF said that it is currently operating in the Gaza and that the explosions heard in the area are due to the activity of the Israeli Air Force in the strip.

Palestinian sources said the attack took place within the Zeitoun district, located in the southern part of Gaza City.
News

Rochester, Minnesota - Millions of opioid prescriptions are written each year in the U.S. to help patients deal with pain. But those medications also can cause some uncomfortable side effects, including constipation.

Reporter Vivien Williams talks with Dr. Michael Camilleri, a Mayo Clinic gastroenterologist, about gastrointestinal (GI) concerns when taking opiods.

More than 250 million opioid painkiller prescriptions are written in the U.S. every year. An estimated 4 percent of adults are being treated with opioids for chronic pain unrelated to cancer, typically back pain and musculoskeletal pain.

We know that about 40 to 80 percent of people who receive opioids develop GI symptoms, and the most common GI symptom is constipation, says Dr. Camilleri.

He says being constipated is not dangerous, but it can be very uncomfortable. Sometimes that discomfort can be interpreted as abdominal pain. This prompts people to increase their dose, making the situation worse.

The two main reasons why opioids cause constipation are, first, the opioid kind of paralyzes the nerves and muscles, says Dr. Camilleri. Second, they rev up your intestines to absorb excess liquid.

So what can you do about it? Eat fiber-rich foods, drink water and, if need be, try an over-the-counter laxative  even if you are prescribed opioids for a short period, like after an injury, fracture or operation.

For severe cases, prescription medication may help. Dr. Camilleri says the best remedy is to work with your health care provider to find alternatives to opioids.
News

Washington, DC - Over the course of just a few weeks in April and May, more than 30,900 volunteers and thousands of partners from across the country joined the American Red Cross to Sound the Alarm against home fires by installing 103,400 free smoke alarms in communities at high risk for fires.

We are so grateful for everyone who contributed to the success of this inaugural lifesaving effort, said Gail McGovern, President and CEO of the Red Cross. With the help of our volunteers, partners and donors, we surpassed even our own highest expectations by making 43,000 homes safer across 120 major cities in the United States.

One of these homes was in Dubuque, Iowa, where a family of seven was able to escape from a fire in their mobile home this week  just weeks after smoke alarms were installed. Red Cross volunteers and partners from the Key West Fire Department and Church of Latter Day Saints visited the home on April 28, installing free smoke alarms and helping to create a fire escape plan. On May 17, the homeowner was awakened by the sound of the new smoke alarms going off and saw smoke and flames inside the home. He was able to get his family out safely and call the fire department. The Red Cross assisted the family after the fire, who said the fire escape plan prepared them to escape quickly.

Every day, seven people are killed and another 36 are injured because of home fires. Tragically, most of these deaths occur in homes that dont have working smoke alarms. Sound the Alarm is part of the multi-year Red Cross Home Fire Campaign, launched in 2014 to reduce the number of home fire deaths and injuries in this country by 25 percent. Since 2014, Red Cross volunteers and partners have installed more than 1.2 million smoke alarms and reached more than a million children through preparedness programs.

Our Home Fire Campaign is already credited with helping to save 431 lives, McGovern reported. And this is just the beginning. We will build on our collective success and continue to reach more families and communities with lifesaving preparedness information in the months and years ahead.

This work was made possible thanks to generous financial donations from national partners: Almost Family, Delta Air Lines and International Paper.

In a typical year, home fires kill more people in the United States than all other natural disasters combined. They are the most common disaster people face in this country  and are the majority of the nearly 64,000 disasters the Red Cross responds to every year. However, a recent Red Cross survey showed most people are overconfident and underprepared when it comes to home fire safety.

WHAT YOU CAN DO To help save lives, the Red Cross is asking every household in America to take two simple steps:

1. Practice fire drills at home. Fire experts agree that people may have as little as two minutes to escape a burning home and the Red Cross urges every household to create a fire escape plan and practice it until everyone can escape in less than two minutes.

2. Check smoke alarms monthly. Working smoke alarms cut the risk of dying in a home fire in half. Place smoke alarms on every level of your home, including inside and outside bedrooms. Test smoke alarms once a month. Change the batteries at least once a year, if your model requires it.
News

Washington, DC - Briefing on the Release of the 2017 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom:

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: I want to thank Secretary Pompeo. Im grateful to him, to President Trump, Vice President Pence, the administration for their effort in defending religious freedom. As he announced and stated, its a top priority of this administration. I also am very proud of my incredible team in the Office of International Religious Freedom  several of them are here today  and the work and the job that theyve done. Ill also point out to you former congressman Frank Wolf is here, who the act is named after; the 2016 Religious Freedom Act is named the Frank Wolf Religious Freedom Act. Hes been a wonderful friend and a mentor.

The International Religious Freedom Report is the annual assessment of the state of religious freedom in our world today. We all have a stake in this fight. One persons bondage is another persons burden to break. Were all people with beautiful and undeniable human dignity. Our lives are sacred. Our right to choose the road our conscience takes is inalienable.

We report on what has occurred and been said around the world. We dont make judgment calls in this report of whats worthy to report or not. We just report it all. There are people killed in the world today for their faith. There are people denied access to work or medicine for their beliefs. There are more subtle forms, as well, of persecution. We report it all, without comment or analysis.

Our goal is to protect the freedom of conscience for all people. That means protecting a Muslim, Buddhist, Falun Gong practitioner, or Christian in China and their ability to pray and live out their life. That means protecting a blogger in the Middle East, who doesnt believe that his government might  what his government might believe. Our desire is to protect both  to protect everyones right to freely practice what they believe.

Weve been doing that by working with other federal agencies, the NGO community, the Hill, and with other governments so that we can effectively advocate for those who need it most. My office hosts a weekly roundtable to meet with stakeholders to discuss concerns from all over the world, and Id invite you to participate in that.

As the Secretary mentioned, were now 20 years after the International Religious Freedom Act was originally passed. I was pleased to be an original sponsor of that in the Senate. Weve seen progress, but there is much, much work to be done.

Secretary Pompeo noted some of the more troubling cases around the world, including the plight of the Rohingya and now the Kachin in Burma. I visited several of the refugee camps in Bangladesh about a month ago. The situation is dire. We must do more to help them, as they continue to be targeted for their faith.

Also was at the Andrew Brunson trial in Turkey. Im grateful for the President and the Vice President and the Secretarys leadership on this. We will all continue to raise this case every chance we get until he is released. There are way too many Andrew Brunsons held unfairly in prisons around the world.

And unfortunately, there are plenty of other countries we could mention that are covered in the report.

For instance, Eritrea. The government reportedly killed, arrested, and tortured religious adherents and coerced individuals into renouncing their faith. And Tajikistan continues to prohibit minors from even participating in any religious activities.

Saudi Arabia does not recognize the right of non-Muslims to practice their religion in public and imprisons, lashes, and fines individuals for apostasy, blasphemy, and insulting the states interpretation of Islam. In Turkmenistan, individuals who gather for worship without registering with the government face arrest, detention, and harassment.

All four are Countries of Particular Concern, or CPC countries, designations that are also vital tools meant to spur action.

We also remain very concerned about religious freedom or the lack thereof in Pakistan, where some 50 individuals are serving life sentences for blasphemy, according to civil society reports. Seventeen are awaiting execution. And in Russia, authorities target peaceful religious groups, including Jehovahs Witnesses, equating them with terrorists.

Id welcome engagement with these and any governments on urgently needed reforms.

So today, 20 years after Congress passed the original International Religious Freedom Act, weve made important progress, but for far too many, the state of religious freedom is dire. We have to work together to accomplish change.

This report is a critical, important report, but strong action must follow. We must move religious freedom forward. We must defend it in every corner of the globe. And thats why the Secretary is hosting the first ever Ministerial on Advancing Religious Freedom.

Two key objectives of the Trump administration are reduction of terrorism and growing the economy. With religious freedom, you get both of them. It is also a fundamental human right under assault in much of the world.

The problems are great, but the opportunity for change is too. The ministerial will be an important event. We look forward to working with other governments and our partners in the religious community and civil society to advance this fundamental right.

Id be happy to take some questions, and I think Heather is going to be calling on people.

MS NAUERT: All right. Well start with Josh Lee from  Lederman, pardon me  from the Associated Press.

QUESTION: I think you merged our two colleagues.

MS NAUERT: I merged your names. Apologies. (Laughter.)

QUESTION: Thank you, Ambassador.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Sure.

QUESTION: I wanted to ask about the information in the report about up to 120,000 political prisoners in North Korea, including some held for religious reasons. Do you feel that that issue should be raised as part of the upcoming potential bilateral meeting with the U.S. and North Korea, and do you expect that it will be a topic of conversation with the North Koreans?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Well, in a sense it already has with the three people that were released that the Secretary brought back, and I do expect the  the President is right on point on North Korea. Hes very engaged on this, as you know. The Secretary is very engaged on this. And I think theyre raising all of these issues. But the first three people they brought out were people that had been imprisoned in North Korea, and so this is a matter of discussion.

MS NAUERT: Okay, next question, Lesley from Reuters.

QUESTION: Hi. Good morning.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Good morning.

QUESTION: You said you had been to Myanmar and you had raised --

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: No, Ive been to Bangladesh.

QUESTION: Sorry, youd been to Bangladesh.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Yes.

QUESTION: And I understand that you had not been given a visa to go into Myanmar. As we know, the USAID administrator has just been there and he got access. But do you think that there have been any kinds of progress made in resolving this issue?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: I had asked for access into Myanmar and to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi or  and to go into northern Rakhine State, where the problems have been most acute, although theres plenty of problems in various places in Myanmar. And I was denied those accesses. So they might have let me in, but they werent allowing me to have the meetings or access to the places I needed to go.

I dont think youve seen progress taking place there in the country. If anything, the administration there is doubling now its effort and going after the Kachin in the northern part of the country, and the refugee numbers are increasing in the northern part now of Burma.

So youve got the continued situation of the Rohingya, which is desperate, and the rainy season is now on us. When I was there you had 38 kids that had been killed, had died of diphtheria. I thought we were done with that. And they  you had  once there I randomly  there was about 20 young children that had gathered around me, and I asked randomly five of them what they had seen. Of the five, four had seen a direct close family member killed, and the fifth had seen a brother wounded. This is in a random grouping. Its a terrible situation that requires the worlds attention. There is a lot of world attention on it, but I think there needs to be more action from the world.

MS NAUERT: Andrea Mitchell, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Ambassador, Senator.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Good to see you.

QUESTION: Good to see you again. A question to follow up on Josh: Do we have any insights from the North Koreans into the conditions for these 80- to 120,000 political and religious prisoners from all of these increased communications with the North? Have they given us any answers at all about the conditions in their prisons?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Yeah, I cant answer what the President is getting from there. I can tell you what I have seen and what we have in the report.

QUESTION: What do we know?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Yes, what we know is that youve got a gulag system operating in North Korea, and its been a terrible situation for many  for many years. You can go on satellite, open-source satellite, and see some of these camps and the situation. You have people that have gotten out and have written about the situation in North Korea. We know it is  we know its very difficult and desperate, and particularly for people of faith. Thats why North Korea has remained a Country of Particular Concern for us.

QUESTION: Well, should this be linked to an overall normalization of relations, which is the end goal, as well as, of course, denuclearization?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Yeah, Im going to let the President, who has the direct  whos doing an outstanding job on this of elevating and dealing with the issue. I remember when I was back in the Senate, I was raising the issue of North Korea at that time, but you couldnt get anybody to act. Well, this President is acting and hes taking this issue on even though its threatened us for years if not decades.

MS NAUERT: Okay, Michele Kelemen from NPR.

QUESTION: Im way in the back. Thank you. Who is going to be invited to this ministerial meeting? Whats your goal out of that? I mean, are you going to invite Countries of Particular Concern, for instance?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Yeah, were  therell be people invited and the invitations will go out soon from all over and every region of the world, and it will be mostly likeminded countries, or itll be ones that are working towards a greater religious freedom now in their nation. Well work to get some actionable items coming forward out of it and also follow-on meetings.

The intent is really to drive the issue of religious freedom more aggressively globally, and the outcomes are really twofold that we intend to get out of it: less terrorism, more economic growth. And then just this realization of this fundamental human right that a  over 70 percent of the world doesnt get to experience, which is their right to do with their conscience what they choose.

MS NAUERT: Michel --

QUESTION: But are the countries that are on the list of concern, are they going to be invited?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Youll see as the people are invited.

MS NAUERT: Michel from Al Hurra.

QUESTION: Thank you so much for your time. How do you view the religious freedom situation in the Middle East, other than Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, Yemen?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Well, Iran has been a Country of Particular Concern for some period of time since the report started. You have great difficulty in many countries in the Middle East in the area of religious freedom. Thats all noted in the report. Youve  I noted the situation in Saudi Arabia. Iran  we hear and see horrific reports coming out of Iran on the lack of religious freedom and the persecution of people that arent in the majority faith stream and practicing as the government directs, and we see a radical export of that philosophy as well out of Iran and trouble in many other countries in the Middle East.

QUESTION: Thank you.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Rich Edson from Fox News.

QUESTION: Thank you very much, Ambassador. As the United States engages in primarily economic conversations with China, how much does its religious freedom practices play into the discussions of what the United States pushes? Is it a factor at all?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: It is a factor, and these are parts of the discussion that we continue to bring forward and put forward. We noted in the report whats taking place and the very troubling situation, particularly one right now that  the Uighurs and the problem that theyre experiencing in the country and the number of people in re-education camps. That was a concept you thought was gone decades ago and being experienced in a growing amount. The report cites a number of very, very troubling concerns and a decline in religious freedom. So thats why we put it forward in this report for greater action to take place.

Ive been meeting with people in the administration and on the Hill about whats happening there, about the situation for Tibetan Buddhists that continues to be a very difficult situation for them, for Christians, for Falun Gong practitioners. China remains a very, very troubling country on religious freedom. And those are noted and put forward and discussed within the administration.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Nick Wadhams from Bloomberg.

QUESTION: Hi, Mr. Ambassador. Do you believe the U.S. authority to issue this report is undermined in any way by the fact that the President called for a Muslim ban in 2016 during the campaign and as recently as a month ago at a press conference at the White House refused to apologize or retract those remarks?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: No, I dont think it is. We put forward in the report everything thats happening around the world and we report it without favor or analysis. So we put that forward. The United States doesnt report on itself because the statutory authority doesnt allow us, but we do report to OSCE and other entities internationally that were a part of on our things that happen here. But I think theres  there are good working relationships that continue to work with the administration and we continue to work with as well.

MS NAUERT: Carol Morello from The Washington Post.

QUESTION: Mr. Brownback, you mentioned that you will be pushing religious freedom more aggressively going forward. And as you know, Saudi Arabia is a Country of Particular Concern. The previous secretary of state issued a waiver for that designation as a national security concern. I was wondering if you will recommend that Secretary Pompeo going forward not waive sanctions against Saudi Arabia as a Country of Particular Concern over religious freedom.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Im not going to say here today what my recommendations will or wont be on Saudi Arabia. Im pleased with what I am hearing said by the crown prince about a trajectory going forward for Saudi Arabia. We want to work to see that these are implemented. I note whats taking place today in Saudi Arabia, but Im hopeful that we can work to see more religious freedom taking place in Saudi Arabia.

For years, weve reported on the state of religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. Today, I think we have some actual opportunities for that state to change and for it to get much better. Now well see how the  we have to see the actions. As I mentioned, this is a report, but action needs to follow. And Im  but Im hopeful youre going to start seeing change coming out of that country and that you are starting to see change come out of Saudi Arabia.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Francesco  I think you had a question  from AFP.

QUESTION: Yeah. I just wanted to know, coming back on Burma and the Rohingyas, you say that they are still targeted for their faith. Would you still say that some ethnic cleansing is going on in  now in Burma?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: That ethnic cleansing is going on?

QUESTION: Now.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Yes, yes. I mean, thats the  Secretary Tillerson had announced the finding of ethnic cleansing, and I believe its ethnic cleansing of a religious minority thats taking place. You continue to see, as I noted, a horrific situation that fortunately has been reported on in Bangladesh of all the refugees coming out, and the international community and the international press has done a great job reporting this.

Unfortunately, now youre even seeing them step up again in the north, in the Kachin area, and the number of refugees there has increased in recent  in recent weeks as the fighting there has expanded of another ethnic religious minority being pushed out of the country and their normal areas.

This is going to require a lot of, I think, focus on the international community. Fortunately, the international community is focusing, but I think its going to require action and I think youll see more action coming.

MS NAUERT: Okay, a couple more questions. Said, go right ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. Thank you for doing this, sir. I wanted to ask about religious minorities in Iraq. Although with the defeat of ISIS, lets say the Yezidis and the sabaya are breathing a little better and practicing a little more, but how do you keep track of their situation considering that there are a lot of conflicting militias and the government and so on still restricting their access to doing their own rituals and so on?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Well, as you know, thats been declared a genocide by the United States, and fortunately, ISIS has been mostly if not all removed from that region, and ISIS prior to this administration coming in had 30 percent of the terrain in Iraq and now its virtually out, which has been an enormously helpful thing for the religious minority communities, particularly in that Nineveh plains region. And now some of the rebuilding has started. The administration has focused aid into that religious minority region to get it rebuilt. Some people are starting to move back, but not enough, and security needs to increase and the aid funds need to go into those areas to help rebuild that region.

So Im happy weve got started and its focused, that ISIS has been mostly removed if not all removed from that region, but weve got a ways to go before the religious minority community is going to be back in any substantial, stable way into that Nineveh plains region. Theres some going back now, but weve  we need to get  we need to make it a much more stable environment for them to be willing to move back and not see themselves as being scared or risking their lives just to move home.

MS NAUERT: Michelle Kosinski from CNN.

QUESTION: Thank you. Theres been  as you said, the world has started to focus on the situation in Burma, but that tends to be after the fact.

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Yes.

QUESTION: And essentially, the world stood by while the greater part of this ethnic cleansing was going on. So twice now youve mentioned that there should be more action. What action should the U.S. be doing now in addition to the aid given to refugees?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: I think we need to be more aggressive in following on our statements, and I think youre starting to see that from this administration. You see the aid focus in the Nineveh plains region to address a situation. In Burma youve got a situation that  and the refugees that I met with had the most horrific stories of any refugees I have talked to anywhere around the world, and that includes when Frank and I went into Darfur, in other places. Just the thoroughness of the violence that took place, and their discussions of what further actions need to take place there by the United States and the global community.

The United States, I dont  we are best when we can operate with other like-minded partners. Thats a big part of what this ministerial is about, is putting together other like-minded partners on the issue of religious freedom, and about it being a fundamental right, but also  and I dont think I can emphasize this enough  we seek a world with less terrorism and more economic growth. You get both with religious freedom. And what we are going to be talking about with our like-minded countries is how you do get both of these with religious freedom, and to press this forward aggressively, and to build those consortiums and those alliances amongst various countries in the world that this is a fundamental good, its a fundamental right. Youve signed on all the treaties that declare religious freedom a fundamental right. Now it needs to be practiced and practiced in your country. There will be benefits from this, and we need to go together to practice, to push other countries to allow their people to practice this fundamental right. And thats what I mean, too, about actions taking place in consortium with other countries.

MS NAUERT: Okay. Final question, Tracy Wilkinson from The L.A. Times.

QUESTION: Hi. Yeah, thank you. Just to follow up on my colleagues question: Specifically, will Saudi Arabia be invited to the ministerial? And second  sorry. And second of all, what do you say to those who  the critics who say this administration is sort of elevating religious freedom over other kinds of human rights like womens rights and reproductive rights and Palestinian rights and all those other issues that had been focus of administrations past?

AMBASSADOR BROWNBACK: Were not announcing today the invitation list. Were going to be sending invitations out. And I would say that this is a foundational human right that this administration is supporting. You do religious freedom and a whole series of better human rights come out of it. It  this is the  this is a foundational piece, is what I would answer some of those whod be critical of it. There is a reason its in these foundational documents, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights from the UN in the late 40s, why its our First Amendment right  because its  that right of conscience is as  is that fundamental right. And then out of that you get a whole series of rights that get enhanced and do better when you get this foundational one right.

When you get the foundational one wrong, you really cant build on the structure. And thats why I think this one needs to be promoted and pushed more, and why you also saw in the Frank Wolf Religious Freedom Act a unanimous action by both houses, and both Republican houses, and signed by a Democrat president as one of the last acts of the Obama administration.

So this is something we all agree on, that its foundational and its important, and it needs to be pushed forward, and out of it much good will come.

MS NAUERT: Everyone, thank you so much. Ambassador, thank you so much for the report and for taking questions. Well see you later today.
Health News

Yuma, Arizona - Fentanyl is an opiate pain medication, that generally is used to treat severe pain, especially for cancer patients. Fentanyl is 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, and illegal use of the drug is on the rise, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Michael Hooten, a pain management specialist at Mayo Clinic, talks with reporter Vivien Williams about the benefits and dangers of fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a powerful painkiller. It is many, many times more potent than morphine, oxycodone, Oxycontin, Vicadin, Dilaudid, hydromorphone, all these types of drugs, says Dr. Hooten.

Dr. Hooten says fentanyl is used in operating rooms and to control pain after surgery. It also alleviates pain for advanced cancer patients. The use of fentanyl for chronic pain, I think, is avoided by many thoughtful practitioners for a number of reasons. No. 1, its high potency.

No. 2, fentanyl, which is delivered via IV, a patch or in a lozenge, can be dangerous if used inappropriately. The reason for that is the sedative effects.

If you take too much, combine it with certain other medications, or drink alcohol,It clearly can compromise respiratory function, and that is really the start of the accidental overdose cascade.
Living Section

Camillus, New York - Mr. and Mrs. Rotondo of Camillus, enjoyed being empty nesters so when their 30-year-old son, Michael, who had returned home for a temporary stay, refused to leave, mom and dad presented him with eviction notices.

Michael ignored them, so his parents took him to court. The judge found in favor of the parents and ordered their son to leave, according to the Association of Mature American Citizens.
- Power ministry has been warned against cancelling the AMERI deal

- This follows earlier plans by the NPP to throw away this contract describing it as stinking

- The attorney general described the AMERI deal as clean

The attorney general of Ghana, Gloria Akuffo, has issued a warning to the ministry of energy against plans to terminate the $510 million AMERI deal which was signed under the Mahama administration.

In an extensive memo signed by the attorney general, the ministry was warned that terminating this contract could result in so many disturbing judgement debt cases.

READ ALSO: Mahama begged Anas not to air parliament video - Abronye

Starr FM has shared portions of this report by the attorney general who described the AMERI deal by Mahama as clean and valid.

For the GoG to extricate itself from the highly unfavourable BOOT agreement without paying damages and or penalties to AMERI, there is a need to demonstrate that the agreement was procured by illegal means either through fraud or corruption or in breach of the PPA: however, for GoG to make such claims it is imperative to gather sufficient relevant evidence to establish whether or not the BOOT agreement is tainted by fraud or corruption.

This explosive response by the attorney general brings rest months of heated debates between the minority NDC and majority NDC over claims that the AMERI deal was corrupt and the price inflated.

In fact the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) while in opposition described the agreement as a stinking deal which will be re-looked at when it assumes power. A 17-member committee established by the Energy Minister Boakye Agyarko advised the government to renegotiate the $510m power deal with UAE-based AMERI energy after a report revealed it was over-priced by $150million.

The former power minister, Kwabena Donkor had earlier warned government against the act of cancelling the contract. Checks show that the AMERI deal, secured under the Mahama administration, exceeds the 150 million dollars charged government by registered Turkish company, PPR.

READ ALSO: I am sorry, my words were harsh - Rawlings apologizes to Mahama, Kufuor after "heaven and hell" comments

The AMERI deal was secured in the wake of Ghanas looming power crisis under the leadership of the then power minister, Kwabena Agyapong. But the finance minister was convulsed to resign his position especially as the proper management of Ghanas power crisis never came out as planned.

Watch: Ghana Trends: Joy FM blasted over Royal Wedding, Mahama plans comeback in 2020

YEN.com.gh is building a platform where Ghanaians can share local news and own experiences with each other. Witnessing an incident? Want to tell about a local problem? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Send us a message via YENs official Facebook page.

Source: Yen Ghana
Veteran Ghanaian highlife musician, Gyedu Blay Ambolley has urged respected Ghanaian dancehall artiste, Stonebwoy to make good use of his Ewe language in his songs, instead of writing songs in Jamaican Patoa.

According to Ambolley, the move could help save local Ghanaian music from dilution and a takeover by foreign genres.

Gyedu Blay Ambolley

READ ALSO: Patapaa shows gratitude to Adebayor, Funny Face in latest video

Speaking recently in a media interview, the highlife musician insisted that young Ghanaian artistes must learn to write good songs in their own local language, and stop copying blindly from other foreign cultures.

Stonebwoy is an Ewe boy, he has to use music from his tribe, Stonebwoy is singing more Jamaican Patoa than his own local language,Ambolley lamented.

The Ghanaian dancehall artiste recently made media headlines for being fluent in Patoa to the pint that Jamaicans were unable to differentiate whether he is one of them or a Ghanaian, when he performed in that country.

READ ALSO: Gospel musician Noble Nketia reveals how his mother died in latest video and it's sad

However, Gyedu Blay Ambolley was disappointed Stonebwoy cannot boast of a single song in his mother tongue, Ewe.

He therefore questioned why the artiste will leave Ghana to follow Jamaicans, who have their culture.

Its the Jamaicans that came out with that, our brothers that were sent away to the other side of the world, they came with that Patoa, its their identification, they took them away from Africa. Africa is the source. So why is it that you have to leave the source and follow the branch, Ambolley expressed worry.

The celebrated musician in his frustrations added that it is totally wrong for up-and-coming artistes to neglect their origins to follow foreign culture.

READ ALSO: Lucky Mensah finally reveals why he dumped Mahama to campaign for Akufo-Addo

Ghana Trends: Joy FM Editor blasted over Royal Wedding, Mahama plans comeback in 2020

Yen.com.gh is building a platform where Ghanaians can share local news and own experiences with each other. Witnessing an incident? Want to tell about a local problem? Know someone who is extremely talented and needs recognition? Your stories and photos are always welcome. Message us on Facebook or Instagram

Source: Yen
- One year memorial is to be held in memory of the late Major Mahama

- The late soldier was killed on the line of duty by a mob

- The memorial is expected to see family and friends come together to lay a wreath in honour of him

It has been exactly a year since the killing of Major Mahama who was killed by an angry mob after being mistaken for a thief at Denkyira Obuasi.

The death of the soldier sparked a national outrage with Ghanaians calling for the perpetrators of the crime to be dealt with by the law.

READ ALSO: 6 silent ways millions of young men in Ghana are getting HIV

In fact, his death and burial became a national memorial with heads of state government officials plus other personalities come together to bid the gallant soldier a final goodbye.

A cross-section of the military, family and friends at the memorial

Wife of Major Mahama, Babara Mahama became a strong force and voice against mob justice as she pressed hard for some action to be taken for the dignity of her deceased husband. It has been a year since his death and burial and the one-year memorial service will see the following arrangements and activity take place:

1. There will be a church service at St Catherine Catholic Church at Burma camp.

2. After this event, the friends and family will proceed to the cemetery for a wreath-laying event.

3. There will be a sod cutting event for the construction of a majestic monument for the late soldier.

4. Family gathering at Arakan officers mess.

5. Memorial church service (Non-denominational) at St Catherine Catholic Church in Burma camp.

6. Finally, there will be a funeral reception at Arakan officers mess.

READ ALSO: We take Tramadol so we can fight back abusive clients - Accra prostitutes confess

So far, the court case against alleged killers of Major Mahama is still ongoing as the defense lawyer in the trial of persons charged over the lynching of Major Maxwell Mahama alleges that the team of military officers led by the late soldier was deployed to the area to protect the interest of illegal miners.

Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below:

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Source: Yen
- It has been a year since the gruesome lynching of Major Maxwell Mahama

- His wife Barbara Mahama has posted many pictures in memory of her husband since his death

- Major Mahama was lynched by an angry mob in Denkyira Obuasi over the claims that they though he was an armed robber

Exactly a year ago, on May 29, 2017, news came in that a soldier had been lynched by an angry mob in Denkyira Obuasi over a case which is yet to be solved in court involving claims of galamsey and armed robbery.

The victim, Captain Maxwell Adams Mahama who was posthumously promoted to Major, lost his life in the line of duty as he was part of a special taskforce in the galamsey infected town of Denkyira Obuasi in the Central Region of Ghana.

READ ALSO: Yvonne Nelson and her daughter stun in yet another epic photo

Major Maxwell Mahama who left behind a wife and two sons after his gruesome killing was honored by many people including then president of the country, John Dramani Mahama. The soldiers act of courage even in death was rewarded by a state burial.

His family also was given a package which was not going to replace the loss but was going to boost their chances at moving on after the unfortunate demise of their loved one who was serving the nation.

His wife, Barbara Mahama, who became an inspiration to many, endured all the pain of becoming a widow at a tender age and soldiered on in taking care of the two sons she bore with her late husband.

Without an iota of doubt, it can be said that she was the worst hit by the sad and untimely demise of her husband.

READ ALSO: Anas visits TB Joshua every 3 months for prayers - 'Friend' claims

However, a year on, YEN.com.gh brings you 6 times Barbara Mahama posted on social media which proved that she had missed her man so dearly:

1. During the birth of their son

2. On his first birthday after his demise

3. Remembering him months after his passing

4. To thank him for his service to God, country and family

5. During Father's day when they wished him well

6. When they hung out with Abeiku Santana

READ ALSO: Truck pusher feeds hungry children at Agbogbloshie with free Fufu and soup

Ghana Trends: Joy FM blasted over Royal Wedding, Mahama plans comeback in 2020 | Yen.com.gh

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
- The NIA failed to begin registration for the Ghana cards on Monday, May 28

- Officials of the Authority have apologized to Ghanaians saying it was a technical challenge

- This is the fifth time the NIA has failed to embark on this exercise

The registration exercise for the Ghana card on May 28th turned out to be unsuccessful as registrants at the seat of the presidency, judiciary, and parliament got stranded at the stands which have no registration materials.

The nationwide registration was expected to start across the country on Monday, May 28th but as it stands now, it never happened.

READ ALSO: 6 silent ways millions of young men in Ghana are getting HIV

This is the fifth time the National Identification Authority (NIA) has failed to have the registration for the Ghana cards. The National Identification Authority (NIA) has apologized to the Presidency and other institutions for its inability to issue the Ghana Card to on Monday.

Meanwhile, officials of the NIA have apologized to Ghanaians for what happened on Monday, May 29 and that the challenges were due to some technical difficulties.

Every effort would be made to cover any lost time by deploying enough registration officials and equipment to undertake the exercise, parts of the statement read.

READ ALSO: We take Tramadol so we can fight back abusive clients - Accra prostitutes confess

The first thing you need to know about this chip-embedded Ghana card is that it will grant you the chance of transacting all businesses with just a single card. Meaning those days of a Driver's License, Voter's ID card, Health Insurance Card and the likes are over!

The other juicy offer this card is bringing is the opportunity to use it in place of your passport as it contains ECOWAS logos on it. What this means is that you can travel to any ECOWAS country with this card.

Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below:

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Source: Yen
- Obengfo Hospital MD, Dr Dominic Obeng-Andoh has reportedly collapsed at the Nima Police Station

- Dr Obeng-Andoh had been arrested over the death of Deputy NEIP CEO, Stacy Offei Darko at his hospital last week

- The doctor has reportedly been rushed to the Police Hospital for medical treatment

Information reaching YEN.com.gh suggests that the Managing Director of Obengfo Hospital, the Advanced Body Sculpt Centre, Dr Dominic Obeng-Andoh has collapsed at the Nima police station.

Dr Obeng-Andoh was arrested in connection with the death of death of the Deputy Chief Executive Officer for National Entrepreneurship Innovation Programme (NEIP), Stacy Offei Darko.

According to reports, Dr Obeng-Andoh has been rushed to the Police Hospital for medical attention.

READ ALSO: Pastor reveals serious reason why Mahama can't win 2020 elections in latest prophecy

The Obengfo Hospital MD, MyNewsGh.com reported, had demanded he be made to see his personal doctor but he was rather sent to the Police Hospital.

Dr Dominic Obeng-Andoh was arrested on Tuesday morning following the death of Stacy Darko at the hospital last week through a suspected case of medical negligence.

Speaking to Accra-based Citi FM, the mother of the victim, Nana Akosua Animah said her 37-year-old daughter fell ill and sought medical attention at the Obengfo Hospital.

READ ALSO: Change your shoes for once - Fan yells as Afia Schwar shows skin in new racy and wild photos

Her attempts to reach her daughter proved futile and she found directions to the hospital to check on her.

When she got the Dr Obeng-Andoh told Madam Anima that her daughter had died and that her body had been deposited at the morgue.

Dissatisfied with the circumstances leading to Stacy's death, Madam Anima lodged a complaint with the police leading to the arrest of Dr Obeng-Andoh.

READ ALSO: Black Stars player likely to spend 3 years in a Swedish jail

Also arrested is the cleaner who signed on behalf of the family to put the body in the morgue and two nurses who were on duty at the hospital.

Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below:

READ ALSO: Anas visits TB Joshua every 3 months for spiritual protection - 'Friend' reveals

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
John Dumelo is a multi talented actor for the Ghallywoood industry in Ghana. Apart from acting, John Dumelo is a business mogul and a professional engineer; he pursed his university level studies in KNUST, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science, and Technology. Aside from all that, John Dumelo is a humble man in spite of his success in his career. John Dumelo wedding was a private one as he married his sweetheart.

John Dumelo is also a God fearing man and once he was spotted saying that he dont want to be a victim of those who get carried away with fame as well as fortune, all he wants is to continue working hard. John Dumelo age is 34 years and he is tall as well as very handsome and he is worth ladies dying for him. As per now, John Dumelo is not an eligible bachelor and we want to share with you more about his beautiful traditional wedding, the lucky chosen wife, and irresistible moments of two together with the photos that crowned the day.

John Dumelo wedding

It was on a beautiful Saturday, 12th May 2018, that John Dumelo replaced his bachelorhood to companionship. It made people to believe that truly Gods time is the best. His queen, Gifty Mawunya, was looking fabulous. John Dumelo wedding was held in Accra. Top actors, actresses, and other noticeable personals such as Nadia Buari, Ramsey Noah, Prince Osei, Jackie Appiah, Elikem Kumordzie, Fifi Coleman, Majid Michel, Joselyn Dumas, Rosaline Ngissah, Kaoume Sinare and Beverly Afaglo could not miss to witness the happy moments of John Dumelo and his queen, Gifty Mamunya. Below are beautiful John Dumelo wedding pictures.

This pictures clearly shows how the couple was happy during their wedding

Facts about John Dumelo wife

Source: Blueink

Who is Gifty Mawunya Nkornu? Well, this lady who managed to tame John Dumelo heart.

She holds 2 degrees, Bachelor of Laws that she pursed at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

She is also a graduate of the Central University.

The beautiful lady is a Ghanaian, but she is a London based lady.

Gifty is that she is a true best friend to Nadia Buari, a famous Ghanaian actress.

Gifty Mawunya hangs out with the former president of Ghana, John Mahamas, family to an extent of not missing their birthday parties. Below John Dumelo pictures with he lovely wife, looking gorgeous.

READ ALSO: John Dumelo wife. Who is she?

Interesting moments at John Dumelos wedding

A wedding occasion is a moment of happiness as close friends and relatives of the bride & the bridegroom witness them saying their lifetime vows. John Dumelo was wedding was full of interesting moments that we want to share with you.

The wears at John Dumelo wedding

The bridegroom, John Dumelo, was looking awesome with his Kente wear. It was a good show of valuing their culture having in mind that the Ghanaians embrace the fabric mostly during their traditional engagements. The bride, Gifty, was looking attractive, trendy, and fabulous with her Kente lace gown. Their wedding photos tells it all because they show their love glowing. Some photos were even captured when wide smiles were over their faces. To our observations, the African lace was greatly embraced making us wonder if it is the trendy fabric in Ghana. They looked awesome and they smiles crowned it all. The men were not left behind in rocking at the wedding, they also looked fashionable, and it was surely a good time for the invited few.

John Dumelo singing to his sweetheart, Gifty

We are very sure many did not know that the talented actor could sing. Do you want to listen to him singing to his wife? Well, there is a YouTube clip that has it all. All you have to do is to follow this link, and you will definitely admire to fall in love. Falling in love is beautiful and everybody yarns to get his or her perfect much. John Dumelo was patient and he lastly found his pair making him out of the market. You will also find one if you put the same patience in your life.

John Dumelo and Yvonne Nelson

Yvonne Nelson and John Dumelo have been long-term friends and some even thought that they were dating; in fact, many are the people who predicted that they will get married. John Dumelo confirmed in one of his interviews that their long time friendship is maintained by their field of work. He even went further to confirm that both of them can never have an intimate relationship to shut down John Dumelo married to Yvonne Nelson hopes.

Source: Naijang

John Dumelo is one of the limelight personals that are in love in keeping their life away from the public and they he could not disclose his girlfriend at the interview. The good bit about John Dumelo is that he is patient with life. This one of his observed character was confirmed in the same interview because he said he is afraid of getting married. The major reason to his fear was the increased number of divorce he has witnessed. He also said that he will get married when his right time comes and surely Gifty Mawunya tamed his heart. John Dumelo marriage will defiantly last because he took his good time to learn his girlfriend. We wish John and Gifty a happy marriage packed with Gods blessings and love.

READ ALSO: John Dumelo shows off his father in latest photo

John Dumelo biography

John Dumelo is a born 1984, 3rd February. The multi award winner has 2 female siblings and he is the last born. The talented Ghallywood actor discovered his talent at a tender age of around 7 years old at his primary school level, Christ the King International School; it is located in Ghana. His was given a role of Saka in a movie they referred to as Baby Thief. John Dumelo studied his high school level studies at Achimota High School and proceeded to pursue a degree in Civil Engineering at one of the best University, KNUST, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.

John Dumelo career success

John Dumelo has also featured in quite a number of notable TV series and he calls that his ground to his current success; that was back in his high school times. John Dumelo movies are not less than 80, since he started his career back in 2008. If you have watched movies that he have appeared, we are quite sure that you notice his given critical roles. Some of the famous actors and actresses that he has acted alongside with include Majid Michael, Ini Edo, as well as Jackie Appiah.

Source: Pulseng

John Dumelo hard work and consistency to achieve the best in his career has earned him a number of awards and getting nominated. Some of his awards and nominated events include Best Africa Actor Award that he received in early 2012 in Malaysia and Most Outstanding Actor Award at the Afro Australian Movies and Music Awards that he received in late December in the year 2011. He also won the Best Ghanaian actor award that he received from Joy FM, and lastly he got nominated by AMMA back in 2010, Africans Most Promising Actor. John Dumelo has also appeared in a number of Hollywood movies and this shocked many because it was a sign of his career growing to high levels. This means that John is greatly working effortlessly to gain his current success.

The 34-year-old gentle man has a passion in charity work and back it 2009, he was able to donate to Battor Catholic Hospital goods that were worth around GH 1000 to be of help to the children. The humble man also a manager of real estate, this is one of his many business not forgetting being a partner an IT firm. In simple words, John Dumelo is among the Ghallywood and Hollywood actors that success is beyond words.

John Dumelo net worth

According to a current YouTube video, John Dumelo 2018 net worth is approximated as $650, 000. His high status qualifies him to be among the top richest Ghana actors. The source goes ahead to inform us that he was the first citizen in Ghana to have a million likes on one of the popular social media accounts, Facebook. His best moments is when he won A Northern Affair movie best actor title. John Dumelo is also popular for being part of the persons who campaigned Ghana former president, John Mahama, during 2012 general elections.

READ ALSO: Is John Dumelo a gambler?

John Dumelo house and cars

John Dumelo High status makes his many fans as well as admirers to get eager to know some of the ways in which he spends his large check. The humble actor success in his career and the many ventures he invests in, he lives a life that is still a fairy tale to many. He drives exotic cars as well as live in a multi dollar mansion.

Some of the expensive cars owned by John Dumelo include Toyota Tundra, Cadillac Escalade, Dodge, Wrangler Jeep, Jaguar, Mercedes Benz ML 350, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota Land Cruiser V8, and a sport car that was not identified.

We wish John Dumelo and his wife a happy marriage!

Source: Yen.com.gh
- Students of Zori Yapala in the Gushegu municipality of the Northern region are learning under trees with no building block

- The community has no established school structure let alone learning materials

- Meanwhile, the government says it has spent 480m on the free SHS policy

Government's quest to see every boy and girl have free access to basic and quality education seems to be a luxury for a few, especially those in the urban areas.

Free SHS: These students are learning under trees in the Northern Region

So far, about 480m of Ghana's oil money has been spent on this new system which has seen thousands of lucky parents freed from paying tuition fees. But this happy picture is not the case with students of Zori Yapala in the Gushegu municipality of the Northern region.

READ ALSO: Anas is a foolish boy - Kennedy Agyapong

One of the YEN's readers submitted a story on how the community school in this municipality has no building to accommodate pupils for effective study. The students sit under trees for teaching. In fact, the school cannot boast of even a single block.

"It is pathetic when you see students and teachers trying to cope with the condition at the school," YEN reader, Alhassan Zakaria Wumbei, disclosed.

Free SHS: These students are learning under trees in the Northern Region

Amidst these troubling pictures, the ministry of education has issued a statement stating the ministry was providing all the necessary logistics needed for the smooth implementation of the free SHS programme and other important initiatives geared towards fostering quality education.

According to the ministry, efforts are being done to address challenges related to the infrastructure deficit that many students face. To this end, the ministry through government has supplied 40,000 mono desks, 13,145 bunk beds and 4,335 mattresses for SHSs across the country.

READ ALSO: We take Tramadol so we can be brave -Accra prostitutes confess

These pictures tell us so much about the strength of the free SHS policy. It seems to mean there is mire ti be done to deal with the infrastructure challenge.

Check out some of the trending news in Ghana in YEN.com.gh's video below:

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Source: Yen
- Nadowli Kaleo MP is accusing the then presidential staffer, Stan Dogbe of contributing to the NDC's fall

- The top NDC man believes Stan Dogbe was wrongly used in managing Ex-president Mahama in 2016

A top ranking member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Alban Kingsley Sumana Bagbin has disclosed that Former President John Dramani Mahama was managed by inexperienced presidential staffers at the Flagstaff House.

According to Alban Bagbin, ex-president Mahama surrounded himself with the likes of Stan Dogbe, which eventually contributed to ruining his 2016 administration.

Speaking recently in a yet-to-be aired interview with TV3 and 3FM, the NDC man insisted that Stan Dogbe was wrongfully utilized by Mahama during the last NDC administration.

Alban Bagbin, top NDC member

READ ALSO: 'Angry' Kufour 'fires' Rawlings over his 'evil' comment

The Second deputy Speaker of parliament in his interview maintained that presidential staffer lacked the wherewithal in managing Mahama.

In his view, though Stan Dogbe has a great expertise in media, that was no trump card for him to have been made a presidential staffer.

You know Stan Dogbe is very good when it comes to media, you cant take that away from him, and he has amassed a lot of knowledge and experience in that area. He has a very good command of English language and he writes very very well, Mr Bagbin said.

Alban Baggin however, added, when it comes to managing a president, you need more than technical expertise and I think that it is not for nothing that people say experience is the best teacher, its not for nothing.

Stan Dogbe has widely been blamed by some NDC members and political analysts for playing a key role in the loss of the NDC in the 2016 general elections.

READ ALSO: Police arrest Dr Obeng-Andoh of Obengfo Hospital

Mr. Bagbin in 2013, raised issues about the way Stan Dogbe handled the presidency when he said: If characters such as Stan Dogbe are those managing the President John Mahama then our president is naked.

When asked whether Stans conduct contributed in any way to the partys defeat, he responded in the positive saying, He did greatly; he did.

He maintained that managing a President is job for experienced hands so he did expect the backlash he got for raising that issue.

Wisdom comes from not just from knowledge but it also comes with hands on experience and so even the issue that I raised as at that time and received that blistering attack from him was surprising to me, Mr. Bagbin said in the interview to be aired on Tuesday, May 29.

READ ALSO: Veteran musician Ambolley reveals why Stonebwoy must sing in Ewe language

Ghana Trends: Joy FM Editor blasted over Royal Wedding, Mahama plans comeback in 2020

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Source: Yen
Information available to YEN.com.gh shows that hours after 22-year-old Mamoudou Gassama, scaled walls to save a French baby, some people have shared photos of Africans scaling walls.

Though the motive is not immediately clear, it is believed that given the benefits Gassama has received as a result of his heroic act, others are motivated to do same.

Aside meeting with the French President, Emmanuel Macron, he is to receive French citizenship, a French passport and a job as a fire fighter.

Mamoudou Gassama

READ ALSO: Black Stars' player likely to spend 3 years in a Swedish jail

This very likely motivated others, who have shared photos of themselves scaling walls and looking for babies to rescue.

READ ALSO: Social media users tear Kennedy Agyapong apart as Anas responds to his 'threats' in a new video

Ghana Trends: Joy FM blasted over Royal Wedding, Mahama plans comeback in 2020 | Yen.com.gh:

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Source: Yen
- Police have arrested a first-year GHANASS student for attacking a police station

- Joshua Sarfo stormed the police station threatening to kill his investigator

- School authorities say this student once stole some mattresses belonging to school authorities

A fresh student with Ghana Secondary School (GHANASS) has been arrested after attacking the Effiduasi Police Station with a cutlass.

Joshua Sarfo Korkpatey, who is just 19-years-old, had earlier been suspended indefinitely by authorities of the school who caught him staling mattresses in the school.

READ ALSO: Black Stars player Wakaso's East Legon house to be demolished

Eastern regional PRO of the Ghana police service, ASP Ebenezer Tetteh has been narrating this incident to the media.

According to him, the student stormed the Effiduasi police station very furious with a metal bar and a locally manufactured pistol with one round of A.A Cartridge in the chamber. The angry student then threatened to kill the investigator who was overseeing the case.

Police will take further action after a thorough mental examination on the suspect, ASP Tetteh added.

READ ALSO: Social media users tear Kennedy Agyapong apart as Anas responds to his 'threats' in a new video

So far, it remains unknown how this development could have happened and even how the student was able to wield all these weapons.

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Source: Yen.com.gh